From milomom@cyberspace.org Fri Dec 13 00:52:21 1996

All characters contained herein are the property of Chris Carter, 
Ten-Thirteen Productions and Twentieth Century Fox telveision.  No copyright
infringement is intended.  (In other words, they're not mine and I'm not 
making any money off of them.)

Oh, anti-shipper warning.  It's something my sappy romantic soul came up 
with after too long awake.  No spoilers, just some mind candy written
around one of my all-time favorite songs.  Any really good stuff is due to
the efforts of my beta reader, Melissa Rabey, the best thing to hit
Delaware since tax-free shopping. ;>  Bad stuff is all mine.

--------------------------------
Pretty Woman
by Sharlene
Rating:  PG
Category:  V, R
Summary:  Our two favorite FBI agents meet years before they're in the
FBI.
--------------------------------

Fox Mulder was depressed and cold.  Depressed because it had finally sunk
in that he had devoted years of his life to a woman who didn't care for him,
and cold because he was standing on a London street corner in January.  Phoebe 
had kicked him out just in time for the winter break, so he had come to 
London with another psychology major to give himself time to think about
what he was going to do now.  When the fourth member of Dave's band had come
down with a bad cold, Fox had been roped into his place.  So here he stood, 
strumming a guitar, trying to keep from scowling.  It had been a long day 
and it wasn't over yet.  Still, Dave was a good friend and he owed him 
something for all he had done.  He wondered whether he should chat up one
of the women in the crowd around them.  He looked into the eyes of one who
was appraising him as thoroughly as if he was a cut of beef on the butcher's 
block and hastily looked away.  Somehow the thought of random sex was not 
appealing to him.  Maybe because of how disgusted it had made him to find
out about Phoebe's habits.  He just knew he wasn't up to another woman using
him for her own purposes and then leaving him by the wayside to pick up the 
pieces.

XXXXXXXXXX

Miss Dana Katherine Scully, college student, was mad as hell.    She debated
with herself whether to join their parents at the hotel they were staying
at, but her protective instincts overcame her tiredness.  She knew Missy
hadn't bothered with self-defense classes, and she could get into trouble
if she wandered into the wrong place.    

Dana chastised herself for being ungrateful, even in her mind, and paused
to look around.  She was at the end of a street full of stores, and there
were islands of people at various spots.  She thought she heard music, but
she wasn't sure.  She decided to take her time going down the street and look 
into the windows as she went.  Missy had to be around here somewhere.

XXXXXXXXXX

Fox took a deep drink from his thermos of iced tea and almost choked.  He 
couldn't believe how beautiful the red-headed woman walking along the
street looked.  His mind turned several circles and then an idea popped
into his head.  He turned to Dave with a mischevious grin and said, "Do
you take requests?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Dana stopped to adjust a stocking, swearing silently to herself that she
was going to switch to seamless pantyhose.  She checked herself in the
closest store window and started walking again, sure she had been circumspect
enough to not have shown anything that shouldn't be.  She heard the music
again and wondered idly where it was coming from.  She recognized the opening
strains of "Pretty Woman", but the voice was definitely not Roy Orbison's.
Not as bad as it could be, though. 

Pretty woman, walking down the street, 
Pretty woman, the kind I'd like to meet, 
Pretty woman, 
I don't believe you, you're not the truth
No one could look as good as you.....
Mercy!

Fox felt his heart beat faster as he watched her get closer.  He had
almost had a heart attack when she had been fiddling with her stockings.
The crowd parted to give him an unobstructed view of the beautiful lady,
and he noticed the predatory looking brunette had left the crowd and was
walking towards the redhead.  He almost fumbled his guitar  when she smiled.


Dana couldn't help smiling when she saw Melissa walking towards her.
Annoying as her sister could sometimes be, she had been worried.  "And
just where have you been?"

"I was just listening to this group and eyeing this total babe.
Unfortunately, he seems to like redheads."  Dana's head snapped up and she 
found herself staring into the most gorgeous set of eyes she had ever
seen.  She couldn't decide if they were a deep forest green or a rich
velvet brown, and her breath started catching in her throat.

Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
Pretty woman, I couldn't help but see, 
Pretty woman,
That you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me?

His voice drifted off and he looked a million miles away.  She felt
herself nodding slightly, realizing she had been feeling empty lately.
There was her family and there was school, and that was it.  She spent her
days drifting into whatever came next, what was expected.   She stood
entranced as he started singing again.

Pretty woman, stop a while
Pretty woman, talk a while
Pretty woman give your smile to me
Pretty woman, yeah, yeah, yeah
Pretty woman, look my way
Pretty woman, say you'll stay with me.

'Cause I need you
I'll treat you right
Come with me baby, be mine tonight

Dana felt herself turn bright scarlet to the roots of her hair.  "Come on, 
Missy, let's go back to the hotel."  

"Dana!  You're being serenaded and all you can think of is leaving??  Are
you sure you're my sister?"  Dana frowned and started walking forward, keeping
an eye out for a cab or a bus stop.

Pretty woman, don't walk on by
Pretty woman, don't make me cry
Pretty woman,
Don't walk away, hey..

Dana froze.  What am I doing?  I'm doing what I should, what daddy's good 
little girl should, what the nuns would have expected of the sweet little 
Catholic girl she had always been.  

Fox watched her walk away and felt the words in his mouth turn to ashes.


Okay.
If that's the way it must be, okay.
I guess I'll go on home it's late
there'll be tomorrow night, but wait


Dana  turned determinedly and walked towards him quickly.  She grinned
wickedly, looking like an angel enjoying its fall.  "See you later,
Melissa."  Her eyes didn't waver from his for a second.  Fox felt a goofy
grin spreading across his face.  She was coming to talk to him!  

What do I see?
Is she walking back to me?
Yes, she's walking back to me!
Oh, oh, pretty woman.
 

"Hi, I'm Dana."
"I'm Fox."


The End

(Unless someone wants to write a sequel or twist my arm to get me to do
it.)

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