The woods off 8th street, Granthamstow, WA
It was an ordinary case, by their standards. Weird as hell by the standards of any other agents of course, but hey. A series of seeming suicides in happy, healthy people had caught the attention of the police of Granthamstow, WA, and it had been found that every person who committed suicide had, shortly before their death, been found wandering in the nearby forest in a daze, near the site of a cave known in local legend as 'The Cave Of Spirits'. They seemed drunk, but it had not passed after a few hours as drunkenness does. In several of the cases police had pulled someone over for what looked like drunk driving, but a breathalyser test had been conducted and found no trace of alcohol. Police were baffled, and locals maintained that the suicides were not suicides, but that victims had been possessed by the spirits that dwelled in the cave.
Mulder and Scully had interviewed the families of the deceased, as well as the local constabulary, and Scully had examined the bodies, finding traces of an unknown substance in every one of the bodies. It could not be identified with the limited facilities at Granthamstow, so they had sent it to the lab at Quantico for analysis. They were now paying a visit to the site of the cave, though so far had found nothing but a stray cat sleeping in there.
"Smells awful in here."
"Says the woman who cuts up decomposing bodies for a living."
"So it must smell pretty bad, if even *I* say so."
"What's this stuff on the wall, Scully?"
"What stuff?" She walked over to look where his flashlight beam fell. "It's sort of green ooze."
"That's your scientific opinion?"
She raised an eyebrow, not that he could see it in the darkness of the cave. "I guess you think it's alien blood or something?"
"Ha."
He heard her hunker down, and then kissing sounds came from somewhere around his thighs. Momentarily thinking she had taken leave of her senses, his mind was instantly full of images he struggled to push away.
"Here, puss puss! Here, kitty!"
Feeling somewhat stupid, he followed the beam of her flashlight and saw two eyes glowing in the dark, as the cat stared at them.
"I guess we woke you up, huh pussy?" She was using babyvoice, and he was glad she couldn't see him roll his eyes.
"Hey, maybe the spirit of the cat possessed those people. You better be careful."
"Right, Mulder. Hey, puss-puss, you want the rest of my tuna sandwich?"
"Scully, in all seriousness, that thing is probably diseased. Don't touch it."
"I'm not going to. But the poor thing is starving."
"It's just a cat, Scully."
She didn't dignify this with a response. The cat made her think of Queequeg, her poor little dog who had suffered such a violent and untimely end. She opened the tuna sandwich and laid the two sides on the ground in front of her. The cat made no move to approach.
"I think we've seen enough, Scully. I want to get a sample of this quote-unquote 'green ooze' you're such an expert on, and then let's go."
"Ok Mulder." She stood up and straightened her suit while Mulder scraped some of the ooze into a baggy.
Suddenly he swore, and a chunk of rock came away from the wall of the cave, thudding to the ground near his foot. The cat, startled, shot towards the mouth of the cave, but Scully, stepping backwards automatically away from the falling stone, caught it with her heel. It yowled and scratched her leg, ruining her pantyhose, and then disappeared through the cave mouth.
"Ouch!" She said, shining her torch on the wound. It was bleeding, but not much.
"What? Are you okay?"
"That cat scratched me is all. I'm fine."
"That's what you get for trying to be nice to those things.
Back at the police station, they had confirmed the 'green ooze' was the same substance found in the bodies, but they still had not discovered how the victims had been contaminated.
"Can we call it a day, Mulder? It's dark and cold and I wanna get out of what remains of my pantyhose, I look like a... woah, head rush!" She put her hand to her head and blinked a few times.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just randomly got dizzy." She blinked a few more times and looked around, as if a little confused.
"You're probably tired. Let's call it a day. It's after five, and I've heard that some people finish work at five."
"They do? Wow. Must be nice."
He drove them back to the motel. Scully seemed increasingly sleepy during the ride, sometimes struggling to open her eyes again after blinking. She continued to look around as if something was strange. Halfway back, she suddenly decided the ruined pantyhose needed to come off straight away. In the car. While he was driving. He had managed to stay on the road, though. Just.
As they ascended the steps to the walkway that led to their rooms, she clutched his arm suddenly, as if to keep from falling.
"Okay there, Scully?"
"I'm still a bit dizzy."
"When did you last eat?"
"Breakfast."
"There you are then. I could eat, too. Come into my room, I'll call room service."
He fumbled with the swipe card and got the door open, and she walked clumsily to the bed and sat down heavily.
"The room is kinda spinning" She commented.
"Lay down. I'll get us some food."
She kicked off her shoes and lay back, closing her eyes. That made the spinning worse, so she opened them again, and followed the path of the ceiling fan as it rotated, too slowly to even move the air in the room. Another crappy motel. Another crappy day. Why did she keep doing this? Oh right, because she couldn't tear herself away from the man currently ordering lasagne from room service as he pushed his shoes off and shrugged out of his jacket. 'This is NOT healthy' she told herself for the billionth time. She knew that he was attracted to her; he had certainly shown that in Arcadia. And it wasn't a random burst of hormones either, he had said so in his office. He hadn't said what it WAS; he'd sarcastically acted like she ought to KNOW.
So if it wasn't a random one-off whim, then that meant he must at least think she was attractive. This thought made her glow inside. But it didn't mean she would do anything about it. If she allowed him to see what he meant to her, he would probably think she was pathetic, and pity her, and maybe they would have a few nights of fun but then he would get bored and she would be broken. Not worth it.
Part of her screamed in protest; it WOULD be worth it, remember what it was like when he kissed you? The room spun more than it's doing now! His lips were so soft yet possessive, his hands so warm and strong, holding the back of her head so firmly she couldn't have stopped the kiss if she'd wanted to. And she had not wanted to. Until she had come to her senses, and so had he, and he'd let go like she was on fire. Well, she had been...
"All done. How are you feeling?"
She dragged her mind back to the present. "Fine, the bed's not moving so much now!" She smiled at him and sat up. "I'm going to change clothes. Back in a minute." She unlocked the door which joined their two rooms, and disappeared.
A moment later she was back, her arms folded, jaw set and eyes closed.
"What's the matter?"
"My suitcase. With all my clothes. Is still at the morgue. Which closed at 5."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"You can borrow some of mine..." He pictured her in nothing but his black silk boxers, and mentally punched himself. "Here, I have a t shirt and pyjama pants" He began to fish around in his own suitcase. He found the t shirt. "Oh. I forgot I went running in it... you might not want to wear it. The pants are clean though." He tossed them to her, she caught them without looking away from him. "Guess you'll have to go topless" he winked.
"Thanks..." A sarcastic comment trailed off as she watched him walk towards her, unbuttoning his shirt. Her mind completed that little scenario in a way very different to the one happening in reality, and she blinked to shake it off.
"I've got another one." he explained. "It's not as clean, but it'll do for me". She realised she was gratuitously watching him take his shirt off, and managed to tear her gaze away from the lean shoulders and muscled chest that was revealed. He handed her the shirt, and she hoped he didn't notice her blush as she thanked him.
"Mmm, that was just what I needed" she said, finishing the last mouthful of lasagne.
"Feel better now?" He smiled
"Much" she said, lying back on the bed with a satisfied smile. He noticed that his shirt was comically large on her, and she had rolled up the sleeves several times. It made her look tiny. And it made him ache inside, for some reason.
"You mind if I put the TV on? There's a show on voodoo..."
"Go ahead" she rolled her eyes. Woah. That hadn't been a good idea; the room spun again. She was so sleepy. And so comfortable. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a minute. She would go back to her room soon and go to bed. But she just couldn't bring herself to move.
He looked around in a few minutes and saw that she was fast asleep, hair spread out on the coverlet, hands each side of her head. Perfect position for pinning them there, a voice whispered in his head. He told it to shut up, and tried to focus on the TV. No point dwelling on something that could never happen. He had essentially told her how he felt, albeit sarcastically, and had given her the opportunity to tell him whether she stayed with him for the work, or for him... and she had said nothing. That would have been the moment, he thought, right then. She didn't take the opportunity, so probably she didn't feel that way about him. He would come to terms with it. At some point. But it had sometimes seemed as though she looked at him in a way that indicated more than friendship.
And there was that night... He forced himself not to think of how it had felt to kiss her, and to have her kiss him back, wildly, passionately, as an orgasm HE had caused ripped through her...
GAAHH. Just STOP.
He focussed with great difficulty on the screen, forcing himself to hear the words the presenter was saying.
After some time, he felt the bed move, and turned to see her propping herself up on her arms. His eyes were immediately drawn to the top two buttons of the shirt, which had come undone and were exposing part of a black bra containing the most perfect...
Stop. Just stop that.
He wrenched his eyes back to her face, but that didn't help much. Her hair was disheveled, and she looked all woozy from sleep, her eyes heavy and her lips parted... that voice in his head whispered that she looked like she'd just been fucked, but again he pushed it away, and shifted on the bed to 'rearrange himself' more comfortably. He was glad he was sitting down.
"Muller," she slurred "Hi." she smiled lazily at him. She MUST be sleepy, he thought. She seemed... odd.
"Hi, sleepyhead... you missed the bit with the guy with a bone through his nose. Fascinating stuff..."
"Fassnatin" she said, swaying slightly.
His eyes were drawn downwards again to that delicious cleavage.
"I feel funny" she informed him, a comically serious expression on her face.
"What sort of funny?" he asked. Certainly, she was behaving unusually.
She swung her feet off the side of the bed and tried to stand up, but fell down again. He stood up and gave her his hand, pulling her to her feet, but she staggered and fell right into him. Instinctively he put his arms round her, and then expected her to push herself back away from him, but she didn't.
"Mmm, you smell nice Muller" she slurred.
"Okay, you're officially behaving strangely." he pointed out. She felt wonderful in his arms, though. But clearly something was odd. He propped her back on her feet, where she swayed a little and bit her lip as she looked at him, a strange twinkle in her eyes.
"Hi" she said, a little smile curving her mouth.
"Hi indeed. How are we doing there?" he peered at her. "Are you okay?"
"M'fine Muller." she claimed. She seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open. She staggered again and he grabbed her shoulders to steady her. Standing this close to her, even more of that luscious chest was exposed to his view.
"Maybe we need to get you into bed" he suggested
She muttered at the floor something that sounded like "Now you're talkin'."
Was he supposed to hear that? He had heard it sure enough. Images flooded his brain, mostly involving throwing her down on this bed right here and now and ripping off the few remaining buttons on that shirt...
Suddenly, the thought of ripping brought back the vision of Scully in the car removing her ripped pantyhose, and that made him think of the scratch on her leg. That substance on the wall of the cave... wouldn't it be on the floor too? Wouldn't it have got onto the cat's claws? And thence into Scully. SHIT.
"Do you feel drunk, Scully?" still holding her shoulders, he bent to peer into her face, his eyes full of concern.
"Haven't tushed a drop" she informed him.
"Okay. You sit on the bed for a minute, okay? I'm going to make a phonecall"
Obediently, she sat down, looking up at him with eyes so trusting and innocent it was a challenge to tear his gaze away to find his phone. Fighting down panic as he routed through his suit and pants pockets, he found it and dialed the lab. Thank goodness not everyone stopped work at five.
"You're going to be fine, Scully. The substance is broken down within a couple of days, and passes out of your system"
"Sub-what?" she blinked at him.
"Those suicides were simply accidents. People wandering around in a daze, accidentally falling off bridges, train platforms... that's something I didn't notice before; none of the suicides used methods that required planning. No car exhaust, no guns, no hanging. All the victims were seen ostensibly throwing themselves into danger's path, but they didn't intend to do so. They were just off their heads. Like you. But I'm going to watch you and make sure you don't come to harm."
"You're nice."
"Yes, I'm nice. Now how about we get you into bed? I don't trust you to be alone, so I hope you won't mind sleeping in here. It's that or handcuff you to your bed.
"Ooh! Fun." a wicked smile lit her face and she was looking at him in a way that made his pants feel somewhat uncomfortable. And then more uncomfortable, as she came towards him and started fingering a button on his shirt, looking up at him from under her eyelashes. Oh God.
"Nice shirt" she said inconsequentially, as she popped one of the buttons. His hand closed over her wrist. It felt tiny.
"Please Scully, don't do that" Please Scully, DO do that. Please please please.
"Why not?" the fingers of her other hand started to walk up his chest and a shiver ran through his whole body.
"Scully I don't know if you'll remember this when you're... yourself again, but if you do, you're going to be mortified." Oh fuck, her fingers had reached his collar, and were running up his collarbone to his ear. His head was starting to go fuzzy, but he knew he had to stop this, or she'd never speak to him again when she recovered her senses.
He grabbed her other wrist, and moved forward to propel her to the bed. She did not move with him, and now she was pressed against him, her lips dangerously close to his neck. He could feel her breath tickling his skin, and then, Holy Fuck, that was her tongue.
"Scully please!" He sounded desperate now. "Please don't... I don't want to do something we'll both regret"
"Like what?" she whispered, her lips brushing his ear as she stood on tiptoes. Gggnnnnn...
"Please, Scully..." he held her wrists behind her back in one hand and tried to push her away with the other, but she got them free and reached up to grab his collar with both hands and pull him towards her. "Fuck! If you don't stop, I'm going to have to..." the end of that sentence was going to be 'handcuff you to the bed' but hearing it in his head he decided it wasn't a good sentence at ALL at this particular moment.
"Have to what?" Her tongue was running around the outside of his ear, and his legs were starting to shake. "What do you want to do to me?" she was nipping his earlobe gently.
He let out a moan, and got hold of her wrists again. "Scully, I'm pleading with you. I'm seriously close to losing it, here. And you'd hate me if I took advantage of you like this. So, please..." his voice was barely a whisper now.
"You don't have to beg" and her wet tongue dived right into his ear, completing a circuit that ran through his whole body, making him convulse.
"FUCK!" He spun her around by the wrists and forced her body against the wall. "I can't take this, Scully, please! You have to stop, before I can't."
"That's no fun" she complained, and swivelled her pelvis against him, making his hips buck involuntarily.
"Seriously! I'm only human! It would be hard enough if I didn't already want you so bad I could scream, but this is…" He trailed off, seeing the expression on her face. Sort of... wistful. But that didn't make sense.
"You do want me, then?"
"Jesus, Scully, like nothing else on earth. but you'd KILL me if I... or worse, you'd leave me. And I can't lose you, Scully"
She looked down, sighing. "No, you need me, I know. Heaven forbid the work might suffer..."
"That's bullshit and you know it. I need you because I couldn't live without you."
In the silence, he could almost hear her mouth drop open.
"You..."
"Yeah." Suddenly he felt defeated "and if you remember this later, you'll probably be so mortified you'll never want to look me in the face again, and you'll leave me anyway, even though I'm killing myself over here to keep from nailing you to this wall with my..."
"I love you" said a very small voice which stopped his heart. She was looking at her feet. He let go one of her wrists and brought her chin up to make her face him.
"What did you say?"
"I love you, Mulder"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steady himself.
"I want you to think really hard, Scully, try to focus, because this is my whole life on the line. Are you saying that because you're out of your head on whatever was in that cave? Or, do you... If I asked you again in a few days, would you say the same?" His heart still didn't seem to have started beating again yet.
She looked very serious. "No." She said, decidedly.
His stomach fell through the floor.
"No." he repeated, in a dead voice.
"I wouldn't say it. I'd be afraid you'd reject me. But I'm not convinced that I'm not dreaming right now, so what the hell."
She didn't seem to be slurring any more, he noticed. Maybe the stuff was wearing off? There couldn't be that much in her system, from one scratch. But she was still not herself. She couldn't really be saying... Could she?
"So, if I asked you again, you wouldn't say it, but... would you feel it?"
"I've felt it for six years, I don't think it's going anywhere."
That one hit him like a punch to the gut.
"Six years?"
"Well, the first year was more sorta... lust..." she blushed and looked at her feet. "But you're kinda addictive, you know? And each time you saved my life, you took a piece of my heart. And I only had so many pieces..."
She trailed off, and he had no words to fill the silence that ensued. He felt tears spring to his eyes, at odds with the great golden bubble of happiness welling up in his heart.
Then she continued "But it was all about the work, for you. I figured that out pretty fast. So, no, I'd never tell you. But I'm pretty sure this is a dream. All the colours are wrong."
"An hallucinogenic, then." he muttered, while his insides danced in circles and whooped for joy, and then stopped abruptly as he saw that she was crying. Instantly he had his arms around her, and she buried her face in his chest.
"What's wrong?"
Between sniffs, she managed to get out a few words. "It hurts, Mulder... it hurts to love you... when you don't... love me..."
"What? But I do, you know I do. I as good as told you."
"You did not."
He thought about it. He hadn't actually said it in so many words. But hadn't it been obvious what he meant? He supposed, if she was really THAT dense, perhaps she HADN'T known. Well, it was time to make it unequivocal.
"You complete and utter idiot. I'm completely and utterly in love with you."
She looked up at him, smiling through her tears. "I like this dream" she said.
He wiped a tear from her face and shook his head, smiling. They would have to have a serious conversation when the hallucinogen wore off. But for now... "So, where does the dream go next?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.