A/N: I don't own the X-Files or Fringe. Cross posted on ao3. I tagged Fringe because there will be an eventual crossover, don't ask where or when it's being posted. You'll have to wait. :)
It was his first day of the second term and he solemnly walked into his Psychology 101 class. During the term break, he learned that his girlfriend, Diana, had slept with his best friend Tony. He had never felt so betrayed by anyone. The thought of his best friend in bed with his girlfriend, it made him sick to his stomach. It got him thinking though, what would possess somebody so much to cheat on their loved ones?
That's when he saw something in his peripheral that caught his attention, not something, someone. He didn't notice his jaw drop, this someone was absolutely gorgeous. He was mesmerized by her beauty and grace she displayed with every step she took. It was slow motion in his mind. Her fiery red hair swayed with every step. It was shoulder length but it suited her, deep blue eyes mixed with various shades of green, and skin made of porcelain. She walked passed him and winked. Who was this woman?
The professor arrived shortly after, dressed in a suit and tie, like he was about to walk down the red carpet, clean shaven and fresh haircut. The professor began roll call. "Fox Mulder?" Mulder didn't respond, he was too busy staring at the beautiful red head. The professor called out his name again but with a little more force this time, "Fox Mulder"
The woman pointed forward to the professor and he took the hint, "Sorry, please call me Mulder and present." He turned back around only to get caught gawking at her. She decided to have a little fun. The mystery woman waved, blinked and blew him a kiss. He felt his cheeks got hot and smiled to himself. Mulder turned to face the professor again, trying to hide his face from her. He listened to the rest of roll call and waited for the professor to call out her name. He looked back one more time to find that she wasn't there. 'Wait, was she even real? Am I just imagining things?'
"Dana Scully?" There was a slight pause and then he heard her voice next to him. It nearly made him crawl out of skin in fear.
"Present" She leaned over to him and whispered, "I couldn't help but notice that you were practically drooling the moment I walked into the lecture hall so I figured why not have a little fun have while I'm at it. Hi, I'm Dana. Also I thought I should properly introduce myself." Mulder was momentarily taken aback when she spoke. Her voice was liquid velvet; so elegant, so sexy. Suddenly his eyes went wide. He was being completely rude. "What cat got your tongue?" She said in effort to get his attention.
"Oh right my apologies. I'm Mulder"
"Well Mulder, it's nice to meet you." Mulder felt like a middle school adolescent with his first crush. He's talked to plenty women throughout his life but he didn't understand why he couldn't form a simple sentence with Dana. There was another moment of uncomfortable silence between the two and then Mulder blurted out something completely random.
"My mother took a course on Psychology. " He wanted to punch himself in the face. 'Out of all the things you could've said, you chose that.' Dana was suddenly intrigued.
"Where did your mother go to school?"
"I wouldn't exactly call her my mother but she went to Stanford University."
"What brings you to Baltimore?"
"My father. He's a professor here."
"What does your father teach?" She asked even more curious than before.
"I'm not exactly sure what he teaches, he keeps to himself most of the time but I think he teaches in the field of government and politics."
"Woah woah, back up. Your father is Dr. William Mulder?!" The entire class looked at her.
"Could you say that a little bit louder? I don't think China heard you." He replied sarcastically.
"Sorry I'm just so surprised."
"You know who my father is?"
"Of course! He's only the best political scientist in the world!" Dana was geeking over his father and this made him slightly uncomfortable.
"He is something I give you that" He muttered under his breath.
She ignored his last sentence and asked, "What does your mother do?"
"She is also a professor, here at the school actually. Metaphysics."
"What's Metaphysics?"
"It's the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time and space."
"Jesus you must come from a family of geniuses" Dana spoke with a hint of jealousy.
"I guess you could say that." He lowered his head slightly. Dana was quite thrown by his last gesture and took it as a sign to drop that conversation.
The professor spoke up, "Alright class. Let me introduce myself. I'm professor Skinner. Before we get started, I would like to test your knowledge about Psychology. Now can anyone tell me what the definition of psychology is?"
Mulder "whispered" into Dana's ear, "Easy one" The so-called whisper was heard throughout the entire lecture hall.
Professor Skinner grabbed his attendance sheet, "Mr. Mulder, is it? Would you be so kind as to sharing your answer with the entire class rather than Ms. Scully" Dana snorted in an effort to suppress her laughter.
Mulder smirked at the professor, "It's the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context."
"Very good. Now I suggest you wipe that smirk off your face before I become a high school teacher and hold you after class," Mulder was expressionless and this made the professor laugh, "Alright moving on. This next one might sound a little stupid but it's one of psychology's greatest question. Why do we dream?
The class was dead silent, as the professor expected, "I figured as much, we dream because" He was interrupted.
"According to Freud, our dreams represent our unconscious wishes that we're too afraid of expressing in our conscious lives but there are other theories that say our dreams are simply created by random stimulation that occurs in our brains during sleep. Also, it's been said that dreams reflect our hidden desires." The professor was thrown.
"I've been teaching Psychology for twenty five years, I've had some of the, now, greatest psychologists in the world take my class. When I started teaching twenty five years ago, I asked those two exact questions and you, Ms. Scully, have been the only student I've had to answer that question. I'm quite impressed." The professor clapped his hands, the class soon followed his actions.
The professor chuckled, "Alright, let's get focused into today's lesson. Everyone turn your texts to page…"
Mulder leaned over to her, "Would you like to grab some coffee in between classes?"
"Wow this is the first time you've spoken to me without stammering over your words, I'm impressed." She winked at him again, this drove him absolutely crazy. In a good way. Dana turned forward, opened her notebook and began jotting down the gibberish that the professor was spouting off. 'God even when she's taking notes, she beautiful. He felt like a lovestruck teen staring with googly eyes. 'Come on Mulder, pull yourself together.'
Professor Skinner dismissed the class. Dana and Mulder walked out together. She casually slipped her hand into his and interlocked her fingers with his. The professor smiled at himself at the sight of this gesture.
The gesture took Mulder's breath away. It shocked him yes, but at the same time it felt… natural. When they walked outside, Dana shivered slightly. Mulder had worn a scarf that day. He took off his scarf and gently wrapped it around Dana's neck. "Here" he said. His knuckles grazed against her skin and she shivered in pleasure. Then a snowflake landed on his nose. She giggled and slipped her hand back into his and made their way to the cafe.
"So Dana, tell me something about yourself."
Dana thought for a moment, she didn't want to scare him away but didn't want him to lose interest in her. So she started simple, "Well as you already know I'm a geek for your dad, also I know why people dream."
Mulder raised his eyebrows and chuckled, they walked into the cafe just off the west end of campus. "That's all you got? What's something you don't normally tell people on a date?"
"This is a date?" She asked.
"Well kind of, more like a pre-first date. To see if I'd like to take you for an official date." He winked at her and she punched him in the arm softly.
"What can I get you started with?" The barista asked.
Dana spoke first, " I'll take a large black tea with a slice of lemon on the side."
"And for you sir?"
"I'll take a large black coffee." They quickly sat down at the nearest open table. "Dana you never answered my question. What's something interesting about you?"
"Like I already told you. I'm a geek for your dad and know why people dream" Mulder gave her a look that screamed 'Oh really' "Fine, fine you win. If you must know, I'm an Olympic medalist." Dana casually sipped on her tea.
Mulder choked on his coffee in surprise, Dana spoke "It's hot you know"
"Yeah, no kidding, they need a warning label 'Caution don't drink while someone tells you shocking news because you will burn something" There was a pregnant silence. "So, Olympic medalist uh?"
"Yeah," She paused for a moment. "Can you guess which sport and what country I competed for?"
"Based on the way you walk, I'd say you're a figure skater."
"I'm impressed, you got one answer right. Now which country did I compete for?"
Mulder smirked at her, "Trick question. You competed for the U.S."
"Wrong!" She laughed at him.
"How can you compete for a different country when you were born in the US"
"Dual citizenship is a wonderful thing my friend!"
"Okay, okay, fine. England."
"Nope!" She giggled. He loved the way her nose crinkled when she laughed. Determined to see the crinkle in her nose again, he said
"North Korea." They both laughed.
"Oh my god, Mulder NO!"
"Can I have a hint?" He gave her puppy dog eyes. Now who can say no to that?
"Good aye mate!" She butchered.
"Canada! What brought you there Dana?" Now very intrigued.
"Please call me Scully. My dad is a US ambassador and we traveled all over the world. I think we lived in eight different countries before I was sixteen."
"Ooooo, where have you been and what's your favorite country you've lived in?"
"I've lived in the US, obviously, Argentina, Italy, Japan, Pakistan for a few weeks and I decided that I wanted to go back to Australia and live with my aunt for a little bit. Then I lived in Canada, which was convenient because the 2010 Olympics were in Vancouver. After the Olympics, my dad asked me to pick a country to live in during my recovery. I chose Albania, which if you haven't been there you definitely need to spend a few weeks there. It's absolutely goregous. Now I'm back in the US studying medicine."
"Dr. Scully, I like the ring to that. Why don't you compete anymore? You're still very young."
"I got injured during my final competition. I was doing my final jump of the short program, a quadruple toe loop, and I lost my footing and broke my ankle." She lifted her pant leg up to reveal the scar. "It was a compound fracture, a few screws and a plate later I was good as new but I couldn't compete anymore."
"I'm sorry Scully."
"The funny thing was that I had them splint my ankle and I waited until awards were presented. Despite the fall, I still got the silver. My dad was so insistent that I go to the hospital straight away but I was too stubborn to go until I knew my results."
"Tell me about your dad Scully."
"Despite him being gone for work all the time, he was a great father. He took me to the gym every chance he could and he'd tell me stories that his grandfather told him when he was in WWII. He was amazing. Unfortunately, he passed away due to a heart attack. What about your father Mulder?" He oozed uneasiness.
"Oh god Scully, I'm so sorry." Mulder hesitated before continuing. "He like your dad was absent and too focused on his career that he forgot he had a family. He was considered an 'A-list' celebrity in the collegiate world. Teachers and students raved about him like he was some sort of god. I mean he was in a political sense. He was smarter than most the politicians in office now. Some of the politicians hate him because they feel threatened by his knowledge and the rest of them want him to run for Congress."
"I'm sorry Mulder" She reached over and grabbed his hand.
"Don't be. The past is in the past. We've grown a little bit closer since I started attending college here. I almost went to Oxford in England but I'm glad I didn't. Otherwise, I wouldn't be on a date with this amazing woman." He smiled at her.
She took another sip of her tea and looked at her watch. "Oh shit, I'm going to be late for my next class! Bye Mulder," She gave him a kiss on the cheek as she ran out the cafe. "I had a great time, we should do this again!" She yelled as she ran out the door.
'On that note' he thought, he left a tip on the table and headed back to his dorm. His next class didn't start for two more hours. What he loved about his dorm is that it's centrally located. It was a five minute walk to the cafe, five minutes from his mother's office, five from his father's office and five from the Psychology lecture hall. When he decided to take Psychology he thought he would absolutely hate it but then Dana Scully walked into his life and suddenly his life had meaning again.
Keep going?