6:30 P.M.
Mulder's Apartment
Mulder goes into his apartment and jumps in the shower. After taking a shower he puts on a pair of black jeans that are a little too tight, but he figures, what the hell, they will stretch out, and a white t-shirt that hugs his body almost as well as the jeans. He walks into thee living room, sits on the sofa and puts on his shoes. He then gets up and grabs his jacket and his workout bag, thinking to himself, I thin I will go jogging after dinner.
6:30 P.M.
Scully's Apartment
In the meantime, Scully is cooking which she doesn't do often due to the fact that it is only her. She cuts up some vegetables and seasons them. Then she puts them and the rice in the steamer. After turning on the steamer, she cuts up a salad. She then gets out the dinner rolls that she picked up at the deli on her way home. She makes a quick sweep of the house to make sure there are no unsightly things lying around, she then pours a glass of soda and sits down to wait on the food and Mulder.
7:15 P.M.
Scully's Apartment
Scully just finishes setting the table when she hears a knock at the door. Setting the last of the silverware on the table, she walks to the door and opens it, to be greeted by Mulder's smile. "I know I am a little early, but better early than late, right?" Smiling back at him, "that's fine Mulder, come in." He walks in carrying a bottle of White Zinfandel. Handing it to Scully, "I hope you like White Zin," Mulder says, with a questioning look in his eye. "Well, actually," she says, picking up a bottle of the same exact thing from under the cabinet, she looks at him and smiles. "Well, I guess we will have plenty for dinner," he says, looking at her with a grin. He walks to the table and sits the wine down beside a plate, then walking toward her he says, "Is there anything I can do?" "Well, you can pour the wine if you would like to," she says, handing him two wine glasses. Walking into the living room, Scully walks to the CD player and turns on some classical music. As she is walking back to the kitchen, the phone rings, she stops and turns around and walks back to the living room where the telephone is. Picking up the telephone, "Hello, oh, hi mom, no I am having dinner with a friend right now, can I call you tomorrow, no mom, I will be fine, yes mom, ok mom, I will call you when he leaves, yes he, no it is Mulder, ok, I will talk to you tomorrow then, I love you too mom, ok, bye." Looking at Mulder, a little embarrassed, "sorry, it was mom, I will call her back tomorrow," she says smiling. After placing the phone back on the charger, she returns to the kitchen. "No problem," he says. Maggie is very overprotective he thinks to himself, but I guess after losing Melissa and after all that Scully has been through, with the abduction, the cancer, the bees, I guess you would be protective. They both walk to the table and prepare to sit down and eat, as Mulder pours the wine. After they are both seated, Mulder looks at Scully, "So, what else did you want to ask me?" Looking at Mulder apologetically, "Mulder lets not do this now, after dinner we can do this," smiling. Looking a little surprised and relieved, "Sure, fine, so, how was your evening up until I arrived," he asks, trying to start a conversation. "It was fine, I actually enjoyed cooking a meal, since I never have a reason to actually cook for someone other than myself." "How was your evening so far," she asks him. "Well, it was ok, I showered and come over, and that was about it." They ate dinner in a rather quiet fashion, not much was said, mostly small talk, work, television, family. After they were finished with dinner, Mulder helped her take the dishes off the table and they put them in the sink, "I will put them in the dishwasher later, "she told him." He then poured them another glass of wine and they both took their glasses and went to get comfortable on the sofa. After they were both seated on the sofa, Scully reached over the the table beside the sofa and picked up the remote to the cd player and turned it down a little, so that they could hear each other without having to raise their voices. "So, Mulder," she says, "what exactly do you want to tell me?" Looking at her, "well, I will tell you whatever you want to know, I used to have lot of problems,, which took me a lot of therapy and rehab to work through, but I have done it and it has made me a better person, and no my therapist did not tell me to say that," he says with a smile. Smiling back at him, "well, I feel as if I have overstepped our boundaries in the first place, so I have no questions, all I need to know now, is that you area right, and everything else is your business and I am sorry for invading your privacy, I apologize," she says, looking down at her hands, rubbing them together as if she is nervous. "Scully, really, there is no need to apologize, I understand, really I do, I mean you told me about Jack Willis and Ed Jerse and I didn't even bother to tell you about Diana or Phoebe, I do understand and you do have a right to know, I am the one who should be apologizing here, not you." Looking at him, with a little hurt in her eyes, "Mulder, there are a lot of things you don't know about me, that I haven told you , not because I was trying to hide anything from you, but because I have tried to put the past behind me and I realized last night, that you were doing just the same. And I just went and dredged up the past for you, without your permission or any regards to your feelings and that is why I am sorry." "Scully, really, I am willing to tell you anything you want to know, anything…Diana and I got a divorce soon after the domestic dispute and I got into rehab and I hadn't talked to her since the divorce was finalized until she showed back up in the X files division. I had tried to have contact with her and she would never reply, I don blame her, though at the time I did blame her, for everything. I just didn't understand her side, I was hurt, scared and alone and I hated her for making me do this on my own, but I understand now. As far as Phoebe goes, we weren't that serious, we were just mostly study partners, though anatomy sometimes fit into the study guide, if you get my drift, " he said, smirking at her. This however didn't bother Scully, the fact of him and Phoebe having sex, it wasn't serious like it was with Diana. Now she wasn't really worried about Diana anymore either, for some reason, all her worries, and jealous feelings, were gone with the words he had just spoken. "Well, I really don't have anything to ask you, you have answered all my questions, I just feel bad for getting into your business in the first place, and I still want to say I am sorry" "It is fine," he says looking into her eyes and reaching over and putting his hand on hers, which is holding a glass of wine. "I really mean that Scully," he says, trying to convince her. Looking at his hand, and then at him, "thanks Mulder, for not holding it against me, I don't think I would be so forgiving," she says, looking back down at her knee, which she has now folded in her lap. She has the other leg dangling from the edge of the sofa. "So, what all have you not told me, or do you not care to talk about it," he asks her in a questioning but not pushy tone. "Actually, I have thought a lot about it since the discussion at your place, I wasn't going to tell you anything, but I have decided that I want no secrets between us, so I have decided to tell you everything about my past, that is, if you want to know," she says, waiting for this answer. Thinking to himself, of course I want to know, you are Scully, my friend, my partner, I want to know everything about you, from your favorite wine, which I now know, 2 points for me, to your favorite massage lotion, that is if you even use massage lotion…these thoughts were interrupted by a soft touch on his hand. Looking at Scully, "oh, sorry, I got a little lost in thought there, of course I want to know, I want to know everything, you are my partner and I want to get to know you, I doubt you well let me really get to know you, but I will take what I can get," he says to her, smiling. "Ok, I will be right back and then we can talk about everything," she says, getting up and walking to her bedroom. She walks into her room and opens her top drawer in the filing cabinet inside her closet on the left hand side. She pulls out a big, blue file, and opens it. She looks in it and walks out of the room, leaving the filing cabinet drawer open. She walks back into the living room and over to the sofa, sitting down the file on the table beside the phone. "Would you like another glass before we get started," she asks. "Sure, but I will get it, do you want another," he asks her. "Yes, I would love another, thanks." After filling up their wine glasses, he returns with their glasses and also the bottle of wine under his arm. "Now we are set" he says, putting the glasses on the table along with the wine, file and telephone. He then picks his glass back up and walks to the end of the sofa and sits down. "A toast, to our pasts and our future," he says, raising his glass. "Uh, yeah, to that," she says, with a clink of glasses, she set's the file in his lap, they both notice her hands shaking as she sets the file down. He looks at her for a second, "Scully, you don't have to do this," he says to her. "No, Mulder, I do, it has been on my mind for 6 years and now is the time to put this nightmare to bed for good," she says. Taking a big drink of wine, and then placing the glass on the table, she reaches over and opens the file that is sitting in his lap. This reveals an X file case #101494, which turned out to be Duane Barry. Looking over the first page then looking at Scully strangely, "Scully, these are old cases, I am not sure I understand." Reaching over and taking the folder from him, Scully picks up a few pages and lays them on the table beside her. She then hands him the folder back. He looks at her strangely, then back down at the folder in his hands, he picks a page containing personal information. He starts reading it…
