Weak in the Knees; chapter twenty-two
Title: Weak in the Knees
Author: Dhamphir
Fandom: X-Files
Pairing: Scully/OFC
Rating: NC-17
Please see previous posts for disclaimer/summary/notes. As always, thanks to celievamp for the beta!
Chapter 22
When Morgan retreated to her own room, she slipped on a robe and booted up her laptop. She wanted to do some research on a number of things. She needed to find out where Doc’s Saloon was and if possible find out what kind of establishment it was. She also wanted to research devices that could distort and disguise a person’s voice. The voice on the phone didn’t sound electronic per se, but it did sound as if it had been altered somehow. She typed an email letting AD Taylor and the Director know about the contact she’d had with the UNSUB. And she placed a couple of phone calls.
Doc’s Saloon wasn’t a biker bar, but from the history of police calls to the location, it was definitely a rough place.
Morgan found a number of devices that could be used to alter the voice, but they were rather cheap and would have been obvious in their use. And she didn’t find any that were specifically for use with a cell phone. What she was looking for could have been a very high end specialized piece of equipment - perhaps even custom built.
She also called the cell phone company and verified the call she’d received had been placed from Atlanta. She had an uneasy feeling.
She and Scully were going to spend the day at the University of Miami speaking with Elizabeth’s teachers and fellow students. Then they were going to fly up to Atlanta.
Having completed the tasks she’d set for herself, Morgan rubbed her face and put her laptop aside. She looked at the clock. It was about 40 minutes before Scully’s alarm would go off. Or... she could wake Dana up herself. She smiled. It was amazing how the redhead had changed her in a little over three weeks. Before this case she wouldn’t even have considered setting work aside for a few minutes just to spend some personal time with someone. She shook her head - it was time to act, not think.
Morgan got up and returned to Dana’s room. She stood next to the bed for a few moments, just gazing down at the beautiful woman. She looked so peaceful. Morgan shed her robe and slipped into the bed next to her partner... next to her lover.
Jess tenderly brushed some hair back from Dana’s face. She lowered her head and kissed soft lips.
Dana smiled into the kiss that awakened her. She moved her arms up around the shoulders of the one kissing her, pulling her close. Jess was smiling when Dana opened her eyes and looked up into her shining grey eyes. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Jess ducked her head and started nuzzling the redhead’s throat and neck.
“Mm, is it time to get up?”
“Not yet. I hope you don’t mind me waking you a little early,” the brunette replied softly. She latched onto Dana’s pulse point, teasing it with her lips and tongue.
Dana’s breath caught in her throat as gentle hands caressed and fondled her. “Not... at all.”
***
Content and satisfied, the two women were simply holding one another in quiet lassitude when the alarm clock finally announced it was time to get up. So they parted to shower and dress in their respective rooms.
Morgan was closing up her briefcase when Scully entered her room. “Ready to go?” Morgan asked.
Scully nodded. But she set her things down next to the door and turned to the brunette. “Just one thing...”
“What?”
Scully leaned in and lightly kissed her partner. “Thank you for my wakeup call, Agent Morgan,” she said with a soft smile. She was rewarded with a beautiful smile.
“You’re welcome, Agent Scully.” Playfulness shone in grey eyes. “Just trying to be a good partner.”
They shared another kiss and smile, then went to check out of the hotel.
***
Scully and Morgan spent all morning and a good portion of the afternoon at the University of Miami. They interviewed Elizabeth’s fellow students and her professors. They were both frustrated and disappointed as they left for the airport. No one knew of any new person in the victim’s life. No one stood out; no one didn’t belong.
Morgan sat down in her airplane seat with a sigh.
Scully settled next to her. She patted her partner’s arm. “We will catch him, Jess.”
Morgan nodded. “I know. I’m just afraid of how many more women will die before we do.”
Scully was going to express her concerns about the alleged meeting in Atlanta, but Morgan closed her eyes and was soon napping.
***
In Atlanta they rented a car and checked into a hotel. It was over dinner Scully finally confronted her partner.
“Just what exactly are your plans for this meeting tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, just what exactly are we going to do? What if he doesn’t show up? What if he does? What kind of backup are we going to have?”
Morgan put down her plastic fork and pushed the remnants of her meal away. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. It was, in fact, the reason she’d suggested takeout to begin with, rather than dinner at a restaurant. “Not we, me.”
“What?” Scully asked with arch brow, not sure she’d heard correctly.
“We are not going. I am.”
Morgan knew the Scully would be angry, but she wasn’t quite prepared for the full wrath of the redhead. She sat silently as the livid woman gave vent to her anger. The truth was she’d be just as angry if their places were reversed, but there was no way she could let Scully go to the bar. Finally Scully wound down.
“Well?! Are you going to say something?” Scully demanded from across the room where she’d been pacing.
“He said he wouldn’t show if I didn’t go alone.” Before Scully could go off again, Morgan continued. “And he said he kill you on sight, Dana. It’s not a vague threat anymore. It’s an explicit threat against your life.”
“I’m not quitting this case!”
“I’m not asking you to.”
Morgan’s quiet response took some of the wind out of Scully’s sails. She sat down on the end of the bed.
“I am asking you to trust me.”
Scully ran a hand across her eyes and tried to rein in her ire. She reminded herself that Morgan wasn’t Mulder, she wasn’t an unreasonable person. Morgan had always been professional and respectful of her; the least she could do was hear her partner out. “Alright, talk to me, Jess.”
Morgan nodded. “Okay. First off, please remember that this isn’t my first time to the rodeo. I’m an experienced agent and have a history of dealing with these cases.”
Scully nodded.
“I’m going to Doc’s Saloon tonight, but I won’t be alone - and neither will you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I placed a call early this morning to a local detective that I’ve worked with before. He’s going to be at the bar.” She looked at her watch, “In fact he should already be there. And his partner will be with you.”
“With me?”
“I’m not naïve enough to discount the possibility this is just a ruse to get me out of the way so he can come after you, Dana.”
“Or it could be an attempt to isolate you so he can kill you, Jess.”
Morgan nodded. “That is a possibility, although I honestly don’t think it’s the most likely.”
“Why not?”
“None of his threats have been directed at me, only you.” She paused. “Dana, I know you don’t like it, but you have to let me go without you.”
“Damn it, Jess. You made me promise to be careful and not take unnecessary risks.” She stood up, walked back over to the small table and knelt next to her partner... her lover. She took the brunette’s hand in her own. “I need you to make me the same promise, Jess. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please do not take any unnecessary risks.”
Morgan looked down into bright blue eyes full of earnestness and naked emotion. She gently caressed Scully’s cheek. “I promise.” She then bent down and kissed her, and with her hands on Dana’s shoulders, Jess stood up, pulling the redhead up with her.
Scully pulled out of the kiss. Sapphire blue gazed into sparkling grey. “What time do you have to leave?”
Morgan glanced at the clock. “Bobby’s partner should be here in a couple of hours. I won’t leave until he gets here.”
“Good.” Scully claimed Morgan’s lips with her own.
The next thing Jess knew she was on the bed with Dana pinning her down.
***
Morgan looked through the peephole when there was a knock on her hotel room door.
“Agent Morgan? It’s Detective Gene Franco, Bobby Marinelli’s partner.” He held his shield up.
Morgan opened the door. “Come on in, Detective.”
“Just call me Frank,” he replied as they shook hands.
Morgan introduced the detective to her partner. She then grabbed her weapon and slipped it into the holster at the small of her back.
“Bobby’s been at Doc’s for about two hours. He said a couple of fights had already broken out the last time he checked in with me, so keep your eyes open, Agent Morgan.”
“Will do.” She turned to Scully. “I’ll see you later.” And then she was gone.
***
As Morgan walked into Doc’s Saloon all of her senses were on high alert. She knew what a risk she was taking, but she honestly didn’t think the Reaper would try to kill her. Even his previous invasion into her hotel room had been timed to ensure she wasn’t present. And he’d apparently followed her, as evidenced by the break-in at Scully’s apartment, giving him ample opportunity to kill her. No, she didn’t think he wanted to kill her.
She’d dealt with his kind before. They wanted a foil to parry against, test and demonstrate their superiority. She had been that foil on more than one occasion.
But she wasn’t dumb enough to dismiss the possibility of a trap, for herself... or Scully. So when she’d been told to come to Atlanta, she’d called an old contact there. Bobby Marinelli was a detective on the Atlanta PD’s night shift. He was a good detective and had several years experience in both undercover work and the in the homicide division. And in a worst case scenario, he was someone she knew could more than handle himself and back her up.
Morgan spotted Bobby almost immediately. His 5’9”, lanky frame, unshaven and unkempt appearance belied the sharp intelligence and unexpected strength of the man. The brown-eyed man was doing a good impression of a sleepy drunk, conveniently sitting in a spot that allowed his field of vision to cover the entire room. Neither one acknowledged the other.
Morgan went to the bar and ordered a Jack Daniels. She didn’t care for the amber liquid, but Doc’s wasn’t a place one ordered ginger ale, and she could nurse the whiskey for quite some time.
Morgan had been sitting at a table for over an hour. She’d had to fend off some unwanted advances and had been called quite a few choice names. Finally a man sat down at her table who wasn’t trying to hit on her. He looked her up and down before speaking.
“You’re Morgan.”
“And you’re not the person who called me,” she said with instinctive certainty.
He smirked. “No. But I was sent by him.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I was told be here to meet with him.”
“There’s something he wants me to give you.”
“What?”
He looked around. “Not here.”
“Well, I’m not about to go anywhere with you.”
“You misunderstand - I just mean not right here.” He jerked a thumb toward the back of the bar. “There’s a room in the back, more private.”
Morgan weighed her options. The man in front of her was large - at least six foot and 225 pounds. And he was not fat. But she also knew that she could take him if it came down to it. She gave a slight nod. “Alright.” As she stood she made an inconspicuous gesture with her hand, signaling Bobby to stay put but keep his eyes open. She didn’t have to look to know Bobby caught her signal. She followed ‘the hulk’ to the back of the bar.
Chapter 23...
prologue| ch 1| ch 2| ch 3| ch 4| ch 5| ch 6| ch 7| ch 8| ch 9| ch 10|
ch 11| ch 12| ch 13| ch 14| ch 15| ch 16| ch 17| ch 18| ch 19| ch 20|
ch 21|