Title: Pearl

Author: bellefleur

Rating: PG

Setting/Spoilers: Essentially post-XF2. Mulder and Scully 
still live in the Unremarkable House, Scully is still a 
doctor, Mulder...keeps himself occupied, and the reboot 
known as "Seasons 10 and 11" never happened.

Disclaimer: 1013 has yielded all rights of ownership for 
MSR. These two belong to me and the fandom.

Summary: The most important anniversary of all.

Notes: I came out of semi-retirement for this, since this 
date was too momentous to miss. Together forever, 30 years 
and counting.

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March 6, 2022

"Mulder?"

Scully dropped her bag inside the entryway as she leaned 
her weight against the front door to shut it. She tossed 
her keys on the table and gratefully toed off her heels as 
she moved into the living room. It had been another long 
day at the hospital, and she was about ready to drop. One 
of these years she might get weekends off, but illness was 
no respecter of days or times, and somebody still had to do 
rounds on Sundays.

"Mulder?" she tried again, yelling toward the stairs.

"Hey, Scully!" he hollered back. "I'll be down in a 
minute!"

"Please tell me you made dinner," she muttered to herself 
as she shuffled into the kitchen. What passed for her lunch 
had been hours ago, but she didn't have the energy to cook 
anything.

In her exhaustion, it took her a minute to register what 
she was seeing. Their kitchen table was set with two neatly 
arranged place settings, complete with cloth napkins. At 
the center was a fresh bouquet of flowers and two candles. 
And on the edge of the table was an envelope, next to a 
small, black velvet box.

"Hey, welcome home." Mulder stepped up behind her and 
kissed her cheek. He slid his arms around her waist, and 
she snuggled back into his solid warmth. "Long day?"

"The longest." She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. 
"What’s the occasion?"

"Open the card," he said. As she reached forward, he let go 
of her and moved away. "I'll heat up dinner. It just needs 
to be nuked."

Sending him a sidelong glance, Scully slid her finger under 
the sealed flap of the envelope and extracted the greeting 
card. On the front it said, "Happy 30th!"

"Mulder, I'm flattered, but I'm well past 30. Besides, my 
birthday was two weeks ago." She withheld any comment about 
how he had been a full 24 hours late in commemorating that 
particular date, with nothing more than a card recycled 
from the previous year. Maybe he was still trying to make 
up for it.

He paused in unwrapping the food. "Read the inside."

She opened the card and deciphered in his familiar scrawl: 
"Thanks for the best 30 years of my life. Here's to 30 
more."

She was still trying to make sense of the message. "Mulder, 
it’s not our anniversary."

"Yes, it is." He slid a plate into the microwave and pushed 
the button. "It's the 30th anniversary of the day we met."

At moments like this, all his charming little annoyances 
and frustrating habits melted away and Scully remembered 
why she loved this quirky man. "You can’t remember my 
birthday, and you can't remember our wedding anniversary, 
but you remember the anniversary of the day we met?”

"Of course I do." He walked over in front of her and hugged 
her close again, this time landing his kiss squarely on her 
lips. "It was the day my life changed forever. Some things 
you never forget."

"Mulder?" she said, rolling her eyes and her tone, in a way 
she'd been doing for 30 years. He grinned at her and pulled 
away as the microwave sounded off.

Scully turned and reached for the small, black box. Before 
opening it, she held it up toward him and asked, "Alien 
implants?"

"You know it. I had them made into a keychain."

She smirked at their running joke, which had gone through 
many mutations over the years. Then she opened the box. 
Inside lay a beautiful pair of pearl earrings.

She gasped softly. "Mulder, they’re lovely."

"I have it on the very sound authority of the internet that 
pearls are the gift for the 30th anniversary. But you have 
to wait until our 30th wedding anniversary to get the 
matching necklace."

She plopped her weary body into a chair, content to let him 
serve her. "I hate to think how old I'll be by then."

"It doesn’t matter," he said as he set a steaming plate of 
food in front of her. "You’ll still look as radiant as you 
do right now."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, but 'radiant' is hardly 
the word for how I look." She stuck her fork in the food 
and was about to pile a scoop into her mouth before she 
realized what she was doing. "Am I supposed to wait for 
you?" She was practically whining. But she hoped he 
recognized how tired and hungry she was.

He chuckled and stroked her hair as he walked past. "No, go 
ahead. I'll join you in a minute."

Scully was already several bites into her food when he sat 
down with his plate. They ate in silence for a few minutes. 
Her exhausted brain bounced from one random thought to 
another, until a phrase popped into her head. She said it 
aloud, with a smile, "Nobody down here but the FBI's most 
unwanted."

Mulder grinned at her. "See, you do remember."

"Of course I do. It was the day my life changed. Some 
things you never forget."

His smile faded a little and he looked down at his plate. 
"For the better?"

She reached across the table to grab his hand. "For better 
or worse."

He lifted her hand and kissed it. Their eyes met in a 
lingering look, filled with 30 years of memories. Giving 
her a soft smile laden with promises, he squeezed her hand 
and let it go.

They continued their meal, both lost in their own thoughts. 
Her plate finally empty, Scully sat back feeling sated and 
a little more human.

She eyed him as he finished his food. "You still owe me a 
birthday present, by the way."

"I know."

Some things never changed.

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