I am not the kinda girl

Who should be rudely barging in

on a white veil occasion

But you, are not the kinda boy

Who should be marrying the wrong girl.

~Speak Now, Taylor Swift

Dana Scully's Residence

Georgetown

Washington DC

23rd of August '99

Scully sighed loudly at the sunlight that was streaming in the window from outside. She had been dreading this day for the last four months, for every moment since Mulder and Diana had announced their engagement.

The memory would be forever engraved in her mind.

It had been a regular day down in her and Mulder's basement (or normal as it had been since he had started seeing Diana again). Scully had been shocked at first at his deceleration but had quickly stammered out a congratulations that she had almost been sure that Mulder was disappointed to hear from her.

But that could have just been wishful thinking on her part. Surely, he wouldn't have wanted her to be unhappy about his engagement, right?

Mulder had seemed pretty pleased with himself every day at work for the last month and Scully had tried her best to pretend that she was happy for his sake. He was her best friend after all, she had been there for him and he for her when no one else was, and nothing, not even The Foul One, could change that.

Scully had always thought heartbreak was just an expression, a metaphor that was over-used by emotionally unstable poets and hormonal teenagers. She was a medical doctor for God's sake, she knew that your heart wouldn't actually break as a result of losing the person you love. She knew heartbreak wasn't a real physical ailment but despite all science and logical reasoning, the deep piercing ache inside her told a different story all together.

She had all the symptoms.

Frustrated with herself,Scully turned over on her side, facing the dress that she had hung up for today on the front of her wardrobe. It was beautiful really, knee-length, fitted and emerald green but she wasn't wearing it today.

She wasn't going to the wedding.

Not that Scully even wanted to go anyway, but if present circumstances had been different she knew that she probably would have sucked up her own pain and self pity and gone for Mulder's sake. She was the only friend or family he had outside of The Three Stooges after all. He needed her there.

But unfortunately she had been uninvited last night at the rehearsal dinner by Mulder's lovely bride to be.

Scully groaned internally at the thought of Diana Fowley being Mulder's wife.

The thought just seemed too strange, too foreign (even though she knew it was going to happen for the last four months considering that she had listened to Mulder's daily whining about wedding planning for the first month and a half) to be a part of her reality. But it was.

Just then the door bell rang out, startling her enough to pull her from her thoughts.

"Damn it", Scully muttered quietly under her breath.

Her mother was going to the wedding as well and had suggested about a week in advance that the pair of them travel out to Martha's Vineyard for the ceremony together. In her rush to get away from the rehearsal dinner the previous night, it had slipped Scully's mind to inform her mother that she wasn't going.

She pulled back the warm covers, the cold air hitting the skin left uncovered by her pyjamas. Swinging her two legs over the side of the mattress, Scully slowly got out of bed and made her way to her front door only to be greeted by the smiling face of her mother, dressed in a pale lilac suit with her dark hair freshly permed for the occasion.

"Dana, why aren't you ready for the wedding, dear?."

"I'm not planning on going, Mom", Scully replied simply, stepping away from the door and retreating into the kitchen area, followed closely by her now concerned looking mother.

Maggie regarded her daughter for a moment. She had known for years that Dana had feelings for Fox that went far beyond the feelings usually shared between partners and friends, and if she knew anything about men (which she did after being married to William Scully for thirty seven years and mothering two now grown men), she also knew that Fox Mulder's feelings for her daughter weren't the most friendly either. The pair of them were just too stubborn, short-sighted and careful to do anything about it.

"Why not, Dana?", Maggie asked, already knowing the answer.

Scully sighed tiredly. There wasn't really much of a point in keeping her feelings for Mulder to herself anymore anyway. He was getting married in a few hours and that would be the end of it. It would be too late to say anything about it to him. She knew that her mother had seen through her insistency that there was nothing between herself and Mulder anyway.

Maggie Scully had heard pretty much everything rant imaginable about Diana Fowley from her daughter and if that was not proof enough in itself of her daughter's feelings for Fox Mulder that she didn't know what was.

"I'm not going to watch him get married to Diana Fowley of all people", Scully said quietly as she sat down at her kitchen table, a slight tone of bitterness in her voice hiding the pain underneath the surface "I don't think I would be able to stand by see that, best friend or not. She's not good enough for him".

Maggie smiled sadly, "Dana, I've asked you this several times before and I'm going to ask you one more time and I'll promise not to ever bring it up again", she said seriously. "Do you love him?"

Scully groaned, feeling somewhat like a misbehaving child, under the intensity of her mother's gaze.

Mulder was getting married in two and a half hours time. Was there really any point in lying to her mother or keeping the truth to herself anymore. "I've been in love with him for a long time, Mom", she said quietly, trying to keep a brave face and her emotions at bay. "So long that I'm not even sure when I fell in love with him anymore. I think that it was probably creeping up on me little by little since we started working together."

"Does Fox know that?"

"Of course not", Scully replied, shaking her head at even the idea of Mulder knowing how she truly felt about him. She had been so close to tell him so many times over the last six years but she had always chickened out at the last possible second.

He already meant far too much to her as a friend for her to speak up and possibly ruining the trust between them forever. She loved their relationship too much to gamble it away for a little more intimacy than they already had.

"I've never told him because I didn't want to ruin what we have if he didn't feel the same way as I do", she replied honestly. "and besides, everything is probably going to change now that he's getting married. Diana hates me", Scully said, voicing the fear she had had inside ever since Mulder told her that he and Diana were getting married.

She had even gone as far as starting to subconsciously distance herself from Mulder ever since he had gotten engaged. 'To protect myself', she had reasoned.

But it didn't protect her or him for that matter. The distance between them had killed her and seeing him with Diana had been like rubbing salt in an open wound.

Maggie watched her daughter intently, she could see the pain behind her daughter's bright blue eyes begin to bubble over. The pain that had seemingly taken root over six moths ago when Mulder and Diana had gotten back together.

It had been clear to Maggie for years that ever since her now thirty five year old daughter was a child Dana had always been adapt at hiding her most powerful emotions inside.

All of her true feelings had always been hidden somewhere in the back, bottled up until they exploded inside of her, leaving shards of glass everywhere in their wake, like prickling thorns.

"If your going to loose him anyway, Dana. Then what's holding you back from telling him that you love him today."

"Mom, he's getting married today", Scully said incredulously. "I'm supposed to be his best friend, I can't ruin his wedding like that no matter how feel about him and no matter how much I...dislike the bride."

"Dana, if you don't you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I've watched how the two of you are around each other. He's mad for you Dana. Married or not", the older woman said with utter certainty. "Has he ever told you that he loves you."

"Only when he's high on pain medication", Scully replied dryly. "He was just talking rubbish".

Maggie's eyes light up at her daughter's confession. "Well there you go, dear. Maybe he just needed a little confidence and the drugs gave him that. What did you say to him?"

"I just brushed it off and told him to get some rest. He wasn't being serious about any of it."

"But ignoring that he said it at all was probably the worst thing you could have done, Dana. What if he was being truthful and thought you didn't feel the same way that he did?"

"Mom, he's getting married today. My feelings for him don't matter anymore."

"But he doesn't know that you love him. How do you know he won't leave Diana if he finds out"

Scully shook her head stubbornly, "Mom, I can't hear this now. I just have to get on with my life no matter what Mulder does or doesn't do with his. I'll congratulate him tomorrow when I've pulled myself together."

"Dana, how many times in your life do you think you meet the right person, huh? How many soulmates do you think we get in our lives? Are you really going to let Fox Mulder, of all people, slip through your fingers?"

Scully watched her mother for a second, uncertain. Should she really tell Mulder that she loves him on the morning of his wedding? Would it really be fair to him and fair to herself to put themselves through the pain of that?

But she, Dana Scully, loved him more than anyone else. Doesn't that mean something.

And what about Diana? Mulder had, after all, asked her to marry him. Shouldn't that not be proof enough that Diana is the person that he is in love with and that she, herself, should just get on with things and try to ,at least, remain his friend.

Damn it, she still loved him.

"Alright, Mom. I'll go", Scully agreed, the words slipping out of their own accord.

Did she just agree to that?

Standing up from the kitchen table, Scully left to go get changed and grab her car keys.

If she was gate-crashing Mulder and Diana's wedding, she may as well do it in style.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile,

The Mulder Family Home

Martha's Vineyard

Mulder regarded his own appearance in the mirror as he adjusted his tie slightly so it sat a little more comfortably around his neck.

Watching himself in the mirror, the profiler in him couldn't tell whether the man in the mirror was preparing for his wedding or a funeral going by the expression on his face, his posture and his overall anticipation for the day ahead.

He hated being back in the house that Sam had been abducted from nearly twenty seven years before but Diana had insisted that it was the most suitable place to get married, given that neither of them were particularly religious and wanted a church wedding.

But that was nowhere near the biggest problem.

He wasn't even sure that he wanted to marry Diana at all and it wasn't just a case of cold feet like The Gunmen had suggest earlier on. Mulder knew that he hasn't been truly in love with her ever since she broke his heart the first time around.

Could he really trust her again after she left him high and dry nearly twelve years ago? He was the man who was supposed to trust no one after all.

Apart from Scully that is.

Despite that though, Mulder wanted to believe that time and distance had made Diana change for the better and that she did love him.

But did he truly love her the way he ought to walk down the aisle with her in good conscience. He knew that there was a chance that he may grow to love her again but was that really enough?

Then of course, there was Scully, his constant, his confidant, his touchstone. The woman who had been the other half of him since he met her six years before. The woman who was his best friend in the entire world who he had admitted to himself, more than once, that he loved more that he loved life itself. He knew that he would do anything to be there for her whenever or if ever she needed him. (not that she would ever admit that to anyone)

But he also knew that pursuing her would be futile.

Mulder was almost 100% certain that she didn't feel the same way that he did about her and if he was being honest with himself he could hardly blame her.

He treasured his friendship with her above all else and knew that sharing the depth of his feelings for her would leave both of them confused, angry and broken-hearted. It wasn't worth the risk so he should just have to keep his unspoken vow of silence.

Diana on the other hand, was open about her feelings for him. She always had been.

Mulder knew that her feelings for him weren't exactly returned in equal measure by him at the moment but perhaps in a year or two, he felt that he may be comfortable and certain enough to move past his unrequited love for his partner and best friend and properly love the woman who he was marrying today.

He just wished that he could talk to Scully right now. He knew should wouldn't be arriving at the wedding for a few more hours at the very least, but he still felt the absence of her like he would a missing limb.

Should he really be thinking like that? Was it fair to Diana to be thinking like that about Scully?

'Well damn that', he thought, frustrated with himself.

How the hell was he supposed to get married when he entertains thoughts like that about a woman who isn't at the other side of the house putting on a wedding dress, but instead is in a car somewhere between DC and Martha's Vineyard on the way to the wedding as a guest.

Should he even be marrying Diana today?

Especially consider that he was head over heels in love with someone else, in love with the one woman that he knew would never love him as more than a friend and a partner.

Mulder turned away from his own reflection to face the older, balding man with glasses who was standing behind him, supposedly trying to help him with his marital doubts that were becoming increasingly and increasingly more serious as the ceremony was drawing closer.

"What do you think of marriage, Skinner?", Mulder asked, running a frustrated hand through his hair. He tried his best not to sound too obvious. "Because I think that I might have found myself here at a wedding that's supposed to be mine and I don't even know if marriage is something that I want", he confessed before adding under his breath, "or at least, I'm not sure if the person I'm marrying is really the person that I love."

Mulder knew that he wasn't fooling anyone especially not the man who had been his boss for nearly ten years and his and Scully's boss for six.

Skinner sighed deeply, sick of standing by while two of his best agents denied their feelings for one another once again. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were seriously two of the most emotionally constipated people he had ever meet. "I think marriage is great, Mulder", he said firmly, "If you love the person with your whole heart."

"But that's the problem. I'm not sure if I...", Mulder said trailing off, as he begun pacing across the room, to and fro like a maniac. "If marrying Diana is something that I should do."

Skinner shook his head slightly in frustration. "Let's cut to the chase shall we, Mulder? You're in love with Scully and you've been too scared to say anything about it for God knows how long and now you're marrying Diana because you don't want to risk the possibility of Scully rejecting you."

Mulder smirked humourlessly at the accuracy behind Skinner's statement. Were the truths that he was having a hard time admitting to himself and to Scully really that obvious to everyone else?

"Sir, are you sure you're not the profiler here?"

"It doesn't take a genius to tell that you guys have been running in circles around each other for the last six years and I know for a fact that if you go through with this marriage today, You and Scully will both be equally miserable for as long as you have a wedding band on your finger."

Mulder sighed tiredly. He knew what Skinner had said about him being miserable if he married Diana was more than likely true. But Scully? She surely didn't love him in the same way that he loved her, right? How could she? He was her crazy, dysfunctional and eccentric friend and FBI partner. She didn't see him as anything more.

"I don't know about that, Skinner. I'm pretty sure that Scully would be just fine if I was married to someone else."

Skinner rolled. "For God's Sake, Mulder. Wake up and smell the horse shit. This woman has followed you all over the country for six years straight while you chased things that didn't necessarily believe in. This is the woman that saved your sorry ass and pulled you back from Death's door more times then any of us can count. This is the woman who believed you and relentlessly went after you while everyone else, myself included at times, thought you belonged in a mental institution. Look me in the eye Mulder and tell me this whole wedding isn't a mistake."

Mulder sighed tiredly, his pacing coming to a standstill. Was this whole wedding really a mistake? He did love Diana, in a way, but certainly not in the same way that he loved Scully.

Diana was a key figure in his past but Scully was his everything, his favourite person in the world.

He could go out there and marry Diana and live a lie, or he could go out there and tell Scully he loved her, tell her the truth.

The Truth. Scully was his truth. She probably always had been.

"You're right, Skinner. There's no way in hell that I can marry Diana." Mulder sighed angrily, kicking the wardrobe in the corner hard until he felt his big toe begin to bruise. Grumbling in frustration, he turned his sights back to the older man. "What the hell am I supposed to do about the wedding?"

"When they ask you if 'you do' just tell them that 'you don't'."

"You think it's really that easy", Mulder asked sarcastically. "I may not love Diana like I love Scully but I sure as hell don't want to humiliate her in front of everyone."

"Diana's a big girl, Mulder. She'll be fine. This is about you and Scully, no one else matters right now. You have to tell her how you feel or live with the consequences of her not knowing."

Mulder smiled slightly, looking at the older man with new eyes. He had always seen Skinner as his only ally in the bureau (aside from Scully) but never really as a friend. That was until now.

"Thanks, Skin-man."