Scully awoke as she felt the car slow to a stop. Opening her eyes, she took in her immediate surroundings, she was still in the rental car they had set off in and Mulder was leaning out of the driver's side window talking to a man in a booth. Looking out, she noted that they were stopped on a small road that was curving around into what looked like a forest of trees. She racked her brain trying to remember what her last memories were and remembered that she was in Florida, supposedly heading for Orlando airport. Last she could recall, Florida wasn't noted for forests and small shacks at the side of the road that had, now she came to take a closer look, a distinctly African vibe to them. As her suspicions increased, Mulder leant back inside the car, now holding a brightly coloured piece of laminated paper which he shoved into the storage space on the door. She briefly caught sight of the man Mulder had been talking to, her was dressed in khakis and had a radio and ID badge – clearly he was security. Mulder began to drive on ahead once again.
"Mulder?" she began. He jumped and turned to look at her.
"Hey sleepy head, how are you?" he asked, a slightly nervous expression flashing across his face before he turned back to the road.
"I'm fine, Mulder where are we, what did that man just give you, how long have I been asleep? This doesn't look like the right way to the airport."
"Always with the questions" Mulder replied, clearly avoiding her eyes now. "Everything's fine, that thing is just a parking permit."
"Why do we need a parking permit?" Scully badgered. "Why are we parking somewhere for that long?"
"You'll see" Mulder replied, an irritatingly smug grin now playing on his lips.
"Mulder, I have to be back in DC tonight." Scully began hotly. "I need to get some sleep before work tomorrow, plus I promised my mom I'd call her once I was home from Florida, she was worried about me being so near the storm. And I don't have any more clean clothes."
"Your mom knows exactly where you are, I called her before we set off for Florida" Mulder replied, the grin getting broader. "You're not going to work tomorrow; I went behind your back and booked vacation time for you. And to answer your final complaint, there's an extra case of clothes and toiletries waiting for you at our destination, you mom went to your apartment after you left, packed some stuff up and had it forwarded down here." The grin was now infuriating, "so stop whining and worrying and just relax will you?"
"MULDER!" Scully replied, her lips moving silently to form some retort to his answers but her mind unable to think of any. She had to admit, he'd been thinking ahead. The car wound around the final bend to reveal the entrance to a huge hotel. Valets and porters were bustling around helping guests load and unload their cars and taking them to and from the parking lot. There were lots of small children running around near the doors to the lobby, several were wearing Mickey Mouse ears.
"Mulder…?" Scully began again slowly. "Are we at Disney World?"
"Surprise!" Mulder exclaimed, grinning wider than ever. "You seemed kinda down when you got that email from Charlie, I know you were joking when you suggested coming here but it stuck in my mind. I mentioned it in passing to your mom when we saw her and she told me how you'd always wanted to go when you were little but you'd never managed it what with your dad being away so much. When I told her I was thinking of surprising you she was so happy, told me she'd help plan it all. Arthur's call this week gave me the perfect cover, had to rush things more than I wanted but the storm meant a few people had cancelled their trips so it all worked out."
Scully didn't know what to say, all she could do was give Mulder an uncharacteristic grin in response. He had been planning this with her mom for months? She would have to give her mom an earful when she got home. As her mind tried to organise everything it had been made to take in over the past few minutes, Mulder drew the car up to the valet and got out. As Scully got out of her side, a porter appeared with a dolly and began loading their small cases out of the trunk. Their tiny amount of luggage looked laughable beside the other dollies which were filled to capacity by families with multiple over excited small children. Mulder paid the valet and tipped the porter before pushing their dolly through the doors and into the lobby.
"Hey Scully, you coming?" he called back as Scully realised she was still stood by the car door, gazing up at the enormous frontage to the hotel. She hurried to catch up with him and they headed into the lobby together. Her breath vanished from her as she caught sight of the inside. She was so used to grotty little motels that she had forgotten what a really nice hotel looked like. The African theme continued inside, right down to the music where tribal sounds seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere, just floating in the air. The sounds of laughter and smell of food also permeated the entire room, which was several stories high and covered in dark wood and African sculptures. Mulder pushed their things to a sofa in the middle of the room and told her to wait there whilst he checked them in at the desk. Scully just nodded dumbly, still trying to take in the room. Directly ahead was an enormous wall of glass overlooking more beautiful landscaping, she suspected that's where the pool was. After a few minutes Mulder returned holding a map on which the clerk had drawn a line directing them through the maze of corridors that made up the hotel, and two room keys which looked like credit cards with their names printed on.
"The room's this way" Muder began, he looked a bit sheepish. "I'm really sorry Scully but this place is wildly expensive, I had to stick with a single room for us both. It's a twin though!" he added quickly, trying to cover up. Scully's eyebrows shot up, she knew Mulder had a lot more money than anyone, other than she and the Gunmen knew about, his parents had been incredibly wealthy and he their only beneficiary. She opened her mouth to complain, but closed it again after a second. Who cared if they shared a room, it wasn't like they were on a case?
The corridors twisted and turned as Mulder followed the map to an elevator and hit the button for the top floor. He hummed as they travelled up. Scully knew Mulder only hummed if he was nervous, he was obviously still worried about her reaction to all of this. They arrived at the top floor and Mulder directed them to a door with a large African shield attached to it, as with all the others. He slipped his key card into the lock and the light flashed green, allowing him to open it. They entered and Scully's breath vanished again. She shot to the window, leaving Mulder behind in the doorway smiling wider than ever. There, in full view of the window was a giraffe, busily eating from a tree. As she took in the view, she spotted a few other animals dotted about the savannah which their window overlooked.
"I saw this place on TV" Scully said quietly, not turning away from the window.
"I know", Mulder replied, walking over to her and standing beside her to look out now he had brought in their luggage. "I was with you, remember? You saw it whilst channel hopping at a motel on a case." Scully nodded.
"I said it looked amazing and I wish I could go there someday."
"Yeah, well, here you are" Mulder replied, he was unable to stop smiling. "Does this make up for all the birthdays, Christmases, Easters and other traditional gift giving events I've missed since I've known you?" Scully nodded again.
"I think you're in credit now actually."
"Home run!" Mulder laughed. Scully turned from the window and spotted a case on the bed that Mulder hadn't brought up; it had tags on it which suggested it had made its way to the room by itself.
"They're efficient" Scully remarked, unzipping the case. She checked the contents and was pleasantly surprised by how well her mom knew her. All her favourite clothes were packed and her mom had even managed to find the small box of vacation clothes which had been laying gathering dust in her closet for several years. The only thing she wouldn't have was swimwear, or so she thought until she removed a skirt to find a new bikini, complete with store tags, receipt and a note from her mom.
"Enjoy your vacation with Fox; I'll want to know all about it when you get home. I hope you like the bikini and it fits, consider it a present ok? I left the receipt with it so you can take it back to the store if you want. Love you Dana, Mom xxx"
Scully smiled, and looked up at Mulder who was stood beside her, still looking slightly nervous.
"So what do you want to do?" he asked. "We can get some more sleep if you need it or get some lunch or you can head down to the pool and relax if you want?"
"Mulder, are you kidding?" she asked, grinning madly herself now. "We just arrived at Disney World and you think I want to nap? I want to go and see the castle!"
In her room, not very far away, the woman sat on her bed reading a message. Mulder and Scully had arrived at their hotel on time. She looked at the clock; she only had to lie low for a few more hours. Standing up she began to pace the room again, twisting her hands together. She hoped she would be able to pull off the task the man had asked her to do.