From: shawntaw@hotmail.com   
      
   Title: Sleeping Beauty   
   Author: shawntaw   
   Rating: G   
   Spoilers: None.   
   Disclaimers: They showed up at my doorstep this morning with luggage,   
   so now they're mine.  Live with   
   it.:P (Oh, not really, CC, calm down.)   
      
   FOR A CHALLENGE.  SEE NOTES AT END.   
      
   Summary: Comfortable silence.  A decision gently made.  The awakening   
   of true love.  *sappy, ain't it?*   
      
   Please feedback at shawntaw@hotmail.com.  Thank you.   
      
   ****************************************************************   
   ***************************************   
      
   	He was growing weary, she could tell by the slump of his shoulders   
   under the rumpled cotton of   
      
   his dress shirt as he leaned forward from his position on the couch to   
   pull another manilla file folder   
      
   toward him.   
   	Scully let the folder in her hands droop as he reached up suddenly   
   and pinched the bridge of his   
      
   nose.  She wondered where his reading glasses were, the ones she saw   
   so infrequently.  Her question was   
      
   quickly answered when he stretched to grab his suit coat off the arm   
   of the couch and removed his glasses   
      
   from the inside pocket.  With only a moment's hesitation and a   
   sidelong glance at her - she had learned   
      
   he was a little bashful about his glasses unless he forgot he had them   
   on - he placed them on his face   
      
   and opened the file to continue his reading.  She contained her sigh   
   of appreciation, put down her own   
      
   folder and decided to go for more hot tea.   
   	Standing with their two now-cold mugs in hand, she smiled slightly at   
   him when he looked up.   
      
   Seeing where she was heading off too, Mulder said nothing but returned   
   immediately to the case at hand.   
      
   She could see his expression change as he was instantly sucked back   
   into the construction of this latest   
      
   profile.  She thanked God that this case had nothing to do with little   
   children or aliens and headed to   
      
   the kitchen.   
   	Scully loved this silence.  This comfortable, peaceful quiet the two   
   of them were able to achieve   
      
   at times was a balm to her.  She could feel it smooth over some of the   
   chaos in the other parts of their   
      
   lives.  She let the feeling wash over her as she listened to the   
   little domestic sounds of her apartment   
      
   in the utter quiet.  The clink of the mugs, the muted sound of the   
   teapot filling with tap water.  In the   
      
   living room, she could hear the rustle of papers and folders and   
   Mulder occasionally "hm"-ing to himself.   
      
    Sometimes, when he was especially hot on a lead or an idea, he would   
   whisper a few words out loud to the   
      
   empty room. A minute or so later, she decided he must be very   
   engrossed in a file, because there hadn't   
      
   been any muttering from him for awhile.   
   	She was listening to the whir of her refrigerator and the tick of the   
   clock with her eyes closed   
      
   when the whistle of her teakettle caused her to jump slightly.   
   Breathlessly shaking her head at her own   
      
   skittishness, she went about the task of making their mugs of tea and   
   then carried them back out to the   
      
   living room.  It was there that she found him asleep.   
   	Scully felt stopped in her tracks sometimes by the utter beauty of   
   him and this was one of those   
      
   times.  Often it hit her when he was being particularly passionate   
   about one of his crazy ideas.  She   
      
   could be angry with him; she could be verbally sparring with him over   
   his apparent insanity and   
      
   still...and still...a part of her would be staring at his sparking   
   eyes, his expressive hands, his   
      
   defiant stance even as he stood in her personal space, stooping over   
   her.  She often wondered how he did   
      
   that, how he got so close and so in her face without making her feel   
   he was using his stature to   
      
   intimidate her.   
   	She watched him now in careless slumber and felt swept away once   
   again.  His head was thrown back   
      
   against the back of the couch, hair tousled and mouth slack.  His   
   glasses had slipped a little down the   
      
   bridge of his prominent nose and the effect was that of a college   
   student who - with the folders strewn   
      
   on the coffee table in front of him - looked like he'd been cramming   
   for an exam too far into the wee   
      
   hours of night.   
   	The tacky tie around his neck was loosened and crooked.  His cotton   
   dress shirt was wrinkled, the   
      
   arms rolled up sloppily to reveal the golden tan of Mulder's forearms.   
    Scully let her eyes drift down to   
      
   the elegance of his hands.  His hands were so much a part of how he   
   communicated with the world.  Over   
      
   the years he'd touched her arm to ask if she was alright. He'd stroked   
   her face to say he was sorry.   
      
   He'd held out his hands, fingers splayed or pointing - gesturing   
   wildly, to make a point. However, at   
      
   this moment, those hands lay limp - one against his thigh, the other   
   on the couch cushion.  A spilled   
      
   folder lay at his feet.   
   	Scully noticed one of his shoes were untied and for some reason it   
   made her want to laugh as she   
      
   followed his leg up and up. She noted how his knees were folded in   
   front of her coffee table.  His longs   
      
   legs were splayed apart in abandon and for the first time she wondered   
   if he had been cramped sitting at   
      
   her coffee table.  Because he was so adept at making her feel his   
   equal, she sometimes forgot how he   
      
   towered over her in stature.   
   	She carefully placed the steaming mugs on the edge of the small table   
   and crept closer, wondering   
      
   how he would react if she awoke him as the prince awoke Sleeping   
   Beauty.  Her lips curled in amusement as   
      
   she moved closer.   
   	Scully paused.  Did she dare step over his knee to stand between his   
   legs and lean over to   
      
   deliver that much anticipated first kiss?   
   	Thinking back on the years they'd shared, she decided to risk it.   
   She remembered the looks he'd   
      
   given her over the years.  She thought on the touches, the shared   
   confidences.  Scully looked over his   
      
   slumbering form and leaned to gaze at his face.  From here she could   
   see the day's stubble dotting his   
      
   angular jaw.  The beauty mark - "Mole!" he had once corrected her in   
   horror when she'd had the audacity   
      
   to state this aloud - on his cheek tempted her almost beyond her control.   
   	It was his eyelashes that finally did her in. Long and sweeping, they   
   rested on his cheek and   
      
   gave him a look of innocence and youth.  Scully edged forward, ready   
   to change their relationship   
      
   forever.  She thought for a moment that perhaps he wouldn't even wake   
   up.  Perhaps he would never know   
      
   how beloved he was to her.   
   	A soft, chaste kiss on his full bottom lip first and then more   
   firmly, her mouth pressed to his.   
      
   Even with her eyes closed, she knew when he began to awaken. His lips   
   parted and tilted in a small smile   
      
   as he gently kissed her back.  She revelled in the warmth of his   
   breath mingling with hers until a small   
      
   gasp issued from him and he pulled back slightly.   
   	*I've awakened the Prince* she thought crazily as she opened her eyes   
   to meet his blinking,   
      
   hazel-eyed expression of confusion tempered by a small dose of pleased   
   delight.   
      
   	"Scully?" he whispered.   
   	   
   	   
   	She just kissed him again and smiled against his lips as she felt his   
   arms encircle her.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)