I am new to fan fiction even though I have been a huge fan of the X Files since I was 13 and in love with Mulder since Scully walked into that office. I am now addicted to this site and love the stories! So I decided that I will have a go myself. So here goes...

I don't own the X Files or any of its characters etc. This is all done for fun I am not getting any money for this. This story is just a poor warped version of a fantastic story arc belonging to the amazing CC + DD. I am poor please don't sue me!

This story: I was really angry at Mulder for the way that he treated Scully over Diana. I also thought that Scully's character was really abused - she is such a strong character I wondered why she put up with Mulders crap and I was totally indignant on her behalf for her treatment.

I wanted to write a compressed mesh up of the episodes dealing with Scully/Mulder/ Diana arc (One Son through to Amor Fati) resulting in an AU where the episodes are tweaked to accommodate Scully walking away. I have assumed that everyone knows the stories inside out so I haven't written about Mulder's hallucinations in detail and I have skipped through certain parts. My story is in essence filler between key events that actually happen in the original episodes and how my shipper heart wishes they had panned out.

N.B As a result it means that in my AU a lot of the episodes between One Son and Sixth Extinction won't happen as Mulder and Scully are apart for a while.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! : )

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xx

Scully sighed as she saw Mulder walk towards her with a look of barely controlled anger on his face. She knew that she would have to harden her resolve not allow him to subdue her. She glanced around quickly at the office. "Damn." She muttered under her breath she was really not in the mood for a showdown in such a public place. She continued to put her personal effects into the small box with an unstudied air of calmness that she didn't feel. She looked down at her hands and was thankful that they weren't shaking.

"Calm. Calm. Calm." She repeated her mantra trying to maintain her cool.

It took less than 30 seconds for Mulder to cross the long office and stand in front of her. He placed his hands on his hips and glared at her. His usual handsome features were taught with suppressed rage. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that he was shaking slightly.

"Quantico. When were you planning on telling me? Where you also planning on moving? Was I supposed to find that out from Skinner as well?" His voice was quiet but hoarse.

She knew that he was using all his will power not to lose his temper and start shouting at her. She also knew that this quiet anger was when he was at his most dangerous. It was controlled but liable to explode at any moment. She had witnessed it several times over the last 6 years but she had always been his steadying hand the cooling touch to his intense heat the one who grounded him. A simple touch or word from her would usually cool him. Made him remember where he was. Now she was on the receiving end of it.

She opened the top drawer, withdrew a small stack of papers and slotted them neatly into the box. She took a deep breath to steady herself and looked up at him. His green eyes which had in the past looked at her with a softness that betrayed the affection he felt for her were now cold and guarded, narrowed and aggressive. His usually generous lips were compressed into a hard unyielding line.

"Mulder you are making a scene." She said quietly. Before he could react she held her hand up to silence him. "I have decided to return to Quantico because I think that I have run my course with the X Files. I am a pathologist and a doctor first and foremost. I want to get back into my field and maybe even start practising medicine again." She sighed and pursed her generous lips before continuing on.

"I have nothing to show for my last 6 years. I would like to live a normal life, be involved in a social scene and maybe look at raising a family. Salvage something of what's left of my life. I feel like I have nothing further to contribute and I think that my current situation in life speaks volumes as to the sacrifices I have made. I have paid my dues to both you and the X FIles. The quest is all yours again and I bow out."

Mulder's face paled as he looked at his partner. He heard the tiredness and resigned air in her voice. He could not believe that she was contemplating leaving the X Files, leaving him, after all that they had been through. His anger suddenly dissolved and was replaced by the cold hand of fear slowly overtaking him. She was actually doing this. He had truly believed that whilst they were alive she would be there standing at his side. He had been so angry with her over this vendetta that she had against Diana. It had not occurred to him that he could possibly lose her. His nightmare had always been that he would be too late to save her or that she would die of cancer and leave him. These were to a certain extent unavoidable. It had never occurred to him that it would be his actions that would finally drive her away and out of his life."You're leaving me?"

"Agent Mulder please don't make this more difficult than it has to be." Her eyes swept her desk as she picked up the box and as she looked up at him her soft blue eyes hardened she saw the light of anger leave his eyes. "You are making this way too personal."

With one final sad smile she walked through the office clutching the small box with her personal effects and out into the corridor. The bullpen was uncharacteristically silent as if every agent in there were holding their breath. No phones rang, no usual hum drum of background chatter. Mulder stood staring at the space where his best friend and his partner had been standing seconds ago. He was unaware of the eyes staring at him; some judging him, others looking at him with pity for being publically embarrassed. Suddenly a phone rang, cutting through the thickness of the silence and all the people who had stood in a stupor were suddenly pulled out of their reverie going about their daily routine as if nothing had happened.

Almost as if he was sleep walking he turned and walked out of the office making his way to the elevator to go back to his basement office. To the X Files, the office that he still believes holds all the answers. What he had fought so hard to win back. Somehow it suddenly felt like a hollow victory.