TITLE: Quite Surprised AUTHOR: 19 E-MAIL: xff19@yahoo.com DISTRIBUTION: Archive freely, just let me know where. RATING: G CATEGORY: V KEYWORDS: MSR SPOILERS: none SUMMARY: A meeting in a bar. Disclaimer: X-Files characters belong to FOX Corporation and 1013. If I could make money at this, it would be ridiculous. Author's Notes: This vignette popped into my head while working on something longer. Let me know if you like it! Quite Surprised The bar was littered with FBI agents in various states of inebriation by the time I arrived at Agent something-or-another's retirement bash. I don't even know how I got sucked into attending - socializing with other agents really wasn't my thing but my partner had insisted, saying I had to play the schmoozing game once in a while. I had finally agreed just to end the argument but as I looked around the bar, I realized that I was not nearly intoxicated enough to be associating with the majority of the agents there - most of whom were subjecting unsuspecting members of the general public to their antiquated dance moves. Desperately, I craned my head in search of any familiar faces that looked sober enough to engage in a conversation. I spotted a splash of red hair across the room from me, at the bar, and managed to discern that it was indeed the enigmatic Agent Scully and that she was both sitting upright and alone. Considering she seemed to be the only other sober agent in the joint, I shoved my way through the rabble of gyrating agents, ending up standing next to her at the bar. She eyed me warily as I injected myself into her personal space with more confidence than I felt - she had a certain reputation around the bureau and I definitely didn't want to go home without important parts of my anatomy. When she didn't blow me off right away, I gathered together what shreds of confidence I had and went for it. "What's a nice government employee like you doing in a place like this Agent Scully?" I asked, a bit brashly. Again, she gave me a certain look that made me want to tuck my tail between my legs and make a break for it but after a brief moment she deigned to answer my question. "I'm waiting for my partner," she said, not taking the bait. "Oh. So you bat for the other team do you?" What the hell was I thinking? Verbal diarrhea was not generally considered becoming, even when spewed in jest. She didn't miss a beat, just raised one eyebrow impossibly high and replied, "my work partner." "Oh, him. I hear he's a spooky guy. Like he believes in little green men and UFOs and stuff like that." This time she had a bemused look on her face as she answered, "Grey men. They're grey, not green." Score one for the home team! Bemused was clearly better than massively insulted. "Oh yeah, so do you believe in aliens, Agent Scully?" I asked, forging ahead with renewed confidence. She still looked dangerous but seemed to actually be interested in conversing with me. Which was no small feat in itself. "I'd have to say that I've seen things that I cannot, as a scientist, fully explain," she said after some careful consideration. "Oh," I replied. Wow, I must have been really impressing her with my loquaciousness. Desperately, I tried to think of something dashing to say. When that didn't happen, I went for another round of embarrassing verbal spewage. "You know, I've heard some rumours about you and that partner of yours," I said, waggling my eyebrows in what I hoped was an impressive manner. She gave me a suspicious look accompanied by a very minute smile. It was pretty damn hot. I was quaking in my proverbial boots. "Oh. What kind of rumours?" she finally asked, no doubt just humouring me until she managed to remove herself from my attention. "That you're very close," I said, leaning in towards her and emphasizing the 'close' part. She didn't say anything for a while but seemed to be thoroughly examining my statement. Finally, she replied. "I suppose you could say that," she said. I released the stale lungful of CO2 that I had been holding and went for broke. "What would he think if he walked in here and saw us making out at the bar?" I asked with a sly grin. She looked up at me with an unreadable expression. I was way closer to her than I should have been, pushing into her personal space as I leaned into her. I held my breath, awaiting for either a punch to the jaw or a kick in the nuts. Thankfully, Agent Scully is not a particularly violent person. "I'd say he'd be quite surprised," she finally answered, her expression changing from completely unreadable to mostly unreadable with a tinge of amusement. I was still waiting for some sort of physical violence on her part and my brain seemed to have left the building without waiting for the rest of my body. I knew I was expected to respond but couldn't manage to either close my mouth or use it to utter any intelligible sounds. Luckily, she wasn't afflicted with my sudden case of muteness. "Why - are you thinking of testing this theory?" she asked coyly. She had successfully turned me into a sweaty, nervous wreck. It dawned on me that I was supposed to be making some witty rejoinder instead of staring at her agog but my synapses just weren't firing in any useful fashion. She, on the other hand looked cool and composed as ever as she reached up, grabbed my tie and pulled me down towards her. The kiss was short but oh so very sweet. Not exactly passionate but definitely not completely chaste. It was possibly the best moment of my life so far. If I could pause and rewind life, I would seriously consider spending the rest of my life reliving that moment. I must have been gaping at her because she took one look at my face and laughed out loud. That was a rarity upon itself and it was worth being laughed at to see her face decked out in a smile. "Looks like I was right, Mulder," she said, taking my hand and squeezing it tight. I finally managed to stop goggling at her and smiled back. "Yeah, Scully. I'd say you were right," I replied. "Care to test your theory again anytime soon?"