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Thunder clouds rolled lazily in the sky, murmuring and rumbling as they went. Scully sighed and opened the window of her apartment, letting a cool, humid breeze flow through the screen. For the last three days, the temperatures had been in the nineties. But today... today was the worst.

It wasn't just hot. It was muggy. Nothing made her more crabby and irritable than high humidity. Her hair frizzed, the air was thick, and worst of all, her pants clung to her thighs when she sat down because of sweat. She changed into shorts and a black t-shirt and flipped on the TV, looking for a weather update. Bad storms were on the way, and it was only going to get worse. She knew that before she turned the television on, though. Her mother had always told her that nice or hot weather for three days or more means you'd pay for it in the end. And she was right. Her mother was always right. *Riiiiiiing* Her train of thought was interrupted by the phone. She quickly picked it up. "Scully."

"Hey, Scully, its getting dark over here. How's it lookin' there?" Mulder said.

"Its getting dark here, too."

"Since it's gonna rock and roll tonight, what do you say you and I do something?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Watch the weather channel or the Home Shopping Network. Play strip poker. Or even better, 'Spin the Bottle'!"

"Uh, I think we can scratch the last two, but sure. Come on over. I've got nothing else to do."

"I wouldn't have called, but my basketball is flat, so I have nothing else to do. I have to bounce it really hard now, and its been pissing off the neighbors."

"Uh-huh. You better leave pretty quick, Mulder, or you won't beat the storm."

"See you then."

"Bye."

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"So, Scully have you changed your mind about strip poker yet?" Mulder asked, peeling off his coat.

"Nope," she replied, taking his coat from him and putting it on the rack.

"Damn."

"Do you want something? Water, food...?"

"Nah, I'm okay," he said, sitting down on the couch. Outside it was pitch black and it was only 6:30. The wind had picked up substantially with in the past hour and lightening started flashing brightly.

"You beat the rain, at least."

"Yeah, but I think that was just luck," he said as his partner came and sat on the opposite side of the couch. "So, Scully, were you afraid of storms when you were a kid?"

"No, not really. I thought the thunder could be a little freaky sometimes, but I was always one of those kids that believed that thunder was actually angels bowling up in heaven and lightening was when they got a strike."

"I never really believed that. I always told Samantha that rain was really just God spitting on people. Mom got mad when she found out."

"I can imagine," she said with a smile. " Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure. What do you got?"

"Oh, lots of stuff. 'Raising Arizona', I have some Monty Python movies-"

"Monty Python! The SUPREME movie-makers! Lets watch Search for the Holy Grail."

"Okay," she said, getting up. Mulder followed and went to the VCR with her to get the video's box. Just as she was about to start the tape, there was a deafening clap of thunder and suddenly the power went out. The room went black and a low growling thunder and a heavy, steady downpour followed.

"Great," Scully said. She heard Mulder moved next to her, then there was a sudden loud noise, followed by Mulder yelling "OW! Shit!"

"Mulder? Are you okay?"

"I hit my shin on the damn table and I fell!"

"Where are you?"

"On the floor somewhere."

"Stay there, I'll find you," she said, blindly walking through the darkness. Her foot ran into something.

"Ouch!" Mulder cried.

"Found you."

"Yeah, I think so," he said, sitting up. Scully squatted next to him and reached out trying to find him. She found his shoulders and carefully helped him get to his feet.

"Here. I'll take you to the couch," she said, guiding him to it. He sat down and could barely make out her figure in the shadows.

"Hang on a second," she said, and went to the fireplace. In a few seconds, a bright fire was lit and she got up and sat next to him on the couch.

"So much for the video," Mulder said.

"Yeah. Maybe next time."

"Do you want me to go?"

"Now? No, stay till the outage is fixed," she said looking over at him in the orange light of the flames.

"Okay. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know, but if you say anything about strip poker, you CAN leave."

"I won't, I won't," he chuckled. She turned her attention towards the fire again and Mulder watched her intently. He always thought she was pretty. But she looked especially radiant now. The light of the fire moved and made the shadows on her face change and shift with each crackle. Her eyelashes looked especially long and dark, her eyes were brighter. She looked down at her lap, then to him. He realized he had been staring.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I just got.... lost in the moment."

She nodded and the corner of her mouth turned upwards a bit. "So why did you really call me, Mulder? What's up?"

"Nothing. I just didn't feel like being alone tonight," he lied.

Any particular reason?" she asked. He was silent for a while, and his gaze lowered. Her hand came to rest on top of his. "Mulder?"

"I.... for some reason I can't stop thinking about Samantha today. And I just needed to see you. You always help that loneliness for some reason, Scully. Don't ask me why."

"I don't need to ask. I need your company sometimes, too," she replied. Their eyes met and they just read one another for a moment. Mulder reached out and pulled his partner into his arms. She rested against his chest with a smile on her face. She felt his lips graze over her cheek and she smiled again. They were quiet for a moment, listening to the rain and the storm. *Cccraaack..BOOM!* A startling thunder sounded, and Scully jumped in Mulder's embrace. He felt her tense, then relax.

"I hate that."

"Me, too."

"Know what I just realized?" she asked.

"Hmmm?"

"This is funny. On our first case, the power went out, too."

"Yeah, but you came to me in your undies that night."

"I had good reason to do that."

"Sure you did," he teased and squeezed her a little as they both stared at the fire ahead of them.

"Do you want to talk about Samantha, Mulder? I'll listen if you need to talk."

"I don't know what I want," he said, and he started to go off into thought. And suddenly he was laughing. Hard. Scully pulled back and looked at him, confused. His smile was so cute when he laughed, though, it was impossible not to smile back.

"Mulder?" she asked. Mulder was in hysterics suddenly, practically falling off the couch. His gut started to ache with each breath, but he didn't care. It felt so good! Scully, on the other hand, was completely concerned. She was almost in a panic, wondering if he might have lost it for a minute.

"Mind telling me what's so funny?" she said. He gasped for air, and his face ached from smiling.

"I... I was just remembering," he choked out after a minute, "I was remembering the time that Samantha and I were in the parking lot playing in my Dad's car while went inside the store we were at. I was in the driver's seat, she was in the passenger's seat. I was looking at the dash and I saw the letters on there, you know, Neutral and Reverse, stuff like that. I wanted to take a quick spin around that parking lot before Dad got back. I was probably, oh, 10 or so. Anyways, I didn't know what "R" meant, and Samantha said she knew what it was. She said that "R" stood for "Really Fast," and I believed her. I started the car and I at least knew enough to hit the brakes, then I put it in what I thought was "Really Fast" and hit the gas. We went in reverse so fast, we nailed the rack of shopping carts that were behind it and made a huge mess. My God, my Dad's never been so angry at us," he finally said, then started laughing again.

"Really fast?" Scully repeated with a giggle.

"Really, REALLY fast!" he said and they both laughed. After a few minutes, Scully looked at her partner and wiped away the tears from his face with delicate fingers. He caught her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her palm softly. And it was there that she realized that he wasn't crying for laughter anymore. He was crying from pain. She tilted her head to the side and scooted close to him, wrapping her arms around him. He buried his face in her shoulder, his body shaking. She held him tightly and pulled back, smoothing his hair. She wanted to fix it all for him. She wanted to cry all his tears for him, because he just couldn't do it anymore. She wanted so badly so make everything all right for him, but she knew she never could. He looked at her, his eyes wet. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek softly and looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mulder."

"Don't worry about it. Its nothing."

"No, you're *wrong*. Its everything. Mulder, if it weren't for Samantha, I never would have met you. I owe her a lot, because if it weren't for her, you wouldn't be here right now. We're going to find her. I promise."

"How can you promise something like that?" he whispered.

"Because I can feel it in my heart," she said. Their eyes were locked in an intense gaze. Mulder felt a sudden urge to do what he knew he shouldn't. But he couldn't fight it. He took her face in his hands and leaned toward her. She closed her eyes, feeling his lips near. She could feel his breath on mouth..... And the lights went on. Mulder and Scully pulled back from one another, looking around the room as if someone might have been watching them. They looked at each other.

"I guess the outage is fixed...." Scully started.

"Yeah. I guess I'll go," Mulder said, standing up. He offered a hand to Scully and helped her to her feet. They went to the door and just as Mulder opened it, Scully grabbed his arm. He turned to look at her, and she barely smiled. She kissed her index finger and set it on Mulder's lips.

"Good-night," she said softly. Mulder kissed her finger and winked, then went out the door.