Title:  Expecting The Unexpected.
Author’s: Lydsey Anderson and Joey R.
E-mail addresses: Lyndsey: Duanderson@aol.com Joey: Joey@Ram32.freeserve.co.uk
Rating: PG/PG-13.
Category: UST, MSR,
Disclaimer: We don’t own them. If we did, they would be a whole lot happier!
Spoilers: No major spoilers for anything.
Summary: Expect the Unexpected.
Archive: Ask our permission, we’ll most likely say yes.
Author’s notes: Lyndsey: This is my first co-authored fic that actually is getting 
posted! <g> And who better to write with than Joey? She's a wonderful author 
and it's a real honour to have written with her. Hopefully, in the near 
future, we'll get to write more pieces together, too. Later, gators! :)
Author’s notes: Joey:  Firstly, thank you, Lyndsey, for co-authoring this story with me. 
It’s been a lot of fun, especially since I have admired your writing for so long. You’re a 
great writer and friend so thank you. And I hope we can do this again sometime.

Ace holds Queen. King supports Jack. Two leans on a three. Another 
Ace next to a ten. And finally, another King on top. Beautiful. An hour of work, but it's finally---

A gush of air sent the several playing cards fluttering to the office floor off 
their resting place, Fox Mulder's desk. Slowly, Mulder looked upward from 
what was left of his card tower and saw his red-headed partner, Dana Scully, 
chewing on her bottom lip after seeing what she did. He held her gaze for several
 moments, staring into the depths of her clear blue eyes, trying his hardest to act mad.
 He couldn't help but smile as she handed him an Ace off the floor. "Sorry about the 
door," she said casually, and he playfully snatched the card out of her hand, going back 
into his, "mad act". 

"Oh, sure you are, Scully," he replied, bending over to gather the rest of the fallen cards. 
She squatted and helped him. At the same time, they both reached for the two card 
and their hands made contact with each other. She pulled away like she had just
 touched hot coals, having the reaction of someone who had been burnt instead of touched.

"Sorry," she murmured softly, standing as he did, the nine cards in his left hand.

"Scully, if you don't stop apologizing, I'm really gonna get mad."

"Sor--"

Mulder gave Scully and look, then they both laughed softly. "Sure. Fine. Whatever," she 
changed it to. Both agents were silent for a moment, then Mulder spoke up

"So, what's up, Scully? I mean, you came in here like you just saw an alien or something. 
Now if that's the reason, then I'll let you get away with the card tower thing..."

"Actually, Mulder," Scully began, becoming her normal, serious self, "Skinner wants the 
Crawford report tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But he said Friday!"

"I know, and we haven't even gotten it together yet." She sighed.

"Well," Mulder shrugged, "how 'bout you stop over my place, we'll get a pizza and 
work on it there?"

"That strictly violates the FBI regulations---"

"Turn around, Scully."

Her eyebrow arched slowly. "Why?"

"So I can kick your ass," Mulder explained with a grin. "You're giving me tailhook crap." She smiled. "So it's twenty-five after five. Normal people would have been half-way 
home by now. You go home and get changed while I go home, order the pizza."

"Want to pick out the outfit I'm gonna wear, too, Mulder?" Scully threw at him 
sarcastically.

"Well, unless you want to be in high heels for a good deal of the night..."

"No sardines, no extra cheese, no pepperoni, no peppers, no olives, no sausage and no 
well-done crust."

"Maybe *you* should make the pizza. What else is left?"

"Meatballs and onions."

"How big?"

"Medium."

"'Kay."

"Oh, and Mulder?" She looked back at him as he began to put on his suit jacket. "We 
might want to eat before we do the Crawford report."

"Why?" he asked, glancing her way.

"There's autopsy pictures."
____________

They walked to their cars together in a friendly silence, both lost in their own thoughts. 
When they got there, they stopped and turned to each other.

“ I’ll see you in about half an hour?” Scully asked, making sure it was all right. 

“ Fine by me,” he grinned. “ If you’re sure you can changed in half an hour.”

“ And what’s that supposed to mean?” She arched an eyebrow, challenging him to 
answer. Mulder, typically, rose to the bait.

“ Well, you know how long it takes you to get ready to go on a case and the amount 
of clothes you take... Must have a lot to chose from,” he shrugged and gave her a 
boyish grin. “ I can help you if you want.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, 
making her bite back a smile.

“ No, thank you,” she shook her head. “ I’m a big girl. I’ve been choosing what clothes 
to wear for a while now. I can even dress myself, too.”

Mulder grinned. “ See you soon, Scully.”

“ See you,” she started walking to her car, aware he was watching her and would 
watch her until she was inside. He’d started doing that recently. One of the many 
subtle things that had become part of their routine.

Shaking her head, she got in her car and turned the key in the ignition, watching in her 
review mirror as Mulder started walking to his car. She felt a sigh escape her lips and 
started the journey home.

As she drove home, she let her mind wander and think about what she usually ended 
up thinking about - a certain Fox Mulder. 

She felt butterflies in her stomach when she thought of spending most of the night at 
his apartment but she quickly chided herself for feeling nervous. It was stupid of her to 
feel nervous, especially when she was just going over to Mulder’s for pizza and to 
work on a report. It wasn’t like it was a date or something. It could be called a work 
date but then that still wasn’t the same as a date date.

The problem was, she didn’t know whether she was relieved that it wasn’t a proper 
date or disappointed. Part of her was glad. After all, they were business partners and 
they had to work together, no matter what happened between them and no matter 
what they felt. The other part of her...It was disappointed. Six years of being together, 
of being attracted to him and flirting with him day in and day out and they were still at 
the friends stage.

Mulder was her friend, he was her best friend. She knew that without a shadow of  
doubt. He would always be there for her, she would always be there for him. They’d 
become so close over the years they’d know each other, she was closer to Mulder than 
she had been to most of her friends throughout her life. Hell, she was closer to Mulder 
than she was to her own brothers, almost closer to him than she was to her own 
mother.

Scully sighed and pictured the night to come in her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time 
they’d worked on a report and ate pizza at one of their apartments. She almost knew 
exactly what would happen. She’d go over to his apartment, they’d make small talk or 
flirt until the pizza came and then they’d eat and maybe flirt a little more. Then they’d 
get to work and spend the majority of the evening working and arguing - and, of 
course, flirting some more - while they organized and completed the report for 
Skinner. 

Then she’d start to leave. They’d say goodbye, there’s be an awkward silence and 
they’d say goodbye again. Then she would leave and think about what could have 
happened and what almost did happen in the hallway outside his apartment.

Then she’d get home, accept the fact that nothing happened and tell herself tomorrow 
was a whole new day.

With another sigh, she realized she was almost at her apartment. She pulled up and got 
out, locking the car door as she went. As she walked up the stairs of her apartment 
building, a thought crossed her mind.

<What am I going to wear?>
___________

"Hey, you're on time."

"Of course."

Mulder opened the door wider as Scully walked inside his apartment. She felt his 
eyes on her body, and at that moment she felt nervous about her outfit choice. A 
form-fitting gray baby doll T-shirt and a pair of light blue Mudd jeans. Her hair was 
swept up on the sides into a small pony tail at the back of her head while the rest of 
her red hair brushed around her neck underneath.

But she passed Mulder's "inspection" -- with flying colours. "Nice, Scully."

"You too." Her eyes drifted to his hunter green pull over and dark blue jeans. Glancing 
down at his feet, she saw he was without his beloved sneakers he constantly wore. A 
clean pair of white socks replaced them tonight.

"Take your shoes off, Scully. You'll be more comfortable."

She flopped on his couch and removed her shoes, looking over at him as he sat 
beside her. "So when's the pizza coming?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"Real soon."

"How soon is real soon?"

Mulder laughed. "You hungry, Scully?"

"Yeah," she said with a shy smile. At that moment, a knock was heard on Mulder's door.

"They rushed over extra fast 'cause they knew you get violent without food," Mulder 
whispered before he answered the door. The pizza girl stood with the box in her arms, 
looking up at Mulder.

"Pizza for a---Fox Mulder?"

"Yep. How much?"

"Seven eighty-two."

Mulder pulled out his wallet and gave the girl eight dollars. "Keep the change," he said. 
The girl raised her eyebrows. 

"Gee," she said sarcastically, "with this twenty-eight cents, I can make a phone call to 
my boss and tell him I quit because I had made millions in tips."

Mulder gave the girl a toothless smile before she walked off, pocketing the money. 
He shut the door and headed into the kitchen with the pizza. Scully followed, like 
a child, at his heels. "Mmm, smells good," she said, watching Mulder open the box. 
Mulder spun around and eyed Scully as she tried to steal an onion from behind him.

"Hey, Scully?"

"What?" She kept trying to capture the onion, but she couldn't reach it with Mulder
in the way.

"Could you go turn on my computer and pull up the report I wrote on my C file, 
then print it out?"

She groaned. "Mulder! I'm hungry!"

"Please?"

"Sure. After I eat."

"No, no. Now."

*Why are you dong this to me, Mulder?* she mentally questioned. Turning 
on heel, she left the kitchen, scolding him as she turned on his computer. "I'm
 really really hungry, Mulder. So hungry I could eat anything. Even tuna, which I hate."

"Uh-huh." Mulder was paying attention to her comments, but he was more involved 
with the task at hand--gathering wine glasses and a bottle of wine he had picked 
up on the way home from work. It was her favourite kind, white grape. Balancing 
the pizza, a small tablecloth, the bottle and two wine glasses, Mulder silently set 
up an indoor picnic without her even knowing; she was still going on about having 
to wait to eat.

As his printer copied down the typed report on to ink, Scully saw the room get just a 
little darker than it was before. The lights had been dimmed. She spun around and 
Mulder was behind her. Taking the report from the printer tray, he laid it on his desk
and shut down the computer. "Great, let's eat," she said, heading for the kitchen. But 
she paused when she saw the picnic on the middle of the floor. It was so simple, yet 
so sweet and beautiful.

This was beyond their daily flirting.

She bit her lip and turned to him. He was standing a few feet away, looking at her. 
Scully could tell her was nervous by the way he kept biting his lip and looking back 
and fourth between her and the floor. She felt a twinge of amusement and affection tug 
at her heart at his expression. She smiled and looked back to the picnic.

“ It’s beautiful, Mulder,” she murmured. “ You shouldn’t have put yourself out.”

Mulder stood staring at her for a moment as his brain processed his words. He kicked 
himself mentally for standing there looking like a school boy with a crush. This was 
Scully. She probably thought he was stupid, standing there, unable to speak. 

They saw each almost all day at work. What was different? He couldn’t speak to her, 
his brain was surrounded by a thick mist and all he could do was stare. He shook his 
head as her words came back to him. He looked at her and found she was looking at 
him with a concerned expression on her pretty face.

“ Mulder? Are you okay?” She tilted her head to one side. “ You look a little.. 
preoccupied.”

“ I’m fine,” he answered quickly. “ And I didn’t put myself out.”

“ Are you sure?” Scully wasn’t convinced. It looked like he’d be planning it for a 
while.

“ Positive,” he nodded, walking towards her. Mulder touched the small of her back 
briefly as he led her over to the picnic. “ We should eat before it gets too cold.”

“ Good idea,” she smiled, sitting down on the floor. He sat on the opposite side of her 
and picked up the bottle of wine, obviously trying to hide his nervousness.

“ Drink?” He asked softly, gazing at her across the picnic. God, she looked beautiful. 
He unwillingly swallowed and poured her a glass of wine when she nodded. He poured 
himself a glass and took a sip before helping himself to a piece of pizza. “ You really 
do look beautiful, Scully.” To stop himself from saying more, he took a bite of pizza.

“ Thank you,” she blushed.” You look great, too.”

They sat for a few minutes in silence, eating pizza and trying not to stare at one
another. Finally, Mulder decided to speak. They had to make some conversation, the 
silence was killing him although it was a friendly silence. It gave him time to think and 
all he could think about was Scully.

“ Scully, I..” He started but found he couldn’t finish. Scully looked up and met his 
gaze, smiling shyly as he blushed. “ This.. If it makes you uncomfortable...”

“ It doesn’t,” she assured him. “ Does it make you..?”

“ No!” He was quick to cut her off. “ No, it doesn’t but it’s just that...”

“ It’s not something we’re used to,” she finished with a smile.

“ Yeah,” he agreed. There was another silence. “ So what did you think of the pizza? 
Better than usual or worse?”

“ It was nice,” she responded. “ Same as usual. What did you think?”

“ I liked it,” Mulder answered. Both he and Scully were aware they were making small 
talk, just because they were nervous. He watched her take another sip of her wine and 
decided he needed to have some space from her. He started clearing up the pizza box 
and stood. “ Excuse me.”

She watched him leave and sighed. After five minutes had passed, he still hadn’t come 
back so she stood and went to find him.

Mulder was standing against the kitchen counter, leaning against it with his eyes 
closed. She walked over to him and touched his shoulder gently, deciding to test 
something.

“ Mulder?” She murmured. He opened his eyes and was evidently surprised to see her 
standing there so close. “ It’s getting late, I should go.” She stood on her tiptoes and 
kissed him softly on the cheek. “ I had a nice time, though. Thanks.”

With that, she walked through to the living room and started putting her shoes on. 
Mulder stood in the kitchen for a split-second, savoring the feel of her lips against his 
cheek and the feel of her breath on his face. Then he absorbed what she’d said and 
walked through to the living room, trying to stop her. Scully leaving like this wasn’t 
part of his plan.

“ Dana,” he moved over to her and touched her arm. “ Don’t leave.”

Scully turned and looked up at him quizzically, asking him for a reason to stay.

Mulder was at a loss for words. Why the hell should she stay? He made a fool out of 
himself and she was just being her normal, "it's-okay-don't-worry-about-it-because-
I'm-gonna-be-polite" self. 

The report. The report! She had to stay to put together the report.

"The, um, report, Scully. We need to put together the report," Mulder replied. 
*Brilliant, Oxford man. Like that's your main concern here,* he yelled at himself 
mentally.

She paused in the middle of lacing her shoe and remembered they didn't even start 
what they were together for. "Oh," she said softly; so soft that Mulder almost didn't 
hear her. "Right." Discarding her one shoe she had put back on, she moved over to 
where she had put the autopsy photos, sifted through the bunch and selected two of 
the most relating to their report. Mulder had taken a seat on the sofa and was reading 
his report over, checking for errors. "Here," she said, sitting next to him, photographs
in hand, "I think these will be best."

"You have the fingerprint analysis?"

"Uh, should be here somewhere..." She got back up and hunted through her folder 
where the photographs were earlier. "Got it. Anything else?"

"Um, criminal history write-up?"

"Got it."

"Forgiveness?"

Scully turned around and looked Mulder in the eye, bewildered. "Did you just
say forgiveness?"

*Oh man, oh man, oh man...* "Uh, I, um, see..."

"Mulder." She crossed the room and sat next to him on the couch. "The picnic 
was sweet. I'm not mad at you."

"You aren't?"

"Now why would I be mad when I'm wined and dined?" She touched him---
for the second time that night. This time is was on his lower arm. He stared 
down at her small hand, wanting to cover it with his 
own, to touch the smooth skin on it, to hold it against his heart. 

"I just thought you hated me for it," he whispered.

"It just wasn't what I expected."

"Well, Scully, maybe you should expect the unexpected."

Her eyebrow arched. "Why is that?" she questioned, a smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, just because you never know when something wild will happen to you. 
Something you never could even fantasize."

"And just what do you know about my fantasies?"

"Admittedly, nothing. But every person has one same fantasy."

"And that is...?"

"To have a great life, and to find somebody to share it with."

"Isn't that two fantasies?"

"Sort of."

They sat in silence, one not sure where the other was going with this topic. 
He placed his hand on top of hers, watching as hers inched out ever so slowly.
"And just where do you think you're going?" he whispered to her hand. His 
captured it and he lifted it up parallel to her shoulder. She stared at him, but 
then broke into a gasp as his other hand began tickling her stomach.

"Mulder!!"

He grinned. She swatted him away with her free hand, and he let the other go. 
Retrieving one of his throw pillows off the floor, she grabbed two corners and 
swung it at his head, making a brisk, yet hard contact with it. 

"Oh now see, nobody gets away with wacking me with a pillow." Mulder stood
in front of the couch, a pillow in hand. She stood with him, feeling every physical
inch he had on her.

"And just what do you think you're gonna do about it?" she challenged.

"I'll show you what I'm gonna do about it."

Scully barely had time to react before he hit her squarely with the pillow. There was 
only one way to counteract a move like that - hit as often and as hard as you could.

And so began the great pillow fight. Mulder knew he had an advantage with his height 
and he used it but Scully was small and quick and surprisingly managed to dodge many 
of his blows.

It was too long before they were both feeling a little out of breath and were laughing 
too hard to aim correctly. That was when it happened.

Mulder aimed at Scully and only just managed to hit her as she dived and landed on the 
couch. Only Mulder hadn’t been prepared for her to move out of his way and he lost 
his balance, falling down and landing on the couch on top of her. They were both 
laughing until they realized what position they were it and the laughter abruptly 
stopped.

They lay looking at each other, both breathing hard from their pillow fight. Scully 
smiled shyly as Mulder’s expression turned gentle. He started to move but stopped 
when he saw her smile turn triumphant.

“ And what are you smiling at, Agent Scully?” 

“ I won,” she answered with a grin. “ Technically.”

“ How? I brought you down first!” He retorted.

“ Uh-uh. I dived, intentionally for the couch. You didn’t, you fell,” the grin widened. “ I  win.”

“ I don’t think so,” he shook his head, disagreeing.

“ Rematch?” She challenged.

“ I’ve got a better idea,” he grinned slyly and moved his hand to her stomach where 
he began tickling her again, using his other hand to hold her arms above her head.

“ No, Mulder. Stop!” She giggled. “ This is what started the fight in the first place.”

“ I’ll stop when you admit I won,” Mulder smiled innocently and continued his slow torture.

“ Never!” Scully refused, shaking her head and giggling at the same time.

Mulder grinned down at her. She was truly happy, he realized. When was the last time 
he’d seen her this happy? When had she last smiled like she was now? At the same 
time, he wondered when the last time he’d felt like this had been? And had he and 
Scully ever had this much fun together before? 

“ I’ll quit tickling you if you admit it was a draw,” he offered, still tickling her despite 
her attempts to get her hands free or at least move away.

“ Okay, okay,” she finally agreed. “ It was a draw. We both won.”

With that, Mulder stopped tickling her but they still didn’t move. Scully looked up into 
his eyes, trying to find out what he was thinking and, most importantly, feeling. She 
stopped him when he made a move to get up by putting a hand on his shoulder and 
giving him a questioning look.

“ Scully?” His brow furrowed as he looked deeply into her eyes. He knew what she 
was thinking, he knew she knew this was more than their usual flirting and he was 
filled with reluctance at the thought of getting up and letting her go home.

“ Should I go?” Her voice was soft. He looked at her in surprise at her choice of 
words. ‘Should I go?’ instead of ‘I should go.’ She was just as reluctant as he was for 
their evening to end.

He looked even deeper into her eyes. The safest thing to say was that it was getting 
late and that they should call it a night. But they both wanted to hear the opposite of 
that. But was Mulder willing to say it aloud and reveal his true feelings for her - and 
possibly confirm her suspicions? Did he feel ready, was he sure it wouldn’t be risking 
their friendship and partnership?

"I don't want you to," Mulder whispered to Scully as she lay beneath him. He scanned 
her face for a moment, then looked down at her shoulder. He couldn't make eye-to-eye 
contact with her anymore. He was scared what her reaction to his statement would be. 
"I mean," he continued, equally soft, "I've---I've never seen you this happy. I've never 
felt this happy myself. If you go...I know I'll go back to being lonely. I can't speak for 
you, so---"

"You don't think I'm lonely without you?" she asked. She raised her hand and tilted his 
face upward to look him in the eye.

"...You are?"

"Mulder, I don't know how many nights I've stared at the TV, just wishing for you to 
come over."

"You don't know how many times I've dialed half your number, then hung up because I 
got scared."

"Of me?"

"No, of rejection." His own hand dipped to her cheek and caressed it. She was doing 
the same to his.

"You thought I didn't care about you...like that?"

"Yeah, I guess. And I never wanted to ruin our friendship."

"Mulder..."

"I love you," he said quickly. "I always have."

"I love you too," she replied. Smiling, she added, "And I always have, too."

Mulder paused, hovering over her for a few moments as her confession sunk it. At 
first, he couldn’t believe he had heard it. After all, it was what he’d wanted to hear her 
say for years And she had finally said it as he had finally said it to him.

His face broke into a grin as he leaned in to give them another think they’d wanted for 
years. Scully raised her head and met him in the middle, just as she had done for the 
last six years as his partner. They kissed, with all the emotion and love that had been 
building up inside them finally coming to the surface.

The End.