From: msnsc21@yahoo.com   
      
   ok to send to newsgroup; I'll send to Gossamer and Ephemeral. Thanks!   
      
   Headers and disclaimers at beginning of story...   
   Land of the Living II   
   by ML   
      
   ~x~   
      
   Chapter Nine   
      
   ~Georgetown, one week later~   
      
   Scully gives the pot one last stir and turns the burner down.   
   She's never tried this recipe before, but it smells good and   
   with luck it will taste good, too.   
      
   She's been trying all kinds of new things lately.   
      
   The ringing of the doorbell startles her.  If it's Mulder, he   
   usually gives a quick knock and then lets himself in.  A look   
   through the peephole shows it is him, though, and she lets him in.   
      
   He's balancing a bag and a bakery box in his hands.  "As requested,   
   wine, bread, and dessert," he says.   
      
   Scully takes the box out of his hands, getting a kiss on the   
   cheek in return.   
      
   "No peeking," he says.  "That's for after dinner."   
      
   "I don't have to look at it to know what it is," she says   
   airily.   
      
   "You're adding psychic to your considerable list of   
   accomplishments now?"  Mulder asks as he enters the   
   kitchen behind her.   
      
   "No, I just happen to know what you like," she replies.   
      
   "You haven't seen anything yet," he promises with a wiggle   
   of eyebrows, and she feels her stomach do a little clench   
   that has nothing to do with hunger pangs.  Not for food, anyway.   
      
   "Here, the wine is chilled and the bread's still warm."   
   He sticks his nose in the bag and inhales the yeasty perfume.   
   Scully smiles at his beatific expression.   
      
   They've had dinner together every night since he's returned   
   from Greenwich.  That's not so unusual, but Scully cooking   
   is.  She'd issued a specific invitation to Mulder, and spent   
   the afternoon getting ready for the evening.  Not all of her   
   time was spent on cooking, however.   
      
   She wants to set this night apart from all others.  Nothing   
   has been said, but she has the feeling that this night together   
   will end differently from any that has come before.  It   
   certainly will if she has a say in it.   
      
   Without having to ask, Mulder locates the corkscrew and opens   
   the wine while Scully dishes up their dinner.   
      
   They clink glasses but any toast is left unspoken.  The look   
   they exchange says more than any words could express.  They sip,   
   and smile, and settle in to eating.  They speak of ordinary   
   things: Scully's temporary re-assignment to Quantico -- Skinner's   
   punishment for her recent transgression -- and new cases that   
   Mulder's interested in.   
      
   Scully thinks in the past week they've started to find what   
   normal means for them.  She's been giving it a lot of thought   
   recently: what their version of normal is, and what it might   
   look like in the future.  She's begun to realize that in their   
   way they do have a normal life, and it's something that she   
   thinks she can be comfortable with.  Mulder would scoff if she   
   told him, but she thinks he feels it, too.   
      
   Mulder's thoughts are running along the same lines.  He'd   
   called her every night from Greenwich, and the first thing   
   he did when he got back to town was show up on her doorstep.   
   Not with any specific intent, but with a desire to re-connect   
   with Scully in a way he hadn't for a long time.  Over a week   
   of shared meals and good-night kisses, he's come to the same   
   conclusion as she.  They don't need to go someplace else and   
   pretend to be something they aren't.  He can be who he is around   
   Scully, and she can do the same around him.  If that isn't normal,   
   then there is no good working definition of it for them.   
      
   As they're cleaning up after dinner, Mulder says, "I think the   
   house may have sold today.  I got a call from the real-estate   
   agent as I was driving over."   
      
   "That's good," Scully says.  She'd stayed an extra day in   
   Greenwich to help Mulder put the house back in order, and then   
   Mulder made her go back home.   
      
   "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"  she'd asked.   
      
   "I'd love you to stay, but you don't have to," he told her.   
   "I think I'd better do the rest on my own.  I can, now.  You   
   made that possible."  He'd kissed her on the cheek.  "Call me   
   when you get home.  I'll miss you."   
      
   "Me, too," she'd whispered, and then surprised him by kissing   
   him long and hard before turning to her car and driving away.   
      
   That was probably the best incentive Mulder could have had for   
   finishing up in Greenwich and returning home as quickly as   
   possible.   
      
   "I've been thinking," Mulder says now.  "I might put the other   
   houses up for sale, too.  I've held onto them this long for so   
   many reasons, but I don't think those reasons exist any more."   
      
   Scully wipes another dish and waits for him to continue.   
      
   "I was thinking I might start a trust fund with some of the   
   proceeds," he says.  "Just in case..."   
      
   She nods, knowing what he's trying to say.  "I think it's a good   
   idea."   
      
   "I'm glad.  I wanted to know what you thought.  You've never been   
   to the house on the Vineyard.  Maybe you'd like to go before we   
   decide definitively."   
      
   "Are you sure you want to?"  she asks.  Mulder may feel he's made   
   peace with his family and his past but visiting the scene of the   
   crime, as it were, may not be the best idea.   
      
   "There are no more ghosts for me there, Scully.  I think you   
   should see what you're giving up before you give me your final   
   answer," he says.   
      
   "What do you mean?"   
      
   He shrugs.  "It's a nice house, Scully.  I don't know if you've   
   ever had a desire to live in a place like that, but we could,   
   you know."   
      
   She shakes her head.  "No, I don't think so.  If you really want   
   me to see it before you sell it, I'll go with you.  But I think   
   your idea is the best one."   
      
   And just like that, without actually saying the traditional   
   words, they establish that they have a future together.  Scully   
   shakes her head again and laughs.   
      
   "What?"  Mulder says.   
      
   "I think you just proposed to me,"  she says.   
      
   Mulder grins.  "I've been proposing to you for years, Scully.   
   Are you ready to give me an answer?"   
      
   "There's a difference between a proposal and a proposition,"   
   Scully says, eyebrows raised.  "And the answer is yes."   
      
   "To which one?"   
      
   "Take your pick."   
      
   "I'm greedy; I want both," he says, advancing on her.  Her hands   
   are still in the dishwater and he grabs her around the waist,   
   nuzzling her neck.  "I propose we go neck on the couch for a   
   while, and then see where that leads us," he murmurs in her ear.   
      
   She turns her head to kiss him, her lips landing on his ear until   
   he notices and turns so that their lips meet.  She turns and grips   
   his shoulders with her wet, soapy hands and leans into the kiss.   
      
   "Take me to bed," she whispers in his ear.  He looks at her in   
   surprise.  "We're going to end up there anyway," she says.   
      
   "You're awfully sure of yourself," he says.   
      
   "Are you going to disagree?"  she asks, eyes twinkling.   
      
   "Well, uh, no..." he stammers.   
      
   "Quick, before I change my mind," she says, and he looks so   
   crestfallen she has to smile, just a little, before she rescues   
   his ego.  "I'm not changing my mind, Mulder, and you better not   
   be either," she threatens.   
      
   "I made up my mind about this a long, long time ago," he says.   
      
   "Prove it," is her challenge, and he scoops her up in his arms,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)