Part 3 of 5

"Mulder, why didn't you ever? I used to wonder
sometimes."

He sighed. "At first, there was the whole issue of
sexual harassment. I'm the senior partner, after all,
and the more experienced field agent. If I'd made a
move and you objected, it would have been the end of
our partnership; maybe even the end of my career.
There were times, in the early months, when I even
wondered if the whole point of assigning a woman as
beautiful as you to assist me wasn't to get me to
cross that line. It would have been the quick and
dirty way to discredit me."

Scully nodded. Ever since they met, in every aspect of their relationship, Mulder had always treated her as a complete equal. A partner he trusted, respected and now loved. It was hard to remember that he could have pulled rank on her in the early years, because he'd never done it.

"But later?" she asked softly.

"I've explained part of this to you before. . .I
didn't want to demand any more of you than I already
was. You were already my partner, my best friend, the
person I depended on to get me out of trouble and
patch me up when I was hurt. I loved you so much and I didn't want you to be used as a pawn in the game I was playing with the dark forces. I entered into the game willingly, after all, even if I wasn't quite aware how high the stakes would be. You were assigned to it. It's only been recently that it occurred to me.. ."

"What, lover?"

"That maybe it would have been better for you if I'd
made my move years ago. By trying to be noble, I was
not only denying myself the considerable pleasure of
your beautiful body, but denying you the protection of my presence. After all, you haven't been abducted,
shot at or hospitalized once since our marriage four
months ago - which I think has to be some sort of
record in our relationship!"

"So for tonight we pretend?"

"That I wasn't so slow on the uptake. That within,
say, seven or eight months of when we first met I
invited you into my arms, my bed and my heart. Would
you have said yes?"

"I think so. It's hard to be sure in retrospect. I
know there were times I wanted to."

"Tonight, be sure, Scully. Give it about five minutes
after we arrive at the hotel, then come to me."

"I will, Mulder. What am I supposed to wear for our
little slumber party?"

"Whatever you want. Considering that you came into my
room, at various times during the first year of our
partnership, wearing a robe, jeans and a T-shirt or
your business clothes, I think anything short of stark naked would be in character!"

"So you don't want me to pretend I was taking a bath
when I was freaked out by the friendly neighborhood
mutant and come running into your room dripping
bubbles and wearing nothing but a look of panic?" she
teased.

"Uhh," he gulped, "I guess that would work, too."

Scully laughed. "We'll see."

They pulled into the hotel parking lot and Mulder
said, "Okay, we start now. Let the time warp begin."

They walked through the lobby with his hand on the
small of her back, making desultory small talk and
gentle jokes. When they were in the elevator, Scully
resisted the urge to turn into his arms and draw his
lips down to hers. That would come. She could wait. He wanted to play and she realized she did, too.

Rolling her eyes, she said, in her most exasperated,
scientific voice, "Really, Mulder, even for you that
theory is far out! I can't believe you could actually
consider something so absurd!"

It took him a moment to catch on to what she was
doing, then he gave a small smile and replied, "What
other explanation could there be, Scully? You saw the
same thing I did! Why are you so unwilling to admit
the possibility of paranormal phenomena?"

As they exited the elevator, Scully spotted another
couple just emerging from the doorway immediately
across from her room. Striding down the corridor, she
inserted her key and turned to Mulder at the adjoining door. "I'm going to get some rest; I suggest that you do, too. We can talk about this more in the morning," she snapped.

Closing the door to her room, Scully gave a small
smile. This was even more fun than she'd imagined it
would be! She quickly slipped off her jacket, shoes
and stockings, then tried to decide exactly what to
wear for this fantasy. Nothing overtly sexy. Before
their marriage, she'd always been extremely careful
not to even pack anything that hinted at intimacy,
just in case Mulder ended up seeing her in it. She
reached for the oversized T-shirt that she sometimes
slept in. Okay, good, she used to wear this before
they were married. Stripping down to her panties, she
pulled the shirt over her head, then fixed her hair
into a ponytail.

While waiting for the five minutes to be up, she
double-checked the locks on the door and studied her
reflection in the mirror. She did look younger like
this, she thought. The sleep shirt was perfect, too.
Sexy, but not blatantly so.

When the time was up, she gave a perfunctory knock on
the connecting door, then swung it open. "Mulder," she announced, striding into the room, "I've bene thinking about it and. . ."

"Why, what a coincidence, Agent Scully. I've been
thinking about it, too," he replied with a devilish
smile on his handsome face.

It took Scully a moment to process his remark. First,
she had to notice the way he was dressed - or, rather, not dressed. He'd stripped down to his heather gray T-shirt and black silk boxers and was lying on the bed with his hands linked under his head. The position stretched the shirt tightly over his upper body, highlighting his taunt stomach and well-muscled arms. Attractive though that was, it wasn't the part of his body above the waist that was drawing her attention. It was the obvious sign of his arousal. She didn't need to be doctor, or his wife, to notice that. In fact, she would have had to been blind not to notice!

"Umm," she said, not sure how to proceed. Not what she would have done if she'd ever walked in on Mulder
before their marriage and found him in such an obvious state of excitement.

"C'mere," he said, scooting over on the bed and
patting the place beside him.

Scully crossed the room slowly and sat cautiously
down on the side of the bed. He reached for her and
drew his fingers slowly up her arms, until his hands
were resting on her shoulders.

"Mulder," she said softly, placing her hands on his
chest.

"Shhh!" he whispered, moving his hand to the back of
her neck and drawing her mouth down to his. He went
very slowly, first outlining her lips with his tongue, then pressing his mouth gently onto hers. She was the one who whimpered and opened her mouth, then used her tongue to pry his open as well.

While they were kissing, he pulled her down beside him so that they were lying side by side on the bed. His arousal was pressing into her thighs, which were bare under the brief shirt.

Finally, Mulder lifted his head and looked down into
her eyes. "Scully, if this isn't what you want, tell
me NOW! Then get out of here."

It took her a startled moment to realize he was still
pretending. He was letting her know he would never
have used anything - his superior strength, his
position as senior partner, even her own feelings of
tenderness and concern for him - to coerce her into
making love with him.

"It's what I want," she whispered. "You're what I
want."

Mulder nodded and moved just fractionally away from
her. He crossed his arms and pulled the T-shirt off.
Dana moved closer and ran her fingers down his chest,
tangling them in the patch of hair at the center. He
lowered his mouth to her neck and began sucking on a
spot just under left ear. Dana moaned and wiggled
against him. Good grief, he was huge!

Now he was moving his hands under the shirt, gently
tickling her ribs. She giggled and wiggled some more.

"Oooh, a giggle! From the ever-so-serious Dr. Scully!"

When Mulder reached her breasts, he brushed his thumbs across her nipples. She gasped with pleasure, then arched her back upwards. "Please," she murmured, as he lifted the shirt higher and moved his mouth lower.

Mulder took his time on her breasts, using his fingers on one and his mouth on the other at the same time. First he flicked his tongue against one nipple while using his fingertips to play with the other, then used his whole hand to squeeze and mold one breast while sucking on the other. Then he transferred his mouth to the other breast and brought his opposite hand up to the one he'd just left.

Scully moaned while he was doing this to her, then
gave a groan of disappointment when he finally pulled
away. "Let's get naked!" Mulder said with a grin and a husky growl. He lifted the big shirt over her head,
then gently pulled her hair free of its ponytail.
Sliding his hands lower down her body, he pulled off
her panties. Then, with one quick, fluid motion, he
stood and divested himself of his shorts.

Reaching out, Dana let her small hands cover his
arousal. He groaned. "Geez, Mulder, how many women
have you killed with this thing?"

Mulder chuckled, then his eyes grew thoughtful. "I
know I'm big, Scully, especially for someone as petite as you. That's why I'm going to make sure you're very, very ready for me."

Dana drew in a deep breath. She knew what that meant.
Being teased by those skillful fingers and that mobile mouth until she was almost out of her mind. Being kept right on the edge of ecstasy until she begged him to take her over, followed by an earth-shattering orgasm.

Mulder began tracing his fingers up her thighs,
tickling, rubbing, even pinching her lightly. All the
time kissing her and murmuring endearments. Telling
her how beautiful she was, how much he loved her, how
crazy she was making him. When he finally touched her
core, she moaned out his name.

Scully ran her hands along his sides and down his
legs, then slid in between them to touch his arousal.
She stroked the whole length of him, listening to his
ragged breathing in her ear tell her how much it was
turning him on.

"I want you on top tonight, Mulder," she murmured.'

"Okay, but not yet."

He touched her some more, tickling her with his
fingers, then with just the tip of his erection. She
slid her hands up and down his shoulders, his back,
his butt. Finally, when she thought she was about to
scream from the intensity of her arousal, he began to
push in. Slowly. Letting her feel every inch of him,
gazing into her eyes and murmuring his love while he
was doing so. Once he was buried to the hilt, she
began to rock on him, shifting from side to side while he plunged in and out.

"Scully, Dana, baby, you need to stop."

"No. I don't want to. You feel too good."

Arching beneath him, she inched her legs up even
higher on his back, then pushed down onto him hard.
She screamed her release and was rewarded, moments
later, by an answering moan from her husband.

After a few moments, he pulled out and spooned her
close to him.

"Mulder?"

"Mmm?"

"Are we still pretending we're not married?"

"Don't suppose so, unless you want to. Why?"

"Could you go get our rings? I left them on the
dresser in the other room."

"Sure." He leaned over for a kiss and a gentle pat on
her bottom. "Be right back."

When he came back to bed, she turned toward him. They
slid the rings onto each other's fingers, a process
that had become a habit with them, since they had to
remove their rings so often for professional reasons.

"Fox?"

"Mmm?"

"Could you, um, touch me some more?"

"Hold you closer you mean, sweetheart?"

"No. I mean, I like it when you hold me, but. . ."

It took Mulder a minute to get what Scully was asking. It wasn't unusual for her to climax twice when they were making love, although the first time it had happened she'd been amazed. Before, though, her first orgasm had always been while he'd been touching or tasting her, with the second orgasm coming during intercourse. Tonight, apparently, she wanted to reverse that process.

Mistaking his silence for distaste or exhaustion, she
added, "It's okay. You can just hold me. I know I'm
all icky and," he interrupted these ramblings with a
mind-blowing kiss. The kiss went on and on and she
began to squirm against him. He knew it was hard for
her to ask him to pleasure her and he loved it when
she did. There was no way he was going to deny her
anything. He loved to make her come.

"You're not all icky," he murmured, positioning her
head against his shoulder and running his hand down to the top of her legs. He lifted one of her thighs up and opened her to his fingers. "You're sticky. From me. I like feeling you like this, knowing I'm
responsible. I like seeing you like this," he added as he twirled his fingers inside her.

Dana whimpered his name.

"Do you know how beautiful you are when you come, how
abandoned?" Another whimper answered him, along with
her fingernails digging into his shoulders.

"What I love most about you, I think, sweetheart, is
the the contrast. As my partner, you are so cool, so
professional; you don't tolerate screw-ups and it's a
wonder you even put up with me. But as my wife. . .you are so hot, so erotic; you need me so much and want what I can give you so bad. . ."

Scully was moaning now, writhing against him,
shimmering on the brink of ecstasy. With one final,
almost careless thrust of his fingers, he pushed her
over the edge, then bent to finish whispering in her
ear, "and you come so damned hard, it's amazing you
haven't killed me by now."

"Fox?"

"Mmm?"

"I don't think you have to worry about me killing you. You're man enough to handle me."

"You're right about that, sweetheart. Are you ready to go to sleep now, or are we going for a hat trick?"

"What's that?"

He chuckled. "A hat trick, my little beach bunny, is a hockey term. It means to score three times in a row. Might be interesting. I haven't made much use of my mouth yet tonight."

"Umm, no, lover. I just want to cuddle up and go to
sleep."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. I love you."

"I love you, too, Dana."

"G'night," she yawned.

"'Night, sweetheart," he whispered. They drifted off
to sleep in each other's arms.

A distant roll of thunder dragged Austin James to the
edge of consciousness. Storms didn't bother him, but
they unnerved his wife, Michelle. He reached out and
dragged her closer to him, spooning her back against
him and reaching out to splay his hand across her
rounded abdomen. He felt their baby kick gently.

"It's okay, Michelle," he murmured in her ear. "I'm
here."

"I'm fine, Austin. Thunderstorms don't scare me as
much any more as they did before we were married."

"I know, but it's a good excuse to cuddle and whisper
sweet nothings in your ear. Between Parker and now
this new baby, I don't get to give you as much
attention as I used to."

"Feeling neglected?" she asked. Although her face was
turned away from him, he could hear the smile in her
voice.

"No, just worried you might be feeling overwhelmed. I
know I'm not the easiest man in the world to be
married to and now two babies in less than two years.
. .I keep worrying you're going to ditch all of us and run off to Bermuda or something."

"Never, Austin. I love you - all three of you - too
much."

"I love you, too, Michelle. I know I don't tell you
that nearly often enough."

"It's okay; I enjoy hearing it, but you show me all
the time. In fact," now there was outright laughter in her voice, "I do believe you're showing me right now!"

"Um, sorry about that, sweetheart." He pushed up on
one arm, intent on rolling onto his back, but she
reached a hand around behind her and grabbed his
thigh.

"Austin," she purred in a throaty voice. He was lost
now.

"You're sure, 'Chelle? I don't want to hurt you or the baby."

"You won't hurt us. Not like this. Just go real slow."

"Hey, who's the boss around here?" he whispered. It
was an old joke between them, dating back to the time
before their marriage when she had worked for him.

As expected, she answered, "Boss, schmoss. The
question you need to ask is 'Who's making more
sense?'."

Austin was engrossed in kissing her neck and sliding
her loose-fitting nightgown up her body, but he paused to answer, "Sense is not exactly what I'm in the mood to make right now, sweetheart."

They went slowly, the encounter fueled less by heavy
duty passion than tenderness and a desire to merge
together. Michelle climaxed first, followed moments
later by her husband. Followed moments later by the
sound of their son calling out from his crib in the
room across the hall, "Mama, Mama!"

"I'm coming, Parker," Michelle called.

"Just now?" Austin asked with a grin. "I thought you
did that a minute ago."

It took Michelle's sleep-addled brain a few seconds to catch the double-entendre of his comment, then she
giggled. "That was for you, Daddy. Now your son needs
me."

"I'll go get him, Michelle. You snuggle back under the covers."

"The family spent a happy few minutes cuddling and
chatting in bed, until finally Austin asked, "So
what's on the agenda for today, Mama?"

"Well, we've got those F.B.I. agents who are supposed
to come by again sometime this afternoon, so I guess
we need to be ready for them. Do you supposed they've
admitted to themselves or each other that they're in
love?"

"Michelle," Austin said with a long-suffering sigh, "I wish you'd stop doing that."

"What?" she inquired innocently.

"You know darn well what! Trying to match up everybody you meet! I'm sure Agent Mulder and Agent Scully have a strictly professional relationship!"

"Oh, come on, Austin! Did you see the way they were
looking at each other? And the way she'd start a
sentence and then he'd finish it, or vice versa? It's
obvious how they feel about each other! My only
question is, are they just trying to hide it from
other people, because of the fact that they work
together, or are they trying to hide it from
themselves and each other, too?"

"Michelle, people who work closely together on a
one-on-one basis often develop that sort of unspoken
communication. We used to do it when you worked for
me!"

"Your point being?" she asked with a smile.

Austin realized that he had somewhat boxed himself
into a corner and had the good grace to give Michelle
a slightly shamefaced smile. "Okay, okay. We aren't a
particularly good example. But do you honestly think
every time a man and a woman work together in close
proximity it leads to this?" he gestured at their
rumpled bed, their son sitting between them and
Michelle's obviously pregnant form.

"Not every time," Michelle admitted. "But I think if
you have two unmarried adults of the opposite sex and
approximately same ages, and you put them in a
situation where they spend a lot of time alone
together, that more often than not it does lead to
some sort of personal involvement."

Austin sighed. "You're a hopeless romantic, Michelle."

"I just want everybody to be as happy as I am with
you, Austin. And I like Dana."

Austin smiled. "Come on, Miss Matchmaker. Let's go
have breakfast."
 
In a hotel room on the other side of town, Dana Scully rolled over in bed. Her arm went out automatically, seeking her husband's body, but encountered only empty space.

"Mulder?" she called out.

"In here, Scully," he answered from the other side of
the open connecting doors. Not anxious to flaunt their relationship to other members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, they had taken two rooms with connecting doors, as usual. The room where they had been sleeping was the one registered to him. After pulling on the oversized T-shirt that had ended up tossed on the floor the previous evening, she crossed the carpet to see him sitting at a table near the unused bed in the room registered under her name.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked sleepily.

Fox Mulder looked up from the pile of papers scattered across the table and held open his arms to his wife. She came and sat down in his lap, kissing him softly on the cheek. He slid a hand up her bare thigh and settled it on her hip.

"Profiling of the murder victims. Why don't you get
dressed and we can go over them?"

"Oooh, that's got to be a first, Mulder!"

"What?"

"You asking me to my clothes ON."

He chuckled. "Unfortunately, Scullybaby, we've got
work to do."

"Scullybaby?" she asked, with one eyebrow raised.

"Go!" he ordered with mock ferocity, pushing her
gently off his lap.

After a long day of reviewing cases and interviewing
witnesses, Mulder and Scully headed toward the James
household, intent on discussing their findings with
Austin. As a computer expert who had a knack for
getting mixed up in odd situations, he was working
with them as a consultant on the case.

"I want to get Michelle's insight into this, too,"
Mulder added.

"May I ask why? Scully inquired. "She's a nice woman;
I like her. But, as the gunmen told us, a
technological genius she's not."

"They also told us that she sometimes has flashes of
insight that allow her to see the forest when
everybody else is staring at the trees. Besides,
Austin obviously gives her views considerable weight.
He outlined the whole case for her over dinner last
night."

"Well, she's his wife. Naturally he's interested in
what she thinks of things."

Mulder chuckled at that. "You're spoiled, Scully."

"What do you mean?"

"Just because I'm interested in everything you have to say doesn't mean all men treat their wives that way," his voice grew more serious as he added, "to take one example, it certainly wasn't the way my father treated my mother."

"I know your parents didn't have a particularly good
marriage, but I think to a certain extent some of
their lack of communications may have just been
generational," Scully said. "My Mom and Dad had a good marriage, by their standards. They loved each other, enjoyed each other's company for almost forty years, right up until Daddy died. But, especially while Dad was in the Navy, he never discussed his work with her. It was like there was this whole part of him he never shared with her. From what we've gathered, even Skinner - who isn't that much younger than my Mom - treats his wife that way; he loves her, but he doesn't want to discuss his work with her."

Mulder was quiet for a moment, then said, "Maybe I
phrased it the wrong way. Who did the gunmen say
compared to me in the James marriage?"

It took Scully a minute to replay the conversation of
a few days ago in her head, but then she said, "They
said the Jameses were like us, except in reverse. That Austin is the logical, analytical one and the Michelle is, er, the one who's, um,"

"Michelle's the flaky one, just like me," Mulder
said. "So maybe the real comparison is - you're
willing to listen to what I have to say, even when it
seems a little off the wall, and Austin seems to treat Michelle the same way you treat me."

"I think you were right the first time, Mulder."

"Huh?"

"I'm spoiled," Scully said, lowering her voice to a
throaty purr and lowering her hand to his thigh. "I'm
definitely spoiled."

Mulder drew in a deep breath. Sometimes he didn't know whether he had suffered more from his sexual desires before or after his marriage. For five years, she'd never consciously made a move to turn him on, but he'd been practically tortured by the unfulfilled desires she was able to raise in him just by being herself - the way she walked, the way she talked, the way she smiled at him. Now, his desires were definitely fulfilled. Virtually every night. On the other hand, now she did it on purpose. Flirted with him, knowing the effect it had. Tried to make him so impossibly horny that it took all of his prodigious self-control to keep from simply pulling over to the side of the road and dragging her into the backseat right there in broad daylight.

"I think I'm the one who's spoiled," Mulder replied.
"Not only do I get to work with a beautiful woman who
inspires me to all sorts of sexual fantasies, I've got a loving wife who makes them come true!"

They had arrived at the James' front gate by now and
as Mulder punched in the code to open it, he took
advantage of the momentary stop to kiss her quickly.
"Behave yourself," he growled into her ear.

"You started it," Scully said.

"Did not."

"Did too!"

A few minutes later, the agents were ensconed in the
Jameses' living room. They sat side by side on one
couch, while Austin and Michelle sat across from them
on another one.

"Where's Parker?" Scully asked pleasantly. She enjoyed babies and had hoped for another chance to hold the cute little boy.

"He missed his nap today and conked out about five
minutes ago," Michelle answered. "Either he'll think
this is his nap, and be awake from 9 p.m. to midnight
this evening, or he'll sleep through the night and
wake before dawn tomorrow."

So, anyway, what did you come up with on these
deaths?" Austin asked. He adored Parker, but didn't
share his wife's belief that everyone else was as
interested in their son as they were.

"Well, I think you were partially right," Mulder said. "I do think there is a specific website that is
triggering these deaths. And, with one possible
exception, I don't think they were deliberate
suicides. The computers caused the deaths, because of
what the people were doing."

"That's pretty much what I said last night," Austin
agreed. "So why am I only partially right?"

"Because I don't think these are accidental deaths,
caused by somebody inadvertently stumbling onto a
website. I don't think what we're dealing with here is really a website; it's more like a virus. To be
specific, it's an evil computer program run amok
that's deliberately killing specific individuals."

Scully leaned her head on her hand. Even for Mulder,
this was bizarre. Just once, she wished he'd come up
with an explanation a little more mundane. Like, say,
teenage computer hackers or something.

Apparently, Austin shared Scully's feelings, because
pretty soon the two men had stood up and raised their
voices. Fearful that the noise might wake Parker,
Michelle slipped into her old role as the voice of
reason, trying to make Austin at least consider views
other than his own.

"Maybe Agent Mulder is right, Austin. Some computers
can respond almost like sentient beings," she said.

"Almost is the key word there, Michelle. Neither you
nor Agent Mulder know enough about computers to even
realize how ridiculous his theory is!"

Michelle was stung. Okay, so she didn't know as much
about computers as he did and probably never would.
But she hadn't worked for him for three years and been married to him for six without gaining some sort of knowledge of computers.

"Austin is actually making a much more compelling case for the way he believes the deaths are occurring," Scully put in.

Suddenly, all four adults were attempting to talk at
the same time, their voices crossing over and under
one another's. Finally, while the women were both
catching their breath, each man pointed to the other
one's wife and yelled, "She is the only person making
sense around here!"

There was silence for a moment. Then Michelle replied
in a cool, icy tone, "Then maybe YOU should have
married HER!" She turned and left the room.

Austin stood in the middle of his living room,
flummoxed. Walking out on two federal agents in the
middle of an ongoing case didn't seem like a smart
idea, but letting Michelle go off in a huff like that
seemed like a worse one. He hurried after her.

As soon as Austin was out of earshot, Scully snapped,
"Ditto." She headed for the door and pulled it open.

What the hell is this all about? Mulder wondered,
genuinely perplexed. He and Scully fought about cases
all the time, even in front of other people. It didn't usually effect her like this. Hurrying out behind her, they headed for the car.