It's "ice queen" until they're waiting in front of Skinner's office and Mulder makes her laugh so hard she has to half-bury her face in his shoulder to keep it contained. Until she is breathlessly blushing and whispering something that makes him bend over in return. It's the first time any of the agents passing by have heard her laugh.
It's "ice queen" until Mulder brings her a hot coffee and her favourite kind of muffin for an early meeting, and her smile could melt glass. Until a room full of accountants watches them pass the paper cup back and forth without even looking, spilling not a single drop. Until she gives him an undecipherable look and Mulder comes back after their ten-minute break with yet another one to share. Until she leans in like she is going to kiss him before simply bumping her shoulder against his, her lips parted and her cheeks flushed.
It's "annoying" and "insufferable" until Mulder almost trips over his own feet while clinging to every single word spilling from her lips. Until he walks straight into Skinner because he was looking at her and only her. Until he listens to Scully and Scully only, until he silences people with a glare when they interrupt her during meetings, until he starts introducing her as Dr. Special Agent Scully, daring anyone to contradict him or drop an honorific.
It's "ice queen" until Mulder gets injured, and she refuses to leave his side even as they make their way through the crowded building. It's just a hair fracture, Scully, and she almost shoves someone into a doorway to make space for him. Your ankle is broken. Hair fracture. Broken.
It's "prudish" and "prissy" until people occasionally catch them in an empty corridor, watching as Mulder wipes away dark red smudges from the corners of her mouth while the same colour is smeared across his lips. Until there is enough visible adoration in the way their hands brush together that it makes any bystander blush.
It's "standoffish," "uptight," and "unapproachable" until they are no longer in the basement, and no matter how hard she might try, she cannot hide the person she is around Mulder. Until she drags her chairs towards his desk more days than not, until they move in sync, sit down in sync, breathe in sync, and they both don't seem to be what everyone else always imagined.
Soft. Warm. Loving. In love.
Scully smiles at Mulder like he's her whole world, and he smiles back like she hung every single moon and star into the sky.
It's "Mr. and Mrs. Spooky" from their very first case right up until the day a ring is glinting on Mulder's finger and another one on a thin gold band around Scully's neck, resting above her heart.
