'Mulder,' Scully hissed under her breath as they approached the reception desk of the small hotel. 'This is not the way to the West conference room.'

All the way down the corridor from their room to the elevator, then through the foyer, Mulder refused to let go of her hip. Entering this very public area, Scully's professionalism reasserted itself. Fighting the feel of her partner, and now lovers touch on her hip, she attempted to make some space between them. Impossible, her brain told her, there's never been any space between you, right from day one.

A flash of her first official meeting with Mulder in his basement office flew into her mind. She'd been so nervous. Nervous he'd remember her or at least the appearance of Dr Dana Scully would stir long forgotten memories. Instead he'd considered himself the FBI's most unwanted and then asked her who she'd ticked off to get this assignment. In her head, Scully had asked God why she'd been put in this position, but recovered quickly enough that he hadn't noticed. She'd actually told him, her husband, that she was looking forward to working with him.

'Trust me,' he whispered, Mulder's lips brushing the top of her head.

'The last time I trusted you, got us into this mess,' she retorted.

'Right,' he returned sarcastically, holding up his left hand to admire the glinting gold now nestled on his finger, 'on a night I don't even remember. Almost ten years ago,' he stressed the last words.

'Agent Mulder,' the young man behind the desk offered to the bickering pair, 'Mrs Mul,' he glanced at his computer and corrected, 'Dr Scully, how can I assist you today?'

'My wife and I would like to stay for the weekend. Would it be possible to keep our room tonight and tomorrow night,' Mulder requested. He didn't dare look at Scully for her reaction. He hadn't asked her about prolonging their stay. As usual, he'd just made the decisions and expected Scully to fall in with him. Somewhere in his mind a voice told him married couples actually made choices together. Tightening his grip, Mulder let a playful, goofy grin cover is face. I'm married, he suddenly realised, I'm married to Scully.

'You're in luck, the rooms available,' the young man smiled, the twinkle in his eye suggesting he knew what they'd get up to for the rest of the weekend. Hesitantly he added, 'I'll need to bill this separately.'

Finally letting go of Scully, Mulder pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed over his credit card.

'Don't look now, Mulder,' Scully spoke very quietly, she'd turned around to walk away from him, but now stood frozen beside her husband fiddling with the new band on her finger, 'but this entire scene has been witnessed by at least a dozen curious agents on their way to our second last session.'

'Really,' Mulder expressed mock surprise, 'and I though they only discussed out sex life around the water cooler on the third floor in the D.C. office. Looks like I'm wrong.' Having placed his card back into his wallet, Mulder returned his hand to Scully's hip, and escorted her towards the conference room. 'I wonder who's going to win the prize money.'

'Prize money,' Scully lifted an eyebrow.

'Yeah, Scully,' he smiled, wondering if she really didn't know about the office pool. Scully's level of professionalism went way beyond anyone else's.

'Which one?' she enquired, his apprehensive look suggesting he didn't know the extent of the betting on them. Not attempting to hide her wide grin, she informed her sometimes naive partner, 'who bets there already married, who bets when they'll get married, who bets when the finally do it, or finally, who bets on when they get caught in the act.'

'Wow, Scully,' Mulder spoiled the feigned shock with laughter, 'I didn't realise Mr and Mrs Spooky Mulder had that much of a fan club. What say we give them something to really talk about?'

'You mean more than we have this weekend,' once again her eyebrow rose, 'they still think I'm pregnant.'

'Hey, not my fault,' he shrugged.

'Don't say that to loud, Spooky,' Scully elbowed him in the ribs, 'you want to start questions about the paternity of my non-existent embryo. That would add a whole new dimension to the talk around the office water cooler.'

Mulder couldn't help himself, he had to laugh at the thought.

After cutting out of dinner early and ignoring their colleagues at breakfast, interested gazes followed the pair as they entered the conference room. Because of Mulder's impulsive stop, they'd arrived after everyone else. It didn't take long for whisper to start at the flash of gold gracing both Mulder and Scully's wedding fingers. Agents Smith, Fernandez and two other women, Scully suspected would have heavy southern accents attempted to corner them.

'Mulder,' Scully warned, but he'd already seen the assault and taken defensive measures. 'There's no where to hide. Let's just get this out of the way.'

'I'd like you to find you partner and stand next to them in a line against the back wall,' Professor Jackson requested, saving the day. Several loud grumbles could be heard but the well trained agents did as they were told. 'I'm going to give each of you a number, for example, 1, 1, which signifies the table number and seat designation for our last two sessions this morning. The aim is to split working partners, pitting each table against the others to solve problems.'

By the time Jackson reached Scully, she received table 8, seat 3. Mulder being next in line would be at table 1, seat 4. Once they all had their positions, Mulder escorted Scully to her chair, pulled it out, allowed her to sit and finally kissed her full on the lip. 'I miss you already Mrs Spooky,' he said, just loud enough for Agent Smith, seated on Scully left to hear. Before leaving he gently placed a hand on her belly, and added, 'look after our little package.'

I'm going to kill him, Scully's dangerously sparking eyes promised, watching Mulder saunter towards his table as though he didn't have a care in the world. Thank god he's not only on the other side of the room, but as far away from me as he can be, or I might just be tempted to shoot him again.

I've had another idea for a story, sort of a continuance of this one. It might be called "Diaries of Mrs Spooky" and recall Scully's ideas of living with her secret marriage and working with Mulder, much like her rememberance of first meeting him in this chapter. Would anyone like me to give it a go or has it been done to death?