The sound of rustling cellophane startled Mulder. He looked
up to find a man with a large bouquet of flowers standing
in the half-opened doorway of his office. Mulder watched
him stare at the name on the door as though it were written
in a foreign language. He hadn't noticed Mulder sitting
inside the office yet.

Mulder watched him a moment longer. The man was older and
well dressed. He obviously wasn't a delivery boy. Mulder
bet that he was probably lost and looking to meet his wife
or daughter. Someone from the information desk probably
sent him down here as a joke.

Mulder finally spoke. "Can I help you, sir?"

The man was startled by Mulder's voice. When he still said
nothing, Mulder stood and asked, "Are you looking for
someone?"

The man looked around as though he were making sure Mulder
was speaking to him.

Mulder put on his friendly face and pointed to the flowers.
"Those can't be for me. Not many people wander down here
unless they're lost. Maybe I can help you get to where
you're supposed to be."

The man stepped into the office and finally spoke, "I'm
looking for Dana Scully. I was told I could find her here."

Mulder was taken aback. "Oh, uh - she's not here at the
moment. I'm not sure when she'll be in. Would you like to
leave a message? Mister...?"

"Doctor Waterston."

"Doctor Waterston," Mulder repeated automatically. As
realization set in, his mouth was moving faster than his
mind, which was still stuck on the man's name. Dr. Daniel
Waterston. He never thought he'd ever have to actually meet
the man. "Like I said, she's not here right now, but I'll
let her know that you stopped by."

"Perhaps I'll just stick around and wait for her, since you
don't know when she'll be in. She might be back at any
moment, and I'd really like to see her today. If you don't
mind, of course. Promise I won't be in the way."

Mulder, not buying Waterston's insincere politeness, moved
towards him before he could step further inside the office.
"I don't mean to be rude, Dr. Waterston, but do you
actually have an appointment with Agent Scully?"

"I don't have a formal appointment, no."

"If you're implying that she's expecting you, I can assure
you she isn't, otherwise she would be here or she would
have let me know that you were coming. So you might be
better off just leaving a message for her."

"Do you know where she is right now?" Waterston asked,
ignoring Mulder.

"She was scheduled to do an autopsy this morning – part of
our current investigation. Things may have run over time."

"Investigation?" Waterston said with confusion, "I thought
she taught forensic pathology."

"One of her many talents," Mulder said, and when Waterston
wouldn't take the bait, he continued, "She used to teach."

Waterston nodded as though he understood. "So does Dana
consult for you frequently, or is this a one-time thing?"

"Agent Scully is my partner. You could say it's been a
one-time thing going on seven years now."

Mulder, seeing some surprise register on Waterston's face,
began to wonder for the first time just what Scully had
discussed with Waterston while he was away.

"And what is it you investigate, Mister-- I'm sorry, I
didn't get your name."

"Name's on the door." Mulder pointed back towards the
entrance in the hopes that he might use it again.

"Fox Mul-der," Waterston read with an exaggerated
enunciation. He turned back to Mulder expectantly. Mulder
just stared back at him. Waterston finally asked, "You're
not going to answer my question, Mr Mulder?"

"No, I'm not. I know what you're trying to do and it's not
going to work."

"What are you implying?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm implying. If you want to
know about Scully, ask her yourself. I'm not going to play
your game."

"So I presume Dana told you about me."

"She told me what she needed to. Nice to see you're back on
your feet, by the way."

"You're too kind. So I take it that from what she's told
you, you don't think much of me."

"On the contrary, I don't think about you at all. Look, Dr.
Waterston, I don't want to get into a pissing contest with
you--"

"Well, Mister Mulder," Waterston interrupted, "regardless
of what you think, I know that Dana will want to see me."

"And unlike you, Dr. Waterston, I don't speak for Scully.
All I'm saying is that she's not expecting you. Now if you
don't mind, I'd like to get back to work." With that,
Mulder turned his back on Waterston and sat back down at
his desk.

He knew Waterston was still standing there, probably
furious, but Mulder didn't care. In an effort to ignore
him, Mulder began to devote every iota of his concentration
to his research until Waterston entered the office and sat
down in the chair in front of his desk.

"By all means," Mulder said sardonically, gesturing to the
chair Waterston already sat in.

Instead of getting back to his work, Mulder picked up his
letter opener, and leaned back in his chair, watching
Waterston as he straightened out his clothing. If Waterston
thought he was going to unnerve Mulder, he had another
thing coming. Mulder twirled the letter opener around on
his fingertip as he watched Waterston.

"I thought you had work to do, Mr. Mulder," Waterston said
with some annoyance, as he fiddled with his visitor's
badge, the plastic wrap around the flowers crinkling with
every movement he made.

"I sure do, but it seems my office has been turned into a
waiting room. Should I remind you that your tax dollars are
paying for this waste of time?"

"I told you, I'll keep to myself. All you have to do is
ignore me."

"You see, Dr. Waterston," Mulder said, leaning forward and
pointing the opener at Waterston, "I really don't think you
want me to."

"Really? And you're some kind of expert in what I want?"
Waterston asked with amusement.

"No, I wouldn't say that. But I have been working with
Scully for seven years. She's told me about you and what
she thinks, and you're just dying to know that. And not
that I'm bragging, but I am told I qualify as some kind of
an expert in profiling behaviour. And, sir, your behaviour
reads like a book."

Waterston raised his eyebrows. "My, my. Well, you must
enlighten me, Mr. Mulder."

"Where would you like me to start, Dr. Waterston? With your
visit here today? Or would you like me to go back further?
How about when you abandoned your family and followed
Scully to DC without telling her, without saying a word to
her until chance happened to put her by your bedside?"

"I thought you said this wasn't going to be a pissing
contest."

"Hey, you wanted to know."

"Fair enough. But enough about me--"

"Really? But I was just getting started." Mulder
interrupted.

He tried to look disappointed, but Waterston's only reply
was to roll his eyes. Mulder continued, "You risked
everything and nothing for her. You always thought that she
would come to her senses and come back to you of her own
accord, and that hasn't happened, not even with your recent
encounter. So now you've come here today hoping to see what
Scully does so that you'd know better how to show her how
her life here doesn't measure up to the one you should have
been able to provide her all those years ago. How close am
I?"

"Do you really expect me to dignify that with a response?"

Mulder shrugged. "No, not really. I was actually hoping it
would insult you enough to make you want to leave."

"You must think you're a pretty smart man, Mr. Mulder. You
think you've got me all figured out and you think you know
Dana. Do you really think that this job can offer her any
satisfaction? She could be the head of any hospital
department right now. She could be curing diseases and
saving lives. Instead she's doing whatever the hell it is
you do here."

"Did you ever stop to ask what she wants? In the years
she's been here, she hasn't looked back. She hasn't
contacted you --"

"You expect me to believe that she wants this? Stuck in a
basement? Investigating God only knows what." Waterston
waved his hand towards the office walls decorated with
tabloid articles and Mulder's "I Want To Believe" poster.
"If you really know what she wants, then why would she
question her choices? And why would she confess that to
me?"

"And do you expect me to dignify that with a response?"

Mulder was letting this man get the best of him and he knew
it. He was reaching the point where he was going to
physically remove him if that's what it took. He'd risk the
reprimand from Skinner regarding FBI reputation and public
relations. He was saved by the phone ringing.

He answered it. "Mulder."

"Mulder, it's me." Her timing couldn't have been better
today.

"What's up?" He tried to sound casual without revealing who
was on the phone to Waterston.

As Scully gave him a rundown of the autopsy, Waterston got
up and started to look around the office, still carrying
the flowers with him. Mulder began hurrying Scully's
conversation with "Mmm-hmms" and "uh huhs". He was
straining to see what Waterston was doing. He didn't want
him poking around.

"Is someone there, Mulder?" She had become suspicious of
his disinterest.

"Yeah."

"You can't tell me who?"

"Now's not a good time." Mulder's eyes narrowed at
Waterston as he spoke.

"Not even a hint?" She sounded amused. When Mulder didn't
reply she said, "Okay. Well, you'll have to share with me
tonight. I have to wait for some more results. I won't be
back in the office today. Meet you at your place? I'll
bring dinner."

"Sounds like a plan."

"You've really got my curiosity piqued, Mulder. This had
better be a good one."

"You can bet on that." He hung up the phone and turned to
find Waterston standing beyond the glass partition in what
he affectionately liked to call "Scully's area". Waterston
was examining X-rays at the lightbox.

Mulder walked over to see what he was looking at. Waterston
pointed at the film. "Would this be the victim that Dana is
autopsying?"

"No, that would be the perpetrator we're trying to catch."

Waterston shook his head. "That can't be right. You must
have the wrong X-ray."

"Agent Scully doesn't get that type of thing wrong."

"But this person should be dead."

"Yeah, we see a lot of that in our work, but I can assure
you that's the bad guy's skull, and he's very much alive
and still committing atrocities. So you can imagine how
important it is for me to get back to work," Mulder said as
he snapped off the lightbox.

Mulder turned away from Waterston and walked back to his
desk, saying, "By the way, that was Agent Scully on the
phone. She won't be back in the office today, but I'll let
her know you stopped by." He leaned against his desk and
crossed his arms waiting for a reaction from Waterston.

Waterston turned to face him. "You didn't tell her I was
here?" he asked incredulously.

Mulder shrugged. "She has a lot of work to do."

Waterston pointed accusingly at Mulder. "How incredibly
petty! You seem to have a lot invested in getting rid of
me, Mr. Mulder."

"You mean, other than my work?"

Wateston huffed. "Your work? From what I've seen of your
office, your work has a lot to do with pseudoscience and
nonsense. My guess is that you need Dana to legitimize your
so-called work. You're the one that put all this new age
bullshit in her head and now you see me as a threat because
you know I can make Dana see reason."

"Well, you got something right. I do need Scully, and yeah,
she does legitimize our work. But she also believes in the
work. And if the changes you see in her now are not to your
liking, it's because she's grown up and become more open to
possibilities, which is something you never wanted."

"Oh, please," Waterston said, rolling his eyes.

"Let's face it. She's no longer the girl who revered you
without question. And that's why you never contacted her.
If she had gone back to you, she'd be everything you
wanted, but the fact that she didn't tells you that she
changed. You could live with that fact as long as you
didn't see her again. But now that you have, you have to
change her back because you know you can't live without
her."

Waterston laughed forcedly. "You're pretty full of it, you
know that?"

"Maybe, but I'll tell you this, Dr. Waterston. She's not
the girl who lived for your approval anymore, but she's
still the woman who left you."

"And whose behaviour is reading like a book now, Mr.
Mulder? If I didn't know any better, I'd say this has more
to do with your personal relationship with Dana than mine."

"My relationship with Scully is none of your business."

"And I beg to differ. Why else would you be blustering
about me and my influence on Dana? You want to know why I'm
here, Mr. Mulder? Because three weeks ago she was crying in
my arms, wishing for the life I could have given her. Now
that I'm better, I have an opportunity to give her just
that. What smart comment do you have for that?"

Mulder took an intimidating step towards Waterston. "Let's
just say that you haven't had a whole hell of a lot of
influence over Scully in the last three weeks. Okay?"

Waterston's eyes narrowed at Mulder as he stared at him for
what seemed like an eternity. His face contorted in a
sneer. Finally he said, "You might have saved me the
trouble, if you'd said so to begin with, Mr. Mulder."
Waterston threw the flowers down at Mulder's feet and
stalked out of the office.

"So much for not wanting a pissing contest," Mulder
muttered, chastising himself as he picked up the flowers.
He looked them over and pulled out the most crushed looking
ones. Then he picked up the largest beaker he could find
from Scully's supplies and went off to find water for the
flowers.