TØUCH, WHERE IT HURTS | mulder + scully

C H A P T E R N Ī N E;

Can't you see the way you look at one another,

The restaurant is beautiful. Scully cannot believe it. The walls are painted in rich red and gold colours, a huge mural painting occupies the ceiling, with a huge glass chandelier. In the very centre of the huge dining area is a beautiful stain glass skylight.

The restaurant is the stuff from fairy tales. Dana looks around at the other diners. They're older people, everyone is dressed fancy, and even though she has put a lot of effort in she still feels largely underdressed. She's been in awe since she got here, she's fallen in love with the place.

She can't stop herself from saying thank you every five minute, or things like 'seriously this is far too much'

'Mike, honestly, this is far too much' She had said as they entered, and a thousand times more since then.

'Nonsense' had been his reply, 'anything for my girl' And that had made her grin from ear to ear, given her butterflies in her stomach. She feels so special, like a Disney princess or something akin to that.

The meal is nice. The date is going as well as ever. Dana is trying so hard to ignore the guilt in her stomach. She really wishes Mike wouldn't have gone to all this trouble, she would have been okay going to McDonalds or something for god-sake. And that's the only con, she decides, he tries too hard.

But she smiles. And she's thankful. She's the luckiest girl in the world, she keeps telling herself. Any girl would kill for this.

This is what I want.

☾

Fox Mulder is drunk, really, really drunk. He ambles through the streets of London, wobbling slightly from side to side as he does so. He gives a cheerful hello to every stranger he passes, some smile back, some hurry past him. 

He can't rid the taste of stale beer from his mouth and he really just wants to throw up.

He can hear his father in his head, 'seriously Fox. You are making a fool of yourself, you are an embarrassment.' He shrugs. Sorry mum.

Non of the bars will take him, he's in far too much of a state already, and it's only 11pm. Lightweight. He's already had a fight in one bar. So now sporting a busted lip and what is sure to be a black eye the following morning, he decides to give up and go home. /There's plenty of other times to be a reckless student/, he decides.

But which way is home?

He has no idea. He decides to head, in the direction that he thinks is north. He just hopes for the best.

He walks for about ten minutes, when he finds himself on one of the much busier streets. It's familiar. At least he thinks so. The lights are bright, the sounds of the city, the cars, the people, are all amplified in his drunken state. He is aware of a headache coming on. There's a ringing in his ears.

He sees her coming out of a restaurant, even from a mile away. She looks beautiful dressed up like that. Stunning. Her red hair is so vibrant, mixing in with the colours of the night life. For a second he thought it was some drunken apparition. She's laughing and smiling. He stops and stares, without really knowing what he's doing. He finds himself smiling too.

Before he's aware of it, his feet are dragging him towards her.

She's twenty paces from him now,