Hello everyone! I was reading the reviews on chapters 1 through 5, and I have a confession to make. I noticed that you were showing concern about Mulder's odd reaction to Bonnie. Well, I feel it is important to remember we don't always get the answers we want in X-Files! Sorry. However, if you do have any ideas about why he may have been acting that way, feel free to share them in your reviews!

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CHAPTER 6

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When they got there, Scully sat at her laptop, researching power plant locations and browsing the U.S.G.S. website. Copying and pasting articles from the web to her notes, looking up different chemicals and calculating their reactions with other chemicals, and making phone calls here and there kept her busy for the whole rest of the day. Mulder had stopped by earlier to head out for lunch, but she graciously declined the invitation. She had a lot of work to do. By dinner time, however, her partner insisted that she eat something and dragged her (almost literally) to the same little restaurant. They were seated immediately, and Mulder attempted to take her mind off of work. "So," he began, clearing his throat, and paused, thinking of a worthy subject, "I guess you're hungry!" He closed his eyes regretfully, avoiding her, most likely, arching eyebrows. That wasn't what he had meant to say. Thankfully, he opened his eyes to find his partner buried in the menu. Apparently, she hadn't heard him. "I missed you at lunch today," he said, finally grabbing her attention. He set his menu down, already knowing what he wanted.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I had to eat alone. Not good for the ego, you know." Casually, he smiled at her, awaiting a reply that he had predicted.

"Well, Mulder, it's probably good for yours."

"Ouch! Ice, ice, baby." He had been prepared.

They both laughed and ordered their dinner. A few minutes later, Scully sipped at her water and jumped back into a professional mode. "So, what did you find?"

Mulder knew she was referring to the case, and answered her despite his prior attempt. He was quite used to defeat. "Well," he grunted, in a promising tone, "I found out that there was some chemical dumping, after all. Although," he said, regretfully, "I couldn't find out what chemicals."

Scully appeared to be pleased. "Thank you, Mulder."

"For what?"

"Well, now I know that's what was going on." He was waiting for her to say more. "I did a lot of research today, while you were away, and what I found may help us solve this case."

The waitress walked up, almost unnoticed, and placed a plate of spaghetti in front of each of them. "That would be wonderful, Scully. Lord knows I could use the sleep." He prompted his partner to voice her findings, though she wasn't able to answer until she swallowed her first bite of food.

Finally, she said, "I was looking up power plant information and chemicals that may have been released into the environment." She glanced at her partner's hopeful and interested expression and smiled mischievously. "Unfortunately, that wasn't it." Mulder looked at her as if she had just kicked him under the table and gave her a what-are-you-doing-to-me eyebrow-raise. She laughed, "Sorry. But multiply that feeling by a hundred, and you might get a drift of how I spent my day." He relaxed, trusting she would tell him her final theory as he began to eat his dinner. "Anyway, I couldn't put a name to the chemicals that I believe were responsible, but I have the formulas. I think that the ones being dumped may be," she paused, pulling out a post-it and pointing to two long strings of element symbols and numbers, "this chemical and this one." On a side note, she added, "I couldn't name them because the formulas are foreign to me."

"And?" Mulder cued, still not understanding what the two formulas had to do with each other.

"And…alone these chemicals don't do anything. However, their combination creates a poison. I hadn't even considered it until I did the math." She rolled on, hyped by her own momentum. "You see, take this toxin to which Bobby had been exposed and split it at the third double bond. Separately, both chemicals are harmless, but when the enzymes bring them together, it becomes very fatal. I think that's what happened in this case. These men thought they had been dumping perfectly safe chemicals, not knowing the repercussions it would have on the environment or the people living there."

Mulder grinned, proud to have Scully as his partner. She wasn't only the smartest woman he knew, but she was the smartest person he knew. It was moments like this that he was thrilled she had been assigned to him all those years ago. "Excellent work, Agent Scully," he beamed, almost mimicking their superior. She smiled her thanks and returned to her dinner. As Mulder sat and watched her, he couldn't help but feel butterflies in his stomach. He felt that a lot when he was around her, and had been especially for the last two years. She was his best friend, the one and only person he could trust with his life. Though her beauty was nothing less than spectacular and overwhelming in his eyes, it was qualities such as her strength, determination, and absolute loyalty to him that attracted him to her the most. It was memories like the ones where she had put her own job, or even life, on the line to protect him. She would rather accept unfairness and torture than see him harmed. How could he not respect that? How could he not fall completely in love with that about her?

Scully glanced at him, looked away, and then did a double take, returning her gaze to her partner curiously. "What?" she asked Mulder, who had been staring at her. He came out of the trance, suddenly, and heard her say, "Gees, it's like I'm a goldfish in a fishbowl."

"Sorry," he laughed uncomfortably. "I was just thinking."

She smiled, still curious. "About what?" she asked sweetly.

Mulder was tempted to tell her, but he knew better. He had been hiding his true feelings for two years. It would be stupid of him to ruin everything they had by letting her know now. "About the case," he lied. "I can't imagine what Mrs. Jacobson must be going through."

"I know," she shrugged. "I know it's selfish, Mulder, but I am so glad that I'll never have to experience anything like that." She choked on her words as soon as she said them, and Mulder felt for her. He knew she wanted kids more than almost anything, but after an abduction years before, she had been left barren. It was unfortunate, but at least she was alive. She had lost so much to Mulder's cause, to his quest to find the truth. She had lost her chance for motherhood, her sister, her reputation, but at least she was still alive. He moved forward to console her, but she put up a hand, saying she was fine. "What were you really thinking about?" He backed up defensively. "I know you too well, Mulder."

"Why are you asking me?" he asked tauntingly, "I thought you could read my mind." Scully retreated reluctantly, and they both finished their dinner quietly. The agent returned to his thoughts and decided maybe it was time he faced his fears.

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CHAPTER 7

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"What are you doing, Mulder?" Scully asked back in his motel room. He stepped up to the radio, fiddled with a knob, and it came to life with music.

He started to mimic an old love song jokingly.

Scully rolled her eyes, wondering what the hell he was thinking.

"Just kidding," he grinned and changed the station. Now the voices of REO Speedwagon echoed in the room, and Mulder made a point of turning it up so that every word was audible.

It was the words of "Can't fight this feeling."

Scully tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes again. "What are you do--?"

"Shhh," Mulder hushed her, nodding in the direction of the radio. He walked up to her slowly and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Scully was in the process of realizing this wasn't a joke, and it made her feel uncomfortable, but she didn't necessarily want him to stop. Though the words were hazy as her attention was now split between them and her partner's gentle hand, they continued to sing to her. They continued to speak to her on behalf of her nervous friend…her other half.

She tensed as he placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her face closer to his, her heart pounding. "This is too fast," she whispered to him as he sweetly kissed the corner of her mouth. Her mind clouded. As Dana stood there and realized what she wanted most was happening, she decided not to pull away. This wasn't right, but it's not like she ever got recognized for doing what was right anyway. Scully had to admit to herself that Mulder's song was a good choice. The band couldn't have said it better. She slightly smiled at the thought of them having a song together as the chorus continued.

Mulder rubbed his lips against hers, ever so lightly. They were soft…tender…warm… His lips parted to tell her something, but Scully misinterpreted it and kissed him, parting her lips just enough to feel the warm, ductile sensation of his tongue against her own. Mulder didn't argue. He pulled her into him so tightly that she couldn't breathe, causing her to pull back. He watched a timid tear steam down her cheek, and he knew he had made the right decision, for she leaned in for a second kiss. This one would not be as gentle. So much passion had been bottled up inside them for so long, that it was all they could do keep from swallowing each other whole. The radio had been playing behind him, even though the song had finished unobserved, and Mulder stretched back to turn it off before pushing her, almost forcefully, to the bed. She wasn't sure whether she would make him stop or go along with it.

Oh, how she ached to lie down and go along with it, wanting his closeness more than anything in the world. But she didn't have to make that choice; it was made for her when Mulder's motel room phone rang. At first, he considered not answering it, but on the second ring, Mulder leapt from the bed for the receiver. Meanwhile, a flushed Scully rubbed her hands down her face, surprised by her own humility. "Mulder," she heard him say into the phone. There was a long moment of silence as she studied his face for a sign of who might be on the other end. His expression was serious, and that made her nervous. He hung up without another word. "Grab your coat," he told her, "we gotta go."

"Who was it?" she asked running behind him to the car.

"I don't know, but he knows us, and he knows Bonnie Jacobson."

"What are you talking about?"

"Whoever that was told me her life is in danger, and that we might already be too late."

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CHAPTER 8

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Bonnie Jacobson walked through the kitchen to the front door. "Who is it?" she called to the person ringing her doorbell.

A male voice answered, "Agents Mulder and Scully. Ma'am, are you okay?" The door opened, and Bonnie stood in front of them, displaying a confused expression. "Are you okay?" he repeated.

"All things considered…why?"

Scully allowed Mulder to take the lead since he hadn't explained the phone call any further than what he told her on their way out of the room. In fact, he hadn't even spoken to her since then. "I don't mean to alarm you, ma'am, but we have reason to believe you may be in danger."

"Why?" Bonnie looked more than alarmed, and the agents couldn't blame her.

"I don't have very much information, Mrs. Jacobson, but I do have a feeling."

"A feeling?" she echoed skeptically.

Scully chimed in, in defense of her partner, "Bonnie," she began, trying to give the house call a more personal atmosphere, "Agent Mulder received a phone call just before we left the motel, warning him that you may be in danger." She avoided the man's eyes, knowing they would be staring her down for telling Mrs. Jacobson the truth. She tried to get back on his good side by saying to Bonnie, "There's probably nothing to even worry about, but better safe than sorry."

Mrs. Jacobson nodded her understanding and asked, "What do I have to do?"

Now it was Mulder who spoke. "Really, we haven't gotten a chance to think about that. We were more focused on making sure you hadn't been harmed already." He paused in thought. "What do you want to do? Is there a place you can go where you can feel safer for the time being? Where we could contact you if need be?"

Bonnie thought, her eyes staring to an invisible spot on the ceiling. "Yes, actually. My-"

"Don't tell us," Mulder interrupted, "just in case someone is listening." He noticed that the idea had startled her and turned to Scully before turning back. "As Agent Scully said, 'better safe than sorry.'"

"Okay." She was calm now and pulled out a pen and paper. She wrote down a name and phone number. "Do you need anything more than this?" She handed to paper to Mulder, and he shook his head.

"Good luck," he said. "Call us if there's a problem of any kind."

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Mulder and Scully had just begun their journey back to the motel when Scully asked if they could go back to the cliff where Bobby had died. Mulder made a U-turn and drove to the cliff. The car came to a halt, and Scully jumped out, walking directly to the bruise in the earth. "Do you have any evidence baggies or containers in there?" she called back to him. He joined her at the base of the cliff with one of each. Carefully, she turned the baggie inside-out, using it as a glove to grab dirt and mud from the bruise, then returned it to its right-side-out and sealing its contents. After handing the evidence bag to her partner, she used a pocket knife to scrape away clay that had plugged the water leak. She allowed some of the liquid into the container for further study in a lab. Mulder relieved her of the container as well, so she could return to car with both hands free. Things like this came natural to him. He never considered himself to be a chivalrous guy, but for her, he would alleviate her from having to open doors or carry things any day.

She got in the car and took the evidence through the window once she had buckled her seatbelt. "Mulder," she almost slurred in exhaustion, "let's go home to run these. There's no reason for us to stay here until we have some results." She watched him agree with a nod of his head as he got in the driver's seat of the car. She put her own seat back to lie down, falling asleep before he could get back on the road.

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CHAPTER 9

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"We need to talk," Mulder heard his partner say.

"Yes, we do." He walked across his room to where she was standing at his apartment door, and the agents both waited for the other to speak. "I'll start," Mulder finally said. He moved to the side, letting her in, and guided her to the couch by the small of her back. They sat down and faced each other, perhaps closer than they normally would. "Dana…" Her heart leapt at the sound of his voice uttering her first name. "…I really don't know how to say this without being, well, cliché. So I'm just going to come out and say it." He studied her face as he spoke each word, "I love you. I am so in love with you that I can hardly breathe when I'm around you." Mulder wasn't sure how she was taking his news. While her face displayed a hint of shock, he couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. "Scully?"

She shook her head slowly, worrying him slightly, and then smiled. "Me too."

Relieved, he blew out air and took her hand. If anyone could appreciate her confession, Mulder could. He knew, more than anyone, that she was not the type of person to be open with her feelings, and even those two little words opened doors that she might be too uncomfortable to walk through. He worried about that a great deal. "However, I don't want this to change what we have," he continued.

"I do," she said, throwing him off balance. "I want it to change for the better." Now it was he who looked stunned. "If anyone could make this work, we can, Mulder. I think deep, down inside we always have been." He smiled widely and took his partner into an embrace. He couldn't think of a single moment in his life that he had felt happier, but he had a feeling things would be getting even better. Dana stood up and pulled him up after her. She looked as if she wanted to say something but changed her mind, smiling instead. He wouldn't have even noticed, except he couldn't take his eyes off of her face.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking that it might be…nice…to try that kiss again."

"What?" he repeated, getting excited.

"Maybe this time we won't be interrupted." Never, in his wildest dreams, did he ever imagine she would be the one to encourage such an unprofessional relationship, and yet, there she was doing it. Insuring there would be no interruptions, he humorously unplugged his phones then hurled his body into hers playfully and wrapped his arms around her. Scully couldn't help laughing through his immature, powerful kiss and returned the embrace, rubbing his neck and head. He lightly ran his fingers up and down the sides of her face and gazed into her eyes. But when he felt weakened by her seductive gaze back, he altered his focus to kissing her knuckles and then her neck. Scully felt the bed bump the back of her knees, which startled her because she hadn't been aware that they had even been moving. Déjà vu, she thought. Only this time, gravity took its toll, and she lied down, feeling completely overwhelmed by how much of his sweet scent filled the air. His cold hands caressed her skin, and she got goose bumps, but only for a second.

Dana closed her eyes so that every feeling would be enhanced as he straddled her body and lied down on top of her. Though their clothes were still on, she knew her partner would remedy that in no time. First, their outer clothing went, and then, after a moment of just staring at her, he slowly removed her underwear.

Only seconds later they were completely skin to skin, and he was rubbing his wet lips across her bare chest and the same sweaty fingers he had used to get her ready up and down the middle of her torso. Everything happened quickly and painfully all at once when he thrusted into her, and she cried out, arching her back in initial shock and instant pleasure. Oh, God! Dana bit down on her lower lip to keep it from quivering as her mind tried to comprehend the paralyzing jolt that had just brought tears to her eyes. Mulder lied back down and covered her mouth with another passionate kiss, sharing her breath for a long moment. She couldn't seem to move, but she could feel everything. He continued to kiss her again and again, and she began to lose track of which tongue was hers, except for when he was kissing her in other places. He seemed to favor her neck and chest but always returned to her trembling lips. She was mesmerized by a rhythm that she wasn't surprised her partner had and, for an eternity, didn't think she could live without. Don't ever stop… As her eyes rolled back to his heavy and elaborate motion, she made a mental vow to return the pleasure, and that was something she definitely knew how to do.

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The next morning they warmly acknowledged what they had done. "Oh, my gosh," Mulder groaned comfortably to his partner who had just awaken in his arms. Their legs were tangled among each other's.

"Good morning," she greeted in a hoarse voice, which made him smile proudly.

"Yes it is," he grinned and pulled her even more tightly into his arms if at all possible. "I should have done this a long time ago," Mulder said in a half teasing, half sincere tone.

"Told me how you feel?"

"No," he laughed, "slept with a doctor!" She couldn't help but laugh with him, although she wasn't sure what being a doctor had to do with anything. "You sure do know anatomy well."

Dana giggled and blushed, slightly embarrassed by the compliment. Then she forced herself to grin proudly at her accomplishment. "Apparently, so do criminal profilers." She couldn't be more sincere about that if she tried. If her body hadn't still ached from the night before, she would have been tempted to go another round. Instead, she curled up around her partner, absorbing his warmth, and dreamed about it.

Mulder watched twelve minutes go by on his clock as he lied in his bed holding her. He was combing his fingers through her hair and considering calling in sick for both of them when there was an urgent knock at the door. He jumped up to go answer it. "Stay in here," he said, almost whispering.

"Where would I go?" Dana whispered back, mockingly, and rolled her eyes in a teasing manner.

"…Right…" Mulder threw on his boxer shorts and grabbed a robe as he walked to the door.

"Agent Mulder!" yelled a familiar, irritated voice through the door as he opened it.

"Sir!" Mulder forced himself to tranquilize quickly and attempted to greet his boss again. "I mean…sir…what can I do for you at this hour?" he asked, trying to sound normal.

"Do you realize that I have been trying to reach you and Agent Scully all night?" he growled.

"Oh? Uh, well, you see, Agent Scully had a thing last night, so she hasn't been home, and I-"

"A thing? What thing? Where is she?"

Mulder panicked inside his head as he tried to come up with something reasonable. "Family thing," he finally said. "She didn't go into detail, and I didn't see it was any of my business to pursue it."

"Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Actually, sir, I am expecting her soon. She was going to stop by, uh, here to drop off the results on some samples we took in Colorado." Mulder was proud of himself. "What is it that you need, sir?"

"Well, I have some information on the case for you, but I was hoping to talk to you and Scully together. So, if you don't mind, I think I'll just wait for her to get here." Though Mulder was kicking himself inside, he didn't show any sign of it. "So, what's the matter with your phone?"

"Huh?"

"Your phone…" Skinner gestured to the cord that had been unplugged.

"Oh, that. Yeah, I must have pulled it loose when I tripped over it last night. I-I always trip over…cords." Well, that was smooth, Mulder thought to himself sarcastically.

"So, when did you say you were expecting Agent Scully?"

Now was his chance. "Honestly, sir, she didn't give a specific time. So, I don't know exactly. But as soon as she gets here, we can just meet you at your office."

Skinner seemed frustrated.

"Or you can just tell me now, and I'll pass the information onto her."

"I guess that'll just have to do."

"Okay…good. Can I get dressed first?" Mulder requested.

"Please do."

Mulder ran into the bedroom expecting to find Scully still in his bed, but instead, the bed was empty, and steam was rising from the bottom of the bathroom door. Without even thinking, he walked inside. Luckily, nothing embarrassing made him regret it, but as soon as he entered, he looked back at the door, realizing the risk he had taken. "What are you doing?" he whispered through the shower curtain.

"You solve murders everyday, and that's the question you ask me?" She poked her head out the side of the curtain. "Need to take a shower?"

"Man-oh-man, Scully, I might have been more interested if Skinner wasn't in the next room." Volume-wise, his voice was still a whisper, but the tone suggested he was yelling.

She cringed, whispering now, as well, "Skinner?"

Mulder nodded, resentfully. "He wants to talk to both of us."

"Us? Us? He knows I'm here?"

"No." Mulder was trying not to think about her invitation to join her in the shower as he examined the silhouette of her body behind the curtain. But his attention had been recaptured by her famous eyebrow-raise. "Please don't ask me why, but I told him I was expecting you soon, and now he wants to wait for you to get here." He avoided looking at her face, figuring his imagination would probably display a less threatening glare than her true expression. "But, I was thinking that I could have him walk with me downstairs to get my mail, and you could run out of the room and pretend like you just got here."

Scully began to consider this, but shattered his hopes when she sarcastically lit up and said, "Maybe he won't notice that I'm wearing the same clothes as yesterday." He blushed. That hadn't occurred to him. She would have stopped there, but his confused expression hadn't changed, making her think he didn't get the point yet. "Or, maybe," she teased, "I can just wear your clothes." Mulder knew she was just kidding and didn't mean to hurt his feelings, but it always reassured him when an angelic grin followed. "Mulder," she murmured soothingly, "the mail box is a good idea. It will give me a chance to get out of here. But if this is going to become a habit, I may need to start bringing a change of clothes." She disappeared back into the shower, but she must have been finished because the water shut off.

"Mulder, I don't have all day," came Skinner's voice from the other room.

Mulder leapt into a pair of jeans and put on a T-shirt. "Sorry, sir. I was checking my voice mail. As it turns out, Scully won't be joining us anyway. Something came up."

"Is everything okay?" Skinner asked, wearing his best concerned expression.

"Everything's wonderful," Mulder smiled, distracted. "She just won't make it back 'til tomorrow."

Mulder carried out his plan by going downstairs to get his mail, allowing Scully to escape, while Skinner shared the news with him about their case.

Later that morning, Skinner left Mulder's apartment as a saint. He had given Mulder, not only an environmental history, but also the name of the company dumping the chemicals near Bonnie Jacobson's neighborhood. Mulder had asked him how he was able to get his hands on such information, but Skinner only claimed to have friends in high places. Mulder called his partner that afternoon to fill her in on the details. She told him that the lab results wouldn't be ready for another week or so because of the complicated calculations and compounds involved, not to mention that their tests were never considered high priority due to the prejudice against the X-Files. Once the results were in, however, they wasted no time to review their new puzzle pieces. Mulder and Scully sat on his couch and laid out every bit of evidence and information they had across the coffee table. For a long while, they just stared at the table, as if an ultimate answer would leap out, into their laps. When one didn't, Scully shrugged helplessly. "Mulder, it looks like we're going to have to go back there to close this case. There's just too much else we need to investigate before we can let the local law enforcement take over."

"When you're right, Scully, you are right."