Intercourse
by Lydia Bower <bower@soltec.net>
Distribution: This piece of fiction will be housed exclusively at 
http://members.aol.com/XFSparky/index.html
Archivists are invited to link directly to this site. 
Classification: V, MSR/RST
Rating: PG-13 for adult subject matter. 
Spoilers: S7, specifically "all things." Post-episode fic, cuz all the 
cool kids are doing it.
Timeline: Takes place between "all things" and "Brand X."

Summary: A discussion in the dark. 

Author's notes at the end. I'll catch up with you there.

This is for Lisa, because she likes it when they talk.

Disclaimer: Are you kidding?? The suits can bite me. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He twitched in his seat as Scully slapped her hand against the 
arm rest in obvious frustration. "What exactly is it you want from 
me, Mulder?" 

Her tone was strident, impatient, and he felt a mirroring surge of 
irritability. "I want you to be honest with me, and with yourself."

"Honest about what?"

Watching the road from the corner of his eye, he shot her an 
incredulous look. "Jesus, Scully, have I been talking to myself the 
last few minutes?"

"Look, I thought I made it clear I don't want to get into this right 
now." She turned away, staring determinedly out the window. 
What she found so fascinating there was beyond him. It was 
pitch black outside the car and they just happened to be lost on a 
country road somewhere south of Bumfuck, Nebraska. Not a lot 
to see besides endless fields and the occasional farm house.

His thumbs tapped mercilessly against the steering wheel, his 
fingers gripping it hard enough to hurt. "Then when?" he 
demanded. "When are we gonna talk about it?" 

Quietly, her words bouncing against the glass, she said, "I'm not 
sure we have to, Mulder."

"Waa, what do you mean?" he sputtered. "Of course we have to."

He focused on his anger, hoping to avoid the deeper sense of 
anxiety bubbling up from way down in his gut. He'd been patient. 
He'd given them both some time to process what had happened 
the previous week. He'd even chosen this case--a shaky X-File, 
to say the least--just to get them away from the familiar ground of 
home for awhile. Just to see if getting out and shaking off the 
dust would nudge Scully into some kind of motion. 

After three days and two nights of fruitlessness all the way 
around, he'd pretty much given up and booked them tickets 
home. Getting lost on the sixty mile drive to the airport hadn't 
been in his plans, but he'd taken it as a sign to force her into 
conversation. After all, she was a captive audience. No place to 
go but where they were.

"Why, Mulder?" she retorted. "Why do we have to do it now? 
What's so damned imperative about the situation that it can't wait 
another day or two?"

Okay, that was it. He'd had enough. Mulder viciously slammed on 
the brakes and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. Loose gravel 
spun up from the tires and raised a cloud of dust behind them. 
He threw the gear shift into PARK and twisted around to face her, 
the edge of the seatbelt biting into his shoulder.

"Because a week ago tonight, Scully, I left you asleep on my 
couch and then woke up later to find my dick in your mouth." 

She was staring at him wide-eyed, right arm locked straight as 
she gripped the dashboard, still recovering from the abrupt stop 
he'd made. "Now aside from my initial shock and subsequent 
arousal," he continued, "I just assumed the sex we had that night 
signaled a definite shift in our relationship. Apparently I was 
mistaken in thinking such a momentous occasion might warrant 
a discussion or two."

Her eyes glowed in the ambient blue of the dashboard lights. He 
watched as she slowly lowered her arm, blinked dazedly at him. 
Mulder realized he'd rendered her speechless; not exactly the 
response he was hoping for. Her tongue poked out and ran 
across her lips and he fought the urge to squirm.

"Well," she finally murmured. "I see." She looked out the 
windshield for a second and then back at him. "All right, Mulder, 
let's talk about it."

"Just like that?"

"Yes," she replied in a tone far too calm to suit him. "Just like 
that. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well, yeah, but ..." he trailed off into silence. She'd done it to him 
again. He'd never figure her out, not completely. She had the 
unnerving habit of zigging when he was expecting her to zag. 
There were moments when he almost missed his short-lived 
mind-reading abilities; this was one of them. "But ... "

"But you want to yell at me some more first?"

"Nooo," Mulder snorted, "of course not. I just didn't expect you 
to, well, to--"

"Give in so easily?"

"That's not exactly what I was thinking, but it's close enough. 
Has anyone ever mentioned that you have a certain flair for 
unpredictable behavior?"

That got him an interesting look, and he thought she might 
protest or even say something about the pot calling the kettle 
black, but she didn't. Instead, she just said, "I guess I like to keep 
you on your toes, Mulder."

"Yeah," he whispered with reluctant admiration, "I guess you do."

"So," she said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the 
car door, "you wanted to ask me something?"

He studied her face, trying to see what lay behind her mild look of 
expectancy. His search was futile; in the near darkness 
surrounding them he couldn't read her expression well enough to 
tell. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe he could say what he 
wanted to say without having to see any warning signs in her 
eyes.

"Well, actually, there're several things I'm curious about." He 
lapsed into thoughtful silence and she waited a few seconds 
before prodding him. 

"Go on."

"Okay," he said quietly, "I think I'm pretty clear on the why of it. 
And though I can't claim to understand all of what led to ... well, 
you know ... I'm certainly not complaining about what happened."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she responded dryly.

"As you should, Scully. I mean, it was great. Just ... incredible." 
He found his thoughts drifting back to that night, carried along by 
memories that could still make his groin tighten in response. 
Mulder sensed her impatience and forced himself back to the 
present. "But I digress ... "

"Not you," she interjected, "never you."

"Ha, very funny. May I finish my thought now?" 

She waved permission with a sweep of her upturned hand and 
wiggled into a more comfortable position against the door. 
Mulder followed her lead and took a second to escape the 
confines of his seatbelt. He tucked his right leg under him, 
hooking his foot behind his left knee as he shifted to fully face 
her. His eyes had grown more accustomed to the darkness, 
granting him a better view of the woman sitting next to him.

"Anyway, Scully, as I was saying, I'm comfortable with the whys 
and wherefores, but I'm not so sure about what happens now. I 
mean, if this last week is any indication, it seems you may have 
decided to stick with the status quo." 

The next part was going to be harder. He cast a glance away 
from her, gathering a smidgen of courage before going on. "Now, 
before you take this the wrong way, I want you to know this has 
nothing to do with my ego."

He glanced up and caught the look on her face. It was an 
expression he fully expected: wariness tempered with curiosity. 
He scrubbed his mouth and forced himself onward.

"I'm just wondering if your, uh, lack of enthusiasm this past week 
has anything to do with my, um ... with that night. Were you 
disappointed, Scully? Because if that's what it is, I promise you, 
it'll get better. It's been awhile since I've had to please anyone but 
me and I don't think it's anything at all like riding a bicycle. I 
mean, maybe it is something you have to relearn and ... and ... "

He had to stop blabbering. He was too busy watching Scully to 
keep talking. At some point during his confession she'd begun to 
smile. Only seconds ago she'd covered her mouth with a hand. 
And now he was hearing sounds coming from her that could only 
be described as muffled snorts. Mulder didn't know whether to be 
amused or insulted. 

"What?" Cringing as his voice cracked halfway through the word, 
he cleared his throat. "Scully, c'mon, don't laugh at me." His face 
grew hot and he shifted uncomfortably. He blindly reached back 
and grabbed the door handle, unconsciously seeking a way out 
of the situation. Away from utter humiliation.

Scully let a chortle escape and then bit it off unfinished. "Oh, 
Mulder," she sighed, "I'm sorry." She swiped a thumb under both 
eyes and laid her hand on his knee. He jerked at the unexpected 
contact. "I'm not laughing at you," she tried to assure him.

"Coulda fooled me."

"I promise you, I'm not." She chased his eyes for a moment 
before he let her catch them. "I just find the irony amusing, that's 
all."

"Irony?" 

"If you had any idea how many times I've had the same thoughts 
the last few days ... " She chuffed softly, a resigned chuckle. 
"This is so very us, Mulder."

He was still trying to play catch-up. "What do you mean?"

"The way we sometimes work at cross-purposes. The 
miscommunication that occurs simply because we assume 
instead of ask."

"I did ask," he quickly pointed out.

"So you did, Mulder. And I'm sorry I let things get to this point." 
Scully lifted her hand from his knee and released her seatbelt, 
sliding closer to him. "I'm sorry you felt you had to badger me to 
get answers."

Mulder didn't consider a handful of simple questions to be 
badgering, but he was willing to let her comparison slide. At least 
they were talking now.

Just as he was beginning to miss the warmth of her touch, she 
gave it back. Except this time it wasn't on his knee, but higher up 
his leg, more like mid-thigh. He gazed down at her hand as if it 
held the answers to all of life's great mysteries. Funny how such 
an intimate gesture could be so immediately familiar to him. A 
single night's events had turned a friend's touch into a lover's 
caress. Mulder wondered if it felt the same to her. He hoped so.

"I'm not very good at this," she told him when he finally raised his 
eyes to hers. "I'm not so sure you are, either, Mulder. I probably 
have seemed rather distant this past week, but you're not to 
blame. I'm just not quite sure how to go on from here, and I 
panicked when you pressed me for answers. I became defensive 
there was no reason to."

She hesitated and he covered her hand with his own, his 
fingertips curling under and brushing against the soft skin of her 
palm. She took in a long breath and continued slowly, "I don't ... I 
don't know how to have a romantic relationship with you, Mulder. 
I don't know how to be your lover."

"You did a pretty good job of it the other night." He beamed at her 
as she offered a shy smile.

"Well, that's nice to know. But that night, Mulder, I wasn't doing 
a lot of thinking."

"Maybe not ... but it felt good anyway, didn't it?"

She chuckled and he joined in, feeling an unnamed weight being 
lifted from him. "Yeah," she admitted, "yeah, it did. Really good."

"And we haven't killed each other yet."

"No, we haven't."

"And we've managed to work a case together, even though it was 
admittedly an exercise in futility."

"Intentionally so, if I know you as well as I think I do."

He smiled and conceded her point with a nod. "So it doesn't 
seem like it's gonna be all that different, does it, Scully? And 
besides, if you ask me, I think we've always had a pretty romantic 
relationship, albeit in our own twisted, special way."

"Now you're frightening me." 

"Just now?"

The grin on his face grew wider when Scully leaned into his 
space and kissed him, drawing back almost immediately. "Thank 
you, Mulder."

"For what?" His left hand played up and down her arm before 
sliding up her shoulder and burying itself in the silk of her hair.

"For being my friend," she whispered. "For being the one who 
was meant for me. Thank you."

He blinked away sudden tears and closed his eyes as he felt 
himself being drawn to the soft, inviting bow of her mouth. His 
lips met hers and lingered as he reacquainted himself with her 
taste. Slow, easy nudges eventually gained him entry into her 
mouth and he stroked her tongue with his own. Tenderly, with 
reverence, he welcomed her back.

He was shaky with arousal when he finally pulled away, and 
overwhelmed by the intensity of his emotions. He cupped her 
face tightly and studied her for a long time as he lost himself in 
the bottomless depths of her eyes.

"I love you, Scully. You know that, don't you?"

She nodded slowly as tears gathered in her eyes, stubbornly 
refusing to fall. "With every breath, Mulder."

He shoved the arm rest out of the way and gathered her in his 
arms. "Good," he crooned as he stroked her back. "That's good." 
He hugged her close for a few seconds and then let go with clear 
reluctance. He didn't want to push it; didn't want to pressure her 
for any more than she'd given him. Although they'd cleared a 
major hurdle, he knew there were more to come. It seemed 
prudent to take things slowly if they wanted to make this new 
thing last. They'd taken great care to establish the strong 
foundation upon which their relationship was built. Attentiveness 
and patience would ensure its longevity. 

Mulder ignored the pleasant, persistent ache in his groin and 
settled himself back behind the wheel. Then he watched as 
Scully finger combed her hair and straightened her jacket and 
skirt.

"So, I guess we better get moving, huh?"

She glanced at her watch. "If we have any hope of getting home 
tonight, we need to get unlost in a hurry."

He sighed in resignation and began to reach for the seatbelt. But 
then he stopped short as Scully laid her hand back on his thigh. 
He glanced over and found her looking out past the hood of the 
car. And then he spotted the tiny, secret smile on her lips and 
allowed himself one more indulgence.

"Hey, Scully, will you answer one more question for me?"

The smile was still there as she turned to him. "Sure. What is it?'

"When are we gonna do it again?"

She gave a inquisitive tilt of her head. "It?"

"Yeah, you know ... it."

The smile spread into a grin, and she flashed him her teeth. 
Then with the smallest movement of her head, she threw an 
appraising look over her shoulder and into the back seat. Her 
eyes, when they reconnected with his, held an unmistakable 
invitation.

"Seriously?" he asked, figuring it was too good to be true. Scully 
didn't respond to his question. She didn't have to. The way she 
methodically began removing their clothes was answer enough.

It probably goes without saying, but they didn't make their flight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The End

Author's Notes: As always, thanks and love go out to the Primal 
Screamers, the best bunch of women I've ever had the pleasure 
of knowing. Thanks also to everyone who took the time to send 
me notes of support and encouragement during my lengthy spell 
of writer's block. It's nice to know that people notice when I get 
too quiet. Hope this keeps you satisfied for awhile, anyway. <g>

I can't seem to find it in my heart right now to thank Chris Carter, 
even though he's the artist responsible for the creation of two 
such wonderful characters, but David and Gillian have my 
undying love and admiration for giving Mulder and Scully heart 
and soul. If this is really the end, all I can say is thank you. It's 
been a hell of a ride.

Music that inspired me this time around was provided by Moby, 
Beth Hart, Macy Gray and the soundtrack from Return To Me.

Be well, and I'll see you around,

Lydia