Valentine's Day by Lolabeegood E-mail: lolabeegood@gmail.com Distribution: Archive freely with my name attached Rating: R Categories: S, R Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance Spoilers: Up to and including IWTB, but this takes place before it. Summary: A day in the life of Fox Mulder while living in long-term isolation. Author's Notes: A late Valentine, sorry I just couldn't make the date...but I hope it's well received anyways. Just a little something that has been working itself out in my head and I thought I'd write it out. This is part of a larger 'Day' series that you may want to take a look at if you like this one. I do not own the characters. I do not make any money from this. Enjoy! ************************************* As an adult, Dana Scully had never been one for frivolous holidays. She had spent many a youthful Valentine's Day crying over a boy that didn't know she existed or did, and didn't want to kiss her. As she became a woman, she grew anxious about the holiday, knowing she was looked upon with pity by some women around her. "Dana, get a load of the flowers Azara got," Tanya said from behind the nurse's station. "Wow," Dana said smiling at the deeply coloured roses, "either he's very in love or very rich. Ordering flowers today usually costs a fortune." "Almost fifty bucks a dozen, they were saying on the morning news," Tanya replied. "Does that make it more or less romantic when you know how much he spent?" Dana smiled at Tanya and liked that the woman laughed at her joke. "Should I be looking for a delivery with your name on it today?" Tanya asked with a smile. "Tanya, you know me better than that," Dana smiled back at her. "Any man that wanted to get to my heart wouldn't do it with roses." The two women starred at the beautiful roses in the vase. "What's the nicest thing someone's done for you on Valentine's Day, Dana?" "You mean the homemade Valentine I got from Lloyd Braxton in fourth grade?" "Now, you're just being evasive," Tanya chided. "One year," Dana leaned in with a smile. "A guy I was seeing booked us into a really nice hotel while we were away on a business trip. It had a private balcony and everything. That, was a really nice surprise." "That's nice, but he didn't do that often?" "No, he had a taste for dive motels," Dana chuckled. "Which is why, that hotel was such a surprise, and treat." "I like surprises," Tanya said wistfully. "What about your husband Tanya? Is he a romantic?" "If you call taking me to Chuck's Steakhouse every year for Valentine's Day romantic," Tanya laughed. "If you love him it is," Dana looked at her thoughtfully. "Yeah, I still love the ape, even if he doesn't even try to be romantic." "Maybe's he'll surprise you," Dana said as she walked from the station. She looked down at the chart in front of her. She'd drawn ER duty today and was stuck taking care of broken limbs, cases of chicken pox, and people with indigestion that thought they were having a heart attack. "Dana here's a man complaining of heart palpitations that wants to see a doctor. He doesn't think nurses know what we're doing," Sarah said to her as she handed Scully the chart. "I was thinking of making him sit there a bit, but I need the room for a kid that might require isolation." The ER at Our Lady of Sorrows was not a particularly large one, and it wasn't usually very busy either. If a kid needed to be isolated she needed to free up the bed. "I'll take him and clear him out," Dana said as she took the chart. "Give me five minutes." "Thanks," Sarah smiled at her and turned to check on another patient. Dana Scully walked toward curtain number two and glanced down at the thin chart in front of her. "So, Mr. Reid, what seems to be the trouble today?" She asked as she pulled back the curtain. The sight before her stopped her cold in her tracks. Mulder was sitting on the gurney smiling at her. "What are you doing here?" She hissed as she quickly shut the curtain behind her. "Performing a romantic gesture," he grinned at her. "Mul..." she stopped herself from saying his name. "You need to leave now." He hopped off the gurney and walked toward her to hold both her hands. "When's your lunch?" "It doesn't matter when it is, because you won't be here," she said in all seriousness. "Don't make me wait all day," he said as he leaned down to speak next to her ear. "Because I'm not driving home until I get to take you to lunch." "You are risking everything by coming here today. How did you get here?" She asked, obviously angry. "I rented a car and drove here." He said calmly. "Now, when is your lunch so I can stop making you so upset." Dana Scully looked at her shaking hands, held firmly by his, and noticed that her hands were also attached to a body that was visibly quivering with fright. "I don't think this is a good idea," she pleaded with him. "If you get..." "I won't," he re-assured her. "In one hour," she said softly. "Come out to the Blue Ford Explorer parked in the yellow zone," he smiled down at her and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "I'll be waiting for you." Forty minutes later Dana Scully rushed from the ER toward the yellow zone. She immediately spotted the Blue Ford and ran to the passenger door. "Drive," she commanded as she opened the passenger door. Mulder looked over at her from his reclined driver's seat and sat upright. "Scully..." She hopped in the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. "Mulder are you going to drive or do I need to climb over there?" She asked, her body rigid with anger. He pulled his seat up from the reclined position and turned down the music he'd been listening to. "Scully, I'll drive you wherever you want to go, but we only have about an hour before you have to get back to work," he smiled at her as he put the truck in gear. "Just go home, Mulder," she said as he rubbed her forehead. "I told them I was ill and needed to go home for the day. I'll pick up my car when I come in tomorrow." "What?" He asked exasperated. "Mulder," she sighed as she rubbed her temple. "I know this idea of yours was supposed to be romantic but really all it did was scare the crap out of me. I've been a mess since I saw you and...and I really just need for us to go home." He swallowed hard and said nothing in return. His surprise visit to her work had gone horribly wrong. The drive back to their house was both tense and silent. He made no attempt to make things better, thinking he could only make it worse, and she merely sat rubbing her temple and looking out the passenger window. He had wanted to do something nice for her; something unexpected. He had rented the car a few days ago and arranged for a pick-up at an abandoned farmhouse down the road. He had packed a picnic basket of fine food items and bought alcohol free champagne, knowing she wouldn't drink when she had to go back to work. Mulder had cruised around Richmond earlier today looking for a few nice spots near the hospital to park the SUV and have lunch with her. He had even sat in her ER for over an hour waiting for her to come and assess his condition. Heart palpitations, he thought, had been a good choice. "Pull over," she said, sounding off. "Huh?" He asked as he continued to drive down the lonely country road. "Pull over!" She snapped as her hand clamped over her mouth. He jerked the car to the side of the dirt road and it picked up a mixture of snow, gravel and salt. She jumped from the passenger seat and, without shutting the door heaved the contents of her stomach into the roadside snow pile. "Scully!" He called to her as he turned off the truck and ran to her side, sliding on the snow as he rounded the corner. She continued to heave into the snow and cough as the bile irritated her throat. "It's okay, it's okay," he cooed softly as he rubbed her back and tried to hold her hair away from the spray. "Oh my god, Mulder," she cried as she started to dry heave. "You'll be okay," he cooed again. "You must have just eaten something bad. I'll get you home and in bed and you'll feel better." She braced her hands on her knees and cried a little harder. The lurching had stopped, but it was obvious she still didn't feel well. Mulder reached into his back pocket and pulled out a lone Kleenex. "Here's Scully," he said softly as he handed it to her. "Blow your nose and wipe your mouth. Then I'll help you back into the truck." She carefully wiped her lips and then used the Kleenex to blow her nose and get some vomit that had made its way into her nasal cavity, out. She lifted her head to look at him for the first time and he saw a burst blood vessel in her right eye. "Oh, Scully," he said as he pulled her against him and held her tight. "Mulder, you can't get caught," she mumbled into his coat. "I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you too." "What?" He asked, not sure where this line of talk came from. "Promise me...promise me you won't do anything like this again," she mumbled and cried at the same time. "I...I promise, Scully." He said as he kissed her hair. "I love you so much," she cried into him. The sobs raked over her body and Mulder held her upright to keep her from tumbling. He realized in that moment it wasn't bad food that had caused her to be sick, but fear. Fear of losing him completely, of losing what they had together, of losing the life she'd readily chosen with him. His Valentine's Day stunt had brought her worst nightmare to the forefront of her thoughts and caused her to react in the most primal of ways. "Oh, my god, Scully. I'm so sorry," he said sadly as he kissed her again and again on the top of her head. "I didn't think...I really didn't think..." Her fingers pulled across his back as he spoke and he knew she hated admitting how much this had upset her, how much her life was as dependant on him as his was on her. She hated how vulnerable love had made her. "We're going to be fine," he reassured her. "It's been two years and they aren't interested in finding me anymore but, I won't ever do something like this again. I won't risk us, ever again." "Thank you," she sighed from somewhere buried in his coat. Just then a carload of kids whirled past them on the road. One kid rolled down a window and yelled "Get a room!" while a girl n the backseat leaned forward and yelled "Happy Valentine's Day!" Mulder and Scully found themselves both chuckling at the situation. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said as he held her face in his hands and forced her to look up at him. "I'm going to love you for the rest of my, very long, life." "I'd like that," she smiled up at him. **************************************** The End.