A bit of fun for a Sunday morning
Mulder glanced up from his computer screen as he heardScully groan in frustration opposite him. “You ok?”
“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
Sighing, Scully looked up from her own computer, then sighedonce again. “I just received an email from one of my school friends,” sheexplained.
“Has something happened?”
“Sadly not.” At Mulder’s puzzled expression she continued. “Myfriend…Susan…Well my sort of friend…”
“Your high school friend.”
“Yeah. She’s just reminding me that it’s our annual highschool meet up next weekend. I hadn’t heard anything so I presumed it wasn’tgoing ahead this year, but sadly not.”
“You don’t sound thrilled at the prospect.”
“That’s because I’m not.”
“So don’t go. Tell them you’re working.”
“I told them that last year.”
“Tell them you’re on vacation.”
“I told them that the year before.”
Mulder grinned. “Why don’t you want to go Scully? Isn’t itnice to catch up with old friends?”
“It is, sometimes, but not these old friends.”
“Well they’re just…you know?”
“You’re talking to a guy who lost all of his school friendsthe moment he started talking about alien abductions. I don’t know.”
“They’re all smug married people.”
“It is, because it makes me their project.”
She sighed once again. “Our annual meetup invite alwaysstates plus one. The last time I didn’t take anyone, so they spent the wholeevening trying to match me with guys. Any guy who had a pulse.”
“More like soul destroying. I’m perfectly happy with my lifebut they make me feel as though I’m a failure in some way.”
“You’re not a failure Scully,” replied Mulder, his work nowforgotten. “Don’t go.”
“There are one or two of them I actually like. And I do feelbad when they make the effort to invite me.”
“Mulder, most of my friends have lives. They don’t want tocome to someone else’s high school reunion, plus I don’t want them to pity me.”
He chuckled. “I don’t pity you.” He suddenly realized whathe was suggesting. “Actually, I don’t have a life, which means I don’t have anyplans.”
“Mulder, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“It’ll be boring. They’ll only talk about marriage andbabies and house prices.”
She smiled. “There will be a bar.”
“Listen, if you want me to come, I will. If you bring afriend maybe they’ll go easy on you, or they might take pity on me instead andmake me their new project. It’ll at least mean you get a chance to enjoyyourself. It might be fun.”
“It will if I ask them to show me pictures of a teenage DanaScully. I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he added, as Scully glared at them. “At the veryleast we can put them off dinner by talking about the Flukeman.” He grinned. “Everytime they discuss marriage we can talk about autopsies if you like.”
Scully shook her head. “It’s fine Mulder, I’ll make myexcuses.”
“Email her back and say we’ll go. C’mon Scully, what’s theworst that could happen?”
Scully looked up, recognizing the voice of the woman who’dcalled her. Mulder saw her grimace for a split second before she forced apolite smile and walked towards her former classmate. “Susan, hi.”
“Hi!” Mulder watched as a petite brunette woman pulledScully into her arms for a hug. As they pulled back and appraised one another,Mulder also took the opportunity to consider the woman. She had a warm,friendly face, tight curly hair and glasses that reminded him of Skinner, herealized, chuckling to himself. She seemed friendly enough, and he wasn’t quitesure why Scully wasn’t so keen on spending time with her.
“Thank you,” Scully replied a little awkwardly. She’d neverbeen comfortable accepting compliments. “So do you.”
Smiling, her classmate suddenly caught sight of Mulder. “Hithere.” Taking the hint, Scully turned to him.
“Susan, this is my partner, Fox –”
“Call me Mulder,” he interrupted, reaching out to shakeSusan’s hand. “Good to meet you.”
Susan shook his hand warmly. “Your partner? Congratulations.”
“Oh –” Before either Mulder or Scully could interrupt andcorrect her, she’d continued. “Well it’s about time Dana! We’ve been saying fora few months now that you really needed to start thinking about settling down.It’s been years since Ethan, and honey you’re not getting any younger.”
“While Scully bit down on her lip so tightly that Mulderpresumed she was about to draw blood, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. So that was why she didn’t like the woman.Taking a deep breath, Scully maintained both her polite smile and herrestraint.
“Oh, Mulder isn’t my partner,” she explained calmly. Susan’ssmile faded. “We just –”
“We don’t know what to call it,” Mulder said, shiftingcloser to Scully. “Partner sounds like we just work together, boyfriend andgirlfriend is odd because we’re not kids anymore…” Glancing over at hispartner, he noted her shocked – and pissed – expression. *In for a penny, infor a pound* he thought to himself, as he then took hold of her hand. “Weprefer “significant other,” don’t we honeybunch?” He winked at his partner, whowas thankfully too shocked to respond. However he knew from the look on herface that he’d be paying the price for this as soon as they were out ofearshot.
“Oh isn’t that adorable?” Susan enthused, clearly excitedthat Scully had finally found someone. “Come, the rest of the girls are over there.”She pointed to a long table set up near the back of the room. “They’ll be sopleased to see you, and of course to meet Mulder. It’s been a while since Danahas introduced us to anyone. Come, sit down and tell us all how you both met.”With that she walked off. “Come!”
“I hate you,” Scully murmured, squeezing Mulder’s hand sohard he thought she’d broken it. Wincing, he followed his partner and herfriend for an evening of entertainment – at least for him.
There was no doubt about it, Scully was going to kill him,Mulder thought, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. In response, she dugher nails into his upper thigh. Hard. Around the table sat seven other womenwith their husbands, girlfriends and, in the case of one couple whosebabysitter cancelled at the last minute, their children. They were alllistening intently to the story of how Mulder and Scully met. He recalled asimilar conversation not too long ago when both he and Scully were out inCalifornia, and recalled the death glare his partner had shot him when he’dinformed their neighbors that they’d met at a UFO conference. This timehowever, he decided to stick to the truth. “…and then Dana was assigned to workwith me. It was love at first sight on my part,” he added, flashing Scully asheepish grin. Her expression suggested she couldn’t decide whether to punchhim or vomit.
Thankfully her school friends were oblivious. A lady sitting opposite, Caroline, clapped herhands together. “That’s so adorable. Who’d have thought you could find love atthe FBI.”
“Well look at Anna.” All eyes landed on a woman sat next toScully. “She managed it.”
“You work at the FBI?” Mulder asked. The woman shook herhead.
“No, but my partner does. He’s coming along shortly.”
“I bet your mom is excited for you Dana,” interruptedanother woman, Laura. “I bet she can’t wait for the big day.”
“Oh we’re not getting married,” Scully replied, with an airof finality that only Mulder could detect. He willed himself not to smirk.
“Not yet anyway,” he interrupted, receiving another dig tothe thigh. He was clearly having the time of his life, though he knew he’d paythe price for it as soon as he and Scully left the building. “But right now we’rehappy as we are.”
Scully suddenly sat forward in her chair, picked up herglass of wine from the table and downed what was left of her drink. “Who wantsanother?” she asked. As her friends gave their orders, she made a mental noteand then turned to Mulder. “Can you help me with the drinks…sweetheart?”
“I’ll help you Dana,” offered Anna.
“Oh no it’s fine,” she replied sweetly. “Mulder will helpme.” She glared at her partner, who then nodded and got to his feet, ready toface the wrath of Scully.
“What the hell are you playing at?”
They were barely out of their seats when Scully turned onhim. “What?”
“Don’t what me. You know. Significant other. Marriage.Mulder, some of those woman still speak to my mom. And Bill too.”
“Bill?” Mulder grimaced as he realized that word of their “relationship”might reach Scully’s brother. “I was helping you out.”
“Scully you told me those woman only ever talk aboutmarriage and babies and can’t understand why you’re single. They pretty muchturned on you the instant you walked in here…” His eyes suddenly narrowed. “Wait,you are single aren’t you? I’m notstepping on anyone’s toes?”
“I know how uncomfortable they make you feel. You said yourselfthat they’re like leeches sucking out your soul.”
“And that they’re constantly discussing your love life.”
“I’m just helping you out, getting them off of your back forone night. At the next reunion you can just tell them we split up. Make me thebad guy.”
“I guess so.” She didn’t look too convinced. “Alright,” sheconceded, once she’d given the drinks order to the barman. “But only becausetelling the truth now would just make me look pathetic. You get to deal with mymom when she inevitably finds out. “
“Deal. For a moment I thought you were going to make me talkto Bill.”
“Don’t tempt me. Bill would tear you apart if he thought wewere dating.”
Scully saw Mulder’s eyes dart over towards their table,before refocusing on her. He smiled sweetly, while she eyed him cautiously. “What?”
She stood perfectly still as her partner reached out,tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ears. His breath caressed her skin ashe leaned in to whisper. “They’re watching us,” he whispered, suddenly cuppingher jaw and kissing her tenderly on the lips. It was a sweet kiss, PG-rated,but it still look Scully by surprise and left her breathless. It was adangerous kiss, she thought to herself as Mulder pulled back and smiled onceagain, licking his lips subconsciously. It made her want to kiss him again.
“This is what couples do, isn’t it?” He turned o pick up thedrinks in front of him when suddenly he caught sight of Anna walking towardsthem with a familiar figure. A familiar male figure. “Shit.”
“What?” Scully was oblivious, still paying for the order.
She froze as she suddenly heard AD Skinner’s voice ring outbehind her. Mulder was sporting his best panic face as he realized by Skinner’ssmug, knowing grin that he’d just witnessed their public display of affection.
Scully slowly turned, her face flushing furiously. “ADSkinner.”
“I told Dana you were coming, I didn’t realize you knew oneanother,” Anna explained, clearly unaware of the awkward tension that had creptinto the room.
“You could say that,” Skinner replied. “I see you two areenjoying the evening.”
“Anna was just telling me about the new man in your lifeDana.”
Scully looked as though she wanted the ground to open up andswallow her. After she’d murdered Mulder of course.
“It’s not what it looks like sir.”
“Nonsense, I’ve heard the rumors.”
Now she definitely looked as though she was moments awayfrom killing her partner.
“You don’t need to pretend otherwise around me, at least notnow. We’re not at work this evening.” He gestured back to their table. “We’llsee you shortly.”
Skinner and Anna headed back over towards their table,leaving Mulder and Scully alone.
“Just don’t.” She gestured once again to the barman.
Mulder looked down at the glass of wine he was holding. “You’vealready got a drink.”
“I know. I need another.”
It was going to be a long night.
