Mulder and Scully Years Later
Scully hesitates to open her eyes. First, she has a conversation with herself. There is nothing of which to be ashamed. She is a grown woman. She has biological needs.
Second she imagines what she will say to Mulder. This doesn't have to be awkward. They can handle this like adults. Will he want to talk about their emotions? Have a relationship conversation? Oh, God, will he want to do a play by play? Will she have to tell him how good he was? She doesn't want to believe he is one of those guys. Will he want to tell her how good she was? No!!!
He sure is still, she thinks. She reaches her hand a little, then a little more, than fully across the bed. Then she opens her eyes and sits up. He snuck away in the middle of the night, she thinks. Her fury turns to self indulgent laughter at herself. Should she be surprised he ditched her? So typically Mulder. As she laughs out loud, there is a light knock on her bedroom door. "Scully, you decent?"
Decent? After last night? I mean he had seen every part of her. She stands and grabs her robe and slips it on. "Come in, Mulder."
Her heart leaps at the sight of him. Literally beats faster. He is fully dressed. He doesn't look any specific way but...Mulder, casual version
"Good morning, Scully."
"Good morning, Mulder."
Their eyes meet. Each smiles slightly. Neither looks away embarrassed.
"Share the joke?"
"Joke?"
"You were laughing."
"Oh, a funny dream, I guess."
Mulder nods not wanting to press her. "Hungry? I have coffee, croissant, fruit." He turns away without waiting for her answer. Scully follows him to her kitchen. She finds the note on the table he must have left earlier. "Will be back-went to get breakfast." She holds it and reads it several times. Mulder has plated their breakfast and poured the coffee. "I didn't want you to wake up and think I slipped away in the middle of the night." Scully nods.
"Thank you for breakfast."
Mulder is beginning to be uncomfortable. “You don't mind that I stayed for breakfast? It just seems more polite to have breakfast together."
"Polite?"
"Yeah, civilized, but if you have somewhere you need to be or want me to leave."
"No," Scully is now feeling uncomfortable. "It's more civilized to have breakfast together."
"So, New York Times or Washington Post? I got them both." Scully suddenly smiles. This feels so normal and perfect. Breakfast, Sunday paper and Mulder! She realizes that Mulder isn't going to pressure her to talk about anything. Why not enjoy a Sunday morning?
An hour later while she washes the few breakfast dishes, Mulder gathers their wine glasses and bottle from the night before to bring to her.
“It was a good bottle of wine, Scully."
"It was, Mulder. I had a good time last night.” She tries her best to keep all emotion from her voice. Just being polite.
"I had a good time as well." Mulder's voice is the gravelly, deep one Scully recognizes as his voice of extreme emotion.
Scully is suddenly scared and looks down. "One thing, Scully." He puts his hand on her chin and tilts her head up to look in her eyes. He sees her frightened deer in the headlight look. "Next Saturday I pick the movie.”
Scully laughs again. “It's a date."
"It's a date," he repeats softly.
He drops his hand from her chin. “I should go," he says.
Scully says, "talk to you later?"
Mulder, as he walks to the door " I always call you Sunday night, dont I?"
Then, he is gone. Scully feels an unfathomable loneliness.
The rest of the day she is simultaneously happy reliving last night, relieved the morning after has been so comfortable and angry because nothing was resolved. Next weekend? He will pick the movie? It's a date? Will they have sex again? Will it be a pattern? Or will it never happened again? Did he not talk about last night because he thought it was a mistake?
Was he assuming she wanted to have a relationship with him? He is the most frustrating man! Who does he think he is?Why last night out of all the other nights.
Then the phone at the usual time.
"Hello, Mulder." She would treat this call like any other.
"I'm fine, Mulder." She says in the voice she uses when she is not.
"Nothing is wrong, Mulder. I'm fine.”
Mulder has spent some time thinking as well. He wants her to know that he is interested, but he doesn't want to take anything for granted and he doesn't want to pressure her.
He has waited this long. He will wait longer.
"Do you know what I've been thinking about today, Scully?
"How would I know what you think?"
He ignores the brusqueness in her voice.
l've been thinking about the first time we met. I was so intimidated by you. I wanted to impress you. I wanted you to like me. I was afraid you wouldn't like me."
Scully begins to thaw. "And now?"
"I'm so intimidated by you. I want to impress you. I want you to like me."
"So nothing has changed?"
"I trust that you like me. "
"Because of last night?"
"What? No...because of the last seven years.”
"Why though? Why last night? Why after all this time?"
Mulder tries to think of what to say. There is no particular reason for last night to be the night. As wonderful as it was, he didn't want it to mean so much that it limited how they interacted with each other. Sex is the closest our senses can allow for souls to touch, but he didn't even think it was the most intimate they had ever been. Remembering the fright in Scully's eyes that morning he decides to keep it light.
"Oh, that was just Pon Farr."
"What?"
"You know. Like Star Trek. Every seven years a Vulcan is forced to mate."
"Star Trek, the television show? I've never seen it. " A long pregnant pause is followed by Scully saying,"Mulder?"
"You've never seen Star Trek" he exclaims incredulously.
"No, I wasn't interested in aliens growing up, Mulder”
Another long pregnant pause is followed by "How the Hell have you never seen Star Trek?
“Just explain it to me. Vulcans only have sex every seven years?"
"No, they can have sex whenever they want, but they have to have sex every seven years. They are driven to it.”
"With anyone? I mean I get it if it's only every seven years, but it's not very flattering that you just needed to have sex with someone.”
"What! No, they are driven every seven years to have sex with someone that they have gone through a mind meld with."
"Mind meld?"
Mulder has watched the episodes so frequently the words from the episodes come to him readily. He repeats them now. "Parted from me, and never parted. Never and always touching and touched."
A third pregnant pause follows with Mulder saying, "It work so well for Spock, but a Vulcan is compelled to mate with a person with whom they belong, like you are so connected that the person is a part of you." He had meant to keep it light. "Like the way I feel for you, Scully. If we never have sex again, it won't stop me from belonging completely to you, but no matter how often we have sex, l will always want to touch you more. But it's not only about sex. It's like I know you as well as I know myself but will never stop wanting to know you better than I do now.”
Scully can't believe that somehow she has fallen in love with a man who uses a nerdy science fiction show to describe how he feels. Yet, somehow, it is the perfect declaration she needed and, yet, was afraid to hear.
"Ok. But we don't have to wait another seven years, do we?"
"I can come over now."
"Why don't you bring a few things to leave for when you spend the night over here?
"On my way, Scully: