Title: Technology Bites 8^)
Author: Laura Sprys
Date: 5/18/2002
E-Mail: short_and_cute@hotmail.com 
Rating: between a G and a PG ...   
Category: MSR
Summary: Technology bites but then again ... so will Mulder 
if you ask him to
Spoilers: DON'T PANIC: There aren't any spoilers. I swear. 

Disclaimer: Scully and Mulder will forever belong to 
Gillian and David -- who've made them flawed, beautiful and 
above all else, unforgettable.

$&%&$&

Technology Bites 8^)
by: Laura Sprys

&%&$&%&

The only thing Scully was sure of at this moment was that 
her clothes had to go. As soon as she had locked her front 
door, the blazer hit the chair, the blouse landed on the 
couch, she walked out of her shoes and, as she continued 
down the hallway, the pants dropped to the floor in a black 
puddle.

The rest of her things came off in her bedroom and two 
minutes later, she re-emerged, clad in a gray tank top 
and pajama bottoms. Heading straight for the kitchen, she 
grabbed a large spoon, one of her jars of homemade strawberry 
jam, the half-gallon of milk and a towel.

Setting her armload down on the coffee table, she dug out 
the remote from the couch cushions where Mulder usually 
left it and settled in for an evening of welcomed 
mind-numbing channel surfing and sugar consumption. 

She had almost made it though her second spoonful of jelly 
when there was a knock on the door.

"Go away Mulder, I'm busy being totally unproductive."

"Then can you slip your laptop under the door so I can u
se it out here in the hall?"

The debate on whether to let him in or shoot him ran swiftly 
thought her mind and she only got up to open the door because 
her gun was way over on the kitchen counter.

She opened the door with the spoon in her mouth and, 
talking around it, "I expect to get paid for this ... 
well paid."

"You'll drown in overtime."

Stepping sideways to let him in, she offered a spoonful, 
"feel like a major sugar rush?"

Gratefully swallowing the tempting red jelly, "ah, can 
feel my teeth starting to rot already."

"Then you'll need this."

He took the milk jug, "you mind?"

"Not a bit ... using a glass would just give me one more 
dish to wash."

Knocking back a few swallows, "that hits the spot."

"Glad you approve." Heading back to her couch and pillow, 
"computer's on the table. Go for it."

Hitching up the kitchen chair, "I started home to do this 
and realized that I left the new cable for my keyboard at 
work and I didn't feel like going back to get it."

From her refuge on the couch, "have fun."

"Of course, isn't work always fun?" The snort Scully 
replied with made him smile, "my sentiments exactly."

$%&&$&%$&

He was half finished an hour later, taking only a short 
break to argue the finer points of grammar with his partner, 
"does anybody really care if I punctuate?"

He received a playful slap to the back of the head for 
that one, "how the hell did you ever get anything 
published?

"By bribing the editor."

"Makes sense."

"You know you have a tendency to read over my shoulder?"

"Would you prefer I sit in your lap?"

"Sure. Then you wouldn't complain about not having a desk."

"Which reminds me ..."

"Go away woman. I'm tryin' to work here."

"Give him a computer and he thinks he's a god."

"Give her two lips and she'll talk your ear off."

"Give him two black eyes and he'll see blurry for a week."

"Give a Scully credit where credit is due."

By this time both were grinning, "you almost finished?"

"Probably another half hour or so."

Straightening back up, "would you mind if I headed to bed?"

Hating to see her pajama-clad form leave, "nope. I'll lock 
the door behind me."

"Thanks," Without a thought, she kissed the top of his 
head and ruffled his hair a bit, "good night."

Caught completely off guard and loving every minute of it, 
"see you tomorrow."

$&%&$&%

Mulder woke up with his head resting comfortably on a 
pile of paper. Sitting up slowly, he ran his fingers 
through his hair, making it stand on end. Given that the 
clock on the stove said 5:58am, he brilliantly deduced 
that he'd fallen asleep. That revelation out of the way, 
he stretched his stiff muscles and headed for the only 
thing he could focus on at the moment, the coffeepot.

Just the mere thought of caffeine did wonders for him and 
once the aroma found his nose, he felt his brain waking 
to join the rest of his body.

Moving to rummage through the fridge for something to eat, 
he grabbed the milk and stood up in time to see Scully 
stumble into the kitchen.

Squinting in his direction, "Mulder?" Clearly she had left 
most of her voice back in bed, "what're you doing in here?"

With a slightly embarrassed shrug, "it seems my work was 
so invigorating that I had to nap from all the excitement."

As she shuffled towards the sink, she got a glass of water 
and, managing to wash away most of the croak in her voice, 
"that would explain the ink on your cheek."

"The hazards of the FBI."

Giving him a sleepy grin, "what're you making me for 
breakfast?"

Turning back to the counter, "coffee's all I've managed so 
far but I know I saw some cereal here somewhere."

"Right cupboard, second shelf."

After he found it, he turned back to her, "Lucky Charms? 
Ye who preacheth 'healthy or perish' eats Lucky Charms? The 
guys are gonna love this."

"Don't push it or I'll tell them that I heard you humming 
songs from 'Mary Poppins' the other day."

Sliding a bowl to her and bringing the rest of the milk to 
the table with him, he sat down, "you're vicious, you know 
that?"

"Just eat your cereal."

Giving her a milk coated smile, "yes ma'am."

$&%&$&%

The day went quite well, neither of them was fried, boiled, 
smacked around, shot, suspended or threatened. They even 
managed to get out before seven, unprecedented for the last 
couple of months.

Hollering goodbye to each other in the parking structure, 
Scully was home and bundled on the sofa with her book in 
58 minutes flat --- another unheard event.

And as typical good days go, the interruption inevitably 
followed. "If that's you Mulder, use your key. If it's not, 
I'm not home."

The lock jiggled a second later and her tall, dark, 
disheveled partner came in, "you're not going to believe 
this."

"Is that anything new? Lemme guess, forget the cable 
again?"

"No, remembered it just fine but when I hooked it up it 
still didn't work."

Trying her best to hide her smile, "and ..."

"And I have no idea what's wrong with the stupid thing."

She stopped trying and chuckled at him, waving her hand 
at the kitchen table, "enjoy."

$&%&$&%&

Mulder was barreling though his report and had nearly 
finished when his screen went dark, along with the rest 
of the lights in the house.

Given that she was a Navy brat, Scully had figured she had 
known every swear word in the English language but the 
string of expletives rolling off of Mulder's tongue blew 
that theory straight out the window.

Finally he returned to civilized English, "this thing 
doesn't happen to automatically save now does it?"

Coming into the kitchen, "you, my friend, are in luck. 
It saves every five minutes or so, so you ought to be fine."

He let out a relieved sigh, "good, then I don't have to run 
over it with the car."

After digging up a few fat candles and numerous stumps 
that had once been fat candles, she carried them and a box 
of matches back into the living room. Considering the sun 
and nearly finished setting, the apartment was getting 
dark fast, "the power ought to be back on in about an hour 
or two. Come on over ... pull up a cushion."

After settling in the chair and watching Scully light the 
candles, "this happens often then?"

"Enough to know that the whole block is out and we've got 
some time to contemplate the world."

"The world? According to Mulder or to Scully?"

"Whichever will generate the less wordy answer."

"That'd be according to you then."

$&%&$&%

After shooting the totally inane yet vastly entertaining 
shit, they both fell to a comfortable silence, until Mulder, 
in passing, "you know. It's been awhile since I've seen you 
by candlelight."

Caught off-guard by such a personal comment, "I ... have you 
ever seen my by candlelight?"

"Well, our first case ... out in Oregon ... it was by candle 
light that you decided I was an alien chasing, obsessive, 
selfish, insolent, narcissistic son-of-a-bitch."

Turning instantly serious, "I've never thought of you like 
that?"

Leaning forward a bit, his elbows on his knees, "you're 
beautiful."

Now the red clearly showed on her cheeks, despite the 
dancing shadows, "thank you."

Biting his lower lip suddenly, he grinned and stood up, 
"want anything to eat?

"Sure." She followed him back into the kitchen "it's right 
about now that I'm glad I have a gas stove."

&&#&&$&#\

The power didn't come back on for another three hours and 
when it did start up again, it interrupted a heated game 
of Monopoly. 

The T.V.'s sudden blare made Scully jump, nearly toppling 
several of Mulder's hotels. "I forgot the power was out."

"Whoever said you couldn't have fun in the dark."

"I know you can have fun in the dark but I've never been 
vertical at the time."

Mulder gasped and in a bad southern accent, "I do declare."

"You make a shitty Scarlet."

Shrugging, "I never liked wearing corsets anyway."

"O.K. then ... a bit too much information."

"Wow. You cut up bodies for a living yet the thought of me 
in a dress makes you ill. I think you're more messed up 
than me."

"To each his own Mulder. To each his own."

Waggling his eyebrows at her, "so, wanna turn of the lights 
and have more fun in the dark?"

Trying not to give away her vivid mental images, she gamely 
asked him, "what? Another game?"

"Naw ... I was thinking more along the lines of some neckin'."

She couldn't help but grin, "neckin'? People still do that?"

Enjoying the exchange immensely, "yeah, I hear they like 
it a lot."

Tilting her head sideways and exposing her neck, "well then 
... here you go ... neck."

Without hesitation, he leaned in and immediately began 
chomping playfully at the exposed flesh, snapping his 
teeth and snarling every so often.

Laughing got the better of both of them and as Mulder 
collapsed onto the floor, he caught the corner of the 
board with his knee, hotels and property flying everywhere.

Eventually, when their giggling fits had calmed a bit, 
Scully leaned over the edge of the couch, "you're the best 
I ever had."

"Damn woman ... we need to get out more."

#&&#&#$&

After Mulder had finished his papers, Scully walked him 
out to his car. Contemplating for a second, he kissed her 
quickly on the cheek, "thanks for tonight."

"Anytime. My laptop is your laptop."

Waving as he started down the road, he whispered with a 
sly little grin, "although one of these days, I think you 
need to kiss me back."

#^$#&&

That night seemed to have set a trend. It was exactly a 
week until Mulder showed up on Scully's doorstep again, 
"damn computer says it needs to be defragged and given all 
the porn on there, it could take days." It was this night 
that he lost a bet on whether or not she knew all the 
words to 'Joy to the World' and discovered she listened 
to 'Moby'.

The next Thursday it was a jammed disk and the presentation 
of Scully's new 'Moby' CD in payment of his lost bet.

Eventually, after about two months of these Thursday's, 
Mulder showed up without an excuse. Scully decided not to 
bring it up until they were arguing their way through a 
game of 'Scrabble', "so, no computer work tonight?"

"Nope."

Still studying her letters, "feel like coming over for 
dinner tomorrow?"

After putting down the word 'mixer' following Scully's 
'cement' and recording an obscene amount of points, "I 
actually was thinking I'd like to take you out to dinner 
tomorrow night."

With a twinkle in her eye and a 32 point word, "my cooking 
not good enough for you anymore?"

Gaining another 15 points, "naw ... I love your cooking. 
Just thought I'd take you out to this really bad Chinese 
dive about a mile from here."

"You know, this is beginning to sound an awful lot like a 
date."

"I was hoping."

Allowing herself a smile, she added a 14-point word to the 
board, "but if it's a date, we're going to have to deal 
with that whole awkward goodnight kiss thing at the end."

Putting down his final four tiles and effectively winning 
the game, "well, we could always get it over with now ... 
then we won't have to worry about it."

Her eyes locked with his, "good idea, but it might take 
quite awhile for feel comfortable doing it."

"I've got all the time in the world." Leaning across the 
table, both forgot about who won the game the moment their 
lips touched, "and I'm fully prepared to devote it all to 
you."

"You won Mulder."

Going back in for another kiss, "yup, and you're the best 
prize I could ever have gotten."

$&%&$&%$&

Thanks for reading ... enter anytime ... my stories like to 
have visitors (all of which can be found or can be found 
soon, at the gossamer site - either under Sprys, Laura 
or Sprys, L.)