The characters of Mulder and Scully are the creation and property
of Chris Carter, Fox Television and Ten Thirteen productions.  I
am using them for my own self-serving purposes with no intention
of copyright infringement, etc., etc. 


Ice Scream
By Kimberle Stark
Ksjayhwk@aol.com

     
2:30 pm
June 3, 1995
Washington D.C.


     Fox Mulder was pacing restlessly around his apartment. He
was hot, irritated, and bored. Bored was not exactly the right
word, he had several things he needed to do, he just couldn't
bring himself to do any of them as it was so hot. It was
unseasonably warm and the air conditioning unit in his apartment
had chosen this particular time to die. He was sure it was on
purpose too, just to spite him for turning it up and down one too
many times. He needed to get out of the apartment, he thought. He
picked up the phone and dialed his partner's phone number. It
rang four times before Dana Scully answered, "Hello."
     "Scully, it's me. How about taking a break from whatever
you're doing and let's go get some ice cream" he said in 
slightly irritated tone as he wiped a drop of sweat from his
forehead. 
     Scully held the phone away from her for a second and looked
at the receiver to see if it was working properly before
returning it to her ear, "Mulder, did you say ice cream? What's
gotten into you--I can't remember the last time you had ice
cream. No that's not true, the last time you ate it, you shoveled
it in your mouth so fast you got 'brain freeze'" she said
laughing into the phone.
     Mulder was not amused. It wasn't fair that she sounded so
calm and...and blessedly cool! "Well, do you want to go or not?"
he asked impatiently.
     She wasn't quite ready to give in without finding out what
had prompted his sudden craving for a food she knew he didn't
like, "Well...I'm not sure. Are you buying?"
     Mulder sighed, "Yes, I'll buy. Now do you want to go or
not?"
     Scully didn't have plans except for cleaning her apartment
and doing some laundry. "How can I pass up an offer like that,
sure I'll go. Isn't there a Baskin Robbins near you? How about I
come over there and get you since you're buying?"
     "That works for me. But Scully, just one thing. Please
hurry!" he said in a desperate tone which brought a smile to her
face.

                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Scully knocked on Mulder's door and jumped about a foot in
the air when he immediately yanked the door open, "That's a hell
of a greeting, Mulder. Next time why don't you just pop a balloon
behind my back if you want to give me a heart attack!" she said
accusingly as she walked into his apartment. 
     She stopped in the middle of the room and turned to look at
Mulder with an expression of amazement on her face, "Oh my god,
it's like an oven in here, Mulder! Did you forget to pay your
electricity bill? No wonder you want something cold to eat--let's
get out of here before I melt." 
     She was wearing a short-sleeved cotton shirt that hung
almost to her knees and black spandex leggings that were mid-calf
length. While she was quite comfortable in her present attire in
her own apartment, she really did think she might start to melt
if they didn't leave soon. She could already feel sweat starting
to form on her forehead. She waited while he grabbed his wallet
and wondered how on earth he could tolerate the sauna that he
called his apartment. To combat the heat, he had changed into a
tank top and shorts that looked like they had once been sweat
pants, but even so, he still had sweat running down the side of
his face and the front of his tank top was damp.
     He glared at her as he shut the door behind them and locked
it, "I did not forget to pay the bill.  The air conditioner died
on me and the landlord refuses to call a repairman on a Saturday
as he's too cheap to pay overtime fees."

                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     It took them about ten minutes to walk to the Baskin Robbins
located in a strip mall near Mulder's apartment. The whole way
there, Mulder complained about the heat and his landlord. Scully 
just nodded and muttered "uh, huh" at the appropriate times as
she did not trust herself to speak without laughing. The
situation was rather amusing as far as she was concerned; she had
never seen her partner so aggravated by something so minor as a
broken air conditioner. Through all the dangerous situations they
had been in the last two years, he had remained relatively
unflappable. Bring on a little heat and a broken air conditioner,
and he reverts to a whining five year old. She tried to mask a
smile as Mulder glanced down at her; apparently she hadn't been
quick enough.
     "And what exactly do you find so amusing, Agent Scully?"
Mulder asked in a tone that said he was spoiling for a fight.
     She looked up at him defiantly, "You! Honestly, Mulder,
you're acting like a little boy. Why didn't you just come over
and stay at my apartment if the heat was bothering you that much?
All you had to do is ask, you know."
          He looked at her sheepishly, "I didn't want to bother you on
your free time."
     "Well, you're bothering me now so you might as well come
over until your air condition's fixed--on the provision that you
stop complaining NOW!" she grinned at him.
     When they got to Baskin Robbins, Mulder opened the door for
Scully to go in first. As he entered, Mulder sighed, "Ahhhh...
cool air. I don't think I'm ever leaving this place."
     The store was crowded, there were eight people waiting in a
line to be served and about another ten sitting in chairs eating
their ice cream. Mulder and Scully weaved their way up the
counter so they could take a look at the different flavors
available displayed through the glass case. Next to Mulder, a
little boy with carrot orange hair and a face full of freckles
jumped up to try and get a ticket from the dispenser which said
'Please Take a Number'. He was successful in his attempt;
however, as he came down he landed squarely on Mulder's foot.
     "Ouch!" Mulder exclaimed and glared menacingly at the
offending little boy who looked to be about six years old. He
scared the boy so badly, he dropped the ticket and just stared up
at Mulder with a terrified expression on his face. Mulder
actually had the grace to feel sorry for the boy so he bent down
and picked the ticket up. Before he could hand it to the boy, the
little mongrel pointed to him and yelled at the top of his voice,
"Mommy, that man took our number 'an he won't give it back!"
     Mulder felt about twenty pairs of eyes boring into him,
including Scully's. He looked around and noticed how quiet it
was...they were all glaring at him like he was something lower
than slime. 'Defend yourself, man' he thought. "Hey, he dropped
it and I was giving it back!!" he said in an imploring voice to
the crowd. He heard several murmurs of "yeah, right" as he handed
the ticket to the boy. Mulder was well aware of several eyes
still watching him, so he smiled under duress at the boy when he
grabbed the ticket from his hand and looked at Mulder with a
"hah, take that!" look.
     Scully looked at Mulder shaking her head and grabbed a
ticket from the dispenser. Leave it to Mulder to cause a scene
doing the simple task of buying ice cream. "So do you know what
you want yet?" she asked.
     He looked at her with an irritated expression, "I haven't
had a chance to look yet as I was dealing with the devil's spawn
over there! What are you getting?"
     "I'm going to get a dip of chocolate in a sugar cone."
     "What!! Scully, you can't come to Baskin Robbins, home of 31
flavors, and get chocolate. It's sacrilege and it's just not
done."
     "Mulder...I want chocolate" she said in a low tone that said
her patience was wearing thin, "that's why they have
chocolate...because some of us like it."
     He tried to reason with her. "Scully, come on, look at the
all the flavors. Are you telling me that you'd rather have plain,
boring chocolate than something like..." he looked into the glass
case, "Kookaberry Kiwi or Maui Brownie Madness?"
     She placed her hands on her hips, glowered up at him, and
said through her teeth, "I want chocolate!"
     He held her gaze until he realized she was not going to
waver on her decision. Fine, he thought, she could get what she
damn well pleased, but she certainly wasn't having any of his
when she got bored with her own. He turned away and walked over
to the end of the counter and started scanning the contents.
Decisions, decisions...there sure were a lot of flavors to choose
from.
     A young sales clerk finally called their number and they
walked up to the counter. The young girl asked them, "What can I
get for you?"
     Scully answered, "I'd like a dip of chocolate in a sugar
cone, please" and glanced at Mulder contentedly. He shook his
head in disgust. The clerk handed Scully the cone and looked at
Mulder, "What can I get you?"
     Mulder walked over and pointed down to one of the ice cream
tubs in the case, "What's in Cinnamon Almond Tax Crunch?"
     The clerk responded patiently, "Well, cinnamon and almonds."
     So, everyone's a smartass, he thought. First the child from
hell and now the clerk without a brain. Swell...what a lovely day
this was turning out to be. "I *knew* that part, but what's the
crunch part?" 
     "That would be almond rocca, Sir." Oh great, she thought. He
was going to be one of those 'difficult' customers. Why is it
that grown men were worse than children when it came to buying
ice cream? 
     Mulder pointed to another tub, "Could I have a taste of
Raspberry Cheese Louise?"
     The clerk handed Mulder a little pink spoon with a small
portion on it for him to sample. He tasted it and said,
"Hmmm...that's not bad. Not very raspberry though. Could I have a
taste of the Jamoca Almond Fudge?" He glanced at the young girl,
"Please."
     The girl looked over at Scully who was happily licking away
at her ice cream cone. The girl wondered how the woman had the
patience to deal with this obnoxious man. She must be a saint or
something! Scully caught her look and shrugged at her almost
apologetically.
     The clerk gave him a spoonful and waited for his reaction.
She hoped he liked this one, because it was starting to get
really crowded now as about nine young girls and boys in baseball
uniforms had come in while she was dealing with this guy.
     He made a face, "Oh...I don't like that one. How about the
Pineapple Coconut...can I try that one?" he asked innocently.
     Scully was starting to get embarrassed even though she
hadn't done anything. "Mulder! Just pick a flavor...it's not as
if this is a life or death situation and there are other people
who would like to be served today" she said exasperatingly.
     The young girl gave Scully a grateful look and several
people standing in line listening smiled in sympathy at the young
girl.
     Mulder gave a Scully an 'oh, shut up' look, but wished he
hadn't when she raised her eyebrows at him and stared him down.
He turned back to the sales clerk, "Okay, how about Pralines 'n
Cream?"
     The girl looked at him hopefully, "You want a dip of that?"
     Mulder looked at Scully and then back to the girl, "No, I'd
like to try it first."
     There was an audible sigh from Scully, the sales girl, the
other two sales clerks, and about eleven customers. Scully walked
to the far end of the store, she didn't want to be associated
with Mulder anymore. This was getting ridiculous, they'd been in
the store for 20 minutes and he still couldn't decide what flavor
he wanted!
     The sales girl lost all pretense of trying to be polite now.
She handed the little pink spoon to him abruptly without a word.
How she hated those little pink spoons! She waited until he had
eaten it before saying tersely, "Well...?"
     "I don't like that one", he said belligerently. It was him
and Scully against the entire store and he was damned if he'd
give in to the pressure just because other people were waiting.
He turned to Scully, but she wasn't there. He saw her standing at
the end of the store eating her cone and he motioned to her to
come over. She shook her head and said to the woman standing by
her, "I don't know him." The woman and several others within
earshot laughed.
     Oh great...so Scully had deserted him. He turned to the
girl, "May I please have a taste of the Cherries Jubilee?" he
said very quietly and in a deadpan voice.
     She said pleadingly, "Sir, you've already tried five
flavors. Can't you just pick one?" She was about ready to offer
him her firstborn child if he would just leave!
     The members of the baseball team surrounded him and the
tallest one looked up at him and said in a desperate voice, "Sir,
we've just won our first game and we'd like to celebrate. Our
coach promised us ice cream, but you're taking so long that he's
going to make us leave soon. *Please* order something!"
     Mulder glanced at the kids in their uniforms looking very
pathetic. He said loudly to the sales clerk, "Okay, I'd like a
dip of the Cherries Jubilee and a dip of...Rocky Road in a plain
cone."
     Everyone in the store started applauding. Mulder bowed his
head slightly in acknowledgement and looked over at Scully. She
rolled her eyes at him, smiled, and walked over to him. She
decided it was safe to be seen talking to him now.
     "Mulder, that was entirely too painful to watch. If you ever
take that long to decide on food again, I will personally maim
you for life!" she warned.
     The clerk handed him his cone and he handed it over for
Scully to hold while he paid the girl. Scully had already
finished off her cone so she took a lick of the Rocky Road which
was on top and remarked, "Hey, that's pretty good!"
     Mulder grabbed the cone from her, "Give that back! You had
boring, old chocolate remember. You can't have mine too! Let's
get out of here before they lynch me."
     Mulder had cooled down while they were in the store but the
heat hit him as soon as they stepped outside. "Damn it's hot. I'd
better eat this before it melts!" He took a big lick near the
base of the Rocky Rock dip and he licked it so hard that it fell
off and landed with a splat on his shoe.
     Scully's mouth dropped open and she had to cover her mouth
with her hand to stop herself from bursting with laughter. Mulder
looked in horror at the ice cream on his shoe and then back to
what was left of his ice cream cone. He had the most sorrowful
and pathetic expression on his face, that Scully actually thought
about suggesting going inside and getting another scoop. But only
for a moment until sanity returned. He still had another scoop.
     "That was the flavor I really wanted. I'm going to get
another one. I'll be back in a second" he said with a determined
look at Scully.
     One of the customers who had waited for him to finally leave
had seen what had happened and now saw Mulder striding back to
the store. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Quick, someone
lock the door! He's coming back!"
     A mad panic ensued and darkness fell upon the city.


THE END