Tittle: Fate is Everything

Author: Angel

Rating: NC-17

Type: MSR, X-File, little bit of ANGST

Archive: I would be honored. Just drop me a note so I can take a look at the site.

Disclaimer: * whimper * Ok they aren’t mine. I have borrowed the characters Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, The Lone Gunman, and Skinner from Chris Carter, Fox Network, etc etc, without asking. Please don’t sue me…. all I have is my computer and without it I cant amuse myself with these little stories. I’m wont receive any money form this and little if any fame. No infringement intended. I don’t know how owns the movie "Dawn of the Dead" but its not mine either…. and I agree with Mulder it’s a great movie everyone should go rent it. I’m also using the words of a song from Live without permission. Sorry about that and sorry I missed your concert this summer! So basically no infringement intended for absolutely anything I could possibly it in trouble for.

WARNING: Due to my sick little mind this contains descriptions of sex between two adults. If you are offended easily or under age STOP DROP and ROLL! This is not the place for you!

Author note: Forgive me for any false information in this story. It is my pathetic rambling and it may not all be true. More to fallow at end of story.

Spoilers: None I can think of.

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FATE IS EVERYTHING

Dana Scully’s Apartment

Tuesday 5:45 a.m.

"…86 degrees is the excepted high today…"

<SMACK>

"Damn it!" Scully cursed out loud after hitting the snooze button much harder then necessary. She shut her eyes tightly and was determined to enjoy her 9 minutes of "snooze". But she couldn’t fall back asleep so instead she stared at the ceiling thoughtlessly.

<Ring… Ring>

She sighed…* gee WHO could be calling me at 5:49 am on a workday? * She asked herself as she grabbed the receiver, through her sleep fogged mind managed a "Hello?"

"Hey Scully. I didn’t wake you did I?"

"No Mulder. I was about to get out of bed. What’s going on?" she asked while thinking *Please no mutants, I went to bed determined to be in a good mood the rest of the week *

"Oh just an interesting little case that the Lone Gunman happened to fall upon last night"

"Mulder we have to work today. We cant just go off to God knows where looking for God knows who or what." She said dryly, at least his call gave her a reason to lay in bed a little longer. * Damn his voice is sexy…where the HELL did that come from this early Dana? * She gave herself a little mental shake and forced herself to sit up.

"Actually Agent Scully this IS an X-File," she could hear the smug smile in his voice. "The guys brought it over to the office right after you left, I managed to ‘run into’ Skinner and he must have been in a hurry to get home or something because he agreed to send us out in record time."

Scully couldn’t help but smile, he sounded so damn proud of himself.

"Well where will we be traveling to on this fine Tuesday morning?" she might as well let his good mood spread this morning, it sure beat complaining about it.

"Wow you aren’t even gonna ask what the case about?" Mulder sounded honestly shocked.

Scully couldn’t help but chuckle a little. "No Mulder I’ll save that wonderful piece of information for the plane ride...Or car ride…WHERE are we going Mulder?"

"I almost hate you tell you cause you seem to be in a really good mood for 6 am. But…." He paused and Scully could almost hear the cringe in his voice. "…Arizona."

"Argh! I don’t even want to know how hot it is going to be there!" Arizona was the last place she wanted to be in July. "When do you leave?" Now she was just whining and she knew it.

"I’ll pick ya up in an hour, ok?" Mulder was obviously amused by HER lack of amusement towards their little adventure.

"Yeah, sure, fine, whatever. See you then." Scully hung up without waiting for an answer.

*Well at least this means I get to spend a good portion of the week with Mulder * she thought smiling and she stretched.

"WHERE are these thoughts coming from??!!!" she asked herself out loud. * You are in love with the man Dana, face it. * She shook head and wandered towards the shower convinced she had finally lost it. * Only a crazy person could fall in love with a man like Fox Mulder. *

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Dana Scully’s Apartment

Tuesday 7:02 am

Scully stood over her sink full of dishes when she heard the familiar knocking at her door.

"Mulder use your key I’m busy right now!" She yelled over she shoulder hoping he would hear.

"Hey Scully" Mulder said walking into her kitchen. She glanced over she shoulder to smile a greeting and immediately regretted it. Mulder was looking as sexy as ever with tie loose around his neck, his shirtsleeves rolled up and this jacket slung over his shoulder. Scully barely suppressed her shudder. *Stop it! * She screamed at herself. She swore she could hear a little voice in the back of her head laugh and say *And you were looking forward to this week? *

"Ya ready to go?"

"Yeah hang on one second I don’t want to leave these dishes dirty. I don’t like coming home from a case and having new life forms living in my sink."

Mulder chuckled as he answered her "Yeah I found some pretty interesting things in my fridge last night. You’d be amazed what can originate from left over fried chicken." He was wearing his ‘little-boy-needs-a-mommy’ look that always went straight from Scully’s eyes to her abdomen.

Scully felt the blush rise in her cheeks as she died her hands. She managed to cover it up usual. "I shudder to think Mulder."

He just continued to smile innocently replacing his jacket and grabbing her suitcase from the floor.

"Ready." She said trying not to smile at his little act of male chivalry.

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Washington Airport

Tuesday 7:50 am

Scully had be outside for about four seconds after getting out of the air-conditioned car to walk to the airport and already felt like she hadn’t showered in days. *Just wait till you are in Arizona. * That little voice that has been tormenting her all morning chimed in.

"This weather is truly disgusting." Mulder said putting her thoughts into words. Scully just nodded her agreement as they walked in the crowded airport; at least that god-forsaken place was air-conditioned. She longed to take off her jacket, not to mention her pantyhose, but FBI protocol demanded a jacket to be worn whenever an agent was armed and in a public place. And there was no way in hell Scully was about to lean over and pull off her pantyhose in front of Mulder not to mention the hundreds of people roaming about the airport.

"I’m gonna go get the tickets at the desk." Mulder said as he took her bag from her hand. * Was he seriously going carry that thing all the way over the ticket counter?! * "Wanna grab us some coffee?"

"Sure. I’ll meet you by the gate" *Wow he is gonna carry my bag around with him! What’s gotten into him? * *Maybe the something that has gotten’ into you…pure hormonal animal lust * That wonderful little voice chimed in once again as Scully tore her eyes away from Mulder ass as he walked away from her. *STOP it! Or this case is gonna take forever! * She commanded herself.

Minutes later Mulder returned with their bags in tow and tickets in hand. Scully handed him his coffee, which he took smiling. They stood silent for a while waiting for the boarding to start.

"Ok Scully I give! Why are you in such a good mood this morning? New batteries in your vibrator last night?"

Scully mouth dropped to floor as she stared at him *He DIDN’T just say that!! Did he?! *

"Excuse me Mulder?! First of all there is no special reason I am in a good mood and if I where you I’d stop the snide remarks or that mood is going to be replaced by something not so good. And second of all…my God Mulder! I don’t even know how to put into words…. I don’t know what I want to say! Just Ewww! AND that would be none of your business by that way!" *There, not bad. Managed to be angry but not enough to lose this good mood *

"Scully are you saying you don’t have a vibrator? Some women really seem to enjoy them. Maybe I’ll get you one for Christmas this year." He seemed very proud of himself with that response.

"I can’t believe you Mulder! You can be such an asshole!" Scully felt her good mood fading FAST.

"I’m sorry, I was just joking!" Mulder threw his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a quick ‘please-forgive-me-and-don’t-kick-my-ass hug’ and smiled at her. Fighting every cell in her body she managed not to hug him back but stand there with an annoyed look on her face.

"Your lucky I’m in a good mood for what ever reason Mulder." *Damn it! Why did he have to smell so good?! I was just about to get mad at him...and for a really good reason *

Mulder chuckled as he let her shoulders go and took a slip of his coffee. He was staring out the window at their plane just as the call for "elderly, those traveling with children and others needing assistance" boarding was announced. He seemed lost in thought as Scully noticed a young woman staring at him. Actually she was looking him up and down like a slab of roast beef. *She’s practically drooling! How the hell does she know he’s not with ME?!! Just give it a try bitch I’ll tear your eyes out! Wow I really have lost it this time ...* She snapped out of her thoughts as Mulder touched the small of her back leading her towards the boarding entrance of the plane.

Once on the plane Mulder pulled her bag from her hands and shoved it, along with his into the over head compartment. Scully squeezed by him to take her middle seat. *Anything to get just a feel of him huh? * *Shut up! * She yelled to herself trying to shake these thoughts from her head. *What is wrong with me??? Yes Mulder is a very sexy man. I’ve known that! Why the hell am I so caught up with it all of a sudden?! Yes I know I love him. But it ain’t gonna happen in this lifetime! Move on Dana! * She yelled to herself as Mulder seated himself next to her on the aisle with a sigh. *Maybe a SHOULD get a vibrator… *

"Excuse me. That’s my seat by the window." Mulder and Scully both looked up to see a middle aged balding and slightly plump man motioning to the seat next to Scully. Mulder mumbled something as he stood to let the man go by. He didn’t even give Scully a chance to stand before he pushed his way through, practically taking Scully into the seat with him. *Oh boy this promises to be a wonderful 6 hour ride. I just love spending the good part of my day in a claustrophobic space which is hotter and stuffier the hell could ever dream of being, But then again I do get to lean real close to Mulder…STOP IT!!! *

"Hey Scully you want to read the case over now?" Mulder seemed just as annoyed with the plane as she was; he looked like he was about to pull out his gun and start shooting the couple in the row ahead of them arguing who got the window seat.

"I-" Scully was abruptly cut off by that little man sitting next to her.

"So why are you going to Arizona? I’ve got a sales meeting so it’s all business for me. Business or pleasure?" Scully had to fight back the urge to throw up on this fine example of manhood next to her.

"Business." *There. Short. Sweet. And too the point. No problem. *

"Oh yeah what kind?" He wasn’t going to give up that easy. He was practically leering at her. *Ok Mulder when you do finally lose it and pull out your gun please, please, please shoot this…. this...thing next to me first. * This definitely was going to be a very long ride.

"Nothing very interesting. Excuse me." Scully quickly turned herself towards Mulder the moment the words where out of her mouth.

Mulder looked only mildly amused about the man’s attempts to get Scully’s attention.

"File?" he asked handing it to her.

"Thanks." She took the heavy manila folder from hid hands. They both let their hands linger over one another’s a little longer then necessary before Scully had to pull away for fear she was going to blush over that simple contact.

It was obviously getting a little too warm in the plane for both of them. Mulder made it obvious when he reached up to open the little air vent by the reading light above their heads.

"Mulder! Don’t you dare turn that thing on! It is just a venting system for germs! I don’t want to inhale what other people have exhaled my whole flight." Scully looked genuinely disgusted.

"Ok, ok. But only for the reason to keep your good mood I want you to understand." He gave her one of his simple smiles that always managed to make her weak in the knees. *Good thing I’m sitting down * she thought swallowing hard.

"Gee thanks Mulder." *Cant let him think that actually effected you in any way Dana * she reminded herself. She felt the plane shift as it began to take off the runway.

Then of course they both had to try and put their arms on the armrest and the same time. Their arms smacked perfectly together. Usually if Scully weren’t in the good mood she was in she would have let Mulder take the rest without a problem. But something about the way their eyes met that made this casual little bump of arms into something more. They just stared at each other of a second. Green to blue. Both with equal amounts of wickedness all of a sudden. Both of them broke into a grin as the simultaneously tried to put their arm back on the rest again. Their arms met fully again but neither budged. Scully couldn’t help but giggle as they battled with just their single arms. Acting like two little kids in the movie theater. Neither was planning on giving up and they both slipped into helpless laughter pushing against one another’s arms.

"Come on Mulder! You have a rest all to yourself on that side!" Scully yelled through the tears that were forming from laughter.

"Yeah… but I…..I …don’t want THAT… armrest I want...this... THIS one! So move ...your damn arm!" Mulder was having a hard time getting the words out though his laughing.

"No way! Cut it out or I’ll tell Skinner!"

That was too much for Mulder. The visual image he got of Scully running up to Skinner in tears tattling on him like her stole her lollie pop on the playground sent him over the edge. He stopped struggling with her arm and just settled for laughing.

"Yeah, be sure to add that to the report for the case! I’d love to see his face when he read it!"

Scully just sat there laughing at the image, staring into Murder’s eyes. She felt her checks start to burn at the prolonged eye contact.

"You can use this armrest too, I don’t mind." Came from a voice beside Scully. She turned to this man who was obviously trying to figure out the relationship between his two seatmates by the look on his face.

"Well thank you…" she turned back to Mulder as she rested just her elbow on the armrest. "See Mulder there are still some true gentlemen out there." She knew she would regret that statement because it was just encouraging this pathetic man next to her. But it was worth it to have a reason to stare at Mulder for another minute. He didn’t say anything she just looked back at her a smile on her face and a truly happy expression on his.

Mulder was quiet while she read through the file, which he was usually very good about doing. Maybe he was saving his voice for the argument the usually followed the reading of any case file. Although he did give her amused looks every time she inched closer to him to get away from Mr. I’m-barely-pass-the-idea-of-using-the-"I lost my number can I have yours?"-line-to-pick-up-women. She was practically sitting in Mulder’s lap by the time she was halfway through the file trying to get way from Mr. Friendly’s gaze into the file. Which wasn’t altogether a bad idea, but she once again yelled at her subconscious thoughts and continued to read the file.

"Ok Mulder what I am missing?" Scully asked after reading through the seemingly normal case file about four women who died under seemingly natural causes. "There is nothing in here unusual. These women had nothing in common except all being from Port Prinston Arizona. I don’t get it! I’ll admit it is…." Scully paused to find the right word. "Odd that four women all seemed healthy physically and mentally. But maybe the autopsies missed something. I mean no one just DIES." She continued even though she could tell he was trying to say something. She had started to ramble and couldn’t seem to stop herself. "Maybe there is something the like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in adults. Maybe there is s toxin in the water or maybe these women didn’t die naturally and tests can’t pick up on a poison. But a person just doesn’t stop breathing for the heck of it!"

"Whoa! Chill out Scully. That file is missing something…a very interesting something." Mulder had that I-get-to-play-on-the-government-dollar look in his eye.

"Are you going to explain?" Scully asked with minimum amusement.

"Of course I will Scully." He was smiling that gotta-love-me little boy smile. Scully just looked at him eyebrows raised in question. "The police report is leaving out the most interesting part." He paused again for effect *Gotta love him trying to keep me entertained, or maybe he is just stalling because he knows I’m going to kill him for dragging me out here. * He continued deliberately slow. "Each one of these women were found fully clothed and one in her car as you read. But they were all covered this goo-."

Scully cut him off with a hand raised. "GOO?"

Mulder looked annoyed. "Yeah goo….ok gunk, slime, gross stuff, a strange secretion of some kind……..So basically goo." He looked happy with this tern. "So this goo comes from an unknown origin. And I have absolutely no clue what it could possible do to cause death of four women so I wont torture you with my BS," he leaned down to her ear to whisper "Just because you are in such a good mood today." *Oh dear God he smells so good! Mixtures of light after-shave, clean laundry and just plain MULDER. Stop! Focus! Strange deaths of four women! Goo! There is goo! Quick! Ask about the goo Dana! *

"So explain this so called goo to me. Why is there no analysis of it?"

"Agent Scully you ask the best questions." *God if you are listening right now…I’ll do ANYTHING for you to make him stop looking at me like that. Thank you for your time * "There is no analysis of this goo. It has, of course, been kept very quiet because Port Prinston is a popular vacationing place. It mostly consists of a set of small lakes and cabins people rent along the shore. There are acres of woods with trails set up, one of which were all the body’s were located. And basically all that outdoorsy stuff I know you love." He couldn’t help but smile at his little joke; she just shot him a look to avoid looking into his eyes. "I don’t even know how the Gunman got a hold of this information, I don’t even ask anymore. But they put me in touch with the local sheriff who told me everything he knew. Which was nothing. Other then the goo. He’s very worried about the goo. So anyway I got the sheriff is send away a sample so we should have the results tomorrow morning. But the best part, Scully is the last victim was found yesterday morning and I got them to save the body for us." He looked why too happy about that. * It cant be healthy for a grown man to become so thrilled with the mysterious death of a women involving goo, but then again this is Fox Mulder. *

"Ok Mulder I have to ask; did you coin the phase goo?"

Her gave her his puppy-dog look that always managed to lead her to thoughts she not have with her partner in mind. "No unfortunately that was the sheriff’s term, but isn’t it catchy?" He was suddenly beaming.

Scully couldn’t help but laugh a little. "Oh yeah I’m really looking forward to reporting to Skinner on a case that includes goo."

Mulder was in the middle of melting Scully’s insides with a simple expression when a way to peppy flight attendant came to Mulder's side asking for drink orders. *Those are NOT real! And neither is that hair color. And damn it! Stop smiling at Mulder he’s mine! Dana Katherine Scully he is definitely not yours! Now stop that right now and tell the bimbo you want a damn Diet Coke before you rip those silicone life preservers off her chest and use them as a pillow! *

"We’ll both take a Diet Coke." Mulder said smiling up at her. Scully had to resist the urge to puke. *No way she is his type… What are you thinking Dana? She is definitely his type; she’s just the kind to be in those movies he ‘doesn’t’ have. Blonde, Busty, and Dumb. *

"I’ll take a coffee." * Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that little guy next to me. *

Mr. Bad Pick Up Lines reached forward to take the coffee from Miss Bimbo and his hand collided into Scully’s right breast. It was so planed it shouldn’t have surprised her but she couldn’t keep her mouth from dropping. * Oh my God! I can’t believe he just grabbed my boob! * She turned to Mulder when she heard a sputtering sound. He was desperately trying not to burst out laughing or choke on his drink.

"Oh, sorry about that." The toad next to her leered.

Scully managed a tense smile towards the man trying to fight the urge to pull out her gun and end anymore desperate attempts. * Three hours to go… You can do this Dana * she thought as Mulder was still struggling with his laughter.

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Port Prinston Motor Lodge

Tuesday 2:45 PM

Scully was struggling with the room key and her bag. She basically begged Mulder to stop at the motel before going to the local police department and morgue. She really wasn’t in the mood at the moment to slice 'n dice into a middle-aged woman covered in "goo". Both agents managed to get the doors open at the same time. Scully took one step in and was immediately welcomed by a cold cloud of artificial air.

"Oh God yes!!" She couldn’t help but call out loud when she was finally out of the hot Arizona air. She felt gross and sweaty. She could hear Mulder unlocking his side of the adjoining doors and went to unlock her half. She opened it and was greeted by an amused looking Mulder.

"Spontaneous orgasm Scully?"

"Wow Mulder everything you say seems to have something to do with sex. Are you getting a little frustrated with your sex life? Blow up doll pop last night?" * There! Ha! A taste of your own medicine! * Scully said over her shoulder as she started digging trough her suitcase for her makeup bag.

Mulder slapped a hand to his heart. "Oh Scully. That hurt." He was grinning, she knew he loved it when she played along with him and she was in just the mood to do it.

Scully turned to him makeup bag in and hand and shoved him into his room. "Give me a minute to try and look like someone that didn’t just spend six hours of her like in a hot airplane next to the worlds most pathetic man, ok?"

"I think he liked you Scully." He was just loving this.

She made a disgusted sound. "That man puts Frohike to shame with his pick up efforts. I’ll be in your room in a few minutes." She gave him one last shove in the right direction, basically just for a reason to put her hands on his chest, before turning to the bathroom.

She cringed when she looked in the mirror. She was right, she did look like a person who had spent a good portion of the day stuffed like a sardine and sweating like a pig. She splashed cold water on the back of her neck hoping it would cool her slightly and pressed powder onto her face. * Not that this is going to do any good but its worth a try. *

Running her fingers through from hair she walked into her room then directly into Mulder's. * Oh dear God in heaven… breath Dana! Wait before you breath close your mouth! * Mulder was standing over his suitcase naked from the waste up. He turned to Scully.

"Just let me throw on a fresh shirt and we can head out." He said as he fumbled with a T-shirt. * The man is a God, that’s all there is to it. I think I’m going to pass out… God, sorry to keep bothering you today, but could you please give me the strength to not jump my partner at this moment. Thanks again we’ve been real helpful these past six years. * He was standing there, in just his dark gray dress pants, holster on his hip as the muscles in his chest stretched as he reached over his head to put the T-shirt on.

"Scully are you ok?" He asked as he reached for his white dress shirt.

* Oh yeah I’m fine just trying to keep myself standing on my legs which seem to be made of Jell-o, Thanks for asking. By the way when was the last time you had a complete physical? I’m asking as a doctor of course and I was just going to volunteer my services. * "Yeah I’m fine," * Wow is that what my voice always sounds like? * She suddenly cleared her throat.

"You look a little flushed. Maybe the heat is getting to you." Mulder suggested as he reapplied his tie.

"Mmm Hmm." That was the best Scully was able to do. She felt like every nerve ending in her body was about to explode.

"Come on lets go visit the sheriff and get started on that body." Mulder placed his hand on the small of her back and directed her from the room. * Breath in. Breath out. Damn it Dana you are a doctor you KNOW how to do this! * Scully smiled and let herself be lead from the cold room which suddenly left hotter then the whole state of Arizona could ever imagine being.

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Port Prinston Police Department

Tuesday 3:45 PM

Scully couldn’t help but breath a sigh on relief once inside the air-conditioned building. Even with the A/C on high the rental car was stuffy with dry heat. They were barely anyone in the quiet building before a man about Mulder’s height but much older walked up to them.

"You must be the two agents from the FBI." He said extending his hand to Mulder first.

"Yes I’m Agent Mulder and this is my partner Agent Scully." Mulder gestured towards Scully as the sheriff moved to shake her hand.

"I’m Sheriff Coal. I want to thank you two for arriving so quickly. We have Miss Sherman in our morgue downstairs for you to examine. I don’t really know what to tell you about what has happened. We are just trying to keep it all quiet. Port Prinston is not a very small town but word about something like this will travel fast." The man was very nervous as he led the two agents to a stairway at the back of the building.

"Sheriff do you have any idea’s where this…. Um…substance that is covering the victim could have come from?" Scully gave herself a mental kick for almost using the word goo.

"I can’t even begin to imagine." That was the simple answer that the Sheriff provided and he didn’t seem to be about to offer anything else. "I sent the samples from the first three victims to the lab this morning. I didn’t take a sample from Miss Sherman by the request of Agent Mulder. We haven’t laid a hand on the body since we brought it in 36 hours ago."

"Did you get a chance to talk to the victims families yet?" Mulder chimed in and Scully suddenly had to wonder how much Mulder had talked to him about this case before even letting her know about it. * Typical Mulder actions. * She thought bitterly.

"Yes Agent Mulder I did. The reports are down in the morgue office. I’ve put everything I have about the case, which isn’t much I am afraid, in there for you two. I’m sorry to say they didn’t have anything too helpful to say. The first victim was going for a jog somewhere, she didn’t tell her husband where. Which isn’t unusual at all for these parts. People jog on the trails constantly. The second was meeting a group of friends at a cabin they had rented and just never made it there I guess. The third was one her way home from work; she was the one found in her car by the side of the highway. And Miss Sherman was apparently taking a walk with her dog. Who was found by cabin owners, he was one scared little pup they said. I don’t see any connection at all. But then again this is the first time anything like this has happened in this area. Port Prinston is a quiet place. People keep to themselves mostly. No one has been murdered here for twenty years." He stopped talking when they reached the bottom of the stairs and opened the door and motioned the agents into the cool morgue.

"Well we’ll definitely try and help you out Sheriff." Mulder was putting on his best good cop expression. "I think we can take it from here and I’ll let you know if we have any more questions."

"Ok whatever you two want to do is fine with me." The man said smiling holding his hands up in mock confession. "You are welcome to use this office down here while you are trying to figures this all out. I had one of the men stock the fridge with some drinks. If you need anything I’ll be up in my office or you can reach me in my car." He gave them a little salute like he was talking to army generals and walked out the door.

"Well he’s…. a helpful man isn’t he?" Mulder asked looking a little taken back by the man.

"I think he is scared Mulder. This town obviously thrives on vacationers, they don’t need something like this to give them a bad name." Mulder nodded and went to the compact refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water handing one to Scully. She practically drained the whole thing in one gulp.

"Well I don’t know about you Scully but I cant wait to get a look at this murderous goo." Mulder looked like he was about to clap his together and jump up and down.

"No! Please don’t tell me you think this "goo" is the cause of death Mulder. These women died naturally. The goo is just a mysterious addition to their deaths." She knew she was stretching it. Four healthy people don’t just stop breathing and die. At least not in the matter of three weeks, and not all in one town.

This time Mulder put his hands up in surrender. "What ever you say Dr. Scully." He knew she was having second thoughts about the goo not having anything to do with the deaths but was nice enough not to call her on it. Scully finished her water and stretched her stiff arms over her head thinking how much she wasn't looking forward to doing an autopsy after such a long plane ride.

Scully let out a yelp of surprise when Mulder grabbed her stomach as she was stretching. She quickly slapped his hands away from her body feeling the nerves endings where his hands were burst into flames.

"Showing a little skin there Scully." He said is his usual teasing voice.

Scully felt heat rising to her face and she tucked the front of her blouse into the front of her skirt. * Don’t even look at him! He’ll be able to tell the minute you do that you really enjoyed the feel of his hands on your bare skin! * Instead she shook off her jacket and through it over the chair on top of Mulder’s jacket.

"Can we just get on with this autopsy so we can get out of here at some point tonight Mulder?" Scully choked out. She still wasn’t looking at him as she walked through the office door into the even cooler morgue and over the body lying on the exam table covered only by a plastic sheet of some kind.

"Of course Scully." She could hear the smile in his voice as he followed her into the morgue loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves. "At least it’s nice and cool in here." He commented, Scully just nodded not trusting her voice at the moment.

She grabbed a pair of latex gloves from the box as Mulder pulled a stool up to the side of the exam table. He deliberately set the stool right were he knew Scully would want to stand to examine the body. He had seen her perform these autopsies enough to knew she liked to start.

Scully let out an exasperated sigh as she pulled on a plastic smock and goggles so she could start the exam.

"Mulder move your ass out of my way or you can just get out of here." She walked over to him bumping her hip into his which was just about level with him sitting on the stool. He grabbed her waist and pulled her on to his lap.

"I’ve got us great seats see." Mulder had that smug grin he got every time he was able to make Scully blush.

"Mulder get your hands off me so I can do this exam." She wiggled out of his grasp after letting herself enjoy the closeness of his body for a moment too long because he noticed by the pleased look on his face.

He gave her an honest smile. "Awww Scully your no fun at all. Six years and I can’t even get to first base with you."

If it had been possible her face would have gotten redder it would have. But since it couldn’t all the blood that wanted to go to her face when to her lower body instead. * Baby you can get way past first base ANY time you want to! Ok I need to get myself under control. * She thought as she walked over ignoring his comment and moving to pull the sheet off the body.

Mulder suddenly snapped out of his must-embarrass-Scully mood and into oh-yay-I-get-to-look-at-a-interesting-dead-body mood and was suddenly at her side when she was about to pull the sheet off.

Grabbing the edge Scully was surprised by the resistance and suddenly she realized why it wasn’t a regular sheet but a plastic coated one. The slimy substance was sticking to the sheet holding it to the woman’s body. Mulder reached over to help her pull it off but Scully stopped him yelling so loud it made him jump. "Mulder! No! Don’t touch anything. I don’t know what this stuff is and I don’t want you getting yourself covered in it."

He nodded his head and continued to watch Scully struggle with the sticky sheet. Finally pulling it free from the body the agents where shown a very interesting sight. The young woman was still clothed as requested by Mulder and covered head to toe with a think clear substance.

"God Mulder…. It’s everywhere." Scully trailed off as she picked up a long instrument to poke the body with. "It really thick, and sticky." She added as she tried to pull the probe away from the body but just created a long string of slim from the body to the instrument. She gave up trying to pull it away and looked at the women’s face for a second. Then Scully looked at her hand; she was already coated in the sticky stuff.

"Mulder can you turn on the recorder so that I can get started. I don’t want to touch anything." He nodded as she held up her free hand wiggling her fingers to show the shinny goo covering them. He press the button nodding once more to Scully then moved his stool out of her way and sat down at the head of the body to watch.

"Ok it 4:13 PM…" she started into the autopsy completely intrigued. "Victim is Mindy Sherman. 25 years of age. White female. Time of death is estimated to be around 42 hours ago. No external injuries are present. No broken bones or bruising is evident either. Victim is covered in some sort of substance. At least one inch thick. It is clear and very sticky." She leaned down towards the body to obviously smell it; Mulder’s hand shot forward catching a lock of hair that came from behind her ear and almost fell on the women’s face. She finished sniffing the goo and smiled a thank you at Mulder who just smiled back with a very strange look in his eyes. They were amazingly soft…Scully couldn’t quite put her finger on the expression but was pretty sure by the twisting in her stomach she was looking at him the same way. * Snap out of it Dana! * "Umm…the…um substance has a slightly sweet scent to it." She looked back at Mulder and dropped her Dr. Scully voice. "Mulder doesn’t that smell familiar?" She couldn’t put her finger on it but it was something she knew.

Mulder leaned down bracing his hands on the table giving Scully a nice view of his forearm muscle contracting under his weight. "Yeah…. Yeah I don’t know what though…." Mulder trailed off in thought.

Scully shook her head a bit and went back to the exam. She cleared her throat to get the Dr. Scully voice back as she started moving around the body with her prodding devise. "The substance is under the victim’s clothing. It is also in her nasal cavity, possible suffocation as a cause of death. Victim ears are also filled." Scully reached to the tray behind her and grabbed another prodder and managed to open the victim’s mouth without getting herself anymore covered with the substance. "Victim does not have any in her mouth, concluding that she was mostly likely not submerged in the substance. At least not for an extended length of time…." Scully continued her full exam while Mulder sat quietly watching. Only turning away occasionally as Scully started dissecting various organs. She found nothing conclusive.

The exam was finished, she had closed up the body and returned it to the freezer and started pulling off the exam cloths when Mulder returned from taking tissue, blood, and the substance samples up the Sheriff to have sent out to get tested.

"I don’t get it Mulder…" Scully was truly dumbfounded by this death.

"She didn't suffocate on that stuff either did she?" He asked knowing she didn’t but was just as bothered as Scully was by the fact that there didn’t seem to be any cause of death. Other then the just victim dying.

"No…I barely found any of that stuff in her lungs. Anyway there wasn’t ANY that I could find in her mouth so she could have just opened her mouth to breath if she wanted to."

"So what happened then?"

Scully raised her eyebrows at him. "Mulder I just said I don’t know what happened."

Mulder shook his head quickly. "Oh, sorry Scully. I was just kind of talking out loud."

She nodded at him and sat down on his stool tipping her neck to the side cracking and popping it. She jumped when Mulder’s hands where on her shoulders. She thought about telling him to cut it out but the man knew how to use his hands! She just sat quietly as he used his thumbs to press rhythmically into the muscles at the base of her neck and the rest of his fingers clenched and unclenched gently at the tendon on either side of her neck. Scully felt her eyes slipping shut but couldn’t stop it. She let out a long slow sigh of gratitude.

Mulder chuckled softly. "Come one Scully why don’t we go get something to eat its 7:30 and just about everyone has left. Its been a long day we cant do much more till we get some results back on the first victims in the morning."

"I’m starving but I think my body has melted into the stool." Scully felt her neck relax completely under his touch and let her head fall slightly forward. She let out another sigh. She could feel Mulder smiling behind her.

"Ok that’s enough before I have to carry you out of here." He said as his hands stopped moving. He let them slowly slide down her shoulders to her upper arms all the way to her hands. Their fingers interlocked without either one of them noticing. Scully heard Mulder swallow hard right behind her ear. His breathe was warm and tingling on her neck. * Oh this is not a very good thing we are doing… * She thought to herself as Mulder moved closer to her settling his forehead of the back of her head. * Oh to hell with it! Opps…. Sorry God…. * She leaned her body back into his. Their arms, seeming not under the control of either one of them, started to wound around Scully. One tightly against her waist pulling her more securely against him and the other gently across her chest with their hands landing on her shoulder. Scully unconsciously moved her head to the side enabling Mulder to set his head in the crook of her neck. They both sighed softly as the silence on the morgue enveloped them and the heat of their bodies combined. * Ok this is heaven…. Thanks again God you’ve been great to me. I can die a happy woman now. * Just then Scully’s stomach decided to come into the picture with a loud growl.

Mulder laughed releasing her. "I agree with your stomach! Let’s get out of here and get something to eat before I turn cannibalistic and eat Mindy over there."

"Eww…don’t do that. We can leave now." She said smiling as she slid off the stool and walked towards the office door with Mulder right behind her.

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Uncle Marco’s Pizza Café

Tuesday 8:25 PM

Scully smiled at Mulder across the table.

"This has to be the best cheese pizza I have ever had in my life." Scully commented grabbing her third piece.

Mulder chuckled over the straw of his iced tea. "I think you were just starving Scully. You didn’t seem to enjoy your airline provided lunch too much."

"Sorry my idea of a meal doesn’t consist of a God awful turkey sandwich, dried pieces of something that vaguely resembled carrots, an apple, and the smallest cookie I have seen so far in my life."

Mulder laughed a real laugh not a chuckle. But one of those laughs that no matter what he is laughing about Scully cant help but join in. * Damn he is sexy when he laughs. *

Mulder sat silently as Scully finished the pizza off. * Ok why is he just looking at me like it? It’s starting to creep me out. *

"Mulder? Do I have horns or something sprouting before your eyes?"

"Huh?" Mulder looked like her words just woke him from hibernation.

"You were starring at me." Scully said simply.

"Oh sorry I guess I zoned out for a minute. You ready to go?"

Scully nodded as she took that last sip of her lemonade.

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Port Prinston Motor Lodge

Tuesday 11:30 PM

Scully stepped out of the steamy bathroom fluffing her damp hair with her fingertips. She finally felt clean for the first time today since walking out of her apartment this morning. Clad in only a pair of cotton shorts and a cropped T-shirt to stuck her head in Mulder’s room.

*Oh my…. * Mulder was wearing less then she. He was sitting back on his bed watching some movie in only a pair of boxers his hair still damn from his own shower the only light coming from the TV.

"Hey Mulder, I’m gonna turn in ok?"

"Scully wait…come here." He smiled at her and gestured to the space on the bed beside him.

Scully’s stomach did a flip-flop then landed somewhere around the area of her feet. * Whoa easy girl…you can sit by this man you have known for some six years (even in the bare minimum of clothing) without totally freaking out. *

"Ever seen this movie?" Mulder asked as she settled herself a mere foot away from him. * This has to be the smallest queen sized bed I have ever been on in my life! *

"Umm…I don’t think so. What is it?"

" ‘Dawn of the Dead’ " When she shook her head he continued gesturing towards the TV. "It’s great. Its about these people who get stuck in a empty mall trying to get away the zombies that are trying to eat everyone."

"You’ve GOT to be kidding me." Scully couldn’t help but laugh. * Fox Mulder is the only man on this planet that would rank a movie like this on his top 10 favorites. *

He looked at her pouting his lower lip out. "Oh come one Scully it’s really lot better then it sounds. Please…. Stay and watch it with me. If you get bored you can leave. It just started a few minutes ago-" he was interrupted by a loud growl from the TV. Scully burst out laughing at the zombie like man who was trying to chew on a woman’s arm. That woman of course just stood there screaming without trying to pull away.

"Ok at least it’ll give me a good laugh." * What’s the harm in watching a movie? I can handle this. *

"Yes! That’s the girl I love!" His words were barely registering to her when he grabbed her arm and pulled her back against his chest. Then proceeded to rest his chin on the top of her head and watch the movie. *Breath! Just breath and you can get through this. He did not mean love. He meant fond of, or something equally as harmless. My God this man’s chest is hard! Where does he get the time to work out?! Oh yeah… he doesn’t sleep. *

Scully started to relax into him as she realized he wasn’t paying any attention to her anymore. She felt his body vibrate against her as he laughed at one of the zombie’s getting his head cut off by the blade of a helicopter.

She barely noticed when one of his arms went around her waist, and didn’t notice at all when she put her arm over it and their fingers intertwined for the second time in one day. She noticed this little situation late on when her neck started to ache from the position she was leaning in. * You can handle this…act natural and you will be fine. *

Taking a mental deep breath she slid out of his grasp grabbing the pillow behind her and propped herself up on her elbows, feet resting against Mulder’s chest.

She couldn’t help but giggle when Mulder caught one of her feet and began messaging it. "Cut it out Mulder that tickles!"

Mulder laughed at her attempts to turn around when he was holding onto her foot. When he wouldn’t let her foot go she started kicking wildly with the other one. But he managed to grab one foot in each hand. Scully was laughing way too hard to yell at him for a few minutes.

"Mulder! Come one let me go!"

"Oh alright." He released feet then grabbed his own pillow and joined her at the foot of the bed. Their laughing died as they were starring at each other now head to head. Scully couldn’t help herself: she was staring right at his mouth. * Look away Dana just look away. * She didn’t have to; Mulder sat up all of a sudden and started to rub her back. * God those fingers again! *

"Mulder did you drag me in here to watch a movie or try any message away all my tension?" Scully said over her shoulder to him. * Yeah give him a little attitude, that’ll make him wanna have sex with me. No problem. I am truly am idiot. *

"Both actually. Now lay there and relax." He commanded softly as his fingers and thumbs rubbed her shoulders and started to slide to her lower back.

Scully adjusted herself automatically adjusted her frame so her arms where limp at her sides her head resting on the pillow. The movie was completely forgotten. Her whole body had focused on Mulder’s hands on her back. She could feel her shirt ridding up her back a centimeter at a time. She was trying to think of a casual way to readjust without the blush that was threatening her checks from rising. He movements slowed and stopped all together with one hand. Then she felt soft slow circles being traced with one of his fingers. * Uh oh. My tattoo is showing. Well he always wanted to see it. Well go ahead and get a good look Mulder. *

She heard a mumble come from him.

She turned her head slightly to look at him. "What did you say Mulder?" * Oh please don’t let him hate it! *

"I said wow."

With that she rolled on her side to look at him. "Wow?" * Wow is good right? *

"Yeah wow," he smiled softly. "That's beautiful…. I really like it." He was looking at it her tattoo again. Running his index finger over it. Tracing the serpent from head to tail.

"I’m glad." Scully returned his same smile. * That’s right look cool as a cucumber on the outside while my insides turn into the biggest pile of mush, I’ve done it before I can do it again. *

He was just staring at her. That same strange look. Scully knew she was giving him that look in return. Mulder swallowed hard.

"Scully I need to do something right now. If I don’t I think I might just die." He was strangely serious.

Scully was about to say something in return when Mulder leaned into her, closing the two feet that were separating them in a matter of a second.

His lips touched hers lightly. Her eyes slipped shut without even realizing it. His lips were just barely pressing against hers, slightly opened and painfully still. Her mind must have been ten seconds behind her body when she noticed her hand that wasn’t holding her body up had slipped up into his hair. With that encouragement Mulder deepened the kiss slightly. Pressing his lips a little more. She felt his body shift and come to rest next to hers, only slightly resting against her body. * Ok Dana you have been waiting for this chance for the last million years. DON’T SCREW IT UP! *

Scully immediately wrapped her arms around his neck pulling his chest against hers. He settled some of his weight into her body when he realized she was definitely ok with this. The kiss quickly went from innocent to passionate. Scully opened her mouth to him. He ran his tongue along her lower lip tasting her. Moving slowly and deliberately. Trying to savor every moment. He gently pressed his tongue into her mouth and against hers. His hands were showing the restraint he was trying hang onto with his mouth, one was clutching her back to keep her pressed against him. While the other had all her hair in its fist. Holding onto the soft locks with such strength his hand must have been aching. * He is TRYING to drive me crazy isn’t he? Well I guess after six years he has more restraint then I do! * Scully reached one hand to the back of his neck pulling his face closer to hers. The kiss turned almost violent. Tongues raging against on another. She knew her lips were going to hurt in the morning. * Oh what the hell! * She thought as her free hand ran down back and landed on a check of his buttocks. * My Lord I am touching Fox Mulder’s ass! Not only am I touching I am grabbing! * She pulled him on top of her. Against her lips she heard a groan, and she felt something very interesting forming against her thigh. His hand slid from her back to thigh down to her knee. His fingers easily fit the underside and pulled her leg bending it up and against his hip. It was her turn to groan. Her’s much louder then his as his hand slide back down her thigh to her butt pulling her hard against his hip. He torn his lips away from hers and she had to gasp to breath while she had the chance. She let out a huge gasp as his lips found a spot under her ear and started kissing and suckling. In response she found herself grinding herself against his hip shamelessly, he pressed himself into her thigh harder. His lips and tongue started a slow and deliberate journey down her neck.

"Muuulderrr..." Scully couldn’t help but make noise that felt too good. * I think I just purred Mulder’s name…. *

Scully did it again and he started to nibble on the tendon in her neck.

"Mulder…Mmm…" *Oh God I sound like and idiot! But who the hell cares?! *

Scully gasped as Mulder’s hands slipped under her shirt. By now Scully’s hands where touching any part of Mulder they could possibly reach. He moaned against her neck as she ran her nails over his bare back. She arched herself off the bed in an attempt to get his hands to front of her body. She thought he had the idea when started to pull off of her but his hands slid from under her shirt and he placed them on either side of her pushing his weight off of her. He just looked at her, searching her face for something. All that he saw was a very flushed Scully with rosy lips swollen from kissing and eyes struggling to open. His face didn’t look much different.

"Mul…Mulder what are you doing?" Scully was trying to get air to her lungs.

"I think this is going a little too fast for our own good. I know I won’t regret anything but I don’t want the morning to be uncomfortable. I only wanted to kiss you. If we are going to stop we better stop now."

*Leave it to Mulder to think clearly for probably the second or third time in his entire life when a women is moaning beneath him about to have sex with him without uttering a single word of protest! *

Scully couldn’t help but laugh lightly. "Damn it Mulder will you just make love to me!"

A look of total and complete relief washed over Mulder’s face. Scully reached up to grab his face and brings it to hers. She kissed him hard shoving her tongue up against his. They both let out groans when she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled his erection against her core. She craved more contact to soothe an ache that was growing worse and worse. She could feel the wetness collecting and pooling between her legs. Bracing herself on her elbows she pushed her weight against Mulder. He caught on to the idea and rolled onto his back pulling Scully up to straddle him. They both immediately began to moan at the new angle of contact. Mulder’s hand clutched at her waist as he left her mouth to explore the side of her neck he hadn’t been before. This was all too much for Scully. She could feel her nipples tensing with every touch of this lips and hands. * Time to move this along a bit. *

She tore her hands away from his hair to grip the bottom of her shirt. Mulder sensed what she was doing and moved his face away as the shirt came up and over her head. She let it fall to the floor as she took in sight of Mulder. His lips were bright and swollen, his hair was tousled from her hands ruining through and pulling at it. His body was glowing from the light of the TV and the fine covering of sweat.

Scully’s head flew back as she moaned from Mulder’s hands slowly sliding up her body coming to rest of her breasts. He kneaded them tenderly as if testing their weight before placing his thumbs on her nipples circling and pressed them.

"Yesss…." Scully actually hisses at Mulder.

"You are so amazing." Mulder mumbled and he dropped one of his hands and replacing it with his mouth

The moaning and groaning was constant as Mulder descended upon her breast. He ran his teeth gently across her nipple causing her to move her hips involuntary against his. His tongue started to circle then encloses her nipple entirely. He suckled her gently. It was driving her mad.

"God Mulder…I want you now…now." Her voice was strained from the lack of oxygen. He immediately turned them both over. Resting his aching erection in the valley between her legs for a moment while he kissed her deeply. Scully swore she could feel his heart on his lips.

He carefully moved out from her legs and began removing her shorts as she rose up off her hips so he could slide the damp garment away. She suddenly realizing not putting panties on after her shower was the best thing she could have possibly done. The moment he had them off he slide his hand between her legs and pressed lightly against her swollen lips.

"Oh yes!" Scully bucked her hips against his hand. She was totally losing control and she was loving every minute of it.

Mulder began to slowly circle her clit with his thumb with his middle finger resting at her opening. He was once again sucking her nipples. She had never felt so swollen and wet in her whole life. She moaned louder then ever when he pressed his finger gently into her body. Her walls gripped and pulled at his finger urging it into her deeper. Scully eyes were shut tightly when she felt his mouth on her ear.

"You feel so amazing Scully." He was sucking her earlobe with the same care that her nipple received.

She felt him sliding his body down hers kissing every inch of her along the way. When she realized where he was heading she unclench the sheets of the bed she had been holding onto for dear life and grabbed his head in both her hands.

"No Mulder. I want you in me. NOW." His lips where immediately on hers as they both pulled down his boxers. As he moved back between her legs. She moaned when she finally felt his hot naked erection against her aching folds. "…. Now." she managed to moan out again.

She felt him shift against her placing the head of his cock against her hot wet skin. He pushed very gently moving into her only an inch at a time. Giving her body time to adjust and pull him in naturally. She felt like she was about to be ripped in two. It had been a long time since the last time she was with a man. And this was the first time with such a…. impressive specimen of manhood.

Her eyes were shut tightly as she mentally commanded her inner muscles to relax and let her have what she has been waiting for six damn years.

"Scully, baby look at me." Mulder said softly against her lips.

She felt her core clench at the sound of Mulder calling her "baby." She was never one for pet names but as far as she was concerned he could call her pudding head and it wouldn’t bother her a bit.

She forced her eyes open at his request and looked into his eyes dark with lust.

"Am…am I hurting you? Are you ok?" He was forcing the words out over desperate gasps for air.

"I’m good…I’m ok." She managed to breathe out. She could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn’t completely convinced so she tilted her hips back immediately causing him to slide in another inch. Then wrapped her legs around his hips slowly pulling him in the rest of the way. He allowed her to take him at her own pace.

"Oh God…."She breathed. He rested in her body for a moment allowing them both time to adjust.

"You. Are. Amazing." He said each word deliberately. He then withdrew from her body only an inch or so. And gently pressed back into her. He continued this slow torture of her body withdrawing a little more each time. "God Scully. You feel so…. God!" He couldn’t finish his thoughts as he slid deeply inside her.

Scully could only moan in reply. She couldn’t bear to keep her eyes open anymore. She could fell very inch of him, hot and hard, stretching and pulling her muscles in a way she couldn’t ever remember feeling before. Her hips started to move to the slow rhythm he started. He was moaning softly in time with sinking into her body.

Scully suddenly remembered why it was so damn wonderful to be a woman and reached her arms up to his shoulders to pull his lips to hers. They kissed hungrily while the thrusting increased even more. Scully felt light headed and pulled away from his lips to scream out unintelligible words as her climax took her. Her whole body pulsed around Mulder’s cock. She left him slow his thrusting to be in time with her inner muscles clenching him. The shattering of her body slowly stopped and she noticed Mulder was just resting still hard in her body. * Oh God. He is waiting for me to come back to him before he even worries about himself. Can this man be for real??!! *

He nuzzled her neck softly waiting for her to tell him to keep going.

Scully easily could have slipped into a very restful sleep but snapped out of it when she felt his lips pulling the skin softly just above her left breast. She shifted her hips against his urging him to move again. And he did. In the same relaxed way the thrusting first started. Scully kept up with him forcing herself to pay attention to all the things he was doing to her body.

His thrusting picked up a strong pace as his body started to tense in response to his coming release. He was sucking tenderly but firmly on the skin just below her collarbone. * Damn he is going to leave a mark and he knows it. *

"Oh God!" Scully bucked hard against his hips as his hand joined his efforts to slowly drive her out of her mind. He was pressing very lightly on her clit in time with his thrusts.

* He is going to make me come again! I have never come twice in one round of sex before in my life! *

He was pressing gently against her overly sensitive nub. She wanted more.

"Harder Mulder! More…" She said as clearly as she could. He stopped releasing her bud of nerves when he withdraw but instead circled his fingers as his hardness sunk deeply into her body.

"Like that? You…you like that?" He asks with his mouth against her ear once again.

She managed a straggled groan in reply. She could feel her body tensing again. More then the first time. Mulder’s was also. He started rubbing constantly against her clit wanting her to come again before he did.

Scully through her head back as her body stiffened.

"Come on baby, come on. One more time, Scully. Let it happen." With his coaxing she let it happen, not ever realizing she was holding her body at bay for its release. She began to shake as the first pulsation over took her.

"Mulder…" She forced the word from her mouth as she arched up against him coming harder then the first time, harder then she ever could have imagined.

"Yes, yes Scully, yes." Mulder yelled out as he emptied into her waiting womb. With the last few involuntary strokes he buried his face into her neck and moaned loudly.

Moments passed where all she could hear was Mulder’s heavy breathing next to her ear. She had her eyes shut but couldn’t manage to open them no matter how hard she wanted to. She could feel Mulder, spent, resting in her body as her orgasm slowly faded into soft pulses every few seconds. * Ok this is the longest orgasm in the history of the world. *

She realized her hands were tangled roughly in his hair. She slowly pulled them out to run them through its softness in lazy strokes. He stirred gently on top of her. His weight was welcome and strangely comforting. He began to nuzzle his face into her hair as he ran his hands up her body.

He slowly raised his weight off of her withdrawing from her sore body. * This is going to kill in the morning! * She thought as he rolled his body off of her and on to his back, pulling her against his sweaty body at the same time.

She nestled herself into his arm flipping herself over onto her stomach. He pulled her closer so she rested her head on his chest and through a limp arm across to his other shoulder. She felt him reach for the remote turning off the infomercial about a food dehydrator or something along those lines. He grabbed the comforter that had become balled up at their feet and smoothed it over them both. He began running the back of his fingers over the length of her arm. * And the man like to cuddle? This cant get any better! * She thought with a smile.

He leaned his head over and kissed her temple, then left his lips there feeling the slow content pulse beneath his lips.

Scully broke the comfortable silence with a "Mmm…" noise. She felt him smile against her temple.

"You ok?" The words vibrated against her sending a wonderful sensation through her relaxed body.

"I feel great. I don’t want to fall asleep this feels so nice." She admitted feeling a knot tie in the pit of her stomach.

"Shh…go ahead and sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up, I promise…. I’ll always be here." His words would heavy with emotion and thick with sleep.

Scully felt a flood of relief wash over her. "I was hoping you would say that."

He kissed her temple again. "I love you Scully. I’ve loved you for years." His words were just a whisper.

Scully felt a tear slip through a closed eye as she nuzzled his chest with her nose. "I love you Mulder."

He pulled her tight against for a moment and began stroking her hair.

"Go to sleep, baby." She quickly obeyed and fell into the most rested and comfortable sleep she could ever remember having.

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Point Prinston Motor Lodge

Wednesday 8:15 AM

Scully was woken by something tickling her ear. She grumbled in her half-asleep state and attempted to role on to her side and away from this annoyance but wasn’t able to. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled. Mulder was curled around her on his side. His lips next against her ear, one arm around her waist and one leg thrown between hers. He was sound asleep and looking more peaceful then Scully could have ever imagined. She shifted slightly to try and be face to face with him when she left the pain from last night. She immediately stiffened every muscle is response to the sore tight feeling in her lower abdomen. * Oh this is going to be a long day…Feels like I lost my virginity all over again, minus the hangover. *

Her shifting woke Mulder. He wiggled against her side and tightened his arm.

"Good morning." He said as he started lightly kissing her earlobe.

Scully relaxed in his arms and giggled. "That tickles…"

"Want me to stop?" He asked as he started kissing his way up her jaw.

"I didn’t say THAT. I was just saying it tickled."

"Oh, ok, good." He finally made his way to her mouth and pressed a long gentle kiss to her lips. Then sighed and perched himself up on one elbow to look down at her.

Scully couldn’t help but smile at him. Laughing quietly she reached up and ran her hand through his hair. "You’ve got bed head."

He shrugged, smiled at her his eyes getting a mischievous glint in them.

"Yeah, well at least I don’t have a hickey." He placed a finger against the spot of skin just under her collarbone he was sucking last night.

"Gee where did that come from?" She asked looking down where he was pointing then back to his face.

"I don’t know…are you cheating on me Miss Scully?" He asked grinning and lowering his face to hers and nuzzling her nose with his.

"Yeah I am. He’s a really great guy though."

"Oh yeah?" He started placing light kisses up her nose then down her hairline stopping at her neck.

"Yeah. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. Great with his mouth. Too smart of his own good." He chuckled against her neck as she went on. "He has the bigger heart of anyone I have ever met in my life. I’ve loved him a long time for those reasons and many more…. Oh and he is GREAT in bed."

He brought his face up to hers again with the most beautiful expression of love in his eyes. He placed him lips against hers again.

He sighed as he pulled away and laid his head on her chest.

"Fox, what time do we need to be at the police department? Oh my God! I’m sorry I don’t know where that came from!" She said. A hand flying to cover her mouth, the blush was rising on her face.

He picked his head up from her chest and looked in her eyes with a mixture of amusement and wonder.

"You can call me Fox if you want. I don’t mind anymore. I kinda like how it sounds when you say it."

"Are you sure? Don’t just say that if you don’t mean it Mulder."

He kissed her nose lightly and slid out of bed pulling on his boxers for the floor. "I mean it. I wouldn’t recommend saying it at the office or anything. It goes without saying that we have to keep this thing under wraps." He said as he stretched his long body when he stood up.

Scully was about to comment on that when she sat up and immediately drew in a sharp breath at the stiff pain at the movement of her muscles. Her eyes flew shut and she slowly drew he knees up stretching them painfully even more. She was placing her head on her knees when she felt Mulder’s weight on the bed behind her.

"Hey…Sweetheart…are you ok?" He sounded like someone just ran over his puppy.

"Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine. I’m just kind of sore. It’ll get better once I start moving and get into a hot shower I think." He was running his hand up and down her back.

"I’m sorry. I pushed you too hard last night." Ok now someone kicked his dead puppy.

"No!" she quickly. Turning her head to look at him. "No you didn’t, Fox. It has just been awhile." She felt herself blush with embarrassment as she admitted that fact.

"Hey, trust me it has been awhile…a long while for me too." He said smiling letting his hand come to rest on the back of her neck. She smiled thankfully at him closing her eyes to relax again. "To answer your earlier question about actually having to work. The lab results won’t be in till about eleven. So I’m gonna jump in the shower now." He pulled her upper body from around her knees slowly and eased her back down on the bed as he slid to kneel beside her on the floor. "You rest for a little while longer. Then you can get cleaned up. We should have plenty of time for breakfast before we go pick up the results and get back to our normal lives." He said smiling sadly at the thought of not being able to touch her at will.

"This isn’t our normal life?" She asked opening her eyes to look into his.

He shook his head sadly. "No…at least not yet." He smiled at that thought. "I’ll make it our normal life if I takes me the rest of my life."

Scully smiled at that. Reached out to touch his check. He closed his eyes and rubbed against the open palm of her hand. His morning stubble creating a warm friction with her smooth skin.

"I love you." She said in a voice so soft anyone other then Mulder never would have noticed.

"I love you." He echoed leaning in and placing an innocent kiss on her forehead. He stood slowly. "Go back to sleep if you can. I’ll wake you when I get out of the shower."

Scully nodded against the pillows already feeling a light sleep taking over her body.

"Dana, baby time to get up." Mulder’s voice was soft and gentle.

Scully grumbled in response without opening her eyes.

He chuckled. "Come on. I’ve let you sleep longer then I should have."

She opened her eyes to see Mulder sitting the edge of the bed next to her. He was clean-shaven, dressed and looked ready to go.

"Sit up?" She nodded. Grimacing as she came to a full sitting position.

Mulder handed her a couple Advil then a glass of water. She swallowed them thankfully.

"I’m going to get us some breakfast while you shower ok?"

"Sure. Can you do me a favor and get my shampoo and things out of my bathroom." He nodded as he got up and headed towards her room.

"I’ll get your bag too." He called from the other side of the wall.

Scully realized how disgusting she felt. Besides that uncomfortable aching she was covered in the evidence of their lovemaking. * I’m sticky, sore and I was very comfortable lying in bed oblivious to these facts…. I want to do that again. * She decided to herself as she laid back down pulling the comforter up to her ears.

"Excuse Miss but I do believe we have someplace to be in an hour and fifteen minutes." Scully could hear the smile in his voice.

"I decided you should go to work without me today…this bed in very comfortable. And if I stayed here it means I wouldn’t have to walk out of the air-conditioning."

"Well that is a lovely theory you have worked out there but I am afraid it just isn’t gonna happen." He started tugging on the comforter pulling it from her body. She caught it by the time it was at her shoulders.

"No! Don’t do that." Scully warned very seriously.

Mulder lowered himself down on the bed next to her.

"Babe, if you don’t remember correctly I have already seen you naked."

"Just don’t ok?" She wouldn’t look at him.

He placed his lips to her ear again. "What’s wrong, Scully?" His voice was very soft but there was a definite under tone of hurt.

"Nothing… .I think I just need a little more time to get used to all this. Ok?"

"Of course." He decided to drop it. "Now you. Go. Shower. I’ll be back in a little bit with food." He kissed her nose and walked out of the room without another wood.

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Port Prinston Police Department

Wednesday 11:25 AM

Scully followed Mulder into the police station after a big breakfast of beagles with cream cheese, orange juice, coffee, and fruit that going to keep them both full through lunch. The Advil kicked in and with the help of a hot shower she was feeling like herself again

Sheriff Coal practically ran them over when they walked in. "Agent Scully and Agent Mulder. I hope you had a restful night. The deputy I sent out to drop off the newest samples and pick up the others hasn’t returned yet. He probably got held up in the morning traffic. I’m sure he’ll be along soon." Sheriff Coal took a hold of Scully’s arm and started walking the two agents towards the stairwell. "If you two just want to wait down in the office I’ll send the results down as soon as they get here." With that he opened the door to the stairs and walked away.

"What is it about me that says "Quick throw this man in a basement!"?"

"Didn’t you know? You have it tattooed across your forehead." Scully said as she started down the stairs with Mulder following.

"Oh well that explains it then."

They walked into the office and Scully immediately went over to the a few jars filled with the sticky substance. She set one on the windowsill of the only window in the room; it was small and level with the ground outside and didn’t let much light in. She had another open jar sitting on the table and one other which she mixed water with the sample. None of them had done anything interesting. It was the most testing she could do without the proper equipment.

"Well air, sunlight, and water doesn’t effect this stuff. No change in color or anything that I can tell from here." Scully said as Mulder took the open jar from her and smelled it again. Their fingers grazed and it suddenly stuck Scully that they went from lovers to partners without a problem. * This wont be too bad, people do it all the time. We can do this. Just stop my heart from pounding out of my body at his touch and I will be fine. * She tried to ensure herself.

"Wait a second…." Mulder smelled it again. * Wow I can almost see the light bulb go on over his head. *

"What?" She asked after he spent another minute smelling it.

"Tell me this isn’t tree sap…" He said as he shoved the jar near her.

Scully leaned in to smell it. It was sweet and did have a slight woody sent.

"It does smell like it…. But that makes no sense. Why and how would these people get covered in so much and why did it kill them? I don’t think so Mulder…" Scully trailed off.

"Do you have a better idea?" Mulder was suddenly very smug.

"Well no I don’t but…let’s just wait and see the results before you decide to drag me off on to some kind of nature walk from hell, ok?"

Mulder just held up his hands in defeat as a young deputy walked in looking at the ground. "Um... The sheriff wanted me to give these to you." He handed a packet of papers to Mulder then quickly left.

Mulder turned to Scully with an amused look as he flipped the pages.

"Ha! There it is tree sap. Every sample." Mulder exclaimed holding the papers for Scully to see. She let out an annoyed sigh and took it from him. She moved to sit at the table as she looked through the reports.

"This is really strange…The sap has a very high level of vitamin B12." Scully noted as she looked through the report.

"I don’t know anything about tree sap." Mulder admitted as he took the chair next to Scully.

"Well I don’t either but I know a little about B12. It’s not normally found in plant products, at least not this high of a level. That’s the reason many vegans, who eat no animal products at all, have to get B12 shots." She was still looking through the file. "Mulder I think we should call the lab and have them test Mindy Sherman’s tissue and blood for B12 content. It wasn’t tested on these other victims."

"Ok Dr. Scully spill it. What are you thinking?"

"I don’t really know…. But a B12 deficiency can led to the degeneration of the myelin that coats nerves. The nerves in the spinal cord, brain, everywhere…Some people report numbness and tingling sensations when B12 is very low…"Scully trailed off again not sure of where she was going with her idea.

"So…? Are you thinking that the sap somehow absorbed the B12 right of these people and it ended up killing them?" Mulder asked in his smart-ass tone.

Scully scowled at him. "I don’t know Mulder. I don’t know how tree sap could do that…" She trailed off again starring at a jar of the sap. "This sap may just have vitamin B12 in it for some reason. Maybe these women were killed. Four women, all walking alone in the woods. There could still be a chemical that the sap is covering up that killed them. But I certainly doubt that getting yourself covered in sap could cause death." She looked up at him to see he was not at all convinced.

"Scully, these women didn’t have a mark on them. No suffocation by any means is present. You said it yourself. These women just died."

"Mulder that doesn’t mean there isn’t a chemical that they ingested or something that caused the death. Maybe a new drug, like the "date rape" drug, just only used in smaller quantities and undetectable because we don’t know how to test it yet." She knew she didn’t have a very strong case but she wasn’t about to admit that to Mulder.

"I don’t buy it Scully."

Scully sighed. "So what should we be looking for Mulder. A tree with a lot of sap? Armed and dangerous? Or do you just want a reason to get out of this basement and drag me around the woods for awhile?"

"Now Scully you make it sound like I wanna cut school and take you to the local parking spot and try and get lucky." Mulder put on his fake hurt expression.

"Sometimes I wonder Mulder."

"Ouch. You know how it has to be. Work is work and the rest is our time…. This will be work I swear." He crossed his fingers over his heart.

"Yeah I know Mulder." Scully was frowning at the idea of a walk in the woods.

"So Scully…. About that little nature walk…" Mulder was grinning.

"Oh brother." Scully rolled her eyes. Mulder looked like a little boy who’s mother just said they could go to the circus.

The two agents got a map and charted where all four victims were found. Judging by the location of all the body’s and where the one woman in her car was found they narrowed their search down too Hubman’s Forest. A twenty-acre section of dense woods was surrounded on three sides by a lake and one side highway. It has been a popular place from its location near many cabins and its many trails. It was their best bet that all four victims had been there before death.

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Hubman’s Forest

Wednesday 3:30 PM

Scully looked unenthusiastically at the entrance to the trails in front of them. They stopped at the hotel to change into jeans, T-shirts, light jackets and hiking boots.

Scully looked from the trails to the sky. "Mulder promise me we will leave as soon as it starts to rain." The sky was darkening by the minute and the temperature had dropped a few degrees. The wind was also starting to pick up.

"Of course. I wouldn’t want you melt Scully." Mulder barely dodged Scully’s elbow that she aimed at his ribs. Laughing Mulder took a hold of her arm and pulled her into the woods. "Come one, let's hit the main trail today. That way we should be done before it gets dark…or it rains." Scully just grumbled in response.

They walked in silence down the main trail. Scanning the trees, ground and glancing into the narrow side trails that branched off. Kicking at the bases of the trees. Mulder was constantly running his hands along the trunks trying to find any trace of sap. They both got a lot of strange looks from people just taking a stroll.

After almost two hours of walking the air had become damp and cool. It had been awhile since they passed anyone else.

"Mulder I think we should head back. The storm is going to break and minute any its getting too dark to see anything anyway. We are just wasting our time." Scully had stopped walking and turned around to make her point.

"Yeah, I’m hungry too." Mulder answered as he took a few long strides to be at her side again. * Leave it Mulder to make a decision based on his stomach. * Scully thought as Mulder throw his arm over her shoulders.

"Mulder we are in public." She hissed.

"Relax Scully. I haven’t seen anyone in a half hour."

"I know Mulder. They were smart, they got out of here before it started to rain." She said as a few big drops of water fell on them. She held out her hand as to make a point.

"Aww…don’t worry the trees will catch most of the rain." He said gesturing up to the canopy the branches created.

They made it back to the opening in 45 minutes since they weren’t poking around at their surroundings. Scully stopped dead in her tracks when they reached the opening of the trail. They were both fairly wet from the rain that made it through the trees. Inside the woods it had been a light shower of pleasantly warm rain. But outside it was a complete downpour.

"I don’t suppose I could convince you to pull the car around, huh?" Scully asked looking up at Mulder.

He smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Come on lets make a run for it." He said as he pulled her arm and out into the storm.

They ran the 300 feet to their car, the only one in the lot.

Mulder struggled with the rain as he shoved the key in the lock and jumped in the car. He reached across to unlock Scully’s door. She threw herself into the car now completely soaked.

"Hey you didn’t melt!" Mulder said laughing at their appearances.

This time Scully managed to whack him on the back of his head.

"Oh that’s it!" He yelled as he reached across the car, pulled Scully into his lap and started to tickle her sides.

Through a desperate fit of laughter she managed to push herself back to her seat.

When their laughter finally died down to smiles Scully said, "Can we please get out of here and get dried off?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Mulder said as he started the car and they drove off smiling at each other.

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Port Prinston Motor Lodge

Wednesday 7:05 PM

Distance cracks of thunder and lightening were added to the storm by the time they reached the motel. The cold artificial air hit their wet skin and chilled them immediately. Mulder shut the A/C off and they both started to strip out of their wet clothes. Scully pulled on a pair of flannel pants, a sweatshirt, and a thick pair of socks. Mulder chucked a towel that landed on Scully’s head.

"Thanks I think." She replied when she turned to him. He had a dry pair of jeans on and a dark green sweater. * Wow…he should really wear that color more often. * She started squeezing her hair dry in the towel as she starred at him.

"Hello? Earth to Scully…."

"Huh?" She shook her head to stop from blatantly looking him up and down.

Mulder laughed. "You were starring at me…a lot."

"Oh sorry." She smiled shyly at him and sat down on the freshly made bed. * Oh that poor maid. I don’t even like changing my own sheets after sex I would die if I had to change someone else’s. *

"So what are you in the mood for tonight?" Mulder asked as he looked at the window.

"What?!" Scully choked out. * My life with Mulder has turned into "What position tonight, baby? *

Mulder looked at her and burst into laughter. He walked over and kneeled in front her.

"I meant what are in the mood for DINNER tonight." He was trying really hard to stop laughing.

"Oh my God." Scully mumbled as she put her hands over her face and shook her with embarrassment.

"I saw a Chinese take out when I was getting breakfast. Is that ok?"

She just nodded her head as he chuckled. He leaned over and kissed her head that was still in her hands.

"I’ll be back as soon as I can." He stood and walked away still laughing.

*Dana you are a true idiot. * She thought as she curled herself up on the bed and grabbed the remote to find something to entertain herself while Mulder was out. *

Scully awoke from a light sleep to the unmistakable smell of egg roles.

"Mmm…." She mumbled when she opened her eyes to see Mulder with two brown bags unpacking little Chinese cardboard boxes.

"Sorry I was trying not to wake you." He said turning around to see her sitting up.

"No you didn’t. The food did, I’m starved."

"Well get yourself over here then." He said gesturing to the table he was setting the food up on.

She sat down in one of the chairs as he handed her a motel glass with white wine. She smiled up at him. "Oh, very romantic." She said lightly gesturing to the plain tall glass.

"I do what I can." He sat in the chair across from her smiling.

An hour later, wine bottle empty, Scully laid on the bed with her head in Mulder’s lap feeling very woozy. He was channel surfing with no luck at all. And the storm had hit full strength outside, beating rain on the windows and cracking thunder everything few minutes. Mulder started running his fingers through her soft red hair and it was making Scully even sleepier.

They both jumped at an especially loud crack of lightening. The TV and lights flickered for a moment then went out entirely.

Scully just kept her head down and tried not to smile at this sudden change of events.

"Well what in the world are we gonna do now?" She asked looking innocent while sitting up to face Mulder.

Mulder chuckled at her and placed the back of his hand on her check. "YOU are drunk." He accused.

"I am NOT." Scully said trying to focus her eyes.

"Yes you are. Your checks are all flushed and you look like you are having a very hard time focusing on me."

*Damn him. *

"Ok I’m a little tipsy but you don’t look to good yourself." She said and she moved forward brushing her nose back and forth over his.

"Well let’s think about this. Between us we each had half a bottle of wine in less then an hour…. Yes I think I am slightly drunk also." He moved his head and kissed her lightly.

"So what do you suggest we do with the rest of the evening?" She asked slyly as she moved to straddle his lap.

"Gee Agent Scully I cant think of a thing…Do YOU have any ideas?"

"Hmm…. I can think of one or two things I would like to spend some time researching." She reached into his lap and squeezed his firming cock in her hand. Mulder eye’s just about popped out of hid head and hit her.

Scully awoke sometime later. She shifted onto her back when she didn’t feel Mulder next to her. Still not feeling him on the other side of the bed she sat up pulling the sheet around her body.

"Mulder?" She called softly when she saw him sitting on the other side of the room. Wearing his boxers and straddling a chair. Arms folded on the back and he was starring out into the storm.

"Hey…" He said looking over at her he turned his head to the side and laid it back down on his arms.

"What are you doing?"

He shook he head and stood up walked back over to the bed. "I couldn’t sleep. Nothing new."

Scully pulled back the sheets for him as came and lay down on his side propping his head with one hand on his elbow. Scully mimicked his position. And Mulder reached over and started flipping a chuck of her hair around in his fingers.

"You looked like you were a million miles away. Thinking about the case?"

"Yeah." He answered still playing with her hair. "I think we should go back tomorrow and try the side trails, see if we can find anything."

"Mulder what are hoping to find anyway?"

"I don’t really know Scully." He finally looked into her eyes.

"What else is bothering you, Fox?" She used his first name on purpose to get his attention on a more personal level.

"Nothing, don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep." He said releasing her hair and rolling onto his back where he could stare at the ceiling.

"No I am going to worry about." Scully said feeling the aggravation rising in her.

Mulder turned and looked at her. " I don’t really know what’s bothering me right now…I’m just thinking. Please don’t worry about it, ok? You know I’ll let you if something is wrong."

"No Mulder I don’t know that you will. This whole thing is new to me also don’t forget that. It’s not JUST you in this relationship. It’s not ALL your problem. It’s not for YOU to figure out and try and fix if anything needs fixing." * Wow that felt good. *

Mulder sat up and leaned back against the headboard. "Scully I’m not saying that. I know I’m not alone is this." He suddenly jumped off the bed and started pacing back in forth at the foot of the bed. "Maybe THAT is the problem. I’m so damn used to doing everything on my own."

"Mulder you haven’t been doing everything on your own. I’ve been here for long time I’m not about to stop being here for you when we have finally gotten to the good part."

He stopped at her words. "You think this is the good part? This is what it has all been leading up to all these years?"

"Yeah I think so. I mean there were times when I didn’t want to do this," she motioned between the two of them. "anymore. But when I thought about it I didn’t know what else to do. I haven’t been able to just walk away from anything we have done together. No matter how loud my brain was screaming at me to "Turn and run. Get a safe job. Get out while you can." My heart yelled even louder "What about Mulder? You know you cant live without him." It was an internal battle that I hope now that we are finally together, really together, will finally stop. I won’t fight myself anymore. I don’t want to. And I don’t want to fight you anymore. I don’t want to hear that I should move on. That I should save myself. And I don’t want to be ditched anymore. Not for anything. The case. Your problems. Damn it Mulder! It’ll just be easier if you’ll let me in! Let me in to that head of yours that is so damn amazing. You constantly push me away when I get even slightly close. You’re pushing me away now when you should finally be letting me in." Scully ended not able to fight the sobs anymore. She pulled her knees up to her body and buried her face in her hands.

Mulder sat behind her placing his hands on her bare shoulders. "I’m sorry Dana. I don’t know why I push you away. I know I am but it’s something that I just do. Defense mechanism I guess. I can’t just turn it off. Trust me I’ve tried many times. But I don’t know how to do it." His voice was thick with emotion.

Scully leaned back against him. * Damn it he can hide for he feelings all he wants. But I’m not going to anymore. * "I love you Fox and I know you love me. There is no doubt in my mind. I’ve known you’ve loved me for a long time. I’m not going to walk away from you. I’m not…"

Mulder placed his arms around her body and lowered her to the bed on her side. He spooned up against her pulling her firmly against him.

He put his lips in her hair. "I do love you. I’m not going to walk away either. I swear to you I wont. I swear…" He trailed off as the emotion became too much and sobbed softly into her hair.

Scully twisted in his arms to be face to face to him. Placing her hands on the back of his neck she pulled his forehead down to hers. "So neither of us will walk away from this. We can do this; no one has managed to pull us apart yet. We aren’t going to let them now and we aren’t going to do it to ourselves. Ok Mulder?"

He nodded against her forehead taking a deep breath to get himself under control.

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Port Prinston Motor Lodge

Thursday 4:20 AM

Scully woke up alone to the sound of the shower. The power was back on but it was still dark outside. It didn’t take her long to figure out where Mulder was planning on going. * Damn him… He is not going to ditch me now. * She slide out of bed and hurried to dress in her hiking clothes as she heard the water shut off. Mulder walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later dressed and ready to go. He did a double take when he saw the bed empty.

"Dana?"

"I’m right here." She called from the corner as she pulled on her boots.

"Dana, what are you doing?" He asked when he looked her up and down.

"What are YOU doing?" She asked trying to keep the hurt back in her voice. "Wait let me guess. You are going to search the rest of Hubman’s Forest as the sun rises and figured you’d let me sleep in. Am I right?"

"Yeah you are." He looked down at the floor as he reached for his boots.

Scully dropped the fact he was going to leave her. "Sun should be up by the time we get there."

"Scully I’m sorry." Mulder blurted out.

"Its ok Fox. Let’s just go and get this case finished up. Ok?"

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea."

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Hubman’s Forest

Thursday 5:05 AM

Mulder and Scully had walked down the main path until they got to the first branch off.

"Maybe we should split up." Scully said looking down the main path at the many other smaller ones. The sun was just coming up and the forest was perfectly silent except of the occasional bird calling. "If we stay in ears reach we should be able to look a lot faster."

Mulder looked at her for a minute thoughtfully. "No, no I think we should stay together."

"Any reason why?" Scully was loosing her patience. * Hey God I haven’t bothered you yet today. So I was hoping you could just help us wrap up this case quickly. I really just want to take a warm bath and sleep in my own bed…preferably with Mulder. *

"No. To be honest I don’t have a reason... Can you just humor me Scully? I’d feel better if we stayed together."

Scully sighed. "Sure. Let’s just get moving."

They walked down narrow paths repeating what they did the day before. They kicked at leaves and looked around trees.

"Mulder, I’m trying to keep an open mind here. I really am. But we have been wandering around aimlessly for three hours. This is a wild goose chase. Twenty acres and two people don’t add up. Let’s head back, get the test results and if the sap is actually doing what you think it is then we will close the forest and get a search team out and do this right…. Mulder are you listening to me?"

"Scully come here." Mulder was standing twenty feet away looking at something behind a tree like he was going to be sick.

"What is it?" She asked walking over to his side.

He didn’t answer he just pointed to the forest floor in front of him.

"Oh my God…" Scully saw what he was pointing at. A deer or what was once a deer was laying on its side covered in sap and decomposing. Surrounding it was a collection of raccoons, large birds and mice. Scully took a step forward and crouched down to get a closer look.

"Careful Scully don’t touch anything."

"I wont…. Mulder look at this. The deer must have gotten caught in this stuff. When it died these other animals tried to eat it and got enough on themselves and died also. Look they all have some on their feet, probably from climbing up." She stood up suddenly and backed away. "Jesus Mulder what the hell is this stuff?"

Mulder shook his head and looked around. "I don’t know, but we better find where it’s coming from." He took a hold of her arm pulled her away from the animals.

"Well it has to be around her somewhere." Scully gestured to the right of them. "I can hear the road over there. So that explains the woman found in her car." She looked down at the small map they had of the forest where they marked the location of the victims. Pointing at different spots on the map said; "I think we are right around here. We should head East. That will put us pretty much in the center of all the locations."

Mulder nodded and headed off slowly with Scully not far behind.

"Watch were you step, it doesn’t look like it takes much to do what it does when you get some of this on you." Mulder was looking each and every tree up and down as they walked.

"I’ve been thinking Mulder. Maybe the sap does absorb the B12 out of a person’s system. But maybe it’s not just the sap that’s doing it. Maybe there is something IN the sap doing this."

"What would this something be?"

"I don’t know. Maybe some parasite living in the sap. The tests showed many parasites, some living and some dead. It isn’t unusual at all for microscopic organisms to be living in organic substances like sap."

"I wont be having any pancakes for quite some time thanks to that information…. So now you are saying that these organisms in the sap are doing this? Taking the B12 out of the victims?" Mulder was listening intently now.

"Maybe. It could be an organism that lives on the tree itself that travels in the tree sap to eat, so to say. Most parasites are carnivorous. This type could be vegetarian, for a lack of a better word. "

"So to get the B12 is needs to survive it travels with the sap moving to other organisms. But why all of a sudden is it effecting people?"

Scully sighed thoughtfully. "Well something like that wouldn’t have many predators, there isn’t anything living that doesn’t need B12 to survive that I know of. Perhaps it's surviving too well, the population is flourishing. It might be possible if that the B12 caused numbness in the victims. But doesn’t kill them right away. They some how get covered in the tree sap start to numb but keep walking, probably toward help. Their body goes into shock but they don’t feel anything, or all they feel is tingling. Or the numbness could spread all the way to their internal organs and that would explain how the people seemed to have just died. Their heart stops beating and they don’t even feel it."

Mulder nodded in agreement. "But that doesn’t explain the amount of sap found."

"Maybe it does Mulder. Think about it. This is classic a partner relationship between the tree and parasite. If the animal that gets caught in the sap were small enough it would die almost instantly. It would die, decompose and provide nutrients for the tree."

"Ok sounds good… So lets put out an APB on a large tree with lots of sap with some parasites." Mulder smiled at her.

Scully ignored his sarcastic comment. "I don’t really know what to look for though. Who would walk up to tree covered in sap and managed to get completely covered in it before moving-" She was cut off when she lost her footing and her foot slide deep into the ground under neither her. Mulder grabbed her waist just as her leg started slipping all the way to her knee. He pulled her body quickly away from the hole she was falling into. They landed roughly on the ground Scully’s leg coated with the same sap on the victim all the way to her knee.

"Mulder! Get it off of me!"

Mulder jumped off the ground ripping his windbreak off of his body. He wrapped it around her leg and squeezed down sending the thick coat of sap to the ground. Scully laid there with a sticky pant leg breathing like she had just ran a hundred-mile race.

"Is it on your skin Scully?" He asked LOOKING like he has just run that hundred-mile race.

"No. I think you got enough of it off. It’s not soaking though my pants."

Mulder leaned his forehead against hers. The only sound in the forest was the chirping of birds.

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Delta flight returning to Washington

Thursday 7:30 PM

Two hours before the plane lands Scully was just finishing up her hand written notes in preparation for the typewritten report she would need to put together for Skinner in the morning.

…. Agent Mulder and I concluded that the deaths are due to a previously unknown parasite was living in the sap of several large maple trees in Hubman’s Forest. Local police departments will continue to search the forest for infected trees. We have come to believe that due to the large amount of decomposition surrounding the infected trees that the soil became soft and eroded away. In turn causing the sap to pool and be covered by leaves and other debris from the forest floor. This explains why the four victims were completely covered. The test results for Ms. Mindy Sherman shows that there was no vitamin B12 in her tissue. Including her diaphragm muscle and her heart. Further testing of the previous victims by local authorities will be done. We expect to find the same results. Concluding that the cause of death was a parasitic organism that adapted to life on trees but was unable to sustain existence because of the lack of vitamin B12 in the plant. It evolved to be able to absorb B12 from other animal life at a rate of astounding rate of speed. Apparently causing numbness that led to the stopping of vital organs in the victims….

*Ok that’s enough Dana. Stop before you pass out. * She looked up at Mulder who was starring off at something across the plane in deep thought.

"Mulder, what are you thinking about?"

He looked over at her with a calm expression. "Oh nothing really, just the Lone Gunman are going to LOVE this case." He smiled innocently.

"Yeah I’m sure they will." She leaned back against her seat.

"You look tired Scully." Mulder said concerned.

"Yeah I am… But you’ll stay over tonight wont you?" She asked softly. Afraid their disagreement last night might make him want a few nights alone. She became quickly addicted to falling asleep in his arms.

"Yeah of course I will." He smiled fighting the urge to kiss her. They didn’t know anyone on this flight but couldn’t be too careful.

"Good." Scully said settling her head against his shoulder hoping to get some sleep.

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Dana Scully’s apartment

Thursday 10:45 PM

"…. I’ll read to you here, save your eyes

You’ll need them, your boat in at sea

Your anchor is up, you’ve been swept away

And the greatest of teachers won’t hesitate

To leave you there, by yourself

chained to fate

I alone love you

I alone tempt you

I alone love you

Fear is not the end of this…"

Scully was losing her thoughts in a song when she heard Mulder unlock the front door, returning from picking up clean clothes for the morning. A moment later he was in the bathroom where Scully was in the tub shoulder deep in bubbles.

"Hey."` Mulder said as he lowered himself to the floor by the tub.

"Hey yourself."

"You look very relaxed." He comments smiling at her.

"I am. You don’t look nearly relaxed enough Mulder."

"Oh I’m ok."

*He wasn’t catching on was he? * Scully asked herself as she put on her best seductive smile.

"You know what’s great about this tub Mulder?" She raised one leg out and started running her foot along the edge next to Mulder.

"No I don’t, what would be so great about that tub Scully?" He swallowed hard as he watched her leg.

Scully reached out of the tub grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulled him to her. Kissing him deeply she mumbled against his mouth; "Two fit perfectly."

Mulder her pulled back slightly to look in her eyes. A mixture of lust and love shone back as her. "You never cease to amaze me Dana."

She bit her lower lip. "You get those clothes off and get in here I’ll give you one more reason to be amazed."

"God I love you." He said leaning to kiss her again.

"Yeah I’m pretty fond of you myself. Now if I have to ask you again to take those clothes off I won’t be so nice."

"Oh I think that is a challenge I am willing to take." He said standing up and reaching into the tub grabbing her waist and throwing her sopping wet over his shoulder.

"MULDER!" She started slapping is butt as he carried her into her bedroom. When he got to the end of the bed he flipped her over dropping her on the bed which bounced and creaked under the stress of her sudden weight.

He landed himself on her and started kissing her wet skin starting at her lips and moving down her body.

"Mulder! I told you to get in the tub with me not drag me out!" She said through laughs.

He stopped his decent and her belly button and looked up at her. "Yeah well I thought we’d have more fun in here." Then lowered his head back to her body.

"You got my bed all wet." She whined.

He looked back up at her once more. "And its about to get a whole lot wetter." He finished with a sly grin and lowered his head to the wet red hair between her legs. She immediately groaned and ached herself into his face. He laid on hand across her belly to try and hold her waist down as she bucked in response to his tongue running from the bottom of her opening slowly to the top. Stopping to flick at her clit then repeating the motion. Scully threw her head back into the pillows and clutched at Mulder’s hair with her hands.

He took her clit in between his lips. He rolled and sucked gently. That drove Scully crazy.

"Oh God Fox." She moaned to him.

In response he moved the hand that wasn’t holding her down to join his efforts. He slipped two fingers slowly into her body. She moaned another encouragement to him. He curved them gently as he pulled out. He replanted his fingers in and pulled out again. The whole time suckling her sensitive nub of nerves.

"Mmm…yes…." She was murmuring nonsense as her body tensed in wait of release.

Sensing her body’s tension Mulder increased the pressure of his lips and moved his fingers faster into her body.

Scully growled as her body tensed and convulsed in pleasure. She felt her whole body shake and then relax into complete bliss for a few minutes. When she finally opened her eyes again Mulder was over her looking down at her with a smug grin.

"You look awfully proud of yourself." She said finally opening her eyes fully and reaching up to pull his face down to hers.

"Any day I make Dana Scully growl in pleasure I a great day in my book."

"I did NOT growl!"

"Oh yes you did! You growled when you came." Mulder couldn’t help but laugh.

Scully pushed him over onto his back. "Fine you can make me growl if I have make YOU whimper." She started pulling his clothes off like crazy.

"Whimper? Fox Mulder does not whimper." He said in a matter of fact tone as Scully struggled to pull his jeans off.

"If I growl then you whimper." She said once he was naked.

"No promises. But I encourage your efforts." He said when he grabbed her hips and began to lower her down over him. Scully’s head went back limp and he filled her. Mulder groaned at the feeling of her tight hot body closing over him.

Scully leaned down to his ear as she rocked back and forth on his erection. "That wasn’t a whimper Fox. I better work harder."

Mulder just nodded tipping his head back and closing his eyes.

Scully leaned back resting on her knees, setting her hands back on Mulder’s thighs and started to raise and lower herself at a new angle. His hands help lift and lower her faster and a more frantic rate as they both realized they weren’t going to last long in this position. Minutes later Scully felt another climax reaching her. Just the same moment Mulder’s body tensed beneath hers. He called out her name as she climaxed with him. They rode out the feelings together until Scully fell in a tired heap on his chest.

"You didn’t whimper." She mumbled against his sweaty skin.

His laugh rocked her body against him. "I told you. Fox Mulder doesn’t whimper."

She raised he head to him pouting her lower lip out at him. He looked at her and mimicked her expression has he rolled them so he rested above her. He placed his lips against hers and looked back up at her with a sudden serious expression.

"What the hell did I do to deserve you Scully?" He asked swallowing hard against an emotional lump that formed in his throat.

She smiled softly at him. "What did you ever do that would make you not deserve someone to make you happy?"

He nodded at her logic. "I just never thought I deserved this. I still don’t. I was HAPPY just having you work by my side. I’m overwhelmed that I know how you in my heart."

"Mulder you have had me in your heart since our first case together." She looking deep into his eyes, trying to force the truth onto him.

"You've been in mine since then too." He whispered.

"I know… I told you I’ve always known." She placed her lips lightly against his. "I love you Fox."

"I love you Dana."

THE END

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Author’s notes: Well there you go. I hope you enjoyed. PLEASE PLEASE I am on my hands and knees begging for you to please send feedback. Good or bad. This was my first attempt at fanfic. I need to know whether I should pack up my keyboard and never write again or give this another try! I hope you enjoyed this little fantasy of mine. And please don’t blame me if any things in here don’t really exist. I’ve never been to Arizona, I AM a nutritional science student but my info on vitamin B12 is not all fact. Much of it I made up my own enjoyment. And I hope I keep these characters true to their personalities. If not and you have any suggestions they would be most appreciated. So once again send feedback and I’ll love you dearly! =) TaTa for now!

"Genius does what it must, "Fate is Everything."

and talent does what it can." -Personal fav quote of author =)

-Anonymous