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Someone I Trusted VI: Interlude *NC17* 1/1    
Deslea R. Judd    
drjudd@primus.com.au drjudd@catholic.org    
Copyright 1998    
    
DISCLAIMER    
    
This work is based on The X Files, a creation of Chris Carter     
owned by him, Twentieth Century Fox, and Ten-Thirteen     
Productions. Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Kim Cooke, and Sharon    
Skinner remain the intellectual property of those parties and 
are used without their consent and without commercial gain.     
Susannah Skinner is my creation and may not be used 
elsewhere without my consent.    
    
Spoilers: One Breath, Blessing Way, Paper Clip, Piper Maru,    
Apocrypha, Avatar.    
    
Category:  Story,  Romance (Skinner/Scully).     
    
Rating:  NC17 for sex.    
    
Summary:  Sequel to Someone I Trusted I-V, in which  
Skinner and Scully holiday with his daughter.  Mulder finds 
out
about their affair.    
   
Fan mail is always appreciated!!!  My e-mail is    
drjudd@primus.com.au and drjudd@catholic.org.  Archivists, feel 
free to add this to your collections; but be sure to let me know.  
This and my other stories may be found at 
http://home.primus.com.au/drjudd (shameless plug).    
    
PREVIOUS TITLES:    
Someone I Trusted (The Blessing Way), in which Scully pulls a    
gun on Skinner...and surprises him    
Someone I Trusted II: The SSR File, in which Scully and    
Skinner discuss their coupling and try again   
Someone I Trusted III: Always, in which Scully and Skinner  
resume their affair and discuss children
Someone I Trusted IV: The Apocryphal File, in which Scully   
decides to try for a baby, after all   
Someone I Trusted V: Sharon's Reprise, in which Skinner is
torn between his past and his future
   
Someone I Trusted VI: Interlude *NC17* 1/1    
Deslea R. Judd    
drjudd@primus.com.au drjudd@catholic.org    
Copyright 1998

	"I'm taking holidays, Mulder."
	Mulder looked up in surprise.  "You?" he asked.  "You 
never take time off."
	Scully shrugged.  "Well, I am now.  I need a rest.  And I 
thought since Skinner is going on holidays, he won't be signing 
off on any significant X File cases, so I wouldn't miss anything."
	Mulder nodded slowly, one eyebrow raised.  "I see."
	Mulder did see, and he had seen for a while, something 
which would no doubt have surprised Scully and Skinner 
immensely.  He had known ever since Skinner had been 
accused of killing that prostitute.
	In retrospect, he should have known earlier.  Scully 
being assigned to head something so mainstream and 
prestigious as the search for the man who had made an attempt 
on the life of the Assistant Director was just weird.  After all, 
they weren't exactly the Director's favourite people, either of 
them.  He had watched them closely since March, and he saw 
what he should have seen sooner:  they oozed steam.  It was a 
quiet, simmering sort of thing, but there was a definite heat 
there he was amazed, on seeing it, he hadn't noticed before.
	It had all started when he went over Skinner's 
impounded car, looking for evidence which might clear him of 
a subsequent attempt on his estranged wife's life.  He had 
studied every inch of the vehicle, Scully at his side.  He had 
automatically noted the two resident stickers on his 
windshield.  He'd moved on, then stopped short.
	//Two?//
	Scully ignored him, her attention on the scraped bumper.  
He inspected the stickers again.  One was blue and bore the 
Bethesda logo.  That was okay; Skinner's house was in 
Bethesda.  The other was purple, and read Annapolis S12.
	//Annapolis Section 12.//
	Annapolis Section 12 was only four streets in size, and 
included the street in which Scully lived.  He knew that because 
he had tried to convince a friend who lived three blocks away 
from Scully to give him a resident sticker, so that he could stop 
getting booked whenever he spent a Saturday with her showing 
her his latest sci-fi video finds.  His friend had quite reasonably 
suggested Mulder just park legally, since his parking sticker was 
for Section 13, not Section 12.
	But Skinner had a sticker.  Why?  
	Mulder knew Skinner had moved out of the house he 
had shared with Sharon in DC straight into the house in 
Bethesda.  And if Skinner were seeing someone in the normal 
scheme of things Mulder should have found out about it in the 
course of the investigation into the prostitute's murder.
	Scully and Skinner?
	//Nah.//
	Although that might explain why she was so pissed 
about the prostitute.
	//Nah.//
	Just the same, he'd been suspicious enough that when 
Scully had lurched up, semi-conscious, to race after Skinner 
after his innocence had been revealed, he had wondered.  And 
when Skinner had offered to drive her home so Mulder could 
get on with the investigation, he had wondered some more.  In 
fact, he'd wondered enough to drive forty minutes out of his 
way to her apartment early the next morning "to see how she 
was."  When Skinner had been there "just checking how she 
was," too, he'd stopped wondering - except to speculate how 
long it had been going on, and how much longer it would go 
on before she told him.
	Now, he realised, it was time.  Kimberley had already let 
it slip that Skinner was going to Switzerland to see his 
daughter.  If he was taking Scully along, then things were more 
serious than he had thought.
	He pointed to his chair, pacing nervously.  "Take a seat, 
Scully.  I want to talk to you."
	Scully looked at him quizzically, but complied.  "What is 
it, Mulder?"
	Mulder passed a hand over his brow.  "Look, Scully, this 
is none of my business, and I know you're under no obligation 
to discuss your private life, even with me.  But I'm getting a 
little tired of the charade, and I'm sure you're tired of lying."
	Scully met his gaze steadily.  "Indeed," she said 
noncomittally.
	He sat on the desk before her.  "Scully, I know about you 
and Skinner.  I've known for a while now.  I just wish you 
hadn't felt you needed to hide it from me."
	Scully bowed her head for a long moment, then took his 
hands.  "Mulder, things were rocky between Walter and I for a 
while, and I'm a pretty private person at the best of times.  Both 
those things have something to do with why I never told you."
	"But they aren't the real reason," Mulder replied.  "Are 
they?"
	Scully met his gaze for a long moment, hesitated, then 
shook her head.  "No.  The truth is, I didn't know how you'd 
take it.  Whether you'd be angry or threatened or distrustful or - 
or jealous.  I just didn't know.  And I was afraid to find out."  
She gave a rueful, apologetic little shrug.
	Mulder gave a low laugh at that.  "You're not afraid of 
//anything//, Scully."  He grinned wryly.  "Truth is, I'm 
jealous as all hell.  But I'm fine."  He leaned forward to kiss her 
forehead.  She favoured him with a gentle smile, which turned 
to indulgent chagrin when he insisted, "Now, girl, you're going 
to give me details!  Lots of hot juicy ones!"
	She laughed.  She couldn't help it.  "Not on your life, 
Mulder."
	He leaned in conspiratorially.  "Have you ever done it on 
his desk?  Man, I have got to do that sometime in my life."
	She shook her head.  "It's overrated.  It's cold and hard."
	Mulder feigned horror.  "Scully, you //haven't//!"  He 
considered a moment.  "I //touch// that desk!  Ewwwww!"  He 
shook his fingers as though to rid them of some unknown 
contaminant.
	Scully rolled her eyes.  "Are you proud of the fact you've 
not progressed beyond the age of twelve?"
	Mulder's laughter receded.  "No, but seriously, Scully, 
what's he like?"
	Scully inclined her head slightly.  "He's very strong and 
very dependable.  And he's very giving."
	"You love him?" he asked tentatively.   At her look, he 
added, "I won't crumple.  I had thought...maybe we...but I'll 
live."
	"So did I once, Mulder," she admitted slowly.  She could 
give him that much.  "Yes, I love him."
	Mulder nodded slowly.  "Are you going to Switzerland 
with him?"
	Scully nodded.  "Yes.  He wants to see how Susannah's 
going - you know, after Sharon.  He wants me to meet her - 
//I// want to meet her."
	"She knows about you?" Mulder asked.
	"Yes.  We've spoken on the telephone a few times.  She's 
a nice kid."
	He looked at her with bemusement.  "Things are pretty 
serious, aren't they?"
	Scully gave a shy smile.  "Yeah...yeah, they are."
	Mulder asked diffidently, "Are you happy?"  
	She smiled.  It was a smile he had never seen before.
	"Immensely."

	"So Mulder knows?"  Skinner asked, leaning back in his 
seat as far as the cramped legroom would allow.  Scully nodded.  
"I wondered when that would happen.  We really should have 
told him."
	Scully shifted uncomfortably.  "Yes, we should," she 
shrugged.  "But he's okay."  She took a sip of the rather 
dreadful wine.  It wasn't worth the price of their business-class 
tickets.
	"Not jealous?" he enquired, an eyebrow raised.
	Scully shifted again, this time self-consciously.  "A little.  
But he doesn't seem heartbroken, just a little wistful.  I think 
he'll be fine."
	They fell silent a while, Scully wondering just how true 
that was.  She suspected Mulder cared far more than he was 
letting her know.  But she also thought he would take this 
fairly well.  Now, if she ever left the X Files, and him, that 
would be a different story.  She was not so sure he would 
survive the return to the abyss of loneliness in which she had 
found him all those years ago.
	But that went both ways, really.  She couldn't imagine 
ever leaving him.  The idea of going back to a mainstream 
position made her cringe.  Sometimes she would be in the 
cafeteria, listening to the Tom Coltons of the world rabbit on 
about their petty little industrial fraud cases, and she felt like 
screaming at them, //Don't you people realise there's more to 
life than this?//
	And the idea of being //partnered// with a Tom 
Colton...now //that// was a thought to shudder at.  Mulder 
might be a bit like a puppy, alternating between despondency, 
clinginess, and hyperactivity, but you could love a puppy.
	She shook herself.  She was on //holiday//, for 
goodness' sake!  She had to stop thinking about work - and 
about Mulder.  She was with her lover, and they were going to 
one of the most beautiful countries on earth to see a daughter 
she already knew was as special as Walter himself.
	Susannah Skinner had not had an easy life.  She had 
been banished to Holy Trinity College in Zurich at the age of 
seven to free Sharon to pursue her career in Congress.  Sharon 
herself had seen the girl just once a year, when she came home 
for Christmas.  Walter had travelled to Zurich each year to visit 
the girl, but Sharon without fail elected to remain behind.  
Walter had learned French and German so he could converse 
with his daughter in her adopted languages; Sharon, who spoke 
German fluently, insisted on speaking to the girl in English.  
And when Susannah had been caught in a lesbian relationship 
by her dorm mistress the previous year, Walter had flown out 
to Switzerland within the week to comfort and help her.  
Sharon had refused to allow her to return to the States lest she 
cost her mother the family-values vote.  Her mother's murder 
three months before had left Susannah with a heavy burden of 
anger and guilt which was rightfully Sharon's.  When her 
father had told her about his new relationship, Susannah, now 
sixteen, had grasped the idea with desperate hope, as though 
Scully might be the source of stability and affection Sharon had 
so lacked.  Scully hoped not to disappoint her.
	Skinner watched her out of the corner of his eye, his 
expression reflective.  He wondered if he had ever loved 
Sharon the way he loved Scully, but he doubted it.  He had a 
feeling this was the only woman there would ever be for him.  
If, God forbid, things went wrong for them, there could be 
others, he supposed; but none would ever capture him as she 
had.
	And that was why it had been important to bring her to 
meet his daughter.
	If he were truthful with himself, there was another 
reason, too.  He and Scully were trying for a baby, and he 
needed to see for himself that she could be the mother he 
wanted for his next child.  Deep down, he knew she had the 
necessary love and commitment; but his experience with 
Sharon, who had tried to abort their daughter and who had 
later been secretly sterilised, had made him very afraid to trust.  
He needed to see with his own eyes.
	Scully, suddenly aware of his scrutiny, looked up at him.  
Not by nature a sentimental personality, she was not prone to 
fits of romantic ardour.  And yet when she looked at him, she 
felt her world spinning, and everything in it falling into an 
entirely new formation.  He...//changed// her, somehow.
	"Penny for your thoughts," he said softly.
	Scully smiled faintly.  "Not sure they're worth that 
much," she murmured.  "I was just thinking about you...about 
us...Susannah...everything."  She looked at him hopefully.  
"Everything's going to be okay with her, isn't it?"
	Skinner put her arm around her shoulders.  "I hope so, 
Scully.
	"I hope so."

	"Gymnasium?" Scully queried as they walked through 
the main doors of the senior school at Holy Trinity College.
	"Secondary school goes to age fifteen here," Skinner 
explained.  "After that it's college preparatory school - which is 
called gymnasium."  He turned to the secretary and said a little 
laboriously, "Bonjour, madame.  Je m'appelle Walter Skinner, 
et voici Dana Scully.  Je suis pere de Susannah Skinner.  
Pouvons-nous la voir?"
	The older woman nodded.  "Oui, monsieur. Je l'aurai 
envoyee vers le bas tout de suite."
	"Merci beacoup."  Skinner turned to Scully, translating, 
"She'll have her sent down right away."
	Scully looked up at him.  "I'm nervous all of a sudden, 
Walter."
	He laughed at that.  "You'll be fine, Dana.  She's a lovely 
girl."
	There was a clatter of footsteps coming down the stairs, 
and Scully turned towards the source.  What she saw took her 
breath away.
	//Why, she's angelic!//
	Tall, with long, coffee-coloured hair and very smooth 
white features, Susannah was beautiful.  She had almost Irish 
good looks and a sweetly curving mouth, and suddenly Scully 
saw what had drawn Skinner to her mother so many years 
before.  She was smiling in spite of her nervousness.
	Susannah Skinner threw her arms around Walter.  
"Daddy," she cried affectionately.  Pulling away, she took both 
of Scully's hands in hers.  "And you're Dana?"  Scully nodded 
silently.  Susannah hugged her impetuously, and Scully held 
on to her for dear life.
	Suddenly, she knew everything was going to be all right.

	Holy Trinity College was an old, historically rich school 
in the old part of Zurich, on the Limmat River.  It was here that 
Susannah led the two of them, showing them the sights with 
gusto.  They followed her with amusement at her youthful 
exuberance, alongside growing exhaustion.  At Rietburg 
Museum, they declared enough;  and Susannah reluctantly 
consented to them sitting down for a long lunch.
	It was over lunch that Scully learned the most about this 
enigmatic creature.  Susannah, after her humilating experience 
of being sprung with her lover, Ingrid, the previous year, had 
elected to remain at the school.  She had been shunned by 
many of her classmates for a time, although their attitudes had 
thawed this year and she was once again popular.  During her 
period of being persona non grata, she had thrown herself into 
her studies and discovered a great interest in criminology.  She 
was considering studying at the University of Lausanne, but she 
also wanted to return to the States and live with her father, and 
maybe join the Bureau.  Skinner paled a little at that prospect, 
but wisely didn't comment.  Susannah missed Ingrid, who had 
been removed from the school after the incident by her parents, 
and they met for lunch from time to time; but other than that 
she had no significant friendships.  She didn't clarify whether 
she and Ingrid were still involved, and Walter didn't ask.
	Scully asked nervously how she was coping since 
Sharon's death.  Susannah, it transpired, was still fairly numb 
about the whole thing.  She told Scully that she supposed it 
would hit her sooner or later; but it hadn't yet.
	It was while Susannah was discussing the possibility of 
returning home when she completed college preparatory 
school that the subject of Scully and Skinner's plans was raised.  
Walter took her hand, cutting her off mid-stream.  "Susie," he 
said, "by the time you finish school, Dana and I will be living 
together."
	Susannah's face fell, and Scully realised before Skinner 
did that she had misunderstood.  She thought Skinner meant 
she couldn't live with them.  She spoke quickly.  "Susannah, 
you're very welcome wherever we wind up living.  When we 
buy, we will be buying with the expectation that you'll be in the 
picture.  But you have a right to know what to expect before it 
comes to that."
	Susannah's face relaxed, and she smiled once more.  
"Well, as long as we're taking requests, I'd like a spa, sauna, and 
a full-sized pool, please," she said mischievously.  Her laughter 
faded, but the good humour in her voice remained.  "As long 
as we're on the subject, is there anything else I should expect?"
	Skinner glanced at Scully, then spoke.  "Honey, we 
haven't really discussed marriage, but I suppose it will come, 
unless Dana has some preference for living in sin," he added 
with a grin.
	Susannah smiled in kind, but replied, "That's not what I 
meant, Daddy.  I was really wondering whether there were kids 
on the horizon."
	Scully was taken aback.  "Actually, Susannah, we have 
been thinking along those lines - but how did you know?"
	The teenager laughed.  "I just guessed, Dana.  You're both 
at an age where childless people start to think about babies, and 
you, Daddy, never had the chance to rear me, thanks to Mom.  
That's all."
	"And you don't mind?" Skinner asked cautiously.
	Susannah looked puzzled.  "Of course not.  Hell, I'll even 
babysit."  She rose.  "I think I'd like another drink.  I'll be back."
	They watched her go, and Scully gave a sigh of relief.  
"That was easy," she said with surprise.
	Skinner gave a small smile.  "I thought it would be, 
Scully.  She's a great kid."
	Scully nodded slowly.  "Yes, she is," she replied softly.
	He took her hands.  "Scully, did you mean what you told 
Susannah - that you would welcome her in our home?  That it 
would be her home if she wanted it?"
	She favoured him with a sweet smile.  "Yes, I did, 
Walter.  I always knew that loving you meant accepting your 
daughter.  I knew it was a package deal going in.  I know how 
Sharon hurt you both by keeping her away from you.  I'm not 
about to do the same."
	A smile spread over his features, and he leaned forward 
to kiss her.
	Susannah cleared her throat.  "Dad!" she reprimanded 
with the scandalised voice of the very young at the thought of 
their parents doing anything more daring than holding hands.
	Skinner eyed her with chagrin.  "I don't comment on 
your love life, Daughter.  Kindly return the favour."
	"But we're in //public//!"
	At this, Scully and Skinner struggled heroically against 
the laughter, but failed.  Susannah watched them indignantly 
for a few moments, but their laughter was contagious, and she 
joined them.  And it was neither the beautiful buildings nor 
the Limmat River which Scully would remember about that 
day, but the three of them laughing convulsively over latte at a 
grungy cafe.  It was only late that night that she suddenly 
worked out why.
	They felt like a family.

	Scully stared out the window at the Zurichsee.  The water 
was very blue tonight.  It was summer here, and the 
temperature was mild, around fifty degrees.  She felt very 
peaceful.  She imagined she could hear the water rippling, 
though that couldn't be the case.  She pulled her white silk 
wrap around her body, not because she was cold, but because it 
felt so good against her naked flesh.  Walter had given her this 
before they left for Switzerland, and it was something so 
luxurious, so soft, so utterly arousing that she felt swept up in 
its caress.  It was something she would never have 
contemplated buying for herself.
	//He// was behind her.
	He always touched deep within her and made something 
reach for him blindly, longingly.  But every now and then, he 
would be there, neither touching her nor betraying his presence 
- and yet she would know, and he would take her breath away.  
And now, she knew, he was there, and he was watching her, 
and after a long, long moment, he would move forward and 
sweep her hair off her neck, and kiss it, his breath on her, his 
arms entwined around her waist...he would do it, he 
//would//; but he would make her wait, and as she waited her 
nipples would harden and she would become slick and ready, 
and she would shudder as she tried to suppress moans of 
longing, and how, //how// could he do this to her just by 
standing silently behind her?
	He watched her, mentally traced the fine, strong lines of 
her neck and her back, the feathery aura of moonlight on the 
periphery of her.  The skin at her neck seemed silver in the dim 
light, and her hair seemed to be of copper set aflame.  The robe 
fell in folds to the floor, its lines long and sleek from her 
shoulderblades down.  What was it about her that she could 
stand there motionless, and he would feel his chest constrict 
with something like reverence, and know, //know// that if he 
didn't touch her, some part of him would die deep inside?
	He touched her.
	He reached out, and rested his hand on her shoulder.  
She stiffened, her breath coming in shallow whispers, then 
relaxed.  He stood behind her, his body lightly touching hers.  
She leaned back against him, her body moulding to his, her face 
turned over her shoulder, towards him.  Her moist lips, slightly 
parted, glistened in the moonlight.  "Walter," she breathed.  He 
leaned in to her, kissed her, his lips melding with hers; her 
palm cradling his cheek.
	With his finger on her chin, he guided her head to one 
side.  She complied, drugged with desire.  He ran his fingers 
through her hair, brushed it aside.  He kissed behind her ear, 
running the tip of his tongue over its curves, and worked his 
way down to the nape of her neck, breathing her scent.  He 
wound his arms around her waist, and she put her hands over 
his, linking fingers with him.  She felt the throb in her belly 
beneath the firm weight of his palms.  
	Dana shivered slightly, turning her body to face him.  
This time, when she kissed him, it was urgent, longing.  She 
cupped his chin in her hands and drew him down to meet her, 
pressing her body against his.  Her slim palms traced the 
smooth lines of his body, wondering as always at the strange 
contrast between the hardness of his muscles and the softness 
of his skin.  She felt her body melding against his, matching 
him in her desire.  She shuddered under his fingertips as they 
roamed over her body, dragging the silk over her curves.
	"Dana," he said, his eyes dark and pursuasive, "let's go to 
bed."
	They made it across their suite in a tangle of limbs and 
mouths, collapsing there with muffled laughter.  But as Scully 
looked down at the man beneath her, this man she loved as no 
other, her laughter faded.  As she straddled him, she gazed at 
him solemnly for a long moment, then spoke, piercingly.
	//"I love you, Walter."//
	"I love you too, Dana," Skinner told her softly.
	"No," she said, shaking her head, "I //really// love you."
	"And I really love you, too, Dana."  His voice had not 
changed, but she knew he understood, and she kissed him 
gently, insistently.
	He sat up beneath her, bringing her with him.  She clung 
to his shoulders as her mouth searched his, as she felt his 
hardness against her buttocks, and she moaned demandingly.  
He dragged off her robe, throwing it aside heedlessly.  She sat 
there against him, bare flesh against flesh, but he barely noticed, 
caught up in the eclipse of her gaze.  His hand behind her head, 
their gazes locked, he lowered her to the bed, his hips still 
clasped against hers by her legs.  She moved against him, 
seeking him, seeking to be filled...to be whole.  For had she ever 
been whole before him?
	Without thought or intent, he found her, entered her, 
their eyes still locked on one another.  And as he began to 
move within her,  he kissed her neck lightly, his lips barely 
touching her.  She gave a low sound, just one; and then turned 
to face him.  "Walter," she breathed.
	They held one another's gaze in the dim moonlight for a 
moment, and then her lips found his, her fingertips grazing the 
impossibly smooth skin of his cheek.  His hands moulded 
themselves around her breasts, lightly caressing their pink tips.  
He slid one hand down over the delicate curve of her stomach, 
then her hip; the other cradling her head.  
	She flung back her head into the pillows as his mouth 
found her throat, then the cleft between her breasts.  He reached 
up to stroke her hair, her cheek, his eyes full of the wonder and 
the incredible love he felt for her; then he continued his 
descent.  His hand between them, he stroked her stomach and 
the slight valley of her hips, his fingers brushing ever so 
slightly the pale auburn tendrils at their heart.
	He felt her palm on the back of his head, guiding him 
gently towards her.  She opened her arms to him, and he sank 
down against her, his pace leisurely.  He never felt a need to 
hurry with her, but took delight in slowly and thoroughly 
pleasing her.  For long, long moments, there was only the 
sound of her laboured breathing; and then she gave the 
slightest sound of exquisite pleasure.  She gave way to the 
shuddering waves passing through her body.  And yet it was 
not her own pleasure which consumed her thoughts in that 
most dizzying of moments, but him.  She kissed him deeper, 
her core finding his.  And as he sank deeper and deeper into 
her, one of his hands on her hip, the other cradling her head 
against his, his fingers threaded through her hair; she felt, 
rather than heard him say her name.
	She broke the kiss, taking his face in her hands and 
gazing at him in sudden wonder.  Once in a while, usually 
when they were together in this most intimate of ways, a 
certain something would come into his voice - perhaps a slight 
tremor; she wasn't sure - and she knew in those moments she 
was seeing him raw, exposed.  It was like touching the infinite.  
She was never sure if he himself was aware of those moments, 
but she loved him for them.
	And because she knew no other way to express that 
wonder, she leaned forward to kiss him once more with a 
tenderness that knew no limits; and when he exploded inside 
her, they barely noticed, because that kiss seemed so much 
more important.  And when it was over, and they lay in one 
another's arms, Dana knew she could never love anyone else 
this way, or this much.
	She felt truly blessed.

	"Scully, is that who I think it is?"
	Scully followed the finger Skinner pointed before them, 
then smiled indulgently.  "Oh, for goodness' sake."  She picked 
up speed, striding swiftly through the arrivals area.  "Mulder," 
she chastised goodnaturedly.  "How did you know which flight 
we were coming in on?"
	Mulder kissed her cheek, then shook Skinner's hand 
(which felt a bit silly after all they'd gone through together, but 
he wasn't going to throw his arms around the man, was he?).  
"Flashed my badge," he said simply.  He glanced at Skinner's 
mock-accusatory glare and corrected, "I'm sorry, abused my 
statutory authority.  Sir."
	Skinner stifled a snort of amusement.  "If this is about 
an X File, Mulder, you can just forget it.  We have three days of 
leave left."
	Mulder feigned hurt.  "You accuse me of ulterior 
motives?  When all I wanted to do was welcome back into the 
country my favourite friends?"
	"We're you're //only// friends, Mulder," Scully pointed 
out, not quite truthfully, but pretty close.
	Mulder glared at her, but went on, "Now, since you 
mention it, there //is// a little girl in Minnesota with strange 
powers I wanted to talk to you about-"
	Scully cut him off.  "Go away til Monday, Mulder.  I 
don't want to know."
	"But-"
	"No," Scully said firmly.
	"But she-"
	"No," Scully and Skinner said firmly.
	"Even if-"
	"No!" Scully and Skinner cried.
	Mulder opened his mouth to protest, but Skinner pre-
empted him.  "Mulder, if this waits til Monday, will anyone 
die?"
	"Uh - no," Mulder replied.
	"Will a government conspirator have time to escape 
your clutches?"
	"No, this isn't a conspiracy as far as I can tell, Sir," he 
admitted.
	"Will any evidence be destroyed or lost?"
	"I doubt it, Sir," Mulder said in a small voice.
	Skinner gave a smug grin.  "Then - NO!"
	Mulder pouted silently, and the couple started to walk 
on.  Scully turned back.  "Well, aren't you coming?"
	"Where?" he asked hopefully, rather like an abandoned 
puppy who has found a gullible child to take him home.
	"Dinner, Mulder," Scully said patiently, "you don't 
think we're just leaving you here, do you?  You'd be knocking 
on our door at 2am to tell us the British Airways pilot is really 
an alien flight engineer."  His eyes lit up.  "Don't even think it, 
Mulder," she added warningly.  He gave a goofy chagrined 
smile, shrugged, and followed.
	Scully would kick herself for that remark two years later, 
when Mulder investigated a telepathic flight controller at the 
very same airport.  But for now, they left together, and she 
knew that Mulder was going to be okay.

COMING SOON:     
Someone I Trusted VII: Terma's Shadow, in which Scully 
answers Skinner's jealousy with a commitment    
Someone I Trusted VIII: Memento Mori, in which Scully and    
Skinner discover she cannot have children    
Someone I Trusted IX: Susannah, in which Susannah comforts    
her father and Scully    
Someone I Trusted X: Monkey Babies, in which Scully turns to    
"Mulder" for solace    
Someone I Trusted XI: Ground Zero, in which Skinner deals for    
Scully's life - and fertility    
Someone I Trusted XII: Redux, in which Scully turns on 
Skinner    
Someone I Trusted XIII: Tergiversate, in which Scully    
seeks Skinner's forgiveness    
Someone I Trusted XIV: Pendrell's Legacy, in which Mulder    
offers a solution    
    
BY THE SAME AUTHOR:    
Offspring (novel)    
On The Outside (long story, Offspring prequel)    
The Field Where My Love Died (vignette)    
The Field Where My Love Prevailed (vignette)    
Borderline (unfinished long story)    
Lyrics of the Heart (unfinished long story)    
Smokin' Maggie (unfinished long story, not yet available)    
Evolutions (unfinished novel, not yet available, Offspring    
sequel)