Military receptions, Sephiroth decided, were boring. He’d seen Audrea come in, and said hello to her, taken aback by her appearance. Heidigger had insisted on talking to her then, and President Shinra wanted to talk to his new war hero. Sephiroth looked around, and saw Audrea escape to one of the balconies. He slipped out the door.

Audrea breathed a sigh of relief. Having already spoken to most of the Shinra top brass, including the president’s rotten son Rufus, who stared at her chest most of the conversation, she was tired. She downed her champagne in one gulp. Someone put a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to see Sephiroth, moonlight reflecting off his silver hair. "Hey…"

"That’s a … different look for you. I like it." He held her hand and kissed her lightly. "Are you bored?"

"Massively. I’ve only been here for like an hour and a half and I already can’t wait to get out of here."

Sephiroth nodded. "Agreed. And how do you propose we slip away?"

"You serious?"

"Always. You know that."

"Well. I drove here, so I guess we could take my car … you want to come over to my place for a while?" Audrea mused.

"That sounds like a good plan. Shall we give the brass a start and leave together?"

"Sure, why not?" He took her arm, and escorted her out the door, to the gapes of most of the Shinra heads.

Mulder head voices approaching, coming down the hallway. He raised the tranquilizer gun. They had 4 shots. And he was sure it was going to take all of them to bring Audrea down. Mulder aimed for the door, knowing she was going to have to stop and unlock it. He lowered the gun, though, when he saw who Audrea was with, Scully jabbed him in the ribs. "Mulder, shoot her!"

"I can’t. Look at who she’s with." Scully looked down and almost gasped aloud. When the hallway was clear again she looked at Mulder. "I think we should wait till she has less powerful company, don’t you?"

Scully nodded, too shocked to speak.

Inside her apartment, Audrea was going through the kitchen, looking for the wineglasses she knew she had somewhere. Sephiroth looked around, listening to her bang around the kitchen. He went in. "Need some help?" His eyes fell on the stack of pizza boxes in the corner. "Is this another of your secrets?"

"Okay…I admit it. I can’t cook." She found the glasses and opened the refrigerator, looking for the wine. Sephiroth came up behind her.

"You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your hair down." He found the pins and pulled them out, letting the knotted hair flow free. Audrea set the bottle and the glasses on the counter. She rested her head against Sephiroth’s chest, letting him nuzzle her neck. He picked her up in one arm, and took the glasses and wine in his other hand, carrying Audrea to the bedroom. He set her gently on the bed, and the wine on her nightstand. He sat down next to, and kissed her, pushing her back onto the bed.

Mulder looked at Scully. "How long do you think they’ll be? All night?"

"I hope not. Do you have a backup plan, Mulder?"

Mulder looked slightly uncomfortable. "Uhh… would you believe, no?"

"Yes, Mulder actually I would believe no. You better come up with something before someone finds us."

Mulder racked his brain, trying to figure a way out of this.

"And it was like he wouldn’t look at anything but my chest the whole time he was talking to me. It was really freaky." Audrea was sitting in the bathtub with Sephiroth, telling him about her night. She sipped from her glass. "I mean sheesh, really…" Audrea trailed off.

Sephiroth wrapped his legs around her, kissing her neck. "Poor baby."

Audrea yawned. "Mmm, that feels good. God, it’s like 3 am or something."

"I know." He carried her back into the bedroom, crawling into the bed with her.

In the air duct, Mulder and Scully sweated, waiting. Scully shot Mulder another dirty look. Mulder looked at Scully. "I have a plan. We use the oldest trick in the book. You ever go on a ring-and-run mission when you were a kid, Scully?"