Images
An X-Files Erotica By Aralin

STORIES ON THIS SITE ARE INTENDED FOR ADULTS ONLY

Where the characters of Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and Samantha Mulder belong to Chris Charter, Fox Broadcasting and 10/13 Productions, and were used without permission, there was no intent to infringe. *Chris, I promise to play nice with them and return them unharmed :)* The characters of Image, Jonathan and Doorway were created by my wonderful friend Patrick Jones and were used with permission from him. **Under the stipulation that I explained how Image got from where she was to where she ended up.** Does that cover everything? Oh, the rest of the story is copywritten by the author (that would be me).

This story contains NC17 material!! (Graphic Sex and some Strong Language). Please do not read past this if you are not above the age of consent, or prepared to read this type of subject matter. I am a firm believer in the Freedom of Choice and have faith in the masses that they know what offends their sensibilities. If you don't like reading lovingly written sexual encounters then don't. If you do like reading lovingly written sexual encouters, Please let me know how I did. (To steal a line from Doctor Who)

Thanks to Catphile for her faith in my talents as a writer. Thanks to Phase001 for her encouragement and pointing out the technical *character errors* I encountered while writing. I didn't plan on submitting this but she said, and I quote "This story *needs* to be posted SOMEWHERE; you would be doing a great disservice to the rest of the creative people if you don't post it. Trust me ;)" So here I go, trusting her. :) There, I think everyone has been graciously thanked and fairly warned. Enjoy! :) All Compliments Gratefully Accepted. –Aralin (no that's not my real name :))

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Images by Aralin

Skagit County
Washington
Tuesday
10:30 a.m.

Image looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings. The forest trees towering above her head were strange and yet familiar to her inhuman violet eyes.

"I guess I shouldn't have pissed off the Teleporter." She said to herself, referring to the person that folded space and allowed her people to travel from world to world, and dimension to dimension.

She stood up and brushed the leaves and forest debris from her pants.

"I wonder how I'm going to get home now." She muttered, continuing the conversation with herself as she walked towards a strange noise off to her right.

Image broke through the dense underbrush to reveal herself to a long stretch of road, filled with vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

"And the plot thickens." She remarked. Her long red hair blown back from her delicate facial features by the breeze from the cars speeding by. The bright blue fabric of her skin tight jumpsuit clung to every curve of her slender figure.

One of the vehicles, a large truck, slowed to a stop near her. The overweight, underbathed, man behind the wheel leaned over to the passenger side and rolled down the window. "Did you break down, Little Miss? Can I give you a lift someplace?" Although the language was similar to her own native tongue, she understood only a few words. He seemed willing to help her so she nodded and climbed into the cab.

After a few miles of riding in silence, his hand appeared on her knee sliding slowly up her thigh. "You shouldn't take rides with strangers without first discussing the method of payment." He said, his wide grin displaying teeth that were rotten beyond repair. The jowls of his unshaven cheeks jiggled with the bumps in the road.

She may not recognize the language, but she did understand what his hand was saying.

A twinkle appeared in her violet eye and a tiny smile turned up the corners of her full lips. She looked out the window to watch the illusion, she painted with her mind, take shape directly in front of the truck.

The truck driver glanced at the road to see the asphalt disappear from sight. The drop off of the cliff he now saw before him caused him to slam on the brakes, bringing the truck to a shuddering halt in the center of the median.

Image slid out of the cab and disappeared.

FBI Headquarters
Washington DC
Thursday
10:04 a.m.

"Hey Scully have you seen this?" Mulder asked, handing a manila folder to his partner and sitting down at his desk.

"...The cliff just appeared out of nowhere and the girl disappeared..." Scully read aloud to herself. "Yeah, so?" She asked. "What's this got to do with us?"

"Right before he saw her appear on the highway, the truck driver said he saw a bright flash of light off in the forest. And also, there are no drop-offs on that section of the road. The interstate was carved out of the mountain, and it rises about 200 feet on either side." His grin was unmistakable.

"I suppose you have other strange phenomena happening in the same area." Scully inquired, already pretty sure the tickets were bought and the plane left that evening.

"But of course, I'll tell you all about it on the plane." He smiled, revealing the childlike excitement he seemed prone to at the beginning of a lot of their 'strange sightings' cases.

Washington (The State)
Saturday
3:42 p.m.

Image walked into the small diner. The air shimmered around her like the vapors rising off hot asphalt. Her bright blue jumpsuit faded and was replaced with a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt.

A waitress, with a nametag announcing her name as Kate, approached her. She tugged her apron into place over her short blue and white gingham uniform, and swept her arm around at the nearly empty diner. "Sit where you like honey." She said, between snaps of her gum.

"Thank you, Kate." Image replied. She had picked up the language quickly while traveling through the small towns, from the people that had given her rides from place to place.

She moved towards a secluded booth in the back of the restaurant, and sat down. Kate followed her and placed a menu down in front of her. "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Yes, thank you."

Kate moved off to her duties, leaving Image alone with her thoughts. *How am I going to get home?* She thought to herself. Memories of her friends back home faded into her mind's eye, Jonathan, the Traveler, springing to the fore. Across the table, his image tingled to life. Sitting there, smiling at her. He reached across the table and patted her hand.

"When did your friend show up?" Kate asked, placing a cup of coffee on the table.

Snapping out of her reverie, Jonathan's likeness disappeared, in a blink of light, painting a faint afterimage on her eyes.

Startled by his sudden disappearance, Kate spilled the tray of glasses she had balanced on her other hand. "What the hell..." She muttered.

"I'm sorry." Image smiled sadly. "Here, let me help you." She said as she bent to retrieve some of the broken glass.

"Oh, no. Don't worry about that. It was my fault. I just thought..."

"Thought what?" Image asked.

"I thought I saw someone sitting there." She motioned to the empty side of the booth.

"No, I have been alone." Image touched Kate's cheek. "No one else was here."

"No one else was here." Kate repeated, in a light trance state, pausing in her cleaning to stare into Image's violet eyes.

Image's fingers slid from Kate's cheek and the spell broke. "I am sorry Miss. Why don't you move to this table while I clean up this mess." Kate was up and away before Image could speak.

Smiling to herself, Image moved to the table Kate had indicated. At least she still had her abilities here in this dimension, and it looked like other talents were becoming apparent also. She could now manipulate anothers mind and thoughts.

The table next to her new seat was occupied by a handsome, lean, well built gentleman in a dark gray suit. His walnut brown hair was just short enough to be professional, but long enough that she could imagine herself running her fingers through it. His features were sharp and masculine.

Image sipped quietly at her coffee and studied the man for many long moments.

He was typing information into a lap top computer, pausing now and again to drink from a glass of iced tea.

Image decided to test her new abilities on this man. She fixed her gaze on the nape of his neck, where his hair came to a point. After a few seconds, she began to pick up pictures of his memories. His long, graceful fingers rubbed absently at the spot she had been concentrating on, startling her.

Kate returned to get her order.

"Coffee is fine for the moment. May I just sit here and collect my thoughts for a while?"

"No problem Miss." Kate replied, putting her pencil back behind her ear.

"You can call me Image."

"That's an unusual name." Kate noticed.

"It's a nickname. I am an artist, of sorts." Image explained.

"Oh. Okay, Image, just holler if you get hungry."

"Thank you, Kate." Image smiled.

Kate returned the smile and moved back to the kitchen.

The man in the table next to her was now joined by a woman. She was also dressed in a dark suit, with shoulder length red hair, cut in a professional looking bob.

"How's the plumbing?" The man asked, a devilish smile playing at the corners of his full lips.

She shook her head and brandished him with her patented *you are a crude bastard* look, as she sat down. "Well, Mulder, it looks like that last lead you got was a dead end. Maybe we should put the finishing touches on the report and go home."

"Here, you type for a while then. I need a break." He said, pushing the lap top towards her.

"If you would learn to type with more than just your two index fingers, this would go a lot faster." She shot him a friendly, teasing smile and began to input information into the machine.

Image fixed her gaze once again on the neck of the man called Mulder. Pictures of his memories began to filter into her mind. Two children, a boy and girl, older brother -- younger sister, playing Frisbee in a park. The sunlight filtering though the trees.

Image smiled at the happiness she saw in the memory.

Mulder's face also lit up with a smile.

Scully glanced up at her partner. "Why are you grinning like the Cheshire Cat? Do I have something on my face?" She asked, wiping a napkin across her mouth.

"What?" Mulder asked, snapping out of the light trance he was in. The link severed with Image, as he clamped down on his wandering thoughts. "Oh, no. I was just remembering playing Frisbee in the park with Samantha." He said, still a little dazed by Image probing into his mind.

"Where did *that* come from?" Scully asked, personally pleased to see his usual darkness lifted for a moment. Image felt a mild wave of sexual tension flow from the woman, she touched softly at the thoughts in Scully's mind to see a faint picture of the man's fingertips running along her jaw, bringing her lips to meet his... Image smiled at Scully's fantasy and returned her attention to Mulder.

His memory had faded and with it, faded his smile.

"I don't know, Scully. I was just sitting here and my mind began to wander." He leaned back and stretched his arms over his head.

Image understood the flow of tension from Scully now, as she studied the long, catlike grace of his body, watching, through he thin material of his shirt, the muscles in his chest as they extended and contracted. A smile of her own pleasure dusted across her lips and she felt herself become moist with the thought of him touching her. She shook her head to clear away the thought.

Scully was saddened by the loss of his smile. "You need to get some sleep Mulder." She replied, her usual response to his wandering thoughts.

He nodded absently and secretly wished the memory would return.

Image concentrated on the girl in the memory. The strength of the sadness the man now felt was practically tangible to her heightened empathy. Perhaps if she could conjure the image for him his happiness would return.

After a few moments, the girl of his memory began to materialize in the chair across from her. Image smiled at the girl and she smiled back.

Just then, Mulder turned to stand and stretch his legs and his eye caught on the long hair and familiar features of the child sitting across from Image.

"Sam?" He asked himself, in a ghost of a whisper. "Samantha?"

Image looked slowly up into the gaze of Mulder's disbelief. His grief washed over her in a wave, causing her to lose her concentration. The girl faded, and a tear rose in Image's eye.

She forcibly broke the link with Mulder.

Scully looked up at Mulder and frowned. "Mulder, are you all right?" She asked.

"I am so sorry Sir, I didn't know." Image looked at him. She stood up and began to move towards the door. "I thought it would make you happy..." Image was startled when his hand shot out and appeared on her arm, restraining her.

"You..."

"Really, Sir," Fear clouded over Image's violet eyes. "I just want to go home."

"Where is home?" Mulder inquired, still gripping her arm.

"It is beyond my reach." Image looked down at her shoe.

Mulder's sense of loss reached out to her, his compassion for her, wrapping her in an emotional embrace. Yet his outward appearance never altered. *I wonder if he's aware of what he is doing?* She asked herself.

Image is once again washed in a wave of emotions, the contact with him strengthening the wave to tsunami proportions.

She faltered and began to slip to the floor, Mulder's grip on her, the only thing keeping her upright.

Image fought to regain rational thought. She forced the illusion of fire to appear on her arm where Mulder's grasp bit into her, using her talents to convince his brain to register the heat.

Instinctively he withdrew his hand, immediately realizing his mistake, but she took the instant of opportunity and darted out the door.

Mulder chased after her, but Image was gone.

Image thought about Mulder constantly as she walked along the sidewalk. She wanted to see him again, talk to him. In her brief contact with him she had picked up on bits of his personality. His job was finding things and dealing with strange beings. She had a feeling that he might be willing to hear her story and maybe even able to help her find a way home.

She stopped walking and looked up at a brightly lit sign. Night had fallen, making the sign sing its message with a brilliance. Neon pink letters spelled out 'Paradise Motel' and a Flamingo, outlined in the same neon, pointed the way to the lobby.

Image approached the lobby door. She pulled it open and stepped into the air conditioned room. She crossed the space to the front desk. "I'd like a room please," She said to the man behind the counter.

"Sure thing, Sweetheart, that'll be $30." He replied, with a rough, gravely voice.

She stuck her hand in her holographic jeans pocket and pulled out 3 holographic $10 dollar bills.

"Thank you, and have a nice stay." The man smiled and handed her a key.

"Thank you." She smiled, staying long enough to watch him place the money in the cash register. When he slammed the drawer shut, the bills faded into the shadows.

As she walked to her room, she caught sight the man from the diner. He was holding the car door open for the woman who had been with him. She watched carefully as they said their good nights and entered separate rooms.

*They must not be lovers* Image thought to herself, with a growing smile. *Strange, I could have sworn I felt an attraction between them.* She continued to watch the window of the man's room, trying to think of the way she should approach him.

"Let's try truth. If he freaks, I'll just chalk it up to experience and be on my way." She said to herself. She dropped her disguise, approached his door and knocked.

After a few moments, he answered. His shirt was unbuttoned and the breeze gently lifted it back to reveal his well defined chest and taunt abdomen. *What is wrong with that woman, I'd be on this guy in a second.* She thought to herself, willing her hand not to reach out and feel the silk of his skin.

"Mr. Mulder?" She inquired, forcing her desire down to her toes where it could no longer cloud her thoughts.

"Can I help you?" Mulder asked, leaning with one hand on the top corner of the door.

"Could I come in for a moment?" Meeting his eyes, she tried to keep her gaze from wandering down the length of his sculptured torso.

He recognized the violet eyes and immediately ushered her in. "Why did you run earlier?" He asked as he closed the door and re-buttoned his shirt. "I was afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of what you might have done to me. Your anger and sadness was so strong it took me off-guard."

"So why come here now?" He escorted her in to the room.

"To apologize, and to ask you a question."

"Apologize?"

"For making you sad." She lowered her eyes, and sat down on the corner of the bed. She tried to read his emotional signals, but found them too jumbled to understand. Sadness, loss, confusion and curiosity all vied for his immediate attention. He pushed them all aside and let the curiosity have its way.

"What are you?" He asked, pulling a chair up next to her and sitting down.

"My name is Image." She paused trying to collect her thoughts. "There is really no other way to put this..." She glanced up into his warm, hazel eyes and instantly regretted the move, the flame of passion she had forced down to her toes, bubbled up her legs and set her sex on fire. "...I am from an alternate dimension. I have the ability to project holographic images with my mind. I am empathic, and I can alter the emotions of others."

He sat back in the chair, his mind reeling with the extreme possibilities of her statement, and a growing desire heating his groin.

The temperature in the room seemed to soar, and the air conditioner rattled to life by the window. The strength of her emotions in this dimension was overpowering her, and she did not realize they were leaking from her. Even though Mulder was unaware of the empathic talents he had, he was picking up on Image's projected craving and being pulled in with her.

"I was hoping you might be able to help me find a way home." Image smiled unsurely at him, and thought to herself, *I need a cold shower.* She pressed the fire back down as it began to creep up, clenching her nipples.

His face remained calm, but she could feel the storm of conflicting emotions within him. "Can you prove what you say is true?" He asked, finally looking directly at her.

"What, like read your mind?" Image inquired.

"Can you..." He paused, "...can you bring Samantha back...?" He asked, almost afraid of the answer.

She opened herself to him, unaware that with doing so, she coated his mind with her lingering desire for him. She began to pick up the general feelings on the surface of his consciousness. A sliver of a thought bore into his mind, that she could not read.

*Don't even think of sleeping with her.* A voice in his head chanted.

She dove deeper into his memories, recalling the day in the park. The reflection of his sister tickled the corner of his eye. He closed his eyes, and turned slowly towards the likeness Image created with her mind. Upon opening his eyes he saw his sister, his Samantha...

A single tear, all that he would allow, threatened to break from the confines of his eye and trickle down his lightly stubbled cheek.

Samantha placed her fingers lightly upon the tear's trail as it defied his will and traced a line down his jaw. She silently mouthed the words, "I love you, Fox."

He smiled, his joy and pain intermixing, and nodded slowly.

The air shimmered around Samantha, and the reflection faded to sleep.

"Thank you." He said with quiet awe.

Shaking his head, as if to clear it, he stood. "I am sorry, Image, I don't think I know of any way to get you home. This dimension has not yet reached the technological equivalent of inter-dimensional travel." He stated in complete calm, as though he met inter-dimensional beings everyday, "You may be stuck here." He looked down at her, wanting to help, wanting to return her gift, feeling strangely, intensely aroused by her presence, but unsure of what he should do.

Her shoulders fell into a grief induced slouch, and she began to rock gently back and forth, trying to comfort the intense feeling of loss that had temporarily doused the flame of desire in her. Repeating the words, "So far from home," like a mantra.

His heart went out to her. He squatted down in front of her, one of his knees on either side of her legs. One hand on her knee the other lifting her chin to gain eye contact with her. "What can I do to help you?" he asked.

Together, they stood, she wrapped her arms around the barrel of his chest and began sobbing into his shoulder.

His arms went around her, protecting her, comforting her. He pressed his lips into her hair. The sweet scent of some foreign flower dusting her, rising from her. He couldn't stop himself. An alarm went off in the back of his mind, *This could be a trap, if what she says is true, she could be altering your perception of her, like what the Kindred man did to Scully...* He looked down at the way her hair dusted his white shirt sleeve with an auburn hue and dismissed the voice's warnings. *Someone this beautiful and fragile could not hurt me.* He thought to himself. He noticed that he felt mildly intoxicated, *Strange, I only had one Electric Ice Tea during dinner, it shouldn't be effecting me this much.*

Her sobs began to quiet and she backed away from him. "I'm sorry Mr. Mulder, I guess I should go. I need..."

"Just Mulder, please." He smiled, turning her knees to jelly, and winked at her. "You need a good night's rest, a meal and a hot bath." He interrupted. "Then you can make your decisions." He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. *Why am I doing this?* The voice in his head asked him.

He turned and dug through his suitcase for a moment, pulling out a black T-shirt a pair of well worn jeans and a clean pair of boxer shorts. "Here, I want you to go into that bathroom and take a long, hot bath." He offered her the clothes. "I will order something from room service. Then after you've eaten, we'll talk. Okay?"

Image sniffed back her tears and nodded. *Hot bath, like hell, I should take a cold shower, this guy has overheated my engine.* The scent of him, lingered in her nostrils for many long moments, re-lighting her dormant hunger. She went into the bathroom and started to fill the tub.

She sank into the embrace of the hot water, releasing the tenuous hold she had held over her thoughts. They wandered immediately to the man in the other room. His lithe, limber body, the grace and power of his muscles. Her hand slithered down beneath the water, to caress herself. *Perhaps if I release some of this tension...* her thoughts melted like butter as she easily brought herself to a climax.

Out in the bedroom, Mulder flipped the channels on the television, skimming past talk shows and sitcoms, news broadcasts and dramas, coming to rest on Showtime. The Red Shoe Diaries was just starting. He sat back on the bed and kicked off his shoes.

A wave of physical heat swept out from nowhere and frosted Mulder's skin with perspiration. The emotions of Image's sexual release flowed from her in torrents, bringing Mulder to an erection almost instantly. He imagined her in the tub, beckoning him to join her...

"Room Service!" a voice said through the door, jolting Mulder back to the present.

Mulder fished his wallet out of his suit coat and answered the door.

"That will be $12.50 please." The young girl said when the door opened, she lifted her head to look at him, a light blush on her cheeks.

"Are you all right?" Mulder asked, noticing the flush of her face.

She smiled, almost sheepishly and nodded, "Yes Sir, I'm okay," her grin widened for a moment then slid into an embarrassed smile. "I was just thinking..."

Mulder caught a twinkle of pleasure in her eye, and smiled too. "Must be something in the air." He told her.

She nodded and after handing him the tray of food she turned and slowly sauntered away.

He watched her go, smiling at his own body's reactions. He shut the door, his mind clouded with unrequited pleasure, and knocked on the bathroom door. "You all right in there? You didn't drown did you?" Image could feel his smile through the door. "Your food is here."

She ran some cool water over a cloth and pressed it to her blazing cheeks. She wasn't the kind of girl that usually threw caution to the wind, but it had been so long, and he was so handsome...

Making sure the bubbles in the tub were sufficient to be decent, she said "Would you bring it in, please?"

He peeked his head around the door "Are you sure?" He asked, sudden embarrassment staining his cheeks.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now that I am relaxed, I realize just how hungry I really am." She beckoned him in with her finger.

He stepped into the small motel bathroom and took a seat on the toilet lid. "I didn't know what you liked so I got a little of everything." He explained, tipping the tray slightly for her to look at its contents.

Her skin still glistened slightly with color. She pressed his emotions softly with her mind, steering him towards sensual thoughts, breaking down the last of his minds barriers. Her eyes drifted briefly to the growing bulge in his slacks and she smiled. "Everything looks so good. I don't know where to start. What do you recommend?"

"The cheese sticks are one of my favorites." He said, setting the tray on the edge of the tub and pointing to a plastic basket holding deep fried mozzarella sticks.

She reached up a hand to take one and warm soapy water dripped from her hand onto the edge of the tray. "That's not going to work." She said.

"Here let's try this." He picked up a cheese stick and brought it to his own lips to test its temperature. Finding it cool enough not to burn, he reached across the tub and let her take a bite of it. He dipped the remaining end into a small container of ranch dressing and popped it into his mouth.

"Hey, that was mine." She pouted.

"Want it back?" He smiled. *She is very beautiful* His mind's warning voice, changing it's tone.

"No thanks." Image grimaced. "What else do you recommend?" She asked, peering over the edge of the tray.

"Let's see, we've got a veggie plate, nachos, with guacamole, of course..."

"What's in the goblet?" She asked, interrupting his list.

"What? Oh, this?" He lifted a glass from the counter. "It's wine." He took a sip, letting the cool tang of it trickle down his throat, but it did very little to cool his thoughts.

"We have that too. I must not be too far from my own dimension. Jonathan always said the farther you get from your original dimension the stranger the things become."

"Jonathan?" Mulder asked

"A good friend, from home." She smiled, sadly, at the memory.

"Would you like a taste?" He asked, proffering the glass to her.

"Please."

He bent across the tub once more and gently lifted the glass to her lips. He deftly caught a drop of wine from her lip and licked it from his finger before replacing the glass on the counter. She sat up in the tub, letting the soap bubbles slide slowly from her full breasts.

His eyes caressed her, and she felt the rising heat of his desire closing the distance between them. He lifted the tray and set it on the counter, then knelt down beside the tub and leaned to cover her mouth with his. *I can't believe you're really going to do this.* A voice, reminiscent to Scully's, entered his mind.

She parted his lips with her tongue and tasted him, to find he was deep and rich like the wine they had shared. His hand gently caressed her breast, the coolness of his skin bringing her nipple to attention.

"Sorry, are my hands cold?" He asked, a devilish smile playing upon his lips.

"They feel wonderful." She replied, standing up, letting the bubbles slide from her skin and drip lazily into the tub. She took one of his hands and pulled him up with her. Her eyes fell to the rising form of his erection. She traced its shape through the light fabric of his trousers. "So, Mulder you don't find me attractive or anything do you?" She asks, a sly grin turning up one corner of her mouth. She captured his lips with her own before he could reply.

His hand once again found her breast and he painted the outline of her nipple in the remaining bubbles. His other hand found the small of her back and he gently lifted her out of the bathtub.

He grabbed a towel from the rack and began to brush the lingering bubbles from her skin. His hands teasing her flesh as they slipped off the towel, caressing her shoulders and breasts, her taunt stomach, her full hips, her buttocks and the backs of her thighs.

He pulled her to him pressing her body to his as one hand slipped down her back and thigh to pull her leg up over his hip. His other hand slid up into her wet hair and pressed her lips firmly to his.

She pushed him away enough to begin working on the buttons of his shirt. He took her hands in his, pressed a kiss to the inside of each wrist before letting them go and pulled his shirt open with enough force to pop two buttons. One of which rolled around the sink once before slipping down the drain. She realized she didn't have to push the emotions to him anymore. That relieved her a little, it felt less like she was forcing him to do this.

"You're going to want that later." She said, whispering into his ear before nibbling gently around his earlobe. The contact of the warm silk of his flesh against her own was electric.

"You're probably right." He replied, wrapping both of his strong arms around her waist and waltzing her backwards, into the bedroom.

She sank into the pleasure he provided. Forgetting herself for a few moments.

"May I say something?" She backed away from him, breaking all contact, to unsuccessfully allow her mind to think more clearly.

"You're not going to tell me you're married are you?" He raised one eyebrow, in an expression that melted Image's heart.

"No, I am not married. I just wanted to warn you of something."

"Warn away." He smiled at her, his eyes tracing her figure.

"I have a minor problem controlling my talents when I am emotionally charged." She stepped closer to him unable to keep her fingers from drawing the muscled outlines of his chest and stomach.

"This would mean what, exactly?" He teased each of her nipples in turn with an exploratory finger. *You're going to regret this.* Scully's voice appeared again in his mind. He pushed it away with a forceful thought.

"You may feel your emotions more intensely, and perhaps even see colors of our passions painted on the air around us." She explained, freeing him from his trousers with a quick movement of her wrist.

"I'll take that risk." He mumbled into her hair, after pulling her back into his embrace.

He swayed her slowly toward the bed, where she sat down and grabbed the hem of his boxers. She pulled them down with a slow patience that would have excited the even most chaste of men. His fingers twined in the wet tangles of her hair.

She placed her hands on his hips and pulled him to her. She teased kisses around the perimeter of her goal, tracing her tongue into the scoop just below his hip. His fingers tightened in her hair, as a tremble of anticipation vibrated through his being. Leaving him wanting, she smiled and stood up, scraping her fingernails up the entire length of his torso, pebbling his copper flesh with goose bumps of pleasure. He caught and held her lips in his, noticing he did not have to bend to do so. *Finally,* he thought to himself , *a woman a tall as myself.*

His hands explored every inch of her form, as one of hers came to rest on his erection. She gently ran her fingernails up the length of him, then curling her graceful fingers around him she began a leisurely, torturous rhythm. His kiss faltered for a moment. She drew his full bottom lip into her mouth and gradually released it, her teeth grazing it as he withdrew.

His hand ran down the length of her back, leaving a trail of fire behind it. It caressed her buttocks and guided her thigh up to hook over his hip. She directed him with a caress into her waiting sex. He buried himself, inch by inch, into her with antagonizing slowness. His lips and tongue tracing patterns down her neck and shoulder. He backed her up against the smooth coolness of the wall and lifting her other leg over his hip he pressed her against it. His hips made long expert thrusts into her while his hands caressed her face, neck and breasts. His tongue flicked across one of her nipples then the other, teasing them to almost painful hardness.

The spicy musk rising from his skin excited her sense of smell as much as his touch excited her body. She opened herself fully to him and his emotions crashed against her in never-ending waves. His passion and hers ebbing and flowing in time with the rhythm he set.

She arched her back against the wall as his pace stepped up, allowing him deeper access to her. Moans of pleasure began to escape her lips as they came ever closer to climax. The world exploded in a fountain of colors and faint afterimages of foggy, indefinable shapes.

Then all motion ceased. He pressed her against the wall, his arms and hands wrapped around her thighs to keep her from falling. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clung to him as the last vibrations of their shared orgasms pulsed through them. Pressing his face to her chest.

The wall began to vibrate and a distant voice yelled something about the time.

Mulder backed away from the wall and set Image down on her feet. She found her legs were about as rigid as cooked pasta and she began to slip down the wall. His embarrassed look at waking the neighbors, faded away almost instantly as he caught her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. "Are you all right?" He asked, immediately concerned about her. "Did I hurt you?"

"Hurt me? Hell no, that was the best damn sex I've ever had the pleasure to participate in." Her giddy smile reassured him as she ran her fingers across his lightly stubbled cheek, guiding his lips to hers.

He leaned her back into the pillows, cooling her skin with featherlight kisses. His lips traced intricate patterns over her breasts and across the soft flat plane of her stomach. Nipping and licking around the small silver ring in her navel.

He paused in his journey downward to examine the small tattoo high in her cleavage. It was of an abstract figure that he didn't quite understand.

She looked down at him, and with a gentle caress of his chin, pulled his eyes to meet hers, "What?"

"Your tattoo�" One of his eyebrows raised in the question.

"It's the back of a female figure, with her arms raised to the Mother." She smiled to him.

"Do you have any other body art?" His curiosity once again played a major role in the emotions Image felt flowing from him.

"Only where I like to feel my lovers lips." She smiled, her secretive grin raising his other eyebrow.

He took to the challenge, letting his lips explore every inch of her flesh, lingering on three other tattoos. High on her shoulder, on her wrist and just below her right knee, on the defined muscle of her calf.

He moved down her leg, to her small toes. He took the smallest into his mouth and traced it with his tongue, sending Image writhing with pleasure. "Stop! That tickles!" she hissed through her teeth. Ignoring her plea he moved around to the sensitive skin of her high arched foot. Grazing his teeth across her instep. He was rewarded with a low, vibrating moan from his lover.

She clutched handfuls of the bedcovers. Trying not to raise the moans she allowed, to become cries.

He felt the heat of her radiate from her, carrying with it the scent of her uncontainable pleasure. Her scent lured him up to her thighs, moist from their mixed essence. He felt himself harden once again, and longed to feel her around him but quelled his desire. Wanting to give her pleasure first before taking his own.

He pressed his lips to the inside of her thigh, moving his kisses in ever tightening circles around the damp curls surrounding his goal. Image instinctively spread her legs to allow him access to her sex. Spice and flowers wafted past his nose, and he felt himself become painfully hard with anticipation of feeling her surround him once again.

His slender fingers pressed against her thighs, parting her fully. He pressed a gentle thumb in small circles to the hard bud of her clitoris and felt the shiver that wracked her body. She pressed her hips down into his hand, "I want�" She tried to speak, but her mind had turned to Jell-O and she couldn't finish the sentence.

"What do you want Image, tell me." His husky whisper scattered chills up her spine, making it even harder to form a coherent thought.

"I want you�" she tried again, bucking her hips against the fingers he had slipped into her, his thumb still massaging her clit. She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up face to face.

"What do you want, Image?" He asked again, and she smelled herself on his breath. She sighed deeply, breathing in the flavor of herself.

"Fuck Me!" She demanded in a harsh whisper. The vulgarity of her words seemed foreign to her lips but was highly erotic to his ears, and he smiled before kissing her.

"Your wish is my command." He uttered, withdrawing his hand from between her thighs, and positioning himself over her. She took his hand and licked her essence from his fingers, delighting in the tang of herself.

He teased the tip of his rock hard erection between her lips, entering only an inch or so then pulling away.

Her eyes popped open and she growled her words. "I want you inside me."

The room took on an ethereal glow as Image's passion strengthened. He felt washed in a wave of intense desire that weakened him for a moment. She turned over to lay on her side, facing him. She threw her leg over, around his waist and reached down to guide him into her. "I *need* you inside me." She whispered into his ear, tracing the outline of his earlobe with her tongue.

He obliged, sinking himself deeper and deeper into her, letting her pick the rhythm this time. She ground her hips onto him, burying him completely within her. She rolled him over, without dislodging him, onto his back and straddled him. Working herself up and down with her muscular thighs.

His eyes closed as he matched her stroke for stroke, she pinned his arms down and leaned over to caress his nipple with her lips. She felt him twitch under her kiss. "Image�" his crushed velvet voice sent her name floating across the room.

She picked up the pace coming closer to complete release, the glow of the room brightened, bathing them and the room around them in light, as though the stars themselves had come down from the sky at Image's call.

Mulder's strong fingers kneaded her breasts, thumbs stroking her garnet nipples. The room exploded with light in sync with Image's orgasm. One additional thrust of his hips bringing him to completion seconds after her.

She collapsed on top of him, his strong chest and arms catching her slender form, supporting her. He began to pull from her but she stopped him, "Not yet." She whispered, treasuring the feel of him within her. "Let me keep the memory of your feel and scent." She shuddered in his arms as a series of progressively weaker orgasms shook her.

He planted gentle kisses along her hairline and around her ear, whispering nonsense to her. She pulled from him curling up in the crook of his arm and fell into wonderful dreams.

He lay awake for a about an hour, holding her close. With her asleep, her mind's powers also lessened.

*What did you just do?* Scully's voice bloomed to life in his mind.

*I don't know but it was good.* He thought back at his conscience, mildly surprised that his conscience had Scully's voice, and not Jiminy Cricket's. He had always fancied himself a Jiminy Cricket kind of person. He grinned at himself and the situation he was now in.

Soon sleep found him and dragged him down into dreamless slumber.

Image woke the next morning to the scent of fresh coffee. Mulder's lips caressed her own and his tongue gently parted her lips, bringing her eyes open slowly. She savored the flavor of him.

She found him halfway dressed, wearing only his suit pants and nothing else. He was freshly shaven, smelled faintly of the hotel soap and his hair was still damp from the shower he had just taken. He held a cup of coffee in one hand while his other hand slipped beneath the sheets to caress her breast. She sat up, and leaned into the underlying spicy scent of his skin. The warmth of his hand slid down between her thighs and expertly caressed her sex.

A knock on the door interrupted the growing fire between her legs. "Damn!" he swore under his breath.

She caught his lips with hers before he got up, kissing him deeply to show her thanks.

He stood, put his coffee down on the nightstand, and tugged his shirt on before answering the door.

Scully's voice floated to Image.

"Get dressed and I'll meet you in the restaurant across the street for breakfast." Scully said.

"Sure thing." Mulder said, before abruptly shutting and locking the door again. Scully stood on the other side of the door, puzzled by his reaction, then moved on down the hall.

Image was still in the bed, soaking in the last memories of his touch, when he sat back down beside her.

"If you would like to take a shower I have some clean clothes you can have." He offered.

"I would like that very much." Image looked him in the eye. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked, puzzled.

"You have to ask?" She smiled at him. "You are very empathic, you reach out to others whether or not you're aware of it. I'd like to repay your gift."

He shook his head. "There is no need to..."

"Please, may I open your mind? Do you trust me?" She interrupted his protests.

He thought for many a long moment before slowly nodding his acceptance.

Image placed a hand on either side of his face, brushing her thumbs over his cheeks, as though wiping away invisible tears. She smiled as she felt his warm, dry palms come to rest on her hips. His eyes closed as she pressed kisses to each lid. Then she was inside his mind. Unlocking doors to his happy memories of his sister, closing doors on his overwhelming sadness and guilt, allowing him to concentrate on the joyful times before her disappearance. Giving him a renewed faith in his search. "Rejoice in the happiness found here," Image's voice soothing to his ears. "Do not shut away these memories. There is no wrong done and no desire lost by remembering the best times, for they truly bring you closer to your sister, than reliving the sad and helpless feelings."

The tears poured down his cheeks in silent testament of his love for his lost sibling. Tears of joy instead of sorrow.

She wiped his tears away with the palm of her hand, "Go, have your breakfast, I will shower and await your return." She kissed each cheek, tasting the salt of his tears. They seemed as sweet as wine to her lips. "I give you joy and wish you peace in your search."

He nodded, not trusting his voice, and stood to go to the bathroom to clean up his face. He stole one last look at her around the corner and she could see a new light in his eyes, a strengthened desire to find the truth. Then he was out the door, still tying his tie around his neck.

After her shower, she found the clothes he left out for her draped over the back of the chair in the closet area. She pulled on the cool cotton boxers, the worn denim Levi's�, and the black T-shirt, then moved gracefully into the bedroom area to get her boots. She was startled to find someone standing by the window, looking out at the pool below.

The man turned at her entrance and smiled.

"Jonathan?" Image said with disbelief, then she ran to his open arms.

"Hello Image. Doorway told me what he did to you. He is extremely sorry and would like to make it up to you if you'll let him." Jonathan explained, holding her close to him.

"Your face is the most handsome thing I think I've ever seen." She exclaimed, pushing him back and looking at him as if trying to memorize every nuance of him.

"That's not what you thought last night." Jonathan smiled and winked at her, as embarrassment stained her cheeks.

"You've been here that long?" She asked.

"No, I found you last night after you had fallen asleep. You looked so happy and peaceful I couldn't bear to wake you. So I left you in the arms of that handsome gentleman and decided to come back after he left. Would you like to go home now?" He asked.

She stopped herself in mid-nod, remembering Mulder. "Just let me write him a note, explaining..."

"I am here for you, take what time you need." He smiled and went back to looking out the window.

Image pulled a paper from the desk drawer and sat down to write using her magic as ink.

"Okay, Jonathan, let's go." She said, trying to hold back the tears she felt beading up in the corners of her eyes.

Mulder's key turned in the lock and he opened the door just in time to be blinded by the flash of light that accompanied Jonathan's dimension portal. He rushed in to find Image gone. The note floated off the table, to land on the ground near his foot and he bent to pick it up. He read it many times before the words began to fade from the page, her sweet voice echoed in his mind, "It was only a dream."

The End

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