Chapter Eight - Thanks A lot Mulder

"You told her what?" Scully said giving Mulder one of her better glares.

Mulder was right. Scully was mad, very mad.

"You told her I was frigid?" She began to pace around the room. "Is that the first thought that popped into your mind when you thought of me? Frigid?"

Mulder began to speak and then stopped. Better to let her rant a bit since it was unusual for her to be so open with him about how she was feeling.

"So you are sitting having a nice little chat with Agnes and you just manage to work into the conversation that your 'wife'" she said the word wife with great sarcasm "was frigid and denying you your marital rights. Your genius IQ couldn't come up with something a little better than that?"

She threw herself down in an armchair by the fireplace, crossed her arms and continued to glare at him.

Figuring that she was done ranting for the time being, Mulder took a deep breath as if to muster up the courage to face her and crossed over to the chair and squatted down in front of it.

He took Scully's hand in his and was actually amazed that she didn't pull it back.

"Scully, don't you see? It's not you I was trying to set you in a bad light, it's me. I am trying to set myself to be seen as the villain in her eyes - the man who is so lustful that he is desperate enough to try and fix his wife and if that doesn't work, who knows what he will do next."

Scully just glared at him again, removed her hand from his and got up from the chair. She wandered over to the window and stared out of it.

Mulder came up behind her and stood almost touching her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her but just couldn't quite bring himself to do it.

"Scully, don't think for a second that I think you are in any way frigid."

This comment received a small snort from Scully. Mulder ignored it and continued.

"The woman I held in my arms on the dance floor the other night is in no way, shape or form frigid. I can guarantee you that."

Scully seemed to relax a bit at that comment and sighed. She didn't turn to face him but instead address herself to the window in front of her.

"I'm sorry Mulder. I know you are just trying to stir the pot up with Agnes a bit to see what happens. It's just.." Scully paused unsure of whether or not she should continue. "It's just that I feel so far out of my league in this situation. There were so many beautiful women at that party - I am just not on the same level as them."

Mulder leaned over a bit then and placed his chin on her head. "You're right Scully, you're not at their level. You are way above it."

Scully smiled at his reflection in the window.

"You aren't going to make me actually drink the stuff, are you?"

Mulder smiled glad to see Scully's good humor restored. "Are you kidding - you and I definitely would not need any help in that department."

Scully blushed a bit and Mulder realized that he had inadvertently stepped into the territory that they both seem to avoid at all costs.

He turned and walked away from the window. "I am going to get a soda, do you want anything before you start telling me about your day at the office?"

"Anything diet would be great" Scully said glad, too, that the awkward moment had passed. She walked over to the dining room table and started unpacking the test results from her briefcase.

After Mulder handed her a soda, she took a long sip and began "I ran tests on the wine, the biscuits, the muffin Agnes made and the cheese."

"And?"

Scully smiled at Mulder. "Both the wine and the biscuits appeared to have some unusual biological substances in them. I wasn't able to get an exact reading on what it was, so I sent it out for further testing - but I think you and I know what the affect of whatever that biological substance is."

"I'll say" Mulder mumbled "And the other two?"

"The cheese seemed to be nothing more than simple cheese. The muffin, however, did have an extra ingredient added to it. I was able to identify it." Scully stopped and waited for Mulder to look at her expectantly. "You know Mulder, you are definitely smarter than you look."

"I was right?"

"You were right Mulder. Salt peter or something similar to it. I guess Agnes was trying to make sure we both behaved ourselves."

"Excellent work Scully."

"Thanks Mulder. Did you manage to dig up anything on our fine neighbor?"

Mulder smiled "Dear sweet Agnes is from a long line of herbal healers."

Scully could tell Mulder was on the verge of a very long explanation so she took her soda into the living room to get comfortable knowing Mulder would follow her in.

He did talking the whole time. "The Gibson family was famous in the early American colonies for being able to cure ills that before had devastated entire families. From what I could dig up on their early cures, a lot of them revolved around basic common sense - eating vegetables, washing food etc. But it seems some of the Gibsons also had a reputation for using their gifts for herbal remedies in not such a charitable manner."

Scully looked up at him truly interested now. "How so?"

"From what I gathered, their skills were sometimes used to help in the torture and then execution of prisoners. The stories I found told of them being to extract the truth from people and being able to control people by simply giving them a special tea to drink. Of course, we have no way of knowing exactly what was in the tea and how much of the stories was fact and how much fiction."

Mulder paused a second to take a large drink of his soda but then continued "Apparently there were also stories about the Gibsons injecting fluid into prisoners that made their organs turn to mush resulting in a slow painful death."

Scully rose a hand to stop him "Are you trying to say that Agnes was able to overpower a full grown man and stick a needle large enough to go into his chest cavity without him giving her a fight?"

Mulder shrugged. "Well, I haven't worked out all the details yet but with a little luck, you and I will be able to get Agnes to strike out again."

Scully looked up at Mulder with just a slight bit of fear in her eyes. "Isn't that just a bit risky Mulder?"

"I'm not worried Scully" he said "you'll have my back covered."

Their conversation then turned to an invitation that Mulder had received just before Scully had returned.

"Roger wants to me to go to the club with him tomorrow morning." Mulder said "I think he is trying to get a read on me or perhaps both of us."

Scully glared a bit at Mulder and he smiled back at her. "Don't worry, I won't say anything about you but will just let Roger know that I may be tempted to wander and that your still waters run very deep."

"Did Roger say anything much about tomorrow night's gathering at his house?" Scully asked.

"He mentioned it in passing. I think it is just going to be drinks around the pool again. I am thinking that maybe they are planning on laying low for a bit after the police were just called."

"Perhaps" Scully said frowning slightly.

"What is it Scully?" Mulder asked stopping his pacing of the room and sitting next to Scully on the couch.

"Well, I was just thinking. We are going to have to pick our poison."

"How so?"

"Well" Scully continued "We either risk eating whatever Agnes has whipped up for us or drinking whatever Roger and Brian decide to make in that blender of theirs. Either way, we may find ourselves in a somewhat awkward situation."

Mulder noticed Scully staring down at the floor while she was speaking and couldn't help teasing her just a bit. "I don't know about you Scully, but I think I would prefer Roger's type of fun over Agnes's lack of it."

Scully smiled weakly and shook her head. "I am being serious Mulder. I find it hard to believe that we will be able to avoid either making out with each other or making out with someone else."

She was turning redder by the minute but forced herself to continue. "What we have to decide is which way is it going to be and what happens it we have to do both?"

Mulder stopped smiling then and sat back on the couch with a sigh. Scully had brought up some practical problems.

"Scully, I really have no desire to be with any of the women we have met."

Scully just looked at him skeptically causing him to smile. "Okay, I will admit that I have found some of the women to be very attractive and maybe under different circumstances would be interested in them."

He looked at Scully and thought he saw the slightest look of hurt in her eyes. He looked again and it was gone. "But knowing what I know about these parties, I know that any arousal I feel is artificially induced. There is no romance in any of this and that is half the fun."

Scully eyed her partner with renewed skepticism. "You are trying to tell me Fox Mulder that you, the man with the world's largest personal porn collection, need romance? I would think what has been presented to you here is the fantasy of most men and probably a lot of women too."

Mulder saw another opportunity to tease Scully and grabbed it. "Really Scully, haven't you fantasized about men you barely know sweeping you off your feet and making mad passionate love to you?"

"Like you haven't?" she retorted "Just because one thinks of such a think at some point in their life doesn't mean they want to actually act it out."

"Exactly my point" Mulder said smirking at her. "My problem is, if I am going to smoke out Agnes I am going to have to play the cad and actually go through the act or convince her that I have. I don't think she acts until someone she is close to has been hurt the way her husband hurt her."

Scully frowned again and Mulder spoke quietly. "Maybe you could interrupt me before the actual act is committed and then let Agnes know all the gory details."

"I could do that easily enough. I will be more than happy to be the one to get cold feet and end our participation." She stopped talking still looking concerned.

"That isn't what is bothering you, is it Scully?"

"No, it isn't and I am not sure if I want to tell you what is." She said once again resuming her examination of the floor.

Mulder reached over and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her eye. "Come on Scully, you know you can tell me anything."

"Well.., well I.. I am." Scully got annoyed at her rambling and finally blurted it all out. "I don't think I am going to like seeing you pawing other women and them pawing you."

Mulder smiled and said softly. "Scully, believe me, it will take every ounce of strength in my body to keep from whipping out my service revolver and taking out anyone laying a hand on you. But unfortunately we can't control that."

Scully looked up at him with her face once again not letting him see what was going on inside her head.

"But what we can control is what happens between the two of us." Seeing Scully look of puzzlement he continued. "You said yourself that either we would be with each other tomorrow night or with someone else."

Scully nodded but still looked puzzled. This time it was Mulder's turn to be hesitant in speaking. "I don't know about you but I really don't want to kiss you for the first time full of some sort of substance in front of a room full of people who are probably watching us to get their jollies."

"So what do you suggest?" Scully said turning to face him.

"Well, I could kiss you right here and now" he said smiling at the startled look on Scully's face. "just to get it out of the way."

"Or" he continued "I could take you out for a romantic dinner the way a good husband should, followed by a stroll along the lake and ending with a good night kiss."

Scully still looked a bit suspiciously at him. "Ending with a kiss?"

Mulder sensed Scully's unease and decided to lighten the tension that had rose up between them. "Unless you want to drink of couple of cups of the tea Agnes is going to make for you."

Scully laughed at this. "I think the just the kiss for now Mulder."

Both of them realized that they at just about ready to break down another barrier between them. Just about - but not quite.

End of chapter eight. So I need opinions - does Mulder get more than a simple kiss from Scully??