Condoms (11/18)
by Lola

e-mail: lolabeegood@gmail.com

Time: Set during and post-The Truth.
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of the series.
Summary: Mulder hates condoms for more than the obvious reasons.
Overall Rating: NC-17

I do not own the characters.  I do not make any money from this.
Enjoy!
 
***************

Mulder walked cautiously toward the door of room 16 of the Sunset 
Palace Motel.  It looked recently shut down and the knots in his 
stomach tightened with each step he took.  This was his and Scully's 
meeting point but there was no one in sight.  She was supposed to 
have been here for the last 2 days but there is nowhere for her to 
be, and he had their tent so there was no way she could have been 
camping.  How had she spent the last 2 days?  Where was she?

He mentally chastised himself for this oversight.  He should have 
checked to make sure it was still open, he hadn't been here since 
he was a teenager vacationing with his Grandpa and Grandma.  It had 
been in business for over 50 years then, he just figured it was 
still in business when they saw it in the motel directory.  
Apparently, they were about 6 months late for a room at this place.  

It was night and he didn't notice as he kicked a can on his 
approach.  The rattle from it hitting the metal siding wall of the 
motel echoed throughout the empty lot.  He figured he should at 
least check in the room for a note or message from Scully, possibly 
giving him a clue to her current location.

The door to the room was open and when Mulder switched on his small 
flashlight he saw that it had obviously been used for a party place 
many nights.  There were beer bottles and used condoms littering the 
floor and mice scurrying around the perimeter of the room.  Without 
the mess and rodents it would have looked like any one of the 
thousand motel rooms he and Scully had stayed in over the years. 

He walked across the room and was drawn to a picture on the wall.  
It was an oil painting of a beach scene circa 1960 with a dog 
running after a kite.  The painting had been spray painted with 
a bunch of tags but the print underneath was unmistakable.  It 
wasn't just any painting, it was a painting he had seen before.  
This same painting was in the room he and Scully shared when 
Emily died:

He had received Scully's phone call about her daughter and hopped on 
the first plane to San Diego in hopes of figuring this out with as 
little damage to her psyche as possible.    The girl was Scully's 
and she was very ill.  Mulder had tried to do everything to help 
Scully and her little girl but, in the end Scully had made the 
very unselfish move to let Emily die instead of prolonging her 
pain and suffering.  

He had offered to stay with Scully at the hospital but she had 
brushed him off.  He wasn't sure why but, for some reason she 
needed to do this alone.  He gave her the space she needed and 
waited outside ICU in a very uncomfortable chair for many hours 
thinking of what Scully must be facing.  When she emerged with 
a drawn look on her face and red eyes he knew that Emily had 
died and that she had just lost the only daughter she would 
ever know.  

"Mulder?" she asked as he walked toward her "what are you still 
doing here?  It's 4 am."

"I couldn't...I couldn't just leave you here alone Scully" he 
stammered.

"I'm fi...." she began and then dropped her head to her chest while 
silent sobs raked over her body.

He took 3 steps forward and engulfed her in his embrace whispering 
comforting words into her hair as she clung to his waist.

"Let me get you back to your brother's house.  You need to get some 
sleep Scully."

"No, no" she whispered into his lapel "I don't want to go there.  I 
can't stand to see their patronizing faces, Mulder.  I just can't 
bear it right now."

"Then, what do you want Scully?  Just tell me and I'll make it 
happen" he said reassuringly.

"Are you checked in somewhere, Mulder?"

He nodded 'yes'.

"Then take me there.  I just need to get some sleep and I don't 
really feel like talking much, if that's okay?"

"That's just fine Scully" he said as he firmly grasped her waist 
and walked her out of the hospital.

When they arrived at the motel he left her alone in the room while 
he ran out to bring back  something to eat.  He knew she needed to 
eat, but he also knew Scully needed some time to herself to clean 
up and get changed.  He had offered her his pajamas and she had 
gratefully accepted them.  

Upon his return with McDonald's  in hand, he couldn't help but 
snicker at the sight of Scully in his large blue pajamas rolled 
up on the legs and arms.  She looked like she had been swallowed 
by a cotton monster.  

They ate quietly and after she ate half  her muffin she climbed 
over the bed and was pulling up the covers without a word.  

"I'll get the blinds and the TV" Mulder offered.

"No, Mulder, please leave them.  I'm so tired I can fall asleep, 
as is."

He immediately rose to pull the blinds shut and turn off the TV.

"No, really Mulder, I'm just going to go to sleep.  Please watch 
some TV, I've already taken over your room enough as it is." 

"I'm fine Scully, really." he said as he clicked the TV off "I 
have a couple of case files I have to look over anyways." 

"Whatever you want Mulder.  I'm going to sleep."

"Sweet dreams" he said before he had had a chance to think

She started to cry immediately.  He felt like the biggest idiot, 
ever.  How can she have sweet dreams? Her daughter just died, her 
family thinks she's nuts, she can't have children, her career is 
a mess because she's partnered with him, the list goes on.

He got up and sat next to her on the bed pulling her toward him 
"I'm sorry Scully.  I'm so sorry."

She cried in his arms for almost an hour as he smoothed over her 
hair and wiped the tears from her eyes.  Only in sleep did the 
crying stop.  Mulder sat up all day with her head in his lap 
gently patting her hair and staring at the picture of the dog 
chasing the kite. Only it wasn't just a dog chasing a kite.  
There was also a little blonde girl in the painting running 
ahead of the dog, pulling the kite.  Running away from you and 
never turning around.  

"Mulder?"

Her voice broke the silence of the ramshackle room and 
Mulder's memories of the painting.

"Scully" he exhaled as he turned toward the door to find her 
standing in the frame.

He briskly walked toward her anxious to close the distance 
between them.

"Where have you been?"

"Well, not here.  I'll tell you that"  she snickered.

"I would hope not." he chuckled as his arms encircled her 
waist and he pulled her toward him "where's all your gear?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about."

"OK, what is it Scully?"

"I know our plan was to camp again for another month but 
when I got here and saw this place..."

"I'm sorry about that"

"No, no, it's okay Mulder.  How could we have known, 
right?"

"Right."

"So I got here and I realized I didn't have a tent so I 
had to explore my options."

"Okay...Scully you are making me nervous, can you get to 
the point?"

"So, there's a trailer park just over the ridge and I 
rented us a trailer for a month."

"You what?"

"I rented a trailer at Poteete Creek Campground.  It's 
cheap, it beats the shit out of camping for another month, 
it's clean, and it's fairly secluded so we don't have to 
worry about people."

"How secluded?"

"Well, most of the people who live there work in the quarry 
and work long shifts.  When they aren't working and have a f
ew days off they go home to their families.  All in all, there a
re usually very few people around."

"So, what's the catch?"

"No catch Mulder.  I just would like to sleep in a bed for 
the next month and after days spent switching buses I'm sick 
of movement.  Can you just try it out?"

He sighed and looked down at her face in the dark.  He'd do 
anything for her.  He leaned down and kissed her sweetly 
on the lips.

"Sounds great Scully.  Show me where home is."

He let go of her and walked back to his backpack which he'd 
dumped on the floor when he heard her voice.

"Mulder, you backpack is going to be covered with puke and 
used condoms after being on that floor."

"Yeah, I guess I didn't think about that" he agreed as he 
reached down to pick it up.  

Her flashlight shone a beam of light in his direction 
hoping to help him see his way back when  the painting 
behind him caught her attention.  

"That painting Mulder, I know it somehow."

He grimaced and looked down at his shoes waiting for the 
moment when it dawned on her where she saw it 
before.  

"It's from the night Emily died" he offered as he watched 
her perplexed face search for the connection.

"Oh" was all she offered as she stared at it blankly.

"Come on Scully, let's get out of here" he said as he reached 
around her shoulder.

"I didn't expect that" she offered.

"Just like I didn't expect your mother to call your cell phone 
at 8am that morning and my  having to explain that you were 
asleep in my bed" he offered trying to take her mind off Emily.

"What?" Scully asked shocked as she turned toward him.

"Didn't I ever tell you that?"

"No."

"Didn't your mother?"

"No, I think I would have remembered that conversation."

"Oh" was all he could reply.

"What did she say?"

"Well, I answered your phone because it was on the nightstand 
and I didn't want to wake you."

"Okay, I see that.  Keep going."

"So she was obviously surprised that I answered and asked 
if she could speak with you.  I explained you were asleep 
and when she started to say she was going to come to the
hospital to get you, I had to tell her where you were."

"Which was...?"

"I told her you were at the Motor Court Inn with me."

"You what?!"

"Well, you were. And as I started to explain how we got 
there she interrupted me and said that her daughter's 
personal life was none of her business."

"And you didn't correct her?"

"She wouldn't let me and hung up the phone so fast I 
didn't have a chance to tell her about Emily."

"Mulder!"

"What?"

"You led my mother to believe that we were involved back 
then."

"I did not such thing Scully.  She wouldn't let me explain."

"Well, I'm glad that I was the one who told her about 
Emily.  I think in her own way she understood that my 
loss was very real."

"I think she did too Scully."

"I miss her Mulder."

"I know.  You'll see her again.  You have to believe 
that Scully."

"I do Mulder.  I do" she affirmed to herself.

They walked out of the room and into the night toward 
their new home.

**************

Continued in Part 12