24 Hours earlier.

FBI Basement Office

Washington DC

Scully sat at the centre desk with her glasses perched on the edge of her nose as she scanned her report. Signing the bottom she glanced at her watch and saw it was nearing six at last. Outside the fog had clung to the streets all day in a desperate attempt to keep the winter in Washington. First week in March and still it was foggy she sighed as she pulled on her over coat and scarf.

Snatching the file from the desk she walked out of the room and took the elevator up to the third floor. With most of the offices emptying for the evening she smiled politely to a few passing agents. Kimberly was just closing up when she walked into Skinners office and gestured towards the door.

"You just missed him Agent Scully."

"Ok, well I'll leave this here with you."

Kim took the file and smiled as she placed it into a filing cabinet and locked it. Scully waved goodnight and walked out the front door. With her car still in the garage from the last case where Mulder slammed it sideward into a tree she walked down the street to where she knew she would find a cab. She pulled her scarf tighter around herself and looked up and down the street eagerly awaiting her paid saviour to carry her home from the cold. A navy blue Lincoln town car pulled up alongside her and the window whirred down.

"Agent Scully? Can I offer you a lift?" Bending at the waist Scully glanced into the car and saw Tim from the forensic lab smiling expectantly at her.

"Eh, no thanks, that's ok."

"Are you sure? I wanted to talk to you about something."

Glancing up and down the street again Scully saw it was free of most traffic let alone cabs so she smiled appreciably and stepped into the car feeling the reassuring lump of her gun at her back as she belted up.

They drove in silence for a while before Tim glanced over at her nervously. Looking back to the road and concentration on his driving he seemed to struggle to start the conversation so she decided to throw him a lifeline.

"What was it you wanted to talk about Tim?" she said smiling. He seemed at first surprised that she knew his name then delighted, so much so that it took him a full minute to answer her.

"I should probably have come down to the office and spoken to both yourself and Agent Mulder but I'm not sure if that's...appropriate."

Interest piqued now, Scully turned towards him a bit more and urged him to continue. "What is it?" she said when he didnt.

"It's about a case...possible case." Tim watched the road for a moment as the traffic in front of him slowed down and stopped. Last week two agents came into our lab and cleared all data from every single PC. They took all files, books, samples and evidence in process at the time. The room was cleared of posters, notepads, and magazines...everything. All they left was our desks, tables and machinery."

"What?"

"Then the following day when we opened up everything was back. Everything."

"What are you talking about?"

"We were all working on evidence from the Martin case."

"Martin Case? Judge Martin?"

"Yes. Fingerprints, DNA samples and fibres were found and were being processed when they cleared up out. Now it's like we have a brand new lab and of course all our evidence was destroyed."

"Did you report it?" Scully asked shocked at what he was telling her.

"To who?" A driver behind them beeped their car horn angrily when they didnt move on with the traffic and Tim hurriedly drove on.

"Was their any other case you were working on?"

"No. We had cleared everything except for this case. Which as I'm sure you know is unusual. We've had more technicians around lately and it has made the difference."

"Who is working the Martin Case?"

"Agent Dixon."

"What did he say?"

"I believe it was him who ordered the clear out."

Alexandria Apartment

7.04PM

Fox Mulder lay on his couch facing the TV screen, watching the basketball game. With the Knicks loosing by 40 points he didnt think there was much point in watching the rest of the game but some archaic sense of loyalty and hope glued him into the position he fell into when he arrived home at lunch.

He had felt Scully's questioning gaze on his back after he announced he was going home at lunch time but to her credit she didnt mention anything and looking at the clock he saw it was just past seven pm and she still hadn't called.

Part of him smiled at her reserve but another part was childishly disappointed that she hadn't rang. The klaxon rang to signal the end of the game but he still didnt move. Watching the cheerleaders take over the court as the players ran off he sighed deeply into the dark room and allowed his eyes to close over.

Sounds of sirens drifted up from the street but he tried to block it out, instead running over in his mind the torturous weekend he had spent by his mother's graveside. The rain fell hard but he didnt notice or didnt care as he sat on the bench over looking the cemetery. His clothes had soaked through and by the time he got back to the house he was sniffling and sneezing. His limbs shook with the cold and his chest hurt with every wheezing cough that rattled him.

Scully noticed his fever this morning and tried to examine her but he brushed away her hands irritably. She watched him carefully from the safety of her own desk and wasn't surprised when he left at lunchtime.

Lying still he felt his chest wheezing and his body shivered but he was too tired and weak to move. The emotions spent over the weekend were too much for his body to take. As the newscasters on the TV analysed the match his eyes fluttered open at the sound of a loud knock on his door.

"Go away," he muttered knowing whoever it was wouldn't hear him. But the second knock followed his weak reply. "Go away!" he called out his time louder and angrier.

"Mulder, it's me."

He said nothing knowing she had her own keys and would let herself in when he didnt reply. Secretly delighted at the sound of her key rattling in her hand, he was still dismayed at the thought of having to move, so he didnt. Scully took in the dark room and his shadowy figure on the couch and walked over towards the light switch.

"Leave it off."

"You okay?" she asked her fingers hovering over the switch for a second longer before she took them down and set them by her side. Carefully approaching him she crouched by his head and gently touched his forehead. "Mulder, you're burning up."

"I'm freezing."

"You have a bad fever. Why didnt you call me?" Her voice took on an anger that he liked. The authoritative Dana Scully who wasn't afraid to put him in his place, shove a gun under a perps chin that was twice her size and stand up to a committee of Superiors who were negating her work with the Xfiles. Her words were spoken clearly and loudly as she told him she was running a hot bath and ordered him into the bedroom to get warmer clothes.

He toyed with the idea of ignoring her and facing her wrath again but instead he managed to pull himself off the couch and amble into his bedroom where he grabbed a pair of sweats a tee shirt and a Knicks hoodie. Peeling off his suit, he left on only his boxers as he walked into the bathroom that was warm with steam.

His skin was pale against the white tiles but she tried not to worry as she twisted the taps off and walked out of the room. Mulder waited until the door closed before slinking down onto the toilet seat with little or no co-ordination. His elbows rested on his knees and his head fell into his hands. Feeling his sweat grimy and cold on his forehead he waited a moment longer before stepping into the hot water and sinking low to submerge his head and shoulders.

Scully searched the kitchen for food and came across a can of oxtail soup. It was almost ready when she heard Mulder stepping out of the bathroom and padding his way into the living room. An audible wumph reached her ears as he landed on the soft leather couch. She carried in a bowl of soup and placed it in front of him but with his head back and his eyes clothes he didnt see her.

"C'mon Mulder, eat something."

"Not hungry."

"You need to warm up."

Clasping his hands in her she rubbed them together and was surprised by their icy touch. Used to his warm skin she began to worry by the sudden cold and clamminess.

Pulling his head off the couch he looked down to her moving hands, the friction between their fingers generating little heat but the sensation of her skin against his warmed him up a little bit more.

"I knew you should have let me come with you." She muttered as she went into the kitchen to get him some bread. When she came back he was huddled over the soup slurping it appreciatively. "How did it go?"

"Terribly."

"Did you get caught in the storm?"

"Yeah."

"And didnt bother to change when you got home," she said knowingly shaking her head at his thoughtlessness.

"I wasn't exactly thinking straight."

"You should have let me come Mulder." She was angry again. He could tell. But it was nice angry. Not I cant believe you ditched me and nearly got yourself killed angry, more like, I cant believe you wont let me help you because I care about you angry. He liked that angry.

"I wanted to be alone. I needed to face it alone."

"No Mulder you didnt need to. I would have faced it with you. I would have gone with you."

"Well its done now." He finished off the last piece of bread and soup and put the stuff back on the table. "So what has you over here tonight? Worried about me?"

"Partly."

"Just partly? And I thought you cared!" he joked. She smiled at his attempt to lift the mood but she knew he was feeling down and wouldn't bounce back as quick as he imagined.

"I had an interesting conversation with Tim Halford."

"From forensics?"

"Last week the lab was cleared of all equipment and data."

"What case were they working on?"

"Martin Case. Agent Dixon."

"That's a cold case. It's over 20 years old. Every agent has had a go at solving it." Intrigued Mulder sat up and walked over to his bookshelf where he pulled out a lever arch folder. Pulling it open he found the notes he wanted and showed her. Looking down she saw his recognisable profiling notes.

"Even you?" she teased as she flicked through the pages.

"One of my first cases."

"And you got nowhere?"

"Well just as I was getting somewhere I was pulled off it and given a different case. At the time I thought it was strange that just as I was making progress I was pulled."

"But you were young and wanted to impress," she finished for him with a wry smile.

"Something like that."

"So someone is actively removing evidence from the case. Covering up for someone?"

"It seems a bit blatant to me. In the FBI HQ? To remove and destroy all evidence?"

"What did Tim say?"

"He said he thought Agent Dixon had ordered the removal. When he asked him about it he said it was going to a different department."

"Maybe we should talk to Agent Dixon."

"Maybe you should stay at home in bed tomorrow. I'll talk to Skinner for authorisation. And if we get it them maybe we should talk to Agent Dixon."

"Scully, I'm fine. I'll go with you into Skinner tomorrow."

"I'd much rather if you didnt. Stay home, please Mulder." She stood and pulled on her coat and scarf. "I'll call you in the morning."

He didnt say anything as she smiled and walked out of the room but instead wandered into his bedroom and climbed into bed with his sweats still on. He set the alarm for 6.15 and rolled over to grab as much sleep as he could before then.

A/N: 2 down only 4 chapters to go!