"Beef," Scully decided, taking the bag of beef flavored dog food from the shelf.
"You like beef," she turned to Mulder, showing him her choice. He sniffed the bag and growled, looking displeased.
"Okay then, what is it that you want?" Scully asked him and he looked at her hopefully. "And no, it can't be human food! It's not good for your… current body."
Mulder made a grumpy noise that sounded just like the one he always made as human when she brought him salad for lunch. Scully chuckled. They understood each other just the same even when one of them was a dog. She wasn't sure whether to consider that to be a compliment or an odium for their communication skills.
"How about chicken?" she went on browsing. There was no sound from Mulder, so she assumed it was okay and placed it in the cart. Mulder was placing something there as well. Scully stared at the little green toy of his choice, then at his adorable, tilted face that watched her expectantly.
Even as a dog, Mulder managed to find an alien.
Scully sighed and bought it for him.
She took him to his place next, with an intent to get some of his clothes. She figured he would need them when Genia came back and turned him into human again. He would definitely come back naked, unless she decided to specify clothing in her last wish, but where would the fun be in that?
No, she will definitely not specify it. It would be a payback for what he did to her pillow!
Mulder was composed in the car, but started to get excited when he recognized his street, his building. He pulled like crazy to the elevator, then to the apartment number 42. Once inside, she unleashed him and he started to examine the place from his new perspective, intensely sniffing everything.
Scully fed the fish first and checked their vital signs. She had planned to do that before work, but dealing with Mulder's mischief in the park took too much time. Luckily, the fish seemed to be doing fine.
The place was a mess, though. Scully was starting to think that Mulder's rampage at her apartment was simply him trying to make it feel more like his own home.
She went to the bedroom to browse his closet, but she didn't get that far. There were clothes all around the room: on the bed, on the chair and on the floor, so she picked up one shirt and brought it to her face. It smelled like Mulder, human Mulder. She closed her eyes, remembering.
Dog Mulder followed her. He sat in front of her and whined to get her attention.
"What now?" Scully opened her eyes, feeling a bit annoyed. Mulder looked at the bed, then back at her, suddenly very calm and serious.
"I don't want to talk about it," she brushed him off and closed her eyes again, feeling embarrassed. She knew what the dog was referring to, but she wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was something she wasn't ready to deal with, it happened so recently, after all. Was she more ashamed of walking out on him that morning, or of spending the night with him? She didn't know, but she was well aware that this was the first time after that night that she was in his bedroom again. Mulder, apparently, was just as much aware of it.
One lonely night she invited Mulder to her bed.
He said no.
"You would hate me later," he explained. "You would hate yourself even more."
Another, not so lonely, night she fell asleep on his couch. He covered her with a blanket, went to change the sheets on the bed and came back to wake her up.
"You are not comfortable like this, Scully," he said. "Go to bed. I just made it."
"Where will you sleep?" she wondered, only half-awake.
"With you," he answered, simply. She gave him a puzzled look, but his eyes were serious. They gazed at each other for a while, lost in the moment, in the other, and in all the talk about fate that they had before she dozed off. It felt like it was time, like they didn't really have a choice anymore.
"All right," Scully finally nodded and Mulder offered his hand, pulled her up and led her to his bedroom.
It wasn't love making. It was destiny, friendship and protection. No kissing. Nothing but two people being lonely together. Just that once, because neither of them could bear reducing their relationship to casual sex. They couldn't be together either, of course not, neither of them even thought of that. Scully didn't, at least.
"Woof," Mulder barked, determined to get her attention.
"No," Scully shook her head, not looking at him. "It would never work."
"Woof," Mulder disagreed.
"Please, don't…" she turned away from him, still clutching his shirt, holding it close to her heart. "You need to find someone who can give you a child. A family…"
He started to whine now and it broke her heart. Mulder was a lonely, damaged man, who suffered too much. His whole family was gone, leaving him as the last one who can carry on the legacy. It shouldn't end with him. It would be selfish of a barren woman to keep him for herself, even if seeing his baby with another woman killed her in the end.
Scully quickly wiped her eyes to stop the tears from coming. This wasn't time for self-pity. There wasn't much danger of Mulder reproducing with another woman at the moment, and if anything she should worry about him having puppies with another bitch.
The thought of puppies brought a smile to her face. Seeing her mood lighten made the dog happy. Wagging his tail, he turned around, went to the dresser and tried to open one particular drawer. Scully observed him, puzzled by his actions. It took him a while, but he wasn't a quitter. Finally, the drawer was opened and Mulder buried his head in it, coming out with a bra in his mouth. Scully chuckled and took it from him.
"Thank you, Mulder," she giggled, placing it back in the drawer. "But I didn't forget this. I left it here on purpose. You know, as a… souvenir? It beats the shirt with crop circles that you brought me from England, doesn't it?"
"Woof," Mulder agreed.
"I am, however, taking some of your underwear with me," Scully declared, starting to browse other drawers. "Hopefully, you're going to need them soon. Don't get too comfortable being a nudist!"
She quickly picked up some basic clothes, along with the smelly shirt from the floor and asked Mulder if he was ready to go. He seemed to be more accustomed to his new body by this point, and his ability to understand her increased.
"Well trained," Scully thought to herself, suppressing a smile. It would be a compliment for a dog, but not so much for the rebel agent that she worked with.
She went towards the apartment door, but Mulder didn't follow her. He ran to the couch instead and jumped on it, placing his front legs on the arm holder and staring at his fish.
"Let's go, Mulder," Scully called him, but he refused. He whined and rearranged his front paws nervously, keeping his gaze fixed on the aquarium.
"Mulder!" Scully repeated, louder this time. Mulder gave her a quick look, then turned back to the fish.
"We can't take them with us," Scully sighed. "We'll come back tomorrow, I promise. The fish will be fine. Come on, we have to go!"
Mulder really, really, really didn't want to go. He whined and complained while Scully attached leash to his collar and pulled him away. He was still sad when they arrived back to Scully's place, so much that he refused to eat his dinner.
"Come on, Mulder," Scully stroked him. "If you can eat my garbage and other dogs' poop, how bad can the proper food for dogs be?"
Mulder ignored her.
"Do you prefer what my mom bought?" Scully asked, but there was no reaction.
"Mrs. Scully," she corrected herself. "Would you like to eat what Mrs. Scully bought for you?"
His tail wagged a little at the mention of Mrs. Scully, but other than that he remained unresponsive. Scully didn't know what to do. She even offered him her own dinner, but that was something he'd refuse even as a happy human. Maybe he just needed a break. He spent entire day being a dog and seeing his place and his fish must have made all this too real for him.
"Don't worry, I'll fix it," Scully promised him. He licked her hand gratefully, but didn't cheer up.
Not knowing what else to do for him, Scully finally invited him to her bed. She figured he was already sleeping in it while she was at work and now she was too tired to change the sheets. It wasn't like she never had him in her bed, covered in mud, blood or something. Having him as dog wasn't all that bad, after all.