"Mrs. Spooky" . . . Dana Scully and her former Quantico classmate Tom Colton were having lunch and naturally talk turned to their latest cases. Colton began discussing the intricacies of an "out there" case, one that if solved with Dana's help could offer a possible reward for the both of them.

     "Dana, if I can break a case like this one, I'll be getting my bump up the ladder. And you ... maybe you won't have to be Mrs. Spooky."

     Dana looked away from Colton, her eyes falling downward, a glimpse of emotion suggesting that the moniker of Mrs. Spooky was not one she was eager to shed.

     "Possessive about Dana" . . . "Tom, I want to thank you for letting me put in some time with the VCS," Scully offered, before declaring a firm alignment with Mulder and the X-Files, "but I am officially assigned to the X-Files."

     Obviously finding that a fate no one would find desirable, Colton immediately responded with a derisive look sent Mulder's way, a flush of anger still evident on his face. "I'll see what I can do about that."

     Mulder, who had been studying the lie detector grafts was also evidently listening to their conversation. At Colton's words, his eyes rose, possessive anger clear in their depths. As the junior agent continued to meet his gaze head-on, Mulder tilted his head just the slightest, returning Colton's glare.

     "Tom, I can look out for myself," Dana responded, in an attempt to defuse the temsion between the two male agents. Meeting her gaze once more, Colton delivered a final scathing assessment of her partner.

     "You said Mulder was out there," with a slight inclination of his head in "Spooky's" direction, he continued, scorn in his voice, "that guy's insane." With a final look of hostility for the 'out there' agent, Colton exited the room, Mulder's glare following him.

     Dana turned to look at him and as his gaze met her own, a hint of possessiveness once more returned to his eyes.

     "Territorial with the Necklace" . . . "It seems like you were acting very territorial," Scully broached hesitantly as she faced Mulder in the crowded police station. Immediately feeling that her statement had bordered too closely to the personal, she looked quickly away, her head turning to the side, her eyes downward as she muttered almost hesitantly, "I don't know."

     Reaching out to return her attention to him, Mulder grasped the long gold chain of her necklace as he offered swiftly, "of course, I was."

     Dana turned slightly back to him, her gaze resting on his fingers entwined about the gold chain. He continued speaking as he gently laid the necklace back against the stark white of her blouse.

     "In our investigations, you may not always agree with me, but at least you respect the journey," he said quietly and sincerely.

     Her eyes remained locked for a few moments on the spot where his fingers had just recently, gingerly rested and when her gaze returned to his face, there was a slight flush of awareness of Fox Mulder, the man, upon her face -- in the parting of her lips, in the expression in her eyes.

     "The Arm Fondle" . . . Moodily, Mulder stared into the window of Eugene Tooms' cell, staring at the creature with undisguised hopelessness. Without taking his gaze off of him, he spoke somberly.

     "All these people putting bars on their windows, spending good money on high-tech security systems, trying to feel safe . . . " his voice dropped to a hush, "I look at this guy and I think," he shook his head slightly and paused, then his voice rising, finished, "it ain't enough."

     Scully looked at Tooms herself and then at her partner, understanding in her eyes. Her gaze dropped slightly and she reached out a hand, laying it upon his upper forearm, her fingers curling around the soft material of his suit jacket. As her hand ran slowly down his arm, Mulder turned and faced her. Their eyes met and then her hand completed its journey at the crook of his arm, resting there for a moment before dropping away.

     Turning completely, they walked towards the door at the end of the hallway, side by side, away from Eugene Victor Tooms.