From: "adam fish" <fishadam@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Oct 1999 00:49:45 PDT
Subject: submitting a story to Gossamer New Stories
Source: direct

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, Rain King . 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.

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.

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.