Title: "Night of the Knight"
Author: Heather Horn
Rating: PG
Category: UST
Summary: Scully invites her night in shining armour over for dinner.
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Disclaimer: The X-Files and all relating characters are copyright Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and The FOX Network. No copyright infringement intended.
Dana Scully sighed as she got in to the ten-items-or-less line, deep in thought. It had been a long day, and she wanted to pay for her food and get the hell out of the crowded grocery store. That didn't seem possible, though, because every single line was congested with people who had carts piled high with that night's dinner.
Scully hated shopping, especially for food. To her, it meant throwing away your hard-earned money. But what she despised even more was the people. There were always people everywhere, annoying customers and sale clerks who are never there when you need them. She would rather surrender to one of her partner's theories than go shopping.
That brought Scully's mind to another tone of thought as the line crawled on at a snail's pace.
Mulder.
Oh, Fox Mulder, her knight in shining armour. For the past six years, they had worked side-by-side in the basement of the J. Edgar Hoover building on a section of the FBI which no other agents would dare touch.
Mulder was Scully's best friend, and Scully was Mulder's only friend. But Scully thought more of Mulder than that. Through all his cheesy lines and possible moments that she had to pass up due to the bureau policy, she had found herself gawking open-mouthed at the handsome, six foot one man that she worked with everyday.
When Scully was little, her best friend Marsha would come over every day. When Marsha went home at the end of the day, Scully would always ask her mother whom her best friend was. Her mother would simply reply; "Your daddy is my best friend, Dana."
Once, Scully asked her mother for an explanation to her answer. They sat down, and her mother explained, as simply as she could to a girl only five years of age, and told her that she married Scully's father because she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him: He was her best friend. Then, Scully asked if that meant she had to marry Marsha.
"No, honey," Her mother had chuckled. "When the time comes that you find the person you want to be with for the rest of your life, you'll know."
That time was six years ago. So together, Mulder and Scully were bringing a whole new meaning to the word "platonic".
Scully kept these feeling for her partner locked away though, and showed the slightest bit of affection only on special occasions. Her thoughts were saved for times like these, when she lingered in a line of never-ending shopping carts with nothing more to do. If she wasn't careful, she would drift off into a trance, only to be awakened by the rude pardon of the cashier.
This had happened many times before, and though far and few between Scully didn't want it to happen again any time soon. She snapped herself back into reality. Quickly looking over her shoulder, she counted the four people still ahead of her and the three behind her.
But the image of the man behind her stuck vividly in her mind.
Even without his work attire, she would recognise that deep, intense face.
It was her knight in shining armour, come to save her from the horrors of shopping. He made everything in life bearable. She stole a glance at his armour: a torn New York Knicks T-shirt with a leather jacket thrown over it and a pair of faded jeans. He was absolutely gorgeous.
"Hey, Mulder." Scully said flirtously, turning to face the cool metal spokes of his shopping cart. "I must admit, this would be the last place I'd expect to see you."
"You're right, I'm probably more prone to end up at a gay bar in upstate New York. A guy's gotta eat, Scully." He held up a jumbo bag of sunflower seeds and waved it in front of her emerald-green eyes. Scully sifted through the items in Mulder's shopping cart. Miniature donuts, frozen orange juice, a cup of instant soup, and a bunch of TV dinners.
"Mulder, this is terrible!" She exclaimed. "How do you live on this junk?"
"Like what you eat is any better!" He shot back laughingly, pointing to the plain yoghurt and bee pollen on the top of her shopping basket.
"Tell you what," Scully began, her mind reeling. "Come over to my place and I'll make you a real, home-cooked meal."
"As long as it's not lettuce leaf a la mode, you've got yourself a deal."
"Just wait and see." Said Scully smiling. He returned her smile, but there was a moment of tense silence. Scully took this pause to daydream yet again, imagining the perfect evening.
There would be candlesticks as they sat across from each other, sipping wine, letting the exquisite smell of lasagne drift up from the plates below them. They would talk of work, but as the meal continued the conversation would get more and more personal. Finally, they would stop talking altogether and he would place his hand atop her own. They would stare helplessly into the round pools of each other's glassy eyes. A magical force would bring their faces closer, closer, until they could feel the warmth of the other's breath. Then, with one swift motion, the would -
"Do you have a preferred card, ma'am?" The nasal cashier broke into Scully's fantasy.
"Hm?" Scully asked, dazed.
"Do you have a preferred card?" The cashier spoke slowly, as if she were speaking to a toddler.
"Oh, yeah, sorry." Scully tossed the card up on the stand absentmindedly.
Scully looked over at Mulder, who shrugged and gave her a sympathetic smile.
"You're total comes to twenty-one eleven." The cashier said, smirking at the simple gestures between the two customers. Scully reached into her purse and pulled out a credit card, handing it to the middle-aged woman. The cashier scanned it, and it beeped.
"I'm sorry, but you're pass your limit." The cashier told her with false sympathy.
"What?" Scully asked, not sure she heard correctly. This would ruin perfect plan for a night to remember with the man she thought so much of.
"Hey, Scully, let me get that." Mulder said, reaching into his back pocket to take out his worn and tattered wallet.
"No, Mulder I couldn't let you - " Scully began. But it was too late. Mulder had already handed the cashier the bills and she was in the process of printing out a receipt. Her knight in shining armour had saved her once again.
"I'm going to pay you back, Mulder." Scully said serenely as they strolled leisurely away from the busy store.
"No, you're not." He replied kindly as she reached her car. "I won't let you." Before proceeding to his own car, he placed his hand on Scully's shoulder and her heart jumped. Though he probably only meant it as a friendly gesture, it set her upon cloud nine.
"I'll meet you there." Mulder comforting voice interrupted Scully's indulgence. She somehow found it in herself to nod, then fumbled with her keys as she reluctantly got into her car, and Mulder got into his. Scully ceased to start the car though. Before she stuck the keys in the ignition, she watched as her knight in shining armour rode of into the darkness. Maybe he wasn't riding a black stallion, but being the modern-day hero he was, he looked pretty savvy in his Ford.
Mulder got to Scully's apartment a minute or two before she arrived, and he waited patiently outside the door. Sure, he had a key, but he at least owed her the respect of waiting outside after an incident that had happened the year before.
Mulder didn't have to wait long, though, because Scully couldn't stand the fate of being away from her knight for more than a few minutes. She sped home, and from her reckless driving you would assume Mulder was behind the wheel.
Too anxious to wait for the elevator, she ran up the stairs, not skipping a beat as her four-inch heels clanked against the stairs.
"Mulder, you didn't have to wait in the hall!" Scully cried apologetically as she opened the door and took his coat for him.
"It's no problem!" He assured her, taking one of the grocery bags from her arms and carrying it into her beautifully designed kitchen. "Can I help you make dinner?"
"No, I'll do it." She said mischievously. "You just sit and watch TV."
Mulder did as he was told. A moment later, Scully heard the television click on and some inconspicuous moans arise.
"Not the porno channel!" Scully yelled form kitchen.
"Whatever you say, G-Woman!" Mulder called back, changing the channel to an old "I Love Lucy" rerun. He wasn't paying attention to the set, though. His mind wandered and he came up with his own name for the show: "I Love Scully".
In the kitchen, Scully found herself wrapped in a dilemma. When she invited Mulder for dinner, it never occurred to her that she didn't know how to cook.
She grabbed the phone of the wall and punched in her mother's number. Margaret Scully always knew what to do in sticky situations. Although Scully was never close with anyone in her family, she couldn't have asked for a better mother.
"Hello?" The familiar voice of her mother answered.
"Hi, Mom," Scully said frantically.
"Dana, what's the matter?"
"I invited Mulder over for dinner!"
Scully need not explain any further. Mrs. Scully knew that her daughter could not cook if her life depended on it. Maybe if Mulder's life depended on it she could scrounge up some macaroni and cheese, but that was beside the point.
"Ah, Fox, what a nice boy." Mrs. Scully soothed.
"Mom!" Scully yelled into the phone. "I need your help! And his name is Mulder!"
"Everything okay in there, Scully?" Mulder called from the living room.
"Just peachy!" Scully spat out, kicking herself once she had said it. Just peachy? What kind of fool was she?
"I'm sorry, honey. Was that him I heard in the background?" Mrs. Scully asked.
"Yeah."
"You mean he's there?"
"Yes!" Scully exclaimed. She heard her sigh on the other end of the phone.
"Okay, Dana, you have to make something easy then. Here's what I want you to do." Mrs. Scully explained a simple recipe to her, hoping that her daughter's repulsive cooking wouldn't turn off the sweet boy.
Fifteen minutes later, Scully hung up the phone with her mother and was boiling some pasta as the chicken browned in the oven. She rummaged through her refrigerator, pulling out the ingredients for a salad.
As she sliced and diced, she pretended that she was chopping off the heads of Mulder's past girlfriends. How she longed for the evening to go well. In all their years together they had so much to show for their work, yet so little to show for their love.
A faint beeping noise brought Scully back down to Earth.
She cursed under her breath. It was the smoke alarm! Bubbles poured from the top of the pot and on to the burners as smoke arose from the oven. Mulder came running in from the living room.
"What happened?" He asked. "Scully, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She replied, stepping up onto a chair to reset the noisy alarm.
But when she remembered the cause of the alarm, she couldn't help but swear out loud, right to Mulder's face.
Mulder watched the calm, sensible woman that he knew crumble beneath his eyes. Tonight he was seeing a whole new side of her, and he liked it. No, he *loved* it. It was possibly the best thing that had happened to him since he met her. Coming back to reality, Mulder watched as a panic-stricken Scully pulled the charcoaled chicken from the oven and took the overflowing pan off the stove.
Scully could feel the hot tears forming in her eyes. Don't cry, she told herself over and over. Don't let Mulder see you like this.
But it was too late. Like the water spilling out onto the stove, Scully's tears brimmed over her eyes and chased each other down her cheeks. She tried to turn her back from Mulder, but he knew.
Gently grasping her left shoulder, he slowly turned her around so that they were face-to-face. Scully, brave Scully, who had always sworn to herself never to let her feeling show, was now standing before Mulder, her eyes red and puffy as she choked back her light, hiccuping sobs. Mulder opened his arms towards her, and she eagerly snuggled close to him, basking in his wonderfully intoxicating smell. The side of her face pressed up against his muscular chest and he wrapped his strong arms around her, lightly kissing the top of her head.
He held her for minutes, but it seemed like only seconds. No one had really stopped the gesture, nor prolonged it. The just stopped when they felt the time had come. That was one of the best things about their relationship: Their natural sense of instinct.
Remember this, because you're not going to have another perfect moment like this for a long time. Scully thought to herself. Your knight has saved you once more.
In order to break the uncomfortable silence which had come after this gift, Scully said softly, so softly that it was barely audible, "I'll start over."
She knew that would be the end of it. No deep entrancing discussion about their relationship, no picture-perfect kiss. That was just the it was. They were a great couple, but an odd one at that, and they just had to except it.
But when Scully turned around from the scolding oven a minute later, Mulder still stood in the exact spot in which she had left him.
"Scully, I came here to be with you, not to watch TV." Mulder said with arrogance and dignity, not to mention honest-to-goodness sincerity.
Scully would have kissed him, but if she did anything more to excite herself, she just might pass out. Which wouldn't be so bad, with Mulder there to baby her and all. It was surely a plausible idea, but she decided not to push her luck.
"I'm sorry," She said. "I just wanted things to be perfect."
"Everything is perfect! Me, you, Scully, what more could you ask for?"
"Well," She teased. "I am kind of hungry."
Mulder picked up the phone and talked quietly into it. A minute later he said cheerfully to Scully, "Thirty minutes or it's free."
As if the evening couldn't get any better, once the pizza arrived they sat down to watch a movie of Scully's choice. So over a glass of wine, they watched the romantic, and long enough to justify it's self, "Gone with the Wind." Mulder sat with his arm comfortably tucked around Scully, as she lay he head on his shoulder, still containing her poise. Being that she had seen the picture a hundred times before, she eventually drifted off to sleep next to her night in shining armour. She snuggled close to him, only half award of what was going on around her. As the movie credits rolled, she began to arise. She turned to her side, and expected to see Mulder cuddled up next to her.
Instead, she saw a poorly dressed cashier with wide-rimmed glasses.
"Clean up, isle five!" Echoed from the speakers. Scully spun around to face the cart behind her, praying that the stranger behind her would not be a stranger at all. She wished that it would be Mulder and that she could invite him to dinner and make her dream come true.
The man who stood behind her in the line was old and wrinkled, much resembling her grandfather, and definitely not Scully's knight in shining armour.
But as Scully walked disappointedly away from the fluorescent shop, the faint ringing of her cellular phone told her that her knight in shining armour was there all along.
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"Night of the Knight" was written by Heather Horn on March 21, 1999
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