Title: There's Something…Different About This Case…

Chapter Four

Author: Insomnia, a very bored shipper!

Disclamer: I don't own any characters. If I did I would be really rich.

Genre: MSR…the only kind there should be

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Scully was sitting on her bed in the hotel room she held adjacent to Mulder's. She was watching TV, but it kept going snowy, like there was a storm coming their way. She sighed, disappointed. Suddenly the connecting door flew open and there stood her partner. He opened his mouth to speak and the TV was all but forgotten.

"Scully, I don't want you to go out tonight." He had a worried expression on his face. Scully's pulse quickened and she continued to stare at him quizzically.

"You should stay here. Don't you see, it's not safe to go out alone with someone you don't know. You might get hurt." Scully continued to watch as he sat on the bed beside her. "I don't ever want to see you get hurt, Scully."

Suddenly he was kissing her, hard and passionately. She could feel how much he wanted her, and her heart filled with joy. She had thought this would never happen, she had only dreamt it.

And she continued to dream it. Scully woke up with a start and turned to her side where she lay on the bed only to observe Mulder sitting down at the end of it, flipping through the channels on her television. She sighed. What on earth had possessed her to dream of such a thing. She briefly wondered if he ever dreamt of her that way. The thought of grabbing him and kissing him to find out if it would be like her dream came to her mind before she buried it. How ridiculous. He would probably push her away and be too embarrassed to even look at her for the rest of the year.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of the living, Scully. No wait, scratch that wonderful part…" Mulder glanced sideways at her as she sat up in her bed. She made a tired little moan and remembered that she had fallen asleep before she had even gotten the chance to start unpacking her suitcase. Suddenly she gasped as she remembered her 7 o'clock date with the handsome young officer. Frantically looking at her watch she saw that it was already 6 o'clock. She had been asleep for three hours! Jumping quickly from her bed she ran to her suitcase and unzipped it, then dumped the contents on her bed where Mulder still sat, who now paying no attention to the TV.

"Damn Scully, I must really be rubbing off on you. That's how I unpack." Mulder gave her a half smile. Crap! He had been fervently wishing that she would oversleep and miss her date. Ohhhh wouldn't that have been a shame if she had not been able to spend the evening with Officer Prick. Mulder frowned, thinking that he should have changed all the clocks so she would have thought it was much earlier than it actually was. Then she would have missed the date for sure. But he knew his partner better than that...actually she was too smart to fall for such a simple trick. And she would be mad at him for the rest of their stay here. Plus, he thought with a shudder, he would have had to explain his actions to her eventually. And that would not have been fun.

Scully dug through all the clothing she had brought. She had been hoping to maybe check out some nice casinos while in Vegas, so she had brought a few very sophisticated and fashionable outfits for such an occasion. She chose a tight fitting V-necked tank top by Michael Kors, and a pair of long, flared pants in sky blue by Versace with it's matching figure-emphasizing jacket. Looking over at her partner and noticing that he was watching her intently, she rolled her eyes at him, grabbed her makeup bag, and rushed to the bathroom to shower and change. Why did he make her have to feel so guilty about this innocent little dinner she would be having with an officer of the law? He hadn't said anything but she had seen the disapproval in his eyes as he watched her. Scully frowned as she continued to get ready in the hotel bathroom. She deserved this night out. She almost never got to go on dates like this. Not that she wasn't asked out, but she always refused the invitations. She had only accepted tonight's because of the way Mulder had been acting when she had been asked via her cell phone right in front of him. Like he didn't care at all. Well she would show him that she didn't care that…he didn't care…and…this was getting too complicated. So many situations involving Mulder did.

Mulder continued to sit on his partner's bed. He looked at the TV instead of watching it. He knew he should not care so much that she was going out. She was only his partner. But even as he thought that he gave a little laugh. Yeah, right. He was downright jealous, he realized. He never got to go out to dinner with her and not have to discuss some X-file involving the monster of the week or some psychopathic serial killer with a tendency towards fetishism. That was such a great topic for the appetite. And did she ever make such a huge effort to look stunning as she was currently doing tonight for Officer Prick when she went to meet her own partner somewhere? He thought back to the elegant suit she had grabbed out of her suitcase. Maybe she did make an effort, but he just never noticed it. He should really pay attention to her more.

Suddenly the door to the bathroom and Scully stepped out. She was completely ready to go out…and she looked perfect. Mulder couldn't stop looking at her as she went over to her suitcase to find a small vial of perfume and her evening purse. Scully looked over at him and frowned. Why did he have to act like a puppy who was being left alone for the first time? Sometimes he really exasperated her. She glanced at the small clock on the nightstand. Shit, she had five minutes to get downstairs and meet Nick in the lobby. Saying goodbye to her partner, she grabbed her evening bag and rushed towards the door. As she was halfway out she heard him call, "Give my love to Officer Nick" in a comically high voice. Turning her head back she flashed him a grin and answered him in a seductive tone, "Oh, I will!" and she blew him a kiss. As she closed the door behind her, still grinning, she wondered why she just did that. Must have been the strange way he was looking at her…Not choosing to delve into the subject deeper, she rushed towards one of the elevators and pressed the button to go down.

Mulder practically leapt off of her bed as he raced towards the phone. Now that she was gone he could begin. Dialing a number he had memorized, he spoke into the phone.

"Frohike, it's me...turn off the tape…click…I need you to do a check on an Officer Nick Marsh over at the Las Vegas PD…No, no, I don't know that he's done anything...yet. It's just that, well, Scully's going out with this guy tonight and I want to make sure she's in safe company." Mulder's face suddenly grew a little red. "Shut up Frohike. Just run the damn background check for me, will you? Call my cell when you find something interesting. Yeah, yeah, I meant if you find something interesting. Whatever." Hanging up, Mulder felt a bit better. The Lone Gunmen were pros at doing background checks. In exchange for favors like these, he was able to feed their imaginations and newsletter with true tales of covert operations inside the government and conspiracies. If there was anything strange about this officer, he would soon know about it. And he would make sure that Scully wouldn't be far behind in that knowledge.

Scully had spotted Nick as soon as she reached the spacious lobby of his cousin's hotel. Smiling and extending her hand, she grabbed it and gave it a brief squeeze. "Thank you again for getting us these rooms in such short notice, Nick…My partner and I really appreciate it!"

The officer looked down at her and smiled. "It was my pleasure, Agent Scully." Oh, she had no idea what a pleasure it had been. It had allowed him another chance to ask her to dinner this night. He cleared his throat and extended his arm. "Shall we get going? I've made 7:30 reservations at a wonderful restaurant not too far from here." Scully smiled and took his arm. He made her feel 17 again. Then her thoughts turned to her partner. She wondered what he would be doing this evening…and felt a twinge of guilt for leaving him like that. She hadn't meant to ditch him. Suddenly less cheerful, she gave the officer a big fake smile and allowed him to lead them both out into the street to hail a cab.

They reached the restaurant and were immediately shown their table for two. It was a lovely place called The Swan, decorated in pale yellow and gold. Maybe this date wouldn't be so horrible after all…even if it didn't include her gorgeous partner. After looking over the menus, deliberating what to order, the two ordered. Scully leaned back in her chair as the officer leaned towards her, his hands lying in front of him. She watched him play nervously with a cloth napkin as she answered very generic questions about herself. What she did exactly (boy, did she give that question a wide berth… she didn't want him to laugh at what she and Mulder did…he wouldn't understand it's importance), where she grew up, even her favorite food. She felt herself relaxing a little…Nick seemed like a very nice, ordinary man who had an innocent attraction for her. She had been beginning to think that she was cursed never to go out on dates with men who didn't intend her any harm…Mulder would never bring her any harm, why didn't she go out on dates with him? The back of her mind nagged at her.

"Dana? Dana? I was asking you what you thought of Las Vegas so far." The officer reached out and touched her hand lightly, laughing.

"Oh! I'm sorry Nick…I was just wondering what progress my partner has made so far with this case we're on." Scully looked slightly embarrassed to be caught thinking about her partner. The attractive officer's eyes narrowed slightly. Or so Scully thought.

"Ah, Agent Mulder…" He said with a strange inflection in his voice. "I'm sure he's making fine progress." Suddenly his tone and appearance went back to how they formerly were. He continued to lay his hand on top of Scully's, looking at her like she could crumble away into nothingness in a moment. Their waitress came and laid the first of the plates down on the table. Scully observed her. Her FBI training has caused her to take up the habit of being as aware as possible of her surroundings…especially when people where involved. The waitress seemed very proper, as was expected of such a posh restaurant.

"Bisque for the gentleman, our house caviar entrée for the lady…Nick!" the officer's head shot up in surprise and regarded the waitress for the first time. Scully watched the exchange, noticing how Nick's expression became dominated by surprise, then apprehension. "Laura…" he drawled, giving her all the silent signals to go away. The poised waitress didn't seem to notice. Scully broke in.

"You two know each other?" She thought for a second that this woman could be his girlfriend. Scully felt a flash of anger.

"Of course! Nick and I worked together for a year at my previous place of employment. He was one of the best waiters we had, before he left to join the police force six months ago." The woman smiled and patted his shoulder, her hands now free of dishes. Scully smiled at her and asked what restaurant she spoke of. "Le Joie de la Jardin…one of the best restaurants in the city." She glanced around and added hastily, "Well, not quite as good as The Swan…Is there anything I can get you two? No? Well enjoy your entrées. I will be the one waiting on you for the remainder of your evening." She gave one last smile at Nick, who had a hard look on his face as he stared at his food, and left them. Scully's eyes grew wide as she pieced some of the puzzle together. She didn't understand everything quite yet, but she knew enough to realize that she had to get out of there…she had to contact Mulder.

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oohhhhh what's gonna happen? You wanna know, don't ya? Well leave me some reviews (look on the bottom left hand corner! You don't have to register!) and tell me you want chapter 5 BAD. Hehe. And I'll try to get it done soon, if you want. Thanks so much to everyone who gave feedback so far…you know already that this is my first piece of fiction ever, so the encouragement really helps. ;)