A/N: This is my first ever fic so I hope it's OK. It was borne of our weekly #tbtxfiles rewatch on twitter (Thurs 10pm EST), this week was Syzygy. Unfortunately it wasn't the story I wanted to write but my head wasn't in the right place. Maybe next time. :)

Scully still hadn't recovered from their brief but stressful assignment in the small town of Comity when she went straight through the stop sign in her haste to exit that hell hole.

She had nothing against the town of Comity herself, but the constant bickering with Mulder and the tall, curvy Detective White had made her want to leave the place almost as soon as she got there. "Perfect Harmony City"my arse. More satanic cult believers. If there were as many satanic cults killing babies in this country as people in these small towns believed, there'd be a marked decline in population.

Eventually it was found that the murders were caused by two BFFs who were born on the same day. Mulder was convinced it was something to do with planetary alignment or cosmic conjunctions or some bullshit, and I'm sure that bottle blonde detective believed whatever he believed; they got rather close during the investigation - she found Detective White on top of her partner in his motel bed, leaving not much to the imagination.

So the girls responsible had been caught, but she had no idea what she was going to put in her field report. Maybe she'd just leave it to Mulder for a change, with all his 'insights' into the cosmos he should be able to channel something creative.

Aside from the whole consorting while on the case thing, he had made remarks to her that were totally uncalled for. Snarky things like how she enjoyed 'snapping on the latex' and that her 'little feet wouldn't reach the pedals' of the car when she insisted on driving for a change. In front of Detective Sexpot too. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

Tonight the silence in the car was tense, rather than their usual companionable silence. Next thing Mulder started with the sunflower seeds and that just sent Scully over the edge. She saw a roadside rest area and slowed the car to a stop, glaring at her partner.

She began screeching, "Mulder, that is driving me insane!"

"I do this all the time, Scully, and you've never had a problem with it," he retorted.

"Well I am trying to drive and it takes all my concentration for my tiny little feet to reach the pedals", she threw back at him.

"You could just let me drive", he suggested calmly.

Dammit, she hated when he remained calm during fights, and made logical arguments. He knew she preferred him to drive so that she could just chill out and not have to focus. It looked like she was going to have to come clean to him.

"I don't know what I got into me back there, Mulder. The minute we got into that town something got my heckles up and i turned into the bride of Satan."

"Everyone was behaving a bit weird there, Scully. Even me."

"I don't know, you didn't seem so upset about having Detective White jumping you in search of a horned beast."

"Well there's where you're wrong, Scully. I'd tried to get her to leave. She just wanted comfort after someone had killed her cat."

"Hmmm. Comfort, you say. Oh dear, I need comfort. My partner has been an arsehole and made me sad." Scully's facetiousness was well emphasised.

With that, Mulder swiftly unbuckled himself and reached over to hold her tightly in his arms for what seemed to be an eternity. Looking down at her stunned face, he whispered in that gravelly voice that she would never admit highly aroused her, "I'd kiss you but I'd hate to be accused of consorting with you".

Letting go of her, he got out of the car and opened her door. Looking down at his still bewildered partner, she agreed to switch seats with him, allowing the journey to continue once again in companionable silence. Within half an hour, Scully was asleep. Their normal familiarity and teasing banter had returned by the time Mulder saw Scully to her door.

"See you in the morning, Scully."

"Sure. Fine. Whatever", she winked as she closed the door.