No More Lonely Nights
MM Arcadia
by SisSpooky
Disclaimer: The standard disclaimer applies. I own nothing and 'The Powers That Be' own everything. I seek no profit and intend no copyright infringement whatsoever.
It had been three days since they had moved into the former Cline residence. It had been two nights that he had spent on a couch not his own. He hadn't even wanted this assignment, this non-X-File. Tonight when she had suggested that he spend another night on the sofa, he nearly snapped.
Mulder felt that he had been handling the forced distance very well. When she took the assignment without asking him first, an action he himself was often guilty of, he bit his tongue. When she explained that they had to pose as a married couple, he refrained from making the two-dozen comments that flooded into his mind. Even when he had finally accused her of wanting to play house and she threw her gloves at him, smacking him in the face, he only made some wise crack and thought about how beautiful she was when she was busted, embarrassed, and trying to pretend she was angry that he would even suggest such a thing.
It wasn't like they were two school kids with a first crush. They were two adults for God's sake! He had told her how he felt in more ways than one. She had even almost admitted that she loved him, and would have if it hadn't been for that damn phone. Now Scully was keeping him at arm's length and he wanted to scream. Scream at the top of his lungs from anger toward himself for allowing her to push him away. Scream loud enough that she could hear him and know that his screaming was inadvertently directed toward her.
This was it, he had had it. Mulder grabbed his pillow and blanket, and marched back upstairs. He stopped outside the bedroom door, took a deep breath, and knocked. "What is it, Mulder?"
"I need to come in," he announced in his best no nonsense voice. He wasn't taking no for an answer and prepared to break the door down if necessary.
"Its unlocked."
Damn, he thought. He had really wanted to break something and the door was a perfect unsuspecting target. "Scully, I'm not sleeping down stairs on that couch another night. If you don't want to share the bed, it's just too damn bad. Now, move over, I'm sleepy."
"Okay." Scully agreed as she slid over to one side of the bed.
"Are you not going to argue with me at all?"
"Nope," she responded coolly.
Mulder flopped down on his side of the bed, rolled over on his side with his back facing Scully, and pulled the blankets up over his shoulder. A few moments passed before he threw the covers off of them both and sat straight up. "I'm not gonna let this happen, Scully. We're going to have an argument or we aren't sleeping."
"Mulder, what's wrong with you?" She asked as she reached for the discarded blankets.
He grabbed the covers and ripped them off the bed, dropping them onto the floor in a pile behind him. "What's wrong with me? With me?! I'll tell you exactly what's wrong, Scully!"
"Mulder, you're yelling."
"Yes, I'm yelling, and I'll keep yelling until I lose my voice, run out of things to yell about, or feel better." His arms were flailing wildly in the air about his head. "Do you know what the guys in this half cracked community are saying about me, Scully?"
"To be on the safe side, I'm going to say no."
"I'm a kept man! They are saying I'm a kept man, Scully! Which among these men makes me somehow less manly."
Failing to see the need to argue about something so trivial at such an hour she sighed softly before trying to calm him. "Relax, Mulder, okay? We'll be gone soon, back to the regular nutty world that doesn't think you're a kept man." Scully sat up on the side of the bed and yawned. "Besides, isn't it better to be a kept man than a spooky man?"
"Don't . . .just . . .don't." He ran a hand through his unruly brown hair. "Where are you going?" He asked as Scully walked around behind him.
"To get the blankets you so carefully removed from the bed." She bent over and grabbed a handful of linens, dragging them back to bed behind her. "So, is being a kept man all that's bothering you?"
"No, it isn't. We're supposed to be a married couple, Scully. The Petries, remember?"
"Yes, and your point?"
He over dramatically threw his hands up in the air. "What if some of our 'neighbors' decide to spy on us? What if they catch this kept man sleeping on the couch? A man's home is his castle, Scully, and I've gotta tell you, I don't feel very kingly. Not only would I be a kept man, but you would be the bread winner and the one wearing the pants in this relationship."
"And this bothers you why?"
"I don't know," he sighed. "I really don't know. It shouldn't. I think the whole issue is the fact that I have to sleep down there on that sofa when this bed is big enough for both of us."
"So what's taken you so long to solve your little problem, Mulder?"
"What?!?" He stomped over and plopped down ungracefully on the bed. "What's taken me so long?"
"Yep. That door has been unlocked the entire time we've been here."
He decided that there had been enough ranting like a mad man and took a deep, calming breath. "I have been trying my best to respect your privacy and wishes. You seemed to want me to sleep on the couch so on the couch I slept, but I can only take so much of this. Before you took this assignment we were so close to putting all of our cards on the table. You were even pretty close to admitting everything, until Skinner called and ruined the moment. Since then you've been keeping me at arm's length. We're adults here Scully. We're adults, partners, and best friends, and I love you. Why can't you admit what you feel for me and stop with this distancing thing already?"
"So that's what all of this is about." Scully stood on her knees and moved over next to Mulder. Taking his face in her hands she began to speak softly, "Mulder, I do love you and I'm sorry I haven't said so before now. I guess a part of me has been afraid to tell you. Afraid of the ramifications such a confession would have." She took another step toward him, "afraid that our already complicated relationship would be further complicated." Another step. "Afraid admitting it to both of us would somehow make me lose you."
"You could never lose me, Scully." He reached out to place his hands on her hips. "I should probably warn you that another step and there is no hope of keeping your new arm's length rule instated."
"No?"
"Nope, it's gonna fly out that window, right behind my sanity." He realized he has left himself wide open for a coolly delivered Scully wise crack. "No comments about my never being sane either. I couldn't take it. That door's been unlocked the entire time?"
"Yep."
"If I didn't love you, Scully, I think I'd have to . . ." She placed a finger over his lips to silence him before capturing his mouth with her own. Neither of them really wanted to discuss things any further anyway. They both had what they wanted, and now that they had each other, there would be no more lonely nights.