Best Friends: Blood and Water by TBishop27@aol.com Rated: NC-17 Category: MSR Feedback: If you want to see the series continue. Flames will be forwarded to that dark part of my writer's imagination that roams the night in search of victims. Disclaimer: This Mulder and Scully are mine. Chris would never let his play this way. Author's Note: This is the sixth installment in the Best Friends series. It is NOT necessary for you to have read any of the prior installments as they each are written to stand alone. But they are connected, so you might enjoy this more if you have the background of the other stories. You can find all previous installments on my personal archive page listed below. The stories in this series are as follows: Best Friends: 1) Mulder's Girlfriend 2) The Date 3) Sleeping Over 4) Work Ethics 5) Jealousy 6) Blood and Water ***Thanks to David, Shoshana and Shell for beta. And to Webmistress Grasshopper for keeping up the Archive. You can now find all my stories archived at: The Literary G-Spot http://members.xoom.com/arcticfox42/Tbishop.htm BEST FRIENDS: Blood and Water The hot spray of the shower feels good on my sore muscles after that workout. Scully's brother Charlie is a maniac on the court. I had a hell of a time beating him. I may be taller and have a longer reach, but the guy is five years younger than me and sadly it shows. I was determined not to be bested at my beloved roundball, especially with Scully watching intently from the sidelines. Had to impress my woman, after all. This is the first time I've met Charlie. He's a cut up. He says some damn funny stuff. Scully had warned me about it before he arrived this morning. She said he was sort of a clown and a big practical joker. I could see it the moment I met him, the sly quirk to his smile and a gleam in his eyes that makes him look like he's perpetually up to something. We got to talking and found out that we were both huge Knicks fans, funny Scully never mentioned that, and we both played basketball in high school. Of course, I had to razz him a little, he's only 5'8"! That's when he challenged me to a game. An hour and a half later, the battle was finally over. And being as we were both smelling like manly men, Scully and her mom insisted we hit the showers before lunchtime. Charlie went in to use his mom's shower off the Master bedroom, and I took the main bath upstairs at the end of the hall. Just as I start to soap up, I hear the bathroom door being opened and shut. I could have sworn I locked the damn thing. I see a shadow pass by the frosted glass. I KNOW I turned that lock. A minute later the shower door clicks open and my very beautiful and very naked partner steps in to join me. I'm momentarily shocked by her boldness. After all, we are in her mother's house. Maggie Scully doesn't seem like the type to condone such behavior in her properly kept home. Although, now that I think of it, Scully did tell me the story of her mother picking out that fabulous lingerie... what the hell. I'm not about to turn Scully away. She bites her lower lip, and I can see a little bit of a flush in her cheeks. Oh, so that's the game. She likes that she's being bad. Defying the guilt of her Catholic upbringing always seems to turn her on. Hell, it turns me on too. There's something strangely erotic about taking what is forbidden. I've never felt this way about other women. Perhaps it's because Scully is my partner and we both tried for so long to keep things professional between us. Or perhaps it's because she's nothing like the other women I've ever known. Scully is...this is going to sound corny, but she's special, or maybe exceptional is a better word. She's different. She's... my best friend. I respect her on so many levels. For years I kept her up on that pedestal, a virginal Goddess... well, at least in my fantasies she was. I'm still in denial about her past experiences. It's ridiculous, I know. But I'm insanely jealous of any man or boy from her past who might have touched or taken what I now consider to be mine. She is mine. All mine. And it's time to prove that again to both of us. I look her up and down slowly. My eyes caress each curve and valley as the hot spray of the shower rains over her. Steamy clouds drift around us in the tiny enclosure. As I pin her against the shower wall with my body, she hisses when her back meets the cold tiles. I let my gaze drop down to her chest, watching her ruddy pink nipples pucker, becoming hard and erect before my hungry eyes. "You naughty little girl. Does your mother know what you're up to?" I use the menacing voice that always seems to turn Scully on. She shakes her head and gives me the most mischievous grin. Oh God, I love this woman! "She thinks I went up to my room to rest." "Dana Scully, lying to your mother and sneaking off to seduce your boyfriend in the shower? What ever am I going to do with you?" The soap on my body makes a wonderful slipperiness between us as I press against her, intimidating her with my size and strength. She shrugs, and I see just a bit of apprehension along with excitement in her eyes. I step back from her purposely, letting her see the affect she has rendered on me. Then I touch myself as she watches, slowly stroking up and down my erection. "Now, look what you've done," I scold her. "Sorry," she offers meekly, but there is a spark of self-satisfaction lighting the blue of her eyes. I continue to slide my hand back and forth over my pulsing hard-on, and Scully watches with rapt attention, her back still hugging the wall of the shower. "Sorry isn't good enough, sweetheart. I'm afraid you're going to have to atone." Her eyes flutter shut and the hint of a smile quirks the corners of her mouth. I know she likes this game. She likes to be dominated. Since that first time when I said, 'Get over here, Scully,' and she obeyed, I knew. She may be a tough, independent, gun toting G-woman, but she likes to play a different game when it comes to sex. Uncovering this secret of hers has been the most amazing discovery of my life, and by far the most rewarding. I pull her towards me, taking her with a fierce kiss. She's more than eager, and we let our tongues explore as the water from the shower falls over us. Sucking the sweet glistening droplets that cling to her lips, drinking her in, tasting her breath, plundering the hot velvet of her mouth. The need to be inside her is growing more immediate with each passing second. When I finally release her, she looks up at me and I can see nothing but burning passion and desire in those heavenly pools of blue. Her eyes have always captivated me, drawn me in. From the very beginning I was mesmerized by their hypnotic depths. I feel her delicate fingers gently tracing the length of my erection, eliciting involuntary twitches, and a gasp I can't suppress. "I'm sorry I'm such a bad girl," she says with the voice of a wicked seductress. In the two months that we've been together as a couple, I've learned to expect the unexpected from this woman. She is careful to keep me guessing. There is always another side to her, left to be explored. I feel her nails now, as they drag across the sensitive skin where moments ago her fingers caressed. This time I moan. She's getting the better of me. If I don't stop her, there won't be any use pretending I'm in control. Reluctantly, I reach down and grab her wrist, abruptly pulling her hand away. "It's going to take more than that, Scully." "What, then?" Her tongue darts out just briefly from between those perfect lips to catch a water drop that has come to rest on the curve of her smile. It sends a surge of longing to my groin. I debate my options. We don't have much hot water left, so this is unfortunately going to have to move along. Not that I'm feeling especially patient at the moment anyway. There's just something about a subservient and biddable Scully that really sends me into overdrive. "Turn around." It is a command the way I voice it. The fire intensifies in her eyes as she willingly complies. **************************************************** I brace my palms against the wall of the shower and push back into him in perfect synchronous rhythm to his desperate thrusts. He holds tight to my hips, pulling me back harder and harder, flesh slapping against flesh, the hot spray of the shower running down my back, across my shoulders, trickling over my breasts, caressing my body as Mulder drives into me with all that he has. He is so deep inside of me now. I can feel him pushing against my cervix, forcing my body to accommodate him. He's fucking me so hard that I'm about to climb up this damn wall! It's reckless to be doing it here, in my mother's house. This wanton act, letting Mulder take me here and now with my family near by, is very wrong; but for some reason it's one of the most erotic things I've ever experienced. I've never done anything so sinful before. "God, Mulder, yes," I whisper. It takes all the restraint I have not to scream it to the heavens. I rest my face against the cool tiles. This has to be killing him, doing it in this position, me being so much shorter. Good thing he keeps those long legs in shape by running. After an hour and a half playing basketball with Charlie it's a wonder he can even walk, let alone do this for any length of time...and he's been at it quite a while. He continues rocking into me, his hands holding firmly to my hips, his fingers digging in unmercifully. There will be bruises, but who cares. Mulder is possessing me, conquering me, owning me. I love feeling this way. The pleasure/pain of his demands is exquisite. I am moaning quietly, but it's torture... if we were someplace else, I'd be crying out from the force of his assault. Mulder brings his mouth down and starts kissing and biting the side of my neck. He sucks at my tender flesh, and laps at the water cascading down my skin. "God. Yes. More," I whisper. He hears me over the noise of the shower and gives a long, low, rumbly moan in reply. The sound of his voice pushes me to the edge. I am so close... Suddenly the shower door flies open, and Mulder and I both turn and look in horror at the equally shocked expression on my brother Bill's face. Oh my God! He's standing there looking at us, his mouth hanging open. "Christ! Son of a bitch!" he curses, and hastily slams the shower door shut. As Mulder and I abruptly separate, sharing distressed looks, we hear Bill slamming the bathroom door on his way out. ***************************************************** Scully and I are in her old room dressing and trying to recover from the humiliation of getting caught in the act by her brother. Jesus, that has to rank near the top of the list of embarrassing moments in my life. I'm sure it ranks high with Scully too. She looks absolutely mortified, and hasn't said a word since. Bill and I have never gotten along, but now I'm certain he'd like to see me dead. Not that I can blame him after this. He just caught me fucking his sister. He's probably in the other room gouging his eyes out at this very moment... There is a loud knock on the door. ...Or not. Scully gets up from her bed, having just finished putting her shoes on. She throws me a guilty side glance as she walks past. The door is barely open when he pushes his way angrily into the room, glaring and pointing his finger at me. "I want him the hell out of here, Dana, right now!" Scully immediately closes the door hoping to muffle her brother's loud voice. "Calm down, Bill. Do you want the whole house to hear you?" He spins around to face her. "Don't tell me to calm down! I'm shocked, Dana! Shocked that my little sister would behave in such a way! Is this what he's done to you? Is this what you've become? A slut who would fuck her boyfriend in her own mother's house!" Scully sees me opening my mouth to object and puts a hand up to stop me. "It's okay, Mulder. I'll handle this." Reluctantly, I hold my tongue. "He's leaving if I have to throw his sorry ass out of this house myself!" Bill moves in my direction, but Scully catches his arm. Her voice is calm, but I can hear the trembling as she struggles to keep her emotions in check. "He's not leaving, Bill. And before you go starting something you're most certainly going to regret, I will apologize for my behavior. It was inappropriate, I agree. But it wasn't Mulder's idea, it was mine. I'm sorry you had to see that... but what the hell were you doing opening the shower door anyway?" He looks disgusted. "I THOUGHT it was Charlie in the shower. Mom told me he was upstairs getting cleaned up after playing ball. I was going to give him shit about his tattoo." His eyebrows arch in true Scully family form. "Apparently, you've had some ink done yourself. I don't know who you are anymore, Dana. If Dad were alive, his heart would break seeing what this son of a bitch has done to you." I've got to hand it to him. He's good. He managed to cut us both with that last sentence. Scully draws a shaky breath. I can see her mentally counting to ten. "Mulder is not responsible for my behavior. He hates the tattoo probably more than you do." I do? Well, yeah, I do. But I never told her that. We've never even discussed it. "Don't waste your breath defending him to me! I've seen what's been happening to you over the last seven years since you got involved with him! You were a lighthearted, intelligent woman with a promising career ahead of you. You had respectable friends and a normal life. Now look at you! Your life is a mess! You've forgotten all your friends! And your morality is seriously in question! You weren't raised this way, Dana! The Church doesn't condone the way you're conducting yourself. Have you abandoned your faith too? Is fucking that loser so important that you're willing to give up every part of yourself!" Jesus, Scully's brother's an asshole. I look over at my partner to see that the forced calm has all but disappeared from her face. She looks like she's about to explode. And she does. "Who the fuck do you think you are preaching morality to me! You think I don't know about your girlfriend in tenth grade?" Scully must have brought out the big guns, because her brother's face goes stark white. Hmm, family secrets, from the look of it Billy boy's just been knocked off that high horse of his right onto his ass. "Yeah, I know all about it! The Church doesn't condone that either, now does it?" Go, Scully! "I was just a kid, Dana." All the fight is momentarily gone from his voice, the wind let out of his sails. "We're allowed mistakes in our youth." "No! You were allowed to make mistakes, and Missy and Charlie too, but never me! I had to do it all perfectly! I was never allowed to be human, to have failings! To give anything less than a flawless performance at all times!" Her body is shaking with rage, and her eyes have become glassy with unshed tears. "Damn it, Bill! For the first time in my life I've found real happiness. I have a career I love and a relationship with someone I care deeply about. Why can't you accept that I know what's best for me?" He doesn't miss a beat. "Because apparently you don't! Not if HE," he tosses his head in my direction, "is what you consider to be best! He's a loser, Dana! And he's dragging you down with him!" Just then Charlie pops his head in the door. "Hey, what's going on? What's all the yelling about?" "I caught our sister fucking her boyfriend in the shower." "Oh God," Scully groans, burying her face in her hands. "Why don't you just call everybody up here and give a full account, Bill? That is, if they haven't already heard you." Charlie throws me an amused look and enters the room, shutting the door behind him. "Can you believe this shit, Charlie? I was just about to give lover boy the old heave-ho." "Come on, Bill, Dana's a grown woman. If she and Mulder want to work up some steam in the shower together, it's really none of our business." The voice of reason. At least one of Scully's brothers is on our side. "Thank you, Charlie." Scully gives Bill a defiant look. "You approve?" Bill squints at his brother in disbelief. "Well, no... not really, but that doesn't give me the right to interfere." Charlie's words hit Scully like a slap across the face. She drops her gaze to the floor, and I can almost feel the shame radiating from her tiny form. Of course, Bill feels it necessary kick her when she's down. "You see, Dana, I'm not the only one appalled by your indecency. Charlie may not feel it's his place to correct you, but as head of this family, it's my duty..." I can't stand by and listen to this any more. "Oh, for Christsake, I'll go... just get off her back, would you please!" Scully looks over at me. "Mulder, no. Don't leave." "Scully, I don't want to be the cause of a fight. It's better if I go and let you spend the day with your family." I move to her and kiss her forehead. "I'll call you tomorrow." "No! Damn it, Mulder, stay." She clings to my hand. "Let him go, Dana." Bill makes the stupid move of trying to pull Scully away from me. That's when all hell breaks loose. "Get your God damn hands off me!" she roars at him. Bill Scully is either the bravest or the stupidest man alive, because he doesn't let go at her warning. In fact, he grabs her by the arms and shakes her. "Stop this! I want you to come to your senses right now! He's no good for you, Dana! Wake up and realize that!" He's really not being all that rough, but regardless, I refuse to see Scully mistreated in any way. I push myself in between them. "Don't you dare treat her like that!" I am rocked with a right cross that momentarily stuns me. Scully flies at her brother, throwing a punch of her own which he parries, and then he shoves her aside. His push is a little too hard however, and she ends up hitting the floor. That's it for me. I get up, prepared to rearrange this guy's face... I don't care if he IS Scully's brother, when suddenly I hear a voice that stops me cold. "What's going on up here?" Maggie Scully says, sounding every bit the role of Mother. And like a room full of guilty children, we all look from one to another and nobody says a word. I offer Scully a hand up, and we face her mother together. "Mom, I think Mulder and I are going to have to be going." "What in God's name for? What's this all about?" Scully goes to her mother and gives her a hug. "I'm sorry, Mom. We have to go." She looks over at Charlie and gives him half a smile. "Little brother, It was good seeing you again." Then she turns to me. "Come on, Mulder." I follow her out the door, but not before nodding at Charlie, and offering Maggie an apologetic smile. As we're walking away I hear Scully's mom begin questioning her sons. "All right. Which one of you two is going to explain this?" I know one thing for sure. I don't want to be around when she finds out what we were fighting about. ***************************************************** Mulder and I had this awful argument on the way home from my mother's house. The worst fight we've ever had. I was feeling guilty about what happened, and he said something that I took completely wrong. Then I attacked with a bunch of stupid, hurtful things I never should have said, because I really didn't mean them. He got mad and lost his temper, saying, if I really felt that way then maybe we should call it quits. And before I could stop myself, I had agreed. We broke up. I felt numb and stunned and sick. And when he pulled the car up in front of my apartment, I got out without another word, and he drove away before I even walked up the steps. I tried to call him all the rest of the afternoon and evening, but he wasn't answering either of his phones. I left messages telling him I was sorry and asking him to please call me back, but I never heard from him. Around two in the morning, I couldn't stand it any longer. I drove over to his place, just to make sure he was okay. All these wild imaginings kept running through my mind, and I had to know he was safe. When I got to his apartment he wasn't there, so I let myself in to wait for him. I didn't have to wait long. After only about twenty minutes, I hear a key turn in the lock. At first I'm relieved because he's home safe... and then the door opens. He's not alone. Mulder and this lanky brunette, (what else?) come stumbling into the room, obviously under the influence. He sobers up almost immediately when he sees me sitting there on his couch, with what must be a horrified expression on my face. "Scully!" He takes his arm off the other woman. "What the hell are you doing here?" I can't face this nightmare. I just can't. I've embarrassed myself enough for one day. I'm not about to stick around here and make a fool of myself in front of Mulder. I'm off the couch and out the door in a heart beat. I can hear Mulder calling after me, but I don't look back, I don't turn around, I don't stop running until I'm behind the wheel of my car. The tires screech as I push the pedal to the floorboard and speed off before he can catch up to me. With no one else to turn to, I end up at my mother's. The last place I should go, but I'm too upset to go home alone. It occurs to me I may not be in for a very warm reception if Bill told her what he caught me doing with Mulder in her shower, but since Missy was killed I've found myself turning to my mother more and more with my personal problems and for advice. My mother is amazing. I wake her up in the middle of the night, crying my eyes out, and she calmly makes us tea and sits me down ready to listen to her daughter's heartbroken ramblings. If Bill did rat me out, it hasn't made a difference. She has nothing but sympathy in her eyes as I tell her of the day's events. "I'm sorry, Mom... I'm sorry to bother you with this," I sniff. She reaches across the kitchen table and squeezes my hand. "It's okay, Dana. Don't be so upset, honey. You and Fox will work this out. Every couple has fights." "No, Mom, I didn't tell you the worst part." I look over and see Bill and Charlie standing in the kitchen doorway listening intently to my every word. Why the hell is my life always the family soap opera? "I... I went over to his apartment to apologize and he wasn't there. So I waited for him and... oh, Mom... He came home with another woman." "Oh, Dana." Mom looks as crushed as I feel. "What am I going to do, Mom?" I sob. "I love him so much. And now I've lost him, and it's all my fault. I've been waiting so long for this relationship... and... God!" I bury my face in my hands and cry harder. Mom sighs. "Honey, I know what Fox means to you..." "I thought I had a chance, Mom, a chance at happiness for the first time in my life. Why did I have to screw it up? I love him, damn it!" "And he loves you too, Dana. I'm sure of it. I've seen it in the way he looks at you. Those times when you were so terribly sick... when we were afraid you might die... he was beside himself." "Yeah, well, it seems I'm easily replaced," I tell her bitterly as the picture of Mulder and that woman comes into sharp focus again in my mind's eye. ***************************************************** All I keep seeing is that look on her face. Those wounded eyes. How could something so beautiful be so filled with pain? Me, that's how. And I hate myself for it. I tried to catch her, but she took off out of here like a shot. After she left I played the messages on my answering machine, and it was her voice telling me how sorry she was and pleading with me to call her back. Sometimes I can be such a stupid jerk. I was so busy feeling sorry for myself and drowning my sorrows in booze, that I didn't ever even consider what she must have been going through. We had a fight. That's all it was. Okay, maybe it got out of hand... but I don't think either of us intended for it to go as far as it did. It's just that when she made those remarks about me treating her like a whore because I would never sleep over, I didn't know how to respond. I suppose the truth would have been a good place to start. But how do I tell her? Scully, waking up with you in my arms is the most incredible feeling in the world and it scares me to death. Yeah, she'd love that. I couldn't sleep in my own bed for years after Diana left me. Couldn't stand the feeling of waking up each morning alone. That would definitely win points with Scully. Bringing up my ex-wife always has a positive effect on her. But I have to tell her. She's entitled to an explanation. She'll never understand though. I can already hear her rationalizing... 'then you must not trust me as you say you do, Mulder, if you're afraid of getting hurt.' It's not that I don't trust her. It's that I'm fully aware of my own propensity for destroying relationships. I think the best term to describe it is sabotage. I'm so afraid of being rejected, of being abandoned, that I subconsciously destroy the very bonds I'm am terrified of losing. It's nice to have a degree in psychology so I know how truly fucked up I am. It's a wonder Scully wants anything to do with me at all. I should go after her, but I don't have my car. They took my keys at the bar after my sixth round of drinks. Michelle drove me home. She lives in my building. She's a barmaid by night, graduate student in anthropology by day. She and her husband are moving to Tibet next summer when she gets her doctorate. Jeez, Scully thinks... There's a loud knock at my door. It's almost four. It has to be Scully. Thank God she's come back! Even if she intends to shoot me, at least she'll see I'm alone here. Maybe I'll even have time to explain and beg her to forgive me before she can riddle me with bullet holes. Scully's at the door all right, but it's the wrong Scully. My chances of being shot have just increased exponentially. "I need to talk to you, Mr. Mulder," Bill grumbles, with a hateful glare. I let him into my apartment and I can see him checking around with his eyes. "Your sister's not here," I tell him. "Yeah, I know. She's at my mom's house crying her eyes out because of you, asshole." "If you came here to kill me, my weapons over on the coffee table. Help yourself." He almost laughs. "Tempting as that is, it's not the reason I came here." He's still looking around, and it finally dawns on me what, or should I say who, he's looking for. "There's nobody else here. Michelle... the woman that Scully saw me with, she's a neighbor of mine. She gave me a ride home because I was too drunk to drive my car." That seems to relax him a bit. He nods, accepting my explanation. He's standing over by the bookcase now, looking at a photo of me and Scully taken several weeks ago when we went on a date to the zoo. The guy in the primate center was an acquaintance of Scully's, and he let her come into the nursery room and feed one of their baby chimps a bottle. When I went to snap her picture she said, 'come on, Mulder, let's make it a family photo,' and she asked her friend if he would mind taking the picture. The next day she presented me with a framed copy with a little note that said, 'It's amazing how much our baby looks like you, Mulder.' I laughed at the time, but what I really wanted to do was to pull her into my arms and hug her, and tell her how truly sorry I was that we would never know what a child of ours might look like. I can't put that photo away, it would hurt Scully, but I hate the way it reminds me of what we can never have. "You know I really can't stand you, Mr. Mulder. I think I've made that quite clear," he sighs. "Gee, and here I thought you dropped by to read me poetry and bring me flowers." He ignores my sarcasm. "I know Dana would be far better off in life if she'd never met you." "Yeah, well, I have to agree with you there." He moves from the photo to a book resting nearby on the same shelf. "This was my father's," he says, matter-of-factly. "Scully asked me to keep it for her." "I don't think my father would have cared for you much... But, then again, Dana was always his little Starbuck. I suppose he would have accepted you for her sake." He looks at the book for a moment longer and then sets it back down on the shelf and says, "I love my sister very much. Her happiness is important to me. I thought if I could convince her to leave the FBI and go into medicine she might have a chance at a normal life. I imagined her with this great guy who would treat her like a princess and keep her safe from harm. They'd get married, settle down together and have a family." He turns and looks at me with a sardonic smile. "But that's not what she wants. She wants to run around chasing little green aliens with you. Risking her life in a dangerous profession. And now I find out why... I'll be God damned if she isn't in love with you. Seriously in love with you." He walks around the room slowly, looking at things and occasionally stopping to frown over objects that belong to Scully. I never realized before just how much of her I keep with me here in my apartment. "The way she was tonight, crying like that, I've never seen my sister hurt so much. Dana's always been strong and independent. Tonight I saw a side of her I didn't know existed. A very vulnerable side. She's absolutely devastated at the thought of losing you." He stops in front of me. "I came here to bring you back to her. I want you to make things right. I don't want my sister crying any more. You're not my choice, but you ARE hers. And I'm willing to accept you for her sake... But I'm warning you. If you break her heart, if you fuck up and hurt her in any way, I'll come after you, and there won't be any place you can hide that I won't find you." ***************************************************** I'm sitting at the kitchen table clutching a cup of cold Earl Grey and pretending to listen to my mother's story about her first big fight with my father and how he shipped out before they could make up, and it was almost three months before she could get a letter to him to say she was sorry, and then another three weeks before his letter made it back to her telling her he was sorry too... All I can think about is Mulder back at his apartment with that woman. He's probably fucking her right now. Damn him! I know she can't mean anything to him, but I hate that he would just go out and pick up someone only a few hours after we broke up. Here I was, at home, in tears, trying to call him to apologize and make up, and where is he? Out at a bar hitting on some leggy brunette and bringing her home to do the wild thing. God damn him! I hear the sound of someone coming in the front door, and a few seconds later Bill makes another appearance in the kitchen. This time he's fully dressed, including his coat. Here I thought he went upstairs to bed when Charlie did. "Dana, can I see you in the living room for a minute?" he asks. When I'm reluctant to get up, he puts a hand out for me to take. "Please, sis." I look at him warily for a moment. I still haven't forgiven him for that scene earlier. And I'm not in the mood for another one of his lectures on how I should live my life. He's not going away though, so, with a sigh, I get up and follow him into the living room. Bill stops in front of me, blocking my entrance to the room. "Don't say I never did you a favor." As I'm puzzling at his remark, he steps aside and I see Bill's 'favor' standing there looking back at me. Mulder. If he never does another thing for me in my life, I will be eternally indebted to my brother for this. Mulder crosses the room in three long strides and then we are in each other's arms. "I'm sorry, Scully," he whispers. I can smell the gin on his breath and his clothes hold the odor of cigarettes and... women's perfume. Damn him! "Damn you, Mulder!" I shove him away. "Scully, I said I'm sorry." I turn my back to him. I don't want him to see my tears. I'm angry. No, furious! "How could you? We have a fight... and the first thing you do is go out and find yourself someone else. I thought our relationship meant more to you than that, Mulder." He puts his hands on my shoulders and I try to shrug them away, but he refuses to let go. "Scully, it's not what you think. That woman you saw me with is just a friend. She and her HUSBAND live in my building. She works part time in the bar I went to after our fight. She gave me a ride home because the bartender took my keys... I was too drunk to drive myself. If you don't believe me, you can ask Michelle yourself." Boy, do I feel incredibly stupid. And guilty. And relieved. Mulder starts massaging my shoulders and the tight muscles in my neck. "I know how it looked, Scully. And I don't blame you for thinking the worst. It's been a hell of a day." "Yes, it has." I move my head from side to side as Mulder's kneading is starting to relax the knotted muscles. His cool hands and strong fingers have a tranquilizing effect on me. I cover my mouth to stifle a yawn. "Oh... sorry." Mulder chuckles softly against my ear. "What do you say we go back to your place and spend a lazy Sunday in bed together making up?" His fingers reach up into my hairline sensuously rubbing my scalp, causing shivers to run down the length of my neck and back. I feel his lips press a kiss behind my ear, the response to that taking place somewhat lower in my body. He's doing it to me again. He's using sex to manipulate and distract me. There's no sense in fighting it. Both physically and emotionally I'm just too exhausted to resist. "You know I can't say no to you. Not when you ask like that anyway." "I'll have to keep that in mind the next time we're out on a case." He nibbles along the side of my neck and I lean back into him. "Don't you dare," I warn, but the moan that follows my words undermines the threat. He's feasting now, his lips and teeth and tongue finding all the places that he knows make me go weak and turn to putty in his hands. I submit, enjoying the feel of his fingers running through my hair, and his warm breath tickling my kiss-dampened skin. If we don't get out of here in a hurry, Bill's going to be giving me another lecture on my inappropriate behavior. ***************************************************** Her essence still flavoring my lips, I take Scully's mouth with my own and let her share with me the rich taste of her arousal. We barely made it home from her mother's place before we were tearing at each other's clothes and tumbling into the sheets for a naked and sweaty apology session. I had a lot of apologizing to do. I don't think I've ever heard my name used as an invocation that many times in one lovemaking session. By my count... and, yes, I do count... I took my dear Scully to the summit of love no less than five times. A personal best, thank you. She hums softly as I pull back from our kiss. "Mmm... Mulder." A smile plays on her lips. "You have a very gifted tongue." "I like to think it's the talent of the man behind the tongue, Scully." I lay next to her on the bed, propped on my side so I can admire the beauty of her bare body aglow from our sexual encounter. I take advantage of any opportunity I can get to memorize every radiant inch of her resplendent form. I have mentally catalogued every freckle and mole, dip and curve, and even the scars. Both of us are a bit battle-worn from our years with the Bureau, but the remnants of old wounds cannot mar her loveliness in my eyes. One of the most amazing things about this woman is the fact that she has no idea how incredibly beautiful she really is. Scully reaches up and puts her palm against my cheek, pulling me from my task to meet her gaze. "Why do you do that?" "What?" "Look at me that way? Like you're studying me or something?" "I am. I want to have a perfect picture of you in my mind for the times when we can't be together." That seems to bother her. She looks away. "You know, Mulder, we could be together more..." "Are you proposing to me, Scully?" I hope she doesn't notice the way my body just kicked into panic mode. "Nothing so drastic as that. You can relax, I wouldn't dream of jeopardizing your bachelorhood. I was just thinking it might be nice if you didn't always rush home every night." There is a long pause as I try to think of the right response to her suggestion. Unfortunately, the lull speaks for itself and Scully draws her own conclusions from my silence. "Forget I said anything." She turns her back to me. As my eyes wander across her fair curves, the dark contrast of her tattoo suddenly catches my attention. Even before we were together as a couple I was doing things to drive us apart. This has to stop. I love her too much to keep hurting her like this. I get up from the bed and walk over to her closet. Jesus, she's got a lot of black clothes. I stand akimbo and sigh at the neatly organized yet slightly crowded collection of suits and blouses. There's even a few dresses, newer additions to her wardrobe that bring back fond memories. "Mulder, what are you doing?" "Wondering where the hell all my Armanis are supposed to go." ~END~ End note: Would you like more? If so, please feed the author at TBishop27@aol.com Life is too short to drink bad wine.