Date sent:        Mon, 08 Sep 1997 17:28:50 +0100
From:             Caroline 
Subject:          Spooky Night (1/1) Caroline O'Callaghan


Spooky Night (1/1)

by Caroline O'Callaghan
caroline.o@virgin.net

Classification: Pre-X-Files story. Maybe a little angsty.

Rating: G

Spoilers: None.

Summary: Dana Scully and Fox Mulder meet in a bar one
night, two years before they famously meet in the basement
of the Hoover building.

*********

Dana Scully could feel the alcohol starting to buzz around
her bloodstream. She was light-headed, and feeling
no pain. Not that there should be any pain to be felt on this
particular occasion. This was a good evening, a 
celebration.

Her training at the Academy had finished that afternoon.
She was now a fully-fledged member of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. Special Agent Dana 'Don't mess 
with me' Scully. She giggled at the name she'd made up 
for herself, and her friend and classmate, Melanie Sykes, 
stopped lining up her shot on the pool table and turned to 
her. "What's so funny?"

Scully shrugged at her tall, dark-haired friend. "Nothing. 
Just looking forward to the future."

Melanie sank the nine ball. "Beat ya Scully. Took me
a while, but I finally beat ya."

"Only because I'm drunk. Which reminds me, let's get
another drink."

"Sure you haven't had enough?"

"Are you kidding? You're talking to a sailor's daughter
here. I haven't even started. Besides, look at those guys."
She nodded towards the rest of their classmates who 
were all sitting around a large table in the corner of the
busy Georgetown bar. "They're totally wasted already,
I have to catch up."

Scully put her cue down and walked towards the bar.
Melanie followed and they perched on a couple of
stools while they waited to be served. "So long as
I don't have to carry you home and put you to bed."

"Might find a nice guy to do that for me."

Melanie grinned. "Now I know you've had too much
to drink. You're contemplating picking up a guy in a
bar. Didn't your mother warn you about that?"

"She said it was okay as long as he had a nice stable
job and was willing to provide me with a house in
the suburbs and two-point-four children."

"All of which you'd run screaming from."

"Exactly. I want a bit of adventure. Why d'you think
I joined the F.B.I? I just wish they'd put me out in
the field."

Melanie caught the barman's eye and ordered for them
before she turned back to Dana. "Teaching at Quantico
is supposed to be an honour. You should feel flattered
they assigned you there."

"Its boring. I wanna do what you're going to do. Be out
in the field, flashing my gun around and shoving my I.D.
in people's faces."

"Yeah well. Think about it this way. You're going back
to somewhere where they all know you as an excellent
student and have respect for you. I'm being thrown into
a department with fifty-six, balding, middle-aged men,
who no doubt are going to do their best to drive me out.
They'll treat me like a secretary and I'll have to work
twice as hard as they do before they'll sit up and realise
that I'm a good agent."

"But they will in the end Mel. I have faith in you."

Melanie collected their drinks and they clinked their
bottles of beer together. 

"To the future."

"To Dana Scully. Future Director of the FBI."

Scully laughed.

"So. What's all this about picking up a guy? What 
about Jack?"

Dana made a face. "Its over."

Melanie looked at her doubtfully.

"I know I've said that before, but it really is this time.
I can't handle it anymore. He drives me crazy. He's
a total workaholic. He gets obsessed with his cases.
When he's working on something big he forgets I even
exist, and then two weeks later he suddenly remembers
he has a girlfriend. I can't take it. Even when he's with
me, I don't feel like he's really with me."

Melanie shrugged. "He's with the VCS. An agent I know 
who works there says that all of the department find it 
difficult to leave the work at the office. You take a lot of 
it home with you, in your head. You'd probably be the same, 
if they ever let  you out in the field."

Dana waved her hand in protest. "Absolutely not, never. 
I'm committed to my career, but its not going to be all my 
life's about. I want some kind of social life too."

"I have twenty bucks says you and Jack will be back 
together within a week."

"You're on." They shook hands and Melanie got off her
bar stool. 

"I'm going to the bathroom."

"Don't be long, I'm kind of a sitting duck here."

Melanie patted her knee. "I thought you wanted to get
lucky."

"Yeah well the Academy has taught me the importance
of back-up."

Melanie smiled and headed for the bathroom while Dana
took a swig of her beer and stared at herself in the
mirror behind the bar. Her image looked blurry and she
realised that Melanie probably was right. She had had
too much to drink, which wasn't a good idea in a bar 
known as one of the Bureau's watering holes. Most of 
the clientele were off-duty agents, and her class had 
wanted to come and mingle with them, now that they
had joined their ranks. It wouldn't do for her to get drunk
and embarrass herself in front of people she may have to
work with in the future. 

But she wanted to get hammered. She needed the kick of
alcohol so that she could begin to enjoy herself. She should
have been having a great time, but she wasn't. She knew she 
was in a funk, and why she was. Because of Jack Willis.

She remembered meeting him for the first time. He was
assigned to the VCS, but had been asked to teach one
afternoon a week at Quantico. She had been an eager
student, questioning everything, and he'd obviously liked
her energy, amongst other things, and had asked her out for
coffee after class. At first she'd been wary, afraid that 
becoming involved with him might threaten both their
reputations, but his charm had won her over, and thankfully,
her fellow students, despite a few joking comments about
her dating an instructor to earn a better percentage, hadn't
given her too hard a time. By the time Jack had come along
she'd already proven herself to her classmates, and they
knew she was more than capable of getting through training
without having to sleep with anybody. She'd earned her
badge fair and square, and they all knew it.

Things had been wonderful with Jack for a while. He was
interesting, full of life and not-too-shabby in bed, but it 
hadn't taken long for them to start clashing. On weekends
she'd often found herself sitting around her apartment; when
he cancelled their dates or just stood her up without even
a phone call. He'd get a lead on his latest case and she
would suddenly be the last thing on his mind. They'd argued
and broke up several times now, but something always
brought them back together. She always went back to him.
Perhaps because he was without family and she seemed the 
only thing he had apart from his work. She hated to see
people left alone, so she would unfailingly forgive him.

She suddenly thought about her sister Melissa who had a 
theory that Dana was still taking on strays. In childhood
it had been dogs and injured birds that nobody wanted, and 
in adulthood it was men that nobody else wanted to care for.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped suddenly at the
break in her thoughts it caused. She turned to see a man
grinning down at her, beer in hand.

"Hey Dana."

"Hey Tom." She tried to keep her voice in a friendly tone,
but to be honest, although he'd never done anything to 
offend her, she'd never been able to take to Tom Colton.
He was too much of an ass-kisser, someone who was
willing to side with anybody if it suited his own agenda. 
He used people to make himself look good. It was something
she'd noticed right from their fist few days as classmates,
but as long as he didn't try any of his crap on her, she was
willing to pretend to be friends. "Congratulations on the
VCS. That was what you wanted wasn't it?"

He nodded his blond head and sat opposite her. "Yeah
I've got to get on those big cases, get myself noticed if
I want to be on the fast track."

Dana smiled politely. "I admire your ambition Tom."

"Use it or lose it. See that guy over there, he's the section
chief."

She turned her gaze in the direction of Tom's pointed
finger and saw an average-looking, balding guy with
a paunchy stomach across the other side of the bar.
"Maybe you should buy him a drink Tom."

She'd been joking but Tom looked at her seriously. 
"You think I should?"

She couldn't resist egging him on. Served him right if
he ended up looking like an idiot. "Why not? Go over
and introduce yourself."

He considered for a moment. "Yeah maybe I should.
After all, his rising star has kind of gone off the rails."

Dana's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you
talking about?"

"Spooky Mulder. Remember I told you about him?"

She'd never really kept up with Bureau gossip. She'd
preferred to spend her time studying, but she did
remember Colton once telling her about a brilliant
young agent that seemed to solve cases on the flimsiest
of evidence, pulling answers out of thin air. She 
remembered Jack telling her about him too, although
the two had never worked together, despite being in
the same department. "Fox Mulder?"

"Yeah, you know? The guy who weirds everybody out.
He knew all about the occult and shit like that, that's
how he caught Monty Propps. Anyway, seems he won't
work on anything normal anymore. He'll only deal with
cases that supposedly involve space ship sightings, or 
ghosties and goblins. Everybody says he's lost it."
Colton put a finger to his right temple and made a circular
motion with his finger. "So I figure the section chief is
going to need a new prodigy."

"Hang on a second. You're saying that the Bureau actually
allows Fox Mulder to investigate UFO sightings?"

Tom shrugged. "They still think he's brilliant. They don't
want to lose him, so they suck up to him by letting him
pick and chose what he wants to work on. But I have to
say, he doesn't look that brilliant to me."

Tom nodded his head in the direction of the end of the 
bar.

For some reason she couldn't fathom, Dana's interest
perked up. "He's here?"

"Well you could say that. I don't think he knows exactly
where he is. Drunk as a skunk."

She peered round Tom and looked along the bar. At the
far end, leaning heavily against the bar and perched 
precariously on a stool, was a dark-haired man in a grey
suit. She took in his features. A small, stubborn chin,
puffy lips, huge nose, deep set eyes. They weren't 
traditionally attractive features, but put together on this
particular face, they were striking. A peculiar looking
man, who was at the same time handsome.

She realised that Tom was talking again and she snapped
out of her appraisal of 'Spooky' Mulder. 

"I give him a year before they pack him off to the funny
farm. He's in burn out."

"You know him?"

"No, but I've heard..."

She cut him off, wanting to defend this stranger for
some reason. "I sometimes wonder how you managed
to pass training Tom, with all the time you spend
gathering and spreading gossip."

"Dana. He chases after little green men."

"Sounds like a better job than kissing ass."

Tom grabbed his beer from the bar and gave her a 
sneering look. "Well you're in a pissy mood tonight.
What's the matter, Jack Willis dump you again?" 

Dana didn't even bother responding as she watched
Tom cross the room.

Melanie had returned from the bathroom and took
over Colton's place. "Were you not playing nice in
the school yard Dana?"

Scully smiled. "I'm not worried about Colton he'll
be my best friend again when he wants something from
me."

"Why'd d'you tick him off anyway?"

"I didn't. He ticked me off."

Melanie studied her. "What are you staring at?"

Dana looked at her friend in surprise, blinking as if
waking up from a day dream. "What?"

"You're talking to me, but you seem to be fascinated 
with whatever is over my left shoulder." Melanie
turned around, glanced around the bar and then looked
back at Dana. "Oh I see. Cute, very cute. But very drunk."

Dana nodded. "Exceedingly drunk."

"Forget it Scully. His wife probably doesn't understand
him."

"I can't see a wedding ring."

Melanie grinned at her. "My, my. We have been looking
closely."

"Did you ever feel really drawn to someone and you
can't figure out why?"

"Drawn to him? You're probably just drawn to his tight
behind."

Dana smiled. "I can't even see his behind."

"But you want to right?"

"No. Well yes, but...I can't explain it. Its not necessarily
physical. I just feel like he needs someone to talk to."

"So go talk to him."

"No. I couldn't."

"Sure you could. Just say hi 'what's your name?'"

"I already know his name. Fox Mulder."

Melanie looked surprised. "Fox Mulder. The 'Spooky'
guy?"

"How do you know he's spooky? You never even met him."

"Okay, now I'm worried about you. You're getting 
protective over someone you don't even know."

"I just feel...."

"...drawn to him. I know. You told me. So get over there
and see if he's drawn to you."

"He's drunk."

"So buy him a coffee then. Go."

She put a hand on Dana's shoulder and gave her a shove,
and to Dana's own surprise she found herself making her 
way slowly down to where Fox Mulder sat.

Self-consciously, she ran a hand over her hair to smooth it
down. Her stomach gave a little flip and she cursed her
nervousness. She told herself she was a strong, modern
woman, and as such, should have no problem making the
first move on a man. But the truth was that she'd never
done anything quite like this before. She wondered why
she was taking the risk now.

Standing behind him she took a deep breath whilst
examining the back of his neck. She even found that
part of him attractive.

He was staring at the long line of bottles behind the bar 
and she realised she was going to have to speak to gain 
his attention.

She coughed. "Excuse me." Her voice came out in a 
high-pitched squeak, that caused her face to colour.
The man sitting next to Fox Mulder, turned and smiled
broadly at her, but when he saw the direction of her gaze, 
and that she wasn't speaking to him, he turned back to 
the bar. 

Fox Mulder must have noticed the movement behind him
because he turned slowly.

Dana took her chance. "Hi."

His gaze rested on her face and examined her features.
She looked into his eyes and was astonished by what
she saw in their hazel depths. Pain and anguish were
visibly displayed. She could hear a voice in her head
telling her that she could be getting herself in deeper than
she could possibly imagine. She had thought Jack had
a wounded look about him, but this man looked as if
he had never known anything but sadness. She pressed
on, against her own good sense.

"I'm Dana Scully." She held out her hand for him to
shake. He looked down at it, then straight at her
chest and then back at her face. He smirked.
 
She dropped her unshaken hand back to her side.

He laughed softly. "Run along back to school little
girl."

"I beg your pardon."

"You heard me Nancy Drew. I'm not interested."

She felt her face burning and a mixture of humiliation
and embarrassment running through her veins. "I'm with 
the Bureau and I know you are too, and I just wondered
if you needed any help."

His smirk returned. "Help with what? I think its you that
needs help tonight, but you ain't getting any from me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're the smart FBI agent. You work it out. I'd love
to oblige but I'm afraid that you come up short in more
than just one direction."

With that, he lurched off the chair, brushed roughly
past her and stumbled towards the exit.

She stood still. Trying to gather her dignity and self-
respect up off the floor where he had dropped it.
She was seething. How dare he treat her that way.
When a hand touched her elbow, she looked up to
see the man that had been sitting next to Fox Mulder,. 
He had obviously heard the whole exchange. He was 
smiling kindly at her. "Hey. Don't worry about it, he's 
wasted. And he's a fool. If you'd come to say hi to me 
I would have been much more polite."

She nodded at the door. "He a friend of yours?"

"God no. I don't know him." He held out his hand and
she looked up into his nicely featured face. He wasn't
particularly devastating, but he wore a friendly expression
which was a welcome relief after Fox Mulder. "Ethan
Minette."

She shook the proffered hand. "Dana Scully."

He grinned. "I know. I was paying attention. Nice to
meet you Dana Scully. Would you like a drink?"

She hesitated for just a fraction of a second. "Yes,
please."



Outside on the street Fox Mulder managed to hail
a taxi and tumbled into it after persuading
the driver that he wasn't about to throw up. As he
gave his address, he wondered why he had blown out
the little red-haired woman in the bar. Okay, so she
wasn't his usual type. But she'd had a sweet face and
huge bright-blue eyes, and he'd sensed a keen 
intelligence about her. Perhaps it had been her formal 
demeanour and sensible suit that had screamed 'F.B.I.' 
at him the moment he'd seen her. He wasn't feeling 
too charitable about the Bureau, or the idiots that ran
it, today. He'd just had a reaming from his immediate
superior and been told to stop 'wasting taxpayers
money on ridiculous investigations'. Didn't they know
that they were the ridiculous ones? For denying that
there might be more out there, simply because they
hadn't seen it with their own eyes. 

His ticking off was the reason he had gotten drunk
at the bar. He knew he'd have a killer headache
tomorrow, and it hadn't made him feel any better.
He wouldn't try that again. Alcohol didn't agree
with him. 

He thought about the dark, depressing apartment he
was going back to and groaned. Why the hell was he
so lonely, and why the hell did he refuse to do anything
about changing that? 

Maybe he'd find out what department the red-head
belonged to and call and apologise. What was her 
name again? Diana Sawyer? No. Delia Saunders?
No. Deidre Summers? No. Ah damn it! Who the hell
ever heard of a selective photographic memory?


The end


*********   

If you've got anything to say - don't hold back -
drop us a line, or two, at: caroline.o@virgin.net

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