Thanks to Mulder's Girl, Flirtatiouspriss, Sheridan, Meli, and eb2504 for their reviews!

And, as to the comment about Scully acting OOC, I hope that her motivations become a little clearer in the first part of this chapter.

Again, sorry about the delay in posting, but this chapter is really long, so hopefully it makes up for it!


Chapter 4 – Dinner Date

For what must have been no less than the thousandth time, Scully shook her head in disbelief at what she was about to do. It was so unusual for her, and she was having trouble recalling exactly what possessed her to ask her partner to be her boyfriend. It was all pretend, of course, but still…

Well, she thought. Too late to back down now. He'll be here any minute now.

Trying to dispel the feeling of nervousness that was quickly rising within her, she forced her thoughts to the friends that she was doing all this for. The guys, Varrick and the significant others of two of her girlfriends, all treated her with respect and seemed to be generally nice individuals. Those girlfriends, however, she couldn't be sure of. They all acted basically sweet, but it was overly so – enough to make her suspicious. But they are the only friends you have, and the only ones you are bound to get anytime soon, she told herself. Except Mulder, of course…

She sighed. Lately it seemed as if all her thoughts kept coming back to him. She glanced up at the clock. 8:00 on the dot.

Scully rose and straightened out her deep blue dress. The neckline plunged lower than usual, so she was a little uncomfortable, but by this point it was too late to change. She made do with wrapping a silky gold shawl around herself. She picked up her purse and then walked out to her front stoop, scanning the street for Mulder's car. He should be here any second.


Fifteen minutes later, his car pulled up in front of her house. Scully was seething, but reminded herself that he was doing her a big favor. She forced a smile as she climbed into the passenger seat.

She looked at him and any anger residing in her dissipated. She immediately realized that he must have just gotten out of the shower and rushed over to her. His tie was askew and his still slightly damp hair was falling so that it was in his face. The scent of his aftershave permeated the car.

He smiled shyly when he realized that she was staring at him, putting aside the fact that he was doing the same to her. He ran a hand through his hair and gave her a soft, apologetic smile. "Hello, Dana. Sorry I'm late."

She bit her lip and looked away. He had used her first name for the first time in years, and on his lips it became almost like a caress. "It's okay," she said, forcing her voice to remain steady. Why am I having this reaction to him?

"Dana?" she said smiling, trying to lighten the mood and ease the tension.

He grinned and started to drive. "Well, as you are my girlfriend for the night, I figured I shouldn't call you by your last name, no?"

She smiled self-consciously. "True, of course."

"Actually, that reminds me of an important piece of information that it would be kind of important for me to have. What is my name?"

"Oh, right!" She laughed gently and risked another look at him. "Funny to hear you ask that question. Your name is David. I don't know, it just sounded right."

"Hmm, that name does strangely sound suited to me."

"Also, you are a psychology professor at Quantico. We have been dating for the past four months, and you are affectionate and well-meaning but distant."

"Wow, you really dug yourself in deep with this one, didn't you? How much did you tell them about your fake boyfriend? You do realize exactly how many things could go wrong, don't you?"

"Yes!" she snapped. "Thanks for pointing it out."

Mulder parked the car and looked up in surprise at the sarcasm and pent-up anger in her voice. He didn't need his psychological training to recognize that her nervousness was making her extremely tense. He watched as she began to pick at a loose thread on the front of her shawl. He reached out and enclosed her hand in his, pulling it away. "Hey, calm down. Don't worry about any of this. Just think of it as... I don't know, as going undercover."

"Great, so now my life is at stake along with my reputation?" she joked half-heartedly.

"Bad example." He smiled and released her hand. "Just act like you have nothing to worry about. Pretend it's not that big a deal."

"I'll try." She hated herself for feeling so vulnerable in that moment. It was as if his near proximity to her was slowly but surely breaking down the barriers that she had carefully erected throughout their relationship.

Together, they got out of the car and began to walk towards the restaurant. It was a very nice Italian place with a quaint little stone pathway that led up to a porch.

Mulder looked down at his partner and couldn't help but smile at how nervous she was. She had faced dangerous killers with more confidence. "Hey, Scully," he said quietly. "Just thought you should know, you look beautiful. Don't worry about a thing."

She blushed happily and felt some of her tension ebb away, Heart-felt compliments were rare from Mulder, so she knew that he meant them completely when he did state them. "Okay. We can do this."

"Yeah. Come on, we've done this before! How hard could it be?"

Upon entering the main room restaurant, Scully immediately saw her group lounging on the couches in the waiting room. They all stood up and rushed over to her, greeting her with hugs. "Oh, Dana!" Suzanne squealed. "You look beautiful. Now, introduce me, um, us I mean to your boyfriend."

Scully smiled self-consciously. "Everyone, this is my boyfriend, David. David, this is Suzanne, Cindy, Lee, her husband Rob, Charlene, her fiancé Eric, and, last but certainly not least, Lt. Varrick."

Mulder smiled and extended his hand to each in succession. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Oh, no," cooed Suzanne. "The pleasure is all mine." She smiled brilliantly, oblivious to Cindy's glare.

Cindy leaned in next to Scully and murmured, "Oh, it's so not fair. Suzanne always pushes ahead of me and gets the guy! This one's cute, too."

Scully's eyes widened. "Um, this one's also my boyfriend."

"Yeah, but not for long. Suzanne told us all how you're going to ditch him next week. We're just lining up our shots, preparing for then, you know?"

Scully frowned and moved away from her, making a mental note to speak to Suzanne sharply about privacy. She looked over at Mulder, who was chatting amicably with Lee and Eric about the most recent Knicks game, completely oblivious to the smoldering looks that her girlfriends were giving him.

The conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the head waiter. "Your table is ready," he announced. They all removed their outerwear and walked inside to see an elegant table setting next to a glowing fireplace. Candles lit the walls and a live pianist played in the background.

"Very nice," Mulder said approvingly, as he gentlemanly pulled out Scully's seat for her. The place on his left was quickly taken by Eric, much to the annoyance of both Suzanne and Cindy.

Lt. Varrick sat himself on Scully's right. "I am so glad that I was able to make it back here for this. I feel like we haven't had the chance to speak in forever."

"At most it's been a couple of weeks," she said, smiling.

"Well, tell me about your life in the past couple of weeks, then, Dana. I've missed hearing your voice. Fill me in."

Scully obliged throughout the salad and pasta course, unaware of Mulder's constant glances. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and he quietly asked Eric, "What's up with Sc…, um, Dana and that lieutenant?"

Eric winced. He genuinely liked this man, and he was painfully aware of the fact that, apparently, his girlfriend was planning to ditch him the very next week. For Varrick, most likely, Eric had assumed. "Well, they're… friends," he hedged.

Mulder wasn't going to let him get away with that. He was, after all, a professional investigator. "Oh, I see. Close friends?"

"Why? She never mentioned him?"

"Not in particular."

"Oh. Well, I think they're just friends."

"They damn well better be," Mulder said gruffly, half to himself. Wait, where did that come from? he wondered. He felt himself getting as defensive of her as if he really was her boyfriend. Calm down, he told himself sternly.

"Anyways, Eric, about that game last Friday…"

Meanwhile, Scully kept looking over at Mulder while Varrick was talking. Varrick was an attractive man and a good conversationalist, no doubt, but that wasn't enough. She had wanted to spend this time with Mulder, talking with him finally about stuff that had nothing to do with work. But it seemed that he and Eric were thoroughly engrossed in a conversation of there own.

It soon got to the point that even Varrick couldn't miss her distraction. "I'm sorry, Dana, am I boring you?"

"Oh, no!" she said, embarrassed. "It's just…"

He leaned close to her ear. "Nervous?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just don't worry, Dana. Come next week you'll be off that hook." He slowly moved his hand over hers on the table. "And then you'll be a free woman."

Mulder looked over to see Varrick's hand slowly running up and down Scully's bare forearm. He inwardly seethed. I know I should keep nay jealousy in check, but tonight she's supposed to be my girlfriend, for God's sake! What does this pig think he's doing?

He glared until he made eye contact with Varrick, who abruptly moved his hand away. Mulder didn't break that contact as he possessively put his arm around Scully. Varrick clearly got the signal. He coughed and turned to make a comment to Cindy, who listened to his every word as if it were gospel.

"Mulder, why did you do that?" she whispered into his ear, secretly overjoyed that he had.

"You're supposed to be my girlfriend."

"Right." She struggled to smile and pull away from him. It was all she could do to not allow herself to sink into his arms. She was forcing herself to remain stiff and unfeeling – she did not want her partner to know how much his touch affected her. Things were complicated enough at the moment.

The arrival of dinner caused them to move apart, both to Scully's relief and chagrin.

Mulder watched her intently, trying to gauge her feelings. He could have sworn that he felt something pass between them, like a dancing spark where his hand had touched the bare skin of her arm.

Her eyes met his and she blushed. "So, um, David, do you like your…" She looked down at his food. "Um, whatever that is?"

He looked at her in amusement. "Oh, yes, my whatever the hell it's called is delicious."

They both smiled and he continued. "Actually, the last time I had veal cutlet parmesan was back when I was in college. It was the same night that my friend got arrested."

"What! Explain."

Mulder grinned and acquiesced to her request. For the end of the main course and all through dessert, he and Scully swapped tales of their more entertaining endeavors in college. They remained completely oblivious to the others at the table.


A few seats down, Suzanne wrinkled her nose and turned to whisper to Varrick. "God, how rude. You'd think they never really spoken to each other before."

Varrick raised his eyebrows. "Maybe they haven't. At least not like that, anyway."

"What are you saying?"

"I think you know. I mean, despite the arm thing, they really haven't been making any physical contact. They haven't even kissed once!"

"True," Suzanne replied thoughtfully. "I'll have to talk to Dana about that one."


Suzanne's opportunity did not come until the end of the meal, when Scully arose to use the restroom. Suzanne cornered her at the sinks. "So, Dana," she began sweetly. "Your boyfriend seems great."

"Oh, he is." Scully couldn't help but sound wistful.

"Still ditching him next week?"

"I don't think I really have a choice at this point."

"Oh, okay. But at the moment your relationship is good?"

"Oh, definitely."

"Then why haven't you guys been acting like it? I mean, Dana, you haven't kissed at all tonight."

"Well, it's been a busy night," Scully replied vaguely, not liking the direction this conversation was taking.

"Understandable. I just wanted to make sure that no one got the wrong impression. We are watching, you know." She smirked and strode out.

Scully couldn't help but feel a streak of loathing rush through her unexpectedly. What business of it is yours? she thought bitterly. Then the whole spiel about how Suzanne was one of her only friends began playing through her head, and she tried to calm down before she walked back to the table.

Everyone was in the process of retrieving their stuff. Mulder was extending her shawl to her. Gently, he wrapped it around her shoulders. The couple said goodbye to everyone and began to walk out. Scully was painfully aware that everyone else in the party was still standing just inside the restaurant, watching their progress to the car. Suzanne had an eyebrow raised and that same smirk on her face. The others were whispering amongst themselves, obviously referring to the strange behavior of the pair.

They were nearing the car now. Scully took a deep breath. What will one more thing hurt? It won't make a difference – it's not real. "Um, Mulder?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask one more favor of you?"

"Anything."

"Can you kiss me?"

He froze and turned to face her, an unreadable look on his face. She hastened to explain. "I know, it's strange, but it won't be real – just acting, pretend." She glanced back at the now very interested group on the porch. "They're watching and waiting, we have no choice."

He continued to look at her. "You know, Scully, there's always a choice," he said lightly.

She looked at him questioningly. Then, she softly and sadly responded, "Of course," and moved to turn away, disappointed beyond words.

She was completely surprised by him reaching out for her arm and turning her back around, then covering her mouth with his. This is all fake, she had to remind herself. It's just acting.

But is most certainly didn't feel like acting for either of them. Her breath quickened and she leaned into him almost involuntarily.

As abruptly as he had pulled her to him, he stepped away. She saw desire flame in his eyes, but his words sounded calm and composed. "Good acting."

She watched him as he moved toward the car and opened the door for her. She got in without a word. As he walked around the car, Scully looked back at small crowd of onlookers. Suzanne, Cindy, and Varrick looked irritated, but the two couples were smiling happily and waving. Scully waved back and they began to drive away.

They rode in silence until they reached her house. He stopped the car and looked over at her. She looked back at him. Neither moved an inch. The tension grew until they couldn't take it another second.

"Mulder, I just wanted…"

"Scully, if that wasn't…"

He smiled a little. "Go ahead."

"Well, I just wanted to say that you were right. About the choice thing." Wow, that was articulate, part of her brain mocked. She was having trouble stringing coherent sentences together at a time when words would be important. Looking down, she continued, "I think that what happened was a choice that we made, and we should talk about it."

His eyes widened.

"But not right now. I'm sorry, but I can't right now."

"Okay. Then that makes it pointless for me to say what I was going to. Now, tomorrow we have work again – we're going to have to go back to being, well, whatever we were before. But whenever you are ready to talk, I am right here for you. Okay?"

"Okay."

Their eyes locked once more. He slowly extended his arm and gently caressed the side of her face. "Goodnight," he said softly, forcing himself to place his hand back on the steering wheel.

"Goodnight, and thank you."

It took every ounce of willpower for Scully to get out of that car and go into her house, but she finally accomplished that. As she lay down in her bed and that amazing kiss began to replay in her mind, however, she began to wish that she hadn't had that "strength".


Next chapter: Mulder and Scully must face the repercussions of that night. Meanwhile, the case comes back with a vengeance.

So far, this was my favorite chapter to write. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated!