Return to Me

Chapter 14

Bay Front, Florida

7:43am

Mulder's POV:

I woke up to an empty bed, which confused me because I am normally the first to wake up. Insomniac I am. I usually never even sleep…other than the occasional 30 minute naps that may occur 3 times during the night. It's a rare occasion I sleep all night, as I did tonight. I hear a slight movement downstairs and fling the covers from over me. After slipping on some clothing I make my way down the stairs. I find Scully in the kitchen over the stove.

"What'cha cooking?"

She turns at the sound of my voice, "oh…your awake. Bout time. Anywho, im cooking eggs. You want some?"

"What kind?"

"Scrambled."

"Ok, as long as they're not sunny-side-up. I never could stand those kind of eggs, they're the only kind my mother would ever make."

"Poor baby, I'll have to take that into consideration." She smiled and went back to her cooking, "go take a shower. Because after we eat were going out back."

"To the beach?"

"Well, since it is our back yard…" she gave me a 'no duh' look, "that would be what 'going out back' means."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. It's early, what do you expect of me?"

"Mulder, it's not that early. It's almost 8 o'clock."

"Really? Hmm, guess I slept longer than I thought. When did you wake up?"

"A bit after 7. I showered, changed, and came down here. I was surprised that you didn't wake up. I called Monica at work and told her about how beautiful this house is. She seemed a bit upset that we have so many days of leisure. But, I explained to her that in these houses leisure was already a given. So, don't just stand there. Shower. Now." She shooed at me to go up the stairs.

"Fine, fine. Im going." I turned and stride up the stairs, which--with my long legs--didn't take much. 15 minutes later I was downstairs again, toweling my hair dry. I flung the towel on the back of a chair and Scully gave me a warning look.

"No you don't. Not in this beautiful house, I won't allow you to mess this place up. Even if it's only for a week or so…im going to make sure this house is kept brilliant. Towel, upstairs, now."

I sighed and took the towel upstairs. "Ok Scully, just don't bite my head off." I said as I walked. When I came bounding down the stairs into the kitchen Scully had a plate in her hand and she handed it to me. I took it happily and sat down. I tore into the food, "Scully, these are great."

"Thank you. Tomorrow you make breakfast."

"Hope you like cereal."

"No. That's not going to work. You make something real…ooh…French toast sounds good. You know how to make French toast right?"

"Yeah, I can make French toast."

"Good."

A knock at the door took us away from the tasks at hand and I went to answer it, and when I do there is a couple who look to be just a bit older than Scully and I standing on our porch holding some kind of cake…from what I can see its bunt cake. I don't know if Scully like's them things, but I sure as hell don't. "Can I do something for you?" I say as nicely as I can.

"Hi. Im George Wade and this is my wife Nicole. We wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."

I smiled as warmly as I could and Scully came up behind me, I can tell that she's about to call me Mulder but before any noise escapes her throat she notices our guest. She quickly remembers our cover names, "Sean? Who's at the door?"

"Some neighbors Bri."

She comes up behind me and snakes her arm around my waist, "hi…im Brianna…im not sure if my husband introduced himself yet."

"Not yet, im Sean, Sean Sanders. Bri, this is George and Nicole Wade."

Scully offers them her hand, "nice to meet you. Are you the next door neighbors?"

"Oh, no. We live across the street and over one."

"Oh, where are out manners?" Scully says suddenly, "come in."

"We don't want to impose…"

"No imposing here…come on in. Would you like some coffee?"

"Oh, no. Never touched the stuff." The woman, Nicole, says with a smile.

Scully leads them into the formal living room and they sit down on the dark jungle themed couch. "This room is beautiful." Nicole breaths, "how ever did you find all these beautiful things?"

I think of something quick, "interior designer."

She nods her head understandingly, "still. It's very beautiful. And you were lucky to find a shorefront home, we tried for a long time before finally giving up and settling for across the street. Tell me, how long have you been married?"

"3 years this October." I said giving our cover story.

"October 31st if you can believe it." Scully added, "we had to postpone a day…it was set for the first day we met, October 30th, at a mutual friends Halloween party. But it rained like mad that day and our wedding was outside."

"Where did you two move from?"

What is this 20 questions? I haven't seen an interrogation this thorough in all my years in the FBI.

"Georgia, Atlanta actually. It became so crowded we couldn't stand it anymore. And Brianna had an aunt that lived in the area many years ago."

Finally the man spoke up, I figured that he would ask something like 'how 'bout them cowboys?' or 'You going to watch the game tonight?' but he continued with the pointless questions, "so…what do you guys do for a living?"

"Well, right now im on maternity leave." Scully said smiling down towards her stomach, "but, im a doctor."

"What kind?"

Good, do these people have lives of their own, are is their only joy in it making everybody else's miserable?

"Cardiologist."

"Oh, that's interesting." Nicole says, although its obvious she doesn't actually think so, she's probably weary of blood. "What about you Sean?"

"Psychologist."

"Really. Where did you go to school?"

Apparently she finds my career choice more intriguing than Scully's. "Oxford, over in England."

"That had to have been fun."

"Really, the most part of me going there was to get away from home. I had a reason not to come home for the holidays…it would cost way to much money."

"Oh."

"What about you two," Scully inquired, "what do you do for a living?"

"Well. Im a physical therapist and George is a lawyer."

"Which kind?"

"Defense."

"A lawyer, that's got to always keep you on your toes."

"Does it ever."

The questions went on for around 15 minutes before Scully finally said we had to go shopping, due to the fact the airline lost her clothes. They said their goodbyes and left the house, when they were saftley gone I looked at Scully, "I hope to God that they don't want to be friends."

"Oh, Mulder. Be nice."

"It's Sean."

"Whatever. Get your coat. I need clothes."

"What happened to the beach?"

"I can't very well go to the beach with no clothes."

"I wouldn't mind."

"Mulder."

"Yeah."

"Shut-up."

"Yes dear."

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Scully's POV:

Those…people…were…annoying. I know that I told Mulder to be nice, but I felt the same way he did. It only made me laugh though, when I realized they lived next to where Reyes and Dogett's cover house was located. I pointed it out to Mulder and he laughed as well. "They're in for a rude of awakening." I chuckled getting into the passengers seat.

I only hope that they don't venture over again, I think I just put them on the top of my suspect list, with all the questions they asked who wouldn't think that they were suspicious. Nobody cares that much about their neighbors. Well, with the exception of the Arcadia case, but there was a lot of strange shit going on their in the first place. Still, people in these kinds of neighborhoods are so damn annoying.

The mall looks relatively nice. It's not to big, but a two story nonetheless. The first place we go is the maternity store, I end up getting 4 outfits and a bathing suit. Then we go to various other stores and I end up getting 3 more outfits and nightgowns. After shopping we head back home where I change into the bathing suit and Mulder changes into his swimming trunks (after countless minutes of arguing about him wearing his red Speedo. Him for, me against). That piece of clothing is now for my eyes only.

The beach was fairly empty. Since it's a private beach it's only occupants are the people who live in Bay Front. And since it's a week day most people are at work. Mulder and I splash in the water for around an hour before I went to where my towel laid and sun tanned. Mulder came after me about 15 minutes later and sat down on the towel next to mine.

"Hey Scully."

"It's Brianna or Bri in public, you know that."

"It's not like anybody can hear us though."

"Whatever, call me what you will then."

"Ok, hey Scully."

"Yes Mulder, what is it?"

"When are you taking Maternity leave?"

"I suppose when I reach 8 months, why?"

"I was just thinking. You think that they'll let me work alone until you come back? Or you think they'll assign me another green agent?"

"Let's hope they leave you be."

"Yeah, let's hope."

"Mulder."

"Yeah."

"Do you think im going to be a good mother?"

"What kind of question is that Scully, of course you're going to be a good mother. Your going to be better than a good mother, you'll be the best mother ever. I saw you with Emily Scully, there's no doubt in my mind what kind of mother you'll be. It's me we should be worried about. Im not sure what kind of father I'll be."

"Just don't do that Mr. Potato Head impersonation and you'll be fine Mulder." I chuckled softly, "no seriously Mulder. You're going to be a great father, I can already tell."

"What was wrong with Mr. Potato Head?"

"Everything was Mulder. Trust me on this one."

We stayed at the beach until really late that night. I sat in between Mulder's legs and we watched the sun go down, I'd long since forgotten how beautiful the sun looks going down over the ocean. The oranges, yellows, and pinks all mixing together, it brought back memories of watching the sunset with Ahab. Then after the sun had far since set we stargazed for a while. Each of us pointing out the constellations we knew. A shooting star flew through the sky once and Mulder pointed it out to me.

"Make a wish Scully."

"Why, when I have everything I could ever want already."

"Just humor me."

"Fine."

I thought long and hard before making my wish, and I thought it a pretty damn good one.

"What did you wish for Scully."

"You know I can't tell you that. Wishes don't come true if you tell somebody else about them."

He nodded and we continued watching the stars, we didn't go inside until it was pitch black outside and when I looked at the clock I was surprised to find it was already after 11. I showered to get all the sand off of me, changed into a nightgown and made my way downstairs. I found my way into the den and found Mulder watching Jay Leno. We sat together and watched him and then watched Conan O'Brian when he came on. After those two shows we filed upstairs and fell asleep.

Those next three days went along in similar fashion, the Wades' came over once (they didn't stay long, Mulder and I made an excuse to get them to leave) and questioned us further, if we had siblings (I diverted that question away from Mulder, didn't want him telling our neighbors his sister had been abducted my aliens and have them think him crazy…Mulder argued after they left it could have been a means to an end with the friendship the Wades' felt was flourishing) and I told them about Charlie and Bill, I left out Missy because I didn't feel like explaining my sisters death. I don't even remember now all the questions they asked, but they were definitely number one on our suspect list.

By the time the fourth day rolled around I was not looking forward to the many days of investigating ahead of us. We once again spent the whole day at the beach, and well into the night, then watched Jay Leno and Conan O'Brian. It had become a ritual with us that would no longer occur, due to the late nights of background checks and going over evidence.

To say the least, I was not looking forward to the coming days.

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a/n: well, I got the next chapter out, yeah. And even better Chapter 15 is done as well…it's the Dogett/Reyes chapter, and if you're hesitant about reading it please don't be, there is a cliffhanger at the end that you'll need to know about. Hmmm, lets see what else? Oh, thank you so much to all my reviewers, you guys are too kind. ;)…please keep up the reviewing. It'll probably be awhile before the next chapter after 15 is out because im going away for the weekend, but I'll make sure to work on it and post the next one when I get home. Well, on to the next chapter then.