One Week

by Government Patsy

One morning Mulder wakes up without any recollection of his life past his teen years. What is happening to him and how can Scully make him remember who he is? One-shot.

ONE WEEK

A story by Government Patsy

MONDAY

It's late when the two partners of the FBI finally arrive at the apartment in Georgetown. She unlocks the door and they both walk into the apartment. As she closes it after them and secures the locks he pulls her into his arms.

"It's good to be home," he whispers into her soft hair.

"You didn't enjoy our getaway?" she asks sweetly and he can hear her smile.

"The time we spend in the hotel room was nice," he says, licking his lips, tightening his arms around her middle. "The rest I could have been without."

"Mulder, you should go," she sighs. "We have work in the morning and it's so late already."

"Skinman told me we could take the day off," he tells her, stepping out of their embrace to take her hand and walk her towards her bedroom.

"He really said that?" she can't quite believe the generosity of their superior.

"I think he's still apologizing for that awful movie," he says with disdain in his voice.

"You're not still worried about that movie, are you, Mulder?" she chuckles as they've finally made their way through the dark apartment to the bedroom.

"Not really," he says as he slowly begins to take her clothes off. "But I'm not gonna let Skinner know that, I'll let him sweat it and maybe throw a few favors our way. I think we deserve it."

"Mmh," is all she can say as she's standing in only her black underwear before him.

"Scully?" her name is a question on his trembling lips.

His hands are caressing her hips, holding her close to him. He's still in his jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket.

"Yeah, Mulder?" she whispers back at him in the dark.

He's only told her once that he loves her. He wants to tell her again but something stops him. Instead he leans down and caresses her lips with his. She sneaks her arms around his neck and leans into him.

Something about being nearly undressed while Mulder is still in his jacket turns her on. Although, as she remembers how amazing he looks without any clothes on, she quickly decides she needs to get him out of his garments.

While they still kiss, knowing each other's mouths so well now, she pushes his jacket off his shoulders until it falls to the floor behind him.

Pulling out of the kiss for just a little while, he removes his t-shirt as well, before he reclaims her lips.

Her small hands sneak up to touch his now bare chest while he makes love to her mouth ever so gently and lovingly. She loves it when he conveys all his love into being with her like he does right now. He's only said the words to her once and even though she'd like to hear them again, she doesn't mind the way he always tries to show her instead of telling her.

He deftly unhooks her bra and pulls the strings off her shoulders to let it fall to the floor between them.

The room is only lit up by the full moon outside the window - but it's enough to let him appreciate the naked woman in front of him. He quickly rids himself of his boxers before sitting himself down on the edge of the bed.

He's just looking her, waiting for her to join him. She smiles and rids herself of her own undergarments before straddling his lap. She sighs at the feeling of his hardness against her sex. His hands are roaming over her body. Up and down her back. Her thighs. Her stomach. And lastly squeezing her breasts. Her own hands are around his neck, tugging at his hair.

It isn't long before they both grow impatient and finally decide it's time to take this to the next level. They sit close together as they start to make love. He's kissing her neck and breasts while she's running her hands from his shoulder and up through his hair.

It isn't the first time they make love. Far from it. But somehow they always manage to make it feel new. Somehow, between them, it always feels like they're former lovers, who know each other so well, but who're together for the first time in years, finally reunited, finally remembering how good they were together. They know just how to please each other.

They make love slowly and gently, groaning and moaning, until finally: they come together. He loves the look on her face as he brings her over the edge. She knows nothing more erotic than the sounds he makes as he ejaculates inside of her.

Spend and sleepy they move under the covers of her warm and soft bed. They find each other's lips once again. And after a few gentle kisses they're both sound asleep.

She wakes up with the smell of Mulder surrounding her. It's the best smell in the world. It's musky and tangy. It smells like sex and man. She loves it. For so many years she'd woken up to the flowery smell of her own sheets and thought it was nice. Now she knows there's nothing better to wake up to than Mulder in her bed after they've made love. It fills her stomach with butterflies. She's pressed up against Mulder's back as he's lying on his stomach in the bed. She wants nothing more than to shower his back and neck with kisses but she needs to get up to relieve herself. She carefully moves away from Mulder, trying to let him sleep as long as he can. She throws on her thin silk robe and tiptoes to the bathroom. Afterwards she moves to the kitchen. She starts up the coffeemaker and throws a few slices of bread in the toaster.

Mulder is disorientated as he wakes up. It's so bright in here, wherever he is. This isn't home, he's sure of that. He opens his eyes slowly, getting use to the light. He's looking out the window and the sky outside is blue. He rolls onto his back and takes a look around the room he's in. He's in a big bed with soft pillows and white sheets. Everything looks very neat in here. Very organized. It definitely isn't his room. He's just realized that he's naked, as a redhead comes in through the open door.

"Oh good, you're up," she smiles at him, as she leans against the doorframe. "I made you some toast and there's freshly brewed coffee as well."

"What?" is all he can say; his heart is beating fast in his chest.

He sits up in the bed, making sure the covers protect his modesty.

"Mulder," she laughs. "You coming?"

"What's going on?" he asks her, sounding and feeling very confused. "Why am I naked?"

"Oh, you want me to remind you?" she rolls her eyes at him but smiles, nonetheless.

"I…" he shakes his head, not knowing what she's talking about.

She takes a few steps into the room, loosening the robe she's wearing.

He can't comprehend what's going on. All he can do is watch the beautiful woman in front of him get naked before his eyes. As the robe drops to the floor, he has to grab a pillow from the bed to place in his lap.

"Who are you?" he whispers, sounding shaky.

"Mulder, quit playing games," she sighs and picks up her robe again.

He's slightly disappointed when she covers herself back up.

"Please," he says. "I don't know what's going on."

He doesn't even know he's crying until he can feel the tears running down his cheeks. He feels embarrassed. He doesn't want to cry in front of this beautiful woman.

"Mulder," she says, sounding very worried, as she moves to sit down on the edge of the bed, taking his hand in hers. "What is it? What's going on?"

"I have no idea," he sobs. "I just woke up here, I don't know who you are or what's going on. How do you know me?"

"Mulder," she furrows her brow. "Are you serious?"

He just nods his head.

"I'm not wearing any clothes…" he whispers. "Did… did we have sex?"

"Mulder," she can't help a small laugh from escaping her. "Are you sure, you're not making fun of me?"

"I'm not!" he says stubbornly.

"Well, what else don't you remember?" she asks him.

"What?" he says, confused. "How am I supposed to know what I can't remember?"

"Right," she shakes her head. "So what do you remember then?"

"Well, I'm Fox Mulder," he says. "My mother is Teena and my dad is Bill. I have a sister named Samantha but she… she's not around anymore. My birthday is October 13. I'm from Chilmark. I go to Martha's Vineyard Regional High School in Oak Bluffs and I play basketball for the Vineyarders."

"High school?" she screeches as she stands up suddenly. "Mulder, how old do you think you are?"

"I'm 15," he says unfazed. "What? What is it?"

"Mulder, you're not 15!" she says shaking her head. "Oh dear, God!"

"What? How much have I forgotten?" he sounds so nervous.

She sits back down on the edge of the bed and takes his hand.

"Mulder, we're in the year 2000."

"What?" he squeals. "Nooo, it can't be, it's… really?"

"Yeah, really."

"So…" he's quiet for a little while, thinking. "I'm like an old man? I'm 39?"

"Mulder, you're not old," she rolls her eyes. "You're 38."

"38," he mumbles. "And how old are you?"

"I'm 36," she tells him.

"And we're married?" he smiles.

"No, Mulder," she laughs - she'd never have thought Mulder would talk about being married. "We're not married. We don't live together either."

"But we're boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"

"I… yeah, I guess you could say that," she blushes slightly.

"And you call me Mulder," he smiles. "I hate it when people call me Fox."

"I know," she chuckles. "You've told me."

"So… we have had sex?"

"Yes, Mulder," she laughs. "We have."

"Awesome!" he smiles and blushes a bit. "I can't believe I've had sex and I don't even remember it."

"Well, you have," she says and sighs. "Mulder, what's going on with you? Have you hit your head or something?"

She starts checking his head for injuries. Running her hands through his hair and checking his forehead and neck for signs of fever. He makes sure the pillow is still in his lap.

"Where do we live? What do I do for a living?" he wants to know.

"I live in Georgetown and you live in Alexandria. We both work for the FBI in Washington DC."

"Wow, really?" he seems amazed. "I become an FBI agent, that's so cool. And I have a gun and badge and everything then?"

"Yeah," she can't help a small smile, even though she's deeply worried about him.

"And I have a girlfriend," he sounds even more amazed. "And you're beautiful."

"Mulder," she blushes and shakes her head.

"What's your name?" he wonders.

"Dana Scully," she sighs.

"Dana," he smiles. "Sweet."

"You always were a charmer, weren't you?" she shakes her head and gets up from the bed.

"I'm a charmer?" he chuckles. "I've never been called that before. I've never even kissed a girl."

"You haven't?" she's surprised. "And you're 15?"

He nods.

"Well, that's good to know," she smiles wickedly. "Alright, we need to figure out what's happened here, Mulder. You should get dressed and I'll take you to see a doctor, okay?"

"Okay," he nods but doesn't move.

She starts to pick out some clothes for her to wear but notices Mulder's inactivity.

"Mulder, get dressed," she says. "Your clothes are on the floor."

"But I'm naked," he says, not meeting her eyes.

"Mulder, I've seen you naked before," she sighs.

"But I…" he fidgets around with the pillow in his lap uncomfortably.

"Alright," she sighs. "I'll go get dressed in the bathroom and wait for you in the living room."

"Okay," he nods, not meeting her eyes.

She takes her clothes and goes to the bathroom. When she's wearing her light blue jeans and white sweater she walks to the living room to find Mulder looking around, studying everything.

"Is that your TV?" he asks excitedly as he sees her.

"Yes," she answers him. "But we don't have time for that now, come on."

He follows her out the door and down to the car. It's been a while since she's driven a car with Mulder in the passenger seat, he always insists on driving. But now he doesn't remember how to.

"I'm at a loss here, Mr. Mulder," Dr. Hanson tells him.

"Mr. Mulder?" Mulder laughs. "That's my dad."

"Well, Fox then," the doctor quickly amends, not noticing Mulder's grimace at the mention of his name. "Nothing seems to be wrong with you. There are no recent injuries; your MRI scan didn't show anything out of the ordinary. Everything seems to be in order. Physically."

"What do you think could have caused this then, Dr. Hanson?" Scully asks, looking at the charts. "How come he can't remember anything past the age of 15?"

"Well, if the damage isn't physical maybe it's psychological. Has there been any traumatic events in his life recently?"

"It's been a tough year, sure, but recently everything has been fine," Scully shrugs.

"With any type of memory loss we usually advice the patient's loved ones to try and make them remember. Show pictures, tell stories. There's no medicine or procedures to help you, there's only hope that his memories will come back."

"Is there a risk he might never remember?" Scully asks - shock and fear evident in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Scully," he sighs. "But yes, there's always that risk with memory loss. Usually though, it is only temporary."

"Alright, well, thank you, Dr. Hanson," she says and shakes his hand.

"Thanks," Mulder says awkwardly and shakes the doctor's hand as well.

"You're welcome," he says as they move to the door. "I'm sorry there's not any more I can do for you."

Scully just nods sadly while Mulder shrugs.

"So," Mulder says as they walk towards the car. "What do we do now?"

"We go where we always go when we need answers no one else seems to have," she says.

It feels weird walking next to Mulder like this. Usually he has his hand at the small of her back. Usually he walks in confident strides. Teen Mulder isn't like that. He looks down as he walks, hunched over a little, looking uncomfortable in his own body. And his hands are deep within the pockets of his jeans.

"Where's that?" Mulder asks.

"We're gonna go see some friends of ours," she tells him as they get into the car.

"We have friends?" he seems happy at the prospect.

"Yes, Mulder," she shakes her head. "Just a few though."

He nods happily.

Scully tries to warn Mulder about their eccentric friends, telling him they're a bit different. He looks very scared though as they wait in the small alley outside the gunmen's lair.

"What's up with Mulder?" Frohike asks right away.

Mulder just look at the little man with eyes wide open.

"C'mere, Mulder, sit down," Scully tells him and guides him to a chair.

He sits down and studies the room he's in. Scully wonders if he's ever even seen a computer before - let alone a room full of computers and monitors and all kinds of weird electronic devices, that even she has no idea what are for.

"We've just been to see a doctor but he couldn't help us," Scully sighs. "Mulder doesn't remember anything."

"What do you mean?" Byers wonders.

"Is it those sons-of-bitches?" Langley asks in his squeaky voice. "Have they wiped his memory?"

"I don't think so," Scully sighs, eyeing Mulder nervously. "He was fine last night and then this morning he wasn't."

"The doctor couldn't find anything out of the ordinary?" Byers asks.

"No, physically he seems healthy," Scully says.

"Then it's probably them," Frohike says. "They could have gotten to him last night after you saw him, Scully."

"No, I…" she can feel a blush coming on.

"What?" Langley asks.

"I slept at Dana's apartment," Mulder tells them.

"You did?" Frohike screeches. "Why?"

"I don't know," Mulder shrugs. "I don't remember, remember?"

"Wise-ass," Frohike mutters.

"I guess I sleep there a lot, don't I, Dana?" he smiles at her.

"Mulder…" she shakes her head at him.

"Why would you think that?" Langley snickers.

"Well, she's my girlfriend," Mulder chuckles, unaware of Scully's eyes shooting daggers at him. "You know?"

"No, we don't know," Frohike says, folding his arms across his chest, looking very displeased at Scully.

"Guys," Scully sighs. "Let's focus here, okay?"

"Scully is right," Byers agrees with her. "We need to figure out what's going on with Mulder. So no one could have gotten to him last night?"

"No," Scully shakes her head and tries not to blush.

"Take us over the events of yesterday," Byers says. "Did you leave him unattended at any time?"

"Not really," Scully sighs. "We came home from L.A. last night after attending that movie premiere a few days ago. We sat next to each other on the plane; neither of us noticed anything out of the ordinary in L.A. or when we got back last night. It was past midnight when we made it home."

"Maybe this isn't even the government or something paranormal," Byers suggests. "Maybe this is just Mulder's way of figuring out some things. We all know his brain works differently than most people's."

"Maybe," Scully sighs - it was the best explanation she'd heard so far.

"So, Mulder, what do you remember?" Langley asks him.

"I remember everything," he says. "Well, until I'm 15 anyway."

"15?" Frohike laughs. "Oh man."

"Yeah," Scully can't help but smile. "He's all young and innocent."

"I'm not that young, I'm not a kid," Mulder says defiantly. "And technically I'm 38, so I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me."

"He's definitely a teenager," Langley snickers as he sits down in front of one of the computers, punching something into the keyboard.

"So Mulder's mind is stuck in a world with Jimmy Carter as president, thinking he can do whatever pleases him because technically he's of age - what are we gonna do?" Frohike sighs.

"Gerald Ford," Mulder corrects him.

"What?" Frohike frowns at him.

"Gerald Ford is president. Who's Jimmy Carter?" he wonders.

"Don't worry about it, Mulder," Scully tells him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He calms down instantly at this but it attracts the attention of Byers and Frohike - they're not use to Scully and Mulder touching each other.

Langley is still fiddling with the computer but he seems to have found what he's looking for.

"Okay, Mulder, ready for a little quiz?"

"Sure," Mulder shrugs; looking up at Scully for information only to find her shrugging - indicating she doesn't know what Langley is on about either.

"Alright, I've pulled up all the information we have on you, Mulder," he informs him. "Let's see how much you remember."

"I don't even know your names," Mulder says. "I know you're my friends but I don't remember anything."

"I'm John Byers, that's Melvin Frohike and…"

"And the long-haired hippie is Richard Langley and I don't think that's what he meant," Frohike interrupt Byers. " He wants to see how much you remember of being 15, right?"

"Right," Langley nods. "So where do you go to school?"

"Martha's Vineyard Regional High School," Mulder sighs. "I'm a freshman."

"And you play sports?"

"Yeah, I play basketball," he nods. "I've played every game even though I'm only a freshman."

He sounds so proud of himself; Byers and Scully can't help sending each other a sweet little smile on Mulder's behalf.

"What colors do you play in?"

"Violet and white," he says without missing a beat.

"Violet?" Frohike snickers.

Mulder just folds his arms over his chest and looks angrily at him.

"What number do you play in?"

"13," Mulder says.

"What's the name of your girlfriend?"

"I don't have a girlfriend. Well," he eyes Scully. "I didn't think I had one."

"Mulder had a girlfriend named Gemma Watkins freshman year," Langley says.

"I told you Gemma Watkins was my girlfriend?" Mulder laughs. "She's a senior, she's engaged to marry Tim Falcon after high school - he's on my basketball team and she's a cheerleader."

"Mulder lied to you?" Scully asks Langley.

"I guess," Langley laughs. "I have everything he's ever said to me in passing in this file and everything that I've just found online."

"On line?" Mulder frowns. "On which line?"

"Oh dear," Frohike shakes his head.

"It's a computer thing," Scully tells him. "Just… don't worry, Mulder."

He nods again.

"Do you remember everything that's happened today, Mulder?" Byers asks him.

"Yeah," he nods.

"What's the last thing you remember of being 15?" Frohike asks him.

"Well, it was just an ordinary day yesterday really, and I'd gone to bed after finishing my homework. And then I woke up in Dana's bed this morning and had no idea what was going on or where I was. I was confused and naked. And then she came into the room and thought I was just joking around or something, she didn't believe me at first. But then she saw I was speaking the truth and she tried to help me."

He smiles at her. Mulder usually doesn't smile like this, Scully realizes. He's like a 15-year-old schoolboy with a crush on her. She feels unbelievable old at this thought.

"Naked, huh?" Frohike eyes Scully suspiciously.

"Dana was naked too," Mulder chuckles, covering his mouth with his hand as he can't help laughing.

"Mulder, I was wearing a robe," she tells him, rolling her eyes at him, even though she's blushing profoundly.

Langley and Byers can't help laughing with Mulder while Frohike is simply shaking his head.

"But she took the robe off," Mulder says, addressing Byers. "I saw her naked."

"Mulder, stop talking," Scully says, hitting his shoulder.

"What, you never seen a lady in the nude before, Mulder?" Langley twitters.

"No," he shakes his head with a big grin on his face. "It was so awesome!"

"I bet it was," Frohike says bitterly.

"All right, well I think I'm going to take Mulder home, before he makes more trouble," Scully says.

Mulder gets up from his chair to follow her.

"Are you sure we can't do anything to help you, Scully?" Byers asks sweetly.

"No, I'll figure something out," Scully sighs. "But thanks, guys. For trying to help."

"No problem," they all say.

"So what do we do now?" Mulder wants to know as they drive around once again.

"Well, the doctor said we should try and jog your memory. You have some photo albums at home, I thought we could try and look through them."

"At my home?" he sounds excited. "So, I have my own apartment, right?"

"Yeah, you do," she smiles at him.

"So, Dana, I was wondering…"

"Yeah, Mulder?"

"How come our friends didn't know you're my girlfriend?"

"It's complicated, Mulder. I think they've always known we're more than just friends… that we were kind of… destined, to end up together. But it's all pretty new. That you and I are together. We haven't told anybody yet. We're partners at the bureau and it could compromise our work if anybody there knew."

"Okay," he nods. "So how long have we been together?"

"Well, we first met in '92. I was assigned to work with you. You didn't trust me at first," she smiles at the memories of their first case together. "But I won you over. Eventually we became best friends. And just a few months ago we… well, we became more than just friends and partners."

"So we know each other pretty well," he nods his head.

"You could say that," she agrees chuckling.

He asks about their job and she tells him about their work with the unexplained. He seems intrigued and it doesn't surprise him at all that he believes in the paranormal. Before long she pulls up in front of his apartment in Alexandria.

She walks into the familiar building, Mulder following her inside and into the elevator where she presses the 4'th floor.

A guy walks into the elevator before the doors close. He nods his head at the two of them.

"Mr. Mulder, Ms. Scully," he says in a greeting, smiling.

"Hi, Earl," Scully greets the janitor in Mulder's building while Mulder just smiles, not having a clue who the man is.

"How is things with FBI?" he asks with his southern accent, still apparent after having spent 20 years out of Georgia.

"We've had the day off, so we can't complain," Scully smiles at him.

"Sounds mighty nice," he nods his head.

They reach the 4'th floor and Mulder and Scully get off the elevator while Earl stays on.

"Who was that?" he whispers as the elevator doors close behind them.

"That's your janitor, Mulder," Scully tells him, walking to his apartment and unlocking it with her own key to his place.

"Alright," Mulder says, stepping inside. "What a cool place!"

"Yeah?" she asks him as she turns on the lights.

"Yeah," he nods. "Uhh, I have fish, cool!"

"Could you feed them, Mulder? I'll find your photo albums," she says moving towards the mess around his desk.

"Sure," Mulder agrees and goes to feed his fish.

"C'mere," she says, patting the spot on the couch next to her.

He sits down next to her and they start looking through the photo album.

"That's my sister Samantha," he tells her, as the first few pages are pictures of her and him.

"Yeah, Mulder, I know," she says.

"Oh okay," he nods. "Do… do you know what happened to her?"

"Yeah, you do too," she says. "You'll remember soon enough."

"That's my mom and dad," he says next, pointing at their wedding photograph. "But they're divorced now."

"Yeah, I know that too," she sighs.

"Where do my mom and dad live today? I mean here in 2000."

"Mulder," she sighs. "I'm sorry, but your father passed away in 1995."

"He did?" he asks sadly. "Oh okay. And my mom?"

"She…" Scully takes his hand. "She past away a few months ago."

Tears fall down his cheeks and he sniffles.

"It's okay, Mulder," Scully tells him.

She expects him to pull away from her but instead he buries his head in her neck and cries into her sweater.

"Shh, it's alright," she whispers, leaning back in the couch, comforting him.

"So what happened to my sister?" he demands to know, still sobbing into her shoulder. "Is she dead too?"

"Yeah, Mulder, I'm sorry," she sighs.

He sobs even harder and she does her best to hold onto him.

"At least I have you," he says.

"Yeah, you have me, Mulder," she says smiling as a few stray tears trickle down her cheeks as well.

It's about ten minutes before Mulder is done crying. He's clinging onto Scully as she comforts him and he's so happy she's there.

"You all right, Mulder?" she finally dares to ask him.

"Yeah," he says, sitting back up and wiping his eyes.

He doesn't even seem embarrassed, she notices. He simply smiles lovingly at her, saying a silent thank you.

"Are you hungry, Dana?" he asks her. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah," she nods. "We haven't eaten all day."

"I can make some dinner for us," he says and walks towards the kitchen.

"Mulder, you never have any food here," she tells him. "Let's just take your photo albums and go back to my place."

"Sure, Dana," he says picking up the albums.

"I'll just go pack some clothes for you," she says going into his bedroom.

He follows her into the unfamiliar room.

"Usually we sleep apart during the week and spend the weekends together," she tells him as she packs some clothes into a bag. "But I want to keep an eye on you and I don't want you to be alone like this."

"Yeah, I don't want to be alone," he nods.

"No, I didn't think so," she smiles at him.

After dinner they look through his photo albums anew. Nothing jogs his memory. He doesn't even have a lot of recent photos; most of them are from his childhood. The only ones he doesn't remember are those few school pictures of him as a sophomore, junior and senior in high school.

"There's no prom photo," he says sadly. "Do you think I went to prom?"

"I have no idea," she has to admit.

"I probably didn't," he chuckles. "I probably couldn't get a date."

"You don't think so?" she says surprised.

He shakes his head. "I'm not too popular in my high school."

"Yeah? Why not?"

"Well, ever since Samantha disappeared people have just looked at me differently. It's a small town, people talk."

"I'm sorry, Mulder. I never knew."

"Well, I have always been a bit different," he admits. "I remember the Christmas before she disappeared. She told me Santa Clause didn't exist and I'd sat up traps to go off if Santa came down the chimney."

"Really?" Scully laughs. "That's sweet."

"Yeah, I don't really remember what happened. But I don't think we got to see Santa."

"Probably not," Scully chuckles.

"I'm sorry, but these photo albums haven't helped," he sits back in the couch, closing his eyes, running a hand through his hair.

"No, I never realized they were all from your childhood, sorry," she says, sitting back in the couch as well.

"Don't worry," he sighs. "We'll figure something out. Maybe it'll all just come back to me suddenly."

"Maybe," she says, not sounding too sure.

"I'm tired," he says yawning. "Can we go to bed soon?"

"Sure, Mulder," she says standing up from the couch and reaching her hand out to him. "C'mon."

He takes her hand and she pulls him up from the couch before walking to the bedroom. He follows her there.

"So it's okay for me to sleep in here?" he asks, shyly.

"Yeah," she chuckles. "Don't worry, I'll go change in the bathroom."

"Oh okay," he nods looking down.

"Mulder, you don't have to sleep next to me if it makes you uncomfortable," she tells him sweetly, caressing his cheek.

"No, that's okay, I want to be close to you, Dana - it feels like you're the only one in this world I know, the only one who loves me."

Mulder doesn't usually throw the L-word around a lot so it surprises Scully slightly to hear him use it. She decides she likes it though.

When they are finally both dressed in their night attires, Scully in a silk pajamas - she usually doesn't wear this much to bed with Mulder, but she doesn't want to scare him right now - and Mulder in a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, she sets the alarm and turns the light off.

"Tomorrow we have to go to work, Mulder," she tells him in the dark. "Just remember they don't know about us and they can't figure out - so don't out it like you did with the gunmen, okay?"

"Okay," he chuckles.

"And don't worry, I'll look out for you at work."

"Thanks, Dana."

It isn't long before she can hear him snore lightly. She feels lost. It's weird to have Mulder next to her in bed, but not being able to cuddle up to him like she usually does. They had finally found each other but now she has lost a part of him. She just hopes it won't be long till she has her own Mulder back. Even though, she has to admit, he's cute as a teen.

TUESDAY

Something was definitely off as Scully woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She was cuddled up to Mulder, resting her head on his chest, with her arm strewn across his stomach. Now this wasn't exactly an odd occurrence anymore, she'd actually gotten quite use to waking up with Mulder in her bed. What was odd was that he was wearing clothes. And the fact that she had woken up to the sound of her alarm clock - because usually she didn't sleep with Mulder when she had work in the morning.

"Uhm, Dana?" he says, sounding shaky.

Dana? He never called her Dana. Oh right… Mulder was 15. At least he thought he was.

"Yeah, Mulder?" she sighs, removing herself from him.

He sits up in bed to hide his erection. He'd woken up a few minutes before the alarm clock and had been in shock that she was cuddled up to him. He hadn't dared moving a muscle. When she woke up to the alarm clock, however, he'd become painfully aware of the tightening in his pajama bottoms. It was weird for him, to think that he was with this beautiful woman. He'd thought about women a lot. He even had a few magazines stashed away under his mattress. But he'd never really interacted with them. Not beyond friendly chats when forced to do school work together. And now he'd seen Dana Scully naked. He still couldn't believe how she'd just dropped her robe right in front of him. Jeez, this wasn't helping his erection.

"Mulder?" she sits up next to him, a hand on his shoulder.

She's turned off the alarm clock and is wondering why he isn't answering her.

"Dana, could I be alone for a few minutes?" he asks nervously.

"Is something wrong?" she asks him but then she eyes the bulge in the covers. "Oh, right."

He can feel his face turn red, as she can't help a small laugh.

"I'll go take a shower, Mulder. You do whatever you want, okay?"

"Mhm," he just says, not quite meeting her eyes.

After her shower she lets him go into the bathroom. She doesn't have much in the way of breakfast. She picks up an apple and bites into it while she reads the paper.

"Dana!" Mulder calls from the bathroom.

She quickly puts down the paper and the apple and walks to the bathroom to find Mulder in the boxers and undershirt she's put out for him.

"Yeah?"

"How do I shave?" he asks with a frown.

"Mulder," she shakes her head.

"What? I've never done it before!" he sighs.

She guides him through how to use the foam and the razor and as he starts his task he does it expertly.

"Well, you might not remember shaving, Mulder, but your hands remember how to do it," she says happily as she watches him.

"It feels familiar!" he says triumphantly. "I think I remember doing this."

"Well, it is something you do every day," she nods her head - it would make sense that things like these would come back to him first.

"I wear a suit every day?" he asks in shock as he's finally gotten into his work clothes.

"Yeah, Mulder, you do," she grins up at him as she helps him with his tie.

"I must hate that," he sighs.

"I don't know, I think you look very handsome in a suit, Mulder," she smiles at him.

"Oh," he just says, his face turning red, once more.

Scully had never made Mulder blush before, certainly not by something as innocent as telling him he looked handsome. If she weren't so worried about him remembering, she would have tried to get it on camera.

"You look pretty," he says.

"Thanks, Mulder," she chuckles.

"It's weird to see you in your work clothes," he tells her.

"Yeah?" she laughs. "Just a few months ago you told me it was weird to see me in jeans."

"Why?"

"Well, we worked together for so long, Mulder. When we finally got to spend time together on the weekend and I wore my casual clothes, you had to get use to it."

"You said we were friends though."

"We were. But mostly we saw each other after work, if we socialized outside the job."

"Oh okay," he nods.

"I can't believe it took me seven years to ask you out," he sighs. "Didn't I know I was in love with you?"

"I don't know, Mulder," she shrugs - honestly she had no idea how long Mulder had harbored romantic feelings for her, it wasn't something they talked about. "We should go. We don't want to be late for work."

Scully had considered all possibilities regarding Mulder and work. She could take some time off for both of them - but that would raise suspicion. She could just call Skinner and tell him Mulder was sick - but then she wouldn't be able to keep her eye on him all day. She could tell Skinner the truth - she was quite sure he'd try to help them, what she was afraid of was someone else hearing the truth, someone who would use this against Mulder. Therefore she decided to go to work and keep up appearances while she tried to figure out how to help Mulder.

"Wow," Mulder exclaims as he enters the office in the basement. "This is our office?"

"Yeah, it is," she nods, hanging her light jacket on the coat hanger by the door.

"It seems familiar," he sighs. "I've had this office a long time?"

"Yeah," she nods. "You really remember it?"

"Maybe," he shrugs.

"Did…" he rubs his temple. "Did we meet in here?"

"Yeah, Mulder, we did," she says excitedly.

"Nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted," he says, his eyes closed, images flashing before them.

"Mulder?" she chuckles happily.

"Isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded? So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?"

He opens his eyes again and blinks a few times. "I thought you were send to spy on me?"

"Yeah, that's what you said," she chuckles - it's so long ago she'd nearly forgot that first encounter.

"Did you think I was weird?" he wonders.

"Maybe a little," she shrugs. "I found you eccentric and fascinating. I wanted to prove myself to you."

"I thought you were cute," he says. "That's what I remember thinking: Ooh, she's cute!"

"Mulder, really?" she can't quite believe it.

He just nods.

The phone in the office rings. Scully moves to answer it.

"Scully," she says into the phone.

Mulder looks around the office. He opens a few drawers. There are some weird things in here. But it's all so cool. And there's a computer at the desk. It looks so modern. He's never tried a computer before. He's seen one down at the store back home but it didn't look like this computer from 2000. He wonders how to use it.

"Mulder, we have a meeting," she says.

"We do?"

"Yes, with our boss. His name is Walter Skinner, we call him Assistant Director Skinner, okay?"

"Okay," he says and follows her out the door.

They take the elevator up.

"So what kind of meeting is this? What if he asks me something I can't answer?" Mulder panics.

"Don't worry, I got your back," she says. "I think he has a new case for us."

They reach their floor and Mulder follows Scully out of the elevator. They walk down the hallway, and Mulder can't help but look everywhere. People look at him even more than they usually do.

"Stop acting weird, Mulder," Scully tells him.

"What am I doing?" he wonders.

"Take your hands out of your pockets and straighten up," she tells him.

He immediately does as he's told.

"And just look straight ahead, don't look everywhere at once."

He nods and tries not to look around.

"He's waiting for you, just walk right in," the secretary tells them.

"Thank you," Scully says and walks over to the door.

"Good morning, Agent Mulder," the secretary flirts shamelessly with Mulder as usual - Scully can't help but roll her eyes.

"Ehm, hi," Mulder says awkwardly and follows Scully into Skinner's office.

"Agents Mulder and Scully," Skinner says in a way of a greeting, as he's studying the content of a manila folder in his hand. "Sit down."

"Assistant Director Skinner," Scully greets him and sits down in her usual chair opposite him - Mulder quickly moves to sit down in the chair next to hers.

"A local woman claims that a vampire is stalking her," Skinner says, throwing the manila folder down on the desk in front of him as he hands both Mulder and Scully a copy.

"Why is the FBI involved?" Scully asks as she starts reading the file in hand.

Mulder looks at her and tries to read his own file. He doesn't really know how to read it though so he just pretends to read it while he nods his head along.

"The local woman is the daughter of the Deputy Director," Skinner informs them. "She's had a stalker for several months now and after finding her friend dead she came to believe her stalker did it. The vampire part she gets from the details in her friend's murder. She'd been exsanguinated."

"We'll read up on the case and start investigating tomorrow, sir," Scully says, still skimming over the pages in the case file.

"That would be fine, Agent Scully," Skinner nods his head. "I doubt you'll find a vampire but this is a murder case, nonetheless."

"We'll do our best, sir," Scully promises.

Skinner eyes Mulder.

"You're being awful quiet today, Agent Mulder," he says.

"Sorry, sir," Mulder says, fidgeting around in his chair.

"What do you think of the case then?" Skinner demands to know.

"Just… what you said, really," he says nervously. "Probably not a vampire, but I'll do my best to help catch this murderer."

"I'm surprised," Skinner shakes his head but smiles slightly. "You're a good influence on him, Agent Scully."

"I try," she simply says and smiles at their superior.

"Okay then," Skinner sums up the meeting. "I expect you in here first thing in the morning to hear how the case is coming along."

"We'll be here, sir," Scully says as she gets up from the chair. "Good day."

"Good day, agents," he says, eyeing Mulder suspiciously as he walks out of the office.

"You don't think he noticed, do you?" Mulder asks her the moment they're alone in the elevator.

"Mulder, you're always weird, he's probably already forgotten," she sighs, studying the case file in her hand.

"You think I'm weird?" he sounds hurt.

"Well, not weird, no," she sighs. "Mulder, I like you, you know that, don't worry."

"Oh okay," he says. "I don't understand this file."

"Yeah, they can be confusing if you've never seen a case file before," she says.

They're in the basement now.

"C'mon," she says moving down towards their office. "I'll teach you how to read it."

"Sweet," he agrees and follows her.

They leave the office at five, for once. Scully has spend the day reading up on their new case and conducting a few interviews over the phone while Mulder has spend it reading some of their old case files. He's been completely absorbed in them asking her if this and that really happened. She can't help finding his eager endearing.

"Can I change out of this suit now?" he asks eagerly as they finally make it home.

"Sure," she chuckles.

A few minutes later he comes out in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Sit down and watch some TV, Mulder," she tells him. "I'll go change my clothes and then I'll make dinner."

"Cool," he says and plops down on the couch with the remote in his hand.

After changing into a pair of slacks and a light blue sweater she starts on dinner. When she's finished boiling the chicken and tossing the salad she goes to fetch Mulder. He's fallen asleep on the couch. She sits down by his side and caresses his cheek with the back of her hand.

"Mmh?" he whimpers and opens his eyes slowly.

"Dinner is ready, Mulder," she says sweetly.

"Who's Diana?" he asks her.

Even after all this time the name is like a blow to her stomach.

"Diana?" she asks, moving slightly away from him as he sits up on the couch. "You remember her?"

"No, I don't know who she is," he says. "But I just had a dream, about going to meet Gibson Praise, a kid who plays chess, and you were there and someone named Diana. Was it a case we worked?"

"Yeah," she says.

"The kid said I was thinking about one of the girls that was with me," he chuckles. "He could read minds."

"Yeah, he can," Scully nods her head. "So who were you thinking about?"

"That Diana woman. I was thinking what the hell she was doing back, hoping she wasn't looking to get back on the x-files. I felt like she'd indicated it on the car journey there."

"I was so hurt when I found out you knew her, when I found out who she was," Scully admits. "But I'm happy that's all you were thinking about."

"Why? Who was she?" he wonders.

"She was your old partner on the x-files, Mulder. You don't remember that? The two of you… you were together. Before you met me."

"So she was my ex-girlfriend?" he says.

"Yeah, she was."

"Hm, I don't remember feeling like that about her. The kid said one of you girls was thinking about me…" he trails off.

"Yeah, I was," she shrugs. "You didn't want Gibson to tell though."

"No, because I thought it was that Diana woman thinking about me and I didn't want you to know."

"I've often wondered about that conversation," Scully chuckles. "It seems so pointless now, knowing that's all you were thinking about."

"Why didn't you just ask me?" he wonders.

"We don't talk about things like that," Scully shrugs, getting up from the couch.

"You can ask me anything, Dana! You're my girlfriend and I love you," he smiles.

"Mulder," she furrows her brow - she wants nothing more than to hear him say those words, but she wants him to mean them. "You don't know that, you don't remember."

"Well, I am Mulder. And I love you."

"Okay, Mulder," she smiles at him. "Come on, let's eat dinner."

WEDNESDAY

As Scully wakes up she's happy to find she's resisted draping herself over Mulder. He hasn't resisted spooning up to her though. She can feel his morning erection against her bum and she can feel herself getting wet at the thought if it. She's brought back to the last time they made love. It had been so gentle and wonderful.

"Oh, God," he says horrified as he realizes what he's doing.

"I'm so sorry, Dana!" he apologizes as he moves far away from her.

"Mulder, don't be silly," she sighs. "We've woken up like that many times, I don't mind."

"Oh," he says.

She reaches out and turns off the alarm clock that woke her in the first place. She moves into the shower first again, as she did the morning before. It doesn't take them long getting ready - this morning Mulder shaves all by himself - and soon they're out the door.

First thing they meet with Skinner to report how the case is coming along. As yesterday, Scully does the talking. She tells him what they intend to do and Skinner nods along, agreeing with her.

Mulder is nervous as they're driving towards Lisa Hamilton's apartment. He's never interviewed anyone before. Scully promises to do the talking, of course, and gives him a notepad so he can look busy, taking notes as she talks with the young woman.

They knock on her door and within a few seconds she opens up for them.

"Can I help you?" the young woman asks confused.

She has long dark hair and she's about 5'10". She's wearing a casual dark blue dress, and even though she's not wearing shoes, she's taller than Scully who's wearing heels.

"Special Agents Dana Scully," Scully introduces them flashing her badge. "And Fox Mulder."

Mulder fumbles around after his badge but finally retrieves it from his inner pocket to show it to Lisa Hamilton.

"Right, come on in," she nods and lets them into the apartment. "Right this way."

She leads them into the kitchen and they sit down by a small round table.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee, water, a soda?" she asks them polite.

"No, we're fine," Scully tells her.

They start talking about the case. Mulder writes down as fast as he can on his notepad, while Scully interviews their witness. Eager to get every detail down on paper.

It's nearly an hour before they're done and head back to the office.

"Alright," Scully says as they sit down opposite each other on each side of the desk. "What do you think we should do next, Mulder?"

It's like having an intern. Scully had never been in the field before she met Mulder and she enjoys that this time he's the green one, and not her.

"Well," he looks through his notepad. "She said they went to a club that night her friend… Irene, was killed. She said Irene danced with a guy and gave us his description but he's never been looked into because they've been searching for the guy Lisa claims has been stalking her. From how she describes him though, it sounds like it might be someone who knows her - probably an ex-boyfriend. She did say she recently broke up with a guy when the stalking started. I think our vampire - the guy who murdered Irene, is probably someone from the nightclub, quite possibly the guy she danced with."

"Very good," Scully nods. "I think you remember being an agent, Mulder."

"Yeah?" he smiles proudly.

"Let's look into that club… what was it called?"

"Ehm… Blood," Mulder cringes his nose, as he reads the name of the club in his notepad. "Hm, that's weird."

"It's so typical our work, Mulder. We're looking for a vampire who likes to hang out at a club called Blood. It's what we do."

"Cool," he chuckles.

As the day passes they link a few more recent murders to the nightclub Blood. They interview the owner of the nightclub and a few of the bartenders. They all know who they're talking about as they describe the man they're looking for to them. They're told that he's at the club every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Scully writes up their progress on the case as they once again return to the office and as the clock turns five, they're ready to call it a day.

"You know, the doctor said maybe we could jog my memory by my loved ones telling me stories of the past," Mulder says as they've finished cleaning up after dinner.

"You really want to remember then?" she smiles.

"Yes, of course I do," he sighs. "It's horrible knowing we have a life together I can't remember."

"You haven't gotten any new flashbacks then?" she wonders as they sit down in the couch in the living room.

"Yeah, a few," he shrugs. "They don't seem important though."

"What were they?" she wants to know.

"They weren't about you," he says disappointed. "One was of the night my dad was killed. He was just about to tell me something. I wonder what it was."

"Yeah," Scully sighs and takes his hand.

"The other was about a cigarette smoking man. I don't remember much. Just he was there, making me uncomfortable. I don't like him."

"Yeah, I don't like him either," she sighs.

"Do you know who he is?"

"He's part of the group of men we've been fighting on the x-files," she doesn't tell him the whole truth about the cigarette smoking man.

"Okay, that makes sense then, that I felt such a deep hatred towards him," he nods.

"Yeah, so what kind of memories do you want me to talk about, Mulder?" she contemplates. "Maybe some of our old cases?"

"Cases?" he frowns. "No, tell me about how we fell in love."

"Mulder," she chuckles. "You really are very different as a 15-year-old."

"What?" he chuckles. "I just want to know everything about us."

"Okay," she shakes her head and rolls her eyes, but smiles, nonetheless.

"So, we've been together for a few months, right?"

"We have," she sighs. "Since February."

"What month are we in now?" he asks.

"It's May 3'rd," she tells him. "We kissed New Year's Eve. Our first kiss. When the clock struck 12 and the year was 2000. You kissed me. I don't know why you did it but I liked it. We smiled at each other but then nothing more happened in the next few months. But it did feel like something was building between us. Like maybe it was finally our time to be together. Then your mother died. You were so upset, you were yelling and shaking the furniture. Finally you collapsed against me and cried. And I comforted you and held you in my arms till you couldn't cry anymore. Then I led you to your bedroom and tucked you into your bed. When I was about to leave you asked me to stay. So I crawled into bed with you. And you kissed me again. And we… well, that was the first time we made love, that night."

"I wish I remembered that," Mulder sighs. "Was it… how was it?"

"It was nice," she smiles and blushes. "I wasn't quite sure what it was though. If you just needed some comfort or if you wanted something more. The next day we were back to business. We were eventually led to the truth you'd been looking for. The truth about your sister. And even though it wasn't what you'd hoped for, you said you were free. You finally knew what had happened to her. We went back to your motel room and you asked me to stay. Again. So I stayed and we made love again and this time you told me that you loved me and that you couldn't have gotten through this without me. It was so nice to hear you say those things, Mulder."

"Good," he smiles.

"The next few months we went about business as usual while we saw each other in our spare time. But I think we were both a bit happier than usual. I certainly was. And you seemed to smile a bit more as well. We agreed not to fool around when we were working on a case. So if we were out of town, we'd stay in each our motel room. When the case was closed, however… well, you'd linger around in my room, hoping I'd say it was time for bed soon. Then ask shyly if you could sleep with me."

"I bet I was real transparent," he laughs.

"Kinda, but I thought it was sweet," she says biting her lip. "Well, as good as things were between us, I still hadn't told you I loved you. I knew it was bothering you even though you never said. I had no idea why I didn't just tell you, I really wanted to. But something was holding me back. Then you went to check out some UFO business in England and I finally realized that the problem was me. There were some things in my past I hadn't worked out. An old affair. I got some closure on that. And just like you'd felt free after learning the truth about your sister, I felt free too now. You came back from England and we had some tea at your place and I told you all about what I'd been up to in those two days you were gone. I ended up falling asleep on the couch. When I woke up you'd gone to bed. So I joined you, waking you up with kisses and finally telling you that I love you."

"And then I woke up the next morning and you were gone," he says, nodding enthusiastically. "I remember that night!"

"Really?" she exclaims happily. "Mulder, that's great."

"Why did you go home without waking me?" he frowns.

"Well, I couldn't very well go to work in my old clothes, so I wanted to go home to change before work. I just wanted to let you sleep."

"I thought maybe you'd regretted telling me," he shrugs.

"Never," she smiles at him.

They realize how late it is and retreat to the bedroom. Both in their nightclothes they say goodnight and fall asleep. Wondering who'll be draped over who when they wake up in the morning.

THURSDAY

Well, neither was draping across anybody this morning, as it turned out. They were lying with their backs against each other instead. No matter what, they seemed to gravitate towards each other during the night.

Their morning routine, as it had become, went problem free, and soon they're sitting across from Assistant Director Skinner, filling him in on the progress they've made on the case.

"Fine," Skinner nods. "Good work, Agents Mulder and Scully. I expect you to attend that club tonight then. See if you can find the man you're looking for, catch him before he can hurt another girl."

"You want us to go to a club?" Mulder chuckles. "For work?"

"Yes, Agent Mulder," Skinner frowns. "Should be standard undercover work."

"Of course, sir," Scully agrees with him. "We'll go there tonight. We only have a few more interviews to do, so we can leave around lunchtime, that way we won't do too much overtime."

"Good idea, Agent Scully," he nods approvingly.

They move out right away and get their interviews done with right in time for lunch. As they arrive home at the apartment Mulder takes a nap. He says he wants to be ready for his first visit to a nightclub and he seems awfully excited at the prospect. Scully can't really say she shares his excitement. She hasn't been to a nightclub in over ten years. And even back then it was never her scene. As Mulder naps on the couch, she studies her wardrobe. What should she wear? She takes out all her dresses and places them in a big pile on the bed. She never knew she had so many dresses. She's probably only worn half of them. That's what it's like being a grown woman: able to pay for the clothes she likes but not having the time to wear them. She puts the dresses she can't wear to the club back into her closet and ends up with three dresses left on the bed. They're all form fitting, mid-thigh dresses with strops. One is a classic black one. Then there's a blue, silky one and lastly a dark red one.

"Dana!" Mulder calls from the living room.

"Yeah?" she asks as she joins him on the couch. "How was your nap?"

"I had another dream," he smiles excitedly.

"Another memory?" she wonders.

"Yeah," he nods. "Of the night I first told you about my sister. How you came to my room to show me your mosquito bites."

"Oh, God," she groans, face palming herself. "I'd happily forgotten about that, Mulder."

"I saw you in your underwear," he chuckles. "I didn't even know you that well."

"I was so embarrassed," she shakes her head at him. "The way I hugged you in only my bra and panties… I was sure you thought I was mental!"

"I didn't," he says sincerely. "That's the moment I started trusting you, actually."

"Really?" she's amazed. "That moment?"

"Yeah," he nods.

Mulder is wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and his leather jacket, hanging open, as they arrive at Blood, while Scully is wearing her black dress. It's just after 10 pm so it's only been open for about an hour. It's dark inside the club but red, green and white lights are flashing around to the sound of the music. The music has a strong beat and the bass pumps loudly.

"If we go upstairs we can keep our eyes on the whole place," Scully leans close to him to whisper in his ear, so he can hear her over the loud music.

"Let's dance a bit first and order a drink," Mulder suggests. "It'll be conspicuous if we just sit up there the whole night. Besides, he's usually not here till right before midnight, that's what the bartenders all said. So we have some time to kill."

"Sure, Mulder," Scully can see the logic in what he's saying.

Mulder tries to study the other people on the dance floor as they move through the crowd. He's never really danced before, not that he remembers anyway. Except for when his mother taught him how to waltz - somehow he doubts that it will help him here. Most people just seem to be swaying to the music though, so he does just that. Scully does kind of the same thing, except she looks more sexy and confident doing this. They laugh and smile at each other as they continue to dance for a few numbers. Suddenly a vigorous couple bumps into Scully, causing her to knock right into Mulder.

"Sorry," she whispers into his ear.

"Is okay," he just nods, putting his arms around her.

They dance closer after this incident. Scully likes being close to him again. It isn't as close as she's longing to be to him - but it's better than nothing.

After about thirty minutes of dancing they move to the bar.

"Can I order?" Mulder asks her with glee in his eyes.

"Sure," she chuckles. "Just remember we're working, Mulder."

He nods and moves up to the bartender.

"Two virgin Cuba Libres, please," he says smiling.

"Just two cokes then?" the bartender laughs.

"Yup, but make them look like drinks," Mulder nods.

"Sure thing," the bartender smirks, fixing up two cokes, plopping a festive little umbrella and a straw into both glasses. "There you go, sir."

"Thanks," Mulder says, handing him a 20 and accepting the change, before taking the drinks.

"Nice, Mulder," Scully grins at him, having watched the exchange.

"My undercover skills are in top form, eh?" he chuckles.

"Sure are," she laughs as they move towards the stairs.

From the first floor they can look down on the dance floor and even spot the entrance. They sit down at one of the unoccupied tables up there. It's a bit quieter and there are a lot of people at tables, talking and laughing.

Mulder and Scully scan the crowd, looking for a man of average height with pale skin, jet-black hair that's combed back and brown eyes, so bright they're nearly orange.

Before long they spot him at the entrance. They keep an eye on him all night.

FRIDAY

He moves around on his own, looking at women, observing them from the dark. He engages in conversation with no one. He just looks around, almost as if he's stalking his prey. Around 2 o'clock he finally makes to leave.

"What do we do now?" Mulder asks.

"We follow him," Scully decides, and so they do.

They quickly make their way through the club and find their car outside. The vampire pulls out in his own car and Scully follows him at a safe distance. When he finally pulls his car up in front of a house, Scully parks a few houses away. As he goes into the house, she starts the engine again and parks in the street right outside his house. They look as a light comes on in what's obviously the kitchen. He moves around before going to open the fridge, which is in plain view from the street. It's filled with jars containing a red, thick substance. He takes one of these jars out and moves out of the kitchen again, turning off the light in the room.

"Dana… was that…" he can't get himself to say it, as he feels sick to his stomach.

"Yeah, Mulder," she sighs. "I think that was blood."

"Should we arrest him?"

"No," she sighs and starts the engine again before pulling out in the street. "But we should have enough for a search warrant. We'll notify Skinner in the morning. He's not going anywhere tonight."

Mulder nods, agreeing with her decision.

The following day a search team finds blood in his fridge and the man himself sleeping in a coffin in the basement. It turns out suffering from the disease porphyria has let the man, Karl Freund, to believe he was in fact a vampire.

Skinner and the higher powers within the FBI are pleased with Mulder and Scully's work and as the work day finishes they have hand in their joined rapport, both of their signatures on the bottom of the page for once.

"This is rare," Skinner smiles at them as they drop by his office to hand the rapport in before leaving for the day. "That the two of you agree."

"It's been known to happen," Scully chuckles.

"Enjoy your weekend," Skinner nods at them.

"Thank you, sir, you too," Mulder smiles at him.

"You've been quiet this week, Agent Mulder," Skinner says, looking him over. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Yeah, I feel good," Mulder shrugs.

The two agents walk out of his office and he's left to wonder, once more, what's going on with the two of them.

"I can't believe I actually helped solve a case," Mulder is still high on his success as they make it home to Scully's apartment.

"Yeah, you did good, Mulder," she laughs.

Without even thinking about it she pulls him into a tight hug. He's a bit startled at first but soon he snakes his arms around her middle and hugs her back.

She leans back in his embrace to study his face. He's looking down at her with the biggest smile on his face. Her hand on his neck pulls him down for a small kiss. He's looking astounded. He leans down and they kiss again. He's eager and she soothes him.

"Shh, nice and easy, Mulder," she guides him and they kiss again, gentle this time.

"I remember," he whispers against her lips.

"What?" she wonders as she kisses his jaw and cheeks.

"I remember kissing you," he whispers.

She catches his lips again and gently eases her tongue into his mouth. His arms tighten around her and she can feel him harden against her as their tongues move together.

"That's amazing," he whispers as they lastly pull out of their long kiss.

"Mmh, we were always pretty good at that," she sighs and rests her head against his chest.

"It's coming back to me, Dana. All these memories of you. Good ones and really bad ones too," his voice is shaking.

She guides him into the living room and sits him down in the couch. She takes his hands in hers as she sits down close to him.

"You-," a few tears are trailing down his cheeks. "You had cancer."

"It's okay, Mulder. I got better," she sighs, wishing she could take his pain away.

"You were abducted, experimented on. Your mother was so upset… and your sister… oh God, your sister, Scully," he falls down into her lap and she strokes his hair.

"Shh, Mulder, that's a long time ago," she can feel a lump in her throat.

"And Emily," he sobs. "Your daughter."

"Yeah," she can feel the tears fall down her own cheeks now. "We've been through a lot, Mulder."

"I remember wishing so much that I could give you a child. I had dreams about watching a little boy tumble around, calling you mom and calling me dad. But I couldn't do that either," he cries - she remembers their attempts at IVF and wishes, as so many times before, that their attempts had been successful.

"I never knew you wanted to be a father, Mulder," she's amazed at that.

"I was afraid you didn't want me to be," he sniffles.

"I did," she admits. "But I was afraid of asking that of you. It was hard enough asking you to make a donation."

"I knew the second you asked me that I wanted to do it," he sighs. "I wanted so bad for you to have a child. To have our child."

"Me too, Mulder," she's sniffling herself now.

"I feel guilty for all of those things that's happened to you since you met me," he lets her know - she knows this already though, she's always known.

"Mulder, none of it has been your fault - you've always protected me and looked out for me, without you I'd have died a hundred times," she says, stroking his hair soothingly.

"Sometimes I wish you'd never met me," he admits - and Scully can feel the pain in her heart at his words.

"Please, don't say that, Mulder. My life would be so empty without you."

"You would have a life, Dana."

"My life started, really started, when I walked down to that basement office and met you, Mulder."

"Is that really what you think, Dana?" he asks, turning his head in her lap to look her in the eyes.

"It is," she nods her head at him.

He sits up and pulls her into his arms.

"I love you," he whispers. "I can't remember a time when I didn't."

"And I love you, Mulder," she says - for the second time in her life. "I always have."

They sit quiet in the couch for a little while before Mulder's stomach begins to rumble. They chuckle and go to the kitchen to make dinner.

"Are you sure you want to cook, Mulder? You've never cooked for me before," she grins at him.

"Really? I cook a lot at home for my mom," he says as he starts to sauté the onions.

"At 15?" she's surprised at this.

"Well, some days mom just stays in bed crying, so I do a lot around the house," he says.

Scully feels terrible. She never really considered how bad Mulder must have felt all those years alone with his mother after Samantha had been taken and his father had moved out.

"That must be tough, Mulder," she says sympathetically.

"I'm use to it," he shrugs. "Most days she's fine. But sometimes she just falls into this… funk, that she can't get out of."

"Have you told your father about it?"

"Nah, I rarely see him," he says, adding the meat into the pot. "Besides, she's my mother, I can take care of her."

"It's weird we've never talked about this before," she sighs.

"Yeah," he agrees. "I wish I could remember everything… maybe I'd know why."

"You will soon, Mulder," she feels confident about that.

"Yeah, we should just kiss some more," he grins. "That seemed to do the trick."

"We'll see about that," she chuckles.

As he's finished cooking dinner for them they enjoy the Spaghetti Bolognese he's made. It's late when they're finally done eating and cleaning up in the kitchen.

They retreat to the couch to catch a movie on TV. Mulder can't help smell her hair as she's snuggled up to him. He wishes he could remember everything, hoping that he's aware of how lucky he is to have Dana Scully in his life.

Scully ends up with her head in Mulder's lap as they watch the old black and white movie. She's holding his hand close to her chest, enjoying their closeness, as she falls asleep.

Mulder notices the change in her breathing. He lets her sleep as he watches the rest of the movie. As it ends he turns the TV off and eases out from under her. He kneels down on the floor and kisses her forehead. She's so beautiful. She doesn't wake up. He picks her up in his arms and carries her to bed. She's wearing slacks and a formfitting white t-shirt. As he carefully puts her down on the bed, he opens her pants and gently peels them off of her. He pulls the covers up over her body and she snuggles into her pillow, sighing content.

He goes back out to turn all the lights off before joining her in bed. He doesn't bother to put on his pajama bottoms or his t-shirt; he simply crawls into bed in his boxers and gets comfortable next to Scully.

She instantly reaches out for him. He only smiles and welcomes her in his arms.

He still feels like a 15-year-old. But he does remember parts of his life with Dana Scully now. Fragments and distant memories are coming back to him. He wants so much to make her happy, to finally go back to the Mulder she knows and loves. It had been amazing to hear her tell him that she loves him. He falls asleep with a little smile playing on his lips.

SATURDAY

Saturday: for so many years it had just been a dull day to catch up on cleaning and to run errands. But since she started seeing Mulder outside of work it had become Scully's favorite day of the week. They usually woke up together like right now. She knows he's not quite her Mulder yet. But things have been moving along, he remembers more and more, and soon she hopes to have him back.

She has to admit she's enjoyed these walks down memory lane with him, even though some of them have been tough to revisit. As much as she misses her own Mulder, this one is more open with his feelings and he has no problems telling her what he's feeling and thinking. She likes that and she hopes Mulder will learn from that. She realizes she isn't very good at that herself either. It's probably a two way street with them. Maybe she can learn from this as well.

"Never give up on a miracle," Mulder mumbles in his sleep, memories no doubt flashing before his eyes.

She smiles at that and reaches up to kiss his jaw and neck.

"Dana," he whispers as he wakes up gently to her warm mouth caressing his smooth skin.

"Morning, Mulder," she smiles against his skin. "I don't remember going to bed last night."

"I carried you," he grins down at her, tightening his arms around her. "You fell asleep in my lap."

"You pulled my pants off me too?" she chuckles.

"Yeah, wanted you to be comfy," he yawns.

"You should have taken my bra off too then," she says, feeling her sore breasts. "Are you aware of how uncomfortable it is sleeping with a bra on?"

"No," he laughs. "Can't say I'm aware of that. Sorry."

"It's fine," she sighs. "I'm glad you're not wearing a t-shirt to bed anymore."

She runs her hand over his chest and stomach. He enjoys her touch as he feels his morning wood turn into a full hard-on.

She notices the tenting in the covers and feels warm to her stomach. She reaches up and bestows a few gentle kisses to his mouth, her hand still on his chest.

"Sorry," he mumbles as he tumbles out of bed.

"Mulder, what's the matter?" she yells after him.

"Just… really gotta pee!" he says, running to the bathroom.

"Great," she mumbles, getting up from the bed.

She puts on a pair of jeans and changes out of her t-shirt and into a cream colored sweater. She hears a mix between a groan and a cry coming from the bathroom. It's a sound she's come to know quite well and she can't help but be disappointed in Mulder. She sighs deeply and starts making the bed.

Mulder awkwardly tries to cover his body as he steps back into the bedroom in his boxers. He picks up a pair of jeans from a chair and throws a t-shirt over his head.

"You know, Mulder," she says, sighing. "I know you don't remember, but we're a couple."

"Yeah, I know," he nods, sitting down in the chair - wondering where she's going with this.

"So when you wake up and you feel… excited," he blushes and looks down to his lap. "You can share that with me. You don't have to run off to the bathroom to touch yourself."

"But I… share that? How do you mean?" he frowns.

"Mulder, we're adults," she sighs, leaning back against the wall. "When we feel like that we usually have sex."

"Sex?" he whispers, his eyes wide. "But I'm… I'm not old enough."

"You're 38, Mulder!"

"I… oh, right," he remembers. "I'm sorry."

"I'll make breakfast," she says and tries to offer him a smile.

He just nods, but keeps sitting in the chair thinking, while she goes to the kitchen. Sex. Sex with Dana Scully. He hadn't even thought that was an option. Of course he knew they'd had sex. He could even remember it a little bit. But he couldn't remember what it felt like. He wouldn't know what to do. But, he realized, he really wanted to. That is what he'd thought about, after all, as he'd run to the bathroom to… well, to take care of his throbbing erection. His tummy fills with butterflies as he realizes he'll get to have sex. He's only just kissed a girl for the first time the day before and now he gets to have sex with her. Wow, just wow.

"You seem happy," Scully can't help but smile as she sees him come into the kitchen.

"Yes," he chuckles. "I'm sorry about before, I honestly didn't even think about it."

"It's fine," she shrugs. "You know now."

"Yeah," he chuckles again, seeming all giddy.

"Mulder, are you all right?" she grins, as she brings the breakfast to the table.

"Yup, I'm good," he nods eagerly as he digs into breakfast.

They eat in silence, although Scully can't help but notice that Mulder seems to be in an extra good mood today. He's smiling and laughing and he can hardly contain himself.

After breakfast they go down to the grocery store to stock up on groceries. It's something Scully always does on Saturdays, only buying a few things during the week, if she desperately needs a few items. Mulder throws a few snack items into the shopping cart, hoping she doesn't see it. She sees it but pretends not to, laughing inside at how adorable he is.

As they get home she starts cleaning around the apartment and makes a start on her laundry. Mulder helps out a little but she tells him he can watch sports on TV if he wants to and he does that instead.

"How's the game?" she asks him sweetly as she plops down in the couch next to him, after hours of getting everything done.

"It's good," he nods. "My team isn't playing though."

"Oh okay," she says and watches the screen for just a few minutes before directing her attention towards him.

She leans into his side and reaches up to kiss his neck, jaw and cheek. He puts his arm around her but continues to follow the game on screen. She touches her hand to his chest and reaches out to kiss his mouth.

"Mmh," he mumbles and finally kisses her back.

The game is soon forgotten as they kiss passionately. She moves into his lap, straddling him, and she moves his hands to her breasts. She never had to show him what to do before but it's fun that he doesn't even think to do it himself. He's really surprised that she's letting him touch her like this and he loves it. As it happened the day before memories come flooding back as they kiss. He sees a more confident man touching her like he is touching her now. Making her moan into their kiss as she is now. He sees all the little ways he used to touch her. How he'd take advantage of every situation that presented itself to get close to her and to get in her face. He used to annoy her just so he could be close to her. That is until he realized he was allowed to get close to her and to touch her however he pleased. He'd been so amazed and relieved that night after his mother's passing, when she didn't push him away. He'd needed her comfort and her love and she'd given it to him without asking any questions.

"What?" he says in shock as the telephone ringing disturbs them.

"Mulder, it's just the phone, ignore it," she whispers as she reclaims his lips.

He chuckles and kisses her back, moving his hands to her breasts again to touch them. That does feel good.

"Dana, this is your mother. Please pick up if you're there…"

"Damn," Scully says as she hears her mother's voice and quickly detangles herself from Mulder to get up and answer the phone.

"Hi, mom," she says. "Sorry, I was just in the other room."

"Oh, that's all right, dear," her mother answers her. "I was just calling to confirm our dinner plans, are you still coming over tonight?"

"Yeah, yeah I am," Scully says, although to be honest she'd forgotten all about that.

"You're welcome to invite Fox along too, you know?" she says - she always says that and Scully never takes her up on it.

"All right, mom, I think I might do that," she smiles into the phone.

"That sounds good honey. I'll see you tonight then. When will you be over?"

"Probably around five, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's perfect. See you soon, Dana."

"See you soon, mom," she says and hangs up.

"So, how do you feel about going to my mother's tonight for dinner?" she asks him.

Mulder is smiling, his whole face lights up when he smiles like that.

"Sounds good," he nods his head.

They make some sandwiches for lunch and soon there's another phone call. Scully picks up this time, and it turns out to be Byers. He speaks mainly in codes over the phone, but he wants to know how Mulder is doing. Scully tells him that all is good and that they'll come over for a little visit. It's on the way to her mother's anyway.

When Mulder and Scully arrive at the gunmen's lair they're instantly pulled into an argument over whether or not Richard Nixon was an alien. This somehow develops into an argument over Paul McCartney's alleged death and from there on it spirals out of control.

Scully finds herself enjoying the company of her unusual friends and she likes to see Mulder is getting back to his old self.

"Mulder," Scully has to interrupt him.

"Yeah?" he smiles up at her.

"We got to go now if we want to make it to my mother's in time," she tells him.

"That's it, Mulder, you're tied down now," Langley kids, pushing his glasses in place as he laughs.

"Lucky son-of-a-bitch," Frohike mutters under his breath.

"C'mon, guys," Byers shakes his head. "Scully and Mulder, we really are happy for you."

"Thank you, Byers," Mulder smiles and shakes his friend's hand.

"Speak for yourself," Frohike snickers.

"C'mon, Melvin," Mulder grins and pulls him in for a hug. "Her heart still belongs to you, you know that."

"I know, I know," he sighs and pats Mulder's back, finally giving him a smile.

"Don't worry, boys," Scully chuckles. "I'll take good care of your playmate."

"Oh, we know you will," Langley titters earning an eye roll from Scully.

"That's my ride," Mulder says pointing to Scully as she starts to leave. "Later, guys."

"Later, Mulder," they yell after him.

"It's so nice to have you over," Mrs. Scully smiles at the two of them.

"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Scully," Mulder says politely before taking a sip from his tea.

They've had an amazing dinner followed by pie and now they're sitting in the living room enjoying a cup of tea.

"You're always welcome, Fox," she says sweetly.

"Have you talked to the boys lately?" Scully asks her.

"Oh yes," Mrs. Scully nods at the mention of her sons. "Actually Bill called earlier. Little Matthew is growing up so fast."

Mrs. Scully and Scully talk back and forth about their family and agree to find a day soon to go out and visit them. Mulder is content just looking at Scully. Watching her interact with her mother, watching her sip her tea and lean her head back and laugh, pushing a few strands of hair out of her face. She's so beautiful.

"It's getting late," Mrs. Scully finally says, as she can't hold back a yawn.

"I'm sorry, mom, we'll leave now," Scully smiles and finishes her tea.

"That's not what I meant, dear," the older woman shakes her head. "I have a few spare beds, are you sure you don't want to stay the night? It would give us a bit more time together tomorrow as well."

"That's nice of you, mom," Scully smiles and looks over to Mulder.

"Oh," he realizes it's up to him. "It sounds lovely, thank you, Mrs. Scully."

"Alright," she smiles. "I'll go up and make the beds for you."

"Mom, I'll help you," Scully says and runs after her mother.

Mulder carries their empty cups to the kitchen and rinses them out in the sink. He joins the women upstairs and helps Scully with the sheets.

"I'll go to bed, kids," Mrs. Scully says.

"Goodnight, mom," Scully smiles at her and gives her a hug.

"Goodnight, honey," she smiles lovingly at her daughter. "And goodnight, Fox."

"Night, Mrs. Scully," he returns her smile.

"So," Scully says as her mother has gone to the master bedroom. "Wanna sleep in here and sneak out in the morning?"

She's playful as she asks him this and she slips her arms around his middle.

"That sounds good," he grins down at her and captures her lips in a small kiss.

She looks on in surprise as Mulder strips out of all his clothes, including his boxers, and gets into bed.

"What are you doing?" she asks him.

"You said to share it with you when I was excited," he bites his lip. "I'm excited now!"

"Mulder," she shakes her head, but starts undressing, nonetheless. "We're in my mother's house."

He's mesmerized, watching her undress. As she's naked she joins him in bed.

"Just don't get disappointed," he says shyly.

"Never," she promises and reaches out for him.

They kiss languidly, touching and caressing each other. He moves on top of her, his heart beating loudly in his chest. He's nervous but he's excited as well. This woman loves him. She wants to make love to him. It's all so much, so unbelievable.

"Put my leg over your shoulder," she guides him and he does as he's told.

"Now enter me," she says, biting her lip.

He shifts around so his hard penis is right at her entrance. He pushes gently into her, watching her facial expression as he does so. She moans content and he's surprised at how intimate and perfect it feels.

He makes a few thrusts into her.

"Not so fast," she says.

He smiles down at her. She moves her hand down to his behind and shows him the gentle and slow pace to follow. She gasps and he stops moving.

"It's okay," she tells him.

He begins moving again, same gentle and slow rhythm as before. She leans her head back and closes her eyes, her mouth slightly ajar. She's so beautiful.

As he makes love to her, images and memories are flying around in his head but all he can focus on is Scully.

His heart fills with warmth and it's like a billion butterflies are creating tiny explosions in his stomach as everything comes back to him.

She's writhing beneath him, making appreciative sounds as he moves within her. She bites down on her lip, trying not to be too vocal as she experiences an orgasm.

The look on her face alone is enough to push him over the edge. The feeling of her inside muscles tensing around him helps it along too.

After his climax he collapses down on the bed. He pulls her into an embrace, kissing her lazily before he falls asleep.

SUNDAY

She's awoken to small kisses on her neck as the man she loves is spooned up to her.

"Mmh, morning," she mumbles, leaning back in the embrace.

"Morning, Scully," he says in between kisses.

"Scully?" she instantly notices the change in his name for her, turning around in his arms.

"Yeah," he smiles. "I didn't get to tell you last night but I remember."

"I'm so glad, Mulder," she sighs and gives him a sweet little kiss.

"Me too," he agrees.

"So do you know what happened to you? Do you know why you couldn't remember?"

"Honestly," he sighs. "I think I just needed to realize how incredibly lucky I am. I needed to see you like 15-year-old me would see you."

"Why? I thought we were fine," she says.

"We were. And we weren't. There are so many things we don't talk about, Scully. Things we can only talk to each other about but things we for some reasons always avoid."

"Yeah," she nods her head, looking him deep into his eyes.

"It felt great talking to you like that, I never would have had the courage if I was really me."

"It did feel good to talk about things," she agrees smiling. "You were so different at 15 than what I had imagined. I'm glad I got to experience you like that."

"Different how?" he asks, giving her forehead a small kiss.

"Just… just so innocent and so lost. I don't know how to explain it. You were so open with your feelings, so ready to love."

"Yeah, I was like that. So ready and so desperate for love that I fell for all the wrong women," he sighs, closing his eyes - Scully knows in part who he's talking about.

"So when did you get to kiss a girl, Mulder?"

"Hm," he chuckles. "It's kinda embarrassing but I was 19. I was 20 when I lost my virginity."

"Wow," she's so surprised at this. "And I always thought you were such a lady killer."

"That's how I wanted people to see me. Not like a scared kid."

"Is that why you lied to Langley?" she wonders. "About having a girlfriend in high school."

"I guess," he shrugs. "He said something about me killing it in high school and I just made some joke about my love being preserved for Gemma Watkins all of freshman year. I don't think I ever even talked to her, it was just the first name to pop into my head."

"Silly," she chuckles and kisses the ridge of his nose.

"Very," he agrees with a slight smile.

"Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," he says sincerely. "I don't say that enough."

"Neither do I," she smiles happily at him. "I love you, Mulder."

"Mmh, that feels so good to hear," he sighs. "But I know you do. I'm so blessed."

"Me too," she agrees.

The door to the bedroom opening interrupts them. Mrs. Scully is surprised by the sight before her, but only smiles at the young couple, even though they look slightly horrified as they embrace under the covers.

"Sorry," the older woman grins. "I just wanted to say good morning to Dana."

"Hi, mom," Scully sighs.

"Good morning to you too, Fox," Mrs. Scully smiles at him.

"Morning, Mrs. Scully," he says, not quite meeting her eye.

"I'll leave you be now," she says and closes the door behind her as she leaves them alone.

The couple shares a smile and lets out a little laugh.

They're quiet for a long time. Only sharing a few kisses and touches as they enjoy the peace and quiet. It's rare that they have moments like this, and are able to enjoy each other like this.

"I can't forget what you said about that baby, Mulder," she finally breaks the silence.

"Baby?" he frowns.

"You said you dreamt about a baby boy that called me mom and you dad," she says, not quite meeting his eyes.

"I did," he sighs. "I still think about that sometimes."

"I'm so sorry I can never give you that," she sighs.

"Me too. I'm sorry I can't give you a baby. He'd be perfect, just like you."

"I would like him to look like his father," she admits.

"As long as he had your eyes and your nose," he smiles.

"Mmh," she chuckles and kisses him. "I love you."

"And I love you," he says. "And even though I would have liked to give you a baby, I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together."

"I do too," she says and she means it too.

It's still early in the morning when the two partners of the FBI lie in bed and talk about the child that could have been. Little do they know, that the life they talk about has been growing for the past two weeks in the woman's womb.

THE END