Title: Puppy Love

By: Mary-Me

Rating: PG

Summary: She loved Fox, whether he was a person or not.

"Next to the lake, in the middle of the night, when the moon is full, you can see flashing lights. Thats corny even by your standards, Mulder."

"Dont you like poetry, Scully?"

"I like it fine, Mulder, in a nice warm place. I dont like it when it means freezing here in the middle of the night because of something you heard from some stoned kids."

The night was cold and misty. For the hunderth time Scully wondered why she went along with Mulder on these crazy quests. Flashing lights indeed.

"Im going to look inside the boathouse," Mulder announced suddenly. "I bet thats where those stoned kids really hung out."

"OK but then we give up and go home, OK?" Scully said.

Flashlight in hand Mulder opened the door of the wooden boathouse and went inside.

Suddenly the sky was practicly split open by a colum of light that seemed to come from the moon and go right to the boathouse.

"Mulder!" Scully screamed.

The light was gone just as suddenly as it had come. Scully ran to the
boathouse screaming Mulder's name as she quickly opened the door. Inside it was dark and her flashlight only helped a little. The boathouse was mostly empty with some oars and stuff and she didn't see Mulder anywhere.

"Mulder! Mulder!" she screamed, looking and looking. Then she saw
something, but it wasnt Mulder. "Where did you come from?" she said. It was a cute little puppy, all furry with big feet and long, floppy ears.

It seemed very scared.

"Dont be scared, I wont hurt you," she said. "But where is Mulder?"

When the puppy heard Mulder's name it barked.

Scully was still looking and looking. She noticed that every time she said the word Mulder the puppy would bark.

"Oh no, it cant be," Scully said. "Dont tell me you really are Mulder."

Again the puppy barked. Then she saw that the clothes Mulder was wearing were all in a pile on the floor.

Even though Scully knew it was impossible she realized that the puppy was Mulder. Gently she picked him up and she saw he was trembling.

"Dont worry I will take care of you," she said as she wrapped him in her coat because it was cold. "I will find a way to turn you back into yourself if its the last thing I do."

Scully did not know what else to do but to take the puppy home. He was very little and cold and dirty and she knew she had to take care of him for him to be OK so that he could turn back into Mulder one day, when she figured out how.

When she got to her house she carried the puppy into her kitchen and she asked him "Are you hungry?" The puppy barked and she said, "Oh, I guess you are hungry."

She did not have any puppy food so she decided to give him some milk. SHe put some milk in a bowl for him and he sniffed it hungrily.

"What's wrong, Mulder? Dont you like the milk?" she said. She realized that the puppy was too young to know how to drink from a bowl. Luckily she had a baby bottle from when her brother Bill visited with his family. She warmed up some milk in the microwave. She did not make it too hot so he wouldnt be burned.

She put the puppy in her lap and she fed him his milk with the bottle. FOr the first time the puppy stopped trembling while he drank his milk. He drank a long time and then he burped.

"I think you have had enough," Scully laughed.

The puppy seemed very sleepy. Scully wanted to give him a bath because he was so dirty but she decided to first let him sleep. It was very late.

"Mulder before we go to sleep I think you should do your business," Scully said practicly. She put some newspaper down on the floor of the bathroom and she put the puppy on top.

The puppy looked at her quizzily, like he didnt know what to do.

"I guess we will worry about that in the morning," Scully said. She made him a nice basket to sleep in with a pillow and blanket, but when she put him in he was wimpering and crying. Scully realized it was natural that Mulder would be scared. Little puppies are afraid to sleep alone and Mulder wasn't even suppose to be a dog.

"Okay tonight you can sleep in my bed," she said, thinking how ironic it was that now she could finally say those words to Mulder.

The puppy cuddled up with her and went to sleep. It was really nice to have a warm puppy to sleep with she thought, but still she would find a way to make him be a human man again.

It was still not morning when Scully woke up because the puppy was crying and acting very scared. Scully saw what the problem was.

"Oh Mulder I told you you should do your business on the newspaper! But its OK I will fix it," she said. She had to clean up the bed before she and the puppy could go back to sleep again.

The next day luckily was Saturday. First thing when they woke up she put the puppy on top of the newspaper, but he didn't go. "Maybe after he has his breakfast," Scully said to herself.

She held him again and held the bottle so he could drink his milk. He
didn't seem so cold and frightened like the night before. When he was done she put him down on the floor so she could eat breakfast. Then he was running around and exploring everywhere while she made a phone call to make an appointment to take him to the vet. She thought how he still acted a lot the same even when he was a puppy.

"I will have to give you a bath before we go to the vet," she said. The
puppy started to wimper and cry again. "Oh no, dont try to get out of it. You are really dirty!"

At first he was very very scared when she put him in the bath of warm water, but she talked gently to him and he started to get less scared. She used baby shampoo so it wouldnt hurt his eyes and when she rinsed him off he almost seemed like he liked it. She pick him up in a big towel and she dried him with a towel not a hair dryer so the noise wouldnt scar him.

It was too early to go to the vet and Mulder kept running to the door like he wanted to go out and play. "You can't play outside because you havent had your shots," Scully said. At that Mulder started to wimper again but Scully destracted him by tossing a ball for him to fetch.

Then when it was time to go to the vet she put him in her car. He was
jumping up to look out the window and running around.

"Mulder, no! Sit down on your seat or I will have to put you in a pet
carrier!" Scully said. At that Mulder did sit down and stayed there until they got to the vet.

At the vet's the receptonist asked Scully for her information. When she asked what kind of dog he was, Scully said she didnt know.

"I dont know either. He is so cute and I have never seen a dog with green eyes like that before," said the receptionist. Then she asked Scully was his name was.

Scully thought that she couldn't call him Mulder, so she said, "Fox."

"Thats a good name for him. He is smart and curious," the receptionist agreed.

Even the vet thought that Mulder was an extra cute puppy.

"Since I have never seen a dog like this before, I would like to buy him from you," the vet said, but Scully said no, of course.

THe puppy was all healthy, except he needed shots. Once again Mulder was starting to wimper but Scully said, "Its okay and it will be over soon."

Then he was brave for his shots.

The vet told Scully about how to feed the puppy and he gave her a book about hosuebreaking.

"Its a lot of work taking care of a puppy but I think you and Fox will be OK," the vet said encouragingly.

Scully worked hard to take care of the puppy, and she also never forgot that she had to find a way to turn him back again, she just didn't know how.

Housebreaking Fox was not so hard. He was very smart, and she saw how sorry he was when he made a mistake. She was careful never to yell at him or make him feel bad and soon he got the idea. Soon he was eating his puppy food out of the bowl, and they could go outside for walks or to play. Best of all was snuggling with him at night. Scully had never, ever had a dog when she was a kid because of her family's rules about pets.

Fox was a smart dog and he tried to be good, but still he was always getting into mischief. Even though she got him plenty of toys, he still preferred to chew on her shoes. Once while she was in shower, he decided to taste all her houseplants. That got him an extra trip to the vet and more shots.

The vet said firmly that Fox would have to be kept in a crate when he was alone. The vet said it would keep him safe and he would feel secure knowing he had his own space, but in the end Scully couldn't do that to him.

Instead she started taking him with her wherever she went.

Scully had a big shoulder bag and luckily Fox was small enough to fit
inside. She never used to carry a purse, but luckily nobody asked her about it. Fox seemed to like it inside his cozy bag and usually he would just go to sleep.

It worked okay until one day at work Skinner called Scully to come to his office. She took the bag with Fox inside and warned him to be good.

"Is your partner still working out in the field?" Skinner asked.

"Yes, he's collecting that information you wanted," Scully said. She was only slightly lying, since the Lone Gunmen were managing to find the information and so Skinner would get the information, even though it wasn't really from Mulder.

"Good. Well, that's it, I just wanted to ask you about Mulder," Skinner said.

There was a little "woof-woof" coming from Scully's shoulder bag. Fox still always barked whenever somebody said "Mulder." It was pretty quiet and Scully hoped that Skinner didn't hear it.

"What was that?" Skinner said.

"I didn't hear anything," said Scully as she got up to leave.

"I thought I heard barking when I asked you about Mulder," Skinner said, and at that Fox barked again, only a little louder.

Scully knew it was useless to try to hide it.

"Sir, I have a new puppy. I know it is against the rules but I brought him to work," she said. Skinner looked very, very angry.

"Let me see this puppy of yours!" he said. Scully opened the bag and put Fox down on the floor.

"Agent Scully there is no excuse for bringing your pet to work!" he yelled loudly, standing over her angrily. Suddenly Fox began to growl.

"Sh, stop that," Scully told him urgently, but Fox kept growling. Suddenly Skinner began to laugh.

"I guess he is trying to protect you. Maybe it's OK if you bring your dog, at least while you are working without your partner," he said.

"Oh, thank you sir," said Scully. Now that Skinner wasn't sounding loud and angry, Fox stopped growling.

"Besides, it is very funny. He's just a tiny puppy, and he's trying to
scare me," Skinner said. Fox began to growl again, but Scully scooped him up and carried him out of Skinner's office before he could get into more trouble.

Scully never forgot her promise to find a way for Fox to be turned back into himself but as the days went on she realized something. She loved Fox, whether he was a person or not. Fox loved her too. She could tell by the way he ran after her when she walked and by the way he licked her face. One night she woke up to the feel of his rough little tongue lapping against her breasts, For just a second she let her self enjoy it, but then she thought better of it.

"No," she said gently but firmly, and she buttoned up her pajama top. She couldn't allow it no matter how good it felt.

One night she was sitting on the couch with Fox and they were watching TV.

It was a silly show where one of the characters got hit on the head and got amnesia. Then at the end he got hit on the head a second time and he got back his memory.

"Hm. I wonder," said Scully.

It was a crazy idea but maybe it would work. Scully looked out the window.

Sure enough it was once again a full moon.

"Come on Fox. We are going to the lake." He looked at her quizzily but he followed her out to the car.

It was a cold night by the lake. Right before midnight Scully said, "Go in the boathouse, Fox." He was scared but he obeyed. She could not go in with him and risk having the same thing happen to her.

Again the colum of light came down from the moon splitting through the sky on its way to the boathouse. When it was over Scully ran to the boathouse.

"Fox, are you OK?" she yelled as she ran into the boathouse.

"Scully," she heard his voice say, and she realized she had not heard his voice for a month.

Luckily his cloths were still there in the boathouse.

"I had a crazy dream, or maybe it was not a dream," Mulder said.

"I think we better talk about it. Do you want to come back to my place, Fox?" she said.

He looked at her quizzily because she called him Fox, but then he seemed to decide that it was OK.

"Sure, Dana. Lets go back to your place. I feel really weird," he said.

"Maybe I should take you to the hospital," Scully said.

"Oh no, I am OK. I just have this strange craving for a belly rub."

THE

END

by Mary-Me

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