TITLE: Autumn Terrace 3
BY: Karen Conrardy
DATE: April 1, 1999
RATED: PG (Two dirty words, coming up)
CLASSIFICATION:  VR, MSR
ARCHIVE: Anywhere (Please, let me know)
DISCLAIMER: I only wish they were mine. I think about them so much,
sometimes I think they have taken up permanent residence in my head. No
infringement of any kind is intended.
SUMMARY: Mulder `fesses up.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'll take any and all feedback at xkarenc@gateway.net It
will be cherished and I promise to reply.





Damn it! Shit. He couldn't even give her a gift without making her cry. He
felt like a total schmuck.

As soon as he heard her footsteps on the stairs again, he knew she knew. She
had only been gone six minutes. Her steps were shorter, clipped as she
approached the end of the couch.

He ran through several options in the eleven seconds it took her to arrive.
He could feign ignorance but he didn't think she would buy that. He thought
about yelling surprise but she might be packing. Marry me? No, that'd
probably freak her out. Instead he pasted on his Be-Gentle-With-Me face and
said "Happy Birthday, Scully?"

Well, that one went over like a lead balloon. He knew what it took for her
to cry in front of him. He could count on one hand the times he had seen her
let go. Not even in the wake of Emily's death had he seen her cry so openly.

Christ! He should be trained at this! With all the tears his sister went
through at the hands of his teasing and then his mother after Sam was gone,
he should know exactly what to say.

He jumped up and wrapped his arms around her before she could move away.
"Jesus, Scully, don't cry-please, I'm sorry. Please, don't cry." He
whispered soothingly. He stroked her hair as she tried to get herself under
control.

She pushed him away and took a shaky step back. "Don't!" She said stiffly.

He cocked his head at her, holding out his hands for forgiveness.

"I-I-"

"Shut up, Mulder." She told him.

His mouth snapped shut.

"Just give me a minute here." She wiped her eyes and slipped the ring off
her finger. She held it up in front of his face, shaking it accusingly.
"What is this supposed to mean?"

"Scully?"

"What does it mean, Mulder? What does it mean to you?"

Well, he'd made his bed, now was the time to lie in it. He had considered
this when he set it up. He wanted them to be everything to each other, the
way she was to him, in his heart. But, of course, he had to make an escape
route if necessary.

He figured there was a small chance she might never notice the message
inscribed inside. If that happened he would offer to take the ring back to
evidence for her and then keep it. He had bought it after all. In fact, he'd
had it for a long time. He had kept it tucked into a secret compartment of
his desk drawer at home, waiting for the right moment.

Last summer had become close to the right moment, but a virus-carrying
insect had screwed that up. So, instead he had gone home to get it, rushed
to have it engraved and then taken it down to evidence the moment he learned
of this case, (which was about five hours before Skinner had assigned them
to it. Hey, he was nosy, after all.).

He gave it to Agent Connors with the explicit instructions to remove all the
other small rings from the box and to make sure that Scully took this one.
He was getting good at bartering with football tickets.

X ~ X ~ X

He remembered when she came into their office after her trip to evidence. He
had to circle her to get a good look at the ring he hoped she was wearing.
He had made some excuse about checking the new paint on the walls. Only when
he saw it on her hand did he ask to see it. With a teasing smile on his
face, of course.

She reluctantly held her hand out for him to inspect it. He nodded
approvingly and said, "Isn't the husband supposed to put the ring on his
wife?"

She shot him a look and took her hand back. She ignored his comment and
said, "It's pretty, not traditional, but very elegant."

A shiver ran through him when she voiced her liking of the ring. "It fits
you well, looks nice on your hand."

"Yes, it does." She replied conversationally. "I was surprised, with all the
jewelry they had down there, this was the only one that fit. Even all the
non-wedding rings were huge."

Mulder smiled, though somewhat nervously. He thought that she might put two
and two together right there. Stupid was something she definitely wasn't.
Jake must have gone overboard and removed every small ring. Oh, well, his
plan had worked so far.

"Hmm." He hummed non-committaly. He turned back to his desk and began
fidgeting with a file.

"Well?" She said to his back.

"What?" His head snapped up.

"Well, let's see yours."

"It's ah, just a plain band." He said without turning around. It had
actually been his grandfather's wedding ring.

"Let's see it."

He turned and held out his hand in much the same way she had hers. She
smiled, gently rotating the ring around his finger as if to inspect all
angles. She looked up at him with amusement in her eyes.

"What?" He repeated.

"I don't know, it's just something I never expected to see on you."

He cocked his head at her, unable to come up with a reply.

"You know, it's like me listening to heavy metal or something. Just doesn't
seem to fit."

His eyebrows shot up. Is that what she thought of him? It saddened him to
realize how little she really did know about him. He pulled his hand away
without returning her smile. "I see."

"Mulder-"

He smiled then, trying to play it off. "Pretty unbelievable, huh?" Those
witty comments were dodging his speech center.

She nodded shortly, not sure if she had hurt his feelings or not. She went
to her desk and set to work on making flight and mini-van reservations.

He watched her from behind his desk with a lump in his throat. She knew him
better than his own mother did yet she didn't get it. She didn't see that he
denied himself sleep, until recently a bed in his apartment, (and damned if
he could remember how that got there), common everyday comforts to find his
sister, the men that hurt them, but only so he could then settle his life.
All he ever wanted was a normal life, something he was denied at the young
age of twelve. He wanted a wife, children, pizza and movies on Friday
nights, and yes, a gold band around the third finger of his left hand. And
he wanted it all with a woman he could trust, a woman that knew him, one
that challenged him intellectually but he could still have a pillow fight
with. He wanted a woman who would cover his back and save his ass. One that
could mend him when he fell. One that he could hold in his arms and make her
feel safe. She was all those women to him. She always had been.

Her admission to the fact that she didn't see him that way made him realize
he wasn't ready to confess this to her yet. Maybe the right moment had
already passed. Maybe it would never come again.

X ~ X ~ X

He took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes. Then he took the ring from
her fingers and held it up before her. He couldn't lie to her anymore.
Either this was the time or it was never coming.

"It means a lot of things, Scully. It means everything."

Her expression told him she didn't understand. And she couldn't conjure the
words to day so.

"It means I want you to be in my life for good. FBI or no FBI. X-files or no
x-files." Good one Agent Mulder. That's an original, demanding, proposal.
Why can't you ever do anything the way a normal man would?

He could see her starting to tremble, confused and red-eyed.

He took her left hand and instead of swinging the ring in front of her nose,
he held it out like an offering to a God, or a Goddess. He realized he'd
better do this right. Scully deserved it.

He dropped to one knee before her, earning him a surprised northward shoot
of her eyebrows. Her mouth fell open, but still nothing came out.

His voice was choked and squeaky when he spoke, squeezing her hand like a
drowning man holding to a life raft. "Dana Scully, will you do me the honor
of becoming Mrs. Spooky officially?"

Perhaps if he had just asked her to marry him, in simple words, she would
have stammered something that sounded like she needed to think about it.
Even though she didn't. But her initial shock dissipated when that inquiry
tumbled from his lips. She smiled through her reappearing tears and
whispered her answer. "Yes."

A grin split his face as he exhaled a long held breath. He slipped the ring
back on her finger and pulled her down into his arms.

"I never-I never knew-" She stammered into his shoulder.

"I know." He whispered.

"How did you-" She asked, gesturing to the ring.

He smiled softly. "I've had that ring a long time. As soon as I learned
about this case I had in engraved and in Connors' hands with a pair of
Redskins tickets."

She leaned back in his embrace, studying his face. "You bought this-for me?"

"Mmm hmm. Back when you were returned from your abduction. But the timing
was never right. First Melissa, then the cancer, then Emily, then deadly
stinging insects-" He trailed off.

He expected, well he didn't know what he expected except it wasn't this.

"Thank you." She whispered roughly and planted her soft mouth on his.

Heaven, pure unabridged heaven. His hands slid into her fiery hair and they
kissed for the first time. Kneeling on the floor, their thighs pressed
together, they kissed and he realized that he had come home. This was it.



-THE END-



AUTHOR'S NOTES: I know, I know, pure sap. I just can't seem to help myself.
They're meant for each other. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Someday they'll look up and realize it too. At least, they'd better-  And
about that reply, I'm here 24/7.  :-)