Disclaimer: Auk woot synifinicate ner dunderford. So there.
Spoilers: Millennium
A/N: There is more too this and I know it starts out kind of weird. But it gets sillier and sappier, don't worry.
She woke to the feeling of warm arms around her and a nose nuzzled into her hair. Her first instinct was to bolt, but she could hardly move. Her head was pounding and her stomach wasn't feeling too great either. She closed her eyes and tried to think about what had transpired the previous night, but she couldn't remember anything. She turned her head a little and felt a warm puff of breath on her neck.
"It's just me."
She relaxed immediately but left her brow furrowed in confusion. What was Mulder doing in her bed? He'd never been there before, and definitely not when she was just waking up.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"I hope not, because I feel like crap. Want to clue me in to what's going on here?"
"Do you remember anything?"
"It's fuzzy. Oh, was I in a car accident?"
"Yes, Columbo. Your car is totaled but you're okay. That's what you told me on the phone. You're on muscle relaxers or pain killers or something."
Her face scrunched up and she slowly rolled over to look at him. He had a cowlick on the right side of his head and she reached up and patted it down. The small movement made her dizzy, so she settled back in to her pillows.
"So I had a nightmare, right?"
"Yes."
"Well that explains that."
She tended to have terrible nightmares when she was on any kind of medication, and her worst nightmares always included her calling out for Mulder. Sometimes she woke up in a panic as the last stitches of the dream fell out of her mind. When he was near he would soothe the nightmare away to the point where it didn't even linger in her subconscious.
He removed his arms from her and she shivered a little.
"Sorry I kept you here all night," she said, as her grasp on reality tightened.
"It's okay. The doctor told me to keep an eye on you anyway. You have a fever."
"I hate those."
"The pain killers aren't going to help that much. They always make you weird."
"I should just not take them. Though this pain in my shoulders is horrible. And my stomach is upset."
"You rest. I need to go home and then to work."
"I'll try and come in after lunch."
"No, give yourself time to recuperate. I'll be back tonight and I'll bring some dinner."
"You're nice."
"I try," he said, kissing her temple. "Call if you need me. And don't get out of bed just because you wanna prove something."
"Who, me?"
"Yes you. Who'da thunk?"
She smiled and he handed her a prescription bottle.
"Take one of these and go back to sleep. See you later."
"Hey."
"What?"
"I have to get a new car, huh?"
"Unless you've got an extra floating around here somewhere."
"Will you go with me?"
"Scully, that could be dangerous."
"So could staying in my bed until morning."
"I'm living on the wild side."
She rolled her eyes and he leaned down to kiss her forehead.
"Rest. I'll be back."
He left the apartment and she downed the pill. He'd been so different lately. Not really touchy-feely, but definitely touchy. His hand was on the small of her back more often, but also had been creeping up to her shoulders. Occasionally his hand found hers. After a long day at work, when the energy to do anything was gone, they sat on the couch together, a movie or inane TV show playing on the screen. Somehow she always ended up laying across the couch with her head in his lap. He would run his fingers through her hair, his finger sometimes sliding gently over her ear.
That behavior never would have happened a few months ago. But that New Years kiss had opened Pandora's Box, and there was no way to take it back.
Not that either of them wanted to.