TITLE: Significance (1/1)
AUTHOR: Shoshana
EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: Gossamer, Spookys site, Xemplary, etc.
SPOILER WARNING: Seventh season episodes through Chimera.
RATING: PG
CONTENT STATEMENT: M/S UST, MSR
CLASSIFICATION: VRA
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance
SUMMARY: Post ep for Chimera.
DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me.
NOTE: Thanks to my great beta readers Char, Keleka and Teresa.

Significance
By Shoshana

"Scully, can I come over?"

"What's up, Mulder? Can't it wait till Monday?" she responded,
mildly irritated.

"No. I brought something from Vermont for you," he said, hoping to
bait her curiosity.

"Uh huh, Mulder. Well, you can come over, but it better be worth
it," she said lightly.

"Oh it is, Scully. It is."

"Give me a half hour to get presentable, 'kay?" she cautioned.

"All the time you like. See you soon," he said, hanging up the
phone at his apartment.

He grabbed his keys and his gun and the brown paper sack sitting
next to his door and left for Scully's place. He wasted the extra
ten minutes or so sitting in his car, listening to sports radio,
thinking about what he would say once he got up to her apartment.

Scully opened her door at seven p.m., not bothering to look through
the spyhole. He was very prompt tonight, twenty-eight minutes since
she'd received his call.

He was dressed in jeans and a grey sweatshirt, just enough to ward
off the slight chill of a DC May night. He had a mysterious package
in his hand, a grocery bag with no identifying store name printed on
it.

"Is that my surprise?" she asked impatiently.

Mulder grinned, then chuckled at her brusqueness. She hadn't even
invited him in yet (as though he needed any added encouragement to
cross her threshold) and she was already holding her hand out,
anticipating a transferral of goods. Immediately.

He gave her the bag and entered the apartment, locking the door
behind him. By the time he turned around, she was beaming with
delight, her hands supporting a gallon jug of maple syrup from
beneath the rubber crock.

"Mulder! Thank you! That was pretty thoughtful, with all the other
things you had to deal with up there. Thanks," she said, catching
him off guard by planting an affectionate kiss on his right cheek.

He stepped back a bit and smiled at her, suppressing the inclination
to kiss her. There would be time for that later, he thought. If
everything went according to plan...

"Sit down, Mulder. I want you to fill me in on the details. You
only told me the basics about this case over the phone. I'd like to
know a little more."

She led him over to her couch and they sat on opposite sides, facing
one another.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Well, first of all, where did you stay? Did you stay in that same
seedy motel where Jenny got killed?"

"No, the bureau would have provided something a little better than
that, Scully."

"But they didn't?"

"Well, uh, actually, I didn't have the heart to tell you when I was
up there. Since you were on that miserable stakeout. I actually
stayed with Phil and Ellen when I was there. Except for the last
night. I went to the Days Inn that night. I felt awkward after we
took her over to the sanatorium. Phil didn't seem like he wanted my
company all that much."

"Phil? The one who was cheating on Ellen with both Martha and
Jenny?" she said, wide-eyed.

"Yeah. But he wasn't there much. He left in the middle of the
night and pretended to be out on calls most of the time I was in
town. That's how he got away with adultery so long."

"But, you said she knew, didn't you? She knew anyway, even if she
didn't have hard evidence he was cheating," she stated.

"She did. And that's what attracted the evil to her. That's what
made her act out her fantasies... become something else, something
that could avenge his unfaithfulness. She couldn't kill him, he was
the father of her baby. So, she did the next best thing, killed the
women he was philandering with."

"So you were alone with her, Mulder? In her house?"

"Yeah. Believe me, Scully, she was every bit the normal, efficient
housewife when she wasn't affected by the entity. She was actually
very gracious. She cooked up a storm, said it was for her husband.
But I think she wanted to impress a stranger. I think she was pretty
lonely, actually."

"Did she hit on you?" she asked, her gaze unswerving, a undertone
of gravity in her words.

"No," he said, as sincerely as possible, his voice soft and calm.
"She didn't."

He watched as her body posture indicated tell-tale signs of relief.

He continued, "But she did ask me some questions. She noticed I
wasn't married."

"And?" she asked, probing for more.

"And she told me I needed to find someone to take care of me. That
the right woman would come along. Eventually."

He confronted her eyes, latching onto them and not turning away.

"Oh," she said, finally dipping her face to the floor, unable to
articulate what was swimming through her mind.

He saw her discomfort and decided to tell all. Now.

"She asked me if I had a significant other," he said, simply.

"Oh," she said, not bothering to raise her eyes from the beige
carpeting, her hands joined in an uneasy pile in her lap.

"You wanna know what my answer was?" he asked, softly.

She brought her head up, a timorous look in her eyes he was sure
he'd only seen once or twice in all their years together.

"Yes," she said, her voice stronger than her gaze.

"I said, 'Not in the widely understood meaning of that term.'"

He continued to stare into her eyes, willing her to comprehend.

She sat stock still, her regard of him asking for more, whatever
more he could say.

He waited a beat and then added, "I don't think she understood what
I meant. I think she thought I was lonely."

"Was she right?" she asked. She turned away, breaking any
connection with him, feeling the red flush on her face.

He smiled, then slowly moving to her side of the couch, he said,
"Never."

He sat next to her, his left hand pulling her countenance back to
his own. He saw the unshed tears in her eyes, held in by sheer will
and determination.

His hand caressed her cheek, his thumb playing over her blossoming
smile. He conveyed all he wanted to say, all he could say, with one
smoldering look. He leaned forward, carefully angling in for a
simple kiss.

He pulled back slowly, one finger lingering on her cheek, capturing
descending teardrops.

"Ever," he added, as she moved into his arms, delivering her own
affirming message to his waiting lips.

fin

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