Title: Y2K
Author: Thinkey
Written: October 1999
E-mail : hsimon@thezone.net
Rating: PG-13
Classification: XHRA, UST
Disclaimer: CC and Fox owns all. Song belongs to Keith Whitely.
Spoilers: FTF, All mythology episodes, Arcadia, PMP, How the ghost stole Christmas, Triangle, Small Potatoes, Dreamland.
Archive: Gossamer, everywhere else, please ask.

Summary: Mulder convinces Scully to take a trip to Colorado with him. Stranded at the cabin because of Y2K, things begin to change...

Dana Scully's apartment
December 31st, 1999 7:37AM

"Come on Scully, it'll be a nice trip to the mountains," Fox Mulder said with a smile.

Scully eyed him with a smug look.

"We, we'd be able to go skiing, and um...." He racked his brain trying to think of irrelevant activities.

He had one goal in mind: get Dana Scully up there with him.

He let go a breath of air.

"Jeez Scully, you're just not going to agree to this are you?" he asked with childlike disappointment.

Scully shook her head. "Mulder....It's New Year's Eve, Mom asked me to go up with her, Bill and Charlie are coming up and...." Her voice trailed off.

"And?" Mulder asked waiting for an answer.

"Mulder what would my family say if I decided to go with you?" she asked, knowing too well Mulder knew she generalized the question.

Mulder smiled. "You mean you're scared what Bill would say when your mother tells him that you've taken off with me," he stated.

Scully had a point at least, he thought.

Bill would kill her if he heard that!

"Mul-" She sighed, then looked down at the floor.

"Scully, think of it as...a payback for all the bad times I put you through," he assured her with a smile.

He almost had her won over.

"Ok, ok, I'll go, but only for a day. I have to be back here by tomorrow night, I have to see Charlie before he leaves," Scully stated.

Mulder nodded happily. Good."

She turned and walked into her room. "I'll get packed."

"Hurry up! And remember to pack warm clothes!" Mulder yelled as Scully disappeared into her bedroom.

YES! He twisted around doing a tiny dance. This day was definitely off to a good start!

He danced around to see Scully standing in the hallway staring at him.

"I um...started celebrating New Year's a little early today," he blurted out.

His face flushed as a tiny smile appeared on his face.

"Makes me wonder if that's all you're celebrating," Scully commented, her voice serious as she walked towards a bewildered Mulder.

She handed him her suitcases. "Here, make yourself useful."

Mulder obliged, taking the suitcase and walking out the door.

"You know Scully, I'm a lot more useful than you think I am," he stated placing her suitcase in the trunk of the car.

He closed the trunk and grinned at her.

Scully opened the car door shaking her head in amusement. "I don't think I want to know Mulder."

"Well you don't exactly give yourself the chance to know, now do you?" Mulder shot back.

He was liking this.

Scully shrugged. "I need to call my mother," she stated as she climbed into the car.

Mulder chuckled to himself and went into the car.

"Yes mom...no mom...I don't know....Definitely not! Mom! It's not like that.... Around 5PM tomorrow...ok, have a good night...bye."

Scully closed her cell phone and looked at Mulder. "What?"

"Definitely not mom?" Mulder asked with a smirk on his face.

Scully rolled her eyes and looked out the window.

Mulder shrugged. "Well if you don't want to tell me, I'll guess. Let's see..." Mulder said tapping his hands against the steering wheel.

"Mulder!" Scully shot a glance towards him.

If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under already.

"Sorry, didn't mean to hit a nerve,"Mulder apologized. Scully never replied.

He sighed, this was gonna be yet another long trip to the airport.

Kings Crossing
Fraiser Valley, Colorado
10:13AM

Scully stared in awe at the lodge before her.

"Mulder...this definitely took a big chunk out of your bank book," she said as she walked up the steps.

Mulder removed the luggage from the car and walked up towards her.

"You definitely don't want to know that," he joked, reminding her of their little exchange a few hours ago.

The rest of their trip had gone smoothly, Scully fell asleep on the plane leaving Mulder alone staring out the window.

Mulder handed Scully the key.

"Open the door there for me," he said, fumbling with the suitcases.

She unlocked the door and opened it. "Thank you."

He walked in and placed the bags on the floor.

"So, you like it?" he asked Scully.

"Like it? Mulder, this place is beautiful." She glanced at him, puzzled for a moment.

"Mulder, why would you do this? You had no need to-" Mulder placed a finger on her lips.

"Just enjoy it Scully, for once don't question it," he said.

They stood there for several moments, staring deep into each other's eyes.

"Well I guess I should go take these to the rooms," Mulder said breaking his gaze to look at the luggage beside them.

"Yeah," Scully said in agreement.

"I'll just look around down here, this place is not only beautiful, it's huge!" She smiled in excitement.

"I'll be right back," Mulder said as he brought the bags upstairs. He threw Scully's bags into her room and went into his.

This was going to be so perfect, he thought.

She loves it already and they had just walked through the door!

He dug through his suitcase trying to find the Christmas gift he had got for Scully. He smiled removing a tube shaped gift from his bag.

She would think that he got her the same "I am a believer shirt" in a tube as last year. Boy is she going to be fooled!

"Mulder!" Came the scream from downstairs. "Mulder you have to come and see this!"

Mulder smiled. Along with the gift, he ran downstairs to see what all the screaming was about.

"Oh my God!" Scully gasped almost panting.

"What's wrong Scully?" Mulder asked as he approached from behind.

"Mulder did you lose your mind!?" Scully said turning to face him.

"I don't think so...." Mulder eyed Scully questionably.

"There's a hot tub in here!" Scully exclaimed, a huge smile appeared on her face.

Mulder nodded in agreement.

"But...." Scully's smile dropped off her face suddenly, "I didn't bring a swimsuit with me."

"Don't worry about it. I have something for you," Mulder said shyly handing her the late Christmas gift.

He watched Scully as she accepted the gift.

"Mulder, you didn't have to, I mean I didn't get anything for you," she said apologetically placing the gift on the couch.

He smiled, "It's nothing. Now what do you say we hit the hills before the day disappears?" he asked.

"Sounds good," she answered fleeing the living room.

Mulder looked down at the unopened gift.

She'd have to open it later.

Scully gazed down the snow-capped hill.

"Mulder...this isn't a good time to tell you, but I've never done much skiing," she said, her voice fidgeting.

Mulder came to her side.

"I could break my neck on this," she added letting go a sigh of concern.

"Don't worry about it, just take your time going down and everything will be okay. As for me," Mulder said, a smile appearing on his face, "I'll see you at the bottom."

He took off leaving Scully alone to figure out her problems.

"Ok Dana," she said fixing her skis straight. "You can do this." She slid down the hill several feet before bringing herself to a stop.

She looked behind her and sighed. "Six feet...another half-mile to go."

Scully continued down the hill slowly but surely, hoping the hell she didn't crash.

"Left....Right....Left....Right."

Scully coaxed her legs to follow her commands.

It was a near impossible task.

And to make matters worst, she could feel the muscles at the back of her legs beginning to tense. She'll be crippled for the next week or so! Bringing herself to a stop, she looked around at the woods surrounding her.

"You know Scully, you look beautiful when you're upside down." She turned to see someone hung up backwards in the trees.

No one else but Mulder. "You gonna help me down from here or what?"

"Mulder is that you?" Scully asked.

"Yours truly," Mulder replied.

Scully began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"So much for 'seeing you at the bottom'." Scully giggled.

"You should have warned me that you meant 'the bottom of the trees'." She fell down in the snow, laughing till her stomach was sore.

"Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"How about getting me down from here?

My feet are frozen from the lack of blood flow," he said trying to free his hands from the ski poles. Scully removed her skis and went to assist her partner in distress.

"See what you get for showing off Mulder?" she asked reaching for the straps of one of the skis.

Snow fell from the limbs hitting Mulder in the face. He brushed the snow off.

"No," he answered innocently staring at Scully.

She groaned all the while trying to free Mulder of his predicament. "Of course I do Scully. I promise never to do it again," he stated smiling up towards her.

More snow fell into his face, this time burring up to his eyebrows in snow.

"Scully, can you hurry up? I'm starting to look like the Abominable Snowman!" He brushed some of the snow away from his face.

"Mulder, that's your problem, not mine," she stated removing one of the skies.

"So tell me Mulder, how long has it been since you skied?" she asked.

Mulder was reluctant to answer. "Well?" She pressed the issue.

"About four years give or take a few months," he replied after a few moments had passed.

Scully shook her head in disgust. "But I watched a lot of skiing on ESPN," he added with a smile.

"You should know better, Mulder. You could have killed yourself." Scully said removing the last ski.

Mulder dropped out the tree head-first into the bank of snow.

He rose to his feet slowly, brushing the show off himself. "Speaking of breaking your neck," he said rubbing the back of his head.

"That's your problem too," Scully said walking back to pick up her skis.

"So if you break your neck it's your problem?" Mulder asked joining her.

"No it's yours, because you got me to come here," she answered.

Mulder snickered. "Scully, you don't play fair."

"I'm not supposed to." she began walking down the hillside.

Mulder followed.

"And just what's that supposed to mean!?" he asked.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out," Scully replied.

Mulder eyes widened as a smile grew on his face.

"And what do I need to do to find out?" he asked.

He watched as Scully placed her skis on the snow and clipped her boots to them.

"Let me know if you figure it out." She winked at her partner then began skiing down the hill.

Mulder's jaw dropped as he watched her leave. He bent down to adjust his skis. Two can play this game.

"Hey Scully, care for a little race?" Mulder asked coming side-by-side with his partner.

"Mulder would you give it up...you told me to enjoy this, you should try it," Scully replied glancing at Mulder for a split second before returning her gaze to the slope.

"If you say so, Scully." He took off down the hill, leaving her in drifts.

Scully was beginning to get annoyed. "Mulder, then where are you going?" she asked, her voice rather irritated. No answer.

"That's it. When I get to the bottom of the hill, I will kill him-- if he's caught in the trees, I will leave him there to freeze.

"Finally!" Scully sighed, arriving at the end on the slope.

There were several other people around, some watching and others skiing.

She looked around, trying to spot Mulder.

As usual, he was nowhere to be found. "Why do you keep doing this to me, Mulder?" she asked herself.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Scully turned to find a old woman trying to catch her attention.

"Your boyfriend told me to tell you that he's waiting for you back at your cabin." The old woman winked, turned and disappeared into the crowd.

"Boyfriend...." Scully said to herself, debating whether or not Mulder really told the old lady that or not.

Well at least she wouldn't have to strain her legs anymore. Quickly, she returned the skies to the lodge and headed back to the cabin.

12PM

Scully walked up to the cabin looking for anything unusual. The way Mulder was behaving today, she'd have to watch out for anything.

Donk.

Scully turned to see where the sound was coming from.

Donk.

She noticed patches of white on the cabin.

Another snowball grazed her head, measuring her height.

She turned around quickly.

Her jaw dropped once she saw Mulder's head coming up over the little fort he had obviously made.

"Well you did tell me to enjoy myself," Mulder said with a smile. Another ball of snow came flying towards Scully.

"Well come on Agent, you're not gonna let an armed civilian get away with this, now are ya?" Mulder asked before ducking down behind his fort. Several snowballs catapulted towards Scully.

Scully sighed. A smile began to appear on her face as she turned to see Mulder standing up with his hands on his hips.

"Come on Scully, I'll even give you a chance."

She grabbed a handful of snow from off the railing and

formed a snowball. "Remember, Mulder, you started this," she warned.

Mulder turned and began running as Scully launched the first snowball in his direction.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Agent Scully!" Mulder exclaimed running fiercely through some three feet of soft snow.

He was getting nowhere, and Scully was gaining on him.

She had the advantage, stepping in his tracks as she chased him past the cabin into the surrounding trees.

Scully threw a snowball hitting him squarely in the back of the head.

"Take that!" she said.

Mulder staggered before collapsing into the snow.

She pounced on him pinning him down. "Now what are ya gonna do?" she asked snowball in one hand, ready to nail him at any moment.

Mulder wiggled under her, trying to get out.

She brushed some snow into his face.

"Hey!" he complained, "I had enough snow in my face today already."

"Well that's your-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's MY problem," Mulder finished the sentence.

Scully grinned. "So what are you gonna do?" she asked him again.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, face beaming.

Scully's mouth opened in surprise at his question.

"Ok...." She got up off of him.

"I want you to crawl all the way back to the cabin," she ordered.

Mulder stared at her in confusion. "What?" she asked.

"Crawl back to the cabin?" Mulder asked, making sure he understood her correctly.

She nodded.

"Why...that?" Mulder asked. This was one of the silliest things that he ever heard of!

"I don't know...just sounds funny," she answered.

Mulder smiled sarcastically rolling his eyes.

"Well get to it," she told him giving him a kick in the legs.

He got on his knees and began crawling. "No wait." She stopped him.

"What now?" Mulder asked displeased with his current situation.

"I want you to crawl...backwards," she said hesitantly.

Mulder stared at her in disbelief.

"You want me to crawl...backwards?" Scully smiled lifting her eyebrows.

He shook his head. "Only for you, Scully, only for you."

He turned backwards and began crawling.

"Just remember, Scully, I'll get you back for this."

"Yeah, right Mulder," Scully said skeptically, following him back to the cabin.

Mulder made a mental note of this, vowing to get her back. Scully gave him another kick.

"Come on, get moving. I'm getting hungry back here."

"Yes highness," Mulder said gritting his teeth.

She knew too well how to torture him.

She kicked him again.

"Ouch! Scully you know that hurts after a while."

"Don't get cranky on me, mister."

5:17PM

"But Mulder," Scully said almost begging. "It'll be fun! I've haven't been to a New Year's party in ages."

She smiled at him, her eyes pleading to go.

Mulder wasn't easy to convince, "Scully...I had something planned for this evening," he looked at her with sick puppy eyes.

Scully sighed.

"Wait!" Mulder exclaimed. "What if...what if we go to the New Year's party till say...10:30, then we can come back here?" he asked hoping she'll buy it.

"Sounds good," Scully answered turning to go upstairs. "Remember, you need to be ready by seven thirty," she added.

Mulder watched her go, seeing how beautiful she was as she walked.

Shaking the thought from his head, he decided he better go and get ready.

Wouldn't want to be late for a 'date' with the woman of his dreams.

Winter Park Fraiser Valley, Colorado

"Oops, sorry," Mulder apologized stepping around several party goers with two drinks at hand.

He was trying desperately to get back to Scully, which at the moment was proving to be a difficult task.

It seems almost everyone in Fraiser had decided to attend this party.

"Nice of you to make it back," Scully said as Mulder took his seat at the table placing the drinks down in front of her.

"How long was I gone?" he asked taking a sip of his drink.

"Ten minutes."

"Did you miss me?" Mulder teased.

"Every second."

Scully played along.

Mulder looked at his watch. "Why do you keep looking at your watch Mulder?" Scully asked.

Mulder smiled. "I'm not forgetting about ten thirty you know."

Scully leaned in, bringing herself closer to Mulder.

"What do you have planned anyway?" she asked, being most curious about his secretive plans.

"It's a surprise," Mulder answered.

Scully pouted.

"And no, Scully, no clues."

He regarded her with a look of excitement but did so with hesitance and shyness. She sensed hidden emotion.

His mannerisms gave her some idea of what he had planned, and she wasn't sure she wanted to participate.

The smiles, the innuendo, the gift, the looks...it all made sense now.

Scully tensed and looked away from Mulder. Mulder frowned, worried about her reaction.

As a slow song played in the background, he reached over and grabbed Scully's hand.

"Come on, lets dance," he said standing up from the table.

Scully stared at him, surprised by his proposal.

She thought of resisting, but Mulder's puppy face soon won her over.

She got up out of her chair and followed him on the dance floor.

He swung her around bringing her into his arms.

She remembered how he did that exact same move once, but she knew this time that there would be no way of stopping this, no way out.

Mulder brought her closer into his embrace, somewhat shocked that Scully didn't show any sort of resistance.

He closed his eyes, closing his arms behind her back.

This was his idea of contentment, Scully in his arms with no worries.

Together they swayed to the words of the song:

It's amazing how you/Could speak right to the heart/Without saying a word/You can light up the dark/Try as I could I can never explain/What it is when you don't say a thing...

The song swept into the chorus, Mulder's thoughts still resting on the first verse of the song.

How many times have they just stared at one another, trying to figure out what the other was thinking and feeling, he was sure it was countless.

Leaning back a bit to look Scully in the eye, he realized she too was caught up in the words of the song.

The smile on your face Lets me know that you need me There's a truth in your eyes Saying you'll never leave me The touch of your hand Says you catch me whenever I fall.

Scully's mind reeled in thought while listening to the words of the song.

As much as she tried to deny it, this song was hitting close to home.

She looked up at Mulder, who was already looking at her.

Another one of those wordless moments/You say it best When you say nothing at all.

She closed her eyes and wrapped herself in Mulder's embrace. The corners of his lips curled up in happiness.

Though the song fitted them perfectly, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't be like that for long.

He closed his eyes, rejoining her in their moment of contentment, free of all worries and hassles that their work brings them on a daily basis.

The song ended and most of the couples left the floor.

Mulder looked down, waiting for Scully's reaction.

"Mulder...let's just keep dancing, it's relaxing," she said without looking up.

And who was he to argue with that!?

Without comment, he rested his chin where it was before, on her auburn hair.

Time slipped away with every passing song.

Neither one moved or made any indication that they wanted to be moved during the whole time. But then as they say, 'All good things must come to an end.' Mulder's watch went off, indicating to him that it was ten thirty.

He broke away from Scully to check his watch.

"It's time for us to go," he said releasing a sigh.

To some extent he was sorry to have to ruin the moment, but he had better things planned.

"Already? It seems like we just got here," Scully said in disappointment.

"Yeah." Mulder led Scully off the floor.

Together they went to get their coats.

"So, Mulder, care to shed some light on what you have planned?" Scully asked, trying desperately to find out something.

"And what would happen if I don't go?" she added for good measure.

If Mulder knew that there was a chance she would back out of it, he'd tell her before, just so he can get her to go.

"You're not gonna make this hard, are you, Scully?" he asked, his voice dropping.

"I don't know, but I would like to know what you have planned," she stated, clear as ice sculptures they had seen on their way there.

He was growing nervous, she noted. Maybe now he'll talk.

"Scully..." Mulder begged, "It was supposed to be a surprise."

He gazed at her, hoping she'll stop the questions and just get moving.

She sighed deeply, then turned to leave.

10:47PM
Kings Crossing

"Mulder... I don't see anything new," Scully complained removing her coat. This was definitely not what she was expecting.

"You're not supposed to." Mulder smiled helping her with her coat. "Now why don't you go into the living room and open your gift," he suggested with a smile.

She smiled chastely. "In a minute, I need to go and do something," she said turning to walk upstairs.

Mulder sighed.

"Better get this over with," he told himself, making his way to the kitchen.

He sifted though the paper bag that he had ordered in earlier that day. "Here we go." Mulder lifted the bottle of red wine out of the bag and placed it on the counter.

"Please explain to me why I'm getting a strange sense of deja vu?" Scully asked standing against the door casing.

Mulder glanced at her in confusion.

"Nevermind," she commented moving towards Mulder to see what else he had in the bag.

Mulder tapped her hand down from the bag, "Can you keep anything a surprise?" he complained, rather irritated by Scully's actions to 'get to the truth'.

Scully rolled her eyes.

"Ok, Mulder."

She walked out into the hallway.

Mulder approached Scully, placing his hand on her shoulder. She pulled away, a furious look on her face.

"Scully." Mulder chuckled. "Come on...your gift," he smiled, shoving her towards the living room.

Of course now she had to play tough, "Scully, don't be stubborn now."

Scully growled, a smile on her face that Mulder couldn't see from his position. "Why shouldn't I be, you're the one who never told me anything all day."

Mulder gripped her by the ribs, bringing her down to the floor. "Because it's a surprise!" he said beginning to tickle her.

She wrestled him, trying to grab his arms.

Mulder began to laugh.

"I told you I was going to get you back," he told her.

"Mulder!" she gasped kicking her legs.

With one swift kick, she knocked Mulder off of her, sending him tumbling to the floor.

She jumped to her feet, brushing down her clothes.

Mulder turned on his side, evil smile appearing on his face. "My Scully, I never thought you were the rough kind," he said jokingly. Scully grabbed his coat, launching it into Mulder's face. "Hey! Is this some kind of mating ritual with you?" he asked, referring to their case in San Diego.

Scully began to laugh.

He crawled to his feet.

"Now, is your cranky stage passed?" he asked.

"Don't push me Mulder," Scully warned him. She walked over to the couch, about to open her gift.

He followed her.

"Remember, you can't throw me out once you've seen it," Mulder pleaded.

Scully slid her eyes towards Mulder.

Scully looked at the gift in front of her, scared to open it now.

"Ok, Mulder," she said with uncertainty.

"Do I need to take the wrapping off for you?" Mulder asked. She was sitting there staring at the gift, and frankly he was starting to grow impatient.

She smiled.

"Well?" He reached for the gift, attempting to open it.

She took the gift out of his reach, "No, I can do it," she said.

Mulder sat back on the couch.

"Well hurry up, we don't have all night," Mulder told her wondering if everything he had planned this evening was going to be this difficult.

She sighed and began the work of removing the gift wrap, which she had to say was done great, even though she doubted Mulder was the one who did it.

Removing the last piece of tape, she realized what Mulder got for her.

"You like it?" Mulder asked with a smile on his face, although he was preparing for a left hook at any moment.

"Mulder...." Scully gasped looking over the bikini suit in wonder of how Mulder could have guessed her waist size.

"I know I never brought mine...but how did you know?" she asked him in confusion.

"I know YOU, Scully," Mulder answered.

Scully blushed slightly at his comment.

"You want to try it?" he asked in curiosity.

Scully shook her head smiling. "Mulder, you never cease to amaze me," she said getting off the couch.

"I'll be down in a few minutes."

Scully walked into the room where the hot tub was.

Mulder had turned the lights down low, she noted.

Typical.

She was definitely seeing a different side of Mulder, the real Mulder.

She had to admit, she liked it.

Well, all of it except for his cocky attitude on the slopes.

She looked around, wondering where he was.

Deciding not to wait any longer, she removed her robe and went into the tub.

Nice, she thought.

This would help her aching muscles.

She closed her eyes, listening to the bubbling water.

If every day with Mulder was like this, no...she wasn't going to let her mind go there.

"Don't fall asleep on me; the fun's just starting."

Scully opened her eyes to find Mulder standing in the doorway wearing only trunks, bottle of wine and two glasses in his hands.

Wow! This night has certainly been worth every second of it.

They should definitely do this more often.

"No, I wasn't going to. Just relaxing my eyes," she said resting her arms up on the side. Mulder placed the wine down beside her and joined her.

"So how do you like it here?" he asked.

"It's quite nice," she answered sliding her eyes towards him.

"Though I suspect some ulterior motive," she added.

Mulder blushed, shy smile appearing on his face.

"Glad you like it, and you're half right. But it's not exactly what you think."

"What am I thinking Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Err...well, I don't know what you're thinking," he answered, "but you know what I mean, Scully," he added, staring deep into her eyes.

She returned the gaze knowing too well what Mulder meant: the unspoken thing.

"Hmm," Scully broke his gaze, looking away from him.

"Jeez, why is this so hard for us?" Mulder asked.

Scully remained silent.

"I mean...it's been what, seven years since we met?"

"Almost eight," Scully added.

"And in all this time we've never sat down and had a casual conversation." There, he had that much out. "I was just thinking that maybe we should get to know one another better."

Thank you God! She had been afraid he'd say something that would send her straight to the hospital for a heart attack. "I think I would like that, Mulder," Scully said.

Mulder smiled reaching for the wine, "You want some?" he asked pouring one of the glasses.

She nodded, menacing grin on her face as he handed her the glass. "What's so funny?" he asked taking a sip.

Ah, what the hell, Scully thought. It'll make good conversation. "You remember that strange sense of deja vu I mentioned earlier?" she asked.

"Well for what you told me," Mulder said sarcastically. Scully snickered at his answer.

"What was this deja vu about anyway?" he asked.

Scully sipped her wine.

"Well it wasn't actually a sense of deja vu, but this reminds me of something that happened before...." She let her voice trail off, waiting for Mulder to take the bait.

"But we've never...." Mulder looked at her in confusion.

"Well you never did ask about the night Eddie Van Blundht paid me a visit." That will get him going, Scully thought.

Mulder stared at her, stunned.

"Well are you gonna tell me about it or what?" he asked after several moments of silence had passed.

He watched Scully as she placed her glass down on the floor.

She looked up at him and smiled.

He had a strange feeling that this was going to be a long story.

Mulder splashed water into Scully's direction, "Face it, Scully, you would have kissed him if I hadn't broken the down the door!" he said laughing.

Scully was laughing that hard she spilled some of her drink in the water.

"Mulder, I would have done no such thing!" She protested, splashing water in his direction.

"It didn't look that way to me, Agent Scully!" Mulder teased trying to stop the water from hitting his face.

"Mulder!" Scully laughed.

Mulder lunged towards Scully, hitting her with even more water than ever before.

Some got caught in her throat and she began to cough. "Mulder...[cough]...stop it...[cough] or I'll...[cough]."

"Or you will what?" he asked, smiling from ear to ear. Scully was still coughing and couldn't seem to stop.

"There," she said, forcing herself not to cough again.

Boy can hot water do bad things to you.

"Are you ok?" Mulder asked concerned.

"I'm ok, Mulder," she answered, growing very aware of his hand resting on her cheek.

She looked into his eyes, they were now soft, deep, dark.

It made her stomach churn.

He caressed her skin for what seemed like an eternity, just studying her reaction.

He leaned forward, placing his free hand beside her.

His head sunk closer to hers, invading her personal space.

He moved his hand from her cheek to gently touch her chin, his lips a mere half inch from hers.

Suddenly, blackness.

Silence.

"What happened?" Scully asked, feeling Mulder pull away.

"It seems the power went out. Stay here," he answered.

She heard him make his way out of the water and into the other room. "Everything's out it seems like, there's not a light anywhere in sight," he told her.

"That's strange...I wouldn't expect the power to go out on a beautiful night like this," Scully said.

"Yeah, strange."

Scully noticed a light in the other room. Mulder had found a flashlight.

She got out the water, and put on her robe.

"Are there any candles around?" Scully asked coming over to find Mulder.

"I think there are some in the closet upstairs," he answered. Scully took off upstairs. Mulder dug around looking for his cell.

He pressed power, and watched as garbled mass of numbers, letters, and symbols danced across the display. "What the...."

He tossed the phone on the couch and began looking for a radio.

Scully returned with several candles in hand.

"What are you looking for Mulder?" Scully asked placing the candles on the table.

"A radio."

"Did you try your cell?"

"Yeah....it doesn't work. I don't think it likes me anymore," he said sarcastically.

"Wow, whatever is going on here, it's big," Scully commented.

"Shit!" Mulder said suddenly turning his search for something else.

"What is it Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Scully, I need a watch," Mulder said digging through his coat pocket. He hauled his own out and checked the time.

"Scully, it's after twelve."

"Oh my god...." Scully stared at him in shock.

Mulder nodded. "Y2K."

"Mulder if it has done this much corruption...." Scully's voice trailed off.

"...we're stuck here..." Mulder informed her.

"...with no way out," Scully added.

Later That Night

Mulder stoked the fire, trying desperately to get the fire burning. Making fires was not one of his strong points.

He leaned back against the couch after placing the poker in the stand.

Scully came around from behind with a candle at hand.

"I see you finally got the fire burning," Scully said placing the candle on the coffee table in front of them.

Mulder sighed.

They say in silence staring at the fire, which had finally decided to burn.

They had since changed into warmer clothes, in case they wouldn't find anything to start the fire.

"Well I guess I'm not gonna get to see Charlie again this year," Scully said, disappointment in her voice.

"Sorry," Mulder apologized.

Somehow he doubted that she'll want to face Bill after her mother told him where she and her partner had taken off to Colorado for no right or wrong reason.

"It's nothing."

"So what does Charlie look like? I've never met him before," Mulder asked, wondering if he looked like his brother.

Hopefully he didn't carry the same horrible opinion of his sister's partner like his older brother did.

"Charlie looks a bit like me, actually." She smiled shyly. "I think I have a picture of him in my purse," Scully said reaching for her coat, which was hanging over the back of the couch. Removing the purse, she opened it in search for the picture. "Here." She handed him the picture. Scully was right, he did look a lot like her.

"So this is the brother that I've never met," Mulder said smiling.

She in turn smiled too.

"You know I haven't seen him in like...four years. The last time was at one of my cousins' wedding," she said, her mind obviously deep in thought.

Mulder felt rotten for dragging her up here.

Of all the time a possible country shutdown had to happen.

"Scully." Mulder sighed. "Now you're making me feel bad," he said passing her the picture.

"Don't be Mulder, you didn't know this would happen. It's just one of those things you can't control," she assured him with a smile.

He gaze slowly returned to the flickering light of the fire.

Mulder nodded. "Faith."

Her gaze quickly returned to him.

"I was just thinking about something," he said, his voice low.

"What?" Scully asked crouching her knees up close as she turned to face him.

"Just about the last eight years...and how things have changed, I mean, you hated me when we first met, you were ready to send me flying out of the Bureau the first chance you'll get," he answered shaking his head in thought.

"And look at us now."

Scully laughed, "Well please tell me what has changed Mulder?" She jokes, smile from ear to ear.

He chuckled, "It's scary to think about what life will be like in say ten years."

Scully lifted her eyebrows, nodding in agreement.

"I mean...will I still have the same job? Will I have finally found what I've been looking for all my life?" Mulder paused, thinking. "Will we still be good friends?" he added turning his gaze to stare deep into her eyes.

Scully hesitated biting her bottom lip.

"Mulder...." she began, unsure of how to say this.

"I sincerely believe that after all we've been through together, nothing will ever come between us, no matter how big," she stated.

Well except for Diana Fowley, Scully thought.

No, she'll kill Diana before she'll let THAT come between her and Mulder.

"Even if I get transferred to the far reaches of Russia working as a spy for the government?" he asked, humorous tone in his voice.

Scully snickered. "Somehow I doubt, Mulder, that you'll even consider taking an assignment like that," she said tapping him on the shoulder.

"Well you're probably right," he said chuckling.

"But what if you change professions and decide to go be a doctor, wouldn't that change a lot for us?" Mulder asked growing insecure and uneasy just thinking about this possibility.

They stared at each other.

Scully was at a loss for words, "Um...Mulder," she said, thinking of what to say. "We could always get together at time you know." She stopped, smiling to herself. "Mulder, why are we even talking about this, it's what might happen ten years from now." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, but look what happened to us last year," Mulder stated looking deep into her eyes.

Scully looked away, returning her gaze to the fire.

"Mulder, the X-Files were closed down, there was nothing left at the FBI for me. To me, it looked like a good choice."

Mulder watched her, he knew she was scared to meet his eyes. "Scully," he began knowing this was going to take some nerves on his part. "If...back then, if you would have left, I wouldn't have continued to work with the FBI, I wouldn't have had the courage to continue." Her head turned slowly, to meet his gaze yet again. "Scully-Dana, you've kept me going the past eight years, without you...God knows where I'll be," he finished.

Wasn't as bad as he thought.

Scully sat before him, at lost for words.

She reached for his hand, knowing that it will only give him small comfort.

Moments passed, the only movement throughout the room was Scully's thumb caressing Mulder's hand.

"Mulder...." Scully sail silently.

"Fox," he corrected her.

Sudden shock wrecked over her.

She removed her hand from his, tensing a bit.

This action never escaped Mulder's eye.

"It's late," Scully said looking at her watch. "I think we should get some sleep."

Rising from the floor, she took the candle with her.

Mulder gritted his teeth as he watched her leave.

Every time he got close, she pushed him away, it was like a game of squash.

He didn't feel like walking upstairs and having to sleep just one wall away from her. Sheepishly, he crawled up on the couch.

Staring at the fire, he wondered what tomorrow will bring.

Kings Crossing, Colorado
January 1st, 2000 7:49AM

Ring.

Mulder shifted on the couch, trying to ignore the sounds that were going through his head.

Ring.

He opened his eyes slowly, wondering what the hell was making that sound.

Ring.

Phone.

Mulder got up off the couch and went in search for the phone.

"Hello?" he asked, picking it up.

Obviously only the cell phones were out.

"Agent Mulder, thank God. I thought I would never be able to reach you." It was Skinner...who sounded extremely worried.

"Yes Sir, what is it?" Mulder asked wondering what the assistant director was doing contacting him.

Computer problems weren't his strong suit.

He frowned as Skinner explained the whole situation to him.

"Mulder, the country's gone into total shock, they weren't expecting this happen. At least not to these extents.Marshal law has been implemented into the major cities. The President is supposed to address the public later today, we don't know what's in store."

"Wow...any information on how the other major countries are handling it?" Mulder asked, trying to understand this situation as fully as possible.

"Yeah, Russia, China, England, Canada, they're all in the same shape as us. The first signs of the Y2K crash were reported in New Zealand, since that everything's been horrible. Iraq's threatening to take advantage of the situation and attack the major countries."

"Ok...I'll try to be back to DC as soon as possible," Mulder said, about to hang up the phone.

"One more thing, do you know where Agent Scully is? I tried contacting her mother, but I couldn't get though," Skinner asked.

Mulder hesitated. "She's here with me."

"Well I suggest that you two drop any of today's plans and head back here. We're gonna need you." The phone went blank.

Mulder hung up the phone, sighing in relief that Skinner never went into some acute medical condition after hearing that Scully was to a mountain lodge with him during the holidays.

But then again, that wasn't Skinner's main worry at the moment.

"What's going on?" Scully asked emerging from upstairs, still groggy from sleep.

"We have to go," Mulder said passing her to go upstairs.

"Where?" Scully asked, in the dark about Mulder's intentions.

"Skinner called, we're needed back to DC. The country's in worse shape than Germany was after the second world war," he said disappearing around the corner.

Scully gasped at what Mulder had just told her. "You're not serious?" she asked following him upstairs.

"That's what Skinner tells me. He says the President will be giving a speech later on today to address the situation," Mulder said from in his room.

Suitcase came flying out the door landing in the hallway. Scully jumped back from the flying luggage, not believing the news she had just heard.

"That's incredible. So the country wasn't expecting this kind of effects?" she asked, going into her room to get changed.

"Obviously not.... Though it could have been a planned and orchestrated event," Mulder answered grabbing their luggage and running downstairs with it.

Scully came jogging behind, trying to button up her shit.

"What are you suggesting Mulder? That the government planned this? For what?" she asked bewildered that Mulder would even come up with such a crazy theory at this time.

"It would explain why the other countries are having the same problems we are," Mulder said opening the door. Scully followed him out. "Something someone once told me made me think of this," he added.

"Mulder...if we're having trouble, it's a little obvious why the other countries are having trouble, it's because we're using the same technology. It's, It's all dependent on computers."

Scully tried to sink that little bit of information in his head.

"But they weren't expecting to have to enforce marshal law in all the major cities, not to mention all the other problems that arised. Skinner don't even know what the government has planned," Mulder answered trying to prove his point.

He popped the luggage into the trunk.

"This could be it Scully," he said making his way to the door of the car.

"Is what?" Scully asked as they entered the car.

"The colonization is beginning Scully," Mulder stated revving up the car.

"Mulder, you have got to be kidding me. Can't you just go for the simple explanation, that-that the countries underestimated the destructiveness on Y2K, and now they're struggling to keep everything together?" Scully tried to reason with him, keep him on 'normal' ground till they arrived back to DC.

"Scully, you're not seeing this," Mulder complained.

"'It will happen on a holiday, when people are away from their homes. When are elected officials are at their resorts or out of the country. The President will declare a state of emergency, at which time all federal agencies, all government, will come under the power of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, the secret government.'" he quoted Alvin Kurtzweil.

Scully sat, staring at him in disbelief. "Mulder where the hell did you get that from?" she asked.

"Alvin Kurtzweil," Mulder answered.

Scully scoffed in disbelief. "What is it?" he asked.

"You really believe that man? Mulder that even worst than your theories I mean the chances of that happening are...." her voice trailed off.

"About as much chance as bees being the carrier of the disease? Pollen being genetically altered to produce it? You ending up in Antarctica because of a disease that YOU got from a bee?" Mulder challenged her argument.

She looked at him seriously considering what he had just told her.

"You see what I'm saying Scully?" he asked.

"I think so...but Mulder, what can we do about it, we're only two people," Scully stated, trying to make him see the truth: that there wasn't much they could do. "That's even if this wild theory of yours is true." She turned and gazed out the window.

"Two people who seem to scare the people who are in charge of The Project to death," Mulder added looking in her direction.

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Scully looked at him, flabbergasted, "Mulder!? Get a grip...at least till we get back to DC and we get the full story on this? I mean you're running WAY ahead of yourself here," she told him, giving him the look he knew too well.

He sighed, "Ok, Scully. But I'm certain that this is what it is."

He cut the wheel at the overpass, hitting for the highway.

Washington DC
4:36PM

Mulder busted through AD Skinner's door with Scully following. "Did we miss the President's speech?" Mulder asked coming around to see a TV on in the top right corner of the office.

"No, he's just about to give it," Skinner informed the agents.

They took a seat at the table in the office.

"Is there any word on what he's going to say?" Scully asked.

Skinner shook his head.

She looked at Mulder who in turn was looking at her, with a look that told her his explanation of the matter was right.

She sighed and returned her attention to the TV.

"My fellow Americans, I regret to inform you that circumstances surrounding the Y2K computer bug were highly underestimated."

Scully shot a look at Mulder.

He smiled slightly silently telling her that it's not over yet. "Our major cities are in chaos and shock. Marshal law had to be implemented in most of these cities. I have regarded this crisis closely and I've decided that there's only one way to solve this problem quickly, and with the least amount of casualties as possible. I'm transferring all government agencies under the control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until further notice. Please, do not be alarmed by this sudden change, I'm doing this for you, the American people. I will address you later on the matter at hand. Thank you."

Mulder's head slumped in between his hands.

Scully sat in shock, contemplating on what the President of the United States had just said.

She turned to look at Skinner.

He too, was at a loss for words, tapping his fountain pen against a case file.

Mulder turned to look at Scully, "This is it, it's beginning."

Scully couldn't answer.

Language was something that seemed to be incomprehensible at the moment.

"What's beginning?" Skinner asked confused by Mulder's reaction to the Presidential address.

"The beginning of the end," Mulder said, speaking in riddles.

Skinner frowned in confusion. "The end of what?"

"The end of us, the end of the world. Alien colonization will begin today! And no one knows it," Mulder answered.

Skinner grew rather irritated by Mulder's reaction. "What? Mulder have you lost your mind?" he asked noticing that Mulder was growing nervous and idle.

"Sir...." Scully said finally, not making eye contact with either one of them, simply staring at the wood finish on the table.

"I believe what Agent Mulder is telling you is right," she finished.

Skinner's jaw dropped. "You mean...this is for REAL. Not the conspiracy theory of the week?!" he asked.

Mulder nodded.

"What can we do about it?" Skinner asked, hoping the Bureau's Spooky Mulder will have all the answers.

"At the moment, we can't do a DAMN thing to stop it," Mulder answered pacing the floor.

One question was on his mind at the moment, which country will the colonization begin in?

Skinner sat in thought for a few moments.

"But how could they have done something so big as this, most of the consortium was burned in that hanger in Virginia, lucky if there's even five members left."

"Well maybe CGB Spender has friends in low places, he could have burned those people to proceed with The Project at a faster pace, maybe even to have it done before Y2K came into effect. That way they'd have something to blame it on. Make it look like a major computer problem, where somewhere in the world at THIS moment, alien colonization has begun," Mulder blurted out.

For some reason what Mulder had said made perfect sense to Scully. Well there's a first time for everything.

She noticed that Mulder was going into a total paranoid state, not good.

"Mulder I think you should calm down, so we can look at this in a rational manner," Scully said approaching Skinner's desk.

Mulder took a seat to the desk, mind reeling.

"Is there a rational manner of looking at this?

We don't even know how long it will take them to colonize the entire planet! It could be months, years, but then again it could be hours...or minutes. We need to do something and fast," Mulder said looking at both Skinner and Scully. Silence fell between the three agents. "Well?" Mulder asked.

"Sir is there anyway of convincing the head of the bureau to disallow the take-over from FEMA, that way at least we'd have something to work with," Scully suggested, trying to be rational about this.

"I can try...but convincing them that Mulder's theory is true might take some doing. That even if they aren't already working for the consortium," Skinner said, with a little doubt in his voice.

He debated weather or not this will be a good thing to go and do.

"Yeah, I think it'll work."

Scully gave a sigh of relief.

There was still hope in this yet.

She looked at Mulder, who was still in deep thought.

"Mulder?" she asked.

"Scully, come on, there's someone I want to talk to. They might have some idea of where we can begin," Mulder said getting up from the chair.

"Good luck with convincing them, Sir," he said before passing the door.

Scully looked at Skinner cocking an eyebrow.

"Guess I'd better go before I lose him." Scully got up and left the room leaving Skinner there in wonder of what Mulder had up his sleeve.

He tapped his pen against the papers concentrating on the present task at hand: Convincing his superiors to believe a theory that aliens were coming to colonize the Earth.

Which was thought up by Fox Mulder no less.

This will take every string of persuasion he had left in him.

Not to mention that he has to convince them to go on as a renegade agency without letting them know that the FBI knows about FEMA's plan to help the aliens colonize the Earth. He thought that over again...trying to keep every step in mind.

He sighed. Time to call in the superiors.

Frohike lifted the keyboard up in the air, inspecting it closely.

"Piece of shit." He tossed it up in the air giving it a swift kick.

Almost nothing worked, it was like everything was programmed with an automatic shutdown or something.

Only one of their computers worked, the new Dell computer that had bought about 4 months back, though only the Linux operating system worked, Microsoft failed like the rest of this now useless junk.

He couldn't shake the idea that this might be a conspiracy between computer companies.

Knock-Knock.

Frohike frowned dropping the mouse on the floor.

Who could be banging at the door at this time of evening, Mulder was supposed to be in Colorado with Scully.

That thought made him cringe.

He stepped up to the door, and began unlocking the many locks.

Knock-Knock.

"Wait a minute, jeez people can be so impatient these days," he mumbled to himself. Opening the door three inches, he came face to face with Mulder.

"Yeah, especially when the world is ending behind your ass," Mulder said pushing his way into the room.

He was followed shortly after by Scully.

"What do you mean, 'the world is ending'?" Frohike asked kicking the keyboard out of the door's way.

Byers and Langly appeared from one of the back rooms wondering what was going on.

"Y2K, we suspect it's been caused by the secret government," Mulder said taking a seat in one of the few empty chairs.

Scully stood up against the shelf listening.

"No way, how did you come up with that?" Langly asked.

"Something someone once told me about FEMA taking over the government," Mulder stated looking at the state the Gunman's office was in, it was a little worst than usual. "I see you've been having troubles here too." Frohike shrugged tossing a digital camera to the pile in the corner. "You guys have anything on that?" Mulder asked.

Frohike dug behind a computer trying to remove the printer, "This...is...definitely not a happy...new...year."

The wire finally let go sending Frohike to the floor.

He rose slowly, trying to catch his breath. "I hate this year."

Langly looked at Byers.

Byers looked at Mulder.

"Well before this happened we received a tip from one of our contacts in Utah. He said that there's been a heightened amount of UFO sightings in the area recently."

"Why Utah?" Mulder asked confused why Utah out of all the states.

"You didn't hear? Area 51 in Nevada, it was polluted with radiation several months ago. And according to our friend Morris Fletcher, well they manufacture it in Utah...so we're guessing that where they moved," Byers informed Mulder.

This confused the hell out of Scully: who was Morris Fletcher?

"Who's Morris Fletcher?" Mulder asked, thinking that this person must have BIG connections.

"You don't know? He was the guy who looked like you. There was some kind of time warp while you and Scully were in Nevada following a source. Scully brought him here along with the flight recorder to figure out how to get you back in your body." Mulder stared at Byers for several moments, wondering what to say.

Trip to Nevada? Time warp? This Morris fellow looking like him? Now he knew that the Gunman had lost it, they finally passed the point of being paranoid.

"How come I don't remember any of that?" Scully asked in confusion.

The Gunman looked at the two agents.

Great, now everyone was confused. Langly shook it off.

"Anyway they're supposedly in Utah, so if you want to start somewhere, that'd be the place."

"Guys...Utah is a big place...can you be more specific?" Mulder asked getting up from the chair.

Byers dug through several papers. "Here's the contact in Utah, he can be reached at this address," Byers said handing Mulder the paper.

"Thanks," Mulder said putting the paper in his pocket. He headed to the door.

Scully shrugged at Frohike, Byers and Langly following Mulder out the door.

Southwest Utah

"Mulder you've been driving for what? Six hours now. I think it's time you took a break and rested," Scully suggested.

She had rested on the long ride back to the western part of the country, he had not.

"Scully, we soon be there, I can make it," he said running his hand over his face.

"Yeah, and you'll collapse once we arrive, then what's the good of you?" Scully asked, trying to make her point as clear as possible.

Mulder sighed pulling the car off to the side of the road.

"Thank you."

Scully got out the car, the frigid wind hitting her the second she opened the door.

"Scully, just turn off at the next intersection, that's what the map says," Mulder said resting his head up against the window.

"Who would have thought we'd be back on the western side the country 24 hours later?" Mulder asked, smiling to himself.

"In our line of work I suspect anything," she answered quickly looking towards him.

"And after what I've been though with you, the less plausible the story, more of a chance it will happen."

Mulder chuckled before closing his eyes.

It never took long till he was sound asleep.

Scully had spent about one full hour trying to find this 'house' they were looking for.

Come to find out it was shaped more like a barn than a house! She pulled up in the driveway, making sure not to park it in a puddle of mud.

She reached over, shaking Mulder's shoulder. "Come on Mulder, wake up, we're here."

Mulder opened his eyes slowly, trying to figure out his surroundings. "We're here?" he asked straightening up in his seat.

A few hours sleep didn't really help him much.

"Yeah," Scully answered.

Mulder made an attempt to get out of the car, but he was stopped by Scully.

"Mulder, if you're tired...I just think you should rest before you get yourself into anything," Scully said in concern for her partner.

"Hmm...Scully, I can't. With every passing moment, they could be moving, destroying the Earth bit by bit. I don't know that for sure, but I can't stop for myself knowing that I can make a difference," he rambled on, sleep deprivation gaining on him.

She sighed.

"Mulder, I really think you should rest. Come on Mulder, maybe you'll be able to catch some sleep in the house," she said trying desperately to get him to co-operate. She could use some sleep herself. Mulder sighed.

"Let's go." She opened the door and exited the car.

Mulder wasn't far behind.

Upon knocking to the door, they stood there on the steps waiting for someone to answer.

Scully felt like she was visiting the Lone Gunman.

The door opened revealing a suspicious face through the crack of the door.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

Mulder pushed Scully aside, ready to explain everything.

"Oh, Agent Mulder!"

He swung the door open, ushering them inside from the cold.

The look of surprise on Mulder's face did not escape Scully.

"You know me?" Mulder asked.

The man was eccentric.

"Of course I know you! The Lone Gunman talk about you all the time."

Mulder snickered to himself.

"And this must be your partner Dana Scully," he said extending his hand.

"And you are?" Scully asked returning the handshake.

"Oh, I'm Stephen," he answered.

"Stephen...?" Mulder asked, trying to get his last name.

Sleepiness was causing his eyes to close in on themselves.

Coffee would be good at this moment.

"Um...I don't like...giving my last name, you know." Stephen hesitated, hoping they'll understand.

Mulder nodded in understanding.

"So why are you two here?" Stephen asked.

"We believe Y2K is a plot in the colonization of Earth," Mulder answered. Stephen lifted is eyebrows, shocked as hell to hear this.

"We need you to bring us to the secret base," Mulder explained.

"Now?" Stephen asked looking down at himself.

Blue boxers and a tank top, which was on crooked.

He brown hair tangled all the way down to his shoulders.

"As soon as you can, sooner the better," Mulder answered.

Scully shot him a look, warning him that he should grab some rest.

Mulder shook his head, telling her that there's no time.

"Ok, you're going to have to give me a few minutes to get ready. You two should change into something warmer, it's a three-mile walk through dessert and mountain terrain."

Stephen took off into the other room.

Mulder returned outside to grab the day grip he had packed in a hurry before they left DC.

Scully followed him.

"Mulder I really believe you should get some rest," she told him.

It didn't look like he was going to listen.

"Scully," Mulder said.

There was no need to give her the same ramblings yet again.

Scully sighed heavily, rather irritated with him.

"Time to take a walk in the mountains," he said removing the grip from the car.

Scully rolled her eyes.

Here they go again.

The light of dawn was starting to show itself by the time they had arrived to the end of a dirt road.

It had took about two hours driving through a desert highway.

Mulder had time to drink down several cups of coffee.

He looked awake now, well at least till the caffeine wore off.

They started walking in silence, following Stephen across the dessert land. There was enough light now to see where they were going.

Scully could pick out a hill in the distance.

All was heard was the sound of footsteps on the sandy dessert.

This level of silence gave her the chance to reflect on the events which have transpired the past two days.

Their life was anything but plain and boring, that was for certain.

But this scared her, that what she didn't like about it.

After her last big experience with The Project, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be involved with this.

Then again, how could she abandon Mulder?

He had opened up to her at the lodge, told her what would happen if she left. Being who she believed to be one of the world's last chances, she couldn't abandon him and wait to die along with the rest of the world.

She cared too much for him.

Wondering about what they'll find to the secret base, she tried to figure out why 'here'. That connection escaped her at the moment.

But Mulder seemed fairly sure about this, so she would follow.

They arrived to the base of the hill.

"It's about another mile from here, just up and over this hill and a little further till we arrive to the border of the base," Stephen said turning to begin climbing the red eroded rock.

The sun had now begun to show its face, casting wondrous shadows upon the dessert floor.

Scully followed behind Mulder, her hands growing cold from gripping the rocks.

Mulder looked behind to see how his partner was doing.

She was climbing bare handed.

She must have forgot to pack her gloves.

He stopped on one of the rock ridges, waiting for Scully to catch up with him.

"Here," Mulder said removing his gloves.

He handed them to her.

"You don't have to Mulder, I'm ok," Scully said, refusing to take the gloves.

"Take them, Scully," Mulder begged, arm still extended with the gloves.

He looked at her with tenderness all his own.

Knowing that Mulder wouldn't let her continue if she resisted, she reached for the gloves.

"Thanks," Mulder said making sure she was ahead of him when climbing the rest of the way.

They reached the top several minutes after Stephen.

"So this is it?" Mulder asked looking down towards several gray buildings with an extra long airstrip.

There was no visible activity from the mountain top.

"They don't look too busy down there," Mulder commented.

"Yeah, from the looks of things, they don't keep a full staff here at all times, just security.

This base was built here recently, it was supposed to be above top secret," Stephen explained.

"But you found it," Mulder guessed.

"Yeah, when I was up here hiking last Summer. Been coming up here frequently ever since...just observing." Mulder nodded, not taking his eyes off the base.

"But I guess you two want to go all the way," Stephen added.

"It's the only way...we have to try," Mulder said looking for the easiest way to get down the hill.

"What do you expect to find down there?" Stephen asked, following Mulder. He read Scully's mind.

"Someway to stop it," Mulder replied.

That made Scully wonder where they'll end up next.

Dallas to Antarctica, Utah to...?

Greenland?

Easter Island?

The Moon?

Anything was possible.

Next thing she'll know they'll be catching a ride to Proxima Centuri.

The sun had since risen.

They must have been walking for at least ninety minutes now, the fence of the base was now in sight.

Mulder began to jog, Scully and Stephen followed.

He stopped to the wire fence, looking up at the coiled barbwire above the fence.

Climbing over was not an option. Taking out a pair of wire cutters, he clipped a hole in the fence, just big enough for them to fit through. "Mulder, if we get caught in there," Scully warned. "We're not gonna get caught," Mulder answered with confidence.

He crawled through to the other side.

"You two coming?" he asked.

Scully sighed rolling her eyes. "Well it's either that or kill you here," she joked, bending down to crawl under.

"No debate from me," Stephen said following Scully. Mulder looked in the direction of the base.

"This place is not small, it has to be about another half mile walk till we even get to the airstrip," he said taking in the size of the place.

Scully came up beside Mulder, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

The wind had started to pick up, gusting down off the near-by mountain. "Mulder quicker we get into this place, the quicker we get out."

Scully looked up at him, hint of worry on her face.

Mulder reached out and placed a hand on her arm, in his own way reassuring her that they'll be alright. Scully looked down towards the ground. "It won't happen again, Scully. Don't worry about it," he whispered.

She gave him a chaste smile.

"Let's get moving," he said turning around.

They started walking at a faster pace.

Mulder gazed at his watch.

7:45.

A day and a half...how much could they have done in a day and a half.

He shuddered at the thought. The wind picked up suddenly, stopping all three in their steps.

Scully looked up.

"Mulder...." Mulder shifted his gaze up. "Oh my God," Stephen said in awe.

There it was, just hanging over them, plain as day.

Mulder's jaw dropped in fascination at the object hovering over them.

Several colored lights blinked in unison, making circles around the bottom of the craft. "It's...it's unbelievable," Scully said, not turning her gaze off the craft. "That's what I've been telling you all along Scully," Mulder told her.

The craft was turning slightly, Mulder suspected it had something to do with the gravity.

It remained above them for several minutes, hovering silently before it zapped off towards the buildings in the distance. Mulder, Scully and Stephen stood there, watching the object several minutes after it left them.

It was hovering over the buildings now.

They watched as one of the buildings opened it's roof receiving the craft. Mulder tugged on Scully's arm sleeve.

"We have to get there.

Now!" he said taking off running. Scully stood still for several seconds, still in shock, "What?" she asked turning to look at him.

He was gone.

"Jesus."

Scully began chasing him, dodging the shrubs covered with a slight powder of snow.

Mulder was by no means a easy man to catch. Mulder ran with all his strength, having totally forgot about the two other people following behind him. This was it...they will find some kind of lead here.

He was certain of it.

He staggered down into a slight dip in the ground. "Damn."

He regained his footing, making his way up the other side. He stopped suddenly, for several moments he just stared at the oncoming jeeps and helicopters.

This was not good.

"Oh SHIT!"

He turned quickly, making his way down and out of the dip.

"We have to turn back, we're being chased!" Mulder exclaimed speeding up his stride.

Scully and Stephen turned around, following Mulder back to the now distant fence. "Mulder, wait up!" Scully screamed, running as quick as she could.

"Come on Scully!" Mulder encouraged her.

He looked behind, to see how far she was tailing him.

Not too bad, she could make it.

He continued running full pelt, not bothering to look behind. Scully struggled to keep up behind Mulder.

She turned her head looking behind.

Stephen had fallen, he must have been hurt.

She hesitated for a moment, slowing down a bit to go back and help him.

But there was no time. Giving up on him, she kept running. Mulder could hear the roar of the helicopters coming behind him.

As he approached the fence, he dove under it, not wasting no time.

Getting back to his feet, the scrambled up the hill before him.

He looked behind, Scully had made it to the other side the fence, but Stephen was nowhere to be seen. Making his way to the top of the hill, he began climbing down the rocks, waiting for Scully to appear above him at any moment.

"Come on Scully, where are you?" he asked aloud.

He waited at the bottom of the cliff for about fifteen minutes, still no sign of her. He debated weather or not to return and search for her...find Scully and lose his chance to save the world...or leave Scully behind to who knows what?

He sighed hating to make this decision.

He turned and continued running towards where they had left the car.

FBI Edquarters, Washington, DC
One Week Later

Mulder sat, head clasped into his hands.

Skinner emerged out of his office, walking towards him.

Mulder extended his hands in front of him, voice filled with emotion, "I looked Sir, I looked. The...base, it-it was destroyed when I went back to look." He looked up at Skinner, his eyes filling with tears. "She's gone sir, Scully is gone." His head hunched down, returning between his hands.

Skinner sighed.

"I'm sorry, but we can't worry ourselves about that now." Mulder shifted his gaze towards Skinner, the sadness and lost wavering on his face.

"We um...come in here with me," Skinner said walking towards his office.

Mulder sighed, gathering the courage to move.

Finally, he followed Skinner into the office.

"What is it sir?" Mulder asked taking a seat in the chair, his mind a hundred miles away.

"We um...did some checking with other countries around the world. The news is not good."

Skinner took a seat, looking through his desk for a paper. "The Foreign Affairs Minister for Canada says they lost contact with their western state, British Columbia, and that they're slowly losing contact with the northern part of Alberta."

Mulder eyes lighted up in horrid surprise.

"What?"

"Just what I said Mulder, they don't know what's causing it, the people there are frightened for their lives, most are moving east of the country towards Manitoba and Ontario," Skinner explained handing Mulder a piece of paper.

"Russia has also reported losing contact with the north-eastern part of the country, Siberia and so on. They say it's now coming close to Moscow. Same for the south part of China, Australia, South America and Northern Africa."

Mulder nodded, examining the paper closely.

"This is a list of all the places effected, isn't it?" He looked at Skinner.

"We lost contact with California, Nevada and most of Arizona."

"Yeah, we don't know what it is, the people are running for their lives, and the military..." Skinner's voice trailed off.

"What about the military?" Mulder asked.

"No one knows what's going of with them," Skinner replied. "The base that you seen, that you say is now destroyed. You were probably seeing the beginnings of whatever the hell silenced California, consider yourself lucky you got out of there," he added.

Mulder sat in thought. "Sir, I'll need some time to look over this," he said waving the paper in the air. "But right now I have something more important to do."

Mulder left Skinner's office, leaving the curtains swinging in the breeze.

Skinner shrugged wondering what the hell Mulder was going to do now.

Margaret Scully residence
10PM

Mulder knocked on the door, waiting for a reply.

This wasn't going to be easy.

No one had notified Scully's mother of her disappearance, and most likely they didn't know what was going on.

The door opened, Mulder stared in surprise at the man in front of him.

Things couldn't get any worse.

"What do you want?" Bill Scully said harshly, hating the sight of Mulder on the front steps.

"I'm um...here to talk to Dana's mother," Mulder stated, hoping Margaret will come to the door at any second. "I have something I need to tell her."

Bill eyed Mulder suspiciously.

"Where is Dana anyway? I thought she was gone to Colorado with you?" he asked, the words sounded raw as spoke.

"That's what I'm here to talk about," Mulder said, breaking eye contact with Scully's older brother.

This was not going good.

Bill opened the door to let Mulder in.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. By the sound of things, I don't think I'm going to like what I'm going to hear."

Bill left the door and went back into the house.

Mulder walked into the porch as Margaret came around the corner.

"Fox, what is it?" she asked, prepared to hear the worst.

When Fox Mulder shows up to her door, it's never for a good cause.

She noticed that he was hesitating.

"Fox, what happened?" she asked now knowing something happened to Dana, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Dana's lost Mrs Scully. We-we went to Utah on a lead, and we were chased by the military and-and she didn't make it,." Mulder blurted out, with some difficulty.

He watched as Margaret gasped in shock.

"You bastard!" Bill said coming in the porch, furious.

Mulder jumped in shock as he pushed his mother out of the way.

He grabbed Mulder by the shoulders, pinning him to the wall. "What the hell were you thinking. I always knew you would get her killed!"

He let go Mulder, fists clenched. Mulder stood there, unable to move.

Another man came running into the porch.

"Bill what the hell do you think you're doing?" He grabbed Bill, and restrained him, which was a difficult task for the smaller man.

Bill tried to escape from the man's restraint, with no success.

"Stop it Bill!"

Mulder's heart raced, though glad the man, who he recognized as Charlie came to his rescue.

Margaret stood there in shock over what had just transpired.

Charlie moved Bill away from Mulder.

"Leave the man speak!" Charlie said towards his brother.

"I'll do what I want." Bill tried desperately to escape his brother's hold, sill to no avail.

Margaret finally found it into herself to speak, "I'll think I'll talk to Fox alone."

She lead Mulder past Charlie and his furious brother and into one of the bedrooms.

Mulder sighed in relief as she closed the door.

"Sorry about that...Bill's a little edgy tonight."

Mulder sighed, thinking that that edginess was something that Bill Scully showed from day to day, or at least towards him in particular. "Yeah," Mulder said.

"You going to tell me what happened?" Margaret asked, her voice soft, much different from her son's own.

She sat down on the bed, waiting for Mulder to answer.

He joined her.

"Well um... you know that she went to Colorado with me," he started, trying to gather up what little courage he had left. She nodded.

"Anyway, while we were there, the power went out and we concluded that the Y2K bug was what was doing that.

Next morning I get a call from our superior telling us to get back to DC, that the country was in shambles.

Out of talking we figured out that Y2K was planned by our government to start alien colonization of the planet," he said, hanging on his last phrase.

"A-A-Alien colonization...what does that mean?" Margaret said, her voice now full of fear.

Mulder spoke softly, "Aliens are trying to take over the planet, we need to stop it."

Margaret nodded lightly.

"Anyway, your daughter and I were following a lead on out theory, when we were chased down by the military. She didn't make it."

Margaret looked down, suppressing a tear.

"I went back two days ago to see if I could find anything, the air base was destroyed, I don't know if they took her." Margaret looked up at Mulder, meeting his gaze. "Or if they killed her," Mulder said, voice nearly a whisper.

"Oh my god," Margaret said covering her mouth with her hand.

Mulder looked at her, sorry she had to face this again.

"I-If she is alive, do you have any idea where to find her?" she asked.

Mulder shook his head.

"No." He took Margaret's hand, trying to give her comfort, "But I will try everything to find her. If she is alive I will find her, I have to. I owe her everything," Mulder said, his voice breaking into small sobs.

Margaret held his hand returning the comfort.

He was taking this really hard.

"What do you mean 'You owe her everything'?" she asked.

Mulder whipped away several tears, still sobbing. "It's just that...oh, it's just too hard to explain," Mulder replied, not able to meet her eyes.

"Try to explain it," Margaret said, her voice soft and caring.

"Well...look at what happened to her over the past seven years, everything...it's all my fault. It's me to blame for her abduction, her cancer." He began sobbing again.

"You can't blame yourself for that Fox, you know that," she said, trying to cheer him up.

It wasn't working.

"Is there something you're not telling me Fox?" she asked.

"Yes I can blame myself, it's me that got her into this!" he exclaimed, tears running down his face.

"Wh-what did you say?" he asked realizing she had said something else.

Margaret smiled slightly.

"Is there something you're not telling me Fox?" she repeated.

His reaction to the question was strange.

"What do you mean?

I told you everything," Mulder answered confused by her question.

She reached out and grabbed his arm.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Not about the case," Margaret explained.

"Dana and I...we talk often. She tells me a lot." Margaret smiled. "But there's certain things she's not too forthcoming about. That's where you come in."

She looked at Mulder, wanting some rational explanation.

Mulder looked at her, confused.

"What are you implying?" he asked.

"I'm not implying anything. It's just that you and Dana have grown close over the past 7 years and..." Her voice trailed off.

"You think I love her?" Mulder asked, knowing there was no way of backing out of this.

Might as well get it out in the open now.

"Do you?" Margaret asked, noticing that Mulder as growing uncomfortable.

He hesitated, biting his lip. "What difference does it make if I do? She's still lost-or dead, it doesn't change that," Mulder answered.

"Yes it does. You did it once before, when you went to Antarctica and saved her. Why did you do that? No one will do something so courageous if they didn't care deeply for her. Love her," Margaret said, her voice full of emotion. "I know in my heart that if you do. You WILL bring my daughter back to me, just like you did before," she said taking his hand again. "You just have to admit it to yourself."

Mulder sighed.

That's mother's for you, they read you like a book.

He nodded slightly lifting himself off the bed.

"Well I guess I should be going," Mulder said walking to the door.

"Fox it's late, you're in a emotional sate, you're in no shape to drive. Stay here tonight, and get some rest," Margaret said stopping him at the door.

He turned, not in the mood to fight, knowing that he will eventually lose.

"Ok...but what about...?" Mulder said motioning his head towards the door.

Margaret smiled. "Don't worry about Bill, I'll take care of him," she said opening the door.

Mulder walked out behind her, sacred for his life. Bill was standing outside the door, waiting for answers.

"Bill, calm down," Margaret said.

Good, she was going to explain all of this.

Mulder was feeling better already.

Mulder sat on the couch with a globe at hand, spinning it.

North-western Canada, north-eastern Russia, south-western United States, southern Chile and Argentina, eastern china, south-eastern Australia...northern Africa. The pattern made sense except for northern Africa.

Why start in the middle of the land when at every other point was located at the edge of land? Shouldn't they have started in southern Africa? "Why northern Africa?" Mulder asked himself aloud.

"What about northern Africa?" Charlie asked in curiosity.

It was his first time meeting his sister's partner. Though he wished it would have been under different circumstances.

"It's just a pattern, here, look at this," he said handing Charlie the paper he received from Skinner. "It's the places that we've lost contact with and don't know why. If you look at it closely you'll notice that at every place it begins at the edge of the continent, working it's way in. But why northern Africa? It's in the middle of land...it doesn't follow," Mulder explained, hoping Scully's brother could shed some light on this.

"You're seeing something that isn't there," Bill scoffed.

No help from that brother.

"I still can't believe that alien colonization thing you tried to explain to us," he said not giving Mulder's views a second thought.

"No...I think he has a point here Bill," Charlie said reaching for the globe.

He was obviously the son with the open mind.

"It's like they're avoiding the southern part of the continent. Like they're trying to protect something there."

Bill began to laugh.

Mulder slid his eyes towards Bill, ready to tell him off.

Charlie showed Mulder the globe, "I think you're right...but where in Africa would they be hiding something.

It's a big place," Mulder said looking over the many countries.

"The most southern one, South Africa," Charlie said.

"But then that's also a big place."

Mulder looked at Bill who was looking at his brother in disgust.

"Do you know if there are any US naval or air bases in South Africa?" Mulder asked him, hoping that he'll at least tell him that.

"Why would that help you?" Bill asked.

"Well it could help me with a lot of things...like saving your sister," Mulder answered.

"Now you think they took Dana to Africa!? You're crazy!" Bill exclaimed.

"May I remind you that she was in Antarctica last time?" Mulder said sarcastically.

Bill was getting on his nerves.

"Look, Bill, just tell us where the bases are?" Charlie asked giving his brother a mean look.

Bill rolled his eyes.

"Tell us!"

"Ok!

I think there's a Naval base near Cape of Good Hope, and a airbase somewhere near Johannesburg," Bill answered, not too pleased to be pushed around by his little brother.

Mulder remained silent, looking at Bill.

Charlie sighed.

"Well that gives us somewhere to start," he said reaching for an encyclopaedia off the shelf. Bill got up and left the room.

"Don't mind my brother, he don't like 'not being able to do anything'" Charlie explained.

"Hmm...what are you looking for?" Mulder asked leaning over to see what Charlie was looking for.

"Information on South Africa....It might give you an idea of where to start."

Charlie answered.

"Thanks," Mulder said.

He looked up at the time.

11:47.

Charlie handed him the book.

"I'm not use to all of this...but I get the impression that these people hide very well...wouldn't they do that somewhere remote?" Charlie asked pointing to the picture on the page.

"Yeah," Mulder said looking down at the picture.

"Now how do I get to Africa?" Mulder asked looking at Charlie.

"Beats me, anyway it's late. We should get some rest," Charlie said getting up from the couch.

Mulder closed the book and followed him.

If he was going to get Scully back, he'll need all the rest he could get.

Near Cape of Good Hope South Africa

Mulder walked into a small convenience store, looking for someone who would be able to give him information.

He walked up to a decrepit old man sitting by the window, gazing outside.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could assist me with some information?" Mulder asked.

The old man looked at him, said something in his native tongue and left the store.

"Well so much for that," he said with a sigh. This wasn't a good start.

"I might be able to help you," someone said.

Mulder turned to see a short dark man standing behind the counter.

"What do you need help with?" the man asked. Mulder jumped at the chance.

"You ever see anything unusual in the area?" Mulder asked.

"Anything odd?" He was trying to get to the point as quick as possible.

There was no time for casual talk, Scully was in trouble and he needed to save her and stop colonization if possible. Nothing else mattered.

"Like all that UFO and telepath stuff?" the store clerk asked. "Yeah, there's lots of that around here these days. Why you so interested?" he inquired, his African accent making it difficult for Mulder to understand.

But at least this man might be able to help him.

"So you've seen it?" Mulder asked, rather shocked.

The man merely nodded. "Do you know where I can find it?" Mulder asked, practically jumping up and down in his excitement to get an answer.

"Sure, sure, the um...telepaths, they come around sometimes, to buy food and stuff," the man answered.

This surprised Mulder somewhat, he had never expected them to be given such freedom.

He approached the counter with a significant number of questions resting on his mind.

"They come here? When was the last time you saw one of them?" Mulder began asking in a desperate tone.

He had to get answers out of this man.

He had to help Scully. "Yesterday...this...um...little boy," the man paused for a moment and then continued in explanation, "he comes everyday to rent movies and things like that. Very smart little boy, should be off to college somewhere," the man rambled on, voice now trailing off. This child sounded vaguely familiar to Mulder.

He thought about it for a while and then his eyes lit up.

"Around when?" he asked, his hopes of finding Scully becoming stronger. He was beginning to think he had a good chance of saving her now.

The man looked at his watch. "Um...around three or four, he might be here soon," he answered in a mildly distracted tone of voice.

"Oh, there he comes now," the man said suddenly, pointing out the door.

Mulder almost fainted with shock when he turned and saw who was standing there.

The boy walked in, looking at Mulder.

Mulder rushed up to him, promptly kneeling down to his height in front of him.

"Gibson...Gibson...what are you doing here?!?" Mulder cried in shock.

"Agent Mulder...somehow I knew you would come," Gibson said reaching out to place his hand on Mulder's shoulder.

"You'll always have to."

Mulder got a puzzled look on his face. "How did you get here?" Mulder asked. "And what do you mean by 'I'll always have to'?"

"The woman that was with you before, Diana Fowley...and another man," Gibson answered.

Mulder closed his eyes feeling raw hatred running through him as Gibson said it.

He had been betrayed.

Mulder brushed it off for now there was plenty of time to deal with it later. Now he had to save Scully.

"What do you mean by 'I'll always have to?'"

Mulder repeated in confusion. To him, it sounded like some kind of time paradox you'll see on Star Trek.

"Well, it's like your destiny. You're always meant to save her," Gibson replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mulder sighed, still confused. Was Gibson saying that Scully was still alive?

It couldn't be anything else.

He wouldn't let it be. He hoped she was alive with all his heart.

He had no idea how he would be able to survive without her there with him, by his side.

He knew suicide would be the only way to cope with her death.

"Her...by 'her' you mean Scully?" Mulder asked, hopeful.

Gibson nodded. "You thought she was dead...but yet you came to save her."

Mulder's face lit up with a smile brighter than the brightest star in the heavens.

A sense of hope he had lost, had now been restored.

She was alive!

Scully was alive! His Scully was alive. Mulder's heart filled with the warmth of knowing that he now had the chance to see her again, a good chance.

"Where is she?" Mulder asked, eyes lit up like two tiny stars. "I need to get to her, I need to see her," he added in panic. Gibson smiled at Mulder's reaction. "What is it?" Mulder asked.

"Don't worry about her, she's ok. They cannot do anything to her, she's been protected from the Purity," Gibson answered.

Mulder looked away in thought. "You're protected also," Gibson added.

Mulder returned his gaze towards the little boy.

"The vaccine..." Mulder said, his voice trailing off. "Have they done anything to her? I mean if she can't be infected, would they kill her?" Mulder asked, signs of worry returning to his voice as he spoke.

"No...they see her as a commodity, something they don't want to lose. As they do you," Gibson explained.

Mulder didn't know whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing.

What they wanted with her escaped him at the moment.

"You have to take me to her," Mulder said, persistently. He placed his hands on Gibson's shoulders. "I need to get her out of there. I need to stop this, I can't let everything just end like this," the last he said in a whisper for fear of the store clerk overhearing what they were saying.

All he needed was another spy on his hands.

Then his chances to getting to Scully would be slim to none.

"I can't take you to her," Gibson explained.

Mulder's hopes slowly began to ebb away.

"Why?" Mulder asked.

"I'm not allowed where they keep her. But I know where she's at. They think about her all the time...the men who come to check on us, they're afraid she'll escape," Gibson explained. Mulder sighed in frustration. He really needed a reasonable explanation as to what was going on.

"Then can you tell me where to go to find her?" Mulder asked, desperate.

Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa

"Right over those mountains," Gibson said, pointing at the green grass hills in the distance.

"It's a long walk...follow the mountain chain until you arrive at a lake with a high cliff wall surrounding the other side. Make your way around this cliff, you will find the building there," he explained.

Mulder looked up at the height of the mountains. It was going to be a long climb.

He looked back down towards Gibson. "What will I find once I get there?" Mulder asked.

"The alien rebel's base of operations," Gibson answered.

Mulder's jaw dropped.

"Alien rebels...but I thought the Consortium were helping the Black Oil aliens to--"

Gibson stopped him. "You have the story all wrong."

"Then how does the story go?" Mulder asked, hoping that this time he'd finally get the story straight.

Over the last seven years he heard so many versions of the story he'd almost lost hope that he would ever understand it fully.

Gibson walked over to a rock and sat down. Mulder joined him.

"Back in 1947, when they discovered the UFO crash in Roswell, they made contact with aliens, aliens who are now known as the rebel aliens. The Russians made contact with these aliens too, a little later than the Americans though. A scout ship crashed in a Polish harbor in 1959."

Mulder nodded in agreement with what he was saying.

"This being during the most tense years of the Cold War, the main goal on both government's minds was world dominance. They would do anything to gain control over the world. The rebel aliens gave them a way to do that."

"But if the Americans had this before the Russians..." Mulder's voice trailed off in confusion.

Whatever it was, it hadn't worked-or hadn't even started yet.

"No...the Americans found out the effects of the rebel's solution long before the Russians," Gibson began. "You see, the rebels told the military about a race that inhabited the Earth billions of years ago, and that they lived off the Purity."

Mulder was beginning to get the picture. "They realized that it not only took over the person, but it gestated into a new life form," Mulder added.

"And when they saw this, they tried to bury the disease and come up with some way to prevent it from infecting humans. Once the Russians realized the effects of this disease, they started doing the same thing," Gibson continued.

Mulder's mouth hung open, deep in thought.

"The Americans tried to create an alien-human hybrid...and the Russians tried to create a vaccine for the disease," Mulder said making the connections and looking at Gibson, who nodded his head in agreement with what he had said.

"Exactly, once the alien rebels returned to earth forty years later and discovered that all of the humans hadn't gestated yet, they began fighting back against the Americans and the Russians, trying to kill off all the hybrids and get rid of the vaccine. With the help of several government and military officials, who were promised high positions in the new government, they were able to orchestrate all this, Y2K and everything," Gibson finished.

Realization of the plan hit Mulder.

"So what FEMA's trying to do is help us...the military's scared this news will get released to the public."

He placed a hand on Gibson's shoulder. "Gibson...do you know who exactly in the government and military is behind this?" he asked.

"I don't know him, but I believe you do," Gibson said looking at Mulder like he could see through him.

One name came to Mulder's mind: CGB Spender.

Mulder nodded.

"Gibson," he said, trying to make himself sound as dignified as possible.

"I'm going to go and rescue Agent Scully. Now I need you to do something." Gibson listened to him carefully, knowing he could trust Mulder. "I need you to try and stop this," Mulder explained, his desperation evident in his voice. "This can't continue, it's not right."

Gibson sighed. "That would mean convincing another twenty people that this is the way to go," he frowned, contemplating the situation.

"You just have to Gibson, we can't just allow it to end like this," Mulder said shaking his head.

Gibson lifted himself up.

"I'll try my best, but I'm not going to promise you anything Agent Mulder," he stated solemnly as he looked up at Mulder, knowing that the faith of the world now rested on his shoulders.

Mulder understood it too, more than Gibson would ever know.

"You're a brave boy, Gibson," Mulder commented extending his hand. Somehow it seemed right.

Gibson returned the handshake.

"You'll do well," Mulder said with a smile.

"You will too," Gibson returned, turning to leave.

Mulder watched his retreating form, hoping for the best.

It was all or nothing.

If this didn't work, it'll be the end of humanity.

Once Gibson was out of sight, Mulder began his long trek through the South African mountain range.

Hard.

That was one word to describe this walk, among many others.

He saw creatures on this journey that he never knew existed!

He nearly freaked out when that giant lizard jumped out onto the trail, and having to pull his gun three times already wasn't helping matters. Dusk was setting in when he arrived atop the mountain. Looking down he could see the rebel base.

Dark would be the best time to move. For then he would have the cover of darkness and would be less likely to get caught.

He began making his way down the rocky hillside covered with a small layer of sod. The air was beginning to cool, so much that Mulder could see his breath in the near-by lights.

He stopped a moment, taking time to observe the base.

Noticing that there were several guards patrolling the borders of the base, he decided to take his time and try to get in unnoticed.

Mulder stepped over several rocks and trees.

He could hear the sound of rattlesnakes in the night's silence.

It wasn't a pleasant sound. All he needed was to get bit by one of those things and the battle would be over before it had begun.

He continued down the hill, keeping a keen eye on everything around him.

A sudden clutter in the nearby trees caught Mulder's attention.

He stopped short to see what it was.

His stomach tightened into knots when he noticed several guards approaching him.

"Shit!"

He began running down the hill, away from the guards.

"Stop right there!"

Mulder didn't listen. He kept running until he began to stumble. Mulder fell down, rolling up against a tree.

"Damn," he said lifting himself up a bit.

He had fallen behind a bunch of trees and bushes.

It didn't look like the guards knew where he had disappeared.

He reached around to return to his feet when he spotted it.

One of His worst nightmares. This is not happening, he thought. He froze in place, just staring at the creature in front of him. It's tongue slithered out of its mouth, terrifying Mulder.

I can do this, he told himself.

Mulder began backing off slowly, dragging himself along the ground.

The snake gazed towards him with eyes so piercing Mulder could feel the holes they were drilling into his body, though it made no attempt to move. Mulder could hear the footsteps of oncoming guards.

Apparently he hadn't lost them as easily as he had thought.

He attempted to climb to his feet.

Wrong move.

The snake made one quick strike, biting Mulder through his shoe.

"AHHH!" Mulder fell back to the ground, howling in pain.

His mind became quickly faded as his eyes blurred.

He struggled to climb to his feet, with no success.

As his mind faded out, he could see the guards approaching him. "Scully!" his mind screamed before slipping off into darkness. What would happen next would have to be an act of faith.

"Mulder...Mulder can you hear me?"

Mulder felt the presence of someone above him.

"Are you awake Mulder?"

He realized it was Scully.

"Mulder?" she asked again.

"Yeah...I think that's my name," he replied, opening his eyes.

Scully gave a sigh of relief.

Mulder popped himself up on one elbow, trying to take in his surroundings.

"Mulder, you don't want to know how lucky you are," she said, checking on his foot.

Mulder sat up, resting his back against the wall.

They were in a room with one visible door.

He looked down at his foot. It was badly swollen.

"I...think I got bit by a snake just before the guards captured me," Mulder said taking a closer look at his foot.

He wasn't dead yet from the bite. Mulder gathered he could take this as a good sign.

"By the looks of it, it's not too serious...the swelling should be down in a hour or so," Scully said picking up his foot.

Mulder sighed in relief. At least it wasn't a rattlesnake.

"How long have I been here?" Mulder asked checking his wrist for his watch. They must have taken that at the same time when they had taken his gun and binoculars.

"About three hours. Mulder how did you find me? How did you figure out that they had taken me here?" Scully asked, wondering how Mulder could have solved the world's largest mystery in under a week and a half.

Mulder hesitated. "I had some help from your brother Charlie and someone else," he answered, the details still remaining very vague. "It's a long story Scully, maybe another time. Right now we need to find a way out of here."

He climbed to his feet. His injured foot felt like it was burning up when he applied pressure to it.

Scully got up along side of him, grabbing his arm. "Mulder, you need to rest."

She sighed, knowing it was an impossible to tell Fox Mulder what to do.

"No Scully, we need to get out of here," Mulder said walking up to the door.

He examined it thoroughly, looking for any weakness that might show itself. "It's locked by...some kind of computer mechanism," Mulder observed giving the door several kicks.

Scully frowned at his lack of patience. Typical of Mulder.

"I already tried everything I could, it was of no use," Scully told him. "I can't think of any way out."

"There is one way," Mulder said, thinking to himself. If Gibson could convince the others, they could get out of here. "We still have a chance."

Scully frowned wondering what the hell he was talking about. It was absolutely impossible to escape from this place!

Unless....

"Mulder is there something you're not telling me?" she asked, approaching him.

He stalled her, listening for something.

She could hear a rattle coming closer to them. "Mulder..."

"Scully, move!" he said hauling her away from the door.

With a bang, the door came hurtling over their heads, landing against the back wall.

Mulder covered Scully's head as the debris flew past them.

"Way to go Gibson!" Mulder whispered excitedly, jumping to his feet.

"Gibson!?" Scully exclaimed getting to her feet. "When did you see Gibson?" For a split second, she debated whether Mulder was hallucinating or not.

"You'd be surprise who you run into in Africa," Mulder answered. "Scully, it must be our lucky day," he said grabbing Scully by the arm and hauling her out.

Mulder tried several doors as they ran down the hall, looking for a door to the outside.

"Come on Jeez!" Mulder growled trying every door in sight.

They ran up to the last one in the hall.

"Hope our luck holds out," Mulder said, grabbing the knob.

Success. He shoved Scully ahead of him, looking behind to close the door.

Two guards were running after them.

"Scully, run. Run and don't look back," he told her pushing her to leave.

Scully wouldn't leave his side. "But Mulder, you're not going to be able to make it, your foot," Scully said looking at him in concern. She realized at that moment Mulder wouldn't be returning with her, that he'd already sacrificed his life to save hers. Her eyes filled up with tears, though she wouldn't show them to Mulder.

"Don't worry about me Scully, just go!" Mulder screamed.

Scully turned obediently and began running towards the mountains in the distance.

Mulder turned to see the guards gaining on him.

He began running, following Scully, but it was a hopeless effort, doomed to fail from the outset. He fell to the ground, unable to continue.

Scully scrambled up the hill, stumbling over rocks and sticks.

She looked back to see if Mulder was following her.

He was nowhere in sight.

"Oh no, come on Mulder," she said aloud, tears falling down her cheeks.

Her heart wanted her to return, to save him. She knew it was futile. Knowing that she'd regret this moment for the rest of her life, she continued up the mountain range. She stopped to the top and gazed down on the base.

Scully could see people scrambling everywhere. Several people were burning down the base.

"No..." her voice trailed off.

Scully debated whether or not to return to look for him. Would it be worth it? She couldn't escape the irony of it though.

He came here to save her only to be lost himself. She felt the need to return, but decided against it when she saw several torches moving up the hill towards her.

"Sorry Mulder," she whispered already in tears in a voice that was meant for only her ears.

Scully turned and began running for her life.

Betty Ford
Two Weeks Later

Margaret Scully watched her daughter stare out of the hospital window aimlessly. She had been in here over a week now.

When she arrived back from Africa she had had several injuries and was suffering from exposure.

Fox had found her...just as Margaret knew he would.

But this time he didn't make it back with her. It had been almost three weeks now, and there was still no sign.

Walter Skinner had contacted her and told her that the while alien colonization crisis was over. He had done it. Fox had managed to save us.

Her daughter was still a little reluctant to talk about the whole situation. Margaret decided she would talk about it in her own good time and vowed not to push her. Scully sighed inwardly, thinking about the past events...but mostly just about Mulder in general. She felt empty without having him around.

It had broken her heart to have had to leave him behind.

She needed to get her mind off things, off of Mulder. "Mom...why am I still here, there's nothing wrong with me," she said wondering about that.

Wouldn't she recover from this sooner is she could get out and do something with herself?

"Honey, they're just scared something might come up," Margaret assured her. Mrs. Scully smiled chastely and moved towards her bed.

"Mom, what happened while I was gone?

Mulder mentioned something about Charlie helping him with something," Scully asked, the details escaping her at the moment. Face it, she couldn't stop thinking about Mulder.

"Oh...." Margaret began, thinking back to what she told Mulder on that emotional evening. "Well Fox came over to tell me that you had disappeared, he was taking it pretty hard and I told him to stay the night," she explained.

Scully stared at her for several moments, finally accepting her mother's explanation. She didn't feel like pressing matters too far today.

"Oh....Be right back, I got to go to the bathroom," Scully said leaving her mother in the room. She walked out in the hallway, loping down the hallway towards the bathroom. Her courage was totally gone.

At this point, she didn't even know if she wanted to live. She closed her eyes and her mind flowed back to the night Mulder dragged her out to the baseball diamond and thought her how to bat.

She could still feel the warmth of his body enveloping hers, swinging her around while they laughed together.

She sighed opening her eyes.

No...she had to be dreaming.

She gazed down the hallway, blinking twice.

Mulder stood there, clothes almost down to threads, hair messed up. He began jogging towards her and in that moment she froze, watching him come towards her.

This wasn't a dream!

"Scully...oh, Scully you made it back!" Mulder said wrapping Scully into a big hug, twirling her around.

She brought him close, nuzzling her face into his chest, her heart, finally coming back into place.

"My God, Mulder I thought you were there I mean there was no way you could have-" Mulder stopped her, placing a finger on her lips.

"Not now, I'll explain it all later," he said moving his hand to cup her cheek.

Scully closed her eyes as he brought his lips to meet hers.

She reached behind his head, bringing him closer to her as they deepened it into a more passionate kiss.

He broke away gazing down at her, his eyes in a soft obsidian.

"I love you," he whispered.

February 13, 2000
FBI Headquarters, Washington DC

Scully walked out of the hearing room, she could feel a headache coming on. Five hours.

Five hours they questioned her, drilled her for information. They wanted to know everything.

From how she got to Africa to how Mulder managed to escape from the alien base.

Thank God for Gibson, he managed to stop the colonization by implanting some kind of telepathic message into some of the aliens. Turns out these aliens were pretty dependent on telepathy.

And Mulder....

Mulder was still in the hospital recovering from several injuries.

Once the message that Gibson had sent became active throughout all the aliens and they retreated, Mulder was able to escape. He and Gibson made their way back to the US on a military cargo plane.

She hadn't talked to Mulder since he had come back, and that complicated things even further.

It had been three weeks since Mulder returned.

She was released from the hospital yesterday and had to attend the FBI hearing on alien colonization today.

Skinner assigned her a week's leave; same for Mulder once he was released.

Scully met up with Skinner in the hallway.

"Agent Scully, any news on Agent Mulder," he asked.

"Um...no," she answered, blushing slightly. "I haven't gone to see him lately."

Her reaction to his question didn't escape Skinner. Not wanting to bring up any delicate matters, he nodded slightly before continuing down the hall.

Scully sighed. How was she going to deal with this new 'I love you' matter?

It was never an easy subject for them to talk about.

She debated weather or not to go and visit him, knowing that it would only bring up complicated, mixed feelings which she felt like avoiding at the moment. Deciding to go home and rest, she picked up her briefcase and walked off down the hall.

*knock-knock*

Scully emerged from her bathroom, dressed in a white robe and a towel on her head. Someone was knocking to the door. She walked up and peered out the tiny hole in the door.

No one was there.

Odd, she thought, retrieving her weapon from the table before unlocking the door to take a look around.

"Surprise," Mulder said stepping in front of the mail entrance, bouquet of flowers -- a dozen roses, no less -- extended before him.

His presence shocked her for a moment, then a shy smile sat in. "Mulder..." she said, looking away from his gaze.

He had that smile on his face again, the one that made him look innocent yet mysterious all at the same time. He had something up his sleeve, she was sure of it.

Scully reached for the flowers, inhaling their beautiful fragrance. "Thank you," she said finally, looking up to meet his gaze. Scully opened the door wide, letting Mulder in. "Um...you were let out of the hospital early," Scully said, instigating conversation.

Mulder was standing there looking uncomfortable, which in turn was making her uncomfortable too.

She sighed.

Will it always be like this? She pondered the question.

Always.

She was definitely making long-term plans.

Mulder shrugged, smiling. "The doctors released me because they were certain I would kill one of them if they didn't."

He reached out, brushing her cheek with his hand. "I wanted to see you," he admitted, his eyes soft and loving.

If Scully was ice she would have melted there on the spot. Mulder looked down at Scully's clothes, rather amused by the robe and towel duo.

Scully looked down at the robe and smiled. "You um, kind of caught me at a bad time. I just arrived home from the office. Can you give me a minute?" she asked, holding the towel together on her head.

Mulder noted she looked so sweet like this; he could get use to it.

"I waited eight years, trust me, one more minute isn't going to bother me at all," he replied, removing his leather jacket and tossing it on the phone desk against the wall.

Scully watched him make himself comfortable on the couch, and smiled to herself.

She'll need to 'whip him into shape', that's for certain No way was she letting her place become like the Lone Gunman's office. She hung his coat in the closet before taking her bouquet and placing it in water.

Eventually she made her way back to the bathroom.

"So, how did the meeting go today? They bite your head off?" Mulder asked, picking at a mechanical clock that was shaped like an owl on Scully's coffee table. He could hear Scully moving around in the bathroom. Hopefully she wasn't having second thoughts about all this. That would certainly ruin his day-not to mention his whole life.

"Almost," Scully answered.

Mulder chuckled to himself.

"They just drilled me for a few hours on this and that. You know, the usual."

She emerged from the bathroom dressed in T-shirt and jeans, combing her hair. Mulder couldn't help but stare as she approached the couch. Robe, jeans, dress suit, it didn't make a difference. She was drop-dead gorgeous in anything she wore.

"They mostly wanted to know how we did it. They also told me that they received news that the colonization has been completely stopped. They've managed to repair most of the damages the Y2K bug caused; some things they're still having trouble with," Scully said trying to sound optimistic. "But the casualties list is pretty long. They estimate about eighteen percent of the American population has been wiped out. They say the population of California is now about fifteen thousand," she added, a grim look on her face as she told Mulder.

He sighed, lifting his eyebrows in shock.

Mulder let go a deep breath, closing his eyes as he slid his hands through his hair.

"Wow. I-I just didn't expect this. Why couldn't they have used the vaccine?" Mulder asked.

Scully reached out to clasp his hand, comforting him. "When the aliens left, they took most of the infected people with them, most likely to build up their forces. The rest were left behind to die it seems like."

Mulder leaned in closer to her, head hunched down.

She brought him into her embrace.

This was hurting him, Scully knew.

She sighed.

"You can't blame yourself Mulder, you did all you could. Actually, you did more than that," she stopped a moment.

Mulder lifted his head up to look at her, waiting for her to finish.

"You helped save the world, and you saved me," she added, her voice almost a whisper.

As she looked away, Mulder straightened up and faced her.

His hand reached to her jaw, turning her face to him.

He leaned forward and brushed her lips with his plaintively.

Mulder felt her tense up and look away. "What's wrong?" Mulder asked, gently caressing the back of her neck.

Scully refused to look his way, instead turning her interest to the throw pillow on the couch.

He leaned forward, searching for the expression on her face.

"Scully?"

Scully sighed.

"Mulder, is this a good idea?" she asked returning her gaze towards him.

Mulder suppressed a sigh as he saw the expression laying on her face.

He closed his eyes slightly and looked away.

"Will it effect our work? What will Skinner say? Look." She took his hand. "I'm not saying I don't want this," she paused before continuing.

Mulder bit his lower lip, meeting her gaze.

"It's just that...I hope we're not making a mistake by doing this."

Mulder hesitated a bit, playing with her hand.

"Why would it be a mistake?" he asked, looking deep into her eyes.

Scully motioned to say something, but he stopped her.

"How will our relationship change from what it was? Well besides...you know."

He looked away timidly, smile appearing on his face.

"Go on," Scully said, unmoved by Mulder's comment.

She was serious about this.

Mulder was serious about it too, she knew.

Though he had a different way of showing it, act childishly shy about his feelings.

Nothing new.

If he had a point to make, she wanted to hear it.

Scully watched him as he gazed forward, lost in thought.

"Well it's just that, I've cared for you, I loved you for longer -- much longer than you realize. Besides the fact that I've run off several times to save you under Skinner's direct order not to, has it hurt our relationship?" Mulder asked meeting her gaze.

Scully's mouth opened but Mulder's constant caressing of her hand was making it impossible to form any logical thought.

Mulder smiled.

"You see, it has effected us -- it brought us closer.

This," he said, reaching out to brush a strand of wet hair behind her ear,"isn't going to change anything in our partnership at the Bureau," Mulder reassured her. Scully closed her eyes and smiled.

Somehow, Mulder always knew the right thing to say at the right time.

"So you're sure about this?" she asked, not opening her eyes.

A warm, comforting feeling came over her as she felt Mulder's hand brush her cheek.

"Of course I am," Mulder whispered.

Scully opened her eyes to meet his, locking intensely.

Mulder motioned himself forward, his eyes transfixed at the woman in front of him.

Leaning in closer, he brought his lips up to hers, intent on having her lips pressed against his again. Grasping the mane of her neck, he bought her in closer to him, their eyes slumberous as their lips met complaisantly, not holding anything back. Mulder eased Scully down to the couch, their lips entangled in a slow rhythm.

Scully reached up, running her hands through his soft hair.

Mulder's lips left hers, moving down her jaw, placing little feather-like kisses as he trailed his way down to her neck.

Scully breathed deeply, loving the placid feeling Mulder was giving her with his kisses.

The question 'why didn't they do this sooner?' dawned on her for a brief moment, before being replaced by the feel of her partner's lips tracing a line down her collarbone.

Mulder reached down under him, tugging at Scully's shirt.

She reached for the back of his shirt, bringing it up to the back of his neck.

Her hands slid freely over his soft, hairless back.

He moaned slightly, still trying to free her shirt from it's confines.

Being on the bottom obviously had it's advantages, clothing-wise anyway.

Mulder sighed, giving up on the matter at hand and returned his attention to Scully's awaiting lips.

*ring*

Mulder stopped suddenly, then dropped himself beside Scully.

"We have such good timing," he commented, sad grin laying on his face as Scully made an attempt to get off the couch.

Mulder tucked his shirt back into his pants as he watched Scully make her way to the phone.

"Comes with practice," Scully said, looking towards him engagingly. Mulder's sad grin quickly turned into a cheerful smile, pondering on what Scully could be thinking.

He sat up on the couch, brushing his clothes down as Scully answered the phone.

"Hello.... Sorry, you must have the wrong number."

Scully put down the phone and sighed.

"All this for a wrong number."

Mulder chuckled at her look of disappointment.

He made a mental note to make sure all phones were turned off next time.

"Anyway, Mulder, I have to finish what I was doing in the bathroom." Scully said before leaving.

Mulder turned and watched her go till she disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Mulder sighed, his interest returning to the owl on the coffee table.

"So...what do you have planned for your leave time, anything special?" Mulder asked, hoping that she'll have some free time.

He had just conceived an idea that he thought she'd like, or be amused by it at least.

"Not really," The voice replied before the sound of a hair dryer replaced the silence.

Mulder grinned evilly, his mind in thought as he lifted himself off the couch and moved towards the bathroom.

He inched the door open slowly, peering inside.

Scully was standing in front of the mirror, impervious to Mulder's presence.

He reached out, taking her hand holding the dryer into his own.

She jittered slightly, surprise by his presence.

Mulder moved in, backing the door up against the wall.

Placing the dryer on the sink, he then swirled his arms around her in an embrace.

"I have an idea," Mulder said, taking in the fragrance of Scully's damp hair.

Scully leaned her head aside, warm smile on her face as she tangled her fingers in with Mulder's.

"What is it?" she asked, watching Mulder's reflection in the vanity mirror.

He rested his chin to her shoulder, making those puppy-dog eyes he mastered over the years.

From his expression, she knew this was going to be good.

"I was thinking," he paused, playing with the gold cross on her neck. "maybe we could finish that vacation of ours."

A chuckle quickly emerged from Scully as he said it.

Scully cocked her head to look at him, a quizzical expression on her face.

Mulder shrugged.

"Why not?

We never finished the last one we were on ... I'm not saying we have to go back to Colorado ... but I'm sure we could find something else to do," he said, nibbling her hear.

She wiggled in his embrace, Mulder grinned.

"What DID you have in mind?" Scully asked knocking Mulder from around her so she could comb her hair out.

Mulder rested his back against the door casing, arms crossed, thinking for a bit.

Scully half-turned to look at him, still running the brush through her hair.

"Well?" she inquired.

Mulder bit his lower lip, eyes knitted.

Scully sighed, still waiting for a response. "Got it," he answered, clapping his hands together.

Scully lifted an eyebrow, waiting for the answer.

Mulder shook his head.

"I'm not telling you, it's a secret."

He turned to leave the bathroom.

Scully stepped out in the open room.

"Another secret?

Mulder can I know something for once?" she asked, somewhat disappointed that Mulder wouldn't tell her where they were going.

Mulder looked back from the couch and smiled devilishly.

Scully pouted. "Ok, If you don't tell me where going, I'm not going to go!" She crossed her arms, standing her ground.

"Ok....Tennessee," he answered.

"Tennessee? Why?" Scully asked, hoping Mulder wasn't going to take her to Graceland. All she needed to do was spend a week digging through Elvis' personal belongings. It might be exciting for Mulder, but not for her. Mulder was about to say something, Scully put her hand up in the air, stopping him.

"Ok, just say it has nothing to do with Elvis and I'll go." She returned into the bathroom.

Mulder snickered, wondering what she had against Elvis. "No, it has nothing to do with Elvis, satisfied?" he asked.

She exited the bathroom, this time turning off the light.

"Well?" Mulder asked, hopeful that she'll go.

Scully shook her head in defeat, there was those puppy-dog eyes again. "Yes, Mulder, I'll go," she said, then disappearing into her bedroom.

Mulder got up off the couch, making his way to the door.

"Well get packed. I'll be back in about a hour to pick you up. Sound ok?" Mulder asked, looking around for his coat. Everything had a way of disappearing in Scully's apartment, it just looked too organized. He dug around, arriving at the closet door. There it was.

Mulder hauled it out the closet, tossing it over his shoulder.

"Yeah," she answered, flashing a thought filled smile.

Mulder returned a smile and left the apartment.

Rural Virginia
12:15AM

The sky roared relentlessly, showing itself momentarily through shots of light emerging from the dark above as sheets of rain poured down.

Claps of thunder shivered the ground as the wind howled on for what seemed like forever.

Scully griped the seat, her heart up in her throat.

She gazed at her side towards Mulder, who was trying desperately to hold the car on the road.

He strained hard to see the road from the constant pouring of water on the windshield, everything was blurred.

"Mulder this storm isn't letting up," Scully said, trying to see outside her window.

"No kidding," Mulder commented, hastily turning the wheel to bring the car back to it's side the road.

Seeing the lines on the road was an almost impossible task.

Mulder winced at the lightning strike not too far away. It was followed by the booming of thunder.

"We're going to have to stop at the next town. It's getting really bad here; I can barely see," Mulder said turning his head for a moment to look at Scully.

"Um...." Scully reached for the map, turning on the car light as she went. Opening the map, she shrugged.

"Mulder, where exactly are we?" she asked looking at the many little lines running through the Virginia map. She decided they could be anywhere, and not being able to see ten feet around the car wasn't helping either.

"Wait a sec...I think I see a road sign coming up in the distance," Mulder said, slowing the car to a crawl.

Scully pressed herself against the door, trying to see the side of the road. Rolling down the window to take a peek wasn't going to be an option.

"See anything?" Mulder asked.

Scully stared out the window for several moments, before sliding her eyes and looking at Mulder, who was growing impatient for a response. "Mulder, you said we're going to Tennessee right?" she asked.

Mulder nodded his head in agreement.

"Then how come the sign says 'Kentucky Border, three miles?'" Scully asked, amused look on her face.

"Shit! I must have passed the turn-off somewhere in the back of us," Mulder said, suppressing a string of curses going through his mind. He sighed, reaching for the gear stick. "Guess we'll have to turn around," Mulder said turning the wheel.

Scully sighed, holding the bridge of her nose. Mulder always had this way of getting to her, even if he meant good.

The car stopped still, slightly before going silent, leaving the howling wind and thunder as the only sound.

Scully started at Mulder, looks of fear and confusion running across her face. "Mulder?" She looked over the dash, no lights. "Why is the car not working?"

Mulder jerked the clutch, turning the ignition.

"It's...just stalled," he replied, finally getting the gear stick back in park. "Wait a sec...." Mulder said, tuning the key.

Scully could feel her stomach clench as the motor turned over and jolted, but never even gave the signs of starting. "Jeez."

Mulder tried several times more.

Nothing.

"Damn!"

He slammed his hands against the wheel.

Scully sighed, placing her head in her hand.

They were broke down...in one of the worst thunder storms she'd experienced...in the middle of nowhere Virginia.

Could things possibly get any worse?

She watched as Mulder zipped his leather jacket down a bit, hauling it over his head.

"Where are you going?" Scully asked.

"Going to check the engine," Mulder replied, taking a flashlight from the back seat.

"Might be the battery or something."

He reached for the handle. Rain gushed into the car as the door opened.

Mulder exited quickly, shutting the door behind him.

Scully watched the blurred light of the tiny flashlight move in the darkness, disappearing behind the hood.

Scully waited several moments before hearing the thump of the hood closing.

"Mulder...?" Scully questioned, her voice worrisome as she spoke.

Mulder closed the door, taking the coat from his head.

He lifted his brow looking at her apologetically.

She shrugged, frowning as she looked away.

"Mulder ... you're not telling me we're stuck out here?"

She looked at him, last shreds of hope leaving as she said it.

They were definitely stuck in the middle of nowhere.

"Sorry ... it looks like the wiring and the distributor cap got wet, until it dries up, we're not going anywhere," he explained taking her coat form the back seat.

"Here put this on."

Mulder handed her the coat.

Scully gazed at him in confusion. He sighed.

"Scully we'd be lucky if it's thirty seven degrees out there and it's getting colder. We can't stay here."

Scully hesitated on her next sentence, "Then where are we going to go?" she questioned, her mind wondering why Mulder never suggested they cuddle up in the car.

After all, she thought Mulder would like that.

"Somewhere warmer," Mulder answered, exiting the car.

Scully gulped as she looked at the amount of rain falling outside.

Well if they didn't make it to a warmer shelter, they'll freeze to death.

She pulled the coat on, over her head and exited the car.

Scully looked behind to see Mulder taking several bags out the trunk of the car.

"Where are we going?" Scully hollered, bracing herself against the wind. Her open coat flew in the wind, leaving the rain soaking her clothes quickly.

She moved slowly to the back of the car, where Mulder was. "Mulder?"

"There's some kind of building over there in the distance," Mulder answered flashing the light towards the field.

Scully looked, able to pick out a faint structure in the dark distance.

"let's go."

He closed the trunk and grabbed Scully by the hand.

Together, they ran off into the darkness.

The door squeaked loudly as the rain gushed in.

Mulder and Scully stumbled into the building, gasping for air.

Mulder pushed the door closed before flashing the light around the room.

"It looks like a barn.

Or some kind of storage building."

He walked further into the room, casting the light upon all four walls.

The wind howled outside as the noise of the rain hitting the roof echoed through the barn.

"Most of the land down here is farmland.

This is most likely used to store hay or farm equipment.

It feels like it's internally heated too."

Scully noted, walking up behind Mulder.

Mulder had the flashlight cast upon a shelf of farm equipment.

"Mulder..."

She walked up to the shelf, reaching for something.

Mulder came up behind her to help her retrieve it. "Lantern," Scully said handing it to him.

"Got a lighter?"

"I think I have some matches somewhere on me, just hope they're not wet," Mulder replied, holding the flashlight and lantern in one hand, while the other reached into his coat.

"Here we go," he said, smiling as he revealed the pack of matches, "good thing we stopped to that diner for a quick snack."

Mulder handed Scully the flashlight, before kneeling down to light the lantern.

Scully flashed the light around the room, noticing that half the barn was empty.

The other half was stacked almost to the ceiling with hay.

It was piled neatly behind several broads nailed to four inch framing.

A ladder leaned against the broads, leading up atop the heap of hay.

Mulder stood up behind her, lantern lighted.

"Good, you got it going." Scully shut the flashlight off.

"Yeah, I'd say it's about half-full," he said, lifting the lantern to look at it.

"Should last us most of the night."

Mulder turned and looked around the room.

His eyes lit up as a smile grew on his face.

"Come on here Scully."

His voice child-like while he approached the ladder.

Mulder looked back at Scully, who had a mock expression on her face.

"What? You never played in the hay before?"

The smile grew bigger as Mulder made his way up the ladder and disappearing.

The lantern appeared over the edge of the hay, his voice followed, "Are you coming up?

It's lonely up here."

Scully sighed, smile soon appearing on her face.

She made her way up the ladder, watching Mulder hang over the edge with the lantern.

"For your information, I did.

My uncle had a farm when I was small.

When we use to visit, Missy and I use to spend most of our time tunnelling through the stacked hay, playing hide and seek."

Scully crawled on top, rolling herself down beside Mulder.

"Lonely now?"

"I never will be with you around," Mulder answered taking the lantern and hanging it on the rafter.

All he needed was for the barn to catch a fire. Mulder sat back, cleaning the water from his face.

Besides what he had under his coat, he was drenched. "I've got to get out of these clothes."

He stated, digging at his bag.

Mulder looked around, noticing a opening behind some of the hay.

"I'm gonna go change behind there...be right back."

He got up, but not fully.

The space between the hay and the rook was about four to five feet, give or take a few inches.

Scully brushed some of the water from her face as she watched Mulder leave. She

gazed over at the bags and grips Mulder had brought with them.

All four.

She reached for hers, wondering what was in the other two bags.

It will have to wait till later, right now she was beginning to go crazy in her wet clothes.

"You decent?" Mulder said from behind the lump of hay.

Scully had just finished pulling a forest green T-shirt over her head.

She felt nice and dry once again, though her hair was still drenched.

She dried some of it out with her old T-shirt, but it never helped much.

"Yeah," she answered, taking her clothes and spreading them out off the edge of the hay.

Mulder came back, simply throwing his clothes into a pile. Scully shook her head, smug smile on her face as Mulder came to sit beside her, reaching for the luggage.

His shirt caught her attention.

"Baseball jersey Mulder?" She pondered.

"Gotta love those Yankees."

Mulder commented.

He grabbed the two extra bags, and began digging into one of them.

Scully's curiosity got the better end of her.

She crawled over to sit beside Mulder, nudging him playfully.

"What's in the bags?" Scully asked, leaning closer to get a look. Mulder nudged her back, grinning.

"Well are you going to show me?

Or do I have to pin you down to get a look?" she added teasingly, punching him in the arm.

"Nothing much."

Mulder admitted.

Out of the bag, he removed a long insulated blanket.

A sleeping bag.

Scully's eyes lighted up as a goofy grin appeared on her face.

"Well, it didn't rain sleeping bags, but it seems we didn't need it to." He spread it out on the hay, tossing the bag aside.

"Bienvenue chez l'htel Nowhere, o on y trouve les accommodations luxes faites en foin avec des sacs de couchage."

Scully joked, resting herself against a few boards.

Her French accent had much to be desired.

Mulder stared at her in amazement, wondering since when Scully knew French. "Mulder since when do you keep sleeping bags in the car?" she asked, hoping maybe it'll shed a little light on where they were going.

"It seems we have a aptitude for getting caught in weird places, so I started packing sleeping bags in the car," Mulder answered, questionable look still colored on his face.

He reached for the other bag.

"Since when do you speak French?" Mulder asked, "I don't recall seeing that in your bio."

He glanced towards Scully, lifting his brow in anticipation.

"For the last few months, I've been taking this course over the net.

It's become a hobby of mine."

Scully smiled shyly, playing with a piece of straw which was sticking out f the hay.

Mulder chuckled.

"Scully, are you trying to impress me?" he asked, turning his attention from the bag to the woman in front of him.

Scully shrugged, thinking of how arrogant Mulder could be at times. "Mulder, I have better things to do," she said, tossing a piece of straw into his face.

In herself, she knew this wasn't over yet.

Scully watched as Mulder brushed away the hay, then swung the bag aside.

"Better things to do?" Mulder questioned resting back of the palms of his hands.

He tossed one leg over the other, smiling towards Scully.

She felt a lump crawl up into her throat as his mischievous grin grew on his face. The wind howled through the silence, making their solitude situation even more alone.

Scully braced herself for what was coming next.

"Well I don't see you doing anything at the moment.

Come on, why don't you try and impress me," he taunted.

Scully looked away.

"Mulder...."

"Come on!

It'll be between you and me ... there's no one else around to see it.

Well unless..."

He stopped his

musings when he noticed Scully was sighing.

Mulder watched as Scully faced him, her famous death stare at it's best.

He'd seen it several times before, though it was under different circumstances.

"Mulder!" Scully exclaimed.

She didn't like being played for a fool.

He was showing her those soft puppy-dog eyes again, this man had too much over her.

That alone was scary.

"Give...it...up!"

Scully picked up an handful of hay and slung it into Mulder's face.

His back dropped on the bail of hay, trying to block the oncoming straw.

Scully crawled away, giggling as she disappeared behind the pile of hay. Mulder rose to his knees, spitting out some grass seed.

"Scully...."

He began following her.

"Now you know you're gonna have to pay for that!"

The place darkened as she slid around behind the pile of hay.

Mulder looked around slowly, waiting for hay to be hurled into his face.

Stopping to listen, the only sound he could hear was the relentlessness of the howling wind.

Scully could be too sneaky when she wanted, Mulder thought.

He moved forward, taking his time as he kept rapt attention on the darkness surrounding him.

Mulder arrived to the other side, the lantern casting dark shadows everywhere. He sighed. Where was she?

"Ha!" Mulder looked up to see Scully leaping down towards him.

Together, they rolled down the pile of hay to the flat, where they slowed to a stop. To keep Mulder down, Scully mashed some hay into his face before she stood to her knees, pinning Mulder to the ground.

"Now, how's that impress you?" she asked, then brushing the hay away from his face.

"Not bad," Mulder replied, gasping to regain is breath.

Scully had totally knocked the wind out of him on that one.

"But of course I would like to see better."

He wiggled his eyebrows, taunting her.

"Oh yeah....

Well then what do you want to see?" Scully asked seductively, poking him in the chest.

Mulder cracked a grin.

Scully began to fear what he had in mind.

"Hmm...let me think," Mulder said, making Scully's nervous anticipation get the better end of her.

"Ok, I got it."

He looked into her eyes, that grin of his still hanging on his face.

"Strip me."

He watched with a smile as Scully knelt there, stunned.

"You know," Mulder hesitated a moment, waiting for her to knock him over the head with something heavy.

"Where you take off my clothes, slowly and very, very seductively."

He sat up, placing a kiss on her motionless mouth.

"How's that sound?" Scully pushed him back down, straddling him.

"Like this?" she asked with intimidation.

Mulder nodded in anticipation.

"Bingo," he replied in a husky voice. Scully leaned over and placed her lips against his, their lips quickly slipping into it's own comfortable rhythm.

Scully broke away, smiling down towards him.

Mulder watched as she reached for the collar of his jersey, her tentative hands tracing the shirt down to the first button.

He sighed heavily, gazing

with contentment his FBI partner, confidante and friend undressed him at her own free will, no strings attached.

Scully unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his luscious chest to her eyes only. The evil side of Scully was showing itself now, forcing her to continue this exploration.

The exploration into the unknown of hers truly, Fox Mulder. She had to admit to herself, this wasn't by any means a bad thing.

She bit her thong, then with her finger, traced a line down his chest, taking her time.

Scully grinned, seeing the reaction her touch had on Mulder.

He inhaled deeply as she bent down and placed kisses all the way down the tender skin which was his chest.

Not being able to resist her overwhelming touches any longer, Mulder reached behind Scully, hauling her shirt up and over head.

Scully lifted her arms momentarily, brushing her shirt away. Mulder brought her close, kissing her softly.

"You sure about this?" Mulder asked, knowing where they were headed.

All he needed was her permission.

"Yes."

**

Later that night

"Mulder, you never really told me how you feel you know, about your truth finally being revealed."

Scully commented, her head resting on Mulder's chest.

Their hands played together, his own caressing the outside of hers as she entangled her fingers into his.

With his free hand, Mulder tucked the sleeping bag in closer around them.

"What is there to say?

I believed it all along, my faith might have wavered several times along the way, but it remained strong," he answered, lifting her hand to place a kiss against it.

Scully turned over to face Mulder.

"What?" Mulder asked, sensing there was something on her mind.

"I realized I forgot to tell you something," Scully replied, wiggling her way up to his height.

Mulder watched her in confusion, wondering what he missed.

She placed a tiny kiss to his lips.

"I love you."

Mulder turned to his side, wrapping his arms around her.

"And you thought I never noticed before?" Mulder whispered, brushing a few kisses along her cheek.

"Dana, you might be able to hide your feelings very well, but they're not totally invisible.

I have eyes you know."

He nudged her neck, nibbling her earlobe.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scully asked, miffed.

"You're not that good at hiding yours either, you know."

She pointed out, feeling she needed to get even with him.

Mulder smiled shyly.

"There's always the little things....

They can tell you a lot sometimes." He shrugged.

"Like what?

Give me an example."

Scully asked, deciding that Mulder's hair needed tending to.

She ran her hand through his hair, feeling his silken hair on her skin.

He looked so cute when he was pouring out his soul to her.

His eyes looked soft, relaxed.

Scully believed seen him in such a peaceful state before.

Mulder waited a moment before he answered, "There're lots of times.

Dana, you know how I got when I almost lost you.

My worst fear is losing you.

I can't see my life without you in it.

You make me whole."

He caressed her cheek.

The overbearing emotion throughout his eyes made Scully's heart miss a beat.

"Why didn't you ever tell me sooner?" Scully asked.

Mulder scoffed.

"Because I suck at expressing my feelings.

Always have." He confessed.

Scully smiled and closed her eyes slightly.

Mulder rolled on his back, sighing.

"Guess a childhood of repelled emotions and being ignored never helped it huh?"

"You can't think about the past.

What matters is now," Scully told him, not knowing what else to say.

"Besides," she said, smiling to herself, "I'm not that much better than you when it comes to that."

She rested herself against Mulder, throwing one arm over his chest.

"What time is it?" Scully asked.

Mulder reached for his watch, laying in the hay.

"Twenty after two."

He passed a hand over his face and eyes, trying to keep the stiffness out of his eyes.

"We should get some sleep.

Hopefully the car will work tomorrow," Scully said, bringing herself closer to him, tucking the sleeping bag over her shoulders.

Mulder reached back resting one arm behind Scully's head. "Night Mulder."

"Night Scully," Mulder replied as she kissed her hair, inhaling it's elite scent.

To him, she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and he was the luckiest man!

Soon Scully was asleep beside him.

He stayed awake, staring at the lantern, thinking about Scully and only Scully till the fuel ceased to exist.

"What in hell do you two think you're doing in my barn?" a squeaky southern accent asked.

Mulder shifted in his sleep, turning to wear off a bad dream.

He felt something sharp poke him in the leg, moving away in reaction.

"Are you two dead?"

Joy, now this Skinner-looking person who has this cheesy southern accent thought he was dead.

If this was read he would-. "OWWW!" Mulder sat up quickly, retreating his legs from the bottom of the sleeping bag.

He opened his eyes to a skinner ill-fed looking man with a very distinguished goatee.

"What do you think you're doing in my barn?" The farmer repeated.

Scully had since woken up, and sat there as stunned as Mulder was.

"Um...sorry, our car broke down last night, and we came here to find shelter," Mulder replied, looking through his jeans for this badge.

The farmer eyes them sceptically.

"How do I know you're not those two gunmen that broke into a convenience store up the highway?" he asked, keeping his pointed stick he had at hand.

Scully sighed, blushing terribly. She looked over towards Mulder, who was about to rip the back pocket out of his pants.

Mulder chuckled, his skin changing to a deep cherry.

"I can assure you, we're not those gunmen," he replied, taking his badge out, as did Scully. The farmer examined the badges closely, shaking his head.

"What?" Mulder questioned.

The farmer sighed. "Well I'm no fountain of information on federal issues, but I did serve in the military during the 60's."

Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.

"Is this "official" business, you two..." The farmer pointed towards them, obviously remarking on their current predicament.

"Um..." Scully hesitated, looking awkwardly towards her partner.

"Well um...we're um...." She was at a loss for words.

Mulder interrupted her stuttering. "We're not working at the moment," he replied, although the farmer still didn't look convinced. "Really." Mulder tried to convince him. Old men can be so stubborn. Hopefully he wouldn't turn out like that.

"Yeah," Scully chimed in. "We're on leave."

She watched as the old man nodded in thought. He looked at both of them again, taking in their appearance. "Hey I know you two!" The farmer exclaimed.

They both reacted in surprise.

Mulder cocked a brow questionably, wondering about the old man's former allegiance to with both he and Scully.

"You're those two FBI agents that saved the world from those alien creatures!" The farmer climbed up the remaining ladder, hopped down into the hay to extend his hand. "John Gilbert."

Mulder returned the gesture, while Scully shook her head in amazement. "So that's what they're calling us these days," she commented, shaking John's hand.

"Yes ma'am, it's all over CNN...CBS...NBC..."

John's voice trailed off. Scully glanced over at Mulder, who was somewhat flattered by John's comments. "There was this special on A and E last night about you," he said, pointing at Mulder. John's look turned to one of confusion soon enough. "But I don't recall anything about this," he added, nodding towards both of them.

"What we do in our personal lives is none of their business," Scully cleared up as Mulder reached for his shirt.

"If you can give us a few moments, we'll be out of your way in a few minutes," Mulder requested, buttoning his jersey.

John nodded, the turned and descended the ladder.

Mulder sighed, looking at Scully.

"A and E special?" he pondered, wincing at the thought.

"Mr and Mrs Spooky, the new heroes of the world ... who would have thought," Scully mused, reaching for her jeans.

Mulder was almost done with picking up their stuff.

She smiled to herself.

"Let's just hope Mr and Mrs Spooky's love life can remain from the prying eyes of the media." Mulder tossed the bags aside and moved closer to Scully.

"We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen." With that, he cupped her cheek, kissing her gently.

"So are we going to go?" Mulder asked.

"You lead the way."

**

"Mulder," Scully said, sticking her head out of the car window, "I thought you said you'll have this problem fixed in a jiffy?" she asked.

Mechanics isn't exactly what she would consider a 'good career move' for Mulder.

To make a long story short, he had a better chance of picking out 'elegant' china patterns at Wal-Mart.

Mulder's head appeared from the outside of the car hood.

"Just a minute ... try again." Scully did as he asked, turning the ignition and hoping for it to work this time.

With a swift rev, the car started.

The hood plopped down to it's original position leaving Scully watching the mock expression on Mulder's face.

She shrugged, exiting the car.

"And you didn't think I could do it," he bragged.

"Don't talk too soon," Scully warned.

Smoke rose from a dampened cigarette as it lay there, dubbed in the ashtray.

Utter silence traveled throughout the room while Diana Fowley stood in the darkness, watching the gray cloud of smoke float towards the light of a window.

The cigarette smoking man stood up from the chair, facing Fowley. "You failed me," he said grimly.

She never moved.

"How do you explain this?"

Diana backed away from him, refusing to meet his gaze.

"He was supposed to be guarded here.

I-I can't explain how Mulder made these connections, it's almost impossible," she stated, a worrisome expression growing on her face.

"Almost. One thing you of all people should know is never underestimate Fox Mulder!" Cancer man yelled, frantically swinging his fist towards Fowley.

With one smack, Fowley fell crashing to the hardwood floor, blood spewing from her mouth.

Hair covered half of her face as she looked up towards him.

"I TRUSTED you with this! But you let me down!"

With that, he gave Fowley one swift kick in the ribs.

She whimpered in pain.

Fowley coughed. "I never thought *cough* Agent Mulder would have made that connection, it's not my fault!" she screamed in despair.

Cancer man kicked her again in the temple.

Fowley's head flew against the wall, then slumped to the floor.

Cancer man stared down at the limp person below, satisfaction and self-justification leering on his face.

He reached inside his coat, taking out a cigarette.

He stopped over Fowley's body, tossing the lighted cigarette down on her clothes.

Seconds later, a piece of paper fell beside her. It read:

Find Gibson.

To save the plan and to save yourself.

FBI Headquarters Washington, DC

Skinner sat quietly in the fine leather chairs of his office.

A TV spurred in the background as he looked at another agent sitting in the room.

"What do you think of this?" Skinner asked him.

The stout man sighed, watching the TV. "The media is surely feeding off of this. This could be a good thing for the FBI. Agent Mulder literally did save the world, even if he did it with the help of a few others. He's considered a hero now."

Skinner shook his head. "It could also be a bad thing. One slip up by Mulder now, and we're seen as 'the bad people'. That wouldn't be good," he said, gazing over towards the stout man, who seemed to agree with what he was saying. "Let's just hope Mulder doesn't do anything stupid." Skinner added, returning his attention to the television set.

Somewhere in Tennessee

Scully giggled lightly as she followed Mulder, hand in hand down though the green undergrowth.

"Come on Mulder! Please tell me where we're going!" She bumped him purposely, making him stumble aside.

He laughed, hauling Scully with him.

"Mulder!" Scully exclaimed.

He pushed her back on the trail. "Impatient."

"So I am. Who cares!"

She pushed Mulder back into the bushes.

He snickered lightly at her dismay before he hunched his head and fell into silence.

Scully momentarily gazed in his direction, wondering if she had upset him.

"I just don't like being kept in the dark."

"My family took a vacation here once," Mulder began, smile rising on his face, "One day I wandered off into the woods, and I came across what I'm gonna show you here."

He guided Scully though the dense trees that prevented her from seeing anything ahead.

"How old were you then?" Scully asked.

"Ten. I never told anyone about what I found here, just kept it to myself ... and soon forgot about it," Mulder answered.

"What made you think about it now?"

"Don't know, it just hit me."

He moved the remanding limbs aside and Scully stepped out into the clearing.

Her jaw dropped in awe as she gazed at the scenery before her. Water trickled from a stoned cliff into a pool which lay below.

Scully looked beyond into the green meadow, the small stream trickling out towards the horizon, the sun casting tiny crystals of light from it's surface. She gazed out, mystified as Mulder wrapped his arms around her, placing his head on her shoulder. "You like it?" he asked. Scully let herself relax and fall back into Mulder's arms.

"It's beautiful."

"Come on," Mulder said, hushing her ahead. "Where we're going now?" Scully asked. "You'll love it," he assured her.

Who was she to doubt him.

Together, they walked down through the green grassed hill towards the waterfall.

Children's shelter
Washington DC

Gibson sat alone in the living room playing a video game. Everyone was away in their own rooms. This made it quiet for Gibson, no voices to deal with, just him and the ever so silent video game. He gritted his teeth, concentrating at the TV. Buttons were pressed frantically as he moved the joystick, aiming his shot.

Gibson smiled at the Civilian guard who lay on the floor.

On the screen, the gun continued out of the outpost and down on to the snow.

He sensed a presence close to him and glanced towards the doorway, noticing one of the well-fare workers standing there. Something was different about her.

"Hello, Mrs Peterson," Gibson greeted, feeling her presence come closer.

"You surely like that game, don't you."

Mrs Peterson moved closer behind him.

Gibson could sense a coldness emerging within her.

He leaned in, moving towards the game to switch it off.

Gibson turned to face the social worker, hesitation in his actions.

"What's the matter?" Mrs Peterson asked, approaching the young child. "You didn't need to stop your game because of me," she reached for Gibson, who was out of sight before she had time to react.

She sighed, brushing a lock of hair from her face. "Little weasel."

Gibson stumbled through the fire exit, reaching for the ladder.

He glanced behind, checking to see if the 'social worker' was behind him.

There was nothing, however he could hear her fast-paced footsteps approaching.

Taking in a deep breath, Gibson turned and began descending the ladder.

He could hear the clinging of her footsteps atop as he jumped to the grown.

"Gibson!" someone shouted.

Gibson turned around to be scooped up into someone's arms.

Diana Fowley's.

Fowley looked up and saw the grim woman stepping on the ladder.

"Come on Gibson, we need to get you out of here." She turned and ran, Gibson in her arms.

The social worker leaped from the fire escape to the ground. She turned about, fixing her hair calmly before pursuing the fleeing Diana Fowley with Gibson in tow.

What a day.

That was all Mulder could think about as he lay there in bed, caressing his partner's hair.

He couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun. Maybe he never had. It all began when Scully discovered a raft ashore below the waterfall.

Circumstances just went wet and funny from then on.

They looked like two drowned rats when they arrived to the motel at 10:30.

He didn't know if the motel clerk was baffled, shocked or amused.

Scully moved against him, unconsciously resting her head against his chest. Mulder sighed as he gazed outside.

Small rays of sunlight shot through the glass against the wall. It was morning already? He closed his eyes, hoping he'll fall back asleep.

No luck.

Scully let go a small sigh and rolled over to her side the bed, stretching.

He turned to face her, bringing himself up to place a kiss on her neck. "Morning," he mumbled.

"What time is it?" Scully asked, facing him.

She looked over his arm to see that it was only 6AM. Yawning, she closed her eyes, "Mulder go back asleep, till eight at least."

She turned to her side and pulled the blankets up around her shoulders. Mulder sighed, guessing it was worth a try. He moved closer to Scully, snuggling up against her.

*knock-knock*

Mulder turned around, shooting a sleepy glance at the door.

It was hard to get sleep in this place! Who could be there this time of morning, he wondered.

He felt Scully's arm come up and grasp his own.

"Forget about it Mulder, it's probably the motel clerk or something.

He'll go away after a bit."

Mulder grumbled something then returned to his place behind Scully.

Several minutes passed, but the knocking didn't cease.

Mulder was beginning to grow very impatient with this person's lack of respect for the sleeping -- or the trying. "Scully," he whispered. She gave a low mumble. She was still awake, "Can I kill this person now?" he asked, irritation in his voice.

"Yes, Mulder. Go and see who the hell is at the door."

Satisfied, Mulder crawled out of bed, reaching for his jeans. Whoever was at the door was in for a good telling off.

Mulder was certain. Without taking the time to buckle up his pants, he stormed to the door.

A short plaid clad man fell towards an angry Mulder. Mulder pushed him ahead, wondering where this man acquired his sense of style. He looked over to the stout man and noticed that there was about another ten of these people with cameras and microphones.

"What's going on here?" Mulder asked, confused.

There was silence for several moments.

Mulder stepped outside and closed the door. He had a funny feeling this was going to turn ugly quick. The crowd of people backed off several feet, giving Mulder room to move. Mulder eyed the plaid clad man suspiciously.

"Fox Mulder, I'm um ... Ray Barker from CBS news. The plaid clad man stated. Mulder rolled his eyes in response.

This was ugly.

Ray continued, "We've been searching for you for days now."

"For what?" Mulder snapped.

Cameras and microphones swung ahead towards Mulder's face.

"How did you do it?" Ray asked as Mulder's jaw dropped. "How did you save the world?"

"Look, I'm not free to comment on those events. Now leave me alone!" Mulder shouted as he turned to go back into the motel room. Ray grasped his arm, not willing to let him leave. Mulder whirled around, furious, "Look, I-"

"Can you please. Please give us something. The world wants to know. Just simple questions: Where, when, what, and why. Just please! Please give us something to go on," Ray pleaded, putting on his best pitiful face.

Mulder wasn't all too moved by Ray's act. "South Africa, about a month ago, it's too complicated but it needed to be done, to save the world," Mulder quipped, hoping that would get the reporter off his case.

He turned around to reach for the knob. The door opened and Scully stepped out, confused by the people standing there. "Mulder, what's going on here?" she asked.

All hope of escaping these reporters without anything bad happening had just slipped down the drain.

Mulder tried to push Scully back into the room. "Go back in, Scully, they were just leaving." He pushed her in the door several feet, but not enough.

Ray pounced on the opportunity. "Dana Scully, can we ask you a few questions?" He pressed towards the door.

Scully turned and headed back into the motel room.

"Just one question?" Ray asked as Mulder slammed the door into his face. He turned to his crew.

"Patch this to the airwaves right now!"

Ray watched as the crew went to work.

FBI Headquarters Washington DC

Skinner walked into the lobby of the J Edgar Hoover building removing his coat and brushing down his suit.

For 8:30AM in the morning, the place seemed to be buzzing with activity. He shrugged it off, thinking maybe the agents were just happy that it was Friday.

He walked into his office, not missing the goofy grin his secretary wore as he asked her for his messages. She handed him a stack of papers.

Before he had time to close his door, she added, "Sir?"

"Yes?" Skinner asked, growing weary of his secretary's mood. He wasn't liking this one bit. Something was up.

"Make sure to watch the news this morning. There's an interesting commentary on channel 11," she said, winking as she left her desk with several envelopes.

Skinner shook his head, brushing it off for the moment.

He closed the door with a light 'click' and then tossed his trench coat on one of the leather chairs.

Sitting back in his chair, Skinner began the task of sifting through the day's mail and other stuff.

First things first, flyers.

He sifted through the foot-thick stack of papers and wondered why the post sent flyers to the Bureau.

They must really think we have no home or social life.

Skinner filed through the stack, picking out the junk mail and passing them to the shredder as he went.

Free Florida vacation?

Skinner picked up the colorful envelope and examined it carefully. Curiosity captured the better end of him and he decided this free vacation warranted further investigation.

Placing the envelope aside, Skinner continued through the many memos, case reports and requests from other federal agencies.

By the time he was finished, he was left with about one quarter of the mail he'd started with.

All the rest was fed to his beautiful shredder beside his desk.

Skinner sat back, resting as his gaze became fixed with the television set high up on the corner shelf.

He stood up, walking towards the TV wondering what his secretary was winking about.

Putting the television on channel 11, he went back to his seat and watched.

Confusion struck him when he saw Agents Mulder and Scully's faces painted on one of the screens behind several commentators.

His nerves shot into overdrive as he wondered what they were talking about now.

He took in a deep breath, bracing himself for anything.

Preparation, no matter how much, couldn't help what Skinner heard next.

"Well we can't say it isn't plausible, they've had a very close partnership these past few years," a middle aged woman said.

"Well I'm convinced, after this footage our own Ray Barker sent us this morning, I'd say it's been going on for while," another man added.

"The question is, how will the FBI react when they find out about this? I mean, inner-office relationships isn't exactly encouraged in the Bureau," a blond woman added sarcastically.

Relationship!?

Skinner's head whirled.

It didn't sound good...it wasn't shocking...but the media being in the middle of it all made it all the worst.

He understood now why everyone was all hyper and loud this morning, Mr and Mrs Spooky had finally crossed the line.

He leaned back in the chair, hoping this hadn't gone too far.

"Yeah ... but maybe they were having a secret relationship for months ... we possibly stumbled on them in a 'delicate situation,'" the older woman pondered.

"This is all speculation people, but to change the topic. Who here thinks they make a great couple?" the man asked.

The participants all spoke at once.

Skinner dug through his drawer and found the remote, switching the TV off in frustration.

Mulder had really done it this time. He reached for the phone and pressed on of the extensions.

"Yes, can you find me Agents Mulder and Scully's cell phone numbers? Thank you."

Skinner noted the numbers on his notepad as he hung up the phone.

He stared at the numbers for a moment, realizing how stupid he was not to notice this before.

Skinner sighed.

This was the part of the job he hated, telling his agents what to do with their personal life ... especially when deep down he knew they were meant for each other.

It needed to be done, if only it was to warn them.

Skinner really didn't want the FBI proclaimed a love nest or anything remotely close to that statement.

The media was having enough fun with this as it is.

He picked up the phone again and dialed Mulder's cell phone number.

"Mulder."

The phone answered.

"Agent Mulder, this is Skinner," he said, wondering where on earth they were to.

"What's up sir?" Mulder asked, growing serious.

Typical Mulder reaction.

Skinner removed his glasses, scratching below his eyes.

"I need to talk to you and agent Scully."

He told Mulder.

"When can you be here?" he asked.

"Um ... maybe tomorrow sometime," Mulder answered.

"Why do you want to see us?" he asked.

Skinner hesitated a moment, deciding if he should drop the news or not.

He didn't feel like starting up a fight at this time of morning. "I'll tell you when you get here."

Skinner answered before hanging up the phone. He sat back in his chair, taking a deep breath.

The Assistant Director knew this wasn't going to go smoothly.

Nothing involving Mulder ever went smoothly.

He sighed, preparing for the worst. Scully opened her eyes, her head rested against the seatbelt.

"Who was that?" she asked Mulder.

"Skinner...he wants to talk to us about something, he never said what it was about though," Mulder answered.

He glanced aside and saw Scully straighten up in her seat. Returning his attention to the road, he forgot the expression Scully wore on her face.

He felt a tap on his arm and looked at Scully for a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"Mulder..." she began, hint of curiosity in her voice.

Shifting in her seat to face him, grin on her face.

"Maybe Skinner saw the stuff about us on TV and wants to talk to us about that.

I wonder what he thinks about that anyway...."

Her thought trailed off.

Mulder cocked an eyebrow.

"Knowing Skinner...hard to say, though your TV theory makes sense...it's reasonable that the Bureau wouldn't want us all spattered over the news.

He probably just wants to warn us about something, that's all."

He gazed at Scully, who was deep in thought.

"Or else it could be just another monster of the week case that flew in over his desk this morning."

Mulder quipped, noticing Scully's jaw drop. That got her going.

"What happened to our two-week vacation we were taking," Scully shot back at him, not too pleased that her vacation was being cut short.

Hunting monsters wasn't the way she had planned to spend the next week and a half of her vacation either.

"Well, there could be a change of plans," Mulder said, his serious face put to good use.

He loved how Scully was so susceptible to his teasing.

He glanced towards his partner and noticed she was in pouting mode.

This was priceless.

"You could go, but don't expect me to be with you when you leave." Scully grunted, turning her gaze to the endless fields that lay before them. Mulder chuckled as he reached and flicked some hair in her face.

Her expression softened and she started to giggle.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"I was joking, Scully."

He smiled and reached for her hand, placing a kiss on the back of it.

"A good alien abduction case would do just fine..." he added.

Scully pulled her hand back, letting to a sigh of disbelief.

"We'll get to DC, hear what Skinner has to say, then go somewhere nice ok?"

"Ok," Scully answered as she rested her had back against the car door window.

"But no X-Files until my two-week vacation is over," she added, smile on her face as she closed her eyes.

Next Day

Scully and Mulder walked into Skinner's secretary's office, dressed in their typical Bureau wear.

They managed to make it home in time to change out of their clothes into 'workwear' before their meeting.

Mulder walked up to Skinner's secretary, who was in deep concentration over her computer.

"Hi..." he said, trying to get her attention.

The young lady looked up and jumped slightly at the shock of seeing Mulder looking down at her.

A slight grin appeared on her face when she noticed Scully standing in the background.

"Is AD Skinner around? He called me yesterday and said he wanted to talk to Agent Scully and I," Mulder added, wondering what the secretary found so funny.

The secretary giggled, then pointed to the AD's office door.

"Right in there ... He's been waiting for you two."

Her head motioned to the door, coaxing them towards it.

Mulder backed off, wonder what was with her this morning.

He wouldn't ask.

Scully reached for the knob as Mulder followed behind her.

She opened the door, stepping in as she noticed Skinner was sitting at his desk, hard at work.

"Are we interrupting sir?" Scully asked as she stepped aside and let Mulder close the door.

Skinner looked up, the stood up from his chair.

"No.

Mulder, Scully, have a seat."

He motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk.

He walked across the office as Mulder and Scully each took a seat in the chairs. Skinner sighed, playing around with the flower centerpiece on the table. Coming up with good way to tell them wasn't an easy task ... even after a day and a half of thinking.

"What did you want to talk to us about sir?" Mulder asked, helping to break the silence Skinner was imposing on them. He shifted around to face his superior, who's interest was fixed on the bottle of daises in the middle of the table.

Skinner moved from the table, sighing as he tried to find a place to put his hands.

He settled for his pockets.

"This might come to you to as a shock," he started, watching the reaction on the agents' faces, "No...no...how could it."

He paced the floor, wondering how to re-phrase his words.

The AD walked back to his desk, deciding that the

blunt approach to this matter

would be most effective and understood.

"How long has this been going on?" he asked, looking at Scully, then at Mulder.

"What's been going on sir?" Mulder asked, confused by the question.

He looked at Scully, who was looking down at her feet, not saying anything.

If she had an idea, she wasn't speaking up.

Mulder's gaze shifted back to Skinner, looking for an answer.

Skinner shook his head, looking down at the desk.

The fact hit Mulder that he was the only one in the room who didn't know what was going on.

Skinner looked at Mulder and motioned towards him and Scully.

"You two ... how long?"

Mulder's stomach sunk at it hit him.

Skinner knew.

He glanced at Scully, who was twiddling her thumbs, trying to distract herself from what was happening.

Great, the hardest thing to face Skinner with and Scully leaves him alone on it.

Just his luck. "Um ... well," he began, taking in a deep breath before continuing, "it hasn't been all that long ... just that ... one thing led to another and well...."

Mulder stopped there, looking towards Scully for support.

She sighed, looking towards Skinner.

A moment of silence passed between the three people.

It felt as if the tension could be cut with a knife. "You've been through the academy, learned all the rules.

Heck, Mulder you can even quote them."

Skinner said, an harshness in his voice.

He watched the two agents as they squirmed in their seats.

Skinner knew Mulder was worried. He was biting his lip and refused to make eye contact with his boss. Skinner continued, "I know the FBI can't rule an agent's life, but you two know too well that male and female fraternization is NOT encouraged between partners!"

He watched as Mulder winced in response to his last comment.

"Sir..."

Scully started, shocking Skinner.

He was expecting Mulder to reply. "Agent Mulder and I are more than able to handle ourselves.

It shouldn't be an--"

She was cut off.

"It wouldn't be!"

Skinner blared, before falling silent for several moments.

"Heck, I wouldn't even know if it weren't on national television!" With that, he reached for the remote and turned the TV on, revealing a talk show speaking of 'the world's cutest couple'.

Mulder and Scully's jaws dropped in shock as they sat there, dead stare at the TV.

Skinner turned the TV off, dropping the remote to his desk.

Mulder shook his head lightly in shock.

"How could they have--"

"That news crew that came by the motel.

They somehow came up with the idea that you two were involved.

Now I know they were right."

Skinner sat back in his seat, waiting for one of them to respond.

Mulder scoffed.

"Sir, you know that wasn't our fault.

It was six in the morning!

How could we have known that there was news reporters at the door?" he asked, confident that will stick his boss.

Skinner sighed, standing up from his seat. Mulder watched as Skinner walked pass the window, hands against his hips.

He turned around

to face Mulder and Scully. Mulder stood up, knowing what was coming next.

"You two have to break this off."

Skinner said, knowing he'll regret this later in the week. He could sense the regret coming on already as Mulder walked up to face him, challenging his authority.

"That's an order!" Skinner added, trying to sound authoritative.

It wasn't working.

"Bull shit!" Mulder replied, face to face with his boss.

"Agent Scully and I worked close together now almost 8 years to the day!

Sure we've had our rough times...but we've gotten pass them.

Now this.

The first down to earth thing I did in practically 8 years and you condemn Agent Scully and I for it."

He paused, starting his boss in the eye.

"Do whatever you want to us.

But I'm not going to ignore whatever I'm feeling for Agent Scully--Dana just because you say so!" Mulder gazed towards Scully, who still was looking away from him and Skinner.

"I'll quit my job at the Bureau before I ever give up what I'm just beginning to discover with Agent Scully.

She means too much to me."

Scully looked up at them, her eyes fixated with Mulder's.

Skinner watched as Mulder's lips twitched up into a tiny smile, before it shot back at him. Skinner bit his lower lip, not knowing how to reply.

Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes as Mulder and Skinner stood face to face, neither one willing to break the other's gaze.

"Then, I guess that's that," Skinner commented as he turned and returned to his desk.

Without further word, Scully turned and began walking towards the door and out of the argument.

Mulder wasn't satisfied.

"What?" he asked, hint of sarcasm in his voice as he stood in front of Skinner's voice, sweat apparent on his brow.

"I'm letting you two off on this."

Skinner said, turning his interest to other things.

Mulder began walking to the door when he interrupted his walking.

"Just keep a low profile, ok?" Skinner asked.

Mulder stared at him for a moment, before smiling as he turned and joined Scully at the door. The AD watched as the two agents left, Mulder's hand grazing the small of his petite partner's back.

Their gestures were so apparent to him now, everything made sense.

The phone rang just before the door closed.

Scully let go a sigh as she let herself drop against the side the wall, closing her eyes in relief. Mulder brushed his brow.

"Well that was a bit worst than expected," he sighed, taking a seat on one of the many chairs in the room.

The secretary wasn't there.

It gave them a certain amount of privacy.

"That was close."

Scully added, stretching her legs. "We should have expected it."

She looked at Mulder, who simply nodded his head.

"Well, it's over now.

Why don't we go down to the office and see what's up," she asked, her mood changing from depression to cherry in a matter of no time.

Mulder observed her as she passed him, quickly making her way to the outer office door.

"I thought you wanted to finish your vacation," he asked, smile on his face.

"Skinner never said anything about having to give up our vacation."

"Who said I'm not going to," she teased, waiting for him to follow her. Mulder stood up, walking in Scully's direction when a door opened from behind.

Scully stopped to see what was going on.

It was Skinner again.

"Can I speak to you two again?" His voice sounded urgent, not the authoritative voice he bared several minutes before.

Mulder and Scully glanced at one another before making their way back into Skinner's office. "Something's come up," he said, closing the door behind the two agents. They both turned to face Skinner.

"Agent Fowley ... she has Gibson captured."

The news hit them like lead.

Mulder was just beginning to think this day was off to a good start.

Diana Fowley could ruin anything. "How did she manage that," he asked.

Scully was rolling her eyes in disgust, much to Mulder's expectations. "Apparently she kidnapped him from the children's shelter he was in.

She's holding him hostage in a warehouse in Maryland.

Agent Fowley requested that you speak to her, Agent Mulder." Skinner answered, revealing all hew knew about the situation.

Mulder closed his eyes, knowing this wouldn't be good.

Wherever Diana was involved, trouble lurked not too far in the distance.

Scully reached out, gently touching his arm. "Where can we find her?"

Baltimore Maryland 1:16PM

Mulder hopped out the car and jogged towards the officer in charge. Scully wasn't far behind.

"What's happening?" Mulder asked, trying to get the man's attention.

The officer was busy clearing roads and ordering other officers around.

"Officer...?" Mulder queried, only to be waved off by the officer.

He turned towards Scully, searching for support.

"Don't get too involved, Mulder," she whispered, "you mightn't like the outcome of this."

They both watched as the officer moved in the squad team in closer to the warehouse. Scully and Mulder moved out of the man's way as he swung around, continuously giving orders.

"Now..." The officer said, glaring at the surrounding people.

"Where's this Mulder character that was supposed to come here and assist with this?" He came to face Mulder, who in turn hunched his shoulders, a grin on his face as he lifted his arms in the air.

"Oh, so it's you..."

The officer said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

He turned away as Mulder glanced at Scully, seeing she didn't understand either.

The officer led Mulder to the entrance of the building.

"She's somewhere in there, we suspect somewhere in the far end.

Just try and get the kid out of there safely."

He stated, leading Mulder into the building.

Scully stood by, watching her partner as he disappeared into the building.

An echo whipped through the building as something hit the grown.

Mulder quickened his pace, following the sound.

His footsteps rang through the halls as he turned a corner, coming face to face with the barrel of a gun. Stopping abruptly, he instinctively raised his hands.

Diana moved the gun from his face, smiling lightly. "Fox, thank God you're here.

There was this woman...she was chasing me and..."

Her voice trailed off in exasperation.

She threw herself into Mulder's arms, hugging him tightly.

Mulder reluctantly placed his hands on her back, looking around for Gibson.

He pulled away, looking Fowley in the eye.

"Where's Gibson?" Mulder asked.

Fowley pushed him away, mad.

"That's all you're worried about isn't it?!" She swung the gun around in the air, making Mulder duck aside.

"I don't count for anything anymore!"

Her hand passed along a shelf, knocking several old paint buckets and glass bottles to the floor.

Mulder moved away from the flying glass hesitantly. "I didn't say that Diana."

"Well then what are you saying!?" Diana asked, walking up, face to face with Mulder.

Silence passed between them as Mulder stood there, trying to conjure up something to say.

Ever since he'd found out that Diana was working with the Cigarette Smoking Man and she made him look like he was insane, he'd hated the ground she walked on.

Why would she need him now? He didn't know.

Careful thought wouldn't help him escape what was coming.

There was only one way to get through Diana Fowley, suck up to her.

Scully was growing impatient outside the building.

She felt there was something up.

"I'm going in there," she said, dashing off in the building, leaving the officer there with his mouth open. Scully drew her gun as she heard noise not too far from where she was walking.

She walked along slowly, making sure not to make any noise with the heels of her shoes.

A cold shock swept through her body as she saw Fowley in the distance...kissing Mulder.

Her heart plummeted to the bottom as she turned and ran, not wanting to face Mulder after what she'd just seen.

Mulder pushed Fowley away, wrapping her around into a restraint.

"Thought you knew me better than that, Diana," he said cunningly, pushing her up against the wall.

She groaned in reaction.

"Now," he said, placing the cuffs on her hands, "where's Gibson?"

Moments passed, Diana refused to answer.

Mulder pushed her hard against the wall.

"I suggest you start talking soon."

He commented grimly.

Tired of waiting, he pulled her from the wall and began walking her out the building.

Cops quickly surrounded her as Mulder exited the building.

The head officer came up to him and asked, "Did you find the kid?"

Mulder shook his head.

"She refused to tell me.

He's got to be in there somewhere, she wouldn't leave him far away," he answered, looking around the crime scene for Scully.

Mulder couldn't spot her.

"Did you see where my partner went?" he asked.

"Yeah... she left about ten minutes ago.

She was in a hurry."

The officer answered.

Mulder sighed, wondering how he was going to get back home.

"Can I have a loan of this car?" Mulder asked, walking towards the car. The officer opened his mouth to answer, but Mulder was in the car and out of sight before words had time to flow from his lips.

"Damn FBI."

The officer muttered, before ordering several of his men in the building to find Gibson.

Mulder reached for his phone, foundling it in his hands before

punching in Scully's phone number. The phone rang...and rang.

"We're sorry, the cell phone customer you are trying to reach is unavailable," the female computer voice responded.

He slapped the phone down on the side seat in frustration. He couldn't understand why Scully had taken off quickly.

He gazed ahead of him on the highway, and let his foot go heavy on the peddle.

The speed gage went from 90 to 120 in

a matter of seconds.

Fox Mulder's office February 16, 2000

Mulder opened the door to come face to face with an irritated Agent Scully. Without looking at him, she continued into her little corner of the office. Mulder shut the door quietly, watching her as he walked towards his desk. Scully tossed papers aside, while placing others into boxes.

"What... what's going on here?" Mulder asked, slightly amused by her actions.

The smile he had was quickly swept off his face when she turned to him, eyes blazing in anger.

"What's wrong?" he asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.

Scully threw several balls of paper at him before sweeping her desk off with one brush of an arm.

"What's wrong?

You have the nerve to ask me what's WRONG?"

The sarcasm in her voice baffled Mulder.

He shook his head barely, not wanting to push her into more anger.

"You're a bastard Fox Mulder!" she shouted, taking her box and belongings and walking past him.

"Where are you going?

What did I do anyway?" Mulder asked, holding her by the arm.

She resisted, trying to flee his grasp.

"Dana... what's the matter?" he asked, concerned.

She was red with anger and frustration now. Mulder knew this wasn't good.

"You have the nerve to ask me that after what you did back in the warehouse?!"

She asked, dropping her box to the floor to face him.

This really wasn't a good day for Mulder.

"I should never have trusted you from the beginning, Mulder!" Scully exclaimed.

He tried to say something, but she cut him off.

"You're ALWAYS like that around her!"

With that, Scully picked up the cardboard box and reached for the door knob.

"You were in the warehouse?" Mulder asked, shocked almost beyond words. Everything was starting to make sense.

Scully frowned, before leaving the office.

Mulder ran after her.

"It isn't what you think.

I-I had to do that to stop her from pointing a damn gun in my face!"

He tried frantically to explain, although he knew Scully wouldn't listen.

"Scully, wait!" Mulder tried in one last attempt to stop her.

It was no use, she was out of sight before he had time to finish.

Mulder walked back into his office.

Somehow it felt empty, though he'd passed many days alone there.

Knowing that Scully was pissed at him and probably wouldn't be coming back made it feel worst.

He felt an headache coming on as she slouched in his

chair, thinking of how stupid he was. Mulder had a gift for ruining something perfect.

His whole future flashed before his eyes.

He could see Skinner standing above him saying, 'I told you so' after he'd recently heard of Scully's re-assignment to Quantico ... far enough from Mulder and the X-Files.

He would continue to investigate X-file cases, while watching his success rate plummet case by case.

Becoming depressed as hell, he would slowly drown himself in work before being sent to a mental home because he'd lost his mind.

He kicked his desk, tipping it and it's contents to the floor in front of him.

Mulder sat back, coming to the realisation that this wasn't his fault.

It was a misunderstanding.

"Damn," he said lowly, brushing the hair from his eyes.

This was even stupider than he first thought.

Suddenly the cell phone rang, interrupting his train of thought.

He reached for his phone. "Mulder."

"Hey Mulder, what's up?"

It was Langly, hyper has ever.

Mulder sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Not much," Mulder answered, not too enthusiastic.

"Me and the guys were thinking you'll like to join us for a little R and R tonight." Langly suggested. Mulder wasn't interested.

"I don't know, Langly...I have a lot on my mind at the moment." Mulder's droopy voice never escaped Langly.

"Maybe some other time?" Mulder suggested, trying to avoid seeing the Gunman tonight.

"What's wrong, Mulder?" Langly asked.

He hesitated, "Something...with Scully.

Listen, I can't go over and see you guys, I have to go and find Scully...wherever she went."

Mulder dug around, looking for the keys to his car.

"Another fight?" Langly asked.

It was a normal thing to see, they had fights all the time.

What confused Langly was the fact that Mulder didn't want to talk about it.

Usually he'd show up on their doorstep and pour his little heart out to them.

"This has to be big."

He commented, more to himself than to Mulder.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Mulder yelled.

Mulder sat in an old, used chair, hands clasped over his face.

"I screwed up...badly."

He looked up at the Gunman, who were all standing in front of him, waiting for him to 'spill the beans'.

"What, you want me to tell you all the details?" He gazed at them, not too impressed with his current predicament.

They talked him into coming over, telling him that the R and R they had planned was talking to a secret source who knew where to find the Cigarette smoking man.

It had obviously worked.

"Well...."

Frohike hesitated, "it would help..."

Mulder shot him a glance "somewhat."

He turned away, busying himself with something behind them.

Mulder shrugged.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Nothing was said. Mulder sighed, shaking his head.

"I was called in to...capture Diana, and I did something that Scully didn't like."

He admitted finally.

Byers pulled up a chair, having the feeling that this was going to take a while. "What...exactly did you do?" he asked.

Langly popped himself up on the desk while Frohike sat on a CPU that happened to be on the floor.

"I kissed her.

I kissed Diana to keep her from shooting me.

Scully kind of saw me, and well, now she's pissed."

Mulder elaborated, resting back in his chair.

"Now I might have ruined everything."

His eyes gazed off into nothingness, confusing Byers.

"But why would Scully be mad after that...it's not like it never happened before."

Byers pondered on his last words, then looked at Mulder who wasn't paying attention.

"Is there something you're not telling us, Mulder?" Byers' inquiring voice asked.

Mulder looked up towards him, simply staring.

"Hey, what are you suggesting there, Johnny boy?" Frohike asked defensively.

Langly waved him off, "No, I think Byers is on to something," he added, leaning in towards Mulder.

"What's with this Mulder?"

He pushed on. Mulder really didn't want to be there.

"You three really know how to dig at the important parts, don't you?" Mulder said, running his hands through his hair.

"Scully and I well...we've grown closer these past few weeks and well--"

"Just how much closer?" Frohike asked, crossing his arms.

"Far enough," Mulder answered, sighing.

"I tried to make her listen, but....

Jeez! Man!

That was stupid of me."

His head slouched down between his legs.

Frohike left, muttering something about having to give him a chance first.

"Did you try finding her?" Byers asked, concerned.

"No... Langly convinced me to come here."

"Oops...sorry there Mulder." Langly said, not sure of what to do with himself.

"Oops."

Byers deadpanned, staring at his colleague.

Langly left quickly, not wanting Mulder to kill him at the next possible moment.

Byers tapped Mulder's shoulder to get his attention.

"Mulder...you need to go to her and explain to her what happened.

She always listened to you before, she'll listen to you now.

Just give her time to calm down.

It'll be ok."

Mulder stared at Byers before bursting out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Byers asked.

"Since when you've become such a pro at relationships?" Mulder asked jokingly.

Byers looked offended.

"It's a joke."

Mulder smiled at his friend.

He sighed.

"Well, I guess I better get on my way, before anything else happens.

Seems I've been a stream of bad luck today."

Mulder hauled his coat over his shoulders, while heading to the door.

He exited without looking back.

The cold February wind whipped through the alley as steam rose from the asphalt.

Mulder walked along slowly, rummaging around in his pockets for his keys.

After what happened, he knew Scully wouldn't be home.

Margaret Scully residence 10PM

Mulder pulled up in front of her house, his stomach tied in knots.

There was a light on in the living room, telling him that someone was home.

With hesitation, he stepped out of the car and proceeded slowly up to the front door.

He rang the door bell, standing patiently for the door to open.

It opened.

Margaret Scully staring at her daughter's partner, who looked afraid to see her there at that moment.

"What do you want Fox?" she asked, knowing what had happened between him and Dana.

It was hard to believe that he would actually do something like that to her daughter.

She knew he cared too much for her to do that.

"I want to talk to Scully," Mulder answered, keeping his distance.

He didn't want to push anything too far, it would undoubtedly make things worst.

"She says she don't want to talk to you.

Dana told me everything. " Margaret explained. She shook her head in wonder.

"Fox...what happened?" she asked.

Mulder shook his head.

"That's not what happened...it was all a misunderstanding."

He bit his lower lip, waiting for a response.

Margaret stepped outside closing the door behind her.

Mulder backed off, giving her some room to move.

She folded her arms together, the chill in the wind making her shiver lightly.

"Dana told me that she seen you kissing one of your old girlfriends," Margaret went on to say.

Mulder rolled his eyes in response. "My daughter knows what she seen," she added.

"Yes. Ok, I admit it, I did kiss her," Mulder began, watching Margaret sigh in disgust.

She began to turn around and go back into the house when Mulder reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

"What Dana didn't know and didn't tell you is that this woman had a gun pointed at my head, the only way I could restrain her was to do...what I did.

It's the truth." He explained, feeling somewhat like a little boy who was accused of torturing the neighbor's pet.

Margaret stopped and turned to face him, confusion on her face.

"It's complicated...they're been trying to make a rift between Scully and I since the beginning.

Bringing in someone from my past is just another way to do that," Mulder added vagrantly "this time it's working..." he added, his voice a mere whisper.

"I thought all of that was finished?" Margaret asked, believing what he had just said, but wanting to know more.

"It's never finished," Mulder answered, his expression trying to convince Margaret of this.

She nodded lightly, understanding.

"Please, can I see Scully now?

I need to tell her what I just told you."

He pleaded, desperation in his eyes. Margaret smiled lightly before opening the door and letting him in.

"Dana...someone's here to see you," Margaret announced as she went down the hallway and out of sight, leaving Mulder standing dead in the water. Scully was sitting on the couch, staring at the fish tank.

She wore her white robe and her hair was a mess.

She looked depressed.

"Dana?" Mulder queried, thinking the use of her first name will break the layer of silence that fell upon the room once her mother had left. He could tell she wasn't in the mood to talk.

Mulder sat across from her, moving several pillows before speaking.

"Dana listen to me.

What you seen today...it wasn't what it appeared to be."

He stopped for a moment, observing her reaction.

Scully shifted her gaze towards him, her eyes swelled from crying.

Mulder wanted to hold and comfort her.

He made a move to go to her side, but she turned away again, returning her gaze to the fishes.

Mulder sighed, contemplating on how he was to explain this whole situation to her.

She wasn't as understanding as her mother was.

Mulder took a deep breath.

"What happened was that Diana had a gun to my head as soon as I found her.

There wasn't anything else I could do, I had no choice."

He paused again, sighing. "You really think I would go back to after all she's done to me?

Come on Dana, you know I wouldn't be so stupid."

She looked at him, sniffling lightly.

"Well ok...sometimes I am. But Dana...please

believe me on this.

I didn't mean anything by that kiss except to catch Diana off guard."

He pleaded, leaning as far over the coffee table as he could to be close to her.

"Mulder..."

Scully began, her voice sounded raw.

He relaxed somewhat, knowing at least she was willing to talk to him. "What I saw in that warehouse was-"

"It was nothing.

I turned Diana over to the cops after you left.

I didn't know you were there Scully, I just wanted to get Gibson back."

He elaborated before Scully had the chance to finish her sentence. Mulder moved to beside her, taking her hand.

"Look, Dana," he shook his head, thinking, "I'll never ever do anything to hurt you like this, I love you.

Everything was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

It's one big misunderstanding." Mulder looked into Scully's puffy eyes, searching for a response. "Please say you forgive me."

"Where's Gibson?" Scully asked, obviously changing the subject. Mulder smiled lightly, kissing her hand.

It felt like everything was going to be ok.

"I don't know.

I don't know if they even found him.

When I came out the warehouse and you were gone, I went to find you," Mulder explained.

They stared into each other's eyes as moments passed.

Mulder's eyes were sad, desperate for forgiveness.

A smile broke on Scully's face as she leaned over and bundled Mulder into an embrace.

Relief flowed over Mulder as he buried his face into her hair, glad

to have her back into his arms again.

They pulled away from one another, staring deep into the other's eyes.

"Forgive

you."

Scully whispered, cupping his cheek as the glint in his eyes appeared again. "But never do that to me again," she added.

Mulder leaned in close, placing his lips against hers.

Their eyes fluttered close as Mulder rested one arm against the couch and the other around Scully's back.

Margaret re-entered the room, clearing her throat as she passed. Mulder jumped away from Scully, blushing a cherry red.

He watched as Margaret continued into the other room, then looked at Scully, who was smiling. "What is it?" Mulder asked.

"You have lipstick...here, and here," Scully answered, grin growing larger as she reached for the corner of his lips, wiping the lipstick off.

"You can barely see it with the shade of read you're sporting now."

She joked, leaning back to see if she'd got it all.

Mulder glared at her with a smug look.

"Thanks.," he said sarcastically, before running his hand over his face, making sure there was no lipstick left. His cell phone rang and he opened his coat for Scully to take it.

"Hello....no, this is his partner, he's busy at the moment."

She looked towards Mulder, who lifted his eyebrows as he was getting up from the couch to go and check his face.

She listened to the man on the other side the phone line.

"Yeah...ok, we'll be right there," she said, ending the call.

"Who was that?" Mulder asked, returning from the bathroom.

Scully was off the couch and walking past him.

"Police department... Gibson wants to talk to us now," she answered, disappearing into a room.

Mulder walked over to the couch to pick up his cell phone. He turned and stared at Scully coming

out the room, dressed and ready to go.

Mulder checked his watch, "1 minute...Scully you never cease to amaze me."

"It's a gift.

Come on, we have to get going," she said walking to the door.

"Where are you two going?" Margaret asked, coming from another room. Mulder stepped ahead of Scully reaching for the door.

"We have to go and talk to someone."

Scully explained, hugging her mother goodbye. "See you later."

"See you," Margaret returned the goodbye.

Scully left, Margaret held Mulder back.

"Take care of her for me," she said, reaching up to hug him.

"Always do," he said, smiling down at the mother he never had.

"Bye."

He turned to leave.

"Bye," Margaret said, closing the door behind him.

Mulder ran out the car and hopped in the passenger side.

"Did they say anything else about Gibson?" he asked, placing the seatbelt around himself before tugging on the seat leaver to shove the seat back.

"Not really, only that he was scared for his life.

He wouldn't tell the officers anything else.

They said he would only talk to us," Scully answered.

"After being held captive in Africa, get rescued and placed in a shelter only to be captured again, it's a wonder he's only scared," Mulder said. Scully looked towards him and sighed in exasperation. "Never a dull moment," she commented.

"Never."

16th Precinct
Washington DC

"Agent Mulder," Gibson turned to see Mulder enter, followed by Scully. "Nice to see you're ok Agent Scully."

He returned his gaze to the drawing he was working on.

Mulder and Scully sat across from him, watching him for a few moments.

"You're wondering why I called you out here at this time of night.

You think it has something to do with Agent Fowley." His gaze shifted up towards the two agents, who were waiting for a response. "It doesn't."

"What is it then, Gibson?" Mulder asked, leaning in to have a look at what the kid was drawing.

It looked like a valley with lots of rocks on one side.

The rocks turned to grass as it came to the bottom and carried up to the other side before ending abruptly by the fall of a cliff to the sea. Gibson sure had a talent for drawing.

"It's not enough..."

Gibson began, "They're after me again."

"Who? Agent Fowley and those people?" Scully asked.

"No.

The aliens, they're back.

Some of them never left.

They want me, they know that I know everything. Gibson explained.

Shock scattered across Mulder's face as he glanced at Scully, before returning his attention to Gibson.

"What are they planning to do?" Mulder asked.

"Kill us all.

Genocide.

They're coming with ships this time.

There's nothing we can do."

Gibson said, placing his papers aside.

"They'll be here soon, in a month or so."

Mulder leaned over the table, closing the gap between him and Gibson. "Listen, we stopped them last time, why can't we do it again?" he asked, hoping there was some chance in hell that Gibson had an idea.

"They'll be too powerful.

There's no way telepaths can beat the powers of their ships."

Gibson explained.

"Then we'll try another way.

Does their ships have any weaknesses?" Mulder asked, pressing the child.

Gibson pulled away, resisting to answer. Mulder backed off, wondering what he'd done.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You're asking me too many hard questions.

How would I know their weaknesses?

I'm only a kid."

Gibson mumbled between glances.

Scully pushed Mulder back, trying herself.

"Gibson, is there any way you can give us this information, through your telepathic ability?" she asked.

"Only if one of you would have this ability too.

It's impossible for me to send a thought that one cannot receive," he explained.

Scully glanced back at Mulder, who noticed she had the same idea in mind.

"I could do it.

I just need something to get the ability active in me again," Mulder said in thought.

"Cosmic galactic radiation isn't an easy thing to come across."

Scully commented gazing at Mulder, her voice slightly losing hope.

"I know where to find it."

Gibson added.

Scully's interest shot back at the kid along with Mulder's.

"Where to?" Mulder asked.

Gibson slid the picture he was drawing over to Mulder, turning it to face the FBI agent.

"Here," he said, pointing at the valley.

Here's where I became infected.

Mulder and Scully gazed at the picture in wonder.

"We have to go there."

Mulder looked up at Gibson.

"Where's it to?"

Port au Port peninsula Newfoundland, Canada

The humming of snowmobiles stopped as Scully stepped off the machine to have a look around.

The sun glared off the snow, making it difficult to see. Once her eyes adapted, she could see a huge slope of snow, starting at the top of a mountain.

It ended over a cliff, which dropped about two hundred feet to the icebergs below. "This isn't the friendliest place in the world," she said, placing her helmet on the seat.

Mulder approached her from behind. "Yeah...doesn't look anything like the picture we saw," he added, taking a good look at the rugged land which had to be traveled by foot.

Their spiked shoes will come in handy crossing the ice-plated snow which lay before them.

"It's winter."

Gibson deadpanned.

"I was here in the Summer," he said sarcastically, walking ahead of them to take a seat on the snowmobile. "I'm beginning to get cold.

Let's hurry up I don't want to freeze here," he commented, reaching for his boots.

Mulder and Scully moved to get theirs too.

"How far is it from here?" Mulder asked, tying his shoes. Gibson stood up, looking beyond the snow slope. Scully and Mulder joined him.

"Maybe about a ten minute walk, we're almost there."

Gibson said, as he began walking.

The ice was hard, making them have to press down hard into the icy snow to have a little grip.

Scully slipped several times, Mulder was there to catch her.

"Press harder Scully, you need to get some grip under there," he suggested, hauling her back up to his level.

He looked ahead and saw that Gibson had very little trouble in walking along the ice sheet.

"Press harder," she whispered to herself, self conscious of the cliff beside her, which she could easily fall and slip off.

She hated hights. She heard Mulder grunt behind her as she turned to see him slipping down towards the cliff.

"Mulder!" she screamed.

Gibson turned to see what was happening.

Mulder caught his arm around a rock which was sticking out of the snow.

He looked behind to see his feet hanging over the edge of the cliff.

"Damn," he whispered, hauling his feet back to land with the help of the rock. "Don't worry, I got it!"

He called out, standing back to his feet.

Mulder walked back to Scully and Gibson, looking at the ice-streaked cliff leading to even more ice at the bottom.

"Mulder..." Scully whispered worriedly as she reached out to touch his arm.

"I'm ok," he assured her.

Mulder nodded to Gibson to keep going.

"You sure?

Mulder, no one comes up in here during the winter, it's not safe."

She reminded him, making sure he wanted to continue.

"It's the only way, Scully. I have to know what he knows."

He told her, nudging her forward to continue.

They arrived to the other side safely, the slope was still there, but at least land continued up the other side instead of dropping off into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Gibson stopped, looking up the valley wall.

The vague appearance of rocks could be seen through the ice which covered it.

"It's up there," he said, pointing to several large rocks which had broken away from the ledge wall over the years.

"What is?" Mulder asked.

"The aliens...when they first abducted me, they did tests on me and everything."

Gibson began, pausing to think for a moment.

"You were abducted?" Scully asked, shocked by this new bit of information. She and Mulder looked at each other simultaneously.

"Yeah, when they brought me back, their ship accidentally crashed here, in these rocks.

The military came and found me, and the ship.

It was impossible for them to move the ship from where it was lodged into the rock so they covered it up.

The ship contains that kind of radiation that we're looking for.

I was exposed to it for so long that it switched my telepathic powers on forever."

Gibson explained.

Mulder was shaking his head in wonder.

"You only need to be exposed to it for a short period, enough for me to give you the information." He explained, beginning to climb the tall hill which lay before him.

"Be back in a bit," Mulder said, leaning over to kiss Scully on the cheek.

"No way, I'm coming with you."

She countered, following him up the hill.

Gibson slid onto one of the rocks which lay far up on the valley wall. Mulder slid next to him, followed by Scully.

"Here it is."

He kicked away the ice which covered the rocks.

"It's under here."

"Would it work like this, with us sitting here?" Mulder asked, curious.

"Radiation is radiation.

It has barely no boundaries."

Gibson answered, grabbing Mulder's hand.

"Can you sense anything?" he asked.

Mulder shook his head.

"No, what am I supposed to be sensing?" he asked, confused.

"You'll know when you feel it."

Gibson closed his eyes, breathing in deeply.

Scully watched in amazement as Mulder jolted suddenly, looking at Gibson.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think," Mulder answered, not too sure what was happening to himself.

He closed his eyes, cringing at the pain that flowed through his head as Gibson fed him the information.

Mulder pressed in his temples, trying to relieve the pain.

Scully rested him back against the rock, doing all she could to relieve the pain.

Gibson pulled away from Mulder, releasing his arm.

"There...I'm finished," he said, shaking his head.

He too was effected by the link.

Gibson looked over at Mulder, who was taking in deep breaths, still holding his head. "I'll be better in a minute or so...your brain's just adjusting to the new amount of information it has received," he explained.

Scully thought he made Mulder's head look like a hard drive of a computer.

"Sounds a lot better than it feels."

Mulder quipped, feeling a giant headache coming on.

Feeling better, he thought for a moment, taking in all the new information his brain had yet to fully process.

He looked at Gibson, shock splattered over his face.

"My god." Was all he could say.

"Don't think about it now...get some rest before doing that."

Gibson suggested, standing up from the rocks.

Mulder stood up behind him, feeling off balance. Clouds had gathered over the sky and it had begun to snow. Gibson gazed down the hill, sighing.

"I think it would be easier to slide down." With that, he was gone down the hill, laughing gallantly.

Mulder cleared some of the snow from his hair.

"He's not serious."

Scully smiled at him, before following Gibson down the hill.

He sighed, shaking his head.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

He sat down and slid down the hill to join Scully and Gibson at the bottom.

"See? Wasn't that bad," Scully pointed out, standing to her feet.

"No."

Mulder agreed, having a hard time to rise to his feet.

"I'm just not gonna be able to sit on my butt for the next six months," he added, walking to ware the cramps out of his legs.

Mulder looked and saw that Gibson was already on his way back.

"We better get going, before he leaves us behind in drifts," he said, leading Scully ahead by the small of her back.

They walked along, taking their time.

The wind had picked up, and the visibility was reduced to half.

"Gibson!

Show down and wait for us!" Mulder yelled, trying to get his

attention.

The wind was whistling too hard and Gibson didn't hear.

He was just a black spot in the distance now, Mulder sped up lightly, trying to bridge the gap between them.

"Mulder, watch out, you might lose your grip."

Scully reminded him as the wind whipped her hair into her face.

She brushed it away, squinting to see ahead of herself.

"Mulder!"

She said tapping him.

"Gibson fell!"

She watched as the disappeared over the edge of the cliff!

"Oh my god!"

"Shit!" Mulder crepe along the icy hill as fast as he could to see over the edge, Scully was right behind him. He looked over, as close as he would allow himself to go.

"Scully, I don't see anything," he said in panic.

"We need to get help," Scully said, reaching for her cell phone.

She tried it, no response.

"Damn thing don't want to work," she said, placing it back into her pocket.

"It's the mountain."

"Come on, we need to walk out of here and find help," Mulder said, moving quickly across the ice slope.

Scully gazed over the cliff one more time before turning to follow her partner.

Mulder sat behind a police car, the door opened, with his head in his palms.

Scully came up and knelt beside him.

"The paramedics did all they could.

His spinal cord was too badly damaged to be fixed."

She paused for a moment, letting Mulder accept the bad news.

"I'm sorry Mulder."

She shook her head, not knowing what to say.

"He--didn't deserve it," Mulder said, his voice choppy as tears filled his eyes.

"The kid was just trying to help us," he added.

"He might have helped us more than you imagined.

Mulder, what he gave you...it could possibly stop whatever's coming."

Scully offered the optimist side to Gibson's tragic death.

"Still..."

Mulder's voice trailed off.

Scully brought him into her arms and hugged him tightly.

In her heart, she knew that the hard time was just beginning.

Fox Mulder's apartment February 22nd, 2000

Scully appeared from the bedroom door, dressed in her pajamas.

Resting herself against the door casing, she watched Mulder, who was staring aimlessly out of the window, "Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

"I've been having these dreams," he began, sighing heavily. Scully came and sat beside him, gently brushing his bangs back.

"It's Gibson's thoughts, somehow my mind hasn't had time to process it all yet

and I

keep having these dreams about parts of it."

"Theoretically, it's expected.

The cerebral cortex cannot process all the information given.

It's like a computer with very little RAM, once it's all taken up, the hard drive begins to store memory also."

Scully explained, brushing off a yawn.

Mulder stared at her, somewhat confused.

"Since when do you know so much about computers?" he asked.

She smiled.

"Well all that time with the Gunman wasn't spent with a deaf ear turned you know."

Scully quipped, lifting herself off the couch and making her way to Mulder's small kitchen.

"Did Skinner call back about that meeting you requested?" she asked.

"Yeah, he called about fifteen minutes ago," Mulder replied.

"And?" Mulder shrugged. "He told me to wait till we arrive to work.

Then he'll tell us what the situation is."

He staggered off the couch and made his way into the bedroom.

"Mulder..."

Scully's voice chimed into the room.

He peered out the door in curiosity to her inquiry.

She appeared around the corner with a rather old-looking milk carton, eying him suspiciously.

"Don't you ever take a stroll through a supermarket?"

"Once a year...maybe twice," he answered as Scully sighed and went back to the kitchen.

"We can pick up something on our way to work."

Mulder offered, receiving no response

from Scully.

He shrugged it off, before returning to the bedroom.

The Pentagon Washington DC 10:30AM

A roar rushed through the room as people poured into a conference room. Military officials, politicians and other dignified people took their places at the tables laid out throughout the room.

Skinner peered through a back door, taking in a deep breath.

"I hope you know what you're doing Mulder, I had to pull every sting in the book on this one."

"Even after what happened?" Mulder asked as Scully stood in front of him, straightening his tie.

Skinner eyeballed him and Mulder quickly brushed Scully away, tending to the tie himself.

"They trust you, they just don't trust your source.

An eleven year-old boy doesn't seem like the answer to all life's questions."

Skinner replied.

Mulder's temper flared.

"If it wasn't for Gibson, we wouldn't be standing here now, or anywhere else at the moment!"

"Well you need to tell that to them and not to me.

I already believe you." Skinner said, watching as a tall man with the rank of general approached from behind Mulder.

"Assistant director," the general greeted as his attention turned to Mulder.

"Agent Mulder," he extended his and, "nice to finally meet you." Mulder returned the handshake.

Silence fell between the four people. "That's some wild allegations you have there."

The general commented finally.

Mulder seemed unmoved.

"It's the truth."

The general sighed looking in the conference room which was almost

filled.

"We can go in anytime you want."

The general informed them.

Skinner looked at Mulder and Scully, who were gazing after one another, silently speaking to each other.

Scully turned and began walking into the room, Mulder's hand resting gently on the small of her back.

Skinner entered behind them, followed by the general.

Utter silence flowed through the conference room as they walked to their seats, only the echo of shoe souls hitting the floor gave the sense of life in the room.

Mulder sat down beside Skinner as the general proceeded in addressing the room.

"Thank you all for being here this morning.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has requested an audience with you regarding the Y2K incident."

The general began.

There was a surprised reaction from the crowd.

He cleared his throat, silencing the crowd.

"I'll now turn you over to the Assistant Director of the FBI, Walter Skinner."

The general relieved the floor for Skinner.

Mulder leaned over and whispered to Scully, "You ready?"

Scully regarded him in a quizzical fashion.

Mulder smiled barely, assuring her of her doubts.

Scully sighed, returning the brief smile.

"Ready as I'll ever be....I guess," she replied, her gaze returning to her boss who was about to speak.

Skinner stood in front of the people, nodding slightly towards the general. "Thank you General McGrivan."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "It has come to our attention that the previous invaders of our planet are on the verge of returning."

He informed them as the crowd bursted into laughter and words of disbelief.

Skinner glanced at Mulder, hesitation in his eyes before continuing.

"Agent Mulder," he continued, his expressed words bringing the audience to a halt.

"Has come across some rather disturbing evidence which points to this."

"It's rumored that a 11-year-old boy was Agent Mulder's source of information."

An old distinguished man stated.

"I find it very hard to believe that a boy of such a age could have such a vast knowledge, especially on this topic." He finished.

"Yes, it is hard to believe.

I'll leave you with Agent Scully, who will be able to explain the situation further," he answered, relinquishing the floor to Scully. There was a brief buzz throughout the room as Scully made her way to the floor.

"Thank you sir," Scully began, preparing the vast number of papers in front of her.

"First of, I'd like to point out that this case is anything but normal.

As some of you might know already, exposure to cosmic galactic radiation

in some people can enable telepathic abilities. Gibson Prise, whom gave Agent Mulder this information was exposed to a concentrated amount of this radiation at one point, which gave him his ability indefinitely." She paused for a moment taking a breath.

The room was silent.

"Presumably, Gibson Prise was an abductee and was previously held against his will in South Africa, where Agent Mulder rescued me from the alien rebel base." Scully glanced around the room, noticing that everyone was beginning to see the picture.

"Through all of his experiences, Gibson Prise gathered information.

Information proving the oncoming invasion of this planet. Recently, Agent Mulder telepathically linked with Gibson Prise and come to learn everything he knew.

It's rather hard and complicated to explain. Theoretically, this can happen and I am led to believe Agent Mulder's allegations."

She looked over towards Mulder, who was about to stand up from his seat.

"I'll leave you now with Agent Mulder, who will tell you what we've been all assembled here this morning for."

Scully stepped down from the floor, making her way back to her seat.

Mulder stopped her mid-way.

"Thanks for making me sound a little more credible up there," he whispered next to her year.

"I don't think I needed to, at this point they've been all granted open minds," Scully replied, giving him a slight grin.

He smiled back as they broke apart and continued their separate ways.

"As...Agent Scully was saying, I've recently obtained this information from Gibson Prise, may he rest in peace.

The information I've received -- information not only proving the government's involvement in a conspiracy orchestrated by a shadowy syndicate.

However what this syndicate has neglected to warn you of is that these extraterrestrial beings were

never their allies."

Mulder gazed up at the audience, a cool wave of realization flowed over him.

The people.

They were listening to him.

He sighed, taking in a deep breath, his confidence growing.

"They are planning to attack us soon.

They weren't expecting the resistance we showed during the Y2K incident and are now coming better prepared," he finished, dropping the biggest dose of bad news in his lifetime.

The crowd jumped into a uproar as Mulder backed off the floor.

General McGrivan relieved him.

"People, if Agent Mulder's allegations are correct, then we need to act quickly.

We cannot wait to be annihilated by them!" The roar quieted down to a low hum.

"How do we know if all of this is even worth listening to?

We could be just spreading paranoia and mania for nothing!" A middle aged woman said, her voice carrying.

She was cut off by another person in the audience.

"I think it's better to be safe than sorry.

We don't have to release anything to the public until we have confirmation that they are coming." Another woman countered.

The crowd began to agree with what the second woman was saying.

"The question is, what do we do people?" McGrivan asked.

"Stop them before they get here." A colonel suggested.

The rest of the room seemed to be in agreement.

"How can we do that?" Skinner asked, standing to his feet.

"We don't have the capabilities to--"

"We do."

MacGrivan deadpanned.

Skinner and Mulder looked on, shocked.

"And the secrets keep trickling to the surface..."

Scully mummered, although it was heard throughout the now quiet room. Mulder and Skinner were looking at the general for answers.

"We've had the original prototype since the mid-sixties.

It's only recently been tested."

MacGriven explained.

"Why didn't you tell the public?" Mulder asked.

He stood in front of the general, challenging his authority.

Silence spread across the room as everyone waited for the general's answer.

"We didn't want to tell the public because we didn't see the need to.

It also gave us an advantage over a lot of countries that posed a threat--"

"Posed a threat?

You mean like Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein? Come on!

You know we're the only superpower in the world at the moment, no one will ever dare go up against us, or NATO.

Unless there's something else you're not telling us."

Mulder snapped, anger burning throughout his soul. The general backed away from him, giving himself room to breath.

"We are not taking any chances since the end of the Cold War."

"Russia?

You think Russia still poses a threat!?

Just when I thought I was paranoid.

The real enemy is out there!" Mulder said loudly, pointing towards the sky.

"Don't kid yourself thinking every country is out to get us when the real threat is under our noses.

Russia will be more than willing to help us out on a mission like this, and so would any other country with sense of self preservation," he finished, listening to the silence that remained filling the room.

Gazing around the room, Mulder realized that most people were nodding slightly to themselves, obviously agreeing with what he'd said.

He looked back at General MacGriven, waiting for his response.

The General sighed.

"Well there's no use arguing about that now when we have other matters on our hands."

He turned away, trying to brush the current topic away.

"No, I want to know where we've obtained the technology to go into outer space," Scully said, turning in her seat to face Mulder and the General. "More aliens again?" she asked.

"No."

General MacGriven replied.

"It's our own technology."

"From what?" Scully asked. "As far as I can recall, besides the Apollo project, there is nothing from that time period that can give us the ability to --"

"It wasn't American.

It was Canadian."

The General explained, confusing things far beyond what they were.

Mulder stood there for several moments, in thought.

"The Avero Arrow."

He watched the reaction on General MacGriven's face.

"It was the first supersonic plane ever built.

Only several prototypes were made, but the project was cancelled after our President met with their Prime Minister. The planed were rumored to be dismantled and the data collected on the planed purged."

Realization hit him.

"But that was never the plan, wasn't it?

The planes were all brought here along with all the data they had on them."

"Not to mention the fact that most of those Canadian engineers were hired at NASA to work on the Apollo space program."

Scully added.

"We won the space race because of this.

That's why our technology advanced way further than the Russians."

Mulder stated, somewhat shocked over this discovery.

"Yes."

MacGriven answered simply.

Mulder shook his head in amazement.

Skinner broke their banter.

"I think we need to concentrate on the issue at hand here, not argue about history."

Mulder backed off and returned to his seat.

Skinner leaned over and whispered, "Keep your cool Mulder, we don't want to push things."

"Don't worry."

Mulder assured him, "it's been pushed beyond repair way before I got involved," he finished as General MacGriven began talking.

"Assistant Director is right.

The question is now, who do we get to fly the planes."

The general addressed the crowd.

"The question is, who in the Military has experience with this type of situation.

Sure some top flightier pilots can do it, but this is a very delicate matter and should be handled by someone who has experience with this type of situation," the middle-aged woman stated.

Everyone was staring at the general, awaiting his answer.

"There's never been a situation like this before, who would be qualified to carry out such a mission?" Skinner asked. He watched as the general nodded towards the two agents sitting beside him. "You can't be serious!" Skinner snapped, strangely amused by the general's suggestion.

"Yeah, I'm an FBI Agent, not Top Gun!" Mulder shrieked, not liking at all where this was going.

Sure he wanted to be an astronaut when he was small, but now the thought of space just makes his stomach all queasy.

"Agent Mulder," the general began, "this is your idea, your facts.

You know it better than anyone I can send up there.

I see no other alternative," he finished as Mulder began to pout.

Scully rested a hand against his arm, trying to give him comfort.

"Then I guess I have no choice," Mulder said, slouching in the chair. "How many people will be on a mission like this?

Just me?" he asked, unable to drop the thought that this was just another way they were using to get rid of him for good.

General MacGriven motioned towards Scully.

"She's our second best. They'll be more, but you two are who we need IF we want this to be successful."

Mulder sighed long and hard as he gazed towards Scully, his eyes telling all that needed to be told.

What have they got themselves into?

Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas

Scully crawled to her feet, her face wrecked with fatigue and stress.

She stood, hands on her hips as Mulder rose to his feet also.

"Mulder," her voice sounded irritated. "Have I told you today how much I hate you?" she asked, watching as a smile grew on his face.

"EVERY day Scully!" he exclaimed, reaching to brush a lock of hair out of her face.

"I love you too."

His expression softened as his eyes grew darker.

Scully shrugged, beginning to walk from the obstacle course which lay behind them.

He saw that she wasn't in the mood for his soft talk. "This is a dream come true isn't it?

You always did say you wanted to go to space," Mulder said, resting an arm over Scully's shoulders, his blue overhauls stained of mud and grass.

Scully forced a laugh.

"Mulder that was your dream not mine....I'm ok here where I'm to."

Mulder laughed with her, that breaking the tension between them.

"How did I get here Mulder?" she asked, pondering on the question. "I'm a doctor, I cure the ill, take care of people.

I don't go flying off into space beating off an enemy that's probably hundreds of times stronger than me."

That made him laugh even harder.

"I'm a psychologist Scully!

Trust me a medical doctor is who I'd expect to be on a space mission before a psychologist."

They stopped on beneath the shade of a tree, smiles bright on their faces.

"You have to admit Scully, our lives are anything but boring."

With that, he slouched down by the tree, Scully following.

She slipped into his arms as he hugged her tight.

"Anything but."

She repeated, closing her eyes and resting her face against his chest. "The way we're going...anything's possible."

"Anything."

Baytown Texas March 1st, 2000

Frances sat in front of the computer, shaking her head.

"Jenn why is this stupid screen saver STILL installed?

I thought they discovered all that alien shit a few weeks ago...why are they still searching?" she asked as her sister turned from the TV to see what was up.

"It isn't finished analysing the data yet.

I want it to finish first." Jenn said as she turned and went back to the couch.

"But if they already found them--" Frances started.

"Just leave it be! The computer works fine while it's on, leave it alone." Jenn snapped.

Babysitting her younger sibling for over a week was taking a toll on her.

"Jenn..."

She turned abruptly. "What?!"

"What's it doing?" Frances asked in curiosity.

Jenn hopped off the couch and made her way back to the computer. "Jenn....?"

She simply stared at the computer, watching the erratic bars fly up the screen.

"I don't know..."

"We've just received word."

General MacGriven turned in his seat to face a young Sargent that stood before him.

"What?" he asked.

"Here," The Sargent said, handing a paper to the General.

"Berkeley contacted us about an hour ago.

They picked up a signal."

General MacGriven gazed up from the paper.

"It's close sir, they're estimating it's somewhere between the asteroid belt and Mars."

The Sargent informed him.

MacGriven placed the paper on his desk.

"How fast?" he asked grimly.

"We're unable to get an exact speed, but they estimate it will arrive to Earth in about ten to twelve days."

General MacGriven sighed.

"That doesn't give us much time.

Is there any word on how big their fleet is?" he asked.

"Those facts are also sketchy, but as far as we can tell, their lead ship is about the size of Mars' smallest moon.

There's more ships that are too small to measure."

The Sargent replied as General MacGriven leaped from his chair, making his way to the door.

"What are we going to do sir?" The Sargent asked.

"Contact JPL and tell them to get those spacecrafts ready.

I'm going to Houston."

MacGriven said, slamming the door as he went.

The Sargent stood still momentarily, before leaving also.

Houston, Texas March 3rd, 2000

Mulder stumbled down the ladder from the F-18, forcing himself from vomiting.

This wasn't anything like the familiar 747.

The co-pilot of the plane, a colonel, descended from the plane, slapping Mulder on the back as he passed. "Nice job up there today."

Mulder couldn't hold it in any longer.

He rushed to the other side the plane, gagging as he went.

"Don't worry!"

The pilot said. "It gets easier after the 20th time."

Scully approached the pilot, returning from her flight also.

"He was right when he said he wasn't Top Gun," she commented, snickering to herself.

Mulder's co-pilot turned to face Scully.

"So how did you do on your first flight?" he asked.

"It wasn't that bad, acutally," Scully replied, noticing Mulder appear from the other side the plane.

"So is it safe to say that we have our pilot's license after all this?" she asked, hint of humor in her voice as Mulder approached with an eyebrow cocked as high as it could it go.

"Ma'am, after piloting these planed and flying into space on the spacecrafts we have, for you, the space shuttle will be like a walk in the park."

The pilot replied.

"Well that's one walk in the park I will not be taking."

Mulder quipped, taking a seat on the step ladder leading to the cockpit of the plane.

"That was too many loop-dee-loops for me," he said, taking in a deep breath.

The pilot smiled.

"Well I'm due for a briefing," he said, turning to leave.

Mulder's attention switched to Scully, who was studying him, wearing the grin that told Mulder she thought he was a fool.

"Go ahead, Scully, laugh."

He offered, watching her expression.

Her eyes lit up as her lips broke into a smile.

"I know you want to."

Mulder pointed out, gazing away from her.

"Go on, laugh."

Scully shook her head, laughing.

"Remind me never to take you to Disney World."

She turned around, wondering what Mulder was staring at.

General MacGriven along with several other Military officials were approaching.

"Something tells me they're not coming with good news, Scully," Mulder said, standing to greet them.

Scully shrugged. "Mulder, when was the last time we had good news?"

Mulder groaned in agreement.

"General," Scully greeted. Moments passed, before MacGriven spoke.

"The news isn't good. We've found what you predicted," he begun, looking towards Mulder.

"We estimate they will be here by the middle of the month."

"What time do we go?" Mulder asked.

"Next Tuesday at twelve hundred hours."

MacGriven informed them.

Mulder nodded slightly, accepting the deadline.

"General," Scully started, gazing into the old man's eyes.

"I want you to be honest with us.

What are our chances of surviving?" he asked.

"We don't know."

The General replied.

Scully gazed down at the grown, taking the last bit of information in.

"The spacecrafts themselves are safe.

You will be equipped with nuclear warheads and a supply of the alien vaccine in case it might be needed."

The General elaborated.

"What we're going up against, we don't know.

We do know that their largest ship is approximately the size of Mars' smallest moon," he finished, watching Mulder and Scully for their reaction.

Mulder sighed, realizing that it was a suicide mission.

"Ok then," he said, looking for Scully's reaction.

Her mood seemed unmoved.

"How many ships will be up there with us?" Scully asked.

"Forty."

MacGriven replied.

"All under your command.

Of course you'll be helped by the best strategists we have," he explained.

"Good," Scully said, meeting his eyes.

General MacGriven nodded slightly, then turned and left.

Mulder saw right through her expression.

"Always have to look strong in front of the brass uh Scully?" he asked, compassionate smile leering on his face.

"Captain Scully's little daughter coming out again."

He teased, lifting her chin to meet his eyes.

Tears filled her eyes as they met his.

"Mulder..."

Her voice trailed off as she walked into his arms, holding him tight.

He kissed her forehead before resting his head atop hers, closing his eyes in thought.

Faith always brought them to the worst of places.

T-minus 8 hours

The sky turned a bright orange as the sun made it's final trek towards sundown.

Scully sat on a huge stone, her head clasped between the palms of her hands.

"Watching the sunset?"

She turned to see Mulder approaching, still dressed in his training overhauls.

Luckily, she had finished her training early and rushed to get dressed in everyday clothing that she was dying to wear.

"Yeah," Scully replied, her gaze returning to the sunset.

Mulder sat beside her, placing one arm behind her back.

Together they gazed over the dessert into the sunset, the hilltop they sat on giving them the view of a lifetime.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Scully asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

"You doing better now?" Mulder asked.

Scully hunched her shoulders, words escaping her at that moment.

Mulder reached around, taking her hand.

"Look, everything is going to be alright.

We're going to be alright."

He leaned in and kissed her gently, leaving his hand trailing down her jaw line.

"Mulder, we can't kid ourselves," Scully said, sighing.

"I'm not," he said, taking her into his arms.

"We made it through worst, we'll make it through this."

Mulder moved off the stone to the dry grass below.

Scully followed him, sitting back into his arms as they rested against the stone together.

"This could be the last sunset I'll ever see."

Scully admitted depressingly.

She gazed towards Mulder, who placed a finger on her lips.

"Dana, STOP talking like that.

I don't want to get mad at you," Mulder said, his voice growing loud.

Silence passed between them as Scully brushed away Mulder's bangs, which were finally back to it's rightful length.

"Not now," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her.

Scully's eyes fluttered closed as she nipped at his lower lip, simply savoring who she was spending this time with.

Mulder tugged her down with him, so they were laying on the ground.

He brought Scully up till she was laying on him.

Their hair flew in the breeze as Mulder ran a hand through Scully's auburn hair and slowly down her cheek. "Make love to me."

Was all he said, neither making it an order, nor a question.

The sky slipped into dusk over Texas as

the night grew into darkness. Somewhere deep in space, an enemy loomed; making their way towards the blue planet orbiting in the distance.

Their intention was no other than the destruction of all life on this third rock floating from around the star the inhabitants called Sun.

T-minus 3 hours Houston, Texas

Mulder sat atop a storage box, watching as they bought these 'new' spacecrafts out of the hanger.

It was quiet.

He had been recently told that the press was informed about the current situation, but weren't permitted on the airfield.

He was thankful for that, the past two months he'd seen too much of them.

"Mulder!"

Someone hollered, approaching.

Mulder turned to see General MacGriven approach with a younger officer.

"I wanted to introduce you two. This is Captain William Hartely," he said, nudging the young officer towards Mulder.

"He's the officer that will be helping you in strategy." MacGriven explained.

Mulder hopped off

the box to shake the officer's hand.

"Fox Mulder," he said as their interests changed.

They turned and saw an MP who was running towards them.

"General MacGriven, you asked to be notified in anyone other than the press tried to get access to the base."

The officer said frantically, his breath panting.

"Yeah, yeah, what is it?" MacGriven asked, impatient for the officer's answer.

"There's this woman."

The MP started.

"She claims to be Dana Scully's mother."

Mulder pushed the General aside, now caring what he thought.

"What did she say her name was?" he asked.

"Margaret Scully."

The MP replied.

Mulder stopped the general from talking.

"Let her in."

MacGriven grabbed Mulder by one arm, twisting him around to face him.

Minutes passed as they shared a staring contest.

MacGriven broke the stare to look at the MP.

"Let her in."

"Mom what are you doing here?" Scully asked as she entered the room.

Her mother ran to meet her half way, sweeping her into her arms.

Scully looked over at Mulder, wondering what was going on.

He was strutting his goofy grin of the week, which told her that he had something to do with this.

"Dana... I heard on the news.

Why didn't you tell me?" Margaret asked.

"I've been busy mom...with the mission and..."

Her voice trailed off. Margaret wrapped her into another hug.

"That's ok, I understand," Margaret said, releasing her to look in her eyes.

"So you're going into space?" she asked, her voice lowering to nearly a whisper.

Scully nodded, trying to remain strong.

"My God...will you be ok?" she asked.

"Don't worry about us mom...we'll be fine."

Scully assured her.

"Does Bill and Charlie know?" she asked.

"Yeah," Margaret replied, glancing at Mulder.

"Bill's about ready to kill Fox for dragging you into this."

Mulder chuckled wearily, shifting to find a new comfortable position to stand in.

"So you're going to be ok?" she asked again, looking for reassurance.

"Yes mom," Scully replied, noticing that several officials arrived into the room.

"I got to go now mom...we have to get ready to go," she said, giving her mother a kiss.

"See you when I get back."

Margaret gave her one last hug before leaving her go.

She looked towards Mulder, who was watching Scully leave the room.

"She's scared, isn't she?" Margaret asked.

"I can see it in her eyes.

She thinks she can fool me, but she can't."

"I know...just leave her be.

This is her way of coping with it.

I learned never to interfere when Dana Scully has made a decision," Mulder said, smile on his face as he approached Margaret, giving her a hug.

"Fox, take care of her for me ok? I want you to promise me that," Margaret asked.

"I will," Mulder answered, leaning in to place a kiss on her cheek.

"I got to go now," he said, turning to leave.

Margaret watched as Mulder passed through the door, hoping that this wouldn't be the last time she'd seen them alive.

T-minus 1 hour

"They never exactly warned me about how hard these suits were to get on," Mulder said, joining Scully outside the hanger.

A breeze of fresh air hit him, relieving him of the heat he was feeling.

When they said these suits we're made to keep a person warm, they weren't kidding.

Scully gave him a sarcastic look.

"If that's all we had to worry about, I'll be feeling a lot better than I do now," she said, watching as other pilots climbed into the spacecrafts.

"Guess we're next."

"Yeah."

Mulder sighed, not wanting to leave.

"This is it," he said, trying to convince himself.

"This is it." Scully repeated, trying to do the same.

It wasn't working. "Well I guess we better get moving."

"We better get moving."

Mulder repeated.

They looked at each other and started laughing.

"Look, just starting walking before we repeat ourselves anymore!" he said nudging her ahead as he followed.

They walked up to the craft, which Mulder thought looked more like a normal fighter plane than a spacecraft.

How this flew in outer space, he didn't want to know.

Scully climbed into her seat, the head pilot's seat as Mulder climbed in behind her.

"You ok back there?" she asked, looking over the panel that lay before her.

That pilot was right when he said this wasn't as complicated as the F-18, all the oxygen and medical gages she already understood, thanks to her medical experience.

Altitude wasn't a problem, since there was no such thing as up or down in space.

Scully relaxed somewhat, knowing she wouldn't be so apprehensive when they had to leave. "Mulder?" she asked, wondering what had happened to him.

"Just a minute Scully...I just need to fix something," Mulder replied, digging around at something in the back seat. Scully managed to turn her head, the suit stopping her from turning around in the cockpit. She could see he was trying to get something from inside his suit.

Mulder caught her looking and turned away.

"No peeking."

"Mulder what are you doing?" Scully asked, not listening to his request.

"Just turn away Scully, I don't want you to see," he said, fooling with one of the pockets of this spacesuit. Scully sighed and turned away.

"Thank you," he said, finally grasping what he was looking for. He came over beside Scully, kneeling on the ladder.

"You can look now."

Scully almost ejected from the craft when her eyes caught glance of what lay before her.

"Mulder?" she questioned, staring down at the ring before her.

By the size of the rock which sat in the middle, Scully estimated that Mulder must have spent his entire life savings to get this ring.

"Will you marry me?" he asked, smile on his face as he said it.

Scully started at him as moments passed, shock still fresh on her face.

She reached out to touch it, her eyes still in wonder over what had just happened.

"Scully?" Mulder asked, trying to drag her out of her musings.

"Hmm?" She mummered, looking at him as if nothing happened.

His smile grew bigger.

"I asked, If you would marry me," Mulder said, chuckling at the expression leering on her face.

"So what do you say?" he asked after she didn't answer again.

Scully sighed.

"Mulder this is all so sudden," she replied.

Mulder sighed, disappointment on his face.

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to say no," she added, watching Mulder's eyes light up.

He crawled into the cockpit, his weight shifting to Scully's lap.

"Mulder you should watch the--"

Her warning was cut off by his lips against hers.

Mulder broke away, gasping slightly for air.

He closed his eyes, flooding over with emotion.

"I love you so much Scully, you can't believe the--"

"Mulder. We have 15 minutes before we have to leave. I suggest getting this ring on my finger now if you want to do it at all."

She cut his love speech off, smile on her face as she placed her left hand before him.

"Yeah. Right," he said, lost in his feelings. "The ring."

Mulder crawled back out the plane where he had more room to move.

He fumbled with the box, trying to free the ring from it's clip, his suit making it hard to move.

Freeing the ring from it's confidence, he gently slid the ring on her ring finger.

"There," he whispered, the fact still overwhelming him.

They met each other and kissed lightly, each one just wanting to stare deep into the other's eyes.

"We'll get through this, Scully. I have to live long enough to say my I do's" he joked before sliding the ladder to his cockpit.

Scully smiled as she reached behind to find her belt, strapping herself in. "You ready to do this?" she asked, reaching for her glass helmet.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Mulder said as he fixed himself into his seat.

"You two ready in here?" an officer asked, stepping up the ladder to have a look around.

He watched as Mulder snapped on his helmet and fastened his gloves to his suit.

"Yeah," Scully said, beginning pre-launch.

The officer closed both cockpit doors, sealing them by the outside.

"You ok back there Mulder?" she asked.

"Just great, nice leather seating. Reminds me of my couch actually," he joked, bringing a smile to Scully's face.

It was time to go.

March 7th, 2000
Somewhere between Earth and Mars

"Ok, it's official."

There was a large thump in the back seat followed by a grunt.

Scully turned slightly in her seat to see what Mulder was up to. "These things weren't designed for long-term flight," Mulder said, digging below the seat.

"The leg room is horrible! My legs are cramped for about twelve hours now. And I'm not even going to get started on the washroom facilities," he quipped.

"We're lucky that we even have these crafts. It could be worst," Scully pointed out.

She gazed out the window to the faint dot in the distance. "I still can't get the image of Earth from orbit out of my mind.

Photos don't do it justice."

Scully sighed, fiddling with the controls.

"It's quite amazing that we're this far already. We must be flying about 50 to 60 times the speed of sound."

"58 actually," Mulder informed her.

"Amazing. You have any idea how this thing is propelled? Or even how this craft's structure is staying together with such a force excreted on it?" Scully asked, pondering the question herself.

"I don't care. It works, that's all that matters at the moment," Mulder answered, trying his best to stretch his arms and legs.

"You know, we're lucky to be among the first people to be out this far, not to mention the fact that we're going to fight off a race that are bent on destroying us," he stated, looking himself in his monologue.

"Mulder..." Scully said, weary. She glanced behind, trying to get this attention. "Mulder I think you want to see this."

Her gaze remained unbroken, staring out the tiny window.

"What is it?" Mulder asked, his interest turning to whatever was happening outside.

"My God, Scully." Was all he could say as his eyes remained transfixed on the fleet of alien ships in the distance.

"This is it," Scully told him.

Mulder opened the computer console in front of him.

"I'll open communications with Captain Hartely."

"Read you loud and clear, Mulder."

The voice of Hartely rang through the speakers.

"Here's the moment of truth."

Mulder began, beads of sweat forming above his brow.

He brought up a flight map of all the ships.

"What do you suggest we do first?" he asked as he cringed to concentrate on the computer screen.

"I would think knocking out all their smaller ships first would give us a better chance," Mulder suggested.

"I think you're right. Tell squadron 2 to flank out the lower half of the alien ship. 3 and 4 will take out each side and we'll cover the top." Hartely ordered.

"Understood, sending that out to the rest of the fleet right now," Mulder said, sending a written message out to the fleet.

"Lets get this show on the road?" Mulder asked.

"Yes sir, Hartely out."

Radio communication was cut off.

Scully shook her head skeptically.

"Mulder, there is no way 40 of our ships can take out that mother ship, even is we get pass the smaller ones," she stated.

"There's a way, Scully. Don't worry about it," Mulder answered.

Scully could hear the clicking of a keyboard behind her.

"Remember, I know how they think," he added, reaching for his helmet.

"So what do we do?" Scully asked, clipping her helmet into place.

Nerves were boiling throughout her body.

If they didn't move soon, she'll go nuts.

"Pick a ship," Mulder replied.

The look on Scully's face when she turned to face him was priceless.

"Any ship," he added, grin spreading across his face.

Scully shrugged, smile on her face as she took the stick in front of her. "Mulder you're making this sound like it's a game show."

"Well come on Alex Trebeck, let's get moving."

The spacecraft moved in towards the alien fleet.

The third and fourth squadrons were already at battle with the ships, explosions appeared throughout space.

Scully piloted the craft down towards the fleet before sweeping up over the gray mother ship.

"Target them at the bottom of their ships, Scully," Mulder said, wincing as the bright light of a nearby explosion passed through the cockpit.

He looked outside, seeing that one of the alien ships were destroyed.

"It works, Scully, target that one dead in front of us. WAIT!

Turn to the left!" Mulder hollered as Scully jolted the stick to the left, missing the alien ship's shot by several feet.

"Now Scully!"

The ship shuddered as the nuclear warhead sped forward towards the alien ship.

The craft engulfed in flames as the bomb hit.

A shockwave flew pass Mulder and Scully's ship, flipping the ship backwards in space.

Mulder felt his stomach churn as the ship spun in circles.

"Scully I suggest that you stop this spinning or I'm going to have a pretty big mess back here."

The ship stopped spinning and Mulder felt his stomach come back to normal.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Scully replied, giving a sigh of relief.

"Mulder tell me how you knew all that stuff back there? How did you know they were going to shoot?" she asked.

"I can hear them thinking. I-I knew they were going to shoot," Mulder explained.

He checked the status of their fleet.

"We're doing ok so far. The plan's working. Half of the alien ships have been either destroyed or disabled. We lost only a few ships," Mulder informed Scully.

Scully gazed out of the window, hunting down another ship.

"Ok, just warn me when they are about to shoot," she said, bringing the spacecraft about. They headed towards another alien craft, launching another bomb.

Their distance from the explosion weakened the shockwave.

"Having fun Scully?" Mulder asked, childish smile on his face.

"Shut up, Mulder. Take care of your computer communications thing. I'm not done with these ships yet," Scully replied, biting her lower lip.

She stalked out the other ship, sending another warhead in it's direction.

Mulder studied the data, appearing on his computer.

"They're almost all destroyed. We lost fifteen ships. Start falling back, Scully," he ordered.

They backed off, waiting for the rest of the ships to join them.

Scully looked out towards the burning wreckage surrounding the mother ship, which wasn't harmed by the attach.

"You know, from all these nuclear bombs going off, this place is about fifty times as radioactive than the Chernobyl accident."

She sighed, staring at the alien ship.

It looked like one giant platform in space with a control beacon situated in the middle of the large structure.

"So what now Captain Kirk?" she asked.

Mulder wasn't at all humored by her remark.

"I don't know Scully, it isn't small."

Scully looked back and saw him take two tubes of the vaccine. "There is one way it can work though," he suggested, waving the tubes to her face.

"What are you suggesting?" Scully asked, knowing she'll hate the answer.

He tapped her helmet with one of the tubes.

"If I send this through the alien ship's system, it'll kill them," he explained.

Scully looked confused.

"How would that work? How will you reach all of them throughout a ship the size of that?" she asked.

"They're all connected together, like when I rescued you from Antarctica, it'll have the same effect, but this time it will make them sick or kill them because they're not frozen! Whew!" he exclaimed, excited that he'd found the answer.

"It'll work, Scully. All I have to do is send the vaccine through the system."

Scully sighed, not bothering to question his explanation.

"Mulder, how are you going to get this into the alien ship?" she asked.

He smiled.

"Same way I did before, through one of the air ducts. It's practically the same ship, Scully, only a bigger version of it," Mulder replied.

Scully realized it was time to bring him back to reality.

"Mulder, we're not trained for space walk. We're barely even trained to be out here! It's not safe for us to do that."

"WE HAVE no other choice. It's me or no one," Mulder stated.

"The if you're going, I'm going," Scully stated back.

"What?" It was Mulder's turn to be confused.

"You heard me. I'm going with you. Final," she answered, making her position clear.

Mulder sighed, knowing not to question Scully any further.

"I'll tell the other ships," Mulder said, going to type something in his computer.

The computer froze. "Stupid Bill Gates piece of shit," he said, punching the restart button.

His patience was growing slim and knowing that that ship was getting closer and closer to Earth every second wasn't helping him either.

"Just remember that Bill Gates piece of shit got us through the past hour or so."

Scully reminded him, a smile creeping up on her face.

"Yeah, well it better work this time," Mulder said, waiting for the computer to boot.

He typed in a message to all the other ships, telling them their plan.

"Ok, I told them to attack the ship and keep the aliens distracted while we land on the ship and find a way in.

How's that sound to you?" he asked.

"I'm not going to tell you you're crazy because you already know that.

But that sounds totally nuts," she said before bursting out in laughter. Mulder stared at her, bewildered at first.

He thought about what he had just said and began laughing himself.

"It is, isn't it?" he asked, between intakes of breath.

"Oh yeah," Scully replied, forcing herself to stop.

"Well you can start moving there Scully," he suggested, closing his laptop. The ship moved from position, homing in on the alien craft as all the other ships followed in the distance.

Mulder crawled down out of a tube, falling to the floor.

He was somewhat thankful to feel gravity again.

He stood up, grabbing Scully's legs as she crawled down also.

"There's gravity in here," she stated, as if he hadn't noticed.

He leaded Scully by the hand.

"Come on, we don't have much time," Mulder said as they ran down the hall together.

Steam flew from several air vents in the distance as a fuzzy green light was casted throughout several parts of the hall.

The place looked deserted. "So far, so good."

"Mulder."

Scully stopped, pointing down a juncture in the hallway. "There's those stasis tubes down this way."

Together they ran down, their footsteps heavy with the weight of the orange suits they were wearing. Mulder stopped to the first tube, looking above for any pipes.

"Scully, can you pass the vaccine here?" Mulder asked, stepping up on the tube.

He cracked open the pipe before taking the vaccine.

Mulder opened the top of the cylinder, pouring it's contents into the pipe.

"You sure that's going to work?" Scully asked.

The ship rocked suddenly, sending Scully off balance and Mulder flying to the floor.

"Mulder, you ok?" she asked worriedly, standing up from the floor.

"Yeah...I think so," Mulder replied, climbing to his feet.

He looked down at the cylinder, whose contents had poured out into the floor. "Damn! I lost some of the vaccine."

He climbed the stasis tube again as Scully handed him the second tube.

"Hope this works," Mulder said, struggling to keep his balance.

Another hit shook the corridor, this time Mulder was able to hold on.

"Got it?" Scully asked.

Mulder tossed the tube to the floor.

"Yeah," he said, hopping down from the stasis tube, "now lets get the hell out of here before something bad happens," Mulder said as they both ran back to where they entered.

Mulder stayed behind, pushing Scully up into the pipe.

The intense heat inside the ship was making their helmets steam up.

Scully turned and helped him up into the tube.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

"Well the worst part's over."

"Yeah...come on," Mulder said as they began crawling to the exit. Scully emerged on the dark metal of the ship, watching the space battle being fought before her eyes.

She picked up a rope that they had tied to the ship to help them get back.

Scully handed the rope to Mulder as he emerged from the ship.

With one step, they floated off the ship.

Mulder's stomach twisted in knots once the feeling of weightlessness flooded over him.

Grasp by grasp, they made their way back to their spacecraft.

Scully breathed a sigh of relief once the cockpit doors were closed and sealed.

"Mulder never ever bring me on a mission like this again," she warned.

"Scully..." Mulder wasn't paying attention to her musings.

She gazed outside to see what he was looking at.

"Scully, we have to get out of here...NOW!" he exclaimed, opening the laptop to contact the other ships.

Her eyes remained transfixed with the bomb what was headed towards them. Mulder reached ahead, tapping her shoulders.

"Scully, this isn't a joke, move!" Mulder hollered, panic in his voice.

The spacecraft started and they began to move away from the ship.

The warhead flew past them, slamming into the ship.

It was too late.

Seven Years Later
Martha's Vineyard

The baseball came to a stop in the grass as a light brown baseball mitt smothered it.

"Come on! Toss it back."

The young boy stood to his feet, his soft dark brown hair swaying gallantly in the breeze.

He pitched the ball back to his father, who was standing to the far side the field with bat in hand, the sun setting behind him.

"How was I, Dad?" the little boy asked, running to his father.

Mulder scooped him up in his arms, kissing his forehead.

The boy pushed Mulder's face away, mischievous expression on his face.

"I told you not to do that anymore! You'll embarrass me in front of the other kids."

"I'll kiss you whenever I want to," Mulder said, kissing his son on the cheek.

The boy squirmed, giggling.

Mulder ruffled the boy's hair, picking the baseball from the ground.

"Here, hold that," he said, placing the ball in his son's glove.

Mulder began walking towards a wood-stained cottage-style house, it's balcony surrounded with flowers.

"So how did I do, Dad?" The boy asked again.

"Just great. But you might want to work on your pickup. You're still a bit slow with those," Mulder replied, walking down several steps to the balcony.

"Now what do you say we get to bed?

Dad has an early rise tomorrow morning, and I can't be sleepy," he suggested, placing his son down to the ground before opening the french door.

"Oh dad!" the young boy whined, stomping away across the kitchen to the stairwell.

He turned to look at his father, lip dragging the floor.

"Now, that's an order," Mulder coaxed, closing up the doors.

He turned to see that his son was still standing there.

"Jamie, I suggest you get moving, or you'll have to eat your mother's casserole tomorrow night." Jamie's eyes widened before he turned and bolted upstairs.

"What about my casserole?" Scully asked, appearing from the eating room. Mulder whipped around to face her, weary smile scattered across his face. Scully rested one shoulder against the wall, raising an eyebrow in anticipation.

"Busted!" Jamie said, peeking around the corner of the stairwell.

Scully ushered him upstairs.

"Dana," Mulder chuckled momentarily, pointing towards the stairwell.

"I was just getting Jamie to go to bed," Mulder answered, avoiding the initial question.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, becoming strangely interested with whoever was passing outside their house.

Scully moved in towards him, looking out the living room window which was visible from the kitchen.

There was no one outside.

Her gaze shifted to Mulder, who looked like he was fearing for his life.

She poked him in the chest, smile leering on her face.

He jumped at her touch, backing away from her.

"I never asked about Jamie, I asked about my casserole," Scully pointed out.

Mulder stammered. "Uh...well what I meant to say was-- you see, he wanted pizza tomorrow night, and I remembered you mentioning that you were going to cook casserole tomorrow," he explained, showing her his puppy dog eyes. "So I promised him IF he went to bed early tonight, we'll have pizza tomorrow evening," Mulder finished, flashing a bright smile towards his wife.

He relaxed when she stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

Scully turned away, walking upstairs.

"You're a good liar Fox Mulder," she commented, disappearing up the stairwell.

Mulder pouted to himself, a grin plastered on his face.

"One BIG casserole for you tomorrow evening, Fox," she added, her voice echoing from upstairs.

Mulder shook his head in defeat, heading upstairs.

"You check up on Jamie?" Mulder asked as he entered their bedroom, removing his T-shirt.

He kicked his shoes off, plopping himself down on the bed.

"Yeah, he was already dressed in his pajamas and under the blankets when I went to tuck him in," Scully replied, exiting the master bathroom dressed in her blue nightclothes. "Busy day tomorrow?" she asked, turning down the blankets as Mulder moved out of the way.

"Yeah," he answered, removing his jeans before crawling under the blankets. "I have to do a presentation on the woman's rights movements," Mulder explained, closing the gap between him and Scully.

She rested her head in the crook of his neck, closing her eyes.

"Tired?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah, it was a pretty hectic day," Scully replied.

"Then get some sleep."

"You too."

Silence quickly fell onto the darkened bedroom.

"Dana?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

End