untitled
'I'M
GONNA KICK THEIR...'
By: Vickie
Moseley
She
hadn't said a word to him about it on Friday, so Mulder was
understandably confused when he received the message on his
answering machine Saturday at noon.
"Mulder, come to my place, eight o'clock tonight. Bring a
red wine and I'll let you pick the movie."
He smiled, wiping the still cooling sweat from his late morning
run off his body. His mind flickered back to the mysterious phone
message he had left on his partner's answering machine just three
weeks before and he decided he'd better hit the showers. There
was no telling what he was in store for when night came.
It was precisely eight o'clock on the dot when he pulled up in
front of Scully's apartment building. He grabbed the bottle of
merlot and winced as he remembered the few coins he'd received in
exchange for the newly minted twenty dollar bill he'd given the
cashier at the liquor store. His little 'excursion' to the
batting cages with Scully had only cost him a ten spot. Scully's
had already set him back twice that amount. But he had a feeling,
whatever she was up to, the little extra expense would be worth
it.
He approached her door and detected the faint smell of fresh
paint. Glancing around the hallway, he was careful not to touch
the walls or the door casing. He knocked light on Scully's door
and in a moment, she opened it.
The smile on her face was worth a hundred dollar bottle of wine,
he chided himself. He was returning that smile when the full
extent of the paint smell hit him square in the nose.
"Been redecorating, Scully?" he asked innocently, as
she divested him of the bottle of wine and ushered him into the
living room. The living room which now sported walls of a light
green color, where before they had been cream. The carpet, which
never looked dirty, almost shone with a brilliance. He noticed
that the candles she'd set on the table by the window flickered
back like diamonds on the freshly polished glass surfaces.
"You been replaced by one of the rabid cleaning women,"
he blurted out and was relieved when Scully chuckled in reply.
"Not quite, Mulder. But it's nice that you noticed. I didn't
think you ever took the time to notice whether a room was clean
or dirty. At least, your desk would never give a clue that you
do," she said with a playful grin.
"Now, Scully. Be nice. I brought 'good' wine," he
reminded her and she gave him a nod in apology.
"Have a seat. I'll get some glasses. Dinner isn't quite
ready, but I expect it will be out of the oven in a few minutes.
Why don't you pick out some dinner music?" she directed and
went off to the kitchen to retrieve the glasses.
Mulder flipped through her selection and found something
classical, then started up the stereo. When he turned around he
found her placing a beautiful silver serving tray on the coffee
table, complete with wine glasses, wine bottle in a matching
silver ice bucket, and a silver vase with a single red rose.
"Uh, Scully. You hit the Power Ball and not tell me?"
he asked nervously as he proceeded to sit gingerly on the sofa.
She chuckled again, pouring wine into a wine glass that sparkled
in the low lighting. "Oh, this old stuff? I inherited from
my grandmother. I hardly ever use it because it's such a pain to
polish. But I thought it would be nice to take it out, give it a
spin tonight."
He sipped his wine and relaxed again. Smells were coming out of
the kitchen that were causing his mouth to water and his stomach
to growl. "So, what are we having for dinner?"
She smiled and sipped her own wine. "I haven't the foggiest.
But it smells heavenly, doesn't it?"
Now, Mulder was really confused. "Scully, if you cooked it,
how could you not know what it is?" he demanded, but before
she could answer they were interrupted by a throat being loudly
cleared from the kitchen doorway.
"Dinner . . . is served. Madam."
Mulder's mouth dropped several inches when he realized the man in
the black tux with white tie and tails was actually Langly.
Langly, who considered tieing his shoes to be formal attire, was
dressed to the nines and looking for all the world the part of a
high class maitre 'd.
"Shall we?" Scully asked, holding out her hand to
Mulder. Recovering from his shock, he quickly took her hand and
helped her to her feet. Together they moved into the kitchen.
The table was set with china Mulder had never seen before. Silver
that he could use as mirrors were at each of two place settings.
The tablecloth, immaculately white, was starched and ironed, as
were the napkins, which were folded in what he vaguely remembered
as the swan design.
"Would the gentleman care for lemon in his water?"
Mulder's neck almost spasmed as he jerked it up to find Byers
standing in a white waiter's uniform, a plate of sliced lemon and
a set of serving tongs in his hands.
"Um, yeah, sure," Mulder said with growing concern and
glanced over at Scully. She was enjoying his reaction almost as
much as she was enjoying all the pampering. Byers deposited lemon
slices in both water glasses, then adjourned back to the counter
in the far corner of the kitchen.
Mulder was about to ask his partner what the hell was going on
when the final member of the terrible trio entered from the
hallway, carrying two covered dishes. He deposited one in front
of Mulder, the other in front of Scully, and then whipped the
covers off to display something that Mulder thought had to be
chicken with an orange colored glaze. Fresh steamed green beans
and a wonderful smelling rice pilaf graced the plate, which was
garnished with parsley and julienned raw celery and carrots.
Mulder blinked up at his old friend Frohike, with a questioning
look.
"Duck l'orange. Specialty of the house," the little
gnome smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Thank you, Melvin. You, Ringo and John can retire to the
other room. We'll ring when we're ready for dessert," Scully
addressed the two men, who quickly scurried off to the living
room.
Mulder studied his partner in the glow of the candle light. She
seemed the same. Her hair was the same, her make up perfect, as
always. He recognized the sweater, knew the slacks she was
wearing. Her cross was in place. But something entirely strange
was going on.
She was already working on her duck when she looked up and
noticed he was staring. She put down her fork and stared back.
"Come on, Mulder. If you don't clean your plate, you don't
get dessert. Besides, your duck is getting cold," she
scolded.
That was enough to convince him that if she _was_ an alien clone,
she was doing a damned good imitation of his partner. He shrugged
to himself and proceeding to dig into the food on his plate.
It was fantastic. Mulder had once before had duck l'orange, but
he'd been a teenager and hadn't developed the taste to appreciate
it. The green beans were done to perfection and he almost asked
for seconds on the rice pilaf. He couldn't remember getting a
meal that good in any of the best restaurants in Boston or
London.
"That was great, Scully. Absolutely wonderful. Thank
you," he said, wiping his mouth in appreciation.
"It's not over, yet, Mulder," she smiled over the
candles at him. She wiped her own mouth delicately, then placed
her napkin daintily on the table. She reached over and picked up
a small silver dinner bell and rang it twice.
Langly appeared immediately in the doorway.
"We're ready for dessert," Scully said cheerfully and
Langly clapped his hands twice. Mulder heard footsteps in the
hall and then turned to see Byers clear the dinner plates away.
He stepped back to the counter and all eyes were on the doorway.
There, with the darkened hallway as backdrop, Frohike appeared
carrying a perfectly domed mound of white topped with a blue
flame.
"Flaming Baked Alaska, just as Madam ordered," he said
dramatically, as he placed the dish on the sideboard and doused
the flame in a syrupy liquor. He sliced into the mound with a
serving knife and placed a good sized piece on each of two
dessert plates. Byers then carried the plates to the table and
placed them in front of Mulder and Scully.
"Baked Alaska. Cute," Mulder said with a grin.
"It was just too good to pass up," Scully admitted and
returned the grin in kind.
They finished the meal in silence.
When the dessert plates were cleared, Scully waited for Langly to
hold her chair. Then she lead Mulder out to the living room.
"You brought the wine, Mulder. The movie choice is yours.
Just try to keep it a little less gory than your usual
fare," she teased good naturedly.
He shook his head, grabbed the first title he saw in her video
library and settled back on the sofa to watch the opening credits
to 'Witness' with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGinnis. He knew it
was one of his partner's favorite movies. Almost immediately, he
felt her snuggled close to him, and he put his arm around her,
but not before glancing around to see if the three Lone gunmen
were watching.
"They're busy," Scully said, in answer to his unasked
question and never taking her eyes off the television. "Want
some popcorn?"
"No, I'm stuffed," Mulder said with a groan. "And
'they're busy'? Doing what?"
"Oh, stuff. The dishes, for one. Putting the silver back.
Polishing my shoes, dusting the top shelf of my closet,
regrouting the bathroom . . ."
"Regrouting the bathroom?" Mulder asked in confusion.
"Scully, what the hell has gotten into them? Or you, for
that matter?"
Scully's smile was almost imperceptible, but Mulder could feel
her amusement coming off her in waves. "Let's just say this
will be the _last_ time I get tricked into running off to
Vegas," she said discreetly.
From the hallway, a quiet chorus returned, "You got that
straight!"
THE END
"When
you start, you make certain choices, and those choices accumulate
and create a number of [other] choices. The story starts to tell
itself, and that's been very exciting in a way. There's so much
that has come and been told that you are, in a way, a slave to
the facts you've created, and it's a really fun way to tell
stories. That's not to say it's simplified. In fact, it becomes
complicated, but it all starts to make sense, and that's been a
really wonderful thing."
..................................................~Quote from Chris Carter on
development of The X Files
Visit 'Vickie's MulderFest'!
Disclaimer:
Mulder, Scully, Langly, Byers, Frohike all owned by 10-13. Wish I
did own them. Wish I'd written this ep. It was wonderful!
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