Part 2 of 2

"Her fiance?" Scully asked. "The report we received
only mentioned her as being his girlfriend."

"Vivian used the word 'fiance'," Lydia replied. "It
probably wasn't official. I imagine there would have
been objections from both their families. But I
suppose, between the two of them, they had agreed they would marry."

Mulder said, "Here's what I'd like to do, if it's
convenient for everyone. Once we finish eating, I'd
like Ms. Chin to go back to our hotel room with
Scully. She can give her all the details of the the
investigation they were pursuing and any leads they
came up with. Chan, I'd like you and I to pay a visit
on Mr. Smith, get a firsthand account of his attack."

***

So, less than an hour later, Scully found herself back in the hotel room with Melissa but this time, Lydia Chin, rather than Mulder, was with her. She knew why Mulder had suggested they split up.

"I'll be happy to answer any questions you have,"
Lydia said, "but I think Bill and I have already told
Agent Chan everything we know."

"There was one other. . .element. . .Agent Mulder and
I feel we need to get straight," Scully said softly.

"What?" Lydia inquired.

"Well, Rick Kirkland was married to a Chinese- American woman. And Delroy Jackson was engaged - at least unofficially - to your friend Vivian. I'm not trying to pry into your personal life, but it may be
important to the investigation for us to understand
exactly what kind of relationship you and Mr. Smith
have with each other."

Lydia sighed and crossed the room to look out the
window. "I'd be happy to tell you "exactly" what kind
of relationship Bill and I have with each other, Agent Scully, if I knew myself!"

Scully smiled gently. "I take it that means the two of you are more than just business partners; more, even ,than just close but platonic friends?"

Lydia sighed again. "We're not lovers. Bill has asked; but, so far, I've been saying no. We've kissed a few times; held hands, things like that."

"These, er, displays of affection," Scully said, "do
they ever occur in public? Where someone could witness them and, possibly, form the assumption that you and Mr. Smith engage in even more intimate activities when the two of you are alone together?"

Lydia nodded. "As a matter of fact, they occur almost
exclusively in public. It's almost as if we're afraid
- both of us - that things might quickly reach a point of no return if we engaged in these activities behind closed doors."

"Mixing business with pleasure can be tricky," Scully
said.

"It's not so much that," Lydia replied. "It's more the fact that intergenerational romances and interracial romances are both tough. Bill and I are 16 years apart in age AND we're of different races. It just doesn't seem likely that it would - that it could - last. Then, I don't know if we could ever pick up the pieces; go back to being just friends and business partners. And I don't know if I could live without Bill in my life."

"My husband and I went through much the same thing,"
Scully answered, "we were F.B.I. partners for years
before we married. I wanted desperately to be with him but was afraid of exactly the same thing you're
talking about; that a love affair between the two of
us wouldn't last and I'd be left with nothing - no
lover, no best friend, no partner who made each day at work a challenge and an adventure."

"The problems you two faced weren't the same as the
ones Bill and I are dealing with," Lydia pointed out.

"No," Scully agreed. "They're different. On the
surface, at least, the differences Mulder and I had to overcome weren't as obvious as the ones between you and Bill. We're of the same race and quite close in age. But what I'm saying, I guess, is that all couples have obstacles they have to deal with. Some are just more obvious than others."

"You're not really supposed to be here, are you?"
Lydia asked with a small smile.

"Well. . ." Scully said slowly, "it's not like I'm
supposed to be someplace else and I'm here instead.
Like I said at the restaurant, I'm still on maternity
leave. Technically, I'm not here as an F.B.I. agent
assigned to investigate a case; I'm just a wife
accompanying her husband on a business trip."

"Do you miss working with your husband?" Lydia asked.

"Sometimes," Scully replied. "But, before we got
married. . .it got to a point where I was beginning to miss what I didn't have then. I really wanted to get married, have children - well, at least one child, anyway - and I knew, if we did that, we'd have to quit working together. There are costs associated with any choice."

Lydia nodded.

***

Several miles away, Chan and Mulder climbed the steps
to an apartment situated above a restaurant located
just a block or so outside of Chinatown. They could
hear music - a piano sonata - coming from behind the
door they knocked on. The music stopped and, a moment
later, the door opened.

"Hello, again, Agent Chan," said the man who opened
the door. He was in his mid-40s; not handsome, but
with a look of rugged dependability about his
features. He was sporting a black eye and a bandage on one cheek.

As the two F.B.I. agents entered the room, Chan made
the introductions. Mulder bit back a small smile at
meeting yet another man named Bill. It had been the
name of both his father and father-in-law, and was
also the name of his least favorite brother-in-law.

"I've heard of you," Smith said quietly, looking at
Mulder. "You're one of the bureau's top profilers. I
didn't realize the F.B.I. was taking this quite so
seriously. I thought maybe Chan was just looking into
it as a favor for Lydia."

"We're still not sure it's a matter where the bureau
would have jurisdiction," Mulder said. "We're just
doing a preliminary investigation."

"What do you want to know?" Bill asked, waving a hand
to indicate the two agents should sit down. He pulled
out a cigarette and lit up. Mulder thought of asking
him to put it out, but refrained. Smith was a private
citizen and this was his own home.

"You're the one who made the connection between the
deaths of Rick Kirkland and Delroy Jackson?" Mulder
asked.

"Lydia and I," Bill replied, giving equal credit to
his partner.

"What made you think the two were connected?"

"Intuition, hunch. . .it's hard to say. I noticed some similarities in the two deaths; the possibility that they might be connected was only one of the leads I was following up. Lydia and I were digging into every aspect of Jackson's life that we could. It never occurred to me that I would get to personally provide the proof of my theory."

"What, exactly, had you done in the hour or so before
you were attacked?" Mulder asked.

"Had dinner with Lydia; then we split up about a block away."

"Did you have dinner here?" Chan inquired.

"If by "here" you mean this building, yes," Bill
answered. "Not up here in my apartment; down in the
restaurant on the first floor."

"Either while you were with Lydia in the restaurant or when the two of you split up, did you do anything that might have given a casual observer the impression that the relationship between the two of you was of a personal, rather than business, nature?" Mulder asked. "Held her hand, kissed her cheek, hugged her?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"All three," Bill replied with a shrug. "I held her
hand for a minute or two while we were waiting for
dinner; when we parted from each other, it was with a
quick hug and a brief kiss."

"Why? I mean, that's hardly standard procedure between business partners," Chan said.

Bill smiled. "Come on, you've seen Lydia, Andrew.
You've seen her too, I assume, Agent Mulder?"

"I'm a married man," Mulder said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"It's no secret - at least not to Lydia - that I'd
like there to be more than just a business
relationship between the two of us," Bill said. "In a
way, of course, we already have more than that. We're
friends. I'd like us to be lovers. She hasn't said yes yet, but she's never told me to stop asking, either."

Mulder nodded. If anyone in the world could relate to
the mingled agony and ecstasy of what it was like to
spend hours everyday with the woman you loved, but
whom you were unsure loved you in the same manner, it
would be him.

"How soon after you left Lydia were you attacked?"
Mulder inquired.

"About five minutes."

The three men talked a while longer, formulating plans and theories. Mulder agreed to return the next day with Scully and Bill said he'd call to make sure Lydia was in attendance.

***

After Lydia had left, Scully got herself and Melissa
ready for bed, then lay down to nurse her. A few
minutes later, Mulder returned to the room. Stripping
down to his boxer briefs, he stood by the bed and
murmured, "Decisions, decisions."

"Such as what?" Scully asked, her voice gentle and
amused.

"Do I lay so that you're the one in the middle or so
that Melissa is? I want to cuddle both of you!"

"Well, I'm finished nursing her, so you can be the one it the middle," Scully suggested. Mulder settled in the bed, with his daughter snuggled to one side of him and his wife on the other. Before Scully drifted off to sleep, he explained the plan that had been hatched in Smith's apartment.

***

The next day, the Mulder family and Agent Chan met
with Bill and Lydia in Bill's apartment. Also present
was a New York City police officer by the name of Mary Kee.

"So. . .it seems fairly certain to everyone that these attacks are the result of an Asian-American gang who is seeking to. . .discourage, shall we say?. . .non-Asian men from getting involved in relationships with Asian-American women. I think we've worked out a plan that should root them out."

Scully sighed. "I just don't see why *YOU* have to be
the one who acts as a decoy, Mulder!"

Mulder gave her a sympathetic smile. "Who else could
we use, Scully? Bill's already been attacked; he's
still recovering from his injuries and we don't want
to aggravate them. Chan, obviously, wouldn't be a
target."

"How about one of the non-Asian police officers from
the local precinct?" Scully suggested.

"Most of them are fairly well known in Chinatown," Kee pointed out. "The majority of our officers are
Asian-American and the few who aren't tend to stand
out. It's doubtful the assailants are stupid enough to attack a man they know is a police officer."

"We could get Colton or somebody else from the team up here," Mulder offered. "But it would mean a wait of several days while he made travel arrangements and was filled in on the plan. Another innocent civilian could be attacked in the mean time."

Scully shook her head. "No, I'm just being silly. It
makes sense for you and Officer Kee to go ahead and do this tonight. I realize that."

"So I'll meet you here about nine, Officer Kee?"
Mulder inquired. "We'll have a drink in the
restaurant, stroll outside for a couple of blocks
holding hands, kiss goodbye and go our separate ways."

Kee nodded. "Several of the officers from our
precinct, along with Agent Chan, will follow you once
we separate. If you're attacked, we can close in and
arrest the assailants."

***

As Mulder, Scully and Melissa left Bill's apartment,
he said, "We've got the rest of the afternoon. Was
there anything you wanted to do while we're here in
New York City? It's not like we can take in a Broadway musical or a Knicks game, but we could hit
Bloomingdales or ride the ferry out to the Statue of
Liberty or something."

"I know what I'd like us to do," Scully said slowly,
"but it's kind of. . .corny."

"Dana, I'm a man who has the entire Elvis movie
collection on DVD," Mulder pointed out.

"I don't think "corny" is going to be a problem for
me. What?"

"Well, you know those horse-drawn carriage rides you
can take through Central Park?"

Mulder grinned. "Great idea!"

***

Soon, Mulder and Scully were seated in one of the
carriages, with Melissa snuggled on her mother's lap
and Mulder's arm curved around his wife's shoulders.

"This is so nice," Scully murmured as she burrowed
closer to her husband.

"Mmm!" Mulder agreed. "We'll have to come back and do
it again sometime when Melissa's a bit older. We could take her for a ride on the carousel, too."

"That would be fun. I used to wish. . ."

"What?"

"Sometimes, when we were on cases back before we got
married, I used to wish we could take a break and do
sort of "touristy" stuff. You know, ride the carriages in Central Park, eat out at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco; things like that."

"Would have been nice," Mulder agreed. "Part of the
problem, though, was that alien aircraft sighting and
mutants with weird powers seemed to avoid romantic
locales. Seems like we spent most of our time in
backwater towns in the middle of nowhere."

"That's true," Scully agreed. "Are you. . .looking
forward to your little undercover assignment this
evening?"

"Scully are you jealous?!" he asked incredulously.

"Maybe a little,"she said softly.

"There's no reason to be," he said gently. "First of
all - and I don't know if this indicates some sort of
latent racism in my psyche or what - but I've never
been attracted to women of other races. I certainly
don't think it's wrong for people to enter into
interracial relationships; it's just something I've
never, personally, had any interest in. Secondly, and
more importantly, I love *YOU*, Dana. Even if I was
going undercover as Cindy Crawford's boyfriend, it
would just be a work assignment to me!"

Scully smiled, reassured, and leaned up to kiss him
softly.

"Hey, how about you?" Mulder inquired. "Did you ever
date any guys of other races?"

"Not me," she replied. "My sister had a black
boyfriend for a while, though."

"Did your parents object?"

Scully laughed. "Hardly! He was a midshipman at the
Naval Academy - a roommate of Bill Junior's - so that
thrilled Dad. And he was Catholic, so that thrilled
Mom. Far from objecting, I think they were really
hoping for Missy to marry him!"

***

When they arrived back at the hotel, Scully lay on the bed to nurse Melissa. Mulder flopped down on the other side, letting his hand roam up and down Scully's thighs and face while she was facing him. Then, when she rolled over to switch Melissa to the other breast, he pulled his wife tight against him.

"Mmm!" Scully said, rubbing her bottom against his
erection. "Looks like after taking care of baby's
needs, Daddy's going to need some attention!"

Mulder nibbled on her neck. "I just want to make sure
you know that the only woman who turns me on is you!"

Eventually, Melissa stopped suckling at her mother's
breast and closed her eyes. Scully slowly eased the
baby onto her back and rolled over so that she was
face-to-face with her husband once again. They shared
a slow, deep kiss.

"We've got a small problem," Mulder pointed out when
they finally came up for air. "We didn't order a crib
for Melissa. There's only one bed in the room and
she's on it!"

"I thought maybe we could make use of that little
alcove there, between the dresser and the bathroom,"
Scully said.

"Oooh, Agent Scully! Are you suggesting up-against- the-wall sex?" Mulder inquired with a grin. This had been a position they'd both enjoyed during the first year of their marriage, but they'd discontinued it during pregnancy, due to fear of putting too much pressure on the baby. Scully's petite height and Mulder's superb physical condition made it possible for him to support her easily.

"If you think it won't be too much of a strain on your back," Scully said. "I still haven't lost all the weight I gained while I was pregnant."

"You know, Scully, that sounds like a challenge to
me," he said. "And you KNOW I can't resist a
challenge. Take off your clothes."

Scully grinned and stood up to quickly strip while
Mulder did the same. Then he backed her up against the wall and kissed her again, even more passionately.

When they broke off the kiss, Scully lifted one of her legs and slid her foot against the back of his calf. She was obviously ready for him to lift her, the snuggling and kissing in the carriage and on the bed having been more than enough foreplay for her, but Mulder had other ideas. He sank down to his knees
instead and briefly nuzzled the valley between her
breasts. Mulder thought her breasts were beautiful,
but he was careful not to give them too much
attention. Even though she'd just fed Melissa, he'd
learned from experience that too much stimulation to
her nipples would just net him a face full of milk.

So Mulder continued to sink lower, until his legs were folded beneath him. Then he dropped a kiss at the top of Scully's nest of copper-colored curls. Pulling her thighs open wider, so that she was straddling his face, Mulder began to lick at her.

Scully grabbed at the wainscoating on the walls to
balance herself and let out a muffled moan. Mulder's
hands rose up to cup her ass as he pulled her down
securely onto his mouth. He held her there, licking
and sucking, until she climaxed.

Mulder slowly stood up and grinned at his wife. "Damn, Dana! I may talk with a lisp for the next few days. I think you sprained my tongue!"

She giggled. "Serves you right, Fox! There are times
when I think I'm going to walk with a limp for a few
days after our lovemaking; you're so big!"

"Yeah?" he asked with a grin.

"Yeah," she agreed, stroking him.

Mulder wrapped his powerful arms around Scully's tiny
body and lifted her up so that she was caught between
the wall and his body. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he penetrated her with one quick thrust. Soon, he spilled into her, calling out her name in a hoarse whisper.

Scully smiled at him and they kissed lightly, then he
walked them to a chair where he settled her in his lap for a bit of afterglow cuddling. When Melissa woke up an hour or so later, Scully was still naked.

"Come on, little lady," Scully said as she leaned over her daughter's face and smiled. "You need a bath." She quickly undressed the baby and removed her diaper.

"We didn't bring her little bathtub with us," Mulder
said. "Are you just going to bathe her in the sink?"

"No, in the tub with me," Scully replied.

Holidng Melissa securely in one arm, Scully got the
bathwater started with her other hand. She made the
temperature slighly cooler than what she usually chose when bathing by herself, and settled in the water with the baby in her arms. When Melissa was clean, Scully handed the squiriming infant to her father for diapering and dressing and added more hot water to the tub for herself.

"Did you want me to put more clothes on her or a
nightgown?" Mulder inquired.

"A nightgown," Scully replied. "I doubt that she and I will be going out any more this evening."

***

When Mulder met Mary at nine that evening, he tried to appear nonchalant. He knew that Chan and several local officers were lurking in the shadows, keeping him under surveillance. Although Bill and Lydia were
civilians and therefore not officially on the case, he had the feeling they were probably observing his
actions, also.

The clientile in the restaurant, located right on the
fringes of Chinatown, was a mixture of white and
Asian. In fact, just from where he was sitting, Mulder could spot two other couples consisting of a white man and an Asian woman. It made him wonder if he wasn't functioning as a needle in a haystack. Even though he disapproved of violence, it also gave him a brief feeling of empathy for the men responsible for the attacks; because he certainly didn't see any
corresponding couples consisting of Asian men and
white women.

Mary Kee grasped Mulder's hand atop the table and gave him a smile that was meant to look, at least from a distance, as if it were seductive.

"Relax, Agent Mulder," she said. "This is just a job."

"Sorry," he said with a smile. "I haven't really done
a lot of undercover work."

"What should we talk about?" she asked.

"What are your own, personal feelings about Asian
women dating non-Asian men?"

"I certainly feel anybody has a right to date anyone
they wish, without being killed - or even hassled -
about it," Mary said. "But it's not something I've
ever had any interest in. Non-Asian guys. . .I don't
mean to sound insulting or anything, but. . .they just don't turn me on. I've attended school and worked with people of other races my entire life; but, when it comes to romance, I've always been attracted to men of my own race."

Mulder gave a brief grin at the way Mary's feelings
mirrored his own. Mindful of the fact that they were
supposed to be acting like lovers, he let his
fingertips brush her cheek lightly.

"I was wondering if. . ." Kee continued.

"What?"

"Well, do you know if Agent Chan is, um, involved with anyone or anything?"

"As far as I know, he's not," Mulder answered. "You
ready to go?"


After strolling a few blocks along together, Mulder
gathered Kee into an embrace. Then he bent his head
and quickly kissed her and they parted.

Mulder strolled along, trying to keep to the darker,
more deserted side streets. He was unlikely to be
attacked in the middle of a throng of people. Just as
he was walking by the entrance way to an alley, it
happened. One minute he was alone. The next he was
surrounded by four menancing Asian-Americans in their
20s.

"Looks like we've got another one," the tallest one
snarled.

"Hey, this dude must be at least 40," said another.
"Not only is he stealing our women, he's robbing the
cradle!"

"Just like the other old dude - the one who got away
last week," agreed the tall man who seemed to be the
leader. "What is it with these old white dudes, who
think they have a right to all our pretty young
women?"

"The black guy we got - hell, at least he was young!"
said a third man.

"Enough talk," muttered the leader, advancing on
Mulder while thumping a blackjack against his palm.

As soon as the first blow struck his temple, the alley erupted into action. "Freeze!" half a different voices yelled at once. Most added "Police!", although Mulder recognized, through the haze of pain and
disorientation brought on by the blow, Chan's deep
voice bellowing "Federal Agent!"

Three of the men - the ones who had spoken - were
quickly wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by Chan
and several New York City police officers. The fourth, who had remained silently in the shadows during the attack on Mulder, turned and ran. He had reached a crowded cross street and was about to melt into the Chinatown crowds when two figures stepped out from the shadows to confront him.

"Remember me?" Bill asked.

"Let's see if you're as ready to rumble when the
numbers are against you as you were last week," Lydia
said.

***

Several hours later, Chan delivered a somewhat
disheveled Mulder to his hotel room. "I tried to get
him to go to a hospital," Chan explained to Scully,
"but he assured me you could take care of him."

Scully nodded. "Sure, I'll patch him up. Giving
medical attention to Mulder is one of my main
functions in life." She helped Agent Chan get her
husband settled on the bed, then walked the younger
agent back to the door.

"What if it's not  medical  attention that I'm in need of, sweetheart?" Mulder asked her with a grin.

"Sorry, Romeo, that's the only kind of attention
you're getting from me tonight. You may have a
concussion and the last thing you need is to
participate in activites that are likely to lull you
into a deep sleep!"

***

Bill and Lydia sat together on the couch in his living room, sipping the fragrant tea that she favored. The companionable silence had lasted for several minutes when Lydia turned her face to Bill and captured his mouth in a slow, deep kiss.

"Lydia?" Bill whispered hoarsely when their lips
finally parted. He was amazed. It was the first time
she had ever been the one to initiate any kind of
physical intimacy between them.

"Just don't. . .don't rush me, okay, Bill?"

"Whatever timetable you want, Lydia," he agreed, hs
voice gentle.