'No!'

'But...'

'No but's Mulder. I'm way too old, and you are way too much trouble.'

'I'm different out of work.'

'Are you?' Skinner asked, eyebrows raised.

'A little.' Mulder was forced to concede.

'The answer's still no.'

'Couldn't you just try it for a while? If you changed your mind, I'd move out.'

'No!'

Mulder replaced the phone and began to get up. 'Would you excuse me sir? I have to see someone?'

Skinner looked up from a file containing details of a case Mulder had asked his opinion on. 'Who?'

'Um�no-one.'

'Then you won't need to leave the room.'

''Uh, I meant, no-one you know.'

Skinner got up from where he was sitting on the edge of Mulder's desk. Following Mulder out, he muttered: 'You'd be surprised who I know Agent Mulder.'

'...You know full well we have a discussion word and, if you were really unhappy, we have a stop word. If you had used either of those, I would have stopped. Immediately. I heard neither.'

'I know.' Fox's face showed how much he believed Walter.

'You've never used either of them. That's what this is about, isn't it. You don't believe I'd stop if you used one of them, do you?'

Walter's insight made Fox squirm. 'Yes. I do. Of course I do.'

'Really?'

Almost under his breath, Fox said: 'No.'