Title: Happiness - The Morning After..
Author: shawntaw
Spoilers: You have to know about the whole Diana Fowley thing and 
about Scully's abduction to get this story, but I'm sure you do.:)
Category: MSR - RST (implied), Angst, AU
Rating: PG
Summary: Mulder's got plans for their future...
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just playing.:)

Dedication: To everyone who wanted me to continue this and wanted to 
know what was up with the ring!:)

*******************************************************

"Mulder!"

He sat upright immediately, adreneline pumping, ready to face 
whatever danger had caused Scully to cry out.

Mulder blinked furiously, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes and 
figure out where the heck he was.

"Scully?!"

His vision cleared as Scully appeared at the bedroom door.  She was 
wearing a white, fluffy robe; her red hair a mussed halo about her 
head. She was also holding his tux jacket in one hand and a small 
velvet box in the other, her mouth open in a surprised "O."

It all came back in a rush.  The F.B.I. banquet, Scully, him, her 
apartment....her bed....The Ring.

This wasn't the way he'd planned on doing this.

"I-I was cleaning up.  I was going to hang up your jacket. You know, 
if it gets wrinkled too badly you might not get your deposit back, 
and-"

*She's babbling.*

He climbed out of bed and crossed the room, only faintly aware of the 
fact he was nude, and took the jacket from her hand.

"Its not rented, Scully." Mulder interrupted her nervous ranting.

They stood in silence for a moment, regarding one another.

"Did you look in the box?" Mulder said quietly.

He noticed her hand was trembling slightly.

She cleared her throat and looked at the box.  Her finger stroked 
over the fuzzy exterior.

"I didn't know you owned a tux, Mulder.  When did you get a tux?"

"I've had it for years. Now, stop trying to change the subject," He 
stepped forward and tipped her chin up with his fingertips until her 
eyes met his.  They were a watery blue and her bottom lip quivered 
slightly. 

"Did you look in the box?"

******************************************************

*I will not cry...I will not cry...I will not cry...*

This was not the way she'd ever pictured being proposed to; certainly 
not by a tall, dark, naked man the morning after consumating a more 
than five year platonic relationship.

*That is what he's going to do, isn't it? Propose?*

She stared for a few seconds more into Mulder's now green eyes and 
remembered last night.

She remembered how she and Mulder entered the banquet together.  

She remembered how she was talking to someone during the course of 
the evening and looked up to find him gone.

She remembered seeing Diana laughing on his arm as he gestured 
expressively, obviously in the middle of telling some amusing 
anecdote.

She remembered how Mulder's eyes had found hers suddenly; how she had 
bolted from the ballroom, furious for reasons she wasn't even willing 
to admit to herself.

..how he had followed...THE FIGHT.

Scully thought of THE FIGHT in capital letters.  Ugly things were 
said.  True things.  Then confessions were made.  Tears. A first kiss.

They made out in the hallway outside the ballroom like a couple of 
giddy teenagers before gaining control of themselves.

They had slipped out of the building together, not caring to make 
excuses to Skinner or anyone else.

And then they had come back to her apartment and changed their 
relationship forever.

"Um, Scully?"

She blinked.  How long had she been standing here staring into those 
eyes?  Eyes which now regarded her with a mixture of worry and slight 
amusement.

"Earth to Scully? You o.k.?" He had collected his boxer briefs and 
was pulling them up over his lanky legs.

"I'm fine, Mulder," she answered without thinking.

"Well, did you?" he asked for the third time.

She hesitated, "No, I didn't.  I was afraid to."

He frowned. "Afraid?"

"Mulder...was this meant for me or Diana?"

She heard the sharp intake of breath and looked up from where she had 
been staring at the ring box in her hand.

"How can you ask that? After last night-"

"Mulder," she interrupted him, "you obviously put this into your 
pocket before we-we-"

He nodded, the frown softening, understanding.

Mulder reached over and took the box from her hands.
He turned it around and around in his palm.

"I smell coffee."

It took Scully a moment to follow the switch in topic.

"Uh, yeah, I put on a pot of coffee-"

"Tell you what, let's get dressed and have some breakfast.  I need to 
tell you something and I would really like to have clothes on when I 
do it." He said with a half-smile.

Scully started, realising again that Mulder was standing in the 
middle of her bedroom in nothing but black boxer briefs,  holding the 
small velvet ring box.  She nodded and turned to leave.

"You can have the shower first," she said and went to shut the door 
behind her as she strode through it.

But, she couldn't resist and turned to look at Mulder one last time 
before shutting it completely.  

He had turned partially away from the door and was bending here and 
there, picking up his strewn clothing.

It was mesmorizing.  His lean muscles stretched and contracted.  
Stretched and contracted as he collected his dress shirt and his 
pants and his socks and his-

"Scully?" He was looking at her with surprised amusement in his eyes.

Busted.

She could feel her whole face blush to the tips of her ears.

"Sorry," she mumbled and ducked her head, rushing to close the door.

*****************************************************

Mulder looked to the heavens as the door clicked shut.

*Why are we acting like last night never happened?*

He was being modest and she was acting shy.  Mulder sighed.

*We are so emotionally-stunted.*

He threw the collection of slightly rumpled clothes on the bed and 
loped into the bathroom.

He took a fast, hot shower and got dressed quickly.

Mulder studied himself in Scully's mirror.

He stood in a rumpled tux without the tie or jacket.  His shower-damp 
hair was dark and spiky.  His eyes looked wide and vulnerable.  

He noticed that immediately and tried to look nonchalant.  He cleared 
his throat and tried to think about something ordinary - work, 
baseball, anything - to change the look behind his eyes.  

Mulder failed miserably.

"Scully, I've been wanting to ask you something for sometime now," he 
said to his reflection, "Actually, since you were returned from 
being...abducted."

He cleared his throat.  He had practiced these words over and over, 
but never ceased to get nervous.

"While you were gone, I realized..." He always had trouble with this 
part.  He watched his eyes begin to tear up and willed himself to 
stop.

*I will not stand there and look pitiful while I beg her to marry me!*

"Realized what, Mulder?"

Her soft voice came from the doorway, where she stood with a stunned, 
touched look on her face.

He felt one of the tears in his eyes break free and trail down his 
cheek as he faced her.

*Damn.*

"I realized that...I love you.  That I wouldn't be able to live 
without you."

Mulder remembered how many times he had almost given up and taken his 
own life while she was gone.  But that was a confession for another 
time.

He stepped toward her.  Just one step.  A plea. 

*Listen. Understand. Accept me.*

"I-I bought this while you were gone.  I told myself that if you ever 
came back, the first thing I would do would be to ask you to marry 
me."

He chuckled a little, softly, looking at his feet.  "Even though I 
didn't have a good example of marriage and the idea scares me to 
death and I'll probably stink at it-"

Mulder didn't see her move, but she had.  Suddenly, she was lifting 
his face to look him in the eye.

"Why didn't you?"

"What?"

"Ask me when I was returned."

He didn't want to tell her.  He had rehearsed telling her that there 
wasn't a right time.  That he wasn't sure that she felt the same.

But that wasn't the truth.

"The truth, Mulder." She regarded him with seeming calm, but the 
slight tremor in the hands that held his face gave her away.

*She can read me like a book.*

"I realized that being with me could only hurt you.  That if you 
stayed with me, you'd never have a chance at a normal life.  I 
decided I would keep you at arm's length until you fell in love, left 
the X-Files and got the life you deserved."

He turned his face and kissed her palm gently.

"I knew it would be just a matter of time until somebody snatched you 
up."

Scully's eyes were clouded, "Then why were you carrying the ring in 
your pocket last night?"

Mulder quirked his eyebrow at her as she released his face and 
twisted her hands in front of her.

"Well, the 'keeping you at arm's length' thing didn't work too well, 
did it?  We've been getting closer all the time, no matter how much 
I've told myself we shouldn't."

Her lips quirked and then dropped slightly, "Until Diana." She 
whispered.

"Until Diana," he nodded.

The two of them stood in silence for a moment, each lost in their own 
thoughts.

"When you acted so jealous, I realized that you were feeling the same 
things I was.  That we've been dancing around the obvious.  I had 
kept the ring.  I started carrying it with me sometimes.  To places I 
envisioned I would like to propose.  On stakeouts sometimes.  On a 
few of our movie nights together."

She smiled at him then, amazed.

"You've been thinking this through for a while."

He smiled back. "Yep.  When the F.B.I. Banquet came along, it seemed 
like the perfect time and place.  We'd be dressed up, 
champagne..dancing.."

He held out the box. 

Scully was out and out crying.  She couldn't stop.  She hated being 
vulnerable in front of Mulder, but she couldn't stop crying.

"Scully," he opened the ring box and it creaked as it revealed the 
glint of gold inside, "Will you marry me?"

When she didn't respond right away, he began to ramble nervously.

"I know that I'll make a lousy husband and I know that we may have to 
hide it from the Bureau for a while so that we can figure out what we 
want to do about our partnership and I can't promise a 'normal' life-"

His words were cut off by Scully's muted laughter.

"Mulder, I've been committed to you for so long anyway that this," 
she gestured to the ring, "will just be a formality."

He waited for a beat. "So, that's a 'Yes.'?"

Scully laughed louder and happy tears glinted on her cheeks, "Yes, 
Mulder! That is definitely a yes!"

**************************************************


I'm having fun with this...there will probably be more! Let me know 
if you still think it is worth continuing!:)

shawntaw@hotmail.com