TITLE: S. W. & 7 D’s (aka 7 Steps to Apple Pancakes).

PART THREE: "Sleepy" (3/7)

AUTHOR: Triton

Email: triton-x@yahoo.com

or visit my little library at: http://geocities.datacellar.net/triton-x/Fanfic

DATE: 18th January, 2000

SUMMARY: Scully deals with an important aspect of her character, with a little help from a group of height-challenged, trouble making muses.

DISCLAIMER: X-Files, Mulder, Scully and all related characters belong to that amazing person called Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen Productions and the Fox Network. I mean no infringement. I am just borrowing the characters briefly to have a play, to see what I can do with them while CC isn’t watching. He can have them back anytime he likes (well, that depends on what happens during Season Seven!! I may have to consider a hostage situation).

CATEGORY: ST and MSR themes.

RATING: R

SPOILERS: None whatsoever. I think.

ARCHIVE: Sure, Fine, Whatever!

NOTE: This is Part Three of an expected Seven Part fanfic. Mainly Scully POV.

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Hair feathery and dry, skin warmed and fragrant and now wrapped in a huge fluffy bath towel, Scully wandered into her bedroom. The bed had been turned down and there was a cup of steaming liquid sitting on her bedside table. Only one bedside lamp had been switched on, but flickering flames dancing around the room indicated that a few candles had also been lit.

Scully sighed in contentment. Mulder was really outdoing himself tonight. She felt totally pampered and totally relaxed. Just the thing to end a really shitty day. In a perfect world, this would be the perfect ending to her day.

Unfortunately, Scully was a realist and refused to believe in the concept of a perfect world. While Mulder had been drying her hair, she had looked up into his face and had seen a longing impression in his eyes. He had been trying so hard to keep the serious expression on his face while he attended to her, he had been trying so hard to remain detached from the intimate attending, but he had failed. Scully had known him for too many years, she could read him like a favourite book. The dreamy expression she had witnessed not only revealed the love and adoration he had for her, but it subconsciously radiated out through him, washing over her. She had felt the tears prick her eyes and she had looked away instead of declaring the same to him. The certainty that he felt this way about her was probably more the reason for her contentment than the physical administrations. But also the reason for her misgivings. Was now the right time for entering into that type of relationship with Mulder?

Maybe she should have invited him in to her emotional world at an earlier date. Maybe she should have let him look after her at times. Damn her for being so stubborn and self righteous! There had to be a balance between being independent and yet succumbing to emotional needs! But where was it? It was difficult to open a crack in your armour, especially when it had taken years to develop a hardened resilience! Where was the text book that explained the inverse relationship of the proportion of protecting oneself from socio-stereotypes to the acceptance of personal needs?

It was hard to identify where that balance was. If you did let someone inside your soul, how could you guarantee that you would not be weakened through this. By giving Mulder this chance tonight to care for her, to pamper her, would it ultimately mean that she would lose some of her defence mechanisms. Would he treat her differently from now on? Would he now try and protect her in a derogatory way? Would he expect her to behave differently?

Ouch - too much thinking - sore head. Go to bed. It was draining to think of these things at that moment, when all she wanted was to snuggle completely into the warmth and contentment of her mood. Mulder had given her something to cherish, something special that she would look back on with fondness, but he would never be aware of it - oh no - she could never tell him this - tomorrow she would put up that wall again, seal it with extra strong putty, and he would not be allowed to open that crack again. No way - never again.

She stepped up to the bed and looked down at the snowy white sheets longingly. The only thoughts in her head now were ‘Sleep’.. ‘Sleep’.. ‘Sleep’. She looked around, Mulder was no longer beside her. She sighed. Letting the towel drop to the floor, she slid in between the crisp linen, wriggling her toes down to the very end. Turning onto her stomach, she pulled the top sheet up and across her back and wrapped her arms around the pillow. Stretching an arm out, she reached for the fragrant tea and, tilting her head slightly, sipped at it’s comforting flavour.

She heard the CD change and closed her eyes to listen to the gentle orchestral sounds.

From a distance, she could hear Mulder rummaging around in the bathroom cabinet and as she wondered what he was searching for, he appeared in the doorway. She gazed at him through heavy lidded eyes.

"Mulder, what are you looking for?"

"That smell."

"What smell?’

"The one that you’ve smelt like since Christmas."

"Hmmpphh!" she grunted.

"It’s OK, I found it," he declared, his face lighting up with the knowledge that he had solved a puzzle. He held up the squat container as he approach her at a leisurely pace. She watched his advance with conjecture, smothering a gasp as he crawled up onto the bed beside her.

"Mulder..."

"Before the muscles have a chance to tighten, they need to be massaged, Scully. You have informed me of that in the past. So, close your eyes, and let me massage your back and shoulders." Mulder gazed at her seriously.

"It’s OK, Mulder, really! You have done enough......."

Mulder interrupted quietly, "Scully, you are the worst patient I have ever had the pleasure of treating. I want to do this. I want you to be ‘fine’."

Ok - how much more of this could she cope with - it wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to enjoy this spoiling. She wanted to tell him to go home and leave her alone to wallow in self pity. But he unscrewed the jar and the smell of her Bodyshop Mango Butter body cream was too tempting - she wanted that rubbed into her body, wanted it rubbed in everywhere! She wanted to feel it absorbing into her skin as the warmth of his fingers caressed her.

On that thought, she sighed in resignation as Mulder threw his long legs across her thighs, straddling her, pulling the sheet down to the top of her buttocks. He slathered a large dollop of the orange tinged cream across her shoulder blades and began working it across the skin. Mulder scooped out another dollop of the slick lotion, spreading it in the hollow of her lower back, rubbing it into the skin in circular movements.

"Mulder, I think you are using too much lotion!" she whimpered into the pillow.

"You reckon?" he chuckled mischievously, and he swiftly slid his hands all the way up her slippery back. Before she could reign control of her responses, Scully moaned in delight.

Mulder’s fingers kneaded gently along the spinal column, into the latissimus muscles, then up across the trapezius. Long, slow, deliberate strokes.

This was just waaaay too nice. All of her muscles felt liquid, her arms heavy against the pillow, her head immobile. Focusing on the sensation of his fingers moving, round and round and round and up and down and over and across, she was finally lulled into a tranquil doze. His ministrations slowed down gradually, until his hands rested on her shoulder blades. He leant in close and touched his lips to her cheek.

"Hey, Sleepy-head! All done."

"Mulder?" she murmured sleepily, "Why today?"

"In my dreams, Scully, this IS every day."

END.

Author’s Notes: I changed the title of this series, because when I did a search on the web to verify that I had all the dwarf names right (it HAS been a long time and I was so sure there WAS a Prancy there!!), I found that the search also led me to some rather X-rated sites, and this worried me, knowing that children may accidentally stumble across some smut, and since I post these stories at my fanfic page, I didn’t want innocents going there to read these.

Also - one of the clients at my workplace received a small container of the Bodyshop "Mango Butter" body moisturiser for Christmas, and the smell and consistency of this product could not be ignored when referring to Scully and her collection of nice smelling body products. Whether or not I got this impression through reading fanfic, or whether I have seen these products on the show, I had to include it here (and no way am I affiliated with this company or it’s subsidiaries. I’ve only been in the shop once to pick up some tissue-ey things for my flatmate).