A/N: You all will find out about the dreams soon enough. They are important, not just random filler stuff. Thanks for the reviews. LOVE them :)
Mulder was mindlessly flipping through the tv channels, when Scully was finally ready to go.
"I didn't think that you owned a pair of jeans!" he teased her.
She looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a pair of light colored jeans, a white tank top, and a short-sleeved button-down clover green shirt. He was dressed in a baby blue t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. Both of them wore tennis shoes- just in case they needed to run.
"I bet you're happy that you don't have to wear a suit," she said, looking him up and down.
"I would be happy to burn all of my suits," he told her honestly.
"Oh, but you look so handsome in your suits!" she shamelessly flirted with him.
"Why, thank you! Your opinion is always welcome to me; however, I would still like to never wear another suit again," he said, standing up and turning off the tv.
"I bet you're really excited now. We get paid to go to a festival, AND we don't have to wear work clothes. This is the best birthday for you ever, isn't it?"
Mulder thought for a second. "Yes, it is. But only because it started with a nice cuddle from you."
They left the room, and Mulder locked the door behind them.
"Technically, you cuddled me, but I wasn't going to point that out at the time!" she smiled up at him, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.
"Well then, you owe me a cuddle!"
They made their way down the steel steps and out into the town square.
"I'm starving," he told her. "Let's go to the diner across the street."
Mulder took Scully's hand and pulled her along before she could actually respond.
They took their seats in a baby blue booth. Scully ordered a fruit oatmeal concoction, while Mulder stuck with a meat omelet and hash browns. They both ordered coffee, hoping that it was stronger than the stuff in their room. They began devouring their food, when Sheriff Clark wandered into the diner with two of his deputies.
"Well, hello, you two," he greeted them as the three men took a seat in the booth behind Scully. "I'm in luck that you all are here. We're meeting the mayor, and I would like to introduce you to him. That's all I really needed from you all this morning. No more attacks, so just be out there."
"It would be nice to meet the mayor," Scully politely told him. Mulder just nodded in agreement. "And hopefully we can catch this guy soon."
The officers ordered their food, pancakes all around, and coffee. In no time at all, another man joined them. He was tall and well built. Mulder pegged him as an ex-high school football played.
Sheriff Clark stood up to introduce the man to the agents. "This our mayor, Vance Malloy."
"How d'you do?" he said as he firmly shook their hands. "We're very relieved that the FBI was willing to help us out on this one. It's been a doozy of a case!"
"It's not a problem," Scully told him. "We're glad to help!" She gave him a convincing smile.
Mulder secretly rolled his eyes at her cheerfulness. He knew how she really felt about the situation. She felt the way he did. Uncomfortable! But he kept his mouth shut.
"We enjoyed your festival last night," she added, to be friendly.
"Thanks. It's our best time of year! Hopefully, you all can catch this guy. Tom, here, suggested shutting the festival down, and that's something I just can't do. This festival gives a lot of these folks their livelihood," Mayor Malloy explained.
"We'll do our best," Scully reassured him, glancing at Mulder, who still found his hash browns more interesting than this conversation.
"I know you'll try," he told her. He turned back to the officers and said, "Well, boys, better be off. I have a chili contest to judge! See everyone later!"
Scully paid for breakfast, then the two of them headed towards the festival.
"You know, you could have jumped in at any time to help me out," she told him.
"You were doing a fine job convincing them and being fake all by yourself," he said and smiled down at her. "It's good that you can hide your fear so easily."
"I'm not afraid I'm just uncomfortable," she quoted him.
Mulder chuckled. They walked along in comfortable silence until they came to the edge of the festival. Mulder suddenly took Scully's arm and started to pull her away from the festival and towards a wooded area.
"What are you doing? Where are we going?" she asked, confused.
"You'll see," was all he told her.
Mulder pulled Scully along, through the woods and up a hill. When they reached the top, the sight took Scully's breath away. They were above the town and could see the autumn colors of all of the trees below. Red, yellow, orange, burgundy, and still some green colored the trees into what looked like a beautiful work of art.
"This is why autumn is my favorite season," he told her.
"It's beautiful," she said. "However, it would be better if it actually felt like autumn outside. Instead, we're having a heatwave!"
"I couldn't agree more!"
Scully stood there a little longer, the quietness of the woods was very welcoming. Soon, however, she thought that she heard what sounded like running water. She left Mulder's side to go investigate. She came across a stream. She followed it, not far, to find that it turned into a waterfall that emptied in a small lake below. Now this was beautiful!
"Mulder!" she called, "Come check this out!"
Mulder was at her side in no time. Scully walked closer to the edge and looked over. It wasn't that far down. She got an idea. Scully began to unbutton her green shirt and slipped her shoes off.
"What are you doing?" he asked, but the slight sound of panic in his voice gave away that he already knew what she was going to do.
"It's hot outside. I'm going for a swim. Come on, Mr. Spontaneity! Join me."
"Scully, have you gone crazy? You don't know how deep that water is," he pointed out. "You can't just go running off of a cliff!"
She took her pants off and said, "Watch me!"
She ran and leaped off of the cliff top and plunged into the water below. Mulder peered over the edge. He glanced down at her discarded clothes, but he quickly stared back down at the water and waited for her to resurface. It was taking some time, so he guessed that the water was deep enough. Soon enough, he saw Scully float back to the top. Something wasn't right. She was laying face down in the water.
"Scully?!" he called down to her.
No answer.
"Shit..." he muttered, pulling his shirt over his head.
"Scully?" he called again, taking his shoes and pants off.
Still no answer.
Mulder hurled himself off the cliff and he plunged into the water within a second. He swam over to Scully's motionless body.
"Scully!" he exclaimed, panicking. He turned her over and brushed the hair out of her face. "Come on, Scully!"
He could feel her breathing, which was a good sign.
"Scully?" his worry-filled voice asked again.
Her eyes shot open and a small smile spread across her lips.
"Gotcha. Sucker," she said.
"You little..." Mulder quickly released her and pushed her under the water.
She came back up laughing. "I had to get you in here somehow!"
"That was not funny!"
"Of course it was," she countered.
"This water is pretty nice," he had to admit.
They swam around for a bit longer. They would have been kicked out of most normal pools for excessive 'horse-play.' Mulder spent a lot of his time picking Scully up and tossing her back into the water. They each took two more turns jumping off of the cliff. They began to feel prune-y and decided to call it a day.
***
Mulder came out of the bathroom, freshly showered.
"You owe me dinner," he told Scully, taking a seat on the couch.
"Off the couch!" she exclaimed. "You're wet!"
He shrugged and put his feet up on the coffee table.
Scully sighed at his stubbornness, but she knew the best thing to do was to ignore his behavior.
"Mayor Vance stopped by while you were in the shower. We've been invited to his Fall Festival dinner. We can go do that, or, if you want to be antisocial, we can go somewhere on our own."
"I'm not antisocial! We can go to the festival thingy. Besides, you need to be seen , right?"
"Correct," she agreed. "I feel like we've been wasting time," she confessed. "Maybe I'm not the right type of redhead..."
"If I were a psycho-killer I would definitely take you. You're definitely the right type of redhead."
"I'm not sure if you're trying to scare me or give me a compliment."
"Take it as you'd like," he shrugged and smiled at her.
"Okay, you're weird. Get dressed," she told him.
Mulder peeled himself off of the couch and smiled down at the wet spot that he left behind.
"Mulder! See! What did I tell you?!"
"Oh, you mistake me for someone who cares," he said, smiling and going into his room. "It will dry," he said over his shoulder and shut the door.
Scully sighed, exasperated, and went into her room to get ready as well.