Single Word Prompts (X-Files)

Bitterness

"Stop."

It came out of nowhere. The sudden annoyance. She was feeling fine a moment ago, but now, she felt like crap. Mulder turned to face his partner from the driver's seat, slamming on the brakes.

"Scully what is it?"
"Just pull over."
"What's wrong?"
"Pull over."

He parked on the side of a busy sidewalk.

"Scully wha-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Scully was slamming the door of the car behind her and heading inside an ice-cream shop. Mulder rolled his eyes and ran after her. She was standing in line, tapping her foot and hissing through her teeth. Mulder walked up behind her, suddenly very worried. He put his arms around her from behind.

"Baby-"
"Don't call me that."

She squirmed free from his grasp, glaring up at him. It was their turn in line, and she turned to the woman standing behind the counter.

"Two scoops of rum and raisin in a cone."

She looked over her shoulder at Mulder, almost with disgust, then added:

"Double that."

Mulder was getting more and more confused. First, Scully makes him stop the car for no apparent reason, then she doesn't want him, and on top of it all, she orders ice-cream. Ice-cream, for God's sake. This is the woman that wouldn't eat anything but protein yogourt for months.

"Scully?"
"What?"
"Are you on your period?"

He meant it as a joke, but he could see that Scully didn't appreciate it. He thought he saw her smile for a split second, but bitter Scully was back just as quickly.

"No. Either way, that's none of your business."

Their ice-cream was ready, and after she payed, Scully walked out onto the sidewalk again and sat down on a bench. She bit at her ice-cream ferociously, needing to take out her anger on something. Mulder sat down next to her.

"Seriously, what's going on?"
"I just felt like having ice-cream. Is that a crime?"
"No... You just seem-"
"I just seem what?"

She glared at him again, but she turned too sharply, and her ice-cream toppled to the floor. Her eyes followed it, and suddenly her expression softened as she whispered,

"M-my ice-cream..."

Mulder couldn't help smiling.

"Here, have mine."

She turned towards him again, and he shoved the cone into her mouth, making the cream splatter all over her face. Mulder's jaw dropped open. He hadn't meant to do that so harshly. He started to apologize, pulling the messy thing away from her lips, when Scully let out a giggle. Soon they were both laughing hysterically. This was the Scully Mulder knew and loved. Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, Mulder took her face into his hands.

"Hey, you've got a little something there."

He leaned in close and kissed her cream-covered lips. Yeah, he liked this Scully much better.