Waking up to a new day in the unremarkable cabin on York River gets a bit steamy.

GOOD MORNING, AGAIN

—

Saturday

11:43 A.M.

—

The next time her eyes open, the room feels empty and cold. It doesn't take her long to deduce why when her hand comes into contact with cool sheets in the empty space behind her. Drawing the covers more tightly around herself, Scully scans the brightly lit room for its missing occupant. She's about to call his name when it dawns on her that the water in the bathroom is running. Smiling to herself, she rolls to her side and allows the covers to fall out of her grasp as she sits up and faces the closed bathroom door. The unfinished oak bed frame sits high enough off the ground that her feet dangle as they drop the side, forcing her to scoot a little closer to the edge to make contact with the floor.

Eyeing her suitcase on the opposite side of the room, she contemplates getting dressed and taking better stock of what is in the refrigerator, but the distinct sound of water cascading off of his body and onto the shower floor in the adjacent room quiets her rumbling stomach and gives rise to another form of hunger. As satisfying as the sex had been earlier this morning, it had done little to quell her heightened libido.

Goosebumps form across her skin as her body responds to the cool morning air and the prospect of joining her lover in the shower. Scully had showered prior to Mulder arriving at her apartment the evening before, but after their impassioned night in front of the fire and their morning in bed, she could use another one.

As she moves to stand, she hesitates briefly. She has showered with Mulder before, but neither occasion had been under the guise of passion. The first had been a decontamination shower, and the other had been a rushed and desperate attempt to not be late to a paneled briefing after failing to set their alarms the night before. Neither instance had been conducive to sexual advances, let alone romance.

Making her way across the room and resting her hand on the bathroom door, she's well aware of the fact that if she joins him now, there will be nothing casual or convenient about what follows. Joining him now will be another first. It will be a step towards something she has always avoided in all of her previous relationships. It will be a step towards more.

She enters quietly, closing the door behind her as quickly and as quietly as possible in an attempt to conceal her entry. The combination of steam and the view before her warms her cooled skin. Smirking and biting her bottom lip, she stands alongside the shower and watches her lover's toned, naked form move behind the frosted glass.

This thing between them is still new enough that the sensual thoughts crossing her mind give her pause, slowing her fingers before they can reach for the door.

In so many ways, Mulder is her first. It wasn't until she met Mulder that she truly understood the depth of emotion. What she feels for him, she has never felt before. Not with anyone. She had always balked at colleagues who had thrown away their careers and livelihoods for a good night in the hay. Now, as she stands outside of his shower, she understands why careers have been lost, wars have been fought, and empires have been built. He's the greatest risk she has ever taken.

"Are you going to just to stand out there or are you going to join me?"

Although there's an underlying playfulness to his tone, his question is serious.

Now that she's been caught, there's no turning back.

"Mmm … I came in to check on the status of the hot water. It appears that someone is using quite a bit of it."

She can't see his face through the frosted glass, but she doesn't have to be able to see him to feel the warmth of his smile on the other side. When the glass door pops open, her hesitance vanishes. The shower stall is small enough that he has to sidestep further into the shower to allow her to take a full step inside and close the door behind her.

"What kind of gentlemen would I be if I used it all?" he asks, his eyes meeting hers briefly as she joins him.

"Trust me, you're no gentleman," she says with a snort, as she watches his eyes rake up and down her body.

"I can be, but so far, nothing you've shown me this morning has encouraged my inner gentleman."

"Is that so?"

Brushing the front of her body against his, she encourages a shift in their position so that she can fall under the cascade of water with him.

"I was trying to be quiet. I was going to start breakfast before I woke you," he says seriously, the playfulness in his eyes gone as he reaches to move wet strands of hair out of her face.

The hunger she finds in his eyes weakens her knees. It's a look that has spread her legs and lifted her arms above her head on numerous occasions. Never before has she been so entranced and so willing to be completely and utterly dominated by another human being.

"Hmm … so you were going to use it all?" she asks, inserting humor back into the conversation in an attempt to erase the pictures flowing through her head before she loses all semblance of control.

"I was just finishing up and about to cut off the water when you arrived. Does the water feel cold to you?"

"No."

"Hmm."

Reaching behind him, she grabs the bottle of lavender scented Ivory soap resting on the corner and steps just outside of the spray. With a small smile playing on her lips, she hands him the bottle that is too full to be the one she packed.

"When did you buy this?"

"Last weekend," he says casually, taking her cue and lathering his hands with soap as she turns her back to him.

"Have you been snooping in my shower, Agent Mulder?"

"Recon is often the first step to any formal investigation, Agent Scully."

"And what investigation might that be?"

"Unravelling the mystery of Dana Scully."

Unable to hold back her light snort, she turns her head to look over her shoulder at him as he generously lathers her back with soap.

"I think it's safe to say that mystery there is dwindling, wouldn't you?" she asks him, raising her brow.

"To the contrary, actually," he says, raising his hands to run along her arms and up onto her shoulders where he begins to provide deeper pressure. "I know Scully quite well, but Dana … Dana is still a mystery."

His kneading hands momentarily render her incapable of speech. Tilting her head forward to provide him better access, she moans and arches her body in a way that encourages him to continue.

"If there's something you want to know, you should just ask," she finally manages to say, raising her hands to stabilize herself against the shower wall as he continues to work the kinks out of her shoulders, neck, and upper back.

Removing his hands only long enough to re-lather them with soap, he draws himself closer to nuzzle the side of her face as beings to massage her low back.

"Do you want me to ask you questions?" he asks her quietly.

The question surprises her and gives her pause. Does she want him to ask her questions?

It's in moments like these that she recognizes just how closed off she has become. The one person on the face of this planet that she desires to give herself to freely is hesitant to ask her questions in fear that she will shut him out or be made uncomfortable by his desire to know her on a more intimate and deeply personal level.

"Mulder, you can ask me anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

Stilling his hands over her hips, he lowers his lips to her neck.

"How long have you had this?" he asks, shifting his right hand to rest over her stomach where it begins to circle her navel and fumble with the piercing she has there.

Of all the more intensely personal questions he could have asked her, he has started with this one, and it makes her smile. Even with permission, he's making it a point to not press her too far or too hard, and she adores him for it.

"I got it my freshman year of college. My father wouldn't let me get one in high school, so it was high on my priority list at the time."

"Such a rebel," he says, chuckling as he reaches for more soap.

This time when he wraps his arms around her, he presses himself into her fully, allowing her to feel the length of his arousal as his hands roam the expanse of her body. His touch is teasing and exploratory but also respectful. Even though he had her just hours ago, he touches her as if he is touching her for the very first time. It's sensually breathtaking, incredibly romantic, and makes her loins swell with want.

Unable to take it any longer, she raises her hands to capture his.

"You missed a few places," she whispers, raising his right hand to cover her right breast and lowering his left hand to cup her pulsing sex.

"Are you asking me to wash you or make you come?"

"I was hoping that maybe you could multi-task."

Pulling her under the cascade of water, he lets the water run over them, rinsing her shoulders and back as he takes her cue, cupping and kneading her right breast more fully as his lips find the side of her neck.

She moans softly in appreciation as his fingers move to run over her sex, opening her to his caress. The lingering soap on his hand in combination with her own arousal allows his fingers to move through smoothly, and she can tell by the way his breath catches as his fingers circle her entrance that he's enamored by how wet she is for him. He doesn't verbalize his desire, but he doesn't have to. She can feel it in his touch. And if his touch weren't enough of an indication, the dick currently pulsing into her low back would have been.

When his thumb begins to circle her clit her knees threaten to buckle, forcing him to lower his other hand from her breast to stabilize her against him.

"See," he whispers playfully into her ear, "I told you that I could be a gentleman."

"I wish you wouldn't be."

Groaning, he adjusts his hand to insert one finger and then two.

"If you don't want a gentleman, then what do you want?"

"I want you to take what's yours," she says, lowering her voice an octave as she looks over her shoulder at him.

The look she gives him is one of permission. There is a time for loving and a time for fucking. And at the moment, she's only interested in the latter. Removing his fingers from within her, he presses her flush against the wall of the shower, his hot breath rustling the side of her face as he lifts her to accommodate for her their height difference.

"Does Dana enjoy getting fucked against a shower wall?"

"Dana's never been fucked against a shower wall, so she's not sure if she enjoys it or not … but she'd like to find out."

Although they have yet to have any conversations about the ones that have come before them, she has seen the curiosity in his eyes when he drives himself inside of her. From their very first time, he has touched her in a way that has sought out to erase the touches of the others before him. It's as if he sets a bar for each and every encounter. One that seeks to ruin her for anyone else. When he loves her, he possesses her. Which is why, now, as she is pinned against the wall of a shower in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, she has made a confession that she suspects will awaken the primitive beast inside of him that is screaming to come out.

When she feels the hot steel of his arousal at her entrance, she knows she's not wrong. Arching her back and spreading her legs, she places her palms flat against the shower wall to give him the leverage that she suspects he needs to fuck her like he really wants to.

The feel of him behind her, appraising her as the water cascades over them, is incredibly intoxicating, but before she can put much stock into the novelty of their positioning, he thrusts into her in one swift motion, taking her breath away.

She's not sure if it's the angle or the fact that she's given him permission to completely possess her, but he feels harder and larger than he has ever felt before. At first, his penetration is a little painful, but the positioning of their bodies in combination with the cascading water and echoes of his grunts of exertion as he drives into her is so sinfully erotic that she doesn't dare ask him to stop.

Arousal shoots through her like a rocket when his hand wraps around her, and his fingers begin to play with her clit. Her sex swells even more with the knowledge and recognition that even in his drive to entertain his own fantasies, he is still going to see to her pleasure.

"Scully," he groans, "I've never … you feel so good … too good … Jesus."

He's pumping into her with vigor, struggling to maintain control as his fingers begin to move more aggressively, encircling her clit and providing just the right amount of pressure to make her entire body clinch as she gasps for air.

"God, Mulder, I'm gonna — ohhhhh fuuuuck."

Within seconds she's coming apart in the most wonderful way. Her earlier discomfort completely forgotten as she goes limp against the wall. She is so lost in a sea of bliss that it takes her moment to realize that he's still inside of her … and he's not flaccid.

"Mulder, you didn't …?" she asks, unable to hide her surprise.

"No," he says, nibbling at her ear as he reaches down between them to remove himself from her depths. "As amazing as that was … I want to see you … I want to kiss you and look into your eyes. Is that okay?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she relaxes her legs and places her toes back down on the shower floor as their bodies separate. As Mulder's words wash over her, she becomes overwhelmed with emotion. Sensing a change in her demeanor, Molder's hands drop to her hips.

"Scully? Did I hurt you?"

"No … No, you didn't hurt me. You could never ... I just … I wasn't expecting …"

Placing pressure through her right hip, he encourages her to turn and face him. When she does, his hands raise to her cheeks and wipe at her tears.

"Scully, I meant what I said last night … This … It isn't just anything to me. The sex … it's amazing, but it's not the only thing I want."

Before she can formulate a response, he kisses her lightly on the lips and then reaches off to the side, grabbing a bottle of shampoo on a lower shelf that she hadn't noticed before. It too is a perfect match to what's in her suitcase.

"You could have told me that you had the toiletries covered," she says, finding her voice as she watches him pop open the top and lather the shampoo in his hands.

"When I tried to pilfer through your things, I was shooed away."

Raising his hands to her hair, he begins to massage her scalp, filling her hair with suds in a gentle reverence that she has come to expect from him. Mulder can be an ass, but he's also incredibly soft and loving. The care relayed in his touch is hopelessly romantic. Which is why, at this moment, he could have her in any way that he wanted, and she wouldn't object. She trusts him implicitly.

"I thought you were snooping in search of other things," she says, giving him a look of meaning.

"What other things?"

"Things like what I was wearing last night."

"Ah. Well, did you pack more of those things?"

"You'll have to wait and see," she says, raising her hands to place them on his chest as she looks up into his eyes.

Not giving him time to speak, she raises up on her toes and places her lips against his. The kiss is slow and sweet at first but quickly amplifies in intensity as his hands drop to fondle her breasts. Moaning into her mouth, he pulls her body flush against his own, pressing the length of his firm arousal into her toned stomach as a not so subtle reminder of how he wants to finish.

Reaching between them, she grasps him firmly in her hand and begins to stroke him as he shifts her under the water and rinses her hair. She's so engrossed in the task of kissing and stroking him, that it takes her moment to realize how much cooler the water has become. She's not sure how long they've been in here, but it's certainly been long enough to exhaust the hot water reserve.

Mulder appears to have realized it too, taking one of his hands off of her breast long enough to shut off the water as he pushes her firmly against the wall. Bringing his hand back to rest along her hip, he strokes her side and looks down at her dripping wet body with a transparent sense of awe.

"You're beautiful, Scully. Absolutely, beautiful."

She doesn't return the sentiment or thank him with words. Instead, she raises her hands to rest on his shoulders and lifts her right foot off the shower floor, raising her leg to rub her inner thigh on the outside of his left leg signaling to him that she's ready.

Grasping her hips, he lifts her to align their sexes. She tilts her pelvis in anticipation of his penetration, but to her surprise, he doesn't enter her immediately. Rubbing himself against her entrance, he rests his forehead against hers and looks deeply into her eyes as his lips ghost over hers.

"This is what I want."

His lips cover hers, preventing her from commenting as his tongue slips into her mouth. There are many things about the physical aspect of their relationship that Scully adores, but the first to catch her attention had been what a masterful kisser Mulder was. Pressing her more firmly into the wall, he kisses her with an intensity that steals the air from her lungs, pulling back only as he begins to enter her. When they had first embarked on this journey of exploration, his voyeurism had made her self conscious and a bit uncomfortable. As the physical aspect of their relationship has progressed, however, she has come to adore the fact that he likes to watch.

This time, his intrusion into her body is slow and calculated. His eyes remain on hers as he adjusts his hands on her to control his penetration and support her weight. Raising and wrapping her legs more tightly around his waist, she groans as he bottoms out within her. He's so deep and so thick within her that her muscles struggle to accommodate him and grip him adequately enough to provide the friction they are both craving.

Taking a deep breath, she tries desperately to relax as he begins to move within her. The addition of her body weight bearing down on him in this position is new and more aggressive than what she has experienced with him before. Sensing that he's going slow and holding back for her benefit, she bears down on him as hard as she can and begins to rock her pelvis against his to facilitate his thrusts.

"You don't have to go slow or be gentle. I'm not going to break," she murmurs into his ear, tilting her head to nibble at his neck.

As soon as the words leave her mouth, the current of charge that surrounds them ignites.

Shifting his hands to grip the cheeks of her ass, he moves his body against hers, grasping, grinding, and penetrating her with a force that he has never used with her before. She feels him everywhere all at once, and for the first time, she feels him begin to lose all semblance of control. It's all-consuming and far more erotic and sensually satisfying than she could have ever have imagined.

Together, they race towards ecstasy, cursing and moaning each other's names as they move against each other. Her only goal as they reach the summit is to last a few moments longer than he does. Mulder has always been so controlled, always seeing to her pleasure and delaying his own. For once, she wants to see him lose it. She wants to be the one to rip away his exterior locus of control and tickle the beast inside of him.

"Stop waiting," she pants in his ear. "Take me. Take all of me."

"Fuck, Scully, I can't … not when you haven't—"

"This isn't about me. This is about you taking what is yours."

The command she finds in her voice surprises even her. Clamping down on him as hard as she can, she scrapes her nails across his back and then lowers them to caress his low back and cup his balls. When she begins to massage him, he loses it, coming inside of her with copious spurts as he curses, speaks her name, and adjusts his hands to rub her in all the right places. Unable to hold back any longer she tilts her head back to look into his eyes as she joins him in nirvana.

For a moment, neither of them speaks, each of them fighting to catch their breath and reorient themselves to their surroundings. Resting his forehead against hers, he moves his hands to her thighs and eases her legs down as he pulls himself from her depths.

"Good morning," he whispers across her lips, smiling at the look of awe and wonder she knows he must see plastered across her face.

"Good morning," she repeats softly. "Again."

To this, he chuckles, running his hands along her sides as he looks into her eyes. She knows she should say something more, but she's too weightless and overwhelmed by endorphins to come up with anything profound.

"Stay here, I'll get you a towel," he says, tucking a piece of her wild, wet hair behind her ear.

He returns moments later with a large, fluffy, white towel that he wraps around her to keep the chill of the cooling air off of her skin.

"That was … amazing, Scully," he says quietly, raising his hand and sweeping it across her cheek as she arranges the towel to cover herself more fully.

"Yes … yes, it was."

"So … Dana liked the shower wall?"

Given what they were just doing, the blush that rises in her cheeks as he searches her eyes feels silly and juvenile. She knows he sees it when a small smile forms on his lips, and his hand shifts to allow his thumb to slip across the surface of her lips. In the heat of passion, Scully can allow herself to be wanton and commanding, but in the cold light of day, there is still an element of shyness and insecurity that engulfs her. Looking into his eyes now, she can't help but wonder if her goal is also his. When he watches her face as she comes, is he looking to strip her bare? To make her completely lose control? Breaking down her walls until there is nothing left that his eyes cannot see?

"Scully?" he asks, breaking her away from her thoughts.

She's been quiet for too long.

"Dana liked the shower wall," she whispers, putting his mind at ease by raising up on her toes to kiss him lightly on the lips.

"Hmm …"

Running her hands down his bare chest, she gives him one more peck on lips before lowering herself.

"You said something earlier about fixing me breakfast. Is that offer still on the table?"

"Most definitely," he says, kissing the top of her head as he reaches for his own towel. "Get dressed. I'll take care of breakfast."

"Hey, Mulder," she says, calling after him as he makes his exit.

"Yeah," he says, peeking back in the door.

"If there's a bagel in there with light cream cheese, it might be love."

AN: A special thanks to my betas ATTHS_TWICE and admiralty for their suggestions and edits on this chapter.