Title: Brand New Car Author: allimarie Rating: PG-13 (language) Category: V, A Spoilers: Dreamland(s), Triangle, FTF Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST Summary: When stuck in a rut, it is sometimes better to get an entirely new car. Disclaimer: I don't own them...yet. But they don't seem to be very important to Fox anymore, and CC and 1013 are... where are they? So maybe we'll be able to buy our dear Mulder and Scully on sale. Feedback: As always, yes! But especially, now...because I'm experiencing a crisis of faith. In the XF powers that be, that is. I want a movie!!! Archive: Gladly! Please let me know so I can visit. Author's Notes: I want a resurgence in x-files interest! I will do my part by reading more, and hopefully writing more fic. Many thanks to Rie for her superb beta-help, and to Sma and Xime for the read-through! The mood (and color) of this piece was inspired by Sting's "Fields of Gold"...so I suppose I ought to thank him, too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Fuck," Mulder muttered as a flash of bright orange on the road preceeded a bump and a horrible scraping sound. He hadn't seen the abandoned traffic cone until it was too late. The dying afternoon sun had just surrendered in its stubborn attempt to blind Mulder as he drove down the lonely stretch of highway. He stopped squinting immediately, but not a lot else changed. He remained focused on his silent partner through the orange-filtered air, and she remained as far away from him as two people sitting next to each other in one car can be. The trip back to D.C. had commenced in the regular fashion: two quick glances over two dingy hotel rooms after having stowed two sturdy overnight bags in the large rental-car trunk. Two pairs of eyes catching each other at long last, disguised by one shared casual smile that didn't say a lot of things. Lately, their words and actions seemed scripted, and today was no exception. They agreed Mulder should drive; Scully concluded the assignment had been a waste of time; it was hot; this was a good radio station. Then Scully had withdrawn completely, and Mulder had watched her retreating form helplessly. Three times he had gone as far as indrawing breath before stopping himself at the last second from saying something stupid. Scully did not want to talk about the lack of a case anymore. Scully did not want to talk about the reason behind his sunflower-seed obsession. And Scully most definitely did not want to talk about the time he, his mom, dad, and Samantha had gone camping in the back yard of their house on Martha's Vineyard. He was grasping at straws, but he was desperate to lure her back to the present, and to him. An obscure sadness had joined them in the car, taking so much room as to practically squeeze Mulder out the door. But. She had then begun to touch herself. Right on the exposed skin between her collarbone and her breasts. Right where he discovered he never knew he had always wanted to touch her. Her index finger blazed a trail and her thumb smoothed the path behind it in an intriguing pattern that an artist might love to see on canvas. Mulder became aware that the sadness weighing down on him was after all his own. However, a far more offensive mood had taken up residence quietly between Scully and the passenger door. It was something private, distant, sensual, and...yearning. He observed her for over an hour, with excruciating attention that he was in no danger of attracting in return. He fought the urge to touch her leg and force her to look at him. He knew that to force her to look at him was to force himself to accept that she did not see him. He shoved his hand under his leg and made it stay. Now, when the heat had finally broken and the golden light set his partner's hair ablaze, Mulder resolved to recover her attention. He smoothly transitioned the car to an exit and onto another quiet, but less lonely, road. He knew she was back in less than an instant, but it took her a little longer to recollect speech. "Mulder...?" she asked as her stubborn gaze remained fixed out the window. He acknowleged his triumph to himself with a shadow of a smirk and a slight huff. Scully was not satisfied by his non-answer, still trying to discern their location by its unexceptional features. "Mulder, where are we going?" His continued silence prompted her at last to look at him, but he knew this victory came with a price. With the white flag within reach, he met her expectant gaze. He blinked at her blandly and tried to think. Her eyes narrowed a little more and the eyebrow came up. "Mulder..." she warned. Mulder had a borderline religious experience as he spotted a likely excuse three hundred yards ahead on the right. He smiled privately and turned into the lot. "Mulder, it's a park. What are we doing in a park?" "Parking. Appropriate, don't you think?" Her patience snapped with a deafening silence but Mulder was unconcerned. He had already ditched the white flag for bigger guns. He turned the key in the ignition and looked at her. She was staring at him in disbelief, and some obvious indecision. To stay in the car with him was out of the question, but to get out of the car at this point was to possibly submit to his nameless game. "What are we doing here?" Now that he had her full attention, he was willing to take a few tactical risks: he reached out and touched her hand as it rested in her lap. They both watched as he picked it up and lifted it to occupy the gap between them. His gaze made the slight shift to her face and she stared back a little warily. He cracked a half-smile and said lightly, "Getting out of the car." He dropped her hand unceremoniously and left her to interpret his words as she would. The air outside was as snug as the late-august sunset had suggested. He heard Scully's door slam and he turned to smile at her over the car. His smile deepened a little as he recognized her acceptance by the way she slowly crossed her arms and leaned a little on the roof. She cocked her head and smiled a small challenge. Mulder glanced around and bit his bottom lip, then strode deliberately around to her side of the car. She turned to face him, now a bit defensive, as he stood solemnly in front of her. He reached out a hand slowly, and then tapped her ungently on the shoulder as a grin broke out on his face. "Tag. You're it." He tore away towards a soccer field. Whatever Scully's initial reaction had been, she was after him in a second. He slowed down a little to allow her to catch up, then sped away again as she neared. Glancing back, he saw that she had stopped and was eyeing him like a predator. Keeping his distance, he put his hands on his hips. She stalked towards him slowly, and he stood, grinning, panting. She stopped ten feet from him and attempted to school her expression into a stern one. "You better run." Her eyes betrayed her. He shook his head slightly, smirking openly. "I don't think so." She lifted one of the shoes she held, looked at it, and looked back at him. She returned the smirk. "You might recall, Agent Mulder, that I'm reputed to be a pretty good shot. Would you like to test that theory?" Mulder's grin expanded. "What, *again*?" Scully let the shoe fly. It hit him, harder than he would have thought, just to the left of his groin. At the last second he remembered to run, but too late. She took him down a foot from where he had been standing and landed squarely on top of him. She shifted a little so she was half-kneeling on the grass, half-sitting on his chest and placed her palms on the ground on either side of his head. "Got you." Mulder blinked. "Big time." The reference slid home in Scully's expression, and Mulder waited for her to close off. He saw her consider it. He saw her take a breath to laugh it off and knew it was the right thing to do. Instead: "You didn't make the face." She was not laughing. "What?" A little more sure of herself. "The panic face." Ohhhh. This was unfamiliar territory, indeed. Humor, no. Complete honesty, no. Brutal lie, no. Loaded weapons pointed directly at his head. "He's waiting in the car." Take that, Agent Scully. She smiled almost imperceptibly as she decided how to interpret his words. Bringing her hands closer towards his head so her wrists brushed against his hair, she studied him with an unreadable expression. "Does he have Diana Fowley in the back seat?" Ouch. Screw the weapons, this was hand to hand *mortal* combat. Mulder pushed Scully off him and stood up, towering over her as she sat back on the grass. "Diana is different, Scully. We've had this discussion." "You're wrong, Mulder." She looked up at him seriously. "We've avoided this discussion." She turned her head and stared towards the car. "I guess it's time to start driving back." Mulder glowered at her, and she avoided his face, as he deliberated. Damn the woman. He had started it. He would finish it. He dropped down next to her, not facing her, arms wrapped around knees pulled to his chest. "What do you want me to say?" "The truth, please. Unless you've suddenly changed your policy without informing me." "I really don't know what you want to hear, Scully. I thought we had discussed this and...agreed to disagree." He shrugged, still not looking at her. Scully sighed quietly. She kneeled and turned to him, laying her hand on his knee and forcing him to look at her. "I don't want to talk about work. The car's over there." She was asking for the permission that had supposedly already been granted. Mulder laid his hand over hers and looked into her eyes. "I feel I should anticipate your question...but you're going to have to help me out." Permission still granted. The corners of her mouth turned up in a very small, and to Mulder's surprise rather embarrassed smile and she looked away for a moment. When she returned her eyes to his, she looked somehow younger. "Do you love her?" "No." His gaze never wavered, and his other hand joined the first in encircling hers as he shook his head slowly and deliberately. Scully inched a little closer to him and grabbed one of his hands with her free hand. Voice a little lowered, she asked, "Did you ever love her?" Mulder felt his eyes begin to prickle as he considered how to answer. "I think...I thought I did. At one time." Absently, he began to caress the hands that held his. "I was wrong." She nodded, a little guarded. Wanting to understand and continue without scaring either of them away. "Did you ever tell her?" Mulder studied Scully closely, trying to find the truth of her meaning. Trying to decide how to balance his words so that what he needed to say, and what he thought she was ready to hear, evened out. "I said the words. All the time, for a short period of time, until I could no longer ignore their false echo." Scully nodded slowly again, digesting his words. Mulder continued, his eyes pinning hers. "I vowed I would never say them again, ever, unless I really meant it." Silently, eyes bright, Scully brought his right hand to the bare area of skin between her collarbone and her breasts. She squeezed his hand and pressed herself into it. "Did you keep that promise?" Mulder nodded a little and began to caress her skin with his fingers. "Yes." "Good." She smiled a little. He smiled a little back. Truce. She looked resignedly back in the direction of the car. "Help me up?" Her shy look was both apology and promise. Mulder acknowledged both with a look. "Sure." He stood up and offered his hand. She kept a hold of it until they reached the car. Mulder slid into the driver's seat and buckled his seatbelt. As he turned the key in the ignition, he met Scully's eyes and they shared a smile. On the road again. In a brand new car. ~~~~~~~~~~~~(the beginning)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~