Title: Unbreak My Heart - Excluded
Author: Melpomene
Email: melpomene1013yahoo.com
Rating: R
Spoilers: Season 3
Keywords: M/O, MSR, maybe S/O, Angst
Summary: What happens when you fall in
love with someone who doesn't love you back.
Author's Notes: Unbreak My Heart is a series
that will probably be 4 or 5 parts long. Thanks
to everyone for their kind words on Unbreak
My Heart.
Part 2 - Excluded
It had been three months since Mulder met Veronica
Alain on a case in New Jersey. Three miserable,
lonely months. Scully checked her watch. 2:14
and Mulder wasn't back from lunch yet.
This was getting to be an everyday occurance--
Mulder left for lunch at 12:30 and returned well
after two o'clock. Scully was pretty sure he had a
nooner with Ronni every day and it was beginning to
piss her off. Mulder could do whatever he wanted on
his lunch hour--he could skydive or wrestle alligators
if he wanted. But taking a two hour lunch every day
was inconsiderate and unprofessional.
Mulder, who pre-Ronni had seemed to live at the office--
arriving before eight a.m. and working twelve hour days,
was a thing of the past. Now, he got to work well
after nine and left earlier and earlier--mostly after
a phone call from Ronni. With a two hour lunch in
the middle of the day, it was pretty clear that work
was no longer important to Mulder.
Several times Scully had been forced to cover for
her partner when Skinner called looking for him. She
hated lying to her boss, telling him that Mulder was
chasing down evidence in the fingerprint labs, or
hadn't been feeling well and left a few minutes early.
She'd had to make fib today, telling Skinner that
Mulder was held up in traffic on his way back from
lunch. She vowed to lay the law down to her
partner--no more covering for him with the boss.
Scully missed her partner. Before Ronni, Mulder
would have lunch with Scully. They'd buy sandwiches
from the lunch cart and eat as they worked. When the
weather was nice, they'd walk to the mall and eat on
a park bench.
These days, with Scully so depressed, lunch was a Diet
Coke at her desk, where she'd try her best not to
look at the clock and wonder where Mulder was and
what he was doing. Some days, she put on her track
shoes and walked four or five miles in an effort to
release some of her anger.
To reduce some of her stress, she'd joined a
kick-boxing class that met after work. It wasn't
as if she had anything else to do with her
evenings--no one called her and she rarely had
plans. Hell, Mulder had been the only one
who'd phoned or visited in the evenings--usually
bouncing ideas off her. Now his nights were
occupied with Ronni Alain.
The only bright spot was, with all the missed lunches,
and marathon walks, she was losing a lot of weight. After
her kick-boxing class, she rarely had much of an appetite,
so she barely ate dinner. Not that heartache and stress
was the weight loss program she would have chosen.
The truth was, Scully was worried about Mulder. He
was neglecting his work as much as he was neglecting his
partner. Scully hadn't liked Veronica Alain from the very
first, but she'd chalked it up to jealousy. It was only
when she overheard AD Skinner's assistant in the ladies
room talking to one of the other admins that she realized
how serious the problem was.
"So, did you hear who Veronica Alain has her hooks into
now?" Skinner's assistant had asked. "Agent Mulder."
"You're kidding. Old Spooky is getting some? I guess
it's not hard to believe, really. They don't seem to
be able to resist her."
"I know. But that woman's a man-eater. Did you know she
broke up Agent Finsterbusch's marriage? And Bill O'Malley
got tossed off the Wilson case because he missed so much
time--he was off doing the nasty with that she-devil."
"I could swear I saw her cuddling up to her boss in the
parking garage one night."
"She's an alley-cat, all right. Probably sleeping with
the both of them."
Scully had waited until the two women left before coming
out of her stall. If she thought it would do any good, she'd
have talked to Mulder about Ronni. With her luck, Mulder
would not only assume she was jealous, but he'd think her
complaining pathetic. After all, it wasn't as if he'd
ever look Scully's way. She sighed and looked at her
watch again. 2:35.
"Hey Scully," Mulder said, bursting into the room. He
hung his jacket up. "Sorry I'm late."
Scully bit the inside of her cheek to keep from
screaming and kept her eyes on her computer screen.
Mulder got comfortable behind his desk, flipping
through a stack of papers. The bastard had the
audacity to be humming.
Something inside her snapped. Pushing herself
away from the desk, she grabbed the report she
owed Skinner.
"Spare me the apologies, okay, Mulder? Either
get back from lunch at a reasonable time, or take
two hours, but don't waist my time and yours with
an apology for something you have no intention of
changing. And by the way--I've covered your ass
for the last time with Skinner. After this, you're
on your own."
Scully stalked out of the office, slamming the door
behind her.
Mulder felt his face redden. He stared at the
closed door, as if he could still see Scully.
She had every right to be angry. Every day,
he told Ronni they'd have to have a quick lunch
and every damn day, they ended up at her
apartment, in her bed.
Unfortunately, all his good intentions went right
out the window when Ronni talked dirty to him. It
was like he was powerless. Sometimes, it was
exciting--like skydiving or driving fast, but more
and more, it was feeling uncomfortable. The worst
part was feeling that he was losing Scully's
respect.
It was like his brain went on hiatus when Ronni
touched him and he ended up doing stupid thoughtless
things, mostly to Scully. He cringed when he thought
about forgetting Scully at the airport when he first
met Ronni. He'd been in such a heightened state of
arousal from Ronni's caresses under the blanket,
getting her somewhere private was all his mind
could fathom.
Shamefully, it wasn't until the next day that he'd
remembered Scully.
He didn't love Ronni--he knew that. She was fun and
lively and far too sexy for his sanity, but he knew
there was no deep connection. It was a case of out
of sight, out of mind. If she was near him, touching
him, slipping her tongue into his mouth, he was so
turned on he couldn't remember his own name, much
less his partner's. But if she wasn't with him, he
rarely thought about her; he'd forget to call her if
he was busy on a case.
Lucky for him, as an agent, Ronni knew all about the
work. That was probably the best part of dating her.
She understood when he was called out of town on a
moments notice. Hell, sometimes Ronni was the one
who got called out of town.
And Ronni understood the stress that came from
fighting monsters--at least the human ones. She
didn't entirely believe in the non-human ones, but
didn't tease him too much about it.
The only thing Ronni seemed to have a problem with
was Scully. Not that she believed for a second
that Mulder was interested in Scully. Ronni thought
Scully was unattractive and mousy. She'd gotten into
the habit of making disparaging comments about his
partner's weight until he finally asked her to stop.
The truth was, he thought his partner looked just fine:
natural and healthy. He didn't understand why women
wanted to look like skeltons anyway. Every time Mulder
saw Scully's dewy skin and blue eyes sparkling with
intelligence, he couldn't help but remember seeing her
near death in the hospital after her abduction. Every
time, he reveled in her health.
But he couldn't help but notice how unhappy she was
lately, and he wished he understood why. He may have
been preoccupied with Ronni these days, but he wasn't
totally oblivious. Something was wrong, and had been
wrong for months.
Scully walked back into the room, going straight to
her computer and getting back to work. She seemed to
have calmed down, or maybe it was just resignation that
her partner was a shit and there was nothing she could
do about it.
He decided that he had to do something to change her
opinion of him. Mulder needed to put his attention
where it should have been for months--on his work and
part of that was making peace with his beleaguered
partner.
"Scully?"
"Hmm."
"You free for dinner tonight?" he asked.
"Why?" she asked warily. She wondered if he was
teasing her. It wasn't as if she had dozens of
boyfriends waiting to take her out.
"I thought we could get something to eat--you
know--talk, laugh. You're my friend and I want
to spend time with you. Come on--for old times
sake, Scully."
She eyed him suspiciously, then looked down at her
hands. Old times sake. She fought to keep the
tears from coming. God, how she missed him.
"What about Ronni?" she asked. "Don't you have
plans with her?"
"Ronni and I aren't joined at the hip," he protested.
"Contrary to recent appearances." He smiled at her,
casually lounging back in his chair. "Besides, she
got called out of town on a case."
Scully laughed, but it wasn't a joyful sound. "Ah.
I guess that explains it." So, she was good enough
to spend time with when the main squeeze was out of
town. She ought to tell him to take a hike, but
it had been a long time since she ate dinner with a
man who wasn't a blood relation.
"Okay. Dinner it is."
Tension flowed out of Mulder. He vowed to use this
opportunity to spend time with Scully and mend their
frayed partnership. Scully deserved it. Hell, he
deserved it. He missed spending time with Scully--
it was as exhilirating as a dip in a pool of crystal
clear water.
Time flew by when they bantered and argued over
anything and everything. He'd never known someone
as mentally sharp as Scully.
The afternoon passed quietly as they finished their
work. They'd decided on Mario's, a casual, family
run restaurant that they both liked.
"How about I pick you up around seven?" he asked as
he slipped on his jacket.
"That's so far out of your way, Mulder. Why don't
I meet you there? 7:30?"
"7:30, it is," he replied.
Scully went home and tried to figure out what to
wear. She wasn't fooling herself that this was a
date, so she passed by her dressier things, Some of
her clothes had started to get loose on her, so she
moved them to the back of her closet. She finally
settled on a pair of black slacks she hadn't been
able to fit into for a year and a gray cashmere
sweater.
She took a quick shower and fussed with her hair. She
was getting tired of this hairstyle--it needed too much
attention with the curling iron to get it right, and
she rarely had time to spend on it.
Scully took a hard look at herself in the mirror.
She'd never been one to worry about her appearance.
Her education and then her work had always been the
main focus of her life. She could never hope to
compete with someone like Ronni Alain, so the chances
of Mulder ever noticing the sober little redhead at
his elbow were next to nil.
She applied her makeup with a careful hand, applying
a little extra eye shadow to accentuate her eyes. Well,
this was as good as it was going to get, she thought,
washing the makeup from her hands. Time to get to Mario's.
Mulder's cell phone rang as he got into his car to
drive home from work.
"Fox, baby," Ronni purred through the phone. "Change
in plans--I don't have to leave until tomorrow. Baby,
I'm going to do things to you tonight that are illegal
in 3 states."
Damn. Damn, damn, damn. He was getting hard just
listening to her voice. Why did she have to finish
her case early? She wasn't going to like what he
had to tell her.
"That's nice, Ronni," he said. "Um, I sort of made
plans for dinner tonight though."
"Break them," she said, laughing. "You don't need
indigestion from greasy cheesestake sandwiches,
anyway. Tell those crazy friends of yours that
you have a better offer. I'm much hotter than
they are."
"I...uh...didn't make plans with the guys, Ronni.
I'm having dinner with Scully tonight. We have a
case to go over."
He hoped the last bit about a case would deflect
some of Ronni's jealousy, but wasn't at all happy.
He finally got her off the phone and Mulder drove home,
pondering friendship, loyalty and how he could balance
out his relationships.
By the time he arrived at his apartment, he was running
a little late. He'd have to hurry if he was going to
grab a shower. Mulder retrieved his mail from the mail
box and raced up the stairs, not wanting to take the time
waiting for the elevator.
This dinner was important, he thought, as he unlocked
the door and pushed it open. His relationship with Scully
was hanging by a tenuous thread. Any more stupidity on
his part and that thread might just snap.
His apartment was looking rather neglected these days.
Ronni preferred her own place. She didn't like making
love on his couch and really didn't understand why he
couldn't toss all the crap out of his bedroom.
Mulder turned on the shower and stripped off his clothes.
Stepping under the stream of water, he washed his hair
and body. He thought he heard a door close as he turned
off the water, but assumed it was his next door neighbor's
door. He wrapped a towel around his hips and left the
bathroom.
"Hey baby."
Oh. Shit. Ronni was stretched out on his sofa. She must have
come straight over.
"I'm on my way out, Ronni."
"Baby, I couldn't wait to see you," she said, ignoring his
words as she rose and stalked over to him, wearing skin-tight
leather slacks, a red halter top that bearly covered her full
breasts and strappy high-heeled sandals.
"I have to get dressed. Maybe I could come by your place for
a drink later," he suggested.
"I'd say you were wearing too much, baby," Ronni said as she
pulled the damp towel off him. His erection popped up between
them. "Looks like at least part of you is happy to see me."
Before he could protest, she had pulled off her top and
was on her knees sucking him. He should have pushed her
away--he knew this was wrong, but his hands wound their way
into her hair as she dug her fingers into his ass and
hollowed her cheeks.
Afterwords, as he lay spent on his couch with Ronni draped
over him, he felt anger rise in him. For a brief moment, he
was angry with Ronni for coming over when she knew he was
supposed to be meeting Scully. Scully. Damn it. He was a
pig to allow himself to be distracted this way. But all it
took was Ronni's mouth on his cock and he forgot his commitment
to his friend.
It was himself that he was angry with. Ronni wasn't to blame
here--he was. Ronni was what she was--a purely sexual being.
She breathed sex. She oozed it. And he was just the kind of
highly sexed man who couldn't resist a woman like her. She
was like crack cocaine and he was just a junkie.
"Get up," he said, pushing on Ronni's shoulder. "I have to
get dressed."
"You're angry," Ronni said, sliding off him. She sat on the
couch, feet up on the coffee table, completely at ease in
her nakedness. She pouted prettily. "Don't try to tell
me you didn't want that as much as I did, Fox."
"If I'm angry, it's only at myself," he replied as he retrieved
the clothes he'd took out earlier and started to dress. "No
matter how much I wanted you, I had a commitment tonight."
"Don't worry. I'm sure she's still there, waiting for you."
Her tone said she thought Scully had nothing better to do
than hang around and wait for someone else's man.
"I have to go," he said when he'd finished tying his shoes.
"I'll talk to you later."
As he grabbed his keys and ran out the door, he wasn't sure
if finding an angry Scully waiting at Mario's was better
than discovering that she'd left. He tried not to picture
the hurt in her eyes as he got into his car and backed it
out of the parking space.
Traffic did not cooperate as he headed over to Mario's. It
was nearly eight o'clock when he found a parking space and
trotted to the entrance. He nearly ran smack into Scully
as she walked out the door. Her face was a mask of anger
as she hugged her jacket around her.
"I'm sorry, Scully. I got hung up and lost track of time,"
he said, touching her arm.
She breathed in the scent of him, detecting his aftershave
and the musk of sex. Scully shrugged his hand away and
pushed past him. Raising her chin, she looked into
his eyes.
"Yeah. I'm sure something came up, Mulder. Something always
does."
She turned and walked away.
Continued in part 3....
Author: Melpomene
Email: melpomene1013yahoo.com
Rating: R
Spoilers: Season 3
Keywords: M/O, MSR, maybe S/O, Angst
Summary: What happens when you fall in
love with someone who doesn't love you back.
Author's Notes: Unbreak My Heart is a series
that will probably be 4 or 5 parts long. Thanks
to everyone for their kind words on Unbreak
My Heart.
Part 2 - Excluded
It had been three months since Mulder met Veronica
Alain on a case in New Jersey. Three miserable,
lonely months. Scully checked her watch. 2:14
and Mulder wasn't back from lunch yet.
This was getting to be an everyday occurance--
Mulder left for lunch at 12:30 and returned well
after two o'clock. Scully was pretty sure he had a
nooner with Ronni every day and it was beginning to
piss her off. Mulder could do whatever he wanted on
his lunch hour--he could skydive or wrestle alligators
if he wanted. But taking a two hour lunch every day
was inconsiderate and unprofessional.
Mulder, who pre-Ronni had seemed to live at the office--
arriving before eight a.m. and working twelve hour days,
was a thing of the past. Now, he got to work well
after nine and left earlier and earlier--mostly after
a phone call from Ronni. With a two hour lunch in
the middle of the day, it was pretty clear that work
was no longer important to Mulder.
Several times Scully had been forced to cover for
her partner when Skinner called looking for him. She
hated lying to her boss, telling him that Mulder was
chasing down evidence in the fingerprint labs, or
hadn't been feeling well and left a few minutes early.
She'd had to make fib today, telling Skinner that
Mulder was held up in traffic on his way back from
lunch. She vowed to lay the law down to her
partner--no more covering for him with the boss.
Scully missed her partner. Before Ronni, Mulder
would have lunch with Scully. They'd buy sandwiches
from the lunch cart and eat as they worked. When the
weather was nice, they'd walk to the mall and eat on
a park bench.
These days, with Scully so depressed, lunch was a Diet
Coke at her desk, where she'd try her best not to
look at the clock and wonder where Mulder was and
what he was doing. Some days, she put on her track
shoes and walked four or five miles in an effort to
release some of her anger.
To reduce some of her stress, she'd joined a
kick-boxing class that met after work. It wasn't
as if she had anything else to do with her
evenings--no one called her and she rarely had
plans. Hell, Mulder had been the only one
who'd phoned or visited in the evenings--usually
bouncing ideas off her. Now his nights were
occupied with Ronni Alain.
The only bright spot was, with all the missed lunches,
and marathon walks, she was losing a lot of weight. After
her kick-boxing class, she rarely had much of an appetite,
so she barely ate dinner. Not that heartache and stress
was the weight loss program she would have chosen.
The truth was, Scully was worried about Mulder. He
was neglecting his work as much as he was neglecting his
partner. Scully hadn't liked Veronica Alain from the very
first, but she'd chalked it up to jealousy. It was only
when she overheard AD Skinner's assistant in the ladies
room talking to one of the other admins that she realized
how serious the problem was.
"So, did you hear who Veronica Alain has her hooks into
now?" Skinner's assistant had asked. "Agent Mulder."
"You're kidding. Old Spooky is getting some? I guess
it's not hard to believe, really. They don't seem to
be able to resist her."
"I know. But that woman's a man-eater. Did you know she
broke up Agent Finsterbusch's marriage? And Bill O'Malley
got tossed off the Wilson case because he missed so much
time--he was off doing the nasty with that she-devil."
"I could swear I saw her cuddling up to her boss in the
parking garage one night."
"She's an alley-cat, all right. Probably sleeping with
the both of them."
Scully had waited until the two women left before coming
out of her stall. If she thought it would do any good, she'd
have talked to Mulder about Ronni. With her luck, Mulder
would not only assume she was jealous, but he'd think her
complaining pathetic. After all, it wasn't as if he'd
ever look Scully's way. She sighed and looked at her
watch again. 2:35.
"Hey Scully," Mulder said, bursting into the room. He
hung his jacket up. "Sorry I'm late."
Scully bit the inside of her cheek to keep from
screaming and kept her eyes on her computer screen.
Mulder got comfortable behind his desk, flipping
through a stack of papers. The bastard had the
audacity to be humming.
Something inside her snapped. Pushing herself
away from the desk, she grabbed the report she
owed Skinner.
"Spare me the apologies, okay, Mulder? Either
get back from lunch at a reasonable time, or take
two hours, but don't waist my time and yours with
an apology for something you have no intention of
changing. And by the way--I've covered your ass
for the last time with Skinner. After this, you're
on your own."
Scully stalked out of the office, slamming the door
behind her.
Mulder felt his face redden. He stared at the
closed door, as if he could still see Scully.
She had every right to be angry. Every day,
he told Ronni they'd have to have a quick lunch
and every damn day, they ended up at her
apartment, in her bed.
Unfortunately, all his good intentions went right
out the window when Ronni talked dirty to him. It
was like he was powerless. Sometimes, it was
exciting--like skydiving or driving fast, but more
and more, it was feeling uncomfortable. The worst
part was feeling that he was losing Scully's
respect.
It was like his brain went on hiatus when Ronni
touched him and he ended up doing stupid thoughtless
things, mostly to Scully. He cringed when he thought
about forgetting Scully at the airport when he first
met Ronni. He'd been in such a heightened state of
arousal from Ronni's caresses under the blanket,
getting her somewhere private was all his mind
could fathom.
Shamefully, it wasn't until the next day that he'd
remembered Scully.
He didn't love Ronni--he knew that. She was fun and
lively and far too sexy for his sanity, but he knew
there was no deep connection. It was a case of out
of sight, out of mind. If she was near him, touching
him, slipping her tongue into his mouth, he was so
turned on he couldn't remember his own name, much
less his partner's. But if she wasn't with him, he
rarely thought about her; he'd forget to call her if
he was busy on a case.
Lucky for him, as an agent, Ronni knew all about the
work. That was probably the best part of dating her.
She understood when he was called out of town on a
moments notice. Hell, sometimes Ronni was the one
who got called out of town.
And Ronni understood the stress that came from
fighting monsters--at least the human ones. She
didn't entirely believe in the non-human ones, but
didn't tease him too much about it.
The only thing Ronni seemed to have a problem with
was Scully. Not that she believed for a second
that Mulder was interested in Scully. Ronni thought
Scully was unattractive and mousy. She'd gotten into
the habit of making disparaging comments about his
partner's weight until he finally asked her to stop.
The truth was, he thought his partner looked just fine:
natural and healthy. He didn't understand why women
wanted to look like skeltons anyway. Every time Mulder
saw Scully's dewy skin and blue eyes sparkling with
intelligence, he couldn't help but remember seeing her
near death in the hospital after her abduction. Every
time, he reveled in her health.
But he couldn't help but notice how unhappy she was
lately, and he wished he understood why. He may have
been preoccupied with Ronni these days, but he wasn't
totally oblivious. Something was wrong, and had been
wrong for months.
Scully walked back into the room, going straight to
her computer and getting back to work. She seemed to
have calmed down, or maybe it was just resignation that
her partner was a shit and there was nothing she could
do about it.
He decided that he had to do something to change her
opinion of him. Mulder needed to put his attention
where it should have been for months--on his work and
part of that was making peace with his beleaguered
partner.
"Scully?"
"Hmm."
"You free for dinner tonight?" he asked.
"Why?" she asked warily. She wondered if he was
teasing her. It wasn't as if she had dozens of
boyfriends waiting to take her out.
"I thought we could get something to eat--you
know--talk, laugh. You're my friend and I want
to spend time with you. Come on--for old times
sake, Scully."
She eyed him suspiciously, then looked down at her
hands. Old times sake. She fought to keep the
tears from coming. God, how she missed him.
"What about Ronni?" she asked. "Don't you have
plans with her?"
"Ronni and I aren't joined at the hip," he protested.
"Contrary to recent appearances." He smiled at her,
casually lounging back in his chair. "Besides, she
got called out of town on a case."
Scully laughed, but it wasn't a joyful sound. "Ah.
I guess that explains it." So, she was good enough
to spend time with when the main squeeze was out of
town. She ought to tell him to take a hike, but
it had been a long time since she ate dinner with a
man who wasn't a blood relation.
"Okay. Dinner it is."
Tension flowed out of Mulder. He vowed to use this
opportunity to spend time with Scully and mend their
frayed partnership. Scully deserved it. Hell, he
deserved it. He missed spending time with Scully--
it was as exhilirating as a dip in a pool of crystal
clear water.
Time flew by when they bantered and argued over
anything and everything. He'd never known someone
as mentally sharp as Scully.
The afternoon passed quietly as they finished their
work. They'd decided on Mario's, a casual, family
run restaurant that they both liked.
"How about I pick you up around seven?" he asked as
he slipped on his jacket.
"That's so far out of your way, Mulder. Why don't
I meet you there? 7:30?"
"7:30, it is," he replied.
Scully went home and tried to figure out what to
wear. She wasn't fooling herself that this was a
date, so she passed by her dressier things, Some of
her clothes had started to get loose on her, so she
moved them to the back of her closet. She finally
settled on a pair of black slacks she hadn't been
able to fit into for a year and a gray cashmere
sweater.
She took a quick shower and fussed with her hair. She
was getting tired of this hairstyle--it needed too much
attention with the curling iron to get it right, and
she rarely had time to spend on it.
Scully took a hard look at herself in the mirror.
She'd never been one to worry about her appearance.
Her education and then her work had always been the
main focus of her life. She could never hope to
compete with someone like Ronni Alain, so the chances
of Mulder ever noticing the sober little redhead at
his elbow were next to nil.
She applied her makeup with a careful hand, applying
a little extra eye shadow to accentuate her eyes. Well,
this was as good as it was going to get, she thought,
washing the makeup from her hands. Time to get to Mario's.
Mulder's cell phone rang as he got into his car to
drive home from work.
"Fox, baby," Ronni purred through the phone. "Change
in plans--I don't have to leave until tomorrow. Baby,
I'm going to do things to you tonight that are illegal
in 3 states."
Damn. Damn, damn, damn. He was getting hard just
listening to her voice. Why did she have to finish
her case early? She wasn't going to like what he
had to tell her.
"That's nice, Ronni," he said. "Um, I sort of made
plans for dinner tonight though."
"Break them," she said, laughing. "You don't need
indigestion from greasy cheesestake sandwiches,
anyway. Tell those crazy friends of yours that
you have a better offer. I'm much hotter than
they are."
"I...uh...didn't make plans with the guys, Ronni.
I'm having dinner with Scully tonight. We have a
case to go over."
He hoped the last bit about a case would deflect
some of Ronni's jealousy, but wasn't at all happy.
He finally got her off the phone and Mulder drove home,
pondering friendship, loyalty and how he could balance
out his relationships.
By the time he arrived at his apartment, he was running
a little late. He'd have to hurry if he was going to
grab a shower. Mulder retrieved his mail from the mail
box and raced up the stairs, not wanting to take the time
waiting for the elevator.
This dinner was important, he thought, as he unlocked
the door and pushed it open. His relationship with Scully
was hanging by a tenuous thread. Any more stupidity on
his part and that thread might just snap.
His apartment was looking rather neglected these days.
Ronni preferred her own place. She didn't like making
love on his couch and really didn't understand why he
couldn't toss all the crap out of his bedroom.
Mulder turned on the shower and stripped off his clothes.
Stepping under the stream of water, he washed his hair
and body. He thought he heard a door close as he turned
off the water, but assumed it was his next door neighbor's
door. He wrapped a towel around his hips and left the
bathroom.
"Hey baby."
Oh. Shit. Ronni was stretched out on his sofa. She must have
come straight over.
"I'm on my way out, Ronni."
"Baby, I couldn't wait to see you," she said, ignoring his
words as she rose and stalked over to him, wearing skin-tight
leather slacks, a red halter top that bearly covered her full
breasts and strappy high-heeled sandals.
"I have to get dressed. Maybe I could come by your place for
a drink later," he suggested.
"I'd say you were wearing too much, baby," Ronni said as she
pulled the damp towel off him. His erection popped up between
them. "Looks like at least part of you is happy to see me."
Before he could protest, she had pulled off her top and
was on her knees sucking him. He should have pushed her
away--he knew this was wrong, but his hands wound their way
into her hair as she dug her fingers into his ass and
hollowed her cheeks.
Afterwords, as he lay spent on his couch with Ronni draped
over him, he felt anger rise in him. For a brief moment, he
was angry with Ronni for coming over when she knew he was
supposed to be meeting Scully. Scully. Damn it. He was a
pig to allow himself to be distracted this way. But all it
took was Ronni's mouth on his cock and he forgot his commitment
to his friend.
It was himself that he was angry with. Ronni wasn't to blame
here--he was. Ronni was what she was--a purely sexual being.
She breathed sex. She oozed it. And he was just the kind of
highly sexed man who couldn't resist a woman like her. She
was like crack cocaine and he was just a junkie.
"Get up," he said, pushing on Ronni's shoulder. "I have to
get dressed."
"You're angry," Ronni said, sliding off him. She sat on the
couch, feet up on the coffee table, completely at ease in
her nakedness. She pouted prettily. "Don't try to tell
me you didn't want that as much as I did, Fox."
"If I'm angry, it's only at myself," he replied as he retrieved
the clothes he'd took out earlier and started to dress. "No
matter how much I wanted you, I had a commitment tonight."
"Don't worry. I'm sure she's still there, waiting for you."
Her tone said she thought Scully had nothing better to do
than hang around and wait for someone else's man.
"I have to go," he said when he'd finished tying his shoes.
"I'll talk to you later."
As he grabbed his keys and ran out the door, he wasn't sure
if finding an angry Scully waiting at Mario's was better
than discovering that she'd left. He tried not to picture
the hurt in her eyes as he got into his car and backed it
out of the parking space.
Traffic did not cooperate as he headed over to Mario's. It
was nearly eight o'clock when he found a parking space and
trotted to the entrance. He nearly ran smack into Scully
as she walked out the door. Her face was a mask of anger
as she hugged her jacket around her.
"I'm sorry, Scully. I got hung up and lost track of time,"
he said, touching her arm.
She breathed in the scent of him, detecting his aftershave
and the musk of sex. Scully shrugged his hand away and
pushed past him. Raising her chin, she looked into
his eyes.
"Yeah. I'm sure something came up, Mulder. Something always
does."
She turned and walked away.
Continued in part 3....
