Tantalizing Images
By: Diana Alexander
(di_mulder@hotmail.com)
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: The characters used in this piece of
fiction from the television show, "The X-Files"
are the property of Chris Carter, 1013
Productions, and Fox Broadcasting. No
infringement is intended. Any other characters
used belong to themselves :)

Classification: SR (X? You decide <G>)
Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance
Spoilers: Chinga
Summary: Scully and Mulder are getting barraged
by images... *grin*
* * * * *

The entire situation had started out on a normal
day in the X-Files division, but by the end of
it, both Mulder and Scully were certain that they
were going insane, as though working as partners
in the X-Files division for nearly six years
hadn't already pushed them in that direction.
Scully walked into the office and sat down,
starting to work on the report that was due in
Skinner's office by five o'clock that afternoon,
and Mulder started looking through the possible
casefiles to see if there was a case they could
start on by the next day. It started in the
worst possible place. They were in that small
cramped office alone together just like any other
day. Then they both got hit with that first
image simultaneously...

Scully watched her reflection in the monitor as
she saw the image of herself wrapped in her
partner's arms, giving and receiving an extremely
passionate kiss. After a few moments, her blazer
hit the floor, and then his suit jacket. The tie
that looked like it had been bought at a yard
sale followed quickly.

She felt so much like a voyeur while watching
this, yet she couldn't stop. It was a movie
playing itself through her mind and she couldn't
look away as she watched herself whisper
something inaudible to her partner and his eyes
widened even more before he swept everything to
the floor. Her mirror image looked around at the
chaos and laughed before shimmying out of her
skirt.

He pulled her to him, and laid her down across
the surface of the desk, running his hands down
her still-covered chest, and listening to her
moans appreciatively. Then she heard the pants
of his suit and the boxers hit the floor and
watched him enter her. It was very arousing to
watch herself and her partner entangled in this
way, and to hear the way Mulder panted her name.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, it was
over, and Scully recognized the sudden
sensitivity of her skin and knew she was in
trouble. She closed her eyes, and tried to calm
down, but it didn't work. Then she made the
mistake of looking over at her partner...

His glasses were shoved atop his head and he had
a glazed look on his face, similar to the one he
got on his face when she spoke to him in
scientific terminology. She didn't even have to
be present in the room since once she received a
marriage proposal over the phone while she was
trying to solve a case in Maine without him.

Then she felt his eyes upon her, upon her too-hot
skin and sighed before raising her eyes to his to
see the intensity of his stare. His eyes drank
her in, making the entire effect a hundred
percent worse. She suddenly couldn't breathe,
caught as she was by his gaze.

'I have to get out of here,' Dana thought to
herself urgently, her hands closing into fists
so fight that she felt her nails bite the inside
of her palm. 'I have to get out of here before we
do something that we'll both regret when it's
over.'

The instant she rose from her chair, however,
Dana felt the pull of gravity heighten the level
of arousal she already felt. Her sensitized skin
made her know every shift in the fabric of her
pantsuit. She smoothed it down and strode past
Mulder's desk, feeling him watch her every move.

When she finally got to the women's restroom on
the first floor, Dana was immensely glad that
she hadn't run into anybody along the way. Her
cheeks were flushed in a telltale fashion, and
her eyes were as glazed as Mulder's had been.
After washing her face with very cold water and
touching up her makeup, Dana felt confident
enough to return to the basement office.

"Something is going on here," she frowned as she
exited the restroom. "Something strange is going
on, and I'm not sure I want to find out, but I
have to. We have to."

* * * * *

Mulder shook himself out of the daze he'd fallen
into when the office door seemed to slam by
itself, and looked around. Scully wasn't there.
What had just happened, anyway? The last thing
he remembered was watching her work and then...

'Oh, no, Mulder,' he lectured himself silently
while trying to force his body to calm down.
'You're not going to go there.'

'Again,' he heard a voice inside his head say.
'You're not going to go there *again*, you mean.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever,' he sighed. Whenever he
fought with himself, he could never win. That
was the really sad part of it.


'Hey, I have an idea,' the part of himself that
he always fought with piped up. 'Why don't you
go ahead and tell her that you love her, idiot?'

'But I can't...'

'What? The worst thing that could happen is
she'd tell you no. And besides, you two might
be able to resolve this thing between you two.
I know you've had fantasies about your partner,
but usually you have *some* control over it.
You didn't this time, Mulder.'

'I know...'

'And besides, you usually have a bit more taste
than to take her on your desk. Not much more
taste, but a bit.'

'Oh, shut up.'

Finally, the voice inside his head silenced
itself, and Mulder dropped his head into his
hands with a long sigh. At that moment, a very
familiar voice echoed through the room.
Normally, he loved to hear that voice, but
dealing with this was too much for him to handle
at the moment.

"Mulder, are you all right?"

'I would be if you'd take that sexy voice, face,
and body away from me before I slam you up
against the filing cabinet and do away with this
damned sexual tension that's running high today.'

"Mulder, answer me..." Scully moved in to tilt
his face up to look at her when he looked up at
her, and their eyes met. The sizzle of sexual
energy was nearly audible as they realized how
close they were to each other.

The idea filled his mind of how wonderful it
would be to kiss her, to feel her full lips
against his as their tongues entangled. Just the
thought of it was turning him on again, and he
looked at her. Her eyes still looked dazed, and
she was staring at his mouth like she wanted to
devour it.

She shook her head and started to pull away, but
Mulder rose from the chair and pulled her against
him. "Please, Scully, will you let me kiss you?
I just want to know what it's like to kiss you,
just once."

'You're lying, Mulder. You know once is not
going to be enough.' That annoying voice was
back to telling him what to do again.

'Shut up.'

"Mulder, I don't think this is such a good idea,"
Scully sounded like she'd been running for a mile
in those high heels of hers.

"What's one kiss going to hurt?"

Scully sighed, and he could tell that she was
finally going to stop fighting what both of them
wanted. "All right, Mulder, but just one kiss."

"Only one. I promise."

'You have your fingers crossed behind your back.'

Mulder didn't even dignify that comment with a
response, but ran his hands through Scully's hair
first. He loved her hair. It was so soft... she
tilted her head to look up at him.

"I thought you wanted to kiss me, Mulder, not
make love to my hair with your hands," Scully's
voice was lightly teasing, and he could tell by
her expression that she was really enjoying it.
He was thankful for his eidetic memory so he'd
remember how she looked.

Slowly he lowered his face to hers, and placed
light kisses on the eyebrow that arched to
question his every insane theory, to the nose
that was so prominent in her face, and finally,
he moved to worship her lips. Her fingers
creeped into his hair to hold him where he was
as she parted her lips and allowed him inside.

All of a sudden his earlier idea about taking her
against the filing cabinet seemed like a really
good idea, only it wasn't the way he wanted to
take this relationship with her. They had had a
certain kind of old fashioned courtship, and so
when he finally made love to Scully, he didn't
want it to be against a filing cabinet in their
office.

He pulled away, gasping for breath and struggling
for control, only to nearly lose it again when he
looked down at her expression. Her eyes were
closed and her lips were still parted, swollen,
and wet.

"Mulder..." she panted, "we need to find out
what's going on here. I mean, this isn't exactly
normal behavior."

"No," he responded, surprised by the sound of
his own voice. It didn't even sound like him.
"This is *definitely* not normal behavior, even
for the X-Files."

"That report has to be turned into Skinner by
five today..." Scully frowned slightly. "But
there's no way I'm going to be able to work after
this."

"Screw Skinner..."

He regretted saying that when a mischievous look
crossed her face and she pulled away from him
enough to reach down and caress him teasingly.
"Mulder, do you really want to screw *Skinner*?
I'm hurt... I thought I was the only one who
turned you on."

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with
the real Scully?"

The moment the words passed from his lips, Scully
started giggling.

"What's so funny?" he looked at her indignantly
until she regained her composure.

Her composure was intact so fast that Mulder
thought that he'd imagined it. "Nothing. What
do I have to do to prove to you that I'm the
*real* Scully?"

An idea popped into his mind, an idea that had
played it out in numerous fantasies since Scully
had gotten the damn thing a year ago.

"Show me the tattoo."

When she heard his request, she pulled away from
him. "No, Mulder."

"No?" he arched an eyebrow at her.

"Well," Scully said nervously, looking around,
"I just don't want to finish this here. It's
dangerous..."

"Like teasing me like you were wasn't dangerous?"
he growled in response.

"I wasn't in control of my senses. Something is
going on here, Mulder. We're usually better than
this... I mean, we're both aware of this thing,
but..." she trailed off and looked up at him
expectantly.

"I understand, Scully..." For a moment they stood
looking at each other in silence, then she moved
in and whispered in his ear on her way out the
door.

"My place. As soon as you can get there without
breaking traffic laws."

He grinned and followed her, whispering, "I'll
be there."

* * * * *

Scully sighed wearily and leaned against the
refrigerator, relieved to feel the coolness of
it through her thin silk shell. She had no idea
what had caused this intense arousal -- so
intense that it had made her more daring than
she would have been normally -- and she wanted
to find out. She *needed* to find out.

Only slightly less than she needed Mulder right
now. 'Damn, where was the man? He said he'd
here as soon as he could without breaking traffic
laws, right? Hmm... maybe I should have told him
to break traffic laws to get here faster.'

The door to her apartment closed with a soft
click at the same time as Scully felt her eyes
drift shut in lazy enjoyment of the vision
before her. Mulder was lavishing such
attention to her that she felt like she was some
sort of goddess in his eyes. His lips gently
caressed her shoulders as he stood behind her.
His hands moved up underneath the silk shell she
was wearing, and he leaned over to whisper in her
ear, "Show it to me, Scully."

Scully wasn't sure when the vision blended into
reality, but Mulder was actually whispering that
into her ear at the time. She reached down and
pulled the shirt off, tossing it in the general
vicinity of the sofa in the living room. Mulder
dropped to his knees on the cold tile floor to
study it intently, as though it was the answer
to one of his X-Files, or one of his wildest
dreams.

As his fingers danced along the eternal circle
etched on her lower back, Scully leaned into the
refrigerator, pressing her forehead against the
freezer door. It seemed impossible, but just the
sensation of his fingers on her back was making
her feel things that she hadn't felt in a long
time. Finally, she had enough and turned
suddenly to face him. As she looked down at him,
he remained in that submissive stance as they
looked at each other for a long time.

"The kitchen, Mulder? Do we really want to
finish this here?"

"Well, I admit that it wasn't exactly what I
planned while I was driving over here," Mulder
grinned sheepishly. "I guess I kind of got
carried away."

"More visions?"

"How did you--" he looked up at her and grinned
wider. "Oh, right. Never mind."

Mulder rose to his feet, and she pulled him
closer, and they shared yet another passionate
kiss. When he finally pulled away, he leaned his
forehead against hers and murmured, "I guess I
lied, Scully. It was never going to be just one
kiss."

"I was hoping you were."

They both laughed before she turned and headed
out of the kitchen and toward the bedroom. She
smiled at the feeling of his hand against her
bare skin. So many times he done that particular
gesture to guide her in or out of a room, but it
felt different this time. It would probably feel
different from now on.

Her bedroom was dimly lit, and Scully watched him
in the light as he pulled the shirt off and threw
it towards the chair he had sat in nearly a year
ago. She had been surprised at that point, but his
presence then had not been a surprise. It
definitely wasn't one now.

Finally, he turned to her and opened his arms to
her, and she walked into them, and they set about
ending almost six years of almost intolerable
unresolved sexual tension, and afterwards, curled
up together and fell asleep in each other's arms.

* * * * *

AD Skinner's secretary Kimberly knocked on his
office door, and waited for his gruff voice.
Finally, she heard a "Enter" and she pushed the
door open, carrying the file that had recently
appeared on her desk into his office.

"Someone delivered this to the front desk, but
I didn't see who it was, sir," she handed him the
file and watched as he flipped it open. He
slipped off his glasses and pinched the bridge
of his nose.

"It's the report that Agent Scully was supposed
to turn in at five," Skinner responded since
Kimberly seemed to be waiting for an answer.
"She's early, actually. It's only three-
fifteen."

Kimberly smiled, and slipped out of the office,
giving a thumbs up to the small monitor mounted
near the corner of her desk. On the other side
of that monitor, a barrage of giggles burst out
from the fifteen or so females who had sat and
watched the entire turn of events with pleasure.

Di leaned back with a self-satisfied smirk on her
face. "What did I tell y'all? True love conquers
all."

"True llove, you mean," another corrected. "For
them, it has to be llove."

"Of course, DA," Di responded. "It's always llove
when it's Mulder and Scully. Do you think they
can keep it together."

"Did you ever have any doubt?" grinned a close
friend of Di's.

"Now that you mention it, C..." Di grinned
suddenly. "Of course!"

With that, all of them exchanged grins of triumph
and headed out after turning the monitor off.
After six years of hard work and devotion, it
finally paid off...

* * * * *

-End-