Dana Scully was not new to Stevenson High. No, she has been there since freshmen year and, despite now being a senior, she was still overwhelmed by the school. A lot of changes can happen between the start and end of high school, she'd had an almost complete change of friends, change in possible career paths, change in personality. She used to be happy, bubbly, carefree but now...now she was quiet, withdrawn, unhappy. She still excelled at all her subjects, especially the sciences, but she was starting to put her hand up less, to smile less, to simply do well instead of inject her own personality into everything she did. When she walked to lessons with her friends she'd walk on her own, head down, no smile. At lunch she'd have the occasional laugh - just enough to stop people worrying. Often she preferred to walk home on her own than be surrounded by 30 people on the bus and so everyday she would walk through the local park listening to the birds sing and the wind whistle through the trees. When she got home she would mostly just listen to her favourite records and do homework, on her own. She must've been good at hiding her feelings as no one, not even her closest friends realised that something was wrong.
However, her current mood was not entirely unnoticed. There was one person who noticed all those silent sighs, the almost tearful eyes, and constant "tiredness". He, unfortunately, did not talk to Scully aside from the occasional joke or question.
"Hey Scully, what d'ya get for question 8 on page 164?"
"72. Why do you insist on calling me by my last name, everyone else calls me Dana?"
"I like calling you Scully."
"Fine, I'll call you Mulder then."
"Sounds good."
One day everything changed. At Stevenson High there were two science courses, one which separated the sciences into different lessons, and one that combined the three sciences into one class. If you didn't choose the triple science course you had to take combined science. Obviously Scully had taken triple science but Mulder hadn't, he never was one for much science, just the basics necessary for life. Being the smart pupil that she was, Scully was friendly with some of the science teachers, one of whom taught Mulder.
"Dana, may I have a word please." She walked away from the door and back towards Mr Johnson's desk. "There's a pupil in my core science class who needs help, I was wondering if you would mind tutoring him until he gets his grades up."
"Sure, who is it?"
"Fox Mulder."
"Well look who it is, if it isn't Dana Scully."
"Mulder if you aren't going to take science seriously I'll go have lunch with my friends."
"Aww come on Scully, I'm just kidding. Anyway, they aren't really your friends are they." he said while trying to hug her. This involved walking toward her with his arms open and attempting to 'catch' her.
Scully chose to ignore his comment and instead focused on science. "What do you want to start with? Biology, Chemistry, or physics?"
"Whatever you want Scully."
"Biology it is then."
For the rest of lunch they worked side by side until the bell for last lesson went.
"Hey, what've you got now?" asked Mulder as Scully was packing her books back into her bag.
"English with Mrs Thomas. What about you?"
"Psychology with Mr Daniels. You're in E24 right?" She nodded. "I'll walk you, I'm in W13 so it's only an extra few minutes."
"Oh, okay thanks."
On their way to their separate lessons Mulder and Scully talked a lot about their lives and eventually ended up swapping phone numbers. "So, I guess this is your class then."
"Yep I think it is."
"Okay well, I'll see you at lunch tomorrow then?"
"Sure, or if you wanted to finish your story you could ring me later?" Scully hinted.
Mulder tried to hide the excited look on his face. "Yeah, I'll do that."
"Well, I'll talk to you later then."
- The X Files -
"Dana, there's a young man on the phone for you." shouted Mrs Scully, a smile on her face. She covered the mouth piece, "He sounds nice, something you aren't telling us?"
"Mom, it's nothing. Mr Johnson wants me to tutor him." Her mother raised her eyebrows but said nothing and passed the phone to Dana. "Hey, Mulder." said Dana as she walked up to her room.
"Hey Scully, do you believe in aliens?"
"I think they may be out there but not anywhere near us, why?"
"I'm a big believer. I was thinking of going out to look at the stars on Friday, wanna join me? Think of it as my physics lesson."
"Okay, where should I meet you? I take it we won't need my books?" she laughed.
"No you won't. I'll pick you up around 8 if you want?"
"Sounds good. Anyway, I wanna hear the end of this story you were telling me..."
- The X Files -
For the rest of the week they stayed in at lunch and worked through the science course. Eventually friday came and Dana was waiting to be picked up. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Hey Scully, nice outfit."
Scully blushed. She had chosen to wear jeans and a shortish top which, as much as she tried to deny, did wonders for her chest area, not that she had considered that when thinking of the outing... "Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself."
"So, should we get going?" He motioned for her to follow and they began to walk down the street together. "I have this really special place I wanna show you. Only I know about it and it's perfect for stargazing."
"And alien hunting?" she joked.
He laughed and smiled down at her. "Yeah, actually, it is." he chuckled.
She gave out a small laugh and shook her head before looking down at the floor and smiling.
Finally they got to the top of the hill. "So, what do you think?"
From where she was standing Scully could see not just the stars but the whole town, illuminated in the darkness. "Oh my gosh, Mulder, it's beautiful."
He smiled. "I thought you'd like it. I can point out all the constellations as well." She was speechless. "What," he said, "surprised I know about stars but can't understand the Haber Process?"
"A little. How did you find this place?" She wandered slowly around the small clearing they were in.
"I used to go running in between studying and one day I got so distracted trying to learn the damn quadratic formula that when I finally snapped outta it I was here, looking over the town."
"Mulder-"
"I never did learn that equation." He laughed, "Come on, sit over here." She sat down next to him and gasped. From the spot they were sat in they could see everything; it seemed to Dana that the stars were putting on a show for them. "Look, there's Andromeda, it's best visible in the fall so we're looking at a good time. And there's Draco. I bet you didn't know but the myth behind Draco is that the god Gaia gave Hera an apple tree guarded by a dragon named Ladon. One day Hercules asks Atlas to grab some apples from the tree. Atlas agrees thinking he can force Hercules to hold up the Earth but it doesn't work and Hercules walks away without the Earth on his shoulders but with a handful of apples."
"So not only are you into star but greek myths as well? Mulder, I'm starting to see a hidden depth to you, one that I guess not that many people get to see and for that I'm honoured."
Eventually they decided that it was getting late. The walk back to the Scully residence was filled with non-stop chatter about anything the pair could think of. When they got to Dana's front door the conversation turned awkward. "Thank you for tonight Mulder, I really loved it."
He smiled, relieved. "It's okay, I knew you would like it and I wanted to share it with you."
"Well it was beautiful." She turned to open the door but Mulder grabbed her arm.
"Wait, just one more thing." Scully barely had time to open her mouth before she felt him kissing her, and her kissing back. After a few moments the kiss broke. "Dana-" His words were cut off by the sensation of another kiss.
- The X Files -
"Hey." Mulder was sat at the science desk with his books already out.
"Hey." She smiled and sat next to him. "So, how was your weekend?" She tried not to blush as she remembered her weekend. The two of them had been on the phone almost constantly to the point where her parents had been so annoyed they had taken the phone out of the wall so they could use it.
"It was good, I spent the whole weekend on the phone to this smart, beautiful girl who I might ask to be my girlfriend. You might know her actually." He smirked.
"Well really? I'm sure if you asked her she'd say yes you know."
"Maybe I'll have to ask her and find out. Dana Scully, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Yes, I would be honoured to have you as a boyfriend."
And just like that she was happy. Now she no longer had to listen to the trivial worries of her friends. No, now she had someone who truly understood her and did so without judgment. She raised her hand more, smiled more, laughed more. Despite the prying eyes of the other pupils watching as the school's resident nerd and wierdo kissed on corridors, they had no worries and felt free to say or do whatever they wanted because right then, they were invincible.