Title: Step #8: Working Out the Kinks
Author: Susan Frankovich
E-mail: sus...@ticnet.com or filesfa...@yahoo.com
Classification: vignette
Spoiler: post all things
Archive: No.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to each other,
not me.

Author's notes: This is the eighth in a series of
vignettes occurring late in season seven that
chronicle the start of Mulder and Scully's romantic
relationship.

*********************************************************

Working Out the Kinks
by Susan Frankovich
~~~~~~

This is how it should be.

We walk back to her car. We get in it, and she drives
me back to my place. Once we're there, I take a shower
and get cleaned up after my run.  Then we sit on the
couch together, and we talk about this whole new
relationship thing we've got going now and how we're
going to make it work.

This is how it goes.

We start to walk on the trail to go back and get her
car.  She accidentally steps in a hole, which in turn
causes her to twist her ankle.  

She then proceeds to hang onto me for the next fifteen
minutes, her arm tightly squeezing my waist and all
her weight pressing against my hip.

Now as much as I like the fact that she's letting me
help her, I'm not too thrilled with the way my legs
and back are feeling right now.

Who would've thought that such a petite woman could
be so heavy?

"You doin' okay, Scully?" I ask, though I'm the one
who seems to be hurting more at the moment.

"You need to rest, don't you?" she asks, tugging on
the bottom of my sweatshirt so I'll stop.

She doesn't have to ask me twice.

I immediately remove my arm from around her and take
a step back, then straighten myself up to a more upright
position.  Almost instantly I hear my lower back and
right hip pop, and I quickly start to cough, hoping to
cover up my discomfort so Scully won't hear it too.

Unfortunately for me, I'm not quite fast enough.

"What was that, Mulder?  Was that your back?" she asks
with concern as she limps back over to me.

"Yeah, I guess it was," I answer, placing my hands on
my back and trying to knead out the knots.

Holding onto my forearm for balance with one hand, she
slides the other hand beneath my shirt and begins to
massage my lower back, despite the fact that I know her
own ankle's hurting big time.

"Think this an omen?" I ask, relishing the feel of her
thumb making deep circles on my back.

"What do you mean?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, we're not exactly off to a
very good start here, Scully.  I mean...is this how it's
always going to be for us?"

Her thumb presses harder and moves faster now, working
out every kink like an expert massage therapist.  "If
I'm not mistaken, Mulder, I think it's always been like
this for us," she states matter-of-factly.

That's my Scully...always the logical and reasonable one
in the midst of my confusion.

She's right though.

In the seven years we've been partners, things have never
been easy for us.

So why should being in a romantic relationship be any
different?

My back feeling much better now, I bend down and slip my
arm around her again, then gently kiss her cheek. "Let's
get you home, Scully."

Hobbling closer, she wraps her arm around my waist again
and smiles, then gives me the one thing I cherish from
her the most.

She leans on me.

~step eight completed~

Steps Series (so far)

#1: The Unexpected Curve Ball
#2: The Realness of Red Hair
#3: The Power of the Shower
#4: Lonely Man Walking
#5: A Bad Case of Jet Lag
#6: The Scent of a Man
#7: So Much for Spontaneity
#8: Working Out the Kinks