From: Lillian <ms_lillian@my-deja.com>

Date: 18 Sep 1999 00:00:00 GMT

Subject: New - Bathe NC-17

Title - Bathe

Author - Ms Lillian ms_lillian@my-deja.com

Rating - NC-17

Catagory - MSR, A

Disclaimer - Not mine. Never were, never will be.

So Chris, please take better care of them this year.

Archive - Ephemeral, yes. Gossamer, yes. And

should anybody else want to (which I doubt) feel

free, but drop me a mail to say where please :)

This is actually a rough draft of a chapter for a WIP

that just doesn't appear to want to see the light of day.

I have tried and tried but seem to have come to a full

stop, therefore I thought I would post part of it that

could stand alone, rather than post from the beginning and

not finish. Maybe I'll have another shot at it one day.

Lonely part of a WIP begins....

'Scully'

The name was called softly through the door, accompanied by a quiet

knock.

She closed her eyes and sank further down into the water. She wanted

peace. She wanted quiet. She wanted to be alone to do battle with her

thoughts. Most of all, she wanted to forget. She didn't want Mulder.

Not yet.

'Scully, can I come in?' The voice sounded low, with that gently

pleading edge that only Mulder could put on it.

'Mulder, I really would like to be alone right now...'

'Just to talk, Scully.'

She sighed a sad smile at that, rubbing her hand across her eyes.

'But talking would lead to touching, Mulder, and touching would lead to

kissing, and kissing would lead to...'

'No touching, Scully. No kissing. Just talking'

She considered this for a moment. Just talking. Somehow she didn't

believe him.

It had been a hard day, a very hard day. All she wished for was to soak

in this hot bath, slather herself in some wonderful smelling lotion,

and sink into a bed with cool sheets where she'd wrap herself around a

hot body, the hot body in question being Mulder's. Then fall into a

deep, warm, wonderful and she hoped forgetful sleep - Peacful sleep and

nothing more. But before all that could begin to happen, now, right

this minute, she needed some time alone with her thoughts and without

Mulder. She took in a deep breath and held it. Somehow she knew she

wasn't going to get her wish tonight.

She let her breath out long and slow, shaking her head slightly.

'OK, Mulder. Come on in...'

The door cracked open and he stuck his head in.

He raised his eyebrows.

'You washed your hair already' His tone was disappointed schoolboy all

the way.

'Yep.'

He came over and sat on the edge of the bath, looking down at her.

'Damn.'

'You can't always get what you want, Mulder'

'I would've done it for you, you know.'

'I'm sure'

She raised her eyes to his with weak smile and they sat for a moment,

silent. Comfortable.

'Bad day?' he inquired.

'You could say that.' she looked down at her feet, stroking the taps

with her toes absentmindedly. 'Sometimes you just wonder why you do

this.'

'You know you don't have to everything yourself. Somebody else could do

the autopsies, Scully. You could review them, pull the evidence

together...'

'No.' A decisive shake of the head. 'You know I don't work like that,

Mulder. It's my job. I owe it to them...'

She closed her eyes again and saw the bodies. So many bodies. So many

wasted lives, butchered in the name of money and pleasure, with no-one

to speak for them, to mourn the waste, to give them justice. No one to

miss them, care about them but her. And Mulder.

She felt a warm hand on her forehead, and sighed.

'No touching, Mulder. You promised'

'I lied.' his voice lowered to an deep intimate tone. 'Well no,

actually I didn't lie because I didn't exactly promise in the first

place.'

Her mouth pursed, warning. 'Mulder...'

'Scully. It's OK' His fingers moved over the damp skin on her face

slowly and gently, smoothing the worry and tension. 'You - we'll - find

the people responsible. But right now you need to relax. Just let it

go.' His hands moved down her jaw, tracing along her throat to her

shoulders, trailing down to were her arm met the water.

'Mulder, I really am tired. I just want to soak in here for a while and

be alone...'

'So you can brood and worry and hate yourself for not having an answer?

I know that game. I've played it more times than I care to recall.' His

fingers felt like a whisper on her face. 'Don't you play, Scully. It'll

burn you out before you realise.' His voice was low and gentle, 'I want

you to relax. Lay back'

'You think I can't handle it?' a bolt of anger flashed within her,

muscles tensing and knotting even further.

'Did I say that?' His replied, his voice maddeningly calm.

'You implied it.' Her eyes locked with his, fury flaring in hers, only

to see concern in his reflecting back to her. All her anger suddenly

disarmed, She dropped her head back, and let out a slow breath.

'Look, I don't want to fight Mulder, not tonight. It's... just it's

been a long day, and...'

'Yes it has. And we both have shredded nerves. It's a horrific case,

Scully. It's hard to switch it off...' His thumb stroked her cheek,

traced her eyebrow. 'All I'm saying is don't isolate yourself - I've

been here before and I know it's not worth it. Yet another valuable

lesson I've learned from you...'

She looked back up to him, the room still, silent. Familiar. Neither

flinched or looked away from the other's intense gaze.

Finally, she dipped her chin as if to hide her face. 'Since when did

you start paying attention to me, Mulder?'

He tipped his head slightly as if the mimic her, his mouth twitching in

with a smile, his voice soft. 'I've always paid you attention, Scully.

Always'

His hand travelled further down her arm, dipping beneath the water,

touching the hand resting on her stomach and then moving upwards over

her belly to the slope of her breasts.

'Why no bubbles, Scully? No bubble bath?' His fingers brushed around a

nipple as her breathing deepened, causing her breasts to rise and fall

beneath the level of the water.

'Oil. Bath oil, Mulder'

'Mmm. Nice and slippery.'

She took a deep breath as his fingers closed around the hard nub,

barely pinching, and then rubbing slowly.

'Close your eyes, Scully. Close you eyes and lay back.'

Her eyes slowly shut as she heard, felt, sensed, Mulder change position

slightly on the edge of the bath, one hand still on her breast as he

lent and braced himself on the other placed by her face on the side of

the tub.

'Is the oil good for your skin, Scully? It feels very soft. Apart from

these...' he squeezed a nipple again 'These are a little hard.'

She hummed an inarticulate reply deep in her throat as turned his

attention back to the skin of her breast, stroking tenderly in gentle

wet circular motions around the tip.

'I've always loved your skin, Scully. Right from the start. It always

felt so warm and smooth.' His rolled his thumb across her nipple. 'Your

hand, your arm, your face. The skin on your back.' He cupped her breast

one final time and trailed down again beneath the water to her stomach,

resuming his movements. 'Now I know you feel that good all over. Every

inch of you.'

She turned her head to the side, resting her cheek against his hand on

the side of the tub, moving slightly to rub her face against the

knuckles.

'There's no pressure, Scully. Nothing has to happen. You don't have to

do anything. I just want you to relax. This is all in your control. All

you have to do is say yes or no... Do you want me to stop?'

She shook her head and made a 'mm-mm' sound. She was starting to

unwind, her mind pushing the sick images of the day to one side. She

wanted to forget and Mulder's hand, still running across her skin was

so slow, so gentle that it had become almost hypnotic.

He bent down, kissed the top of her head and moved his hand down

further to stroke the very inside of her thighs. Her legs parted to

allow him, wanting him to touch her further before she had even

realised she was moving. The heat of the water and the softness of

Mulder's touch was comforting to her, cocooning her, dulling the pain

of the day to an distant ache - her muscles relaxing almost against her

will.

Gently, slowly he moved his fingers over her, stroking her heat with

just his fingertips. She tensed a momentarily as his hand explored,

then began to relax again as he kept his touch light, his fingers

dipping within her almost tentatively.

'How does that feel? Better? Is this ok, Scully... you want me to stop

yet?' His voice whispered across her hair as he bent to graze his lips

across the top of her head once again.

She answered him with another wordless hum, turning her head to kiss

where her cheek had lay against his hand.

'Do you want to me to go on? I want to keep touching you, Scully. Can I

keep touching you?'

His fingers moved further and began to stroke her clit in languid

circular motions, aided by the slick, oily water and her own wetness.

The movements of his hand and the hot water brushing against the

sensitive nerves were beginning to change from being merely comforting

and relaxing to something more intense, his sure touch and the warmth

were starting to arouse her, and before she had chance to realise just

how far gone she was, she wanted it. She wanted Mulder to bury his

fingers deep inside her, she wanted him to keep that slow, slow,

maddening rhythm going, she wanted to forget everything else, the

sickness, the bodies, the blood, everything but this. She wanted to

come here and now, right now. She wanted the feeling to never stop.

She opened her mouth and grazed her teeth across Mulder's thumb, her

tongue darting out to touch a knuckle, her lips sucking at his warm

skin. She wanted the taste of him in her mouth, to feel him beneath her

tongue. Her mouth nipped at his thumb, biting then soothing over each

nip, all the while making the small, soft noises low in her throat.

Mulder pressed a little harder at her clit, his touch not so leisurely

now, as Scully began to roll her hips against his hand - small, compact

movements that made the water lap gently around her body and splash

against the sides of the deep tub. The quiet sounds of moving, rippling

water and her breathy moans where the only sounds breaking the

stillness in the bathroom, until they were joined by Mulder's hushed

tones.

'Scully...' his voice was touched with a roughness, a dark roughness

she had now come to associate with arousal. 'It's ok, Scully... It's

ok... ' His head bent to hers, the words whispered to her ear, his

warm breath against her cheek as he exhaled in a slow ragged rhythm,

causing her skin to tingle, her nipples to pucker and become impossibly

harder. She turned her mouth to try and capture his, but he pulled

back. She opened her eyes to find his; close, intense, his mouth so

near that with just tiny surge forward she would be there, touching her

lips to his. She moved to bridge the small gap between them, but Mulder

moved again, dodging away from her. He played the teasing game with her

for a few more moves, until they both stilled, eyes locked together,

breathing rhythms attuned. Then all at once Mulder moved his circling

hand to push deeply inside her, two fingers fast and hard, his eyes

never leaving her face as he sank deeply into her. Scully's eyes

widened momentarily, and then flickered closed as her back bowed to him

and her face fell back rest on his hand, a long breathless gasp

vibrating throughout her body.

Restlessly, she turned in the water, raising her hips towards him,

eventually ending up lying partly facing Mulder, trying to be as close

to him as possible. The scented water washed over her skin, glistening

and slick, as she pushed in counterpoint to his strokes, her eyes

closed in deep concentration.

'That's it, Scully... OK, it's OK... let it go... let it go...'

Scully shifted again restlessly, her mouth back on his hand,

desperately reaching for more, bringing her own hand up to twist and

pluck at her aching taut nipples in the absence of his already busy

fingers. Mulder saw she needed more and moved harder, more forcefully

within her, pushing his palm against her swollen flesh and grinding

with every push, every twist.

She shifted to lift her foot onto the edge of the bathtub, opening

herself a little further, wanting to feel more of him inside her.

Although he didn't speed up, the deeper movements, the push of his

palm, the tease and curl of his fingers within her was enough to bring

her to the very edge of her climax. Her body twitched and Mulder thrust

into her as deeply as possible, pressing her, rubbing her until

finally, finally she came hard against his hand, her muscles grasping

around him, hips jerking. Eyes tightly closed, she whispered, gasping

over and over as the spasms shook her, her hand moving to cover his as

it still worked within her. Gradually, slowly the feeling subsided,

leaving only the occasional trembling aftershock and the sounds of

ragged breathing.

She kept her eyes closed, cheek resting on his hand, the warm water

washing cool against her hot skin. Mulder's hand moved from where it

rested between her thighs, slowly trailing up over her hips, tracing

the dip of her waist , smoothing across her back. Finally it came to

rest on her shoulder, making tiny circles with the pads of his fingers

on the damp silkiness he found there, concentrating on one patch of

barely noticeable freckles he seemed particularly fond of.

Scully sighed. Her body felt relaxed, satiated. But at the back of her

mind the horrors began to emerge from where she had pushed them, the

crystal clear pictures spilling out, taunting her. It was still there

and she couldn't shake it, shake that unfamiliar sickeningly helpless

feeling that had been growing within her since the first body was found.

She absently felt Mulder softly pull a strand of wet hair from her

face, moving it around her ear.

'Hey, come on Scully. I know I wanted you to relax, but don't fall

asleep, not in the tub.' His voice sounded so sweet, so wonderfully

tender to her at that moment, that her guilt reflex kicked in - guilt

that she had felt so good, so very good and all whilst she was supposed

to be finding the perpetrators of horrendous crimes, the aftermath's of

which made even her autopsies-hardened stomach churn.

She lay still and silent for a moment, before turning again onto her

back and mumbling 'OK'.

'You want I should get you some hot tea? We could play dangerous and

order room service on our expenses - start a few new rumours in

accounting' He raised his eyebrows 'A nice bottle of wine, maybe -

She heard him stand and walk towards the door, then hesitate, waiting

for her reply.

'It doesn't make it go away, you know' She opened her eyes and turned

her head towards him, her voice sounding flat and hollow even to her

own ears.

'It?' The shadow of confusion crossed his eyes.

'Sex. It won't solve anything. It doesn't make everything better,

Mulder, doesn't make it go away.'

He made a move as if to step back towards her but seemed to think

better of it and stopped.

Trailing his gaze over her face, he said softly

'I just wanted to make you feel good'

She took a deep breath, dipping her eyes to the floor.

'I know' she exhaled the word, almost silently and covered her eyes

with her hand. She didn't want to see his hurt.

'I know.'

Mulder paused for a moment to watch her, and seemingly deciding against

pushing her to talk, left her with

'Don't stay in there too long, Scully.'

End

Well. There you go. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading!

Feedback loved and cherished at ms_lillian@my-deja.com