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Chapter 8 – Inexplicable
Scully blinked her eyes open slowly, trying to get a grip on where she was. Am I home? she wondered wearily. No, not home, but not my bed, the light pattern is all wrong, hmm, last night… Kerrilyn, God-awful singing, Mulder… Mulder!
She started at the recollection of how she had fallen asleep the previous night, and reached out desperately, finding the bed empty. She felt a keen sense of loss come over her, which she didn't understand as she was quite used to waking up alone by this point.
When she finally sat up, she saw Mulder standing at the foot of the bed, watching her with interest. "Looking for something, Scully?"
She flushed and glared at him. "I just couldn't figure out where I was for a moment. I'm fine, thanks."
He raised an eyebrow, but nodded and turned to gather some clothes that were heaped on the floor behind him. Scully fought back a sigh. That's right, act like nothing happened. Just like we always do…
"So, today's the day of the big ball, right?"
"Yep. King Eddy's birthday."
"Eddy?"
"I don't call him that to his face, of course. Anyway, do you have any plans? Cause I'm guessing that you're not waiting with baited breath to dance with all the beautiful women, eh? I'm perfectly willing to skip it with you, if you want. We could…"
"No, Mulder, you go have fun. I'll just do my own thing. I've been waiting for some nice alone time. Being with you nearly every hour of my life is kind of exhausting."
"Yeah, I could imagine." He smirked and went behind the dressing screen, pulling on what had become "comfortable clothes" – leggings that felt like sackcloth and a loose white tunic.
"They requested that we get there early to help set up, then get to our five o'clock with the tailor for dress clothes. Want me to make some excuses for you?"
"That would be great. Thanks."
"No problem. See you later tonight."
He walked out, and Scully allowed herself to collapse back onto his bed.
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Three hours into the ball, Mulder had reached the conclusion that Scully was not missing much. The king's ball was nothing like what he would deem a good party. From what he could tell, it pretty much involved a lot of tobacco-snuffing and waltzing. Neither of him interested him much, especially with Kerrilyn hanging on him.
"I'm honored to have this dance, Sir Mulder, really," she was saying.
"The pleasure's all mine, Kerrilyn."
She smiled. "I'm glad someone still has eyes for me. When this ball started, I was simply the life of the party, but now that she is here…"
"Who?"
"This mysterious lady who showed up halfway through. So irritating. All the men are completely flabbergasted. She's not even that pretty, in my humble opinion. Pale-skinned, a redhead – that's a sign of vampirism in some cultures, did you know? Hey, wait, where are you going?"
Kerrilyn stomped her foot and hissed in protest as Mulder abruptly dropped her arms and turned to go off to find this woman. "Hey, come back! Come back! Oh, you'll regret this, I swear it…"
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Scully smiled happily as yet another good-looking gentleman twirled her around the dance floor. It was amazing to feel like a woman again, after so long. She was suddenly extremely thankful that she had held on to that one dress from her first day here, when she was the genteel lady…
The man that she was currently dancing with, Lord Weatherby, was looking at her with a glow in his eyes, but that and everything else around seemed to fade away as she caught the eye of the one man she had come here looking for. Their gazes locked, and she couldn't help but freeze.
"Pardon me, dear lady, are you quite alright?"
"Um, excuse me, Sir, I think I need some, uh, water. I'll… I'll be back."
She walked past him and over to Mulder. She stopped a few feet away, just taking him in. He looked even better than she had imagined. And his intense look suggested that he was thinking the same thing about her.
"So, Scully, did you want to dance?" He laughed softly. "Come, on, I don't bite, I promise."
She went into his arms slowly. Everything was starting to take on a slow, dream-like quality.
…
"A walk, my lady?" he inquired, affecting a slight British accent. She couldn't help but smile.
"How could I refuse when you ask like that?"
He led her out to the terrace, which shone in the moonlight, highlighting the flowering gardens surrounding it. Scully wasn't sure how she felt. Being here with him was amazing, but it all seemed wrong somehow, like she had accidentally slipped into a scene from a romance novel instead of real life.
To her surprise, however, Mulder didn't stop. Rather, he lifted her over the terrace fence, then jumped after and continued leading her on, away from the palace lights. "Mulder, where are we going?"
"You'll see." They walked on, soon entering the long stretch of surrounding forest.
Finally, they entered a clearing with a small pool of water at its center. The canopy of trees overheard blocked out the moonlight, leaving Scully near blinded. Were it not for Mulder's arms holding her steady, she would be stumbling all over the place. "Um, Mulder?"
"Shh. Just watch." He edged her a little closer to the water, until she could see it rippling gently through the darkness.
Suddenly, a tiny spark shot through the water. Scully glanced quickly at Mulder, looking questioningly. He just inclined his head back towards the water. "Keep watching," he whispered in his ear.
The water began bubbling softly, and the bottom of the pool glowed a hazy gold. The light spread out until it broke the surface of the water, illuminating the entire clearing, first gold, then blue, purple, green. The water began shooting up in little gusts, the lights dancing with them. A final, dazzling white light shot out, sending a thin mist sprinkling over the watching pair. And then, it was over.
It was inexplicable. It was spectacular. And it was pure Mulder.
She turned in his arms to face him. "When… how did you find that?"
"I was taking a walk a couple of weeks ago, during the last full moon, and I saw the lights. I was amazed; I wanted to show everyone…"
"I'm surprised you didn't."
"I wanted to be able to show you first. Only you."
"So, you don't even have a crazy theory about it?" Scully laughed gently.
"No," he replied softly. "I think some things are better left unexplained. When you pick something apart, you so often lose the beauty of it. It's far too easy to overanalyze things, in our time and in these days. Maybe, sometimes, we just need to be…"
Mulder leaned towards her and she caught her breath as his lips touched hers. The kiss was soft, gentle, at first, but began to intensify as his arms came around her waist.
He pulled back for a moment to gauge her reaction. Their eyes met for a moment, air sizzling between them, before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth back down to hers.
They finally pulled apart, needing to breathe. Scully shivered a little at the loss of his heat. "It's getting cold."
"Yeah, let's head back." Mulder put his arm around her and led her out of the forest. She found that she had to lean on him for support. She felt lightheaded and unsteady, the lights and the moon and his kiss creating a dreamy haze. Happiness was such a fleeting thing for her, ungraspable as air. So she allowed herself for once to enjoy the feelings rushing through her, to stop worrying about the next moment, and just be.
He stopped and kissed her again on the terrace. The time, she took his hand to lead him back to their room. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a voice that Scully had come to hate with a passion.
"Sir Mulder? Where are you? Sir… Oh, here he is!"
Kerrilyn walked out onto the terrace, followed by Lord Weatherby and a crowd of eager onlookers. The lord looked quite apparently surprised and disgruntled upon seeing Mulder with the beautiful redhead he had been dancing with. Being a court-reared gentleman, however, he tried to hide this by clearing his throat.
Out loud, he said, "Sir Mulder, we have great need of your assistance. Please, go rouse your partner and get back here as soon as possible."
"What happened?"
"Lady Rochester has fallen ill with a strange affliction. It has the appearance of witchcraft!"
Both Mulder and Scully looked towards Kerrilyn wearily; she smiled and waved at them innocently. "I am so sorry to interrupt whatever you had going here, really, but we just really need your help."
Mulder nodded and began striding towards the dormitory, registering no reaction on his face. Scully waited until the crowd filtered back inside, then slipped after him.
"Just our luck," he muttered when she caught up to him.
She nodded in agreement, and felt cold reality bite in as she went to go change back into the person she wasn't.
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Next chapter: Finally, after all this time…