TITLE: Strawberry Dreams AUTHOR: Sandra Winarta DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, as long as the story is intact along with my name and disclaimer. CLASSIFICATION: S, H, R (of the M&S variety) RATING: G. SPOILERS: None! SUMMARY: What if strawberries and cream just weren't enough? DISCLAIMER: I don't own FM or DS, nor do I claim to. CC and 1013 Productions do, so blame them! STRAWBERRY DREAMS By Sandra Winarta Strawberries. I woke up this morning craving for strawberries. Never mind it's in the middle of January with two inches of snow on the ground. Never- mind I've never craved for them in my life. I knew I had to have them before the day was out. There's an X-File, if ever there was one. I drove to work dreaming of fresh strawberries and cream. I rode down in the elevator thinking of yummy strawberry mousse. When I walked down the corridor to the office, I swear I saw a juicy, fat strawberry in every doorway. By the time I walked into the office, I was salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs, and so deep was I in my strawberry fantasy that I failed to notice Mulder's presence. When I finally looked up at him, I found Mulder staring at me, thoroughly amused. "What?" I asked. "A bit preoccupied this morning?" I ignored him, and proceeded to power up my PC. By the time I started to check my mail he'd gotten tired of waiting for my answer and had gone back to his PC. Only then did I allow myself to look at him, as I did most mornings. He was doing some research on the Web. So absorbed was he that the only sounds emanating from his desk was the insistent clicking of the mouse. Sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a mug of coffee drained, he must have been at work for a good hour already. His hair was meticulously gelled into place -- he once told me that it was the only way he could keep his hair long without him looking Cousin It each morning. His tie was relatively subdued -- if you could call the combination of orange and green 'subdued'. Mulder never did tell me he was colour blind, but it didn't take a genius to work that out. Finally, I studied his face. It was strangely reassuring that his face had not changed in the six years I've known him. Well, he may have gained a little weight in that time, but not enough to make him pudgy like so many men his age. His jaw was still finely chiselled, moving constantly while he chewed at another sunflower seed from his bottomless stash. The mole on his cheek had not faded. A perpetual five o'clock shadow still clung to his jaw. His nose was still rather large and domineering. And his eyes. They're still hazel, able to give those enduring puppy-dog looks he's perfected. But Dana, you've forgotten the feature you've placed in highest esteem. His eyelashes? Get real. They may be long and the envy of any gal, but they are not the feature I wished for, hoped for, *lusted* for. His mouth, dear reader, framed by those luscious lips. Mulder's slightly full bottom lip has intrigued me ever since I saw him. How could a mere facial feature be so lush, so ripe, so sexy? It's almost like a... a juicy strawberry. Reluctantly, I dragged my sight away from those luscious lips and back to the monitor, lest Mulder found me out. I had already drooled two buckets full, but Mulder intended to torture me still. Slowly, he pursed his lips together, and unconsciously ran his teeth over the lower one. It took all of my self-control to suppress a groan. Since he could guess most of my thoughts, I wondered if he knew about my current obsession? "Mulder?" "Uh-huh?" "What do you think of strawberries?" He paused in thought, "They're red and you can eat them." "Do you like them at all?" "I can't say that I do." "Oh..." There goes my strawberry fantasy. "I like bananas better, though." Bananas. I didn't want to think about bananas. "Is that close enough?" he asked. "Not really, but thanks for telling me, anyway." "No problem." Boy. I had to get some strawberries fast or I'd be eating *anything* by the end of the day. Ten bucks it won't be fruit. Then again, if I did manage to find my elusive strawberries, whose to say they would be enough? The lunchtime crowds filled the mall to breaking point. They lingered in exclusive boutiques, sat on benches while nibbling on sandwiches, discretely sunbathed before having to disappear into the their darkened lairs. Standing outside my third supermarket, I had almost lost hope. The search for strawberries had been so far without success. Marching right in, I headed straight for the fruit section, bypassing even the all-important ice cream freezer. Now, was it an extraordinary piece of luck that the display was once again empty? What was it with DC and strawberries in mid-winter? I was about to resign myself to buying the frozen kind when a punnet of some *real* stuff appeared in front of my face. "You looking for these?" said my Mysterious Strawberry Thief. "Mulder..." I sighed, putting out my hand. "Gimme." He shook his head. "Not until you say the magic words." "Stop playing games. Why are you buying them when you don't even like them?" "Doesn't mean I don't eat them occasionally. I just happen to think this is one of those rare occasions." He held the punnet high above my head as I tried to grab it. "Now, be a good girl and say the magic word." Another annoying thing about Mulder. When he sets his mind to something, there's usually no stopping him. The only thing to do is take it to the end, or surrender. Surrendering seemed the easiest option to this silly dilemma. "You're a pain in the ass, you know?" He grinned. "Only the best for you, Scully." "Alright. *Please*." "Cool." he said simply, handing over the sacred punnet. "What's with the strawberries all of a sudden? I've never even seen you eat them." "Just because you haven't seen me eat them, it doesn't mean I don't like them." I shrugged my shoulders. "Just wanted some strawberries, that's all." "So you raided three supermarkets and almost got hostile 'cause you couldn't find them?" Then it came to me. He had been following me since I'd left the office earlier that morning. The sonofabitch had been *following* me. "Mulder, why can't you leave me alone for an hour?" "Hey, I wasn't following you," he defended, "I went to Giovanni's for a coffee and saw you coming out of the supermarket. Then, at the newsstand I saw you walking by. I thought, why was Scully in such a hurry? I admit I followed you here, but you can't count ten minutes as a whole lunchtime, can you?" "No, but it is when you're stealing my strawberries." I really can't call writing expense reports 'work', more like 'torture'. Especially when Mulder had 'misplaced' three flashlights, a cell phone, an a gun in the last quarter. Personally, I would have loved to torture him with these forms, but I knew I'd have to fill them in again if he was the one doing them. Mulder tended to come up with the most... interesting reasons as to why he lost a particular piece of Bureau property. Bet the paper pushers groan as soon as they see a document from this division. So, there I was filling out expense reports while Mulder was sorting through a hefty pile of files. I was still thinking of my strawberries, safely in my stomach by then. Except one elusive strawberry that was right in front of me. "Quit staring, Scully." "Mmm... What?" "You've been ogling me for the past ten minutes and it's starting to give me the creeps. Is my fly undone or something?" "No... sorry." I looked away quickly, flicking my attention back to the riveting report. But the hunger for that elusive strawberry wouldn't go away, until I couldn't deny it any longer. "You staying back tonight?" I asked as composedly as possible. "Yeah, found some interesting stuff about psychic powers in the propagation of tornadoes." "Quit it." He jumped, looking somewhat startled. "What?" "Quit it. We're going out tonight." "Out?" "Yup." "Alone?" "Yup." "To a greasy diner?" "To a classy restaurant." "Is this a date, Agent Scully." I did not hesitate in answering, "Yup." The smile that graced his face was wider than the largest crater. He took a couple of steps towards me and leaned close until his face was all that I could see. "Did you know that it's against Bureau policy for partners to get personally involved?" I merely lifted my eyebrow and coolly said, "Who said we weren't already?" His smile grew even wider as he draped an arm over my shoulders. "I thought you'd never ask. Let's go, Dana. I'll even treat you to Strawberries Victoria for dessert -- strawberries, fresh cream, passionfruit, Cointreau..." "Deal." "Speaking of strawberries..." Mulder leaned down quickly, and I knew then what it was like to taste that elusive strawberry. THE END.