Roses, Carnations and Valentines, Oh My.

By Fiona Bland
fbland@golden.net


Disclaimers: Skinner, Scully, Margaret and Mulder all belong to
Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox... man did that ever
hurt! Can I at least keep Skinner? I'll return him in a week
looking a little more relaxed.

Rating/Classification: It's for the Valentine's Day challenge, so
there's some UST and MSR, but it's pretty minor. G to PG, not much
language. Call it a Vignette, S for some shipperness in it and
Humourous. Is "shipperness" even a word?

Author's Babbles: Well I wrote it for the challenge, man has it
been a while since I wrote such a shipper story... ahhh....  let alone one for a fanfic challenge! Oh
well, it's for Valentine's Day and not for anything else. No wait,
you can add it to my humourous (yes it's spelt "our" not "or") look
at various holidays, the last one was for Christmas called
"Overboard," it should be at your local neighbourhood X-Files fan
fiction archive if not, I can email it to you. I'd like to thank
The Warferine Dealer for the info on rose meanings and the history
stuff I had forgotten.

Summary: Oh boy how to summarize this one... I got it... see the
Valentine's Day challenge requirements: Scully, Mulder, Valentine's
Day and a red rose... they're all present and accounted for.

Flames can be sent to me so I can warm my house, it's so cold. As
for the Americans in the group, it's to warm my igloo, 'cause I
know most of you think we Canadians live in igloos and have snow
all year round.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
February 13th, 1997

"Scully, wanna do something that will get us in trouble?" Mulder
looked at her eagerly.

Scully chuckled. "Everything we do gets us into trouble in one way
or another. Remember what we did for Christmas?"

"Yeah, everyone loved it."

"Everyone but Skinner and the cleaning staff." Scully closed the
file she was working on.

"The cleaning staff liked it, I think." Mulder rubbed his tired
eyes.

"Mulder, the only part they liked was being in charge of destroying
it." Scully snickered. "So what was your plan anyways?"

"Well you said that you wanted to out do ourselves on St. Patrick's
Day but since that's more then a month away, what about for
tomorrow, you know Valentine's Day?"

"Mulder, Valentine's Day is for romance." Scully cleared off her
desk. "Besides, Saint Valentine was jailed for performing marriage
ceremonies in secrecy and died in 270 A.D."

"It was only in secret because if Roman citizens got married, the
men were not sent off to war."

Scully was impressed. "You've been reading up on it."

"Also, there was a little girl who sent him letters while he was
jailed. These letters were later known as valentines and sent to
loved ones." Mulder produced a small red envelop.

"Mulder, I don't know what to say." Scully stared at the item in
her hand.

"Are you going to open it?" He pointed to it.

Scully couldn't help but blush. As she opened the card, her eye
caught a look at the adorable Siberian Husky pup sitting at a bar
with sun glasses on. Inside the message said:
"Here's looking at you, Valentine."

She was at a loss for words. "I don't know what to say, I love it."

"Good." Mulder was blushing him as much as she was. "I hoped you
would."

"Here." Scully passed him a similar envelop.

Mulder raised an eyebrow as he read the comment on the inside. The
outside had a picture of a cartoon alien ship with a little green
creature waving.



"Scully, it's been so long since I've gotten one of these, I don't
know what to say." Mulder gave her a warm smile.

"You're welcome," she turned and grabbed her coat. "Come on, you
can go help me pick out some flowers for my mother."

"Okay."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
MURREE'S FLOWERS

"Hello Dana, buying some flowers for your mother?" The owner, Rob
Murree asked as he approached her.

"Yes, what do you suggest?" Scully looked at several of the
bouquets on a nearby counter.

"There's this one, it's mainly carnations and baby's breathe." He
pointed to the arrangement.

"She does love carnations, do you have something with lilies
maybe?" Scully watched Mulder head straight for the long stem
roses.  She reminded herself as she followed the owner to another
fridge holding more flowers. 

"How about this?" Rob produced a special arrangement.

"It's perfect." Scully smiled as she looked at it. "She'll love
it."

The arrangement was of lilies, carnations, lilacs, roses and baby's
breathe. All in various shades of reds and pinks.

As Scully paid for the flowers and filled out the delivery form,
Mulder moved so that he was leaning over her shoulder.

"Would you mind moving back about three paces?"

"Why?" Mulder didn't budge.

"Because you know that I hate it when you read over my shoulder on
purpose." Scully continued to fill out the form.

"Why?"

"Mulder, could you please move away?" she asked.

"Why?"

"You're invading my personal space, Mulder. Back off!"

"I've never heard you complain about it before." Mulder grinned.

"Mulder, move before I remove a body part." She gave him a stern
glare then moved her eyes downwards.

His eyes followed her's. "Good enough, I'll step back."

"Finally," she sighed.

Mulder smiled as he went back to looking at the long stem roses.
There were more shades of red roses then Mulder could imagine.
 He asked himself.

"Watcha doing Mulder?" Scully came up behind him fairly silently,
enough to make him jump out of his skin.

"Dana Scully, never do that again." Mulder told her.

"Did I make you jump?" She snickered.

"Yes."

"Good, come on, I want to get out of here before the rush hour
starts." Scully headed for the door.

"I'll meet you in the car." Mulder hinted for her to leave.

"Sure, two minutes or I'm gone." With that Scully walked out and
headed for her car.

Murree walked toward Mulder. "Picked out a rose?"

"Yeah, can I have one of those." Mulder pointed to a container of
reddish coloured roses.

"Sure thing." Murree carefully chose the prettiest rose and put it
into a clear plastic tube. "Is that everything?"

"Yes." Mulder handed him a ten dollar bill and picked up the rose.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
SCULLY'S APARTMENT

"Thanks for the ride Mulder but since you've dropped me off at
home, can you give me a ride to work tomorrow? My car's at
Headquarters still." Scully opened the door to her apartment.

"Oh sure, what time?" Mulder looked at his watch.

"Well it takes me about a hour to drive from here, so call me when
you reach Annapolis' city limits." Scully checked her answering
machine for messages.

Mulder stood in the door way, staring down at his feet.

"You know Mulder, you're welcome to come in." Scully removed her
jacket and put on some water for tea.

"Huh?" Mulder realized that he hadn't entered her apartment after
her. "So what are you going to do tonight?"

"I don't know, maybe just watch a video and turn in early. What
about you?"

"Probably the usual, call and harass Frohike or watch a video."
Mulder smiled.

"Mulder promise me one thing," she looked at him.

"Yeah, what?" Mulder knew what she wanted him to promise but he
knew that she knew that he'd break that promise.

"Do not and I mean DO NOT phone me after or during one of your
videos." Scully meant business.

"Yes mom."  Mulder stood and walked toward her. "Are you going to
do another tomorrow?"

"For Valentine's Day?" He nodded. "No. Mulder you should know by
know that I have no life, as do you..." Mulder started to say
something but she continued. "So no I do not have plans."

"Yeah I guess you need to have someone in your life to really enjoy
Valentine's Day."

"That would be a start, Mulder. Anyways I have you."

Mulder was touched by what she said. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure." She looked up at him from where she was sitting on the
couch.

"Close your eyes."

"Okay, but this better not include a pair of fuzzy red handcuffs."

Mulder carefully removed the single rose he had purchased, reached
out for her hand and took it. "Just relax, and don't peek." She
nodded. "Close your fingers slowly until I say stop."

Her finger tips felt the plastic,  The more she
thought about it, the more her mind sunk deeper into the gutter.


"Okay Scully, you can open your eyes."

She blinked a few times before focusing on the object in her right
hand. "Mulder, I don't know what to say."

"Say thank you would be a nice start."

"Thank you Mulder." She blushed slightly.

It was a rose acacia.

"Mulder, would you like some tea?" Scully stood and headed for the
kitchen.

"Uh sure," he didn't know if what he did was wrong or what but
Mulder decided to keep quite never the less.

Mulder picked up a book from Scully's bookshelf. "Is this new?"

Scully reappeared a few moments later with a tea set on a tray and
the rose in a tall vase. "No, it was Missy's."

"Figures... ooh pictures!" Mulder now looked very interested in the
book.

"Mulder, it's a book about flowers and their meanings." Scully
carefully poured two cups of tea.

Mulder chuckled. "I know that, just wanted to see you smile."

Scully blushed a little more. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Mulder sat down beside her on the couch.

"So have you figured out what the rose meant yet?"

"No." Mulder stared at the rose until he found one that matched it
in the book. "Oh," he let out a disappointed sigh.

"I take it you found the meaning." She looked at him as she sipped
her tea.

"Yeah, but I don't get it, there's nearly half a page on it," he
tilted the book so she could see the text.

"I don't know how I should say it, so I'll be blunt." She put down
her tea. "Rose Acacia means platonic love."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, I never agree with those meanings, it's the thought
that counts."

"I think I'm going to go crawl back under my rock." He stood. "Call
me when the Jets win the Superbowl."

"Mulder?" She reached out and took his hand in hers. "Thank you for
the rose, I love it."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Scully." He opened the door. "Bye."

Just before Mulder walked out the door, Scully gave him a hug and
a kiss on the cheek. "Here." She passed him a similar shaped
plastic tube as was his.

This time it was two roses, one white and the other red.

"So what does this mean?" He smiled.

"Unity." Scully smiled as she leaned up against the door frame.
"Call me later?"

"Sure." He nodded. "Good night, Dana."

"Sweet dreams Fox."

"Don't worry, I will." Mulder gave her a quick look before turning
to leave.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
THE END...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Finished: 01/31/97
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cheesey ending, right? Go ahead and flame me if you want, here's my
email addy: FBland@Lonet.ca ...come on I dare you, tell me what you
think. I want the truth, even if you hate it, tell me.

For those who actually made it this far, got any suggestions for
St. Patrick's Day?

Rose explanations: a white rose by itself means friendship, a
single red rose means beauty and love, a white and a red rose means
unity. (as long as they are given together)

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