Deny Everything
"You just... ran a stop sign back there, Scully."
"Sure. Fine. Whatever."
As the car buzzed down the road, Mulder and Scully sat together in comfortable silence. Or, rather, as comfortable as a silence could be when the two of them wanted nothing more than to hash out an angry conversation between each other.
Mulder was more hurt than anything, and was responding with anger instead. In his mind, she had attempted to suck away what was remaining of his masculinity.
"Because you're the big-macho-man?" he replayed her voice in his head. In his mind, he had always assumed he had been doing the most chivalrous thing, in regard to the car situation. Men always made woman drive; he thought he always held the utmost respect for her, and would even go as far to say that he had always done her a favor by not forcing the issue. After all, he was the victim in this situation.
But, no; she intentionally snapped at him during the whole investigation. He would never desert her for another woman, as she so dangerously suspected. In a jealous rage she had put him in an uncomfortable position, and he felt that it was something only a woman could do. Normally, he wouldn't care. But Scully wasn't your average woman, and from his experience, excessive estrogen never seemed to mesh well with his partner.
On the other hand, Scully was irate. To her, the ever-apparent but figurative venom was still dabbled on the sides of her mouth. Sometimes he was just so overly-confident. Mulder had barked orders at her to look like a professional in front of Detective White.
"I just wasn't sure if your little feet could reach the pedals." Scully knew very well that she wasn't the leggy type that Mulder usually ran after. However, there was no need to compare her to Detective White. It was a low blow. Mulder had made it increasingly evident that he was enamored with her the whole time. He did not act like a professional, although he had never held that quality. After all, she had walked in on them, for God's sake! And what was worse, was that in her fury, she knew she had proved to Mulder that she was indeed jealous. His unprofessional-ism was rubbing off on her, and it was evident to her that she had been victimized cruelly.
They sat in silence for about an hour. It was now killing both of them.
Scully, however, was not going to show weakness. She refused to admit the truth: that she wanted to apologize. Almost as a need, she wanted to hear it from him first so that she could initiate her apology.
But, Mulder was not one for pride. He sat there, thinking of ways to get her to talk. As well as he knew Scully, he knew for a fact that she wouldn't speak first. He was going to have to annoy her for a while.
To initiate, he dug into his pockets and retrieved sunflower seeds, before he turned to her.
"You want one?" he said, straight faced. She blinked hard in angry confusion, as if to say no. Why the hell would she want sunflower seeds?
"Hey... You sure?" he continued. Then he poked her arm, to break the barrier between them. Scully threw a quick glance at him, in absolute annoyance.
"Yes, I am sure," she replied. He could feel the ice in her heart and hoped it would melt. Scully was further annoyed that he flashed his puppy dog eyes in return, and had caused a response inside her, as he had intended.
Mulder waited a few moments longer...
"Okay, Scully. But if you want one, just let me know. I'll be right here," he stated the obvious.
She lost her patience.
"Of course you're going to be right there, we're driving in this car for at least a few more hours. Christ, Mulder," she spat. The hurt expression was evident on his features.
"You've done nothing but abuse my feelings this whole trip," he whined.
"I have not!" she yelled.
"Yes you have, don't deny it! And now you're yelling at me," he said, as he looked out the window, arms crossed. She rolled her eyes; he resembled a child who had just been scolded.
"You know, you're acting like a pansy...and I'm not yelling at you," she said in an angry tone, but she wasn't sure if it was from his petty behavior, or if it was because she was ashamed for letting their conflict escalate to this extreme.
"Oh, now we're going to pull that card again. 'Because you're the big macho man', that's what you said to me. Those were the words you used," he whined further with a pout, and was completely fed-up.
"Yes, because you like to show your authority and I'd had enough," she said, in an attempt to explain without losing her temper.
"No, I don't. You just wanted to put me down. It worked. Good job," he said.
She thought he was so whiny tonight. He thought she was being rude and careless.
"I would never want to put you down. And you're denying my points too," she said, and it sounded like an apology. Now, it was his turn to roll his eyes.
"But you did," he continued. She didn't know why he wouldn't let it go.
"Jesus, Mulder, I'm sorry! Okay? I am. But you were all over Detective White and to be honest I didn't appreciate that," her words came out like a floodgate. His heart jumped at the apology, and his face softened.
"I'm sorry too," he mumbled.
"Good. Well, you should be. And thank you," she said in agreement.
"You're welcome. But I wasn't 'all over her'. You had a jealous fit over nothing at all. She's not even my type," he defended himself, but now they had made eye contact. Both were thankful for this, but Scully was angered again at his suggestion.
"You were! I walked in and she was on top of you. I barely missed walking in on a sex scene," she accused, and shuddered at the thought of him making love to woman.
"She attacked me, I had nothing to do with that," he said, brow furrowed, and nose in the air, but finally taking the conversation a little more seriously.
"Don't act so innocent. No woman attacks without being led on, Mulder," she explained. He wondered if that's why Scully had been attacking him this whole time. But, he knew he had always ledher on. However, he also knew that Detective White had been wrong when she assumed his flirty nature as a sign of his interest in her.
"She took my friendliness as something more. I can't help that I'm amiable," he said innocently.
"Oh yes, play the victim. That's bullshit and you know it. Stop making me out to be the bad one. I mean really, we've been working together for almost three years, and nothing like this has ever happened. You know I'm not some jealous, crazed woman," she said, and cringed. Well, at least, she hoped she wasn't.
"Well...no. But you've still been acting nasty. I'm just saying," he said. He was still hurt, but much less so. In response, she sighed.
"What do you want me to do? I apologized. There's nothing more for me to say," she declared.
"Promise you won't do it again," he said. She wondered why he was making the rules. There he went again, pushing his authority.
"I sure as hell am not promising anything I can't keep," she said.
He knew she was final and meant it. He hated that.
"Fine," he said.
They sat in silence for about 15 minutes. She was glad, as he had been giving her a headache. But naturally, he broke the silence once more.
"Hey Scully?" he asked quietly. She gritted her teeth and squeezed the wheel under her fingers. He was pushing her on purpose. He was well aware that she was annoyed, and she was aware that he knew that.
"What do you need, Mulder?" she asked, desperate to keep composure.
"What do you think of me?" he prodded. She wondered why he was so ungodly loquacious tonight.
"What?" she spat in confusion, on the verge of driving off the road to get some peace.
He smiled devilishly.
"What do you think of me?" he questioned again.
"I have no idea how you expect me to answer that," she said.
This was absolute torture. She was going to need a vacation after this.
"Well, all this arguing has me doubting our friendship. And your affections," he said, a now wry smile on his face.
"That still doesn't answer my question. How about I ask you the same thing, so I know how you want me to answer?" she asked. She hoped if she played along he would eventually tire and stop asking so many damn questions. He sat in silence, smile on his face, and she eventually looked over at him.
"Why aren't you answering?" she asked.
"Because you didn't ask. You alluded to asking," he chuckled. If he kept this up she was going to allude to kicking his ass.
"Mulder, what do you think of me?" she asked. He turned to her, and tried to look as serious as he could.
"Scully, I'm not sure why you'd have to ask that. You're a very pleasurable woman to spend time with. A little crabby at times, but everyone has their moments. And you're not bad looking either. I mean you've got a nice-"
"-Okay Mulder, I get it."
She cut him off as soon as she could. He raised his eyebrows.
"I was going to say work ethic. It's attractive in a woman. What did you think I was going to say...?" he winked. She winced when she realized she fell into the trap.
"I don't know," she answered. He chuckled again, because he loved to see her play along. As much hell as she'd put him through, this was his only payback.
"Okay. I'll go ahead and let that sexual assumption on your part slide. But let's get back to the original question. What do you think of me?" he asked, gleaming. He'd never seen her act so well under such annoying conditions. She really was one of a kind.
"You're a good guy. You can be overly cocky, a jerk, and you use sarcasm to the point of obscenity sometimes, but all in all I enjoy your presence," she said, and smiled a bit. If she was going to play along, she at least had to get some digs in.
"There were more negatives in your statement than there were in mine. You work wonders on my confidence," he said. Maybe he was taking this too far? But he knew it was too fun to stop.
"You wanted the truth," she said.
"The truth is out there... but it was a little more hurtful than I would have imagined," he said. In the midst of joking, he did take her comments a little more to heart than he had intended, and upon the sight of his expression, she hoped that the tables could turn in her favor.
"Oh. I forgot your sense of humor. That's pretty good, too. Does that make up for it?" she asked. She hoped so. After all, she just wanted a little silence.
"Sure, for now," he said.
And they sat in silence once again.
Maybe it was stupid to have acted so out of character. They both knew that. Mulder was happy that she had not really meant to knock him down. He also knew that he loved when she oozed jealousy. He had expected that before, but when she explained it, he got a very nice buzz from it. Perhaps it wasn't such a professional complaint as she had made it seem...? A guy could hope.
Scully was thrilled for some peace and quiet to knock her Mulder induced headache. And, as she hated to admit, she loved that their disagreement had not simmered any longer than it needed to. At the price of her sanity, but she did not care. She couldn't get over that Mulder assumed she meant to knock his manhood. She wasn't one for sexist ways, and definitely would not act on them, but she now understood that driving the car was one of the things he enjoyed. That's all it was.
She began to see how juvenile it all was...
And then the silence was broken again.
"...Hey...Scully..." he said. She froze and looked at him, eyes wide.
"What is it now, Mulder?" she was absolutely exhausted by him. He grinned.
"You tired?" he asked. He knew he meant the question to be taken in a physical sense, but also knew she would answer yes to allude to her being fed up with his antics.
"Yes, Mulder. I'm fucking exhausted, to be honest," she said.
She hoped he knew it was alluded toward him.
"Oh."
*silence*
"Does that mean I can drive now?" he asked, grin on his face.
She pulled over quickly, still going 40MPH, and then stopped on a dime. His head bobbed around, and he grabbed the seat-belt to hold on.
He thought she had lost her mind.
She also thought she had lost her mind.
"Please, do whatever you want!" she said hands in the air, removed her seat-belt, and exited the vehicle before he had time to say another word or even regain his balance from the way they had stopped.
He finally jumped out, and she got into his seat. They were driving again, as if nothing had happened.
"I promise I'll be quiet. It's a promise I can keep," he said.
He meant it. She deserved some sleep, or at least some quiet.
She looked at his expression and knew he was telling the truth.
"Thank you, Mulder, it means the world."
He nodded, fully pleased with the outcome.
"Oh, but by the way, my feet obviously reach the pedals," she shot at him, like some final burst of anger needed to be expressed before she could relax, and he laughed in response.
"Yes, they really do."
And thankfully, things went back to normal after that night.
Well...as normal as they could be.
Jeez. Mulder even got on my nerves a bit.