Hi everyone, thank you so much for reading the first chapter, and for the reviews :) This is the chapter that I kind of ran away with the creative license a bit, but I had a desire to see Mulder in a shirt with big muscles ;) So I hope you don't mind too much! Thanks :)
Scully sighed as she sat behind the desk in the office a couple of weeks later. She had tried every way she could think of to get in touch with Mulder, but nothing had been successful. She smiled sadly as her new partner, John Doggett, walked through the door, not missing the sadness still holding her.
"Any word from Agent Mulder yet, Agent Scully?" he asked gently, seeing her shake her head and grab the nearest file. "We'll find him yet, you just see if we don't."
She nodded, looking up with a sigh. "Any new cases, Agent Doggett?" she asked, seeing him continue to look at her for a moment before holding out the file that he was holding.
"Mysterious animal attacks in Chicago do anything for you?" he asked with a smile, seeing her relax slightly into the chair as her eyes skimmed over the information in the file.
Mulder smiled to himself as he leant on the fence. He had moved to one of the Southern rural towns, taking a job as a farm labourer. He found himself bored by the work, but the constant work kept his mind off Scully and he found that he quite liked being out in the open so much. Besides, it was the only job he had been able to get quickly when his bank balance started to suffer, and which still left him untraceable.
His boss walked over to him, a stalk of something hanging easily from his mouth. He nodded pleasantly to Mulder, who nodded back, watching curiously as his boss leaned against the fence with him.
"I don't like to pry, but what are you doin' here son?" he asked, his rich southern accent shining through. Mulder smiled.
"Working, I hope," he replied, seeing the older man chuckle.
"Now don't mistake ma intentions, boy, you're work's second to nun. I's just wonderin' what a man like you's doin' down here. You've got a head on them there shoulders, and you obviously gotta good education. People like you don't make it down here much."
Mulder smiled, looking down at the grass. "I like the freedom here. Plus, I don't have to think and I can close my mind for a while."
He looked up in surprise as the older man let out a huge guffaw, clapping him around the shoulder friendlily. He wiped at his eyes.
"An' now it makes much more sense. You're a-running away from something. Or someone?" he asked, looking across and seeing that Mulder wasn't going to answer. "Take my advice, boy, an' go an' fix it, before you get stuck here and can't get back."
Mulder nodded sadly, watching as he clapped him around the back of the head affectionately, before wandering back to the other labourers who were all playing a card game with their beers. Hopping up so that he was sitting on the fence, Mulder thought about what his boss had said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone, flipping it easily between his hands. Looking at it, he sighed, knowing that he couldn't bring himself to turn it on. Putting it away, he grabbed his cap from the corner of the fence, pulling it down over his face against the sun and heading over to claim his beer.
A few days later, Mulder walked down the small street that made up the high street of the town, nodding to people that he had met since being there. He paused outside a small shop, his eyes lighting up as he read down a notice. He almost laughed at the irony of seeing a poster for an extra-terrestrial conference in a place that like. Intrigued, he noted down the time and place, seeing that it was for that evening, and he only had a couple of hours to wait.
Kicking his heels, he walked into the town hall just in time, grabbing a drink from the long table set up by the door. He took a seat at the back, looking up with interest as the main speaker stood, tapping the microphone and starting his speech.
His interest was lost within a few minutes, at about the time the man started talking about "little green men" and meaning it seriously. The whole thing was a farce. He mentally kicked himself for thinking that it would be anything worth bothering with.
"Spooky, isn't it," the man next to him whispered, Mulder looking at him in surprise as he seemed taken by the whole conference. The words jerked forgotten memories, bringing the memory of a smiling face with red hair back to him as he shook the thought away.
"Yeah. Spooky," he replied, looking down at the programme again.
He was so busy trying not to laugh, that he never looking to the other side of the conference, the red hair sticking out amidst the usual browns of the hats worn by the local community. Her head was down, letting the place remind her of what she had lost for just a few moments. She cursed how she had gotten her hopes up again that Mulder might just be there, only to have them dashed the moment she walked through the door and glanced over the crowd, knowing instantly that he wasn't there.
Wandering down the buffet table, Scully helped herself to the food, determined that she would get something out of this trip. She froze as a familiar voice floated over to her. She shook her head, telling herself that it was just wishful thinking. However, she couldn't leave it at that, slowly turning to look behind her.
Her heart beat wildly against her chest as she saw Mulder making his way to the table, trying to explain something to one of the other men from the crowd. She dropped her glass, the noise of it smashing making him look up. Their eyes met, both of them frozen to the spot for the moment, Scully sure that her mouth was hanging open in disbelief.
She couldn't believe the change in him, although her body's reaction to his close proximity certainly reminded her that however handsome he had been, he was stunning now. While she had lost some of her colour, her face getting a pinched look from the strain of losing Mulder, he had become tanned, his more developed muscles bulging under the white shirt he wore over both his chest and his arms.
She dragged her eyes back up to his face, licking her lips nervously. This was what she had come here for, and had gone to all of the other insane conferences for, when she had felt like standing up and screaming as he was never there. Nodding to her politely, he turned on his heel and headed for the door.
He turned in surprise as he felt a small hand that could only belong to her close around his arm, not realising how desperate she had been to speak to him that she had almost flattened half of the people there to get to him.
"Mulder, wait, please," she begged him, seeing him look down sadly at her. "Take a walk with me?"
His mind screamed for him to refuse, but with a resigned sigh he felt himself nodding, knowing deep down that even if it cost him everything he had, he could never refuse Scully anything that she asked him.
"OK," he replied uncertainly, seeing her smile reassuringly as she followed him out of the hall into the warm evening air.
They walked in awkward silence for a moment, both of them fighting the mixture of feelings that had started to course through them. Mulder held his hands firmly behind his back, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her, knowing that he still loved her despite the fact that she obviously didn't feel the same. He felt his heart break as he took in her face, looking so ill and strained, although she turned at his look, the familiar smile that he loved so much appearing again for him.
"So, um, how have you been, Mulder?" she asked uncomfortably, blushing slightly. "You look great."
He smiled gently back. "You know, I'm doing alright. It's nice and peaceful here, and nobody tries to kill me," he quipped, seeing her smile softly back at him. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," she replied with a nonchalant shrug, Mulder pushing aside the inquisitive part of his brain that wanted to point out that she looked like hell, knowing that he had caused it and knowing that he couldn't do that to himself or to her. "I'm surprised to see you here, Scully. It doesn't seem like the kind of place that you'd come to. Unless I finally rubbed off on you after all?"
She chuckled this time, the sound like bells from heaven to him. Looking away so that he couldn't see the embarrassment on her face, she cleared her throat gently.
"Well I...it helped me feel like I was still connected to you. Even if it were only in some small way that only I understood. And I guess I never could fully give up and accept that I wouldn't see you again."
He felt his face smiling at her words, wondering that she travelled so far just in case she saw him or just to feel a bit nearer to him. Lapsing into a more comfortable silence, Mulder let the warmth that could only come with Scully being near wash over him, secretly enjoying every minute of the walk. Somewhere deep within him, he felt some of the bitterness and cynical thoughts that he had bred since he left start to be washed away, his old self coming back to him again.
"I'm glad you came, Scully," he murmured after a moment, his voice raising her spirits and causing her to gasp as a flood of emotions washed over her again at his gentle look. She swallowed them back, knowing that this wasn't the time.
"I was thinking of sticking around for a couple of days. Do you think I could visit?" she asked timidly, seeing him hesitate for a moment. "I have to be back in DC after that," she added, and saw him nod.
Pulling a notepad out of his pocket, Mulder scribbled down and address and ripped it off, handing it to her. Their fingers touched for just a moment as she took it from him, but Mulder felt like electricity had ripped through him at touching her again, judging from her face that she felt the same.
"Take care, Scully," he told her, leaving her standing outside the town hall where they had started. She looked up in surprise, not realising that they had made it back there.
"You too, Mulder," she whispered, knowing that he was too far away to hear, but hoping that he knew anyway. "Thank God I finally found you."
So there we go, that's the next bit! Hope you all enjoyed it and thanks again for reading, and please let me know what you think! Have a good weekend :)