A Woman in LoveTITLE:  A Woman in Love 
SPOILER WARNING:  None 
RATING:  PG, for suggestions of sexual situations.  Nothing explicit, though. 
CONTENT WARNING:  None 
CLASSIFICATION:  SRa, MSR.  Duh. 
SUMMARY:  Dana needs to find Mulder a Christmas present, and Charlie helps her 
find just the thing.  A Silver Bracelet story. 
  
A Woman in Love 
by Brandon D. Ray 
  
Charlie Scully stopped in the entryway to Arby's for a moment and gazed at his 
sister.  A couple of people elbowed by him in annoyance, but he didn't care:  
Watching Dana when she didn't know she was being watched was one of his all-time 
favorite spectator sports. 
At the moment she was seated in a booth towards the back of the restaurant, 
elbows propped on the table, her hands clutching what he knew was almost 
certainly a jamocha shake.  On the table in front of her was a sandwich with far 
too much lettuce and other vegetable matter for Charlie's taste, as well as a 
small envelope of french fries.  And her face.... 
Charlie felt a smile spreading across his own features.  Yup.  She was thinking 
about Mulder again.  What a surprise. 
He stepped up to the counter and placed his order; a few moments later, beef and 
cheddar and a large soft drink in hand, he strode across the restaurant to 
Dana's booth and slid into the seat opposite her. 
"Hey, Red!" he greeted her. 
She looked across the table at him and smiled.  "Hey, Red!" 
"So," Charlie continued as he unwrapped his sandwich.  "What's on the agenda for 
today?" 
Dana shrugged slightly.  "Nothing much.  I just wanted a chance to see you 
before you had to ship out again." 
Charlie snorted.  "'Ship out,'" he repeated.  "Yeah, right.  The fate of the 
free world hangs in the balance if I'm not back at my desk shuffling papers by 
0800 tomorrow." 
"Join the Navy and see the bureaucracy," Dana replied playfully. 
Charlie shook his head in amazement.  Dana was so different -- so happy.  He 
could hardly fucking believe it.  His mother had reported this change to him 
when he'd called late last week to let her know he'd managed to get leave for 
Twelfth Night, but hearing it from someone else and seeing it for himself were 
two very different things.  It was almost enough to make him want to kiss the 
man responsible. 
Almost. 
"What are you thinking about?" 
Charlie blinked; he hadn't intended to get quite so far into his little reverie. 
 "Sorry," he said, flashing what he hoped was an enigmatic half-smile.  "I was 
just contemplating giving your boyfriend a hickey." 
For just the barest second shock flitted across Dana's face, and Charlie let his 
smile broaden into a grin.  Her eyes widened as she realized she'd been had, and 
in another instant brother and sister were both doubled over and helpless with 
laughter. 
#          #          # 
"Tell me again why we're doing this," Charlie said as he trailed his sister 
through the crowded shopping mall. 
"I told you," Dana replied.  "I'm looking for a present for Mulder.  A Christmas 
present." 
"But Dana," he protested, "Christmas was two weeks ago, and --" 
"Thirteen days," she corrected.  "Thirteen long days.  And I still haven't 
gotten him a present."  She suddenly veered from her path and darted into a 
bookstore, and Charlie had to run to catch up. 
He found her, as he'd more than half expected, in the New Age section of the 
store.  She took one glance at him as he approached, then turned her gaze back 
to the shelves in front of her. 
"Crystals; auras; Tarot -- god, what a bunch of crap."  Dana shook her head.  
"Who in their right mind would put this stuff in the same category with UFO's 
and vampires?" 
"Who indeed, sis?" Charlie said, making no effort at all to keep the amusement 
out of his voice.  It was as much as he could do to keep from bursting out 
laughing again -- this was, after all, his big sister Dana, the rationalist's 
rationalist, muttering under her breath because B. Dalton's chose to keep the 
"respectable" paranormal materials in the same aisle with the 
not-so-respectable. 
Dana shook her head again.  "This is impossible," she declared.  "He already has 
half these books, and for all I know he doesn't have the other half because they 
aren't any good."  She sighed.  "A book isn't personal enough, anyway."  And she 
turned and strode from the store.  Charlie followed. 
#          #          # 
An hour and a quarter later they were sitting on a bench at the far end of the 
mall.  They'd been in at least a dozen stores, but Dana still hadn't managed to 
settle on a gift.  And although Charlie was taking considerable amusement at 
watching his sister in a shopping frenzy -- it was almost as much fun as 
tormenting ensigns -- his feet were tired, and he was getting hungry again. 
"This is impossible," Dana was saying.  "He's always been hard to shop for, but 
there has to be SOMETHING he'd like.  I just know it.  If only I could 
think...." 
Charlie tuned out her annoyed muttering for a moment, and let his gaze slide 
across the storefronts opposite them.  Musicland...Software, 
Etc....Thingsville...Victoria's Secret...GNC.... 
His eyes snapped back to Victoria's Secret, and he felt a smile spreading across 
his face.  Mannequins dressed in all sorts of frilly, lacy bits of froth adorned 
the display window, and as he looked at the storefront a couple of giggling 
sorority types entered the place.  He nodded to himself.  Yeah; just the thing. 
He grabbed Dana's elbow, cutting her off in mid-fume, and dragged her off the 
bench and onto her feet. 
"Charlie?  What -- ?" 
"Come on, Dana.  I think I've found what you're looking for."  He started to 
guide her across the thoroughfare towards the lingerie shop. 
"I don't understand.  What are you doing?" 
Charlie glanced over his shoulder at her and grinned.  "Finding Mulder a gift 
and improving your sex life, all at the same time." 
Her eyes widened as she realized where he was leading her.  "Oh, no, Charlie.  
You are not getting me to go in there.  My sex life is just fine!" 
He stopped and turned to look at her appraisingly.  "'Fine?'" 
"Fine," she repeated firmly.  "As in good.  Nice.  Wonderful." 
"Uh huh."  He studied her face for a moment, then smiled and shook his head.  
"Fine isn't good enough," he said, and took her arm again and tried to pull her 
towards the store. 
"Charlie, no!"  Dana pulled loose from him and took a couple of steps back.  He 
was surprised to see that she really did seem upset, which hadn't been his 
intention at all, and for a moment he wondered if he'd made a mistake. 
"Dana?"  He took a tentative step towards her.  "Dana, I'm sorry.  I didn't mean 
to embarrass you or anything."  He hesitated, then added, "What's the problem?" 
He watched as she chewed on her lower lip for a moment; she seemed to be 
debating with herself what to say.  Finally, with some discomfort:  "It's just, 
um...that I've never...um, I've never bought anything...like that before." 
Charlie felt his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.  "Never?" 
She shook her head.  "Never."  Her voice firmed up just a bit.  "And, to be 
honest, I've never understood why anyone would want to." 
Charlie stared at his sister for a moment; then he shook his head.  "Wow."  He 
studied her for just a moment as afternoon shoppers continued to flow around 
them.  "Dana," he said, "just why, exactly, do you suppose people buy clothes 
like that?"  He nodded towards the lingerie store. 
Dana shook her head again.  "I really don't know."  She paused.  "I guess...I 
guess maybe they do it because...because they're getting bored?  Or because men 
just...like that sort of thing?"  She looked up at him questioningly. 
"I suppose those things may enter into it for some people," Charlie agreed, "but 
that isn't all of it."  He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.  "Do you 
like your cake with frosting on it?" 
She looked puzzled for just an instant; then her face cleared, and she nodded.  
"Of course.  But I'm not a cake, Charlie; I'm not a thing.  I'm a person." 
"Of course you are," he said.  "You're a lovely young woman.  But this is just 
an analogy, so bear with me; I promise you, I'm not trying to objectify you."  
He waited until she nodded in assent.  "Now to get back to the cake, you admit 
that you like frosting on your cake, right?"  Another, somewhat reluctant nod.  
"Okay.  But cake is pretty good all by itself, isn't it?  I mean, it tastes 
good, and you can get just as fat and shoot your cholesterol all to hell even if 
you eat cake without frosting, right?" 
"Yes," she said, "and I see where you're going with this.  But Charlie --" 
He raised his hand to cut her off.  "Don't interrupt, Red; I'm on a roll."  He 
gave her an affectionate smirk, and was pleased to see the beginnings of a smile 
tugging at the corners of her mouth. 
"Now let's move on to something else," he continued.  "I think we've covered the 
cake in adequate detail.  Have you and Mulder been out on a formal date yet?" 
"Well, yes.  On New Year's Eve.  But --" 
"Okay, so you've been out together, and you've done the dinner and dancing 
thing, or gone to a play, or whatever.  Did Mulder dress up for this date?" 
Now she did smile.  "Yes.  Yes he did." 
"But why did he dress up, Dana?  What was the point?  You weren't bored with 
him, were you?  You wouldn't have loved him any less if he'd showed up wearing 
jeans and t-shirt, would you?"  He paused just long enough for the questions to 
sink in, but not long enough for her to try to respond.  "Did you enjoy looking 
at him in his suit or tux or whatever it was?" 
Again she gnawed on her lower lip.  Finally she nodded, and smiled.  "Yes." 
"Okay," Charlie went on.  "Let's turn it around.  What did YOU wear that night?" 

"I, uh, didn't really have anything appropriate, so I bought a new dress." 
Charlie nodded.  "Was it a nice dress?  Did it look good on you?" 
Dana actually blushed this time, and Charlie felt his lips quirk in amusement.  
"Mulder seemed to think so." 
"What did he say?" 
"He didn't actually SAY anything."  Her blush deepened.  "It was more the way he 
looked at me." 
"Did you like the way he looked at you?" 
"Yes.  But..." 
Her voice trailed off; Charlie waited until he was sure she wasn't going to 
complete her thought without prompting.  Then, very softly, "But what?"  Still 
she didn't answer.  "Are you afraid there's something wrong with the way you 
felt that evening?" 
"N-no.  Not exactly.  It's just....no one -- no man -- has ever looked at me 
quite like that before." 
"I doubt THAT very seriously," Charlie said, allowing just a touch of humor to 
enter his voice.  "More likely this is the first time you've allowed yourself to 
enjoy it."  She started to say something, but he cut her off again, and leaned 
forward and put a hand on her shoulder.  "Dana, it's okay for him to look at 
you, and it's okay for you to enjoy having him look at you.  And vice versa, of 
course, but somehow I don't think that's the big problem here.  And that's the 
real reason stores like this stay in business." 
She looked up at him questioningly, and again he nodded towards the lingerie 
shop, and said,  "Because men and women like to look at each other, and they 
like to be looked at.  Now come on; whaddaya say?  Let's go take a look at what 
they've got.  Just because you look, that doesn't mean you have to buy." 
A moment later the two of them were standing just inside the entrance to the 
store.  Charlie stood back from Dana just a foot or two, giving her a little 
room to establish a comfort level, and also giving her time to get used to being 
in the place.  He noticed one of the sales clerks looking over at them 
inquiringly, but he shook his head, and she nodded slightly and turned away. 
Finally Dana started to walk through the store, stopping here and there to 
examine a piece of merchandise.  She was so completely focused on what she was 
doing that for a moment Charlie thought this might be how she looked when she 
was examining a crime scene.  He followed along a couple of steps behind, trying 
to stay out of her line of vision, and waited. 
She stopped in front of a mannequin wearing a corselet, and gave it a long look. 
 Charlie edged around to the side, not wanting to distract her, but trying to 
get a look at her face, but he couldn't tell from her expression what she was 
thinking.  From the way she'd acted outside the store, he didn't think Dana was 
quite ready for this, but if she decided to go for it he would back her up.  It 
wasn't a good color for her -- fire engine red with black trim -- but that was a 
fixable problem; there was an entire rack of similar garments only a few feet 
away.  After a moment more, Dana glanced briefly at Charlie, smiled slightly and 
shook her head, and walked on. 
They finally wound up in front of a rack of negligees, and Charlie nodded to 
himself.  This was probably a good place for her to start; nothing too kinky, 
but all of them had clearly been designed with something other than sleep in 
mind. 
The look of concentration on her face deepened as she slowly and methodically 
looked at each garment on the rack.  Charlie watched in fascination, wondering 
if she would actually have the courage to choose something.  He'd already pushed 
her pretty hard, and he really didn't want to make her too uncomfortable. 
Just a LITTLE uncomfortable. 
Finally, she pulled one of the negligees from the rack, and Charlie nodded 
approvingly to himself.  It was floor length, lime green with forest green 
highlights, and with a simple but elegant filigree design on the bodice.  The 
entire assemblage was held up by spaghetti-style shoulder straps, and came with 
a matching overgarment.  Charlie couldn't prevent a smile from spreading across 
his face.  Fox Mulder was one lucky son of a bitch, and he didn't even know it 
yet. 
Dana continued looking at the negligee, then turned hesitantly towards Charlie 
and held the garment up for his closer inspection.  "What do you think?"  There 
was a strange mix of hopeful uncertainty in her voice. 
Charlie nodded soberly, understanding that he could easily bruise her at this 
moment by being too flip.  "It's lovely," he said softly. 
"Do you -- do you think Mulder would...like it?" 
"I think Mulder will love it." 
Dana looked at the price tag and shook her head.  "It's..it's awfully expensive. 
 I had no idea they cost that much."  Her voice was soft and wistful.  "I mean, 
it's not a lot of money as such, but it's a lot to spend on something 
that...that I'd only be wearing for a few minutes."  She looked back up at 
Charlie again, searching his face.  "Isn't it?" 
Charlie raised his eyebrows and smiled.  "Ah, but you aren't going to wear it 
for only a few minutes."  He took the negligee from her and held it up so that 
they could both see the overhead lights shining through the gauzy material. 
"I'm not?" 
He shook his head and handed the garment back to her.  "Nope.  Well, actually, 
you COULD do it that way, if you wanted to.  But there's a better way." 
"What's the better way?" 
"You can stretch it out; make it last awhile."  He hesitated, and suddenly 
realized that for all his bravado he wasn't entirely comfortable at the idea of 
discussing Dana's sex life with her in intimate detail. 
She must have read the uncertainty in his face, because she reached out and laid 
a gentle hand on his elbow.  "It's okay, Charlie.  Really.  Go ahead and tell me 
what the better way is.  I know it sounds stupid, but I really haven't...haven't 
done things like this before."  And she blushed again and looked down at the 
floor. 
Charlie nodded.  "Okay.  Here's the deal.  You invite Mulder over to your place 
some evening, on the pretext of watching a movie, playing cards, whatever it is 
you two like to do together.  When he shows up, you're already wearing this."   
He touched the negligee briefly.  "However, he doesn't know that, because over 
the pretty gown you are wearing some old robe or caftan or something that he's 
seen before.  Something that looks nice, but isn't TOO terribly sexy.  With me 
so far?" 
Dana nodded. 
"The next step," Charlie went on, " is to get set up for the evening you 
planned.  Say you invited him for a movie.  You tell him to sit on the couch and 
wait while you get the popcorn.  Then, without any comment, and without looking 
at him, you take off the robe and lay it across a chair or something.  Then you 
go get the popcorn, put the movie in the VCR and sit down next to him and cuddle 
up close."  He stopped and studied her face. 
Dana chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and finally shook her head.  "I guess 
I don't get it." 
"Oh, come on, Dana," Charlie replied.  "Don't you see?  By the time you sit down 
next to him, Mulder's eyes will be popping right out of his head -- you'll 
probably have to pick them up off the carpet for him."  She chuckled, and he 
continued, "Then you by god sit next to him for the next two hours, and the two 
of you cuddle and watch the movie." 
"But won't he just try to....you know?"  She waved her hand in the air in 
embarrassment. 
"Not if you play it right.  Not if you ignore what you're wearing completely.  
He'll sit there next to you with his arm around you, trying desperately to keep 
his cool, waiting for you to make the first move."  He chuckled.  "And if he 
DOES try to 'you know', is that such a terrible thing?  But he won't, and you'll 
get two solid hours of Mulder sitting next to you, looking at you and touching 
you the way he did when you wore that dress on New Year's Eve." 
Slowly a smile started to spread across Dana's face.  "That does sound like 
fun," she said, and shook her head.  "You are an evil, evil man, Charlie." 
Charlie thought they were done, but on the way to the cash register Dana 
suddenly served and then stopped in front of the mannequin wearing the corselet 
again.  Charlie's eyes shot up in surprise as he stood and watched his sister.  
He had a better angle on her face this time, and it was clear that while part of 
her was resisting, another part of her was very attracted to the garment.  
Deciding that it was time for another brotherly push, he stepped up next to her. 

"You could get one of those, too, if you want to, but that's not a good color 
for you."  He stepped over to the rack and quickly flipped through them, finally 
coming up with one in midnight blue with black trim.  He pulled it out and held 
it up for her.  "Here.  I think this one would look good on you." 
Dana looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then held the negligee up.  "But I 
already have this." 
He smiled at her.  "So where is it written that you're only allowed to have one 
item of sexy clothing?" 
Dana's gaze flicked from her brother to the corselet, then back to her brother 
again.  "I don't know, Charlie," she said uncertainly. 
Charlie studied her face for a moment.  She pretty clearly wanted to buy the 
corselet, but there was something bothering her, something other than the 
objections she had raised before.  "Dana?"  He spoke very softly.  "What's 
wrong?" 
"It's just..."  Her voice trailed off, and her face took on a look of 
frustration as she continued to stare at the garment.  Finally she let her eyes 
drop to the floor, and she muttered, "It's those damned videos." 
Once again Charlie felt his eyebrows creeping up.  "Videos?"  It took him just a 
minute, but then he had it.  "Oh, you mean Mulder's X-rated movies?"  She 
nodded, but still wouldn't meet his eyes.  "What about them?" he asked. 
She shifted uncomfortably.  "The women in the videos...they wear stuff like 
that."  Finally she raised her eyes to look at him again.  "Don't they?" 
Charlie had thought his eyebrows were as high on his forehead as they would go, 
but discovered that he was wrong.  "Yeah, I suppose they do."  He thought about 
it for just a moment.  "Are you afraid you might suffer from the comparison?" 
"Yes."  It was barely a whisper; this must really be bothering her. 
Charlie took a deep breath.  "Dana, haven't you figured out why Mulder has those 
videos?" 
She shrugged unhappily.  "I suppose it's because...because they turn him on.  
Men seem to like them." 
"Some men do," Charlie said.  "And so do some women, by the way.  But in 
Mulder's case I think the pattern is pretty clear, don't you?"  He waited, but 
she just shook her head.  "Look at the profile, Dana, and try to put your 
personal involvement aside for a minute.  Here we have a normal, healthy man, 
mid to late 30s.  Hasn't had a date in four or five years, right?"  She nodded.  
"But what he DOES have is a collection of pornographic videotapes, and by the 
way, for that entire five years plus he's been working very closely with an 
attractive woman close to his own age, and now we find that for months, if not 
years, he's been in love with her.  What does THAT tell you?"  And he stopped 
and waited for her to work it out. 
Dana's eyes widened.  "You think the tapes were a form of...of sublimation?" 
Charlie nodded.  "And not very subtle sublimation, at that.  And not only that, 
Dana, but think about the fact that he let you find out about the tapes.  That's 
pretty damned unusual -- most guys who own stuff like that like to keep it 
secret, especially from friends of the opposite sex.  But not Mulder -- from 
what you've told me in the past, it sounds like he almost went out of his way to 
make SURE you knew about them.  I'm not saying this was conscious on his part, 
but it sounds an awfully lot like he wanted to make sure you knew that he wasn't 
seeking relief with other women." 
Dana was silent for a moment as she took all that in.  Finally, very softly:  
"Jesus."  She shook her head.  "That's...that's unbelievable." 
Charlie shrugged.  "It may or may not be true; maybe the poor guy's just 
oversexed."  He smirked slightly, wanting to lighten the tone of the 
conversation a bit.  "You'd know about that better than I would.  But in any 
case, I don't think you need to be threatened by the women on those tapes.  
Mulder strikes me as being smart enough to know the difference between a TV 
picture and the real thing."  He hesitated just a moment, considering whether or 
not to make one more suggestion, then shrugged and added, "And if you REALLY 
want to understand those videos, and why he likes them, maybe you should sit 
down and watch a couple of them with him." 
Her eyes widened again.  "Are you serious?" 
"Sure.  Why not?" 
"Well...it's kind of...weird.  Isn't it?" 
Charlie shrugged.  "What's weird?" he asked.  "Look, Dana, I'm not trying to 
push you into anything -- not much, anyway."  He smiled at her, and she smiled 
back, just a little uncertainly.  "But I promise you that if you ask to watch 
one of those movies with him, he'll be over at your place with a videotape in 
one hand and a six pack of beer in the other faster than you can say Johnny 
Wad."  He held up the corselet.  "And if you have THIS on under your robe when 
he comes over, I can pretty much assure you that you'll get a first-hand, 
in-depth demonstration of HIS opinion on whose underwear is the prettiest." 
Dana stood looking at him for a pair of minutes, seeming to study his face.  
Finally, she nodded.  "Okay," she said, venturing another small smile as she 
took the corselet from him.  "I'll...I'll think about it."  She shook her head, 
and her smile broadened.  "I really love you, Charlie.  Do you know that?"  And 
she went up on her toes and kissed her brother lightly on the cheek before 
turning to walk to the cash register. 
  
  
Fini 
  
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