Chapter Text
It was just supposed to be a short trip to Sweden investigating an X-file, something about an alien that was driven by the cold that Mulder hadn’t been able to stop talking about, but it had turned into something Scully couldn’t have made up even in her wildest dreams. Four days, with a short layover in Frankfurt and then she would be back in DC again. It’s not like she didn’t like the cold, to be honest Scully quite enjoyed it - it reminded her of her childhood, playing in the snow with Melissa whilst Maggie transformed their house into a Christmas paradise - but spending days so far north, with barely any chance of seeing the sun, made her want to curse Skinner for even bringing Mulder’s attention to this case at all.
In fact there had already been an investigation by the Swedish police department into the four murders, all linked by suspicious marks around thighs and neck - strangluation, is what any normal person would say. What Mulder believed was an alien searching for a contrast between hot and cold, the police had gone with the idea of a serial killer. So much so that they reached out internationally and by a chance, the metropolitan police in London had had a similar couple of similar unsolved murders last summer and at once the investigation had become global news. And so Scully found herself in northern Sweden, in a town whose name she couldn’t pronounce, trying to - as she so often did - find the middle ground between Mulder’s reasoning and the more rational, logical way of thinking of the police.
Had Scully known who would be joining them to represent the MET, she would’ve done everything differently without changing a single thing. It drove her insane and it made her complete. The first time she saw her she was standing outside the police station, speaking to one of the detectives Mulder and Scully had talked to earlier. Mulder was pulling up in their rental car and Scully couldn’t help but gawk at the woman though the window. Her hair was blonde and rather than being caught in the wind, it looked like the wind was caught up in her - performing a passionate dance for her liking. The soft curls never once got in her face, instead they moved softly in the wind as if it was water, cascading over the woman’s shoulders.
As Scully stepped out of the car she found herself struggling with her frizzy red hair, fighting a losing battle with the same wind the blonde seemed to have a love affair with. As they got closer Dana could make out the distinct characteristics of her face. Ivory skin and eyes like ice, her lips looked soft and seemed to purse every time the detective said something that wasn’t to her liking. From 50 feet away Scully felt like she could make out all special mannerisms the woman had; from the way she caressed the hair that got too close to her face, merely helping the wind moving it away, rather than pinning it behind her ear, to the way her shoulders were slightly moving up and down. For anyone else it was barely noticeable, but Dana could tell it was to keep her a bit warmer. Even in the cold wind the woman was standing with her coat open letting the wind onto her chest.
Scully shrugged and pulled her own coat even tighter around her body as if that would help the blonde to stay warm too.
As she tried her best to walk over the parking lot without looking like Bambi on ice, she couldn’t help but notice the woman was wearing stilettos. Most people wearing an open coat without a scarf or a hat accompanied by black 4 inch heels in this weather would probably be deemed incompetent or dumb for not being able to dress properly. However that did not seem to apply to this woman and Dana found herself thinking she would bet more money than she was making on this trip that the blonde would be able to walk perfectly fine over the icy parking lot. It was something about the way that she carried herself, with the poise of someone who knew they had the world by her feet, but someone who didn’t act on it as often as one would assume…
Dana quietly huffed, what the fuck was she thinking. What gave her the right to analyze the woman like that? And besides it was Mulder who had a psychology degree not her. She wondered quickly if he had been thinking about her too, but abandoned that thought as fast as it had come up. As of late, Mulder didn’t seem to have a single thought in his head except for that stupid hot-cold-addict alien he was on about.
“Mulder! Scully! I’m Erik, we spoke on the phone.” Dana was pulled out of her thoughts by the detective calling their names. She still hadn’t gotten used to the Swedes’ absolute lack of care for titles. Though, that didn’t seem to be the case with the blonde:
“I want you to meet Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson with the Metropolitan Police, she will be working with you these next couple of days. She was also the leading officer on the cases back in London, so if you have any questions - she has the answers!” The detective chuckled at his own introduction and Stella raised her eyebrows at him, making him quickly gather himself.
“I was just going to hand over our files to her so you guys can take a look if you want.” He held up a bag. “Unfortunately I have got to run, but DSI Gibson has my number if something comes up. Otherwise I’ll see you tomorrow!”
As he left Dana couldn’t help but smile, it seemed like a simple raise of eyebrows had caused the man to lose his footing on earth.
“DSI Gibson, we’re Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder with the FBI,” Scully said as she tried to compose herself and tried to have a more proper introduction between the two parties. She felt Mulder’s eyes burn her skin, probably upset that she’d introduced them by their full names, Mr. I don't even let my mother call me Fox. But she ignored it and reached out her hand, and found herself begging to a God she’d cursed more times than she could count, that the blonde would take it.
“So I’ve been told,” Stella answered as she took her hand. Despite the cold and her lack of clothes, her hand was warm and that combined with her accent almost caused Dana to fall over. She knew she was British, of course she was British, she’s with the MET but, Oh My God she’s British. As their eyes met, Dana considered calling it a day and telling Mulder that Stella was the alien they were looking for. Because there was nothing terrestrial about the way her cold blue eyes seemed to pierce Scully, but with a heat she’d never experienced before. Stella eyed her up and down, taking in every inch of Dana’s being before turning to Mulder, licking her lips before she spoke:
“I take it you’re the one posing, how do I put it - alternative theories - to this case?” She asked as she shook Mulder’s hand and he nodded eagerly, like a school boy being told one of his paintings was beautiful.
”Though, DSI Gibson, I wouldn’t say ‘alternative’, actually there have been several sightings of UFOs all over the world and Scully and I have spent years-“
As Mulder kept rambling about previous cases and bits of proof they’d recorded, Stella's eyes drifted back to Scully. The agent was younger than herself, about 10 years give or take if she had to take a guess. But still she couldn’t stop herself from indulging in the redhead’s looks. Her plump lips were sealed together as she listened to her colleague explaining something she’d probably heard a hundred times before. She had a light around her Stella couldn’t remember seeing in anyone for a long time. Though she could tell there was something else hiding underneath, if she only could look deep enough in her eyes she might find out what. As if Dana was more intriguing than the case itself, Stella had her gaze fixed on the redhead, studying every inch of her being like she was about to add a degree in Agent Dana Scully to her resume.
“Should we take this conversation inside?” Scully smiled, seeming to have interpreted Stella’s intense stare as a way of communicating discomfort. Without saying a word, Stella diverted her gaze from Scully and walked inside the police station.
The urge to find out more about Agent Scully was long gone as they found themselves in a more comfortable climate. She couldn’t afford to let herself go like that, afford to let herself get under someone’s skin.
But as Dana removed her coat, she couldn’t stop herself from letting her gaze linger on the curves of her body. Though they were slightly concealed by the suit she was wearing, which looked like it was about two sizes too big as if to make herself appear more masculine and thereby get taken more seriously, Stella could tell she had a great body. A body she wanted more of.
“-Anyways what I’m saying is - dismissing ‘alternative’ explanations will inevitably make any investigation take more time.” Suddenly she was back on the same frequency as Mulder’s rambling. Back on earth. Sweden.
“Mulder,” Dana warned as she looked at Mulder. His eyes were big like a puppy’s as he waited for Stella’s approval. Though she admired Mulder’s belief in his own theories, she had a feeling Stella didn’t.
“Mhmm,” Stella hummed. She hadn’t really been paying attention to what Mulder had been saying. In her career she’d done hundreds of reviews and investigated even more cases on her own, but in that exact moment Stella Gibson had absolutely no idea what to do and where to start. Whether it was because of the unusual theories offered, or a certain redhead, she didn’t want to know.
“Mulder, I'm going to take a look at the tox-reports with the pathologist that we saw earlier today,” Scully said as if she was Stella’s saving grace, calling for some type of action, making out some type of plan. “DSI Gibson, did Erik tell you anything else about the case that we needed to know or am I good to go?”
“No he didn’t. At least nothing I couldn’t find in the reports…and, please call me Stella.” She stared into Dana’s impossibly blue eyes and then, with a smile on her lips, the redhead was on her way.
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The meeting with the pathologist didn’t tell Scully anything she didn’t already know, or couldn’t make out on her own. It was yet another thing she could add on her list as to why this trip was unnecessary. By each passing minute the list grew longer and longer as she expected a call from Mulder telling her what he was up to. She stole a glance at the clock in the office. 5.36pm and not a noise from her partner. This trip had been his idea from the very beginning, his theories, his longing for another revelation. Scully almost felt ashamed for allowing herself to get dragged along once again as if she was his suitcase; inches below him, filled with the extra knowledge he couldn't carry himself. All she wanted at the moment was a hot bath, a glass of wine and to curl up in her own bed.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a knock on the door.
“Come on in!”
She couldn’t stop herself from breaking into a smile when she saw Stella step in through the door frame. She had taken off her coat and carried it over her arm. Dana quickly ran her gaze over her exposed body, drinking her up. Her silk blouse, her tight skirt that hugged her curves flawlessly, her toned legs... And there’s the sole reason this trip is bearable.
“Am I disturbing you?” Stella asked in an impossibly British way, making love to each and every vowel of the question.
”No, no not at all. I was just wrapping up,” she said as if she hadn’t been finished for hours. Dana sat up straighter in the chair as Stella started walking towards her, the sound of her heels like bolts of electricity through the ground and into Scully’s body.
“Good.” It was barely a whisper as Stella put her briefcase on the table before leaning back against it. “Any revelations?”
“More than realizing this trip seems like a waste?”
The corners of Stella’s mouth curved slightly upwards. “Want to waste it together?” She asked as put a hand on the back of her head, massaging the muscles by her hairline. It instantly drew Dana’s attention to her neck, her skin, and the veins. God she wanted to run her tongue over those veins and place bites on her pulse point.
“Huh?” Dana exhaled, slightly taken aback by her own sudden desire.
“Would you care for a drink?” Stella clarified, her voice as mundane as if she was asking about the weather. Her eyes met Dana’s, the color in them like the calmest and stormiest sea at the same time.
“Sure, just give me a second and I’ll call Mulder,” Dana answered, seeming to have interpreted ‘you’ in its plural form. It wasn’t in her realm of possibilities that Stella would only ask her out, she was merely a way for Stella to claim her real prize - her brown haired colleague. She hadn’t missed the way Stella looked at him, the hunger in her eyes as he ran a hand through his hair, or the way her lips parted when he took her name in his mouth.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Great, she’s already gotten to him first. Of course she has.
“Just you and me,” Stella clarified before Dana’s mind could run any further.
Dana inspected the older woman as she grabbed her briefcase from the table. Not yet daring to assume her intentions, but not wanting to dismiss them.
“Yeah sure, okay. Hotel bar?”
“If you don’t know anything better…I don’t suppose there is much else to do in this town.” Stella stood back up and put on her coat, gracefully lifting her hair out from where it got caught. “You coming?” She asked as she eyed Dana.
“Mulder has the car keys so I have to wait for him,” Scully said in a tone that was way calmer than she actually was.
“Mulder left two hours ago-“ Stella gave her a questioning look as Scully’s mouth fell open -“He didn’t tell you he was going to check out the place they found the most recent victim?”
“No he didn’t…he must’ve forgotten...” About his partner he’d spent the last four years of his life working with.
“Mhmm,” Stella quietly hummed, deciding not to push her on it as she once again had to remind herself not to get too invested in the redhead. She watched as Scully gathered some papers on the desk before putting them in her bag and reaching for her coat and scarf, being more prepared for the weather than she was.
“Is that why you’re asking me for a drink? Out of pity, because he forgot about me?” Dana suddenly asked as she wrapped her scarf around her neck and buried herself in warm filt.
“No it’s because I find you interesting,” Stella stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Interesting?”
Stella stared her deep in the eyes before dropping her gaze to Scully’s lips and letting them linger there for a second too long, before returning to her eyes again. Dana realized her breath had become shallow under those intense seconds and had to look away to gather herself.
When she looked back Stella was already halfway out the door, waving her hand at Dana with her own car keys dangling from her fingers.
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“Have you and Mulder ever had sex?” Stella asked out of the blue. She was sitting next to Scully in a secluded booth in the far end of the hotel bar, eying her glass of whisky. Her right leg was crossed over her left, causing her entire body to be turned towards the other woman. Every time their legs touched Dana’s body got hotter, and Stella’s question was like gasoline on her fire.
Scully quickly swallowed her wine before she could choke on it. “No. No we haven’t. Why would you-“
“I see the way he looks at you Dana,” Stella interrupted.
“Well I saw the way you looked at him, Stella.” Dana smirked, taking another sip of her wine. Her cheeks were hot and pink, although whether it was from the alcohol or something else, she didn’t quite want to know yet. Ignoring how she felt her entire body heat up under Stella’s stare, and the familiar pulse between her legs every time Stella’s knee touched hers.
“He’s handsome.”
“Yes he is,” Dana nodded. “But I think we’re too far gone now for anything to happen. I’ve known him for years and he hasn’t even made an attempt to kiss me or ask me out.”
“But you would want him to?” Stella asked as if she was interrogating her. Dana had a hard time believing the blonde ever dropped her stone cold facade in front of anyone, but all of the sudden found herself desperate to prove her own hypothesis wrong.
“I suppose so…at least in the beginning. Now?” Her eyes found Stella’s. If their conversation was a poker game this was the moment Dana decided to go all in. “Now I find the idea of other people much more thrilling.”
Had she blinked she might’ve missed the moment Stella’s pupils dilated, but she didn’t and got to witness it happening from the first row.
“What about you? Have you ever slept with a colleague?”
“Yes,” Stella answered point blank and even though it was the answer Dana was expecting, she was slightly taken aback by Stella’s bluntness.
“How did that impact your work?” Dana watched closely as Stella reacted to the question. Suddenly there was a far off look in her eyes and she reached for another sip of her whisky.
“Sorry…you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Dana quickly said after realizing she’d hit a nerve.
“Don’t apologize.” Stella turned her head back towards Dana and took a breath. “It didn’t work out great the last time.” Stella’s mind drifted to James Olsen. James Olsen in her bed. James Olsen staying put as she fucked him. James Olsen not asking any questions. James Olsen leaving, just like they’re supposed to do. James Olsen driving home. James Olsen’s child.
James Olsen getting shot.
James Olsen’s picture next to hers on the front page of the news.
She couldn’t count the times she’d cursed herself for what’d happened in Belfast and no matter how many ways she tried to figure out where it all went wrong - it all came back to that night. If she’d only picked someone else. If she had stopped for a second to think. Grab someone from the bar like she used to, not pick out a fellow officer as if he was a toy on a shelf.
And no matter how many times she tried to tell herself that wasn’t the case, that he’d come to her room of his own will, she couldn’t stop her mind convincing her it was her fault. Had she not been with him, Rose might’ve never gotten hurt. It was a far fetched assumption, but one Stella had spent countless nights telling herself was true.
“Does that mean it’s not gonna happen again?” Dana‘s voice pulled her back to reality and Stella didn’t know if she was making it up but she swore she could detect a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“Are you interrogating me, Agent Scully,” Stella answered, ignoring the question. For now at least. For now she wanted to stay with the redhead. For now she wanted to tell herself she wasn’t making the same mistakes again.
“And you’re going to pretend you didn’t do the exact same thing to me five minutes ago?” Dana laughed and reached for another sip of her drink.
Stella took another sip as well. To her Dana’s laugh sounded like church bells, ringing out over the city telling its people that the war was over. That they were safe.
That Stella was safe in her company.
They sat in silence, gazing at each other as they finished their drinks. Dana once again found herself wondering if Stella ever let someone in. Truly. It didn’t come across that way to her, sitting across the table from a woman who dodged questions as if they were bullets. Something about her had captivated Dana, and as she stared into her empty glass she wondered how she ever could let it go, how she would be able to call it a night.
“Would you like to try out the sauna, Dana?” Stella suddenly asked. Maybe she didn’t want it to end just yet either.
“The hotel has a sauna?” Dana smiled and Stella nodded, as if there was an obvious answer.
“It’s right by the sea so you can go back and forth between the hot and the cold.”
Yeah, Stella was definitely the alien Milder was looking for. Too bad he decided to bail on her earlier today, or he might’ve gotten a chance to experience Stella Gibson in her prime.
“I…I didn’t bring a swimsuit…” Dana said nervously, not wanting to miss out on this opportunity - Stella asking her to spend more time with her - but not wanting to embarrass herself. “I mean it’s not like that’s the number one thing that one thinks of when going to Sweden in December. Maybe in July but December? So you know I really would like to but you-“
“No that’s okay,” Stella interrupted her before downing the rest of her drink, knowing fully well she herself had her own swimsuit in her hotel room, never leaving for a trip without it. “The Swedes do it naked.” She winked and got up, leaving Dana blushing on her seat. Hearing the word ‘naked’ leave Stella’s tongue, her British accent accentuating every letter, made a quiet breath escape Scully’s lips.
“Meet me in the lobby in 15 minutes.”
And then she was gone.