WARNING: Contains Physical Affection and Dog Drool

DISCLAIMERS: See Part One

AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: greenegret@xoommail.com

SPOILERS: Field Trip





SEARCH PART EIGHT



----------00000000----------0000000000------------00000000-----------------

Again after the world's worst Field Trip, Scully goes to Fredericksburg----





Several interminable hours later, Scully stood outside of Lil's river house 

and frowned blearily at the empty garage space below the deck.  <She's not 

back from Richmond yet, I suppose - she said she'd be a little late on the 

phone.  I think I'll just go sit by the water for awhile.>  She wandered on 

down to Lil's muddy little bit of riverside, pausing to squash a few 

mushrooms - hah! Take that…, but tired enough to be happy with just sitting 

for a few minutes.  That was where Lil found her, sitting with her 

cross-legged and staring almost hypnotized at the gentle green and brown 

flow of the Rappahannock.



"Hey, girl.  Long few days, huh?"  Liliana smiled down at the small 

red-head at her feet, feeling a little shocked at her generally debilitated 

and grubby appearance.  <What on earth happened, she's always so 

immaculate…>



"Mmm?  I suppose so." Scully turned slowly to look up at her, blinking 

sleepily.  It was amazing how much better she felt seeing her friend again, 

even just knowing that she would see her, especially knowing that she would 

probably sleep over tonight.  The two women had taken to spending an 

occasional night together, at least ostensibly to avoid the lengthy drive 

between Georgetown and Fredericksburg after a long evening.  Now they just 

smiled goofily at each other, until the sudden cough of a neighbor's 

motorcycle kicking over broke the spell.



Startled, Scully began to bounce up too fast, almost falling if not for 

Lil's quick grab.  "Isn't this how we met?"  Lil asked, not releasing the 

smaller woman as Scully regained her equilibrium.  



"Something about you just renders me incapable of keeping my head, I 

suppose," the younger woman replied, a slight quirk to her mouth.  They 

began climbing up the damp muddy hill, Lil not quite sure what to make of 

that statement, though she hoped she could make a guess.  After the morning 

she had woken up snuggled up to Dana, she had forced herself to reevaluate 

her stubbornly held aversion to certain kinds of human interaction.  She 

had recently begun to acknowledge to herself, at least, that maybe Caroline 

hadn't completely spoiled her for another relationship, at least not if it 

involved someone as clearly trustworthy as Dana Scully.  <Besides,> she had 

thought, <Else and Serenity like this one, and they never could stand 

Caroline beyond mere politeness.  Even the dogs love her, and they're great 

judges of character.  Of course, it all depends on whether she's just 

affectionate, or would actually be interested in a multiple dog-owning, 

cheesy romance writing, card carrying lesbian, who's six years older than 

she is.  And she hasn't met the part of my family that still speaks to me 

yet, either.>  The cautious increase in physical contact and affection 

between the two had led both of them to the - correct - conclusion that the 

other woman probably WAS interested, but neither had been quite ready to 

say anything out loud.  Still, hardly a weekend went by where they didn't 

see each other, or at least call.  <Now, however, I need to give Dana some 

serious TLC.  She looks exhausted and grumbly.  Definitely time for the 

kitty/food/bath cure,>  Lil thought, absently patting Scully's arm as she 

helped her up the darkening path to her house.  



Scully herself was just concentrating on making sure her feet landed on the 

wooden step dividers rather than the spongy mud and grass in between.  

Relief at being for once completely off the FBI's hook, pleasure in Lil's 

solicitude, and overwhelming exhaustion combined into a state of mental and 

physical torpor.  <I'm just thankful that I actually remember the flight 

and the drive down here.  Any other time I would have resented them.  Now I 

think I have them to thank for my sanity.>  The lack of them had been the 

clue that allowed her to escape the clutches of the evil slime mold from 

hell.  She sighed and took a tighter grip on Lil's arm, aiming herself 

towards the bath she felt she desperately needed.



"Why don't you go get cleaned up, while I take care of the animals and get 

all of the dinner stuff together?  I have a nice big pan of spinach lasagna 

that my sister-in-law made me in the fridge; all I need to do is toss it 

in," Lil suggested after the two had endured the enthusiastic greetings of 

three dogs, three cats, and one really confused guinea hen.  Scully barely 

gave the hen - a new acquisition - a glance and simply nodded, saying, "I'm 

just going to steal those starfighter pajamas again, okay, Lil?  I'm too 

tired to be alive."



Scully clambered into the tub, wincing a little as the warm water stung in 

the raw and bruised places still healing.  <Mmm.  This is so much better 

than going back to Georgetown - I wonder where she got this tub?  I love 

these claw feet.>  She soaked peacefully for a few minutes, mind drifting, 

until she thought she heard heavy breathing.  <Who the hell is that?!  

Somebody is staring at me…>  She opened her eyes a crack, reaching for the 

scrub brush behind her, only to find Moppet's hugely adoring black face two 

inches away from her.  She relaxed, only to yelp with outrage when a wet 

red tongue slopped over her face.  "Hey!  I'm already taking a bath!  I 

don't want any French kisses from a dog!"  She pushed him away 

ineffectually as he continued to slobber all over her face, only to be 

rescued by a laughing Liliana, who had come to see why Scully had yelped.



"Hang on, I'll get him, you should have left the door closed, he loves 

baths 

because the people can't get away…"  She hauled him off and shut the door, 

hastily closing her eyes to avoid seeing too much of Scully's flushed skin. 

 Scully settled muttering down into the water, quickly re-washing her face 

and starting in on the rest of her maltreated person.  She paused, hissing 

as she hit an acid scorch too hard, then paused again frowning down on it, 

twisting slightly to regard the one on her back.  If Moppet had reentered 

the bathroom, he would have seen a sweetly evil little smirk appear on her 

normally angelic face that might have made him think twice about mauling 

her.



"Lil?  Could you help me take care of these burns?"  



Lilian turned from her contemplation of two boxes of Sara Lee cakes to 

choke at the sight of Scully, damply wrapped in a mist-green towel, with an 

appealingly helpless look on her face.  She stared for just a second too 

long, long enough to make Scully nervous, and said, "Sure.  What do you 

need?"



"Just to smear this stuff on the ones I can't reach.  Most of them are 

nearly healed, but some of them…"  She shrugged, nearly losing the towel, 

making Lil, who had relaxed on hearing her request, tense up again.  <She's 

looking a little shell-shocked - good thing I'm too tired to really try 

anything serious.  I'm getting tired of this little game, though.  

Something is going to change soon.>



Lil followed Scully into her bedroom, taking the salve from her as she laid 

down naked on a towel on her bed.  Lil's eyes followed the soft creamy 

curve of Scully's muscle and bone as she settled down carefully, taking a 

deep breath as she climbed onto the bed next to her.  "How did you get 

them?  Do I just smear it over the reddish places?"



"Yeah, just be gentle, okay?  As for how it happened…  Long story.  They 

aren't anything contagious or dangerous."  She squirmed a little, then 

started as Lil's hand touched her skin, sending a mixed flash of heat, 

pleasure, and pain through her body.



"You okay, querida bonita?"  Lil paused, anxiously waiting for her friend's 

response.

"Oh, yeah.  You just startled me, that's all.  What does that mean, pretty 

sweetheart?"  Scully laughed softly, forcing herself not to react as Lil 

started to rub the salve lightly into the mark on her lower leg.



"Mmm-hmm.  My mother used to call me that when she was feeling affectionate 

when I was little.  We didn't really speak my Grandmother's Spanish at 

home, but we used it for things like that."  Lil stroked Scully's soft skin 

gently, gamely trying to ignore the warmth in her own body that seemed to 

be spreading up from her arm.  "So, tell me about these burns."  She was 

hoping fervently that the story would distract her from the evenly 

breathing form under her hands.



"Well, essentially, Mulder and I got called in on a disappearance case.  We 

found some digestive fluid encrusted skeletons.  We got caught by the 

perpetrator.  It was a - aah! - gigantic flesh eating slime mold.  We 

suffered acid burns and hallucinations from its attempts to eat us.  We got 

rescued by our boss.  And then we shipped home via hospital and airplane." 

 Scully took a deep breath, feeling Lil's hand pause and rest on her upper 

thigh.  <If she doesn't move that, I won't be able to talk.  The longer 

this little game goes on, the stronger my… reaction… to her gets.>



"Oookay.  You want to run that by me again, more slowly?"  Lil stared down 

at her, forgetting not to look as she reacted to Scully's recitation, 

moving slowly onto another burn.



"You must have heard about the giant fungus they found in the Carolinas on 

the News.  It tried to eat us.  Hence the acid burns - it tried to break us 

down into our constituent parts before ingesting us, holding us still by 

shooting us full of happy juice."  Scully wiggled a little under her hands, 

pressing herself up into Lil's hands as she tryed to get more comfortable.



"My dear, you have a very interesting life.  Hallucinations, huh?  Only you 

and Mulder would almost get eaten by a giant 'shroom."  Lil chuckled 

softly, thinking of some people she'd met on the job who would consider 

that the world's greatest death.  She paused then, hesitating.  The next 

burn was in, well, an intimate place.



"Ohhh, yeah.  Lil?  It's okay."



"Yeah?  Uh-huh."  She took a deeper breath, pulling her hands into her lap 

and sitting up straight to scoop up more salve, then reaching down to 

Scully's backside, swallowing hard.  She stroked it gently into the silky 

warm strength of her, her mouth dry as she touched her friend's flesh.  

Despite her long ago fears, Caroline did not come into her mind once.  She 

wasn't even really listening about Scully's story of her day among the 

green goo.  The startlingly powerful and clean heat of her response to Dana 

Scully, lying trusting and relaxed, naked, under her hands consumed her.



Scully lay still, eyes closed.  She'd stopped talking when she realized she 

was no longer capable of an unbroken sentence, the mixed pleasure and pain 

of Lil's ministrations too much for coherence, forgetting all of her plans 

to tease her friend into making some sort of overture.  Her eyes flew open 

when she felt weight displace the waterbed's flow next to here, finding 

herself staring into deep brown eyes, darker and more solemn than usual.



"Day? " Lil breathed out, lying next to her, looking a little scared and 

confused but far more nakedly aroused, waiting for her response.



Without a thought, Scully leaned forward, pressing her lips very gently to 

Lil's, feeling her almost hesitant but clear response a second later, 

finally falling into the other woman's body.  They lay together, kissing, 

Scully climbing half onto Lil's prone form, both breathing hard.  Lil was 

stroking her hands lovingly over Scully's warm naked skin, careful of the 

burns, feeling her bare breasts against her own clothed form.  



<She's so sweet!>  Scully pressed closer to Liliana, her entire body a rush 

of wet golden heat.  She had never responded this strongly to anyone 

before.  She had never been in love with anyone before she had gotten 

involved with them before.  She sighed, pulling back from her friend, 

burying her face in the nubby apple green cloth of Lil's shirt, feeling her 

take deep, dragging breaths below her.



"Dana?  I…"  Lil's voice cracked as she tried to figure out what she was 

feeling.  The only thing she was sure of was that she was not about to let 

go of Dana.  <I don't know what to do!  I love her.  I know I do, have, 

probably always will love her.  But it went so bad last time, I can't 

imagine her hurting me like that, but I don't know if I can do this right, 

and what if she regrets it and doesn't want me as a friend anymore?>  This 

was too much and she began to cry, clinging to Scully.



"Oh, Lil.  I'm sorry, I shouldn't have, I didn't mean to hurt you!" Scully 

was horrified, rolling over and curling her arm under Lil, barely noticing 

the sting as her abused rear end hit the rough towel.



"No, no!  You didn't do anything wrong, it's just, I never thought…   Dana, 

I love you."  Lil, unable to keep her beautiful brown eyes from tearing up, 

stared at her, looking incredibly open and vulnerable.  She wasn't sure of 

a lot of things, but THAT she was sure of, as well as the need to make 

Scully aware of it.  



"Oh, honey.  I love you, too."  She was almost tearing up herself, cradling 

the other woman closer to her and kissing her tenderly, on the forehead 

this time.  "What's wrong?  Am I pushing you too hard?  I'm sorry, I just… 

 It felt like the right thing to do."



"You love me?  You really do?  Not as a friend, Dana, although that too, 

but as a lover, as a mate?"  Lil's momentary fear and disorientation was 

forgotten as her mind latched onto the first part of Scully's statement.



"Yes.  As a friend, as a lover, as a mate.  Every other way possible, I 

love you, Liliana Teresa Adamson Ramos.  I want to be more than your 

friend, but I will love you regardless."  Scully's serious blue eyes blazed 

into Lil's, impressing the strength of her conviction on her mind.



They stared at each other nose to nose, breathing the same breath, both of 

them starting to smile at the same second, until they were lying there with 

joyously goofy grins on their tear-streaked faces.  Liliana turned 

carefully, sitting up and pulling the smaller woman's naked form into her 

lap, hugging her tight, eyes closed and face buried in the short silky 

auburn hair.  Scully sighed, feeling her whole body relax in relief (except 

for certain highly keyed up areas) and tucked herself in even closer.  They 

remained there, unmoving except for breath, until the timer went off for 

the lasagna.  



Dinner passed with hardly any words, but much touching and glowingly happy 

gazing.  <I'm feeding her chocolate chip cheesecake, and I'm enjoying it 

more than eating it myself.  How incredibly mushy and corny is that?>  

thought Lil, her heart so high in her chest she was almost dizzy with joy 

and breathlessness.  Scully smiled at her, sucking the last bite of creamy 

dessert of the spoon with a soft flick of her tongue.  She leaned over to 

kiss Lil, sharing the sweetness with her.  Lil felt her eyes close with 

pleasure, smiling blissfully at her partner, thinking <Oh!  That's how 

mushy it is, but it's definitely not corny.  No way, definitely worth 

doing.>  She opened her eyes, surprised to find herself standing with her 

hands on Scully's bare waist under her favorite Star Trek pajamas.  Scully 

had dressed while she finished their dinner.  <I'm lucky I didn't poison 

us, and I notice she's wearing only one sock.  Must have been thinking of 

something distracting>  Chesire cat smile, hidden in Scully's hair.



"Let's go to bed." Scully suggested, leaning into her. 



At Lil's foolish, but slightly anxious smile, she added hastily, "Just to 

sleep.  I'm about as lively as my patients right about now, not that I 

wouldn't like more, love, I'm just not capable of it right now."



Lil smiled down at her, rather surprised to find herself far more 

disappointed than relieved -- < So much for my vows of celibacy > -- and 

replied, "of course.  We should probably go slowly, ease into this part of 

it anyway.  I know you're not exactly experienced here, and it's been a 

while for me."  She hugged Scully gently, turning them both toward her 

bedroom.



"Hey!  I'm inexperienced only with women, and I've been doing research, 

I'll have you know." Scully pretended to glare indignantly at Lil, ruining 

it with a highly inelegant yawn.



Amused, Lil smirked at her.  "Research!  Is there something I should know? 

 So that's where Elspeth's Naiad and Good Vibrations catalogs disappeared 

to!  I told her it wasn't my fault."



"It's all your fault, Lil Ramos.  If I hadn't met you, I would never have 

even thought of anything other than good Catholic heterosexuality."



"Hmm.  I guess you'll have to settle for good Catholic homosexuality.  I'm 

Catholic too, you know, as much as I'm allowed to be."  She pulled back the 

covers for Scully, leaning over to turn off the light.



"Thank you, God and Mother Mary."  She immediately rolled over to curl into 

Lil's side, feeling her turning to hold her close.



"For being gay or bisexual, or for me being Catholic?"  Lil wondered 

softly.  



"Bisexual, I think, and for both.  It'll make my mother happy, that you 

belong to the Church.  Night, love, I'm about to keel over."  Scully 

smiled, at the pleasure of using that endearment, feeling Lil smile at the 

the pleasure of hearing it.  She fell into an exhausted sleep so quickly 

she barely felt Lil's good-night kiss.