"Last Dance At The Black Lake Diner" (1/1) CATEGORY: UST/mood piece RATED: PG for language SPOILERS: Nope SUMMARY: A late night on the road, a diner, some coffee, an invitation... DISCLAIMER: OK, repeat after me...they're not mine, never were or will be. Mulder, Scully and everyone/thing else connected with the X Files belongs to 10-13, 20th Century Fox, and of course The Boss, Chris Carter and all his partners in crime. Hey, I'd let them have a lot more fun. No copyright infringement or insult intended. No money will be made out of this and I have none so suing me would do no one but the lawyers any good. AUTHOR'S NOTES: This one came outta nowhere late at night and wouldn't let me go to bed until it was out of my head and onto the hard drive. Never happened to me before but it was kinda cool . I don't know the name of the song featured here (if anyone knows please mail me, I'd love to know), I just know I've heard it around somewhere and thought it was really sexy ;). I'd really appreciate feedback at the above addy: its the gift that keeps on giving. Muchos gracias as always to jerry and Kristy, my kick-ass beta team, for editing services rendered. I wouldn't make it this far without you, guys. -------------------------------------------- "Last Dance at the Black Lake Diner" (1/1) "May I have the pleasure of this dance, ma'am?" Scully looked up from her rapidly cooling cup of coffee into the unfathomable eyes of the man across the table. "Mulder, it's the middle of the night, we have two more hours driving ahead before we get to the airport, we're sitting in an empty diner in the middle of nowhere..." "We're in Black Lake, actually, Scully. Didn't you read the sign on the way into town?" He held up a matchbook and tapped it with one long finger. "See, Scully? The Black Lake Diner. For a federal investigator, you're not real quick on the uptake." She sighed, refusing to rise to the bait, trying to visualise the tension in her body flowing out of her with her escaping breath. "Maybe that's what I get for trailing out to the middle of farming country, five hours from anything approaching civilisation, doing three autopsies in a row in a pathetic,ill-equipped excuse for a proper morgue, not sleeping or even getting a proper meal for over 24 hours and then finding that there is no case here, never was, and I could have spent the weekend at home with a movie and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Plus I now have to come up with a report that doesn't make this whole jaunt look *too* ridiculous when we see Skinner on Monday morning. " She let her head drop forward and kneaded ineffectually at the painfully tight, knotted muscles at the back of her neck, hating herself for the shrewish edge she had heard creeping into her voice, praying that he had not heard it that way. "I, uh...I thought you slept in the car..." "Mulder, you always think that when I want you to. I never sleep in cars." "Oh. O-kaaay...so you're rejecting my exquisitely polite offer?" He gave her the damn puppy-dog eyes and the slight pout. Like that look's not getting old, Mulder, she thought sourly, unwilling to admit that it still made her breath catch in her throat to see it. Instead of answering him, Scully simply sighed again, utilising the "Mulder give it up already" example from her impressive range of sighs, and turned back to staring at her field notes, willing the words to enter her brain and maybe even make some sense. Silence, for a blessed minute... "Would it really kill you, Scully? I'm not gonna tread on your toes." She raised her head and opened her mouth to answer, and then she caught sight of the look on his face. Damn. It appeared that Perky Mulder had gone off somewhere in search of other women to charm, and left her sitting here in the neon quiet of the diner with Mercurial Mulder. His hair was tousled where he had been pulling his hands through it... Dammit. She looked down, unable to stand the sensation of his gaze burning into her skin, branding her. She met his eyes and saw that they were dark and hooded, his jaw set. So, she wondered, what did I do this time? "Mulder, I just...there's a time and a place for everything, okay? Not now. Anyway, I don't dance to country music: it's in my employment contract somewhere," she informed him, waving a hand at the gleaming jukebox squatting in a corner, trying to keep her tone light. This was fascinating really, from a purely objective, scientific standpoint. For a split second Mercurial Mulder disappeared and High School Mulder was staring down at the tabletop, dateless for the prom and trying his damndest to pretend that he didn't care, sure, fine, whatever. Then that flicker of the young, vulnerable boy-man was subsumed and Mercurial Mulder was back. She had to admit, of the many Mulders she was privileged to know, this one was pretty high up there on the raw sexual magnetism stakes. It was like being in a room with a tied up dog, one of those big, wolf-like ones, not having any idea whether it was about to bite you or just lick you to death and oh Jesus, suddenly that leash doesn't look real strong... This was the Mulder trying his best to bore a hole into her skull with his eyes. He was...unreadable, emotion flitting across his face too fast to read, showing in the minute muscular tics and lines only she was alert enough to see at all. Okay, in the privacy of her own thoughts she'd admit it -- seeing him like this always pumped a little splash of adrenaline into her system. It was the anticipation of trying to guess what he'd do, say, think next. Alright, she thought, I'll bite, Mulder: what's eating you tonight? "Scully, forget it, okay, I'm sorry I asked, it was stupid. You wanna get going or what? I'm done." "Yeah, sure, whatever, Mulder. I guess I'm about done here." She drained her cup, grimacing as she swallowed the last lukewarm mouthful. She set it back down on the formica and slid out of the booth. "Listen, I'll get it this time. You want me to get you another iced tea to go or something?" He shook his head, a tiny motion speaking of immense weariness, and started fiddling with a sugar packet, his fingers working at it restlessly. She made her way to the counter and leaned her weight on it while she waited for the bored teen behind the counter to settle their bill. Some impulse made her turn and look at Mulder. He had shredded the sugar packet and abandoned it, and now, as she watched, he picked up her empty cup and cradled it in his hands, turning it this way and that, staring at it the mark of her lipstick on the rim as though it might yield the secrets of the universe, before leaning his forehead against his joined hands and letting his eyes slide shut. Scully had a sudden and strong sense of having missed something during their little exchange at the table, something nameless, indefinable and incredibly important. She felt very tired now, not just the tiredness of a body running on empty, but a deep weariness of the soul, washing over her. She had an urge to sink down onto the floor and shut her eyes for a long, long time. Dammit, Mulder, she thought, we're getting too old for all this. She wondered exactly what 'all this' was, as the kid behind the counter returned with her change. She realised that Mulder had already slipped out of his seat and gone out to the car. Walking down the diner steps, she stopped for a second to fill her lungs with the fresh, cooling air coming off the lake. There was a crescent moon, she saw, lying drowned in the lake, thin and silver like a sickle. Her eyes wandered to their car and she saw Mulder, slouched in the driver's seat, head resting on the wheel, a hunched shape of darkness. She wondered briefly which Mulder she was about to join in the car, and then with a surge of almost primal possessiveness that took her aback thought, doesn't matter, they're all mine, all my Mulder. "Mulder. Mulder, get out of the car." His eyes opened at that, and he sat up and shook his head no at her through the glass. She opened his door and stood looking down at him. "Scully, you're not driving. You're way too tired, don't tell me you're fine..." "Mulder," she interrupted him, holding out one small hand, white in the moonlight, "get out of the damn car." He shrugged and aquiesced, unfolding his long body out of the seat and then leaning back against the car, towering over her as always, even in her three inch heels. He was silhouetted against the light pouring from the diner, his face shadowed except where the pale light reflecting off the lake caught his features. Those eyes, glittering in the darkness. "Well, Scully, I'm out of the car. What are you gonna do with me now you've got me here?" A small shiver ran through her as those words sunk in. She took a deep breath and met his stare. "Dance with me, Mulder. Please." "Here?" "Here." "Who's asking?" The slightest trace of a smile on his lips. "What?" "You heard me. Who's asking? Dana, Special Agent Scully, Dana Katherine Scully, M.D....who's asking?" She wondered if he could see her shock at how closley his thoughts paralleled hers of just a few minutes ago. She tried to read some clue from his face, but at that particular moment Mulder was wearing his "I could play pro poker tournaments in Vegas", special FBI issue blank face. She locked gazes with him again, licked her dry lips and replied, "Me. Scully. I'm asking." "Then I'm dancin'," he said, giving her one of those big, toothy, one hundred watt grins and taking her hand. Before she had time to wonder just how silly this whole idea of hers was, he had pulled her into his arms, one hand draped low around her waist, the other clasping hers gently, holding it over his heart. He was warm and solid and Mulder, and their bodies seemed to fit instinctively together. They swayed slowly together for a minute, without music, without speech, and then she felt Mulder's warm breath, dangerously close to her ear, stirring the wisps of hair against her neck. His voice was low, honeyed gravel, and she realised with a thrill that he was singing, just loud enough for her to hear. "You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you," he crooned, low, slow, sensual, "you'd be like heaven to touch, I want to hold you so much, at long last love has arrived..." They moved fluidly together to the song, and she rested her head against his chest, listening to the steady cadence of his heartbeat, letting out a sigh that was entirely new to her repertoire, ever after to be catalogued in her mind as the 'dancing with Mulder' sigh. When he ran out of words he swiched to a soft humming that vibrated deep in his chest, passing into her body where it pressed against his, so that his song passed directly into her, through her skin and flesh and bone. It was a time outside time, outside rules, outside pretence. She wondered if this was what he had been asking her for in the diner, and then she stopped wondering and gave herself over to feeling, absorbing, sensing. Eventually, reluctantly, she drew back a little, keeping her hand loosely in his for a moment longer before releasing it. "We should...uh, we should probably get going, Mulder." "Yeah," he muttered, drinking in her face with his eyes, "get going. Good idea." He made no move to get back into the car though, just stood and stared, so she gently brushed past him and slipped into the driver's seat. *That* got a reaction, as he protested that he was fine, he could drive for another hour or so, honestly Scully, get out of the car... "Mulder," in the voice she had learnt from listening to her mother shepherd four unruly redheads through childhood, "I'm driving. It's fine, really fine. Get in." Knowing when to admit defeat, he shrugged and went around the other side of the car. As she started up the engine, he laid a hand over hers on the wheel. "Scully?" "Yeah Mulder?" "Thank you. For asking me." "Thank you for saying yes," she whispered, gripping his hand for a long second, unwilling to relinquish its wamth. He nodded, and then, apparently satisfied, leant back against the head rest and watched her as she drove, simply bathing her in the warmth of his gaze as they headed towards the sunrise and the next in a long procession of airports, check-in desks and planes. Just watching...and to her surprise, Scully discovered that she was content to be watched. For that time, in that place...it was enough. It was enough. FINIS