A/N: I had been wanting to write this since February but I haven't had the motivation for writing lately. My original idea for this fic actually changed since then but it finally gave me the motivation to write this and now here it is!
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Crash!
The sound of glasses landing to the floor and breaking rang out in the motel room. A surprised gasp from Scully and a mumbled "Ah, shit," from Mulder immediately followed.
Mulder sighed and leaned down to pick up the broken pieces and what remained of the glasses. Scully observed the situation for a moment and then moved to get up from where she was on the bed.
Mulder noticed her movements. "No, Scully, sit back down," Mulder said before she could even get up.
"I want to help," she told him.
"It's okay Scully, I got it. It's your day, you shouldn't have to do any work. Please sit back down."
Sighing in either defeat or annoyance, Mulder couldn't tell, she did as he said. He then focused his attention back on the sad remains of what were once decent wine glasses.
He looked at the mess he made for a moment and then let out his own sigh of annoyance. One of the few nice things he was able to get for this day and he ruined it. It was Scully's birthday and despite their current circumstances, he had wanted to try and make it nice for her, which is why he had gone out and gotten these wine glasses, the wine itself, a mini cake, and a couple presents for her despite her protests that they could just leave her birthday alone this year.
It's been a tough year for them. No longer were they Agents Mulder and Scully of the FBI, but FBI's Most Wanted. Uprooting their lives and becoming fugitives has put quite a strain on them, both mentally and physically. Their days now consisted of traveling far distances, living in various different motels in a variety of different towns, and all the while trying to stay hidden.
At first, it wasn't too bad, it was almost like another little adventure; but eventually, any minor positivity's there might've been were outweighed by the negative. Having no contact with family or friends, no proper place to call home anymore, and the constant fear that they could be caught started to get them down.
Mulder had noticed the change first. Scully had become visibly depressed; she wasn't eating much, she was sleeping more than usual, she didn't have much energy, and she didn't seem that interested in anything, including him, anymore. Mulder had also fallen into a similar state, much like some he had experienced in the past.
When he tried to bring this up however, she denied it and refused to talk about it. Mulder wasn't sure what he was expecting but he didn't expect her to fully shut him out. He respected her wishes not to talk but he was upset that she was bottling up her emotions yet again when she clearly needed some support… And so did he.
Since then, Mulder has been feeling incredibly guilty for how her life has gone. These feelings of guilt are nothing new but seeing her in this state, he can't help but wonder if things could've been different for her. If only she had never met him, he thought.
This is why he had wanted to try to make her birthday nice. He wanted to give her whatever small amount of joy he could, and he was hoping that one of the presents in particular will be able to amplify any faint amount of joy she felt even more.
Shaking these thoughts from his head, Mulder looked over at Scully, who had laid down since he last looked at her. "Guess we'll have to drink straight from the bottle, huh?" he said in a humorous tone, with a slight smirk on his face, trying to lighten the mood.
Scully simply mumbled a vague "hmm-mm" and didn't move to look at him, instead opting to keep her face in the pillow.
The smile fading from his face, Mulder turned back to the glasses and pile of broken shards and began to pick them up. He placed what was left of the glasses themselves on the table in front of him and then starting picking up the shards.
He piled all the shards into one of his hands and once he was sure he picked them all up, he threw them in the trash. He then turned his attention back to Scully.
"I'm sorry, Scully. I wasn't watching what I was doing and… that happened," he told her meekly.
"It's okay, Mulder," she mumbled.
"I was serious about drinking from the bottle you know; seeing as we have no other cups and we can't possibly let a cheap, off-brand wine go to waste…"
Scully let out a faint giggle at that and slowly sat up to look at him.
"Ah, there we go," Mulder said, smiling at her.
He grabbed the wine bottle and the mini cake, which read "Happy Birthday!" on it, and brought them over and sat on the bed with her.
…
After taking turns drinking what they wanted from the bottle and then eating the cake, they laid there in bed together for a bit; Mulder was on his back and Scully had her head on his chest, her right arm laying across his stomach.
"Hey," Mulder said.
"Hmm?" Scully mumbled, sounding as if she were close to falling asleep.
"Let me up."
"Why?"
"You'll see."
She moved off him and laid on the bed instead, not even opening her eyes in the process. Mulder got up out of the bed and went over to the dresser in the room. He opened the top drawer and took out the envelope and small box he put in there. He then brought them over and sat back on the bed.
"Hey, Scully, I have something for you," he told her gently, trying to stir her from her almost-slumber.
She opened her eyes to look at him, seeing the items in his hands, and then sat up.
"What is it?" she asked.
He chuckled. "Well, you have to open them to find out," he told her.
"Here, open this first," he said, handing her the small box.
She took it from his hands. When she opened it, she saw that what was inside was a silver bracelet. She took it out and upon looking closer saw that it had a star shaped charm on it.
She smiled. "Thank you, Mulder. It's lovely."
He smiled back. "I'm glad you like it. Now, here," he said, handing her the envelope.
She took the envelope and opened it and inside was a card. She took it out to look at it; on the outside was a cartoon picture of a UFO, and the text on it read "You're out of this world!" She then opened it and on the inside, it read "Hope you have an extra-terrific day! Happy Birthday!" and underneath it was a drawing of an alien head and "Love, Mulder" written by him.
She smiled again and giggled slightly. "That's very sweet. Thank you, Mulder."
"You're welcome. There's one more thing," he told her.
A confused look crossed Scully's face as Mulder took what looked like a piece of paper out of his pants pocket.
"I wanted to put this in the card but… then I thought it would be better if I gave it to you like this," he told her.
"Mulder?" Scully said in confusion.
"Here," he said, handing her the item. Scully took it and when she inspected it further, she saw that it was… A bus ticket. Now she was really confused.
"What is this?" she asked.
"Your way out of here. Or, partially at least."
She stared at him in confusion, still not understanding, waiting for him to elaborate further.
He sighed. "Scully, I've been thinking… This situation has been hard on both of us. But I'm more concerned for you than I am for myself. You've been dragged into this when you shouldn't have been and it's not fair to you. I know you said you didn't want to talk about it, and I respect that, but I've noticed the way you've changed, Scully; you're not happy, and I don't want to see you suffering because of me."
"That ticket won't take you far but it will be far enough that you can start over, live a normal life. Hell, the ticket was more of a way just to get me to tell you this. Do whatever you want with it; use it, trade it out for one that goes somewhere else, throw it away and travel another way if you want. But either way, you should go."
Scully stared at him in shock. She wasn't expecting this at all. Did he really think that she was so unhappy that she'd want to leave him?
"Mulder… no. I'm not leaving you," she told him.
He opened his mouth to say something but before he could, she continued, "You're right, Mulder, I have been feeling depressed lately and yes, maybe it's because of our current situation. But that doesn't mean I want to leave you. I can't fathom the thought of being away from you like that again."
Mulder shook his head. "You say that now Scully, but what about another year from now? Or two, or three? Who knows how long we'd have to keep this up. I have to stay in hiding because it's me they're after but you don't. You've already suffered and lost so much because of me, Scully. I don't want anything bad to happen to you anymore. You should go now before you regret wasting more time than you already have. You don't deserve to live like this."
As he said this, Mulder's eyes began to water. A single tear slid down his right cheek. Scully reached her hand out to cup his face and she wiped his tear with her thumb.
She moved her hand to take hold of one of his and began rubbing soothing circles over the top of his hand as she began talking, "No, Mulder… You're wrong. I haven't wasted any time and I don't regret anything. You're not responsible for anything bad that happened to me or anyone else. Yes, I do wish that they never happened and I, too, wonder what things would be like now if they didn't. But that doesn't mean I regret a single moment spent with you. I don't."
"Mulder… those times when you were gone… I missed you so much. I wanted nothing more than to see you, and talk to you, and hold you, and everything else. I didn't really show it but I was a mess without you. Every time you returned were some of the happiest moments of my life. Just being with you makes me incredibly happy."
"I don't care if we'll never able to settle down, even if we do have some rough patches. All I care about is that I'm with you. I can't, I won't, lose you again. I am not leaving you."
The tears that had been building up in Mulder's eyes began to spill as he started to cry from the range of emotions he was feeling from Scully's words.
"Oh, Scully…" he said as he leaned towards her and embraced her in a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, returning the hug.
"Scully…" He nuzzled his face into the side of her neck. "I love you so much. I don't want to lose or be away from you either. I just want you to be happy."
"I know, Mulder. I am happy, with you. I love you too."
Scully leaned away from the hug, cupped his face in her hands and leaned in to kiss him. Mulder mirrored her actions, cupping her face as well and kissing her back. It was a soft, gentle and loving kiss.
When they broke apart, they sat there for a moment looking into each other's eyes, seeing the love they felt for each other reflected back.
"One day we'll be free of this situation we're stuck in, Mulder," Scully said after some time.
"You think so?" he asked.
She nodded. "Like you said: Maybe there's hope."
...
A/N: Thank you for reading! My tumblr is foxscully