Author: Circe Invidiosa
Rating: PG-13
Classification: E-muse (Scullyfic) Improv, M/S-UST
Archive: Yours for the asking.
Disclaimer: I make no claims on the characters or the show.
They are property of Fox etc.
Spoilers: GenderBender, lots of little ones for anything up to
S6...takes place in S6 after Arcadia
Acknowledgements: where would I be without Carol A.? I don't
even want to think about it! And thanks to wonderful Rain for
the support and encouragement!
Summary: don't expect any answers...


"Oh my God," gasped Scully, as she turned to look at him with
disbelief. She could feel her face turning red.

"What?" Mulder asked, looking up from the article he was reading
to her.

"You can't be serious." She hadn't been paying attention to
Mulder until now. It was late in the afternoon and she had been
typing away at her laptop, trying to put the finishing touches
on an overdue report. Mulder was excited as usual about a
potential new case and was trying to present her with the
research. He reminded her of a two year old whose mommy wasn't
paying enough attention to him. That is, until he started
reading to her.

"What?" he repeated with an impish smirk.

"Mulder, I know you've been disappointed with the lack of cases
since we got the X-Files back. I've put up with your shady,
less than forthcoming sources. I've put up with the tabloids.
But this..."

"What's wrong with this?" he asked, waving the publication at
her.

Scully closed her eyes and sighed. "Besides the obvious?"

He raised his eyebrows quizzically as he waited for her to make
her point.

"Mulder, you do know that these 'accounts' are purely fictional,
don't you?"

"C'mon Scully, next thing you're going to tell me is there's no
such thing as Santa. I'd like to think there's a kernel of
truth in each of these accounts."

"I mean, they are so formulaic..."

"Are you saying you read this stuff, Scully?"

"Are you trying to get a rise out of me, Mulder?"

"Although the thought of arousing you is appealing, there is a
point to all this."

"Which is?" she asked, ignoring the innuendo.

"The kernel of truth," Mulder replied. He began reading again,
"Dear Penthouse Forum, I never thought I'd be writing a letter
like this, but..."

"You're going to read the whole thing out loud?" interrupted
Scully.

"I wouldn't want you to miss anything."

She rolled her eyes. "So help me, Mulder, there had better be
something to this, and not just an excuse to bring your
extracurricular activities into the office."

He raised three fingers to his forehead and saluted her.
"Scout's honour, Scully. Now pay attention. There'll be a quiz
after."

She watched as he read the letter, unable to keep the corners of
his mouth from curling upwards. Scully sat with her arms
crossed, wearing her 'clinical detachment' face.

He eyed her expectantly as he finished. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Weren't you listening, Scully? We've seen this before."

"You know, Mulder, just because you leave those tapes in the VCR
here doesn't mean I watch them."

"Scully, you know what I'm talking about. Do I have to remind
you of your little encounter with Brother Andrew and the
Kindred?"

Scully stiffened with embarrassment. She had felt so naïve
after her meeting with Brother Andrew. She almost ended up the
same way as the victims that led them to the Kindred in the
first place.

She launched back into lecturing Mulder in an effort to cover
her discomfort. "Even if I do, it's completely circumstantial
and comes from an extremely questionable if not disreputable
source."

"C'mon Scully, it's all there: the involuntary attraction, the
fantastic sex, the intense nausea afterwards. Then waking to
find his clothing stolen, but the woman's clothing still there."

"But how are you even going to verify that it's true? Besides,
you only have one account."

Mulder held his finger up in the air to interrupt. She sat
impatiently as he reached under the desk and pulled out a heavy
stack of magazines. He dropped them with a thud onto the
desktop. Scully got up to look at the pile. She noticed that
each magazine had sticky notes poking out to bookmark pages.
She pulled at one of the tabs and said, "I can see you enjoyed
doing a thorough search. Did you have to requisition these or
did you use your own collection? And please tell me these are
here to mark your investigation and not your personal research."

Mulder ignored her. "Thirty-eight similar accounts within the
last three years."

"How do you know these aren't just recycled stories?"

His eyes widened at her. "Wow. You really do read them." She
wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a reaction and continued
to hold her indifferent gaze. Finally he answered her question.
"Give me some credit, Scully. I did do some checking before
showing this to you."

"All right, Mulder. I'm not going to read all of them, so you
might as well tell me what the common thread is."

"You disappoint me, Scully." Mulder still hadn't wiped the
smirk off his face.

"Yeah, I'm all broken up, Mulder," Scully said dryly. "Now
spill. What makes you think the Kindred are back?"

Mulder grinned at her. "Location, location, location."

He walked passed her and reached into a box filled with rolls of
paper. He pulled out a roll and took it to the counter where
she usually worked and began pushing her things aside. She
rescued her laptop from where he precariously shoved it. If she
wasn't already annoyed with him, she was well on her way.

He unrolled a large map across the counter. He took a marker
and began circling areas in the Northeastern States...
Pennsylvania, Ohio and even into Canada.

"From the ones that actually listed addresses, there's been an
incident in each of these locations. What do they all have in
common?"

Scully read off the areas. Lancaster, Holmes, Waterloo... "The
Amish?"

"Right ye are, Scully."

"I don't understand the connection. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that when the Kindred pulled up stakes five years
ago, they couldn't just reappear in any area. They had to blend
in. What better places than where there were people who were
similar to them?"

"So you're saying that they resurfaced in areas where there were
prominent Amish settlements in order to avoid detection?"

Mulder tapped his finger to the side of his nose and nodded.
"But each time there was an incident they had to move again.
And the issue dates of each account coincide with a nearby crop
circle event." Mulder tossed her a file folder.

"Okay, let's say I'm buying this..."

Mulder made a mock pained look and clutched his chest. "Scully,
you wound me."

She shot him a look as if to tell him she might just do that.
"In the account you just read, the person only got sick after
intercourse..."

He interrupted, "Actually as he describes it, it was the 'most
mind-blowing fuck' he ever had."

She continued unflustered, "My point is that he didn't die. He
didn't have a coronary. He didn't even have arrhythmia..."

"Neither did you, Scully."

Scully leapt to the defensive. "But I didn't have sex with any
of them and neither did that kid we met in the hospital."

"Yeah, I have a theory about that. Remember the clay the
Kindred mined in Steveston?"

"The white clay they used for their pottery? Your theory then
was that the clay gave them the ability to change gender."

"And the ability to produce copious amounts of pheromones,"
added Mulder. He sat down and propped his feet up on his desk.
He picked up the letter opener and twirled the point on the tip
of his index finger. "Maybe their powers aren't as effective
now that they've been away from the clay for so long."

She didn't bother to argue with him that they hadn't found
anything substantial in the composition of the clay because she
knew where Mulder was going with all of this. "So you think
they are returning to Steveston which means we'll be returning
to Steveston."

He pointed the letter opener at her. "Look at that, Scully!
We're finishing each other's thoughts." Then added before she
could roll her eyes, "Better dust off your bonnet. We'll be
making a stop along the way."

---------------------

During the drive to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which was the
location of the last letter, Scully read Mulder's notes on each
of the letters that he had discovered. Mercifully, he spared
her from reading the actual letters, although he'd occasionally
ask her which one she was reading and ask if she wanted the
glorious details.

The similarities were all there: a plain, ordinary looking
person able to seduce anyone with a mere touch, unbelievable
sex, then illness. The illnesses decreased in severity as time
went on.

She re-read the contents of the file they made five years
earlier that Mulder painstakingly restored after the office
fire. She refreshed herself with what they had learned about
the Kindred, Brother Martin, the strange appearance of the crop
circle and the clay. The clay had some geological abnormalities
but nothing to suggest that it could alter human physiology.
Mulder, of course, had theories relating to alien crashes and
interference in the area.

She studied the composites of Marty as a man and a woman. Only
Mulder had managed to see both of Marty's faces with any
clarity. Marty was unremarkable looking as either a man or a
woman.

When they reached Lancaster, they first went to the site of the
crop circle. For the most part, the circle was still there.
Some of the plants had grown back upright, but the outline
remained. Scully took some samples and measurements. Then they
went into town where they set about questioning the staff and
owners in the tourist shops and showing the composite. They
would ask if there was a group of people who had been there
recently that seemed slightly different from the Amish. Some
had noticed, others hadn't. But none had seen Marty.

They even questioned Amish people going to the local stores.
All were polite, but had no information to offer them.

They noticed a group of older Amish men away from the rest,
talking amongst themselves. They listened to them carefully.

"Something tells me that's not English." Mulder whispered.

She strained to hear. "They're speaking German." She started
to walk over to them.

Mulder stepped in front of her. "Really? Let me talk to them."
He walked ahead of her.

She called after him, "Mulder, since when do you speak German?"

He glanced back to her and winked and then strode over to the
group.

Scully followed sceptically, but stayed behind him. To her
surprise, she heard Mulder introduce them both in fairly
coherent German. The men seemed as surprised as she was and
just nodded silently. He continued and asked if he could ask
them a question regarding an investigation. The men made no
response. Scully felt Mulder was already treading on thin ice,
but he seemed to take their silence as consent. He pulled out
the composite sketches. Scully knew Mulder would ask if they
had ever seen Marty.

But the words he spoke weren't what she expected: "Haben Sie je
diesen Mann gegessen?" Scully did a double take. She wasn't
sure she heard Mulder right until he repeated the question. Her
eyes widened. The group of men all frowned at him and turned
their backs.

Scully stifled her laughter as she watched Mulder try to get the
group's attention again. He finally gave up and turned back to
her, looking perplexed. His expression caused her to laugh out
loud.

"What?" he asked with annoyance.

"Mulder, do you know what you asked them?"

"Yeah. I asked if they'd ever seen this man."

She shook her head and giggled as she corrected him, "No, that
would be 'Haben Sie je diesen Mann gesehen?'. Now, granted my
German is pretty rusty, but I'm pretty sure you asked them if
they'd ever eaten this man."

Mulder cursed and crumpled the paper in his hand. Scully still
smiling said, "Hey Mulder, it was a good effort. But you know,
they do speak English."

"Well, there's no point talking to them now. I've already made
an ass of myself."

He started to walk away. She caught up to him and they walked
together in silence. But a question nagged at Scully. "I
didn't know you were taking German lessons."

Mulder didn't look at her. "I just picked up a couple of books
and tapes. Nothing formal."

"Well, you know you can ask me for help if you need it."

Mulder just nodded.

Scully still had to ask. "Why are you trying to learn German
anyway?"

"Can I just say that I always wanted to learn?"

Scully didn't look like she was buying it. Mulder snorted and
shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You didn't believe me the
first time I told you."

"What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion.

"Bermuda Triangle, Scully. It would have come in handy."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. "Oh."

A long pause ensued. Scully's mind replayed their conversation
in the hospital after he woke up. He had told her she was there
with him on the Queen Mary in 1939. She had saved the world
from the Nazis. No, Scully hadn't believed him. He had told
her he loved her. She hadn't believed that either. She still
didn't believe that. Especially with the events leading up to
them getting the X-Files back. She shook her head to try to
erase the bad memories from her mind. She had paused too long
and the moment was becoming awkward. She had to say something
to make it pass.

"Do you think you are going to go back to World War II and run
into Nazis anytime soon, Mulder?"

He eyed her suspiciously. She put on her best grin and raised
her eyebrows in question, trying to alleviate the moment.
Finally, he chuckled and answered, "You never know."

Scully was still smiling to herself when she realized Mulder was
no longer beside her. She looked around to see where he had
gone and saw him walking towards a chip wagon.

"Mulder, where are you going?" she called to him.

"Getting a snack for the road. You want something?" he yelled
back.

She shook her head. She could wait for dinner. Suddenly, she
became suspicious of Mulder's plans. If he was getting a snack
for the road, he might not be stopping for dinner or for the
evening. This did not bode well.

Scully made her way back to the car alone. Mulder had the keys
to the car, so she had to wait for him to return. She leaned
against the car and kicked at a rock stuck in the dry dirt. When
Mulder appeared again, he was carrying a cardboard container.
He walked straight up to Scully. "Want some?"

Scully peered into the box. Mulder had drowned the greasy fries
in ketchup. She made a face and said, "No thanks."

"Your loss." He unlocked her door and moved around to the
driver's door. She had unlocked his door when she got in the
car.

Mulder got in and put the carton on the console between them.
The smell of vinegar and grease hung heavily in the stale air of
the car. Scully sat staring out the window. She made no move to
put her seat belt on. Mulder didn't notice until he had the car
started and was beginning to back out. He stopped the car.

"What?" he asked.

"Are we going to drive straight on through to Steveston?"

"That was the plan."

"That was your plan," she corrected him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look, Mulder, it's nearly 6. It's at least 6 hours to
Steveston if there isn't any traffic and we don't make stops.
Couldn't we just stay here or drive a few hours and stop
somewhere for the night? Maybe get a decent dinner, spend a
night without getting a kink in my neck?"

Mulder asked, "Is this part of your 'getting out of the damn
car' routine?"

"If I said it was, would it work?"

"We'd be losing half a day, Scully," Mulder complained.

"We know where they are going to be. According to our
itinerary, we aren't even supposed to be there until tomorrow."

"When has our itinerary ever made a difference? What is with
you, Scully?"

"Nothing." She looked out the passenger window to avoid his
heavy gaze that she knew was on her. She wanted to snap at him
to get going, but she wouldn't let him know he was getting to
her. It felt like an eternity before the car started moving
again.

She reclined her seat and pretended to try to nap in an effort
not to look like she was sulking. It amounted to sulking
though. But it was better than glaring at him the whole way to
Massachusetts.

She sighed. Why was she humouring him? She'd allowed herself
to be dragged across the country on hunches, whims, and what he
called duty. But her heart wasn't in it. The remarks he made
at the Gunmen's place still cut her. "Scully, you're making
this personal." After what was done to her, how could she not
make it personal? After learning that Fowley was involved with
collecting information on female abductees, how could she not
make it personal? How dare he declare that she did not have a
stake in the X-Files like Fowley did.

Since returning to the X-Files, she felt like they were just
tolerating each other. Or was she projecting? He seemed to
enjoy the case at Arcadia even when it didn't seem like an X-
File. When she asked if he wanted her opinion, he had said,
"always" sincerely and without a hint of sarcasm. What had he
told Arthur Dales about her? That she had a "knack for getting
to the bottom of things".

Maybe it was his way of apologizing or more likely that he
wanted things to be the way they were. Pretend that nothing had
happened. Pretend he hadn't hurt her. She wished it were that
easy for her.

Unwillingly, she felt her conscious thoughts slipping from her
as she fell into an uneasy sleep.

--------------

She was definitely dreaming. Her subconscious had taken her on
a whirlwind ride that ended up with she and Mulder in an autopsy
bay. Dream Mulder was swearing up and down that the body before
her was an alien vampire. She asked if he meant a vampire who
bit aliens or an alien who was a vampire.

Look at the green blood around his mouth, Scully, Dream Mulder
insisted.

Scully looked at the corpse's mouth and indeed there was a
greenish liquid about its mouth. Why hadn't she seen it before?
She stooped for a closer look. She could distinctly smell
tomatoes and vinegar.

Mulder, it's green ketchup.

Ketchup is red, Scully. That's not ketchup.

No, no. It really is ketchup. My mother used to make us green
ketchup for Halloween and St. Patrick's Day. I have the recipe
at home. And since when can you tell the difference between red
and green?

I know what I see, Scully.

Mulder, I can prove it. I'll just take a sample...

Your science can't tell me what I already know, what I am
seeing.

Frustrated, she was about to take a scoop of it and hold it to
Dream Mulder's nose or even wipe it across his mouth when she
heard humming. The humming turned to murmured words...something
was singing softly. She heard the singing coming from the body.
It was softly singing in Mulder's voice. She watched in
fascinated horror. She couldn't make out the song, but it was
childlike and sounded like an old lullaby. She looked up to see
if Dream Mulder was seeing this, but he was gone. When she
looked back at the body, it had become Mulder and was still
singing. Suddenly, the body's eyes opened and it said, "Hey
Scully."

Scully gasped in her sleep. It sat up then, reached over and
shook her arm and said, "Scully, wake up."

This is too weird, Scully thought, and opened her eyes. As soon
as she did, Mulder released her arm. She looked out the window,
but could only see her reflection mirrored back from the now
darkened sky. She realized the car was stopped. She hoped
Mulder wasn't about to ask her to drive her share.

"Where are we?" Her voice was throaty from disuse and but more
likely from snoring.

"Somewhere outside Scranton. About two and a half hours from
Lancaster."

She pulled out a map from the glove compartment and quickly
located where they were. It wasn't the route she expected him
to take. She was about to ask him about his directions when he
answered, "I just wanted to avoid traffic through the major
cities."

She nodded, but didn't buy his explanation. She looked at the
map and traced the rest of the route they would now take to
Steveston, but her eye followed their aborted route...

Allentown. That was what he wanted to avoid. She wondered if
it was for her sake or his. She put down the map to find Mulder
watching her. She suspected that he knew that she knew. Hoping
to find a diversion, she remembered that they were not moving.
"Mulder, why are we stopped?"

"Taking your advice and resting for the night. Don't say I
never do anything for ya, Scully."

"What do you mean? I thought you were hell-bent on getting to
Massachusetts tonight."

Mulder just shrugged. "I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes
open and I'm hungry. The snack didn't cut it. And judging by
the way you zonked out as soon as the car started moving, I'm
guessing that you're not in any shape to drive a leg. So
dinner's on you."

Scully was momentarily speechless. She could only nod.

She glanced out the window again now that she was more awake and
able to focus. From what she could tell, Mulder had pulled over
in a parking lot.

"Mulder, you aren't planning on us sleeping here tonight, are
you?"

"Have I asked you to give me some credit today?"

"No, that was yesterday."

"Well, consider yourself asked. We're in a motel parking lot.
Motel's that way." Mulder pointed out the rear window. She
looked back to see the neon sign in the distance with 'vacancy'
flashing below it. To her relief, the building was actually
quite nice.

Mulder had already unbuckled himself and was collecting his coat
from the backseat. He glanced at her and asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah," she replied and he was out the door. She took a deep
breath. Whatever had gotten into Mulder had taken her by
surprise, but it wasn't unwelcome.

She got out to find he had pulled on his coat and already had
the bags out of the trunk. He handed her bag to her and they
started towards the motel office.

"So were you having a bad dream, Scully?"

"Dream? I don't really remember." She tried hard to recall the
scene that was playing in her mind before she woke up, but it
was no longer within her conscious grasp. "Why?"

Mulder was clearly amused and replied, "You were talking a bit
in your sleep. You said something about ketchup and taking a
sample."

Images flashed in her mind. The body. It had green ketchup on
its face. Mulder was being a jerk. Then the body was singing.
Then the body was Mulder singing.

She ignored his concerns about her dream and turned the tables
by asking, "Mulder, were you singing in the car earlier?"

"What?" he asked seemingly caught off guard.

She explained, "I thought I heard singing before I woke up."

"No. I had the radio on for a bit. Maybe that's what you
heard."

She eyed him suspiciously, but his face betrayed nothing.
"Yeah, must have been."

---------

Scully was sitting on Mulder's bed with the phone book. She had
shed her suit jacket and her blouse was untucked. She was
reading off every entry under 'Restaurants' in the town's yellow
pages to Mulder as he changed and freshened up. Nothing
appealed to her. She hoped that Mulder would choose.

He popped his head out of his bathroom and said, "What was that
second last one you said?"

"Vidalia's?"

"Yeah, what kind of food do they have?"

Scully looked at the ad on the same page. It just had a picture
of an onion. "Doesn't really say. Sounds like Italian. You
want to go there?" she shouted over the sound of his electric
razor.

"Sounds expensive...I dunno. You choose," he called back to
her. She groaned and flipped back to the beginning of the
section.

When Mulder appeared again, he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
He picked up his sweater from the bed and flopped down beside
Scully. "Can't decide?" he asked.

She shook her head and handed him the open phone book. She
watched him glance half-heartedly at the pages for a few
minutes, flipping back and forth. Finally, he looked over at
her and she knew exactly what he was going to say.
Simultaneously, they asked each other, "Pizza?"

-------------------

Scully sat at the small table in Mulder's room, organizing her
case notes from the day, while Mulder munched pizza and channel
surfed. She occasionally felt like he was watching her, but
whenever she looked up, she found his gaze fixed on the
television.

She was quickly losing interest in her notes. The television
was slowly tugging at her concentration. But she couldn't focus
because of Mulder's incessant flipping.

Her attention drifted again and she found herself watching
Mulder. He was sitting up on the bed with his back against the
headboard. He never did put his sweater on...there was no point
in dressing up for her, she supposed. She looked away when he
stifled a belch, knowing he would glance in her direction to see
if she'd noticed, and would excuse himself regardless.

Her eyes stole back to him when she felt it was safe again. She
scanned his face quickly. He was lost in the diversion of the
television again. His eyes looked tired. She hadn't noticed
before. Had he ever noticed the fatigue in her eyes too? Maybe
that was what his sudden change of heart was about tonight. His
hair was getting longer. She wondered if he were letting it
grow on purpose or out of laziness.

He was holding the remote straight out from him. Occasionally
he'd let his arm rest when he momentarily found something that
held his interest. But inevitably his arm would rise again. He
must have flipped through all the stations over ten times by
now. Just what the hell was he looking for? She nearly laughed
aloud. How metaphorical. That was the question indeed. Just
what was Mulder looking for? But couldn't the same be applied
to her? Just what the hell was she looking for in following
Mulder?

She sighed. Where was this coming from? Either she hadn't had
enough to eat, or she was getting tired. Probably both.

It took her a moment to realize that Mulder was now watching her
watch him. "Scully, you're staring. What is it? Do I have
sauce on my face?"

He began wiping at the sides of his mouth. Scully shook her
head, trying to cover her embarrassment at being caught. She
walked over to the bed. "No, I was just trying to decide
whether I wanted more pizza or not." She opened the lid to the
box and pulled apart the two remaining slices. She turned about
to walk back to the table taking a bite out of the rest of her
dinner, but Mulder reached over and touched her arm. "Hey,
Scully, why don't you sit a spell and watch some TV."

She paused, about to argue. She should finish her notes so her
final report would be easier to write. She should go to bed now
so she could be fresh for an early start in the morning. Or she
could just sit down. She had to admit, she was curious about
what had gotten into Mulder since she had fallen asleep in the
car.

She sat cross-legged at the end of the bed and finished her
pizza. Mulder tossed the remote control beside her, allowing
her to change the channel herself. He threw a pillow up the end
of the bed beside Scully and he shifted himself around so that
he lay on his stomach. He propped himself up on his arms.

Scully began to change the channels. She finally settled on a
medical documentary. They were about to perform surgery.

Mulder looked up at her with a grimace. "God, Scully, you're
not actually going to watch this, are you?"

She shrugged. "You offered me the remote, Mulder. Besides, you
were just surfing before. At least I'm actually watching
something and not just the channels going by."

"Slicing and dicing is not what I consider entertainment,
Scully. Watching TV is about being amused, not disgusted."

"It's educational!"

"It's gross!"

"'Gross'? That's the best you can do? Look, I have the remote
and I want to watch this."

"We can change that."

Mulder made a grab for the remote. Scully pulled it away,
making Mulder flop into her lap. She held the remote above her
head. "Mulder!" she exclaimed, trying to stifle a giggle.

"Yeah?" he replied with a grin. He pulled himself up enough to
make another grab at the remote. She tried to pull back from
him and lost her balance, falling back onto the bed. Caught off
guard, he toppled across her. Scully couldn't suppress her
laughter now.

"Give it up, Scully," he said, lunging to grab at the remote she
still clutched above her head.

"Go to hell, Mulder." She tried to wriggle away from him.

"If that's the way you want it."

"What's that sup--..." She couldn't finish. Mulder's
fingertips had snaked up and began to wiggle across her sides.
She nearly screamed. Her face screwed up in laughter bordering
on pain. She couldn't even open her eyes.

When he stopped and she could breathe again, her arms came down
to protect herself, and Mulder grabbed her wrists. "You BAST--"

"Now, now, Scully," he interrupted, "You're in no position for
name-calling. You ready to give up?"

She opened her eyes to find Mulder's nose nearly touching her
own. They were both breathing heavily.

Scully calmed herself before she whispered, "You're not playing
fair, Mulder."

He didn't move from her. "I didn't know there were any rules."

"There are always rules." She released the remote control, but
he didn't let go of her wrist. "The remote's yours, Mulder.
You can get off me now. You win."

"I do?" He had stopped smiling.

She was either losing her resolve, or losing her patience. She
swallowed before slowly answering, "Yeah. Isn't that what you
wanted?"

"I guess it is." He released her wrists. He moved off her and
came to lie down beside her. He propped himself up on one arm,
his eyes still locked on hers. He reached around her, his arm
enclosing briefly around her waist as he picked up the remote.
He dragged his arm back slowly across her middle.

She begged herself to sit up. Sit up before this goes somewhere
you don't want it to. Somewhere a voice argued, but what if I
do?

Whoa. Whoa. Get up now.

She sat up, looking away from him. "Well, it's getting late.
I'd better get to bed."

"Yeah," Mulder replied.

Scully couldn't look back. Still flustered, she gathered her
notes together and stuffed them in her bag. When she finally
did look back at him, he was sitting up against the headboard
again, with the remote in hand and his gaze was fastened back on
the television.

"Well, good night," she said once she had opened his door to
leave.

"Yeah, 'night," he replied, without looking up at her.

-------------

Mulder drove the first leg to Steveston. Scully hadn't slept
well. After she had left Mulder's room, her mind wouldn't let
her rest. She was confused to say the least. Few words passed
between them even after stopping for coffee and switching
places. To his credit, although he was quiet, Mulder was acting
as though nothing happened.

They arrived in Steveston just before noon. As they drove into
the main part of town, they found that Steveston had changed a
lot. It was no longer the quaint town they left five years ago.
It had become a tourist trap. The Kindred's departure had
devastated Steveston's tourist draw. Judging from the signs
down the main street, it appeared that many businesses now used
the scandal and mystery of the Kindred to stay afloat.

They parked and made their way around the downtown. "Where do
you want to start?" asked Scully

Mulder pointed to a store called 'Judy's Pottery'. A sign in
the window read 'Authentic Kindred Earthenware'. "How about ye
olde pottery shoppe?"

A bell chimed as they entered. They stood and waited, but no
one appeared. Scully could hear a slight commotion in the back
of the store and decided to spend the time browsing while they
waited for the proprietor to appear. She began to move through
the aisles of pottery, noting the Kindred-style pottery was in
its own section and quite distinctive. The clay used was very
obviously different from the rest of the pieces in the store.

Mulder stood impatiently at the counter. Scully watched him as
he tried to peer behind the curtain dividing the back rooms from
the front of the store. Mulder called loudly toward the
curtain, "Excuse me! Hello?"

Instead of hearing the sound of footsteps moving toward the
front of the store, they heard giggling and a whirring sound.
The whirring got louder until something hit Scully's shoe. She
looked down to find a toy racecar stopped at her feet. The
giggling turned to screeches of delight. Scully picked up the
racecar and the wheels spun again. She walked towards the
laughter until she had a view behind the counter and found a
small boy and girl sitting with the remote controller, laughing
madly. She crouched before them and placed the car in front of
them. "I believe this belongs to you." The children grinned up
at her shyly.

Just then, the curtain was swept aside and a large woman
emerged, yelling, "Justin and Janine Jenkins! You get to your
rooms right now! What have I told you about playing in the
store?"

Scully looked up at the woman and realized that she wasn't so
much large as she was pregnant. The woman glared at her
children and they quickly dashed behind the curtain before she
yelled again. The woman began to apologize profusely. "I'm
really sorry. I didn't hear the bell. I was busy trying to put
the baby down for his nap."

Good Lord, thought Scully, just how many kids did this woman
have? And she looked like she was expecting twins on top of
that.

Mulder said, "Don't worry about it. Kids can be a handful. Are
you Judy?" The woman nodded. Scully stood and pulled out her
badge. Mulder was already holding his open as he said, "I'm
Special Agent Mulder and this is Agent Scully. We're with the
FBI. We wanted to ask you a few questions about the Kindred."

"The Kindred? They haven't been around these parts in a long
while. Weren't the FBI involved when they disappeared?"

Scully answered, "Yes, we were. There have been a number of
recent events that have led us to conclude that the Kindred may
have returned to this area. We're just wondering if you or any
of the town's people might have seen some of the members of the
Kindred."

Judy looked as though she suddenly realized something. "I
haven't seen anything myself. But Gordie Clappison might have."

"Who is Gordie Clappison?" Mulder asked.

"He runs the tours out to the Kindred homestead. At least he
used to. He used to get me my clay too in the off-season for
the Kindred pottery. Something spooked him really bad last time
and he refuses to go back out there. Don't know what I'll do
now."

"How long ago was this?" asked Scully.

"'Bout a week or two."

Suddenly the curtain fluttered madly, and little Janine ran
screaming from the back rooms with Justin in hot pursuit. They
squeezed past Scully and knocked against a table full of ceramic
figurines just behind her. The table tottered and Scully
reflexively jumped to rescue it. Only one toppled over and hit
the ground.

For a very pregnant woman, Judy moved fast. She had Justin by
the ear and was tearing into him. Scully picked up the two
pieces. It looked like a cartoon character. She presumed it
was supposed to be Inspector Gadget, since the figurine had
long, grey arms and wore a trench coat with roller skates. His
outlandishly large head had broken off.

Judy was still shouting at Justin. "Haven't I told you to be
careful? When you break things in the store, we don't make any
money and when we don't make money you don't get clothes and
toys! When are you going to understand that?"

Scully couldn't bear hearing Judy yell at the child any longer.
"Look, Judy, I'll buy the figurine. It was partly my fault for
standing so close to it."

Judy seemed satisfied and released Justin. She told him to go
and stay in his room for the rest of the day as punishment.
Scully handed over the amount on the price tag and Judy relaxed
even more. She wrapped the two broken pieces and placed them in
a bag.

Scully looked at Mulder and noted his amused expression. She
looked away with embarrassment. She picked up the bag and
turned to leave, but Mulder remained. What now, Scully thought.

"Judy, how old are your kids?"

Judy looked confused and a bit embarrassed, but answered,
"Justin is 4, Janine is 3, Jacob is 21 months and the baby,
Jonah, is 9 months."

Scully's eyes widened. This woman had even more children than
they originally thought. Judy must have seen Scully's
expression. She started to explain, "I really didn't plan to
have so many. They just kinda...well...happened."

Mulder seemed unsurprised and asked, "And are you due soon?"

Judy replied, "A month and a half. Why?"

Mulder didn't answer, but asked, "When did you start using the
clay from the Kindred homestead?"

"A couple of months after they left. You gonna tell me why
you're asking me all these questions?"

Mulder still avoided her question. "How many kids does Gordie
have?"

Judy snorted. "That we know about? That man is incorrigible.
So what are you getting at?"

"I have a theory about the clay. I think it has properties that
cause people who come into prolonged contact with it to produce
chemicals that act as an aphrodisiac."

Judy's looked at Mulder in disbelief and laughed. She turned to
Scully and asked, "Is he for real?"

Scully smiled sympathetically and exited the store, leaving
Mulder to defend himself. Sometimes I wonder myself, she
thought.

---------------------

Scully stood by the car waiting for Mulder to leave the pottery
store. She already had an address for where to find Gordie
Clappison.

Mulder finally emerged and approached her. "Jasmine if it's a
girl. Jared if it's a boy."

Scully just nodded, not finding much humour in the woman's
situation and wanting very much to change the topic.

She handed Mulder the slip of paper where she had written
Gordie's address. "This is where Clappison lives. Locals say
if he's not there we can find him at a bar not too far from
there. He shut down his booth where he ran the tours." Scully
pointed to a boarded up stall.

She walked around to the driver's side and got in the car. She
had the car started before Mulder got in.

"I don't know how helpful Clappison is going to be, Mulder.
According to a few people I talked to, he's known for hitting
the bottle," she said, backing the car out.

"Yeah, Judy said so too."

"Judy's quite the talker."

"She had some valuable input. You might have found that out if
you'd stuck around."

Fuck off, Mulder, she thought. She threw the car into drive and
peeled out of the lot. She couldn't shake her feelings of
frustration and began to justify herself, "Well, excuse me. I
thought my time could be used more constructively by questioning
more than one person. I just didn't think it was necessary to
discuss her sex life or the rest of the town's sex life. Nor
did I wish to spend any more time with a person who has more
children than she can support, let alone care for."

She took a deep breath. Damn, she thought, I didn't want to say
that. Feeling exposed, she tried to recover. "So what did she
have to say?"

She looked over to find that Mulder's expression had softened.
She rolled her eyes. This was exactly what she wanted to avoid.
She didn't want his pity. "Well?"

Mulder sighed and said, "Scully, I didn't mean to imply you
weren't doing your job."

"Don't, Mulder. Just don't."

"Don't what?"

"Never mind. Just tell me what was so interesting that Judy
kept you for nearly an hour." Please let it go, her mind
repeated over and over, knowing Mulder was still watching her.

As if he could hear her thoughts, he finally turned away and
said, "As I suspected, she gets a lot of attention when she uses
the clay and for days after. She practically has to lock
herself away from her husband. His name's Joey, by the way."
Mulder was smirking at the name.

"Does Joey get ill afterwards?"

"Oddly enough, he doesn't."

"And I take it that Judy hasn't changed gender lately."

Mulder paused before saying, "You know, patronizing isn't a
becoming tone for you."

"No, I think you're on to something. Maybe it's not only the
clay. What if it's something in the Kindred's physiology or
genetic makeup?"

"Physiology? So you still think they are human."

"I haven't seen anything to the contrary."

Mulder threw his hands up in the air. "The crop circles?
Changing gender?"

"Mulder, I can make a crop circle with some rope and a piece of
board. And being androgynous doesn't necessarily make someone
an alien."

"Jesus, Scully! Are you going to deny everything we've ever
seen?"

"I'm not denying anything! I'm trying to offer some plausible
explanations."

"Androgyny? That's more than a stretch to explain how a woman
becomes a man and vice versa."

"Fine. I admit that. But it's more reasonable than to think
that this is a cult of aliens living a Luddite lifestyle for at
least a hundred years in sleepy Steveston until 5 years ago."

"We've both seen an alien transform into another person."

"Yes, and we've seen a man do it too. But as for this Alien
Bounty Hunter, when his kind dies, they dissolve into green
ketchup. They don't get carted off into caverns under the earth
to be slathered in white clay."

"What did you say?" Mulder asked in bewilderment.

Confused, Scully asked, "What? White clay?"

Mulder shook his head. "No, you just said they dissolve into
green ketchup."

"No, I didn't," Scully replied with mortification.

"Yes, you did." He was clearly amused.

Scully pulled the car over. She hated arguing and driving. Her
train of thought always got disrupted and she was afraid that
one day she would get them into an accident.

"Regardless of what I might have said, you know what I meant."

Mulder nodded, but he still smirked. "Yeah. Okay. But how do
you explain them suddenly appearing in an alley hundreds of
miles from Steveston to collect Marty and then vanishing?"

"Well, I can't. Can you?"

"No. At least we can agree on something."

She let out an exasperated breath. She was about to argue, but
couldn't see where it would get her. Instead she asked, "Look
do you want to hear what I think or not?" Mulder just looked at
her expectantly with raised eyebrows. She took it to mean she
should continue.

"Granted, we have seen a lot we can't explain. But we've seen a
lot we can. We've seen genetic abnormalities and mutations."

"And that's what you think we're seeing here?"

"Perhaps. Cults come together because their beliefs ostracize
them from society. What if with these people, it was their
physiology that drove them out as well? They structured their
belief system around it. And with maybe hundreds of years of
inbreeding and seclusion that physiology was only compounded."

"A physiology that can put people in a stupor and kill?"

"They could use some form of reflexology. Brother Andrew
touched my hand. The guy who survived Marty said she had
touched him and he was instantly drawn to her."

"Okay. So where does the clay fit into your theory?"

"I don't really know, Mulder. I'm just thinking out loud."

Mulder's eyes narrowed in thought. "Well, it obviously has some
effect and not just on the Kindred. If we go with what you are
saying, the clay may have a different effect on the Kindred than
on the rest of the population because of their genetics."

Scully suddenly thought of something. "Let me see the file
again, Mulder." He handed it to her and she flipped through the
pages until she found the test results on the clay.

"Right here. This was what was odd about the clay: bone ash.
This clay has an abundance of it."

"Bone ash?"

Scully nodded. "Yes, it's added to bone china to make the china
whiter. But according to this, it's naturally found in this
clay."

"Bone from what though?"

Scully shrugged. "I don't know. What kind of animal is
indigenous to this area?"

"Maybe a deposit of fossils from prehistoric animals...Whatever
it was, it must have produced excessive pheromones." Mulder
paused and looked at her thoughtfully. "Wow. That was quite a
leap, Agent Scully."

Scully smiled in spite of herself and put the car into gear.
"Don't get used to it, Mulder."