A/N: Post ep fiction for 'The Unnatural'. The words in italics are quotes from the episode. I don't own that, neither do I own Mulder & Scully. Sadly.

Shut Up Mulder, I'm Playing Baseball

"So, uh... I get this message marked 'urgent' on my answering service from one Fox Mantle, telling me to come down to the park for a very special, very early or very late birthday present. And, Mulder... I don't see any nicely wrapped presents lying around so, what gives?"

"You've never hit a baseball, have you, Scully?"
"No, I guess I have, uh... found more necessary things to do with my time than... slap a piece of horsehide with a stick."
"Get over here, Scully."

He hands me the bat, then steps behind me and wraps his arms around me tightly, also holding the bat around my hands.
"This my birthday present, Mulder? You shouldn't have." I know I don't look impressed.

"This ain't cheap. I'm paying that kid ten bucks an hour to shag balls. That's not a bad piece of ash, huh? The bat — talking about the bat. Now, don't strangle it. You just want to shake hands with it. 'Hello, Mr Bat. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' 'Oh, no, no, Miss Scully. The pleasure's all mine.' Okay, now, we want to... we want to go hips before hands, okay? We want to stride forward and turn. That's all we're thinking about. So, we go hips... before hands, all right?"
"Okay."
"One more time. Hips... before hands, all right?"

His hand is guiding my hip, just to make sure I've got it. And I am definitely not complaining.
"Yeah."

"What is it?"
"Hips before hands."
"Right. We're going to wait on the pitch. We're going to keep our eye on the ball. Then, we're just going to make contact. We're not going to think. We're just going to let it fly, Scully, okay?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Ready?"
"I'm in the middle."
"All right, fire away, Poorboy."

By some miracle we manage to hit the ball. And it doesn't suck as bad as I thought it would.

"Ooh! That's good. All right, what you may find is you concentrate on hitting that little ball..."

We hit the ball again. Mulder is still talking.

"The rest of the world just fades away — all your everyday, nagging concerns. The ticking of your biological clock."

Another hit.

"How you probably couldn't afford that nice, new suede coat on a G-Woman's salary. How you threw away a promising career in medicine..."

Another hit.

"To hunt aliens with a crackpot, albeit brilliant, partner. Getting into the heart of a global conspiracy."

Another hit.

"Your obscenely overdue triple-X bill. Oh, I... I'm sorry, Scully."

Another hit.

"Those last two problems are mine, not yours."

Another hit.
"Shut up, Mulder. I'm playing baseball."

We spend the next half hour or so like that, and to my surprise, I do feel all my concerns slipping away. I focus on hitting the ball and how good it feels to have Mulder's arms around me. After a while I'm pretty sure I could hit the balls on my own, but I'm enjoying myself too much so I don't say anything, and he doesn't seem in any hurry to let me go.

I feel safe in his arms, comforted and comfortable. Loved. His mouth is close to my head and I can feel his breath in my ear. And suddenly, it hits me. This is where I want to be for the rest of my life. Not here in the baseball park, but here in Mulder's arms, close to him and loved by him. Loving him. I don't ever want him to let me go.

Eventually though we decide it is late enough and let the poor boy go home. Mulder gathers up his things and I slip my hand into his as we walk to the exit of the park.

"Thank you" I say. "That was a great birthday present. And I'm sorry I doubted your choice."

"Wait, Scully, did you just admit you were wrong?" Mulder's eyes widen incredulously. "This truly is an historic day."

"Just don't get used to it buster," I advise. I raise an eyebrow at him. "It won't be happening again in a long while."

I don't know how Mulder got here, but there is no sign of his car in the lot. When we reach my car he stashes the baseball equipment in the trunk and grabs the keys from my hand.

"I'll drive," he says.

He starts the car and heads for my apartment. I'm pleased because I don't want the evening to end just yet.

Or at all.

Wait, did I just think that?

We reach my building Mulder parks up in my usual spot. We get out of the car and as we walk towards the entrance I feel Mulder's hand in the small of my back. I smile. It's something he's always done, right since our first field trip on our very first case. In the beginning I didn't think much of it but as our friendship progressed I came to love the gesture. It was his way of protecting me, being protective of me and, much as I would never, in million years admit this to him, I enjoy the fact that he is.

I open my front door and Mulder follows me inside. Apparently he doesn't want this evening to end just yet either.

I head into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. Mulder flops on the couch and flicks on the TV. I love how he just makes himself at home here. We're so comfortable with each other; no wonder people can't understand why we're not more than friends.

Right now, neither can I.

I carry the coffee through to the sitting room and set it down on the coasters on the low table. I flop down on the couch next to Mulder. His arm is along the back of the couch and lean against him and put my feet up on the seat next to me. Mulder's arm comes down and settles around me.

"I had a really good time tonight Mulder," I tell him. "Thank you."

"My pleasure Miss Scully," he says.

We are both quiet for a while, concentrating on the movie on the TV. Well, I am pretending to concentrate on the movie on the TV. In actual fact my head is spinning. All I can think about is Mulder's arms around me on the baseball field and his arm around me now.

I wish he would kiss me.

Woah! What was that Dana? Do I love Mulder?

Yes.

Part of me feels like I should be freaked out by this revelation. But somewhere, deep inside, I have known for a long time. Mulder will often arrange elaborate things for me like this evening, and he is forever making remarks, innuendos that I can easily brush off as a joke but I know it goes deeper than that. I would have to be blind and stupid not to know how he feels about me. And I feel the same for him though I'm only now admitting it to myself. No wonder we've never told each other.

Mulder laughs and I wonder what I've missed on the TV. I couldn't even tell you what movie we were watching right now.

I turn around and snuggle closer to Mulder, putting my head on his chest and my arm across his stomach. I can hear his heart beating. He kisses the top of my head.

No Mulder, that wasn't the kind of kiss I had in mind.

"Mulder, do you ever wonder why we spend so much time together away from work?"

"I like spending time with you Scully. Are you trying to tell me you want me to leave?"

Does my being snuggled in your arms tell you that Mulder? Boy, you are dumber than you look sometimes. I notice that he hasn't moved away at all.

"No," I reply. "Of course not. I like having you here."

"And I like being here."

We watch the movie again for a few more minutes, but my head is still spinning. I need to get him to make a move, without him knowing I'm making him do it. Or something.

"Mulder, why did you go to so much trouble tonight?"

Now he shifts me away from him slightly, but only so he can look at me.

"Because you deserve something special for your birthday. I probably missed the real one."

He hadn't, he had wished me a happy birthday the day before it.

"And, well, it gave me an excuse to get you interested in baseball. And to spend some time with you."

I look him in the eyes.

"You don't need an excuse to do that Mulder."

He stares back at me and I can see the love in his eyes. He places his hands on my face.

"But I thought-"

His head is moving closer to mine.

"You think too much Mulder."

He's leaning in to me.

"Mm," he mumbles softly. "Perhaps I should stop doing that."

And his lips meet mine.

This has been the best non-birthday ever.