Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I just write this for pleasure. Thanks for allowing me to borrow Mulder and Scully for a moment.

A/N ... Thank you all for the kind words and comments... it makes writing the new chapters easier ... I'm working ahead to Chapter 9 now. Just as an FYI, there is going to be some NC:17 parts in Chapter 8 ... I tried to keep most of it clean, but if you aren't into that, let me know and I'll re-write it before I post. Its not graphic or smutty ... just some provocative images.

Chapter 7

Driscoll pulled the truck over in front of a small Victoria era home. The sign out front identified the house as the 'Spinster Sister's Inn'. Scully chuckled when she saw it.

"Spinster Sister's? Are you implying something Dris?" She asked from the back seat. She was wheezzing slightly from the injury to her chest and thewrap that was holding her ribs in place.

Driscoll laughed and broke into a smile. "I think Mulder would have my ass if I thought that," he replied glancing at Mulder and back at Scully.

"My great great Aunts were spinsters. Darlene, Colleen and Betty Driscoll all lived and died here. This home has been in my father's family for over a century. My Uncle Joe and his wife Nan run a B&B out of it."

They exited the vehicle and walked up the front steps of the house, waiting on the porch as Driscoll rang the bell. Scully's balance was still a little unsteady and she swayed a little on the landing. Driscoll and Mulder both caught her before she toppled over and shared a look of concern over her shoulder.

"Well, hello Jeff, why the hell are ya ringing the doorbell?" exclaimed a familiar voice from behind the door. Driscoll's Aunt Nancy appeared in the doorway, with a welcoming smile on her face. She was a petite woman in her 60's, gray hair, and twinkling eyes.

"Sorry Nan," he commented. "I don't feel right busting in a place without my gun drawn."

"Well, well, some things do change, I guess." She said as she held the door open for the three to walk in. "When you were a lil one you played cops and robbers, ran all over this house flipping your badge and carrying your gun, never occurred to you that knocking on the door first would be a common courtesy."

Driscoll stood in the living room of the house and ran his hand over his brow. Ok, can you embarrass me any further, he thought. He glanced at Mulder and Scully who were both smiling at her admission.

"Nan," he muttered with a scowled expression on his face. "No need to be telling the family secrets. These are my friends and co-workers, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully."

"Nice to meet you," she replied giving both Mulder and Scully a quick hug. "I have Colleen's room all made up for you," she said after she let go of Scully. "Let me just give you a quick tour of the house and I'll take you upstairs. Joe's out back chopping some wood."

The tour took less than 10 minutes, there were four bedrooms on the second level, three named for Driscoll's aunts, and one for his great grandfather Franklin. Scully was staying in 'Colleen's' room.

The small bedroom was nestled in the front corner of the house, overlooking the Galena River below. The walls were painted an airy yellow and the linens were a soft, calming shade of blue. Scully stood at the window, absorbing the view and reflected on how the cozy décor and the warmth Nan and Joe exuded, welcomed her in.

"Here is a set of pajamas, Dana," Nan said as she laid the items on the bed. "I'm a RN and work part time at the hospital, so I'll help you re-wrap the bandaging. I can run a bath for you later in the whirlpool tub across the hall, I'm sure it will help you relax a little. When you are feeling more adventurous this week, we have a hot tub out back."

Scully stole a look in Mulder's direction and caught his raised eyebrows, and sly grin. Nan continued without missing a beat.

"Otherwise your room has a private shower and bath behind this door. There are linens, a robe, toiletries in the there for you, an extra toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and what not." She stepped over to the door leading into the hallway.

"Thank you Nancy," Scully replied and turned to face her.

"Just call me Nan," she commented. "Let us know if you need anything, otherwise we'll stay out of your way." She turned then and quietly excused herself from the room, leaving Scully and Mulder alone.

As soon as the door shut, Mulder removed his coat and dropped it on the floor. He walked over to the bed and relaxed into its softness, stretching out his legs. His whole body was cramped from sleeping in the chair all night. He padded the spot next to him and beckoned Scully to join him.

Scully looked at him with arched eyebrows. Then removed the pea coat she was wearing and after hanging it in the wardrobe, she joined him on the bed.

"You didn't want to hang up my coat?" He asked her as she settled in next to him.

"You aren't staying long," she replied flatly.

"How do you know?" He responded.

"You and Dris need to go play cops and robbers this afternoon," she replied giggling. She slowly turned to face him and placed her hand on his chest. "Thank you Mulder."

"For what, holding your head while you puked?" he asked, a smile dancing in his eyes. He brushed a strand of hair from her face.

She looked at him, her expression serious. "For saving my life," she paused a moment and added, "And holding my head while I puked."

Mulder brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed each finger. "That's my job, as your friend and your partner." He leaned over and kissed her forehead again, then pulled her protectively into his embrace. In a moment they both drifted off to sleep.


When Scully awoke, Mulder was not in the bed. She rolled over slowly, wrapping her arm across her chest and looked for his jacket on the floor. It was gone. She stood from the bed and walked into the restroom, noticing the time on the clock as she passed. It was just past 4:30, she had been asleep for nearly 5 hours.

After she freshened up, she left her room, heading to the living room. She could hear the soft tones of a piano playing in the background as she came down the stairs. Scully walked into the living room and found an older man sitting at the piano, performing magic over the keys. The resemblance to A.D. Driscoll was striking.

"Oh, there you are," the man commented, catching her reflection in the mirror. He stopped playing and turned on the bench to face her. "I'm Joe Driscoll, Nannie's husband, Jeff's Uncle, Tom's identical twin brother … if you hadn't noticed." He extended a hand to her.

"Dana Scully," she replied shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you." She smiled politely suddenly feeling out of place.

"Under better circumstances today," he commented. "I'm on the fire department. I responded to the call last night. Could I get you something? Some tea maybe? Jeff told me you were a little nauseous earlier."

"Yes, I'd like that," Scully answered.

"Oh, before I forget, your partner left this for you." He picked up a brown envelope from the top of the piano and handed it to her. He walked out of the room heading toward the kitchen.

Scully opened the envelope and found Mulder's visa card, car keys, a cell phone and a note.

Scully,

Dris left you his phone - call me at Nester's number if you need me. I ordered replacements phones for us; you should have them tomorrow, overnight mail. If you feel up to it later- go shopping! There are some stores downtown, just a couple of blocks from the house. If you don't feel like walking, I arranged for a rental for you, it is parked on the street out front.

I'm not sure I'll be back tonight; we got a lead on the case and are driving to the Quad Cities to follow up. I'll touch base with you later.

P.S. Don't call any 900 numbers; Dris said his father will yell at him.

Mulder.

The note brought a smile to her face. He thought of everything, took of care of everything. Even the P.S. line brought drew a laugh in her throat. She walked to the window and looked out at the street, caught up in a hypnotic moment. Her mind raced back to the words left in the air in her hospital room, I love you. They echoed in her mind, a thousand times and hung over her head like an ultimatum. She loved him too. She couldn't imagine her life without him. He was the first thing she thought of when she woke from her sleep, the last thing at the end of the day.

But loving Mulder meant living a life on the run, chasing every anominally, ghost, or mystery. It was far from normal in any sense of the word and normal was what she wanted … wasn't it?

"Penny for your thoughts."

Scully turned from the window to find Joe coming out of the kitchen with a steaming cup of tea.

"Thank you," she said as she took the cup from his hand.

"You look troubled," Joe said, tilting his head slightly. "I'm the resident councilor around here, anything you want to talk about?"

Scully sat down on the couch and ran her tongue over her lips. "I guess, ahh, the accident has made me reflect about my life a little."

"Well, traumatic events like yours will cause people to take inventory," he said sitting on the piano bench across from her. "These days everyone is so caught up in the chaos of life, they forget to remember what's important."

Scully was quiet for a moment and stared in to her cup. "Two days ago I thought I knew what was important, what I wanted in life," she paused a moment and then continued, "what I thought was normal, but now…" Her words trailed off and she stared at the floor.

Joe leaned forward slightly and rested his arms on his knees. "You know, the definition of normal is pretty subjective. What is normal for you may not be normal for me."

"I'm not even sure I know what normal is anymore" she said quietly.

"Change is part of the chaos of life and normal," he replied making quotation gestures with his fingers. "Is going to be different depending on your circumstances, you just need to be flexible enough to adapt."

Scully nodded and was about to answer when the bell rang and a young couple walked through the door. Joe stood to greet them and walked to the front desk to check them in. Scully watched from her seat, noticing how in synch the couple was with each other, how protective the male was of his mate, how the simplest thing brought a smile to their faces. The scene brought her thoughts back to her predicament in her personal life.

It wasn't like any of her previous relationships were normal. She dated a married man through half of med school, and while spending a rebellious summer with her sister Melissa, she had a string of one night stands. Her girlfriends and even her brother had set up her up on blind dates over the past six years, but they all turned out to be duds. The only constant male relationship she had was Mulder, and he was the reason she started to look elsewhere.

Scully was attracted to Mulder from the start, despite infuriating her with his abstract ideas. When the X-files were closed the first time and she was reassigned, she realized how much he meant to her. She dismissed the thought of a romantic relationship, not that the mutual attraction wasn't there. She caught the glances that he gave her when she came into their office, the jealous tone in his voice when another man flirted with her, the hurt look on his face when she told him she was dating Cramer.

She justified all of it by saying the FBI had policies on relationships and their friendship was more important. The truth be told, she forced herself to move away from him, the policy had nothing to do with it. Only one person had forced her hand, Diana Fowley.

Scully witnessed the link Mulder and Fowley shared on the Gibson Praise case. From the incident in the conference room, to the brief conversation in the car, to Gibson calling out Diana during their first meeting with him, she was keen to all of it. What burned Scully most was that Mulder allowed Diana to call him Fox, something he discouraged Scully from doing at the start of their partnership. He told her nobody called him that, not even his mother … obviously a lie, since Diana called him that freely. In fact at times, Scully felt Diana flaunted it in her face especially when she would call to him down the hallway at work.

Scully had forced the Gunmen to admit the truth about Mulder and Fowley's former relationship, and then she brooded about it for weeks. When the review board told her she was being reassigned, she took it as an omen, her chance to break her tie to him. Not because she didn't love him, which was the farthest thing form the truth, she was hurt and jealous.

After the Antarctica incident, Scully resolved to stick with Mulder and fight for his cause. Little did she know it wasn't the only battle she would have to deal with, when Mulder ditched her in Arizona to run off somewhere with Fowley and then took Fowley's side when Scully asked Mulder to trust her, Scully had had enough. Agent Cramer had asked her out previously and the next time he approached her, Scully was quick to accept.

However, Scully didn't love Cramer and after yesterday's incident she didn't even like him. The thought of going back to Washington to face him wasn't appealing. Silently she wished Mulder would figure it out and just take care of it for her. She laughed quietly to herself as she imagined how that scenario would play out in her head.

"Miss, your phone is ringing," a far off female voice called. Scully jumped when she realized the voice was talking to her. She blinked and looked into the eyes of the young woman that had just checked in.

"Oh, sorry," Scully mumbled fumbling with the phone. "Scully" she said into it once she had figured out the buttons.

"Hey, it's me," Mulder replied. "I was just checking on you, you obviously got my note?" he asked.

"Yeah," she mumbled as she stood up from the couch and walked out to the foyer for more privacy. "You didn't need to leave your card though." She started up the stairs toward her room.

"Yes I did. You don't have your wallet and I, for one, do not plan on sharing Nester's wardrobe for the rest of the week. You know what I like, just pick me up a couple of things," he coaxed gently.

Scully smiled as she quietly shut her door. "Mulder, what you like and what I will buy for you are two different things."

"Just don't dress me like a geek, ok? I have a reputation to maintain," he replied.

"Don't worry," she rolled her eyes at the reference. "When will I get my wallet back by the way?"

"Our luggage is drying out in the Dubuque field office. You could stop there tomorrow and retrieve whatever you wanted to keep."

"I'm sure everything is ruined. The only thing I would like besides my wallet is my necklace," she replied touching her neck absent-mindedly.

"I have your necklace," Mulder interrupted. "The nurse gave it to me at the hospital; I forgot to give it back to you."

Scully was relieved he had the necklace. It was a simple chain, but the sentimental significance was important. Her father had given it to her for Christmas when she was younger. Mulder knew how much it meant to her and always made sure she ended up with it. The thought made her miss him suddenly.

"When are you coming back?" She asked quietly.

"Nester and I will be back tomorrow night. Oh, which reminds me, I couldn't get a room at the Inn, so I'll be staying at Nester's hotel across town." He crossed his fingers hoping she would protest.

Scully felt a pang in her chest at his words. "Why couldn't you get a room?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know, Dris said they were booked the rest of the week. Do you have a better idea?"

Scully took a deep breath and fingered the doily on the top of the dresser. "You could stay with me," she ventured, steeling herself for the no answer. They had slept together on the couch at his apartment plenty of times, sharing the bed shouldn't be any different.

A smile crawled across Mulder's face and he felt his pulse quicken. "Scully, that would be a violation of FBI policy," he replied jokingly.

"Well, since I'm not officially on this case, I won't be able to turn in my receipts," she replied and then added, "Besides Mulder, we could both benefit from a dip in the hot tub. I'm sure your muscles are aching from the accident as well."

"Wow, Scully, you would spend time with me alone in a hot tub? Will you marry me too?" Mulder replied laughing. He took a deep breath, visibly relieved. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

She smiled as she closed the phone, feeling very warm inside. She knew the marriage tag line was a joke, he always stuck it in there when she did something to surprise him, but if he was to really ask him, her answer might surprise him.

Tbc.