Disclaimer: Is this seriously still necessary? Has anyone ever really been sued for Fan Fiction? All right, all right, here's my obligatory spiel: Not mine. It sucks. The end.

Rating: PG…13. Probably going to escalate.

Spoilers: Heavy Fowley spoilers. The End/The Beginning, Two Fathers/One Son. Also FTF. Post-Agua Mala.

Author's Notes: I do have ideas for more, a tiny bit written. Though this could be an ending, I think I'll keep going. ;-)

Feedback: I stalk my email for feedback harder than I stalked David Duchovny last year.

I am leaning against a wall, watching the door, waiting on Scully to get here. I've been waiting about 15 minutes, checking my watch constantly. She sounded so disappointed on the phone, more than I imagined. I don't even know how I managed to get her to agree to meet me, under the pretenses of work, when she was so set on having her birthday off. I have always, in a way, been able to manipulate her in that way. Was I always proud of it? No, of course not. But that never stopped me. Selfish tool that I am. Perhaps I can take one small step towards making up for that today.

Finally, she walks in and I watch her for a few moments. She's looking around, pulling out her phone to call me. She's done as I suggested, dressed warm and casual. She is wearing a dark gray woven wool sweater, black jeans and her black leather boots. Over it all, she wears a black knee length jacket. She is straightening her hair as she looks down at her phone. I sometimes watch her when she thinks no one is looking. Her face relaxed, soft, not hardened to the world. Her unconventionally pretty, imperfect mouth relaxed and parted just open as she concentrates on dialing the phone. 'I do not gaze at Scully.'

I roll my eyes and whistle at her, over a few groups of people with rowdy kids. She snaps her head to me and makes her way through the crowd, nearly scowling.

She finally makes it to me. "Don't these kids go to school?" She reaches a hand out to examine the wounds on my neck, standing on her toes. She pulls the bandage away enough to see under it before I swat her away, turning my head away from her.

I reach next to me, retrieving something to hand to her. "The girl at the counter said they're having some kind of home school day out or something."

"Ah…" She looks down at the mini golf putter I'm extending to her. "Is that a murder weapon, Mulder? Where are your gloves?"

"No latex required, Scully. We're going to play."

"You're kidding."

"No, check this one out." I'm still holding it out in front of her. "About your size?"

"Mulder…" Her arms are crossed, her back arching away from me as if I'm holding out a can of worms, a scowl on her lips.

"Happy birthday, Scully." Her eyes jump from the putter in my hand to my eyes. I watch her lips twitch from that scowl to suppressing a smile as she blinks a few times. "Come on. I know it's not the thirty fifth birthday you always dreamt of, but I did put some thought into it."

"You did, huh?" She takes the putter from my hands and examines it with a skeptical eye, before giving me an equally skeptic look.

"See, I tried to think of something with minimal distraction." She looks at all the kids around us. "Where would I ever find a conspiracy here?"

"Didn't I once tell you that you could find a conspiracy in the desert?"

"No, you told me I would try to find the Truth in the desert if someone told me it was out there."

"I stand corrected…"

"Anyway," I pull two balls out of my jacket pocket. "I won't even crack a joke about my balls." I smirk. "Take your pick."

She gives me a classic Scully glare. Isn't she aware by now that I know she is hiding her amusement? She picks the red ball, leaving me with the blue one. She takes the score sheet that I've just pulled out of my pocket, examining it. "Nine holes only."

"Scully! I paid for all 18."

"Nine. It's gotten colder out here," she says as we walk outside. It has actually, there are clouds coming in and it's gotten windy.

"Ok, nine. And then dinner."

"Did you pay for the whole pizza party?" She deadpans. "I hope you invited ALL of my friends."

I squint at her, "You first, birthday girl."

A while later, we're on the last one. I putt my ball into the ninth hole and pull out the score sheet…"Ok…ooh, that's one under par on this one." I smile up at her. "And I finished in 3 strokes less than you, Scully."

"Wonderful." Fortunately, Scully doesn't mind losing. I get the impression she would rather lose than have someone let her win.

"You're getting better though, sure you don't want to finish?"

"No, Mulder. Thank you, but I'm cold." She's rubbing her hands together and looking up at the sky, at the gray clouds continuing to fill the sky.

I take her putter and ball, ushering her back inside. "Hungry? I saw an Italian restaurant a few blocks up, we can walk to it?" I can see her weighing it in her mind, no doubt considering just going home and taking a warm bath before getting ready for work tomorrow. "Come on, birthday girl, it's on me."

She suppresses a smile while I turn in our putters and balls. "Sure, fine…let's go."

We walk up the street in silence. When we walk inside, I look around. This is a little more fancy than I anticipated. I look around and look down at my attire. There may be a dress code. I happened to wear a blazer type jacket over my sweater, so I may just pass muster. I walk to the little man at the podium just inside the door. I am tempted to call him Jeeves. "Hey…table for two?"

He looks down his nose at me, first taking in the bandage on my neck, then my outfit. I gather he supposes my threads will do on a slow Tuesday night. "This way…sir"

He leads us to a table in the back. After he seats Scully and gives me another look down his nose, he walks away. I lean over her with a hand on the back of her chair. "Be right back."

I go to the bathroom and pull the bandage away from my neck. I examine a few of the wounds where a tentacle had reached out and wrapped around my neck. They are certainly still noticeable, but not nearly as unattractive as the bandage wrapped around my neck. I remove the bandage and discard it.

When I return to the table, I notice Jeeves had set my place next to hers. This was not our customary seating arrangement, I across form her. I sit down and place my napkin over my lap. "This is rather fancy shmancy, eh, Scully?" This is more of a 'date' setting than I anticipated, candles on the tables and all.

She is leaning over, touching my neck tentatively. "Are you applying that ointment I gave you?"

I swat her away again. "Would you stop?"

She dodges my hand, turning my chin to look at the other side. "It looks ok. Probably best you took the bandage off."

I lean away from her, grab her hand and push it towards her. "Ok, Doc. Leave it." I duck my head, catching her eyes, making sure she understands before I let go of her hand. "All right…let's order wine, birthday girl." I pick up the little wine menu. "Red or white?" She looks hesitant. "Come on, Scully, don't make me choose."

Small hint of a smile. "Red."

A while later, we have ordered and received our food. We are eating in our customary silence, especially since there is no case to talk about. I watch her for a few moments, she doesn't notice me. She chews and swallows a bit of her pasta, dabs her napkin at the edge of her mouth. She clears her throat and sips her wine, her blue eyes observing other couples in the restaurant over her wine glass. I do gaze at Scully. "Hey, Scully…" I clear my own throat and take a sip of wine before I grab the bottle and top both of us off. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

Her eyebrows raise in question with her fork in her mouth, taking a bite of her pasta. When she's managed to chew her food enough, she asks, "About…?"

"Well, I uh…I know we've been through a lot lately. I just uh, I wanted to make sure everything is ok. Are you ok? Are we ok? As uh…as partners, I mean." She slowly places her fork down on her plate, but doesn't move otherwise. She's staring at me. For so long I grow a little uncomfortable. "Scully?"

"Mulder…" She finally looks away, licking her lips and straightening her hair, uncrosses her legs and re crosses them the other way under the table. "Of course we're ok."

"No, I know we're ok. Ok, Maybe I'm asking if we're ok as more than partners." I'm watching her watch me out of the corner of her eye, her eyes fixed on the door like she might jump up and escape. "I know I've put you through a lot, as my partner and my friend. I…I told you how much I need you, then I…I didn't exactly act as if that were…" Shit, what am I trying to say? I have forgotten what I wanted to say to her.

"Mulder…" She looks down at her wine glass, resting her finger on the rim of it, shaking her head in a dismissive manner. She wants me to drop it. Like the Saint she is, she has already forgiven me, but that's not enough.

I reach out and rest my hand over her other hand, on the table, making sure I have her attention. Her eyes dart to our hands. "Scully, I've been an ass, I know that. I did, I still do consider Diana a friend." Her eyes darken, I can practically see her breath quicken. I smirk, "but you…you mean a lot too." My thumb is absentmindedly stroking the top of hers, she bites the inside her lips, still watching our hands. Still looking like she might run away. "I just come so close to losing you, sometimes. I don't know how to act. I guess I thought, maybe, if you hated my guts…you'd leave on your own?" I smirk, yet again, she looks certifiably confused and maybe even a little hurt. "I know that doesn't make sense, it's the only thing I can figure. Just…look, ok? I can't justify or defend a lot of the things I've said and done this last year." I reach out and put only my index finger on her chin and she looks at me reluctantly. "I just want you to know that you mean a lot to me. I don't deserve you but I can't give you up either. I don't want to lose you to this…this, pursuit of mine…but it's a risk I have to take. 'Cause I need you. Not only because you make a kick-ass partner, but because…take away everything else, take away the job and the conspiracies…you're still my best friend." I smile at the tears in her eyes, knowing she's heard my words, knowing they mean something to her. "Happy birthday, Scully."

"When here in my mind
I feel inclined
To wrongly treat you unkind
I have faith I will find
The mercy in you

I would lose my way again
Be led hopelessly astray again
Just so I could pray again
For the mercy in you

When here in my mind
I have been blind
Emotionally behind
I have faith I will find
The mercy in you"

Depeche Mode-Mercy In You

Yes, more Depeche Mode. The songs keep popping in my head as I'm writing! :-)

To be continued...