"See, right on time," Mulder pointed to the Jeep clock, "I know how you hate to be late." He said as they pulled up to the small cafe on the outskirts of town. Scully knew he understood her obsession with punctuality, he had always made sure to get them to their destinations on time, and she loved him for it.

While Mulder was in the shower this morning, she had called Albert and asked if he and Mrs. Hosteen could join them for breakfast to go over this coming week's visit. Mulder had suggested it would be a good time to talk about their new relationship status with the Hosteen's as well.

"It's better to get it out in the open now, doc, so we can get ahead of the rumor mill." Mulder had said as they laid in bed together. Their morning was filled with more love making; she had thought twice was good, but now she was a firm believer in third times a charm . They originally started getting ready for their day, but somewhere between her shower and his morning routine she ended up on the bathroom sink.

Third time was a charm she had thought.

She squirmed in the passenger side seat at the thought and winced slightly at her sore left butt cheek. She was convinced she would have a slight bruise there from the bathroom sink faucet, but she wouldn't dare tell Mulder, he would feel awful and she thought it rather hot to have a souvenir of their love making.

She glanced over at him as he put the Jeep into neutral to park. He had on a brown canvas jacket with a gray t-shirt and jeans. He forwent his contacts and settled for his glasses, knowing they were in a time crunch. The stereotypical 'glasses make smart look sexy' was not lost on Fox Mulder. He was smart and sexy.

He turned the Jeep off and before he could step out. She grabbed his hand. "Hey," she said, Mulder shut the jeep off and turned to face her. "I love you."

Mulder leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "I know, I love you too."

He pressed her seatbelt buckle, releasing her seatbelt and then undid his next, "Let's get inside, for some reason, I'm starving." He said with a devilish grin.

"That's funny, so am I."

"What a coincidence, he winked."

"Yes, truly Dr. Mulder, what a coincidence,"

As they made their way to the cafe, Scully placed one hand in his back jean pocket and leaned into his side; he wrapped one arm around her and placed another kiss on her forehead.

When they entered the tiny restaurant, Albert stood and waved them over to the corner booth. Mulder let Scully go first and gently placed his hand at the small of her back. They said their greetings and exchanged hugs when they reached the table, then took their seats across from the couple. Mrs. Hosteen was the first to speak.

"Well it's about time you two, I thought Albert and I were gonna have to intervene and offer some gentle nudging."

Scully blushed and she looked over to Mulder who had a very obvious shocked look on his face.

"How..how did you know."

"A woman knows these things Fox, it wasn't hard to figure out." Mulder cleared his throat and chuckled, "Okay, well that was easy."

Scully sat back in the booth and let out a sigh of relief. She was glad the hard part was over, now for the easy part, the visit. She was completely confident she had all her ducks in a row and nothing could possibly go wrong.

On Monday, Mulder was second to arrive at the clinic after Albert. He had wanted to make sure all his paperwork was in order. He didn't want to let Scully or Albert down. He unlocked his office door and shuffled over to his desk. He opened his laptop and went over his session logs. Albert walked by his office and knocked on the open door.

"How's it going?"

"Just making sure I have everything ready for today," Mulder said, looking up from his laptop. He had grown fond of Albert and thought of him as a friend. "This is obviously my first audit, I want everything to go smoothly."

"You don't have to worry, Dana has this down, she is a pro. We are all lucky to have her."

"You're telling me Albert, I feel like the luckiest person on earth."

"I won't argue with that," Albert chuckled, "let me know if you need anything doc, your first patient arrives at 8:00 am, you want me to show him back when he gets here?"

Yes, that would be great Albert, thank you."

Albert turned around and exited Mulder's office, shutting the door behind him. Mulder sat for a few moments then picked up his phone and texted Scully,

Hey, let me know when you get here.

Seconds later, a response. Look who's the early bird today, I just pulled in. I will stop by your office.

Great. Can't wait to see you. It has been an hour and I miss you.

You've got it bad, Dr. Mulder.

Dr. Scully, you have no idea .

Scully smiled to herself reading her messages. Mulder left early this morning, they had stayed together the entire weekend, moving from Mulder's RV to her larger mobile home. He let her know last night before bed that he had wanted to head to the office earlier than usual. She could tell he was anxious about the audit and assured him everything would be okay. She woke up early with him and made him banana pancakes for breakfast and before he stepped out to leave she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him goodbye.

"It's gonna be fine, trust me." She told him.

"I trust you doc, one hundred percent."

As she parked his car in the back of the clinic, she gathered her things and checked her makeup in the vanity mirror. Mulder insisted she take his car to work and he would take the Jeep. He didn't want her to drive in the cold with the doors off. She was thankful Mulder's car provided protection from the elements on her drive into work; but more thankful to Mulder for suggesting the car swap.

More reasons to love him.

Scully received an email from Dr. Fowley late last night to let her know she would be arriving at the clinic at 8:15. She had forgotten to tell Mulder before he left this morning. It didn't matter , she thought, she would tell him when she made it inside the clinic. She looked at the time on her phone, 7:15, she had an hour before the visit. She stepped out of the car and made her way to the back entrance.

As soon as she opened the door, Katy was standing in the hallway. "Dr. Scully, I have your patient files for the day, and Diana Fowley called and said she was ahead of schedule and should be at the clinic closer to 7:45."

"Thanks Katy, you are the best. Can you do me a favor and shift my 8:00 am and 9:00 am to Dr. Hosteen?"

"Absolutely, here you go," Katy handed her the files and headed toward her work station.

Scully was taken aback but the sudden time change in Dr. Fowley's arrival, she huffed and let her choice swear word slip from her mouth, "Shit!" She quickly remembered her surroundings and placed her free hand over her mouth. She peeked around the clinic hallway, "coast is clear," she mumbled to herself under her breath. She didn't want to get caught swearing today, she hadn't prepaid Mrs. Hosteen her weekly quota yet.

She walked down the hall toward her office, passing by Mulder's on her way. His door was closed and she didn't want to disturb him. She decided to text him when she got to her office.

Scully dropped her stuff off and pulled her lap top out of her bag. She turned it on and checked her email. Nothing new since last night. She spent the next twenty minutes tidying up her office. Dr. Fowley would be using it for the duration of her time at the clinic and Scully had wanted to make sure it was clean.

Her phone buzzed.

Hey doc, my patient is early. I will stop by when I'm done. Still miss you.

Okay. No problem. Sorry I didn't pop in. I got distracted and your door was closed.

No worries. I know where to find you. Hey, I love you.

Love you too.

She sat in her office, and relished the quiet for a bit. She knew it would be a busy four days but she was so happy and content with her life right now, she couldn't help but be optimistic for the visit and for the future.

Diana pulled up to the small clinic. It was unremarkable in appearance and she wondered if anything green grew in the area. She thought the desert was cold and dry and she was thankful she packed her moisturizer.

On a hunch she parked in the back, knowing that's where staff usually park in smaller medical facilities. She grabbed the file she had placed on the passenger side seat and looked it over. Dr. Scully was the lead physician, she was a Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist concentrating in childhood vaccines.

impressive Diana thought to herself.

She read over the request Dr. Scully submitted for the mental health professional, hence Fox's role in the clinic. Everything looked to be on the up and up. The clinic had 3 other staff members, one doctor, a nurse and an office manager. This should be easy and besides, she wasn't really interested in the audit. She had another agenda, Fox Mulder was her agenda. She grabbed her work satchel and stepped out of the car then made her way to the back entrance.

Diana opened the back door of the clinic and stepped inside. The hallway was quiet but she could hear a phone ringing in the distance. To her right was a door that led to the waiting room and straight ahead was the backside of the receptionist area. She stood in the hallway for a moment when around the corner a petite, strikingly beautiful woman walked toward her.

"Oh you must be Dr. Fowley," the woman stretched out her hand to motion for a handshake, "I'm Dana Scully, nice to meet you." Diana looked her up and down, she assessed her appearance and wondered if Fox had noticed how beautiful she was.

Grabbing Dr. Scully's hand in hers, "Hi, nice to meet you Dr. Scully, sorry I am early, I really was surprised at how easy it was to get here."

"Not a problem at all. Let me introduce you to our staff."

Diana followed the doctor down the hall where they exchanged greetings with the rest of the clinic staff. "This is Dr. and Mrs. Hosteen; Dr Hosteen owns the clinic and Mrs. Hosteen is our business manager and this is Katy, our head nurse."

"Hello, pleasure to meet everyone. Thank you for allowing DWB access to your clinic, I have looked over the files and caseloads and I can tell everyone is doing fantastic work. This visit is only a formality, I don't foresee any issues. It seems like our Dr. Scully here is very thorough."

She eyed Dr. Scully and noticed her cheeks turned a light shade of pink at her words. If she had been into women, she would find the doctors blushing quite sexy.

"That she is," Mrs. Hosteen affirmed, "we love having her."

"Oh, Dr. Fowley…" Diana interrupted the petite red-headed doctor this time, "Please, call me Diana."

"Sure, Diana, we have another Doctor with us as you are most likely aware, but he is with a patient right now. As soon as he is done I will introduce you to him."

"Sounds great, should we get started?" Diana was ready to get this show on the road.

"Absolutely, let me show you to my office, you can use it while you are here."

Diana smiled, "Thank you, that's kind of you."

"Oh it's no problem at all, Mul..Dr. Mulder graciously offered his office to share with me while you're here." Diana's hair stood on the back of her neck, she recognized a familiar eye twinkle in Dr Scully that she had herself once exhibited when she spoke about Fox Mulder.

"Dana, can I call you Dana?"

"Of course, please, yes, call me Dana," motioning for Diana to take a seat across from her desk.

Diana took a seat and crossed her legs, "How many patients do you normally see in a given day?"

"Well, between Dr Hosteen and myself we average about 40 a day. Dr. Mulder sees less because of the nature of the appointments but I would say he averages about 10 a day, give or take."

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Diana watched as Dana sat up from her chair and walked over to open her office door. At that moment, Fox Mulder walked into the small office and Diana instantly felt her entire body surge. She caught her breath and decided to play it cool.

She was still feeling out the role Dana played in his life. She wasn't an idiot, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. And she wasn't ready to put all her cards on the table.

Just yet

Mulder stepped into the office and in front of him, stood a past he had never wanted to come face to face with. He stood there in shock. His ears burned and he felt nauseous. He felt Scully to the left of him and knew she would be introducing him to Diana.

What the fuck was she doing here, was this a joke?

His internal dialogue was listing all the possible scenarios that could have led to this very moment. He heard Scully's voice,

"Dr. Mulder, this is Dr. Fowley, she's here to do our audit."

He didn't say anything, he just stared at the woman who had cost him so much; he knew what this was of course, his physical reaction. It has a name in his profession but he refused to use it on himself. He needed to gain control of his emotions; he would process later. Dana, oh God, his Scully. She had no idea about Diana. He felt Scully discreetly brush at his elbow, " Dr. Mulder, uh.. you.."

He didn't want to look at her, he knew she would see it in his eyes. The confusion, anger and worry he felt would all be readable. One thing he knew about Diana, once she smelled weakness she was relentless at getting what she wanted.

What did she want?

Diana interrupted Scully, "Dana, I haven't been entirely forthcoming to you, Fox and I go way back, I'm familiar with.. uh. His work ."

"Oh then you two know each other already?" Scully said.

He couldn't look at Scully, he knew Diana's words would have likely surprised or confused her, possibly shocked her. He wanted to turn to her and make sure she was okay, but he needed more time to collect himself, to process. Before he could look into those deep blue eyes and be confronted by any other emotion than the ones he had seen from her these past several months.

Mulder felt her hand leave his elbow. And he instantly felt a desire to grab Scully and pull her out of the room, tell her everything and run away as far as they could.

Fight or flight.

Control your emotions.

Breath.

His internal dialogue worked at keeping his emotions in check.

"You could say that." Diana said with a mischievous grin on her face.

Scully was thoroughly confused. More so over Mulder's lack of reaction to any part of the awkward exchange that had been going on in front of her. Something was off, she could tell. Why wouldn't Mulder look at her? He felt cold and distant and she was beginning to feel like she was the only one in the room that didn't get the punchline.

"I'm sorry I'm confused, how do you two know each other?"

Silence.

Scully was beginning to get frustrated, she could feel her cheeks warming and she hated that Mulder wasn't saying anything.

Mulder turned to her, "Dr. Scully we..uh..."

Diana interrupted him, pulling her phone out of her satchel, "Dana, I'm sorry, would you mind if I step out and make a quick phone call?"

"Of course, please," Scully stepped away from Mulder and out of the way from the door. When Diana walked by Mulder she touched his shoulder and spoke, "It's good to see you again, Fox. It's been a long time." And she left the office, closing the door behind her.

Scully stood there, looking at Mulder. He was clearly distraught, his shoulders slouched and his eyes looked worried, angry, maybe sad, she couldn't tell. But she knew something was up. Something had just happened and she needed to hear from Mulder. He needed to talk to her. Scully broke the silence,

"Mulder, what the hell just happened? Who is that woman and who or what is she to you?"

He stood there silent for a moment then he moved to her desk, sitting on the edge. He rubbed his hands in his face and sighed,

"Scully, we need to talk."