5 o'clock rolled round finally and Scully rose from her desk, flipping off her computer and gathering up her things. Mulder however remained motionless.

"Aren't you going home?" Scully inquired as she reached the door. He looked up from the file he was reading and shook his head.

"Nah, I've got some stuff I need to finish up here. You go though. Oh and Scully," he called as she was half way out the door. She poked her head back round the door jam. "Have a good date," he finished and she smiled.

"Thank you," Scully replied and disappeared from view again. Mulder listened to the sound of her heels clicking on the floor getting fainter and fainter until he heard the sound of the elevator doors ping open ad shut. He waited a few more minutes, making sure she wasn't coming back for anything she'd forgotten before making his move. He picked up the receiver of his phone extension and placed it to his ear before punching in a number. After a few rings somebody answered.

"Hi Agent Stone, this is Agent Mulder. Yea, I was phoning about that background check I requested, have you got the results of that yet? Thanks." After a few moments of silence Mulder spoke again. "The name? Michael Collins. Nothing? Ok, thanks Agent Stone." He said a quick goodbye before hanging up.

After a few moments contemplation Mulder grabbed the handset again and punched in a familiar number, placing the handset to his ear. A few rings later a voice answered.

"Hey guys, listen I'm on my way over. I need a little outside help on this one." With that he hung up, grabbed his jacket and was out the door.
----

A half hour later Mulder was stood outside the apartment door. He knocked a couple of times and waited. There were footsteps behind the door and the sound of several locks being undone before the door was pulled open to reveal Frohike stood there.

"Hey buddy come in." He withdrew to let him pass before shutting and locking the door behind him.

"What kind of help would you be needing?" Byers asked, standing from his seat in front of a computer.

"The slightly illegal kind," Mulder replied, shrugging off his jacket and placing it on a chair.

"Oh good, 'cause that's our specialty," Langley piped up from another computer.

"So, where's the lovely Agent Scully tonight?" Frohike inquired.

"She's on a date," Mulder replied flatly. Frohike smiled.

"You're just saying that to make me jealous!" Mulder looked at him.

"Believe me Frohike I wish I were," he shot back, a little quieter, before turning to Langley. "I need you to find out everything you can on a guy. Name's Michael Collins."

"I'm on it," Langley replied confidently and began furiously tapping on his keyboard. "I'll start with Births, Marriages and Deaths, see if anything comes up there. Then I'll go on to prisons, police files, mental institutes and hospitals."

"This Michael Collins," Frohike spoke after a few moments. "Is he Scully's date?"

"Yeah, and I don't trust him one bit. There's something about him. I can't put my finger on it but something's not right there." He paused before adding sadly, "Scully doesn't seem to see it though." Frohike put a comforting arm round Mulder's shoulders.

"Welcome to my world my friend."
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Scully was just putting the finishing touches to her make up when there was a knock at her door. She grabbed her purse from off her bed, flipped off the light and crossed the living room to open the door. Michael smiled at her as she pulled it open.

"You look fantastic," he commented before leaning over to steal a kiss. And she did. She had on a simple black dress that ended just below her knees. Her hair was up with a few errant strands falling down at the back, gently scraping her neck.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a smile, grabbing her jacket and purse, before closing and locking the door behind them.
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"What've you got Langley?" Mulder asked, responding to his friends call.

"Something weird. No record of this Michael Collins is over three years old." Mulder's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Yeah? What else you got?"

"Erm, never married, no children, not dead." Frohike snorted.

"I think we'd established that dude." Langley shot him a look. Mulder intervened, sensing trouble.

"Ok guys as helpful as an argument would be right now, could we concentrate on the problem at hand?"

"What if there is no problem Mulder?" Langley inquired. "What if he's just a normal guy interested in Scully? What then?" Mulder paused for a moment before replying.

"I'll deal with that if and when it happens. Please carry on digging." Langley sighed quietly before resuming his tapping on the keyboard. "I'll try hospitals then. You wouldn't happen to know where he lived before he came here would you?" Mulder shook his head.

"Scully hasn't exactly been forthcoming with information about him. It's almost as if she doesn't want me to know much about him." The room then went silent, save for the tapping sound of Langley's fingers hitting the keys.
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A few hours later Scully opened the door to her apartment and stepped inside, closely followed by Michael who shut the door behind them. He turned from the door and walked towards Scully, placing his hands lightly on her shoulders.

"I had a really great time tonight Dana. In fact, I have a great time whenever I'm with you." She smiled and he leaned in, capturing her lips in a tender, lingering kiss. His hands gently pushed the jacket from her shoulders, which landed silently on the couch, then slide down and round her waist. She tensed before abruptly pulling away. Michael looked at her, his face a mixture of hurt and confusion.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I guess I'm just not comfortable with… that side of things just yet. I'm sorry." His response was a warm smile.

"That's fine," he replied, pulling her into a gentle embrace. "You've been through a hell of a lot, it's only natural you're going to be a bit wary of … that side of things." She smiled slightly against his chest at him using her words back on her. He tenderly kissed the top of her head before pulling away. As he did this Scully's thoughts couldn't help but flick to Mulder and how he usually kissed the top of her head, if not her forehead. Internally she shook the thought away and forced herself to pay attention to what Michael was saying.

"I've got a bit of an early start tomorrow so I'd better get going." She nodded, following him to the door. He kissed her one last time on the threshold before turning and walking down the hallway to the elevator. She watched him go for a few moments before going back inside her apartment and shutting the door behind her.
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Mulder was sat on the Gunmen's couch, his mind whirring. What would he do if Michael were just a normal decent guy? What if his and Scully's relationship progressed? He wasn't sure how he'd deal with it. He'd been used to having her all to himself for so long that the thought of sharing her with another man was too weird. He knew it was selfish but he had grown to think of Scully as his. He couldn't imagine her no longer being that. He was wrenched away from his thoughts by the sound of Langley calling his name. He shook his head to clear it of the previous thoughts before standing and crossing the room to the computer terminal where Langley was sat.

"What is it?"

"I found something." Was the reply. Mulder nodded, bending slightly to get a better view of the screen.

"Ok. Show me what you've got."

"I was trawling through hospital records when I stumbled across this guys medical record. Again, it only begins three years ago. That was nothing new so I dug a little further." He clicked the mouse and brought up a site with the heading 'Belle view Clinic'. "I found records of our guy being discharged from this place." Mulder shook his head.

"So? Why is that of interest?" Langley smiled.

"I thought you might ask that. Belle view Clinic is renowned for its status as one of the country's best clinics for cosmetic surgery procedures." Mulder's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Hang on a second. You said he was discharged, he had to have been admitted in order to be discharged."

"That's the bizzarro part my friend. There is no record of a Michael Collins ever being admitted to Belle view."

"That's impossible!"

"Exactly what I thought buddy, so I dug a little deeper still and managed to come across a copy of Michael Collins' file. I've just about got it loaded. These places always take before and after shots of their patients to document the changes made. Here's the before picture of our guy." One click brought up a picture of Michael. "I've been working on getting up the picture of how he was before but it's taking a while to load." The whole room went quiet save for the whirring of the computer.

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Ok I know I'm evil leaving it at that cliffhanger, but it's getting to the really good part and I want to prolong it for a bit hehe. Sorry it's taken me a while to post but I've been uber busy with the school show. But it finished last night so I'll hopefully have some more free time on my hands YEY!
Oh, and don't forget to hit the little button that makes me very happy (cough) review button (cough)

Lily
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