Title: A Need to Know by the Jedi Shipper Rated: PG Spoilers: Umm, post-Millennium Category: Shippy contents ahead, non Ashley safe! Summary: What happened after? Archive: I’d be honored. Keep my name attached and tell me where it is! Dedications: To the very rompable Susan. To everyone who pushed me to do this. Feedback: Hell ya! _"mailto:JediShipper@yahoo.com"_ Author's Notes: Well you didn’t expect to leave me out of this did you? I honestly tried not to do it but in the end I couldn’t help myself. Disclaimer: Ha ha. Yeah…try and sue me. This was, Scully thought, an odd situation indeed. Here she was, feeling extremely awkward about what just happened with her partner, and he, she knew, was feeling the same way, but his arm was still around her. The feel of his arm on her shoulders, his body in her personal space was making her think thoughts that she shouldn’t be thinking. Normally she would push it away and if she couldn’t, she would escape to a safe haven, her apartment, anywhere away from Mulder. Now there was no hope of escape. Mulder, after all, was injured and couldn’t drive himself home. She would just have to find a way to deal with it. * * * The world didn’t end. His fears hadn’t come true. Mulder had long held the belief that kissing Scully would bring about the end of their friendship, their partnership. The end of his world. He honestly hadn’t meant to kiss her for that long. He’d meant it to be a simple peck, a kiss stolen at the turn of a new year, where it was safe and he had an excuse to be doing that kind of thing for a good reason. Once he’d gotten there he’d found it hard to pull away. Not to mention, she’d kissed him back. She’d kissed him back. It begged the question of whether there had been something more behind that kiss, on her part. Mulder pushed the thought away. It would be hard enough to get through that car ride without those thoughts running through his head. As they approached the car it occurred to Mulder that he still had his arms around her. He felt as nervous as a school boy on his way to the back seat for some serious making out. Get a grip, he told himself. There would be no making out, he wouldn’t score in the back seat and there would be no confessions of long repressed love. There would just be an uneventful, if a little awkward, ride home with his best friend and partner whom he’d kissed in the height of the moment. Now why did that disappoint him? They had reached the car and Mulder let his arm drop. He started to walk around to his side but suddenly stopped. Before he could stop himself he spoke. "Scully?" She turned to him. He opened his mouth to say… what? What exactly was he going to say? I’m sorry? That would be a lie, Scully could always tell when he was lying. Happy New Year? No, he’d already said that. Can I kiss you again? Now there was a question he really wanted to ask. Mulder shut his mouth and stared at her intently. Her raised eyebrows, her questioning eyes, her nose… her lips. The need to know had always come instinctively for Mulder. It was what drove his quest and often it was what got him into trouble before he could think about it’s consequences. Before, his need to know what it would be like to kiss Scully had been controlled by his fear of what it might do to their friendship, their partnership. Now that he knew, the need to know what would happen if he kissed her for the sole reason of wanting to kiss her rather then celebrating the birth of the millennium overtook him. This was a much stronger need, fueled by the memory of her lips against his and the smile they’d shared afterwards. It was too strong to resist. There was, on her part, an initial "mmph," of surprise when he leaned down and kissed her for the second time that year. Then she kissed him back. * * * There was no time to think as he leaned forward to kiss her again. It had not come at a point of elation, watching the ball drop in New York ringing in not only a new year but a new millennium. It had come unexpected but not uninvited. She was only aware of her heart beating against her chest, her back being gently pressed against the car and her hands coming up to his neck, pulling him closer. She wasn’t thinking. Now was not the time to analyze actions. As far as she was concerned the rest of the world had slipped away in that instant. While their first kiss had been sweet and simple, this one was deeper, passionate. It was not something she could control or pull away from. They parted breathlessly a while later. All thoughts of nothing more then a friendly kiss had vanished from both their minds and neither quite knew what to do with that. They stood silently, not moving from each others arms, their faces still inches away from each other. "Hey Scully," Mulder started breaking the silence between them. "Yes?" she asked, still a bit breathless. "Did you make a New Years resolution?" he asked softly. "Not yet," she said. "I did." "What was it?" He cupped her face in his hand and looked her directly in the eye. "To find out everything I need to know," he said simply. She looked at him questioningly. He only laughed. "I’ll explain, soon. Let’s go home." She smiled. There was no question that they were both headed to the same place. It was, she thought, the perfect way to start a New Year. ___________________________ Brain candy…I know. Feedback anyway???