A/N: Warning, I am Australian and therefore no nothing about baseball! All of my knowledge is based on tv/movies and Wikipedia ;)

October 4, 2014

11:13am

"Strike!" called a boy of about fourteen that lived two doors up from Mulder. "You're out!"

A girl of about fifteen with curly blonde hair that stuck out from underneath her Yankees cap sulked off.

A younger boy of about seven years old was pitching and he had a surprisingly good arm.

The kids in Scully's neighborhood played baseball in the street most weekends during the good weather.

They had managed to rope Fox into playing with them this time.

Scully sat under a tree nearby, she was meant to be reading a book but found herself watching the game instead. Fox was wearing a jersey from some team she didn't know, not that she knew any teams really. Scully had never been able to sit through an entire game. Her father and brothers were fans and Charlie was playing today.

The jersey suited Fox, she felt herself becoming smitten as she watched him smiling and laughing.

Snap out of it Dana! she told herself. It's not going to happen.

She knew she was probably just setting herself up for heartache but she couldn't help it. She had it bad for David Fox.

They changed sides and Fox went into bat.

"Hey Scully!" he called out. "Wanna play?"

"No thanks!" she replied. She didn't need to make an idiot of herself.

"C'mon," he said jogging over to her and holding the bat out, offering it to her with that smile.

Damn you, she cursed him in her head.

Everyone else was imploring her to play as well by this time.

"I've never actually hit a baseball before," she attempted one last time to get out of it.

"I'll teach you," he said, still with that damn smile.

Everyone cheered as she stepped up to the plate.

"I'm going to make an idiot of myself," announced Scully.

"No you won't!" countered Fox confidently. "You'll go easy on her won't you Luke?" he added to the tiny pitcher.

Luke Doggett nodded knowingly.

Scully found the bat surprising heavy. Suddenly Fox had his arms around her and was holding onto the bat as well taking some of the weight. It felt nice to have him so close. Scully thought that maybe baseball wasn't so boring after all.

Luke threw the ball nice and straight.

Scully felt Fox guiding her, swinging the bat with her and as she closed her eyes heard the sound of the bat colliding with the ball.

"I hit it!" exclaimed Scully.

"Foul ball!" called the boy who lived next door to the Doggetts.

"It helps to keep your eyes open," whispered Fox in her ear.

She could hear the laugh in his voice, feel his breath in her hair, she was grabbed by the suddenly urge to turn around and kiss him right there and then. But she didn't.

Luke threw another straight one.

This time Scully kept her eyes open; together with Fox she hit the ball again.

"Run!" shouted Fox watching the ball fly over Charlie's head.

Scully took off; she was half way to first base when she heard a smashing sound.

"Uh oh!" she heard a few kids say.

Some of the others took off retreating to their houses.

"What are you kids up to?!" It was Mr Botch and he didn't look happy.

"It was an accident," squeaked Scully. "I'm so sorry."

"You did this?!" began Botch but he faltered upon seeing Mulder standing there. By this stage a lot of the kids were either gone or going.

"It was just an accident," said Botch softly. "Like you said. No one got hurt, that's the main thing. Windows are replaceable."

"I'm really sorry," Scully apologized again.

"Not another word about it," replied Botch turning to retreat back into his house.

Mulder saw an opportunity and followed him calling out;

"Hey Mr Botch," he said. "It was kind of my fault too. Please let me make it up to you, I could fix that window for you, free of charge."

If he was invited into the house, he could get a bit of a look around, legally.

"That's very kind of you Mr Fox," replied Botch. "But no thank you. I'd prefer to get a professional to do it."

He was almost at his door now.

"I'd do a good job," pushed Mulder. "Please let me, I don't want my mistake costing you money."

"I'll send you the bill then," replied Botch and with that he entered his house closing the door behind him.

Mulder walked over and picked up the discarded bat. It was just him and Scully left now.

"Thanks," smiled Scully. "For teaching me how to hit a ball. Even if it was straight through Mr Botch's window."

Fox laughed.

"Anytime Scully," he replied.

Scully went and collected her book from underneath the tree and waving to him went home.

Just as her door shut, a silver car pulled up outside Mulder's place.

Mulder, who was collecting the bases, looked over to see Skinner stepping out of the vehicle.

Shit, he thought.

"Can I have a word?" asked Skinner in a low voice, slamming the car door.

"Sure," replied Mulder dumping the baseball gear in his front yard.

Once Mulder had shut the door, Skinner rounded on him.

"What the hell have you been doing Agent Mulder?!" he exploded.

Mulder opened his mouth to reply but apparently Skinner wasn't finished.

"First, I hear from forensics that you're sending them samples for testing and then I get a phone call this morning from my surveillance team telling me that you're playing baseball!"

"Your surveillance team?!" Mulder yelled back. "You're spying on me?!"

"When I heard that you had somehow obtained forensic samples I had to find out what you were up to. There was nothing in your reports about that," replied Skinner defensively. "I had them tap into your feed."

"I don't believe this!" exclaimed Mulder. "You're hindering my assignment!"

"I am your superior," said Skinner steadily but with authority. "I gave you this assignment and I can take it away."

"This is a load of BS," said Mulder.

"What's BS, Agent Mulder, is you playing baseball when you should be keeping tabs on a dangerous suspect!" retorted Skinner angrily. "Now I want to see your surveillance footage."

"Sounds like you have already seen it," muttered Mulder.

"Now!" demanded Skinner.

Mulder led the way upstairs and they watched the stored footage on sped-up time. They both watched as Scully delivered a pie, as Mulder broke into Botch's garage, as Mulder and Scully ran through the rain laughing and finally as Mulder taught Scully to hit a baseball.

"Who the hell is this red-haired girl?" Skinner demanded, hands on hips.

Mulder stood with his hands in his pockets.

"Dana Scully," he supplied. "She lives next door."

"Is that a problem for you?" asked Skinner.

"No," lied Mulder.

"Right, well it better stay that way!" said Skinner with force. "That's an order! One more wrong move Mulder and you're finished! You're lucky I don't take your badge for that little break and enter job! I'll be keeping the live feed to headquarters and increasing visits. Don't stuff this up!"

Skinner stormed off leaving Mulder looking at the paused image of himself with his arms around Dana Scully, he couldn't help but smile and thank God that Skinner hadn't continued watching what happened with Botch.

A/N: "The Unnatural" is one of my favourite X Files episodes. I love Mulder in his Roswell Grays jersey :) Thanks for reading. Please review.