Alrighty, so this is my first ever X-Files fic. I've watched practically all of seasons 1-6 and am now working on season 7, so I thought I'd give a fanfic a try. I really really got into the Redux episodes at the beginning of season 5 and I started wondering how that would've played out if Mulder had confessed something while Bill's still hanging around hating his guts.

Hope you all enjoy and stick around for another chapter. :)

Chapter One:

Special Agent Fox Mulder sat outside his partner's room in the oncology wing of a Virginia hospital. The good news had come down several hours ago that Dana Scully had entered remission several hours before. If it hadn't been music to Mulder's ears, he didn't know what music was.

He sat in the same chair that he'd been in since he sat down that morning when he got the news. He'd spent the day outside her door, watching the steady stream of friends and family file in and out of Scully's room and the total strangers that went about their business, some more melancholy than others.

Mulder had been consciously avoiding going into her room for two reasons. Bill looming over his partner like a protective German Sheppard was one reason. He understood the man's instinct to come to his little sister's side in her hour of weakness, that wasn't the problem. When Bill had learned of Scully's illness, he needed to pin the blame on someone. He just happened to choose Mulder. After he'd thought about it, he came to the conclusion that Bill hadn't been entirely wrong.

In a sense, it had been partially Mulder's fault that Scully had been exposed to the people that, in turn, gave her the gift of inoperable cancer. The whole reason they'd taken her was to hurt him. And in that aspect, they'd succeeded. The last time he could remember being that nervous or on edge was just after Samantha had been taken. It was a feeling of ineffable loneliness and a lack of hope Mulder thought was so numbing, he'd never feel it again. All that changed when he stood beside his partner in a similar hospital, looking at the M.R.I.

He knew this couldn't be it, though. He wasn't going to accept defeat. It wasn't a characteristic that ran in the Mulder blood. He knew that it didn't matter to Bill that he possibly saved his sister; there wasn't a way to tell if it was the microchip or the new treatments. No one could say that he didn't do everything he could think of.

The other reason Mulder felt compelled to stay on the outside of the inner sanctum was the realization nagging in the back of his mind for a while now. He'd already broken one of the rules of platonic relationship. He knew it was weird to go into his partner's hospital room and cry next to her while she was totally oblivious to your presence, far away in her own subconscious. He couldn't even believe he'd done such a thing.

Mulder was forcing himself to go through the motions of being a partner and a best friend. He knew some, if even a small slice, of normalcy would be appreciated in her current predicament that wasn't normal by any stretch. She wasn't asking for anything, but he wanted to give her as much comfort as he could. Asking Fox Mulder to be normal was like asking a fish to live out of water, but he could be normal in Mulder terms. Nobody could really ask for anything more.

Since Scully had been abducted almost three years ago now, he couldn't stop the periodical thoughts that seemed to float into his head at random intervals, more often than not involving her and him in a less-than-appropriate situation. He could feel himself falling deeper and deeper into the abyss that his father had warned him about when he sixteen. He knew the second he'd heard it that his father had been exaggerating the truth about women, but this time, that was what he felt like. That's what he felt like nowadays when he was near his partner.

Mulder couldn't really bring himself to see where exactly along the way he'd fallen in love with her. There had always been a mutual and immortal respect that one shared for the other, and the banter that they shared both on and off the job ensured few dull moments. But he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment in the five years they'd spent together where he'd gone down that path. There had been a shift in the bond that had been forged between them so long ago, and only strengthened with time.

Now, as twilight began to drift over Virginia before enveloping it in a dark embrace, Margaret and Bill Scully stepped out into the hallway and walking away from him.

Mulder rose to his feet, "Mrs. Scully?" he asked her retreating back.

The pair whipped around and a smile spread across Margaret's face. "Fox, how long have you been out here?"

He shrugged, "A while. Didn't want to interrupt any family moments." Mulder tried to hide his real hesitation.

She nodded in an understanding way. He continued, "What did the doctor say?"

"They're going to keep Dana here for a few more days just to keep an eye on her and let her get her strength back up. Other than that,…they think she's out of the woods." Margaret's smile doubled in wattage as she thought of the fact that her now only daughter was going make it through her ordeal.

Mulder felt a genuine smile of his own take over his features as gave her a short, reassuring hug.

"I wish I'd known you were out here, Fox." Margaret went on after they separated. "Dana was asking about you earlier. She thought you would've went home and passed out on your couch." she chuckled.

He returned the favor. True, he was physically exhausted and emotionally drained, but he couldn't have gone home and fallen asleep without talking to her today. Even though no one knew it, the sound of Scully's voice, whether shouting or whispering, was like an ultimate lullaby to him. "She doesn't know me as well as she thinks she does." Mulder's fingers rested over the doorknob before lightly closing over it.

Bill, who'd been waiting idly by, suddenly went on high alert. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

Mulder met his eyes, having waited too long to play charades with him. "I'm going to see her."

"I don't think that's such a good idea." he said before Mulder even finished the sentence.

"Bill!" Maggie reprimanded her son quietly for his rudeness.

"What, Mom? Danes is asleep." he fired back.

Margaret rolled her eyes before pushing him aside slightly. "No, she is not. She's wide awake and we were just in there. We'll leave the two of you to talk." she grabbed her son by the arm. "Good-night, Fox, and tell Dana I said the same to her."

"Will do, Mrs. Scully. Have a good one." he stated quietly as the two family members persisted down the long hallway.

He stood there at the door for a solid five minutes, trying to find the courage past his thoughts of love and hopes for something bigger than himself. When he finally pushed the door open, the sight was something that pulled his heartstrings and twisted them into knots.

To Mulder, Dana Scully had always had a subtle innocent quality about her that never shone through as strongly as it did right now. Her eyes were closed lightly, nowhere near sleep, The worry lines that sometimes adorned her face were relaxed away. Her scarlet hair taking on a more golden quality in the sunset light from the bay window of her room. He'd never seen an angel before, but was easily convinced that they looked a lot like Scully.

He was reluctant to let the door sway shut. The lock latching would rouse her to the fact that there was another person in the room other than herself. Mulder let the door fall from his fingertips and left if to close behind him as he stepped closer up to the bed. He tried to freeze the image in front of him in his mind, commit it to memory and look back on it some cold night years down the road.

The door had finally closed behind him, and Scully jumped, a little more startled than he'd anticipated.

"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." Mulder quickly apologized. "Were…were you sleeping?"

Scully sat up and stretched, "Drifting." she replied, rubbed her eyes, then took in his appearance. "You look like hell."

"Thank you, I appreciate the compliment." he said sarcastically as he sat down beside her on the edge of the bed.

She chuckled. "I'm sorry. After I go awhile without sleep, that mental filter in my head just kinda switches off."

"It's not only then, One week out of every month, it'll have an 'out of order' sign on it." he joked.

Apparently Scully wasn't too down and out to give her partner a good whack upside his head. Mulder didn't protest, though. He was just happy she was feeling good enough to do so.

"How long were you out in the hall for?" she asked after a minute.

He played dumb. "What do you mean?"

Scully shrugged, "I don't know. I've just had this feeling all afternoon…almost as if you were here with me all day. Like I could hear you thinking in my head."

'First there are trust bonds, then there are friendship bonds, the next logical step is psychic bonds.' Mulder thought wryly. "I was sitting out there for some time."

"Doing what?" she asked with a grunt. Scully raised her hands to her neck to work out the kink she felt forming there.

"People watching: one of my favorite pastimes." he replied with a smile.

"Mine too." she agreed. Her smile began to fade gradually as her thoughts drifted to more serious topics. "Mulder?"

"Yeah?" he asked while fiddling with the blanket.

"I'm sorry about Bill. I know he be a jerk sometimes and I know he wasn't making this process any easier on you." She covered his warm hand with her cooler one. He refused the impulse to withdraw from her cold touch.

"You're his baby sister. I can't say that my actions would be anymore well justified under the circumstances if I were in his position." Mulder made sure he spoke the truth. He could've taken the easy route and told her it was no big deal, but then that wasn't what he felt after their first 'man-to-man' talk.

"He didn't have to take cheap shots at you, though." she said quietly.

He felt awkward asking, but Mulder had to know, "How much did he tell you?"

Scully shook her head, "Probably nowhere near as much of what actually happened, but enough for me to establish the fact that he hates you."

"I gathered that the second I met him." he forced himself to smile and laugh. In all honesty, he really wished that Bill hadn't pinned all of this on him. At least not now.

For the first time in he couldn't remember how long, Mulder had felt completely at ease around Scully. There was no need to fancied up and a confirmed no one that would be dragging one of them away from the other; something that happened quite often in their line of work. As he sat in the simple room, watching her in the warm glow of the sun, there didn't seem to be a better or more comfortable time to say what he was about to say next.

"Scully?"

She met his eyes, "Yes?"

"…I…I love you."

To Be Continued...and please review?!