As much as he hated to admit it, Mulder had really missed his partner.

It wasn't as if this was the first time Mulder had been left on his own. He had 'flown solo' at work for quite some time before being joined on the X-files, and had in fact thoroughly enjoyed it. Working alone meant no one was there to pester you with questions or get in the way of your research; he had thrived, being able to focus all of his attention on his cases, a fact that never seemed true when he had a partner hanging off him. Now, of course, he wouldn't trade his partner for anything, but that was beside the point.

His feelings were especially curious in that this wasn't even Mulder's first time without Scully; she had taken vacation time before, even taken trips longer than the one she was on now. Admittedly, the last time Scully went away Mulder hadn't functioned well, either. He had lazed around, shot some hoops, even broke his own personal "pencils in the ceiling" record, but had done absolutely nothing productive. And, of course, there were his endless phone calls to check up on her; he had almost gone out of his mind wondering where she was, what she was doing, who she had met, what oddities she had encountered. He still hadn't gotten the whole story on that weird doll case she got wrapped up in, but had decided not to push it out of fear she would question his incessant phoning if he brought it up. In any case, when Scully had announced she was going to visit her cousin for a few days, Mulder had vowed that this time he would maintain radio silence. He was a big boy, he had told her; he could function perfectly well for a few days without his partner's watchful eyes.

Apparently, that was a lie.

In fairness, Mulder kept his word. He had managed not to pick up the telephone during the past five days. He hadn't run back-ground checks on her cousin and other friends in the area. He hadn't looked into possible touristy locations in her cousin's hometown, planning some elaborate scheme in which he would show up uninvited pretend he was only in town for the sightseeing. He hadn't attempted to track her down via satellite imaging, even though Frohike had told him he knew how, and was more than willing to help him out.

What Mulder did do during all that time, however, was nearly go crazy doing nothing.

It was of great relief to him that Scully would be returning to work that day. It wasn't just her professional opinion he had missed (not that he would have needed it; he had scarcely glanced at a case the entire time she was gone,) but her company as well. Mulder was fond of Scully; he loved the way she laughed, the shape of her eyebrows when she raised them at one of his outlandish theories, the face she made when was trying to be supportive and take him seriously but had zero faith in what he was saying. He missed her company in their dreary basement office and beside her in his car. This so called 'grown man' had nearly lost it this week, just by being forced to endure his own company without the comforting presence of another person.

So here he sat now, alone in his office chair, awaiting Scully's return and trying to stick pens in the ceiling. He was failing miserably; pen tips were apparently not sharp enough to penetrate the material above Mulder's head like pencils were, though he was sure if he used enough force it would be possible for them to jam in. He had held one so tightly in his fist that it had busted and coated his hand with blue ink. This only made him want to succeed even more. It was strange what suddenly becomes important to you when you have nothing better to do, and apparently using pens and the ceiling as a sort of make shift dartboard had become terribly important to Mulder.

He was just about to launch another felt-tip at the ceiling when he heard the elevator 'ding' and the familiar click-clack of high heels traveling down the hallway. Mulder instantly shoved a handful of pens in his desk and tried to make it look as if he hadn't even noticed Scully was gone. He propped his feet up on his desk and grabbed the nearest file, opening it as if he had been fixated on the text for some time. He heard the door open and looked up, coy smile on his face, preparing to shower Scully with lies about his wonderful time alone once she stepped inside.

He definitely wasn't expecting a giant tomato to waltz into his office instead.

Mulder's mouth fell open, a small puff of breath escaping in a sound of surprise. It wasn't a tomato after all, he realized, but Scully: a beet red, wincing Scully, who was looking cautiously at him.

"Before you say anything," she said, raising a finger in Mulder's direction and closing the door, "I got a little sunburned out at my cousin's house." She gestured to the parts of her body not covered by her white top, black pencil skirt and matching jacket as means of reinforcing her point.

"A little sunburned," Mulder repeated, desperately fighting the twitch in his mouth that so desperately wanted to turn into a smile. "Yeah."

Scully just looked at him, warily awaiting his next words.

"See, when I got up this morning, 'Giant Talking Tomato' was not high on the list of things I thought I would see."

Scully rolled her eyes. "Sure, Mulder." She grabbed a chair from the office's corner and pulled it closer to her partner's desk.

"What on Earth happened?" Mulder asked, leaning forward in interest. His eyes began to shine. "Is this something I should know about? Some flame breathing lizard or alien heat ray, perhaps?"

"No, Mulder," Scully cut him off with a short laugh before he could get too carried away. "This is not an X-file. I swear. It's just your typical sunburn. I fell asleep on a deck chair and woke up like this."

Mulder smiled. "Scully, a medical professional like you surely should certainly know about the benefits of sunscreen."

Scully sighed. "I was WEARING sunscreen," she said, gesturing towards her flaming hair in annoyance.

Mulder's grin widened. "Of course. The curse of the ginger hair. Do you burn at midnight, indoors in the dead of winter too?"

"Shut up, Mulder."

"On the bright side, your skin matches your hair now."

"Mulder…"

"No, really! It looks good! Besides, I hear red is in this season."

"Mulder!" Scully glared at him and stood, pulling her chair to the other side of the room. "I thought my going away for a few days would merit a bigger 'Welcome Back' than this," she snarked as she sat down again, picking up a file and holding it in front of her face.

Mulder laughed. This is exactly what he had missed; Scully interaction. The only thing better than teasing Scully was teasing an annoyed Scully. Perfect.

Silence fell for a few moments as the two fell back into their usual routine of flipping through files and jotting notes. A plastic bag crinkled as Mulder pulled out handfuls of sunflower seeds, followed by tiny crunches from his direction. Scully listened to these sounds, glad to back. She was deep in thought as she read a case about a potential Bigfoot sighting and was already formulating a more plausible theory about a bear when she realized the crunching had stopped. She looked up to find Mulder staring at her.

She sighed. "Really, Mulder, it's not as bad as it looks. The lighting down here is – "

"Hey Scully," he interrupted her. "I have a joke for you."

"Oh god, Mulder," she muttered.

"No, no, it's a good one," he grinned, placing his hands together on his desk and leading forward on his elbows. "What's black and white and red all over?"

Scully's eyes narrowed as she tried to retain her composure. "I swear to God, Mulder, if the answer is 'Agent Scully', I am going to come over there and - " Suddenly speaking became impossible as her anger turned to amusement and she was overcome with laughter. She was mildly aware that if she flushed any while laughing her face would only become a deeper shade of red, proving Mulder's point, but she couldn't make herself care.

Mulder, too, was unable to form a coherent sentence, but for a different reason. Though he, too, was lost in the throes of laughter, Mulder's main focus of attention was Scully. She was beautiful when she laughed. He had always loved those moments when he was able to crack her tough exterior and free a giggle from his partner, but he had never thought it was for any other reason than he liked to make her happy or help her loosen up. Now he was dimly aware that perhaps his motives had perhaps always been a tad more selfish, and he lived for those moments when Dana Scully threw her head back and laughed.

"For the record, Mulder," her voice interrupted his thoughts, "I am not 'red all over', thank you very much."

Mulder raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Scully? Are you honestly telling me you didn't partake in any naked sunbathing when you were away?" Whoa. That was strange. Mulder used sexual innuendos all the time with Scully, but this time he felt almost embarrassed, as if too many jokes of this nature could let slip how he really felt about her. Wait, what? How I really feel about her? Mulder shook his head, clearing all thoughts of this nature, not to mention the images of naked sunbathing Scully that were now clogging up his headspace.

Scully, oblivious to Mulder's inner conflict, laughed. "No, Mulder. I can even prove it."

Mulder watched as she crossed the room to his desk and was suddenly very surprised when she reached for the zipper on the side of her skirt. "Wha - " he began to say, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of Scully's exposed hip in his face.

"See?" she said.

Mulder blinked, unsure of what he was supposed to be seeing. Scully's hip? Yes, he definitely had an eyeful in that department. His breath hitched slightly and he tried desperately to calm his rapid heartbeat and analyze his situation. Scully's bare hip was in his face. Okay. That was an interesting turn of events … but why was it there? What had they just been talking about?... Sex? No, that's what Mulder had been thinking about. Naked hip, naked hip …. Ah. "Tan line," Mulder said, pulling his eyes away from Scully's hip with effort and focusing on her face. "You have a tan line."

"Exactly," she agreed and, to Mulder's hidden dismay, began to refasten her skirt. "Which means?"

Means? Um … "Clothes. Bathing suit. Not naked. Tanning. While clothed." Words tumbled from Mulder's mouth. He didn't bother trying to make sense of them. He was too preoccupied with trying to calm himself down.

"Right," Scully said as she walked back over to her chair. Mulder watched her go in awe, his eyes following the back of her legs and watching how her skirt rose slightly with each step before dipping back down to its acceptable length. How had he never noticed any of this before?

Scully clearly wanted to get back to work. She slid her glasses back on her nose and Mulder marveled at how she could still look attractive when she as red as a strawberry. He became lost in thoughts of the strange things he had noticed today; his partner's laugh, his embarrassment at his joke, Scully's beauty and skirt and her hip … This was new territory for him, but it was as if the thoughts had always been there. Why was that? Why was he focusing on all of this? Was it … It couldn't be that he –

"Mulder," Scully's voice suddenly chimed. He froze a moment, taken in by the questioning look of mild amusement on her face.

"Um … yeah?" he finally managed.

"Where are there blue pens all over the floor?"

Mulder grinned. "Welcome back, Scully."

Scully smiled and turned back to her file. Mulder was grinning too. Suddenly the pen-throwing made sense, his anxiousness at his partner leaving made sense and all the little clues that had been flitting around in his head for years fell into place.

Well, thought Mulder, sneaking another glance in Scully's direction, things are about to get very interesting.

Hi guys! I'm LifelongObsessor, and this has been my first X-Files fanfic!

I am a major X-Files latercomer - I only discovered this fantastic show this past summer. I have been flying through the series ever since.

I realize this story is majorly fluffy. I'm prone to writing stories with at least a tad of plot, but this idea just kind of came to me and took over when I began writing. Straight fluff is new to me, not to mention writing Mulder and Scully, so this was interesting to write!

How did I do? I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE some reviews if you have the time; I get really excited and smiley when I find out I've gotten one :)

Thanks for reading! I hope to write more X-Files fics in the future!

- LifelongObsessor