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TITLE: Something (1/1)
AUTHOR: Christine Leigh 
E-MAIL: leighchristine@hotmail.com 
RATING: PG-13 
CATEGORY: MSR 
SPOILERS: Je Souhaite, Existence
SUMMARY: Vignette.  Post-Je Souhaite through present day.


Something
by Christine Leigh

April 2000

Mulder's apartment
early evening

"Well, I'm fairly happy.  That's something."  

She's smiling a big smile.  No, it's a grin.  An all-out, blinding
Scully-grin.  He knows that if he leaned over and kissed her
that they wouldn't watch the video.  He's so tempted. 
Memories of their last time together aren't nearly enough to
satisfy him, and over the last few days they've been too beat at
the end of the day to do anything besides say good night before
parting.  Mulder's emotions are high tonight.  The scare he had
after his peace on earth wish went south is too fresh.  He hopes
Jenn is enjoying her new life.  He knows he did the wisest
thing, for once.  But, back to the woman sitting hip-to-hip with
him on the couch.  To kiss or not to kiss.  God, he loved to see
her look at him like that.  It didn't happen enough.  This is
almost surreal, the two of them sitting here having a beer and
watching a video.  He decides against the kiss.  This is
precious.  This is something, and he wants to enjoy it.  Later
they will kiss.  Later they will make love.  Peace on earth
would have been good, but this is better.

****

September 2001

Scully's apartment
around midnight

If someone had been watching them in silhouette, if that were
possible against the sheets, the watcher would have seen one
form in the bed, so close were its two occupants.  This is how it
had been.  The past two nights, and some of the daylight hours
as well, whether or not they had or were planning to make love,
they had taken to lying naked together in the cool, darkened
bedroom of the apartment.  The need to feel each other's skin
had become a near obsession, and  indulging it kept them from
crying or screaming like mad people.  As it was now, the only
crying came from the bassinet.  Scully disengaged herself from
Mulder who was sleeping rather soundly, and got up.  She
threw on her robe and went over and picked William up. He
wasn't wet. 

"Was it a bad dream?"  She cuddled him close to her and stood
there rocking him gently. "Oh, my sweetie, that's okay.  It's
going to be okay."  They returned to the bed.  Scully sat up
against the headboard, and continued to whisper softly to her
beautiful little boy, while gazing at her beautiful big one as he
slept.  She said a small prayer of thanks.

The past two days had been wearing, not to mention unreal. 
Unreal was a relative concept in Scully's life, but she'd never
felt this way before.  She and Mulder had decided earlier
tonight to turn the television off.  It was all too sad to bear
watching any longer.  They needed a break.  They had taken
William out in the stroller for a bit yesterday afternoon, but
otherwise had been in the apartment watching the news
coverage steadily since the attacks occurred.  She didn't want
to contemplate what would come next for the country.  She
wanted to stay right here, and hold onto the small piece of
sanity that she and Mulder had managed to claim for
themselves and their son; she didn't want to think about
anything else.  Of course, that was impossible.  She kissed
William's sweet, soft cheek.  He was almost back to sleep. 
Then it was Mulder's turn.

"Scully," he said, too loudly.  William started to cry again. 
Mulder sat up, startled, and looked around him.  What was
going on?  Scully was here, and she had a baby with her. 
Where were they? 

"Mulder, are you all right?  Were you dreaming?"  Scully
looked at him anxiously.  William continued to cry.  "That's
okay, now, sweetie.  It's all right.  It looks like your daddy had
a bad dream, too."

Daddy.  Oh.  That brought him back.  Mulder got up and went
to use the bathroom.   When he finished he splashed some cold
water on his face, and then returned to the bed.  William had
stopped crying.  "That scared the hell out of me."

"What, your dream?"  

"Yeah, for a minute there, I didn't know where I was or what
you were doing here in bed with me holding a baby."

"But you know now, though."  

"Yes.  Come here."  Scully moved away from the headboard
and backed into his arms, which he wrapped around her and
William.  He felt like Superman, sitting there with the two
people most precious in the universe enfolded in his embrace. 
Nothing could happen to any of them as long as they stayed
like this.  It was a nice little fantasy.  He twisted his face
around to look at Scully.  She smiled at him.  As long as he
could look upon that smile, there would be hope in his world. 
He tried to imagine what experiencing the horror of the last two
days would have been like without her and William in his life,
and he couldn't do it.  

"Mulder, thank you."

"For what, forgetting about you?"

"No, but don't make a habit of it."

"Never."

"Thank you for everything.  You've made me happier than I
ever expected to be."

"That's still something, then?"

She smiled, remembering their first date, such as it was.  "That
it is."

He hugged her a little tighter, but not so tight as to awaken
William, who was now asleep.  "Maybe we need to have
another video night sometime soon.  You can choose this
time."

"Deal."

They were quiet for a few minutes, silently acknowledging the
safe haven they provided each other.  They would face the
unspeakable actions of the last few days, knowing that they
were among the lucky.  Scully was starting to look dozy, so
Mulder took William from her arms and placed him between
the two of them.  They didn't do this often, but tonight was
different.  Together was a good thing, tonight.  He kissed
William on the forehead, and Scully on the cheek. She was
about out.

"Scully, I love you," he whispered.

"Love you Mulder," she mumbled in response.  "Something.
Really something."


-  end  -