I was not really anticipating getting reviews, favs or follows already! Thanks, guys!

People, please bear in mind that I am from the UK, not the US, so if I make mistakes in terms of the words I use or what the schooling system is like, please tell me and I'll change it. I will try my best, but I am very likely to slip up and say trousers instead of pants and other similar mistakes. Bear with me :)

I am only on season 1, episode 14 of the X-Files. I am trying my best to get through them, but my life is quite busy at the moment, so it will take a while. I will do research before I write anything that links in with the show, but at the moment, the story is very AU and not following canon.

REVIEW REPLIES-

anon: Thanks! I'll keep going!

pearlydewdrop: I'm not going to guarantee that I'll be able to update this regularly, but I'll keep at this story! Thanks for the fav, follow and review!

agentsscully: I will continue when I can.

Chapter Two: Being Nice

Charlie gave Dana a glare as they headed up the road leading to their new house. "You could have been a bit nicer to Mulder, you know."

She returned the glare. "I don't know him. I was asleep! You were the one getting chummy with a random stranger. Whilst I was asleep, might I add. It's not exactly how I wanted a random stranger to meet me."

"Don't you know how to make friends, Dana? You talk to people. If you get on, you become friends. If it doesn't work, you let it go. You didn't even give him a chance. And," Charlie held up his finger as she opened her mouth to protest again, "I didn't wake you because I know how much you needed to sleep. You barely slept at all on the journey here."

"I don't care. And there's not much point in trying to make friends when Dad is going to get moved again in another year."

"That shouldn't stop you from trying. And you never know. Dad might get a more permanent position and we might end up hanging around here for longer."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Doubt it," she muttered, but didn't pursue the argument. If she wasn't up for making friends at the moment, she didn't need to listen to her younger brother's friendship advice.

They made it back home just in time. The moving van had left, making the driveway looking somewhat barren. Boxes cluttered most of the rooms, but the furniture had already been moved into their permanent places. Maggie had almost finished cooking their evening meal, the first meal they would have together as a family in their new house. Missy had already set the table and had gone to help Ahab with unpacking boxes in the living room.

Their father looked up as Dana and Charlie walked in, giving them a smile. He seemed more relaxed than earlier, probably because the big jobs when it came to moving had already been completed. "Did you have a good afternoon?"

"We met a kid who lives around here," Charlie said, excitedly. "His name is Fox Mulder and his parents own a summer house around here. It sounds like he'll be here during the summer months."

Ahab looked at his youngest son with interest. "Was he nice?" he asked.

"He was, although a little quiet. But that was probably because I was talking too much."

"I hope you didn't scare him off," Ahab teased. "Are you planning on meeting Fox again?"

"He likes to be called Mulder. I said if I was free tomorrow afternoon, I would meet him down at the beach."

Their father nodded. "That sounds fine. I probably need to get down to Newport tomorrow anyway, so I don't think there would be anything else planned. What about you, Starbuck? What do you think about this town?"

She shrugged. "It's alright. Bit empty at the moment, but the beach is nice."

Maggie poked her head through the door. "How old is this boy you met, Charlie?"

Charlie thought a moment. "He's older than me and Dana. I'd say Missy's age probably, around 17."

Dana rolled her eyes. She knew what her mother was up to. Maggie couldn't resist a little matchmaking. The way that she pretended to be disinterested in the information, punctuating it with a little "oh," slipping out of the room with a glint in her eye infuriated Dana, but she stayed quiet. She would only be at the receiving end of her mother's matchmaking if Missy wasn't interested (and she rarely wasn't) and it only ever got serious if the boy got invited round for dinner by her parents. Somehow, Dana didn't think Mulder was going to stick around long enough to get that sort of attention from her parents. He didn't seem like the sort of guy who was interested in being with company anyway, so she was safe for now.

Dinner was eaten in relative quiet. Her father lead the prayer before they all tucked into the meal in silence. Without Bill at home, the number of dinner table arguments had drastically fallen in numbers. Not that Dana missed the heated discussions that often cropped up between her two older siblings, but she did like some sort of conversation whilst she was eating. What with her father being at home, she felt like it was another missed opportunity to spend more time with him.

She and Charlie tidied away the dishes without protest, knowing how much work Missy and their parents had done today. It took longer than usual because they had to work out where Maggie had decided to put everything in the kitchen; by the time they had finished, it was already eight.

She hadn't had a proper look at her new bedroom since they arrived at the house. Her bed had already been moved in, its bare skeleton and mattress stood up in the middle of the floor, the matching chest of drawers and the desk standing next to it. Her parents often left the last bit of organisation down to their children, knowing that they liked to set up their rooms in the way they wanted.

Each bedroom had a built-in wardrobe, spacious enough to hang clothes and tidy shoes into, plus an extra shelf that ran along the top above the hangers, which was more than what the last house had. Not that Dana would be able to reach the top shelf without a chair, but it would be a good space to put stuff she wasn't intending to ever unpack until her father got a permanent placement or until she left home.

She gave it a little thought before she set herself to shifting the furniture into their permanent positions. After a moment, she moved the chest of drawers to the far corner, tucked underneath the set of shelves that were already set into the wall. The bed was shunted to the opposite wall, the window framing the space between the two pieces of furniture. She moved the desk next to the drawers, pleased to see that there was a perfect amount of space for it to fit between the edge of the drawers and the doorframe of the wardrobe.

Behind the door, the boxes full of her clothes stood stacked on top of the box full of her books. She would leave those until tomorrow to sort out, only rummaging through the top box to find a pair of pyjamas to wear. It took her all of two minutes to make up her bed and pull on her night clothes before wandering out of her room to find out where the toothbrushes and toiletries had been tidied off to so she could finish getting ready for bed.

A heatwave was on its way; even with the window open, it was far too hot. Dana tossed and turned, waking up every other hour. At two in the morning, she gave up trying to sleep and went to sit on her window ledge. The cooler air was actually able to reach her as she perched on the wide sill by the open window. Her bedroom looked out over their front drive, the house far enough away from the road that it still felt fairly secluded and, with no neighbours to the front of the house save the flat sea, she finally managed to relax.

It was then that she noticed the shadowy figure flitting across the road to the beach.

She gave a little start, surprised by the fact there was someone out and about at this godforsaken time of night. Squinting slightly, she realised that she recognised the figure. It was the boy from earlier, this Mulder.

Dana frowned. What is he doing? Why isn't he at home?

Without really thinking it through, she opened the window wider and lowered herself down onto the porch roof that was positioned under her window. Glancing around to check if she was going unobserved, she leapt off the porch roof without making a sound except for the slight gasp she exhaled as she landed barefoot on the paved drive. She pelted down to the beach, trying not to lose sight of the skinny boy that was now practically in the water.

He must have heard her coming the moment she hit the sand. Dana watched him turn round in surprise, almost falling over, hands held up in defence. It was only when the two of them were close enough that despite the relative darkness they could distinguish each other's features did Mulder relax and drop his arms, giving Dana a smile.

"Hello again," he said. "What are you doing up this late?"

"I could ask you the same question," she said, crossing her arms disapprovingly.

"I'm avoiding my parents," he said, pulling off his shoes and socks, not really looking at her.

Dana frowned, puzzled. "Won't they get worried?"

Mulder shrugged. "They won't care. Or notice." He sunk his toes into the damp sand, the water washing gently over them as the waves rolled in. Finally, he looked back up at her. "On the other hand, I'm pretty sure your parents would get a fright if they found your bed empty."

"They always sleep through the night. Mum says it's because she is trying to catch up on all the sleep she lost when we were small. Dad is part of the navy, so he can sleep through anything. They have to sleep in shifts so he has to be able to block out background noise. The only things that wake him up are his alarm or the ship's alarm. Why are you avoiding your parents?"

"They don't want me around. It's better this way."

"What, you not having a bed to sleep in because your parents don't want you in the house? You know that's neglect."

Mulder shrugged again. She didn't know why, but the noncommittal way he just brushed off her concerns infuriated her. "I kind of deserve it anyway," he said, as he dumped his shoes on the ground and rolled up his trousers to his knees. "Come on, Dana. If you are going to be out here, might as well enjoy a spot of paddling." And he waddled into the sea, the gentle waves steadily rising up around his legs until they only just began to dampen the fabric that was wrapped up around his thighs.

"Deserve it? You what?" she half-yelled, not loud enough for the noise to reach the houses. She stumbled through the water towards him to pull him round to face her.

She misjudged her strength. The tug was hard enough to make the boy unbalanced and he fell over with a yelp.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Dana darted forwards immediately, not really caring that the legs of her pyjamas were now soaking in the surrounding water. She was very surprised to hear his chuckle as she hoisted him to his feet. She gave him a confused look as Mulder glanced up at her. "Why are you…" She was cut off by a small shove and suddenly, she was sitting in the water, the white cotton of her pyjamas completely soaked through and water dripping from her darkened hair.

Mulder's chuckle morphed into a raucous laugh. Dana attempted to glare at him, but the noise was so infectious that she began to giggle to0, accepting his hand when he offered it to help her up again.

"Now we're even," he laughed.

I've only just started writing chapter three, so bear with for the next update.

Update (30th July 2016): SandyJPhoenix helpfully pointed out a typo XD

~Leo