Disclaimer: I don't claim rights to any of the characters, storylines, etc. Just for fun. Don't sue.

This is kind of an alternate ending to "The Beginning" and picks up in the FBI office right after Scully tells Mulder of her suspicions about Agent Diana Fowley.

CHAPTER 1

"You're asking me to make a choice?"

His words stung her to the core, taking her aback not only in their meaning, but also in their presentation. The last time he looked at her that way was when they first met in his office, so many years ago. When he assumed she had been sent to spy on him. When he was suspicious of her motives.

It was a look that she had never in her life expected to see again: It was a look of distrust.

And for once, she could not bring herself to respond to him. Her mouth slightly agape, she handed him the file in her hands. A file containing the work she put so many hours into. A facet of her life she had long ago grown used to – hours, days, weeks, time was something she never considered because she knew their work was important. And for its importance she had sacrificed – greatly. Losing her beloved sister, her daughter and her ability to carry children, giving up any chance she had at a life outside of her work and almost dying for it many times. Not to mention how many times she had agonized over him as he had also lain at death's door.

It was part of her life. The work she had invested her mind, heart and soul into. Until now she had never doubted her role in the vast scheme of it all. She believed in it, believed in him. Not so long ago he stood in his hallway telling her how he needed her, how he didn't want to do this without her, how she completed him. And circumstance had prevented her from telling him she felt the same.

In the long run, she thought maybe he knew. That their bond, albeit unspoken, was as strong to him as it was to her. She wanted to believe…..

And now it seemed that the feeling was not as mutual as she had presumed. His look of disgust at the file she held in her hand spoke volumes to just how mistaken she had been.

"I can't take that. Not if it….."

She couldn't bear to hear anymore. She dropped the file on his lap and turned toward the door. He stood and in doing so, knocked the evidence she had so carefully gathered to the floor.

"Scully…"

She felt angry, hurt and worst of all, betrayed. But she would be damned if she was going to let him see it. She had given him the evidence and if he refused to see it out of some misguided devotion to a woman who was refusing to show him the same, she was not going to waste anymore time with it today.

"I never once considered asking you to make a choice, Mulder," she said flatly. "Because I never thought there was a choice to be made."

Then, against her better judgment, she turned to meet his bewildered stare.

"Apparently, you do."

With that, she turned and exited the office.

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Later that afternoon

Mulder sat at his desk looking at the stack of "garbage detail" A.D. Kersh had assigned to him. He had absolutely no desire to go through the "whipping boy" motions. All he really wanted to do was get back to work – his real work – the X-files.

But there was something more that was bothering him. Scully's words repeated over and over in his head and it frustrated him. He pondered how he could make her see that he knew what he was doing. That for all of her skeptism and obstinance, he was in the right.

Their careers together hadn't been so unlike this situation. But for all their previous disagreements, they had always been able to come to some kind of agreeable resolve. Something told him that would not be the case this time.

He sighed and started flipping through the Kersh's assignments, and in doing so, his hand grazed the file Scully had handed him.

He thought for a second to throw it away. If it was nothing more than some far-reaching "proof" of Diana's alleged duplicity, he didn't want to see it. He knew Diana. He loved Diana….or had loved her. He believed she would never betray him.

But Diana had left him before, his memory reminded him. She had asked him to make a choice: Her or the work. As a result of his decision, she asked for reassignment – to Europe. She had said she needed to put as much space between her and him as possible. And that had hurt him deeply. Even though she was back now, begging for forgiveness and helping him at the risk of her own career, he couldn't forget the pain she had once caused him.

Pain had become a relative thing to him. He had lived with it for so long, since the abduction of his sister, the murder of his father, Scully's abduction…… He squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to think about that time. Those months of unanswered questions and the despair he had felt and being utterly powerless to help his partner. Only to have her returned to him to watch her almost die from cancer.

Looking back, she had almost died countless times. Almost died for his quest, his cause. And still she remained diligently at his side at the risk of her own reputation and health. For that, how had he repaid her?

Still, she was wrong. But even as he grabbed his jacket and the file and headed for the parking garage, he knew he owed her concerns more than a blatant dismissal.

Taking out his cell phone, he dialed her number. After several unanswered rings, her voicemail kicked in.

"Scully, it's me," he said as he reached his car. "We've got to talk. I'm on my way to your place now. I'll try your home number and see if you're there."

And he did just that, but again, the phone went unanswered until finally, her answering machine picked up.

"Hi Scully, it's me," he repeated with some exasperation. "Look, I've got to talk to you. I just left a message on your cell. If you're home, pick up."

He waited a few seconds but when there was no response, he gave up.

"I'm coming to see you."

He pressed the end button and tossed the phone on the passenger seat of his car as he drove away. He was so lost in his frustration that he didn't notice the black Cadillac pull out after him.

-----------------------------

His car pulled in front of Scully's apartment building and he looked up at her window. The lights were on and he could see movement within.

"Good, she's home," he thought to himself as he walked up the stairs and entered her building.

When he finally reached her apartment, he hesitated a minute before knocking.

"If she's home, why didn't she call me back?" he wondered. His answer came to him in the memory of the way Scully had looked at him before she had left earlier that day. Despite this, he rapped on the door.

The door opened slowly but the person on the other was not who Mulder had expected to see.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in confusion.