So this is kind of a quickie update, and I want to start some angst sooner or later, but there is something I want to ease into. You guys are only gonna get a taste of what I'm plotting, so I hope you'll stick around for a little while...and reviews don't hurt either. XD Happy reading!
Chapter Seven:
One week later…
"You evil little bastard." Scully muttered to her locker as it refused to open on the second try. The hallways were void of people since it was the middle of fifth period. She'd made the mistake of leaving her English report in her locker, earning her a scowl from her teacher and a hall pass to go get it. Now her locker decided to make her life miserable.
She spun in the combination for the third time and pulled on the lever. It didn't budge.
"Oh, you son of a bitch." she cursed the piece of metal that separated her from her most important grade of the year and kicked it.
"Having trouble?" a gruff voice she didn't recognize asked.
Scully turned and looked at the chest of one of the football players. Looking up, a ordinary smile and cold eyes looked back at her. An uncomfortable chill ran up her spine as she suddenly felt very small and frail in comparison.
"Um…yeah." she said after a minute. His smile was creepy, almost like he was coming onto her.
"Can I try?" he asked, pointing to the infernal metal closet.
"Sure." Scully replied dumfounded. She put in the combination once more and stepped away, allowing him the room that was necessary. Maybe he was just trying to help out, but it didn't stop the uneasy feeling he'd stirred up in her. There was just something about his presence that made her back away.
Jerking on the handle a couple of quick sharp times, the door finally gave up and opened. An even wider smile appeared on his face in triumph.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much. I hate this stupid thing." Scully grabbed the folder off the top shelf and shut the door again, knowing that Mulder was going to have to wrestle with it later.
"Not a problem." he replied.
Scully felt the chill in her spine intensify. She turned back to him to see that he was touching her head, petting her hair like a dog.
"You have such a beautiful color." his gravelly voice stated.
She didn't know what to say. The look in his eyes was almost mesmerized by her hair as she pulled away from his touch. "Uh…okay. Thanks again." Scully said nervously and ran, didn't walk, back to class.
(X)
"I had a rather disturbing experience today at my locker." Scully mumbled. There wasn't a need to speak any louder.
The two of them were spooned up on Mulder's couch watching an old movie from God knew how long ago. Both were surprised at how well they fit together with the dramatic height difference between them. His right arm was draped across her stomach while his left was stretched out, acting as a pillow for her.
"How so?" Mulder's thumb traced circles on her stomach.
Scully turned to lay on her back to look at him. She laced her fingers through his and held his gaze. "My locker wouldn't open and this really weird guy materialized out of nowhere. He opened it, but when I reached in to get something, he…" she couldn't formulate an intelligent way to say it.
"What'd he do?" he asked, the concern in his eyes growing.
"He…petted me like a dog." she blurted out.
Mulder nodded. "Yeah, you ran into Donnie."
"Who?" Scully asked.
"Donnie Pfaster. Nobody thinks he's completely with it. I've talked to him a couple times. I don't think he could hurt a fly." he tried to put her at ease, but she wasn't having it.
"I'm serious, Mulder. The guy gave me chills." she tried again.
He gave her a sympathetic smile, then his upturned lips took on a much more sinister look. "I know what else gives you chills." Mulder closed the few inches between them and attacked her neck.
Scully felt all the oxygen leave her lungs as he nibbled at her pulse point. Her mind went blank as she shucked off the days events, letting them fall from her like weights. She knew there was definitely going to be a bruise where his lips met her skin, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She also knew that he was restless when he kissed her, and would probably leave more than just one little hickey.
At that moment, she had better things to care about.
(X)
"He's full of it." Bill Jr. grumbled.
"Don't you start that. He's a very sweet boy." Maggie Scully defended.
"He's also a hottie. I mean, if only he were a little older, you know?" Melissa smiled.
"Unfortunately, yes." Bill Sr. laughed at his daughter.
Scully walked into her house a few hours later unannounced. Hearing the conversation emanating from the kitchen, she sneaked a little closer to the door to catch what they were talking about. She unconsciously pulled the scarf she was wearing tighter around her neck, not needing anyone to see the evidence of the 'relaxation methods' that her boyfriend used on her that afternoon.
The simple thought send a shiver up her spine. It was instances like this that really made her wonder and consider Melissa's belief that she was, in fact, in love. It aroused several questions in her mind. Was it possible to tell after just a couple weeks? How was one supposed to feel when they were in love? What did it mean to be in love?
All of these inquiries Scully thought she already had the answers to. Now, when all of these things counted, she didn't know which way was up and which was down. Did that mean something? She didn't have the faintest idea anymore.
"How can you say that, Melissa? Didn't you see the way he was kissing ass last week? The whole time he was sitting there he looked like he was ready to jump her." Bill Jr. shook his head.
Scully felt a tug in her chest. It was almost as if someone had plucked at something in her heart. The thought to defend kicked in, but she held back. They hadn't seen her in the doorway yet, and she wanted to hear what more there was to say.
"Bill, you're crazy. In case you didn't know, there's a difference between tenderness and…that." Melissa gestured absently with one hand.
"I'm sorry, I just don't like the guy. Something isn't right with him." he continued with disapproving head shakes from his parents.
Something snapped in Scully at that moment; a question on her mind. "What wouldn't be right with him, Bill?"
All four family members whipped around to the new voice in the room, all of them already knowing who it was. Bill, who looked like he'd just been busted with drugs, turned a deep shade of red as his little sister approached him.
"I…I don't know, Danes. There's just something odd about him."
Melissa, Maggie, and Bill Sr. winced in unison. The youngest daughter was, without a doubt, the best in argument. She was one of the family, and sharp wits came with the genes, but it seemed as though Dana Scully was blessed with more than what met the eye.
"What is it, Bill? Is it because he isn't a football player?" she shrugged. "Because he sees the world a different way than you do? Because he has a painful past?" Scully tried to meet her brother's eyes, but he didn't let her until he stood up, talking down to her.
"Dana, I'm sorry, but I just think that you can do better." he finally spoke. Bill stood more than a foot taller than her, and the intimidation might have worked…once upon a time.
The other three looked wide-eyed from him to her, only wishing they could've gotten popcorn to this fight.
Scully's face had fallen, hurt by his words. "I can do better?"
Bill rubbed the back of his head. "Well…yeah."
She bit her lip, rage settling into her eyes. "Let me let you in on something, Bill. The facts are that I'm not like you and Missy." Scully enunciated. "I'm not captain of the cheerleading squad or the best artist or Miss Congeniality, for that matter. I'm just plain Jane Dana. And until high school, I didn't mind that." her eyes were starting to well up, but she wasn't going to let the tears fall.
"Dana, you're not plain." her mother attempted consolation.
It only partially worked. "No, mom, I'm not. I have a four-point-oh GPA, and that makes me 'nerdy' or a 'geek'. At first, you're proud of yourself for doing it, but then you realize real quick that guys don't want that. They want the popular kids, flaky bimbos, or good-time girls. A science-geek doesn't usually make their cut."
"Danes, I don't believe that. You're beautiful." It was Melissa's turn.
Scully sniffled, "Even if I believed that, it doesn't make one bit of difference." She turned her attention back to Bill. "I'm not like you, Bill. I don't have hordes of people surrounding me, wanting to be my friend. I have three close friends: John, Monica, and Mulder. And God only knows what Mulder saw in me that makes like me so much."
"I'd say he likes you a lot." Bill scratched his neck in indication. "Why don't you take your scarf off, sis?"
Backing away, she shook her head. Bill didn't care though. Reaching out, he pulled the thin black and grey fabric clear away from her neck in a way that wouldn't choke her.
Three gasps and a victorious smile from Bill Jr. greeted what was unveiled. The dark red, almost purplish spots that covered both sides of her neck wasn't something that Scully was ashamed of. She was a little shocked that her brother invaded her privacy like that, but nowhere near embarrassed.
"Is that something a respectful young man does to a woman he cares about?" he turned and asked their audience, who was stunned into silence.
Scully looked down at the floor, the dam finally bursting behind her eyes as she muttered softly.
"What was that, sis?" Bill Jr. asked, his giant grin still in place.
She looked up, and the smirk finally fell from his face. Scully was, in a word, crushed. The little bit of mascara and eye-liner she'd put on that morning was running in grey lines down her cheeks. She held her middle like she might throw-up as her previously white shirt would now don streaks of saline and make-up.
"You don't get it…and you don't even fucking have to." she sobbed as she grabbed her scarf from his grasp and headed out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and up to her room. When she got there, she slammed the door so hard the hinges rattled. Scully then leaned against it, sagging to the floor.
She looked around the dark room, feeling for the thing that would act as her security blanket. When her fingers closed over it, she let out a sigh of relief as she wrapped it around her shoulder and burrowed into her bed. With Mulder's favorite hoodie wrapped around her, completely black except for a small skull and crossbones on the right breast, she felt a little better. It smelled like Old Spice and him. She was actually starting to drift to sleep when someone knocked.
"Dana, it's Mom. Can I come in?" Maggie's muffled voice asked through the door.
Scully really wished she was meaner in instances like this. But, then again, her mother had nothing to do with it. She rolled over and pushed her back against one wall. "It's open."
She walked into her daughter's room and turned on the lamp beside her desk. Scully gave her a sad smile as her mom tentatively sat down on the bed.
"Are you okay, dear?" she asked.
"I guess that depends how you define 'okay'." she shrugged, then pulled herself together, "I'm fine, really Mom. I guess I just…wasn't ready for that."
"Dana…" Margaret searched for the right words. "…I want you to know that…I get it."
Scully pulled the hoodie tighter around her. "What do you mean?"
"I get what you were saying down there." she stated. "Before I met your father, I felt the exact same way you do now. 'I'm odd.', 'I'm weird.', 'Peopled aren't going to like me the way I am.'. When I met your Dad and he changed all of that…and I defended him with my life to Grandma and Grandpa. The thought of being cared about by someone who isn't obligated to means more somehow."
"I thought Gram and Gramps always liked Dad?" Scully asked quietly.
Margaret exhaled, "Not at first. You're father was older and more daring and, despite what you see today, quite handsome at the time. He was actually a lot like Fox. He was sweet and caring, and knew me almost better than he knew himself."
Scully smiled a little at the comparison between the two men in her life. Having idolized her father since she was a small child, it stirred something in her to think that her father and her boyfriend were somewhat alike. She wiped away the goop that was left from her crying as her mom placed a hand on her knee reassuringly.
"Don't worry about, Bill, Dana. We know he's no good at picking out a bad guy from a good one." she smiled. Scully's fleeting childhood instincts kicked in as she scooted closer to her mother and leaned her head on her shoulder. Maggie, a little surprised, wrapped around her younger daughter and rubbed her back in support.
"Really." Scully agreed. The last time her brother thought a guy was cool, he woke up in a car on the side of the freeway with no memory of how he got there. In all honesty, Bill didn't really have room to question someone's character or judgment, and especially not his own sister's.
"Get some sleep, honey. Tomorrow's a new day." Maggie patted her daughter's knee affectionately, then rising to leave the room.
"Night, Mom." Scully whispered. "And thanks."
"No, problem, hon. Night." Maggie smiled, turned off the light, and closed the door behind her.
Scully tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, feeling a little better. She changed out of her clothes and into a pair of silk pajamas and brushed through her hair in the dark. It was nighttime, and only half a moon hung low in the sky, not providing a whole lot of light. She ran a hand over her neck, and she thought she might as well see what everybody else saw. She was the one, after all, who had even experienced it.
Flicking on the light switch, she looked back at the reflection. Scully felt herself sink to the chair in front of the mirror as she looked over her neck. Some of the spots bigger than other, and some were darker in color, but when she closed her eyes, she could still feel his warm lips on each purpling spot on her smooth neck. His fingers ran up and down her arms, trying to warm her shivering frame. All she could think to do was to hold him close and encourage him, not wanting him to stop even for a second.
She blushed at the memory, mentally berating herself for it. She met her eyes in the glass, but didn't see shame. If anything, she saw a light in her eyes she'd never really seen before.
Shaking her head, Scully turned the light out before she could analyze what her love-bites meant and create questions in her head and become the cause of her own insomnia. She crawled between the covers, then looked back down at the foot of the bed where she'd left the hoodie. It was an easy, unspoken decision as she wrapped it around herself once more and fell soundly asleep with a smile.
I know what you guys are thinking, where the heck is this supposed to take us? Am I right? Well, I've got a few ideas stockpiled, a few of them thanks to DanH2010, but I'm not revealing my secrets without reviews. Understand that they ARE the reason that I write, people. I love all of you who've stuck around this long and I hope you click that button to leave me your thoughts.
