'Ding! Entering fluff city.' I didn't initially intend this to turn out so sapy but hey, I guess it's just the way my mind works. Scully-centric story based on how I think 'The Unnatural' should have ended and taking a few liberties with the exact details. I hope you will forgive me. If you haven't seen this ep then do, it is totally awesome! My imagination kicks in somewhere around 'she chuckled and joined in' all dialogue before that belongs to the writers. (But rest assured, the glittering prose is all mine. lol)

Slight spoilers for The Unnatural and Dreamland II but nothing major.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files. If I did then, trust me, we wouldn't need fanfic!

Anyway, on with the show...

Scully fought to hide a grin as she trudged up to the pitching mound in the pitch black. Only Mulder would leave an 'urgent' message asking her to go to a park in the middle of the night completely out of the blue. Finally he came into sight, standing in the shaft of light shed by one of the floodlights and effortlessly hitting the balls apparently thrown by a small boy standing opposite him.

'So I get this message marked urgent on my answering service from one Fox Mantle telling me to come down to the park for a very special, very early or very late, birthday present and Mulder, I don't see any nicely wrapped presents lying around so what gives?' Scully produced the most innocently oblivious look she could muster before breaking into a grin as Mulder span around.

'You've never hit a baseball have you Scully?' he said smirking and stepping sideways to reveal a mechanical pitcher apparently operated by the kid she had seen earlier. She raised an eyebrow and explained why that was the case with just enough condescension to make him pout, something that made the usual Mulder-induced stomach knot even harder to ignore.

'Get over here Scully' he said finally, waving the bat in her direction with a grin.

He folded his arms around her taking hold of the bat either side of her own hesitant fingers. As he did she couldn't help stopping to breathe him in. The distinct Mulder smell that she had only ever enjoyed in brief tantalising moments before, now surrounded her. She revelled in the feeling, the closeness they had that felt so natural now. It went unsaid, but the effortless camaraderie they both shared and the instinctive trust they had come to rely on meant more to her than she felt she could ever express. Despite all her experience in articulating the convoluted motivations of the various suspects they had come in contact with over the years, her own deepest certainties remained unfathomable.

Lost in her own thoughts she only nodded along vaguely as Mulder patiently explained the process of batting in his own unique way, but was suddenly jolted back to reality when he rested his hand on her stomach. Every nerve at the point of contact sparked and jolted and she became suddenly very determined to concentrate on Mulder's words and the correct way to step forward into the swing. Every second she resisted the urge to press back into him and feel his chest flush with her back.

She sighed imperceptibly as he finally removed the contact but was unprepared when he suddenly did it again. Ever so gently, just guiding her hips to the correct position and then back again, he reminded her of the process,

'We just stride forward and turn, ok. We go hips before hands alright Scully. Hips before hands. What is it?'

'Hips before hands' she repeated mechanically before she cracked. Just for a second she gave in and pushed back into him. For a brief moment she felt every firm muscle of his chest pressed against her, flexing as he moved through the swing and oozing a warmth that her own body drank in. But, almost as quickly, rational thought kicked in and she regretfully pulled away, feeling cold despite mere millimetres separating them. She nodded along to whatever he was saying, inwardly reprimanding herself for her lapse of composure and praying that he hadn't noticed.

'...not gonna think. We're just gonna let it fly Scully. OK?'

She pulled herself out of the reverie to respond.

'Yeah, ok.' She said not being able to help the smile that came to her lips. His childish humour was infectious and she laughed as Mulder told the kid to start loading baseballs and they made their first ungainly attempt at a swing. Almost completely losing balance, they managed to stagger upright just in time to hit the next ball, laughing at their minor achievement. Through Scully's persistent giggles she heard Mulder expand on his baseball life enrichment theory, punctuated periodically with the slap of leather on wood.

'See, what you may find is when you're concentrating on that little ball, the rest of the world just fades away. Your everyday nagging concerns; the ticking of your biological clock, how you couldn't afford that nice new sued coat on a G-woman salary, how you threw away a promising career in medicine to hunt aliens with a crackpot but brilliant partner, getting to the heart of a global conspiracy, your obscenely overdue triple X bill.' At this she smirked and arched a quizzical eyebrow.

'Oh, I'm sorry Scully those last two problems were mine not yours.'

She chuckled and joined in,

'Yeah, and pondering the unexplained appearance of water beds!'

He snorted at that and she went on,

'Putting up with sceptical partners, your never ending search for the latest in extra-terrestrial themed office decoration, getting pissed off when Frohickey stares at your boobs'

At this, Mulder burst into laughter before adopting a tone of mock horror.

'Frohickey wouldn't do that to me! He respects me too much as a woman!' he said, his smile evident though she couldn't see it. But Scully wasn't really listening. She felt warm and safe and she continued unaware that she was leaving the realm of easy humour.

'And wishing your brother would quit pushing away the one guy you actually have feelings ...' Her eyes flew open as she froze, realising what she had just said.

The regular swing and thud of each hit had stopped and she noticed where they were again. She didn't remember letting go of the bat but Mulder must have done also as the dull thud of it hitting the ground echoed around the cold park. She closed her eyes again, this time praying for some form of escape as Mulder slowly turned her around so they were face to face. After a long moment she chanced a look up into his face and saw only his warm, thoughtful eyes considering her own.

Then he kissed her.

No preamble, no quips or jokes or crude remarks or melodramatic declarations that she had become so used to over the course of their friendship. He kissed her, and she kissed him back...hard. So hard that she didn't know where she ended and he began. She relished touching him; the feel of his gorgeous, thick hair as she ran her fingers through it and the beginnings of stubble on his chin against hers. After so long with only awkward pauses and suggestive words, they relished the feeling of finally being together.

Sparing enough attention to fumble for his wallet, Mulder threw it in the vague direction of the boy now leaning, bemused, against the mechanical pitcher. The kid took what he was due (plus a little extra) and wandered off home, happy to leave them too it.

After several seconds Mulder finally pulled away, holding Scully's face in his hands. Both alone in a little floodlit circle in the corner of the dark pitch, one word broke the silence,

'Dana.'

Fin

That's all folks! Please, please, please review! This is my first ever fanfic and I am not above begging and/or bribery! Anything would utterly make my day! Am I a total lost cause? Sorry if I got any baseball terms wrong but I am English and I have as much experience of baseball as I have swimming with sharks. So anyway, thanks for reading and press the little blue button, pweddy please!