Character: Dana Scully
Fandom: The X-files
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm: I see the puppet. But…where is the puppet master? Vol 2 Week 14
Setting: Season Three Episode “Nisei”
AN: Some borrowed dialogue
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Mulder had that look…the look that said he intended to do something he knew would likely get him in trouble, but didn’t care. And worse, he expected her to be a full participant in his act of anarchy, and to go along with it complicity. And there she was, following his tall swagger to the rental car, a mischievous gleam in his hazel-green eyes despite all the seriousness of his expression. He popped open the trunk and quickly reached inside, yanking out a leather satchel she knew belonged to neither of them.
The satchel that Japanese diplomat had been carrying….she realized in the confusion of bringing in the man to the local police station and explaining the entire situation that it was one piece of evidence they hadn’t brought in. Or at least Mulder had decided to deliberately leave in the car. Curious, she watched as closed the trunk and put the case on top, opening the brown, leather case and pulling out a file folder from within. Without regard to where they were who might be about he flipped it open, eyes eagerly bright as they scanned the top page.
Clearly the episode of the DAT tape and the trouble it had cause had taught him nothing, Scully noted sourly as she glanced around the parking lot briefly. No one seemed to be watching, but they had thought that before, in much more secure locations than this one. She wanted to call him on it, but he passed the top paper off the pile, his long fingers absently handing it to her as he continued to study the remnants of the file.
“What are those?” She glanced that paper handed to her, a list of names and numbers. She scanned the paper quickly, her eyes stopping at the word MUFON at the top. It rang a bell as she tried to think, her brain rifling through the hundreds of initials she knew from her medical training….MUFON…..
“They look like satellite photos,” Mulder drawled slowly, his brows creasing as he flipped through the stack of thick, black and white pictures. “What would he be doing with these?”
It hit her exactly what MUFON meant…the Mutual UFO Network. It was among a list of various UFO organizations Mulder kept tabs on, along with NICAP, his strange friend Max Fenig’s organization. The list seemed to be made up of MUFON members, with the first name circled as if specially singled out.
“What would he be doing with a list of Mutual UFO Network members in the greater Allentown area with the name Betsy Hagopian circled?” She pointed out the top most names in the dim light of the parking lot, angling the paper so Mulder could study it better.
“Maybe he was going to fit her for a pillowcase too,” he quipped dryly, referring to the dead body of their alien autopsy video maker. His full mouth pressed into a thoughtful frown, plans and ideas flittering across his face. “Why don't you stick around, get a motel room and check it out in the morning?”
Get a room? Scully felt her eyes widen blankly at him as he closed the file and threw the papers back into the satchel, the familiar, determined kineticism returning as she rounded the car for the drivers side. He was having some sort of mental dialogue with himself, and it always spelled trouble when she wasn’t in on the conversation. “Where are you going?” She tried not to sound as alarmed as she felt and failed miserably.
“I'm going to go back to DC like a good boy, like Skinner told me to do, and show these to a few friends of ours,” his rounded the car, shooting her a suspiciously innocent look as he opened his car door. She knew better. She watched him, glaring at him from across the top of the car, her arms folded.
“Why do I have a feeling you’ll be in DC just long enough to have the Three Stooges tell you just exactly where those ships are at, before you run off without me to do something infinitely stupid and exceedingly dangerous while I’m stuck here doing the leg work for you with the expectation that when you get your ass handed to you…and you will, I will be free and clear to get you out of whatever fix or jam you have managed to get yourself into this time.”
“Why do you assume I’ll get my ass handed to me,” Mulder look mildly affronted.
“How’s that bruise on your chest from your manhandling this morning,” she raised a pointed eyebrow, knowing it would bruise his ego and wound his pride. “As usually, you are taking your vague hint of a curious tidbit, call it evidence, and are tearing off for parts unknown with the vague promise that any of it will turn out a case for us.”
She hit home with him, Mulder was clearly perturbed by her jab, impatience pulling his gaze heavenward as he threw up his hands. “It’s sort of odd that a man selling illegally produced alien autopsy videos for $30 a pop shows up dead and the only person we have at the scene of the crime is a Japanese diplomat who conveniently speaks no English and who is carry military satellite photos of US naval ships and a list of MUFON members. I don’t know, Scully, but it all strikes me as a tad odd, a series of strange confluence of random facts that don’t make sense. But perhaps I’m merely crazy or just spooky for thing that there might be an explanation out there that explains all of them rather than just some of them.”
His words stung. “That’s a tad unfair, don’t you think,” ice forming in her voice as she met his annoyance levelly.
“Is it?” His eyes flashed brilliantly for a moment before he pushed off from the car, rounding it slowly. “You said it yourself, none of this tracks, you see the strings being pulled here, you know that whatever is being presented to us is a sham. And yet you are throwing it at me that I am the one who is obtuse here for following what leads we have presented before us.” She pivoted and watched as he rounded up to her, ablaze with his indignation. “You are the one, Scully, who has beat into my head that before we can make any claims we need proof…evidence…and here I am, ready to find it. And you are calling me out on it?”
Did he really want to make this as simple as “I’m right and your wrong”? He stopped, slowly, his toes so close they almost met her own as he stared down at her. Mulder would never, ever in his wildest dreams would think of physically harming her, but there were times when even she had to wonder as she swallowed, unnerved by his presence so close.
“In case you don’t remember, Mulder, your track record with unverified evidence and solo side treks has been less than stellar…or has New Mexico completely left your mind?” She glared up at him, happy for the moment that she had something to justify her worry and skepticism, evidence she could throw at Mulder that she wasn’t being unreasonable in her assessment. “And what was it before that…Alaska? Puerto Rico? How about Doctor Sacare, or Wisconsin when I had to drag you from a jail cell with Max Fenig?” She shook the MUFON list under Mulder’s aquiline nose. “You would have me do background work that any fresh-faced recruit straight out of the Academy would do so you can do what…chase after evidence in the hopes that you can come back to Skinner and prove that you were right, take the wool off everyone’s eyes, show that it’s a sham?”
“Do you really believe that any of this is about my own ego, Scully? Do you think I go out there and do what I do for kicks?”
“No,” she admitted hotly, lifting her chin defiantly as her knuckles flew to rest on her hips. “I think you do it because it’s the only way you feel you can clean the guilt from your soul. I don’t know, Mulder…you tell me you don’t have the stomach for killing yourself, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t willingly throw yourself in situations where circumstances might just do it for you.”
She had said that thought out loud.
It was only when the words hung in the air, sparkling like frozen shards between them in the cold, fall air that Scully realized just how hot her temper was, just how flushed her skin felt as the blood pounded through her veins. Had her voice really been ringing that loudly in the darkness of the police parking lot? She had just spoken what she had privately concluded days ago, as Mulder sobbed over the body of a girl he hardly knew.
All she could think to do was to apologize. “Mulder, I’m sorry…”
“You were being honest,” he cut her off with an impatient cutting of his hand, long fingers slicing at her apology. “And if you weren’t honest, Scully, you would be less of a partner and a friend.”
Friend….he had said the word with all of the assurance of one who actually believed it. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper…and I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“Would it have been better to not let me hear it,” his dark eyebrow quirked pointedly over his stoic expression, “after all you could have allowed me long ago to just fall on my own sword of stubbornness and self-righteousness. It perhaps would have been easier for you.”
Easier....his words underscored the doubts and questions that had plagued her these months since New Mexico and Melissa’s death. How long could she continue holding him together, stand in the background keeping down the fort while Mulder continued to chase every devil, demon, and dark cloud that ever climbed above the horizon. Why should she even question this? She chose to stay here after all? She knew that this was Mulder…this was always the way Mulder would be.
“Let’s me get a room,” Scully chose the options that required the least effort on her part, giving in. “I’ll drop you off at the airport and keep the car to use tomorrow.”
“You don’t have to,” Mulder began, but she turned from him, cutting him off, reaching for the car door.
“I’ll do it, Mulder. You’re right, there is something going on here.” She wouldn’t deny that, even if she didn’t like this. “I’ll check out these names and call you about it tomorrow.”
She slipped into the car without looking back up at him, waiting for him to climb back into the car.
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