The Next Morning

"Morning sleepyhead," Mulder greeted as Scully began to stir in the bed next to him.

"Time?" She moaned as she tried to stretch.

"Five-thirty," he informed. "Your mom called and said she will be here within the hour."

"Mulder, are you getting sick?"

"No," he lied. His own body betrayed him as he sneezed and yanked Scully up out of bed when he threw his hands up to cover his face.

"Ouch! And you are so getting sick."

"Probably just a cold from the rain." Mulder started to move out of bed with Scully who was a woman on a mission. "Ohh, Scully, don't move so quickly. Muscles hurt that I didn't even know I had."

"The flu, and I have to pee."

"The flu?"

"Yeah, you're getting the flu. Uh, can you turn around?"

"I never get the flu, Scully."

"I could be wrong but usually when a person is stuck out in the rain and can't change clothes, they get sick. I might even get sick, too. Look on the bright side, at least it isn't pneumonia." She moved to the sink and washed her hands, then reached for her toothbrush.

"At least I'll have a pretty doctor to take care of me."

"Mmm hmmm," she mumbled.

"And the flu never lasts that long."

"Hmmm mmm."

"So I should be better in time for the wedding."

"Mmm," she stopped mid brush and spit out the mouthful of toothpaste foam, "in plenty of time for the wedding. Since you haven't even proposed yet, I say you'll have time to get the flu a good seventy-five or eighty times."

"No thanks," Mulder grumbled as he reached for his own brush with his free hand. "The picture of perfect health, Scully. One night, not even a whole night, just a couple of hours with James "Porky Pig" Flanagan, if that's his real name, which I bet money it is, and he destroys my immune system. If I get my hands on that guy . . ."

"You'll have to wait in line. He ruined a new dress and my favorite pair of pumps."

"Yeah, immune system versus sexy dress and shoes. You're right, you win." Mulder began brushing his teeth with their joined hands.

"Hey, brush with your other hand."

"I can't, I'm a rightie," he mumbled around the brush.

Scully looked back toward the shower as Mulder continued to brush his teeth with his right hand. "I would love a nice hot shower or soak in a hot bubble bath." With his free hand, Mulder unzipped the back of her dress. "Hey, what's the big idea."

He spit into the sink, "helping you get undressed for that shower. Maybe the cuffs will rust off."

"Yeah, I don't think so, Mulder. Nice try though."

"Mom would have the wedding planner on the phone before we could towel off." He mused.

"She sure would. Catching us in the shower together would be as good as an engagement ring for her. At least a giant step in that direction."

"She wants that for you, doesn't she? Marriage and a family I mean?"

"Yeah, she wants that for both of us. Mom wants everyone to be happy and she knows . . .or she thinks she knows, that we would make each other happy."

"We do make each other happy, Dana." Mulder said as he zipped up her dress and patted her on the behind. "That hand has a mind of it's own," he added with a grin.

"Yes, we do make one another happy. Did you call my mom, Mom?"

"I wondered when you would catch that. She asked me to, actually."

"Oh, most of all, she wants what I want for myself."

"And what do you want?"

"A future with you," she answered honestly.

"That can be arranged."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we both want the same thing." A knock on the door drew their attention away from each other. "The mother of the eventual bride-to-be I presume."

They walked to the front door and let Mrs. Scully in. "Hi Mom," they chorused.

She responded with a hearty laugh and an ear-to-ear grin. "Good morning. Here's the key you asked for. Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah," Mulder replied.

"Oh goodness, you're coming down with the flu, Fox."

"That's what I told him. There," Scully announced as she unlocked the cuff from Mulder's wrist first, and then her own.

"Why don't you take a nice hot bath and get straight into bed? I'll fix breakfast and a nice pot of tea. Dana, you're getting sick too, I can see it in your eyes."

"Mom," Scully chided, "I'm fine."

"You're always fine, but you're getting sick. I think you should get into bed too, Dana. A hot bath would do you both wonders."

Scully waited for Mulder to make some comment or grab her hand and dash off to the restroom they had recently vacated. When he didn't, she mentally released a sigh of relief. "As soon as Mulder is finished, I will take a hot shower. Right now, I will fix breakfast and you sit down."

That Evening

"I think I would have to get better to die," Scully stated bluntly as she tried to roll over in bed.

"It's the flu," Mulder mimicked her earlier comment.

"I think we should both just strangle Flanagan. Better yet, we can find him now and cough on him." An almost evil grin crossed Scully's lips and she groaned. "Even that hurt."

"I'm sorry I made you sick, Scully."

"You didn't. It was just the rain and that whole ordeal last night." A series of half a dozen half sneezes, as Mulder had dubbed them early that afternoon, followed her comments and preceded her groan as she held her stomach.

"Fox! Dana! I'm back from the store." Mrs. Scully called as she walked past the hallway to the bedrooms and into the kitchen. She walked into the bedroom and checked their temperatures. "Still a little fever on both of you. I brought your juice and the ingredients for homemade chicken noodle soup. That will go a long way in helping you feel better. I'll be back in a few minutes with some aspirin and juice."

As soon as Mulder felt Mrs. Scully was out of earshot, he slowly turned to Scully. "Dana?"

"Yeah?"

Mulder gave her his best lopsided grin and started to sing a pitiful rendition of "Fever". "You give me fever when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight, fever in the mornin', fever all through the night. You and I have got the fever, that is something we both know, fever isn't such a new thing, fever started long ago. Sun lights up the daytime, moon lights up the night, I light up when you call my name, and you know I'm gonna treat you right."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Mulder, but I think you're delirious. Or maybe I'm delirious." Scully paused to cough, "but that was a very sweet gesture, thank you."

Three Days Later

Mulder zipped up the last suitcase and took it out to the living room. "Looks like we're all ready to go."

"Yeah. I'm sorry you didn't get to go through as many things as you had hoped."

"It's okay, really. We got to spend some quality time together outside the office, I got to spend a good deal of time with your mother, we got to meet one James Flanagan who has since disappeared off the face of the earth, and now I get to take you home."

"No, you get to take me to Mom's."

"Less than a week with me and you are already going home to your mother. Am I really that bad?" He teased with a boyish grin.

Just as Scully was about to answer, someone started pounding on the front door. "Are you expecting company?"

"No. I'll get it." Mulder walked over to the door and peeked through the window. "Speak of the devil, Scully."

"You're kidding!"

"N-n-no m-m-ma'am." He unlocked the door and swung it open. "Well, if it isn't our friend Mr. Flanagan. What brings you by?"

"I-I-I b-b-brought y-y-y-y-your things b-b-b-b-back. I f-f-f-f-f-f-felt so guilty th-th-th-that I had to re-re-re-return them." Flanagan held out a pillowcase with everything he had taken from Mulder's house four days earlier. "I'm v-v-v-v-v-very s-s-s-orry."

"You do realize that you are still under arrest?" Scully asked from across the room.

"Y-y-y-y-yes, an-an-an-an-and I wish you w-w-w-would just get it over with."

Mulder felt sorry for the man as Scully approached him with the pair of handcuffs they had been chained together with days earlier. He wasn't sure if she had planned to beat him with the irons or restrain him, but either way he took pity on what seemed to be a good man down on his luck.

Scully read the man his rights, again, as she fastened the cuffs around his wrists and led him to the sofa. "Mulder, can I talk to you in private?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing."

The couple stepped into the kitchen and spoke in soft tones, barely above a whisper. "Mulder, I feel sorry for him. I know I shouldn't, but I do."

"Amazing, that's what I was going to say. Why don't we take him to the sheriff's office and put in a good word for him? There wasn't any real harm done to either of us and he did return every single dime he took. Maybe they will let him off with a light sentence."

Scully nodded. "All this time away from the X-files is making us soft, Mulder."

"Yeah," he sighed, "I know. We need one really tough case when we get back before we are two lost causes." He put his hand on the small of Scully's back and led her into the living room. "Mr. Flanagan, we are going to take you in to the sheriff's office. Your punishment will be up to them."

"Th-th-thank you. I-I-I don't know what came over me, but I th-th-think I d-d-deserve the harshest sentence possible."

"Now I wouldn't go that far, sir." Scully commented as she grabbed the smallest bag in the pile and headed toward their car.

Mulder patted Flanagan on the shoulder. "Be thankful she forgot about the new dress and shoes she was wearing the other night."

"E-e-e-excuse m-m-me?"

"When you had us walk you to your car, her clothes were ruined by the storm we were caught in. By the time we got around the house and inside, she was out for your blood."

"Oh my!" James Flanagan commented as he turned a bright shade of pink.

"Just don't remind her and you might live to see the inside of a jail cell."

"My mouth is shut, sir."

Mulder nodded and escorted their prisoner to the car and put him in the backseat. "I'm going to grab the other two bags."

"Okay." Scully commented as she leaned against the passenger door.

By that evening, Mulder and Scully were just a few blocks away from Mrs. Scully's house. Mulder parked in front of a flower shop and shut off the car engine. "Where are you going?"

"To pick up some flowers for Mom. You wanna come with me?"

"Nah, I'll stay here. You won't be that long."

"Okay."

Several minutes later, Mulder emerged with an armful of flowers. "What on earth?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Mom!" Dana Scully called as they stepped through the front door.

"Dana, Fox?" Mrs. Scully called in response as she came out of the kitchen. She hugged Scully first and then moved to Mulder. When she opened her arms to him, he handed her a rather large bouquet of flowers, "oh my. For me?"

He smiled and nodded in response, "for driving all the way up there and staying through our bout with the flu."

"I was glad to do it. But these are lovely." She hugged Mulder tightly and excused herself to put the flowers in water.

Mulder stepped up behind Scully and wrapped his arms around her. "And this bunch is for you, just because."

"Just because?"

"Just because I can, and just because you are wonderful."

Scully turned to face Mulder, wrapping her arms around his neck and stretching up to meet his lips. She teased him by peppering his lips with kisses, and ending with one long and loving kiss. "I think you're wonderful, too, Fox."

He smiled at the use of his given name and bent down to kiss her again. Mrs. Scully was watching from the doorway of the kitchen and smiling to herself. Her daughter was happier than she had seen her in a long time, and with the man that was meant for her. That evening she had the joy if witnessing true love in it's purest form and prayed that it would last forever.

The End

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on this story. Hope this end chapter is satisfactory. :)