Sole Searching
Disclaimer - Mulder & Scully and their little universe belong to 1013 and I got squat.
Summary - Mulder admitted it had been a while...a long while and Scully wanted to make sure he still knew what he was doing.
Notes - Have I ever written a "normal" fic? I don't think so, y'all. I'm sorry. I seem to get stuck with the most random ideas that will not leave until I write them down. And then share them. So you can have these random ideas too :P Thanks to my "source" for the location info ^^ This is set season 7? ish? I'm bad at timelines.
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She'd walked by the closet countless times. She'd seen the overly-worn shoes sitting sadly on the floor countless times, too. But, today was different. Today she was going to confront him about them. Even shoes needed a kinder ending than what this pair was getting in his care.
"Mulder…" she began sweetly as she approached, he was sitting on the couch going through notes on the casefile they'd brought back from the office. "When was the last time you bought running shoes?" She sat down next to him, one leg immediately tucking underneath her, facing him.
"Hmm...Oxford? Maybe. Why?" He didn't even set down the notes, obviously not at all bothered by the fact that his shoes were older than their partnership...much less their other relationship.
"You can't be serious!" Even for Mulder, this was insane.
"Nobody does 'trainers' like the Brits, Scully." He said, finally putting down the paperwork to give her that classic Mulder smile.
"I just can't believe you sometimes, Mulder." She said, shaking her head at him, partly amused and partly still in genuine shock.
"It's not like I've been wearing the same pair of underwear since college, Scully...they're just shoes."
"Well, 'just shoes' or not, we're getting you new ones." And with that, she stood up, patting his leg as she did.
"What, NOW?" He asked, almost a pout.
"Yes, Mulder….NOW." Hands on hips, 'quite mom-like', he noted but would never say.
"Ughhhh" He groaned, standing to his feet anyway. Shopping would never be a thing he enjoyed, but he'd never been shopping with Scully before and he was sure she would make even this most mundane task worth it, somehow.
"So. Are we going shoe shopping as 'partners'? Or as...'partners'?" He asked, walking towards the door, not bothering to even remotely conceal his mischievous grin.
"I had assumed the latter…" Scully answered, not meeting his eyes but he could see the corners of her mouth twitch upwards ever so slightly.
"Montgomery Mall then?" He could hear her sigh as she walked over to grab her coat from the hook by the door.
"I guess that's the safest bet, isn't it?" They both knew that despite it being an annoying mall to get to, if they were going to be seen together, they had a better shot at not being seen by anybody they knew there.
He held the door open for her, standing with his back to it as she passed in front of him, facing him as she did; they might have to drive to kingdom come in order to act like a normal couple in public, but that didn't mean they didn't flirt with the line every once in a while.
She drove. It was all he could do to not laugh at her ridiculously tiny self leaning into the steering wheel, absolutely consumed with road rage. She knew going to this mall meant traffic and general annoyance, but tonight it seemed everybody in the world needed out of town; had they missed some sort of apocalypse?
Groaning and hitting her head against the steering wheel as they, once again, came to a complete stop on the freeway, she felt Mulder's hand come to rest gently on her thigh. That's right, this is why they were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic to go to a stupid mall far away from prying eyes so they could be together. Suddenly, the traffic seemed less annoying, her body relaxed against the seat and she knew it was worth it. Smiling to herself she thought, 'he's always worth the trouble.'
-
With only one or two more minor traffic-induced meltdowns, they finally arrived at the mall. Mulder hopped out of the car as soon as they were parked and raced around to her side to open the door for her. He was enjoying this a bit more than she had expected. Taking his offered hand, she got out of the car, and in they walked, still hand in hand.
He looked down at her, and she was looking down at their hands, smiling slightly.
"What is it?" He asked, as they walked through the doors of the expansive mall.
"It's just...weird." Looking up at him, then lifting their linked hands up a bit, "This. Us. Out shoe shopping in public like a couple of college sweethearts."
"We are pretty adorable, aren't we?" He laughed and they continued on towards the other end of the building.
Fifth. No, this was the sixth store they'd looked in. She never expected he'd be quite so picky about running shoes. After all, the man had worn the same pair since his university days! Too bright, too boring, too squeaky; she'd heard every excuse.
"You know, Mulder, for somebody with as...unique taste in ties as you, you sure do seem to be taking this shoe-hunt seriously." She stated, putting back the eighth pair of shoes she'd suggested in this store alone.
"What are you implying, Scully? You've never said anything about my ties before…" He was baiting her and she knew it.
"I just mean that we've been at this for hours, Mulder, and I just can't figure out what your criteria could possibly be." She was standing on her tiptoes, trying to see the top rack of shoes a bit better.
"I picked out a pair, you vetoed them. So, really, this is your fault, Scully." He said as he closed the distance between them, turning her to face him in the already narrow aisle.
"Those weren't running shoes, Mulder, they were clown shoes." She had that one brow raised, half-smiling up at him.
He reached to tuck her hair behind her ear, leaning further down towards her as he did. She tilted her head upwards, rising on her toes ever-so-slightly to bridge the gap…
"Did you say aisle 8?" A familiar voice broke the moment. He was right around the corner.
Mulder and Scully both tried to extricate themselves from the the aisle at the same moment, causing her to trip over one of the many shoe boxes cluttering the aisle and Mulder, instinctively reached for her as she fell towards the ground. As Assistant Director Walter Skinner turned the corner, he found two of his FBI agents precariously positioned: Mulder balancing Scully in a sort of dance-like-dip, her waist being supported by hi arms, while both of hers were wrapped around it.
"Mulder? Scully? What on earth are you two doing?" Skinner's eyes were narrowed at the two of them, clearly not sure how to play this.
Scully quickly got to her feet fully, face reddening, as Mulder cleared his throat behind her.
"We were just…" Mulder started, gesturing around the store, not sure what to say.
"We were doing research. On a case. In the area...and I suggested we stop by because I needed some new shoes." Scully said, hurriedly.
"So you stopped on this aisle…?" Skinner cast his eyes around the area, obviously entirely filled with men's shoes.
"...I…" Scully started, she was committed, he'd give her that.
"Well, you see, Sir, I suggested we come to this aisle so I could show her how in men's running shoes, the soles are more practical than in the women's." Mulder said, picking up one of the shoes from the rack next to them.
"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean, Mulder." Scully stated, poking the bottom of the shoe he was holding.
They stood there awkwardly for several seconds, Skinner just staring at them, as if waiting for them to 'fess up. Finally, he cleared his throat.
"I see. Well, then, I guess I'll see you guys on Monday." Skinner lingered for a moment longer, then turned and exited the aisle.
"Yes, Sir." They both mumbled after him.
As soon as he was out of sight, Mulder set the shoe he'd been holding back on the shelf and half-collapsed against it, letting out all the air he didn't realize he'd been storing in his lungs.
"That was…" He began, shaking his head.
"Too close." Scully finished, leaning against the shelf next to him. She looked over at him and caught him smiling at her. She tried to fight it, but a smile breached her serious face as well, followed quickly by an eruption of laughter. She covered her mouth with her hand to try to stifle it, but her laughter was infectious and soon they were both bent at the waist, clutching one another in silent fits.
As they finally gathered their composure, Scully straightened up, sliding her hand from its position on his upper arm, into his hand.
"We'll really have to be careful at work." She cautioned, giving him her most serious look.
"What, no more midday make out sessions at my desk?" He looked genuinely hurt at the prospect.
"Well," She began, leaning into his side playfully, "at least not without locking the door first." He liked this Scully; this out-in-public and flirty Scully.
"We should buy you some shoes." She interrupted the moment with typical practicality and he couldn't help but smile.
Not letting go of her hand, he browsed the aisle they had been on, and grabbed a display shoe from one of the shelves nearest him.
"What about this one?" It was a simple, no-nonsense, black and white shoe.
"That one?" Scully asked, doubtingly. They had looked at dozens of shoes and there was absolutely nothing special about the one he was holding up to set it apart from all of the others he'd passed on.
"Yeah, I like it. It's classic." Mulder had let go of her hand and located the box containing his size.
Once the shoes were on his feet, he walked up and down the aisle in front of Scully.
"How do they feel?" She asked, shaking her head slightly as he did a couple of jumping jacks in front of the half-mirror on the floor.
"Scully, I think we're sole-mates; S-O-L-E." He said, coming to a stop and staring at her.
"Oh brother." She rolled her eyes, smiled, and grabbed the box off the floor.
Their mission accomplished, they walked out of the store arm-in-arm and headed back to his place. The traffic would be lighter this time of night and they had two more days of weekend before they had to go back to business as usual at the office. Despite the close call with Skinner, they both deemed tonight a success; maybe Mulder wouldn't wait quite so long between shopping trips next time.
-fin