Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Teenager
By Starbuck_Jayne
Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk
www.geocities.com/Starbuck_Jayne
Rating: PG I would have said-don't think
there's anything too bad in there.
Spoilers: Fire, Je Souhaite, and Requiem I
suppose.
Keywords: MSR.
Disclaimer: Not mine wish they were but the
characters of Mulder, Scully, Skinner
Doggett etc all belong to Mr Carter, 1013
Productions and Fox.
Archive: Anywhere just please keep my name
and e-mail attached, but no flames please
'cause I am way too delicate!
Summary: It takes a chance encounter with
an old flame to make Mulder realise his true
feelings for Scully.
Author's Notes: Ok this is set in the gap
between Je Souhaite and Requiem.
Feedback: Yes please. It keeps me alive :)
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Teenager
Caitlyn took a drag of her cigarette and
swung her legs aimlessly. A hand rested on
her abdomen, swollen with maternity.
"You see," she blew smoke in languid curls,
"there is no white horse. Prince Charming
doesn't just ride in and whisk you away like
in some fairy tale. Honey, you find your
own love."
Her companion looked unconvinced.
"Cait, you're nineteen and you got knocked
up. You have no choice but to stay with
this guy. You think that's love?"
Caitlyn glared at her, more out of annoyance
that she'd divulged her true age in a bar
than anything else.
"Fine," she retorted, "but I don't see you
riding off into the sunset anytime soon."
"Maybe I'm just waiting for the right guy,"
the young woman smiled and traced a finger
around the edge of her beer bottle. A
subtle perfume of cheap scent engulfed the
area immediately around her, but it didn't
diminish her natural appeal. Completely
unaware of the attention she was attracting
she ran a hand through long red hair,
eventually flicking blue eyes upwards to
punctuate her sentence.
"Did you not listen to me at all?" Caitlyn
waved her cigarette dramatically. "True
love is pure Hollywood!"
"Cait, just because you don't believe
something doesn't mean that it isn't real.
And do you really think it's wise to be
smoking like that when you're three and a
half months pregnant?" There was a pause as
she waved cigarette smoke away with her
hand. "You wanna hear a story?"
Unsure that she did, Caitlyn pursed her lips
in a way that displayed both badly applied
lipstick and nicotine-yellowed teeth.
"Well, you're gonna here it anyway," she
swallowed the last of her beer before
leaning forward and beginning in a hushed
tone. "Ok, it's about 2000, maybe 2001-I
forget sometimes. Anyway, J.Edgar Hoover
building, Washington D.C. The whole place
is practically deserted, except for two
F.B.I. Agents, probably the most dedicated
in the business..."
XXXXXXX
The clock said 11.10pm, but Dana Scully felt
pretty sure that it was already well past
midnight. As each second passed with a
laborious tick, she couldn't help but wonder
what had become of her partner. After
having left in search of food, he should
have been back over an hour ago. Scully
sighed and lifted her coffee cup, studying
the curdled dregs almost absent mindedly,
unsure if she could be bothered to make a
fresh pot. Deciding eventually that it
wasn't worth the hassle, she returned to
typing her latest report. Harvard had not
been best pleased about the disappearing
body trick, and there was a lot of paperwork
to be taken care of. The fact that she'd
spent the night before watching "Caddyshack"
hadn't exactly helped matters either.
Still, Mulder had been warned-tomorrow night
it was "Steel Magnolias" or nothing. She
smiled on remembering the look on his face:
"You really know how to hold a grudge, don't
you, Scully?" Still, he wasn't going to
refuse the chance of a night in with Scully,
not to mention a meal that wasn't salvaged
half-burned, half-still frozen from the
microwave.
Scully stretched and took off her glasses.
If Mulder wasn't going to show up then she
saw no reason why she had to keep on
working. Besides, she'd only be asleep for
a few minutes.
She couldn't quite place what had woken her.
It may have been the soft click of the
central heating going off, or the distant
chiming of midnight on the clock outside.
Although, the most probable cause was the
clatter of wood against metal, as Mulder
thrust open the door and consequently struck
the filing cabinet.
"Mulder! Where have you been?"
"Scully! You have pen on your face!"
On instinct Scully pressed a hand to her
cheek, causing her partner to grin in a way
that informed her of her gullibility.
"So..." She eyed him up and down.
Surprisingly neatly dressed considering it
was midnight and he'd been missing some two
and a half hours. No food though.
"Are you going to tell me where you've been
or can I go home and try again in the
morning?" She checked her watch and made a
move to switch off her laptop.
"Wait!" Mulder grinned, seductively
removing a key from his pocket.
"Oh what is that?" Scully was not in the
mood for guessing games, and this was
starting to look suspiciously like the
beginning of one of her partner's "brand new
x-file" speeches.
"This," he spun the key on his finger for
effect, "is the key to a haunted house."
"Mulder," Scully rubbed her temples, "I know
I've said this many times throughout our
partnership, but right now I mean it more
than ever before: please tell me you're
kidding."
"Come on now, Scully, you know that cliches
are the very basis of the X-Files!"
Now that she knew he was leading her on the
sense of relief that she didn't have to
spend another night playing mind-games with
a couple of supposed ghosts far outweighed
her curiosity. Removing her jacket from the
stand she headed for the door.
"Mulder, you can either come with me and
tell me on the way out, or you can stay here
and tell me in the morning."
"Where's your sense of fun, Scully?" Was
the basic dialogue that drifted through the
Hoover building's basement passages as the
two agents made their way back towards
ground level.
XXXXXXX
Caitlyn's attention had wandered to a young
bartender who was struggling through the
hoards of people in an attempt to collect
glasses.
"Cait!"
"Yeah, Katie, is this story actually going
anywhere, Hun?"
"Don't call me that. Yes, but you're going
to have to listen rather than eying up
everything that comes towards you wearing
pants!"
"Ok, fine, I'm listening."
"Right, well the next day Dana Scully
arrived at work, totally unsure what to
expect. Her partner had lost her interest
after firing a series of cryptic clues about
their next case at her. In the end she'd
just given up and gone home. Still, it
wasn't as if Mulder handing her a plane
ticket at 6am in the morning then whisking
her off to the airport wasn't unusual. She
felt pretty sure that she'd have been
subjected to worse..."
XXXXXX
"We're going where?" Scully held the plane
ticket in the air, studying it from a
distance as if that might change the
destination.
"England."
"Why?"
"There was an American business man, went
missing over there in suspicious
circumstances. There's been a team of
agents out there for a few weeks now but
they weren't finding anything so I managed
to convince Skinner to let us have a look."
"Mulder, are you sure it's wise to be flying
to England, apparently totally
unnecessarily, to investigate a case that's
already being investigated by the bureau and
has no paranormal connections at all, as far
as I can see, just a few weeks before we're
due to be audited?"
Mulder grinned at her cynicism.
"Scully, I promise we can rent "Steel
Magnolias" whilst we're in London," he
slipped a hand round her shoulders and
guided her towards the door.
xxxxxxx
Seven hours later they touched down in
London. Night had fallen and the last of
the summer warmth was faint, but ardent in
its attempt to linger in the air. However,
it was fighting a losing battle, and as she
stepped from the airplane Scully gave a
slight shiver at the chill. The city's
lights shone brightly, reflecting off the
River Thames and making them generally quite
dazzling to the beholder. It was getting
late and the two agents were already too
jet-lagged to care about finding their
hotel, each one secretly hoping that the
other would take care of it. Tired and
hungry, they made their way dazedly towards
a taxi and climbed inside, mumbling vague
details of their accommodation before
slipping into a gentle slumber.
By 1am the adverse effects of over-seas
travel had taken a different turn, and both
agents had ended up sitting on Mulder's bed,
discussing the case.
"So I suggest that, after breakfast, we head
towards his offices over here...do you have
the name in your notes?"
Scully flipped over a few pages of her
comments, surprisingly well written
considering she had been flying at 30,000
feet through turbulence for most of the
journey.
"Erm...ok it's a "Thames Road Buildings"
about 2 or 3 miles from here I would guess."
Mulder nodded approvingly before deciding to
abandon the case and change the subject.
"You wanna watch a movie?"
"One of your movies? No." The two
exchanged a glance and Scully smiled good-
naturedly.
"Ok...you wanna spend vast amounts of money
on room service and charge it to Skinner?"
"Mulder..." Since meeting Mulder, Scully had
learned that playing by the rules never got
anybody anywhere, but at the back of her
mind was still the thought of the upcoming
audit, and she wasn't sure she could
sacrifice her job for the sake of a bottle
of champagne and a few overly-priced
delicacies.
"So..." Mulder threw himself defeatedly down
on the bed, arms behind his head and leaving
Scully on the edge by his feet. "You could
tell me about your childhood."
"Mulder, you left behind a career in
psychology, remember?"
"So maybe I should put my suppressed
knowledge to good use."
It was a familiar practice these days for
the duo to spend time on idle chatter-
sometimes there was little else to do.
"Scully, do you mind if I ask you a
question?"
"Now, how did you answer this same question,
Mulder?" Scully grinned and slapped his
feet playfully."
"How long have you been a red-head?"
"Since University. Trust me, blondes don't
necessarily have more fun. Nor do brunettes
for that matter."
"I disagree," Mulder said simply before
moving on to his next statement, "You know
Scully, some people associate red hair with
passion".
"Yeah? And some people compare a sneeze to
an orgasm."
Mulder was only momentarily stunned by his
partner's semi-explicit metaphor.
"You ok, Scully?"
"Mulder, I'm fine..." she said, twisting a
corner of the quilt between her fingers,
"honestly."
XXXXXX
"So what's going on now then?" Caitlyn
demanded impatiently-she wasn't a fan of
slow moving stories. "Is he trying to get
her into bed? Are they already sleeping
together? Is she refusing to sleep with
him?"
"Why do you always assume everything is
about sex?" Katie sighed heavily and
stirred her drink with a straw. "Now do you
want me to go on or not?"
Caitlyn checked her watch before replying
that she did want to hear the end of the
story, even if it meant sitting still for
the next ten minutes.
XXXXXX
The morning mists were rising, leaving
behind a bustling city that basked in the
early-summer sun. Mulder coaxed Scully
awake, and she eventually stirred from her
position at the foot of the bed. Somehow
during the night she had ended up under the
covers so that the partners had slept one at
each end of the bed.
"C'mon, Scully," Mulder was saying, "we paid
for breakfast so we may as well eat it."
Scully refused, saying she was too tired to
be hungry and advising him to go on without
her.
"I'll meet you in the lobby in an hour," she
said, already looking as if she might fall
back to sleep.
The plan was to be at the businessman's UK
offices for 10pm where they would get some more
basic background information. Then, whilst
Scully traced the man's last movements,
Mulder was to head over to the scene of his
last sighting and see what he could learn
from the other agents already involved.
By 2pm he was in a hotel room in a very
exclusive part of the city. None of the
staff looked at all pleased to be welcoming
yet another FBI agent, and the forced
politeness was worse than if they had been
downright rude to him. Mulder surveyed the
scene. A couple of FBI agents were in one
corner, comparing notes and sipping coffee.
Then, to the right of him was a group of
police. He couldn't see the face of the
person who was obviously in charge, giving
out orders as far as he could tell, but
something about the figure, the voice,
caused his mind to conjure up a picture of
Phoebe Green. He shook the image away with
a shudder, but then, as the woman turned,
his fears were verified.
He had no idea of how she had persuaded him,
but at the end of the day's work he found
himself sitting in a little cafe around the
corner, twisting the edge of his napkin as
Phoebe sat and drank coffee.
"Fox..."
He cringed at the use of his first name, but
knew if he said anything she would only bear
it in mind for the purposes of future
irritation.
"What a surprise it is to see you in these
parts," she laughed. "Maybe it's a sign."
Mischievous eyes looked out from under her
hair. Mulder remained silent.
"Are you just going to sit there and say
nothing?" She asked.
"Probably a good idea," he retorted, as he
watched her strike up a match, under the
pretence of lighting the little candle on
the table. He knew it was meant as the
tiniest little dig at him-considering his
extreme dislike of fire.
"There," she announced as she shook out the
match, "very romantic."
Mulder groaned inwardly. So this was her
little game.
"So tell me, Fox. How is that partner of
yours...Agent Sally, was it?"
"You know full well it was Agent Scully,
Phoebe, and she's fine."
"So she's over here too?" Phoebe stirred
her coffee dreamily before blowing on it,
sending steam cascading towards Mulder. She
didn't wait for his response to the
question, knowing the answer even before she
asked. "Well, I'll have to act fast," she
laughed enticingly. Mulder decided he'd had
enough. Anything he had ever felt for
Phoebe Green was gone even before he left
Oxford all those years before. He wasn't
about to get involved in her little mind
games.
As he rose to leave she rose with him,
suddenly embracing him and forcing her lips
on to his. He pushed her away.
"No!" He wiped a hand across his mouth,
"no." He repeated quietly.
"Why Fox, surely you wouldn't turn down a
simple kiss from an old friend?" She
watched him carefully, surveying his
expression.
"Phoebe anything we had is long dead. You
can't just decide to come back into my life
and keep trying to pick up where we left off
decades ago. People change Phoebe," he was
barely controlling his temper, infuriated by
the way she assumed she could just kiss him
and he would respond and decide that he was
still in love with her after all.
"Oh come on, Fox. I find it highly unlikely
that there is anyone else who would be
betrayed by this. You obviously aren't with
anyone special, or you wouldn't have come
over here on a wild goose chase. Alone."
She stressed the last word maliciously.
"I'm not alone, Phoebe." He couldn't help
it. The words were spoken before he could
prevent them. She looked stunned.
"Don't tell me you're involved with Agent
Scully," she laughed dryly. "Why, that sort
of behaviour could get you thrown out of the
bureau." And it would as well, should she
have anything to do with it.
"That's not what I said, Phoebe." Mulder
spoke quietly, but with an edge to his voice
that warned her to leave it whilst she still
could.
"On the contrary, Agent Mulder. I believe
that's exactly what you said."
"Phoebe! I am not involved with Agent
Scully!" People in the cafe had turned
around to see what the fuss was about, but
Mulder didn't care. Other people's opinions
of him had never really been an issue in his
mind. "I love her."
xxxxxxx
By 11pm Scully was forced to surrender to
the pain in her head, and set off in search
of relief.
"Mulder?" She knocked and entered without
waiting to be asked. Her partner was lying
on his bed, presumably deep in thought
rather than asleep. "Mulder, do you have
any painkillers on you?"
"What? Oh...yeah. Hang on," he fumbled
absent-mindedly in a wash bag on his bedside
table, then handed Scully a packet. She
glanced down at it.
"You ok, Mulder?"
"Yeah. Fine." He answered a little too
sharply, so attempted to correct himself.
"Why?"
"Oh, just that this is a packet of, what
appear to be Spanish, breath mints." She
turned the box over in her hands, "that
expired in 1988." She handed it back to
him, almost automatically placing the back
of her hand against his forehead.
"What's that for?"
"There's obviously something wrong, Mulder.
Now you don't have a fever so..."
"Scully, I told you I'm fine," he almost
snapped at her.
"Well, you know where I am," she turned as
if to leave, but he caught her hand.
"Scully?"
"Yes?"
"I ran into Phoebe today."
Scully was momentarily taken aback, but
quickly regained her composure.
"Green? Where?"
"In Robert Wells' hotel room. She was, I
don't know, the leader of some investigation
by Scotland Yard. Loving every minute of
it-lording it over us mere FBI agents." He
laughed bitterly. Scully had no difficulty
in believing the last part of his story-her
encounter with Detective Green some seven
years ago had shown her to be vindictive to
say the least. This was a woman who was not
afraid to take everything she had against
her ex-lover and use it to try and destroy
him.
"Mulder, you know we don't even have to be
here," Scully sat down beside her partner on
the bed, causing him to move just slightly
away from her.
"I'm not letting her win this one, Scully."
"Mulder, by saying that you're stepping
right into her little game. Don't you see
this is what she wants?"
"You don't understand, Scully. You don't
know her like I do," he sighed heavily.
"I understand, Mulder, that you don't have
to be manipulated like this." She squeezed
his hand briefly, but he didn't respond to
her touch.
"She," he turned to face her, "she tried to
kiss me."
"It doesn't surprise me," Scully laughed
softly and patted her partner's hand again.
"Ok, well I'm going to try and sleep off
this headache," she smiled. "And Mulder, if
you want then tomorrow I'll come and help
you kick Phoebe's ass." She turned around,
but Mulder's hand on hers pulled her back.
He was sitting up now, and in one swift
movement he pulled her to him, studying her
face for a few seconds before drawing her
into a passionate kiss.
XXXXXXX
"Soon after that, my dad went missing for
nearly a whole year," Katie concluded, "He
missed out on nearly all of my mom's
pregnancy."
"Wait a minute," Caitlyn gestured wildly
with her cigarette, "so you're telling me
that the only reason he married her and
they're still together is because he got her
pregnant? Hun, that is exactly the
same story as mine, only it's set in England
like, 20 years ago." She stubbed out her
cigarette triumphantly. "See! True love
doesn't exist at all. The only reason
people get married is because they get
knocked up."
Katie shook her head knowingly and laughed,
Caitlyn was hearing what she wanted to hear
as per usual. Still, in her own mind and
those of several other secret listeners in
the bar that night, true love was more than
a one night stand and an unwanted pregnancy.
X~The End~X
By Starbuck_Jayne
Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk
www.geocities.com/Starbuck_Jayne
Rating: PG I would have said-don't think
there's anything too bad in there.
Spoilers: Fire, Je Souhaite, and Requiem I
suppose.
Keywords: MSR.
Disclaimer: Not mine wish they were but the
characters of Mulder, Scully, Skinner
Doggett etc all belong to Mr Carter, 1013
Productions and Fox.
Archive: Anywhere just please keep my name
and e-mail attached, but no flames please
'cause I am way too delicate!
Summary: It takes a chance encounter with
an old flame to make Mulder realise his true
feelings for Scully.
Author's Notes: Ok this is set in the gap
between Je Souhaite and Requiem.
Feedback: Yes please. It keeps me alive :)
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Teenager
Caitlyn took a drag of her cigarette and
swung her legs aimlessly. A hand rested on
her abdomen, swollen with maternity.
"You see," she blew smoke in languid curls,
"there is no white horse. Prince Charming
doesn't just ride in and whisk you away like
in some fairy tale. Honey, you find your
own love."
Her companion looked unconvinced.
"Cait, you're nineteen and you got knocked
up. You have no choice but to stay with
this guy. You think that's love?"
Caitlyn glared at her, more out of annoyance
that she'd divulged her true age in a bar
than anything else.
"Fine," she retorted, "but I don't see you
riding off into the sunset anytime soon."
"Maybe I'm just waiting for the right guy,"
the young woman smiled and traced a finger
around the edge of her beer bottle. A
subtle perfume of cheap scent engulfed the
area immediately around her, but it didn't
diminish her natural appeal. Completely
unaware of the attention she was attracting
she ran a hand through long red hair,
eventually flicking blue eyes upwards to
punctuate her sentence.
"Did you not listen to me at all?" Caitlyn
waved her cigarette dramatically. "True
love is pure Hollywood!"
"Cait, just because you don't believe
something doesn't mean that it isn't real.
And do you really think it's wise to be
smoking like that when you're three and a
half months pregnant?" There was a pause as
she waved cigarette smoke away with her
hand. "You wanna hear a story?"
Unsure that she did, Caitlyn pursed her lips
in a way that displayed both badly applied
lipstick and nicotine-yellowed teeth.
"Well, you're gonna here it anyway," she
swallowed the last of her beer before
leaning forward and beginning in a hushed
tone. "Ok, it's about 2000, maybe 2001-I
forget sometimes. Anyway, J.Edgar Hoover
building, Washington D.C. The whole place
is practically deserted, except for two
F.B.I. Agents, probably the most dedicated
in the business..."
XXXXXXX
The clock said 11.10pm, but Dana Scully felt
pretty sure that it was already well past
midnight. As each second passed with a
laborious tick, she couldn't help but wonder
what had become of her partner. After
having left in search of food, he should
have been back over an hour ago. Scully
sighed and lifted her coffee cup, studying
the curdled dregs almost absent mindedly,
unsure if she could be bothered to make a
fresh pot. Deciding eventually that it
wasn't worth the hassle, she returned to
typing her latest report. Harvard had not
been best pleased about the disappearing
body trick, and there was a lot of paperwork
to be taken care of. The fact that she'd
spent the night before watching "Caddyshack"
hadn't exactly helped matters either.
Still, Mulder had been warned-tomorrow night
it was "Steel Magnolias" or nothing. She
smiled on remembering the look on his face:
"You really know how to hold a grudge, don't
you, Scully?" Still, he wasn't going to
refuse the chance of a night in with Scully,
not to mention a meal that wasn't salvaged
half-burned, half-still frozen from the
microwave.
Scully stretched and took off her glasses.
If Mulder wasn't going to show up then she
saw no reason why she had to keep on
working. Besides, she'd only be asleep for
a few minutes.
She couldn't quite place what had woken her.
It may have been the soft click of the
central heating going off, or the distant
chiming of midnight on the clock outside.
Although, the most probable cause was the
clatter of wood against metal, as Mulder
thrust open the door and consequently struck
the filing cabinet.
"Mulder! Where have you been?"
"Scully! You have pen on your face!"
On instinct Scully pressed a hand to her
cheek, causing her partner to grin in a way
that informed her of her gullibility.
"So..." She eyed him up and down.
Surprisingly neatly dressed considering it
was midnight and he'd been missing some two
and a half hours. No food though.
"Are you going to tell me where you've been
or can I go home and try again in the
morning?" She checked her watch and made a
move to switch off her laptop.
"Wait!" Mulder grinned, seductively
removing a key from his pocket.
"Oh what is that?" Scully was not in the
mood for guessing games, and this was
starting to look suspiciously like the
beginning of one of her partner's "brand new
x-file" speeches.
"This," he spun the key on his finger for
effect, "is the key to a haunted house."
"Mulder," Scully rubbed her temples, "I know
I've said this many times throughout our
partnership, but right now I mean it more
than ever before: please tell me you're
kidding."
"Come on now, Scully, you know that cliches
are the very basis of the X-Files!"
Now that she knew he was leading her on the
sense of relief that she didn't have to
spend another night playing mind-games with
a couple of supposed ghosts far outweighed
her curiosity. Removing her jacket from the
stand she headed for the door.
"Mulder, you can either come with me and
tell me on the way out, or you can stay here
and tell me in the morning."
"Where's your sense of fun, Scully?" Was
the basic dialogue that drifted through the
Hoover building's basement passages as the
two agents made their way back towards
ground level.
XXXXXXX
Caitlyn's attention had wandered to a young
bartender who was struggling through the
hoards of people in an attempt to collect
glasses.
"Cait!"
"Yeah, Katie, is this story actually going
anywhere, Hun?"
"Don't call me that. Yes, but you're going
to have to listen rather than eying up
everything that comes towards you wearing
pants!"
"Ok, fine, I'm listening."
"Right, well the next day Dana Scully
arrived at work, totally unsure what to
expect. Her partner had lost her interest
after firing a series of cryptic clues about
their next case at her. In the end she'd
just given up and gone home. Still, it
wasn't as if Mulder handing her a plane
ticket at 6am in the morning then whisking
her off to the airport wasn't unusual. She
felt pretty sure that she'd have been
subjected to worse..."
XXXXXX
"We're going where?" Scully held the plane
ticket in the air, studying it from a
distance as if that might change the
destination.
"England."
"Why?"
"There was an American business man, went
missing over there in suspicious
circumstances. There's been a team of
agents out there for a few weeks now but
they weren't finding anything so I managed
to convince Skinner to let us have a look."
"Mulder, are you sure it's wise to be flying
to England, apparently totally
unnecessarily, to investigate a case that's
already being investigated by the bureau and
has no paranormal connections at all, as far
as I can see, just a few weeks before we're
due to be audited?"
Mulder grinned at her cynicism.
"Scully, I promise we can rent "Steel
Magnolias" whilst we're in London," he
slipped a hand round her shoulders and
guided her towards the door.
xxxxxxx
Seven hours later they touched down in
London. Night had fallen and the last of
the summer warmth was faint, but ardent in
its attempt to linger in the air. However,
it was fighting a losing battle, and as she
stepped from the airplane Scully gave a
slight shiver at the chill. The city's
lights shone brightly, reflecting off the
River Thames and making them generally quite
dazzling to the beholder. It was getting
late and the two agents were already too
jet-lagged to care about finding their
hotel, each one secretly hoping that the
other would take care of it. Tired and
hungry, they made their way dazedly towards
a taxi and climbed inside, mumbling vague
details of their accommodation before
slipping into a gentle slumber.
By 1am the adverse effects of over-seas
travel had taken a different turn, and both
agents had ended up sitting on Mulder's bed,
discussing the case.
"So I suggest that, after breakfast, we head
towards his offices over here...do you have
the name in your notes?"
Scully flipped over a few pages of her
comments, surprisingly well written
considering she had been flying at 30,000
feet through turbulence for most of the
journey.
"Erm...ok it's a "Thames Road Buildings"
about 2 or 3 miles from here I would guess."
Mulder nodded approvingly before deciding to
abandon the case and change the subject.
"You wanna watch a movie?"
"One of your movies? No." The two
exchanged a glance and Scully smiled good-
naturedly.
"Ok...you wanna spend vast amounts of money
on room service and charge it to Skinner?"
"Mulder..." Since meeting Mulder, Scully had
learned that playing by the rules never got
anybody anywhere, but at the back of her
mind was still the thought of the upcoming
audit, and she wasn't sure she could
sacrifice her job for the sake of a bottle
of champagne and a few overly-priced
delicacies.
"So..." Mulder threw himself defeatedly down
on the bed, arms behind his head and leaving
Scully on the edge by his feet. "You could
tell me about your childhood."
"Mulder, you left behind a career in
psychology, remember?"
"So maybe I should put my suppressed
knowledge to good use."
It was a familiar practice these days for
the duo to spend time on idle chatter-
sometimes there was little else to do.
"Scully, do you mind if I ask you a
question?"
"Now, how did you answer this same question,
Mulder?" Scully grinned and slapped his
feet playfully."
"How long have you been a red-head?"
"Since University. Trust me, blondes don't
necessarily have more fun. Nor do brunettes
for that matter."
"I disagree," Mulder said simply before
moving on to his next statement, "You know
Scully, some people associate red hair with
passion".
"Yeah? And some people compare a sneeze to
an orgasm."
Mulder was only momentarily stunned by his
partner's semi-explicit metaphor.
"You ok, Scully?"
"Mulder, I'm fine..." she said, twisting a
corner of the quilt between her fingers,
"honestly."
XXXXXX
"So what's going on now then?" Caitlyn
demanded impatiently-she wasn't a fan of
slow moving stories. "Is he trying to get
her into bed? Are they already sleeping
together? Is she refusing to sleep with
him?"
"Why do you always assume everything is
about sex?" Katie sighed heavily and
stirred her drink with a straw. "Now do you
want me to go on or not?"
Caitlyn checked her watch before replying
that she did want to hear the end of the
story, even if it meant sitting still for
the next ten minutes.
XXXXXX
The morning mists were rising, leaving
behind a bustling city that basked in the
early-summer sun. Mulder coaxed Scully
awake, and she eventually stirred from her
position at the foot of the bed. Somehow
during the night she had ended up under the
covers so that the partners had slept one at
each end of the bed.
"C'mon, Scully," Mulder was saying, "we paid
for breakfast so we may as well eat it."
Scully refused, saying she was too tired to
be hungry and advising him to go on without
her.
"I'll meet you in the lobby in an hour," she
said, already looking as if she might fall
back to sleep.
The plan was to be at the businessman's UK
offices for 10pm where they would get some more
basic background information. Then, whilst
Scully traced the man's last movements,
Mulder was to head over to the scene of his
last sighting and see what he could learn
from the other agents already involved.
By 2pm he was in a hotel room in a very
exclusive part of the city. None of the
staff looked at all pleased to be welcoming
yet another FBI agent, and the forced
politeness was worse than if they had been
downright rude to him. Mulder surveyed the
scene. A couple of FBI agents were in one
corner, comparing notes and sipping coffee.
Then, to the right of him was a group of
police. He couldn't see the face of the
person who was obviously in charge, giving
out orders as far as he could tell, but
something about the figure, the voice,
caused his mind to conjure up a picture of
Phoebe Green. He shook the image away with
a shudder, but then, as the woman turned,
his fears were verified.
He had no idea of how she had persuaded him,
but at the end of the day's work he found
himself sitting in a little cafe around the
corner, twisting the edge of his napkin as
Phoebe sat and drank coffee.
"Fox..."
He cringed at the use of his first name, but
knew if he said anything she would only bear
it in mind for the purposes of future
irritation.
"What a surprise it is to see you in these
parts," she laughed. "Maybe it's a sign."
Mischievous eyes looked out from under her
hair. Mulder remained silent.
"Are you just going to sit there and say
nothing?" She asked.
"Probably a good idea," he retorted, as he
watched her strike up a match, under the
pretence of lighting the little candle on
the table. He knew it was meant as the
tiniest little dig at him-considering his
extreme dislike of fire.
"There," she announced as she shook out the
match, "very romantic."
Mulder groaned inwardly. So this was her
little game.
"So tell me, Fox. How is that partner of
yours...Agent Sally, was it?"
"You know full well it was Agent Scully,
Phoebe, and she's fine."
"So she's over here too?" Phoebe stirred
her coffee dreamily before blowing on it,
sending steam cascading towards Mulder. She
didn't wait for his response to the
question, knowing the answer even before she
asked. "Well, I'll have to act fast," she
laughed enticingly. Mulder decided he'd had
enough. Anything he had ever felt for
Phoebe Green was gone even before he left
Oxford all those years before. He wasn't
about to get involved in her little mind
games.
As he rose to leave she rose with him,
suddenly embracing him and forcing her lips
on to his. He pushed her away.
"No!" He wiped a hand across his mouth,
"no." He repeated quietly.
"Why Fox, surely you wouldn't turn down a
simple kiss from an old friend?" She
watched him carefully, surveying his
expression.
"Phoebe anything we had is long dead. You
can't just decide to come back into my life
and keep trying to pick up where we left off
decades ago. People change Phoebe," he was
barely controlling his temper, infuriated by
the way she assumed she could just kiss him
and he would respond and decide that he was
still in love with her after all.
"Oh come on, Fox. I find it highly unlikely
that there is anyone else who would be
betrayed by this. You obviously aren't with
anyone special, or you wouldn't have come
over here on a wild goose chase. Alone."
She stressed the last word maliciously.
"I'm not alone, Phoebe." He couldn't help
it. The words were spoken before he could
prevent them. She looked stunned.
"Don't tell me you're involved with Agent
Scully," she laughed dryly. "Why, that sort
of behaviour could get you thrown out of the
bureau." And it would as well, should she
have anything to do with it.
"That's not what I said, Phoebe." Mulder
spoke quietly, but with an edge to his voice
that warned her to leave it whilst she still
could.
"On the contrary, Agent Mulder. I believe
that's exactly what you said."
"Phoebe! I am not involved with Agent
Scully!" People in the cafe had turned
around to see what the fuss was about, but
Mulder didn't care. Other people's opinions
of him had never really been an issue in his
mind. "I love her."
xxxxxxx
By 11pm Scully was forced to surrender to
the pain in her head, and set off in search
of relief.
"Mulder?" She knocked and entered without
waiting to be asked. Her partner was lying
on his bed, presumably deep in thought
rather than asleep. "Mulder, do you have
any painkillers on you?"
"What? Oh...yeah. Hang on," he fumbled
absent-mindedly in a wash bag on his bedside
table, then handed Scully a packet. She
glanced down at it.
"You ok, Mulder?"
"Yeah. Fine." He answered a little too
sharply, so attempted to correct himself.
"Why?"
"Oh, just that this is a packet of, what
appear to be Spanish, breath mints." She
turned the box over in her hands, "that
expired in 1988." She handed it back to
him, almost automatically placing the back
of her hand against his forehead.
"What's that for?"
"There's obviously something wrong, Mulder.
Now you don't have a fever so..."
"Scully, I told you I'm fine," he almost
snapped at her.
"Well, you know where I am," she turned as
if to leave, but he caught her hand.
"Scully?"
"Yes?"
"I ran into Phoebe today."
Scully was momentarily taken aback, but
quickly regained her composure.
"Green? Where?"
"In Robert Wells' hotel room. She was, I
don't know, the leader of some investigation
by Scotland Yard. Loving every minute of
it-lording it over us mere FBI agents." He
laughed bitterly. Scully had no difficulty
in believing the last part of his story-her
encounter with Detective Green some seven
years ago had shown her to be vindictive to
say the least. This was a woman who was not
afraid to take everything she had against
her ex-lover and use it to try and destroy
him.
"Mulder, you know we don't even have to be
here," Scully sat down beside her partner on
the bed, causing him to move just slightly
away from her.
"I'm not letting her win this one, Scully."
"Mulder, by saying that you're stepping
right into her little game. Don't you see
this is what she wants?"
"You don't understand, Scully. You don't
know her like I do," he sighed heavily.
"I understand, Mulder, that you don't have
to be manipulated like this." She squeezed
his hand briefly, but he didn't respond to
her touch.
"She," he turned to face her, "she tried to
kiss me."
"It doesn't surprise me," Scully laughed
softly and patted her partner's hand again.
"Ok, well I'm going to try and sleep off
this headache," she smiled. "And Mulder, if
you want then tomorrow I'll come and help
you kick Phoebe's ass." She turned around,
but Mulder's hand on hers pulled her back.
He was sitting up now, and in one swift
movement he pulled her to him, studying her
face for a few seconds before drawing her
into a passionate kiss.
XXXXXXX
"Soon after that, my dad went missing for
nearly a whole year," Katie concluded, "He
missed out on nearly all of my mom's
pregnancy."
"Wait a minute," Caitlyn gestured wildly
with her cigarette, "so you're telling me
that the only reason he married her and
they're still together is because he got her
pregnant? Hun, that is exactly the
same story as mine, only it's set in England
like, 20 years ago." She stubbed out her
cigarette triumphantly. "See! True love
doesn't exist at all. The only reason
people get married is because they get
knocked up."
Katie shook her head knowingly and laughed,
Caitlyn was hearing what she wanted to hear
as per usual. Still, in her own mind and
those of several other secret listeners in
the bar that night, true love was more than
a one night stand and an unwanted pregnancy.
X~The End~X