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. GOING to escalate.

Spoilers: Post-Agua Mala.

Author's Notes: I did NOT intend for it to go this long, but, this idea I got going popped in my head and I'm going with it. I know, I'm being a cocktease with the smut. *eg*

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

The 'beep, beep, beep' of the alarm clock pisses me off. It should be against the law to have to wake up before the sun. I slap the snooze button, rolling over and groaning. I hold my pounding head and try to ignore the urge to pee so I can get a few more minutes of sleep. I am snuggling back into the blankets when I smile widely, remembering what happened last night. I am holding the blanket over my mouth, remembering everything about my birthday. The stupid mini golf, the better dinner. Stopping by that bar and then…God that kiss. Those kisses. I close my eyes again and brush my lips against the blanket in my hands, just remembering. I WAS drunk, so I can't remember every detail, but I remember the way it made me feel.

I no longer have any questions or doubts, Mulder and I would be together. And of course, if he walked in here right now to take me, I wouldn't object. But it would be nice to take our time, maybe go out again, on an actual date under the pretense of a date. If he would ask me, that is. I smirk, trying to picture Mulder doing just that.

I close my eyes and sigh when my alarm goes off again, wanting to lay here in this feeling for a while longer. Then I smile when I realize, the sooner I get to work, the sooner I'll see him. I shake my head as I turn off my alarm. 'Look at you, Dana. It's just Mulder.' I try to put on my grown up work face on my way to the bathroom, but smile again when I remember him lifting me off of the floor, holding me as we kissed.

While I'm brushing my teeth, I feel a little pain in the back of my throat. Not good…I hope it is just some drainage, or maybe it's because that bar was so smoky last night. I shower, and while I am picking out my clothes I hear a knock at the door. I look over at my clock. It's still pretty early, I woke up early enough to catch a cab to my car and still make it in on time.

I look though my peep hole and make sure it's the only person who ever knocks on my door unexpectedly. I open the door, still in my robe with a towel on my head.

Neither of us say anything, he's just standing there in his nicest looking suit, my favorite tie of his, his hair has gel in it but it's just a little more messy than usual. Both of us are trying to keep a straight face, but I feel my cheeks flush when I see that fire in his eyes I saw on the sidewalk last night. He smiles a little when he sees my cheeks flush. I bite my lip and he takes a step toward me. He snakes his hand around my waist and places it on the small of my back, pulling me into him. He surprises me by unwrapping the towel from my head, tossing it aside, straightening my hair out a little. He ducks down and puts his nose on my hair, taking in a whiff before moving his fingers into it, tilting my head back and kissing me. It's a closed mouth but still pretty intense kiss, then he smells my hair again. "Mmm. You smell good. Morning, Scully."

My hands have found their way around his waist, and I turn my head to rest it on his chest, somehow we are standing there hugging now. He rests his chin on top of my head and squeezes me a little tighter before I return his greeting. "Morning, Mulder. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I got home and passed out last night, then woke up this morning at 3. Just happy as a clam, unable to sleep any longer. So I decided I'd get up early, catch a cab to my car, go pick up my kick-ass partner and give her a ride to her car before she caught a cab to it herself."

I'm smiling into his chest despite myself. "Thank you, Mulder."

"Mmhmm…you need to go get ready."

"You need to let me go."

"Uh-uh…" He is smelling my hair again, then he mumbles into it. "I forget, you're short without shoes on."

I pull back to look up at him, laughing and pushing him away. "Maybe I will take that cab," I say as I pick up the towel, going for the bedroom.

He shuts the door, going to raid my kitchen without invitation.

I go to my bedroom and leave the door open a crack while I get ready. I am blow drying my hair in the mirror, so I don't even hear or see him standing in the door of my bathroom, eating a bowl of cereal and watching me.

"How do you eat this crap every day, Scully?" He's almost yelling over the noise.

I jump and turn to him, instinctively ready to use my hairdryer as a weapon for a split second. "Jesus, Mulder!"

He's grinning. Suppressing my own smile, I push him out the door, back to the living room. "You better wash that bowl when you're through."

xxxxx

A while later we are at work. It is late morning and I am just getting back into the office with a few reports from the lab. We had them run tests on several samples we brought back from Florida. I am leaning on his desk, next to his chair. He has backed his chair away from the desk some so he can look up at me. His arms are crossed as I go over the results with him, pretty much translating the data to English. He nods after I've pretty much concluded and takes one of the lab reports from me. He looks over it.

"What is this here?" I explain in detail what that particular test was and that it yielded no results that were important to our case, taking about 30 seconds to explain. "Ok." He looks it over again. "And this?" I pause and look at him a moment before looking at where he's pointing, thinking he normally doesn't ask much else after these reports come in. He just lets me file them away. But I appease him and describe what that particular result meant, taking a bit longer to explain.

I look up at him, mid-sentence "…enzymes…enzymes in the…you're just getting off on watching me talk, aren't you?"

He mocks surprise, straightening his tie and then throwing his hands up in the air. "No, no! I was genuinely curious about the enzymes."

"I call bullshit, Mulder."

His eyes go wide, unable to suppress his laughter. "Wow, Scully, the language!"

He moves closer to me, his hand reaches out and tentatively moves my skirt. Touching the top of my calf, right under the inside of my knee with his right hand. He is leaning back with his left elbow on his armrest, his fingers resting on his mouth. He's gazing up at me with those eyes.

I stare at him a long moment. He quickly reaches up and grabs the back of my head, pulling my face toward his. "Mul-" I manage to get out before I drop the files. i nearly trip over my own feet to turn toward him as he pulls me down and now my mouth is on his. I am holding my hands in the air between us, my fingers balling into fists. His tongue brushes against my lip and I get a brief image of riding him in that chair in my mind's eye. I shake my head and put my hands on both sides of his face, pushing him away. I kneel down, picking up the files. "Let's go to lunch, Mulder."

"Yeah," he says and clears his throat.

A few minutes later we are walking down the sidewalk, towards one of our regular spots a couple of blocks away from the Hoover Building. I look at him as we're walking. "Not at work, Mulder. Not ever."

"Yeah, OK. " He's looking like the cat that ate the canary.

I smirk. "I'm not kidding, Mulder. Never. Not ever."

"All right, all right. You're right. I just couldn't help it."

"You think it's going to get any easier?" My turn to look like the cat that ate the canary.

"Oh, Scully." I've got him, he's looking at me with a gleam in his eye as he holds the restaurant door open and I walk past, grinning.

As we walk to our regular booth at the diner style restaurant, I sneeze about five times in a row. As we sit down I grab the napkin and hold it under my nose, feeling like I'm not through.

"You all right?"

"Uhh…I don't know." I decide my sneezing fit is done so I wipe my nose, then scratch it, but it won't stop tickling. Neither will the back of my throat, my eyes are completely watered up. "I uh…I had a sore throat this morning but it passed pretty quickly. I thought it might have been from the smoke in the bar last night. But, uh. I don't know, maybe it's allergies." I was just outside after all.

After blowing my nose in not the most lady-like way, he says. "Oh, Scully, that's really beautiful." He's half amused, half grossed out.

I squint at him over the napkin, smiling under it. The waitress comes over, asking if we want the usual. "No Betty, I'll have a hot tea with lemon."

"Oh, hun, do you have that crud that's going around?"

I glare over at Mulder, sitting back with his elbows resting on the back of the booth. I never told him but he just knows I hate her calling me 'hun.' "Is there a cold going around?" I say with dread.

"Yeaaah, baby girl, you shouldn't be at work! Why are you making her come to work Mr. Mulder, you couldn't handle things all by yourself?"

Mulder is laughing, I know he's laughing at her calling me 'baby girl,' that is a completely new one that must have come out of concern. Betty is an older lady from the south, so I tolerate her names.

"No, actually, I couldn't. I was just telling her yesterday how kick-ass she is and how I couldn't do it without her."

"Well, look at you, Mr. Mulder!" She pats him on the shoulder, nearly looking like she's about to pinch his cheek. My turn to sit back and smile. Until I enter into another sneezing fit, that is. I sneeze into my napkin another 3 or 4 times. "Oh, bless your heart. Let me get you that tea. You want your regular Mr. Mulder?" She's asking over her shoulder as she runs behind the counter to make my tea.

"Yes ma'am." I am finishing up with my sneezing fit, smiling at him under my napkin. The first time we had met Betty, she glared him down when he had said 'yeah' to her. Glared him down until he said 'yes ma'am' questioningly and she had smiled. "You gonna make it, hun?" He's laughing even as he says it.

I squint harder at him as I blow my nose again. "Uggh…I think she's right Mulder. This isn't allergies." I'm completely congested all of a sudden.

Betty sets down our drinks, Mulder's iced tea and my hot tea before running off to help another table.

"Not allergies…good to know you're not allergic to me." He raises his eyebrows, removing his straw to chew on before taking a sip. I can't even find the energy to be amused, then act like I'm not amused at that. I prop my head up on my hand, looking down sadly at my tea as I move the tea bag around. "Seriously, are you gonna make it?"

I look at him, feeling my bottom lip poke out. "I will drink this and see…but, I feel feverish, Mulder."

He reaches out and feels my forehead, then my cheek. "Yeah, I think you are."

I sigh, I made it through the whole winter without getting sick, almost. Betty sets down Mulder's sandwich in front of him, he thanks her, and she wanders off, looking at me with pity. Right before he's about to pick up his sandwich, I say, "Stop." He looks up at me with his hands hovering above his sandwich. "Go wash your hands."

He's laughing, about to pick up his sandwich again. "But Scully, we-"

"Go, Mulder." He sighs and pushes out of his seat, much like a child. I smile at him, despite feeling like crap.

I am driving home an hour later, I left immediately after we made it back to the office and I retrieved my things. Drugs and my bed, that's what I need.

xxxxx

I wake a few hours later to Mulder stroking my hair away from my face. I sit up in bed, pushing his hand away, looking around in confusion. I'm unsure what day it is, in a cold sweat. I finally remember when and where a am, then I look at him with a sad face. I was freezing earlier, and now I'm a big sweaty mess from bundling up under three blankets.

"Come on…" He lifts one of the blankets off of the bed, holding it open for me. "I let myself in…I brought you soup."

I groan, climbing out of the bed. He puts the blanket over my shoulders and tries to lead me to the living room, but I stop and go to my nightstand, breaking some pills out of a blister pack and taking them with a big gulp of water.

He tries to lead me to the couch again but I veer off to the bathroom, needing to use it. I thank him, through a sneezing fit with a Kleenex to my nose, for waiting outside of the bathroom with the blanket. I finally let him lead me to the living room. On the coffee table he's got a to go container of soup, still steaming hot, and a bottle of red Gatorade. He knows I only drink the red one.

I don't taste the soup, or the Gatorade, so I guess the color didn't matter.

The next thing I am aware of is him carrying me back to bed, asking me how many blankets I want, I settle on two this time, curling up again. "Bye, Scully…I'll tell Skinner you'll be out tomorrow too, ok?" He's pulling my hair back away from my face.

I cough and nod. "Thank you, Mulder." I can't even look at him.

He kisses my cheek right before I fall back to sleep.

xxxxx

The next day, I am able to move around a little, but get tired very quickly. I manage to get a shower, eat a few crackers and leftover chicken soup I found in the fridge. I curl up on the couch and fall asleep again.

I wake to him, the same way as yesterday, completely confused. "Just me," he mumbles, feeling my forehead. He hands me the thermometer I left laying on the coffee table. I sit up and take my temperature.

"It's going down…I'm ok. I just need more rest…"

He cares for me in much the same way as the day before.

xxxxx

I wake the next day, Friday, in my bed feeling much better. I look at my nightstand, every thing I need is right there. Kleenex, medicine, Gatorade, water, thermometer. I smile, going for the water and pills. I take my temperature and am relived to find it back to normal. I still have to blow my nose, still have a cough, but I am over the worst of it. The chills are gone with the fever.

A few hours later, I am on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and reading a book. He notices me as he's shutting the door. "Hey, you're up. How you feeling?" He walks over to me, feeling my head. I turn my face into a hand a little, actually enjoying the contact now that I'm not miserable. He lets his hand linger on my face for a moment, even after he notices the fever is gone.

"A lot better, still weak, a little stuffy. But my eyes don't feel like they're cooking in their sockets anymore."

"Seriously? Yeah, you were pretty bad off."

"Want to sit down?" He takes off his coat and suit jacket. I almost say something when he tosses them over my arm chair, but forgive him this time. He did see me through this. He moves and sits down at the other end of the couch, stretching his arm against the back of it. He leans back and sighs, looking over at me. I smile and scoot my toes up under his leg, between it and the couch. My toes were cold even through thick socks and a blanket. I smile my thanks as he mock protests. "Long day?"

"Yeah," He's looking at me with his head rolled to the side, nearly resting it on his shoulder.

"Anything happen?"

"No…not a thing. All is quiet in the world of the paranormal."

"That's paranormal in and of itself."

We share a smile before he sighs and closes his eyes. "Ahh, this is nice, Scully." He rests his hand on my bent knee.

"Yeah," I agree.

"I didn't bring you soup. Wanted to make sure you weren't up for something solid. Chinese?"

"Yes!" I say, feeling an appetite for the first time in days. He leans forward to get his cell out of his pocket before he has a sneeze attack. "Oh no…guess it's your turn." I reach behind me and offer him the box of Kleenex."

To be continued...Thanks to those of you sticking in there. Not the hottest chapter I know, but it's setting the stage for an idea I got stewing.