Part 1 of 2

Special Agent Fox Mulder whistled as he walked down
the corridor of F.B.I. headquarters, heading toward
his basement office. T.G.I.F.  he thought. Funny, he'd spent most of his adult life as a workaholic,
resenting the fact that weekends made it more
difficult to contact people he needed to get in touch
with and lessened the amount of support staff at the
office. Since his marriage to his partner and fellow
agent Dana Scully, however, all that had changed.

The silly thing was, his weekend activities - with one MAJOR exception - hadn't really changed that much. He still went to the grocery store, did laundry, jogged through the park, watched videos and ordered pizzas. It was just the fact that he got to do them with his wife that made them so much fun. Of course, there was that OTHER activity, which was the most fun.

That was another thing, he thought with a smile. Ever
since he'd been injured a couple of weeks earlier,
Dana had been keeping him on a. . .restricted diet, so to speak. But he'd been to the doctor this morning and received a clean bill of health, so he could resume all normal activities. The smile widened into a grin. He wondered if Dana knew her chances of even making it out of the bedroom this weekend hovered somewhere between slim and none?

"Hey, Spooky, you're actually smiling! What happened,
did E.T. finally phone you at home?" a fellow agent
cracked as they passed in the hall.

"Nah, I'm just glad it's Friday," Mulder replied, too
used to the "Spooky" nickname to even be offended.

Reaching the office he shared with his partner, he
opened the door and said, "Hey, Scully! Think we could get away with slipping out a couple of hours early?"

Dana Scully smiled up at him and handed him his
jacket. "I'm afraid not, Mulder. I just got off the
phone with Skinner and he wants us in his office
pronto!"

Mulder was confused as to what the Assistant Director
could want with him and his partner.

"Did he say why?"

"No, only that it's urgent."

"I can't possibly be in trouble again. We just solved
two kidnappings and captured a rogue agent. Besides,"
he added, lowering his voice, "I'm under surveillance
by you night and day now. When am I going to find time to get in trouble?"

"Mulder, trouble finds you. Come on," Scully said as
she reached up to straighten his tie.

Their eyes met and linked and suddenly Dana felt
herself blushing. No one in the bureau knew they were
married, because married couples weren't allowed to
work as partners and they hadn't been able to face
giving up their work on the X-Files together. She had
made him promise not to do anything in the office to
compromise their situation and it was true he never
actually touched her at work in a way that could be
considered inappropriate. But then, he didn't have to. All he had to do was look at her, smile at her,
whisper a suggestive comment in her ear. And she knew
what he was thinking. And he knew he'd made her think
about the same thing.

As they reached the Assistant Director's office,
Mulder heard an agent murmur, "Whoops, looks like
Spooky and Mrs. Spooky are in trouble again. Wonder
what they did this time?"

"Maybe Skinner's just calling them in to let them know Big Foot's been found and they can go interview him," suggested someone else.

Mulder rolled his eyes as he held the door open for
his partner, touching her gently between the shoulder
blades to indicate that she should precede him. After
all these years, he was immune to the slings of fellow agents on this own behalf, but it still stung him that she was tarred with the same brush.

When they entered the inner office, Skinner nodded to
the agents and said, "Close the door behind you."

Scully and Mulder sat next to each other in chairs
that faced Skinner across his desk. For several
seconds, the A.D. just stared at them. These two
agents caused him more trouble than any ten others. On the other hand, they had a solve ration that was one of the highest in the bureau and they put their lives in danger more times in one year than most agents did in an entire career. They had also - through their devotion to each other and their dedication to the truth - led him out of an ambiguous, shadowy realm and back onto the side of justice. If push came to shove, there wasn't anyone else he'd rather have on his side when the chips were down or another pair he'd put as much on the line for as these two.

"You're in trouble," Skinner said.

"For what, sir?" Scully asked.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure Agent Scully had nothing to
do with it," Mulder responded.

Skinner lifted one corner of his mouth in an
expression that was almost a smile. Of all the
problems he had with this pair, the one he never, ever had to deal with was the one that was most common between other agents. Not once had either Mulder or Scully tried to put the blame on the other to save their own career. Quite the opposite in fact; they both would rather take heat themselves than see their partner in trouble.

"Not in that sense," Skinner said quietly. "You
haven't violated any procedures recently - at least
none that I'm aware of. But you have made some very
powerful people very angry. As you know, I sometimes.
. .hear things. Your lives are in danger. I'm
temporarily reassigning you.

"You can't," Mulder said.

"But, sir," Scully began at the same moment.

Skinner held up a hand for silence. "Oh, you can wipe
that startled deer-in-the-headlights look off you
face, Agent Scully. When I say "reassigning" I mean
both of you to the same place. Trying to separate you
two doesn't work, anyway. You just sneak off to meet
each other in parking garages or threaten to resign."

"Oh, well, in that case. . ." Scully said, mollified.

"Where?" asked Mulder. He kept his face deadpan, but
Skinner could tell he was relieved, also.

"I recently received a call from the Special Agent in
Charge of one of our more remote field offices.
They're in desperate need of a qualified pathologist
to conduct autopsies on a series of mysterious
deaths," Skinner replied. "I figured that was right up Agent Scully's alley. I'm not sure they're in
desperate need of a profiler, but when I told them
you'd be coming, too, Agent Mulder, they seemed to
feel that they could put you to use in some capacity.
Actually, you'll probably only be working 25 to 30
hours a week, unlike the 50 or more you two generally
put in here. Consider it a sort of working vacation."
 
Which office is it?" Scully asked. Skinner has said
remote. Alaska, maybe? North Dakota?

Skinner pushed a couple of airline tickets their way.
The agents reached for them.

"Hawaii?" Scully breathed in disbelief.

"You're sending us to assist the field office in
Honolulu?" Mulder asked.

"Because of the distances involved, it's the only
field office that doesn't have unlimited access to the labs at Quantico. The agents out there have extremely limited contact with the rest of the bureau. They need you and I figure you'll be safe out there. The bureau maintains an apartment in Hawaii for the use of agents who come in from the mainland. It's a two-bedroom unit, but if either of you feel uncomfortable in that situation, we can arrange alternative accommodations."

"It's not a problem," Mulder and Scully said
simultaneously.

Skinner allowed himself to almost smile again.
Somehow, he hadn't thought it would be.

"We've got some arrangements to make, agents. The
tickets, you'll notice, are for a flight that leaves
tomorrow afternoon out of LaGuardia. I'm going to
accompany both of you back to your apartments, so that I can watch your backs while you pack, but pack light. Is there someplace other than your own apartments where you two could stay tonight?"

"We could stay at my mother's," Scully suggested.
"That is, if you think it's safe. I wouldn't want to
put her in any danger."

"That should be fine. Whatever is set to happen
probably won't occur for at least 24 hours and then
you'll be on a plane headed west. But what I want you
both to do, right now, is make any phone calls you
have to from this line. Let your mother know the two
of you will be her houseguests tonight, Agent Scully,
and that she can contact you through me for the next
six weeks or so. Agent Mulder, if you want to contact
your mother and tell her the same thing. You might
also let your wacky friends know you'll be out of
town; I wouldn't want them trying to hack into the
F.B.I.'s central computer to figure out your
location," Skinner said.

"You mean Langley, Frohike and Byers?" Mulder asked.

"If those are the three stooges, then yes," Skinner
replied.

The assistant director pushed the phone toward the
agents. "Call your mother first, Mulder," Scully
suggested. "It probably won't take as long."

Mulder dialed a familiar number and heard an answering machine pick up. His own voice, he realized. His mother had asked him to record the message for her machine so that it wouldn't be apparent that she was a woman living alone. "Mom, it's Fox. I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be on an assignment out-of-town for the next couple of months. I can't give you the location, but if you need to contact me, call F.B.I. headquarters and ask for Assistant Director Walter Skinner."

Scully reached for the phone next. "Mom? Hi, it's me.
Oh, fine, fine. Yes, I'm at work. I have a favor to
ask you. Mulder and I are leaving for an out-of-town
assignment tomorrow and. . .yes, Mom, I know we just
got back from Nevada last week. But, anyway, for
reasons I'll explain later, we need a place to say
tonight. Are you sure it's okay? Yes, if you have
dinner a little late, we should be there in time for
it. Okay, I'll talk to you then. I love you. Bye."

Mulder made the third call. "Byers, is that you? No, I will NOT wait while you scramble the call! Just
listen, will you? Scully and I are going to be
out-of-touch for the next few weeks and I didn't want
you three to think there was anything sinister going
on. We're fine. I'd appreciate it if you guys would
drop by my place a couple of times a week to feed the
fish. Frohike? Hi. Yeah, you can borrow my videos.
Yeah, the magazines, too. No, I don't think she needs
you to. . .okay, I'll ask her.

Mulder covered the mouthpiece of the phone and turned
toward Scully. "Frohike wants to know if you want him
to swing by your place a couple of times a week while
we're gone. To pick up the mail or anything."

Scully smiled and reached for the phone. She held a
great deal of tenderness for the short, good-natured
man who made no secret of the fact that he had a crush on her. "Hi, Frohike, it's me. Thanks for the offer, but everything at my place will be fine. My Mom can always drop in if something needs to be done over there. The landlord has her phone number."

"Is there anyone else who might be concerned at an
extended absence by you two?" Skinner asked.

"Well, Holly's probably going to wonder where we are," Scully commented, referring to the researcher who often helped them while they were in the office.
"She's used to us disappearing from time to time, but
not for more than a month. If you could just reassure
her that we're fine, that should be okay."

"All right, then here's the drill. Go on back to your
office and gather anything essential. I'll meet you
down there in about ten minutes. We'll go out to the
parking garage together and then to Mulder's place and then yours, Agent Scully," Skinner said.

Leaving the assistant director's office, Mulder
suppressed the urge to whistle again. He also
suppressed the urge to pick up Scully and waltz her
down the hall, kiss her or do anything else that would show how excited he was. More than a decade of
maintaining an unemotional facade in virtually every
circumstance had given him the ability to hide his
feelings. Well, almost. He couldn't quite suppress the smile he felt twitching at the corners of his mouth.

When the first entered the elevator, another agent was with them and all three were quiet. But when the other agent got out at the first floor, Mulder moved closer to Scully and whispered in her ear, "We're going to Hawaii, honey!"

"I know!" she smiled up at him, almost dazzling him
with her warmth.  Her eyes were glowing and she was
practically bouncing up and down. Still smiling at
him, she licked her lips.

"Damn it, Scully, don't do that!" Mulder muttered as
they got off the elevator. Because she knew damned
well what licking her lips like that did to him. And,
even if she was a doctor, she was also a woman, which
meant she didn't have a clue as to how uncomfortable
it was to be kept in that state. Before their
marriage, she'd managed to arouse him without even
trying and he'd still spent half his free time taking
cold showers. Now, she tried. Which might explain why
they generally didn't eat dinner until at least 9:30
every evening. He spent all day with her, able to see
and hear her, even occasionally catching a whiff of
her perfume, but forbidden from touching or tasting
her. So that, by the time they got home, he was so
horny it wasn't even funny. Hell, half the time they
didn't even make it into the bedroom, making love on
the couch as soon as they walked in the door.

"What do we need in here?" she asked, bending to pick
up her purse and briefcase.

"You ought to know better than to ask me leading
questions when you're in a position like that," Mulder replied.

"You've got a dirty mind, Mulder."

"Yeah, and you love it!"

Dana swallowed hard as she sorted through the files
they needed to take with them. He's right about that,
she thought. During the brief weeks of their marriage, she'd been constantly amazed at how. . .innovative her husband was. Except for their wedding night, which she felt must have merited inclusion in some sort of record book, he'd been hurt all that time. Now he was healthy. And they were going to get to go to Hawaii, where they could live openly in the same place, instead of keeping up the facade of living in two different apartments. She smiled.

"You two ready?" Skinner's deep voice startled her out of her reverie.

Mulder glanced at her. "Scully?"

"Yes, I think so."

The three of them headed out to the parking garage.
"Where are your cars?" Skinner asked.

Oops! thought Scully. Naturally, Skinner expected her
car to be here, but she'd just ridden in with her
husband that morning. Thinking fast, she replied, "I
was having trouble with my car. Mulder picked me up on his way into work."

She caught Mulder's amused glance as his eyes
transmitted the message "Nice save!"

The trio went by Mulder's apartment first, where he
packed in record time. Actually, he didn't have much
he needed here anymore. Over the past ten days or so,
he just kept swinging by to feed the fish and check
the mail, while grabbing more stuff to take over to
the apartment he now shared with Scully.

In the car on the way to her apartment, Dana was
quiet. "Something wrong, sweetheart?" Mulder asked.

"I'm just trying to remember if there's anything, um,
incriminating in my apartment. Skinner's going to walk in and if he sees anything to indicate that you've been sleeping over there. . ."

"Well, presumably Skinner and I will just stay in the
living room. You can go in our bedroom and pack. Just
remember to throw in my toothbrush and razor and stuff from the bathroom. If he does notice something. . .well, it's no secret I have a key to your place and have been known to hang out there."

"But if he asks. . ."

"If he asks, we tell him the truth," Mulder replied
firmly. "That we got married a couple of weeks ago
when we were out in Las Vegas and that, yes, I've
moved in with you. That was always our agreement,
right? That we would never lie. If we're asked,
directly, what our relationship is, we tell the
truth."

"Right," she agreed as they pulled into the parking
lot at her apartment building.

Scully opened the door and gestured to the living
room. "Make yourselves at home, gentlemen. I can't
promise I'll pack quite a fast as Mulder did, but I'll do my best," she said.

Dana moved rapidly through the bedroom and bathroom,
putting things neatly in her suitcase and carry-on bag with a quick economy of movement. After six years of spending half her time on the road, she knew the
drill. She remembered to grab her husband's things out of the bathroom and throw them in with hers. For all their traveling, Fox actually hated to pack; even before their marriage, he had tried to con Dana into
doing his packing whenever possible. She debated
between two bathing suits; one was the sleek navy blue one-piece she usually wore when swimming laps at the F.B.I. pool. It was very professional, very Scully. The other was an emerald green bikini her sister, Melissa, had persuaded her to buy on sale several years ago. Dana had never had the courage to actually wear it and it was definitely not in keeping with her usual cool image. But it would leave a lot more f her skin bare, which meant that she'd need her husband to put lots more suntan lotion on her. Biting her lower lip to keep herself from moaning at the thought of his lotion-slick hands gliding down her back and across her stomach, she tossed the bikini into the suitcase and put the one-piece back in the drawer.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said emerging into the living
room. Mulder reached to lift the heavy suitcase,
leaving her with the lighter carry-on.

"Follow me, agents," Skinner said. "There's one more
stop we have to make."

Mulder concentrated on not losing Skinner as they
switched lanes several times in the now-heavy traffic. Eventually, both cars climbed to the top level of a parking garage.

"What are we doing here?" Mulder asked, as he, Scully
and Skinner all emerged.

"Switching vehicles," Skinner answered. "Just in case
someone is looking for you already. That's the same
reason I booked your tickets out of LaGuardia instead
of Dulles. You'll probably need to get up before dawn
in order to miss the traffic here and get up there in
time to make your flight. Just leave my car in the
long-term parking; I'll pick it up eventually.

Skinner and Mulder quickly transferred the luggage
from the trunk of Mulder's car into the other. "Okay,
agents. I guess this is goodbye for a while. Take care of each other."

"Goodbye," Mulder said, as the two men shook hands.

When Skinner offered his hand to Scully, she grasped
it with both of hers. "Goodbye, sir. Take care of
yourself."
 
As the pulled out of the garage, Mulder tried to
adjust to the larger car's smoother handling. "Geez, I feel like a teenager who's just borrowed his Dad's car to go to the prom. I'm not used to driving anything this luxurious."

Scully smiled at him and reached over to pat his leg.

"By the way," Mulder said, "what's this about a
certain agent who threatens to resign everytime the
powers that be try to assign her away from her
partner?"

"It's not important," she said, looking out the
window.

"Look at me, Dana," he said. "That's why you turned in your letter of resignation when they were going to
send you to Salt Lake City, isn't it? You were willing to give up your career with the bureau in order to stay in the Washington area because I was here, right?"

"Yes, but I didn't want you to know that was my
reasoning."

"Why not?"

"Mulder, when I told you I was resigning, you said
that I didn't owe you anything. Well, at that time,
you didn't owe me anything, either! It just seemed
like we weren't getting anywhere together - not
professionally and not personally. Since they'd closed down the X-Files, it seemed like professionally was a dead end. And I always assumed it was due to the fact that we worked together that we never got anywhere personally. So I figured if I wasn't your partner anymore, if I wasn't even another agent, if I was just . . .a doctor you knew, who happened to have keys to your apartment and could drop in to chat every once in a while. . .well, that you might be more inclined to. . .turn up the heat in our relationship," she said softly.

"You know, I feel like the biggest jerk alive. I never thought of it that way. When you said you were
quitting, I just yelled at you. But I was so scared,
Dana. I couldn't even imagine my life without you in
it."

"You told me that you needed me; that I'd saved you
and made you a whole person. Then you started to kiss
me," she said with a smile. "I may have been thinking
a lot of things, but that you were a jerk definitely
wasn't one of them!"

Mulder glanced over at his wife. For a moment he
couldn't think of anything to say, then he could. "I
love you."

"I love you, too," she replied.

As they pulled into the driveway of her mother's
house, Dana turned to her husband and said, "We've got to tell her, Fox."

"She's your mother. Just handle it however you think
is best," he answered.

As they walked up to the front door, Maggie Scully
opened it. "Whose car is that?" she asked.

"Our boss's," Dana said.

"Why are you driving your boss's car instead of your
own or Dana's?" Maggie asked Mulder.

"We can't exactly explain that, Mom," Dana said as
they entered the house and Maggie closed the door
behind them. "We also can't tell you where we're going to be for the next few weeks, only that we're safe and that you can contact us through Assistant Director Walter Skinner at F.B.I. headquarters if there's some sort of emergency."

"Is there anything you CAN tell me?" Maggie asked
dryly.

Dana smiled. "Yes, Mom, as a matter of fact, there is. Why don't you sit down?"

Maggie chose the armchair, leaving Dana and Fox to sit down by each other on the couch.

"Okay, you two," Maggie said, "out with it!"

"Mom, remember when Mulder and I were out in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago?"

"Of course. Did something happen out there you want to tell me about?"

"Yes," Dana said. She took a deep breath. "We got
married."

"You got married?"

"Yes, Mom."

Maggie was quiet for a moment, closing her eyes and
moving her lips silently. Mulder was alarmed. God only knew what Maggie Scully thought about her only living daughter getting married to a man like him. Probably that Dana deserved someone better. Which she did; he would be the last person in the world to argue that he was worthy of his wife.

"Mrs. Scully?" he asked gently.

"Mom?" Dana sounded concerned.

"May I ask what FINALLY brought you two to your senses after six years of foolishness?" Maggie asked.

"You're not mad?" Mulder asked, surprised.

"Well, I'm a little hurt that I wasn't at the
wedding."

"We're going to try to arrange another ceremony, Mom," Dana put in quickly. "I was going to talk to Father McKay about it this weekend, but now we have to leave town, so I don't know when it will be."

Maggie smiled. "I'd just about given up hope on you
two. It was obvious to me from the first time I saw
you together that you were meant for each other. I
could tell how much you loved Dana, Fox. I just
couldn't figure out why you never. . .did anything
about it."

"Join the club," Dana murmured dryly.

"I guess I'm just a little slow on the uptake," Mulder said. "I felt it was enough of a miracle that Dana was willing to put up with me on a professional basis and be my best friend. Asking her to take me on full time just seemed like more than I had any right to."

They moved into the dining room and sat down to eat.

"Anyway, Dana, I've always thought Fox was a great
improvement on those other losers you brought home."

"Mom! The only other guys I've ever brought home were
a medical student and an instructor at the F.B.I.
academy. They were hardly losers!"

"They were losers as far as holding your attention,
honey. You used to look at them like they were
something on a lab slide," Maggie replied.

"How does she look at me?" Mulder asked, amused and
intrigued by the direction this conversation was
heading in.

"Dana looks at you the same way I used to look at her
Daddy when he got home after six months at sea."

"Mom!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Dana! You're a married woman
and a doctor. I know it's difficult for children to
accept their parents' sexuality, but certainly you're
not still clinging to the belief that Daddy and I had
four children in the first eight years of our marriage by looking under cabbage leaves!"

"No, of course not," Dana said. "It's just that. . .do I really look at Fox like that?"

"Yes!" her mother and husband answered at the same
time.

"I knew Dana loved you a couple of years ago when she
was in the hospital."

"How?"

"One night I was sitting with you, sweetheart. You
were drifting in and out of consciousness. I saw your
mouth moving, like you were trying to say something.
At first I thought you were talking to me, that you
were trying to say "Mother". Then I leaned closer and
realized that you were saying "Mulder". The next
morning, when I came back, he was with you, holding
your hand. I thought maybe the two of you had reached
some sort of understanding then."

Mulder sighed and shook his head. He'd thought he was
being noble, not asking any more from Dana than he
had. He was beginning to realize he'd just confused
and upset her.
 
After dinner, they moved back into the living room.
Dana was sitting so close to her husband she was
practically on top of him. Finally, he reached over
and pulled her into his lap. "Comfortable?" he
murmured.

"Mmmhmm," she purred in his ear. "How about you?"

"For the moment," he whispered. "Unless you start
wiggling. In which case I'm going to get very
uncomfortable in a big hurry."

Maggie smiled. It was hours before her usual bedtime,
but she suddenly felt that she ought to be getting
sleepy real soon if she wanted to stay in the good
graces of her daughter and new son-in-law. That
thought reminded her of something.

"Wait here," she said. "I just remembered something I
ran across a few days ago."

She entered her bedroom and returned a few minutes
later, carrying a small shopping bag with tissue paper sticking out of the top.

"What's that?" Dana asked.

"Something Missy found years ago when we were out
shopping. She liked it, but couldn't find one in her
size. She bought it anyway, and said she'd give it to
you for a present. I told her you'd never wear it and
then she said. . .I believe her exact words were
'Maybe she'll wear it for Fox when the two of them
stop acting like morons and get married to each
other."

"Missy knew?" Dana asked.

"Honey, I think everyone knew but the two of you.
Here, don't you want to see your present?"

Dana reached for the bag and began searching through
the tissue paper. She finally withdrew a wisp of
gossamer black silk and lace. "Oh, my!" she murmured,
blushing.

"I always did like your sister," Mulder said softly in her ear.

Maggie gave a yawn which wouldn't have fooled a
four-year-old, but which managed to pass muster with
both Fox and Dana. "I'm going on to bed, kids. I know
you have to be up early tomorrow, so I guess you
should get to bed soon, too."

"Good night, Mom."
 
"Good night, Maggie."

"Good night, kids. Oh, and Fox?"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"I'm a very sound sleeper."

As Maggie left the room with a smile on her face, Fox
pulled Dana closer. "Is my imagination running away
with me, or did your mother just practically order us
to go make love?"

"That's what it sounded like to me," Dana said. "And
you know us good Catholic girls. We never disobey our
mothers."

Mulder stood up and swung her into his arms. Dana
gasped. Her husband was always so gentle with her that she sometimes forgot how strong he was. "Which way to our bedroom?" he asked, maneuvering down the dim hallway.

"This one," she said, indicating the second doorway on the right.

He carried her into the room and set her down on the
bed. "I've got to go to the bathroom," he said. "Why
don't you put on your present and wait for me?"

Dana nodded, her throat suddenly dry. He'd seen her
naked, of course, but in some ways this confection of
silk and lace actually seemed sexier than simple
nudity. She quickly tugged off the clothes she'd had
on all day - the understated, neutral outfit she'd
worn to work - and tried to figure out exactly how
this thing was supposed to work. She'd just fastened
the last snap when he returned.

"Wow!" Mulder reached for instinctively, tracing his
fingers along the swell of her breasts, just barely
contained by the black silk. Then he tore off his own
clothes in record time.

Dana was surprised to see he was already erect. She
smiled at the thought that she could do this to him
just by what she wore and reached for him.

He grabbed her hands before she could touch him. "Not
yet," he whispered. Holding both her hands with both
of his, he walked her backward until she fell across
the bed. Then he crawled up beside her, still clasping their hands on either side of her body. She wiggled into the center of the bed, spreading her legs so that he could kneel between her thighs. He leaned down and kissed her; gently at first, then with increasing passion.