Mulder had wracked his brain all afternoon trying to figure out what he was going to talk to Rebecca about. Scully 15 years ago huh? He laughed to himself at the thought. Mulder had been waiting for a chance to put his brain to good use. Psychologically he supposed he could try to trick her into accepting her cancer but he needed to meet her and observe her behaviorally. Maybe this will be a good test of my mental skills.

Dinner was easier said than done, opting for homemade chicken Caesar salads. Scully always having a weakness for salads and it was a simple, quick option for on the go. Mulder had even ran by the store right after getting off the phone with Scully and picked up a nice bread to accompany his salad. Mulder's culinary skills had improved since his lack of work was becoming quite tedious, he had to fill his intelligent mind with something and since he was stuck inside most of the time he made himself useful while Scully worked all day. Showering and dressing casually in a pair of jeans and sweater, Mulder packed up dinner and made his way to the hospital hoping everything was going as planned.

It was quickly approaching 6 o'clock and Scully knew she wasn't technically 'off the clock' but 6 seemed like a good time, it was after most of the other hospital staff was off and it was less chance of being caught and having to explain herself. Making her way to her office she was nervous and excited about what Mulder might end up talking to Rebecca about, she hoped he thought long and hard about what he could say to her that wouldn't end up causing trouble. Mulder really could be professional when he wanted to be and he was desperate for some sort of work. This could prove to be groundbreaking for him and he might be able to learn something about himself in the process.

Scully entered her office and was kind of taken aback to see Mulder standing there.

"You're early," she was happy to see him, and discreetly gave him a peck on the cheek, "so are we good to go?"

"Yeah, I think so. Where exactly are we going to do this dinner thing?" he was hoping her office was not the answer.

"There is a staff room at the other end of the hospital that hardly anyone uses. I figure we could use it for the time being." Scully smiled at her thoughtfulness, of keeping a low profile. "I'll take you to the room and you can set dinner up if you'd like and I'll go check on Becky make sure she's feeling up to it or it's just you and I tonight."

Making their way down the halls, Mulder with bags in tow and Scully eyeballing every corner, making sure no one was getting suspicious. She was very much aware of her surroundings most of the time, Mulder's paranoia must have wavered over the years but hers had never dissipated.

"Here, there are plates and utensils in the cupboards. Just try to keep kind of quiet for the time being." Scully quickly ushered him in still making sure they weren't followed.

"Scully, you know this room could be perfect for other things…" he raised his brows at her and received back was a death stare.

"I'll be back shortly…and no, never…" she was dead serious there was absolutely nothing in this hospital that could get her in the mood even if he were Casanova himself.

Rebecca had been waiting patiently, the clock was past 6 and she was ok with her doctor's slight tardiness. She understood that sometimes as a doctor you might get held back a little bit. Hearing the approaching footsteps, Rebecca's stomach fluttered with excitement and hunger. She hadn't had much of an appetite these days but the chance to really 'talk' with Dr. Scully was making her hungry just thinking about it. Turning to the door she saw Scully, looking a bit frazzled and disorganized. Not her usual self.

"You ok Dr. Scully?" she was worried and almost disappointed that her response would be that there was no date tonight.

"Yes, I'm fine, just a busy day with a lot of running around. What about you, are you feeling alright to want to wander about this evening?"

"More than ever, maybe I'll be able to sleep without drug assistance tonight." She winked at the doctor a little who in returned laughed. It did get a little tiring, being doped up all the time, weather it was for the pain or just the treatment itself, being able to wear yourself out physically always helped you sleep better. Scully helped the younger woman into her robe and made their way into the hallways, Scully eyeballing the corners and corridors carefully.

"Let me know if you need to rest ok?" Scully was aware of how tiring cancer treatments made you feel having gone through it before. "We've got quite a trek. I want to warn you that we are not going to be dining alone." Rebecca looked at her slightly disappointed…"I have a friend I want you to meet; I think you'll get along just fine. He has a degree in psychology and thinks outside the box, much more than any one of the counselors I'm sure you've met." Scully smiled at the girl, she thought very highly of Mulder and didn't really get a chance to appreciate his talents as an intelligent individual often.

"Doctor, I don't know if I can handle a reaming tonight…" she was exhausted enough from walking and the thought of someone picking her brain didn't seem at all entertaining.

"You won't regret it, I promise, plus good food…" Scully was trying to convince the girl, "I'll be there the entire time, I promise." Rebecca knew Dr. Scully was serious and caring at the same time. She only wanted what was best for the girl. Approaching the abandoned staff room, she opened the door for Rebecca and ushered her inside. Rebecca saw the tall, attractive, dark-haired man standing at the counter.

"Perfect timing, I just got it all put together." Mulder explained and smiled warmly at the two of them.

Shit, she does look remarkably like Scully! He couldn't shake the thought; besides the green eyes he had visions of Scully years ago when she was fighting her cancer. Her dark red hair was draped over her shoulders, pale, wrapped in robe and slippers adorning her little feet.

"Becky this is Fox Mulder…he's a close friend of mine. He made us this wonderful dinner and he is the man that will undoubtedly pick your brain. You can talk to him exactly as you talk to me. There is no formality here, just simple dinner conversation. Okay?" Scully felt in a casual setting this might work a little better, getting Becky to relax might be the key.

"Fox…really?"

"If you want to address a name please call me Mulder." He still hated it after all these years, he still wouldn't let Scully call him Fox as he rarely called her Dana. Old habits die hard.

"So what do we have to eat, I'm starving." Scully had been running around like a mad woman all day and had definitely worked up an appetite.

"Chicken Caesar salads, made by yours truly, lightly seasoned and grilled the chicken." Mulder pulled out a chair for Rebecca and helped her into it, pushing her in slightly. Scully sat herself and Mulder joined her, sitting rather close to Scully, observing Rebecca who was staring at her plate shyly.

"Becky, are you ok?" Mulder's voice was in concern and worry as he was afraid this wasn't going to work out for them.

"Yeah…" smiling lightly at the two, she was embarrassed as her face was flush, there was something about this man that she found oddly attractive and was being shy around him. She realized her head was feeling a little woozy, drunk like, something she hadn't experienced before since being at the hospital. Picking up her fork, she started picking at her salad. She smelled the grill of the chicken and the bread that was sitting in the middle of the table, butter and garlic she assumed by the smell. She started eating, not sure where to start with conversation.

"So, this uhh, kind doctor here has told me you are having a hard time coming to terms with your sickness…" Mulder was trying to weasel out of her what was going on. Scully eyed him, knowing all too well that she had broke the doctor/patient confidentiality and felt a little stab of guilt.

"How do you feel you are handling it?" Silence still from the women and the feeling of pointlessness was present.

Scully, leaned over to Mulder and whispered something to him. Mulder rose to his feet and made his way to the adjoining door in the room, leading to a doctor sleeping room. Scully needed to talk to Rebecca alone and find out what was really going through her brain.

"Becky, I'm going to come honest with you for a moment…" Scully was hesitant and nervous about this admittance but she had to make Rebecca more comfortable with the situation… "Mulder—he—he really does want to help, I did break confidentiality out of frustration and needing the help."

"It's not that Dr. Scully," Rebecca admitted just barely a whisper…"You've been deceiving me slightly…he's not just a 'friend' of yours. Doctor I didn't realize you were married?" It was Scully's turn to blush and look down on her food.

"Well we aren't technically married, but we've been together for a quite a few years you could say." She looked up at Becky, glad to be completely honest with her for once about Mulder.

"I don't blame you Doctor…he's a very attractive man." Rebecca was slightly disappointed that Mulder was taken but she couldn't think of a better woman to have him, she was sure they were perfect together.

"I—I try to keep my personal life, extremely personal." Scully hated talking about it, especially at work, "Becky, please don't mention this to any of the other staff. He really is a professional and given his –our history together I'm sure he can help you. Give him a chance please?" Scully smiled, reassuring the young woman.

"Mulder…" Scully hollered just loud enough for him to hear.

"So can I eat now?" Mulder joked while staring at the two women, both of whom laughed slightly.

"M-Mulder, just so I can get to know you a little better, would you mind explaining to me how it is exactly you know Dr. Scully? I have a weakness for love stories and something tells me this one is amazing." She beamed at both of them. Scully felt a little embarrassed, she didn't think this would be part of the 'therapy' Mulder had in mind. Wasn't it enough that I admitted we were a couple. Sitting around the table Mulder started storytelling much to Scully's distaste.

"Well…" eyeballing Scully he couldn't hold it back and he saw she was uncomfortable so he kept it honest and pure, "did she ever tell you that she herself used to be an FBI agent?"

"No…" Rebecca eyed Scully almost in hurt at that moment; mainly that she wasn't able to come clean with her. Personal life my ass!

"Mulder…"Scully was sending her warning.

"Come on, Scully, she wants to know about 'us,' it's dinner conversation." Mulder watched as Scully dove into her salad, he knew she wanted to hear the story from his point of view anyways.

"We both were FBI agents, Agent DanaScully, at the time had been assigned to work with me back in 1993, let's just say the rest is history." Mulder was in a state of shock as he realized 20 years had passed since he had first met Scully. They had a complicated, strange history but he wouldn't have done it any other way.

"Boy, Doctor you just keep unfolding like a flower…" Rebecca dove into her own salad and Mulder looked back and forth at the two women, the phrase eerily familiar to him. "So why all the secrecy with your relationship? It was obvious right off the bat, to me at least, that there was something there. But then again I am more in tune to things than most people." She was prying into questions that neither Mulder nor Scully had really thought about.

"It was against bureau policy, it was taboo, and we couldn't risk it. We worked in a special section of the FBI known as the X-Files and they would have done anything and everything to shut us down. It's a long complicated story…" Scully finally piped up, trying to help Mulder do the story telling.

"X-Files huh? Yeah they might have thrown that around during classes…unexplained phenomena," Rebecca laughed a little, "with the tools and the science I find it hard to believe that anything can go unexplained." Mulder looked at the woman much like he looked at Scully those 20 years ago. Laughing to himself Mulder looked at Scully who was completely straight faced in an 'I told you so' kind of look.

"Alright, missy, I've had fun delving into the past but this is really about you…" he tried to be serious with her, turning the table as it were, "you are very much quick witted, if I don't say so myself and I might be able to match your intelligence in all that you think you know."

Scully was taken aback, she didn't want to referee any sort of match, and this was supposed to be a form of therapy.

"Mulder, you are supposed to help her. This is—" Scully was trying to hold him back but neither Mulder nor Rebecca were having it.

"No, its ok Dr. Scully, I like this, a sparring partner. I'd like to hear where he is going with this." Rebecca was relishing this, someone to match her intelligence, who banters with her, she felt more alive than ever. A slight flush was returning to her and her brain and quick tongue worked in over time. "So…Mulder, any other brilliant insight into my psyche you wish to inform me on."

"Why are you having such a difficult time accepting your sickness is all I really want to know?"

"I guess I just feel with my own medical background and Dr. Scully's confidence in healing me, that there is more." She was still confused by the cancer, "everyone else along the east coast seems to have given up on me, I've seen more specialists than I can count, more tests than I care to remember and everyone just tells me to brace for the inevitable." Mulder nodded his head in agreement with her but still perplexed.

"What brought you to Dr. Scully?"

"She has a reputation, I heard about her from another doctor up in New York, they dislike her unorthodox ways but are intrigued by the undeniable medical results." Rebecca felt honored to be treated by Scully and couldn't have been happier to have had a chance to meet this Mulder fellow.

"Here's one that might through you for a loop…were you aware that Dr. Scully had battled a cancerous brain tumor quite a few years back….?" Scully shot a death glance in Mulder's direction and Rebecca dropped her fork, "…it miraculously went into remission and she's never been better, it's a sheer miracle she's alive and well." Mulder stated the facts while holding out the small detail about the chip in Scully's neck. "How is that for unexplained, her doctors had no idea what or why or how it happened…"

"Doctor—"Scully nodded in affirmation.

"Still to this day it is unexplained. Becky, when Mulder and I worked on the X-Files we saw things that no one would ever believe, even if you did see it—I still didn't believe nor did I want to. It was extremely hard to—to accept what was or wasn't there. I, like you, wanted the proof, the scientific understanding of it all but 97 percent of the time there was nothing I could logically explain in my reports." Scully sighed; it felt strangely good to get all this off her chest for once.

Moments passed in silence as no one felt the need to speak; this had turned out to be quite a revealing evening for them all. Their brains whirling around the new found information in them all. Plates empty now, each of them sipping on water while trying to figure out where to go with the conversation.

"Well, I hate to be the party pooper but I'm getting extremely tired and should probably head to bed." Rebecca's brain was excited but her body was shutting down much faster than her brain. Scully had noted the changes in Rebecca's mood as she talked to Mulder; she almost got to the point in their conversation that she looked like she wasn't sick at all. Pulling a wheel chair from the hall, Scully bid Mulder goodbye until later and helped Rebecca back to her room.

"So when do I get another 'chat' with Mulder? I really like him." She was drowsy as she slurred out the conversation.

"I'll see what I can do for you ok?" Scully's mind was thinking about the way Rebecca's body reacted to speaking with Mulder, she was lively and flushed. She wanted Mulder there just to 'talk' to Rebecca, just day to day conversation, to bring that excitement out in her again. This should be an interesting experiment. Scully bid Rebecca goodnight and wandered off, her thoughts still intrigued by the young woman's reactions this evening.