Title : The Shadow

Author : Evie Whiting

Address : fishadam@hotmail.com

Rating : R (due to swearing)

Spoilers: FTF, Fire, Squeeze, abduction mytharc, 2F/1S, cancer mytharc,

Never Again. Basically know your stuff.

Keywords: MSR, H, A

Summary :As Mulder and Scully start a new chapter in their lives, and old

and unwelcome presence threatens to spoil their happiness. (God how

melodramatic am I?. My 20 year old self is laughing her ass off at her 18

year old incarnation)

Disclaimer: Don't own any of them, and I never will. Wish I did, but I

don't.

Author's Notes: This was my first fanfic that I ever had the courage to

write and post. Feedback will be treasured to the point of obsessiveness.

Reading this two years after, I'm wondering if I should re-classify this as

a comedy. I was 18. That's my defence and I'm sticking to it.

Dedication: For Bron, without whom I would never have had the courage to

write this. Also to Fish ( not the Ally McBeal Fish), I'm sorry that my

version of Mulder seems to steal so many of your lines.

The Office

10.00am

I was sitting there for two hours doing those damn expense reports.

Correction, trying to do those damn expense reports.

How the hell was I supposed to justify, Mulder losing two phones, one camera

and utterly destroying his motel bed.

Finding justifications for using taxpayers dollars was not the reason why I

was feeling extremely frustrated , however. The problem was sitting right

in front of me looking like a damned GQ model.

It was too much, I couldn't take anymore. I made an executive decision that

I was going to have an early lunch, and ,yes, I knew it was ten in the

morning.

"Mulder.." I began to say, when he looked up and finished my thought for me

"...just let me get my coat."

******************

Scully's Apartment

10:30 am

"You broke just about every road rule there is to get here you know," I said

with as much severity as I could muster.

He's wasn't fooled for a minute, and by the look in those amazing eyes of

his, I just knew there was some remark that would leave me grinning like an

idiot, or more exactly, a chipmunk.

"Dana, I would happily break every speed law to break another bed with my

gorgeous wife"

God, I love him so much, even more when he manages to find the most perfect,

and essentially most-Mulder thing to say.

At the mention of that broken bed though, I started giggling, thinking of

how exactly it got broken.

"Just how am I going to explain that on our expense reports, I'm almost

tempted to write how we did break it just to see the reaction of Skinner and

the Accounts department"

"Scully, right now expense reports and Skinner are the last thing on my

mind. Why don't we continue the tradition we started in that bed, " he

replied giving me his patented Mulder grin.

"Uh-uh, no way, " I answered, knowing that he would be taken off-guard.

"Why?"

I could hear the horror in his voice

"Because, only I have a bed, and much as I love my husband, I refuse to do

it on a couch." I said this while watching a range of emotions pass over

his face.

" Your gonna have to pay for doing that, you realise ." he threatened as he

started stalking me.

I ran, laughing, behind the table, but Mulder easily managed to catch me. I

always let him.

As we headed to the bedroom, with him actually carrying me, the only

semi-coherent thought going through my head was that I never really liked

that bed anyway.

Later

"Dana what are we going to do?"

I knew what he was asking. Would we ever tell anyone we got married? What

were we going to tell Skinner, my mother, his mother, the list was endless.

For a while I didn't know how to answer him.

I could feel his fear without having to hear it in his voice. By marrying we

had taken a stand, drawn our own line and broken Their rules. This

frightened me as much as it did him. We knew what they were capable of, and

by this gesture of defiance, we had raised the stakes considerably.

I knew that Mulder didn't want to hear standard platitudes, so I took my

time in answering him.

He didn't become impatient waiting for the reply I was trying to articulate,

rather, he just lay next to me gently stroking my arm.

That simple gesture grounded me in ways no words could. It gave me back the

perspective I needed to answer him.

" I don't know. All I can be sure of right now, Fox, is that we were right

to get married.

We've been involved for years even though we didn't know it. Hell even They

knew it before we did.

But I don't think that telling everyone is the best thing we could do right

now. We're still be talked about over the water- coolers for getting the

X-Files re-opened, and back from Spender. If we add to this our marriage,

pretty soon Skinner will be facing claims of favouritism, and God only

knows what the Consortium will do.

By the same token though, I'm so glad that we did decide to get married.

For years I've loved you, and I'm not going to let anything get between us

anymore.

We deserve this, we've earned this, every moment .

We'll always be stronger than them, as long as we're together. "

" Actually, I think the real reason we're not telling anyone, is because

we're too scared of how our mothers are going to react."

By his grin I knew that I said the right thing.

Nothing thrills me more than the fact that I, Dana Scully Mulder ( although

the last one is only said in private), know exactly what to say, to reassure

my wonderful, tortured, husband.

" You know, at sometime we do have to get back to the office, Scully.

Skinner wants all those reports done, and I'm willing to bet you still

haven't found a good enough explanation for the bed. "

Groaning at the thought of Skinner, and expense reports, I got up slowly and

headed to the shower.

"You know," I began in my most seductive tones " we could save more time if

we showered together".

" My God Scully where'd a good Catholic girl like you get such a dirty

mind?"

He asked with a tone of awe in his voice.

" Well I learnt from a master, anyway, as you know there's a water crisis on

, therefore it's our civic duty to try and conserve "

He didn't wait any longer but followed me in .

I don't think that we fulfilled our civic duty, since the only reason we

left the shower, was because the hot water ran out.

**********************

Skinner's Office

5:00pm

" Frankly Agent Mulder, I still don't understand how the bed actually

managed to break...in two. Agent Scully's report states that the nightmare

you had was extremely violent, and that was backed up by the motel

proprietor, who personally complained about the moans and cries coming from

your room, but that still doesn't explain how the main beam snapped in

half."

Skinner watched the two agents, trying to see if he could pick up on any of

their famous unspoken conversations. Their faces remained impassive, but in

actual

fact, both were desperately trying not to laugh, directly in their AD's

face.

"However, Accounts is used to dealing with very strange expenses from the

X-Files division, and there has been no official complaint, as yet.

The real reason, I called you in here, however, was to apprise you of the

fact, that the Bureau is now working, in conjunction, with several other

law enforcement agencies, on what you could call a shadow program. "

Mulder looked at Scully with growing horror in his eyes. He could see what

was coming. Was this punishment for the broken bed?

Scully returned Mulder's gaze far more calmly. "After all" she thought " if

we have some stupid shadow, the longest they were going to be around for was

about a month, and if they turned out to be an annoyance, Mulder would

always be able to psych them out"

At this , Scully's thoughts took a far more pleasurable turn, as she thought

about the Mulder's attempts to psych her out the first time they met.

Both of them knew that she would have been well within her rights to charge

him with sexual harassment just for the tone he had used when he had

questioned her belief in extra-terrestrials.

"Only Mulder would begin to seduce me with little gray men from Recticula"

she mused, not realising that she had spoken aloud.

Skinner had been too busy explaining the complexities of the shadow program

to comprehend what Scully had said, but he wasn't AD for nothing. The look

of utter amusement and fear ( if there was such a combination of the two) on

Mulder's face, told him that something important had just slipped out.

"Would you mind repeating your last sentence Agent Scully" he asked, in the

tones he used to stare down Cancerman with.

Before Scully could think of a suitable reply, the phone on Skinner's desk

began to ring.

His glance told her that she had been saved an answer, only because of this

.

"Agents," he almost barked at them "I've just been informed that your shadow

is waiting downstairs in your office.

I'm sorry that I couldn't introduce you formally, but I assure you that her

dossier is impressive, and that since you've worked together with her on a

previous case, I'll assume that there will be no trouble. Dismissed."

****************

It wasn't until they were halfway down to the basement floor that both

Mulder and Scully realised Skinner had said that they had worked with this

"shadow" on a previous occasion. Before that, they had been too busy

laughing over Scully's slip of the tongue.

" Scully, I thought I was going to die when you said that in Skinner's

office."

" Mulder, you thought that you were going to die, what about me. I was

trying to think of a logical reason why the words 'Recticula' and 'seduce'

should be in the same sentence"

"So that was what you were thinking when we first met, huh. You wanna know

what I was thinking?" he asked, already knowing that she was dying to know.

" I was thinking that it was good that I was sitting down, otherwise you

would have seen me go weak at the knees"

"You should be ashamed of yourself, seducing me in the elevator, when we

have our shadow waiting in the office for us"

"Did you notice that Skinner said that we had worked with this woman before,

who do you think it is? Not many agents want a second go with the Spooky

Patrol you know"

"Oh I don't know, I always want a third go with Spooky, sometimes I can even

manage a fourth." Scully said this very softly in his ear, watching his

reaction intently.

It was admirable the way he managed to control himself, the only noticeable

reaction was his convulsive swallowing, and if Scully hadn't known him she

wouldn't have been able to pick up on that.

Just then the elevator doors opened to let in another couple of agents on

their way to the first floor.

Both Mulder and Scully then heard the usual half-hidden comments about

Spooky . Usually this got to Mulder, but with Scully's hand discreetly

tucked into his, the sting was gone. Finally the agents left, and once

again they were alone.

"So Scully, any ideas about who this shadow is?" Mulder asked , letting her

know they hadn't bothered him.

" Well, we know that it's a woman, so that limits it to Detective White or

the even more nauseating Bambi "

They both did not mention Diana. She was a subject that they had tacitly

agreed to just let be. They knew that ultimately it didn't matter, but it

was still a sore point for them both. Scully couldn't help feeling betrayed,

even though she knew that Mulder had believed her in the end, against his

will.

And Mulder realised just how close he had come to losing everything that was

most precious to him, through his own fault, and it terrified him.

" It can't be Bambi because she's an entomologist and as for Detective

White, Scully, I swear I was fighting her off, I promise, and Bambi got

boring after the first half hour. She kept on talking about cockroaches."

"So she got boring once you actually moved up from the leg and chest area"

" Wow, your still jealous, you know something, I love the fact that you

are."

" Shut up Mulder, unless you want to end up as part of the John Wayne

Bobbitt Support Group"

"Ooh Scully will you snap on the latex when you do the deed?"

"Mulder, you above all people should know by now just how much I love

snapping on the latex, anytime, anywhere."

Mulder often had a tendency to forget that when Scully wanted to, she could

use sexual innuendo like a pro. In fact Mulder had a sneaking suspicion that

in all those years of separate rooms there were a lot of thoughts going

through Scully's head that would have shocked even him.

At that point neither of them could hold in the laughter that had been

threatening since they were in Skinner's office.

They were laughing all the way to their hole of an office, but at the door

they stopped and just stood .

Both their names were on it now, and while Mulder's was still first, he had

made sure that the nameplate was moveable so that their names could

alternate being on top.

Neither could help marveling at what it took for them to get to where they

were.

For Scully there was added wonder, knowing that by rights she should have

been the tool by which the Consortium destroyed Mulder. Instead she became

his greatest asset, turning him into a formidable adversary, rather than the

loose cannon he once was.

That was the Consortium's one mistake, underestimating Dana Scully. It had

been a costly one. They had later tried to use the strength of their

feelings to destroy Mulder. It had nearly succeeded, but once again that

special bond that held them together saved both him and her.

Now once again they had to walk through that door, wondering if their shadow

was yet another one of Cancerman's little helpers

" Look Mulder, we have to go in sometime. Don't tell me the agent who hunted

down hundred year old mutants, bizarre flukeman and lived through my

rendition of Jeremiah is actually scared." Scully felt rather than saw him

nod.

At that she once again remembered why she loved this man so passionately.

For him to actually admit that he was scared was the greatest gift that he

could ever give her.

Trust was one of those things that Scully had learnt to prize above nearly

everything else, that and love. Mulder had given her both those things in

abundance. For him to trust her enough to tell her his fears showed her that

not only was she his lover, she was and always would be his best friend.

"Scully, I just have a really bad feeling about this. Every time someone

else has come into this office, it 'bodes ill' for us."

"Bodes ill Mulder, you've been spending too much time with Edgar Allen Poe.

Come on, lets just open the damn door and prove you wrong again"

"Umm Scully, when exactly have you proved me wrong"

"Just open the door and quit stalling."

******************

Shit.

Fuck.

Despite all of Scully's reassurance, I knew that whoever was behind the

door, wouldn't be a welcome visitor. Call it gut instinct. Much as I try to

look for a logical explanation, most of the times I work purely on instinct.

Why the hell do you think I got the nickname Spooky. This time everything

seemed to be screaming "worst case scenario".

God I hate it when I'm right sometimes.

I don't think Scully will ever know how much I wanted her to prove me wrong.

I mean that, really I do.

I opened the door, we walked in together (I guess as a sign of unity), and

at that moment I swear I felt Scully's whole being stiffen beside me.

I wanted to kill Skinner. In fact for one moment I could actually visualise

my hands around his throat squeezing the life out of him. While in actual

fact he could kick my ass all over the country, this didn't stop me

fantasising.

Why the fuck hadn't he mentioned the fact that this fucking shadow program

would not just be a national thing?

I think that at that moment, Scully would have preferred if we had been

working with Detective White (I've forgotten her first name) or even Bambi

for that matter.

There in all her predatory glory sat one of my many nightmares. Phoebe

Green.

It took me a long time to understand just why exactly Scully hated Phoebe so

much.

Even I recognised that when other attractive women were around us, Scully

got a tendency to be a little territorial, but the hate she felt for Phoebe

was in a league of its own.

Once we had admitted how we felt about each other Scully had told me all the

times she had wanted to protect me and couldn't, even as early on as when

Colton was gloating over the fact that he called of our stakeout.

She hated Phoebe, not because she posed as a threat to her ( even as a

concept that idea was ridiculous), but because all through Oxford, Phoebe

had managed to destroy nearly all my faith in trust and love, and being

involved with Diana didn't help either.

Until I met Scully, I was terrified to love or show my love. For me it was

not a pleasant experience. Everyone I had ever loved disappeared or walked

out of my life

The real reason I tried so hard to get rid of Scully in the first place,

was, even in the beginning I sensed that if I let her in, I would never be

able to let her go.

I managed to keep that resolution, for all of one day.

I fell in love with her on our first case together, perhaps it was the

utter trust she placed in me when she dropped her robe.

Perhaps it was the fact that she listened to my theories with an open mind,

even though she poked holes in them with her science.

Or maybe it was that gorgeous body she showed me plenty of in Oregon.

Scully would have shot me a lot earlier if she knew the effect that

underwear had had on me.

Thank god her back was towards me, when she asked me to look at those bites.

It took me a full minute to register what she was asking.

I know I was in love with her by the time she threw herself in my arms out

of sheer relief.

For days I couldn't forget how right it felt holding her.

While I would have enjoyed continuing my reverie on Scully's gorgeous body,

I wasn't allowed to.

The voice that used to send shivers of pleasure up my spine ( but now

shivers of disgust) broke in on my thoughts.

This pissed me off even more, not only were we stuck with this harpy for God

knows how long, but now she was also intruding on my Scully-time .

"So Fox, don't you have a smile for one of your oldest friends".

Great, she hadn't been in our office more than five minutes, and already I

wanted to kill her.

Instead of showing my hatred, I decided to be like Scully when she's in her

"perfect-professional" mode ( this strategy is usually used, when I'm up for

a disciplinary hearing, and Scully, as usual, is defending me).

Giving her the look I reserve for Krycek and other assorted Consortium

slime, I addressed her.

"Phoebe, let's make it clear from the start, your hear only as a shadow. We

will be working together professionally ,and naturally spending a lot of

time together , so I think that it would wise if we start on the right foot,

by you getting the hell out of Agent Scully's chair.

I will see to it that you're given a place somewhere near our office, and if

there's anything else you need, please feel free to ask AD Skinner's

secretary Kim.

Now if you will excuse us both Scully and I have had a very long day, so

we'll be leaving, see you tomorrow, seven sharp.

Oh by the way, please don't come into the office until either Agent Scully

or I are in here. We deal with sensitive information, and we can't have any

or everyone wandering in.

Have a good evening, and see you bright and early.

I could still see the look of shock on her face when we left the room.

Scully managed to hold in her laughter until the elevator doors shut, but as

soon as they did she collapsed into very un-Scully-like giggles.

" Mulder" she began, still trying to control her laughter "why seven?

That's two hours earlier than our usual briefing time, and you hate early

meetings."

"Scully, while I may dislike early morning starts, you have no idea how much

Phoebe hates them. I mean she hates them with a passion."

After hearing that Scully once again began laughing. It felt so good

knowing I was the one who could make her lose her calm professional

demeanour.

" Remind me never to get onto your bad side Mulder, you really can be a

vindictive bastard"

" The only way you could get onto my bad side, is if you keep wasting time

talking about that Rotweiler we left back in our office"

Scully then gave me one of her patented enigmatic looks and whispered the

magic words, "make me Mulder."

Suddenly the need to get back to my place became more pressing, and when we

finally got home, as I hoped, there was little talking.

**************

Mulder's Apartment

9:30pm

I love watching Mulder when he sleeps.

He looks so young and vulnerable, that it almost hurts to look. He has a

tendency to cling close to me, even in his sleep, as if I anchor him and

keep him safe from horrors always at the fringe of his unconscious.

He told me once, that when I was with him the nightmares stayed away (how's

that for an ego boost).

Often, after we'd made love and Mulder had finally drifted off into sleep I

would fight to stay awake so that I could just look at him.

We're so in tune with each other, though, that even in his sleep, Mulder

could feel I was awake, and that I was worried about something

"What's wrong?" he asked me drowsily

"It's nothing, don't worry, just go back to sleep" I tried to keep my voice

soothing, but I knew, that I was making him more worried.

" Dana what's worrying you?"

I stayed silent for a moment, trying to voice all the things scaring me.

" Is it this whole shadow thing? Are you worried that Phoebe will get to me

like she did in the past? Or are you thinking about how we're going to tell

everyone about our marriage?'

"How about all of the above. Actually, no, I'm not worried about Phoebe's

influence on you, I know you can handle her, you showed that today.

I am worried that she could make trouble for us though. This whole shadow

program means that she's going to be with us all the time, and whatever else

she not dumb, she could figure out that we're married."

I could feel my panic rising as I explained everything that was bothering

me, I knew Mulder could feel it too.

"Scully, slow down. Lets not try and look for problems that aren't there. I

know why your feeling this way, I'm feeling jumpy too. It's hard with no one

knowing.

I for one am sick of not being able to tell anyone that I'm married to the

most wonderful woman in the world, so how about we start by telling the one

person who will actually be glad of this news?"

Mulder was right . Not telling anyone, had been very hard, and it put a

certain constraint on all our other relationships, even, or perhaps

especially, with my mother.

I was so used to telling her everything that was going on in my personal

life, that keeping something from her, made me feel uncomfortable, and

because of that our talks felt forced.

She could feel that there was something that I wasn't telling her, but she

didn't push to know what it was.

All the same I felt bad holding out on her, and in an effort to feel less

guilty I had been calling her less, which of course only made me feel more

guilty.

Sometimes being a Catholic can really suck.

"Mulder I love you so much. I've been wanting to tell my mother for so long,

lets call her right now. I know she wouldn't mind."

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of telling your big brother

Bill that you had got hitched to the 'sorry son-of-a-bitch'. I wonder how

he'd react?"

The grin on Mulder's face made me feel less bad about Bill's treatment of

him. When the two of them were around each other they both started to get

very territorial over me.

While the feminist in me abhorred this show of testosterone, the rest of

me, the latent prom queen, rather enjoyed those little confrontations.

Mulder had been declared the winner in this contest as soon as we had got

married, and he knew it .

"Funny, very funny, you know there is such a thing as being a bad winner,

now hand over the phone so I can get murdered by my mother."

*****************

Mulder's Apartment

11:00pm

It took Mrs. Scully, about half an hour to get to my place. I had to wonder

about how many red lights she'd gone through.

While we waited, Scully looked very much like a little girl waiting for her

parents in the principals office.

The fact that she was so scared nearly had me laughing, except when I

started to show signs of amusement, Scully succinctly reminded me of a

couple things.

"Don't even think of laughing Mulder. You realise after she kills me, she's

gonna kill you as well, and after that you have to tell your mother, and

because your enjoying this so much, you get to tell Skinner as well. "

Once she finished handing down this death sentence, she started feeling a

lot better, but her new mood abruptly ended when there was a knock at the

door.

"Do you think she'll be really mad?"

I couldn't believe the transformation in Scully. One minute she was bawling

me out like a drill sergeant, the next minute she was acting like a kid

whose caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"C'mon Scully, this is your mother. The woman whose tried been trying to

get us hitched for years. She'll be so thrilled that we actually followed

her advice that she'll only be minorly pissed off that she wasn't there."

By this time , most of my positive attitude was for Scully's sake. I'm not

ashamed to admit that I myself was a bit worried about how Mrs. Scully was

going to react. Okay, I am ashamed that I was scared, but this was her

youngest daughter I had just married without her presence or blessing.

Add to that, the fact that her eldest son couldn't stand the sight of me,

and I was packing it, actually, by the time she entered the apartment.

I should have known better, I'm sorry that I underestimated Mrs. Scully's

capacity to understand and love without question. Her smile told me that

everything was all right,

But Scully was so worried, she didn't notice. Instead started babbling,

almost incoherently.

"Mum, I know we should have told you sooner, but honestly no one else knows,

your the first to know...we did it in a church ... I mean we got married in

a church, not we did it in a church... Anyway a priest performed the

ceremony, Father McCue in fact... we asked him to keep it secret so don't be

angry with him either... Please don't blame Mulder mum... I wanted to do

this just as much as he did...I felt you there though, truly, but I'm sorry

you weren't there... If you're mad I understand, in fact I would be mad if

my daughter did something like that, really I would, I'm not just saying

that...but mummy please don't stay mad for long...

At this point Scully voice petered out, as she looked helplessly from her

mother to me.

I went to stand beside her, to show her my support, but I ruined this noble

gesture by laughing.

Scully's garbled attempt at an explanation was the funniest thing I had

heard or seen in a long time.

It's so unusual to see Scully at a loss for words, let alone trying to

specify which it she was talking about.

The fact that she was scared enough to have reverted to calling Mrs. Scully

'mummy', was the final straw.

I couldn't help it.

I stopped trying to hide my laughter, it was really too funny not to.

Seeing the Enigmatic Dr Scully reduced to a repentant five year old was

indeed a rare sight.

My hilarity earned me one of Scully's death stares, but before she could

dissect me Mrs. Scully intervened and spoke to us both.

"Unless you really want to see me get angry, I suggest you tell me every

single detail." The laughter in her voice belied the severity of her words.

I could see she was as, if not more, amused at the sight of her cool and

collected daughter so utterly out of control.

She finally decided to take pity on her, and managed to allay the fears,

that I had been spending half the night to put to rest.

Dana, how could you think that I would be unhappy about your marriage to

Fox. I've known for so long that you belong together.

Frankly, I was wondering when exactly the two of you would figure it out.

So how exactly did it happen? I'm willing to bet that it wasn't the usual

hearts and flowers way."

I could see that it was up to me to tell the story, since Scully was still

trying to pull herself together. She herself was a little shocked by the

level of incoherence she'd sunk to.

"Your right, it wasn't the usual hearts and flowers way, but it was just the

way we wanted it "

I looked at Scully at this point to see if she agreed with me.

She was smiling a strange little half smile, and by the look in her eyes I

could tell she was remembering that day.

"We had just got the X-Files back, and Scully and I had decided to

celebrate..."

(Flashback)

The Office

8:00am

" Hey Scully, it's our first day back, and I have absolutely no idea what

we're meant to do"

By the look in Scully's eye, I could tell she was just as lost as I was, but

less ready to admit it.

"I'm shocked Mulder, was that just an admission that Fox Mulder, the

posterboy for workaholics, doesn't have some bizarre case ready for us."

" Yup, that's right, but I just had a thought..."

" Hey stop the presses Agent Mulder just had a thought."

Scully's was definitely acting weirdly. She had never acted so carefree

before. It was as if she had made a conscious decision to let all her

inhibitions go.

I liked seeing Scully like this.

A lot.

"My we are frisky today aren't we. What I was about to say before you so

rudely interrupted was that we should go out and celebrate. "

Actually, for the past week I had been planning a special evening for

Scully.

My pathetic attempt to say thank you for sticking by me on our trip to Hell

and back.

"Define 'celebrating'. If you mean eating greasy burgers at some hole in the

wall, that is an excuse for a restaurant, and spending the rest of the

evening with Frohicke, Langly and Byers talking about CIA conspiracies,

count me out."

Though she was smiling when saying this, I knew the truth of her words.

Jesus.

I hadn't realised I was that bad. I never fully understood (until that

minute) how much I had taken Scully for granted.

At least the evening I had planned, made me feel a little less of a shit.

"No, I mean celebrate properly. No greasy diner food and no Lone Gunmen.

Wear something nice, formal, elegant...sexy" I said the last word under my

breath praying Scully hadn't heard .

When I had the courage to look into those wonderful eyes of hers, I knew she

had heard it, but she didn't make a comment.

She looked at me steadily for a moment, then smiled.

That told me everything I needed to know.

It was the Special Smile, as I call it. The one she gave me when I woke up

in Alaska, after ditching her.

That smile told me that whatever was going to happen that night, Scully was

not going to fight it.

" Listen Mulder, since both you and I have no idea what to do today, do you

mind if I take a day off.

There a couple of things I need to take care of, and since you're obviously

going to be calling all the shots this evening you can add to your chivalry

and pick me up. Seven okay, and I mean seven, not seven-thirty, and getting

abducted by little gray men is not an acceptable excuse for being late.

In fact tonight if you are late, so help me God, I will shoot you in your

other shoulder."

I was a little scared of Scully when she was in this mood. Mostly because I

couldn't define what this mood was.

"Sure Scully, I was thinking that I might do the same, and I promise I'll be

there on time, not even a UFO landing in my car park will make me late, I

promise.

What are you going to be doing though?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out Mulder. That's why they put the I

in FBI. See you at seven."

With a little laugh she was gone.

I couldn't believe it, Scully taking a day off was rare, but Playful Scully

was something I'd never really come in close contact with. Talk about close

Encounters of the Unusual Kind.

Long after she left I tried to think of what could have drawn Scully out of

the office so early.

Using all my renowned profiling skills, I tried to logically work out what

Scully was up to.

When I finally came up with an answer, I almost dismissed it immediately.

I just couldn't believe that Scully had taken the whole day off to get ready

for this evening. If that was the case, then the evening was going to be a

lot more than a simple thank you .

This solution appealed so much to me, that any shred of concentration I

still could muster completely went out the window.

This was more than a thank you for me certainly. I had spent the last week

putting together, what I hoped would be a magical evening for us both.

It was during the whole 'Rain King' trip, that I finally was ready to admit

to Scully that I was in love with her.

I mean, I had admitted to myself that I was in love with her, but it was the

first time that I was going to admit it to her without the help of

medication.

I saw so much of myself in Holman, it was scary.

What was also scary was the way that almost everyone assumed that Scully and

I were a couple.

I hadn't realised that my feeling for Scully were so obvious, apparently we

'gazed' at each other. The fact that Scully was a willing participant in the

gazing gave me the hope I needed.

I was on the verge of saying something to her, but the moment passed.

After that, I got sick of waiting for moments, so I decided I was going to

create one. That's what this whole evening could be classified under.

I was so lost in these thoughts, that I hadn't seen the day slipping by.

When I finally checked my watch, it was five in the evening. Good that meant

I only had two hours to go till I got to be with Scully or Playful Scully as

was the case.

*****************

He waited outside my apartment for over half an hour. I know because I could

hear him.

I had shocked the hell out of him earlier in the office, and I enjoyed every

minute of it.

The look on his face was so adorable ( all right, so I think all of his

'looks' are adorable) when he asked me out to celebrate.

When he whispered the word 'sexy', it took all my famous self-control not to

jump him then and there.

I could tell he was scared of my response, and since my vocal chords just

wouldn't work at that moment I did the only thing I could think of, I

smiled.

Evidently, it was the response he had hoped for, since he looked so happy.

I had to leave then or things would have so out of control, it wouldn't have

been funny. Nice, something I had hoped for since the Tooms case, something

I dreamt about so often it was embarrassing, but not funny.

I'm not one of those women who spent the whole day getting ready for a date,

so I was still trying to figure out why I had spent the whole day getting

ready for tonight?

It felt so bizarre to be shopping at nine am on a week day. I mean this was

me, Dana Scully, the girl who had never played hooky from school.

Since Mulder hadn't told me anything about where we were going, I really

didn't know what was appropriate.

It was about three hours of horrible dresses and even more horrible sales

assistants, before I found a little boutique called Notorious.

It was silly really, but the reason I went in was that I had always loved

that old movie with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.

Unlike previous saleswomen, the ladies there were helpful without being

aggressive.

I found myself telling them all about Mulder and our relationship.

"Basically Dana, you want his jaw to drop when he sees you tonight, don't

you?

You want to show him, that you can be just as sexy as that Phoebe or what's

her name...Diana."

God, you had to love these women, they cut straight to the heart of the

matter. I was a little worried about all the beans I had just spilled, but

hell, who were they going to tell.

"By the way, do you have a picture of him? We want to see this tube of

wonderful."

At that I pulled out the picture that I always kept in my wallet of him.

It was one taken of us both, shortly after my cancer had gone into

remission.

We both looked relaxed in the picture, and Mulder was giving me one of his

heart-stopping grins, and I was giving him my chipmunk grin.

I remember that he had just said something about mosquitoes and Oregon to my

mother, and I couldn't help laughing ( which had been his whole purpose)

after hitting him for reminding me of that truly embarrassing moment.

I don't know about Mulder's jaw dropping, but when they saw the picture,

both Elaine and Susan's ( those were there names) did.

"That's Mulder. That's the man you get to work with every day, and you two

haven't gotten together yet. Honey are you out of your mind? The man is a

fox."

I had to laugh at that.

"Would you believe that his name is Fox?"

"I'd believe anything after looking at that picture... do you see the way

he's

looking at her, it's as if he's scared she could disappear at any moment, he

got it bad hasn't he?"

All of that part of the conversation was directed at Elaine who was still

mesmerised by the picture (sheesh what was it with women and Mulder, but

then I shouldn't talk).

"Okay we have to find a dress, that will leave him absolutely speechless"

So for the next two hours I tried on dozens of obscenely priced dresses.

None of them were quite right though.

At the point where I was just about ready to give up, Elaine suddenly came

rushing out, carrying the most beautiful dress I had seen.

It was a slip dress, with three layers. The bottom layer was a sky blue

georgette, while the second layer was a filmy blue silk material. The top

layer was an ice blue patterned velvet, which had transparent silvery

patches which showed the under layers. Add to this, that the dress was cut,

so that it wasn't straight across the knees, but rather was cut diagonally

so that it started at mid-thigh and ended at the knee.

I knew that this was the dress.

I had to have it.

I signed for it, without a second care for my Visa card, and bought the

shoes and underwear to match.

I walked out of the store feeling a lot more confident about tonight.

Before I was quite out of hearing range I heard Elaine whisper to Susan.

"He's not going to know what hit him"

As I said I walked out feeling a lot more confident.

Since I still had lots of time, I decided to go home and pamper myself.

Once I had finished my two-hour soak in a bath filled with gorgeous smelling

salts, I slowly started to get ready.

At six-thirty, when I was putting on my dress, I heard a shuffling outside

my door. My FBI instincts immediately kicked in and I got ready to take down

whatever assassin was waiting outside my door. Thank God I checked through

my peep-hole. Whatever Mulder's plans for the evening, I don't think he was

prepared for the sight of Dana Scully toting a gun, in nothing but her

underwear.

He looked so good standing there, that for a minute I just had to look at

him. In fact it wasn't until I felt a sharp breeze on me that I remembered I

was standing in my living room in just my underwear and stockings.

It was five minutes before seven when Mulder finally knocked.

"Who is it?" I couldn't believe I just asked that.

I mean the man had been standing outside my door for half and hour. I was

acting like this was my first date.

"Steven Speilberg. C'mon Scully let me in. Your hallway's really cold"

"Breathe Dana, just breathe" I was acting insanely. I knew that. This was

Mulder, the man who had been my best friend for six years.

The fact that he was fulfilling fantasy number 596, by wearing a tux, was no

reason to have trouble breathing.

"Carpe diem, carpe diem, just open the damn door Agent Scully" and with that

before I could chicken out I opened the door.

"Glad you finally...." For probably the first time ever, I saw Mulder at a

loss for words. I waited, looking at him expectantly, but he just stood

there staring with his mouth slightly agape.

It was too much. I needed some kind of assurance.

"So, will this do for where ever we're going tonight Mulder?" I waited,

"Mulder say something"

"Wow, Scully ...you...look...breath-taking".

With that he offered me his arm and together we made our way downstairs.

*****************

It's a scientifically proven fact that Scully is the most gorgeous woman I

know. Every man who knows her will personally assure you of that fact.

Take Frohicke, anyone mentions her name near that troll, and his voice takes

on a different tone.

Pendrell, poor bastard, followed her like a slave and she never even

noticed. Even Skinner, has a soft spot for her (maybe that because of her

mum though), and soft isn't a word commonly associated with Skinner.

Max Fenig came the closest to describing her though when he called her The

Enigmatic Dr Scully.

Look I know I'm babbling, but what I'm trying to point out is that any male

who comes in contact with Scully, knows she's incredible.

The way she looked today, though, was beyond anything I could have ever

prepared myself for.

I mean Scully looked like a fucking wet dream come to life.

My wet dream, if we're going to get picky.

That dress. Shit.

It took all my self-control not to rip it of her right then and there.

Her question of whether or not it was okay almost made me lose the power of

speech again.

Didn't the woman realise how innately beautiful she was?

Of course the only thing that I could come up with was 'breath-taking',

probably one of the most over-used adjectives in the English language. It

made me sound like some B-grade actor, in some cheesy soap opera.

Unfortunately, it was also the truest word I could use to describe her. I

mean she very literally took my breath away. It felt like I was seeing her

for the first time, not as Agent Scully, but as Dana Katherine Scully, the

woman who held me completely in her spell and who always would.

As we got to the car, I stopped .

" Umm Scully, there's something that I'd like you to do. Would you mind

wearing this until we get, to where we're going?" At this point, I had

pulled out the blindfold, that I had brought along. Her eyes widened

slightly.

Now, with any other woman, this wouldn't be a very symbolic question. They

might find it a little kinky, but in the end, they'd probably find the whole

thing kind of fun.

With Scully though, I knew that this would be a lot more than that.

This would mean giving up control, being passive, putting herself, utterly,

in my power. I was asking a lot, I realised that, but everything depended on

her answer.

"Please Scully, just trust me."

As I said this I saw her relax. I had uttered the magic words. Trust.

She gave me a half smile, and just stood as I slowly tied the silk around

her eyes.

She then spoke for the first time.

"Mess my hair Mulder, and I'll kill you"

Our first stop didn't take us very long to get to, for once traffic wasn't

to bad.

"O.K. Scully you can take it off now"

She did, and when she saw where we were she looked at me quizzically.

"Why here Mulder? Please don't tell me that there was some file that you

wanted to check, because I'm leaving if that's the case."

I could tell by her tone of voice, that she was hoping that she was wrong,

but that if she was right she would stay anyway.

"Scully, this place means a lot to us both.

Think about it, if it wasn't for the FBI we never would have met. It all

started here Scully, besides there's something I want to show you.

At that, Scully stopped talking, and followed me as I headed for the

elevators.

"Press B Scully"

"But Mulder, the builders haven't declared the basement area safe yet"

"Please Scully, just press B."

I could sense that Scully wanted to say more, but she pressed the button.

The quizzical look she had been giving me earlier, had turned into one of

rampant curiosity.

As we approached our old office, she began to get an inkling of what I had

done.

The door was new, and had both our names on it.

"Mulder when..."

" This is yours by the way," I said handing her the new key to our office,

"Open the door."

She didn't ask a single question, but just did as I said.

After the initial fumbling the door opened and we were greeted by the smells

of fresh paint and carpet.

I held my breath, and watched as Scully took in the sight of our new office.

I have to admit, I was rather proud of how it looked.

I had managed to salvage a lot of our stuff from the fire, but this time I

made sure that the office reflected the fact that there were two people who

belonged here, and only two.

In a very prominent position of the wall, I had hung a picture of Scully and

I.

It was taken shortly after her cancer had gone into remission.

We had been on a picnic, and I was teasing her when Mrs. Scully had taken

the picture. I had mentioned the infamous mosquito bite incident, and she

started laughing ( after punching me none too gently).

That was probably my favourite picture of us. Scully had this wonderful

smile on her face, and I remember thinking at that moment, she was most

beautiful when she smiled.

However the piece de resistance was the desk.

Her desk.

The one ( or lack thereof) that had nearly got her killed by a

talking-tattoo-maniac.

It was not one of the cheap plywood ones that office supplies gave nearly

everyone, this one I had seen in an old antique store.

I was a dark walnut with hints of red in the grain. It was elegant without

being ostentatious. This sounds completely dumb, possibly even moronic, but

that desk kind of reminded me of Scully when I had seen it .

I had immediately known that it belonged to Scully when I had seen it in the

shop window.

On her desk, I had got a name plate for her which read "Special Agent Dr

Dana Scully". It sounded clumsy, but I had wanted to recognise everything

that made up Agent Scully.

For a minute she didn't say anything, but just stared.

When she did begin to speak, there was a strange hitch in her voice.

"Oh Mulder, thank you. I..." She stopped. At first I wasn't sure why she

had, but when she turned her face to me it became obvious. She was crying.

Shit, why was Scully crying?

"Scully, if you don't like it, or want to redecorate, feel free to. I'm

sorry I did this without your permission, I just thought that it would be a

nice surprise."

Just as I was about to start flagellating myself, for whatever I had done to

make Scully cry, she took my hand and gave one of her to-die-for smiles.

"I love it. Truly. Mulder no one has ever given me such a perfect present. I

was crying because for the first time I felt like I belonged here, that you

really did think of me as your partner, that I really did help and make a

difference. Thank you, it's wonderful."

I was about to try and process all of what Scully had said, when all power

of thought, save one, deserted me, Scully kissed me.

It was so sudden that for a second I was too stunned to respond, but then

emotions that had been ruthlessly suppressed since Oregon took over.

What started as a simple thank you kiss, ended up being one of the most

intense, mind-blowing experiences of my life.

While I would have liked that moment to have gone on forever, my body

betrayed me by demanding air.

We broke away form each other, with stunned expressions on both our faces.

"Wow" Scully said shakily.

"Wow" was all I could answer back.

"That was ..." oh shit, I could just hear the speech already. About how

completely inappropriately I had acted, and how I had managed to spoil six

years of partnership because of my emotions, "amazing."

"Scully your not angry? I thought you would be furious with me for taking

advantage of you like that."

O.K, I know that was not the smartest thing to say, but part of me didn't

want to believe that Scully could love me back.

What can I say, I have a twisted psyche.

Scully however wasn't in the mood to deal with my self-pitying attitude.

Usually, I would have been scared shitless of her in this mode, but this

time, I was just struck by how beautiful she was when pissed off.

"God, Mulder, would you please stop blaming yourself. Did you notice that I

was kissing you back? In fact, if I remember correctly, I kissed you first.

I enjoyed it all right. I've wanted to do that since the Tooms case. Would

you please get that into that supposedly brilliant mind of yours.

Don't you get it Mulder? I love you, I've always loved you. From the first.

Since Oregon, if you want dates for that matter.

I think I was in love with you even before I wanted you as my friend."

She stopped at this point, realising that she had said more than she had

meant to.

"Look Mulder, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I know that you don't

feel..." at that point I thought that it was wise to interrupt and assure

her that I felt exactly the same way. I kissed her. In that kiss I tried to

make her understand that while she loved me I worshipped her.

I assure you that I was not overstating the case, Scully had become my

religion.

I told her once that the Truth was my religion, what I didn't add was Scully

had become my Truth.

I can't exactly be sure of when Scully became the focus of my universe.

I know I only realised it after Kristin in LA.

I was dead, I had tried to make myself feel alive, but the only thing I felt

as I sat on the hill watching the fire die out, was that I was glad Scully

wasn't there to see how badly I fucked the case up.

That whole sorry episode only clarified that without Scully I was empty.

She made me strong. Very literally, she was my better half.

Once again, our bodies betrayed us by demanding air. However, it had it's

compensations, as, for the first time, I could look at Scully as much as I

wanted to, without worrying about her catching me.

I still saw a faint remnant of doubt in her eyes.

Scully had told me so much, and I knew it was time for me to bare my soul,

as she had done.

"Scully, Scully I love you. I always have. In fact I fell in love with you

in Oregon, when I held you. If it wasn't for you, I would have died a long

time ago.

You not only kept me honest, but you've kept me sane.

Before you came into my life, I was lost, and I didn't even know I was.

When you were taken, I knew then, I knew that without you I wasn't whole.

You are my Truth.

I love you Scully, and I'll always love you. I don't think I could stop,

even if I wanted to."

I stopped, not quite sure if she was ready to hear what I was about to say

next.

"Scully, I want you to marry me, please say you will. I know this is

sudden..." before I could go any further Scully began laughing.

That wasn't quite the reaction I'd been hoping for but at least it wasn't an

outright 'no'.

"Sudden, sudden Mulder. We've just told each other that we've been in love

with each other from the first, and after six years of us secretly hoping

that we felt the same way, you call this sudden?"

When she put it like that I started laughing. After we both caught our

breath Scully broke the gentle silence that surrounded us.

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"Yes I'll marry you, unless you were only saying it to make me feel better."

"Scully, I would never use that..."

"Kidding Mulder, I was kidding. Since when did you lose your sense of

humour?"

"Since I thought I could lose you Scully, that's when."

Then Scully let me do what I'd dreamt of since Oregon. She let me hold her.

We stayed that way in for a long time, enjoying the peace of the moment.

"Mulder, what had you planned for this evening originally?"

"Oh, you know dancing, then a picnic dinner near the Reflecting Pool, and

then going home by myself."

"Well, I've got an idea, but it's a bit of an extreme possibility and I

don't think your ready to handle what I think"

I couldn't believe she was my own words against me.

"Try me Scully"

"Let's get married tonight."

All of a sudden, I was scared. This couldn't be Scully. Not my Scully, the

one who did everything by the book. This had to be the bounty hunter playing

his cruelest trick yet.

"Mulder, Mulder, what do you think?"

"What about blood tests?"

"Well, we had our physical the other week, so we could use those results."

"The license?"

"Idiot, we can get a special one, you know at least three Justice of the

Peace"

"The priest?"

"Father McCue would be willing to marry us straight away."

"Your family, don't you want them there?"

"Well mum will understand, Charlie's at sea, but if you want Bill there I'm

prepared to wait."

When did Scully turn a comedian?

"What about the Bureau ? You know the policy about partner relationships."

"Hmm, look we can keep it secret, and if they find out and try to separate

us, we can have them up for discrimination. There is no actual rule, so

they'd have a pretty hard time trying to beat us."

I never fully comprehended how brilliant a tactician Scully was until that

moment. Of course she had had lots of practice, since she became my partner.

"What about witnesses?"

"Jesus Christ Mulder, what the hell is wrong with you anyway? Why do you

keep looking for problems?

Is it that you're regretting asking me, and are trying to get out of it? If

so just tell me."

The reason that I was being so cautious, was that I didn't want us to get

married, only to have Scully regretting it later. I knew that marriage was a

something not lightly taken by her, and I didn't want her to feel she had

missed out on something, a couple of years down the track.

"Scully, I just don't want you regretting this decision. Believe me I want

to marry you right now, but I need to know that your sure."

As I told her this, I could literally see the anger die out of her face.

"Mulder, stop trying to protect me from you. I want you, and only you will

do. I know this here," she placed my hand on her heart, "the only reason

I'm still alive is because of you. You've pulled my back from all kinds of

chasms, you are my strength, you keep me believing.

As I am your Truth, I want you to listen to me and believe what I say. I

could never regret being with you.

Trust me with your heart, as you trust me with your life"

"I believe you Scully, and I trust you. You're the only one I'll ever trust.

Hey Scully, I just had an idea, you know who would be the perfect witnesses,

I mean we'd be guaranteed that they wouldn't tell anyone."

"Who do you mean... no, you've got to be kidding. Please tell you're not

thinking of The Gunmen. "

I just nodded my head.

In a bizarre way, it made sense that they should be there. They had always

come through for us in the past, and on more than one occasion, had helped

save our lives.

"Your right, it's right somehow that they should be there, but so help me

God if Frohicke turns into an octopus, I'll shoot him."

"Don't worry Scully, if he tries to touch my wife, I promise you I'll shoot

him myself."

"My hero."

*******************

St. Anne's Church

9:00pm

It amazed me how fast Mulder managed to arrange everything. In a matter of

an hour he had convinced Father McCue to do the ceremony, had gotten the

license, and even got the Gunmen to the church.

Why couldn't he be this organised, when it came time to file our expense

reports?

Frohicke was a little unmanageable at first, but I think that underneath it

all he was truly happy for us. Just before Father McCue was ready to perform

the ceremony, Frohicke gave us his version of a blessing.

"Well, Agent Scully, since I had to lose you to another man, I guess I'm

glad that it was Mulder."

Before the scene could become a little more wet, Father McCue interrupted,

"Is everyone ready?"

Mulder and I looked at each other and smiled.

We had been ready for a long time.

To think back on it, our wedding party must have looked a little strange, a

man in a tux, a woman in an evening dress, and three men who served as best

men, bridesmaids, friends and family. It must have looked very strange

actually, but for us it was perfect.

For all the suddenness of our wedding, the ceremony was really beautiful.

Though we recited the traditional vows, we also spoke a few words of our

own.

Mulder went first.

"Scully, Dana, I have no words true enough with which I can ask you to share

your life with me, so I'll resort to plagiarising,

...I give you my hand!

I give you my love more precious than money,

I give you myself before preaching or law;

Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?

Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

There's some things that I want to add, though.

I give you my trust to keep safe, will you give me yours? Will you let me be

your strength when you are weak? Will you let me in even when you don't want

to? And will do the same for me always?"

For a minute there was utter silence in the church.

There was a solemnity to the proceedings that overrode the fact that there

were only six people there.

It didn't matter that I, the bride was in a blue cocktail dress , that my

bridesmaid was a short, bespectacled middle-aged man was negligible.

This was really what marriage was all about.

I was so overcome with all sorts of feelings that I couldn't answer Mulder

immediately, so I did the only thing I could have done without embarrassing

myself. I took his out stretched hand and held on to it tightly.

Years and years from now, I know Mulder will think that I regretted getting

married like that, but honestly the ceremony was just what I wanted. Not

even the absence of my mother saddened me.

This was what I had always dreamt of, standing in front of a man who loved

me, hearing just how far he was willing to go for me.

It took me a little while to fight down the sudden tears that had come to

my eyes when Mulder had recited Song Of the Road .

I was so happy it scared me.

I found that any words I wanted to say to him, sounded clumsy, cliched and

unimaginative, so, almost without realising it, I began reciting one of my

favourite sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Mulder, Fox,

How do I love thee? Let me count the

ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and

height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of

sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love the freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from

Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's

faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,-I love thee with

the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!-and, if God

choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

I hadn't consciously thought about the appropriateness of that poem, but as

I began saying it, I saw with a new clarity how perfectly the words

described my love for Mulder.

The rest of the ceremony seemed to fly by.

Frankly, I was so amazed by the thought that Mulder belonged to me and I to

him, that I didn't hear much else.

It was only when Father McCue said that Mulder could kiss the bride, that I

came out of my little reverie.

In that kiss Mulder managed to convey so much.

It was gentle, but I could feel its passion.

It promised so much, while delivering everything at the same time.

Before we could get too carried away in the church, both Mulder and I pulled

away.

The Gunmen were watching us with the biggest grins on their faces, even

Frohicke.

"Well what are we gonna do for the rest of the night?" Langly asked.

The rest of us looked at him as if he had suddenly dropped 50 points in his

IQ.

"What?" he asked, with a confused look on his face, suddenly it dawned on

him.

"Oh, right. Sorry, I'm so used to meeting you guys in weird un-bugged

premises, that I forgot that why we were here."

We all continued looking at him, as if he were some specimen that needed

intense scrutiny.

"Look, I said I was sorry ok. Anyway, what are you to still doing here,

shouldn't you be somewhere else, doing whatever newly-weds do?"

At that, the piercing looks were turned on Mulder and I.

Byers smiled at us paternally, Langly looked unabashedly, and Frohicke gave

us (actually me) his best sleazy grin.

Suddenly I felt very exposed, Mulder however took it in his stride.

"You're right, we'll see you guys around. Thanks for coming through for us.

By the way, you did sweep both our places for bugs didn't you?"

I had to smile at that, Mulder may have just got married, but he was still

his paranoid self.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about it, they were both clean." Frohicke

answered quickly.

"Okay, well thanks again. See ya"

When we were nearly out of earshot, we both heard Byers and Langly turn on

Frohicke angrily.

At first we couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but we heard the

important part.

"Why didn't you tell them about the bug we placed in both their bedrooms,

for their own safety?" That was Byers

"Oh please, you think I'm going to miss the opportunity of stuff that would

beat any skin-flic" That was that sleazy little troll Frohicke.

"You're sick man, truly sick" That was Langly.

I was about to go back and turn Frohicke into Ms Frohicke, when I felt

Mulder laughing, actually shaking with laughter.

"C'mon Scully, lets go home and give them a really good show"

"On one condition Mulder, it's not a show".

With that he just smiled at me, and we drove of in the direction of my, our

apartment.

(Flash Forward)

Mulder's Apartment

11:30 pm

"So that how it happened mum."

What really amazed Mrs. Scully, was not the story itself, but rather how the

two of them had told the story .

They had picked up on each other stories so effortlessly, sounding

sometimes, as if they were just one voice.

For a moment Mrs Scully felt a pang, as she fully understood that while Dana

loved her, Fox would always be the most important person in her life.

Sometimes that very bond worried Mrs Scully.

She had seen what both Fox and Dana had been like when they had thought that

the other was dead. She seriously doubted that the other could survive if

one of them died, so every night she prayed that God would keep them safe in

each other's care.

"Well I was right, it certainly wasn't the usual way, but it sounded

beautiful. So who else have you told, does Walter know?"

At the widening of both their eyes, Mrs Scully understood she had said just

a little to much.

Mulder found his voice first.

"Walter?" The question was evident in his voice.

"Yes, Walter, you know, your boss who has saved your jobs often in the past.

Does he know?"

Mrs Scully had decided that her best defense was acting as if it was no big

deal for her to be friends with Walter Skinner.

Despite this smart tactic, Scully remained on the offensive.

"Just exactly how well do you know the Assistant Director, mum?"

Hearing that tone Mulder was just glad he wasn't the one making her use it.

Even her mother seemed a little unsure of what exactly to tell her

daughter.

"Well we've had lunch a couple of times, and sometimes caught a movie"

"Oh shit, mum why? Do you really like him?

No don't tell me. No do tell me.

By the way why didn't you tell me?"

Scully knew she was pushing it, but the news had upset her far more than her

mother could've understood.

"Dana Katherine Sc...Mulder, why are you acting like such a brat.

May I remind you, that until tonight, you kept a pretty big secret from me,

so don't even think of taking that tone with me."

The real reason that she was so angry, was that she had thought that Dana

would have been happy for her.

She had expected problems from Bill and Charlie, but she thought that Dana

had admired Walter, and would be supportive of her decision to pursue a

relationship with him.

Mulder saw that the situation was quickly getting out of control.

He could see that Mrs Scully was hurt by Scully's reaction, but he

understood why she had been so upset. He, himself, had some worries about

this whole situation, but he knew that it was unfair to expect Mrs Scully to

realise all of this.

"Mrs Scully please don't misunderstand, we're glad that you've found someone

that you like, but the reason that Sc...Dana reacted like that is that this

complicates matters a lot more.

The reason we haven't told him, is that we don't want to put him in an

awkward position. He'd have a lot of pressure to separate us, and we all

know the problems that go with that.

We were going to wait for a while, long enough to prove that our personal

life didn't affect our partnership, and that our solve rate hadn't

deteriorated."

Mulder knew that there was another reason that Scully was so upset, but he

knew that he couldn't tell Mrs Scully.

Scully would always feel that any other man in her mother's life lessened

her love for her beloved Ahab.

It would take a while for Scully to come around, but Mulder knew,

ultimately, she would.

"Mum, I'm happy that your happy with him, truly. But it still a bit new so

your going to have to give me...us a bit of time to deal with it. I'm sorry

I flew of the handle."

"Dana, I do understand, but I really do care for him, I've never been with

someone like him before."

Mulder saw Scully wince at that, and went to stand behind her to let her

know that he was there for her.

"Well, this certainly has been a night of revelations, but it's getting late

and I know you two have work tomorrow so I'd better be going."

After she had left Mulder went over to Scully, who was still sitting on the

couch looking a bit shell-shocked.

"Scully, Dana, please tell me what your feeling. Don't shut me out."

At that she looked up, her face didn't have that far-off look anymore, but

remorse at putting up wall and trying to hide her feelings from him.

She stood up, and walked into his open arms.

"Actually, Mulder, I really don't know what I'm feeling. I am glad Mum's

found someone. She's been alone for too long. I also know that because it's

Skinner I should feel relieved and secure, but I don't. I can't help feeling

that she's betraying Ahab's memory somehow. Silly huh?"

" No, not silly at all, perfectly natural. I won't even charge you a fee for

the consult."

Look your tired, we've got to be up in a couple of hours and the Rotweiler

is going to be there so how about we go to bed, and I try and relieve some

of your tension"

Mulder used his best leering expression when he said this hoping it would

make her laugh.

It did.

"All right Mulder, you win. I'll stop being paranoid, but only if you give

me one of your deluxe massages."

"Who said anything about a massage Scully? I was thinking of giving Frohicke

another sleepless night."

"Mulder, by the time I'm finished with you, Frohicke will be the last thing

on your mind."

"Ooh should I be worried?"

"Be afraid Mulder, be very afraid."

*******************

The Lone Gunmen Residence

God don't those two ever stop. I mean I can understand that for six years

they had to hide there feelings from each other ( although they couldn't

hide it from anyone

else), but do they ever stop?

At first I thought it would be kind of fun to listen in. So I'm twisted. I

know that ok, but do you know how long it's been for me? Hell you could call

me a born-again-virgin it's been that long. Well as I was saying, I thought

it would be fun, but frankly I'm sick of it.

I think that I'll have to go over to there places to dismantle it,

seriously, it 's not good for my health. I haven't had a good night's sleep

since there wedding night.

Thank god they've stopped.

Wait a minute, it sounds like she's saying my name, this could be

interesting. Scully talks about me during pillow talk. Wow. I think I better

turn up the volume

"Hey Frohicke. Hope you enjoyed that. We'll let you get some sleep now. This

better be gone by tomorrow by the way. Goodnight."

Son-of-a-bitch, they knew. Oh shit, I'm in such trouble, they're gonna kick

my ass. I think next time they visit, I might stay out of their way.

Especially Scully's.

******************

The Office

6:30 am

Right. Only half an hour more till my first day as shadow.

I bet the bastard remembered that I hated early morning starts. What am I

saying, of course he remembered, the prick has an eidetic memory, that's why

he did it.

So naturally at this point you're probably asking yourself if I hate early

morning starts, what have I been doing here for the last hour?

Well, I'm trying to get the upper hand.

I'm thirty-eight years old, and I'm still hung up on Fox Mulder.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not in love with him, but I'm still in

love with the fact that I once had the power to completely fuck up that

brilliant mind of his.

In Oxford he used to follow me around, with this ridiculous look in his

eyes. Slavish devotion, is the term I think.

He reminded me of some lost forlorn puppy. Maybe that was the reason I got

the urge to torture him all the time.

Actually, I think the reason I made his life a living Hell, was because I

could.

Yesterday though, it was different. He was different, and I think I know

what's made him different.

Her name is Dana Katherine Scully.

I paid her too little attention, last time I visited him.

He was still susceptible to me then, but I think, even then something was

changing, she was changing him.

The memories that I had of her were sketchy at best. I had delegated her the

role of a minor character. A sidekick, no one important.

I have the feeling that I'm going to pay for that mistake. However, I've

learnt my mistake. I will never underestimate the power Dana Scully holds

over Fox Mulder.

At first I enjoyed the little scene that happened in this excuse of an

office.

He looked properly horrified, and she looked extremely pissed off.

I guess he must have told her about me.

That didn't worry me, in fact I think it would have made the whole thing a

lot more fun, having someone who obviously cared for him, watch as I screwed

around with his head.

Then something changed. From the look on his face, I could tell that he had

forgotten about me (believe me, if he had been, he wouldn't have been

wearing that whimsical little half-smile on his face).

He was obviously thinking about something or someone else, and I'm pretty

sure it was her.

I got it then.

Somehow, he had grown up. He had managed to leave me behind with the rest of

his Oxford memories.

I had no control over him anymore. I had managed to let, one of my most

prized scalps slip through my fingers.

So, to get back to the reason I'm here, as I said , I'm trying to get the

upper hand.

I decided to read some of their old case files. God what haven't these two,

been through?

Apparently she's been kidnapped so many times, it must be getting routine

for her. He's been shot or hurt so many times, that he's probably on a first

name basis with all hospital staff throughout Washington.

The last time she was kidnapped, it was outside his own apartment. The file

also mentions that Fox was found with a gun shot wound to the left side of

his temple.

The amazing part is not that they both survived, but Fox himself escaped out

of his hospital bed, after being unconscious for some hours, and found

her...in Antarctica.

At this point, a lesser person would give up, but the one thing I've never

been accused of, is giving up on something I want. In fact the harder it is

to get, the more I want it.

At least I know what I'm up against.

I think I can hear them coming. Oh well, let the games begin.

*****************

The Office

7:00am

I wasn't in the best of moods this morning. After getting only a couple of

hours sleep last night, I don't think anyone could blame me.

Last night, that was a bit of an eye-opener. Mum's little bombshell, caught

me off-guard.

Mulder was wonderful about it, and help me deal with some of what I was

feeling, but I knew that it was going to take a while before I was

comfortable with the whole situation.

Because of all of this, I had forgotten about the shadow program, so for a

minute when I saw Phoebe in our office I thought that I was dreaming.

She looked out of a cover of Vogue as usual, but today I had far more of her

attention than before.

There was a speculative look on her face, and I knew she was wondering just

how close Mulder and I were.

I was tempted to tell her about last night, to illustrate exactly how close

we were, but as I said before, there is such a thing as a bad winner.

We hadn't had a proper X-File in a while, so we were using the time to catch

up on our paperwork.

Paperwork, while I hate it, I think that it is one of those things that

Mulder is truly afraid of.

Due to our lack of cases, we were stuck in our office most of the time,

while this was annoying usually, with Phoebe in the mix we had a potentially

lethal situation.

I was just wondering exactly how long it would take till either Mulder or

myself strangled her.

All of this before she had even said a word.

"Well good morning Fox, Dana. Just on time.

That must have been your doing Dana, when I knew Fox he was always a bit

behind."

She said this with one of those smiles that I wanted to slap off her face.

I could feel Mulder place a restraining hand on my back, just as I did the

same for him.

Obviously we both thought that the other would get riled, and fly off the

handle.

This action, helped us, though, and we couldn't help but smile at each

other.

It was funny how is sync our minds were.

I could tell that Phoebe had not understood what had just happened, but by

the look on her face I knew that she wasn't happy.

The reason why none of her little schemes could work, was that she just

could not comprehend our relationship.

In fact very few people really do understand all of it.

Mum would say that we love each other, but it's more than that.

Skinner would say that we're perfect partners, and that our styles

complement each other's, but again it's more than that.

I don't know how we would describe it, maybe it's something that can never

fully be described.

God how lame is that, I have degrees up to the 'wazoo' as Mulder would say,

and yet I can't describe what we share.

The best that I can come up with, is that our relationship is unique. It is

the only thing which we need to survive. No matter how much is thrown at us,

as long as we're together, we'll make it through.

But I digress. I was talking about Phoebe.

For a minute she stood there, watching us, but then, unfortunately, she

began speaking again.

"So, what cases have been dumped on the Spooky Patrol?"

Mulder didn't wince at that disgusting nickname, that we had been given, but

I could feel him wanting to.

"Phoebe, since you're going to be our shadow for a while, you are now

officially part of the X-Files team, so believe me pretty soon you'll

probably be known as Mr and Mrs Spooky's shadow. VCU are really very

unimaginative.

Don't worry about it too much, nicknames never bother us.

Besides, you won't be hear long enough, for it to stick."

Hah, I saw her flinch at that. Look out Phoebe, if you thought that was bad

, you're in for a big surprise. I don't know what bothered her more, being

known only as a shadow, or the 'Mrs' part. Either way, I felt pretty damn

good.

Score, Dana one, English bitch zero.

Mulder in the mean time was having a hard time trying not to laugh. I think

he was enjoying the sight of two grown women fight over him.

Probably was remembering one of his skin-flics where the 'plot' was similar.

Before the skirmish could turn into a full-scale battle the phone rang.

Mulder answered it.

"Mulder."

I tried to read his expression, as he listened to the person on the other

end, but it was too hard. Before I could go out of my mind he motioned me to

pick up the other line.

It was Accounts, and they were bitterly complaining about the broken bed.

Now I understood the expression on his face. He was trying desperately not

to laugh.

Poor Mulder, it was going to be a long morning for him.

Once the boffin, had finished complaining, he hung up.

It was then that Mulder also gave up. He started laughing.

Actually laughing, just can't fully describe what he was doing.

Watching him give in was so funny in itself that pretty so I had joined in,

and there we were, holding on to each other, trying to stop shaking with

laughter.

We had forgotten Phoebe in all of this, when we finally managed to compose

ourselves, I looked up and saw her standing a little off from us, trying to

figure out what the hell had just taken place.

"Sorry Phoebe," I began, once I had finally regained the power of speech

"old joke."

"Don't mention it Dana, from the looks of it, there so many jokes in this

department that if I was working here full-time, I'd never stop laughing."

God, the woman gave new meaning to the word 'bitch'. In fact I think she is

the personification of the word.

Right, if she was going to play that dirty, I was taking out all the stops.

Phoebe Green's days were numbered.

It took all my self-control not to turn and see how badly Mulder had been

affected by that statement. To do so, would have told her that she had won

the round.

But I had underestimated Mulder. I had thought that a statement like that

would have hurt him deeply, and maybe before Antarctica it would've, but it

was different now.

He knew our work was important, valid.

Hell how many people can say that their job is saving the world. Yet that

was what we did, virtually everyday.

"Phoebe, lets get one thing straight right now. The X-Files, is a department

that requires utter devotion to the job, if you were looking for an

opportunity to jerk-off this is not where you should be.

If you don't think you can handle the intensity, I can suggest about three

other departments that you'd be more comfortable in. "

The look on his face should have warned Phoebe, of just how close she had

come to being murdered.

She actually had the grace to look abashed for a moment, but I knew that

wouldn't last long.

Oh well, at least the score was, Us two, English bitch zero.

I could tell that the day was going to be a long one.

We settled down to wrestle with mountains of paperwork. For comforts sake

Mulder and I sat at my desk while Phoebe sat in Mulder's spot.

After about two hours, the figures began to blur before my eyes, and I let

out a sigh.

Without thinking Mulder began to gently massage my neck.

We had both forgotten about Phoebe.

"If your tired, why don't you take a break?"

"Mulder, you know I'd love to, but Skinner wanted these reports a month ago,

and both of us have run out of excuses for why we don't have them."

"Scully, please, just sit back for a minute and relax. I won't tell if you

don't."

He was looking so adoringly at me, that I completely forgot about everything

else and laid my head on his shoulder.

So many times before, when Mulder and I had been 'just' partners, I had

longed to do something as simple as putting my head on his shoulder. Now

that there were no walls, I loved the fact that I could indulge myself and

do that.

Mulder, then, leaned his head on mine, and gently stroked my hair.

It felt wonderful.

Before anything else could happen, Phoebe broke the spell. Putting all the

bitchiness she could into her voice, she quickly reminded us of where we

were.

"What a touching scene.

While I hate to intrude, but I was just wondering if this fell into the

category of devotion to the job? "

Shit.

Phoebe was just looking for some way to cause trouble, and I think we had

shown her how.

Both Mulder and I knew that this could get ugly, very ugly. If this got

outside our office there was a real possibility that we could be separated.

Another OPR hearing, was something we could both do without.

For once, I was at a loss for what to do.

Firstly, this whole situation was very tricky.

If there was an official complaint about us 'consorting' together, we'd

probably be hauled up in front of OPR.

This would probably lead to us having to reveal that we were married, and

then the shit would really hit the fan.

Secondly, this was Phoebe, and I didn't know her well enough to know how she

operated.

I knew that she was a sadistic bitch, Mulder had told me as much, but I

didn't know what exactly she wanted.

At first, I thought that she had come, just to piss-off Mulder. But I wasn't

so sure anymore.

She seemed to be trying to fuck with my head far more.

In fact, most of her poisonous comments, had been directed towards me. I

mean, while they had been said to Mulder, I just knew they were for me.

I think Phoebe had guessed that the best way to get to me was to hurt

Mulder, and vice versa.

When all the VCU morons would snicker about The Ice Queen and so on, it

never really bothered me, but when they started snickering about Spooky,

they I began to feel homicide was often justifiable.

Phoebe had figured this out pretty quickly, but then I never thought she was

dumb, sadistic bitch from the ninth circle of Hell, but never dumb.

Before I could continue my mini profile on Phoebe, Mulder answered her.

"To answer your question Phoebe, yes, this does fall into the category of

devotion to the job.

Scully and I are partners, and part of that requirement is that we look out

for each other, so it's only natural that we watch each other's back.

Nothing unusual about it."

My God, when did Mulder become such a brilliant tactician.

He managed to combine just enough indifference in his tone, to make Phoebe's

question sound stupid and obvious.

Unfortunately, Phoebe was not about to give up. She knew what had just

happened wasn't a partnerly display of affection, no matter what Mulder

said.

"I suppose, that would account for you two looking like a Norman Rockwell,

and you stroking Dana's hair."

There was so much disdain in her voice, that I was just about ready to pull

my gun on her. How dare she try and trivialise our relationship.

Mulder however remained calm. In fact when Mulder remains calm in an

argument, that when you should be afraid. He's always at his most dangerous

then.

"If Scully doesn't mind, I see no reason why you should Phoebe, unless your

jealous. I never expected that from you. I guess the times they are a

changing.

C'mon Scully, I think it's time for lunch."

With that we left, effectively cutting of anything that Phoebe might have

said.

I saw her face just before we left, and I have to admit I was worried.

This was not over.

******************

Scully's Apartment

1 week later

9:00pm

Remember how I said the whole thing screamed "worst case scenario", well

right then I'd considered that first day at the office a walk in the park.

After the first skirmish (which my beautiful wife won), things went rapidly

down hill.

She gave up all pretense at being 'friendly', and was so openly hostile that

she gave CGB a run for his money.

In fact if I had to choose, all of a sudden CGB looked like a big cuddly

teddy bear.

I thought that we could deal with Phoebe without it getting out of control.

I was wrong.

Oxford Phoebe was a dream girl compared to this vampire we got stuck with.

She's out for blood this time. Mine ( I'm used to that ) and Scully's (

which is what made me furious)

Throughout the week, she's did everything she can to make Scully's life

Hell. Seems she's was talking to some of the bastards down at VCU, namely

Tom Colton, and heard about that nickname.

No not Mrs Spooky (underneath it all, I think that Scully rather likes that

one), no the one I meant was Ice Queen.

I could see her just relishing that piece of information.

She used it a couple of times, never directly in our presence, but she made

sure that it got back to us.

If you thought we were considered jokes before, you should hear some of the

stuff now. Case in point "I think the Spooky Patrol's afraid of their own

shadow". That was one of the more subtle barbs.

Bunch of shitheads.

May they all get infected by the virus and end up in Antarctica.

A couple of times at work, she casually let slip about both our reputations,

and how we were considered the joke of the building.

I think that in her past life Pheobe must have been a camp commander,

because there's no other way I can explain her uncanny way of knowing, just

how exactly to best torture a person.

Did I mention she's also a consummate actress. She comes across as an utter

professional, but really the only reason she's got this far, is by screwing

her way to the top.

She's already a sort of myth at VCU.

It's so ironic, she comes off looking like some sort of genius who's also

gorgeous, while Scully, my beautiful, loving, brilliant, Scully is thought

of as a frigid, sidekick to a ghost.

Scully is a tough woman, she wouldn't have been able to survive otherwise,

but I know that this last week has really got to her.

Damn Phoebe.

She's pushing my buttons like she always did, except this time it's worse.

This time she using Scully.

This brings me to why I was here, brooding on Scully's couch, waiting for

her to come home.

There is no way that we could let this situation go on any longer. We had to

do something about it.

I could already hear Scully's arguments ( we're so in touch with each other,

that I can have an argument with her, without her even having to be here).

We can't let her bother us. I'm being the typical Alpha male. How do we

propose to get rid of her without revealing our marriage and so on.

The point was that this time, I was going to overrule Scully. I couldn't let

her talk me out of it. We had to do something, Phoebe's forced our hand,

In fact, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

Phoebe wanted the Final Battle. She always had a melodramatic streak in

her. I think she imagined it as some sort of contest, my brain pitted

against hers. Two formidable adversaries yadda, yadda, yadda. I think that

for her it's comparable to the final battle between Holmes and Moriarty.

Hope it's just her that ends up falling over the cliff.

For a supposedly brilliant woman, I don't know why she just can't see the

situation for what it is , she's a monster of a woman who I want nothing to

do with.

Before, I could continue my profile, Scully opened the door.

"Hey"

"Hey" she said almost dully.

"You sound beat"

"Well after autopysing three dead white males over the age of seventy, can

you blame me?"

Ouch, that was a bit sharp.

"I'm sorry Mulder, I don't mean to snap, it's just that it's been such a

long week, and it's only Wednesday. I want Saturday back, so it can just be

us, for the whole day, just Fox and Dana."

That did it for me.

I had only heard that tone of defeat once in Scully's voice, and that was

when she told me "Salt Lake City, Utah".

I hate that city, by the way, not even an X-File will get me to enter the

city limits with Scully, I guess I'm still afraid that she might one day

want to take up that offer.

I'm a slow learner ok?

"Scully we've got to do something, this just can't go on"

"I know. Your right."

That took the wind out of my sails. Scully had thought about the whole

thing, and realised that the only way that it would end would be to tell

Skinner.

This would mean telling him about the fact that we were married.

Shit I hope the man has a strong heart.

He could split us up, rather 'they' could split us up.

This must have been affecting Scully more than I even realised.

As many times as I had fantasised about hearing those words, "your right"

from Scully ( almost as many times as I fantasised about her saying the

words "I love you", "I want you", "I need you"... you get my drift), it just

didn't feel right. In fact I felt ,almost, pain when she said it.

I went to her, and put my arms around her.

"It'll be ok Scully, I promise."

I knew that Scully knew there was no way that I could make those promises, I

felt guilty at trying to raise her hopes.

But Scully , as usual said the one thing that made me feel that I could

deliver on those promises.

"Oh Mulder, I want to believe."

There was a husky quality to her voice, and I knew she was trying to hide

her tears from me, so that I would feel less guilty.

"Trust me Scully, please."

I had meant that to sound confident, but it hadn't come out that way.

At the mention at the word 'trust' however, I could feel Scully straighten

up, she looked me in the eye, and I knew then that she was going to be ok.

As long as we trusted in each other, nothing could get to us. Not aliens,

not the Consortium, and certainly not Phoebe Green.

"I think it's time, that we told Skinner, Mulder."

******************

Skinner's Office

10:00 am

"Agent Mulder, did you seriously think I didn't know about your little trip

to St Anne's. Believe me I didn't get this job because of my abilities to

flirt.

The Lone Gunmen may be good at covering tracks, but they're not that good.""

Mulder and Scully was so stunned by the fact that Skinner already knew that

they were married and that he seemed to know the Gunmen by their collective

title, that it took them a little while to realise that he had also made a

joke. Albeit a very lame, sick, twisted, gross joke.

"You knew sir? Why didn't you say anything about it?" Scully's voice was

beginning to get an edge to it, which was dangerous.

"Because Agent Scully, or should I call you Mulder, I hoped that both of you

could trust me."

There was so much gentle reproach in that tone, that both Mulder and Scully

felt as if they had just killed Skinner puppy.

The thought flickered through Mulder's head, and he found it so bizarre,

that he had to stop himself from laughing out loud

"So sir, to get back to our original problem, what are we going to do about

Detective Green?"

Scully was very glad that Skinner had taken the whole thing in his stride,

but she was anxious to get back to the set purpose of the meeting.

"I've decided that Detective Green's abilities are not being used to their

fullest potential amongst the X-Files, therefore, I think it only fair that

she be given a chance to show it in amongst the Violent Crimes Unit.

I have also decided, that she will be shadowing Agent Colton.

She mentioned specifically that she wanted to be involved in cases that

explored the paranormal realms, though."

Mulder and Scully weren't sure where this was going.

"Agent Colton has just received a case that would have gone to the X-Files

had you two not been on holidays."

"Sir?" Both Mulder and Scully spoke in unison. They couldn't believe it,

surely Skinner couldn't be suspending them, for what? And surely he wasn't

going to put Colton in charge of the X-Files, it didn't make sense. Both

Mulder and Scully were sure that Skinner had something up his sleeve, so

they waited anxiously for him to continue.

"Well, I'm assuming that you'll want some time for your honeymoon"

They grinned sheepishly at that. It had crossed their minds to ask, but they

felt that they had been treading on thin ice and they hadn't wanted to push

their luck.

"Before, you go, I think you may want to look at the case that Colton has

been assigned.

You've come across this kind of phenomena before, and any input you have may

help."

Both Mulder and Scully were puzzled by this.

They knew that Skinner knew Colton regarded them as jokes. They were also

sure that Skinner knew that any advice they might give would be blatantly

disregarded, so why was he adamantly pushing the file toward them?

Mulder took the file. Scully watched as his face took on an expression of

incredulity, amusement and utter awe when he finally looked Skinner.

He handed the file to her without a word.

She quickly understood why she had seen all those expressions cross Mulder's

mobile face.

This case was a genuine X-File no doubt about it. They could vouch for that.

There was another case file like this, almost a duplicate, if you wanted to

get specific.

Skinner had managed to find, the most perfect case for Phoebe and Colton to

investigate.

It was the Flukeman, or his brother.

There had been many 'incidents' throughout North Dakota which had strongly

suggested, that it was back.

Everything was the same, right down to the sewers.

Once Mulder had overcome the desire to laugh he managed to say one thing,

"Sir it's the middle of winter, I hear North Dakota can get quite bad ."

His conscience could not allow anyone, not even Colton, to wade through

god-knows-what in sub-freezing temperature, without making some half-hearted

remonstrance.

"Your point being Agent Mulder?" Apparently Skinner suffered no such qualms.

"Dismissed. I'll expect you back here in two weeks, and until then...stay

out of trouble, please."

As they were about to leave the office Scully stopped and turned around.

"Will I be seeing you at my mother's house, Friday night sir?"

At that Skinner looked almost afraid.

"I've been invited, but I don't know if I can accept yet."

For a minute Mulder was afraid of Scully's reply. He shouldn't have been.

"Please do sir. It'll be nice seeing you there, and don't worry, it won't be

anything too big, just family."

The meaning was clear for everyone in the room to hear, Skinner was now part

of the family.

"Thank you Scully, that means a lot"

"Call me Dana sir."

With that both Mulder and Scully left the office, leaving behind an

unusually emotional Walter Skinner.

*******************

Outside the Office

10:30am

"Look Mulder, I really don't mind, I think you should tell her. She's been

your demon for so long, it's only right that you should."

"Scully believe me, it'll be more fun this way. You deserve the pleasure of

taking down Phoebe Green."

"I don't see that it's very fun for you though."

"Believe me Scully, I'll have my fun. You seem to forget that there were two

agents assigned to the case, and as Senior Agent of the X-Files, I think it

only proper protocol, that I apprise Agent Colton of future events."

At that Scully smiled. She had forgotten that I hated Colton, as much as she

had hated Phoebe.

"Go, Scully. Go have some fun."

"Ok Mulder, I'll see you at home. Seven sharp, and no excuses, remember we

have a honeymoon to plan."

With that she opened the door and walked in. She always knew how to get me

home on time. As I was leaving I heard snatches of what she was saying to

Phoebe.

"Shut up and listen to me you pathetic little slut.....that's Agent Mulder

to you.....God you're dense, it means I married him you stupid little

bimbo."

Well Phoebe, you dug your own grave. You wanted to be pitted against a great

mind in a Final Battle, well Phoebe Green, meet Special Agent Dr Dana

Scully Mulder. Which reminded me, I think it was time to get her a new

nameplate, but that would do for later.

Right now I had to go meet Colton. I had been waiting for this meeting for

years. This was going to be sweet.

I had to be sure to remind him that while Flukeman wasn't actually a man,

he was most definitely gray.

Life was very good right now.