TITLE: Little Notes AUTHOR: aRcaDIaNFall$ FEEDBACK: arcadianfalls@yahoo.com.au RATING: G SPOILERS: none, setting arbitrary CLASSIFICATION: UST, H SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully are bored in a meeting and start passing notes... http://www.geocities.com/arcadianfalls/ Little Notes by aRcaDIaNFall$ He slid the note along the table nonchalantly, glancing at me only as he retracted his hand. I flicked it open, my eyes widening as I read it through. Want to go out tonight? I glanced across at him quickly, curious, but he was seemingly intent on the pie chart displayed. I wondered if anybody was fooled by that. Mulder couldn't stand sitting around the conference table for mind-dulling hours, wasting our time. He liked to call them bored meetings, deliberately misspelling the word in whatever memo or e-mail he sent me announcing that our presence was required. Out where? I scrawled my response, folding the note back over. I slid it back down toward him, not really surprised by his attempts to fill the time but curious as to what had brought this teenage bashfulness on. He blindly reached for the note, drawing it closer and unfolding and gazing at it with an earnest frown, as if the agent droning on about cost effectiveness had presented him with a fascinating puzzle. He stared at my response, evidently pondering. I watched closely as he scribbled his response but couldn't make out the words from my angle. He folded it back over and passed it back. See a movie? Not a typical Mulder suggestion, it made me smile. Sure. I passed it back. He was sitting with his elbows resting on the table, his chin resting on his hands. I nudged the scrap of paper under his elbow but he didn't seem to notice. I kicked him gently under the table and he looked at me, reproachful. I shrugged apologetically, indicating the note. He cleared his throat and I looked up to discover that the presenting agent had stopped mid-sentence, and was waiting for our silence. I smiled a tight apology to the presenting agent, and those sitting around the table. They shifted restlessly. The presenting agent went on. I felt light touch on my thigh under the table. I reached down, fumbling for the note Mulder slipped into my hand, surreptitiously drawing it to the table. Can I buy you popcorn? I shook my head slightly in amusement. Sounds good. I passed it back along under the table, feeling childish. We were like eighth graders passing notes during class. What if we got caught? Can I hold your hand? Eyebrows raised, I glanced across at him, careful to hide the note from view of the agent on my other side. Mulder... I smiled and scribbled my response quickly, pressing the note into his waiting palm. If you want. He glanced over my response, then looked across at me for the first time, smiling. There was something playfully wicked in that smile. He bent over to write a response, but then discarded the paper we'd been using, out of space. He stuffed it in his pocket and cleared his throat to cover the ripping noise as he tore the corner off a page from his notepad. He gave me a sheepish grin before bending to write. It took him only a second to write the next question, but he sat deliberating for a good minute before folding it, and then for another one, holding it between thumb and forefinger, out on the conference table in recklessly plain sight, contemplating it. Was he teasing me? He glanced across at me and I wondered if he was waiting for me to reach across for it. Before I could read his eyes, the dreaded happened. A flash of movement, and the note was plucked from Mulder's fingers. By AD Skinner. Everything came to a screeching halt. Mulder and I both looked at Skinner in stunned horror as he sat back, suspiciously unfolding the note. He frowned, glancing at us past the note, then back at it. What did it say? I wondered, panicking. What would *he* say? Slowly, torturingly, he refolded it, eyes on the pair of us as he slipped it in his breast pocket. I glanced at Mulder, needing to know how much trouble we were in, but his tight smile and tensed jaw didn't give me much confidence. I hadn't been listening most of what was being said to begin with, and in the last ten minutes of that meeting I didn't hear a thing. The meeting came to an end and all the agents rose. Mulder and I stood, watching as Skinner got to his feet, shook the wrinkles out of his jacket and pulled it on, making his way around the table with deliberate leisure, his eyes on us. What was he going to say? Was he going to reprimand us for passing notes, fire us for flirting, or simply yell at us for unprofessional behaviour? But he did none of those. He moved as if he was going to simply walk out past us, but he as he passed me he stopped. He proffered the folded scrap of paper. "I think... that this was for you." I muttered a thanks, taking the paper, watching as he walked out. I held the note, staring at him, dying to know what was within but too afraid. Mulder touched my arm. "I'll pick you up at seven, okay?" I nodded assent, watching as he took off, walking jauntily. I slid a finger between the folds and smoothed the note open. Can I kiss you goodnight? I stared at it, then up at my still retreating partner. "Hey, Mulder!" I called after him. He stopped, hesitating a second before turning to face me. "Yeah?" "I'd like that." He grinned boyishly, and nodded. We understood each other. "Seven it is." Not such a total waste, after all. fin. =====