Bending Spoons

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

Neo: There is no spoon?

Spoon boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

Dana Scully opened her eyes, blinking in protest as they were invaded by a shaft of bright sunlight through the half-closed blinds. It wasn't often she got to wake up at a decent hour. She'd been keeping odd hours for years, odd being the operative word. The X-Files often demanded her to be at work before sunrise and remain there long after sunset. This was a new experience in more ways than one. She leaned over and pressed a tender kiss to the temple of her companion. He was sleeping soundly and didn't stir. She gently eased herself out of bed so as not to awaken him and went to get a glass of cold water.

Scully found the lounge area strewn with their hastily abandoned clothing and the remnants of a Chinese takeout. Usually such a stickler for neatness, it wasn't like her to leave things in such disarray. She reasoned, however, that sometimes there were more important things than being tidy. Mind-blowing sex for one with someone she loved more than life. In fact, aside from her family, she'd never felt this deeply for anyone. Scully picked the scattered clothes off the floor as she mused about where their relationship was headed. This was only the second time he'd stayed over, and the first weekend they'd had free since they started sleeping together. Bending over to retrieve her underwear, she sucked in a breath due to the slight soreness between her thighs. Her thoughts swiftly turned from the future to the recent past. None of her previous sexual partners had satisfied her quite like he did. They were connected in a way that went beyond the physical. Every time they made love, that feeling only grew.

A knock at the door pulled Scully abruptly from her musing. She flittered nervously around the kitchen area reluctant to answer it. No callers were expected and in light of the presence of her houseguest, she debated whether it would be best ignored. The possibility that their secret love might be uncovered filled her with panic; no one knew about them yet. Silence fell and Scully let out a sigh of relief, thinking whoever it had been had decided to leave. But then, the knocking started up again louder and more persistent than before. She ventured to look through the peephole and was shocked to see her mother standing there. Realising she couldn't hide from her, Scully quickly ran to her bedroom and threw in the bundle of clothing she had clutched to her chest. She raced back to open the door, hoping the noise hadn't roused her house guest.

"Mom, is everything okay?" Dana gasped unable to hide her surprise over the impromptu house visit. It was most unlike her mother not to call first.

"Everything's just fine, honey." Her mother breezed past her with a cheery smile and took a seat on the couch. "I was beginning to wonder if you might still be in bed. But I know you're not usually one for sleeping in, even if it is the weekend."

"I - no, I wasn't asleep," Scully faltered as she wondered if now was the right time to share her secret.

Her mother sensed her reticence. "Are you okay, Dana? You seem to have something on your mind."

"I'm fine, really, it's just - Mom, you know I'm always happy to see you, but I wasn't expecting you today." She didn't want to make her mother feel unwelcome, nor did she want her to suss out what was going on before they'd had a proper chance to talk.

"You didn't get my message?" Maggie asked frowning with confusion as her daughter shook her head. "I called last night and you didn't pick up so I left a message on your answer phone. We arranged to go shopping Saturday the last time we spoke, don't you remember? I was just calling to confirm and said you should call me back if there'd been a change of plan," she explained.

Dana glanced over at her answer phone and saw the red light blinking. Groaning inwardly, she vaguely recalled suggesting a mother and daughter shopping trip as they'd not spent much time together of late. She could have sworn they'd agreed on the following Saturday.

"You're sure we didn't say next week?" Scully questioned desperately trying to account for getting the dates mixed up.

Her concerned mother scrutinised her every move as she cleared away the takeout cartons. "No, why, there isn't a problem, is there?" She asked definitely starting to get suspicious.

Dana pasted on a big smile as she headed from the kitchen to her bedroom. "No - no, of course not, I'll just go get ready." If she played it cool, she could still get out of there without her mother ever being any the wiser.

Maggie took a seat and prepared to wait. She noted with interest the presence of two used wine glasses on the coffee table. It hadn't occurred to her that her daughter might have had company. She spied a tuft of blue cotton fabric sticking out from behind one of the couch cushions and reached over to tug at it. Without warning, she suddenly found herself holding onto a pair of men's boxer shorts. Dana froze in her tracks as her mother threw her a questioning look. She might have been a grown woman, but in that moment, Scully felt like a teenager getting caught out doing something she shouldn't. Her cheeks were already flaming and her embarrassment level was about to soar to new heights.

"Daaa-na, have you seen my shorts? I can't find them anywhere." A familiar male voice boomed from the bedroom. "You might wanna check the ceiling fan," he chuckled.

Scully acted fast in an attempt to prevent further mortification. She leaped for the door but couldn't get there quick enough. It flew open and Mulder stood before them both naked as the day he was born.

"Hey, Mrs. Sc…." He remembered his state of undress and cupped the offending area with his hands. "I'm so sorry." He kept muttering apologies at a shocked Maggie as she continued to hold his underpants aloft.

Dana took the boxer shorts from her mother and shoved them at Mulder. He grabbed them one-handed and sheepishly retreated back into the bedroom.

"Mom - I, I don't know what to say," she stuttered as her cheeks burned with shame.

Maggie went silent for a moment and then she burst out laughing. "Well, he certainly wasn't at the back of the queue when they were handing those out," she quipped.

Dana, still mortified, gingerly took a seat on the couch. "This is a relatively new thing between Mulder and me," she confessed and braved looking her mother in the eye. "I wasn't purposely keeping it from you."

"Really? I assumed - I mean, from the way you two always looked at each other and how close you are - I could see the love between you." Maggie appeared genuinely surprised that their intimate relationship was so recent.

Dana attempted to explain. "We've had deep feelings for each other for a while but work always came first."

"So, what changed? After seven years working side by side, why now? You've been through so much together." Her mother couldn't contain her curiosity, although she wanted to respect her daughter's privacy.

Scully thought back over the last few weeks and beyond. How could she put into words everything that led her and Mulder to take the next step in their relationship? There was no simple way of accounting for it. But, for her mother's sake, she would try. "I suppose, for the longest time, I figured it would be better to keep things professional when it came to our work. I valued our deep friendship, and I didn't want to risk losing what we'd built together if our personal relationship fell apart. But eventually, I guess I realised that sometimes you have to take a chance. You have to hope that even if things do go wrong, you'd still somehow be able to get through it together."

"What about Fox?" Maggie inquired, taking advantage of her daughter's rare willingness to be candid. "Obviously, he arrived at the same conclusion."

"He told me he'd been ready to take the next step for a while and he'd waited until we were on the same page," Dana shrugged. "I guess I always knew he loved me, I just didn't realise he wanted more. It took me a while to admit to myself that I felt the same way."

Their mother-daughter tête-à-tête was cut short as Mulder reappeared. Mercifully, this time he was fully dressed. He smiled bashfully and again offered his apologies to Mrs. Scully.

"Please don't worry about it, Fox," she smiled seeking to put him at ease. "I was married for a long time and I'm the mother of two sons. Trust me; it's nothing I haven't seen before."

Mulder thought it best to make a quick exit and went to grab his car keys from the kitchen counter. "I'll leave you ladies to enjoy your day together," he said as he glanced over at Scully.

She appeared to be imploring him to stay with her eyes and he wondered if he should. He felt doubly awkward because they hadn't really discussed whether they were going to tell her family about their relationship. But Mrs. Scully had always been kind to him and he didn't want her to think she was the reason for him leaving.

"If the two of you would rather do something today, I don't mind." Maggie sensed his unease and graciously offered to bow out.

Mulder decided it would be best if he left. "Thanks, but that's okay. You girls go have a great time; I've got some work to be getting on with." He made for the door.

"Work?" Scully questioned with scepticism knowing it was an excuse.

"Yeah, the gunmen are gonna help me go through those E.V.P tapes," he lied.

"Ah yes, the woman in Winnipeg who claims that John Lennon is sending her messages via her ham radio," Dana frowned; she wasn't a sceptic for nothing.

"There's hope for a Beatles reunion yet," Mulder joked with a grin. He briefly wondered about giving her a goodbye kiss but was unsure whether she'd welcome overt displays of affection in front of her mother. Hesitating for a second before opening the door, he thought it best to err on the side of caution. "Goodbye, Mrs. Scully."

"It's always nice to see you, Fox," Maggie said, looking on with bemusement and he and her daughter burst out laughing. Realising the double meaning to her words after earlier events, she blushed and joined in their mirth.

Dana jumped to her feet and rushed over to throw her arms around him. She pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. "I'll call you later, okay?" She vowed as Mulder exited with a nod of his head.

Frohike looked through the peephole to find Mulder with a shit-eating-grin on his face. "What are you so happy about? He grouchily inquired as he unfastened the multiple security chains in order to open the door.

"I'm just pleased to see my fellow porno-loving-pal," the F.B.I agent said with a suggestive wink.

"Hey you guys, Mulder got lucky last night," Frohike called out to his fellow Lone Gunmen.

"The only people who refer to it as getting lucky are those who never do," Mulder retorted with a smug smile. He took a seat on a plastic chair as his friends stood around him looking sheepish. "You don't call, you don't write, what gives? You three have been harder to spot than Bigfoot since F.P.S was pronounced D.O.A, s'up?" He inquired.

Langly shifted about looking uncomfortable. "We got sorta wrapped up in resolving that kink in the system." He glanced over at his friends who suddenly seemed to find their footwear enthralling.

"Don't you mean skank?" Mulder quipped in reference to Maitreya, the killer goddess that their female game programmer created.

Byers retrieved a brown envelope from a nearby desk and handed it to him. The agent gave his friend a quizzical look as he reached inside and pulled out a photo print of Maitreya. At least, it looked like her from the neck down. Only now, she appeared to have the head of someone very familiar.

"What the hell is this?" Mulder scowled as he held up the picture and glared at the trio.

"We thought we'd killed Maitreya and the game along with her, but she evolved," Frohike explained.

"You guys can fix this, right?" Mulder asked as he glanced at the print in horror.

Scully had an amazing body, and he was certain he'd never grow tired of seeing her naked, but she looked nothing like the scanned image of Jade Blue Afterglow. If they ever engaged in sexual role-play, he wouldn't say no to her donning some black leather underwear, but he didn't want other men visualizing her that way.

"We tried, but we can't seem to erase her. It doesn't really matter, though, not now the company has tanked. No one will be playing that game ever again," Byers assured him.

"I'm not sure Scully will see it that way." Mulder folded up the picture and slipped it into his jacket pocket.

"There's no reason she has to find out, is there?" Frohike didn't like the idea of upsetting her.

Mulder pursed his lips as he contemplated the matter. It would probably be best not to tell Scully, she'd only get worked up about it. However, their newfound intimacy made him feel uneasy about keeping it from her.

"Aww come on, Mulder, don't unleash the red headed ass-kicker on us," Langly pleaded.

Mulder couldn't help chuckling at the pretty accurate description of his partner. As he thought about it, he came to a realisation. "I can see why Maitreya would choose to model herself after Scully; she's hella fierce when she needs to be. But she's got such a tender heart too, you know?" He sighed with longing wishing she was there with him. "The first time we met, I remember thinking how fragile she looked. She put me in mind of a porcelain doll or something with her ivory skin, flaming red hair, and those big blue eyes. But she's the strongest person I've ever known. I'm one lucky son of a bitch." He stopped waxing lyrical when he realised his companions were staring at him as if he'd revealed too much information.

"So, where is the lovely Agent Scully today? Frohike asked to break the awkward silence.

"She, um, I don't know - I think she went shopping with her mom." Mulder decided a change of subject was in order. "I told her I was coming over here to go through my Electronic Voice Phenomena tapes with you guys."

"So what did you really come over here for?" Langly inquired as there were no cassettes to work on.

"I thought we could just hang, you know? Maybe watch a movie or something," he suggested.

Buddy bonding sessions had never exactly been their thing, but they did occasionally attempt to do normal guy stuff.

Byers shrugged, "We could watch The Matrix again, I guess."

Mulder had taken Scully to see it the previous summer but was down for watching it again. Frohike kept giving him shifty looks as if he suspected the truth about his relationship with his partner. Anything that got them away from the subject of his personal life was fine by him.

"Just so we're clear, we'd all take the red pill, right?" Langly questioned.

They all nodded in agreement as he pushed the tape into the VCR.

"I'm all about the truth!" Mulder exclaimed as he turned to face the TV screen.

As the movie unfolded, he began pondering his relentless quest to reach the bottom of the rabbit hole. Was his personal relationship with Scully an attempt to have the best of both worlds? He feared it might be and the reason why he'd waited so long to make a move. Could he keep justifying his need to chase shadows when he had a chance of building something solid and real?

"Wouldn't any of you be tempted to take the blue pill?" Mulder questioned as the credits rolled. The gunmen all shook their heads and protested, but he continued. He specifically turned his attention to Byers as he thought about Susanne Modeski. "What if it meant you could be with the woman you loved and you wouldn't have to worry about conspiracies or any of the rest of that crap ever again?"

The besuited Gunman knew exactly what he meant and the truth be told, he did occasionally wonder if he'd made the right decision in not following his heart. However, he had been forced to acknowledge he could never give up his quest for the truth, not even for Susanne. "Ignorance is bliss, wouldn't you say?" Byers gave a sad smile as he recalled Cypher's words from The Matrix. "Only we're not ignorant, are we? We've seen the truth or parts of it, at least. And I don't believe you could turn your back on that any more than I could."

Mulder wanted to tell him he was wrong and that Scully was all he needed. He could ask her to marry him and use some of his inheritance to try IVF treatment again. Maybe they could even adopt a child or two. This was a chance for them to get back some of what they'd lost and become a real family. All they had to do was stop running. If only it were that simple. He let out a weary sigh of resignation. "I guess you're right. Sometimes, it's nice to dream, though, isn't it?"

Scully called around six that evening and asked if he wanted to come over for dinner. Mulder thought about not going. If he didn't see a future for them he wasn't being fair to her. Inevitably, they'd wind up in bed together and it would make walking away even harder. But it wasn't as if they could pretend the past few weeks had never happened and go back to business as usual. There was no one else he trusted so implicitly or loved so fiercely. When it came right down to it, he didn't have the will to walk away. It wasn't as if Scully wanted more from him than he could give, at least he didn't think she did. They had never actually discussed the future or made any plans. It occurred to him that maybe he should ask her. As long as they were both happy to go on as they were, where was the harm?

"Mulder, you've hardly said two words since you got here," Scully observed glancing across the dinner table at him with concern. "Is everything okay?" She got the feeling he was building up to something, and that whatever it was, she wouldn't like it.

Pushing a prawn around his plate, he tried to find the right words to begin.

The longer he took to answer, the more anxious she got.

"Is it about what happened this morning? Because you know my mom already sees you as one of the family."

He shook his head.

"What then? You don't like seafood risotto?"

"It's not the food or the company." Mulder sought to reassure her as he reached across the table and took her hand in his. "I got to thinking; we haven't really talked about the future."

Scully's blue eyes widened as she gazed into his hazel ones. "The future?" She intoned with a worried frown before taking a swig from her wine glass.

"Yeah, I forgot you'd studied Einstein," he jested as his lips curved into a grin.

It was something she'd never let herself dwell on for too long. Her occasional wistful yearning for a child got quickly shut down by the memory of her failed IVF treatment. To allow herself to get her hopes up only to have them crushed again was more than she could bear. Scully knew she couldn't put herself through it a second time. But she didn't know what Mulder wanted. Maybe he'd finally decided to settle down. He gazed expectantly at her and she could see he wanted her to speak first. Perhaps he had got cold feet about their relationship and was looking for a reason to bolt.

"I thought we agreed to take things one day at a time," she said recalling their conversation after the first time they'd made love.

Both of them had been a little freaked out when the post-coital bliss wore off. The line in the sand had been well and truly blurred and they were in unchartered territory.

"Is that enough for you, though?" Mulder inquired studying her expression but Scully was giving nothing away.

"Is it enough for you?" She asked determined to get him to blink first.

He let go of her hand and topped up their wine glasses. Feeling her questioning stare burning into him, he took a deep breath. "Scully, I need you to understand that if ever there was a woman I could picture spending the rest of my life with, it's you."

"But?" She added ready to fight for their relationship if necessary, knowing he was the only man she could ever imagine herself being with.

"I gotta be honest with you, Scully. I don't know if I can ever stop chasing after the truth and you deserve more than that." Mulder met her gaze as he spoke and then turned away in shame.

"And what about what you deserve?" She got up and moved around the table towards him. "I love you, and you love me, right?"

He nodded vigorously.

"Well then, that's enough for now, isn't it?" Scully gasped as he pulled her onto his lap and passionately kissed her. "Dessert?" She inquired breathlessly as they broke apart.

Mulder chuckled. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Actually, I do have some ice cream," Scully said through her giggles.

"Not that Tofutti non-dairy crap?" He questioned with a grimace.

"Nope, the good stuff," she replied.

"You're a keeper," Mulder smirked and set her on her feet as he made his way to the refrigerator.

He grabbed the carton, took her hand, and pulled her towards the bedroom.

"Spoons," Scully protested. "We need spoons."

Mulder briefly contemplated The Matrix and his fear of being unable to change. He pulled her in for a lingering kiss before giving her one of his enigmatic smiles. "There are no spoons," he said kicking open the door.

Before she could open her mouth to question what he meant, her back hit the mattress. As he drove her wild with desire, all thoughts of cutlery and melted ice cream mess on the sheets were happily forgotten.

THE END.