§§§
Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mulder stopped in front of the driver's door. They had just come out of a dead end meeting with the county morgue and the local sheriff. "Hey, Scully? Whattya' say, we grab a hotel, take in a floor show, drop a few quarters in the slot, do a little digging on this case…"
Scully looked up at him over the roof of the car, eyebrows raised.
"Okay, we can skip the floor show," Mulder joked.
"Oh, Mulder." Scully shook her head in amusement. "I have to be back in DC.."
"Got a hot date?"
His tone was flirty and disinterested, but looking into his eyes, Scully saw the wave of panic and hurt that washed over his features. Even after all they've been through, all they've promised each other, he still didn't think he was good enough. He thought she was going to come to her senses one day and leave. "Mulder, come here," she sighed.
Her tone did nothing to abate his worry.
He slowly walked out of the street and stood in front of her, ready for her to delve into her goodbye speech. She was standing on the edge of the curb in front of the car, with him standing on the asphalt below. The difference in where they were standing evened out their heights just slightly. She now came up to his nose, instead of his shoulders.
Placing her hands on his jawline, she spoke softly, reassuringly, to him. "Mulder, I have to go to Trevor's birthday party.. you know, my Godson? Ellen's oldest kid?"
"Oh." Mulder looked down at the ground, embarrassed for the wrongful way his mind had turned.
Using her index finger under his chin, Scully tilted his face back up to meet hers. "Would you like to come with me?"
"Can I-," Mulder began excitedly l, before checking himself. "I- I mean.. Are you sure? I wouldn't be in the way?"
"Don't be silly." She admonished him. Her tone turned serious, "Mulder, when are you going to accept that I'm not leaving? I like being here, with you. I'm always going to be here, right at your side. Okay?"
She waited for him to nod.
"Okay, come on. Let's go. We have to drop by mine and change before we go. And I don't want to be late." She reached up and pecked his lips, a surprising action for both of them. They usually tried to keep their emotions and their physical shows of affection away from their work. One could never be too careful when you weren't sure if someone was watching. But today, Scully knew he needed the contact. And to be honest, she did, too. She always did.
It was now month three of their new start and like they had agreed, they were taking it slow. Typically, they spent all day at work together. When it would come time to go home for the day, they would either go to his or hers. They watched movies, went out to dinner, went to museums, parks, bakeries. They did everything together. Except sleep.
As much as it pained both of them, they each stayed at their own respective apartments at night. Not because of boundaries or watching eyes, but because they found that they honestly couldn't sleep in the same bed together without getting frisky. And don't get it wrong, frisky was good. But every time that it happened while they were in bed… which was just about every night. Well, let's just say things would escalate very quickly. So, their solution was: sleep apart. It was insanely difficult. Both wanted to sleep next to the other; and both found it almost impossible to sleep alone, now.
In order to better cope, Scully would steal a few of his running shirts and wear them. When they ran out of their 'Mulder smell' she would give them back to him, and then he'd have something to sleep by that smelled like her. He felt silly of course, snuggling a t-shirt.. but their relationship was going so well, so far. He didn't want to give in now. Not when he had everything planned out for how he was going to ask her to marry him. Their future together was on the horizon, and he didn't want to lose sight of it for a hasty, lust filled decision. But, God, how he wanted her..
§§§
"Dana! Hi" An average height, curly brown-haired, pretty woman of about twenty eight or nine years old opened the front door enthusiastically. It felt like she hadn't seen her best friend in ages.
"Hi, El!" After giving Ellen a hug, Scully turned around, glancing the street for any signs of Mulder. He'd dropped her off in front of Ellen's place so she wouldn't be late, while he went looking for a parking spot.
Ellen teased, "Expecting someone?"
"Yeah, actually…" Scully looked up at her friend cautiously.
Ellen grinned. "Is this someone a male specimen?"
Blushing, Scully tried not to smile. "He might be."
"Is he staying?"
"If you're okay with it?..."
"Does he like kids? 'Cos there's a swarm of really hyper ones inside my house right now.." Ellen deadpanned.
As if to prove her point, a loud thud l, followed by a loud round of yelling sounded off from somewhere within the house.
Scully laughed, touching her lips with the back of her hand delicately, trying to mask it. "Yeah, he likes kids."
"Okay. You wanna wait out here for him?"
"Umm.. no.."
"No?"
"No. I know you want to know all about him. And I'd rather you interrogate me than him."
Ellen gasped in false insult. "I must say I am shocked, Dana Katherine Scully. Who ever could you possibly be talking about? Certainly not me!" She finished her acting off with a laugh.
Walking into the house, Scully could feel the curiosity that was brewing within her friend's mind. "Let me say hi to Trevor first," she began to walk deeper into the house, leaving Ellen by the kitchen. "And them, I promise, I will tell you all about him."
"Don't take too long I might have a stroke from not knowing!" Ellen called after her retreating form.
§§§
"So, let me get this straight…" Ellen began. "His name is Fox. He's been friends with you for seven years, during which I have never met or heard of him," She looked pointedly over at her friend with slight irritation. "And you're only now dating him. He's also your new partner at the FBI, whom you told me was very cute. He likes kids…." She hummed as if searching through her head for any other possible tidbits of information about Scully's partner. "Am I missing anything?"
"Nope." Scully grinned as she heard the doorbell ring. "I've got it!" She bolted upright out of her chair, anxious to see Mulder. It didn't matter that she'd just spent the whole day with him. In her mind, just going fifteen minutes without seeing him or hearing his voice was like being tortured.
Flinging open the door with gusto, she was greeted by a stranger. Well, not a stranger. It was the boring tax attorney that she went out on a date with in the past life. He had asked her out at this party and she said yes, and then regretted her answer immediately. Her face fell. "Uh, hi. Are you here for Trevor's birthday party?" She tried to sound welcoming and hospitable, but she wasn't sure if she was pulling it off or not.
"Yeah, I'm, uhm, just here to drop off my son… if that's okay."
Peter? Or maybe Paul? Or Danny?... Scully couldn't remember his name… looked her over head to toe and smiled when he reached her face. She wasn't too happy about it, and she was sure that he could probably tell by the arched-eyebrow glare she was giving him.
His smile immediately disappeared and he stepped back a little bit, slightly thrown off at the blatant disapproval in her expression and body language.
She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot once., before increasing her arms and plastering a fake smile on her face. She forgot that she needed to pretend to be the gracious hostess. After all, she was the one who had opened the door. And now here she was barricading the poor man and his son outside because he checked her out. "Uh, I'm sorry. Please, come in." She opened to door wider in order to give them room to walk inside, groaning inwardly when she realized that the father had taken her quick recovery smile as a good sign.
He said goodbye and then turned back to Dana. "Listen, uh.."
"Dana," she supplied for him.
"Dana.." He said slowly as if he were savoring how it felt to roll her name off of his tongue for the first time. "Dana, would you like to go out to dinner with me? Maybe tomorrow?" He smiled confidently over at her.
"I-," Scully stuttered, unsure of how to turn him, Mulder came to her rescue, as he approached the door behind her. Their gazes locked with one another and an entire conversation passed within the space of a second.
Mulder understood her feelings of panic and stepped in to help her out. "Hi, baby. I missed you," he crooned, stepping into her personal space and laying a passionate kiss on her lips.
Even though she was slightly thrown off by his show of affection, she kissed him back with equal fervor, letting her hand rise up to gently caress her cheek.
He pulled away quickly, not wanting to over-do it with the PDA. He knew Scully wasn't very appreciative of it. But it was the only thing that he could think of that quickly. Turning around, the awkward, regretful look on the stranger's face told him that it was worth it.
"Uh, sorry." He apologized. "I didn't realize you weren't single.." He didn't wait for an answer; he just turned around and walked back outside, shutting the door heavily behind him.
"Thanks," Scully said quietly, grabbing onto the folded collar of his dress shirt. "I didn't quite know how to get out of that one; he threw me off," she explained.
"Anytime, baby." Mulder tested out the pet name, wanting to see her reaction to it when it was an act.
She giggled.
That wasn't what he was expecting.
"Say it again?"
"Really? I thought that maybe wouldn't like that…" Mulder dropped his hands down to the sides of her hips, kneading the flesh underneath his thumbs.
"I don't. But I think I like it when you say it." She dragged her fingernails up the back of his neck, causing him to shudder.
"Okay, baby." He whispered softly, leaning down to bit lightly on her earlobe. He tugged it between his teeth, Not letting go until he heard her whimper. He loved it when she made that sound. It was so delicate, so feminine, so… arousing.
"God," she groaned quietly. "You make my knees weak." Dragging both hands around his neck and down to his pecks, she shoved him backward. "Not here. There's kids running around everywhere. We don't need to scare them." She smiled at his look of disappointment, which quickly turned into agreement. Scully grabbed his hand. "C'mon. I want you to meet Ellen."
"Right here," came a voice behind them.
Scully and Mulder turned around guiltily.
"Uh, how long were you standing there, El?" Scully inquired, her face heating up with embarrassment.
"Long enough for me to decide that I approve of your man, here." Ellen teased, smiling while she extended her hand out to shake Mulder's. "Hi, I'm Scully's best friend, Ellen."
"It's very nice to meet you, Ellen. I'm Dana's…" Mulder faded off, unsure of what to call himself when in the presence of her friend. Boyfriend sounded immature and unserious. Partner sounded either gay or professional. He couldn't use the term finance or husband hey, for obvious reasons. What other terms of endearment were there left?
"He's my Fox." Dana laughed, hooking her hand through Mulder's arm.
Mulder felt his heart skip a beat and his ears tinge with heat. He wasn't expecting her to say that, and it must have shown because both of the women giggled at him. But, damn if he didn't like her calling him 'her Fox'.
§§§
She was on her way over to use the bathroom when a couple little boys went rushing past her wearing gorilla masks. The second one ran head first into the wall and fell backward. Worried that he'd hurt himself, Scully rushed over to pick him up. Taking him into her arms, she took off his mask and ran her fingers soothingly through his hair. "Oh, c'mon. It's okay. It's alright. What happened? Did you bump your head? Hmmm?"
Watching from the the kitchen entrance as she consoled the little boy in her lap, was Mulder. His expression was soft. His mind, reeling. His emotions, brimming. His thoughts were on the future. Their future. Would this be what she'd be like with their babies? He wondered. It was all flippant though; he already knew. Based off of her interactions with Emily, this little boy, and even those satanic Eve girls… she would be a fantastic mother. And from what little he got to see into the future of their old life, she would have been one to their son, too. If only for a little while. Mulder couldn't even begin to articulate how grateful he was that they were given a second chance, no matter how it had come about.
"What? What happened?" Ellen asked worriedly as Scully walked into the dining room with the small boy in tote.
"Jungle warfare," Scully joked, releasing the boy from her arms so that he could eagerly go back to playing.
"Oh, Peter! Stop that!" Ellen pried her golden retriever off of the table, where he was trying to eat Trevor's cake. "She gritted her teeth. "I swear. I'm gonna kill that dog.."
"I'll take him outside," Mulder offered, grabbing the dog by the collar and leading him out of the room. To be honest, he just needed a moment by himself to pull him and his emotions back together.
"Dana. Oh, I'm so glad you're here." Ellen sighed. "Both of you," she made a point of adding.
Scully picked up some dirty plates before trailing behind Ellen into the kitchen. "Oh, you're amazing." She breathed.
"What?"
"You're just a natural at all of this. I don't know how you keep it together, El…"
Ellen grinned. "Mommy radar."
"Mmmm…"
"Dana, you're gonna be a great mom someday, you know."
"You really think so?" Scully turned around to face Ellen, hope and nerves evident in her voice and on her face.
"Dana, you went through the FBI academy, what better training could there be for motherhood…. Seriously, you're great with kids, what're you talking about?"
"Just… contemplating life… the future…."
"It helps if you find the man first, you know." Ellen laughed. She loved how open Dana has been being lately.
"Ohhh, I have him, all right," Scully muttered under her breath.
The dish that Ellen had been washing slipped from her hands and thudded loudly as it hit the sink. "I'm sorry, what?" Did her friend really just say that?
"I, uh, said that I have the man already." She clarified, shocking Ellen- almost- into silence. No matter just how open Dana was being right now, that was one of the last things she expected her to say.
As far as she knew, Dana hadn't been in a relationship since she was with Jack Willis, who was a complete and utter prick if you asked her. And that was a little over three years ago. Ellen was sure that if she's had sex or a relationship since then, surely she'd would have told her? "You've found the man, already," Ellen repeated, placing extra emphasis on the word 'the'.
"What I mean, El is that Mulder is a permanent thing in my life. He'll, at this point he is my life. And I'm his. So, I can't help but think about what's to come in the future… for us…"
"Oh, my God!" Ellen exclaimed. "You're pregnant!"
"Ellen, shut upppp!" Scully whispered lowly.
Her tone stopped Ellen just as she was about to start happily screaming. "Why?"
"El, I'm not pregnant." Scully was trying incredibly hard not to laugh, but a smirk was still showing through her façade.
"You're not?"
"No." Scully finally let herself giggle slightly. "But you're not the first one to think that, so I'm not too surprised."
"I'm not?"
"Nope. Apparently, me bringing a boy to family dinner and getting emotional and fidgety over Alyssa constitutes for everyone thinking I'm knocked up."
"Well, damn." Ellen sighed. "I was getting excited there for a second.
"I could tell…"
"You'll let me know if and when you flare pregnant, though? And I mean like immediately. I want to be the second person to know, after him."
"I think I can do that, El."
"Is he good?"
"What?" Ellen's abrupt, out of context question confused Scully.
"Is he good?"
"To me? Yes, he's very sweet.."
"Nooo, Dana. Good Lord! I meant how is he in bed? Is he a 'one and done'? A 'quickie'? An 'as long as you need'? Come on, give me details! I'm a single mother here; I need something to live off of and be jealous of because I have no sex life, Dana. Pleasee," Ellen begged.
Letting out a cackle, Scully felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "El, I hate to disappoint you, but-"
"Oh, no! Is the sex really that bad?!"
"Ellen!" Scully screeched. Dropping her tone, so any passing children couldn't hear, "I wouldn't know. We haven't had sex, yet."
"What?!" Ellen practically screamed.
"Ellen!"
"Sorry." She dropped her tone to a generous whisper. "What?! Why haven't you slept with him?"
"We're waiting…"
"For what?"
"To get married…."
"Why the hell-?"
"Because." Scully groaned childishly. "We want it to be special and we've already made it this far. We want our relationship to be different from those in our pasts."
"That literally makes no sense."
"I don't care. It's what we want. It's what we decided."
"Fine. Fine." Ellen threw her hands up in dismissal. "But promise you'll tell me everything when you do?"
"Not everything." Scully countered.
"Almost everything."
With a smirk, Scully answered her demand. "Fine. Almost everything."
A/N: Hey guys! A little bit of a boring, no-action chapter today… don't worry. In the next few chapters, there will be both fluff and action to come…. As well as a little bit of angst (Not a lot. just a little.. ya know, to keep the plot interesting.) This chapter was pretty much just filler, but I felt that it needed to be included because of how much I love the scene in the show where Scully comforts the little boy.