Chapter 18
Wednesday October 4th, 2000
8:45 p.m.
The house was finally quiet. Supper had been bedlam. Maggie had made a feast, but it was no match for our new security experts. Even Andrew was in awe of how much food they'd packed away, not to mention how quickly they'd done it. I'd been worried that after they'd gorged themselves they'd end up groggy from Thanksgiving syndrome, but they went straight back to work like they'd only had a light snack.
It had been amazing, actually. Before supper began, the house had been a disaster. I doubted that we would have had any kind of added security before we moved at the end of the month. But our security advisors, 'Paranoids R Us', had done themselves proud -- by 8:30 everything was installed and tested. There had been a few tense moments when the outdoor motion sensors were activated and began to alarm, but it had turned out to be Guinness. We were going to have to get in the habit of turning them off when he was outside and remembering to arm them again when we brought him back into the house.
By 8:45 Ruby had been reloaded and the Gunmen had left to celebrate their security coup by going out for cheesesteaks and beer. Scully had been shocked that they were planning to eat again, but I was simply shocked that they'd invited Andrew and he'd accepted. I began to wonder if Andrew had made the right decision when I'd seen Langly's devilish grin and Frohike rubbing his hands together.
"I'm a little worried about this," I confessed to Scully once they'd gone.
"About what?" she glanced around the room in confusion.
"About the Gunmen having their way with Andrew. He's going to end up being the Shemp to their Larry, Moe and Curly," I explained.
"That's impossible, Mulder," she cocked her head at me.
I walked right into it. "Why's that?"
"Because you're the Shemp to their Larry, Moe and Curly. Andrew will have to settle for being Curly Joe," she smirked at me. "And don't worry about him, he's a big boy. Besides, the Gunmen need a new friend now that you aren't around as much."
"I guess," I shrugged.
"Do you want to go out with them?" her question sounded earnest, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there was only one right answer to that question.
"On any other night, Scully, I might be tempted to go out for an hour or so, but tonight I'm keeping you close to me," I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Why haven't you gone over before? Once the kids are in bed, it would be fine with me if you went out for an hour or two," she smiled at me.
"Because you'd be asleep by the time I got back," I was glad her mom was upstairs with Jordan.
"So?" she furrowed her brow.
"So -- I prefer it when you're awake when I come to bed," I grinned.
"So why not just wake me up -- gently," a big smile spread across her face starting a small fire in my chest.
"Wow," I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. "That would be okay with you?"
"Once in a while," she was still smiling from ear to ear. "And I'm sure you'd do the same for me," her smile had faded, her voice had lowered and her blue eyes had taken on a predatory gleam.
"Of course," I tried to sound nonchalant, but my voice had come out as a squeak.
Before I could regain my composure, Maggie returned to the living room. She'd taken Jordan up to bed early and had read to him for quite a while to help calm him down. Scully had gotten Megan to sleep easily. Aside from the excitement of the extra people in the house, Megan had been unaffected by the day's activities. Scully tried to talk her mother into staying the night, but she insisted on leaving.
"It's only ten to nine, dear," Maggie reminded Scully.
"True," Scully began her argument, "but it was a stressful day and it's dark --"
"I'll be fine," Maggie assured her daughter.
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at her comment. I'm sure Scully would have given me a death glare. I'd quickly learned that she did not appreciate it when I pointed out how much she was like her mother.
When the door closed behind Maggie, Scully turned to me and collapsed into my arms.
"It's all right," I wrapped my arms around her and pressed a kiss into her hair. "We'll be safe, the guys made sure of that."
"I know," she shook her head against me. "It's just that I can't help feeling violated."
"It's natural to feel that way, Scully," I rubbed her back.
"But she was going through my lingerie, Mulder. Its worse than someone just being in the house. It's almost like she was watching us make love. It gives me the creeps," she shuddered in my arms.
"I know this sounds trite, Scully, but don't let her win," I gave her a squeeze.
"I'm trying, Mulder," she heaved a sigh. "But putting on a brave face all day has completely worn me out."
"Then let's go to bed," I scooped her into my arms and began to walk toward the stairs.
"You're ready to go to bed?" she blinked at me in surprise.
"I'm ready to get into bed and hold you until you fall asleep. Is that close enough?"
She nodded her head and blinked her eyes rapidly. "I love you, Mulder," her voice trembled as she spoke.
Neither of us was long in the bathroom. By the time I was finished, Scully was already tucked into bed. When I slipped into bed beside her, she began to slide backward until we met in the middle of the bed. She sighed contentedly when I slid my arm over her waist and pulled her against me. I loved the way we fit together. My chin ended up on her shoulder, my mouth close enough to her ear that I could whisper all the sweet nothings I wanted. It was like she was sitting on my lap. When I pulled my knees up, her feet sat on top of mine.
"Mmm," I could hear the smile in her voice as she wiggled against me.
That simple action alone was enough to make me start to grow hard. Sex was the furthest thing from my mind, but my body reacted immediately to Scully's presence. Initially I was worried that she'd be upset that I had an erection, but if she was bothered, she made no indication. Instead she squirmed back against me again.
"Scully, there was something I wanted to ask you, but I never got a chance because we were never alone."
"What's that, Mulder?"
"I was worried about you and the baby after you got knocked down, but you didn't seem to be worried about it," I confessed.
"Mulder," she chuckled, "the baby is surrounded by so much amniotic fluid that it is very well protected. It probably gets jostled more when we make love. Okay?"
"Be patient with me, Scully. This is all new to me."
"When haven't I been patient with you, Mulder?"
I knew her little dig meant she had calmed down, so I ignored it. "Comfortable?" I smiled and pressed a gentle kiss below her ear.
"Very," she sighed softly, placing her hand atop mine making me hold her even tighter.
"And safe?" I whispered.
"I'm not worried," her voice was drowsy. "But I do have to admit that I always feel more secure when I'm in your arms."
Some archaic part of my male ego was delighted to hear Scully's confession, but I also knew that Scully was fully capable of taking care of herself. I still liked to hear that some ancient part of Scully felt more at ease in my arms.
It wasn't long before Scully's breathing became slow and even. Her grip on my hand eased allowing me to slide our hands down to her abdomen. Closing my eyes, I thought about the life that we had created -- a life that now was probably smaller than my baby finger. But somehow I knew that tiny life, nestled within Scully, would end up being stronger than either of us. How could someone that we created be anything but strong? Knowing that did nothing to change the fact that I felt the strong desire to protect both Scully and our baby.
It amazed me that I could feel so strongly about someone I'd never met. I didn't feel this protective of Megan and Jordan -- I loved them as much as life itself, but this feeling was different. That this feeling could stay buried within me for so long and then emerge with such ferocity stunned me. After all of the evolution of the human race, the need to protect my child remained as powerful as my desire to produce it.
I must have drifted off with my hand still on Scully's belly, because the next thing I knew, my wife's beautiful firm, round, ass was pressed up against my burgeoning erection. At first I thought I'd pressed my morning hard-on up against Scully, but when she began to move her ass along my now fully erect penis, I realized what had woken me.
"Morning," I chuckled, my voice still rough with sleep.
"Did I wake you?" Her sultry voice sent another surge straight to my already throbbing cock.
"You can wake me up like this any time you want, Scully," I ran my hand over her hip to find the hem of her nightgown.
"I'll remember that." She lifted herself up so that I could ease her nightgown up.
"How much time do we have?" I asked as I slipped my hand under the slippery fabric in search of her breast.
"It's only five," she sighed as I found my goal.
"That early?" I asked as I lowered my lips to her neck.
"We went to bed pretty early," she reminded me as she reached around to tug at my boxers.
Deciding that helping her would be the gallant thing to do, I put my hand over hers and soon the offending garment was bunched somewhere at the foot of the bed.
"Mmm," Scully seemed pleased with our effort as her hand closed around my shaft.
"I'm glad you approve," I chuckled and began to nuzzle her neck again. My efforts were rewarded with a lot of hip action from Scully. She released my cock and thrust her ass against me again. Scully's ass was a thing of beauty. It never ceased to amaze me that something so soft could still be so firm. Its curves seemed to be have been sculpted to fit me. "God, I love your ass," I breathed into her ear as I brought my hand down to caress her.
"I love how you touch me," her lolled back as I gently squeezed her.
"I wish I had more hands," I complained as I slid my right hand under her so I could use it.
"I think you do wonderful things with the two you have," her voice sounded dreamy as my hand closed over her breast.
"That works well, doesn't it?" I kept my voice low as I continued to lightly explore the curve of her ass.
"What works well?" she asked breathily as she drew her knees up.
"You like to be touched and I like to touch you," I explained as I let my hand drift between her legs.
"I don't like it, Mulder, I live for it," she told me in a smoky voice as she moved her left leg toward the bed to give me more access.
"And you have no idea what knowing that does to me, Scully," I practically growled as I spread her legs further and rolled her more onto her stomach. She wasn't quite on her side but she wasn't lying flat on her stomach either.
"I think I might have a faint idea," she turned her head to give me a sly grin. Her blue eyes had grown darker and they had become heavy-lidded. It was one of the many ways I had of knowing that Scully was aroused.
"Yeah?" I breathed as I moved my left hand to her left breast and squeezed it gently.
"Yeah," she whispered, opening her legs even further.
"You know that I want to taste every inch of your skin?" My voice was hoarse as I put one knee between her legs and then lowered my body on top of hers. "Every inch," I repeated as I began to nip at her shoulders.
"Oh God," Scully groaned lifting her hips to press her ass against me. "I love it when I can feel so much of you."
Slipping my right hand out from under her, I slid down and began to kiss her back.
Scully drew a long slow breath and squirmed beneath me. Kissing and nipping as I went, I eased my way down to her ass. Her skin felt silky to my tongue and her every muscle seemed to be trembling. Pausing at the upward rise of her cheeks, I brought my hand up to squeeze her firmness as I teased her skin with my lips.
My mouth hadn't left the rounded curve of her ass, but I could feel the heat of her sex against my chest and the scent of her arousal seemed to fill the room.
"You smell so good," I told her in my lust-roughened voice as I slipped my hand between her legs. When I ran my fingers lightly over her lips, her entire body shuddered.
"Mulder," she whimpered, her hips restless beneath me. "Please!"
Knowing that if I was going to taste her, I'd have to pull her to her quivering knees or roll her to her back, I decided to relinquish that delight. Scully was almost frantic in her need and I loved nothing more than fulfilling her desires.
With more grace than I'd ever mustered before, I moved back up to whisper in her ear. "I'm not finished tasting you yet."
This time she whimpered wordlessly, pressing her ass into me once more.
"But I can do that later," I promised, grasping my cock to guide it into her. I slipped into her easily, but her heat immediately overwhelmed me. "You feel incredible," I managed to gasp.
"This feels incredible," she tightened her internal muscles around me. "Every time, Mulder," she breathed. "Every time we make love it's incredible."
"How can that be, Scully?" I asked as I began to move slowly within her. "It gets better every time -- how can that be?"
"Don't know," her hips were moving in time with my languid pace. "I just know it does," she turned her head in search of my lips.
Scully's hands lay limply on either side of her pillow. With my elbows on the bed, I kept most of my weight off her as we continued to make gentle love. As I bent my head down to capture her lips, my hands found hers and we entwined our fingers as we kissed feverishly.
The ferocity of our kisses were in sharp contrast to the speed of our hips. Even though we were devouring each other's mouths, we were both content to make love slowly, prolonging our pleasure. Our complicated life did not often allow us the time to enjoy each other so thoroughly.
Despite our leisurely pace, I was surprised to feel Scully's internal muscles tighten and then begin to ripple around my cock. She moaned into my mouth as her body quaked beneath me. With every ounce of resolve I had, I fought to keep my strokes slow and even. Scully's orgasms usually made me move faster, but I wanted to make this last. I savored every nuance of her climax, every twitch, every ripple, every sigh.
"I want to feel you come again," I whispered into her ear when her body relaxed beneath me, her head falling to her pillow.
"I love the way you feel inside of me," she squeezed her muscles around me again.
Groaning at the increased friction, I felt the beginnings of my orgasm tingling in my balls. My body was covered by a sheen of perspiration and my muscles were starting to quiver as I approached my release. Clenching my teeth, I struggled against the almost overwhelming urge to move faster. Scully lifted her head off of the pillow to look at me. Her breathing was fast and shallow. Her lips were slightly parted and her eyes seemed almost completely black. I felt her fingers tighten around mine as she began to increase our pace. My first reaction was to beg her to slow down, but then I saw her eyes start to roll back in her head. She was coming again. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. My orgasm seemed to begin at the tips of my toes and I was positive that Scully's name exploded out of my mouth when I climaxed inside of her.
Once we'd both stopped shaking, I rolled us back to our sides and retrieved the blankets. We lay quietly, spooned together, trying to catch our breath. I must have fallen back to sleep again with Scully in my arms, because suddenly the radio was playing and I could hear Megan gurgling through the baby monitor. Thursday had officially begun.
The early morning routine made the time speed by and it seemed that before I had time to blink, Scully and I were in the car on our way to the office. Scully had been concerned about leaving Maggie alone with the kids, but Maggie and I had convinced her that everything would be fine. When we left the house we spotted a cruiser making its way slowly past the driveway, making Scully finally relax.
Andrew was anxious to talk to us about the Adamstown case when we arrived. I knew that Scully and I would not be given point in a case that directly involved us, so the harassment case would be an ideal way to keep our minds off Leigh. Before we left the house we'd talked with Andrew and agreed that there would be no discussion of Leigh at the office. It wouldn't solve anything and our energies would be better spent elsewhere.
"I had an interesting discussion with Mrs. Clarey yesterday morning," he informed us once we were all sitting down.
"Interesting how?" I asked as I opened up the file.
"Well," Andrew paused for a moment, "her concerns regarding Ms. Burke seemed to be centered around Mr. Clarey."
"Around Mr. Clarey?" Scully repeated.
"Yup. Mrs. Clarey believes that Ms. Burke has somehow bewitched her husband," Andrew shrugged.
"Bewitched him into doing what?" I was curious.
"It was more like he was bewitched into not doing things," Andrew clarified. "Not mowing the lawn, not taking out the garbage, not spending time with their children, not coming home on time."
"To what end?" Scully's voice was laden with skepticism.
"I wondered that too," Andrew admitted. "I asked her if she thought Pamela Burke was interested in her husband in a romantic way."
"And?" I prodded him.
"And she thought that idea was absurd. She thought her neighbor was just doing all of this out of spite," Andrew shook his head.
"Spite about what?" Scully's brow was knotting as she spoke. "Not about anything in particular, just because 'that's what Witches do' apparently," Andrew rolled his eyes.
"So Mrs. Clarey is really having marital problems and instead of facing them and dealing with them, she's trying to blame it on her neighbor. A neighbor, who conveniently, does not fit into the tidy picture of the world that Mrs. Clarey has created for herself," I sighed. "So what are we now? Marriage counselors?"
"Well, if we could find out what's actually going on with Mr. Clarey we might be able to get Mrs. Clarey to point her frustrations in the right direction. The case is about harassment, after all, Mulder. It's not about the validity of Witchcraft," Scully reminded me.
"Yeah, well I'm sorry that I find it a little frustrating to have to sort out people's personal problems when I'd rather be concentrating on my own life," I couldn't disguise my displeasure.
"The bulk of most law enforcement work is dealing with people's personal problems and we haven't even escaped it in the X-Files, Mulder," Scully calmly pointed out. "Would you like me to list the cases?"
"No," I chuckled. "I guess I didn't mind as much when I didn't have a life."
"So we're going to go and talk to Mr. Clarey?" Andrew had been listening to our discussion like he'd been watching a tennis match.
"Yes," I nodded.
"I thought so," Andrew smiled. "I have his work address right here," he held up his notebook. "He's a lawyer -- has an office in downtown DC."
Mr. Clarey ran a tax law business with offices above a coffee shop on a quiet side street. As always the parking in downtown DC was atrocious and we had to park a couple of blocks away. The stairs up to the law office were well lit and the aroma of dark roast coffee permeated the air.
The door to the office was closed, but unlocked when I tried it. The reception area was bright and well furnished, but empty. A cup from the shop downstairs sat on the desk and when I glanced at the computer on the desk I saw some sort of invoice on the screen. Behind the reception desk another door led to what I presumed was Mr. Clarey's office. It was slightly ajar and I thought I could hear muffled voices inside.
Pulling our badges out, we all headed toward the inner office. I knocked quickly before walking in and announcing our presence.
"Mr. Clarey?" I began. "I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder, and this is Special Agent Scully and Special Agent Guernsey."
Mr. Clarey's head had been resting on the back of his executive style chair, but upon hearing my voice he sprang forward in his chair. His mouth began to move, but no sounds were coming out. His eyes were wide with fear and his face had grown quite red.
"There's nothing to be concerned about, Mr. Clarey," I continued. "We're just here to ask you some --" Before I could finish my sentence Scully had elbowed me in the ribs. When I turned to look at her, I was shocked to see that her face had grown pink and she was biting her lip in an obvious effort not to laugh. When I looked at her questioningly, she nodded toward the lower edge of Mr. Clarey's desk. Peeking out from the six inch gap between the skirt of the desk and the rug were the scuffed black soles of a pair of high heels.
"Um," I wasn't sure where to look. "Why don't we give you a couple of minutes," I said in a tight voice.
Hurrying out of the office, I closed the door behind us. Andrew's face had grown as red as Mr. Clarey's. We all looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
"I guess that's blown the case wide open," I stage whispered.
"Mulder!" Scully protested, stifling a laugh.
"I can't believe this," Andrew shook his head, his face growing even redder.
As funny as it was, we were left in an awkward position. How exactly were we supposed to tell Mrs. Clarey that the cause of her problems were in downtown DC, not right next door?
end chapter 18