Author's note: Hello everyone! Hope all is well. I really, really appreciate everyone who has given me feedback, I know I say that all the time, but it truly motivates me. Hope you enjoy!
Memorable: (adjective) worth remembering or easily remembered, especially because of being special or unusual.
For years, they had evaded it. Scully would suddenly get 'sick', Mulder would find a case, they would take an unexpected detour, whatever the excuse may have been at the time; but now, after six years, they had to attend the mandatory, partner 'team building' seminar.
They had been called into Skinner's office last week and were told that there was no escaping it. Skinner sat across from them, separated by the mahogany table Scully had spend years looking at while being reamed out, and he was poorly hiding his amusement.
"I don't know how you both managed to put this off for the entire duration of your partnership. Do I need to remind you what the word mandatory means?" He asked, years of commitment lessening the harshness of his voice.
As per usual, Mulder had to chime in, "Well, sir, we thought that since we have the highest solve rate at the bureau, may I remind you our focus is in unsolvable crimes, that we may serve as a perfect example that not doing the seminar is more effective."
"Oh, and all this time I had no idea your intentions were so altruistic," Skinner teased. He took a long glance at Mulder and Scully's pleasing expressions before rubbing a head over his head, "Look, if you guys can just attend the first day, just one full day, I can call you back on a case and you can get back to work. I'll make sure to mark it in the file that you attended, and then maybe you can start a new streak."
"Thank you so much, sir. We truly appreciate this. I'll make sure that we're on time and participatory," Scully beamed gratefully, sending a pointed glance at Mulder while saying the last words.
As he let out a soft chuckle, Skinner muttered, "That's what I'm counting on." Before leaving, Skinner requested they kept this arrangement between the three of them and they readily agreed, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Aside from fleeting smirks, they didn't communicate until they were in the privacy of their office. Closing the door behind them, Mulder teased, "He only did that because he likes you, you know that right?"
If Scully had a dollar for every time Mulder had joked about that throughout the years, she would never have to work another day in her life. Letting out an amused, exasperated sigh, she reminded him, "Mulder, for the hundredth time, you are delusional. Skinner just appreciates that I can get you to behave."
She looked up to see him regarding her with a thoughtful expression. He had been doing that more lately, or maybe, she had just started noticing it more. Times when she checked to see why he hadn't responded to a question, when she caught his reflection in the mirror, when she opened her eyes on an airplane after a nap; for the split second, before he had a chance to turn away, she caught him looking at her with a look of absolute adoration. The word felt heavy in her mind, but it was the only one she felt accurately described the way his eyes were swimming with emotions unsaid. What surprised her most was that it didn't make her feel uncomfortable, in fact, she cherished the moments she got to see the man behind the jokes and levity.
"Earth to Scully?" She jumped at the hand waving in front of her face and felt herself blush in embarrassment at having him catch her in such a personal moment. Ironically what she had just been reflecting on doing to him.
"I'm sorry, what?" She tried to sound collected.
"I asked where this shindig is taking place this year," he smirked. He always enjoyed seeing her get flustered, hence all the constant innuendos and invading of personal space. After having to, embarrassingly, call Skinner to get the vital information they had completely forgotten, they finished up the day's work and agreed to meet at the D.C. lecture hall tomorrow.
In usual Scully-fashion, she was there far too early. It didn't start until 9am, and she had arrived forty-five minutes early. She had decided to read a book she had brought with her to kill time in the empty lecture hall until a guy from the Violent Crimes Unit, whose name she still couldn't remember even though he had just said it, decided to talk her ear off. She had been sitting and listening to his tawdry attempts at flirtation for a solid half hour, the other half of his partnership glaring at them from a few rows up.
"So, Dana, enough about me. What's a beautiful woman like you doing in the FBI basement?" He asked this while making a move to rest his arm on the back of her chair.
Glancing back at his arm with undisguised contempt, she moved up in her chair to avoid any touching. "Working," she answered curtly. He wasn't the first man at the FBI to think that dissing 'Spooky Mulder' would somehow win her over. As if her assignment was so draining and ridiculous, that the first chance at 'normalcy' would have her swooning. It pissed her off.
"But, I mean, come on. You can't tell me that dealing with him isn't emotionally draining."Scully wouldn't necessarily call herself possessive, protective was probably a better word, but while she had tolerated comments like these six years ago, she had no sympathy for them now.
"Mulder has taught me things throughout the years that you will never begin to understand. And, 'dealing with him', as you so rudely put it, has never been a fraction as emotionally draining as this conversation." Subtlety had never been her strong suit.
Apparently common sense had never been his. He leaned further into his chair, uncomfortably invading her personal space, and leaned his face close to hers. Not lowering his voice, he leered, "Well if you want to come with me after this, I can teach you a few things too."
She turned to glare at him and saw he was doing a lecherous sweep of her body, when he looked back to her face she saw him lick his lips. She was temporarily stunned at the versatility of man; yesterday Mulder was starting at her like she was Aphrodite incarnated, and less than twenty four hours later, this man was looking at her like a piece of meat. Before she could open her mouth to tell him to go fuck himself, Mulder's unexpected, terse voice broke the tension, "That's funny, last I checked Scully was my partner, not yours. Also, as far as I was aware, she's more than capable of sitting in a chair without your assistance." Though his words were joking, his tone held nothing but contempt, punctuating his sentence by swatting the man's hand off the back of her chair.
Scully would never admit to this for as long as she lived, but every time Mulder defended her honor, for lack of a better term, it absolutely thrilled her. Mulder was a sweet guy, she had seen him protect countless other women when he saw men getting too pushy, but in those circumstances he seemed just aggravated with the offender. On the occasions when she was the one being made uncomfortable, he would get irate.
The VCU guy looked more offended at the fact he was being forced to leave than Mulder's threatening tone. "Well hey there Spooky. Dana and I were just bonding since you left her all alone." He said her name like a taunt, dangling the fabricated familiarity he felt they shared in front of Mulder.
"Oh, bonding, is that what they call it now? Last time I checked it was known as harassment," Mulder taunted, earning an amused chuckle from Scully.
Before the man had a chance to respond, his partner had come over in a flurry and dragged him away, muttering that 'he always pulled these stunts'. Mulder sat in the newly emptied chair and gave Scully an empathetic grin. "Sorry about that."
She felt her brows furrow, "You have nothing to be sorry about. He just couldn't take a hint. I'm glad you came."
He gave her a half smile in response. "I actually got here a few minutes ago. I'm sorry that you get teased about your association to me. I appreciate what you said, when you were defending me." He wasn't looking at her, the telltale sign of his self conscious nature peaking through.
She laid a hand on top of his fidgeting ones to get his attention. "Mulder, it doesn't bother me, and I didn't say anything I didn't mean." He smiled one of his rare, shy smiles, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the overly eager seminar leader had started.
The bubbly woman announced that, before the day's lectures began, she was going to pass around a questionnaire for all the partners to interview each other with. "They key is H.O.N.E.S.T.Y. it may be embarrassing, it may open you both up to conversations you haven't had, but the whole point is to learn new things about one another." The seminar had only started five minutes ago and Mulder and Scully were already making jokes in their seats at the far back of the lecture hall.
The room had already filled with chatter by the time they got their forms. They rearranged their chairs so that they were knee to knee and looking at each other. Amused grins spreading across their faces. Mulder spoke up first. "So we just read the questions and we both respond to it?"
"Yep," she answered, eager to see how ridiculous this was going to be. Looking down at her form, she was actually eager to hear what Mulder's answer would be. "Question one, What was your first impression of your partner."
He raised an eyebrow, "I have to go first?" Prompted by her head nod he mused over the question for a moment. "First impression upon first introductions or first initial impression?"
Scully was a bit thrown and her curiosity was heightened even more. "Both."
He pondered a moment more before answering. "Well, when I first heard you were assigned to the X-Files, I did some thorough research on you. I thought your background was impressive, to make an understatement. I was enamored with the fact you became a medical doctor before joining the FBI," he paused to grin, "And your thesis was honestly a really interesting and fascinating read."
His blunt honesty was taking her by surprise, she would have assumed that he would have played this off as a joke, like he usually did. Then it dawned on her; he was answering honestly because he wanted her to do the same when it was her turn. He wanted to hear her true feelings towards him, and it warmed her heart.
"When you first came into the office, I was honest, I just presumed you were there to spy on me. I wanted to put you off a bit because I didn't want to like you just to be disappointed when you left. Don't pout at me," he started chuckling at her. She didn't realize she was doing it, but what he said made her feel a little sad at the realization that probably had happened to him before, that she was actually pouting. "Anyhow, I appreciated your dedication to finding the truth, and that was my first impression. Your turn."
She didn't need to take anytime to think, the first time they met was extremely memorable to her, she could recall it in vivid detail. "Well, I had known you by reputation, and, as you already know, I was sent down there to debunk you. However, I also did my research on you and was impressed with what I found. Your credentials are extraordinary." She paused when she was him repress a smile. Taking a deep breath, she decided to be completely and utterly honest. "When I first met you, I thought you were really cute."
She grinned in satisfaction when she saw his eyes widen in shock. "W-what?"
"I remember coming home from our first case and I told my friends and my mother how cute I thought you were. I also mentioned that I thought you were a bit arrogant, well-intended, but arrogant. I presume that's why my mom teases us as much as she does, every time she sees you, she probably just remembers my initial comment." She felt herself blushing, but it was well worth it to see the same happening to Mulder.
She heard him mumble something and she had to ask him to speak up. "I said, I thought you were hot. I didn't tell anyone and I didn't want to come across as demeaning, but, yeah. That was also a heavy component of my first impression."
She returned his shy smile before quickly scanning the partners around them, making sure no one was eavesdropping. Satisfied that all the other partners were engrossed in their own, probably less exposing, answers, she cleared her throat and moved on. "Question two, name three odd things you have observed about your partner in your time together."
Without skipping a beat, Mulder answered. "One; I could tell when you started trusting me because you would fall asleep on me anytime an opportunity presented itself, car, plane, whatever. Which I honestly found very intimate, you entrusting me to watch over you. Two; family is very important to you. Three; you have a serious talent for running in dangerous footwear." His last 'observation' made her laugh in amusement. When she was done he leaned back cockily in his chair and motioned for her to take the floor.
She paused a moment before answering. "One; when you care about someone you dedicate yourself wholly to them," she left her answer to be ambiguous. At face value, it could be assumed she was just referring to Samantha, but from the sly smile on his face she knew he understood she was also referring to herself. "Two; you have an oral fixation. Three; you've turned throwing pencils into an art form." She isn't sure if he even heard the third remark because as soon as number two left her mouth he was sitting up in his chair ready to question her.
"Oral fixation?"
"Oh come on, Mulder. The sunflower seeds, the nail biting, the pencil chewing. You love having something in your mouth to play with." Before the words even left her mouth her cheeks were set on fire. Not even looking at him, but feeling his delighted stare, she moved onto the next question. "Question three, what is one thing you want your partner to know."
She looked up to meet his face and saw all amusement had been eclipsed with an expression of intent focus and severity. "I want my partner to know that I trust her implicitly and that she should never question that."
Scully felt her eyebrow cock, slightly taken aback by his answer. She met his tone, "Mulder, I already know that, I promise. Have I made you doubt that?"
He immediately shook his head to qualm her worry, "No-no, I just sometimes think back to that one case, ya know, the one where the TV made you paranoid and succumb to your greatest fear. Yours was that I betrayed you. I just want to reiterate that that will never be something you'll have to worry about."
She felt her chest tighten at his declaration. For the past year, they had become fluent in the art of saying 'I love you' in disguise. It was something they danced around, but they were both painfully aware of, but were too nervous to say out in the open. He actually said the words once, but she had been to scared the drugs were talking instead of him, that she dismissed him. She didn't have the courage yet, but she could keep dancing.
"Do you remember the case a few months ago when you were on that boat and we found you out at sea?" Taken by surprise at the abrupt topic shift, he just nodded in affirmation.
"If there is one thing I want my partner to know, it would be that after we found you, remember when you were in the hospital bed?" Another nod. "Remember what you said to me?" An embarrassed nod. "I want my partner to know that the sentiment is reciprocated."
Usually when someone describes absolute elation, they describe a kid on Christmas morning. That kid had nothing on the smile Mulder was giving her right now. She had never quite seen a man with such a light in his eyes, he was smiling so hard, she was afraid his face would crack. He made a guttural sigh that was somewhere between a laugh and a sound of relief.
He must have seen on her face that it took a lot of courage to be so blunt, he teased her a little to add some levity. Always so thoughtful. "And you decide to finally tell me during an office-mandated, team building seminar?"
"In my defense, you told me in a dimly-lit hospital room under the influence of heavy narcotics," she teased back.
He opened his mouth to reply, but the chipper seminar leader decided to resume her lecture, yet again at an inconvenient time. They swiveled their chairs back and pretended to pay attention to what the woman was saying. In reality, they just took turns glancing at one another, drunk off of the new found revelation. A few times their eyes met and they couldn't keep the smiles from leeching onto their faces. Scully felt elated in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.
Mulder loves her.
This was the longest one yet! I got a lot of ideas while writing and I wanted to include them. This chapter marks the halfway point in this series, and tonight marks the halfway point in Season 11! I'm a little sad at how fast it's passing, but I'm so happy I've gotten to experience it with all of you in the fandom. I swear to god, this episode looks kind of angsty, but Mulder, Scully, and William better reunite as a happy FAMILY BY THE END OF THE SERIES. I digress. Please, please leave a review. I adore you all! -Nicole (Tumblr: gaycrouton)