Everything that can go wrong does go wrong: Mulder’s luggage goes missing and ends up who-knows-where. As if that weren’t enough, though, he face-plants in a muddy puddle while pursuing a suspect.
At least, while it’s little comfort to him and his suit personally, Scully and the local police catch the suspect. Case closed, and yet, he’s still not in luck. They’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, there is no flight out, and even worse, there is no store that sells clothes, leaving Mulder with his mud-splattered, dirty clothes.
His only solace is that they have adjoining rooms at the motel. If he had to parade down the hallway in a towel to see Scully, and it got back to the FBI, he doesn’t even want to know what Kersh would do to them. The door between their rooms is open. Despite being in the early stages of their romantic relationship, they’re not yet sharing every tiny detail.
“Hey, Scully,” he says, knocking softly before opening the door fully. She sits on her bed, one leg under her. Like him, she’s taken a shower. Her hair is still wet, her face devoid of any make-up.
“Were any of your clothes salvageable?”
“No. I cleaned the shirt and pants as best as I could. They’re drying in the shower. They smell like flowers at least.” Scully smiles at that. “I was going to ask if you um, had anything I could borrow.”
“Mulder, I appreciate that you’ve never seen me as anything but equal, but we’re not exactly the same size.”
“Gee, thanks. I know you always pack too much, so-”
“I pack for all eventualities,” she counters.
“Your pajama seems big enough,” he looks her up and down, walking closer. “Would you be willing to share?”
“My pajamas?” Mulder nods. “Then what am I going to wear?”
“I can keep you warm.” He grins. “Scully, I don’t want to sleep naked.” Right now all he’s wearing is a towel. He doesn’t want to put his boxer shorts back on, but he knows he has no choice. Unless Scully lends him a pair of panties. The thought compels him, but maybe that’s an idea for another time.
“You always sleep shirtless.” She blushes, realizing what she’s just said. They’re at a point in their relationship where she knows these things for a fact.
“Do you really not have anything I can wear?” She averts her eyes. That’s all it takes for him to know she’s hiding something. And suddenly he’s a dog with a bone.
“Scully?” he asks, joining her on the bed, but keeping his distance.
“I don’t have anything that fits you, Mulder.” Still not looking at him. There are more telltale signs. The way she’s picking at her pajama pants. The small red splotches on her cheeks. Lucky for him that Scully is such an awful liar.
“Are you sure?” He slides closer to her, trying to meet her eyes. “What’s in that bag of yours?”
“Nothing that fits you.”
“You want me to sleep shirtless, don’t you?” He can’t hide his grin. Finally, she looks up at him.
“We’re not sharing a bed, Mulder.”
He pouts, trying his best hurt expression. But she can read him as well as he can read her.
“The sheets on my bed are itchy.”
“They’re not.”
“They are. I swear.” He crosses his heart. It’s the truth, too. The only reason he came in here – besides his wish for a goodnight kiss – was in the hopes she had something he could wear. If he has to sleep on those itchy sheets, he might not even try at all. Scully examines him as if he were a piece of evidence, obviously trying to determine if he’s telling the truth.
“Fine,” she says. “I might have something.” He remains on her bed and watches her rummage through her bag.
“Is that – hey, that’s my shirt!” He stares at the T-shirt she hands him, one she must have nicked during one of her overnight stays. It’s old and faded, nothing he would have noticed missing. “You stole my shirt, Scully.” He tries to sound stern, but his words give way to amusement.
“I borrowed it,” she says evenly, eyeing the shirt.
“Sure, sure. Tonight, I’m borrowing it back.” He puts it over his head. It’s soft and smells like her. Perfect. “I promise you can steal it back tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep here? To have the shirt close?” Mulder waggles his eyebrows at her. Even in his recent state of undress, she’s stronger than he could ever be. If Scully were sitting here scantily dressed, he’d not be able to finish a single thought. Hell, he’s barely able to seeing her in her pajamas.
“Mulder, there are rules.”
“One of which is do not steal.” But he’s a thief too: he steals a kiss while she’s thinking of a comeback. “You can change your mind any time. You know where to find me.”
“Go to bed,” she says, barely above a whisper. She leans over, her hands on his thighs, kissing him more deeply; a promise for when they’re back home.
“The bed is really itchy, Scully. Cold, too.”
“Go,” she says with a soft laugh, pushing at his now t-shirt-clad upper body.
“You’re going to miss me – and my shirt.” Mulder slowly makes his way over to his own room, leaving the adjoining door open.
Fluffuary Day 11 - 12: True Love, Stealing Each Other's Clothes
[Ao3]
*-*-*-*-*
"Scully?"
She found him rooting around her side of the bed, pillow askew and sheets akimbo. "Mulder, what are you--" Noticed the closet door was left open, her side of the rack in disorganized chaos.
"Hey, Scully, where'd you put my nightshirt?" His head popped up briefly, ruffled hair sticking in opposite directions, before diving partway down the back of the mattress.
There was no use in denying that she had, a time or two, stolen his pajamas. Instead, Scully sighed, locked eyes with the ceiling, dug back through the past few days. "The white one?"
"Blue one, with the big stitch down the side?" Standing upright, he mimed sewing before chewing on one cheek. "I need it for the conference."
"Is it in the underwear drawer?"
"Not mine."
She moved aside as he stepped towards the dresser, watched him pull it open with a snap. Failed to hold back a smile as he explained, "If Skinner forces a few agents to pair up for the night, I'm wearing that one or nothing."
"Have you checked the wash? The clothesline? The, the...." Rubbing her forehead, she threw out, "Lily's room?"
He stopped short, staring over a disorderly pile of her silks and intimates. "Lily? You taught her how to steal, too?"
"Mulder, we didn't 'steal'," she mimicked, eyes rolling around her air quotes, "anything. She saw me wearing one of your shirts last month and, and wanted to do it, too."
"So you admit to the crime?"
Her smile was small, her shrug sad. "We missed you." Consultation work, while less dangerous, still had its tolls-- ones they had reconciled, ones their children were still young enough to be reconciling. Departure time was hard on all of them.
Mulder's approach was gentle, arms looping around firmly, convincingly. His own sigh was soft, heavy. This was a necessary ache, she knew, but one he would take away if possible. The man who wanted to save the world had stopped his running to save theirs.
They shored up in the silence, breathing synced, until he whispered, "You two can take whatever you want. Just leave something for Will. I noticed he likes to raid my jackets."
Today we celebrate @sagan-starstuff (or Sagan Fox), an author who frequently explores the fighting spirit (and odd communication style) shared between two intrepid FBI agents. (Happy Poangmas, pal!)
Loose chronological order below~
Please Come Back (Ao3)
“I asked him what your current assignment was, if you were still on wiretapping or not.” She leaned forward to try to get him to meet her eyes and engage with what she was saying, to give her something, anything. When he continued to avoid her gaze she shoved the blanket off of herself and twisted to sit at the edge of the bed. She grabbed his hand and squeezed hard.
“Mulder. Were you going to tell me you’d gotten the X-Files back, or was I going to have to find out through the grapevine?” She tried to keep her voice calm, but didn’t think she was succeeding.
Post-One Breath Scully and Mulder have a tensely cathartic conversation.
The Fourth Vision (Ao3)
He floated on a bed of branches through the eternal black void of the space between life and death. Those who traversed this bridge before floated like ether around him, in and out of is field of vision.
The Blessing Way Mulder is visited by Scully's father.
Bad Days (Ao3)
He paused and looked sheepish for a moment before holding out a white grocery bag to her. “I, uh…I picked up a couple other things, too. You might want to take a look before you bother going out.”
Post-Paper Clip Scully, Mulder, and her period on the road.
Miracles (Ao3)
I visited you tonight, Scully. I came into your room while you slept, held your hand, and wept like a child. My father would be so ashamed of me.
Redux II Mulder watches Scully sleep.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 2
Byers and Frohike stare toward the bathroom door. Langly was whistling. Jauntily.
“This is new,” mutters Byers.
“He has a date.”
The Lone Gunmen and Mulder gawk at Langly.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 9 (Ao3)
The tricks had been played and the treats dispensed in Scully’s apartment building. She set the bowl on the coffee table and plopped down next to Mulder. He grabbed it and started poking around the leftovers. “Who knew this building had so many kids?”
Scully, Mulder, and trick-or-treating.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 12 (Ao3)
Pencil after pencil buries itself in the drop ceiling. Scully’s surprisingly impressed by his consistency. He leans back in his chair, feet on the desk, eyes cast upward but unfocused.
Who can resist throwing pencils?
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 5 (Ao3)
Wincing, “They just found another body. It’s five minutes behind me.”
Her face falls. “But you promised!”
His hand at the small of her back, “I know, I know. I'm sorry. How about this - we’re in Wisconsin, you know what that means.”
Scully's back-to-back autopsies and promised sustenance.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 6 (Ao3)
A beat of silence. He leaned over and gently pulled her small, precise hands away from her face, cocooning them in his larger ones. He rested them on the console between them, torso turned a little awkwardly but it was worth it because she was allowing him this gesture. Her skin was icy but his palms burned as if he held a hot coal instead. Their eyes met. Hers flashed with something he could not trust himself to identify but had great hopes for.
Mulder and Scully discuss traffic and psychic powers.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 18 (Ao3)
The stakeout was a bust, so they sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the hood of the car.
Stakeouts and the universe.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 8 (Ao3)
Rigid but adaptable. Petite and impeccable but tough and tenacious as a terrier. Cool eyes and fiery opinions. She’ll laugh at his jokes and flirtation, but never at his ideas.
The x-Files duo are a paradox.
Conversations (Ao3)
She traded her envelope for the binder he extracted from underneath the teetering stack and they both got to work, passing the morning companionably working on the less glamorous aspects of being federal employees. A bit after lunch she was in the middle of summarizing some anomalous mass spectrometry results when she heard something small hit the back of her laptop screen. She looked up to see Mulder apparently engrossed in a book about crop circles but her suspicions rose when his eyes flicked to hers over the top of the cover. Peering down over the top of her screen, she spied a small orange heart lying on her desk with the words ‘WHAT’S UP’ written on it.
A smile crept onto her face. “Mulder-” she started but was silenced when he rattled his box of hearts and nodded encouragingly at hers.
Season 6, Valentine's Day, and candy hearts in the bullpen.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 17 (Ao3)
“Fox, it’s Diana. We should talk.”
Post-One Son Mulder doesn't trust his former partner.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 21
His shoes were suddenly fascinating. “I didn’t think Diana would betray me.”
A finger-gloved hand on his shoulder. “She didn’t betray only you. But I get it, man.”
Post-One Son Mulder and Frohike have a necessary chat.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 3 (Ao3)
Because I can’t forgive you out loud yet. Because you went to the end of the world to save me. Because I need you to forgive my fear.
Post-Agua Mala Mulder asks why his partner cares for him.
I have to let her(him) in
The last thing she remembered was the cold, hateful gaze of the man pressing her to the floor with one hand and reaching into her chest with another. She felt the impossible squeeze of his fingers around her heart, felt it struggle against his hand with her flesh torn open and burning as blood poured from the gash. An entire clip of bullets couldn’t stop him - all she could do was scream. How could that be? How could a man be solid enough to carve a hole in her chest and yet so insubstantial that bullets pass unnoticed? If she were not so afraid she would be fascinated. And then everything stopped, darkness took her. This is how I die. Mulder will be the one to find me like this. Mulder.
Post-Milagro Scully and Mulder take refuge in each other.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 13 (Ao3)
The distant look in her eyes fell away with a shake of her head, replaced with reticence. “We, um. We haven’t talked yet about what this means, if it even works. For us. How much you’d want to be involved, what it means for our work. I don’t want you to feel obligated to do more than you already are, to…give things you aren’t prepared to give.”
AU-- IVF arc Mulder and Scully have a more personal discussion.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 15 (Ao3)
Dana watched Melissa gleam in the golden sun. They were looking out over Coronado Beach. They had come here as girls. It was warm, the glow around her sister. How long had it been?
“So, when are you going to tell him you love him?”
Scully dreams of her sister... and makes a decision.
Counting
They stand side by side in the elevator, his good arm draped around her like the most natural thing in the world. He was usually the bolt of lightning waiting to strike but now she’s the one vibrating from head to toe, like at any minute she could jump out of her skin. The doors close and for a moment both stare straight ahead before simultaneously glancing in the other’s direction, and seeing his punch-drunk smile is what tips her over the edge.
Mulder and Scully's kisses through the years.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 16 (Ao3)
If everything else is his life is ripped away, this feeling he will keep forever. Of being whole.
Mulder and Scully are finally close, together.
he Realities of Domesticity (Ao3)
With a groan she started back toward her bedroom with the candle when she heard a sound that made freeze in her tracks - the sound of her bathroom door closing.
Mulder was awake.
Mulder was awake and had gone into the bathroom.
Mulder was awake and had gone into the bathroom which she’d just turned into a toxic waste dump.
Mulder takes care of his sick (girl)friend.
Round Lake Resorts (Ao3)
Scully responded firmly but warmly, “That's very kind of you to offer, but FBI ethics policy prohibits agents from accepting gifts from family of victims, it wouldn’t be right for us to -”
Steve shook his head and chuckled, “Ma’am, you can hand me that credit card to make yourself feel better but I'm not going to run it.” He cocked his head to the window where snow was now blowing sideways. “You can take the cabin and our gratitude or sleep in the car, because by the looks of it you all don't have much other choice at this point.”
Two people are given an unexpected snowed-in vacation-- guess who?
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 7 (Ao3)
Mulder was pinned. Trapped, at the mercy of his attacker, who was savaging his neck with her mouth, arms and legs wrapped firmly around his body like a vice. Escape was hopeless.
Mulder tickles his way to freedom.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 10 (Ao3)
“Are you sure you’re ok with this, Mulder?”
He smiles, “I’m here, am I not?”
Mulder is ready (and Bill is watching.)
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 22
“I swore I labelled that takeout.”
“You did. A week ago. And how did that work out for you?”
“Leave me to die already.”
Scully takes care of her sick (boy)friend.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 4 (Ao3)
She pictures herself as a shield, a harbor, a fire in the dark. She is not his mother but she swears once more to her God she will be his protector.
Sein und Zeit Scully consoles a grieving Mulder.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 11 (Ao3)
They sit against the bathroom wall, heads in their hands, plastic potty between them, toys scattered on the tile.
AU-- S9(-ish) William refuses to be potty trained.
XF Fictober ‘25 (Ao3)
“Are you sure the ice is even thick enough for this?”
He finishes first and hobbles out onto the ice. “Oh I’m sure, I jumped on it like crazy.”
She pauses her struggle with the laces to eye him skeptically. “You jumped on it? And just what would you have done if you’d gone through while I was in bed?”
Pre-IWTB's the Unremarkable House, childhood memories, and ice skating.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 19 (Ao3)
Her beauty and grace shone no matter how many wrinkles she had. She’d fought for them. So had he.
Revival Scully is glad to be home.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 14
She pinches her nose while he strips off the ghillie suit on the porch.
S11 Mulder's squatchin' mayhaps.
XF Fictober 2025 - Chapter 23, 24 (Ao3)
They’d clung together so tightly they shattered and fell apart. It had been a long time picking up again, reassembling themselves out of the wreckage. But the love was always there, always would be, molten between them.
Join Scully as she is taken on a seemingly endless journey to learn the truth about the foundations of her blossoming romantic relationship with Mulder.
Enjoy this little scene that takes place just before Chapter One begins :)
---
She stared at him as he finished the last bite of his meal and neatly placed his knife and fork together on his plate. His posture was impeccable.
She hadn't expected him to bring her to such a nice restaurant. It was remarkable, really, that Mulder could still surprise her after all these years, and seeing him in this kind of environment was fascinating. The subconscious etiquette, embedded into him throughout childhood, was not a side of him she had seen much. Mulder was far from stiff, stuck up. Could be a downright slob at times. But the Mulder boy from the Vineyard would never leave him.
A zip of excitement shot through her. Here they were, on an actual date for the first time, and she was learning new things about him. He smirked at her when he caught her eye, still smiling as he asked the waiter for the dessert menu.
"You know, Scully, I have to admit. I was a little nervous about tonight."
"Nervous?" Scully let out a small chuckle. "Why?"
Mulder shrugged. "I don't know. Seems like a big deal."
"Seems like a really small one to me."
"Do you really think that?"
Scully betrayed a small smile. "No."
"You look beautiful tonight," Mulder said softly. "And I'm glad I can say that without worrying that I'm weirding you out."
Scully lifted her wine glass and hid her wide smile behind it.
For those who were waiting until the fic was complete before reading!
I have to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read this story already, it has had over 5k hits and that has blown my mind! The story definitely took its own path and surprised me, and i'm already well into writing the second part of this story, so you won't have to wait too much longer.
Words: 104,103
Chapters: 50/50
Summary:
When Dana Scully discovers that her husband is cheating on her, her world should have shattered.
But instead, she meets Fox Mulder, the best person she possibly could have.
Through late night drives, nervous emails and desperate bids to be together, they form a bond that neither has ever felt before.
Though their lives are complicated and their pain is heavy, they find themselves fighting to remain by each others sides.
Hi! I read this fic a year or so ago, but I can't remember the name and can't find it. I believe it's on ao3. It's about Mulder and Scully attending a FBI ball/Christmas/Office party (unsure of which) but Scully attends with a date, and she tells her date to meet her in a storage room to have sex but when she goes, the room is dark and it's accidentally Mulder. They have sex, but they don't know it was each other and shenanigans ensue. I was wondering if you or anyone else knows about it. Thx!
I've tried to figure out this X-Files fic, but I can't place it. It sounds vague familiar, so maybe I have only seen it but not yet read it? Sorry!
If you know what fic anon might be looking for where Scully is at a party with a date, sort of accidentally has sex with Mulder in the dark, and then shenanigans ensue, please let us know!
Hey! What’s the best AU stories in your opinion?? If you know any that isn’t connected to the myth of the series but just contemporary au I’d be thankful for you forever 🤩😍
Many great AU fics are in my XF AU fic rec list. That is a long list, so I bet you will find something to like!
They're not all AU, but there are a lot of very good fics in my cute domestic fic rec list and my happy fic rec list that don't have the mytharc as a focus, if anything about it is even mentioned explicitly.
Sorry I didn't quite answer your question, but it's hard for me to parse out which AU (or other) fics aren't connected to the mytharc. Mulder and Scully are SO connected to the mytharc, even when they're doing something like sitting around on Scully's couch (where she was abducted as part of the mytharc), or driving by cornfields (where they were running around in the mytharc of Fight the Future), or working a case where they meet a young girl (who reminds them of Emily from the mytharc), or see a bee and talk about how much they hate bees, and so on.
So I did nothing at all for fictober, but I heard the prompt for the last day ("I still love you"), and I already had Scrivener open and here we are.
tagging @today-in-fic
Revival msr angstfluff with a happy ending, because if this isn't the perfect prompt for them, then what is?
She feels him watching her across the desk, his fingers playing with a pencil that dropped into his lap; it took him no time at all to decorate their office ceiling again once they’d reclaimed this familiar space. His silence is intense, it fills the room, leaving just enough space for the rustling of paper as she flips through pages in the file.
“How did your date go?”
His words startle her. “What?”
When she looks up, his gaze is too steady, his posture too loose to be natural. “Last night,” he says. “Your date.”
“How did you know?” They’re not the right words, this was never meant to be a secret, never meant to make him sad.
“I was going to get pizza. At… our usual place.”
“Ah.” He doesn’t need to say it. She can see the sorrow in his eyes. “I didn’t see you.”
“I left. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
She nods. She didn’t want him to see. Another man touching her hand across a table where they used to sit, thinking their love would last forever. “It was…” She trails off. She shrugs. “It was just dinner. He’s an old coworker. From the hospital.”
“Are you gonna see him again?” Another question hangs unspoken between them: Did you see him before?
“No,” she says. “I’m not.”
“Why not?”
Because, she thinks, he smiled at me and I felt nothing. “I don’t know.” Because, she thinks, my name sounded wrong in his voice. Because he was in your seat and I didn’t like it. “He asked me out when we worked together. I said no. Then we ran into each other at the grocery store, and…”
“You said yes.”
“Yeah. But the spark just wasn’t there.”
“What made you change your mind? When he asked again?”
“Well, he wasn’t my coworker anymore.” And because I feel more lonely now than ever, more lonely now that you’re back in my life, because you’re right here and still not mine, she doesn’t say.
“I’m sorry.” His voice is sincere. “That it didn’t work out.”
She isn’t sure if he means her date. “Me too.”
“I need coffee. Do you want me to bring you anything?”
No invitation to come with him. She doesn’t ask. “I’m fine, thank you.”
He puts his pencil down. He doesn’t look at her as he grabs his jacket and leaves. The door clicks shut behind him and she stares at his empty desk chair that still holds his warmth and she wants to curl up in it and breathe the air that touched his body.
“I’m not going to see him again,” she says out loud to the empty space in front of her, “because I still love you.”
She wonders why she feels like she owes it to him to move on. He worked hard on getting better. So did she. They were supposed to do it for each other. But she never told him that. She wonders.
If she knows she’d wait forever, if she knows he’d do the same, then what are they waiting for?
They’ve been here before. Waiting. She doesn’t want it to take seven years again. But she never told him that either.
**
Everything between them is forever. Everything has always been forever. Forever is a long time. She doesn’t want it to include the waiting.
They have their work and she smiles at him across small town police stations, laughs with him in the car, chats across cheap Formica table tops in greasy diners. He puts his hand on the small of her back and she leans into it. She argues her point until he argues back, his eyes alight with the old fire that finally flares hot again.
She cries into his shirt when her mother dies, links their fingers on a walk behind his house, falls asleep on his couch with him right next to her.
She comes to his motel room late at night, shaken by their case, asks him to hold her. “What’s gonna happen? When we’re old? Are we gonna spend time together?” “I’ll always be around Scully.” “What if you meet someone?” He tightens his hold on her and she doesn’t need his words. His body is hot and familiar on top of hers, the rhythm of his breath and the way he moves inside her all the answer she needs, and she hopes, she hopes.
A date night that ends with her house in ashes, his hand in hers as they watch the ruins; she’s happier than she’s been in a long time. “Come home with me,” he says. She has nowhere else to go. Not because her house blew up. Home isn’t where you keep your things, and she never kept many in this cold place anyway. She chooses warmth.
“I believe in you,” he tells her. “Are we together?” she asks. “I am standing right here and I am listening,” he says. And she whispers in his ear. Words that are for him and him alone. The waiting will not last forever. “I’d like to do it together,” she tells him, and he lights a candle for her prayer. She doesn’t owe it to him to move on. He doesn’t owe it to her. They move on together.
**
Their house. Their home. Their bed. His skin against hers, his lips, his fingers, his promises.
“You were right to leave,” he says.
“I was right to come back,” she says.
“You were lonely before you left.”
“You were lonely while I was gone.”
He tightens his embrace, places a kiss in her hair. “So much loneliness.”
She lifts her head and meets his eyes. “Not anymore.”
Lonely with each other, lonely without each other—this time, they know the stakes. They know themselves a little better. They’ve always known each other.
“I love you,” he says.
She feels it in her bones, she always has. “I love you too.” Not still. There is no still. No threat of an ending. This is now, this will always have been, and they will take it with them wherever they go next.
They’ll be okay. There’s no “forever easy.” But there’s them. That’s good enough.
On October 24, 2009 Britney's "3" became her third No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, joining her debut single "...Baby One More Time" and "Womanizer."
Life on the run can lead to many different adventures...
August 2003
Scully smoothed down the simple black dress she wore, exhaling a deep breath. She picked up a brush and ran it through her hair, tucking it behind her ears as she glanced in the mirror.
The door opened behind her and she turned to see Mulder walking into the room.
“I almost forgot what it felt like to wear one of these,” he said, pulling at his tie as he walked over to her.
“It has been awhile,” she said, reaching out to adjust it for him. “You could have opted out of it, you know.”
“Nah. Gotta do it right,” he said, grinning at her.
“Hmm,” she hummed, smiling back at him.
“I mean, I wore one for years, so I can handle it now.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, running her fingers down his tie.
“You look good,” he said, pulling back to look her up and down.
“Thank you.” She grinned as he continued to look at her. “You seem surprised.”
“By your beauty? Never.”
“Yet… your tone implied otherwise.”
“Did it?” he asked, putting his hands on her hips and rubbing his thumbs back and forth.
“Somewhat.”
“I apologize if that was the case.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, her hands on his chest. “You ready?”
“Yup. Stupider people than us have done this, right?”
“I’m… sorry?” she asked, pulling back and staring at him with her eyebrows raised.
“What? Did I-”
“Stupider? Are you implying that I’m stupid?”
“What?! No! I-”
“You asked if I-”
“I know I did.”
“But now you’re saying I’m stupid? Or we’re stupid for doing this?”
“No! Wait. Wait. That’s not… not what I…” He sighed heavily and then closed his eyes as she bit back a smile. He drew in a deep breath and then looked at her. “That was the wrong word.”
“Was it?” she asked, crossing her arms, keeping her face void of emotion.
“It was. I was trying to be funny, I guess,” he said quietly.
“Mmm. I don’t know if you were successful there,” she said, shaking her head and looking down. “I don’t think I’m stupid. Especially for doing this.”
“Scully. Jesus. I’m sorry. It’s not what I meant.” She saw his feet as he stepped closer and she had to fight hard to not laugh. “Scully, please…”
She raised her head and looked at him, seeing the worry in his eyes, and she took pity on him.
“Mulder,” she said softly, placing a hand on his cheek.
“It was the wrong word.”
“Not stupid,” she said, shaking her head.
“Not stupid,” he agreed with a nod.
“Maybe crazy is what you meant,” she suggested with a smile as she stroked his cheek. “And a bit impulsive.”
“Hmm…” he hummed, pulling her close and resting his forehead against hers. “Maybe a bit impulsive.”
“Not crazy?” she asked.
“No,” he assured her. “Well, I mean I’m crazy.”
“Yes,” she laughed. “I know that.” He chuckled softly, swaying them slightly, before pulling back and holding her gaze as he shook his head.
“Maybe it’s a little impulsive, but… not surprising, right?” he asked.
“No,” she said, her stomach feeling alight with happiness.
“No,” he agreed.
“Hmm,” she hummed, smiling at him. “So then, not stupid?”
“No,” he said, his face serious. “That was definitely not the right word.”
“Good,” she said.
“Hmm,” he hummed, resting his forehead against hers again.
A knock sounded at the door and they pulled apart as it opened.
“Hello. You two ready?”
Scully smiled at Mulder and nodded.
“Yeah. We are.”
“More than,” Mulder said, taking her hand and interlocking their fingers. She held his arm with her other hand and followed him out the door.
“Wait right here,” the woman who had collected them said, smiling as she opened one of the tall doors in front of them and stepped inside, the door closing behind her.
“Nervous?” Mulder asked in the silence.
“Are you?” Scully asked in reply, looking up at him.
“Kind of,” he whispered.
“Why?” she asked, squeezing his hand.
“I really couldn’t say.” He shook his head as he stared at her.
“Is it a happy nervous maybe?” she asked, taking his other hand and squeezing them gently.
“Absolutely. Very happy.”
“Me too.”
“Glad we’re in it together,” she said with a smile.
“Always.”
“Always.”
He bent his head and kissed her softly as music began to play behind the door.
“Oh, I think that’s our cue,” she whispered against his lips, kissing him once more.
“Hmm. Yeah. Let’s do this.”
He pulled back, smiling at her as he let go of her hands. Holding out his arm, she slid hers through it and let out a deep breath, her stomach filling with nervous excitement.
Both doors opened, two women smiling at them as they waited for them to enter, the music louder now. It was violins and a cello playing a song she could not place, but was incredibly beautiful.
“Come on,” Mulder whispered, covering her hand and giving it a squeeze.
Stepping into the room, they walked down the small aisle and stood in front of the officiant who beamed at them.
“Hello. I’m so happy you’ve come here today, to be joined in marriage, freely and of your own will.”
Mulder exhaled and she smiled, her grip on his arm tightening, as the officiant continued speaking though she was no longer paying attention.
She concentrated on the sounds around her, the smell of the flowers on the small altar in front of them, the scent of Mulder’s cologne, and the quick beating of her heart.
Their vows were standard ones that millions of people had spoken before them, but the ones spoken with their eyes were for them alone.
The rings they exchanged had been purchased at a flea market they had perused a month previously, needing a break from the monotony of their days.
It had been a joke at first, him picking one up and getting down on one knee, drawing attention from the crowd around them. She had stared at him in wide-eyed shock as he grinned like a madman.
“Please, my love. I can’t bear the thought of my life without you,” he had said with great exaggeration and she shook her head.
“Maybe we should make it past a first date and I’ll let you know,” she had teased, trying to withdraw all the eyeballs upon them.
People laughed, shaking their heads as they had walked away. He had gotten up, head downcast as he handed the ring back.
“Well now hold on,” she had said. “I didn’t say no, just not yet. Buy a woman dinner first, man. Dinner… then we can discuss marriage. How does that sound?”
“Oh. Well, in that case,” he had said, taking out his wallet. “I’m gonna need that ring back, sir.”
“I think you better grab its mate then, buddy,” the man had chuckled, taking a larger ring from a different box, holding both for them to see. “I made these myself. They aren’t much of anything fancy, just rings I’ve created from old silverware, trying to give it new life, but what’s that saying about beauty?”
“It’s in the eye of the beholder,” Mulder had said, taking the rings and looking intently at Scully, silently asking her all he needed to say. She had nodded slightly and he grinned. “Yeah… we’ll take both.”
The rings had stayed in the small case the man provided, in a holder in the center console of their car. Nothing much was said about them, but Mulder had often held her hand after that, rubbing his fingers across her ring finger.
Driving into the east side of Lake Tahoe, they had seen a sign advertising same day weddings. He had looked at her and she had smiled. Opening the console, she had taken out the case of rings and held them on her lap.
“Well,” Mulder had said softly. “Okay.”
The marriage license purchased, they had gone shopping. Separating and paying at different counters, they had looked for a church that would take them on short notice.
Now they stood, vows and rings shared, the officiant nearing the end of the service. She looked down at her “not so fancy” ring and found it to be the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
“And so, by the power that has been vested in me, by the state of Nevada, I pronounce you husband and wife. From now, until death parts you.”
“Well,” they both said, staring at one another and then laughing, the officiant looking confused.
“We’ve been through a lot, you see,” Mulder said by way of explanation. “Felt like death at times.”
“Oh, I see,” the officiant said with an understanding nod. “Well, you’re now married and tied to one another forever. Oh… and you may now kiss your bride.”
“With absolute pleasure,” Mulder said, bending his head and pressing his lips to hers gently- once, twice, three times. She smiled as he straightened up, his hands grasping hers.
“Congratulations,” the officiant said as the wedding march began to play and they turned, arm in arm, to walk back up the aisle.
The women at the doors smiled at them, murmuring their congratulations as well and they thanked them.
Mulder directed her back to the room to collect their things, closing the door behind them and leaning against it, as he stared at her. She shook her head and grinned at him.
“My wife,” he whispered and she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“My husband,” she whispered, kissing him tenderly.
“I love you,” he whispered, kissing her again.
“I love you too,” she whispered back, running her fingernails along his neck. “Not stupid.”
“No. I’d say it’s one of the smartest things we’ve ever done.” He nuzzled his nose against hers and she exhaled a laugh.
“Crazy and impulsive.”
“Definitely. But what’s life without a little bit of crazy?”
She laughed as he kissed her, whispering his love once again, his fingers dancing softly along her back, as her heart rate doubled.
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