"Mulder?"

"Yes Scully?" The car jutted easily along the empty road.

"Where are we going? It's far too early and my brain is far too decaffeinated to handle your 'get dressed Scully I'll explain on the way' game." Twenty something years together and she had her Mulder impression down pat.

The car bounced over a pot hole as he turned to her from the driver's seat trying to look offended at her impression of his voice. She pouted and pulled her over coat a little tighter around the collar. He wasn't going to tell her. Twenty something years together told her that. "I have rounds at nine."

"I'll get you back to the hospital by nine."

"I have to get your jacket from the dry cleaners before work." His eyes rolled at her attempts to get out of this and she appeared not to notice "If I don't get it before work I won't be able to and then you'll have to wear the grey blazer to dinner." She caught his eye for a second, he was smirking arrogantly. "You're black pants don't go with the grey jacket Mulder."

"I'll get the jacket, Scully."

"We can't be late for dinner. Bill and Tara have invited everyone for my birthday."

"Dinner is fifteen hours away, I think we're good." He mocked.

She blew a breath through her nose turning her attention to the empty road and the leaves that were scattering from being caught up in their moving tyres. They looked just as nervous about being disrupted this early as she felt. "Mulder?"

"Yes Scully."

"Can I at least have a clue?" He was smirking again. She turned to face him in her chair. "You have to admit, it isn't often that you whisk me away in the pre-dawn to an undisclosed location that doesn't end in some mysterious monster trying to abduct, disembowel or amputate someone."

"Whisk you away? Is that what I did all those years?" He laughed, "you know we haven't done that in a while. Put it in the diary for next weekend Scully, I think there is a mufon meeting near Virginia."

"Mulder." She said with her eyebrow.

"Ok Ok." He surrendered. "There is coffee in a flask on the back seat."

"I knew you were holding out on me." She unfastened her seatbelt to retrieve the small bag on the back seat. As soon as she had the lid off the flask the heavenly aroma of morning coffee immediately began to awaken her senses. It was half empty by the time the sun was peeking through the buildings and traffic had started to fill the city roads. It seemed her caffeine fix had awakened the world as well. She relaxed back into the chair noticing how different the sun rise looked through the buildings and cars. She had grown accustomed to only seeing it through the trees of her home. The reflections on glass mirrored her thoughts, reflecting on a life she had long left behind. Today she turns fifty, she remembered how 'old' she had thought her mom was when she turned fifty. But fifty was just a number and in some ways Scully felt like her life had just begun. Maybe just begun wasn't the right way to put it, her subconscious argued. More like she had stepped from the book of life as written by Stephen King and into her own autobiography. A life she wrote for herself, with a normal job, a home, a family, someone who stole her toast in the morning and held her in his arms at night. The plot may have changed but she was happy the characters had jumped pages with her. She looked over at Mulder and smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing, I've figured you out though."

"Really? It amazes me what a little coffee does to you, Scully"

She smiled again "Why are we going to the FBI building, Mulder?"

He shrugged "I guess I thought it was about time I cleaned out my office."

"Wait a minute, did you get me up at 5am to help you clean out the basement at the FBI?"

"Happy Birthday, Scully." He had that double entendre tone in his voice. The one that either meant I am going to do naughty things with you or to you and at that moment she felt far too old to do either.

Scully stood at the large revolving doors of the federal building watching the security guards wave their wand over Mulder and pat him down making sure he was clear to enter the building. A female security officer was watching her curiously from her position next to the x-ray machine. "Mam?" She questioned. Scully rolled her eyes towards her. "Mam, are you going to come through?"

Mulder was finished with his security guard and saw her standing still just inside the door. He walked over and behind her and placed two firm hands on her shoulders pushing her slightly over towards the confused security officer. "Yes she is." He answered for her, walking awkwardly around her, hands still on her shoulders forcing her to move forward.

Mulder smiled at Scully and she frowned back as the security lady patted her down and checked her for concealed weapons she hadn't carried in over ten years. "It's her birthday." Mulder explained to the security lady, like that justified everything. "She has always wanted to see the federal building." He said proudly. Scully sucked her bottom lip between her teeth to prevent herself from saying something that might get her arrested here.

The Security guard had been patting up her legs but paused to look up at Scully confused "Really?" She was just as surprised as Scully.

Scully smiled down at her, she couldn't get arrested on her birthday her brother would not be impressed. "Really" she lied.

"Well I'm sorry mam but the tour doesn't start until 9am. You folks are a little early."

"No I made arrangements with the Deputy Director." Mulder puffed his chest out a little; Scully could tell he was having fun.

"DD Skinner?" The security officer sounded impressed and Mulder nodded to confirm.

"Wow, he really went all out for your birthday." She was clearly satisfied that Scully wasn't dangerous. If only she knew.

"Yeah he's a real gem." Scully dead panned and Mulder rocked on his heels gleefully.

The male security officer had been watching the trio out of the corner of his eye; this guy's name was so familiar. He had to say something or it was going to play on his mind all day. "Excuse me Sir." He interrupted, all three heads turned to face him. "Your name sounds so familiar to me, is there any chance that we have met before?"

It dawned on Scully that Mulder's face would have been on the FBI's most wanted list at some point in recent years and judging by the way Mulder paled she thinks this dawned on him at the same moment. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him expectantly. Now she was the one having fun. Mulder looked between her and the two security officers. "Ah, no I don't think so." He started backing away slowly. "I'd definitely remember if we had, I have a thing about remembering faces" He put his arm around Scully's shoulders and ushered her toward the elevators, she stumbled a little on her feet "Come on Honey; let's not keep the Deputy Director waiting."

"Happy Birthday." The female officer called to their backs.

Scully didn't have time to answer Mulder was already stuffing her into the elevator carriage. "You know Mulder breakfast in bed would have sufficed."

His name plaque was still attached to the door. Neither of them were prepared for that and the nostalgia floating in the air stopped them from being able to face each other. The pause between standing at the door and opening it became inappropriately long so to break the uneasy silence he covered his wrist with the sleeve of his coat and cleaned the golden metal. 'Fox Mulder' came to life in gold and black emerging from the dust that had settled on it over the years.

Scully cleared her throat swallowing the lump that had formed there "Do you have a key?"

He started to wonder if this was such a good idea after all, without answering he pulled a single key from his breast pocket and slipped it through the latch. Every lock has a tiny trick to it in order to successfully open it. Sometimes you pull sometimes you push, sometimes you just have to jiggle it in the right direction. He remembered this locks secret like he had turned it just the day before. Scully placed her hand on the handle once the locking mechanism clinked to an open position and he placed his hand on top of hers finally managing to look over at her. She smiled at him and he knew he had done the right thing. Together they pushed the door open.

"Ladies first." He dropped her hand and ushered her through the door.

Taking those five steps to reach the centre of the room felt like time had slowed.- 'Agent Mulder, I've been assigned to work with you.' She closed her eyes and let the memory play out. The office was a mess and that was being generous. The filing cabinet was empty and turned over. The desk was so dusty it had changed to a whole new shade of brown. The chairs were over turned and she was sure she heard wild life living inside the small cracks in the walls. The rubbish littering the floor she soon realised was all the old articles he had pinned to the wall. "It's like you never left." She teased, breaking the ice a little.

He laughed briefly. "God look at this place." Stepping in a few more steps a crumpled photo caught his eye. It was the one he had pinned to his wall of him and Scully although he couldn't remember when it was taken. Scully moved to stand beside him and they both stared down at the picture he held in his hand.

"You know I was terrified the first time I stepped through that door." She confessed taking the photo from him to study it before pocketing it and moving further into the room.

"Really!" He said to her back "You looked ready to hang me from the ceiling by my balls."

She looked at him over her shoulder disturbed by his crass description of their first encounter.

"Sorry, testicles dear, you were ready to commit death by testicular hanging."

She folded her hands over her chest defensively and leaned against the old desk, suddenly they were Agent Mulder and Scully sparring over who was right and who was crazy again. "Well you thought I was a joke."

"Wait a minute 'I' thought 'you' were a joke?" He replied with complete disbelief then cleared his throat to lift his voice; It was his turn to mimic her. "What I find fantastic is any notion that there are answers beyond the realm of science. The answers are there. You just have to know where to look."

Damn him and his memory she thought, smirking at his smug little face, he even got the tilt of her chin right. She had thought he was crazy - crazy, intelligent, bold, interesting and hot as hell. She licked her bottom lip nervously as he approached her to take a spot next to her on the desk. They sat for a short moment surveying the carnage and the history in the room that so fittingly now sat under an inch of dust. Her pinkie finger brushed his softly prompting him to speak again. "How old were we back then?"

"Five" she answered quickly with mock seriousness.

He laughed softly closing his eyes picturing them again. Their suits were like their best intentions - freshly ironed out and two sizes too big.

"I was Alice falling down the rabbit hole."

She seemed far away when he looked over at her. He nudged her shoulder gently to break her reverie. "So what would you tell that young woman if you could meet her outside my door that day?"

She frowned apparently thinking very deeply on an answer to that. "You are about to have tea with the mad hatter, I hope you remembered your gun."

"See you did want to castrate me."

They both laughed, her laugh fell into a deep sigh "I would tell her to get a new wardrobe." She looked at him seriously even though her words were far from it. This softness always fell over her eyes when she was about to open up, twenty plus years together and he knew when it was his turn to shut up and listen.

"I would tell her to always pack a pair of sensible shoes and a spare pair of panty hose. I'd tell her that life was going to get hard." She paused when her voice broke subtly and they simultaneously fixated on a spot in the middle of the door. "That she would see and feel things she never thought were possible, things that would question every scientific theory she ever studied. With great loss comes great gain and pain would become her strength and her weakness. She would get very lost and sometimes she would want to die and sometimes she nearly would but that was just her life now and she would always make it through. I'd tell her to listen for things that were unseen, to be weary of a room that smelled of cigarettes and definitely to always, always look out for bees." He let out a half laugh as he linked their hands together. She looked at her fingers, moving them amongst his and her voice softened. "I'd tell her to go in, don't keep him waiting. He hates it when people are late, even though he never gives anyone the same courtesy. This man you are about to meet, the stories are true he doesn't play well with others and he doesn't trust you - yet - but by the end of the week he will change your whole world. He is your friend, your partner and you will fall in love him before the year is out." Mulder looked genuinely surprised at that she smiled a confirmation at him "and he will eventually, finally get around to loving you back." Leaning into her he brushed his cheek along her hair line until lips met soft skin. She leaned into him a little further, "and he gives the most unusual birthday gifts."

Pulling away suddenly he reached behind her to grab the small bag he had brought from the car. "That reminds me, I brought you breakfast." He pulled two large fresh bagels from a small paper bag baring a label she hadn't seen in over a decade. Probably since the last time she brought them into work for breakfast, when 'work' was this very office. "And," he continued to dig through the bag to present her with a small pot of cream cheese and strawberry jelly.

"Wow, we really are taking a step back in time." She took the bagel he had cut for her and held it out so he could smear a generous serving of condiment over it. He looked truly happy doing this for her. Even after twenty something years, he still managed to surprise her.

Feeling satisfied that both bagels were generously covered he buried his hand into his pocket as if digging for coins and instead came up with a single gold candle. Scully was balancing them carefully on her open palms trying to simultaneously not drop them or smother red jelly over her fingers. Mulder carefully pierced the sweet bread with the candle. Looking satisfied at his handy work he went to find a match, patting down his breast pockets as if he still wore a shirt that had them and came up empty. The guilty look on his face told her he had forgotten one, twenty something years together, she knew his panic face despite what he may think. "I don't suppose you have taken up smoking again Scully, hiding a match maybe?"

"No but I might know where to find one." There was that twinkle of adventure in her eye as she absently plunked the heavy laden bagels into his empty hands and made a bee line towards the old X-File cabinet. Mulder watched her cross the room. The old cabinet leant heavily against the corner office wall as if falling over would be admitting defeat. It teetered delicately on half its base with its drawers spilling open at different stages on their rails. It seemed everything in this office was out to prove that age and years meant nothing against the sheer determination to stay standing.

He cleared a space on the desk to put down their breakfast and followed intrigued as to what spark she was hoping to find amongst the rubble that once contained their life's work. When he reached the cabinet she had already pushed it into a standing position, he only just made it in time to catch it as it threatened to tumble to the opposite side. Noisily the three lower draws slammed shut, the top remaining two seemed to be jammed like something was caught in the slide that allowed it to open and close. "What are we doing Scully?" Mulder leant an elbow on the top of the cabinet watching her curiously as she knelt down and opened the bottom draw.

"We used to keep little pieces of evidence in our closed files, Mulder." She was a little breathless having exerted herself when lifting the heavy furniture and was now wrestling with the old drawers down on all fours. Her hands swept through the seemingly empty drawers and came out black with dust. She slammed the first one shut and went to work opening the second one. "Remember? Small pieces of evidence or little mementos from the case." She won the fight against the second drawer and it sprung open the force of it almost spilling her onto the floor. He thought he better get down and start helping her so he joined her, gripping her elbow to steady her as he knelt. "How many little match books did we collect from the thousands of crummy hotels we slept in all those years?" She had gone back to ransacking the bottom of the draw.

"These drawers are empty, Scully."

"Have a little faith Mulder; stranger things have happened within these walls than us getting lucky enough to find they left some things behind." She replied pulling out a pair of plastic vampire teeth and spinning them between her thumb and forefinger straight in front of his line of sight. He took them from her and twirled them through his own fingers, studying them intently. This room held so many memories of things that felt like only dreams to him now in their seemingly normal existence. She smiled and stood to inspect the top two drawers. "These ones are stuck on something. Can you reach your hand in and see if there is something caught up in the back. " He reached through the open draw while she jiggled the one above it.

"I can feel it Scully there's something in a bag stuck between the two. Let me just." He lifted one knee and left the other on the ground so he could leverage his arm a little further into the back of the cabinet. "Lift it Scully and then jiggle it open a little"

She did as he directed allowing him to get a grip on the small bag and pull it free, the drawer flew open into Scully's hands at the same time and sitting right inside was an old match box. "Ah Ha." She exclaimed proudly "Thank you Cozy Court motel." She squinted to read the finer-print on the box, "in Dakota City, Iowa." She looked down from the matches to present her prize to Mulder and found him down on one knee holding between his thumb and forefinger a very beautiful engagement ring. She blinked once, twice and he was still down there, on one knee holding that beautiful ring. Someone needed to say something, say something or push play again on the remote that had paused their lives in this moment.

"I guess stranger things have happened down here Scully."

She smiled pleased he had broken the silence. "That must be from the Arcadia case." Taking her left hand into his he slid the band easily over her ring finger. "Mulder?"

"Mrs Fox Mulder." He announced standing to face her, there was a cheeky grin slapped over his features. "No? How about Dr Dana Mulder?" He tried and she grimaced a little. "Mrs Dana Scully-Mulder?" he tried again, pulling her now decorated hand to his chest, she shook her head 'no'. "Dr and Mr Mulder?"

"Well technically it would be Dr and Dr Mulder now." She corrected him.

"Hmmm." He fiddled with the rock on her finger looking a little nervous now. "Did you ever want to marry me Scully?"

"Yes." She replied sincerely, without hesitation as if they were standing at an altar. Ironically the old rusting X-Files cabinet stood in place of the minister between them. "Did you want to marry me?"

"Yes." He matched her sincerity; he was unable to blink scared that dropping her gaze would break this line of conversation. "Do you want to marry me now?"

She shook her head 'no'. "Do you want to marry me now?"

He shook his head 'no' as well and no other explanation was needed. They didn't need it, they never had. "When did you? Want to marry me, that is?"

She let out a long breath. "There were three times, well moments in time that I thought about it." She bit her lip nervously, did he really want to know this, and was she brave enough to tell him?

"When?" he looked determined to get it out of her.

She took his other hand leaving them standing hand in hand as if exchanging vows on the very spot he presented his first slide show to her. "Well hundreds of times if you count the many times I thought to myself 'imagine being married to him' as I watched you eat, picked up after you, spend three hours in a car listening to your choice of music, or worse spending three hours in a car with you after eating Chinese food." A bit of flatulence humour was always a good way to ease into a serious conversation and his laugh helped ease her nerves a little. She looked like she was pondering. In reality she was trying to think of the appropriate order of potential matrimonial moments. "Let me think", she paused to let him stew a little longer. "That first night on our tropical holiday."

"When the FBI finally let me off the hook?"

She nodded, blushing a little and her rouge cheeks promoted a very pleasant memory. "It felt like a honeymoon."

He rocked on his feet a little "There was a lot of alcohol consumed that night."

"There were a lot of a few things that night." She added coyly. "The morning hang over was pretty sobering." She gave him her secret smile and they both stepped minutely closer together, the shift making her head incline so she could still look him in the eye. Suddenly her expression sobered. "The second time was when Mom was dying." He nodded sadly, that had been a difficult time for both of them. "I wondered if she would have liked to see us get married, whether or not that would ease her mind about leaving me here." Mulder ran the back of his fingers over her cheek as she lowered her head. "She was such a traditional woman, a traditional catholic woman and in so many ways. I guess I didn't live the life she had envisioned for me. She always viewed her marriage as a safety net, we all did really and I think she wanted that for me." She felt brave enough to look back up.

"Your mother was proud of you Scully, don't ever think otherwise." There was no doubt in Scully's mind he meant those words. She nodded, of course he was right. He wrapped her in his arms letting her bury her head into his chest. She could feel his chin bob on her head as he asked her finally. "So you were keen to marry me for your Moms happiness and while you were drunk on Pina Colada and multiple orgasms." He summarised, trying to lighten the conversation again. "I'm starting to see why we never made it down the aisle Scully." He felt her smile against him and the hair on her head tickled his chin as if he could feel her thoughts running beneath him. He felt her take a deep breath against his chest, the synchrony of their breaths had been reassuring and now out of synch he felt a little nervous about what she would say next. Waiting until they were drawing the same breaths again he decided to prompt her, feeling she needed the push to tell him something hard. "You said three times Scully. When was the first time you wanted to marry me?"

Scully closed her eyes letting the beautifully painful memory play. "The night I placed William in your arms," she whispered to him.

His chest tightened in the same way it always did when they spoke of that night. The first and only night he got to hold them both until the dawn broke, breaking a family with it. William was not a topic they avoided. She often would tell him stories of those early months and the precious few moments they had spent together. Speaking about him kept him as a solid figure in their lives and not something they wanted to ever forget. But that night was different, the memory of finding true happiness and having to walk away was too painful to discuss. So he held her a little longer and a little tighter instead.

"Your turn." Scully said parting from his embrace.

He looked a little confused like he forgot what they were talking about for a second. "My turn for what?"

"Now you have to tell me when you thought about us getting married."

He took the matches from her and began walking back to the bagels on the desk.

"Mulder? We aren't finished here, you have to tell me."

"Let me light the candle first."

She walked over to the desk as he flicked the match to ignite it. The tiny flame didn't stand a chance when Scully wanted something nothing was safe and she blew it straight out. "No, fairs fair, I told you now you tell me."

He lit another match and with a quick little puff of air she extinguished it again with a grin.

"We only have two more matches left." He showed her the faded box with two little match soldiers standing at attention awaiting their duty to impress.

"I will." He risked another match snapping its wick along the flint defiantly right in front of her. "Right after you make a wish."

She let him this time, watching as he protected the tiny flame against the harsh environment his friends had perished in and lit the tall golden candle that stood out of a wad of cream cheese. Once the candle was lit Mulder shook it until it was out completely and then without taking his eyes off the flame he carefully raised the bagel to her face. "Make a wish, Scully."

"Are you going to sing?"

"No"

She looked only slightly disappointed at not hearing Mulder's rendition of Happy Birthday. "Ok, let me think." She paused and the wax began to drip slowly down the edge of the candle.

"Come on Scully or you are going to add wax to the list of toppings on this thing." He felt amused that she looked like she was taking this whole wish thing very seriously.

"Ok I got it." She was excited.

He smiled wistfully at her. She looked like a fifteen year old about to wish that some football jock would ask her to senior prom. Not Special Agent/Dr/Mother/Armageddon defender fifty year old Dana Scully about to blow a single candle out from an $8.99 pastry.

She closed her eyes and blew softly over the flame and a single snake of smoke followed her wish up into the air. "What did you wish for?"

"I can't tell you then it won't come true." She said playfully.

"So you'll argue with me about alternate universes and alien viruses but birthday wishes are off limits?"

"Yip." Apparently fifteen year old Scully liked teasing him just as much as fifty year old Scully.

"Happy Birthday, Scully." He handed her the bagel and retrieved his own from the desk, brushing off the dust and taking a large bite.

The mix of sweet and savoury tasted like home, the mixture of flavours playing a memory game over her taste buds. How many birthdays had they shared down here in this office? She realised remarkably just as many as they had shared since they left and that made her feel a little old. She almost forgot she was waiting for him to answer her question when he spoke.

"I guess I never saw us married. I never saw me going down on one knee and you gushing at a huge rock that you would parade around the desk at work. I never saw you in the white dress with the priest and the 'I do's' and the dancing and the caterer and happily ever after. That reality doesn't fit in the existence you and I seem to share. Our world doesn't work like that, we don't do things the way things are done." He had hit the nail on the head, but he hoped he didn't sound as depressing to her as he did in his own head right now. He needed to make his point quickly. "But do you remember when you were in hospital when you were pregnant?"

She nodded, it had been the night he had come to see her at her apartment with a gift and ended up accusing her of having an illicit affair with the pizza man.

"Well you may not remember but that day I visited you I put my hand over our son, on your belly."

"I remember"

"It was the first time I physically acknowledged his presence, I felt him growing beneath my hand and I was mesmerised. He wasn't created in an IVF lab, it wasn't science, aliens or god who made this child. It was us Scully, he was the true physical manifestation of love. In our crazy non-conventional world you, me and him were the only conventional thing and in that way I already felt married to you."

Of all the ways he pictured her reacting to him telling her that, laughing out right was definitely not one of them. "What?" he asked confused.

"I'm sorry" she laughed almost hysterically now.

"What!" he looked a little hurt or concerned she was going to burst or something.

"I'm sorry, I love you, thank you for telling me that." She struggled but composed herself, "It's just you were pouring your heart out and there is this giant blob of cream cheese stuck on the edge of your mouth." She reached up and swiped her thumb over the corner of his mouth to show him. Taking her wrist quickly to restrain her he used his own bagel to splash an even bigger dollop over her nose.

She squealed and laughed trying desperately to pull away but he was too strong "Mulder stop!" It was no use she was now carefully being dotted with cream cheese and jam, on her nose, cheeks and chin. But his strength was no match for her wit and being the slower eater she held more bagel than him. This is exactly the situation she warned him about when telling him not to inhale his food all these years. Using her own bagel as a weapon she countered his attack scoring a slam dunk right on the side of his face. Before ending up in a very sticky situation he threw his breakfast aside leaving his hand free to grab her other wrist finishing their food fight. They were both laughing at how ridiculous they were, she was dotted and he now had a very sticky cheek.

"I hope you brought some paper towels."

"Lucky for you." He replied grabbing his stash from the bag and handing a few before going to work at cleaning the side of his face. When she handed him her rubbish he saw a spot still sitting on her cheek. "Come here." He pulled her in close and carefully wiped the sticky glob away, his fingers tracing a line to her lips, his eyes following the path of his fingers and his lips following his eyes.

She closed her eyes and kissed him too. Twenty something years together and her whole body still tingled when his mouth met hers. She noticed he was holding her hand, playing with the new ring that sat on her finger. As he pulled away from their kiss he raised her hand between them to study it. "That rock is fake, Scully."

"Of course it is. The FBI would never spring for a real diamond." She played with the new feature on her finger.

"Would you like me to buy you a real one?"

"No, this one is perfect." She smiled. "I might just swap it to my other hand though." She said removing it and placing it on the same finger of the opposite hand. "We wouldn't want to cause a scandal at dinner."

"We should get going." He bent down to peck her softly on the lips, before collecting up the items of his little picnic. "We have to figure out a way to get this key back." He pulled the key to the office out of his pocket to show her.

"Wait, didn't you say Skinner gave you that key?"

"I did."

"Then why don't you just go and give it to him?"

He gave her that look, that look that told her he wasn't telling her the whole truth.

"Mulder, what did you do?"

"Deputy Director Skinner may have given me permission to take the key and bring you down here. He just doesn't know that he did that."

"What did you do!?"

"There's this guy." He started

"Here we go, I swear to god Mulder if you get me arrested on my birthday Bill might actually hurt you this time. What did you do?" Her hands were on her hips and her mouth was held in a straight line, but her eyes twinkled she sensed a little adventure. She would never admit to it though.

"Well like I said there is this guy at the university who is helping me with my book, incredibly clever IT guy that unbeknown to the faculty hierarchy is also one of the best hackers in the country. I know about him because he was in touch with the Gunmen back in the day."

"I don't believe this."

"Anyway, he hacked into the FBI mainframe and you know." He twinkled his fingers in front of him mimicking tapping them over a computer key board. "Worked his magic, I don't know how he did it but my clearance from Deputy Director Walter Skinner himself and the key were sitting at security when we arrived." He looked so pleased with himself and all she wanted to do was kick him in the shins. If only he wasn't the master of weirdly romantic gestures.

"Mulder, Skinner is coming to dinner tonight, I'm sure we could just give him the key then. You'll just have to come up with one of your brilliant cover stories."

If only she didn't sound so sarcastic when she used the word 'brilliant'. "Where's the fun in that, Scully?"

"Um, how about the part where you don't end up in a federal prison for breeching national security." Her arms folded over her chest again.

"Don't be dramatic Scully when has that ever happened?" He quipped. She didn't look impressed. "Come on where's your sense of adventure gone?"

"I left it with my forty's"

She definitely looked like she was warming to the idea so he decided to seize the moment. Shouldering the bag he placed a hand on her lower back ushering her towards the door. "Interested in a little covert operation, Agent Scully?"

Twenty something years together, when had she ever turned him down.

THE END