Scully sat on the bed with her laptop open in front of her.  The motel Mulder had picked was cheap and far from cheerful but it seemed to be the best the town of Bellefleur had to offer.  The small tape player played the observations she'd made at the autopsy earlier on and yet her head still spun from the simple notes she'd made.  Glancing at the implant on the bedside locker she shook her head slowly as she continued to type her reports. 

            She reached over to stop the tape as the words sped past her fingers and she used the break in typing to reach for the implant.  Even though it was her own voice describing what she found in the coffin and then in the corpse she still found it hard to believe.  She couldn't substantiate Mulder's claim that it was an alien and it would be the next day before the results came back from the local FBI Lab.  Which in itself was over 80miles away.  Sighing she was about to turn back to her work when a soft but insistent knock came to the door.

"Who is it?" she called glancing at the thin excuse for a door.

"Stephan Spielberg," came the quick reply.

            Smiling she clambered of the door and walked over to the door where she opened it to find Mulder dressed in sweats with a blue baseball cap on backwards holding his unruly hair in place.

"I'm way to wired, I'm going for a run," he said shifting his weight from foot to foot.  She could almost see the energy bubbling in him.  "You wanna come?" he asked with a tilt in his head and a quirk in his eyebrow.

"Pass," she said thinking of the unwritten report waiting for her on her laptop.

"You figure out what that thing up Ray Somes nose was yet?"

"No," she admitted through a yawn.  "And I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."

            She caught the small smile that caressed his lips as she closed the door and walked back to bed.  Looking at the X-Rays against the light shade her mind boggled with the possibilities, tainted with the theories Mulder had sprouted earlier after they developed the pictures she stared in wonderment at them, unable to take her eyes off them.

            Seeing the look of excitement in his eyes as he stood by the door she wondered how he coped with the cases on his own, when he had no one to share his passion with or to banter his theories with.  Maybe it was a lonely life for him out on the road with his cases that no body else wanted.  But with further reflection she imagined it was a lonely life for him in the bowels of the FBI building.

            She slapped her laptop shut and left it next to her suitcase as she pulled off her clothes and slipped into a cool pair of navy silk pyjamas.  Growing up with older brothers had taught her nothing if not to dress for bed and be prepared to bolt out of it when ordered.  Climbing between the sheets she emitted a small shiver and settled into the warm spot she had created by sitting on it earlier.

            She listened to the soft patter of the rain on the window and wondered what Mulder was thinking about as he ran the wet streets.  It hadn't gone past her that he was calling her by her surname and constantly referred to himself by his own surname clearly uncomfortable with the familiar use of his own unusual first name.  She smiled as she imagined the fresh theories he's bring to her in the morning and she reached over to grab the phone.  Shane's number was dialled and she settled back against the pillow to talk to him.  The phone rang, three, four and then five times before the answering machine kicked in with a short concise messages asking for a return number.

"Hi Shane, it's just me.  I'm staying at the Lock Inn in Bellefleur.  I'll call you tomorrow."

            Replacing the handset with a tired sigh she switched off the light and snuggled back into the bed to let the sleep that had been threatening her eyes finally claim it's rightful place and lull her into a restful sleep.

***

            Mulder's feet pounded the path with a rhythm he could feel in his heart as his blood pumped furiously through his body.  So much stuff had happened so quickly, so many leads and finally a tangible piece of evidence.

            He thought of the implant Scully had found in the corpse that was in the coffin.  She still wouldn't admit to what the body was claiming it to be a monkey.  He chuckled aloud again at that one as he crossed the street and reached an arm up to wipe his brow. 

            He usually ran to free his mind, to escape the thoughts that constantly bombarded him but running mow into the soft rain all he could see was her face when she pulled out the implant.  He couldn't even imagine what was going on in her head. What scientific theories she was formulating to explain how the piece of metal had gotten into the corpse.  Not to mention that what they found in the coffin wasn't even the body they expected.

            Soon the rain fell harder and he turned back towards the motel inviting the rain to cool him down as he ran faster, sprinted the final distance.  He met the motel with a smile delighted to be back and ready to collapse into the shower and into bed.  As he fished the door key out of his pocket he spotted a sliver of light shining from underneath her door.  A quick glance at his watch told him it was 12.30 and he wondered briefly what was keeping her up.  But as he took a step closer and began to raise his hand to knock tentatively the light disappeared and her room plunged into darkness.  He shrugged and turned back to his own room, throwing his clothes to the floor as he made his way to the bathroom.  His shower was quick and cool and he soon found himself lying stretched out on the bed, the TV flickering a bad movie into the room.

But Mulder it's not possible, how could an alien corpse get into a buried coffin in the town cemetery! he could hear her voice say and he smiled.

Same way an orang-utan corpse gets in Scully! He retorted.

            He had to admit that he was enjoying the banter.  The respectful way she argued his theories back at him using his own words against him and he was sure he caught more than a few smiles throughout the day.  Falling onto the bed throwing the towels to the floor on top of his clothes, he let his eyes droop and the images play across his lids as he fell into a restless sleep.

**Sorry it's so short.  Just setting the scene. You'll defiantly need to have seen the pilot episode for this fic to make sense.  It's going to jump around a lot.**