POWER CUT

Disclaimer:
Not mine. I'm just borrowing them because they're too cute for their own good.

Notes:
Special thanks go to Jas and Ruth for beta-ing this for me 3
This is my first venture in writing in the X Files fandom, I hope you enjoy it :D It's very fluffy. If you did enjoy it, please favourite and leave a review, I love feedback, good and constructive.

Summary:
It was the kind of storm you'd have to be mad to venture out in. Yet here he was, 'supplies' in hand for them to brave it out together. MSR.

GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON
OCTOBER 1st, 7.15PM

"Approximately one quarter of the city is currently without power, with that figure set to rise as the storm passes over. We are advising that residents do not leave their homes unless absolutely necessary, as driving conditions are poor..."

Dana Scully sighed, flicking the channel over from the evening news. She turned the volume up when she found an episode of Charmed, hoping to mask the constant thrum of the rain against her windows. The water cascaded down the panes like a stream that had burst its banks and she was certain the occasional grumble she could hear in the distance was thunder. She had to concur with the news reporter: it was definitely the kind of weather you would have to be mad to go out in.

She pulled the woollen throw from its haunt on the back of the sofa, wrapping herself into its warm confines to watch the show. Mulder had once laughed at her for enjoying Charmed as much as she did. The irony of the sceptic scientist enjoying a programme fundamentally about the paranormal was not lost on her either, but she'd never admit that to him.

She was so absorbed in the episode that she only vaguely registered her lamp dimming out of the corner of her eye as though someone had turned down the brightness. It was only when the television screen itself flickered that she realised what was happening.

"Oh no you don't," she muttered to herself, reaching for the remote as though she could somehow imbue it with the ability to keep the power from failing whilst she was still mid-episode.

The screen flickered once more before the room was plunged into darkness, the rain hammering against the windows suddenly back up to full volume. Evidentially the threat of angering Scully wasn't enough to keep the storm from taking down the electricity in the area.

"Damn it..." she muttered, leaning out from under the warm blanket to open the drawer of her coffee table. She fumbled blindly, eventually spilling a thin beam of light into the air when she found the torch. She set it upright on the table, its light pooling on the ceiling and casting a dim, eerie glow over her living room.

Dinner had been an afterthought until that moment, and she wasn't one hundred percent certain when or where she'd last used her candles. As if that wasn't bad enough, the TV set had failed her just as the witches faced their demon of the week.

She sighed and adjusted herself back under the throw, taking mental inventory of the food she had that didn't require the use of a microwave, oven or toaster to make it edible. When she realised that it equated to very little, she debated the merits of hunting down her cell phone to call around and find a takeaway that still had power and would deliver in this weather.

Her thoughts were disturbed when a familiar, insistent knock sounded at her door.

"Hey Scully, open up!"

She thought about leaving the throw on the sofa as she walked to the door, but decided that it might strengthen her argument for staying inside in the warm. She tugged it snugly around her shoulders like a cape. Her eyes could just about make out Mulder's shadowy shape on the threshold as she pulled open the door, something piled on one arm.

"Hey!" he greeted her as he breezed into her apartment, Scully's stomach growling its approval at the well-timed arrival of fresh pizza.

"Mulder, what are you doing here? There's been a severe weather warning on the news." she said, watching as he dumped his goodies on the coffee table and knocked the torch flying in the process.

"You're telling me, do you know how long I had to drive before I found a pizza house that hadn't closed because the power went out?" he asked, his question punctuated with a soft creak from her sofa as he sat down and attempted to reposition the torch. "I was bored, I thought you might like some company."

Scully felt a smile tugging at her lips as he spoke. "So, you brought pizza?" she asked, a familiar warmth building in her chest at the gesture. She secretly loved that his first thought had been to head out into a weather warning to keep her company.

"And nibbles." he said, emptying out a selection of bags and bottles alongside the pizza box. "Aw, shit," he cursed as he caught the torch for the second time and had to right it. "Have you got any candles or anything?" he asked, eyeing the torch cautiously.

"I'm not entirely certain that you should be allowed near anything with an open flame after your track record with that torch," she said, a smile tugging at her lips when she heard him expel a 'humph'.

"And this is how you say thank you to the man who risked his life in a weather warning worthy storm to bring you pizza?" he asked, his signature Mulder-grin in place. "Any particular reason you're using this as the main light? It's like a really low budget campfire."

"For the ambience, clearly," she deadpanned, sitting down next to him as he threw open the lid of the pizza box. "Can I get you a drink? I think I have some soda in the fridge whilst it's still cold."

"S'all good, I've got it covered," he said through a mouthful of pizza, nudging his pile of goodies. Scully grabbed the torch before he knocked it over again as he pulled a bottle of whiskey and a multipack of Coco Cola from the pile. "We may need glasses, though." he said, shaking the bottle of alcohol in front of her.

Scully rolled her eyes and took the torch with her to the kitchen, leaving him in darkness. She grabbed tumblers and plates for them and turned on her heel, keen to settle down to eat. "Mulder!" she exclaimed when she re-entered the living room, the torchlight revealing him attempting to stuff a slice into his mouth whole.

"M-wha?" he grunted, his mischievous grin a sure indication he hadn't planned on being caught.

"I hope you've left some for me." she laughed, placing the pots down on the coffee table and re-balancing the torch. She glanced in the box and turned to fix him with a stern look. "I brought plates but something tells me that you won't be needing yours if you're going to inhale your share."

He snorted, swallowing before he spoke. "Nah, we can eat it out of the box, can't we? Besides, it's really dark so you won't see if I drop any crumbs."

She rolled her eyes. "What did you order?"

"Ham and pineapple," he picked up a piece and waved it under her nose. "You want some? It's good!" he waited until her hand was millimetres away before playfully manoeuvring it out of her reach.

Scully narrowed her eyes, her hand falling a few inches short of his with each attempt she made to take it from him. "Hey," she finally warned, smiling as she changed her tactics and tried to push past him to the box.

"What?" he asked, waving the pizza in front of her again.

This time her hand snaked out from under the blanket and grabbed his wrist, using his surprise to her advantage and guiding the slice of pizza to her mouth. She took a bite and smiled smugly when she caught sight of the look on his face.

"What?" she innocently mimicked him, and they both burst out laughing.

"Well," he said, half-heartedly trying to pry his hand from hers. "Special Agent Scully, I've never known you to use such tactics."

"I'm simply taking a leaf out of your book, Special Agent Mulder – or don't you recall the non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicles incident?"

"You mean that imposter you tried to pass off as ice cream?" He smiled fondly as Scully brushed closer to him to take another mouthful of the pizza he was still holding.

"Didn't stop you eating it, or getting it all over that book you had out of the archives now did it?"

"I'd like to point out that it would have been nowhere near that book had someone remembered the 'sharing is caring' rule." he grinned, jerking his hand out of her grasp and quickly devouring the remains of her slice. "M-that's for not sharing!" he said, flinching as Scully abandoned the blanket in favour of shoving him.

"Mulder!" she said indignantly, shaking her head as she reached past him to take another slice of pizza from the box. "Two can play at that game," she waved it under his nose before taking a huge mouthful. "Mmm."

"Now that's just asking for it," he said, springing forward and pinning an unsuspecting Scully to the sofa.

"No!" she exclaimed, trying her best not to laugh as she resisted Mulder's insistent tug at her wrist, the pizza wobbling uncertainly between them.

They fought as Mulder attempted to snake his grip from her wrist to her hand, eventually capturing it and finishing off the piece of pizza. He smirked at her as he licked a stray drop of sauce from her fingertip and Scully stilled, excitement buzzing through her as they looked at one another.

"I suppose I better try and eat my share before you help yourself to it," she said, not trying to move from under him.

"What's that Scully? You don't want to share with your own partner?" he raised an eyebrow, his face dipping closer to hers.

Scully's pulse quickened when he made no move to pull away. She watched his gaze as his eyes explored her face, her tongue reacting quicker than her Mulder-fogged brain at that moment. "There were twelve slices when you bought this pizza, and there are currently seven in that box last I counted. I recall eating one and a bit slices, meaning someone has already had four and a bit."

"Great detective work Scully," he said, leaning in closer again. "Anyone ever tell you you could join the FBI with that skill set?"

"I think it was mentioned once at a career day in school," she said, grinning when he sniggered. She stilled, a familiar storm brewing between her feelings and her rationality. Things with Mulder were never as black and white as she would have liked them to be, especially once she'd realised that she was in love with him. Her analytical mind always had an excuse at the ready to counter any thoughts of them, ranging from how taboo their relationship would be at the bureau to how they could be used as emotional leverage against each other. In that moment though, as his gaze flicked repeatedly from her eyes to her lips, it didn't seem like such a big deal. He was so close, his heat rendering her throw useless. It would be so easy…

She thought of the kiss they had shared on New Year's Eve almost a year ago.

She thought of the numerous times he'd confessed his love for her – although the he had almost always been out of it and she had never dared believe him.

She thought of the constant spark between them and made up her mind.

She bit her lip, throwing caution to the howling winds outside as she tilted her head. Their lips met in a gentle test, a soft and unsure kiss lasting only long enough that it could be considered a blip should either of them change their mind. Their eyes met as they pulled apart, matching shy smiles all the encouragement they needed. She beat him to it the second time, a tender fire kindling in her veins as she kissed him more firmly, tentatively threading the fingers of one hand in his hair. His hand moved to cup her cheek in reply, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.

"All this and no alcohol consumed yet," he grinned, his thumb tracing soft circles on her skin.

"Must be the ambient lighting from my torch." She deadpanned, unable to keep a straight face when he snorted.

"Spooky lighting, you mean."

"Perfect for you."

He grinned, sitting upright and reaching for the pizza box. "Here," he said.

She settled herself against his side, throwing the blanket over both of them before accepting the pizza.

GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON
OCTOBER 1st, 9.50PM

Half a bottle of whiskey later found them nestled under the blanket, Mulder's arm lazily draped around Scully as she dozed against his shoulder, blissfully oblivious to the storm raging outside. "Do you want that?" he asked, glancing in the vague direction of the abandoned pizza box. It had been a while since either of them had reached for the food, having worked their way through most of the pizza and a bag of chilli Doritos.

"I thought that was yours?" she yawned, raising her head from his shoulder to look.

"Nah, I've had six now, that one's all yours."

She shrugged and leaned forward to grab it, nestling back against his side and taking a mouthful. She hovered it under his nose without looking at him, silently asking if he wanted half. "I thought you said it was all mine?" she asked, examining the crust and small amount of topping that had returned after she'd offered it to Mulder.

"You offered," he said, sniggering as she finished the considerably smaller tidbit off. "Oh, did I tell you I'd seen Christmas stuff out in Walmart the other day when I went in?"

"What?" she asked, unable to stop herself laughing.

"Yeah, Christmas stuff – it's only just October!"

"…What kind of Christmas stuff?" she asked, her curiosity giving out.

"You know those mix and match toiletry sets they have?"

"The ones they usually have all year round?"

"These ones looked suspiciously Christmas-y though – wait, stop laughing! I'm being serious."

"It's hard to tell with you, Mulder," she said, struggling to contain a giggle. "So you're concerned by this because..?"

"It's way too early to be thinking of Christmas yet! We haven't had my birthday, or Hallowe'en or Thanksgiving. Hell, I don't usually think about it being Christmas until the day before."

"And sometimes not even that – remember that time you took me to a haunted house on Christmas Eve?"

A sheepish smile stretched across his lips as he reached for his drink. "That was a good Christmas," he laughed when he caught Scully shaking her head in he corner of his eye. "Maybe we should go back there for Hallowe'en?"

"Now, I can neither prove nor disprove what happened that night Mulder, but I'm fairly certain that we almost died."

He grinned. "I have a few other X Files like that we could investigate though, if you wanted to?"

"We are not going to a haunted house on Hallowe'en. That sounds like tempting fate."

"Alright Scully, how about a supposedly haunted castle..?"

"We're booking Hallowe'en off, we'll go to the cinema or something to see a horror film. I am definitely not partaking in something that sounds like it could actually be a horror film."

They caught each other's gaze and burst out laughing.

"Well if you feel that strongly then I guess I better drop it." he chuckled, giving her a squeeze. "Hey, do you have any board games?"

"Maybe Monopoly and if you're very lucky, Twister." she said. "Although Monopoly is known to destroy friendships so maybe I should find Twister."

"The last time I played Monopoly, Frohike tried to throw the board at me."

"And what had you done to make him do that?" she asked, smiling innocently when he pulled his best 'Scully, I'm hurt' face.

"I can't believe that you would think that I would try to sabotage a game of Monopoly-" he trailed off when she raised her eyebrows in challenge. "Okay, I may have pointed out that he had ignored a rule or three to avoid getting taxed when he landed on my properties, and the next thing I knew, Byers was trying to stop him flipping the board."

"Cheaters never prosper," she said sagely, shaking her head. "They should be in that cupboard over there," she pointed with her foot to a cabinet across the room.

"What, the Lone Gunmen?"

"No, my board games." she gave him a playful shove and got to her feet, grabbing the rubbish from the coffee table and taking it through to the kitchen. When she returned, Mulder was crouched in front of the open cupboard, using the light of the torch to scan Scully's belongings. His hand trailed along the spines of the boxes, eventually landing on the right one.

"I love that you actually own this," he said, grinning when he stood back up and showed her the box.

"We'll have to move the coffee table to play though."

"We could always play on the coffee table – like high stakes Twister."

"I'm not nearly drunk enough to think that that's a good idea," she laughed, walking over to the coffee table and pushing it round the side of the sofa, taking a swig from her drink as he opened the box and shook the mat out, laying it on her carpet. He beamed at her as he placed the dial next to the mat.

"Are we playing individually or at the same time? Because personally I think it will be a lot more fun if we're fighting over the dots together." he asked, lips curling in a smirk as he saw the flash of determination in Scully's eyes.

She downed the rest of her drink and reset the torch. "You're on," she said, grabbing the dial and spinning it. "Left hand yellow!" she declared as she crouched into position, glancing up at Mulder and smirking when she saw that his gaze was directed somewhere further south than her face. "Your turn." It was hard to tell in the muted glow of her torchlight but she could have sworn his cheeks looked slightly pinker than usual as he spun the dial.

"Right foot blue," he said, stepping into place.

It didn't take long until they found themselves in a slightly compromised position, twisted across each other and out of hands to spin the dial with. "Whose idea was this?" Mulder sighed, his face resting on Scully's thigh.

"Yours." she told him, one of her arms beginning to tremble. "Why didn't we set some rules about who would be in charge of spinning the dial?"

"It was working fine until you pushed it under us where neither of us could reach it."

Balancing her weight on one hand, she managed to lift her other arm up high enough to elbow him in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, the jab throwing him off balance and into Scully, the pair of them falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs. "I guess that's a tie, then?" he asked, rolling onto all fours and moving over her. "Or we could say you won for seeing the flaw in our lack of pre-determined rules?"

Scully looked up at him, his face in chiaroscuro from the light of the torch across the room. The storm raged on outside, the elements as wild as the butterflies in her stomach as he lowered his face to hers again and kissed her gently. She reached for him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer. He took their closened proximity as a green light and kissed her more firmly, his tongue grazing her lower lip. A spark jolted through her at his touch and she obliged, their kisses becoming heated and more breathless, Scully's senses giddy from the elation she felt for finally being this close to him.

When they surfaced for air a few minutes later, Mulder grinned sheepishly at her. "I would have started doing pizza runs for you a long time ago if I had of known this was the reception you give gift bearing guests."

She rolled her eyes. "You're more than a gift bearing guest." she said, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. "Though you're right, this has taken far too long."

"I, personally, blame that bee, I think we would have discovered this that night in my hallway if it wasn't for you getting stung."

GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON
OCTOBER 2nd, 1.00AM

"…Our experts believe that the worst of the storm has passed, but we are still advising that all residents stay in their homes. Only venture out if your trip is absolutely necessary."

Scully sighed, the reporter's voice growing louder as her senses slowly sharpened through the haze of sleep. She felt warm, like the blanket that shrouded her had turned into a radiator. It took a few more moments for her to notice the subtle rise and fall of whatever she was using as a pillow and the tickle of soft breaths against her forehead. She opened her eyes and flexed her fingers, finding them tangled in a t-shirt. She gingerly moved her head, her nose brushing warm skin.

"Mulder?" she mumbled, confusion fading as consciousness returned.

"Hmmm..?" he hummed, the sound echoing through his chest and Scully's fingertips.

"The power's back on."

"Hmmm." he gave her a squeeze, lips brushing her forehead as he left a kiss there. "I thought it seemed brighter," he murmured, looking over at the television. "Still stormy outside though."

"Then it's a good job that we're nice and cozy in here." Scully breathed, content that this was actually happening – that they'd shown a romantic interest in one another and the world hadn't ended. "You know, I wouldn't mind doing this more often," she said, yawning as she snuggled back against his chest.

"Oh wouldn't you?" he asked, his voice sounding more awake than it did a moment ago.

"No, in fact, I've really enjoyed tonight." she continued, snaking her hands around him and hugging him tightly.

"Uh huh." he murmured, shifting them together into a more upright position and placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Well if you're as happy as you say you are then I'm sure you won't mind indulging me whilst I attempt to kiss every inch of you I can will you?" he said, smiling as he captured her mouth.

"I think I could live with that," she replied, feeling the current between them spark as a warmth threaded itself through her veins. She kissed him more insistently, her hands charting the curves and planes of him that she'd always wanted to explore. His hands settled on her back, thumbs rubbing slow descending circles along her waist line. She shivered when she felt his fingers slip under her waistband, continuing to draw patterns that added new kindling to the embers pooling in her belly. Everything about him felt good – his touch, his taste, the feel of him, and once again Scully briefly wondered why it had taken them so long to get here. The thought didn't stay in her mind long when she felt him trace the tip of his tongue along her lips, her mouth opening on an instinct that told her she just needed to be closer to him.

"I think you better stay the night," she breathed when they finally drew apart, resting their foreheads together.

He grinned and kissed her again, moving in a slow trail from her lips to her ear. "I was hoping you'd say that," he whispered, nibbling gently on her lobe. "Besides, that lady on the news report we shouldn't venture outside unless absolutely necessary."

She sighed when he kissed her again, threading her fingers in his hair. "No more emergency pizza runs planned then?"

"Nope, the farthest I can foresee us travelling is your bedroom."

"Is that so?" she raised her eyebrows, a smirk curling her mouth. "You're very sure of yourself Mulder."

He just grinned in reply, his arms tightening around her as he attempted to sit up and get to his feet. He rose slowly, carrying Scully across the room as though she was his bride. He stopped outside her bedroom door and kissed her, his signature half-smile in place when they pulled apart. "So, can we go in?"

Scully rolled her eyes and reached for the door handle, pushing it open and leaning up to give him a kiss that suggested he was very much welcome. "I'd say after you but you're carrying me so…"

He chuckled and walked them into the room. For the first time in a long time, Scully felt excited about what the future held for them, especially knowing that she was likely to be intertwined with Mulder closer than ever.