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Mulder anxiously looked at her.
He was going to do it.
No backing out.
There was no more time.
But why was he so nervous, surely he’s asked her riskier questions before? Just never any that could possibly affect the course of our partnership forever.
Their day was almost over, one of the rare ones where they didn’t have any immediate cases to work on or trips planned soon. It was now or never.
At just that moment, Scully looked up from her notes, sensing his eyes on her. She smiled, not sure what was happening.
“Mulder?” she asked inquisitively. She closed the file and sat up straighter on the chair.
He tried his best to play it cool, not anticipating this interruption of his circling thoughts.
“Yeah?”
She looked at him confused.
“I don’t know, Mulder. You’re looking at me weirdly,” she laughed. “Do I have something on my face?” Scully automatically touched the corners of her eyes just in case.
“Oh, no, definitely not. Your face is perfe– I mean, no that’s not why I was looking at you,” he began to sweat, and Scully was now certain something more was going on.
“Okay,” There was a pause. “Was there something you wanted to tell me?”
Just do it. Just ask her.
He took a deep breath and sat up. His heart was pounding under his grey t-shirt, and her magnificent yet intense gaze on him was no help.
“Scully, I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner with me tonight?”
She didn’t flinch like he had expected. In fact, she seemed more confused than anything.
“Tonight? Mulder, it’s Monday. We couldn’t have just gotten take out on Friday?”
Leaning in closer to the desk, he still felt like he was miles away. He had to try again.
“No, not take out, Scully. Dinner. Sit down, fancy clothes, etc, etc,” Mulder did a vague hand gesture to accompany his rambles.
She was completely taken aback, exactly as Mulder was expecting. This was not where she thought this interaction was going.
“...Alright,” she approached this as delicately as possible. “But why tonight?”
He looked at her, amused, and shook his head laughing.
“I don’t know, just thought it felt right,”
“Mulder, you’re being weird again,” her face dropped at that second. She reached into her bag and pulled out her planner. “Valentine's day, Mulder? Really?”
His smile, and heart, dropped. Did he just make the worst mistake of his life?
He tensed up more than he already was, attempting to retreat. “Well, uh, I mea-,”
“Yes,” she interrupted what she could tell was going to be a long, babbling rant.
“What?”
“I want to go to dinner with you tonight,”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,”
Mulder sat back in his chair, finally relaxed. He did it.
They stared at each other from across the desk, both of their faces covered in giant, genuine smiles.
Neither of them had smiled like that since the New Year. Since their first kiss.
They had attempted to go back to how things were before, avoiding any conversations regarding them. But the lingering feelings from that night hovered around them, desperately waiting to be addressed. It seemed that Mulder just happened to be the first to break their game of chicken.
–
On his way out, Mulder ran into Skinner in the elevator.
“Mulder,”
“Skinner,”
They stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds.
“Any plans for tonight, sir?”
“No Mulder, I have work to do. I’m going to assume the same for you?”
He had neither the time nor desire to lay out the Valentine’s day plans he was so desperately looking forward to for his boss, so when the elevator doors opened, Mulder turned to him and said “Spot on, Skinman,” and giddily stepped off the elevator before Skinner could comment on the nickname.
Mulder then hurried over to the garage and got into his car faster than he cared to admit.
–
Scully had been home for a few hours and had taken just as long to figure out what to wear. She hadn’t been on a date on Valentine’s Day since college, and she wished now more than ever that her sister was still here. She would know exactly what to do.
Scully spent some time rummaging through her closet until she uncovered what felt like an ancient artifact - a little black dress Melissa had convinced her to get at the mall years ago, only for her to never wear it again. She decided now felt like the right occasion to sport it.
The dress still fit perfectly, snug in all the right places, and left very little to the imagination.
“This will have to do,”
With her hair and makeup finished, Scully anxiously waited for Mulder to arrive while overthinking every last detail of what could possibly go wrong tonight.
Soon enough, there was a knock at the door, and everything became real. She was about to go out on a date with Mulder. Mulder! Wrapping her head around that fact one last time, Scully quickly slipped on her black ankle strap heels and opened the door to Mulder and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers standing on the other side of it.
“Hi,” Scully smiled as she opened the door and saw him. She swore she saw him stop breathing for a second there.
“...Hi,” he stared at her, gapping. Suddenly very conscious of the flower, he handed them to her as nonchalantly as possible, “Here, these are for you.”
“Thank you, Mulder. They’re beautiful,” she took a moment to smell them before going to the kitchen to place them in water.
Mulder stood in the living room, hands deep in his pockets, while he waited awkwardly for what felt like forever. When Scully finally finished in the kitchen, she turned around and began walking toward him. This was when he fully took in the little black dress.
My God.
He took her hand delicately, “You look absolutely stunning, Scully,” and gave it a kiss.
A feeling of heat rose to her cheeks and she couldn’t help but smile.
“Thanks, Mulder. You look great yourself.”
Mulder had opted for a tailored black suit with one of his signature ties; this one was red with some cute patterns.
He let the moment carry on for just a little longer, taking in all of her.
“You ready?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes, after you,” he motioned to the door.
–
When they got to the restaurant, it was understandably packed. Heart shaped decor covered the walls and conversations from dozens of happy couples filled the air.
“Mulder for two,” he said when they walked up to the hostess stand.
Taking a second to look through her list, the hostess grabbed some menus and began leading them into the dining area. Mulder let Scully walk ahead of him, and swiftly took the opportunity to guide her forward by placing his hand on the small of her back. Scully tensed up from the unexpected connection, but just as quickly relaxed into his touch. It felt…natural.
“Your waiter will be here shortly,” the hostess informed the two as they sat down
“Thank you,” Mulder replied as she walked away, but he hadn’t even attempted to remove his gaze from Scully.
“This place is really packed, how did you manage to get seats?”
“I told them the FBI is tailing a suspect and we got word that he would be here tonight,”
“Seriously?”
“No. Actually, I-I made these reservations a while back but couldn't decide on the best way to ask you. Ultimately, time caught up with me,”
“Wow, Mulder. You’ve been thinking about this for a while, huh?”
“Longer than you can imagine,”
Scully felt those words in her soul. She so deeply resonated with them.
“Well, I guess we can thank time for our first date,” she smiled, and he immediately chuckled at the joke.
Their laughter was briefly interrupted by the waiter, who quickly got their drink orders before moving on.
When Mulder turned back to Scully, he was once again taken by her beauty. He had seen her almost everyday of his life over the past six years, but tonight, he knew she had chosen everything because of this dinner. Her hair, makeup, shoes, dress…If the choice came down to it, Mulder would have eagerly thrown out all his tapes and magazines for Scully in that dress.
“Mulder, you’re staring again,”
He shook his head with a smile. “Sorry, I’m still in disbelief that we’re here. Tonight. On a date,”
“I know, I almost didn’t accept it myself,”
“I hope you’re having a good time so far. I know I didn’t plan much extravagant fun for us,”
“What, like staking out a UFO?”
He smiled harder than he expected. “No, I mean, I don’t know, I haven’t been out on a date in so long. I wasn’t sure what else we could do,”
Scully grabbed his hand across the table and looked gently into his eyes. “This is perfect, Mulder. Thank you for asking me,” she said with a smile.
God, he loves her smile.
–
Walking back to Mulder’s car after what had been the best date for either one of them was painstakingly hard. Neither wanted the night to end, but with no definitive plans in place, they didn’t know how to approach this new terrain.
Scully was the first to break.
“I had a great time tonight, Mulder.” Wrapped around her shoulders was his jacket, offered to ward off the cold night, and he couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she looked in it.
They reached the passenger door of the car, but Mulder stopped before opening it for her. Turning around to face her, he noticed how the moonlight reflected softly on her face.
“I’m sorry it has to end so soon,” he confessed.
She looked up at him, eyebrows raised, lips cured into a seductive grin, “Just because you didn’t plan anything doesn’t mean it has to be over,”
“Yeah?” he leaned back against the side of the car.
“Oh yeah, there’s plenty we can do,” she began playing with his tie.
“Uh huh, like what?”
“Oh I don’t know, we can go back to my place and see,” she began moving her hands higher, looking up at him with a pouty lip.
Her touch sent feelings through his body he could have only dreamt of. More than anything, Mulder wanted to do that, and he couldn’t believe Scully wanted that too. But tonight was their first date, and he had to be sure she left that night feeling respected and in control of herself.
“Scully, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this, but are you sure? I mean, this was only our first date,”
“Mulder, we know each other more intimately than some married couples.” She took both of his hands into hers. “I…I want this,” she paused and looked down. “Do you not feel that way?” There was a hurt in her voice.
Mulder couldn’t stand it for one second longer.
There have been countless moments where the two of them stood painstakingly close to each other, but tonight, right now, held so much weight. She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eyes, unsure of how he would respond.
Instead, Mulder reached out, grabbing her waist with both hands to bring her even closer, and began masterfully maneuvering them across her back until space became a foreign concept.
Chests touching. Heartbeats quickening. Breaths tightening.
The city life continued all around them, but they couldn’t have cared less.
Making sure to level no room for doubt in his answer, Mulder leaned down and kissed her passionately under the dark DC sky.