Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing the characters for my own perverse pleasure. No infringement intended.

A/N Okay, I'm supposed to be doing my homework ... but I couldn't resist posting the next installment ...

Chapter 4

Friday

The crinkle of the newspaper caught Scully's attention as she slowly came down the stairs. She found Mulder sitting at the breakfast bar in his normal morning attire … running clothes. He was reading the morning paper and eating a bowl of Cheerios. "Good morning," she mumbled to him as she walked into the kitchen. She shuffled to the fridge and stared into it blankly. After a minute, she got a bowl out of the cabinet and dumped milk and cereal in it as well.

"Laura, honey …what's on your plate today?" Mulder asked her sarcastically without looking up.

Scully stared at the blankly at the cabinet before answering. I hate the name Laura, she thought coldly. This case better heat up soon cuz I'm being to hate my life, she sighed inwardly. "After my workout at the fitness center, I'm going to go the police department to get the lab results and then shopping to amuse myself until it's time to go to Bill's," she replied. "Are you sure that you don't want to go with me?"

Mulder turned to look at her. "I'm absolutely sure that I don't want to go with you. I'm not in the mood for any Mulder bashing today," he replied and then walked over to the dish washer to load his dishes on the top shelf. "I have a nice bachelor night planned in front of the TV."

"What makes you think it's going to be Mulder bashing?" Scully questioned, suddenly annoyed that Mulder was refusing to go with her. She had secretly thought he would change his mind by the end of the week.

"Scully, your brother hates me. I'm sure that he had some choice thoughts when he found out we were dating and I'm damn sure not in the mood to listen to them," Mulder replied flatly.

"Well, alright then," Something was obviously bugging him and Scully realized it wasn't worth getting into a fight over. She was quiet for a few minutes and finally worked up the nerve to find out what was bugging him. "What was that about?"

Mulder sighed and walked to the patio door. "Suburbia is getting to me Scully. Five days on this case and we're not any closer to solving it than the San Diego PD," he stared out the door at their empty backyard. "How could anyone call this the American dream? All these houses look the same, the landscaping is the same, and even the stinking mail boxes are the same. The whole neighborhood is so blaah…. lacking any character."

"It's the perfect neighborhood," Scully replied. "At least that is what the brochure says." She walked over to him and put her arm around his waist.

Mulder looked at her and then leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "Whoa, we'd better watch it, kissing in front of the windows might be a CC&R violation," he laughed and then ran his fingers through her hair. "Perfect neighborhood or not, they are definitely hiding something and today I have a sure fire way to test it."

Shortly after Scully had left to spend the day away from the neighborhood, Mulder walked to the community park, basketball in hand, to shoot hoops for a while. He was joined by two teenaged boys for a quick game of two on two. The boys were probably skipping school, but Mulder wasn't about to snitch on them. Instead he seized the opportunity to learn about the neighborhood. After three games of hoops, Mulder was not only completely exhausted, but a little more educated about the quirks of the neighborhood.

Waving goodbye to his new found friends, Mulder took a short cut through the backyards to his house. Just as he hit the property line of his own backyard, he accidentally ran into Sissy Vesch.

"Hi Rob," she called from her patio. "Hanging out at the community park?"

"Yeah," Mulder replied sheepishly. She lives right friggen behind me? Great! He turned around and walked over to where she was standing. "Yeah, I like to go there and blow off some stress."

"Stress?" she gave him a funny look. "How can a guy that works from home have any stress? What is it that you do anyway?"

"Nothing too exciting really," he said and looked at his watch. "Oh look at the time, gotta go," he said quickly and back pedaled across the lawn toward his sliding glass door.

"Why don't we plan to get together next week? Gordy and I would love to have you over," she called.

"Sure!" Mulder answered. "I'll have Scully get together with you on that."

"Scully?"

Crap! Did I just call her that? "Sorry, that's..ah…Laura's former name," Mulder stuttered. "Ole habits are hard to break sometimes." Frig! I'm such an idiot!

"Oh, no big deal, Gordy still calls me by my maiden name too," Sissy waved him off.

Mulder dashed into the house and closed the sliding glass door. "Maiden name you idiot," he mumbled as he set the basketball in the nook under the stairs. He ran up the stairs and to get cleaned up for his afternoon adventure.

Mulder stood defiantly in the front yard and stuck the plastic pink flamingo in the ground. He looked around at the empty street and dared the neighborhood to take him on. "Bring it on," he mumbled to himself before walking slowly to the house.

Once inside, he peeked out the security glass at the bird and looked at his watch. The time was 1:25 pm. He stared at the yard for a moment and then walked into the kitchen to get something to drink and to pull a bar stool over to the door. By the time he got back to the door, the pink flamingo was gone.

"What the fug?" he mumbled and looked at his watch again. 1:27 pm. He flung the door open and stomped down the sidewalk. "I was gone from the door less than a minute," he mumbled as he walked down the drive scanning the yard for a sign of movement. There was nothing. Mulder walked to the mail box and leaned against the post. What? Did the fuggin flamingo genie swoop down from the sky and swipe pinky from my lawn? Mulder thought to himself as he glanced at his surroundings.

Mulder stood back from the mailbox and stared at the post for a second. Okay, I'll just fuck with the mailbox then, take that, he thought kicking it lose from its footings. When it was leaning over pretty good, he flipped the door open and dumped the carton of orange juice on it. Then he walked back into the house and sat defiantly on the bar stool by the door.

Three hours had passed with no movement in the driveway. The urge to pee hit him and he tried to ignore it as long as possible. I could just pee in the juice carton … I've done it before on stake outs. Of course, that was when there was no bathroom. The washroom is less than 5 feet from me. Scully would kick my ass if she knew I was peeing in a cup rather than in our john, he sighed reluctantly and walked into the washroom to relieve himself.

Less than a minute later he emerged from the washroom to find the mailbox standing perfectly upright. 'What the fug?" he exclaimed as he stared out the security glass. He opened the door and walked cautiously down the sidewalk. As he approached the mailbox he could see it was no longer loose from its footing. "How the fug did someone do that, without a shovel or leaving a mess," he mumbled as he stepped closer to the post. Mulder pulled on the post to confirm the firmness in the ground. It's like I didn't even knock it over, Mulder thought as he stared at the mailbox. He noticed the flag was still up and pulled the door down. He was about to shut it when he noticed a folded piece of white paper lying inside.

Crap! he thought as he padded his pockets for a tissue or something to pick it up with. He reached inside and grabbed the paper, carefully holding it only by the edges and opened it up. "Be like the others … when it gets dark" was scrawled in uneven handwriting on the page. Mulder scanned the street again as he closed the mailbox and walked slowly back to the house. The kids in the park had alluded to strange happenings at night and they'd been very evasive about knowing the Kline's or admitting to seeing Big Mike lately. Bad things happen at night? Interesting. Maybe I should shoot some hoops tonight, Mulder thought as he walked back into the house.

Mulder was sprawled on the couch in a deep sleep when his cell phone woke him. "Mulder" he mumbled catching the call on the last ring.

"Rob honey … last chance for dinner out tonight," Scully said to him in a sing-song voice.

"I take it you are not alone huh?" Mulder replied pushing himself into a sitting position.

"No, I'm over at the coffee shop and I ran into some of our neighbors."

"Well, that's good," Mulder replied yawning. He rolled off the couch and stood, stretching his arm over his head.

"So what is your answer?"

"About what?"

"Ha ha ha. Funny Rob," Scully replied with a fake laugh.

"Oh, that," Mulder mocked. "Nope, sorry Laura, I have to follow up on a lead I got today." Mulder walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

"All work and no play, poopyhead?"

"Can't you walk away from them or something?"

"He he he, not really," Scully replied and then added in a whisper. "I'm surrounded."

"Hmm interesting…well, I'm still testing my theory from this morning, so I can't join you tonight," he replied as he pulled a frozen pizza out of the icebox. He walked over and turned the oven on and started to remove the pizza from the package. "I found out a few things at the park today from the neighborhood kids. Don't say anything because I think they were skipping school."

"That sounds likely," Scully replied flatly.

"And someone stole pinky!"

"What?"

"Oh, that's good! Act surprised," Mulder replied. "You know, you could use that as an excuse to escape." He listened to Scully grunt in agreement before continuing. "I put the bird in the yard and someone swiped him within five minutes."

"Well, I can see why," Scully replied sarcastically. "He ranked right up there in the bass boat category."

"Yeah, well, then later I found some hate mail in the mailbox," Mulder added.

"What kind of …"

He cut her off in an effort to save her from blowing their secret. "Just a little threat about being careful after dark … which is why I can't meet you for dinner…. I need to investigate why. You go, bond with your brother and have fun. We'll debrief in the whirlpool later."

"Okay Mu…Rob."

"I love you Laura. Kiss Kiss."

The hollow sound of the ball hitting the pavement and the swoosh of the basketball net was drowned out by the thunderous rumble of the impeding storm that was beginning to roll through the neighborhood. None of it deterred Mulder from making another defiant stance on his street. He could feel the neighbors staring at him through their mini-blinds as he worked up a sweat in his driveway.

He spied a man and a cocker spaniel coming down the sidewalk in his direction as he rebounded his shot and began to dribble the ball around the driveway. He watched his approach carefully out of the corner of his eye as he made his shot and then looked on in disappointment as the ball spun off the rim and sail down the drive way.

"Hi … whoa, run away ball," the man called as he caught the ball traveling toward him. He was in his mid thirties, short and stocky, brown hair and goatee. He walked up the drive toward Mulder and handed him the ball while extending his hand. "Hi ... it's Rob, right?"

"Yeah," Mulder replied with a cheesy grin on this face. He shook the man's hand and took the ball from him. "And you are?"

"Oh, sorry, Rick Sams. I live four houses down," Rick replied. "This is Taylor," he continued motioning to his dog.

Mulder squatted down on his haunches to pet the dog as she obediently sat next to him. "Hi, cutie," Mulder mumbled not sure if it's gender.

"Well, welcome to the neighborhood. I saw the mob moving you in earlier this week," Rick paused and shared a laugh with Mulder.

"Yeah, they were really helpful," Mulder replied flatly as he stood up.

"Oh, yeah I bet they were. They're a … little too helpful if you want my opinion," Rick cracked rolling his eyes. "Thankfully the whole community isn't like that, just those on the association board."

"Really? Winn Shroeder is on the board then?"

"Yeah, Shroeder, Berlander, Vesch," Rick said pointing toward their houses as he called them out. "There are a couple of others from the other side of the community. The outsiders like to call them 'the anal ones'," he laughed. "Oh, which reminds me, it's against the rules to have any portable appliances in the driveway."

"Really?" Mulder replied trying to act surprised. "I didn't know."

"Well, it doesn't surprise me. The association is "fine" happy. They'd rather fine the hell outta a person rather than have the decency to give a warning first. Kinda reminds me of... what's the ancient civilization that chopped your hand off if you were suspected of stealing? Same concept," Rick replied with a scowl on his face.

Mulder noted the expression on his face. "Personal experience?"

"Yeah, I'm still licking my wounds. I used to keep my gas grill on the driveway and I was fined for "detracting from the neighborhood beauty"….or some bull-crap thing."

"Interesting description," Mulder mumbled as he looked across the street at the hill leading to the next street. The ground was haphazardly covered with grass and looked like a roadside ditch instead of the pristinely manicured yards across the street. Rick droned on in the background as Mulder scanned the street thinking to himself. They were both jolted by a loud crack of thunder and quickly felt rain drops on their skin.

"Well, look at that? Who says it doesn't rain in California?" Mulder exclaimed as he rolled the basketball into the garage. He walked over to the back of the stand as Rick continued to talk to him.

"Yeah, well, those people who say that don't live in southern California," he replied as he watched Rob begin to move the hoop. "Hey, you want a hand with that?" He motioned for his dog to stay and then help Mulder collapse the stand and push it back into the garage. "Nice Jeep!" he said as he admired the vehicle in the next stall. "I'd better get going before Taylor gets soaked. I'm home most nights, if you want to shoot hoops up at the park sometime," Rick said as he headed down the drive. "I don't want you to get fined for being out of code."

"Yeah, Rick," Mulder replied. "I'll come find you next time I'm ready for a game." As Mulder watched the man and dog run down the sidewalk, he noticed Scully's van coming up the street. He looked at his watch to check the time and opened the door at her bay so she could pull in. "You're home early," he called to her as she stepped out of the van.

"Well, Tara wasn't feeling well, and then Bill got called to take care of something on base. So it turned out to be a quick night," Scully said as she climbed out of the van. She handed Mulder some of her bags and shut the door. "Who was the man running down the street?"

"One of our neighbors… Rick Sams. He lives…"

Scully cut him off. "Four houses down."

"Oh, you've already met him?"

"Not exactly," she replied as she headed for the interior door. "He works with Bill."

"Bill, your brother?" Mulder questioned feeling the blood drain from his face.

"Yeah, Bill my brother," Scully retorted. "How many other Bill's do you and I know?" She walked into the living room and set her packages down on a chair.

"That guy has a goatee, how can he be in the Navy?" Mulder stammered. "He'd be out of regs." Not to mention his weight, he thought quietly.

"He's civilian… D.O.D. He works in the Engineering section of Bill's unit," Scully retorted.

Mulder eyed her after the snappy response. "So, how did you find that out? Does he know about our cover?"

"I don't think he knows anything about our cover because Bill didn't even know," he just asked me at dinner what street we were living on and then told me that Sams lived just down the way." She saw the look of uncertainty in Mulder's eyes. "Don't worry, I told Bill that we were undercover using false names and he promised to keep our secret."

Mulder bit his lip and walked into the kitchen. "I think he's a ringer. He was very vocal to me about his dislike for the association. I'm not sure he can be trusted...it might have been a set up."

"I doubt it," Scully replied walking to the breakfast bar. "Bill told me Rick has been fined multiple times by the association for rule violations."

"What kind?" Mulder asked.

Scully watched him pick up a piece of cold pizza and stick it in his mouth. "Leaving his trash can outside of his garage, storing his gas grill on the driveway and a couple of other things, it all seems a little unreasonable to me," she replied.

"Anarchy I tell you!" Mulder blurted out and then smiled at her.

Scully smiled and titled her head in thought. "What I don't understand is the balance. Why is he fined and the others disappear?"

"Well, maybe they really pissed someone off," Mulder replied taking another bite of his pizza. "Maybe they are afraid of doing anything to Rick because he is a government employee."

"But how would they know that? He isn't in the Navy, he doesn't leave for work in a uniform."

"He doesn't need the uniform because he has the base identification stickers on his car. Can't get through the gate without them... and they brand the car a mile away."

"Oh, yeah," Scully replied. She yawned and rolled her neck. She sat down on the bar stool and slumped against the back of the chair.

"Long day?" he watched her nod her head. He turned and opened the cabinet pulling out two wine glasses. He walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle, uncorked it and filled up the two glasses up. "Did you pick up the lab samples?" he asked her handing her the glass.

"Umm" she grunted as she took a swallow. "I almost forgot," she stood from the bar stool and retrieved a bag from the living room chair. She pulled a file folder from it and walked to the kitchen side of the breakfast bar to share the information with her partner. "The dried blood and scalp hairs you found on the fan blade?" she prompted him.

"Uh huh?"

"It was neither. It was mostly ketchup, corn syrup and motor oil and the scalp hairs were bristles from a scrub brush," she said handing him the report. She watched him review the lab report and then continued. "The same goes for the sample we found on the dog's muzzle. It broke down to a combination of motor oil, egg shells and a little mercurochrome for color. In other words, it's garbage, Mulder." She scrunched up her nose at the thought of it. "Lieutenant Peters told me this afternoon this entire neighborhood was built on top of an old landfill. The garbage is everywhere."

Mulder nodded his head in response to her, his eyes never leaving the paper. He flipped a page back and forth and then handed the report to her. "Except for the blood I found on the Jeep."

"What about it?" Scully asked taking the file back from him and scanning the page to see what he was talking about.

"It's blood, B negative, in fact," Mulder replied and leaned against the counter deep in thought. "I wonder what Big Mike's blood type is?"

Scully looked up at him. "That shouldn't be too difficult to find out, I'm sure his office has medical records on him," she shrugged. "What makes you think Big Mike pushed the Jeep in?"

"I don't exactly … but the timing is just weird. For all we know, my new friend Rick could have pushed the Jeep in the driveway."

"Not likely," Scully replied.

"How so?"

"Well, you pulled the fingerprint out of the blood stain right? The report says the fingerprint didn't come up on the registry. If they were Rick's we would've had a hit with D.O.D records."

Mulder nodded and took a sip of his wine. He scanned the counter for his cell phone and then walked over to pick it up.

"Who are you calling?" Scully asked as she watched him. She knew that look. He's up to something she thought taking another sip of her wine.

"Nester. I'm going to have him check out Big Mike's office," Mulder whispered as the phone rang in his ear. "Nester!" he called to his friend when he answered. Mulder wandered out of the kitchen into the living room during his conversation. After a few minutes of eavesdropping, Scully set her wine glass down and headed upstairs to change for bed.

Twenty minutes later, Mulder walked into the master bedroom and heard the shower running. He walked to the doorway of the bathroom and stuck his head around the corner. The room was hot and filled with steam.

"Scully?" he called into the fog. "I thought we were going to take a whirlpool?"

"Oh..oops," she replied from within the mist. "I forgot, sorry."

Mulder smirked and leaned against the door jam. "Nester said to say hi," he replied.

"Why's he still in the area?" she called out.

"He's visiting his family until next week," Mulder replied a little too loud as Scully shot the shower off mid sentence. "He's more than happy to help us out."

Scully rolled her eyes when she looked over at Mulder. "Yeah, he's still repaying his debt to me." Scully toweled herself off and wrapped herself in her bathrobe before exiting the shower stall. She caught Mulder staring at her body, his eyes glassed over. "What?"

Mulder made eye contact with her and smiled. "All the times we've been intimate and you still cover up around me?" he tilted his head to the side and waiting for her response.

Scully bit her lip and nervously ran her hand across the sash of the robe. "I don't know Mulder, I guess I'm just not comfortable strutting around naked in front of you yet," she replied looking at his chest to avoid eye contact.

Mulder reached for her hand and pulled her close to him. He put his hand under her chin and tilted her face upward to meet his eyes. "It's okay, I like a little mystery." He reached behind him and flicked the light off in the room, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her to the bed.

Mulder stopped at the side and leaned over to shut off the lamp on the nightstand. He cupped Scully's face in his hands and planted small kisses along the side of her face until connecting with her lips. Mulder ran his tongue lightly across the top of her lip before pulling her into him and probing her mouth deeply. He felt her shoulders relax and her hands snake under his shirt, pushing against his tight abdominals to his pectorals. Mulder felt the rush of desire ripple through his veins and felt his arousal grow beneath his warm ups. The fabric resisted its demands and held him in place temporarily as Mulder ran his hands through Scully's hair, pulling the back of her head closer to him to compensate for the feeling.

After a few minutes, he dropped a hand to the sash of her robe and easily untangled the knot. The robe fell open to reveal her swollen breasts and he moved his hand lightly across them immediately. He smiled inwardly as he felt her shudder slightly from his touch. Mulder cupper her breast in his hand and ran his thumb across the nipple firmly. He continued to kiss her deeply, breaking once to run his face down the side of her neck. He felt her hands struggling to untie the draw string of his warm ups and the sensation of the fabric falling as she pushed them down his legs.

Mulder sucked in a breath as he felt Scully take hold of his arousal and begin to stroke it firmly. A memory of the last time he masturbated, thinking of her, flashed through his mind and fueled his need to be close to her. As she stroked his length, their lips met again and he pushed the robe off her shoulders. Mulder ran his thumbs over her nipples and squeezed the nubs as they became hard. He could feel his control slipping and pulled his body back from Scully's grasp to slow things down a bit. He quickly walked her backward to the edge of the bed and pushed her down into a sitting position.

Mulder knelt in front of her as he pushed her legs apart and traced his finger lightly across the top of her mound and through her wet folds. He looked into her eyes and watched as she rolled her head back and moaned his name softly. Mulder dipped his head closer to her body and flicked his tongue over her folds in search of her bud. When he found it, he teased with the tip of his tongue and alternated between sucking it and teasing with his tongue. As Scully moaned above him and ran her hands through his hair, he continued the pressure and increased it when she pushed him closer to her. He heard her gasp and cry out when he slid two fingers into her core and began to thrust them inside of her. Her mound became hot and wet quickly with the combined pressure of his fingers and tongue working against her.

After a few minutes, the need to be inside Scully began to overwhelm Mulder and he sat back on his haunches. She instinctively pushed herself back on the bed allowing Mulder room to climb on top of her. He positioned himself above her and pushed himself firmly into her core. He smiled as he watched Scully's reaction to his girth and then chuckled quietly as he pulled himself all the way out. She squirmed under him, attempting to pull him back to her and he obliged by pushing himself back into her forcefully.

Scully arched her back and tilted her head back as he entered her and he leaned over to place hot kisses down the side of her neck. As they rocked against each rhythmically, their lips met hungrily. It didn't take long for Scully to reach her apex. He felt the flush of her hot center around him and her core open up as she cried out and mumbled his name under her breath. Mulder pushed legs to her chest for a deeper penetration as he increased his speed and climaxed shortly after her. He bit his lip and grimaced as he felt himself release inside of her. He pushed himself into her one last time and then collapsed into the cradle of her legs, breathing heavily at the side of her head.

They lie motionless tangled around each other for what seemed like hours and drifted off to sleep.

TBC