Scully walked down the hall to Mulder's hospital room, a bright orange plastic bag held in her hand, and a smile on her face.
Skinner and the Gunmen left earlier that morning, but she and Mulder were not leaving until tomorrow, though he had been cleared to be released today.
As he had been on a boat that busted into many thousands of pieces, no belongings to speak of, he was in need of clothes and toiletries, which she was currently bringing to him.
She laughed inwardly, anticipating when he saw what she had picked out for him. Licking her lips, she opened his door, setting her expression to neutral.
Finding his bed empty, she frowned as she set the bag of items down on said bed.
"Mulder?"
"Yeah?" Came a reply from the bathroom.
"You okay?"
"Uh… yeah… just a bit sore." He walked out of the bathroom in his hospital gown, a grimace on his face. "I have so many bruises on my body. I feel like I've been beaten with a baseball bat."
"Considering the state of the boat you were on, you're lucky it's only bruises and not broken bones. Or a broken neck," she said with a raise of her eyebrow. "What the hell were you even doing out there Mulder?" He looked at her and she raised both eyebrows.
"I was looking for the Queen Anne."
"Of that I'm aware. And you say that as though it's completely normal to go looking for a ghost ship. In the Bermuda Triangle." She shook her head and he nodded with a shrug.
"I just wanted to see if it was really there." She scoffed and he pointed his finger at her. "You saw it too, Scully. You were even on it."
"Yes, I was."
"So, what's your point?"
"My point, Mulder, is that the ship I was on-"
"Which everyone believed had been sunk by a German U-boat."
"Right, and finding it was a big deal. But, the ship I was on was empty. Had been for a very long time." She stared at him and crossed her arms.
"Doesn't explain how it just showed up out of nowhere, even if it was deserted."
"No it doesn't, that's true. Yet, you claim when you were on it, it was full of people, including me."
"Because you were there, Scully," he said adamantly. "I saw you. I spoke to you, touched you, and…"
"And?"
"You were there," he finished lamely and she furrowed her brow. "Are those the clothes you got for me?"
"That was a wide subject change," she stated as he walked cautiously toward the bed.
"I'm just ready to get out of this gown and this hospital."
"Uh huh."
He turned his head and looked at her. She still stood with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. She knew there was more to his answer that he was not telling her, but she let it go for now.
Picking up the bag, he started to look inside when he stopped and looked at her again.
"You can't be serious," he said, looking almost disgusted with the clothes.
"What do you mean?" she asked, trying not to laugh as she stepped closer to him.
"What is this?" He took the shirt from the bag and she fought back a smile.
"It's a shirt."
"Ha! This is not a shirt! This is a lifestyle." He held up the button down shirt and this time she did laugh.
Knowing he needed only one outfit to get him home, she had shopped in the hotel gift shop, something that was not available in most of the places they stayed. It had a small section of every type of clothes, so she was able to get everything he needed.
The shirt she picked was light blue with pink flamingos, palm trees, hibiscus flowers, islands, and white capped waves. It had dark brown buttons, which the clerk had happily informed her were made from coconuts.
"Scully," he sighed and set the shirt on the bed, reaching inside the bag to pull out the next item. "Scully." He stared at her and she covered her mouth with her hand, holding back a giggle.
He held it up and she laughed again at the salmon colored Bermuda shorts with spouting blue whales.
"You cannot be serious."
"There is a pack of undershirts and underwear in there, too." She laughed and he shook his head.
"Scully, why in the world would you buy these clothes?"
"You needed something to wear, I don't have a car to go driving all over, the hotel has a gift shop… problem solved." She shrugged and smiled at him.
"And this is what you picked?" He held up the shirt and shorts against himself and looked at her. "Dana Scully, look at this outfit."
"I think it looks good," she said, pursing her lips and avoiding his eyes.
"You're full of shit," he said, setting the clothes down and staring at her.
"I am? Me? The one who came to help you after you disappeared off of a radar? Of which you told me no plans before you left? I'm full of shit?" He stared at her and she raised her eyebrows. "I think you might want to rethink your comment."
"I couldn't tell you."
"Why? Because I would tell you it's a stupid idea? And possibly dangerous?"
"That and then you would've inevitably come with me," he said quietly and she frowned.
"You didn't want me to come with you?"
"Not in the way you think," he said with a small smile.
"Then how do you mean?" He sighed as he looked down and then raised his head.
"You were already saddled with the bill from our last… side trip, which was my fault. I didn't want you… this was something I wanted to do and you don't need to…"
"Save you? From your stupid ideas?" She smiled and he sighed again. "Mulder, it's been six years, I've been around for a lot of stupid ideas." He laughed softly and she nodded. "As for the reimbursement payment, you and I split that, as you know."
"This was different. This was…" He started at her and nodded. "A stupid idea."
"Well, it's nice to hear you admit it," she said with a smile.
"I'll go get changed." He picked up the bag and the shirt and shorts with a shake of his head. "I still can't believe this outfit."
"You're going to blend in perfectly," she teased and he shook his head again, adding a loud sigh.
He walked into the bathroom and she sat on the bed with a smile. His chart was hanging at the end of his bed and she lifted it up to see what medications they had been giving him the past two days.
Codeine and a saline IV. Then Tylenol only.
She set it back with a frown. Codeine could have attributed to his belief that there had been people on the Queen Anne, it usually made him sleepy. He had to have dreamed it all, because any other thought was simply not possible.
But why had he said he loved her? She thought it was the medication, but codeine would not make him that loopy.
"I don't have shoes," he called from the bathroom, cutting into her thoughts.
"Keep looking," she called back. She heard his sigh through the door and laughed silently.
"Flip flops, Scully? Really?"
"It's the island lifestyle, Mulder, to go with your new snazzy shirt."
"I'm really not happy about this."
"Join the club." He sighed again and she laughed quietly.
The bathroom door opened and she turned her head to look at him, loud laughter immediately bubbling out of her. He stood and shook his head, his arms outstretched, showing off his outfit. She leaned forward, a hand on her chest, as she laughed.
"Is it the flip flops? Because I actually think I like them. I might wear them all the time." He looked down at his toes and wiggled them, causing her to laugh harder.
"Oh, Mulder," she said, trying to stop laughing. "It's all of it. The whole outfit. I thought it would be funny and I was not wrong, but it's so much better than I imagined." She laughed, sticking her hand up, and closing her eyes.
"Yeah, it's… it's something," he agreed as she opened her eyes and saw him smoothing the shirt down. He touched the buttons and looked at her with a smile.
"Those buttons are made from coconuts, in case that's what you were wondering," she said with a snort and he raised his eyebrows.
"It was exactly what I was thinking," he said sarcastically with a shake of his head. "If you're ready to stop laughing, I'm certainly ready to leave." She sobered up with just an occasional chortle as they looked around, making sure he had everything.
"I can't believe I'm wearing this," he muttered and she stopped him from leaving the room with a hand by his chest.
"You left me with no choice when you decided to come here. It was a stupid idea, probably close to one of the dumber ones you've had. But if you would have told me, I would've been here," she said seriously, holding his gaze and he nodded.
"I know."
"But, then I suppose if you hadn't come here, you might not have met the other me, the me from 1939, traveling with Thor's hammer," she teased. "Question about that: how did she hold it? No mortal is supposed to be able to lift it." She tried to keep a straight face, but as realization of what she said dawned on him, he smiled slowly and it brought about her own.
"It wasn't Mjölnir, if that's what you're implying. She wasn't walking around with the most fearsome and powerful weapon ever in existence, one that could level mountains," he said with a grin and she shrugged with a smile. "Although, on some level I suppose she was, as he was a scientist who could control the outcome of the war. But that you even thought about that Thor… Scully..." He shook his head and sighed deeply, his eyes travelling her face.
"Hmm…" she hummed. "So she was traveling with an undercover scientist, to protect him. Sounds like he was smart to have that protection in place, you never know when you might need it. You should have made friends with her, maybe she could have helped you."
"Ha!" he laughed, shaking his head.
"That's funny to you?"
"Scully. I told you, you… her… whoever, the outcome of history was saved because of you/her," he said, staring at her. "I might not ever have seen you again, if you hadn't listened to me and gone back to the past… for the future."
"Do you hear yourself? I mean, really yourself?" she asked, and he exhaled a laugh.
"She shared that trait with you; doubting me, thinking I was crazy, and yet I was right," She stared at him, her eyebrows raised as she shook her head, and he laughed again. "Same expression too."
"I would've liked to have seen that. How you handled two of us." His eyes grew wide and he cleared his throat loudly. "Oh… that's an interesting reaction." She smiled and he took a step back.
"You ready to go?"
"No. Not until you explain that throat clearing business."
"Just needed to do it."
"Now who's full of shit?" she asked, and he sighed, looking at the floor. "Mulder?"
He looked up and she raised her eyebrows again, as she watched him rub the left side of his face with a wince. Sighing, he dropped his hand and she saw a faint bruise on his cheek.
"I know it wasn't you, but she looked exactly like you. Well, a bit more…" he said, gesturing everywhere.
"More…?"
"She was dressed in a red satin gown, hair done up, a fancy necklace," he explained, not meeting her eyes.
"Fancy Scully, huh?" she teased, and he looked at her; her eyes and down to her lips, making her throat go dry. "So she believed you, enough to go back to the past, to save the future? How did you convince her?"
"I can be very convincing," he said quietly.
"Yes, I know," she replied.
"I wasn't sure she would even do it before I jumped overboard, but she did, just as you would have done."
"Is that how you got that particular bruise? Jumping overboard?" she asked, nodding to his face.
"Uh, not exactly," he laughed and she stared, waiting for him to explain. He sighed and she tilted her head to the side. "I… I didn't think things would be fixed. I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. The butterfly effect and all that… and so…"
"So what, Mulder?" she asked softly. He looked at her and she already knew, but wanted to hear him say it.
"I kissed you… her," he nearly whispered, and her heart pounded. "And then she punched me in the face. A mean right hook."
"Well, that should have cleared it up right then. If a strange rambling man kissed me, I'd have gone with a left," she laughed.
"Exactly what I told her," he said with a nervous chuckle, staring at her as though gauging her reaction.
"Why?"
"Why… why did I kiss her?"
"Yeah."
He inhaled and shook his head. "I… do I really need a reason? She was you, sort of, and I thought I might never see you again. I… do you really need to hear a reason, Scully?" He stared at her, his eyes soft, reminding her of a moment in his hallway not so long ago.
"No, I don't," she whispered, stepping closer to him. "So, the past me kept the future intact in order for us to be here in the present. What will we do with that knowledge?"
He slowly reached his hand out, placing it on her cheek, and she laid her hands gently on his chest. She smiled slightly as he leaned forward, the memory of the moment in his hallway once again burning in her mind, and she closed her eyes.
His lips landed on hers and she sighed as she pressed further into him, gripping his shirt tightly in her hands. He kissed her softly, keeping it chaste, a sweet tentative step forward, but she felt it throughout her entire body.
When he pulled back, he smiled shyly at her and she grinned, keeping a hold of his shirt.
"See? Aren't I better than some dream version? I didn't punch you for one, and it happened despite your stupid idea to come here and most definitely despite this outfit," she whispered with a smile and he laughed. She tugged at his shirt and kissed him one more time. "Let's get outta here." He nodded and she stepped back, letting go of his shirt.
He now held the bright orange plastic bag as they walked out the door and down the hallway, his flip flops flopping loudly, much to his embarrassment and her amusement.
"Nice shirt, man," a male nurse said as he walked past them and Mulder looked at Scully as he shook his head.
"It's not a terrible shirt, admit it," she said, pushing the elevators down button, and bumping him with her arm.
"It's not terrible," he agreed, as he looked at it and then at her. "And it's been a good shirt so far." She grinned and he winked. "Oh, wait. It's missing a button, look. Do you have the receipt? We could return it." He looked at her and she shook her head.
The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.
"No. But, I do have the missing button. It must have come off when I…"
"Had a death grip on it?" he teased.
"I can sew it back on for you," she said, holding it out to him. He looked at it and then felt where it was missing on his shirt, shaking his head.
"No, you should keep it. I like the shirt better this way," he said with a happy grin.
She smiled back at him as the elevator doors closed, ready to take them away from the hospital and onto the next stupid adventure.
Together this time.