Chapter Text
“Dana, darling, please hurry up! We’re going to be late!”
Stella stood at the foot of the stairs in her 3-storey Kensington row house tapping her high-heeled clad feet in annoyance as she yelled up the stairs. Stella loved her girlfriend, but she hated being late. She checked the time on her Blackberry once more and was about to storm up the steps when Scully appeared on the upstairs landing.
“What’s with all of the yelling? I said I’d be five minutes, Stella.” The annoyance in Scully’s voice was clear. As much as Stella hated to be late, Dana Scully hated to be rushed. But, as Scully descended the stairs, Stella couldn’t help but lick her lips as she took in her girlfriend's appearance, and in that moment, Stella was absolutely certain that she was dating the most beautiful woman in the entire world.
Scully was dressed in a floor length black gown with thin straps that supported a high, modest neckline. Her back, however, was completely bare as the dress scooped low and exposed her lower back. Scully completed the look with a black shawl draped through the crook of her elbows. The redhead’s short hair was styled naturally and tucked delicately behind her ears, and her makeup was mostly natural-looking, save for her shimmery-gold eyeshadow, and her bright red lipstick.
As she got to the bottom of the stairs, Scully gave a bashful spin so that Stella could see the full outfit.
“Worth the wait?”
“Very much so,” was Stella’s reply as she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend’s waist and pulled her in for a kiss.
Stella’s voice was quiet and deep as she whispered, “You look incredible, darling”. Her eyes roamed Scully with a ferocity and intimacy that brought a deep blush to her face and neck. Stella leaned in for another deep kiss and received a quick peck from Scully in return.
“ Stella ,” Scully chided with a chuckle, sliding her hands down Stella’s white-suit clad sternum as Stella peppered kisses along her jaw and neck. Stella, as usual, was wearing her impossibly high stilettos, requiring her to bend a little as she continued her trail of gentle, open mouthed kisses down her lover’s neck. Scully all but melted into her partner’s arms.
“I know that look,” Scully moaned. “If you keep giving me that look, and keep doing what you’re doing, we will be late. And this time, it won’t be my fault.”
Stella hummed in agreement as her eyes twinkled in response. “You’re right. Later,” she promised with a quick squeeze of Scully’s ass. She couldn’t resist one more quick kiss to her girlfriend’s full and rosy lips before gently raising thumb to right the red smudge left from their make out.
“I look forward to ruining your lipstick again later,” Stella whispered with a purr. And with that, she took the redhead’s hand, guided her out of the house, and locked the door behind them.
Scully had been living in London and working for the Metropolitan Police as the head of the Forensic Pathology Department for six months when she met Stella Gibson. The two had been partnered together on a particularly violent and grueling case in the Highlands of Scotland, and over the many months that they spent trying to catch a murderous trio, the pair grew close as friends. They were both in awe of the other’s brilliance, intelligence, and strong command in such a male-dominated field. The women worked easily with each other, symbiotically and naturally working as one, while still challenging and pushing one another.
One night, Stella – marred by exhaustion and frustration at the lack of progress on the case – put her arm around Scully in the booth of the pub that they were sitting in, and tenderly – almost reverentially – kissed her. Scully, though she was momentarily shocked by Stella’s brazenness, had readily, and wholeheartedly kissed her partner back. In the dark booth at the back of the little pub in Scotland, the kiss between the two women had grown feverish and needy. As Stella nimbly slipped her hands underneath Scully’s blouse to gently ghost fingers along her back and the waistband of her trousers, Scully moaned into her mouth.
From the day they met, there had been a frisson between the pair. What was initially a subtle sizzle, became a raging fire with every brush of their hands, and every huddled conversation. Dana, ever the consummate professional, had tried to ignore the growing sexual tension. But, ever the keen observer, Stella had learned Dana’s tells. It was impossible not to notice Dana rolling her eyes and turning bright red whenever Stella paid her a compliment; and, she knew that despite Dana’s nonchalant front, and professional demeanor, she wanted Stella just as much as Stella wanted her.
Realising that the evening was about to become far too inappropriate for prying eyes in the pub, Stella, who was feeling uncharacteristically shy about her abject desperation for the woman in front of her, invited Scully to her bed. Scully didn’t even pause to consider the invitation before she was threading her fingers through Stella’s and pulling her out of the pub and toward their hotel.
They tumbled into bed together, and what both women thought would be a casual affair turned into more than than either could ever imagine. For the first time since realising that she could no longer spend her days chasing Mulder and his ghosts, Scully made love. That night, Stella, who had long thought that she must have been defective and incapable of romantic love, felt her heart soar through her chest and into the intimate space that the two created between them.
That was 2 years ago, and as Scully stared at their clasped hands in the taxi between them, she thanked her God once again for bringing her the gorgeous, brilliant, sensual, kind woman sitting beside her.
Scully and Stella were on their way to the Met’s annual ball. The event was mainly a way for the Met to share its accomplishments with the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister, but also served as a much needed hedonistic evening for Scotland Yard’s often overworked staff and support personnel.
The art deco ballroom at Claridge’s Hotel was immaculately decorated, and as Stella entered the grandiose room with Scully on her arm, she felt like the luckiest woman in the world. The feeling was fleeting, however, as colleagues pulled the pair in different directions. Stella kept a lustful eye on Dana as she worked the room, constantly thinking about the moment she could take her home and ravish her. She was always impressed with the way that Scully had seamlessly integrated into Met life, playing politics and personalities as if she were born to do it.
As the evening’s programming began on the stage at the front of the room, Stella found her table and was pleased to see Scully’s name written on the little placard next to hers, though Scully had yet to make it to the table. Stella was nursing a whiskey with her legs crossed, one ankle gently rolling as she checked emails on her Blackberry oblivious to the chatter and chaos of the other 500 officers around her.
“Detective Superintendent Gibson, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” teased a familiar voice behind her.
Hearing her name, Stella was pulled out of her zone as she looked up from her phone and over her shoulder at the new arrival to the table. Smiling softly as she recognised the woman, Stella wordlessly pulled the chair on her left out, noticing for the first time that the placard on the table read the woman’s name.
“And where the hell have you been, Stella?”
“I could ask the same thing of you, Detective” was Stella’s short deflection, though her eyes shone with something akin to mischief.
It had been almost a year since the two had last run into each other, and almost two years since Stella had last been knuckles deep inside of the woman watching her writhe and plead for her next orgasm. Stella was cursed (though perhaps blessed) with a mind that could vividly recall almost every worthwhile sexual experience that she had ever had. That particular night had ended with Stella shamelessly grinding her soaking center against the woman’s thigh in pursuit of her final orgasm of the evening.
Stella and the brunette now sitting to her left had been on-and-off sexual partners for the better part of the previous decade. Stella enjoyed having an ongoing sexual relationship with her because the two were exactly the same – emotionally detached, and married to nothing but their work. Thus, it was simple between them: just two women getting what they needed so that they could momentarily distract themselves from the stress and horrors of a case.
After meeting Dana, Stella ended the arrangement with the woman, much to the other DSI’s chagrin. The DSI, like most people in Stella’s life, didn't believe her when she said that she had met someone and fallen in love.
“I give you a month before you’re knocking at my front door again,” the brunette had quipped at the time.
When, after 6 weeks, she still hadn’t heard from Stella, it was the DSI who went knocking on Stella’s door, only to be turned away. Not used to being rejected, the brunette was stunned. She had since used every opportunity when she saw Stella to flirt shamelessly with the hopes that if she caught the blonde at exactly the right moment, they would end up back in bed together. Stella, though she was unequivocally head-over-heels in love with one Dana Katherine Scully, allowed the flirting and flirted in kind, believing that flirting was a natural, fun, and harmless interaction so long as it never crossed a line.
Scully was making her way across the vast ballroom, bobbing and weaving through already drunk colleagues trying to find either the complete table list or Stella, when she finally spotted her partner about ten tables away. Though she could only see the back of Stella’s head, Scully noticed that Stella was deep in conversation, her face uncomfortably close to a vaguely familiar, very attractive brunette. As Scully inched closer to the table, Stella tipped her head back in a full-bodied laugh that Scully had only ever seen in the privacy of their home, and she noticed that the brunette had her hand quite high up on Stella’s thigh.
Scully didn’t like to admit it, but she was a jealous person; and, the minute that she saw the woman’s hand caressing her girlfriend’s thigh, she started to see red. Knowing that a work function was not an appropriate place to cause a scene, Scully took a deep breath and stuck a smile on her face as she neared the table. She wasn’t naive – she knew that Stella had a past and that quite a few people that they both worked with had had the privilege of being one of Stella’s bedfellows. Scully did her best to reason that the woman was probably just that – Stella’s past – and Stella had never given Scully a reason to doubt her fidelity; but, watching others try to lay claim on her girlfriend, still put Scully on edge. Even though it was quite clear that the women were dating, people never stopped trying to seduce Stella, and honestly, Dana couldn’t really blame them for trying.
Approaching the table, Scully racked her brain trying to figure out where she had seen the brunette before. The woman’s hair, though mostly brown, was tinged with a deep red, and reminded Scully of a haircut Princess Diana had in the 1990s. Her cheekbones were high, and sharp enough to cut a block of wood; and, despite the low lighting in the ballroom, the woman’s blue-green eyes were shining. Scully knew that she was neither on her pathology team, nor was she on the team of patrol cops and detectives that Stella usually worked with, but she couldn’t quite place her despite the woman’s name being on the tip of her tongue.
Stella couldn’t see Scully approaching, so when she gently rubbed her girlfriend’s back to announce her presence, Stella jumped slightly. Despite her obvious surprise, she rose from her seat with her usual grace and composure, greeting her lover with a peck on the cheek.
“Dana, there you are. Allow me to introduce you to a colleague and old friend…”
The way that Stella said “friend” told Scully everything that she needed to know about the history of the pair’s relationship. The brunette, an amused yet skeptical look on her face, haughtily stood to greet the redhead.
“Dana this is DSI–” Stella began.
It came to Scully like a flash of lightning. The last time she had seen this woman was years ago when she had breezed into Mulder’s office at the FBI asking for his help on a case, all the while making innuendos about “three pipe problems.”
“–Phoebe Green, Terror of Scotland Yard,” Scully finished.
Chapter 2: Old Friends
Notes:
Hello all, thank you soooo much for all of your love on chapter 1! I loved all of your comments ☺️. I'll keep writing as long as you all keep reading.
Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter – life has been, well, life-ing, and I've been busy. But here we are. Apologies in advance for the little bit of angst to come. We will get to the loving and the smut very soon.
Without further ado, please enjoy! Thanks to @dscully77 for the beta. xx
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“–Phoebe Green, Terror of Scotland Yard,” Scully finished.
Phoebe cocked her head to one side, apparently confused. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”
Scully had to use all of her restraint not to roll her eyes. She realised that the woman either genuinely didn’t remember her, or – more likely given Mulder’s warning about Phoebe’s predilection for a mind-fuck – was pretending that they had never met. Though Scully had to admit to herself that given how utterly dismissive Phoebe had been during their last encounters, it was entirely possible that she actually didn’t remember her.
Scully plastered a fake smile on her face and extended her hand to Phoebe.
“Yes, we have. Dr. Dana Scully. I used to work with Fox Mulder at the FBI, and you asked him to consult on an unusual arson case on Cape Cod in the 90s.”
“Ohhh I remember you. You were going by just ‘Scully’ then, if I recall. I didn’t realise you had a first name, too,” Phoebe’s belittling reply was accompanied by a chuckle.
Stella could feel Dana’s sharp intake of breath next to her, and could immediately tell that her girlfriend was annoyed. Stella knew that Phoebe tended to rub people the wrong way if they didn't understand her biting sense of humour; and, by seeing the distinct change in Scully’s body language, guessed that Phoebe had indeed rubbed her partner the wrong way all those years ago.
“Interesting that you’re the woman who swept Stella Gibson off her feet,” Phoebe derisively remarked. The trio took their seats before Phoebe continued, addressing only Stella as if Scully weren’t there. “An American, Gibson? I would’ve never pegged you for the type.”
At that point, Scully did roll her eyes, reaching for the wine glass in front of her to take a big gulp. She realised that she was going to need all her strength to get through the evening.
Stella had been observing both women during the exchange, and for the first time in the history of her relationship with Phoebe, detected a flicker of jealousy behind her biting quips. Stella knew that Phoebe could be quite possessive in the way that a child might not want to play with a toy, but also didn’t want anyone else to play with it either; but, for the first time, Stella considered that Phoebe could be harbouring some latent romantic feelings for her.
Not wanting her girlfriend to feel anymore uncomfortable by the situation, and feeling the need to set the record straight for Phoebe about where her own feelings lay, Stella replied, “Well, clearly I wasn’t having much luck falling in love with the English, so I had to branch out, and I got extremely lucky on the first go round.”
“ Ha! Take that, Phoebe fucking Green ,” thought Scully as she possessively laced her hands through Stella’s on the table top. Scully gave Stella’s hand a quick squeeze, grateful that her partner had laid such a clear and decisive claim on her – protecting her from the woman’s bite in a way that Mulder never had.
In an attempt to end the conversation before it could go any further, Stella turned her attention to the stage at the front of the room where the Met’s Commissioner of Police was giving his final remarks of the evening.
“...and thank you all, for all of your hard work this year. We have made incredible strides in continuing to keep Britain safe. So, I hope that you all stay for the rest of the evening – eat, dance, drink, and be merry on Scotland Yard’s dime.”
With that, a 5-piece band started playing on the main stage, and the hotel staff served each table’s main course. As Phoebe cut into her medium-rare filet mignon, she turned her attention to Scully once more.
“So Dana, ” Phoebe drew her name out as if she were still shocked to learn that she did indeed have a first name, “how is our other mutual friend, Mulder?”
Scully took a bite of her fish and another sip of Chardonnay before she continued, “He’s well. Still at the FBI and still searching for his truth.”
“And was that no longer good enough for you? Our Mulder always did have an imagination that far exceeded what reality had to offer,” came Phoebe’s reply.
Though Scully didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Mulder about his case conclusions, she still knew in her heart that he was the most brilliant, free-thinking man that she knew; and, Phoebe’s casual disregard for Mulder’s ideas added to the simmering anger that was starting to rear its ugly head within her.
She clenched her fist under the table and gently released it before responding to Phoebe, “I needed a change, and I’d never lived abroad before, so when the FBI disbanded the X-Files, it felt like the right time to start fresh somewhere new, and to put my pathology degree to full use. I miss Mulder dearly, though,” Scully added to herself almost as an afterthought.
Stella, who had otherwise been silent during the exchange up until this point, chimed in, “Dana has brought invaluable insight to Scotland Yard. She has completely revolutionised the way that we think about partnering pathology with old-fashioned detective work with some remarkable results. You’ve probably benefitted from some of her changes in your department.”
“I’m sure we have,” Phoebe replied dismissively. “And how long do you plan on being with us, Dana ?”
Scully glanced at Stella quickly out of the corner of her eye. The pair had talked about getting married over the last 6 months, and Scully knew that other than the Met continuing to sponsor her visa, marrying Stella was probably her best option for staying in the UK in the long term. The question of Scully’s continuous presence in London loomed large in the pair’s relationship; and, though certainly it wasn’t Scully’s primary reason for wanting to marry Stella, Scully was still anxious about what it would mean for the two of them when the inevitable moment in time came time for the Home Office to renew Scully’s visa. She was always cautious about answering questions like the one posed by Phoebe great with care to avoid scaring Stella by putting undue pressure on her.
“Well, as long as the Met will have me and continue to see the use in renewing my visa,” came Scully’s reply through clenched teeth.
“And no mention about how long Stella will have you, I see,” Phoebe grinned through her wisecrack.
Stella cleared her throat uncomfortably, took the final gulp of her remaining whiskey, closed her knife and fork to indicate that she was finished eating, and turned toward Scully.
“Shall we go and dance, my darling?” she asked directly to Scully, ignoring Phoebe’s prying comment.
“Stella Gibson suggesting a dance? Now I’ve truly seen everything,” was Phoebe’s reply as she raised her glass of red wine in mock cheers.
Stella knew that Phoebe could be cruel if she wanted to; but, she had never really seen this truly malicious side of her in all the years that they had known each other, and it was throwing her for a bit of a loop. She wordlessly got up from her seat, pushed her chair in, and extended her hand for Scully to follow her onto the dance floor.
The band was playing a slow ballad as Stella pulled Scully into her arms and began to sway. Stella placed her hand at the small of Scully’s back and Scully rested her cheek against her lover’s. The pair said nothing at first as they danced slowly. And though they were dancing slowly, Stella’s mind was running a mile a minute, playing and replaying the interaction in her head. There was something new to Stella about the way that Phoebe had reacted to seeing her with Scully.
Stella had known Phoebe for most of her life – aside from working together at the Met, the women had grown up not far from one another and had gone to the same school for years. They played together as children, and, on occasion, their families had even gone on holiday together. This was a woman that Stella felt she knew very well, and yet, there seemed for the first time, to be a venomous jealousy within the woman that Stella had never known. It unsettled her further because she could not understand where it was coming from. She despised the way that Phoebe had belittled the woman she loved, but also she was unnerved because she prided herself on being able to read people well, and in that interaction, she could not fully read neither Phoebe nor Scully.
Scully had seemed guarded and defensive during the reaction, like a cat with their fur up and their teeth bared ready for a sudden hiss. Stella had little experience with that side of Scully. Since the pair had met, Scully had been open, joyous, and self-assured, and this was the first time that she had seen her stumble.
“Penny for your thoughts?” came Scully’s gentle whisper as the pair continued their slow dance.
“Care to tell me what that was all about?” was Stella’s equally muted reply.
Scully released a long, loaded sigh. She was hoping that Stella would let the interaction slide, though she should’ve known her lover well enough to know that that wouldn’t fly. When the pair first started dating, it had frustrated her just how much Stella never swept anything under the rug. In that way, she was quite opposite to Mulder. It had taken her and Mulder years to admit to feeling like more than just colleagues to one another, and more time still to become intimate with one another; and yet, despite that intimacy and all the things that they had been through together, Scully realised that and Mulder had never actually communicated effectively.
With Stella, she learned to let her softer side show, she learned how to let a partner share your burden, and she had finally learned that relationships just don’t work if you’re not willing to talk openly and work things through. There had been many fights in their early days as Scully felt her way through the openness of her new relationship with Stella. And Stella, though she wasn’t avoidant, had her own walls up because of her fear of intimacy and abandonment. In the beginning, there had been lots of screaming, tears, and a fair share of things thrown across the room in frustration; but, it was Stella’s steadfast belief in the love that they shared that had brought them back down to Earth and back together every time. After 6 months, things settled down – the women learned how to talk to one another, how to support one another, and how to meet the other’s needs.
As they danced slowly in each other’s arms, this interaction felt a bit like uncharted territory after a year and a half of being on the same page emotionally and physically. Scully sighed deeply once more before starting her story.
“I first met Phoebe in the 90s. She and Mulder had been at Oxford together, and had dated for some time before she broke his heart. He never described it like that verbatim, but I could tell when she showed up in D.C., that she had rocked his world once by ending things, and was rocking his world again by showing up. When she dropped in out of the blue, it was the first time I realised that I was beginning to have feelings for him, and I was so jealous about how quickly and easily she seemed to hold his attention.”
Scully stopped for a second, casting her mind back to 1994 before continuing.
“Though he never said anything, I knew that Mulder had growing feelings for me too, but all of a sudden, with Phoebe in the picture, I was no longer the only sun in his universe, and it hurt to watch the trajectory of his orbit change to revolve around her sun instead of mine. At one point, I saw them kissing, and it felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach. And though I was hurting, I didn’t feel indignant about the situation until I realised that she was using Mulder and intended to discard him again once she didn’t need him anymore. I was there and could’ve given him everything he wanted and needed, and yet he ran to her. She wrecked him again, and I was left behind to try to pick up the pieces and put him back together.”
Another deep sigh from Scully as she tried to find her words. Stella listened intently, humming gently every now and again to acknowledge that she was listening.
“She was cruel to him, dismissive and rude to me, and in the end left without a second thought. She was a F5 tornado that touched down for all of five minutes, leaving wreckage as far as the eye could see when she was gone. So, I don’t like her, and I don’t respect her, no matter how good of a friend she might have been to you.”
She paused for a beat before continuing.
“Anything you want to share about that friendship , by the way?” Scully could feel herself getting riled up as emotions she hadn’t thought about in over a decade reared their ugly head. Stella could hear the bite in Scully’s tone.
“Nothing to tell, really,” Stella started cautiously. “We’ve known each other most of our lives – we grew up not far from one another, and then when we both started at the Met, we started sleeping together.” Scully tensed further, and Stella could tell she was holding an intake of breath.
Through gritted teeth came Scully’s next question as she pulled back to look Stella in the eyes: “How long?”
“Pardon?” unsure exactly what Scully was asking, but also an attempt to buy herself a little more time.
“How long did you two sleep together?” Scully said slowly, enunciating each word. Her eyes were narrow and aflame. Stella could sense her simmering anger starting to bubble over.
“On and off for about a decade.”
Scully pulled herself out of Stella’s arms then, and she felt like she’d been slapped.
“A decade, Stella?!” came Scully’s hissed words under her breath. Despite her anger, she was still mindful that they were in the middle of a sea of people. “And you didn’t think to mention this before?! We’ve had so many talks about the people who came before this, and somehow you forget to mention you had a pretty consistent sleeping arrangement with someone for a decade?”
Scully was properly angry now – she could feel her hands starting to shake and could sense her vision starting to narrow. She turned away from Stella, walking towards the edge of the dance floor to get some space.
“Dana, I didn’t think –” Stella said in a slightly raised voice as she started to follow Scully, bobbing and weaving through other officers having a grand time on the dancefloor, completely unaware of what was transpiring between the two women.
Scully stopped her march off the dancefloor and turned on her heel. “No Stella, that’s right, you didn’t think. You didn’t think at all.” She was trying her best not to yell. At the edge of the floor, Stella reached for Scully’s hand in an attempt to slow her down, but Scully pulled her hand away. “I need a minute. I’m going outside for some fresh air.”
“Dana, please talk to me. Please let me explain.”
“I said I need a minute, Stella,” Scully snapped, “I’m seeing red right now, and this conversation will not be good if I don’t calm down first.”
Stella blew out a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding, ran a hand through her perfectly coiffed curls, and acquiesced, “Alright, I’ll be at the table when you’re ready.”
As Scully made her way out of the ballroom, Stella stood at the edge of the dancefloor alone and felt herself deflate. She knew she had fucked up. She had not intentionally withheld this information from Scully. In her mind, the affair with Phoebe hadn’t meant anything, and so, there was nothing to tell. But, she could see, from Scully’s point of view, how this particular sexual arrangement should have been discussed – especially now that she was aware of Scully’s history with Phoebe.
Needing a moment herself, Stella made her way to the bathroom. In the relative silence of the bathroom, Stella stood in front of the mirror and had a long, hard look at herself while fussing with her hair. “What’re you doing, Gibson?” she said out loud to herself in annoyance. It was times like these that Stella wondered if she wasn’t in over her head with this whole relationship thing. She knew that she wanted nothing more than to marry Dana Scully; but at the same time, the thought scared her because although she was entirely committed to their relationship, she had yet to fully shake the cut-and-run instinct that lay dormant within her. Sometimes, when they argued, Stella wanted to throw up her hands and say, “fuck it, to hell with this.”
Before Scully, Stella hadn’t been in romantic relationships because it was too much work. Too much work to consider another person’s needs or feelings. Too much work to share her home, and her life, and her heart with someone. And yet, she knew that she was better for it. Since she had started dating Dana Scully, Stella Gibson knew that she had become a better, more whole person. She had made a silent promise to herself after she met Scully that there would be no more cutting and running – that Scully was the most remarkable person that she deserved nothing less than her undying commitment; but, sometimes the old monster reared its ugly head, and she had to do everything she could to shake the thought that she would be better off alone.
And rationally, Stella knew that she could never be alone again – not after the love that she had found with Dana. For over a year, Stella had a 3-carat diamond ring burning a hole in both the back of her sock drawer and the back of her mind, that proved to her that she would do anything in her power to stay with the woman that she loved.
She released another big exhale as she continued to look in the mirror as her mind turned like a hamster stuck in a wheel. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and could feel a headache starting to percolate. “Just give her a minute, Gibson, and you’ll both calm down and be able to talk,” Stella once again said to herself.
Just then, the bathroom door opened behind her and Phoebe walked in. The women made eye contact in the mirror, and easily reading the distress on Stella’s features, Phoebe joined her at the counter.
“Trouble in paradise?” Phoebe inquired with a smirk on her face.
“Yes, in no small part thanks to you.” Stella deadpanned.
Phoebe placed her hand on her chest in mock shock, her eyes open wide, “Me? What have I done?”
“Oh, come off it, Green, you know you’ve pissed her off.” Stella paused, looked at Phoebe pointedly, then continued, “and she didn’t know about us, so that’s been a bit of a shock to her system. I don’t think she’s too keen on the fact that we slept together for 10 years and I didn’t say anything to her about it.” Stella rested her hands on the countertop and hung her head, the umpteenth heavy sigh of the evening leaving her body.
Phoebe reached down and gently lifted Stella’s chin so that the two were eye to eye. She tucked an errant piece of hair behind Stella’s, and then softly placed her hand on Stella’s cheek in an attempt to sooth the woman. The pair were suddenly locked in an intimate moment, with their faces mere inches from each other.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is. If she knew and loved you as much as you say she does, she wouldn’t be reacting like this. This isn’t you, Stella. As long as I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you beat yourself up about your sexual history for anyone. In fact, the Stella I know wears it as a badge of honour.”
“It’s a big deal because in a week, while we’re on vacation, I’m planning on asking her to marry me.”
“Marry you?!” Phoebe’s eyes went wide with shock, and one hand dropped to Stella’s waist to turn her so that the two were fully facing one another. “Marry you…?” she repeated once more. “That can’t be what you want. “Stella Gibson doesn’t do marriage!” How many times have you yourself said that to me when I asked for more?”
Stella didn’t hesitate. “Well, it is what I want. I want that woman for the rest of my life if she’ll have me.” Phoebe’s eyes searched Stella’s for any hint of indecision, but she found none. Unconsciously, Phoebe pulled Stella closer, fearing for the first time that Stella was just beyond her reach. A thought struck Phoebe, considering something she had long-known about Stella, and she searched Stella’s eyes earnestly as she slowly asked the question. “Does she know?”
Stella knew immediately what Phoebe was referring to by the way that the question had been posed. She placed a hand on Phoebe’s chest in an attempt to put some distance between them, feeling suddenly crowded by both the woman's presence and her own emotions.
“Well… it’s not exactly an easy conversation to –”
At that moment, the door to the bathroom swung open, letting in the loud music reverberating from the ballroom beyond. There in the doorway, stood Scully attempting to process the scene in front of her. Her jaw was wide open and her eyes were wide with shock, anger, and hurt as she slowly let the bathroom door close between them.
Notes:
Well, well, well, any predictions?
As always, thank you for reading!
Oh, and HBD, GA xx
Surprise4bothofus on Chapter 1 Tue 10 Jun 2025 05:54PM UTC
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KB (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 10 Jun 2025 08:44PM UTC
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Rarilee6 on Chapter 1 Tue 10 Jun 2025 10:53PM UTC
Last Edited Tue 10 Jun 2025 11:24PM UTC
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ee_ombra_ombra on Chapter 1 Thu 12 Jun 2025 06:29AM UTC
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whatsagirl on Chapter 1 Thu 12 Jun 2025 12:37PM UTC
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DanaScully77 on Chapter 1 Sun 22 Jun 2025 02:37AM UTC
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agentlevetan on Chapter 1 Sun 29 Jun 2025 06:50AM UTC
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milwwlw on Chapter 2 Sun 10 Aug 2025 08:04PM UTC
Last Edited Sun 10 Aug 2025 08:07PM UTC
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prentissjjwifey on Chapter 2 Wed 10 Sep 2025 06:21AM UTC
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