One For the Road
By Starbuck_Jayne
Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk

Rating: PG but you know I'm not very good 
with ratings!

Spoilers: Arcadia, Hollywood AD but very 
minor spoilers!   

Keywords:  MSR

Disclaimer:  None of the characters in this 
story belong to me I am just borrowing them 
for a while.  They belong to Chris Carter, 
1013 and Fox.
 
Archive:  Anywhere at all just please keep 
my name and e-mail attached, but no flames 
please I'm way too delicate!

Summary:  Does anyone else really miss those 
"Mulder and Scully on a case file" moments?

Feedback:  On my knees and begging for it.

Author's Notes: Well, I'm not so sure when 
this is set, probably in a time like the one 
between Je Souhaite and Requiem, but a few 
years in the future.  Mulder and Scully have 
two children and aren't on the run.  I was 
just watching Bad Blood and started thinking 
about the good old days :)

One For the Road

Starbuck_Jayne

It was funny that she didn't remember being 
drunk within the past twenty-four hours, and 
yet that seemed the only plausible 
explanation for how she managed to be 
sitting in the passenger seat of Mulder's 
car in the middle of nowhere.  

"I cannot believe I let you talk me into 
this!"  She had to laugh at herself; it was 
either that or question her sanity.  Mulder 
smiled as he played with the radio.  He'd 
promised her it would be romantic, like a 
second honeymoon if only they'd had a first.

"This is where I bring all the laydees...are 
you implying that's not normal?"  Mulder 
feigned shock before abandoning the radio 
project and stretching his arms behind his 
head.

"So run this by me one more time.  We're out 
on a deserted highway in the middle of the 
night because..."

"It's haunted."

"Haunted, of course."

"Come on, Scully?  What did you expect?"  He 
laughed, "Besides, you didn't have to come."

"So I'm going to let you go off roaming the 
countryside, chasing your imagination by 
yourself am I?"

"See, Scully, I knew you cared!"

"You know, Mulder, this place is the site of 
one of the biggest natural iron ore 
resources in the country,"

"Scully!"  Mulder gave his partner the kind 
of look you might give someone who had just 
offered to flash you, or told you in great 
detail the kinds of things they wanted to do 
to you in bed.

"What I'm saying, Mulder, is that the iron 
ore combined with the energy from overhead 
power cables will generate a huge magnetic 
field.  High levels of magnetic flux in the 
temporal lobe have been known to cause 
strange visions."

"Yeah, and did *you* know, Scully, that..."

"That...?"

Scully suddenly had the strangest feeling of 
deja vu- as if she was re-living the past 
ten years of her life in that one moment.  
It had taken her about eighteen months to 
convince William that eating things he found 
under the sofa wasn't a good idea, but she 
was still working on convincing Mulder that 
it wasn't healthy to spend 3/4 of your adult 
life pursuing childish dreams.

She was rescued from the torment that would 
have been a deep and meaningful conversation 
into the origins of ghosts by the ringing of 
her cell phone.

"Scully."  She looked towards Mulder as she 
listened to the caller, causing her partner 
to shift slightly through apprehension.  
This left him supported by his elbow, which 
rested on the edge of the car window.  "Ok, 
yeah, Mom, just make sure he gets plenty of 
sleep and tell him I'll see him tomorrow.  
You too, bye."  Scully hung up the phone.  
"She thinks Will's got chickenpox," she 
said, assuming Mulder had worked out who 
she'd been talking to.

"Is he ok?"

"Oh yeah.  Nothing that the promise of a few 
days off school won't fix."

Mulder grinned.

"You know, Scully, I never imagined being a 
dad."

"I suppose no one does, really.  I imagine 
you just think you'll spend your whole life 
being the child, and your own father will 
always be there, the real father figure."

"I have to admit, Scully, I don't think I 
felt that "magical instant bond" after the 
birth."

Scully coughed.

"Mulder, you weren't there when Will was 
born, and you, erm, passed out during 
Katie's birth."

"I didn't pass out...that floor was 
slippery!"

They laughed.  That strange formal laugh 
they seemed to have developed over the 
years.  It was more a quick acknowledgement 
of the other's wit than genuine amusement, 
and it had got to the point where neither 
could remember the days of pre-FBI carefree 
laughter anymore.  Scully grasped Mulder's 
fingers as they caressed her cheek and 
pulled them towards her lips.

"This isn't like old times at all, Scully," 
Mulder sighed, "I miss the FBI."

"Really?"

"No.  I miss the typing pool though," he 
grinned in a way that earned him a half-
hearted look of disapproval.

"You tired, Scully?"

"Nope," she yawned, covering her mouth with 
the back of her hand as she stretched.

"Ok," Mulder nodded before turning to face 
her."

"Shouldn't you be watching for ghosts, 
Mulder?"

"Scully, we've known each other a long time, 
right?"

"About eleven years," she said, "why?"

"And we've been together, what, five?" he 
said, ignoring her question."

"Six," she rested her head on her left 
hand, "if you're counting Rob and Laura."  
Her attempt at humour went unnoticed, her 
husband's attention clearly elsewhere.  
Moments passed by and he didn't speak, so 
Scully sighed and offered him some coffee 
from a Thermos she'd brought.  As a general 
rule, the pair didn't bring refreshments on 
a stakeout, mainly due to the fact that 
Scully always seemed to be on some sort of 
confusing diet, whilst her partner seemed 
able to stay alive on little more than 
sunflower seeds and beer.  In this case, 
however, Scully had determined that she 
would need all the help she could get to 
avoid falling into a boredom-induced sleep.  
She sipped her coffee in silence, the creamy 
liquid seeping down her throat, leaving its 
bitter imprint on the back of her mouth.  

It was the distant screech of an owl that 
startled Scully from her reverie, the sound 
piercing the almost eerie silence that had 
engulfed the pair.  At the same time she 
felt a small breath of icy air, and shivered 
in spite of herself.  Mulder gave her a 
questioning gaze, but didn't speak.  She 
returned the communication with a shrug 
before taking another sip of her coffee.

"Ok, so what have I never asked you about?" 
Mulder was really scraping the barrel now as 
far as conversation went.

"Mulder..." Scully chided him before 
suddenly breathing in sharply.  "Oh!  Did 
you feel that?  It's freezing!"  She 
exclaimed.

"Yeah, right, Scully!"  Mulder laughed.

"Mulder, are you saying you can't feel 
anything?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Agent 
Scully," Mulder's tone went unnoticed on his 
partner, who was moving for her gun.  As 
this realisation dawned on him, his own hand 
touched the holster at his waist.

"Mulder..."

"I see them, Scully," Mulder rose and 
slipped out of the car, "kinda tempting to 
shout 'FBI!'" he muttered to his partner. 

Directly in front of the couple was the 
figure of a man, his back to them as they 
moved in from behind.

"Careful, Mulder," Scully noticed that he 
was moving ahead of her, "he may be armed."

"Yeah, and he may be dead."

Scully rolled her eyes.

"Sir?"  She called to the stranger, "Sir, 
would you mind turning around?"

The man appeared to be momentarily startled, 
and began to run towards the edge of the 
highway.  Mulder and Scully followed, and it 
was moments before Mulder was within feet of 
their target.  The road lurched suddenly to 
the left-a blind corner.  The pair lost 
sight of the man for a matter of seconds, 
but by the time they had rounded the corner, 
he was gone.

"Where'd he go?"  Scully was slightly 
breathless-chasing criminals no longer being 
a major part of her day-to-day life.  Mulder 
replaced his gun and shook his head.

"Retreated to the next world?"  He 
suggested.  "Come on, Scully, let's go 
home."  He put his arm around his wife, and 
they walked back towards the car.  Scully 
had to wonder if maybe he was tiring of the 
paranormal investigator's lifestyle at last.  
In a weird way, she had to admit that she 
missed the stakeouts - sitting in the middle 
of nowhere, staring up at the stars because 
their conversation about genetic mutants and 
alien life forms had hit a dead-end.  The 
stars were out in full that night, 
glittering jewels that adorned the dark sky, 
beautiful despite providing no light.  
Beautiful, but worthless.

"You ok, Mulder?"  She moved her head from 
its resting place on his shoulder and 
regarded him as closely as she could.  He 
didn't answer, just gave her arm a gentle 
squeeze.  "Leaving so early tonight," she 
laughed and raised her hand to feel his 
forehead.  "Are you feeling ok?"  She was 
shocked to find that the skin pressed 
against her hand was considerably higher 
than normal.  "Geez, Mulder!  You're burning 
up!"  She exclaimed.  "Come on, we'd better 
get home."

"Ok, but I'm not sleeping on the sofa 
again."

XXXXXXX

"Mulder, it's just the chickenpox," Scully 
shook her thermometer, "no need for panic."

"So much for bedside manner," Mulder tapped 
his doctor lightly on the hip.

"Mulder, any more of that and you'll be 
watching that 'Lazarus Bowl' tape."

The point was taken and Mulder raised his 
hands in defence.

"Ok, now get some sleep," she bent down to 
kiss his forehead, before moving from her 
position on the edge of the bed.  Sliding 
underneath the covers, she turned off the 
light.  The room was plunged into a heavy 
darkness, the only light coming from a 
meagre shaft of moonlight that crept 
underneath the curtains.  In the darkness 
Scully felt a pair of arms entwine 
themselves around her, and a small voice 
declare that he was "always very happy to be 
lying on top of her".   

XXXXXXX

The End