Title: Defining Choices (1 of 1)
Author: Joey R.
Rating: PG-13 for a couple of bad words.
Category: S, A, R
Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST and MSR, Angst for both.
Disclaimer: All rights belong to CC, 1013 and Fox. 
Characters are not mine and I’m not making any money. Sue 
me and you’ll just get a whole load of x-files 
merchandise. Mulder and Scully belong to Gillian Anderson 
and David Duchovny, also, who bring them to life with 
their talent.
Spoilers: 1S/2F, slight warning for Amor Fati and 
Millennium – there are no others for S7, except I’m 
assuming M + S flirt a little more openly in the episodes 
after the kiss. 
Summary: Scully returns from a date and meets up with 
Mulder. A conversation ensures as Mulder realises why it 
bothered him so much.
Distribution/Archive: Yes to Gossamer and all the major 
archives. Anywhere else, just let me know and keep my 
details attached.
Feedback: All welcome at Joey@Ram32.freeserve.co.uk - 
feedback cherished and responded to ASAP.

Dedicated to the Usual Suspects and to anyone lucky 
enough to be involved with the show in any way.  And yes, 
I should be working on more stories in the PP universe 
but I needed a break.
                                                              
=*=*=*=*=

She watched the car drive off before turning towards the 
hotel entrance. With a sigh, she rummaged round in her 
bag for the key to her room, pondering the events that 
led up to her accepting a date with one for the local 
detectives on the most recent X-File she was 
investigating with her partner.

For weeks, since New Year’s Eve, she had been waiting for 
some sign from her partner Fox Mulder that what had 
happened between them was more than it appeared to be. 
He’d kissed her, sure, but it was New Year. Colleagues 
and friends all over the world would be kissing each 
other as the clock struck twelve, it didn’t necessarily 
have to mean anything. Then again, it had meant something 
to her and she had thought it meant something to him 
after all, they didn’t have the excuse of being drunk, at 
least not on alcohol. Maybe she was wrong, though. He had 
been on painkillers, she reminded herself despairingly.

And it wasn’t as though she’d given him no encouragement. 
Since that kiss, she had flirted more openly with him. 
Sure, they had always flirted with each other but not 
like that. No, she’d given him plenty of signs that she 
had wanted the kiss. She wanted more than him than 
apparently he wanted to offer, she wanted him as more 
than a partner and friend. Much more.

Sighing heavily again, Dana Scully made her way into the 
hotel and towards the elevators. She felt a twinge of 
guilt tug at her heart when she thought of Detective Alan 
Bailey. He was…sly and had flirted outrageously with her 
throughout the case, that much she was certain of but 
still…He didn’t deserve to be used like that and she had 
used him, in a way. She had no interest in pursuing a 
romantic relationship with him, she had been bored on 
their date and had spent most of the evening thinking of 
her partner so it wasn’t really fair. But then again, he 
was apparently a womaniser, flirting with every living 
female her came across and he obviously wasn’t pleased 
with her cutting their date short and not inviting him up 
to her room.

Shaking her head to clear these thoughts, Scully stepped 
out of the elevator when the doors parted on her level. 
The last few days had been long and hard, as had the last 
few weeks. All she wanted was a long hot shower and to 
fall asleep on the surprisingly comfortable bed that 
awaited her in her room. On second thoughts, maybe she’d 
skip the shower and settle for going straight to bed. The 
idea of sleep was so tempting, she decided that the 
shower could wait till morning.

Her hand worked automatically, putting the key in the 
lock and turning until it clicked gently. She pushed the 
door open and stepped into the room as she tossed her 
purse carelessly into the corner of the room. The door 
closed behind her and she secured it with one hand, 
shedding her coat with the other as the thought to flick 
the light switch failed to cross her mind.

“ You’re back early,” the accusing voice startled her, 
making her heart pound in her chest. Her hand went up to 
her chest as she searched the darkness for her partner, 
who was either very drunk or very angry, or maybe even 
both. Scully wasn’t sure she knew which and she wasn’t 
sure if she wanted to know. “ So, have a nice night with 
Detective Barley?”

“ Yep,” she answered in a clipped though distracted tone, 
purposely ignoring his deliberate mistake. There, she 
found him in he darkness, sprawling out casually on her 
bed. The darkness did nothing to hide his look of 
contempt and…jealousy? She turned her back on him and 
hung her coat up before facing him again, meeting him 
squarely in the eyes. Still, she refused to say more, 
prompting a response from him.

“ Ended early for a date” Mulder continued baiting her, 
making no attempt to move from his place on her bed. “ 
Why didn’t you bring him back here? Or did something he 
said put you off that idea?”

“ What happened between Detective Bailey and me is none 
of your business Mulder,” she retorted acidly, her voice 
sounding a lot calmer than she expected it to. Either 
what she said or how she said it finally got to him. 
Mulder snapped, jumping up off the bed, his eyes 
flashing.

“ Like hell it isn’t!” He seethed between gritted teeth, 
his fists clenching at his sides. He couldn’t believe he 
was so wound up. He never felt such anger towards Scully 
and wondered why he should now. Surely he couldn’t be 
jealous? What was there to be jealous of? And how could 
he justify why her business was his business when he 
didn’t know himself?

“ Oh really?” Scully felt anger boil up inside her. She 
wasn’t really that mad, not at Mulder. Well, maybe she 
was a little mad at him but some of the anger she felt 
was directed towards herself as well. Not that much, but 
some. “ And how is what I do any of your concern?”

“ It just is!” Mulder exclaimed stubbornly, refusing to 
acknowledge how childish and weak his argument was.

“ How?!” She demanded hotly. “ What’s it to you if I 
chose to go out with someone? You’re just my partner, 
Mulder, my colleague and my friend. You don’t have the 
right to tell me what to do!”

“ So we’re just colleagues and friends, Scully?” He spat 
the words out, hating being classed as *just* her partner 
and *just* her friend even if he was reluctant to admit 
why. “ Is that what we are?”

“ Yes, unless I missed something.” She fought the urge to 
roll her eyes. “ You have no claim on me.”

“ I thought we were more than that.” His voice was low, 
bitter and anguished, her words having been his undoing. 
She was right, he had no claim over her. None at all. And 
that bothered the hell out of him. “ I thought we had 
something more, something special.”

His words touched her on one level but she was too far 
gone in her anger and indignation that he seemed to think 
he owned her, as though she were some mindless possession 
to register the defeated note in his voice. “ Careful, 
Mulder,” she began mockingly. “ You’re making it 
personal.” 

The words were a echo, serving as a reminder of a past 
argument that took place so long ago or at least that’s 
what it seemed like to Mulder, it seemed like she was 
dredging up the past. To Scully, however, the wounds from 
that day were healing but still there as a token of 
remembrance.

“ Personal?” He repeated dumbly. “ Is that what all this 
is about? You’re still pissed off about the Diana thing? 
She’s dead, Scully! You don’t have to drag up the past!”

“ I didn’t! You did, Mulder. And while you’re thinking of 
that, ask yourself what the hell you’re doing in my room 
and why you’re so pissed off at me if this *isn’t* 
personal!” The level of her voice had risen, matching his 
in volume.

“ I’m pissed off because you went out with that jerk and 
I don’t understand why!” He yelled furiously, the words 
pouring from his lips in a rapid torrent without much 
thought. “ Why him? Why not me?”

“ Because he asked me!” Scully shouted back.

There was a moment of silence as they stared each other 
in the eyes. Mulder broke eye contact first and they both 
took a moment to calm down and absorb what the other had 
said. They were breathing hard, standing a metre or so 
apart, both tensed up.

“ He asked you?” Mulder asked a little doubtfully. “ So 
if anyone asked you, you’d jump at the chance?”

“ No!” When he looked up and met her gaze again, he saw 
her anger in her unblinking blue eyes. And her hurt? “ 
No, you should know that’s not true but I don’t have to 
answer to you, Mulder. I went out with him because he’s 
charming and can be sweet and he *did* ask, which is more 
than I can say for you.”

“ This isn’t about me,” he protested, hating the hurt and 
accusation in her eyes, hating that he was the cause of 
both.

“ Isn’t it?” Her voice was softened exasperation and 
exhaustion. She sat on the edge of the bed and rested her 
head in her hands.

“ But I…” his voice trailed off weakly. He looked at her 
for a few minutes before moving to sit in the opposite 
corner of the bed. When he continued, his tone was 
quieter, a little subdued. He looked at his hands as he 
spoke, unable to look at her. 
“ If I asked, would you have said yes?”

“ Don’t you know the answer to that?” She questioned 
gently, meeting his gaze for a second or two before 
looking away with a sigh.

“ But…Shit, I’m sorry, Scully. I…I didn’t know.” His 
voice broke on the words and, once again, he became 
immensely interested in his hands. “ I thought when I 
kissed you… I thought you knew. I didn’t know you felt…I 
didn’t know.”

“ The you don’t know me,” she murmured. “ I can’t see how 
you could miss… How could you not know how I feel about 
you?”

“ How you feel?” He echoed.

“ How could you not know I love you?”

“ You…” Mulder swallowed the lump in his throat. “ You 
love me?”

“ You know I do,” was her completely honest reply.

“ Jesus…I thought you didn’t feel the same.” He closed 
his eyes briefly, trying to identify the dizzying 
emotions that swept through him. Relief, love, regret, 
guilt. “ I’m such a fool.”

“ Yes, you are,” Scully allowed a very small smile to tug 
at her lips.

There was another silence. Mulder stood, fascinated with 
the room and his feet and everything but her. “ I 
guess…I’ll go, leave you alone.” He started towards the 
connecting door than joined his room to hers but was 
stopped by the sound of her voice.

“ Mulder?”

“ Yes?” He spun on his heel, finding her standing by the 
bed, a thoughtful look on her face.

“ What would you do if I kissed you?” She asked the 
question innocently, with a tilt of her head as she gazed 
at him, waiting for his reaction. 

“ If you…? What would I do?” He raised a disbelieving 
eyebrow as a small ghost-like trace of a smile curved his 
lips. “ Don’t you know the answer to that?”

She smiled a little at his use of her earlier question. “ 
I always wondered…I always wondered just what your 
reaction would be if I just walked up to you and kissed 
you. Maybe in the office, one day.”

“ Well…” He gave her a fully-fledged grin. “ If you ever 
want to find out, you know where I am.” With that, he 
turned back to the door and opened the door. He paused 
just before stepping over the threshold. “ And the ball’s 
in your court now, Scully. But if it lands in mine again, 
let me know, okay?”

Scully smiled a full smile as he stepped into his room 
and shut the door, leaving it open a fraction. She moved 
over to get her pyjamas and was reaching round to unzip 
her dress when she heard it.

“ Oh, and Scully?” It was Mulder’s voice, floating 
through from the other room. “ I love you, too.”

She smiled again and changed for bed quickly, climbing 
into bed. She heard his shuffling around in his own room 
and then silence. Falling asleep with a smile on her 
face, Scully felt as though things were finally getting 
back on track.

The End.
Or is it? What do *you* think? Joey@ram32.freeserve.co.uk