Futures Past 06: Hazel + Gold = Green

by Arvy

RATING - PG
CATEGORY - C(rossover), R(omance), H(umor)
SPOILERS - Christmas Carol/Emily(XF)
KEYWORDS - X-files/Highlander/Forever Knight crossover, Mulder/Scully Romance

SUMMARY

Now who would be sending the lovely Agent Scully flowers? And no, it's not Mulder.

DISCLAIMER

None of these characters belong to me, and like so many worthy people before me, I'm only borrowing them for a short while. All characters refered to herein belong to CC, or 1013, or Fox, whoever owns the rights to them.

Author's Notes

I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. Long, short, long, and short again. I'm talking about the length of the stories in this series. We're now at number six. I know I promised a long one next, but this is just a little thingy that occurred to me while I was coming up with ideas for Crossover. Timeline wise, I set it a few weeks after Flying Lessons. Don't worry, the next one is just around the corner.

You don't really need to know what happened in the previous ones, except maybe to know that Mulder and Scully are now together. Also, the agents have returned to DC by now, and are still in the process of getting used to their newfound skills. The others in the series so far have already been sent to Gossamer. If you can't find them, email me at unmai@bigfoot.com and I'll be happy to forward you a copy. Also, all my work to date is up on my website at http://unmai.cjb.net/arvy.

BTW, if you didn't get the title at all, see the endnotes.

J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, Parking Lot
Friday, March 20, 1998
7:52 AM

Aaaaarrrrrrrggghhhhhh!!!

The silent scream echoed in her head as Dana Scully vehemently kicked her car door shut. I knew I should have gotten that damn battery checked. Damn! Damn! Damn! The litany of curses did nothing to ease her frustrations. The car had been giving her trouble since before her vacation, but this was absolutely the last straw! First, my hair dryer blows up. Then, that damn sword rips through a perfectly good dress. Again. Now, this. She groaned. What more could go wrong today? She knew she'd been putting off getting that scabbard sewn in. The temporary sword holder was slowly wearing down her coat pocket, and the sword itself was a certified skirt hazard. This was the fourth one she'd buried so far. The day could only look up from here. She gave a silent thanks that the car had at least managed to get her to work before dying, instead of stranding her in the middle of a busy freeway.

Sighing, she made a mental note to call the mechanic before the day was out as she headed towards the basement office. The perfect end to this perfect day, she thought sarcastically, would be if Mulder drags me off on another of his wild goose chases. Suddenly, a day of mindless paperwork didn't seem so bad. At least, nothing could go wrong there. She quickly chased disturbing thoughts of exploding pens and computer viruses out of her mind. She rapped on the office door before entering, deciding to help her luck along a little, if nothing else.

Mulder looked up as his partner entered the office, wondering why she'd bothered to knock. She'd stopped doing that years ago. He was about to say "Good Morning." when he caught the look she threw at him. Uh, oh! What did I do now? He ran the past week's events through his mind, trying to determine anything that she could possibly find fault with. Nothing glaring jumped out at him. He heard her ask what was on the agenda for the day, and was surprised at the relief on her face when he pointed to the mountain of paper lying in his inbox. He wouldn't have thought it possible, but the mention of paperwork actually seemed to calm her down some.

"Bad day?"

"Don't even ask. If one more thing goes wrong, I think I'll scream."

"Aww, come on. It can't be that bad." Then, noticing the pantsuit she was wearing, he ventured, "Skirt again, hunh?" He smiled at the resigned sigh she let escape. "I keep telling you, but you keep putting it off."

"Ok. Fine. I'll get it taken care of this weekend. Satisfied?"

"Hey, it's not my skirts that keep getting shredded, you know." Hearing her noncommittal grunt, he shrugged, then turned back to the report he was filling in.

9:51 AM

After a few hours of non-stop paperwork, however, she was starting to revise her notions. She could practically feel her eyeballs beginning to putrefy from the monotonous motion of looking over the expense vouchers, autopsy forms, case reports and the thousands of other minutiae that the government routinely saddled them with. Deciding to take a break, she got up to get some coffee. Damn! She looked from the empty coffee pot to the guilty look on her partner's face.

"Sorry, I forgot to turn it on."

She closed her eyes, nodding. "I'll just go to the cafeteria."

Maybe I should take a hint and follow her example, Mulder mused. After a few seconds, he closed the file he was working on and headed for the door. He opened it just in time to see a security guard raise his hand to knock on the door.

"Can I help you?"

"These were delivered for Agent Scully," the guard said, holding out a bouquet of roses.

Mulder held out his hand to receive them. "I'll make sure she gets them." He took the roses and closed the door on the guard's face. He headed back to his desk, thoughts of the coffee break now long forgotten.

Who would send her flowers? Today wasn't anything special. Not her birthday, and definitely not any anniversary he was aware of. Puzzled, he turned the bouquet around in his hands until he found the card hidden among the flowers. His breath caught as he read it.

Hey, Dana. I just got into town. What say you ditch work and meet me for lunch? How's Chez Antoine's sound? I'll be at home till 11, so give me a call.

Chuck! Who the hell is Chuck? He could feel the faint sensation growing inside, and knew without looking in a mirror that his eyes had gone from their usual hazel to an iridescent gold. But if he had bothered to look in a mirror, he would have noticed the slight green tinge that lay hidden behind the gold. He was sorely tempted to just crush the card and throw it and the roses into the trash. Whoever this Chuck was, he had some nerve asking his Dana out.

He took a deep breath as common sense slowly overcame his jealous rage. He brought the involuntary reaction under control. Trust, remember, he repeated to himself. Trust her. She loves you. Give her the flowers. You'll see. She'll either not call this Chuck person, or she'll call and politely refuse. He let out a relieved breath at this reassuring thought. He even went so far as to smile a little, looking forward to seeing Scully put Chuckie boy in his place.

He got the card back into the bouquet and the flowers onto the desk just in time. He had barely taken his seat when Scully walked in with two cups of coffee. She placed one on his desk, looking from the flowers to Mulder with a questioning look on her face. He took the cup and sipped from it gratefully.

"Thanks. The flowers came for you. The security guard delivered them a few minutes ago."

"Oh? Okay." She took the flowers and smelled them appreciatively. "They smell wonderful," she said, turning to her chair. She barely caught the fleeting scowl that passed over Mulder's face as she pulled out the card and read it.

Mulder was not happy when he saw her reaction to the flowers. But he was shocked at her reaction to the card. He watched her read it, then smile to herself. It was as if her bad mood from a couple of hours ago had completely evaporated. He wondered again who this mysterious guy was that could lift her spirits so. What she did next completely threw him for a loop. He saw her reach for the telephone and dial a number from memory. Shit! She knows his number? As far as he knew, Scully's last date had been well over a year ago. This boyfriend must have been some guy for her to remember his number so easily. Suddenly he saw his day take a downturn.

"Chuck? Dana... I'm fine. God, it's been so long. How are you?" Scully leaned back in her chair, lazily twirling the phone cable around her finger as she talked. "Yeah, Antoine's sounds great... Nah, I'm not doing anything important right now. Just more boring paperwork." As she said this, she swiveled her chair. Her gaze fell on Mulder, and she was taken aback at the black look he wore. He wasn't looking at her, but the scrunched up pieces of paper on his desk left little doubt as to his state of mind. She allowed herself a small, hidden smile. Oh my God! He's jealous! She saw him scribbling on a piece of paper, his pen clutched tightly in his hand. Although, what he could be writing on a blank page when he was supposed to be filling out case reports was beyond her. Any doubts she had were removed when she finished her conversation, "Yeah, I'll meet you there at noon... I've missed you too. Bye." She put the phone down, her eyes widening as she saw Mulder clutch the pen harder, hard enough to shatter it.

Should I tell him? She tried hard to hide the widening smile on her face, finally turning away from Mulder and pretending to look through the papers in front of her. Nah! He looks so adorable. I think I'll let him stew for a while longer. Besides, it's great payback for all those years of innuendoes and leers. With that thought, she turned back to her work.

12:41 PM

Mulder sighed as he finished one report and turned to another. Where is she? He glanced at his watch, then at the door, his ears straining to hear the familiar clicking of the heels, waiting for the familiar sensation to wash over him. Trust, trust, trust..., the voice at the back of his mind kept reminding him. And for the hundredth time, he wished he could pull that little voice out of his head and strangle it. Of course I trust her, he screamed back at it. It's just this guy I don't trust. I swear to god, if he so much as touches a hair on her head, I'll... I'll... I don't know what I'll do, but you can bet it'll be something he'll never forget. Not in this lifetime, and not in any of his next ones either.

He tried to picture the two of them having a nice, innocent lunch together. And suddenly, images of some stranger's legs brushing against Scully's intruded on the quiet scene. He felt the familiar anger again at the thought of his Scully in another man's arms. I think I'm going to be sick. He considered getting in his car and swinging by Antoine's just to take a look. After all, what could it hurt? As long as he stayed far enough away, she wouldn't even know he was there. Right? He spent the next ten minutes convincing himself that this was not the stupidest idea he'd ever considered in his life. Finally, he decided he was convinced enough, and stood up... just as Scully breezed into the office. He quickly sat back down.

"How was lunch?"

"Hmmm? Oh it was great. Wonderful, in fact. I haven't seen Chuck in so long. This was a great pick-me-up."

"Anyone I know?" He couldn't keep the hurt tone entirely out of his voice. Why had she never told him about this guy?

She was enjoying this. She'd almost forgotten the look on Mulder's face when she'd talked on the phone earlier. So she decided to toy with him a little longer. It wasn't often she got to pull the wool over his eyes, and she was going to milk this for all it was worth. "Chuck? No, I don't think you've ever met him." She strolled over to her chair, affecting a dreamy look on her face.

Mulder's eyes narrowed as they followed her moonstruck glide over to her chair. If he didn't know better, he could've sworn she looked smitten. Wait a minute! He did know better, didn't he? He heard her next words as if through a haze.

"In fact, I asked him to come by at five. My car battery died just as I came in, so he's going to drive me home. Also, I thought you might like to meet him."

Meet him? Sure, just before I punch his lights out, he thought, a glint appearing in his eye. Calm down. Breathe... breathe... "Great," he said aloud, "I'm looking forward to it." Wow, I can't believe I said that so calmly. Give the man an Emmy, folks. Then he caught the look on his partner's face. The dreamy expression had been replaced by a smile. His brows furrowed in thought, but he pushed it out of his mind when he saw her turn back to her work. Sighing, he turned to work on his own reports some more, trying to put the conversation, and Chuckie boy, out of his mind for now.

4:40 PM

Well, that was a productive afternoon. Mulder hadn't done so little work since... Hell, he worked more trying to get to sleep than he had in the past four hours. Thrice, he'd been caught staring at her. Of course, he hadn't been caught the million or so other times, he silently congratulated himself. He was interrupted by her voice.

"I'll be right back, Mulder. I just need to freshen up a bit," she said as she headed for the restroom. She smiled all the way there.

Great. Now she's going to freshen up for him, Mulder thought darkly. Less than five minutes later, Mulder looked up when he heard the knock on the door. Now who could that be? It wasn't Scully. He'd have felt her. Then he remembered. Great. Chuckie's here. Early too. Isn't this great? His thoughts dripped with sarcasm. Aloud, he said, "Come in. It's open."

The door opened to reveal a dark haired man who looked to be in his early thirties. Mulder couldn't put his finger on it, but the man looked somewhat familiar. So this is Scully's mysterious boyfriend. He looked him over from head to toe, sizing him up. He was somewhat surprised to see a similar look of appraisal being turned in his direction.

"Hi. You must be Chuck. Sc... er, Dana mentioned you might be coming by. She just stepped out for a moment. Why don't you have a seat," Mulder said, pointing to Scully's chair.

Chuck's face brightened at the mention of her name. "You must be Fox Mulder. I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you." He came forward and extended his hand in greeting.

Mulder was somewhat surprised at the warm greeting as he shook hands. He tried to find any malicious intent on the guy's part, but his tone seemed genuine. He was finding it slightly awkward to resent this man. He's after Scully, remember, he prodded to remind himself why he didn't like Chuckie boy so much.

The minutes stretched into an awkward silence as they waited for Scully to return. After a few moments, Chuck said, "I haven't seen Dana this happy for a long time. Whatever changes she's been going through must really be agreeing with her. And, actually, I think you may have had a hand in it."

Mulder raised an eyebrow as Chuck continued, "After Emily, I was afraid that she might think she didn't have anything to live for. I'm extremely grateful to you for helping her through that."

Mulder's jaw dropped. She'd told him about Emily? Just who was this guy?

"And I just want you to know that no matter what Billy thinks, I don't blame you. Dana has always made her own choices. She's never let anyone intimidate her."

Mulder was about to ask him how long and how well he knew Scully. He talked as if he'd known her all his life. Just then, Chuck's last words finally filtered through his conscious mind. Billy? "Billy?" he repeated aloud, just as he felt Scully return.

"Yeah. I know my brother can get a bit over protective towards Dana. But, ever since Missy, well... you know..."

"Oh, he knows all right. Mulder wrote the book on the subject."

Both men turned to face the door.

"Hi, Chuck. You're early." Scully walked in, grinning at the foolish expression plastered over Mulder's face. She gave Chuck a hug, wishing she'd gotten back a little sooner. But the look on Mulder's face was priceless. If she wasn't careful, she'd burst into giggles any minute now. "Mulder," she said in a calm voice, "I see you've met my baby brother, Charlie." She'd wondered if she'd been wrong to lead Mulder on. Now she was sure. She wouldn't have missed this for the world. She finally let out the laugh that had been building when Mulder turned to her with a look that clearly shouted, "I'll get you for this." But even so, he couldn't hide the goofy grin that seemed to have become permanently etched on his face for the rest of the day.

The End

End Notes

Okay, how many of you thought that was just plain silly? The thing is, I've never read a story where Scully makes Mulder jealous on purpose. When I thought of it, it just sounded like so much fun. This could have easily become an angst fest, but I think I managed to write it so it came across as more humorous than sadistic on Scully's part. Anyone disagree?

And the title. Okay, hazel obviously refers to Mulder's eyes. But how many of you realized the gold was because he's also a vampire? And the green is for the green-eyed monster. When I came up with the title, I thought it was obvious. My beta reader, on the other hand, didn't get it, and thought it was dumb. Comments?

Next, a note about the continuity and timeline in the series. I think the agents spent the rest of February in Seattle and returned early in March, just in time for Mind's Eye (thus skipping the time when PatientX/Red and the Black were set). This story happens a little after Mind's Eye. Also, I guess starting from the next one, the series will probably start veering off from canon. I'll try to integrate the non-mytharc X-files episodes as I write, if possible. But for the next story that I have planned, the current CC arc about aliens just won't work. So, although I loved the movie, season five's Patient X/Red and the Black and the movie never happened in my universe.

Finally, the feedback request section. I realize this one is pretty short compared to the previous ones. I was trying to put Crossover together, and this one just popped into my head. So what did you think? Send any and all responses to unmai@bigfoot.com. And keep tuned for the next monstrosity. It's coming...

Futures Past Chronology: