Chapter 7
Darkness fell upon the sleepy town and the saloon was buzzing. But for Mulder and Scully danger was more imminent now since they were sought after by Daniel Waterson. Reaching the bath house doors, Mulder pulled Scully in after him, violently shoving the swinging doors open and, hitting the back panel making a loud thud against the wooden wall. Looking around the dusty room, a young man about the age of twenty came out from the darkened hallway. Scully nervously stood by Mulder's side and the man recognized her from the saloon then acknowledged her smiling and turned his attention to her companion.
"What will it be, Mister?" he wiped the sweat off his brow with his neckerchief.
"I need a room and a hot bath," Mulder said taking his hat off.
"It'll cost you extra to have hot water, soap, and clean towel. Do you want a shave?" the attendant replied.
"I thought all that came with the bath?" Scully murmured while the young man ogled her body, jumping when Mulder spoke.
"What's the price?" He glared back at the younger man.
"That'll be $1.00 for the bath, sir. However, if you want a room all we have is the stable, but there is a hotel across the street that may have vacancies. I'm not sure if there are any available since it is a Friday night, they're probably sold out by now." The young man turned and walked around behind the shelf, reached for all the amenities and placed the items on the counter.
"Will this be enough?" Mulder dug out a dime sized gold nugget piece from his pocket and placed it on the counter top.
"Sure Mister, thanks! Ms. Rose would you like a bath as well?" The attendant shyly asked as Mulder picked up his amenities.
"No, I'll be fine." Scully politely smiled back.
"Mulder, we do have a predicament don't we? I can check to see if any hotel rooms are available across the street," Scully quietly said so that the attendant couldn't hear them in the hallway.
"Yeah, we're going to have to be very careful we don't get caught and in the meantime I think I deserve that hot bath, don't you?" he looked down at her smiling and opened the door.
The room had a claw foot tub with two extra hot buckets of steaming water set off to the side of the tub. Mulder sat down on the stool, shrugging out of his clothing while Scully closed in on his space. He lifted his foot for her to pull his boots off but she was having a hard time in doing so facing him, turning away she grasped his boot in between her legs, while Mulder got a view of her backside. Pulling with all her strength she huffed looking back at him and he had smug grin on his face.
"You're not helping, Mulder," she scowled. Ignoring him for a split second, she removed his boots quickly. He grabbed her by the waist pulling her against his chest and settled back down on the stool. His hat lay on the floor, as she wiggled against his strong embrace, stealing a quick kiss. Scully deepened the kiss, stroking his forearms and unbuttoning his shirt exposing his bruised ribs between nibbles. He loosened his grip on her waist, as she straddled his thighs. She slowly removed his shirt examining the damage that was done to Mulder's rib's as the area turned a deep purple hue.
"Sorry, Mulder," she apologized to him, and rose off his lap.
"It'll be fine. It won't be the first time or the last time I get my ass handed to me." He half heartily smiled at her.
"So, Mulder, now what? I risk getting caught if I go back to my room or to the hotel." She began pacing back and forth, her heels making loud clunks against the wooden floorboards.
Mulder pondered a few moments and watched her intently as she turned her back to him. Mulder quickly shed the rest of his clothing, slipped into the claw foot tub, and soaked his aching muscles.
"Did you hear me?" Scully asked turning around and walked slowly up to the tub as he sank into the steaming water.
"I heard you Scully," he replied. Taking the bar of soap and he started working the soap into his chest muscles.
"You're not concerned if we get caught, Mulder?" she questioned.
"Scully, if I was at the least bit concerned I'm sure I wouldn't be here in this tub, wanting you so badly to join me," he teased.
She couldn't resist a naked Mulder and picked up the shaving lotion and razor. Walking in front of him teasing him with a smile. As she lathered the cream in the palm of her hand, she slowly started to cover his rough stubble working from one side to the other. She sat on the edge of the stool before him gazing into his hazel eyes in the half-lit room. Taking the straight razor to his cheek, she carefully slid the razor from cheek to cheek, rinsing the blade again and continued over his mole, then finished her task wiping his face clean with the towel.
Scully then started to place feather light kisses down his lower jaw, pausing only for a moment when he opened his hazel eyes, and searched her icy blue depths. His hand reached for her and lightly brushed the side of her cheek, brushing a strand of red hair off her brow. A noise outside the hallway door startled the two out of their romantic venture. A gruff voice was heard coming from the opposite side of the door as a man's boots hit the wooden planks.
"Did you see red-haired woman accompanied by a tall, brown haired, lanky man come in here tonight?" Daniel inquired glancing at the attendant's, and observed his surroundings.
"No, I never seen anyone by that description," The young man lied straight the cowboy's face as he kept his composure.
"If I find out you lied to me young man…" Daniel replied sternly, and looked down the hallway with a few open doors cascading in the dimly lit shadows. He began to investigate the closed doors, wondering if Ms. Lily Rose was behind one of them. He walked up to one door while the attendant followed close behind him with worry in his eyes. Daniel turned around peering at the nervous young man.
"I doubt you want to go in either of those doors, mister. Two wanted outlaws just came in to wash up and they told me specifically that they didn't want any visitors or there would be trouble," the attendant warned Daniel but he didn't listen.
Opening the door slightly to peek inside, he saw clothes were strewn all over the floor and a dress was draped over a stool that sat across from the bathing tub. Daniel stepped into the room and looked at the couple who was enjoying their bath. That didn't sit to well with the cowboy. Before Daniel could react, the dark haired man suddenly reached for his gun that was on the stool, surprising him. The naked man stood quickly and shoved the lady companion aside as she stood up, water dripping off her. The man handed her a towel to cover herself.
"What in the hell are you doing, mister?! If you don't want your innards on the floor I suggest you turn around and scat right on out of here!" he bellowed cocking his pistol aiming it straight at Waterson's face.
"Excuse me. Sorry to barge in I thought you were someone else," he squinted at the couple.
"Well, there are plenty ladies over at the saloon, this one is taken for the night," the outlaw said and pulled the woman back into his arms for a quick kiss, still holding onto his pistol. Daniel retreated walking backwards slowly before he closed the door, turning in defeat.
"I don't think you want to take your chances with the next door, do you?" the attendant inquired.
"No, maybe I'll see her tomorrow at the saloon." Daniel looked at the other closed door down the hallway. He retreated back to the front door and heard laughter. However, he couldn't distinguish if it had been Ms. Rose or the other lady.
