Saturday
by: Me
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
The sunlight is poking through Mulder's blinds, rousing him awake. He turns over to look at his alarm clock: 7:30 am glares back at him. He turns back onto his back and closes his eyes again for a brief moment.
Finally, he stirs and decides it's time to get up. He has several errands to run on this Saturday, might as well get up and get ready, he thinks.
Mulder heads for his bathroom and closes the door, preparing for the day.
Fifteen minutes later, he emerges wearing his trusty gray t-shirt and jeans. No need for a coat, Spring is coming to D.C. and it's a bit warm out today.
Mulder decides to stop for some coffee on his way to the places he needs to go. As he heads out the door, he grabs his car keys, wallet, and cell phone. He had strapped on his ankle holster while he was getting dressed. Just a bad habit, but he doesn't really need his service weapon, and he feels naked without a gun.
As Mulder heads down to the main floor in the elevator, he wonders what Scully is doing. He glances at his watch: 8:05 am. She's probably out and about, too. She's an early bird. Mulder wonders if maybe she'll want to get together later. Then again, they did have a busy week, and she probably just wants to relax, without him around.
Mulder steps out of the elevator and heads to his car. Starbucks is his first stop of the day. For an early Saturday morning, it's quite busy. Mulder is in line for a good five minutes before he can place his order: Venti Dark Roast, black.
His order is simple and comes out quick. He bypasses the milk and sugar station and exits to the street. Luckily, most of his errands are in town, and within walking distance. He leaves his car where it is.
Mulder thinks to himself, what next? He decides to head to the small grocery store down the street to grab some essentials: pasta and orange juice.
As Mulder walks down the street, his phone starts to chirp. He shuffles his coffee into his left hand and reaches for the cell phone in his right pocket. He presses the Receive button:
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mulder, it's me." Scully is on the other end. Mulder instantly perks up, and it's not from the caffeine.
"Hey, Scully! What are you doing?"
"Oh nothing, am I calling you too early?" She sounds like she's in the middle of something.
"No, actually, I'm in downtown Alexandria, running errands. Started my day bright and early!" Mulder replies back, cheerfully.
"Oh, and what errands are you running? I didn't think you ran errands," Scully says, with a smile in her voice.
"You know, the usual. Buying alien autopsy tapes to show you during the week. Trip to the post office, then buying some groceries," he replies.
"You buy groceries?" Scully sounds mock astonished on the other end. "I have never seen groceries in your apartment, Mulder. And if I have, they're expired by at least a year."
"That's exactly why I need to get some more!" Mulder says, he is at a crosswalk, looking both ways before heading across the street. The small market is in his view.
"Hey, Mulder? I was wondering, if you're not too busy later running errands, want to come over?" Scully has a hint of hope when she asks Mulder.
Mulder replies almost immediately, "Yeah, sure. I think I can squeeze you into my busy Saturday schedule. Since I'm stopping at the grocery store, shall I pick up anything?" Mulder gets to the store front.
"Um, what store are you going to?" Scully is a little picky when it comes to produce, and God knows where Mulder shops.
"It's a little market in town, 'Pierre's Whole Foods.' It's quite nice, and small. The owner is French, if 'Pierre' didn't tip you off." Mulder walks through the entrance and down an aisle, looking for what he needs.
Scully was relieved about his grocery store choice and asks him to get some bread and maybe a bottle of wine, red.
Mulder let's her know he'll get those items and they confirm a 6:00 pm time at Scully's apartment. Mulder hangs up and puts his phone back into his pocket.
Pierre's isn't a large store, but it goes back a ways. The store has a nice bakery section, since Pierre prides himself on French bakery creations.
Mulder is scanning the breads when he hears a shout near the front of the store. He peers down one of the aisles that leads to the check out counter.
Mulder can see a distraught man at the counter, pointing a finger into the cashier's face. Although, Mulder is a little too far to hear what the man is saying.
Mulder starts to head up the aisle to the counter, to see what is going on.
The man doesn't see or hear Mulder approaching and pulls out a gun on the cashier.
"I said, give me the money, man. I told you I didn't want to hurt you. Why are you being so difficult?" He says this through gritted teeth and emphasises the last few words with his gun.
Mulder places his coffee on a shelf and kneels down to pull out his small gun that's holstered to his ankle. So much for not having to use this today, he thinks. But as he bends down, his arm knocks over a can on the shelf. The distraught gunman turns around at the noise.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing! Stand up!" The distraught man turns his gun onto Mulder, who is slowly standing up with his hands in the air, gun still in his ankle holster.
"It's okay, everything's going to be okay. Just lower your gun. No one is going to get hurt," Mulder is trying to talk the gunman down. As he does this, the cashier presses a panic button - Pierre had them installed a year ago.
"I told this guy to give me the money in his register, and he ain't doin' it!" The gunman is telling Mulder. "I don't want to have to use this, but if he doesn't do what I say, I might have to!" He is still aiming the gun at Mulder, but turns again on the cashier who jumps back from surprise.
Mulder thinks about reaching for his gun again, but the distraught man turns his head towards Mulder quickly.
"Go lock the door." Mulder looks at the front entrance.
"I don't have a key to lock it," Mulder replies.
The gunman sighs heavily and turns his attention back to the cashier.
"Give him the keys." The gunman moves his gun closer to the cashier, who is fumbling for the store keys. He finds them and tosses them to Mulder who locks the door. Are those police sirens he hears?
"All right, both of you, over here." The gunman motions that Mulder and the cashier head towards the far left aisle. He is unsure of what to do, his plan was to get the money and get out. But these two knuckleheads are screwing everything up.
Mulder wasn't imagining the police sirens, either. He can hear them coming closer now.
The gunman peers out the front window. "Shit," he exclaims.
Several police cars stop in front of the store. The gunman makes Mulder and the cashier head towards the back.
"We're leaving through the back," he says, as he heads towards the back storage room door.
"That's probably a bad idea," Mulder inputs. "The police will probably be back there, too. If you let us go now, they won't hurt you."
"No, I'm not going down without a fight! I hate cops." He is angry at the failing situation he is in.
Mulder looks over to the cashier, a teenager, probably in high school or college. He looks frightened. Mulder assumes this wasn't what he expected to happen during work, but then again, neither did Mulder.
The police are at the entrance, trying to get in. They see the gunman, Mulder, and the cashier in the back, blocked by the aisles.
Mulder decides that this might be a good time for a different tactic.
"I don't know if this makes a difference to you," he says to the gunman, who is looking around for an idea, "but I am a federal agent. Harming me will not do you any good. And our friend here is only a kid, let him go." Mulder motions towards the cashier who looks at him with eyes filled with confusion and fright.
When Mulder mentioned "federal agent" the gunman looked at him and raised his gun onto Mulder again.
"Were you following me?! You were following me, weren't you? Knew I was going to come in here and rob the place?" The gunman was frantic, and getting angrier.
Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything at all, thought Mulder. He wanted to reach for his ankle holster, but the gunman was not letting them alone. He thought of another plan to maybe distract the gunman.
"Hey, um, the police who might be at the back door? Maybe you should barricade this back entrance here?" Mulder pointed towards the rear door, the gunman followed his hand.
"Good idea." The gunman walked up to Mulder and the cashier. "Do it. Move that in front of the door." The gunman was talking about a pallet of produce that was against the back wall. Mulder and the cashier moved it in front of the door. "And that, too." He pointed towards the case that held more produce. Again, Mulder and the cashier moved it in front of the door. The gunman looked momentarily pleased, hoping no one could get in there.
Suddenly, the gunman grabbed hold of Mulder, by his shirt. He pulled him towards the front. The police were on the sidewalk, trying to figure out a way inside without anyone getting hurt. Mulder could see that a news van had also arrived for the show.
The gunman stopped several feet before the window, just in case the police tried anything. He shouted through the glass, "I got a Federal Agent here, so don't try anything or I'll shoot him!" Mulder wasn't even sure if the police could hear him on the other side, but they seemed to back up just a little.
The gunman moved Mulder to the front door and put him in front of it. Mulder had no idea what the man was planning. All he wanted to do was get a hold of his ankle gun and all would be well.
The gunman turned to look for the cashier; the boy was sitting on a crate, shaking. The gunman seemed satisfied that he wasn't trying to escape.
Without warning, a bullet pierced the window. Mulder and the gunman looked towards it. It was a tiny hole in the window, it didn't even shatter the glass. The gunman turned behind them and saw a bullet hole in a can of soup; it was leaking onto the floor.
"Sniper," Mulder said. "They have a sniper."
The gunman was furious now. He put the gun against Mulder's back, right behind his left shoulder blade. "I told you, no funny business!" Mulder felt a bullet enter his shoulder and exit. He heard the bullet pierce the glass of the front door. He didn't even have time to react.
The gunman flung Mulder away from him and Mulder fell to the ground. He was in a huge amount of pain from his shoulder. He had put his hand up to the wound and could feel the wet stickiness of blood. His vision started to blur.
The gunman had run to the back before more shots could be fired against him. Another sniper bullet landed in the wall near the door, just missing the gunman.
Mulder looked up towards the back of the store. He remembered another person with them… the cashier! He saw the gunman trying to escape through the barricaded back door, apparently forgetting about the possible police. The cashier wasn't back there.
He turned his head towards the front of the store again and there he was, the cashier, unlocking the front door. The gunman must have not noticed he slipped back up front.
The cashier moved frantically away from the police, back behind the checkout counter. Mulder laid on the ground, trying to not move around too much. His shoulder hurt so bad.
Mulder could hear shouting and some loud popping noises, but he was fading out and couldn't place where they were coming from or what they were.
Something heavy landed on Mulder's shoulder and he was momentarily brought back to reality. He opened his eyes and saw a blurry figure kneeling over him. He quickly closed his eyes against the pain he was feeling.
A moment later, or an eternity later, Mulder was moving. But not on his own. He was being lifted into the air, floating, He ventured to open his eyes again and saw a couple people on either side of him, and he saw the sky. Beautiful day, he thought to himself. A jarring motion brought the pain back.
….
Mulder felt the pain in his shoulder return, though it wasn't as severe as it had been just a bit ago. He heard a beeping noise creep into the foreground and he opened his eyes to see where it was coming from. Quite annoying, he thought.
Mulder opened his eyes to a dim light. He blinked a couple of times to focus them and realized why there was a beeping noise and why his shoulder hurt. Hospital. Damn… Scully! He shot his eyes open and tried to sit up. He remembered he was supposed to meet Scully for dinner. He screwed that up, as usual.
Mulder felt a gentle pressure against his chest. He turned his head and saw the object of his thoughts to his right. Scully was there. Why wouldn't she be? She's always here. My knight in shining armor.
"Mulder, be careful," Scully softly, but sternly, told him. "Lay down, it's okay. Everything's okay. I'm right here."
Mulder laid down and Scully smoothed his blanket back over him.
Mulder turned his heads towards her and smiled, which instantly turned to a pout. "I'm sorry, Scully. Our dinner. I ruined it."
"Oh Mulder, it's okay. I'm just glad you're okay. I can't believe you ran into an armed robbery. Only you," she smiled slightly and went back to holding his hand.
"And only I can make something go from bad, to worse. I didn't even do anything this time to instigate." He closed his eyes against the pain.
"I know, I saw it on the news. Apparently the sniper they had shot prematurely and that's when Boyd shot you."
"I have problems shooting prematurely, too," Mulder couldn't help but let that one slide.
Scully smacked his hand and laughed.
"His name was Boyd? I didn't even know. What about that kid that was with us. Is he okay?" Mulder opened his eyes again and looked at Scully hopefully.
"Martin Taffer. And yes, he is okay, albeit shaken. Not sure if he will return to Pierre's any time soon. Speaking of, Pierre is grateful that his store was not torn apart, so he gave you some free groceries," Scully informed him.
"Well, hopefully I'll be out of here soon to enjoy them, before they spoil," he added.
"Doctors are hopeful about your recovery. The bullet entered and exited cleanly, although it was point blank. Surgery only took four hours. It's still Saturday. Maybe you'll be out of here by Monday. Until then, we can enjoy your groceries here." Scully held up a bag filled with some goodies. She pulled out a long baguette.
"Freshly baked, courtesy of Pierre," Scully said as she broke a piece off and handed it to Mulder. He held it in his hand, reluctant to take a bite.
"Can we make a rain check for tonight? Say, next Saturday?" Mulder asked Scully.
"Sure, sounds good. But this time, I'll go to the store," she replied.
….
One Week Later
Scully Residence
Mulder was sitting on the couch, reclining with his feet on the coffee table, glass of wine in his right hand, left arm in a sling. Scully walked into the living room with a cheese plate. She set it on the coffee table and took the glass of wine out of Mulder's grasp.
"Mulder, you're still on medication, you can't have this," Scully said to a pouting Mulder. "I'll get you some juice, or water."
"C'mon, Scully. I've been good. Plus, if I get too tipsy, I'll just stay over," Mulder wiggled his eyebrows at Scully. She rolled her eyes in response.
"No, you're getting juice." Scully poured the wine from Mulder's glass into hers then got up to head back towards the kitchen to get Mulder something non-alcoholic to drink.
While Mulder was waiting, he grabbed a piece of cheese.
"Mmm, sharp cheddar, so fancy," he said with a small hint of sarcasm.
Scully was walking back into the room, "Hey, it was all I had. Plus I thought it was a good appetizer to pizza. What goes good with cheese than cheese?" She sat down and handed him a glass of grape juice.
"Everything goes with pizza," Mulder said. He sat back with a slight wince. Scully leaned back and brought Mulder's legs up into her lap.
After a few minutes of silence, Scully savoring the red wine and Mulder dozing from the medication, Scully spoke up.
"I'm glad we made this rain check." She looked over to the dozing Mulder.
He spoke without opening his eyes, "Mmm, me, too."
Just then, there was a knock on Scully's front door.
"Pizza man!" She moved Mulder's legs off her lap and placed her glass on the coffee table.
Mulder remained sitting with his eyes closed, "I'll get it Scully."
She looked back as she reached the door and rolled her eyes again. "I'll get it, but you'll pay."
Mulder smiled from the couch.
Scully answered the door, retrieved their pizza and paid the delivery boy with cash from Mulder's wallet. She went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of plates. She took a couple of slices from the box and placed them onto the plates. She added garlic powder, parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes to Mulder's and kept hers plain. She came back into the living room moments later.
She placed the pizza on the coffee table, Mulder seemed asleep.
"Hey, wake up! You wanted pizza, remember? You're gonna eat it, not sleep." She nudged Mulder's thigh with her knee. He startled awake.
"Wha-what? I wasn't sleeping…" he said. He went to lean over to grab his plate, but stopped with another wince from the pain in his shoulder.
Scully helped him retrieve his plate and sat down again in the same spot.
"Mmmmmm," they both said. "I love pizza," Mulder added. Scully nodded in agreement.
Minutes later, both their pizzas were gone and Mulder's eyes were closed again. Scully cleared their plates and put the leftover pizza away. I guess that's it for the evening then, she thought as she looked at Mulder dozing on the couch. She walked over to him and shook his good shoulder.
"C'mon, Mulder, come sleep in the bedroom."
"No, no, I'm fine," he replied, his eyes remain closed.
"Mulder," was all Scully had to say.
"Fine." Mulder opened his eyes and got off the couch with Scully's assistance. She led him to the bedroom. She helped him take off his button down shirt and undid his jeans. Neither of them concerned about modesty. Mulder shimmied out of his jeans and toed off his socks. He gently laid down onto Scully's bed and closed his eyes.
Scully tucked him in bed, gently. Before she left the room, she moved a strand of Mulder's hair off his forehead.
She had just reached the entrance to her bedroom and was about to hit the light switch when Mulder spoke up, "Mm, Scully? Come to bed with me?"
Scully turned around and blushed slightly, thankful Mulder's eyes were still closed. She barely hesitated before answering, "In a bit, Mulder. I'm just going to clean up."
Mulder nodded in response and settled into bed.
Thirty minutes later, Scully had finished tidying up her apartment. She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth. She then slipped into her bed next to Mulder, who was sound asleep. He was laying on his back. She snuggled up next to him, careful not to disturb his shoulder.
Last Saturday wasn't great, but this Saturday definitely made up for it.