Chapter Text
The Bureau is quiet after about 6 pm on an average night. The secretaries and assistants have all been out for several hours now, and most agents are embarking on the grueling journey through rush hour traffic. This office has been quiet all day, though. For several days - three days. Mulder left to New Jersey for another possible entity sighting but urged Scully to stay back and catch up on her work. These things are usually empty threats anyways, he said. Scully agreed but felt a small seed of disappointment plant deep in her stomach.
Sure, of course there wasn't going to be another New Jersey Devil on their hands. There never was the first time around. But still, their little adventures were fun. And anyways, Scully had only needed a day and a half to catch up on things, which left another day and a half of looking out the window and waiting for her partner to come back. That, or waiting to be assigned another autopsy. And still she was anxious to ask for another task, wanting to occupy her time better at the office but scared that Mulder might come back soon and have other (more interesting) work for her to do.
But for now, it is after working hours on a Tuesday night and she is leaning over his desk, inspecting the state that it was left in. She runs her finger across the top, a combination of dust and grease form underneath. She crinkles her nose. I can't believe we store government documents here, she thinks. A flash of red catches the corner of her eye. She sees a red glossy paper sitting slightly off-center at the base of a file stack. Another X-File? A secret incriminating document? Sweat starts to form at the back of her neck. This is private, she thinks, I can't go through Mulder's things without his permission. Her eyes are still locked on the corner of red. Well, Mulder did tell her to "hold down the fort while he's gone" and as captain, fort-leader, or whatever, she demands access to all assets. She slowly begins to pull the red corner from the stack. Scully is sweating behind her knees now. The corner turns into a rectangle which turns into a -.
"Star Kitchen Buffet" is written in gold yellow at the top of paper. It's a takeout menu for a local late-night Chinese restaurant. Scully slumps as her hand sits across her forehead. Of course this is sitting in a pile of half-finished reports on Mulder's desk.
"Find anything interesting?"
Scully jerks up her head to see Mulder standing in the doorway with his trench coat swaying behind him. She hides her excitement and turns to the right with the menu in her hand. A smile starts to creep across her face but she stops it before opening her mouth.
"Yeah, it says here delivery in under 20 minutes anytime. They move fast for a small restaurant, maybe the work of aliens?"
Mulder lets out a small chuckle and looks at the floor. His feet rock up and down.
"You know I was thinking the same thing a couple weeks earlier, but I was tracing it back to their dumplings. Too good to be true."
"Oh? And you never thought to share?" Scully is in front of the desk now, leaning on the edge and facing Mulder.
"I didn't take you as a 2am dumpling kind of girl." He smirks and steps deeper into the office, his head still facing down.
"Right I forget you don't live like a normal person."
They both let out quiet laughs and sit in a moment of silence. Each avoiding the subject of Mulder's absence and how they both secretly missed each other. Scully was beginning to feel the prolonged discomfort of awkwardness pull her up to her feet to leave.
"Would you want to be normal people for a night?” Mulder blurted out “Let me take you out to dinner."
Scully turns to stare at him in confusion and a little bit of shock. Her mouth is slightly open as she tries to come to a decision. Eat cereal at home in peace or risk an obscure and secret alien mission with Mulder …..
“What so you can investigate paranormal or extraterrestrial activity at a Chinese restaurant?”
“No,” he chuckles “just me and you as regular citizens of DC. And besides, I know a better place than that old menu.”
Scully feels her palms start to sweat and she takes her hands together. She looks at Mulder who is now staring intensely at her with more anticipation and less lightheartedness. Perhaps cereal can wait for another night.
“Okay, sure Mulder. Take me out to dinner like normal people do.”