Title: HOW SCULLY GOT HER GROOVE BACK Author: FatCat (feedback to FatCat33047@yahoo.com) Website: Please visit the wonderful home Donnilee has created to house my stories at http://donnilee.tripod.com. Just follow my name to find my stories. While you are there, take a peek at Donnilee's great stories and those of the other authors that she has at her site. Thank you Donni! Rating: NC-17 Category: MSR, AU Classification: NOVEL Spoilers: Everything through the final episode. This is a possible future for M&S. Archive: As you wish, but please keep my name attached and let me know where to visit. Summary: After 14 years of loneliness, Dana has found a new love in her life ... and he's hauntingly familiar. Disclaimer: They aren't mine nor anyone's but CC, Fox, 1013, DD and GA own the characterizations. These works are used without permission-no infringement intended. Any and all resemblance to the novel "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" by Terry McMillan is purely accidental, except for the title and not used for profit in any way. Author's Notes: Despite all appearances, this is NOT a Scully/Other story. Feedback always appreciated. Thanks to Donnilee for the MAJOR beta job she did for me. I would also like to thank Carma and XL for their assistance as betas. I thank you all. XXXXX Friday 2:12 PM April 8, 2016 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. "Scully," she said answering her cell phone. "Dana, do you have a minute?" "Mom, I always have a minute for you. I'm just getting ready for my next lecture. What's up?" Dana Scully smiled as she talked to her mother. "Tara just called. Bill has been transferred back to Annapolis. She and the kids are staying behind to close up the house, but Billy will be here tomorrow," Maggie said in her most cheerful voice. "Oh, um, Mom. That's ... great. Listen, can I call you back tonight? My lecture starts in a couple minutes and I need to organize my thoughts," Dana said. "Well sure, honey, but Dana, try to be happy about this move. I know you and Bill haven't seen eye to eye for a few years, but the truth is, I need this. Call me?" "You know I will, Mom. Thanks for calling with the good news. It'll be great to see the kids and Tara." Professor Dana K. Scully, M.D. stood at the lectern of her 3:00 PM class and stared at her notes. All the students filing in thought she was concentrating on her class lecture. She was careful not to make eye contact with any of them; she needed to regulate her emotions before class. Her mother's call had upset her more than she believed possible. She was back in control by the time the last student was seated. Interest in her classes was the envy of many other professors at Georgetown University. Her knowledge and devotion to the field of pathology was legendary, as were the rumors of her exploits as a Special Agent for the FBI. Her credentials, however, were almost all that was known about the lovely professor. Dr. Dana Scully was a very private person. She was a woman of mystery to her students and her co-workers. She encouraged this mystique and used it to protect and insulate her from the curious intrusions of those interested in casual relationships and gossip. Those she allowed into her circle of family and friends knew the value of Dana Scully's allegiance. She was a warm, courageous, and loyal friend with a loving heart. Those on the outside of that select group knew only a few hard facts about her. She was an intelligent woman with impressive educational and career credentials. She was a single mother of two children. For the very inquisitive, no marriage records could be found. She rarely attended the social functions hosted by the University for its faculty, and when she did, it was alone or with her children. Men who made overtures to her were politely, but definitely, rejected. A few of these men were too oblivious to realize that she did not feel privileged to be pursued by them. She was a beautiful woman who did not play games and they soon discovered she did not suffer the attentions of fools politely. Her acerbic wit and her cool demeanor had been unleashed on several occasions. Those who had found themselves on the receiving end of her distain had to find ways to soothe their egos. They were the ones who typically made sly remarks and innuendo at Dr. Scully's expense. The titles 'Ice Queen' and 'Doc Ice' had resurfaced at Georgetown, undoubtedly leaked from the central offices of the FBI. Eventually new rumors began to circulate. The enigmatic Dr. Scully was an ace shot with the handgun that she was still licensed to carry and had kept close ties to a few friends in the government, particularly some that had transferred to the I.R.S. This new raft of rumors was enough to keep most men at a distance. She did not find this distance strange or uncomfortable. Her life was her own business. Anyone who tried to push beyond her clearly defined boundaries came away with a severe case of frostbite. The Ice Queen liveth, long live the Queen. Dana marched through the remaining commitments of the day as steady as a rock but she felt herself losing steam as she approached home. She was off for the next two weeks on spring break. After her mother's call she knew she would need the time off this year more than ever before. The anger that had flared toward her brother and his machinations to force her into a truce was fading away, and with it, her energy level. XXXXX Friday 5:12 PM April 8, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Normally she couldn't wait to get home and spend time with her children, Will and Gabby. They filled her life with love and energy that only children could generate, and she usually became energized when she got closer to them. This Friday, however, was different. She had given in to their pleas and let them go to visit Charlie's family on the coast of Texas two days ago. She had not been sleeping well since the children left. She was glad to see her turnoff ahead, even if it did mean that she would be home alone. She loved the house they had been able to buy with Mulder's inheritance. She always considered it 'their house'. She left the Bureau after his case was closed so that she could turn it into a home for them. Though she had enjoyed parts of her nomadic Navy brat life, she wanted Will and Gabby to grow up in one place with a mother that was home every night. In her heart of hearts, she held on to the hope that she would still be here in Georgetown where Mulder could find her when he came back. Normally, she made a special effort to notice the changes in her neighborhood, the repairs and improvements in progress, the seasonal decorations, and the growth of the other children who lived there. Today, however, all she wanted was to feel her door against her back as she slid out of her heels and shed her workday armor. She felt she was handling the news of Bill and Tara's move well. She had not spoken to Bill since the blazing argument they had at the wedding reception of her old friend Thomas Martin, five years ago. Alcohol had fueled Bill's hot, Scully temper and it soon clashed with her own. They both said things they normally would have never said, things that had inflicted deep wounds ... wounds that she had never been able to heal. She could forgive anything he said to her personally. They were siblings and had fought since she was old enough to talk. She could not forgive him for the vicious, untruthful remarks he had made directly to William and Gabriella about Mulder. He had told them that their father had twice ran from responsibility, had endangered their mother, and that he had been responsible for their Aunt Melissa's death. Not satisfied with that, he had gone on to tell them that Mulder had ruined their lives and the lives of their extended family, none of which was true. The children were only eight and ten at the time of the fight and were frightened by their Uncle's anger. She had always been careful to make sure the children knew the truth about their missing father and had always told them positive stories about him. How could she forgive such vicious remarks made to her children? As soon as Bill sobered up and realized what he had done, he tried, unsuccessfully, to mend the rift. She had vowed never to lay eyes on him again and had kept that promise for the past five years. As soon as she heard the pleading tone in her mother's voice, she knew she was going to have to reverse that vow now that he and his family were moving back to the area. She could do this. She had to do this for many reasons. Will and Gabby should be able to grow up with their cousins. She didn't want to be excluded from the lives of her niece and nephew. However, the most compelling reason was that she needed to do this for her mother. Maggie Scully was getting older and the need to have her children and her grandchildren close by had grown more apparent lately. Even Charlie had talked about moving back to the east coast recently, citing Maggie's age and increasing inability to maintain her large home by herself. She knew the truth about Mulder and she had made sure William and Gabriella did too. She could forgive her brother's hurtful words about the man she loved just as she had forgiven Mulder for not being in their lives for the past 13 years. She continued to congratulate herself on this decision until she realized the strange, keening noise she was hearing was coming from her own throat and that tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. The pain of losing Mulder and all that he meant to her had been buried deep beneath the surface of her thoughts for many years. She could forgive and forget many things, but she could never forget the most beautiful love of her life. Sometimes, however, the memories invoked by this love felt closer to pain than happiness and she was caught off guard by these rare moments of total despair. She slid down the door and sat on the tile entry, staring into space. She continued to cry as she watched the sunlight through the window turn from golden yellow to blood red. Thousands of tiny dust motes floated through her vision reminding her of the day after Mulder's first disappearance. She had left the hospital that morning and gone directly home, rejecting A.D. Skinner's offer of help. The morning sun had been shining through the window and thousands of tiny flashes like diamonds had danced before her eyes. She sat and watched them until the sun moved from the window. The loss of the golden glow had been another small death. It all came back to Mulder. Around and around her mind whirled. She had known she was going to faint again and was only mildly amused that she was at least sitting down this time The following months were difficult, physically and mentally. Mulder was gone, she was alone and pregnant, and she had a new partner she couldn't be sure if she could trust. The strain of the search was almost unbearable. Only the importance of the baby growing inside her had kept her going. Mulder's return, death, reanimation, and the birth of Will had been a roller coaster ride of epic proportions. Immediately after Will's birth, she had forced Mulder to leave to keep him alive. For months she didn't know where he was, but could feel him all around her. The super soldiers had almost killed Mulder more than once. She became convinced neither of them could protect Will. After Jeffrey Spender's actions against Will she had been fearful of future attacks. She was alone and felt incapable of defending him. She made a desperate decision to protect Will, even at the cost of their happiness. She had given Will up for adoption. She did not know where he was and had no way of contacting him in the future. Anonymity was his only chance for survival. She should have known Mulder was watching over her. The couple that had adopted William were distant relatives of Albert Hosteen. They had agreed to keep the baby safe for Mulder while he struggled to find a way to bring his family back together. After their confrontation with Spender and their escape to Roswell, they had picked up William and hidden right under the noses of the Consortium in New York City. The Gunmen had joined them after faking their deaths at the hands of their enemy. They turned their efforts towards ending the threat of alien colonization. They worked night and day and eventually, had found a way to prevent the end of the world. Suzanne Modeski had joined Byers and was instrumental in developing a vaccine. She had started with a mixture of the antibodies in the blood of Mulder, Dana, and Will and developed a weak vaccine. It was only after magnetite was added to the mix that they had a vaccine that was strong enough to defeat the aliens. Working with members of the CDC whom the Gunmen had recruited, they first created fear of a pandemic resurgence of Smallpox and then manufactured and assisted in the administration of a booster against the new, more virulent type of Smallpox. Almost every man, woman and child on the face of the earth had been vaccinated and the threat of colonization ended. They received information through Walter Skinner that it was safe for them to come out of hiding a few months later. They had moved back to Georgetown and had returned to the FBI while contemplating what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. She found out she was pregnant with Gabby just days before Mulder disappeared for the second time. This time he was not whisked away from the woods at night. He disappeared in broad daylight from his car as he drove across the Potomac River Bridge on I95. The resulting accidents and massive traffic jam kept everyone from realizing that Fox Mulder had been abducted until the police had contacted her, asking if her husband had left the scene of the accident and found his way home. She knew right away what had happened. Eyewitnesses stated that there had been a bright light and then a car, later identified as his, careened out of control, crashed, and caused a four-hour traffic nightmare. No one was able or willing to admit more. The official report downplayed the lights, citing the flashes seen must have been a reflection off a windshield or someone flashing their lights. The report went on to suggest that his body had been thrown from the car into the Potomac and washed out to sea even though his seatbelt was found still buckled, the door of his car was shut and locked, and all the windows up and intact. His body was never found and that still haunted her. She held on to the hope that he would be returned for weeks. However, it was an overwhelming feeling of emptiness that filled her not three months later that finally convinced her he was not coming back this time. She clung to Will and tried to give him a normal, loving home, once again facing the delivery of a baby alone. She transferred to Quantico and began teaching. She had no desire to be out in the field. Mulder was gone. The FBI was only a job now, but at least the medical benefits were good. Eventually, something had to give. In her eighth month of pregnancy, she collapsed. She was spotting and hypertensive and was placed on short-term disability immediately. On top of her emotional and physical problems, her doctor had a massive coronary and had retired. Walter Skinner had suggested an old friend of his as a replacement, Thomas Martin. Dr. Thomas Martin had recently moved to the Washington D.C. area from Dallas, Texas. One of the first people Tom had looked up when he got to D.C. was Walter Skinner. They had been friends for many years. Tom had been reluctant to take Dana's case when Walter approached him. He had a new job as the supervising OB/GYN emergency room doctor at Georgetown University Hospital and was currently working night shift. He finally agreed to look at her chart at his old friend's insistence after hearing parts of her history. He had walked into her room at the hospital still reading her latest test results. He looked up to find the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he had ever seen assessing him. She had listened to his questions and had quietly and succinctly given him a summary of her previous medical history, pregnancy history, and current testing results. She had told him she was prepared to do anything within her power to make sure she delivered a healthy, full-term child. Tom insisted she take an early maternity leave. It was that or she had to be hospitalized and remain in bed for the balance of her pregnancy. As difficult as losing her last official contact for information about Mulder's case had been for her, she was determined to keep her baby. Thomas Martin had launched an active campaign to woo her but she would have nothing to do with him beyond a doctor-patient friendship. Tom had told Walter Skinner that he'd never met a woman like Dana K. Scully before and Skinner laughingly agreed. She was still very attractive, even eight months pregnant with another man's child. The inner strength and intelligence that emanated from her made her doubly beautiful in his eyes. She had captured his heart in their first meeting and the big Texan pursued her shamelessly. As if a missing husband, a troublesome pregnancy, and an infatuated obstetrician weren't enough, there had been an attempt on her life during her last month of pregnancy. She couldn't remember Gabby's birth. She had been in a coma until the day after her c-section. She thought about the story that Tom and her mother had told her about the events she missed. XXXXX Friday 10:17 AM April 30, 2003 Emergency Room Georgetown University Hospital "Dr. Martin, ER, stat! Dr. Thomas Martin! ER STAT!" The intercom of the hospital burst into the controlled quiet of the birthing room at the same moment Tom's pager went off. Tom Martin quickly shoved the chart in his hand to Sara Jenkins, the Midwife he was consulting with on the delivery of the Webber baby. He smiled and assured the new parents-to-be that everything was going fine as he backed toward the door. With a shrug of apology he turned and hit the door, breaking into a full run. He had only been three floors up from the ER so he chose to take the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. He burst through the stairway fire door to the ER and was confronted with a scene of controlled chaos. He immediately recognized Wayne Higgins, the ER OB Resident standing in front of a curtain area with a group of distraught men and women. Wayne was trying to calm the group and Tom heard him say, "Please, please everyone. We must remain calm. Ms. Scully's doctor is in the hospital and is on his way down here right now. Please, if everyone except Mrs. Scully could just step out to the waiting room. Now, PLEASE!" Tom slid to a halt next to Dr. Higgins and Mrs. Scully as the others reluctantly left. "What's happened, Wayne?" "Your patient, Dr. Dana Scully, was just brought in with multiple gun shot wounds to the upper chest and head. It was touch and go all the way in. The paramedics had to pull out all the stops to get her stable. We need to deliver this baby stat or we're going to loose both of them," he replied as he gestured to the head nurse that she should send the critically wounded patient up to surgery. Tom quickly scanned the chart Higgins handed him and nodding, turned to Mrs. Scully. "Mrs. Scully, I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. We're going to take Dana right up to surgery for a C-Section. We'll have a better chance to stabilize her gunshot wounds after making sure the baby is safe." "Tom, Dana has very explicit wishes that need to be fulfilled in the event of a situation such as this." "Yes, I know." Tom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he drew in a cleansing breath. "Dana wanted the baby to survive above all else, in case the father of her children shows up. Believe me, I've discussed this with her many times. Her wishes border on obsession." He gave a small smile to Margaret Scully and turned to follow the gurney up to surgery. "Mrs. Scully?" said one of the ER nurses as she approached her. "Mrs. Scully, there is a surgery waiting room upstairs. Just take one of those elevators up to the third floor. The signs will direct you to the correct area." "Thank you. I'll just let the others know where I'm going," she said quietly as she walked back to the ER waiting room. As she returned to the group waiting to hear about Dana's progress, she saw that Walter Skinner had arrived. He had quieted the group and was obviously in charge of the situation. Maggie walked directly up to him and shocked all concerned by stepping into his embrace. She allowed herself to burst into tears once his strong arms enfolded her. "She's going to surgery on the third floor. They're going to take the baby before they try to stabilize her bullet wounds. It's not good, Walter. You know what her wishes are concerning protecting the baby's life above hers. I hoped this situation would never arise." Maggie's voice gave out as the tears continued to flow down her face and clog her throat. Walter Skinner, Deputy Director of the FBI, held the small woman and comforted her. He looked over her head as he spoke to the others. "Agent Reyes, pick up Will from his play group and take him to Maggie's house. Stay there until someone comes to relieve you. If you can, please let her brothers know what's happened. Maggie keeps their numbers on the board by the kitchen phone. I'll stay here with Maggie and wait. Agent Doggett, I want you on the investigation of this shooting. I hear the D.C. police have a good lead on the perp. Frohike, Langly, and Byers, one of you can stay but the other two need to get back home and start working on the why and who from your sources. You need to get the word out and inform all interested parties. You know my cell phone number. If we hear any news, I'll call and let you know. Right now, I'm taking Maggie up to the surgery waiting room." Everyone just stood there is a stunned silence. They wondered if Skinner and Mrs. Scully had become intimate. "Is there a problem, people?" Skinner growled. "Uh, no, sir," Doggett said as they all disbursed to comply with his wishes. Frohike moved to go up to the surgery waiting area with Skinner and Maggie but felt as if he were intruding in the small space of the elevator. He abruptly left the elevator before the doors could shut. "I'm going to talk to the guys for a moment. I will be right up." In the surprisingly large, dimly lit surgery waiting room several areas were already occupied when Frohike stepped in the door several minutes later. He spotted Mrs. Scully and Skinner in the corner on a sofa. They were sitting with their arms around each other in a manner that was curiously neither intimate nor platonic. Frohike was looking for clues and found none in their faces or their body language. He dreaded facing Mrs. Scully. He knew he was to blame for Dana's injury. "Skinner, Mrs. Scully," Frohike said in greeting. "Has there been any news?" "Oh, Melvin, please call me Maggie. No, no one's been out yet. I don't know if that is good news or bad news," Maggie Scully said through her tears. Frohike stood there shuffling from foot to foot, wringing his hands, and trying to find a way to say what was on his mind. "Frohike, what's wrong?" Skinner finally asked impatiently. "Either spit it out or sit down." Tears began to flow down his craggy features as he said, "It's my fault! She's injured because of me! I should have gone to get her the ice cream she wanted. Mulder would have gone and got it for her. I just didn't want her to get sick. I was at her last doctor appointment and I knew that she should lay off the sweets, so I ..." he stammered to a stop. "I wouldn'tgo andgetitforherandnowshe'sgoingtodie." As soon as he said the last sentence, as if it were one word, he turned to leave. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he whispered as he started walking back to the elevator, a broken man. A strong hand clasped his shoulder and turned him around. "Frohike, what the hell are you talking about? Get back over here and sit down." Skinner propelled him back to the couch and seated him next to Maggie. She handed him a Kleenex and a smile. "You are not to blame, Melvin. It could have happened at any time or place. I'm surprised it didn't happen while she was on duty. It's just the luck of the draw that she was with you. I refuse to believe anything else. Besides, if you had been injured, she would have been devastated. If it had been Mulder, she probably would be hovering over him and putting the baby in danger. This way, we at least have a good chance to keep them both." Almost as if on cue, Thomas Martin walked through the waiting room doors and looked around. He drew off his surgical cap and mask slowly as he walked toward them. The quiet attention of the other waiting families, slid into the background. "Dr. Martin, how is she?" Maggie was the first to find her voice. "She's holding her own. She had a beautiful baby girl; four pounds, 12 ounces, 17 inches long. Her APGAR was a good, strong seven. Not bad for a baby a little over three weeks early. The baby is in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit just as a precaution. Dana isn't awake yet, so she can't breast feed. The NICU is the safest place for the baby right now until she wakes up. "Shouldn't she already be awake, Tom? Is this a problem?" Skinner quietly asked. "Frankly, right now, I don't know. The wound in her shoulder was a clean hit, as was the one in her upper arm. There was a lot of blood loss, but no permanent damage to the tissue in her arm. The bullet that hit her temple seems to have just grazed her. We don't know why she is in a coma, but right now it's our biggest concern." "Does she have brain damage?" Maggie asked. "The tests don't point in that direction. Like I said, there was a large amount of blood loss and she did have one seizure during the ambulance ride in. Her trauma surgeon is cautiously optimistic at this point. We'll know more in the next 24 to 48 hours. In the meantime, why don't we go on up to the NICU and take a look at the newest Scully," Tom suggested. "I think I have a little clout around here and can find a rocking chair for a new grandmother who wants to hold her grandchild." Maggie smiled at Walter Skinner and Frohike and said, "Why don't you two get on the phones and alert everybody of the latest developments while I go hold my granddaughter." Skinner and Frohike looked at each other and then back at Maggie entering the elevator with Dr. Martin. They wore matching grins. Even though their joy was tempered by the knowledge that Dana was not out of the woods yet, the Scully's had a new baby girl. Maggie, Walter Skinner, and The Gunmen had told this story several times to the kids. Gabby loved to hear it at least once a year. Will had been just barely old enough to remember parts of the excitement. The only other good thing that had come out of her hospitalization, besides Gabby, was the cementing of the relationship between Maggie Scully and Walter Skinner. For her part, Dana tried not to think about her brush with death. Three days after she got home from the hospital, two men were found dead on the steps of the very same hospital where she had given birth while in a coma. The note pinned to them apologized for Dana's inconvenience and promised that it would never happen again. It was signed with a 'K'. No clues were ever found as to the identities of the two men, why they staged the fake holdup that almost killed her, why they were killed, or why Krycek felt the need to get involved. Both of her doctors insisted that she remain in the hospital for monitoring for several days after she regained consciousness. She was glad that Gabby was also kept until she reached the five-pound mark. This allowed her to bond with her new baby girl while she recuperated from her gunshot wounds, the birth and the trauma of being in a coma. After she went home and was no longer his patient, Tom stepped up his pursuit of Dana Scully. She resisted his charms easily. She made her children the main commitment in her life, and left Tom with no doubt that in her mind he was only a friend. As months, then years passed, her heart and her body healed but the commitment to Mulder never dimmed. Tom tried to be there for her and the children, becoming part of the extended family of friends and relatives that gravitated around Dana Scully. He began dating and eventually married a wonderful woman with two children who had been welcomed into the Scully family circle. The blazing argument and vicious words exchanged between her and Bill happened at Tom's wedding reception. XXXXX Friday 5:35 PM April 8, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. All this poured through her mind as she sat in her vestibule and cried. Eventually her tears stopped and her breathing evened out. The burning pain in her heart banked back down to the constant ache she knew as 'normal'. She was able to think rationally again. 'Man, as a species, is a miraculous, resilient animal,' she thought. 'Life can be so brief for some and so everlasting for others. I have lost so many people I love in my life, and yet I continue.' She ticked off the long list of loved ones gone from her life, her father, Melissa, Emily, Mulder, and even in a way, Bill, his family, and Tom. The pain of loss threatened to overwhelm her again but this time she consciously fought for control of the dark thoughts. She usually managed to bury them easily under a mountain of work and interaction with Will and Gabby. With the kids on vacation, it was going to be difficult, but she knew that she would succeed. "I have to do this," she said aloud. "I have to be able to think of Mulder and not fall to pieces. I have to be able to forgive my brother and learn to stay in the same room with him for the sake of my mother and my children." She rose and moved through the house to her bedroom and changed into her weekend clothes. Dana acknowledged again that the main reason for her despair was loneliness. William and Gabriella normally kept her focused with their busy schedules and lively chatter. Dana was shocked at how empty her life seemed without the everyday interaction with her children. She hadn't realized until this separation how much her life revolved around them. What would she do when they started to pull away more and more during high school or worse yet, when they went away to college? Dana didn't have the heart to call them and ask them to come home, but she wanted to with all her heart. She padded back to the kitchen and put on the tea kettle. She gathered a light supper on a tray and moved into the living room, setting the tray down on the huge ottoman in front the fireplace. She lit a fire and retrieved a large book from the shelf behind the couch before settling into her favorite chair. She forced herself to eat a portion of her supper before she touched the book again. Even though she had carefully used her napkin to keep her hands clean while she ate, she ran to the half bath to wash them, making sure they were spotless before she picked up the book. It was a precious repository of family memories and she didn't want to damage it with a careless dirty handprint. She glanced at the clock to check the time. The kids would call in approximately two hours. She had that much time to pull herself together. So, with her life-long habits in place, Dana did what she always did. She confronted her pain directly. 'My life,' she thought. 'This is my life in this book.' The first part of the book was filled with items from a scrapbook her mother had started when she was in elementary school. There were pictures, old grade cards, award certificates, and mementos of her achievements from kindergarten through her graduation from medical school. There were pictures of her large, extended family at the reunions, small group shots of her and her siblings on holidays, and various other miscellaneous snapshots. She paused at a group of pictures her mother had gathered that included close-ups of her father and her, Melissa, and her brothers. She remembered how touched she was when Mulder had given her a picture of Emily to add to her collection. She smiled through her fresh tears at the pictures on the next page. It was her first sonogram series of Will. She sighed when she remembered how Mulder had cried the first time he saw these pictures. His tears had helped heal the uncertainty he felt after his return. He hadn't known where he belonged until she'd shared these pictures with him, letting him know that she wanted him to share in their baby's life and hers as well. She could almost feel his kisses on her belly as her fingers lightly traced the black and grey shadows that were proof of their baby, half from him and half from her. There were only two pictures of Mulder and Will before Mulder had to leave to keep from being killed by their enemies. Several pictures of Will's first ten months made her smile again. He was such a beautiful baby. It had nearly destroyed her when she had kissed him goodbye for what she thought was the final time. The following months had been a dark time in her life. Her reunion with Mulder and their desperate search for the truth that ended with the death of CGB Spender in the Arizona desert left her drained and vulnerable. By the time they were regrouping in the motel room in Roswell, she was terrified. She had given up their child without consulting him. She had wondered if he would ever be able to forgive her for her decision, when she had a hard time forgiving herself. She had underestimated Mulder. He understood her reasons and had anticipated her decision. The day that he took her to pick up Will was forever etched in her mind, right next to the day he asked her to marry him. There were no pictures of their wedding. It had been a hasty ceremony, under assumed names, but it was as real in her heart as any vows before God or man ever spoken. Once they were together again, during those first few months in New York City, they had been so busy that they rarely had time for a 'Kodak' moment. Guilt over her previous actions had nagged at her and she was secretly terrified that Mulder would take Will and leave her when they were out of danger. They'd finally been together as a family, but she had wondered if it would last. The next pages were filled with the newspaper headlines about the end of the Smallpox threat. They had won that round. Hopefully, the aliens would never return. She and Mulder had found themselves at a loss as to how to proceed with their lives and had drifted back to the FBI at Walter Skinner's behest. Mulder had removed all doubts about their future together. He had insisted that they buy this house. They had just moved in when they found out that she was pregnant again. Several pictures of Mulder and Will patting her still-flat stomach made her smile. She considered these to be the only family portrait she had of the four of them. She flipped to the next page and saw the beginning of the pictures of Gabby, Gabriella Faith Scully. Everyone was surprised at her choice of names. The name made perfect sense to her. Gabriella, God is my strength, Faith Scully. How she had wanted to name her Mulder, but decided to go with Scully, the same last name as William's. She had been so sure they would take care of that little technicality for both children down the road ... when Mulder was returned again. Page after page of pictures of her beautiful children filled the rest of the book. From birth to their last birthdays, his fifteenth, her twelfth, she had kept the book up to date. After she had left the FBI, she had used the book as therapy. Now, she worked on it because she had found a real joy in the creative process of documenting their lives. Soon she would put in Gabby's thirteenth birthday pictures. Pictures of William. He looked like her mother's side of the family. His hair had changed from baby blonde to a deep, rich, Irish black. His eyes were a darker blue than hers, taking on the sapphire blue of his Gramma Maggie's eyes. He was built like Mulder, though, long and lean. At 15, he was the center on the JV basketball team as well as the captain of the debate team. He was brilliant, carefree, and laughed easily. He was impetuous, but caring. He was everything she thought Mulder would have been if he had not been raised in the tragedy of loss that his family had suffered with Samantha's abduction. Pictures of Gabriella. She looked like neither her father nor her mother, but a mix of the best of both. At six months it was evident that she had the Mulder build. She was long and lanky with long graceful fingers. Her hazel eyes had the biggest range of colors Dana had ever seen. At one glance she had green eyes, another light brown. Look again and she had golden eyes flecked with the green of a loch. Everything else was a complete mix of them both. Her brown hair was highlighted with red from her mother and thick and unruly like her father's. She had her father's photographic memory and her mother's ability to concentrate and think with sometimes maddening logic. No one knew where she got her perfect pitch and musical ability from. Both her children were well adjusted and liked by their peers. They were loved and admired by all the adults in their extended family. They were also a royal pain in the neck sometimes, but that was in their job descriptions of growing up. Everyone in their large, extended family doted on them. She slowly moved through page after page of pictures of Will and Gabby growing up, visits with their godfather, Walter Skinner, and uncles Byers, Langley, and Frohike, on through summer camp and school years, and a large block of pictures of the days with Tom as a constant in their life. She smiled as she looked at each page. 'Thank you, old friend for all the love you brought into our lives. I am so glad you are happy with your new family,' Dana thought with a smile as she lingered over the pictures of Tom. Everyone was had been worried about Will and Gabby when Tom and Gloria married. He had been the only father-figure they had ever known, even though he was just a family friend. However, with the buoyancy of youth, they had surprised everyone. They didn't look at Thom's marriage as a loss, but a gain. They both felt they had been blessed with more family and had bonded with Tom and Gloria's two little girls. Dana braced herself and turned to the last page. She drew in a deep breath and held it as she stared at her only good photograph of Mulder. She had found it in an envelope of papers from his mother's estate. He had tossed it into a drawer without a thought. She had discovered it when she had finally been strong enough to accept his lose and finish sorting the boxes of stuff they had stored when they moved into their home. Of all the images she held in her mind of Mulder, she was glad that she had this one captured on paper. She didn't know who had taken it but she knew when and where it happened. It was February of 1999 and they were at a wedding for a distant cousin of Mulder's. He was actually one of the groomsmen, but had asked her to be his 'date' for the occasion. He was wearing a black tuxedo, he jokingly told her that the only reason he was included in the wedding party was that he was tall enough to look good with the bride's sister. He looked more than good. He looked beautiful. In the picture he was smiling and happy. He had been dancing with her when the picture was snapped. She stroked her fingers over his lips thinking how they had felt on hers only seconds after the picture had been taken. It had been their first kiss. Chaste as it was on the open dance floor, she still smiled at the memory. He was the love of her life, she had known that for years, but was unwilling to put their partnership on the line. They had just started to allow their love to blossom. He had found some peace, after his vision of Samantha in starlight. William was the proof of that love. All the pain and suffering they had borne was worth it for the relationship they had forged. Things were just starting to settle down to normal when she began to suspect that she was pregnant again. Mulder had been abducted just days after the doctor had confirmed her pregnancy. She had never seen him again. He had known about the baby but would never know that he had a daughter, let alone share the life of their son. Quiet tears were sliding down her face again. She was tired of crying. She was so tired of crying that she used her tears to fuel her anger and determination. XXXXX Friday 7:07 PM April 8, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. She dried her eyes and put away her book. It was almost time for the kids to call and she wanted to enjoy every minute. She took her tray back to the kitchen and quickly cleaned up. She was walking back into the living room as the phone rang. "Scully," she answered automatically. "Mom! You are truly a creature of habit! Why don't you just say, hello like everyone else?" Gabby giggled. "Hey, Scout!" Dana smiled. "How's the vacation going?" she asked. "Mom! You just won't believe the view Uncle Charlie has from his deck! The ocean goes on forever! We went scuba diving! I think I want to be a Marine Biologist!" Gabby was off and running. Dana smiled as she listened to her daughter. She had such a zest for life. She was so full of ideas they sometimes ran together and became almost incoherent as she tried to express them. They had developed a sort of shorthand between them that allowed Dana to keep up with the roller coaster ride of Gabby's conversation. Will broke in eventually and had his turn. He loved the horses and riding along the ocean in the early morning. Gabby became impatient and ran into another room and got back into the conversation using the family room phone. They both told her how happy they were that she had let them come to Texas for their vacation. "Mom, Will and I are worried about you," Gabby said with an abrupt change of topic. "Worried? Why?" Dana smiled. 'Gabby had such a flare for the dramatic,' she thought. "Mom, this time away has made us realize that a vacation is a good thing. You haven't taken a vacation without one of us in all the years I can remember, eleven to be exact." She sounded so grown up in her concern. "You need a break." "I agree with that," Will's newly lowered voice interjected. "Will, we agreed that I would do the talking!" Gabby exclaimed. At Will's grunt, she continued. "Mom, a vacation is a good thing! You deserve to have some time away from home too, and not with us here in Texas. Why don't you go right to your computer after we hang up and book a vacation? You have the next two weeks off for spring break and without us there's no reason in the world you can't just pick up and take off to some secluded island. Why not Bermuda? Who knows, you might find the Queen Anne again!" She was off. Dana felt as if she were caught in a whirlwind. Gabby was so enthusiastic and intuitive, and William inserted his logical two cents worth in occasionally. By the time the subject had been thoroughly discussed, they had half convinced her to book a flight somewhere. They finished their conversation with lots of love and kisses. Will was going to play a pick-up game of basketball with some new friends and Gabby was off at a dead run to get ready to go to the festival the entire family was attending that night. Dana smiled again as she hung up the phone. 'A vacation,' she mused as she shook her head while walking over to her computer. She booted it up and did a search on the Internet as she had promised her children she would do. Before long she was deep into research on a trip to the island of Bermuda. She was sitting there with all the information entered, ready to book the flight. All she had to do was press the enter key. The phone rang again. "Okay, kids, what did you forget?" Dana said, laughing. "Dana? It's Mom. Did you just get off the phone with Will and Gabby? How are they?" Margaret Scully asked. After a few minutes of conversation about Will and Gabby, their favorite topics, Dana could tell that her mother had something on her mind. "Sorry Mom. You know how I am about the kids. Why did you call?" Dana finally asked. "Well, dear, you did promise to call me tonight. I wanted to talk to you about coming to lunch tomorrow. I know you have the next two weeks off. I thought we could all three sit down and talk and you and Bill could work out your differences." Dana was floored. This head-on approach was the last thing she had expected from her mother. Even now, at the age of 53, her mother could still put her on the spot. As much as she didn't want to continue to hurt her mom, she wasn't ready to make nice with Bill yet. "Mom, I'd love to do that some time, but I have plans," Dana said, stalling. "Plans?" Maggie said skeptically. "What kind of plans?" "I, um, I just booked a flight to Bermuda," she said as she pressed enter on her keyboard. "I'm leaving in the morning for the next fourteen days. It was the kids' suggestion actually. Gabby and Will went on and on about my needing a vacation and finally I agreed to take one while they are at Charlie's." Maggie Scully knew her daughter well enough not to push her. She felt Dana would come around for the sake of peace in the family. She also knew Bill felt very guilty about the entire rift. A little time away would help Dana relax and make Bill even more willing to grovel. Things were actually moving along quite well. "Well, Sweetie, I'm glad to hear you're taking a vacation. Maybe we can have our lunch after you get back. Do you need a ride to the airport? Perhaps Bill," she started to suggest. "No, thanks, Mom. I have a taxi scheduled already. I just have to finish packing. I'll call you from the hotel and let you know how to get in touch in case of an emergency." Dana squirmed at the half-truth. "Dana, have a good time, dear. Try to relax and enjoy yourself. You need this vacation more than you realize." "Thanks, Mom. I'll try." "Oh, and Dana, how shall I say this?" A short silence followed. "Dana, try to find a nice man while you're there." "Mom, I'm not interested in a relationship. You know that." "Well, Dear, I wasn't talking about a relationship. I was talking about sex. Dana, you know about safe sex. Practice it! Love you, bye." Maggie hung up. Dana was shocked. She stared at the telephone receiver until she realized that it was beeping at her. Where had that come from? Was her life so pathetic that even her mother felt a need to coax her into having sex? She glanced at the clock and realized she didn't have much time. She needed to pack, make some phone calls, and she needed at least a few hours of sleep. She tried to convince herself she was not running from a problem but just going on a vacation. She wasn't having much luck at the self-deception. She smiled wryly as she called Charlie's house, leaving a message on his answering machine about the vacation and where she could be reached. She was off for fourteen days of sun and fun and procrastination. XXXXX Vacation Day 1 Saturday 3:00 PM April 9, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands The next afternoon found Dana in another world. Life in Bermuda was as far from her known existence as she could possibly get. Everything had gone well with her flight. She was on the beach by 3:00 PM. The sun looked different from this tropical island, hotter, brighter, even a different color. She had packed plenty of sunscreen. She didn't want to spend her time indoors. She wanted to play outside. Gabby's words kept running through her head: 'A vacation is a good thing'. XXXXX Vacation Day 2 Sunday 7:30 AM April 10, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands The next morning she got up early to take her daily run. She looked forward to this time of the day. She loved to feel the release of endorphins in her system as she ran. It was almost as good as chocolate or an orgasm, not that she allowed herself either of those very often. She was showered, dressed for sightseeing, and sitting in the shade of the terrace waiting for her breakfast when her mother's words came back to her. She rolled them through her mind thinking about them from all sides. She realized she was staring at a man on the beach as she was thinking. He looked familiar. He looked like the man she remembered Mulder to be. He was too far away to see his features clearly, it was more his posture and actions that reminded her of him. He was playing football with a group of small children. He was in a tangerine Speedo bathing suit that was a mere scrap of cloth. He was strong and tanned. He was beautiful. 'They're probably all his,' she thought as watched him fall down and be completely buried under a pile of laughing children. Two women farther along the beach called to the children and they all scrambled off the man. Laughing and waving they ran back to their mothers and left the man sitting on the beach, looking at the ocean. Dana watched the children as the ran to their mothers and then let her eyes drift back to the man. He had looked so happy just a few minutes ago when he was playing with the children. He was deep in thought now. 'He looks sad,' she thought. He rose and walked down the beach to the edge of the ocean. Dana watched him as he began to run then sprint away until he disappeared behind an outcropping of rock. Her breakfast was delivered and she soon forgot about the beautiful young man. She spent a relaxing morning shopping and sightseeing. She had always liked going to the beach in the late afternoon the best. After a swim, she sat in the shade by the beach and watched the sun set over the ocean before going up to her room to dress for dinner. XXXXX Vacation Day 3 Monday 2:30 PM April 11, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands The afternoon of the third day of her impromptu vacation found her in her favorite spot on the beach. She had been active all day and was drowsing in the shade. She was wearing an emerald green bathing suit that showed off her figure. She had a straw hat and sunglasses on and was indulging herself in a little people watching. She was lounging on the patio under the palms located a few yards from the water. Several other people, both couples and groups of single men and women were providing her entertainment. She was gazing out to sea when she saw him again. The man who reminded her of Mulder was walking toward her, rising out of the water like a golden Adonis, this time he was wearing a red Speedo. Drops of water glistened all over his body. The sun at his back outlined him with a golden aura. Dana sucked in her breath. Her mother's words about sex kept running through her head. He was magnificent! What would sex be like with him? She had not been drawn to any man since Mulder like she was to this one. She still couldn't see his face. It didn't matter. The only way she would attract someone this young was with a wallet full of money. He walked to the lounge chair to her immediate right and accepted a towel from the cabana boy. He quickly dried off and sat down as if to watch the sun set. He pulled on a pair of sunglasses from the table next to his chair and seemed to pay no attention to the stir his arrival had made amongst the women sitting around him. She felt foolish. Here she was all but drooling over this man and he was oblivious to her. She had been thinking like some heroine in a bad romance novel. She knew she had retained her looks over the years, but they hadn't been exceptional to begin with. There was nothing about her to inspire sudden passion in a man probably 20 years her junior. Her original thought about the body for hire was in all probability closer to the truth than she wanted to admit. A waiter came down from the terrace to ask if she wanted a cocktail. She removed her glasses and smiled up at him as she decided. "I'll have a glass of iced tea with a twist of lemon, no sugar, if you please, Carlos," she said, giving him another friendly smile. "And you sir?" the waiter asked, turning to the new arrival. "Would you like something from the bar?" "Yes, thanks," he said as he looked over his sunglasses at the waiter. "I'll just have the same as Ms ...?" He let the answer end as a question, looking over at her and catching her openly staring at him. Neither one of them noticed the retreat of the waiter. Dana couldn't take her eyes off him. He had a good strong face, well proportioned, attractive, nothing exceptional, but the voice coming out of his full lips was what bemused her. She realized she was staring at him and quickly put her glasses back on. His voice was so familiar, like a velvet growl from her past. He chuckled and cleared his throat as if embarrassed. "I'm sorry, did you say something to me?" she finally managed to respond. "Not really. I was just using my smooth moves to answer the waiter and try to get your name at the same time." The young man laughed self-deprecatingly. "Let me know if it worked, will you?" "Sure, fine, whatever," she said, automatically using the expression Gabby favored when she was embarrassed. Surely he must recognize that she had been staring at him. His head snapped to face her. He seemed to study her for some time, and then turned back to the view of the ocean. They sat in total silence, sipping the iced teas the waiter had delivered, as the sun made its way downward toward the ocean. Just before the sunset he spoke again. "Do I know you? I'll be truthful with you, I've been watching you for a couple of days." "Watching me? Whatever for?" Dana was surprised and responded in her typical direct fashion. "Why does any man watch a beautiful woman?" he said with a smile, slipping the sunglasses off and placing them back on the table between them. Dana removed her glasses and looked directly at the younger man. She searched his face for some clue as to his true meaning. 'Hazel eyes. How beautiful,' she thought idly. Her lips pursed slightly as her eyebrow rose in a look that usually affected the male of the species in a physical response that included body parts shrinking into cavities. It was a weapon of control that she had not needed to develop when she had begun teaching again after leaving the FBI. It was natural Scully. "I thought you were watching me first, but I guess I was wrong. You seemed to recognize my voice just now," he said as he kept his eyes trained on her face. Dana had the good graces to blush as she remembered watching him on the beach playing with the children. "I was watching you play with the children on the beach. I ... you reminded me of someone I used to know." "Your husband?" he prompted. She smiled and said, "My partner. He disappeared while driving home in July of 2003." 'Do the math,' she thought. "Wow! That's a long time ago, almost 13 years." He seemed surprised. "My name is Logan Graham." He extended his hand. Dana smiled and extended her hand to him as she said, "Dana Scully." He held onto her hand and surprised her by turning it over and looking at her palm. She thought for a moment he was going to kiss it. "You have strong hands. May I ask what you do for a living?" he said at last. "I am a forensic pathologist and a Professor of Pathology at Georgetown University," Dana replied. It was his turn to raise his brows. "Dr. Scully? No wonder you have such a strong handshake. All those body parts you've cut up." "I don't perform many autopsies now. I teach at Georgetown and only consult with the FBI occasionally." "How interesting. You seem to be a woman of depth, Dr. Scully. I would greatly appreciate it if we could continue our conversation over dinner," he said hopefully. "I don't really think," Dana began. "Please, I'm alone on the island and I would appreciate some company for dinner tonight," he said gently. Dana was about to decline the dinner invitation until she heard her mother's words echoing in her head. 'Dana, try to find a nice man while you're there.' Well, she would never hone her dating skills if she didn't at least go out to dinner with someone. "Very well, how is eight PM? I'll meet you in the hotel lobby." She stood up and gathered her things as she talked. "Excellent. See you then," he said as he stood up when she rose. Dana walked back to the terrace of the hotel. She wanted to turn around to see if he was watching, but wasn't brave enough. She stopped at the duty-free shop in the hotel lobby and picked up a few things she had not thought to pack, an evening dress being the main item. By seven forty-five she was ready. She was also a nervous wreck. She walked into the lobby expecting him to stand her up. Her eyes searched the area and finally found him. He was talking to an elderly couple that was waiting for a taxi by the front door. When the taxi pulled up he gently helped the old gentleman out to the taxi and waited patiently until he was settled before shutting the door for him. He leaned in the front window and said something to the driver, smiling a farewell to the couple. He lightly tapped the top of the taxi to send them on their way. As he turned, he spotted Dana. His eyes seemed to light up with delight at the sight of her. She had the biggest urge to look around and see whom he had turned this thousand-watt smile loose on, when she realized it was for her. Something in her that had lain dormant for over 13 years uncurled and spread warmth through her belly. 'Easy, Dana, this man could be trouble,' she chided herself. "Hello! You came!" Logan said, clearly delighted. "Yes, I said I would. I always keep my word." Dana smiled back at him. "Shall we go?" he said as he led her to a beautiful horse drawn carriage. "I'm afraid I'm a hopeless romantic and I wanted to impress you. How am I doing so far, Professor?" he joked. "So far, I'll give you an A for effort, but the evening is young," she said as she laughed up at him. The carriage ride marked the beginning of a beautiful evening. After a candle-lit dinner near the ocean they took a long ride around the old village in the horse-drawn carriage. Their conversation was still going strong when they realized that the driver and the horse needed to call it a day. Neither of them wanted the evening to end, so when they arrived back at Dana's hotel, they continued their discussion during a long walk on the beach, on the terrace of the hotel, and were still talking as he walked her to the elevator. "Goodnight Dana," he said as he picked up her hand and placed a lingering kiss on her palm. "Goodnight Logan," Dana said as she unconsciously curled her fingers around the kiss. "I don't suppose you want to ask me to come up for a while do you?" he asked hopefully. She shook her head as she laughed, "I just cannot get over how direct you are. There's always tomorrow." "Yes, tomorrow," he repeated. "I'll hold you to that!" he said as he turned and jauntily walked back through the lobby from the elevator. When she reached her room, Dana closed her door and flipped the security lock in place. She quickly checked the suite to make sure she was alone. The habits she developed with the FBI lingered even after all these years. She went through her nightly rituals, even though it was only a few hours until dawn. As she crawled into bed she noticed the message light on her phone was flashing. She dialed up for her messages and was relieved to find no emergency waiting her. Her assistant had called and her mother. The morning would be soon enough to return their calls. That night she dreamed. At first the dream was of the night she and Mulder had conceived Will, their first night together. Visions of their past floated through the dreamscape, lingering on the happy time right before Mulder's second abduction. Then, as dreams do, it changed. Mulder's beautiful face morphed into Logan's. The dream of the love and passion she and Mulder had shared turned into hot sex with a veritable stranger that was of such strong intensity she was shaken to the core of her being when she woke up in the middle of a raging orgasm. She forced herself to calm down and to go back to sleep only to dream again. This time the dream took a darker turn. She was in the desert trying to run away from danger. Mulder was clinging to her arm. He was injured and couldn't run fast as she did without her help. The dark menace kept gaining on them. Just as it was ready to envelope them, Mulder pushed her away and led the enemy away from her. As it engulfed him, she woke up screaming his name. She pushed herself to her feet and ran to the bathroom. She stood in the near dawn light, propping herself up with the sink as she splashed cool water on her face with her hands. She hadn't had that kind of dream in years. She thought she was over all the pain and terror those years had contained. After Mulder's second abduction, she had put it all behind her, even quitting the FBI in order to bring order and safety to her life with William and Gabriella. She switched on the lights around the mirror and stood staring at her face. She had lived over thirteen years without Mulder. She had searched for him until she was no longer physically capable. She had birthed both their children alone. She had raised their children alone. Alone, she had found her place in the world that had not been colonized by aliens due to their combined efforts and the efforts of many others after they left the X-Files. She had faced loss after loss and had never given up her faith, a faith she had passed on to their children. All of the years since her last moments with Mulder had left a gentle impression on her face. She was not young anymore but she certainly did not look her age. Memories of Clyde Bruckman whispered through her mind. She didn't want to face a life alone after the kids grew up and left home. She did not want to put her life on hold as some of her co- workers had, waiting for a call from one of their children, waiting for grandchildren. She was sure she would never find anyone else she could love and trust as she had Mulder, but she was finally willing to try to find someone to share her life with. The ability to express love had been one of his parting gifts to her. How could she not acknowledge her love for him when he had risked so much more by opening up and admitting his love to her? He had been hurt by so many people in his life and was still able to love. She had been surrounded by love her entire life yet had built an impenetrable wall after a few broken relationships. It was truly time to move on, to open herself to those 'extreme possibilities' Mulder was so fond of. 'Where's Tom now?' she thought ruefully. 'Happily married with another new baby on the way and I wouldn't have it any other way.' Tom loved her, but she'd not returned his love. He deserved more than an affectionate wife. He deserved true happiness and he'd found it with Gloria. "And so do I," she said aloud. She knew she'd just turned a corner in her life. She was no longer afraid of the dark dreams. She knew she was strong and could face whatever the future had in store. She was, after all, a Scully. "Forgive me, Mulder," she whispered, "I need to move forward with my life. Please understand. I'll never forget you and I'll never stop loving you. Soon our children will be grown and I'll be alone." She moved to the small balcony of her room and knelt, watching the morning sunrise. She bowed her head and her lips moved silently in prayer. When she was done, she was at peace with the decision she had made. XXXXX Vacation Day 4 Tuesday 7:00 AM April 12, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands Bright and early that morning she was having breakfast on the terrace of the hotel. She had felt refreshed after her prayer. She dressed and went for her run. In the shade of the terrace, the breeze was soothing. She decided to forgo sightseeing for a lazy day at the beach after she returned her calls from yesterday. She returned to her room and called her mother. Tara and the kids had been able to get an earlier flight and Charlie and family were going to fly up with Will and Gabriella when they returned home. Her mom wanted to make sure she would be there for an impromptu Scully family reunion after her vacation. Dana hung up after the conversation and realized she was truly looking forward to seeing the whole family together again. After her brief call to her assistant, she called Will and Gabby. Gabby was exuberant over the family reunion and had raced to the phone to get to talk to her mother first. Dana chatted with her about her vacation briefly and then asked to speak to Will. They had a long chat about the new friends he had made in Texas. He gently changed the subject and his questions showed his concern over her feelings about the impromptu family reunion. She assured him that she was looking forward to it as she prepared for the beach. His voice sounded as if he were tired and when she asked him about it he had brushed it off, saying he was just tired from having too much fun. She gently admonished him about balancing his fun with rest and he laughingly agreed to try. She told them both goodbye, wishing that she could hug and kiss them in person. 'Thank you Mulder,' she thought. 'Thank you for the wonderful children we made.' She slipped into a new bathing suit she had purchased on one of her shopping trips. It was a tiger-striped, one-piece suit with very little fabric. It had the saving grace of covering her in all the places she felt needed camouflage and seemed to enhance her best features. She grabbed her bag and went down to the beach. She was so comfortably ensconced in the shade on the beach after a brief swim that she fell asleep wearing her hat and her sunglasses. She woke with the distinct feeling she was being watched. She was careful not to move as she glanced around to see if she was right. She moved her eyes to the right and to the left and finally spotted her admirer. It was Logan standing on the stairs to the terrace. He seemed to be deep in thought. He started to walk toward her then stopped. She took off her glasses to let him know she was awake. He strode forward with a smile. "Hello! I wasn't sure if you were awake." "Hello, Logan." "I tried to call you all morning. I had finally accepted that you were avoiding me when I spotted you here in the shade. I thought I'd lost my touch at reading people." Logan grinned as he spoke. Dana smiled back. "I've not been avoiding you. I just wanted a quiet, restful day here at the beach. That is, after all, what people come to this island paradise for? Isn't it? Quiet and rest?" Her eyes clouded as she registered his previous statement. "What do you mean you've lost your touch?" "It's nothing really. Just a game I like to play in my mind." The smile faded completely from Dana's lips. "You can't stop there. I want to know what kind of game you're playing in your mind that involves me. I'm not entirely sure I like the sound of that." Dana was not getting a good feeling about the whole direction of their conversation. He looked at her quizzically before saying, "Very well. For as long as I can remember, I have played a game in my mind about people. I think up stories about their lives based on clues I glean from their words, actions, and the way they are dressed. Sometimes I don't even use people, I use situations." Logan ground to a halt. The cool look on Dana's face let him know he was suddenly on shaky ground with the good Dr. Scully. "It's not weird or anything, it's just something I do to pass the time when I'm waiting." "Waiting?" "You know, airports, theaters, sporting events. Anywhere there are a lot of different people and I have a little time on my hands. It's very helpful in my line of work." "Just what sort of conclusions had you drawn about me, Mr. Graham? No, wait! Let me fill in the blanks." Dana stared at him for a moment. "Hummm ... I think you see a middle-aged, single, somewhat well-to-do woman who is lonely and would like to be seen in the company of a younger man. A woman who may be inclined to be generous with said younger man while she's away from home and no one she knows would be the wiser. How am I doing so far?" Dana said as she stood up and began gathering her things. "Dana, please. That's not it at all," Logan quickly replied. "I worked for the FBI for over a decade. I was partnered with one of the best criminal profilers the Bureau ever had. I saw a lot of weird, sick things, and you know what Logan? It usually started with someone thinking that what they were doing wasn't that weird to begin with." Dana was in full attack mode now. She moved to within six inches of Logan, starting up into his face. "Some even started out thinking that it was just a little game in their heads. Leave me alone or I'll have the hotel remove you from the premises," she hissed and she stormed back up the beach to the terrace. Logan stood there and watched her march away, a bemused look on his face. He suddenly realized she was walking out of his life and ran to catch her. "Dana, wait. Please, listen to me," he said as he touched her arm to stop her. She turned and gave him a freezing look that made him drop his hand, but not his plea. "You are completely off base. My only thoughts about you were that you are very beautiful and intelligent. I want to get to know you better. I thought after last night ... well, I enjoyed our dinner and our conversation. I thought you did too. I just wanted to see you and let you know that I ..." "Go on," Dana said suddenly getting a sinking feeling that she had perhaps overreacted and made a fool out of herself. "I'm on vacation of sorts, too, and I don't know anyone on this island. I just wanted to connect with someone. I want to have a dinner partner that can talk about more than Brittany Spears' comeback after her last rehab or the length of next year's hems. I purposely picked you because I am drawn to you and I wanted to know why. "Please believe me, Dana, I'm a good guy. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me. I'll even give you my priest's name and number if you want to call and check up on me, perhaps with some of those old friends at the FBI?" He smiled at her like a small boy who was trying to wiggle out of trouble with an innocent look and a smile. Dana knew she was in big trouble. She had never been able to resist that look on the face of a man in her life. "Mr. Graham, Logan, I may have overreacted." Dana struggled to find the right words. "Can we sit down for a moment?" When he nodded, she dumped her beach paraphernalia on the closest table and sank down into a chair. She was trying to find a way out of this with her dignity in tact, but she couldn't think of a single way out except the truth. "Logan, I have always been single. I have not dated in several years. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a woman to play games with a man. I know who I am and what I look like. I am not the kind of woman to inspire grand passions in men with a glance. So naturally, when an attractive, younger man like yourself asked me to dinner I was curious about your motivation. "We were together last night for almost four hours and in that time I found out nothing about you except that you have a job that involves travel. I basically know nothing about you and the first thing you say to me the next day makes me feel as if you could be stalking me or setting me up for a shakedown. I worked for the FBI for over ten years, so I developed a suspicious mind. If I have jumped to a wrong conclusion about you, I apologize, but a woman alone must be careful." Logan smiled. "Whoa, talk about direct! I understand your reluctance to allow a stranger to get into your head, especially after your years in law enforcement. I'm sorry I didn't tell you more about my life last night. I just wanted to keep the evening light." "Oh dear, please don't tell me you're married," Dana groaned. "No, no! It's nothing like that. I just wanted to enjoy a relaxing night with a beautiful, intelligent companion. I wanted to get to know you before I opened up to you. You're not the only one that has a need to protect their privacy. I would like to see you again, but I think you have a great number of reservations about me. I meant it about the references." Logan started writing down a series of numbers and names on a card he drew from his pocket. "I'd like to have dinner with you tonight. Please feel free to call anyone on this list. Do whatever it takes to make you comfortable. Dana, at least consider it?" he asked. She nodded and took the card, holding it carefully by the edges. "Great! I'll call you later about dinner. Nothing formal, I thought we'd just have a meal on my patio courtesy of the fine staff here." Dana swallowed and nodded again. What had she agreed to this time? She gathered her things again and walked slowly back to her room after he left. She didn't really know what to do. Her head told her to stay away from Logan Graham. Her heart told her to lighten up and enjoy herself. She compromised. A quick call to the Lone Gunmen with the information Logan had given her resulted in, if not total enlightenment, a lot of information, and none of it was bad. Logan Michael Graham: Address: Town House at 34569 Grant Blvd., Arlington, VA; Villa in Tuscany; cabin in Canada; several rental properties in New York City Age: 36 Date of Birth: June 18, 1980 Occupation: Author, Pseudonym, Frank McFinn Books include 2 best sellers in 2 years: GYPSY LADY and DIG IT Previous Occupation: Stock Broker Marital Status: widower no surviving children Education: BA, Yale University, MBA, Harvard Parents: Only child of Martha and Gregory Graham, deceased and both only children Health: Excellent, except for the lingering results of a case of amnesia brought on by a head injury during the boating accident that killed his wife and child approximately 3.5 years ago. Hobbies: Sailing, scuba diving, philanthropy. His choice of charities include all family and child-centered choices along the lines of educational scholarships, church sponsored support groups, literacy agencies, child abuse watch groups, shelters for abused women, lost, stolen and runaway child locators, etc. Religious Affiliation: Catholic, active and loved member of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Arlington, VA. Current relationships: None. Net Worth: Last publicly filed financial statement recorded his personal net worth at $14.3 million, total net worth not available without further research into his business dealings In addition to the brief bio they sent, there was a publicity picture, a police report and several pages from the missing person's case file from the FBI that interested her, all about his rescue three years previously. There were no pending actions or information on file with the police or the FBI. No fingerprints on file other than his thumb print on his driver's license. Logan Graham was squeaky clean. He watched people because he was an author. Of course! A good one, too! She had read both of the Frank McFinn books and found them fascinating. He was as leery of opening up to a stranger as she was, possibly more so. He was a celebrity and probably had more privacy issues than she could even dream of. He was exactly the man he said he was, the kind she would find fascinating, possibly even love, if she were twenty years younger. Of course, twenty years ago she'd had Mulder. XXXXX Vacation Day 4 Tuesday 6:00 PM April 12, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands 'Well, so much for that, Dana,' she thought, as she sat on her balcony with the information spread out before her later that afternoon. Sixteen years. He didn't act sixteen years younger than her. She felt truly humiliated. 'What was I thinking?' she said as she thought about exactly how she would react to Will dating an older woman. She had not felt drawn to a man in years the way she was drawn to Logan. Actually, as she sat there trying to remember the last man she was attracted to, she realized it was Mulder. Now that was a long dry spell! She decided she couldn't keep their date. He was simply too young for her and she would be setting herself up for disappointment despite the fact that he was a nice guy. She tried to call his room, but he didn't answer. She would have to wait for his call. In the mean time, it wouldn't hurt to get cleaned up for dinner, would it? She still had to eat sometime. Dana took a long leisurely bath, not thinking about the reasoning behind shaving her legs and underarms again. She lingered over her hair, makeup, and clothes. 'Nothing fancy,' she thought as she dressed for her solo dinner. 'What would a woman who was excited about seeing a man practically twenty years her junior wear to a 'nothing fancy' occasion?' she wondered. She finally settled for a hand-painted silk skirt she had purchased at the flea market in town. She paired it with a white, silk, spaghetti strap top that really emphasized her newly acquired tan. She chose a comfortable pair of white sandals. Finally she chose her jewelry. She reached for the diamond necklace she normally wore, but hesitated. The stone was from the diamond engagement ring she had found in Mulder's possessions. She had not been able to wear the ring because memories of Mulder would not allow it. On the other hand, she did not want to hide the symbol of Mulder's love away. She had compromised and had the necklace made from the stones in the set. The rings were in her safety deposit box awaiting his return. She chose instead the gold cross that she had worn for years. She had given Mulder her cross to wear several times, including the time he went to Bellefleur, Oregon with Skinner and was abducted. She had buried it with him, and after his return from the dead, he had continued to wear it. This was Melissa's matching gold cross. Her mother sent it to her through Walter Skinner, when she realized that Dana's was not coming back after freeing Mulder from the army stockade. After they had defeated the aliens and returned to the D.C. area, they had continued to wear the matching crosses as a symbol of their unity. Mulder's had disappeared with him but she still wore hers occasionally to remind her of their love. Gold earrings completed her preparation. She considered wearing her watch, but realized that on vacation, time should have no meaning. All she had to do now was to wait for Logan to call so she could tell him she wasn't going to accept his invitation and go down to the restaurant for dinner alone. She walked toward the balcony to wait for his call. As she walked by the phone she glared at it, willing it to ring. She jumped as the phone actually did ring when she was directly in front of it. 'Spooky,' she thought, as she reached for it. "Hello?" she said. "Hi." Silence followed. "Logan." "Dana," he said, speaking at the same time. "You first," she said. "You first," he said, again at the same time. They laughed. Silence again. "Dana, did I give you enough time to think about dinner?" Logan's voice was a soft, velvety growl. "I ... um ... yeah. I had plenty of time to think." "What did you decide?" he asked. His words and the inflection of his voice sounded like more than dinner was on the line. "I contacted a few of my old friends in D.C. and you're right. You are a good guy," she said as she smiled. "But? I hear a 'but' in that statement, don't I?" Logan quickly replied. "I also found out that you're almost twenty years younger than I am. Do I need to say more?" "Dana, I'm surprised at you." She could picture his smile with his words. "I thought a woman with your education and liberation would laugh at a conventional objection like a few years." "Logan." He could just see her face as she said his name. He had intentionally pushed her hot button to challenge her. He wanted to continue to explore a relationship with this woman and he would pull every trick he knew to finagle it. "Dana, I'm asking for dinner, not a lifetime commitment," he laughed. "Please? We both don't know anyone else here. We had a great time last night. Let's repeat the evening with good food and good company." "Well, I guess dinner with a new friend wouldn't hurt anything." Where did that come from? Her mind was saying 'NO! NO!' Her mouth, on the other hand, was driven by parts south of her brain and had just accepted his invitation. This man was trouble with a capital 'T'. "Great! What about 7:00 tonight? When you're ready, just go down to the front desk and ask for me. One of the bellboys will drive you to my quarters. See you around 7:30." Then he was gone. 'Great,' she repeated his exclamation sarcastically. 'Here I am ready at 6:00 and nothing to do,' she thought. 'Nothing to do but worry about the coming evening.' She decided to finish some postcards to her family. At 7:00 PM sharp, she stepped up to the front desk and asked for Logan. The desk clerk smiled widely and paged one of the bellhops to report to the front. She was escorted to an electric cart and driven to a private part of the grounds. They pulled up in front of a lovely bungalow situated on a private strip of beach some distance from the main facility. Logan was walking toward her as they arrived. "Ah, punctuality, a trait I find admirable in a friend," he said as he picked up her hand and kissed it. "Thank you, Robert. Please tell the chef we would like to eat in an hour, if you will." He turned to her still holding her hand. "You're not starving are you? Will an hour be okay?" She nodded her head. What was there about this man that made her feel totally out of control of her destiny? "Let's take a walk on the beach," he suggested. They turned to walk down the path to the beach. Dana stiffened as she felt him place his hand on the small of her back. Logan felt her reaction but did not remove it. His hand felt as if this were where it had always belonged. She could tell him if she objected. The easy camaraderie of the previous night had deserted them. However, they both made an effort and soon they were talking, if not easily, about their surroundings. This topic didn't last long and an uneasy silence eventually fell again. Logan broke the silence first, asking the questions that had weighted on his mind since she arrived. "So you called some of your FBI contacts about me?" he asked. She shook her head and smiled. "No, I have friends in higher places than the FBI," she teased. "Higher than the FBI? What? The CIA?" he gasped. "No," she teased. "The media!" He laughed with her and then dropped the subject when he asked, "Did you carry a gun when you were in the FBI?" "I was a Special Agent. I had to be armed while out in the field." She grinned at his look of surprise. "Do you have a gun on you now?" he teased. "No, I left my gun in Virginia. Airlines are still touchy about carrying a weapon on board when you aren't an active FBI agent," she replied. She was covertly watching his face for a reaction. "So you still have a hand gun?" he asked with a look of incredulity on his face. "I thought you were retired from active FBI service?" "I am, but I was instrumental in arresting many criminals during my active service. Some will eventually get parole or complete their sentence. I feel more comfortable owning a gun, knowing I am able to protect my children and myself to the best of my ability," she replied. "Besides, I like to see the faces of the young hot-shots at the firing range when I beat their scores." "That sounds pretty competitive to me. I bet you have brothers," he said as he laughed. "Yep, two, one older and one younger," Dana said seriously. Then she laughed. "Surely you found that out when you checked me out with your sources?" "Hmmn ... well, yes." "Did I pass muster?" she gently inquired. She wanted to know a few things not in the report about this relative stranger and felt the best way to get him to talk about himself was to answer his questions first. "Dana, I only checked you out because I gave you my information and knew you'd check on me." "What did you find out?" she asked. "Dana Katherine Scully: Only surviving daughter of Margaret Scully, Annapolis, Maryland, and Captain William Scully, deceased. Two brothers, both officers in the Navy, very impressive; and one sister, Melissa, who died under suspicious circumstances in Dana Scully's home. The attempt was thought to be directed at Dana Scully. Honored FBI agent for ten years, even more impressive; and now partially retired. Single mother to William Fox Scully, 15, and Gabriella Faith Scully, 12. No father in the picture. No long-term relationships for past several years. No known bad habits. Nickname: The Ice Queen." Logan was grinning as he said the last sentence. "Now where did that come from?" "Pretty impressive, Mr. Graham," she said as she ignored his question. "What did you find out about me?" "Do you really want to know?" Dana stared at him, watching his face. They had arrived back at the bungalow and were sitting on the patio now. She wanted to get this out in the open before dinner was served. "I guess I asked for it, didn't I?" He smiled ruefully. Dana recited his bio and report from The Lone Gunmen. She left nothing out. She completely and succinctly gave him all the information she had learned. She studied his face carefully. "It sounds like your resources are better than mine, but that pretty much sums up my entire life, except for a few things. My favorite color is blue, I only watch professional basketball, and so far I like my women to be brunettes and tall, like my former wife. That certainly doesn't explain my attraction to you, does it?" he smiled ruefully. "Still want to have dinner with me?" he asked, as he held his hand out towards her. She sat totally still and looked into his eyes. He reminded her of someone, some one she could trust. She slid her fingers across his open hand and asked, "Is the invitation still open?" He grinned at her and growled, "Just try to get away before the food gets here." "Were you going to tell me about your wife and child?" Dana dove right into the main source of her discomfort. "Were you going to tell me about your partner's abduction? Was he really taken by aliens?" he asked at the same time she spoke. "We're really a pair, aren't we? Both of us are afraid to open up, yet needy for the love of others." "What makes you think I'm needy? That I need someone other than my children to love?" she said testily. "I have a large extended family and a satisfying career." Dana glared at him. "I'm not needy." She immediately wished she could take all that back. 'Why does he make me feel so defensive,' she thought. What was she afraid of? He was just a man. "I'm sorry. I guess I was speaking more for myself than for you. I'll freely admit that I'm lonely. I have no living relatives left. My success as a stockbroker made it possible for me to retire after the accident and pursue the career of writing they tell me I always wanted." He sighed. "I moved to Arlington on a whim. I was in D.C. doing some research for my second book and fell in love with the area. I came across a beautiful town house for sale and bought it on the spot. Being alone in a town where you don't know anyone is much easier than being alone in your hometown, if that makes sense. "They tell me the loss of my wife and son was more than I could cope with and contributes to my amnesia as much as the physical trauma I experienced. I have no true memories of my previous life, but sometimes the facts my doctors and former friends have told me seem to feel like memories. But if I am truthful with myself, I don't have any sense of anything before I was found three years ago." He picked up a handful of sand and let the grains drift through his fingers. "I found out you had to be careful about trusting others shortly after I made the Times Best Seller list with my first book. Two or three women in a row burned me pretty badly. I decided that I wouldn't ever let that happen again and consequently, I've found myself pretty isolated." He gave her a self-depreciating grin as he brushed the sand off his hands. "I guess I sublimate my need to be loved by others with my donations to various causes. It allows me to meet the kids sometimes and it's great. I can feel the unconditional love they are capable of for a few moments and it warms me." He stared off into space for a few minutes. "Tell me about your partner. I thought the FBI frowned about partners falling in love. What was his name?" Dana sat quietly staring out to sea, thinking how to answer his question. For some reason, she wanted to tell him the entire story, even though the thoughts of opening up to him frightened her. "Ours was a strange relationship from the beginning. I was practically ordered to spy on Fox Mulder when I was paired with him. He was brilliant but was considered a loose cannon, a threat to the good name of the Bureau by upper management. At first people called him Spooky Mulder because of his incredible abilities to profile and anticipate the next move of UNSUBs in the cases assigned to the Behavioral Science and Violent Crime Sections. When I met him, he had given up a career as the golden boy of VCS to re-open the X-Files and the nickname was used derogatively. "The X-Files consisted of cases that had previously been investigated unsuccessfully or ones that appeared to involve unexplained phenomenon. He had an incredible mind and was interested in all sorts of phenomena, including alien abductions. He was sure that there was a shadow government trying to manipulate our nation. He eventually convinced me that this Consortium was the driving force behind the supervisors that wanted me to debunk his cases." On and on she talked about her relationship with Mulder. Logan asked just the right questions to keep her going. Finally he asked the question that had been on his mind all night. "When did you realize that you were in love with him?" Dana smiled up at him. "I don't think that there was a moment when I 'fell' in love with Mulder. I think I was overwhelmed by his intelligence and integrity at first, and then respect and friendship grew. Somewhere along the way it just bloomed into love. I was in love with him for a long time before I admitted it to him or to myself. You have to remember, Logan, back then female agents were still rare. "I had to work harder and longer and remain completely above board in all my actions to be taken seriously. It didn't help that I am not exactly a looming presence. I just made the height requirement for the FBI. Even so, as soon as I started backing Mulder's reports with scientific fact, I got the nick-name Mrs. Spooky. I know there were various betting pools going on about almost every aspect of our work and relationship, from when Mulder would be locked up by the men in white coats to when we would be caught doing the 'Wild Thing' as one office wit put it." "Sounds tough to put up with," Logan said quietly. "It was hard, but the job satisfaction more than made up for it. We were able to save a lot of people, solve a lot of crimes, put a lot of real sickos away. It was also very frustrating when we would solve a case only to have the proof disappear, usually while being held by law enforcement agencies. We were able to confirm that there were indeed certain factions of a shadow government performing experiments and trying to subvert our government, the same factions who had the ability to erase our proof, but we were never able to nail down concrete evidence." "But, when did you know you were in love with Mulder?" Logan probed. "I had reached a point where I almost couldn't take the stress of the job. Many things happened to me during the seven years we were partners that were difficult, life-changing experiences. One weekend, I refused to go off on what appeared to be a wild goose chase to England with Mulder and I had an epiphany." Dana hesitated before she continued. She stared deep into Logan's eyes as if trying to examine his soul. He couldn't help feeling relief when she looked away. She turned her gaze to the incoming surf and said, "Oh boy, I don't believe I'm telling you all this." She hesitated before continuing again. "I had two adult relationships in my life up to that point. The first man in my life was named Daniel Waterston. He was a teacher of mine in med school, a doctor. I was overwhelmed with admiration and what I thought was love for him before I found out he had a long-term marriage and a daughter only a few years my junior. I broke it off, but I don't think I ever got over it. Daniel and I had argued constantly about my specialty. Daniel wanted me to be a cardiologist just like him, but I was intrigued by pathology. When the offer from the FBI came, I knew it was the right thing to do and jumped at the chance to get as far away from him as I could get. I knew that joining the FBI would take me into a different world and in a way, it did. I built a wall around my heart after Daniel. I didn't want to be hurt again. "I almost let it down when I started dating one of my instructors at Quantico. We didn't get serious until I'd graduated and accepted a teaching position there. The relationship died a natural death, at least on my part, but apparently not in his mind. He dubbed me 'The Ice Queen', an epitaph that has unfortunately stuck with me the rest of my life. I responded by throwing myself into my work, quietly building my walls higher and higher. I was rewarded for all my hard work when I was assigned to Mulder. "Several years after we began our partnership, Mulder went off to England alone and things came into focus for me." Dana wished she had a glass of water. As if he could read her mind, Logan rose and walked to the portable bar against the outside wall of the bungalow. He brought back two tall iced teas and gave her one, brushing his fingers over hers as he handed it to her. "Iced tea with lemon, no sugar," he said with a smile that faded at the touch of her hand. She was jolted by conflicting emotions. She was relieved that he was no longer staring so intently at her face while she spoke of her most intimate history and thoughts. At the same time, she was mortified at the arousal she was feeling from the light touch of his fingers on hers. "Thank you," she said and then took a long drink of tea before continuing. "I was tired that weekend. I wanted to experience 'normal' for a change. I wanted to go home and do my laundry, clean my house, and take a long, soaking bath. I wanted to go to the mall with a girlfriend or my mom. I wanted to forget all the fantastic, horrifying, unbelievable, undeniable things that had happened to me and just be a working woman with a weekend in front of her." She paused and looked at him to see if he understood her. When he nodded, she continued, "Unfortunately, before my weekend could begin I felt compelled to complete one small detail on an autopsy I had performed at Washington National Hospital. I had been feeling strange all day. It was as if at certain moments, I could feel time slow down and could hear things and see things that I normally ignored." "What kind of things?" Logan interrupted. "Oh, little things, like the faucet in my bathroom dripping, the cord of my drapes brushed by the wind and softly beating against the window sill. Things you normally are too involved in normal life to see. When I got to the hospital, I asked for the paperwork I needed and when I opened the envelope, there were x-rays inside. I glanced at the x-rays of course and at the name and was shocked. They were for a Daniel Waterston. I couldn't help myself. I returned the x-rays to the nurse's station and requested the correct information. I had to ask about Daniel. "It turned out he was not only in the hospital, but as his x-rays indicated, was seriously ill. For some reason, I felt compelled to see him. He represented everything my life would have been if I had not taken the path that led me to the FBI. I had loved him so passionately," she said before falling into silent introspection for a moment. After a few moments of silence, Logan said gently, "You don't have to go on if it's too painful." "Hummm? Oh, where was I?" Dana seemed to shake away the ghosts of the past as she looked at Logan. "You were about to tell me when you knew you loved your partner," Logan said with a grin. "You are very much like Mulder, as single-minded as a terrier worrying a bone until he gets everything he wants from it." She laughed and said, "Are you sure you want to hear this?" Logan silently gazed into her eyes and nodded. "Daniel was near death. Conventional medicine had done all it could. At one point I even had to resuscitate him. One minute I was assailed with feelings of longing and love for what had not happened and the next, Daniel's daughter was verbally attacking me for ruining their lives. It seems Daniel had moved to D.C. almost ten years before, but had not contacted me. She thought we were still in a relationship. "In the middle of all this, Mulder called and asked me to pick up some information and fax it to him in England. The woman who had the information was a scientist like me but had opened herself to possibilities I'd never been able to believe. She gave me some insights that allowed me to develop an acceptance of the things that happened that weekend." Dana hesitated. "Go on, there's no way you can stop now!" Logan exclaimed. "I think I saw an angel that weekend." Dana blushed at the incredulous look on Logan's face. "I know I saw an angel. Oh, not the kind with wings and the flowing white robe. This angel wore jeans and a tan slicker jacket and had a baseball cap on." "How do you know that it was an angel?" Logan asked seriously. "She saved my life. I was talking on the phone to Mulder and started to make a left turn. I looked up and saw the woman in the cap and slicker and slammed on the brakes. As I did, I saw a huge tractor trailer blast right through the red light and pass within a foot of the front of my car. I quickly looked to the angel and she just smiled at me and walked on. I was shaken up! I saw her later in the weekend when she led me to a Buddhist Temple not ten blocks from the hospital. It was there that I realized I loved Mulder." "In a Buddhist Temple?" Logan was surprised. "I thought you're Catholic?" "I am Catholic, but my years of investigation with Mulder and the events of that weekend had opened my mind to, shall we say, 'extreme possibilities'. I had loved him for a long time; I just refused to acknowledge it. My conscious mind rejected all thoughts of love, but my heart knew I had loved Mulder forever, even before this lifetime. I had a ... ummm ... vision in the temple. I saw what was wrong with Daniel. It was guilt and pride that was damaging his heart. He had to make amends with those who loved him to let his heart heal. He had to admit his mistakes to those he loved and take responsibility for his life." Dana hesitated again. "The same was true for me. I had to admit my love and take responsibility for it. I saw scenes from my own life. Mulder was there. All the people in my life that I loved were shown to me and he was there in every instance, always Mulder. My path was meant to entwine with his throughout this life. I accepted it then, I guess. I didn't know how to tell him. I knew what to do about Daniel though. "I contacted Linda, Mulder's friend, and made arrangements for a healer to come to the hospital to see if he could help Daniel who was now in a coma. At first his Doctor was furious and tried to throw us out, but surprisingly, Daniel's daughter, Maggie, stopped him and let us try. Even though I had broken off the relationship as soon as I found out about her, I had a large dose of guilt where she was concerned. I was able to make amends with her personally and I assume Daniel did, too. I told him that he had to face the fact that only he was responsible for his actions and he realized how he had hurt her by allowing her to hold on to the illusion that I was responsible for the breakup of his marriage. She felt he had chosen me over her and her mother. He asked me to come back to him but I refused, wished him luck, and walked out of the hospital and out of his life." Dana closed her eyes again. "I was stunned by all the things that had happened that weekend and felt satisfied but exhausted. I was sitting out in front of the hospital and saw the angel again. I ran after her, determined this time to catch her. I grabbed her coat sleeve and when she turned around ..." Dana stopped, overwhelmed by the sweetness of the memory. "And when she turned?" Logan whispered. Dana lifted her eyes to his. She had an incredibility beautiful smile on her face. "It was Mulder. He had left England early and was looking for me." She grew silent again. "We went back to his house and talked until I fell asleep on his couch. He didn't wake me up. He didn't tease me for falling asleep. He just covered me up, turned out the lights, and went to bed." "He just left you there?" Logan said incredulously. "Mulder knew me well. He knew how I valued my space and honored my need for independent reflection. He didn't know how close I was to admitting I loved him. If I am truthful, he was afraid I would walk away if I were pushed before I was ready. I woke up when I became chilled. I walked into the bedroom to tell him goodbye and couldn't leave. The light from the living room sliced across his face. It mesmerized me. I stood looking at him for a long time. Everything gelled in those moments." "I contemplated the years of care and consideration he had given me, the loving support, so freely given when I needed him. He had helped me face tragedies in my life I am not sure I could have survived without him. The sheer wit and beauty, the strength of character of this man astounded me. All these things came together in one moment of clarity and I realized I loved him. I had to tell him. I slipped out of my clothes and crawled into the bed with him." "He must have been surprised," Logan said. "No, we had shared the non-sexual comfort of each others arms before. I don't think he really woke up at first. He just moved over and pulled me into his arms to comfort, still giving. I couldn't take it any longer. I began to cry. I've never found it easy to cry in front of others. I think it has something to do with having a big brother that loved to tease. "Mulder woke up and began to soothe me. You see, he knew how hard it was for me to lose control in front of him and how upset I must be if I would let him see it. It took a while before he realized that I wanted more than his comfort. I wanted him. I finally got my point across when I took his face in my hands and gave him the most passionate kiss I had ever delivered in my whole life. Mulder responded, immediately, but still held back. He didn't want to take advantage of me, thinking that I had turned to him for physical comfort after reliving the loss of Daniel." Dana smiled to herself again. "I turned on the lamp. I finally gave up on subtle and climbed on top of his chest. I pinned his upper arms down with my knees and entwined his fingers with mine. I moved my face up close to his so he could see my eyes and told him clearly and precisely what I felt. Two things were created that night, the open acceptance of our love for one another and our son." Dana closed her eyes. A small shiver of remembered joy ran down her spine. "It was difficult to conceal our relationship. We loved each other so passionately, but we were both professionals and we knew we had to keep fighting the people who were trying to tear our world apart. We stopped them, but only at the highest cost. A force the enemies of our government had aligned with abducted Mulder and a number of other people from Bellefleur, Oregon. I found out I was pregnant the same day I was told he was gone. I was assigned a new partner and together we worked to find Mulder. "I wanted to prove his theories about the shadow government operation that was responsible for his abduction, but I was never able to get the definitive proof I needed. He was returned." She hesitated and decided not to tell him of Mulder's miraculous return from the dead. "However, after the birth of our son he had to go into hiding. Things came to a head and we went undercover to finish our work. We eventually succeeded and came back to Washington. "I had just found out I was pregnant with our daughter days before he was abducted a second time." Logan's look of surprise and doubt stopped her cold. "He disappeared from his car, without a trace, in broad daylight as he drove across the Potomac River Bridge on I95. I didn't quit the FBI right away. I transferred to Quantico to teach. Unfortunately, I had complications with my pregnancy with Gabby due to the stress of his being gone. I never gave up hope, but I didn't find him. I quit the FBI and went to Georgetown to teach. That was almost 13 years ago." She turned to look into his eyes, expecting to see disbelief and found only curiosity. "Um, Dana?" Logan's burning desire to questions her made her smile. "Yes?" "I have a couple questions. Do you mind?" "Not at all, go ahead and ask," she said. "Why didn't you use some means of birth control with Mulder? I mean, you are a doctor and know all the right reasons. How could you take the chance of an unplanned pregnancy if you were so afraid of 'Them' finding out? Weren't you worried about STD's?" Logan was puzzled and wanted answers but he said, "Are these questions too personal?" She smiled as she shook her head. "Everything I have told you is personal. There are only a handful of people who know the whole story. Do you remember I said that there were horrifying things that happened during our early years together? One of those things was the removal of all my ova during a three-month long abduction. I thought I was sterile. "Mulder thought that an alien artifact I was investigating in Africa restored my fertility, but to this day, I have no idea how my body rejuvenated my ability to conceive. I have theories, but no proof. Both of us had been so involved with our jobs and avoiding the truth about our feelings for each other that we had no fear of STD's. I have never regretted that I got pregnant right away. I don't think I could have survived if I hadn't been pregnant with Will during Mulder's first abduction. Will and Gabby are the only reasons I kept my sanity after Mulder's second disappearance." "Do you still miss him?" Logan asked. She nodded. "Yes, everyday of my life. Do you miss your wife?" Dana felt it was time for her curiosity to be given some answers. Logan turned away from her. "I wish I could say the same, but I can't." This shocked Dana. What kind of man didn't miss his wife and child? She shifted away from him. Logan caught her subtle movement and said, "Oh, it's not for the reason you might think. I'm sure you read about my amnesia in my bio. I have my own long story, but I'd like to wait until after dinner to discuss it in detail." "All right, but I just told you my story, and I expect you to return the favor," she said seriously. "Dana, I'm not avoiding the story. Not everyone is as brave as you, about facing their past," he said with a self-depreciating smile. "I just need to get my thoughts in order." He seemed to gather his strength before he continued. "This beach is beautiful isn't it? Quiet. Protected. You couldn't tell that my life ended on this exact beach." "Ended?" she said, surprised at his statement. His face seemed to crumple for a moment but he got himself under control with a deep breath. "Please, Dana, later," he said. "Logan, I have just told you more about my life than my mother knows and you don't want to talk until later?" She was incredulous. "I'm sorry, Dana. I promise we can talk later after dinner. It's very long and involved, just like your story. I'll answer anything, tell you everything, after we eat." She could tell by his expression he was sincere. She decided she could wait. She gave him a small nod of her head in acquiescence. "Let's go see if the wait staff is back. Dinner should be delivered soon," Logan said, relief palpable in his voice. "All right," she said as she stood. They across the patio towards the French doors of the bungalow just as the waiters from the hotel arrived with dinner. At one point, Logan seemed to be distracted and kept glancing back along the ocean's edge. "What are you looking for?" she quietly asked. "I'm looking for clues to my life," he answered cryptically. He shrugged and held out his hand for hers. "It's just an old habit. Let's eat." XXXXX Vacation Day 4 Tuesday 9:30 PM April 12, 2016 The Haven Hotel Bungalow #1 The Bermuda Islands After dining on a sumptuous meal served by the staff from the hotel, they once again walked down to sit in the beach chairs by the water watching a full moon rise. Logan tried to steer the conversation towards more general topics, but she would not be put off. Dana responded coolly to all the small talk he tried. Finally Logan sighed and looked at her with a wry grin. "You don't give up easily either, do you?" he asked ruefully. She shook her head and smiled. "Okay, here goes. You have to remember most of this has been explained to me by various sources. I know you read about my amnesia." He waited for her nod before continuing. "We were vacationing here and decided to rent a sailboat. My wife, Sara, was an expert sailor in her younger days and we felt comfortable about going for a long weekend without a crew to help. The tropical storm brewing in the Gulf that week was Hector, a most unpredictable storm. It suddenly changed course, escalated into a hurricane and we were in harm's way. I don't actually remember any of this. It's all just conjecture about our actions backed up by the various people we contacted during that time. "A couple of newlyweds found me here on this beach several days later. I had washed up with the tide, lashed to a piece of wreckage. They thought I was dead. I should have been. It would have been easier. I had sustained a lot of trauma to my face; crabs were eating parts of it when they found me." He grinned wryly and said, "I probably put a crimp in their honeymoon trip. I can't remember. I can't remember anything before waking up in the hospital with my face and body in bandages and my arm in a cast." Logan fell quiet again. "I come here every few months hoping this time I will see a tree or a hill or a face and remember the time before I was found. I spend all my time moving from one place to another, anywhere Sara and Tommy and I were together, hoping to remember something, anything." "Is that why you asked me here to dinner? You thought you might remember the past if you were here with a woman?" "Yes. No. I don't know." He hesitated and groaned as if he were in pain before answering. "The answer is both. No because I really wanted to get to know you, Dana. I am drawn to you in a way that I don't remember experiencing before. Yet, the answer is yes, because I hope you'll remind me of my wife. Is any of this making sense?" he asked. "I've never asked anyone to dine here with me before. I wanted to be with you and since today was the day I had to be here, I thought it might help to have company." "'Had' to be here?" Dana asked. "Yes. It's a strange compulsion I have. It's only been three years since I was found. They speculate that we were caught by the hurricane at night and couldn't get back to land in time. The coast guard was looking for us because a fishing boat had spotted us during the storm. They could tell we were in trouble, but were having difficulties of their own and couldn't get to us. They were able to see the name of our boat before they were swept away by the storm. Wreckage of our boat was found as far away as Cuba. My wife and my son were never found. When I finally woke up in the hospital, I had no one visit me and I wouldn't have recognized them if I did. I was totally alone." "When you say alone, what do you mean?" Dana asked sliding into doctor mode unconsciously. "I was diagnosed with amnesia, of sorts. I have a unique type of partial amnesia. I have no memory of any kind of personal relationship during my entire life, yet I am able to read and have no problem calculating money or distance. I can write. I seem to have a photographic memory, but when I see pictures of my deceased parents, I cannot for the life of me remember their voices. I see pictures of my wife and I can't remember her touch. "I think what bothers me most is my son. I have several pictures of him and I can't remember one tiny detail of his entire short life. Do you know the hell my everyday life is? I can remember President Bill Clinton and his ridiculous antics but I can't remember my Tommy." Logan's voice broke and he stopped for a moment to calm down. "I feel closer to them here than anywhere. Today is my son, Tommy's, birthday, thus the compulsion." Again Logan fell silent and looked out to sea. After a few moments he looked up at Dana and said, "I think I wanted you to be here because I'm afraid I'll disappear on one of these pilgrimages." "What about other people in your life? Elementary school teachers, doctors, friends? Do you remember any of them?" "No. I have pieces of paper on my wall that say I graduated from high school and college and that I have an MBA, but I remember nothing about the people I went to school with in New York. I know they would recognize the name and remember me, but not with this face, since its been reconstructed. I can calculate advanced mathematical formulas, I can speak three different languages, and I still know how to work the stock market. It's driving me crazy." "Have you been tested by any experts in the field of amnesia or brain injuries?" "Yes, even before I got out of the hospital. After I was released, I went to several prestigious experts that gave the same prognosis. They have no answers for me. If I remember, I remember. Otherwise, I should get on with my life." Logan leaned in towards Dana and said in a sexy growl, "Do you think I'm crazy?" "Well, I don't think you're crazy, but I have no answers for you. What I do know about amnesia doesn't seem to reconcile to your case. Total amnesia is very rare. There have been only a few documented cases that held up under scientific examination. Partial amnesia usually involves a period of time loss and eases with time, memories returning at least partially. I know if my partner and I were still working together your case would be an X- File. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know if I couldn't remember anyone I had loved in my life, I would be totally lost. I don't think I could be as together as you seem to be." Logan turned and looked out to sea again. "I don't know if I am handling anything." They sat in companionable silence for several minutes. "Logan, I don't know if anyone can help you get over what's happened to you. It's going to take time to heal a trauma like this." They sat in quiet contemplation until, finally, Dana rose and said as she touched his hand, "I think I should go now." "So soon? Are you sure you don't want to stay for some dessert?" Logan tempted her. She shook her head and smiled. "No, thank you." "Dana ... thanks. I really haven't talked to anyone like this until now. I can't say it felt good, but it is a relief to be able to say it out loud to someone who doesn't go running away as if I'm a crazed person." Logan stood and took her hand. They walked slowly up the beach once again toward the patio, bathed in the soft light of the full moon. "Logan, I know how you feel. Only some of my close family and friends in Virginia know the whole story I've told you tonight. If someone told them the details I've confided to you tonight, they would think you gave me a truth serum or tortured me to pry it out of me." She smiled up into his eyes. Dana stepped onto the stone patio, noting the staff had removed all evidence of their dinner and had left a carafe of coffee and a silver dome covered dessert on the wet bar. "Are you sure about the dessert?" Logan asked again. "It's going to take a few minutes for the cart to get back here." "Thank you, maybe I will," Dana capitulated. "But call them right away. This has been a lovely evening and dinner was wonderful, Logan, but I think I need to call it a night." "As you wish," he said and waggled his eyebrows. "Your room or mine?" At her sham frown, he quickly called the front desk for a cart to pick her up for her return to the main hotel and then served up the dessert. After she was settled, Dana shook her head and smiled at him between bites. "I don't know why I let you get by with this teasing, Logan. My brothers don't even dare tease me like this any more. Your remarks just make me smile." They talked as they ate, not touching on the dark subjects of their pasts, both aware that they needed to keep it light now, and take time to absorb what each had learned about the other. By the time they were done with dessert, the bellman was there to drive her back to the main hotel. "Are you sure you need to leave?" Logan asked as he kissed her hand. "I have to go home, or at least back to my hotel room. We both need some time after reliving so much of our pasts. Call me tomorrow?" Dana was as surprised as Logan at her last request. "Well, I guess that's something at least," Logan said, with a boyish grin. He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Tomorrow." XXXXX Vacation Day 4 Tuesday 11:30 PM April 12, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands Dana was exhausted. She went directly to her room and hopped into the shower. Her head was swimming with all the things they had discussed tonight. Her bed was the most important thing on her mind until she saw the light flashing on her phone. She groaned as she realized there were messages from her family that she had missed. She flipped down the bedspread and flopped on the bed. She pulled the phone over closer to her. She listened to her messages, two from the kids and one from her mother. She knew she could answer them later but there was something she couldn't put off. She placed the phone on the table and fell to her knees on the floor by the bed. She offered thanks to God for the gift of her son and her daughter and then her entire family. To be bereft of the memories of every single loving human contact in your entire life would be more than she could endure. She prayed for Logan, asking the Lord to give him strength and understanding. She climbed back into bed with a sense of peace that only prayer had offered her for years and went to sleep immediately. XXXXX Vacation Day 5 Wednesday 2:30 AM April 13, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands Once again her sleep was plagued with dreams. Drenched with perspiration, she finally pulled herself up out of the deep well of sleep, her heart pounding and her ears ringing. It took her a second or two to realize the ringing was actually her phone. "Scully." "My, my, my. Do you always sound so professional when you answer your phone at 2:30 in the morning?" His voice sent shivers down her spine. It was just plain eerie how he sounded so much like Mulder at times. "Logan! Why are you calling at this hour?" She finally managed to look at the clock and hold onto the phone at the same time. "I couldn't sleep and I realized it's actually tomorrow already. I thought I would take a chance and give you a call. So, are you really awake or do you just like to sound like it when you answer strange calls?" "I was asleep, but I doubt that I will be able to go back to sleep now that you've managed to scare me half to death." Dana smiled as she spoke the sharp words, totally removing the sting with the tone of her voice. "Care for some company?" "It's 2:35 A.M. You couldn't get here before 3:00 A.M. Are you sure that's what WE want?" "I'm downstairs already and I really need some company." Logan seemed to hesitate for a moment then said quietly, "Please?" "I'm in suite 420. Just knock when you get up here." As soon as she hung up the phone, she panicked. She had not packed the correct attire to entertain a man in her room. She quickly slipped a shirt and shorts over the teddy she had worn to bed that night. She flew into the bathroom and checked her reflection in the mirror. She quickly brushed her teeth and reached for her brush to give her hair a few strokes to smooth it down. She stopped and smiled at her reflection. She looked just fine. What was she thinking? She hadn't asked her boyfriend to sneak up to her room in the middle of the night. She was just going to talk to a friend in need. A soft tap came from the door. "Scully, it's me." Her heart stopped. How many times in the past had Mulder said just that same thing as he waited outside her door for her to answer? Even after she had given him his own key, he was such a gentleman that he had felt the need to knock before entering. How many times had she prayed to hear it again? She put a smile on her face and answered the door. "Hi! Come on in. Why did you call me Scully just now?" "That's how you answered the phone. I thought it might be how you think of yourself. Okay?" "Please call me Dana. I was Scully a lifetime ago and only to Mulder. I think of myself as Mom or Dr. Scully, or Dana. I don't like ... I hate to be called Scully by anyone else." Dana said softly. "I would prefer you call me Dana," she said firmly. He nodded in agreement as he stood in the entry to her suite looking around. "Nice room," he said. "Let's go out on the balcony. It's a beautiful night." They walked through the French doors to the balcony. The long white sheer curtains that bracketed the opening were stirring softly in the breeze. He pulled a bottle of wine from behind him and held it out as a peace offering. She smiled and went back into the room to get some glasses and a corkscrew. When she returned, Logan opened the bottle. They settled quietly on the balcony overlooking the ocean, sipping their wine. "I couldn't sleep after you left. I tried to tire my body out by taking a long swim, but all I managed to do was to waste some time," Logan said as he watched her refill his glass. "I was so tired from today's activities that it wasn't hard for me to sleep after I got back but I couldn't stay asleep. I kept dreaming about how hard it must be not to remember," she responded. "Remember?" "Love. I mean, if you can't remember any close human contact, how can you remember love?" She looked up at him questioningly. He looked away from her beautiful eyes and up to the night sky before answering. "I can remember the feeling of love when I think of the word, but most of the time my mind does not go there. If you cannot attach a face to a feeling, it's hard to live with. Dana ... can I be honest with you?" "Yes," she said with some apprehension. "The first time I saw you I felt like I knew you from somewhere. When I spotted you that morning, you were on the terrace of the hotel. The sun was shining on your hair and your skin had this luminescence that mesmerized me. The pack of kids I was playing with prevented me from approaching you right away, and I lost my courage when they were gone. "I usually swim from my beach to the one by the main terrace and run back for exercise each day. I never go to the public beach after the very early morning. I always seem to be recognized by someone. That morning when I was done with my run, I hurried to get cleaned up to returned to the terrace, hoping to be able to meet you, but you had already left. I was afraid I would never see you again. "Then, the next morning I fought my need to seek you out. I finally gave in and decided to look for you again that afternoon. I swam to the main hotel area and there you were, sitting in the shade on the beach. I couldn't believe my good luck when I saw you there. I was so nervous when I came up the beach and sat in that chair next to you, I didn't know if I could even speak. I wanted to get to know you. My heart was pounding and I heard that God-awful pick-up line coming from my mouth. I couldn't believe you would give me the time of day after that smooth move." He stared down at their hands. He had picked hers up during his confession, as if holding it for courage. "If we're being truthful, I need to make a confession too," she softly interjected. He turned to look at her. "When I saw you coming out of the ocean in that red Speedo, I was the one that was mesmerized." "Why?" he asked clearly confused. 'You looked like Mulder coming back to me' she thought. Dana shook her head and said, "You looked like a Greek God rising from the ocean. With the sun behind you, you had a golden aura. You were so physically beautiful that you took my breath away." Logan stared at her with a small grin on his face. The mix of embarrassment and male pride was easy to read. "Uhmmm ... thanks. Is that why you went to dinner with me? Am I just another pretty face to you?" he teased. Dana laughed and squeezed his hand. "No, of course not, you've got a great body to go with that pretty face. That's why I went to dinner with you," she teased. He chuckled and then continued, "That first night ... at dinner with you, I felt ... something I couldn't quite identify. I kept mulling it over in my mind as I returned home and finally I got it. I knew how I would feel if I were falling in love. I had to see you again." Logan reached for her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. He stopped when he heard her small gasp. He had felt it too. Magic. They set aside their glasses and turned to face each other. They gazed at each other, contemplating what had just happened until he slowly lowered his lips to hers. The kiss began softly, a gentle brush of lips to lips. The electricity that sparked between them drew them closer and the kiss deepened. Lips against lips became tongue to tongue. Their breath became mingled and suddenly the excitement made it difficult for them to breathe. His hands gently caressed her face. Her hands clasped his forearms. The sounds of the night faded away and their entire reality became the contact of their lips. Without conscious thought, their bodies moved closer. The need for full-body contact became as imperative as air for their existence. Moments passed and still they could not break the contact that had begun to feel like ... home. The ringing of a telephone in the suite next door brought them both rudely back to the present. They pulled apart so that they could look into each other's eyes, each unable to speak for many minutes. He pulled away slightly and growled, "God, I want you." Doubts began to fill the void that the lack of contact left. As she considered his words, she felt a small niggling of shame. It felt as if she were cheating on Mulder, even while a part of her that had only been alive with Mulder was begging for more. She became more confused than ever as she stared at him and finally said, "What was that?" Logan said, "Dana, I don't know how to explain that kiss, but I do know I'm not going to ignore it. I want to make love to you. Please don't feel this is a meaningless fling. I don't do casual sex. If you don't want to make love with me, let me know now and I'll leave. We can part as friends with no hard feelings, but I cannot stay this close to you, have these feelings for you, without making love to you." His eyes were dark with need. Dana was a still as a deer, poised and ready to run when faced with danger. Her eyes reflected his need, but also her fear. She lowered her head to think over his words. She looked down at their hands, fingers entwined. This felt too right to be wrong. All the reasons this was not a good idea ran through her head. She was too old, he was too young, a stranger, a man with a painful past, she could not offer more than a brief liaison, a few days of sex. When she looked up she could see that he was barely breathing, waiting for her answer. She gave him a smile and said, "My body, such as it is, is all I can offer. We can't have a long-term relationship. I am just here for a few days of vacation. If you stop to think of all the intricacies of our lives, I believe you can understand what I'm saying. But, if you want me for right now, tonight, and for a few tomorrows, I'm here." She took a deep breath and said, "I want you. I need you. I want to make love with you, too." Logan seemed to weigh her words in his mind. "I don't know if a few days will be enough, but I'll try to keep it to mere mind- blowing sex if you insist," he smiled as he replied. Dana, caught off guard by his teasing remark, laughed aloud. Her laugh was smothered by the swift kiss Logan bent to give her. He pulled away from her and gazed deep into her eyes. "Dana, could we go back to my place? I don't want the National Enquirer called with a hot tip about my love life. Call me paranoid if you like, but it's happened before. Everything I do seems to be plastered in every rag on the market since I was named to People Magazine's list of Hotties last year." Dana's laugh escalated to a full chuckle. "So that's where I saw you before, at the grocery store checkout!" He claimed her lips with a pretend growl and what started out playfully quickly spiraled to heat. When they broke apart, the question was back in his eyes. She nodded her agreement and returned to her room to grab an overnight bag. She shook her head at herself as she stuffed her things into the bag. What was she doing? She had not let anyone breach her walls since Mulder, but the undeniable fire lit by Logan overwhelmed her. Her need, once released, drove all doubts from her mind. It may be just a vacation fling, but it felt necessary, almost pre-ordained. She wondered if her Mom was developing the Scully Sight like they always teased her. 'Well, Mom, at least I picked an official Hottie!' she thought. "All set," she said as Logan arranged for the front desk to forward her calls to his number. "I thought you didn't want anyone to know about your love life?" she teased. "That was Morgan, the Concierge. He is very discrete; he has to be to keep his job." Logan smiled at her. "I trust him, Dana." She smiled and nodded her acceptance. They walked down to his cart and drove silently into the night. Neither wanted to verbalize what they were about to do. They held hands on the drive back to his bungalow. His thumb rubbed her palm with slow stokes, and once again she was reminded of Mulder's touch. Small shivers ran up her arm from the contact. Her response was as much from fear as it was from desire. She could feel panic setting in. She was not afraid of Logan as much as she was afraid of the intensity of her response to this simple touch from this beautiful young man. If he could make her shiver with a touch on her hand what more was in store for her. If she was honest with herself, she was afraid of losing control of herself and falling in love with him. It was ironic that she'd had those same fears with Mulder as well. She wasn't sure she could survive losing love again. As they moved toward his front door, she had almost decided to run back to her hotel room when he turned to her and said, "I know you're afraid. I can tell by the way your breathing has changed and your body posture. Please, give me a chance. Give us a chance." He looked deeply into her eyes, begging her silently not to run away. She could feel his gaze pierce the depths of her heart. She wanted him. She didn't feel disloyal to Mulder. She wasn't married or even widowed. She remembered her promise to herself after the latest nightmare. If she fell in love with him before she had to leave, she at least wanted a few unforgettable nights to help her survive. When he opened the door, she walked boldly into his bungalow, committing to the short-term relationship she had offered. He ushered her into the living room, his hand on the small of her back. The light touch once again burned her as if his hand had met her bare flesh. Waves of desire flowed through her body. She stopped and slowly turned to face him, almost expecting to see Mulder at her side. She was surprised to see Logan with a look of uncertainty on his face warring with desire. She raised her eyebrow quizzically. He responded to her non-verbal question immediately. "Yes, I want you here. I cannot remember ever wanting a woman with the intensity of my need for you. It's just ..." he trailed off. "Just," she was able to say through a throat tightened with desire. "I don't know how to start. I mean, I know how to have sex with someone. However, I want this to be so much more than just a seduction, great or not. I am amazed by everything about you, Dana. You are so fantastic. We have talked for hours on a myriad of topics and I can't remember a woman whose mind and soul and spirit I have desired more." His words rang with truth and a boyish insecurity that surprised her. "Why don't you start with a kiss?" She slowly moved towards him, somewhat surprised by her own forwardness. She felt as if she were being controlled, driven, by her feelings of desire. He smiled and held out his arms to her and she walked boldly into his embrace. Once again their lips met and the rest of the world fell away. This kiss was not like the greedy passion-filled kisses in her room. This kiss was filled with the promise of other tenderness and love making to come. Many moments later they pulled apart. He picked up her bag and slid his arm across her shoulders. "Why don't I show you where to put your stuff while I get us another bottle of wine?" he said as he brushed his lips against her hair. They walked through the bungalow to his bedroom. One of the largest beds Dana had ever seen was situated in the middle of the room. It had white netting hung from the ceiling and down along the four posters of the bed frame. It was a bed that looked as if a major seduction had already been planned. "Um, did I tell you this room was designed for an old guy named Hugh Hefner? I just lease the bungalow from the hotel, I don't lay claim to the interior design," he laughed as he looked at the room with fresh eyes. It was important to him that she realized he wasn't the kind of guy who would design his home with sex in mind. Dana laughed with him, but said, "The room is quite lovely. The bed will do nicely, I would think." Logan grinned and squeezed her hand before returning to the kitchen. Dana stood in the center of the large room and looked around. She was as impressed as she was surprised. Every aspect of the room seemed to be designed with all the senses in mind. Visually, the room had a panoramic view of the ocean and beach. All the furnishings were lavish yet soothing to the eye. The floor was bare wood that had been smoothed to the texture of silk. All the colors were exotic yet subtle, and the bed, huge and ungainly as it first appeared, was dressed in bedding that quietly seduced the senses and beckoned her. Logan stood at the door watching Dana inspect the room. Where he lived had never mattered before, but for some reason it was imperative that she approve of this room. He must have made a noise of some kind because she turned to smile at him. "I like it. At first it seems to be a bit much, but I can see how you could be very comfortable here." Logan smiled back crossing to the nightstand to pour the wine. He handed a glass to Dana and led her to the loveseat by the French doors. "Here's to tonight." They both sipped the wine for a few minutes. The comfortable silence stretched into uneasy minutes. Logan sighed, put his glass down, and took Dana's from her hand. He opened her fingers and turned her hand over, stroking it with his own fingers gently. Looking deeply into her eyes he began to speak again in that low, sexy growl that seemed to be directed only to her heart and regions south. "My first book was a thriller about a murderer that stalked the employees of a traveling carnival. Because it was my first book, I did a lot of research, probably a lot more than necessary. I traveled with this little carnival for a month that summer. I met a woman whose job it was to read palms, amongst other activities, and she told me that of all the lines on the palm, the love line was the most important. One could live a long healthy life, but without a strong love in that long life, it would be more like a sentence to hell than a blessing." He studied her palm and then bent to kiss it. "You have a very deep and long love line, Dana." His breath caressed her palm gently as he began to kiss her hand continuing up her arm, a soft kiss to her wrist, a little lick and a kiss on the soft underside of her forearm. The exposed skin of her inner elbow was laved with kisses all soft and gentle and on up her arm to her shoulder. Dana was shocked at the feelings these soft kisses were evoking in her body. "What does your love line tell about you, Logan?" She tried to gather her wits about her. "My love line is deep, but interrupted. My fate line intersects it at almost mid point. It was a dark sign to my palmist friend," Logan said as he began to kiss her arm again. Each kiss placed on her skin was like fire and ice at the same time. Small shivers of delight raced up her arm and fed her desire with each delicate touch of his lips. When he reached her neck, she was unable to hold her head up any longer and it dropped back to expose the entire length of her throat to him. His lips at the jointure of her shoulder and neck caused her body to cease responding to her direction and yield only to desire. She could hear him now that his lips were on her neck. The subtle vibrations she felt were actually words, love words. Each time his lips caressed her skin he spoke a tender word of passion. A soft groan escaped her lips. It seemed to draw his kisses to her mouth. His path continued up her neck and after hesitating only for a moment/century at the shadow of her jaw, trailed across her face to reach her open lips. Once again the meeting of their lips generated enough electricity to light a small city. Too quickly, he slowed the avalanche of desire. Lips that had been feasting on hers just seconds before moved to define the contours of her face. His feather-soft kisses dusted her cheeks and her brows, her chin and her nose, caressing each small freckle he spotted. He moved to cover her eyes with sweet lingering kisses. She couldn't find the energy or desire to open them again. He had kissed her senseless. She could feel his eyes gazing at her face now framed by his hands. The Sensible Dana in her wanted to open her eyes and to move away, to take control of the flow of their joining or to end it. The Sensual Dana aided by all her collective senses took a vote and decided to lock Sensible Dana up for the duration of the evening. She smiled. As she finally made this decision, she sighed deeply and her breath came out with a small hitch of desire. "Dana," Logan growled. "Dana, open your eyes." She could not open her eyes. To do so would let him glimpse her soul, her desire. He would know that Sensual Dana was in charge of her body right now. "Dana," Logan softly coaxed. "Open to me, Dana." His thumbs caressed her cheeks. Once again she resisted. Another small smile turned up the corners of her lips. She shook her head gently. The gauntlet had been thrown down. "Dana, open your eyes." Logan's voice held a smile. "You know you want to." His fingers smoothed the skin of her cheeks and brushed against her ears as he slid loose strands of her hair behind them. "Can Dana come out to play?" His soft growl changed to a teasing whisper. The soft kisses began again. "Dana," he whispered. "Dana, don't hide from me now, not now when we're so close." The last was said with such wistful sorrow that it shattered the playful but willful desire to take control that she had been holding on to. She opened her eyes slowly, still somewhat reluctant to look him directly in the eyes. Since they were sitting apart slightly, the first thing that her lowered eyes saw was the evidence of his passion straining against his jeans. She snapped her eyes to his and saw the smile of recognition on his face. She tried to stop the blush that flared across her cheeks to no avail. Well, at least he was smiling again. When her eyes met his, at last, she could feel the instant he recognized that Sensual Dana now was in control. His breathing changed, as did the color of his eyes. They burned totally black. All recognizable color was hidden by the dilation of his pupils. She had been kissed by more than a few men in her life, but only one other man had brought fun and playfulness into their kisses along with passion and desire. Mulder had shown her that passion without play was an incomplete emotion. Perhaps that was why the one or two kisses of other men she had allowed after him had left her cold until now. Logan stirred her playful nature to life. She began to kiss every part of him that she could reach. Their soft, playful kisses built and grew a life of their own as their bodies finally met and clung together. He pulled her on his lap, letting her legs straddle his and his erection pressed against her abdomen. Suddenly it was too much for Dana. She wrenched her lips from his, breathing heavily. She was overwhelmed by the feelings of desire and passion that raged through her, yet there was another feeling. One that was hard to identify until Logan's hand rose to unbutton her shirt and she reacted with a jump backwards. Sheer unadulterated panic now ruled her mind. "God, what am I thinking? I can't do this. I can't." Dana turned away to look for her bag and the quickest path to the door. "Dana? What do you mean? You can't do this? What are you afraid of?" Logan spoke in a soothing voice that could ease a suicide jumper off the roof of a building. Only his voice kept her from fleeing. Dana stood with her back to him, looking out at the ocean. She felt like a fool, but she was honest enough with herself to admit she owed Logan an explanation before she left. "Logan," she said as she turned and looked into his eyes. "You do realize I was an FBI Special Agent for over ten years?" "Yes. What does that have to do with us?" His response underscored his confusion. "If you looked in my medical record you would note that during my tenure I was shot four times, stabbed, clawed and bitten numerous times. That's just for starters. I haven't even mentioned my stretch marks or my cesarean-section scar. The truth is, Logan, I am a veritable roadmap of scars. It never bothered me with Mulder. He was with me when I experienced almost all of them and they represented a bond between us that needed no explanation, created no embarrassment. I don't think I can bare my body to you. It's not just the twenty years difference." "Fifteen," he interrupted her. "Sixteen in June," she said as he frowned at her. "All right, the almost sixteen years difference between us, it's the life that was experienced in that period." She turned away from him again and said, "I'm sorry." She walked toward the door of the bedroom, suitcase in hand, but Logan's voice stopped her. "So, that's it? You decide your body will repulse me and you just leave? You decide? It's not up to you to decide. Do you really think I'm THAT shallow? You haven't struck me as vain woman. So what's this really about?" She could hear the anger that was building in his voice yet he did not raise the decibel level above a conversational tone. "You're not the only one with scars, Dana." His voice was quietly accusing. She turned to face him as he spoke. He ripped off his shirt and pointed to his left shoulder. "Looks like a puncture wound of some kind. I don't know. I can't remember any confrontation or relationship that would have ended with a wound to the shoulder." He quickly unzipped his pants and said, "There's another one that the doctor says looks more like a bullet wound here on my thigh. Not too many stockbrokers who weren't in the service have these." He turned and heard her gasp as she took two steps closer. "I have this little reminder from the shipwreck. They're faint now compared to when I was found. The doctors at first thought that these were scars from a severe whipping or torture. Since there's nothing in my past to suggest how this could have happened, they have since assumed that these came from being tumbled in the undertow against the coral that surrounds the island, the same thing for the scars on my chest and the circle of scars around both my ankles and wrists." He turned back to face Dana. "I had scars on my face. Hell, this isn't even my original face. According to pictures I have from before, I had to have extensive plastic surgery, the coral and the crabs there too, I suspect. None of this visible scaring remains a problem. It's just me. I can't remember what I looked like or felt like before. I have mysterious aches and pains and sometimes, I have nightmares I cannot explain or escape. They're just another type of scar. I can live with all of these scars, they're just external trappings." He took a step closer to her. "The scar that refuses to heal is the abject emptiness my memory loss has created in my life. It's the only scar I cannot heal alone." He closed the final distance between them, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I mentioned not trusting people easily and the experiences I had right after I published my first best seller. I dated, at the behest of my publisher, a number of women who made it all too obvious they were interested in me. Mostly it was for publicity occasions, to be seen by the press. Some of the women were cold and only calculating the next rung up the ladder to further their own careers. Some wanted to bag a rich husband. Some looked at me like I was a fresh piece of meat up for grabs and wanted to be the first to bed the new golden boy," he said, and grinned wryly down at his boxer clad self. "Can we at least go sit down while I bare my soul? I've already shown you most of my body." Dana put her bag down by the door and turned to precede him to the patio. They both sat in the moonlight for a few minutes, enjoying the sound of the ocean. Logan's voice broke the silence. "Bragging rights," he said. "That's what some were after." Dana finally spoke, "What were you after?" "It was hard to define at first. My publisher was from the old school and just wanted to keep me happy. He thought the way to maintain a happy writer was to get him laid. I felt guilty about wanting a relationship so soon after my wife and child had died, but truthfully ... it's hard to mourn what you can't remember." He shrugged and said, "I knew I was lonely, I thought I wanted the comfort of a woman. I thought that perhaps, in time, one of the ladies so eager to meet me would be the right one and could fill the empty space that seemed to consume me, so I agreed to start dating." Logan reached over and plucked a thick strand of her hair from her face, slowly rubbing it between his fingers and thumb before smoothing it behind her ear again. "The problem was I found out I wasn't just seeking sexual release. I wanted a relationship with someone. All they wanted was what I could give them, security, status, sex. The thought of touching any one of those leeches sexually left me cold. When I refused to ... shall we say, consummate the relationships after the first one or two, they each and every one left in a huff, letting my poor publisher bear the brunt of their wrath. I was labeled 'probably gay' or a 'misogynist', and only a very costly publicity campaign highlighting the grieving widower and his lost family salvaged the macho public image my publisher and my publicist had fabricated for me. "I didn't care. I was already hidden away down here pounding away at the computer, working to complete my second book. I was literally buried in my work." Logan grinned at her look of inquiry. "That's a weak attempt at a joke. It was about two children of a very wealthy family that were kidnapped and well, buried alive." For some reason, Logan was relieved when Dana smiled at his joke. Again they were silent for a few moments. The sound of the ocean filled the night. "Dana, I told you about all this for a reason. We all have scars. Some come with the job or with life, but they accumulate. If you live, you cannot escape them. I didn't ask you to come back here with me because I thought your body would be as perfect as a Barbie doll. I won't try to kid you; I am attracted to your body. I've seen you in a bathing suit, and I liked what I saw, very much. I find everything about your external package alluring, but it's not why I want you. Beautiful women are a dime a dozen. It's what's inside that counts. "I don't know how much you've thought about the hours we have spent together, but I can't think of anything else. It's as if you are the elusive dream I've been searching for, my El Dorado, my Holy Grail, my Dulcinea. I listen to you and laugh with you and look at you and all I can think about is one thing, forever. "I don't want to scare you off, but I cannot ignore the driving need I feel to connect with you, make love to you. I find it almost impossible to keep my hands to myself when I'm around you. Each time we've touched, even casually, there's been a bolt of electricity between us. You've felt it too! "You intrigue me, Dana. You are so strong, intelligent, analytical, and consider your thoughts before speaking your mind. Yet, I sense from our discussions, your love for your children, their father, your entire family is straight from your heart, unconditional and endless. Your loyalty to those you love shines from every pore of your delicious body. "I have this consuming need to explore you, to taste you, to immerse my body and spirit in you, to fill my empty soul with your essence. I have this shameless need to become a part of your life that you cannot live without. Dana, please stay." Logan held his hand out to her. "Please don't let your fear tear us apart before we have a chance to be together. "I don't know how long this will last. It could be for the rest of your vacation, or it could be for the rest of our lives, but please, please, let me love you." Through this entire soliloquy, Dana had remained silent. She had no words for all the emotions that were flooding her heart. This man had lived through so much pain in his life, pain with which she could empathize. The need to soothe and comfort his soul burned in her heart, as brightly as her desire for his body burned in her blood. It would have been easier to give up Will or Gabby than to say no the entreaty in his eyes. She had the distinct feeling that he had never opened his heart to anyone as he had just done for her. She was still afraid, but she was intrigued. She was also more sexually aroused than she had been since Mul ... since before Gabby was born. Everything she had decided since she had been confronted with the reality that it was time to move on in her life raced through her brain, as did her Mother's words. Ever the careful one, she considered all the options and finally came to a decision. She slowly raised her hand and placed her trembling fingers in his. He gently pulled her to his lap and wrapped his arms around her, trying to still the tremors of her body. He held her silently for a few minutes, not knowing who thank for this small miracle. She laid her head on his chest with her nose buried in the crease of his neck and shoulder when she spoke. "I can't promise a long-term commitment to you Logan, but I can offer now. I ... I haven't been with anyone since Mulder. I'm very nervous." His hands began to slowly rub up and down her back. She allowed herself to breath in the manly scent that was uniquely Logan and yet somehow, so familiar. She could feel his heart rate increasing with the contact of her breath on his bare skin. Almost against her own violation, she began to feather kisses on his collarbone, upper chest and on upward to his neck. When her lips found the pulse point throbbing there, she began to alternate her kisses with small sucking and biting caresses. Logan groaned and quickly rose from the chair with her in his arms. "Dana, this is probably the last coherent moment I'm going to have for some time, so I need to ask you this now. Are you sure? Will you let me make love to you? I need to know now, because in about two seconds I'm going to take you to that big, obscene bed and make love to you until tomorrow." She pulled slightly away from him to look into his eyes. "Yes and yes, but..." He groaned "Please, no buts!" "I was going to say, it's already tomorrow," she said as she smiled mischievously. Logan groaned at her joke. "So, that's the way it's going to be? I'll let you decide when tomorrow arrives; I'll be too busy loving you." He carried her across the terrace to the open door of the bedroom. He let her body slide down his as he lowered her to her feet beside the bed. Logan's hands touched her everywhere, stroking, melting clothing away as they traveled over the territory he had only caressed with eyes before now. He began to softly murmur words of desire and adulation to her. His touch was tender, gentle, as if she were too delicate for deeper passion. She would have none of it. Her mouth latched on to his and the only thing that broke the kiss was the need to breathe. The soft, almost fragile woman that Logan dreamed of seducing suddenly turned into a wildcat. Dana felt the heat of passion rise up in her body and flow through her veins. She felt the desire she had denied for almost 14 years uncoil and become a wild thing. She pushed Logan down on the bed with their lips locked. Their bodies were entwined, lips and tongues, arms and legs. They continued kissing, and touching, and feeling. 'God, it felt so good to feel a man's touch again,' she thought. Passion swept through her, so overwhelming that she thought she was going to have her first orgasm from the touch of his hands on her breasts. She needed to slow down. She needed to regain control of this joining in order to absorb all the feelings and emotions that washed through her body. She wanted to make it last, to give Logan all the love and comfort she felt he so greatly needed and desired. "Logan, stop. Stop!" she said as his lips dipped to her breasts. "Dana?" His voice was a honeyed growl, languid with arousal and lust. He lowered his lips to her breast again. "Please, for me," she begged. "Let me explore you first. Please?" She groaned as he lifted his head from her breast, breaking the seal of his suckle with a soft pop. "Dana, you don't know what you're asking," he groaned. He lifted his glance to her eyes. There, he found desire and passion warred with something else, something he couldn't define. She mesmerized him. He could not deny her request. If this was what she needed, then he was willing to forgo his own exploration of her luscious body. He could wait until she indicated she was done, as long as it meant that she was going to keep touching him. He rolled over on his back and lifted his hips as he slid down his boxers. He could wait. He was speechless. He indicated his agreement with a swift nod of his head and then let his head fall back to lie still on the pillow with his eyes shut. She slid over to straddle his lower legs but did not move for what seemed to be an eternity. He finally couldn't stand the insecurity of not knowing what was going on. He opened his eyes and raised his head slightly. She was devouring his body with her eyes. He felt his cock, already hard, tighten and pull up closer to his stomach. He took the opportunity to have his first real look at her body. A smile slid to his lips as his eyes dipped to the juncture of her legs. "Would you like to share, Mr. Graham?" Dana said in her best snap-the-class-clown-back-into-line voice. Instead of wiping the smile from his face, her tone made him grin even wider. "Why, yes, Professor Scully, I would like to share, but I thought you were in charge here," Logan said, as he waggled his eyebrows at her. Her grin belied the previously spoken harsh words. "I was just admiring your body. You looked so good in your Speedo that I didn't think you could top it. You are magnificent naked and aroused. I was distracted and trying to get my bearings. Hmmm. Do I want to kiss you? Do I want to lick down your body starting at your lips? What should I kiss first? Your neck, chest, your beautiful flat stomach? Or should I follow that sexy line of hair that points to the one thing I hadn't seen until now? Do I want to take you into my mouth and ..." "Dana," he growled, his cock jerking as if beckoning her. "Ah yes, I know what I want to do first," she said as she grinned wickedly. She slid up his body, skin to skin and settled on top of him like a blanket. Her mouth inches from his. She began to breathe through her mouth as her excitement grew and made her lightheaded. The feeling of his erection nestled between her thighs made it difficult to continue, but she rose to the occasion, as had he, magnificently. She placed one small kiss on his forehead and drew back. "Oh, yeah, I know what I want to do." Her lips began to plant small kisses on his face in no discernable pattern. Forehead again, eyes, right and left, nose, check, chin, ear lobe, other ear lobe, softly drawing across his cheek again to his lips and lifting. She licked her lips as if anticipating her next move. She gazed directly into his eyes as she lowered her mouth to his. She swept her tongue over his lips and slid into the dark warm cavern that was Logan. Their tongues warred as they maintained the kiss for what seemed to be an eternity. She raised her head and was startled to see him looking directly at her. She smiled, her wicked grin, and lowered her head again. Kissing as she went, she once again worked her way down from his lips to his chin, his neck, his chest, right nipple, and left nipple. Sucking and licking, biting and kissing, she worked her way down his body. She let her hands roam as if they were moving of their own volition and continued down to his navel, stopping only when he raised his hand to stroke her back. A quelling 'Scully eyebrow' brought a smile to Logan's eyes. He raised his hands in surrender and wrapped his fingers around the wood of the headboard eliciting a kiss of approval from Dana. 'Just you wait, Professor Scully. My turn is coming,' he thought, just before she started to kiss him across his stomach and all rational thought fled. She surprised him then by moving off his legs and caressing his chest with her hand. She moved back as if waiting for his attention, and when his eyes rose from her breasts, she grinned at him. She lowered her lips to his ear and whispered for him to roll over on his stomach. His eyes widened and he had to ask, teasingly, "You do realize in my current state of arousal that could be quite painful?" She smiled and reached for a pillow. When he rose up and turned, she slid the pillow under his stomach, giving him a little more room to accommodate the proof of his desire for her. She hesitated for a few moments again, drinking in his body with her eyes. Her hands softly touched his shoulders and a gentle kiss was placed on his cheek and ear that he had turned to her, resting the other on his folded hands, elbows akimbo. She began to once again kiss, suck, bite, and lave every inch of his back and shoulders as she moved slowly down to his waist. Once in a while he could feel her tongue follow the faint ridge of one of the scars on his back as if trying to heal it and remove all memory of pain that had been inflicted, and it touched his heart. Her kiss moved to the dimples on his lower back that separated and accentuated the muscular structure of his upper back and buttocks. Her hand began to massage down his buttocks to his upper thighs. Her lips followed. His groan and small movement to pull away made her raise her head. "Don't make me come up there to remind you to hold still, Logan." She grinned. "If you don't stop that, I'm not going to be any good to you for the next hour or two, Dana. A man can only take so much," he groaned again, moving his hips. "Fair enough," she said. She blew against the very center of the 'V' at the top of his legs. Her warm breath caressed his balls and legs causing him to shiver and groan. "Dana!" "Okay, okay," she said and he could tell that she was grinning. Her kisses moved down his legs to stop at the back of his knees. He had never realized how sensitive he was there. Another groan escaped his lips. She moved back up his body and ran her hand under his stomach, gently pulling against him to indicate he should turn over onto his back. She pulled the pillow away and held it against her chest for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face. 'There was so much to learn about this woman,' Logan thought. 'Will I have enough time to learn it all? Would eternity be enough time?' Dana smiled gently at him again and discarded the pillow. She stretched out her hands and gently stroked his upper thighs. She leaned over further and allowed her breasts to rub again the tip of his penis, smearing the pre-cum that appeared first on her right nipple, then on her left. A groan of passion escaped her lips. As quickly as the gentle look had flashed over her face, it was gone and a new expression appeared. She quickly moved to kiss his lips again and soon they were both lost in the kiss for a long moment. Her hand moved down his body to touch his cock. It twitched against her palm. She pulled back from the kiss ending it with his lips between her teeth for a small nibble. She leaned back, gazing at his body in appreciation, and then did something so unexpected, so exciting, and so hot, he was unable to do anything but watch. She lifted the hand that had stroked his penis to her mouth and licked her palm, never taking her eyes off his face. She moved her moist hand back to hover just above his cock, once again licking her other palm and placing them both along the length of him. He felt as if a charge of electricity had been sent through him. Every hair on his body stood on end. His eyes darkened even more as his pupils dilated and his lids narrowed. He once again moved his hands to the rails on the headboard, this time to hang on for dear life as much as to keep himself from touching her. She licked her lips and lowered her head to his cock. Her fingers closed around the length of him and began to stroke him slowly, squeezing and caressing him with each stoke up and down. Her tongue lapped the length and breadth of him not already covered by her hands, moving to lave the head, rimming the indention of his circumcision scar. The small drops of liquid that appeared were teased off his cock with the tip of her tongue. She licked and kissed him until the groans she heard coming from his throat convinced her he was sufficiently aroused. With a small chuckle she took him fully into her mouth, slowly moving up and down. She pulled him deeper and deeper, the size of him filling her. Her hands moved away as he slid farther and farther into her throat. He was longer and thicker in diameter than the average man. It seemed fitting since everything about him seemed to be better, bigger, and larger than life. Oral sex had only been a satisfying experience for her with Mulder. Visions of taking Logan this way began to fill her head, as she realized that it would be the same with Logan. She suddenly felt wild and uninhibited, with a deep, driving need to feel his hot cum shooting into her mouth. She wanted to taste the very essence of him. She wanted, she needed, she desired. The pleasure she felt as she moved up and down on his throbbing cock made her hum. Her ministrations and the vibrations of her humming were driving him crazy. Logan fought for control as she moved her fingers to caress his balls. She let her right hand move lower to the stretch of skin between his sac and his anus, stroking and exciting him further. His moans of excitement seemed to spur her efforts on. She brought him to the very edge of release and back several times. She seemed to know instinctively exactly when to stop, when to change the rhythm, when to speed up, to keep him just this side of crazy. He found he couldn't control the movement of his hands. They lowered to her head, not to push or guide, but to caress her silky hair. His breathing became increasingly erratic, as did the movement of his hips. He opened his mouth and groaned through his clenched teeth. "Dana, I'm going to come. Dana!" Her only response was a small groan echoing his. His roar of release filled the room as his balls contracted and a stream of cum shot into her mouth, so thick and hard she couldn't swallow it fast enough. It dripped down his cock escaping her lips and tongue, only to be sweetly kissed and lapped up by the very mouth that had brought it into existence. It felt like he couldn't breathe deeply enough to maintain consciousness. There were stars before his eyes and his head was spinning slightly. He realized he was hyperventilating and worked to regulate his breath. He closed his eyes and smiled as he felt her slide up his body and snuggle into the crook of his arm. He turned into her slightly, pulling her close and closed the connection with his other arm. He sprinkled soft kisses on her face and hair. "Oh my God, Dana! That was the most incredible experience of my life," Logan sighed. "I'll bet you say that to all the girls," she said as she grinned and looked shyly into his eyes. Logan smiled gently at her but growled, "I have nothing to compare with that. That was fantastic, Dana." He hugged her a little tighter and kissed her. "However," he teased. "Let me qualify and quantify my remark. I do have an extensive education and have been told by a couple of my old buddies that prior to my memory loss, sexually explicit literature and entertainment of all venues were of interest to me. I can't believe that in my entire active or passive interaction with sex, I have ever experienced anything as exciting and draining as the last few minutes of our loving. If this is a sample of the rest of the night, I may want to alert the 911 operators to stand by." Dana's laughter interrupted his tease. He threw a mock-frown at her and continued. "You are incredible. Are you sure you're a professor? Do you moonlight at 1-900- HotBabe?" he said teasingly as he began to stroke her sides, letting his fingers tickle along her ribs. "Logan! Stop!" "Ticklish?" "Not normally, but it seems that there's this incredibly attractive man who is making all my nerve endings hypersensitive right now," she said with a smile against his chest as she began to crawl over him and off the bed. "Going somewhere?" Logan growled. "Bathroom. Be right back." Logan lay there for a few moments contemplating the last hour. He was sure that it had been the best sixty minutes of his life, remembered and forgotten-time combined. He was suddenly energized. He jumped out of bed and pulled on his boxers. "Dana, do you want something to drink?" he called through the bathroom door. "Just a glass of ice water for me, please, and my bag if you don't mind," she said. He walked swiftly to the door and swooped up her bag, returning it to the bathroom door. He knocked, suddenly shy, and placed it into the hand she slid through the crack of the opened door. "I'll be right back," he said as he walked towards the kitchen, humming quietly as he prepared their drinks. Ice water in hand, he moved to the living room and opened the cabinet to the impressive stereo system. He selected a station playing classical music and switched the controls to the speakers in the bedroom. He continued back to the bedroom and halted in the doorway. She was out of the bathroom, standing by the massive doors to the terrace. She had pulled his shirt on and was standing there staring out at the sea. Fear clutched his heart. From his position, her body language told him she was ready to flee. She turned and saw him standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the dim light from the hallway. She smiled softly and his heart eased. She was not going to run away. She was just feeling a little shy after what they had shared. Her insecurity touched his heart. He could understand it. Hadn't he been terrified she was going to leave just now? "Hi!" she greeted him. "Hi. I have the ice water you wanted. Do you like the music? I have lots of other choices if you want me to change it." "No, its fine, I'm fine. Uh, thank you." She turned away blushing. "Dana, don't do this." He moved closer to her, putting the glasses down on the table by the foot of the bed. "Do what?" "Don't be embarrassed with me." "Easier said than done," she mumbled. "Come on, talk to me," he said as he moved to stand behind her wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him. He put his chin on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Dana, you can trust me. Tell me what's going on in that intelligent mind of yours." A few moments passed before she was able to turn in his arms and look up into his eyes. "I've told you I haven't been with anyone but Mulder in over twenty years. I also told you that there were only a handful of men before him." She hesitated before continuing. "I am embarrassed by my actions tonight," she confessed. "I've never done anything like that with a stranger in my entire life. It took me seven years of verbal foreplay with Mulder to even begin a physical relationship." She said slowly, "The thing is, you don't feel like a stranger." She moaned, "I don't know what possessed me. It's as if I were someone else and all the things we did were familiar, almost expected. I keep thinking you must be disappointed in me and think that I'm lying when I say I'm afraid. Those weren't the actions of woman who was afraid," she said burying her face in his chest. Logan tightened his arms around her and thought about her words for a moment. He leaned back so that he could look at her face as he said, "I hope those were the actions of an incredibility beautiful woman who was feeling completely turned on by the man she was with." His voice rang with male pride as he continued, "I hope those feelings and actions will be repeated, with variations, constantly and consistently over the next few days." Her eyes snapped up to look into his again, a smile quivered on her lips. They gazed at each other for long minutes before she nodded slightly, releasing the cold knot of fear that had been forming in his gut. He lowered his lips to hers claiming them with a soft, sweet kiss. As before, they were unable to maintain the gentleness of the kiss for long. His tongue was soon plunging into her mouth and tangling with hers. Their breathing became ragged again. They pulled apart and he stepped slowly back toward the bed running his hand down her arm to lightly clasp her fingers and pull him with her. He bumped against the bed with the back of his legs and stopped, smiling at her. He raised his hands to cup her face and again kissed her deeply. She responded by breaking the kiss to swiftly move backwards a step, lowering her hands, she peeled off his tee shirt. She slid against him again to claim the feeling of his bare skin against hers and the kiss resumed. At some point they tumbled back onto bed together, still kissing. Eventually, they came up for air. Logan kissed her on the tip of her nose and crawled to the end of the bed to retrieve the two glasses of water from the table. "I don't know about you, but I think I need that drink of ice water to cool me down," he said playfully as he handed her one of the frosty glasses. She moved slightly higher in the bed and took a few sips of the water. She tensed as she noticed him staring at her. She took a quick peek at his boxers to confirm his desire for her. The bulge there made her wet. 'Well, he certainly has the rejuvenation time of a man in his thirties,' she thought. She looked back into his eyes and the need and desire displayed there openly was almost frightening. She felt hot all over but she shivered in anticipation, licking her lips. This spurred him into action. He slowly lowered the glass from his lips to caress her heated face with the iced surface. She groaned in pleasure from the juxtaposition of the heat and the cold against her sensitive skin. Her eyes opened wider as she saw his hand lower the glass toward her breasts. She whimpered in anticipation of the icy touch on her breast. He moved the cold glass around her nipples, not touching the sensitive tips directly. He moved the glass away and began to kiss her breasts moving from one to the other with equal passion. He placed the glass on the table by the bed and plunged his fingers into the icy water pulling out an ice cube. He held the cube in his heated fingers and let the drops of cold water drip on each of her nipples, watching the shivers of delight raise the nipples to a new size and length. He again lowered his head to taste her breasts, and then moved back. He ran the quickly melting ice cube around her lips and down her neck again. Moving slightly back, he made sure she was watching as he sucked the ice cube into his mouth, across his full, exciting lips and then once again lowered his head to her breast. The sensation of his beautiful, hot mouth and the ice cube it contained suckling at each of her breasts in turn made her begin to groan louder and move her legs to try, somehow, to relieve the heat that had poured into her core. Logan was fighting for control. The level of passion she had brought him to and then drained from him was fresh in his mind. He wanted to give her back 200% of the pleasure she had given him. He felt a rush of desire and was surprised that she had aroused him so quickly again after release. He knew that this intense level of passion was impossible to maintain in a relationship, but he was confident that they would never be able to touch each other without the charge of electricity that sizzled between them. All too quickly the ice cube melted, victim of a combination of the heat of his mouth, her breast, and the passion that they both felt. He continued kissing her breasts, running his hands up and down her body. He slid off the bed to step out of his boxers again. She was on her back, eyes sketching down his body. She licked her lips when she hesitated at his erection and he gave a grunt of arousal. He climbed back on the bed and spread his body out over hers. Her arms and legs automatically came around him, accepting him, wanting him. He smiled down at her, once again realizing how small she actually was. When she was vertical, her presence was so large that her petite height was a secondary consideration. Lying beneath him, she was a delicate, almost tiny woman. He pushed himself up on his elbows, letting his erection probe and tease the lips of her labia as he stared down at her. He grinned as he had these thoughts, knowing instinctively that she would probably kick him out of bed and leave if she knew what he was thinking. He continued to stare at her face, taking in each facet, and thinking how lovely she was but how much of her beauty came from within. Her courage and character made her a giant among women. Her beauty intrigued him. Her intelligence and morality glowed from her eyes and was timeless. Dana Scully was a woman that would be beautiful when she was 90. "Checking out my wrinkles, Logan?" she said with a self- depreciating grin. Startled, he asked, "Why do you say that, Dana?" "You were staring at me with a distracted look on your face." "What kind of look are you talking about?" he said as he laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. "Well, not the look of a man that was about to ravish a woman," she grumbled. "If I tell you what I was thinking, you would probably throw me out of bed," he teased. Her eyebrow rose and he smiled wider. "What?" she demanded. "It just hit me again what a petite woman you actually are," he partially admitted his thoughts. "Small, but mighty, that's me," she grinned. "Didn't anyone ever tell you good things come in small packages?" "I ... I don't know," he said sadly. "Oh, Logan, I'm sorry," Dana said as she saw the pained expression her flippant question caused. She pulled him down to rest against her and hugged him tightly. "I didn't think before I said that. Please forgive me." They embraced for a moment and after a bit, he leaned back again. "I'm the one that's sorry," he said. "I've gotten used to my lack of memories." At her look of disbelief he said, "Really. It's just being here with you and having all these new feelings reminds me of all that I must have forgotten. I'm sorry. I think you're good for me." "Why is that?" she asked. "I feel a connection with you, like I've known you before. That sounds silly, but you make me want to look to the future." "And that's a good thing?" she whispered. "Yes," he said as he nuzzled her, "A very good thing." They began to kiss again, and soon that wasn't enough. He pulled away from her and got up. He walked a few steps over to the Officer's Bar in front of one of the glass walls. He brought back a beautifully carved, wooden bowl back to the bed. Dana was intrigued. What was he doing? He sat down and offered her the bowl. "Take your pick," he said as he climbed back onto the bed. "We have them in every color, flavor and size." She looked down at the contents of the bowl and realized that instead of the candy she originally had assumed was in the bowl when she had taken her first glance at the room, there were condoms. He was right. There literally was every size, color flavor and style of condom anyone could want. She let out an embarrassed giggle and said, "Did you ...?" "Hold it!" he said, interrupting. "I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I did NOT buy these thinking that I was going to get lucky with you tonight. They come with the bungalow. And, for your information, I've never had a reason to use them before tonight." He flashed a grin but then became sober again. "I don't remember enough of my life to take a chance with your health," he explained. She smiled back at him and peered down into the bowl, pretending it was a box of fine chocolates she was contemplating. She teasingly considered several and rejected them for various reasons when she finally made her choice, holding it up as if it were a prize at the fair. They both started laughing and he almost spilled the entire bowl before he could get it off the bed and put away. Their laughter slowed and the desire that they had felt all evening took over again. He climbed back on the bed and began kissing her. Her hands roamed his body and she excited him with her small sighs and grunts of pleasure as he touched and stroked and kissed her in return. "Dana," he groaned as she slid her hand up and down his cock. "I want you, Logan." "Damn," he said as he tried to tear open the small foil packet with shaking hands. "You'd think I'd never done this before." She kissed him and took the packet from his hands. She tore it open easily and eased the condom down his huge cock. She was glad she'd chosen one of the largest sizes available. He moved back over her, kissing her deeply. She pulled him down on her and wrapped her arms and legs around him again. He leaned to the side and let his hand slide down her body to her sex. He gently stroked her clit and slid his fingers down and inside her, relieved when he felt the copious liquid, testament of her arousal. He settled back down on her and nudged his cock against the lips of her opening gently. She smiled up at him and nodded. They never lost eye contact as he slid into her, slowly, allowing her time to adjust to his size. "Logan, you feel incredible," she groaned as he slid another inch into her. He was trembling with repressed need. Mentally he wanted to go slow, take his time, and let her adjust. However, his body was fighting his good intentions. He felt the need to plunge into her, to feel his entire cock sheathed inside her, to feel the friction as he pulled out and then pushed in again. Sweat popped out on his face and body as he fought against his animal urges. Dana lifted up and kissed him. She nuzzled his jaw and neck. "More," she said as she laid back and lifted her hips. He fought against taking her words literally and plunging into her. He slid in a little farther to relieve some of the pressure he was feeling and then slid back out and in again. This time he was almost fully seated inside her. He had a passing thought, wishing he didn't have to use the condom that kept him from feeling her silky walls against him, but he shook it off. Too much had happened to him that he didn't remember about his life and a few things that he unfortunately did. He chastised himself for accepting her blowjob before. He should have considered her exposure to his past and stopped her. These fleeting thoughts were buried in a new flood of sensation as he slid all the way into her body. Their mutual groan of satisfaction was long and loud. He was home. They smiled at each other again and then they began to move at the same moment. She was incredibly tight around him and he was once again afraid that he was hurting her. Dana was in tactile overload. His huge cock was filling her, stretching her, causing a pleasant ache in her vaginal walls. Her only thought was of how very good it felt to be held by a man again, be filled to overflowing again. She had a brief flash to her bittersweet memories of Mulder. Logan was as big as or bigger than Mulder had been. She quickly chastised herself for thinking of the past. She lifted her lips to Logan and groaned as he began to kiss her back passionately. "Dana, I have to move," he moaned as he began to stroke into her slowly. She caught her breath and tried to relax, allowing her body to feel his, to revel in the sensuality of his movements. "You are so beautiful," she whispered. "You fill me completely; your body feels wonderful against mine." Logan groaned and shifted back on his knees slightly, freeing his hand to stroke across her body as he kissed every part of her that he could reach. "Dana, you are so soft, so very beautiful," he said against her lips. "I want to stay inside you forever." She sighed against his lips and began to move her hips faster, wanting to feel more of him. He in turn, began to stroke into her harder, twisting his hips at the bottom of his downward thrust, creating an incredible tingling in her clit. They moved together as if they had been lovers for years. He would thrust and she would rise to meet him, sinking down to grip him again with the tight muscles of her vagina. She could feel her orgasm rising, building, and tingling throughout her entire body as the moments passed. She always felt a heat in her toes that would shoot up the front of her legs and zing through her entire body just before her orgasm. As her vaginal walls pulled and squeezed his cock, he felt himself grow impossibly harder. She was driving him crazy. He knew he wasn't going to last long and he slid his hand down to stroke her clit. "No, I don't need that. I'm almost there, Logan. Oh God! Yes!" she shrieked and her words excited him even further. He braced his arms and drove into her harder, faster, sending her freefalling into her orgasm. She trembled and shook. Her walls quaked around him, pulling him over the edge of the precipice with her. He bellowed, "Dana!" Her name was followed by a litany of love sounds that were universal in the language of lovers. He kissed her and fell off her, rolling to the side and taking her with him. He quickly disposed of the condom and rolled back to her. Their harsh breathing was the only sound other than the soft music and the soft whoosh of the waves hitting the shore. They snuggled together, despite their heat and sweat, gently rocking as their heartbeats slowed and their breathing was no longer labored. "That was incredible, Logan. Thank you," Dana said. "What are you thanking me for? I think this was mutually pleasurable, wasn't it?" She smiled against his chest and said, "Are you asking me if it was good for me?" "No ... well, yes." He laughed. "I guess I am." "Didn't I just say something about incredible?" she teased back. "Yeah, but as you pointed out, I don't have much experience to compare your reaction to," he laughed. "Amnesia and all that, you know." He waggled his eyebrows at her and they both burst into laughter. "Just for the records, Mr. Graham, you were wonderful, fantastic, magnificent," she said as she punctuated each word of praise with a kiss. "You weren't half bad yourself," he deadpanned. Her deep chuckle took him by surprise. It was a warm sexy sound that touched his heart. "What?" "You make me happy, Logan." "Ditto." They lay there together for a few moments more before rising and taking a shower together. Dana was glad that he didn't initiate another round of sex because she was sore and in need of rest. Logan was happy just to wash her, letting his hand stroke all over her body, exploring and kissing every inch he could reach. They dried off and climbed back into bed just before the sun was rising. "Do you need me to pull the blinds?" he asked as they spooned on the bed. Dana was floating towards sleep as the sun rose, tinting the sky with colors never seen at home. Logan was wrapped against her back, his heat warming her and making her drowsier by the moment. "No, I want to watch the ocean as I fall asleep." "I like to watch it too," he said. He could feel her relaxing as he continued to talk to her. "It always reminds me of comfort. I know I should probably hate the ocean, but I can't." He lifted up enough to see that her eyes had closed and her breathing was soft and even. "You remind me of the ocean, Dana, soft and gentle as the waves on a calm day, but you have hidden depths." He kissed her ear and let his nose snuggle into her hair as he lay back down on her pillow. "I'm glad I found you, Dana Scully," he said just before he fell asleep. XXXXX Vacation Day 5 Wednesday 10:45 AM April 13, 2016 The Haven Hotel Bungalow #1 The Bermuda Islands Dana Scully woke up alone. She rolled over and saw a note on the nightstand right away. She smiled, thinking about how thoughtful Logan was. His note said that he was going out for a run and that there was a good breakfast waiting for her on the terrace. She dressed and walked out to see what he felt constituted a good breakfast. She picked up the portable phone and brought it with her, intending to check her messages and call home. She was surprised by the food arranged on the table. Logan had obviously ordered some of everything from room service. She filled her plate with a bagel and some of the amazing fruit spread that was a specialty of the hotel. She poured herself a cup of coffee and chose one of the fruit cups nestled in a carved block of ice that made up the centerpiece. She was duly impressed. She glanced at the rest of the offerings, a chafing dish of eggs benedict, pancakes and bacon attractively displayed on a plate next to a small microwave, and a stack of beautiful, light biscuits next to a fondue pot full of what looked like sausage gravy. There was enough food here to feed an army. She ate slowly, enjoying the beauty of the terrace beach and the ocean beyond. Eventually she saw Logan running back towards her up the beach. She picked up the phone and called Will and Gabby before he got back. She felt a strong need to contact them this morning. She chatted with Charlie for a few minutes while she waited for one of them to come to the phone. Charlie was excited about Bill moving back to the East coast. He and his wife had discussed renting an RV on Friday and driving all of them back to Washington and spending some time with Maggie and Bill's family before the spring break was over. He said that Will and Gabby were as excited as their boys about the adventure. Dana was not happy that Bill would be around her children without her there, but after a few minutes of listening to their excitement she buried her misgivings and agreed that it sounded like a great way to spend their second week of vacation. They asked her if she wanted to come home earlier, but she surprised herself with her response. As much as she wanted to see her children, she didn't want to leave the bubble of happiness she had found with this beautiful younger man. There would be plenty of days she could be alone with Will and Gabby in the future. Her time with Logan was finite, and she found she felt no guilt about staying to luxuriate in every precious moment. They lived just a few miles from one another back home, but their life styles were radically different. When her vacation was over, the relationship would end and their paths would probably never cross again. "No, I think a vacation is just what I needed. I'll be home a week from Friday. This has turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for me. You two have fun with the rest of the family." She smiled at Logan as he walked up on the patio and grinned at her statement. He helped himself to a huge plate of food and sat down next to her while she finished her conversation. "Bye Will. Bye Gabby. I love you, both," she said. She smiled happily as she set the phone down. "So, a vacation is just what you needed? Hmmm?" he teased. "Yes," she said primly. "And here I thought I had something to do with the roses in your cheeks." He placed his hand on his heart and gave her his best pout. "Modest, aren't you?" Dana laughed and started to eat the rest of her breakfast. He turned his pout into a puppy-dog look and she had to cave into his tease. She put her spoon down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She held his hand and clasped it in hers to her breast, a wicked smile on her lips. "Maybe it's the vacation and maybe it's the vacation romance," she teased. He squeezed her hand and slid his fingers over to caress her right breast. Now he was the one grinning and he gave her a smirk before pulling away and digging into his breakfast. She stared at him through heavy-lidded eyes for a moment before finally realizing she was daydreaming. "Did you have plans for today?" he asked after a few moments. "No, I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I wasn't joking about this vacation being what I needed. I've been running at full throttle for so long, I forgot how great it is to slow down and relax. Did you have something in mind?" Her heart was just beginning to settle down from the rush she felt at his touch. She decided two could play this game and her question seemed to delight him. "I do, actually. I have a schedule I need to keep to insure that I meet my deadlines for my next book with my editor. I have to work at least four hours a day to get done by next week." They talked a little bit about his book and the actual 'work' of writing. They had finished their breakfast and were still talking about possible activities as the houseboy came to clear the dishes. "You seem to enjoy the ocean, Dana. I thought you might enjoy renting a sloop and sailing down the coast this afternoon. There are several small cays that are perfect for a picnic. Maybe we could do some snorkeling." He watched her face for her reaction to his suggestion. She looked at him, trying to judge the meaning behind his words. She saw nothing in his expression that gave away his feelings so she had to ask. "Are you sure you want to go out on the water, especially here?" He gave her a quizzical look and then realization dawned on his face. "Are you asking if I am afraid of the water and only offering because I think it's something you would like?" he asked. "Well, the thought did cross my mind," she said. "One would think that I would have a fear of water, much like that of a pilot that's been in a plane crash. Often they refuse to fly again, even as a passenger," he mused. "Nevertheless, I don't have any residual fear of the water. I think it has something to do with not remembering anything before I woke up. I've not had a minute of discomfort on the water. I swim regularly and in fact I've gone out several times with other guests for outings." "Well in that case, I'd love to," she replied happily. "I love sailing, especially in an area this beautiful, and I've wanted to try snorkeling since I got here." "Great, let me make a few calls and we can take off in about five hours. Do you have enough to keep you busy here, or would you want me to call for a cart so you can go into town?" "I saw a lovely hammock out there under the trees. Would you think I was a total slug if I said I just wanted to grab a book from your bungalow and go out and lounge around until you're ready to leave?" she asked with a smile. He kissed her fingers once again and stood up to pull her into his arms. "I'm glad you want to be here with me while I work. Please consider my home yours." They went into the house, Logan to get his laptop to start writing and Dana to find a book to read. Logan was pleasantly surprised he was able to concentrate on his book with her sitting only yards away from him. He had fallen behind on his scheduled production and was delighted with the finished pages he was able to write in his self-imposed time slot. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that Dana's presence was the main factor in his renewed success and hoped that it continued for the next few days while they were together. XXXXX Vacation Day 5 Wednesday 1:30 PM April 13, 2016 The Haven Hotel Bungalow #1 The Bermuda Islands True to his word, they were off on a rented sloop that had been delivered to them right after lunch. It was fully stocked and even came with a local man who would sail it for them. Even though Dana was qualified to sail the boat, she decided to go along with Logan's subtle plea that they use the professional crewman. Soon they were off, returning as the sun set over the ocean. Dana had kept sun block on, but was still faintly pink, especially in places that she usually never let the sun caress. They were both exhausted but happy as they showered and fell into bed to sleep. They had made love both in the water and on the boat earlier that day while the crewman slept. They felt the need to make it an early night. XXXXX Vacation Day 6 Thursday 10:45 AM April 14, 2016 The Haven Hotel Bungalow #1 The Bermuda Islands They had enjoyed their day on the sloop so much that they decided to book the boat for another two days. This time, after carefully checking the weather and the instruments on the rental, Dana captained the boat. Their days passed in a golden ribbon of time. Logan wrote in the early mornings, and the rest of the day they would spend together. They lost themselves in each other, swimming and snorkeling, shopping or visiting local sites of interest, eating and making love as the mood struck them. They were wrapped up in a fantasy world of happiness and, though both realized that there was a time limit on their paradise, neither wanted it to end. Unfortunately, it did. XXXXX Vacation Day 9 Sunday 7:45 PM April 17, 2016 The Haven Hotel The Bermuda Islands "Damn!" Dana slammed the phone down and returned to her packing. "What's wrong?" Logan asked as he stood there watching her as she threw her clothing into her luggage. "I missed the last scheduled flight to the mainland today. I can't get a ticket until tomorrow morning." She slammed the top of her suitcase down and hung her head. "I have to do something. Charlie said I needed to come home immediately. Will is in critical condition and I have to get home." She burst into tears and sank down to the floor beside the bed. "I should never have let them go on a vacation away from me. I should be home where I belong and this wouldn't have happened." "Dana, Dana, love, come here." Logan pulled her to her feet and tried to hug her. "No!" She pulled away and began to pace. "I have to think. I can't think when I'm near you." Logan smiled at the backhanded compliment and picked up the phone. "Fine." "What are you doing? I have to keep that line open in case Charlie calls!" "I'll be brief," he said, walking out on the terrace with the phone. Dana hurried to the bathroom to check a final time for anything she'd forgotten. She had left some of her clothing at Logan's bungalow, but she wasn't worried about them. It was just a few pieces of lingerie, a couple bathing suits, and a casual outfit or two. She needed to get off the island and back to Miami to catch a flight home. Charlie and family had rented a huge recreational vehicle and driven back to Baltimore safe and sound. However, someone, probably Bill, had decided that the Scully men needed to bond and had suggested a camping trip. They had driven the RV to the mountains of eastern Virginia and had actually been having a great time until the day the guys went rock climbing. The story wasn't clear about how it happened, but the results certainly were. Matthew and Will had taken a bad fall and were taken by helicopter to the nearest trauma hospital. After being stabilized, they were then sent on to Georgetown University Hospital, the best Trauma Unit on the eastern seaboard. Matthew had a concussion and a collapsed lung. Will had a concussion and internal injuries. Both boys were in ICU, but they expected to move Matthew to the Constant Care Unit within a day or two. Will, however, did not get off as easily as his cousin. His internal injuries had caused him to loose a lot of blood and due to his somewhat rare blood type, his condition was considered extremely critical. He was in dire need of blood donors. Dana knew she couldn't donate blood to him. Both of her children had the same blood type as their father, O negative. She desperately needed to get back to her son. They refused to allow Gabby to donate blood to her brother until her mother signed the consent forms. How could she have been such an irresponsible parent? She had been on a boat, fucking a man young enough to be her son while her real son was in the hospital, at death's door. Now she couldn't get to him until tomorrow and her guilt was tearing her apart. She finished scanning the room for her possessions and closed her smaller bag. She picked both pieces of luggage up along with her purse and headed for the door. Logan walked in from the terrace and said, "Hey! Where are you going?" "I don't know, to see if I can rent a boat or plane to take me back to Miami," she said. "Dana, stop!" "I can't stop, Logan. I need to get to my son! Don't you understand that?" Logan stepped in front of her just before she reached the door. "Get out of my way! I have to go," she said as she began to cry again. He pulled her into his arms and held on to her tightly. She struggled to get out of his arms, crying harder as each minute passed. She finally dropped her bags and purse and stood sobbing in his arms. "He's my little boy; I have to get to him." "I know, angel, I know," Logan soothed her. "You need to get to him and you will. I've made arrangements for a private jet to fly you to Miami. They'll be ready to leave in two hours." He picked her up and carried her back to the bed. "You need to rest for a few minutes until it's time to go. The hotel has called a limousine to take you to the airport." There was a knock on the door and he stepped away to answer it. A white-coated waiter from the hotel restaurant delivered a tray. "Dana, I took the liberty to order you a light meal before you leave," he said as he carried the tray to the table beside her bed. "I can't eat, Logan. I'm too worried about Will," she said as she dismissed his effort with a wave of her hand. "You have to keep your strength up, Dana. You didn't have supper yet and you need to be strong for William. Now, sit up and try some of this delicious food." She gave him a glare but did sit up. He had found the only reason she couldn't reject. He brought the tray over to the bed and lifted the covers on each of the dishes. "We have some soup, a nice assortment of breads, some seafood pasta and a milk shake. I didn't know what you would want so I ordered a variety." He frowned as she burst into tears again. "Logan, I'm so sorry. I can't seem to stop crying. This is so thoughtful, but I don't know ..." "Dana, you must. For William," he said sternly. She looked up into his eyes and her tears slowed. She wiped her cheeks and blew her nose on the tissue he seemed to produce out of thin air. "I'll try. That's all I can promise." "That's good enough for me," he said and smiled at her again. She actually did manage to eat a little of the food and drink most of the milkshake. She knew that she had a long, stressful flight ahead of her and she would need her strength. He took the tray and set it outside the door to her room when she was done. She had slipped into the bathroom and freshened up while he busied himself with clearing the meal. She curled up on the bed and held out her hand to him, silently asking him to lay down with her. He moved to spoon up against her back, keeping his touch supportive and loving. He was relieved that she dozed for a few minutes before the concierge called, to let them know the limo was there. He went all the way to the airport with her, holding her hand until it was time for her to climb into the small Lear Jet on the runway. "I have arranged for transportation for you at the Miami airport. It will take you directly to the private jet owned by my publishing house. From there you will fly directly to Dulles Airport. I figured it would be faster that way than waiting for a commercial flight. "I've also arranged for a car to be waiting at Dulles for you to use. You can use it to take you home or directly to the hospital, or even to a helicopter rental that I've put on hold to take you anywhere you need to go in the Washington area. Don't worry about a thing. I've taken care of everything." "Thank you, Logan. I don't know how I can repay you. I certainly don't know what I would have done without you," she said as she kissed him. She suddenly realized that he wasn't going with her. Tears welled up in her eyes again. They had made it clear from the beginning that this was a 'vacation fling' but it hurt to leave him. This was goodbye. "I had a wonderful time with you the last few days, Logan. I'm glad I met you," she said truthfully. "Good bye." She kissed him and ran up the short steps to the jet. The steward shut the gate right away and Logan stepped back to the waiting limo as the jet pulled away and taxied down the runway. Logan did not see her as she watched him from the window of the plane until she could no longer see him. "Goodbye, Love," she whispered and she wept. XXXXX Vacation Day 9 Sunday 10:15 PM April 17, 2016 The International Airport Bermuda Islands Logan Graham sighed as the jet that held Dana Scully became a speck in the sky and finally disappeared in the night sky. "Goodbye, sweet Dana," he whispered aloud. He had waited for her to ask him to accompany her. He would have dropped everything to go with her, even on the steps of the plane. He had let it be her decision. She was a strong woman and he knew instinctively that she would have refused any offer he made as just a courteous gesture or a step to control her. She was a puzzle to him at times. In the few days he had known her, he had been amazed by her womanly strength and self-sufficiency, only to melt at her ability to be a loving, caring, sensitive woman-child in the next breath. He accepted her leaving because she had been up-front with him from the beginning of their relationship. This was a 'vacation romance', a 'fling' and that was all she could offer. He had accepted it, never realizing how much he would come to care for her. Now he felt foolish wondering about questions such as could her children ever accept him? Would she ever be comfortable about their age difference? Would she ever forget her 'Mulder' enough to love him? Or, if they actually continued their relationship, would he spend the rest of his life playing second fiddle to a dead man? He turned back to the limo and seated himself after the driver opened the door. It was over and he had to continue with his life. Perhaps their paths would meet in the future, perhaps not. He was glad he met her, but surprised at the gaping hole her leaving left in his life. Even though they would live within 20 miles of each other when he spent time at his home in Arlington, he knew she had made her choice. He was alone again. He had survived it before. He knew he would again, but it was a hard thing to do, a very, very hard thing. XXXXX Monday 4:21 AM April 18, 2016 ICU Trauma Unit Georgetown University Hospital "Dana! Thank God you're here," her mother called out to her as soon as she rounded the corner into the waiting area of the Trauma Unit. "Mom, how is he?" she said, fearing the worst. "He's alive, but just barely. He's ... you should let the doctor explain," Maggie said and began weeping. "Mom, I'm here now. You sit down, I'll go see what I can find out," Dana said. She helped her mother back to the couch where she had been resting. "The doctor's in with him right now. Cubicle 12, right next to the nurse's station," Maggie said. Dana rushed down the hall to her son's room, not wanting to miss the doctor, her heart full of fear. A few minutes later, she wasn't just afraid, she was terrified. Will was in desperate need of a blood transfusion, and the hospital had used all the supply available at Georgetown and in the surrounding hospital's blood banks already. There had been a huge drain on the local blood supply just two days previously when the shell of a new high-rise office building inexplicitly had fallen on an older building next to it, sending hundreds to the emergency rooms of hospitals all over the city. Because of the severity of some of the injuries, O negative, the universal donor blood, was used immediately until the patients could be typed and matched. This had drained the entire area of their normal O negative blood supply. They had asked her for permission to allow Gabby to donate a pint, hoping that the infusion of her matching blood would assist the plasma they were giving him until supplies of his type were flown in from New York and Philadelphia. She had listened to the doctor and had given permission for Gabby's donation. Her brave daughter begged them to take as much as they needed to keep her brother alive. Bill and Tara were in with Matthew when she first got back. Dana took one look at Maggie and knew she needed to go home for some rest. She let Bill and Charlie decide who would take her home to join Charlie's wife, Mary and the rest of the kids. They discussed it and Bill and Maggie left for home after the next 10- minute visit with the boys. Charlie waited until Gabby was done donating blood then took her home as well so that she could get some rest in her own bed. Tara stayed with her through the rest of the night, worried about her own son, but terrified for Will and Dana. Dana would have enjoyed spending the time alone with Tara under any other circumstances. They had been in touch through letters for years but still had a lot of catching up to do. However, the severity of the conditions of both their sons left them mute, each a separate island of misery throughout the early morning hours. Dana never shed a tear. She didn't allow herself to show any of her inner agony. She had to be strong. Will held his own until the blood from New York arrived and everyone was cautiously optimistic. Dana showered in the doctor's lounge and changed into scrubs. She refused to leave the hospital for a moment. She napped on the couch in the waiting room for the fifty minutes an hour she could not be with Will. She refused to allow her thoughts to stray to Logan after the first time. It hurt too badly. She focused on her children and closed her mind to all other thoughts. XXXXX Tuesday 11:52 AM April 19, 2016 PUBLISHER'S BUILDING New York City, New York Logan Graham stared out the window of his editor's office at the view of Central Park. "Great, isn't it?" Mark O'Mara said as he walked back in and sat down at the desk. "You bought that for me," he teased. "What?" Logan asked. His mind had been a few hundred miles away, wondering how Dana and her son were doing. "You put me in the driver's seat here at Ashton Publishing, you and your two best sellers. I got the promotion and the office with a view because I was smart enough to get you to sign your contract." "Glad to be of service," he said drolly. "Let's just hope this next one is as big a hit and the next time you deign to visit our lowly establishment I could be comfortably settled in a corner office," he smiled as he placed the disk into his computer and open up the word processing file to Logan's newest book. He skimmed the chapters silently for a full hour, before sitting back with a sigh. "Well?" Logan asked. "Well, I think I better get a color scheme picked out. This is going to be bigger than the first two!" He rubbed his hands together and gave Logan a grin. "I've got a meeting scheduled with the big guys later today. They're already foaming at the mouth to see this. We can meet them for lunch ..." "Sorry, Mark. I've got to get back to Bermuda. I've already started to outline another book and I don't want to interrupt the flow any longer than I have already." "Well," Mark said, "If you're sure. I'll get Anne to schedule you a flight home tomorrow." "I've already taken the liberty of asking her to get me on a flight this afternoon," Logan said. "Do the crowds still bother you?" Mark asked quietly. He had tried to talk Logan out of selling his Park Avenue flat when he announced he was moving to the Washington, D.C. area. He knew how Logan felt about the crush of humanity that was New York City. People like Logan hated it and others, like him, thrived on the excitement. "Yes," he said. "I find that I'm more comfortable at the beach while I write. Who knows? Maybe I'll meet a mermaid and she'll give me back my life." Logan's mind filled with the picture of Dana Scully lying naked on the bow of the sloop they rented. Her red hair was tossed by the wind and her sparkling blue eyes were looking at him with desire. Mark studied his best client and friend for a few moments before asking, "Are you coming back to Arlington next month?" "Yes, I've already given notice to the hotel that I'll be leaving at the end of May. You can call anytime and let me know when I can expect the rewrites you want." Logan moved towards the door. "Logan! Buddy!" Mark said as he rose and walked around the desk to say goodbye to him. "Would I do that to you?" "In a heartbeat, Mark, and you know it," Logan laughed and shook his hand in farewell. Logan took a cab back to the airport directly from Mark's office. There was nothing for him in New York any longer. People who he supposedly knew from before the accident were uncomfortable with his lack of memory and he personally wasn't up to trying to remember any of them. He had too many new memories of Dana Scully filling his head. He sat in the VIP waiting lounge of the airport and contemplated the last few days. He had been happy for a while. Happiness was not the norm for him. Between his angst over his memory loss and the incredible sadness he felt over not remembering his deceased wife and child, he'd had little time to find even a glimpse of happiness in his personal life. Only his writing had made his life bearable for the past two years. He was surprised how free he had felt when he was with Dana, how ... happy. The time before the flight sped by as he considered all sides of a relationship with Dana Scully. The cons of the relationship were big ones. She was older. She had a life of her own that included two teenaged children. She had made it perfectly clear that she had nothing to offer him except a vacation romance. Not exactly the easiest obstacles to overcome. However, the pros of the relationship were even bigger, happiness, peace of mind, and love heading the list. He continued to ruminate these points as his flight left New York and headed south. The fasten seatbelts sign flashed in just a few moments and he brought himself out of his self-imposed cloud to ask the steward why they were landing. He felt foolish when he was told that Dulles was a normal stop on route to the Bahamas. Their layover would be only 30 minutes. He didn't even need to leave the plane while they took on the final group of passengers. Logan smiled his thanks and sat back, closing his eyes. He was here, only a few miles from Dana. He wondered how she was doing and if her son had improved enough to be out of intensive care. He opened his briefcase and pulled out his laptop, thinking that he would use the time of the layover to flesh out the outline of his newest book a little more. He typed and erased, typed and erased for several minutes before he slammed the lid shut, acknowledging to himself that he couldn't think of anyone or anything but Dana Scully. The final new passenger walked through the door and apologized profusely to the head flight attendant. As he struggled down the isle, Logan began to fumble with his seat belt. He stood up just as the attendant was shutting the door and he rushed to stop her. He explained that he needed to get off the plane due to a family emergency. She gave him a skeptical look, but held the door while he raced back to his seat and gathered up his briefcase and his carry-on bag. He thanked her and ran back up the corridor, cell phone in hand. By the time he reached the desk of the rental car agency, there was a car waiting for him. In less than a half hour he was parking at Georgetown University Hospital. Now that he was there, he had a sudden attack of cold feet. What if she didn't want to see him? What if she was ashamed of being involved with a younger man? What if her son had died and she wasn't even there? Logan Graham hadn't gotten as far in life as he had by giving in to indecision. He made up his mind to accept whatever happened in the next few minutes like a man. Hopefully, he would be a happy man with a future with Dana Scully. If not, he had at least tried. XXXXX Tuesday 3:15 PM April 19, 2016 ICU Trauma Unit Georgetown University Hospital "Doctor Bell, paging Doctor Bell, ICU STAT," the disembodied voice came over the normally silent intercom system. "STAT, ICU!" Maggie Scully opened her eyes in time to see a flood of personnel and equipment rush toward back of the ICU, the area near William's room. She automatically reached in her pocket and drew out her rosary, beginning to work through her prayers. She had a very bad feeling that her precious William was in danger again. At least Dana was in the room with him. Not that Dana was able to fix the damage her son had suffered. She at least would be here for him if things became ... worse. She looked back down the hall and saw Dana rushing alongside a gurney that obviously held Will, heading for the elevators. "Dana! What's happening?" Bill called. "He's bleeding internally, they have to operate," she yelled back before disappearing behind the elevator doors. A nurse clad in soothing blue colored scrubs came out and looked around. "Maggie," she said as she headed for her. "Charlotte, can you tell me what's happening with William?" Maggie asked as she stood to greet the nurse that had been so helpful to the entire family during Will's stay. "Yes." Charlotte Williams, head nurse of the Trauma ICU, looked around to make sure everyone in the Scully family was there so she wouldn't have to repeat herself. "Unfortunately, William seems to have a bleeder in his abdomen. It's either a new seepage from one of the damaged areas that just gave up or it's a slow seepage around one of the stitches that were done during his previous surgery. He's in critical condition already and this additional threat could be too much for his system." "He could ddddie?" Charlie stammered. "How much is he bleeding?" "Normally this would be a problem for anyone after this kind of trauma, but in William's case, it's a potentially deadly complication due to the lack of O negative blood in our blood bank. We've used all the blood sent down from New York and we do have a supply on order. However, it has to be flown in from Washington State. "If you would like to go down to the third floor surgical waiting room in the East wing, I'll let Dana know you'll join her there." She gave Maggie a hug and walked back into the ICU. The entire family was in shock. No one could believe that there was another huge threat to the life of this boy. They finally pulled themselves together and left to join Dana. As soon as they found Dana in the private waiting room, Gabby cuddled up to her mother and cried softly. She'd had a breakdown moment before, begging her mother to let her give more blood to her brother. They were both they same type and she had already contributed more than the doctor would have taken from someone her age in an ordinary situation. Maggie could see that Dana was almost at her breaking point. She motioned to Mary, Charlie's wife, to take Gabby to the restroom to freshen up and to give Dana a break. Through all this Dana sat stoically. She was terrified that her son was going to die. Her only emotional display had been an occasional stroke of her hand over Gabby's hair, as if to reassure herself that one of her children was well. She was holding herself together so tightly she felt like she would shatter at the slightest touch. She was glad her family was around, but could not allow herself to sink into the comfort of their offered embraces. As a medical doctor, she knew how serious this situation actually was. After an hour of no news, the surgical ombudsman, Eric Mathews, came out to give them an update. It wasn't good. They hadn't found the bleeder and if they didn't find it soon, William's body would begin to shut down from a lack of fresh blood. They were using a machine that recycled the blood from his abdominal wound, oxygenated it and warmed it before pumping it back into his system. It was all that was keeping him alive at this point. Maggie sobbed as Walter Skinner held her. He had joined the family moments before the update from the operating room. "Dana," Charlie said as he walked towards her. "Charlie, don't. Just ... don't," Dana said as she backed away from his touch. She needed to absorb this latest piece of bad news and couldn't deal with any other stimuli at the same time. She bowed her head and began to pray silently. In the corner of the room Bill Scully began to cry. Not a soft weeping, but loud gusty, heart-wrenching sobs of a broken man. Dana turned and looked at him, swallowing several times before she could speak. "Don't blame yourself, Bill. It was an accident." Her voice broke on the last word and she cleared her throat to continue. "I don't blame you or Matthew, Bill," she said as she walked to the window and stared out. "I just can't offer anything else right now," she whispered. Bill nodded, embarrassed by his display of tears in the face of her bravery. XXXXX Tuesday 6:20 PM April 19, 2016 Surgical Floor Georgetown University Hospital The doors to the elevator opened and a tall, well-dressed man walked up to the nurses' station. He inquired about the whereabouts of Dana Scully. All the nurses on the floor knew about the tragic case of Dr. Scully's son and were glad to help another member of the Scully family. Logan was somewhat ashamed of the fact that he had led the nurse to assume that he was a member of the immediate family, but he knew he would get more cooperation if he did. He followed the directions the nurse had given him and soon found himself outside a private waiting room. He opened the door quietly, and stood watching as Dana tried to help the distraught man. A tall, balding, older man noticed him in the door and came over to speak with him. "I'm sorry, but this is a private area. You need to go back down to the nurses' station and ask for directions." Walter stood between the intruder and his adopted family. "There's been no mistake. I'm a friend of Dana's. I was in town and wanted to stop by to find out how her son is doing," Logan said quietly, but firmly. He stepped around the man and walked a few steps closer to Dana before speaking again. "Dana?" Dana turned slowly to see who was here, expecting to see one of her co-workers. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the elegant figure of Logan Graham standing across the room. "Dana? I had a layover here at Dulles and I thought I would stop by and see how your son is doing." He hesitated before speaking again. "If you want me to leave ..." "No!" she said emphatically. She swallowed hard and said, "Please, come in." She held her hand out and he walked across the room and took it. Her hand was cold and trembling and he couldn't stand to see her suffering as she was. He pulled her into his embrace and held her close to his heart. He lowered his head to whisper directly in her ear, "I'll go if you want me to, but I had to see if I could do anything to help. How is William?" Dana shook her head as it pressed against his chest. "He's dying, Logan. My baby boy is going to die." A harsh, keening sound filled the room as her entire body began to shake and tremble. She sagged against him and he automatically swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the one unoccupied chair in the room. He cradled her against him as despair finally claimed her and she sobbed hysterically, inconsolable in her grief. Logan held her patiently, only moving once to pull a snowy white handkerchief out of his pocket for her to use. He enfolded her in his arms again, stroking her hair and trying to absorb some of her pain so that she would have the ability to go on. He softly murmured words of love and support to her as she wept bitterly for many long minutes. Finally her tears began to slow and she pulled back far enough to look into his eyes. "You came," she said. "I couldn't stay away," he replied automatically. She tried to smile at him but her tears began again, causing her bottom lip to tremble. Pain shot through him as he watched her effort to control the tears that scudded down her cheeks. "Tell me. What can I do to help? Everything I have is at your disposal. Do you need a better doctor? Do you want me to call my priest? What can I do?" She shook her head in wonder at his magnanimous offer and said, "William's doctor is a fine surgeon. He's probably the only reason Will is still alive. There's nothing you can do unless you happen to have a supply of O negative blood available. He has a bleeder and they can't find it. Right now they are pumping his recycled blood back into him because they're out of his type. It's not that rare but with the tragedy at the Hamilton building and ..." "Dana! What type blood did you say you need?" he interrupted her, a look of incredulity on his face. "O negative, it's fairly rare and the hospital has used all that's available in the area." "I have O negative blood, Dana. I can give blood to him." Dana sat up straight in his lap. "Are you sure that's your blood type? It's really rare, Logan." "Yes, I know. I can give him all he needs." She shook her head sadly, "That's sweet, Logan but they couldn't possibly get enough blood from you at one time to supply all he may need in the next few hours, let alone days to come. Let's go to the nurses' station and have someone let the doctor know." "Wait, Dana, you don't understand. I have twelve pints of my blood stored at the Arlington General Hospital Private Blood Bank. You can have all of them for William," he exclaimed. "Twelve pints? My God, you could save his life!" Dana gave him a huge smile and kissed his lips, hard. She sprang up from his lap and raced towards the door. "Come on, don't just sit there!" she commanded. "Hold it! You can only store blood for a three-month period. How can you have twelve pints in storage?" Walter Skinner interjected. "I have three in the regular rotation and nine in a cryogenic holding tank," Logan said. Skinner nodded, surprised by the news and heartened by the prospect of this man being able to save Will's life. Walter looked at Maggie and seeing the confusion on her face, whispered, "I've heard of that procedure. It's very high tech; it freezes blood below -60 degrees Fahrenheit. This guy must be loaded. Something like that would cost an arm and a leg to maintain." Logan jumped to his feet and followed her to the nurses' station. Within moments he had been typed and matched and had donated a pint of blood for use while the rest of his stored blood was delivered from across town. Walter Skinner had made arrangements with the local police to pick up and deliver the precious cargo. With the insurgence of fresh blood in William's system, his young body began to respond and the surgeon once again felt hopeful that he could find the leaking vein or artery in time to save Will's life. Dana and Logan returned to the waiting room after his initial donation to stand vigil with the rest of the family. No one asked who Logan Graham was. No one asked when Dana had met him. To the Scully family and friends, he was a God-sent answer to their prayers. Even though they were shocked by Dana's willingness to be held by this virtual stranger, not one of them questioned his right to do so, let alone his right to be there at all. XXXXX Tuesday 9:12 PM April 19, 2016 Surgical Floor Georgetown University Hospital Three hours later, William was in recovery, the surgery having been deemed a success and he was moved back to the Surgical ICU. Dr. Bell estimated that, with any luck, his condition would be downgraded from the critical rating he had before the surgery to a conservative 'serious'. Everyone was guardedly elated. At Maggie Scully's request, Logan convinced Dana to go down to the cafeteria in the basement for a late supper. She had resisted all their efforts until Logan had hinted that he felt a little lightheaded from donating blood and really needed to get something to eat. He felt guilty about manipulating her like that, but the relieved look on her mother's face made his guilt more bearable. Logan collected a variety of foods on his tray, hoping that something would tempt her once she was sitting down to eat. Dana chose a small side salad and a cup of tea. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, Logan sliding bites of food onto her plate that he was delighted to see that she ate. Dana had been staring at him for several minutes when she asked, "Logan, why did you have so much blood stored in the blood bank?" He smiled and took a sip of coffee. "I almost died during one of the surgeries I had to have after my rescue due to the very same thing that William faced. Our blood type is rare. When I recovered and returned home, my personal physician suggested that I store my own blood to use for any emergencies in the future. "I allow them to put any pints into public circulation as they approach their expiration date, so that they aren't wasted. I try to replenish the supply to keep at least twelve pints on hand at all times." Dana nodded and said, "That's a wise thing to do. I'm sure that I'll suggest that to William and Gabby's doctor in the future." "So both of your children have their father's blood type, huh?" he asked. "Yes they do," she said. She pushed her plate away and began to sip her tea. "Dana, I ordered more than I can eat. Why don't you try this vegetable soup? It's quite tasty, but I'm almost too full to enjoy it." She smiled at his rather clumsy ruse, but went along with it. She ate some of his soup, contemplating the beautiful young man sitting across from her. His fortuitous appearance had saved her son's life. It was relatively rare to find three people with type O negative blood in the same city, let alone the same state. Since Gabby was easily explainable as William's sister, that left Logan Graham as the statistical anomaly. Of course, he was originally from New York. Dana felt a shiver almost like a feeling of anticipation. She hadn't had that tingling feeling for years. She tried to pinpoint the last time she'd felt this way and decided that it was over thirteen years ago, while she was still working with ... Mulder. Suddenly her sense of anticipation turned into a heart-stopping speculation. She stood up suddenly and excused herself, citing a need to take a quick bathroom break before they headed back upstairs. Logan was surprised by her actions, but agreed, offering to clean up their mess and meet her outside the bathroom door. She strode off with just a nod of her head, anxious to have a few moments to think in private. The odds that she would find the one man in the world that could save her son's life with a blood transfusion while on vacation in another country were too astronomical to calculate without a computer. There was a greater force at work here, a force so big, so all-encompassing that it was mind-boggling to contemplate unless you factored in one other point, faith. She had prayed for William's life to be spared; her entire family had prayed for William. At the point where only an act of God could save her son, Logan Graham had appeared. She splashed cool water on her face. She was obviously punchy from sleep deprivation and worry. She tried to think through the situation again and came up with the same conclusion. William was alive through an act of God. God used people to carry out his miracles sometimes. Logan had been put in her path by God in anticipation of delivering this miracle to her. Logan was only human, no matter how angelic his actions or devilish his good looks. Logan was put in her path by God because He knew that William would need him without his father there to donate the blood the boy would need. Logan had the exact same rare blood type as William and Gabby. Logan was found with no memory only three years ago. Logan was ... "NO! It's impossible," she said aloud. Nonetheless, the harder she thought about the entire situation, the more it made sense. Could Logan Graham possibly be Fox Mulder? XXXXX Tuesday 10:15 PM April 19, 2016 Surgical Floor Georgetown University Hospital Logan was waiting outside the bathroom for Dana. He wasn't worried about her yet, but was becoming uneasy about the length of time she was taking. He looked up and saw one of the men from her family striding towards him from the elevators. "Where's Dana?" the man asked without preamble. "She's in there," Logan nodded towards the bathroom door. "William's awake and asking for her," he said as he moved toward the door to the ladies room. He pushed it open a few inches and called out, "Dana, it's Charlie. William is awake and asking for you." "Charlie!" Dana appeared immediately. "He's really awake?" "Yes," Charlie said with a smile. She raced to the elevator controls with the two men in tow. She turned to Logan and grinned at him as they waited for the doors to open, "I'm sorry, I'm ..." "No problem, Dana, let's go." "Uh, Logan," Charlie said as he put his hand on the younger man's arm to halt his entrance into the elevator. "Mom and Walter asked if I could bring some coffee and a few sandwiches back for the rest of the family. Would you mind staying and helping me carry them?" Logan looked to Dana, wanting to make sure she was all right with going back upstairs alone. Her brilliant smile reassured him and he nodded his agreement. "We'll be right up, sis," Charlie said as he turned to enter the cafeteria. Dana smiled at Logan again as the elevator doors shut. Logan stared at the closed door for a moment, before turning to reenter the cafeteria to help Charlie. He guessed the man wanted to talk to him away from the rest of the family and he was right. Charlie put him through a general grilling as they collected the food for the rest of the Scully family and friends. Logan answered all his questions as directly as he could without being specific about the length of their relationship. Finally Charlie quit beating around the bush and said, "Look, Logan, I don't care about your age difference or the length of your relationship with my sister. I just don't want to see her hurt. Can you understand that? Dana's been through a lot of heartache in her life that I couldn't do anything about. I don't intend to stand aside and watch her be hurt again." Logan looked at the older man and felt his lips twitch as he tried not to smile at the 'big brother' attitude of Charlie Scully. "I have no intentions of hurting Dana. She's the best thing that's happened to me in years. I just want to help her and her children. Agreed?" Charlie finally smiled back at him, slightly embarrassed by his own attitude. "Agreed," he said. When Logan and Charlie got back up to the waiting room, they were greeted with happy news. Matthew was awake and his condition had been downgraded to stable. William was awake and his condition had stabilized with the influx of fresh blood and the repair done by the surgery. For the first time, a cautious word of hope had come with the update from Will's doctor. XXXXX Thursday 10:30 AM April 21, 2016 Post Operative Care Unit Georgetown University Hospital Two days later, both boys were ensconced in a room together, out of intensive care and well on their way to being released. Everyone was amazed at the speed of their recovery until they remembered how young and healthy both boys were prior to the accident. William had been intrigued with the man that had saved his life. To everyone's surprise, Will wasn't the only big fan of Logan's Frank McFinn books. Matthew Scully had read both books and was right in there with Will while they pumped Logan for information on his latest novel. Both boys had insightful and intelligent questions on the plots of his two previous best sellers and questioned him extensively on his research for them. Logan finally had to leave, citing prior commitments to his editor, but promised to be back in the Washington D.C. area by the end of May. He had made a special effort to drop off autographed copies of his books for Will and Matthew, promising to make sure they got copies of his newest book before it hit the stands. Dana Scully was torn by the news that Logan was leaving. During the time he had spent with her during William's recovery, she had come to depend on him. She kept her thoughts about Logan's real identity to herself, afraid to make a move without concrete evidence of her supposition, but wanting desperately to tell him what she suspected. She decided to use the time they were apart to investigate her suspicions. 'I'll be right or I'll disprove them without looking like a fool in front of my entire family,' she thought. XXXXX Wednesday 11:30 AM May 4, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. One week later Matthew was released from the hospital and joined his parents and sister at Maggie's until they could find a house to buy and settle in. William went home a few days later, but couldn't go back to school when Gabby did. He spent his days with one of the Gunmen or another, not really sick, but not strong enough to be on his own while his mother and sister were gone during the day. William was in his glory. His three 'uncles' were favorites of his. They knew the coolest stories about his father and mother and were much more willing to share real guy stuff when Gabby and his mother weren't around. Outwardly, things seemed to be settling down in the life of Dana Scully. She was pleased with the progress William was making in his recovery, joyful with Gabby's return to happiness, and very content with the new peace she and her brother had made during their forced confinement in the small private waiting room. More than she would ever admit to anyone, though, she was thrilled with the lengthy, loving phone calls and e-mails that she got on a daily basis from Logan. She found herself unable to forget the enigmatic man that had saved her son's life so unselfishly. When her thoughts turned to Logan, she inevitably thought about her outrageous belief that he could be Mulder. The odds that he was actually Mulder was even greater than the ones she had originally considered about the chance of finding three people living in the same city with the same rare blood type and having them all not be related. She hated herself for holding on to a hope that Logan was Mulder, but she found herself doing things in order to prove it one way or another. She had requested a sample of Logan's blood from the blood bank, stating a need to check it for compatibility against Gabby's blood for future emergencies. She had to tell them something. They wouldn't just hand over Logan's blood without a valid reason. The Arlington General Hospital Private blood bank didn't know that she was already aware of Gabby's blood type and that it was also O negative. She finally decided to quite kidding herself one night after she woke up for the fourth night in a row from an arousing dream of sex with Mulder. Only it wasn't Mulder by the time the dream came to an end. Somewhere before her orgasm rocked her, he morphed into Logan. It was the same dream night after night. Was this a message from God also? Or her own fevered mind creating illusions of things she wanted to be true? She decided enough was enough and lay awake for the rest of the night thinking about how she was going to prove once and for all the truth about Logan Graham. XXXXX Thursday 8:30 AM May 12, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Dana considered carefully the ways she could go about having the tests done and came up with several alternatives. She could ask Walter Skinner to have the FBI run the test, but that would create a need to voice her suspicions to Walter and she wasn't ready to do that yet. That very same reason made turning to the Gunmen impossible. She could have pulled in a few favors from the head of the Genetics Department at GU and have them complete a polymerase chain reaction PCR for two John Does and two Jane Does, but after she thought about it, she decided to pay an outside lab she found on-line to run the tests. It was expensive, but not prohibitive and it would be totally anonymous if she used her Assistant's name for the return delivery to her college office. She would make arrangements to have it delivered to her home as soon as it arrived at work. She decided that the anonymity of the private lab was necessary because she was basically embarrassed about letting herself get her hopes up that Logan was Mulder. If she were wrong, she didn't want the pitying glances and mumbled apologies that she knew her family and friends would feel impelled to make. If she were right ... well, that was another whole ball of wax. XXXXX Saturday 10:07 AM May 21, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. "Mom! There's a courier here from the University who has a special delivery package for you. He needs your signature," Will shouted up the stairs. Dana dropped the load of sheets that she had pulled together and hurried downstairs. She signed for the package and took it to her office. She set it down on her desk and went back up to gather the rest of the laundry in her room and take it down to wash. "What'd ya get, Mom?" Gabby asked as she walked by with her dirty clothes to the laundry room. "Just some tissue samples and some DNA samples from work," Dana replied truthfully. "Yuck! Why here at home?" William asked, as he joined the duo with his huge pile of dirty clothes. "William? How did you get all these clothes dirty since last weekend?" Dana asked. "You couldn't possibly wear all these clothes in one school week." "Sure he could Mom," Gabriella said cryptically. Her brother gave her a dirty look and shook his head at her from behind his mother. "Really, how?" Dana asked as she started sorting the clothing. "He could if he ..." "Gabby! I don't think Mom is as interested in my laundry as she is in your new lab partner," Will said ominously. "Will!" Gabby exclaimed, as she turned three shades of red and chased her brother through the kitchen and out the back door. Dana stood watching them out the laundry room window. They were just like Charlie and her, she thought as she smiled. Her mind wandered back to her office and the small package that held the answer to her burning questions about Logan Graham. She decided to wait until after the kids were in bed before opening the package. Either way, she had a lot of thinking to do about the results. XXXXX Saturday 8:07 PM May 21, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Dana boiled water for a pot of tea and prepared a snack of saltines, fruit and cheese. All day she had been worrying over the contents of the package and now she had an upset stomach. Both Gabby and William had decided to join Matthew and his folks when they called to invite them all for a pizza and movie evening at their new house. Dana had declined, citing a rush project that was waiting on her desk, but her conversation with Bill had been civil and her discussion with Tara had been warm and loving. Things were getting better between her and Bill, but for how long? Would the contents of this package destroy their fragile peace again? She gathered her fortifications and for a fleeting moment thought about adding a shot of brandy to the tray. She smiled and shook her head. She was a Scully woman. She didn't need alcohol to strengthen her. She threw back her shoulders and marched into her office, ready to open Pandora's Box. She settled the tray on the side table by her favorite chair and retrieved the small letter package. She sat in the chair with the package in her hands and took a moment to pray before she opened it. It was all in the hands of God. He would give her strength to face whatever information this package contained. She opened the envelope carefully, pulling out the letter to read the synopsis of the results as read by the lab. She had to read the words several times before they actually absorbed into her brain. '... and it is the opinion of Quest Laboratories that the samples sent are of a mother, father, son, and daughter of the same family. The PCR results are enclosed ...' Logan was Mulder. She could hardly believe her eyes. She pulled the rest of the information out and flipped through the detailed report. The transparencies of all four sets of DNA were enclosed. The lab had done a thorough job. She set aside the information from the packet and moved to the wall by the fireplace. She opened the safe that was hidden there and pulled out a transparency of Mulder's PCR report that had been taken when he was working for the FBI. She carefully compared the original Mulder PCR to the one newly provided by Quest. They were identical. There was no doubt that Logan Graham was actually Fox Mulder. Now all the hard questions had to be answered. Why did someone go to the lengths they did to put him back into society with this elaborate cover story? Would he ever get his memory back? Would he be able to accept this as the truth? If he was found only three years ago, where had he been the other 11 years? Those were just the tip of the iceberg! There were all kinds of other questions that flooded her mind. Did she want to continue a relationship with him and possibly endanger him? Would Logan want to know? Would he want to tell the children? Would he want her and the children because of the age difference? Was there really an age difference at all? Or had the plastic surgery just made him look younger? She knew that she needed to think this entire situation over before she spoke to Mulder ... Logan about it. She gathered up the papers and the transparencies and placed them in a plain envelope back in the safe. She took a report she had brought home on an autopsy she was doing a consult on and placed them in the package and replaced it casually on her desk. 'Old habits die hard,' she thought. She began pacing through the house, trying to think. The ringing of the telephone startled her. It was after 10:00 at night. She was pleased to hear Logan's voice on the other end of the line. They had been talking frequently, sometimes for hours and she felt that they had grown closer with each passing day. They talked for several minutes, mostly about his impending return to Alexandria on Friday, May 27th. He wanted to get together with her and the children for a Memorial Day picnic. She had to disappoint him and tell him that the entire Scully family was going to the Maryland shore for the weekend. His disappointment was almost palpable. She made a snap decision and invited him to dinner on Friday night and asked him if he wanted to go with the family to the shore. His warm response made her happy she had taken the chance to ask him to join them. They talked for a few minutes longer and hung up. She needed to think before the kids got home. Now that she'd heard his voice again, she knew she had some hard decisions to make in the next few days. XXXXX Thursday 7:45 PM May 26 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Dana Scully had spent all week in a fog. Her preoccupation with the confirmation of Logan's true identity had kept her thinking every spare moment of each day since the results of the test arrived. William and Gabriella had noticed and thought that it was because Logan Graham was coming to dinner. Gabby had told William everything that had happened while he was unconscious, including the embraces exchanged by their mother and the young, prominent writer. They both agreed that the only place their mother could have met this man was in Bermuda. They had made a pact to pump both adults for information on Friday when Logan came to dinner. If that didn't work, they had the entire weekend to work on finding out how deep the attraction was for both of them. If all else failed, they knew they could fall back on the big guns, their grandmother for help. By Thursday, Dana had decided that her best course of action, if she was going to tell him about the test, was to try to get him to remember his life as Fox Mulder, Special Agent of the FBI working on the X-Files. She didn't want the kids to hang around while she was trying to nudge Logan's memory and she tried to think of a valid reason for them to be gone. She finally decided that her safest bet was to get her mother to ask them to come over to visit, but when she checked with her she was disappointed to find that Bill was there and he was loading her car with equipment for the beach house weekend. Maggie and Walter were leaving as soon as Bill finished loading Walter's Explorer with the rest of the supplies. Out of the blue, Bill offered to have the kids come over after dinner for a family film night. Dana was surprised and pleased until Bill made the mistake of revealing his real motivation, then she was amused. "So, Logan Graham is coming to dinner tonight and then to the beach with us this weekend?" he asked. "Yes, I invited him to join us and he seemed happy to be included," Dana replied. "Well, I, for one, am glad." Bill was smiling, Dana could tell by his tone of voice. "Why's that, big brother?" Dana said as she laughed. "Well, I think, you know ..." Bill stuttered to a halt. He took a big breath and continued. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on how you chose to live your life, Dana, but I'm glad you've finally let someone in after all these years." "'Let someone in'?" she teased. "Why don't you just say what you really think Bill?" "I want to Dane, but I'm afraid that I'll say the wrong thing and we'll have another fight. I don't want to lose you again, Sis. Nothing is worth alienating you again," Bill said honestly. "Billy, I feel the same way. Go ahead. I promise not to get mad about what you say, unless it's a direct jab at Mulder again," she encouraged him. "Well, it does involve Mulder, but it's not a jab," he hinted. "Bill!" "Cripes Dana, all I wanted to say was that I'm glad you've given up on your obsess ... search for Mulder long enough to allow another man to get to know you. Logan Graham is a great author and a man who's been through a lot of pain in his own life." Bill sighed, trying to see if his words had irritated his little sister yet. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but the need to be truthful about his feelings did not supersede his need to keep her friendship. "I agree, Bill." "Well, I know that he's a bit younger than you are, but please don't let that be a deciding factor. He's stable, he's well-off and he's obviously interested in you." "So?" she led. "Damn it, Dana! All right, here it is. Don't blow a relationship with a great guy out of some misplaced loyalty to a man that's been out of your life for over a decade." Bill held his breath, hoping that his prickly-pear sister wouldn't take offense at his opinion. There was silence on the phone for almost half a minute and he began to sweat. "Okay, Bill. I get your point. I'll try," Dana said trying to keep her voice even and serene. He might still infuriate her, but he was her brother and he was trying hard to lighten up a little at least. "So," Bill said and coughed to hide the relief in his voice. "What time should I come get the kids tomorrow night?" Dana smiled, secretly amused with this whole conversation. She wanted very badly to tell her brothers the truth about her 'misplaced loyalties', but knew she couldn't. "How about eight or so," she said. "Sure, Sis," he agreed. "Say, do you think Logan would mind if I bring my copies of his books over for him to sign?" Dana assured Bill that Logan would not be insulted. His views on fans and their intrusion on his life was a subject they had discussed extensively. He had told her that he was constantly amazed at the enthusiasm of complete strangers for his books. He was always thrilled to sign copies for them and couldn't understand why other writers seemed to shun or even distain their public. She knew it would be the smallest problem they would face tomorrow night. XXXXX Friday 4:30 PM May 27, 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Dana had prepared eggplant lasagna early Friday morning. She knew she wouldn't have time to cook after work and didn't want to have a throw-together meal the first time Logan came to eat with them. She was extremely nervous about seeing Logan in a setting other than a romantic one or in an emergency. She had to be realistic and consider the fact that Logan might back off from their relationship after seeing her in the role of a working woman and mother, even before he found out her news. She longed for the day when she could have thrown a beef roast in the crock pot and had it ready to serve by dinner time. She missed beef, but with the price of a safe piece of meat these days, it was out of the question. So much had changed in the economy since the fall of the beef industry to the Mad Cow Disease in 2012. The public had not taken the warnings of the CDC seriously enough and the disease had decimated the entire cattle industry. She and the kids had never taken to the alternative of bison and ostrich that had flooded the market after almost every head of beef cattle in the Americas had been put down to prevent the spread of the disease in humans. As she worked she realized all her concerns about convincing him that he was Mulder could be moot. He could have decided that she wasn't the woman he wanted and was already planning to walk away before she had a chance to tell him her news. She tried to think clearly about what she would do if he did decide to walk away. Could she let him go, knowing that he was Mulder? Would she tell him the truth in order to make him stay, or would she have the courage to let him go without revealing her discovery to him? 'So many questions, so little time to consider them,' she thought. Suddenly she realized it was almost time for Logan to arrive. Dana had, to the amusement of her two children, changed outfits several times while waiting for him to arrive. She finally decided that enough was enough and threw on a pair of soft chino pants she loved and a blue cashmere sweater that her mother had given her a few years back. She threatened both her children with super-secret grounding if they breathed one word about her indecision to Logan. Gabby laughingly promised not to tell, citing the scattered clothing in her mother's room as a sure clue. She wouldn't have to open her mouth. Dana scurried to straighten up her room and then stopped as she heard William and Gabby snickering at the door. "Planning on inviting company to your bedroom, Mom?" William teased. "Remember the house rules, 'No shut bedroom doors when guests of the opposite sex are visiting'," he said seriously just before ducking the pile of clothing Dana threw at him. "So, Mom, is this guy your 'boyfriend' or just a male friend?" Gabby asked, joining in on the razzing of their mother. "Why don't both of you get in here and help instead of harassing me," Dana scolded, softening it with a smile. "I just don't want the house to be messy when we have company, okay?" The two young people exchanged looks and then joined their mother, helping her straighten up her the scattered clothing before Logan's arrival time. They were surprised at the way their mother was acting. She rarely socialized outside the family and group of friends that had always been there. The few times she had in their collective memories, it hadn't generated this level of excitement and uncertainty in her. "Thanks you two," Dana said as they walked back into the kitchen. "I meant to tell you sooner, but your Uncle Bill will be over after dinner to pick you up. They're having a family movie night and wanted to include you." "Mom!" Gabby sputtered. "Are you dumping us on Uncle Bill so that you can be alone with Logan Graham?" "No! Well, I ... yes, I guess I am. I need to discuss some things with Logan before we leave tomorrow and I don't feel comfortable discussing these ... things with you two in the house." "So you're saying that you have secrets to discuss with this man that you don't want us to know about?" William asked incredulously. "Secret ADULT things that you don't want us to see or hear?" he teased. "No!" Dana said automatically then hesitated. "Well, yes, I guess I am." She blushed. "Okay, just checking," William teased as he headed towards the living room to answer the door. "William," Dana warned. "Do not embarrass me with this man." "Mother! When have we ever embarrassed you in front of a man?" Gabby asked innocently. "Humph!" Dana said. "Shall I enumerate the times? Professor Stanton, Phillip Gereau, Tom Martin, shall I go on?" "That's was when we were children, Mom," Gabriella whispered. "We're way too mature for that now." She struck a dramatic pose and swept from the room as only a thirteen-year-old could. XXXXX Friday 5:30 PM May 27 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. "Mom," Will yelled from the front entry hall, "Logan's here. When's dinner? Do I have enough time to show him my chemistry project?" Dana walked into the entry area and smiled a greeting at Logan. His smile was warm and, at the same time, a bit shy. Suddenly she felt much better. She wasn't the only one nervous about this evening. "Hello, Logan," Dana said as she accepted the bouquet of flowers he brought her. She watched him as he took off his jacket and gave it to Gabby to hang in the hall closet before speaking again. "We do have a little bit of time before dinner. Why don't you and Gabby show Logan your rooms while I finish getting everything ready?" Dana decided on the spur of the moment to throw Logan into the family mayhem feet first. He would either enjoy it and stick around or make his excuses and run like one or two other men had in the past. "Great!" Will said, "Come on, Logan!" "Wait just a moment, William," Logan said as he turned to Dana. "Do you need any help getting dinner on the table? We can stay and help you if you do." Dana smiled at him and glanced at her two young people standing behind him, almost bursting with enthusiasm. "No, everything's almost done. I'll call you in a few minutes." Logan surprised her by kissing her on the cheek in front of the kids. "If you're sure?" he questioned. At her nod he grinned and said, "Great! I've been looking forward to seeing 'the great experiment' that Will's been telling me about." He took off with the kids listening to them talk a mile-a-minute about everything and nothing. Dana tried to relax as she turned back to the kitchen to finish up dinner and find a vase to use for the lovely flowers from Logan. Maybe it would be all right. XXXXX Friday 7:57 PM May 27 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Two hours later, dinner was declared delicious and dishes were done. Gabby and William had been picked up by Bill, and as Dana guessed, Logan was very gracious about signing Bill's copies of his books. Before they left, Logan had promised Bill an early edition of his next book, accepting his business card with Bill's personal information written on the back. Dana offered Logan a glass of wine and he asked if he could have some more of the iced tea she had served with dinner instead. Dana poured their beverages and took them into the office. She had a sudden silly memory of Mulder saying, 'If there's iced tea in that bag, it could be love.' She swallowed around the lump in her throat. She had these memories, but he didn't. He might not remember that he always loved iced tea. Despite that, he obviously still did. She wondered what other likes and dislikes he might have maintained all this time. She had placed several items around the seating area that she hoped would jog Logan's memory. The couch alone should have been enough to help him remember his previous life. It was the old leather couch from his apartment she had been unable to part with. They talked for a few minutes about Logan's new book and then as he usually did, he steered the conversation around to her past. She thought she had told him everything about her life with Mulder that she was willing to share on the beach in Bermuda. Now she knew she had to give him an insight to not only Mulder's past but to their shared history if she expected him to remember anything on his own. They talked for over an hour about her years with Mulder at the FBI, actually pulling some of the more memorable files out and letting him take a look at them when he asked. She showed him her memory book, lingering over pictures of Mulder. It was the same album she had been looking at just before her trip to Bermuda and their first encounter. She marveled at the fact that she had missed it before. Despite his new face and youthful appearance, there was an odd resemblance. The eyes, especially, hadn't changed, or the pouting lower lip. He could be Mulder's son just as easily as Will was, but he wasn't. He was Mulder himself, just in a newer, younger looking package. Apparently, whatever happened in those last 11 years before he was found had prevented him from aging. As she talked her spirits sank lower and lower. Though he obviously had an interest in the information she was sharing with him, he was not recognizing anything. His memory was not going to come flooding back, triggered by an odd piece of memorabilia or an old photo. His spirits seemed to be waning too. Finally he closed the large book of memories and said sadly, "Dana, you're never going to love me like you did him, are you?" "What?" she said, shock plainly displayed on her face. He stood up and walked over to look out the window into the night sky as if gathering his thoughts before speaking. XXXXX Friday 10:15 PM May 27 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Logan Graham had looked forward to this particular Friday night for a long time. He was going to have dinner with Dana and her two children, William and Gabriella, at their home in Georgetown. He hadn't been around older kids in a long time and had worried about feeling comfortable with them at first. However, her two kids were great. 'Maybe it's because they have a fantastic mother,' he thought with a smile. He had stopped to buy flowers for Dana on his was to her house. He thought about getting something for each of the kids, but decided not to this time. He didn't want them to think he was trying to buy their favor, after all. His arrival had been met with enthusiasm by both kids and he'd gotten a shy but warm welcome from Dana. After making sure she didn't want him to help in the kitchen, he had gone upstairs to view first hand the science club project William was working on and to complete the interview he had promised Gabby for her school newspaper. By the time dinner was over, he was surprised to find out that Dana had arranged for her brother, Bill, to take the kids over to his house for a family get together. Surprised, but happy, he couldn't think of a better way to spend a few hours of a Friday night than alone in the company of the first woman that had excited him in a long time. As the night continued, her ability to surprise him didn't diminish. She allowed him to pull her into a conversation about her life at the FBI and her role as partner to Agent Fox Mulder, the father of her two children. She showed him a lot of old case files that at any other time would have demanded his attention to the exclusion of all other stimuli. She paged through an album of her life with him, a major in-road into the private Dr. Dana Scully, but even this information could not hold his attention. At first he had been thrilled about all this openness. However, he soon realized as she spoke, the impetus of the conversation was her love, her continued love, for Fox Mulder. This made Logan very sad. He couldn't compete with a probably-dead-but-possibly-alive hero who had been in her heart for over 20 years. "Dana, you're never going to love me like you did him, are you?" he said. XXXXX Friday 10:16 PM May 27 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. "What?" Dana gasped. He stood up and walked to the window, searching the stars as if looking for an answer to his problem. "What are you talking about?" she said. "Fox Mulder," he said and sighed, turning back to her. "You're never going to quit loving him." "No, I'm not, but I don't see why that's a problem," she said somewhat defensively. "Oh, it's not a problem for you, Dana. You have two good reasons and years of memories to love about the man, but it's a major stumbling block for me." She had a million questions circling her brain but couldn't get her mind and tongue to coordinate enough to ask him any of them, so she waited for him to continue. Logan walked back over to the couch and sat down next to her, turning to place his hands on her shoulders, and said, "It's a major problem for me because I love you, Dana, and I want to marry you. Unfortunately, I don't see you loving me enough to set aside the memory of Fox Mulder to make a life with me. As much as I love you, I can't play second fiddle. I'd have to be number one with you. I won't spend the rest of my life competing with a ghost." "Is that a proposal, Logan?" she gasped. "Are you asking me to marry you?" He looked at her for a long moment before saying, "Yes. Yes, it is a proposal. Would you marry me, even though I'm not him?" She could tell by the expression on his face that he expected multiple objections, if not an out-right refusal to consider his offer. She once again surprised him by saying, "I have to tell you one more thing about him." "Dana, I don't want to hear another thing about Fox Mulder. I want to hear your answer," he growled. "I think I've been pretty patient while you've recounted your experiences with a guy that was obviously the love of your life. I don't begrudge you that, Dana, but I can't help but feel inferior to him. You've made it clear that no one can ever live up to him. How am I supposed to feel about that?" "But Logan, I need to tell you that Mulder," she began again. "No, Dana," he said, cutting her off. "I love you and nothing you can tell me about Mulder would change my mind about wanting to marry you!" he insisted. "I understand that you still love him and I wasn't sure if I could accept it. Then I think about not being with you and it physically hurts! However, the fact remains that he's not here and I'll take my chances that he won't come back." He paused and then continued. "I'll even take a chance that you won't ever love me like that. That's how much I love you. I can't walk away even knowing that your heart still belongs to someone else." She glared at him and the Irish temper she had thought tamed for years, broke free and drove her to shout, "Will you shut up and listen to me? I need you to understand." "NO," he cried, cutting her off again. "Damn it, Dana! I won't listen to anything else until I get a yes or no," he bellowed. "Logan, he's NOT the other man," she said finally. "Will you shut the fuck up and listen to me? If you still want to marry me after I'm done, then the answer is yes, but you have to listen to me first!" Logan was shocked by her temper, her cursing and her agreement to marry him. He wisely kept his mouth shut and waited to hear what she had to say. Despite being sick of hearing about Mulder, he focused on the fact that she had said if he still wanted her, the answer was yes. He doubted anything she could say would change his mind. If it meant spending the rest of his life with this woman, he would listen to anything she had to say about the man he now saw as his rival. Ten minutes later, he was still silent, but his silence had nothing to do with happiness. She had gone to the safe hidden in the wall and pulled out an envelope that had changed his life. She pulled several sheets of paper and some transparencies out of the envelope. She had placed a transparency that was covered with rows of colored bars in his left hand. It had his name at the top. In his right hand she placed a similar sheet with the name of Fox Mulder on it. He gave her a questioning look and in response she pushed his two hands together, the sheets sliding on top of each other. The colored bars lined up. They were identical. XXXXX Friday 10:45 PM May 27 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, DC He was Fox Mulder. Dana had been as shocked as Logan at her display of temper and foul language, but she wrote it off to the stress of the news she was about to deliver. She pulled the transparencies from his hands and laid them on the table as she spread the information out for him and explained each piece. She told him about the fact that he has the same scars that Mulder carried 14 years ago. The shoulder wound was from her own gun, the leg scar from a case in North Carolina where he had nearly died. She hadn't made the connection until later when the other things began to tickle at the back of her mind; the scars, the blood type, his eyes, the feelings she had for him that only Mulder had ever been able to elicit from her. All these other things she could have ignored as coincidence. So many things being coincidental were rare, but she had seen a lot of unusual things while working on the X-Files and could have accepted them as a fluke. However, the DNA testing she had done to prove her theory left no doubt. He was silent through her entire delivery. She realized he was in shock by the time she was done because his hands had begun to tremble and he was white as a sheet. She ran into the kitchen and made him a cup of hot chocolate both for the heat and the sugar, hoping it would revive him. If he were a drinking man, she would have given him a shot of whiskey. She raced back to the office and placed the steaming mug into his hands, holding her hands over his until she was sure he was able to support the weight of the cup. She pulled an afghan down off the back of the couch and spread it on his shoulders, sitting next to him and putting her arms around him. It might be May but his skin was cold to the touch and he needed the heat. His continued silence worried her. She could tell he was considering the evidence before him and measuring it against the reality of his life for the past several years. Finally, he sighed in resignation. "I ... I am Fox Mulder?" he asked. "Yes." "How can that be? I mean, I'm sixteen years younger than you are and even counting the plastic surgery on my face, my body is definitely not that of a fifty-six year old man." "Logan, it's possible that Einstein was correct in his theory that an individual traveling in space would not age at the same rate as the individuals on earth due to the speeds that they are traveling. It's scientifically possible, however improbable, that you would have remained younger while I continued to age because you were on a ship in outer space. You were only restored to society barely three years ago. That leaves a good 11 years unaccounted for and you physically appear to be as young as the age proposed to be yours. You don't remember your wife and child or the accident because they never existed in your memories. They are the past of the real Logan Graham. "After I started thinking about all the evidence that you could possibly be Mulder, I researched Logan Graham's history further. He was in a boating accident three years ago along with his wife and child. He was presumed dead until you washed up on shore in Bermuda. They replaced all traces of his identity with yours, everything from his thumb print on his driver's license to his dental records. They gave you his identity, never thinking anyone would connect Logan Graham's rescue with Fox Mulder's disappearance. They erased your memory and set it up so that you believed his history for your new life." He was silent again, looking at her as if she had grown a second head before finally speaking. "Is this what you wanted to tell me without the kids around?" "Yes," she said. A long silence followed her answer. Finally she couldn't take his silence any longer. "What are you thinking?" He looked at her and opened his mouth, but no words came out. Finally he drew in a deep breath and said, "I have so many thoughts running through my mind right now, I don't know where to start." "Do you think I'm lying to you or that I'm wrong?" Dana asked. "No," he said quietly. "I believe you and I believe the blood tests and PCR test that you ran. I thought it was an incredible coincidence at the time when my blood was the same as William's and Gabby's. Now, I have to believe that it was not a coincidence at all, but fate. "I just find this hard to believe because after suffering with no memories of any relationships at all for such a long time, it took a lot of adjustment on my part to accept the 'Logan Graham' life history. Now I find that it's no wonder I couldn't connect to anyone in Graham's life because I am not him. I have to start all over again. I have the shock of not being able to feel a connection to the 'Mulder' past to come to terms with. I don't know if I have it in me to work through all this again. My entire life has been a lie," he cried. Logan surged to his feet and began to pace. "It's a tough pill to swallow," he said shakily. At her quizzical look he continued, "Finding out that everything I thought was true was a lie and that I was possibly taken by aliens and mind wiped is bad enough! Hell! This means that I was a 'semi-nutcase' who possibly saved the world in my past life." He fell back down on the couch and put his head between his knees, trying to fight off the feeling of dizziness that overwhelmed him. "That last part alone is quite a shock for a man with no memories." He reached for her and wrapped her in his arms. "God, Dana, what are we going to do?" They sat quietly in front of the fire, speaking occasionally, trying to think through the situation rationally. Finally Logan began to laugh, at first hysterically, working his way back down to sanity and to a deep belly laugh that warmed Dana's heart. "Here I've been worried about competing with a dead man and I am the dead man!" he roared. His laughter once again turned to tears and he jumped to his feet again, striding towards the door. "Logan! Where are you going?" Dana asked, completely shocked by his actions. "I ... I can't be here right now. I need to leave. It's all ... more than I can accept right now." "Logan, I understand," Dana began. "No!" he interrupted rudely. "I don't think you do. I think you want to, but you have your own problems to get over. I need some time to work though this." Then he was gone. XXXXX Friday 11:30 PM May 27 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. By the time William and Gabriella had returned from Bill's house, Dana had stopped crying. She was sure that she had just lost the love of her life for the second time but she knew she had to put on a strong front for the children. She understood his need for time alone to absorb everything he learned tonight. On the other hand, it was so hard to let him go. The pain was just as bad, only this time it wasn't shrouded in mystery. He had left. She wasn't sure he would ever want to see her again. If that's what he chose, she would have to live with it. She didn't need to kiss his luscious lips to survive, she assured herself. She didn't need to feel his strong arms around her, hands touching her everywhere. She didn't need his love. She could at least have the comfort of knowing he was alive. Who was she trying to kid? 'Certainly not herself,' she thought. She did need and want him back in her life. She had wanted him as Mulder. She wanted him as Logan. He was the only man in the world for her. She knew she would recover and might even find a modicum of happiness with another, but the man who just walked out her door was the one man on earth who could make her completely happy, whether his name was Logan Graham or Fox Mulder. She was his on a cellular level, he owned her, heart and soul. Will and Gabby were astutely aware that something had gone wrong between their mother and Logan Graham. They knew that she had wanted to talk to Logan alone for a while and both had their own theories about what the conversation involved. William, being a little older and thinking himself a lot wiser than his little sister, believed that she wanted to make sure that Logan was okay with being around him and his sister. Gabriella laughed at him when he whispered that worldly opinion to her while they were huddled in the hall, discussing the new turn of events. "Will, don't be such a dufus. No wonder Jenni Coutcher is about to give up on getting you to ask her out. Mom wanted to jump his bones while we were gone." Her sparkling laughter carried downstairs. "Are you two ready for bed yet?" Dana called up the stairs. "I just have to lock up down here and I'll be right up." "Gabby? Jenni likes me?" Will sputtered. "Oh, brother!" she giggled. "At this rate, you'll be in college before you have your first date." "Don't try to change the subject," he said. He frowned at her, trying to sort out his feelings about her insight to Jenni's feelings before returning to their first topic. "So, you think Mom is interested in Logan, that way?" Gabby suddenly became serious. "I think she was, but something happened. I'm not sure we'll see Logan Graham again." "Hey, you two, what's the secret?" Dana asked, dreading their response. "Well, Gabby just told me Jenni Coutcher likes me," Will answered, trying to deflect the conversation to a safe topic. "He's just playing dense," Gabby answered. The two young people said good night and went to their rooms. Dana stood in the hall for a moment, surprised by their tact. She shook her head and smiled. She had raised two wonderful children. She was closest to Will's room so she went in to kiss him goodnight first. They had a short talk about Jenni Coutcher and girls in general. Dana made him promise not to sit up too late. They had an early departure time for the beach trip planned in the morning. Gabby was in her pajamas already and sitting in bed when Dana got to her room. Gabby had her virtual computer link on and was speaking quietly into the mouthpiece, logging in her personal journal for the day. Dana kissed her goodnight and turned to leave. "Mom?" Gabby asked quietly. "Is Logan coming with us in the morning?" Dana stared at this changeling young woman that had taken over her little girl's body before replying, "I don't know, honey. He's a busy man." "Did he leave and make you cry because of us?" Gabby moved right to the heart of the questions that plagued her. "Oh, no! Honey, No! Nothing you or your brother did or said changed anything between Logan and me. It's complicated," she said trying to stave off the questions she could see in her daughter's eyes. She sighed and moved back to the bed to sit down. Gabby whispered, "Save. Off." She placed the head gear back in the drawer by her bed. Dana picked up Gabby's free hand and rubbed it for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "Mom, don't you think Will should be here too?" Gabby asked. Dana smiled and nodded her head. Gabby called out for her brother to join them and in a few minutes, they were all sitting in a circle on Gabby's bed. Dana looked at her two beautiful children and tried to decide how much to tell them. She decided to begin with a simple truth and see where the conversation led. "I know you both have questions about what Logan and I discussed tonight. I can't tell you everything we talked about. Most of it isn't my story to tell. I can, however, tell you this. Tonight Logan and I looked at some hard, cold facts about our relationship and he decided that he needed some space, some time to absorb some of them before we made any plans for the future." Dana hesitated but added before they could start questioning her, "Nothing about you two is a negative in our relationship. I love you and you know that you are first in my heart and mind. Logan respects and understands that fact and accepts it as a non- negotiable factor in our relationship. I've told you some of Logan's unhappy past before. He needs to come to terms with parts of that past, his lost family, and memories and a few other things before we can discuss a relationship. "I'm willing to give him time. I don't have to like it and it isn't an easy thing to do. However, I feel that it's necessary for a healthy relationship between the two of us. Please, you two, don't worry about me. I have you two, I have my job, I have my health, and I have a large extended family of friends and relatives. I am a blessed woman." "How long do you think Logan will need before he's thought through everything?" Will asked. "I don't know." Dana sighed and added, "It could be a week or a month or even years before he's ready to begin again. Look at me; I needed over a decade before I was willing to open my heart to another." They were all silent for a few minutes, contemplating the words their mother had shared with them. She was surprised that the kids didn't have more questions, surprised and extremely relieved. "I think we need to get to sleep now, we have a big day tomorrow!" Dana said. XXXXX Saturday 1:15 AM May 28 2016 KING GEORGE'S PUB Georgetown, D.C. The tall man stormed into the bar with all the bravado that only a military man used to command could muster. He nodded to the bartender and said, "Captain Bill Scully. You called me earlier?" "Yes, Captain Scully, thanks for coming. He's over there. I've tried to get him to drink some coffee, but he's insisting on more tequila." "Thanks, I'll handle it from here." Bill stood back from the booth and studied the man sitting there, sprawled drunkenly, staring into his empty glass. Logan Graham looked up, trying to spy the bartender so that he could order another shot of painkiller. "Hey, it's good ol' Bill Scully. Wha'd she do? Sen ya out to fine me?" he slurred. "Thas jus like Dana, gotta take care of everyun." Bill shook his head in disgust and looked towards the bartender, motioning for two coffees. He slid into the booth across from Logan and waited for him to start talking again, but for once Logan had nothing to say. They drank their coffee silently. Bill continued to study the younger man. Logan stared into the depths of his cup as if trying to find the answer to the most important question in the universe. "Do you want to talk about it?" Bill said finally after casually checking his watch for the third time. "Nope," Logan declared. "Nothin' to say. It's a secret." Bill took another sip of his coffee and almost spewed it out when Logan's fist hit the table and he bellowed, "Fucking Fox Mulder!" Bill considered the condition of the man in front of him and thought he knew what was going on now. Dana had turned this man away because of her continuing love for that crazy partner of hers that had been gone for almost 14 years. "What did you say?" Bill asked. "When will she quit lettin' that bastard fuck up her life?" he hissed into Bill's face. "She's gone through so much pain, unnecessary pain from the day she met Special Agent Fox Mulder," he spat. "Why can't she get a break?" Bill couldn't find any fault in Logan's rant so he kept quiet for once. He didn't know this man well enough to open up to him. For all his celebrity status, he could be hiding a volatile temper and the last thing Bill wanted was to be involved in a fight in a bar in Georgetown. 'That would look great in the papers,' he thought. 'My students would have a field day with that one.' He tried to calm Logan down and ordered another couple of cups of coffee and a couple cheese bisonburgers. 'What Tara didn't know wouldn't hurt her,' he thought as he waited for the food. On and on Logan ranted between bites of food and sips of coffee. The one-sided conversation was peppered with 'fuckin Fox Mulder' remarks. Finally, Logan grew quiet and pushed his half-eaten meal away. "I have to see Dana and tell her I love her. I don't care about Fox Mulder. He was then and I am now. I need to go." He abruptly stood up and dug a wad of folded money out of his pocket. He threw down a couple hundred dollars and started for the door. Bill stood up and caught his arm, reaching for his coat with his other hand. "Hold it sailor, you aren't driving anywhere," Bill ordered. "Not in this condition." "Huh?" Logan swayed on his feet and belched. "Oh, yeah, can you get me a cab back to Dana's?" "I can do better than that, Logan. I'll drive you there," Bill assured him. "Damned decent of you, Bill," Logan grinned. "Ya know, you're taking this all pretty well, considering how Dana said you hated Fox Mulder." "That was then and this is now, Logan. Personally, I think you're the best thing that could happen to my sister. She deserves a man who loves her and not some weirdo like Mulder. She needs a nice safe, sane guy who has a great career as a writer in front of him, not some nut-case that runs around screaming that the sky is falling and the little green men are causing it." Bill laughed. He was finally able to do something positive for his sister. XXXXX Saturday 2:15 AM May 28 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Bill was glad he had a key to Dana's house. All the lights were off and he didn't want to wake up the kids before they even got into the house. He had considered taking Logan home, but he wasn't sure he could convince him to give him his address without a fight. He knew Dana would be worried about him and had a spare room for him to sleep off the alcohol in his system before they left tomorrow for the shore. He had driven Logan's Maserati to Dana's house. He had arranged for a cab to be there to pick him up and take him back to the bar to pick up his car. He called Tara to let her know that everything was all right and that he would have a great story to tell her when he got home. Logan had thanked him about ten times before they were even in the door. Bill tried to keep him quiet, but the inebriated man was not going to shut up or be quiet so he gave up. Dana came flying down the stairs as soon as she heard Logan crash into the hall table and knock over everything on it. His loud giggling and effort to chastise Bill for making so much noise was creating a racket that should have woken up the dead. "Scully!" Logan bellowed when he saw her at the top of the stairs. "I'm home!" He burst into a fit of the giggles that made Bill and Dana smile. He was a cute but clumsy drunk and his use of Dana's last name went unchallenged by either sibling. "Where did you find him?" Dana asked her brother as she slid her shoulder under Logan's arm. "The bartender at the King George's Pub called me. He had my card in his pocket from earlier. He told him that he didn't have anyone else to call." Bill watched his sister for her reaction to his words. "He could have called me," she said finally. "I think you were the reason he was there drowning his sorrows in tequila in the first place," Bill said quietly. Dana sighed. "Well, help me get him upstairs and into the shower. He stinks like a bar," she admonished. "And so do you for that matter," she added. "Hey, I just had coffee, on my honor," he growled at her then grinned. "Tara made me promise not to drink anything else." Dana smiled and shook her head as they helped an uncoordinated Logan Graham up the stairs to the bathroom. "I think it's best if we take him to my bathroom," Dana said. "It will be quieter than the one that connects to the kids' rooms." Bill smirked at her and steered the increasingly dead weight of Logan's body towards her bedroom. He held the younger man up while his sister stripped him and then they threw him into the shower to sober up. His screech of outrage at the first touch of the cold water was almost worth all their efforts. Bill walked back into the bedroom to wait for Dana. She followed close behind him, grinning at the sputtering, swearing man trapped in her shower until he sobered up a little. "Thanks, Bill. I can handle it from here," she said as she gave her brother a hug. "Sure, Danes," he replied, hugging her back. "Do you want us to pick up the kids on the way to the shore tomorrow?" "No, I think everything will be fine by in the morning. I'm not sure Logan's going to feel like joining us, but the kids and I will be okay driving up. We might make it a little later than previously anticipated, but we'll be there." Dana let Bill out and locked the door after him. She stood at the foot of the stairs and listened to the voice of her lover as he began to sing limericks in the shower. She made up her mind, whether he was Mulder or Logan, he was in her life for good. She would see to that right now. XXXXX Saturday 4:30 AM May 28 2016 Dunbarton Road Georgetown, D.C. Logan Graham woke with a start. He was used to waking up in strange beds, he'd been on tour for months at a time, sleeping in hotels all over the world, but he knew that this wasn't a hotel room. He was wrapped around a woman and for a moment couldn't get his bearings. As soon as she moved, he realized that it was Dana in bed with him. As soon as he recognized who, the why came flowing back to him. "Dana?" he whispered. "Are you awake?" "I am now, Logan. What's the matter?" she grumbled. "Dana, how long have I been here? The last thing I remember is being drunk and talking to Bill about you. Have I been here long enough to sleep off my hangover? I feel great!" "No, Logan," she said as she looked over at the clock before falling back onto the pillow with a groan. "You've only been asleep a couple hours." "Well, how's that possible? I'm sober and I've obviously had a shower because I don't stink. I don't have a headache and the inside of my mouth doesn't taste like a sewer. What's going on?" "Logan, go back to sleep, please," she moaned. "Dana, we need to talk," he said quietly. This final remark seemed to wake her up. She flipped over and scooted towards the headboard. She turned on her bedside lamp and turned back to look at him. He slid up in the bed, stuffing a couple pillows behind him to get comfortable for the discussion he knew was coming. "Yes," she said. "We do need to talk. Why don't you start? Are you ready to talk about why you left so abruptly last evening?" "First off, I need to know two things and then I'll explain everything," he declared. When she nodded he continued, "Do you love me, as I am, enough to marry me?" "Yes." He gave her one of his sweet smiles and then laughed as he said, "GREAT! No more worrying about competing with a dead man." She started to smile and gently chuckle with him. "Of course I love you. You don't have to compete with anyone, Logan. I loved you for yourself before I even suspected you were Mulder." He became serious again and looked directly into her eyes as he asked, "When did you fall in love with me, Dana? When? Right away?" "No," she said with a blush. "Though I was certainly in lust with you right away, I didn't fall in love that easily. I started to enjoy your company the first night we went out to dinner and I grew fonder of you as we talked. You are very intelligent and interesting to talk to. Your ideas challenged me in a way I hadn't experienced in years. You were very interested in my life, not just in telling me about yours, and I found that to be refreshing." He smiled to encourage her to continue. "I think I began to really like you when we were out on the boat together. I just looked at you one time and it was as if you were just there, a part of me. I didn't want to accept it. I thought I would be gone in a few days. Even though I was in a state of shock over Will's accident, I knew I'd miss you dreadfully when I had to leave so suddenly." "And," he urged. "I realized that I was in love with you when you walked in the door of the waiting room at the hospital. I couldn't believe that you had followed me and I felt such a rush of love and caring support from you, that it made my knees weak." "Thank you, Dana," he murmured as he drew her into his arms and kissed her temple. "I needed to know that you loved me as Logan BEFORE you knew I was Fox Mulder. I hope you can understand. I needed to know that because I'm NOT Fox Mulder anymore, and I can't be him again." She smiled and nodded her understanding. "You said you wanted to know two things. What's the other?" "Well, it may sound silly, but how did you get me sober in such a short time? What is it, some secret doctor stuff?" he teased. "As a matter of fact it is. It's not on the market without a prescription, but I keep a few ampoules in my first aid kit. With all my Irish relatives, it's come in handy." "Well, it worked great on me," he assured her. "The only side effect is that you have to drink huge quantities of water to keep from dehydrating. I left a glass of water on the table on your side of the bed. You should drink some now." He nodded his head at her and guzzled down the water. "I'll do anything to keep from having a hangover, Dana. Thanks." They snuggled together, silent for a few minutes. He began to talk in a low voice, telling her everything he had felt earlier. He told her about his fear that she would find him lacking compared to his old self. He was scared that he couldn't live with the way his life had been manipulated by outside forces, whether it was aliens or humans doing the maneuvers. He had been sad over the last few years, not remembering his life and his loved ones, but he'd been safe and didn't want to think of facing the life of fear and paranoia she had described their old existence to be. He told her how much he loved her, almost from the first time he saw her and how deep his despair was when he thought she would never come to love him because she couldn't forget Fox Mulder. He tried to explain how terrified he was that the children wouldn't love him, wouldn't accept him, would find him lacking when they compared him to their heroic father. He told her everything, and when he was done, she talked to him about her feelings and fears. She had been terrified that he would not want her and the children after he found out the truth. She was worried about why he was returned. What if their love forced the hand of his abductors and they took him again? How could she stand losing him for a third time? He shared his thoughts on that with her, at first hesitant to let her know how he felt. He didn't want to be Fox Mulder any longer. He had made a life as Logan Graham, starting basically from scratch. Everything he was now, everything he remembered or did was as Logan Graham. He couldn't be Fox Mulder again. That man had died when he disappeared and had all his relationships wiped from his brain before being returned. Logan reaffirmed that he had no idea where he had been or what he had been doing before three years ago. He had no idea why he was returned, but for the past few years he had been working on regaining his life and he didn't want to start again. Fox Mulder had been a relentless, driven man, but his quest was over. He told her how afraid he was that she couldn't accept those feelings and would reject him. He was practically hysterical with relief when she told him she didn't want him to resume his life as Fox Mulder. That she loved him as he was, as Logan Graham, and wanted to be with him. It was a unique experience in their long term relationship ... not that he could remember any of it. However, Dana did and she let him know how much she appreciated the openness they shared. "I don't want to hide anything from you, Dana. I want us to share everything. The one thing the past few years has done for me is to teach me that I need to share my life with someone I can love and trust." He kissed her passionately before saying, "And who better to share my life with than the woman I have fallen in love with twice in my lifetime? It must be fate." Their kisses deepened and the passion that they had shared on the island flared. Dana got up and locked her bedroom door. She didn't want to let the children know about their coming marriage by finding them in bed having sex. When she walked back to the edge of the bed, she noticed that Logan had stripped off the tee shirt and boxers that she had given him to sleep in. She looked down at him and then reached for the hem of her nightshirt. "Let me do that, Dana," he growled. She smiled and slid into bed beside him, snuggling into his arms. His hand was shaking as he unbuttoned her nightshirt and parted the fabric to expose her breasts. He lowered his head and let his tongue worship her breasts, ending by placing soft kisses all over them and up the slope of her breasts to her throat. He licked and sucked and kissed her neck, finally allowing her to bring his lips down to hers in a scorching kiss. His hands began to, once again, smooth over her breasts. "Oh, Logan, that feels wonderful!" Dana breathed. He pulled back and stared down into her eyes. "Are you really okay with me as Logan? Do you need to call me Mulder?" "No! Logan, you are the man I'm with, the man I want. I loved Fox Mulder, but you're right. Somewhere between 2003 and three years ago, he died and you were born. My love for you is as deep and abiding as my love for him was while we were together. Although the fact that you were Mulder somehow makes me feel less like I'm betraying his memory, that was then and this is now. I love you, Logan Graham, and I'm going to be Dana Graham very soon I hope." "Soon? How about tomorrow?" he teased. "Well, I'm sorry, Sir, but I'm busy this weekend. My family is expecting to meet my new boyfriend for a holiday at the shore," she teased back. "Perhaps we can talk about our wedding then?" she offered. "Yes, but soon, Dana. Very, very soon," he begged. They began to kiss again as he moved over her. He let his lips travel down to kiss her breasts for a moment before trailing a line of soft, wet kisses down her abdomen to the thatch of curls that hid her sex. "Let me in, Dana," he demanded as she held her legs together tightly. "Logan, please," she begged. He was instantly at her side again, looking deeply into her eyes. "What's the matter, Dana?" She hesitated before answering, somewhat shy about her request. Finally she said, "Logan, I need you very badly. I know that you want to make love to me, but I don't think I could enjoy a prolonged bout of foreplay right now. I want you inside me; I need to feel that you are real and that you want me as I want you. Can you understand that?" "Ah, Dana!" he groaned. "What you do to me!" He wiggled under the covers and lifted then so that she could crawl in with him. He kissed her deeply again, letting his hand travel down her body to slide into her, making sure she was ready for him. "Dana, do you have any condoms?" he asked. "You don't need them, Logan. They tested your blood for STD's in the hospital before using it to transfuse William. They also checked each pint and it was all clean, going back over two years." Dana blushed as he smirked at her. "What about you?" he whispered as he nuzzled her neck. "Do we have to worry about babies?" he asked solemnly. "No," she said as she pulled him towards her. "No more babies." He moved over her when he found her wet with desire for him, and slid into her, almost crying with the feeling her tight sheath evoked in him. He felt aroused and excited. At the same time, he felt soothed and protected. She was everything to him. She was everything he had looked for in the few other women he'd been with and found them so lacking. He knew what they were missing now. They didn't love him like this little redhead did, like he loved her. They moved together tenderly, almost reverent in their joining. Her soft sighs and moans drove him crazy. His strong body and the size of his erection pushed her to the edge of her orgasm within seconds of their union. He slowed down, teasing her, making her wait for him to join her. Their hands and mouths and bodies worshiped each other. Dana felt his body tense as he climbed closer to his orgasm and she moaned her encouragement. He slid up on his knees slightly higher, changing the angle of his penetration, and sliding across her 'G' spot with each stroke in. She felt her stomach go warm and a tingling rise from the tops of her toes up the front of her legs, settling in her womb. She quaked around him and the added pressure of her orgasm sent him over the edge right after her. Logan wrapped his arms around her and rolled over, bringing her to lie atop him as they cooled off rapidly in the early morning air. "What are we going to tell the kids?" Logan asked. "About what?" Dana said and then sighed, understanding his question. "Are we going to tell them the whole truth or are we going to let them think that we just found one another and fell in love?" Dana considered each option for a few minutes before speaking. "I think we need to wait until they are adults to tell them the entire story." "Why?" he asked. "Well, we've already discussed our fears over someone or something kidnapping you again if you regained your memories. I think the same concern is valid if anyone but the two of us knows that you were Mulder." Logan wondered if she realized that she had just said, 'You WERE Mulder'. It quieted a niggling, leftover doubt that she was really accepting him as Logan. "That's true, and you have to remember, no matter how great the kids are, they still are kids. They could slip up and say something to someone that could be used to separate us," he agreed. "And there is one other factor," Dana said and then hesitated. "Go ahead, sweetheart," he urged. "Neither one of the kids really knew their father. He's a memory to them. I think we need to let them accept you for who you are now, not for what you were. Do you understand what I mean?" Logan nodded and whispered, "I love you, Dana." "I love you, too, Logan," Dana said as she placed a kiss in the center of his chest. They cuddled together for a few minutes before she crawled to the edge of the bed and retrieved their night clothes. "What's this?" he questioned. "We have two kids in this house, Logan. Do you want to explain why we're naked in bed together before we tell them we're getting married?" she said tartly as she dressed and crossed to unlock the door. "Dana, it's 2016, they probably know a heck of a lot more than we did at their ages," he retorted. "They may know more than you or I did, but they're not getting the visuals from their mother and their new father," she insisted. Logan paused for a long moment, tee shirt half way pulled down over his head. "Are you okay?" Dana asked. "Yeah," he said, his voice rough with emotion as he finished pulling down the shirt. He stepped into his boxers and laid back down. "Logan, what's wrong?" "Nothing. Not a bloody thing, everything's right," he smiled at her. "Tell me," she insisted. He looked away for a moment then back into her eyes. "It's the first time I was ever referred to as their father. You said 'their new father' and it touched me." He shrugged. "It's still pretty overwhelming." "Oh," she teased, "From boy-toy to new daddy in the matter of a day, huh? Is it that hard to take it all in?" "Boy-Toy!" he laughed. "Well, maybe some people will consider me your boy-toy, but we know the truth." "Which is what?" she asked. "I may be years younger, physically and legally, but I'm really age- appropriate." "Really? I never thought of that," she pretended to contemplate his newest factoid. "Yep, I may be as old as you are mentally, Dana, but I've still got the body of a much younger man going for me." "I'd say I've got the best of both worlds here, what do you say?" she teased. "Now let's get some sleep or neither one of us will be able to drive to the beach later, and believe me, I will not let William behind the wheel of a car until he's got his license." "Won't that be difficult, Dana? I mean, doesn't he have to have experience driving before he gets his license." "Ah, now you see the method to my madness," she mumbled against his chest. They laughed together and tried to get back to sleep. They had a lot to do in the next few days and they wanted to be rested to do it. They curled up together and soon the warmth of their bodies mingled and soothed them to sleep. XXXXX Saturday 11:30 AM August 20, 2016 The Graham Summer House Virginia Beach, VA The entire family was lounging on the beach by the Atlantic Ocean as the summer of 2016 came to a close. The Grahams, the Scullys, and friends were enjoying the last two weeks of summer before school started. Dana and Logan had married only two months previously and had made the purchase of this summer house their first priority. William and Gabriella loved the new beach house. They had been bringing their friends down almost every weekend since the deal closed. It was right on the ocean and near every imaginable activity that could make a vacation fun, without being in the city. This particular weekend was no exception. Gabby had invited two of her best friends to even the odds against William and their three boy cousins. Charlie and his wife, Mary, and their two boys were there for the duration. Charlie had retired from his teaching post in Texas and they were relocating to Maryland to be near Maggie. Bill, Tara, Matthew, and Alison were arriving that afternoon, and would be staying until the first day of school on August 29th. Maggie Scully, Walter Skinner, Frohike, Langly, and Byers rounded out the group that lazed around the deck and beach area adjacent to the rambling old house. Logan and Dana, Maggie and Walter, and Charlie and Mary were sitting on the deck. Dana and Logan were sharing a lounge chair as neither one wanted to be more than a few inches from the other. "Has anyone seen Will lately?" Sam, Charlie's oldest son, asked. "He went for a walk up the beach," Maggie replied. "He should be home soon. He knows we're going to eat." Moments later, Will's figure appeared, walking slowly back up the beach. Occasionally he would bend down and pick up something that he would throw into the water. "Looks like a young man with something on his mind," Walter remarked. "I agree," Logan said, standing up. "I think I'll take a walk down the beach. Want to come?" he asked Dana, extending his hand to help her up. Dana looked at him for a moment and noticed his eyes drifting to the lone figure of William at the water's edge. "I think that sounds like a great idea," she said, rising gracefully and taking his hand. The two newlyweds walked hand in hand down to greet William. "Hey! It's almost time to eat. Are you hungry?" Logan asked the younger man. "Nah," Will responded. "Will, I don't think I ever heard you refuse food before," Dana teased her son. "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm just thinking," Will said shyly. "Thinking?" Logan asked as he put his arm over Will's shoulders. "Yeah, you know we were all joking about me having so much of your blood that we're blood brothers?" Will asked tentatively. "Yes?" Logan said to encourage him. "Well, I don't really want to be your blood-brother," Will said. Logan paled but smiled and said, "That's all right Will, I understand." "No, please, I don't think you do," Will hastened to say. "I don't want to be your blood-brother; I'd rather be your son." Stunned silence met his statement. "You mean?" Logan whispered. "Can I call you Dad sometimes, instead of Logan?" Will asked as he looked up at Logan through his lashes. "Any time, son. Any time at all." Logan smiled at him then pulled the boy into a huge bear hug before pulling Dana into his arms to complete the circle. They stood like that until Walter called everyone to eat. Will cleared his throat, suddenly embarrassed. "Well, I'm starved. Think I'll go see what we've got before the other guys eat it all!" He took off running towards the deck, leaving Logan and Dana speechless. They hugged for a moment and then kissed tenderly, eventually deepening the kiss to a passionate level. Fifty yards up the beach, their actions were not unnoticed. "Man, this is the life," Frohike said as yet another young woman jogged down the beach in her bathing suit, drawing his eyes from Logan and Dana. "Cool it, Melvin," John Byers hissed. "There are children present!" Gabby and her friends laughed as the old friends bantered back and forth. "Have you uncles always been so ... " Jenni Coutcher asked. "Weird? Yeah," Gabby laughed. "They have." Both of her friends were staring at something behind her and she turned to see what held their attention. "Your new stepfather is so hot," Mari said as she watched Logan and Dana end their kiss and walk, arm in arm, back towards the deck. "Yeah," Gabby agreed. "He's hot all right, but he's also really in love with my mother," she said pointedly. "I'm just glad Mom finally found a man that could help her get her groove back!" Her friends seconded that remark and then they decided to join the boys before all the food was gone. Dana and Logan looked at each other and tried not to laugh as Gabby's words echoed in their ears. "Did I help you get your groove back, Dana?" Logan teased. "Are you happy that you got it back?" "Yeah, I'm happy I got my groove back," she whispered. "Especially since it's the same old one I never wanted to loose in the first place!" THE END.