Author: MeGgiE42

 

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Scully stepped into the room for the first
time and gasped.  For a brief moment she
wondered if there had been a mistake, this couldn't
be *their* room.   She glanced down at their travel
information just to be sure. 

 

Apparently the Bureau had gone all out on this one,
booking them the honeymoon suite.  She felt a pang of
guilt for any couple who were actually on their honeymoon
and couldn't book the room because two undercover FBI
agents needed it.  It passed quickly however, as she
took in her surroundings.

 

Mulder finished tipping the bellhop and turned around
to face the room, "Wow, I'm impressed."

 

"Me too."  It was all Scully could say as she slowly
stepped around the room, running her hands over the
mahogany desktop in the entrance way. 

 

She let her eyes wander over the spacious living room. 
It was decorated in a rich burgundy and black.  A bouquet
of red roses filled the vase on the coffee table, and a
pleasant breeze blew in from the private patio.  It was a
far cry from the normal hard-beds-thin-walls-broken-locks
places they usually stayed at.

 

"Scully look at this."  Mulder's voice came from the next
room.  Scully wandered into the bedroom, stopping to gape
at the beautiful decor-namely the four-poster bed.

"In  here-" Scully followed the sound of Mulder's voice
once again.  He turned and grinned.  "Not bad huh?"

 

Her mouth opened in further shock.  Before her stood a
huge heart-shaped Jacuzzi.

 

"It pays to be undercover Scully," Mulder said, a
characteristic glint in his eye.

 

"I think you're going to have to solve this case by yourself
Mulder.  It seems my attention is needed elsewhere." 

Scully
began investigating the many lotions, bubble baths, and other
products lining a nearby self. 

 

Mulder laughed, steering his partner away from the bathroom. 
"Don't worry, you and..." Mulder eyed the Jacuzzi "-*it*, will
have plenty of time together.  Right now we need to get ready
for the grand welcoming." 

 

Giving the bathroom a forlorn look, Scully began unpacking.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

A thunderous applause echoed throughout the large ballroom as
the Captain finished welcoming aboard his passengers.  As he
left to get back to "driving the ship", the activities director,
a tiny brunette name Suzi, began hustling her helpers around.

 
She quickly made sure everyone had a list of the fun activities
the cruiseline offered.

 

Mulder accepted his list and quickly began perusing it: Golfing,
Tai Chi, various stage shows and lectures, a poker tournament,
origami...

"Hey, S-" he caught himself just in time before he said her
name, "-Elizabeth."

 

Scully was busy looking over her own list.  Her brow furrowed
in deep concentration.

 

Mulder smiled politely at a nearby couple and bent to catch
Scully's eye.  He tried a different tactic, "Sweetie?"

 

Scully looked up, startled.  "Yes?" He could tell she was annoyed
by his term of endearment, but covered it well.

 

"There's a tango class tonight at eight."  Mulder said, smiling
sweetly.  Checking first to make sure nobody was paying attention,
Scully gave him The Look.  Quickly Mulder added, "Or there's a
bingo tournament at seven."

 

Laughter came from a nearby table.  Mulder and Scully looked up
to see another couple about there same age.

 

"It's really not that bad," The man said, grinning from Mulder
to Scully, and then the woman Mulder assumed was his wife. "Go
ahead, you tell 'em hon."

 

"Jack here practically had to be pulled kicking and screaming
to his first Tango lesson." The woman giggled.  "But now I can
hardly drag him away from it!"

 

Mulder and Scully sat staring at the overly peppy couple for
a few moments, neither quite sure what to say.  Before they knew
what was happening, the tall man and his wife had joined them at
their table.

 

"I'm Jack."  Jack grabbed Mulder's hand and began to
enthusiastically pump it up and down.

 

"And I'm Rose." Rose shook Scully's hand with a force equal in
strength to her husband.

 

"Jack and Rose."  Fearing for the circulation in his hand, Mulder
quickly settled his arm around Scully's shoulders.

 

"Nice to meet you."  Scully smiled.

 

"I know what you're thinking," Rose bubbled, "Very "Titanic" of
us."

 

"Actually, I hadn't-" Scully began to say, but was quickly
interrupted.

 

"Well, we always tell people we were married *before* the movie
came out, so they copied us."  Jack let out a deep laugh.  He
was large man, more muscle then fat, with curly black hair.

 

"Hope you got the royalties off that one," Mulder replied, smiling
politely.

 

"Oh, and he's funny too!"  Rose spoke to Scully,  playfully
slapping Mulder in the chest with more force then he'd expected. 
She was a small woman, with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes
that always seemed to dance.

 

"Honey? Shouldn't we be going?"  Scully seemed to plead with her
eyes.

 

"But wait!  We didn't catch your names."  Jack grinned and waited.

 

"I'm sorry," Mulder spoke, "I'm Will Turner, and this is my lovely
wife Elizabeth."  He pulled Scully closer to his side.  There was
no way she was leaving him alone with these two.

 

"Will and Elizabeth Turner...Will Turner...Where have I heard..."
Rose seemed to be trying to grasp a thought.

 

"Well it-"

 

"Ah! I got it!"  jack cut Mulder off, grinning widely.  "Pirates
of the Caribbean right?'  Mulder nodded, cursing whoever came up
with their IDs.

 

"What a small world this is!"  Rose was practically jumping for
joy.  "We're both named the same as movie couples!"  She punched
Mulder in the arm in her excitement. He held in a grunt.

"Hope we won't be running into any ice burgs or pirates on this
cruise." 

 

Jack kneaded his elbow into Scully's arm, winking. 
Mulder watched his partner laugh politely. 

 

"Let's hope not," she said to Jack, turning her gaze to him. 

His partner was clearly giving him the 'we have to get out of here
Now.' look.  He nodded his head ever so slightly in agreement.

"Well, we really should be going," Mulder said, standing in sync
with Scully.

 

"We're not going to let you run off until you've promised
to Tango."  Rose spoke as if she were addressing two small
children.

 

"Sure, why not," Mulder said. If that's the only way to escape,
so be it.  He shook Jack's hand and Scully told Rose how nice
it was to meet them.

 

"Eight o'clock!"  Jack's voice boomed over the din of excited
passengers as they  reached the doorway. Mulder raised his hand
in a half-wave.

 

"How do they live with all that energy?"  Scully finally spoke as
they headed out on deck.

 

In a low voice, Mulder added, "Imagine how they Tango."

 

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7:45 p.m.

 

"Mulder you are going to pay for this."  Scully mumbled under her
breath as they made their way into the small ballroom.

 

"C'mon Elizabeth, it'll be fun."  Mulder offered a lop-sided grin.

 

Before they were even fully into the room, Mulder and Scully found
Jack and Rose.  Or rather, they found them.  Soon they were whisked
off to begin stretching.

 

A nervous excitement hung in the air as everyone eagerly waited for
the tango class to begin.  Most of the men in the room shared a
dreaded knowing look.  Most of the women seemed to hold a look
that clearly stated, 'you better not embarrass me, and yes you
*are* going to enjoy this'.

 

Oh no, not us.  Scully focused her attention on her partner. 

 
Somehow they'd managed to get split up.  He looked like an excited
little boy who was going to his first baseball game.  She knew she
was the one dreading this the most, but Mulder's enthusiasm puzzled
her.

 

They'd planned on trying to avoid Jack and Rose at dinner, but alas,
they were conveniently sat right next to them.  Scully was beginning
to think Mulder was right when he said it was some sort of strange
conspiracy.  Eventually, they had both realized that there was no
way they were getting out of tango lessons.  Besides, their
assignment was to fit in, to act like a normal fun-loving couple. 

 

Scully glanced over the ten to fifteen couples awaiting their dance
lesson.  Apparently fun-loving normal couples liked to tango.
Somehow Scully didn't think tango lessons were going to help their
investigation any.  She doubted cruise ship highjackers spent much
of their free time dancing.

 

"So how long have you two been married?"  Rose asked, bringing
Scully back to the process of stretching.

 

"Actually we're on our honeymoon."  Scully touched her toes. 

 

The rest of the room was full of grunts and giggles as well as a
few whispered warnings from the women to the men they had brought
to stop fooling around and take it seriously.

 

"Really?"  Rose twisted to one side, then stopped to look Scully in
the eye. "Wow, I would have guessed at least a five-year
anniversary.  The way you two seem to communicate without talking
is something that takes most couples a very long time to achieve. 
That is, if they ever manage to achieve it at all."  Rose laughed. 

"Jack and I have been married for 10 years and I still have to
tell him everything directly head-on or he'll never get it."  Her
gaze wandered to her husband.  "But I couldn't imagine spending the
rest of my life with anyone else."  She blew a kiss to Jack who was
now on the other side of the room.

 

Jack grinned, flexed, and began doing some lunges.  He said
something that Scully couldn't hear, and he and Mulder laughed. 
Mulder met her gaze and winked.

 

"He's cute," Rose said, touching her toes.

 

"I'm sorry?"  Scully turned her attention from her lunging partner
to Rose.  Rose's lips curved into a knowing smile.  Scully blushed.

 

"And such a gentleman too."  Rose stopped stretching for a moment. 
"I do believe he gave Jack a much needed reminder when he pulled
my dinner chair out for me as well as you."

 

Scully smiled.  "Will always was quite the charmer."  She
concentrated on not staring at her partner as he continued to
stretch across the room.

 

"So, how did you two meet?"  Rose appeared as if she could hardly
wait to hear the amazing tale of how Elizabeth and Will Turner met.

 

Scully froze.  She was frantically scanning her brain for a
creative answer when the door burst open and a small, energetic,
Italian man bounded into the room.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Somehow Mulder and Jack had ended up stretching at the other end
of the room from Scully and Rose.  Rose seemed to be talking his
partner's ear off, but she appeared to be handling the situation
with forced happiness.  He grinned as he watched Scully stretch
and combat Rose's rapid-fire speech with practiced ease.

 

"Yo, Will?"  Jack was waving his hand in front of Mulder's face. 
"I asked if you've ever tangoed before."  Jack stopped talking to
follow Mulder's gaze.  "Ah. I see."  Mulder turned to Jack and
they both grinned.

 

"How long have you been married Will?"  Jack bent to touch his
toes, then began running in place.  For a brief moment, Mulder
wondered just exactly how much stretching was required before
jumping into a the tango.

 

"We're on our honeymoon actually."  Mulder suddenly became very
uncomfortable.

 

"Honeymoon?"  Jack stood straight up.  "So you got something
special planned for tonight?"

 

Mulder's uneasiness jumped tenfold.

 

Jack laughed.  "Don't look so panicked man." He slapped Mulder on
the back.  "I was just givin' you a bad time."

 

Jack turned his attention towards his wife.  Rose blew him a kiss. 
He flexed his muscles impressively and launched into another round
of lunges.  He said just loud enough for Mulder to hear, "I'm in
such bad shape I won't be able to move for the rest of the trip
after these classes.  But I'm not about to let *her* know that!"
He laughed.

 

Mulder joined in Jack's amusement.  Noticing Scully was staring at
him, he winked.

 

"You seem like a perfect match."  Jack finally stopped stretching
and just stood facing Mulder.  "I'm a pretty good judge of people,
and I can tell you two were meant for each other.  You're a lucky
man Will."  Jack gave Mulder a friendly pat on the shoulder.

 

"As are you."  Mulder was beginning to wonder if their instructor
had jumped ship.

 

"We're both very lucky."  Jack smiled.  "So, how'd you two
lovebirds meet anyway?"

 

Mulder was too distracted by the word "lovebirds" to respond. 

Luckily, he didn't have to.  The door burst open, and in
pounced-or maybe pranced was a better word to describe it-their
instructor.

 

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Authors notes: Thanks to all of you who have sent feedback,
I love you all! :P Hope ya enjoyed it, more soon! 

 

~Meggie~

Feedback: dreamland_1013@hotmail.com.