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Chapter Text

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully sat across from the OPR board as they dulled out their sentence for the happenings in Texas, which led to a multi-million dollar search and rescue in Antarctica. Prior to Mulder charting a private jet and securing fraudulent credentials via federal channels (and not so federal channels, thank you Lone Gunmen), Scully had received a reassignment to Salt Lake City, Utah. Shockingly, she is still employed with the with SLC branch even though she’s been a no call-no show for over a week. Turns out—she’s still expected to report to her new assignment. Leaving the day after tomorrow…

“But what about the X-Files?!” Mulder shifted to the edge of his seat. He would have been up in their faces if not for Scully’s steady hand at his arm keeping him in his seat.

“What X-Files, Agent Mulder?” The bitchy blonde one asked. “That sector has since been disbanded seventy-two hours ago. It no longer exists. Now, as for you Agent Scully…”

Mulder’s world rapidly shrunk into a pinpoint in the span of ten seconds and he could feel nothing, hear nothing other than a high-pitched whine. He broke out into a sweat. His vision began to swim. The last he remembers is Scully’s face pinched with concern as darkness enveloped his senses.

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

He came about to the soft beeps of the vital chart parked next to him. Electrodes pinched at his skin, chords running here and there. An IV line was taped against his wrist.

Mulder shivers underneath the paper-thin hospital gown. His movement rouses a crown of red hair resting against the edge of his bed, next to his free arm. Once she lifts her head, he is free to card his fingers through her disorderly locks. Scully looks up at him with a soft smile.

“Such a drama queen.” She reprimands without conviction.

Mulder chortles through his nose, closes his eye briefly and rolls his head back and forth across his pillow. Scully stands, giving his hand a brief squeeze before heading out into the hallway. She returns with a white cotton blanket and drapes it over his form.

“Oooo a warm one.” Mulder tugs the edges up to his face, pressing it over his mouth to warm the tip of his nose. “Who did you have to bribe to get one of these, Scully?” His words are muffled into the fabric.

“Trade secret,” Scully settles back into her chair, sliding it closer to his side. She reaches up to palpitate the sensitive skin at Mulder’s temple—an injury that landed him in this same hospital less than a month ago. He hisses when she reaches a sore spot.

“Sorry,” she whispers softy. She brushes her thumb against the discolored skin gently as if to erase the pain she caused, even if it was only fleeting. “You’ve been out for a few hours. Between this, losing consciousness in Antarctica, and the head injury you sustained prior to that, I’m surprised you’re not in a coma.”

“No sweat, Doc.” Scully grimaces at him in disbelief. “So…what did I miss?”

“Well, despite your best efforts at distracting the board and delaying our sentencing, I am still expected to report to Salt Lake City by Saturday.”

Mulder lets out a heavy sigh, he tips his head back against the pillow. “I don’t get it. We’re partners. They can’t just…just break us up, put us on opposite sides of the country…”

“They have Mulder. And they did.” Scully takes a hesitant breath before continuing, “There’s more.” Mulder’s eyes lock with hers, his eyebrows raise with anticipation. “You’ve been reassigned to the BSU.”

Mulder head pounds as he jolts up from his recliner position on the gurney. “I gotta get out of here. Maybe we can talk to Skinner. See what kind of pull he has…” Mulder struggles with removing the blanket and gets tangled in the all the wires and lines around him. Scully stands to firmly grip his shoulders, struggles with him for a bit before she is able to press him back into the bed.

“Scully—”

“Mulder, just lay back. Your body has been through too much and needs to heal.”

“I can’t save us, save the X-Files, from a hospital bed, Scully. We need to pound the pavement, start making threats—”

“To whom, Mulder?”

He looks up at her. Her eyes start to shine with unshed tears. But she quickly blinks them back before they’re able to escape. He feels it, too, the defeat.

So, this is how it ends?

Feeling weak and out of breath, he allows Scully to rearrange his IV line and untangle the electrode wires. She finishes by tucking the now room-temp blanket around his feet and hips before settling back into her chair.

“What are we going to do, Scully?”

“I don’t know, Mulder.”

They sit in relative silence, letting the rhythmic beeps numb them to the reality that’s crashing down around them and there is nothing either of them can do to stop it.

“But for now,” Scully voice is low and horse as if she’s trying to talk around a ball in her throat. He knows the sensation; he’s feeling it too. “Just take my hand.”

He doesn’t hesitate. His long fingers grip hers vice-like and brings the back of her hand to his lips to drop several kisses against her still-healing post-frostbite skin.

His mind churns.

Chapter Text

The elevator dinged its arrival before the doors slid open. Mulder and Scully, both dressed in borrowed flannel and denim, trudged their way towards her apartment door. It took a little over a day of travel to return from McMurdo Station with a several-hour layover in Argentina. Guess Skinner didn’t know the same guys Mulder did to secure a direct flight…

Beside him, Scully groans. “I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed!”

“Those federal-issues cots were something to be desired.”

“This coming from a man who sleeps on his couch.” Scully quips.

Mulder smirks at her volleyed response. He counts his lucky stars, again, that she is even here, standing next to him busting his balls as she’s known to do.

Once they reach her door, she leans back against it looking up at him.

“I don’t think I ever said it, but I want to thank you.”

“For what?” Mulder crinkles his eyebrow in curiosity.

“For saving my life—for the millionth time, it seems like.” They both chuckle. She reaches her tiny foot out to kick it lightly against his. “I hope you know, had the situation been reversed, I’d do the same for you.”

“But you did, Scully.”

Scully’s brow furrows in thought then smooths out once she recalls. “Oh yes, the damsel in a red dress from 1939 with a mean right hook.”

“Seems like you save my ass in every era.” At that, they recall Melissa Ephesian and how their past lives were intertwined.

“Still wouldn’t change a day, Scully?” he reaches out to tap her twice on the hip with the back of two fingers.

Her faces falls serious as she regards him, standing there disheveled, unshaven and devastating handsome. Throwing caution to the wind, she reaches for him standing on her tiptoes as she brings his mouth down to hers.

At first, Mulder doesn’t respond as he’s stunned from the sensation of feeling Scully’s breath mingle with his own, of feeling her tongue slide against the ridge of his bottom lip. He grants her permission and does some exploring of his own. They kiss passionately, as he backs her up against her front door. Hands begin to roam under their borrowed clothing.

A door squeaking open down the hall abruptly stops their activity. Mr. Olsen from a few doors down comes out with a bag of trash and smiles at them warmly in greeting.

Returning the gesture, Mulder registers Scully’s chest rising and falling against his rapidly. He presses her against his body and the door behind her more firmly.

“This is new,” Mulder leans in to lay kisses along the sensitive skin of her neck until he captures an earlobe in his mouth. New it is. And exciting. And needs to continue in the privacy of her own apartment, not in a public hallway. But…

“Guess what?,” She groans as Mulder laves his tongue at the patch of skin that drives her wild.

Mulder pulls back to steal languid kisses from her swollen kips. She raises her hands to lay against his chest and pushes back slightly.

“I don’t have my keys.” Scully’s face crumbles miserably and thunks her head back against the door lightly.

“Ahh, but you knight in shining armor…”Mulder removes his arms from around her waist to take the wallet out of his back pocket and pulls out her spare key hidden within the bill fold.

“Continues to surprise me!” Scully launches off the door and grips his hand holding her key. “Oh, I could kiss you!”

“I thought that’s what we were doing?”

Ignoring him, Scully takes the key and inserts it into the lock. As soon as the door is open, Mulder pushes her into the foyer from behind. He spins her around to then dip to pick her up. Scully finds herself upside down as Mulder carries her to the couch and plops her down.

She knew it was going to be like this. All fire and passion. Lust and wantonness.

Gripping him by the ears, Scully tugs Mulder back to her waiting lips. They resume their passionate embrace. A leg curls around his waist, pulling him until her securely as her pelvis rocks against his own. Her fingers are busy with the buttons on his flannel shirt. Once she gets halfway down, Mulder pulls back from her embrace and tugs it the rest of the way off. Seeing Scully laying beneath him, chest heaving, sparks the dormant inferno awake.

Immediately, his hands reach for the button on her jeans. Once they’re unbuttoned, the zipper parts. His eyes remain on hers as he slowly tugs the loose jeans and panties down her thighs. Discarded over his shoulder, Mulder leans down to place open-mouthed kisses along the smoothness of her inner thigh. His warm hands lightly grip her waist, thumbs rubbing circles into her skin. Scully reaches up behind her to grip the armrest, her hips dance underneath his administrations. She feels herself gush when he tongues her inguinal area.

“Mulder, I haven’t showered in almost two days,” she protests half-heartedly.

“I don’t fucking…” he dips his head downward.

Scully cries out as Mulder laves her wet center. Her free hand cards through his locks before gripping him by the back of the head and directs where she needs him the most. She comes undone as he traces her outer lips, dips into her entrance and twirls around her clit. She feels him grin against her skin when her hips shudder upon him discovering a sensitive area. Mulder explores with nibbles and licks until her hips are undulating within his grip. A finger joins, tracing her opening before sliding inside. Stroking against her inner wall, a second finger joins. They curl inwards finding that spongy patch of skin that makes Scully scream, “oh fuck!” Tongue latched to her hood, Mulder applies suction increasing the pressure along with the rapid strokes of his fingers. Above him, Scully muffles her cries with her fist, her eyes closed in ecstasy.

She is just about to crest when—

BBRRRRRRIIINNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG   BRRRRIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG

Sonofabitch. You fucking fuck.

Scully flicks off her vibrator and chucks it to the edge of her bed as she reaches for her cellphone.

“Scully.” Her voice sounding a little horse from her previous activities.

“Agent Scully,” her new boss, Assistant Director Everett Moss comes across the line, “Am I interrupting anything?”

Only my orgasm. This was the first night in three weeks since she’s been in Salt Lake that she’s had to herself that allowed her to unwind. To remember. To yearn for the man that was 3500 miles away. But she wasn’t going to tell A.D. Moss that.

“Not at all, Sir.”

“Good. Because there’s another body.”

“I’m on my way.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“This is horseshit!” Mulder abruptly stands from his chair his chest heaving and face red with fury. He was barely out of the hospital 24 hours and his head pounds at the sudden movement and the absurdities coming out of his boss’ mouth.

“Agent Mulder, have a seat,” A.D. Walter Skinner reprimands, pointing firmly at the vacated chair behind Mulder.

“Mulder, please. Sit down. Your head…” Scully tugs at his sleeve, until she feels him acquiesce. He sits, but on the edge ready to pounce. Mulder shrugs off the grip she has on his forearm vehemently. Immediately and regretfully, he locks eye with her, his gaze softens in silent apology.

“Are you done now?” Skinner asks from behind his desk. “Can I finish or are you going to continue to behave like a child?”

Mulder slumps back into his chair, his left hand worries the wrinkles from his forehead.

“He’ll behave,” Scully speaks on his behalf. Skinner cocks a doubtful eyebrow at her but continues with his brief.

Sully’s hand rests against the arm of Mulder’s chair, on the ready in case there are any future outbursts from her sulking partner. She’s heard all this before but she requested to be present when Skinner decided it would be a good idea to deliver the bad news in person.

“As I was saying…Agent Scully is still expected to report to Salt Lake City under the jurisdiction of A.D. Moss running as SAC for their forensic unit. This detail is not forever, Agent Scully...”

At that, both Mulder and Scully visibly straighten at the extension of hope.

“You’re eligible to transfer back to the D.C. division in six months’ time.”

“Six months!?” Mulder is back on the edge of his chair but remained seated. Scully tries to maintain her composure, less she pour any fuel to the fire to make her situation worse.

“That is the protocol for any department or divisional transfer, Mulder. I can’t make it any shorter than that. You’re lucky they’re not shipping her off to Alaska.”

“She shouldn’t be going anywhere. Period! She’s my partner!”

“Not any more she’s not. Your actions in Texas made sure of that. Now you must live with it.”

Mulder gets up from his chair and begins pacing, his hands worrying through his locks.

“Dana…” At the soft address, Scully makes eye contact with Skinner. “If I could stop this from happening, you know I would do anything—”

“We don’t need to hear your empty and fruitless apologetic prose, Walter. It’s clear where your allegiance lies. Let’s go, Scully.” Mulder tears his suit jacket from the back of his chair and exits Skinner’s office.

Scully takes a deep breath before rising from her chair. “Six months?” She asks.

“Six months, I promise.” Skinner leans back in his chair, his arms half-raised in surrender.

“I don’t trade in that currency anymore.” At that, Sully exits the office.

She finds Mulder in the hallway, leaning against the wall. She grazes his arm with a gentle stroke as she passes him. He pushes off the wall to follow close behind as she continues toward the elevators. She bypasses them and heads through the door to the stairwell.

Once they reach the darkened dead-end they use to discuss confidential topics away from the listening walls of their office, Scully turns toward Mulder, her eyes glistening in the light from the transit windows high above them.

“Can you hold me?” Scully’s eyebrows crinkle as she takes a small step toward Mulder.

His arms immediately enclose around her, bringing her in tightly against his body. He buries his head against the side of her neck. Scully turns her head to rest her forehead against his own. He can tell she’s trying to keep her emotions from venting, but with his soft expelling of her name, a heartbreaking sob escapes from her firmly pressed lips.

Mulder pulls back, reaching up to gently cup her face between his hands. His thumbs stroke away the tears that have escaped. He leans in to place a warm kiss on her forehead.

“We’ll get through this, Scully.” He breaths into her skin. She nods against him, her arms tightening around his waist. He places kisses along her face where he can reach, his strong arms slowly stroking along the length of her back and across her shoulders.

After a time of simply standing there holding one another, Scully pulls back slightly and reaches up to place a determined kiss onto Mulder’s waiting lips. He lets her in at her tongue’s insistence, he meets her with his own stroking and waring against one another. Her moan echoes off the cider block walls as their passionate embrace escalates.

“Take me home and make love to me?” Her question whispers across his moist lips.

With a final kiss, Mulder nods his head. He takes her hand, and they turn to head back up the stairs.

Chapter Text

It is amazing just how fast the government will work to get a “suppressive” or “non-conformative” employee out of their hair. Within 90 minutes, Scully retrieved a voicemail from Skinner stating that temporary housing had been secured in Utah and a moving company would collecting her personal belongings over the weekend with a guaranteed delivery day of the following Wednesday. Aa an added bonus, they were able to sublet her apartment here in Georgetown. Yippee.

Scully turns her phone back into the off position, lightly tossing it back onto her bedside and rolls back into the arms of her very naked partner.

“Everything okay?” he asks as he snakes his arms around her body, tugging her closer into his own.

“Just a relocation update.”

Scully feels him expel a heavy sigh beneath her. She places tiny kisses along his shoulder and up his neck, until he dips down to connect his lips with hers. Her silky thigh slips across his own, locking over his hip. Mulder begins to trail is his fingertips up and down her sweat-slicked back.

“I’m going to miss this,” she murmurs into the skin of his shoulder, her hand skims over his chest. As she traces patters through the tuft of hair at his chest, she contemplates if they’ve made a mistake crossing the non-platonic threshold too soon. Had they had the wherewithal that their lives would be turned upside down, maybe they would have continued to suppress their romantic feelings toward one another and continued to be none the wiser of just how compatible they are beneath the sheets…in the back seat of her car, his couch, her dining room table.

No, she has no regrets. It will be a quiet motivation to get back home in six months.

“Who says I’m not going to hop on a plane to come see you every free weekend I get?” Mulder places a kiss at the crown of her head.

“That is going to get quite expensive.”

“I’d max out my credit cards just to taste you, Scully. Whether it’s your lips…or your other lips.” His hand leaves her waist to trace over her ass cheek until his fingers tease her opening. Her hips jerk, still sensitive from their intense coupling moments before. She giggles and unable to stop himself, Mulder swallows the sound with a passionate kiss.

They trade kisses back and forth for a few moments before settling into an interlocking embrace again.

“I gotta get up. Start filling suitcases…decide what goes, what stays. Skinner says they finagled having my unit sublet. So, I guess I can keep most of the furniture here.” Her head starts to pound with all the tasks she needs to finish before hopping on a plane that will take her away from moments beneath the sheets like this.

“Promise, I’ll help. Just give me five minutes to rest my eyes.” Mulder rolls further onto his back, his eyes closed.

“Did I wear you out, old man?” Scully pokes him in the rib. Mulder jerks at the contact, a smile spreads across his face.

“Your pussy should come with a warning label,” He jests.

Scully chuckles as she rolls over to get out of bed. She dons the silk robe hanging on the back of her bathroom door, making a mental note to include it in packing essentials. She cracks the bedroom door behind her and quietly makes her way over to her desk to compile a list of items to take, to pack and to donate.

Thirty minutes into breaking down her bookcase, she hears her bedroom door squeak open and devastatingly sexy Mulder makes his way toward her. Her thighs clench and she feels her face burn over how much she still wants him, even though he possessed her within the hour. She can feel herself getting wet thinking of their coupling. How is she going to get through these next six months without having him whenever the itch needed to be scratched?

She feels him approach her from behind, his firm erection presses against her rear and his hands wrap around her waist in the front. His fingers playfully tugging at her robe’s sash.

“Mulder, I need to get this done.” Her words betray her body as she arches against him, an arm reaching up behind his head, pressing his mouth closer to the skin of her neck that he decided to nibble on.

“But isn’t this so much better?’ His hands grope at her satin-covered breasts, his fingers pinching her erect nipples. She moans at the tactile sensation and bucks back against his pelvis.

“But you promised.” Scully breathes heavily, closing her eyes at the feel of Mulder’s hand trailing down her sternum, down her abdomen until his fingers reach her nether lips that are wet with want.

She blushes when she hears the squelching noise from his ministrations. He dips his fingers down further until his first two fingers breach her entrance, his thumb traces her clit driving her insane. She clenches her muscles against his fingers.

“Oh fuck,” she lets out a breathless whisper.

Scully quickly turns within his embrace and pushes Mulder back toward her couch. He plops down in surprise, choking on laugh once he takes in her stripping the silk robe from her body.

Scully approaches him, a knee comes up next to his hip quickly followed by the other until she is straddled across his naked lap. His hard-on bobs in between them. She takes him in her hand, stroking him from root to tip at a dangerously slow pace. She spreads the precum across the crown of his head. Once satisfied he’s covered sufficiently, she brings her thumb up to his mouth.

He takes the digit into his mouth and laves at it like a hungry man, tracing the ridges of her fingerprint. His cheeks sunken in as he sucks his essence from her skin. With their eyes lock, she slides his member between her folds. His head bumps against her sensitive clit making her movements jerky until the last pass, Mulder’s hip raise to penetrate her slick opening. They both cry out.

Scully begins riding his lap, leaning back with her hands gripping the tops of his thighs. Mulder thinks he could die from the sight alone. The way her breasts dance with each thrust, the wetness that seeps around his dick as he drives into her center—it’s enough to send him into a-fib. He closes his eyes so he doesn’t bust his load too soon. He reaches to gather Scully closer to his chest. His waiting mouth devours a nipple making her cry out. He tongues the soft skin until her nipple protrudes from areola. He moves over to her other breast paying it the same homage.

“Oh, fuck. Mulder! I’m so close.”

He picks her up and lays her across her coffee table, throwing her legs up over his shoulders.

Her eyes bug out at the change of being on her back and the deep thrusts Mulder pounds against her. At this angle, his groin raps against her engorged clit and soon she feels like she is free-falling as her orgasm washes over her, her moans are muffled into his shoulder, eyes rolled back in ecstasy. Her clenching muscles send Mulder over the edge right behind her, his hot, moist breath breezes across her shoulder.

Still intimately connected, he pulls her up into his lap back onto the couch. She dips her head down to languidly kiss his lips. His hands run up and down her sweat-slicked back. With one last kiss, she pulls back slightly to catch his twinkling eyes.

“Make sure you pack the coffee table, Scully.”

Chapter Text

The door to the laboratory slides open with a soft swoosh. Looking up from his microscope, Lewis takes in a rugged-looking Georgie struggling to put her lab coat on.

“Hey. You got a call, too?” Lewis asks.

“Yeah…” Georgie responds miserably. “This is annoying.” She slams her bag down in the corner and comes over to look over the samples they are assigned to investigate. “Why do both of us need to be here and lose sleep? I mean, I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of running these samples sufficiently on your own.”

“I am. Thank you for recognizing that.” He cocks a smile behind the microscope, adjusting the settings. “But I don’t make the rules. Part of being a lab rat is when they say jump, your answer is to say how high.”

“Yeah, right.” Georgie scoffs. “High. Ohhhh, to be high right now. Or back in my bed.” She groans as she smooshes her face into her fist, her elbow sliding across the metal table.

Lewis looks up from this task and playfully slaps her arm to wake her up. “C’mon, the quicker we process these samples, the sooner you’ll be back in your bed. Besides, we have a new SAC. I hear it’s a her. Don’t you want to impress her with your super-powered analytic skills?”

Georgie buries her head across her arms. “Pfft. No. I don’t care.”

At that, the lab door swooshes open again to reveal a petite red-head carrying a bag of evidence.

“Good morning.”

Georgie pops her head up. She is unsure if it’s the quick head movement or the stunning specimen of a woman standing in front of her that makes her head spin.

“Mornin’. I’m Agent Lewis Carter.”

When Georgie just stands there, Lewis pushes her from behind to speak up.

“Gorgeous.”

Lewis snorts behind her. Georgie swings an arm out to sock him in the arm.

“Georgie. My name is Georgie. Agent Georgie Lane.” Georgie suddenly has no idea what to do with her hands during this introduction, so they just seem to be flinging about until she recognizes the involuntary movements and shoves her hands into her lab coat pockets, a sheepish smile grazes her face.

“Oh, MD. Agent Georgie Lane, MD.”

Lewis full on chuckles softly behind her, shaking his head. “Please excuse Agent Lane, here. Clearly, she’s socially awkward doesn’t know how to properly behave around strangers. We’re running tests.”

The red-head smiles briefly, her gumline showing briefly.

Fuck, that smile.

“Well, thank you for that rundown Agent Carter. I’ll be looking forward to your findings concerning Agent Lane. But I hope you will move to processing this evidence to the top of your list.”

She slides the evidence bag over, along with a clipboard to make him sign off on the chain of custody. He notices the name at the top of the sheet.

“Holy shit, you’re Special Agent Doctor Dana Scully?!” Lewis turns bright red, looking around at the mess of his lab and all the evidence from the prior murder strewn about. “I’m so sorry, Agent Scully. Normally, this place is a lot more organized.”

Georgie rolls her eyes at Lewis’ behavior.

“Just as long as you know where everything is, I have no issues with how messy or clean you keep your lab. My partner—former partner—keeps his office chaotically organized as well so I can sympathize.”

“You’re our new SAC.” Georgie states.

“Yes, I am. And there’s been another murder. Thus my reasoning for the hand-delivery. I’m sorry to have dragged either one of you out of bed, but when A.D. Moss shared with me your credentials and expertise, along with there now being more than one victim, I need all the help I can get with this.”

“Oh, for sure! Certainly. We’re totally on it for you Agent Scully.” Georgie gushes. It’s Lewis’ turn to roll his eyes.

“Great. Keep me in the loop.” Scully reaches over to write her cell phone number on a sticky note. “Call me with any developments. Any time.”

Georgie reaches out to take it from Scully, but Lewis quickly rips it out of Georgie’s hand and puts it in his pocket.

“Will do, Agent Scully.”

With that, Scully nods her head in dismissal and turns to walk out of the lab.

Georgie turns so her back is to the edge of the table and melts against it.

“Dear diary, my heart almost burst out of my chest when Dana Scully walked through the door. Except I made a total ass of myself, and I’ve lost all self-respect.”

“Shut up!” She smacks Lewis on the arm once more.

Georgie turns her head, staring out into the hallway Agent Scully just vacated. She sighs audibly.

“You okay, there, pal?”

“She’s a doctor,” Georgie whispers wistfully.

Chapter Text

The body count had escalated to a total of four. Each murder was about 10 days to two weeks apart. Completely random. There was no distinguished connection between one woman to the next other than being in the right place at the wrong time. There was no correlation between where the bodies were found, either.

The only similarities were the way the women met their demise. Each woman had been physically and sexually assaulted prior to receiving multiple stab wounds. There were also small, circular burns seen on each victim suggesting the suspect used a cattle prod to incapacitate his victim, leaving them paralyzed as this monster wreaked havoc on their bodies.

Scully was determined to catch his guy. There had to be something that her and her team were missing. Some clue that was going unchecked, unseen, untested. Her life soon completely revolved around solving this case—so much so that she was spending 16 hours a day working the case and about 5 hours sleeping. The hour or two she had to herself was to eat or do a load of laundry. In the beginning, she would call Mulder a little past midnight east coast time to work the case out loud—get his outside perspective. But his case load quickly grew as well. Calls went unanswered. She knew his voicemail greeting by heart. When he would call back, her phone would be off as she’d be sleeping, trying to recharge and not dream about the allusive poor excuse for a human being.  

Twelve days later, another body. This time there was a note.

“You’ll have to try harder than this” was written in capitalized blocked letters so the handwriting couldn’t be easily distinguished.

Immediately, the envelope was rushed to the lab for forensic DNA testing. The bastard didn’t lick the envelope. There were no fingerprints. No random hair strands or other unknow fibers to test.

Lewis and Georgie hated giving Scully the bad news—as each time they delivered it her reaction began to escalate from quiet rage to full blown boisterous growls of frustration. This last time, she picked up a beaker and flung it against the wall watching it shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.

She immediately apologized to Lewis and Georgie for her behavior and thanked them for their efforts. Everyone was getting frustrated, but they continued to look for that one big break that would blow the case wide open.

A.D. Moss found Scully in her office typing up her field report, including the inconclusive results ran on the envelope and letter. He knocked on the frame of her office door startling her.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you.” Moss now leaned against the door frame with his hands casually in his pockets.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m just a little on edge about this case.”

“I know it seems like you’re not getting anywhere, but I can see your determination. Your drive, to see this through. To get your man. It’s admirable.”

Scully threw him a small smile, unsure where this praise was heading.

“It’s down-right sexy.”

There it is.

“Why don’t you take a break? Let me buy you a drink.” Moss cocked his head indicating for her to follow him.

Scully remained firmly in her seat, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, c’mon, Dana. Let your hair down. It may help you find a different perspective.”

Scully cocks her eyebrow at him with suspicion.

“A.D. Moss, I’m not sure how they do things here in Utah, but I find it extremely inappropriate for subordinates to fraternize outside of the workplace with their boss, whether they’re the opposite sex or not.” Scully’s wring nervously beneath her desk.

“You fraternize with Lewis Carter after hours. What’s the difference there?”

“Are you referring to the slice of pizza I bought for him?” Scully sat up straighter in her chair. “He and Georgie have been working extremely hard on this case, mostly at my command, and they deserved some sustenance.”

“And how is that different from what I’m offering?”

He stunned her into silence. Moss had her there. It was the same—except it wasn’t. And Moss knew that it wasn’t.

Scully tucks her hair behind her ears and straightens in her chair once again as she prepares to tell her new boss her biggest secret.

“I’m with someone, sir.” She stared him down, drawing the proverbial line that she was taken.

“Here in Utah? That was fast.”

Scully had to school her features and practically choked on the scoff that got stuck in the back of her throat.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but he’s in D.C.”

“So it’s true. You and Agent Mulder?”

What had he heard?

“I am not going to divulge my personal matters or relationships, sir. I appreciate the offer to join you for a drink, but the answer is no.”

Moss chuckles from the doorway. “It’s a no now. But I’ll wear you down. Just you wait.”

He winks at her, then casually throws his jacket over his shoulder and saunters down the darkened hallway.

Holding her breath until Moss was out of view, she expels her breath and reaches up to push her titian locks back away from her face, holding her head in her hands in disbelief.

She picks up her cell and punches the number one on her keypad. Voicemail.

“Hey, it’s Mulder. You know what to do.”

After the beep, Scully just sits in silence for a moment. She just breathes. Until finally...

“I miss you.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

It was one of those rare nights where Scully had a moment to herself to reach Mulder for a midnight chat. Although three thousand plus miles apart, they each were living in a similar hell—a means to no end, no light at the end of the tunnel. Each were determined their suspect would fuck up and crack the case wide open—but no such luck yet.

It was going to take time, they knew. Murderers get sloppy after a while. They forget where they left the murder weapon, forget to wear gloves, leave behind a microscopic skin, nail, hair follicle or where they parked the getaway car. Or worse yet, leave it in a tow-away zone. The worst of waiting is the killing that keeps happening until that slip-up.

Scully slips further under a cloak of bubbles, her hair piled high on her head when her call is answered.

“Mulder.” His voice is groggy with sleep.

She can picture him sporting a two-day stubble, stale coffee breath, mused hair and those yellow sleep pants sitting low on his hips that show off his iliac crest. She can feel herself gush as she recalls a time she made him come just by tracing that space with her tongue.

“It’s me.” Her voice sounds low and rough.

“I don’t recall scheduling a 900 number call. So, this must be the illustrious Special Agent in Charge, Dana Katherine Scully, MD.”

He also had the knack to make her kegel muscles clench when he calls her by her full name and title.

“What are you wearing?”

“Bubbles. You?”

“Oh, Scully. You better be serious because if you’re not, that’s just cruel.”

She giggles into the line, sloshing the water around so he could hear it on the other end.

“Fuck me.”

“How’s your case going Mulder?”

“Oh, now she wants to talk shop. Such a tease.”

She hums into the line, a smile breaks across her face.

“Slow-going here, Sculls. I feel like we’re on the verge of a breakthrough but then it just turns into another dead end. I’m flailing here. I’m having a mental block and can’t connect with the suspect like I usually do.”

“It’ll come Mulder, I know it will. Just give it some time. Take a step back. Look at it from another angle.”

“Sound advice, as always, Agent Scully. How is your case coming along?”

“Another victim. Two nights ago.”

“Shit. And you still don’t have any solid leads?”

Scully lets out a frustrated sigh, dipping lower into the bath water. “Nothing. There’s a mound of evidence to process but my lab rats are running on fumes. They haven’t even touched it, yet.”

“Any common similarities?”

“Of course, tons. But none lead back to flesh and bone yet.”

“I wish I were there to help you.”

She can hear the longing in his voice. He still has a way to touch her even over a phone line.

“I know you do.” They sat in silence for a while. Scully tipped her head back against the rolled towel behind her head, her free hand beings to roam.

“Can I tell you a secret?” She whispers.

“….Always.”

“I had an ulterior reason reason for calling.”

“Oh?” He can hear the water swish in the background.

“What are you wearing, Mulder?”

His warm chuckle travels through her ear canal, to the tips of her tight nipples, tickles across her abdomen, down to her warm center.

“My yellow pajama pants.”

“Mmm.” He picks up more water sloshing in the background. He begins to harden under said pants.

“Scully,” he chokes out, “Are you touching yourself?”

“What do you think?” Her free hand traces up, down and around her labia, teasing her entrance, then circles her clit without making direct contact.

“Fucking. Christ.” Mulder pushes his pants past his hips just enough to free his bobbing erection. He licks his palm and begins stroking himself.

“Talk to me, Mulder. I miss your voice.” She dips two fingers into her entrance and holds it there waiting to hear him.

“I can tell you’re already cheating. Remove your fingers.”

“How did y—” She removes her fingers, instead leave sweet caresses over her stomach until she’s playing with a nipple.

“You’re wound tight tonight. You’re in the bath, a half-empty glass of wine sits next to you. You want wham, bam. But I’m going to make you work for it.”

Scully goans across the line, pinching her nipple.

“I used to think I was an ‘ass’ man. That was usually the first thing I’d notice in a woman. Besides her smile. But then, around 1993, I became a breast man.”

Scully moans out load, her hand groping her breast, plucking her turgid nipple, twisting it between her thumb and forefinger.

“And then, in the year of our good Lord 1998, I knew for certain without a scrap of doubt I was a breast man. Do you know why, Scully?”

Scully raises her chest in and out of the water, watching the water run in small rivets over her breasts, her nipples tightening from the cold air.

“Why, Mulder?” she asks breathlessly.

“Because that was the year I got to taste yours.”

“Oh, god.” Scully’s hand travels straight to her engorged clit, her fingers pressing into her nerve-ending.

“Your tits are everything, Scully. The perfect little amuse-bouche, if you will. The perfect mouthful. If I were there right now, I’d rub my dick in between them until I came all those precious breasts.”

“Yes, Mulder.”

Her breath comes out more harshly; not only due to how much he is turning her on, but by how breathless he begins to sound. His hands aren’t idle, either. Instructions be damned, her fingers breach her entrance, and she begins rapidly stroking herself.

“Fuck, Scully. I can’t hold it.” Mulder grits out.

“Let go, baby. Let me hear you. I’m right there with you.”

“God, I miss you. I miss the look in your eyes when you come for me.”

They both increase their activity until Mulder howls while Scully whimpers in release.

Once their breathing returns to normal, Mulder chuckles.

“You cheated.”

“Not even sorry.”

“I know I keep saying it, but one of these days I’m going to hop on a plane and see you.”

“You keep saying that---then work gets in the way.”

“I’ll make it happen.”

“I won’t hold my breath…Good-night, Mulder.”

“Good-night, Scully.”

Chapter Text

Mulder couldn’t believe it, but in the blink of an eye, almost two months had gone by since their late night bath chat. He had been so involved with his own case that he couldn’t tell what day of the week it was, or register just how much time had passed. Looking at his cell phone log, there were a lot of missed calls in the beginning, then it dwindled down to once a week, until there were none at all.  

His heart clenched, kicking himself for not remaining present. If not for himself, at least for her. Surely, she had solved her own case by now, right? He places a call. After three rings Scully’s voicemail greeting comes over the line. He hangs up without leaving a message.

Look at the wall calendar he had hanging in his cubicle, he notes that they’re past the half-way mark of Scully’s six-month sentence. Without a case holding him back, he swivels in his chair to log onto his computer.  

He purchases a round-trip flight to Salt Lake City that boards that evening, prints the confirmation sheet and grabs his coat from the back of his chair and exits the building. At home, he packs a light go-bag. He can’t imagine requiring that much clothing…

A taxi shows up at his door step twenty minutes later and he is soon on his way to Dulles airport.

Mulder taps his fingers on top of his thighs, eager for the plane to fly faster. He had put in another call to Scully before take-off, but that call, too, when unanswered.

He had convinced himself all the better she didn’t’ answer because he was sure he couldn’t keep it a secret from her that he was on his way to see her. Once he made it Dallas for a brief thirty-minute layover, it was just another three hours and a car rental later that he would be on his way to the Salt Lake City branch to surprise her.

Seated in an uncomfortable plastic chair in Dallas, he checks his messages. Two from his SAC, which can go unanswered. He earned a weekend of peace. Mulder is just about to put in another call to Scully when two uniformed men stop in front of him.

“Fox Mulder?” one of the officers asked.

“Who’s asking?” Mulder cocks a bewildered eyebrow. He doesn’t recall there being an issue with TSA in D.C. Hell, he barely had anything in the bag sitting by his feet.

“Are you Fox Mulder?” the other officer asked more insistently.

Mulder nods, flashing his badge.

“Come with us, sir.”

“Why?”

“Just come with us, Sir. We’ll explain on the way.”

Begrudgingly he picks up his bag and does as he's told, his feet dragging the whole way.

"So what is this about, gentleman?"

They stop at a gate that leads to the tarmac where a private charter waits. 

"Your SAC, Agent Howard?"

"Yes..."

"Wants you back in Washington. There's another case that needs immediate attention."

Mulder rolls his eyes back into his head and then begins to fume. 

"Can I just make a quick phone call?"

"Charter leaves now, Agent Mulder. And we're not allowed to let you out of our site until you get on that plane."

"I'm just gonna make it right over here," Mulder points over his shoulder.

"Your boss said you were squirrely. That you needed to be escorted. So let's go." The officer takes his arm, leading him through the gate door.

Mulder shrugs him off and hits one on his speed dial. He gets her voicemail again. This time he leaves a message.

"Scully, it's me. Listen, I had every intension of surprising you at work tonight. But my plans have been thwarted by my new boss. I was really looking forward to ravishing you this evening. Guess we'll have to plan another midnight bath chat. Miss you."

As he hangs up, the two officers stand there with their arms crossed, not looking the least amused. 

"Alright, alright. I'm coming, I'm coming. Keep your TSA uniform on."

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

Mulder was handed the dossier by the stewardess as he settled into his seat. The destination was a town in upstate New York. 
The police department was dealing with a murder with suspicious circumstances and were running into dead end leads left and right.

So they decided to call in the big guns, he muses. 

A private car meets him on the tarmac. SAC Howard was in the car, waiting. 

“Skipping town, Fox?” 

This guy had a continuous annoying habit calling him by his birth name even after being told to call him “Mulder”. 

“Thought I’d enjoy a well-deserved weekend of RnR, Sir.”

“With Agent Scully?” 

Mulder bit back a response. Whatever he and Scully were, that was their business. No one else’s. 

“I’m here, am I not?”

Mulder was unfazed by this asshat. He just wanted to get in and get out. 

What was niggling him in the back of his mind was that Scully wasn’t calling him back. 

Chapter Text

“Arrrgghhh!!!” Agent Lewis Carter thrusts his fingers into his hair with a frustrated growl. He tips his head back and silently curses whatever deity that is preventing him from solving the nation’s most heinous crimes. One hand loosens from his hair and whips off his glasses, his fingers pinch the bridge of his nose as he tries to ward off another migraine from forming, as they have been over the last several weeks.

Beside him, an equally frustrated Agent Georgie Lane cracks her neck. She’s been on blood sample duty and has sequenced every strand of DNA she believes belongs to man, and still there has been no match. Not even a familiar one.

With murder number twelve they were lucky to retrieve a partial print off a glass vase of his latest victim’s residence. Other than that, no murder weapon was left behind, every surface was wiped clean, no gloves or other personal protection was left behind. Not even a drop of bodily fluid.

Dana Scully walks through the door holding her ringing cell phone.

“Please tell me that is not another body.” Agent Lane whines from her seat.

Scully looks up, her eyebrow cocked. “No Agent Lane, thankfully, not another body.”

She places her cell phone back onto her lab coat pocket and begins reading the reports Agents Carter and Lane have complied between testing samples and searching databases.

They work silently for about another ten minutes when Scully’s phone rings again. Scully only takes it out enough from her pocket to read the caller ID screen.

“A.D. Moss?” Lewis asks this time.

“No.” Scully answers sharply and then pushes a few buttons to turn off her cell phone.

“What is there is another murder? You should keep that on!” Georgie insists.

“I just---need a break.” Scully sighs and gets back to reading, signaling for the others to continue working as well.

“Girlfriend?” Georgie asks, with a touch of hopefulness…as she has yet to determine Agent Scully’s preference.

Scully’s eyebrow dips with an incredulous stare.

“Boyfriend?” Georgie corrects.

“Partner. Former partner in D.C.”

“Ahh,” Georgie responds with understanding. “He calls often?”

“Enough,” Scully nonchalantly answers, turning pages of the report and making notes in her notebook she had started at the beginning of the case.

“He must want something, I mean the man just called twice within twenty minutes.”

Scully looks up from her notetaking and addresses Georgie straight on, “I have more important things to focus on than to take a personal call at the moment. If you need me, I’ll be in my office. Keep at it,”

Just as she exits, she turns back to address both of them. “Thank you. For your relentless efforts. I know this is taking  time away from family and friends, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your dedication. Truly.”

“Thank you, Agent Scully,” Agent Carter replies after looking up from his microscope. Georgie nods along with his sentiment.

With that, Scully walks out the door and heads toward her office.

“Someone fucked up.” Georgie whispers conspiratorially.

“What do you mean?”

“No man with a good conscious calls a women multiple times within the same hour unless they have something to grovel about.” Georgie starts to chew on the end of her pen as she gets back to her research.

“At least you got your answer,” Lewis looks up to gage Georgie’s reaction.

There is a little bit of wistfulness and regret flickering across her gaze.

“Another lost to a man…” Georgie sighs begrudgingly.

“This means you get focus on helping me catch this guy instead of planning a rendezvous in the janitor closet.” Lewis smacks down a pile of paper print outs, more date reconciliation for Georgie to attack.

“I don’t get it. It’s been months and we still haven’t solved this case. Stupider people than us have done this.” Georgie roughly takes the printout and tosses them across the desk out of her way.

“We just have to keep at it. We’ll get our break soon enough. I can feel it.”

“That’s more or less what the guy in the crow’s nest of the Titanic said to his watch partner. And look what happened.”

“You’ve watched that movie too many times.”

“It’s a cinematic masterpiece.” Georgie replies pleased. “I’ve worn out my second set of VHS copies already.”

Lewis chuckles at her, then dives nose first back into his microscope. “I rest my case.”

Chapter Text

Dana pulled out a bottle of pain killers, tapped two tablets out of the container and swallows them dry. She says a quick prayer they kick in quickly as this has been a terrible week regarding this ongoing case. She knows that there is a piece missing.

They have it, they just haven’t recognized it yet. A vital key to blowing this case wide open.

The letters have progressed. They went from written in normal English to a created code. A cipher had been provided two victims ago, but there are more graphics than letters in the alphabet, so it has become difficult to determine which symbol correlates to which consonant or vowel.

A knock on the door frame sounds. Afraid to look up to see A.D. Moss standing there, she waits for the individual to identify themself.

“Uh, Agent Scully?” An unrecognizable, yet warm, voice sounds from her doorway.

She looks up to see an agent assigned to her detail whom she’s rarely had any interaction with. Agent Read, was it? She has observed him from afar. He’s methodical, persistent, very detail oriented. And he seems just as determined as she is to solve this case.

“Agent Read, isn’t it?” She slowly stands from her seat.

“That’s correct. Jack Read,” he reaches a hand out.

Scully takes it. His grip is warm, yet firm. Her eyes travel up his forearm to take in the rest of him. He wears his full head of chestnut brown hair a little on the longer side. It’s stylish but not overly so. It has a natural wave to it that would make any other woman want run their fingers through it to check if it were real. He’s clearly muscular, not lean-muscular like Mulder, but he knows how to fill his dress shirt and slacks.

There was no denying Agent Jack Read was beautiful man. Dana mentally shakes herself out of it and releases his hand, the same hand reaches up to nervously tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

“What can I do for you Agent Read?” She sits back down in her chair, indicating for him to do that same.

“Please, call me Jack. Agent Read makes it sound like I’m in trouble.” His smile shows rows of perfect teeth, white—not stained.

“Are you prone to be in troublemaker, Agent Read? Jack?” Dana cocks her eyebrow, intrigued with this man’s history.

“Only if it’s worth defying authority.” He leans further back in his chair, “But I have a feeling you’ll keep me in line.”

Dana’s breath hitches slightly. His eyes darken at her reaction.

Dana blinks rapidly, bringing her back to the present. She is embarrassed how easily Agent Read knocked her off kilter.

He reaches over, laying a document protected by a plastic sleeve and placed in an evidence bag and a page with writings and drawings on it.

“I believe I may have cracked the suspect’s code.”

Dana snatches up the documents, her eyes dancing over the cipher and Agent Read’s decoding.

“Does this help you?”

Dana looks up briefly then goes back to the documents, eager to get to started on deciphering the other correspondence.

“You have no idea Agent Read. I appreciate your efforts, truly. This is extremely helpful.”

Agent Read stands from his chair, he raps a knuckle on her desk making her look up at him, “Please, call me Jack.”

She could have sworn he winked at her before exiting her office. She crosses her legs under her desk and squeezes her thighs together.

Since joining the X-Files, no other Agent had such a profound effect on her other than Fox Mulder.

Chapter Text