Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter for this story. Time escaped me on this one, too. Man, I've been slacking. Apologies again!
After re-reading the first chapter, I've noticed some typos (such as 'Monopoly bored' which of course should be 'board') You can attribute those to my absolute refusal to proofread—I know, I should, but I just can't bring myself to do it. It makes me overly critical of myself. If I did proofread, I probably wouldn't post anything, I'd be too self-conscious. So, anyway, know that I am aware of them, I'm not stupid, I'm just self-conscious and lazy. I wonder which is worse….
Anyway! On with the story—hope you enjoy.
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Mulder ran a hand through his hair. This was a tough question. There were so many different answers to this question. Well, no, there were so many different ways of answering this question. All of them led to the same conclusions, of course. He was thoroughly unprepared for this question.
He had expected a few light questions about sports and numbers and colors and the distant past. He hadn't expected this. What was he supposed to do? Lie to her? He couldn't straight out lie to her. Well, he could, but he obviously wasn't going to. He could evade her. That would probably be the best course of action.
She sat in silence, waiting for him to answer. He looked contemplative; he definitely didn't have the panic face on. She wasn't quite sure how to take that. After a couple of minutes, though, she said "Earth to Mulder…Mulder, come in." She thought he was probably reminiscing about some wild love affair with an insanely beautiful and captivating nearly six foot tall woman.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Right." he said, clearing his throat. He'd almost come up with what he was going to say, but it suddenly left him. "Scully, I don't think I want to answer that question." he said straightforwardly.
"What? Why not?"
"I, uh, I just don't think that it would be a good idea."
"Mulder, are you serious?" she asked, thinking that maybe he was just kidding around.
He looked at her kind of funny. Why would he be joking about something like this? "Yeah, I am."
She looked at him incredulously and shook her head.
"What?" he asked, his tone matching the look she gave him.
"Nothing. It's just that it was your idea to play this stupid game, and now you don't want to answer the question so you change the rules." She said, sounding just slightly like a little child who wasn't getting her way.
"Wow, Scully, way to pout about it." he laughed briefly and then "Look, I just didn't think you were going to get this serious."
"Okay, Mulder, two things. One: asking about someone's first kiss is serious, and you definitely asked me about that. And two, how is my asking about your last girlfriend so much more serious than first kisses?" She asked, making a list on her fingers to help further illustrate her point.
Oh, Mulder thought as he paused for a moment, thinking to himself. That's right, she didn't know why it was asking about his last girlfriend was so serious. She had no idea, in fact. Not a clue in the world. He smiled a bit—wondering what she would say if she only knew. 'It's a good thing she doesn't know' his mind said, 'she'd skin you alive if she did.' The corners of his mouth pulled a little more upwards at that.
"Geeze," Scully said, reading the smiles that came to his face "she was that good, huh?" she muttered under her breath.
Scully's voice broke Mulder out of his reverie "What?"
"Nothing."
"No, what did you say?"
"I said I have to check the oil under my hood." She smiled a little, wondering where the hell had that come from. She couldn't have come up with something a little better?
Mulder's face contorted a little, "That was random and a little weird, but whatever." he said, then shook his head "Whose turn is it?"
"Um, no one's, Mulder, we're not playing anymore."
"We're not?" He questioned, thoroughly confused.
"You refused to answer my question, so game's over." she said matter-of-factly.
"Wow, Scully, 'you didn't answer my question so I'm not playing anymore'? Wow." He laughed wholeheartedly at that.
"Yes." She said smugly, and chuckled a little bit in spite of herself.
"Aw, come on Scully, let's just play a little longer."
She shook her head and started to get up to retrieve her coat.
"But, look at the alternative!" He said pointing his finger to the window.
"Yes, the painful alternative of going home to a nice hot bath and then curling up with a good book with a blanket in front of the fire. Versus sitting in the basement of the FBI playing a watered down version of twenty questions with my crackpot partner." Scully said, rolling her eyes.
He gasped, "Scully, I'm offended." He replied, feigning hurt, "This version of twenty questions is not watered down." He said pointedly with a smile.
"What do you call a game where you only answer questions you want to answer, then?" She asked with her hand on her hip.
He grinned, "Selective."
She laughed, as she looked outside. She did want to go home and take a bath, she really did. And she wanted to curl up with her latest book and blanket by the fire. But she also wanted to stay here with him.
"Scully, please. Look, it's colder than a witch's tit out there."
"I was thinking more along the lines of colder than a well-digger's ass, but either one is fine."
He laughed at that, "Please?" he asked again.
She really shouldn't. She really, really shouldn't. She didn't want to play this stupid game in the first place, and she didn't want to play it now. She especially didn't want to play it now, not after she'd seen the look on his face when he was just thinking about his ex-girlfriend.
Oh, God. A thought just occurred to her. What if he wasn't thinking about his ex-girlfriend? What if he had a girlfriend and that's who he was thinking about? And that's why things would have been too serious had he answered.
Maybe he knew how she felt, and he felt sorry for her, so he wanted to spare her feelings because he knew that if he did have a girlfriend it would crush her. Maybe that's why he didn't answer.
She quickly brushed that thought off. She would know if Mulder had a girlfriend. She would know….wouldn't she?
"Helloooo, Scully?" He asked when she didn't respond after a minute or so.
"Yeah?"
"Do you wanna play? Huh, do you?" He questioned with more childlike enthusiasm.
"Are you going to answer my questions when I ask them?"
"Almost assuredly yes."
"Almost?"
"I make no promises, Scully."
"Well, then I play no games."
He laughed "Fine, I agree to answer all your questions. Even that last one you asked me, but later. I'll answer that one later. Now, will you please play?"
She sighed, she knew she wasn't going to be able to resist him. "Fine." She said, then dropped her coat on the chair, "I'll play."
"Okay…" Mulder said rubbing his hands together, "What's your…" He started.
She cut him off "Ah-ah, I don't think so. It's my turn, buddy," she affirmed as she sat down in the chair. "Let's see…what's your favorite song ever?"
"My favorite song…ever? Wow, that's a tough one. There are so many songs…um, I guess I'll go with 'In My Life' by the Beatles."
"Good one. That's a great song." she agreed.
"Okay, what's your favorite book?"
"Easy. Moby Dick. What's your favorite number?"
"1,463." he said without batting an eyelash "Favorite TV show?"
"Friends." she said "Fav…"
"Wait, Scully, did you say 'Friends'?"
"Yeah." she said, shrugging. "What about it?"
"Huh. Nothing, I just don't picture you as a 'Friends' type of gal."
"Well, I am a 'Friends' type of gal. Favorite band?"
"Hootie and the Blowfish." he asserted.
"Figures." She laughed.
"Hootie and the Blowfish are an amazing music anomaly, Scully."
She gawked. "Anomaly? How so? In that every one of their songs sounds exactly alike?"
He smiled, "No. In that they had a number one song with a name like 'Hootie and the Blowfish.' What was the happiest day of your life?" he asked.
"Hm, it hasn't happened yet."
"Good answer."
"I thought so. What's your biggest regret?"
"That I didn't tell my mother how much I loved her when I had the chance. I think people always regret things like that, though."
"You're right," she said "people do regret things like that. I regret that I didn't see my father right before he died. I regret that I didn't tell him I loved him one last time. But, you know, they both knew how we felt about them." she said somberly.
"I'm sure your father did, Scully. I don't know if my mother did. I hardly ever told her things like that. I was so angry for a really long time; I just kind of kept forgetting to completely bury the hatchet. Even when I thought I had, it would rear up at the ugliest of times."
Scully looked at him "Mulder, I'm absolutely sure your mother knew you loved her, even if you didn't say it that often."
He offered a wry smile, and shrugged a little "I'm sure you're right, it's just easy to focus on all the things I would've changed."
"I know." she said, and they both momentarily lapsed into silence.
"What's your biggest fear?" he asked.
"Snakes." she said quickly.
"Bullshit." Mulder said, with a bit of a chuckle.
"Excuse me?" Scully asked.
"You heard me. Bullshit. People always give these cockamamie answers like anybody's supposed to buy it."
"Cockamamie? Mulder, snakes is a legitimate fear!"
"It is. And I'm sure you're terrified of them, but I'm sure it's not your biggest fear. I'm sure you don't lie awake at night worrying about snakes. Asking yourself 'what would I do if I saw some snakes?' or praying that God keep snakes away from you at all times. Am I right?"
He was met with silence.
"Fear is a big taboo in our society, so everyone walks around pretending that their biggest fear is 'snakes' or 'spiders' or 'heights' or 'being alone' or even 'death.' And while all of those fears may indeed be legitimate, most people don't lie awake at night thinking about those things."
"Thank you for that wonderful societal analysis," she said dryly with only a hint of a smile playing on her face "but what, may I ask, is your point."
"My point is that there are some things in this world that just scare the hell out of us. And I don't mean physically, I mean emotionally—things we know we would never be able to deal with were it to actually happen. Those are the things we pray to higher beings about, those are the things that keep us up at night, those are our real fears. The other things are just superficial thoughts to say when someone asks us what we fear. Our real fears are the ones seated so deeply within us that the mere contemplation of them drives us crazy and scares the absolute hell out of us at the same time."
She was silent, again, knowing he was right.
"You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"Yeah." was all she said.
"So, my question to you was: what's your biggest fear?"
She swallowed. "What's yours?"
"I'll tell you if you tell me."
She contemplated this for a moment. "I don't know, Mulder…" she hesitated.
"Come on, we'll say it at the same time. We'll count to three and then we'll both just blurt it out."
"I still don't know…"
"It's the perfect way to counteract the societal constraints that keep us from wanting to share these deep fears."
She sighed "Okay."
"Okay, cool. Ready?"
Was she? "As I'll ever be."
"All right," he said "One…"
She breathed in deeply. "Mulder, so help me God, if you don't go on three…"
"I will. I promise." he assured.
"Two…" They both said in unison.
Their eyes locked on one another, both awaiting the third and final number.
"Three…"
A brief pause as they stared intently into each other's eyes.
Only one phrase filled the basement. One voice male, and one voice female spoke in unison: "Losing you."
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To Be Continued.
Okay, guys, hope you enjoyed it. There's probably only about one chapter left, two at most.
This chapter got a little deeper than the first at times, especially considering the title of the entire piece, but you know, it's bound to happen sooner or later.
Anyway, review if you have a chance, I'd appreciate knowing what you think, how you're liking or hating it.
Thanks guys,
Natalie