Two interminable days later, I drove Mulder to his apartment building. We had been shy with each other and I was more than uncomfortable answering questions he had about his life and our work. I felt as though I was now keeping our relationship a secret from him as well the rest of the world. It was too new when he was taken from Bellefleur. We hadn't yet achieved the ease of long term relationships. In retrospect, that may have been silly, but our physical intimacy was still intense, exciting and forbidden. We found ourselves acting like guilty teens.

"Well, this is it," I said with a sigh. I didn't want to be apart from him, but I thought he needed space to reclaim his home. He probably needed space from me too. I had sat with him and talked with him for most of the last two days. I needed a break too. I needed to shower, to sleep and I felt like I could eat a cow by myself.

"Thanks for the ride, Dana. But, uh, would you mind coming in with me?" I blushed furiously thinking of the last night we had spent in his apartment together. We had been a tangled mess of limbs and bed clothes. After our hectic love making, we fell asleep pressed close to each other. Each of us molded to the other in the relaxation of sleep. We had, after several months of similar scenes, finally gotten used to actually sleeping in a bed with one another. The next morning, Billy Miles had called and asked for our help.

He saw my reaction (damn this fair skin) and hastened to assure me, "I don't know which apartment is mine, that's all. Will you show me?"

"Oh, sure! I'm sorry, Mulder, I didn't think…" I could tell he was embarrassed too and that made me feel better. I wasn't the only one who was feeling inordinately shy. I pulled the car closer to the curb and he followed me up the steps and inside. When we approached number 42, I fished my keys back out of my jacket pocket and unlocked the deadbolt without much thought. I turned to Mulder when he didn't step in behind me. He had his own keys in his hand still looking at them. He looked up at me with a quizzical look.

"You have a key to my apartment."

I turned away before the telltale red tide made another appearance. "Yeah," I said as casually as I could manage. "I feed your fish when you're away." That sounded completely lame so I supplemented it with, "you have a key to my place, its the one with the blue rubber."

He smiled at that, his warm, slightly crooked, mischievous smile. "You have fish too?"

"Ah, no I don't. I used to have a dog, though." Lame, Dana, totally lame. I unpacked the small sack the hospital had given him to bring his few possessions home. I put the silly blue hospital socks in his sock drawer and his medicine in the cabinet in the bathroom. I was afraid he would have trouble remembering when to take his medicine, so I grabbed pen and paper from his desk and made a schedule. After I had taped this to his bathroom mirror, I found him contemplating the untidy stack of video cassettes. I had cleaned and tidied the place weeks ago in anticipation of his return. But, I didn't touch the video collection. I never would.

"Mulder, if you need anything, you have my number." He started back and nearly tripped over his coffee table.

"Yeah, sure, I uh, I have your home and your cell."

"Good." I couldn't help but smile at him. "I'll pick you up for your appointment with Dr. Cenetta tomorrow afternoon. I left a schedule for your meds in the bathroom. Get some sleep." I plucked my jacket off the back of the couch and turned to leave.

"Hey, Dana…" his voice was firm, but shy still. He glanced from me to the videos ad quickly back. He looked at a loss for words, poor thing.

"It's okay, Mulder, I resigned myself to your many quirks years ago. Good night."

….