Assistant Director Walter Skinner was not having a good day. First, the report from the basement, which besides filled with contradicting theories, was impossible to prosecute. Then his wife called, saying that the washing machine was absolutely beyond repair and a new one had to be purchased, and wrapping up his day was his superior calling him up and chewing him out on just about everything he could ever be accused of. He told his secretary that he was taking an early lunch and went out to the park that adjoined FBI grounds. He took a walk along the trees to clear his mind. He was starting to relax, when he spotted a couple kissing quite passionately. He smiled, remembering all those kisses that he and his wife shared before they were married. The man looked kind of like Fox Mulder and the woman had a hat on, obscuring her hair color. He was shocked to see the man reach up and pull of the woman's hat, spilling red hair. Now that he thought about it, the man looked a *lot* like Mulder. And the woman looked a *lot* like Dana Scully. His mouth hung open at the sight of the two kissing. They were going to have a lot to answer for when he got back. But first, he needed a drink. Several of them. He exited out of the park and headed for the nearest bar.

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully finally parted for fear of asphyxiation. He laid his head on top of hers and hugged her close. The past few weeks had been heaven. One of them always spent the night at he other's. After her being so close to death, they decided not to waste any more time. The same day she came home from the hospital was the first night that they made love. They knew that they loved each other, they just didn't know how to say it before.

"Mulder, we should be getting back soon. We don't want people to be getting suspicious." She pulled her hat out of his hand and set it back on top of her head.

"We don't?" He put on his hurt-puppy dog face that he knew she couldn't resist.

"No, we don't. Remember that they will split us up if they find out. So we have to be really careful. Especially around Skinner. He'll go through the rounds in his gun if he finds out that we've been sleeping together."

"Speaking of which, your place or mine?"

"My place. My bed is a lot more comfortable than your couch."

"Can't disagree with you there. Have I mentioned today how much I love you?"

"Yes, but feel free to say so again."

"I love you so much, Dana."

"I love you, too, Fox."

"C'mon let's get back to the office."

Scully had just barely made it in the door when Mulder shut it, picked her up, and started kissing her senseless. He reached behind her and fumbled with the lock while Scully started to undo the buttons on his shirt. She made sure to undo all of them carefully, since they were at work. They would have moved onto more pressing matters when the phone rang. They both made faces at it. Mulder went over to answer it.

"Mulder."

His eyes widened and he looked vaguely sick.

"Who was it?"

"Skinner."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to see us about something."

"Well, let's not keep him."

"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, I'm glad you could come so quickly. There is a pressing matter that I have just become aware of."

Mulder was starting to get a funny feeling about this conversation. He just hoped like hell he was wrong. He wasn't.

"Now what I want to know is why, while I was taking a walk in the park, I came upon the two of you."

The look that passed between them was enough to tell him the rest.

Skinner pressed his lips together. "Would you care to explain?" He thought for a second then spoke again. "On second thought, don't answer that. How long?"

Scully sighed. "Three weeks."

Skinner's mouth dropped open. Very little could shock him into speechlessness, but the sheer amount of time that they had been conducting an affair, and his not knowing it, shocked him. He buried his face in his hands. "By all regulations, you should be split up and paired with different people."

"We know."

"Well..."

"Before you say anything, did you notice that we solved the case in about half the time?" Scully said.

"Yes, I did. And how, may I ask, did you manage to do that? If you two are anything like me and Sharon, that would be downright impossible." He saw Scully blush.

Mulder spoke up. "It turns out that Dana is a ready-made cure for insomnia. I've been sleeping better," his grin turned rueful, "when I've been sleeping." Scully blushed again. "All right, I accept your lame arguments. But the first time I hear about this on the grapevine, it will be the last. As long as you keep acting professional around here, I am just going to forget that we ever had this conversation and what I saw in the park. Agreed?"

"Agreed." They both answered.

"Dismissed."

2 WEEKS LATER

"Agent Scully to see you, sir." Skinner's secretary's voice floated up to him.

"Send her in."

Dana had been twirling her engagement ring around on her finger, worried at what Skinner would say. Mulder had 'popped the question' last night after a marathon love-making session. Her body started humming as the memories returned. She ruthlessly pushed those thoughts aside. Those thoughts wouldn't get her through this talk with Skinner.

"You can go in."

"Thanks, Jenna." Dana smiled at Skinner's secretary.

"Oh, by the way, congratulations."

"Thanks."

"You wanted to see me, Agent Scully?"

"Yes, I did. You may want to change your mind about our last conversation."

"Why's that?"

"Well, Mulder and I got engaged. And..." Skinner cut her off.

"Well, congratulations. I must say though, it really doesn't come as a shock."

"It doesn't?"

"No." He ran his fingers through what was left of his hair. "When you get married, the news will spread faster than wildfire. Not only will it take an Act of God to keep you two together, it will also take an Act of Congress."

"We know that, sir."

"OK. Was there anything else?"

"Um, yeah. Since my father is dead, Charles is under thirty feet of polar ice, and Bill is out in California, taking care of his daughter, I was wondering if you would give me away." Her face was almost as red as her hair.

"I'd be glad to." Her smile absolutely lit up the room.

"Well, what did he say?"

"He said yes!! Now all you have to do is put the squeeze on your friends in Congress and we're home free."

Mulder pulled her into his lap and kissed her soundly.

She broke off the kiss first. "You know that I would love to push you down on the desk and make love to you right now, but we are at work." She kissed him lightly on the lips and got up.

"Hi Mom!"

Margaret Scully smiled at the voice of her daughter. "Hi, honey. What put such a bounce in your voice today?"

"Fox asked me to marry him!"

"Dana, please tell me that you said yes."

"Of course I did! I love him."

"Is he there?"

"Yes, he is. Why?"

"Put him on, would you?"

"Hi Mrs. Scully."

"Fox, you must really call me mom."

"OK, mom."

"Just want to congratulate both of you. When is the wedding?"

"Pretty soon. Well, as soon as my friends in Congress decide to let us keep working together."

"And how long will that take?" Margaret's voice was drier than the Sahara on a summer's day.

"Not much longer. Had to use up a decades' worth of favors to do it, but Dana's worth it."

"Glad to hear it. Will you two come by soon?"

"Yes, we will. Don't worry."

"Fox, I never worry. I just get incredibly stressed out. Love you, see you two when you get here."

"Bye."

Mulder hung up the phone and kissed Scully lightly. "Now we just have to call my mom and your brothers."

"But that can wait, don't you think?" She was pulling on his tie.

"What about the fact that we are at work? And what about the dear folks across the hall? Won't they be getting just a little bit suspicious if they hear weird noises?"

"They'll just think that we're get abducted by aliens."

A knock on the door stopped the discussion. Skinner opened the door.

"You will be happy to hear that I got a call from my superiors, saying that they had received a call from Congress, allowing you two to continue working together. Now how, may I ask, did you manage to do that?"

Mulder looked a bit sheepish. "I had a lot of favors that needed to be redeemed." He smiled a smile the devil could have called his own.

"Well, I do have something for you. A wedding gift, if you will. As of today I am expanding the X-Files. You will be assigned a pair of quite competent agents. They will report to you on Monday. Oh, and when is the wedding going to be?"

"Uhhh... Saturday?" Mulder looked at Dana, who nodded. "Saturday."

"OK, I'm bringing Sharon."

"See you then."

Skinner walked out of the door and heard the muffled whoop behind him. Little did Mulder know that *he* had connections too.

"We gotta call my mom back. We have to call your mom. They'd skin us alive if we didn't tell them. Oh my God, what am I going to wear?"

"Dana, honey, calm down. It's only Tuesday. We have plenty of time to tell them. And to decide what you're going to wear. You, your mom, and my mom can make a shopping trip out of it. So I'm going to call mom and tell her, OK? Then we can get back to what we were discussing a few minutes ago."

"Mmmm. I'd rather discuss it now."

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom, it's me."

Ruth Mulder smiled at the voice of her son. "Hi Fox. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Mom. More than fine, actually, I'm getting married."

"Fox, please tell me I wasn't hearing things."

"No, mom, you weren't. I'm getting married to Dana on Saturday. Can you come?"

"Of course I can. Fox, if you only knew how long I've waited to hear those words come out of your mouth!"

"Well, mom, Dana was wondering if you could come tomorrow. She wants to shop for a wedding dress with you and her mom."

"I'll be there. Love you."

"Love you too, mom."

SATURDAY

"Do you, Dana Katherine Scully, take Fox William Mulder to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." Dana answered in a clear, strong voice.

"And do you, Fox William Mulder, take Dana Katherine Scully to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride." The priest needn't have said that, because Fox and Dana were doing exactly that. Margaret Scully wiped a tear out of her eye and saw Ruth Mulder do the same. Walter and Sharon Skinner were standing right behind them, and the Lone Gunmen right beside them. It was a small wedding, but the people that mattered most were there. Except for Samantha, Ruth thought. She wished that her daughter could be here to see this.

The reception was held at a small cafe. The group took up the back three tables and everyone at them was swapping stories. They didn't notice the door swinging open or the dark-haired female that came in. She looked around, getting a feel for the place, then spotted her objective and strode towards the small group in the back with purposeful strides. All conversation stopped dead in its tracks as she approached her mother and brother.

Ruth could hardly believe her eyes. She stood up and asked, "Samantha?" Samantha wordlessly nodded her head. Ruth rushed to her. Mother and daughter flung their arms around each other, hugging tightly. When they disengaged, Samantha flew into her brother's arms. She kissed him on the cheek.

"Congratulations. Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, I had a little trouble with traffic. Plus, my kids are the not most patient creatures in the world."

Her mom looked shocked. "Kids?" she managed to squeak out.

"Yeah, Robert should be bringing them in any second."

A man entered with a boy about 7 or 8, and a young girl in his arms. The boy broke out of his dad's grip and ran over to his mom.

"Fox, mom, this is Robert Jensen, my husband, and this is Fox and Amber. Fox, this is your Uncle Fox, and your Aunt Dana, who catch the bad guys, and your Grandma."

Her brother gave a rueful grin and looked down at her son. "So you got the good name in the family, huh?"

Fox grinned up at him and nodded. He saw his Aunt Dana put Amber in her arms. He looked around at the rest of the people who hadn't been introduced. His grandma put an arm around his shoulders and started to introduce the rest of the people. "Fox, this is Assistant Director Walter Skinner and his wife, Sharon."

"Hello."

"Hi." they both said at once.

"This is Byers, Langley, and Frohike." She pointed to three guys staring at a computer screen.

"Hey." "Hello." "How're you doing?"

Another couple entered. Skinner stood up. "Ah, I've been waiting for you two. Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, this is Zac Roberts and his partner, Angelique Edwards. They are now officially assigned to the X-Files. I trust that you won't scare them too much. Good night, congratulations, and nice meeting you Samantha." Sharon stood up as well and said her good-byes.

The Lone Gunmen were showing Fox how to hack into government agencies, and Fox, Dana, Ruth, Samantha, and Robert were still talking when Fox crawled into Mulder's lap, laid his head on his uncle's chest, and fell asleep. The Lone Gunmen left about five minutes after Fox fell asleep. The rest of them stayed up talking into the wee hours of the morning. They finally departed after exchanging addresses and phone numbers, with the promise to keep in touch. Fox and Dana reluctantly handed over the children to their parents. They left for the house that they had moved into on Thursday.

"So, I bet that you aren't giving up on the X-Files, are you?"

"No, just like I'll never give up on you, Dana." Fox kissed the sensitive spot right below her ear. Dana shivered with longing.

"Who needs Hawaii or Tahiti? We have everything right here." Dana rose up on her toes and kissed her husband on the lips.

"So, what do you say that we get right to the honeymoon?"

"I say yes."

MONDAY
X-FILES DIVISION
8:00 a.m.

It seemed that everyone had heard about the wedding somehow. Both Fox and Dana were congratulated so much, they were getting sick of it. They walked into the office to see that both Roberts and Edwards had gotten there first.

"Well, ready to start your first day in the X-Files?" Dana asked, just a little teasingly.

Both of them nodded, a little unsure. She took pity on them. She had been a little nervous her first day, too. Working with 'Spooky' Mulder would do that to a person. "Don't worry, he's not as obsessive as he was six years ago." She saw Fox take out a file and flip it open.

"Sam's?" she asked. He nodded, then smiled. "You don't know how long I've waited to close her file." He took a pen, added details, then took out the 'Closed' stamp and stamped it on her file. He sat back and smiled. Dana showed the two new agents their desks.

"So, what's our next case?" she asked.

"Hmmm. Let's see. Roberts, which one do you want? Alleged alien abductees turn homicidal or reports of strange lights over a small Tennessee town?"

"Uhh... we'll take the lights."

Both of the senior agents laughed. Dana recovered first. "Well, you're lucky that you had a choice. My first case, he took me to Oregon to investigate strange deaths. Second day on the job, I ran into his motel room in nothing but my underwear."

"And I got a very good look. I also wanted to take my time 'investigating' the mosquito bites."

"Fox, I'm gonna blush."

"You were blushing last night."

"I was blushing all over last night."

"Really?"

"Absolutely *everywhere.*"

Roberts and Edwards looked at each other. Edwards rolled her eyes expressively. They sat down and got to work.

THE END

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