Hello everyone! I just very recently got into the X-Files and I'm loving every minute of it. I, like many others, jumped quickly onto the ship of Mulder and Scully and couldn't keep myself away from writing something on them. If you enjoy my work, please feel free to look at my other stories that are posted on the site – some are incomplete and others are complete but I am still working on them as school and work allows. These will be somewhat connected one-shots of our favorite FBI duo – I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. There will be some Original Characters's thrown in here as well – but they will be introduced as needed.

A is for Advice

"It's impossible."

At least, that's what Mulder believed as he wadded up the sixth piece of paper he had scribbled on that afternoon and lobbed it toward his destroyed garbage can. How the piece of metal had sustained itself after he had busted it with his foot he would never know.

"You look as good as I feel, Mr. Garbage Can."

Sighing, Mulder's forehead found contact with his desk. He should have been fingering through the X-Files, attempting to find something that he could send to Skinner as a possible lead. He was going crazy just sitting at his desk as he had been for the past week. Lifting his head, his eyes wandered over to his filing cabinets. If he could just find the silliest possible lead, then maybe he could get Skinner to write it off and he and Scully could –

Wait. Hold on. Brain. Stop.

Mulder let his forehead fall into his hand as he groaned. Scully. She was the reason he was in this predicament anyway. If she hadn't been on his mind every once in a while – constantly – , if she hadn't been so kind to him – she believes in you – and if she hadn't been born with such adorable features – she was stunning – then he wouldn't have his current problem. He knew it wasn't her fault, though. Not at all. The fault was all his.

After years of flirting, leading questions, intimate moments and near misses of lips touching one another, and the few brilliant times that they did, he finally admitted it to himself. He was hopelessly in love with her.

He had spent the last week trying to write out his feelings on notebook paper, hoping that one of the papers would hold an accurate and satisfying description of how he felt towards her and he hoped – oh, so hoped – that she might feel the same. But every time he would reread what his frantic hand had written, he had deemed it lacking and threw it at his garbage can.

"I'm never going to be able to tell her," he whispered. With downcast eyes, he stood to collect the four crumpled papers that hadn't quite met their target. After throwing the first three in the garbage can, he held the most recent one in his fingers, smoothing it out to read once more what he had written.

Dana,

This is going to sound crazy. Ridiculous, even, especially coming from me. I've tried to write it out so many times but I just keep coming back to the same basic line.

I love you –

The sound of crumpling paper filled the room once more as he discarded it to the floor. He stood, fulling intending to look through his cases when his phone rang on his desk. He picked up the receiver gingerly, praying to God that he didn't have to hear her angelic voice after what he had just put himself through.

"Mulder."

"Mulder, it's Skinner. I need you in my office, as soon as possible."

"Yeah, you got it. I'll be right up."

"Good."

The dial tone rang in his ear as Skinner hung up the phone. Placing the receiver down, he allowed himself one last look at his disgruntled garbage can and the lone piece of paper lying next to it.

"I'll pick it up later. Duty calls."

…

Opening a door quietly was not his forte, as Dana would say, and the receptionist for Skinner's office jumped as he walked in.

"Agent Mulder, Director Skinner is expecting you. You can go right in."

"Thank you," he nodded as he walked by. He gave the door one simple knock before turning the knob.

"Mulder, have a seat."

Mulder's careful eyes scanned Skinner's face, hoping to pick up on some sort of emotion. It wasn't often that he was called into his office with no idea as to why he was there.

"Is there a problem, sir?" He asked as he plopped down in the familiar chair.

"No, no problem. A case came across my desk this morning, seems to be right up your alley. Three missing men in Arizona, all under unexplainable circumstances. Seems to be that they just vanished into the ground. The Sheriff is asking for some extra help on this case, so I thought it would be best to send you and Scully."

Mulder took the file from Skinner's fingertips and nodded.

"Of course, sir, Agent Scully and I will be right on it."

Looking up, he wasn't expecting Skinner's eyes to be piercing straight through him. He fidgeted a little bit, uncomfortable under his boss's stern gaze.

"Is…is there a problem, sir?" He asked again.

"I don't know, Mulder, is there? You never refer to Dana as Agent Scully, not since you first started working together. Has something happened?"

Mulder gulped, his eyes surely going wide. "Um, no, sir, everything is fine. I just…spoke without thinking, I guess."

Skinner's glare intensified, obviously searching for a gap in Mulder's story. There were plenty.

Mulder sighed and muttered quickly, "Okay, fine, I guess…something happened. But nothing between the two of us and nothing that she would know about. We're okay."

Skinner was silent. Taking that as a cue to leave, Mulder nodded and stood. Fixing his jacket, he walked a few steps towards the door before Skinner's voice stopped him.

"You love her, don't you?"

Mulder froze, his fingers tightening on the file. Without turning around, he whispered, "What?"

"Trust me, Mulder, I've been around enough young men that I know when they've fallen and they've fallen hard."

Mulder took a shaky step behind him so he could look Skinner in the eye. His gaze wasn't piercing anymore it was almost…accepting.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

"You've been working with Agent Scully for many years, Mulder, and honestly I'm surprised that you haven't figured it out sooner. She was paired with you to debunk your work and it backfired spectacularly. Not only is she now hellbent on helping you with your work, you've fallen in love with her, and she's fallen in love with you."

Surprising himself, Mulder let out a sharp laugh. "I don't think she's in love with me."

Skinner chuckled, rotating his chair so that he was facing Mulder. "Don't sell yourself so short. You should see the way she looks at you when you're not looking or how she defends you from other agents."

Mulder stared at him, words failing to form on his lips. "Why are you telling me this?"

Skinner gave him a small smile. "Because for the man who thinks he knows it all, from every X-File to what basketball team is going to win Thursday nights game, you've never really had anyone to turn to for advice, have you?"

"Of course I have," Mulder spluttered, "I've had…well, my contacts through the FBI, and the Lone Gunmen, and…well…"

"Did you ever talk to your father?"

Mulder gulped, his gaze dropping to the floor as it would if he were around his father. "No. No, I never really asked him for advice on anything."

Skinner's smile fell from his lips. Standing, he walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Then let me tell you what your father should have told you at some point. There comes a time in almost every man's life that a woman walks in and pushes them right on their ass. She'll be everything that you admire with maybe a few things that you don't. If she's the one that's supposed to stay in your life for good, you'll realize that you never want to let her go. That you'd do anything to keep her around, to protect her. Sometimes that realization comes within a week. Sometimes it takes a couple years. Sometimes you know it immediately but your brain won't let you comprehend it until much later. Ask yourself, Mulder…is Scully a woman that you want to let get away?"

Mulder gaped at him, his heart pounding. Finally, he sighed. "No. No, I don't ever want her to slip away."

"Then tell her that. Tell her every little thought that goes through your head at night. However much we as men might believe it, women aren't mind readers. She isn't going to know unless you tell her."

Mulder chuckled sadly, his mind racing. "What if…what if I can't? What if the words just…don't work?"

"They'll work. When you need them to the most…they'll work."

Mulder was silent for a moment. Looking up, Skinner nodded at him and patted him on the shoulder.

"Now, back to work Agent. You've got a trip to Arizona first thing tomorrow morning."

Mulder nodded and made his way toward the door again. With his hand on the knob, he turned toward Skinner once more.

"Sir?"

"Yeah," he groaned as his older body sank into his chair.

"Thank you."

Skinner looked at him from the corner of his eye and smiled. "Don't screw it up, Mulder."

Smiling, Mulder made his way through the door and quickly out of Skinner's office. His brain was mulling now, trying to once again come up with a way to explain himself to his partner. He probably looked crazy, crazier than everyone already thought he was, as he walked through the hallways towards his office muttering.

There's something I need to tell you –

I just…can't hold it in anymore,

Even if you don't feel the same way –

That was the part that hurt him. What if she didn't feel the same way? What if he poured his heart and soul out and all it resulted in was him getting assigned a new partner?

He was still muttering to himself as he reached his office. Opening the door quickly, and loudly, he didn't quite notice the jacket slung over the chair across from his desk.

"What if she – " Looking up, he froze. There she was, red hair gently floating against her shoulders and her bright blue eyes staring at something in her hands as she stood next to his garbage can. A piece of paper. A crumpled piece of paper.

Mulder's voice caught. "Um."

She looked up, tears brewing in her eyes. "I was wondering why it was on the floor so…so I picked it up."

Mulder screwed his eyes shut, his face turning tomato red. His voice raspy he whispered, "Which one is that?"

She was silent for a moment and then… "Dana. This is going to sound crazy. Ridiculous, even, especially coming from me. I've tried to write it out so many times but I just keep coming back to the same basic line – "

"I love you," he whispered. Keeping his eyes closed, his mouth did what it did best. Rambled.

"Dana, I'm so sorry, you were never supposed to read those. I just…I don't know what happened…I understand if you don't want to talk to me again – ommp!"

He was expecting yelling. He was expecting anger from her lips and daggers from her eyes. He was maybe even expecting a pitiful letdown from her. What he wasn't expecting, was to feel something warm and soft against his lips. His eyes flying open, he was greeted with the beautiful sight of Dana standing barely out of hands reach, her eyes gently closed as she met his lips with hers.

He stood there, rigid like a statue until she made the next move. He wasn't going to think too much into it until she said something, did something. Finally, she pulled away, but only just barely.

"Please don't say you're sorry. That would kill me."

He stared at her. "What?"

Taking a gulp, her gaze fluttered downward. "Do…do you mean it?"

It felt like it took all the strength he had to keep speaking. "Mean what?"

"You're note. Notes, I guess," she laughed softly as she looked over to the garbage can. "Do you really mean what you wrote in them?"

She looked up at him and his breath caught at her eyes pleading with him. Almost hoping.

"I…yeah. Yeah, I do."

She stared at him for a second before quickly reaching behind her and into her coat pocket. After a quick moment of searching she pulled out a crumpled piece of what looked like shopping list paper and thrust it at him, her cheeks blazing.

"I…I wrote that last week."

He took it gingerly, his hands shaking as he unfolded it. Even though the words had been washed away a bit and the creases cut off some of the letters, he was able to read it.

Fox,

This is ridiculous, I should be able to just tell you this straight to your face. I would be the happiest woman alive if we kept going as we were, the best of friends and the strongest partners. But…I know I would be lying to myself if I said that that really was all I wanted out of us. The truth is, over the past couple of years I've realized something. I've realized that I don't want to spend the rest of my life without you. I don't want to tell people that you're just my best friend. I don't think I could bear seeing you kiss someone else.

Long story short…I love you –

The words cut out just like his, but whether it was because Dana had stopped writing or because his hands were shaking so bad that he couldn't see them anymore he wasn't sure.

"Writing all those case reports has done well for you, hasn't it?" He laughed softly.

She smiled. "I suppose, yeah. I just…why do we keep dancing around the facts, Mulder? The ones that we both know."

He looked up at her, at her piercing gaze and her trembling lip. "I…I don't know. But I do know…that I don't want to anymore."

"Me neither."

Giving her a small smile, he placed her note on his desk as he took the step forward that brought them back together. Looking down at her, he realized that it was now or never.

"I don't ever want to let you go, Scully. Not now. Not ever. I thought all I wanted in life was to find the truth. Now…now that's the almost the last thing on my mind. I want to wake up next to you and make breakfast while it rains outside. I want to join you on your class reunions and your family events even if it means staring Bill in the face for a couple hours. I want to stand by your side through the good times and the bad and say I love you every time we leave each other. I…"

Trailing off, he knew that he could say a thousand words and while she'd happily listen they still wouldn't tell her exactly what he felt. Taking her hands lightly in his, he dipped his head forward until his lips met hers hungrily and his eyes fell shut. She responded in kind, her hands leaving his and snaking their way up his chest and around his neck before nestling themselves in his hair. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, one around her waist and the other up her back as his heart threatened to pound right out of his chest. He lifted her slightly so that she was now sitting on his desk. How many times had he had this fantasy? Way too many.

They stayed like that for Lord knows how long, breaking for air only when they absolutely needed to and then immediately going back to each other. Their initial passion died down, slightly, and they pulled away only to rest against each other's foreheads.

"I love you," he muttered roughly, his hands resting on her waist.

Her fingers kneaded into his shirt, and he realized that she had undone the three top buttons without him noticing, as her lips strained to be closer to his. "I love you, too."

He probably had his signature goofy grin on his face as he brought his lips to hers again.

"We have a case tomorrow in Arizona," he laughed as she groaned. "But, I think since we have to be on a plane early in the morning, that Skinner might let us have the rest of the day off."

Her eyes blazed into his. "That sounds perfect. Can we ask him after we're already home?"

"Even better."

Home. Not her home. Not his home. Just home.

As she pulled him quickly out the door, leaving barely enough time to grab their jackets and keys, he let that word radiate in his brain. Turning to lock the door, he nuzzled into her as she left a trail of kisses on his neck.

"Let's go home."

Alright, I'm officially in love with writing them. This is my first time so they may be a little bit out of character, but I hope to work on that. Please feel free to leave any sort of comments in the reviews! I love reading them and they help make me such a better writer! Thank you, and as always please read, share, and review! -ImplusiveWriter321