"I can't believe you're not going to let me pay for you," Mulder complained.

It was a Saturday evening and Mulder and Scully were out at the local movie theatre to catch a new film, something about aliens that was supposed to have really great effects. Mulder had been incredibly excited about it for weeks and kept badgering Scully to go with him. "It'll be great!" he had kept saying. "It'll practically be an educational trip. You know, it'll teach us more about what to expect on the X-Files – it's like 'Alien Invasion for Dummies'. Except in movie form." Scully really didn't want to go; she had had her fair share of aliens in her five years of working with Mulder and felt no need to encounter more in her spare time. Finally, though, after Mulder's persistent badgering, she had agreed to tag along.

This was how she came to be standing in front of the concession stand with an overly exuberant Fox Mulder.

"It seems wrong for me to make you pay," argued Mulder. "It's not traditional."

Scully laughed. "Right, and you are all about traditional."

"I am!" he exclaimed, pretending to be insulted. "I abide by the age-long traditional that attractive red-heads should never have to buy their own popcorn. I am a man of principle."

"Mulder, you already paid for my ticket," insisted Scully. "I am an independent working woman and I can afford to buy my own popcorn. Besides, you're not even going to buy anything for yourself!" She gestured to the bag of sunflower seeds protruding from Mulder's coat pocket.

"I don't see how that's relevant at all."

"Mulder!" groaned Scully. "I'm buying my own food and that is final! Why don't you go and get us seats or something? The movie's starting in a few minutes."

"Okay, okay," Mulder conceded. "But I feel like I should warn you," he said, removing his hand from the small of her back and backing away in the direction of their theatre, "that there may be something of extraterrestrial origin living in that popcorn."

"Mulder."

"No, I'm serious! It's all over the web! This new strain of alien bacteria is really attracted to oily substances like butter, and there have been many reported cases of people coming across it in their movie popcorn and becoming infected with – "

"Goodbye, Mulder."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you!"

Scully shook her head as she watched him walk into the theatre. She stepped up to the concession stand to order her popcorn.

The woman working was platinum blonde, plump and wearing about fifty tons of makeup on her face. She smiled warmly at Scully. "That man you're with sure is a dreamboat," she drawled in a squeaky tone. "What a looker! You sure are a lucky gal. Man, if that was my boyfriend, I wouldn't let him outta the house without promising me he'd - "

"What? You mean Mulder?" Scully interrupted quickly. "No, no, no, he's not my boyfriend," she corrected the woman with a small smile. This statement was met only with a blink. "Really," Scully repeated. "He's not."

The woman raised an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look. "Oh, honey," she said. "He sure acts like he is."

Scully stood there in shocked silence as the woman filled a bag with her popcorn. She and Mulder were just friends. Truly. And that's all they ever would be… Right?

"You want extra butter with that, sweetie?" the woman's voice wafted from behind the counter.

There was a pause before Scully said, "No."

Whether this was because she didn't like butter on her popcorn or because of what Mulder had told her, Scully wasn't entirely sure.