Title: California Screamin'
Author: abracadabra
Rating: R
Keywords: S, MSR, AU
Spoilers: Roughly S6
Archive: Sure, but please let me know first.
Feedback: Gratefully appreciated.
Disclaimer: These characters still aren't mine and I give credit to
CC, 1013, and Fox. I'm not becoming a millionaire from using them.
Thanks: To D for reading; especially since she's off to a new fandom
now. To Mary Anne for southern California information.
Note: At end

Summary: Halloween, Mulder style.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
California Screamin'
By abracadabra
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Southern California
Late Afternoon October 30

"But there are no such things as ghosts."

Scully rolled her eyes and smiled. Obviously, Matthew knew what she 
knew.

"Many people would agree with you, of course, but sometimes it's 
just fun to be scared, don't you think?" Maybe that would help him 
see the point to the story she'd just read. She stopped herself 
short from further commenting on his grounding in reality; a trait 
he shared with his father and aunt.

"I think the candy part is much more fun, Aunt Dana. And the 
costumes. Wanna see mine?" Not waiting for her to answer, he 
charged from the room, presumably heading to produce said costume.

Leaving the seat next to her open for her partner who 
unceremoniously plopped himself down next to her. "So, Aunt Dana, 
care to be scared?"

Scully removed his arm from around her shoulders and placed it 
between them. "Mulder, you should know by now that I don't scare 
easily. Besides, scaring someone on Halloween is about as 
predictable as it gets. Never thought I'd see go in for 
'predictable'."

If the look on his face was any indication, she'd tossed down the 
gauntlet. And he was preparing to run with it as far as he could.

"Care to place a small wager?" She should've known better. Mulder 
couldn't resist a dare; real or imagined.

Just then, Matthew reappeared, his five year old self now 
transformed into a very convincing Superman. 

"Hold that thought, Mulder."

"Mom said I look pretty terrific, but Dad said these aren't really 
tights." Ten fingers gripped the edges of the bright blue cape, 
twirling and swooping it for effect.

"You look more than terrific, Matthew; you look like a super hero." 
This from the five year old in the grown man's body.

Tara walked through the front door, then, shaking her head in 
amusement. "Matthew, are you packed yet?" Scully went to give her 
a hand with the groceries, noticing Mulder had squatted down and 
begun chatting in a rather conspiratorial tone with her nephew.

"How fast do you think Superman can pack, buddy?" Rising with a 
self-satisfied smirk, Mulder followed Matthew to finish gathering 
his clothes.

"Thanks for house sitting, Dana. It's not often Bill gets leave 
around the holidays, so getting to spend some time at Disney with 
Matthew is a treat."

"No, thank you. We both needed a little break from the rat race." 
Scully found herself really looking forward to the warm October 
climate of southern California. The fact that her brother and 
sister-in-law's house sat on a bluff overlooking the ocean was an 
added bonus. And who knew, maybe she and Mulder would actually have 
some time to talk- really talk- to each other.

If she were to admit it, she might acknowledge that doing something 
more than talking wouldn't be a bad idea, either. But the last 
several months had been anything but smooth sailing for them.

Suddenly realizing her sister in law had just asked her a question, 
Scully turned, "Hmpf?"

"I just asked if you were sure you and Mulder would be okay for the 
week. You know, with all that's happened."

"We'll be fine, Tara."


`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Kicking off her sandals, Scully spread the blanket in the grassy 
knoll at the crest of the hill. The brisk breeze ruffled her hair 
and took the some heat out of the sun on her face. She sat down, 
legs crossed and leaned back palms behind her on the lumpy cotton.

Five minutes later, she was looking over her shoulder, squinting in 
the brightness, wondering when Mulder was going to arrive with the 
wine and fruit. He'd been right behind her.

She sighed, facing the rippling waves once more, and lowered 
herself down onto her back. She couldn't remember the last time 
she'd felt so at ease.

But she'd forgotten about the bugs, occasionally buzzing over her. 
She swatted the first two away without even opening her eyes. But 
the one that landed squarely on her forehead was a different matter.

Laying perfectly still, she brought one hand up to shade her eyes. 
"Creepy crawlers, Mulder? Really. And where's my wine?" Forefinger 
and thumb gingerly removed the eight-legged rubbery insect and 
tossed it backward where it landed in Mulder's lap.

Scully rolled onto her stomach and scrutinized Mulder, all six feet 
of him kneeling behind her. His jeans rolled up to his calves, toes 
curled and burrowing in the sand. He'd pulled on Bill's Navy 
sweatshirt, the extra fabric threatening to swallow his 
upper body.

"You know you lost that round. Badly." 

Mulder's lips curled upward, his bangs flipping and twisting in the 
wind. "That wasn't a round, Scully, it was just warm-up. The wine's 
chilling back at the house."

"Right." She flopped face down into the blanket, her muffled 
laughter drowned out by the gentle surf of the incoming tide.  
Scully pushed back onto her knees, and then stood, palming her hair 
off her face. She squinted at the boy in a man's body standing in 
front of her. "You're back to square one, Mulder." With that, she 
turned and tore off down toward the water's edge, kicking up sand 
as she went.

Mulder lost no time catching up to her, and then passing her, his 
longer legs digging up the distance. When he'd reached the bubbling 
foam and bent down, Scully knew she was in trouble. Attempting to 
quickly dig her heels in, she managed to stop just shy of the 
water's edge. 

"Scully, Scully, Scully," Mulder shook his head, his grin widening. 
Easily stretching, he grasped her arm. "Now for something really 
scary."

She knew that look. The one that said, 'I know something you don't' 
and, 'I'm going to like this much more than you are.' One minute 
she was teetering on her toes, trying to gain purchase in the damp, 
cold and yielding surface under her.

The next minute Scully found herself in a bear hug with her 
laughing partner as they both ended up on their asses in the 
gently rolling waves.

Two drowned rats, but only she was sputtering, trying to snort the 
salty water from her nose and blink it out of her eyes.

"The water's not too bad, huh?" Mulder drew her into his lap, 
tightening his hold as the waves buffeted them. "I hear that some 
true beach bums swim year round," he explained matter-of-factly.

Scully had to admit that the moment her body and the Pacific Ocean 
met, it had sent shock waves and chills through her. But 'scary'? 
Hardly.

Although her toes dug into the rocky sea bed and her knees were 
bent, she couldn't manage to right herself. She squirmed, only 
succeeding in more firmly planting herself in Mulder's lap. From 
the feel of it against her bottom, he didn't mind. In fact, 
although her teeth were starting to chatter, he seemed perfectly at 
home.

Except for what had just sounded like an indrawn hiss.

"Keep moving around like that Scully, and I may have to rip your 
clothes off right here," he chuffed into her ear.

The water dripping from her hair combined with the Mulder's warm 
breath and sent a tingling thrill along her spine. Scully tugged at 
the water-logged sleeves, trying to loosen Mulder's arms from her 
waist. "We should go back to the house and get warm, Mulder."

"Sounds good to me." The buoyancy managed to camouflage the 
awkwardness of getting them both to their feet, but instead of 
letting her go, Mulder turned Scully to face him.

"Ever take part in a wet tee shirt contest, Scully?" Scully's eyes 
followed Mulder's down the front of her body. Her thin cotton knit 
pullover left little to the imagination. Tossing him a smirk she 
hoped would deflate his leer, she playfully shoved him and made her 
way to the warmer sand.

Trudging back up the hill was anything but dignified, but the sun 
on her back felt good. 

Mulder quickly joined her, clasping her hand in his as they headed 
back.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Mulder had one final, fright fest planned for the scientific and 
skeptical Scully. He knew she was enjoying their time together, 
even though she put him through the paces; trying not to let him 
see her amusement with his antics.

God knew they needed a respite. He'd initially been a bit concerned 
about accepting the offer to join Scully on her trip to her brother 
and sister-in-law's, but her rare and beautiful smile had cinched 
it for him. He'd had a day in between when she'd broached the 
subject and when he saw her next to decide. Bill or no Bill, Mulder 
would take the opportunity to put things right again between Scully 
and himself.

"Mulder, leave your wet stuff out back; I don't want to ruin Tara's 
wood floors," Scully called out to him.

Glad to oblige, Mulder smiled the thought silently, and began 
stripping off the sopping sweatshirt. The jeans were tougher, the 
water-logged denim stubbornly clinging to his hips and thighs. 
Bending over, he alternately pushed and yanked at the waistband and 
pockets.

"What's taking --" Scully rounded the back corner of the house at 
that moment, her hand coming up to cover her amusement.

Mulder hadn't considered that he might be on display and he let go 
of his jeans and rose abruptly, throwing off his balance. Landing 
him on his butt, bunched pants around his ankles. "See something 
you like, Scully?" he quipped.

Scully said nothing in response, and had managed to compose herself.
Just barely. Mulder, however, didn't miss the way she gave him the 
once over. Yup, he still had it.

Somehow, she'd already managed to change into dry shorts and 
a sweatshirt. "I could use a hand, yeah."

Instead, she tossed him another set of clothes and headed inside to 
wait for him. But not before turning back to wink at him.
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

End Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2: Headers in Part 1 of 2.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Early Evening

Scully tapped the neck of the litre container, as if doing so would 
decant some heretofore unseen wine. She set the second bottle back 
into the chiller and sipped the last of the sparkling liquid. 
Mulder sat with his back against the couch, watching his partner 
sidle closer to him; or rather, closer to his still quite full 
glass. "Thirsty, partner?"

"So where's this," Scully waved her hand ineffectually, "this scary 
whatever, Mulder?" He'd give her credit; all that Riesling and her 
speech was still relatively clear. He couldn't say the same for her 
coordination, however.

"The night is young, Scully." He downed the last of his wine and 
set the glass on the coaster.

"But we're not."

Making a dramatically high-schoolish gesture, Mulder pretended to 
scratch at his nose and then arced his arm up over her head, 
placing is around Scully's shoulders, his fingers dancing on the 
bare skin of her upper arm.

She did a slow blink, glancing first at him and then left at his 
strategically placed hand, but said nothing. Mulder took that as a 
good sign and drew her a bit closer.

"Relatively speaking, Scully, we're still young." He looked down to 
see her smiling. Whether it was as a result of being in such close 
proximity to him, the thought of being relatively young, or all the 
alcohol, he wasn't sure. What he was sure of is that he was quite 
happy with the moment.

This wasn't the first moment they'd ever had - before the tension 
had taken over, they'd actually managed to come close to spending 
the night - but given how close to being pulled apart, this was 
truly worth savoring. 

Scully's sneaker prodded Mulder's bare foot, bringing her right and 
his left thigh side by side. He could be patient, although he knew 
the heat settling in his midsection wasn't attributable to the wine.

"You still have a bet to attempt to win." She gazed up at him. "You 
know the one, Mulder; the one where you allegedly scare me to 
death."

"I didn't say 'to death', Scully, although a little girlie screaming 
coming from you would make the win all the better."

She giggled then, her hand landing on his bent knee. "As I recall, 
you're the one with the girlie scream."

"We'll see, we'll just see about that."
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Later the Same Evening

Scully loved the fall; the warm sun moderated by the evening 
breezes, even here in sunny southern California. What she missed 
was the later sunsets, the fact that it got darker earlier and 
earlier as it drew closer to winter.

They'd both donned heavier sweatshirts and Mulder had stepped into 
a pair of old running shoes. He was a man with a plan, although she 
was pretty sure she knew what he had in mind. Nonetheless, she went 
along willingly, the walk along the half-moonlit beach a nice way 
to cap an otherwise great day.

"We shouldn't go too far, Mulder; I'm not sure about this end of 
the coast." She glanced up, noting that the last of the homes had 
disappeared a few yards back, and what appeared to be scraggy 
cliffs rose in their place. Other than the background of waves 
breaking on the sand, and the occasional rustling of wind in the 
scrub brush and trees farther up the hillside, it was quiet.

Scully didn't realize she'd stopped until she noticed that Mulder 
was no longer by her side.

"Coming, Scully?" he called to her from just ahead. She picked up 
her pace to join him, not wanting to admit that just for a moment, 
the intrepid Agent Scully had become slightly nervous and anxious 
Dana Scully. Damn Mulder and his wine and his stupid bet. But her 
heart wasn't in blaming him. Being on unfamiliar ground and in the 
dark had set her off. A situation too much like the real life 
career situation she'd so recently found herself in.

"Right here, Mulder." She twined her fingers with his when he 
reached for her hand.

"I found something I thought you might want to see."

For the life of her, Scully couldn't figure out what he was talking 
about; there was nothing out here other than the two of them.

Until she saw the glow off to her right. There one minute, gone the 
next. She shook her head; her eyes were playing tricks on her.

And then it was there again, only it pulsed this time, and it was 
green. Clearly not what she'd expect to see along the beach.

Mulder seemed oblivious.

This time, the light pulsed, then winked out, only to be replaced 
by a short series of  firefly-like crimson sparks.

"Mulder, did you see that?"

"See what, Scully?"

The lights were gone.

The scratching...and howling began.

Scully chalked the howling up to a stray cat. The scratching she 
ignored. There was no possible way she could be hearing a sound as 
low on the decibel range with the wind and the surf. All was right 
once again.

"Maybe we should head back; it's getting late."

"It's only eight-thirty. It's a nice night. Let's just go a little 
bit further."

Mulder's tone was even enough and there was no way to see the look 
on his face any longer. A bank of clouds have drifted across the 
moon, lending a murkiness to what little light there had been.

Scully aimed for nonchalance as she gripped his hand a little 
tighter. Mulder squeezed back, but said nothing else.

The scratching now sounded more like clawing. Claws against rock. 
The howling had moved from the stray cat range right into the 
large, unknown animal, range.

And the lights were back. The pulsing green *and* the crimson 
sparks; the two together creating a light show to rival what she 
and Mulder had supposedly seen all those years ago by the air force 
base.

Scully didn't bother shaking her head this time; the sound and the 
sights wouldn't disappear. Her senses were dependable.

"Where're you going, Scully?"

"You can't tell me you don't hear or see what I am. I'm going to 
investigate." She strode toward the cliffs before he could object.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Mulder had all he could do to hold back his laughter and keep his 
merriment from his voice. Part of him was surprised that the 
ever-skeptical Scully would be so unnerved by what she would 
usually explain away. More of him was enjoying the fact that he'd 
probably given her a good scare. 

He jogged to catch up with her, knowing she'd found the small rocky 
alcove set into the hills. He'd actually taken a run the morning 
before while Scully had been busy talking with her brother and 
sister-in-law. The rest had been easy with a little help from Tara 
who seemed to have some mischief in her.

True to form, Scully was exploring the damp rock face, her fingers 
expertly searching. For what she wouldn't find. Inside the small 
cavern, the howling was muted, the scratching louder.

Mulder stood at the entrance, the top of the arch only a foot above 
his head. His arms spanned the sides of the opening as he observed 
his partner.

"I hear it, Scully," he said low-voiced.

She jumped. "Jesus, Mulder; don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Maybe we should leave." He 
threw every ounce of seriousness into his statements.

The lights went out at that point, but the howling started again.

And Scully walked straight into Mulder head on. "We're leaving, 
Mulder. We need to get some help." She pushed him backwards, 
seemingly in quite the hurry.

He couldn't hold it in any longer. Mulder burst out laughing. 
"Scully...you fell for it," he snorted, "I got you good."

She stopped in her tracks, backing up several steps. "You...?"

Mulder moved toward her, placing his hand on her shoulder, and then 
down her arm. As he took her hand in his, he yelped and backed up 
again.

Whatever it was, it had hurt. And Scully had caused it. Scully who 
had just ducked around him and set off running.

Shaking his head and trying not to let out the 'oww' that was dying 
to be voiced, he tore off after her.

"That wasn't fair, Scully," called out, but couldn't seem to locate 
her. He knew she couldn't have gotten that far in such a short 
amount of time. 

He got no answer, but hadn't expected to. Scully could play the 
game as well as he could.

As the clouds moved away, the wan light of the moon reflected off 
the water - enough to allow him to spot her crouching off to one 
side, obviously waiting to ambush him.

Two could play that game. He slowed his pace and started heading 
east; farther from the water line. His element of surprise would be 
lost, but if he was quick, he might be able to come up behind her.

Once he got close enough, he dropped to his knees, hugging the 
hill. He managed to grab her just as she sensed his presence. He 
was smarter this time, grabbing her by the wrists. Whatever she had 
in her hand would not be used against him again.

"Scully, Scully," was all he could say as he held her wrists above 
her head.

"Let me go, Mulder. You're just ticked because I turned the tables 
on you." She taunted him, attempting to free herself.

If he didn't bring her arms down by her side, she'd work her wrists 
free. "I'm not letting you go until you admit I had you. You were 
scared, really scared for a minute there, weren't you?"

"Gloating doesn't become you, Mulder. And, for the record, I 
believe you were the one with the girlie scream." She'd stopped 
twisting and tugging, but Mulder wasn't about to let her go.

"How about if I concede and we call it a draw?"

Scully sighed. "You can't have it both ways. If you concede, I win. 
If it's a draw, we both win."

"If you drop the party gag, we can make it a draw."

"Hmm..." Mulder released her hand and she pocketed the small zapper.
 
"How'd you find this place?"

Mulder bent down, whispering, "I never give away my secrets, 
Scully; you should know that by now."

Mulder's lips parted as Scully's freed hand palmed his fledgling 
erection. "I believe you're giving away one growing secret right 
now, Mulder," she purred.

He brought her other hand around his hip, placing it on his ass, 
and used both his hands to grab her backside. Wedging her hand 
between their bodies.

"That's one I'd be willing to share, but only with you."

"Mulder, shut up and kiss me."

The End
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

~~A Spooky Halloween to All~~

Author's Note:
This is written for my friend, Kim. Although her muse seems to give 
her only spotty service, I'm hoping this little 'present' might 
awaken the muse once again. She's given me plenty of wonderful 
holiday fics, so this one's for her.