Her palm is warm, his heartbeat steady, and the connection between those two points feels like it's always existed. Scully and Mulder since long before either of them knew that's what they could be - as long as they've existed, maybe this has just been waiting to be found.

Mulder hopes so, anyway. The alternative, that he's somehow cornered her into something she'll grow to regret, kills him.

He cups her face, feeling her smile where it makes her cheeks round, and kisses her again. "I don't know if there is a future. But -"

But he'll give her what he has.