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It was disturbing to begin with. Mulder had found a note from Scully on his desk that simply read, "We need to talk. Your place. Tonight. -Scully"

Scully never left notes. In all the years that he had worked with her, she *never once* left a note. When Mulder stepped into his apartment, he was sure he had stumbled into a walk-in freezer.

It was cold.

Ice cold.

Not temperature-wise.

Emotion-wise.

Scully sat wordlessly on his couch, picking at her long french-manicured nails. That was a bad sign to Mulder. A very, very bad sign. Scully didn't fidget with anything unless she was angry, embarrassed, or on the verge of tears. She looked up at him as he carefully moved toward his living room.

The room's temperature dropped from minus 50 to minus 100.

"Scully?" he asked, fearing asking anything else.

"Mulder, sit down," her voice was soft but firm. Mulder was terrified, but sat down on the coffee table in front of her.

"What is it, Scully?" he said, forcing himself to ignore the bad feelings he was having. Scully sat there, picking at her nails again. "Scully?" he asked again.

"Mulder, were you involved with Diana? More than partners?"

"Scully-"

"Just answer the question, Mulder." She interrupted quickly, almost rudely. He sighed and looked down at his knees.

"Yes. We were involved with each other for a few years. But we broke up. I met her after I got back from Oxford. We were friends and went in the bureau together. We became romantically involved a year later. We ended up getting married, not for long....three months passed before we ended up getting a divorce."

"You were married?" she asked, looking up at him, an unrecognizable emotion in her eyes. He nodded slowly. "And you never bothered to mention that?"

"I hardly consider it important, Scully. It was a stupid mistake, but I don't regret it for a minute. It was just another relationship doomed to fail in my life, but it was worth it at the time," he said carefully. Her lips pressed together tightly as she glared at him. Mulder wanted to die. Right there. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Scully, I don't want to have Diana as my partner again, if that's what you're suggesting."

Her eyes glazed over.

"Are you sure of that, Mulder? After seeing your reaction to her in the hospital when she was released, I'm not one to guess about that on my own, Mulder. If you'd rather work with her because of some....personal need, go ahead. I'm not going to sit around and be ignored while you gawk at her. I'm not. Its too hard to sit back and watch that. I refuse to."

"Scully," Mulder said, surprised by Scully's speech. "I promise that I don't want to work with Diana. Whatever I felt for her....its gone. I feel something for her, friendship maybe, but not love. I'm sorry I gave you that idea." He paused. "Do you feel like I've been ignoring you? God, Scully, if anything, I've been trying to pay attention to you. I came so close to losing you....losing part of myself....I don't even want to think about it."

She looked up at him, her eyes warm again, melting the icicles Mulder was sure were forming in the room. He took her hand.

"I don't want you to think I feel anything but friendship towards Diana. I don't want you to feel ignored. And I especially don't want you to feel like I've rejected you. I know you don't like Diana. I know it. But, Scully, I'm gonna tell you something right now: Diana has a tiny little bit of my heart. Mom has a teeny little part. You have the rest. It's all there for you. I made a mistake with Diana....I mistook her for someone I wanted to spend my life with. But it wasn't her. It wasn't real. But I'm glad I found that out. Scully, we....this....us.... we are real. This is real. You are real. This is it. Us. I know it in my heart, I can feel it."

He damned himself for sounding so sentimental, but it was true. There was no other way to put it. And it was exactly what Scully had wanted to hear. She laughed, embarrassed a little, teary-eyed, and pulled him to her, holding him tightly. Mulder's arms came around her and the temperature in the room shot up. It was a perfect warm, comfortable temperature. And he was glad. Hearing her murmurs in his ear of things to come in the future, he smiled and held her a little closer.