NEW DEBUT: Full Circle To The Truth Pt.2 (2/10)(NC-17)
AUTHOR: Des
EMAIL ADDRESS: des826@internetconnect.net
Disclaimer in Section 1


Mulder leaned heavily against her in the aftermath, trying to
catch his breath and feeling singed by her heat. It seemed they
were both prisoners of this...passion between them. Gathering his
strength, he reached into his pocket and removed his
handkerchief. Placing it over Scully's hand, he gently cleaned them
both while Scully leaned
heavily against the door, docile, overwhelmed and exhausted.

< What had just happened here?> she thought. The last thing she
remembered, she was thinking about how glad she was to see him.
After 6 years of working closely together, did this new twist in
their relationship mean they couldn't be in the same room without
passion erupting between them?

"Scully," Mulder whispered in her ear, "did you call me here to
tell me you've decided to stop punishing me?"

"Hmmm?" She said dreamily, still lost in passion. "Mulder," she
said, recapturing his lips, "I want more. I want to finish this."

"Scully," he said, pulling away from her distracting lips, "Does
this mean you've forgiven me? That you'll come back to me? Is
that why you called?"

The pleading anxiety in his voice finally penetrated the sensual
fog in her brain.

"What do you mean?" Scully asked. "This isn't any kind of
punishment."

"What is it then? It certainly *feels* like punishment to me," he
said, still not willing to let her go. "Six years of almost
constant contact - and now nothing. What else is it?"

"You still don't understand, do you?" Scully asked, holding his
face in her hands. "Mulder, when we spoke on the night of my
transfer, one of the things I was trying to point out to you was
that-" The rest of the sentence was cut off by his lips. He
couldn't help it. He just had to taste her, touch her. Especially
since these days, he could never be sure when he'd get another
chance.

So he kissed her.

Again and again.

Until she was tempted to forget her train of thought, and simply
respond to him. But that wouldn't solve their problem.

"Mulder-" she panted into his mouth as he sucked on her lower
lip.

"What?" he growled, holding her tighter, then smoothly sliding
his tongue in her mouth.

"Mmm," she moaned, then caught herself. "No, Mulder you're not
listening to me," she said, pulling away from his lips in an
effort to calm the heat trying to take control of her body.
Threading her fingers through his hair, she gave his head a tug,
pulling it down until they were nose to nose.

"You never spoke to me about Diana Fowley, Mulder, a-and that
hurt," she said in a low, even voice. "I didn't and I still don't
understand why."

"Scully-"

"No Mulder. This isn't easy for me to say - let me say it. I've
questioned and I've waited," Scully pulled back to search his
eyes, her own filled with pain.

"Yet to this very day," she whispered, "even though you know how
important it is to me, you *still* haven't said a word about her.
Just who's punishing who Mulder?"

"Scully," Mulder asked, wrapping his hands around her wrists,
"what exactly do you want?"

"The truth, Mulder," she answered, staring deeply into his eyes.

"You think I lied?" he asked, trying not to show how much her
answer meant to him.

"I'm...not sure," Scully said, not meeting his eyes. "By
omission, maybe."

"Scully-"

"How do you feel about her?"

"What does it matter?" Mulder asked, exasperated. "It-she's not
important."

"This *is* important," Scully said earnestly. "Important enough
to be the only thing to come between our partnership in the past
six years. Don't you care about that?"

"Of course I do Scully. Is that the only reason you called?"

"I didn't call you, Mulder."

"Scully, I got a call on my machine saying that you wanted me to
meet you. You weren't in the basement office and you weren't on
the research floor. One of the docs finally told me where to find
you," he explained, pulling back further so he could look in her
eyes.

"I didn't call you Mulder. I just received the order to move into
this office. I didn't even know I had an assistant until I walked
in on him," she explained.

"Well if you didn't call me-"

"You still didn't answer my question."

"The question doesn't matter - we matter!"

"Can you even answer it?" she challenged him.

"It's a hard question to answer."

"Try, Mulder," she whispered, rubbing her forehead against his
chin for a moment, before pulling back to look into his eyes
almost pleadingly. "For both our sakes, because this isn't going
to go away. Until you can understand why I left, I can't come
back."

Mulder's heart squeezed. What if he couldn't solve this? All he
felt right now was pain, confusion and fear. The fear that she
would never come back. Could he hold off that fear long enough to
understand why she'd left him in the first place?

"Agent Scully, are you there? I'm looking for Fox. Have you seen
him?" Diana Fowley said, already knowing she was interrupting.

Mulder looked into eyes that just a minute before were blazing
with passion, and felt the temperature become absolutely arctic.
His heart sank. Whatever forgiveness she might have had in her
heart, Diana had just chased away in one felt swoop.

Scully busied herself straightening her clothes and his, while
Mulder searched her face.

"Scully?" he whispered.

"He's in here, Agent Fowley," she said, stepping away from the
door and opening it.

Diana Fowley stepped through the door, immediately walking toward
Mulder and standing by his side, effectively separating the two
ex-partners.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Diana said innocently.

"What is it Diana?" Mulder asked, his eyes fixed on Scully as she
walked behind her desk and sat down, resting her still trembling
legs.

"We received a call from Skinner. Something about a body that was
found in a warehouse, he was very vague, but was insistent that
you'd understand the situation once we got there and viewed the
body. So if there's no pressing business here, we should be
going," She finished.

"Agent Mulder and I are finished," Scully said, pinning him with
a direct stare and succeeding in immediately pissing him off.

< She thinks she can get rid of me that easily?> he thought,
infuriated.

"Yes," he said, returning her stare with eyes gone dark green
with anger. "But Scully has obviously misinterpreted the
situation. Our business will have to be postponed...but," he
continued, rubbing his finger, still wet with her essence, slowly
across his lips..."we're most definitely NOT finished," he
taunted almost threateningly.

He watched with secret satisfaction as Scully tried to control
her body's instinctive reaction to him, suppressing a shudder.
Confident his message was received, Mulder broke eye contact,
trying not to feel too smug. At least her BODY knew who it
belonged to, even if SHE tried to deny it.

"Let's go Diana," he said, turning toward the door and putting
his hand on the small of his back, ushered her out the office.

Scully let out the breath she'd been holding.

What was wrong with her? It seemed all she needed was to be in
the same room with him now. She'd been in love before, or at
least she thought she had. Passion was something pleasant,
certainly enjoyable, but NOT overwhelming.

Definitely not insistent.

But it's all those things and more with Mulder, and she just
wasn't sure she could handle it.

And what was that business about a telephone call? He seemed
sincere; he couldn't have faked the anxiety she heard in his
voice. But she didn't call him.

And Agent Fowley interrupted them before they could get to the
bottom of it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"FOX!! Did you hear ANYTHING I just said to you?"

"No," he said, apologetically. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Mulder watched as Diana stepped on the gas to pass a sanitation
truck that was slowing them down, and tried to forget the fire
still burning in his gut. He couldn't get her out of his mind.
She was turning out to be everything he'd wished for in a lover.
But she was still unattainable.

Oh, maybe he could have her body. In fact, he was sure the
countdown to that event has already begun. She couldn't fake
that. She wanted him as much as he wanted her and they both knew
it was long overdue. It was only a matter of time now.

She'd even let him know he had her heart. But he also knew she
walked away so he could find her - them again. He'd have to go
through Diana to do it.

"You went to see Scully," Diana said again, bringing him back to
the present.

"Yes."

"Any particular reason why?"

"Do I need one?"

"Well considering the fact that she walked out on you-"

"Diana, what did I tell you on our first day as partners again?
If we're to be working together we cannot discuss Scully," he
said, his voice rising in frustration.

"Fox! Continued contact can't be good for either of you."

"What can I say? I'm a rebel!"

"It's not funny, Fox."

"What the hell's your problem, Diana?"

"I'm your partner."

"Yes."

"I also thought we were at least friends. I mean after all we've
been through together," she said softly.

"Yes. That doesn't mean you are responsible for my actions."

"Fox," Diana said, pulling over to the side of the road, "stop
stonewalling me!"

"Stonewalling you?"

"I thought we were past this."

"Past what?"

"I don't like to see you hurt. It can only hurt you to continue
to see the woman who walked away from your partnership!"

"Now that's kind of ironic coming from you, don't you think?"

Placing her hands on either side of his face, she moved closer.

"Fox."

"Have I asked you about your personal life?" he asked,
interrupting her.

"So it's personal between you two?"

"You know better than that, Diana. It's nothing BUT personal.
We're partners."

"Were," Diana said.

"What?"

"Were partners," she reminded him.

"Yes," he agreed, and wondered if he would ever learn to accept
that fact.

"Are you in love with her?"

"What business is that of yours anyway?"

"Maybe I made a mistake; maybe I've regretted it for a long time
now," she said moving even closer. "And maybe I want a chance to
make up for it," she whispered, and pressed her lips to his,
wasting no time in wrapping her arms around him.

< What the hell is this?> Mulder thought, his body responding to
the familiarity of her. The chemistry was still there; why else
would he have wrapped his arms around her, and allowed her to
open her lips over his? And after all the pain and turmoil of the
past few weeks, it was comforting just to be held by someone.

Diana relished his tentative response, sliding one palm up the
center of his spine, remembering it was one of his *sweet spots*
as she used to call them, and hearing his breathing quicken in
response. But though his mouth was open, as was hers, every time
she moved to stroke his tongue and deepen the kiss, he would
close his mouth completely - denying her entrance.

As Mulder felt her move even closer to him, images of their
relationship flashed like snapshots through his mind: The first
time they met in the halls of the FBI, the night they shared
their mutual interest in the paranormal - and in each other,
investigating their first case together, the first time they made
love and the last - the night before she'd left... They flashed
like a movie through his mind, luring him to settle into her -
into the familiar.

There was a certain comfort in that. But was comfort enough?
Should it be?

Oh, it *had* been at one time. Enough that he hadn't even noticed
something was missing, he realized. But now he knew there was so
much more. There's respect, honesty, trust...love, he thought,
and closed his mouth against the entrance of her tongue.

< Dammit Fox! Stop fighting me and let me in> Diana thought
frustrated, and slid her free hand down across his chest nibbling
on his chin. Continuing her journey, she slid her hand across his
stomach, intent on reaching the destination that would ensure
he'd stop fighting and respond to her. Working her way to his
ear, she licked the lobe, whispering to him.

"It used to be good between us Fox. Remember? All those hot,
sweaty nights when all we did was eat, sleep and make love? It
could be good again. Maybe we can make it work this time, Fox,"
she finished, finally reaching her target and intending to stroke
him lightly.

< Not Fox...Mulder!> a voice said in his head, and he froze as the
image behind the voice appeared in his mind. Fiery red hair, blue
eyes brimming with mirth and relief, creamy smooth skin and
beautiful smile against the white background of a hospital bed.

"Diana...no," Mulder said softly, turning his head away and
placing his hand on top of hers, stopping her before she began.
Comfort would never be enough anymore - no matter how good the
sex that came with it. "Maybe we should get to the crime scene,"
he told her, removing her hand.

Diana opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a phone
call.

"Hello," she said curtly.

"There's a problem. I need to speak with you"

"Now's not a good time."

"Now is the perfect time."

"I'm in the middle of something."

"Well I suggest you finish it as soon as possible and report
here. There are things to discuss that are of the utmost
importance."

"Things? Like what?"

He remained silent.

"Like I said, I need to speak to you," he repeated. "I'll be
expecting you soon," he finished, and hung up.

"OK. I'll be there," Diana said, already speaking to a dial tone.

"Let's just stick to the case Diana, ok?" Mulder asked.

Knowing she was in no position to argue right now, Diana nodded.
"OK...for now," Diana said reluctantly and started the car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Leaning back in his chair, the CSM lit another cigarette. While
arranging to have bugs planted inside Agent Mulder's office, he'd
been stunned to learn that his office was already being
survailled.

And he had NO idea by whom.

Or why.

And Diana. Did she arrange this? Or someone else?

The jarring buzz of his phone broke his chain of thought. < I
don't like being out of the loop> he thought, and then picked up
the receiver, fighting the niggling suspicion that there was
another shadow player in this game.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Diana's Apartment

X clicked off his phone and settled down with his drink.
< It was hard to find good Intel, but when you got lucky, it was
priceless> he thought with a smile. His men had just informed him
that his secret had been revealed. Cancerman found out that
someone had beaten him at his own game and bugged Mulder's office
first.

< Just the way I planned it> X thought. He hoped that bastard was
shitting bricks! This was only the beginning. Before he was
through, Cancerman would know firsthand what fate would befall
anyone who doublecrossed Mr. X

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scully's Office
J Edgar Hoover Building
2:15 p.m.


Scully leaned back against her chair and closed her eyes, trying
to fight the feeling that her life was spinning out of control,
when she heard another knock on the door.

< What now?> she thought.

"Who is it?"

"Skinner."

"Come in."

"Sir, what a surprise," she said, rising from her seat.

"Please sit Agent Scully," Skinner urged, walking into the room
and shutting the door. Walking toward the center of the room,
Skinner looked around.

"Haven't gotten around to decorating yet, have you?" he asked.

"No. I've only just gotten here. Please have a seat."

"Thanks," he said, settling into a chair.

"Well...to what do I owe this honor?"

"How are you, Agent Scully? I haven't had a chance to speak with
you since that day...the last meeting in my office."

"I'm fine; still adjusting. I'm...ah...I'm moving up in the
world."

"Yes. Head researcher and now your own office. Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"Are you happy Scully? Is this what you wanted?"  Skinner asked
not wasting time in getting to the point of his visit.

Scully lowered her head for a moment. "Happiness is relative
Sir," she replied, looking up.

"That's a non-answer, Agent."

Scully broke eye contact, feeling uncomfortable with his
intuitiveness.

"Look, I apologize. I know I'm making you uncomfortable. It's
just that I feel you made a hasty decision in leaving the
X-files."

"It wasn't hasty Sir, though it might have looked that way."

"I also think that Diana Fowley was a major factor in your
decision."

"It had more to do with my feelings about the effectiveness of my
partnership with Agent Mulder."

"I can't be entirely sure what your feelings were about the
situation Agent Scully, and I can't help feeling offended by
that," Skinner said, realizing that she'd sidestepped his comment
about Agent Fowley.

"Sir...I know I breached protocol and that's not what you've come
to expect from me, but-"

"I was your superior," he interrupted urgently. "I thought I had
your confidence...your trust."

"Sir, if this were any other situation..."

"Dammit Scully, you should have come to me," Skinner said
impatiently.

"I couldn't! This was too personal," she cried.

"Personal? You just told me your decision was about the
effectiveness of your working relationship with Agent Mulder. How
is that personal?"

"Sir...?" Scully said incredulously. "We were partners, it's
nothing BUT personal," she said, not realizing that for a moment
she'd let down her guard and revealed to her former superior just
how much pain she was actually in.

For the first time since that meeting in his office weeks ago,
Skinner's heart lightened. All was not lost and Agent Scully
wasn't as unaffected as she appeared. Oh, there was still work to
be done, but now he was sure of how to complete it.

Scully broke eye contact, again feeling uncomfortable with both
Skinner's intuition, and the sudden light of determination in his
eyes.

Clearing his throat, Skinner got the conversation back on track.

"Yes, you were partners, but the way you handled the situation
made me think that you no longer saw that as anything personal."

"Why?" Scully asked.

"Why? Agent Scully, you made a major decision with out consulting
your superior OR your partner!"

"So now you think I'm incapable of making a decision on my own?"

"That's not-"

"Are you saying that I can't make a decision based on the facts
presented to me? As if I don't know my own mind?"

"Of course you know your own mind Agent Scully; I just don't feel
your *mind* was the controlling factor in your decision!"

"Then what, in your opinion, was the controlling factor?"

"Your heart, Agent Scully," he said softly, knowing he was
trespassing on her need for privacy.

"My heart?" Scully repeated, turning her chair away from him
momentarily, feeling very exposed. How could Skinner be so
accurate about her feelings and Mulder just didn't understand? If
she believed in such things, she would have said that she and her
partner shared an almost psychic connection between them. < Why
can't you see it Mulder...everyone else can?> she thought,
closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"I never told you this, but on the night you transferred out of
the X-files, I went to see Agent Mulder."

"For what purpose?" she asked, turning back around and facing
him.

"To find out what he did to push you far enough to leave. He told
me of your disagreements over Agent Fowley."

"Leaving was my choice and had more to do with him - us - than
her."

"Yes, that's exactly why I went to see him."

"What's your point sir?"

"I've never questioned your relationship with Mulder. I've always
felt the two of you were so close, no one could come between you.
So if Agent Fowley played any part in the termination of your
partnership, it's  because both you and Agent Mulder let her."

"I beg your pardon?" Scully asked, surprised. In all his years as
her superior, he had never spoken to her so...bluntly. He always
respected her boundaries and her need for privacy.

Skinner knew he was acting out of character but it couldn't be
helped. He even knew she might feel he'd betrayed some unspoken
agreement of trust. But he couldn't afford to be more lenient on
her than he was on Agent Mulder.

He intended to push. This was too important.

"With all due respect sir, that's none of your damn business."

"You're wrong Agent Scully; this IS my business. You and Agent
Mulder have always been my business and that didn't change
because you handed me a slip of paper a couple of weeks ago."

Scully's mouth fell open in shock.


End of part (2/10)
Continued in Part 3