#technically it's the 23rd but my town is celebrating today for some reason???

[anarchomitsumi]

HAPPY SAN XOAN !!

[lokisgame]

Monday, Lazy Monday

Valentine’s Day excerpt from Aprons And Scrubs. [link]

Scully made breakfast, or at least she wanted to. She reached into the fridge to take out a carton of eggs and realized that the last time she cooked for someone was the day her father died. She stood frozen in place, carton in hand, other hand on the door handle, trying to catch herself before she cried.

She didn't have to. Mulder's arm went around her and he kissed her cheek, reaching for the eggs.

"Let me do it," he said softly. She nodded.

"Mulder, you cook?" Scully sat at the kitchen table sipping coffee.

"No, I eat takeout for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and order pizza if I'm in the mood for a midnight snack," he cracked the egg into a bowl "of course I cook"

He was a sight, in suit pants and undershirt, hair wet from the shower. Pills took about half an hour to kick in and he was as good as new.

"I mean, I'm no chef, but I can fend for myself," he cracked the last egg, picked up the shells, dumped them into trash, wiped the spilled egg whites off the counter with his hand and rinsed it under the tap. He was neat too, well, neat-ish, she'd use a rag.

Bread landed in the toaster, eggs sizzled in the pan.

"Black pepper?"

She had so many questions that Mulder began to feel like he was interrogated.

"I can't fix a car, and anything around electricity, power sockets, light switches, I stay away from that. Changing a light bulb, tire, take out one thing and exchange it for another stuff, that's all I'll risk."

Bacon on plates, eggs on the side, toast on the table, jam in the jar. Mulder set a plate before her and leaned in to kiss her.

"I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue," he whispered with a wicked smile half an inch from her mouth.

"A useful skill no doubt," she grinned

"I'll show you later if you want." He kissed the tip of her nose and sat down "Enjoy!"

They stayed on the sofa until lunch, she sat in the corner, Mulder's head in her lap. She made him lie down and rest his leg and this was the only way to keep him in place. Music played in the background, and it was Mulder's turn to grill her.

"Favorite food."

"Pizza."

"No way! You have more lettuce in your fridge than a reasonably sized rabbit family could eat for a week." She slapped his chest playfully.

"Stress and irregular hours, being a doctor isn't very healthy so I try to watch what I eat when I'm home." He nodded playing with her hand. "But I like to treat myself from time to time."

"Like comfort food."

"Yeah, next question."

"Pet peeve."

"Toothpaste squeezed from the middle of the tube, mess in the bathroom in general."

"I'll keep that in mind, popcorn salted or buttered."

"Salted, but not too much."

"Elvis, dead or alive?"

"What?"

"What do you think, is Elvis really dead or just went into hiding, laid back somewhere quiet."

"People die." Her tone turned soft and he looked up at her. "He lives through his music I guess"

He kissed her knuckles and smiled, "good answer."

"How many questions have you got there, Will Graham."

"Well Clarice, just one, for now." He smiled figuring Scully would be the book loving kind, going for the second novel reference instead of the movie most people saw. "I don't know yours, although you know mine," he challenged her with a puzzle.

"Blood type?"

"No. Birthday." Mulder looked at her upside down waiting, going from amused and curious to afraid and concerned as seconds ticked by.

"Have I already missed it?" Her silence was torture, imagining she celebrated it with someone else, someone closer to her than he was, some other best friend he didn't know about. He started to sit up but she pulled him back down, then leaned over and kissed him, soft and gentle.

"You didn't miss it, it's February 23rd."

"NINE DAYS!" He exclaimed. "Good thing I asked, tried to slip it by me, eh?"

"No gifts, and no surprise parties," she warned him.

"You know I can't promise you that." Mulder played with her hand, lacing their fingers together, as she played with his hair. "I owe you one for the tie, and technically, it wouldn't be a surprise because you know I know and it's too close for 'I forgot' to pass." Scully sighed. "Are you working that night?"

"No," she could tell by his smile there was some serious plotting and planing happening right now. Mulder noticed her concern.

"Relax Doc, I see you're not used to making a big production out of it." he dropped a kiss on her fingers, "it'll be just us, maybe the Gunmen, you could call Missy if she's in town."

"She might be, I don't know." His promise did ease some of the tension.

"Call her, I promise I won't even close the bar for the night."

"Okay," she gave up, once Mulder fixated on an idea, there was no changing his mind.

A while later Scully went about making lunch while Mulder called Mike and left him in charge for the night. Valentine's Day wasn't a slow night at ‘The Believer’ but somehow he had the feeling he wouldn't be great company for the particular brand of customer seeking refuge from the rain of hearts, the romantically challenged kind.

Soup and sandwiches was interrupted by a phone call.

"Hello." Scully picked up before she sat down.

"Hi honey, how are you today?" her mother sounded calm, a good sign.

"Hi mom, I'm fine, you?" Mulder looked at her from his spot on the floor, giving her an arched eyebrow, fine?

"I'm okay, I'm just calling, because I know I invited you to dinner tonight," Scully slapped her forehead and Mulder huffed out a laugh, she totally forgot, "but something came up at the Church and we'll need to take a rain check."

"That's okay, we can always meet some other time," Mulder found the tv remote and turned the volume down, then tried to eat his soup and grimaced burning his tongue.

"Let me know when you'll have a day off next time, we'll have lunch."

"Sure mom, oh, one thing, you know when Missy will be back in town?"

"I don't know honey, but she left a number, you can call her if you want."

Scully taped Mulder's shoulder and pointed to the pen and notebook under the coffee table. He handed it to her and she wrote down the number.

"Okay, I have to go now, take care of yourself Dana."

"Okay mom, love you."

"Love you too, honey, bye."

She hung up and slid off the sofa to sit on the floor next to Mulder.

"Just 'fine'?" He teased picking a slice of cucumber from his sandwich.

"My mom might not be ready for us just yet."

"'Us', I like the sound of that," he put one arm around her and dropped a kiss on her shoulder, it looked like he was physically incapable of keeping his hands to himself, not that she was complaining or anything. She only barely managed to stop herself from jumping his bones, he might seem fine right now but it could be the painkillers, no need to rush things.

"Eat your soup Mulder."

They crashed on the sofa after lunch, the movie lulled him first, as if all he needed was a blanket and her to cuddle with, and his slow steady breathing rocked her to sleep.

After dinner, pizza to make the day perfect, Scully took him home. And that was the limit of their ability to keep hands of each other. Scully took the reins this time and Mulder had no problem with that. His bed felt like heaven that night.

"Scully," a soft voice in her ear woke her up, "Scully wake up." She shifted mumbling something about ten more minutes. "I'd love that Doc, but your shift starts in 15."

Her eyes sprang open and she jumped out of bed as Mulder laughed. “Shower, on your left, coffee's waiting."

She showered and dressed in ten minutes flat and even managed to grab a sip of coffee and a toast he laid out.

She was already late but Mulder stopped her by the door. He caught her around the waist and planted a single kiss on her lips, soft but determined, and just as she started to lean into it, he let go of her and pulled the door open. "Run!"

"Bye!" She called over her shoulder running to the door leading to the stairwell, ignoring the elevator altogether.

Mulder shut the door behind her and looked in the mirror at the guy with two day stubble and a smile splitting his face in half. He pointed a finger at him at said out loud with a solid warning. "Don't fuck this up"

"I'll be damned," Frohike settled himself at the bar straightening his glasses to have a better look at his friend on the other side, "gentlemen, can you hear that? That is the sound of hundreds of female hearts breaking around the greater Washington D.C. area."

"What do you mean," Langly asked sitting down next to him

"We just lost a comrade."

"Scully?" Byers guessed, but Mulder said nothing, his head down, busy polishing the glass in his hands.

"That would be my guess, I know a goner when I see one," Frohike declared, waiting for Mulder to look up.

His shit eating grin was all the answer they needed.