~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully walked into her and Mulder's new office, her partner trudging angrily behind her. He slammed the door and went to his desk chair and sat, sulking.

"Mulder, its not *that* bad," she said, trying to reassure him. He glared at her, propping his knee up against the edge of his desk, swiveling the chair back and forth.

"Right," he said flatly.

"Come on, Mulder. It could be worse. A lot worse. We could be doing another Flukeman case."

"The Flukeman case was cool, Scully. Frightening, but cool. This...this is not. I mean, geez, an undercover case?! Who the hell has ever needed undercover agents and gone, 'Well, time to call in Agents Mulder and Scully?' No one!" he said bitterly, perhaps a bit more bitterly than he meant. Scully stared at him.

"Look, Mulder, you can be as angry as you want. But don't take it out on me, all right? It wasn't my idea," she said, fighting to keep her voice down.

"Sorry, Scully," he said, his eyes searching hers for forgiveness. "I'm just frustrated."

"I know. I want the X-Files back as much as you do, but we don't have them. So, until then, we'll just have to-"

"Waste our time and talent on another bogus case with a stalking serial killer?" he interrupted. She sighed wearily.

"I don't know if I'd call them 'bogus,' but I agree that there are other areas that we have strengths in," she agreed. "Besides, it might be kind of interesting."

"Interesting in what context?" he replied.

"This isn't your average undercover case, Mulder. Have you ever gone to a national park for a day, posing as a tourist? With four other pairs of agents?"

"I guess not."

"Exactly. Just think of it as a vacation, and you'll be fine," she said. She glanced at her watch. "It's almost nine. It's getting late; I'm going home."

"I'll see you in the morning. I'll pick you up around ten."

"Sounds good," she said, going out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully had her suitcase all packed and ready to go at 9:30, and now she regretted it, because she had nothing to do that would kill a half an hour's time. She sighed and laid down on her couch, closing her eyes. She knew she was on the verge of falling asleep, her body threatened to relax completely....until she heard a loud noise out on the street. Her eyes opened, hearing it. She could have sworn she heard someone calling her name from the street.

"Scully!"

She recognized the voice immediately and got up. How could it be Mulder? He was never on time....

*Honk, honk, honk*

A loud horn blared outside. She raced to her window and pulled back the curtain.

"Good Lord...." she mumbled, a smile forming on her face. Outside on the sidewalk was her partner. He saw her and waved furiously, a big stupid-looking grin on his face. Parked on the street was an enormous, expensive-looking RV. She motioned for him to wait and quickly picked up her luggage, racing downstairs.

"Mulder, you rented a motorhome?!" she asked in surprise.

"Maybe," he said, jingling a set of keys.

"Why didn't you just get a tent? That was what I was expecting," she said, taking her suitcase and duffel to the door.

"Like you said, 'Make it a new experience,'" he said, taking her bags from her and stepping up into the motorhome.

"I never said that."

"Oh. Well you said something like that, didn't you?" he asked, offering her a hand to help her up.

"No, I don't recall saying anything remotely close to that, Mulder," she said, taking his hand, going up the two metal stairs and stepping inside.

"Well, maybe I have an acute case of creative hearing," he replied, picking up her bags and heading to the back of the rig. He returned in a few seconds. "Welcome to our castle on wheels, Scully."

"Mulder, this is great," she said, looking around. Off to the right was a cream-colored couch on the opposite wall, and next to her were two matching chairs. To the left of her was a small kitchen, across from it was a table with booths.

"Go in back, Scully," Mulder said, "Look around."

She looked at him for a moment, then went through the kitchen and down a small hallway. She opened a door to her right and found a small bathroom. She closed the bathroom door and looked to the left to discover a shower.

"Geez, this has running water?" she said.

"Yup."

"I can have hot water in the morning?"

"Yeah, but we have to re-fill the water tank after we shower."

"Cool," she said. "And here I thought we were going to have to be out in the wild outdoors, in a tent."

"Thought wrong, Scully," he said, going to the front of the RV, sitting in the driver's seat. She took a few more steps forward and found herself in a bedroom with one large bed and two dressers, not to mention over-head cupboards. She headed up to the front and sat in the passenger seat. "Well?" he asked.

"I like it."

"Me, too," he said, then put the keys in the ignition. "Let's see what this beast can do." He turned the key and the engine roared. He looked at Scully and grinned widely. She stifled a laugh and rolled her eyes and the boyishness of his behavior. This was going to be an interesting case after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder was glad that the park wasn't too far from home. It was located out in middle of a large area of woods, and there was going to be a fair amount of people there, but not enough so that it would be difficult to locate their suspect. Mulder soon discovered that the moment the RV started moving, everything in the kitchen made loud, irritating banging noises. Scully finally went and took the burners off the stove and took the pots and pans out of the cupboards so that they wouldn't clink together. Mulder looked down at his fake I.D. Their new identities were Rob and Carmen Thompson. Mulder cringed at his false identity.

"I don't even look like a 'Rob,' do I?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"I should change it."

"You can't do that, Mulder. Besides, what would you change it to?"

"I don't know. David?"

"David? You don't look anything like a David."

"Well, you don't look like a Carmen, either."

"And what do you suggest I change it to? Some kind of pretty little rare name, like Melanie or Gillian or something?"

"I don't know. Gillian would work."

"Never mind, Mulder. Nobody will even know."

"You've got a point," he said. "Hey, what are these morons doing?"

Speeding up behind them was a car full of teenagers. A young boy rolled down the window and started throwing things at the side of the RV.

"They're throwing stuff! Those punks!" he said angrily. Scully looked out the side window at the kids. One of them flipped her off. Scully scowled.

"Mulder, is the water all hooked up in here?" she asked.

"No, the pipes need to be connected underneath."

"So, nothing that goes down the drain goes into the waste tank?" she asked.

"Nope."

"Speed up and pull ahead of them, okay?" she asked.

"Why?"

"Just trust me," she called. She went to the fridge and opened up a couple cans of Coke and a bottle of water, then filled up the toilet with the contents. She took a large piece of toilet paper and dropped it in.

"Are we ahead of them?" she asked.

"Barely."

"Good, barely's all I need," she thought, and stepped on the pedal on the floor and flushed the toilet. She glanced out the back and watched as the mixture spewed out from the back of the motor home and onto the windshield of the car behind them. The car slowed down, then pulled over. She went back up to the front and sat down. Mulder looked over at her in amazement.

"Nice one, Scully."

"Thanks."

"Where'd you learn to do that one?"

"I didn't learn it. I just thought of it."

"Huh..." he said, again surprised by her intelligence. It was another moment when she seemed too smart, and she seemed even more appealing to him than normal. He shrugged off the feeling quickly, scolding himself for thinking that way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They arrived at the campground at about five, and got to their site. Scully looked at her watch. Six o'clock. Mulder had been gone nearly an hour. He had gone out to find the campground manager. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Scully went to the door and opened it. A man stood before her, looking up at her from the ground.

"Yes?" she said.

"I'm the campground manager. I was supposed to meet your husband. Is he here?" She froze, recognizing the man's face from the picture of the suspect in the case file.

"Uh...no, he's not," she said.

"Oh, well, I'll just find him later."

"Well, I'm sure he'll be back soon. Would you care to come in?"

"Um, sure. Just for a second," he said, stepping up inside.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked.

"No, thank you," he said. "So, why are you and your husband here?"

"Oh...we just needed to get away for awhile."

"Away from the kids?" he asked. Scully paused.

"Yes."

"Oh, how many kids you got?"

"One. Emily."

"Emily. That's a great name for a little girl. How long have you been married?"

"About six years..." Scully said softly, smiling a little. She went to the front of the RV, desperately trying to remember where she put her gun. There was a knock on the door. Then it opened and Mulder came inside.

"I got the supplies we needed from the-" he started, then stopped and set the grocery bag on the countertop, seeing the man sitting on the couch. "Oh, hello," he said, trying not to show any surprise. He looked to Scully. "Carmen, honey, can I speak to you privately, please?" he asked, heading to the back of the RV.

"Sure," she said, following him. She turned back to the man and said, "Be back in a second." She went back to Mulder.

"Jesus, Scully! Didn't you recognize who that was?!" he hissed.

"Yeah, but I thought I'd be able to apprehend him on my own," she replied.

"So, what? You invite him in and offer him coffee?"

"What was I supposed to do?!" she said. "I don't know where my weapon went; I think it's still in my suitcase," she said, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out her gun. "See?! I couldn't say, 'Hey, I need to get my gun, stay there.'"

"Well, I want you to go up there and chat with him, and when I come out with my gun, pull yours on him and we're all done," he said.

"Okay, but don't make me have too much more small talk," she said, stuffing her gun in the waist of her jeans, her long flannel shirt concealing it. She walked back to the room.

"Something wrong?" the man asked.

"Huh? No...no. Rob's just not feeling well. He's just taking some Tylenol for his headache."

"Migraine?"

"No, luckily."

"Carmen?" came Mulder's voice from the back.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" she called, cringing at her last-minute term of endearment.

"I'll be out in a second. Keep our company a little longer, okay?" Mulder called.

"You know, you two really look good together," the man said. Scully felt herself blush uncontrollably.

"Thank you."

"Where'd you meet?"

"Work."

"Where'd you work?"

"Ummm..." she started. Scully saw Mulder coming out of the room, gun drawn, pointed at the man facing Scully. Scully looked at the man and quickly drew her own weapon, pointing it at him. "Don't move," Scully instructed. The door of the RV opened suddenly and the familiar faces of the other agents posted at the campsite appeared. The man turned around, looking at the firearms pointed at his face, and knew it was all over for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully sat in bed, reading a book by the light of a dim overhead light. She shivered, pulling the covers around her tighter.

"Thirsty?"

She looked up to see Mulder coming in the room with two cups of hot chocolate. She set her book down on the nightstand, and he sat down next to her on the mattress, handing her a mug.

"Thank you," she said, taking off her glasses. She set them down on the book.

"Warm enough?" he asked.

"Yup, I'm perfect," she lied.

"Really? I'm envious, 'cause I'm freezing my ass off," he said, shivering. He sipped from his mug.

"I lied. I'm cold, too," she said. He looked at her, his hazel eyes dark and unreadable.

"Memories of Antarctica?" Mulder asked.

"Mulder, I remember very little from that, I told you that before," she said, taking a large gulp of the milk.

"What do you remember, Scully?" he asked, setting down his mug.

"It's not much. I remember...seeing you...and I felt cold. Then I remember you pulling me out onto the ice sheet, and we ran and fell. The rest is a blur."

"No details?"

"No details," she said. She set down her mug. She moved over in the bed, making room for him. "Come here, if you're so cold," she said. He looked at her, his eyes still dark, but they shined. He reached up and flipped off the light, leaving them to bask in the white moonlight that drifted between the cracks of the blinds. He moved further onto the bed and she scooted close to him, pulling him into her arms. She pulled the blankets up around them tighter, holding him.

"Mulder?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't read the report about Antarctica."

"What?" he said, rolling over onto his back. Scully moved her arms and stayed lying on her side, her hand resting on his chest.

"I didn't want to read the report. I was afraid to, Mulder. I didn't want to know the details. I got the basic outline. You got the vaccine, and that you came to get me. That's all I wanted to know then."

"Why?" he asked, setting his hand on hers.

"If you were in my position, would you have wanted to know everything right away?"

He didn't answer, just looked over and read the emotion in her eyes.

"But now I want the details. I want to know," she said. "I need to know."

He extended his closest arm, and she moved over, leaning against him. His arm came around her again.

"You were stung, and I went to call 911. By the time the paramedics came, you were unconscious. I was scared, Scully. I thought you were dead....but you weren't, thank God. I asked where you were being taken to, and the driver of the ambulance shot me. I was hit in the head, but it wasn't serious, because as soon I was awake, I was up. Skinner tried to stop me from leaving, but I did anyways. I went..." he paused. Should she know about Kurzweil yet? "I went to go find someone for help, and one of my father's old associates found me and gave me the vaccine. He told me that the virus was extraterrestrial and that I had 96 hours to find you and save you. He also told me that Samantha is alive and is being used for cloning. When I left him, the man was killed in a car bomb. I went to Antarctica immediately and took a snowcat out to the coordinates. It ran out of gas, and I walked out to where you were supposed to be. I found some kind of base there, and I headed toward it. And then I fell through the ice....it had to be four or five sheets of it....it was a long fall. Very hard. I got up and looked around, then saw there was a strange hole on the floor that looked like piping. I crawled down it and realized I was inside a ship. I lost my footing and almost fell off a high drop while I was trying to figure out where the hell I was going. Then I found a cryopod-type thing with your clothes in it. And your cross," he said. Scully's hand unconsciously went up to the necklace hanging around her neck. "I found you. Frozen, in a green pod. You looked scared, but you also looked dead. I found an air tank and started to break away the ice, and finally I got through. You had a tube in your mouth; it looked organic. Anyways, I gave you the vaccine, and you snapped out of what ever you were in. The tube in your mouth shriveled. But you couldn't breathe, so I had to pull it out of your mouth. It was a lot longer than I thought it was. You were gagging and there was all this green stuff coming from your mouth. I hated pulling it out; I thought I was hurting out. After that, you struggled for breath, then you finally started to gasp. You managed to tell me you were cold, and I broke away the rest of the ice," he said. He tried to find the right way to word the next part. "You were...not...exactly clothed. At all. So I dressed you in my outer layers."

"You saw me naked?"

"I wasn't looking, I promise."

"I don't think I needed to know that," she said, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

" Scully...don't worry about it, okay? You've seen me nude a whole bunch of times, anyway, so it doesn't matter, does it?"

"I guess not...."

"Good. So after that you were really weak, so I carried you and we started our way back to the surface of the ice. You got fatigued from climbing, and I ended up carrying you over my shoulders, and then you stopped breathing. I gave you CPR; you woke up, just as those alien creatures began to hatch. We climbed up a vent and got back to the surface. As soon as we were on top, you were fainting, and then the ice started collapsing, so I had to get us both up so we could run. We tried running, but ended up falling onto the surface of the ship and we slid down off of it as it rose and we landed on the snow again. I tried to get you to see the ship, Scully. I did. It was incredible...massive. After that...I must have blacked out."

They were silent for a moment.

"They were right, Mulder."

"Who was right?"

"OPR. It *does* sound like a movie."

"I know. But it's not." He held Scully closer.

"Thank you. For saving me."

"Don't thank me. You're just lucky I like you," he said, kissing her forehead. She smiled and they fell silent again. Neither one of them spoke a word for the rest of the night, and they both fell into a long, deep slumber.