Defying Gravity

Scully stiffened at the sound of his words. "Are you sure?" she asked her brother, "What happened?"

"It was right after the meeting let out. I went into the men's room, and while I was in the stall, someone stuck his head into the room and hissed that is wasn't the aliens controling the gravity, it was the computers and the FBI."

"Did you see the guy?" she interrupted.

"No, by the time I got out of the stall he was gone and no one was in the corridor outside, and he also said something about a meeting on Parker's point on Halloween night."

"What about it?"

"Just that to stop the gravity from being destroyed, you have to perform this ritual on this hill."

Scully sat in quiet meditation for a moment to think about this new devlopment on the case, when she saw Charles' head crane to see something behind her. She turned around and was at least partialy prepared for the sight of him.

He wore a pair of jogging pants and that was it, his hair stood up in disarray on his head and he had a day's growth of beard on his cheeks. "Hi," she said smiling that smile that was for him alone. Even dishevled and cranky he was pin-up material.

He glowered at her and said "Hi"

She looked at him and could tell something was wrong, "What is it, Mulder?" she asked concerned

He glowered at her again and then looked at Charles who was pleasantly eating his eggs and then turned back to her. "I woke up alone." he answered

< What?! How could he say something like that? And in front of Charles too. > He was going to pay for that answer she just turned to the toaster and put two slices in and started making eggs for herself. < To hell with him! >

Mulder looked from Dana's rigid back to Charles averted face and he knew he was being an idiot, but when he woke up to find that she wasn't there he had panicked, and finding her calmly cooking breakfast and talking with her brother rather then missing, he had felt foolish and feeling foolish, he had acted foolishly. But he had been acting like an idiot since he first noticed that his partner was a gorgegous, voluptuous, sexy, facinating woman. Or maybe he had been an idiot all along for not noticing. Regardless, he owed the woman an apology, relasseing a sigh he walked over to where she was cooking and slipped his arms around her waist, she did not pull away but continued to cook as if he weren't even there. He lowered his voice so that only she could hear him.

"I'm sorry." Still she did not aknowledge his preseance and he thought she had not heard him and was prepared to repeat himself when she tersley replied, "For what?"

He heard her question and thought it best, as they were not alone, to go with a safe answer. "For grumping at you." Her back was still turned and stiff. He watched her business-like way of cracking the egg against the side of the pan as if she wished it were his head.

"Forget it, Mulder."

"I've sunk to that level again, have I?" He asked exhaleing heavily.

"You've always been at that level," she said and then added almost but not quite under her breath, "I'm not sure it was too smart of me to let you become anything else."

He heard this statement and felt his heart drop to the floor. Was she having regrets? Did she want what they had together? Should he step back? These and many more questions ran through his mind. As not to show how much her words had hurt him he replied with a sarcastic, "Ouch."

She paid no heed to his comment and then proceeded to tell Mulder what Charles had told her about this 'Gravity Man' and what he might be up to.

"I think we should go to this meeting on Parker's Point." he said after a moment's contemplation when hearing Charles' story.

"Great, I'm playing the pawn again, I guess." she said sarcastically.

Mulder shot her an apologetic look but said nothing, Charles grabbed her hand reassuringly, she gave him a sisterly look and then turned back to Mulder. "I can hardly wait." she said under her breath. The rest of the day was spent planning what was going to happen on Parker's Point.

2 days later

< The honeymoon is over. > She thought as she angerily threw a sock into the laundry basket. Mulder had moved back into the guest bedroom and they had been nothing but polite strangers to eachother for the last two days, and she was sick of it! She walked into the kitchen to see Charles and Mulder talking and playing cards. Despite thier first meeting, Mulder and Charles had gotten along well together. "Do you guys need anything washed?" she asked them as she passed. Mulder turned around and gave her a bemused look that said he was trying not to laugh. "What?" she asked catching his look.

"Nothing, it's just that I had thought it would be a cold day in hell before Dana Scully would offer to do a man's laundry." He said trying not to smile when she was so obviously mad about something.

"I just offered, Mulder, it has to do with common courtsey not with cold days in hell." she said and stalked down the hall to the basement where the common laundry room that she shared with the rest of her building was.

After she left, Mulder turned his attention back to Charles who was scowling at him. "What?" Mulder asked taking a sip of his iced tea.

"Damn it man, that's no way to handle a woman especially Dana, you should know that." he said appaled at the other man's behavior. His opinion of this man had changed in the short time they had known one another. He was a good man, a little paranoid, but a good man. He and Dana must have been born under the same star. Despite their obvious differing opinions where their work is concerned, Dana and Mulder were made for eachother, and Chalres approved the match.

"Don't let her hear you say *handle*," Mulder warned Charles, "No body *handles* Dana."

< Damn right! > she thought hearing Mulder's comment as she walked out the door. She heard footsteps on the staircase behind her but ignored them. She was still fuming over the conversation upstaris when she heard a male voice.

"Dana, you're not going anywhere without me." he said.

Mulder's flat declaration brought her spinning around to see that he ahad followed her down to the basement.

"Out? No of course not. Why?"

He glanced down at the jacket she held in her hands.

Following his gaze she said, "No I'm just washing it."

"Let's take a walk Dana." he said motioning to the door behind him. At that moment he realized how much he had wanted to be alone with her and talk to her. The last few days had been a frightenting trip back to the time when they were only partners and nothing more.

"Sure."

He took a tentative step toward her, bracing himself for an eruption. It was becoming increasingly difficult to remember why he was trying to keep his distance from her. He felt he had been crowding her, pushing her into an intamacy she wasn't ready for, or she felt was moving too fast, giving her a chance to breathe, step back,and...and *what*? < Damn it! > her skin looked like flower petals. An incredibly romantic notion for a man who had never had one of those thoughts before.

"You terrify me." The words escaped his lips as if they were forced.

She turned to look at him seeing for such a brief moment that she wasn't sure it was even there, vulnerablity in the set of his mouth and in his eyes. She looked down as if admitting defeat of a battle she had only begun to fight with herself and then looked back up at him, "You terrify me, too." she admitted.

He had closed his eyes and at the sound of her words they flew open and locked with hers in an instant. < Did I just hear what I thought I just heard? > He lifted a finger to her cheek almost as if it was a reflex to her words and touched her gently as he had often done out of concern or friendship in the past, but now it was different, now he needed to do this, needed to feel her. All of a sudden a flash of desire zig-zagged through his body, but he couldn't give into it yet, he needed to talk with her first, straighten things out.

"I'll go tell Charles." he said going back up the stairs and retrieving his own coat. Then grabbing her by the hand they walked outside into the coldness of the autmun night.