Title: Before the Lions Take Their Share
Author: Alice J. Foster (a.k.a. shipperfey)

Summary: Like cosmic dust, their relationship is extremely 
volatile under certain atmospheric conditions.
Spoilers: XF2: I Want To Believe
Category/Classification: Vignette, MSR
Characters/Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Rating: PG-13

Written: 07/31/2008

A/N: Title comes from Snow Patrol's song "You're All I Have," 
from the Eyes Open album. All lyrics are from the same album. 

Thanks to: This story is dedicated to Aidy, who wrote movie 
smut and dedicated it to me, and also to Dasha, who's been 
recommending awe-inspiring post-movie fics that jarred my 
muse into action. 

Beta: Supershineygirl is a goddess. I did add a lot of things 
after she took a look at this, so any mistakes are my own fault.


1.
All this feels strange and untrue
And I won't waste a minute without you


As the 'fasten your seatbelt' signs turn on, she grips the edge of 
the armrest even tighter.

She's nervous, but it has little to do with the air pocket they've 
just hit, several thousand feet above Miami.

"Relax, Scully," he whispers against her ear.

She watches as his plastic cup drops to the ground, courtesy of 
the turbulence around them - the same cup he's been using to 
discard his sunflower seed shells. She bites her tongue as she 
fights the urge to comment on the mess - they aren't home, it's 
not her problem. They're supposed to be on vacation.

Vacation. Just what were they thinking? Normal couples went on 
vacation, to get away from their normal lives.

In fifteen years, they have never done anything the normal way.

Even after they'd settled into their new life, her new job, it still 
took months for her to stop looking over her shoulder every 
minute of every day. Their impromptu trip is bringing old fears 
back to the surface.

"You're thinking too much," Mulder points out, and she sighs 
because he is too damn perceptive for her liking - when he 
wants to be, that is.

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea," she explains. 

She's pretty sure he is still the more paranoid out of the two of 
them - she remembers the way his eyes meticulously scanned 
the crowd at the airport before they boarded the plane - but 
either he's gotten better at hiding it for her sake, or he's 
convinced that interrupting their spontaneous vacation ranks 
pretty low on their enemies' list of concerns.

"It's a vacation. What better way to celebrate the fact I'm not 
longer a wanted man?" he asks with a smile, and she melts just 
a little. He's right, she should relax - their running days are 
officially over, at least for the time being.

"I have it on good authority that you're still definitely wanted," 
she adds with a hint of mischief, feeling her nervousness 
become a distant memory.

"Is that right, Dr. Scully?" 

She nods as she meets him halfway for a kiss that's over far too 
quick. As they settle back into their seats, she rests her head on 
his shoulder, hoping to catch some sleep before they land. 

As she begins to doze off, she feels him taking her cold fingers 
in his warm hands, and she hates the fact that she seems to 
always be cold these days. She's not sure how, but sometime 
during her sleep, he manages to reach above their heads and 
shut off the air vents without disturbing her.


2.
Give me a chance to hold on
Just give me something to hold onto


He watches her from the bar as he waits for their drinks to be 
prepared. The sand still feels strange under his toes, even 
though they've been here for couple of days.

The setting sun really shows off her new pinkish tan - more of a 
sunburn-induced glow - and it takes his breath away.

A vacation was definitely a good idea.

He is still surprised at how much he is enjoying himself, on his 
first vacation that has nothing to do with aliens, Elvis or 
conspiracy theories. The whole thing was meant for Scully's 
benefit - it's not as if his current existence is tiresome or 
stressful. Before the FBI showed up, the highlight of his year 
had been finally fixing their house's plumbing problems. 

Boredom is a dangerous state of mind.

"First vacation together?"

Mulder blinks as he redirects his attention, from Scully's current 
swimwear attire, to a less pleasant, middle-aged man sitting on 
one of the palm-tree stumps that passed for barstools. "I'm 
sorry?"

"You haven't taken your eyes off your companion. Kind of 
screams honeymoon," the man replies as he peels the label off 
his beer bottle. "I'm recently divorced myself. Brought my ex-
wife down here on one of our anniversaries... bitch complained 
the whole time:  'the sun's too hot, the water's too cold, the 
food is too expensive.' Told myself I'd come back on my own 
someday and have a good time."

It's not the first time they've been confused for a married 
couple, although they've never been accused of being on their 
honeymoon before. He doesn't correct the man's assumption, 
seeing as the inebriated man seems quite content in carrying on 
the conversation without outside input. 

Most of these days Mulder just lets people believe they're 
husband and wife - correcting them tends to lead to questions 
he has no answers for. He feels far too old to be a boyfriend, 
and he's pretty sure Scully feels similarly. The word partner 
brings too many connotations from their past and it feels weird 
to use it to describe their current relationship. Significant other 
puts them anywhere between 'good friends' and 'unofficially 
living together;' they've been past that for several years now. 

The drunk man is still telling tales of his failed marriage when 
the female bartender shows up with their order. Mulder mutters 
a quick goodbye to the man before making his way back to his 
indefinable companion.


3.
There is a darkness deep in you
A frightening magic I cling to


Their bungalow isn't about to win any awards from the 
hospitality industry, but she has fallen in love with its porch - 
the mesh privacy screen keeps bugs out, without obscuring their 
view from the inside.

Darkness surrounds them, the literal kind for once, and she feels 
completely relaxed on top of him. She'd been skeptical about the 
lounge chair's ability to handle their combined weight, but 
Mulder, ever the believer, assured her it was sturdy enough to 
allow for the two of them to relax. He'd been right.

Her chin is digging into his breastbone, but he doesn't complain 
and she doesn't move. If she gets her robe or a blanket, she's 
pretty sure she can fall asleep like this. It kind of annoys her 
that it's eighty-seven degrees around them and she still feels a 
distinct chill, but his hand is traveling up and down her spine in a 
hypnotic fashion, and it's enough to make her forget about the 
cold.

He smells like saltwater, and she thinks she could definitely get 
used to it. 

"Do you want to get married?" he asks, and she freezes in his 
arms.

"Married?" she repeats, raising her head to look him in the eyes. 

He nods. 

"Do you want to get married, Mulder?"

He shrugs. "We never really considered it before, but since my 
status as a lawful citizen has been reinstated, I figured maybe 
it's something we could think about..."

"We'll think about it," she whispers as she lets her lips run over 
the stubble coating his jaw.

Think about it she does. 

It's about seven years too late for a shotgun wedding, but she 
doesn't point that out - some wounds were re-opened during 
their short recent stint with the FBI, and they have to let them 
heal again.

Marriage at this point wouldn't change much, if anything, 
between them - she's not sure if there was a time when it would 
have. She's pretty sure he's only suggesting it because he thinks 
it's yet another thing he feels he took away from her when they 
had to run.

Like cosmic dust, their relationship is extremely volatile under 
certain atmospheric conditions. And recent events have 
reminded her just how volatile it can be. Just a few weeks ago, 
she had been ready to walk away from him, from their life 
together - this is probably not the right time, or mindset, to take 
vows. 

Love or commitment to one another has never been the issue - 
but even though she would trade her life to save Mulder's in a 
heartbeat, and she knows he would do the same, there are still 
times when their own demons come between them. 

She has experience in saving Mulder from himself, but she's 
learned over the years she can't do that if she doesn't save 
herself first. She needs to be willing to walk away sometimes, 
when it really matters - time apart to put herself back together, 
before they're both broken beyond repair.

There's no doubt of her willingness to spend the rest of her life 
with him, but attesting to that commitment at the moment, 
before God and the state, is a different matter. This is not the 
kind of decision she can make overnight.


4.
A magic trick makes the world disappear
The skies are dark, they're dark but they're clear


On their last day at the cozy bungalow, he wakes up before 
dawn, surprised to find the spot on the bed next to him empty. 
Sometimes he thinks she's trying to prove she can be as good an 
insomniac as he can.

There's little chance he'll be able to fall back asleep, so he gets 
out of bed and throws on a pair of boxers and yesterday's t-
shirt. He doesn't have to walk far to find her, standing at the 
water's edge as the tide looks like it's starting to come in.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asks as he stands behind her and places his 
hands over her shoulders.

"Just wanted to watch the sun rise," she replies, turning to 
nuzzle the top of one of his hands with her cheek.

Her strawberry blonde hair brushes against his skin, and he 
marvels at the softness of the strands. Back when they had first 
started running, her hair had been dyed a few times; she'd 
recently complained about being unable to get it back to the old 
shade. Aesthetic upkeep had been low on their list of priorities at 
the time - it still ranks pretty low on his - and he hadn't stopped 
to give it much consideration. Now that he thinks about it, he's 
grown fond the new color and length.

"You know, Mulder," she says as she stares at the horizon, "I 
think I wouldn't mind living here."

"I'm sure you wouldn't," he assures her, even though he doesn't 
think she really means it. One of the many things he's learned 
about her is that she can make any place a home, with very little 
effort. 

He loves their old house, with its bad heating and faulty wiring 
that turns the garbage disposal on every time they do laundry - 
but he can understand the attraction to this place. The whole 
point of paradisiacal vacation spots is to lure people and make 
them fall in love with the location after a few days. Once the 
novelty wears off, and hurricane season starts, the perception of 
the situation tends to change quite drastically. 

He doesn't bring these points up, because if she is serious about 
moving here, he won't have the heart to stop her.

At least here, if Invasion-Day came, they could take a rowboat 
to a nearby deserted island, let the rest of the world figure the 
whole mess out on its own. The two of them would spend the 
rest of their days arguing over what was the best way to build a 
cabin out of banana tree leaves. 

He doesn't really care where the hell they end up, as long as 
he's with her.


the end