Flight 814 - Part 2/4 Summary and disclaimers in Part 1 ***** Mulder hadn't been dreaming. In fact, he had been watching Scully with her crossword puzzle for some time, enjoying her concentration and enjoyment of the simple challenges brought about by the game. Then she had bitten that pencil. His breath had caught as she carefully took the end of the wooden stick into her mouth, just barely catching a glimpse of her tongue as she caught hold of it. Watching as her lips opened and closed around the shaft. Delicately, sensually. And she had absolutely no idea what it was doing to him. He had turned away, closing his eyes tightly, when she had nudged him. He hadn't heard her question over the music in his ears, so he had had to take off the headphones and ask her to repeat it. The flash in her eyes when she looked at him could have been fear or excitement, but either way, she had looked away, embarrassed. He had answered her question, put the headphones back on, then leaned his head on the back of his chair, never taking his eyes off her. She settled back into her 'work' with no problems and finished to whole puzzle in no time. She closed the magazine and put it back into the pocket of the chair, then looked at him. He saw her eyes widen when he realized he was staring, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Her lips parted slightly and he held his breath. Then she looked away. She shifted in her seat and glanced at her watch. Heaving a big sigh, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. He was positive she would have as much trouble sleeping as he had, but he silently wished her luck anyway. ************************************************** THE SECOND HOUR Scully turned to Mulder in the close confines of their seats and stared at him. He looked at her nervously. "What?" he whispered, surprised to find his voice shaky. "Have you ever been a member of the Mile-High Club?" Scully asked, her voice low, teasing. Mulder felt his jaw drop. "What?" he repeated. She gave him a slow, seductive smile. "You heard me." She reached a hand over to his knee and smoothly ran her fingers up his thigh. He felt his leg muscles jump and tried desperately to keep other muscles from tightening too much. "Have you?" He managed to shake his head 'no'. "Want to?" Her fingers had reached his upper thigh, and she leaned further into him, cupping him through his trousers. His hips arched involuntarily. "Scully," he hissed. "Mulder?" she practically purred, then squeezed her fingers slightly. "Mulder?" Her voice had gotten louder, less seductive. "Mulder?" He felt a shove on his shoulder and his eyes popped open. "What!?" He looked over at Scully who was looking at him with a combination of concern and anger. She looked down at his crotch, then met his eyes with a blistering look. "You were dreaming," she said, her voice flat. Then she looked away. Taking a deep breath, Mulder felt his body relax. Scully's glare, so similar to the one in his nightmare, was more than enough to ease the powerful tension that had gripped his body during the dream. He wondered if he had spoken in his sleep, or if she had just noticed his state of arousal. Apparently, it had been quite obvious. He closed his eyes and held back a groan. "Sorry," he said softly. Scully sniffed in response. He looked her. He knew she wanted to forget about it, but he felt a need to explain himself. "Look, Scully. I don't always have dreams like that, but I AM male and-" "Horny?" she interrupted. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You should be glad it was me that caught you and not our friendly flight attendant." She nodded toward Broomhilda, as Mulder had taken to calling the old-biddy. "She would have thrown you off the plane if she knew you were having sex dreams about one of her girls." Her voice had taken on a teasing note, but there was still some anger underneath. He chuckled at the image she inspired. Then repeated her words in his head. "Wait a minute, I wasn't thinking about..." He stopped himself before he told her the truth. Maybe it was best she thought he had been thinking about one of the young flight attendants. She faced him, a question in her eyes. "Then who...?" She, too, stopped her question before finishing it and turned away. "Never mind. I really don't want to know." 'No, Scully. You don't,' Mulder thought to himself. 'You really don't.' Broomhilda was serving the meal, he noticed, and was almost to their seats. Thank God Scully had awakened him. He sighed heavily. Maybe, if he tried really hard, he could get his subconscious to continue that particular dream... when he was safe at home tonight. ************************************************** Scully ordered only a light meal when the flight attendant reached them. Surprisingly, so did Mulder. He smiled and talked sweetly to the older woman, and, not surprisingly, the woman quickly warmed to him. 'What a charmer,' Scully thought. Was that how he managed to get her to do anything he wanted? By charming her without her even realizing it? No. She knew he got her to do what he wanted because she just couldn't say no to him. She had tried. Oh, how she had tried. But she always got caught up in his plans anyway. 'Admit it, Dana,' she said to herself. 'As independent and capable as you are, you are putty in Mulder's hands.' With a roiling stomach, she began to eat, trying not to recall how she had awakened from a slight doze to find her partner breathing heavily and in an obvious state of arousal next to her. She had felt amusement upon first discovering his predicament. But that amusement had quickly changed to anger. Anger fueled by jealousy. Who had he been dreaming about? She hated the fact that she wanted to know. She hated that she wished he would turn to her and tell her he had been thinking about her. He wasn't eating much at all, which was very unusual. She faced him again, looking at him intently until he looked up at her. His eyes were wary and he wore that familiar 'puppy-dog' expression. "What's wrong? Aren't you feeling well?" He looked back down at the tray in front of him and shrugged. "Guess not." A depressed Mulder was NOT a good thing. Time to forget about her own concerns and cheer him up. "Oh, come on, Mulder," she teased. "After the dream you just had, you should be in a good mood." He glared at her, and she leaned away from him, shocked by the anger in his eyes. "I..." She wasn't sure how to proceed. With confusion, she turned away. "Sorry." Her whispered reply sounded uncannily like the apology he had given her only minutes earlier. "As much as I act like a perverted idiot on occasion, I don't LIKE to have wet dreams in public, Scully." He sounded as if he was speaking through clenched teeth. She felt herself blush and looked down at her own tray. "I'm sorry, Mulder," she said, though she wasn't exactly sure what she was apologizing for. "I was just trying to cheer you up. I had assumed that it was a good dream you were having." He leaned into her. "It was," he whispered harshly. "It was a VERY good dream. And I thank you for waking me before I embarrassed myself in front of the whole plane. But," he leaned back again. "I'm sure you understand why I'm not exactly happy YOU caught me." Scully nodded. Of course. He was embarrassed that she had seen what she had. Despite his proclivities, Mulder had always been a gentleman toward her. This situation had obviously gotten to him. She looked over at him, still determined to cheer him up. With a smile, she asked, "Are you sure it's because I caught you that you're not happy? I mean, wouldn't you be happier right about now it I hadn't interrupted?" He glared at her again, but it didn't have much power to it. "Funny." He looked around the plane casually. "You just remember that when I have to wake you from a dream involving some cute pilot...just so no one hears you scream." Scully felt her face heat again. Had he ever caught her acting aroused while she was asleep? Had she ever slept soundly enough in front of him to have had one of her erotic dreams about him? He looked at her, a glint in his eye. She felt her lips tighten, knowing he had just gotten the reaction he had been hoping for. As he started laughing, she reached over and slugged him soundly in the shoulder. ************************************************** THE THIRD HOUR Things seemed to get better after their small meal. For several minutes, they talked about nothing in particular, something she and Mulder rarely did. And she enjoyed it. She liked listening to Mulder's funny stories about his years at Oxford, glad that he had had more friends than Phoebe while there. He rarely mentioned his ex-girlfriend, probably because he was aware of Scully's aversion to the woman, and Scully appreciated it. She also appreciated the fact that he not only listened to her stories, but really seemed to enjoy hearing them. After they reached a typical conversational lull, Scully teasingly leaned over to the man next to her and tweaked his nose. "You aren't really Eddie under there, are you?" Mulder's eyes flashed at the mention of Eddie Van Blundht. Scully felt like biting her tongue, but she knew there was no way to take back the words she had just said. "I'm sorry. It just feels odd that we've traveled however many air miles we've traveled together and never really talked." She sighed and lifted the corner of her mouth in a slight smile. "The last time I had a real, non-serious talk with anyone about nothing was that night with Eddie." Her lips twisted on the man's name. Mulder sat silently for a while. "I guess we really don't know all that much about each other, do we?" Scully shook her head. "I think we know all the important stuff. I think you know me better than anyone, even my mother." "Yeah?" Mulder's voice sounded both skeptical and happy. "Yeah." Scully responded. "For example, my mother does not know I have a tattoo." Mulder looked away from her quickly, eyes downcast. 'Great, Scully,' she thought to herself. 'Good going, bringing up another touchy subject.' "Actually, Scully, she does know." "What?! How?" "I might of mentioned it to her. Once." Scully just stared at him in shock. Then, in a soft voice, she said, "When, exactly, did you talk to my mother about my tattoo?" Mulder sighed. "We talked a lot when you were in the hospital fighting your cancer. She would apologize to me about Bill and I would apologize to her about involving you in all my problems." He shrugged. "We ended up talking about some of our cases, including the one you took on in Philadelphia." Scully was speechless for a moment. She didn't know how to feel. She was happy that her mother liked and got along with Mulder, yes. But... "So what you're saying is you talk to my mother more than me? Maybe you are right. We don't know each other at all." "No, no," Mulder argued. "I think you were right the first time. We know all the important things." "Oh, really?" Scully was getting angry again. For no good reason that she could surmise. But it felt good. "Then how come you won't let me call you 'Fox'?" Mulder opened his mouth as if to speak, but then closed it. He grimaced and turned away with another shrug. "I just don't like 'Fox'." "But you let others call you 'Fox'. Diana. My mother. Women you've just met." She also turned to the front, wondering why she suddenly felt near tears. "But not me. The person supposedly closest to you." "Scully..." he started. She turned on him. "My name is Dana. I'm not Scully!" She was practically shouting now. With embarrassment, she looked down. "I mean... yes, I am Scully. Of course I'm Scully." She faced him again. He was gaping at her, confusion filling his eyes. "But I hardly even hear the name Dana anymore. No one but my mother knows Dana." She stood suddenly, glad she had taken off her seat belt earlier, and looked down at her partner and best friend. At the man she loved. "Especially not you." She sidled past him and made her way up the aisle, eyes down, toward the sanctuary of the bathroom. ************************************************** What the hell had just happened? One minute, he and Scully had been having a fun conversation about nothing, then she had turned on him. In all their years together, she had never acted like other women of his acquaintance. She had always been easy to understand. Well...maybe not so easy to read, but never really confusing him with her up-and-down emotions like most women. He had learned long ago to never try and figure women out; they were meant to be an enigma. But Scully had been the one female in his life that had been constant, unchanging. Dependable. Yes, she had her mood swings. Everyone did. But she had never done silly things like storm away in the middle of an argument, like she just had. Only they hadn't really been arguing, had they? He didn't even remember saying much. Except admitting he had told Margaret Scully about her daughter's tattoo. Maybe he should elaborate and tell Scully he hadn't told her mother she had also spent the night with Ed Jerse. But he hoped Scully had enough trust in him not to spread rumors about her. He leaned back in the seat, glancing at his watch as he did so. Still more than an hour to go. And now, Scully was pissed at him. Well, it wasn't as if he had been in the best mood earlier, either. After she had caught him dreaming about her (though, she didn't realize she had been the subject in his dream), he had been seriously off balance. He had gotten mad at her for no real reason other than the fact that she was totally oblivious to his attraction to her. He wished she knew, if only so she would broach the subject first. What subject? Sex, of course. Could they really change their relationship that much and still be friends? He thought of the movie 'When Harry Met Sally'. That movie had a happy ending, didn't it? He turned in his seat to look down the aisle where Scully had disappeared. One of the flight attendants stood there, the petite brunette with the Asian features. He smiled at her. She smiled back. He tried to look past her to find Scully, and moved into the end seat so he could lean into the aisle farther. The flight attendant must have misread his actions, because she quickly walked over to him. "Can I get you anything, sir?" Her smile was bright. He could have sworn she batted her eyelashes at him. "No, thank you. I was just looking for my partner." "The red-headed woman you were sitting with?" "Yes." "I believe she's still in the restroom." Her smile had dimmed slightly. "Is she your wife?" Mulder shook his head, knowing where this conversation was going. Usually, he was more than happy to use up air time flirting with the flight attendants, but he really didn't feel up to it today. He found himself smiling back at her anyway, some deep, dark part of him more that willing to play with fire. That fire being Scully's anger. "No. She's just my partner." 'Just'? "We work together." The understatement of the century. The young woman's smile brightened even more. She leaned a hip against the back of the chair he was sitting in, and settled in for a conversation. Mulder gave as much attention as he could to the lovely lady flirting with him, but most of it was directed toward the back of the plane, where he knew his partner was hiding out. She would be back soon, he knew. She may have confused him just now with her actions, but he knew she wouldn't hide for long. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Scully never ran from her problems. She would face them head-on. Even if said problem was him. ************************************************** Scully took her time in the bathroom, even knowing there was a plane full of people that might need it at any moment. Damned if she was going to go out there with smeared eyeliner and a flushed face. The worst part was that she had no idea why she had been crying. Mulder had hurt her plenty of times in the past with his brush-offs and 'I don't give a shit' attitude, but she had never run off with her tail between her legs before. How was she going to explain her behavior to him when she didn't understand it herself? She would just apologize and try her best to get them on a comfortable subject. With a sigh, she left the little room and turned to head down the aisle to their seats. One of the flight attendants was standing in the aisle, leaning casually against the back of one of the seats, laughing. Flirting with someone. With a sinking heart, Scully walked toward them. She was quite positive she knew who the woman was flirting with. Her suspicions proved correct as she came up behind the woman to find Mulder, smile on his face, looking up at her from his seated position. "Excuse me." Scully was amazed that her voice didn't sound like ice. Because that was how she felt. She slid past the attendant, who quickly stepped in closer to Mulder's chair to make room for her, and then turned her body to squeeze past Mulder and into her window seat. She kept her back to her partner so she didn't have to look at him. Once seated, she picked up the magazine in front of her and began to flip through it blindly. Her arrival had obviously caused a lull in the conversation. Scully couldn't feel one iota of regret. "Well, I better get back to work," the woman said. Scully almost felt sorry for her, as her voice was full of remorse. It wasn't her fault if she thought Mulder was a very attractive man. If Scully had been in her position, she would have wanted to flirt with him, too. But, the woman's next words wiped out any sympathy Scully might have felt for her. "I'll talk to you later, Fox." Scully would swear later that she saw red. Literally. Never had she felt so angry or so melancholy at the same time. There was silence for a while as Scully tried to get her feelings under control once more. Tears had begun to form in her eyes once again. "Scully?" Mulder's question was a bit tentative. She was not ready. "Mulder, I suggest you not talk to me for the rest of the flight unless you want me to embarrass myself further be shooting you and tossing you out the escape hatch." "You wouldn't do that, Scully," Mulder answered without missing a beat. "That would depressurize the plane and put all these innocent people at risk." Scully's normal reaction to a quip like that would have been an icy glare. Instead, she didn't move. Didn't react at all. She couldn't. She was absolutely convinced that if she looked at him, she would break down and tell him she was in love with him. She would tell him how her heart had nearly been broken more times by him alone than all of the other men in her life combined, and that he never even realized it. Tell him how much it hurt to know her best friend, the man she could trust with her life, she couldn't trust with her heart. "Scully?" He tried again, his voice softer than the first time. She ignored him. He didn't try to talk to her again. And he stayed in the aisle seat, away from her. That hurt more than anything. ***** End 2/4