Powder My Nose
By Lady Pyrefly
Author's Note: I know, I know. I should be updating. I just can't help it! I've recently become very addicted to the message boards at one of my favorite fansites. Sorry. Here's a X-Files drabble to hold you over.
----------
He sat next to her on the edge of her desk. "So, Scully," Mulder said jokingly, "What's new?"
Scully smiled one of her rare smiles, and playfully shoved her partner's shoulder. "Not much. You?"
"Nope, nothing." It was quiet for a few moments. Mulder started staring at the carpet on the floor, as if it held the Truth. He really shouldn't be this nervous, really. It was just Scully. In a good mood. Alone with him in the office. Mulder had trouble breathing. Just as he was about to say something, Scully spoke.
"I'll be right back," she said, sliding off the desk.
"Where are you going?" he asked, unsure of what to say.
Scully looked over her shoulder at him. "I've gotta go powder my nose." She disappeared around the corner.
"I love you," Mulder whispered quietly after her retreating back. "Even when your nose isn't powdered."
Scully's head peered around the corner. "What did you say?" she asked incredulously.
Mulder swallowed. "Me? Oh, no I didn't say anything. Why would I have said anything? Did you say anything?" Yeah, he was panicking.
And Scully could tell. "No, really Mulder, what did you say?" Because, if he had said what Scully thought he had said…
It was now or never. Although, at the moment, never didn't seem like such a bad answer. "I said…" Mulder took a deep breath, "I said I love you. Even when your nose isn't powdered." His heart was in his ears.
"Oh," Scully said, calmly. "Okay then." She disappeared from his sight once more.
"That's it?" Mulder asked, "That's your reaction?"
Scully sighed audibly and walked back out to face him. "What should my reaction be, Mulder?" Mulder did not answer, he simply focused again on the carpet, and shrugged his shoulders like a punished schoolboy. A very charming schoolboy, Scully thought. She walked up and pressed her lips on his. Mulder's eyes widened in surprise.
"Don't you have to powder your nose?" he asked, once their lips parted. Smart aleck, he knew. Mulder's mind didn't seem to be working properly.
"Don't you love me, even when my nose isn't powdered?"