Scully stepped toward Mulder. Taking his head in her hands, she guided it to her stomach and combed her fingers though his spiky hair. Lending him comfort, he reciprocated by pulling her closer and locking his arms around her tiny waist. A smile fought for a place on her lips. The other Mulder, this man in the future, had used the same gesture to display his deepest emotions.

'Mulder,' Scully spoke softly, letting several minutes elapse, 'take me out to dinner.'

'I've lost my appetite,' he returned. Looking up into his lover's concerned eyes, Mulder offered, 'maybe a walk,' understanding they needed to get away from here before Dana Scully told him more.

Nodding agreement, Scully moved away and finally let the sheet drop. Turning the water on, she prepared to shower. 'Get dressed,' she said gently, stepping into the stall and allowing the hot water to temporally wash away her anger at the invasion of her private life. 'Make sure you look over your clothing, just in case. I'd subscribe to that paranoia gas where these people are concerned. I'll be out in a minute.'

'Dana,' Mulder watched, fascinated by her level of comfort standing naked before him. He'd thought her demure dress and use of the bed sheet foretold a more ridged, catholic perspective on post intimate relations. He'd been wrong. Dana Scully objected to anyone but her lover observing her nude. In her world, the one she claims to come from, we've been living together for a week. We should be this comfortable around each other, Mulder realised, still sitting on the closed toilet. 'We need to remove everything from the apartment,' he finished, unable to hide his anger.

'As much as I want to agree, I don't think that's a good idea,' Scully returned, remorse colouring her tone. 'They're going to know we've found the surveillance devices and replace them. If we keep the living areas wired, given they already have evidence of what goes on behind closed doors, they might leave these two rooms alone.'

While he didn't like it, Mulder had to agree her plan sounded advantageous. 'At least it'll give us some privacy,' a quaver of teasing made it through the otherwise tight tone. 'I need to know why,' he stated firmly, 'our space is being invaded like this.'

'Later,' Scully promised as she began soaping her body. Aware of the level of Mulder's interest, she teased, 'want to see if you can fit in here?'

The threatening smile finally reached his hazel orbs. Eyeing the tiny space, Mulder smirked, 'I'd like to try, but I really don't think we'd be successful. Besides, we need more prophylaxis before twisting the pretzel again. I only carry one in my wallet.'

'That's one more than you usually carry,' Scully muttered under her breath.

A strange expression crossed his face, an almost panicked look. 'Are we trying,' Mulder forced the words past the lump in his throat, not ready for that level of commitment, given they'd only just met and made love for the first time. At least I have, Mulder realised, Dana's known me for seven years.

'Something happened,' Scully's closed expression told him not to ask, 'and I couldn't have children after that.'

'Now?' hesitantly, he posed the questions. Sudden insight told Mulder this event in Dana's life, the one she refused to talk about, had left deep, dark scars. Without understanding why, he felt at least partly responsible.

'Yes,' the word came out as a hiss, 'although don't ask me where I am in my cycle or if it's safe without protection, because I don't have a clue. I don't even remember if I continued taking the contraceptive pill after Daniel.'

Intrigued by the confession, Mulder continued to sit and watch the woman in the shower with astonishment. 'You come from a ridged Irish-Catholic family with a Military father, how did "Daniel" happen.'

'You know, Mulder, you've never asked personal questions before,' Scully stated, partly embarrassed, partly surprised by the differences nine years made.

Shrugging his shoulders, this more open Mulder waited for an answer, not willing to let her off the hook so easily. Reminded of the night Scully spent with Eddie van Blunht and how easily she'd opened up, Dana tried to formulate an answer. 'I guess I stumbled blindly into it,' she confessed. 'I saw what I wanted to see. Older man, sophisticated, intelligent, interested in what I had to say. He represented everything I thought I wanted in a lover, a husband.'

'La vie en rose,' Mulder grinned, 'you were looking through rose coloured glasses, Dana. Do you consider him your first true love?'

'At the time, yes, I did,' a strangled look accompanied the words, 'it's taken me a long time to resolve the issues his deceit caused. I didn't understand why my other relationships fell apart. It took meeting Daniel yesterday to come to terms with the way my life had turned out. I'm with my perfect opposite, the man I'd give my life for, my partner in every sense of the word.'

'Me,' the strangled word left Mulder's mouth, accompanied by that panic look.

A laugh escaped Scully's lips. 'Yes and no. There are differences between you. I find myself talking to you, telling you how I feel because we don't have almost seven years of history. You and I don't communicate with a look, believing we understand what the other is saying. So much remains unsaid between us, but I know what he's thinking. I've been through so much with my Mulder, so many experiences in common no one else would understand of believe. We have this incredible trusting bond. I've felt it with you. It will develop because you're essentially the same person, if a lot less paranoid. It's not going to happen overnight.'

'You're placing a lot of faith in me, in our association,' Mulder's sarcasm returned, hoping to diffuse the suddenly stifling atmosphere. 'This could just be lust.'

'Are you using "Daniel" and me or you and "Phoebe Green" as the golden standard,' Scully returned, wrapping a towel around her midriff and stepping out of the shower. 'I'm not sure you could classify either as love, maybe mistaken desire.'

'You wound me, Dana,' Mulder looked hurt, placing a hand over his heart. An inquisitive look spread over his face, 'how do you know about Phoebe?'

'I met her on a case,' Scully shrugged her shoulders, 'involving Fire. I discovered your fear and romantic history. Let's just say the animosity between us could only be considered mutual, especially when she played you again.' With that, Dana moved into the bedroom to dress.

Frustrated they couldn't continue this conversation without giving away Dana's situation, Mulder followed his partner. Reaching over to stop her from turning on the light switch, he motioned for her to wait a moment. Returning from the bathroom, he demonstrated the smear of toothpaste in his palm. Pretending the control didn't work, Mulder climbed onto the bed.

'Dana,' he called, making sure the device became well coated with the sickly paste in his hand, 'did we pack a spare light bulb.'

'I don't think so,' she answered, searching the rest of the room for optical surveillance. Unable to locate any, Scully turned her attention to the audio devices. Unscrewing the power sockets she continued, 'we'll have to find a store and buy one.'

Pointing to the bug, Mulder took the screwdriver from her hand. He quickly located another two, one in the light switch, the other in the bedside lamp. He removed them. Both followed the one from the bathroom into the septic system. Feeling safe, Scully sighed. They dressed in silence, wondering if the electronic surveillance would be replaced by the time they returned.

Walking in quiet harmony, Mulder's large fingers entwined in Scully, Dana felt like a freshman once again. After all that had occurred in the last two days, she finally felt a weight lift from her shoulders. They found a bench, overlooking the university playing field and sat.

The stroll gave Mulder time to consider Dana's outburst about his parentage. It made a weird kind of sense. 'Dana,' he started, still trying to fit all the pieces together, 'in your time, when I entered that warehouse, I did the whole by the book routine. By warning the men you shot, it gave them time to fire into the canisters of gas. I became exposed causing a paranoid which didn't allow me to trust you when we became partners.'

'I told you this,' Scully confirmed, 'you spent three days in five point restraints.'

'I'm missing something,' turning towards her, Mulder examined her face, trying to make that contact, to invoke that bond she'd talked about. A flicker in her eye, his mind caught the spark and suddenly it appeared. Transfixed, he couldn't look away. The shear depth of understanding, the emotion communicating itself blew him away. Now he'd started this fire, Mulder knew he'd never be able to completely extinguish it.

'Does the phrase "they're here" mean anything to you,' attempting to lighten the mood, Scully used a teasing tone. 'Especially when coupled to the monograph you wrote and the capture of Monty Props last year.'

'What does my work on the occult have to do with….. ?' Swallowing hard, incidents from his childhood coalesced. 'Oh,' he stammered, suddenly making the connections, 'I linked my sisters' disappearance to extra-terrestrial abduction.'

'Yes,' Scully pumped his hand in support, knowing how difficult this recollection and enlightenment would be. 'You made it your life work to find the truth, to find Samantha.'

'No, Dana, I'd never do that,' he protested. Squeezing his eye's tightly as the memories tumbled over each other in his mind, Mulder announced in a very determined voice, 'don't you see, it's always been my father who believed….'

'Your father met Spender in the army,' she explained. 'The association between your mom and Spender goes back three years before you were born. We uncovered photographic evidence that Spender visited your mother at the summer house in Quonochontaug the same day she suffered a stroke.'

'My mother vowed never to return to that house and she keeps her word,' Mulder butted in mulishly, his eye's locating Dana's and reforming that instant connection.

'You told me the same thing when we visited once,' Scully offered in a consoling tone. 'You needed to see the proof before you believed.'

Tearing his gaze away, Mulder believe her. 'How did we find out Spender is my biological father.'

'After a very difficult case,' Scully didn't have the heart to bring up Diana Fowley and her interference. It'll never happen in this timeline so why complicate the story. 'You requested I run the DNA.'

'I need to know, Dana,' Mulder begged, 'you said we're a two person division created after I'd been exposed to the gas. What do we work on?'

'Unusual cases,' she tried to soften the blow. This Mulder didn't believe in the otherworldly. While he openly displayed his sadness at Samantha's abduction, he hadn't pursued regression therapy to recover the memories from that night. It felt so strange, talking to Mulder the skeptic, the by the book agent who trusted his colleagues and didn't look for a "spooky" explanation. The ultimate roll reversal, Scully's mind responded. 'Unsolved investigations, things that go bump in the night.'

'Those with a distinctly supernatural bouquet, the X-files,' Mulder stated suddenly to wired to remain seated. Jumping up, he pulled away from Scully's grasp and paced around the bench she sat on.

'You've heard of them?' she worked hard to hide her astonishment, not quite succeeding.

'My father, Bill Mulder, mentioned them,' the confession torn from Mulder's lips did achieve one thing. In glancing at his partner, that bond returned. 'I'm having trouble accepting he used me like this. I know the family fell apart after my sister's disappearance. I couldn't remember anything about that night. Mom blamed dad for Samantha's disappearance. I'd always assumed because he'd started to drink heavily, the stories about secret government conspiracies came from the bottom of a bottle, from his guilt at loosing Samantha and driving away his family. All the time, he groomed me for the X-files, for his quest. He wanted me to find my sister, no matter what the cost to me, personal or professional. To uncover the intrigue he'd taken part in but could no longer live with.'

'Yes,' Scully stated sadly, 'helped in no small part by Spender. Bill Mulder implanted the suggestions. Spender used the tools at his disposal to turn you into a paranoid, conspiracy theorist that trusted no one. The unique mixture of intelligent and emotional betrayal created the ultimate instrument. After your exposure you believe you saw aliens, you tried everything to remember the night your sister vanished. You opened a file on Samantha and set about finding the truth through the X-files.'

'If I have you,' Mulder followed, making the logical links, 'then they failed.'

'They sent me to debunk your work, to rein you in, to close you down,' Scully confirmed.

'You made me stronger,' the awareness of what this woman had come to mean to him in that future life, coalesced. 'You became their ultimate mistake. In pairing us, they put two halves of the same whole together. Believer and rationalist, transcendent and logic, the synergism giving validity and rigidity to the work.'

'In this time,' Scully's eyebrow rose, as her face took on a hard look, 'with my knowledge, if they should realise what an asset I could be, both to you and them, I wouldn't be able to protect you. My life would be over. Mulder, you need to understand,' Scully stood, this information to important, 'once they understood the bond between us, they used me to control you. I became the one they'd threaten every time we got to close to the truth and you'd back away.'

'You're still laying your life on the line for me,' Mulder got it. Finally, he understood why Special Agent Dana Scully slipped back through time. She's stated, on more than one occasion, her sole purpose, to protect him. He didn't need to know why. The bond between them formed of a metaphysical love, so deep and abiding, it tied their very souls together.