Disclaimer: My operational level of punishment and reward for Moose and Squirrel has granted me certain rights. I am here now to enforce those rights. They will be returned to CC and FOX in one piece, although they might be slightly bruised.
A/N: Lack of sleep and an interesting first line are to blame here. This is a beta free zone; so all mistakes are mine alone.
--XX--
She remembered that one evening they were together.
They had been working late, paperwork ruling the hours. Finally, fed up with looking at her signature, she had told him she was hungry. Never one to be disrespectful, he offered to buy her dinner. Together, they quickly left the quiet building, the low hum of voices following them out the door.
Dinner was pleasant, conversation jovial and inconsequential. They talked of old times, cases mundane in comparison to the things they had seen recently. A bottle of wine was shared between them, loosening lips and inhibitions.
The meal finished, they left the establishment, hand in hand. Neither noticed as they walked along the sidewalk, sharing a companionable silence. How they ended up at his apartment, she could not remember. And, she found, she didn't care.
They sat on his couch, thighs and shoulders touching. He spoke of the future, a future that included her at his side. She spoke of her desire for a family.
Their eyes met, yearning and need passing between them. She looked away first; suddenly unsure of why she was there. He cleared his throat and stood, fleeing to the kitchen under the guise of needing a drink.
He returned after a few moments, a pair of beer bottles nestled between his fingers. With a flick of his wrist, he offered her one. Grateful for something to concentrate on, she took the bottle.
Silence hung heavy between them, each lost in their own thoughts. Long minutes passed before she felt his hand rest, tentatively, on her thigh. Their eyes met again.
The battle was short, her surrender a foregone conclusion. Their bodies collided, lips and hands clutching. Their exchange was tender and violent, deeply buried wounds again exposed and finally healed.
Afterwards, they lay quietly on the couch, wrapped in a blanket of bliss and inevitability. Their partnership, their friendship, had been slowly building to this point.
With the sun came her departure. Quietly she fled the apartment, determined to move past their indiscretion, their violation of an unspoken agreement.
They met again that morning, over paperwork. Neither spoke of what had passed between them the night before. The incident was buried, like so many secrets between them.
Secrets had become the foundation of their friendship, the glue that held them together. Were they to be separated, they knew they would become lost. No one would believe either of them alone, so they were left to believe each other. Love had long ago become the basis for their shared experience; the mystery had led to a moment of passion.
Frequently, Scully found she remembered that one evening they were together.
--XX—
fin
