A/N:

Title: Worth It
Summary: After a particularly tough case, two agents wonder if it's really worth it.
Rating: Good for all ages.
Spoilers: No spoilers.
Disclaimer: If I did own these two, this would have happened. But I don't. So it didn't.

I wrote this a very long time ago and found it in my emails with a whole bunch of other old stories I'd written and saved. It can fall in the series anywhere you like.

Feedback always welcome, and in fact, encouraged. Thank you all who take time out to share your thoughts. It really does mean a lot, any writer can tell you that.

It had been coming for weeks now, months – perhaps years. She came down to the basement office late in the evening. They'd just returned from a disturbing case and she wasn't feeling herself. In fact, she was avoiding going home. She didn't want to be alone.

Of course, the light was on in the basement, a dim glow in the windowless gloom. She didn't knock, she just slipped in quietly. Mulder was there, of course, sitting in his chair at his desk, facing his "I Want to Believe" poster. She was sure he was feeling the effects too.

"It was too close," he said quietly. She looked to the floor, using her fingers to lean on his desk as she stood next to him. She didn't answer. She wasn't sure what to say. It was too close.

"I can't do that again," he said.

"It's our job, Mulder," she said, rising to her full height. He turned in his chair, watching her, staring at her. She thought he was looking right into her. She was used to his intensity, but tonight, she wasn't sure she could bear it. The urge to touch him, to make sure he was safe and real was so strong it took all her might not to act on it. She wasn't sure she would stop if she started.

"Is it worth it? All these stupid cases, this entire file cabinet of files no one cares about, but that could cost the world everything. Why should we care? Why don't we just leave, Scully? Why don't we give up?"

"Because we can't. Because even if they don't know, we do."

The looked at each other. She couldn't take her eyes off of his, his every emotion and thought bare for her to see.

"Only one thing makes it worth it, Scully," he said softly, standing and moving towards her. She looked to him, confusion, apprehension, and a little fear in her expression. She backed up a little, bumping into the file cabinet. He stood close to her and touched her face softly, and she looked away.

"Scully…."

"Mulder… I…. Please, Mulder."

"Please what, Scully? Please kiss me, or please don't?"

"I don't know," she finally said.

"You make it worth it," he told her, and he brought her face up so he could nuzzle against her cheek. Her breath caught and held. "To me, you're the only one worth saving," he whispered in her ear.

"I'm not…." She let out a breath. "I don't know if I can do this."

"It's not your first kiss, Scully. You know how to do this."

"I don't know if I can do this with you. I don't know that I can kiss you and let go."

"Why do you have to let go?"

"This means too much to me, Mulder."

"You have to believe me when I say this means everything to me, Scully."

"I can't lose you," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"You won't ever lose me. I'll always be with you. I won't let you go."

"And if I lose myself?"

"I'll find you and bring you back, just like you always find me and bring me back."

He bent his head and her eyes shut and her lips parted and they kissed, gently and softly, almost tentatively. She put her arms around his waist while he held her face. It was beautiful.

When they pulled back, they rested their foreheads against one another, their breath mingling, their hearts racing. Tears stung her eyes and she sniffed quietly. She'd never felt that way during a kiss before. So emotional, so whole.

"If a simple kiss was that amazing, think what the rest will be like," he said softly. She let out a watery chuckle.

"Will there be more?" she asked.

"If you want. It's all up to you, Scully. I'll do anything you say."

She nodded. "Not here."

"Worried about bugs and hidden cameras?"

"Worried about Skinner walking in without knocking."

He put his arms around her suddenly, and squeezed her close to him.

"I won't let go," she promised. "You're worth it."