TITLE: With Every Minute

AUTHOR: Jillian

SPOILERS: all things

NOTE: This is a sequel to my fic "One Night." Unlike that story, which is Scully POV, this is Mulder POV.

RATING: PG-13 for bad language and adult themes.

FEEDBACK: Yes, please! At fanfiction.net or to JILLIBEAN@aol.com

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mulder, Scully, or the X-Files. I'm just borrowing them for a little while to appease my boredom and hopefully make some people happy. I'm not getting paid for this (ha! If I were getting paid for fan fiction, I'd be in heaven!) and now copyright infringement was intended. They belong to Chris Carter, FOX, 1013, DD, and GA. Chris, don't bother suing me, I have no money and I'm fourteen years old, it would be a waste of time!

SUMMARY: Sequel to "One Night." Mulder wakes up alone, with only a note… Until Scully arrives to talk about what happened the previous night and why she left in the morning. Mulder POV. Please read "One Night" first!

DEDICATION: This one goes out to Agent Balinksi--thank you for your pestering me to write this! If it wasn't for you, half the stuff I write wouldn't exist. The truth was out there... And we found it! Potato chips taste a lot like potatoes. That, is the real truth! Seriously, though, you prompted me to write this and if you hadn't it probably wouldn't have been written. Enjoy!

****This story is a sequel to my other fic, One Night. It's archived here at fanfiction.net and you can access it by clicking on my penname, Jillian, and finding all my work. It should only be a few stories down the page from this one, though. You probably won't get this unless you read One Night, and I'd really appreciate it if you did.

* * * * * *

Slowly, I pull myself away from sleep, and remember that Scully is next to me. In my bed. What could be better? I reach my arm over to hold her, but I feel nothing. I open my eyes, and realize I'm alone in the bed. I tell myself not to panic, maybe she went inside or something. "Scully?" I call, waiting for an answer. No reply. I get up out of the bed, and call her name again. "Scully?" This time louder. Still, nothing. Shit. Where the Hell is she? Did someone... Take her? Her clothes are gone. Her jacket's gone.

If somebody took her... What if this place is bugged? Again? No, I would have heard if somebody took her. Stop being paranoid, Spooky! Why do I always suspect foul play? Maybe she just... Left. How could she ditch me now? After last night, after what we've done? We changed everything, we've gone from friends to more than that, and she's fucking gone? How could she do this to me? What the Hell is going on? I try to calm myself down but I can't. She has some nerve. Last night she says she loves me, that she knows this is right, and now she runs out on me?

Last night had to be right. If it wasn't... If it was wrong... If she thought that it was wrong, I couldn't live with myself anymore because I cannot live with her. What am I supposed to do now? Do I call her? I know I've ditched her before but, damn! Do I deserve to be ditched after sex? Was I that bad? No, that can't be it. I'm not bad, just... Out of practice. Oh, like she's been practicing or something. Okay, okay, calm down, don't want to think or accidentally scream things we can't take back, Fox! We all know, well, at least I know, last night was amazing. Does she know that?

What if she regrets it? She's so rational, what if she thinks it's wrong because we're friends? Or partners? Was she worried I was lying, that I don't love her? What if she was lying? Okay, I need to calm down. I walk out into the living room and see nothing. Nothing. Nothing that means a fucking thing to me because Scully is not in this room! I can't take this, why did she leave? I can't just sit here and think and wonder... I've got to ask her. I reach for the phone when I see a note sitting on my table. Forgetting the phone I walk over to it.

Sorry to run out on you, Mulder. I need to go home and think about some things--a lot has changed, you know that. I don't regret anything that happened, and I don't want you to think I do. I meant what I said last night... I just need to think.

Scully

I breathe. Just breathe, in and out, loud ragged breathes, letting the anger subside. Of course she meant it, of course she loves me. I love her. She doesn't regret last night. But she needs to think. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Think? About what? If she meant it why does she have to think about it? I need to sit down. Yeah, that's it. I need to sit down.

Sitting on the couch turned to lounging, really. Waiting. I want to call her but she's too busy thinking. I really shouldn't be angry, and I'm really not. I'm upset. That she has to think about it. I don't have to think about it. I'm just winging it, hoping that it's right. If it isn't right, I'm screwed, because I'll be wrong for the rest of my goddamn life. A lot has changed, though. Especially for her, with her Buddhist vision and whatnot. At least, at least she says she meant last night. She doesn't regret it. Well, Fox, the sex was good then! Score one for Spooky! Okay. The note cleared up a lot. I'm much calmer than before.

I decide to shower. All I can think about is her, how much I love her. How much I always have. Even when I thought she was a spy for them, I knew she was hot. She was sent to spy on me, but she couldn't do their dirty work. She's got integrity. She wanted what I wanted, the truth. I loved her even though she showed no non-professional interest in me, even though she wore those hideous suits. She had this plaid one, it was horrible... I don't know what she was thinking, but I guess it was the style at the time. Even in those suits she's gorgeous, she's brilliant, and she dresses a hell of a lot better now. I guess she has changed. I've changed. We've changed. What we are... That's changed. A lot has changed.

After the quick shower, I throw on a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. Just as I'm clothed, I hear a knock at my door. My hair still wet, I go to answer it. Scully. It's got to be Scully. I pull open the door and see her standing there. She's wearing new clothes, not the outfit she must have left in. I look at her for a while, and then just say "Hey."

"Morning, Mulder." She replies.

I walk away from the door and she follows me in. There's no kiss, but that doesn't upset me. We both knew this wouldn't be a kiss hello every five minutes relationship. We'd have to remain low key, it's looked down upon for partners to "fraternize." I sit down on the couch and she sits next to me, probably unsure of why I'm being so quiet. She rests her hand on me knee, and I place my hand on top of hers.

"Mulder, are you angry with me for leaving this morning?" She asks. Her tone is not with regret.

"Not angry," I say, trying to reason things out with myself. "Confused. A little hurt."

"I was afraid of that. I just needed to think, and I've done my thinking. I love you, Mulder." She says.

"Then why did you have to think about it?" I ask.

"I was afraid I had put our partnership, our friendship, in jeopardy. I was afraid that I shouldn't love you. I knew there was no way I could stop loving you, but I was afraid it was wrong. I didn't have to think about loving you. I knew that wasn't going to change." She says.

"I love you too, Scully." I say.

"I realized something, Mulder. I had been afraid there would be consequences, and I didn't want to face them. I didn't want their to be consequences, only actions, so I tried to avoid them. I thought... I thought maybe one night could have ruined seven years. I thought about it, and I realized it couldn't have."

"How did you realize?" I ask, only out of curiosity.

"I thought maybe, maybe what we did wasn't right. But then I thought about us, Mulder. All the time we had spent together, the littlest things coming to my memory. I realized, then, that it couldn't have been wrong. We, Mulder, are soul mates. We have to be." She says.

"Soul mates? I didn't think you believed in that kind of stuff." I say.

"Neither did I. You made me believe in that, Mulder. I didn't think it was possible to find a soul mate, until I found one in you. I hope you can find one in me, too." She says, nervous about how angry I've been acting. I'm a jerk. Of course she's my soul mate.

"Of course, Scully. I knew you were my soul mate... I was just so afraid when you were gone this morning. Before I found the note, I thought maybe you wanted to forget about last night, and I knew there was no way I could do that. Then, I read it, and I was upset you had to think about it."

"I was just putting our best interests at heart, Mulder. I didn't want to ruin something wonderful, and I was afraid I had. Now I see, though, after all of my thinking, that we have something even more wonderful now." She smiled. I smile back.

I kiss her lips, and she kisses back. The feel of her lips, the taste of her mouth, I was afraid it would be gone forever. I pull away from her and she goes to kiss me again, but I have something to say. "You're right." I kiss her chastely and stop again to keep speaking. "It gets more and more wonderful." Another kiss. "With every minute." I mean every word. All the thinking and speaking is finished, and now the fun begins.