Serpens

by made.of.bees

Mulder and Scully go babysitting for a week and come arcoss an XFile. They also discover and explore certain feelings for each other...

Disclaimer: They do not belong to me. They are all Chris Carter's. Well, Scully, Mulder, Skinner and anybody else from the TV show belong to Chris Carter. Everyone in Maine belongs to me.

I'd also like to let you know that I wrote this ages go and I'm just publishing it. It's been editied a ton of times, so it should at least be gramatically good.

Serpens

Scully walked into the small basement office she shared with Mulder with a huge smile on her face. "Mulder," she said in an annoying singsong voice. "Guess what I get to do."

"What?" Mulder asked, raising an eyebrow at Scully's out-of-character behaviour.

"I get to spend a week in a country mansion," Scully said, still in the same tone of voice.

"And the catch is . . .?" Mulder asked.

"I'm babysitting," Scully replied, putting her briefcase on her desk and sitting down. "The kids are sixteen, thirteen, eight and almost two."

"Sounds like fun," Mulder said sarcastically.

"Well it is," Scully replied huffily. She started opening drawers, pulling out various papers and putting them in her suitcase. "I've babysat for them before. They're all really nice and Lesley sometimes lets me ride her horse."

"They have horses?" Mulder asked, again raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, they have horses. And cats and dogs," Scully replied.

"Why do they need a babysitter if the oldest is sixteen?" Mulder asked again.

"Because they live, literally, in the middle of nowhere," Scully replied, examining a packet of paper. "The nearest house is approximately ten miles away."

"Where is this place?" Mulder asked, surprised. "There just isn't that much room around here!"

"Northern Maine," Scully said. She decided that she didn't need the papers she had been looking at and put them back in the drawer.

"I can't believe you get to go to Maine while I'm stuck here," Mulder replied, just on the edge of pouting.

Scully turned to look at him, a smile on her face. "I swear, Mulder. You are the luckiest man alive."

"Why?" Mulder replied, looking angrily back at the profile he had been reading before Scully came in.

"Because you're coming," Scully said smugly. "I had to pull a couple of strings with Skinner to let us both go on vacation at the same time, but he finally said yes."

Mulder stared at Scully in shock. "I'm coming? Why would you want me there?"

"Mulder, you haven't taken any vacation in years and you need to relax," Scully replied.

"When are you – we – leaving?" Mulder asked.

"This afternoon," Scully replied. "I'll pick you up at three. We'll be staying at a motel overnight and start driving again at eight. We'll get there at about four tomorrow afternoon."

"Scully! That only gives me a couple of hours to get ready!" Mulder protested. He shoved as many papers as he could fit into his briefcase and grabbed it, following Scully out to their cars at a near run.

"Six," Scully replied. "I would've told you sooner, but I only got Skinner's permission as I was walking down to the office."

"And we'll be there a whole week?" Mulder clarified.

"Yep," Scully said and opened her car door. "See you soon," she said and drove back to her apartment.

Mulder was staring at where Scully's car had been. He couldn't believe that he only had six hours to get ready to leave town for a week. Then it suddenly occurred to him: "I'm leaving town for a week," he thought to himself. "I'm going to Maine with Scully. And we won't be working." Mulder started slowly walking towards his car, thinking about what on earth he was going to do for a week babysitting in Maine with Scully.

At exactly three in the afternoon, Mulder's doorbell rang. "Scully?" he called from the bedroom.

"Yeah," he heard her call back.

"The door's open!" he shouted.

Mulder heard the door open and then heard Scully say from directly behind him, "You shouldn't leave your door unlocked."

"I know," Mulder replied. He stood back and eyed his suitcase apprehensively. "Do you think that will close?" he asked Scully.

"I can't believe you aren't packed yet," Scully said. "You've had six hours."

"I know that, but do you think my suitcase will close?" he asked again.

"What on earth have you been doing?" Scully asked.

"Making arrangements," Mulder said. "Now do you think my suitcase will close?"

"I don't know!" Scully said, exasperated. "But there's only one way to find out." She walked over to his suitcase and looked inside. "Mulder! We are babysitting!" she exclaimed on seeing the pile of videos inside. She took them out despite Mulder's protests and sat down on the suitcase. "Yes, I think your suitcase will close!" she said loudly, almost yelling, in a very testy manner.

Mulder looked at Scully. "You ok?" he asked.

Scully closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm fine. I just don't want to be late."

Mulder walked over to Scully and put both of his hands on her shoulders. "You are going on vacation. You will relax. You will have fun. Understand?"

Scully smiled slightly at Mulder. "Yes, I understand. Now are you ready?"

"Yep," Mulder replied and grabbed the suitcase Scully had just closed and another one on the floor. "Let's go."

Mulder followed Scully down the elevator towards her car. He threw his suitcases into her trunk and was about to get into the drivers seat when Scully said, "I don't think so."

Mulder turned to face Scully. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because you don't know where we're going," Scully replied and gently pushed Mulder aside. She got into the driver's seat as Mulder grudgingly sat down on the passenger's side.

"I don't suppose you left any time for bathroom breaks?" Mulder asked as soon as Scully started to drive.

"Don't tell me you have to go already," Scully groaned.

Mulder smiled, "No, Scully, I don't have to go yet. I was just wondering."

"In a way, yes," Scully replied.

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning I know that no matter how I plan it, we'll end up late," Scully said.

"We're not even getting there tonight. We're staying in a motel, right?" Mulder asked.

"Yes," Scully replied. "But if we get there late, we'll fall asleep late, we'll get up late, have breakfast late, start driving late and get there late."

"What's the big deal about being a little late?" Mulder asked, not bothering to point out that even if they went to sleep late, their alarm clocks would still wake them up at the same time.

"I've known Lisa, the woman we're babysitting for, since elementary school," Scully replied as if that explained it all.

"And . . . ?" Mulder asked.

"And, even though she's really nice and she's one of my best friends, she's always been better than me at everything. Even though I don't think she notices, she often shows off. When I'm with her, I feel like I can't ever do anything wrong," Scully replied.

"You've managed to stay best friends for that long with somebody who's always showing off?" Mulder asked incredulously.

"Not always," Scully corrected, a tad defensively. "And she doesn't know she's doing it. Besides, Lisa's really nice."

"Uh huh," Mulder replied sceptically.

Scully shot Mulder a glare, but quickly turned her attention back to the road as she turned onto the highway. "You don't know her."

"I know I don't. So why are we babysitting?" Mulder asked.

"Like I said, they're in the middle of nowhere," Scully repeated.

"No, I mean why isn't Lisa there?" Mulder clarified.

"Oh. She and Michael are going to England for a seminar," Scully replied.

"They're going to all the way to England for a seminar? Why would a seminar be so important?" Mulder asked.

"They're really famous," Scully explained.

"Who? The people leading the seminar?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah . . . Lisa and Michael," Scully said.

"They're famous? What for?" Mulder asked, impressed.

"Something to do with really complicated math that no matter how many times they explain it to me, I can never understand," Scully replied.

"Oh," Mulder replied.

"But you shouldn't go judging people before you meet them," Scully replied defensively.

"Scully? What's going on?" Mulder asked, getting confused at how Scully had been acting all day.

Scully sighed loudly. "It's nothing."

"Is nothing the same reason why you're all dressed up?" Mulder asked, eyeing Scully's clothes again. She was wearing a long, black skirt and a cream-coloured turtleneck. Mulder knew from prior experience that normally when Scully was just relaxing around the house she wore old, faded jeans and old, faded shirts. He wasn't, however, complaining.

Scully blushed very slightly. "Yes," she replied.

"Are you planning to dress like that all week?" Mulder asked.

"No," Scully answered. "You expect me to go riding and swimming dressed like this?"

Swimming? It's the middle of October and you want to go swimming?" Mulder asked incredulously.

"Yes. Inside, of course. Not on the lake," Scully replied.

"They have an inside pool and a lake and horses?" Mulder asked even more incredulously.

"Yes," Scully replied uncomfortably.

"Are you jealous?" Mulder asked in what he thought was a comforting way.

"No," Scully snapped. "Of course not."

"Oookay," Mulder thought to himself.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Scully said softly, "I'm sorry. I guess I am a little jealous. Inferior, you might say."

"Scully, you are the least inferior person I have ever known," Mulder said.

"Well you haven't met Lisa," Scully replied.

"One room?" Mulder asked sceptically as he was looking around the motel room that Scully had rented.

"I don't know about you, but I don't have enough extra money to get anything bigger than this," Scully replied tightly.

Mulder inwardly flinched. During the six-hour car ride, they had barely spoken because Scully was being . . . well, even though Mulder hated to call her this, she was being really grouchy. Just about everything he said she somehow took offence at. He knew that it would probably go away once they got to Maine, but in the mean time Scully wasn't to be crossed. "Ok," he replied and collapsed down on one of the beds.

"I'm going to go to sleep now so I can get up tomorrow. I recommend you do the same thing," Scully said. She opened one of her suitcases, took out a light blue bundle and went into the bathroom. A couple of minutes later she emerged in her light blue silk pyjamas. She carefully folded her clothes and put them back into her suitcase. As she was climbing into bed, she asked, "Are you going to go to bed?"

"Yeah," Mulder replied. He walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and threw them down on the bed.

Mulder pulled off his shirt and was about to take off his pants when Scully smirked, "Not going to go into the bathroom?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Mulder replied and grabbed the pants and went quickly into the bathroom, embarrassed. He came out a couple of minutes later just in sweatpants.

"No shirt?" Scully asked.

"No, Scully. No shirt," Mulder replied and got into bed. "Do you mind?"

The only reply Scully gave was rolling over so she was facing the wall instead of Mulder. "G'night, Mulder."

"Night," Mulder replied, rolling his eyes.

Scully's alarm woke her up at exactly seven. She quickly got out of bed and went over to Mulder's bed. He was still asleep, and she thought it really was a shame to wake him. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep; Scully had very rarely seen him like that awake. A lock of hair had fallen into his face and she absentmindedly brushed it aside before gently shaking him and saying, "Mulder, wake up."

"Wha . . .?" Mulder asked, sitting up but still half asleep.

"You have to get up. I'm gonna take a shower, and then it's your turn," Scully replied.

"Why didn't you wake me up after your shower?" Mulder asked, rolling over to get a couple more minutes of sleep.

"Because I knew that you'd want just a couple more minutes and then we'd end up being late," Scully explained. When he didn't answer, she added exasperatedly, "Mulder, come on!"

"Get me up after your shower," Mulder mumbled, almost asleep again.

Scully rolled her eyes, but left him alone. She walked over to her suitcase and pulled out a long, warm dark red dress and took it with her into the bathroom. Scully took a long, hot shower and emerged far more relaxed than she had been during the trip so far. She dried herself and dressed quickly. She glanced in the mirror and decided to try something with her hair. She quietly went back into the main room, grabbed a bottle of hair gel and went back into the bathroom. Scully pulled her hair back into a small bun and gelled the bits that wouldn't fit to her head. When she was done, Scully grimaced. This wasn't what she looked like at all. However, it did give the desired effect, so she put her gel back into her suitcase and went to wake up Mulder again.

"Scully, c'mon. We don't have to leave for another forty minutes," Mulder replied, not budging from under the covers.

"We need to have breakfast, repack everything that we've used and check out. I suppose if you don't want to have breakfast, that's your choice, but I insist you take a shower and wear something nice," Scully said.

"I didn't bring anything nice," Mulder mumbled.

Scully sighed, "Fine, but I still want you to take a shower."

Mulder groaned, but got out of bed. When he saw Scully, he smiled and clapped. "Very nice," he said as he searched through his suitcase for something to wear.

"You're funny," Scully said testily. "I know very well I look nothing like me."

"Yeah, but you still look nice," Mulder said and disappeared into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Scully rolled her eyes and went back to putting everything that she had used yesterday and this morning, which wasn't much, back into her suitcase. She finished just as Mulder came out of the bathroom and said, "This good?"

Scully looked over at him and smiled. He was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt over a white turtle neck and relatively new blue jeans. "You look fine," she said warmly.

Mulder smiled at her and began to pack. He only took a few minutes since he wasn't as picky as Scully had been and just shoved everything in. "Where are we going for breakfast?" he asked as he followed Scully out of the room and to the main desk.

"A small place that I go to every time I go up to Maine," Scully replied. She quickly checked out and went out to the car with Mulder following. "Hope you like pancakes."

"Love 'em," Mulder said. They drove in silence for about five minutes until Scully pulled up in front of a small restaurant called The Pancake Place. She and Mulder got out and went inside. "Cute," Mulder commented.

Scully nodded, smiling. "It's been here for as long as I can remember and hasn't changed at all." Scully led Mulder over to a small table in the corner, where a waitress came over almost immediately and took their orders. Their food came a short while later and Mulder and Scully ate together in a comfortable silence. When they had finished eating and got the check, Scully reached for it, but Mulder took the piece of paper before Scully could get it.

"Do you always pay?" Scully inquired as they waited for Mulder to get his credit card back. "Because if you do, we have to go out to eat more often."

Mulder laughed, but didn't answer. The waitress soon came back and Mulder and Scully left.

Once they had gotten back onto the highway, Mulder turned the radio on to a hard rock station. Scully raised an eyebrow and switched the station to one with soft rock and country.

"Scully, c'mon. That's boring," Mulder said on the verge of whining and changed it back.

"My car, my music," Scully said and changed the station again.

"But-"

"Mulder, if you really don't like it, reach into the back and in the dark red suitcase on the edge, there's a CD wallet that you can pick something from," Scully said. "I'd do it, but I'm driving."

"I noticed," Mulder said and got out the wallet. He flipped through the CD's, muttering about how bad her collection was, until he stopped in surprise. "Evanescence? I thought you didn't like hard rock," he said and put the CD in the player.

"Mulder, don't," Scully insisted.

"Why not? You said I could pick something of yours," Mulder countered.

"But I don't want-"

"Why not?" Mulder asked again. "If you can't come up with a good reason, I can't pick something better."

"Happy," Scully said softly. "Please pick something happy."

Mulder looked over at Scully and saw that she was close to tears. "Ok," he said comfortingly and took the CD out of the player and put it back in the wallet. He resumed flipping through until he came to the end and started over.

"Mulder, nothing new is going to be there," Scully said, a note of laughter in her voice.

"One can always hope," Mulder replied. "How about The Beatles?"

"Sure," Scully replied.

Mulder took out a Beatles CD and put it in the player. Drive My Car started playing loudly on the player and Scully started laughing. "What?" Mulder asked, looking at his partner.

"This must be the first time I've ever driven," Scully replied, calming down.

"You're not my 'baby' so it doesn't count," Mulder said.

"Regardless, it's funny," Scully replied. Mulder and Scully listened happily to Rubber Soul until the fourth song, Nowhere Man, when Scully started to softly sing along.

"He's a real nowhere Man/ Sitting in his Nowhere Land/ Making all his nowhere plans for nobody/ Doesn't have a point of view/ Knows not where he's going to/ Isn't he a bit like you and me/ Nowhere Man, please listen/ You don't know what you're missing/ Nowhere Man, the world is at your command/ He's as blind as he can be/ Just sees what he wants to see/ Nowhere Man can you see me at all/"

At the last words, Mulder replied quietly, "Of course I can see you."

Scully looked over at Mulder in surprise. "What?"

"You were singing . . ." Mulder trailed off, unsure of why he had thought Scully had been talking about him, especially when all she had been doing was singing along to a Beatles song.

"I was?" Scully blinked. "Oh. Was I singing to you?"

Mulder wasn't sure of whether Scully was being sarcastic or not, so he answered a tad suggestively, "I don't know. Were you, Scully?"

Scully laughed and replied, "Since neither of us knows, I'd say I wasn't."

"Then nevermind," Mulder replied, feeling like an idiot. He turned his head back to the window and watched the scenery flash by.

A couple of minutes later, Scully asked, "Do you see me?"

Mulder turned so he was facing her. "Scully, look at me."

"Mulder, I can't. I'm driving," Scully replied.

"Then pull over," Mulder insisted.

"No!" Scully snapped. "Then we'll be late."

Mulder sighed but smiled slightly at his partner's determination. "Yes, I see you. Of course I see you," he answered.

"Are you sure?" Scully asked.

"Of course I'm sure," Mulder replied.

Scully didn't answer. She kept her eyes on the road and didn't show any sort of expression, which made Mulder very sure that she was thinking about something very important. "Scully?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything ok?" Mulder asked softly.

"Yeah," Scully repeated.

Mulder sighed, knowing something was wrong but not knowing what and knowing well enough not to press the matter, at least not yet.

At four-thirty, Mulder and a very annoyed Scully arrived at the house they were going to be staying at.

"Wow," Mulder said, looking at it. The house was three stories tall at least, probably more like four, and was tiered, kind of like a wedding cake. The ground floor was brick and the top two were painted a light yellow. There were statues of angels and various other humans or human-like creatures in a small inlet in the walls and on the railings of the balconies that resulted from the tiers. The grounds were huge with woods bordering them and Mulder could see a large lake behind the house.

"Wow indeed, now come on," Scully replied testily and got out of the car. She grabbed her suitcases and walked quickly up the path to the house where she rang the doorbell. She looked behind her and saw that Mulder had made it out of the car, but was still staring at the house. "Mulder, come on!" Scully yelled.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Calm down, Scully," Mulder said, taking his suitcases and going to stand beside Scully.

"Calm down? We're a half hour late and you're telling me to calm down?" Scully hissed angrily. Before Mulder could respond, however, the door opened to reveal one of the most beautiful women Mulder had ever seen. She had long, straight blonde hair that came down past her waist and sapphire eyes. She was wearing a loose light blue shirt and dark blue jeans.

"Dana! How wonderful to see you," she exclaimed and hugged Scully.

"Great to see you, too," Scully replied, smiling. She pulled away and said, "Lisa, this is Mulder. Mulder, this is Lisa."

"Hey," Mulder said.

"Hello, Mulder," Lisa said, smiling. "Please, come in."

"Thanks," Scully said and grabbed her suitcases. She followed Lisa inside and put them down in the front hall. "Will I be sleeping in the same place as last time?" she asked.

"Yes, if you don't mind. Mulder can have the room across from yours, if that's ok," Lisa replied.

"That'll be fine," Scully said. "When are you and Michael leaving?"

"As soon as Michael comes downstairs. He's running late, as always," Lisa answered.

"Just like Mulder," Scully replied, shooting Mulder a look that could kill. "We'd have been here on time if he hadn't taken forever getting up and at each rest stop."

"Oh, that's ok," Lisa said. "Michael!" she called up the stairs. "Hurry up!"

"I'm coming!" a voice from upstairs called.

Lisa rolled her eyes and laughed. "In Michael talk, that's probably another ten minutes or so. Do either of you want anything to eat or drink?"

"No, we're fine," Scully said quickly before Mulder could say anything. Mulder looked at her oddly, and she gave him a look that clearly said "Be quiet."

At that moment, Michael finally made his appearance. He had light brown hair that fell into his face and light brown eyes which were the same colour as his hair. "Good to see you, Dana!" he said happily and pulled Scully into an embrace.

Scully smiled and said, "Good to see you, too. This is Mulder, and this is Michael."

"Nice to meet you," Mulder and Michael said at the same time and laughed.

"Lisa, we have to get going otherwise we're going to be late," Michael said, turning to his wife.

Lisa laughed, "Michael, I've been saying that for the past hour."

"Well then let's get going. Where are the kids?" Michael asked.

"I think they're down in the stables," Lisa said. Turning to Scully and Mulder, she asked, "Would you like to go down to see them?"

"Sure," Scully and Mulder replied. Lisa and Michael walked outside with Mulder and Scully right behind them and led them down to the stables.

"Lesley, Robby, Elaine, Ivy are you in there?" Lisa called out.

"Yeah, Mom!" a voice called out from up in the loft.

"We're leaving now," Michael called up. "Care to say goodbye?"

"Dad, we just said goodbye!" a voice called down. Despite that statement, two young girls ran down the stairs, quickly hugged and kissed their parents goodbye and ran back up.

"Not going to bother to come down?" Scully called up. "I feel so welcome."

There were some giggles, and then a head appeared, leaning over the edge of the loft.

"Hi, Dana," she said. Her hair was blonde like her mother's, but it was impossible to tell how long from the way she was leaning over.

"Hi, Lesley," Scully replied.

"Are you going to come up?" another voice asked from behind her.

"In a second. I have to say goodbye to your parents first," Scully said.

"Fine, but you have to come up after that," the same voice called.

"I will," Scully replied. She turned, laughing, back to the other adults. "Guess I'm busier than I would've thought. Have a wonderful time."

"We will, don't worry," Lisa said. "Goodbye, Dana, and nice meeting you, Mulder."

"Same to you," Mulder said.

Lisa smiled and called out one more time, "Bye, kids!"

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad!" the chorus of voices called.

Lisa and Michael smiled and left, leaving Mulder and Scully to the kids. Scully instantly walked over to the ladder that led up to the loft and started climbing. She was halfway up when she turned around and called to Mulder, "You coming?"

"Yeah," Mulder said and followed Scully up the ladder.

Scully quickly climbed the rest of the way up and disappeared behind a large bale of hay. However, when Mulder walked behind it, Scully and the kids were nowhere to be seen. "Scully?" he called out. Nothing. "Scully, where are you?" he asked to the hay. This time he heard giggles coming from behind a large hay stack and walked over to that one.

"No, over here, Mulder!" a voice that clearly wasn't Scully's called from across the barn.

But when Mulder turned that way, a different voice, this one masculine, called from the other direction, "This way, Mulder!"

"Scully, where are you?" Mulder said, emphasizing the Scully.

"Right behind you," she said.

Mulder whirled around and saw Scully standing in front of him, covered with hay. "Where were you?"

"Behind you," she repeated and started laughing. Seemingly out of nowhere, the four kids appeared. "This is Lesley, Robby, Elaine and Ivy," Scully said, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Hi," Mulder said, feeling awkward.

"What's your first name?" Robby asked.

"How'd you know that was my last name?" Mulder asked.

"Because you called Dana Scully so she'd have called you by your last name," Robby replied.

"Well, it's Fox, but-" Mulder started, but got interrupted by Ivy, who started shouting,

"Fox! Fox! Fox!" over and over again.

"Ivy's in the process of repeating everything everybody says as loud as she can," Elaine explained.

"I noticed," Mulder replied dryly. "Anyways, I'd rather if you call me Mulder."

"Why?" Lesley asked. "Fox is a cool name."

"Not if it's yours," Mulder replied.

"Fox!" Ivy shouted.

"C'mon, Mulder. It's just for a week," Scully replied, laughing slightly.

"Fine . . . Dana," Mulder said a tad angrily, stressing the Dana.

Scully shrugged. "I don't mind."

Mulder rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Don't be so uptight," Scully said and sat down on the hay next to where the kids had sat down.

"I'm not being uptight," he grumbled, but sat down next to Scully anyways.

"Abby!" Lesley suddenly called out, pointing behind Mulder.

"What?" Mulder asked. Before he could turn around to look, something large and golden pounced on him from behind. "Scully, get it off!" he cried out.

Laughing, Scully pulled the large golden retriever off of Mulder's back. "She, Mulder. Not it."

"Whatever," Mulder said grouchily.

Scully looked at Mulder, concern clearly visible in her eyes. "Are you ok? Ever since we've gotten here, you've been grouchy."

"I'm fine," Mulder replied, but the edge in his voice was enough to convince Scully otherwise.

"If you really don't want them to, I can convince them not to call you Fox," Scully said.

"No, it's ok."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Scully asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Mulder reassured her.

She smiled. "Good." Scully let go of Abby, who instantly pounced on Mulder again, licking his face and pushing him back into the hay.

Mulder laughed and good-heartedly pushed the dog off him. "Are there any other animals I should know about before they almost kill me?" he asked in his normal tone of voice.

"Milo, Taye, Merlin, Libby, Tavia, Silas, Elizabeth, Henry and Lavender," Robby reeled off the list.

Scully laughed at the look on his face. "I told you that there were a lot of animals. Silas, Elizabeth, Henry and Lavender you don't have to worry about because they're horses. Milo and Taye are cats, Merlin is a sheepdog and Libby and Tavia are both collies."

"And Libby should be named Lassie," Elaine sulked.

"Ellie, we've been through this a thousand times. You got to name Tavia and so I got to name Libby," Robby explained.

"I don't care," Elaine said, her lower lip sticking out.

Lesley, sensing a disaster, quickly said, "Dana, can we swim?"

"Sure. Mulder, you did bring a bathing suit, didn't you?" Scully asked, noting the panicked look on Mulder's face.

"No . . . I forgot," Mulder said sheepishly.

"You can borrow one of Dad's," Lesley said, already halfway down the stairs.

Scully's eyes widened. "Lesley, I don't think that's a great idea."

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Robby asked, right behind Lesley.

"I-I'm not sure," Scully stuttered, following Robby down the stairs.

"Scully, what's wrong with the bathing suits?" Mulder asked nervously, waiting for Elaine to climb down.

"Don't tell him!" Robby insisted.

Scully laughed and said, "You'll see."

Mulder rolled his eyes and followed Ivy down the stairs and the four kids into the house. Scully walked beside him and whispered into his ear so the kids couldn't hear, "They're Speedos," and then ran to catch up with the kids.

"Mulder, come on!" Scully said, knocking on Mulder's door. "They're waiting for us."

"Scully, I feel ridiculous," Mulder said from behind the door.

"I know you're lying to me because I know you have a pair of red Speedo's exactly like those," Scully said. "Now hurry up."

"How'd you know that?" Mulder asked incredulously, opening the door to his room at last.

Scully smirked at him. "I just do. Now hurry up." She started walking down the hall, leaving Mulder staring at her. She was wearing a turquoise two-piece bathing suit with a dark blue sarong tied around her waist that came down to her ankles. She turned around right before she was going to go downstairs and asked, "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, sorry," Mulder replied and quickly caught up with her. "So where is the pool?"

"In the back," Scully replied and walked through the beautifully decorated living room and into the pool room.

"Wow," Mulder said for the second time that day. The room was a complete tropical paradise. There were palm trees, various brightly coloured flowers that Mulder had no idea what were called and the room was lit in a way that seemed like they were actually under a tropical sun. In the centre of the room was the pool. It was huge and deep, with clear, light blue water and diving boards at the far end.

Scully laughed, "Get used to it, Mulder. We'll be spending a lot of time here."

"The pool's the best part of the house," Lesley said from a float in the middle of the pool.

"I can tell," Mulder replied, sat down on the edge of the pool and slid in.

Scully, on the other hand, took off her sarong and walked over to the diving boards where she climbed the highest and dived in. When she didn't surface within about ten seconds, Mulder swam over to the other side of the pool and surface-dived under. He felt somebody tap him on the shoulder and turned around to see Scully smiling and waving at him. She quickly swam up to the surface and took a large gulp of air.

"Worried?" Scully asked, half teasing.

"A little," Mulder replied.

He felt his cheeks heat up when Robby said in an overly gushy voice, "Aw! Isn't that sweet?"

"Robby, stop it," Scully replied, not the slightest bit of a blush in her cheeks, Mulder noted.

Robby just grinned at her and swam away. Scully laughed and started chasing him, splashing a good deal of water in his general direction as she went. Elaine joined in, getting both Scully and Robby sopping wet but somehow managing to keep relatively dry. Ivy, who was floating with a lifesaver type thing next to Lesley, said very loudly, "Splash!"

"Lesley, where are the other floats?" Scully called from the other end of the pool. She was in the process of fending off both Robby and Elaine who had decided that Scully was a far more interesting target than each other.

"In the closet," Lesley shouted back.

"Thanks!" Scully replied and hoisted herself out of the pool. She walked over to a closet at the far end of the pool and pulled out a float. She brought it back over to the pool, put it in the water and climbed on top of it. She gently pushed herself away from the edge of the pool and floated towards the centre, one hand lazily propelling herself.

Mulder stopped playing with Ivy and quietly swam over to Scully from behind. Motioning for the other kids to be silent, he took a deep breath and swam under the raft. Once he was directly underneath it, he suddenly surfaced, flipping the raft and Scully upside down with a huge splash.

"Mulder!" Scully yelled once she finally managed to get out from under the raft. "Don't do that!"

"Oh, and why not?" Mulder asked innocently, causing Robby and Elaine to giggle.

"Because I got the raft for a reason!" Scully exclaimed.

"And what might that reason be?" Mulder asked in the same tone of voice, making Robby and Elaine laugh even louder and Ivy to start giggling because everyone else was.

"Because I wanted to dry off," Scully replied. "However . . ." she trailed off with a mischievous look in her eye.

"What?" Mulder asked.

Scully grinned at him, flipped onto her back and started kicking her feet, sending huge waves of water directly into Mulder's face. "An eye for an eye!" Scully called out. "Or, in this case, a splash for a splash!"

Lesley, who had been quiet during the entire scene, finally asked, "Are you two in love?"

Scully instantly stopped splashing Mulder, and Mulder instinctively moved away from Scully and the tipped raft. "No, of course not," Scully replied.

"What would give you that idea?" Mulder asked.

"It's pretty obvious," Robby said. "You're constantly flirting."

"We are not," Mulder replied, almost pouting.

"Well you should be together," Lesley said. "It'd be sweet."

"I don't think so," Scully replied.

"Why not?" Robby asked. "You work together so you see each other every day, you've been partners for like five years now so you know each other really well and it's pretty obvious that you're very good friends."

"Not that good," Scully replied.

"Well you should at least try it," Lesley said.

"Yeah! That's a great idea!" Robby said excitedly, his eyes lighting up and a huge smile appearing on his face. "Just this week while you're here and already living together you could pretend to be together."

"No, thank you," Mulder and Scully both said at the same time, causing Lesley and Robby to exchange a look.

"And if you two don't stop it, you're going to have to get out of the pool," Scully said seriously.

"Dana!" Lesley whined.

"Just stop talking about it and you'll be fine."

For the next couple of minutes, it was quiet as Scully righted the raft and climbed back on. She carefully manoeuvred herself so she wasn't anywhere near Mulder, who did the same.

"Dana? I'm cold. Can I go to the playroom?" Robby asked a couple of minutes later.

"So am I," Lesley said.

Scully looked at the two, trying to read past their seemingly innocent expressions. "Alright," she finally said. "But dinner's going to be at six."

Robby and Lesley grinned at each other and hurried out of the room.

"Speaking of dinner, Mulder, would you mind staying with Ivy and Elaine while I go start it?" Scully asked, already on her way to the edge of the pool.

"Sure," Mulder replied. "What time is it?"

"Five," Scully replied. When she was halfway out the door, she turned around and said, "At five-thirty, you three have to get out and get ready for dinner, ok?"

"That early?" Mulder asked, surprised.

"Believe me, it takes that long with Elaine," Scully said, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly.

"Dana!" Elaine squealed.

"Don't give Mulder too hard a time, ok? It's his first night here," Scully requested.

"Fine," Elaine said, pretending to pout.

Scully laughed and went back to her room. She quickly showered and changed back into the red dress she had been wearing before and made a mental note to put her things away as soon as dinner was over. Scully left her room and walked slowly down the large staircase, thinking about what Lesley and Robby had said. She and Mulder were certainly not in love, and she was quite sure they were not constantly flirting. Were they?

Scully shook her head and walked into the large kitchen. The first thing she did was walk over to the stereo and turn it on. Like always, classical music started to play. This time it was The Four Seasons, and Scully smiled. Lisa must've put it there on purpose because she knew that Scully liked to listen to music when she did things and that The Four Season was her favourite classical piece. Scully hummed along to the music as she started to prepare their dinner.

"Smells great," Mulder said from directly behind Scully, who was standing at the counter, chopping vegetables for the salad.

Scully spun around, the large knife still in her hand. Mulder backed up quickly, and Scully started laughing. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok. What're you making?" he asked, also laughing slightly.

"At the moment, salad. In the oven is apple pie and on the counter cooling is chicken," Scully replied.

"Pie?" Mulder asked, perking up.

"It's for desert," Scully said, putting extra emphasis on the desert. "After dinner."

"I swear, I don't know how Lesley and Robby can think we're in love when you act like my mom," Mulder joked.

Scully rolled her eyes and asked, "Where are Elaine and Ivy?"

"In the playroom with Lesley and Robby," Mulder replied.

"Could you go tell them that dinner is in about five minutes and they should come down?" Scully asked, turning back to the lettuce that she had cut on the cutting board and pouring it into a large, glass salad bowl.

"Sure," Mulder replied and left, leaving Scully to take everything into the dining room and set the table.

"Fox, sit at the head of the table," Lesley said, stopping Mulder from sitting down towards the end. "And Dana, you sit down on his right."

Scully raised an eye at Lesley. "Why?"

"Because that's where Mom and Dad sit," Robby answered.

"Yes, well we're not your mom or dad," Scully said. "Besides, I already set the table and nobody is sitting at the head."

"Why not?" Elaine whined. "Can't I? Please?"

"Probably," Scully replied. "But tonight, you're going to sit next to me, ok?"

"Ok," Elaine happily agreed and sat down where Scully pointed.

"Where am I sitting?" Robby asked.

"You and Lesley can sit on the opposite side and Mulder can sit wherever he wants," Scully replied.

"Then can Fox sit at the head of the table?" Lesley asked again.

Scully rolled her eyes and glanced at Mulder. "Do you mind? Just for tonight?"

"I guess not," Mulder said and plopped down at the head of the table.

"Dana, can you please sit on his right?" Robby said, almost whining.

Again, Scully glanced at Mulder, who just smiled. "Fine," she sighed. "Then Elaine has to move next to me and you two can take the other side. Lesley, is it ok if Ivy sits next to you so you can help her?"

"Sure," Lesley said and strapped Ivy's booster seat on the chair next to her own.

"I'll go get the food," Scully said.

"Let me help," Lesley offered, jumping up and following Scully into the kitchen.

Once they were inside, Scully asked, "Lesley, what is the big deal about me and Mulder at the head of the table?"

"Because that's where Mom and Dad sit," Lesley repeated, picking up the salad bowl.

"But we aren't your parents," Scully repeated, grabbing the plate of chicken.

"For this week you are," Lesley replied and cut off their conversation by going into the kitchen.

Scully rolled her eyes and followed, setting the chicken down in the middle of the table.

"Dana, can we light the candles?" Robby asked as soon as he saw Scully.

"You're only supposed to do that for special occasions," Scully said.

"It is a special occasion! It's your first night back and Fox's first night here ever!" Elaine insisted.

Scully looked at the three children. "Ok, what's going on that I don't know about?"

Lesley, Robby and Elaine exchanged glances, before Robby said, "Nothing."

"Uh huh," Scully replied, sitting down on Mulder's right. "Then no candles."

"But-" Robby started.

"No buts until you have a good reason," Scully replied. "And start eating before the chicken gets cold."

A couple of minutes into the meal, Scully asked, "Have any of your bedtimes changed since the last time I was here?"

"Of course! We can all stay up as late as we want!" Robby said innocently.

"Nice try, Robby. Now really, what are your bedtimes?" Scully asked again.

"Mine's eleven, Robby's is ten, Elaine's is eight-thirty, and Ivy's is eight," Lesley supplied.

"Do any of you have homework?" Scully asked.

"We already did it," Robby replied.

"And what time does school start?" Scully finished.

"Robby and I start at seven-fifty-five, Elaine is eight-fifteen and Ivy is at eight-thirty," Lesley explained.

"And, of course, you all know when to get up, right?" Scully asked again.

"Yep," Elaine said.

"Then I expect to see you three down here at seven at the latest, ok?"

"Yep," Elaine repeated.

"What?" Scully asked Mulder when she saw he was staring at her.

"I never even remembered about school," Mulder replied.

"Yes, well that's why I'm here," Scully replied.

"Next time can it be just Fox?" Elaine asked hopefully.

"Not likely," Scully said. "And eat your salad."

"But Dana-" Elaine whined.

"No buts. If you don't, you won't get any pie."

"Pie?" Lesley, Robby and Elaine asked at once.

"Pie pie pie pie pie!" Ivy screamed.

"Yes, apple pie. And you too, Mulder," Scully added when she saw that Mulder hadn't eaten any of his salad.

"Yes, Mommy," Mulder whined, causing the kids to giggle.

Scully rolled her eyes yet again and went back to eating. About five minutes later, she and Lesley started clearing the plates. Shouting from the kitchen, Scully called, "Who wants ice cream on their pie?"

"I do!" Elaine called.

"Anybody else?" Scully asked.

"Nope," a chorus of voices responded.

"Alright," Scully replied and began to cut the pie into large slices, adding a scoop of ice cream to one of them. She and Lesley took them back to the dining room and handed them out along with forks and a spoon for Elaine. When everybody was done and all of the dishes were in the dishwasher, they went to the living room.

"Dana? Could you read to us?" Elaine asked.

"Read!" Ivy called.

"Could you?" Robby asked.

"Sure. What book?" Scully asked and settling down on the large, overstuffed couch.

"Pooh!" Ivy called.

"Yes, Pooh," Elaine added.

"Robby? Lesley? Is that ok with you?" Scully asked.

"Sure," they both agreed.

"Mulder? Do you want to listen?" Scully asked as Lesley handed her "The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh".

"Um . . . ok," he said and sat down on the arm chair across from Scully.

"Which story?" Scully asked, opening up to the table of contents.

"In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded By Water!" Elaine requested, snuggling up next to Scully.

"Ok," Scully replied and opened up to that story. The other kids arranged themselves around Scully as she started reading. "'It rained and it rained and it rained. Piglet told himself that never in his life had he ever seen so much rain . . . '"

Mulder smiled at the scene. It was so perfect and he thought that nothing could make it better until an orange cat jumped up onto Elaine's lap, where she and Scully started absentmindedly patting it and making it purr. Shortly after, one of the dogs, either Tavia or Libby, came and settled down by Scully's feet. "She really should be a mother," Mulder thought to himself. Scully looked up at him and smiled while still reading. Mulder smiled back.

"Mulder, come over here," Scully said, suddenly interrupting the story.

"Where?" Mulder asked, looking at the already overflowing couch.

"Sit next to Tavia," Scully requested. "Please?"

The children looked at him with such pleading eyes, that Mulder felt he didn't really have a choice in the matter and sat down on the floor next to Tavia, who instantly put her head in his lap. "I could get used to this quite easily," Mulder thought as he leaned against the couch and, incidentally, against Scully's legs.

"Dana! Dana, wake up!" Lesley screamed, shaking Scully.

"Lesley? What's going on?" Scully mumbled, half asleep.

"Libby's dead!" Lesley said.

"What?" Scully said, sitting straight up and climbing out of bed. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Lesley wailed. "She's just dead!"

"Where is she?" Scully asked, following Lesley out of her room.

"In my room," Lesley said and led Scully up to the third floor and to her room. "I-I don't want to go in," Lesley said once they were at the door. "She's in the corner."

"Ok," Scully said and went into the room. She walked over to the corner and saw Libby. A dead Libby, without a doubt. She was sprawled as if she had been fighting something, and, judging from the fact that she was dead, she had lost. Scully bent down and examined the dog, looking for anything unusual. The only signs of anything out of the ordinary she saw were two, small red bumps that could've been caused by everything from a mosquito to just plain old scratching. "Lesley, could you get me two large garbage bags?" Scully called.

"Yes," Lesley said shakily. Scully heard Lesley's footsteps fade away and looked at the dog, puzzled. She was only five and very healthy from what Scully had seen last night. Libby had been begging to go out, so Scully had finally relented and taken the dog outside with an old tennis ball to play with. They had had a great time and had only come in when it was Ivy's bedtime.

"Here you go, Dana," Lesley said from outside the door and put the two garbage bags on the floor inside the room.

"Thanks," Scully replied and put Libby in the two bags. She came out of the room and brought the dog outside. Scully didn't want to bury her quite yet since she wanted to discover the cause of death first, so she put her in the cellar. When Scully came back in, Lesley was sitting in the kitchen, eating a bowl of Cheerio's. "Some way to wake up, huh?" Scully asked, sitting next to Lesley.

"Yeah . . . especially on your first day here. I'm sorry to wake you up," Lesley replied.

"Sweetie, don't feel bad. You didn't do anything wrong," Scully responded, putting a comforting arm around Libby.

"C-could you tell the others when they wake up?" Lesley asked.

"Of course," Scully replied instantly. "Speaking of getting up, what time is it?"

"Six. They won't be up for another half hour," Lesley replied.

"Ok. Do you think you can go to school today?" Scully asked.

Lesley nodded.

"Is there anything you want?" Scully asked. "Anything special?"

"Libby," Lesley whispered and started crying.

Scully drew Lesley into a comforting embrace and stroked her hair as Lesley cried into her shoulder. "You know, I had a dog once," Scully said.

"Y-you did? I thought your apartment didn't allow dogs," Lesley sniffed, pulling away.

"I had my own house for a while," Scully explained. "But when he died, I remember how sad I was. I barely said or did anything all that day, or the next couple of days, until Mulder finally asked me to go see a doctor."

Lesley giggled slightly, "Not exactly the sensitive type, eh?"

"He is in his own way," Scully replied, thinking of when her dad died and when her sister was killed.

"Dana? Now that he's not around to hear you, do you love him?" Lesley asked again.

"As a friend, I love him with all my heart. As more than that . . ." Scully trailed off. "No, I don't,"

"I think you do," Lesley replied.

Scully wanted to stop the conversation, but she knew that if she did, conversation would go back to Libby, and that was the reason why Lesley started talking about Mulder in the first place.

Before Scully could say anything, a voice from behind them said, "She doesn't, believe me. What're you two doing down here at this ridiculously early hour of the morning?"

Scully turned around and saw Mulder standing in the doorway, wearing the same sweatpants as the previous night, and still no shirt. "I would think you would have the decency to wear a shirt when you're walking around the house, Mulder," Scully said, a note of reproachfulness in her voice.

"I didn't know why anybody would be up at six," Mulder replied, walking towards the refrigerator and looking inside. "Why are you up?"

"Libby died last night," Scully said softly. "I was wondering if sometime when the kids are at school, you could look at the body."

For a couple of seconds Mulder panicked until he remembered that Libby was one of the dogs.

"What did you find?" Lesley and Mulder both asked at he same time.

"Nothing, that's what bothers me. She wasn't sick, was she?" Scully asked, addressing the last part to Lesley, who shook her head. "It just doesn't make sense."

"You could always do an autopsy," Mulder suggested.

"Do you have any idea how many things are wrong with that statement?" Scully asked, a touch of amazement in her voice that he would even suggest that. "First off, I don't have the proper equipment. Second off, she's a dog. I'd much rather that after you look at her body, we take her to a vet."

"Ok," Mulder replied, plopping down across from Scully with a can of coke in his hand.

"And you shouldn't be having coke this early in the morning," Scully said and snatched the can away from him before he could open it and poured him a glass of milk.

"Scully!" Mulder whined, looking at the glass disdainfully.

"It's good for you," she insisted.

Lesley giggled slightly, "You two are so cute."

"Lesley," Mulder started, but Scully shot him a look that said be quiet. He looked at her oddly, but didn't say anything else.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Lesley said and left, putting her empty bowl in the dishwasher.

"You don't think we actually were cute, do you?" Mulder asked.

"No, but I think that Lesley, and the other kids when they find out about Libby, need to get their laughs when they can," Scully replied. "I know what it's like to have somebody really close to you die, or get taken away, and I know you do too."

"I know but-"

"Mulder, come on. Humour them, if only for a couple of days," Scully insisted. "And drink your milk."

"Remind me never to live with you," Mulder said, rolling his eyes and taking a small sip.

Scully raised her eyebrows, "Why would you?"

"I don't know, but you're driving me out of my mind," Mulder replied. "I have a good mind to through this thing all over you."

"If you do, you'll be cleaning everything up," Scully replied.

"Does that include you? If it does, then I think I'll have to," Mulder joked.

Scully rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go take a shower," she said and left.

In all of her many times babysitting for Lisa, this was the quietest breakfast Scully had ever heard. Even when Lesley was the only kid, she was constantly talking. Now, with the four kids, herself and Mulder, it was dead silent. She had considered turning on music, but decided that The Four Seasons was far too happy to listen to right after one of the family dogs had died.

At seven thirty-five, Scully said, "Kids, you have to get ready for school."
"Ok," Lesley and Robby said and left, Robby putting his dishes in the sink and following Lesley upstairs to get their backpacks.

"Elaine, you too," Scully replied.

"But school doesn't start until eight-fifteen," Elaine whined.

"I know that, but since Mulder doesn't know where your schools are, I have to drive you all in one trip," Scully explained.

"But-"

"No buts, Elaine," Scully said in an end-of-the-matter tone of voice.

Grumbling, Elaine got up and sulked upstairs.

"They're usually better in the mornings," Scully told Mulder as she put Elaine's dishes in the dishwasher.

"They seemed fine to me," Mulder replied.

"Just because they're better than you, doesn't mean they can't be better," Scully replied with a twinkle in her eye.

"Just because I didn't want to get up when I could've slept longer doesn't mean I'm bad at getting up. I was up at six-fifteen this morning."

"Your alarm woke you up, and I'm nicer than it is," Scully replied.

"No you aren't," Mulder replied, earning himself a light swat on the head from Scully.

"Mulder, could you get Ivy cleaned up?" Scully asked as she started the dishwasher. "I need to get myself ready, and since you have the luxury of doing whatever you want . . ."

"Sure. What should I do?"

"Clean her face and get her in her shoes and a coat, both of which are in the closet over there," Scully replied.

"Could you look at the body with me?" Scully asked as soon as she found Mulder after she came home from dropping the kids off at school.

"Where is it?" Mulder asked.

"The cellar," Scully replied and took Mulder down from the inside door. "It's in the bags," she said and opened them up. "Jesus!" Scully exclaimed.

"What is it?" Mulder asked, looking into the bag over Scully's shoulder.

Scully gently took something out of the bags and looked at Mulder with a mix of fear and puzzlement on her face. "I found another reason not to do an autopsy," she said.

"Bones," Mulder said, looking at the complete skeleton of what used to be Libby. "How could that be?"

"I don't know," Scully replied. "I'll ship these to the Boston field office for analysis right away."

"Can you do anything here?" Mulder asked.

"I already told you, I don't have any sort of equipment. This was supposed to be a vacation."

"Yeah, and once upon a time I was supposed to have taken you on a nice trip to the forest. At any rate, do you think we should tell Skinner?"

"Could you call him while I pack these up and let Boston know about the bones?" Scully asked, already heading upstairs to get a box and packing material.

"Yeah," Mulder said and followed her. "Where's the phone?"

"Use your cell," Scully called to him from inside a closet. She emerged with a box and a large bag of rags a few minutes later and headed down to the basement where she carefully packed the bones up. Scully went back upstairs and called Boston to let them know what happened. "Mulder!" Scully called.

"I'm in my room!" Mulder called back.

Scully set the box of bones down on the kitchen table and jogged up to Mulder's room where he was on the phone with Skinner. "I'm going to the post office," Scully mouthed. When Mulder nodded, she went back downstairs and drove into town as fast as she could. Once she got there, she cursed herself for leaving her FBI badge back in Georgetown. Instead of showing them her badge, she told the clerk that she was with the FBI and that they could call the Boston field office for confirmation and that the package was incredibly fragile. The clerk assured her that it would be taken care of and Scully left, not quite sure if she believed him or not.

"Skinner thinks we're deluded," Mulder said when he saw Scully come in.

"What else is new?" Scully asked. "I sent the package to Boston, but since I left my badge at home, I had to try to convince them that I was with the FBI, and I'm not sure I succeeded."

Mulder nodded. "I didn't bring mine either."

Scully sighed and sat down on the couch next to Mulder. "I just don't get it. It can't possibly decompose that quickly. It doesn't make any sort of sense."

"Which is why it's lucky we're here," Mulder replied.

Scully looked at Mulder and said, "However, whatever made it die could have very possibly sped up the decomposing process. It actually isn't all that unusual."

"Yeah it is," Mulder replied. "I've never heard of it."

"You haven't heard of a lot of things," Scully replied. "This is not an X-File."

"Not yet," Mulder added. "Anyways, since there isn't anything we can do about this now, what do you suggest we do?"

"I don't know," Scully replied.

"What do they have to do?" Mulder asked.

"Everything," Scully replied, her voice getting tight again.

"We could go swimming or riding, although I don't know how," Mulder suggested quickly. "Or we could do something normal like watch a video."

Scully smirked, "Depends what kind of video."

"Thanks to you, I don't have any of those," Mulder said, pretending to pout.

"Anyways, I want to go outside. We could go out on the lake," Scully suggested.

"How big is the lake?" Mulder asked, surprised that there would be enough room for real boating.

"Well, there's the lake in their backyard, which isn't really big enough, but if you follow the stream, there's a much, much bigger lake in the middle of the woods," Scully answered.

"Can we sail down the stream, or would we have to carry the boat?" Mulder asked nervously.

Scully laughed, "We can go down the stream. Do you want to?"

"Sure," Mulder replied and stood up.

"I'm going to go get something warm because it tends to be really cold, especially in the mornings," Scully replied, leading the way up the staircase and into her room. "I suggest you do the same."

"I'll meet you downstairs in a couple of minutes, ok?" Mulder asked.

"Yep," Scully replied and went into her room, locking the door behind her.

When had finished changing, Mulder was already waiting for her. He was wearing the same jeans he had on yesterday and a black sweatshirt. "Is this warm enough?" he asked.

"Yeah, come on," Scully said. She led Mulder outside and to the boat house. She took a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked it. Inside were several boats: a sail boat, a canoe and a motor boat. "Take your pick," Scully said.

"Three boats? They have three boats?" Mulder asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, they have three boats. Which do you want to take out?" Scully asked, the edge in her voice again.

"Motor boat," Mulder replied.

Scully grinned at him, "Why am I not surprised?"

Mulder grinned back and climbed into the small boat, Scully following. She untied the ropes and started the motor. With the expertise of someone who has been doing this for years, she carefully manoeuvred the boat out of the shed, onto the lake and to the small river.

"How far is it to the lake?" Mulder asked.

"Not long," Scully replied. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Mulder replied.

For a couple of minutes, there was only the sound of the motor. When they got to the lake, Scully leaned back on her seat, letting go of the tiller and relaxing. "Do you approve?" she asked, half joking.

"Mmmm," Mulder said contentedly.

Scully smiled at him relaxed. "We should come out here sometime at night. It's gorgeous."

"There going to be any full moons while we're here?" Mulder joked.

"Yeah. Wednesday night," Scully answered.

"What's today?" Mulder asked.

Laughing, Scully replied, "Tuesday."

"Tomorrow night, midnight? I'll meet out by the boat house," Mulder asked.

Scully raised an eyebrow, "Would that be a date?"

"Midnight . . . full moon . . . canoe . . . beautiful lake in the middle of Nowhere, Maine. Of course not, Scully. What were you thinking?" Mulder said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Scully laughed again, "In that case, sure. As long as we don't tell the kids."

"Why not?" Mulder asked, raising an eyebrow. "What if they need us?"

"We can put a note on our beds and I don't want to tell them because they'll it's a date," Scully answered.

"I thought you said that you didn't care," Mulder replied.

"If they 'catch us in the act' so to speak, then they can say whatever they want, but there's no need to wave something that isn't there in their faces," Scully replied.

The only answer Mulder gave was, "Nowhere man, can you see me at all?"

"Mulder, stop it. I love that song. And, if you listen to the lyrics, he's a lot like you," Scully said, the slightest of blushes creeping up her neck.

"I have a point of view!" Mulder exclaimed.

"Aside from that line. And he's not exactly like you; it just reminded me of you," Scully replied, her blush darkening.

"Whatever you say, Scully. Whatever you say."

The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday passed relatively uneventful. Scully and Mulder hadn't told the kids about the bones since they decided it would only do more harm than good, and when the results of the lab came, they were both confused. It appeared that there had been some sort of acid found that burned away all of the body except for the bones. Since all they had to work with were the bones, it was impossible to tell what had happened, which left both Mulder and Scully nervous.

"Now, however, is not the time to be thinking about that," Scully thought to herself as she changed out of her pyjamas. It was eleven fifty-five and she had been waiting all day for this since she was sure it would take her mind off everything else.

Scully pulled on an old pair of faded jeans that she had had since forever and a light blue shirt, over which she wore a white Irish fisherman's sweater. When she looked in the mirror, she smiled, finally liking what she saw. Scully grabbed the grey afghan that she had brought with her and walked outside to the boat house where she saw that Mulder was already waiting for her. Whether by accident or on purpose, he was wearing her favourite shirt combination: the long sleeved black shirt over a white turtleneck he had worn when they had first come on Monday. His pants were also faded and well worn, and it occurred to Scully that he looked as relaxed as he had when he had been asleep.

"Nice touch," Mulder commented on noticing the blanket Scully was holding. "Did you put a note on your bed?"

"Yeah. Did you?" Scully asked, going into the boat house and stepping carefully into the canoe.

"Yep," Mulder replied, climbing in next to Scully and untying the ropes. In a couple of seconds, they were out of the boat house and in a few minutes they were on the lake. Scully had unfolded the blanket and laid it on her lap. She was sitting at the head of the canoe and as soon as they were in the middle of the lake and didn't need to row anymore, Mulder joined her under the afghan.

They were silent for a couple of minutes until Scully mumbled something softly under her breath.

"What?" Mulder asked.

"Nothing," Scully replied. "I-I'm just a little cold."

Mulder could tell that that wasn't what Scully had said, but nonetheless responded by wrapping an arm around her, drawing her into her chest. She snuggled against him and they stayed like that for a while until Mulder started to softly sing Nowhere Man.

"My nowhere man," Scully whispered, blushing very slightly.

Mulder smiled and started singing Here Comes the Sun instead. Scully looked into his face and said softly, "This is my all time favourite song ever." When Mulder nodded, she asked quietly, "How'd you know?" Mulder just smiled and continued to sing.

When the song was over, Mulder softly asked, "Scully?"

"Hmmm?" she replied, still leaning on his chest.

Mulder reached out and put a hand on her cheek, tilting his head up towards his. He leaned down so their faces were only an inch or two apart and searched her deep, blue eyes for some sort of sign to either go on or not and smiled when he saw what he took to be love in her eyes. He leaned down the rest of the way and gently kissed her. He felt her respond instantly, kissing him back and snaking her arms around his neck to pull him closer. When they broke apart, they were both smiling.

"I love you," Mulder whispered softly, as if he was afraid he would break the words.

"I love you, too," Scully replied and pecked him softly on the lips. She snuggled back down on his chest and Mulder gently stroked her hair and sang just about every Beatles song he could think of to her until he noticed she was asleep. He smiled softly down at her and tried to get up without disturbing her, but didn't succeed.

"Hi," she said, smiling, still half asleep.

"Hi," Mulder smiled back. He moved to the middle of the boat and rowed them back to the boat house and tied the boat up again. He and Scully walked up to the house, Scully leaning on his shoulder and Mulder's arms wrapped snugly around her. When they got inside, they smiled, softly said goodnight, and went into their separate rooms.

When Scully was done changing, she eyed her bed reproachfully. It was too big, she decided. And too empty. Instead of going into her own bed, she quietly crossed the hall and climbed into Mulder's bed. He smiled and pulled her close against him. They fell asleep nestled in each other's arms, both too tired to do anything about the desire burning deep within them, but with the thought of tomorrow in both of their minds.

"Dana! Fox!" several hysterical voices screamed, shaking the two partners.

"Hmmm . . . What?" Scully mumbled, trying to wake herself up.

"Elaine . . . she's . . . I don't know!" Robby wailed.

"What?" Scully replied, getting up and shaking Mulder.

"She's like Libby!" Lesley screamed.

"Dead?" Scully gasped.

"Dead? Who?" Mulder mumbled, still mostly asleep.

"Elaine," Scully replied.

"But she's not dead!" Robby replied. "She's unconscious and . . . I don't know! Not right!"

"Come on!" Lesley said and took Scully's hand, pulling her out of bed. She and Mulder ran after Lesley and Robby, up the stairs and into Elaine's room.

Scully immediately was at Elaine's side, pulling down the covers and looking at her. "She's too thin," Scully said. "And her pulse is week. Mulder, go call 911."

"Where's the phone?" he asked.

"Use your cell phone, for crying out loud!" Scully yelled at him.

Mulder nodded and ran back down to his room and called 911. He went back up the stairs and told Scully that an ambulance would be here in a couple of minutes.

Scully nodded and pulled up a chair next to Elaine's bed. "Mulder, when the ambulance comes, could you stay here with Ivy?"

"But-"

"Please, Mulder," Scully asked, strain clearly audible in her voice. "When she wakes up, you can bring her to the hospital."

"But I don't know where it is," Mulder replied, feeling totally and completely useless.

"Then I'll call you when I can and let you know what's going on," Scully replied. "If there's any reason for you to come, I'll let you know."

"Fine," Mulder replied.

The four of them sat or stood in the room for about five minutes until the doorbell rang. "Lesley, go get the door," Scully instructed.

Lesley nodded and ran down the stairs. She came up a couple of seconds later with several paramedics who quickly put Elaine on a stretcher and took her downstairs to the ambulance with Scully, Mulder, Robby and Lesley trailing behind them. Lesley went with Elaine while Scully and Robby quickly went back inside to change and bring a set of clothes for Lesley before driving to the hospital.

Mulder had been sitting around the house in his sweatpants for an hour before the phone finally rang. "Shit," Mulder mumbled, trying to find the phone by where he thought the ring was coming from. Eventually he found one in the kitchen.

"Mulder," he said.

"Mulder, could you call Lisa and Michael and let them know what's going on?" Scully asked in a very tense voice.

"Sure, but what is going on?"

"Elaine's in a coma. She's been getting thinner and thinner, but she's stabilized at about twenty pounds underweight. She's being fed intravenously, but it's not doing anything. There are two bites on her hand like the ones we found on Libby," Scully supplied.

"What's their number?" Mulder asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's written next to the phone in the kitchen," Scully said.

"Ok. Will you call later if anything changes?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah, of course. How's Ivy doing?" Scully asked.

"She hasn't woken up yet. I assumed she didn't have to go to preschool," Mulder said, hoping he was right.

"Of course she can stay home. Call Lisa and Michael, let them know what's going on, and then call me back on my cell to tell me what they're doing, ok?" Scully asked.

"Sure," Mulder replied.

"G'bye," Scully replied.

"Scully?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah?" Scully replied, hoping that it wasn't something else she had to do.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Mulder," Scully smiled and hung up, leaving Mulder to the very difficult task of telling Michael and Lisa what was going on.

Mulder leaned his head against the wall, still trying to figure out what to say when somebody answered, "Hello?"

"Lisa? This is Mulder," Mulder said.

"It's great to hear from you! Is everything ok?" Lisa asked.

"No, it's not," Mulder said. "Elaine's in a coma."

"Oh my god," Lisa said. "Michael and I will be back as soon as we can."

"Do you want me to pick you up at the airport?" Mulder asked, hoping for the chance to do something.

"No, no, we're fine. I have to go. Goodbye, Mulder," Lisa said and hung up.

Mulder hung up as well, and then dialled Scully's cell phone.

"Mulder?" Scully asked, her voice sounding harried.

"Michael and Lisa are coming home," Mulder said.

"Great," Scully said. "That'll be really helpful."

"Scully, are you sure you don't want me to come to the hospital?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah, yeah. You have to stay with Ivy," Scully said.

"I could bring her," Mulder offered.

"No, that's the last thing I need; someone else to look after," Scully replied. "Hang on a sec," she said, and said loudly, "Robby, be quiet! We can go in a second!" Scully sighed loudly and said to Mulder, "I'm being called. I'll call you if anything changes."

"Alright," Mulder said and hung up.

"Robby, next time I'm on the phone, could you please wait until I get off before talking to me?" Scully asked after she explained that their parents were coming home.

"Fine," Robby sulked. "But can we get something to eat?"

"Yeah. Lesley, do you want to come?" Scully asked.

"Yes," Lesley said.

Scully led the two children down to the cafeteria and let them pick out whatever they wanted, deciding that being at least remotely happy was more important than eating healthily at the moment. Scully herself got a fruit salad, Robby a bowl of Lucky Charms, saying that they needed some luck, and Lesley got a bagel. They ate in silence in a table by the window until Scully asked,

"Lesley, on the night that Libby died, was the door to your room locked?"

"I didn't do it," Lesley said instantly.

"Sweetie, I know you didn't, but was your door locked?" Scully asked.

"Yes," Lesley mumbled.

"Do you know if Elaine's was?" Scully asked.

"She always sleeps with her door locked. We all do," Robby said. "When Elaine didn't answer the door, Lesley and I got a spoon to unlock it."

"Why were you knocking on her door at five-thirty in the morning?" asked Scully.

Lesley and Robby exchanged a look. "We can't tell you," Lesley finally said. "But it doesn't have anything to do with her getting sick."

"Lesley, you have to tell me," Scully said, automatically slipping into FBI questioning mode. "I need to know everything about that night so I can help Elaine."

"But it's private," Robby whined.

"I swear I won't tell anyone," Scully replied. "This will be off the books."

"What?" Robby asked.

"It means that I won't record it in my field notes," Scully explained.

"This is an FBI case?" Robby asked a note of interest in his voice.

Scully nodded, deciding to go with it. "If you two help me figure out whatever happened to Elaine, you could be helping with medical research and/or catching a criminal."

"You're supposed to be our babysitter," Lesley said. "Not an FBI agent."

Scully looked at Lesley. "I'm really sorry, Lesley, but at the moment I have to be both, ok?"

Lesley glared at Scully, her eyes turning to ice. "No, it's not ok!" she yelled and ran out of the cafeteria.

"Dammit," Scully muttered under her breath and then turned to Robby. "Can you stay here while I go after Lesley?"

"I don't want to," Robby said.

Scully sighed. "Then will you come with me?"

Robby nodded, and followed Scully out of the cafeteria. Scully looked around trying to figure out which way Lesley had gone, but didn't gave any idea until she saw a bathroom across the hall. "Robby, wait here while I go to the bathroom," Scully said.

"Can I sit on the benches over there?" Robby asked.

"Sure," Scully said and went into the bathroom, which was empty except for one stall where Scully heard crying behind. She walked over to it and gently knocked. "Lesley?"

"Go away!" Lesley yelled.

"Lesley, believe me, I feel like you. I'd like nothing more than to lock myself into a bathroom stall and cry. But I can't," Scully said. "I have to be here to take care of you and Robby. If you want, I suppose you can stay in here while Robby and I finish breakfast, but after that you have to come up to where Elaine is with us, ok?"

"No," Lesley said. "I want to stay here."

"And you can," Scully agreed. "Until Robby finishes breakfast."

"Couldn't you call Fox and have him come to take care of Robby?" Lesley asked.

"He has to stay and wait for your parents to come home," Scully explained.

"You could call him and tell him to call Mom and Dad to let them know that he's at the hospital," Lesley suggested stubbornly.

Scully sighed. "Fine, but if he can't come, you have to come out." When Lesley didn't answer, Scully left and called Mulder on her cell after informing Robby of what she was going to do.

"Mulder," Mulder's voice answered.

"Could you come to the hospital?" Scully asked.

"Are you ok?" Mulder asked, picking up on how worn out she sounded.

"Well, no. Lesley locked herself in the bathroom and won't come out. I need you to come and stay with Robby upstairs where Elaine is. You can call Lisa and Michael to let them know what's going on," Scully said.

"What about Ivy?" Mulder asked.

"Bring her," Scully said, sighing loudly.

"I'll be there in about a half hour," Mulder said and was about to hang up, when he asked, "How do I get there?"

Scully gave him quick directions and hung up. She told Robby that Mulder would be coming, and then went into the bathroom to let Lesley know. After she got confirmation that Lesley heard her, she went outside and sat down next to Robby. "Do you want to finish your food?"

"No," Robby replied. "Can I get a book from the gift shop?"

"Sure," Scully replied. "I think I'll get one, too," she said and led Robby to the gift shop. They spent about ten minutes picking out books and then went back to the benches to read.

A couple of pages into her book, Scully was interrupted by Robby asking, "Will Elaine be ok?"

"I don't know," Scully replied honestly. "They don't know what's wrong with her, so they don't know if they can fix it or not."

"How can they not know? They're doctors!" Robby said angrily.

"Because nobody knows everything." Robby apparently didn't have a good response to that since he went back to reading his book.

Scully sighed and tried to go back to reading her own book, but she couldn't concentrate. Everything seemed to depend on her doing a good job, and she somehow knew that she was screwing up. She couldn't wait for Mulder to get there and help out. Eventually she got at least semi absorbed in her book, enough so when she heard somebody call her name, she jumped.

It was Lesley, standing in front of her. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"It's ok," Scully replied. "Does your coming out of the bathroom mean I can go in?" Lesley smiled slightly and sat down next to Scully, who put an arm around her. "Do you want to go buy a book?" Scully asked. Lesley shook her head and leaned on Scully's shoulder. "Do you want to talk?" Lesley shook her head again. "Ok," Scully replied and went back to reading, knowing that Lesley would only be angry if she pressed the matter.

"Scully?" she heard her voice called again a couple of minutes later. Scully looked up and saw Mulder standing in front of her.

"Thank God you're here," Scully said, standing up. "I feel like I'm going to crack."

Mulder smiled and quickly kissed Scully on the lips. "You'll be fine. You always are." Scully smiled slightly at that. "I see you got Lesley out of the bathroom?"

"She came out on her own," Scully replied.

"Dana?" Robby and Lesley asked at the same time.

"Yeah?" she answered turning around.

"What happened last night?" Robby asked.

"What do you mean?" Scully replied.

"Fox-" he started, but began to giggle.

A small frown of confusion creased her brow for a second, until she realized what they were talking about. "Nothing that concerns you," Scully said, smiling. "Do you want to go back up to Elaine?"

"Elaine!" Ivy called.

"Yeah," Lesley and Robby said. They all walked upstairs to the waiting room outside Elaine's room and sat down.

"Mulder?" Scully whispered into his ear so the other kids couldn't hear. "Did I do anything wrong?"

"No, of course not. We're all doing everything we can, and I'd say you're doing a damn good job," Mulder replied, smiling slightly.

"Mmm," Scully replied, not convinced.

"You've been here about an hour and a half, and it's now seven in the morning," Mulder whispered back. "Somehow you've managed to take care of two teenaged kids, both tired and worried about their little sister. You've completely taken control of the situation, and now you have to let me, ok?"

"Gladly," Scully replied, leaning her head on Mulder's shoulder, already half asleep.

"Go to sleep," Mulder whispered, putting an arm around Scully's shoulder.

"Mmm," she said again and did just that.

"Scully," Mulder whispered softly into her ear. "Scully, wake up."

Scully slowly roused herself from her much needed nap. "Hmm?" she asked groggily.

"Lisa and Michael are here," Mulder replied.

"Oh!" Scully replied, instantly waking up all the way and blushing slightly from being caught asleep on the job. "I'm so sorry!" she said hurriedly.

"It's ok," Lisa replied. She was pacing the waiting room while Michael sat nervously on the chair next to Mulder. "I know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Regardless . . ." Scully trailed off and then stopped. "Is there any news on Elaine?" Five heads slowly shook "no".

"Nothing's happened, don't worry," Mulder said.

"Nothing happened and you're telling me not to worry?" Scully asked and began pacing as well, needed to get the extra adrenaline that had returned as soon as she had woken up out of her system.

"Scully, you have to calm down," Mulder said soothingly, getting up and putting a hand on Scully's shoulder.

"No, I don't," Scully huffed, ignoring the hand.

"Why don't you two go home?" Lisa suggested. "Michael and I are fine with the kids."

"Are you sure?" Scully asked sceptically. "Because I'm glad to help."

"Dana, I'm sending you home," Lisa replied. "Rest. Relax. The absolute earliest you can come back is five."

"But-"

"No buts," Lisa said. "Go. Mulder can take care of you."

"I don't need to be taken care of," Scully protested. "I'm fine."

"Apparently you do," Lisa answered. "If you didn't, you'd know when your body needed a rest."

"I don't need to rest," Scully insisted. "Ask Mulder. We've worked on plenty of cases on less sleep than this."

"That's not the point," Lisa replied. "Now go."

Scully sighed. "Fine," she finally gave in and let Mulder lead her down the stairs and to the parking garage. "How did you get here?" she asked.

"Cab," Mulder replied.

"So you don't have a car here?" Scully asked, walking over to the one she had driven.

"Nope," Mulder replied, getting into the passenger seat since he didn't know the way home.

About twenty minutes later they were back in the living room of the huge house, not knowing what to do.

"You were the one who insisted we come home," Scully pointed out. "So don't blame me if you're bored."

"I was bored at the hospital as well," Mulder said. "Scully, come here," he said, opening an arm to her. He was sitting on the couch, but Scully had started pacing again.

"I'm too wired to sit still," Scully insisted.

"Would you like some cheese with that whine?" Mulder asked.

Scully glared at him. "I am not whining."

"Sure you aren't. Come here and we can watch a movie or something," Mulder replied.

Scully walked over to the large screen TV, opened the cabinet beneath it and started reading off titles at random. "The Shipping News, The Sixth Sense, Chicago, Finding Nemo, Aladdin, The Rocky Horror Picture Show-"

"That one," Mulder interrupted.

"Rocky Horror?" Scully asked, raising an eyebrow but pulling out the video nonetheless.

"It's funny," Mulder said, now almost whining himself.

"Among other things," Scully responded and put the DVD in the player. She sat down next to Mulder who wrapped an arm around her as Science Fiction Double Feature began to play. Scully rested her head tentatively on Mulder's shoulder, now shier as they were in private, but quickly settled down.

As the song Dammit Janet came on, Mulder started to softly sing along in Scully's ear, causing her to blush and stare fixedly at the screen. When the song was over, Mulder whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Scully replied softly and snuggled further into Mulder's embrace.

When Time Warp came on, Mulder stood up and held his hands out to Scully. She took them, laughing, as the two started to dance along to the song.

"It's just a jump to the left!" Mulder sang loudly, jumping clumsily to the left.

"And then a step to the ri-i-i-iight," Scully sang back, purposely off-key, taking a large step to the right.

"With your hands on your hips," Mulder sang, a considerable amount softly, placing his hands on Scully's and guiding them to her hips.

"You bring your knees in tight," Scully sang back, bringing her upper legs together and trying not to trip as Mulder did the same.

"But it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane," Mulder whispered and thrust his hips forward, sending Scully flying into the couch, laughing. Mulder sat down next to her, flinging an arm around her and kissing her on the cheek. "Having fun?" he asked.

"Mmmhmm," Scully replied, a huge smile plastered on her face. "Thank you."

A couple of minutes later when Sweet Transvestite came on, Scully said hurriedly, "Don't think about it."

"But-"

"Mulder, unless you are a transvestite, leave the song alone," Scully interrupted.

"Hmph," Mulder pouted, but didn't sing along.

"I hate this song," Scully muttered under her breath when The Sword of Damocles came on.

"Shall we skip it then?" Mulder asked.

"No, because I hate the song after it even more," Scully replied. "Besides, I love the whole movie."

"Whatever you say, dahling," Mulder said with an exaggerated British accent.

Scully smiled and leaned against Mulder more.

"Well . . . I don't like men with too many muscles," Janet said on screen, causing Scully to glance for a fraction of a second, if that, at Mulder's chest.

Somehow, of course, Mulder noticed. "What about you, Scully?" he asked.

"Me what?" Scully asked, a blush creeping into her cheeks since she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Do you like muscled men?" he asked.

Scully smirked at him and trailed a finger down his chest. "Perhaps . . ." she trailed off. "But let's watch."

"What, us, get distracted?" Mulder asked, pretending to be surprised.

Scully laughed in a way that Mulder could only describe as a giggle. "C'mon, Mulder."

"Oh, fine," Mulder grudgingly agreed, but pulled Scully closer against his chest.

When they finally looked back at the screen, Scully frowned. "This song is so stupid," she said disdainfully.

"Then perhaps you could allow yourself to get distracted?" Mulder asked and started kissing his way down Scully's neck.

"Mulder," Scully said, playful and serious at the same time. "Please, can we watch?"

"You can," Mulder answered, still kissing her neck. "I personally prefer your neck."

Scully pulled away slightly from him. "I want to watch," she replied.

"Scully? I'm sorry," Mulder said, looking Scully in the eyes. "I was just kidding around."

"I know," Scully replied and moved back so she was leaning on Mulder again. "I just-"

"Want to watch, I know," Mulder finished.

Scully smiled at him and resumed watching the movie. The song Hot Patootie Bless My Soul was on. "This song, on the other hand," Scully remarked, "I love."

Taking that as a cue, Mulder sang along softly in her ear close enough that his lips occasionally brushed against her ear. Scully smiled. When the song was over, they watched in silence until the reprise of Charles Atlas / I Can Make You a Man Came on and Scully smiled.

"The next song is my favourite."

"Which is the next song? I haven't seen it in a while," Mulder asked.

Scully grinned wickedly at him. "You'll see."

About ten minutes later, Touch-A-Touch-A-Touch Me came on.

"This is your favourite song?" Mulder asked incredulously.

Scully nodded, blushing slightly. "It's catchy."

"Catchy?" Mulder asked suggestively. "Is that all?"

Scully looked at him, trying to decide what to do.

"There's no crime in giving yourself over to absolute pleasure," Mulder added.

Scully blushed bright, bright red as Mulder started to sing along in her ear, caressing it with his lips. She could imagine how good those lips would feel on hers and eventually turned her head so Mulder was kissing her. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, as Scully put her arms on the back of his neck. She felt Mulder's hand slip under the back of her shirt and pushed against him as if she wanted to come out the other side. When the song ended, however, so did their make-out session and Scully settled back down with her head on Mulder's chest again.

"Scully," Mulder complained.

"There's plenty of time for later," she said. "Shhh. I haven't seen this in a while either."

Mulder sighed. "Fine."

"Think of it as a rain check," Scully suggested. "Or whatever you want," she added as she saw Mulder was about to argue, "but let me watch. That's what a movie's for."

"Fine," Mulder sulked and went back to watching the movie, but also stroking Scully's hair. They stayed that way for the rest of the movie, managing to get enough involved that there were no longer any interruptions.

Once the movie was over and the TV was turned off, Mulder turned to Scully. There was a glint in his eyes that she had never seen before and made her spine tingle.

"Can I use my rain check?" he asked, his voice coming out low and hoarse.

Scully nodded, smiling tentatively, and kissed him. Mulder kissed her back, eagerly pushing his tongue past her lips and massaging her own. She couldn't help but moan at the combination of Mulder's tongue on her own and thoughts of where else it might end up.

"Dana?" he asked, pulling away slightly.

"Yes?" she replied, trying to control her breathing.

"I love you," he whispered, leaning close again and kissing her lightly.

"I love you, too," she smiled and kissed him back, pushing her tongue past his lips and into his mouth again.

Scully woke up wrapped in Mulder's warm embrace. They were still on the couch and still naked. Mulder was already up and he smiled softly at her, kissing her forehead.

"Sleep well?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," Scully replied, also quietly. It seemed as if there was something fragile in the air that could easily be broken, even by something as mundane as talking too loudly. "You?"

"Never actually fell asleep," Mulder replied. "I was . . . distracted by a certain somebody lying naked on top of me."

Scully blushed and snuggled further down into his arms. "Perhaps it's something you could see more often?" she asked tentatively.

"Counting on it," Mulder smiled back at her.

Scully smiled back and snuggled down further into him before saying, "We really ought to get dressed."

"Mmm," Mulder replied, stroking her hair.

"Really, Mulder," Scully added, attempting to sit up only to have Mulder pull her back down against him.

"Mmm," he repeated.

Scully sighed, "Somebody could walk in on us, you know."

"Who?" Mulder challenged. "We're the only ones here. Everybody else is at the hospital with Elaine."

"And I'm cold," Scully added.

Mulder looked at Scully, slightly hurt. "Do you want to be together or not?"

Scully smiled warmly at him. "Of course I do. However, that doesn't change the fact that it's the middle of October and we're in northern Maine."

"In that case," Mulder said as he pulled a blanket off the top of the couch and wrapped it around himself and Scully.

Scully continued to smile as she said, "And it doesn't change the fact that we're babysitting."

"And that doesn't change the fact that we're home alone," Mulder whispered in her ear and kissed Scully.

Scully smiled kissed him back before pulling away. "Mulder . . ."

He sighed. "Fine, but this means you owe me another rain check."

"You have infinite rain checks," she whispered, "You never have to ask." She then got up, holding out a hand to Mulder. He took it and they went upstairs carrying their discarded clothes with them.

After Scully changed, she took out her laptop, sat down on her bed and started writing a field journal based on what little information they had. She was about halfway done when she head Mulder knocking on her door.

"Come in!" she called, not stopping typing.

Mulder opened the door and sat down next to Scully on her bed, placing a light trail of kisses along her neck before asking, "What're you doing?"

"Field report," Scully replied.

Mulder looked at her oddly. "This isn't an official case."

Scully stopped typing and stared at the screen, almost as if daring it to ask her why it hadn't told her that. "Regardless," she replied, recovering from her bout of autopilot, "it's still useful."

Mulder shrugged, "If you want to do extra work and waste the little vacation time we have, that's your problem, not mine."

"I can almost guarantee you that as soon as Skinner calls back, we're going to be on an official case and no longer baby sitters or anything of the sort," Scully replied, resuming her field report. She stopped for a moment and turned to Mulder. "Why is it, do you suppose, that every time we're on vacation something comes up?"

Mulder grinned at her. "Because we're one-of-a-kind, Scully. Nobody else in the bureau like us."

"Dana," Scully corrected and went back to typing the report.

Mulder blinked. "What?"

Scully turned around to face him yet again, smiling widely. "Don't you think that if we're sleeping together, you can call me by my first name?"

"Oh! Uhh, yeah, ok," Mulder replied, more surprised than he should've been.

"Unless, of course, you don't want to," Scully added, suddenly nervous.

Mulder smiled back at her, "Of course I do, Dana." He then leaned down and kissed her lightly on the mouth before Scully turned around and proceeded to work on the field report.

After a couple of minutes of Scully typing and Mulder not saying anything, she turned around yet again and asked, "Can I call you Fox?" After another couple more minutes of silence, Scully sighed and turned back to her computer. "Nevermind." She quickly finished up the report, saved it once again, and turned to Mulder. "So what do you want to do?"

"I dunno," Mulder replied. "We could go swimming."

"Sure," Scully replied and began to root around for her bathing suit. She eventually found it in a pile of dirty clothes and mentally cursed herself for not washing it. "You going to stay there while I change?" she asked, turning to face Mulder.

"Do you mind?" Mulder asked. "Because I know I don't."

Scully smiled slightly. "No, I guess not," she replied and quickly changed into her bathing suit. They walked out of her room together and she said, "I'll meet you down at the pool, ok?"

"Sure," Mulder replied and went to change while Scully quickly walked down to the pool and slid in. She completely submerged herself in water. When she came up, she felt far calmer and less angry than she had before. Of course Mulder wouldn't want her to call him Fox; he hated his first name. Yet he let the kids call him by it . . .

"Forget about it," Scully thought to herself. "It's not important. What's important is that he said he loves me."

"Does he, though?" part of her mind asked. "Wouldn't you think that if he truly loved you, he wouldn't care about his first name?"

"No. Mulder's too stubborn for that," Scully answered herself.

"Doesn't everyone else call him by his first name?" her brain responded. "Even Lisa."

"Stop," Scully instantly replied, horrified at her own thought. "That's just ridiculous. Completely implausible."

"Is it?" the voice asked and then disappeared, leaving Scully to her less than pleasant thoughts.

A couple of minutes later, Mulder walked in to see Scully sitting on the edge of the pool, kicking the water as if she had a personal grudge against it. "Dana? Are you ok?" he asked, coming down to sit beside her.

Scully jumped slightly, having just noticed his presence. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied angrily.

"Dana, look at me," Mulder replied. When she didn't, he reached out and gently turned her head towards him with his hand gently cupping on her chin. "You can tell me what's wrong."

Scully sighed slightly. "Even though I know it's stupid, it hurts when I'm the only one who can't call you Fox. Everyone else here can, yet I, who you've known for seven years, who you're sleeping with, have to call you Mulder."

"That's precisely the point," Mulder replied. "I most likely won't see them after this week, or whenever we end up leaving, so it doesn't really matter if they call me Fox."

Scully took a deep breath. "I know. I said it was stupid, didn't I?"

Mulder wrapped an arm around her. "I suppose if it means that much to you, you can call me Fox."

Scully looked at him sceptically. "Are you sure?"

Mulder laughed. "After all of that, yes, I am positive."

Scully grinned at him. "Good," she replied and slipped into the water, using the edge of the pool to kick off. Mulder slipped in as well and pushed off, following Scully. He soon caught up to her and wrapped her in his arms from behind. "Y'know what would be perfect?" he asked in her ear.

"What?" Scully asked softly.

"If we move into a big house like this together, have a truck load of kids and live happily ever after," Mulder whispered back. "You like?"

"Hmmm . . ." Scully pondered, considering his fantasy as if it was actually going to happen. "As far as what is going to happen, there's only one thing that I think will come true."

"Oh?" Mulder asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

Scully smiled and moved closer, if possible, to him. "We're going to live happily ever after," she said quietly, turned around and kissed him lightly.

"God, I hope so," Mulder said softly. "I really hope so."

"Why wouldn't we?" Scully asked, surprised and a little hurt.

Mulder smiled softly at Scully, his eyes full of love, assuring her that he wanted to stay with her as well. "Dana, if it's at all possible, there's no way to separate me from your side. I'm just saying it might not be as easy as 'living happily ever after' together," he pointed out.

"I never said it would be easy," Scully replied. "But I know that whatever happens, I'll always love you and I'll know, I hope, that you always love me. That's close enough to living happily ever after for me."

"Of course I'll always love you," Mulder whispered and was about to kiss Scully when she pulled back slightly and asked,

"Even if Fowley were to come back from the dead?"

Mulder laughed. "You honestly think that I loved her more than you?"

Scully squirmed slightly and explained, "I don't know. You were dating her for a year and you probably still would be if she hadn't died. We've been together since last night, which isn't nearly as long."

"Dana, we've been partners for even longer, almost eight years now, and I could never, ever leave you," Mulder replied. "In the incredibly corny words of Neo, 'I love you too damn much'."

Scully smiled and ducked her head in a futile attempt to hide her blush. "I love you, too," she replied and moved further into his arms, burying herself in Mulder. They stayed like that for a while, happy just to be in each other's presence, until Mulder started kissing the part of Scully that was nearest to him, which happened to be her neck. Laughing slightly, she pulled away and said, "My, my. We are impatient, aren't we? We just can't wait until tonight, hmm?"

"No we can't," replied Mulder, moving closer to Scully again and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into a searing kiss. When it finally ended, they were both out of breath.

"We have decided that we can't wait either," Scully whispered and resumed kissing Mulder, pushing her tongue into his mouth and relishing the fact that she could do this whenever she wanted.

Mulder smiled down at Scully lying asleep in his arms. He still hadn't slept, preferring to watch her sleep. In all honesty, he couldn't figure out how she had fallen asleep again.

"Oh no?" part of his brain asked. "You certainly seemed to tire her out."

Mulder smiled at that thought; he had tired her out . . . as she had him. He just hadn't fallen asleep, maybe because he was so used to a small amount of sleep and he had been getting an abnormally large amount here in the country.

"Or maybe you like staring at her," his mind suggested.

"Or that," Mulder readily agreed, once again trailing his eyes over Scully's beautiful body, still amazed at the fact that she was asleep naked in his arms . . . for the second time that day. It just didn't seem possible, but the evidence was right in front of him, the blinding truth was staring him in the face. Not, of course, that he minded. In fact, he quite enjoyed having this particular truth staring him in the face. Who could not like lying with the woman they loved, naked, legs still intertwined? Of course, it would be more comfortable if he was on something aside from a two-person float on the floor of the pool room, but such is life. He wouldn't change what had happened today for anything.

Scully stirred slightly, cracking an eye open and smiling. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," Mulder replied, starting to stroke her hair.

Scully's smile grew and she snuggled further into him, thinking the same thoughts Mulder had been just a few moments ago: I can't believe this is actually happening. Finally deciding that she had to ask even though it sounded really stupid, she quietly inquired, "Is this actually happening?"

Mulder laughed softly. "Yes it most certainly is. Well, technically I suppose there's no real way to know, but if this is a dream, then when you wake up, you can go over to Mulder and proclaim your love because believe me, he loves you."

Scully's smile faltered since she wasn't at all reassured. "But what if he doesn't? What if he loves someone else? What if we can't be friends because he doesn't love me and I told him that I love him?"

"Dana, love, you already told me that you love me and I've told you over and over again that I love you."

Scully sighed.

"Dana Katherine Scully I'm in love with you," Mulder whispered softly in her ear, pulling her closer.

That finally hit home. "I love you, too, Fox William Mulder," she whispered and kissed him softly.

They stayed there for a couple of minutes until Mulder said, "Dana, as much as I'd love to stay with you on this pool mat forever, it's getting uncomfortable, so . . ."

Scully laughed slightly. "Alright," she said and stood up, untangling herself from Mulder. They walked upstairs together never leaving each other's side. When they got to their rooms, they parted. As Scully looked around for the outfit she wanted to wear, she noticed something odd in the corner of her room next to the ventilation grate. She walked over to it and carefully picked it up. She examined it curiously, knowing it looked familiar but not quite recognizing it.

"Mulder?" she called out, walking into his room. "What is this?"

Mulder finished zipping his pants before he took the object from her hands. "I'd say it's a snake skin, but I have no idea how it got into your room."

"Neither do I," Scully replied and took the skin back with her as she walked into her room. She set it on the bed and quickly got changed, trying to figure out why there was a snake skin in her room. The snake itself had obviously come in through the grate since some of the slats were broken off and probably had a nest in the walls, which meant it could get anywhere . . . including inside locked rooms. Scully's eyes widened as she yelled, "Mulder, get away from the walls!" She grabbed her gun from her bedside table and ran into Mulder's room just as she heard the front door unlock.

"Scully?" Mulder asked, confused.

"It's a snake! That's what killed Libby and bit Elaine! It's been using the vents to get around!" Scully said. "Get out and take Lisa and her family out."

"Don't you need some help?" Mulder asked, quickly grabbing his gun and leaving the room.

"The most important thing is to make sure there aren't any casualties," Scully insisted.

"But-"

"Fox, get out!" Scully yelled, hoping the use of his first name would make him pay attention.

"I'm coming back as soon as they're safe," Mulder insisted and ran down the stairs. Scully tried to block out the sound of Mulder's loud warnings and put her ear to the wall, listening for any slithering or snake-like sounds. After she had finished Mulder's bedroom, she went into her own and began listening to the walls. She was so intent in her work that she didn't hear the soft hissing until it was directly behind her and far too late for her to do anything about.

"Scully?" Mulder called as he re-entered the house after making sure that Lisa and her family weren't coming back in until either he or Scully said they could. When she didn't answer, he yelled, "Scully, where are you?" There still wasn't a reply. Starting to get nervous, Mulder took the stairs two at a time and almost ran into Scully's room. The sight he saw made him stop in his tracks.

Scully was sprawled on the ground obviously unconscious with an enormous snake on top of her, fangs sunk deep into her leg. The snake was about five, five and a half, feet long and at its widest point was about as wide as a tennis ball. It was a dark green with almost fluorescent green diamonds running along its back. As soon as it saw Mulder, it lifted its head and fangs out of Scully, raised its head and made direct eye contact with Mulder.

"It's too late," a slithery voice inside Mulder's head said. "The woman is dead and the girl is dying."

"No it's not!" Mulder yelled at the snake, not stopping to think about the fact that he was having a telepathic conversation with a snake.

The snake seemed to grin at him. "You're not a doctor. How would you know?"

Mulder opened his mouth but nothing came out. He took a deep breath and snapped, "Shut up."

"But I've never said anything," the snake taunted. "At any rate, you can put the gun away because I'm bullet-proof."

"Bullshit," Mulder said angrily and fired directly at the snake's head. Its head shot back, blood flying everywhere. "I knew you were bluffing," Mulder said to the carcass in a very relieved tone of voice since he hadn't been sure at all. He stared at the corpse for a couple of seconds before he muttered, "Shit," and ran over to Scully where he threw off the remains of the snake and felt for a pulse. It was still there and strong. He sighed in relief and dialled 911.

Mulder shifted his position in the uncomfortable plastic chair next to Scully's hospital bed. He had been there for almost twenty-four hours now and hadn't slept at all. Scully had been unconscious the entire time. Her vitals had remained steady, but that was just about the only good thing that had happened. They had her on a ridiculously high amount of antidote for normal snake bites and while it hadn't seemed to be helping Scully, Elaine had woken up only about a half hour after the doctors had administered it. The part of the snake that had survived Mulder's shot was in the Boston field office being analyzed and Mulder had a strong suspicion that a government cover-up was in the process of being formulated.

Mulder sighed and fidgeted yet again. He reached out and brushed away a lock of hair that had been lying in Scully's face since she had been brought to the hospital. He trailed his hand down her ashen face before putting it back into his lap. Deciding that he could no longer put off getting something to eat, Mulder reluctantly left Scully's bedside and walked down to the cafeteria where he ate a quick lunch before returning to Scully.

When Mulder walked into the room, he saw Scully weakly propped up on the bed with a nurse feeding her some warm soup. "Scully!" Mulder cried out in relief and rushed over to her bed, pulling her into his arms and splashing soup everywhere.

"Mulder!" Scully protested, pulling away from him and attempting to clean up as much soup as she could with the tissues that were next on the table next to her bed.

"How're you feeling?" Mulder asked, not bothering to apologize about the spilt soup.

"Weak," Scully replied. "And stupid for not have noticed a five foot snake behind me."

"Did it talk to you?" Mulder asked.

Scully laughed slightly. "Mulder, snakes don't talk."

"This one did," Mulder replied and told Scully what had happened.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Are you sure you weren't just imagining it? Because large amounts of stress can-"

"Scully, I know what stress can do to you and I know the difference between imagining something and actually hearing it. I heard this snake talking to me," Mulder insisted.

Scully sighed and shook her head. "How is Elaine?"

"She's fine and so is the rest of the family," Mulder replied.

"Good," Scully responded. "What type of snake was that?"

"Unknown," Mulder said with a glint in his eye. "The carcass is down at the Boston field office but considering that it's been down there for the past day or so and they still haven't told me anything, I'll bet you that there's going to be a cover-up."

Scully rolled her eyes. "You think that everything is a cover-up."

"I'm not as bad as The Lone Gunman," Mulder pointed out.

"Whatever," Scully replied, smiling slightly.

There were a few minutes of silence before Mulder asked, "Scully?"

"Hmm?" she replied.

"How much do you remember about staying in Maine? Because Elaine doesn't remember the day she was bitten except right as she was being bitten, so . . ." Mulder trailed off.

"I remember coming here and I remember the night in the canoe and I remember Elaine being bitten and you calling 911 but after that nothing," Scully said, her forehead screwed up in concentration. "What happened that day?"

Mulder could feel his face his face heating up as he said all in one breath, "WellwekindahadsexacoupleoftimesandwatchedRockyHorrortogetherand . . . yeah that's about it."

"What?" Scully asked. "Please repeat that in an understandable way."

Mulder took a deep breath and said more calmly, "We watched the Rocky Horror Picture show together and we . . . umm . . ."

Scully pursed her lips, starting to get annoyed. "Mulder, just tell me. This is getting extremely frustrating."

"We had sex," Mulder mumbled, looking down at his feet. "Twice."

Scully's expression brightened. "Is that all?"

Mulder pretended to glare at her. "I tell you we had sex twice and you say 'is that all'!"

Scully laughed slightly. "Well I had expected that."

Mulder continued to pretend to pout as the nurse came back in and cleaned up the rest of the spilled soup. After she left, Scully asked, "Did you tell me I could call you Fox?"

"Yeah and I had started calling you Dana," Mulder replied. "And we said that we love each other about ten billion times."

"Oh," Scully replied, blushing slightly. "When will I get released from here?"

"Don't know," Mulder answered. "Since the type of snake has never been seen before, they're probably going to want to keep you here for observation at least overnight, probably longer."

Scully groaned. "Great. I'm going to be stuck in a hospital forever."

"Not forever," Mulder replied. "Besides, I'll be here to entertain you."

"You better," Scully pretended to threaten.

"Of course," Mulder joked, "this whole thing is really your fault for bringing us to the country."

"Shut up Mulder and start entertaining me," Scully smirked.

"Oh?" Mulder asked, pretending to be indignant at being bossed around by Scully. "And how would you like me to entertain you?"

"What do you think, Mulder?" Scully asked and leaned over to kiss him.

THE END

43