Title -- Caught in the Act Author -- Parrotfish (tamarw@gateway.net) Rating --- NC-17 (sexual situations) Classification -- S (is for Story), MSR (is for Mulder-Scully Romance), A (is for Angst) Summary -- A secret is revealed, threatening to permanently dissolve the partnership between Scully and Mulder. Thank you -- To Chris Carter for creating The X-Files; to David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and the entire cast and crew for bringing this marvelous series to life; and to Fox for putting it on the air. Caught in the Act (1/2) by Parrotfish (tamarw@gateway.net) completed 11/20/96 There was nothing for them here -- nothing but a run-of-the- mill prostitution ring. Brutal, ugly, cruel -- but no X-file. Young girls were disappearing from the streets of Chicago, and the cause was very much of this world. Just another common symptom of the diseased state of the human spirit -- greedy men using children like dishrags, hiring them out to soak up any scum with the money to pay. Scully and Mulder had been pretty sure from the moment they'd seen the case. But the agent in charge, Joe Farragut, had been one of the few who took their work seriously, and he'd asked them to come out and take a look. He'd gotten a weird story from a supposed eyewitness that involved strange lights and floating objects. Turned out the bum had been drinking form the wrong bottle. Farragut's partner, Don D'Amico, had been a lot less welcoming. He'd made it clear from the start he thought Mr. and Mrs. Spooky were the kinds of freaks he thought he should be arresting rather than working alongside. Well, Mr. Spooky, anyway. He'd also made it pretty obvious that he had other ideas about what he thought Mulder's pretty partner was good for. 'Oh, well,' thought Scully as she wearily trudged up the motel stairs behind Mulder. 'He won't have to put up with us any longer.' They'd spent just two days on the case, doing a quick review, some interviews and some legwork. She and Mulder had just finished up downtown, putting together the pieces for the local agents, advising them to hand the case back to the Chicago PD for some good old-fashioned police work to track down pushers and pimps. They knew they'd just pissed off half a dozen agents, tossing out their theories that ranged from white slaving to serial murder. Neither of them cared much. "Hey, Scully." Mulder stopped halfway down the hall to their rooms. "We're off duty, and there's not a chance in hell we'll be called back out tonight. How about a drink?" "Actually, I'd love one, but I don't think I could face Ladies' Night in that cheesy bar downstairs." "There's always the minibar in the room." Scully sighed in exasperation. "Mulder, you know that would turn up on the hotel bill we have to submit with the expense report. We have enough problems without Skinner chewing us out for drinking on an assignment." "Oh, come on, Scully. Everybody does it." "Yeah, everybody does a lot of things. It's only okay as long as you don't get caught." She smiled at him slyly and his heart rate kicked into overdrive. "Okay, Scully, you win. How about if I go downstairs and talk the guy into letting me take something out?" "Mulder, you know he's not allowed to do that." "Take my word for it, Scully. When I tell him I've got a beautiful woman waiting for me upstairs in my room -- he'll do it. Trust me on this one. It's a guy thing." "If you say so. I'll be waiting in your room. Wouldn't want to make a liar out of you." Scully wasted no time slipping off her jacket, kicking off her shoes and making herself comfortable on Mulder's bed. She stretched luxuriously, then settled in with her hands behind her head and her feet crossed. Closing her eyes, she imagined she could detect his scent lingering on the covers and thought of the deep, humid warmth he must have been generating as he slept there the night before, the heat of his body shedding his unique smell. She heard the door open and smiled without opening her eyes. "Did it work?" "Yup." She heard the door close again and felt the bed buckle under him as he sat down. "What'd ya get?" "Two double Glenfiddichs and quite a leer." "And what's for me?" "One double and the leer." She opened her eyes and found he was as good as his word. She sat up against the headboard, and he handed her a plastic cup. They tapped their cups together and drank. Neither spoke for several minutes as they enjoyed the liquor's soothing effect -- muscles relaxing, tension easing. Scully tipped her head back to capture the last drops of Scotch. Unable to resist, Mulder reached over, touched her chin and ran a single finger down the length of her soft, white throat. stopping just above the V of her blouse. She lowered her head and looked at him. "Mulder, what are you doing?" Instead of answering, he opened his hand and rested the flat of his palm against her chest, feeling the rapid tapping of heart against bone and flesh. "Mulder..." He put his cup down on the night table, then took hers and deposited it beside his. Slowly, without removing his hand from her chest, he leaned toward her, bringing his face beside hers so that his warm, Scotch-soaked breath bathed her cheek. She shivered when the very tip of his tongue flicked out to tease her earlobe. Not satisfied, he leaned in further and sucked the fleshy tip of it between his lips, then ran his tongue across the delightfully sensitive skin just behind it. "Oh, god, Mulder...." With small, quiet kisses, he made his way up her jaw and across the smooth plane of her cheek until he came to the corner of her mouth. The gentle caress of his lips there made her shudder again. "Mulder...we shouldn't...not here...." She couldn't finish the thought. His lips were now pressed hard against hers, his tongue reaching through in search of the soft, wet flesh inside. She lost the will to stop him. It felt so incredibly good. So perfectly right. Just the way it always did. Her lips and teeth parted to admit him, and their tongues touched. The hand he had rested on her chest slid up to grasp her chin gently, holding her head still so he could explore her in the way that never failed to thrill him. And then it was his turn, and he opened his mouth to her probing tongue. He reveled in the feeling of her flesh inside him and wished it could be more, that he could draw all of her into his body and his heart. Breathless, they separated -- just an inch, just enough to breathe and to look. "Mulder, we shouldn't," Scully repeated. He smiled at her. "I know. I don't care." Grinning back at him, she reached up and loosened his tie, working at the knot until the garish silk slid free. Then she started on the buttons of his shirt. "Why, Agent Scully, what are you thinking?" "I'm thinking, Agent Mulder, that I would like to taste more of you." She was pleased to see his Adam's apple bob at her words. "I encourage you to make a thorough investigation, Agent Scully." "Oh, I will. Wouldn't want to miss any crucial evidence." "Even an idiot like D'Amico couldn't miss my 'evidence' at the moment." "Fortunately for you, he's not here. I am." "Fortunately for me." By now his shirt was off and his pants were open. Scully slipped a hand down inside and he gasped with excitement. She pushed him down onto the bed and continued stroking as her mouth wandered across his exposed skin, tasting, licking, biting. He was moaning now, his hips thrusting against her hand. Returning to his lips, she kissed him deeply once more before moving away to kneel beside him. Slowly, she unbuttoned her own blouse and slipped it off, then unclasped her bra and removed it. In another moment, skirt, hose and panties were gone. She made quick work of his pants and boxers, and then she was there, easing her mouth around his blazing erection, and he was lost in the velvety erotic sensation of her. The vibration of her moan around his swollen flesh brought him back to himself just enough to open his eyes and look at her. Her thick, auburn hair dangled in a curtain of false modesty, hiding the sight of her mouth on him. But he could tell that her hand was lower, between her legs, and she was pleasuring herself as she pleasured him. Her throat opened wide as her orgasm crashed over her, and Mulder felt himself sink deeper into the hot, wet depths. He was seconds away from giving in, but he didn't want to let go yet. "Dana!" he managed in a strangled cry. She knew what he wanted and moved rapidly to do it, sliding up to straddle him and sheathe him in her still-twitching vagina. The feel of him inside her brought a second orgasm -- or was it a continuation of the first? -- and the feel of her clenching around him brought him quickly to a raging climax. They collapsed together. She sprawled atop him, barely managing to reach for the corner of the bedspread to wrap around them. They lay together, still joined, as the long, luscious minutes passed, two people wrapped wholly one in the other, the silence around them a comforting blanket of solitude -- that suddenly shattered into a million jagged shards. The door burst open. "Hey, Mulder, you forgot...." At that moment, Mulder's and Scully's world imploded. _______________________________ If it had just been Farragut, Scully thought as she stared blankly out the plane window, there might have been a chance. But D'Amico had been right behind him. The sound of the pig's snort he'd released as he'd stopped short and had himself a good look would never leave her. "Well, well, Mulder -- you're not as dumb as you look," he'd said before Farragut grabbed him by the arm and hustled him out. After that, she'd just numbly dressed and returned to her room. She hadn't seen them again that evening, or this morning when she and Mulder had checked out and gone to the airport. She'd also said next to nothing to him. What was there to say? She couldn't think of a thing. It was strange, knowing exactly what was about to happen. This kind of foresight had nothing to do with the supernatural premonitions Mulder liked to believe in. This was simple cause and effect. Everyone would do exactly what was expected of them -- what they were supposed to do. D'Amico would report to his superior. Farragut would have no choice but to confirm the story. The Chicago chief would contact Skinner. Skinner would call them in. And.... Her mind blanked, refusing to go beyond that. Instead, it slipped into a troubled mantra: 'You knew this would happen. You knew this would happen. You knew this would happen.' But she hadn't known. Or at least, she hadn't allowed herself to know. 'We won't get caught,' they'd told themselves ever since they'd started having sex. 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If we come to it.' Well, they'd come to it, and it felt like the bridge was out and the car had no brakes. "Scully." His voice broke through. "We'll get through this if...." "No, Mulder," she stopped him. "It's over." ________________________________ Why was it that all the torments the world held in store for him were dealt out at moments when he was least prepared to receive them? Was there a sadistic god in heaven? Was fate as cruel as she was said to be? Was he born under the wrong star? What? It had been so incredibly peaceful lying there beneath her, holding her, feeling her. If someone had asked him at that moment, he would have actually said he was happy. There had been precious few such moments in his life. How could so much be destroyed by so little? An oasis of peace in a lifetime of pain, shattered by the opening of a door. By forgetting to lock a door. At that thought, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. How could he have forgotten to lock the fucking door? He had the most refined sense of paranoia of any non-psychotic person he knew, and he'd forgotten to lock the fucking door. Had that been his subconscious trying to tell him something? Did he, on some level, actually _want_ to get caught? Could he have been so unable to accept happiness in his life that he... He forced his thoughts to veer away from that question. He knew he was dangerously self-destructive. But he didn't want to think he had it in him to drag Scully down that dark, nasty road. He had been so happy. And now... "Scully," he said. "We'll get through this if...." "No, Mulder," she interrupted. "It's over." ________________________________________ "You've heard the accusation. Now what do you have to say?" The two agents sat staring at him in silence. "Answer me, goddammit!" "I have nothing to say, sir," Mulder replied evenly. "Do you deny D'Amico's claim?" Silence. "Agent Scully?" Silence. Skinner's palm slammed down on his desktop. "How could you be so stupid?" he bellowed. Then, more quietly, "Your partnership has advanced the cause of justice more than any other I've seen in my time at the Bureau. You are two of the smartest, most ethical agents I know. How could you jeopardize all that for some fleeting carnal pleasure?" Neither agent gave any outward sign that their superior's words had made any impression. But the words echoed in both their minds. 'Fleeting carnal pleasure.' Is that what it was? It had seemed like so much more to both of them at the time...every time... "Agent Mulder." Skinner spit the name out with more venom than he'd ever shown before. "You have in the past made much of your dedication to your pursuit of the truth. You have risked much in that pursuit. You have lost much. I was truly pleased when I discovered that your partnership with Agent Scully was not working out at all as They had planned, or for that matter as you probably had expected it to. Agent Scully's formidable skills and intelligence brought a level of credibility to the X-Files that they had not previously enjoyed. Why did you willingly undermine everything you'd worked for? And how in god's name could you do this to her?" Mulder stared straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with Skinner. "It was not my intention to undermine anything, sir." "And you, Agent Scully...Dana...you've seen careers ruined by less! I am flabbergasted that your common sense failed you so utterly in this regard. What the hell were you thinking?" Silence. "Agent Scully, I understand there might have been alcohol involved in this incident. Is that it?" For a brief moment, Scully felt a surge of anger break through the gray numbness that gripped her. "No, sir! I resent your inference." "You 'resent my inference?' You RESENT my inference? How dare you, Scully? I'm not the one who was caught screwing my partner!" The naked truth of his words hung in the air, their stark reality shocking all three of them. Scully's eyes dropped to the floor. "A review board will meet tomorrow on this matter. I will inform you of their decision. Until then, you are both suspended from duty. Now get the hell out of my office." ____________________________________ The irony of his situation was not lost on Mulder. Their enemies were numerous and varied, powerful and frightening, demented and devious. Through it all, he and Scully had stuck together, faced everything together. And now, they were finally to be separated by their own actions. They themselves had wrought what no monster, no mutant, no Machiavelli could. How had everything gone so wrong? This feeling that overwhelmed him was unmistakable. It was grief. He mourned her. She wasn't dead. But to him, she might as well have been. He knew they'd never be allowed to work together again. Worse still -- she had said it herself: "It's over." Much to his own amazement, those words felt like death. How had she come to mean so much? Without conscious thought, he left his apartment, got into his car and drove. When he pulled up in front of her building, he didn't stop to wonder why he was there. He just got out, went upstairs and knocked. "Go away, Mulder." "Open the door, Scully." "No." He took out his key, unlocked the door and entered her dimly lit apartment. "Don't do this, Mulder." "Talk to me, Scully." "No. Go away. Leave me alone." "No." She closed her eyes. "Mulder, this isn't going to help anything." "Scully...please...I didn't want to..." He paused, unsure what he was trying to say. "I'm sorry." "You're sorry? What the hell are you sorry for? As I recall, I was there, too. I wasn't exactly putting up a fight. In fact, if memory serves me, I was quite willingly going down on you. So what are you sorry for?" "I...I'm sorry I didn't lock the door." It sounded pitiful, even to him. She laughed, a cold, hollow sound. "You're sorry you didn't lock the door? You're sorry you didn't lock the door?" He couldn't find the words to explain. She hadn't expected him to. "You think that's what this is about, Mulder? Whether or not you locked the fucking door? You think everything would have been okay if you had just remembered to lock the door?" He heard her fury build. "If I'd just locked it, they wouldn't have seen." She glared at him. "Get out, Mulder." "Scully..." "Get out, Mulder, or so help me god, I will call the police and have you up on harassment charges. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!" She slammed the door behind him. End 1/2 ___________________________________ From SVDF49E@prodigy.com Wed Nov 20 22:28:20 1996 Caught in the Act (2/2) by Parrotfish (svdf49e@prodigy.com) The two agents who walked into Skinner's office looked just like the two he was expecting, but they didn't feel right at all. Where there should have been unity, there was division. Where there should have been understanding, there was bitterness. Where there should have been order, there was chaos. Where there should have been love.... "Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, please sit down." They sat. "I won't beat around the bush. The review board has made its decision. An official reprimand will be entered in both your records. Agent Scully, you will be removed from the X-files division and from all field assignments. You will be permanently assigned to the pathology lab here. Agent Mulder, you will continue in your current assignment with a new partner to be named later. This change is effective immediately, and you are both to return to active duty as of now. Under this new arrangement, you are free to pursue any relationship with each other you choose." "Except working together," Mulder said quietly. "That is correct. Any questions?" Silence. "You're dismissed." _______________________________ She was alone. Well and truly alone. For a long time she hadn’t felt so alone, even when there was no one else there. She'd known that someone cared. Now, it no longer mattered whether or not he cared. It was over. "Oh, come on, Scully. Everybody does it." "I encourage you to make a thorough investigation, Agent Scully." "Well, well, Mulder -- you're not as dumb as you look." "How could you be so stupid?" "If I'd just locked it, they wouldn't have seen." "Agent Scully, you will be removed from the X-files division and from all field assignments." Her brain wouldn't stop the endless reruns like scenes from a bad movie. It was as though she were hearing the dialogue from a long way off, watching the scenes through a haze of smoke. A haze of smoke. She was reminded of the one person who would likely be most pleased at the recent turn of events. He had plotted against them, thrown obstacles before them, hindered them every step of the way. And in the end, he had contributed nothing whatsoever to their final undoing. He'd won without even having to play. It wasn't fair. But since when had anything been fair? Well, maybe once upon a time. When she was young. When the people passing judgment were her own mother and father, people who loved her, who cared. Who never put their own needs and interests before hers. Things had seemed fair then. Perhaps love was a prerequisite of fairness. Perhaps fairness required selflessness, and selflessness required love. No, it wasn't fair. She had no right to expect a big, impersonal bureaucracy to be fair. But what of herself? Had she been fair? In a sickening rush, she realized she had not. Mulder, fearful and anxious at their impending separation, had turned to her for reassurance, and she had slammed the door on him. That hadn't been fair to him. And Skinner....Skinner hadn't been fair, either. "How could you jeopardize all that for some fleeting carnal pleasure?" That hadn't been fair. "Why did you willingly undermine everything you'd worked for? And how in god's name could you do this to her?" Not fair. "Agent Scully, I understand there might have been alcohol involved in this incident. Is that it?" That had been downright cruel. The implication that Mulder had gotten her drunk and taken advantage of her infuriated her. She felt the anger seep deep into her soul, burning away the shock, the fear, the hurt. Anger burnt its way clear through to her very core. The place where her strength was stored. __________________________________ "Sir, Agent Scully would like a word with you." Scully didn't wait for Skinner's secretary to get an answer. She stormed the fortress. "Agent Scully, I don’t have time right now..." "Please, sir -- just a few minutes." Skinner considered for a moment, then dismissed his secretary with a wave. "Have a seat, Scully." "No thank you, sir. I've come to ask you to allow me to address the review board." "Agent Scully, it's too late for that. If you had something to say, you should have said it to me when you were asked." "I know. I'm sorry I was unable to articulate myself at that time. But I do have something to say now. And I feel I should say it to the entire panel." "I'm afraid that's impossible." "No, sir. I don't believe it is. I believe that, if you requested it, the panel would hear me. Please. As a favor to me, sir. I wouldn't ask if it weren't important." Skinner held her eyes for a long moment, assessing the state of her mind. "All right, Scully. I'll convene the board at 9 AM tomorrow." "Thank you, sir." _______________________________ "I'm sorry, Mulder." She stood in his doorway, willing him to hear the truth in her words. He was in sweat pants and a T-shirt, looking like he'd been asleep when she'd arrived. "Can I come in?" He stepped aside to admit her. "I'm sorry," she said again. No other words would seem to come. "No, you're probably right," he said. Neither was sure exactly what the other was referring to, but it didn't seem to matter much. "No, Mulder. I wasn't right. I slammed the door on you. I'm sorry." Mulder sighed and sat heavily on the couch. She took her place next to him. "I'm so sorry, Scully. I never meant for this to happen. I guess I just didn't think." "Mulder, this is not your fault, and it's not mine either. It just happened. Now we have to deal with it." "I don't know, Scully. I kept a safe distance for so long, in part because I knew the possible consequences. And then one day, for no apparent reason, I threw caution to the wind." "Just you, Mulder? Do you honestly believe you would have been keeping a safe distance all those years if I hadn't? And could you have thrown caution to the wind if I hadn't been right there throwing it, too?" "No. But I've always been more aware of the dangers than you have." "That's bullshit and you know it. You may have known more about some of the dangers than I did at the beginning, but not any more. And besides, I have more reason to know about this particular danger than you do. I stand to lose more. The woman always does." "I know. It's not fair." "That's right, it's not. That's why I'm going to address the review board tomorrow. I'd like you to be there." "But it's too late, Scully. They've made their decision." "I don't care. I'll try to make them reverse it. I've already talked to Skinner. He agreed to convene the board at 9 AM." She reached for his hand, pulled him to her and kissed him softly. "As long as I'm alive, Mulder, they can't take me away from you." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, soaking up the comfort of her presence. "Stay with me tonight?" he whispered. "Yes." They walked together to the bedroom, undressed quietly and slid under the covers. Her skin warmed his for the first time since that terrible night when their privacy, their solitude had been so carelessly compromised. The warmth flowed now like a soothing balm to heal the wounds that had been opened that night. Rolling over so that she lay beneath him, Mulder kissed her mouth urgently, seeking reassurance and finding it. As their tongues gently curled and twined together, his hand roamed across her front. He cupped a breast and squeezed gently, and she moaned his name. Slowly, he brought his hand down to stroke her side, her hip, her thigh, his mouth kissing hers deeply. When his fingers stroked the moist heat between her legs, she bucked and twisted under his caress. He let her passion build with each stroke, felt her body arch and press against his, and when he felt her climax begin, he pushed two fingers deep inside. "I love to feel you come," he whispered as she began to quiet, his voice setting up a gentle, rhythmic chant. "I love to feel the way you respond to my touch. I love the heat I can feel pouring from your skin. I love the sounds you make. I love the smell you release. If you knew what you do to me....How much I need you...." And then he was inside her, his body taking up the rhythm where his words left off, her body surging in counterpoint, and they moved together, clung together, climbed together, strove together, came together. Slept together. ____________________________ The assembled gathering was somber, which amused Mulder no end. Seven men and one woman, plus Skinner, Scully and himself, all looking like they were sitting around this highly polished expanse of dark wood in order to discuss foreign policy or the economy or the First Amendment. But the affair they'd actually come to discuss wasn't quite so weighty in nature. They'd come to discuss his sex life. His and Scully's. The absurdity of it actually pleased him. He glanced at Scully and saw her features were composed but her eyes were fiery. He had asked her that morning what she intended to say. She'd told him she wasn't sure. "Agent Scully, I understand you requested this meeting?" said one of the cookie-cutter men. "Yes, sir." "Do you intend to deny the allegations of your sexual involvement with your partner?" "No, sir." "Then I believe you are wasting our time. If you and Agent Mulder have had sexual relations, then there is nothing to discuss. Unless, of course, you intend to charge him with sexual harassment." "No, sir. Agent Mulder did not harass me in any way. But if the course of my career is to be changed by this event, I believe it's only fair that I be allowed to express my view of it." "Very well, Agent Scully," the man sighed. "But please be brief. We are all busy people." Mulder admired her calm. He himself wanted to slug the bastard. Scully remained seated as she started to speak, back straight, hands crossed on the conference table in front of her. "I do not deny that Agent Mulder and I have had consenting sexual relations. When and how often is nobody's business but our own. Whether we intend to continue doing so is also nobody's business. In fact, I doubt whether any of this should be anyone else's business, but I'll come to that later. "First, allow me to address the decision of this panel as it was communicated to Agent Mulder and me yesterday by Assistant Director Skinner." Scully glanced at the A.D. before continuing. He nodded slightly. "Regarding Agent Mulder: He is to remain with the X-Files, but he will be assigned a new partner. This judgment implies that you believe Agent Mulder and I can no longer be relied upon to work well together. Perhaps you believe that our judgment will be compromised, or that we will feel a stronger allegiance to each other than to the Bureau. I can assure you, that is patently absurd. Agent Mulder and I have proven ourselves time and time again as an efficient, effective team. While our methods have often been questioned, our results never have. This was true before we slept together, and it remains true. In fact, we were right on the money with our assessment of the case that brought us to Chicago, to the moment when Agents D'Amico and Farragut intruded on our privacy. I do not think anyone who knows Agent Mulder well will disagree with me when I say that assigning him a new partner is not likely to serve him or the Bureau well." Mulder grinned slightly at this, and he even thought he detected a twinkle in Skinner's eyes. "Now, as to my new assignment," she went on. "Not only have I been removed from the X-files, I have been told that I am not to be partnered and sent back out into the field. That is deeply disturbing. It goes beyond a separation of two supposedly unsuited partners. It is a punishment. It implies that, somehow, I am the cause. I can't be trusted in the field because I am a temptress, a seducer. Defenseless male agents are bound to slip when paired with a woman who cannot control herself. It implies that boys will be boys, and it's up to the girls to stop them. If they can’t or won’t, they’re sent off the field. That attitude is archaic and unfair, and in this case, I believe I have been victimized by it." "Even you, sir," she said, turning to Skinner, "implied a lack of reciprocity when you asked Agent Mulder, 'How could you do this to her?' Well, I have news for you, sir. Everything he did to me, I was doing right back. It was not for him to instigate, nor was it for me to prevent. It takes two to tango." Her voice began to rise with anger, taking on an edge of controlled passion. "And then there is the question I started with: Is this anyone's business but Agent Mulder's and mine? Believe me, I am not naive -- I know that sexual relations in the workplace are often the result of sexual harassment and coercion. Women and men must have recourse to protect them from such abuses of power. But I can assure you, that is not the case here. "Agent Mulder and I are partners. Many of you here have been in that role before. You know what it means. Our job isn't a nine-to-five paper mill. We spend days and days at a time together, becoming intimately familiar with each other's habits, attitudes and beliefs. We rely on each other in a way that no two people outside law enforcement ever do -- we trust each other with our lives. We share everything equally: the work, the risks, the responsibilities. If we didn't sincerely like and respect each other, we could never work effectively together. The borders between the professional relationship and the human relationship are by necessity blurred into non- existence. And human relationships are complex, shifting things, with many components that come and go. "Why is it okay for partners to share trust, caring, secrets, hardship, support, laughter, tears -- every aspect of human relations except physical intimacy? Four years ago, I would have agreed with you that there is a line that should never be crossed. But since then, I've learned otherwise. It is unhealthy and impossible for a person to compartmentalize him or herself so completely. That is an inhuman expectation. "And what if this story were slightly different? What if Agent Mulder and I were two straight men, and the little bonding ritual we'd been caught in was, say, sharing a hooker? Would our partnership have been broken up? No. I know of such cases, and the agents involved received only mild reprimands that were later expunged from their records -- yet another manifestation of that boys-will-be-boys philosophy. Well, if you ask me, what Agent Mulder and I did was far more ethical. "So I'm asking you to reconsider -- both our case and the Bureau's policy on this matter as a whole." When she suddenly stopped talking, the silence that hung around the long table was palpable. Finally, Skinner broke it. "The board will take your statement under consideration, Agent Scully. You and Agent Mulder will meet with me in my office in one hour, at which time I will inform you whether there is to be any change in your status." The two agents walked out. __________________________________ "Let me guess -- captain of the debating team?" Mulder quipped as they reached the safe haven of their basement office. "Yup." She smiled weakly. "So if I tell you you're beautiful when you're angry, does that make me a sexist pig?" "Right again." Her smile got a little stronger. "How about if I tell you I was undressing you with my eyes the whole time?" She laughed outright and threw a pencil at him. "Yeah, you're a pig, Mulder. But you're my pig." ______________________________ "Let me say first, Agent Scully, that I hope you will accept my apology," Skinner began. "You were right. I was not fair in my initial judgment." Scully nodded her acceptance. "Further, I had not believed anything you could say would have altered the board's decision. Obviously, I underestimated your powers of persuasion." Scully felt her hopes rise. Her eyes betrayed her and prompted Skinner to continue quickly. "There will be no official reprimands. Agent Scully, you will be permitted to return to the field -- but you will not be partnered with Agent Mulder, and you will not be assigned to the X-files." "Oh, come on!" It was Mulder who exploded. "You heard what Scully said in there! There's no reason to split us up!" "Agent Mulder," Skinner said, his voice carrying a warning tone. "This is the best result you could realistically have hoped for. This means that you can request Agent Scully's assistance as needed. She'll be with the VCS, and as such available for special assignment whenever you require her unique skills. You won't be partners, but you can continue your work with her help. Don't push your luck." As the two rose to leave, Skinner's eyes met Scully's, where he saw her accustomed stubborn determination. "This isn't over," she said. "No, I don't believe it is," he mumbled after she'd gone. _________________________ "You worked a miracle, Scully." She sat behind her desk, wondering how long it would be before she had to clear it out and move somewhere else. "It doesn’t feel like a miracle." "I know." He paused, hesitating. "What, Mulder?" She could tell he needed to ask her something. "Do you regret what we’ve done?" She considered a long while before answering. "No. I don’t. Do you?" "No. Never." "Then how come we both feel like we’ve been buried alive?" "Maybe it was all those stiffs dressed like undertakers." Her laughter pleased him. "So what do we do next, oh persuasive one?" "I don’t know. I’ll think about it tomorrow...at Tara..." "Right, Scarlet. My place or yours?" "Mine. I’ve got leftovers in the fridge." END (2/2)