From: char@chaffin.com   
      
   TALK SOUP   
   By Char Chaffin   
   MSR/UST, PG-13   
   DISCLAIMER:  Clones On Loan   
   SPOILERS:  Missing Scene for "Arcadia", also spoilers for "FTF",   
   "Tooms", "Triangle"   
      
   Written for the BtS Missing Scene/Post Ep Fic Challenge --   
      
   Beta thanks to:  Sallie, Carol, Tess and Robin.  Don't know what I'd   
   do without you wonderful ladies!  And additional thanks to Robin for   
   coming up with the title -   
      
   Dedication:  To Toniann, for her caring and friendship - and for too   
   many other reasons to list!!   
      
      
   Summary:  'There's a time and a place for innuendo...'   
      
      
      
   The clock read two thirty-one AM in glowing green numbers.  He'd   
   already looked at it several times, in between punching his pillow   
   and flopping first on his back, then his stomach.   
      
   Outside the night was quiet and deep, starry and clear.  They hadn't   
   bothered to put drapes up; with the existing blinds there'd been no   
   need.  He'd left them open, telling himself an outside view   
   throughout the night was a good thing.  And after all, he WAS   
   supposed to be on watch.   
      
   More or less.   
      
   The spare bedroom was fairly spacious, walls a creamy white, carpet   
   a thick taupe.  He lay on a very comfortable inflatable mattress that   
   the guys had lent him.  It beat sleeping on the sofa, and with the   
   soft sheets and comforter the air mattress should have rocked him   
   right off to dreamland.   
      
   Except he was on watch.  And his mind was far too busy to sleep,   
   even if he'd been allowed to.   
      
   Their first case since repossession, and it sure hadn't gotten his   
   investigative juices flowing - yet he wasn't exactly bored.  Wasn't   
   really convinced they had themselves a true X-file, either.  Yes,   
   there was something that stank in Suburbia, and they'd find it and   
   eradicate it.  Probably without much effort and definitely within a   
   few days - that was just his gut feeling.  They'd solve it, then pack   
   it up and leave The Falls behind.  They'd both no doubt breathe a   
   sigh of relief, as well... for it was downright creepy here.  On the   
   exterior it was so perfectly executed, the manicured lawns and the   
   ultra-clean houses.  The cheery, perfect neighbors.   
      
   On second thought, maybe it WAS an X-file.   
      
   Mulder turned again, this time on his back, and stared up at the   
   ceiling. His partner didn't want to be here, and he couldn't really   
   blame her.  She was reaching a point of exasperation with him; again   
   he couldn't disagree with her attitude.  He was acting even more   
   idiotic than usual.  Of course, he knew why; when faced with an   
   uncomfortable situation, his smart-ass came out in spades.  It   
   hovered on the surface anyhow, so just about anything could cause it   
   to boil over.   
      
   Like playing 'house' in a picture-perfect setting like this, with   
   the woman he'd spent six years admiring, and more than two of those,   
   loving and desiring.  The woman who seemed clueless on most romantic   
   levels and disbelieving on the rest.   
      
   *******************   
      
   That first day at the Falls he'd been the exasperated one, the   
   impatient agent who thought they'd caught junk detail.  At least   
   Scully had been willing to give it a chance.  As the day wore on,   
   however, it seemed her more positive attitude wilted under his   
   endless joking, innuendos and general in-her-face maneuvering.  He   
   hadn't been able to help himself; faced with a more relaxed-looking,   
   more colorful Dana Scully, it was suddenly difficult to remember she   
   was his professional partner and not his life-mate.  As a result of   
   his stupidity, they'd barely spoken all evening and Scully had   
   insisted on taking watch that night.  Mulder had slept fitfully.   
      
   Baby cats, indeed... what an asshole he could be.   
      
   The next day they'd tackled a strained breakfast, a polite divvying-   
   up of bathroom detail and a more determined case-solving agenda.   
   They'd spent just enough time at Gogolak's house to reach an   
   agreement that he might very well be the source of the neighborhood   
   'stink'... and once again Mulder had irritated the crap out of his   
   partner, with his possessive embrace and snuggling routine on   
   Gogolak's overstuffed sofa.  If he'd had it to do over though, he   
   wouldn't change a thing.  Mulder grinned in the dark; Scully was so   
   very huggable in her cute little sweater and he'd taken full   
   advantage.  And unless he'd been mistaken, there had been a moment or   
   two of definite softening in her demeanor, before she'd snapped to an   
   awareness of who they were - and where they were - and retreated   
   behind her usual cool facade.   
      
   The afternoon had been spent digging through the house for any sort   
   of clue they could find, an exercise in futility.  Both of them were   
   experiencing frustration when they met the Shroeders for dinner.  By   
   then, Mulder was in full smarm-mode, and there was no stopping his   
   diarrhea-of-the-mouth.  If Scruffy the 'CC&R-approved' pooch hadn't   
   been under the table trolling for dinner-droppings, Scully would have   
   probably kicked his shin black and blue.  Added to that was his   
   subtle move to take advantage of their cover, and kiss her when she   
   stood and prepared to join Cami Shroeder for a walk.  The look in her   
   eyes could have dissected oil with a scalpel.   
      
   They'd walked back to the house an hour later in total silence.   
      
   **************************   
      
   Mulder gave up the pretense of relaxing and sat up in bed, rubbing   
   his fingers over his face and through his hair until it stuck up on   
   end.  Rising, he padded over to a window that faced the front yard   
   and street.  The corner streetlight cast a soft glow over the quiet   
   neighborhood and except for a few crickets and an occasional cicada,   
   the night was very still.  He leaned against the wall and stared out,   
   but wasn't seeing much of anything besides the look on Scully's face -   
   well, what he could see of it, under all that pale green goop - right   
   before he'd been banished to the spare room for the night.  She'd   
   been holding onto her patience, he could tell.   
      
   Well, he'd done it again, hadn't he?  Unable to resist the standard   
   innuendo, even though he'd known she wasn't in the mood for it.   
   They'd had a long and irritating day, capped by a tense little scene   
   in the main bedroom, thanks to one Fox Mulder, Renaissance Man.   
   She'd booted his ass out, and his hopes of spending what was left of   
   the evening with her, bit the dust along with his reluctant shuffle   
   down the hall and into the smaller bedroom.   
      
   Damn it all.  It was true things had been awkward between them for   
   quite a while.  They'd just begun to readjust and start to rebalance   
   not only their partnership but their friendship as well.  They'd had   
   some lunches together, a few dinners.  Phone calls between them had   
   lingered a bit longer and had felt a whole lot more comfortable, more   
   like it used to be.  For Mulder it had been such a relief; he'd been   
   out of sync ever since their return from Antarctica.   
      
   He'd pushed any fledgling hopes of intimacy with Scully firmly onto   
   the back burner, since it had become painfully clear to him that she   
   wanted to leave it alone.  The unfinished kiss and the avowal of love   
   relegated themselves to a dim yet recent past, and Mulder tried to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)