'Tell me why we're doing this again, Scully,' Mulder asked placing another seed in his mouth.
'Because A.D. Skinner ordered us too,' Scully answered the whining child at her side.
'Nobody wants Spooky Mulder at a team building seminar,' he stated with rancour.
'Or Mrs Spooky,' Scully muttered under her breath. Then the importance of that statement hit her head on. Taking in a sharp gasp, Scully's mind went blank for a moment.
'Hey, Scully, you alright,' Mulder asked concerned, 'you almost drove us off the road.'
'Fine, Mulder,' the words came quickly to her lips when obviously the fact couldn't be further from the truth. The car had stopped on the shoulder, mere inches from a ditch. 'No, Mulder, I'm not fine.'
'Want me to drive,' he questioned, looking at his partner.
'Yar think,' she answered sarcastically, releasing her seatbelt and opening the driver's side door.
Back on the road, sitting in the passenger's seat gave Scully time to consider the revelation. I'm Mrs Spooky Mulder. How often have I overheard someone say it? Really, everyone at the bureau thinks so. They don't bother to hide the fact anymore. Even my family have this expectation. Why shouldn't they, Mulder joins us for all the family holidays. We do everything together but….don't go there Dana.
Pulling up to the old fashioned hotel in Chesapeake, Mulder turned off the car before facing his partner of several years. One arm over the back of her seat, the other resting on the dash board, he surrounded her. Personal space between them had never existed.
'Scully,' he made the word a question.
Strange how they could do this, had always been able to communicate with a single word or look. No wonder they think I'm Mrs Spooky Mulder, it's the way we act.
'I'm fine, Mulder,' Scully rolled her eyes. 'You get us booked in and I'll find the registration desk. We'll meet at the welcome brunch in the dinning room.'
'Hey, Scully,' Mulder stoped unloading both overnight bags and gave her a wink, 'we'll be home tomorrow night.'
Four sessions, three meals and one night, that's all I have to get though with my Colleagues, Scully thought. Since when did spending time with my Colleagues become a chore? When did I become so insulated in my working environment and isolated from society in general? The answer, when people started calling me Mrs Spooky.
'Name,' the board junior agent looked up from her registration paperwork. Noticing the short, red head before her, Scully saw the gathering interest in her eyes.
Oh, brother, Scully forced a neutral expression to her face. 'Scully, Dana and Mulder, Fox,' she supplied, ignoring the side ways glances from other agents milling in the general vicinity. Picking up her name tag, she fastened the label to her lapel.
'Sign in here,' the look in the young woman's eyes informed Scully that her reputation preceded her. 'Where's your partner,' Jane Weatherington, or so her badge stated, asked. 'He needs to sign in here,' she pointed a well manicured nail beside Mulder's name.
'I'll….' The rased hair on the back of her neck warned her of Mulder's approach. The look in Jane's eye confirmed it. Once again stepping into her personal space, Scully heard the whispers start.
'Hey, Scully, there's been….' He whispered, touching her arm to obtain her attention.
'Sign here, Mulder,' Scully pointed impatiently, collecting his identification tag from the table and pinning it neatly to his jacket pocket.
Placing his hand at the base of her spine, Mulder moved them to a quiet corner. The look in his eyes communicated his disquiet. 'Notice anything strange about the agents attending this little charade,' he enquired, leaning down to whisper the words into Scully's ear.
'Strange,' Scully answered, 'Mulder are you attempting to uncover an X-File. We're here because you need to learn to get along with our colleagues, not investigate them.'
'Look around you, Scully,' he smiled rogueishly. 'What does your ever enquiring mind tell you?'
Waiting and watching for Scully to make the obvious link, she look up at him in confusion, 'we appear to be the only mixed gender partnership I can see.'
'Bingo,' he applauded, mischief shining in his expression.
'Why is that important,' Scully asked, failing to see association.
'Because,' he teased, 'Dr Scully, of no fixed gender, is sharing a room with her FBI partner tonight.'
'What,' Scully exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by the other agents nearby. Their interest now became open as they stared at the pair. 'But that's against bureau policy,' she almost whined.
'Honeymoon suite, Scully,' amused, Mulder dangled the plastic key just out of her reach. He knew they were the subject of intense scrutiny but he just couldn't help himself. Mulder liked teasing Scully.
The bastard, Scully considered murder, he heard me in the car. Sometimes I forget just how good a psychologist my partner is, and how much he loves me.