TWO

Her father had instilled a very strict motto into her and her siblings.

Early is on time, on time is late, and late is never acceptable.

While Melissa and Charlie rolled their eyes and didn't adhere to it, she and Bill lived by it. Which is probably why when she woke up and realized by the sun shining through her curtains that she was hours late to work, her short-circuited alarm clock blinking in defiance, she went from a dead sleep to pure panic.

She'd called Mulder immediately, who seemed relieved and then amused by her incessant apologizing. "No, Mulder. We had that meeting with one of your leads. I'm so sorry."

"Scully-" he chuckled, only to be cut off.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm so sorry," she lamented, almost rolling her ankle trying to shove her feet into her shoes.

"You don't need to rush. It happens to everyone, Scully," he assured before adding a slightly more emphatic, "Please don't think I'm mad at you."

"I'm going to grab you lunch to make up for it? Okay?" she pleaded upon seeing the fact it was indeed lunchtime, causing a new wave of guilt to crash over her.

"You don't need to do that," he chuckled again, light-hearted exasperation in his tone. "But if it will make you feel better, okay. Get me Subway."

"Your usual?" she asked, grabbing her keys on her way out.

"Yeah, thank you," he replied, a smile evident in his tone. "And Scully, seriously don't rush. I'm honestly not upset, but I will be if you get in a wreck for a sandwich."

"I'll be there in around thirty minutes," she replied, starting her car.

"I'm sure you will," he laughed before telling her to drive safely and hanging up.

He might not have been mad at her, but she was. It was their first day back at work since the Modell case, and she'd wanted to be there for support since she'd nearly lost him.

By the time she got to the office, their usual lunch time had passed. Scully bounded into the office like a hurricane, closing the door behind her with her foot.

"Well look who it is. I thought I'd die of starvation," Mulder teased.

"I-" she started, getting cut off.

"Don't even think about apologizing," he replied. "I'm just kidding."

She handed his drink and food to him, and she noticed during the exchange that he was regarding her with a funny expression. "What?" she asked self-consciously.

"Did you do something different with your hair?" he asked.

"More like I didn't do something to my hair. This is just how it looks, I didn't have time to fix it," she replied self consciously, bringing her hands up to the unruly, curly puffiness of her hair. No matter how much she tried to straighten it with her palms, she felt it lift right back up.

"I like it," he replied, bringing his straw to his lips.

"Stop," she replied, rolling her eyes as she shucked off her trench coat, which had been tightly wrapped around her body.

"I wasn't making fun. It looks nice," he replied sincerely. However, his mouth dropped open and his eyes shot to his brow when he saw what she was wearing.

"I forgot to do laundry last night and I was in a hurry," she mumbled, tugging on her sundress awkwardly as if the right tug would transform it into a tent and she could burrow in and hide her embarrassment. When she was trying to find something from her closet, she realized she really should've done laundry. This felt like a better alternative to showing up in a t-shirt and pyjama pants.

The dress wasn't inappropriate by any means, it was just something she usually wore to church or family picnics, not to the office. It was a lavender wrap dress with short sleeves. While the V neckline was lower and her skirt higher than her other office attire, she still felt it didn't warrant the reverential look he was giving her.

"I'm pretty sure you've seen me in a dress before, Mulder," she replied, tugging on the bustline.

"I think I'd remember if I did," he murmured, adding, "You look really lovely."

Her face burned at his compliment and she softly replied, "Thank you." Scully pressed the start button of her computer and listened as the dial up tone screeched awkwardly. She started laying out her sandwich when a lack of movement in her periphery caused her to look over and see Mulder was still looking at her. Unlike what she'd expected though, he wasn't smirking at the uncharacteristic dress, but her face. If she wasn't blushing before, she was now as she realized she'd only put on mascara that morning, so all of her freckles were visible to him. She probably looked like a kid right now.

However, she didn't get confirmation if it was the freckles he was looking at, because he seemingly was focused on the redness of her face. "I hope you're not still upset with yourself," he stated.

"Sorry, I just get stressed when I'm late to something important. My father always told me it was disrespectful to waste other people's time, and I just-" she rambled with a shrug, "I didn't want you to think I didn't care."

Scully looked to meet his eye and saw a bashful smirk on his face. "What?" she asked him.

He chuckled softly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I'm not used to people caring." There was an awkward pause and he lamely added, "About work, uh, or my time."

"Of course I do," she smiled softly.