Apologies for the delay, hope you enjoy. This is where I take a little detour around main events and change up some of the timeline. Hope you like.
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By Tuesday morning, my happy and relaxed mood was tested by both the inept vending machine and the hauling over the coals I'd just received by Assistant director Skinner. Apparently, he was unhappy that opening a case on a wolf human baby had not been authorised by him. Although, both Scully and I had been specifically told by his assistant he had wanted to see us about said case. I kick the offending vending machine as Scully walks up beside me, an amused look on her face.
"You Okay, Mulder?" She smiles warmly.
"Yeah, but what in hell's name was that all about?" I retrieve the crappy coffee and follow her to the elevator. We step inside and head toward our office.
"I just spoke to Holly and she says Skinner's been acting weird all morning. She corroborates our version of events."
"They weren't a version of events, Scully, they happened," I snap and she gives me the look and I sigh deeply. "I'm sorry. So does he want us to continue or not? I'm not clear on that. Are you?"
"No," She exhales as the doors open and we head into the basement corridor and toward the locked door of our office. Except, it isn't locked and is standing open. We look at each other.
"You locked it," Scully states and I nod, drawing my gun as she does the same. We walk quietly toward the door and kicking it open I rush inside. At first glance, no one seems to be there and then his smug face is grinning like some maniacal clown.
"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, " His silken, sleazy tones grate on my ear drums. "How nice to see you both."
"I can't say the same sentiment springs to mind. Scully?" I turn to see the glower on her normally pleasant face.
"What do you want?" She snarls at him as he lights up another one of his cigarettes.
"Just to warn you. Skinner is not what he seems at the moment."
"What have you done to him?" Scully is outraged as our cigarette smoking asshole leans against the desk.
"What makes you think I have anything to do with his current state, agent Scully?"
"Because where there is usually trouble, there is you!" She hisses at him. I step toward our nemesis if only to prevent Scully from committing a felony.
"What do you want from us?" I ask, calmly but firmly. I want this bastard out of my office and if only out of my life and human existence but I know the latter two are near to impossible.
"I think we all need our usual assistant director back. He's currently banned me from his office."
"I can't see that being an issue for most of us," I chuckle mirthlessly.
"No, but him closing the x-files would be." And with a puff of smoke, he leaves the office. I stare at Scully and she glares at his retreating back.
"So, thoughts, Scully?" I sit at the desk, pulling out a air freshener to dispel the smell of smoke. She slams the door and locks it behind Cancer man, although I already know a mere lock wouldn't keep him out anyway.
"Skinner was odd. Even Holly said so. She said he's been like that since yesterday morning. Something must have happened to him over the weekend."
"I guess the wolf baby can wait," I smile at her and she nods, worry creasing her face.
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I walk toward the little restaurant across the street where I've arranged to meet Holly, assistant Director Skinner's personal assistant. I've known Holly for years. We've occasionally had lunch together out on the quad. She's a sweet woman who is dedicated to her work. I secretly think she has a bit of a crush on Skinner because she could go places. Although, how much higher, other than the deputy and director could you get, I suppose. She used to work in communications and I had often thought how this was a bit of a step down for her but she seemed to love the job.
"Hi," I say as I sit at her table.
"Hi, Dana. How are you?" She smiles with a tiredness that I know stems from worry.
"I'm good. You?"
"I'm just worried about AD Skinner. He's refusing calls. He's cancelled all of his meetings. He just lies in the office in darkness."
"Did he have any out of office meetings planned over the weekend?" I ask, receiving my cup of coffee from the waiter with a smile.
"Yes. He was meeting with a pathologist on Friday night. He told me to close down the system and leave at my usual time but informed me he'd be working late. I offered to stay but he assured me he'd be fine. Then Monday. And he's all weird. He'd told me Friday to issue you and Mulder with that case but you'd both left on another assignment so I left the case on your desk. Then yesterday, he screams at me that I had no right. That case was dead in the water. I'm so confused Dana."
"Don't worry," I place a reassuring hand on hers. "It'll be fine Holly. Agent Mulder and I will figure this out."
"I hope so," She smiles uncertainly.
Walking toward our office, I hear Mulder talking to someone. I step inside to find him speaking with a tall, sturdy agent with chiselled good looks and sharp blue eyes with a clean cut appearance.
"Scully, this is agent Dogget. He's from the New York office and has some interesting information that might help with Skinner's situation."
"Hi," We exchange greetings. "I asked ad Skinner to meet with a pathologist who's working on some top secret government research and who had his lab broken into and his assistant murdered two weeks ago. We've had the pathologist under witness protection but Friday night, after the meeting, he wasn't returned to the safe house. The agents who were assigned to him are also missing and ad Skinner was the last person to see them alive."
"Have we checked CCTV?" I ask as he pulls out surveillance photos.
"All three have disappeared. They're shown entering Skinner's office but not leaving."
"Could they still be there?" I ask and Mulder raises an eyebrow in question. "I just came from lunch with Skinner's assistant and she says he's refused calls, meetings, and the room is in darkness. What was the research this pathologist was working on?"
"Agent Scully is a medical doctor," Mulder answers Doggett's look of curiosity.
"We don't know. It was top secret."
"Do you have anyone else in witness protection?" Mulder inquires, taking a sunflower seed packet from his pocket.
"Yeah," Dogget looks curiously at us. "What are you all thinking?"
"This is an X-File," Mulder states and the other agent stares incredulously.
"I don't know about that," Doggett quickly puffs his chest out but Mulder shakes his head with his usual determination and I nod in my agreement.
"Until the unexplained is explained, Agent Doggett, it is an X-file". I back up my partner and he smiles warmly at me.
As Doggett's taking this information in, my cell phone begins to ring. Pulling it from my pocket, I notice it's Holly.
"You Okay?" I ask quickly, knowing she wouldn't call during office hours without a very good reason.
"You need to come upstairs, quickly," And I motion to the men to follow.
]Entering the outer office, Where Holly is wringing her hands in worry, I hear noises coming from the inner office. We all pull our guns and Mulder kicks down the door. Skinner is choking, and two men lay unconscious on the floor whilst the pathologist, I assume, lies dead under Skinner's desk.
"Holly, call an evacuation of the building," There is a smell in here that I do not like the scent of. She obeys and runs to the button that will automatically initiate an evacuation response.
"Call the CDC, tell them we have an unknown biological hazard in Ad Skinner's office," I tell Doggett who looks stunned and then I look at Mulder who has already seen what I have. A pouch on the desk and a door slightly ajar behind Skinner's desk. He goes to the door and begins to push it open with his elbow, just in case we need to get prints from it. As he disappears behind it, I hope none of us have been exposed to this biology and I hope Holly is also free from it.
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I awake suddenly, the TV still playing a news reel from the evacuation we initiated earlier that day. I came straight from the hospital, Scully, Dogget and I were fine, but Holly had traces of the unknown biological chemical in her bloodstream. Scully has her and the other surviving men on a blood transfusion to clear their blood streams. The pathologist died from his work. As I was pursuing someone, I still don't know who as my trusty source, who I call Scarman, due to the giant scar that crosses his face, who prevented me from following any further leads, Scully was helping the EMTs to load the patients and someone slipped back in and stole the pouch. Scully feels it was something along the lines we have seen before, the black oil, although this stuff was grey in colour. It had blinded skinner and the other men. We just hope the effects are reversible. A knock sounds at my door and I reluctantly shift to an upright position and stretch. I'm bone tired. Standing and heading to the door, I smile as I see its Scully through the peep hole.
"Hi," I open the door and step back to let her in. "How did it go?"
"The office has been put under decontamination. But I was able to pull a sample of that stuff. It is loosely based on the black oil. With one difference. The blindness, it covers every cell, over time, with a viscous substance, like a plastic coating. I think it's a protection from the black oil. Except, it kills human beings."
"But you think it'd protect aliens," I smile gently as she shakes her head, as I know she will. "Come on, Scully. If it's a protection, who else can it be protecting."
She sighs and takes a seat beside me on the couch. "I'm sorry, I just feel someone is working against the FBI here. I mean, why did cancer man warn us about skinner? What was in his best interests?"
"I don't know," I sigh and pull her to my side. She settles with her head on my shoulder. "I suspect this is to push Skinner out of the way, Scully. So we have to have a new assistant director."
"I hope not," She smiles up at me. "It's taken a long time to get Skinner on side."
"I'm not always sure he really is," I say quietly, wondering why Skinner had met with the pathologist.
"To create distrust you must plant a seed," She smiles quietly.
"What?" I look at her and she nods to herself, reaffirming something..
"Doggett said it earlier. He's more confused than us. But right now. I feel like just sleeping. Forget it for tonight. I'm going to drive home. I'll see you tomorrow." I nod and stand to walk her to the door.
"Goodnight," I smile as she turns to me and reaches for my hand. I take hers and pull her toward me, wrapping her in a hug and planting a tender kiss on her lips.
"Dinner tomorrow?" She asks, hope in her blue eyes.
"Yes," I step back and open the door for her. "Goodnight, Mulder."
She leaves and the wrench of her going is real. I want to be with her always.
Laying back down on the couch, I turned the TV onto some basketball and promptly fall asleep.
Waking the next morning, neck stiff, I stand and walk into my bedroom, the bed still roughly made, curtains open and step to the closet. Picking out fresh work clothes, I lay them on the bed, a very recent purchase and head into the bathroom to shower.
I was aching all over, I hoped the fact there had been no traces from yesterday's exposure was not some kind of cover up to how I was feeling now. But I realised, all the walking and wood cutting I'd done Sunday was using muscles I wasn't normally used to using. Committing I'd start going to the court to play basket ball from tomorrow, I quickly shower, change and head to work.
Scully is sitting in the office, looking over some reports when I push open the door.
"Morning," She smiles up at me as I hang my leather jacket on the door and head to my desk.
"What you got there, Scully?" I take a seat and boot up the computer.
"These reports on these wolf babies, their blood work is strange. There's extra chromosomes."
"Maybe it is worth checking out after-all," I nod thoughtfully.
By the evening, after talking to several families about their children, I feel like my head may explode. The kids show no other differences to a regular child, just mass of hair all over the body.
"You ready to eat?" I smile across at Scully who looks as shattered as I feel.
"I'm ready to veg out with a Chinese, if that's not too disappointing for you?" She suggests with a hopeful smile. My heart soars with gratitude.
"Scully, you just spoke the language of love to me," She laughs and we share a grin as we head to the nearest Chinese restaurant and order take out.
"My place or yours?" She asks, clipping her seatbelt back into place as I hand her the food. The sweet, aromatic smell making my mouth drool.
"Yours, it's cleaner," I pull out of the parking lot and head toward George Town.
Quietly sharing out the ribs, sweet and sour pork and fried rice, I watch her pour some wine for us both. We're both exhausted and a night in with some Chinese is the only thing either of us can manage.
"Sorry this is not the date I was hoping for," I hesitantly bring the D word into the air but her gentle look tells me she had viewed it exactly that way to.
"A date doesn't have to be extravagant or all out," She comments, bringing the wine to the table with cutlery. "Just spending time together is the most important thing."
"You're right," I nod and the introvert part of me is almost glad. "But I will take you out to dinner." I push a strand of her red gold hair from her cheek and kiss her gently.
"Good," she breathes as we sit to eat.
"I haven't eaten all day," she forks up some pork and I nod.
"I rarely eat breakfast. So, it's safe to say, I am starving!"
"The Nycs are playing tonight," She comments as I yank on a rib. "Want to watch it?"
"Sure," I raise my eyebrows in a question. She has never struck me as a huge basketball fan. "Why?"
A smirk forms on her lips. "I'm not immune to a bunch of men running around in little shorts," She giggles now and the sound makes my mouth break into a grin.
"If I had said something along those lines, I can imagine the roll of the eyes I would have been blessed with," I mock scold her.
"Appreciation for the human anatomy is healthy, Mulder. You could even appreciate the men running around in little shorts."
"Aha," I try to stare at her sternly but her mischievous glint in those beautiful eyes makes me waver in my resolve. "I'll appreciate the serious game, and you can appreciate the male anatomy."
"That's settled," She stands and taking her dishes to the sink, I'm reminded of the first night we kissed in this apartment. So much has happened, and yet it doesn't seem like that long ago at all.
"I'll do the dishes," I walk to the sink and take the dish cloth from her.
"I'm going to go freshen up, that Okay?" She looks at me with a tender look etched with something more.
"Go ahead," I step into her place at the sink and hear her disappear into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, we're cuddled up on the couch, wine glasses on the table, watching, or at least half watching the basketball game. I'm distracted… by her. And I like it. A whole lot. So much it scares me.
"I didn't think you would be into basketball," I take a sip of wine as she leans against me, my arm wrapped around her.
"It's not my go to sport. But I can dip in and out of any really. The beauty of having brothers is you learn all about sport. Bill Junior played basket ball and baseball. Charlie played football and ice hockey. Melissa and I played soft ball and soccer for a while. Although we both quit that rather quickly. Particularly after we got Buttons."
"Who was Buttons?" I ask, knowing it must have been a pet.
"Our pony," She grins at me. "I quit in a-heartbeat. I'd rather be riding than kicking a ball around. Plus, those girls were horrible."
"I would have thought Pony club would have been a bit of a bitch fest. A few girls whom's families had summer houses in the same neighbourhood as my parents all had ponies and they were stuck up madams."
"Yeah. It depends. We were lucky. Our stables was a no bullshit tolerated place and my riding instructor would not stand for any snarking and bitching."
"So, Buttons came along and stole your heart," I kiss her head affectionately. She looks up at me and we share a warm kiss which feels like it could never end. Eventually she breaks it and leans her head back to look at me.
"How is it, you go from working with someone, being friends with them. And the next thing you know, you're sharing Chinese, a bottle of wine and kissing on the couch?"
"I don't know. It must be an X-file." She wrinkles her nose and I laugh out-loud. "Sorry, that was terrible humour. But I know what you mean. It's like one day life is just going along and the next thing you know, that person is the one you want to spend all your spare time with." She looks down bashfully but a small twitch of her lips shows me how this touches her.
"I like this," she shifts to be more comfortable and I sigh with pleasure.
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The sun wakes me Saturday morning with a strength that can only remind me of the summer months. Autumn is arriving but the sun is presenting one last ditch attempt to rule over the day light hours. Stretching in bed, I look at the clock. Nine thirty. A great lie in for once. The previous night had been a late one. Mulder had taken me to a sushi restaurant downtown and we'd come back to my place and talked until turned two AM. He'd left, although I had suggested he crash on the couch. He'd been driving and said he had some things to take care of at home in the morning so he wouldn't this time. The pang of sadness of not waking up with him near was too real. But I knew it would happen sooner rather than later.
Getting dressed and showered, I decide to go to the cafe down the street for a coffee and a bagel. The sky shines pristinely blue and the air is crisp but warming nicely. In a thin sweater and jeans, I take my breakfast and sit in the little park a few blocks from my apartment.
"Fancy seeing you hear," A voice calls to me as I see a shadow cross my sun. Looking up, the grin on my face expands.
"Mulder, What are you doing here?" I move up so he can sit down.
"Just running," He leans back on the bench. I stare up at him in disbelief.
"OK, I came to your place but you weren't home. I thought we could do something. If you're not busy. I got everything done this morning and my mom cancelled on me so I was hoping now I have no obligations, if you're free, we could maybe take in that art exhibition you were telling me about."
"I have a better idea," I sip at my coffee. "I feel like being outdoors today. Let's hire a boat."
"OK," He agrees and pulls out his cell phone as it rings. My heart sinks. "Oh, hey, frohike… No, I'm not up for that today… I'm busy… Well, enjoy pizza night. Yeah, maybe next week. See ya." He hangs up and I look at him, feeling like the most important person at that moment. "Ready?" I nod and stand, he takes my hand and we head to the metro to go to the Washington park where you can hire boats on the lake.
Sitting beside him on the metro, I feel light headed with giddiness. This new feeling between us is making me act like a love sick teen. The brush of an arm, the looks shared, all make my heart dance.
Getting off at the boating lake, we walk toward the booking desk and hire a small boat. I learnt to drive boats as a child living on the navy base and I'm comfortable behind a wheel. These are almost identical to the ones I learnt with so I know it will be a pleasurable afternoon.
"I'll go grab us some food whilst you fill in the insurance stuff," he squeezes my hand and I nod, looking back down at the lengthy paperwork necessary to take out one of these boats. Sighing deeply, I sign my name and hand the form along with my credit card to the clerk.
"Thank you," he smiles at me with a slight wink which makes me smile back. It's true what they say, I think to myself. You're single for so long and men rarely take notice, but as soon as another male is interested, the entire male population realises you are alive and somewhat attractive. Taking the start up key from him and walking toward the blue and red boat assigned to us, I find Mulder walking toward me with a bag of goodies.
"This us?" He asks, sliding a glance to the boat and I nod.
"Is that junk food?" I grin, playfully.
"Maybe," he drawls the word in a sing song playful tone and I smile, stepping into the boat. It's a small single cabin affair with a power engine. Checking the gas, the instruments are all working, I insert the fob and start up the engine.
"You been out here before?" He asks, sitting on the bench that runs alongside the rear of the forward deck.
"A few times," I ease the boat out of the mooring area and head toward the middle of the lake. It's man made and rather huge. There are wildlife all around and the island in the centre also acts as a mooring station so you can picnic on shore.
"Can you check if there are any blankets in the cabin? We could head to the island and picnic they're in a while, if you want?" I turn to him as we hit a straight run. There are a few boats out already but traffic is very light.
"Sure," he gets up and takes the bag with him as I turn back to the view before me. The city shrinks away behind us and although I know we're still in the middle of the Capital, I'm happy to hear nothing but birdsong and other wildlife.
"Scully, there is plenty of blankets. I've put the food in the fridge to." He comes back to sit and we share a smile.
"Two weekends in a row," I comment watching his face and it breaks into a wide grin.
"I know. I must have died and gone to heaven," his eyes glint with teasing and I cannot help but release a slight chuckle.
"You don't believe in heaven," I chide mildly.
"I could say something very cheesy," he starts and I hold up a hand to prevent that line from slipping from his lips. "But I will not insult your intelligence. However, I'm happy to be spending another weekend with you." He's shy and my heart thuds helplessly in my chest. I'm falling for him and I know there will be no going back from this.
"Me to," I return softly and look back to my steering, a happy sigh escaping me.
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Lying out on the bench, the sun beating down in its autumnal last ditch attempt to be powerful, watching through slitted eyes the slender, athletic red head steering the boat, I'm reminded a lesser man would feel threatened by this traditional role reversal. But for me, watching her steer the boat, I cannot help but feel a stirring within me that's become all too common in her presence.
"Can you see those trees?" she is saying as I watch her. "I saw a golden eagle in one of them last summer. I think it's too late in the season for them now but what a sight!"
"If you could be any animal what would you be?" I ask as I sit up and watch her ponder the question.
"Hmm," She thinks, steering us further into the lake. The loud engine is driving me a little insane but I know the piece we will get from the island will be a rest-bite. "I don't know. Maybe a bid of prey of some kind."
"Not a dolphin? Or a dog?" I ask, eyebrows raised in mock horror.
"Those are among my favourite animals. But dolphins are hunted and dogs get the luck of the draw. They either get a good owner or not. That's not a chance I'd be willing to take. What about you?"
"I used to think being a pig would be ideal," I grin at her bashfully now.
"A pig?" She quirks an eyebrow and then realises my thought process and rolls her eyes. "Mulder! You do know it's the female pig that gets that long living pleasure, not the male?"
"Yeah, I learnt that. But I have no real issue with being a female animal. Then I thought a fly or a be a, but life expectancy is not great. So I decided on a tiger."
"Nice!" She smiles approvingly. "The second king of the jungle. But why not a lion, then, Mulder?"
"Because tigers are less in need of others and I think that matches my life more." She nods thoughtfully and kills the engine.
"What are you doing?" I ask as she steps from the controls and walks to sit beside me.
"We can drift for a little here. I can see but no need to rush to the island. Is there?" I sit up and pull her into my arms. The kiss we share is heated and I am puzzling where this passionate, sexy woman has emerged from my brilliant, sensible, rational partner.
Pushing a strand of her hair from her face, I smile as we break the kiss. We just look at each other for a moment, sharing in unspoken communication more than we could have said in hours of verbal conversation.
Standing, she walks back to the controls and calculates something. The concentration on her face tells me as much.
"We'll be there in fifteen minutes," She turns back and heads to the cabin. "I'm going to the bathroom, shout if anything happens." I nod and watch her step down into the cabin and looking back over the water, the calmness reflecting my soul, I am grateful for this time with her.
We reach the island just before midday and anchoring the boat, she helps carry the blanket and the deck chairs ashore. It's so peaceful I can almost imagine it's only the two of us in the whole world now. Carrying the picnic food over, I lay it out on the blanket and we share a few sandwiches, some water and snacks whilst pointing out features of this manmade paradise.
"I've never even been out on this lake before," I say through a mouthful of sandwich.
"I've never been to the island," she packs up the trash and stows it in the trash can on the boat. "It's beautiful though. I'm glad we got this in because season is over in a few weeks."
"You can't come out here in the winter then?" I ask, adding my trash to the can.
"No, it's breeding season for the wildlife and birds. But May to late October." I nod and we return to the blanket. It's chilly out amongst all the water and I unfold the second blanket I had brought from the cabin. Throwing it over both of us, she turns to me and beams gratefully.
"I'm glad you thought of this blanket. I'm freezing," she laughs and shivers to demonstrate.
"Come here then," I murmur and the loaded look she gives me, I know she was hoping for this. She moves quickly and I wrap her in my arms, pulling the blanket around us both. We lay back and are cocooned in the blankets and each other.
"Mulder," She whispers, although no one can hear us anyway.
"Mmm?" I inquire as she moves closer to me.
"I could lie here all day." I kiss her gently on the cheek and she snuggles closer still. The only sounds are from the birds in the trees, the breeze caressing the leaves and our breathing.
I wake and look at the woman lying in my arms. We'd both drifted into a slumber and I realise how beautiful she looks when she's asleep. I've seen her sleeping before, on stake outs but this is a more relaxed sleep, not sleeping out of necessity. Her eyelashes flicker as she stirs and I know for me at least, there can be no going back from this for me.
"Hey," She smiles sleepily. "Sorry about that."
"We both slept some," I reassure her. "We might think about heading back?"
"Yeah," She sits up and clears her throat reaching for a bottle of water.
"I'll start loading the boat," I stand and collect the picnic things as she stretches and tosses me the blankets.
"I'll start un-anchoring," She steps onto the boat and I realise we've made it past awkward post nap stage.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The ride back to shore is pleasant and I feel completely relaxed. Waking up in his arms was a feeling of joy I'd not anticipated. Glancing over at him now, I can't imagine him not being the person I spend the rest of my life with. That isn't some teenage girl talking now either, I've known it for a while. But as corny as it sounded, even in my own head, waking up in his arms was a like coming home.
"Thank you," He is behind me now, wrapping strong arms around my waist. Resting his chin on my shoulder, I feel the breath stilt magically in my chest.
"For what?" I beam into the afternoon sunlight.
"For this. For all of this," And I know exactly what he means.
"No need to thank me. That makes it sound like I'm doing you a favour. And trust me, this is no favour," I turn my face and he kisses my lips gently.
"Stay with me tonight?" I'm scared to ask but more afraid not to.
"Yeah," He whispers his response and the liquid hot feeling pooling in my stomach tells me it is time.
Returning the boat to shore, I'm mentally hit by the hustle and bustle of the city. I can't wait for it to just be us two alone again. I know I need to head to the grocery store and convey this to him which he's more than OK with.
Groceries bought and dinner arranged, we head to my apartment and start preparing dinner together.
I can hardly eat with nervousness though, knowing he's staying the night. I'd noticed the few purchases he'd collected from the store, and my heart thumped louder in my chest. Toothbrush, some underwear, toiletries, a throw away razor.
Sitting on the couch together, dinner had, we watch an old western movie on the TV.
"Reminds me of that case a few weeks ago," He laughs as the cowboys on TV gallop across the desert.
"Hardly," I laugh gently watching the muscular horses carry the big strapping men in western saddles at top speed across the screen. "We rode English."
"I wondered where the horn thing was," He dead pans and I laugh quietly. "Watching you ride was something of an epiphany to me." He turns and looks me dead in the eye then.
"An epiphany?" I ask, quaking my eyebrows. "How?"
"You're so masterful in the saddle. And then I realised your masterful in most things you do." The flirtation is not lost on me.
"Sometimes, in our line of work, a woman has no choice than to be masterful," I look at him in a way I know I've never done before and the look of awe on his face tells me I'm right.
He leans forward and the kiss starts gentle and familiar but intensifies rather quickly. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull him toward me and know this is not the place. He pulls back and lifts me into his lap.
"No, come on," I stand and pull him to his feet. My legs shaking, my hands clammy, I look at him and am reassured we both want this.
Reconnecting in my dimly lit bedroom, the kiss passionate, hands exploring, my breath quick and filled with anticipation, I realise what a huge step we are both taking.
"You sure?" I ask breathlessly as my clothes seem to fall away from my body and he is bared to me in his full glory.
"Are you?" His voice is husky and filled with need.
"More sure than I've ever been," I know it to be true. Every man before him has paled in comparison. Fox Mulder is the man I need in my life, in my bed. Crushing me to his chest, our lips returning to their dance, his fingers tracing down my nakedness and parting the flesh most sensitive, I let out a soft moan. Everything that happens from now on will be seen through the eyes of a lover. And as much as I hope it wouldn't effect our working relationship, I am not naive enough to know it truly wouldn't.
The kisses hot, the touches like electricity, we get lost in each other. And as he hovers over me, poised to put this last piece in place, we stare into each other's eyes and agree there is no going back.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Lying, gasping and sweating, the sheets tangled around us, the cold air hits my back pleasantly, drying the sweat. Her eyes half closed, lips red and swollen from the activity, she looks divine as she lays curled in my arms.
"Mulder," she breathes, a headiness to her voice.
"Yeah?" I kiss her sweaty forehead and feel my heart burst with happiness. Dana Scully is lying in my arms, spent after one of the best sexual experiences of my life. I had joked about dying and going to heaven with her earlier on the boat, but I felt as though it was true.
"Wow," She breathes, catching her breath. "You OK?"
"Am I OK?" I ask chuckling. "I just spent the last hour with you., in positions I've only ever fantasised about." She laughs and looks at me in disbelief. "Are you OK?"
"Never better," Her eyes close and I feel sleep take us both under then.
I wake around three aM, realise we're both freezing. I leave her side to retrieve the comforter that had been thrown to the floor during the outpouring of passion. Throwing it gently over her, I go to the bathroom, relieve myself and get some water before crawling back in beside her. Is this my life now? Sleeping next to this incredible, beautiful woman? I hope so.
"Morning," She's standing at my side, dressed in silk pyjamas and a cotton robe. "I've made you a coffee."
"Thanks," I lean up on one elbow and take the cup from her. She sits beside me on the bed and taking a gulp of the hot liquid, I place the mug on the bedside table and pull her down on top of me.
"Good morning," I kiss her thoroughly.
"Did you sleep well?" She asks, finding her comfortable spot in my arms.
"Yeah," I kiss her cheek softly. "You?"
"Yeah," Her eyes sparkle with the joy were sharing. Round two is lazy love making and I feel the orgasm as strong as the passionate sex the previous night. Her face controls with ecstasy and I hope there are many more Sunday mornings spent like this in our future together.
"How do you like your eggs?" She asks as I step into the kitchen, showered and shaved.
"Sunny side up," I move to the coffee machine and pour us both another cup. "Need any help?"
"I'm good," She smiles at me and I lean against the counter top, watching her. "Any plans today?"
"No," I hope she hasn't either. "You?"
"I'm meant to be having dinner with my mom and brother at seven."
"So I have you until then?" I walk to her and kiss her neck seductively.
"Stop it," She squirms playfully. "Unless you want burnt eggs?"
Hunger never bothers new lovers I realise. You become so wrapped up in the other person, the basic needs of food and liquid seem irrelevant. "What time is it?" I look at the clock on the all and grin. "Nine and a half hours to thoroughly explore other ways to make you make that adorable noise."
"Shut up," She bats my hand from her breast but the look she gives me is one of need. "Breakfast, because you may need your strength today, Mulder."
"Ooooh," I feign a mock scared look and she giggles.
We don't leap back into bed but we head out for a morning walk. Holding her hand, I feel like I just won the multi million dollar prize on the lotto.
We even take in the art exhibition which is interesting and beautiful to witness.
"I should go," I walk her back to the apartment around five. "Let you get ready for dinner with the family. I have laundry to do too."
"OK," She opens the door and I step into grab my things. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at work."
"You will," I pull her in for one last kiss and make sure it's a thorough job as I know there will be no kissing the next time I see her. "Have a good night."
"You to," She watches me head toward the elevator and we share one last look before I blow her a kiss and head home feeling like my heart could sing.