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Scully didn’t get nervous. She calculated the risks and benefits of every situation and then made her decisions accordingly. She waited the appropriate amount of time to make sure emotions were not an influential factor in any of her actions before taking the first step in order to achieve her goals.
At least, that’s what she told herself as she rapped her knuckles on the large wooden door three times.
Unsurprising, there was no answer.
She waited for a few minutes, absent-mindedly checking her hair in the reflection of the window. Her slightly wavy red hair was a bit longer than normal--about two inches past her shoulders and it was starting to get on her nerves. After toying with the idea of turning around right now and going to get her haircut, she knocked on the door again.
She sighed and tried to peer past the curtain in the window. It was a sheer pale yellow, matching the shutters on the house. The rest of the house, she noted, was white and bland and right on the borderline of being considered run down and uninhabitable.
If she didn’t know Mulder like she did, she would turn around now. Instead, she knocked again.
Finally the lock turned and the door opened.
“Scully!” came a soft question from the other side of the door. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”
“You would have if you answered your phone,” she chastised. “May I come in?”
“Sure, sure,” Mulder responded. “I wasn’t planning on guests, so excuse the mess.”
“I would be more concerned if your house was neat and tidy, Mulder,” Scully replied with a laugh.
She looked around at the immediate room. A long table was covered in the usual Mulder mess: folders full of wrinkled papers, photographs with faces circled and dates scribbled on the back, sticky notes with vague ideas in messy handwriting, and hand-drawn maps with trails that seemed to lead nowhere.
It was oddly comforting, she noted.
“It looks as if you’re back to your X-Files days, Mulder,” remarked Scully.
“Not quite, but close,” Mulder replied with a bright smile. “I’ve been tracking sightings of a sasquatch-like creature. And I know what you’re thinking--we’ve tried solving that already. But this is a new outcrop of sightings that I think is worth checking out.”
Scully smiled at his enthusiasm. “Mulder, as fascinated as I always am by your research, that’s not exactly why I’m here.”
“I figured as much,” Mulder responded as he gestured towards the kitchen. “Come sit down?”
Scully shrugged out of her coat and hung it by the door before replying, “Sure, but no wine this time.”
See, she told herself, I’m confidently making decisions without involving alcohol.
“Well that’s no fun,” was Mulder’s response before he lead the way into the kitchen.
Mulder’s kitchen was surprisingly tidy. Jars labeled with their contents showed an impressive ingredient collection. While some were obviously for food, Scully suspected others were for different cures and traps involved in the cases Mulder still pursued. Bar stools were pulled up to the kitchen island since papers were stacked on the actual dining table and chairs.
“Nice Thanksgiving turkey,” Scully joked, pointing to the half-finished TV tray dinner that was set on the island.
“Well, I wasn't expecting company,” Mulder admitted. “Would you like some?”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” replied Scully. “I’m here on business.”
“I assumed nothing less,” Mulder answered. “You can sit down you know.”
“Thanks,” Scully said with a sigh as she pulled out a bar stool and sat down.
Rehearsed, rational discussion she reminded herself.
“The hospital I’m working for has been dealing with an interesting case,” Scully explained. “Your…unique view...would be appreciated.”
“Of course,” Mulder nodded as he sat down across from Scully. “Does it have anything to the hairy beasts I'm currently investigating?”
“Unfortunately not,” Scully sighed. “And it doesn't have to do with the kids I usually interact with either. I came access the case accidentally, when I was visiting the morgue of course.”
“Naturally,” interrupted Mulder. “Don't keep me in suspense...what is it?”
“Patience, Mulder. The backstory is required for once,” Scully responded. “Do you remember the old woman Skinner dealt with about ten years ago?”
Mulder’s eyes widened. “The succubus? Of course I remember.”
“I still hesitate calling her a succubus, Mulder, but yes, that case,” sighed Scully. “I think the coroner may be dealing with something similar.”
“You have changed!” Mulder feigned a gasp. “A few years ago you would have said he was just a horn dog who got caught up with the wrong girl.”
“Well, if the evidence wasn't so obvious, that would be my guess too,” Scully agreed. “My concern…” she took a deep breath “is that the energy released seems to be affecting everyone.”
“So you’re coming to me because your hospital is full of horny nuns?” joked Mulder.
Scully scoffed, “I’m serious. Something odd is up, and I figured if anyone could figure it out it would be you.” She quickly stood up, “Look, this is stupid. There’s a normal explanation for it, I’m sure.”
“If that was true, then why did you come here?” Mulder asked, standing up to close the gap between Scully and the kitchen doorway.
“Because when I can’t make sense of things, you can, Mulder,” Scully replied in one quick breath. “And I can’t make sense of this, no matter how hard I try.”
“Scully, it’s okay,” Mulder said, gently grabbing her arms. “We can figure it out.”
“I know you can, Mulder,” Scully softened in his grip. “I just had wished to put all of this...supernatural...stuff behind me.”
“Honestly, sometimes I do too,” Mulder admitted quietly. “But that’s not who I am and, like it or not, that’s not who you are.”
“It used to be,” Scully responded. “It just gets so overwhelming sometimes. I wish I could go back to the days where everything had a simple explanation: if I couldn’t prove it with science, then it was an act of God. But now, who knows? What if it’s not God but a damn succubus? How is that even an option for a credible explanation?”
Scully was holding back tears. Having your faith shaken was hard. Not sleeping for multiple nights in a row because you’re so nervous about a meeting didn’t help things either. Being this close to Mulder when she was this vulnerable could be dangerous to her calculating, rational mind.
“You know better than to dismiss your idea,” Mulder assured her. “If you could dismiss it in any way, shape, or form you wouldn’t be here talking to me.”
He steered Scully back towards the counter and she sat down on the barstool.
“Even if I could dismiss it, I think I would still be here talking to you, Mulder,” admitted Scully. She added quietly, “I’ve missed you.”
Mulder laughed softly. “I’m irresistible, I know.”
“I’m serious, Mulder,” Scully said. “It’s nice to not have to be the one to think things through all the time. It’s wonderful when you have a one-word solution to a complex problem.”
“Even though you’d still do it, if only to prove me wrong,” he retorted.
“Well, yes,” Scully smiled and leaned her head against Mulder’s chest.
Her rational, calculating, distance-herself-from-everything brain turned off the minute she inhaled his scent.
“It’s comfortable being here with you, Fox,” she whispered.
“Stay the night?” he responded, equally as quiet. “We can worry about your succubus in the morning.”
“I would love that,” Scully responded with a sigh. “Lead the way.”