Title: Overnighters
Author: Evil_Little_Dog
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: This is a derivative work, and, as such, I make absolutely no money writing this. Darn the luck.
Summary: They have to share a bed. Unfortunately, the bed is in the heart of San Diego, during Comicon. Ooops.
"There's only one room left in the hotel." Scully said it in her absolute best, flat tone.
The desk clerk looked between her and Mulder. From her bright eyes and cheeky smile, she obviously didn't see a problem with it. "This is a big convention area," she said, "and all the hotels are full. I mean, I could call around, and see if there's anything else open, but." She shrugged. "San Diego Comicon is a pretty big thing."
Mulder glanced over his shoulder, seeing Xena, the Warrior Princess, walk by chatting with what looked like a Japanese Transformer Robot thing. He jerked his eyes away from Xena's butt, turning his very charming smile at the desk clerk. "Surely there's a second room somewhere?"
She smiled, apologetically. "Not in our hotel."
Scully rolled her eyes. "All right. We'll take the room."
"Great!" the desk clerk chirped, snatching the agency credit card from Scully's fingers so gracefully, it didn't appear to be an actual grab. "One room, fourth floor, room 417, and one king sized bed."
"Wait." Mulder held out his hand. "One bed?"
"Mulder," Scully said. When she said his name like that, he almost always got a chill.
"I did say we're full up. But it's a king sized bed!" As if that would make any difference. "And it's probably the only one open in town."
And while San Diego was a huge city, Mulder really didn't want to spend the evening driving around, trying to find a hotel where there were two bedrooms. "We'll take it." He ignored Scully's heated glare.
X X X
"This won't be so bad," Mulder said, as they waited on the elevator along with a bunch of people dressed in costume.
Scully sucked on the inside of her cheek and rolled her eyes, both.
Mulder tried again. "I mean, a king sized bed."
"It's all mine, Mulder."
A girl dressed in black, with black semi-Egyptian style eye makeup, and an ankh around her neck looked between them. "Are ya'll supposed to be MiBs, or something?"
"Mulder."
He smiled, sickly.
X X X
The room was smaller than Mulder expected. Scully tossed her bag on the bed as soon as they walked in, claiming it in the name of all women, as far as he knew. From the tightness in her shoulders, offering her a backrub would get his head bitten off. Possibly quite literally.
He tried out a variety of openers in his head, discarding all of them. The geeks in the hallways, in the elevator, dressed in costumes and talking comic books and science fiction – it made him want to cringe. Was this how people saw him? Granted, he did a few things like this – Daryl Misagi, after all, was a kind of hero of his. Well, he had been, before he idied/i. But the whole dressing up in costume to come to a convention full of other people dressed in costume and talk about who got the whole thing right better – Whitley Streiber or L. Ron Hubbard…it baffled him.
"My bed, Mulder." Scully sat down on the bed.
"Yeah, okay, I'll take a pillow and sleep on the…" He glanced around. No couch. Just a couple of lousy chairs. Or the floor. He winced.
"You're damned right you will." Scully turned her back on him.
Yeah. He was in it. Big time.
X X X
Sleeping in a chair was an art, and one Mulder wasn't particularly well-versed in. He was long, for one thing, and this made chairs hard to fit him. Head leaning against the wall, his legs stretched in front of him, he knew his spine and ass were going to hate him in the morning. Or within the next hour or so.
Scully slept like a baby. He actually hated her at that moment. She was comfortable. Curled onto her side. Breathing normally. Her hair draped over the back of her neck, and he could just see the fine line of the gold chain she wore, the cross dangling from it.
Mulder sat up. Did Scully just flinch? He frowned, leaning forward. She made a sound, low and strained, deep in her throat. Tension suddenly thrummed through her frame, leaving her body stiff. "Scully?" he whispered. Her response was to twitch, violently, her hands fisting suddenly. Her eyes opened wide as she sat up, a soft wail escaping her as she tried to fight off whatever she dreamed.
"Scully!" Mulder almost tripped on his shoes, nearly falling on the bed, but he reached her, cupping her shoulders. "Scully, it's me. Mulder. You're dreaming. It's just a dream."
She gasped and flung her head back, nearly jerking out of his grip from the violence of the reaction. "Scully!"
Her eyes opened again, wondering and frightened, and she stared at Mulder for a few seconds as if she didn't recognize him. Her expression cleared. "Mulder?"
He smiled, relieved. "Yeah, Scully, it's…it was a dream. You were dreaming."
Scully shivered under his hands, lurching forward to wrap her arms around him. For a second, Mulder was reminded of that first hug, so long ago, then he hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. "A bad dream," he said to her hair.
"Very," Scully agreed, gulping and sniffing. She still shivered.
"You're cold." Was she in shock because of a nightmare? "Lie down, let's get you back under the covers." He gently pried her off, surprised she let him. Scully lay down, let him cover her up, but grabbed for his hand before he could retreat.
"Stay with me," she whispered.
Mulder lay down behind her, draping his arm around her waist, snugging up close to her. Scully still shivered, but it lessened as he pressed against her back. They were still for a long time, except for those tremors. Mulder thought the smell of Scully's hair was the best thing he knew.
"Mulder?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
He smiled against the crown of her head. "Anytime, Scully."
She was quiet again, then finally said, "This is all just a ploy to share a bed with me, isn't it."
"I hope you'll forgive the inevitable morning issues a man has."
Her elbow unerringly found his ribs, but not enough to bruise. This time. "Poke me with anything other than a finger, Mulder, and you'll lose it."
Mulder chuckled softly. "I'll do my best."
Scully added in a warning tone, "And no dreams of me dressed like Xena."
X X X
~ end ~