Mulder tossed a copy of the New Hampshire Gazette on his desk, spinning as it landed.
“Local police have responded to accounts of spontaneous levitation at Flume Gorge over the past few days. After experiencing such a phenomenon, hikers began showing up in the hospital with various lesions over their body.” Mulder’s tongue ran gently, but firmly over the inside of his cheek. “I was thinking we could go, check it out and if it doesn’t pan out we can still grab some New England clam chowdah, eat lobster, take a little cruise..”
“Mulder, I can’t,” Scully interrupted. “I have a commitment at the hospital this weekend.”
He knew she had been spending some time there when not at work or with him, but he wasn’t sure if she was on the payroll. “You’re still floating back and forth at the hospital?” Mulder asked.
“At times,” Scully answered meekly. She lifted the newspaper and reviewed the headlines. “You should go. If the case extends until Monday, I’ll meet you up there.”
The truth was, all the excitement had been in knowing that Scully would be there with him. These past two years back on the X-Files had drawn them close again and Mulder enjoyed every moment he got with Scully. A case without her now felt bland and gray. “The case is most likely not an X-File. Most likely urban legend and poison oak. I’ll just work locally. There’s enough to do here.”
Scully met his eyes. Her shimmering lakes searched his soul and forced him to reveal more than he wanted at the moment. “Mulder,” she said softly, “I hope you weren’t thinking that we… Mulder, we’re not a couple.”
“I know that,” Mulder returned. Though, it didn’t stop him from trying. Their previous conversations rang between his ears. She wanted her personal life to be as far away from the X-Files as possible, and he wasn’t certain he could ever give her more, but he also knew it was more than work that drove her to his house at different times of the day and night, or why she found reasons for them to share dinner and more on weekends.