Basement Office
Friday 4.00pm

She's been heading off on her own every weekend. It's not like her. At first I thought she was visiting her mom. But I tried calling her mothers when I couldn't get hold of her on her cell phone, and the first thing her mom asked was how Dana was, and told me how she hadn't seen her in such a long time. It's been weeks now that she has been doing this. She leaves Friday night, and comes back Sunday afternoon. And I'm tired of wondering, and worrying about her, so tonight I will follow her. I know it sounds like I'm invading her privacy, but the amount of times she has been in trouble... I just can't risk not knowing.

On The Road
Friday 9.00pm

She's speeding. That isn't like her, and she has hardly looked in her rear vision mirror. I don't think she knows I'm following her. I wonder what she would do if she did know... I know she will be angry, and I will have to confront her eventually, so I have readied myself for this. Scully angry can be quite *scary* actually. She may be small, but she is certainly fiery. Her mother once told me a story of how a neighbourhood kid was picking on Scully's little brother Charlie, and Scully noticed. Smaller than the bully, Scully stormed up to him, hands on hips, and managed to have the older, bigger, stronger boy apologising to Charlie. I now know how she managed that. Tiny, but ferocious, that's my Scully.

Shit. Nearly missed her, she just turned down Beasley Street. We're in the suburbs, and I'm feeling foolish now. Could she be visiting a friend? She's pulling up on the side of the road, so I pull my hoodie up, and keep driving, I'm around the corner before I dare glance behind me. She's just sitting behind the wheel, peering into the house across the street from where she has parked.

Beasley Street
Friday 9.38pm

I'm settling myself in for quite a stake-out here. She has barely moved a muscle. I can't see her expression in the dark. Now and again I will see a flash of her eyes, or her teeth, or a quick flash of her face when a car drives past. But she has parked too far from the street-lamps for me to see much. I rummage through my car for something to do. A knock on the window makes me jump, bumping my head on the glove-box compartment door I'd left open.

"Mulder," I hear her call. I turn slowly now, she's caught me. Is she going to make a scene on the street? It's late, surely she wouldn't... Squinting to see her expression, I unlock my door. She looks resigned more than angry, and somehow this makes me feel worse. "Stalking me?" She steps back to let me out of the car.

"I needed to make sure you were okay." I tell her.

"Mulder..." In her voice I hear her telling me that she does understand, however frustrating it is that I followed her here. I get out of the car, and touch her arm. *Thank you.* I tell her silently."I'm staying in a motel down the road for the night, follow my car." She smirks. "I saw you right after I left my apartment you know?" She begins to walk away. "You're losing your touch old man." She says jokingly over her shoulder.

Charlotte's Motel
Friday 10.00pm

I park next to her and get out of my car, she's taking her time to get out, so I go around the front of her car and open her door for her. She looks up at me. "Just give me a minute. Can you go get us a room?" She points to the office. It's a 24 hour motel, and if the carpark and front entrance say anything about it, this isn't the ritz. Gum is caked onto the pavement (from what I can see, it's dark here too) it smells of garbage, of old booze, and the C, R and M from the glowing neon sign that should have read "Charlotte's Motel," weren't working, or had fallen off. I mumble yes to Scully, and go to the office to get us a room, the gravel beneath my feet snaps loudly and echoes off the buildings around us.

A little bell rings as I walk in the front door. It's a small reception area, a desk and a couple of rickety chairs. The flurescent lights just about blind me after being outside in the dark for so long. The guy behind the counter smiles wearily up at me, for some reason he was wearing a cap.

"Welcome to Charlotte's Motel, how can I help?" I'm surprised how much enthusiasm he mustered.

"Can I get a room for two?"

"Yeah, that's fifty." I hand him over the bill, and he gives me a key. The rack didn't have many empty hooks, so I supposed the motel wasn't very busy.

"Not the nicest hotel Scully, you stayed here before?" I ask her.

"Yeah, a few times."

"Is this where you have been coming all this time?" I sit on the edge of the bed cautiously, a little afraid that it might fall apart.

"Yeah,"

"Why?" What's here? Who lives in that house you were watching? I ask silently.

"William." She says simply, refusing to look me in the eye, she sits down next to me. The mattress dips slightly. My heart beats faster. William? Our William?

"You..." I gently move her head to face mine, my hands cupping her warm face. Her expression tells me I'm correct. She's been watching our son. "Scully... Dana... You should have told me." I kiss her forehead, and pull away, wanting her blue eyes to meet mine; but her eyes move everywhere in the room, but to my face. Eventually her eyes settle, looking down at her lap. I let my hands drop, and take her hands in mine. They're so small compared to my hands, so delicate. But they seem to look just right. How did I get so lucky, how did I get Scully? I smile, and she must have somehow known, because she finally looks up at me, and holds my gaze.

"He's my son... Our son... I had to know." She sighs, and gently removes one hand from my grasp, her fingertips rise to my face and lightly graze my cheek, my chin, and she brushes my fringe from my face, then it returns to my hand, where it belongs. "I had the Gunmen hack the files, to get his address. They weren't happy, but I promised not to do anything. I haven't... really."

"I don't know if it's good for you, to come out here. I wish you hadn't come alone most of all." Sadness washes over me as I imagine Scully, sitting in her car, watching our son, and wishing he was still with us.

"It's okay. He's okay. He's happy... And that's what I wanted to know." A small smile appears on her face now, taking away the frown that had been etched there. "I waited Mulder, five years. I only came when I knew it would be safe, that no-one would follow me." She chuckles. "Except you... I figured you wouldn't let me disappear every weekend for very long. Especially when I wouldn't give you a straight answer as to where I had been..."

"After all we've been through, how can I let you go off by yourself Scully?" I say it teasingly, but I mean it. I don't want her out of my sight *ever* if I can help it.

"You know what surprises me?" She asks me.

"No,"

"That it took you this long to follow me." She smiles again, and I forget what I'm going to say.

"I love you Scully, and I trust you. But it had been going on for so long... And I worried because you seemed to be distancing yourself... And I called your mom..." I trail off, unsure of how to explain myself. She leans up, and presses her lips against mine.

"I know you do Mulder, I love you too. And I'd have done the same thing."

The End.

Authors Note: What do you think?