He's caught up short by the question, though he supposes he shouldn't be. It's only natural to wonder why he's here and not in Alexandria, isn't it? He spent so many years in the apartment on Hegal Place, all the time in which this Scully has known him. But going back to the beginning of his tenure here means remembering buying it with Scully. And all those memories, it turns out, still rub raw.

"I have," he says, after a moment, his eyes on his hands as he unbuckles his seatbelt like it's the most interesting thing he's ever seen. "Several years now."