The Romantic Side of Me

~~~~~~

one saturday morning

"Oh Mulder, look at this one!"

Scully turned the photo album so that he could see the picture that had gotten her all excited.

"You look beautiful in this shot. In fact, I think it's my favorite picture of you."

Mulder smiled when he saw the look of disbelief on Scully's face.

"You have got to be kidding! I look horrible. I'm covered in sweat, my face is all red, and I'm all doped up."

"Yes, but you're holding the uber-kid for the first time; I've never seen you happier. Well, there was that one time in the shower when..."

"You've made your point, Mulder."

"Seriously, though, Scully - you look great as a Mom."

"Well, I think that because I came so close to NOT experiencing pregnancy and birth and parenting, I can really appreciate the significance of it."

She pauses for a moment as her eyes mist over. Mulder takes her hand and kisses the knuckle above the ring he had placed on her finger ten years ago. She smiles softly before continuing.

"I'll always cherish this moment." She points to the photograph. "I finally felt like I had a family of my own.

"We are a family. C'mere. I have something I want you to see."

Scully looks at her husband and lifts an eyebrow. Mulder takes her by the hand and leads her from the living room into a bedroom littered with socks, CD cases, and a soccer ball. He pulls her to the window and draws the curtains aside. With Scully standing in front of him, Mulder draws her close to him and wraps her in a tight embrace.

"I don't get it, Mulder. What's so special about the cars parked outside the building?"

Mulder brushes Scully's hair from her neck and bends down, placing a trail of gentle kisses along her shoulder and neck. He makes his way up to her ear and softly whispers, "Think back, Scully. I want you to try to remember a time before first days of school, PTA meetings, honor roll and soccer practice." Scully nestles herself against her husband as she lets herself be carried away by Mulder's voice. "Think past scraped knees, training wheels, tricycles and sandboxes. This is a time before you had to worry about pacifiers, diapers, midnight feedings and the age-old debate over the breast vs. the bottle. This even goes beyond all those Lamaze classes we took that were supposed to help with the labor pain."

Scully grimaces as she remembers just how intense the pain was, but then smiles as she recalls how it had all vanished the moment she heard her child cry for the first time.

Mulder places a kiss upon the top of her head. He rests his chin there and continues. "On one particular February night, you had been standing in front of this window. It must have snowed the previous day because the snow on the ground wasn't that hard, icy snow that you get when it starts to melt and then freezes again for a couple of days."

As Mulder continues, Scully smiles at the images he is painting in her mind. She remembers that winter night as if it had only just happened. She could never forget it. She will never tire of hearing Mulder tell this story.

"I had been gone for months. I'm still not sure about the details. All I can honestly remember was a feeling of fear. I was so afraid that I would never see you again." He takes a deep breath when his voice cracks before continuing. "When I became aware, I realized that I was lying on the ground, freezing, and my first thought was of you. I had to get to you. I had to see you."

Scully tries to turn around to comfort her husband, but he tightens his arms around her waist. Mulder reassures her with a kiss before he says, "S'okay, Scully. I'm good." He begins to rock with her, back and forth in front of the window. "I picked myself up and ran to my apartment. I was surprised that the hidden key still worked in the lock. I was certain that the landlord would have let the apartment go."

"I paid the rent. I had to. With your disappearance, and pregnancy on top of that, I jus..."

"Shhhh. I tore the dresser drawers apart looking for the baby shoes. When they weren't in the drawers, I thought that maybe you had taken them - to hold onto. I was just about ready to fly out of there when I saw them sitting in the middle of the bed. The sight of them reminded me of how much love we still had to give to each other. That there was still so much left undone between the two of us. I had to take a moment to catch my breath. Once I was calm again, I took a cab straight here. When I got out of the car, I saw you through the window. I stood outside, just watching you for a while."

"Why didn't you come right to the door, Mulder?"

"I wasn't expecting what I saw."

"Me, all big and round? What were your first thoughts? I would have loved to have been able to see your reaction."

"You took my breath away. I was in awe of you. Everything you had wanted and prayed for - you had."

Scully finally turns in Mulder's arms and looks up into his eyes. "Oh, no, not everything. Not even close. My life was nowhere near complete without you." She lowers her head so that he can't see the tears threatening to spill over her lashes.

"Scully, why are you crying? That was so long ago, and everything worked out just fine. Look at you, getting all worked up over something that happened lifetimes ago."

She smiles through the tears and says, "You're right. I'm being silly. It's just that my heart breaks every time I think of what we almost missed. I wouldn't trade the last ten years for anything, Mulder."

Scully steps up on her tiptoes and softly sighs against Mulder's lips. He pulls her close - so close that nothing could come between them - and lowers his head. He softly brushes his lips against hers. Scully opens her mouth to receive his gift. They get lost in their kiss as if it were the first. Mulder picks his wife up and carries her into their bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

"Soccer practice is over in twenty minutes. It's my turn to carpool, so I'll have to leave soon."

"Just go with it, Scully." She grins as he lays her upon the bed.

~~~~~~

halfway through the day

Mulder looks up as Scully slams the desk drawer shut. She mumbles something about nothing ever remaining where she leaves it, and walks into the kitchen to continue her search.

He gets up and follows her into the kitchen. "I can help you look, if you tell me what you lost."

"I've lost my mind. On its way out the door, it decided to take my shapely butt, my sense of direction, and a letter I was writing to Pam."

"You're being hard on yourself, Scully. Your sense of direction isn't THAT bad." Mulder ducks as a potholder flies past his head. "Now, your aim has certainly lost its edge."

"To hell with the letter; I have to get dinner started. Who knows how many kids will follow the wunderkind through the door tonight?" Scully begins taking out pots and pans as Mulder begins to chop vegetables.

"Why are you writing a letter a letter to Pam? Damn it!" Mulder sucks his finger into his mouth and Scully can't help but giggle at her husband's lack of finesse with a knife. "s'notfunny," he mumbles around his finger.

"She was here last week with Timmy. Timmy is potty training and kept rebelling by taking off his underwear. He finally won the game when Pam couldn't find his Superman undies. He apparently hid them under the couch and I found them while vacuuming today. I was just going to drop them in the mail with a letter and a couple of recipes she wanted."

Scully wraps Mulder's finger in a paper towel and sits him at the table where he can do as little harm as possible.

"I wanted to help." Mulder sticks out his lower lip in a pout that usually gets him what he wants.

"You can help by telling me one of your stories. I like to be entertained while cooking for the munchkin brigade."

Mulder sits back in his chair and prepares to regale his wife with tales of alien infestation, global conspiracies, and your everyday, run-of-the-mill, liver-eating mutant, but decided to surprise her and started with, "Once upon a time, there was a man who loved a woman."

Scully rose from the table and set back to work, preparing dinner. She smiled when Mulder tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and continued with his tale.

"The man wanted to tell the woman how he felt, but an evil witch had cursed a spell. If the man told the woman of his love, the witch would take the woman, and the man would have to spend the rest of his life alone."

"Mulder, this is a terribly sad story. Can't you do any better?"

"Just listen, Scully. The only way that the evil curse could be lifted was if the woman was to declare her love first. So, the man showered the woman with gifts. He wined and dined her and took her dancing. But after months of lavish attention, the woman still would not say the words. So, one day - it was a beautiful spring day - the man took the woman to the park for a picnic. They walked and walked and walked, looking for the 'perfect spot.' They came upon the largest tree full of the most beautiful cherry blossoms the woman had ever seen. The couple sat in the shade and enjoyed their picnic. As the hours passed, the man and the woman grew closer. They both waited and waited for the other to take the first step. As the air grew heavy with tension, the man jumped up and started to climb the tree. The woman sat stunned as she watched him scoot out on a branch hanging over their picnic. Once the man was halfway across the branch, he began to shake it wildly. Cherry blossoms rained down upon the woman. She laughed gleefully, looked up at the man and shouted 'I love you!' The man jumped out of the tree and took the woman in his arms, where he professed his love before kissing her."

Scully walks up and stands before Mulder. She brandishes a butter knife and demands, "What have you done with my husband? That story was just too saccharine for the likes of Fox Mulder."

"What can I say? You bring out the romantic side of me." Mulder pulls her onto his lap and begins trailing kisses along her collar. Just as Scully begins to melt against him, they hear the front door open and, in unison, groan, "the munchkins," as a small voice calls out for mom and dad.

Scully grabs the cookbook from the table as she gets up to finish making dinner. As she picks it up, a piece of paper falls from between the pages. Mulder bends to pick it up, and laughs when he realizes he's found the missing letter among the recipes Scully had been copying for Pam.

~~~~~

later that night

Mulder locks the front door as Scully puts away the dinner dishes. He finds her in the kitchen, wiping down the stove, and takes the sponge from her hands. As they walk through the apartment, they turn off lights and pick up forgotten toys. They stop at the open door and look in on their child sleeping soundly, each bending to place a soft kiss upon a sleeping brow.

When they step into the hall, Mulder picks up his wife and carries her into their room. He walks over to the bed, and gently lays her upon a mattress covered in cherry blossoms.

END

Elements of fic challenge:

Mulder's reaction to Scully's pregnancy
Cherry blossoms
A long, open mouthed, deep kiss
Lost undergarments
Photo albums
A lost letter found

all of my stories can be found at:
http://www.oocities.org/rachellee7/fanfic.html

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