Disclaimer- All I own of the x-files are the nine boxsets so don't sue! Mulder and Scully belong only to each other.

Rating- PG-13

Summary- Mulder and Scully get trapped and tell secrets

TRAPPED

Down the rabbit hole. It was not the first time in Mulder and Scully's line of work that they were trapped in an unwanted situation.

But a cave-in? That was extremely unfortunate, even for them.

They had very little food or water and Scully was hurt and weak from a previous fall.

Mulder had tried shifting the blockage, but it was no use, the grey slabs of rock were too heavy in weight and too high in abundance.

Scully had tried to help, but she didn't have the strength left.

"Well" said Mulder, giving in and going to join her on the cavern floor. "At least the authorities know exactly where we are. But it could be quite a few hours before they send anyone out."

"How much supplies do we have" asked Scully, dreading the answer.

"Oh, matches, chocolate, some water, and my usual bag of sunflower seeds." Mulder listed, cheerfully.

Seeing the look on her face he sensed her fear and tried to console her.

"Don't worry about it Scully, we'll get through it, we've been through much worse before." he said, reassuringly.

"Yes." she agreed. "We'll be fine."

Mulder slowly cracked open a sunflower seed and put it in his mouth.

"You know what this reminds me of" he said as he chewed.

"What" asked Scully.

He swallowed it.

"When my Dad and I used to go on camping trips when I was a kid."

"Indian Guides" smiled Scully.

"Yeah. We'd sometimes stay in caves just like this one, and we'd sit around the fire and talk."

He cracked another seed.

"Like a sleepover"

"Not exactly." said Mulder. It was his turn to smile now. "We talked, but it was none of that secret-telling stuff, or whatever it is that you do at sleepovers anyway."

Scully started to collect some of the dry leaves that had blown onto the cave floor.

She spread the ones she'd gathered, and then piled them high.

Mulder wondered what she was doing until she circled the outside of the mound with small stones.

She struck a match, and dropped it onto the pile.

The fire blazed merrily.

"Well, we've got a camp-fire." stated Scully.

"What about the smoke" Mulder asked.

"It'll escape through the cracks in the rocks." she assured him. "So, let's tell secrets"

Mulder gave a hollow laugh.

"I have no secrets from you, Scully." he said.

"Sure you do" she teased him. "Anything..." she whispered, tempting him.

She laughed

"This reminds me of a camping trip too. Well, not really a camping trip, it was really just a tent in the yard. Bill and Charlie were away fishing with my father for the weekend.

I was so jealous. Melissa didn't mind, she wasn't so much of a tomboy, but I was desperate to go with them. So my Mom set this tent up for me and Missy to play in.

We climbed inside it, and we sat there all day, gossiping. Telling tales about our brothers, and the boys that we liked... I never wanted to go back inside..." Her voice trailed off.

"Jealous of a fishing trip..." mused Mulder. "Do you get jealous easily" he asked, a slight twinkle in his eye.

"No" she protested. "Well, maybe a little... sometimes."

"Who of" Mulder asked, much more seriously now.

"Anyone." she admitted. "Phoebe Green, Bambi, Detective White..."

Mulder laughed.

"Ah yes, I remember a certain Detective White..."

One look at her face made him realise for the first time that what had happened back then had hurt her a lot, so he shut up.

"and...Diana" He prompted.

"And Diana." she repeated, with a sigh.

"I get jealous too you know, Scully." he said, trying to steer away from a sore subject.

"Who" she asked.

"Ed Jerse." Mulder blurted out, before he could stop himself.

Smooth subject change! he thought, drastically.

He prepared himself for the worst, but Scully didn't seem to mind. She seemed more curious than pissed off.

She gave him a questioning look.

"I've thought about it Scully, probably more that I should have, and I understand why you did it, but"

"Understand why I did what" she interrupted him. "The tattoo or..."

He didn't answer her, he was ashamed of himself, he looked down at the dancing fire instead.

"I didn't sleep with Ed Jerse." she told him, firmly.

"You didn't" His voice brightened by about an octave.

"No. And the tattoo... I don't regret it. It was one of the only spontaneous things I have ever done in my life. Apart from that and joining the FBI, I'm just predictable, dependable Dana."

She stared at the wall, facing away from Mulder and slowly lifted her shirt.

Mulder looked away automatically, he had only seen her back and part of her bra, but it was still enough to give him an errection.

Scully appeared not to notice.

Her underwear was just as he had expected, and I imagined, not because she was predictable, but because it was black lace. Sophisticated, practical and sexy, just like Scully herself.

"Come here." she told him, quietly.

He obeyed, hoping certain things weren't too noticeable in only the firelight.

She placed his hand on her back, where the snake tattoo was, and his fingers traced it's curves.

"It just occurred to me that you've never asked to see it." she whispered softly.

He allowed his touch to linger for a second longer, then he quickly pulled his hand away, he didn't know what would happen if he didn't move from her silk-soft skin.

She slid her shirt back on and moved around to face him. She knew she had turned him on, but she didn't humiliate him by saying anything.

"Ed Jerse." Mulder said hoarsely. "I only brought it up ... not only because I was jealous, because I was so worried about you.

I never regretted not getting you a desk more than I did on that day."

Scully laughed.

"I must admit Mulder, I did have some desk jealousy, and I did fantasize about getting one of my own. But it really had nothing to do with it, that was just... a convenient reason to rebel."

Mulder sighed.

"I do worry about you. Ed Jerse, Duane Barry, Leonard Betts, they all haunt me."

"My cancer"

He nodded. "Yeah. I- I prayed for you, Dana. When you lay in that hospital bed I prayed for you harder than I have ever prayed for anything before. More than I have prayed for Samantha."

Scully exhaled at the weight of his confession.

"I prayed for you too." she said simply.

"You really did get the father to say a few hail Mulder's for me then" he asked.

"Of course I did. You cured me. You fought against everything and you made my illness go into remission. it wasn't just a miracle. it was you."

"Our prayers were answered." muttered Mulder.

"Something like that." said Scully. "there's also another thing. When I was dying, you wouldn't accept it. Not for a second. I did, but you wouldn't."

Tears formed in her eyes, but she kept on going.

"I am so grateful to you for that. If you had given up on me, I wouldn't be here now."

Mulder put his arms around her.

"I'll never give up on you Scully." he whispered, intently. "and I have one more secret to tell you. I love you. I tried telling you before... but I think you thought it was the morphine talking."

"I love you too." she whispered back, just as intently, and they clasped their hands together.

They sat there, waiting to be rescued, although they knew deep down that they already had been.

THE END