Part 1. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* It was their wedding day. She was dressed in an exquisite wedding gown. It was white, long sleeved, and touched the floor, giving the effect that she was floating above the floor. He was dressed in an Armani tuxedo, with a red rose in the pocket. As she walked down the isle his eyes filled with tears. This was the happiest moment of his life. He was finally getting married to the person he loved. By the time she reached the altar he was crying tears of joy. The priest announced "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." And they met in the middle to share a kiss. After the wedding ceremony, they were all herded into a ball room magnificently decorated. There was a banner over the entrance announcing "The Truth Is Here" in green and black letters. There were tables scattered throughout the room, each covered with a beautiful, cream colored tablecloth. Each table was set with a peculiar centerpiece. It stood in the middle of the table dancing in accordance to the music. It just like one of those dancing flowers in a pot that they sell in stores. But a dancing alien baby took the place of the flowers in the flowerpots. In the middle of the room was a dance floor awaiting the bride and groom to take their first dance. As they swayed to the music, the rest of the world seemed to disappear and they were the only two on the dance floor and the only two in the world. Their wedding guests watched in awe as they focused on nothing but each other, as if nothing else in the world matters. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* X-Files Office Tuesday, August 27, 1999 3:37 p.m. Mulder was snapped out of is daydream by a voice that was constantly calling out his name. "What?" Mulder asked sheepishly once he realized that he had zoned out while Scully was talking to him. Aggravated, Scully said "You haven't been listening to a word I said, have you? It figures, we have to meet Skinner in ten minutes and you're off daydreaming instead of helping me figure out what we're supposed to tell him!" "I thought we already planned out what we were going to tell Skinner." Replied a completely confused Mulder. "Yeah, whatever. Look, we have to get up there or else we'll be in more trouble than we are already in, ok? Lets go." Scully answered crankily. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Skinner's Office Same Date 3:51 p.m. Skinner was waiting for them when they got there. He waited for them to be seated before he began talking. "Agents" he said, "after rereading your report on this last case, I have come to the conclusion that you are both in need of some vacation time." Their case was about bacteria that ate through anything, including human flesh. Because of stress and exhaustion the agents failed to realize what should have been obvious. The bacteria was vulnerable to cold hence the outbreak did not occur within the cold sealed lab but when the bacteria was brought to the mines. The reason Scully didn't know what to tell Skinner is because she was ashamed of the fact that she missed such a seemingly obvious fact in the analysis of the bacteria. You have both been under a lot of stress due to this case, and I feel that you are not working up to your full potential. Also, since neither of you have taken a vacation ever since you started working on the X-Files, I am ordering you both to go somewhere fun and relax and enjoy yourselves for two weeks." He then paused although not long enough to let either agents object. "Dismissed." He said, and both agents rose and left his office. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Basement Same Date 4:07 p.m. "Bye Mulder. See you in two weeks." "Wait!" Mulder said before she could leave the office. Suddenly, he became nervous. He thought to himself. another part of him thought. "You wanna come to Busch Gardens with me?? They have a lot of fun rides there I hear. Please?" Mulder said. thought Scully. She was hoping he'd want to spend some of their vacation time together. "Sure Mulder. But I'm going to visit my mom tomorrow. Bill and Charlie are going to be there. They're on vacation right now also." "Ok, then, how about I book us a flight for tomorrow night, that way we can sleep on the plane and check into a hotel early in the morning and still make it to the parks opening on Thursday?" "Sure Mulder, that sounds fine. Jut let me know what time the flight is so I leave myself enough time to pack." "I'll pick you up on my way to the airport, that way we both won't end up paying for our cars in the parking garage. See you tomorrow. I'll call and leave a message if your not home letting you know what time the flight is and what time I'll pick you up." Great, thanks, see you later, bye!" and with that, she walked out of the basement, actually looking forward to her vacation. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Apartment 42 Wednesday, August 28, 1999 7:34 a.m. Mulder was awake and wondering what he should do. He had already purchased two airplane tickets to Tampa, Florida and reservations at the Holiday Inn Express, which is 10 minutes away from their final destination. Now all he had to do was call Scully and tell her what time he would pick her up. "Hello?" Scully said as she answered the phone. "Hey Scully!" Mulder replied just a little too enthusiastically considering the time. "What Mulder?" She replied grumpily, for she was just awakened by this phone call. "I just called to let you know that our flight leaves at 9p.m. so I'll come pick you up at 7, ok?" "Sure, fine, whatever." Scully answered. "Great! See you then!" Mulder said and hung up the phone. Mulder was practically jumping for joy by the time they got off the phone. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Mrs. Scully's House Same Date 8:36 a.m. Dana Scully arrived at her mother's house a little bit earlier then expected. She got out of the car, knocked on the door, and waited for her mother to unlock it and let her in. While she was waiting, she wondered what her mother had planned for them to do today. She already told her mom that she was going away with Mulder for the rest of her vacation and her mother was very happy and pleasantly surprised to hear this news. Mrs. Scully let her daughter in, and they sat down on the sofa and talked, while waiting for Bill Jr., Tara, and Charlie to arrive. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Fox Mulder's Apartment Same date 8:41 a.m. After checking his suitcase over three times to make sure he wasn't missing anything, he put his suitcases next to the door, turned the television on, and flipped through the channels. After thirteen minutes of channel surfing, he realized that his efforts were futile, and that there was nothing on t.v. He called the Lone Gunmen, only to find out that they were busy working and couldn't talk to him right this moment. Mulder started pacing around his apartment trying to find something to do. His video collection didn't seem very appealing at the moment and he didn't have any books to read. He saw his computer and decided to go online and try to pass the time online. He turned on the computer and waited for Windows 98 to load. He started AOL and went into a random chat room. He sat there for a few minutes trying to follow the different conversations but found it almost impossible. He exited the chat room and decided to see if he could find a map of Busch Gardens in order to see which rides there were and figure out which ones he would like to go on. After half an our of finding nothing, he tried using Yahoo! Search engine. He found there a list of about 15 sites with Busch Gardens on them. One of those sites had a list of attractions on them and Mulder saw that five of them were roller coasters, three of them were water rides, and the rest were other rides. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* In the Car driving on a road Same Date 12:34 p.m. After everyone had arrived, they spent a great deal of time talking and catching up with each other and just talking. Then they all decided to split up and go eat lunch, and then to meet back there later on in the day. Dana and her mother were on their way to the salon. "I think you should get your hair done for your vacation" Mrs. Scully stated. "But Mom, it's a vacation. I shouldn't be getting it done now because it won't matter! " "Dana, just do it for me, ok?" and then she lowered her voice and said, "And for Fox..." "What did you say Mom?" "Look, you know you love him, you can't just deny it. " She thought as she turned a bright crimson color. Even as she thought this she realized what it meant; she had just admitted that her mother was right. "Mom, I do believe I'm old enough to know what to do, I don't need you telling me what to do!" "Dana," she said frustrated, "Just do it for me, ok?" "Whatever." And after this was said, they both dropped the argument, both feeling it was pointless. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Fox Mulder's Apartment Same Date 1:46 p.m. After visiting all the sites he checked the clock on his desk and realized that he hadn't eaten anything since he woke up. He walked to the supermarket across the street and bought himself something to eat at the Deli there. After eating, he went to the local park to play a little basketball before picking up Scully. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Salon Same Date 2:47 p.m. Upon arriving at the salon, they were told that their appointment had to be pushed back until four o'clock due to an unexpected problem with one of their customers. As they were sitting and waiting, their argument started again. "Dana, I think you should get your hair highlighted." "But Mom, it looks good now. I mean, I don't want to do anything to it." Scully argued with her mother while sitting waiting for their appointments. "I know it looks good honey, but it's been that way for a long time now. You need to change once in a while." "Come on! I just want it shampooed and styled, ok?!" "Dana Katherine Scully, will you listen to me?! It will look great!" "But Mom!" Scully didn't care; she wanted her normal hair. The woman came back and called them for their appointments, both at the same time. They followed her and sat down in the chairs, next to each other. "What would you like for me to do?" The woman asked Scully. "She'd like to have her hair highlighted and styled." her mother answered for her. The woman looked to Scully for her answer. "Yeah, I guess so." Scully said reluctantly. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Basketball Courts Same Date 4:58 He finished playing basketball and checked his watch. He saw that he had just enough time to get home, shower, and get to Scully's place on time to pick her up. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Dana Scully's Apartment Same Date 6:20 p.m. Scully was exhausted after getting home from her mother's. Her arguments with her were proven futile; she ended up doing what her mother wanted. She looked into the mirror for what seemed like the hundredth time since she got home. It was hard for her to get used to seeing her hair with blonde highlights after having her hair its normal color without highlights or other treatments. All of a sudden a new thought crossed her mind. She sat down on the couch, hoping to find something on t.v. to keep her occupied while she waited for Mulder to pick her up and take her to the airport. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Scully's apartment Wednesday, August 28, 1999 6:56 PM Mulder stood outside Scully's door and knocked. "Wait a sec Mulder! These bags are heavy!" she shouted from inside. " Hey, I'll get em!" he said and opened the door. He closed it behind him, and tried to find Scully. "Where are you?" he asked, looking around to find Scully. They had to leave quickly, or else they'd miss the flight. "I'm in here Mulder!" she shouted from the bedroom. He followed her voice till he got to the door. When he began to open it - "NO! Stop! Wait! I'm naked! Wait a sec!" came Scully's frantic voice from behind the door. "Then why won't you let me come in?!" he leered. "Come on Scully! You said all you had to do was get your suitcases and stuff! What's the hold up?" he said annoyed and rushed. Scully thought frantically. What would she do? He would see her hair! Maybe a hat...no, it would still show. Maybe she should just go on and quit stalling...So she opened the door, and then quickly grabbed her luggage before he could see her face. She pulled it up to the door, and handed him a bag. Mulder saw a flash of blond and he freaked. "Scully?! What have you done to your hair!?" he said. Scully slowed and took a breath. "Mom convinced me to highlight it. Actually, it was more like ordered me to. Hey, it's not permanent. I'll go away someday! And why do you care? It's not your hair." "Some day? But it might stay in for a long time! It was so pretty when it was red-totally red! It was absolutely beautiful that way!" he quickly shut up, for he knew he had said too much already. Scully smiled happily. "Hehe. Mulder, come on, let's get going!" Scully said as she grabbed her bag and left with Mulder. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Mulder's car Same day 7:17 PM As the two sat in the car an awkward silence settled. Mulder was too afraid to talk, thinking he'd say something and get Scully angry again. He didn't want that, even though he felt she looked so damn sexy when she was angry. But she was right, it was her hair, her decision, and it would go back to normal sooner or later. Scully was also busy thinking. She paused, pondering this thought. *X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X*~*X* Dulles International Airport Same day 8:24 PM "Are you absolutely sure we are supposed to have first class? I mean, it just doesn't seem right!" Scully argued. "Scully, listen to me ok? I booked us for two first class seats together. Ok?" Mulder told her. Scully awed at him, almost mesmerized. "Hehe. Scully, you look amazed that I have actually spent more money than just enough to scrape by on! Hey, I even got us a good hotel!" "Where, the Ritz Carlton?" "No!" Scully smiled in spite of herself. "Thanks Mulder." she said simply and then went drudging off to their gate. End part 1.