A/N: The response to this already has been so great! Thank you all! Here's another chapter. :)
The X Files doesn't belong to me.
After that first conversation, it was as if something had been set off, a switch been flipped. He found excuses to come into her classroom. He needed to borrow a pen (not really), her room was warmer (again, untrue), he was just bored. Eventually he abandoned his excuses and decided to see her when he wanted to. They ate lunch together, switching rooms daily.
She liked his room because it felt a little more homey than the cold science lab. Mulder had a couch in the far corner that he let the kids sit on while they watched movies. It was a long, overstuffed couch that looked so comfortable that one day Scully decided to sit on it while she ate lunch instead of at one of the front desks. That always made her feel like a student. She was delighted when Mulder joined her as she ate her salad on the couch, sitting cross-legged.
Every day, he found something new about her that he found cute or interesting. He liked the way her eyebrow quirked up when he said something she found illogical or silly, but his favorite thing was when he could make her laugh. December was rapidly approaching, and in the four weeks since they had begun talking (though it seemed like much longer), he had made her genuinely laugh three times. He kind of did it for his own selfish reasons; he liked to hear it so much that he wished she was always so happy, but she was often stressed and tired, and they had already argued more than once. Not slamming-doors arguments, but rolling-eyes and deep, annoyed sighs.
The thing was, with those fights, he always knew how to apologize, and they both knew at the end of the day, everything was forgiven. But when Scully, after being gone for a day, came into his room early looking bleary-eyed and exhausted and said, "Mulder, my father died," he really didn't know what to say.
No one except Vice Principal Skinner knew why Scully was gone the other day, and he wouldn't tell anyone why. Mulder cursed himself for not knowing her number then, because he really did want to call her. Now, as she stood in front him, looking broken, he knew. "Oh, Scully, I'm sorry," he sighed.
"It was so quick, I just-" she sighed, closing her eyes. "I told myself I could come in today, that I'd be fine, b-but..."
"Scully, you should've given yourself more time," he chided gently. "Really, school doesn't start for almost an hour, you can go home and just say you were feeling sick or something."
Scully was fighting so hard not to cry, he could tell, and he didn't want her to cry. If she did, he knew it would break his heart. "You know," she sniffed. "That's a good idea. I'll try and sneak out. Um," she began, looking a bit flustered.
"What is it?"
"Maybe after school...c-could you come over and just...maybe we could have dinner or something? I've been alone the past couple days, I mean there's been the phone calls but..."
"I understand. I'll come over, but I don't know where you live." he admitted awkwardly.
"Oh," she chuckled, grabbing his notepad and scribbling her address. "I guess I'll see you tonight?"
"Mm-hmm. Be safe, Scully."
"Goodbye, Mulder."
She left, sneaking out successfully. All day, he thought of the stories she told him about her father, how she was Starbuck and he was Ahab. She was her father's daughter, and even just by looking at her when she was talking about him you could tell she had a very high opinion and lots of respect for him. She had also been saying, "I need to see him again, we've been talking on the phone but it's not the same."
"Mr. Mulder, are you okay?" one of his last period students asked. She was a wide-eyed, sweet freshman who was mostly afraid to raise her hand in class.
"Uh, yeah, why?"
"Because you've been staring off into space for the past five minutes."
"Oh," he replied, not really sure what to add. "I'm sorry. I'm fine."
Mulder picked up some Chinese food on the way to Scully's apartment. He hoped she wasn't vegetarian, because he would feel really insensitive. When he knocked on her door, he heard her yell, "Give me a moment,"
After about a minute, Scully opened the door with a brush in her hand. "Hi. Sorry. I've been sleeping." Her clothes were disheveled, her hair frizzy.
"Would you rather me leave?"
"No," Scully sighed. "I've been alone all day with the phone constantly ringing, and everyone saying the exact same thing. Come in." She let Mulder in, grabbing his take-out boxes and putting the contents on plates.
"You know you can just eat it out of the box, right?" he asked.
"If you're a college student, studying for finals at three in the morning."
"That's oddly specific, Scully."
She just rolled her eyes, setting the plates down on the table. "How was your day?"
"It was okay. I've been thinking of you a lot. How about you?"
Scully sighed. "I miss my dad."
Mulder frowned. "I understand." That was all he could say.
"Thank you for not saying, 'I'm so sorry'. I've heard it a million times today."
Mulder nodded. "When my sister, when she...left, everyone said that, too. 'I'm sorry', but really it's not like they should be."
"Exactly. They're not 'sorry', they feel sympathy, which is nice of them, but I wish they would stop apologizing. It's not anyone's fault. He had a heart attack. It was nothing anyone could control."
They ate the rest of the food in silence together. At one point, Mulder's foot met her sock-clad one, and she inhaled sharply as it accidentally brushed her ankle. He chuckled an apology, but her face stayed flushed. It was probably the most physical contact they had shared, despite knowing each other for a month.
Mulder helped Scully wash the dishes, which she found sweet. Most boyfriends she had (Mulder obviously wasn't a boyfriend, though) refused to help her with any housework. She felt incredibly vulnerable in her t-shirt and jeans and messy hair, not a speck of makeup on her face. At first, she felt anxious and uptight, but as the bubbles filled the sink and they both took their time washing, it relaxed her. Mulder accepted her and wanted to be near her, bare face and all. He didn't show up with a big bouquet and a Hallmark sympathy card, he just came with a few boxes of Chinese food and a want to be there for her. She found herself looking up at him and smiling. He looked back questioningly.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Just happy you're here."
He dried the last dish and smiled back. "Me, too."
They took over her couch and watched some old afternoon soaps, talking more than paying attention. "Mulder?"
"Yeah?" he replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"What happened to your sister?"
He looked at her for a split second, then returned to the screen. "When she was eight and I was ten, one night I saw a bright light outside. It was practically blinding, but I didn't really think of it, I just went back to sleep. The next morning, she was gone and she never came back."
Suddenly Scully understood the UFO posters and the newspaper clippings that adorned his classroom. It was all because of his sister. "So you think she was abducted."
"I do," he replied simply. "That's what I believe."
"Do you believe she'll come back?"
"I want to."
As the soap ended, she took his hand in hers. "Thanks again."
"Any time, Scully. I'll leave you alone now."
"I'll see you tomorrow." she said, and he pulled her into a hug. "Drive home safe."
A/N: Thanks for reading!
-Lulamae
