Title: Entitlements

Author: Andrea

Rating: R, NC-17 -- I never know.

Category: MSR, fluff, Mulder POV

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC and Fox. The
MSR belongs to the fic writers.

Notes: Thanks to Aly and Dan for beta reading.

Archiving: I'd be honoured, but I'd also like
to know.

Spoilers: Never Again, loosely, but assumes all things and
Requiem have not occurred.

Feedback: Yes, please! ardywyn@hotmail.com

WARNING!!! If you thought Scully was out of character in Never
Again, stop reading now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I checked my watch again; quarter after nine and no sign of
Scully yet. It was so unlike her to be late. I considered calling
her, but I knew she was probably still mad at me.

After she'd stormed out of here last night I tried to call her
to apologize. I'd completely forgotten she had plans. She'd
specifically told me she would be leaving early Wednesday because
it was her mother's birthday. I should've written it down. I'd
wanted the autopsy results on that John Doe A.S.A.P. and the
medical examiner in Alexandria was going to be out of town today.
So it either had to be last night, or wait until Friday.

Dr. Danabie never released bodies to us and always insisted on
being present at all of "his" autopsies. I hated dealing with
the man; that's most likely why I forgot about Scully's dinner
plans.

I'd called Mrs. Scully to apologize and she was very gracious,
saying they had rescheduled the meal to the weekend. I doubted
Scully would be as gracious this morning. She faxed me the
autopsy results at about 8 last night. It had turned out to be
a straight forward murder. The connection I thought had existed
between this victim and several others that had turned up over
the past couple of years wasn't there. This man's internal organs
showed no signs of decay beyond that of the rest of his body,
like the other victims had. His body had just been displayed in
a very similar way.

That was going to end up making matters worse. I had made Scully
miss her mother's birthday dinner for nothing. After I'd read the
autopsy report I tried to call her, but her cell phone was turned
off. Knowing it would be about an hour until she got home, I'd
left the office with the intention of talking to her when I got
home. I'd finally stopped trying around midnight, assuming she
had either turned her ringer off or was screening her calls.

I'd almost resolved to try her again when I heard her heels
clicking down the hall.

"Thank God," I sighed; I'd been starting to worry.

When she appeared in the office doorway, I could tell something
was wrong. Most people wouldn't likely notice, but she was a
dimmer copy of her usual self.

"I'm sorry I'm late," her voice was quieter then normal as well.

"That's okay," I waved the incident off. With my record, I was
in no position to throw stones.

"I assumed you'd want to go over that autopsy report." Her back
was to me as she hung up her coat; she still hadn't looked me in
the eye.

"I wanted to apologize about that, Scully, it was a waste of
time. It's not related to the others."

"You had no way of knowing that," she finally looked at me. She
seemed to be squinting a bit and her eyes looked bloodshot. I
was guessing she hadn't slept well and had a headache.

"Would you like a cup of coffee, Scully? I could make some," I
nodded toward the other room. We'd recently acquired our own
coffee pot.

"That would be nice. Thank you, Mulder," her face softened.

While I made the coffee Scully told me about the post-mortem and
how pretentious Dr. Danabie had been. The man apparently got
under her skin as much as he did mine.

"He's so damn territorial," she shook her head. "You'd think I'd
gone in and peed in the corners of his autopsy bay."

I had to laugh at that image. "Can you imagine the look on his
face?" I chuckled as I handed the coffee to her.

"I thought about it, Mulder, believe me," she smiled and took a
 sip of her coffee.

"So what did you do afterwards last night, Scully? I tried to
call, but your phone was turned off." I realized I'd screwed up
again when I saw all the light drain out of her face.

"Mulder, it's bad enough that you want to control what I do when
I'm here, but you certainly aren't entitled to know what I do
with my own time." She set her cup down on the desk and stood
up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"

"I have an appointment at Quantico," she grabbed her coat off the
rack. "It might surprise you to know that there are people who
actually want to listen to what I have to say."

"I said I was sorry, Scully, -- I forgot."

"It was my mother's sixtieth birthday, Mulder. Thanks to you, she
got to celebrate by having dinner alone." She was thrusting her
arms into the sleeves of her coat.

"Scully, I had no idea."

"Would it have mattered?" She snatched her gloves out of her
pocket and stormed out of the office again, slamming the door
behind her.

"Yes, it would have mattered," I told the door with a sigh.

I thought we'd made it past what had happened last night, but
Scully was still angry. She'd made that infinitely clear. I felt
bad about her mother's birthday. I was thinking about what I
could do to make it up to both of them when something on the
floor caught my eye. It was a small slip of bright yellow paper;
it must have fallen out of Scully's pocket when she took out her
gloves.

Thinking it might be something she'd need, I went to pick it up.
The writing on it was pre-printed and my jaw just about hit the
floor when I read it -- "Aftercare for your new piercing". She
wouldn't have! My reserved partner? Just because I pissed her
off? Yeah, I guess she might. But what would she have pierced?
Her hair would've hidden new holes in her ears, but the paper
was from 'Jake's Tattoos and Body Mods'. You don't go to a place
like that to have your ears pierced. There was nothing on her
eyebrow, nose or lip, but she would've chosen something she could
conceal. Nipple, I wondered, putting a hand to my own. That would
hurt a lot and it didn't seem very Scully. Bellybutton, however,
seemed like something she might consider. But according to
Scully, I wasn't entitled to know. That was something I had to
change.

Scully's car was on the street in front of her building when I
pulled up at 8 o'clock that night. I hoped she would let me in;
I had some serious bridge-mending to do.

By the look on her face when she opened the door, I'd say she
was surprised to see me. When I handed her the two dozen red
roses, her eyes widened even further.

"I wanted you to know that I meant it when I said I was sorry,
Scully," I answered the question in her eyes.

"I'm sorry too, Mulder. I shouldn't have flown off the handle
this morning. I know you were asking as a friend, not as senior
agent."

"I was worried --" I began, but the phone rang, interrupting me.

Scully hurried to the phone, flowers still in hand. "My mother,"
she nodded toward the call-display. "Hi, Mom," she answered.

I had a fairly good idea why Mrs. Scully was calling and from the
look that appeared on her daughter's face, I gathered I was
right.

"5 dozen?" Scully looked at me in shock.

"60," I shrugged with a smile.

Her mouth hung open in amazement as she listened to her mother
again.

"You got my mother a string of pearls!?"

"I thought she'd like them," I shrugged again.

"Yes, he's here, hang on a sec." Before she handed the phone to
me, Scully shook her head in disbelief. "You never cease to amaze
me, Mulder. I'm going to put these in some water, I'll be right
back."

"Hello Mrs. Scully," I watched Scully as she walked to the
kitchen.

"Fox, what possessed you to be this extravagant? There was really
no need."

"I ruined your birthday; I wanted to apologize. Dana even told me
she had plans, but I got so caught up in my work that I forgot."

"You already called to apologize, Fox. That was more than
enough."

"I felt worse when I found out it was a significant birthday and
you had to have dinner alone."

"Personally, I didn't want to have a big celebration. That was
Dana's idea. I see no reason to commemorate my sixtieth birthday,
I don't feel 60," she chuckled.

"You don't look 60 either," I assured her.

"Well, thank you Fox, you are very sweet. The roses and the
pearls are lovely, but I hate to think of you wasting your money
on me."

"I'd hardly call it a waste, Mrs. Scully. My parents left me
with 
all this money -- what good will it do me if I can't spend it on
the people who are important to me? It makes me feel a bit better
to know you liked what I picked out."

"They are both beautiful gifts. Thank you again, Fox. I'd be
honored
if you would join Dana and me for dinner on Saturday."

Scully had returned with the roses arranged in a vase.

"I'll leave that decision up to her; here she is. Good-bye, Mrs.
Scully."

"Good-bye, Fox."

After Scully had set the vase down on the sofa table I handed her
the phone. She put her hand over the mouthpiece.

"Take off your coat, sit down," she nodded toward the couch.

I hung my coat in the wardrobe by the front door while Scully
finished talking to her mother.

"I have, Mom, and I will. I'll see you Saturday." She hung up the
phone and smiled at me. "You have her wrapped around your little
finger."

How I wished that was true of Scully. "I wanted you both to know
I am truly sorry." I was still standing by the couch.

"I know, Mulder and I've forgiven you. I know you didn't do it
intentionally. I'm sorry I lost my temper. Sometimes it really
annoys me when I think you're taking advantage of your seniority.
I tend to think of us as equals." She had plunked herself down
on the couch as she spoke. "Aren't you going to sit?" she looked
up at me expectantly.

Nodding, I sat down, but I couldn't look at her. Suddenly I was
terrified that I might have lost the courage to ask her what I
had intended.

"Was there something else you wanted to talk about?" She must
have picked up on my hesitancy.

"Yeah," I decided on the spot that it was now or never. "It was
what you said about your personal life."

"I'm sorry, Mulder; that was anger talking. I know you were
asking as a friend and you were worried about me."

"It's not only that, Scully," I plunged ahead. "It's what you
said about being entitled."

"I'm not following you," she furrowed her brow.

"I want to be entitled." It was out in the open now, and I had
no idea how she would react.

"You are, Mulder. Last night I went out, drank too much and then
did something impulsive. It's my foolish little way of rebelling
when I feel like I'm no longer in control," she didn't look proud
of herself.

"I wasn't strictly referring to last night," I told her, causing
her brow to furrow again. "For a long time now, Scully, I have
wanted to be entitled to things that I'm not entitled to...yet."

"What did you want to be entitled to?" she looked hopelessly
confused.

"To know where you are, to be jealous when other men look at you,
to tell you how beautiful you are, to take you into my arms and
kiss you, to share your bed--"

Her eyes grew wider and her jaw dropped further with each item
I added to the list.

"I love you, Scully and I hope that you love me. If you *did*
love me, would I be entitled to those things?"

She nodded; her eyes still wide. "As long as I'm entitled to the
same things."

"Of course," I responded immediately. "But you don't need to be
jealous of other men looking at me."

"Shut up and kiss me," she laughed.

"So now you think you're entitled to talk to me like that?" I
grinned as I leaned toward her.

"Damn right," she breathed as she weaved her fingers into my
hair.

As soon as my lips touched hers, I knew I was where I'd always
been fated to be. Nothing had ever felt so right. Scully melted
into my arms as our kiss deepened. My hand was about to drift
down to her breast, when I remembered that I still didn't know
what she'd had pierced. I didn't want to put my hand somewhere
that might hurt her.

"Um, Scully?" I asked, reluctantly pulling out of the kiss.

"Mmm hmm?" she followed me back, kissing me on the chin.

"Does this mean I'm entitled to know what you had pierced?"

"How do you know I have a new piercing?" she straightened up
quickly.

Reaching into my jacket pocket, I pulled out the slip of paper.
"You dropped this."

"Oh," she took the slip of paper and looked at it. "Of course
you are, you would have found out soon enough anyway. It was
my --"

"Hang on, let me see if I can figure it out. I've been thinking
about it all day," I stopped her.

"Okay," she laughed.

"Well, it's someplace you can hide, obviously," I began.

"Obviously," she agreed.

"I doubt it's your nipple; I can't picture you doing that."

"Nope, not my nipple," she grinned.

"So it must be your bellybutton," I announced with certainty.

"Nope," her grin widened.

"Not your bellybutton? What's left, unless you --" I couldn't
believe Scully would have done what I was thinking.

"What, Mulder? Unless I what?" she was trying not to laugh.

"Did you have your --" I paused while I tried to figure out how
to phrase it, but I couldn't think of any other way. "Did you
have your clit pierced?"

"Of course not, Mulder. No one pierces their clitoris, not
intentionally. It's the hood of the clitoris that gets pierced,
she rolled her eyes at me.

"Well, that's what I meant, Scully. Is that what you had
pierced?"

"Yup, does that bother you?" She must have been responding to
the look of shock on my face.

"No, not at all," I assured her quickly. "It seems a little on
the wild side for you, that's all."

"I was feeling a little wild," she admitted. "I ended up in a
tattoo parlor last night, but after my last tattoo, I decided
against another one. Besides, tattoos really hurt."

"And getting your clit pierced didn't?" I asked in amazement.

"The hood, Mulder," she corrected me again. "And no, not that
much. Anyway, I was mostly looking at the pictures of the
artist's work and when I was done he pulled another book out
from under the counter."

"Pictures of people's piercings?"

"Yeah, most of them didn't appeal to me, but the hood piercings
for some reason -- I don't know -- I liked the way they looked."
Her admission made her cheeks grow faintly pink.

"Can I -- would you mind -- can I see it?" I sputtered.

"Sure," she stood up and started to undo her jeans.

As she was pushing them over her hips something occurred to me.
"A guy did this?"

"Yes, Mulder, but the process was very clinical; latex gloves,
autoclaved instruments and an exam table in a private room. It
wasn't erotic -- sort of like having a Pap test. You wouldn't be
jealous of my gynecologist, would you?" She was now slipping off
her panties.

I hadn't realized my jealousy would be so apparent. "I guess
not," I admitted grudgingly.

"This, however, I definitely find erotic," she informed me.
Her voice had grown deeper, reflecting her emotions.

Things had certainly changed for us in the last 24 hours. Last
night Scully wouldn't even speak to me and tonight she was
stripping off to show me her piercing. To top it off, she was
confessing that she found the act arousing.

"You and me both, Scully," I chuckled; my own voice reflecting
how much I was enjoying the sudden change in our relationship.

When she sat down she leaned against the back of the couch and
pulled her knees up. There it was; a silver-colored ring shining
around the glistening pinkness of her clit. A little ball hung
in front, falling just beyond the opening in her hood.

I hadn't realized my hand was moving until Scully yelped, "Don't
touch it, Mulder."

"Sorry," I pulled my hand back.

"It's still tender -- mostly from the clamp, I think," she was
peering down at herself.

"Clamp?" I repeated in disbelief.

"Yes, he had to clamp the hood to pull it out and then he used a
needle which went through the holes in the jaws of the clamp. But
he had to keep removing the clamp and repositioning it so he
wouldn't go through a blood vessel," she recounted matter-of-
factly.

"Ouch," I couldn't help squirming.

"I'd had a few drinks," she chuckled. "But now I'm a bit swollen
and it stings a bit; a lot less then I thought it would though."

"When will I be able to touch?" I shifted around, trying to find
a position that was comfortable for my now throbbing cock.

"No sex for two weeks, Mulder," she told me apologetically.

"Two weeks?" I whimpered.

"I didn't think it would be an issue when I had it done," she
pointed out.

"Two weeks?" I moaned and tried to adjust my myself again.

"I'm sure I'll be able to think of something to ease your
discomfort," she lowered her voice suggestively.

My breathing increased rapidly as I realized how beautiful
being entitled to Scully's love was going to be.

end

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