Title: "A Rather Strange First Encounter"

Chapter 6 "A Misunderstanding with Mr. Right"

Author: Jerome Mullins

Disclaimer, Summary and Rating: see previous chapters.

Author's Notes: An error is corrected when Fox and Dana discuss the difficulties of having a long distance relationship. A more serious chapter yes, but important to the story it is.

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Maggie and Grace sat quietly in their room when Dana Scully reentered. She kept her eyes on the floor and sat down on her bed without saying a word.
"Back so soon?" Grace giggled.
"We didn't expect to see you until morning," Maggie chirped, she then saw Dana was crying. "Dana?"
No response.
"Dana? Is everything all right?"
"I never should have kissed him." She said quietly. "I never should have even thought that we could be together."
"Dana," Grace said leaned forward on her bed. "Did something happen?"
Dana nodded slightly as she wiped her tears softly with her index finger. Maggie got up and joined her on the bed. Maggie touched her lightly on the shoulder and leaned closer to hear Dana whisper the name of the enemy, "Phoebe."
Maggie leaned back and stared at her. "Phoebe?"
"I went back upstairs," Dana sighed heavily. "I was headed back to his room and before I got there, I saw them."
"Them? Together?" Grace couldn't believe it.
Dana nodded.
"But he left her. She knows not to come back to him; he had told her he wouldn't take her back." Maggie looked over to Grace who shrugged.
Dana said nothing and leaned back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. She was crushed. She had fallen in love against her will, fearing that she would have her heart broken if she gave in to her desire for him. The instant she saw the two of them in the hallway, locked in that embrace, she could feel her heart being torn in two. She was in love with someone who didn't love her back. She couldn't understand it, the way he had kissed her, the fire and passion in his touch had all been so sincere and believable. They had been addressed to her, to no one else _but_ her. Now he was upstairs with someone else only moments after she had bid him good- night.
"Are you sure it was Phoebe?" Grace asked gently.
"I heard someone say her name," Dana closed her eyes and let the tears stream down the side of her face.
"I just can't believe it." Grace shook her head. "He was just with you, there has to be some mistake."
Dana shook her head and covered her face with her pillow. The image of Fox and Phoebe together was burned in her mind. She could even see them with her eyes closed tight. Both Maggie and Grace felt so helpless watching Dana cry, they felt even worse knowing that it was they who had encouraged her to go after him.
Maggie gently touched Dana's shoulder and got up from the bed, she gestured for Grace to follow her out of the room to give Dana a few moments alone. Left to her self, Dana was able to cry in private while both Maggie and Grace headed upstairs to speak with Fox.

Fox Mulder turned away from the door and returned to the window, he looked down below once more before shutting the windows and drawing the blinds. He looked to his desk and admired the book-free surface. He would have to get up early in the morning to retrieve them from the courtyard. He was confident that they would all be there waiting for him the next morning, his classmates knew not to touch them. Besides, it was a sick mind that could ever think of those books as treasures, especially his philosophy book. He shuddered at the thought of the book, and its contents, he silently prayed that the damage done was irrevocable.
His thoughts were then invaded by the memory of Phoebe Green. She knew she wasn't welcome back, how could she come back thinking he would be willing to accept her? _The nerve of that woman,_ he thought to himself. He heard a knock at the door and his shoulders slumped heavily. He let out an angry sigh before blindly opening the door.
"Phoebe, I told you not to come back-" he started.
Maggie and Grace stood in the hallway.
"Fox, was Phoebe just here?" Maggie asked bewildered.
"Yeah," he stared at them and then snorted. "You guys wouldn't have believed it, if you had been here. She came over here knowing damn well that she wasn't welcome."
"Did we hear right?" Grace took a step closer. "Were the two of you kissing?"
"Hardly, she just grabbed me," Fox paused. _News certainly does get around fast,_ he thought. "Who told you about that?"
"Dana." Maggie said.
"What?" Fox's heart felt as if it had dropped from his chest down to his feet in that very instant.
"She saw the two of you, her heart is broken." Grace shook her head. "Poor dear."
"My God," Fox then darted past them up to their room.
Dana was still lying on her bed when Fox lightly tapped on the door and entered. His heart sunk even deeper to the bottoms of his soles upon seeing her in such a depressed state.
"Dana," he said softly.
Dana instantly knew his voice and sat up. She quickly wiped away the tears, a feeble attempt to mask her broken heart. Fox closed the door and sat down next to her.
"Grace told me what you saw. Dana, I'm so sorry you saw that. I didn't mean for it to happen, I don't want to have anything to do with her." He shook his head. "I said _no_, but she grabbed me. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't even know you were there."
Dana took a deep breath and nodded. She believed him. It came back to her in a rush of emotion, he _did_ love her, and he did care for her. She wasn't in this alone, both of them had fallen madly in love with each other, she could believe in that. She seemed relieved, but her pain was still there. He could see it in her eyes as if it were as clear as day.
"Dana, I don't feel anything for her." He moved in closer. "I care about you." His voice was no higher than a whisper. He leaned in closer to her, their noses barely touching.
It would have been the simplest thing to lean in and kiss her, Fox knew that. He also knew how easy it would be to lock the door. To be alone with this wonderful and beautiful woman, the angel named Dana Scully. _Just simply lean in, kiss her,_ he told himself. But he restrained himself. As much as he wanted to kiss her, _wanted_ her to beg for his touch, he wanted her touch all the more. To feel his passion and desire for her reflected in her own kisses. He wanted to know if she felt the same passion and need for him as he did for her.
There was a kiss, a small one she delivered to his lips without hesitation, but as delicious as that kiss was it had no passion, no deep desire within it, simply a message. _I'm sorry;_ it told him,_ forgive me for doubting you. I do love you with my whole heart, you need never doubt it. But there is something else, something that has been circling in my mind and I must tell you._ They released and her eyes did not meet his.
"Dana?" his tone let her know that he was on to her, that he could sense something was looming on her mind.
Dana kept the silence between them for several moments, collecting her thoughts before she spoke. Fox did not dare to break the silence; he used the time to brace himself for the worst. He was not disappointed.
"We can't go on like this," she said finally in a voice so quiet that her words did not register with him right away. "We can't see each other anymore."
The words, while not surprising, were crushing. His eyes darted around the room quickly, pleading for salvation, _Dear Lord; send me something, anything, to keep me from drowning. She slipping away from me, God help me, she's slipping away._ He looked back at her, but she still couldn't meet his gaze.
"We can't see each other anymore?" he asked in a voice that was more like a hurt little boy than a grown man.
"You were right, Fox, there's an entire ocean that's separating us. How long could we have kept this going? How could we have made this work?"
He cursed himself for ever saying such words.
"I'm returning home at the end of the week, going back home to finish my last year of high school. The following year I'll be starting med school and then God-knows-what after that. How could we have ever dreamed that we could have made this work? I can't bring you home with me, you have to finish here and then move on."
"We could write to each other." He hadn't thought about saying it, it came deep from within his soul. A place where one can trust what was said and never had to think twice about it before speaking up.
"We could, you're right." She was agreeing with him again, not a good sign. "But it would take an entire week for a letter to cross the Atlantic, followed by another week for correspondence, maybe more or maybe less depending on how busy we were and what we had to say, and then a whole week for it to cross over the ocean again. Three weeks, Fox, three weeks between letters at best. God knows what could happen in that time, who we could meet or how we could feel towards each other. Does that seem worth it to you?"
Fox sighed knowing she was right; long distance correspondence is all well and good for friendships but absolute murder for relationships. Paper and pen were horrible substitutes for flesh and blood. He knew phone calls were out of the questions as well-they would either call each other too much or too little; having either nothing to say at all or too much to say for one phone call. Then there was the expense of the phone calls themselves, how could they ever manage?
"I don't believe that this was meant to be. We could be the best of friends, greater than any other that I could ever find with anyone else, but I can't see us ever being more than that." Her voice was calm, too calm for it to be genuine. She was holding something back, it could have just been her tears or it could have been something deeper just below the surface.
At this point Fox had several different ways of responding to chose from. He could have fallen to the floor on his hands and knees and beg her for her love, covering the flesh of her shapely feet with wet and tender kisses, and plead for her to take him as her lover. He could have acted as a gentleman, taken her hand and gently kissed it, pledging his unending loyalty and devotion to her as a friend, and _only_ a friend, then bow to her before bidding her good-night. He could have held firm his ground, argued with her that she was wrong and that what they have between them was something that no ocean could ever extinguish. Lastly, he could have collected her into his arms and revealed his true feelings for her in every gentle kiss and touch he could offer her; worship her with his mouth and pledge to continue to do so all the days of his life.
There were his options: A, B, C, and D. He chose E, as in "embarrass;" it was a moderate combination of all four mixed in with a large portion of brutal honesty.
"You don't believe that," he said. "And I refuse to believe you're right. Of course, your right and we can be great friends, and I promise you that I will always be your friend, Dana. I will always be there for you. I care for you more than anyone I have ever known; you have had such a profound effect on me ever since our first meeting. But to say that the two of us could never go beyond friendship, that the next steps are not meant for us to take together, I find it hard to believe."
"How could it ever work out for either of us? Chicago is a world away from Oxford-"
"This is stronger than simple geography, Dana, and you know it. You can't tell me that you haven't felt it too. I've been drawn to you ever since I first met you that night in the bar, your face has haunted me ever since. I can't close my eyes without seeing your face, and for the first time in so long I can't wait to go to sleep, I find it to be an absolute pleasure." His voice was soft and gentle.
Dana was dumbstruck. There was so much sincerity in his eyes and in his voice, she could feel the tears building up again, but they were not borne of sorrow. She was deeply touched by his words, knowing of their value in truth.
"You were meant to be here, Dana. We were meant to find each other." He said firmly. "I've never been more sure of that than anything else in my life, and if we give up now-"
He fell silent, he had said his piece; he was now waiting for a reply. Nothing came right away. She was so stunned, he had surprised even himself. But he wasn't about to give up yet, another minute of silence and he was going to fall to her feet and beg for her love. His back-up was option A. He even moved his feet farther back behind his knees, readying himself to fall to the floor in an instant. He was about to go for it when her hands reached out and grabbed hold of his shoulders.
The tears were falling freely now, she was speechless. He was still in semi-begging position; his body half off the mattress and ready to kneel at her feet. She was barefoot, a good sign if he was actually going to resort to begging. However, from the look of things at the moment, he may not have to beg after all. She pulled him closer to her, kissed the top of his head and forehead. Letting out a sweet little sigh, she was relieved someone was of sound mind.
"I guess this means 'yes,'" he mumbled into her shoulder when she took him into an embrace.
A tear rolled down her cheek and then slid down the back of his neck. "It certainly does," she said with a soft laugh.
"Another second and I would have been on the floor begging you."
A heavier, heartier laugh came from her this time. "I was wondering what you were doing with your feet." She kissed the back of neck tenderly.
Fox laughed and lifted his head to gaze into her eyes. She was better now, happier to have heard those things at a time she needed to hear them most.
"I don't know how we're going to make this work," Fox confessed to her. "But if it is meant to be, somehow we will find a way."
"I know," she nodded. "It's just going to be so hard to explain this to my parents when I get home, not to mention my friends. Who in Chicago is going to believe I have a boyfriend in England?"
"Boyfriend?" he smiled brightly. "The 'British Boyfriend' is what they'll call me."
"No one will believe it." She shook her head. "I'm not even sure I will."
"You can believe it. That is, if you'll have me."
"I will."
She held the sides of his face and pulled him forward to meet hers, their lips locked and their embrace tightened. _Now's a good time to try- out option D_, he thought to himself as he collected her into his arms. Recognizing that their passions had been aroused, Dana unlocked her lips from his and looked to the door.
"You think it's wise to leave it like that?"
Fox turned to look at the door and decided she was right. She slid out of his lap and he slowly approached the door. Looking down at the lock, which was very similar in design to the lock in his room, was staring back up at him. With one hand he easily reached down and locked it. He nodded with approval and turned back around to rejoin her on the bed. Dana suddenly leaped into his arms and replaced her lips on his. Fox took hold of her and held her tightly with one hand running from the middle of her back up into her mane of long auburn hair. They stood there for several moments locked in this tight embrace when Dana began to shift her weight, intentionally tipping him forward. Fox gave no resistance as they fell onto the bed with her happily pinned between him and the mattress.

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Grace and Maggie dispelled the rumors that had already begun to fly around in the dorm about Fox and Phoebe's reunion. Several other residences that lived on the same floor as Fox had come to his room so that they may see for themselves; instead they were told the truth and returned to their rooms. The students were beginning to shut down for the evening, some were turning in and others were working on their assignments for the next day. Grace informed Fox's roommate that it was safe for him to return, that he would not have to be shut out for the evening nor would he have to worry about a return visit from Phoebe. He was pleased to hear the news, but was a little disturbed to find that all of his roommate's textbooks were gone.
"He didn't throw any of mine out there, did he?" he looked at Maggie.
"Damned if I know," she shrugged. "I wasn't here when he let 'em fly."
It only took a small amount of effort to find them; they were still on the bed hidden under Fox's coat.
"He can 'crack' his books all he wants," he said gruffly. "But mine are off limits until the semester is over."
The two then headed back up to their own room, approaching the door carefully as not to interrupt them this time. Grace crept to the door first, putting and ear to the door before she made a reach for the knob.
"Don't listen in on them." Maggie scolded her.
"I'm just checking to see if we're okay to come in, I wouldn't want to disrupt them if they were arguing."
"Or burst in while he was groveling." Maggie muttered. "Are they talking?"
"I can't hear anything," Grace said perplexed. "I don't think they're even in there."
She grabbed hold of the knob and twisted it to no avail. She looked over to Maggie and twisted the knob again.
"What the hell?"
"They're in there." Maggie chuckled to herself.
"They locked the door!" Grace then slammed her fist on the door.
"No, no, no, don't disturb them." Maggie rushed over and took hold of her wrist. "Let the two of them alone, they must be working through things in there."
"In _our_ room?"
"It's her room too for the week," Maggie pointed out. "Besides, it's not like we don't have a place to stay for the evening. Mary's roommate is still vacationing in Wales with her family this week, we can bunk with her for the night. And she's right down the hall so we can go back in the morning and get our things before class."
Grace shifted her weight to one side and sighed when she looked back at the door. "What about our nightgowns?"
"I'm sure Mary wouldn't mind lending something to us, just for the night."
"What about our toothbrushes then?" Grace said quickly.
"When do you ever brush your teeth, anyway?" Maggie snorted as she passed her and headed down the hall. "I am not going to interrupt whatever is going on in there to ask for your bloody _toothbrush!_"
Grace caught up to Maggie down the hall. "Do you suppose there's really something going on in there?"
"Why else would they lock the door?"

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And thus concludes another chapter. A more serious chapter then the last, I know, but we can't have nonsensical silliness going on all the time now can we? I do apologize for the great length of time between my last update, but I do promise that the next will be up sooner and has in fact already been started. The end is near, only two or three more chapters left to this story. Thank you to all who have sent in the encouraging words in your reviews, I appreciate that so many are enjoying this story which is my first MSR set in an AU. I thank you and do ask that you give me your honest thoughts when reviewing this one, if you so chose to review it that is.

Also a special thanks to Dana-Maru for liking this story so much and putting in a special request that I update as quickly as possible. Once again, my dear, I apologize for the lateness of my update.

By the way. I did fix the spelling error that was in the previous update. My apologies for the misspelling, I'll be more careful in the future. My apologies again for the mistake and thanks to all of you who pointed it out to me.