TITLE: Mysterious and Intriguing (1/1) AUTHOR: Shoshana EMAIL ADDRESS: shoshana1013@excite.com DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: Gossamer, Spooky's site, Xemplary, etc. SPOILER WARNING: Seventh season episodes through The Amazing Maleeni. RATING: PG CONTENT STATEMENT: M/S UST CLASSIFICATION: VRA KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully UST SUMMARY: Post ep for The Amazing Maleeni. DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me. NOTE: Thanks to my great beta readers Char, Meg and Teresa. Mysterious and Intriguing By Shoshana The jet had been in the air a scant five minutes before he questioned her, "So... Scully, what did you think of Lebanj?" "What do you mean, what did I think of him, Mulder? He was a two-bit con artist who got away with a royal waste of law enforcement time and resources. He's a creep," she responded readily. "So you didn't notice?" he queried. "What didn't I notice?" She unbuckled her seat belt and hunkered down against the window, turning her body sideways, to gain better eye contact with her inquisitive partner. "He was quite taken with you," he said, carefully avoiding any trace of emotion in the delivery of his words. "Oh. Well, Mulder, if he was, I can assure you, it was not reciprocated," she said confidently. "No? Aren't you fascinated by mysterious and intriguing men?" he teased. "Mulder, there's nothing mysterious or intriguing about Lebanj. All his tricks can be explained by science; they're all good sleight-of-hand, manipulating incontrovertible, understandable laws of nature. And intriguing? What would I possibly see in an ex-con with too much hubris for his own good? The only women who'd be interested in him are the ones who can't see through his carnival act to the real clod beneath it all." Mulder finally unhooked his own seat belt and stretched out his long legs as far as they would go. He then turned toward his seatmate, steepling both hands beneath his chin, contemplating her response. Her eyebrows rose, anticipating some witty retort of the Mulderesque kind. "So..." he drawled slowly, "What kind of man are you interested in, Scully?" She threw him a lopsided grin, undaunted by his audacity. Not the first time Mulder's put me on the spot, she mused. Not the last time, either, the way things are going. They stared mutely at one another as she collected her thoughts, mentally composing an appropriate response. Finally, she laced her fingers together, pressing her thumbs against each other, playing with them in her lap. A smirk preceded her remarks, her eyes dancing with amusement at the chosen topic of conversation. "Well, it's a very personal question, Mulder... but I'll forgive you this time... since you're prone to asking just this sort of vexing question." He smiled back, unapologetic, riveted to every word she spoke. She began again, still donning a whisper of a smile as she spoke, "I'd be looking at certain qualities, ones that would have to be observed, analyzed, over a sufficient period of time. Time enough to see beyond the obvious physical characteristics that may have attracted me in the first place." "Not a casual relationship, huh?" he interjected. "No, not at all. I don't think one can really get to know another person after just a few dates or even a few months. No, I think I'd want to know someone for awhile before I became serious about them." "And what other qualities would they have to have?" he asked forthrightly. "Hmmm... honestly?" He nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Reliability. Someone I can depend on. Someone responsible for their own actions. A truth teller, at least to me. There are times that we all have to make dishonest statements, in deference to other people's feelings. But I want to have utter confidence in whatever statements he makes to me. Taking certain circumstances into account, of course." "What kind of circumstances would those be?" he questioned, an unsettled look in his brow. "Oh, you know. Things beyond his control, calamitous events, ones that no one man could prevent from occurring. I can see making allowances for that, but not about everyday things, like lying about whether you dropped off the drycleaning, then plotting a way to fix it the next day. There's really no point to that sort of untruthfulness, is there? Especially between two people in a relationship." Mulder shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the path their chat was meandering. "But, what, what about love, Scully? Doesn't that factor in? Doesn't the intent of the lie, the rationale behind it, justify it sometimes?" "Sometimes," she said and licked her lips nervously, realizing how affected he was by her previous statements. He was all too apt to relate it to past blunders in their relationship, times he should have and could have told her the whole truth of the matter. She resolved to proceed onward. Dwelling on this was counterproductive, injurious to his ego. He squirmed a little more, clearly confused by her ambiguity. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it once again, his lips a thin line of discontent. Was this about them, was this an indictment of his past actions? Or was she speaking abstractly, and he was taking all this way too personally? He couldn't contain the scowl that spread across his features, despite a concerted effort to disguise his emotions. Before he could speak further though, she began again, "Let's move on to other things I look for in a 'love match,' Mulder," she declared. She smiled warmly at him, attempting to brighten his mood. "Yes, love would make a difference to me, if that's what motivated a person's actions. Loyalty, affection, whatever made them treat me in a certain way, that would be taken into account. Just so they were consistent. I wouldn't want to wake up one day and find that the person beside me had changed so radically in their basic values that I couldn't be with them anymore. And I think I can read people pretty well. I think I'll know when I can trust someone implicitly. I've had a lot of practice, haven't I?" She tried to convey with her eyes, with her whole demeanor, that she wasn't making generalizations here; she was referring to their unique relationship, not an idealized one with no basis in reality. He chewed on his bottom lip a bit, looking at her intently. His mouth twisted in reflection, considering her words, her body language toward him. He decided that she'd been speaking about him before, when she was speaking of honesty in a relationship. But it hadn't been an indictment of past actions, nor a warning for future ones. His guilty conscience always caused him to interpret things askew. He had rapidly constructed a worst case scenario in his mind. She demanded moral integrity, and he imagined he fell short of that, what with all the times he'd taken off without her, or lied to protect her from grief. She already knew why he'd kept the truth from her, time and again, and she accepted that as part of his nature, part of his need to protect her from danger or unpleasantness. He only hoped that she could forgive him, that she had forgiven him already. "I guess so," he finally responded to her last question. "I guess you have." He flashed a grin at her, his posture relaxing in tandem with his mood. "Good," she said adamantly, feeling relief melt through her body, allowing her to stretch her arms and legs languidly, as she yawned openly. "Tired? We don't have to talk, Scully, if you're tired," he said in a concerned tone. "Um, soon, soon I'll get to sleep. I just have a few more things to say, I think," she said enigmatically. "All right. You're still listing qualities you look for in a guy, right?" he said, more curious than ever as to what was left to say. "Right. Okay, let's review," she said, in a mock professorial tone, "Reliability, honesty, loyalty, affection, all admirable signs of good character. But the most important attribute this man would have to possess, the one that would make the difference, is the one you've mentioned, the one that would cause him to break a promise, or tell me a lie, for whatever reason." She gazed at him, taking in his slouched six foot frame, the all too serious expression on his face. His hands played with the armrests, grasping for something solid to hold on to as she spoke of intangibles. His eyes reflected her intense look, and despite valiant efforts, his features displayed residual worry, worry that this still was all a theoretical discussion, one that would not end happily. She noticed that fretfulness and decided to wrap up this discussion once and for all, so they could get back to less stressful, more rewarding pursuits during their long plane ride home. She uncurled the fingers of his right hand from the armrest and twined them with her own, then said, "The man I'm most interested in will love me more than anyone else in the world. He'll do anything to keep me safe and happy. He'll have all those good qualities I mentioned, and then some. And I'll love him for the rest of my life, for what he's given me so far, and what he has yet to give me in the future. And there's nothing mysterious or intriguing about that, is there?" His eyes lowered to their joined hands. She could feel the slight tremor in his fingers as he untangled them from her own, then caressed her hand with warm, slightly quivering lips. She let out a soft gasp, then leaned over toward him, moving her hand so it palmed his feverish cheek. Smoothing her thumb over his lower lip, she said, "And there's only one man that fascinates me now." Salty tears threatened her composure, but she continued anyway, "I'm not interested in some idealized paragon of virtue, Mulder. All those qualities, all those things I want from a relationship... I already have them. Because I already have *you*, don't I?" He closed the gap between them, taking her into his arms, and whispered softly, "You do, Scully. You do." fin Please send feedback to: shoshana1013@excite.com