Scully was taking down the tree, seeing as they where leaving early the next day and would not be back till late new years day. Mulder sat on the lounge and wrapped the ornaments carefully in newspaper and placed them in a box. Scully noticed lately Mulder was getting a bit restless in the morning when he woke up. Because he couldn't go for a run, she had come up with another idea.
"Fox, I noticed… I noticed you miss taking your morning run."
"Yeah, I do a bit. Who would have thought, me, missing exercise?"
"Not me, that's for sure. So, I was thinking, how about we swim laps?"
"That's a good idea. I'm glad you got the doctors to give me a fiber glass cast"
"Well, being a doctor myself, I thought it would be easier on you. No rotten smell coming out, not to mention it's much lighter"
Mulder gave a flirtatious smile.
"I like the way you think Doctor Scully."
"Thank you Agent Mulder"
Mulder pulled Scully down next to him and kissed her. Scully stood up even though all she wanted was to sit there with him.
"I need to get some towels and things, if we go now, there will be no kids, which means the pool will be practically empty."
Mulder stayed on the lounge channel surfing while Scully packed some things. After about 5 minutes Mulder gave up on trying to find something good to watch so he made his way to Scully's car.
"Hey, Dana, I will meet you in the car."
She replied with a "Sure".
Mulder waited for Scully in the car. He sat in the passenger's side and put the keys in the ignition. He wanted to listen to the radio. He flipped through stations. The first station was playing Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. Mulder screwed up his face in disgust, the next channel was techno music. He didn't like it. At last he had found a station he liked. The song playing was What a Wonderful World. He smiled. He never really listened to the song before that day. Scully changed that around for him. He had his eyes closed. Scully climbed in and touched him gently on the shoulder. He jumped.
"Ah! Sorry… I was just enjoying this song."
"I would never think you would like this song, it mentions nothing about aliens"
Mulder laughed. Scully's humor had grown since she met Mulder.
She drove them to the indoor swim center. The parked and made their way into the building. They stood in line consisting of a family with two small children and a young man about the age of 25. When it was their turn, Scully went up and paid the small admission fee and then directed Mulder into the pool area. Mulder found the men's change rooms He went into a private cubical and changed into some swim trunks and pulled out a towel. He moved along outside and waited a short while for Scully to come out of her change rooms. When she did, she took both her bag and Mulder's bag and hired a locker for 4 hours. They then made their way to the bleachers and placed their towels beside each other. Scully's towel was rolled up neatly. Inside were her goggles. Mulder however had is towel scrunched up and his goggles were hanging of his little finger. Mulder put his crutches down. Scully wrapped her arm around his waist gesturing for him to lean on her. When the got to the pool side, Scully jumped in and leaned against the side.
"Oh, the water is nice and warm. Hurry up G-Man."
Mulder was balancing on one leg. He didn't want to jump so he sat by the edge and eased himself in. He ducked under the water and came back up and then pushed his hair back. He then made is way to the blocks and put on his goggles. He smiled at Scully.
"Here we go, let's see if I'm still fit. Or at least can swim 100meters."
"Go for gold."
He pushed off with one leg on the wall and swam slowly. He breathed every 3rd stroke. Once he was half way. Scully started her laps. They both swam 10 laps of a 100 meter pool. They where very tired and ready for the hot tub to ease their newly aching muscles.
"Whoa… I haven't exercised for 3 weeks and I'm really tired. Just shows you how easy it is to become unfit"
"Well you will become like you where soon enough."
They sat in the hot tub for a good 30minutes. Mulder could never sit still for long and Scully wanted to get packed. They where leaving for New York tomorrow and their flight was at 7am, which meant leaving Scully's apartment at 5.30. Scully got out first and wondered over to the locker. She pulled out all the things and gave Mulder is stuff and then she made her way to the change room. She was cold so she took a hot shower to warm her body up before getting changed into a track suit that was one size to big for her. It was warm though. Mulder sat waiting for her on the bleachers. He had on his leather jacket, a grey short and a pair of jeans. He made is way ahead of Scully and entered the car. Unlike Scully he had not taken a hot shower. The though of showering in a public place did not comfort him. They drove back to the apartment. A look of relief on Mulder's face told Scully he wasn't as restless.
"I'm a little tired. But that felt good. I really need that."
"Good, I can tell you needed it, you look better now."
"Do I? Well that was an excellent Idea Dana. We are we going to do that again?"
"Well tomorrow, there is a pool at the hotel."
"Hotel? What hotel would that be?"
"The Hilton, believe it or not."
"That's a little expensive don't you think?"
"I have a bit of money I have saved for something like this. This is what I want to use it for."
"Are you sure? I don't mind staying is a 2 star hotel."
"Yes I am sure, it will be great"
They pulled up to Scully's apartment block and got out.
"Fox, why don't you go take a shower why I start to pack?"
"Ok sure, I feel like I have icicles coming out my nose."
Scully grinned widely. Mulder entered her apartment first and made his way to her bedroom to find some warmer clothes. He also needed a shave. He went into the bathroom and after 45 minutes of cleaning, he emerged all clean and shaven.
"How do I look? Smooth?"
"Very"
"Ok, I've packed all our things anything else you want to bring?"
"Nah, I think we are set. God how many suitcases do you need?"
"Well we might go out on new years, I want to look good."
"You would look good in a pillow case."
"That's well, uh, that's sweet? I think."
"Trust me, it's a compliment. Do you want a shower?"
"Yeah, I think I might. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to get a start on some lunch, I'm kind of hungry, actually very hungry and I know you are, I could hear your stomach growling in the car."
He gave a cheeky smile and Scully playfully punched him in the shoulder, before retreating to the bathroom.
Scully came out of the bathroom after half an hour. The steam followed her out. Mulder was nowhere to be seen. Scully walked out to her kitchen and saw a note. It read,
Dana, went to grab some supplies at 1.30, will be back ASAP. F.
Scully checked the clock, it was two. He should be back any minute. Scully sat on the couch and closed her eyes. Ten minutes later, Mulder was back with a paper bag full of food.
"I couldn't decide what to make… so I got McDonalds. Hope you like Fillet-O-Fish meals."
"They are nice. What did you get?"
"A Big Mac meal"
"You know… that swim we went on was for nothing if we eat this."
"Yeah. But the fries smell so good. You know you want them"
"Yeah, I really do."
Scully took the bag from Mulder and indulged on the fries.
10.30pm and Mulder was asleep in the armchair. Scully sat on her couch reading a book under the lamp. It had been a tiring day for both of them. Scully peered over the top of her book and looked at the clock. It read, 10.35. She moved her eyes toward Mulder who had almost fallen off the chair. She didn't want to wake him, seeing as his nightmares caused him to have limited sleep anyway. But she had too. She knew his neck would feel like hell in the morning if she didn't. Scully made her way slowly over to Mulder and kissed his cheek. His eyes opened slowly and he saw what he thought looked like an angel. Her face was about a foot away from his face and the lamp behind her turned the background white and the illusion of a halo. He smiled at her.
"What time is it?"
"About 10.30pm. Let's go to bed, we have to get up to get our plane tomorrow."
Mulder sat up slowly and got his crutches which where besides his chair. He made his way to the bedroom and fell on the bed. Clothes and all. All he had on was a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He was very tired and thought it would be easy like this. Scully came in a few minutes later in Mulder's sweatshirt and found him asleep on the bed already. Let him rest she thought.
Yes, very sorry people for the slowness of me adding this story…
The next chapter (10) should be better. OH… And keep an eye out for a new story I'm writing with The X-Filer… It's going to be an alternate ending to Small Potatoes… Mulder wonder if Scully really wanted to kiss him…! Yes and I apologies in advance for my mistakes in chapter 10… I don't live in
America therefore I really don't know much about Basketball… only basics… Us Australians are more swimming,
Rugby type people… Now move you mouse down... and click review… you know you want to! Now enjoy pondering over what is going to happen next!
