Mulder Unbuttoned by qIra JulIyan

Mulder Unbuttoned by qIra

STORIES ON THIS SITE ARE INTENDED FOR ADULTS ONLY

Mulder Unbuttoned by qIra

It was a star-spangled Washington night. Dead of night, in fact. Dani wasn't sleeping, unlike the others sacked out on benches and under bushes. She was the only thing moving. Even the streets were dead at this small hour.

No telling what kept her awake. Something buried deep in her brain simply wouldn't let her fall unconcsious. So she walked. A dangerous habit in the wilds of DC, but there was nothing else for it. So, what, if someone shot her? Adrift in the world, she would go unmourned. No big deal.

Ahead stood the Lincoln Memorial. White steps just like everywhere else. So much white here; as if the designers would deny the filth of this town.

On those steps huddled yet another cold figure, but this one sat in the center rather than leaned against the stone sides. Here was someone not even trying to sleep. A young man, thirtyish or so, the collar of his overcoat flapping against his cheek in the gusting breeze. As she approached, Dani could see his eyes dart here and there in search. Of what? Dawn was three hours away; what could anyone expect to see in the middle of the night?

She approached quietly. He had to know she was there, but he didn't glance her direction. Her steps slowed as she neared, but his gaze was still in the distance.

Who was he? His overcoat was fine wool. Gray. His hair was government regulation; common around here. Darkish but not too, it fell over his forehead and danced there in the breeze. Light from the pole nearby glittered in his eyes as he searched for God-knew-what.

Dani stopped walking. The man's eyes shut. Her natural curiosity struggled with the realization he was waiting for her to move on. He wanted to be alone.

But curiosity won. She went to him, her sneakers silent on the concrete. Figuring she was undetected, she waited for him to open his eyes.

He sighed. "Can I help you?" The voice was soft. Precise. By the intonation Dani could tell he was FBI in spite of the sneakers and jeans. But when he opened his eyes she saw he had the face of a wounded puppydog. There was trouble in him. Fool that she was, trouble attracted Dani and her heart came alive as her body responded to him. It was all she could do to keep from letting go a sigh.

"I said, can I help you?" The second time his voice held no more tension than the first. Dani admired patience; there was so little of it in her.

"Kinda late isn't it?"

"Or early. Depends on your perspective, I guess." Was there a smile in the corner of his mouth? It was hard to tell. The pain in his eyes was so deep...

"You've been stood up, haven't you?" She always knew these things.

Bald surprise made his jaw drop. Then he recovered and said, "Not yet."

"Yes, yet. You've been here in the cold for a long time. She was supposed to meet you here about an hour ago, I'd say."

"Not a she."

Dani's heart fell. "Oh."

A quick stammer loosened the man from his huddle. "Not like that. I mean, I was waiting for a colleague. I'm afraid something happened to him. I had some questions..."

"I see." Things brightened. Especially now that he was talking to her instead of past her. "What questions?"

This time he really did smile. Kind of lopsided. "You can ask that in this town?"

"I ask all sorts of things. Not much gets past me."

His reaction was a simple "Huh." Then he gathered his coat around him and stood. "I guess it's time to head home. Which way are you going? I'll walk you; it's not safe out here."

"I'm just wandering. Can't sleep. I live about a mile that way." She pointed with her chin.

There was a moment's hesitation, which told her his place was the opposite direction, but he said, "Me, too." He took a couple of steps, then paused to let her catch up.

As they walked, she learned he was, indeed, an agent for the FBI. But he sounded doubtful of his role in it. As if he were becoming alienated. She could sense the struggle in him to reconcile his identity as an agent with his perceptions of the world around him. Like a priest who wasn't sure there was a God. The man never said any of this, but with Dani he didn't have to. Hers was a talent useful among bureaucrats; the only drawback being the frequent sleepless nights.

"My name is Dani, by the way."

He let go a quick, embarrassed smile. "Fox Mulder." He held out a hand and she took it. His palm was soft but dry. And warm.

"Fox, huh? Well named, I'd say." Her own smile was bright and shameless. And she relished the redness of his face as he glanced at the ground. His grin showed white but slightly crooked teeth.

"Well some wouldn't agree with you. They call me 'Spooky' 'cause I chase UFO's." A dry fatalism crept into his voice. He felt he had to humor those who didn't believe. Dani smiled; he was incredibly easy to read.

"Was that what you were doing out here in the middle of the night?"

He shook his head and left it at that.

She said, "I'm out here because someone was shouting in my brain. I'm sensitive to others' thoughts, and someone..." she peered at him, "...SOMEONE was keeping me awake."

He peered back at her. "Someone? You don't mean me, do you?" Again the dry fatalism. But the humor was real this time.

"More than likely. You don't seem too surprised by that."

"I'm not." A plain statement. As if there could be no reason for him to doubt her. This was a pleasant change from the usual scepticism. She was beginning to like him a lot.

Her apartment building was just ahead. On a whim she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. He looked down at it and his lip curled into a tentative smile. He kept hidden his rising pulse, but she could almost hear the blood surge. Her own body tingled with his energy. This was going somewhere; she could feel it.

"This is it." Dani paused before the building but didn't let go of Mulder's arm.

He looked up at the one lit window. "Let me guess; you're on the fourth floor."

"You didn't have to be a special agent to figure that out."

"No, I suppose not." He gazed down at her, his smile gentle. "Can you tell me what I'm thinking now if I'm so loud I kept you awake?"

She took a glance down. "I can look at your jeans and tell what you're thinking now. Come upstairs, Fox Mulder. I have coffee or wine, whichever you prefer." She tugged on his elbow.

Mulder stepped toward her and leaned down for a kiss. A test. He wanted to know if she were serious or just jerking him around.

The lips were much softer than the rest of him. Her response was to open her mouth to him and press her hand to his neck. His breath warmed her cheek. She slipped a hand into his overcoat where it was even warmer. The heart in his chest pounded like a jackhammer. This boy hadn't been laid in a loooong time.

"Come with me," she said.

"Good choice of words." Again with the dry humor. He followed her upstairs.

Inside her apartment, she went to the kitchen. "Relax. Take off your gun and stay awhle."

"I left my holster at home," he called. His overcoat went over the chair nearest the door.

"But your gun is in the back of your pants. Remove it please."

He came to the divider between the kitchen and the living room as she rummaged through her cabinets for coffee. "Is that an order?" It made him nervous. Probably that she knew where his gun was.

"I hope it will become necessary whether I ask it or not." She threw him her sweetest smile and held up a package of hazelnut flavored coffee.

He nodded and his smile showed his teeth again. With a wry grimace he reached behind into his jeans for the gun which he laid on the counter before him. The ugly, gray revolver clunked onto the formica with that peculiar threat of deadly force all guns posess even when unloaded. This weapon was filled with bullets. It had killed people in the past. Dani shuddered.

The motions of making coffee done, she stopped before actually flipping the switch on the machine. There would be no coffee tonight, for it was time to move on to the real reason Mulder was there.

She went around the counter to kiss him. His hands went to the sides of her head and held her there as if he were drinking from her. His pleasure warmed her. So sad for normal people who only felt their own pleasure.

He leaned back to gaze into her eyes. "They're so dark," he said. "I've never seen anyone with eyes so dark."

A giggle escaped her. "Yours are so...hazel. I think."

He smiled and kissed her again.

She guided him to the sofa, big, soft and wide; the most comfortable piece of furniture she owned. She lay back on it, holding his neck so that he eased down with her. One leg on the cushion, she drew him down until he lay between her legs. His eyelids drooped, and he couldn't help pressing the rock in his pants to her. A sigh rumbled from so deep inside him it might have come from those loins.

"Untie my shoes," she said.

There was a hesitation. He wanted to bang her through the clothing. But both knew some unbuttoning was necessary, so he turned to pull at her laces.

Shoes and socks off both of them, Mulder pulled his faded blue T-shirt over his head. He had a nice body: well-muscled but not too. Strong enough to hold onto, but not too bulky for her to make an impression on him. She liked give and take. Equal partnerships made the best sex.

He helped her slip her jeans off, then her panties. A tiny kiss to the inside of her thigh made her back arch. Another brush of his lips closer in made her sigh and look down at him. Lips still against her skin, his eyes were on hers. She smiled, and he turned his head to touch his tongue to her labia. It tingled. Then his eyes shut as he put his mouth full on her. His tongue searched her and learned every corner of her.

Her fingers played in his hair as his tongue brought her closer and closer to delirium. Her knees splayed and her back arched. Just as she voiced her pleasure, he moved his mouth away and up her torso. He unbuttoned her blouse to taste a nipple. Then her neck. He kissed her mouth, and she tasted herself on him. She didn't like it at first, but it excited him and she felt the charge go through her as if it were hers.

His jeans pressed hard against her, almost to the point of pain. Gasps came from him. He reached down with one hand to unbutton himself, and with that same hand shoved his pants down just far enough to free his penis. In an instant he shoved it into her.

His surprising size and energy made her cry out. The pleasure he felt made the room spin for her. He moaned into her neck. Ecstasy was like a feedback circuit through the both of them, each cycle bringing them closer to each other and to infinity.

The world exploded in stars. A universe of stars that spun out forever. Mulder shuddered in her arms, and she felt his orgasm as well. He continued to move, slowly, until he wound down to a stop, gasping and covered with sweat.

They rolled and he lay beside her on the sofa. As an afterthought he kicked off his jeans, then kissed her forehead and laid his head on his arm. One hand arranged the hair over her eyes. Light kisses lit on her face and shoulder. He clung.

Relaxed, he seemed at peace. His mind drifted off, the mysterious pain more bearable now. Finally she could sleep.

Only a couple of hours later, she awoke again to the smell of hazelnut coffee. Rising sun was just making the sky distinguishable from the earth outside. The living room lamp was off now, but she could see a blue outline of Mulder on the chair across the room. He stared out the window at the fading stars. A coffee mug sat on the lamp table by his hand. She went to him and sat before him on the floor.

Still staring at the stars, he pushed his fingers through her hair and stroked her eyebrow with his thumb. "Let me ask you something totally off the wall. Do you think there could be life on other planets?"

"Yes." Then she caught herself. "There could be."

"Do you think they come here?"

"Could be." His naked body was beautiful in the starlight. She kissed his knee.

He was silent for a long time. Staring. Off in some other world Dani could only guess at. There were so many.

Then he took her face between his hands and leaned down to kiss her. Long and soft. Grateful. He was grateful to her. "I gotta go."

"I know." She stood to let him up so he could gather his clothes. It was a pleasure to watch him dress. "Don't forget your gun."

He threw her a wry smile and slipped the pistol into the back of his pants before donning the overcoat. Then he came to her for a quick kiss that turned into a long goodbye. His face didn't seem so wounded any more when he glanced back at her on his way out.

Dani pulled on her panties and started to clean up some. But her heart fell at the high, musical sound of a transporter beam behind her. She turned toward the window to see the red uniform of a 24th century Starfleet Commander.

"Riker, go away."

"You're coming back with me, Danyara. And put some clothes on, for crying out loud." He reached for her jeans and started to toss them to her, but paused to examine the studs and button fly first. Then he tossed them.

She caught them. "I'm staying right here, you horse. I have every right." This guy was hard to read. Too much experience with Betazoids, she supposed.

"Computer, lights." When nothing happened he glanced around the room.

Dani reached over and snapped on the lamp.

Riker said, "You don't have a right to put yourself and the rest of the universe in danger. Don't you know there are DISEASES in this time? Sexually transmitted diseases that wiped out whole populations on the African continent before they took hold in North America. You can't stay here; you could die.

"I'm not going back."

"Dani..."

"No. Tell Starfleet that my research is not done. I'll be back when it's finished."

Disgust filled Riker's eyes. "Research. What's so special about the people of this time?"

Dani couldn't answer that. There was just something about these people that made her come alive. She turned away from him and pulled on her jeans.

"I can make you come."

She faced him. "No, you can't. You never could."

The commander's blue eyes glittered and narrowed. His chin went up and his fists were knots at his sides. He dared not speak lest he say something vile enough to be heard back at Starfleet.

"Kidnap me and there will be hell to pay with my father. And his cousin, your captain."

"Even your father can't make Captain Picard condone violating the prime directive. Particularly the provisions concerning time travel." His voice was level though his eyes danced with unexpressed venom.

"No, but he must first prove I'm violating it. Take me back, and I'll see you in the brig."

Riker was stymied, and he knew it. She smelled his defeat, and his anger. Riker was not accustomed to being thwarted. For a long moment he glared at her with all the fury of offense to be summoned by the Federation flagship's first officer. But finally he was forced to make his retreat. He tapped his com badge. "Riker to Danube; one to beam up."

The computer on his runabout engaged the glittery, musical beam and Riker disappeard. Forever, she hoped.

But as she stared at the place where the commander had been, she saw outside the window. There, on the lawn in front of her building, stood Fox Mulder...looking up at the window where he'd just seen a man from the future disappear before his eyes. His jaw was dropped open.

Slowly, though, his eyes narrowed and the bald surprise left. His mouth closed then formed a smile, white under the streetlamp. He kissed his fingertips then turned them toward her. She did the same. He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and walked away.

End