Chapter 8 - Rental Car
Sunglasses on, smile on his face, Mulder realized that the sun would be setting soon and that he wouldn't be seated on his porch to admire it. Yet, he wasn't disappointed.
Turning his head, Mulder looked at Scully, focused on the maps on her lap. Mulder's smile widened.
"Scully, I guess we've earned a break. I propose to make a stop in about twenty minutes, settle in a nice place by the road, so we can admire the sunset in this beautiful sky, while drinking our last drops of the lukewarm coffee awaiting in the thermos. Suits you?" Mulder said.
"Isn't it better to continue our drive by daylight? I mean, from now, following the map and your imprecise instructions becomes really tricky," Scully answered.
"Don't worry about it, Scully."
"You don't mind being lost in the middle of nowhere, by night?"
"Never when I'm with you, Scully."
"Don't mind if we aren't chasing the fairy monster?"
"As long as I'm with my fairy partner…"
"Well, slow down, take the first road or path on the right, and let's get lost."
Mulder turned his head. Scully was almost laughing and staring at him. He was glad that she was enjoying their unofficial trip as much as he was.
After a few minutes drive on the barely passable road, Scully continued:
"I know you're still hiding things about this fun case, Mulder. What about this rental car?"
"What, what about? Isn't the car comfy for those bumpy roads?"
"Oh yeah. But why choose the highest of the high-tech and navigate on maps?"
"Fun case, Scully."
"Mmm… Another reason?"
"Do we need Google Maps when we have Scully and maps?"
"Mmm… Nostalgia, Mulder?"
"Always, Scully. Whenever we're driving a rental car for a case, fun or serious. Haven't we had good times in those cars?"
"I guess so."
"I have, Scully."
Mulder felt a wave of warm sensations rushing down along his nerves and blood vessels, while random images of the two of them driving in rental cars were flashing into his mind. As Scully had said once, they have spent a whole life in a damn car –a whole unusual life– stuck in those little shelters on wheels and forced to experience the closeness of long-distance travelers.
Mulder had always loved it. It was his life, their lives, full of ups and downs, of shared silence and banter, of confessions and philosophical discussions, of simple intimate gestures and attention, of sane disagreements and trustful connivance.
Driving toward a case investigation in a rental car had been one of those little things that had always felt better when shared, shared with Scully.
Before Scully's assignment to the X-Files, Mulder had had other FBI partners, or had even been investigating alone for a while, but he had never felt so alive and so vibrant when driving a rental car. Maybe his closest experience of memorable shared lively drives had been with Reggie. Yet, it hadn't lasted for a lifetime; it hadn't been so intense and vital. Even the long monotonous shared silent hours with Scully in a car had been significant and indispensable, whereas they had all vanished and faded into oblivion when shared with another partner.
"So, Mulder… What are you hiding behind your unicorn?" Scully suddenly asked.
"What makes you think I'm hiding something?" Mulder answered.
"I just know. I can't believe we're chasing a unicorn based on a few unbelievable sightings that have only occurred these last few years."
"That's why it's a pastime on our days off, Scully. Fun unofficial X-Files case."
"Mulder, unicorns."
"What? Isn't that magical and romantic?"
"Do I have to launch a plausible psychological explanation for those sightings, Mulder? With a lot of scientific words? To you, the Oxford graduate?"
"I would be pleased, yes."
"Why can't you just admit that the location of those sightings is one you already knew. That I could find this place in a couple of very old files, stored in the 'U' drawer."
"'U'?"
"'U' as UFO sightings, Mulder."
"Okay, guilty."
"You can't fool me anymore, Mulder."
"Right, but you're not done with me yet, Scully. There's something else to find."
"Really?"
"Yes. If not, it would have been too easy."
"You're keeping me guessing?"
"Obviously."
The road, if you could call it like that, narrowed and was diving into wilderness. Mulder slowed down –no need to rush, fun case– then glanced at Scully; she was studying the maps on her lap, still smiling.
"Though, this car is really pretty and classy. Since when do we need a high-level rental car with such huge fancy back seats to transport victims or monsters from the field?" Scully asked, looking over her shoulder and pointing to the rear of the car.
"Since we need to transport fancy and pretty unicorns, Scully," Mulder answered in a smiley tone.
And, after a few seconds, he added:
"Since that day we've learned how to trespass a few FBI boundary lines between partners on the field, and how to transport ourselves to those fancy orgasmic heavens, uncomfortably settled on low-level rental car back seats… Remember, we're getting older, Scully…"
Mulder turned his head toward Scully and stared at her intensely in the eyes. Then, just before wetting his eyes under a rising emotion, he focused his sight back on the road. His voice was losing its playfulness when he continued:
"You know how much the memory of those few magical moments we'd shared on uncomfy back seats had been a life preserver for me… When tortured in this hellish ship… They might not have been the fanciest and most meaningful moments we'd shared back then, during that very short time of blissfulness, but, somehow, they kept me sane and alive… Well… for a while, till… I died…"
Scully reached Mulder's right forearm and tenderly stroked his skin through the shirt.
"I know, I know, Fox. Those are indeed fond memories."
"But don't get me wrong, Scully. It doesn't mean I'm expecting anything from you, from us. Those fancy back seats are just there for any fairy unicorn you would want to put on and transport. Can be thin air, dirt, moss, salmon, a nice raccoon, a baby Sasquatch, a muscular logger… Me… Whatever you want or need, Scully."
"Okay, Roger that… Beware, you have to turn left… very soon… There!"
They were now entering a hidden valley, looking new and wild, as if thousands of miles away from civilization.
"I'm sure we'll think of something, Mulder… About those back seats," Scully added.
After about a mile, Mulder found a clearing on the roadside, perfect to make a stop. They got out of the car, poured the last drops of coffee in their cups, and leaned on one side of the car. Sipping quietly their drink, they were admiring the sun setting over the valley and behind its little mountains.
"If I'm accurately interpreting the US Topo map of the area, we are bound to spend the weekend in a really pretty landscape, very special and unique," Scully said, when the last amazing colors of the sunset were fading away.
"Mmm… Not wrong."
"There's a little cabin on the shore of a tiny lake."
"Mmm… Seems pretty."
"Lots of geological singularities."
"Mmm… Peculiar vibes."
"I also bet on an unusual ecosystem."
"Mmm… Unexpected breeding ground."
"For fairy unicorns?"
"Anything spooky or magical."
"Okay, I get it. People spending time here surely have great mystical experiences. It's just the magic of nature, its powerful forces. Decades ago people would see UFOs, and these days, they would be more into unicorns. Times change."
"Mmm… Probably."
"What's there for us?"
"I don't know. Whatever we want to believe in."
"Let's go, then. Riding our fancy rental car toward that fairy place."
"The darkness will swallow us very soon, now. Not afraid to get lost?"
"No, not with those comfy back seats to share if needed."
Sitting back in the driver seat, Mulder was serene. Whatever would happen during those couple of days would satisfy him. He was just happy that Scully had accepted the invitation to this fun unofficial case trip. She already had catched the mood of the excursion and one of the reasons he had organized it –having little shared moments that would be significant for their renewing relationship.
Turning the key, Mulder had a thought for the rental car he had chosen so well, softly tapping the wheel as to acknowledge its importance.
The truth was so simple. Driving a rental car was always leading them a step forward, and the journey was as valuable as the destination they would reach. Beginning a case by a long drive to the middle of nowhere, sharing hours in an anonymous vehicle; yes, he loved it.
That was definitely one of those little things that always felt true and vital for their partnership, and he wouldn't want to be elsewhere than in this rental car, right now.