FIC: Ab Initio by Maidenjedi (XF, 1/1)
TITLE: Ab Initio
AUTHOR: Maidenjedi
FANDOM: The X-Files
RATING: R
CATEGORY: Gen, Mulder
SPOILERS: Pilot, general series spoilers
DISCLAIMER: Not my characters, my concept, or my show. Damn it.
ARCHIVE: Anywhere, just keep my name on it.
SUMMARY: The fix is in and the sky is falling.
NOTE: Includes a drabble I wrote called "Nowhere Man," and
expanded quite a bit.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Stuck. He was stuck in an elevator at the Hoover Building
after 6pm on a Friday night.
No one even knew he was still there. It had been six months
since Diana left and he was still without a partner. Not
that he really wanted one; he was convinced it was better
to work alone.
And they were between assistant directors, so no boss would
ride his ass for this one.
Stuck in a freakin' elevator.
On a Friday night.
Mulder sat down and started fishing in his pocket for
sunflower seeds. Of course there weren't any, he never
had them in his pants pockets. It was a crazy habit anyway.
Somewhere right now, guys his age were picking up chicks at
bars. Or maybe they were married and having kids.
Mulder? He was chasing demons and ghosts from a basement.
They called him Spooky for a reason.
The elevator starting moving an hour later and Mulder went
home.
To nobody.
-
"They're going to give you a partner, Mulder. That's the
buzz."
Reggie took a bite of chili and cursed as he burnt his
tongue, all in a hurry to say what he'd come here to say
and get it the hell over with.
Mulder didn't throw anything or yell, which Reggie took
as a good sign.
Instead he simply asked, "When?"
"I don't know. Soon. And I think it's a good idea,
Mulder," Reggie said as he dug his spoon back into his
chili.
Mulder nodded in sort of a dazed way. Reggie sighed
inwardly, figuring now that he should have expected
this kind of reaction instead of something violent.
Mulder was contemplating all the reasons the Bureau
would have to give him a partner. Reggie hoped,
though he knew better, that Mulder wouldn't take
this as someone's grand scheme to reel him in by
spying on him.
They finished eating in silence and it unnerved Reggie.
Mulder was only like this when he was working a case,
when he had a lead and wouldn't drop it until he had seen
with his own eyes that the bogeyman hadn't been by.
"I'll see ya, Reg." Mulder turned back toward the
Hoover Building, intent on walking instead of taking
a cab.
"Mulder, what are you going to do?" It was a Friday
afternoon, and Reggie knew damned well there wasn't
something on Mulder's plate. That's why it had been
so easy to get him to come out in the first place.
"Clean my office. It's not exactly ready for visitors."
-
Office scuttlebutt had more than just Mulder getting
a new partner for the first time since Diana had left.
There was also a new assistant director on the horizon,
after quite a drought between leaders.
Assistant Director Walter Skinner had received his
promotion shortly after receiving his ten-year
commendation for service in the Bureau. With no
positions open, he cooled his heals for six months
as an acting field director in Pennsylvania. He was
finally scheduled to take the spot at headquarters in
August.
Mulder did some research, what he considered S.O.P. when
dealing with anyone new to his chain of command. Senator
Matheson confirmed that Skinner was going to be what they
all were - career Bureau hacks who were more interested in
the bottom line than they were solving crimes and saving
lives. Mulder didn't have to worry much, though, because
he answered to Section Chief Blevins and not an assistant
director.
Until a staff meeting he was required to attend proved
otherwise.
"New orders, agents. You've been without direct
supervision for quite some time, but from this point you
will all answer directly to Assistant Director Skinner,
who is taking over day-to-day operations. Section Chief
Blevins will oversee AD Skinner and AD Maslin. Any
questions?"
He had a lot of them, but held his tongue. For now.
-
Summer in Washington was always humid and hot, but this
summer seemed especially unbearable.
He didn't wear a tie for weeks.
The rumors about a partner had cooled off considerably,
and he was getting complacent. In some ways, he could
use another set of eyes, he thought as he went through
another set of slides from another messy homicide with
a magnifying glass.
But it would also create time-consuming roadblocks that
he just did not want to deal with, he amended later as
he answered several phone messages from a MUFON group
in southern Kentucky.
The air conditioner in his car had stopped working, so
he drove home that night with the windows down. As
usual, he'd left after most of his colleagues had gone
home, and night had fallen.
At his apartment, his complacency was shaken away completely
when he saw the Post-It note that had fallen to the floor
from what was likely an eye-level spot on the door.
Damned things never held up in the humidity.
"She's one of them," it said, scribbled hastily in
black Sharpie.
Well, what the hell did that mean?
-
He took the Post-It note to Danny the next day to have
it checked for prints and possible DNA samples. The only
prints Danny could find were Mulder's, and the one tiny
hair on it likely belonged to the shaggy mutt Mulder's
neighbors kept.
Okay, fine. Mulder decided he would take it up with AD
Skinner instead of waiting for more "evidence" to play
detective with.
"Am I getting a new partner? What the hell is this about and
why haven't I been told anything? This is my work, you can't
just mess with it like this!" He barged in, ignoring the
lovely administrative assistant at the desk outside who
protested quite vehemently.
AD Skinner already had a reputation for being no-nonsense
(the boys at the water cooler called him a "hard ass").
Mulder was not disappointed.
"Agent Mulder, when you wish to see me, you will make an
appointment with my assistant. If I wish to see you,
I will have her summon you. But I will not, under any
circumstances, tolerate this nonsense! Go outside and
wait!"
He sounded like every other newly appointed assistant
director in the FBI. Mulder wasn't fooled.
When he was finally called back into Skinner's office,
he decided to play it cool and just ask questions,
making no accusations. Who knew whose side Skinner
might be on?
Damn, Mulder, you're a paranoid S.O.B.
"Agent Mulder, what can I do for you?" A different
tone, but still one that warned the listener that Walter
Skinner was not about to put up with idiots.
Or paranoid basement rats with an axe to grind, Mulder
thought with a wry twist in his countenance.
"I've been hearing rumors that another agent will be soon
assigned to the X-files, sir. I've come to see if I can get
this confirmed or denied."
Skinner stared at Mulder, who met that uncompromising
gaze with one of his own. Skinner backed down first.
"You'll need to talk to Section Chief Blevins about that,
Agent Mulder. You answer to me, but SC Blevins has
authority over all assignments in that division."
Mulder took that in and let it stew. Blevins had always
supported Mulder's work, had signed off on the creation
of the X-files division and had assured Mulder that
nothing would hinder his investigations. The bureaucracy
inherent in most of the FBI's work would not interfere
with the X-files.
So if Skinner was telling the truth....
"So you can't confirm this, sir? Even though any agent
assigned to my division, to the X-files, would also
answer to you?"
Skinner narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his desk.
Mulder recognized this for an intimidation tactic; Skinner
was a well-built ex-Marine (Mulder had memorized his
file) and was well-versed in physical intimidation.
"I can't confirm anything, Agent Mulder. If you have no
further questions, let's consider this meeting over and
get back to work."
Mulder left without acknowledging this, but his mind
was busy problem-solving.
Skinner watched him leave, and once the door was shut and
he was sure Mulder was out of earshot completely, he made
a phone call.
"He knows. What's next?"
-
Section Chief Blevins wasn't in, but there was a man in
his office. Someone with a cigarette who was using
Blevins' phone. The assistant out front told Mulder the
man was a colleague waiting for a meeting with SC Blevins.
Mulder headed back to the basement, deciding that if he
couldn't get any straight answers, he might as well get
back to his investigations. He had a message on his voicemail
from someone sounding like Frohike (with those guys, you
never could quite tell through the voice scrambler)
about a lead on a case in Bellefleur, Oregon.
What the hell, he thought. He left early and went to the
Gunmen's place to find out what he could about the case.
-
He got home after midnight, feeling a bit nauseated from the
cheese steaks he and Langly had gone for after the "briefing."
The good news was, the evidence was pretty convincing, and
it looked like Mulder had finally gotten a break. He'd
been chasing too many leads that turned out to be mutants
or DNA anomalies, stories of alien abductions that were
really just cases of drug use or even elaborately staged
kidnapping (fascinating, but not his schtick; he turned
over half his leads to Reggie or to Jack Crawford in
Behavioral Sciences). If the paperwork Frohike had given
him was any indication, there was some weird shit going
on in Bellefleur.
This was exactly what Mulder wanted to see. Weird shit
was right up his alley.
He walked into his apartment and nearly tripped on
something that had been slipped under his door. A
manila envelope marked with an X, and his name, the
handwriting once again obscured by someone's messy
technique with a Sharpie.
Curiosity always got the better of Fox Mulder, and
he opened the envelope before he'd even shut the door
behind him.
Inside was a stack of documents, some of which looked like
a background check and an FBI profile. There was a stapled
group of papers, and when Mulder turned on the light he
could see that the top page read "Einstein's Twin Paradox: A
New Interpretation by Dana Katherine Scully."
He shook his head, trying to think clearly. What was this,
and who had put it here?
He took the bundle to his couch and sat down. Thumbing
through it more thoroughly this time, he saw pictures,
what looked like surveillance photos taken of a small,
young-looking woman. Mulder squinted, and made
out in some of the photos what looked like a standard
classroom at Quantico.
On the FBI profile sheet, he found an answer of sorts.
This was Special Agent Dana Scully, and she was an
instructor at Quantico in forensic science.
He put the papers back in the envelope and sat back on
his couch, thinking.
-
"They call him Spooky Mulder," one agent whispered to
another after Mulder walked by the next morning.
"Why? That's a terrible nickname. It's not even funny."
"Back at the Academy he developed a reputation. He was a
phenomenal profiler, he could really dissect the bad guys.
He was recruited to work cases while he was still at the
Academy."
"What do you mean, was? Isn't he still an agent?"
"Yeah, but about a year and a half ago, he and his dame
partner petitioned the Bureau to reopen a division called
the X-files."
"Is she hot?"
"She was. She was transferred out about a year ago.
They probably had a fight over the actual color of alien
skin or something." The agent laughed, but the other just
frowned at him.
"Alien skin? The hell?"
"The X-files investigates the nut jobs who either want
the FBI to solve all their problems, or that we're all
out to get them, that the government's working
against the people."
"That's rich. Mulder believes it, huh."
"That's what they say."
-
Section Chief Blevins received a phone call every day
when someone could confirm that Special Agent Fox Mulder
was in the building. They had to watch him, which
was hard to do without having extra eyes and ears in
the basement office. They hadn't bugged it - yet - so
giving him a partner was the next best thing.
Blevins didn't pick her. The man with the cigarettes had
brought Blevins Agent Scully's name. She seemed perfect.
She was cute enough that any suspicions Mulder might have
would be alleviated, or at least that was the thinking in
the testosterone-heavy Bureau leadership. They made sure
to run her profile by Senator Matheson, too, so Mulder
would be less likely to point fingers if he suspected she
was spying.
Blevins received a call when Agent Scully was in the
building. He felt some tension slide from him; already,
knowing that Mulder would be shut up was
a comforting feeling.
Debunk the work? No, Agent Scully. We wish to eradicate
Fox Mulder's presence in this or any other investigative
agency.
We all have secrets we want to keep, after all.
-
So that was Special Agent Dana Scully, Mulder mused after
their conversation in the basement office. A bit of a
looker. I'm gonna catch hell from the boys upstairs for
sure.
Not that it was anything new.
He determined ahead of time that he would keep his
distance, not arouse any kind of suspicion from the
upper echelon. He would refer to her as "Scully"
and keep distance between them.
In any event, Diana was still fresh on his mind, and
he had no intention of sliding down that path again.
Even for Agent Scully's trim figure and sharp mind.
He called Reggie and they met for a quick dinner before
Mulder had to meet Scully at the airport.
"What do you think of your new partner?" Reggie asked.
"I'm sure we'll get along just fine. But she's working
for them, Reg. She's the enemy."
Reggie shrugged and looked Mulder in the eye. "You
can't think like that about everyone and everything,
Mulder. A good partnership is built on trust, and you
have to take it for granted that you can trust her the
way you trust me."
Mulder pulled his jacket on and left a few extra
dollars on the table for a tip. "I have to get to know
her, Reggie. She can't have the benefit of the
doubt before she's been tested at the plate."
"Mulder, you have to give her a chance."
Mulder shook his head. "No. She's going to have to prove
it to me if she's not part of their agenda."
He walked away. Reggie sighed and left shortly afterwards.
Neither of them saw the black sedan down the street that
followed Mulder home.
-
Stuck. He was stuck in the elevator at the Hoover
building after 6pm on a Friday night.
He and Scully had gotten back from Bellefleur earlier
that day, and Scully gave her report to Blevins.
Meanwhile, Mulder went down to the office and began working
on another case file. Scully had planned to go home when she
was done with Blevins and "detox," as she put it.
Mulder considered calling her, but inside the elevator shaft
he was sure he'd have no signal on his cellular phone and
she'd never hear him.
Stuck in a freakin' elevator.
On a Friday night.
Mulder sat down and started fishing in his pocket for
sunflower seeds. Of course there weren't any, he never
had them in his pants pockets. It was a crazy habit
anyway.
Somewhere right now, guys his age were picking up chicks
at bars. Or maybe they were married and having kids.
He was once again stuck in an elevator, alone and still
plagued with visions of the small of a woman's back
lit by candlelight.
A back he hadn't even touched.
He cursed his luck and tried not to think about what
Scully had meant by "detox," and played with the buttons
on the elevator control panel for awhile like a restless
kid.
The elevator starting moving an hour later and Mulder
finally made it up to ground level. As he was leaving
the elevator he remembered he had intended to take his
briefcase home, and it was back in the office.
He wasn't about to risk the elevator again, so he took
the stairs down to the basement, realizing on the way
that he probably needed to go for a run more often.
The door to his office was open and fluorescent light
betrayed whoever was inside. Mulder was alarmed - no
one was ever down here, not even Skinner, other than
himself. His hand moved to the butt of his handgun.
"Hello?"
"Hello?" responded a feminine voice.
It was the last time Mulder ever thought of that
office strictly as his alone.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
END.
"Ab Initio" means "From the beginning"
Feedback is always lovely. texgoddess@yahoo.com
All my fic is at http://users.pdsys.org/~maidenjedi
AUTHOR: Maidenjedi
FANDOM: The X-Files
RATING: R
CATEGORY: Gen, Mulder
SPOILERS: Pilot, general series spoilers
DISCLAIMER: Not my characters, my concept, or my show. Damn it.
ARCHIVE: Anywhere, just keep my name on it.
SUMMARY: The fix is in and the sky is falling.
NOTE: Includes a drabble I wrote called "Nowhere Man," and
expanded quite a bit.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Stuck. He was stuck in an elevator at the Hoover Building
after 6pm on a Friday night.
No one even knew he was still there. It had been six months
since Diana left and he was still without a partner. Not
that he really wanted one; he was convinced it was better
to work alone.
And they were between assistant directors, so no boss would
ride his ass for this one.
Stuck in a freakin' elevator.
On a Friday night.
Mulder sat down and started fishing in his pocket for
sunflower seeds. Of course there weren't any, he never
had them in his pants pockets. It was a crazy habit anyway.
Somewhere right now, guys his age were picking up chicks at
bars. Or maybe they were married and having kids.
Mulder? He was chasing demons and ghosts from a basement.
They called him Spooky for a reason.
The elevator starting moving an hour later and Mulder went
home.
To nobody.
-
"They're going to give you a partner, Mulder. That's the
buzz."
Reggie took a bite of chili and cursed as he burnt his
tongue, all in a hurry to say what he'd come here to say
and get it the hell over with.
Mulder didn't throw anything or yell, which Reggie took
as a good sign.
Instead he simply asked, "When?"
"I don't know. Soon. And I think it's a good idea,
Mulder," Reggie said as he dug his spoon back into his
chili.
Mulder nodded in sort of a dazed way. Reggie sighed
inwardly, figuring now that he should have expected
this kind of reaction instead of something violent.
Mulder was contemplating all the reasons the Bureau
would have to give him a partner. Reggie hoped,
though he knew better, that Mulder wouldn't take
this as someone's grand scheme to reel him in by
spying on him.
They finished eating in silence and it unnerved Reggie.
Mulder was only like this when he was working a case,
when he had a lead and wouldn't drop it until he had seen
with his own eyes that the bogeyman hadn't been by.
"I'll see ya, Reg." Mulder turned back toward the
Hoover Building, intent on walking instead of taking
a cab.
"Mulder, what are you going to do?" It was a Friday
afternoon, and Reggie knew damned well there wasn't
something on Mulder's plate. That's why it had been
so easy to get him to come out in the first place.
"Clean my office. It's not exactly ready for visitors."
-
Office scuttlebutt had more than just Mulder getting
a new partner for the first time since Diana had left.
There was also a new assistant director on the horizon,
after quite a drought between leaders.
Assistant Director Walter Skinner had received his
promotion shortly after receiving his ten-year
commendation for service in the Bureau. With no
positions open, he cooled his heals for six months
as an acting field director in Pennsylvania. He was
finally scheduled to take the spot at headquarters in
August.
Mulder did some research, what he considered S.O.P. when
dealing with anyone new to his chain of command. Senator
Matheson confirmed that Skinner was going to be what they
all were - career Bureau hacks who were more interested in
the bottom line than they were solving crimes and saving
lives. Mulder didn't have to worry much, though, because
he answered to Section Chief Blevins and not an assistant
director.
Until a staff meeting he was required to attend proved
otherwise.
"New orders, agents. You've been without direct
supervision for quite some time, but from this point you
will all answer directly to Assistant Director Skinner,
who is taking over day-to-day operations. Section Chief
Blevins will oversee AD Skinner and AD Maslin. Any
questions?"
He had a lot of them, but held his tongue. For now.
-
Summer in Washington was always humid and hot, but this
summer seemed especially unbearable.
He didn't wear a tie for weeks.
The rumors about a partner had cooled off considerably,
and he was getting complacent. In some ways, he could
use another set of eyes, he thought as he went through
another set of slides from another messy homicide with
a magnifying glass.
But it would also create time-consuming roadblocks that
he just did not want to deal with, he amended later as
he answered several phone messages from a MUFON group
in southern Kentucky.
The air conditioner in his car had stopped working, so
he drove home that night with the windows down. As
usual, he'd left after most of his colleagues had gone
home, and night had fallen.
At his apartment, his complacency was shaken away completely
when he saw the Post-It note that had fallen to the floor
from what was likely an eye-level spot on the door.
Damned things never held up in the humidity.
"She's one of them," it said, scribbled hastily in
black Sharpie.
Well, what the hell did that mean?
-
He took the Post-It note to Danny the next day to have
it checked for prints and possible DNA samples. The only
prints Danny could find were Mulder's, and the one tiny
hair on it likely belonged to the shaggy mutt Mulder's
neighbors kept.
Okay, fine. Mulder decided he would take it up with AD
Skinner instead of waiting for more "evidence" to play
detective with.
"Am I getting a new partner? What the hell is this about and
why haven't I been told anything? This is my work, you can't
just mess with it like this!" He barged in, ignoring the
lovely administrative assistant at the desk outside who
protested quite vehemently.
AD Skinner already had a reputation for being no-nonsense
(the boys at the water cooler called him a "hard ass").
Mulder was not disappointed.
"Agent Mulder, when you wish to see me, you will make an
appointment with my assistant. If I wish to see you,
I will have her summon you. But I will not, under any
circumstances, tolerate this nonsense! Go outside and
wait!"
He sounded like every other newly appointed assistant
director in the FBI. Mulder wasn't fooled.
When he was finally called back into Skinner's office,
he decided to play it cool and just ask questions,
making no accusations. Who knew whose side Skinner
might be on?
Damn, Mulder, you're a paranoid S.O.B.
"Agent Mulder, what can I do for you?" A different
tone, but still one that warned the listener that Walter
Skinner was not about to put up with idiots.
Or paranoid basement rats with an axe to grind, Mulder
thought with a wry twist in his countenance.
"I've been hearing rumors that another agent will be soon
assigned to the X-files, sir. I've come to see if I can get
this confirmed or denied."
Skinner stared at Mulder, who met that uncompromising
gaze with one of his own. Skinner backed down first.
"You'll need to talk to Section Chief Blevins about that,
Agent Mulder. You answer to me, but SC Blevins has
authority over all assignments in that division."
Mulder took that in and let it stew. Blevins had always
supported Mulder's work, had signed off on the creation
of the X-files division and had assured Mulder that
nothing would hinder his investigations. The bureaucracy
inherent in most of the FBI's work would not interfere
with the X-files.
So if Skinner was telling the truth....
"So you can't confirm this, sir? Even though any agent
assigned to my division, to the X-files, would also
answer to you?"
Skinner narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his desk.
Mulder recognized this for an intimidation tactic; Skinner
was a well-built ex-Marine (Mulder had memorized his
file) and was well-versed in physical intimidation.
"I can't confirm anything, Agent Mulder. If you have no
further questions, let's consider this meeting over and
get back to work."
Mulder left without acknowledging this, but his mind
was busy problem-solving.
Skinner watched him leave, and once the door was shut and
he was sure Mulder was out of earshot completely, he made
a phone call.
"He knows. What's next?"
-
Section Chief Blevins wasn't in, but there was a man in
his office. Someone with a cigarette who was using
Blevins' phone. The assistant out front told Mulder the
man was a colleague waiting for a meeting with SC Blevins.
Mulder headed back to the basement, deciding that if he
couldn't get any straight answers, he might as well get
back to his investigations. He had a message on his voicemail
from someone sounding like Frohike (with those guys, you
never could quite tell through the voice scrambler)
about a lead on a case in Bellefleur, Oregon.
What the hell, he thought. He left early and went to the
Gunmen's place to find out what he could about the case.
-
He got home after midnight, feeling a bit nauseated from the
cheese steaks he and Langly had gone for after the "briefing."
The good news was, the evidence was pretty convincing, and
it looked like Mulder had finally gotten a break. He'd
been chasing too many leads that turned out to be mutants
or DNA anomalies, stories of alien abductions that were
really just cases of drug use or even elaborately staged
kidnapping (fascinating, but not his schtick; he turned
over half his leads to Reggie or to Jack Crawford in
Behavioral Sciences). If the paperwork Frohike had given
him was any indication, there was some weird shit going
on in Bellefleur.
This was exactly what Mulder wanted to see. Weird shit
was right up his alley.
He walked into his apartment and nearly tripped on
something that had been slipped under his door. A
manila envelope marked with an X, and his name, the
handwriting once again obscured by someone's messy
technique with a Sharpie.
Curiosity always got the better of Fox Mulder, and
he opened the envelope before he'd even shut the door
behind him.
Inside was a stack of documents, some of which looked like
a background check and an FBI profile. There was a stapled
group of papers, and when Mulder turned on the light he
could see that the top page read "Einstein's Twin Paradox: A
New Interpretation by Dana Katherine Scully."
He shook his head, trying to think clearly. What was this,
and who had put it here?
He took the bundle to his couch and sat down. Thumbing
through it more thoroughly this time, he saw pictures,
what looked like surveillance photos taken of a small,
young-looking woman. Mulder squinted, and made
out in some of the photos what looked like a standard
classroom at Quantico.
On the FBI profile sheet, he found an answer of sorts.
This was Special Agent Dana Scully, and she was an
instructor at Quantico in forensic science.
He put the papers back in the envelope and sat back on
his couch, thinking.
-
"They call him Spooky Mulder," one agent whispered to
another after Mulder walked by the next morning.
"Why? That's a terrible nickname. It's not even funny."
"Back at the Academy he developed a reputation. He was a
phenomenal profiler, he could really dissect the bad guys.
He was recruited to work cases while he was still at the
Academy."
"What do you mean, was? Isn't he still an agent?"
"Yeah, but about a year and a half ago, he and his dame
partner petitioned the Bureau to reopen a division called
the X-files."
"Is she hot?"
"She was. She was transferred out about a year ago.
They probably had a fight over the actual color of alien
skin or something." The agent laughed, but the other just
frowned at him.
"Alien skin? The hell?"
"The X-files investigates the nut jobs who either want
the FBI to solve all their problems, or that we're all
out to get them, that the government's working
against the people."
"That's rich. Mulder believes it, huh."
"That's what they say."
-
Section Chief Blevins received a phone call every day
when someone could confirm that Special Agent Fox Mulder
was in the building. They had to watch him, which
was hard to do without having extra eyes and ears in
the basement office. They hadn't bugged it - yet - so
giving him a partner was the next best thing.
Blevins didn't pick her. The man with the cigarettes had
brought Blevins Agent Scully's name. She seemed perfect.
She was cute enough that any suspicions Mulder might have
would be alleviated, or at least that was the thinking in
the testosterone-heavy Bureau leadership. They made sure
to run her profile by Senator Matheson, too, so Mulder
would be less likely to point fingers if he suspected she
was spying.
Blevins received a call when Agent Scully was in the
building. He felt some tension slide from him; already,
knowing that Mulder would be shut up was
a comforting feeling.
Debunk the work? No, Agent Scully. We wish to eradicate
Fox Mulder's presence in this or any other investigative
agency.
We all have secrets we want to keep, after all.
-
So that was Special Agent Dana Scully, Mulder mused after
their conversation in the basement office. A bit of a
looker. I'm gonna catch hell from the boys upstairs for
sure.
Not that it was anything new.
He determined ahead of time that he would keep his
distance, not arouse any kind of suspicion from the
upper echelon. He would refer to her as "Scully"
and keep distance between them.
In any event, Diana was still fresh on his mind, and
he had no intention of sliding down that path again.
Even for Agent Scully's trim figure and sharp mind.
He called Reggie and they met for a quick dinner before
Mulder had to meet Scully at the airport.
"What do you think of your new partner?" Reggie asked.
"I'm sure we'll get along just fine. But she's working
for them, Reg. She's the enemy."
Reggie shrugged and looked Mulder in the eye. "You
can't think like that about everyone and everything,
Mulder. A good partnership is built on trust, and you
have to take it for granted that you can trust her the
way you trust me."
Mulder pulled his jacket on and left a few extra
dollars on the table for a tip. "I have to get to know
her, Reggie. She can't have the benefit of the
doubt before she's been tested at the plate."
"Mulder, you have to give her a chance."
Mulder shook his head. "No. She's going to have to prove
it to me if she's not part of their agenda."
He walked away. Reggie sighed and left shortly afterwards.
Neither of them saw the black sedan down the street that
followed Mulder home.
-
Stuck. He was stuck in the elevator at the Hoover
building after 6pm on a Friday night.
He and Scully had gotten back from Bellefleur earlier
that day, and Scully gave her report to Blevins.
Meanwhile, Mulder went down to the office and began working
on another case file. Scully had planned to go home when she
was done with Blevins and "detox," as she put it.
Mulder considered calling her, but inside the elevator shaft
he was sure he'd have no signal on his cellular phone and
she'd never hear him.
Stuck in a freakin' elevator.
On a Friday night.
Mulder sat down and started fishing in his pocket for
sunflower seeds. Of course there weren't any, he never
had them in his pants pockets. It was a crazy habit
anyway.
Somewhere right now, guys his age were picking up chicks
at bars. Or maybe they were married and having kids.
He was once again stuck in an elevator, alone and still
plagued with visions of the small of a woman's back
lit by candlelight.
A back he hadn't even touched.
He cursed his luck and tried not to think about what
Scully had meant by "detox," and played with the buttons
on the elevator control panel for awhile like a restless
kid.
The elevator starting moving an hour later and Mulder
finally made it up to ground level. As he was leaving
the elevator he remembered he had intended to take his
briefcase home, and it was back in the office.
He wasn't about to risk the elevator again, so he took
the stairs down to the basement, realizing on the way
that he probably needed to go for a run more often.
The door to his office was open and fluorescent light
betrayed whoever was inside. Mulder was alarmed - no
one was ever down here, not even Skinner, other than
himself. His hand moved to the butt of his handgun.
"Hello?"
"Hello?" responded a feminine voice.
It was the last time Mulder ever thought of that
office strictly as his alone.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
END.
"Ab Initio" means "From the beginning"
Feedback is always lovely. texgoddess@yahoo.com
All my fic is at http://users.pdsys.org/~maidenjedi