He parked the car and they sat in silence for a minute.

"Are you sure you still want to go through with this, Dana?" Mulder asked gently.

She nodded. "I think you would've liked him, Mulder."

"I know I would have," he reassured her.

"And he would have loved you for the way you've treated me." She smiled at him weakly as he took her hand across the center console.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah." She ran her thumb over his knuckles.

Mulder opened his car door and came around to open hers. Once she got out, he lightly rested his hand on the small of her back as they walked past rows of graves. Soon enough, she turned and walked along until they reached a certain headstone. "Well, this is him."

He stood beside her as she stared at the grave, numb.

"Dad, this is Mulder. You never got to meet him, we'd just started working together when you died. But you would have loved him. He's the best person I've ever known, and he's been with me through everything. I trust him with my life. We're together now, we finally got our act together. And it's been wonderful. I'm really happy now, Daddy. Really, truly happy." She wiped away a stray tear from beneath her eye, sniffling. Mulder squeezed her shoulder and hugged her to himself, gently kissing the top of her hair.

"Thanks for that introduction, Dana," he held her at a shoulder's length away from him and looked her in the eyes. "Can I have a minute? I want to talk to your dad for a little bit, it that's okay."

She looked surprised, but nodded. "I'll be in the car. Can I have the keys?"

He passed her the keys and pressed them into her hand with a gentle squeeze. "I'll just be a minute."

She walked away, her shoulders hunched a little. She was crying quietly. It had been years, but her father's death still stung like a wound that had never fully healed.

Mulder watched her go, then turned back to her father's headstone.

"Hey, Mr. Scully. I'm Fox Mulder, Dana's work partner. Like she said, we're together now. And, since she wanted me to come out here to meet you, I figured now would be a good time to talk to you about something. I know you're supposed to ask the father for the daughter's hand, and I want to do this right, so here I am. I know you can't exactly grant me permission, but I wanted you to be the first one I told. I think that would mean a lot to Dana. Your daughter is the best thing to ever happen to me, sir. Nine years ago, I was in a really dark place. I hadn't had a real reason to live since I was twelve and my sister, Samantha, disappeared. But from the moment your daughter walked into my office, things were okay again. There was light in my life again. And she's helping me fight the darkness. We're fighting it together. I love her with every fiber of my being, and I will never do anything to hurt her. You know, she doesn't see how beautiful she is? I want to change that. I'm going to remind her every day for the rest of our lives how beautiful she is and how much I love her. I promise to take good care of your Starbuck, Ahab." He saluted the headstone and turned toward the car. Mulder felt his eyes mist over with tears. He finally felt peaceful about this decision. He felt right, somehow.

And he was going to ask her tonight.