AN: thank you all for your reviews and favorites and following. That means a lot to me! So much so that I decided to upload the second chapter before I had planned to. Chapter 3 is mostly written and what will probably be chapter 5 and 6 are already written but might need some work. Chapter 4 still needs to be written though. Hopefully inspiration will strike this week so I can continue updating this story, along with my other stories :) Now on with the story...

Chapter 2 Getting references

Dana Scully's apartment

Saturday 8 January

11:00 AM

After getting home on Friday night Scully had ordered some Chinese and enjoyed a peaceful evening, taking a bath and doing some reading in the welcome package.

Katie, the little girl who she was going to be a Big Sister to, was 6 years old. She lived with her mother, who was working two shitty jobs to pay the rent. Katie went to school and was doing well academically speaking, but was very shy and didn't have a lot of friends. One of her teachers had suggested to her mother, Madeline, to sign Katie up for the Big Sister, Little Sister program. Madeline had been only 16 when she'd had Katie. The relationship with Katie's father, Nick, had ended soon after Katie had been born. It had been a very abusive relationship. The guy still showed up from time to time demanding to see Katie and Madeline. Most of the time it was when he was dumped by his recent girlfriend and felt that he had the right to get what he wanted from Madeline. At one time he had raped Madeline with Katie in the other room; luckily one of the neighbors had heard the commotion and had called the police. Nick had been arrested, but Madeline had refused to press charges so he had been free to walk away.

Scully felt her heart tug at the thought of a little girl having to have heard her father abuse her mother in such a way. After that particular episode Katie had become more withdrawn and shy. She had also developed a fear of men in general. Afraid they would hurt her or her mother.

Now Scully was waiting for the time to meet her mother. She had called her mother Friday night to say that she needed to talk to her and asked her to meet her for lunch at their favorite bistro, Pigalle, just a few blocks from her house.

Bistro Pigalle

Georgetown

Saturday 8th January

12:00 AM

Scully was already sitting down with a cappuccino when her mother entered the bistro.

'Hello dear, is everything all right? You sounded funny on the phone yesterday,' Maggie Scully said as a greeting to her youngest daughter.

'Yes Mom, everything is fine. I just have to talk to you and ask you to do something for me.'

The waitress had approached their table and they both ordered their food and some drinks. When the waitress left Scully started to tell her tale.

She told Maggie about her plans and the interview she'd had the day before. She told her what she knew about Katie and that she needed three references for her application.

'Of course I'll fill in the reference for you Dana. I think this is a very noble thing to do, and I think it is what right for you. Will you ask Fox for a reference as well?'

Scully blushed when Maggie asked her this.

'No, for now I want to keep this to myself. I don't know why, but I need a life outside the Bureau. I need a part of my life away from Mulder and the X-files. I need to prove to myself that I can have a part of my life that has nothing to do with the X-files or with him.'

'But...'

'I will tell him, I promise. I don't want to lie to him or keep things from him. He is my best friend, but just for a little while I need some time away from him. Things have become so complicated lately. I need some time to figure things out, some time to breath. To know that I still exist. Just be Dana for a while, instead off agent Scully or Doctor Scully.'

Her blush hadn't gone away as she had said this and Maggie knew something had happened between the two partners. Something Dana hadn't told her about yet.

'What happened Dana?'

'He kissed me on New Year's Eve.'

Dana said, but she whispered as she said it, blushing even more.

Maggie smiled from ear to ear. She knew her daughter was in love with her partner. Even if she didn't want to acknowledge it herself. And she also knew that Fox was madly in love with Dana. They both were too afraid to do anything about it.

'About time!' Maggie exclaimed.

'MOM!'

'Was it that bad? I can't image Fox being a bad kisser, but maybe I'm wrong...'

'It isn't that. It was just a chaste kiss anyway. I don't think I even reacted other than closing my eyes. It was over before I even realized what was happening. But we shouldn't be doing things like that. We're partners and best friends. I shouldn't want him to kiss me and I shouldn't want to kiss him. That's another reason I need a part of my life apart from Mulder. I need to have a life without him. I need to get over whatever I'm feeling for him.'

'Why honey? I'm pretty sure Fox wants the same things you do. You just have to let your walls down and see how much you mean to him. And don't give me that crap about Bureau policy about 'fraternizing' with your partner. I think those rules are there for a reason. To protect the women in the Bureau from sexual harassment. I highly doubt that is the case with you two. Just take your time and think about everything. Maybe keeping this to yourself is the right thing for now. But don't shut him out of your private life completely.'

Scully didn't know what to say after that, so she did what she did best, change the subject. She took out the reference form she had brought with her from her bag and handed it to her mother. They agreed that Scully would come by for diner on Tuesday to pick up the form. After that lunch went by quickly, talking about recent developments in their family. Maggie told her about the call she had gotten from Bill and updated Scully on her brother's life.

They went their separate way after lunch. Scully had a meeting with Ellen and Maggie went to some friends' house.

Scully ended up spending the rest of the day with Ellen and her son Trent. Ellen filled in the reference form happily and the discussed all the things Scully could do with little Katie. They even tentatively discussed meeting up, the four of them doing something. After a delicious dinner Scully went home. Now she only had to ask Skinner to fill in a form and she would be all set. She couldn't ask him on the weekend so that had to wait until Monday.

FBI Headquarters

Washington D.C.

Monday 10 January

Scully had arrived early on Monday morning and had called Skinners office as soon as she knew someone would be there. Luckily Skinner had some time in his agenda so he had been able to see her at 10 AM.

When Mulder had arrived at the office he had looked grumpy and his mood even seemed to sour when he had seen the smile on Scully's face. He had barely managed to grunt out a good morning to her. She wasn't going to let him spoil her good mood so she just ignored him. At 10 she excused herself and went to Skinner's office.

She told him about the Big Sister, Little Sister program and asked him to fill out a reference form for her. He happily agreed and filled it in on the spot. When she came back to the office Mulder was nowhere to be seen, so Scully sighed and started finishing her paperwork on their latest case. It hadn't been an X-file, but a murder case they had helped on.

The next few days they hardly spoke to each other, Mulder hadn't asked her about her weekend. She had tried to make conversation with him, but he had closed all avenues of conversation quickly. Before she knew it, it was Friday again and she had to leave early again. At 3 she just closed her laptop, packed up her things and left with a wishing him a good weekend.

In chapter 3 Scully (and you) will get to meet her Little Sister...