Disclaimer: They're not mine… they were created by another brilliant mind.

Thanks for reading my little story.

Chapter four

Worries

Half an hour later the door opened silently, both agents attentions turned to the door immediately. A tall, ball man stepped into the room on light toes, a pair of glasses covered his worried brown eyes. He wasn't a bad looking man but Dana couldn't place him anywhere, and he didn't look like a doctor.

"Scully, Mulder." The man offered quietly.

Jumping up from the chair Mulder was a big smile, "Skinner, damn good to see you."

"Good to see you too, I got your massage and came as soon as I could. How are you Scully?"

"Fine, Sir." The man looked like he could be from the FBI and she guessed he was from Mulder's reaction.

"Good." Returning to Mulder the man continued, "I take it that the situation is still the same?" Seeing Mulder nodding the man looked more worried, "you need to get out of here, the situation is already questionable, soon words will be out about this mess. I don't know how much of his confidential oak Merse remembers, my guess is not much, when he's faced with a little pressure. I've a rental car outside it will take you to a small cabin up in the Rockies. A specialist in amnesia will be waiting in the nearest larger city if you will need him. Are you to able to walk Scully?"

Turning his head to Scully, the man kept a part of his attention on Mulder like he wouldn't trust her answer, if Mulder disagreed with her. "I'm fully capable of walking on my feet, Sir." After a pause Mulder nodded his head in agreement though he looked doubting.

"Good. Good, I'll wait outside while you get ready."

Scully waited for Mulder to leave the room as well, in order to give her some privacy to find her own clothes and change into them, and, as expected he got up, but only to open the drawer and pulling her clothes out. Annoyed she stayed in bed, raising her eyebrow she studied how naturally Mulder handled her stuff, even her underwear.

"Agent Mulder, I can manage on my own, if you will excuse me!"

Confusion flashed his eyes when he turned to look at her, "just let me help you, Scully." Seeing the confusion in her eyes, he stopped, "I've done it before, so have you when I needed help."

"That may be, agent Mulder, but I would like to be alone." She hated the pang of hurt she saw in his eyes, but he was a stranger to her, and further more her body was a stranger to her too, she needed to be alone when she saw her naked pregnant body for the first time. She couldn't help but feel nervous, had it changed a lot? Some women gained a lot of weight while pregnant. If she was big she wouldn't want agent Mulder to see her in all her glory, no matter how caring he was. Mercifully, she didn't feel fat but she could be fooled by her own denial.

Backing away Mulder followed her request and left her room after a worried glance in her direction.

Carefully, Dana threw the blanket aside and after taking a deep breath she lowered her eyes to examine her body, except from her swollen belly she looked ok, of course, she had gained a little weight but nothing to be alarmed about. Grateful, she lowered her feet to the floor and took a hesitant step into the room, her feet were steady and no pain in her head or abdomen. She was fine. Speeding up her pace, she gathered her clothes in her hands and retreated to the bathroom.

Standing before the small mirror above the sink, Dana turned intense eyes to her face. Her own eyes met her, the reflection left her breathless, her eyes bore the innocent she remembered, but behind it she saw the glimmer of a more mature nature in her. In the shadows she found a woman who had suffered, a woman who knew about the dark side of life, and she was confused. Who was this unknown woman who had been injured on a case and left alone with a partner, she couldn't remember and impregnated by an unknown man? Her hair had changed, she liked it, and she liked how age had handled her.

Unable to see the rest of her figure in the mirror, Dana stripped and got into her own clothes, a green cotton t-shirt and the same colour cardigan.

Her black cotton jeans felt comfortable against her stomach and had a nice cut, and she felt confident they looked nice on her. Feeling better in her in her clothes, she brushed her teeth and swallowed a mouthful of water. Checking the room before she left it, she wondered where her other personal things would be, surely she must have carried a driver's license, money and other personal stuff, even if working on a case. Why was she unarmed?

Outside the door she met a pacing agent Mulder, his lower lip slipped out from the grip of his teeth and he stopped in his tracks the moment he saw her, "you okay?" He asked.

"Ten years older and pregnant, but besides the few new wrinkles, I'm fine." Her eyes flickered with amusement. The amusement was passed on to his eyes and for a breathless moment time stood still. "I don't see any wrinkles, Scully." The hurt and sorrow she found in his intense stare confused her, had they been on an edge before her accident?

"No need to sweet talk me, Fox, I'm not a fragile flower just pregnant. No one can escape time, you know there isn't such a thing as a loop in time, and I saw how ten years changed my face. Not that I'm complaining!" Noticing the winch when she called him Fox, Dana tilted her head and studied her partner. "You don't like it when I call you Fox?"

"Well no. Scully, we've to hurry, Skinner told us to leave as fast as we could. He has a car waiting for us in the car park." Slipping his arm around her loin his hand came to rest on the small of her back, the familiarity of his touch confused her, but before she could utter a single word, he pushed her forward.

They stayed silent until they reached the green rental car, the small beep unlocking the doors confirmed it was the right car. "Get in, Scully!" She followed his instruction and buckled up, "where is my weapon, agent Mulder?" She felt naked without her weapon, and the lightness of her hip told her she was used to carry a weapon most of the time.

"In a minute, Scully."

Hearing the tension in his voice, she looked up and saw his head turning from side to side in a clockwise movement, when nothing suspicious caught his eyes, he pushed the car into drive and slowly directed the car to another parked car. "Wait here." He muttered when he stepped out of the car, another beep unlocked another rental car, this time it was black. Removing a few bags agent Mulder locked the car again and opened the backdoor in their new car and threw the bags into the backseat. After opening one of the bags he handed her a weapon, it was not her usual weapon, this was smaller and not so heavy. It would be easier to operate in a tight situation.

Agent Mulder closed the door behind him and moved the car into motion immediately. Closing her eyes for a moment she drifted away.

Hours later she awoke with a startle, "where are we?"

"On the road to British Columbia."

The violent sound from her stomach made them both smile and reaching behind him, agent Mulder pulled out a brown bag, "I bought you a chicken salad, bread, some fruit and the nuts bar you like so much."

"When did we stop?"

"A few miles ago, you slept so soundly I didn't want to wake you. I just bought your favourites."

"Since when did I favour chicken salad?" She had hoped for a burger.

His eyes twisted with laughter, "since you gained a few pounds."

"I did not!" She had never been overweighed in her life

"Yes, you did."

"When!"

"Not long after we were partnered. I never knew why, maybe the stress of your new job, maybe the loneliness coming with it. We never discussed it. You lost the extra weight fast when you decided to, no big deal. Now you like to stay healthy for the baby."

"Of course I do!" She snorted and dogged into the bag, the salad looked tasty and she was very hungry, after spreading the dressing she took her first bite and was surprised, she really liked it. The longing for a burger was gone.

"Why can't I call you Fox, agent Mulder?" She didn't look up from her food.

"Scully, it's just Mulder. You're making me nervous calling me agent Mulder. Well, I never liked my first name and you've always called me Mulder. None of my other…. It just became a habit, a habit I like."

"None of your others what?" She gave him a quick glare, before she focused on her food again.

Biting his lower lip he hesitated, "my other partners," he finally gave in.

"They what? Never got to call you just Mulder?"

"Yeah, something like that." He flatly answered.

"Then I'm the lucky one." She joked, sensing there was more to the story she looked at him. Refusing to meet her eyes he mumbled, "or the unfortunately one."

"I doubt that, after all I've stayed for 10 years, haven't I?" He just nodded. "Mulder?"

Now she looked more closely at him, he seemed oddly serious.

"Sometimes, I wonder, if you wouldn't have been better off and happier if quieting the

X-Files, Scully."

"I wouldn't jeopardise my baby's life so I'm sure it can't be that bad, Mulder. If it was, how on earth would I've had time for a relationship and a baby? Am I married?" The thought just stoke her.

"No, you're not, Scully."

"I see." Turning her head she stared out of the window and chewing on the last bite of fruit she wondered about the person she had become.