Author's Notes: I'm not a law enforcement officer nor do I play one on TV, so please be kind when reading this one. Thanks to Stephen for cleaning up a rather muddled rough draft and making it much more readable.

Spoilers: Tiny for Fight the Future, Millennium

Summary: Anything to not break their cover…

Dedicated to all the people who take the time to tell me how much they enjoy my stories;
you folks keep me writing, y'know.

Molasses
Rated PG
By Suzanne L. Feld

"Is he still behind us?"

"Ten-four, Team Alpha, suspect is approximately two hundred yards behind you and still moving."

"Thanks, Base." Mulder turned to glance down at Scully, rolling his eyes meaningfully. She flicked her gaze up at him and shrugged slightly, then tugged him away from the display window they'd been gazing into. They both knew he'd been asking her, not the monitoring agents in the van on the next block.

They strolled along the sidewalk among other pedestrians, Scully holding his arm. Both were dressed in casual clothes, jeans and shirts with light jackets on this October afternoon, which was warm and sunny but with a bit of a cool breeze that ruffled Mulder's spiky hair. Only the tiny, nearly colorless transceivers in their ears gave away the fact that they weren't a happy couple browsing the stores along Main Street, but the electronics couldn't be seen from more than a couple feet away.

"Base, Team Beta. Moving in a little closer, I'm afraid we'll lose him."

"Team Beta, hold distance. Slow down, don't run up on his heels. There are civilians everywhere and we don't want to spook him."

Mulder wished he could look back and see where the suspect was; the van with the other agents was on the next street and could only see them between buildings so they didn't have him under constant surveillance. If the suspect got too close he might see the transceiver in his ear; Scully's was hidden by her hair and he wished yet again he'd been able to talk the ASAC to not having him wear one. If the other pair of agents were pushing the suspect to move faster, spooking him, he might catch sight of the clear plastic coil going from Mulder's collar to his ear.

"Team Alpha, suspect is now less than a hundred yards behind you and gaining. Team Beta, detour to your right into the next passageway between the buildings; break contact immediately! Team Alpha, suspect is about to pass you on the left."

"Damn," Mulder muttered. Of course his transceiver was in his left ear. They were coming up on a small grassy park near the center of the small town, which had a scattering of wrought-iron park benches around a small wooden gazebo. "Roll with me here, Scully," he warned, glancing past her to make sure that the white van wasn't in sight, but luckily there was a solid block of buildings between them and it. "Hang on."

Squeezing his arm against his side so that she couldn't easily remove her hand, he led them off the sidewalk and to a park bench, sat swiftly, then took her by the waist and swung her sideways into his lap. Before he saw much more than wide, startled blue eyes, he had taken her face in both hands and brought her mouth to his.

Though it was risky, Mulder was fairly sure that none of the other agents could see them. The pair that had been behind them had been called off and the van was out of sight down the next block, while the other agents waiting to make the collar were in the bar that the suspect was known to frequent and presumably heading for at the moment. This was one good thing about having a female partner, he thought with private amusement; he wouldn't have done this with Krycek or Spender no matter what the situation.

For Scully, it was all a blur from the time they entered the park until he kissed her. Her first impulse was to yank away when his big, warm hands framed her face and he pressed his mouth to hers, but she quickly realized what he was doing. After a moment of hesitation she slid her arms around his neck, careful not to dislodge his earpiece while hiding it with her sleeve, and pressed herself against him as if they really were impatient lovers necking on a park bench. His hands moved from her face to settle around her waist, holding her firmly but not restrictively against his hard body.

However, she did keep her head enough to make sure the suspect wouldn't see their transceivers as he walked by in her peripheral vision. She kept her eyes cracked open just a little and, despite the strange yet welcome feel of Mulder's strong body against hers, she made sure the suspect hadn't unduly noticed them before turning her attention to her partner. It was then that she realized that Mulder was really kissing her. This was no show, not make-believe so the suspect would ignore them and not look too closely. This was the real thing, a true lover's kiss if ever she'd felt one.

She couldn't have resisted him even if she'd wanted to.

Without thinking about it she melted into his arms and kissed him back, eyes falling closed, lips sliding and caressing against each other's, her breasts pressed to his firm chest. For the moment she let herself go, realizing that this is what that interrupted kiss in the hallway a couple years back would have been like if not for that damned bee. Then she felt his lips part beneath hers and his tongue brushed against her lightly. The bottom dropped out of her stomach in a combination of arousal and surprise, and before she even realized what she was doing Scully had opened her mouth and met his tongue with hers, her arms tightening around his neck as the kiss rose to a whole new level.

Time stood still as the kiss went on and on until their earpieces suddenly crackled. "Team Alpha, suspect is turning the corner past the park, re-engage at distance. Team Beta, remain in place."

They both jumped at the voices, breaking the kiss and faces moving apart though Scully didn't get up. They stared briefly into the other's eyes with astonishment, her arms clasped loosely around his neck while his were wrapped around her slender waist beneath her windbreaker. For a moment—or more—both of them had forgotten who and what they were and been only, truly, lovers on a park bench in the warm October sunshine. "Base, ten-four," Mulder said low, gazing up into her eyes as she sat on his lap staring at him as if he'd turned into a Reticulan. "We're leaving the park now and will stay at least a hundred feet back."

"Affirmative, Team Alpha."

Scully probed his eyes with hers, finding both seriousness and arousal but no amusement or frivolity as she slowly stood up, balancing herself with a hand on his broad shoulder. She nodded slightly, then took his hand as he stood. They walked out of the park, still appearing to be a couple wandering through town with nothing better to do rather than a pair of federal agents engaged in a covert operation and about to capture a dangerous wanted felon. None of the people around them, both in the park and moving along the sidewalks, seemed to think a thing of their pause to make out and then walking on.

They turned the corner in time to see the suspect enter the bar they'd been fairly certain he'd been heading for. Immediately they let go of each other and broke into a run while reaching for their guns even as the other pair of agents left cover and also headed for the storefront bar. There was already a car in the alley behind the building with agents blocking the rear exit and several in the bar, so by the time they entered the building the suspect was already subdued and, shortly, cuffed after a brief scuffle in which no one was hurt.

"Good work, everyone," the ASAC called as the assembled agents stood around the front of the bar a short time later, the suspect already taken away. "That couldn't have gone better. Be sure to turn in your earpieces at the van before you go, but barring that you're released."

After handing in their equipment Mulder glanced at Scully as they began the half-dozen or so block walk back to their Bureau car, which was parked in a somewhat remote hiking trailhead lot on the outskirts of town. Both knew that it was unlikely that any of the other agents had seen them on the park bench by the lack of comment, nor would anyone see them in the car as they'd parked as far from the action as possible so as not to alert the suspect.

She was aware of his brief perusal, but at a total loss as to how to respond. "You kissed me," seemed a bit too obvious, "Was that a real kiss?" too clueless, and "Take me home, big boy" perhaps a bit too forward.

She didn't seem angry at him, Mulder mused as they walked, but she also didn't seem thrilled. Perhaps she had just been acting on that park bench, although it seemed unlikely to him. No, he was sure of what he'd felt, her unrestrained and passionate response, but how to bring it up? And what to do about it? There was no way he was letting this go without further investigation, but he had to be careful and not spook her, he thought. Say the wrong thing and she'd clam up and hide behind her usual brick wall. There had to be a way to say or do the right thing…

They reached the car and each got in their side; Mulder, as usual, was driving. Once inside he hesitated before sliding the key into the ignition, glancing over at her again to find her looking back at him.

"Oh, for God's sake, Mulder, molasses moves faster than we do," she said with clear exasperation and some asperity. Scully then slid across the seat and, taking his face in her small strong hands much like he'd done to her earlier in the park, brought his head down to hers and kissed him.

Now he was shocked immobile, but not for long. Without even thinking about it he again slid his arms around her waist, turning in his seat to face her, careful not to touch her anywhere she might object to and cause any problems between them. Instead he turned his attention and energy to the kiss, already lost in the feeling of her lips and tongue working on and in his mouth. The next thing he knew, Scully was pressed back against the passenger door, her arms wrapped around his neck and pulling him to her as strongly as he was pressing against her. Their mouths slanted back and forth, noses bumping and teeth clinking and tongues visiting both ways as they all but devoured each other.

Slowly they broke the kiss, gasping for breath. "Jesus, Scully, if you wanted to make out in the car all you ever had to do was ask," he cracked, suddenly nervous as he leaned back in the seat and held her against his chest.

"Ask, hell," she breathed against his neck. "Don't you know by now that when I want something, I go for it?"

"I'm getting the idea," he said, turning his head to bury his face in her soft, citrus-smelling hair the way he'd wanted to for years. "I take it you don't object to my kissing you in the park?"

"I not only thought it was a brilliant idea at the moment, but about damn time," she said throatily. "Now, are we going to talk or make out some more?"

He pulled back and stared at her in surprise, then both of them broke into wide smiles at the other. "I vote for making out," he muttered huskily, lowering his face to hers. "Why didn't you tell me sooner you could kiss so damn good, Scully?"

"If I'd know how good you could kiss, Mulder, that sweet little New Year's Eve peck wouldn't have been the end of it," she murmured against his lips. "Now would you please shut up and kiss me?"

There was no further talking for some time, and when the nondescript Bureau pool Ford did finally pull out and leave the small town it was nearly dark. Though each sat in their proper place with seat belts on, their hands were linked across the expanse of seat between them. And if it took a bit longer to make it back to D.C. than it had to drive out there, neither of them ever felt it necessary to explain the eight brief rest stops on the twenty-mile drive back.

finis