Summary: An alternate ending to Triangle, inspired by an offhand remark on Twitter. What if Scully had said, "Oh fuck!" instead of "Oh brother!" I think it would have made the ending better! Let me know if you think so, too!
"I love you."
Scully's eyes grew wide. "Oh fuck!"
My god, did she actually say that out loud? Yes, she apparently did. After momentary shock crossed his face, Mulder broke out in an ear-to-ear, shit-eating grin, then laughed. "Oh fuck? I suppose that's better than 'fuck off.'"
He was still grinning at her and looking up at her with those adorable puppy eyes. Goddamn it, why did she look him in the eye? She knew she'd get lost doing that. She always did. She was getting lost now. It was like those eyes exerted a magnetic pull on her, drawing her towards him. This could not happen. No, no, no. She closed her own eyes to break the spell, then stammered, "Mulder, you're on drugs."
"I'm as sober as a judge. They couldn't have given me anything stronger than Tylenol. You're a doctor; go look at my chart."
"You're delusional."
"I am alert and oriented times four," he insisted. "Ask me anything you want. Ask me who I am. Ask me where I am. Ask me who the president is. Ask me what day it is – no, don't ask me that. I don't know how long I was out. But you can ask me what year it is."
He kept rambling, as he was prone to do. He looked so cute and vulnerable. She just wanted to put her arms around him and—no, Dana, you absolutely cannot do that. "Mulder, no. You went through a trauma. You were hit on the head and knocked unconscious. You don't know what you're saying."
He looked her right in the eye, and she felt herself getting lost again. Damn him. "I know exactly what I'm saying. Getting hit on the head didn't make me delusional, but I think it may have made me brave. I love you, and I know you feel something, too. I tried to kiss you in my hallway a few months ago, and you were going to kiss me back, only that fucking bee ruined it."
Oh fuck. He had her now. They had never spoken of that – that incident. She was perfectly okay never speaking of it. If neither of them ever spoke of it, she could pretend it had never happened. Mulder speaking the words aloud meant that it was real now. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. Say something, Dana. Anything. "Mulder—"
"You were going to kiss me back, right?"
"It doesn't matter—"
"Why?"
"Because … because we can't do this. This can't happen."
"Why, Scully? Why can't it happen, if both of us want it?"
"Because you're my partner. You're my best friend. You're the best friend I've ever had."
"So, you think we should be with people we don't get along with? I don't know about you, Scully, but looking back at my relationships, I think the whole problem was that those women weren't my friends, on any level."
"Mulder, I understand what you're saying, and I've had the same problem, but—"
"You've had relationships with women who weren't your friends on any level?"
"Mulder, I – Wait a minute. What?" It took a moment for her to realize what he had done there. He grinned at her again, and she started laughing despite herself. This whole situation was insane, and the stress of the past 24 hours was finally pouring out of her. She had feared that he was dead, that she had lost him. When they found him floating in the water, her heart had sank into her feet, and she had been so relieved when they had discovered he was alive; battered and bruised, but alive.
She didn't know how it happened. One moment, she was standing upright beside his bed, her hands on the sidebars, and the next, he had pulled her down and was kissing her, and she was kissing him back. She moved one of her hands from the sidebars to the back of his neck and opened her mouth to grant him entrance. His tongue probed gently, lightly caressing hers. Kissing him was soft and sweet and sensual and even better than she'd imagined it would be.
It went on for what felt like a while. When they finally broke the kiss, he took her hand in his and pressed her fingers to his lips, lovingly kissing each digit before placing her hand under his gown and over his heart. The skin-to-skin contact was electrifying. He was so warm, and his heartbeat was so steady and strong. She wanted more, and if he hadn't been in a hospital bed, she'd have already jumped in with him and torn his gown off so she could have more.
He looked up at her. "I love you, Scully. You don't have to say it back right now. I already know." He pulled her down for another kiss, this one deeper, promising much more later.
She stood up straight, took a deep breath, and smoothed her clothing and hair. "I should go. You need to rest. I'll be back tomorrow."
"That's right. Tomorrow, you're going to pick me up, and I'm going to remember all of this, and I'm not going to regret a minute of it, and neither will you, and we're not going to pretend anymore."
She smiled at him. "Goodnight, Mulder."
"Goodnight, Scully." He lay on his side, and she pulled the covers up over him and gave him a kiss goodnight before leaving the room.
The full impact of what had just transpired didn't hit her until she was in the hallway. Did all that just really happen? She touched her lips with the fingers that he'd kissed. Yes, it had. Her partner was in love with her, and she was in love with him, and she'd just made out with him in his hospital bed, and there was no going back from here.
Oh fuck.