Oxford: Welcome to the Pit Author: Elizabeth L. Iacono Rating: PG Category: Story, Romance, Humor Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance, Pre-XF Spoilers: none Summary: Mulder and Dana arrive at Oxford... Here's the next part in the Oxford Series. It takes place right where the other one left off, so if you haven't read that one you might be a little bit lost. Note-I know absolutely nothing about Oxford aside from what I read on the Deep Background site, so the Oxford you will see in this story and upcoming stories it not at all accurate, but my main focus isn't the school or the curriculum, but what is happening to the people, so please forgive all my mistakes. Archive-Wherever, Gossamer especially, anyone else just tell me where it goes. Feedback-Please? My addy is RhiaRamsay@aol.com Disclaimer-Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are not mine, I wouldn't be fooling anyone if I said they were. I do own Nicholas Slider, Magda Valenkoff, Ian St. John, Lucien Montvale and Cecily Duncan. Oxford: Welcome to the Pit Elizabeth L. Iacono July, 1982 Heathrow Airport, London, England The three people sat around a table in the middle of Heathrow Airport, snacking on a few plates of Fish and Chips. They sat there silently, two of them tired from their recent flight from New York. Suddenly the girl gasped, nearly choking on her meal. "You got us board in a place called the Pit?" Dana Scully said with steel in her voice directed at the now cowering form of Nicholas Slider. Fox Mulder grabbed the paper Dana was looking at out of her hands and looked it over. "Nick, I just got out of one rathole dorm, I don't want to end up in another one," Mulder said. Nick grabbed the paper from Mulder and stuffed it into his backpack. "Will you two calm down?" he sighed. "It's a nice place, I've seen it and moved in already. The Pit is the nickname the daughter of the owner, who also rooms there, gave it. It does not at all resemble a goddamned pit!" he said, almost screaming at the end. Dana smirked. "Whatever you say, Island Boy," she muttered. "Don't call me that," Nick said automatically. "Hey, how are we supposed to get down to Oxford from here?" Mulder butted in. "Not to worry, I rented a car," Nick said. Dana and Mulder shared a wary look. Nick wasn't known for his fabulous driving skills, and now that he was driving on the other side of the road, which he clearly was new at...well let's just say it didn't sit well with either of them. Nick caught the look and threw his hands up in the air. "Come on, I'm not that bad!" he pleaded. Dana laughed. "Just get us and the car there in one piece and I won't say a word." "Let's get the hell out of here then," Mulder said, standing up. After a quick trip to the restrooms to freshen up they got out of the airport, stuffed Dana and Mulder's bags into the small car, and managed to finally get on their way to Oxford. "This should only take us about two hours," Nick said as he guided the car out of the airport parking lot. <> Dana groaned as she opened the car door and stretched her legs out it. True to form, Nick had gotten them lost and now they were somewhere in the middle of Britain. Her eyes wandered across the street and looked into the window of the store where Nick was yelling into the pay phone to AAA about directions. She slid out of the car seat and walked to the front of the car where Mulder was perched on the hood, chewing his lip thoughtfully and resting his forearms on his legs. Dana stepped up onto the fender and sat down next to him, pressing her body up along his. "Do you have any idea where we are?" Mulder asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Nope," Dana said, resting her head on his shoulder and yawning hugely. "I really don't care either. Right now all I want to do is find someplace I can sleep." "Yeah, it's impossible to do that with his driving," Mulder sighed. Suddenly Mulder shifted behind her, pulling Dana to rest against his chest and wrapping his arms around her waist. Dana sighed and let her head loll back, her short red hair spilling against his dark shirt. "God, I can't believe I'm doing this," she suddenly laughed. "Doing what?" Mulder asked, resting his chin on the shoulder revealed by her sleeveless shirt. She waved a hand in the air. "This! This whole crazy stunt, coming here to Oxford with you. It's crazy!" "Do you have any regrets?" he asked calmly. She grinned and rolled her head to face him. "No," she said. "As much as I can't believe I'm doing this it still feels right. It's time to get away and make my own identity." Mulder hid his grin in her shoulder. She'd been giving him the same answer every time she'd enter her routine. "You gonna call your parents any time soon?" he smirked. "I'll send them a bundt cake, let them know I'm alive," Dana said drolly. "Now why does that sound like something I would say?" Mulder mused. "You must be rubbing off on me," she grinned, and then pressed her lips to his in a sweet kiss. This newfound relationship of theirs was something they were both getting used to, but as the hours went on they realized that the way they were acting wasn't really different than how they were acting before. They wondered if they had always acted that way, that in love with each other, and just hadn't realized it until that fateful kiss on the plane yesterday. Truth be told though that wasn't really their first kiss. Their first one was actually a few weeks back at a party Dana had thrown when her parents were conveniently away at her younger brother Charles's soccer tournament and left the house in her possession. At the party Mulder's ex-girlfriend, Phoebe Green, was hounding him nearly all night. No matter how many times he told her, she just couldn't seem to get it through her thick head that they were long over. So Mulder came up with the, ahem, "brilliant" plan to have Dana kiss him in sight of Phoebe to prove to her that they were over and he had moved on. One has to wonder though if there wasn't some ulterior motive behind this plan. Well that part went off without a hitch. They kissed, for quite a long time actually, and when they pulled back the dazed look on both their faces showed that it affected them more than they let on. And they both learned Phoebe saw when she suddenly tackled Dana, pushing her onto the floor and starting what Mulder was calling the catfight of the century. No one (except for those three) knew how it started, but two busted lamps and one broken picture frame later Dana came out the winner, the only damage to her was a bruise on her cheekbone. Phoebe on the other hand didn't fare as well. After the party though Dana had forced both Mulder and his roommate at UC San Diego into clean up duty to get the house somewhat back to normal before her parents got home again. Their kiss got deeper and deeper until the sound of Nick's voice broke them apart. "Well, well, well, when did this happen?" he said, the smirk evident in his voice. Their lips separated and their bodies moved imperceptibly away from each other. "Can it, Island Boy," Mulder said, discreetly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You know, I don't get it," Nick said as he walked around to the driver's seat. "We both grew up on that damn island, yet how come I get stuck with the stupid Island Boy moniker?" "Just your luck, I guess," Dana said, hopping off the hood. "So where exactly are we headed now?" Nick pointed with the paper he had scribbled the directions on. "About an hour in that direction," he said, pointing the way they had come into the town. Mulder groaned as he slid himself off the hood also. This was going to be a long day... <> Finally the car managed to make its way down the old-fashioned streets of Oxford University. Nick was giving them a few pointers ahead of time about the people who lived in the Pit. "Now they're all pretty loud-mouthed, well, except for one, she keeps to herself pretty much. They all seem to get along well, though if you cross Magda, she's the daughter of the owner, watch out because you won't know what hit you." Mulder grinned and looked back at Dana who was lounging in the back seat. "Sounds like someone else I know." She kicked the back of his seat and he grinned even wider. "Oh, and Mulder," Nick continued, "don't be alarmed if Lucien hits on you." Mulder arched an eyebrow in question at him and he shrugged. "It's just who he is, and I'm just warning you ahead of time because it can get a little disconcerting at times." Mulder shrugged and Dana leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I don't care if it's a guy or a girl who wants him, they want him, they're going to have to get through me first," she grinned, and Mulder twisted to press a kiss to her cheek. "Great, I'm going to have to put up with this for four years now," Nick muttered to himself, but still happy that his friend had found someone, someone much better than the rest of the girls in his not so good past. Soon the building better known as the Pit loomed in front of them. It was really indistinguishable from the rest of the buildings around them, made from the same stones and wood as the others. Nick was the first one out of the car, groaning as his legs stretched out. Next Mulder and Dana stumbled out, the long day really beginning to catch up with them. As Nick opened the front door to the Pit, the other two grabbed their bags from the car and they all hauled them inside. They were immediately greeted by a short girl with curly blond hair that waved all over the place. "So are these our new flat-mates, Nick?" she said with a thick British accent. "Yeah. This is Fox Mulder and Dana Scully," he said as introduction. "Guys, this is Magda Valenkoff." Magda offered her hand to them. "Pleased to meet you," she smiled, and they shook her hand back. She then continued with the rest of the introductions. "That pratt lounging on the sofa is Ian St. John," here a hand snaked over the edge of the couch that waved to Mulder and Dana, and then aimed a middle finger in Magda's direction. "Hello," he said pleasantly and then to Magda, "Bite me, Mags." Magda smirked. "We've got a love-hate relationship here." She then pointed out the girl curled up in an arm chair with glasses and straight brown hair reading a book. "That's Cecily Duncan over there." Cecily looked up and smiled at them. "Hey," she said, her accent much softer than Magda's thick British one and Ian's more Scottish sounding accent. At that moment another boy came walking down the stairs with a camera around his neck. As he came closer to them they noticed that his eyes strayed more to Mulder and Nick. "And this is Lucien Montvale," Magda introduced. As he shook their hands Dana noticed something that the others didn't. He had on glitter eyeliner. "Nice eyeliner," she smiled honestly. Lucien smiled at her. "You really like it?" Dana nodded. "I'll let you borrow it if you like, then." Suddenly from behind her Mulder let out an explosive yawn. With that Dana felt the toll that the long day had actually had on her. Magda caught this and started walking towards the stairs. "Why don't we get you settled in your rooms then." They followed her up to the third floor of the house to two rooms across from each other at the front of the house. "You have these two rooms here. Why not catch forty winks and you can take care of your stuff later." "Thanks," Mulder and Dana chorused. Magda walked back down the stairs, and Mulder walked into the room on the right, with Dana following right behind him. Mulder collapsed onto the bed and toed his shoes off, sighing with relief as his head sunk into the pillow. Dana perched herself on the corner of the bed and pulled her own shoes off. "So, everything okay so far?" Mulder asked. Dana smiled. "It's better than I expected. They seem like really nice people. And I've got a new person to trade makeup with also." She yawned once more and her body swayed on the bed. "Come here," Mulder said, opening his arms to her. Dana gratefully crawled over to him and rested her head on his chest, her eyes fluttering shut. Mulder sighed deeply and tightened her arms around her. Soon, they were both fast asleep. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Okay, I know that from re-reading the first story there are a few differences between them, but this is how I originally pictured it and I guess now I'm just refining it. Also, yes, Nicholas Slider and Cecily Duncan are originally from my Anabelle series, but I'm re-using them here because I like them. ;) Also, calling their place The Pit is a homage to one of my favorite movies of all time, PCU. And once again I apologize for my lack of knowledge of Britain, especially to anyone who lives there. If anyone has any pointers for me to make it more accurate, please feel free to offer them to me at RhiaRamsay@aol.com. back