Disclaimer: I do not own The X-Files. But I do own the original 9 seasons on DVD so there's that.
Authors Notes: Playing around with earlier seasons make for some nicer, more fun possibilities. I do have some ideas (especially trying to bridge the movies to the newer, frustrating seasons) but for the moment I wanna stick to the earlier seasons and the flirty friendship stuff. For Valentine's Day (and Single Awareness Day) I present this odd little spur of the moment fic (about odd little smiles).
Odd Little Smiles
It was a cold, misty day on the Virginia coast when they caught a break. Darting out of their car, weapons drawn, they yelled for their target to freeze, shaking a little in the chilly night air. The masked man seemed to give them a look through his balaclava, as if to say "I'm already a bundled up human popsicle". And then he made a break for it. They were quick to make pursuit; it was a fairly roundabout chase with their undercover guy landing a terrific tackle by a bunch of crates. The man yelled and thrashed around, kicking sludgy water at them all but he was caught. And thus three days of stakeout hell was over.
Last Friday afternoon, Mulder had gotten a call from an old friend who needed help. His friend was stretched thin on agents and simply needed an extra set of legs to cover one of seven potential smuggling sites. He extended the offer to Scully and she accepted right away, keen to show what she was made of, and glad to do some normal work for a change. If she had known their stakeout would consist of three days in the car nestled between a rendering plant and a sludgy barge, she would not have been so eager to accept.
"Good work, you two." Their undercover guy was strong-arming the perp towards an unmarked police van.
"You got the guy," Mulder said, waving away the praise.
"Yeah, but you two helped me corner him. You two make a, uh, really good team."
The agent shot them that odd little smile they'd been getting lately. The one Scully noticed only because Mulder pointed it out a few weeks ago. The one they'd get with an undertone of sarcasm from some of the gossipy women in the office when they asked what they were up to all alone down in the basement. Or from some posturing men who had the balls to call Scully "Mrs. Spooky" to her face (thank you very much, Agent Colton). It was that "are they or aren't they" sort of smile that ultimately judged "they are". Scully didn't know if she should be bothered for its unprofessionalism or if she should ignore such immaturity. For now, she chose to follow Mulder's oblivious, if not uncaring, attitude.
"Thanks. You got it from here, Ducky?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll need your copy of the paperwork by tomorrow, Foxy but just take the missus home."
Scully narrowed her eyes at him but Mulder seemed to pay his old buddy no mind. He whirled around back to the car and Scully rushed to catch up, barely sidestepping some unidentifiable puddle of thick goo.
"You wanna drive straight to D.C?" Mulder asked as he climbed into the car.
"Almost four hours? I need some food first," Scully looked at the discarded wrappers littering the floor, "Something warm that doesn't crunch."
"I got a pack of Twinkies in the glove compartment."
"Mulder..."
"Okay. How about we hit up that cafe up by the docks."
"Sure. Drive."
In fifteen minutes time, they were away from the warehouse district and in front of the new, trendy restaurants boasting everything from local seafood to authentic Italian fare. It was nearing 6pm and Scully took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes looked tired, and she managed to get some sort of mystery smudge on her collar bone. Mulder didn't seem to fare any better. Both their suits were wrinkled and they didn't exactly smell spring time fresh. She considered asking him to get food to go so they could eat in the car but something inside protested the idea of being stuck inside the car for longer than necessary. And if she felt stifled and cramped, she couldn't imagine how Mulder felt being significantly taller.
"You coming?" Mulder looked over at her as he opened his door.
"Yeah. Right behind."
They ambled into the Cozy Clam Cafe and were promptly treated to a red and pink color scheme that would make Barbie wince.
"Table for two?"
"Uh, yeah," Mulder said after a moment, taking in all the hanging heart-shaped paper clams.
They followed the chirpy hostess to a table that was beset with a red cloth, a pink candle, and white roses in the center. Scully nudged the flowers over, noting they were looking a bit dried out from the candle's heat.
"We have a lover's delight special," their waitress said as she set down menus.
"What's in it?" Mulder asked.
"Our aphrodisi-clam appetizer to share, a choice of ooh-la-la linguini in mushroom sauce or mi amore pasta pomodoro for the entree. And for dessert a chocolate make-you-scream ice cream on a brownie crust."
They took a moment to look at the menu. Scully was torn between laughing and mulling over the weirdness of the situation. She opted to compare prices and dimly noticed the special did save them some money. And the pictures looked pretty good.
"Can I add chicken to my ooh-la-la linguini?"
Mulder said it so seriously, so decidedly deadpan, that Scully couldn't help the stifled giggle-snort. The waitress looked over and offered an odd smile, looking at Scully's hand which was desperately trying to cover her entire, too-red face. At least she matched the tablecloth.
"Sure can, it'll be an extra charge of $1."
"Sounds good," Mulder said with a smile, "What do you want, Scully?"
"I'm..." she tried to take a few breaths and force the giggles down. In her defense, she had slept for about nine hours over the course of three days.
"Do you want her to read the choices again?"
"No!" Scully finally raised her head, "I'll take the other pasta dish. The pomodoro."
"Excellent. And to drink?"
"Water," Scully said.
"Same," Mulder replied.
"I'll be back with your drinks shortly. Enjoy your date night!"
"What?"
But the waitress was already long gone and didn't hear Scully. But Mulder heard and she wasn't sure if he'd ignore it like he usually did or...
"Date night, huh?"
"Not sure where she got that idea. We don't look like we're dressed for any sort of date," Scully said dryly.
"You look fine. A little disheveled but, you know, grunge is in these days."
Scully rolled her eyes at that.
Soon enough a portly man with a brushy mustache strolled over and displayed his violin.
"Make'a request?"
Scully looked over at Mulder who seemed to mull over what he would say. She just hoped he wouldn't make some obscene song request. The man wore fake, plastic wings behind him and gave them a weird look. It reminded her of those odd smiles from her fellow agents but... more.
"I see you tired. Honeymoon?"
"Honey...moon?"
"You no sleep. Because honeymoon," the violinist waggled his eyebrows and Scully could only gape as Mulder ran with it.
"Oh yeah, this little lady's been riding me, on and off, for three days."
"Mulder!"
"It's technically true. I'm pretty sure I said those exact words a few hours ago."
She turned to the violinist and levelled him a stony stare, "We don't need music, thank you. Move along."
The violinist made an over exaggerated, 'ooohhh' noise and Mulder mumbled something about being in the doghouse.
"Lack of sleep has made you cranky, Scully."
"Keep it up and I will jam these flowers somewhere unpleasant."
"Usually I have to pay extra for that."
"The candle will be joining them."
Luckily their waitress showed up with the appetizers before he could respond and they ate in relative silence with Scully taking more than her fair share of the clams. With surprising speed, as soon as the last clam strip was done, the sprightly blonde was upon them with steaming pasta dishes. Barring the weird decor, the food was quite tasty and the service was fast. She realized why when she saw several people streaming in. All pairs. She overheard a few complaining about overbooked reservations. Not a lot of people would think to come down to the docks for dinner on a Monday but it seemed a lot of people had the idea of eating out. Within minutes the place filled up and that Italian violinist was playing a passable version of Careless Whisper. That really was the type of song that needed a saxophone to do it justice.
"A rose for your date?"
Scully looked up to see a woman with several individual roses in a basket a few tables down. Three roses were successfully sold before she got to their table.
"A rose for-"
"I'm not his date," Scully cut her off.
The woman looked at the two of them. The amused look on Mulder's face and the presumably embarrassed look on Scully's.
"Oh, sorry. Girlfriend?"
Scully startled back a bit. "No."
"Wife?" A pause at Scully's shaking head and then a whisper, "Mistress?"
"What!?"
Now it was Mulder's turn to snort. She was going to chew him out when they were done. Or better yet, she'd steal his chocolate ice cream.
"We're partners," Mulder finally explained.
"Rose for your partner?" She asked with some confusion.
"No," Scully answered decisively.
The rose pusher finally seemed to realize there was no sale to be had here and moved on to the next table. Their waitress popped up with two bowls of chocolate ice cream in the pinkest, floweriest looking bowl she'd ever seen. Surely someone's grandmother was missing her tea set.
"Let me know when you're ready for your check!"
Scully did not, in fact grab Mulder's chocolatey confection but only because she was getting tired and she was more than ready to leave the clam shack and the drooping flowers and shiny streamers and bizarre winged baby cut-outs on the walls. Wait a second...
"What day is it today?" She asked after swallowing a mouthful of chocolate.
"Today? Why it's Christmas Day, Scrooge."
"Haha, very funny. Seriously, Mulder."
"It's Monday."
"Monday what?"
"I don't know. Monday night?"
"It was the eleventh on Friday, right? When we got that case from Agent... Ducky?"
"Yeah," he nodded, still not explaining the meaning behind that nickname. He probably never would.
She pressed on, connecting the dots in her head, "So that makes today the fourteenth. February 14th."
"Nice to see your math skills aren't rusty."
"Mulder. It's Valentine's Day," she said with the triumphant confidence of someone who finally figured out a frustrating puzzle. The kind of puzzle that, in retrospect, was one of those kiddie puzzles because it really should've been obvious.
"Huh," he said as he looked around. "So it is."
"I can't believe it. How did we forget it was Valentine's Day?"
"Well, I celebrate National Singles Day."
"That's not a thing, Mulder."
"It's a thing in China."
"That's-"
"I'm sorry," their waitress popped in to interrupt Scully's rambling argument, "I don't mean to rush you but we've got some people who are waiting for the table and if you're almost done..."
"Um, yeah sure," Scully hurriedly scooped the rest of her ice cream into her mouth and Mulder followed suit. They had a long drive to make so they may as well get going.
With the bill covered and the waitress offering her effusive thanks, they grabbed their coats and headed out.
"I hope you and your, um, partner enjoyed your meal." The hostess called after them. She had apparently been talking with the flower lady and gotten clarification on what they were. Well, that made one of them.
"Thanks. We're work partners," Scully felt the need to clarify.
"Sure. If you're ever in the area, come visit us again," the hostess said with that oh so familiar smile.
It didn't help that Mulder had his hand on Scully's back as they were heading out the door. He'd done it a few times in the past but this was really not helping. In fact he may be the reason for all those infuriating, patronizing smiles. She'd make sure to talk to him about it when they got back to D.C. Maybe. Probably. Sigh.
"You okay, Scully?"
"It's been a long day."
"Yeah. Maybe this'll cheer you up," he shoved a white rose under her nose and had her moving back a bit.
"You... did you buy this?"
"No. I took it from the table."
Scully debated taking it or giving him a look to make him as uncomfortable and just plain weird as she had felt throughout that whole dinner. With a sigh she decided to grab the rose and stuff it in her pocket.
"Not much of a green thumb, huh?"
"It was already on its last legs. I'll press it into a book or something."
They walked the short distance to their car and got in. The radio station was blaring out some 80s power ballad about love. The next station had a bubblegum pop tune about crushes. After that was Whitney Houston's powerhouse vocals and one station over it was Barry White.
"Just leave it," Scully sighed.
"You sure?"
"They're all gonna be love songs on this day."
He nodded and didn't say much else until they pulled out. They hit their third light before Mulder spoke up.
"All that stuff back there, did it really bother you that much?"
She made a face. How much was she willing to reveal to Mulder? Especially considering how convoluted it all sounded in her head. No, in and of itself, being caught in a restaurant on Valentine's Day shouldn't be a big deal. She could've laughed off his jokes and with a bit more sleep and less grime on her clothes, she might've met his flirty jokes with quips of her own and coyly raised eyebrows. These are things she thought were an in-joke for them but apparently it seemed obvious to everyone and their grandmother that they're... comfortable with each other? She's not sure. So many thoughts raced through her head.
Everyone kept assuming they're together in some way and it would be easy if he backed her up and shut it all down but he seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of her and sure, on some days his flirtiness confused and annoyed her but on other days it was kind of nice and maybe she did enjoy it because it was safe and it was fun and no one got hurt but once in a blue moon she maybe wanted something more but they couldn't be more because she'd already been down that road before and there was no way she'd get involved with a co-worker again... But Mulder didn't need to know all that. At worst, it would strain their partnership, at best he'd make a dumb joke about it.
"Is today a blue moon?"
Undaunted by her non sequitur, he answered, "I'm surprised it isn't pink."
"Um, thanks for the flower."
"You're welcome."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smile. Not his usual teasing smirk or his placating grin. It was just the smile of a man she'd worked with and grew to trust. A man she was still trying to figure out even though everyone else around them already claimed to know what they were about. She fingered the crumpled rose in her pocket and returned his smile. The only two smiles that mattered were in that dingy Buick traveling 50 MPH up the I-64.
End Notes: Did I say "smile" enough in this fic? I don't know. I wrote this all in one go and I hope it doesn't come off as too rambly. I had so many different ideas for a Valentines fic but I didn't want to get too fluffy and kissy. As far as I know, there's no restaurant called the Cozy Clam Cafe but imagine the jokes if there were. Especially if it was decorated pink on the inside
(Special thanks to EstellaCrane for her authentic Virginia knowledge; I edited accordingly and hopefully it's more believable. I appreciate the corrections on these kinds of things. If any readers have other corrections or questions for this or future fics, let me know!)
Happy Valentine's Day (and Single Awareness Day for those like me who like to live vicariously through fictional characters' love lives! Hah!)