Mulder stood in the center of the small office he would call his work home for the next year. It was a far cry from the large office he left behind at Mass General. He had earned a cozy office once he became the Senior Attending Physician for Psychiatric interns as well as managing a full patient load every week. While he was gone, the hospital arranged for his patients and interns to be supervised by one of his colleagues. The process was rather easy and he was pleasantly surprised at how everything fell into place.

He looked around, there were two small windows that carried a view of the vast rose colored desert, an average size desk, one file cabinet and two office chairs. The smaller office fondly reminded him of his residency days at Boston State Hospital, the only difference being he wouldn't have to share it with three other residents.

Mulder kept himself busy rearranging furniture and getting situated in his new space. He sat down behind his desk to open his laptop; when Katy, the clinic nurse, stopped in the doorway and knocked gently on his open office door.

"Hi, Dr. Mulder, I hope you are finding everything you need?"

Mulder looked up from his desk, leaned back in his chair and took his glasses off. "Hi Katy, thank you, c'mon in. " He smiled and continued, "Actually, while you are here, I was wondering if you could give me the WiFi password?" He continued pointing to his laptop with his glasses in hand.

Katy smiled warmly, " Sure thing Dr. Mulder, Wifi password is Navajo2015, Mrs. Hosteen set you up with an email too, it's your first initial, last name at navajo clinic dot org."

"Mulder is fine Katy, no need for the formalities when we aren't around patients." He said. He quickly wrote down the information Katy had just given him on a post-it-note pad.

Katy smiled, "Okay, Mulder it is."

"Great. Thanks Katy, I appreciate your help."

She turned around to walk out of his office, but quickly stopped and did an about face, "Oh, I almost forgot, Dr. Scully would like you to be ready to leave for the elementary school in ten minutes. And you don't want to make Dr. Scully late, trust me," she said, winking at Mulder.

"Ohhh, I trust you Katy, and something tells me I don't want to make her late now and not ever." He chuckled, already feeling like Katy was someone he could rely on.

Scully finally felt like she had settled into a productive rhythm for her day. She caught up on her patients and completed Mulders intake paperwork. Really, with the new HR system they had in place, it was a click of a button to activate his account and the rest Mrs. Hosteen took care of. Scully looked down at her watch, she had ten minutes to spare before she would head out to the local elementary school on the southeast side of the reservation. She had sent Katy to give Mulder the "ten minute warning" and she felt for the first time in her day she could relax. She stepped into her office, closed her door and took a seat behind her desk. She leaned back in her chair, kicked off her shoes and swung her legs up beside her. She told herself she was just going to rest her eyes for a bit, but one thing Scully could do better than anyone else was fall asleep in any given position at any given time. If she wasn't moving and she was tired, her body would take over.

Scully drifted off to sleep.

She woke to a firm warm hand gently nudging her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Mulder standing above her, bent over with one hand on her shoulder and the other on the armchair. He was so close to her, she could smell him. He smelled like sandalwood and leather and his presence was intoxicating. He leaned in close and his eyes were searching her face.

Hazel eyes , she thought.

When she nodded to acknowledge he had woken her from her slumber, he broke away and rose to stand. She instinctively wanted to grab his shirt, to bring him back into her space.

Shit, what was she thinking?

Mulder spoke, and broke her away from her thoughts. "I knocked on your door, but you didn't answer. I hope it's okay I let myself in?"

Scully shook her head, "Yes of course, I am glad you did."

"I wanted to make sure I was on time, I figured I'd head over to your office a little earlier." He smiled gently and continued, "I am glad I did."

"Me too, actually." She said.

"You know Scully, I have a deep suspicion that you are most likely overworked and sleep deprived."

"Is that an official diagnosis, Dr. Mulder ?" Scully said with a hint of playful undertone.

Mulder quipped back, "Nope, I haven't had enough patient interaction yet, but I will let you know when I have my full profile completed." He was leaning against the side of her desk now with both hands in his pants pockets.

Scully shot back a warm smile, leaned over in her chair and quickly put her shoes back on. She gained her full composure and stood from her chair while Mulder backed slightly from her space. She motioned to the clock on her office wall, gathered up her things and spoke, "We need to get going so we aren't late." And with that, both doctors proceeded to Scully's Jeep parked at the back of the clinic.

The desert sun was high but the air was cool. Mulder was suddenly thankful that Scully had suggested he bring his jacket. The doors of the Jeep were off, but the soft-top was still in place to provide shade from the sun. As both doctors climbed into the Jeep, Mulder took notice of the manual transmission. He fastened his seatbelt, and with a hint of intrigue, stated the obvious,

"A stick shift."

Scully nodded and turned the ignition. The Jeep roared to life.

"You know, it's a rare occurrence to find anyone who can drive a standard anymore; I am impressed."

"Is that so", Scully said, as she gently maneuvered the stick into reverse.

Mulder kept watching her; out of reverse, then shifting to first, second and third.

More playful, he kept talking, "Yes, actually I read a study recently that found car theft for standard vehicles went down considerably because most people, in this case, would-be car thieves , don't know how to operate a manual transmission."

"So you see Scully, it's actually rare and impressive that you can drive a standard."

Scully, clearly amused at the fascination Mulder had on her driving abilities, moved effortlessly from third to fourth.

"Mulder, I'm not sure if I am supposed to be flattered or offended at your fixation on my driving abilities." Scully said as she made one final smooth shift from fourth to fifth.

Laughing, Mulder replied, "Ah, fair enough Scully, fair enough… I like you. I have a feeling we are going to get along just fine."

Scully nodded in agreement, smiled widely and turned on the radio as they both enjoyed the drive through the vast pink desert.

Something about Mulder made her feel comfortable and at ease. Scully had been working so much lately she hadn't realized how much she needed to relax, and Mulder seemed to bring that side out of her. She briefly glanced over to him, he was holding on to the jeep ceiling handle with one hand while his other arm was wrapped behind his headrest. Both arms lean and muscular. Scully wondered to herself if he worked out. She remembered from his file that he was only a few years older than her, yet he looked every bit as youthful as some of the interns she had been around, only his soft smile lines made him tenfold more attractive.

What was it about this man that intrigued her so much? Scully wondered. Fox Mulder was a great mystery and she wanted to know everything about him.