Summary: Soon after Mulder and Scully develop and intimate relationship, he starts dating Diana Fowley, who claims to have gotten pregnant after six weeks of dating! Mulder decides to marry her, breaking Scully's heart. He soon realizes that he only has love for Scully and they continue to keep a secret affair. But was the pregnancy a hoax?
Rating: T... for now anyways...
Genre: Romance/Drama
Setting: Season six, a two months after their Invitro failed.
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-files. :( If I did there would be ten movies out.
Here's chapter 2! Enjoy! R&R!
It had been three weeks since the incident of Mulder overhearing Scully speaking with her mother and Mulder, slowly recovering from her words, had bumped into an old colleague of his a few days ago.
"Fox," Mulder heard his name called from behind him as he was making his way back from getting coffee. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't put a face with it until he turned around. "Hey," the voice said again upon seeing Mulder turn around and recognize her.
"Diana?" Mulder breathed in disbelief. "I thought you worked with the offices in Pittsburgh?" He wrapped an arm around her in a quick hug.
Diana used to be Mulder's partner a few years before Scully had joined him, but she was later transferred after working a year with him. She never took to calling him by Mulder, just Fox. She was a tall woman, a few inches shorter than he was, with brown just-under-the-shoulder length hair and small green eyes.
"I was in Pittsburgh, then Seattle, Arizona and now I'm back here."
"You think you're going to leave again soon? Looks like they're trying to get you to be everywhere." He chuckled, smiling down at her. Being honest, Mulder used to have quite a thing for this woman.
"Actually, I was speaking to the director at Quantico for a teaching job, so that might be my next stop. Why don't we catch up later tonight? I'd love to hear what you've been up too."
"That'd be nice," Mulder said, racking his brain to see what he was doing later. Nothing. "Here, why don't I give you my number?"
They met for a few hours that night at a bar in Alexandria and Mulder discovered that he really missed Diana. It was nice catching up with an old friend. So, when Diana had asked him out on an actual date, he couldn't decline.
'What could a little date hurt?' Mulder asked himself.
"Five o'clock, Scully." Mulder said with a beaming grin after looking at his watch and seeing the time.
"Indeed it is," Scully smiled and began to get her things together.
She noticed that ever since what happened in her apartment the night she broke down, things between her and Mulder had been quite tense. She wondered if it was because of her. Maybe he was tired of the way she was acting, thinking it had been far too long since the invitro failure for her to still be upset. She frowned to herself, thinking she ruined getting close to Mulder. She looked at him and he was the exact opposite as he pulled his trench on. He was beaming.
"You look rather happy today. Happier than usual when leaving the office," Scully commented, pulling her coat on as well.
"You wanna get some spaghetti?"
"Spaghetti? Sure?" They began walking out of the door together. 'Who knows… maybe he's coming back around,'she thought.
They sat in a rather crowded dimly lit Italian restaurant as they twirled their forks at their meal.
"So Mulder, is there a reason I'm eating spaghetti here with you? It's quite random if you ask me. We haven't really hung out in a few weeks." He heard the bitterness in her voice.
"Well, Scully… I'd be lying if I was saying I wasn't nervous."
'Nervous about tonight?'She asked herself.
"Nervous about tonight," she was right. "I have a date tonight… with a past partner of mine." Well, she was half right.
"A date?" The words stung harder when she said it than when he did. "So I'm your warm up round?" It wasn't bitter, just playful sarcasm. She tried to mask her jealously and she must have done it well. Mulder laughed.
"I'm just trying to calm my nerves. I don't even know why I'm nervous." Scully raised an eyebrow.
"What's her name?"
"Diana. We caught up a few nights ago and she asked for a date… so I said yes."
"Do you like this Diana?" This time, there was a hint of jealousy in her voice. Mulder smiled.
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice, Agent Scully."
"No," She said flatly. "That's good you're going on a date, Mulder. I'm excited for you." Scully tried her best to be supportive, when inside she was screaming at herself to tell him not to.
Mulder was a bit hurt by her answer, hoping that she was just a bit jealous. But it hurt more knowing that she was excited for him. She must have wanted him to go on a date. She must have wanted him to get farther from her. She must have been glad he was moving on from the sexual relationship they shared that abruptly ended a few weeks ago.
"So where are you going?" Scully asked.
"In about an hour… Cadillac Ranch."
"So you like her," Scully said not taking her eyes off her partner, trying to get inside his head, which proved he could do so effortlessly while working.
"I don't know," Mulder said and that was the truth. He didn't know. "I missed her, yes… but I don't know if I actually like her."
Scully was feeling a mixture of anger and sadness. It took all of her might not to start screaming at Mulder right there, but it wasn't her place. He missed her? As in, he missed working with her? Was Scully that bad of a partner?
"I'm sorry if I don't match up to her as a partner, Mulder," Her eyes narrowing, but she attempted to keep a light bit of sarcasm to her tone so Mulder wouldn't fully understand where her words were coming from.
"Scully," he sighed smiling a little. "If you ask me you're a great partner."
"But not as good as her."
"I'd say you're better. Diana was… a lot like me. She thought exactly like I did. You add a differing opinion to our investigations and it helps. I like the way you contradict me. Skinner did say the X-files' statistics are better now than they have ever been."
'She must have misinterpreted my words,' Mulder thought. 'She must've thought I preferred working with Diana over her. She's jealous, but not in the way I would have liked her to be. She's jealous over work. Typical.'
The table was tense. Scully did not expect to go out to dinner with Mulder and have him tell her that he was going on a date. She did not expect it to hurt or annoy her as much as it did either. Nor did she expect him to say he missed working with her.
"Well, I think I'm about ready to go once we get our checks." Scully said, looking down. She appeared to be upset, but Mulder couldn't tell why. He just supposed it was because she thought he wished he could still be working with Diana.
-
Mulder walked inside the restaurant and up to the bar where he sat waiting. He sat and drank a bottle of ice cold Miller Light until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You must have come straight from work," Diana commented, taking off her long tan pea coat revealing a dark green long sleeved sweater dress. She took a seat on the bar stool beside him and ordered a vodka tonic from the bartender.
"Well, no. Scully and I stopped for something small to eat."
"Scully. What's her first name?"
"Dana," Mulder said while taking a swig.
"What does Dana think of the X-files? I know it's not for everyone."
"Well, she stuck with me for about six years now. It can't be that bad." Mulder mused. "She isn't as open minded though."
Their conversation trailed from work to personal lives as the evening went on, but since Mulder's personal life was tied into his work life, he remained mostly silent and listened to Diana speak.
"Would you like to come back to my place?" Diana asked, blushing a bit, putting a hand on Mulder's knee. "I just moved in and there's a lot of boxes around, but if you wanted to come over for a little you can."
"Sure," Mulder agreed, pulling out his wallet to tip the bartender. "Where did you end up moving to?"
"I bought a house in Georgetown."
"Oh, Sc-" He cut himself short, about to bring up Scully again. "I'll follow you there in my car," Mulder said as he got up, getting his coat on.
-
Mulder woke up on an unfamiliar leather couch the next morning to a very blank and empty large living room. As he came to, he began to remember last night's events. He remembered coming over to Diana's house, talking in the kitchen over wine and then coming into the living room to sit. After that his memory was a little foggy. He looked down; glad to see he was still wearing his clothes, only having his shirt unbuttoned just a bit. He heard movement coming from behind him.
"Diana?" Mulder called out.
"In here," She replied.
Mulder followed the sound of her voice and found himself in the kitchen he remembered being in the night before. She was wearing light denim jeans, a white long sleeve top and white sneakers. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail.
"I never saw you out of professional attire," Mulder said with a smile.
"Uh oh, bad or good? I always knew you had a thing for me in panty hose." She grinned. Mulder laughed at her comment. She poured herself a cup of coffee and then one for Mulder, which he took thankfully.
"No, no… it's good. You look nice, just different."
"So when do I get to come see my old stomping grounds," Diana asked, leaning over the island, facing Mulder. "The X-files office."
"If you're not too busy Monday morning, you can come on down. But," Mulder said checking his watch, seeing that it was 9 am on a Saturday, the time he usually went to the gym. "I better get going."
"I'll get your coat," Diana said, walking out of the kitchen, through the living room, and into the entry way where she through Mulder's coat over the bannister. "I had a great time last night. We should do it again. I missed you, Fox." She pulled him into a hug.
"I had fun too. I guess I missed you too, Diana." They pulled away, still holding each other in his arms. Although his mind was circling around Scully all last night and now as he had Diana in an embrace, he did miss Diana a lot. Maybe she was just what he needed to force himself out of Scully's grasps. Before he knew it, Diana pressed her lips to his in a quick chaste kiss.
-
It was Monday morning and Scully was just making her way down to the basement office. It was nice out for once, so her coat was gone and she work black slacks, a navy dress shirt, buttoned down as low as she would be allowed and a pair of heels. She clicked her way to the office, mindlessly going over dinner with Mulder last Friday night and how he told her about his date. The idea of Mulder with another woman made her sick to her stomach, but she just brushed it off, telling herself that she was being ridiculous. In her hands she had a new case given to her by Skinner. She didn't see an X-file here and didn't really want to pack up and go to Maine, but she thought she would pass it along to Mulder, to see his point of view.
Scully heard Mulder's voice and an unfamiliar female voice, laughing inside of the office. She pushed the door open, revealing something she did not want to see. It was Mulder and she knew exactly who the woman with him was. When she came in, the two stopped their laughter and watched her. As Scully turned to shut the door, she rolled her eyes and decided to ignore this woman altogether. She walked straight up to Mulder, outstretching her arm to give him the two files she carried.
"New case?" Mulder asked, taking the files. Mulder sat right at his desk, Scully directly in front of him and Diana a few steps behind Scully, watching the two.
"Yeah, sounds like one that needs attention immediately. It's in Fairbanks, Maine. Two," She stopped herself short and turned around to face Diana. "I'm sorry, can you give us some privacy," Mentally, she was congratulating herself for this act. On Diana's face she knew she was unwelcomed.
"Well, maybe I could be of some help," Diana chimed in. "I'm Agent Fowley," Diana said, outstretching her hand. Scully took it reluctantly. "Fox and I used to work together, partners actually on the X-files."
"As much as I appreciate your help Agent Fowley, Mulder and I both have a lot of work to do." Scully forced a smile across her lips.
"I see," Diana commented, grabbing her bag and turning for the door. "Fox, are we still on for dinner?" Diana asked, smiling over to Mulder and then to Scully, who immediately took her smile as a taunt.
"Actually, Mulder," Scully said false innocence in her voice, "I had A.D. Skinner book us for a flight at 7:30."
"Well, let me know when you're back from Maine and we'll figure something out."
"Yeah, sure," Mulder said with a smile as Diana walked out.
"I'll just call up Skinner and double check on those tickets, see if they went through."
"Wait a minute, Scully," Mulder said, looking up from the file he was reading. "I know this is usually your side to argue, but I don't see an X-file here."
Scully didn't know what to say. She didn't initially see one either. She was just lying to get Mulder out of his little date with whom she was musing to herself was "The Foul One."
"I saw strong ties to a possible satanic or religious cult when I went through the file."
"And I saw strong signs that they were fabricated."
"Mulder, regardless of what you feel on the case, Skinner already has the flights booked." She was leaning over the phone, waiting to be transferred from Skinner's secretary to Skinner himself. "Sir, this is Agent Scully, were you able to book the 7:30 flight to Maine?"
"Agent Scully," Skinner said on the other end. "You said you saw no reason to go to Maine. Did you change your mind?" Scully looked over at Mulder who had his nose in a file.
"I did."
"Alright then, I'll see if I can book the 7:30 flight."
"Thank you, sir."
"Well," Mulder said. "Did he get the flight?"
"He did."
"You know Scully," Mulder mused. "Maybe I am rubbing off on you. You're the one who first thought satanic cult and given by this information, I would say that's out of character for you."
"Your point?" Scully asked narrowing her eyes.
"Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is just a ploy to get me away from Agent Fowley," He said in jest. Scully on the other hand, took him seriously.
"No it's not," She replied flatly. "But I'm sorry if you rather have her come along on this trip with you."
"What?" He said in disbelief.
"Agent Fowley," Scully scoffed. "If she's the partner you want back on the X-files with you, then –"
"Scully," Mulder said getting up walking over to her. "I don't want her on the X-files with me. I want you. You're my partner. It's your input I need. Not hers. She was just trying to help back there. We were reminiscing about our cases and maybe she got a bit nostalgic."
'Yeah,' Scully thought to herself. 'You don't want her on the X-files because you want her in bed.'
And that's chapter two. Trust me, there will be MSR coming up. Just a bunch of Scully jealously for a while. Review and let me know what you think. You'll like where this is going, promise.
-Andrea
