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“I’m sorry, I know this isn’t convenient”
All of Mulder’s things from his former motel room had been transferred into Scully’s. Needless to say, it had been a rough trip already for the both of them.
As she unlocked the door, Scully sighed. “It’s not your fault, Mulder” she said. “You don’t need to be sorry”
“I just feel like I’m … you know… intruding” Mulder said. While he had been in motel rooms with Scully before while working on cases to either talk work stuff or occasionally to eat dinner together and watch a movie on TV, he had never shared one with her. How it would work for them was a completely different story. Did they share the bed? Did one of them sleep in the bed and the other on the floor? "It's her room" Mulder thought as he braced himself for a night sleeping on the carpeted floor. He had guessed it was cleaned before them checking in but how thorough they were with that was another question. His couch would feel like a California king after this.
“Mulder, you can have the bed tonight, you need a good night’s sleep after everything”
“No, I can’t do that to you. You didn’t throw that cow into my room. It’s not fair to you. I’ll take the floor.” Mulder replied. He was used to sleeping in weird positions on his couch. Even when he had a bed, he slept on the couch the majority of the time. He liked watching a late-night movie and often fell asleep before the end. Getting up after that felt like a waste of time to him most nights.
“We can share. It's okay.” Scully finally said after a few moments of silence.
He looked at her, somewhat surprised that she had actually said that.
Scully sensed his confusion at that suggestion. "I'm serious. We're adults. We've known each other for years. It's fine" she said.
Mulder was surprised to hear her say that even though it had been what he had been thinking. He proceeded with caution, he wasn't about to push his luck. They both got ready for bed. Fortunately, his luggage had survived the cattle damage and he didn't have to worry about not having anything to sleep in.
Later that night….
“God, why couldn’t they have given us a bigger bed?” Scully said, annoyed. It was a queen size she had thought originally. It might actually have been a full. At this moment, she felt like it was a twin size. She scooted over, trying to give Mulder some extra room for his much-longer legs, but she accidentally rolled herself off of the bed and onto the floor.
“Scully, are you okay?” He leaned over to check. She was fine, just startled.
Mulder moved over some more in the bed. After a few seconds of recovery from her fall, Scully got back in the bed. Mulder rolled over carefully to not have his own mishap and then he faced Scully.
“You okay?” He asked
“Yeah, it didn’t really hurt” She replied. “I’m fine”
Mulder reached out and put his hand on Scully’s shoulder. She gave him a little smile even though she was barely awake and then closed her eyes and was probably asleep within five minutes. As a man that frequently struggled with insomnia, he was envious.
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Scully had set the alarm clock for 5 AM, which Mulder hadn't been aware of. The sudden beeping completely startled him and he nearly fell off the bed this time. There had been a few quick moments where he had woken up in the middle of the night and he would catch quick glimpses at his sleeping partner and smiled. She was adorable and looked so cute peacefully sleeping after her fall.
After leaving the class of 1979 to enjoy the rest of their night, the trip back to the motel was fairly quiet and uneventful. Scully couldn't stop thinking about her mini-speech to Sheila in the bathroom. Was Mulder now more than just her friend? Was he the only person she could imagine being with? She had no idea where the whole thing came from, but she heard herself and her words repeating in her head over and over again during the car ride home. As Mulder parked the car, he could tell that even though his partner was only inches away from him, her mind was a million miles away.
He tapped her shoulder gently. "Earth to Scully! Earth to Scully!" he said, jokingly. At one point in time, that would maybe have been met with annoyance and/or an eye roll from her. This time, she playfully moved her body away, giggling.
She smiled at him. "Sorry" he said, kind of pulling himself back. He could tell that Scully was more or less amused by that wakeup call. He then grinned "just my way of getting a little revenge for this morning. Who gets up at 5 AM?" He said, now laughing.
"Mulder!" Scully replied, now laughing. This was it. This was exactly what she had been thinking about earlier. Their relationship was definitely rooted in friendship. But was it more now? She wasn't sure how he felt. She had her suspicions. There had been a huge shift in their relationship, especially since their return from Antarctica. If tonight Holman had been brave enough to confess his feelings, couldn't she do the same?
"Scully, have you ever gone to a high school reunion?" Mulder asked as he got out of the car.
"I haven't actually" she replied, getting out and closing the door behind her. He looked at her, perhaps expecting her to elaborate. "I moved around so much as a kid. At the time that I graduated, I had only gone to that school for three years. I barely knew anybody. What about you?"
He chuckled "I've never gone either. I didn't really have a lot of friends and I don't really care to see anybody from there again. I couldn't wait to get out of there back then." Despite his confession, he was still smiling.
They started off to their room and Scully began to rummage through her purse, in search of her room key.
Once it was in her hand and her hand was on the doorknob, Mulder placed his hand on hers as she started to twist the knob. She looked up at him, curiously.
He gazed at her, this time he couldn't deny it. He gazed at Scully and he was proud of it. He then moved in to kiss her.
Her lips met his. He placed his hand on her back and she moved her hand to the back of his head. Somehow it automatically became the most romantic moment of either of their lives. High school boyfriends and college girlfriends be damned. This was a million times better.
They opened the door together.