Apparently there were several Springfields in the United States. The one Scully mistakenly thought they were headed to was a six hour plane ride away, while the one they were actually going to was a mere hour and a half.
While he initially anticipated her relief, she stared at him with open-mouth shock and a look of exhasperation. "W-what?" he asked, not nderstanding her reaction.
"Mulder, I took two Benadryl to knock me out for the flight. I'm going to be so out of it," she explained as she stepped onto the plane a few steps behind him.
"Well we're just going to the motel, so you can just sleep during the car ride and when we get there," he shrugged.
"But-"
"No, buts Scully. Relax, you've been on your feet all day."
She accepted without fighting and took her seat near the window as he slid into the row aisle. After settling in, and during the flight attendant's saftey speil, he saw her lean her head back and close her eyes. While he initially thought it was her preparing for take off, something he knew she was scared of no matter how much she pretended it didn't, when her head lolled onto her shoulder, he realized she was actually out cold. If one Benadryl made him drowsy, he couldn't imagine what two did to her significantly smaller frame.
"Scully?" he whispered, testing to see if she was really in as deep of a sleep as it seemed.
The REM flickering of her eyes behind her eyelids and puffs of breath coming from her parted lips hitting his arm were his only response.
She stayed like that for the entirety of the flight while he couldn't keep his eyes off her. He tried to limit himself at first, nervous of her waking up and catching him, but he didn't know when an opportunity to watch her in such an intimate way would present itself again.
As time passed, she shifted her body weight so that she was leaning into his side, luckily the middle elbow rest had been put up from the last flight and neither of them had put it back down, so there was nothing in between her warm weight and the side of his body. Her head came to rest on his shoulder like it was a pillow and he could smell wafts of her shampoo everytime she nuzzled into him, as if she was trying to burrow herself into his side.
Ocassionally, little sleepy sounds would escape her and he swore they were the cutest noises he'd ever heard. Nothing much, just little sighs of contentment and hums in the back of her throat that gave him a ridiculous sense of pride, as if him merely sitting there had been thier catalyst.
He almost wished it had been the six hour away Springfield because all too suddenly a voice came over the loud speaker announcing their dissent. He expected Scully would wake up from the jarring result of the wheels hitting the tarmac, but aside from bustling into him and tilting her head to cast a curtain of auburn hair over her face, she didn't seem to notice.
He continued to sit there while other passengers got up, looking at him with happiness in their eyes and smiles stretching their cheeks as they watched, what they believed to be, a young man enjoying the company of his significant other. It was a role he enjoyed playing, so he was reluctant when the time came to shake Scully's shoulder lightly.
"Scully?" he whispered into her hair, trying to rouse her.
She made a sound of acknowledgement, but turned her face more into him, lethargically grabbing his arm as if pulling a pillow closer to oneself for comfort during the night. Endeared, he tried again by squeezing her shoulder softly, "Scully, we landed."
"I'm co-mfertable" she mumbled against his arm while not fully awake, seemingly fine with holding onto him for the rest of the night. He'd never wanted to stay on a plane more in his life.
"We just have to go to the hotel and then you can sleep as much as you want. Okay?" he reassured, brushing her hair behind her ear to reveal her sleep-flushed cheeks.
Taking her time, she slowly sat upright and peeked her eyes open. Correction: she opened her eyes as much as she could, which just so happened to be a small crack, barely wide enough for him to see the sleepiness in the blue haze that focused on him. Recognition seemed to slowly dawn on her and she gave him the sweetest smile he'd ever seen. It was so content and loving it made him hold his breath in fear of disrupting the moment. "Hi," she murmured, the quality of her voice evidence of the drugs effects.
When he told her not to worry about it, he hadn't really considered the 'in-between' processes of getting her to and from places she could sleep. "Are you ready?" he asked softly, grabbing her purse from underneath the seat in front of her and throwing the strap around his shoulder.
"Ready, for what?" she mumbled, closing her eyes and careening towards the headrest. He reached out and grabbed her arm and gently pulled her upright.
Laughing lightly at how accurate she'd been about her prediction earlier, he stood up and helped her up. "Just follow me, Scully. I gotcha."
"M'kay Muldey," she replied dreamily, holding her hands out to him for balance. Navigating through the narrow aisles was harder than anticipated while trying to prevent her from smashing her thighs into the seats, but he was able to get her off the plane with minimal injury.
She hadn't woken up more though her eyes were a bit more open, just looking hooded rather than closed. With a glossy gaze, she looked around her surroundings as if trying to make sense of them before ultimately returning back to Mulder. Each time her focus was on him, she sent a beaming smile his way, closing her eyes slowly and jutting her chin out at him. It reminded him of a cat showing affection, and he couldn't help but smile back from the happiness she seemed to express everytime she realized he was there.
While he looked at the airport directory to find the rental car place, she let her body lean against his, with a little more force than she was probably aware of as she was standing dead weight, but he loved it nonetheless. "Yusmllgd," she babbled.
"What was that?" he asked, craning his neck down so his ear was closer to her mouth.
"You smell good," she sighed, squeezing her hand in between his side and arm so that she could hang onto him.
"Thanks," he chuckled bashfully. "So do you."
He tried his best to ignore how nice she felt nuzzled against him and focused on finding where to go. "Let's go over here, Scully," he whispered, rousing her from her standing slumber.
His body missed her heat as she fell away from him, but it was immediately supplemented with joy as he felt her small hand interlace her fingers with his. "Holdmyhand," she requested, walking next to him. He squeezed her hand back and ran his thumb over the skin of her hand while figiting with her purse strap, trying to find a comfortable position with it.
Getting her into the car was surprisingly easier than anticipated, and as expected, she fell asleep immediately after buckling her belt, her face the pinnacle of peace as she snored in his direction. He couldn't remember ever seeing her as serene as she was in this moment and he half felt bad for having to wake her up again. Half because of that smile he got to see again when she opened her eyes.
"Good morning," she greeted, snuggling back into the car seat.
"Hi Scully," he laughed, reaching over her to unbuckle her seatbelt.
He hadn't realized she was reaching for him until she pouted, "where are you going?" when he pulled back.
"We're going to your motel room," he told her, grabbing her elbow gently to provoke her to get out of the car.
She make a happy sound in response and wobbily stood up, wrapping her arms around him when she stepped away from the car. "Thank you, Scully," he laughed, trying not to disloge her as he shut the car door.
"Are we dancin'?" she asked as he tried to move them in the direction of the door.
"Yep," he responded.
She made another pleased sound as he practically carried her to the door. Part of him was curious as to where this super cuddly, happy Scully came from. Was this only just a result of her exhaustion, or did her lowered inhabitions reveal something else about her. He shook the thought from his head before he could ruminate on it too long. He didn't see the point in teasing himself.
When they got to her door, he untangled himself and gently swept her hair from her face with his fingertips. Her eyes fluttered closed under his touch and he got to watch the smile form on her face from his touch.
He was partially nervous to ask, not wanting her to think he was taking advantage the next morning, but she was so out of it that he felt it necessary. "Do you need any help getting to bed?"
"Mmm-mmm," she responded shaking her head to the negative. "I got it," she added.
He tried to ignore the slight dissapointment he felt at not getting the opportunity to tuck her into bed as he opened the door. "Wait," he said when she started going in.
He untangled the purse from around his neck and draped it around hers. At first she thought she was moving her arms to help him until she wrapped them around his shoulders and used his closeness to stand on her tiptoes and press her lips to his in a sweet kiss.
He jumped in surprise a little bit before putting his hands on her hips and returned the kiss. Then, as quickly as it started, she pulled away and, with that same lovig smile she'd been giving him all night, whispered. "Thank you, Muhlder." He watched as she lazily stumbled into the room and beamed at him one last time before closing the door behind her.
With his lips still burning, his mouth stretched into a smile as he silently thanked the creator of Benadryl.