Disclaimer: as hard as I am trying, I still don't own these characters… damn! Sadly, they belong to his majesty, the creator of the X Files universe and beyond; Chris carter. Who knows? Maybe one day I will create a show with characters as awesome as Mulder and scully; (if it's even possible?) then Chris carter will write fan fiction!! (Evil laugh).

Summary: scully meets Diana Fowley. Mulder explains his history with her and what scully is to expect. Scully gets into a fight with Diana; but for what reason? The real reason, at least.

A/note: I wan to draw this story out a bit, rather than rush Mulder and scully into a relationship. I am gonna use heaps of references to the show, but fiddle with the plot, (cos I can!) and I wanna mess around with the characters relationships too. Don't worry; I won't be stupid or anything. Props to xfilelover777 for giving me some ideas, And to all the rest of my reviewers for their feedback. So here's chapter 2!!

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"Since when is your locker right next to mine?" scully asked as she once again; found she was struggling to open hers.

"Since this morning." Mulder said, placing his text books in his own locker. He shut it and leaned against it, watching scully.

"Any reason why?" she huffed.

Mulder chuckled. He leaned over and gave her locker a whack with his fist, causing it to open. "Well for one, it's near my classes; and two, so I can help you open yours."

She couldn't help but appreciate the gesture. "Fair enough."

It had been only a few weeks since she first met Mulder. Although they still had heaps of things to learn about each other; she had a strong sense of familiarity with him. It was like they had been friends for so many years; they didn't need to talk about themselves. He quickly learned to read the looks she gave him, and she had learned that when he said one thing; he meant another. They had begun meeting between classes and spent time together during lunch. Their friendship was still new and their personalities were very different; but they seemed to have bonded well.

They sat in the cafeteria one day during lunch. She enjoyed eating lunch with him, for some reason; lunch became the most enjoyable time of the day.

"Wonder what I have after lunch?" Scully said as she sifted through her bag trying to find her timetable. It was pathetic; she had been there for three weeks, and she still couldn't remember her classes.

"English." Mulder piped up. Okay… that was creepy. He knew her timetable already.

"As if you remember that?!" She queried.

"Photographic memory. Trust me; it's not that great. It's more of a curse than a gift." He replied, tapping his temple with his fingers.

"Serious? Damn, I wish I had a memory like that." She replied. It was true, she tended to forget things.

Mulder gave her a serious look and leaned over the table; looking her in the eye. "Scully, trust me when I say this; it's not something I enjoy. You do not want a memory like mine."

Scully didn't say anything. Why was it so bad? You would never forget anything. Then it dawned on her. You would never forget. Every memory, no matter how terrible; would live with him for the rest of his life. His attitude to his memory told her he must have experienced something awful in his past, and suddenly, she felt very sympathetic towards him.

"Hi fox" a voice said from behind Mulder. He unwillingly broke scully's gaze and turned around. Oh crap.

Scully looked up to see a tall, brunette girl in a cheerleader outfit standing behind Mulder. Mulder turned back and looked down at his lunch.

"Hi Diana." He grumbled.

Diana sat down next to him, totally ignoring the fact that he was in the middle of a conversation. She didn't even acknowledge scully. He looked extremely uncomfortable now.

"Fox, I was wondering if you could do me a favour…" she said.

"I'm not helping you with your English homework Diana." He said grumpily.

"Oh, come on! Just help me do this assignment. We can meet after school; I promise, it will only take an hour." She whined, wriggling closer to him.

"I can't," he looked up at scully. "Me and scully are studying at her place."

This wasn't true. Scully understood the look he was giving her though, his face was begging her to go along with his story. Diana finally looked at her, she stared at her angrily.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Diana fowley." She said uncomfortably. She shook scully's hand quickly and forcibly. It was obvious that she wasn't impressed with scully occupying Mulder's time.

"Dana scully." She replied politely. Diana quickly returned her attention back to Mulder; who had scooted away from her when she wasn't looking. He looked not only uncomfortable, but unimpressed as well.

Diana leaned into him and whispered; "well, we'll catch up later." Before she stood up and walked away. Mulder rolled his eyes and sighed in relief.

"You okay, Mulder?" Scully asked concernedly.

Mulder looked away from her. "It's a long story. Basically we used to be friends, back in the last few years of primary school; but mostly because she thought I was cute and she could copy all my homework. When we got to high school, she only talks to me when she wants something. She still likes me though, but I don't like her back. She gets jealous when I talk to girls, and makes their life hell. She thinks I'm her property. You should be careful." He shrugged.

"I can hold my own. That's really cruel though, she shouldn't treat you that way."

Mulder met her eyes. She was taking his side, most of the time; girls backed off from him. But scully, was worried about how he felt. God she was wonderful. "Have fun in English then." He replied.

"Why?"

"We have it with Diana, remember?" He chuckled.

Scully didn't really notice. She sat at the back of the class with Mulder, and never took much notice of her classmates. Thinking about it; he was right. Diana sat at the front of the class with all the popular people. She nodded at him, but smiled to reassure him that she could survive the lesson.

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Mulder and scully were late for English. The seat that scully usually occupied, was now taken by a guy with beady rat-like eyes. Mulder's seat was still free though. There was one other chair free in the classroom; right at the front, next to Diana.

"You can take my chair if you want." Mulder whispered.

"No Mulder. You take the seat next to rat boy," Mulder smiled at her, "I'll take the one next to Diana."

Mulder smiled and gave her a look that asked 'you sure?' Scully smiled back at him and nodded her head. Wow, silent conversation; this was pretty cool, they had read each others mind. They separated and took their seats.

After about five minutes; Diana slid a folded piece of paper over to scully. Scully looked up at Mr. Skinner to make sure he wasn't watching. She opened it.

'So how long have you known fox??'

Scully considered her answer. She knew Diana didn't like her, but she wasn't going to let her treat her as bad as she did Mulder. She replied,

'Since the start of the year. You?'

'We go way back… we are really close.'

'Bullshit!' thought scully, she had to see this conversation though;

'Really??? Mulder never mentioned you! And we hang out all the time!'

'Oh… all the time? Wow. Aren't you bill scully's sister?'

'Yeah, and Melissa's too. Do you know her?'

'I know of her…'

'What do you mean???'

'Nothing. I just heard a few rumours about her. That's all.'

This struck a nerve. If Diana wanted to mess around with her, fine. She could handle herself. But NOBODY messed with her family. They had been at the school for only a few weeks and Melissa wasn't dating anyone. They hadn't been there long enough for rumours to be flying.

'Care to share?'

Diana scrunched up the paper and hid it in her pencil case. She and scully turned to face each other, scully was very interested to hear what Diana had to say about her family.

"Well, there's one about her sleeping with some guys on the football team. Apparently she had a scare when she got pregnant" Diana smiled at her. She was doing this deliberately and scully knew it. But she was going to find the person who had started this rumour and beat them stupid. This was not cool.

"Can I ask… who said that and when?" Scully whispered as steadily as she could.

Diana leaned in and smirked at scully. "Put it this way, I haven't started that particular rumour yet. And I won't, if you leave my fox alone."

All composure that scully had prided herself on was gone. She was so angry she had no idea what was happening. Her fist connected with Diana's right eye. Diana fell to the floor; scully slid off her chair and stood over her. Diana quickly got herself up from the floor and grabbed scully's hair as she began punch any part of her she could. Mr. Skinner wasn't in the room; he had ducked out of the classroom to talk to another teacher.

Mulder was quick to react. He flew from his chair and held Diana back, trying to keep her from doing any more damage to scully. Scully was lying on the ground; her lip was bleeding and she had a bruise forming on her forehead, she held her ribs. Diana didn't look any prettier; she had a black eye developing and her nose was bleeding.

Mr. Skinner had finally arrived to investigate the noise his class was making.

"What the hell is going here?!" He yelled, approaching the scene. Diana was still struggling against Mulder to try and get another hit in at scully, who was still lying on the floor in pain. She felt like she had cracked a rib, because breathing hurt her chest.

"Sir. I think it's pretty obvious what happened here. I think Dana needs to see the nurse." Mulder said. Diana, noticing that Mr. Skinner had returned; quickly calmed down and stepped back from Mulder. Mr. Skinner looked down at scully.

Mr. Skinner looked at Mulder. "Fox, take Dana to the nurse's office," he then looked at Diana. "You are coming with me to the principal's office"

"Fine, but I didn't start it. She did. I'm the innocent one here." She said smugly. She wasn't at all concerned with the fact that she was in trouble.

"That will be for Mr. Spender to decide. Now come with me." She followed him out of the classroom.

Mulder knelt down next to scully and hooked her arm around his shoulder; he rested his other hand on her waist. He lifted her up to her feet; she winced in agony. They walked slowly out of the classroom, once they were out of the view of their class mates, scully finally spoke up, she was if anything, a trooper;

"AH! Mulder, I can't walk that fast! I reckon I cracked a rib." She said as her legs buckled beneath her.

"Okay then… um, alright." Mulder nervously said as he leant down and put one hand behind her knees, and the other behind her back. He carefully, yet effortlessly, picked her up and began walking down the hall. She relaxed in his arms; the pain had subsided a little. "Care to explain what that was about, by the way. What did she say to you?"

Scully thought about it. Diana had threatened her sister, which was part of the reason she reacted. But was it also the fact that she treated Mulder badly? Who was she defending? Melissa… or Mulder? She looked up at him, "It doesn't matter Mulder." he nodded. She rested her thumping head on his chest as they reached the nurse's office. She felt more comfortable in Mulder's caring arms than she had since she began school. That was definitely something interesting that she didn't understand. Right now though, she didn't care.

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Okay, I took that a little further than I intended. If you liked it, or you want more, just hit that review button and speak your mind. I love feedback!! Sorry if it took a while to update. Next chapter should be up in the next 48 hours. SNEAK PEEK: what would bill say if he found out scully got in a fight? And why didn't Diana get into trouble for fighting with scully… I feel a conspiracy coming along ;)