Title:  Interuptions
Author: Angela W.
tapw@hotmail.com
Category: MSR/Mulder-Skinner-Scully friendship
(Mulder/Scully married)
Rating: Strong R or mild NC-17
Timespan/Spoilers/Relationship Status: This would be
sometime after the beginning of Season Seven in the
real "XF" world; there's a spoiler for "Amor Fati". In
the series of married fanfics I'm writing, this comes
after "Something Fishy".
Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned in this
story belong to me. They are all the property of Chris
Carter and 1013 Productions.
Archive: Feel free to archive anywhere!
Feeback: If it's nice or contains *constructive*
criticism, feedback is welcome. If you just don't like
the idea of Mulder and Scully being married, don't
read the story!
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been a long, boring day for Special Agent Fox
Mulder. Instead of working on an X-File, preferably
half a continent away, he and his partner had been
stuck at F.B.I. headquarters all day. They had done
paperwork, explained their latest case to Skinner and
attended an extremely dull departmental meeting.
Now, finally, it was 5 p.m. Time to blow this joint.
He looked up with a smile. Time to change his mode of
thinking from "Scully, my partner" to "Dana, my wife".
"You ready to leave?" he asked.
"Yeah. Where we headed?"
"Out to the track, if that's okay. We really need to
run. It'll get the cobwebs out of our heads."
"Okay. I've got a sweatsuit in my locker out there."
The agents jogged for almost an hour, matching their
paces easily to each other. They didn't talk much;
they didn't need to. Finally, Scully said, "One more
lap and then we head home?"
"Sounds good, but I'm really going to go all out this
time," Mulder said. "Wanna race me?"
"No thanks. I'd just end up eating your dust. You
make like Carl Lewis and I'll just jog my last lap,"
she said. Scully watched as Mulder took off, running
full bore down the stretch. She also noticed the
admiring glances of the other two female agents at the
track. He's mine, she thought with a frisson of
possessiveness. She'd noticed before that the other
women in the bureau seemed to almost pity her for
being paired with "Spooky" Mulder when he was wearing
a suit and tie, but that their attitude always
underwent a radical adjustment the first time they
caught sight of him in something more casual. The
loose sweat pants he was wearing didn't highlight his,
um, assets, as well as jeans or shorts would have, but
the sweat-soaked T-shirt that was clinging to him like
a second skin was certainly revealing.
Just as Scully was making her way around the last
stretch of track, to where she could see a slighlty
winded Mulder waiting for her, another agent came up
beside her. Jackson? Johnson? Something like that.
"Hey, Scully?" he said.
"Yeah?"
"You want to ditch your spooky partner and come have
dinner with me when you finish your workout?"
"No!" she answered vehemently. It wasn't widely known
that she and Mulder were married, she reminded
herself, and Skinner had insisted upon discretion as a
condition of their continuted professional
partnership, so she'd better tone down her refusal a
little. "I mean, uh, no thanks. Mulder and I are going
to grab a bite to eat and then we have, er, work to
do."
"Suit yourself," the agent said with a shrug.
As Scully jogged up to her husband, Mulder asked,
"What did he want?"
"Me to have dinner with him."
"Can I kill him?"
"Funny, Mulder. Like you didn't get propositioned by
those two female agents who were over here talking to
you a few minutes ago?"
"Well, not by both of them."
"Let's go home."
He nodded and they walked to the car. As he backed
out of the parking lot, Mulder asked, "Doctor, may I
swing by and pick us up some fast food for dinner? Or
do I get the nutrition lecture?"
"Could we compromise on SubWay? That's fast, but
still reasonably nutritious."
He agreed and they arrived home with their supper in
a bag.
"So what's up for the rest of the evening?"
"There's a documentary on the Discovery Channel I
want to watch after we eat. It's about the pyramids of
the ancient Aztecs."
"Okay. And after that?"
"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something."

The documentary was less than half over, but Mulder
was beginning to think he'd better find a blank tape
to stick in the VCR. Because if Scully shifted her
hips agains him one more time, he wasn't going to be
able to pay attention to the program. Oh hell, who was
he kidding? If she didn't quit rubbing her luscious
little ass against his groin, E.T. himself could
wander in and ask to use the phone and Mulder would
tell him to get lost!
He supposed it was his own fault. He'd been the one
to take off his shirt, after all. And lie down on the
couch and pull her down beside him. AND scrunch up her
shirt so that he could feel her bare back against his
equally bare chest because, damn it, he liked as much
skin-to-skin contact between them as possible.
However, he had then naively assumed that Scully
would lay still and watch the program. But she kept
shifing around. At first, maybe, it had been an honest
attempt to find a comfortable position. However, once
it became, uh, OBVIOUS what kind of reaction he was
having to her little lap dance, she started doing it
on purpose.
Mulder ran his hand up her stomach to her chest and
made an interesting discovery. "What happened to your
bra, Dana?" he murmured into her ear.
"Mmm! Same thing that happened to your shirt, I
guess, Fox. Oh!" she gasped as his hand found her
breast, lightly tweaking the nipple. Mulder smiled
against her ear at both the vocal and physical
reaction his touch produced. He loved her breasts.
True, they weren't large, but they were amazingly
sensitive. She always responded instantly to the
lightest of caresses or the merest flicker of his
tongue.
Positioning his other arm more securely under her, he
let his fingers wander back down her stomach to the
top of her leggings. He tickled her gently, which made
her squirm against him even more, which made him even
harder. By now, the pyramids on TV could have been
blasting off directly into space and he wouldn't have
noticed.
Finally, when Scully had begun to whimper with need -
always a good sign, as faras he was concerned -he
used the remote to switch off the TV. He then slid his
fingers further inside her leggings, past the
waistband of her panties.
Tangling his fingers in the auburn curls at the
juncture of her thighs, he whispered, "You're wet,
sweetheart."
"Yeah, and you're hard," she replied. "You wanna do
something about it?"
He slowly slid one long finger inside her, making her
voice change from a whimper to a full-blown moan. She
danced against him some more, now hooking her leg over
the top of his to allow him better access.
"I want you to come for me like this," he whispered
in her ear, pulling her closer with the arm around her
shoulder and letting a second finger join the first in
exploring her core.
"Um, I'm glad that's what you want, because, oh!"
Scully gave up on coherenece and moaned as he slipped
a third finger inside her.
"Fox, I want. . ."
"What, baby?"
"To be able to see your face. For you to kiss me. If
I'm going to -ooh! - I want you to watch."
"Okay." He shifted carefully on the couch, making
sure his fingers didn't stop pressig against her core
and her bottom didn't stop rubbing against his
arousal, but turning their upper bodies slightly so he
could lean in over her shoulder and capture her mouth
with his in a slow, deep, wet kiss.
Finally lifting his head a fraction of an inch so
their mouths pulled slightly apart from each other, he
smiled down into her bright blue eyes. "Sweetheart, I
love how it feels when you wiggle that cute little ass
of yours against me!"
"Lover, you're the one making me wiggle! Fox, I'm
about to. . ." she stopped talking then and moaned,
pumping herself hard against his hand, which caused
her bottom to press even harder against his straining
arousal. Smiling into his eyes, she moaned against his
mouth. Then, unexpectedly, she bit down on his lower
lip.
Scully gave a final sigh and shuddered slightly. Then
she focused her attention on his face and sucked in
her breath sharply. "Fox, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to
bite you so hard! Oh, lover, you're bleeding!" she let
her tongue dart out to lick away the drops of blood
that were dripping from his mouth.
"It's okay," he murmured gently. "Kind of sexy,
actually, that I made you lose control to the point
where you'd do something like that."
"Is this making it feel better?" she whispered.
"Mmmhmm."
"Are you in pain?"
"Not there. But something a little lower down is
starting to get damned uncomfortable!"
"Now that's funny! To me it feels good."
He growled and flipped her so they were lying
face-to-face, his body pressing hers down onto the
couch. Moving slightly away from her, he yanked off
her leggings and panties, then quickly divested
himself of his sweat pants and brief boxers. Moving
back in, he lowered himself between her parted thighs
and pushed gently inside her.
Scully smiled up at her husband and gripped his upper
arms with her small, strong hands.
Mulder smiled back. "You are so gorgeous! I love you
so much!"
"I love you, too."
Mulder began to move in her with long, smooth
strokes. He was already so aroused from their foreplay
and her orgasm - not to mention having spent all day
flirting with her at the office - that he knew he
wouldn't last long. Supporting his weight with his
knees and one hand grasping the back of the couch, he
reached his other hand underneath her body to grab her
ass and push himself more deeply into her. The feel of
her bottom against his hand - bare now, instead of
insulated by several layers of clothing as it had been
a few minutes earlier - combined with the more intense
feeling of his arousal embedded deep inside her,
resulted in a powerful climax.
When Mulder finally came back down to earth, he
realized Scully was kissing him all over his face and
cooing. "I didn't mean to bite you," she murmured.
"Mmm. I don't mind if you bite me, as long as you
kiss it to make it feel better afterwards."
"I've got an idea," she said softly, looking almost
shy as she glanced up at him from beneath her lashes.
"Ooh! An idea from the highly intelligent,
ever-rational Dr. Scully is always worth hearing."
"Um, it's not that kind of idea."
"Even better. An idea from the highly sexy,
always-loving Dana is twice as much worth hearing.
She smiled up at him. She loved his teasing so much.
Before meeting him, she'd almost given up hope of
finding a man who really wanted all of her. Mind and
heart. Body and soul. "Well, I was thinking, since
we're all sweaty from jogging and. . .other
activities. . ."
"Yeah?"
"Let's go take a bubble bath."
"Both of us together?"
"Mmmhmm."
"You go get the bath started. I'll just grab our
clothes and toss them in the hamper."

In another part of town, Holly Patterson tucked her
purse under her arm and started walking toward the
door of F.B.I. headquarters. She'd had a long day,
working well past her usual quitting time, but
Assistant Director Skinner had requested she finish up
with the files she was working on tonight, so she'd be
available to help Mulder and Scully first thing
tomorrow morning. Apparently a new X-File had just
come across the AD's desk and he felt the agents would
need her research to make sense of it.
"Hold on, Holly!" Walter Skinner's deep voice said.
"It's late. I'll walk you to your car."
"Thank you, sir," Holly said. Ever since being mugged
a couple of years ago, she'd been a bit skittish about
walking alone after dark. It was was too bad, she
thought as they crossed the parking lot, that with all
the young, good-looking agents around the bureau, she
had to be walked to her car by a guy old enough to be
her father! She supposed Skinner was actually
good-looking, in a middle-aged kind of way; she knew
several of the researchers and secretaries over the
age of 35 often engaged in debates about his on-again,
off-again marriage and slipped into the hallway to
take a better look if he was walking down the corridor
without a jacket covering his broad shoulders. She
also admitted to herself that the only young agents
who had ever seemed interested in her were ones she
wouldn't go out with if they were the last men on
earth. Years ago, Krycek had actually come onto her!
More recently, that toad Spender had spent several
weeks trying to get her to have dinner with him. She
siged. Dana was lucky to have Mulder.
A sound suddenly put Skinner's sense on full alert.
It had been almost a decade since he'd been a field
agent, but he still recognized a gun being cocked when
he heard it. Diving toward Holly, he knocked the
startled young woman to the ground just as a bullet
whizzed over their heads.
Holly screamed and Skinner quickly covered her mouth
with his hand. "Shh! Stay still and be quiet."
Grabbing his service revolver from his holster, he
hollered out, "I'm a federal agent! Come out with your
hands up." There was no answer, neither in a verbal
form nor -thankfully - with more bullets.
After a few minutes, Skinner courched back down
beside Holly. "Are you okay?"
"Yes sir. I think so."
"Where's your car?"
"It's the next one over. We're almost to it."
"Okay. Give me your keys. I don't know what's going
on here, but until I can figure it out, we need to get
you someplace where you'll be safe. Come on."

Mulder and Scully were seated at opposite ends of the
old clawfoot tub in their bathroom. Mulder's legs were
too long for him to stretch out completely, but
Scully's tiny body was submerged in the bubbles. She'd
caught her hair up in a careless ponytail that made
her resemble Pebbles Flintstone and her dimuntive feet
were resting on her husband's broad shoulders.
Mulder ran a soapy hand down her leg from mid-thigh
to her toes. He was beginning to get hard again and
wondered if she'd object to an encore once they got
out of the tub. Or maybe while they were still in it!
Scully gave him a dreamy smile. Maybe he'd wait 'til
morning; she looked sleepy.
Suddenly, their relaxing afterglow was interupted by
a loud banging on the door.
"Who could that be?" Mulder asked his wife, who was
now wide awake.
"I've got no idea. Before we were married, it was
almost always you."
"Think it's your Mom?"
"She usually calls first."
"Could just be a Girl Scoul selling cookies or
something."
"After nine o'clock at night?"
"I'll go check. You stay here," Mulder said, climbing
out of the bathtub. Scully took a good look. She
supposed he ought to have looked faintly funny,
dripping bubbles like that, but the sight of his long,
lean, tanned legs, topped by that gorgeous rear of
his, was anything but humorous.
Mulder towled off quickly and pulled on his sweat
pants as he walked back through their bedroom. He also
grabbed his gun and held it alongside his thigh.
Scully waited until he was ought of sight, then hopped
out of the tub herself. She didn't know if he'd told
her to wait because he thought it might be dangerous,
or because he was hoping the interuption would be
brief enough for him to rejoin her while the water was
still warm. But if there was trouble, he'd need
backup. And the way their luck ran, the water would be
icy before he had a chance to return. She quickly
pulled on fresh panties and a clean T-shirt, then
grabbed her jeans.
Mulder checked the peephole and sighed. Skinner. At
least this wouldn't be quite as embarrasing as the
last time he showed up late at night. He swung open
the door and said, through clenched teeth, "With all
due respect, sir, your timing bites!"
Skinner allowed himself a small smile at that. Back
during the early 80s, when he was a newly-married
thirtysomething field agent himself, he'd had his
share of romantic evening quashed by a boss or
colleague. It wasn't fun, but it was part and parcel
of being an F.B.I. agent.
"Who is it?" Scully asked, coming up behind her
husband, her own weapon in hand.
"It's Skinner," Mulder answered, then caught sight of
the small form behind their broad-shouldered boss,
"and Holly."
"Well, for Heaven's sake, let them in!"
Mulder stood back from the door and gestured for the
two out in the hall to enter. He wished he'd taken the
time to put on a shirt as well as his pants.
"Sir?" Scully asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm not quite sure," Skinner replied, as Mulder
closed the door behind them. "Holly was working late,
finishing up some files for me, and I offered to walk
her to her car afterwards. Somebody shot at us in the
parking lot."
Scully, realizing that Holly might well be on the
verge of going into shock from such an event, snapped
quickly into her doctor mode. "Fox, go put on a pot of
coffee. Holly, sit down here on the couch. Goodness,
your hands are like ice. I'm going to get you a
blanket."
Returning from their bedroom, she tucked the blanket
around the younger woman, who sat dazed on the couch.
"Agent Scully," Skinner began.
"Let it wait just a minute, please. We need to make
sure Holly's okay first."
Mulder slipped back into the bedroom to put on a
shirt while Scully put the coffee stuff on a tray and
carried it into the living room. She handed Holly a
cup with three heaping teaspoons of sugar in it.
"Here. Drink this. It'll help," Scully said.
"Why don't you have a cup yourself?" she added, with
a nod to the assistant director.
Once all four of them had a cup, Scully turned her
attention back to Holly. "Holly, are you all right?
You haven't said a word since you got here."
"I think I'll be okay. Who lives here?'
"We do," replied Mulder.
"Oh. I didn't realize you two, um, lived together,"
Holly said. She threw a puzzled glance at Skinner.
That Scully and Mulder had an intimate relationship
hardly shocked her. What surprised her was that the
assistant director apparently knew about it and hadn't
busted them for such a blatant breach of bureau
protocol.
Mulder smiled gently at Holly. "It's legit," he said,
holding up his and Scully's left hand, so their
wedding rings glinted in the soft lamp light.
"You're married?" Holly gasped. "I always thought
that 'Spooky and Mrs. Spooky' stuff was just a joke!"
Scully laughed softly. "It is. I was tagged 'Mrs.
Spooky' practically the first week we worked together.
We've only actually been married a few months. We
don't wear our rings to work because, technically
speaking, married couples aren't supposed to work in
the same division. Because of the, er, unique nature
of the cases we investigate, A.D. Skinner granted us
an exemption to that policy. If we're asked, directly,
about our relationship, we don't lie; but we haven't
exactly submitted an announcement to the bureau
newsletter, either."
Skinner broke in. "I brought you here, Holly, because
I know you feel comfortable with Agent Scully and
Agent Mulder. All three of us would appreciate your
discretion as far as the exact nature of their
personal relationship is concerned."
"Oh, I won't tell anybody," Holly agreed. "I mean, I
think it's nice that you're letting them still work
together. I wouldn't want to cause any problems for
them. Or you, sir."
"So, do you have any theories as to who was shooting
at you or why, sir?" Mulder asked, turning his
attention to Skinner.
"I don't think I was the target, agents."
"You think they were shooting at Holly?" Scully
asked.
"That was my impression, yes," Skinner answered.
"But why would somebody shoot at me?" Holly asked.
"I'm just a researcher!"
"It's possible you found something in the course of
your research that could effect the outcome of an
investigation," Mulder said. "Have you come across
anyting unusualy lately?"
"Not really. . .wait! There was something unusual.
Where's my purse?"
Skinner handed it to Holly, who rummaged around
inside. "Here," she said, pulling out a computer disk.
"This was in my inter-office mailbox this morning. I
was going to plug it in before I left work, see what
it was all about, but I never got around to it."
"Let me have that," Mulder said. "We'll see if we can
run it here." He crossed to the home computer in the
corner of the living room and inserted the disk.
Skinner, Scully and Holly moved across the carpet to
come stand behind him.
"No luck," Mulder said. "It seems to be encrypted."
"We can worry about the disk later," Skinner said.
"It may just be a coincidence. What I want to do now
is for you to come back to bureau headquarters with
me, Agent Mulder. We need to look for physical clues
before they're obliterated."
"What about me?" Scully asked.
"Stay here with Holly. If I'm correct and she was the
intended target of tonight's attack, she needs
protection. I don't think we were followed -I'm still
pretty good at evasive driving - but someone might
make the connection and figure out that this is the
logical place for me to have taken her."
"I've got an idea," Mulder said.
"What?"
"Well, I think you and Holly should stay here
tonight. But if I'm not back by morning, and you
haven't heard from either Skinner or me, take her and
the disk of to the Lone Gunmen's office. See if they
can run the disk for you. Whether they can or not,
leave her with them. We know she'll be safe there,"
Mulder said.
"WHERE are you planning on taking me?" Holly asked,
sounding faintly alarmed.
Scully smiled softly. "They're friends of ours.
They're a little bit flakey, but Mulder's right. We
can trust them."
"Agent Mulder, could we get going?" Skinner asked
testily.
As the two men stood at the door, about to open it
and walk out, Scully remembered something. "Mulder,
your ring! If you two end up going to over to the lab
or conferring with other agents. . ."
"Oh. Yeah." He really hated this. Reluctantly tugging
the ring off his finger, he placed it in his wife's
outstretched hand. Then he took advantage of her
proximity to enfold her fingers with his and drop a
quick, hard kiss on her mouth. "You two be careful.
Bye."
"You two be careful, too. Bye."
Skinner rolled his eyes. Holly smiled, both at the
display of affection between the two agents and their
boss's reaction to it.
"Would you like to get some rest, Holly?" Scully
asked. "The couch is pretty comfortable and you're
welcome to borrow one of my nightgowns."
"I'd really rather stay up and talk awhile, if that's
okay with you," Holly replied. "Getting shot at may be
an everyday occurrance for you and Mulder, but it's
sort of out of the ordinary for me and I don't think I
could sleep if I went to bed right now."
"Sure. That would be nice. I don't get much in the
way of girl talk."
"I guess not, considering the sort of work you do. I
suppose especially now, with you and Mulder kind of
trying to keep your marriage quiet, it must be
difficult to make friends."
"To be honest," Scully said slowly, "I've never
really had just a whole lot of girlfriends. I was a
Navy brat, so the family moved around a lot. My sister
was only a year older than I; we were always best
friends. Ever since she died a couple of years ago. .
.I mean, I've got Mulder, of course. He's been my best
friend for a lot longer than he's been my husband. My
mother and I are very close, too. But as far as women
near my own age. . ." her voice trailed off almost
wistfully.
"So when did you two get married if you don't me
asking?"
Scully smiled. "I don't mind. It'll be kind of fun to
talk about it, actually. We got marred when we were
out in Las Vegas on a case. About six months ago."
"That time you captured Krycek and solved the double
kidnapping and all that?"
"Yep. We managed to do all that and get married,
too."
"How long before your marriage were you two, um,
involved? I could never quite tell if you were or
weren't."
"If you mean when did we start having sex together,
the answer to that, believe it or not is: on our
wedding night."
"Wow! Really? I mean, nowadays that's sort of
unusual."
"Yeah, well, it was like we just held out and held
out, denying our attraction to each other and when we
finally admitted it. . . well, if we hadn't been in
Las Vegas, maybe it wouldn't have worked out that way,
but there we were, with wedding chapels on every other
corner and. . .well, it was like there was no reason
NOT to get married first. We already knew each other
so well, we'd been partners everyway except sexually -
professionally, mentally, emotionally - for so long,
we knew it was going to be forever."
"That's so romantic! I've always envied your
relationship. I don't mean I'd want Mulder for
myself," Holly added quickly, lest Scully get the
wrong idea. "He seems kind of, um, high maintenance.
But just somebody who'd feel about me the way he's
always so obviously felt about you."
"Has it always been so obvious? He used to confuse
the hell out of me sometimes, before we were married.
I mean, one week if was like I was absolutely the most
important person in his life. Whenever I was hurt or
sick, he was always right there. But then I'd get
better and he'd back away, start flirting with any
attractive woman we came across on one of our cases,
things like that."
"Have you ever asked him why? I mean, now that you're
married?"
"Yeah. He says he was trying to be noble. Didn't want
us getting involved on a sexual level because he was
afraid it would mean I'd be hurt. Also, he said he was
never quite sure of MY feelings and didn't want to
risk ruining our partnership by making a move that
might not be reciprocated. He said he used to do the
flirting thing with other women -and he swears it
never went further than that - just because it gave
him hope that I cared for him in more than a platonic
way."
"That's sweet. I'm glad you two are together. You
deserve each other."
"A lot of people seem to think that," Scully said
with an ironic smile on her face.
"Well, I didn't mean it in a bad way," Holly assured
her, then yawned. "I guess I am kind of tired. Where's
that nightgown you mentioned?"

Scully awoke early the next morning. She hadn't slept
well; she never did, anymore, when Mulder wasn't by
her side. She showered, dressed and went into make
coffee. The aroma of the brew woke Holly and the two
women shared a companionable breakfast.
"I haven't heard from Mulder. so I'm going to try to
call him on his cell phone." A momen later, Scully
added, "No luck. Either he's out of range or it's been
turned off for some reason."
"Hold on," Holly said. "I've got Skinner's number in
my purse. It helps during those times when he's out of
the office and people are breathing down my neck
demanding I put them in contact with him."
But the older man's cell phone proved unreachable as
well.
"So, what do we do now?" Holly asked.
"I take you over to meet the three most paranoid
individuals you're ever going to encounter," Scully
said with a smile.

A bit later, Scully knocked on the door to the Lone
Gumen's office/home complex. "Who is it?" came a
muffled response.
"It's me, guys," Scully answered, "and I've brought
company."
Frohike opened the door and muttered "Wow!" when he
caught sight of Holly. Byers and Langley crowded
behind him, eager to be in on whatever was going on.
"Guys, this is Holly Patterson. She's a researcher
who works down at headquarters; helps Mulder and me on
our cases sometimes. We have reason to believe she may
be in danger. She received a disk in her interoffice
mailbox yesterday that may be a key to what's going
on. Holly, this is Frohike," Scully indicated the
dimunitive man who had opened the door; "this is
Byers," she placed her hand briefly on the shoulder of
a dapper, bearded man; "and this is Langley," she
gestured in the direction of a long-haired man wearing
a T-shirt.
"Hello," said Holly shyly, looking a bit dazed.
Langley smiled at her and reached out a hand. "Let's
see the disk, Holly. Sooner we can find out what's on
it, sooner you can come out of hiding."
"Not that we mind having you here," Frohike added
quickly, then murmured in an aside to Scully, "she is
so hot!"

More than an hour had gone by and the gunmen were
still working on the disk. "We've got something,"
Byers said. "But it's going to take us a while to
figure it out."
"Look, I think I better get down to the office,"
Scully said. "We still haven't been able to reach
either Mulder or Skinner on their cell phones and
people will think it's awfully strange if all four of
us just don't show up for work. I'll got down there,
make some sort of explanations for where everybody
is."
"What about me?" Holly asked.
"Do you mind staying here?" Scully replied. "I really
think it's safer for you."
"We're perfectly harmless, Holly," Langley assurred
her. "Especially Frohike."
Holly giggled a little at that. "No, I don't mind.
Just call me as soon as you know anything."
"Sure," Scully said on her way out.

Three hours later, Scully was about to climb the
walls of her basement office. She had told Skinner's
secretary, and several other agents who had inquired,
that Mulder and Skinner were off investigating leads
on a possible case. She told them Mulder had phoned
her late last night to let her know his whereabouts,
as well as that of their boss. She hadn't bothered to
explain Holly's absence; she thought it better if no
one made the connection between a researcher not
showing up for work and a case which the Assistant
Director was investigating personally.

Mulder and Skinner were running full tilt down a
hillside in West Virginia. The terrain was rough, but
it wouldn't have been so bad if either man was dressed
for it. Skinner, however, was still in the dress shoes
and suit - complete with jacket and tie - that he had
worn to the office the previous day. Mulder was
slightly better off, clad in jeans, boots and a
sweatshirt, but it still wasn't the outfit he would
have chose for a mountain run.
"Mulder, I'm slowing you down," Skinner finally said.
"They're going to catch both of us if we don't split
up. You go on ahead."
"No sir," Mulder answered. "We're in this together."
"I can't match your speed."
Mulder shrugged. "You're a dozen years older than me.
I can't match the speeds I reached when I was at the
academy anymore, either. But what we've lost in speed,
we've gained in experience. And my experience tells me
we stick together."
Skinner looked at the younger man and started to open
his mouth to order the agent to go on ahead. Instead,
he simply nodded.
"I've got an idea," Mulder said.

Scully was startled out of her reverie by the chirp
of her cell phone.
"Scully."
"Scully, it's me."
"Mulder, where are you?"
"West Virginia. Get in your car, take the same route
we took the last time we came here and stop just as
soon as you cross the state line. We'll meet you
there."
"Okay."
"They may be trying to lock a trace on this call, so
I'm going to let you go now. Bye."
"Bye."

In the early afternoon, Scully pulled up beside a
roadside marker. Mulder and Skinner burst out of the
trees a dozen yards away and sprinted toward the car.
Mulder jumped in the front seat and Skinner jumped in
the back.
"You guys okay?" Scully asked. She'd brought her
medical bag, just in case.
"Fine," answered her husband. "I mean, we're winded,
scratched up, bruised, hungry and exhausted, but other
than that, we're fine."
"I figured you wouldn't exactly have had time to
stop for lunch. I brought some sunflower seeds,
nutrition bars and bottled water with me. Think it's
safe to stop and have a mini-picnic?"
"No, not yet," Skinner answered. "We need to stay low
until nightfall and I know just the place. Next town
you go through, take a right at the one-and-only
traffic light."
"Yes sir. Mulder, make me one promise, okay?"
"Sure, Scully. What is it?"
"Promise me we will NOT retire to this state.
Everytime we come to West Virginia, something happens
that's even more bizarre than the last time we came
here!"
"Could keep our golden years interesting, Scully."
"Mul-der!"
"Just think. Skinner could get a house just down the
road. We could all get together to play pinnochle. Or
hunt for aliens, depending on what mood we were in."
"Leave me out of this, agents," Skinner said.

After several more twists and turns, the three of
them came to a small cabin in an isolated glade. It
was sheltered by trees, so that it wasn't even
noticeable until they were right on it.
"Who owns this place?" Mulder asked.
"My ex-in-laws. But they only use it during the
summer months. We'll be safe here until dark, then we
can drive back to headquarters."
"Are you two ever going to explain to me what's going
on?" Scully asked. "I left Holly with the gunmen. They
were working on the disk, but hadn't called me before
I left, so I assume they hadn't gotten it decoded
yet."
"When we're inside," Skinner answered.

An hour later, they had eaten and Mulder and Skinner
had brought Scully up to date on what they had
discovered and who they believed to be behind it.
"There's only one thing I don't get," Scully said
slowly. "To have fired at Holly before she'd even had
a chance to look at the disk, they'd have to have
someone on the inside at the bureau."
"Yeah," answered Skinner grimly. "Looks like we're
dealing with another Krycek situation. Any nominees?"
Mulder shook his head. "None that come to mind right
at the moment. You, Scully?"
She shook her head as well.
Skinner sighed. "Once we're back in Washington and
have reported our findings to an oversight committee,
as well as amalagating the information on Holly's disk
into the mainframe, we'll be home free. Then we can
start looking for whoever set us up and tried to kill
Holly. However, neither Agent Mulder nor I got any
sleep last night and I'm betting you didn't get much
either, Agent Scully. So why don't we all get some
rest? There's a bed through that doorway; you two take
that. I'll stay here on the couch."
"Yes sir."

As Mulder unlaced his boots and lay down against the
slightly musty-smelling pillow, he grinned.
"Mulder, exactly what is it that you find amusing
about this situation?" Scully asked.
"Scully, it's just that never - not even in my
wildest dreams -did I imagine Skinner would ever
order us to go to bed together!"
"Mulder, he knows we're married. All he means for us
to do is sleep!"
"Quite frankly, after the night he and I had, that's
all I'm capable of at the moment," her husband
answered drowsily.

A few hours later, Skinner arose from the couch and
stretched. The large picture window in the room where
he had been sleeping was lit with the rosy glow of the
last rays of the setting sun. Time to get moving.
Skinner walked to the doorway of the bedroom and felt
his mouth curve upward into an indulgent smile. Mulder
and Scully were snuggled together on top of the bed in
a jumbled mixture of arms and legs. Except for their
shoes and jackets, they were still fully clothed and
the overall picture they presented was not so much one
of sensuality as of innocence. They looked younger
when they slept, almost like a couple of teenagers,
despite the dark stubble on Mulder's face. In a way,
he almost hated to wake them. He and his ex-wife used
to take naps on that same bed, in almost that same
position. Still, they were working a case, not taking
a vacation.
"Agents," Skinner said, his voice just a bit louder
than normal.
The agents blinked and sat up, the slightly guilty
look on their faces heightening their resemblance to a
pair of teenagers. "Um, yes sir?" Scully asked.
"Time to get moving," Skinner said.

Once they were out of West Virginia and nearing the
outskirts of Washington, Scully called the gunmen on
her cell phone. The code had been broken; it confirmed
what Skinner and Mulder had discovered the previous
evening. The agents and their boss swung by to retrive
the data - and Holly.
"Come again," Frohike asaid to Holly as she was
leaving. "Anytime. No need to call first."
"Is he always so. . .desperate?" Holly asked as she
got in the backseat beside Scully.
"Ever since I've known him," Mulder confirmed from
his position at the wheel.
When the four of them arrived at bureau headquarters,
they found a lingering, acrid smell of cigarette smoke
in Skinner's office.
"Well, that settles *THAT* question," Skinner said,
with a trace of wry humor.
"It was never really a question of who was ultimately
behind it," Scully said with a shrug. "Unfortunately,
we still don't know who he has doing his dirty work
this time around."
"He is a bit hard on the hired help, isn't he?"
Mulder responded. "Krycek's out of the bureau and down
to one arm, Fowley and Jeff Spender are both dead;
guess he needed a new recruit."
As Skinner and Holly downloaded the information on
the disk onto the bureau's mainframe, Mulder traced a
line down Scully's face, tucking an errant piece of
hair behind her ear. Now that the immediate danger was
past, his Oxford-educated brain was responding to the
relief and fatigue he felt by reducing his thoughts to
simple declarative sentences. Go home. Get laid. Get
some sleep. The hours he'd spent lying next to Scully
- despite being fully clothed and only a few feet away
from their boss - had undoubtedly influenced the
direction of his thoughts.
Skinner looked up at the tired agents and smiled.
"You two can go now. I'll see that Holly gets home
safely. And feel free to come in late tomorrow. We've
pretty much got this thing wrapped up and the last 24
hours haven't been easy on any of us."
"Thank you, sir," Scully said.
"No, agents. Thank you," Skinner replied.

Author's e-mail address: tapw63@yahoo.com