SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

By Sara Lynn

 

*DO NOT ARCHIVE WITHOUT PERMISSION* I like to know where my story goes. I'll post this on ATXC myself

SUMMARY: Something old, something new, time is borrowed and no one's blue.

SPOILER WARNING: Travelers (It will make no sense if you haven't heard the stuff about the wedding band)

RATING: PG (borderline, but around PG)

CONTENT WARNING/CLASSIFICATION: MSR -- cause I cannot write anything else.

DISCLAIMER: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully are mine. I have them on my wall (does that count?). Nick's mine too. Just ask anyone that went with me to the Expo.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to everyone that wrote. I've never had so much feedback. And I have a present for you. This is not the last one… I have one more after this!

* * *

Feeling like a child again, Dana crawled through the mess of her closet floor in search of a box. Not just any box however, a red shoebox with a giant flower on the lid. She looked at the pile of shoeboxes in the back corner. At least six… no, seven were red. Yanking each one out she tossed them into the bedroom. Of course, she was unable to see where they flew.

"Owww!"

Dana peeked out from under her long coats and dresses to see Mulder sitting on her floor rubbing his chest.

"Watch where you throw those things. Any lower and I might never be a whole man again."

"But that would require you to be a whole one to begin with." She made a face at him then ducked back into her cubbyhole.

"What's in this 'special box' of yours?" He picked up one of the boxes and looked at the lid. The one in his hands had a black X drawn on the top with a black marker. The others shoeboxes also had picture drawn on them.

"Pictures and stuff."

"So why do they have these symbols on top?" He picked up another one with a baby rattle drawn on top.

"It's for different times in my life." She crawled out with two more boxed and plopped down in from of Mulder. She crossed her legs like a pretzel and lined up the boxes in some order Mulder was clueless to. "The rattle is for when I was a baby. The rabbit is my childhood. The flower is for my teenage years. The book is for college. The stethoscope is from medical school. The martini glass is my adulthood in general. The X is for everything dealing with the X-Files."

"So what's in the X box?"

Dana lifted the lid and showed him the various objects she had. Letters from thankful victims. Various newspaper clippings where they were mentioned. A picture of them taken at some FBI function they had attended. Mulder pulled the picture out to study it.

"Wow. I cannot believe you still have this. This has to be over four years old."

"Yeah, we look so young." She joked as she took it from him and placed it back in the box.

Mulder grinned at her as he reached for the box with the rabbit on it. He opened it and found several pictures of Dana and her siblings. "Who is this adorable girl?" He pointed to a picture of Dana in her first Sunday school dress. She just smiled at him. "You are so cute." He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek.

"Anyway, I wanted to show you this one." She lifted the one with the flower for emphasis. Dana walked over to her striped bed and dumped the contents on the mattress. Mulder followed and sat down beside her. She lifted a small photo of a couple at a formal dance.

"Is that us?"

"Yea. Boy, I should have actually looked through this box when I was organizing them. See, I still have the poem you wrote me." She handed him the folded up note.

Mulder opened it up and forced himself not to break into a smile. "Dana is the girl I love. She fit into my live like a baseball glove. I hope I have a place in her heart box. From your deeply devoted and loving Fox."

"What a poet."

"Boy, was I a dork." Dana started laughed and tipped back onto the pillow.

"Mulder, You're too hard on yourself."

He smiled and tried to sweep the memories back into the box before he hurt them in a zealous move. Placing the shoebox on the end table, he turned back to his object of affection. "Can I ask a real pointed question?"

"Only if you'll accept a really pointed answer."

"Why did you take me serious when I told you to call me Mulder?"

Dana shrugged.

"Even after you realized … You still haven't called me by my first name."

"You want me to call you…" She paused letting his name come out on a whisper. "Fox."

He smiled. The sound of the name was beautiful as it passed through her lips.

Scully shrugged. "I don't know. The boy I knew from high school was Fox. The man I've known for the past five years is Mulder."

"How about the man you've been sleeping with as of lately?"

"He's different. He's a little of both. The passion of Fox with the body of Mulder. Best of both worlds."

* * *

Hours … many, many hours later, Fox lay next to Dana in bed. One half of the couple stared out the bedroom window at the rain hit the window. The other rubbed circled on their lover's shoulder. Both were sated and after years of maturity, there was only so much a thirty-year old body could endure.

"Are you going to sleep now?"

"Scully, I'm not that old."

"That's not what I mean. I wanted to talk."

"Good talk or bad talk?"

She giggled. "Definitely good."

Mulder looked back at his partner from the window. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her hand moved down to now rub circles on his chest. The rain had brought in the cold and the couple found that body heat alone could not fend it off. Wrapped in the blue-gray comforter, a cocoon warmed them right up.

"I wanted to know what we were going to do."

"About work? I'm sure we'll be fine…"

"No. I mean outside work. Are we..? I mean you brought up the ring."

"You said it yourself, Dana. It's just not official yet."

"So we… You really do want to..?"

Fox pulled back the bedsheets and walked out of the room to retrieve something from the living room. Dana sat up clutching the comforter to her bosom. Mulder might not have any qualms about walking through her home naked as a jaybird, but she was still modest.

Looking in the room as he returned, Fox found himself getting lost in the eyes on the woman waiting for him. She looked curious and scared at the same time.

"What's wrong?"

"Why did you leave?"

"I wanted to get this." He opened his hands and showed her the tiny box he held. One in each hand. The same size. No apparent difference. "It's a choice. Pick one."

She pointed to the one in his right hand. He placed the other box down and opened her choice. On a cushion of cotton sat the most gorgeous ring she had ever seen. A emerald, sapphire and diamond combination on a thin gold band. She gasped and covered her mouth.

"It's an engagement ring. I wanted to get one for you."

"Ohmygod…" She looked up with tears in her eyes.

"Would you like to see what's in the other box?" He handed her the second box for her to open. Her hands were shaking, but she managed to open the top. Inside was a plain gold band. Looking up, she saw the smile form on Mulder's lips. "It's yours. I got you your own. Read the inscription."

Dana picked up the ring and tilted it toward the only light in the room. "To my only love." She looked up at his face. "That's what my mom had inscripted on my father's ring."

"I know."

"Oh Fox," she opened her arms and hugged him about the neck. He hugged her back, laying his head on her shoulder. His hands were clenched, holding a ring in each.

"I love you, Dana."

"I love you too, Fox." She leaned back and placed a kiss on his cheek.

Fox opened his hands while reaching for hers. He placed the engagement ring on her right ring finger and the plain gold band on her left. Taking one in each of his, he raised them to his mouth. "This is to something long time promised." He kissed her right hand. "And this is to a new beginning." He kissed her left. Things were the same as always, but now they were the way they should be.

 

END