Laughlin
By Shoshana

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 28th, 1999 5:35 a.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mulder, you're nuts!"

Scully leaped out of the lovely Victorian bed, and quickly donned
her silk robe, as if concealing her nakedness could protect her from
the force of my proposal. I collapsed to the mattress, exasperated
with her reaction, and fearing the worst was yet to come.

How could I have been so sure that she'd go along with it? What
made me so damn confident of myself all of a sudden?
I shouldn't take anything for granted when it came to Scully. Maybe
she was ready to call the whole thing off now that I'd gone and used
the 'm' word. What was I thinking?!

I must have looked like I was nursing unestimable wounds, for Scully
deigned to show pity and said, "Oh, Mulder! Please don't think that!
Don't think that I never want to get married! To you."

My hands fell from my head, where they had been pulling at my
dishevelled hair, doing far more damage than restless sleep could
ever hope to. I looked up at her, my face still etched with worry,
and said earnestly, "You mean that?"

She sat back down on the mattress, sliding over and grasping my hand
in hers. "Well, of course I do, silly! Did you think I was just
outright rejecting you?"

"I don't know, Scully. My track record with marriage proposals is
not all that lengthy or successful."

"Well, there was one successful proposal, if my memory serves me
right."

"Yes, you're right. And the fewer parallels drawn between that
experience and our present situation, the better."

"What is our present situation, Mulder? We've only been together
less than a week, for pity's sake! That was my only objection to
your very, very sweet proposal!" She emphasized her words by coming
closer and showering my face with kisses. " I'm not rejecting you,
just the timing of it all."

"We've been together for seven years," I said weakly.

"I know, sweetie, but you just have to give me time to get used to
this, this change, difference, whatever...and prepare myself. Tell
my Mom and family and then we have to think about work and what to do
about that..."

I was ready to surrender. Just hearing my very proper, reserved
Scully call me by a pet name was reward enough for my meager efforts.
I don't think she was aware that it spilled out of her usually no-
nonsense mouth. But I responded, "Well, no one at work has to know."

"Huh? How do you think we can pull that off?"

"Just because we get a license and say vows doesn't mean that anyone
in the District of Columbia has to be the wiser."

"Mulder, you're nuts."

"No way! It's not like we're going to announce it in the Society
section, are we?"

"Well, someone could find out."

"And nothing will happen. I'm not your damn supervisor, for pity's
sake. You'd have to marry Skinner to get booted out of the F.B.I.!
And I did a little research. There's a few pairs of married agents
out there. At least according to my sources."

"Did Langley get that info for you?"

"Yeah," I said softly.

"Well, who's to stop others from hacking through our records then?"

"Scully, I don't think anyone gives a good god damn anymore. They
already have an office pool on when we'll tie the knot..." Whoops,
said more than I should...

"You're joking," she said, with an incredulous look on her face.

"No, I have fifty bucks on this weekend." I successfully dodged a
blow to the head, using my pillow as a barrier to a now irate,
blustering Scully. "I'm just kidding! Scully, I just have been
planning this for so long. I just wanted to make sure we didn't go
home without asking you."

I probably had revealed too much about my strategies, about how I
had lured her down to Arizona for vacation, seduced her, and finally
was planning on making an honest woman of her. She must have
recognized that, she must have suspected as much, for she nodded her
head slowly, crawled over into my arms and made herself comfortable.

I sighed in relief, and we cuddled pleasantly for a good say, one
minute, before she muttered into my chest, "We're still not running
off to Las Vegas to get married, Mulder."

"No, we're not, Scully. Laughlin's much closer."

I should have been more cautious in my remarks. A blow to the ribs
can really hurt. I let out an Oomph! and my 'sweetie' removed
herself to the other side of the bed.

"You're fucking nuts!"

"My little sailor!"

"I think profanity is appropriate at this time, Mulder. Where were
you planning on going? To the Elvis chapel?"

"Anywhere you like is fine with me, sweetie."

She gasped into awareness that she had unwittingly used this cute
little pet name earlier and turned a rosy shade of pink, eclipsing
her healthy glow from a few days in the Arizona sunshine.

"Hmmph," she grumbled, contemplating her nails.

"Hey, no way am I going to club you in the head and drag you to
Laughlin. But why don't we go there anyway? It's the closest major
gambling town. We'll have some fun looking around and if you change
your mind at least we'll be in the right spot."

I tried to appeal to her, beseeching her with liquid eyes. I knew I
couldn't trick Scully into a Nevada marriage license. But I was
willing to play every card I held in my hands.

I wanted us to be more than partners, legally. I wanted to stop
fretting over all the barriers that prevented us from fully
protecting one another. One never knew what the future held,
especially for people like us. Not only as Federal agents, but also
as foes of the Consortium. I didn't want that spectre on the horizon
erasing any part of our bond as partners, friends, or lovers. And it
may have seemed like the silliest thing in the world to her right
now, but it seemed more than right for me.

"So, whaddaya say? Want to see some bright casino lights?"

"O.K., Mulder. But don't push the marriage part if you'd like to
sleep in a nice warm bed tonight."

"Ooh, and I certainly wouldn't want to miss out on that..." We made
amends for our argument. It was still early, what else was there to
do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laughlin, that afternoon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I couldn't believe I'd convinced her. I had laid out all the
evidence, gone over all the reasons we needed to do this, argued my
case thoroughly. Scully had finally capitulated to my view of the
situation. Negotiations were conducted, solemn promises made.
Promise to never, ever ditch her again. Promise that Frohicke got
all my tapes. Promise not to make mention of certain individuals
ever again, if humanly possible. I was full of promises today,
willing to accommodate any of my Scully's wishes, if she would just
make a lasting commitment to me.

I produced the simple wedding bands over lunch. Even though we
weren't planning on wearing them, I had wanted them for the ceremony.
She gave me a funny smirk at first, trying to show a bit of
displeasure at how self-assured and audacious I had been, believing
without a doubt that she would accept my proposal. Then she read the
inscription inside her ring. All it said was 'I love you, Scully'.
I had debated whether to use Dana when I had it engraved for her.
Now, as her smile radiated pure joy, I knew I had made the right
decision.

The little chapel bore no resemblance to Graceland. The only
witnesses were the minister, his wife, and their adult daughter, who
served as the photographer, organist, and designated crier. We opted
for no music, but I talked Scully into a few photographs, telling her
that her mom would love to have them, someday soon. We weren't even
formally dressed. After all, this is Laughlin, Nevada, on June 28,
doing an 114 degree easy-bake oven imitation. Not quite as warm as
in July or August, but not chilly either.

We celebrated by going back to the hotel room, then re-emerging for
a quiet dinner on crisp, white tablecloths in a nice Italian place.
We still wore our rings, reluctant to take them off. She wore a
stunning dress that I'd never seen before. How had she had the
foresight to bring 'that' along? I suppose she would have worn it
this week at some point in time. She would have worn it for me, and
I would have loved the way it complimented her small, but lovely
figure.

The truth is, I was already so dizzy with love for her before we
came out here, that she could have dressed in sackcloth and I
wouldn't have batted an eyelash. She had already made a lasting
impression on my heart and was all I ever needed at my side. She
astonished me every day of our lives, putting up with my crap at the
office, challenging my intellect, watching my back every time we were
confronted with danger.

We left the restaurant to stroll up and down the boardwalk, gazing
out at the Colorado River and enjoying the cool breeze that sunset
brings to the desert landscape. The full moon was up among the
stars, and it was a magnificent sight. Laughlin is nowhere as big as
Las Vegas, and even with the brightly glowing city lights below, the
stars seemed brighter than I'd ever seen them.

We still had a few more days vacation. At the risk of being beaten
to a pulp by Bill Scully, Jr., I had consented to go to San Diego
tomorrow. Oh, yeah. That was another one of those promises I had
made to get Scully to the altar. I was hoping to survive the
consequences...

fin

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