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X-Files Collector's Edition: Mulder and Scully Fight Insomnia
Mulder and Scully have battled many a monster in their time; but insomnia is a beast of its own. Thankfully, it's vanquished with their teamwork just as successfully.
These fics aren't set around a specific episode (that will be a future post), and sort of float around depending on your head canons.
Loose chronological order below~
@wtfmulder/@momdadimpoppunk’s (Ao3) Unnamed
""He rustles in his seat, cursing at how tight the space feels between his body and the steering wheel. With a violent jerk, he maneuvers the seat back so hard he might have launched himself into the underworld without the protection of metal and cement.""
S1 Mulder's lack of sleep makes him snap moodily at Scully during their stakeout. She sees right through him, and swaps places so his eyes can rest.
Karen D. Enriquez's November 27, 1994
""He hadn't known, then, what he knew now. He hadn't known about the Light that had held him immobile. The Light that had told him to not be afraid. The Light that had said she would return. Would it have changed anything if he'd known then?
Ignorance is bliss, he told himself. Whoever had first said it had lied.""
Mulder's dark memories of his messed-up family after the loss of Samantha leads him to roam the roads in the dark hours of the morning, unable to sleep.
Pares's (Ao3) Soporific (Ao3)
""I said, do you want a turkey sandwich?"
She smiles at him. "Turkey sounds pretty good. My father used to nap through every Thanksgiving football game. Eventually, we bought him a VCR."
Nodding, he pads into his kitchen and even with the music she can hear the way his feet stick to the linoleum, the soft suction of the fridge door opening. She listens to the crinkle of wax paper, and Mulder's experimental sniff. This is followed immediately by a sharp exhalation and finally the mangling whirr of the In-Sink-Erator over the rush of the tap. There must be something else at least vaguely edible in the fridge, however, as she hears a second foray and the clink of bottles.""
Scully is afflicted with insomnia so severe she can't sleep for three days. She drifts to Mulder's, where he runs her through his routines (including ironing all his clothes.)
@oceanofthesky/noifsandsorbees's Spiderwebs and Butterflies
""Less than two feet away her lanky partner is sprawled out on
her bed. At least she thinks it’s her bed. That’s where she fell
asleep last night. She gently lifts her head and takes a quick
inventory. Yes. Her bed. She distinctly remembers going to
sleep alone and she recognizes that her favorite black silk
pajamas are still wrapped around her.
Suddenly, fear jumps into her throat and she reaches a tenative
hand out and runs the back of her fingers lightly down his cheek
and across his forehead. She slowly releases the breath she was
holding as she realizes he doesn’t appear ill. But that only
eliminates one possibility from the mystery of the uninvited
bedfellow.""
Scully is equally surprised that Mulder sneaked into her room and that his nightmare had been about her. She insists he stay, calming his fears and lulling him back to sleep.
misslucyjane's Better Things Than Counting Sheep
""How about writing something?"
"Like . . . working on a monograph?" Scully said, glancing at her desk.
"No, not work. Just write. Like, write about what's keeping you awake. Write what you're worried about."
"Does it work for you?"
He chuckled again, lower this time. "I'm not sleepless because of unusual stress. I've adjusted to being sleepless, I just find other things to do.""
Scully can't sleep; and calls up Mulder for tips. The two chatter over late night tv, proposal what ifs, and lullabies.
@sapphicscullyy's (Ao3) Stargazing (Ao3)
""Scully stared up at the mould-covered ceiling, willing herself to fall asleep and escape the nightmare she and Mulder were living in. Her ability to fall asleep seemingly anywhere failed her at the worst moments; only when the solace of dreaming was all she desired. She sighed, attempting to close her eyes once more, it would probably find her in her dreams too.
The adjoining door between her room and Mulder’s let out a soft creak as it opened slightly, the blue glow of the television screen bathing the walls. She felt Mulder hesitate, before slipping partially through the now ajar door.""
Mulder bundles Scully out to stargaze when she can't sleep during a rough case. She privately wonders how her father would have interacted with him.
@i-gaze-at-scully's (Ao3)
Passionflower and rosehips
""He’s considering sleeping pills, just for the night, just for a reset. But where could he get them? He drives home and somewhere in the back of his mind understands how dangerous this simple act is, driving in his state. Making it home in one piece, he yanks his tie off his neck and collapses onto the couch.
He sleeps until the knock at the door, the thunder in his ears, an acute electric volt restarting his slumbering heart. His skin crawls as his body unwillingly, begrudgingly returns to consciousness.
“Mulder?” Scully calls, and he tastes blood as he bites down hard on his lip to keep from screaming.""
Mulder can't sleep-- culminating in him taking his rage out on Scully. He swiftly apologizes, describing his dire situation. She helps him calm, and helps comfort him after nightmare.
Unnamed
""Scully hums and nods, working her fingers around the hairline behind both his ears in tandem, repetitive motions. Slow swirls, lazy loops. He tries to move but she steadies his head, lets out a soft shushing noise.“ Sometimes it’s almost paralyzing, like a benign form of locked in syndrome,” he continues, sighing deeply. “I get hungry but can’t get off the couch to eat. I get bored but can’t figure out what to watch, what to do. The pervasiveness of being tired and unable to sleep eats at the rest of me, you know?”
“Mm,” Scully agrees....""
Mulder companionably describes his "wired but tired"; but Scully's temple massage wins the standoff with insomnia.
janewaystolemyheart's Demons
""He was leaning against the doorframe, a lost look at his face, his eyes red and endlessly tired. He looked like he hadn’t slept in at least 36 hours.
“Mulder, what...” Scully began, and lifted her hand to softly check his forehead for a temperature, but he seemed to be fine, physically.
“I can’t sleep, Scully.”
“Can you ever?” She asked jokingly, but the look on his face wiped away her smile within a second. Something was weighing heavy on him, something big, that a little joke on her side could not get rid of.""
Mulder's insomnia is intensified by personal demons and nightmares. Scully tries to help by sharing her motel room, soothing his tears.
DanaScully77's Night Hags and Restless Sleep - Chapter 1
""Lost in her dreams, Scully growls as reality creeps in, ripping her from the peaceful thoughts. She bats away a hand that’s nudging her shoulder, mumbling to ‘go away’ before she becomes fully conscious.
“Sorry, Scully, but you said to wake you if I was still awake.”
The pure desperation and agony in his voice snaps her out of her haze and Scully’s blue eyes open in a look of concern. “Have you slept at all?” Doctor Scully is instantly in effect, pushing the covers back to hold onto one of his wrists, reading his pulse. A shake of his head indicates no and she frowns at the higher-than-normal heart rate.""
Scully realizes how desperate Mulder's latest bout of insomnia is-- so desperate that not even medication is working. She tries a last-ditch effort before he might have to be put into an emergency coma.
@lokisgame’s (Ao3) New Dawn
""I can’t leave now, time is working against us.” He didn’t shake her off so she turned around, slipped her hand down to take his hand. She looked him straight in the eye, soft expression asking for his trust.
“You have to,” she said, gently squeezing his hand, before letting go and walking out. Mulder followed.""
Scully carves out a nap time for Mulder on a rough profiling case, which then becomes a regular practice for the two of them to snatch sleep together.
BWJournal's The Moon and The Sun
""Six painful years.
Six years of her shape a gorgeous shadow against the light coming through a window. A stoic shape. A statue of her own making. Sometimes larger than life… and others, heartbreakingly vulnerable.""
S6 Mulder's insomnia gives him front-row seat to Scully's sleep walking. Both badly cope with their traumas in very different ways.
Tesla's (X-Libris) Get Up, Mulder
""Get up, Mulder."
Why wouldn't she let him sleep? She wouldn't like it if he suddenly started pounding on her bedroom door. "There better be a fire, Mulder," she had grumbled one time, when he'd tried to get her out of a hotel room for an early breakfast. Like this fertilizer detail was so urgent.
And then the time after the tornado in Kroner. He had been afraid to move on his roll-away cot. Afraid to breathe. Afraid not to breathe.
He preferred thinking about the long ride back from Antarctica.""
S6 Mulder just wants to sleep. Life and a good-natured Scully intervene.
the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake
""Since San Diego, he’s been spending a lot of time not sleeping. A lot of time thinking about doll-eyed little girls and skinned knee boys and the weight of Scully’s fever-warm daughter across his chest.
If he’s honest, it started before that. Before Florida, even. After Bill and Maggie and Skinner and the priest had all left the room in a bustling, confused mass of prayer and benediction, Scully had slept long hours in her hospital bed. As she’d left the room, her mother had caught his shoulder in her navy-wife grip and suggested he go get some rest in the same firm, no nonsense way Scully liked to use to suggest his theories were wrong. He’d gone home and slept in half-hour bursts. Patterns of oblivion broken up by the imagined ringing of the phone. It was rare that he felt unable to tell dream from reality. He wondered what was a polite length of time to wait to call Scully at the hospital and say, “Hey, I had this crazy dream about miracles. Also, are you really alive?""
Mulder reflects on his insomnia and Scully's ability to sleep anywhere. That changes over time as she has some traumas of her own; but in the end, it allows her to open up about Melissa (and to pull relationship some moves on Mulder.)
A. Kelley Nolan's Losing Sleep
""Most often it is Scully who knocks. His sleeping habits are so poor he doesn't dare seek her company every time, and she can always be fairly certain that he will be awake when she is. She knocks, or pushes open the connecting door, and waits for the smile of invitation. The next hour or so follows an almost invariable pattern. They may chat, but more likely they watch TV quietly, until she steals a pillow and finally drifts off to sleep. When he realizes she is out he sits and watches her, sometimes for a minute or two, sometimes nearly until dawn breaks, and then softly slips into her room to catch as much sleep as he can in her bed. He's not sure he could handle waking up next to her, and he sleeps best when he can burrow down into cool sheets that are brushed with her scent.
Mulder knocks less often, because there aren't nearly as many times when he can be sure she is awake. He knows that her insomnia is tied to her body's natural cycles, and he has learned these rhythms by heart.""
Mulder and Scully always talk late into the night at motels, regardless of sleep patterns, food, or current cases. Their deepening relationship slowly develops through these moments, culminating in moves being made and their relationship getting furthered.
Havisham/Billie Reid/Billie1 's (FFN) Midnight Phone Call, After Midnight
""As if on cue, the phone rang and a smile crept on my face. "Hey," was all that I managed to say without subconsciously inserting inappropriate phrases.
"Mulder, do you ever sleep?" she asked and I heard sheets rustling. She must have been calling me from her bed. I wanted to ask her what she was wearing, but chose wisely not to.
"Speak for yourself. I don't think either of us even got a chance to sleep in the past 48 hours," I said....""
Mulder can't sleep and is happy when Scully calls for a bedtime story. He accidentally drops an "I love you"; and Scully picks up that topic the next day after shopping.
IStanYouStan5676's Promise?
""Are you sure you don’t want me to tag along?” This time his voice was softer.
“Mulder what’s going on with you?” Her tone also softer but laced with concern.
“Nothing Scully, I just thought you’d like some company.”
“When have you ever willingly gone to a conference?”
“The Smokey Mountain Bigfoot Conference for starters.""
Mulder can't sleep because of nightmares. He warns Scully-- who is out of town-- NOT to drive to D.C. on the day she plans. While she initially agrees, a creep at the convention makes her change her mind, propelling her into the very scenario of Mulder's dream.
@rationalcashew's (Ao3) And, You Thought You'd Never Stand Out
""Yet, she always answered the phone when he called.
Why was that?
She always knew he was the one calling, too. Mulder wondered if that was a good or bad thing. He didn’t want to be an annoyance to her. She was the one who helped him clear his head.""
Insomniac Mulder loves to call gf Scully to hear her voice at night.
@purrykat/mylifeinshadow's Day 20
""You’d never been a good sleeper. As a kid, your parents had praised Samantha for being such an easy baby, for sleeping through the night from nearly the beginning. ‘It wasn’t like that with Fox’, they’d say, 'he kept us up until he was well over a year’. Even as a child, you’d felt that there was something you were missing in the late hour.""
Mulder is amazed that having Scully for a girlfriend has very effectively quelled his insomniac nature.
stellar_dust’s (Ao3) The Red-Headed League
""Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table."
Mulder turned around in his chair, grinning. "You trying to tell me something?""
Scully banters with her Sherlock to get him to sleep after 3 days awake. He's amused, and succumbs to sleep.
""And why did you come over? I don’t need to get up to chase some monster in the dark at two thirty in the morning, do I?” He laughed softly and she smiled.
“No. Nothing so inconvenient.”
“Good.”
Silence fell and she heard the wind blowing outside her window, a low rumble of thunder in the distance.""
Mulder can no longer sleep without Scully around. She's amused and touched.
@scullyphile‘s (Ao3) Unnamed
""I’m asleep,” she says, her voice pouring out of the darkness like warm milk.
“You don’t sound like you’re sleeping,” he counters, crawling in with her. He feels drowsy; he feels like giving in, but he’s got so much more research to do.""
Mulder leaves his research in favor of joining a sleeping Scully.
""Scully,” he whispers, nudging her gently. “Are you awake?”
“Mmph.” she tells the pillow she’s currently digging her face into in search of more sleep. It had been such a lovely sleep, dreamless and restorative. She aches for it already.
“Oh, good,” Mulder says obliviously, wrapping his long arms around her from behind and cuddling up to her. It’s sweet at first, but then it becomes less sweet when she realizes that he’s getting closer so he can talk directly into her ear. “I’ve been thinking.”
She says nothing and considers feigning a snore.""
Mulder has an annoying habit of waking Scully to monologue about his newest crazy idea or conspiracy theory.
""This is how it ends,” I tell him on a crisp October night, him trapped in the claws of anxiety once again. His breathing is shallow and the shaking insistent. His back is cold and clammy pressed to my chest as I hold him the best I can while caressing his arms. “It ends with you and me. It always has and it always will.”
He’s reaching for my hand, our fingers intertwining in an unbreakable seal.
“Scu… Dana,” he mutters meekly. My name reserved for these fleeting moments only. An assurance that it’s really me. It’s a promise more than anything. By now, he understands that I’m not going anywhere.""
S11 Scully reflects on the strong but tender Fox Mulder; and how she had always patched him back together in the shaky hours of the morning.
@mldrgrl’s (Ao3) The Night Watchman
""It’s two in the morning, she’s wide awake, and Rip Van Mulder is passed out next to her with his mouth dropped open. He was much more attractive when he used to be a light sleeper. She supposes she should be thankful that hasn’t become a snorer.
She rolls over, huffing loudly as she punches her pillow flat. He doesn’t even flinch, which annoys her. There was a time when just a little bit of restlessness on her behalf would have him up and ready to fight whatever demons were keeping her awake. After some shifting and wiggling, she flips onto her back with a sigh.""
S11 Scully lies awake; and her initial irritation turns to grateful pondering that Mulder is finally getting his well-deserved rest.
TheProdigalSappist's Scully Can't Sleep
""It's getting harder and harder to pretend this isn't happening though, especially as the fainting spells are back. This time her Mulder is there to catch her. He's honed his talent for spotting when she's going to go and he's there before she hits the floor, stroking her hair and kissing her awake. She feels so loved, so protected.
And she has never felt so guilty.
She is carrying his child but refuses to acknowledge that it even exists.
What is she doing???
No, she can't let him be excluded again. She can't do this to the man she loves.""
Post Finale Scully is torn over her miracle pregnancy. She ignores it as much as possible until rationality breaks through her fear, prompting her to share this new experience with Mulder. He continues to be her silent, supportive rock.
OnlyFoxMulder/FoxyFoxMulder's Fiction Turned to Truth Chapter 9
""Scully was exhausted. Each morning, he could see it in the dark circles forming a permanent shadow beneath her blue eyes; even the color of her irises had become slightly dull with exhaustion. Her lethargy was further evident in the labored walk she’d taken to in recent weeks, a hand permanently affixed to her lower back as she shuffled.
This morning, his own uncontrollable and selfish need to help and coddle her only seemed to make things worse and she stomped out in a huff to her car without as much as a goodbye. This was another change he’d noticed in the past couple of weeks: her mood swings.""
Post Finale Scully can't sleep-- and Mulder reassures her that feeling terrible and complaining about it is just fine. She apologizes for snapping; and he helps her relax and get a nap in.
""We can catch them without this level of self-sacrifice, Mulder.” She keeps her voice soft, almost a whisper, and—against her better judgement—reaches up to palm his jaw.""
AU Scully is assigned to reign in the VCU terror and golden boy Mulder. She is able to get him to take a break for food and rest, even calming him down when he explodes about the case.
I've been rereading a lot of your pieces; and they're sooooo good! They're all so effortlessly in character, and perfectly charming more than fluffy, and OH MY HEART. Love Late (the ultimate "I wish..."), A Buzzing Sound (taps into an important aspect of Mulder's coping and Scully/Maggie's support), The Truth of Us (adorable happy family), Still Fairly Young (nosy Mulder is hilarious), Childhood Memories, 33, Fallen Angel, The Selkie Godmother, and so many others! :DDDDDD
Hi! Wow! You really dug deep in to my back catalog, those are some real B-sides and rarities. It’s awesome to see that not everything gets lost in the vast ocean of fanfic written in this fandom. Thank you for reading and have a great day!
Love all your stories Sweet Nothings series ,Generous Donations and Enchanted Forest are among my favorites.. The Emily and the fox picture is ethereal so beautiful and the ficlet fine more more on this theme please.
Hi! Thank you for reading! Always love to hear from happy readers! I'm sorry I didn't reply to this earlier, life is happening so fast these days! Take care and Happy Holidays!
I love your fics. Please can you write something where William is going to have a baby brother or sister, Mulder is afraid his son will feel left behind so he has a discussion with him 🙏🏻
hi! I Worte something like this but from Emily's POV, "New Baby" in the "New Life" series!
Hi there! Would you consider revisiting “A Generous Donation”? I just reread it and it’s one of my favorites. Maybe a year later Christmas update? I’d love to hear how they’ve all settled in with Will at home. (Totally get it if you’re over and done with it tho!)
Hi Anon. Thank you for coming back to read my stories. I love your idea and even have a few of my own for it, but I wish I had the time to write it, I really do. Life happens. Stay safe and Happy Christmas or the equivalent you're celebrating. XOXO
Hi looking for a fic! Mulder owns a bar and Scully is a dr at a nearby hospital
You could be looking for Aprons and Scrubs by Lokisgame (@lokisgame). It has Mulder owning a bar across the street from a hospital where Scully works. It’s a WIP, so I haven’t read it yet and can’t tell you much more beyond its summary: At the far end of the room was a glass partition covered floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with a blown up photograph of a forest and a huge flying saucer hovering above treetops. The name of the place was written in white, blocky letters across the mirror behind the bar, “The Believer."
He is the suit-clad wall walking in front of her, annoyingly tall, devilishly handsome while leaning over her to hold the door to a small-town police station.
He is the shadow glued to the heels of her power shoes on the way from the morgue, quietly spinning theories for her to shoot down with her expertise.
And he is… the broad, bare back on the edge of a motel bed when she snuggles into his warmth and a hand wrapped around hers when she tickles his stomach. Her bare toes pressed between his calves. A low sigh and a kiss on her knuckles, drawing her close.
Sun filters through the blinds.
"Hey." He murmurs into the palm of her hand.
"Hello." She smiles when stubbly cheek tickles her fingertips.
In these few moments of stillness he is all hers, body, mind and soul. And she's his. And they belong to each other.
"You really should stop leaving me birthday gifts," Scully said holding on to the edge of the pool. "I have one birthday, once a year."
Mulder cocked his head to one side and tried to peer over the edge to see what's hidden beneath the surface. "Wait, you're naked?" He leaned in and just then, Scully flicked water right in his face.
"You're terrible," he said and wiped a few drops that reached his eye.
When he finally looked up, she was nowhere in sight. He scanned the pool until he noticed a shape in the deep. She didn't come up when he called out, so he glanced at his watch. Twenty seconds passed, thirty, one minute. After a minute and a half he started muttering to himself. "Scully, come on." His heart began to pound and at two minutes and 5 seconds he jumped.
He found her sitting cross-legged on tiles covering the bottom of the pool and when she noticed him and smiled, his anger came bubbling up through his lungs. Mulder grabbed her by the arm and kicked himself up, dragging her along to the surface.
They both panted for a second before he yelled. "Are you out of your mind?"
Scully laughed but seeing his anger cooled down fast. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd jump in, at least not all dressed up."
Mulder caught the edge of the pool, and pulled himself out.
"Old lifeguard habits die hard," he said and headed for the stairs to their rooms, accompanied by the sound of water squishing and sloshing in his shoes.
He was fighting his wet shirt in the bathroom having managed to get it mostly off his back, but his arms stayed stuck in the rolled up sleeves. That's when Scully's arms wrapped around him.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Well, you did," he growled and again yanked at the cuff.
Scully stepped around him and without looking up took his arm in her hands and patiently started to unroll the soaked fabric.
"When we were kids, Charlie and I used to play this game, who could stay longer underwater. On the count of three we'd dive together and my dad would start the count." She unrolled one sleeve and moved to the other. Her fingers slipped to his left wrist to unbuckled the band on his watch. "I always loved his watch with all the tiny dials and buttons, and the stopwatch was my favorite, it worked like magic." She lifted his watch to her ear for a few beats, before twisting the crown on the side to wind it. "At first glance it looked like the second hand was just that, one hand, but then he'd push a button and a second one appeared, hidden under the first."
"A rattrapante chronograph."
"Is that what it's called?" She smiled setting the watch on a shelf over the sink.
"A double chronograph, yeah." He said and watched her work on untangling the knots he made earlier. "So what was your best time?" He asked breaking the silence.
"My best was little over four minutes." She said and with one last tug freed his hands.
"And your brother?"
"He never got past three," she said and stepped into his arms, "he always tried to make me laugh."
Mulder chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. "Cheater."
"Are you still mad?" She asked, planting a kiss on his chest.
Mulder sighed and returned the kiss on top of her head. "No, just don't scare me like that again."
"I won't," she promised and climbing on tiptoes, caught his lips for a long breath. "I really love the swimsuit, thank you."
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're welcome."
Willam pulled on the levers and the trap slowly began to open its' jaws. An inch, inch and a half and the fox yelped, kicked his hind legs and crawled away, straight into Emily's arms.
"It's okay, you're fine now, everything's going to be fine." She crooned while the fox licked his wounds curled up in her lap.
"Poor thing," she sighed and looked up to her brother, plea in her cornflower blue eyes.
Will shook his head knowing his sister all too well. "No," he growled.
"We can't leave him," she said brushing her hair back.
"What language will you understand? Non, nein, niet!" He growled and got up, brushing dead leaves from his pants. "We're not taking him home, mom will kill us."
Emily hugged the wounded animal to her small chest. She might be a year older but Will at fifteen was already twice her size. "Dad will help him," she said, "he won't turn him out."
"Sure play the dad card," He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, but I'm not carrying that thing all the way back to the house."
He reached out and Emily took his offered hand, puling herself up careful not jostle the fox too much.
"Thank you," she said.
"Whatever," Will grumbled and looked up to he sky. "C'mon, it's getting dark."
The walk back was far slower than usual, but both knew that they had to get back on the path before they lost the light. With Will ahead, Emily kept her eyes on her ward, mindful of his every twitch and whine. They didn't speak until the trees parted and lights winked at them in distance. Beyond the meadow that fell all the way to the house. Smoke rose from the chimney and it was almost supper time.
Will slowed his step and they walked side by side through the tall grass.
"Mom will take care of him," he said, scratching the fox behind his ear. "He'll be good as new in no time."
Emily nodded but her fingers twined through the animal's soft coat, "I hope so but at the same time, he's so beautiful I want to keep him forever."
"You know you can't keep him, he's a wild animal." Will said but his tone wasn't unkind.
"I know," Emily sighed. "Wild things are beautiful because they are wild."
The fox rested his head on Emily's arm and when the sun winked through the clouds one last time, his fur and her hair long, flowing hair seemed to ignite.
Working on a tight budget they stopped renting separate cars on cases that were low profile and this assignment was basically a field trip prompted by Mulder's restlessness. They split the workload. He interviewed witnesses, she combed through town archives. The good news was, she got the air conditioned offices, bad - she hasn't seen him since before lunch.
They agreed to compare notes over dinner and Scully hitched a ride back to the motel with a nosy female deputy, fending off thinly vailed questions about the marital status of her partner. She nodded to the woman at the reception and climbed the stairs to their rooms looking at the pool shimmering in the last rays of sunshine. She wished she could dive into the cool water and wash away the day but she wasn't one to mix business with pleasure. Mulder was the one who could turn an investigation into a weekend in Atlantic City, pick up tickets to a football game in town or know to pack swimsuit because the motel just might happen to have one.
She fished out her key and opening the door, she was surprised by cool air and a gift bag waiting in the middle of her bed.
"You didn't," she sighed and opened the attached card.
"Happy very late birthday, The Fiji Mermaid."
She recognized Mulder's handwriting at once, but it was the clumsy drawing that made her laugh. A vaguely humanoid figure with fish tail instead of legs, he even drew the scales. Scully dreaded what she might find inside, knowing Mulder it might be a polyester stocking with rubber fins attached at the end, but not this time. It was a simple one piece sport swimsuit, black with white trim and low cut back. A glance at her watch told her she had at least half an hour before Mulder got there. She stripped out of her work clothes and tried the suit on. It fit her perfectly and there even was a pair of flip-flops in the bag to go with it.
"You know me so well," she sighed happily, and grabbing a towel, went downstairs to wait for Mulder.
Stopping at a red light, Mulder yanked on his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He interviewed twelve witnesses in a 30 mile radius of the sighting and if someone opened his scull right now, his brain would probably resemble a grayish-pink mush. He needed rest before he even began to make sense of the information he gathered and even then, he was pretty sure it wouldn't amount to much. Another questionable sighting based on a shaky video and a few blurry photos of lights. If it wasn't for the fact that there was no military installations in the area, he wouldn't even bother Scully with the trip, a few phone calls would suffice. He was hopeful at first, but his enthusiasm died very easily these days. They ran the X-files and it was their job to gather facts, catalogue them and file away for future reference but years of experience, loss and disappointment had left their mark on his faith. Few years back the lack of resolution would fuel his frustration for weeks, now he simply let himself enjoy the process and time spent working on site. Better Scully in hand than a UFO in the sky.
Mulder parked in their usual spot, gathering his things and got out of the car. Giddy excitement began to bubble in his chest. A faint splashing came from behind the hedge that shielded the pool area from the view of the street. Nodding to the girl at the reception office, he ran up the five steps and grinned.
Scattered water drops glittered in the fading sun with each stroke and kick. Two pulls, breath on third, two pulls, breath, two pulls, dive, turn, surface, two pulls, breath. Watching water slide over her bare back and admiring her flawless technique, he followed Scully along the side of the pool and she had to notice him. So when she turned around for another lap, he knew she was showing off. Mulder crouched on the edge of the pool and waited.
They had one rule when traveling for a case: no sleeping together. Of course Mulder wouldn't be himself, if he didn't find a way around it. He purposefully set his alarm ten minutes before Scully's just to climb into her bed so they could at least wake up together. Today however wasn't one of those days.
Scully woke up and stretched to find a cool, empty space where usually a kiss would be waiting for her. She got up, splashed her face with water and wrapped in a bathrobe, went outside to see if their car was still where they parked it last night. A body in the pool caught her eye.
Mulder switched from his usual morning run to a morning swim. Strong arms cut the surface in long strokes while his feet made the smallest of splashes. She watched transfixed while he did his last three laps, gracefully diving each time to turn around. Folding his arms on the edge of the pool, which had to be at least 6 feet deep on that end, he looked up. She gave his a little wave and he smiled back and pulled himself out of the water.
"You're up early," she said when he came in, trying not to stare at the towel around his hips.
"I couldn't resist," he said and leaned in for a kiss, "you should try it."
She kissed him then sighed dramatically. "If only I had packed my swimsuit."
"I'm sure we could work something out."
"I don't think the owner would take kindly to me going skinny dipping."
Mulder laughed and started for his room. "I was thinking more like buying one at the mall down town, but I like the way you're thinking."
The moment he turned, Scully lunged forward and tried to tug on the towel but he was faster. He turned just as her fingertips brushed the skin on the small of his back and caught her wrist, pulling her back against his chest with her arm trapped between them.
"Now what?" He murmured running his unshaven chin against her cheek. "Wanna wrestle?"
"No," she giggled and squirmed. "I wanted to see the fabled red speedo."
His laugh rolled through her when he pressed a kiss against the side of her neck before letting go and heading for his own room and shower.
"Later, maybe, if you behave," he teased.
Scully smiled after him and looked out to the sky outside her window. Blue was quickly turning white, heralding another scorching hot day.
You’re such a phenomenal writer, i’m so glad you’re a part of the fandom. A Generous Donation is one of my favorite au’s and I’m so glad you wrote it. It will easily go down as a Fandom Classic. You’re so great at AU’s, and keeping the characters but putting them in different situations- it's a hard thing to do, but you're so amazing at it. Thank you so much for writing for us!!
Thank you darling Anon! Your words mean the world to me. Here’s to many more stories to come!
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