Author's Note: You know, I always feel like the X-Files works best when Mulder and Scully are together. Not, like, "together" together, but just with each other... near each other... you know, together. So... a chapter were Scully and Mulder are back together. With Skinner. But that's neither here nor there. I'm sorry, I'm a little loopy. I'm in between tutoring and "open house," and I thought I'd take a few minutes to post up this chapter. Thanks to you guys for reading, and thanks to my beta reader IAmLoisLane whose insight and suggestions are so useful :)


When Mulder pulled up to Scully's building, he was deep in thought. How could he have shared his inner most feelings with two strangers? He hadn't meant to, he just didn't think to deny it at the time… at least not with any fervor or believability.

And then there was the matter of what he'd discovered—or, more accurately, what he'd been told. As an explanation, it was so simple… yet became so impossibly complicated when put into the context of what to tell Scully. One thing was clear: he was going to have to lie… at least a little. Maybe a lot. Probably a lot.

Mulder was wrapped up in these thoughts as he walked right past Skinner's car and up the stairs to Scully's place. He knocked on the door and waited with no idea how to answer the questions he knew she would have for him. Only she didn't open the door, Skinner did.

"Sir?"

"Come on in, Agent Mulder. Agent Scully's making some coffee."

Mulder stepped into Scully's apartment. Not only was it odd to find Skinner at Scully's place on the weekend, but the fact that he wasn't surprised to see Mulder was a bit worrisome.

"What'd you find out?" Skinner asked him.

"Sir?" Mulder asked, glancing toward the kitchen.

"From the doctor. Dr. Foster, wasn't it?"

"What exactly did Scully tell you?" Mulder asked.

"She told me everything," Skinner claimed.

Mulder smiled as Scully exited the kitchen with two cups of coffee. "Scully told you everything, huh?"

Scully gave him half a head shake—maybe a quarter—as she handed Skinner his coffee. She offered the other cup to Mulder and met his eyes. Though he made no sign of it other than the eye contact, she knew he got her message: she most certainly had not told Skinner "everything."

"Oh, no thanks," he said, waving off the coffee.

"You sure?" Scully asked him.

"Yep."

Scully took a sip herself just as Mulder said, "Don't know if I could even hold the cup, my wrists are so sore."

Mulder watched Scully choke on her coffee. She glared at him, but he smiled and nodded to Skinner who was busy drinking his own coffee obliviously.

"So, Agent Mulder, let's hear it," Skinner said before taking another long swig.

"Yeah, I'll fill you in, but I think I changed my mind about the coffee," Mulder said as he edged toward the kitchen, "Scully, you want to lead me to the cream and sugar?"

"Sure," Scully said as she followed behind him and tried to avoid Skinner's suspicious glare.

When they were alone, Mulder turned to Scully and moved in so close she could smell the enticing scent of his aftershave. He kept his eyes on the door and whispered, "What the hell is Skinner doing here?"

Scully stayed close to speak while trying to ignore the now familiar attraction and the feelings that were still so new to her. "It's been awkward, to say the least. He showed up here accusing us of conspiring with Nathan and Meredith—"

"Conspiring to what—"

"Getting there," she interrupted him. "Then he wanted to know why you were here all weekend—"

"How did he know—"

"Getting there, too," she stopped him again. "Meredith, or someone in her office, made contact with several people over the past few days. Out of three, two committed suicide and the other, a chemistry teacher named Katrina—"

"Wait, Katrina? Wasn't that the name of Henry's—"

"Yes. She attempted to kill herself."

"You're kidding? Were the others related to the other patients in some way?"

"That's yet to be determined. But Meredith and Nathan have been under surveillance since Friday night."

"Friday night?"

Scully nodded.

"They put us under surveillance, as well," Mulder deduced.

Scully nodded again, glancing over her shoulder and out the kitchen door.

"How under surveillance?" he asked.

"Evidently, just visual… watching our comings and goings, which—as Skinner observed—amounted mostly to a whole lot of stayings."

Mulder closed his eyes and sighed. "He gave you a hard time?"

"Not really. He just wanted to know what was going on and why you were here. I tried to be evasive, like you would have been—"

"I'm not evasive. Unless… is that a good thing?"

"It's certainly useful. And you're good at it. Much better than I am. The whole conversation was uncomfortable. It was hard enough talking about it with you—"

"I hate to hear you say that," he said honestly as he took a step back from her. "I'd like to think we could talk to each other about anything."

Scully turned away to pour a cup of coffee for Mulder. "We could. We can. It's just… " She turned back to face him with a smile. "Please just let me be embarrassed… okay?"

Mulder also hated her humiliation. He thought about breaking down right there and spilling the contents of his highly edgy yet fully certain heart… but then he remembered all the reasons why it was a terrible idea—his fear of losing her at the top of the list. "Okay."

Scully breathed an inner sigh of relief as she handed Mulder his coffee. She'd already told Skinner the basics—the very basics—and she really didn't want to think about the past forty-eight hours again until she was alone and could be reflective, rather than deflective.

"So, what did you find out from Meredith?"

"Uh, well…"

"Agents, how long does it take to make a cup of coffee?" Skinner asked as he entered the kitchen, looking at them both impatiently.

"Can I speak with you alone for a moment, Sir?" Mulder asked Skinner.

Skinner glanced at Scully who shrugged and offered to take his empty cup. Mulder handed off his own cup as he led Skinner out of the room. Scully stared at the empty doorway for a moment as she wondered what Mulder could possibly have in mind to tell Skinner. Whatever it was, she trusted it to be in her best interest.

In the living room, Mulder sat down next to Skinner on the couch.

"What is it, Agent Mulder?" Skinner demanded impatiently. "I mean, I'm assuming Agent Scully has already brought you up to speed."

"Sir, did you ever stop to think that by coming here like this you're sort of overstepping your bounds?"

Skinner laughed. "I'm overstepping my bounds?"

"I know what you're probably thinking," Mulder lowered his voice, "about Scully and me."

Skinner said, "Look, to be honest, I don't give a rat's ass if you and Agent Scully decide to do the nasty down in the damned FBI basement—"

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Mulder said with a chuckle. "But, seriously, Sir, I can assure you, there's nothing like that between Scully and me. She doesn't go for guys like me. You should see this doctor. He's the kind of guy Scully deserves."

"Jesus Christ… you, too?" Skinner muttered.

"Sir?"

"Scully and I have already had this conversation, Agent Mulder."

"Okay, I know, but I also wanted to assure you that what happened this weekend is personal and is also completely unrelated to those suicides you're here about."

"You're telling me that my two best agents getting drugged by the subjects of an FBI investigation is somehow not related to the investigation—"

"They weren't the ones who did the drugging. They were the targets."

"Okay, that's better for them, but still related—"

"The guy who did it—"

"You know who did it? Are you bringing him in?"

"No, Sir. He's just this harmless old man who funds medical research. He's given a lot of money to Riley and Foster. He also seems to have a vested interest in… well, essentially, he thinks he's cupid and he was trying to do a little match-making. Scully and I got caught in the cross-fire of his magic arrows."

"You're saying he was trying to… what are you saying?"

Mulder glanced over his shoulder and also listened. The water was still running in the kitchen sink. "I'm saying this guy wants Riley and Foster to, you know," Mulder lowered his voice even more, "be together. He was trying to drug them, not us."

Skinner also looked toward the kitchen and spoke quietly, "And you don't want Agent Scully to know this information?"

Mulder shook his head.

"May I ask why?" Skinner questioned with a hint of incredulity in his voice.

"I warned you that this was personal."

"Well, in that case, proceed or don't, and know that I'm willing to listen, but I'm certainly no Sally Jesse Raphael."

Mulder smiled at his boss. He was really fond of Skinner, he had to admit. He wanted to confide in him, and Skinner had opened the door, but he also knew talking too much about Scully would make him feel like a dope, like a blushing teenage school girl talking about her crush. He decided to take a chance and give Skinner the generic version of his concerns.

"It's just… You may not know this, but it's been awhile since Scully's been on a date, and she really seems to like this guy. I'd hate to see her sabotage the whole thing because she starts to read into this crazy man's theory about Foster and Riley."

"Well, is it true?" Skinner asked. "About Foster and Riley? Because, if it is, you might just be saving Agent Scully some time."

"I can't say. The only person Riley seems to have eyes for is…"

"Scully?" Skinner asked.

Mulder nodded.

"Okay, well, I'm willing to keep this information to myself unless it becomes pertinent to the case," Skinner promised.

"Speaking of the case, I'd like to request permission to take over the investigation."

Skinner groaned. "I don't know, Mulder. It's a conflict of interest, wouldn't you say?"

Mulder grinned. "Sir… so is my whole career."

Skinner narrowed his eyes and tilted his head from side to side. "I see your point."

"So?"

"I'll have to go through the proper channels, but… let me see what I can do," said Skinner exasperatedly.

"I'd appreciate it."

"Appreciate what?" Scully asked as she re-entered her living room.

"Assistant Director Skinner's going to get us on this case… since it's clearly an X-file."

"Isn't it a bit of a conflict of interest?" Scully asked.

Skinner glanced over at Mulder smugly and gave him a nod of agreement.

"Come on, you two, it's called undercover work," Mulder assured them. "No pun intended."