Chapter 2

I sneak in and see your friends

And her snotty little family all dressed in pastels

And she is yelling at a bridesmaid

Somewhere back inside a room wearing a gown shaped like a pastry.

~ Taylor Swift, Speak Now.

Scully didn't want to make a scene during the ceremony if she could at all help it. She decided this as soon as she parted from her mother's company to go search the house for Mulder. She had twenty minutes before the ceremony would start and her non-platonic love for the man who will always be her best friend wouldn't matter anymore.

She didn't want to stand up in front of the crowd when the preacher would ask did anyone wishing to object to the marriage. She needed to talk to Mulder in private if there was anyway that she possibly could.

As she made her way up the stairs, Scully cursed quietly under her breath as she was struck with the lengthiness of the corridor before her, at least a dozen or more doors to her left and right. How the hell was she supposed to find Mulder in twenty minutes in a house this size without running into Diana, Mulder's pastel clad future in-laws and God knows who else.

Passing the first bedroom to her left, Scully heard a bellowing, bitchy and all too familiar voice that unmistakably belonged to Diana Fowley. "Get that damn thing zipped up. We don't have the whole damn day to do this, you useless idiot", the woman growled threateningly at the other side of the door. "And I DO NOT want to look like a giant fucking pastry".

There was silence and then some barely audible apologies.

"The poor woman who agreed to be her bridesmaid", Scully muttered to herself, rolling her eyes as she continued down the hallway. Could she really, in good conscience, let Mulder marry a woman like that? She had strongly disliked Diana Fowley ever since she first met her and how Mulder blindly trusted the woman had always half-worried and half-annoyed Scully to her very core. She couldn't help feeling protective of Mulder and today was no exception.

"Hey, How's our favourite FBI Agent", a jokingly flirty voice called out behind her.

Scully whirled around only to see the three smiling faces of The Lone Gunmen. Byers had cleaned up quite well for the occasion (still looking like your average stockbroker) while Frohike and Langly appeared almost comical in their respective tuxedos.

"So I'm your favourite now, am I?", she asked, teasing them half-heartedly. "I thought Mulder ranked just above me because he's supportive of some of your crazier ideas."

Frohike chuckled, his deep laugh echoing in the corridor. "He used to, but considering that he's being an idiot and marrying a literal witch after everything she did to him; Mulder is now demoted to being our second favourite", he said before smirking cheekily. "But for what it's worth you have always been my favourite FBI agent, Dana."

Scully rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself. She may not have warmed to the three Gunmen straight away but if she was being honest with herself she would admit that despite herself she has become quite fond of them in the last six years.

Langly chuckled along with him while Byers turned his attention from Frohike back to Scully. He had a feeling that there was more to the relationship between Mulder and Scully then either of them had let on over the last couple of years but Byers could tell that Scully didn't look her usual self and he had a fair idea why. "So how are you, Dana?", he asked, repeating Frohike's original question.

"I'm okay guys", Scully said simply, looking over her shoulder to the long line of nearly identical doors on her left and right so she wouldn't have to see their expressions at her vacant answer. "Have you seen Mulder around? I need to talk to him."

"He's already outside for the ceremony. He said that he wanted to take a walk first", Byers replied, gesturing in the general direction that Mulder had left in about five minutes before.

"Thanks", Scully replied, already turning on her heel to leave. If Mulder was already outside that meant that the ceremony would start earlier than she thought it would. How much time did she really have? "I better go and find him before the wedding starts."

Langly smiled widely, dropping his voice so that it couldn't be heard by anyone apart from the four of them standing in the hallway. "You're going stop this total circus of a wedding, right Scully?".

Scully looked at the three of them in alarm. Was her intentions to see Mulder before the wedding that difficult to see through. "What the hell makes you think that?."

"Well it's true isn't it?"

"Maybe."

Frohike smirked. "If he doesn't dump The Foul One and go sweep you off of your feet then he's more of an idiot than I thought he was."

"Thanks, I think", Scully replied, a little unsurely, not entirely certain how to respond to The Gunmen's enthusiasm. If her plan got them excited perhaps it was a little too crazy for her to even consider.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Fun gestures are exchanged

And the organ starts to play a song that sounds like a death march

And I am hiding in the curtain, it seems that I was uninvited by your lovely bride to be.

She floats down the aisle like a pageant queen but I know that you wish it was me

You wish it was me, don't you?

~Taylor Swift, Speak Now.

As soon as Scully reached the front garden she heard the music begin to play a song that sounded far more like a gallows march then a wedding song. Diana's four bridesmaids flounced down the aisle in their pale yellow, sun coloured dresses.

Scully ducked behind the curtain at the back

Was it too late?

She peered quickly up the aisle, spotting Mulder at the top. He looked like the stereotypical groom, dressed in a dark tuxedo with his hair combed neatly, all that was missing was the usual expression of infinite love and hope for the future that graced the features of most grooms when they see the bride float down the aisle like a pageant queen.

In all of the six years that Scully has known him, she has seen him in some very sticky situations involving some of the craziest things. Things that most people would never believe. Things that never happen to anyone else but somehow happen to them on an almost daily basis.

However, in the wake of something that happens to the majority of people at some point in their lives, for better or for worse, she has never seen him look so trapped.

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part. Perhaps Mulder was every bit as content and blissful a bridegroom as everyone in attendance thought he was. Maybe it was her that was wrong and she just fancied the idea of saving him from Diana's clutches.

Pushing the velvety folds of curtain material out of her way to get a better view of what she would be walking into, Scully attempted to make eye contact with Mulder but his eyes seemed to be scanning the crowd in search of someone.

Someone he was, at this point, sure hadn't even showed up.

Scully felt her heart thump softly in her chest as the weight of what she was preparing herself to do hit her. She has spent the last six and a half years fighting, hiding and denying her growing feelings for Mulder. Too scared to tell him. Too scared to admit it even to herself.

The truth she has spent so long hiding to protect herself from being overly vulnerable around him, the man who she would trust with her own life in a split second.

He was going to know and soon.