Love, couples and a bar
Author's note: I finished re watching Ally McBeal recently and ended up writting this. Don't hate me that much, please.
If, by any chance, one of you had seen Ally McBeal, what happens here is kind of AU for them.
Love, couples and a bar
"I can't believe we miss our flight. We were right there!" she said with anger as they entered a bar someone in the airport recommended after they learned the plane had left without them to Washington.
Their latest case took them to Boston and they were supposed to return home on that Friday night, but things didn't go as planned.
It meant the same to him, he had nothing to do back in D.C., actually, neither did she. But the fact the "case" wasn't one assigned properly by the Bureau, but just an encounter with one of Mulder's sources -that led to nothing-, infuriated her.
Waste of my time, she thought at that moment and she was thinking the same now.
"Yes, we were. But we weren't paying much attention, were we?" he said.
His lips almost touched her ear since he was talking so close to her and she couldn't help the shivers that took over her entire body as she felt his breath so close.
She didn't have an answer. He was right. They were distracted kissing like a couple of teenagers in a corner, near the bathroom.
It only been a month since they took the next step in their relationship. They have some ground rules about their behavior as a couple during cases, and so far they have managed to obey them, but they left the bathroom at the same time and maybe it was the seclusion of that particular spot, or the fact they were alone and that they haven't kiss in almost 24 hours… They just couldn't help it.
Probably, while they were kissing the airline announced their flight was boarding and they just weren't able to listen, been too engrossed in their moaning and heavy breathing. When they finally went to the airline counter, a very polite young lady told them the flight had already left, 8 minutes ago.
"No, you're right. We weren't," she answered with a grin.
They made their way through the bar and found a table for two.
…I'm hooked on a feeling
I'm high on believing
That you're in love with me…
There were a lot of people in there. There was live music. A blonde lady and three chorus girls with a band were singing. The dance floor was full of people in bussinness suites dancing around.
See the pyramids along the nile
Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle
Just remember that all the while
You belong to me…
The music changed drastically and the singer was now also playing the piano, singing a love song Scully recognized instantly.
The dance floor was now almost empty. Only one couple was dancing. Very close to each other.
…Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember 'til you're home again
You belong to me…
"I wish a could carry a tune," Scully said still with her eyes on the couple.
Mulder would have laugh at her comment if it weren't for the look in her eyes. She wasn't trying to make a joke, she was actually longing for a moment like the one that couple was sharing.
"What?" he asked, anyway.
Scully turned to look at him with a bit of embarrassment in her eyes, so much so that she had to look elsewhere.
"I don't know…" She shrugged. "… I know I don't seem to be the romantic type and I haven't read that many novels or love stories growing up or now… But I've always wanted a love like that and it would be nice to have a good –or at least decent- voice to sing some of those beautiful love songs, like this one", she said looking again at the thin light brown hair girl and the man she was dancing with.
…Maybe you'll be lonesome, too
And blue…
The singer kept her tune while Mulder took her hand in his and kiss it. Scully turned to look at him and thanked him with a smile at his sweet display of affection.
Her comment hadn't sound very "Scully-like," she was aware of that, but he had ask. Besides, they were in a new state of their relationship and he had the right to know some sides of her she hides in the work place.
…Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember 'til you're home again
You belong to me.
The song ended and the couple found their way back to their table while the singer changed her instrument to a guitar and was now delighting the audience with another love song, but Scully didn't recognized that one.
The sense of being kiss in the hand by Mulder brought her attention to him. She smiled at him and went back to her glass of white wine with her free hand.
"And do you think you can have a love like that with me?" he asked. His voice so low, it sounded more like a whisper.
He actually thought that she hadn't listen to his question, because of the loud music, but she did.
"I'm sure of it."
They should've been looking for a hotel, considering they would be staying another night in Boston, but it wouldn't kill them to have a date on a work night and spend some more time in that peculiar bar.
"So…" Mulder said, trying to keep going with the conversation after a moment of silence. "What do you think they are?"
His question took her by surprise. Was he talking about the couple? Probably, because she was still looking at them. They were dancing again.
"Well, boyfriend and girlfriend, no?" she said with her eyes still on them.
"Mmmmm why not husband and wife?" he asked her.
She looked even more at the girl in a really short skirt and the guy, a very handsome one, in his suit.
"Actually, I think they're lovers…" she said with a smile, looking back at Mulder.
"What? How do you figure that out?" he asked and took a sip of his beer.
She shrugged again with her eyes still on the couple. They weren't alone in the table, 5 more people were with them. They weren't sitting next to each other, like a regular couple should be.
"Maybe they work together, maybe once they were officially girlfriend and boyfriend, but I think right now they're hiding their feeling from the rest. She's uneasy, his arm is over the chair of that blonde lady sitting next to the one he was dancing with, he wishes he could be touching at least an inch of her skin right now…"
"Wow Scully, I think I'm gonna have to learn how to do autopsies… I'm the profiler, remeber?", he said, trying to make her laugh.
He did got a smile out of her.
"I don't know…. They're just not sitting next to each other. That's strange, right? For a couple."
"Yeah, you're right. But I'm gonna go with your guess. They once were a couple, then life happened and now they don't know how to be them again." Now he was the one look intensely at the pair.
"I think they're lawyers… What do you think?" she said.
"ALLY!".
Somebody screamed the name coincidentally when the band was changing from one song to another, so it wasn't hard to listen to the sudden loud voice.
The woman in the short skirt turned around and waved back at whoever called for her. She was only a few years younger than Scully.
Ally, that was her name. Cute, Scully thought and looked away for a moment, because Ally had stood up from where she was sitting and walked really close to where she and Mulder were.
Scully noticed that Mulder didn't look away and that he and Ally made eye contact while she was on her way to whoever had yelled her name. "You're right, Scully," Mulder said all of the sudden.
His comment took her by surprise. "Right? About what?" she asked with her eyes on his while he was looking at something almost at the door of the bar.
"She… Ally… Is not with the guy she was dancing…"
"How do you… Oh no!" Scully said feeling actual sadness whe she followed Mulder's eyes and caught Ally kissing another man, taller than the one she was dancing before, darker, more handsome even (for her liking, anyway… and apparently also Ally's), but in spite of this new man's good looks, she felt sad with the development of the love story she was witnessing before.
"Sad, don't you think?" Mulder asked looking at Scully again.
"Very much!"
She looked down as soon as she saw Ally approaching them on her way to her table, but wasn't quick enough. Their eyes crossed for a second and Scully could swear she saw a tear running down Ally's face and it almost made her cry too.
Scully and Mulder saw as Ally got her purse and coat, saying a quick goodbye to the other people in her table. The man she was dancing with had his eyes on the floor, trying to look dismissive of the entire situation. He wasn't. The other women in the table had their eyes on him, exactly like Mulder and Scully.
But then, Ally gave him hope with a simple touch on his shoulder when she was walking by him, away from the table. But his eyes where still somewhere on the floor, maybe if he locked eyes with her, he wouldn't let her go.
This time, Ally chose another route and didn't walk by Mulder and Scully's table. She finally got to the handsome man with the brown coat. She smiled at him while she was putting on her coat, grabbed his hand, he opened the door and the pair of FBI agents never saw them again.
But then, some movement on the table where just a moment ago Ally was sitted caught their attention.
"He looks like a John, right?", Mulder said, distracting Scully from what was going on in that side of the bar.
"Mmmm…" She actually thought about what the man's name could be. "… More like a Billy, don't you think?" Scully said with her eyes on the guy.
"Billy? Why not Bill or Will?" he asked, trying to make a joke. "Hey! You could call me like that too, if you ever get tired of Mulder. It's better than Fox, that's for sure."
Instead of a smile, he earned one of Scully's side eyes. "Let me pay attention! Why are you distracting yourself?" she whined.
"Because this is too sad… Wait, why is she stalling him?!" he said, captivated again by the situation.
"I know! Let him go to her!"
And maybe the blonde woman holding Billy back heard Scully, because automatically she let go of him and he run to the door, disappearing behind it.
Scully sighed and looked back at her forgotten glass of wine.
"Can we go outside and see what happens?" Mulder said like a little boy asking his mom if he could go to the park again.
"It's not funny, Mulder. This whole thing was really sad… Maybe that's why I don't read that many love stories… They don't always have a happy ending," she said with her eyes now on the door of the bar, wishing that Billy and Ally would entered hand in hand. But nothing happened.
The band started another song and the group of people that just a moment ago looked sad for Ally and Billy were now dancing as if nothing had happened.
"I'm sorry… Please don't lose faith in love," he asked putting his hand on hers, trying to find her eyes to give her a smile.
She did. She smiled. Maybe not at him, but he could see she was smiling, focusing on the candle on the table.
"I'm not going to. You won't let me," she said and now her eyes were on his, still a bit watery from the latest events, but fill with hope, love and happiness.
She obviously didn't know the history Ally and Billy shared and what led them to this sad situation, where their love was trapped in their hearts, but being a witness of all of that had only convinced her even more of one thing.
"I'm glad we didn't waste any more time, Mulder."
Her eyes were on him now and her wide smile was melting his heart.
And I love you so
People ask me how
How I've lived 'til now
I tell them I don't know…
The amazing singer started another love song simply right for them and their love story.
"Me too. We won't be that silly again… Will you dance with me?" he asked.
"Always."
…And yes I know
how loveless life can be
The shadows follow me
And the night won't set me free
But I don't let the evening bring me down
Now that you're around me...
...And I love you so
People ask me how
How I've lived 'til now
I tell them I don't know...
