“Mulder strolled into his office whistling.It was the kind of day that began with a gorgeous, unreal sunrise... he was half-afraid he was dreaming...It took a second for him to notice Scully in his chair.'Morning,' he said brightly.All he needed now was a generous supply of sunflower seeds, and things would be perfect.Scully reached down beside her, and tossed him a plastic bag.He caught it against his chest one-handed and held it up. It was a half pound of sunflower seeds. He smiled. A sign; it had to be a sign.”

“Mulder stumbled, and Scully grabbed his arm to steady him. He smiled at her wanly. 'Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?''Since when did you ever think I was helpless, Mulder?'Never, he thought; never.”

“And then he smiled, kind of a quirky half smile that tipped up only the right corner of his mouth. Because of that smile, that goddamn human smile, I had to swallow down a burst of affection that nearly brought tears to my eyes. Instead, I looked away, and hated myself - for my inability to hate him despite the things he said, the things he did, the things he expected.”

“In a second or two he would get up and join her in the shower he could hear running--consolidate his place with some very passionate seed-sowing and at the same time he would make Nell fall in love with him again.”

“Like I would buy a beer for some chick at a bar,” he said, shaking his head. I held up my beer, and he pulled up one side of his mouth into a half-smile. “You’re different.”

“Aphrodite then reminded Zeus what Themis had said. She had to swallow a whole amphora full of his seed before Eros & Chaos would let her girdle hang free. And she said that she looked forward to swallowing his seed, if he would let her. Zeus then took the young Goddess in his arms & told her that he would even willingly give her a whole amphora full of his blood if that would make her happy. He would like to give her all the seed that his sperm sacs could produce each day but only wished that the transaction did not have to go through Hera.”