Title: Long Distance Love II: The Genuine Article
Author: ML
Rating: Adults only
Originally posted 4/24/02
Author’s Note: These started out as one story but quickly became a series. Therefore, I’ve packaged them together as such. The parts:
1. Long Distance Love 2. The Genuine Article 3. Delayed Gratification
Spoilers: none
Rating: Adults only
Classification: Smut. Mostly.
Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, they belong to Chris Carter, TenThirteen, and Fox Broadcasting. I mean no infringement, and I’m making no money.
Summary: There’s nothing like the real thing.
=========
How many hours had she and Mulder spent in airports over the years? Scully wondered idly as she entered the concourse. That would be a mathematical puzzle to consider while she waited.
Because, of course, the flight was delayed. Mulder was probably fuming wherever he was. Scully was annoyed, too, because she’d forgotten to check for delays before coming to the airport, and now she’d have an hour to kill before Mulder’s flight got in.
Mulder would be surprised to see her waiting. Scully was not one to waste time hanging around the airport if she didn’t need to. In fact, she often factored in even the amount of time baggage claim would take. It was a game to see how close she could gauge her arrival to the plane’s arrival, or better yet, to pull up to the curb just as Mulder emerged from the building, luggage in hand. It wasn’t a matter of callousness; it was practicality. Mulder was the same way, though he tended to cut it a bit too close when they were headed to the airport for departure.
For some reason today it hadn’t even occurred to her to call the airline. She knew she had no one to blame but herself, or perhaps her over-eager libido. She’d been imagining her reunion with Mulder since last night when he told her he was coming home.
Actually, if she was entirely honest, she’d been imagining it since she saw him off, a week before. She felt vaguely disconcerted by this. Had she really become so dependent on another human being?
Silly thought. She and Mulder had become dependent on each other long ago. Intimacy, however, was a new chapter for both of them. Physical intimacy, anyway.
Or, as Mulder once said, since they started doing the naked pretzel. Just imagining Mulder saying that made Scully shiver.
It surprised Scully how turned on she got hearing his voice, especially when roughened with effort during love-making. But she was discovering now that hearing his voice in almost any context aroused her.
Last night they’d attempted phone sex for the first time. It had been a revelatory experience to learn just how much Mulder’s voice did to her, even without his physical presence. She wondered if he’d felt the same about her.
She smiled briefly, and felt a slight blush on her cheeks. Most of the time she let Mulder do the talking, but last night they’d both done their share. It was getting easier for her to talk to him the way he liked. Mulder was as loquacious in bed as out of it, and she liked listening more than she liked talking. Mulder didn’t seem to mind. She tried to make up for it in other ways.
Scully had done her best last night, though she’d never imagined having phone sex before Mulder. And yet anything seemed possible, not to mention enjoyable, with Mulder. She still preferred the real thing, and she was pretty sure Mulder did, too, despite his history.
x-x-x-x Scully went to the trouble of showing her credentials and going through the metal detector so she could meet Mulder at the gate. Might as well take advantage of my early arrival and surprise him, she thought.
She found a coffee kiosk nearby and treated herself, finding a seat where she could keep an eye on the arrival times and indulge in a little people-watching.
She looked around at the people passing to and fro, and wondered idly about them. That woman, pulling the suitcase and looking at her watch. Was she going home to someone who loves her, or just going home?
The couple over there, both dressed in business attire, carrying their own cases. They were talking about some case or other. Lawyers, it sounded like. Partners? Just colleagues? She looked for signs of something more. They behaved very professionally toward each other, but spoke with the ease of a long time association. No particular spark was apparent to Scully. She watched them all the way out of sight. The man stepped aside to let the woman go on the escalator first, his hand hovering at waist level behind her back, but not touching her. She wished she could see his face. Maybe he cared about her, but she didn’t care about him the same way.
She wondered what she and Mulder looked like to the outside world, if anyone even noticed anything different about them. Maybe it was just paranoia. Could people see beyond the careful facades they’d erected? It had taken Scully a long time to see what Mulder had taken great pains to hide from the world, and she knew where to look, presumably.
No one would ever know what we are to each other by looking at us, she reassured herself. I don’t think they would, anyway. Though I really don’t know how I hold it together sometimes when I see him. Just seeing his face makes me feel like I’ll burst into flame the minute he gets near me.
That was the difficulty. She felt so different inside. She felt certain it must show somehow to others, and it worried her constantly.
They’d both learned to keep their emotions to themselves over the years. They’d dealt in secrets for so long, it had become second nature to keep them, even from themselves. Learning to be open with each other was both pleasure and pain.
She realized that many of her decisions over the years had been made because of her feelings for Mulder. Mulder would say that they couldn’t possibly know what made them make the choices they did. He was all about taking chances. He was outcome focused rather than worrying about the path.
No use worrying about all that water under the bridge, she told herself. What counts is what you do with the present, not what happened in the past.
x-x-x-x
Scully had long finished her coffee and was feeling restless when the flight arrival time was finally posted. Only a few more minutes to go. She resisted the impulse to go to the window and see if she could see the plane approaching. She felt nervous, on edge. This was the longest separation they’d had since becoming lovers, and she’d missed him more than she’d anticipated.
At last the plane taxied to the jetway. It seemed to take forever for the doors to be connected and for the passengers to begin disembarkation.
When they flew together, Mulder always waited for Scully to be ready, and stood in the aisle to let her out before him, even though she usually had the window seat. She imagined him bounding out this time, impatient to see her. She hoped so, anyway.
Where was he? It seemed like everyone in the world was on the plane, and they all got off before Mulder.
At last, she saw him. His face had a neutral expression, but Scully knew him well enough to tell that he was tired and frustrated. He didn’t even look for Scully. He wouldn’t expect her to be waiting at the gate.
She delayed making herself known to him, enjoying the rare opportunity to observe him. He was dressed in a suit, garment bag slung over his back and another small bag in his other hand. He looked straight ahead, his annoyance at being held up by other passengers only visible by the slight compression of his lips. He had to stop short as the woman in front of him found who she was looking for in the crowd of onlookers and stopped short herself, holding her arms out.
He started to swerve around the couple who were now oblivious to the world, but he paused for a few seconds and looked at them. Scully could see something flicker in his eyes before he sidestepped them and continued on his way.
He almost walked past Scully but she stepped out of the crowd and said in a low voice, “Mulder.”
His expression transformed as he saw her. Scully saw a moment of disbelief, and then he broke out into a huge grin. His eyes were the most amazing sight of all. They seemed to be lit from within. And all because of her.
Then, just as quickly, the grin disappeared and his public face returned. But his eyes were only for her.
“Hey, Scully,” he said. “Miss me?” The four words said everything to her. How much he had missed her, how much he loved her, and how much he wished he could show her, right here and now.
Scully’s own reaction was as she predicted. A wave of heat enveloped her from tip to toe and seemed to center first in her face, and then low in her belly. Her eyes spoke to him the same way. “Welcome home, Mulder,” she said softly, and enjoyed the way his eyes brightened even more at her words.
“Nothing better to do than hang around in the airport all day, huh Scully?” he teased.
“I just happened to be in the neighborhood,” she returned in kind. “Need a lift?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said. They turned as one and headed back down the concourse, side by side, shoulders and arms brushing occasionally. It felt more intimate than a kiss to Scully.
Get a grip, Dana, she told herself.
When they got to the down escalator, Scully said, “Let me take that bag, Mulder. I don’t want you to lose your balance.”
He smiled and complied, and she was rewarded by the feel of his hand at her back, which was what she really wanted. She suspected that Mulder knew it, too.
“How was the case?” she asked, trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy and professionalism.
“Awful. Boring. Long. Much, much too long,” he said. They gained the main floor of the concourse.
“Do we need to go to baggage claim?” she asked.
He shook his head, and leaned close. For one dizzy moment, Scully was sure he was going to kiss her, right in the middle of this very public place. “I’ve got everything I need, right here,” he whispered, his warm breath a caress. “I can’t wait to get you alone.”
Scully had to fight a blush back, and didn’t dare look at Mulder. He’d always leaned over her like that to speak privately to her, but now the things he said were *really* private. When she finally looked up at him, his expression was bland, but there were devils in his eyes.
She walked toward the doors. “Let’s go, then.” She refused to look at him again. His hand once again found its way to her back, protecting her from the swarms of people surrounding them, helping to clear her path.
x-x-x-x
It seemed to take forever to get out of the airport parking lot, and rush hour traffic was upon them. Scully had handed the keys to Mulder and he drove with silent concentration.
He drove straight to Scully’s apartment. They hadn’t spoken since the airport, and they maintained silence as Scully fumbled with her keys.
So. Now they were here, in their own private space. The silence continued, stretched to the point of awkwardness. They looked at each other, both finding it hard to break it, to make the first move.
Finally, Scully put Mulder’s bag down and turned to the kitchen. “Why don’t you go change? What do you feel like for dinner? I’ll call something in.”
But Mulder had already taken his bags and gone back to the bedroom. Scully filled a glass with water and drank it down. She leaned against the counter, eyes closed, unsure of her next move. She felt vaguely disappointed. This was not how she’d imagined their reunion. She’d half expected Mulder to jump her as soon as the door closed on them, and it didn’t happen. But then, she’d made no move toward him, either.
Why was she being so shy all of a sudden? What was bothering her? Nerves? Dry mouth? Was she suddenly embarrassed about the night before?
“Hey, Scully,” Mulder’s voice came from the bedroom. “Come here a minute.” It was the tone of voice he used during investigations when he wanted her. Not the voice she’d hoped for, and yes, expected, to hear. She went, all the same.
Mulder was holding a crumpled bag behind his back. She could tell it was from Victoria’s Secret and she blushed a little.
“I brought you a little something,” he said. His voice was shy, but his eyes were dancing with mischief.
Scully took the bag he held out. It didn’t take a genius to guess what it was. It was the exact color green Scully had imagined when she told Mulder what she was wearing. “I don’t know, Mulder,” she said slowly. “Looks more like a gift for you than for me. And where are the panties?”
He smiled and put his hand in his suit coat pocket. He drew out an impossibly tiny scrap of material, sheer and lacy.
“Have you been carrying those around in your pocket all day?”
“All day, Scully,” he nodded.
“Mulder…” she said in an affectionate, exasperated voice.
“Just put `em on?” he said in the low, liquid voice she’d been hoping to hear.
She took the negligee and the panties and nodded. But before she did anything else, she went to her bureau and took out a pair of black silk boxers.
She dangled them in front of Mulder and he grinned. “Be right back,” he said.
She was standing in the middle of the bedroom when he returned. The gown felt just as she’d described to him the night before, the slight roughness of the silk catching on her smooth skin whenever she moved, the lace of the bodice rubbing against nipples that were already sensitive and yearning for Mulder’s touch.
Mulder wore only her gift to him. She let her eyes roam up and down his body, taking in everything. His arousal was obvious, even under the boxers, but she looked everywhere but directly at it, finally holding his eyes with hers.
“Do you like what you see, Scully?” he asked in a voice that did the same thing to her that the negligee was doing. It was silky and slightly rough, and it made her feel good.
She nodded. “But you misled me about one thing, Mulder,” she said.
He looked a little concerned. “What, Scully?”
“You don’t have knobby knees.” She grinned at his relief.
“Well, I didn’t want to sound too stuck on myself,” he said. “Get over here, Scully.”
She went, gladly.
Mulder put his hands on her shoulders and drew his fingertips down her arms, raising them to link around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand brushing through her hair, the other low on her back, keeping her as close as he could. His arms felt so good around her. He bent to her mouth and planted one soft kiss after another, pulling her closer to him.
This was what she missed most. Mulder’s kisses. She could do other things to herself and imagine Mulder was doing them to her, but she couldn’t duplicate his kisses. She wouldn’t want to try. His lips were so soft, and were just the right size. He seemed to know instinctively how to kiss her.
He started with gentle, glancing touches. With her eyes closed, she never knew where she would feel the warm, moist pressure next. He placed kisses on her eyelids, her temples, cheekbones, the tip of her nose and just under her ear. He nuzzled her and tasted her wherever he could reach. He only occasionally visited her lips, and when he did, she pressed against his, only to have him dart away, leaving nothing behind but her desire to have him closer, to give her more.
She sighed a little impatiently and pressed her own searching kisses along his throat and chin. He chuckled a little, but she was rewarded by the firm press of his mouth against hers. He was ready to get down to business now. He suckled her lower lip, pulling and releasing it gently, giving it a little nip or a lick for variety. Scully moaned softly, both because he made her feel so good, and because she wanted to encourage him to do more.
She captured his lower lip between hers and ran her tongue along the inside of it. She was rewarded by a Mulder moan that went straight to her core. She felt his tongue now, and parted her lips a little more to let her tongue brush along his. Mulder made another noise, deep in his throat, and crushed her even closer to him, their mouths equally urgent, pulling and biting as they each made each other increasingly breathless.
His hands drifted over her back to her silk-covered behind, pressing her into him. She could feel the warmth of his naked chest just beyond the lace covering her breasts. She wondered briefly if he liked the feel of lace rubbing over his skin the way she did.
She loved the feel of friction, the warmth created between their bodies. Scully moved her arms to wrap around Mulder’s waist and let her hands wander to his buttocks, mimicking what he’d done to her. She held him tighter, making up for the long week when the only thing she had to hug was a pillow.
There was no substitute for this feeling, either: the hot, hard mass of him, pressed against her belly. She squirmed against him a little, feeling his reaction and hearing his sharp intake of breath.
“Does this feel good, Scully?” Mulder was whispering into her neck between kisses. “Do you like what you feel?” He was moving his body against hers slowly, causing more heat, more friction.
“Mmmmm,” was the only sound Scully could muster. She felt bathed in honey from the inside out. How had she lived so long without this feeling? She kissed his temple, his sideburn, his ear. She kissed anywhere she could reach, wanting him to feel what she felt. A thought entered her head and for once she spoke without internal editing.
“You know what feels best to me?”
Mulder murmured, “Mm-what?” into her shoulder as he nibbled and suckled his way along her collarbone. “What feels best?”
“You,” said Scully. “Just you.”
When the meaning of the words filtered through to Mulder’s brain, he paused and looked down at her, smiling a slow, sleepy-eyed smile. “That’s what I like best, too, Scully,” he said. “You. You, surrounding me. There’s no silk that can compare to the feel of you.”
He captured her mouth again, pressing her lips open with his tongue, one hand still low on her back while the other moved to caress the curve of her waist and then finally to cup her breast, his fingers rubbing slowly over her nipple as she shivered with excitement.
“I missed you so much, Scully,” he panted into her mouth.
“Me, too,” she said. She reached for him, her fingers rubbing him through the thin silk of his boxers, alternately stroking and gripping until she could hear his breathing get harsher.
“Scully…you’ve gotta…stop that…” he said. He pulled her hand away and stepped back.
They stared at each other, both breathing hard. Without taking his eyes off Scully, Mulder pulled off his boxers and stepped out of them. She drank him in, no longer shy about looking at him fully. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her look at him.
He approached Scully again, and gripped her waist, pulling the skirt of the gown up. She raised her arms as he pulled the gown slowly up over her body, allowing the fabric to drag against her sensitized skin. He knelt to peel the panties down her legs.
Now it was Mulder’s turn to look at her. She stood and watched his face as his eyes swept her body from the crown of her head to her toes and back up again.
Their eyes met and held for a long moment. Then Mulder held out his hand and led her to bed.
There was no more talk now. Mulder lay beside her and kissed her again, licking her lips first and then the inside of her mouth. Scully could hear his words from the night before.
<...you taste like wine, like chocolate...you make that sound...>
It took no effort tonight to make the little sounds that Mulder liked to hear.
He continued to caress her the way he’d told her he wanted to the night before. He moved from her mouth to her breasts, and took his time sliding his tongue first around one nipple, then the other, sucking each in its turn while his hand stroked down her body, down and down, closer to her center, closer to where she most wanted to feel him…
Oh yes, she did. Mulder knew her better than she knew herself, just where and how to touch her…she didn’t need to imagine him, he was here. Her body knew the difference, too, and reveled in it. She couldn’t control her hips, didn’t want to, as Mulder’s fingers and hands stroked and touched and tickled…
Mulder made her feel amazing.
She roused a little from the haze of desire Mulder had woven around her and stroked her hand down his flank. She took him in hand again, tapping and stroking and squeezing gently, feeling how close he was, only wanting to add to his pleasure, not bring it to an end too soon…
“Scully…” he breathed, and she heard the need in his voice.
“What, Mulder?” She could barely speak herself. “Tell me what you want.”
“You, Scully,” he said. “Only you. Always you.”
That was all she needed to hear. She moved closer and guided him to where they both most wanted him to be.
No matter how great the spell Mulder wove with his voice, it was nothing to what he could do with his body. Scully loved the weight of him pressing her down, the rough brush of his beard against her face, the small noises of effort and satisfaction he made as he moved over her. Everything, even the sound of his breathing, even the sweat dripping off him, made it real.
A momentary fear gripped at Scully, that none of this was really happening, that they’d never made love, that she would wake from this lovely dream in her lonely bed…
…but that wasn’t true, what was happening now was the truth, it was okay now, he was here, here, here, and he loved her, was loving her, and she didn’t have to pretend to feel him because he was here, he was here, he was here…
…both her relief and her release were earth-shattering.
When she came back to herself, she felt Mulder’s full weight still on her, his face pressed against her neck. He raised his head and looked at her with wonder.
“Wow, Scully,” he said. “That was…you…I haven’t words.” He kissed her and rolled to one side, pulling her with him, holding her close.
Stop the presses, Scully thought. I’ve rendered Mulder speechless. She hid her smile as she curled into his embrace.
They slept a little. Scully woke to find Mulder propped up on one elbow, watching her sleep. He smiled as she opened her eyes, and she smiled back at him.
“Are you okay, Scully? I was a little worried before.”
“I’m fine, Mulder,” and as he groaned, she added hastily, “No, really, I mean it.”
“You seemed a little, um, strange today at the airport, and I thought…well, I thought maybe what we did last night upset you.”
“It wasn’t that, Mulder. I…I don’t know what it was. This was the first time we’d been apart since…for a long time, and it was strange. Like I didn’t know how to act anymore.”
“I think you picked up on it pretty quick, Scully,” he said. “Me, I damn near jumped you when I saw you standing there in the airport, looking good enough to eat.”
She was blushing again, she could tell, but Mulder just chuckled and held her close, stroking her hair.
“So you were okay with last night?” he asked softly.
“It was a new experience, but it didn’t upset me,” she said. “I just never did anything like that before, um, in front of anyone.”
“Believe it or not, I’ve never had phone sex before, either,” Mulder said.
“Oh, sure,” Scully said.
“No, really,” he said earnestly. “What I mean is, not with a real person.” He kissed her forehead, and trailed down to her cheek and ended at her lips, where he took his time nibbling first the top one, then the bottom one, and leisurely exploring the interior of her mouth. “Not with the woman I love.”
When he released her, she traced his lips with her finger, and he pulled it into his mouth, circling it with his tongue and sucking on it gently.
“How did you know what color gown to get me?” Scully asked. “You can’t tell that it’s green, can you?”
Mulder shook his head, and tried to answer around her finger. “I had to trust the saleswoman to tell me. For all I know, it’s fire-engine red.” He pulled her hand closer and kissed her fingertips and down to her palm.
“Tell you a secret,” he said. “If you’re a man, all you have to do is stand in the middle of the store and look helpless, and they won’t leave you alone. You try it sometime, but in a hardware store. Same thing’ll happen.”
“I believe you, Mulder,” she said, closing her eyes to savor the feelings he was invoking.
“I like to hear that, Scully,” he said. He placed one more kiss on her palm, and said, “Stop changing the subject now. Did you like it?”
“Like what?” She played coy. “You mean, just now? Oh yes. Yes. Very, very much.”
Her response earned her another series of kisses that left them both breathless.
They lay with foreheads touching, fingers entwined, and Mulder said, “Did anyone ever tell you what a tease you are, Agent Scully?”
“Never, Agent Mulder. I’m all business, all the time,” Scully said.
“Is that what you call this?” he asked. “Come on, Scully, answer the question.”
“What was the question again?” Oh, it was fun to tease him.
Mulder gestured as if the words would appear in the air between them. “You know, you…me…the phone…”
“Oh, that. It was okay.”
He put on a wounded look. “Just okay?”
She smiled at him. “I enjoyed it, but not as much as being with you. There’s just no substitute for the real thing, Mulder.”
He beamed. “Absolutely. You’ll get no argument from me.” He kissed her. “Accept no substitutes.” He kissed her again, a little deeper. “Beware imitations.” Another kiss, a little longer. “Buy only the gen-u-ine article.” The last kiss was not interrupted by any additional commentary.
It was a while before either of them had breath to speak again. Predictably, Mulder spoke first.
“So, the next time I have to go away–”
“Mul-der –”
“Scul-ly, what?”
“I don’t want to be in that situation again. I don’t want to be apart.”
“I get that, Scully. I don’t, either. But if…”
She put her finger against his lips again. “Let’s just cross that bridge when we get there, Mulder. Wouldn’t you rather think about things we can do together than things we can do apart?”
Mulder’s eyes brightened. “Like what?”
“Stick around, G-Man, and you might find out about a lot of things I might like to do.”
“Ooooh, Scully! Do you take requests?”
There was only one way to stop this conversation. Fortunately, Scully knew it. She launched herself onto Mulder and smothered his mouth with her own.
And for once, Mulder knew that silence was golden.
end.