Chapter 7 (Mulder)

                                    

                                          
Everything was going fine until I noticed Scully looking worried. Oh crap, did I do something? I thought to myself. I had no idea what was going on, but I could tell that it was bothering her. "Whatcha thinking about, Sculls?". She slightly jumped from hearing my voice and glances up into my eyes, and replies "Oh, nothing. Just imagining A.D. Skinner with a mullet.". I knew right then that she was lying, but it was too funny of a lie not to smile and burst out laughing.
                          
Suddenly, we were both laughing hysterically. I was crying and she was about to that point. It was such a perfect moment, but it came and went. A bit of awkward silence fell over the car. I still couldn't shake the feeling that Scully wasn't ok, so I began to bug her about it again. "But seriously, Scully. What's on your mind?" 
                          
She put her head down slightly and said "Really, Mulder. It's nothing.". I've got to get her to talk. "If it's really nothing, then why have you been so quiet this whole time?" I retort. She is definitely hiding something. "Mulder, it's not anything you should be concerned about.". This is the moment where I slip up so hard that I figuratively fall flat on my face.
                          
I looked right into her enchanting blue eyes and said "Alright Scully, this matter may not be something I should be concerned about, but I'm concerned about you. I always will be concerned about you." Oh crap. I didn't mean to say that out loud, and I certainly did not mean for her to hear it. Yikes, I'm in trouble. To play it off, I shrugged, smiled, and turned my attention towards the road.
                          
But the thing that came after surprised me even more than my accidental tell all of my feelings toward Scully. This moment was the calm to the storm my stupidity had caused. "Same goes for you, Mulder. You've got to have someone to keep you from breaking into government facilities or getting killed while alien hunting. I'll always be there to bail you out of jail.". Most people would consider that being a friend zoned response, but I know it wasn't. 
                          
When Scully said that simple, yet reassuring phrase, her face was as red as her hair and she was smiling very, very big. This was not normal Scully behavior at all. She hardly blushes, much less blushes to tomato proportions, and never smiles to that extent. I don't think I've ever seen her that way before. She had happiness pouring out of her, and all I wanted was for her to stay that happy. She's been through so much, and she just deserves the world. 
                          
Thankfully this wasn't as big of a slip up as I thought it would've been. The small portion of hope I possessed that thought she felt the same way about me as I did her got a little bit bigger. Maybe this idea of a trip wasn't so stupid after all. After my little slip up, the rest of the drive was perfectly normal. We played the cliche game, laughed a lot, and discussed the "case". 
I hope she doesn't see right through just yet, but it's undoubted in my mind that she'll figure it out eventually. She's too smart, and she knows me too well. If she does figure out that the whole things a sham, hopefully she'll think the plan was clever and that it was a very good date idea.
                          
Scully is probably the smartest person I know. Most likely smarter than I am. It's nice to be around someone intelligent because without her, all the other boneheads we have deal with every case would make me go insane. She challenges me, and it makes me better at       semi-rational thinking, which I'm not very good at. I'm all instinct, she's all rational.
                          
We compliment each other very well. While we can both play the part of brains and brawn, we both have our own strengths and weaknesses. I'm better at studying people's behaviors since that's what I went to college for. Scully can figure out what potentially killed someone even before she performs the autopsy. We're both too cool for our own good, Scully more so than me.  
                          
She probably thinks I'm a dork, and not even close to someone she'd date. I don't think I'd date myself either. In reality, she's too good for me. I have no idea why I set myself up for failure by falling for her. Odds are that it's a one sided love, but there's always room to hope that it's not. It's so hard to fall for your best friend when there's the possibility of loosing them. I never want to loose Scully. Not now and not ever.
                          
Just imagining us together makes me smile. She's the most beautiful women I've ever met. I know I've said it before, but I love everything about her; her short, red hair that shines in the sun, attentive blue eyes that glitter like sapphires, and an ever present smirk that lets me know that she's the boss. She's a complete badass and she owns it, making half the guys look like they just came out of the academy. 
                          
As we continued on our long journey to Lexington, I began to think about the events that occurred in the car, specifically what Scully did. She blushed, giggled, and was quiet for an extremely long time. Again, not normal for Scully. She's not mad at me, so this could only mean one...
"Hey Mulder, now you're being quiet. You ok?" Scully was looking at me almost longingly, awaiting my response. "Oh, yeah. All good, just thinking about the case some more." Scully sighed. "Yeah, this is an odd one. This is a series of abductions, right?". I shook my head. "Yeah, but I'm not thinking it's an alien one. The patterns are too closely related.". 
                          
Scully raised an eyebrow and protested "Since when do you not think something had to do with aliens? You're concerning me.". I smiled and said "Just looked at the file closely before jumping to conclusions. Still, there's always room for aliens.". Scully cracked a smile and grabbed a book from her purse. I smiled back and returned my focus to driving. Now, I had been reassured my guess was correct. It was too blatantly obvious not to notice. The way she gazed at me gave it all away, among the other slight actions I picked up on. 
                          
Dana Scully loved me too.
                          
a/n
wowie, i hope you enjoyed this 1,100 word chapter! dang my fingers hurt from typing all of this, but it's so worth it because of how extremely proud of this chapter i am!
i need an opinion from you guys! would you rather have a sculder randomness book (inspired by TheVanillaEffect ) or a sculder oneshots book? tell me what you guys would rather see me write!!
                          
catch you aliens later! 
- emma 🛸