Chapter One

Scully

As Dana Scully slammed on breaks, she was ashamed to admit that the string of profanity she was currently shouting was nowhere near the most vile grouping of expletives she had exclaimed thus far today. It had already been a hellish day, and she hadn't even made it to noon yet. If you would have asked her ten years ago what she thought her future would hold, not a single part of her current life would have been on the list. She would have predicted that her and Mulder would be dating, maybe even married, still fighting over X files in their basement office. Or maybe that was just what she wanted the future to look like, but a tiny part of her knew it would never be that simple. She never would have guessed that her and Mulder would be practically nothing more than housemates and their careers would be completely separate. In fact, Mulder's current occupation did not really even count as a career. And, that reminded her of their fight from this morning.

She awoke ten minutes before her alarm, which was one of her least favorite occurrences during the work week, to hear Mulder shuffling around the kitchen downstairs. Groggily, she took her shower and began to get ready, but as she progressed through her morning routine, the noises from below annoyed her more and more. By the time she was ready to go downstairs for her coffee and breakfast, she was in a full blown rage without even really knowing why. After hurriedly thrusting two pieces of toast into the toaster, she grunted a quick hello to Mulder before scanning the cabinet for a K-Cup for the coffee maker. The trouble was that the box had been placed back in the cabinet, but inside it there was only stale cabinet air. No K-Cups were in the box at all, and the empty cardboard seemed to be laughing at her as she threw the box into the trashcan angrily.

"Did you use the last K-Cup this morning Mulder?" she asked in an icy tone. His noncommittal shrug was enough to send her over the edge of sanity. She hated when empty boxes were left in the cabinet, to lure the next unsuspecting victim into the false hope of food. Even more, she hated going into a work day without coffee. Her job was hard enough when she was caffeinated, and most days it became impossible without the aid of coffee several times throughout the day. What was even more frustrating was the fact that Mulder worked from home? Most of his time was spent writing journal articles for science and psychology. While their was nothing wrong with that, Scully could definitely argue that her need for the last cup of coffee was far greater than his. Furthermore, he had time to go out to a restaurant and get coffee, or even run to the grocery store around the corner to get another box of K-Cups. However, he did none of these things. He sipped the last cup of coffee lazily, his feet propped on the Table in complete obliviousness as he watched her move around the kitchen. She slammed cabinet doors as she finished making her breakfast, and then sat across the room from him, struggling not to make eye contact. The awkward silence pulled at her already damaged heart, as she tried to make toast as dry as cardboard go down her throat. Her anger had almost been replaced by sadness completely when Mulder took a long drag of coffee before speaking to her. "It's just coffee you know, really not that big of a deal" he said, a lazy grin spreading across his face. But it was a big deal to her, and he of all people should understand that. "I have to save lives today Mulder. While you sit here propping your feet up on the table, I have to focus through surgeries and appointments." To that he just shrugged, and her rage boiled to the surface.

"It was really inconsiderate of you to not even think about how this would effect me. My job is stressful, and you know the kind of week I've had. While you sit here writing, or whatever you do all day, I have to be the one to bring home money to keep us surviving. We all know the FBI money is long gone, and if it weren't for me, we'd be completely screwed. At least respect me enough to throw the damn boxes away when you use the last of something."

Mulder barely glanced in her direction before getting up, hurriedly walking up the stairs and leaving the room. Before she had even taken a breath she heard the door to his office upstairs slam shut. She didn't even start to regret the incident until she began the forty-five minute commute to work, and then it was honestly too late to fix anything.

She knew Mulder was overly sensitive about the fact that she went to work every day and he did not. She knew throwing that into a fight would hurt him more than anything else she could do, which was probably why she did it. Two people who had been together as long as they had knew exactly how to hurt each other in the worst way. If you could even say they were together any more. Mulder typically slept on the futon in his office, leaving their big king sized bed for Scully. They usually just grunted at each other a few times a day, and avoided each other whenever possible. If Scully thought too long about it, it made her more sad than anything else in the world, so she clouded the painful thought with work and anger. It was a pretty successful technique, but sometimes even her hectic life couldn't cloud her sadness. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone else, but she missed Mulder more than anything. She missed the X files and the joining of their brains to solve a difficult case. She yearned for the similar joining of their bodies in hotels across the country, giving each other the hope to keep going even when the work seemed impossible. The joining of their lips after a long day apart used to be her favorite thing in the world, and sometimes she wondered if they could ever get back that unity. Mulder used to be her bEst friend in the world. He was her rival, but in a way that made her mind more productive. She wanted to close the gap between them, but honestly wasn't sure if that could even be done now.

Mulder

The moment he saw Scully open the cabinet he knew he was going to be in trouble. He sipped his coffee guiltily, but was honestly too scared to say anything. He had watched Scully as she came down the stairs, and could already see her mood was sour before she even began the coffee tirade of 2015. He wished he could turn the clock back five minutes. He would have made the last cup for her, and passed it to her when she came down, smiling while he watched her enjoy. Most aspects of Mulder's life were pointless, but Scully was always the one thing that kept him going. When she became his partner years ago, he gained a focus that he had never had before. Even now when she barely talked to him, he felt better just having her near. He appreciated her more than he could explain, but the problem was he didn't think about how to show it until it was far too late. It's not like he drank that last cup of coffee just to spite her, or left the empty box in the cabinet just to start a fight. Everything about their relationship had gone downhill after the X files were closed. For a while, he thought they were going to make it through. Scully got a job at a hospital that she loved, and he enjoyed writing articles as a start. His original plan though was to switch to more challenging work as time passed. He wanted to be in the field moving and running every day. However, he had a reputation and it wasn't always a good one. Finding work turned out to be impossible, and writing scholarly articles under a pen name was the only thing he could do to contribute at all. At first, Scully was satisfied with her career and their relationship, and being their primary breadwinner didn't bother her. It bothered him, every second of every day, but as long as she was happy he tried to let it go. Over time though,the boredom began to eat at him more and more, and he could tell she was getting dissatisfied as well. Even though Scully wasn't the type of woman to need romantic dinners and candlelight, it made him feel like a jerk that he couldn't take her out every once in a while. He couldn't even buy her a christmas present last year without either not pang his cell phone bill, or not paying the utilities. He paid the utility and internet every month with his meager magazine earnings while she did everything else. He honestly didn't know what he would do without her, and sometimes he wished he could choke down his pride enough to tell her that. Mulder wasn't used to relying on anyone though. It was hard for him to say "sorry" and even harder to admit that he was at the mercy of Scully. Now that she had turned bitter it made things even harder. Qualities about him she used to find charming now annoyed her to no end. He almost felt like he couldn't even talk to her any more without her getting angry. A few weeks ago he had decided it would be easier to sleep in the office, because he really was not even sure if she wanted him next to her any more. She clung so close to the opposite side of the bed every night that Mulder could not bare to see her avoid him another night.

He originally planned to search for more journal's seeking scientific articles, but his mind was completely distracted by thoughts of Scully. He remembered chasing supposed monsters across towns with her, and the times she actually believed him about a case. At first her skepticism drove him insane, but over time it became more amusing than anything else. Proving himself to her became more important than the case itself, and when he realized that he knew he had fallen in love. Their relationship had never been an easy one, but it was always unique and fulfilling. They had sex before they even admitted their attraction, and did everything the exact opposite as the rest of the country. That was them though. It made him happy to know that no matter what, they were on the same wavelength. That is why they were so successful with the X files. As Mulder wiped the tears away that had collected at the corner of his eyes he knew he had to do something. The last time he had cried was on the death of theiR baby. If his emotions were this unsettled, Mulder knew it was time to act. He knew of only two things that would bring the light back into his long time FBI partner. The first was getting the child she had always dreamed of. Even though Mulder was desperate to help her, he knew switching out his male reproductive system for a female one was never going to happen, nor would he want it to for that matter. The only other thing he could think of was an X file. Of course she would argue, saying she had to work, and they were done for good. She would say the FBI closed their division for a reason, and they could get into trouble. It would go on and on. It might even cause the fighting to escalate. But all of that would be pushed aside once their brains began to delve into a case once more. Once he persuaded Scully to come with him on this adventure, he knew he could win back the dynamic and happiness they once had. All that was left to do now, was to find the perfect X file.