I do not own anything X Files related, I've just got a fevered imagination... This story was inspired by the actual accounts of "frog man" sightings in Loveland, Ohio. The rest is made-up, so usual "based on a true story" disclaimers apply. Thanks for reading this fic and please do leave a review - Mrs P.
What Happens In Loveland…
"Space goo?" Dana Scully gave her partner the customary 'you've got to be kidding' look as she wearily leafed through the thin file of papers, press clippings and photographs.
Mulder grinned and kept on driving.
"I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore. After seven years, I should just read the file, nod my head and say - ah, space goo, I wondered when we were going to get around to that," she glanced over at her partner and raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"Actually, it has many names, although the most popular one is probably Star Jelly. In Mexico they refer to it as caca de Luna or moon poop. It's been associated with meteor showers, shooting stars and even UFOs, but its origins have yet to be definitively determined," Mulder explained as he reached for his sunflower seeds.
"Fascinating as all that is what does it have to do with us?" Scully questioned, distinctly unenthused at the prospect of yet another wild goose chase. "All I see here is a few people in Loveland reporting what can only be described as increased libido after coming into contact with the stuff," she paused to flip onto another page in the file. "There does appear to be a higher than average birth rate in the area, but that could be down to any number of factors. I see no case here, nothing to justify the expenditure when we have a department spending audit due."
"There could be a danger to public health. And anyway, Star Jelly isn't all this town has to offer," Mulder playfully waggled his eyebrows.
Scully's patience was wearing thin.
"How could I forget the police report from two men who reported seeing a humanoid creature with a frog-face, who also happened to be carrying what looked like a sparkly magic wand?"
She sighed and dismissively discarded the file onto her lap.
"Sex-inducing space goo and frogmen, seriously?"
"Sounds like a fun day out to me," Mulder chuckled, but his partner remained unamused. "Actually, there have been various eye-witness reports over the years from Loveland residents, including two police officers, of encounters with these large frog-like creatures," he explained in an attempt to lend some credibility to the sightings.
Scully took a deep breath and decided not to protest any further. It was all part of what had become a perfunctory dance between them, anyway. He wanted to believe, and she'd seen too much to turn her back on the truth, even if it came in the form of a frog-man. Now their relationship had shifted gear, she was keenly aware there was more at stake than professional pride or deep friendship. She wondered if that unspoken fear wasn't partly to blame for her recent bouts of irritability. Maybe the lack of definition in terms of their relationship was to blame; it was everything, and yet it was nothing. Not in regard to what they were to each other or where it was all headed. Perhaps it didn't matter. She did know for certain that they loved each other, and the rest was just semantics.
Mulder had noted her recent prickliness and her tendency to lapse into periods of quiet contemplation. This behaviour was not without precedent, and he was tempted to shrug it off as hormonal. However, he did recall a troubling incident from a few years ago, which led to Scully acquiring a tattoo on her lower back. He was pretty sure this bout of moodiness bore no relation to that episode, or to the horror of her cancer diagnosis, which had followed on from it. But the recent progression of their relationship made him feel obliged to investigate further. She might be pissed at him, or something he'd done, at least. He decided to try and find out.
"Dana, is everything okay? I mean I didn't leave the toilet seat up again or abuse another tube of toothpaste, did I?" He bashfully inquired, silently hoping her mood was down to something trivial like that.
They were supposed to be keeping work and the other stuff separate. It would be easier to compartmentalise her feelings if he could stick to the unwritten rules, she thought with a bristle of annoyance. When he called her Dana, it muddied the waters and evoked memories of things that didn't belong out in the field with them.
"I'm fine," she said tersely, hoping he would let it drop. "Everything's fine."
He knew when to back off. Besides, if it was a hormonal thing, he didn't want to get into that Vietnam. He let her have the final word on the matter, and they fell into silence for the remainder of their short car journey.
It was mid-morning when Mulder and Scully arrived in Loveland, Ohio. They drove straight to the address of Leonardo and Giorgio Ferrigno; the two brothers who had reported seeing the frogman on their way home from town three nights earlier. One of them had also reported an increase in sexual appetite some months previously, after finding a mysterious jelly-like substance in his backyard. Mulder knocked at the door, as he and Scully waited for a reply. The door was opened by a tall, well-built, dark-haired man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties.
"Mr Ferrigno?" Mulder inquired, unsure which of the brothers he was addressing.
"My name is Leo; can I help you with something?" The man politely inquired, smiling in a friendly manner.
"Leo, we're agents Mulder and Scully with the F.B.I. We are here about the strange sighting reported by you and your brother," Mulder explained as he flashed his badge.
Leo didn't bother to examine their credentials.
"You mean the frogman? That was way cool," he grinned.
"Who're you talking to, Leo?" A female voice rang out from somewhere inside the house.
"Some F.B.I agents," he yelled back at her.
A young woman suddenly appeared, marching towards the door with a concerned look on her face. She was pretty with long, almost black hair, and she also happened to be heavily pregnant.
"Leo, you know to come get me right away if anyone calls by," she scolded the gentle giant.
"Sorry, Suzie," he murmured contritely.
He gave Mulder and Scully a cheeky grin as he went back inside the house.
"What's all this about?" The woman questioned.
"We were just talking with Leo about the creature that he and his brother reported seeing the other night," Mulder explained as he and Scully showed her identification.
He wondered why she was being so protective of him.
"Who are you?" He inquired.
"My name is Suzie Neary, I'm Giorgio's fiancée," she replied.
"Why did you stop us speaking with Leo?" Scully queried.
"Leo has an intellectual disability, and I'm just looking out for him. You can come in and talk to him, but I'm staying too, okay?" Suzie explained as she invited them into the house. "Giorgio is at work right now, he won't be back until after five."
"Wasn't it your fiancé who reported, um... strange side-effects, after coming into contact with the mysterious jelly-like substance he found in your backyard? Scully inquired.
"Strange side-effects? How's this for a side-effect?" Suzie said as she gestured towards her swollen belly. "It was just over eight months ago; Giorgio found some of that gooey stuff on the lawn and tried to pick it up. He was like a crazed animal that night, there was no satisfying him, you know?" She blushed.
Mulder and Scully exchanged a heated look and then nodded sympathetically.
"Listen to this," Leo said as he beckoned them to follow him into the next room.
They crowded into the small lounge area and the air was suddenly filled with the sound of Kermit The Frog singing, It's Not Easy Being Green.
Scully rolled her eyes, and any trace of professional interest she was feigning in the case began to quickly ebb away. She let Mulder do all the talking, and was happy to get back to the car. At least now they could head back to D.C and get some proper work done, she hoped. Her mind unintentionally drifted back to the image of Suzie tenderly rubbing her pregnant belly, and she felt an old familiar pang.
It was proving harder than ever for her to accept she would never have a child of her own. She had wanted Mulder's baby and they tried IVF, unsuccessfully as it turned out, before they were even a proper couple. Now they were in a full-blown relationship, it had come back to haunt her. Maybe he didn't care; his involvement in the IVF didn't come without reservations. But he was genuinely disappointed when the fertility treatment failed. Despite her strict intentions to keep work and their personal relationship separate, she had to find out.
"Mulder, do you ever think about what would have happened if I'd succeeded in getting pregnant last year?" She tentatively inquired, unable to bring herself to look him directly in the eye.
As much as Scully needed to know how he truly felt, she feared it too.
He was taken aback by her question and immediately began to squirm in discomfort. How could he give her an answer that wouldn't cause her pain? Of all the things he thought might be bothering her; he'd never even considered that option. He always presumed he had sacrificed his chance to be a husband and a father, for the work. But when Scully asked him to be her sperm donor, and he'd agreed, he couldn't stop himself from hoping. He even started to fantasise about what their son or daughter would be like. The prospect of fatherhood was more appealing than he ever imagined it would be.
"I know how much you wanted it to succeed, I did too. I would have given anything to make that dream come true for you, you know that, right? But we can't dwell on what might have been, that way madness lies," he said earnestly, without taking his eyes from the road.
"Don't you ever want to be a father?" Scully couldn't stop herself from pushing him.
"I want you," he said pointedly, and without having to commit himself on the fatherhood issue.
It was all too late now anyway, for both of them.
Scully didn't push any further. No matter how sweet he was trying to be, she wasn't satisfied with his answer.
Mulder and Scully continued with their perfunctory investigation. They visited some of the people who had reported increased sex drive after coming into contact with the Star Jelly. But there didn't seem to be any real danger to public health; the substance itself had high water content and no traceable DNA matter. No samples survived as it degraded too quickly. The frogman sighting was dismissed by Scully as nothing more than a mentally disabled man's enthusiasm for Kermit and the rest of the Muppets.
"If we head back to D.C now, I can finish up that paperwork that Skinner asked for," she got into the hire car and expected her partner to follow suit.
"We haven't even talked to Giorgio Ferrigno yet," Mulder argued. "And I think we should at least find out whether he knows any of the words to the Rainbow Connection," he said with a grin.
"Mulder, you can't be serious? This is a complete waste of time and bureau resources. What can you possibly hope to find here?" She huffed with exasperation.
"It's got a lot more going for it than some of our other cases," he shrugged. "We haven't even seen any of this Star Jelly for ourselves yet, and I'd like to find out what the Ferrigno brothers really saw. I think, if anything, Leo's disability makes him a more credible witness, because he isn't naturally prone to fabrication," he argued.
Scully let out a heavy sigh, but didn't offer any counter argument. It was too late to do anything else now even if they did go straight back to D.C, she reasoned. And so, they turned-tail and returned to the Ferrigno property to speak with Giorgio. It was well past the time when Suzie had assured them he would be home from work.
Leo was excitedly jumping about on the front porch when they arrived. He ran straight over to the car to greet them.
"Come see what I found," he said, wildly gesticulating for Mulder and Scully to follow him.
They accompanied him into the back yard. He began skipping around and pointing out towards the lawn, which was covered in blobs of white jelly. Scully felt a squelch underfoot, and looked down to find she was standing in a large puddle of goo. It was already starting to seep into her shoes as she tried to kick it away. Her feet went from under her as she lost her footing and slipped ass-first into more of the gelatinous gloop.
Mulder and Leo couldn't help bursting out laughing, but Scully was suffering a sense of humour failure.
"This day just gets better and better," she grumbled.
Giorgio Ferrigno and his fiancée came out to see what all the commotion was about. They soon joined in the sniggering, which didn't help improve Scully's mood in any way. Suzie fetched a towel so she could clean herself off a little, and they all went inside the house.
Mulder could see Scully wanted nothing more than to be a million miles away, but he pressed on.
"So, Giorgio, tell us about what you and your brother saw that night."
"It was the damndest thing. Me and Leo were walking back home after buying beer at the local store. We got as far as the bridge, the one that crosses over the Little Miami River, and I saw something moving by the side of the road. It looked like a big dog or some other kind of animal at first, because it was all hunched over. But as we got closer, it kinda jumped up to about the size of a ten-year-old kid. It had a face like a frog and it sorta grinned at us, with this big mouth full of razor sharp teeth. There was a magic wand thing in its hand that had sparks flying out of it, kinda like a welding torch. Leo called out to it, but it jumped over the railings and disappeared. Maybe it went into the river; I didn't hear any splashing in the water. We couldn't see down there because it was too dark," he explained.
"Have you ever seen anything like it before?" Mulder asked.
"Nope, of course, I'd heard the stories. I thought it was just a load of crap, you know?" Giorgio seemed genuine enough, but Scully wasn't satisfied.
"You said you were on your way back from buying beer, right? I take it you'd been drinking that night?" She inquired.
"Hey, I mighta had one or two, but I know what I saw," he stood firm.
Scully gave Mulder a look that suggested her suspicions had been confirmed, signalling that her work was done there. Her partner was reluctant to leave and asked a few more cursory questions before joining her back at the car.
"Please tell me we can go home now?" She wearily begged, as she surveyed the damage done to her work suit by the goo.
Mulder contemplated taking a detour to visit a certain bridge. But he knew she'd kill him, and besides, a hot shower for two was much more appealing.
"I think we should book into a motel and get you cleaned up. We can fly back to D.C in the morning."
Scully protested, but it was getting late and she really didn't want to travel home looking like she'd had a close encounter with a vat of jello. She was also beginning to feel a little tingly in certain places. The sensation intensified and her arousal started to build. This was not going to be good for maintaining their professional work ethic, she sighed. The reports of increased libido after contact with the Star Jelly were on her mind, as she began to feel very turned on.
Mulder got them booked into a couple of rooms at the Loveland Inn. The necessity of having two was for the F.B.I's benefit, as he assumed they'd share one. But Scully hastily snatched away her door key and ran inside the nearest room, locking the door behind her.
Mulder was perplexed by her behaviour.
"Scully? Is everything right? Hey, Scully let me in," he pleaded as he pounded against the door with his fist.
She was pressed firmly up against the wall as her body desperately wanted to grant his request. Desire was burning her up, and she couldn't trust herself to speak. Her clothing felt terribly constricting all of a sudden. Stripping naked, she left him protesting outside while she scrambled for the relief of a cold shower. The icy water against her sensitive skin only served to stimulate her more, if that were possible. She couldn't help running her fingers over her erect nipples. Scully moaned with desperate need as her hand travelled lower towards her hot centre. Her fingers began to work on the sensitive spot between her legs. She was so aroused it was almost painful, and she knew she needed assistance to relieve the ache. Jumping out of the still running shower, she hastily bundled on the complimentary bathrobe, before sprinting outside.
"Mulder, I'm sorry about before," she purred as she hammered urgently at his door.
He quickly let her in and was surprised to find she was dripping wet from the shower. The frenzied look in her eyes also concerned him.
"Sc..." he didn't even have the chance to get her name out before she pushed him back on the bed and straddled him.
She kissed him like a thing possessed. Frantically, Scully pulled at his clothing in order to get access to what she needed. He tried to calm her and get her to take it slower, but his heart wasn't really in it; she was turning him on way too much. She was grinding against his crotch with such persistence, he was glad when she finally got his fly undone. Scully didn't even wait until his pants were all the way off before impaling herself on him. Foreplay wasn't required, as she feverishly worked her body up and down his length. The pace got faster and faster until she was screaming his name over and over again. She came in a blinding flash that seemed to last forever. Not even realising, or caring, in her desperate need that she'd taken Mulder over the brink with her. Slumping down on top of his chest, she sought to regain control over her breathing.
"Wow! That was... Wow," he gasped.
Scully wasn't done with him yet. They were still intimately joined, and she began to gently stimulate him until he was ready for a repeat performance. She finally started to feel the throbbing of arousal easing off around the fourth climax. Mulder wondered if she was trying to kill him. He decided he didn't mind either way, because if he was going to die, then this was exactly the way he wanted to go. When Scully fell back against the bed after her fifth orgasm, the tingling sensation slowly faded and she felt quite content. Mulder presumed it was her impromptu roll in the Star Jelly that was responsible for her rapacious sexual appetite. He couldn't help but smile to himself, that his obsession with the paranormal was finally paying dividends.
"Thank you, Mulder," she sleepily sighed.
He leaned over to kiss her goodnight.
"You know, all things considered, I think I'm gonna be pretty sorry to leave Loveland," he chuckled.
THE END.