Fox Mulder | Not a Green Man (basementman) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-03-22 22:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, christine chapel, fox mulder |
RP Log; Fox Mulder & Christine Chapel
Who: Christine Chapel and Fox Mulder
What: Celebrating Christine’s birthday
Where: A restaurant in New York City.
When: 27 February (Backdated!)
Rating: LOW
Status: COMPLETE
Christine had been enjoying the time she’d been spending with Mulder. They got along well, had a similar sense of humor and it was nice to have something to look forward to after a long day at work. They had had dinner together several times since that first evening and while they had yet to get to the bottom of Christine’s nightmares, they’d been having fun with each other. She hadn’t expected him to remember her birthday although she’d mentioned it in passing so when he had suggested they go out for dinner that evening and that she should wear something nice, Christine had been pleasantly surprised. Besides it gave her an excuse to go shopping and she had found the perfect outfit that was nice but not too fancy. It wasn’t often that she got to dress up so she took her time getting ready, making sure her hair and makeup were just right. When she was done, Christine had to laugh at herself because she was acting like a teenager on her first date. It wasn’t as if this was a date after all. Or was it? She shook her head as she headed into the living room to wait for him. She was sitting on the couch looking at a magazine when he knocked. Christine got up, straightened her skirt and made her way across the room. Opening the door, she smiled at him. “Hi,” she said. “Come on in, I’ll get my coat. Have a seat, I’ll just be a minute.” For some reason she felt nervous even though they talked almost every day. Mulder had spent most of the day wondering if it had been too much to ask her to dinner. Had it been overstepping in some way? But no, it was Christine’s birthday and he planned on her having a good evening and sitting in his apartment with pizza and sunflower seeds - particularly now that he had a roommate - didn’t seem like the best idea. So he’d put on a tie - three of them in succession as it turned out - and a shirt and made his way to Christine’s apartment. “You look amazing,” he said with a smile when she opened the door and stepped in while she grabbed her coat. He didn’t take a seat, but instead wandered around the main room. It was partially nervousness, but partially just curiosity about Christine’s place. He glanced up as she returned with her coat, and offered her a smile. “Are you ready birthday girl? I think we should get a taxi cause it’s a little far to walk.” “Thank you,” she said with a smile. It had been a long time since anyone had told her that and it felt good to be noticed. “You don’t look so bad yourself. I’ll be right back.” She quickly ducked into her room and grabbed her coat and rejoined him in the living room. “A taxi sounds good to me. I’m not used to wearing heels and I don’t think you’d want to carry me on your back when my feet starting killing me.” Christine was a tall woman so she didn’t wear very high heels to begin with but she could wear them with Mulder which was nice. Opening the door, she stepped out into the hall and when he had joined her, she locked the door and turned to face him. “Okay let’s go,” she said, dropping her keys into her coat pocket along with her phone. “Where are we going anyway?” He hadn’t told her and Christine was curious. Mulder grinned as they reached the elevator and he pushed the button to call it to their floor. "Out," he said pretending to be mysterious for about a minute and then as the elevator arrived and he waited for her to step in he relented. “There is a restaurant I’ve been wanting to eat at and I thought this was as good a time as any. I mostly wanted to go because of the seafood, but I think they’ve got a nice mixture of things so I’m pretty certain there should be something you like as well. After that I was thinking if you wanted to we could finish the evening with a film if you’d like. I know there are still several of the Academy Award nominees in the theatre so we could do that - or something else entirely if you’re not up for anything quite that serious.” He put his hand on the elevator door as it opened and looked at her expectantly as she exited. He was aware that it was all rather cliche: dinner and a movie. But at the same time he felt that at this point in their relationship it was the best idea. They’d only known each other for a few weeks, and he didn’t want to take her off on something insane like - UFO sightings in upper New York State - and scare her to death. Plus, he wasn’t even certain that UFO sightings would be something that would be that interesting to someone who had been in space and seen UFOs that were, admittedly, mostly more identified than unidentified. As they stepped out into the lobby he kept his eye open for anyone who might be an annoying local, and quickly led her out onto the street and raised his arm for a cab. “Out? That narrows it down,” she said and laughed as she stepped into the elevator. “but I like that idea. Out is always good.” Christine liked Potts Tower, it was nice but it felt a little claustrophobic at times. “And seafood is one of my favorite things so I’m sure I’ll like it. I haven’t had any fresh seafood in a long time.” Growing up in New Orleans, she’d learned to love just about any sort of seafood although she never quite got why so many people there loved crayfish. “A movie sounds like a good idea too. I haven’t watched a movie in a theater since I’ve been here. I’ve watched some DVDs...I think that’s what they’re called..but I haven’t been to a movie.” She wondered what the films were like in this century. No doubt she wouldn’t know any of the actors although she might have heard of their descendants. The thought made her laugh and she looked up at Mulder as they rode down in the elevator. “I was just thinking that you’d have to tell me who the actors were since they aren’t exactly around in my time. I guess that’s a sign of adjustment. I forget sometimes that I haven’t always been here.” Except at night when she dreamt but this was her birthday and she wasn’t going to think about anything unhappy tonight. No, she was going to enjoy herself. “Good,” Mulder nodded in regards to the restaurant and opened the door for her in the cab. Once he had given the driver their destination he settled in next to her and tossed her a smile. “There’s a very good chance that I won’t recognise any of the actors either,” he laughed. “Or at least that I’ll only recognise a few of them. It’s twenty or so years and while I’m sure some are the same, there may be some that have changed as well. I guess we’ll just have to see. What do you like to watch? Or is there anything that you know you’re interested in watching?” He had a few ideas up his sleeve, but he thought he’d go ahead and offer her the pick in case there was something she’d been wanting to see in particular. For himself one film was probably as good as another unless there was something extremely girly, although he was pretty certain that even if it was extremely girly, he’d go and watch it for Christine’s birthday. The streets weren’t as crowded as they sometimes were and so they were making reasonably good time, but then Mulder had given them enough time that it wouldn’t be a big deal if the drive was longer than he’d anticipated. He glanced out the window, taking note of where they were and then back at Christine. “Happy Birthday, by the way, I don’t know if I said that earlier.” She smiled at him. “Thank you and I believe you did but that’s okay. And thank you for this evening too. It’s sweet of you to do this for me.” Christine reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “What kind of movies do I like? Well I like just about anything,” she told him. “I like classic horror movies although the ones that are classics to me haven’t been made yet. I’ve found a few online like Dracula with Bela Lugosi. I loved it.” It was funny how things changed with time yet some things stayed the same. There were still horror movies in the 23rd century and while Christine had thought they were new, many of them were simply new versions of movies made many years before she was born. “And I don’t know any of the movies that are out right now so anything is fine. I trust your judgement. As long as you don’t try to drag me to a porn movie. I might have to say no to that!” She laughed and shook her head. “I’m sure that’s one thing that hasn’t changed at all. They’re probably still just as stupid.” It suddenly dawned on her what she had just essentially confessed and she felt her face grow hot. “I could do something like Dracula,” Mulder nodded with a grin trying to think what might be out there that would be equally - well, Dracula-esque. His mind was going through the mental list of films he knew were playing and that he’d been considering to see which might be ideal to take Christine to when it occurred to him what she’d mentioned. He glanced over to her and he couldn’t help the grin increasing. “I’m guessing as stupid as ever,” he agreed non-chalantly. “Although I think it’s safe to say that the plot is not the main purpose of porn films.” He raised an eyebrow at her and was mercifully interrupted by the driver who had pulled them up to the sidewalk. “Ah, and this is us,” he said, gathering himself up and exiting the car. He paid the driver, then he held the door for Christine and then offered her his arm before directing her to the restaurant. It wasn’t a five star sort of place, precisely, but it had nice tablecloths and a maitre’d, and it had taken reservations so that when they got to the door Mulder was able to give them his name and they were seated right away. He ordered a bottle of wine and then turned to the menu, looking up at Christine over the top of it. “Get whatever sounds good to you.” “You’ve got a point. Plot isn’t what they’re after,” she said and grinned at his raised eyebrow. Christine was glad that they shared a similar sense of humor since there were times when she spoke before she thought. When they got out of the cab, she took his offered arm and followed him inside. She looked around and decided she really liked the place. It looked comfortable and the staff was friendly. Christine picked up the menu and looked at it. “It all sounds good really,” she mused. They had a very good selection and it was going to be tough to make up her mind. “What are you thinking about?” Mulder couldn’t help but miss Scully for a moment as they had a running commentary about ‘those films’, and he couldn’t help but reminded of it. At the same time there was a sense that Christine at least wasn’t likely to be horribly offended by those films he occasionally didn’t watch. He picked up his own menu and glanced over it trying to make a decision. He had been in the mood for seafood earlier in the week and this place had been marked on the Internet for having an excellent seafood and the selection did look fantastic. But now it would simply be a matter of narrowing it down. “You know - earlier I was thinking of the Shrimp Scampi,” he said, looking at the menu. “But now I’m thinking that this Tilapia looks good. Or maybe the Garlic Prawns... Clearly I’m not going to be decisive today,” he laughed and looked over at her. “Are you any more decisive than I am?” She laughed and shook her head. “No I’m not! It all sounds good but I’m seriously thinking about the blackened scallops. I love scallops and I haven’t had them in ages. Certainly not fresh ones anyway.” Christine had gotten used to replicator food which was not the same as the real thing although it was tolerable. “Whenever I was at Starfleet Headquarters for any length of time, I’d always go to Fisherman’s Wharf and get crab at one of the stands they had down there.” After looking at the menu for a bit longer, she closed it and put it down. “That’s it. I’m going with the scallops. If I keep staring I might change my mind so I’ll quit while I’m ahead.” “All right, I’m going with the Garlic Prawns,” Mulder said decisively and he put the menu to the side so that the waiter would know that they were ready. “Otherwise, I’m like you - I may just change my mind a half-dozen times.” The waiter came over and Mulder ordered them some wine and placed his order as well as allowing Christine to place her order before he continued their conversation any further. Once the drinks had been ordered and were on their way, and the food ordered and on its way, Mulder gave Christine a smile. “So - what’s Fisherman’s Wharf like in your reality? I’ve been there a couple of times in my own and it’s good to know that it still does fresh seafood in the future. Some things don’t change I suppose.” “Starfleet Headquarters isn’t too far from there,” she replied. “so that’s different. I guess that’s why I spent so much time there. It was a nice walk and the perfect place to go when I needed a break. Still a lot of tourists there, I’m sure it was like that in your time too. Of course there are shuttleports in the marina, no boats. From pictures I’ve seen though it looks pretty much the same other than that.” Christine had looked up some of the places she knew online to see what they looked like in the 21st century. To her surprise some of them hadn’t changed all that much. “I love San Francisco,” she went on. “I had thought I’d settle there, keep working at Starfleet Medical but Roger disappeared and I requested to be transferred to a ship. I thought I could find him.” Christine paused for a minute as the waiter brought the wine and once he had poured it and left, she picked up her glass and took a sip. “Of course it was a crazy idea. He was on a mission in deep space and stopped communicating. The chances of him being alive are next to nothing and the likelihood of finding him even smaller than that. I gave up that hope after about a year of being in space. He’s gone and I’ve accepted that.” There was also the fact that for most of their relationship even after he’d asked her to marry him, Roger had been gone while she’d been at Starfleet Medical. “The truth is that even if I had found him, I don’t think I would have gone through with the wedding. I think I went looking for him more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. I know that sounds horrible considering I was engaged to the man but looking back I can see that we were apart a whole lot more than we were ever together.” “It doesn’t sound horrible, honestly,” Mulder nodded, taking a sip of his own glass while he listened to her. “I mean, yes, maybe it does at first glance, but I think if you think about it, it just sounds... well, logical, not to be all Spock about it,” he shrugged sheepishly. “If you weren’t together in person much of your relationship, then the relationship was at least partially based on obligation. And to a certain extent all long-term relationships are likely partially obligation - or maybe loyalty is a better word - to another person, but they shouldn’t be only that. But if you aren’t together in person, then that loyalty, or obligation - whichever you want to use - probably holds a stronger part of your relationship than the friendship, love, companionship, trust - the things that should hold the larger part of it. “At any rate, I doubt I could criticise. My own relationship past mostly involves me and a remote control. I think when you work as long as I have with the types of cases I’ve worked with, it can make it difficult to trust anything as being real, and in all fairness, I’m not a particularly easy person to deal with. I can be particularly stubborn when I’m in a mood, and very few people want to put up with that.” He put the glass down and briefly ran a finger around the base. “Do you ever wish you’d had some closure though? Been able to look him face-to-face and talk it through? Or is it easier having it be ellipses rather than a period?” Christine laughed and tilted her wine glass in his direction before she took a sip. “You do sound a lot like Spock,” she said.”but you’re right. Being apart more than you’re together doesn’t exactly lead to the perfect future, does it? And I agree with you. Part of a relationship does involve loyalty and companionship, all those things you mentioned. My mother used to say that the most important thing was that you look at the person you’re with and ask yourself if you’d still be friends with them if you weren’t involved with them. She told me that she believed liking someone was the key. You had to like them as a person because all the giddy stuff you feel at the beginning goes away and if that’s all there was to it then there is nothing left when that happens.” Christine hadn’t believed her when she’d said it but she was coming to understand it a great deal more especially in regards to Roger. “The funny thing is that I could very easily find out what happened to him in the alternate universe that you know,” she said. “Chekov has watched several episodes of the show and I’m sure if I asked him, he’d tell me or at least show me how to find the information. Who knows what happened to him in my world though so why part of me wants closure, there’s another part of me that finds it easier just not knowing. For me the period is already there I guess you could say. Especially now that I’m here and for all I know, I might always be here even though I’m there too from what I’ve gathered.” Picking up her glass she took another sip. “Also for the record, I don’t find you hard to get along with at all. Then again I work with McCoy which probably helps.” She smiled. “I’m also not just ‘putting up with you’ as you say. I like spending time with you. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be here. And you’re not the only one whose most recent relationship has involved something that runs on batteries.” Christine winked at him as the waiter brought their food and put it in front of them. Mulder nodded as Christine spoke. Her mother sounded like a very reasonable person in that regard and perhaps that had been the problem with most of his own relationships in recent years - or really all of them. Women had been pleasant, or attractive, or had clearly found him so, but it was harder for him to find someone he really connected with and as he’d gotten more deeply involved in the X-Files and the attempt to find out what had happened to Samantha, that had become even more difficult. The women who found him attractive didn’t always understand that need to know the truth. Scully was about the only one who did. He picked up his glass of wine, thoughtful for a moment. “You know I hadn’t thought of it, but I wonder if I ever find out what happened to Samantha. I suppose the show might say. Or it might not. I’ve - mostly pretended like it doesn’t exist, but I don’t know if I can avoid it forever.” He shook his head and grinned at her. “At any rate, if you’re comparing me to McCoy I can live with that, and clearly we’re both deeply lacking in the relationship department. Or were.” He looked across the table at her. For all he’d had a crush on the Christine Chapel in his roommate’s universe when he was a boy, he was finding that he liked this Christine even more and he liked her, and more and more he was trusting her with small pieces of himself. It wasn’t exactly like with Scully - but it was... something that could certainly be called a friendship.” “Were. I like the way that sounds. I think our luck might be changing.” Christine returned his look and smiled at him. When she’d stopped to talk to him that night, she’d been curious after reading his posts on the network, but hadn’t expected to find someone she could connect with. It had been a pleasant surprise and she found herself looking forward to their weekly dinners more and more. “As for avoiding your show, I can understand why you’d want to. I haven’t seen the movie but I’ve heard that I’m not actually shown on screen at all which makes me feel really special, let me tell you.” She shook her head. “And eventually I might watch some of the original series but right now I’d rather not. Then I could just come right out and ask Spock," the one that you live with...damn I keep forgetting we have more than one here, but I’m not even sure if he’d know, if they ever found Roger.” Deciding to change the subject and quite honestly a bit distracted by the way he was looking at her, Christine picked up her wine glass. “Well we should talk about more pleasant things and since it’s my birthday, I think we should toast the Tesseract because after all if it wasn’t for that thing, whatever it is, we would never have met so cheers!” Mulder laughed at that and raised his glass in following hers. He offered her a smile: “Cheers!” He touched her glass with his own and then took a sip. “I admit that several weeks ago I would not have thought that I could thank the Tesseract for bringing me here, but it has not been so horrible as I once feared. I admit there is some small part of me that wonders if we are not still one giant experiment for somebody - but I cannot actually prove that.” And without proof no one would take him seriously. Regardless of the reality - some things never changed. “What do you want to talk about Christine?” He said more seriously, pausing as the waiter approached with their plates. He was quiet for a moment and then after the exchange with the waiter was complete, he picked up his fork and looked back across at Christine. “I am an open book, so you may ask me any question you like - or, alternatively - well, anything you like,” he laughed slightly. “Birthday girl.” “Cheers!” she said as their glasses touched. “and I wouldn’t have thought so either but it’s turning out not to be so bad. I wonder why we’re here too but I doubt we’ll ever know the answer to that one.” Christine set down her glass and looked over at him before taking a bite of her food. It was delicious. “This is wonderful,” she said before she turned her attention to his question. “That’s true. It’s my birthday so I get to choose the question. Let me see.” She took another bite, thinking of what she could ask him and then decided. “Okay here you go. What’s your favorite book. And you can’t just tell me what it is. You have to tell me why it’s your favorite.” “Ah ha,” Mulder laughed and took a bite of his food while he tried to think about what book would deserve the honor of being his favorite. ”I don’t suppose you have fiction, or non-fiction in mind?” He asked, taking a moment then to chew his food. “All right, well I suppose non-fiction wise I’ve always appreciated The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. It probably seems silly in a world where identified flying objects were the norm, but I read this one in high school and it probably is one of the most influential works for my career - ultimately. I didn’t know it at the time though,” he shook his head and grinned wryly. “I didn’t exactly start out heading into the basement of the J. Edgar Hoover building, and all that. “Fiction? That’s harder to choose. I haven’t read much fiction for a while, but when I was younger I enjoyed The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and various mysteries and a few comic books - let’s just saying being here has been interesting,” he chuckled. “Outside of the fact that I can talk to extraterrestrials daily, there’s the fact that all my old childhood heroes are here as well. And I’m here. What that says about me, I don’t know.” Christine laughed “I bet it seems strange seeing people you read about in books walking around. And I’ve read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy believe it or not. Someone suggested to me not long after I got here that reading some of the literature from this universe would be a good way of getting to know it. Of course some of it is still around in my time because classics are classics after all.” She took a bite of her dinner and washed it down with some wine before she continued. “I found a list on the internet of 1001 books you should read before you die or something like that and that book was on it. I spent a whole Saturday afternoon at Barnes and Noble buying some of the books on the list. Not all 1001 of them of course. I’m afraid SHIELD doesn’t pay that well. Right now I’m reading one called Gone With The Wind. Growing up in New Orleans I’d always heard stories about the Civil War and the old plantations so I knew I had to read it.Plus I’m a history geek.” “You see Spock every day. That’s about as extra terrestrial as it gets!” It amused her to no end that Mulder had ended up with Spock for a roommate. “Well I’m glad you ended up here, I can tell you that much. If my opinion counts for anything.” “That makes sense,” Mulder nodded. “I can’t say I’ve ever read Gone with the Wind, but I know it is a classic and fiction is usually an easy way to get introduced to a culture - it’s low pressure, and doesn’t judge, or teach - well, usually,” he chuckled. He had read his share of didactic writings in his lifetime. He reached for the glass of wine and swished it gently for a moment before he took a sip. “It really is strange sometimes, but considering all of the things that I’ve seen? I’m not certain that this is the strangest.” He took a bite of his food, chewed it slowly and offered her a grin. “Ultimately? I’m glad I ended up here even if I do still wonder whether or not they’re just getting ready to experiment on us - or the entire thing is just one large experiment,” he shook his head with a grin. “But I do see Spock every day. Twelve year old me is running around acting like a fanboy while current me hopes Spock doesn’t notice. He probably does. He’s Spock after all.” “Oh I’m sure he does but he’d never tell you that. I’ve never met this Spock but I wouldn’t imagine he’s all that different from the Spock I know,” Christine smiled. “I’m amused at the mental picture of you as a twelve year old fanboy running around after Spock. Just so you’ll know.” She couldn’t help it, it was a rather cute image even if she could only guess at what he’d looked like when he was twelve. “I don’t know what all this is about. This whole universe we’re in,” she admitted. “I wonder sometimes too if it’s some big experiment but from what I’ve seen in the labs, it doesn’t appear to be. I’ll admit that I’ve been curious and I’ve poked around a little bit although I don’t have clearance to do much but so far it’s just a lab. And the medical facility is just that. I’ve been called over there whenever someone comes through who’s been injured before they were taken. Or in some cases were just dead which is really hard to deal with when they wake up and realize they’re alive. I can’t imagine what that must be like.” “Precisely,” Mulder laughed good naturedly. “So we’d never know what Spock was thinking about my illogical paranoia. And you know he’s probably thinking something about it.” He took another sip of the wine in front of him and then picked up his fork once more to take a bite of food. If he were home in his own reality he would show her the photo of him dressed as Spock when he took her to his childhood home. He stabbed the food with his fork distracted momentarily by the fact that he’d thought about taking her to his parents house. Considering the messed up state of his family, it rather spoke to the fact that he trusted her not to be put off by it. It was something he hadn’t even done with Scully - although why would he have? They were partners, nothing more. He took the bite of food and placed the fork down with a tiny shake of his head to shake away the internal conversations. “You’ve had people basically come back to life?” This was a conversation that was far more interesting than the potential conversations inside his head. Obviously anyone could come from anywhere - but the idea that someone had been pulled through the Tesseract at the point of death, having just died, or near to dying, and then be walking around Potts Tower... Or maybe this was like Annie - the ghost he’d spoken with earlier. She put down her wine glass and nodded. “Yeah. There was a young girl. she came from a book series called “The Hunger Games”, she’d been stung by some sort of mutant yellowjacket. She was nearly dead when she came through. It was horrible especially when she woke up. Evidently the stings not only hurt but cause hallucinations.” Christine felt a shiver go through her. “I don’t know if she’s still here or not. We’ve also had some who had been injured just before they were taken so they’ve stayed in medical wing until they healed. SHIELD allows them to contact anyone they might have here though so at least they can see them not long after they arrive. It seems to help, knowing they’re not alone.” She remembered being scared out of her wits when she’d arrived and how relieved she’d been to discover that McCoy, Kirk, Spock and Uhura were here. “I wish I could spend more time in the medical facility but unless there’s someone who comes through sick or who gets sick after they arrive, it’s pretty quiet in there. I don’t mind working in the lab, I’m a trained bio researcher but it’s the taking care of people that I love the most. Well I also love the history of medicine and medical archaeology but there’s not much call for that here. Although it’s pretty funny when I look at some of the things that are considered state of the art and remember that I studied them as ancient relics.” Christine laughed. “It’s fun seeing them in use though and not just pieces of them in a case or a picture in a book.” Mulder listened as she spoke, continuing to work on his plate of food. He hadn’t thought about how fortunate he’d been that Scully had arrived the same day he had. Despite the fact that he’d still torn their apartment apart looking for wires or bugs, the fact that she’d been there and been all right had most certainly kept him from anything more drastic than that. She’d stayed long enough that he’d been able to relax into this New York City a bit. “At least you’re doing something,” he said, reaching for the wine once again. “There’s no way I’m going to start working for SHIELD - they’re even worse than the FBI in terms of being potentially problematic government organizations - and there isn’t anything else really. I suppose I could put my psychology degree to use and open up a practice here,” he laughed. “Assuming anyone would want Spooky Mulder making commentary about what goes on inside their head.” “You could do that. I’d let you make commentary about what’s going on in my head. Even though it’s not all that interesting,” At this particular moment though she wasn’t sure she wanted him to know what she was thinking especially since it had to do with the fact that he had a great smile and he needed to use it more often. “and I don’t blame you for not wanting to work for SHIELD. I didn’t feel like I had much a choice. Like I said, I’d be lost in a 21st century hospital. At least here things are contained and I can learn how things work even though we’ve got ways that are so much better. Maybe once I feel more comfortable, I’ll do that. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “or maybe I’ll just be your receptionist when you open up your psychology practice.” Mulder laughed and raised his glass at her. “I would happily hire you to be my receptionist,” he said with a smile. He took a drink of the wine and put the glass back down. “If I decide to do this - which mind you, it’s a far stretch - I will let you know two weeks in advance so you can give your notice.” His eyes twinkled slightly. “But yes, it makes sense why SHIELD would make sense for you. It must be absolutely bizarre - like pushing me back to the 1700s and expecting me to know what to do with things. Really, you’ve done very well,” he added. “Much better than I suspect I would under similar circumstances.” He was quiet for a moment and then grinned. “Do you want your birthday present now or later?” “It is kind of bizarre but I’m getting used to it. I think of it as living history most of the time,” she laughed. Christine was learning to work with what passed for technology in this century and was grateful that she’d studied medical archaeology, it made things much easier for her. Before she could say anything else, Mulder mentioned the word present. She hadn’t really expected a gift, dinner was more than enough but she couldn’t help but smile when he said it. Who didn’t like presents, after all. “Now would be fine but you didn’t have to get me anything, really. Taking me to dinner is more than enough,” she shook her head and picked up her glass of wine, finishing what was still there. “And by the way thank you for this. It means a lot.” Mulder nodded. That made as much sense as anything. For himself, he was just every so often struck with how much things had changed and while so many things were the same, it was just enough different to throw him. Perhaps it threw him almost as much as if he’d been from a vastly different time because there were so many similarities. “You’re welcome,” he said with a smile. “And don't worry, I didn’t go too far out, but I wanted to get you something because it is your birthday after all.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. “I hope it’s something you’ll like,” he managed. The truth was that he’d had no idea what would be the best thing to get. After running through several scenarios in his head and dismissing some of them as impractical for someone who hadn’t gotten a job of his own, but he’d finally decided on a simple, not overly elaborate necklace that he felt she might like. “That’s sweet,” she said, giving him a smile as she opened the box. When she saw what was inside, Christine looked up at him. “It’s beautiful,” she told him. “Thank you.” She wasn’t a person who went in for elaborate jewelry and the fact that he’d sensed that about her meant a great deal. “It’s perfect.” Reaching across the table, she squeezed his hand and then scooted her chair so that she was positioned in front of him. Moving her hair out of the way, she handed the box to him. “Now you have to put it on me because that’s just the way it is.” Christine laughed. Mulder grinned and shifted slightly so that he could easily put the necklace around her neck. The thought flitted across his mind that she smelled amazing, whether it was a perfume or shampoo... or who knew what it was, but he almost wanted to linger a while. Instead he fastened the necklace and looked around again to see what it looked like on her. “There you go,” he said softly and he offered a smile. “I think it looks perfect if I do say so myself,” he offered, gazing at her for a moment. “So, Happy Birthday, Christine.” |