From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:28:48 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Magnetism (BTC) by Erica
Source: direct
Reply To: eir643@aol.com
Title: Magnetism
Author: gweaz@gmail.com
Classification: VR - Vignette/Romance
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The X-Files is owned by Fox; no infringement of
copyright is intended.
Feedback: Of course! My first foray into X-Files
fanfiction, so feedback is mucho appreciated :)
Spoilers: Genderbender.
Summary: For the Bad Touch S1 Challenge. Missing scene
from Genderbender.
Magnetism
It wasn't cold inside the car, but Scully still felt a
chill. The goose bumps on her arm tickled her fingers as
she thoughtlessly rubbed her wrist. It was like there was
a fog in her head. It felt like intoxication, or something
close that she couldn't put her finger on. Her fingertips
and toes were buzzing. The driver's door opened suddenly
and shocked her out of her silent meditation and Mulder
handed her a steaming cup. She hoped the coffee would warm
her up.
'How're you feeling?' he asked as he got into the car.
'Better,' she replied, opting to skirt the truth of how she
actually felt. The truth was that Scully had no idea how
she felt. She was usually so composed. She prided herself
in her professionalism in the field and her dead on
instincts, but she couldn't explain how she ended up in bed
with Brother Andrew. Even if she had been attracted to
him, she never would have let that happen under normal
circumstances. Scully was always so in control. even stone
drunk she would never have kissed someone involved in a
case, let alone a suspect.
'A little embarrassed, actually,' she added.
'Why? You don't remember any of it.'
'It's like I don't remember-'
'Why didn't you get out of there before he...' Mulder
trailed off, wanting some type of explanation.
'Because he told me he knew who the killer was,' Scully
replied. It wasn't the whole truth, but she had no better
explanation.
'And that's all?'
'That's all,' she replied. 'I don't want to talk about it,
Mulder.' She looked away, trying to avert his gaze.
Mulder was silent for a moment as he looked at her profile.
It took some effort for her not to return his gaze.
Instead, she took an unmeasured sip of her coffee and
winced as she burnt her tongue on the hot coffee.
'What if there was another explanation?' he asked. Scully
smirked. She could clearly imagine Mulder as a small child
driving his mother insane with unending inquiries into the
mysteries of the world. Mrs. Mulder must have dreaded the
words 'what if.'
Scully had never in her life met anyone so innately
curious, and she found that she enjoyed the continuous
repartee that stemmed from Mulder's insatiable appetite for
knowledge. Today, however, she was not in the mood to
question, analyze and explain.
'Like what?' Scully asked with a sigh, resigning herself to
the inevitable. It was a moment before he responded.
'What do you know about pheromones, Agent Scully?' he
asked. The corner of her mouth twitched as she turned to
face him again.
'Well,' she began, not looking forward to where this
conversation was going, 'I know that they are chemical
signals sent out by an organism that illicit a social
response in members of the same organism.' He nodded.
'There has been documentation that they can indicate
danger, food, marking territory...' This was obviously not
the answer Mulder was looking for.
'Go on,' Mulder said. He waited.
'Sex.' By the look on his face she had hit the nail on the
head. 'Well, there has been some evidence that sex
pheromones help organisms identify male and female members
of the same species and indicate when a female is ready to
breed or whether or not a male would make a good mate. But
Mulder, there has absolutely never been conclusive proof of
human pheromones having any such affect. It has only been
documented with insects, bacteria, other mammals to some
extent... The human physiology doesn't allow for such
drastic response to biological chemicals from other
humans.'
'But how different are we from the birds and the bees,
Scully? Isn't that why we use monkeys in the lab instead
of poking and prodding at John Doe?' Scully was shaking
her head before Mulder even finished his statement.
'Of course there are advantages of using animals similar to
humans in the lab, and you are right that anatomically and
physiologically, the difference between humans and other
mammals is minimal. It's evidenced by the way we teach it
in school, I suppose; I learned human anatomy from a cat
dissection as an undergrad, but, Mulder, it's not the
same.' She was exasperated, but at the same time was aware
of a hint of enjoyment somewhere in the back of her mind.
'Why not? We all are governed by the same laws of nature,'
he said. 'Why should humans be excluded?' She knew that
he was grasping for straws, with little scientific
knowledge, but she found she couldn't interrupt him in his
tirade. 'Wouldn't it be plausible, Scully, that one
population, isolated from the general public and left alone
for generations, developed some type of mutation where
something like a sex pheromone could have evolved to have
such an effect?' he asked her.
'It would be plausible, yes,' she conceded, 'but that would
be like saying that people are just magnets and have no
control over whom they are attracted to or how they act on
such an attraction. You can't simply send out these
chemical signals whenever you want a quickie, Mulder!'
'Then how do you explain what happened with you and Brother
Andrew?'
'I can't!' she responded violently, spilling coffee as she
jerked her hand in frustration. 'Ouch! Shit,' she cursed
under her breath as she looked for something to clean up
the mess. Not finding anything, she began to wipe the
offending liquid onto her dark coat. Mulder reached over
to stop her and brushed her hand with his thumb as he
handed her a napkin. She felt a jolt at the contact. He
didn't let her hand go as he cleaned off the coffee.
'There has to some reason I walked in on you about to do
the wild thing with some stranger...'
'Well, it's not pheromones,' she said absentmindedly as she
watched him pat her hand dry.
'I wouldn't count it out, Scully,' Mulder said, glancing up
at her for a moment. 'I've seen people do some pretty
uncharacteristic things under the influence of physical
attraction.' She felt herself flush as he looked up at her.
'In fact...' He began to lean toward her.
'Mulder, what are you doing?' she asked, quickly leaning
away from him.
'I'm conducting a scientific experiment,' he said still
closing the space between them until she didn't have
anywhere else to go. ' You should appreciate this as a
scientist and a medical doctor.' Her eyes left his for a
second as, unbidden, they flickered down to his lips. He
stopped leaning toward her when his face was a few inches
away from hers.
'This isn't appropriate, Mulder,' she said quietly. She
inwardly scolded herself for not being more assertive.
'I promise not to move another inch,' he said. She did not
take any comfort from his assertion.
'Will you please back up,' Scully said without much real
conviction. She was still acutely aware of his hand on
hers.
'Not an inch. This is a bona fide scientific study. You
say there is no such thing as inexplicable attraction. I
am determined to find out.' Mulder was as good as his word
and hovered just a few inches away from her with no sign of
surrendering. She tried to string together some kind of
argument, but was frustrated by how easily his proximity
affected her train of thought. Finally, she pieced
something together.
'I didn't say inexplicable attraction, Mulder. people are
attracted to inappropriate people all the time. I said that
there is no such thing as human sex pheromones that could
have the effect that you are describing, it just wouldn't-'
'Are you attracted to me, Scully?' he asked in the same
whispery tone with which he spoke to her on the day they
first met, as if her belief in extra-terrestrials was
somehow comparable to plausibility of her finding him
attractive.
'That's beside the point, Mulder,' she argued. 'We are
partners on assignment. That's all.'
'Then you wouldn't have a problem resisting an advance like
this,' he inferred.
'No, Mulder, I wouldn't. Now, please stop.' She didn't
feel threatened at all, but his proximity was sending
sparks along her spine. He didn't back away, so she
continued, trying quite hard to ignore the physical
closeness between them. 'This little experiment won't
prove anything about pheromones, and it certainly won't
help us find this murderer-'
'So you're saying that you don't feel anything with me
close to you like this? No magnetism?' he asked. She
raised her eyebrow. She did not appreciate having her own
words used against her.
'No.' She could deny it out loud, but inevitably her body
would betray her. She was certain that he could hear her
heartbeat quickening and feel the tremor in her hand.
'You could just get out of the car,' Mulder suggested. It
was true; there was nothing that was keeping her from
leaving, or smacking him for that matter. But the truth
was that she did feel something, and as much as she didn't
want to admit it, magnetism wasn't far off the mark. She
found herself looking at his lips again as he continued
speaking.
'No one is stopping-' he was cut off as Scully closed the
distance between them. She kissed him and told herself it
was the only way to get him to give up. or shut up. For a
moment, she tried to convince herself that he had not given
her an alternative. But the truth was that she couldn't
resist.
For a second, all the possible consequences of this kiss
were flying through Scully's mind, but they were soon
replaced by the overwhelming sensation of his lips on hers.
Scully felt Mulder intertwine his fingers with hers as he
reached up with the other hand to cup her cheek. Her free
hand automatically reached to the back of his neck as the
kiss deepened. There were no thoughts in her mind, just
like a fog had smothered her consciousness.
Suddenly, as shockingly as if a grenade had gone off,
Mulder's phone rang. Scully was jolted back into the
present and she jumped out of the car before he could even
retrieve the phone from his pocket.
Scully paced rapidly back and forth while Mulder was on the
phone in the car. Her heart was racing and her breathing
was erratic. All she could do was concentrate on her
breath, and eventually her pace slowed to match. She was a
few yards away when she heard the car door open.
'There's been another attack,' Mulder said. Scully took
one final breath before turning to him. His face was red
and his hair was standing up on the top. He looked at her
with the unspoken question clear on his face along with the
slightest amount of guilt shining through. She nodded,
silently accepting whatever apology or explanation he had
that would forever be left unsaid.
'Let's get to work,' Scully said as she reached for the
door and pulled it open. She settled herself in and made
sure to point the vent directly at her face before Mulder
joined her in the car.
'So what did you see down in that cellar?' she asked before
he could say anything. Ignoring the elephant in the room
had always been on of her strong suits. Mulder looked at
her for a second before turning on the ignition and
responding.
'Just Brother What's-His-Name buried in some gopher hole in
the wall. buried alive.'
'How do you know he was alive?' Scully asked.
'Because I was in there with him. And his face was
different. Even his hair was almost feminine. It was like
he was going through some kind of transformation.'
'Changing sexes?' Scully asked skeptically.
'That would explain the hotel security camera,' Mulder
said.
'There's got to be some kind of scientific explanation,'
Scully said without thinking. it was her automatic retort to
any of his wild speculations.
'Maybe we should conduct an experiment,' Mulder said
without looking at her. She was grateful that he didn't
notice her blush as he pulled the car out of the parking
lot and headed back toward the city.
Somehow, Scully didn't think riding in a car with Mulder
would ever be the same.
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