Working at the FBI offered many benefits. Travel, knowledge, and health insurance were among them. Exciting office parties, in Mulder's opinion, were not. It was almost Christmas, which meant that another office party needed to be held. A majority of agents attended them, and some of them actually came to enjoy themselves.
Mulder came because Scully told him he had to. Actually, she told him that though it wasn't mandatory for him to show up, he didn't have to, and if he really didn't want to go, and wanted to leave her to have a perfectly miserable time on her own, then that was fine. It was pointless trying to convince her that she didn't need to go, and after much arguing, Mulder agreed to join her. It was more out of guilt than anything.
Unfortunately for Mulder, not five minutes into said party, Scully abandoned Mulder to talk with Agent Tippet of the Counterintelligence Division. Mulder sat in a corner with a plastic cup of punch, not only being shunned by the attendees, but encouraging the shunning. The only person he had anything non-work related to say to was Scully, and her red hair had long since disappeared into the crowd.
He sniffed the punch. Not trusting it, he went to the garbage can to throw it away. It was here that he met up with Scully for the first time since they arrived half an hour ago.
"Enjoying yourself?" he asked flatly.
She stared back up at him blankly. "Well….you know how these things go."
"You're bored, too?"
"At least I'm trying to enjoy myself."
"Scully, I did, too. Just, the punch didn't make very good conversation." Scully rolled her eyes. "And the music stinks."
"Oh, come on. It's not like you had any better plans for the night."
"Actually, Food Network has a Rachael Ray marathon I could be watching."
"Since when do you like Rachael Ray?"
"I don't."
They sat in silence for a minute or so. They moved away form the trashcan so someone could throw away a burnt cookie which looked less than delightful, and Mulder edged toward the door,
"We can't just leave, Mulder," Scully pointed out.
"No one'll miss me, Scully. I promise."
"I can't just leave. Skinner had something he wanted to talk to me about something, and-"
"He can do that at work."
Before Scully could retort, the monster known as the karaoke machine was announced as open. A familiar looking bald man eagerly jumped in front of the crowd, ready to sacrifice himself to the beast. Mulder's jaw dropped.
"Skinner…" gasped Scully.
"He isn't," whispered Mulder, his mouth wide open in shock and terror.
The music started, and Skinner began to sing. At first neither Mulder or Scully recognized the song, as they were distracted by how less than melodic Skinner's voice was. It wasn't that he was horrible, but there was a reason he worked for the FBI instead of being a musician. It was only when he got to the chorus that they both knew what the song was.
"It's rainin' men!" sang Skinner, obviously intoxicated, "Hallelujah, It's rainin' men!"
"You know what, Mulder?" asked Scully.
Mulder turned, directing his "What the-?" look at her. "What?"
"I've never actually seen an episode of any of Rachael Ray's shows."
"Same here."
They turned to face their boss, shamelessly belting out notes, in spite of the video cameras pointed his way.
"Scully?" said Mulder, grabbing her arm.
"Hmm?"
"Let's get out of here."
A/N: Yeah, I know it's not the best, but I couldn't sleep the other night, in anticipation of the last Harry Potter book. I just found the beginning of this on the computer, didn't think it was half bad, and rounded up. Thanks for reading, and review if you'd like.