Title - Slip of the Heart - Part 1
Author - Rachel Brown
e-mail address - uroc2@unm.edu
Rating - PG
Category - UST
Spoilers - Reference to "Kill Switch."
Keywords - Mulder/Scully Romance
Summary - Mulder calls Scully on a Saturday night and Scully
makes a slip-up that could possibly change everything…forever.

Disclaimer: The following story is based on characters that are copyrighted by Ten Thirteen Productions, created by Chris Carter, and are the property of the Fox network. They are used without permission, but no infringement is intended.

Slip of the Heart - Part 1

It was yet another exciting Saturday night for Agent Dana Scully as she stood in front of her kitchen sink with her rubber dishwashing gloves on, scrubbing fiercely at the hard, dried-up oatmeal that was caked onto the bottom of her sauce pan like cement. Scully had made oatmeal before and she knew better than to let the pan sit in the sink all day long without rinsing out all the left-over oatmeal flakes beforehand. But she never quite seemed to learn when it came to doing the dishes. Scully hated doing dishes. She felt that doing the dishes was a senseless, menial task with no other purpose in life aside from constant torture for the ordinary, domestic person. She figured she should just get a dishwasher if she hated it that much, but since she lived alone and rarely cooked, she could hardly justify buying a whole machine to clean the few dishes she did use.

"Aw, come on…" Scully grumbled as she continued to scrub the bottom of the pan with no success. She threw her scrubber hard into the pot in frustration and began to groan loudly just as the phone started to ring. She was relieved to have an excuse to put off her hard labor for a while. She removed one of her rubber gloves and reached for the portable phone that was standing upright on her kitchen counter. She pushed the button to answer it.

"Hello?"

"What's an attractive woman like yourself doing home alone on a Saturday night, Scully?"

Scully smiled broadly when she heard the familiar voice of her partner, Fox Mulder, on the other end. "What makes you think I'm alone, Mulder?"

"You answered too quickly…"

"I'll have you know, that I just happen to have a big burly man sitting right next to me here…" Scully said playfully as she picked up the cleaning bottle that had been sitting up on her kitchen counter right by where she was standing.

"Mr. Clean doesn't count, Scully…"

Scully laughed out loud, which pleased Mulder to no end. It wasn't often that he actually got his partner to make audible noise when he tried to joke with her.

"So what exciting things are you up to tonight that you just had to call and tell me about, Mulder?"

"Oh, I'm just sittin'…thinkin'. I went out for a drive and ended up on a bluff somewhere."

"Well, what are you doing up on a bluff on a Saturday night all by yourself?"

"What makes you think I'm all by myself?" He asked with a playful lilt in his voice.

"Mulder…you called me…if there is somebody with you they must be a pretty lousy conversationalist."

"Oh yeah…well actually, here…listen to this…" Mulder must have taken the phone away from his ear and held it up to the radio because suddenly music filled the line:

'…Deep in the dark your kiss will thrill me, like days of old Lighting the spark of love that fills me with dreams untold Each day I pray for evening…'

Mulder's voice came back on, "It reminded me of you…"

Scully smiled, instantly reminded of the last time she had heard that. Then she said in a baby-sad voice, "It reminds me of Ester."

"Yeah, but that's nothing to be sad about…I mean, she got what she wanted, didn't she? I don't believe she's really dead."

"Oh, come on, Mulder…"

"No, seriously, I think her cyber-consciousness and Frohike are engaged now."

Scully really laughed this time, long and hard. Mulder was ecstatic, 'wow, twice in a row…' he thought to himself, pleasantly surprised at her good mood. Mulder had always been a firm believer in the art of "leaving them laughing," so he quickly ended the conversation.

"Well, I think I'll let you get back to your dirty work and go home. A guy can only take so much excitement in one night."

Scully was still trying to get a hold of her amusement when she said, "Alright. Thanks for calling…I love you…" And she pushed the 'end' button on her phone. Scully froze. She stared down at her phone and her eyes became as large as saucers. "Oh…my…God…" Scully's mouth gaped open and her eyes became even wider as she just stood there, staring at the phone that had just had Mulder on the other line. Popping noises began to come out of Scully's throat as she slowly looked up in front of her, still gaping, unable to string one linear thought together. "Ohmigod…ohmigod…no…I didn't…I couldn't have…" Then Scully let out a loud groan, "Oh no! I did!" She exclaimed as she slowly sank to the floor, clutching the phone to her chest.

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

Mulder had been in the process of biting down on a sunflower seed when Scully had hung up. Now Mulder just sat there, motionless, the sunflower seed still held between his back teeth and his cell phone still glued to his ear as he stared right in front of him with a blank look on his face. In Mulder's world, right then, everything had stopped. His mind stopped working and his body stopped moving. All he could do was stare ahead of him blindly.

After several moments had passed, he blinked. Then, very gradually he began to regain his motor reflexes. His tongue was the first to slowly move over to where the sunflower seed was being held captive and remove it from the hold his teeth had on it. Then his jaw worked slowly as he moved the seed around his mouth. His eyes were the next to move, shifting around from side to side. Then he slowly lowered the cell phone from his ear and looked down at it. Finally, his mind began to work again.

'What just happened?….' Mulder thought to himself. He had been having a perfectly wonderful conversation with his partner, he had made her laugh, and then he'd said that he had to go and she had said… 'Did she say what I think she said? No, she couldn't have…Scully doesn't feel that way about me…at least, I never thought she did…what if she does?' Mulder thought wildly as his heart began to pound in his chest. The thought was too incredible. 'Scully loves me?' The thought ran across Mulder's mind before he could stop it. And before he knew it he had an intense tingling sensation spreading through his limbs, his head began to feel slightly dizzy and a small smile began to creep onto his face. But Mulder shook himself out of his reverie almost as quickly as it had come over him. 'No…she couldn't have meant that the way it sounded…there must be a logical explanation for what she said…Scully always has a logical explanation…' Mulder thought sadly to himself. He continued to stare at the phone. He was very tempted to call her back. He was desperate to find out once and for all what exactly Scully had meant by what she had said. He was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep that night if he didn't find out for sure. His phone was still on. He pushed the 'phone' button in order to get the dial tone back. And he even went so far as to punch in Scully's home speed-dial number, but he stopped when his thumb was about to hit the 'send' button. 'No…' he thought, it was a safe bet that Scully was probably pretty embarrassed right now, no matter how she had meant that "I love you." She probably needed time to think. And Mulder was more than willing to give it to her. More than likely, the phrase had slipped out involuntarily and Scully probably didn't understand it any better than he did right then. Tomorrow was Sunday…that meant she had a whole day to think about it, and then, hopefully, she would explain it to him on Monday.

Even though Mulder was trying not get carried away by what she had said…he couldn't help but let his mind backtrack to the moment she had said it, and run it over and over in his mind as he started his car and began to drive home. 'I love you…I love you…I love you….'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Scully was still sitting on her kitchen floor clutching the phone to her chest, staring directly in front of her in fear and shock, every once in a while mumbling an "Oh my God…" silently to herself. She was trembling. It was a long time before her brain was able to form a complete, somewhat intelligible, thought.

Finally, Scully looked down at the phone she was holding. He hadn't called her back. Was that good or bad? She wondered what she should do now? Should she call him back and explain? 'Explain what?' She thought. Scully wasn't even sure if she knew what had just happened herself. Why had she said that? They had been having yet another one of their thoroughly enjoyable conversations and she remembered feeling very close to him right then. She had been laughing…he had said he had to go…she had felt a twinge of disappointment that he was ending their conversation so soon…and then she had said…

'My God…I told him I loved him…' The reality of that thought finally hit Scully like a ton of bricks. Then Scully reverted back to her original question…why had she said that? And how had she meant it? The fact that she loved Mulder was not a thought that was foreign to her. But she always figured that she loved him platonically and unconditionally. Was that what she had meant? If that's all it was, then why was she so terrified now? She was still shaking. If that "I love you" had been completely innocent than why would she be so worried about it? If it had been totally platonic, why couldn't she call him back and clear that up easily? All she knew for sure was that she needed to give this some serious thought before Monday. 'Oh God, Monday!…' she thought helplessly. How was she ever going to face him after this? Would he tease her about it? Possibly. Would he pretend like nothing had happened? Maybe. Had she just scared him shitless? Definitely.

Had she just ruined their nearly flawless relationship forever? God, she hoped not. Scully decided that the only thing to do was to handle this the best way she could think of. All she had to do now was figure out how to do that exactly. But she had all day tomorrow to think about it. And hopefully she would think of something. Something that was enough of the truth to not be a total lie and something that was enough of a lie to save their friendship.

Just then Scully's phone started to ring and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She stared at it with wide eyes for a second, her breath caught in her throat and began to shake all over again. 'Oh please no…not yet, I still need time to think…' she thought. She swallowed hard and then cautiously pushed the 'phone' button with her thumb. She slowly brought the phone up to her ear and she said a careful, "hello?" And then Scully felt an enormous sense of relief wash over her, "Oh…hi mom…"

To be continued…

Any comments are welcome!! : ) Please send any to: uroc2@unm.edu