Mulder’s Wedded Miss – Hap

Sara B. 05/06

Scully stared out the window not seeing the life occurring outside her motel room.  She didn’t see the rain that matched the tears coursing down her face.  And she didn’t see the man watching her while the rain pelted him.

Mulder stood directly in her sightline hoping she would acknowledge him; to let him in.  He knew she was hurting and that he’d caused her pain; her pain and his own.  He also knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.  His only hope was if they could move on from here.

They hadn’t really spoken for weeks.  Not since the day he woke up in bed with another woman, a ring on his finger and a paper saying they were married.  The woman, though she was hardly that, was eighteen year old Kristen Marie Bremen, or Mulder, depending on how you looked at it.

Mulder had no recollection of meeting Kristen, let alone marrying her, but he had.  Everything checked out.  The Gunmen looked into it and were able to trace his movements from the last thing he remembered, going to a bar called Sundowner’s after a grueling case and a huge fight with Scully.  A fight that he’d picked because he was mad she’d been able to prove that the five men who’d been murdered were victims of hate crimes against gay men and not, as he’d suspected, alien experimentation.

The bodies of the men had been so brutalized that they’d been unrecognizable and only through finger prints and dental records were they able to identify them.  Their faces were, for all intense and purposes, gone.  Organs had been taken and their body cavities had all but exploded.  Scully also found evidence that all of the men had been sexually brutalized before their deaths.

At first, the investigation moved normally.  Scully did her thing and Mulder ran around checking into the evidence to support his theory.  That is when it all went to hell.  While Mulder was nowhere to be found, there was a sixth victim, or there would have been. 

Scully had been able to save the last victim from being murdered.  She’d found that the murderer had been sloppy with the clean up of one of the victims.  All of the men’s bodies had been completely cleaned before their deaths, including an enema; except one.  Scully found semen in one body.  They’d been able to find a match to a registered sex offender.

Scully had tried to contact Mulder but she couldn’t; he’d turned off his phone and didn’t leave any message as to where he could be reached.  She knew that time was against them and they had to work fast.  She led the team in the raid against the farm that Richard Gorum owned.  The team burst into the barn in response to hearing screams and found Gorum brutally raping his latest victim while he slung anti gay rhetoric and blamed ‘his type’ for ruining him for women and causing his divorce.

Mulder was clueless until he returned to the police station where he was overwhelmed with praises for his beautiful and smart partner.  He should have let her bask in the glory but, instead, he accused her of being a glory hound.  He bullied her all the way back to their motel.  Once they arrived he nearly shoved her from the car and pealed out of the parking lot and to his doom. 

Mulder had no recollection of what transpired after arriving at Sundowner’s.  Kristen filled in the blanks.  He’d apparently drunk himself stupid at Sundowner’s then moved on to the local strip club, Cattails, where she worked; Kristen was a stripper.  Man, he can pick ‘em. 

He ended up leaving with her and the next morning he awoke married.  He ran from his marriage bed, grabbed a cab and went straight to Scully.  She took him to the local clinic and had them draw blood and had it analyzed for alcohol content and ‘other things’.  She also called the Gunmen and had them trace his movements to reconstruct the night before. 

Scully interviewed the Sundowner and Cattails bartenders and got statements from them regarding Mulder’s level of intoxication. 

All of this provided the evidence he needed to have the marriage annulled because he had not been sober.  Kristen fought it.  Skinner flew in just for Mulder’s immense screw up and the three of them talked with Kristen.  Only Scully was able to connect with the woman but the cost had been high.

Mulder wanted to talk to Kristen alone but both Skinner and Scully insisted he not see the woman without witnesses.  Skinner arranged to have her brought to the local police department.  She was sitting at the end of table in the interrogation room when the trio walked in.  Scully took one look at the young woman and moved to the room’s only window and looked out. 

Kristen was everything you’d expect a woman in her job looked like, until you got close.  It was then you saw the flaws hidden by the overdone make-up, the hair extensions and the dark roots.  She was very hard for someone so young.  Not to mention she was a younger version of Diana Fowley, Mulder’s dead former paramour and Scully’s nemesis.  Scully wanted to throw up.

Mulder and Skinner tried to reason with the woman but Kristen refused to budge from her position; she was Mrs. Fox Mulder and she was going to stay Mrs. Fox Mulder.  She didn’t know that they had enough evidence for the annulment to go through, but it would be easier with her consent. 

Skinner motioned Mulder and Scully to the corner of the room.

“Mulder, I think we could get her out of your hair with, say, ten thousand, maybe fifteen.  Can you swing it?”

“I can do that.  Do you think it would work?”

Scully’s head bowed as she looked at a file in her hand that neither man had noticed before.  She lifted the file a little.  “Make it five thousand and let me talk to her.”

Scully moved to the table but didn’t sit. Kristen looked up at her defiantly.  “You’re Scully.”  It was more accusation then question.

“You’ve heard of me?”  Scully asked curiously.

The woman’s eyes flitted toward Mulder and she batted her lashes.  “My husband mentioned you, or maybe I should say he called out your name.”  Kristen sneered as the corners of her mouth turned up at her implication.

“How, embarrassing,” Scully paused, “for you.”  Kristen nearly choked on her anger.  Then Scully threw down the file she’d been carrying.  “Let’s cut the crap, shall we?  This is your police record.  Six counts of prostitution in the last four years.  You started young, didn’t you? 

“The authorities tried to get you help but you ran away.  When you turned eighteen you started dancing at that club.”  Scully leaned into the woman, who would no longer look anywhere but at the table.  “That was seven months ago and you’ve been waiting for someone like my partner to walk in the door ever since. 

“I talked with the other dancers.  They don’t particularly like you, by the way.  They told me that as soon as you saw Mulder you targeted him and told the other’s to lay off.  You saw the expensive suit and the wad of bills he on him and that’s all you saw.”  Scully pulled out several papers from the file and shoved them under Kristen’s face.  “Those are statements from the bartenders of the two places Mulder drank at that verify how drunk he was.”  Scully pulled out a vinyl sleeve with three one hundred dollar bills in it.  “These were given to the Justice of the Peace who performed the ceremony.  His usual fee is thirty dollars.”

“So what?”  Kristen demanded.

“So, the bills have your finger prints on them.  Their serial numbers match serial numbers issued to Maryland First National Bank, where a transaction of five hundred dollar withdrawal was made using Mulder’s bank card was recorded.”  Scully threw down the sleeve and pulled out another piece of paper.  “This is the results of Mulder’s blood alcohol level the morning after your marriage.  He was well above the legal limit.  But you know what else they found?  Ketamine, an animal tranquilizer.  I wonder how that could have gotten in to his bloodstream?”

Kristen’s shoulders slumped.  She was not book smart but she was plenty savvy and knew when she was in over her head.  “So, what now?”

Scully sat and looked the woman in the eye.  “All this, she pointed at the items on the table, “means that no matter what, no matter how much you protest, Mulder will get the annulment.”

“Why do you need me?”

“If you cooperate the annulment goes through faster.”  Scully placed her hand on Kristen’s arm and softened her tone.  “Kristen, believe me when I tell you I understand.  If I’d been in your position I may have done the same thing.”  Scully’s voice had gone lower and the woman was responding to her.  “You’ve never had it easy so you were willing to try anything.  You would do anything for Billy.”

Kristen sat up.  “You know, you know about Billy?”

“He’s two years old and you have him staying with a Mrs. Parker.”  Scully pulled a child’s photo from the file folder.  “He’s really beautiful.”  She handed the photo to the woman who held it reverently.

“He’s the only thing I ever did right.”  A smile played on her lips.

“Kristen, my mom has some contacts through several organizations that she belongs to.  She’s arranged for you to start training toward your GED.  A colleague of hers owns a small restaurant and has offered to give you a job and let you live in a studio apartment over the restaurant.  This will let you and Billy live together.”

Kristen was overcome.  “You arranged this all, for me and Billy?  I don’t understand?  You had enough without my help; it doesn’t make sense.”

Scully smiled.  “You don’t have to understand.  Just sign the consent form.  Mulder is also arranging a small fund to help you get settled.  The owner of the restaurant will manage it for you until she can teach you how to handle money.”

The three watched the station’s door close behind Kristen.  “Agent Scully,” Skinner began, “that was very generous of you.  We had everything we needed.  Why did you go out of your way to help her?”

“Maybe I understand the desperations of a mother who would do anything for her child,” she responded quietly. 

“Scully,” Mulder moved to take her hand but she shied away.  “Scully?”

“If that is all, sir,” she directed her comments to Skinner.  “I would like to start that time off I requested yesterday.”  Skinner nodded and she moved to leave.  Not once had she acknowledged Mulder’s presence.

“Scully,” Mulder said again and this time he grabbed her arm halting her retreat.  “Scully, we need to talk.”

“Do we?  Do we, really?  I would have thought we needed to talk when you treated me like shit.  Before you went out and got married.”  Scully jerked her arm away harshly.  Skinner left without saying anything.  “Have you noticed the pattern here, Mulder?”

“Pattern, what are you talking about?”  Mulder was confused.

“I’m talking about how little Foxy gets his feelings hurt, or is mad at the world so he takes it out on his partner.  Makes her feel pretty much worthless then he runs and finds some woman to make him feel like a real man.”  Mulder was stunned into silence.  “But do you know the really sick joke?  It’s me, plain, ridiculously loyal, Dana Scully who ends up pulling your ass out of the fire every frigging time and I am just sick to death of it.  You know what, I’m pretty sick of you too.”

She was gone before Mulder could compose himself enough to respond.

~

That was a week earlier; it had taken him this long to find her since no one was holding out the welcome mat offering him help.  Skinner even went so far as to send him out on a case so Mulder couldn’t bother her.  He’d finally gotten back two days earlier.  The Gunmen out and out refused to locate her for him.  Luckily, for him, Mulder had learned a few tricks from them over the years.  His searches didn’t have the finesse of Langly or even Frohike and it took him almost two days but he finally found where Scully had gone.  She was staying at a small hotel on the outer banks off the coast of the Carolinas.

That brought him back to now, standing there with the rain penetrating his clothes and the wind tearing at him like knives; watching her room.  Mulder wiped the rain from his eyes and looked up in time to see Scully’s door open.  She motioned for him to come in.  Not waiting for a second request Mulder ran to her.  

Once inside she started peeling off his wet clothes; her warm hands caused him to shiver and realize how cold he was.

“I wasn’t sure if you didn’t know I was there or if you did know but were ignoring me, Scully.”

“I didn’t know.  The desk clerk called to let me know that some lunatic was standing in the rain watching my room.  I told him that lunatic was my partner.”  Mulder detected no tension in her which was surprising but comforting as well.  “Finish undressing and get into the shower.  You need to warm up.  I’ll run out and get your bag.”  She held up her umbrella before he protested. 

Mulder opened the bathroom door and re-entered the main room wearing the clothes she’d laid out for him.  Scully was sitting on the bed waiting.  He wanted to break the ice.  “So, how about those Knicks?”

“I prefer the Pistons.”

Mulder grasped his chest.  “Scully!  That is just so not right.” 

“Just so you know, I’m also partial to the Red Wings and the New Orleans Saints,” she paused and looked straight at him.  “But I will concede on the Yankees.”

Mulder barked out a laugh.  He didn’t understand why she wasn’t acting mad at him but he wasn’t going to argue it either.  He knew that it would come to a head in due time so he vowed to enjoy these few moments of companionship.

Mulder ventured to take a seat next to her on the bed.  Her head was down and her hands were in her lap.  Mulder took one of her hands in his.  “I’ve missed you, Scully.”

A small smile cracked on her lips, “I missed you too.  Skinner told me he sent you on a case.  How did it go?”

“We’re not here to discuss a case are we, partner?”

Scully’s head shook and she gently tugged her hand trying to free herself; Mulder wouldn’t let her go.  “No, I guess we’re not.  Not that I really know why we’re here; why you’re here.”

“Scully, you know why,” he couldn’t look at her so he stared at the blank television.  “You have to know that what happened had nothing to do with you.”

“But it did, Mulder.  You were mad that I solved that case.  Do you remember how you acted when you found out that it was my science that led them to the killer and not your instincts?  You acted like I’d done it as a personal assault on you.  You always do.”

“You’re right.  I acted like a spoiled brat.”  Mulder admitted quietly while he played with her fingers.  “I’d had a rotten day and when I found out you solved the whole thing I got mad and took it out on you.”

“Mulder, you’ve often bragged that you are right most of the time.  Like you solve these cases in some sort of vacuum.  Did you ever take a moment to think how many times my science steered you toward the right answer?  Did you never think that maybe just once I’d appreciate you acknowledging my contribution?”  A tear landed on her satin covered breast.

“Oh, Scully. . .”  Mulder had no words that would do her questions justice.

“Then you take off and end up with,” Scully sobbed and couldn’t talk.

“Scully, I got drunk.  I didn’t know what I was doing.  I’m just damned lucky you, and your science, were able to get me out of that mess.”

“That’s just it, Mulder.  I’m always the afterthought.  The Calvary you depend on to fix things when you’ve gone too far.  I can’t do it anymore.  I can’t sit back and watch you run off with another set of big boobs with loose morals and run in to save the day.”  She was finally able to pull her hands free.  “Do you know how many relationships I’ve had since we’ve been partnered?  None, not a one; I only came close once and that almost got me killed.  I never expected you to be celibate but I don’t expect to be the one who has to clean up the aftermath either.”

“Scully, before Kristen, and I cannot actually tell you if I had sex with her, but before her I have had sex with only one woman since you and I became partners.  One, I swear to you.  Her name,” Mulder stopped and hit his head, “God, irony.  Her name was Kristen and she was a suspect in a case I had in California while you were missing.” 

Scully jumped from the bed but Mulder pulled her down, restraining her with his body and holding her arms.  “Scully, Scully!  Listen, I missed you so much.  I never knew it before how much I really needed you, relied on you.  Then you weren’t there anymore and I was desperate.  I couldn’t sleep or eat.  I needed to have a few moments of peace.  That’s all it was.  When it was over I felt so empty and disgusted with myself I threw up.”

Scully’s frenetic movements ceased.  “What happened to her; was she arrested?”

“No, she didn’t commit the crimes.  Kristen was another victim and she died in a fire the next morning.  I think she may have set the blaze.”

Mulder chanced moving off of her hoping she wouldn’t bolt again; she didn’t.  “Scully, she was the only one.  I know you thought that Diana and I,” he paused and took a breath.  “We didn’t.  Diana was willing and she let me know and I won’t lie and tell you I wasn’t tempted, because I was.  It came close a couple times but I never crossed the line.  I couldn’t do that to us.”  Mulder reached for her face and cupped her cheek.

“Why, Mulder, you’ve made it pretty clear that we are just partners.”  She moved away and stood up.

“I’ve made it clear?  What about you?”  Mulder countered.

“Are you honestly asking me why I pull away just when it seems we are making some headway?”  She couldn’t look at him.  “I don’t believe this.”  Suddenly she turned on him and her eyes bore into him.  “Every time I start to feel that we might have a future beyond the X-Files, beyond work, something happens that makes you doubt me.  Then you run off or turn to someone else.”

“Scully, what the hell are you talking about?”  She wasn’t making sense to him.  Wasn’t it him who always went after her?

“Remember a Friday night some years back when you called me while you sat in your car watching the stars.  All night you kept calling me asking for my opinion on deaths in a small town.  Then Bambi showed up and it was ‘not now’ before you hung up on me.  Suddenly you forgot who I was. 

“A few weeks later you tried to get Detective, bad dye job, White to help you solve the mystery of the horny beast.  How about that walking wet dream with the silicone breasts and the wardrobe that if you sewed everything together still wouldn’t be enough to cover a decent woman?  She had you and the entire male contingency of that police station drooling like teenaged boys with their first Playboy.”

Scully moved away from the bed.  “Then there is the mother of all bitches, Diana, fuck me Fox, Fowley.  Every single time it came down to a choice between us, I came out the loser.  Hell, you even ditched me in your dream and lived an idyllic life with her.

“Now, after you and I have a fight, one you started by the way, you go out and find the nearest slut and you marry her.”  She turned away and hugged her center.  “What do you do, Mulder, pick your women from Sluts and Struts?”  The words were cynical but the pain in her voice revealed how deep the hurt went.  Mulder wanted to scream in agony.  “Why am I never enough? Why . . .” Scully’s voice faded out as she tried to choke back the sobs.

“God, Scully, it’s not that you’re not enough; it’s that you are too much.  You mean too much to me and I know I don’t deserve you.  I also know that if I were to really lose you I couldn’t survive it.”

“So you ditch me and seek out the cheapest tramp you can find?  That makes it so much better!  As for losing me, I think it is entirely possible you finally figured out how to do just that.”  Mulder watched her face turn to stone and his knees nearly buckled.  “I think it would be better if you left now.  I arranged for the clerk to get a room for you.  The key is waiting for you at the desk.”

Mulder stood stone still.  He knew she was right; every cruel and ugly thing she’d said was true.  Why would she ever believe he loved her?  How could she?  He’d done nothing but put barriers in their path and shove women in her face.  He was on the brink of losing the only person in his screwed up existence that ever really was on his side.  But still he did love her and he did need her.  Mulder knew that if he left now there would not be another chance.  Scully would be lost to him.

“I’m not leaving, Scully.  We’ve both done enough leaving, it’s time we stayed and figured out how to love each other.”  Mulder returned to the bed, he’d dug his heals in. 

“I’ve always told myself that it was you who kept us from being together.  I see now I was only lying to myself.  Covering up my fears.  I’ve lost everyone who ever meant anything to me.  Mostly they left me but with you I guess I’m so scared of losing you that I keep pushing you away so that when you leave I could blame you.”

Scully took a seat on the other side of the bed but she didn’t look at him.  “Mulder,” she stopped and threw her head back.  “In all these years there have only been two times that I thought of leaving.  When they were going to transfer me to Utah I was willing to give up my position rather than let them make me leave.” 

Scully turned slightly.  “When it was pretty clear that, no, let me say that again.  When you, Mulder, you made it clear you preferred Diana Fowley over me, both professionally and personally I filled out and submitted a transfer request.  Skinner nearly choked when he read it.  He tried to talk me out of it.”

“I’m grateful he succeeded,” Mulder said quietly.

“He didn’t.”  Scully laughed a little at Mulder’s face.  “It was actually you who talked me out of it.  Or rather, I guess it would be more accurate to say, you batted me out of it.  It was a Saturday evening and you got it into your head to teach me how to hit a baseball.”  They both smiled at the memory.  “I suppose I figured that for you to share something so personal to you that I must mean something to you.”

“Scully,” Mulder started to say but she cut him off.

“Let me finish, please.”  Scully looked at him and he nodded.  “I went to Skinner and told him to hold off on that transfer.  He agreed to give me six months to decide.  The next thing I knew you suffered that brain anomaly.  Things moved fast after that and suddenly, you were recovering, Diana Fowley was murdered and I’d come back from Africa after seeing and documenting what looked like a space craft.  My world was flipped from its axis and, as hard as it is to believe, you, Fox Mulder, were the only stabilizing thing in my life.  I stayed.

“We seemed to be moving toward something more.  Then that stupid case came along and your ego got hit with a blow because I was the one who solved it.  You made me feel like crap.  Like I’d set out to embarrass you.  The next day you show up at my motel room door.  You smelled like booze and cheap perfume and you were married.”

Scully stopped while she cleared the tears choking her throat.  Mulder wanted to pull her to him but he knew she wouldn’t allow it.  “The first time I saw Kristen I almost fainted.  She was a dead ringer for Diana Fowley.”  Mulder jumped up and his face registered his shock.  “You never realized that, Mulder?”

“I never really looked at her.  She represented everything I was in fear of losing.  God, Scully, what you must have thought.  You will never know how sorry I am.”

“Sorry is an easy word to say, Mulder, but its sentiment is not so easy.  You’ve often said you were sorry but I don’t remember ever feeling that you really meant it.  Somehow it always felt like you knew you should say it but it never meant much to you.”

“Scully, I will say anything; do anything to make you believe this.  I am sorry and I know I’ve hurt you, hurt us.  If I could take back what happened I would but I can’t.  I’m willing to do whatever you think it takes to fix this; anything.”  Mulder moved to sit right next to her, their thighs touched.

“I’m not sure if this can be fixed.”

“Just tell me you are willing to try.  Please, Scully, just try.” 

“Mulder, why is it always me who has to try?  Why don’t you. . .  Hell, I don’t know anymore.  I only know that I can’t continue to be second all the time.  I need to feel like I matter not just when it’s convenient, but all the time.  It sickens me to think how I’ve debased myself for you.”  Scully stood and walked to the bathroom where she wet a cloth and bathed her face.  Mulder watched her every move as intently as he’d ever done anything.  Her words had not been angry, just those of a woman who’d had too much disappointment. 

Mulder moved behind her as she stood at the sink and wrapped his arms around her.  Mulder was pleasantly surprised that she didn’t pull away.  “Scully, I think I need to get into therapy.  Work through all this.”

“I think that’s a good start.  But, Mulder,” she turned in his arms so they were facing each other, “don’t do it for me, do this for yourself.”  She pulled him closer and rested her head on his chest.  “By the way, I understand you got tested for HIV?”  She asked without really asking.

“Uh, yeah, under the circumstances I thought, well, you know what I thought.”  Mulder stumbled over his words, obviously embarrassed

“That was very smart.  But, Mulder, you don’t have to worry.  Kristen told me that nothing happened between you two.  You were too far out of it for anything beyond sleep.”  Mulder’s whole body shivered and then relaxed.  “Relieved?”

“You have no idea.”  His embrace tightened and he lowered his head to rest on hers.  “Scully, promise me that this isn’t the one.”  Scully looked up into his face, not understanding.  “Promise that this isn’t the straw that broke your back.  That with all the lunacy I’ve put you though that you still have room for one more straw.”

A lazy smile graced her face and her eyes closed.  She didn’t say a word but merely nodded once.

“Thank God.”

Epilog:

Seventeen Months Later

Mulder woke slowly and shook his head to clear it.  It took him a moment to figure out where he was.  A noise caught his attention and he looked to find its source.  She was standing in the bathroom doorway wearing his shirt and a seductive smile.  She moved slowly and with purpose toward him.  “How does this compare with your other wedding night, Mulder?”

Mulder pulled her to him, “this is my only wedding night, Scully.  The only one.”

“Good answer, excellent answer.”

End