a rose bi any other name

13TH FEBRUARY - HEGAL PLACE - 7:20AM 

Mulder was fascinated as he watched Scully move easily around his space, wearing only his t-shirt. It was like a dream, one of those ridiculous ones that his brain would only conjure up about once a month, quickly to be lost amongst the twenty-nine other awful ones. And yet, she was real and really here, but he didn’t dare pinch his skin to test it. 

The air was warm and soft with the memories, her skin was pale and tempting as it curled up into the fabric. His eyes were glued to her, and then she bent down slowly to swipe her duffel bag from the floor and his mouth dropped open, sure that she could feel he was watching. 

‘You want a ride to work, Scully?’ he asked with a gleam in his eye, words he’d never thought he’d be able to say while naked. 

She turned and shot him a look. ‘Mandatory post-injury therapy is not “work”, Mulder.’ 

‘No, ok, how about, want a ride to Pennsylvania Avenue, Scully? I can wait in the lobby for you, hold your purse.’ 

‘Hold my purse?’ she asked with an amused squint. 

‘Yeah.. Y’know, husband stuff.’

‘You’re really going to milk this, aren’t you?’ 

Twirling the golden band on his finger, he nodded enthusiastically. 

‘Are you even going in today?’ 

He shook his head, sitting up fully and dragging his eyes from her bare feet to her face, flushed with the effort of pulling her things from her bag. 

‘I get to see out the rest of the week here, working from home. Skinner’s orders. I’m not expected back in the office before Monday,’ he said with a smug grin. ‘My mental state isn’t in question, this time.’ 

‘We have different baselines, to be fair,’ she replied with a smirk. ‘They don’t know you were haunted, Mulder.’

‘Let me drive you.’

‘I can just get a cab.’ 

‘Where’s the fun in that?’ He asked in protest, pulling himself from the bed. 

He walked quickly past her, kissing the top of her head. 

‘You don’t have to.’ 

‘I’m aware of that, but I’d like to.’ 

She hesitated, watching as he pulled fresh clothes from his drawer, boxer shorts and a white t-shirt. She was caught between the desire to be with him after all they had just bared to each other, and the desire to prove that she could still do this alone. 

She watched him nervously play again with the gold around his finger and felt something loosen in her chest. He seemed to see it in her posture, too, and he looked at her hopefully. 

‘Let me shower first and we’ll go. Please?’

‘I’ll start the coffee,’ she said, opening the bedroom door. 

‘Thanks, honey,’ he called out, and then heard the thwack as something was launched against the bathroom door. 

*

Scully’s heart was bouncing against her ribs as she reached above her head for the bag of coffee. She’d made it here dozens of times, she’d even cooked soup or toast here when Mulder’s latest injury incapacitated him. But she’d never made coffee here with a delicious ache in her hips, or dressed in only his t-shirt. The collar still smelled like him and the thought made her flush, bringing back memories of his skin dragging over hers, his mouth finding her again and again and again between heated gasps. 

She knew where everything was, and she pushed the utensil drawer shut with her hip casually as though it were own. She didn’t want to overthink, but she hadn’t anticipated what it might feel like to wake up in his apartment and dress for work. To don a suit and heels and find the right height outlet for her blowdryer. They had done this routine countless times, but in the plausible anonymity of motel rooms, or more recently with the dread of her coma surrounding them. They worked well, bonded by trauma and deadlines and cases that kept their connection just desperate enough to be logical. Now, she felt anything but logical. Giddy, satisfied, excited, worried. Lighter. 

The aroma of coffee filled the air as the sounds of his shower running grew louder through the walls. 

Scully was lost in her thoughts, toying with the hem of the t-shirt that brushed her thighs when the water abruptly shut off. Her posture shifted expectantly as the machine on the counter gurgled. 

When he emerged from the bedroom rubbing a towel through his hair, he smiled at her brightly like he was surprised she was still there. 

‘You look good,’ he said, looking her up and down before crossing the room to lean his hip against the counter. He was wearing his faded jeans and a soft blue sweater over his white t-shirt.

She turned to grab two mugs from the cupboard, lifting up onto her tiptoes. He reached out to touch her, brushing his fingers down her back, feeling the warmth of her skin even through the soft, worn cotton.

‘No suit today?’ she asked, turning with a raised brow. 

‘Nope.’ He grinned. ‘I don’t have to look presentable until at least Monday.’ 

She rolled her eyes but let him pull her into an embrace, his arms looping confidently around her waist like they’d been doing it for years. He linked his hands together and held her close. 

‘Hi.’ 

‘Hi,’ she said with a smile, letting their lips brush lightly together. 

Mulder wondered how he could have possibly come to be so lucky. Scully loved him, she had made love to him, and now she was in his kitchen barely wearing a thing and showing no signs of running away. 

He slid bread into the toaster and leaned back again, enjoying the view as Scully poured their coffee. When the toaster popped noisily, he spread butter on their slices and carried them to the table. 

‘So.. how do you feel?’ He watched her eyes dart between his curiously. ‘About today? Your appointment.’ 

She sighed, looking down at her fingernails as they tapped against her mug. ‘Ecstatic.’ 

‘Yeah,’ he said quietly, unable to offer her more than his patience. If he started talking about it, the gunshot, New York, returning to work, he would lose his cool, and that was the last thing Scully needed right now. 

‘I don't want to go, of course.’ 

He shook his head, giving her space to say more, but she didn’t, and they finished their breakfast in peaceful silence. 

*

Mulder had been joking about holding her purse during her appointment, but he did wait in the little cramped visitor’s chairs outside, absently flicking through a newspaper, pretending to read it. 

When she finally emerged, tension was wrapped around her tidy frame. She caught his eye and then quickly discarded it, walking past him with her head held high and a determined stride that he found himself scrambling to match. 

‘Scully, you ok?’ 

‘I want to go home,’ she said calmly, but he could tell it was taking considerable effort to remain that way. 

Nerves swirled in his stomach as he followed her to the car, a thousand questions pounding in his head as he bit his tongue firmly, reusing to let any of them out. 

She slid into the passenger side and angrily threw her purse in the back seat, something he’d never seen her do. Her jaw was tight and her breathing was audible out through her nose. 

He didn’t comment on it, just started the engine, risking glances at her and finding her expression unreadable. 

Fuck.

‘So..?’ he asked carefully, sensing that one of his sarcastic jokes wouldn’t be received well at that moment. 

‘I have nine more mandatory sessions before I can come back to work full time. Until then..’ She sighed heavily, looking out of the window as the streets began to blur. 

‘Until then?’ 

‘A further two weeks forced leave, and then I may be able to return to the bullpen, part-time, until my sessions are completed. I also have to re-take my firearm exam, to prove that the injury won’t impact my work. Me, the one who was shot, not the shooter.’ 

He felt the storm behind her words, the first real sparks of anger from her towards the piece-of-shit agent that had been incompetent enough to shoot her. A part of him was glad that she was finally angry, too, that she wasn’t so easily forgiving. Or maybe, he was simply glad that she would share it with him, rather than bottle it up. 

‘Shit. I’m really sorry, Scully.’ 

‘Yes.’ She nodded tightly, and her shaky exhale was soft, almost as though she was trying to keep the pain and frustration from him. 

He reached across and took her hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb. She squeezed him back, but stayed silent. 

‘Guess you’re gonna get sick of me,’ he finally said, hoping that this didn’t mean she’d want to go back to her place. 

‘Mulder, you’re the one who’s going to be sick of me,’ she replied with a shake of her head. 

‘Are you kidding me, Scully?’ 

She looked at him with that raised eyebrow and full bottom lip, and he nearly pulled the car over. She opened and closed her mouth several times, fighting against words, and he watched it all in his periphery. 

‘Are you.. are you still ok, if-’

‘What?’ 

‘Well, Mulder, how do you see this working?’ 

She was businesslike, not stern or unkind, but serious and logical. He could feel the little flexes of her hand in her lap, the tension in her body. 

‘How do I see this working?’ he asked, trying to hide the hurt and panic he suddenly felt. His stomach dropped. 

‘Yes. Long term.’ 

‘Well, I don’t want to be presumptuous, Scully. Or, or to pressure you, but I put a ring on your finger last night, and then…’ he paused, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. 

‘I’d like it if you stayed. Or, we could could both go to your place. But, I’d like to be together. As much as we can be.’ 

‘You want to be together. Fully.’ 

‘Did I not make that clear?’ he asked, genuinely. 

‘I think you did,’ she admitted. ‘I’m just…’ She shook her head, feeling the back of her neck burn. ‘I think.. sometimes we’re both afraid.’ 

‘You feel afraid?’ 

‘Of the little things,’ she said softly, and he turned to study her profile. ‘The things that should be easy. We got married years before we ever even had sex,’ she said with hint of amusement.

‘Scully,’ he said firmly, leaving no room for confusion. ‘We should live together.’ 

She sat in stunned silence for a moment before taking his hand again. ‘I agree.’ 

Something washed over the both of them, a wave of relief and certainty. A decision, made together over clasped hands and dreams finally admitted. 

‘So, we’re gonna do this. Really do this, Scully? We’re married, and we live together. No going backwards.’ 

‘We’re really going to do this,’ she said, turning to look at him fully. ‘You didn’t take the ring off.’ 

‘No, Scully. You put it on my finger. I’m not taking it off.’ 

She nodded silently, watching his expression, as serious as she’d ever seen it. She waited a moment for the smile, the crack of his patented sarcasm, or teasing, but it never came. He stared straight ahead as his words settled around them like snowflakes. 

The ride was over before they knew it, and Scully was making her way up the steps to his apartment as he locked the car and crossed the street. He followed her up, allowing himself to stare at the sway of her hips, his wife. His wife in a tight little skirt that he now had her permission to obsess over. 

His eyes dropped lower as she climbed the final step and settled on her slim black heels, wondering what she would do if he asked her to keep them on. 

She let herself into the building as though she lived there, and though she had been doing that confidently for years, he felt something flutter in his chest at the sight, her keys swinging from her finger, ready to be placed back into her purse. 

Everything had changed while it all stayed the same, and he marvelled at it all as it unfolded before them. When he held the apartment door open, she stepped under his arm and into the space so easily it tightened in his throat. 

‘I want to cook,’ she announced as she slipped off her heels and discarded them. 

Shame, he thought as he watched them go. 

‘Are you sure, Scully? You’ve had a crappy day, we can just order something in.’ 

‘No, I’ve been eating nothing but mashed potato and jello for weeks. I want to cook something real, and decide what to eat for myself.’

‘Be my guest,’ he said with a wave in the direction of the kitchen. 

‘I’ll need you to go out, to get some things we don’t have. The kitchen is nearly empty.’ 

He was momentarily stunned, hearing her refer to their things as.. theirs. Things we don’t have. 

‘Scully?’ he asked suddenly. 

‘Hmm?’ She was already in the kitchen, staring into the bright, empty refrigerator and making a mental list. 

‘Are we gonna live here? Or… or at your place?’ 

She looked at him thoughtfully before shaking her head. 'No.’

‘..No?’ 

‘Somewhere new.’

‘You want to look for a new place? Together?’ He felt a thrill shoot through him and he unconsciously squeezed his left hand, feeling the metal press against his palm. 

‘Yes. Is that ok?’ 

He crossed to her, pulling her body against him as tears pricked at his eyes but he stubbornly pushed them away. 

Before either of them knew it, he had lifted her onto the counter, her skirt rolling up as he stood between her legs. His hand cupped the back of her head and their eyes danced together. She broke the contact first, darting down to look at his parted lips as his tongue came out to wet them. 

His pulse spiked as he watched her eyes drift slowly back up to meet his. They were so wide open that he worried that he would fall into them. 

‘Mulder,’ she said softly, inching towards the edge, pulling him more snugly to her body where heat pulsed between them. 

He kissed her firmly, his lips sealing against hers, pouring out all the emotion that he hadn’t yet found the words for as his body swelled and surged. She rocked forward and they felt, intensely, the friction of their clothes, denim and leather and nylon. 

He groaned against her mouth, their heated breaths quickening and becoming desperate.

Now that they knew each other this way, how would they ever resist? 

‘God, Scully.’ 

‘We.. we should..’ 

‘There’s something I didn’t get to do yesterday,’ he said, low and determined against her throat. 

Heat flashed through her, burning her cheeks as desire tugged at her belly, a hot ache that spread through her abdomen as his touch began to roam.

‘We should eat..’ she gasped softly as his palm closed over her breast through her clothes and his hot breath tickled her ear. 

‘Right. Eat..’ 

‘First,’ she said with a soft laugh and he buried his head against her neck. 

‘I know you’re right, Scully, but I don’t want to stop touching you.’ 

She felt a smile pull across her face, sure that her cheeks were already glowing. 

‘You’ll have to, but not for long, I promise.’ 

He groaned his protest, but helped her back down, kissing the top of her head as her feet settled on the ground. 

They decided on what to eat, and Mulder headed out to buy the things they didn’t already have, which turned out to be most of it. 

Scully showered and changed, emerging from the bedroom in a clean, cosy pair of sweats and wavy damp hair. 

She slid her wedding ring on, deciding that she would always wear it when they were here together, at home, even if she wasn’t ready to wear it to work just yet. 

She lifted out the pots and pans and wine glasses, decorating the counter tops with them as she ran the tap, the radio playing gently from the living room. 

‘Honey, I’m home!’ Mulder called out as the door swung shut behind him. 

She threw a dish towel at him and he caught it with a grin, enjoying teasing her. She surprised him by gripping the front of his sweater and pulling him in for a quick kiss. When she let him go, there was a rumple left in the fabric over his chest, he hoped it would never smooth out. 

She firmly refused all help, determined to make something with her hands after so long of being unable to touch anything. 

God, this feels good, she thought as her wrist flicked down, slicing through vegetables. So normal, so easy and simple, and something she had so nearly lost completely. 

She popped a piece of raw carrot into Mulder’s mouth and he took it without protest, seemingly unable to deny her anything now. 

He poured them both shallow glasses of the chilled white wine. She didn’t feel up to drinking anything seriously, but wanted the crisp fresh wash of it in her mouth between bites. 

He helped her plate up the chicken and vegetables, rich clouds of steam filling the air between them as they moved to the table.

They sat opposite each other, rather than on the floor by the couch, facing the tv as they always had. Tonight was different, and they both felt it. 

‘I still can’t believe you had these rings, for years, and you said nothing,’ she said as they tapped their glasses together.  

He shrugged, staring down at his hand and wondering how he’d managed for so long without it. Now it felt like a part of him, fused to his skin. 

‘Some things…’ He shrugged again, lost for what to say. 

‘You constantly defy explanation, Mulder.’ 

‘Speaking of defying explanation…’ He looked up at her with a flicker of curiosity in his eyes, a look she both loved and loathed after years of chasing it all across the country. 

‘What?’ 

‘Do you want to… talk about it? Your experience? What we both…’ 

She flushed, but didn’t look away from his face, staring intently at his expression, both hard and soft. 

‘No,’ she said. ‘And not because… I’m denying that it happened. I’m not.’ 

He breathed a sigh of relief, stroking his thumb across the back of her left hand. 

‘I will talk about it. But not tonight.’ 

‘Too soon?’ 

‘Maybe,’ she said, bringing her shoulders up briefly, as though she herself was unsure of what she wanted. ‘I think you remember it all more clearly than I do. For me, it’s like a vivid dream. And if it weren’t for you, I’d chalk it all up to a hallucination.’ 

‘I feel the same way, Scully. There were so many moments where I was sure I’d lost it. That I was hallucinating you, because I wanted you back so badly.’ 

‘Folie à deux,’ she said with a small smile, the one he loved. 

He nodded, a warmth on his face that she wasn’t sure she had ever seen before. It was as though they were sitting in candlelight. His expression was so full of light and love, and she wondered if it was her coming back, or if it had been even more simple than that. 

Could he have worn this expression if she had slid that ring onto his finger all those years ago? She swallowed as she thought about all the time they had lost, the time they could have been this happy, and then shook her head fiercely.

‘What?’ He asked, concern clouding that warm candlelit face. God, she loved him. And he was hers. 

‘Nothing,’ she said breathlessly. She swallowed another drop of her wine and reached across the table, sliding her hand over his and up his forearm.  

‘I remember mention of something you didn’t get to do last night?’ 

The warm orange light in his eyes burned brighter, catching on something, and they were on their feet, half empty plates left for tomorrow. 

*

She couldn’t see him, she could only feel his hands brush gently over her sides, dragging up and pressing her arms back over her head, forcing her chest forward. He touched her nipples and they both sighed as they puckered under his touch. 

‘Stay right there, Scully.’ 

She moaned, feeling her back brush against his bare chest. The long muscles of his thighs pressed her own legs open, baring her to the air, her chest expanding quickly as a thrill shot through her. His breath was hot and rhythmic behind her ear, overloading her senses as his large warm hand slid down over her belly. 

She felt exposed, suspended, and the air was growing hot and close, his fingers tingling a path down her body, inching closer but stopping painfully short of her clit, waiting just above it with a soft, pulsing pressure. 

‘I love you, Scully,’ he breathed against her neck, his fingers tracing slowly over her labia. 

Words were trapped in her throat as her hips strained forward, encouraging him lower. She could feel how wet she was becoming, and she knew that soon, he would too. 

He kissed her shoulder as his heavy fingers tapped against her curls, sending shockwaves through her pelvis. 

‘Mulder,’ she whimpered. 

His cock was pressed against her back, throbbing as his touch became more firm, lower and insistent. He rubbed her clit with one finger and then began to circle it slowly with two. 

‘You feel incredible. I love getting to touch you like this.’ His hand slid lower, curling to cup her, sinking inside with a soft moan that tickled her ear, 

The muscles in her thighs began to tighten. He felt them and pressed his own knees wider, encouraging her to sink down into the mattress, to give herself over to the feeling. 

‘Can I taste you, Scully?’ 

‘Please,’ she gasped, her hips swirling now to chase the friction. 

She expected him to move, to flip them or to bring his fingers to his mouth, but his touch simply became faster, gliding over her clit as his other hand gripped her hip. He began to pant, and the sound of his excitement at touching her was too much. 

‘Mm-Mul.’

‘That’s it.’ 

He sped up, his fingers burning now as her pulse began to pound, his cock rubbing against her ass as he gently sought his own relief. She was there, trembling at the edge, the sensations growing urgent inside of her as his fingers became a slick, determined blur.  

The pleasure burst in sharp waves and she felt herself throbbing as her ears began to ring. Hot, heavy pulses tore down her body, a blinding relief as she shook, only vaguely aware of how he held her through it. Scully fought to catch her breath as he softly teased the end of her orgasm out of her. She shuddered as he moaned at her ear, nibbling on her skin. 

‘Scully,’ he said, his voice so low and rich that it made her shiver. 

Before she could react any further, his mouth was on her, laying open kisses to her shoulder and neck, stroking her hips as he encouraged her to fall forward against the mattress. He turned her over and claimed her mouth, slipping his tongue inside as he stroked at her face. 

His weight settled above her and another rush of pleasure covered her. His body was warm and hard and she felt herself melt into the mattress beneath him, completely, willingly at his mercy. 

‘This,’ she sighed. 

‘What?’ 

‘Nothing,’ she said as she gripped the nape of his neck and pulled him to her again, swirling her tongue into his mouth. 

He broke their kiss with a growl and slid down her body, kissing and nipping at her skin. He spread her thighs, pushing them back so that her legs would settle over his shoulders and he could palm her ass.

He was instantly overcome with the sight of her, wet and bare to him, Scully’s pale thighs as they curved underneath his palm, her sex glistening just an inch from his hungry mouth. He groaned as he felt his pulse throb in his throat. She smelled incredible, and though he’d had her on his fingers and his cock, his tongue was about to taste her, and he felt himself strain with impatience. 

‘Jesus Christ, Scully. You’re so good.’ 

He looked up and found that her eyes were shut and her head was thrown back in abandon.

He lowered his mouth and dragged his tongue slowly from her entrance to her clit, listening to her little gasp that turned into a sigh as her thighs relaxed around his face. 

‘Oh, god,’ she said, and brought her fingers through his hair. 

He grew bolder, a fierce need in his gut that urged him on to taste her more fully, to drink from her until she was satisfied. He swirled the tip of his tongue around her as he felt her fingers grip him more desperately. His finger slipped inside of her, slowly pumping as his lips closed around her throbbing clit, taking it inside of his mouth rhythmically as he penetrated her and revelled in the way she gripped him, begging him not to leave. He slowly withdrew his fingers and slid his tongue inside of her, pulsing as he drowned in the way she moaned, the way her voice grew louder, here, in their bedroom. 

He grunted as he thrust his aching erection down into the mattress, their mattress. The place she had come to find refuge, to be safe and known in his arms when nothing else had made sense, and now she was falling apart beneath his tongue. He nearly wept from the beauty of it, the sharp, sweet taste of Scully. 

He gripped her hips and she gasped as he brought his lips back to her clit and suckled, desperate to consume her, to worship her in all the ways she’d ever let him. 

‘Mulder, oh.. oh, god.’ 

She had come back, she had woken up, and she had found her way to him against all odds, as he knew he would have done for her. 

His palms pressed down on her thighs, and he felt her muscles tremble beneath his fingers, her hips trying in vain to buck up against him as the sounds from her mouth and throat only spurred him on. 

‘Oh..oh!’ 

A deep heat claimed her, setting her alight as she struggled to move in Mulder’s grasp. This orgasm was even stronger, it overwhelmed her, heavy and raw, travelling down her whole body as she cried out. His talented mouth slowed, but never left her, softening his kisses as pleasure ebbed and flowed from her body. He closed his lips over her skin, sucking and moaning as he travelled slowly back up to her mouth. She could taste herself on his tongue, and hummed lazily as he kissed her. 

His erection was aching as it glided against her smooth skin. He shuddered as their faces pressed together, cheek to cheek before he bowed his forehead to rest against hers. 

‘I love you, Scully.’ 

And then she was moving, flexing her hips and parting her thighs to welcome him in. She touched him and felt him pulse and jerk against her hand, already so close to the edge. 

‘I love you too, Mulder.’ 

Their eyes locked as he pushed inside, a heavy moan passing between their lips before he stilled, completely buried and lost inside her body. 

‘You feel so good,’ she said with a smile, her eyes shut as she bathed in the feeling. 

‘Oh, you have no idea,’ he groaned, and he started to move. 

He pressed her hand down into the mattress beside her head, tangling their fingers together and feeling her grip him as her body gripped him even tighter. He was rocking forward, gasping as he hurtled towards his orgasm, a fire burning low in his belly as her cool feet pressed into his back. He was so close, he started to moan and pant and babble as her free hand dug fiercely into his shoulder. 

He was glad. He wanted marks, proof of this moment where he felt his entire universe slam into place. His mouth lay open against her neck, breathing so heavily over her skin that he felt dizzy, his cock full to bursting inside of her. 

‘Fuck. Scully, I can’t… god, I want..’ 

She tipped her head back, his words like shocks to her skin. She felt a soothing wash of warmth over her, a crackle of surrender as their bodies collided, after far too long away. Years, maybe decades of waiting for this. She was sorry that she had ever known another man. 

‘Mulder, wait, god..’ 

She wrapped around him so tightly that he couldn’t move, all the pleasure and air tugged from his body and his lungs as she rippled down the entire length of his cock, taking him in and claiming him. Marked, he felt it fully now, that he was hers and had always been. He fell forward, hips rocking helplessly as he poured into her, moaning against the damp, sweet skin of her neck as it prickled, making his own hairs stand on end. 

He felt his consciousness return in little sparks as she dragged her nails down his spine. He shuddered, aware that he had let go of her hand, and his tongue was against her breast. He blinked, feeling overwhelmed and overcome and so painfully in love that it had immobilised him. 

‘Scully,’ he gasped, bringing his hand to her hip and lifting his weight from her body. ‘Oh, god Scully, that was..’ He searched his brain but came up empty, rolling from her and bringing his forearm across his face. 

‘Mulder, do you want to shower?’ 

‘Can you bring the shower here? I think we broke both my legs.’ 

‘Mulder…’ she said teasingly, drawing lines across his abdomen and brushing her nails through his pubic hair. 

He groaned and followed her, gladly, until their bodies were wet and warm and loose. His soapy hands slid over her breasts, love and lust still swelling pleasantly in his chest. 

When she kissed him, it tasted like wine and bubbles. She nipped at his jaw and then shot him a look when his cock twitched again between them. 

‘What?’ he asked with a chuckle, ‘you’re soapy, and you’re Scully…’ 

They settled in bed and she laid her heavy head over his heartbeat, listening to it pound before it slowed. She knew the mechanics of a human body inside and out, literally. 

She knew the valves and the veins and all the reasons for such a sound, but she had never truly heard it before. 

A tear slipped down her face as her left hand settled over his stomach. She sniffled and he kissed her head. 

‘I-spy,’ she whispered into the pitch black bedroom. 

He squeezed her tighter with a hand on her shoulder and one sliding around her waist, clamping her to his side completely. She could swear that she could hear his smile. 

‘Mmh?’ 

‘I-spy, with my little eye… a woman who promises to always come back to you.’ 

‘You looking in a mirror, Scully?’ He said playfully, thought she could hear the rumble of emotion in his throat. 

‘Your turn, Mulder,’ she said seriously, poking him in the side. 

‘I-spy..’ He cleared his throat and placed another long kiss to the crown of her head. ‘I-spy, with my little eye… a man who promises to always come back, too. That’s a good one, Scully. But he also promises to never leave your side. Not for vengeance, or for answers, ever again. I promise to be at your side, forever. You’re where the answers are, Scully. You’re…’ 

‘That’s a good one, too,’ she interrupted. 

‘And I promise to never take off this ring. The one that you placed there.’ 

‘Another good one,’ she agreed, pulling tighter on his waist and burying her face into his chest. ‘And I promise to give you the benefit of the doubt when you’re ranting about ghosts, or rituals. You might actually be on to something with these x-files, you know..’ 

He choked out a laugh that bounced against her cheek, but still she held on to his body tightly, as though they were floating together. 

‘You think?’ he asked with a grin. 

‘And I promise to speak to my mother about the fact that you’re my husband, and…’ 

Scully swallowed and shut her eyes as less pleasant memories threatened to invade their precious moment. ‘… to tell her everything.’ 

‘I love you so much, Scully.’ 

‘Love you, too.’ 

They breathed deeply together, slipping into a restful sleep as half-eaten meals and dregs of wine sat in another room. 

Notes: