Wow, so I know I haven't updated this in FOR-EVER, and I apologize for this in sheer neglect in you, my faithful fans. Well, I had this epiphany today in History class (not this chapter, but the next one lol) of what should happen next and I had to finish this chapter in order to write my vision as I see it thus far. That's about as technical sounding as I can get. Hope you read and review and I love you all. Thanks for putting up with me. This is kinda based on the problems I'm having in my life right about now, a couple of the reasons why my muse hasn't been with me.

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Mulder would continue to sneak into Scully's hospital room for the remainder of her stay there. He and Kai became fast friends with their mutual interest in supernatural phenomenon. Their conversations kept him entertained while he sat by his slumbering girlfriend's bed.

It seemed to be one of those times.

"Of course Olivia knew she was brainwashed at the time because she wouldn't have remembered Peter if she wasn't!" Kai whispered as loudly as she could.

"The woman's in a parallel universe where everything she's ever thought was real has been turned on it's head. She knows that to her everything's a lie, but to the other Olivia, it's her life and her truth. It's what she has to pretend to know to get back to where she belongs." Mulder returned.

Kai processed Mulder's words. They'd been quietly debating the trials and tribulations of one Agent Olivia Dunham of the FOX television show "Fringe" for the better part of a half-hour now. She looked over at Scully's sleeping frame and feel her own wave of fatigue hit her despite the fact her cancer was getting a bit better. She looked out the window. "I miss Gene."

Mulder smiled. The infamous cow (literally, a cow) was rarely seen on the show anymore in pen in the corner of the lab at Harvard University. He didn't have time to formulate a response before she asked a new question.

"What's it like to be in love?"

He looked up at her big doe-like eyes. "I don't really know if I'm the best guy to answer that question."

Kai looked confused. "Why? You do love Dana, don't you?"

"Of course I do, but that's just it…" Mulder twirled the pencil he'd found in his back pocket around his thumb. "I don't love her like most people love."

"What do you mean?" she leaned in, eager to hear his explanation.

He tapped the pencil against the arm of the chair and flicked it around his thumb three more times in rapid succession. Mulder had been growing tired of trying to explain the complexities of his relationship with Scully to people whom he didn't feel comfortable giving all the immense details to. "You really wanna know?"

Kai smiled. "Only if you're willing to share."

Mulder continued spinning the pencil around his fingers. "The heart can't see. It can't fall in love with someone because of their looks. And once it's chosen who it wants, there isn't any way of going back on that. That's what I feel for her most of the time." he looked over at Scully's peaceful frame, her back to them. "I'd jump in front of a train for her if she asked. I'd trade the rest of my life for one hour in her embrace." he spoke with a truthfulness that could not be faked.

His audience rested a hand over her chest lightly. "What a regular Romeo you are."

"Very funny." he smiled at her before checking his watch. "I've got to go. Tell her I love her when she wakes up, would you?"

Kai returned his grin. "I'll do my best."

He gave the small girl a big bear hug and pressed his lips to his sleeping girlfriend's forehead before he donned his coat and took off into the twilight. The sun cast a orange glow over everything in the room as Kai noticed her roommate's hair take on a deeper shade of red.

A knock at the door brought her around out of her thoughts. "It's open." she called.

A tall, scrawny boy came into the room that Kai didn't know from Adam. His face seemed to be a breeding ground for acne and he sported a diamond-patterned sweater vest with tan slacks and loafers. He had a bouquet of roses clenched in his left hand.

Yet something told Kai he wasn't a huge hit with his female peers.

"Hello?" she snagged his attention away from Scully, who merely rolled over in her sleep only as far as her IV would allow. "Who are you?"

The lanky boy seemed to fumble around his words before finding his voice. He pushed his taped glasses further up his nose. "My name is Mulder, I'm Dana's boyfriend."

Kai looked him up and down with an incredulous look. She chuckled humorlessly. "No, you're not."

He cleared his throat and stepped in closer. "I'm sorry, miss, but I don't think you have the right to tell me who I am and who I'm not." he stepped in to sit next to Scully on the bed.

"Don't go any closer." she said in a dead serious monotone. Kai might not have known a lot or experienced many things in this world so far, but the female 'creeper' senses that applied to most all women in her brain went on high alert. Maybe it was the fake name or the way he was drooling over Scully's unconscious frame, but she had the sudden urge to protect her friend.

Scully started to come around, a wonderful dream being so rudely interrupted by the sound of bickering voices. "Kai, what's goin' on?"

"Who is this guy, Dana?" Kai asked, resuming a normal volume in her voice.

Scully rubbed her eyes, then opened them tentatively. Her eyes, which weren't very reliable to begin with, seemed to need extra time to normalize and give her an actual image. The figure and the voice, however, were enough for her to take a good guess who it was.

"Arnold?" Scully asked. "What are you doing here?"

He faltered for a moment. "Scully, it's Mulder."

"No, it isn't. What do you think I am? Delusional?" Scully asked incredulously.

"Delusions are very common when it comes to meningitis." Arnold stated, looking more depressed as the seconds ticked by. "I just wish you knew that I care about you, Dana."

Scully looked on at him squeezed her aching eyes shut. "I care about you too, Arnold, just not in that way."

"You could learn to." he mumbled.

She shook her head. "You know I can't."

He nodded his head, seemingly ready to accept defeat. "He's a lucky man." Arnold commented as he set the roses on the table at the foot of her bed. "I should go. Take care of yourself Dana. I'll see you around."

Both women watched him walk out. Kai couldn't help the relief she felt wash over her. "I'm sorry, he's just a bit too creepy."

"He cares. That's the first step towards decency when it comes to men." Scully said before she felt her eyes drift closed again.

(X)

A few more days had passed by with a lot of nothingness happening all the way along. Kai, who'd been elated by the news that her tumors were shrinking, proved to be a good comedy source as Scully recuperated from her own misfortunes. She'd dance around and crack jokes when her friend was awake and curled into her bed or visited her friends in the cafeteria while she was asleep. Scully couldn't honestly have wished for a better roommate.

She did, however, feel guilty that she was going to be released from the hospital tomorrow morning while Kai was going to be stuck here. The poor girl didn't deserve to live the best years of her life in a hospital. She was so happy and cheerful despite her situation and it made her all the more likeable.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mulder's friendly face popping inside the door. "Hey beautiful."

"Hi." she smiled.

"What'cha been up to?"

"What does it look like?"

He smiled sympathetically. Mulder stepped into the room the rest of the way to reveal that he was carrying a rather large black, zip-up case. "What's that thing?" Scully asked.

"We use these for portfolios down at work so everything fits. I drew something up for Kai I think she'll like." He reached into the square case and came up with a huge portrait of the Fringe cast.

Scully smiled. "I think she'll like it."

Mulder smiled, pleased with his work. "I can't wait till you get out of here. I want to see you out in the sunlight so bad."

"It's not like I want to be here anymore than you do." Scully bit back a little harshly.

He looked at her a second time. "Are you alright?"

She pulled her blanket up around herself. "For the most part."

Mulder set himself down on the edge of her bed tha had become his. "What's up?"

Scully pulled her knees up to her chest, folded her arms, and rested her head on top of the pile. "You can't tell my mom or anybody about this. It's not like I'm even gonna do it."

"Babe, you know you can trust me." he gave her a comforting squeeze to her shoulder.

She tingled a little inside at the way he called her 'babe'. "Do you remember my friend Julie? You met her that one time we had lunch in the courtyard before school got out?"

Mulder smiled, "Yeah, she hated my guts. What about her?"

Scully wanted to chuckle. One of her best friends for years now, she hadn't really taken a liking to Muder in his brand new Hinder album shirt and baggy black trick pants even on a hot spring/summer day. When she'd told her not to judge a book by it's cover, she merely shrugged and let the subject drop. Julie was anti-social to a fault and she only talked to people who she believed weren't idiots. This made her a rather difficult person to deal with.

Scully liked her well enough. She had some fault, but who doesn't? "We were instant messaging last night and she asked me if I wanted to go to Washington D.C. with her."

He considered it a moment. "Doesn't sound too horrible. D.C.'s only a couple of hours away."

"…for two weeks." she added.

"Why so long? Paris Hilton probably doesn't even take that long to shop."

"She didn't just want to shop. She wants to go on all these tours and see the White House and everything. Fact is, I hate D.C. I think it's one of the dirtiest cities there can be. There's drugs and prostitutes on every street corner and it would just be the two of us and a hotel room."

Mulder looked at the floor a moment. "I wouldn't want you to go. I know what big cities are like no matter where you go. They're unsafe and disgusting."

"And not even for just those reasons. I have a job that I can't take that much time off of, colleges that I need to check into and…you." Scully whispered. "I feel like I've spent so much time away from you lately."

He enveloped her hand in his. "We haven't had a lot of time together since school got out for summer."

"And I told her all of this, right? Well, about an hour later I got an email from her saying that I needed to quote 'grow some balls and stop doing what everyone else wants me to do'." she said. "She also thought that I was being unfair because she does everything I ask her to, which is next to nothing. The last thing I asked her to do was to run a note down to a teacher."

"That's not right." Mulder stated simply. "You probably know what I would say."

Scully thought for a moment. "Screw the bitch?"

"Baby, you know me so well."

She smiled a little. "I shouldn't let her get to me, should I?"

"Hell no, not if she wants to be a little manipulative five-year-old. I'd say ignore her for awhile and she'll get the picture if you don't want to cut her out completely." he reasoned.

"I guess it just took me by surprise. I mean, we're close, but I didn't think we were that close. It just seems to me that spending all that time with a friend would only serve to drive a wedge, you know?" he nodded. "The more tired and sicker you get of each other, the more friction rises and then you're angry and miserable for the rest of the trip."

Mulder quirked an eyebrow, "You getting sick of me, Scully?"

She actually grinned at that one. "No…we're different."

"How so?" he asked with a smile.

Her spirits lifted a little at the lighter conversation. "Because you're irritating in a cute way."

"I'm irritating? How am I irritating?" he asked with mock hurt.

Scully laid back down in her bed casually. "When you comment on the one sentence in my books that you bother to read over my shoulder. And when you tower over me so I have to break my neck in order to see you."

"Well, I'm sorry if you read some awkward books. I don't mean to tower over you either, it just works out that way." Mulder defended.

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

(X)

Life continued on as normal for a week or so. Scully resumed work and Mulder lovingly stalked her every free moment that she wasn't. She had, however, received an increase in text messages from Arnold (where he got her number was still a mystery) that she wasn't thrilled with. She ignored him as best she could, but she could only last so long before she would turn her phone off and claim ignorance.

It was a bright Tuesday afternoon that Scully had so far had for herself. She'd just gotten through Pride and Prejudice and was just starting The House of Mirth when she felt a chill and her light source disappeared.

"I quit my job."

Scully looked up from her book underneath her favorite tree in her backyard at her boyfriend. The sunlight silhouetted him in such a way that she couldn't see his face clearly. "You're joking, right?"

"Maybe a little. I guess you could say I was 'relieved of my position'." Mulder replied as he sat down next to her.

"Why? Everyone loved you and you were doing well." Tossing her book to the side, Scully leaned in closer and nudged his arm around her shoulders.

"They hired a new guy whose more experienced and older and her can devote his life to that place. My boss told me he could keep me on if I made it worth his while and worked twice as many hours doing less-than-fun things." he said.

"You already work almost thirty hours a week." Scully thought out loud. "Has he ever heard of these things called 'child labor laws'?"

Mulder smirked. "I told him, quite frankly, that if I didn't have a life, then it might be possible, but last I checked, I do, so I gave my two weeks notice."

"What are you going to do for a job?" she asked.

"There you are, Scully. Always looking at the long-term." he smiled, but she gave him the 'I'm serious' look. "Despite what some may think, I do have some friends. I might be calling in a few favors, but I'll find something. I can't get too worried about it."

"Jeez…" Scully rested her head against his shoulder. "I wish I could quit my job and be that cool about it."

"I thought you liked your job, babe?"

Scully shook her head, "While I was sick, they hired this new manager and she's about the biggest…B-I…I have ever had the pleasure of meeting."

"You want me to come down and sock her one?" Mulder asked.

Scully rolled her eyes. "I said I wish I could quit, not that I want to get fired. Besides, there are always going to be people in the world like that and I guess the sooner I learn that, the better."

"There's some positive thinking." he said.

"I don't want to talk about work anymore." Scully stated.

"I don't blame you." Mulder smiled mischievously as pulled her more securely into his lap. "How about we just not talk at all?"

She chuckled, "Your suggestion's rather tempting." Scully just now got a look at what he was wearing; a tight black t-shirt with long, baggy trick pants. "God, how do you not melt wearing black in this heat?"

"The same way I suppose you don't." He took in the sight of her little black spaghetti-strapped tank top not for the first time.

"Mine's different. At least my skin's allowed the luxury of breathing."

He laughed a little. Mulder had thought of doing laundry this morning in order to get a pair of shorts clean, but that just seemed to be too much effort too early in the morning for his little brain. He'd rather be a little warm around her instead of being in a dirty pair of pants.

He scanned the windows of the house, curiosity getting the better of him. Maggie was watching the television in the kitchen, her daily soap opera playing. Neither of the Bills were anywhere to be seen nor Melissa, who was spending her summer vacation at home. He caught a glimpse of Charlie speeding down the driveway and out onto the sidewalk on his bike, most likely heading to his friend's house a few blocks down the road.

Everything was quiet and peaceful. It was a good moment alone to tell her.

"Dana?" he whispered.

That caught her attention. "Yeah?"

He sighed and tried to find the courage. "I thought you should know…my parents are going to be out of town this weekend."

Scully drew her bottom lip between her teeth. The statement in itself honestly meant nothing, but it was what he was implying by it that made her insides tremble and her heartbeat race. To be with Mulder, actually be with Mulder, was something she'd only been fantasizing for about the last few months. It was an avenue in their relationship that she no doubt wanted to travel with him, but she would be surprised if it got past the planning stage. It wasn't because she doubted him or his desire for her, that just wasn't it.

Something didn't feel quite right. A tingle ran up her spine that she couldn't explain, but it still made her uneasy.

Mulder, however, took her silence as doubt. "You can still back out if you want to. I don't want to pressure you into this."

"I do want this for us, Mulder." she took his hand in both of hers, refusing to meet his eyes. "Don't question that."

He took a deep breath in and let it out after a few seconds, drawing in the scent of her hair as he went. "Can you get away this weekend?"

She traced meaningless patterns across his palm. "I can tell them that I'm spending the night at Monica's. My dad might drive by around ten or eleven to see if the car's in the driveway, otherwise it's not a big deal. They like Monica despite the numerous reasons she's given them not to."

He smiled. "Reyes is quite an infectious character." Mulder's voicce wavered a little before it dropped even quieter than before. "And if you change your mind…any time…"

"I know." she nodded shakily to reassure him. The adrenaline that rushed through her veins at that point was hardly containable. He held her down from jumping up and down like a jackrabbit and got her to focus her newfound energy on her book. They would act like they'd never had that conversation before in their lives. If her mom would ask what they were doing out there, she would merely reply with something remotely related to their jobs.

Everyone knows that the easiest, even the littlest lies to keep, are the ones that are closest to the truth.

What will happen? Will they actually get the opportunity? Will their parents find out about their little scheme? Will something else happen entirely? You have to review in order to find out. XD