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Some may think it was odd he chose to work in the basement of the FBI on the X Files while his father was the Assistant Director of the FBI. People may question him but his search for the Truth had led him here, to find his sister, while his dad might question him from time to time he understood and supported him. The knock on his office door and a voice asking if anyone was down here drew him out of his thoughts, “Nobody down here but the FBI’s most unwanted!” He called out as he continued studying the case he was working on, he was surprised by the presence of a woman a similar age to himself who introduced herself as Dana Scully. The name triggered a memory of a thesis he read titled ‘Einstein’s Twin Paradox: A new interpretation.’ “I read your senior thesis, very impressive, I assume you’re my new partner.” She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at his remark, “I’ve been sent by Division Chief Scott Belvins to help with your work on the X Files.” He could read between the lines there, someone had sent her to debunk his work, he gestured for her to take a seat as he started up the projector to show her what he’s been working on, “There’s been a case in Oregon where high school kids go missing and turn up dead with two distinct markings on their lower backs, the ME found an unidentifiable toxin in all their bloodstreams. There’s similarities between these bodies and others found across the country, I think it has to do with some sort of alien testing. I’ll book us a flight to Oregon and I’ll meet you at the airport in an hour, I have a meeting with Skinner.” He turned off the projector and handed her the case file, “Fox-“ He grimaced at the use of his forename, “Please no it’s just Mulder.” She looked at him with an unidentifiable expression before carrying on, “Mulder, you can’t possibly believe that it has anything to do with aliens? Aside from the fact they’re not even real, it could just be a result of some new toxin developed or a type of insect bite, there is nothing to suggest anything extra terrestrial about it.” Mulder felt a small smile crossing his face, so that’s why they sent her down here, to challenge his work, “I say we go to Oregon and find out, Agent Scully. Remember, airport in an hour!” With that he grabbed his suit jacket and his bag, leaving a bemused Agent Scully in his wake.

Mulder didn’t usually go visit his dad while they were working, it was one of their unspoken rules so people wouldn’t suspect their relationship was anything but professional. Skinner’s adoption of him was a closed one and only between his family and Skinner. After Bill Mulder nearly beat him to death and landed him in hospital, due to I love his family’s prestige the FBI got involved. There was a deal that charges wouldn't go ahead if Bill Mulder stayed away from him and agreed to give him up for adoption, Skinner was on the case and was put in charge of keeping an eye on Mulder while in hospital. They had developed a sort of friendship and Skinner eventually decided to adopt him, 11 years later he still had some issues stemming from the abuse he suffered but Skinner has been a good father to him. He knocked on the office door and waited to be called in, he made sure no one else was in the room before flopping down in front of the desk. “Hi Dad, I’ll only be quick I’ve got to get to the airport soon for a case. Were you aware I was getting a new partner?” Skinner smiled when he saw his son sit down in front of him, their work meant they didn’t always have a lot of time for private moments, “Hello Fox, I was informed by Belvins earlier today of the decision but I had no part in it. I know that Agent Scully is a well-liked and professional agent, she trained as a doctor before becoming an FBI agent and has proved her worth in the field. I know you don’t trust many people, Fox, but give her a chance.” He moved to sit on the chair next to Mulder, resting a hand lightly on the younger man’s knee, “Fox I need to you be careful with your work, there are some that disagree with what you’re doing and there’s something going on within the FBI that my position doesn’t allow me to see. I trust that you know what you’re doing, but as your dad I want to make sure you’re protected.” Skinner knew Fox had some issues with men touching him due to the abuse he suffered, but over the years they had worked on getting him comfortable with his touch at least. “I’ll be careful I promise, I won’t take any risks and I won’t scare Agent Scully off. Although by the looks of her thesis she may be more open-minded than you think.” He stood to leave but stopped before he reached the door, “You’ll let me know if I need to come back right?” His analytical eyes ran over his father’s stressed and tired face, he didn’t want to go off to Oregon if his dad needed his help. “I’ll be sure to call you, just come back in one piece.”

———————SCENE CHANGE———
Agent Scully had continued to surprise him and Mulder liked to think they had formed some sort of bond of trust after laughing together in the rain and her trusting him to check her over in his room alone. He sat on the floor against the bed as Scully laid on top of it, he didn’t know why but he felt a sort of kinship to her, something was telling him he could be safe with her. She had asked him how he came to work in the X Files so he decided to bite the bullet, “When I was 12 and my sister Samantha was 8 she disappeared from our house while our parents were next door at a party. I was paralysed and couldn’t do anything but watch her being taken. My father blamed me for my sister’s disappearance and made it fairly well known, he abused me until I was 15 when he nearly killed me and landed me in hospital. The FBI got involved and basically told my dad to stay away from me and they’ll drop the abuse charges if he’ll let me be adopted. My family is well off and well known so there was a chance the charges wouldn’t have stuck anyway, when I was released from the hospital I was adopted by one of the men from the case. My adoptive father is Walter Skinner, no one in the FBI really knows as it was a closed adoption and kept a secret for my sake.” To her credit, Scully didn’t say anything or presumed he managed to get into the FBI due to who his father is, “So you dedicate your career to find your sister? I find that impressive and heartwarming.” She didn’t comment on his mention of the abuse he suffered, she felt he only told her out of initial trust they have created and, to be honest with her, so she decided to return the confession, “My father didn’t want me to join the FBI, he was happy when I started out in a career in medicine but tried to get me to change my mind when I told him I was going to work in the FBI.”

They stayed like that for a few hours talking about different things before falling asleep. They managed to solve the case and over the next few months everyone started to notice the two agents getting closer, their solve rate increased and other agents had taken to calling them Mr and Mrs Spooky. Skinner noticed how comfortable his son was around Agent Scully, something he hadn’t seen really happen before around someone he hadn’t known for long. Although the case of Eugene Toombs and Agent Scully being attacked in her own home was concerning, he was thankful Fox had figured it out in time to stop Toombs. He had hoped that the suspicious ongoing he has observed would not affect his son, but of course, the world wasn’t always kind to Fox.

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He and Scully were becoming sort of friends, well he had hoped anyway, that’s what he told his dad the last time he saw him. They were talking and smiling as they made their way back to the car with his hands full of books and files. He noticed the odd cassette tape and played it, looking at Scully curiously to check if she had put it there. At the slight shake of her head he pressed play and heard a voice go on about how people can slip into cars and plant bombs, the knock on the window startled both of them but the face that appeared made him rigid as ice and anxiety crawled up his throat, he hadn’t seen Phoebe Green since he left Oxford University. He forced himself to step out of the car when Scully did, Phoebe immediately then kissed him like they were still together and stepped into his personal space. He wanted nothing more than to run away but he wouldn’t leave Scully with Phoebe, so instead, he stepped back and introduced them, “Uh Scully, this is Phoebe Green from Scotland Yard in England, Phoebe this is my partner Special Agent Dana Scully.” Neither woman looked pleased with the other, but he noticed Scully gave him a quick look of concern that he appreciated. “I wondered if I could get your help with a three pipe problem, Fox, I’ll explain in your office.” With that she left, leaving him stunned and Scully asking exactly what she was to him, “She was an old university girlfriend back at Oxford, she liked to play these mind games when we were together and it seems she never stopped even after we broke up. Dad wasn’t particularly enthused with her as a person or about her dating me.” Mulder did this occasionally, dropping little tidbits of information about having Skinner as a father. “Was it because no one was good enough for you or something else?” Mulder looked over at her as they walked to the office, “You know I never asked him, I just knew he disliked her.” Scully didn’t say anything in return but silently agreed with Skinner’s assessment.

Back in the office, they watched Phoebe explain the case and how she was involved, a large wealthy family were subjected to a fire attack when a man sadly lost his life now a similar family is facing a threat while in the US. Scully hated the way Phoebe tried to get as close to Mulder as possible even when it was clear he didn’t want her near him. After a talk with the pyrotechnics expert, it was decided that Phoebe would go back to the family while Mulder and Scully worked on the criminal profile. A fire at a bar meant Mulder was forced to go to the crime scene with Phoebe while Skinner came down to the basement office. “Have you seen Agent Mulder?”, Scully looked up from deciphering Mulder’s criminal profile, “He’s at a crime scene at the moment with Agent Green, Sir. Sir, if I may, can I ask you a personal question?” Skinner should’ve really seen the request coming, he had noticed Scully becoming protective over Fox and vice versa, he inclined his head in a go-ahead motion, “Agent Mulder mentioned you didn’t approve of Agent Green when they were dating while he was at Oxford University. Is there something I should be aware of with her?” There was that slight undercurrent of protection that went beyond just another agent concerned for another, “Fox is a sensitive man and when dating Phoebe he fell head over heels for her, unfortunately, Phoebe used her flair for psychology to play mind games with him until he broke up with her. She knows a lot about him though, especially his paralysing fear of fire. This is me as Fox’s father speaking, just keep an eye on him and also especially on Phoebe. I can’t take him off the case because he wouldn’t appreciate it but I can see you care for him, Agent Scully.” He knew his son was a grown man, but he had intensely disliked Phoebe Green. Scully absorbed the information and nodded, “I will sir, I’ve just finished deciphering Agent Mulder’s criminal profile so I’m going to go join him at the crime scene. I won’t mention our conversation.”

From the moment she had joined Mulder in Boston the case had seemed to go from bad to worse, she had watched as Phoebe attempted to get back into Mulder’s good books and then had waited with fear as he went into the fire to save the children and ultimately passed out from anxiety and smoke inhalation. He had barely waited for her to give him the all-clear with a bandage over his hand from the burn he got before jumping back onto the case. Together they figured out that the caretaker was the one responsible, Scully was still trying to find a scientific explanation for his abilities while Mulder looked both joyous and terrified at the prospect of a person being able to summon fire. Skinner was going to have her head as Mulder again rushed headfirst into the flames to save the Marsden children from being burnt to death while she held ‘Bob’ at gunpoint. When they got back to the office, after finally getting rid of Phoebe, they found Skinner waiting for them. She had been telling Mulder she was going to give him a full medical examination if he refused to let anyone else check him over and he teased back “Why would I need another doctor when I have a perfectly capable one as my partner.” Their bantering came to a stop when they noticed Skinner waiting by Mulder’s desk, “Do one of you want to tell me why Agent Mulder needs a medical examination or am I going to have to hear it from someone else?” Scully suddenly felt like a kid again when she heard the ‘Dad’ tone of voice from her boss, she and Mulder shared a glance silently agreeing on a variation of a story that wouldn’t get his dad completely worried. “Well sir, we caught the culprit. It was the caretaker, unfortunately, he had a tendency to set rooms alight to trap the Marsden children. Agent Mulder had figured out where the children were trapped and went to rescue them while Agent Green and I pulled the fire alarm and got everyone else out. Agent Mulder suffered from quite a lot of smoke inhalation and a second-degree burn on his hand, firefighters found him passed out in the corridor, but he got the kids out.” Mulder gave her hand a quick squeeze in appreciation in the story she gave Skinner, it was mainly the truth but left out the fact he went into fire twice. “Dad I’m fine, as I was telling Scully here, but if she insists on checking me over then I will.” Quietly he muttered to Scully as they sat down on chairs next to each other, “He’s always like this when I get hurt, don’t tell him that I appreciate the concern though.” The two shared a secret smile as Scully gently checked his burnt hand and re-wrapped it, “It’ll scar but it’ll only be a small one, hardly noticeable, just keep it clean. You’ll have a bit of a sore throat from the smoke inhalation, but the moment you start having trouble breathing you call me okay Mulder?” “Yes ma’am” He quipped at her, making Scully roll her eyes in fondness, “I think it’s safe to say he is fine, Sir. Agent Green has gone back to England with the family and another case closed for us.” She knew Skinner would appreciate knowing Phoebe Green was gone again. “Well barring any other cases, you two have a couple of days off, I want the report by the end of the week.” With that, he headed back to his office leaving the two young agents slightly bemused. “So, is Skinner always like this when you get hurt on a case?” She asked on a whim, causing Mulder to laugh and run a hand through his hair, “Yeah he can get a little protective sometimes, I should probably talk to him in private, see you tomorrow bright and early Scully!” His gaze and touch lingered on her for just a moment longer than necessary but neither one seemed to want to look away.

——————— Scene Change —————-

Mulder pulled up to his dad’s apartment, making sure to fill the meter so he wouldn’t get his car clamped. The adrenaline of the case was wearing off and he began to feel drained, the slight scratching itch of his throat became more paramount now that the adrenaline wasn’t covering it. He felt he shouldn’t go running to his dad after seeing Phoebe, but a small part of him still wanted to seek some comfort from the man that raised him for the past 10 years. He knocked on the door as he slumped sideways against the wall, he did have a key to the place but he still liked to knock anyway, just in case his dad was in. He couldn’t remember if he had seen his car so he let himself in and left his stuff by the door, he’ll just wait on the couch in the office while starting to write the report up. He barely got 3 sentences in before sleep managed to claim him for a while, usually after a case he would crash and sleep for a lot longer than he managed to regularly due to his insomnia. Skinner was late coming back from the office he knew that, as he unlocked his door he noticed the shoes and long coat by the door, he smiled slightly at his son’s messiness compared to his own. He silently checked each of the rooms in the apartment before finding Fox asleep, in his now rumpled suit, on the couch in his office. Fox hadn’t done this in a while, turn up to his apartment and fallen asleep, he smiled softly as another image of a much younger Fox sleeping on a similar couch aged 16 came to mind. He quietly crossed the room and picked up the blanket he kept on the floor beside the couch, he gently draped it over Fox being careful not to wake him and softly went to undo his tie so he could breathe better. The last thing he needed was Fox strangling himself in his sleep, he left the door ajar slightly and went to make dinner for the both of them.

Several hours later Skinner looked up to see Fox padding into the kitchen in search of food, coughing slightly and his hand still bandaged, “How are you feeling, Fox?” Mulder must’ve been still fairly out of it or not expecting him to be home because he flinched before recognising it was only Skinner home, “Starving, you made food?” Sometimes he thought his son didn’t grow out of eating all his food. He waited till Fox had sat down next to him and woken up a bit more before broaching the question, “So how was Phoebe?” Mulder gave him a shrug before carrying on eating his food, Skinner sighed and changed tactics, “Agent Scully mentioned you went into a burning building twice and that Phoebe dragged you into this case in the first place. Did she know of your fear of fire?” Mulder leant back, running a hand over his face, “She did, but whatever you think of her she did not push me into those burning buildings. I went in there willingly in order to save two innocent kids from burning to death! She’s gone back to England now, so she’s out of my life again. Everything worked out fine, Scully and I solved the case and even got the report done. I’m meeting her for lunch tomorrow at her insistence, something about her making sure I didn’t mess up her perfect bandaging. You don’t need to worry.” Skinner slung his arm around his son’s shoulders and brought him in for a quick hug, “Fox I’m your father, I know you’re a grown man, but it’s my duty as a father to protect and worry about you. You’re still that skinny kid I picked up from the hospital 10 years ago, just much taller.” Mulder rolled his eyes but accepted the hug, they sat in comfortable companionship for the rest of the evening, “Do you mind if I stay here tonight, Dad?” Even after all these years, he was still hesitant to accept comfort or admit he wanted to feel secure after a case like this, “Fox there is always a place for you here, as long as you sleep in a bed. I’ve seen your apartment, I know you prefer a couch because of your insomnia but a bed would be better. I’ll see you in the morning to make sure you actually have some time off.” Skinner got off the couch and gave Fox’s shoulder a squeeze as he headed towards his own room, mulling over what had transpired the past few days.

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Mulder knew the second he got exposed to whatever chemical that was released when the man in front of him was shot, that both Scully and his dad were going to be so pissed at him. He hadn’t spoken to his dad privately since the Toombs incident and only Scully knew where he might be. His eyes felt like they were burning and he wanted to peel the flesh off to offer some sort of salve from the intense searing of pain on his face.

Back at the bureau Scully had just finished up figuring out what the chemical was and a flash of panic went through her, it wasn’t anything she had seen before and the fact that it had synthesised with DNA, it should have been impossible but here was the evidence right in front of her. She needed to get ahold of Mulder and quickly, he didn’t know the damage this man could do to him if he found him. She grabbed her coat and rushed to her car, remembering the address Mulder had told her he was checking out for any clues. Her mind was filled with concern over Mulder, questions of this mysterious chemical and just what Deep Throat wanted with/from Mulder. She arrived at the address sooner than she thought and immediately rushed in hoping to find some evidence of his whereabouts, Deep Throat’s figure made her stop in her tracks, “Where is Mulder?” She demanded, the concern for her partner and friend bleeding into her tone, “They won’t kill him, he’s too valuable, but they might be willing to exchange him for something in return.” His way of speaking about Mulder as an object infuriated her to no end, she didn’t realise he was still talking until he said her name. “What do I need to do?”

Mulder would be proud, she thought, going into a secure governmental research facility to steal something alien. She could just see his eyes light up under his slightly overgrown brown hair and his boyish grin. She focussed back on the task at hand, lifting what seemed to be a sort of foetus into the container Deep Throat gave her before leaving as swiftly as she could. It had nearly been 24 hours since she had confidently known Mulder was alive and well, although Deep Throat said they wouldn’t kill him she didn’t trust the man as much as Mulder seemed to. Meeting Deep Throat and some unknown group that were after the clone, the unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach grew as she pulled into the agreed meeting place on an empty highway. She still couldn’t help but feel anxious about being caught but she would risk it for Mulder, she knocked on the window of the other car. She wasn’t sure she trusted Deep Throat to not take the container and drive off with it and told him such, the proceeding short argument between them was cut short by a van driving up. She handed the container to Deep Throat and hurried back to her car to make sure both sides of the deal held up and she would get Mulder back. Within 5 minutes everything had gone to hell in a handbasket, Deep Throat had been shot dead and Mulder was thrown out of the car as the men drove off. She didn’t want to leave a man dead in the middle of the road but she needed to get Mulder out of there. She went to haul him up to get him into the car but she didn’t expect him to violently flinch away from her, mumbling “Please stop, m’sorry” Her heart broke a little as she realised Mulder was stuck in a memory, “Mulder it’s me, Scully. I’m sorry but I need to get you away from here, please just trust me.” It took at least 5 minutes for her to get him to her car due to his height compared to hers and him trying to weakly get away from her. Mulder had given her Skinner’s address a while back, while they exchanged keys to each other’s apartments, just in case of emergencies.

He looked terrible, his eyes and lips were swollen, he had a gash on the side of his head and his wrists were bruised and bloody- most likely from him resisting. She wanted to reassure him by running her hand through his hair but she wasn’t sure how he would react; he wasn’t particularly with it which concerned her. Half an hour later she arrived at the address, while it was fairly late the lights on inside indicated someone was home and awake. While getting out and making her way around the car to Mulder’s side she spoke in a calm and gentle voice so as to not panic him further, “Mulder you’re safe, we weren’t followed and we’re at Skinner’s house. I’m just going to touch you to lift you out of the car, I’m not going to do anything else.” He was tense the whole process of getting him out of the car and to the door as if waiting for something to happen, Scully knocked on the door as loud as she could hoping Skinner would answer soon, after what felt like an eternity the door opened and Skinner’s face flickered through the emotions of anger and concern, “What in the hell happened to him, Agent Scully?” Mulder tried to step back at the recognition of anger in Skinner’s tone and would have taken Scully down with him if Skinner hadn’t grasped Mulder‘s other arm. “Scully get your medical kit and meet me in the second door on the left down the hall by the kitchen, I’ve dealt with Fox in this state before.” As Scully hurried back to her car to fetch her medical kit she heard her boss speaking in soothing tones to her partner, she couldn’t hear what was being said but by the sounds of it, Skinner knew how to calm Mulder when he got caught in a flashback. She got to the correct room just as Skinner was gently laying Mulder down on the bed, removing his coat, tie and shoes. “Sir, if he’s likely to move while I treat his wounds I’m going to need you to keep him still.” She told him quietly as she started with the wrists first, taking his hands in hers as she cleaned the wounds and applied some antiseptic cream to them before wrapping them in light bandages. It seemed Mulder had finally passed out completely as he was limp and still, his face too pale in comparison to the swollen eyes and lips. The gash on his forehead was only a surface wound so after giving it a quick clean with an alcohol swab she placed a plaster over it. The tricky part was not knowing how much damage the unknown chemical had done to his eyes, there was a high chance there was no damage except the swelling but she had to wait for it to go down before she knew. She went into the adjacent bathroom and soaked two flannels in cold water, she returned to Mulder’s bedside and placed the thicker one over his eyes and the thinner one over his lips. She didn’t want to risk trying to open his eyes to check them just yet.

“I’ve done all I can for now, Sir. The cold compresses should help bring the swelling down, the bruises and cuts on his wrist indicate his wrists were bound and he tried to resist. Mulder and I were working on a case where we discovered that an unknown chemical had been inserted into the genetics of several people, altering their DNA and they were then cloned. Mulder must’ve been exposed to the toxin of the chemical if he was in the vicinity of a dead body having said chemical in its blood stream. We don’t know much about this chemical yet but it’s dangerous, Sir, dangerous enough that some secret organisation was willing to kill for it.” Skinner looked over at his son, he was too still and he was sure Fox was responsible for the last few bits of his hair turning grey. “We’ll talk in the office where you’ll tell me exactly what happened.” He gave one last glance at his unconscious son before leaving the room, assuming Scully was following him. Knowing these two agents and the amount of trouble they get into, it was going to be a hell of a story. Half an hour later Scully had explained the whole situation and just how both of them got involved in it, “I suspect that if we went to retrieve this man’s body on the highway it would no longer be there, this secret governmental group seem to have a system in place already and I don’t think the scene will hold anymore answers to what’s going on. Stay here tonight, Agent Scully, you’re exhausted and you shouldn’t be driving back. You can stay in Fox’s room, I’ve been told the couch is quite comfortable.” Scully was grateful for the gesture, she told him as much and went back to check on Mulder. She pulled the armchair closer to the bed and grasped his hand in his, “You’re safe now, Mulder.” So much had happened in the last 24 hours and she had barely stopped to take a break, fearing it might have cost Mulder’s life. She took her heels and coat off, placing them neatly on the floor next to the couch before resuming her position by Mulder’s bedside as both of them had done several times in the past. The exhaustion caught up to her and she fell asleep still clutching Mulder’s hand in both comfort and reassurance, knowing even the slightest movement from him would alert her. Skinner came into the room to ask if Scully wanted anything and found the two young agents asleep, he suspected this won’t be the last time he sees them in this position. He pulled the covers over Fox and grabbed a blanket to cover Scully, he had become protective over the young woman after her father died and she continued to work even when Fox tried to encourage her to take time off. He left the door ajar slightly and went to the office and sunk down into the chair with a sigh. He wondered what these two had gotten themselves into now, he could see the sparks and genuine care for each other between the two and he was glad Fox had someone else to love and care about him.

———————-SCENE CHANGE——————
Mulder woke slowly, feeling something heavy on his face, a flash of fear ran through him as he thought he was still with the men but there was a light pressure on his left hand and one on his right shoulder. A voice he vaguely recognised spoke slowly to him, “Fox I’m going to take the compresses off okay, you’re at home.” The heavy presence on his face was removed and liquid ran down his face, he tried opening his eyes but it felt painful to do so. Another voice, a softer one this time, floated beside him, “Mulder can you open your eyes? I need to check if there’s any damage. Take as long as you need.” It took another 2 minutes for him to force his eyes open and he was grateful the room was in darkness so his eyes could adjust, “Mulder I’m going to check your pupils now, the swelling has gone down significantly since last night.” Scully shined the penlight in Mulder’s eyes, searching for any sign of damage, she couldn’t see any signs of bleeding or damage from the chemical. “Mulder, do you have any vision loss, blurriness or pain?” She asked gently, putting the penlight back in her medical kit, “No… I remember a- a burning feeling after the guy was shot in front of me. Then I blacked out.” He struggled to sit up and get out of bed, intending to run off to continue the investigation. “Mulder you need to stay put, we still don’t know how much damage the chemical can do to you, even with the minimum amount you were exposed to. I’m going to go back to the labs to analyse the chemical further, meanwhile you are going to stay here. Your eyes and lips are still swollen, you are not fit for work, doctor’s orders.” Skinner was impressed that Fox actually listened, “Agent Scully, I’ve been trying to get him to listen to me for 10 years and you manage it in a year, I’m impressed. Fox, I need to be in the office today otherwise people will suspect something is off, but when I’m home we need to talk.” Scully and Mulder exchanged quick looks, Scully saying ‘I told you so’ and Mulder’s more of a man resigned to his fate.

———————- Scene Change ——————
As Skinner let himself back into the house in the early evening he knew that the news he was about to tell Fox would not go down well, but his hands were tied. He found Fox in the lounge with notes scattered all around him, his hair a mess and his hands rubbing his eyes, “You’re not going to help yourself by rubbing them.” He commented lightly, not expecting his son to react like a startled deer, “M’sorry I didn’t notice you. I remembered what happened, they tied me up and watched me suffer in pain while they waited for something. I remember Scully, she was trying to help and I flinched away from her, I thought I was back there.” Skinner crossed the room and sat down next to his son, “This is why you need to talk to me, if you won’t talk to a therapist. Fox, the abuse you suffered was severe of course you’re going to have issues stemming from it, especially in your line of work. I know I was furious with you over the Toombs incident, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t come to me over these matters. Fox, they’ve shut down the X Files, you and Agent Scully are being reassigned. The orders come from higher up and there’s nothing I can do, I’m sorry.” Mulder sighed and ran his hands through his hair, they got too close to the Truth, “Does Scully know?” Skinner shook his head, “I didn’t have a chance to inform her.” Fox nodded and got up to leave the room, intending on calling Scully with the news, he was exhausted still but he still had his faith to keep looking even if they separated the two of them- he would protect her- a plan formed in his mind as he broke the news to Scully.

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Scully was exhausted by the time her parents left, it was nice to spend time with them alone without any of her siblings arguing with one another. It also allowed her to have some time alone to talk to her Ahab, he wasn’t one for long talks on the phone like her mom but when she had the chance to see him it felt special. Her mother, of course, started asking about her job and how Mulder was, whether he was spending the holiday alone. Her father was still not entirely happy with her choice of job or what her mom was also implying about Mulder. Speaking of him, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing, if he had decided to spend the holiday alone or if he had spent it with his dad. She was drawn to him and his wacky theories, but she couldn’t put a finger on why she was. 

She woke up sometime later, realising she had fallen asleep on the couch under the old soft tartan blanket. Through bleary eyes she noticed a shadow across from her, she felt for the lamp switch and turned it on- surprised to see her dad sitting in the armchair. 

“Ahab? Is everything okay? I can’t hear you.” It seemed like he was trying to say something but she couldn’t make it out. The ring of her house phone jolted her and tore her attention away from the armchair, who would be calling at this time of night? She glanced back at the armchair but was confused as to why her father had disappeared when he was there a moment ago. Anxiety started to rise through her body as the phone kept ringing, she picked it up finally to hear her mother’s strained voice through tears, telling her that her father had died. The man she had just seen moments ago sitting in her armchair, who had read her Moby Dick and given her the nickname ‘Starbuck’ had been taken away from her. It was like all the breath had been taken out of her body and she couldn’t breathe, but she had to be strong for her mother and Melissa. She could grieve later. 

She later stoically watched as her father’s ashes were being scattered to the sound of ‘Beyond the Sea’- her father’s favourite song-while her mom and Melissa cried next to her. It was too soon for him to have left. She held her mother tight as she cried at the loss of her husband, Scully wondered how lonely she must be now not having her Ahab at home with her. When Bill offered for their mom to stay with him and his kids for a while, she could see her mom was grateful for the support of her eldest but pained in a way of knowing how much he reminded her of her husband. 

————————-Scene Change————-

Mulder stood in front of the whiteboard that occasionally appeared in his shared office with Scully, his suit jacket was laying over his desk and his tie slightly loosened. His hands were on his hips as he studiously studied what was written, the case file was lying open on the cabinet next to him and his glasses perched on his nose as he squinted. He didn’t want to get dragged back into this case again, not with this man. He had left profiling behind, he was good at it that he knew, but he needed the X Files even if everyone else shunned him for it. Skinner had already warned him about being forced back in by Boggs, but Mulder wasn’t too concerned, he knew how to deal with Boggs’ twisted mind and words but what bothered him was his apparent connection to the kidnapping of two teenagers. He was startled out of his thoughts by Scully’s arrival,

“Sorry I'm late, Mulder.” Moving stiffly towards the empty chair by the desk, her face was pale and her eyes held a deep sadness he noticed. He was worried, it hadn’t been long since her father’s funeral and she still had plenty of paid leave. Maybe she was a bit more like him than he thought, using work as a distraction from the complexity of emotions and personal life. 

Sadness laced the quietness of her voice as she spoke again, 

“What are you working on?” 

He hesitated to answer her before deciding she wouldn’t want to be treated any differently,

“In Raleigh, North Carolina a young couple has been kidnapped by a man dressed as a police officer. Luther Lee Boggs was this serial killer I helped catch years before by creating a profile for him, he contacted me claiming he had some psychic revelations about the kidnapping and he has ever so generously offered information to the police in exchange for his death sentence being revoked.” He rattled off, his eyes flickering from one thing to another before settling on Scully and assessing her. 

“You don’t believe him.” She pointed out, which got her a proud smile from Mulder and then him rushing frantically around to find the file he was looking for, emerging victorious as he found the profile he had made for Boggs and handed it to her. He knew she would want to come on the case with him to North Carolina, but he was concerned she wasn’t processing her grief properly. He didn’t know what came over him but on his way out he cupped Scully’s cheek in his hand, his thumb stroking the side of her face slowly,

“Scully, you don’t have to come. It’s important to process your grief properly, just, if you need to talk I’m available.” Not commenting on the tears shining in Scully’s eyes as she brought up her own hand to cover his.  The next day found Scully watching Mulder the psychologist harshly dealing with Boggs, she watched with interest as Boggs clutched onto the piece of fabric like his life depended on it and started talking as if he was living the experience of the victims. She noted down the potential leads that came out of the interrogation, her mind wandering to her father and then to Mulder. She hadn’t seen him this angry before, his voice was low and seething as he caught Boggs out, explaining the fabric was torn off his old Knick’s t-shirt and didn’t belong to either one of the couple. She noticed his look of disgust and his preparation to leave, she looked back over at Boggs’ sinister smile as his head lolled in the chair. She started slightly as she saw her dad appear behind the chair singing ‘Beyond the Sea’, the same version that had played at his funeral. She couldn’t breathe, she needed to leave now. She grabbed her coat and bag, rushing through the narrow corridors with her head down, assuring Mulder that it was just the prison making her feel this way and she would see him back at the motel. She could barely focus as she drove back, the song playing through her head over and over again. When she got back to the motel she decided to shower, hoping the hot water would distract her mind long enough so she could focus on helping Mulder with the case. She thought about what Boggs said, what he was implying. 

Mulder returned to the motel a few hours later, having searched the initial crime scene where the teenagers were snatched and talked to the local police who were the first on the scene. He sighed as he didn’t find anything useful, he knew Boggs was a long shot and he hated to admit it but the man’s slimy nature had crawled under his skin. He chucked his coat and bag onto the bed, his tie joining a moment later as he started his process of unwinding. He wanted to check on Scully but he didn’t want to overstep their boundaries, he wasn’t sure if Scully would appreciate his sympathy or not. He shook his head at himself, she was his partner, his friend, he knew what it was like to lose a family member suddenly and from what he could tell Scully and her dad were close. He knocked tentatively on her motel room door, 

“Scully, it’s me.” He called through the door, waiting for her permission before entering the room.

“Come in, Mulder.” He heard a couple of minutes later, he opened the door to see Scully furiously wiping her eyes and trying to return her focus to the case files in front of her. Mulder cautiously sat on the edge of the bed, debating on whether Scully would appreciate his sympathy or not,

“Dana, I know when you lose someone you lose part of yourself and it can be tiring to hear people to express their sympathies. But, you seemed upset today at the prison after we visited Boggs and I know you don’t want to be seen as vulnerable in front of others; however it’s okay to cry about it and I’m here as a shoulder to cry on.” He spoke softly, his eyes wide and honest, his body language relaxed and allowing Scully to talk if she wanted.

“I used to call him Ahab and he used to call me Starbuck out of Moby Dick because he used to read it to me repeatedly. It was something that was just between us that I didn’t have to share with my siblings. After you left, Boggs started to sing ‘Beyond the Sea’ and I thought I saw my dad appear behind him. The song he was singing was the one that played at my dad’s funeral and it just hit me…” Again wiping her eyes furiously, trying not to make eye contact with Mulder. He listened attentively, reaching into his shirt pocket for a packet of tissues he occasionally kept there and offering it to Scully silently. He hesitantly moved so he was sitting beside her and brought her in beside him, his arm around her shoulders. It seemed it was the only thing holding Scully back from keeping control of her emotions because the moment her face was buried in his shoulder he could feel the tears soaking his shirt. All he did was hold her and occasionally stroked her hair while she cried, saying nothing but being there for her.  Scully woke alone in her motel room, a glass of water on the bedside cabinet with a short scribbled note next to it. She noticed a blanket had been placed over her and realised she must’ve fallen asleep while crying on Mulder’s shoulder, god that is embarrassing. She switched on the lamp and read the short note with bleary eyes,

Scully,

Please do not be embarrassed about crying for your father, it is clear you loved him very much from the stories you told. You fell asleep so I left you to rest, if you need anything I am in the room opposite watching crappy tv.

Mulder.

It was sweet the way he left the note and offered his sympathies, he was a very emphatic man, which surprised her considering what the rest of the men in the FBI were like. She decided a late-night drive might clear her mind and help her focus, so she grabbed her keys and quietly left the motel, not wanting to bother Mulder anymore than she had already done. As she drove she thought about what Boggs had been saying, was it really all lies as Mulder was suggesting? Her mind started making connections between Boggs’ claims and the places she could see in the street lights when a warehouse caught her eye. Against her better judgement, she went to investigate, wishing she had a flashlight with her as she navigated the darkness and hated how silent it was. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, trying to find anything that might reflect off the small amount of light pooling in from the street light and she was rewarded for her long search by a small object twinkling beside signs that the kidnapper must’ve been there.  She knew Mulder didn’t exactly want to be back in the prison, seeing Boggs again and having to cut a deal with him after confirming the object was a charm belonging to Liz Hawley. She could see the stress lines appearing on his face and she tried to block out the image of him answering the door bare-chested, tired and confused but still willing to hear her out about what she had found. 

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to give Boggs a fake newspaper claiming the teenagers had been found. Then we’re going to wait until his phone call with his partner to see what he says, hopefully, then he can lead us to where these teenagers are, as well as who this partner is. At this point, it is just a waiting game, Scully.” He advised, handing the paper to the guard in charge of Boggs. They passed the time by keeping an eye on Boggs and talking with each other, she was grateful that Mulder didn’t give her any sympathetic looks or keep asking how she was holding up like so many people she knew. She found herself observing his mannerisms as he talked, learning more about how his mind worked and his work in psychoanalysis. They were interrupted in their conversation by the arrival of Boggs’ phone call, hoping that finally they would have a lead on the missing teenagers and something good could come out of this mad deal with Boggs. Scully felt Mulder startle ever so slightly when his phone rang and Boggs looked up at the camera with a smarmy smirk on his face, she felt a surge of irritation at this man for enjoying the benefits he was getting out of how valuable his information was. 

“Well, I would call this a partial success, Scully, wouldn't you?” Mulder joked as he breathed through the pain in his leg, he could feel blood slithering out of the wound and the pain pulsating around the bullet. God, he hated being shot. 

“Mulder, I need to bind your leg to slow the bleeding. An ambulance is on its way, but I need you to stay awake for me. The other agents got Liz Hawley out, but James Summers wasn't here. Mulder, stay with me.” Using her jacket to tightly bind the leg, hoping the pressure will stem the bleeding enough. She felt his pulse, it was rapid as his heart tried to replace the blood lost, he was pale and was gritting his teeth against what must be agonising pain. She mentally typed up the information in her head, keeping an eye on Mulder’s lucidity as the EMTs came bursting in, 

“He was shot at close range, the bullet entered his leg and is still lodged in there, it doesn’t seem that it has nicked any arteries. He’s lost quite a lot of blood and his pulse is rapid, he hasn’t lost consciousness to my knowledge. I’m his partner and his medical doctor.” She added on the end of the information she rattled off as her partner was lifted onto the gurney and the EMTs seemed surprised at the amount of information received. She stroked his hair soothingly as the EMTs did their job of making Mulder more comfortable, it was then she noticed a cross beside them, painted white with chains so rusted that they looked like dried blood. The warning flashed in her mind and her hand stilled in his hair, did he really manage to predict this? And was it her fault that she didn’t listen or want to believe? She was left standing in the corridor, Mulder’s blood staining her hands and his pale face burned into her mind. 

Scully now understood why Mulder really didn’t want to take this case, Boggs infuriated her to no end, he seemed to think that his talent with voices made him deserving of escaping the death sentence for the murders he committed. When he had offered to summon up the ghost of her father, she knew that he had successfully wormed his way into her mind. However, the thought of her father’s ghost or memory being spoken through a serial killer as deranged as Boggs sickened her, this wouldn’t be what her Ahab would’ve wanted for her or himself for that matter. Any message that was being offered wouldn’t be as genuine as the one she knew he had told her throughout her life. Her mind was cast back to the funeral, to when she asked her mother if her father was still proud of her despite not pursuing the career he wanted her to. She hadn’t understood what her mom’s response meant until now. Now she was choosing to believe that what she saw the night he had died was a message from him, that he was proud of her and loved her. 

Chapter Text

His two constant thoughts while negotiating this hostage situation was that he was glad Scully was safe and that he needed to know if this man was telling the truth, that he had really been abducted by aliens. What he had been saying matches up with other abductees stories, but what Scully had told him about Barry’s psychiatric history had him doubting the story. He hated himself for allowing Barry to be shot but he was first and foremost an FBI agent, he couldn’t risk the life of a man after persuading Barry to let the women go. He could see Scully out of the corner of his eye, he wanted nothing more than to go over to her, to thank her for coming even after how he treated her, but he couldn’t risk it. Instead, they went their separate ways again, him to catch up with the hostage team and Scully back to medicine.

Scully examined the metal and the information that the doctors had given her after Duane Barry’s surgery, the metal had been right where he said it was. There was also the confirmation of holes drilled into his teeth by some sort of machine that didn’t break his teeth, it didn’t make sense. She looked at the clock and realised if she was going to get some shopping done she would have to leave now, she tucked away the vial holding the metal into her bag along with her glasses and tidied her desk area. Being in the morgue wasn’t the same without Mulder lounging near here watching intensely as she explained results. She didn’t think she would miss working with him so much, but being back on a case together was refreshing even when he was part of a hostage situation. As she finished bagging her groceries up a thought struck her as she watched the scanner, she didn’t know why she thought it would work but she scanned the metal anyway and rolls of numbers in some sort of code reeled off. She needed to contact Mulder. As soon as she got home she dialled Mulder’s number and silently cursed his inability to pick up the phone sometimes, “Mulder, I think the metal retrieved from Duane Barry has some sort of number or code on it, it’s almost as if something or someone was cataloguing him. Keeping track of him so they could come back, he was telling the truth-“ She was cut off by a noise behind her and turned to see Duane Barry outside her window. She went to reach for her gun but he got in faster, tackling her to the floor, hitting her head on her table on the way down. The phone was still on, “Mulder! Mulder, I need your help! Mulder!” She hoped in that instance he would pick up the phone, but knew that when he listened to his messages he would find her. She still struggled for her gun until the phone was crushed and Barry knocked her out.

2 days. 2 days straight he looked for her. All he had left was faith she was still alive. Breaking the news to her mother was one of the hardest things, she was too kind to the man who had caused her daughter to be abducted. He looked at the gold cross in the palm of his hand in the glow of the lamp on his living room desk, when he closed his eyes all he could see was her blood and her terrified face as she lay bound in a trunk of a car. He wanted to scream, to shout at the world for taking her, asking, begging for them to give her back. She didn’t deserve this and it was his fault. He placed her in that situation, he trusted Krycek, he was too late. He didn’t realise that the guttural noise filling the room was him and he felt as if something outside of his control was tearing everything up, something gripped his arms forcing him to stop the actions as he desperately struggled for control, “Stop, get off me!” He needed to scream at the world for its unfairness for taking someone so pure and faithful, “Fox, stop struggling you’re going to hurt yourself. It’s okay let it out, I know you’re hurting.” He felt Fox gradually relax as he let out the hurt and grief he had been holding in for the past two days, he barely heard the next words as they were spoken so quietly and roughly, “She’s gone. They took her and it’s my fault. I need to find her, I promised her mother…” He looked up finally at his father, bloodshot puffy eyes meeting concerned eyes, “Fox, the only person responsible for Scully’s abduction is Duane Barry and he’s dead. You’ll find her but you need to take care of yourself while we search for her, you’re no use to her if you run yourself into the ground. You love her, Fox, I can see it whenever you two interact. Hold onto your faith and love for her.” He held his son through his grief as the world shattered around them, he had never seen Fox so devastated before and he imagines this is what a younger him was like when Samantha was abducted in front of his eyes.

4 weeks. 4 weeks of trying to keep Fox afloat while Dana was missing. He had had numerous calls from Maggie Scully over the weeks informing him about Mulder turning up and apologising for her daughter’s disappearance. He was glad that Maggie was also looking out for Fox and didn’t hold him responsible. Skinner rushed to the hospital after Fox’s panicked call to him 5 minutes ago saying that Scully had returned in the hospital and was currently in a coma, no one knew what was wrong with her. As he located Dana’s room he witnessed a scene that filled him with rage, a man he assumed to be Bill Scully Jr was holding Fox by his shirt against the wall, blaming him for his sister’s condition. “I’d advise you to release Agent Mulder and remind you that attacking a federal agent is a crime, no matter if you’re part of the US Navy or not.” Bill glanced between the two men for a second before releasing Fox and stepping away. As Maggie returned with Melissa from speaking with the doctor, Skinner strategically placed himself between his son and Bill. Maggie told the group that no one can figure out how Dana got there or what was wrong with her, she also had a living will that orders her mother or Mulder to take her off life support if her condition falls to a specific level. “I’m not giving up on her, I’ll find out what happened to her and she’ll wake up.” Mulder turned on his heel and left the hospital, a solitary man hell-bent on finding the truth.

Mulder didn’t sleep for the next two days while he had the help of the Lone Gunmen and X to find the truth about Scully’s abduction. He had killed a man in cold blood and held that cigarette smoking son of a bitch to gunpoint, all to find out why Scully was taken, how to save her. He wouldn’t let her die. It was Melissa that convinced him to go back to the hospital, to talk to Scully instead of waiting in the dark with a gun for the men who had information on Scully. He was sat in the uncomfortable hospital chair on her left side, clutching her hand and talking to her, begging her to not give up. Her cross was hanging around his neck, a sign of her faith in him and the truth. It was early the next morning when he heard Maggie softly waking him up, “Fox, honey, wake up.” His hand was still clutching Scully’s as he turned his head to check on her again, it took him a few moments to realise something was different. The atmosphere was lighter, there was hope. He realised Scully’s eyes were open and staring back at him, “I heard your voice Mulder, it anchored me.” His voice cracked as he replied, “Scully I searched for you, I never gave up. I’m sorry, it was my fault.” Scully brought up her hand to wipe away the tears falling from her partner’s eyes and cupped his cheek, urging him closer, “I know you did Mulder, it wasn’t your fault.” Mulder leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead and decided for the first time in a long time to be brave, he kissed her gently on the lips as if he was afraid she would reject him. She kissed him back and the heads rested against each other for a second before Mulder pulled away with a content smile. “I’ll come back later, I promise, I’m sure your family will want to see you.” He squeezed and then kissed her hand before exiting the room, his heart lighter than it had been in a month.

Chapter Text

It has been two weeks since Scully had been released from the hospital, she still couldn’t remember anything that had happened between being abducted and being returned but she was in full health regardless and that’s what mattered. Mulder was surprised when he heard a tentative knock on his door late at night, he opened the door to find Scully smiling back at him, “Scully, is everything okay? I thought you were staying with your mom before coming back to work?” They had seen each other a few times during the weeks following, but Mulder hadn’t wanted to impose on Scully’s family. “Everything is fine, Mulder. I wanted to talk to you, away from my family-especially Bill.” She took his hand into her own, wanting to reassure him physically seeing the worried look on his face, “Mulder about what happened at the hospital, I meant what I said when I heard you while I was lying in that coma. I remember being in a boat tied to a dock, you were standing on the dock talking to me and I had a choice. A choice on whether to stay or let go, your voice drew me back. I wanted to thank you for not giving up on me and to also do this.” She leant forward and captured his lips with her own, tangling her hand in his hair. She felt his surprise before he snaked one hand around her waist and one finding its way into her hair as he pulled her closer. After several minutes they separated, Scully lying on top of Mulder with her head resting on his shoulder, “Wow” Mulder whispered, “Scully, are you sure this is what you want? If we do this they’ll be no going back to just partners, I’ve fallen in love with you, Dana Scully. Your skepticism and science has kept me honest and I trust you with my life. When you disappeared, it was as if a piece of me disappeared alongside you.” He brushed a piece of hair out of her eye, hoping his confession didn’t scare her, “Mulder, I’ve fallen in love with you too and it scares me how deeply I feel for you. I want to be more than just work partners and friends. Can I stay tonight?”
“Of course, you can, Scully.” He held her tighter and kissed her forehead softly, feeling content and happy with Scully in his arms, doing this felt natural- as if they were made to be together.

They decided to take their relationship slow and between them for the time being, figuring out a balance between their personal and work lives. No one seemed to notice they were closer than normal, they were used to seeing Mulder with his hand gently resting on Scully’s back or them leaning close together discussing the ins and outs of their bizarre cases. Their newest case was in Wisconsin after a series of disappearances and reappearances of teens, with the words ‘HE IS ONE’ or ‘SHE IS ONE’ written on their backs as they wandered the woods. They arrived fairly late in the day and headed straight to the sheriff’s office for details on the case, Scully explained the odd toxicology findings to him and he couldn’t help but flirt with her a bit in the privacy of their motel room, “Scully, I love it when you talk science to me.” He received a pillow to his face and a “Mulder!” In response, he laughed freely knowing it amused her to no end. Apparently, the only good eating place in this town was all you can chicken, he thought Scully would be out of place eating greasy food in her pristine suits, but surprisingly she fitted in well. Scully must’ve felt him staring as she looked up at him, “What?” He chuckled, “You just have something here” he leaned forward and gently wiped some sauce from the corner of her mouth wanting to kiss her so desperately, but knowing they had to remain professional while in their office and on cases. He noticed outside of the window a group of teenagers harassing one of the kids from the Church of the Red Museum, he grabbed his coat and headed out to see what was going on. It didn’t matter that he and Scully suspected the church of being behind the odd disappearances, the kid wasn’t in any way responsible and wasn’t harming anyone with his beliefs. “Hey cut it out, leave him alone.” The leader he recognised as the sheriff’s kid went to square up to him but decided against it when he noticed Mulder’s FBI badge. Scully came up beside him and touched his arm asking the kid if he was okay, all they got in return was a hesitant nod before he carried on back to the church.

Neither one of the agents was prepared for what happened in the following days of the case, the murder of the sheriff’s son, the discovery of this ‘Purity Control’ drug that had been injected into the kids and the link between the assassin that killed Deep Throat and the doctor who had created these drugs. Scully rounded the kids up into the Church of the Red Museum to keep them safe from Larson, while Mulder went to confront the crew-cut man with the sheriff which unfortunately ended, whether righteously or not, in the assassin’s death. At least for once, neither of them managed to get either mildly or seriously injured, but Scully knew Mulder was beating himself up for not being able to save the boy but they couldn’t save everyone.

On the way back to their motel a call came in about another case in Massachusetts, a woman who had been beaten up by an elderly resident suffering from dementia. “What do you think, Scully? An elderly man being able to beat up a strong nurse?” He asked, glancing to his side at Scully as she tried to stop the yawn from escaping, “It’s possible that if he was in high distress he would be able to cause some damage, but to the extent the woman described and also the sexual assault, I don’t think it was actually him.” Mulder hummed in agreement as he pulled into the motel car park, “I assume we’re catching a flight tomorrow morning, which means you can get some rest. You’re tired, honey, I can tell.” Scully took his hand as they walked to their rooms, filing away the slip of the pet name for later use, she leant up to kiss him goodnight- slightly stroking the 2-day stubble on Mulder’s jaw before slipping into her room and leaving him stunned.

———————BIG SCENE CHANGE——————

It was thanks to Scully’s scientific abilities once again that allowed them to solve the case, who knew that a herbal drug of mushrooms would stop the effects of Alzheimer’s and allow them to see spirits instead. Scully had felt icy fear crawl through her like thorns when she realised Mulder was trapped in a rapidly flooding locked room, she wasn’t sure how long he could hold his breath but an average human could only hold it safely for 2-3 minutes. He looked like a bedraggled drowned cat but he had kept Miss Charters alive. Without the use of the drugs, the patients were reverted back to the state that Alzheimer’s sadly reduced them to. The government had taken over the facility and so it was officially under their control now, so Scully drove them to the airport to catch their flight home. Mulder’s hair was still dripping wet even when she affectionately towelled it in an effort to dry it for him, due to going from case to case Mulder didn’t have another pair of clean clothes so he was stuck in wet clothes until they were home, in about 8 hours time. Somehow they had both fallen asleep on the plane together, her hand in his and her head resting on his shoulder, she was woken by Mulder’s jerky movements. As she properly woke up she realised what caused Mulder’s reaction, the air steward had shaken his shoulder gently to wake him to inform them the plane was landing at the airport. “Hey Mulder, it’s alright, we’ve landed in Washington. I phoned your dad before we left and he said we have the next few days off and he’ll check on you.” Her soft voice and calming touch on the side of his face grounded him, he winced slightly as he stretched his long legs as he stood from the cramped seating.

“Scully, did you drool on me?” He jokingly accused as they exited the airport and flagged down a cab, “Mulder, I do not drool in my sleep.”
“The evidence may point to the contrary, my dear Scully.” They bickered all the way to his apartment, it was late and all he wanted was to get out of these wet clothes and hold Scully as they slept off the rest of their jet lag. They both put their bags in the corner of his dining area and Mulder made his way to his now empty bedroom- that Scully helped/forced him to declutter- he pulled out 2 old t-shirts and sleeping pants for himself. He handed one of the shirts to Scully to put over her leggings, it’s usually how they slept when either one stayed over in the other’s apartment. They hadn’t had sex together yet since they were taking it slow and Mulder didn’t want to ruin the relationship just as it started. He grabbed a throw from his cupboard and settled on the sofa as Scully changed, he still felt somewhat cold from his near-drowning experience but he was sure with Scully in his arms he would warm up soon. He let out an “oof” as Scully all but flopped on top of him and placed the blanket securely around them, “You scared me when you were trapped in that room, I thought you would drown if I didn’t stop the man from seizing and get the door open.” Mulder combed his fingers through her hair as her face nestled into the crook of his neck, “I’m fine, Scully. Still a bit cold, but you saved me. Come on you’re exhausted, we worked two cases back to back and have jet lag. Come on, honey, your mother would not be impressed if she knew I was keeping you from your sleep.”

————-SCENE CHANGE————

Fox would’ve found it hilarious that he and Scully’s mother, Maggie, had both turned up at Fox’s apartment at the same time wanting to check on their respective children. “Hello Mrs Scully, I assume you’re here for the same reason I am.” She graced him with one of her twinkling smiles, “Please call me Maggie, I thought Dana and Fox would appreciate some home cooked food after a long day.” Skinner unlocked his son’s front door as he told Maggie to call him Walter and he was greeted with the most heartwarming image. Fox was fast asleep on his leather couch with Scully curled on top of him, her legs entwined with his and his arms wrapped securely around her waist. He could see Scully’s hand curled protectively around the back of Fox’s head, as their heads were tucked next to each other with the large throw enveloping them in a warm embrace. “They look so peaceful lying there.” Maggie commented quietly beside Skinner, she was happy they had each other as Dana had not stopped mentioning Fox once since she was released from the hospital. She quietly put the containers of food in Fox’s near-empty fridge and wrote a note explaining what she had cooked and she came by with Walter. The soft glow from the lamp projected a halo of warm light onto the couple and Walter retrieved the old camera from Fox’s cupboard where he had placed it last, he wanted to capture this moment, a snapshot in time that showcased the two young agents’ love for each other. He was lucky there was enough light on the pair that the resulting picture was almost lifelike, he mentally put a reminder on his to-do list to get the photo developed and printed for himself and Maggie. He would let Fox tell him in his own time about his relationship with his partner, but he couldn’t think of a better person to love his son than Dana Scully.

Chapter Text

Mulder was worried about Scully, while he was putting together his profile for the killer and discounting Brock’s theory she seemed to become more and more uncomfortable with the nature of the crimes. He didn’t want to push her to talk to him about what was bothering her even if he wanted to just outright ask her what was wrong but she had put her walls up and seemed to be caught up in her own mind which was unusual for her, the discovery of a third body and the interrogation of a potential suspect seemed to affect her, even more, when she excused herself during the middle of the interrogation. He wanted nothing more to follow her out and ask her if she was okay, but he couldn’t leave during the interrogation and force her to open up to him so he continued the interrogation to the best of his ability before ending it and going to check on his partner. He caught up with her in an empty office, “Scully, honey, are you okay? You seem distracted and affected by the crime scene photos.” He looked at her with concern and dared to take one of her hands to give her some physical comfort, “I’m fine, Mulder. I just couldn’t stop thinking about those poor women, the way they were mutilated even after death. I’m going to head back to Washington to find out a bit more, you’ll be okay here with Agent Bocks?” Scully knew she probably shouldn’t keep what she was feeling to herself, but she couldn’t make sense of the hallucinations/memories that kept replaying in her mind, the profile Mulder created reminded her too much of that night. She tried not to notice the hurt look that flashed across her partner’s face, “I’ll give you a call when I’ve landed.” She gave him a kiss on his forehead to reassure him before she left, she just needed to talk to someone neutral first and she didn’t want to cause Mulder to be worried and become overprotective. Mulder stood in the room for a further 5 minutes feeling confused and worried, he knew Scully liked to deal with emotion-based events in her own way but he so desperately wanted to help her. He’ll wait for her to come to him in her own time, he decided, for now, he wanted to finish up this case as quickly as he could.

——————-SCENE CHANGE————-

Scully tried to shake off the disturbing dreams about being in a room alone, a surgical room surrounded by shadows of people. Something was put in her. She feels pain. So much pain. “Come on, Dana.” She whispered to herself as she stood outside the bureau's resident therapy office, she had made an appointment knowing she needed to talk to someone, but opening up was hard for her. As a woman in a male-dominated career and being brought up in a military family she tended to keep her emotions to herself, not being vulnerable in front of men who felt they were better than her. She knocked and let herself in, it was easier that it was a woman she was speaking to. “I was abducted a few months ago by a suspect in a case, I was told I returned after a month and the doctors couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me. I couldn’t remember what happened while I was away, but lately I’ve been getting these dreams and what seem like flashbacks. They increased when I started to work on this new case with my partner, the suspect has a death fetish and likes to keep things that belonged to the victim.” She further explained her anxiety and rising panic as she stood in the interrogation room, the therapist waited for her to finish talking before speaking. “Dana, after what you’ve been through and what you have told me about your experience it is not uncommon to have developed a strong post traumatic stress reaction to situations that are similar to your own. It is no weakness to feel the anxiety that you are feeling, why have you not told your partner about how you feel? Do you not trust him?”
“I trust him with my life. I just don’t want to burden him or make him feel obliged to worry about me.” Scully looked down at the floor, she loved Mulder but she still struggled to be vulnerable around him. “Dana, it may be helpful for your mental recovery to talk to your partner about what you are feeling. If you feel as if you need another appointment please do not hesitate to make one.” Scully felt better after talking to the therapist, she hadn’t considered it being related to any kind of resulting trauma from her abduction, she was drawn out of her thoughts by realising she had a missed call from someone in Minnesota, thinking it was Mulder checking in she called him and was surprised when he picked up straight away. She apologised for missing his call and said she’ll head back to Minneapolis as soon as she can, she was slightly suspicious when Mulder said neither he nor Agent Brocks tried to contact her but she wasn’t overly concerned thinking it might have just been another agent.

———————-SCENE CHANGE————-

Mulder couldn’t shake the parallels and dreading sense of de ja vu as he and Agent Brocks found Scully’s abandoned car. They were looking for Donnie Pfaster. The paint from Scully’s car matched the paint from Pfaster’s car and Agent Brocks had just tracked down Pfaster’s former residence. He was grateful that Agent Brocks took control of the situation by calling for backup as they sped to the address, all Mulder could think about was how he failed Scully again, that he’ll lose her again. His fingers tapped his knee as they drove closer to their target location, he couldn’t think of Pfaster touching Scully, her hair, her skin without feeling sick to his stomach. He led the charge into the house and would’ve killed Pfaster on-site if it wasn’t for Agent Brocks and his team taking Pfaster out of the house and leaving him with Scully.

Mulder rushed to Scully’s side and knelt down, gently untying the gag and her bound wrists. “Scully, he didn’t hurt you in any way did he?” He asked quietly, fearing he had been too late as he took in her split lip and chafed wrists. “He didn’t have a chance, I’m fine.” She allowed Mulder to help her and he pulled her into a hug, she couldn’t hold it in anymore and she let herself break down in his arms. Mulder tightened his arms around her, kissing the top of her head gently as she cried in his arms, all he could do was offer her this protection in his arms. It broke his heart to see her break down like this but he didn’t want her to stay in this place any longer, “Scully, honey, come on we need to leave. Let me take you back to Washington.” He took off his coat and gently placed it around her, placing a hand on the small of her back and guiding her out of the house.

A couple of hours later they were halfway back to Washington on the plane and Scully hadn’t let go of his coat. “Mulder, thank you, for finding me.” Scully said quietly, the plane didn’t have many people on it but they were secluded at the back for some sort of privacy, “I saw a therapist when I went back to Washington. The case started causing me to have flashbacks and dreams about my abduction, I didn’t want to want to burden you about it, I wanted to figure out what I was feeling first. It just brought up too many memories, especially when Pfaster…” Mulder squeezed her hand in support, his eyes shining bright with concern and love, waiting for her to continue when she felt she could, “I thought I had dealt with it, accepted not having any memory of the events, but I think I ignored it because I didn’t want to face it. The therapist suggested I have some Post Traumatic Stress and offered more sessions if I need them. Mulder, would you think less of me if I did see someone?” Mulder’s heart broke a little at the vulnerability in her voice, “Scully, I would never think less of you for anything. You have my support, always.” For the rest of the flight, Scully distracted herself with a book that Mulder had produced from his bag, while he wrote notes down about his psychological profile of Donnie Pfaster. Tracing Pfaster’s psychological state back to his childhood of growing up with 4 older sisters and reflecting on the nature of evil. “You’re staring.” He commented lightly, feeling Scully’s stare on him as he worked, “Your glasses make you look very handsome, I can’t help but stare.” She replied, tracing her eyes over Mulder’s sharp facial features that are accentuated by the round glasses. He didn’t wear them as much, only when he was concentrating for long periods of time on case files or analysing something, she found him even more handsome with his glasses. She could envision him as a younger man at Oxford surrounded by psychology books, a loose t-shirt and glasses as he studied with the same ferocious attention as he did with everything. A light blush scattered over Mulder’s face and she had come to know that he wasn’t used to getting many compliments.

Mulder had dropped Scully off at her mother’s house as per her request, knowing she need the comfort of her mother. At times like this he thought about his own relationship with his mother, he was occasionally in contact with her and he didn’t blame her for the abuse that happened, she lost her daughter just as he lost his sister. He sat in his car outside his dad’s house, mulling over the events of the past few days, he was glad Scully trusted him enough to open up to him about her fears, he knew the signs of PTSD from both a psychological and personal view. He pulled out a worn card from his wallet, turning it over in his hands, debating on whether to make an appointment for the first time in a few years. Neither his dad nor Scully knew he was in and out of counselling to deal with the abuse he suffered and the guilt surrounding his sister’s abduction. He smiled slightly at remembering Maggie Scully’s approving look as he kissed her daughter goodnight and held her close to make her feel safe, he was happy that Maggie approved of their relationship. He sighed as he turned to reach for his coat before realising Scully must still have it, thankfully it wasn’t too cold outside. As he got out of the car he saw the front door open and his dad making his way onto the porch, “Are you coming in or not, Fox?” He heard his dad call, he stuffed the business card into his pocket and grabbed the notes and files. As he entered the house his dad ruffled his hair and squeezed his shoulder affectionately. Skinner waited until Fox grabbed a coffee before broaching the subject of his son’s relationship, “So how long have you and Agent Scully been together then, Fox?” It wasn’t often he managed to surprise his son and he took great delight in it. “How did you? Oh, that night Maggie left the note. Around 4 months or so, we’re taking it slow, I was going to tell you but we wanted to just be us for a while.” Skinner smiled at his son, he could see the love in those eyes when he talked about Scully, “Fox I’m just happy to see you truly happy, Dana has been good for you, I can’t think of anyone better to love my son.”

Chapter Text

His sister was alive, Samantha was alive. She was alive until he lost her again. He couldn’t protect her when he was 12 and now he hadn’t protected her decades later. Going back to his childhood home for the second time in one week was nearly overwhelming, but he was yet to tell his mother that Samantha was gone and he felt like that 12-year-old kid again telling his parents what had happened. He knew Scully and his dad were worried, he hadn’t told them he was even here but his mother deserved to know. To not have her keep hope that she’ll see her daughter again.

He opened the door to find his father- Bill Mulder- standing in his mother’s living room. He approached slowly, feeling like a small wild animal trying to get past a predator that was starving. “Where’s your sister, Fox?” Bill’s voice was just how he remembered it, full of anger and suspicion, “I- I lost her. They took my partner and threatened to hurt her if I didn’t give them Samantha! I tried to keep her safe, but my partner was in danger and I wasn’t about to let someone I love get hurt again!” He hadn’t realised his voice had risen until he felt his father’s fist collide with his jaw and he stumbled back. “Fox, you know not to take that tone with me. I thought you had learnt your lesson the first time but clearly you did not.”

Mulder didn’t know how long the beating lasted, he just curled into a ball and protected his head while waiting for it to end. Every punch and kick reminded him of his failure to protect Samantha. He was a grown man but here he was not being able to stand up to his own father, finally it stopped and he heard Bill walk away. He gradually uncurled from his position and tried to take stock of his injuries, he felt blood trickling down the side of his head while his ribs were screaming at him; it wasn’t the worst beating he ever had but it was still a shock to his body.

He heard a crinkle of paper as he slowly pulled himself up, it took his eyes a while to adjust and read the message, it was a message saying to meet at a clinic in Maryland if they got separated. Hope. Maybe Samantha had gotten away, maybe he’ll get answers. He slowly managed to get up, clutching his waist as he realised his ribs were most likely bruised, fractured at their worst. He made his way to his car and grabbed some tissues out of the glovebox to clean most of the blood off his face. He so desperately wanted to call Scully or even his dad, but he couldn’t drag them into this they would just get even more hurt and he couldn’t face that.

He blocked out the pain so he could make his way to the clinic to get the answers he so desperately needed, what he didn’t expect when he entered the clinic was 4 more ‘Samanthas’ staring back at him. “She wasn’t real was she?” The Samanthas looked at him in pity and one of them stepped forward to explain they were clones made from alien DNA, but they all shared some part of his sister’s DNA, this was all some scheme to manipulate him into helping them and he fell for it so easily, he got Scully hurt because of it.

He made to leave but came face to face with the bounty Hunter that had killed CIA Agent Chapel, he didn’t remember being knocked unconscious but the next thing he knew he was being helped out of the burned abortion clinic. “There were women in there and a man.” He protested weakly, trying to pull the oxygen mask off his face. “Sir, there wasn’t anyone else in there. Sir, you need to go to the hospital. Sir!” Mulder couldn’t go to the hospital just yet, he needed to find someone who had information, he needed to find X.

Scully’s email popped up with a message, it was a short message but it filled her with worry. Mulder had gone in search of a ship in the arctic, no coordinates or anything else was in the message, just to not follow him and he had hurt her enough. She hadn’t seen her partner since he saw his ‘sister’ fall over the bridge with the bounty hunter. She rushed to her car and headed to Mulder’s apartment, planning on calling Skinner as soon as she got in; hoping he would know where Mulder was heading. She and Mulder had talked a bit about his family about how his relationship with his mother was strained but he still loved her, he had told her the bare bones of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father but not the whole story just yet.

She quickly let herself into Mulder’s apartment and set up the rendezvous sign he had used on occasion to summon X or let her know when he was working on something with the X Files. She phoned Skinner and prayed he would pick up, time was running out and she still had no leads on where Mulder might be, now she had to break the news to her boss who also happens to be her partner’s dad that his son was missing.

“Sir, I’m at Mulder’s apartment. I got an email from him… Sir he’s missing. I haven’t seen him since the woman he thought was his sister fell into the sea. I tried to examine her body, but she dissolved into the green liquid as soon as they brought her out of the water. I think the cold temperature stops this retrovirus from spreading. Do you have any information on where he might be?” She didn’t expect the amount of cursing coming from her boss, in both English and a different language, he reported he hadn’t heard anything but was heading to Mulder’s apartment now. It was sometime before X turned up but he proved to be non-cooperative. Her anger was rising as more time passed as X further refused to tell her where Mulder is.

Skinner saw the man that Fox called ‘X’ and had mentioned before, he heard Scully shouting from down the hall for X to tell her where Mulder was or he would be responsible for anything that happened. As X walked towards him, Skinner grabbed the man by his shirt and held him against the wall of the elevator, “Tell me where Fox is or so help me god whatever conspiracy group you are part of will not protect you from me.”

He wasn’t expecting the other man to fight back against him, but his parental instinct drove him to gain the upper hand. “Tell me where he is!” The fury on his face must have shown because X relented, “He’s in the Artic, pursuing the ship USS Allegiance and the Bounty Hunter. Your boy looked a little roughed up, I suggest you hurry.” Skinner let the man go and walked towards the apartment, letting himself in and coming face to face with a furious Scully whose medical training kicked in as soon as she saw his split lip. “Sir, your lip…” Skinner waved away her concern, finding his son was more important at this moment. “He’s in the Artic pursuing the Bounty Hunter, X implied we should hurry, you can fill me in on the rest on the way there.”

Hours later Scully and Skinner were sitting at yet another hospital bed that Mulder was laying in, Scully thanked God that they arrived in time to save Mulder from the alien virus. What she wasn’t expecting was to see how bad he looked, his face was a mess of bruises and cuts, his wrist was in a cast due to it hanging in a handcuff from the top of an entrance and she was sure that if she looked at his chest it would also be covered in bruises.

Once the doctor finally entered the room she asked for the full medical report, for both her and Skinner’s peace of mind, she read through the medical notes and frowned; Skinner noticed and immediately asked what was wrong. “These notes say that most of the bruising and cuts are a couple of days older, they weren’t received when he was out there. I don’t understand where he received these injuries. Sir?”

She looked up and noticed Skinner’s furious face, he stood up abruptly, “Excuse me, Dana, I need to make an urgent phone call.” Scully assumed Skinner would explain what made him so angry, she resumed her seat next to Mulder’s side and took his hand in hers. “Come on, baby, open your eyes for me. Your dad is outside in the hall, come on.” She laid her head gently on his chest, being mindful of the tubes and wires as well as the bruises, wanting to feel his breathing and heartbeat to fully assure herself that he was alive.

Scully wasn’t sure how long she was asleep but as soon as she felt Mulder’s body shifting underneath her head. He looked confused as he opened his eyes and saw her worried face looking back up at him with Skinner slumped in a chair on the other side of the bed, the split lip and bruise looking more pronounced as they had time to flourish.

Mulder tried to open his mouth to speak but no sound came out so Scully poured a drink of water and gently tilted Mulder’s head upwards so he could drink. “Scully.” His voice was no more than a whisper but it felt so good to hear it, “Hey Mulder, welcome back to the land of the living.” She stroked his hair lightly and tried to stop the few tears from falling down her cheeks, Mulder lifted his non-casted hand up and brushed them away, concern showing in his eyes.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” She asked, wishing he had finally found answers to his questions about his sister, her heart broke for him as he shook his head, “I found something better. Faith. To keep looking.” There was renewed hope in his voice, whatever he found he would tell her when it was safe.

He turned his head to look at Skinner still sleeping, noticing for the first time the split lip and bruise, “What happened?” Mulder asked, trying to move enough to nudge Skinner awake, which turned out to be a bad move because he had forgotten about his heavily bruised ribs, he let out a sharp cry of pain that immediately alerted Skinner’s parental instincts and Scully’s medical instincts.

Skinner sat up and placed a calming hand on Fox’s arm as Scully checked his ribs, “Never mind what happened to me, you’re the one in a field hospital in the Arctic. You went missing, Fox, and all I had was an email you sent to Dana telling her not to follow you. Fox, tell me who beat you into this condition.” Skinner already had a firm idea of who was capable of such violence but he needed the confirmation, Scully looked torn from being angry and confused.

Mulder looked down in shame, “My father. I went to see my mom to tell her what happened to Samantha, how I couldn’t save her again, but He was also there and I had- he deserved to know. He caught me off guard. Some FBI agent I am, can’t even defend myself against my abuser. I’m tired, can you please leave.” He refused to look at the pity in Scully’s eyes or the anger in his dad’s, he just pulled the blanket further over him and shifted into a more comfortable position, closing his eyes. He felt Scully lean over hesitantly and kiss his forehead, then heard two pairs of footsteps leave the room. He knew he was being irrational but he just wanted to be alone at the moment, he wanted his brain to shut off for just one second so he could just have some god damn rest.

Scully took one look at Skinner’s furious face and clenched fists and decided her boss needed to calm down. “Sir, you need to calm down before you do anything rash. Nothing can be done about William Mulder at the moment. I’m going to speak to the doctor and see when Mulder can be released and is fit enough to fly home, then we can make a plan.” She went in search of the doctor while Skinner attempted to calm himself down. He needed to focus on his son and help him through this instead of wanting to go find William Mulder and demand to know why he did it.

He needed something to focus on so he went through the bag of Mulder’s belongings, trying to ignore the splatters of blood and instead checked Fox’s wallet for clues, smiling when he saw the three small photos tucked in there. One was of Samantha- the same one on Fox’s desk- the next was the picture he took of Dana and Fox asleep together on the couch and the last was of him and a 16-year-old Fox on his first happy birthday since his sister had disappeared.

A small crinkled card peeked out of the array of dollar bills and cards, he looked at it and realised it was a business card for therapy for abuse survivors, Fox must’ve had therapy at some point in the years since he got out of the abusive household, he wondered why Fox kept it a secret but decided he wouldn’t press his son about it.

He heard the clicking of heels and looked up to see a tired and relieved Dana Scully, “He can be released in 3 days, but they said he’ll tire quite easily as the rest of the virus is flushed out of his system. The cast needs to stay on for 4-6 weeks and the bruising as well as the cuts should also heal within that time limit. Sir, can we do anything about William Mulder?” She asked the last bit hesitantly, glancing towards the door to Mulder’s room.

“Dana, please, call me Walter. Legally we can’t do anything about William Mulder, the adoption was kept out of the official system due to him working in the State Department and it can be argued Fox was there of his own volition. What we can do is just be there for Fox, he’s feeling quite ashamed at the moment and combine that with them using Samantha against him- making him think she was alive again when she wasn’t- nothing is more cruel than that. He just needs time.”

———————-Big Scene Change—————-

The past 4 days had been exhausting for Mulder, despite the fact that he’s also been sleeping a lot more than usual-especially without nightmares. After a lot of debate and stubbornness between him and his dad, it was decided he would stay at his apartment, as long as he would allow Maggie Scully to come by during the day to check on him and make sure he wasn’t doing work and actually looking after himself. Scully and his dad had to go back to work, Skinner had already taken too much time off and Scully knew the syndicate would suspect if she didn’t turn up.

Scully had joked it would allow her to clean their office and organise their files while he was housebound but when they were alone together she had confessed that seeing him covered in bruises and cuts had made her so angry at his biological father, a deep set rage she had not felt before. The first night they were back in his apartment after Skinner had left, she took him into her arms and wrapped her arms protectively over his waist, drawing him closer to her smaller body as her head rested on his shoulder so her breath tickled his ear while she slept. He had noticed that during the night one of her hands drifted up to lie directly over his heart as if she was making sure he was still alive, still there with her.

A few weeks after Fox was home they decided to have an impromptu meet the parents' style dinner at his apartment, meaning Fox corralled him into helping him cook because according to his son he was “still too bruised to help out.” Skinner also knew his son was not just tired physically but mentally as well, Fox had told him that he had decided to go back to see his old therapist a few times to talk about what had happened, he had even allowed Dana to accompany him to a session.

“Hey dad! Do you think I should get Maggie some flowers or something? She has had to put up with me these past few weeks and my god damn nightmares.” Fox looked up from where he was doodling a small alien on his cast, underneath where Scully had written ‘Spooky Mulder’ after a lot of pleading encouragement from himself, his dad had taken over most of the cooking to stop him from getting his cast all messy, so had sent him to set the table. “You should have some time, Fox, if you want to. Get some beer if you’re going!” He called out as Fox grabbed his keys and coat, he knew his son was nervous, it was his first time being officially introduced as Fox’s dad and having a serious dinner. But, he was already coming to see Dana as a daughter and he could see how much Maggie cared about Fox, he had heard the lone gunmen teasing his son about being looked after by her when they were visiting.

Skinner was drawn out of his thoughts by Fox and Dana bantering while Maggie craftily led him to a chair. “Hello Walter, the food smells amazing. Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?” Maggie asked as she walked into the kitchen, leaving Fox and Dana at the table together, “Maggie, you’re our guest, you don’t need to do anything. The food is ready now, so why don’t you take a seat and Fox will get you a drink.” Dinner was a relaxed event, lasagna with garlic bread and Maggie telling stories of Dana’s childhood while Skinner chimed in with stories of raising a too inquisitive teenager for his own good.

Skinner was in the middle of a story about Fox correcting one of the new agents about a psychological profile when there was a knock at the door. Skinner looked at Fox who shrugged, “I’m not expecting anyone.” It wouldn’t be the lone gunmen because he had told them about his plans, Skinner opened the door to reveal a drunk William Mulder, “I’m here to see my son.” It took all of Skinner’s restraint to not punch the man right there, to block the door entrance as William tried to make his way inside.

“You are not welcome here and Fox is no longer your son. He is my son and I suggest you leave before I make you.” The man’s eyes were unfocused and he stumbled as he tried to push back against Skinner, “Fox is MY SON and I have a right to see him.” His voice was rising and it attracted the attention of the said man, “Let him in, Dad.” He could do this, he had Scully by his side and he wasn’t going to let the man he once called Father hurt him again. Skinner let the man in reluctantly but placed himself between William and Fox, not entirely happy with the situation but respecting his son’s decision.

“What do you want? You know you’re not allowed to see me and I only saw you that day because you were at Mom’s and I thought you deserved to know about Samantha. That doesn’t mean you can turn up at my apartment and ruin a dinner with my partner and her mother.” William began to take one step toward Fox but was stopped by Skinner’s hand on his chest and the force of both Scully women’s stares, “Son, you can’t take that tone with me. I am your father and you’ll treat me with the respect I deserve. Is this the partner you so carelessly traded for your sister’s life, to allow your sister to be taken again instead of keeping her safe. Your mother was beside herself to hear Samantha was lost again, did you even stop to think how much this would hurt your mom when you made this decision?”

Scully went to open her mouth to give this son of a bitch a piece of her mind but was stopped by Fox, “You stopped being my father the moment you beat me for the first time, the moment you blamed me for my sister’s disappearance when I was 12 years old and powerless to stop it from happening. You beat me for 3 years straight without even showing one sign of remorse, you didn’t even try to support Mom through losing her daughter you just took it all out on me. I love Scully and she is worth so much more than you and your opinion, she got hurt because of this and I wasn’t about to let her be killed when she is innocent in all of this. You have no rights towards me anymore and Walter has been a way better father to me since he adopted me at 15 than you ever were to be in my first 12 years of life. I want you to leave. If you ever come see me again I will arrest you myself. Leave my apartment or I’ll throw you out myself”

William Mulder’s face contorted in anger, a sight Fox had seen many times when he was younger but was no longer scared of anymore, “How dare-“ Fox’s control over his simmering anger snapped for a second as he roared “LEAVE” at his abuser which startled the man. Thankfully Maggie took advantage of this and took the man’s arm and pulled him towards the door, “I believe you are no longer welcome here.” She shut the door in the man’s face, if her husband was here she was sure he would have been equally disgusted by this man’s actions as a so-called father.

She entered the living room to find her daughter comforting a trembling Fox, murmuring how proud she was of him for standing up to the man as the adrenaline left the young man’s body, instead of intruding she simply started to pack up the leftover food and guide Walter into helping her wash up the dishes in order to stop him worrying about his son. In the little time, she knew Fox Mulder she had seen how protective he was over her daughter and his declaration of love for Dana against his abusive biological father warmed her heart as well as to see the comfort she brought him, theirs was a special kind of relationship- a rare type you didn’t see often but were privileged to witness.

Chapter Text

Scully had just got off the phone with the Lone Gunmen, they hadn’t been able to contact Mulder so they had called her, she assured them they were just at the hospital to get Mulder’s cast off. “Hey Scully, my cast is finally off. I don’t know why you couldn’t do it, you’re my doctor after all.” They have had this discussion multiple times once Mulder’s other injuries had healed, he had wanted the cast off quicker. She just rolled her eyes fondly at him but smiled as he took her hand in his, squeezing it just because he could.

“Langley mentioned something about you four going to comic con, he mentioned he got you the extra ticket you asked for.” She arched an eyebrow as they got into the car, Mulder looked a little guilty as he explained, “Well the guys were thinking of going as R2D2, CP30 and Luke Skywalker, Byers thought I should be Han Solo and well I thought you would be a kick ass Princess Leia.” He ducked his head in slight apprehension, Scully took the opportunity to look at him while the lights were red, “I always took you more for a Star Trek fan. Was this all so you could see me in a gold bikini, Mulder?” She teased, watching the gears turn in his head as he tried to backpedal, “I-Scully of course not! I just meant, I-“ Scully couldn’t help but laugh as he tried to explain himself, “Mulder, relax. I’m flattered you would ask me, I’ll come with you on your nerd outing. I think I have the perfect outfit for becoming Princess Leia.” She dropped him off at his place, promising to meet him on Saturday so he could give her a lift, she leant up to kiss him and at the last minute whispered in his ear, “Maybe one day you’ll see me in a gold bikini.” She walked back to her car, knowing the effect that message would have had on him. Mulder’s breathing sped up at Scully’s words, images of Scully in a gold bikini in his bed flashed through his mind as he tried to control his hard on, Scully was going to be the death of him.

Scully put the finishing touches to her hair as she checked it against an image on her computer, getting the space buns and braids done correctly had been a challenge for her shorter hair but she had managed it somewhat. She was dressed in a similar outfit to Leia’s snowsuit in episode V, she was sure that all the men had probably assumed she hadn’t watched Star Wars but growing up with 2 brothers meant she had watched it a lot of times. It also didn’t hurt that Princess Leia was a brilliant character that younger her loved to pretend to be when her brothers dragged her into their Star Wars games.

She drove to Mulder’s, anticipating his costume and wondering if he went all out. She saw him waiting on the street outside his apartment building, fiddling with the leg holster attached to his belt but he smiled as he saw her pull up. “Hey Scully! Or should I call you Princess Leia, you look amazing! Reminds me of one of our earlier cases when you were wearing that white winter outfit. The gunmen said to meet them there, Byers was boasting that he managed to create Luke’s lightsaber from Episode IV, although I’m yet to see it.” Mulder and Scully talked about Star Wars and how they discovered it in their own way, with Scully telling Mulder about the games her brothers used to play. Luckily it only took them half an hour to get to the place and since it was early enough it wasn’t packed yet, Scully was glad she didn’t have to wear her heels today as she was sure if she did her feet would end up hating her. Frohike wolf whistled as the pair walked up to them, noticing Scully straight away, “Agent Scully you are a wonder to behold, a perfect Princess Leia indeed.” He mock leered at her as she let out a chuckle, “If only you weren’t a droid and tiny, you might have a chance, Frohike.” She replied back, enjoying how Langley started laughing at Frohike and the two dissolved into another casual argument. She enjoyed their company as they didn’t treat her the way male agents did at the FBI, they respect her intelligence and Byers always kept the other two in check in regards to their comments about her appearance, they also accepted her and treated her as their equal just like Mulder did.

The day soon got away from them as Scully and Mulder spent most of the time walking as close together as they could, sharing occasional touches as they looked at the various stalls and when Mulder had dragged her to the panels announcing the next two ‘Star Trek: Next Generation’ films and the beginning of a new Star Trek series called 'Voyager.’ She hadn’t seen him this relaxed outside of their private moments and she committed every bit to memory, enjoying seeing his happy face and relaxed posture as he joked around with the gunmen and wasn’t tracking every person’s move. She was drawn out of her thoughts as a stall caught her eye, she quickly excused herself saying she would catch up with him, squeezing his hand before making her way to the stall. It was a small one, tucked away in the corner but it was one she knew Mulder would spend hours at debating different conspiracies if she let him. She eyed the different items and selected several for him that she knew he would like: a UFO keyring, a shirt with a grey alien on it being beamed up by a UFO and an updated book on the Sasquatch. Feeling pleased with herself she decided to keep it a secret until they got back to her apartment, wanting to give it to him in private as she wanted to keep his reaction to herself.

She caught up with Mulder and the lone gunmen debating the logistics of space fights with other fans, she smirked as she saw the younger men’s attention turn to her as she slipped her arm around Mulder’s waist earning an adoring smile from him. The men seemed unable to form coherent sentences until a small voice behind them asked if they could speak to the ‘Princess’, the men parted to reveal two kids who couldn’t be more than 7 or 8 years old dressed as Princess Leia and Han Solo.
“Miss, could we get a picture with you? My dad said we should ask ‘cause it’s polite.” Scully spotted a sheepish looking man hovering near the kids and gave him an assuring smile before kneeling down to the small girl’s height, “Of course you can sweetheart, is that your brother dressed as Han Solo?” The girl nodded shyly but seemed happy as Scully stayed kneeling down and the girl’s brother had cajoled a smiling Mulder into kneeling down next to Scully. Mulder put his arm around Scully’s shoulders and placed his left hand on the young boy’s shoulder, allowing the boy to hold his fake gun to pretend to shoot at stormtroopers. The dad thanked them for the photo and their time, handing them a copy, Scully turned to see Mulder gazing at her, “You looked radiant with those kids, you’re a natural Scully.” Scully blushed lightly and didn’t say anything back, just taking his hand in hers and feeling at peace for just that moment.

They ended up back at Scully’s apartment, eating Chinese takeout on the floor of her living room, having changed out of their costumes into more relaxed casual clothing. “So Scully did you enjoy your first comic con date?” Mulder asked around a mouthful of noodles, “It was certainly an new experience, Mulder. However will you pull off the next date?” Scully replied teasingly, stealing some food off Mulder’s plate resulting in an indignant “Hey!” They ate in comfortable silence and Mulder offered to wash their dishes since he was the guest, it allowed her to grab the bag of items she got him- suddenly feeling nervous. They settled on her couch, her with a glass of wine and him with a beer, “I got you a few things while we were there, there was a stall dedicated to conspiracy theories and well I saw these and thought of you.” She handed over the bag and chewed her lip nervously, she watched as his face lit up at examining the gifts.

Mulder surged forward and kissed Scully, his hands bracketing each side of her head as her hands found their way under his t-shirt, “Mulder.” She whispered quietly as they broke the kiss and Mulder continued to kiss down her neck to her clavicle, his breath hitched as her hands traced his toned stomach and then pulled his shirt completely off. She guided him down for another kiss, her fingers twisting in his soft hair as one of his hands went to rest on her waist, “Is this okay, Scully?” Wanting to be sure he wasn’t taking advantage and Scully wanted this. “I’m sure, Mulder. I’m ready.” She let him pull her shirt off as they both continued to explore the top half of each other, “Scully. You’re beautiful.” Mulder breathed as he kissed down her stomach, his fingers dancing along her bra and skirting up to her cheek, short gasps falling from his mouth as Scully’s fingers rubbed over his nipples.

He picked her up, with her legs automatically locking around his waist and hands returning to his now messy hair as he walked them to her bedroom, managing to shut the door behind them as he fell onto the bed backwards. Scully’s legs were on either side of his waist as she rolled her hips over his now very hard dick, she unhooked her bra allowing Mulder to slowly draw it over her shoulders and down her arms. His eyes darkened with lust as his hands cupped her breasts, enjoying the way Scully moaned his name and gasped at the sensations flooding her body. “You’re still wearing too many clothes, Mulder.” Her fingers hooked around the waistband of his trousers, slowly pulling them off, inch by inch, enjoying teasing Mulder as his head flopped back onto the bed and trying not to buck his hips up, “God, Scully.” His hands returned to her waist and he flipped them over, wasting no time in ridding Scully of her own pyjama trousers, leaving them both nearly naked as their bodies melded together once again.

Mulder’s lean frame covered hers as her hands grasped his arms, the room filling with moans and gasps from the pair as sparks flew between them. They enjoyed exploring each other for a few more minutes before Scully took control and guided Mulder’s hands to her pants, urging him to take them off as she looked into his blown pupils, “I want you, Fox Mulder.” Her words sent the heat coiling in his stomach down to his dick as he pulled her pants down, enjoying her wet she was already and rubbed her clit between a thumb and finger, enjoying the sweet moans coming from Scully’s mouth.

A deep guttural moan escaped him as her slender hand reached into his boxers and took his dick in her hand, rubbing the top before making her way further down it, massaging his already tight balls. “Scully. Scully. Scully.” He moaned her name into her ear, making her legs curl around his waist again, pulling him closer, wanting to feel him. He stepped back for a second to step out of his boxers before he rejoined her on the bed, enjoying her gasp as he slipped a finger through her wet folds and her arms tightened their hold on his shoulders, urging him on. She reached back slightly to grab a condom and lube, taking advantage of his distraction by the new items by drawing him into a long emotion filled kiss. Mulder made to put the condom on himself before Scully stopped him, “Let me.” She rolled the condom down, squeezing his balls as the condom was fully on and lathered his dick in lube, enjoying seeing him writher as the sensations built up and he bit down on her shoulder causing her to gasp. Mulder positioned himself, pausing before he lost all control to make sure one last time it was what she wanted, “Scully, is this okay?” She nodded and grinded against him so the tip of his dick touched her folds, “Please, Mulder. I want you so badly.” It was all Mulder needed to hear as he pushed himself in carefully, allowing Scully to adjust before he pulled out and thrust back in, setting a gentle but fast pace as he tried to keep control over his animalistic instincts.

Pants and moans filled the room, Mulder changed position to hit her g-spot making her nearly scream as he hit it every time. “Scully, I love you, I love you, honey.”
“Mulder, I love you too.”
Scully could feel the orgasm building up inside her and she could tell Mulder was close as well, a loud moan broke through to her and she let her orgasm overtake her as her walls clenched around Mulder, the orgasmic high bringing her pure bliss and she was only slightly aware of Mulder’s warning of his own impending orgasm as he buried in her fully and they shared another kiss that lasted until they desperately needed air. Mulder gently collapsed on Scully as they both panted to catch their breath, their sweaty bodies still connected until Mulder eventually pulled out with a groan and went to put the used condom in the bathroom bin. He returned to her bed and pulled her into his arms, their legs intertwining as he gave her feather light kisses on her neck and Scully traced her fingers over his arm as they both gave in to their exhaustion, falling asleep while wrapped around each other finding peace and contentment in the intimate physical connection they just shared.

Chapter Text

After watching each other grow old too prematurely on their precious case, they were thankful for what seemed an easier case at a circus sideshow community. Scully stopped Mulder from asking too many questions by keeping a hold of his hand and giving him a look every time he considered asking a question in a middle of a funeral. She did have to smother a laugh when he ended up standing next to a man at least an ft taller than him, amused by his confused face. It was nearly night by the time they finished talking to the sheriff and the only accommodation seemed to be small caravans. Scully intervened before Mulder could dig himself a hole even further when talking to the owner, saying they would take one caravan, leaving Mulder stunned and speechless. “Alright, Mulder, let’s hear your theories then.” Knowing her partner wouldn’t be able to keep them in any longer.

“Going by the wound and the autopsy results, it’s not any ordinary stab wound or self-inflicted. It’s similar to a series of attacks over the course of 28 years on communities of former circus performers by an unknown assailant. It could be this fiji mermaid the sheriff mentioned, they usually turn out to be a monkey with a fishtail though… What?” He trailed off when he saw Scully’s arched eyebrow and deadpan look at the mention of a monkey with a fishtail. “Mulder, you can’t seriously think that a monkey with a fishtail killed this man? It could be any sort of round headed object. We should talk to the performers tomorrow and investigate this link.” Scully realised she had packed one of Mulder’s old Oxford university shirts, she must’ve taken it home after staying at his one night. Mulder smiled softly when he noticed it, “I like it when you wear my clothes, Scully. They look much better on you.” He commented as he slipped into the small bed beside her, his arm automatically snaking around her waist as her head pillowed itself on his chest. He brushed his thumb against her cheek as a light blush covered them, he enjoyed these stolen moments on their cases where they could get away with sharing a room together.

They laid there for an hour or so, just basking in each other’s company, Mulder had thought Scully had fallen asleep until she spoke, “Mulder, have you spoken with your mom since you saw him?” She asked tentatively, it had been a few months now since it happened and they had talked briefly about the incident several times, mainly her checking that Mulder was doing okay mentally. Mulder shifted slightly, “A few weeks ago, I asked about her health and she mentioned that he had contacted her but she refused to speak to him.” He still loved his mother despite her ignorant role in his abuse, he just wished it wasn’t so complicated. He closed his eyes as Scully pressed comforting kisses to his shoulder, managing to drift off for a few hours to the sound of Scully’s even breathing. He woke up to find Scully had shifted slightly with her head resting on his chest, her red hair splayed out like a halo. He combed his hand through her hair, thinking about how lucky he is to have her as a partner. He gently unattached himself from Scully, being careful not to wake her as he padded across the room silently. He studied the case study for the rest of the evening until sun up and got ready for a run, hoping it’ll clear his mind a bit, he scribbled a note for Scully and headed out. As he ran he took in their surroundings, enjoying the cool breeze against his sweating face, about 30 minutes into his run he caught sight of a man covered in puzzle tattoos eating a raw fish coming out of the water. The man ran off before Mulder could even think about asking him any questions, so he decided to head back.

————————Scene Change——————

After waking up Scully by kissing her body and her getting her own back by managing to flip them and straddle him, before giving him a deep kiss and sauntering away to shower they finally emerged from the trailer to start their investigations. They questioned this Dr Blockhead and were slightly startled when the Conundrum appeared from a barrel of water, “This was the guy I saw on my run this morning, he ate a raw fish straight out of the river.” Mulder eyed the man critically and went to talk to Lanny while Scully discussed the scientific nature of ‘freaks’ with Blockhead. He gave her hand a subtle squeeze before leaving her, knowing they would get this case done faster if they split up.

Scully continued to talk to the other members, including a mysterious man who had a museum of some sort, he gave her information about the sheriff that she knew would fascinate Mulder. Although the sheriff used to be the Dogface boy it made no sense for him to be killing the very community he was once part of, she sighed in frustration at the seemingly dead ends in the case. As she made her way back to the caravan park she heard Dr Blockhead arguing with Mr Nutt over rent money and she watched suspiciously as the man stormed off. She politely asked Mr Nutt to fix the faulty plumbing under her caravan as she headed back to write down her observations and look over the photos again, hoping to find more clues. She was drawn out of her note taking by the sound of Mulder’s voice, “Does Agent Scully know you’re under there?” She could hear the protectiveness creeping into his tone and smiled despite herself, he knew she could handle herself but she still loved how he does get protective. “Mulder, he was just fixing something I asked him to do. Thank you, Mr Nutt.” Mulder eyed the smaller man suspiciously before entering the caravan, automatically sitting as close as he could to Scully as he looked at the work she was doing. “Don’t tell me you were jealous of him, Mulder.” She teased him, taking his hand in hers and stroking her thumb over it as he spluttered explanations that he wasn’t jealous at all, merely making sure Mr Nutt wasn’t going to sneak in. They spent the rest of the night eating the dinner Mulder got them and talking about the case and each other, it was the middle of the night when they were woken with the news about another death. Mulder pulled a blazer over his sleepwear and waited for Scully to change into something she deemed decent enough, they found Mr Nutt lying by the door with the same hole shaped wound in his side. “I think we need to talk to Dr Blockhead,” Scully muttered, having filled Mulder in on the details of the argument she overheard.

The resulting conversation with Dr Blockhead didn’t particularly go to plan, Mulder managed to damage his blazer sleeve and cut his hand open when pushed onto the bed of nails. He waved off Scully’s immediate concern, “It’s just a scratch, Scully. Come on, let’s head to the sheriff's station.” He just grabbed a cleanish cloth from the side and wrapped it around his hand, ignoring the look Scully gave him. Once they reached the station, Scully figured out that Lanny’s undeveloped conjoined twin was the one causing the murders, wanting a new host of sorts since Lanny was deliberately drinking himself to death to stop his brother from murdering. It was early morning by the time they lost track of Leonard and saw Dr Blockhead with the Conundrum packing up their things and driving off. Perhaps they would never figure out how Leonard managed to escape his brother’s body or kill these people, especially the question of where he is now. Scully took Mulder’s uninjured hand and led him back to their caravan to treat his hand, she cleaned the small pinpricks and then smoothed a plaster over it. “Kiss it better, Doctor Scully?” Mulder asked cheekily, giving his most innocent face, Scully rolled her eyes fondly but kissed his hand and let her thumbs drift up to his lips, her hands framing his face. She kissed him slowly, capturing his lips in a well know dance as she closed her eyes and her hands found their way into his hair. He broke the kiss regrettably but let his forehead rest against hers, “You always take good care of me, Scully. Let’s get home.”

Chapter Text

Mulder debated on whether to call in sick to work for once, he couldn’t shake this illness no matter how much water instead of coffee he drank. He’d given up on sleeping because he felt so damned cold all the time, he and Scully hadn’t gone out together for a while as he didn’t want to get her sick and he had blown off the guys for DnD at least 3 times now. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so shitty from just being sick, he was toeing the line of Scully and his dad believing it was just a bad cold. He downed a couple of pain killers and groaned as his phone went off, piercing through his skull like a white hot poker, “Mulder.” He answered as he tried to knead the pain out of his head, the concerned voice of his dad floated through the phone, “Dad I’m fine, it’s just a bad cold. No I don’t need time off from work and I don’t need my dad taking me off potential cases because I got sick like everyone else, I’m not a kid who needs protection anymore!” He didn’t know why he snapped at his dad, he just felt so damned tired and he wanted to just find some outlet for it. He could hear his dad’s understanding voice through the phone, saying he was only worried about him, “I know, I’m sorry dad-“ The sound of a key in his door made him reach for his gun before he saw it was only Scully and the Lone Gunmen. “Dad, I’m going to have to go, Scully and the guys have just turned up. Yes I’ll look after myself, yes that does mean I’ll let Scully know if I feel worse. Bye dad, love you too.” He accepted the side hug and kiss on the forehead from Scully as he flopped against the back of his sofa, “Hey, I don’t want to get you ill.” He said as his thumb rubbed over her hand, leaning in further to her as she carded her hand through his hair.

“If it happens then you can just take care of me. I met the guys on the way up, they said they had something for us.” Looking at the 3 men shifting awkwardly without any gadgets to fiddle with, “A hacker known as The Thinker contacted us with something that may interest you. They want to meet at this location later today.” Byers handed Mulder a note with a location on it, just in case they were being overheard. “They want to meet alone.” He added, with a quick look at Scully who clearly disapproved of this idea. The men left the couple to discuss the idea, wishing their friend well as they retreated back to their computers.

“What are you thinking, Mulder?” Scully asked softly after the lone gunmen, she had tried to get him to drink some more water but he insisted he would have some later.
“If the guys think this hacker has something worthwhile then I think we should meet with them. We don’t have a case at the moment, come on you can drive if you’re that worried.” Scully’s response was cut off by a gunshot coming from down the hall, straight away both of them had reached for their guns, “Call 911! We’re with the FBI, I’m a doctor. Stay inside until we tell you it’s safe to come out.” Scully ordered quickly as Mulder quietly walked 2 doors down, it was silent but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a threat anymore. He opened the door to find a man lying dead on the floor, a single gunshot wound to his head and his wife on her knees sobbing with the gun still in her hand.
“Hi, it’s Fox Mulder from down the hall, this is my partner Dana Scully. We heard the gunshot, can you hand me the gun and then we can help you.” His voice was low and calm, his FBI training kicking in as the woman slowly handed him the gun and he clicked the safety back on. Her husband was clearly dead but Scully gave him a subtle shake of her head to not mention it at the moment. Mulder couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he didn’t even know they owned a gun they were a perfectly ordinary couple; had lived there for longer than he. Once the police and coroners turned up he discussed his thoughts with Scully, “You should stay here, see if anything is causing this, I’ll meet with our mutual friend.” He still felt shaky and ill but he kissed her anyway, wanting to convey his love should anything odd as that should happen, she kissed back trying to convey the same.

———————Scene Change————
Scully looked at her findings for the second time from the water tank in Mulder’s apartment, someone had put drugs in the water supply to his apartment. She looked up as Mulder walked into their office looking like an excited puppy, he spent the next 10 minutes searching for any listening devices before gesturing for her to come to listen to the tape. She tucked the analysis results back into her bag and joined Mulder at his desk, arms pressed against each other and she could smell his cologne. They listened, hoping to hear something useful, Mulder looked disappointed and angry at the tape not revealing anything, “It doesn’t have anything on it!” He buried his face in his hands, gripping his hair in frustration.
“Mulder, stop! It could be encrypted, we just need to decode it. Let me listen again.” Something clicked in her mind and she realised what language the tape was encrypted in, “Mulder, I think it’s encoded in the Navajo language. I know someone who could help decode it, make a copy and I’ll investigate. Your dad also called, he wants to see you in his office. I’ll meet you back at your appointment apartment, okay? Drink some water here, I don’t want you getting dehydrated.” She dropped a kiss on his head and smoothed his hair over before leaving, forgetting about telling him what she found.

Mulder headed up to his dad’s office, feeling crappier and crappier as he approached the door, the assistant looked concerned for once as she took in his pale complexion. “Fox, why don’t you sit down first and then we’ll talk.” He didn’t know why he had been instructed to ask Fox about this secret tape, but whatever it was he’ll protect his son and Dana. He eyed Fox critically, taking in how ill he looked, “Fox, son, are you in possession of a government tape of any kind or is Agent Scully in possession of it?” Anxiety and rage filled Mulder as it had never before, but the small rational part of his brain knew that whatever was on this tape the government wanted to keep a secret which meant he needed to protect Scully. “No, we don’t know anything about a tape, you know we don’t have any cases. The only thing that should concern you is why a perfectly ordinary happy wife would shoot dead her husband in their own apartment a few doors down from my own.” He didn’t realise he was clenching his fists until he felt little pinpricks of pain coming from his nails, he won’t be like Bill Mulder, he didn’t know why he felt so angry. His phone went off and he answered, being glad for the distraction, it was X asking him to meet him at Martha’s Vineyard. “Neither me nor Agent Scully have this tape. Can I go or are you going to interrogate me further?” He demanded angrily, not noticing the flash of hurt that crossed his dad’s face.
“You can go, Agent Mulder. Just- just be careful, Fox.” Skinner never felt less worthy as a Dad than now as he watched Fox stalk out of his office, it was rare he saw his son so angry and he had a bad feeling about this whole situation. He thought of calling Agent Scully but he was distracted by a call coming in, he sighed as he went back to work.

————————Scene Change—————

Scully looked at an unconscious Mulder on the bed as she stripped him of his bloody t-shirt and shirt. She needed to be his doctor now, not his partner as she tended to the bullet wound she put in his shoulder. It was a clean through and through, she hoped that Mulder would understand that it was to keep him safe and she only did it to prove his innocence. She cleaned the area and stitched the wound up, then bandaged it up; leaving the sling on the side table for when he woke up. It was half an hour later when she finished and it was already dark, Hosteen had brought them food and she expressed her gratefulness for his help and hospitality. She slowly climbed in bedside Mulder on the bed, manoeuvring his head to rest on her chest and putting one hand protectively over his waist, “I’m sorry, Mulder. It was the only thing that would stop you, you wouldn’t forgive yourself if you killed Krycek.” She murmured into his hair as she tried to convince herself, she shot him, what does that say about their relationship? Hopefully, the drug should be out of his system now but she didn’t want to risk giving him anything just in case. She fell asleep murmuring different things to him, her lips resting against the back of his head as her mind slowly broke down the chain of events that had happened in the last 24 hours.

Mulder awoke to pain in his left shoulder and a weight on his waist, he could see the red tresses of Scully’s hair in the corner of his eye, so he wasn’t in the hospital. He tried to move silently so as to not awake Scully but the movement of his left arm made the pain spike and he let out a small yelp of pain. He closed his eyes as he breathed deeply to deal with the pain and he felt hands carding through his hair and rubbing his back. “Mulder, it’s me. Lean back against the pillows and I’ll get you something for the pain.” Scully placed a quick kiss on the side of his head and helped him lean back so as to not jar his shoulder anymore, she got a glass of water and painkillers helping him swallow them.
“Mulder, what do you remember about what happened?” Sitting on the side of the bed and taking Mulder’s hand in hers, wanting that physical comfort.
“I remember getting called to Martha’s Vineyard by X, I got there and Bill was standing outside saying he needed to tell me something. Something he should’ve told me about Samantha years ago. I turned to leave and then I heard a gunshot. As much as I hated him for what he did, I didn’t want him to die, I tried to stop the bleeding, Scully. I’m sorry I yelled at you for taking my gun, I know you were only trying to prove my innocence and I’m sorry I put you in the position where you had to shoot me.” A lot of the memories were fuzzy but he remembered the murder of Bill, whatever love or familial respect he had left for the man drove him to anger. His eyes were wide with earnestness and shame, hoping Scully would forgive him. As he studied her face he noticed a graze by the side of her temple, “Scully, what happened to you?” His fingers brushed the small graze on the side of her head, his brain trying to figure out what happened between him seeing Bill murdered and then ending up here.

“Someone fired a bullet into your apartment, it grazed my head but it’s nothing to worry about.” Mulder’s eyes widened as he realised Scully nearly died, he went to reach forward to fully check she was okay forgetting about his injury until it reminded him. He gritted his teeth as the pain coursed through him, Scully’s light hands removed his good hand from gripping his injured shoulder, “Mulder, deep breaths. I’m fine, it was just a small graze and we’re safe enough out here.” She checked his shoulder and placed a kiss on his shoulder before kissing his lips as she wanted to do since he woke up. “I found a translator called Hosteen, he’s been translating the tape for us. Mulder, the tape mentions me and Duane Barry, information about my abduction. Hosteen mentions his grandson found a buried boxcar that has something you might want to see. I need to go back to DC and have a meeting with Skinner to bring prove you didn’t kill Bill Mulder. It’ll be okay, Mulder, I don’t think it’ll go down well if I tell your dad I shot you.” She joked in an attempt to make him feel more at ease, she hated to see him so worried but he wasn’t well enough to travel again from New Mexico to DC.

“Scully, just promise me you’ll be careful. They’ve tried to hurt you once because of me, they’ll try again.” His brown eyes were full of pain and anxiety as he thought of not being by Scully’s side. She kissed him, trying to pour her love and protection into it as her fingers sneaked round to the back of his head.
“I love you, Mulder.” She whispered to him as their foreheads rested against each other, Mulder’s good hand stroking the bare patch of skin between her t-shirt and trousers.
“I love you too, Scully. Please be safe and keep an eye on my dad.” Mulder watched her leave feeling a pang in his heart and panic in his chest, he knew she was capable of protecting herself but he wanted to be by her side; not stuck in this bed with a bad shoulder. He didn’t trust anything about this situation, especially since there had been an attempt on her life and the tape contained information on her abduction. Mostly he missed her presence, the smell of her perfume, the sun on her red locks, the feel of her arms as she holds him or when he holds her; he just wanted to be with her.

————————-Scene Change———————-

As Mulder entered the Lone Gunmen’s apartment he immediately went to Scully’s side, having heard about what happened to her sister from Albert. He pulled Scully into an embrace, her arms wrapping around his waist and his hands coming to cup the back of her head, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Her head rested against his chest trying to hide her vulnerability from the guys as she struggled to deal with not being able to visit her sister or comfort her mother. The guys retreated from the room giving the two the privacy they needed.
“I’m sorry, Scully. I’m so sorry.” He guided her to the worn couch and pulled her further into his arms, trying to give her more comfort. Her small body shook as she gave in to the heartache she was feeling and he felt his shirt become damp; at this point in time he had never seen Scully so vulnerable and his heart broke for her. She felt so tiny and fragile in his arms as he cradled her until she felt calm enough to lift her head from his chest, he continued to hold her as he thought over what had happened in the past 3 years of their partnership. He looked up to see Byers approaching with a glass of water for Scully and holding the photo Mulder had given to him to analyse.
“Mulder, we’ve looked at the photo you gave us. Alongside your dad, deep throat and the cigarette smoking man is this man, Victor Klemper, a former Nazi scientist that was brought to the US for Operation Paperclip. It looks like they were close or at the very least working closely together on something. Klemper is still alive and living at this address, he may have some information that will be useful to you.” He handed Mulder the page of information on it, shifting anxiously from foot to foot as he was not sure what to do next.
“Thank you, Byers, for the information and letting us hide here.” The gratefulness about also keeping an eye on their living family members went unspoken as Margaret Scully sat alone in a hospital room waiting for her youngest daughter to wake up, knowing she likely will not, and Walter Skinner fought to keep his son and Dana Scully safe from the Syndicate as the two agents faced the hardest hurdle they had to in discovering more of the truth.

———————-Scene Change——————
It had been a horrific day for both families, Melissa Scully succumbed to her fatal injuries earlier that afternoon and Margaret Scully was beside herself with grief after losing her youngest daughter so soon after her husband. Fox Mulder had discovered that his mother knew about his sister’s abduction all along and the reason behind it, as well as knowing his biological father stopped them from originally taking him instead of his sister. Dana Scully had lost her sister to a bullet that was meant for her at her own apartment due to her and her partner getting too close to the truth. Scully and Margaret were currently sitting in Skinner’s living room as both women didn’t want to be alone after what happened, so Skinner offered up his home seeing as he also wanted to keep an eye on Fox. Maggie wanted to get started on planning the funeral, wanting to have everything perfect for her child, right down to the outfit she would be buried in. Walter looked on in concern at the scene in front of him, a grieving parent and sibling trying to bury their grief in funeral arrangements, he wasn’t sure how to offer comfort other than offering his home and support. Fox had secluded himself in the office since he returned, not telling him what he had discovered that had made him so distressed other than not knowing how to help his partner while feeling guilty.

“I’m just going to go check on Fox. Please have whatever you need, Maggie your room is set up just down the hall, Dana you know where Fox’s room is.” He squeezed Maggie’s hand and Dana’s shoulder in sympathy as he went to the office. He knocked lightly before entering, seeing paper strewn across the floor in screwed up balls and his son hunched over looking at a photo of Samantha. He decided against putting a hand on Fox as he could see how tightly wound his muscles were from the back. Walter mused on how he managed to use the tape to ensure the safety of his son and Dana but at what cost to the information and loss they’ve already been through in their lives?

“He chose her. My mother couldn’t choose so he chose her to be taken when it was meant to be me. She was 8 years old and my father allowed her to be taken while my mother knew. They used her as a pawn to buy his silence about the experiments they were doing. Why would anyone do that?” Mulder looked up at his father, his hair unkempt and eyes red and puffy, looking nothing like the usual put together FBI agent. Walter crouched in front of his son, again feeling so much anger towards Bill Mulder even though he was dead and buried.
“You may not know all the information yet, but I am confident in your abilities to keep searching for the truth about your sister and Dana’s abduction. I know you must feel guilty, Fox, but I am forever grateful they did not take you otherwise I would not see you grow into the man you’ve become. I’ve watched you fall in love and develop your skills as an FBI agent, you’ve been able to live your life once I adopted you and got you away from Bill Mulder.” Despite every attempt to stop Fox from learning the truth, his son had found a partner to trust and love with that reciprocated.

“I tried- I tried to write a psychological profile to make sense of why he chose for Samantha to be taken but then beat the shit out of me for it. She was an innocent kid, Dad, they took her and I’m still no closer to knowing what they’ve done to her.” His fists clenched on his knees and Walter itched to reach for them, to reach for his son who was in distress. When he talked to Teena Mulder at the funeral briefly she asked about her son, expressing her disappointment that he was not at the funeral, he didn’t even have time for a response since that smug son of a bitch cigarette smoking man sidled up to Teena expressing that Fox may be otherwise indisposed at the current time. Dana looked murderously at the man as he said that and he had to escort her away before she gave in to the same whim he wanted to.

“Fox, I need you to listen to me. You’ve been through a lot of traumatic and stressful situations, you watched your biological father die in front of you, you were nearly killed yourself and just discovered more information about your sister’s abduction. You haven’t had much time to process this and with your memory these images are going to stick with you.” He continued to talk softly to his son, moving slowly from his crouched position to a standing one beside his son, slipping an arm around the broad shoulders and bringing him in for a side hug. As Fox relinquished the grip he had on his knees he allowed himself to slump as he muttered over and over again how he didn’t know how to feel. Walter felt such anger at the Syndicate for making his son feel like this and for targeting Dana’s family, but he also felt some sort of satisfied glee in that their plan to stop the search for the truth backfired; instead it made both agents more resolved to find the Truth the government wished to hide from them and God help anyone who stood in their way.

Chapter Text

It has been 2 months since the day Scully lost her sister and Mulder lost his sister all over again. Mulder had stayed at his dad’s house for the first month, trying to work through the complicated feelings about Bill being murdered in front of him. His therapist suggested going to the grave to express his thoughts, to get closure about his death and everything that had been revealed. Mulder and Scully had been regulated to desk work for the time being due to the funeral and to allow them to grieve before being thrown back into the field. Skinner was worried about his son, although the burden of not ever having to deal with Bill Mulder was gone, there was the trail of the trauma he left behind and the fact that he was involved in his own daughter’s disappearance.

Skinner watched through the open door of his office as his two young agents sat on the couch waiting to be called in. He watched as Scully batted away Mulder’s hands, laughing quietly as she did so, her hands untying his tie in order to retie it properly.
“Mulder, you’re a 27 year old man surely you can tie your tie properly.” She joked, her hands finishing the knot and coming to rest on his chest as she smoothed out his suit.
“Do I look presentable now, Agent Scully?” Mulder replied teasingly, wanting to kiss her there and then but consciously aware they were at work. Instead, he looked at her eyes, seeing the small sparkle of mischief and happiness dance in them as her face lit up with a smile he had rarely seen lately. It warmed his heart to see her starting to allow herself to be happy again.
“Agents Mulder and Scully, in my office please. I have a case for you, remains of a fortune teller have been found in her apartment in Minnesota but her body is still missing. Local cops have asked for FBI assistance, your flight is in an hour.”

————————Scene Change—————
It was about mid-afternoon by the time they got there, dropped their luggage off at the motel and then got to the crime scene. Scully felt a slight shiver run down her spine instinctively as she took in the sight of all the dolls staring back at her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as Mulder’s mouth brushed by her ear, “Not a fan of dolls, Agent Scully?” His voice was low, only for Scully to hear as local officers walked in, ready to explain their findings. Before she could reply Mulder was already looking around for clues while half listening to the local police, it wasn’t until a man by the name of Stupendos Yappi walked in that Mulder returned to her side. Scully rolled her eyes as Yappi started talking about psychic theories, impressing the cops by giving out vague clues.
“I sense there is someone here who doesn’t believe.” Yappi commented as he crossed the room to inspect the two FBI agents, eyeing Scully critically before turning to face Mulder.
“Can you step out of the room, please, Agent Mulder. Your energy is disrupting my ability to figure out what happened.” Mulder gaped incredulously at the man, about to protest before deciding it wasn’t worth it.
“I can’t take you anywhere,” Scully whispered once Yappi had turned his back, expecting Mulder to do as he said. Mulder just rolled his eyes as he saw his partner trying to not laugh at the irony of Mulder being called a non-believer.

———————big scene change—————

Mulder was sitting cross-legged on the bed opposite Bruckman, after testing his abilities and knowing the value he had to the case since he could figure out the details of the victim’s deaths. He was curious as to if Bruckman knew everyone’s end, so he asked the inevitable question of how he would die.
“The killer would slit your throat after you step in pie in the hotel kitchen. I don’t know what happens after, but this is how the killer sees it.” Mulder grimaced at the thought of his death happening while he stepped in pie, not exactly the best way to die, although he had thought he would die many times before that- especially when he was a teen- so he supposed it might be quick. He knew Bruckman’s ability made Scully question everything she believed in, her beliefs about the finality of death, fate and God but she was intrigued by the man nonetheless. While Mulder left to collect detective Havaz of the local police department, who would take over guarding Bruckman while they investigated a new death, Scully talked to Bruckman about her scepticism. He didn’t mock her or tried to make her believe in him, if anything he seemed to hate what this ability gave him-after all why would you want to keep seeing people dying? She struggled to accept that he saw her not dying but he saw Mulder dying, she couldn’t understand what it meant, was it to do with her abduction?

“Hey, are you okay?” She looked up to see Mulder’s concerned face and felt his touch on the small of her back, trying to remain professional in front of Havaz. The words to describe how she was feeling were stuck in her throat so she just gave a small smile and nodded. She heard Mulder giving instructions to the young destructive to keep an eye on Bruckman and to not leave his post as she walked ahead to clear her head, pulling her focus back onto the killer. She was too distracted to notice the bell hopper walking towards her until they bumped into each other,
“Oh I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking where I’m going, let me help.” She exclaimed, moving to help the man with the tray, noticing strange silk fibres but pushing it back to her mind.

She had a sinking feeling when she noticed the same silk fibres at their murder scene as the ones she saw on the bell hopper’s tray,
“Mulder, it’s the bellhopper, the one at the hotel. He’s the murderer. We need to get back to Bruckman now.” To his credit, Mulder didn’t stop to question how she figured it out, choosing to trust her instincts and knowledge. She heard Mulder curse softly as he examined the glassy-eyed body of Havaz, his throat slit with defensive wounds on his arms. They made their way carefully through the hotel, not chancing splitting up just in case until Mulder caught a glimpse of the killer and the chase was on. He sprinted after him, avoiding the flying doors as much as he could and only realising he was in the exact same scenario as Bruckman had described when he stepped into a pie on the floor. He couldn’t see or hear the killer as he strained to listen as he kept his hands on his gun, he felt the harsh cold metal pressed across his throat and then the sound of a gunshot from behind him.
“Mulder! Are you okay? Let me see your neck, you’re bleeding.” He didn’t even realise he had been cut slightly, Scully’s hands gently turned his neck towards her so she could get a better look.
“You’re lucky I was here, it’s just a scratch, nothing serious. I’ll clean it when we get home, let’s find Bruckman first.”

They found Bruckman alone in his apartment on his bed, a plastic bag over his head with a bottle of pills in his hand. Scully sat on the bed beside Bruckman and took his hand into hers, she hoped he was at peace now from his abilities. She felt strangely moved by the death of the man, the one who couldn’t see his own death but so many others decided to take control of his fate by taking his own life, she was grateful that Mulder decided to call it in as she yet again felt anger and disappointed in God for the pain this man felt.

————————-Scene Change——————

Mulder was sat on the floor of Scully’s apartment, wincing slightly as she dabbed an alcohol-soaked cotton wool bud on his neck,
“Let’s not mention to Agent Dad about the prediction of my death, he’ll only over worry.” It elicited a small laugh and smile from Scully at the use of their shared nickname for Skinner.
“Only if you write your own report this time, don’t give me that look, what did you do with your paperwork before I was assigned to you?” Dabbing slightly on his nose cheekily.
“Dad threatened to put me with a rookie or with more paperwork if I didn’t do it. What’s the verdict then? Will I survive?” Scully leant back and admired Mulder, he was relaxed and had an easy smile, his two top shirt buttons undone with his tie on the back of her couch. She loved that she could have this Mulder all to herself.
“You’ll live to fight ghosts once again, Mulder.” Kissing him on the lips quickly and running a hand through his soft short hair, she went to put the first aid kit away when an advert for the stupendous Yappi came onto her tv. Thinking of Bruckman and the pain his psychic abilities gave him, scowling she threw her phone at the tv, hating the injustice of the world. She let Mulder pull her into a tight hug, his chin resting on the top of her head while his arms snaked around her waist and back, his hands cupping her head. No words were spoken between them as Scully allowed herself to breathe in his cologne and the scent of him- sandalwood and sunflower seeds.

Chapter Text

Skinner looked more troubled than she had ever seen him as Scully sat down across from him, “Sir, is everything alright? Has something happened to Agent Mulder?” She asked quickly, usually if they were called into a meeting on their own with the Assistant Director it was because they had gotten themselves into trouble that went further than the FBI.
“Agent Mulder is fine, Agent Scully. I have quite a… delicate case for you and I want you to keep an eye on Agent Mulder for me.” Being careful with his wording just in case they were being listened to. He wanted to say to Dana to protect his son from his past, to not let him get too involved, but his son was a grown man and he couldn’t always protect him from harm.
“I’ll look after Agent Mulder, Sir. I’ll even get him to do his paperwork on time.” She commented, trying to lighten the tense mood that had set in over the office. As she walked down to the basement she ignored the other men’s stares and the whispered comments of ‘ice queen’ or ‘here comes Mrs Spooky’. She was greeted by a bored Mulder throwing pencils up into the ceiling again as he leant back in his chair, trying to avoid being hit by falling pencils as he did so.

“I thought Skinner told you to stop doing that.” She commented lightly, startling him so much that he nearly fell off his office chair.
“Scullaaayyy.” He whined as he tried to retain some of his composure until pencils fell onto his face causing Scully to laugh slightly at him. He pouted, turning his swirling brown eyes onto her, within a second he spotted the case file and his eyes lit up at the prospect of a new X File. Skinner’s words resonated in her head, about protecting Mulder from himself,
“Last night a 12 year old girl was kidnapped from her room while her sister slept, no one saw anyone come in or out. At the same time a woman working at a diner across town collapsed with a nose bleed, the blood matches that of the victim. We’ll start by talking to her and any of those who saw her go missing.” She observed how his demeanour changed from jovial to serious as he sat up straighter, flicking through the case file as he took in the information.
“Alright let’s head to Seattle then.”

——————————Scene Change———————-

After speaking to Amy’s family and her friends at her school they drove across town to the diner where Lucy works.
“Ms Householder? Where were you last night at 8pm, can anyone vouch for you?” Scully asked, taking the lead while Mulder stood next to her, taking in Lucy’s reactions.
“I was working, you can ask my manager who told me not to bleed over the food.” She replied defensively, getting on with preparing food and coffee for the disgruntled customers who waited impatiently next to Scully and Mulder.
“Thank you for your time, Ms Householder. If you think of anything that’ll be helpful please contact this number. We’ll let you get back to work.” Scully replied soothingly, not wanting to agitate the woman, she and Mulder had done some background research on the woman before meeting with her. She had a criminal record but nothing more than petty theft and possession of drugs, interestingly she was kidnapped at the same age as Amy and held hostage for 5 years before she managed to escape- the man was never found and Lucy couldn’t identify him. They decided to call it a day and head back to the motel the FBI had booked for them, Scully was worried about Mulder- he’d been silent and pensive for most of the time since they got here, his face becoming harder and harder to read.

She waited until they had gotten back to their motel to ask Mulder if he was okay,
“Scully, I’m fine! We just need to find her, you know that the-
“The first 48 hours are the most crucial. Yes Mulder, but you haven’t been yourself and I’m worried about you.” It wasn’t the first time Mulder had snapped at her, but she wasn’t about to take it lying down. She sat down on the bed next to him and encouraged him to lean on her, drawing an arm around his waist to comfort him.
“I’m fine.” He mumbled but still allowed himself to accept her comforting embrace as he leaned his head on her shoulder, wisps of his hair tickling her neck. He didn’t deserve her, especially after he unfairly snapped at her,
“Scully, I’m sorry for snapping. These sort of cases just get under my skin.” Kissing her shoulder and asked if she could sleep with him tonight before they continued the case.

-------------------------------------------------Scene Change---------------------------------------------------

He felt calmer as he got ready for their second day on the case, but something about Lucy Householder still nagged him, the fact that her blood was a perfect match to that of Amy even though she was miles away from where Amy was kidnapped still struck him as strange. He was going to use today to go through Lucy’s criminal record and retrace Amy’s steps while Scully interviewed her family, the school and any potential suspects. He leafed through the case file on Lucy, it had a snapshot of her before and after she was kidnapped, as well as various mugshots from when she was caught with drugs- but nothing that points to her going on to kidnapping a little girl- considering it didn’t seem as if she had recovered from her own trauma let alone being able to kidnap a girl. He leant back in his chair, sighing and running his hand through his hair, he still couldn’t figure out where Lucy fitted in. He stood up and yanked his blazer off his chair, deciding to go talk to Lucy himself to see if his idea was plausible. As he drove to the halfway house she lived in he kept thinking about how there must be some sort of connection between Lucy and Amy, she may be the key to finding the little girl. He found Lucy sitting at the edge of her bed, facing away from any visitors, the room was bland- grey walls, no decoration and basic furniture.

“Lucy, I would like to ask you some questions about your own kidnapping. I think you’ll be able to help with finding Amy.”
Lucy tensed further, trying to move away from Mulder and clutching the side of her face. She mumbled something that he couldn’t quite hear before crying out in pain, he was able to catch a glimpse of scratches appearing on her face out of nowhere.
“Lucy, can you see what he’s doing to her? Where is Amy?”
“I can’t, please make him stop. I can’t do it again, he’s hurting her.” Tears rolled down her face as her eyes were slightly glazed over as if it was happening to her at that moment. It solidified his theory that there was some sort of psychic connection between her and Amy as a result of being kidnapped by the same person. He was about to ask if she knew the man’s name when his phone rang,

“Mulder it’s me, we think we have a lead suspect. He was doing the school photographs at Amy’s school the day she went missing and he hasn’t been seen since, we think we might also be able to link him to Lucy Householder’s kidnapping years ago. Can you meet me at the station?” He agreed and with one last hopeful plea to Lucy he set off.
Once he got to the station he listened to Scully’s theory about Carl Wade, it made sense he was the key suspect considering he had a history of photographing young children in schools, he was there when Lucy was kidnapped.
“Good work, Scully. Do we have a last known address for him, where he might be? Also, you’re going to think I’m mad but I think there’s a psychic connection between Lucy and Amy. Hear me out, I think the connection formed because Amy was kidnapped by the same man, at the same age Lucy was and in the same way. I think Lucy can be the key to finding Amy, if we can just persuade her to help us figure out where he is we can save Amy.” He spoke earnestly, trying to convince Scully of his firm belief, wanting to prove he can find her- that there was something. Scully was about to answer, to question how he came to this conclusion when they were interrupted by a young eager officer saying they had an idea of where Wade was.

Half an hour later they were parked in a remote part of the forest, officers spreading out trying to find evidence of Amy or Wade’s whereabouts. The forest was dense and long, a perfect place to hide a frightened little girl. It was when Lucy turned up that investigations became more hopeful, Mulder vouched for her presence much to the concern of Scully, but it was too late to pull him out of the case and she could only hope she could reach him once they were back home. Her attention was grabbed instantly when she heard the sound of someone choking,
“Turn her on her side, we need to keep her airway clear, call 911!” She yelled at the slightly scared young officer standing next to her, she felt Mulder’s presence next to her as he took in what was happening.

“There’s water coming out of her mouth, Amy must be in the river with Wade.” He took off before Scully could stop him, tearing through the trees as he listened for the sound of water or screams, he didn’t feel the scratches on his face as he came closer to the stream. He felt some relief go through him as he saw Amy alive, but dread filled him again as he saw Wade swimming closer to Amy, he aimed and shot at Wade’s shoulder to slow him down before jumping into the water himself.
‘You can’t let her die, you can’t let her die.’ The mantra went over and over in his head as he swam nearer, trying to avoid the currents. As he got Amy he was glad to see Scully had followed him to the shore, knowing he will need her medical expertise, his muscles were aching as he continued to hold Amy above water, but eventually, he managed to get them both to shore.
“I don’t know how long she’s been in the water, Scully. Wade is still in there, I shot him in the shoulder so we’re going to have to fish him out.” He said breathlessly, shivering in his wet clothes but not caring as he watched Scully perform CPR. Amy didn’t deserve to die, she was so young, and she had her whole life ahead of her, why was Scully stopping?
“Mulder, it’s too late. Mulder, stop! She’s gone.” Scully gently pulled Mulder away from performing CPR on Amy’s too still body, he felt so fragile as if one wrong touch would break him, suddenly Amy’s coughs broke through the silence. She quickly turned the young girl on her side to get the water out of her lungs while sending an officer for the ambulance and a blanket for Mulder.

Scully hadn’t seen her partner since he had finished his report and handed it to Skinner, he was quiet and distant. They had lost Lucy at the cost of Amy living, Scully had done the autopsy herself while Mulder waited quietly in the shadows, confirming his theory that Lucy drowned even though she was nowhere near water at the time of death. How or why the connection between the two victims allowed Lucy to give her life for Amy’s was something Scully hadn’t quite worked out yet, but she knew Mulder blamed himself for pushing Lucy too far and she noticed the flicker of heartbreak on his face as Amy was reunited with her parents. Wade was currently in a prison hospital awaiting trial for the kidnappings of Lucy and Amy, having somehow survived being shot in the shoulder and being in the water for longer than Amy. Mulder had slinked off home, mumbling an apology as he left, she and Skinner were both concerned about Mulder but knew if they pushed him to talk he would clam up.

Mulder tried distracting himself with his conspiracy tapes but he had too much restless energy so he decided to throw on his trainers and run, he didn’t have a particular route in mind he just wanted to run until he was too tired to think. He didn’t know how long he had been running but his lungs were burning as he stopped outside a familiar house, one he had run to before multiple times two years ago. He hesitantly knocked on the door and waited for a second before deciding to leave, annoyed at himself for disturbing Maggie Scully’s night.
“Fox? Is everything alright, has something happened to Dana?!” Mulder mentally kicked himself for not assuring her quicker, of course, she would be concerned that her only living daughter might be hurt if her partner turned up in the middle of the night alone.
“She’s fine, Mrs Scully. I’m sorry for disturbing you, we just finished a hard case and I was just running and ended up here.” Maggie’s face became soft and sympathetic as she guided him inside, sitting him down on the sofa and telling him to stay there while she made him some tea.

Maggie looked at Fox closely as she made the tea, his eyes were unfocused and his hair a mess, he was shivering ever so slightly and he looked more like a lost little boy rather than a grown man. She watched as he look up with shock as she pressed the hot mug into his hands and put a blanket around his shoulders, she wondered how much motherly affection he had received when he was younger, did he receive any?
“Fox, would you like me to call Dana or your Dad?” If she wasn’t looking out for it she would’ve missed the small shake of his head.

“We rescued a little girl who had been kidnapped, but a woman lost her life because of me. It’s nearly 16 years since I lost Samantha, this little girl reminded me so much of her and watching her being reunited with her family made me think if I’ll ever find her. I wanted so much to have that moment be my moment of Samantha being found and given back to us, but instead I’ve caused you to lose a daughter because of my search for her. I’m so sorry for being the cause of her death, Mrs Scully, I’m sorry I couldn’t save her or Dana from the traumatic experiences.” His shoulders were shaking as he tried to hold in the tears, his father’s voice echoing in his head that if he cried it would hurt more. To her credit Maggie didn’t say anything but moved closer and drew Mulder into a hug she had given to her children many times before, holding him and giving him the comfort to break down.

She cradled him like one of her own and gently took the mug out of his hands, placing it on the coffee table, Fox had become part of her family and she never once blamed him for the loss of Melissa or Dana’s disappearance. She noticed that the tears had stopped and he had fallen into a much-needed sleep, she gently laid his top half on the sofa and then worked on getting his shoes off and swinging his legs onto the sofa so he was at least somewhat comfortable. She arranged the blanket over him and kissed his head as she had done many times with her children when she had put them to bed or found them asleep. She called Dana and Walter to let them know Fox had turned up at her doorstep and was currently asleep on her sofa, but he was safe, Dana had thanked her profusely for letting her know about Mulder’s whereabouts since she had been worried about him. As Maggie prepared to turn in for the night she gave the sleeping young man one last fond look, if only he knew how much he was loved by the people in his life.

Chapter Text

Dana managed to wait until the morning to go to her mom’s house and check on Mulder, she had brought some spare clothes for him thinking that he would prefer clean clothes after sleeping in sweaty clothes. She knocked lightly on the door, not wanting to wake Mulder if he was still asleep.
“Hey Mom, how is he?” Looking at the vulnerable sleeping form of her partner, he looked so much younger lying there, his hair falling in front of his eyes gave her the urge to brush it away.
“Still asleep, poor lad, he was so distraught when he turned up on my doorstep. He was trying to apologise for the death of Melissa and your disappearance, he thought that I should blame him for what happened. It took a while for me to calm him down and assure him I didn’t blame him at all. He told me about the case with the poor missing girl you found.” Scully’s heart broke a little hearing that Mulder still blamed himself for her disappearance and her sister’s death, that he was still carrying around all that guilt, she glanced at his still form on the sofa- finding it odd that the man who always darted from one place to another looked so small and still on her mom’s sofa. She walked over to the sofa, carefully lifting his head and his shoulders off the pillow so she could slip into the gap and position his head on her lap. She adjusted the blanket around him and brushed the errant hair out of his face, her fingers tracing his cheek and jaw as his chest rose and fell.

“Dana, I’m just going to cook us some breakfast, Fox looks like he needs a good meal in him and don’t think I don’t know about you not eating a full meal while you’re working, Dana Scully. I’ll bring you some tea in a minute.” Maggie gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek and leant down to press one to Mulder’s head before disappearing into the kitchen to give the two of them space. She could see that her daughter was worried but she knew that as long as those two were together then everything will be alright in the end, there was something special between them that couldn’t be explained.

Mulder stirred as he heard the scratching of a pencil and the sizzling of bacon and eggs around him. His head was pillowed on something soft and there was a nice feeling focussed on his head, he blearily opened his eyes to an unknown room but a picture of a younger Scully staring back at him from the mantle. How long had he slept? His limbs felt heavy and lethargic, he tried to sit up too quickly and a wave of dizziness overtook him,
“Mulder, it’s me, you’re at my mom’s house remember? You need to replace the fluids you lost from last night, drink this.” A mug of tea was pressed to his lips and he felt the warm liquid soothe his throat and help get his brain back online. Before he could think of something to say to alleviate Scully’s worried look, Maggie appeared in the doorway,
“Dana, Fox, breakfast is ready.” Mulder gave Scully a questioning look but she just replied fondly,
“My mom has never stopped wanting to take care of us, even when we’re grown adults, I think she sees you as a son as well. Come on, mom makes some great bacon!”

He allowed her to take his hand and all but dragged him to the table, it felt odd but also comfortable at the same time as they settled down to eat. He remembers the silent meal times back at the vineyard, the lively ones between his dad and him and he could imagine a future family with Scully- sitting at the table laughing and joking with his own kids as he makes them a meal. He could picture Scully looking radiant with the baby she always wants and another small kid, he would be helping to feed them and wishing them a good morning. The more he thought about it the more he wanted it, for Scully and himself. He wondered how many times Scully and her family had sat down at this table, how many times she had fought off her brothers and her sister for the best food. He didn’t realise he was so lost in thought until Scully nudged him and asked if he was okay,
“Sorry, I got lost in thought. We’ll clean up, Mrs Scully- Maggie, thank you for a wonderful breakfast.” He corrected himself quickly when he saw Maggie’s look, but the manners instilled in him still felt he should call her Mrs Scully even though he was in a relationship with her daughter.

He had lost the coin toss on who had to do the washing up, much to Scully’s delight, and so was stuck with pruned hands in soapy water. His smile turned mischievous when he noticed Scully engrossed in her task of drying a plate, he acted as if he was about to wash up the next item but instead flicked soapy water at her, watching it land on the side of her cheek.
“You’ll regret that, Mulder!” Scully said back, wiping the soapy suds off her cheek while her eyes twinkled with mirth, she managed to whip the tea towel against his hip in revenge but couldn’t hold in her laughter at his stunned face. She ducked out of the way as Mulder tried to splash her again with the soapy water but he was successful with his second attempt, hitting her square in the chest and cheering in victory when he saw that he landed his target.

Scully decided to switch tactics and walked confidently up to Mulder, making him walk backwards until he hit the worktop, she pressed herself against him and leaned up; taking his bottom lip in her teeth gently as her hands reached behind him. She pressed her lips to his, taking full control of the kiss while ghosting her fingers across his back under his t-shirt, she could feel his erection hardening as she rocked her hips against it, she smirked into the kiss and decided to put the last part of her plan into action. She scraped her fingers down the lower portion of his back one last time before silently gathering as much soapy water as she could in her hands and effectively throwing it against his back, soaking it and the top of his trousers.
“Scullllyyyy” He whined as he felt the water hit his back, he couldn’t be too mad at her laughing face and shaking shoulders as she saw the deer in the headlights look on his face, “I’ll get you back for it soon, Scully” Grabbing her by the waist and pulling her towards him, kissing her passionately and then resting his forehead on hers, god he loved her so much.
“Come to my therapy with me today, Scully. I want you there.” He whispered, trusting her with the most vulnerable part of himself, he just hoped that she wouldn’t rebuke his offer.
“Of course I’ll come with you, Mulder. I’m glad you’re still sticking with it and you trust me. I love you, Fox Mulder.” Kissing him gently, enjoying being in his arms despite his now soaking t-shirt.

Chapter Text

Scully greeted Mulder at the crime scene while placing her hand on Mulder’s back, silently taking in his explanation about what happened as she squatted down to examine the body. She looked at the strangulation marks on the victim's neck, finding them odd when looked at with the large pool of blood, her attention was drawn back to Mulder’s explanation when he inevitably mentioned something extraterrestrial,
“I’ve been tracking religious murders where all the victims have been stigmatics, but they all turned out to be a fraud like this guy here.” He bent down next to Scully and dipped his finger into the pool of ‘blood’ and tasted it, drawing a disgusted look from Scully.
“What? It’s fake, taste it. No?” Wiping his finger down his suit and then opening the shirt, revealing fake blood bags taped to his chest, proving his point to his partner. “This marks the 11th victim over a period of 3 years, my instinct is that the killer is still around and looking for his 12th victim.” The word stigmatic reminded Scully of the story of the 12 stigmatics she heard in church while she was younger,
“According to certain religious testimonies at any time in the world there would be 12 stigmatics that represented the 12 apostles. Maybe the killer is religious and believes the story to be true?”
“It could certainly be possibly the killer is some religious fanatic wanting to expose frauds like this or some psycho who really believes this stuff and has some resentment towards the church.”

---------------------- fast forward to the end of episode-----------

Mulder knew he had upset Scully when they left Kevin back at the shelter, he had made fun of her religious beliefs and her idea that she was the protector of Kevin the whole case. She had been right, there was a strong connection between her and the boy and she did save him while he just ignored her religious beliefs thinking his are better and ran off, no wonder she wanted some time alone. He had preached about keeping her mind open to beliefs of something being out there but here he was closing his mind to something his partner firmly believed in. Once he finished giving his statement to the local police he set off in search of her, wanting to apologise, he had a feeling as to where she was but he wasn’t sure he would be welcome. He walked silently to the local church after making sure Kevin was okay once again, the church wasn’t huge or busy but there were a few people milling about. He wasn’t sure why he had such an aversion to religion, he wasn’t exactly raised to hate it neither was he raised in a very religious household, he guessed it was because of everything that happened in his life- losing Samantha- that led him to think no God out there would justify taking away an 8-year-old girl like that. He found himself sitting in one of the empty pews, just staring at the confessional chamber and then the stained glass windows of the 12 apostles and numerous saints. He put on his glasses to allow himself a closer look, to appreciate the delicacy of the art and colour and jumped slightly when an old woman tapped his arm.
“Impressive isn’t it, young man?” She asked in a hushed voice, not looking at him directly, her attention fixated on the stained glass windows. He wasn’t sure how to reply but he felt that it would be rude if he didn’t,
“They are, although I don’t quite believe the stories behind them.” He admitted, hoping he wouldn’t start some sort of outrage by saying it, he wasn’t sure how he would explain to Scully why he was being chucked out of a church.

“Sometimes it is not a matter of believing these people were real, but a matter of faith of what they represent to the people who do believe. Puts a bit of a twist on the perspective doesn't it?” She chuckled, continuing to talk and point to the various different apostles. Her words made Mulder think about religion and Scully’s connection to it, it made him think about how Scully must’ve felt during the case with Kevin.

Scully stayed inside the confessional box for a few minutes to try and collect herself, she wasn’t angry with Mulder, she was just doubting her ability to hear what God might be saying to her. She felt at war with her faith, her beliefs and what they meant to her. She wiped her eyes roughly before heading out of the box, the reverend spoke to her just before she left his earshot,
“God still hears you and accepts you, child, even when you doubt your faith. Sometimes miracles are a way to show that He wants to tell you He is listening when you are ready. Do not give up, Dana, talk to that partner of yours and do continue your confessionals, it may help how you are feeling.”
She thanked the reverend and went to head outside to call her partner when she saw him standing at the side looking at the stained glass windows, talking to himself. She was surprised to see Mulder in a church, but it seemed he was trying to make an effort and it made her feel less anxious about opening up to him. She silently walked up to him and took his hand in hers, trying not to startle him,

“Mulder, I’m surprised to see you here, but I am glad you are here.” Closing her eyes as he kissed her cheek in a greeting,
“I wanted to apologise for not listening to you properly and ignoring your beliefs while I was always urging you to be open about mine. I’m sorry, Scully, I know how important your religion is to you and I hate to think that my behaviour has made you feel as if you have to hide that part of you from me.” He spoke earnestly, his own reflection on his behaviour and the talk with the old woman who had strangely disappeared the moment Scully had appeared by his side. Scully’s sudden stop pulled him from his thoughts and made him look at her questioningly, worried he had said something wrong,

“Thank you, Mulder. I hadn’t been to confession in 6 years before today and I had been doubting my faith after everything I had seen, everything that had happened. But today, with Kevin, I kept seeing and hearing things; it felt like God was trying to say something to me but I wasn’t listening. You didn’t see them, you didn’t believe in the idea of Kevin having a divinely appointed protector but when I was in that recycling plant I just knew Kevin was there and I had to protect him. Something about this case just made me rethink my beliefs. I wasn’t angry at you for not listening, I was annoyed with myself for not seeing what God might have been saying.” She explained carefully, still trying to make sense of her thoughts. She leant up and kissed Mulder slowly, conveying her love for him still and her thanks for him listening to her, his hand that wasn’t still interlocked in hers came up to cup the side of her face as he melted into the kiss. When they broke apart they just smiled at each other and Mulder wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked the rest of the way to the car so they could catch their flight,
“Does this mean you’ll draw me a bath when we get home, Scully?” He asked cheekily, enjoying the fond smile he saw on Scully’s face and the snort that she tried to hold back, just like that the tension from the case fell away and it was once again just the two of them enjoying each other’s company.

Chapter Text

Mulder wished Scully was sitting beside him in the car, they both had some time off so Mulder decided to drive up to Massachusetts to check out some UFO sightings that were reported near Miller’s grove. He knew Scully had to look after her rat with fur dog, Queequeg, and she had declined his offer saying she wanted a day at home to herself- which was why he was surprised when his phone rang and Scully was on the other end.
“Hey Scully, changed your mind about coming up here to witness some UFOs?” He asked teasingly, enjoying hearing how happy she sounds, he could imagine her just sitting on her sofa in front of the fire.
“I just wanted to check you hadn’t driven into a ditch chasing some UFO but I’m glad to hear you’re doing okay. Seen any UFOs yet Mulder?” Teasing him as she pressed the phone to her shoulder, so both hands were free to continue cleaning each part of her gun. She didn’t know why, but it was very soothing for her to take it apart and clean each part of it, then put it back together- perhaps it was because it focussed her mind.
“Nothing yet, just been sitting here thinking. Hold on a minute, Scully. Hi, Fox Mulder, FBI, is something wrong?” He asked curiously, wondering why a local sheriff was worried about one lone man in his car watching the night sky when he was sure they had better things to do. His interest was piqued when their radio crackled and he overheard something to do with cockroaches and something to do with another dead body.
“Hey, Scully, I’ll uh call you back.” Hanging up on Scully before she could reply, following the sheriff in his car, hoping he could get onto any case that was going on in this town.

He walked around the basement, trying to avoid the pool of blood and the smell of whatever they were trying to ferment in their shifty lab.
“What happened here?” He asked the local detective, wishing Scully was here with him as he squatted down to have a look at the kid.
“Kids were smoking something, girl over there said that the boy kept saying there were cockroaches crawling all over him, burying into his skin. He got a razor and started slicing into his skin, severed a main artery and bled out in front of his friends. We couldn’t see any cockroaches so we think he was just high and hallucinating.”
Mulder called Scully back as he investigated the makeshift meth lab, he took the stopper out of whatever was fermenting and coughed at the strong smell coming out of it,
“Scully, it’s me. Something odd is going on here, this is the second related cockroach death in a matter of days, you might wanna come up here after all.” He replied with some concern about what was transpiring here.
“You know, Mulder, there is a psychotic disorder associated with drug abuse where the abuser thinks they are being infested by insects, it’s called Ekbom’s syndrome. Mulder, were there any drugs at the scene?”
“Uh yeah, a whole mini lab of it. You’re probably right, there’s no need to come up, sorry to have bothered you. I’ll come over when I’m back, providing your dog allows me to even get near you.” He wanted to tell her that he loved her, that he missed having her on cases with him where she would argue with his theories. She had to look after her rat dog though, that had an aversion to him, but he tolerated the furball for Scully’s sake because she told him how much she had wanted a dog when she was younger but they couldn’t because they moved around so much. God, he sounded like he was jealous of a dog.

He caught a glimpse of something scurrying out of the corner of his eye, he walked silently towards the scurrying creature and his hand shot forward to grab it. A surface pain crossed his body for a second as his brain registered it and then tucked it away, he looked at what was in his hand and saw it was a crushed cockroach. The sheriff berated him for crushing their ‘evidence’ as Mulder revealed the crushed exoskeleton of the cockroach and placed it in an evidence bag.
“It’s a pretty sharp eksoskeleton, a bit like metal by the looks of it.” Showing off his bloody fingers. If Scully was here she would’ve grabbed his hand and started teasing him about touching things he shouldn’t.

He badgered the doctor about his theories, asking if it was possible that the cockroach had a metal exoskeleton, if Scully was with him he would’ve asked her to kiss his fingers better. He didn’t realise how much he needed her, wanted her presence with him, he was tempted to call her again but he didn’t want to ruin her night to herself. He poked his plastered fingers as his mind thought about what a breed of metal cockroaches meant and if such a thing actually existed. His head shot up when he heard people running and yelling, he followed the cohort of doctors towards the bathroom only to find the doctor, who had just treated him, lying dead on the floor. The nurse who found him said he had seen cockroaches but as soon as more people stepped in they disappeared. There were now too many deaths to be a coincidence and Mulder was worried about what was going on in this small town, if Scully was here she would reassure everyone with a rational scientific explanation. He spotted a movement in the sink and cautiously crept towards it, he tried to go for a slower approach to catch a live one but it disappeared down the drain before he could even make a reach for it.

“Scully, did you know that the department of agriculture has a facility on the outskirts of town? The sheriff mentioned it, that doesn’t seem odd to you?” He asked her as they talked about the recent death that had just occurred. He was checking into a motel for the night as he didn’t particularly want to chance to sleep in his car. If Scully was with him he would’ve chosen a nicer-looking motel but he wasn’t particularly picky where he stayed since he had been a lone wolf for the most part of his early career. He wasn’t sure if he could sleep knowing that there were some killer cockroaches out there that had caused multiple deaths so he just settled on putting on some random film and composing a semi-file on what had been going on here just in case for the X Files department. His phone ringing scared him out of his thoughts and he realised hours had passed,
“Mulder, it’s me. I was thinking about the cause of death for the doctor and it could be a brain aneurysm from straining too hard, if his pupils were dilated and bloodshot then it’s very possible. It’s a common thing to happen. Mulder, have you slept at all?” She asked with concern as she sat at her desk at home, eating ice cream while on the phone with her partner. If he was staying over he would’ve asked to share the ice cream and then deliberately get ice cream over her nose so he could kiss it off.
“I can’t sleep, Scully, I’ve become as paranoid as the people in this town. Scully, can I confess something to you? I hate insects.” Scully softened at the vulnerability in his tone and she wished she could take his hand,
“A lot of people are afraid of insects, Mulder, it’s just a natural response… instinctive. It isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not afraid of them, Scully, I hate them. When I was a kid I was climbing this tree and I saw a leaf walking towards me. It took me ages to realise it wasn’t a leaf and a praying mantis instead. I had a praying mantis epiphany and, as a result, I screamed. No, not... not a girlie scream, but the scream of someone being confronted by some before unknown monster that had no right existing on the same planet I inhabited. Did you ever notice how a praying mantis' head resembles an alien's head? I mean, the mysteries of the natural world were revealed to me that day, but instead of being astounded, I was... repulsed. Hated insects ever since, I’ve never really told anyone that before, not even my dad.” Running a hand through his hair and hunching in on himself as he thought about insects invading his room.
“Honey, it’s okay, it’s a very common phenomenon. Mulder, I’m going to come up and check this out with you, okay? I should be there soon.”

———————Jump to end—————-

Mulder covered Scully’s smaller body with his as they ducked behind the car to protect themselves from the worst of the explosion. He looked up cautiously over the car to check if the scene was clear, he placed a hand on the side of Scully’s face to check her for any signs of injury.
“Are you okay, Scully? You weren’t hurt were you?” Panic flashed in his eyes at the thought of her getting hurt because he had dragged her away from her night in.
“I’m fine, why don’t you go check on Bambi?” She shot back at him, she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. The woman was a scientist who believed in crazy UFO theories just like Mulder, she sounded perfect for him unlike her who always questioned his theories. She knew rationally that Mulder loved her unquestionably but sometimes her insecurities got the better of her. It didn’t help that ‘Bambi’ had gotten out of the car and started calling Mulder by his first name and she had the urge to correct the other woman. When she looked back around for Mulder she realised he was staring at her with concern in his eyes and a hand resting on the small of her back.
“We’ll give a report to the Sheriff tomorrow morning, it was nice meeting you Dr Berenbaum. Mulder, you’ll have to direct me to the motel you’re staying at.”
Mulder couldn’t tell if he was in trouble or not but he said goodbye to Berenbaum and thanked her for her help on the case before following Scully to her car. What he didn’t expect was Scully to pull him into a long gentle kiss as soon as he got into the car, his hand slid up to caress the side of her face and he enjoyed the feeling of her hand on his leg.
“I’ve missed you, Scully. I kept thinking about how much I wanted you to rationalise my theories on alien cockroaches and tend to my cut fingers. You don’t need to be jealous of Dr Berenbaum, I much prefer a fierce red haired woman who has a crazy partner. I love you, Scully. I also just realised we are covered in whatever was in that facility, I only have one room booked so we may have to share the shower.” He mentioned cheekily, his thumb stroking over the cheek it rested on while his other covered her hand that was resting on his leg.
“That’s very generous of you, Mulder.” She commented lightly, her eyes flickering over his body knowingly. She leant over to whisper suggestively in his ear, “Maybe you show me how much you missed me when we take that shower together.” Enjoying seeing and feeling Mulder’s reaction.

Chapter Text

Ever since they had arrived here, with Mulder driving and ignoring all her directions, something was off. Mulder was being even more irrational and difficult to deal with, she found frustration building up inside her at being cast aside by Mulder once again because he had found someone who believed in the craziness of tarot cards, aliens, and astrology as the motivation behind murders. She kicked off her heels as she strode across the room angrily, opening the window and roughly searching through her bag from her secret packet of cigarettes. She needed that release before she ended up shouting at Mulder and with him being equally stubborn they would end up in a shouting match. She sat on the edge of the motel bed, staring mutinously at the wall as she mulled over her thoughts. Today he has refused to let her drive again and ignored anything she said as he thought he knew best because he was a man. Her mind wandered towards Missy, remembering what they used to do when either of them was having problems with their boyfriends, Missy would come over to her apartment and they would rant to each other. Then of course Missy had come prepared with alcohol and got them both absolutely drunk, they would giggle together on the floor of her living room like a pair of school girls while watching some awful rom-com. A tear slipped down her cheek and she barely avoided burning herself with her cigarette when wiping it away. If Missy were still alive she would be calling her already but the world was cruel and unfair. She knew she was overreacting by saying she’ll go back to Washington without Mulder and he can finish the case without her, but she just wanted him to slow down and listen sometimes.

Mulder couldn’t understand why Scully was so angry at him, he didn’t think he had upset her that much by sharing his theories like he always did. He only went to see Detective White to apologize for how both of them were acting and because she was being a little more open-minded than Scully was at the point. He wanted to apologize to his partner but a louder voice in his head was asking why he had to apologize when it wasn’t solely his fault. He splashed cold water over his face in a sore attempt to gain some clarity but his mind was just working overtime, he put on some random black and white film in the background while changing into some joggers and a grey t-shirt, thinking a run might help. A knock at his door drew his attention and he padded over hoping it was Scully, he was disappointed when he saw it was Detective White holding an open box with a cat collar inside.
“Agent Mulder, I’m sorry to disturb you, but I just received this box. I think someone is taunting me.” Sounding scared as she put the box on the floor. White started to walk towards him as he backed up, trying to put some distance between her and himself without resorting to physically moving her away from him. He froze as she pushed him onto the bed and climbed on top of him, trying to tug his shirt off over his head.
“Not that I’m not flattered, but uh I have a partner, and uh I would like you to stop.” He said, gently holding her arms away from his shirt. He didn't notice Scully appearing in the doorway until it was too late and she had already walked out in anger. He tripped, more like fell, off the bed in his haste to catch up with Scully in a bid to explain what was happening,
“Scully!! Scully, please!! I promise I was trying to stop her from coming onto me.” He called out desperately, trying to get Scully’s attention, afraid he had blown it.
“We have another body. You can do whatever you like, but I’m driving down to the morgue to do the autopsy.” She replied bitterly after adjusting the front seat forward.
“At least let me drive-“ He tried to offer,
“Why? Because you’re the big macho man, so you always have to drive?” She shot back at him, holding her ground and feeling so angry at him for a reason she wasn’t even sure about.
“Well, I wasn’t sure your tiny feet could even reach the pedals.” Gesturing to her small feet encased in her large heels. They’d never fought like this before and it felt like someone else in his mind was driving the conversation.

He was taken by surprise when Scully left the car and yanked his head down so her lips could roughly connect with his. He moaned when she nipped his lower lip and he felt himself being roughly pulled back towards the motel as Scully dominated the kiss and his actions. They stumbled towards her room and towards the bed, neither of them wanting to break the kiss. Mulder growled and pushed Scully onto the bed, immediately nipping and kissing at any bare flesh he could find while Scully writhed beneath him. His shirt was thrown off into a corner somewhere and he gasped as Scully’s tongue brushed against his nipples, the pleasure going straight to his groin. Unbuttoning Scully’s shirt was taking too long so he instead ripped it open and roughly yanked it off Scully’s shoulders, his teeth going straight to her collarbone. She bucked her hips in a mixture of pain and pleasure, her nails scratching down his muscled back as she urged him to keep going. She wanted it rougher, harder, and all that frustration that was building up against him needed to be set free.

She flipped them and enjoyed the primal growl that left Mulder’s throat as his back hit the bed, his eyes darkened with lust, she trailed rough kisses and nips up his throat and took the lobe of his ear in her teeth,
“Tonight I’m in charge and I’m going to fuck you hard, Fox Mulder.” Biting the hollow of his neck and sucking it in order to leave a mark of possessive claim, she felt her head being yanked back by her hair and Mulder’s bruised lips meeting hers in a clash of teeth and tongue as they fought for dominance. One of his hands came up to cup her breast, stroking it and teasing her nipple while the other worked on undoing her skirt, she moaned loudly as he pinched her nipple ever so slightly and her nails dug into his shoulder. She could feel his cock growing harder and straining underneath her, wanting to desperately be freed, she tormented him slightly by grinding against him which left him panting for breath as he tried hard to not take her there and then. She shimmied out of her skirt, having foregone her tights earlier, and swatted Mulder’s wandering hands away from her hips, enjoying the whine that left his mouth in disappointment. She slowly inched his trousers down for better access to his hips, enjoying the strangled rough sounds coming from her partner as she ghosted her nails over his waistline. She sucked lightly on his hip bone, knowing it was a sensitive area for him, and then bit down hard intending for it to leave a mark.

She was close and she didn’t want to come before it was time, she was enjoying seeing Mulder disheveled, his hair sticking up in all directions and marks littering his body. She tugged off his joggers and pants, enjoying seeing his cock spring free and she gave it a rough stroke and squeeze. She momentarily lost focus as Mulder’s fingers tugged her pants down as much as they could and started to rub her clit. The last items of clothing joined the pile on the floor and she rolled the condom onto Mulder’s cock, smirking at his eagerness. She leaned down intending to place short kisses on his lips but was taken by surprise when Mulder kissed her hungrily as if it was the last time he would ever see her. She moaned as his hands tangled in her hair and his cock twitched against the wetness of her vagina,
“Scully, god, please fuck me. I’m close.” Mulder managed to gasp out, overwhelmed by the beauty of Scully above him. She positioned herself above him and sank down, both groaning at the feeling of fullness and pleasure. Using Mulder’s shoulders for support she set a brutal pace, leaving crescent-shaped marks as her nails dug into his skin. Mulder attacked Scully’s neck and breasts, moaning against her skin as he tasted the salty sweat,
“Scully, you’re exquisite.” He panted out against her lips,
“I love you, Mulder!” Near screaming in pleasure as he grabbed her hips, lifting her off him and all but throwing her onto the bed. He thrust back in roughly, not waiting for Scully to adjust as he set a fast pace while her legs wrapped around him. The bed shook and the headboard hit against the wall as the pace became more frantic and the room was filled with loud moans. Scully shuddered beneath him, pulling him in for a messy kiss as she came, he couldn’t hold off much longer and he thrust in hard one last time as he came. He used the last of his energy to pull out and deposit the condom in the bin as he collapsed next to Scully on the bed. Scully’s head came to rest on his chest and they fell asleep, content for the first time since they took this case.

————————-Scene Change——————

Mulder woke to sunlight streaming through the opened curtains, wondering why he hurt so much and how he managed to sleep more than 4 hours. He looked over to see Scully’s head resting on his chest, drooling ever so slightly, his eyes drifted down her naked form analyzing each mark he had apparently left on her skin. He vaguely remembered a sort of argument he had with Scully the night before and the amazing sex they had, he was pretty sure that similar marks he had seen on Scully are also littered on his body. He slowly removed his left arm from around her shoulders and leaned in to softly kiss her awake, nuzzling his face in her glowing hair.
“Mmmmm, good morning, Mulder.” She murmured sleepily, her hand carding through his hair as they basked in each other’s company.
“Scully, I’m sorry for what I said last night. I don’t know what came over me, although I’m not sorry for what happened after…” Smiling bashfully as he rested his head on Scully’s pillow.
“Mulder, I’m sorry too. I agree there is something going on here we can’t exactly explain, whatever it is those two girls- Terri and Margie- are connected to it.” Waiting for Mulder to say ‘I told you so’ but was pleasantly surprised when he replied,
“Scully, you’re right. Before I came back to the motel, I visited Madame Zirinka again, I was going to fill you in but we got distracted. I know what you think about psychics, but hear me out, there’s even some scientific basis to this.” Teasing Scully slightly, receiving a flick to his jaw in return, “Zirinka mentioned that once every 84 years the planets come into alignment and those who are born on that date have an abundance of cosmic energy. Both Terri and Margie were born on that day, they're the link and responsible for the murders. We just need a confession.” He spoke earnestly, his eyes alight with passion. Just as he finished speaking both their phones went off, Mulder mouthed ‘fate’ to Scully before reluctantly leaving the bed and pulling on his joggers on- feeling as if he should be partly dressed for the conversation.

———————Scene Change——————

Scully ducked behind one of the desks, trying to avoid being hit by flying stationary, furniture, and guns as the two girls argued with each other about whose fault all the deaths were. She watched as Mulder edged towards the girls, ducking every so often as to avoid concussion via flying stapler. She understood what he was attempting to do as he grabbed the arms of both girls, dragging them as best he could toward a cell. She made her way to his side, barely avoiding a flying gun, thankful they were all on safety, opening the cell door so Mulder could push the girls inside. They slid to the floor, their backs against the cell door as they heard the screaming of the girls inside, they watched the clock as it ticked towards the end of the day. As soon as it struck 12, it was silent, everything was still and there were no feelings of frustration. They sat there for a few more minutes until they heard the sound of crying coming from inside the cell,
“You think it’s safe yet? No flying objects as yet.” He joked weakly, helping Scully off the floor, wincing as the marks she had left on his body protested. He opened the cell door to see the girls hugging, tears streaming down their faces at the realization of what they had done. Scully crouched down beside them, talking softly and asking if they were okay, checking for any signs of injury. Mulder knew she could look after the girls and get them the help they needed, they couldn’t exactly prosecute them on the grounds of having too much cosmic energy or entirely prove they intended to kill these teenagers. He went to talk to the police officers, intending to try and explain how these murders happened without sounding too crazy, or more crazy than usual.
“Look you can’t prosecute these girls, as much as I know you and the families want someone to blame for the deaths. But, these girls are traumatized and they didn’t know what was happening to them, you cannot blame them for this. I suggest you get them some therapy and the families as well. Agent Scully and I will write up our report and we’ll be leaving this afternoon. If you need any more help, here's my card.” Handing it to the closest person while watching Scully with a fond look as she guided the teenagers to their parents, assuring them that they aren’t in any trouble and won’t be going to prison.

———————Scene Change—————
Scully had silently taken the keys, looking at Mulder and daring him to say anything about her driving, he wisely said nothing as he settled into the passenger seat with a notepad and his glasses.
“Uh, Scully, that was a stop sign.”
“Shut up, Mulder.” She told him affectionately, knowing he had run way more stop signs than she had ever done. She glanced at him working in the seat beside her, his hair ruffled more than usual, glasses on and two marks peeking out from under his shirt collar on his neck. That was her Mulder.

Chapter Text

They had a weekend off from work so they were taking advantage of having no urgent tasks to just be with each other. She rolled over to face Mulder, enjoying the feeling of his arms around her and his steady breaths, he had been having a lot of trouble with his insomnia this week. She carefully traced the dark purple circles under his eyes, stopping as he twitched slightly in his sleep and then settling again. He had fallen asleep during the film they watched last night before it had even gotten halfway through, she let him sleep deciding he needed the rest. She placed a kiss on the side of his head and carefully detangled herself from him, as much as she wanted to stay in bed with him, she had a surprise to get together. They had talked about it before, sure, but neither of them was ready then Mulder had spent the majority of the week at her place and whenever they spent the nights separately in their own apartments it didn’t feel right. He already had a key, but she wanted to do something special for him to ask him to move in, which is why she was going to Skinner’s house in the early morning. She scribbled a note for him, saying she had a few errands and wanted to let him sleep. She was slightly distracted from leaving by Mulder’s grey tank top riding up and exposing his midriff slightly. She stroked his hair one last time and then left quietly.

She was planning on hosting a game night to celebrate if Mulder accepted. She had found him a book of problems he could solve gradually whenever he couldn’t sleep. He had been taking books off Scully’s shelf and sheepishly storing them under a pillow whenever she had awoken to see him reading. She pulled into Skinner’s drive, nervous about seeing her boss on the weekend despite him being Mulder’s father.
“Hi Dana, I hope Mulder hasn’t been too much trouble for you. He said he’s been struggling to sleep lately, I hope he’s been talking to you about it because I can’t get a word out of him.” He said it in a light tone but he was concerned about his son, maybe it’s because his son didn’t need him anymore now he had a partner, but he was happy that Fox had found someone who loved as fiercely as he does.
“He’s been talking a bit, but you know how Mulder is. He was still asleep when I left and he fell asleep in the middle of the movie we were watching last night. Are you still going to come tonight? I cut an extra key for you, just in case.” She felt nervous, even if she didn’t want to admit it, but it felt right somehow to be coming back to an apartment that they share and not having to say goodnight to him and then leave. She wanted a space that was theirs to share, she liked seeing his stuff in different rooms, his clothes tucked into her drawers.

Once she had gotten back to the apartment, she slid the note and Mulder’s key with an added alien keyring she had seen at one of the many gas stations on a case, just behind the cover of the book. She held the book in a tight grip as she climbed the stairs to her apartment, she was greeted with the sight of Mulder in pants and a grey tank top attempting to make breakfast. His hair was sleep mussed, slightly overgrown by his ears, but he was barefoot and humming to something she didn't recognise. She took in the sight of her partner, he was absolutely gorgeous and she had the urge to take him back to bed right there and then. She was caught when he turned around to place plates on the small kitchen table, his eyes lit up at the sight of her watching him and the boyish grin she loved so much crept onto his face,
“I thought I would make breakfast for you, as a thank you for letting me sleep in. I -uh- made blueberry pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes, Samantha used to love having pancakes for breakfast, she would attempt to eat her body weight in them.” A small sad smile crawled to replace the grin that was there just moments ago and nostalgia flickered in his eyes,
“It smells wonderful, but you didn’t have to go to all this trouble, Mulder.” She leant up to press a kiss to the stubbled cheek, inhaling the scent that was just Mulder. She secretly liked that he could cook, somewhat, and that he cooked for her.
“I wanted to, Scully.” He replied earnestly, gesturing for her to sit as he served her. Pancakes was a recipe that he had a lot of practice with making and it mixed the happiness of making them for another person he loved in with the sadness of the memories of Samantha. He delighted in Scully’s bright, warm smile as they ate together, he never thought he would be sitting at a kitchen table with a partner for breakfast; but now here he was, perhaps all he needed was the right person. A smudge of melted chocolate drew Scully’s attention to the corner of Mulder’s lips, she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers, enjoying the taste of chocolate. They parted and she could see a smirk forming on Mulder’s face, the chocolate was now smudged more over his lips and hers.

The nervousness returned as she decided this was the best moment to ask. She told him to wait there while she retrieved the book,
“I bought you this, I thought it might help keep your brain occupied when you can’t sleep. I’ve seen you going through my bookshelf and I thought you would find it more interesting than my romance novels.” She placed it on the table carefully so the note and keyring doesn’t fall out. Mulder eyed Scully’s body language, noting how tense she was, he smiled as he saw the title- she knew him so well. He could tell something was hidden underneath the front cover but he didn’t expect to see a small note written in her handwriting alongside a small alien key ring,
Dear Fox,
It has gotten harder to say goodnight to you and leave for separate apartments. Will you move in with me?
Love,
Dana.

He read and reread it, wanting to make sure he had read it correctly,
“Are you sure?” He asked quietly, still not quite believing it.
“Yes, Mulder. I love seeing your clothes alongside mine, when you fall asleep on my couch as we watch a film. It feels normal, you being here.”
He surged forward and kissed her passionately as his answer rather than his words.
“I take that as a yes?” She asked, laughing at his response and his boyish grin. She gasped as Mulder picked her up, her arms looping around his neck and legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. She kissed him hard, letting out gasps of appreciation as he rested her on the kitchen counter and his lips brushed over the sensitive part of her neck- her hands wandered into his soft hair that always looked so perfectly fluffy.

Later as they lay in bed, pleasurably exhausted for the middle of the day, the sheets tangled around their legs. Scully’s head was resting on his chest, his hands absentmindedly tracing his fingers up and down her body while her eyes were half-lidded in the state between awakeness and sleep. Mulder nuzzled his face in her hair, inhaling her shampoo and something that is inherently Scully. He kissed the top of her head,

“I love you, Scully.” He mumbled into her hair, enjoying their rare moment of peace. He couldn’t believe he was this lucky to have a woman like Scully love him and want to live with him.

“I love you too, Mulder. There’s one more surprise for you, to celebrate you moving in, I asked the gunmen and your dad to do a one off DnD session tonight. We’ve been going from case to case for a while and so much has happened in our lives, you deserve to have a break.” Mulder couldn’t believe what his life was like. Scully had entered his life and fallen in love with him, now she’s asking him to move in with her after all he had put her through, after what she lost. She had planned all of this for him. He hadn’t noticed he was crying until he felt something wet trickle down his cheek, catching in the stubble on his cheek and splashing onto Scully’s hair.
“Mulder, why are you crying?” Twisting in his embrace to face him, using her thumb to brush the tears away, concerned that maybe it wasn’t the right time after all.
“I’m happy, Scully.” He reassured her, enjoying the light touch of her fingers on his cheeks.

They lay in bed for a few more hours, just being able to be together, nothing pressing that needed their attention, just them together in bed at peace.

Chapter Text

Mulder had left her in bed with a quick kiss to her lips and forehead as he left their apartment, wanting to head to the office early to check if anyone had emailed him about a potential case. Although she was doing her best to make it hard to let him leave with the touches she was giving him, and the promises that were leaving his lips as he reacted to her touch. As she prepared to leave, she looked around her with a smile at seeing Mulder’s items around her apartment, his fish tank was against the wall in the living room and his box of videos sitting next to hers.

Scully schooled her face as she walked through the halls, her heels clicking across the floor while ignoring the men leering at her and whispering to each other about the ice queen.
“You wanted to see me, Sir?” She asked Skinner, trying to remember if she or Mulder had caused any trouble lately. She knew if Skinner had wanted to talk to her about anything personal they wouldn’t do it in his office that was probably bugged.
“Agent Scully, I’m sorry to inform you but the case against your sister has been declared inactive. The FBI are no longer investigating it, I plan on appealing the decision but it may not work. I’m sorry, Dana.” His voice softened towards the end, placing his hand on her shoulder, wanting to draw her into a hug but not being sure if it was his place.
“So that’s it? They’re just going to give up on it because they’re too scared to expose the truth of what’s been going on within the Bureau. So much so that they’re going to let someone get away with the murder of my sister, they shot her and left her for dead.” She didn’t mean to raise her voice at him, but to hear that they were giving up on Melissa, that she wouldn’t receive justice was just wrong. How would she be able to face her mother and say that they will never find closure on what happened to Melissa?

Mulder looked up when he heard the door to the office open, revealing a vulnerable Scully,
“Scully? What’s wrong?” Getting up from his desk after recognising how quiet his partner was and the effort she was putting into not crying. He closed the door and then pulled her into a hug, his chin resting on her head until she was ready to talk.
“They’ve made Melissa’s case inactive, they’re not investigating it anymore. She’s not going to get any justice, Mulder.” She mumbled into his chest, the anger slowly leaving her empty, she felt bad that she had nearly shouted at Skinner. Mulder’s hand weaved through her hair, comforting her,
“We’ll get her justice, Scully, I promise.” Kissing the top of her head in reassurance before continuing to hold her for as long as she wanted.

He held her for 20 minutes before she decided to freshen up and start their day. He wished there was more he could do for her, to find out who killed Melissa Scully and get her the justice she deserves. He finished setting up the projector for the case he had been contacted about last night that had intrigued him, Scully would want to focus on work and this one held a lot of promise. He squeezed her arm and handed her the emergency thermos of coffee and case file.
“The French salvage ship Piper Maru returned to port in San Diego a few nights ago after a diving expedition in the same place where a UFO was potentially discovered by the Talapus. Gauthier was the only man who didn’t suffer from radiation poisoning. I said we would investigate it, are you okay to go to San Diego?” Speaking as he showed the pictures he had been sent of the ship and of the victims.
“Has anyone told you that your willingness to make these connections makes you sound a little crazy?” She asked, a small smile appearing as she took the plane ticket out of his hand.
“Or would you say a little spooky?” Cheekily answering, dodging the swat of Scully’s plane ticket before pulling her in for a quick kiss. It was good to see Scully happy and relaxed, especially after the news she had received.

5 hours on the plane. Without any legroom. His legs were killing him and so was his neck from sitting in an odd position the whole flight, next time he was taking up 3 seats even if Scully tried to stop him. He found their luggage while she went to find a rental car for them, giving him time to fully stretch his legs out to get the cramp out. He was curious about this case and he wanted to get Scully’s scientific opinion on it once they had visited the patients at the Naval hospital, it didn’t make sense that one man had somehow escaped radiation poisoning while the rest of the crew didn’t. He noticed that Scully looked tired and he almost asked if she was okay with doing the case, but he knew she knew her own limits and they were working on communicating with each other when they needed a break or help.

After being up half the night tossing and turning with images of her sister invading her dreams, she was more exhausted from jet lag than usual. Both of them had chosen to wear their glasses today and she couldn’t help but stare at Mulder as he surveyed the Piper Maru, hoping to find any clues on Gauthier since he had discharged himself. The ship reminded her of her father, of Melissa and her brothers as they would sometimes look around the ships their father was commanding. She looked over the controls and the diving gear with interest, thinking there must be something there they could use.
“Hey Scully, there’s something over here, looks like a diving chart of sorts.”
“There’s a name here, Zeus Faber, but it doesn’t match any of the crew’s names on log. It looks like they kept transmissions of their diving expeditions, should be somewhere around here if I remember correctly from what my father told me.” Looking around for the log and recognizable signs, she began to run her fingers across the side of the ship as she looked, the touch reminding her of her father and sister.
“Here, it should show the recent logs of the diving expeditions and the details of it.” Explaining to Mulder what was happening and pointing out the details.
“Wait, Scully. What’s happening here?” Something caught his eyeline, well two things as he squinted behind his glasses.
“Looks like a P51 Mustang, but I don’t know why it would be near a diving point expedition. Do we know what they were looking for, if they found anything?” Feeling like they must’ve missed something from the case file, she looked away from the feed to see Mulder intensely staring at her with a dark look in his eyes.
“I think I just got a little turned on.” His voice was huskier and his look completely focussed on her so much that she felt goosebumps rise up on her neck.
“Later, Mulder.” She promised him, wanting to kiss him there but professionalism stopped them.

As she drove through the neighbourhood, memories of her childhood filled her mind as she watched children play happily with each other in the street. Years ago that was her and Melissa playing together with her brothers before their mother called them back in. So many happy memories are attached to this place, a soothing balm to the sorrow that has marred part of her soul. Mulder had offered to come with her, out of support and interest, but she felt that making the trip alone would prove more beneficial for personal and professional reasons. Some of her happiest memories were here and she wondered if her mother would find the same comfort in these memories as she does.

She drew herself out of her memories, having come to her destination and needing to focus on the case.
“Command Johansen, Agent Dana Scully, you knew my father when my family and I lived here some years ago. When my father was stationed with your command.”
“Oh yes, I remember your father. Great man, how’s he doing these days?”
A slight pang of grief went through her,
“He passed away, just after Christmas, Sir. I’m working at the FBI now and there’s a case that could use your expertise on. It’s about a diving expedition and when we were reviewing the logs we saw a glimpse of a P51 Mustang that is certainly older than the other equipment there. I remember you were part of a similar naval expedition years ago, I was wondering if you could tell me about it?” She inquired, moving away from the topic of her father so she wouldn’t get caught up in memories. She thought she saw a flicker of something replace the warm smile on Johansen’s face, but it came too fast for her to be sure.
“I’m sorry, Dana, I was not part of that unfortunate incident. Pre-occupied elsewhere as you can imagine, I’m sorry that you have had a wasted trip, although it was a pleasant surprise to see you once again.”

The suspicious feeling grew in her mind after she left Johansen’s house and she realised she hadn’t heard from Mulder. Just as she was going to call him while waiting at the gate, the officers interrupted her actions saying that she was not authorised to leave. She didn’t panic. It wouldn’t do anyone good if she did and if they detained a federal agent without reasoning she knew the bureau would not be pleased.
“It’s alright men, Agent Scully was here at my invitation. I’ll escort her out.” The look he gave clearly said that he had more to tell her but the location was not safe for either of them.

“I couldn’t tell you at the house what had happened in case they were watching, but I was on the team in charge of finding the plane that was one of three carrying an atomic bomb heading for Japan. It was near the end of the war, you have to understand, the Japanese were closing in and our captain refused to return to base. Something had infected him, other men were suffering from radiation burns all over and there was nothing we could do to help. The Japanese destroyer would’ve found our sub if we didn’t return to base so the men and I made a decision. We sealed the captain and the crew in the sick bay, then piloted the sub back to base. Only 7 of us made it out that day. We were forbidden to talk about it, not that any of us wanted to.”

He was telling the truth. She could see the pain in his eyes as he talked about leaving his crew to die. It would make sense that the US government decided to cover it up just after dropping atomic bombs on Japan. However, it was now worse than they thought and Mulder was alone with Gauthier, who was infected with the oil they knew nothing about. She thanked Johansen for his honesty and questioned him about his safety, but he had simply wished he had forgotten the memory rather than knowing the consequences of the cover-up. Before she could think about calling Mulder to update him, her phone rang,
“Scully. Where? What’s his condition? Alright, thank you. I’ll send Agents ahead as protection for the Director.” She breathed deeply, fighting the rising worry, she didn’t have time to contact Mulder and if they had contacted her first it meant he was out of reach. Whatever he was doing, she trusted him to come back to her, to his dad.

While waiting for Skinner to wake up from surgery she tried to call Mulder, it had been hours since she last talked to him, nearing a day.
“Mulder, it’s me. If you get this message, just call me back. There’s something larger going on here, not just with the case.” She sighed and sat down on the chair, placing her head in her hands, the stress of everything catching up to her. She settled for writing down notes from her meeting with Johansen, wondering if there was a case file from 1945 she could look at or even an analysis report on what the oil is. She didn’t want to hold out much hope, considering their history of working off the barest bits of information.

Her concentration was broken when she heard Skinner stir, there had just been a changeover in the agents guarding the door so she was going to need to update them.
“Sir, I’m going to need you to stay still. You’ve been shot and had surgery, there are agents outside guarding the door. Sir, we’re going to need to know what happened.” She needed something to occupy her mind and if Skinner was going to talk to anyone it was her or Mulder.
“It was about your sister, they told me to drop the appeal.” She watched cautiously as he shifted to a more comfortable position, worrying about what that meant for him. “I recognised one of them, his face. Fox?” His eyes searched behind Scully, towards the door, hoping to see him walk through the door.
“He’s still working on the case. Sir, can you give a description of your attackers, when you are feeling up to it. First you need rest -“ She looked over her shoulder when an agent opened the door, saying a nurse had requested to speak to her, she thanked him and asked him to collect a description of the attackers from Skinner. Everyone at the bureau was on high alert so there was no shortage of agents willing to work on the case.

“Agent Scully? There’s a Fox Mulder that was just brought in after being found unconscious in the passenger seat of a car, you are listed as his emergency contact and his doctor, please follow me and I will take you to see him. He’s suffered a concussion and some bruising to one side of his face.”
Scully breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t worse, considering Mulder’s knack for injuring himself, but surely he hadn’t been unconscious in a car for over a day, she hoped he had some of the missing puzzle pieces to this case. She sat on the side of the bed, her hand automatically pushing the hair out of his face and her eyes cataloguing the bruises on the side of his face,
“Oh Mulder, what have you gotten yourself in to.” She commented, wishing that the world would leave him alone for a time, he didn’t need anyone more suffering.
“Scully?” His voice sounded tired and confused, he must have not been awake when they brought him in. She clasped his hand with hers and kissed it gently, wanting to assure herself he was there with her again.
“Mulder, they found you unconscious in a car and brought you here. Before we talk about the case, there’s something you need to know. Your dad is here recovering from a gun shot wound, he had surgery and it went well, there are agents on the door and he recognises one of the men who attacked him so there’s a strong case.” She spoke quickly, seeing the panic rising in his eyes and behaviour as he tried to wrestle himself out of the bed, most likely wanting to discharge himself and put himself on the case. She gently but firmly pressed a hand against his chest, stopping him from going any further and daring him to take another step, the fight drained out of him when he slumped back down on the bed.
“You checked over him yourself?” He questioned, trusting her skills and judgment, he knew she would look out for his dad when he couldn’t. He took her hand again, squeezing it lightly and pressing a kiss to her temple,
“The oil is in Krycek now. I found Gauthier alive in his house but it had already been ransacked, I followed Mrs Gauthier all the way to Hong Kong where I saw Krycek doing the same. I wanted to kill him, Scully, I wanted to so badly for the pain he has caused to you and your family and others, does that make me a bad person?” He asked hesitantly, worry swirling his eyes at the thought of Scully agreeing and rejecting him, he was surprised when she cupped his cheek gently and made him look at her,
“You are not a bad person, Mulder. You wanted to kill him, but you didn’t because you have a good heart.” Her tone left no room for argument and he knew that it would be one he would lose anyway, instead, he tried to remember what happened next,
“I remember I punched him and he mentioned a tape that contained government UFO files in a locker in Washington. I suggested he should clean up so we didn’t draw any attention on the flight back to Washington, the oil must have transferred to him then because when he came out he was acting differently. Someone was following us in the car, forcing us down an embankment and then crashed into us. There- there was this bright flash of light. Someone was screaming. I couldn’t see who. That’s all I remember, but Scully- this oil- it’s more dangerous than we thought, it acts like a living creature waiting for a host. The radiation is caused by the oil.”

They discussed what she had learnt while she waited for him to get dressed before she allowed him to discharge himself, but she couldn’t help but stare at the blood on his collar. Mulder must have caught her staring because he hugged her lightly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head to reassure her, and perhaps himself because she could feel how tense he is. They managed to get to Skinner’s room without acting closer than usual, not that any of the hospital staff would care but they didn’t know who was watching.
“Fox, what happened? Let me have a look.” Squinting at the bruising and the stitched cut, trying to sit up and failing when it pulled on his stitches.
“Dad, I’m fine, you’re the one who’s been shot. Do you know who attacked you, why they attacked you?” The gears were already turning in his head, trying to draw connections between everything they’d learnt and the attack on Skinner. They talked together for some time, with Mulder sitting on the edge of the bed while Scully sat closely next to him on a chair making sure Skinner didn’t overexert himself.

He was nervous. He couldn’t trust this man, even if he said he would answer his questions about the submarine and the oil. The lone gunmen and Scully couldn’t find anything on him and they had all agreed not to ask Skinner for help. He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets as he looked around the area, the street lamps providing minimal light.
“Agent Mulder, it has been many years since I’ve seen you. You look just like your father when he was younger.” Mulder tensed, hating the reminder that these men knew his father and what he did. How could he have missed the signs?
“If you tell me what you know, Mr Mulder, then I will consider handing over Krycek.”
“No, first you are going to answer a few questions for me, such as what was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean or who killed Melissa Scully?” He demanded, not in the mood to play games or answer riddles.
“It was a UFO, a so-called foo-fighter, downed by American fighter pilots in the 2nd World War. There were salvage attempts. A US sub was sent in 50 years ago, but there were complications.” It confirmed everything Mulder knew already from Scully’s investigations and that the government willingly withheld this information.
“You know that tape you have all been so very interested in, Krycek has been selling similar secrets off, not so much your golden boy mercenary now is he?” He noted the surprise appearing on the well-manicured man’s face, “You’re looking for Krycek too, aren’t you? Hoping I will lead you to him, maybe you should talk to your secret group about what really happened to the tape.” He countered, enjoying knowing more information than them for once.
“You know, Mr Mulder, everyone can be gotten to certainly, of course you have no doubt of that.”

He froze. The meaning of those words sinking in. Ice replaced the blood in his veins and he felt sick. He barely heard the man walk away as he dug frantically into his pocket for his phone,
“Scully, it’s me. The agents outside Skinner’s room, are they still there? Please can you just check for me. Keep him and yourself safe, I don’t have time to explain it now- yeah okay- thank you. I love you, Scully.” His hands were trembling and he felt cold. He needed to focus, to not give in to emotions right now.

Scully breathed a sigh of relief when she tracked down the transfer ambulance, knowing Skinner was not more physically harmed in any way. She brushed off his concern but kept one hand on her gun, not trusting this sudden transfer that happened without authorisation. The back door rattled as they stopped at a red light, something was very wrong, she moved in front of Skinner and opened the door slowly. She ducked and covered Skinner instinctively as a gunshot rang out, she gave chase. She recognised that face. Knew what he had done. Anger propelled her forward, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on her prey, she got it when he stumbled and fell.
“Stop! Federal Agent. Are you Luis Cardinal?! Are you Luis Cardinal?!” She demanded a slight tremble in her hands as she tried to fight the desire to give in to her anger. She barely heard his plea as she asked his name again,
“Are you the man who shot my sister ! Tell me. Tell me!” She yelled, her voice rising and tears gathering in her eyes, a voice in her head saying she should get justice for her sister.
“I can tell you want you want, you want Krycek, I can tell you where he is? Please, please don’t shoot me.” He pleaded, his eyes wide and face stricken, scared for his life.
She lowered her gun, explaining to the police she was an FBI agent and let them take him into custody, allowing one tear to trickle down her cheek that was covered by her hair.

————————————————————————

They lay on her couch together after they got back from visiting her sister’s grave. She had been silent the whole ride back and Mulder didn’t press her after telling her what happened to Cardinal. He knew what it was like to have hope for justice taken away so cruelly. He placed gentle kisses along her shoulder and to the pulse point of her wrist, reminding Scully he was here for her and he wasn’t going anywhere. They had convinced Skinner to stay at their apartment so they could keep an eye on him, but really none of them were comfortable with not being within reach. He had come close to losing his dad physically and Scully mentally if she had shot Cardinal, their search for the truth just became more difficult.
“I wanted to shoot him, Mulder. Even when he was defenceless and pleading for his life. All I could think about was Melissa lying in a hospital bed and my mom praying for her to wake up.” She paused, leaning into Mulder’s palm on her cheek, feeling his thumb brushing aside a tear as he waited patiently for her to continue. It’s one of the qualities she loved about him, he was a good listener and he never pushed her unless necessary.
“These types of men will never face no justice. Melissa will never get the legal justice my mother searches for, but somehow having that confirmation of who it was, who holds responsibility eases my guilt a bit.” Shifting in Mulder’s arms, finding herself trembling and drained. A heavy blanket was drawn over her and she felt Mulder’s stubble rubbing against her cheek when he drew her closer under the blanket.
“Sometimes knowing part of the truth is better than not knowing at all. It’s okay to be angry at injustice, as long as we do not give into that anger and you didn’t. I want to thank you for protecting my dad, for being the amazing woman you are.” He kissed the corner of her mouth, then tightened the edges of the blanket around them after putting the tv on quietly as they drifted off to sleep together.

Chapter Text

He was trembling, he could feel it. Scully’s voice sounded like it was underwater, the gunshot was still ringing in his ears and the cold metal of the gun was a shock. He couldn’t breathe. He felt like a puppet, his mind not his own, no matter how hard he tried to fight it.
“Mulder?” He felt gentle hands on him, prying his fingers off the gun and setting it on the table. His hands shook now that he didn’t have anything to grip onto and his chest tightened. Voices washed over him, Scully’s was the loudest and he really tried to focus on it to bring himself back to the present. But, he felt violated by Modell, he didn’t care that he almost lost his life but when he was forced to point the gun at Scully, seeing her fear and anger, knowing he was the cause of it. He felt himself being guided out of the room and towards an open car, light was being flashed in his eyes while a hand rested on his shoulder.
“Mulder, you’re in shock. I need you to match your breathing with mine, okay?”

He was pale and clammy, his eyes were unfocused and she could feel the trembles in his hand as they gripped hers. She reached into the car to grab his coat and draped it on his shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of his head,
“Mulder, I’m just going to check in with the paramedics and call Skinner, then we’ll head home.” She took the slow nod as an affirmation and ran her hand through his hair as a reassurance before leaving to speak to the paramedics. She made sure that they knew she was Mulder’s Doctor and was taking care of him, she got the report on Modell’s condition, feeling a bit of sorrow for a man who lived with such a painful condition and now may die in pain. But, it meant he was unlikely to walk free and kill anyone else again, and more importantly not cause Mulder any more pain.

“Sir, it’s Agent Scully. Modell is en route to the hospital with the other Agents, it’s unlikely he will survive his injuries. He managed to coerce Agent Mulder into a game of Russian Roulette, which resulted in Modell being shot. Agent Mulder is currently suffering from shock and it is my professional advice as his doctor that he has a few days of medical leave. Yes sir, I understand. We’ll get the report to you in a couple days.” She was suddenly exhausted, weariness setting in her bones, but she pushed through as she looked at Mulder. His hair was flat, chin set on his chest and shoulders hunched in on himself, the warm eyes she loved so much were devoid of any spark. It was time to go home and try to put this case behind them.

The drive home was quiet, every time she glanced over at Mulder in the passenger seat he was staring out of the window. She took his hand quietly, leading him into the house and guiding him to sit on the bed while she ran a bath for him.
“It’ll be okay, honey. You’re fine and so am I, Modell will most likely never wake up.” She slowly removed his clothes, hanging up his coat and placing his clothes in the hamper. Her movements were soft and slow, massaging shampoo into his hair and watching his muscles finally relax,
“Head back.” She murmured, washing out the shampoo and carding her fingers through the wet hair to make sure there were no tangles. As she rubbed body wash over him, she could tell the shock was wearing off as his hand moved to cover hers in a silent gesture of thanks.

They lay facing each other in bed, Mulder’s head lying on her pillow and her arm resting around his waist, both not wanting to be away from each other.
“I hated it. I could feel him crawling around in my mind- telling me - telling me to play this game with him. He knew… he knew I was a profiler. I felt paralysed. I tried to fight him, Scully, I did. When he made me turn the gun on you, I felt sick, violated, I didn’t want to hurt you.” Tears slipped down his face, his brain catching up with the events that happened. The loss of control. The compulsion. His life was in the hands and power of a man who regarded it as a tool, a weapon. He hated the loss of control, to then being forced to nearly shoot at Scully, it was like a knife to the heart. He let himself cry, to feel the anger, he was safe in Scully’s arms and his hands grounding him.

Scully felt Mulder fall asleep and she shifted a bit closer, pulling the throw closer over their shoulders. Kissing the top of his head, she prepared herself for a difficult night and again sent thanks to God that Modell would never enter their lives again.

Chapter Text

They had been sent to San Francisco to check out a man being burnt alive in a crematory oven. The guard who discovered the poor man reported having seen three masked people, who then vanished. Mulder thought back to previous cases he had come across of men, specifically of Asian ethnicity, being burnt alive; it was no coincidence that it had now spread to San Francisco.
“Mulder, over here. The victim was wearing a glass eye, it survived the burning. It’s odd that all the victims you have mentioned before were missing a body part, we should cross reference the victims with missing parts and the places they were found.” Placing the eye in an evidence bag and handing it to one of the technicians. Mulder hummed in agreement as he looked inside the oven, sticking his head in and looking around for any traces of the murderer. A flash of white caught his eye and he twisted his head, finding a Chinese character written on the top of the oven.
“What does this mean? This character here.” Narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the edge of the oven in his eagerness to get answers, resulting in an exasperated look from Scully. He couldn’t help being so tall and things so small, although he led him to find a small scrap of paper by the edge of the furnace,
“It means ghost, the character you found. The piece of paper is hell money, a symbolic gesture to spirits during the Chinese festival of Hungry Ghosts. It could help us identify the victim, although many people are living here who partake in the festival. I’m Detective Chao, I work with Detective Nerry, I’ve been assigned to work this case with you.” Mulder shook his hand and Scully gave him a warm smile as a welcome, considering her gloves were covered in remains bacteria. They shared contact details and agreed to share any information they found on their victim.

Mulder was sitting cross-legged on their shared bed, notes scattered about him with a book about Chinese myths and legends in one hand and a pen grasped in the other, flitting across the page. His glasses were perched at the end of his nose and his hair was a wild mess as he absorbed any information pertaining to the festival, or any myths surrounding ghosts. A small pile of sunflower seeds was to the right of his knee, there in case he had a break in his thought process. To his left was Scully writing up her report on the victim’s autopsy, her hair falling slightly over her glasses as she leant forward. The comfortable silence was broken when Mulder abruptly asked,
“Do you believe in vengeful ghosts, Scully?” His eyes were bright behind his glasses and messy hair,
“Mulder, if you are about to suggest this man was killed by a ghost then I’m going to stop you there. It’s clear he was burnt alive, no ghosts involved.” Giving him her common exasperated look when he started to talk about the supernatural.
“Here me out, Scully, I think there’s a connection between this festival and the killings. I’m not sure at the moment what it is, but I can sense it.” He replied earnestly, pointing at his research notes while spilling the sunflower seeds across the floor.

Later that night, as Scully slept in the bed alone after falling asleep next to Mulder’s body, he sat on the sofa trying to figure out the connection niggling around in his brain. There must be something going on that this festival is covering, he felt that the answer was so close but he couldn’t grasp it. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, reclining on the sofa and catching a glimpse of Scully asleep. She seemed even smaller under the mountain of covers she had pulled around her, he wished he could sleep but there was nothing that was going to calm his mind. So he stretched out his long legs and settled in to read a book on Chinese mythology he had picked up.

Scully studied Mulder as she handed him his coffee, there were dark circles under his eyes and his skin was paler than normal - it was clear he didn’t sleep at all last night. She filled in Detective Chao on what she had found out last night about the victim,
“His name is Johnny Lo, he lived here for the past couple of years, however I’ve found no record of late fees or complaints from neighbours. He was your model tenant and he seemed like a model employee as well.” Handing her notes to Chao as they climbed the stairs, they all stopped when they reached Lo’s door, coming face to face with a white Chinese character painted on it.
“I’m- I’m not sure what it means. I haven’t seen it used in this context before.” Mulder and Scully exchanged glances, this case was getting stranger by the second and they were very much in the dark still. While Mulder went to investigate the carpet, Scully and Chao investigated the inside of the apartment, looking through drawers for any clue to the motive of his death. Scully very nearly jumped out of her skin when she opened a drawer to see a dried frog staring back at her. It’s not exactly what you expect when going through a victim’s possessions, and of course it was always frogs with them. Once she got over her initial shock, she pulled the drawer out and looked through it, frowning at the different medicinal herbs. Although she had a medical degree, they didn’t really use medicinal herbs when treating people- unless they were in the wilderness. Once again, Chao’s knowledge came in handy, proving himself to be invaluable,
“They’re traditional Chinese herbal medicine, a lot of people around here sell them- most believe they do help with sickness and wounds. It’s not uncommon to see herbal medicine around, especially with a dried dead frog because Chinese people use it for charms as they believe it brings good health, prosperity and protection. For the Chinese community here, a lot who are first generation immigrants, their traditions and cultures are very embedded and practised still. To my knowledge there is only one apothecary in Chinatown, so it is the logical next stop in our investigation.” His lips twitched as he watched Scully trying not to shudder at having to pick up the dead frog and place it in an evidence bag.

Now Mulder was no carpenter but even he knew something was wrong with the carpet. He ran his fingers across the edge and realised it was shoddily laid, whoever laid it barely made an effort to make it look like it’s been there for years. He tugged it a bit experimentally and felt it come away easily, he let it flop down as he reached into his pocket for gloves and then pulled the whole carpet back from the doorway, ignoring Scully’s question of what he was doing, under the carpet his hunch was proved correct. There were blood stains. So, Lo was killed here and then moved to the place where they found him. Why go to all the trouble to have him burnt unless there was something to hide? He took a swab sample for Scully, although he doubted they would find much considering the condition of their victim.

The day dragged on with frustratingly little answers or clues to help them and Mulder began to feel even more exhausted. He relied on his 3rd cup of coffee to keep him awake as they entered the apothecary, he poked around as Scully led the questioning through Detective Chao. He committed the names and appearances to his memory, half listening to his partner while his mind thought about the festival and what he had learnt about it. He thought about Mr Lo’s glass eye and the Chinese character on the slip of paper, catching the end of the conversation he couldn’t get the metaphorical connection of ghosts out of his head. He was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly jumped when he felt Scully’s light touch on his arm and her concerned eyes staring at him.
“Mulder, come on it’s late, you need to sleep. There’s nothing more we can do tonight, we’ve learnt all we can about this festival and the significance of these herbs.” Talking softly to him, so Chao could not overhear their conversation. She was concerned, his nightmares had increased over the past weeks and he’s done all he can to try and avoid sleep. She slipped her hand into his and gave it a comforting squeeze, leading her partner out of the shop and towards the motel, she would keep him safe. She knew that Chao had probably guessed the nature of their relationship by now, but he wasn’t the sort of man to go around judging people even if she didn’t quite trust him.

When they arrived at the motel, Scully took the files out of Mulder’s arms and placed them on the sofa. One look at him stopped any arguments and he allowed himself to relax and let her take care of him. In a matter of minutes, he was curled in Scully’s arms, her fingers making soothing patterns on his bare chest,
“Is it the box car again?” Her heart broke slightly as she saw him nod, it was a traumatic time for both of them, but for him already weakened from a gunshot wound and then deliberately being targeted after getting too close to the truth again - she didn’t know if he was dead or alive. He probably didn’t know if he was dead or alive. One of her hands came up to the side of his face, caressing his cheek bones and stubble, relishing in the small kiss he placed to the palm of her hand.
“Instead of me there, it’s you - Scully. I see you there and I try to get to you, but it blows up before I can get there. Then it changes and I’m in that dream trance again, but I see the faces of you, deep throat, X, my dad and Bill. You’re telling me how I killed your sister just like I killed mine and that you want to leave the X Files. Bill tells me it’s my fault that Samantha was taken, that it should’ve been me and I’m not doing enough to find her. It’s the same stuff he used to yell when beating me. I just can’t sleep, Scully.”
She felt a tear sliding down his face onto her fingers, slipping through them as they dropped onto his chest. She held him tighter.
“None of it was your fault, Mulder. The syndicate murdered Melissa and took your sister, it is with them that we lay the blame. Let me hold you tonight so you can try and sleep, you need it. Please.” She felt him relax marginally and she tucked her head under his, allowing exhaustion to overtake her, hoping Mulder would follow.

He was woken not by a nightmare for once, but by the ringing of one of their phones. It was still dark outside but he felt that the sheer exhaustion from earlier has been starved off for now,
“Mulder? Okay, we’ll be there in 10 minutes, detective. Scully, honey, come on we’ve got another body.” Kissing her hand and regretfully leaving the safe cocoon of her arms. He glanced at the clock on the side and realised he managed to grab at least 4 hours of sleep before being woken up, maybe Scully’s presence really did keep his insomnia away - at least sometimes. He doubted they could get coffee on the way, but he promised Scully to get some other they’ve met detective Neary at the cemetery, to which she replied,
“You owe me breakfast and coffee, Mulder. And no ghost talk.” She added teasingly, giving him a short morning kiss as they walked to the car.

Scully huddled against Mulder as they met Neary by an open grave, she wasn’t quite sure what they had been called here for in the middle of the night,
“Has the body already been moved?” She broke the silence, wondering if they wanted her to examine the grave or not.
“I received a call from the night watchmen who reported seeing 3 figures wearing the same masks by this open grave that had been prepared for a burial this morning. The watchmen was unclear of the motives and didn’t report seeing any signs of a body being buried, they just seemed to vanish when he approached.”

Mulder shared a glance with Scully, hoping she understood what he was thinking considering that the detective would probably think him mad.
“I assume there’s a shovel nearby, Detective?” At the detective's bewildered nod he continued, “Good, because I think there is something in here, it’s just not on the surface.” Shrugging off his coat and draping it around Scully’s shoulders as he accepted the offered shovel from Neary. Rolling his sleeves up he gave a hesitant shallow dig, just to test the waters so to speak.
“I hope you’re enjoying this display of my boyish athleticism too much, Scully.” He jested, feeling sweat gather on his brow and down his back as he dug and chucked the dirt over the side. He heard a laugh and a “You wish, Mulder.” But he knew her and could tell she was looking with interest. He stopped when he caught a glimpse of something other than soil,
“Scully… I think we’ve found your body. Detective, you’re going to have to get a forensic team out here.” Gratefully accepting the forensic gloves that Scully handed to him so he could scrape away more dirt without disturbing any potential evidence.

Mulder shouldered the door to the morgue open, carrying two coffees with the promise of breakfast once Scully had finished with the report.
“Coffee as promised, honey.” Kissing her cheek and placing her coffee on the desk for when she was finished. Even after a few years of watching Scully do autopsies, it still grossed him out slightly.
“Thank you, Mulder. Come closer, there’s something interesting about this body. Look, do you see here? One of his kidneys is missing and so is his heart, along with an eye, just like Mr Lo over there. These organs have been surgically removed, whoever did this clearly had the skills of a qualified and experienced surgeon.” She paused and turned to face Mulder, her face serious,
“Mulder, it seems we’re dealing with cases of organ harvesting, but specifically within this festival period. I thought it was odd that Lo’s eye was glass but I didn’t make the connection till now.”

Organ harvesting was dangerous, for both the victim and the receiver of the organs, without a proper sterilised environment infection could set in. She suspected it was this which the festival was covering up, but all they needed to do was find someone who was willing to trust them enough to say something. A loud ‘ribbit’ startled them both enough to make them go on the defensive before realising a large frog was crawling out of the victim’s body.
“Scully, please tell me that when I die a frog isn’t going to be climbing out of my stomach, because it’s not exactly a comforting thought…” Mulder trailed off, eyeing the frog suspiciously, as if it held the answers to their investigations and also not wanting to touch it. He smiled sheepishly at Scully’s deadpan look and filled up the closest sink with water for their surprise visitor.
“I think we should talk with detective Chao again, specifically about the place of frogs in Chinese medicine.”

————————————————————————-

Scully watched the man they arrested in the interrogation room with growing irritation,
“Look Agent, the game wasn’t actually illegal, everyone there was there willingly. It has been part of the festival for years, only outsiders have had a problem with it. The game gives benefits for all, Agent Scully.” Leaning back and smoking, creating an air of indifference, only he knew that the charges would not stay.
“You murdered innocent people and took their organs by letting them believe they would gain money to help their families survive. You manipulated Mr Hsin through his daughter and made him complicit in the cover up of a murder, I would not call that a benefit.”

They couldn’t get the charges of murder to stick, having no physical evidence and only relying on the testimony of detective Chao, who had strangely gone missing. While she is disappointed and angry at the injustice, the news that Mr Hsin’s daughter had been added to the Organ procurement organisation lifted her spirits. She was glad Mulder understood her urge to make a house call on her and talk with the doctors assigned to her. She may be an FBI Agent, but she is still a doctor and that girl was far too young to be going through the trauma she has been going through.

———————————————————————

“Mulder, promise me that if I do get sick, you won’t sell or bet your organs to try and save me. I’d prefer you whole and alive, rather than seeing you kill yourself to save me.” She asked softly, yet seriously, as they laid in their bed together that night. Her head leaning against his chest, tucked under his chin as they curled around one another.

“Scully, if you were sick. I would go to the ends of this Earth and to the stars to save you. If my organs were needed to save you, I would do it, Scully. I love you too much to see you in pain when there’s always a choice to help you. As long as they don’t replace them with frogs, I’ll do it, Scully.”

They both knew that these sort of promises to not harm themselves to save the other would never be kept. It’s what led them both to hold each other that night and Scully prays to God that neither of them have to face that situation ever.

Chapter Text

He twisted the pen around in his hands, staring at the dotted line, it’s been 10 years. 10 years of separation and now she wanted to make it official. He still loved her, but he had ruined it by being too consumed in his work, god what was he going to tell Fox?
“I’m not signing them. They can wait until tomorrow.” Chucking the pen back onto the desk and walking out, he didn’t know where, but he didn’t feel ready to go home yet.

He found himself in a bar, not caring if he got drunk and was hungover tomorrow, he just needed to not think. He was on his 3rd drink when a woman slid into the seat next to him,

“Sorry, the man over there had already told me half of this long winded story and I was afraid he would tell me the other half if I didn’t get away. May I buy you a drink?” At his nod, she ordered him another scotch and herself a vodka. He didn’t know where the night went or how they ended up in bed together, but when he saw her looking down at him he froze. His mind was transported back to the day when he nearly died, where he should’ve died. When he woke up and saw Carina’s neck twisted and broken, he went into shock, his brain wasn't thinking rationally about what had occurred.

Mulder all but ran to the hotel where his dad told him he would be. He refused to believe that his dad was capable of this, not even in a traumatised state, he promised Scully to get as much information as possible before she started the autopsy. Now, though, he had to be professional, be ‘Fox Mulder’ FBI agent rather than Walter Skinner’s son.

“Detective Waltos? Agent Mulder, FBI, I need to speak with Director Skinner, I work with him.” Barely letting the man read his ID before his focus narrowed in on Skinner sitting hunched over in a chair, eyes bloodshot and staring into nothingness.

“I’m afraid you can’t speak to him, Agent. He’s a suspect in this case and his refusal to take a lie detector case is making it even more suspicious.” Mulder held up a hand as his phone rung, knowing it was Scully,

“Give me a minute, Scully. Look, detective, just let me speak to him at the station at least; try to convince him to take a lie detector test. Sir, Scully and I will figure this out, we’ll help you.” He desperately tried to catch his dad’s eye but felt a flash of hurt run through him as the older man avoided all contact and gave a slight shake of his head to tell him not to help. He squashed it down as he returned to his phone,
“Scully, did you get all that? I want you to do the autopsy, see if there is anything we can find that will help Skinner. I’ll meet you at the coroner’s office, hopefully we’ll have something to help him.”

He felt hurt and angry. Hurt that his father didn’t seem to trust him to be able to help, and angry that some thought that Skinner was capable of cold-blooded murder. He chewed anxiously on his lip while he walked to find Scully, he needed something helpful to do, anything that would stop this anxiety bubbling up.

“Scully, please tell me you have something.”

“Mulder, Skinner’s fingerprints are all over her. Her spinal cord was crushed and there were signs of sexual intimacy. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but the evidence is overwhelming. Although, I found a strange substance around her mouth when the lights were off. I couldn’t tell what it was so I sent it for analysis. Don’t make that face, Mulder, it’s not semen.” Showing Mulder her findings, trying to be as gentle as possible in delivering the news. She placed her hand on his, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb.

“Look, I’m not saying he did it, but we have to consider what the evidence is going to say about him.”

He knew she was right, but he was conflicted between this righteous anger and knowing Scully was right.
“I know you’re right, Scully. I’m just worried about him, he refuses to talk to me about it and he’s never been violent at all.” He was glad he had Scully to keep him rational and he appreciated the brief comforting hug she gave him before they decided their next move.

Skinner didn’t know why he wasn’t telling Fox what this was all really about, he supposed he was trying to protect him just like any other father. Even though his son was sometimes too smart for his own good. He knew Fox and Scully would be working this case, whether they were allowed to or not. But he didn’t want to get them drawn into this, it was his mess, his past that was coming back to haunt him and he wasn’t going to let it harm Fox. One way or another he was going to get rid of it, even if it cost his career. He could see the hurt on his son’s face as he ignored all attempts to get information out of him, it was breaking him inside to do this but a good father protects his son.

He didn’t know what he was thinking when he saw her again, all he felt was rage and desperation to get to her. To shake her. Ask her why him, why had she saved him and not let him die like he should’ve. Everything was white noise around him as he ran, not even bothering to dodge cars as the desperation grew, he knew how he looked. A madman in need of a lifeline. He grabbed onto the redcoat, forcing the woman to turn and give him the second shock of the day: seeing his wife.
“Walter? What’s going on?” Taking in his rumpled clothes and bloodshot eyes, and then looking at the concerned face of a man she partially raised for a while.

“Fox, you’ve gotten so tall, I mean you’ve always been tall but you’ve grown into the man I knew you would become when Walter adopted you. I’m sorry, Agent Scully, I’m being rude. I’m Sharon Skinner, Walter’s wife.” She shook Scully’s hand, giving her a warm but tired smile. Ordinarily, she would’ve explained her marriage to Walter, but the long drawn-out divorce settlement with him and the subsequent grief over it has left her exhausted.
“Sharon, I didn’t even know you were still living in this state! Scully, Sharon helped raise me for about a year with Walter before they decided to split, she’s actually the one who helped me get therapy.” His facial expression was fond, lost in a memory before it morphed back to seriousness.
“Sharon, he’s been accused of murdering a prostitute he was with last night at the hotel. Her neck was twisted and broken, his fingerprints were found on her and his credit card transactions placed him at the scene.” Doing his best to remain serious and detached, but fearing it wouldn’t work, he let Scully take over the details. She provided a comforting and professional presence for him, doing her best to assure Sharon that they knew that Skinner wouldn’t murder anyone in cold blood; but if she could think of anything that could help them.

As the evidence began to stack up with Skinner facing being fired from his job and being arrested, Mulder was growing more and more frustrated at not being able to find anything to help.
“Mulder, the only evidence we have is his fingerprints and card transactions, the results from the liquid testing that I found around her mouth were inconclusive. We know they’ll use the divorce and X Files against him, as well as that he’s been receiving treatment for a sleep disorder, we need something concrete.” Taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes, having long taken out her contacts knowing they were going to be up all night. Mulder was also wearing his glasses, a bowl of sunflower seeds beside him and his hair sticking up at all angles.
“Wait, Scully, I think I have a theory. Hear me out. As far back as the 15th century, folk tales have spoken of a Succubus. It’s a female demon that seduces a man of her choosing and has sex with him, during the act she draws out his energy for her own sustenance. These demons can take the forms of others or even inhabit someone’s body. I think the residue you found couldn’t be analysed because it is a succubus, but the only person who can get rid of it is Skinner.”

He paced the hospital room like a hungry caged animal. Sharon was lying in a coma because of her. She couldn’t leave him alone and now she was hurting the people he loved, Fox could be next, he could be his son lying there and he then would be no better than William Mulder. What more did she want from him? She’s already haunted his whole adult life, he can’t sleep because he’s so scared and now she might be making him hurt innocent people. Underneath the fury he was terrified. He was still that terrified 20-year-old who was shipped off to Vietnam, a gun shoved into his hands and being told to kill. He slumped in a chair just as the door opened, he had wondered when his kids would find out what had happened. He couldn’t keep the secret in anymore, not when Fox’s hurt face kept flashing across his mind when he closed his eyes.

“When I was 20, I was drafted to fight in Vietnam, along with so many other men who were still practically kids. We were encouraged to take drugs to keep us from getting depressed and also to keep awake, that’s what I blamed it on when I first saw her. I nearly died out there, I should’ve really when so many others did, but instead she appeared and saved my life. I didn’t see her again until I started having problems sleeping a few weeks ago. I've been afraid she would come back and hurt me; instead she’s hurt people I love. I didn’t want to tell you Fox because this is my problem, I should be able to sort it. I’m the one that is meant to be protecting you, son, not the other way around.” He cast his eyes to the ground, not wanting to see their disappointed looks, he wasn’t expecting to feel Mulder’s arms around him and a firm promise to ‘fix this’ whispered into his ear.

Later as he was sitting in his office at home, having promised Fox he was fine being alone, he signed the divorce papers and silently slid the ring off his finger - placing it at the back of the drawer. He loved Sharon still, deeply, but he couldn’t be the one to hold her back and make her suffer. She would be free of his tether, free to be safe. He knocked back the last of his scotch and turned off the lamp, a sense of finality setting in.

Chapter Text

Mulder stared at the rat with fur. The rat with fur stared back at him. It wasn’t that he hated the fur ball, even liked him at times, but he had just moved in with Scully and he selfishly wanted her to himself. God he was jealous of a tiny dog. How embarrassing. He sighed quietly and placed the puzzle book back in his packed bag as he heard Scully call for Queequeg, he supposed he should’ve considered that it was quite late notice but the case had him buzzing.
“If you hadn’t woken me up at 3am when my mother is out of town, Skinner refusing to look after him and too late for dog sitters then he wouldn’t be coming along.” Her tone left no room for argument from him, which he wouldn’t dare to do with a sleep-deprived Scully.

A flight and an ongoing long car drive later and Mulder was still feeling jealous at the small creature in the back of the car getting more of Scully’s attention.

“Mulder, you’re going to have pull over unless you want to lose your deposit on this rental.” Scully said with a little impatience in her voice, considering that Queequeg had been whining for the past 10 minutes alerting his owner that he needed to relieve himself.
“Alright, I think I’m lost anyway, we should be there by now.” Squinting slightly at the map, not even sure if they were close to the small town, it didn’t help that there were hardly any signs around.
“Scully, can you have a look at this map? We should be nearly there but I can’t tell.” He felt something small brush up against his leg and looked down to see the small furry creature staring up at him. He hesitantly and slowly bent down to pet the dog on the head twice before pretending it never happened.

“Mulder, what is so interesting about a missing person’s case to you? Surely the local sheriff can handle it, unless there is something bigger going on that you are neglecting to mention.” Knowing for sure that it was more than a missing person’s case, something on the sign caught her eye and she sighed, of course with the town having a big lake she should’ve known, her loveable dork couldn’t stay away from a mythical monster.
“Mulder… you don’t seriously think a lake monster is responsible for a missing person.”
“Scully, it’s not just one. A month back a Boy Scout leader also went missing in the same area and there are reports of similar disappearances and deaths near the lake. It is a federal jurisdiction.”
She rolled her eyes fondly at him, of course that was the reason he woke her up at 3am with all the energy of a kid at Christmas.

She listened with disbelief as the bait shop owner sold them the story of the ‘Big Blue’, which was just no more than a town myth and tourist attraction. She looked around at the numerous items on sale with ‘big blue’ plastered all over them. Books promising the tale of the mysterious lake monster that has haunted the town for years. She tuned into Mulder asking the man who had just come in about his photos of the lake monster, and whether he had seen it.
“If you’ve been taking photos of the lake for years, surely the lack of photographic evidence would imply that there is no lake monster?” Interrupting the theoretical conversation smoothly before being interrupted herself by the sherrif,
“Agents Mulder and Scully? We’ve found a body by the lake.”

She squatted down next to the half body and opposite Mulder. Pulling her gloves on she investigated the torn flesh at the bottom of the torso, trying to see if there was anything left in the wounds. She ignored the tugging of Queequeg’s lead as she looked up at Mulder’s expectant face,
“Mulder, this injury would most likely have been caused by a boat propeller accident, there’s a lot of boats out there on the lake, any one of those could’ve caused this.”
“Nothing that clean, Scully, come on. Where is the other half of his body, still stuck in the propeller? If that was the cause then the whole body would’ve been discovered.” Gesturing to the lake as if to try and prove his point.

She went to reply but Queequeg’s lead slipped out of her hand and he ran off into the forest,
“Queequeg! Come here, Queequeg!” She followed the trail of small paw prints and lead until she found him yapping next to a mutilated leg.
“Mulder, Sherriff! We have another part of a body here.” Stripping off her bloody gloves so she could regain control of the lead and make sure that Queequeg didn’t contaminate the crime scene any further. She heard Mulder before she saw him, his heavy footsteps coming to a stop beside her.
“Do you think it belongs to the same person?” He voiced the question in her head.
“I’ll have to do the autopsy to confirm, it’ll be hard with only parts of body available. Can you take queequeg to our cabin please, Mulder. I’ll call you with the autopsy results when I’ve finished, in the meantime you can either stay with queequeg or talk to Dr Farroway.” Knowing what option Mulder would choose even though she knew he was warming up to her little dog.

*****************

Photographs were spread out on the small table opposite the couch, Mulder was hunched over them trying to determine if any of these blurred final pictures would show a fin or a tooth.
“Scully, you’re a woman of science, couldn’t there be a small chance that it could be some prehistoric dinosaur or creature that is being forced to change its habits because of human encroachment on its territory. Dr Farroway mentioned that the population of frogs is dwindling despite him breeding them, what if the creature has been forced to turn to eating frogs due to lack of fish. But, with the frog population declining faster than they can breed it is now turning to humans to eat.”
Scully considered Mulder’s theory with interest, and science has proved that big changes in the food chain and habitat could lead to a drastic change in their behaviour.
“Theoretically this could be what happened. Could, Mulder. Although it is more likely that they are all boat related accidents considering the amount of boats on the lake.” A whine from the corner of the door broke up the conversation, Queequeg lightly scratched at the cabin door.
“Mulder, I’m going to take Queequeg out, do you want to come with me or should I leave you with the photographs?”
Seeing how immersed he was with the photographs she gave him a peck on the cheek and grabbed Queequeeg’s lead, she heard a quiet ‘be safe’ as she closed the door and headed out into the darkness.

Scully pulled her coat tighter around her in a weak attempt to warm up as she waited for Queequeg to finish. He was taking much longer than usual and she began to worry something had happened to him.
“Queequeg? Queeequueeeggg!” She tried tugging the lead but found strong resistance, more than her little dog could exude. Suddenly the lead came whirring back and at the end of it was a broken collar, the name tag dangling from it as the sole reminder of her dog. She knew that he was gone without needing to look, another unfortunate victim of whatever was roaming around. She walked in a daze back to the cabin and sat down on the small couch, cradling the small collar as if she was afraid to break it; in case she lost that final piece of her small dog. The numbness that comes with grief prevented her from uttering a word as she just stared at the blank wall and let Mulder’s voice become white noise. She was only brought out of her daze by the warm touch of Mulder’s hand on hers, a contrast to the coldness that had taken over the rest of her body.
“Queequeg is gone.” The finality of the words was like a weight.

“I’m sorry, Scully. We can give him a memorial later, for now can you drive a submarine? I have a theory as to how we can draw it out.” He knew he was being slightly insensitive but he couldn’t get rid of the nagging thoughts about the case.

***************
Leaning against a rock, dripping wet and with Scully in his arms he thought that this was not the way he wanted to prove a point about there being a creature.
“Why did you name him Queequeg?” He never asked why, he felt like it was important to ask now.

“You already know I called my father Ahab and he called me Starbuck. He used to read Moby Dick to me for the longest time when I was younger and I became obsessed with the story and the obsession that Captain Ahab had with the whale. My father used to say that the message from the book was that we should respect nature and the sea, if we had respect for it then it would respect us back.”

A small whimsical smile played on her lips as she shivered, causing Mulder to tighten his arms around her in an effort to transfer some more warmth to her.

“Sounds a bit like what Dr Farroway was trying to say to us when we questioned him.”

“You know Mulder, you remind me of Ahab and his obsession with the whale. Your search for the truth and dedication to it despite the constant danger and isolation it brings, you never stop. You don’t let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t, even if it ends in death.” She couldn’t help but see the analogy and it scared her a bit, that this could end in his death and there would be no going back for him that time.

“I always wanted a peg leg, no I’m serious. I’ve always envied people with a disability because then people would look at them and give them credit for making it normal. But, if you’re not disabled then people expect more of you, they have all these expectations of you that they want you to reach; whether you want it or not.” He wasn’t sure if he was making sense or not, or if his thoughts came out properly, the damp and cold was addling his brain.

“Mulder-“ Scully’s response was cut off by a strong beam of light suddenly appearing in their faces and the annoyed voice of Dr Farroway accompanying it.
“What are you two doing here? I’m not interrupting anything am I?” He insinuated with a half leer on his face.
“No, you are not. Did you get our distress call? Our submarine was hit by something and it went down.” Scully explained after shutting down Farroway’s insinuation of Mulder and her planning to have sex on a rock. While she loved Mulder dearly, she drew the line at having sex on a wet and cold rock in the middle of a lake.
“What distress call? You’re not too far from the woods, this is a prime spot for the frogs’ breeding, I was going to release these ones here.”

Mulder and Scully exchanged a silent look that conveyed the same meaning: that they were not going to speak about this ever again.
“Thank you, Doctor. We’ll see you tomorrow then, if you- uh- see anything else, just let us know.” Mulder reminded Farroway, a slight tinge of embarrassment colouring his tone.

They didn’t get far before they heard a scream that sounded suspiciously like Farroway. Without hesitation they ran toward the sound, thankful for the borrowed flashlight from Farroway. Whatever had attacked the man had left by the time they got there, probably due to the amount of noise, but it had done significant harm to Dr Farroway before it left.
“Mulder, give me your belt, I need to slow the bleeding otherwise he’ll lose his leg and possibly his life.”
She took the belt and tightened it as much as possible around the leg, then stripped her jacket off to stem the bleeding.

A rustle in the undergrowth caught Mulder’s attention and he pulled his gun out,
“Scully, stay here, see if you can use Farroway’s phone to get ahold of the sherriff. Tell him we might have his creature.” He ran off in the direction of the sound before Scully could even form a reply. He was in the middle of the forest when he heard the sound come behind him, he ran blindly forward, hoping there was a clearing somewhere near and also hoping he could outrun this creature. A quick glance behind him proved fatal as he tripped over a tree root and very nearly knocked himself out. He shuffled towards a tree base, knowing the creature was just behind him, acting on instinct he fired his gun in the direction he heard the sound; shooting until he was out of bullets. Taking the time to properly focus, now that the danger was over, he recognised that the creature was an alligator. A dead one at that now. He cautiously got up and made his way over to the reptile, checking it was really dead.

“I’m sorry you didn’t find your big blue, Mulder. But, you uncovered what was killing all these people, it would’ve moved further inward the more they expanded and more people would be killed. Dr Farroway is going to make it, leg and all, although I don’t think he’s going to be going near the lake anytime soon.” Coming to stand next to him after she relayed the relevant medical information to the EMTs.
“It’s as you said, there was no evidence to support it. I am happy that we did find what was causing the deaths, although I am sorry about Queequeg. I was thinking that we should hold a memorial for him before we leave, by the sea if you would like.”

“I would like that Mulder, a way to remember him and respect nature. Thank you.”

Chapter Text

Sitting in the cold car waiting for his informant to join him he thought about the warm bed and Scully he left for this. He had taken great care to not wake her, she’s been exhausted the past few days working on something the FBI needed her expertise for. Barely acknowledging the car door being opened and a sharply dressed man getting in, he wondered if he was meant to know him.
“Agent Mulder, two days ago a man called Putnik killed his wife and another man. He claimed to be seeing this man -“ handing Mulder a newspaper clipping, “- and that it was him he was killing. A similar case took place not far from where Putnik lived, a babysitter attacked the two kids she was looking after thinking they were wolves.”

Mulder scanned the articles, looking for any reason as to why this would be an FBI investigation let alone one that would interest him.
“So you called me here because you want me to investigate what? Attacks caused by hallucinations? You haven’t offered me a reason or to say who you are, but you just expect me to do your dirty work without giving me any answers.” He was getting a bit sick of being given cases but not any of the answers or hints of what he was meant to be looking for.

“Good luck, Agent Mulder. You have the power to stop more people from dying.”

Mulder sighed as he leant back in the chair, what has he gotten himself into? He tucked the clippings inside his coat before driving home back to Scully, whatever needed investigating could wait until the morning at least, it would give him time to make motel arrangements and inform Skinner.

They agreed to check out the crime scene first before visiting Putnik in the psych ward, hoping it would give them some insight into why he decided to kill his wife and another man. After clearing out the kids from the house they started to look around the rooms,

“Mulder, look at these. All the tapes are recorded news shows from various dates starting two weeks ago, they’ve been dated and titled meticulously. There could be a link between watching violence being reported and him committing these murders.”

She packed the tapes in an evidence bag she had stuffed in her coat pocket in their rush to get here, thinking she should probably keep some there permanently since their case assignment was chaotic. When her partner didn’t respond, a suspicious feeling started to nag at her, he was being very quiet about this case, usually she didn’t have to pry information out of him.
“Mulder?!” She called out, but her attention was distracted by the image of him down the road as if he was looking for someone. She just put it down to him thinking he saw something and wandering off to act on the lead, forgetting to inform her.

On the way to the psych ward she decided to bring it up,
“Mulder, why were you chasing a car half way down the road in the opposite direction of the crime scene?”

“There was someone else there at the house, apart from the kids, when they saw us they sped off. It was quite suspicious, Scully! Did you find anything interesting at the house?”

“I found these tapes, but we’ll need to view them in order to see if it fits the pattern of tv causing increased violence amongst frequent watchers.”

After they got back from the psych ward and he made his notes on his psychological profile of Putnik, he let himself into Scully’s motel room and flopped on the side of the bed closest to her. He felt mentally exhausted trying to figure out the psychology behind Putnik’s sudden desire to kill his wife and another man as well as his insistence it was the same man. He closed his eyes as he felt Scully’s hand stroke through his hair and her lips place a lasting kiss on his forehead. He could feel himself relaxing in the presence of her love.

As she worked on relaxing her partner as much as she could, she started to explain her findings from the tapes she had watched,
“Mulder, is there anything about Putnik that suggests he was in the army or knew someone who was in the army that suffered trauma? I’ve been watching these tapes and they’re all about genocidal murdering dictators in war torn countries. Maybe these news stories triggered him and that’s why he reacted to that story in the ward.” Mulder’s eyes were half closed as he fought sleep, knowing he couldn’t fall asleep in the room with her, lest the FBI find out about their relationship.

“I don’t think that’s it, Scully, at least not all of it. While some studies have shown that tv may cause violence, there isn’t enough evidence to support that theory. Furthermore, Putnik has no history of violence prior to this and neighbours have said that Putnik and his wife were an ordinary couple. There’s something else going on here, Scully, I just can’t figure it out. I think I’m going to try and sleep, if you want me I’m just next door, honey. Goodnight.” He kissed her lightly and reluctantly let her out of his arms as he left.

When she next looked at the tiny digital clock in the darkness of her room she saw that it was already 3am. She could’ve sworn it had only been an hour or so since Mulder left, she couldn’t even remember what she had been watching, or if she had made any notes. As Scully started to close the curtains she saw that their car lights were on and Mulder was sitting inside with someone else. Her suspicions aroused she peered closer and saw the tell tale sign of someone lighting a cigarette, casting a light in the shadow of the man’s face. A simmer of anger rose up inside her, Mulder wouldn’t, would he? Mulder despised that man as much as she did, he wouldn’t willingly talk to him and drive off with him.

Something broke inside of her and she abandoned her watch with fury, not seeing that the car outside had actually not moved and no one was in it. She couldn’t believe Mulder had betrayed her, her trust and had used her love for him like this, but she needed to remain rational and gather evidence to expose him without him knowing.

She awoke to Mulder calling her name and a gentle knocking on her room door, for a moment she forgot about what she witnessed last night. Then it came rushing back and a single tear slid down her face onto the pillow at the sting of betrayal.
“Scully, there’s been another murder, I’ll meet you in the car in ten minutes?”

It took her a moment to sound calm enough to reply so as to not alert Mulder that she knew something was going on.
“I’ll be there in five, Mulder.”
Already pulling on her nearest clothes, she caught a glimpse of her appearance, dark circles under bloodshot eyes, Mulder would be suspicious. She did her best to cover them as best she could in her urgency, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

“Did you move the car?” Scully asked nochantly once they were on their way to the crime scene, testing if he would lie to her or tell her he met with the cigarette smoking man.
“I went to get a paper this morning, I wanted to see what the locals thought about the murders and if anyone knew Putnik. Didn’t have much luck.” Mulder replied, glancing at her as if to ask why, but he didn’t have a chance since they had arrived.

Scully slipped out of the car silently, putting on a professional facade as she greeted the officers on the scene. She half listened to Mulder as she went to examine the body,
“A woman was watching ‘The Price is Right’ on the tv in her kitchen next door when she thought she saw her husband cheating with a blonde haired lady in this garden.” She followed his nod to the golden retriever sitting obediently in the corner of the garden.

“She thought that this dog was a blonde haired woman?” She asked incredulously, she’s read of theories saying tv causes violence but never hallucinations of a dog becoming a woman.

“That’s not the only twist. Get this, Scully, this man isn’t even her husband he’s just her neighbour. Her real husband has been away for work for over a week. She’s in custody at the moment, although she’s pretty distraught understandably…” Mulder trailed off, spotting the same electrician and same van he saw at the last crime scene.

He wasted no time in deciding to climb the electrical pole, even if he wasn’t properly equipped for it, something told him that evidence was there. Shedding his coat, he climbed carefully, making sure not to look down lest he lose his nerve. His hunch was right as his hand grabbed something small and box shaped that he was sure didn’t belong there. He needed to consult the guys about this, he couldn’t trust it being logged at the fbi despite Pendrell being very helpful most of the time.

He climbed back down carefully to be met with Scully’s unimpressed face with an arched eyebrow,
“Evidence!” He exclaimed simply, with a boyish grin on his face that earned him a fond eye roll and smile from Scully, before something else flickered across her face.
“I’m going to get it analysed, will you do the interview and we’ll meet back at the motel?”

Without waiting for a full answer he kissed her on the cheek and darted off, already phoning the guys letting them know he needed their expertise.

He was near falling asleep while waiting for the guys to figure out what the hell that thing was, but he had a feeling that even if it was figured out he was missing something important.
“Hey, Mulder, look at this. So you see here that we have the ordinary picture, but then below that picture we have this one and there’s a hidden message in it.” Byers started to explain, already losing Mulder in what he was sure was going to be a complex explanation if he let them explain it fully.

“Yeah, television has been a set of moving pictures from the start, what’s that got to do with this?”

“Hidden between the colours is a signal, fifteen flashes per second, containing a message that when people are watching the tv have heightened suggestibility to certain messages. Listen here.” Langley took over the explanation, twisting something on the now taken apart device and small whispering voice emitted the message of suggestion.

“So anyone in that area watching it would get the message?” Coming to a slow realisation of what was actually wrong now and that he had left Scully vulnerable.

“Yes, and from what we know of your case we think someone planted it there for the exact intention. As a test first, I don’t think the intention was for murder to happen.” Byers concluded, he frowned, “Althought it doesn’t explain how you haven’t been affected.”

“I’m red green colourblind, so if your theory is true then the message wouldn’t transmit to my brain because it doesn’t process those colours?” Mulder revealed, grateful he wasn’t about to experience hypnotisation against his will again.
“I need to go. Keep this safe, don’t inform anyone.”

——————————————————————-

After interviewing Mrs Waters, and confirming from Pendrell that he has not analysed the evidence that Mulder found. Scully had become more convinced that Mulder had betrayed her. She locked the motel door behind her and started frantically searching for a listening device, no matter how small, it had to be somewhere. She tore the sheets from the bed, checking each corner and stitch for anything that might’ve been hidden there. There was nothing. The mattress joined the sheets on the floor as she stopped short of cutting it open to check inside for something that would be too suspicious. The hairs on her neck pricked up, she was being watched, either in the room or outside, she grabbed her gun from the bedside table just in case. She was not going to be caught unaware again, she was not going back.

Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest as her shaky hands unscrewed the lightbulbs, shaking it to see if anything was in there and then smashing it when she couldn’t determine if there was something in it. God she felt so useless and stupid. She had trusted Mulder so much, loved him and after all that he was involved in her kidnapping. It made her angry. She dug through her clothes and Mulder’s, checking the bags, there had to be a sign. Her whole body was shaking and when she heard Mulder knock on her room door she acted on instinct. She fired four rounds at the door as she saw the door knob turning, she would keep herself safe, she couldn’t rely on anyone else. Hearing Mulder’s voice calling her name sent panic through her body and her chest tightened. She was glad she was small enough to tumble gracelessly out of the bathroom window, this time she will rely only on herself to be safe.

“Sir, I’m telling you, she wasn’t in her right mind, I have evidence that shows that none of these people have been in their right minds. You have to trust me, let me find her, if the people who’ve been doing this find her first then it’ll be covered up and Scully will be tossed to the side.” Regardless if Skinner let him go or not, he was going after Scully, he pushed any other feelings down for the moment he couldn’t afford to be distracted. He knew Skinner’s dad side was coming out and was not entirely happy to hear that his son had been shot at four times by his own partner, someone he had trusted with his son’s heart.

“Fox, she shot four rounds at you through the door! What if she tries to shoot you again and I’m going to get a call that one of my agents is in the hospital because his partner shot him.” Skinner sighed and rubbed his eyes, rationally he knew Mulder would go after Scully regardless, he was just concerned.
“Alright, I’ll hold off the local police for now, but you don’t have long to - yes what is it?” Seeing a young policeman lurking near by,
“Sorry, sir, um Agent Skinner, Agent Mulder, there’s a body we want you to come ID. She’s at the local morgue, just in that direction.”

Skinner took a look at Mulder’s face, it was pale but his eyes were hardened against the pain he was suffering. Wordlessly he followed his silent son to the morgue, preparing to give Mulder any support he needed if the body was Agent Scully, which he hoped to god was not.

Standing in front of the covered window, Mulder knew it couldn’t be Scully, he just had a feeling that if she was… gone then he would know it. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the body wasn’t her, he knew it was selfish but he was glad it wasn’t Scully lying there. He didn’t think he could survive that sort of grief again.
“It’s not her. It’s not Scully, she’s still out there. I think I know where she might be, I need to make a call.” He strode out of the morgue with a fresh determination and hope, he didn’t care about the evidence when Scully was out there hurting. He frowned when Mrs Scully didn’t pick up, especially after he had said her daughter might be missing earlier.

“Sir, phone this number and you’ll find the evidence I found. Tell them I gave it to you. I need to get back to Washington.” He didn’t want to take the chance that someone might be listening and he wasn’t going to risk the guys after everything they did for him.

Mulder knocked lightly on the door, trying to search for any sign that Scully was in there. His suspicion was confirmed when the door was opened partially and Maggie Scully’s head popped around, she was stressed and definitely not looking to welcome anyone in.
“Mrs Scully, is Dana in there? I need to see her, just to talk.”
“Fox, I’m sorry she’s not here, have you tried your apartment?” There was desperation in her voice, a mother trying to keep her daughter safe even if it went against her own judgement.
“Mrs Scully, I can help her, please let me in.” He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she opened the door wider to let him in. He didn’t expect to be held at gunpoint by Scully as he walked in but he remembered she had watched two collections of videos that contained god knows how many hidden messages.

“Get out. You’ve lied to me this whole time, since the beginning, all those lies about the government covering up the X Files and you’ve been the one that’s been helping them! You had them put that chip in my neck after I was abducted, keep a record of me like all the others so you can get rid of me when the time is right, but it didn’t work did it?! Instead you killed Melissa! My sister! I trusted you, Mulder, I loved you.” Her voice broke as she tried to hold back the dam of emotions. Her hand holding the gun shook and Mulder ached to rush forward and take her into his arms, to hold her tight. He stepped forward only to see Scully raise the gun once more and took the step back, holding his hands up to show he was no threat.

“Dana, you’re the only one I trust, the one I always trust when I doubt everything else. I blame myself for Melissa’s death and your abduction every day, but I would never hurt you. I love you, Dana Scully, I trust you with the X Files and I trust you with my heart. Please believe me.”

He wanted to warn Maggie to be careful as he watched her move in between the two of them. He didn’t want her to get caught in the crossfire because of his mistakes.

“Dana, love, he’s right. Fox loves you more than anything, I saw him when you were missing, he never stopped searching and working. His heart was broken and he came here apologising for not finding you quicker. You can trust him, Dana, and if you can’t do that now then trust me.”

She gently took the gun from her daughter’s hands and took her into her arms, giving her the safety to cry and be vulnerable. She heard Mulder quietly take the gun and turn it onto safety, before leaving, giving them both time to rest.

Mulder walked into the hospital room, jokingly putting his hands up in surrender to show there were no hard feelings. He took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips.
“I love you, Scully, it’s alright you weren’t yourself. I’m just happy you’re alright.” Kissing her lightly on the lips before thanking Mrs Scully for her support.
“The doctors said that I had high levels of serotonin in my brain, causing types of hallucinations and extreme emotion. It seemed like it made my worst nightmare come true, I’m sorry, Mulder.”

He could tell she felt ashamed and would probably feel like that for a long while to come, but he didn’t blame her at all, he knew where the blame should lie and he didn’t regret his outburst against Mr X. They had risked Scully’s life and his life again, just because they thought they could use him to do their dirty work and he would report back like a good errand boy. Before Scully he might have done that, but now he had a new and better purpose, he had Scully in his life and he wanted to have a semblance of normality while searching for his answers. His truth.

Chapter Text

Mulder took advantage of waking up before Scully to wake her up in his favourite way. He moved down under the covers, kissing any bare skin he could access before slowly pulling down Scully’s pyjama trousers and her pants. He stilled as Scully shifted and moaned in her sleep but didn’t wake, so he continued to press small kisses along her inner thigh, using a finger to lightly ghost over her clit. He moved up her thigh to her clit, flicking his tongue over it and relishing in the loud moan from above him. His tongue probed her vagina before entering it, enjoying the sweet taste that coated his tongue. He felt a hand make its way down to his hair and he smirked as he continued to lick her.
“Mulder… don’t you dare stop” He heard from above, the hand in his hair tightening as he began to rub her clit while still licking her. He hardened as Scully began to thrust ever so slightly, her orgasm building up, god she’s exquisite. His fingers left her clit and Scully whined at the loss of pleasure but soon moaned as one finger joined his tongue, finding her G-Spot easily.

“Mulder, Mulder.” She panted, her hips thrusting quicker as she chased her pleasure. She need more. A second finger entered her and then Mulder’s tongue swiped over her clit at the same time his two fingers hit her G-Spot. She nearly screamed as she came and she could feel the vibrations of Mulder’s moaning as he continued to lick her cum throughout her orgasm. When she felt she had control back she tugged at Mulder’s hair, trying to get him to crawl out of the covers so she could kiss him. She had no energy for words at this point just yet. Luckily, Mulder understood her intention because in a moment his lips were on hers, and she could taste herself on him.

Her hand slid down his chest and snaked into his shorts and pants, feeling his hard dick in her hand. Their kiss broke as he felt her hand,
“Sculllyy” He almost whined, her hand was too light on him, he needed her to move. He caught her lips again in a kiss, moving his hips to try and encourage her to stroke him, she was driving him crazy. He groaned in annoyance as his phone rang and he expected her to stop as he answered, but she did the opposite and started to stroke his dick at a fast pace.

“Agent Mulder, we have a case for you and Agent Scully. A gunman held a restaurant hostage and shot three people, until he was shot by local police - Mulder are you alright? You’re breathing quite heavily.”

Mulder had to bite his lip to stop the moan coming out as Scully continued to stroke his dick, alternating the pace as she saw fit. He turned his face slightly to see her biting her lip as she then squeezed his dick at the base ever so slightly. God she was going to kill him.

“I’m fine, Sir. Just, just got back from a run! Mhmm, what’s the address - one… moment.” He barely managed to cover the mouthpiece on his phone as Scully slowly rolled on a condom, taking time to play with his balls before sinking down on his dick; making him moan at the contact. He gasped as Scully began to slowly move, he needed her to move faster, his brain was going haywire. Only just registering his name being called reminded him he was still on the phone to Skinner.

“Sorry sir… yes I got that, okay. I’ll let Agent Scully know right now. Bye.” He ended the call and threw the phone onto the floor, turning his full attention to Dana, who grinded her hips against his. Scully leaned forward and captured his lips in a hungry kiss, it was fast and needy, filled with urgency. His hands wandered to her hips, her hands covering his as she rode him. He was lost in ecstasy as he let his orgasm overtake him, moaning as Scully increased the pace to achieve her second orgasm. She started to suck at the sensitive spot on his clavicle and he became an incoherent mess.

After needing several minutes to catch their breath, Scully started laughing, to which Mulder looked at her, amused.
“Sorry, good morning, Mulder. I hope you know you’ve set my expectations very high for a wake up like that every morning. You did very well on the phone to your dad, almost sounded convincing.”

Her hand rested on his chest and another stroking his hair lightly, she wished they could stay like this for longer. Just him and her in their bubble. She laughed slightly as he pushed his embarrassed face into her shoulder,
“I’m never going to live this down.” He mumbled, but his shoulders were shaking ever so slightly from laughter.

“Come on, we should shower, we have a case. If we shower together it would save time…” He mischievously suggested.

“I like your thinking, Mulder. What are you doing! Mulder, stop! Don’t you dare! Mulder!” She shouted as he swooped her into his arms and carried to the shower, while laughing the whole time. She loves this man so much, even when he acts like a giddy child, it’s how she likes her Mulder.

A quick shower involving round two, they arrived at the scene expecting to find it bustling with activity and EMTs around tending to victims. However, Mulder found the suspect sitting calmly in the police car with a shaken look on his face, while Scully found someone with a bloody shirt on but no wound to see.

“Scully, why don’t you go check in with the EMTs and I’ll talk to our suspect. Something’s not right with this, why would they call the FBI if they already have the suspect?” Mulder mused, before being called over by the lead detective.

“Agent Mulder, yes? Part of the X Files division? I called you in because no one can explain this. Suspect is Darren Wight, tried to rob this restaurant and ended up in a shootout with us. He shot three people then ended up being shot by one of my people, it was a clean hit, it should’ve killed him. But, he was healed somehow by a man.”

Now Mulder was interested, he could understand why they contacted him and Scully.
“Alright, I’ll speak to Wight, then he’ll be released into your custody.”
He strode towards the car, his mind already thinking about what actually might have happened and how it’s connected to everything they’ve been investigating.
“Mr Wight, I’m Agent Mulder from the FBI. I was told by the detective that you were shot and someone healed you, can you confirm this?”

Wight’s head snapped up, something that was not quite fear was present in his eyes,
“God took pity on me today and saved me. He gave me back my life.” Wight cried out, starting to rock back and forth in earnest.

Mulder resisted the urge to roll his eyes in disbelief. He very much doubted that God Himself came down to save a man who nearly killed three people, but if that is what will get the suspect talking then he supposed he’ll have to go along with it.
“Can you describe for me what the person who healed you looked like? We may need to speak to him, excuse me.” His phone started ringing deep in his pocket and he walked a distance away.
“Mulder.”

“Agent Mulder, I have some bad news, your mother was taken to hospital about an hour ago in Rhode Island, a neighbour saw her collapsed and called an ambulance. She’s suffered a stroke.”

Mulder froze. Rhode Island. Why was she there of all places? That place held nothing but bad memories now for all of them. He realised he hadn’t replied when Skinner’s voice came through his phone again,
“Thank you for letting me know, Sir. I understand, Agent Scully and I will update you on the case later.”
He wasn’t sure how he felt, his mind kept focussing on Rhode Island, he hadn’t stepped foot there for years. He didn’t hear Scully move to his side until he felt her take his hand and squeeze it softly.
“My mother is in hospital, Rhode Island, Skinner said she had a stroke.”

“Do you want to go see her?” Scully asked quietly, leaving the decision up to Mulder, knowing he was probably struggling with his inner conflict right now.

“Yes, I need to know she’s alright but also why she was there. Scully, she swore she would never set foot in that summer house after losing Samantha. Why was she there?” Directing the question more to himself than Scully, “Skinner said I could have some time off if I wanted to, I think that was his way of asking if I wanted to go talk to him about it.”

“I’ll drive you to the hospital and on the way we can talk about the case, focus your mind on this mysterious healer.” Scully suggested softly, guiding him towards the car, once he was in the car, Scully then updated the detective saying he was okay to take the suspect into custody but if he had any more information then send it to the FBI.

In the car ride to the hospital they discussed their findings. Scully told Mulder how she had checked over every victim that she had been told was shot, but she couldn’t find signs of any entry or exit wound despite seeing blood amounts that should’ve matched gun shot wounds. She was expecting to get full reports from the hospital later on to confirm any findings, in turn she managed to get one of them to sit with a sketch artist. Gradually Mulder’s leg stopped bouncing up and down as his brain shifted from focusing on the worry about his mom to thinking about the case.

“Do you think it’s related to those bounty hunters we met last year? Those ones who were protecting the virus?” Mulder asked, an undercurrent of suspicion in his voice that was nearly always present when they discussed the syndicate.

“It could be, or it just could’ve been staged. There is no immediate scientific explanation for this, but there has to be one, not even the unexplained can explain away why a man can heal so many people at once.” Scully speculated, once again her faith and work were conflicting yet again.

———————————————————————

They arrived at Tina Mulder’s room and Mulder suddenly hesitated, would she even care if he was there? Would she want him there? He relaxed slightly when Scully took his hand and looked up at him,
“Do you want me to come in with you?” She asked him, concerned by his hesitation.
“Yes, I need you here, Scully. I don’t think I can do this on my own.”
Scully nodded resolutely, she didn’t say anything else, letting Mulder compose himself and begin to sort out his conflicting feelings.

Mulder walked to his mom’s side, sitting down and carefully taking her hand, he’s never seen her looking so pale and unresponsive. Even when Samantha disappeared she didn’t cry, she put on a mask and the mom he knew before had gone.
“Hi mom, it’s Fox, I’m going to get you the best medical care and you’re going to get well again, I promise. I’m sorry I haven’t visited, it’s hard you know?” He felt tears pricking in the corner of his eyes, he scrunched them up, he shouldn’t be crying.

“She’s had a bad stroke, most likely caused by a lot of stress, she’ll need quite a bit of physical therapy. But, she doesn’t have any other underlying health conditions, so there is a high chance she’ll make a full recovery. Mulder, she’ll be okay.”

She came to sit down beside him, wrapping her left arm around his waist and pulling him closer. She stayed silent, not sure if Mulder wanted to speak or not. The silence was broken when Tina started to stir in the bed and tried to talk, before she realised she couldn’t make the sounds she wanted to.

“Mom? Scully, have you got something to write with? Thanks, here mom, try to write on this.” Mulder told her urgently, holding the notebook steady while his mom’s trembling hand wrote shaky letters on the paper. Writing seemed to have taken what little energy Tina had, as she fell unconscious again. Mulder looked at Scully for reassurance it was normal and at her nod he sank into the chair again, staring at the word written on the paper: PALM. The words held no meaning for him, but clearly it meant something important enough for his mom to struggle through writing it out.

He clasped her hand in his again, it felt cold, he drew the blanket up to just below her chin hoping that it’ll warm her up and make it seem less like she had been close to death.
“She feels cold, Scully.” His voice trembled as he struggled to keep it together. The facade dropped as Scully took him into her arms, letting him bury his face in her shoulder as he cried silently, still not knowing why he was feeling this way.

—————————————————————-

Half an hour later he was standing outside the summer house he hadn’t stepped foot in for over a decade, he wasn’t sure if he could go in. Memories washed over him and he closed his eyes, he could hear Samantha’s laughter as they played together in the garden, her voice as they teased each other. Then the memories of her abduction came, her screaming his name in terror, pleading to him to stop them from taking her when all he did was sit there paralysed with fear. He remembered the first time his father physically hit him was here, drunk and grieving losing his child, taking it out on him when they finally got back from their party.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the bad memories that threatened to destroy his resolve to search the place.
“Agent Mulder, I didn’t expect you to be here.” Mr X’s voice caught him off guard, he hadn’t seen X since the man had risked Scully’s and others’ lives.
“My mother is in hospital, she came here before she collapsed, I wanted to figure out why.” His tone was guarded, he wasn’t sure if he should trust the other man completely or not, considering their heated disagreements before. Mulder eyed the folder that Mr X handed him suspiciously, not sure if it was going to be some lost classified government document or something else entirely. What he wasn’t expecting was pictures of his mom in what looked like an argument with the Cigarette Smoking Man. Why was he here?

“Where did you get these?!” His tone accustory and demanding, leafing through the photos of them, he’d never seen his mother so angry.

“I took them, he was up to something so I decided to follow him, I wasn’t aware he knew your mother. She was fine when he left.” X’s voice was calm and suave compared to Mulder’s voice who was getting increasingly frustrated with all these secrets.

“Your mother was hiding something here, something he wants, have you found it?”

“Whatever she was hiding is none of your business, my sister was abducted from here and she hasn’t been back here for over a decade. Whatever you want, you’re not going to find it here, so leave.” Mulder turned to head into the house, not looking back to see if X had heeded his request or not. He was tired of these half truths and people dancing around their secrets, it was obvious that his family were more involved - or at least more known about to the syndicate than he initially thought.

——————————————————————-

Back at the FBI, Scully prepared to interview Jeremiah Smith, the man whom witnesses say was the healer. A touch on her elbow made her aware of Skinner next to her, but knew they weren’t able to speak freely just yet.
“Sir, these are the witness statements from the shooting you requested to look at.” Handing him a file full of statements, that also contained a small note: ‘Fox is coping, he’s gone to the summer house, convinced that his mom hid something there.’

Skinner frowned but didn’t write anything back immediately, he glanced around the other agents in the room, making sure their eyes were on Jeremiah Smirh as Scully interviewed him. Once he was sure eyes weren’t on him, he wrote a quick reply on the note, to anyone else it would simply look like he was writing down his thoughts on the subject.
‘I’m concerned for him, Dana. He hasn’t slept in over twenty four hours and the summer house was a main feature in his nightmares.’

He remembered those first few nights when he brought Fox home from the hospital, he was a scared, skinny fifteen year old boy who flinched at every move. At night he would cry out for his sister and plead for his father not to hit him. During one of their first chats about Fox’s abuse, Fox had told him how his parents had come back from the party and been told that Samantha was missing. Bill Mulder was drunk and had first hit his son out of grief, at the time, Fox believed he deserved it for not trying hard enough to stop Samantha from being abducted.

—————————————————————

After wrecking every lamp in the house when he figured out it was an anagram, he had found it. A weapon he had seen frequently in his dealings with bounty hunters, the small silver fine needle tool. He wondered, for a minute, why his mom would’ve hidden it in the house, or did his father hide it and only tell his mom after his sister was abducted? He had so many questions but with his mom as frail as she was, he wasn’t sure if he was going to get many answers. He didn’t want to remain here any longer, but he wanted to just look at Samantha’s room one more time - just to remember how it was before.

There were more plastic sheets over the furniture, a fine level of dust over them, even the pictures she had drawn were still on the walls. The photo of Samatha and him sitting on her bedside table caught his attention, a lump formed in his throat as he saw it was one from that summer, he had his arm slung over her shoulders and they were both smiling. He wiped the stray tear away from his cheek roughly, there was no use getting upset, not when his mom needed support.

When he returned to the hospital he was not expecting to see that cigarette smoking son of a bitch there in the room with his mom, holding her hand and whispering to her. It made his skin crawl that that man had the audacity to come there and act sympathetic.
“Get out.” He demanded, struggling to stay calm.

The cigarette smoking man just smirked lazily and took out another cigarette from his box of Morley’s,
“Ah Agent Mulder, I was just checking on your mother, I heard she was unwell and you were taking some leave. How is she doing?” The man’s voice was so calm, but it had an underlying tone of smugness that irritated Mulder to no end. Mulder pulled him out into the corridor and pushed him up against the wall, not that the cigarette smoking man put up any sort of struggle.
“Why were you speaking to my mother outside that house, where you were conviently gone by the time she collapsed.” Mulder demanded, he was going to get some answers, damned if he lost his job or not. A nurse walked by and he relaxed his grip, making it seem to everyone else that it was two people just having a conversation.

“Your mother contacted me about Samantha’s disappearance, she assumed I had information about it, she assumed incorrectly of course. We argued about it and when I left she was perfectly healthy.” Projecting a false sense of assurance, “I knew your mother, and your father, before both you and your sister were born. Your mother remained a good friend after you were born and you’ll find I was better at other things that your father. Now, if your interrogation is finished I must get back to my office, do tell your mother I give her my best wishes.” The older man smoothed down his suit and then lit a new cigarette as he walked down the corridor and out of Mulder’s eyeline.

————————————————————

Skinner heard Fox before he saw him bursting into his office.
“I want the smoking son of a bitch smoked out and I want his name!! He was at the hospital when I went to visit my mother, he said he knew her!” He was sick and tired of these games, he didn’t care that the whole floor could probably hear him shouting or that there was blood running down his lip.

“Agent Mulder, these men don’t have names! They know how to be elusive, I can’t help you even though I want to. I have nothing on that man.” Skinner replied evenly, trying not to shout back. He reached into his desk drawer for a pack of tissues and handed it to Mulder. He wanted to ask what had happened to Mulder, to ask how Teena is but they were interrupted by Mulder’s phone ringing.

“Scully? He what? I’ll be right there.” He needed to go, if what X had said about the date for colonisation being set and people looking for Jeremiah Smith, then Scully was in danger.
“I need to go, it’s Scully.” He tried to stop himself from running out of there straight away, he wanted to explain to his dad about everything but Scully was in danger.

Chapter Text

Scully understood why Mulder thought she needed protecting from Jeremiah Smith, but Smith was the only who was giving them answers and needed protecting. She placed her hand on Mulder’s arm and lowered it without resistance,
“We need to get him somewhere safe, they’re after him which means they’ll be following us too.”
Mulder shook his head,
“No, Jeremiah, you need to come with me to see my mother. She’s sick, she needs your help!” He told the man desperately, his hand shaking slightly.

Jeremiah looked at Mulder with pity,
“I can’t help your mother at the moment, Agent Mulder. There are things you need to see, information you need to hear, about your sister.”
That got the agents’ attention, time was of the essence and if they waited any longer he wouldn’t live to show Mulder what he needed to know. He looked round as he heard a car stop and someone get out, he was out of time. He ran into the building, hoping it’ll buy him time, he expected Mulder to follow considering the information he had.

Mulder took off after Jeremiah, shouting over his shoulder to Scully to get the car and he’ll meet her there. He realised that he shouldn’t have left Scully alone a minute after he started running, but he was too focussed on what Smith said about having information about Samantha and keeping him safe long enough to get that information. Mulder didn’t know how long they were all running around this abandoned building, he felt like he was in a Batman cartoon. There was no way he was jumping off a building, he valued his bones not being broken unlike these genetically altered people who could probably just jump off and be fine. Taking the long way round he got there just in time to help Jeremiah off the floor, hoping that the bounty hunter had left Scully alone as both men staggered to the pile of abandoned materials to hide.

Mulder struggled to keep his breathing quiet as he tried not to panic and also catch his breath from the running, he needed to bide his time and seize the opportunity. He strained to hear the heavy footsteps passing by him, tensing, he tightened his grip on the weapon, as if it might fall out of his hand if he made any sort of movement. The footsteps had stopped, now was his chance. He pushed himself out of his hiding space and ran like hell, stabbing the bounty Hunter in the back of the neck.
“Jeremiah, run!” He shouted, moving out of the way of the falling body as he tried to track Jeremiah’s movements while worrying where Scully was. He felt torn, he wanted to follow Jeremiah so the healer could help his mother and learn what he knows about Samantha. But, Scully was out there and here he was rushing off again and leaving her. He had to find out the truth though, for Samantha’s sake and her memory.

“Mulder! Muldeeerrr!” Scully shouted into the abyss, she was a bit pissed at him for running off without her. Again. Something caught her eye, something shiny glinting in the torch light, she moved toward it and saw the bounty hunter presumably dead. The doctor in her had to make sure though, she knelt down and pressed two of her fingers to his pulse point - not noticing his eyes opening until it was too late.

She couldn’t breathe. She clawed at the hand holding her throat in panic, desperately trying to breathe through her nose.
“Where are they?” The bounty Hunter demanded, his hand tightening around her throat. As she shook her head, he dropped her to the ground like a rag doll. She breathed deeply, trying to get oxygen back into her body as she gingerly felt around her neck, there was going to be some bruising for sure.

—————————————————-

Mulder went to examine the body on the ground when Smith stopped him,
“There is nothing you can do for him now, Agent Mulder. If you get stung by one of these bees then you’ll end up just like him. We must keep going, it’s about another twenty miles, then you’ll see why they want me dead.”

“I know about the plan for colonisation, the work, what I don’t understand is why.” Mulder was met with silence, so he switched tactics. “You said you had information about my sister, what does she have to do with this?” Once again he was met with silence and he had no choice but to follow Jeremiah as the healer made his way across a large field. There must be something more going on for Jeremiah to be this worried and coming to him and Scully for help. It just seemed every time he thought he had most of the information, something else happened and somehow it was connected to his family, his sister. He needed to contact Scully soon, let her know that he was alright and vaguely where he was.

——————————————————

Scully’s phone rang and she scrambled to answer it,
“Mulder! Where are you?” She asked quickly, aware of the threat behind her, she needed information so she could warn Mulder. “Slow down, Mulder, you’re in Canada?” She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and she knew she had to tell him,
“Mulder, the man you left for dead is alive! He’s coming for you now, be careful!” The line went dead and fear crawled through her, she wasn’t even close enough to protect him and she wasn’t even sure she could protect his mom.

No, she couldn’t just sit here feeling useless, she had work to do. Science was the way forward now, she needed to get back to the fbi headquarters and avoid Skinner long enough to find some evidence.

Back at the fbi headquarters she only managed to avoid Skinner long enough to see Agent Pendrell before he asked to speak to her outside.
“Agent Scully, where the hell have you and Agent Mulder been? One of you was meant to check in hours ago, the board is expecting updates on this Jeremiah Smith, have you found him?” Skinner’s eyes searched Scully’s face, looking for any signs that they had found him.
“We are still tracking him, sir. Agent Mulder is currently at the hospital visiting his mother so he told me to continue working with Agent Pendrell.” It wasn’t technically a lie, because she had planned on bringing Pendrell in any way, and Mulder did want to get Jeremiah to the hospital. She met Skinner’s gaze head on, she knew he was still suspicious about something but she wasn’t about to let him in on what happened just yet.

“Sorry to interrupt, but, Agent Scully, I've found something that might interest you. I did some digging on Jeremiah Smith and there’s five men that go by the same name and they all have the same social security number.” Pendrell gestured to the screen excitedly, then clicked onto the next screen. “This is the weird part, but there are multiple entries of random data that look like personal entries. They can fill so many hard drives, but I can’t make out what it is or even decode it.”

Scully leaned forward to scroll through the entries, it was almost scientific in its organisation. She couldn’t figure it out now, but she knew someone who might have the answers. “Agent Pendrell, can you print some of these off for me? I think it’s a cryptogram, the numbers might be dates.”
“Agent Scully, do you think you can solve this?” Skinner asked her skeptically, looking at her over Pendrell’s head.
“Not me, but I know someone who might.” She knew who she needed to contact, and damned if she wasn’t going to make him talk. She didn’t care if he only liked to talk to Mulder when it suited him, this time he was going to help her.

——————————————————————

Mulder accepted the binoculars and stopped in his tracks when he saw where Jeremiah Smith had led him to. There was his sister, not a day older than when she had been abducted, “Samantha…” He whispered to himself, his heart breaking again, why did they keep doing this to him.
“Look beyond the girl, Agent Mulder, what else do you see?” Jeremiah cut in impatiently, wanting the young agent to see the bigger picture and understand what he was risking his life for.
“I see plants and shrub, I don’t understand.” His eyes flickering back to Samantha and the unknown boy she was with, was he also a victim of abduction?
“It’s pollen, for a new type of disease. Come with me.” Jeremiah didn’t even wait to see if Mulder was following him, he knew the man would be, considering the clone.

Mulder approached ‘Samantha’, his heart beating wildly. She looked the same, right down to the dots of freckles across her nose, could it be her? He knelt down and held her arms,
“Samantha, it’s me, your brother Fox. Do you recognise me?” He asked desperately, searching for any kind of recognition, even the slightest sign. But all he got was a blank stare from her, he wanted to shake her, to hear her say something.
“Please say something.” He begged, “Why won’t she speak to me?” He asked Jeremiah desperately.

“She has no language.” Smith put it simply, no empathy in his voice. “They are all drones, workers, created to work for the success of the plan. She isn’t your sister, Agent Mulder.”
Mulder stared at Jeremiah in annoyance, how dare this man say this girl wasn’t Samantha when she was standing right in front of him as the eight year old girl she was when she was abducted right in front of him.
“It has to be her! It’s got to be.” Mulder’s voice broke at end, he didn’t want to accept the knowledge just yet that it was another dead end. He looked up when he heard doors opening and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing: more copies of Samantha and the boy with platinum blond hair appearing out of the houses. All dressed the same. Perfect copies.
“What the hell is this place?” Finally registering that this is what Jeremiah was trying to show him all along, but why children? Why not adults?

———————————————————————-

Scully sat on the sofa, hunched over the table in front as she tried to decipher these files. As soon as she got home she put the sign up in the window and waited, knowing he would come eventually. The knock on the door drew her out of her thoughts and the files, she rose to open it and saw Mr X standing in the doorway. He didn’t look exactly pleased to see her and looked around her to see if Mulder was there.
“He’s not here, so you’ll just have to talk with me. Now these entries, they’re a protein amino acid sequence aren't they? But what does SEP mean?” Showing him the copies of the data entry.

He gave her a blank look before sighing,
“Don’t unlock doors you’re not prepared to go through, Agent Scully. I come with a warning, you need to protect the mother.” He urged, looking around quickly for any sign they were being watched, then continuing, “Smallpox Eradication Programme, the greatest disease that had faced the American people until it was defeated by vaccines. Vaccines issued by the government. Don’t lose sight of the mother, Agent Scully.” With that he turned on his heel and left Scully to her thoughts. She wished she could get ahold of Mulder, to tell him what she had discovered but she had science at her disposal and to make people believe she was going to need evidence. She fixed herself some coffee and settled in for a long evening of working.

——————————————————————-
The screech of tires drew both Jeremiah and Mulder’s attention, they were out of time, the Bounty Hunter had found them. Mulder felt a tug on his hand and looked down to see Samantha trying to pull him away, maybe there was something of his sister in there and he just needed to be patient. He and Jeremiah followed the girl until they reached a building, he opened the door to immediately shut it as he heard what was in there. Remembering Smith’s warning about the electrician, he knew there was no chance he would survive going in there. He looked around and spied a carton of gasoline. It wasn’t going to be pleasant but it would keep the bees away from him since it disrupted their sense of smell.

He poured the gasoline over himself, shutting his eyes tightly and closing his mouth but still tasting the horrible taste of gasoline. He gagged slightly as the smell and taste took over senses, if Scully was here she would be rolling her eyes at him and would probably point out he had other options. He grabbed Jeremiah’s arm tightly, urging the healer to guide him through as his other hand was still gripping Samantha’s tightly. He heard the hum of bees all around him and tried not to flinch too much as they went past his ears, or he thought he felt them near his skin.

“This way Agent Mulder.” He could barely hear Smith’s voice over the bees and his heartbeat in his ears, but he tried his best to follow and to keep his grip on his two guides. He was definitely going to have a long standing fear of bees after this. They hid behind one of the larger pieces of honeycomb and waited, Mulder tried to calm his fear and ragged breathing but he didn’t think his body would leave its flight response until this was over. He felt a tap on his arm and a whisper, “He’s here. On my signal.” He nodded in the dark, and on the third tap he pushed the wall of honeycomb onto the Bounty Hunter, wincing slightly as he heard the pain-filled yells as the bees launched themselves at the alien.

——————————————————————

Scully strode into the FBI headquarters with a new filled purpose, folders gripped in her hand, carrying important notes. She knocked loudly on Pendrell’s office door and let herself in,
“Agent Pendrell, those numbers we couldn’t figure out yesterday? I thought I recognised them and a twenty letter code to any scientist would look like a protein amino acid sequence. The three letters here, it’s about the smallpox pox eradication programme. It’s a list of vaccines, Agent Pendrell! I need you to do something for me before I present the findings to the board, I need you to test my smallpox vaccine and yours.” She felt bad for taking advantage of his naivety and willingness to help her, but she had little choice now. She had no allies in the FBI at the moment, she wasn’t sure if she could trust Skinner- regardless of the fact he was Mulder’s dad.

————————————————————-

Scully stood in front of the members of the board, all of them men and all of them not looking the slightest bit interested in what she had to say. But regardless, she had to try to get them to listen.
“While Agent Mulder continues to search for the Jeremiah Smith from the crime scene, other agents have found at least ten other Jeremiah Smiths working within different government departments all with the same social security number. Everything they were assigned to contained numerous databases of inventories just like this.” She placed a sheet onto the projector,

“To a scientist, these numbers represent a protein amino acid sequence. The sequence you would find in a vaccine, this protein sequence is assigned to the cowpox virus that was used to inoculate humans against Smallpox. Now, universally all the vaccines should be the same, they should only vary by the strain. However, the ones on these inventories are different, they are marked by numbers and are each different.” She placed the sample under the projector, allowing the board to have a look before she carried on.

“This is cowpox protein number 6. I had Agent Pendrell get a sample from my smallpox vaccine scar and we examined it using a confocal microscope. That there is a tag.” The board just laughed, she didn’t know what she expected, of course she wasn’t going to be respected as a scientist, she was just a woman to them. She tried not to look too frustrated or let them affect her, she carried on, she had her evidence and she was going to present it whether or not they chose to believe her.

“I then had Agent Pendrell repeat the same procedure on his own smallpox vaccine, and it turns out his sample is different. This shouldn’t be the case at all, those tags should not be there.” There had to be someone there who could see that this wasn’t right at all.

“Agent Scully, are you suggesting we are being tagged and inventoried? For what purpose exactly?” His tone wasn’t exactly mocking, but it didn’t hold the same patience he usually did when he gave her and Mulder chances to explain the unexplained.

“I am unsure of the purpose exactly, but it is very clear that it has to be a government agency. No other people would have access to all these records, nor the influence over the creation and implementation of vaccines.”

“Agent Scully, we expected this type of speculation from Agent Mulder, not from a scientist like yourself. Now, if you could tell us where Jeremiah Smith is then it may help your case, but I’m afraid all you have is speculation.” The board members murmured amongst themselves, agreeing with their de facto leader, whilst occasionally giving her scrutinising looks.

“Agent Scully, can I speak to you outside for a minute?” Skinner made it sound like a request when it was an order. She held in a sigh and turned off the projector, dutifully following her boss out of the room; ignoring the looks she got from the board.

“Agent Scully, what the hell was that? You were assigned to find Jeremiah Smith and instead you come to me with theories about vaccine tagging? Do you even know where Agent Mulder or Jeremiah Smith is?”
She felt the annoyance start to simmer and frustration leaked into her voice, she thought Skinner of all people would try to understand.

“Sir, I was assigned to the X Files division to find the science in Agent Mulder’s theories. I am first and foremost a scientist and what I presented in there was scientific evidence of what this government is trying to hide from us. Now I don’t know why they would tag proteins, but it sure as hell has happened and most likely still happening. You show this to any scientist and they would find the exact same information.” She didn’t care if she was being slightly insubordinate or if the people inside could hear her, she was done being looked down upon.

Before Skinner could reply, Scully’s phone rang,
“Mulder? Are you okay?” Skinner stepped forward at the confirmation it was his son, but stopped when Scully helped up a finger and pierced him with an icy look.
“Mulder, people want to talk to Jeremiah, they have a lot of questions. Okay, tell me when you land, be safe.” He sounded shaken up over the phone, but they couldn’t risk anyone overhearing how deep their feelings actually ran for each other. For now, she needed to get to the hospital to protect Teena, it’s all she could do for Mulder now.

————————————————————

Mulder limped through the hospital doors, showing his badge when he was questioned where he was going. He had failed again. Twice. He couldn’t protect Samantha and now he couldn’t even help his mother. He briefly wondered if Jeremiah made it, but the thought left as he got closer and closer to his mom’s room. He vaguely heard himself saying “I can’t, there’s nothing…” and then Scully’s reaction as he stumbled into her arms and allowed her to take some of his weight. He felt tears form as he was guided to a chair by his mom’s bedside, she looked so frail lying there and he failed at getting the best option to heal her.

“Mulder, you’re in shock. I’m going to examine you and then get you warmed up, okay?” She could hear other agents outside questioning Skinner where Jeremiah Smith was, but like hell she was going to let them in to question Mulder in this state. She carefully touched his arms and hated how cold they were, his clothes were damp with something she couldn’t place but she would need to coax him into a change of clothes soon. She heard him wince slightly as her fingers lightly touched his chest and stomach, she looked up with an apology in her eyes and carefully lifted up his shirt. A mirage of bruising covered chest and she was sure she would find the same on his back, it was clear he had a run in with the bounty hunter as well. She felt around the ribs and she near a 100% certain they were just bruised and not broken so that was something at least.

Scully heard Mulder trying to stifle some sobs and her heart broke, she could see he was trying so hard not to fall apart. She cradled his head in her arms and held him as he cried. His arms circled around her waist and her shirt became damp, but she held him tightly as he mourned the loss of his chance to save his mom. She gave a small grateful smile to one of the nurses who gave her a blanket to drape over Mulder, grateful for the privacy that the staff recognised they so badly needed.
“She’ll never know what happened, what they did.” Mulder spoke, his voice rough and cracked, looking at his mom and removing one arm from Scully’s waist to grip his mom’s hand. “She’s going to die and I can't save her.”

“You can’t give up hope, Mulder, no matter what the doctors say. You can’t blame yourself for what you could only hope, and sometimes a little faith can benefit. Don’t give up hope, Mulder, she may just yet pull through.”

Eventually Mulder’s body temperature rose and she got him calm enough to suggest they go home. Skinner kept his distance and didn’t intrude on them, which was good because she didn’t think she could deal with Skinner right now. It was hard not knowing if she could trust him, especially knowing it would crush Mulder if it turned out his own dad was part of the conspiracy.

Scully was worried about Mulder, he hadn’t said a word since they got home and he had headed straight for the shower. She didn’t want to push him but holding it in wasn’t going to help and she knew something happened there, mainly because Jeremiah mentioned Samantha. She hated that they kept using Samantha to taunt Mulder and lure him into doing their work for them. She wiped off the makeup from her beck carefully, wincing slightly as she touched the worst of it.
“You’re hurt. What happened?” Mulder asked quietly, coming to sit down next to her.

“It’s just bruised, I’ll be okay Mulder. It was the bounty Hunter, he choked me trying to find out where you and Jeremiah were going. Mulder, what happened while you were gone? I was worried you wouldn’t make it back and when you did…” She didn’t realise how deeply worried she was until now, funny how intense focus can push your emotions away. She leant her face into Mulder’s hand, covering it with her own and closing her eyes as Mulder kissed her head and then her hand.

Eventually they moved to their bed and just laid there, holding each other before Mulder began to speak,
“Jeremiah took me to this farm in Canada and there I saw Samantha,” Mulder stopped briefly at the lump in his throat then carried on, “She was there, looking just like she did at the age she was taken, but she didn’t recognise me. She just looked straight through me and didn’t even talk, there was a boy with her as well, he must’ve been like her. Abducted at a young age. Then there were more of them, each a carbon copy, I realised then it wasn’t really Samantha they were just clones.

But, Scully, what Jeremiah showed me, what would happen. There was a whole building full of hives and one bee stung a man, god Scully the damage that it did. It wasn’t like a regular allergic reaction, it was much worse. After the bounty Hunter found us it got a bit hazy, I had let Jeremiah go, otherwise he would’ve died. The only time Samantha made a noise was to scream as the man crashed into the car, and Scully it was full of pure fear. It was the only emotion I saw her display and I just… I let her go. After that I can’t remember how I got to the hospital, I just knew I needed to get back.”

Tears threatened to spill over as he thought about the piercing scream that the Samantha clone gave when he was thrown from the car. He couldn’t put her in any danger, again, but still he hoped that maybe she could still be alive out there if they are making clones of her.
“Why do they keep using her, Scully?”

Scully stroked through Mulder’s hair, not really knowing how to answer that question.
“I’m not sure, Mulder. But, we’ll keep looking for her, I promise.”

They held each other as they fell asleep, unbeknownst to them of what was going to happen to their only potential ally.