Navel Piercing - Requested by the creeepier-the-better - July 17th, 2019

Season 3 - "Do you have any piercings?" (dedicated to Scully's canonical bellybutton ring)

"That's not a suspicious rash, Mulder. That's irritation most likely caused by the girl not treating her piercings right," Scully told him, looking at the projector slide of a teenage girl's red and swollen ear, pierced in ways he didn't even know were possible.

"But do you see the raised bumps along-" he began, only to be interrupted.

"Are keloids. She probably touched her piercings too much or didn't properly take care of them with saline treatments while they were healing. If she applied a little tea tree oil at night it would likely draw out the infection and help them go down. They aren't big enough to warrant surgery, she just needs to stop getting pierced until she learns proper treatment," Scully expertly explained. "I can't even believe the piercing shop would pierce her when she obviously has an infection. I also can't beleive she messed up her aftercare so badly. They always give you an instructional sheet when you're done."

Mulder stared at Scully in surprise during her speech. He wasn't necessarily surprised at her diagnosis, but he was surprised at how personal her answer seemed to be. Like she'd had first hand experience.

"Scully, do you have any piercings?" he asked slowly, not sure if she'd take it as an innapropriate question.

"Yes," she replied, meeting his gaze. He could sense slight mischief behind her eyes and it made his curiosity burn. He knew she had her lobes pierced, but her answer led him to beleive that wasn't all.

"Where?" he questioned boldly.

"I have my ears double pierced, used to be triple, but the third holes 'weren't professional' so I closed them, and I have my navel pierced."

His eyebrows raised in shock. Did Scully, professional, no nonsense, Scully say that she has her belly button pierced? The same Scully who wore pansuits and professional attire like she was born in it? That mischevious glint was still in her eyes as if she knew he wouldn't believe her. "You're lying," he accused with a smirk.

"No, I'm not," she stated confidently, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair while he leaned forward in his.

"Yes, you are," he replied confidently.

"Why don't you believe me?" she prodded.

He didn't want to say anything that would accidentally make it sound like he thought she was uptight - that wasn't the case - he just couldn't imagine her walking into a piercing shop let alone getting pierced. Was it for a boyfriend? Was it for herself? "I don't know. You're just such a navy brat, I didn't think you'd ever do anything so…so-"

"Rebellious?" she offered.

"Yeah," he shrugged.

"Don't you think that might have been exactly why I did it? I was a teenager once too in case you didn't realize," she teased.

A young teenaged Scully got pierced? He felt a smile break out at the thought. How thrilling it must have been for her to do something so rebellious behind her parents back. He suddenly felt a little closer to her, knowing she too indulged urges to fight against authority. It was probably this kinship of rebellion that led him to ask "Can I see it?" before even thinking.

Then, for the second time today, Dana Scully shocked him.

Looking towards the door to make sure it was closed, she stood up and walked towards him while untucking the front of her blouse from her skirt. A mental image he'd most definitely reflect back on.

When she was standing in front of him, she was using one hand to hold her blouse up while the other pulled her skirt down, revealing her pretty little Scully-navel adorned with a gold hoop. She angled her hips forward so she could angle it towards his face as she proudly smirked, "See?"

"No way," he beamed, raising his index finger to flick the hoop back and forth quickly.

She laughed and concaved her body away from him. "Hey, that tickles!" she giggled, tucking her shirt back in as she made her way back to her chair. Even after the little, elegant gold hoop and porecelain skin were tucked away, they were permanently imprinted in his mind. Just as his smile seemed to be permanently imprinted on his face.

She was just full of surprises and he wanted to know them all.