----- ARCHIVE NOTE ------
              Kelli Rocherolle's Email address has CHANGED.
             To contact her, please use:  kelli@edgenet.net
=====================================================================W
ell, when I sent this to Wizard for her approval, she said 
something to the effect of she was waiting for God to hit the ol' 
control + alt + smite button on the great Keyboard of Life and zap 
me into oblivion for my little addiction to writing smut.  :-)  
Comments can be sent to Kelli at  XMSU55A@prodigy.com or 
Kelli176@delphi.com.  

*The following story is based on characters copyrighted by Ten 
*Thirteen Productions, created by The Man, Chris Carter, and 
*who are the property of the Fox network and are used without 
*permission. No infringement intended.


*****************************

Trouble

Scully sighed inwardly as she sipped her soda.  She could feel the 
stares of some of the patrons on her back as she sat up at the bar 
with Mulder.  They stood out like a couple of sore thumbs in their 
suits and trench coats.  Mulder seemed to be taking it in stride... 
but he wasn't getting the kind of looks she was. 

Mulder casually surveyed the room as he sat with his back against 
the bar.  He was reminded of the case in Lake Okobogee where 
they'd investigated the disappearance of Ruby Morris;  that was 
the last time they had to come into a dive like this one.  Like the 
previous establishment, this one was mostly filled with male 
patrons, but whereas the Pennsylvania Pub had been teeming with 
burly biker-types, this group was of a younger, grungier crowd.  
Their suspect was supposed to frequent this place, but they'd been 
there for hours and yet to see any sign of him.  After questioning 
some of the regulars, they had decided to settle down at the bar for 
something to drink.  Mulder turned toward Scully.  "You want to 
get something to eat after this?"

"Yeah I'm starving."

"I told you we should've stopped at that Steak & Egg."

"Call me particular but there's something about my food being 
served with a coupon for colon surgery."

"On second thought I kind of lost my appetite."

She smiled and took another sip of her soda, the headache the 
music was giving her slowly starting to ebb.
Her eyes rolled over to meet Mulder's.  "Nice music."

He shrugged back at her with a smile, then turned to face the bar.  
He picked up two stirrers and started playing with them absent-
mindedly.  "Hey Scully look, chopsticks."  He leaned towards her 
and started grasping at her wrist with the make shift utensils.  She 
looked up at him and he smiled playfully at her.  She didn't think 
he had any idea what that smile did to her.  

The bartender approached and placed a napkin in front of her, 
then set a mixed drink of some kind on top of it.

"I didn't order that."  Scully followed his gaze down the bar to a 
slick looking Lothario with a ponytail and leather jacket.  He 
looked almost as out of place as they did.

He smiled and, with a wink, motioned to her with his beer bottle.

The corners of her mouth curled into a tight smile and she gave a 
quick nod of appreciation.  Her eyes were wide as she turned her 
head slowly back toward Mulder.  "Tell me that's not the kind of 
man I attract."

He grinned back at her with amusement.  "I don't know, Scully, 
what kind of man are you trying to attract?"  He swallowed 
another mouthful of iced tea.

"I'm not."

"No?"  Resting an arm on the bar and turning to face her, he 
leaned closer.  "Then why all this..."  he motioned to her face.  
"The hair, the make-up, you always look so put together... you 
must be trying to attract somebody."

She could see the mischief in his eyes and cursed him for 
unnerving her the way he did.  Deciding to give him a little back 
this time, she held his eyes.  "It's not about attracting any man, it's 
about attracting the right man," she said pointedly.  Suppressing 
her own mischievous smile, she slid off the stool, landing squarely 
between his legs.  She broke from his gaze and moved off toward 
the other end of the bar.  

He straightened and watched her head away, then stood and 
followed.  Catching up to her, he tried to get her to look at him.  
He stuffed his hands in his trench coat pockets.  "What does that 
mean?"

She glanced sideways up at him but said nothing.

What was she doing?  And more importantly, did he want her to 
do it?  They'd indulged in a little casual flirting now and then, but 
aside from some well-guarded fantasies, he never imagined taking 
it any further.  It wasn't that he worried about destroying their 
partnership, or their friendship;  their bond was too strong for 
that.  Rather, he was simply content with the way things were 
between them.  But what would he do if he got an overt indication 
from her that she was ready to cross that line?  His body seemed to 
be responding in no uncertain terms.  He was attracted to her, no 
doubt about that; and the thought of being with her sent the blood 
racing through his veins.  But is that was she was even intending?  
Or was she just playing with him?  Her expression was 
indiscernible.  "So where are we going?"

"I noticed there was a pool room back here that's closed."

They reached the entryway and looked into the other room.  It was 
fairly dark, only the light sifting in from the open bar area broke 
through the blackness.  There were two pool tables in front of 
them, some stacked chairs and stools... and an EXIT.  They 
approached it for a closer look.  Mulder held the door open as 
Scully stepped under his arm to examine the other side of the 
door.  There was no handle on the outside.  Scully stepped back 
into the room.  "No, he couldn't come in this way."

Mulder closed the door and looked down at her, wondering why 
she wasn't heading back for the bar.

Noticing his curious look, she answered his unasked question.  
"I'm thinking maybe this would be a less conspicuous place to 
keep surveillance."

Mulder looked over at the bar.  They could see the whole area 
from in there, but in that small dark room, no one could see them.  
Mulder nodded and they waited.  

After another twenty minutes had passed, Scully sighed.  "My feet 
are getting tired."  

Mulder looked around, then pulled an upturned stool off of a 
nearby drum case and set it on the floor for her.

"And who says chivalry is dead?" she said, lifting herself up onto 
the stool.  

He smiled smugly.  "The last of a dying breed."

She smirked back at him and returned her attention to the distant 
bargoers.

Mulder watched her out of the corner of his eye.  Yes, it was 
definitely there again... that thing between them:  that feeling that 
the air between them was so electrically charged that the slightest 
spark would set it off.  He couldn't get images out of his mind of 
the Dana Scully he wanted to know, that sensual, passionate part 
of her that he knew was buried somewhere under all that 
professional hardware she put up.  He so desperately wanted to 
free her from it.  And suddenly he found himself drifting closer to 
her, as if lured by some invisible force, until he was standing just 
in front of her.  "So."

"So?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"What question was that?" she asked innocently.

"What does that mean, you're trying to attract the right man?"

"It means I'm trying to attract the right type of man."

He shook his head slowly at her.  "I don't think that's what you 
meant."

"No?  What did *you* think I meant then?"

He stared at her.  His heart was pounding, his mouth was dry--  
this was it.  Turn back now, and things would go back to that safe 
place they'd always been at, or go full steam ahead into trouble.

He never was one to take the easy road.

"I think it means,"  he rested a finger lightly on the inside of her 
knee, just at the hem of her skirt, "you wouldn't let anyone but the 
right man do this..."  he lowered his eyes to his hand as he 
carefully pushed her skirt back the slightest bit.

She watched his hand:  Oh God what was he doing?  Sure, they 
were flirting, that was nothing new, but he'd never stepped over 
that line before.  And she was enjoying every second of it;  his 
finger's touch just inside of her knee caused a sensation like warm 
water being poured over her from head to foot.  She looked back 
up at him, their eyes meeting in unmistakable desire.  They stared 
at each other for a moment, then Scully looked to the side 
suddenly, distracted.  "Is that a dog barking?"

With his free hand he gently turned her face, and her attention, 
back toward him.  "No I think it's the song."  

She followed his gaze back down to her lap as his finger 
continued its slow but steady journey up her thigh.  He slid his 
finger a little further up as the music taunted them...

>hey all right, if I get by

His smile was devilish.

>It's mine...
>mine all mine...

She eyed him slyly and brought her knees together.

He withdrew his hand and took a step closer, his legs coming up 
against her knees.  "I think you're teasing me."

"I'm not teasing you."

He stared at her... and wondered exactly what she meant by that.

"You still want to get something to eat after this?" she asked 
casually.

He nodded with a small smile, then stepped closer, pushing her 
knees apart the slightest bit as he did.  He leaned into her.  "I'm 
still hungry."

The excitement in her eyes was mesmerizing.  "Right," she said as 
the corner of her mouth upturned at him, "hungry like the wolf."

His lips gave the suggestion of a smile.  "Well then it's a good 
thing you give good chase."

She raised her eyebrows at him quizzically.

"Wolves won't go after sitting prey, you know.  They like the 
chase."

"Is that right?"

He nodded and  watched her intently; her legs spread slightly as 
he stood between them.  She peered coyly up at him from behind a 
strand of hair that had fallen in front of one eye, her lips were 
parted the slightest bit.  Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this.

He brought his face closer, closer...  then moved around to her ear, 
then lowered his face to her neck, then back up again, until his 
breath was falling gently against her ear.  "You smell so 
incredibly sexy..."

She struggled to keep her breathing in check as the air started 
coming in long deep gusts.  She could feel the skin of her neck 
prickling at his breath's soft caress.

Bringing his face back to hers, he stayed close;  their noses almost 
touching.  "Aren't you going to tell me to stop?" he whispered.

Holding his gaze for a long moment, she swallowed hard; her 
tongue felt thick in her mouth.  "No..." she breathed.

"No?"  He inched even closer.  "Why not?"

He was working her into such a frenzy she started to tremble.  Her 
eyes stayed locked on his lips, just barely touching her own.  She 
swallowed again.

"Do you want me to keep going?"

She could not remember ever wanting to be kissed as badly as she 
did at that moment. <Oh God just do it, please...>  She nodded 
slightly.

"I didn't hear you..."  he whispered again.

She let out a tremulous breath as their lips just barely touched.  
"Yes," she managed lowly.

He brought his lips to hers lightly, then he kissed her again.  The 
third time, their lips moved fluidly, lazily over each other as they 
explored each other's mouths.  Bringing his hands up to hold her 
face, he continued to kiss her, more deeply this time.  He threaded 
his fingers back through her hair as they kissed; it was soft as 
cornsilk and had smelled as sweet.  She slipped her hands 
underneath his jacket to hold his waist, and she could feel the 
warmth and tone of his body just beneath the thin cotton.

"I want to be alone with you..." he whispered into her mouth 
between kisses.

"We are alone."

"You know what I mean."

A sudden female voice startled them.  "Hey--"

They both looked over at the young woman standing in the 
doorway, looking like two kids caught with their hands in the 
cookie jar.

"--sorry-- you were lookin' for Billy, right?"

Mulder turned slightly and nodded at her.  "That's right."

"Well he just showed up."

************************************

At the police station Mulder and Scully finished up with the local 
authorities as the uniformed officers hauled their suspect away.

Scully shook the sheriff's hand.  "Thank you you've been very 
helpful."

The sheriff nodded and extended his hand to Mulder.

Scully looked up at Mulder as the three of them stood in the now 
empty hallway.  "Well.  I'm just a few blocks away so I'm going to 
walk... I'll see you tomorrow."

They exchanged a long look, then Mulder nodded.

She headed down the hall.

Mulder watched her go, her hair brushing lightly against the back 
of her neck, the soft motion of her hips moving under her coat as 
she walked...  He looked over at the sheriff briefly, nodding a 
quick good-bye, and headed after her.  

He stepped through the elevator just before the doors closed.  He 
adjusted his trench coat and looked down at her.  "Not so fast.  
Where are you going?"

"I told you: home."

He nodded.  "It's just I thought were going to get something to eat 
or something..."  he said quickly.

"Well it's late."

"Yeah."  He stared at her.  The air between them was thick and 
they were both having trouble breathing.  He took a step closer 
and she felt herself start to sway.  His eyes held her gaze.  "I'll 
walk you home?"  But it was not a question.

**********************************

Scully pulled her keys from her purse and opened the door.  She 
looked up at her partner standing expectantly behind her.  She 
eyed him awkwardly.  "You coming in?"

"I was going to..."  he said uncertainly.

They entered the apartment.  Scully heard him shut the door 
behind them as she placed her purse on the coffee table.  She was 
suddenly aware that he was standing just behind her.  Bringing 
his hands around in front of her, he wove his fingers through her 
hair and pulled it off her face, exposing her neck.  He placed a 
kiss below her ear.

A small noise that expressed both pleasure and frustration escaped 
her as she tried to beat down that little voice in her head that was 
telling her to stop this irrational behavior at once.  "Mulder... 
what are we doing?"

"I don't know, but it feels good."

And how could she argue with that?  "We can't do this."

"No but we're going to anyway aren't we?"  He resumed his 
seduction of her neck.  The moist little kisses were making her 
head spin and she continued to weaken in his arms.  He slid his 
hands down and back up under her arms until they were curled 
around her shoulders, then let them drop slowly right over her 
front to the top of her skirt.  Feeling her collapse further back 
against him, he started to continue his journey downward...

With a sharp inhale of breath she turned around to face him.  
"Mulder..."

He took hold of her waist and pulled her tightly against him, 
intensifying his attack.  His breath fell gently against her lips.  "I 
want to make love to you... will you let me?  I want to so 
badly...please..."

She was losing it fast.

"I know you want to..."

Then her legs were losing their strength, her knees gave the 
slightest bit and he tightened his hold to support her.

"Please tell me you want to," he whispered.

She nodded weakly.  "Yes..."

A small enraptured smile surfaced on his lips.  His hands found 
the zipper at the back of her skirt and unzipped it; her breath 
escaped her as the garment slid smoothly to the floor.

He started backing her toward the bedroom, hastily pulling at each 
other's clothes as they went.  By the time they reached the bed he 
was left only in his boxers and she in her unbuttoned blouse and 
undergarment.  He slipped off the last of his confinements and sat 
on the bed, pulling her down with him; his arm held her securely 
as she knelt above him, his free hand held the back of her head as 
he kissed her deeply.  His hands roamed up underneath the front 
of her shirt, sliding it off and onto the floor.  That task completed, 
his warm hands traveled up her back to her shoulders, where he 
took hold of the thin straps of fabric and pulled them off until they 
were hanging loosely on her arms.  His fingers traced her 
collarbone to her throat, then slowly slipped down her front to the 
clasp of her undergarment.  It joined the blouse on the floor.  
Mulder pulled her against him as they kissed, running both hands 
over the smooth, soft skin of her bare back and he was struck by 
how small she felt in his arms;  it only intensified his already 
formidable protectiveness of her.  He took hold of her waist and 
tried to guide her to him, but she kept teasing him by moving 
away just as he was about to touch her.  Finally, in desperation, he 
started to drop his hand to his lap.

She took hold of his hand with a small sound of disapproval and 
shook her head at him.

"You're killing me..."  he whispered urgently.

She smiled demurely at him as she slid a hand slowly down his 
midsection.  Her hand came around him and he almost lost it 
right there in her palm at her feather-light touch.  That was it, 
he'd had enough.  He wrapped an arm securely around her waist 
and pulled her to him.  "No more teasing..." he whispered 
forcefully, his lips curled into the slightest smile.  The pleasure 
washed over him as he sank into her, and as their bodies came 
together at last, it didn't take long before they reached the 
boundaries of their passion.  And when it was over, and their 
bodies slowed together,  her head fell forward against his 
shoulder.  He brought his hands up to her neck.  "Look at me, 
beautiful," he whispered.  Raising her face to look at him, she 
could see the emotion she felt for him mirrored back to her.  She 
buried her face back in his neck, and they held each other for a 
long time, content, ecstatic, terrified, until they could feel their 
bodies start to awaken once more.  Mulder lay her back on the bed 
and she pulled the sheet up around his waist.  He propped himself 
up on his hands, elbows locked and started his movement inside 
her.  Slow and sweet this time around, they took their time 
discovering each other.  Having almost three years of passion to 
make up for, they made love well into the night, until they were 
sore and exhausted and eventually found sleep in each other's 
arms.  

*****************************

They stirred at the same time as the sun streamed through the 
windows.

Scully ran a hand over her face and rested it above her on the 
pillow.  She looked sleepily over at him as he watched her.  "Hi."

He smiled softly.  "Hi."

She closed her eyes again, a small smile tugging at her lips.  "This 
is weird."

He nodded in agreement.  "I know."  He watched her carefully for 
a long moment.  "Regrets?"

She turned her head on the pillow to look at him.  "No."  She 
shook her head at him.  "No way."

Smiling in relief, he rolled on his side to better face her.

"What about you?"

"Yeah, definitely.  I'm just waiting to get some breakfast out of it 
before I bail."  She suppressed a laugh as he pulled her close.  "Of 
course not," he whispered, then kissed her softly.  Then the words 
that he thought he'd never be able to summon came so easily to 
him as his feelings for her filled his heart.  "I love you..." 

She stared at him in surprise, then whispered the words back to 
him as she rested a hand on his cheek.  "I guess things are really 
complicated now."

He smiled at her.  "Things were always complicated between us, 
Scully."

She smiled back.  "So what are they now?"

"Better."  He slid a hand down to the small of her back and pulled 
her against him, smiling slightly.  "Much better."
  
The End




*****************************
Lyrics from Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealin'"