TITLE: What Now?
AUTHOR: Marlen
EMAIL: crmv@aol.com
RATED: PG
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance
CATEGORY: Vignette, Post-ep for Vienen
SPOILER: Vienen and possible small one for a future episode.
DISTRIBUTION: Be my guest, just please drop me a line so I 
can visit.  
DISCLAIMER: Sadly, they are not mine.  All characters of 
the X-Files belong to CC, 1013, and FOX.  Otherwise, M&S 
would have talked a hell of a lot more than they did on 
Three Words. 
SUMMARY:  Scully wonders what Mulder will do now?
THANKS: To Lenore and Georgia for beta.
WEBSITE: http://marlensxfiles.homestead.com


What Now?
By Marlen

~~~


Scully is worried.

She tries to sit down and stay put, but it doesn't take long 
before she's up pacing the floor again.  She hasn't heard from 
Mulder since the meeting in front of Kersh took place four hours 
ago.

The meeting from hell.

Mulder did what she was afraid he would do and took the fall for 
what happened on that oil rig.  As predicted, Kersh was more 
than happy to let him.  

Now Mulder is gone, out of the X-Files.

What will he do now and where does that leave her? 

Where will it leave them?

She goes over to her kitchen counter and starts cleaning.  Even 
though it's so clean you could eat off of it, she needs 
something to occupy her time.  

She glances at her watch as she scrubs.  *Where could he be?*  

She's already left half a dozen messages, but she doesn't want 
to scare him away, so she resists the urge to call him.  She 
can't stand the waiting any longer and picks up the phone and 
starts to dial, but stops when there is a familiar knock at the 
door.

She walks over and takes a quick peek before opening the door.  
One can never be too careful, especially in her condition. 

She opens the door to find Mulder clad in jeans and a gray T-
shirt.  But it's the smell coming out of the bag he's holding 
which attracts her attention.  "Mulder?  I was just calling 
you."

Grinning like a fool, he comments, "Well, you're not going to 
find me." 

*Smartass.*

"Where were you?" 

He lifts the takeout bags.  "I came bearing gifts, my lady.  
Now, are you going to let me in or are you not hungry?"  

As if on cue, her stomach grumbles.  "Well, somebody is."  She 
gestures him to come in. 

"What did you get?"  She reaches for the bag, but Mulder yanks 
it away.

"Chinese.  I thought you weren't hungry?"

"I said somebody was hungry, you just assumed it was the baby."

Mulder greets her with a slight grin and nods his head.  "Uh, 
huh."

"Mulder, you seem in good spirits.  Are you okay?"  She doesn't 
remember ever seeing him so happy before.  

"Oh, I'm better than okay, Scully.  Do you want to eat at the 
table or in the living room?  Because I know the couch is better 
for your back."

"Um, the living room will be fine."  She watches him set up 
plates and the takeout boxes on her coffee table.  She's really 
not used to this side of Mulder, but she definitely could get 
used to it.

She sits down and Mulder dishes up a plate for her.  "Thank 
you."

"Mulder, can ask you a question?"

Mulder's mouth is full of noodles.  He slurps up the rest and 
wipes his mouth with a napkin, before answering. "Ask away, 
Scully."

"I kind of thought...well, that you wouldn't be so..."

"So what?"

"...chipper about leaving the FBI.  Mulder, the X-Files is your 
life.  I don't know.  I thought you would fight harder for it."

Mulder puts his plate down, scoots closer to her and grabs her 
hand.  "Scully, staying there and not working on the X-Files 
wasn't really doing me any good."  Scully starts to say 
something, but he puts his forefinger upon her lips, stopping 
her.  

"We both know that Kersh would make it impossible for me to work 
on any case of importance without covering it up.  At least with 
Doggett, there's a chance."

"Mulder, Doggett doesn't have the kind of passion for truth that 
you do."

"You have way too much faith in me, Scully.  Besides, I got a 
sense that he has a certain hatred for Kersh and that in itself 
shows promise."  

"So, what now?"

"What now?  We eat.  We a have drink."  He picks up the glass of 
milk from the table and hands it to her.  "And you're going to 
tell me how this Lamaze thing works."

That gets him a raised eyebrow, she never mentioned Lamaze to 
him before.  

"What makes you think you think you are going to be my Lamaze 
partner?"

"Well, if you can't do it with your partner, who are you going 
to do it with?"

She looks down and places her hand on top of her huge tummy.  
"Since that is how I got into this, I see no use in changing my 
pattern."

~end~


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