Scully had woken up alone, and she'd been grateful for the chance to gather her thoughts before Stella had tapped on the adjoining door, asking if she was ready for breakfast. She'd worried it might be awkward — what she'd felt in the darkness withering in the harsh reality of daylight — but it hadn't been. Not at all.
"So, I was thinking about some shopping today, if you're up for it?" Stella neatly buttered her piece of toast, scraping the edge of the knife across the crisp surface of the bread. "I thought it might be nice to dress up tonight, go for dinner, maybe dancing."
"Shopping sounds good," Scully agreed. She couldn't remember the last time she had gone shopping for fun, just for the pleasure of it. "I didn't pack anything dressy, just… functional."
She felt like functional described most, if not all, of her wardrobe these days. What was the point of having something fancy if it was only going to sit there at the back of her closet gathering dust? For work, she tended to choose clothing that disguised her figure, something she'd started doing unconsciously as a way of being taken seriously in a male dominated profession. When she wore loose legged pants and bulkier blazers, she'd quickly discovered she was less likely to be asked by male agents to fetch them a coffee or treated like she couldn't possibly know what she was doing. It was infuriating.
And, at home, there was no point either. Pajama pants and tee shirts. Workout clothes. Clothing that was practical, served its purpose, and nothing more.
Her one allowance to herself was shoes. She'd always loved them, forever stealing the high heels her mother wore to church and clomping around in them in feet that were far too small. So, now, whenever she purchased yet another ill-fitting article of clothing for her professional wardrobe, she would indulge herself with a pair of sleek black leather pumps with three inch heels or brown suede boots that clung suggestively to her mid-calves. She still couldn't bring herself to spend the kind of money that a pair of Manolo Blahnik's or Jimmy Choo's would cost, but she revelled in the style more than feeling like she needed an expensive brand name on them to make her happy.
They finished their breakfast and then made their way toward Princes Street, Edinburgh's well-known shopping district.
"So, what did you have in mind?" Stella asked as they approached the ornate doors of one of the higher-end shops. Scully couldn't help marvelling at the details — rearing stags and thistles — that had been carved into the door frame. And, it seemed like every store, every building, they were all like this. It made Washington seem so utilitarian and boring.
"I'm not sure," Scully said as she pushed the door open, still admiring the door frame as they passed through it. "A dress I suppose." Definitely not practical — she would never wear something like that to work — but if she was going to get something fun, just for her, that would be the logical choice. Besides, she had more than enough pant suits, despite how quickly they tended to end up ruined by blood or grass stains. And, she rationalized, it might be nice to have something to remind her of her trip here.
Stella steered her towards the racks of dresses at the back of the shop like she had done this hundreds of times before. She probably had, Scully thought.
"Anything in particular you like or don't like?" Stella asked, running her fingers over the material of the first dress hanging from the rod as she slid it back to study the one behind it. "Colours? Cut? Material?"
"I don't know." Scully felt a bit out of place, like she didn't really belong in a store like this looking at dresses, of all things. "I honestly don't remember the last time I even tried one on. Why don't you get something you like? I really don't need anything."
Stella looked up from the rack of dresses, her eyes softening. "How about simply trying a few of them on? You don't even have to come out of the dressing room if you don't want to." She dropped the hem she'd been examining and gazed at Scully in a way that made Scully feel exposed, vulnerable, like Stella could see all the self-doubt she was trying to hide. "Or we can leave. Do something else. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"No, it's not that." Scully sighed. "It's just… overwhelming. I feel like I don't even know where to start."
Stella eyed her thoughtfully. "Would you trust me to choose a few for you to try on? We're very similar in size and height, so styles that flatter my figure would likely do the same for you."
That sounded easier, reminding her of shopping trips with Melissa when they were teenagers, with Missy tossing all sorts of outrageous things that she knew her sister would never wear into the change room just for the fun of it. "Sure." She tried to not sound too relieved. "If you don't mind."
Stella smiled, trailing her fingers down Scully's arm tenderly. "Of course I don't mind. Now, let's see…"
She gave Scully another careful appraisal and then began sorting through the dresses in front of her. Once she had several selected, she turned to face Scully. "Here. Let's start with these."
She handed Scully three dresses, which she then draped over her arm.
"Aren't you going to try anything on?" Scully asked.
"After," Stella said firmly. "Let's do you first."
The salesclerk, who been hovering unobtrusively nearby since they had walked in, swept over to guide them towards the dressing rooms. There was a small sitting area with several plush armchairs arranged in a semi-circle facing a wall with two wood-slatted doors, and along the back wall were an arrangement of full-length angled mirrors. A long wooden sideboard with a coffee pot, kettle, and a selection of perfectly coordinated china cups sat opposite the doors, behind the chairs. An intricately patterned woven rug in hues of muted blues and silvers lay over the hardwood flooring, and there were tiny half moon end tables made of some kind of exotic wood in between each pair of chairs. It was nicer than her apartment by a large margin, Scully mused.
"Can I get the two of you something to drink before we get started?" The saleswoman smiled, showing even, white teeth. She had lustrous dark skin, her hair cut rakishly short, and she looked like she could have stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine. "We have wine, coffee, tea, champagne?"
Scully's eyebrows lifted in surprise, but Stella merely nodded as if this sort of thing happened to her every day.
"Champagne for me. Dana?" Stella smiled reassuringly at Scully, clearly trying to set her at ease.
Scully lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. Might as well live a little. "Champagne for me, too, please."
"Certainly. One moment." The sales clerk walked over to the sideboard and opened one of the lower cupboards to reveal a small hidden fridge, from which she extracted one of several bottles. Scully felt tempted to turn to Stella and ask her if this was for real, and made a note to pay very careful attention to the price tags on the dresses she was about to try on as she wasn't sure if she was even going to be able to afford any of them.
By the time the sales clerk handed her a crystal flute of pale golden fizzing liquid, Scully was feeling more and more glad that she'd chosen one of the alcoholic options. "Thank you." She took a larger than normal sip, crinkling her nose at the effect of the carbonation.
"I can take that for you," Stella offered, and she reached for Scully's glass and placed it on one of the small tables. "Try the red one first." She gave Scully another warm smile, and Scully felt the calm she was exuding seep into her, making her feel a little less nervous. Had Stella not been there, Scully would have headed straight for the doors the moment after she'd walked in. Give her an interrogation or chasing after a fleeing perp any day. This was so far out of her comfort zone… but, that was sort of the point, wasn't it? Was this really that different from her first day at university or at Quantico or at the FBI? Any harder than when she'd taken the elevator down to the basement of the Hoover building and laid eyes on Mulder for the very first time, her first partner? She could still hear the echo of his voice in her memory: Nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted.
The thought made her feel a little better. She could do this. Of course she could. She was only
trying on dresses, for heaven's sake.
"Okay." She nodded at Stella. "Let's do this."
"I'll leave you to it," said the sales woman with a touch on Stella's arm. "I'll be nearby if you need anything."
Scully went into the change room and hung up the three dresses Stella had selected on one of the hooks — one red, one black, and one ivory flecked with gold. She undressed, folding her sweater and slacks and placing them on the stool in the corner. She stared at herself critically, taking in her plain white cotton underwear and bra. If she was going to get an expensive new dress, she was certainly going to need something prettier to go underneath it.
The red dress was soft like velvet as she shimmied it up. It was tight around her hips, but flared out at the bottom, with short sleeves that covered just the caps of her shoulders. It had a curved scooped neckline well above her bust, but the colour was a cherry red almost bordering on orange, and Scully thought it made her skin look waxy and yellow. The length wasn't quite right either. She'd always been sensitive about the thickness of her calves and, combined with her short stature, she found that dresses and skirts that went too far past her knee seemed to make that fact more pronounced. She turned from side to side, studying her reflection in the trio of angled mirrors. The fit was good otherwise, though, accentuating the narrowness of her waist. After another moment of internal debate, she opened the change room door.
"Well, what do you think?" she asked Stella.
Stella had seated herself in one of the chairs, her glass of champagne balanced in one hand. "It doesn't matter what I think. What matters is how it makes you feel." She rose gracefully and approached Scully, circling around her slowly.
Scully tilted her head as she studied her reflection. "I don't like the colour with my skin tone. Or the length."
"How does it make you feel?"
Scully watched herself in the mirrors, finding herself more drawn to the heated intensity in Stella's eyes than she was in what she was wearing. "I don't know. Feminine, I suppose." She angled her body to look at the way it dipped low in the back, enough to expose the full circle of her tattoo. "I guess it's supposed to be sexy."
Stella shook her head. "Don't choose something that you think someone else will find sexy or attractive. Choose what makes you feel beautiful, and you already know that this isn't it. Why don't you try one of the others? Here, I can unzip you, if you like."
Scully turned her back to Stella and waited. After a moment, she felt her cool fingers at the zipper, but they paused and traced the curve of her tattoo, all the way around the serpentine circle until she reached the zipper once more, and then she slowly tugged it down. The feathery sensation of Stella's touch rippled down her lower spine, making her skin feel like it had been kissed by the champagne's bubbles, and she shivered. "Thanks."
Back in the dressing room, she carefully slid the dress down and rezipped it before placing it back on the hanger. Maybe the black one next… that was the one that had called out to her most strongly when she'd hung them up.
This one had narrow spaghetti straps and a lower neckline that arched around her breasts but dipped low in between them. The fabric was silky and clingy and stopped about three quarters of the length down her thigh. There was a large cut-out section around the waist that had a stretchy black lace sewn in beneath it.
Even with the straps of her bra that were showing, Scully felt a little taken aback by this one. She looked… good. The contrast of the black with her pale skin drew the eye, made her hair colour stand out. She turned to the side, admiring the narrow slit up the left side that revealed a sliver of pale skin on her thigh. Oh, yes. She felt beautiful in this. She turned back to face the mirror, sliding her hands over the curved slope of her hips. How would Mulder look at her, to see her in something like this? Or even Stella, for that matter? The thought made her feel warm all over.
She opened the door of the dressing room, feeling more confident than she had the previous time. She didn't need Stella to tell her she looked good, she knew she did.
"Wow." Stella's eyes widened appreciatively. "You look stunning." She reached over and handed Scully her glass of champagne and the two of them watched their reflections in the mirror as they each took a languid sip.
"I'm afraid to ask how much this is," Scully admitted.
Stella stepped behind her and gently tugged on the neckline at the back, pulling the tag free and listing off the price.
Scully did the rough conversion to US dollars in her head. Based on the extravagance of the store, the price didn't come as much of a surprise. It wasn't as much as she'd been afraid it might be… no worse than a new suit, really. She studied herself in the mirror. She really liked it, and how often did she splurge on herself, really? "I love it," she said quietly. "I think I'm going to get it." She plucked at the strap of her bra. "I'm going to need something nicer to wear underneath though." She grinned at Stella in the mirror.
"Do you want me to pick you some things to try as well?" Stella's voice was smooth and low, and Scully felt her cheeks grow pink. "Have you ever been formally sized? If you haven't, I can assure you it makes a world of difference."
"No, I've, uh, never bothered."
"Do you want to?"
She hesitated and took another large sip of champagne, which was definitely helping. "Sure, might as well, I suppose." At this point, why not?
Stella called the sales clerk over, who seemed very happy to help. She kindly ushered Scully back into the change room before pulling a tape measure from her pocket. The clerk gestured towards Stella with her head as she spoke to Scully. "Did you want me to close the door, or is it fine like this? There's no one else in the store at the moment. "
Scully shrugged. They were all just women, after all. "This is fine."
The sales clerk helped her tug the dress down to her waist, and then took Scully's measurements over the bra she was wearing while chatting away in a friendly manner about how much she was going to appreciate having a bra that fit her properly. Scully wasn't really listening. She was watching Stella watching her, leaning casually against the wall with a focus that didn't waver.
"And, there you have it," the sales clerk finished. "Would like me to make some recommendations?"
"There's no need." Stella gave Scully one last look. "I can go pick out a few things for her to try."
Scully let out a slow breath, surprised by the way her heart was suddenly pounding, like a child playing hopscotch, sneakers slamming against the pavement. She waited for what felt like ages, although it was surely no more than a few minutes, before Stella returned with a selection of expensive looking bras in a variety of colours.
"Here." She passed them to Scully, the flare of heat in her gaze making Scully acutely aware of the fact that she was standing there in just her bra. "I picked you a few different styles from my favourite brand. If you like any of these, they have coordinating knickers as well."
Scully could feel the blush as it spread over her chest and up to her cheeks. She wasn't a prude by any means, but something about being in close proximity to Stella made her feel like she was fifteen and sneaking out to meet Derek Goodwin at the park for some clandestine necking.
"Okay. Thanks." She spotted the white dress she hadn't tried on still hanging up in the dressing room. She had already decided on the black one, so there wasn't much point in trying it on. She unhooked it and handed it to Stella. "Why don't you see how this one looks on you?"
"Sure." Stella took the dress from Scully. "Hope you find something you like." She gave her a wink, and then closed the door behind her.
In the end, they left the shop laden with more bags than Scully had expected going in. She had purchased the black dress along with several new bras — with matching underwear, naturally — and Stella had ended up with the white and gold dress, a lace wrap, and a new bra to round the outfit out.
"Well," Stella said, taking Scully's arm, "I think we've earned ourselves some lunch, don't you?"
"Absolutely."
A huge thank you to everyone reading and an extra special thank you to my beta, Josie Lange, for being the amazing lady that she is!