Mulder rested his forehead against Scully's as they both tried to bring their breathing under control. Pulling back, Mulder took a moment to simply take in the sight of her. Her hair was fanned out on the pillow behind her, her lips slightly pinker from their harsh kisses, and there were tear tracks on her cheeks from their earlier reunion. He brought up a hand, caressing her face, trying to ease the pain of their separation with one touch.
"I was so scared, Scully," his words were so hushed that if she had been further away she wouldn't have heard them.
"I know, Mulder." Scully arched up under him and captured his mouth with hers. "Mulder, I need you."
"Scully," he groaned, resting his head in the crook of her neck.
"Mulder?"
"Scully?"
Two people on opposite ends of the country startled awake, gasping the other's name, before realizing they were still alone.
Mulder rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes. These dreams had been going on for almost a week now, and each time they felt a little more real... until he woke up, of course. It didn't take an advanced degree in psychology to figure out what they meant, and yet there seemed to be more to them than what was on the surface.
Leaning back on his bed, he decided he might as well try and get a little more sleep before he had to go into work, but was interrupted just as he was starting to drift off by the ringing of his phone.
"Mulder."
"I think we've got something, G-man. You better get over here."
Maybe he wasn't that tired after all.
Scully flopped back onto her bed in frustration. These dreams had been going on for a week now, and she hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since they'd started. They also weren't doing much to ease her homesickness; each time she woke up from one she felt like hopping on a plane and going straight back to DC -- which was breaking the first rule of witness protection, she was fairly certain.
Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the feel of Mulder's arms wrapped around her, and drifted off.
"Guys, do you have any idea what time it is?" Mulder asked, as he was let into the Lone Gunmen's headquarters.
"It's 5:34," Langly offered, not looking up from his computer.
"Okay, does someone other than Big Ben over there want to tell me what's going on?"
Frohike held out a file folder to Mulder. "I told you on the phone -- I think we've got something."
"I thought you already looked into all the agents on the task force. You said they were all clean."
"They all seemed to be at first," Byers agreed, "but we did a little more digging."
Mulder flipped open the file and scanned the documents. "Okay, maybe it's just because I haven't had any coffee yet this morning, but I'm not really seeing anything."
"Agent Marcus here has been depositing large amounts of cash into his bank account pretty much since he joined the case."
"Marcus?" Mulder asked incredulously. "The guy's a boy scout. Scully and I worked with him on a couple cases while we were with Domestic Terrorism. There's no way he's the guy."
"You want to tell me why he's been getting a few thousand dollars a month anonymously, and living way beyond the means of a fibbie?" Frohike asked, slightly miffed.
"It's at least worth checking out, isn't it?" Byers offered.
Mulder looked down at the evidence in his hands. "I'll take it with me and look through it," he conceded.
Scully rang the bell to her next door neighbors' house. Since she'd gotten her job as a secretary in Doctor Yee's dentist office, she'd made it a point to check in with Mrs. Evans and her husband on her way to work.
"Good morning, dear. How are you this morning?" the older woman greeted her kindly.
"I'm good, Mrs. Evans. I just wanted to check and see if there was anything you or Mr. Evans needed today."
"No, we're alright; thank you so much though. Dear..." Mrs. Evans looked at her with concern, "you look a bit under the weather today. Are you alright?"
"I've just had some trouble sleeping," Scully reassured her.
"Well, if you're sure...." Mrs. Evans considered her before coming to a decision. "Come inside for a moment."
"I really should be going - "
"It'll only be a minute."
Knowing there wasn't much use in arguing, Scully stepped inside.
"Go have a seat in the living room," Mrs. Evans instructed. "I'll be right back."
She'd only been sitting for a few moments when she heard the familiar shuffling of Mr. Evans walker. "Ah," he said as he came into the living room, "I thought I heard someone come in. What's a pretty little thing like you doing visiting us old folks?"
"Good morning, Mr. Evans," Scully got up to help him get to his chair, but Mr. Evans waved her off. "I just stopped by to check in on you both."
"You need to get out more, young lady. Now, if I was a little younger and not married to the most beautiful woman in the world, I'd help you out with that, but you should find a man your own age and have some fun. Now, I do have a grandson.... He's married as well, but we're not terribly attached to his wife, so you just say the word...."
"I'll take that into consideration," Scully laughed.
"Mikey, you're not bothering this poor girl, are you?"
"Bothering? Of course not! She came here to try and steal me away from you, but I was having none of it."
"Are you sure? Laura must know some nice young men -- perhaps we could make a trade." Mrs. Evans turned from her husband's feigned indignant look and handed Scully a container. "Here you go, dear. Some homemade chicken noodle soup. It will make you feel better."
"Thanks, Mrs. Evans, I'll see both of you tomorrow."
"If you're still not feeling well after work, come back over and I'll give you some more soup."
Special Agent Jeff Marcus was running late for work again. He hadn't always been like this; in fact, he remembered a time not too long ago when he was always a half hour early to any shift.
He was moving so quickly in his attempt to get to his desk before his supervisor noticed that he didn't have time to stop when another agent rounded a corner, accidentally putting himself in his path. With Jeff still going at top speed, when they collided, Jeff went flying back and landed on his ass. The other agent remained standing but just barely.
"Whoa. Okay, maybe that's why we don't run in the hallways."
Jeff shook off his slightly dazed feeling and looked up into the amused face of Fox Mulder. Mulder held out a hand, which Jeff gratefully accepted.
"Agent Mulder! I am so sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going and..."
"Don't worry about it, Marcus," Mulder said easily. Jeff didn't know why so many of the other agents disliked Mulder; he'd always been decent to him. That was one of the reasons Jeff felt so bad about his partner...
"Thanks, Agent Mulder. I owe you one." Jeff said his goodbyes and rushed off, without running this time, the rest of the way to his desk. In his hurry Jeff completely missed the speculative look on Mulder's face.
Jeff had actually managed to get his day off to a decent start. His SAC hadn't noticed that he was a little late so the morning hadn't started off with a lecture, and he'd had time to finish up some paperwork that he'd been neglecting all week. So, by the time lunch had rolled around, he felt he'd actually earned some time away from his desk.
As he was walking down to the cafeteria a voice commented from behind him, "Well, your pace had slowed down a bit. That's got to be a good sign."
Jeff turned around and smiled. "Hey, Agent Mulder. Yeah, I'm done with my marathon training for the day."
"It looked like you have a shot as long as it's not an obstacle course you're running."
Jeff offered him a chagrined smile, still feeling somewhat bad about their run-in earlier. "Where are you on your way to now?"
"Spooky agents have to eat too, Marcus."
Jeff smiled. "Why don't you join me?"
"You really don't look good, Laura," Becky, the young dental hygienist, commented for the third time that day.
Scully sighed, "Becky, I'm really going to start taking that personally."
Becky ignored her and placed a hand on her head, feeling for a temperature. "You're not warm, but you do look really pale. This might be what Sarah came down with earlier this week. Her kids were out of school for a week with the flu."
"I really don't feel sick; it's just a little warm in here."
Becky's expression said that she wasn't buying it. "Go home."
"If I start feeling sick, I'll go home," Scully maintained, and stood up to go file some patient files. Her argument was slightly undercut when she started feeling dizzy the second she stood up and fell back into her chair.
"Okay, that's it. Get your purse - I'm driving you home."
Scully tried to nod, but it made her head swim again.
"No way are the Yankees going to take it this year! The Red Sox are going all the way," Jeff protested animately, around the last bite of his sandwich.
"It really amazes me how delusional Red Sox fans remain," Mulder joked. "It's been what? 82 years?"
"So they're due!" Jeff maintained.
Mulder just laughed. "Yeah, come talk to me in October. We'll see what teams are still in it."
Jeff's cell rang, cutting off his retort. "Marcus. Okay, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone. "I've gotta go."
"Okay," Mulder said, draining his soda.
"See you later, man." Jeff got up to leave. "Mulder?"
"Yeah?"
He hesitated for a second before saying, "I'm really sorry."
Something shifted in Mulder's expression that almost looked like suspicion. "What do you mean?"
Jeff, slightly surprised my the hard edge Mulder's voice had taken, opened his mouth but then snapped it shut and shook his head. "Nothing. Never mind. I'll see you around."
"You're late," Tony Spilano said when the man he'd been waiting for sat down across from him. Tony wasn't a man that was used to being stood up.
"I had trouble getting away. The AD in charge of this case is keeping a closer eye on all of us since word got out about the hit."
Tony sipped his drink casually, not showing any emotions. "That's your problem."
"Well, it's also your problem! If I can't get information anymore because they're suspicious - "
"Then you're of no use to me anymore." Tony watched as the agent tried to hide the fear in his eyes, but he'd been working with his father his whole life and had seen fear in stronger men's eyes. "What are you doing about Agent Scully?"
The agent in front of him gulped. "Actually, I do have an idea about that..."
Scully sank down on her bed and closed her eyes. The dizziness had passed, but she still felt a little worn out. Thankfully, she had the next couple of days off.
As her breathing evened out, she felt a familiar arm slide around her waist.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," she whispered into the darkness.
"You getting tired of me, Scully?" Mulder whispered into her ear in return, squeezing his arm around her affectionately.
She turned in his embrace so that they were facing each other. She stared into his hazel eyes and swallowed hard. "No... I just wish it was really you."
"I know exactly how you feel, Scully."
Next: Chapter 5
