Obligatory Spiel: I do not own, or claim to own, any of the characters, names, plots, lines, scripts, or ideas herein. They belong to their respective creators; I am only playing with them.
Warning: This story contains, or will contain, adult content. I probably broke the age law when I was young, so I won't get on you about that, but please don't read if you know you'll be offended by the content or the pairing. Thanks!
Info: This story is intended to be the beginning of a series of chapters embellishing on actual episodes. I've used actual lines and scenes, but much of the content will be fictional. Dana Scully and Monica Reyes as a couple is NOT canon; this is a made-up background. Thanks for reading! As always, R & R is appreciated, and considered.
Chapter I: "This Is Not Happening"
Helena, Montana: 11:36 AM
Agent Dana Scully hurried out of the car. Her newest partner was walking slowly towards them, hands in his jacket pockets. Assistant Director Walter Skinner closed his door as Scully spoke to Agent Doggett. "Did you find her?"
Doggett turned, glancing towards the sunbathed scenery, both picturesque and desolate. "No," Doggett said simply, squinting in the sunlight.
"No?" Scully approached him. "I don't understand; you called us all the way out here."
Skinner stood beside Scully as Doggett turned and faced the agents.
"To get another point of view," Doggett said, a familiar look creeping into his features. Dana grimaced, quite perturbed to be suddenly following a different direction than she had planned. She couldn't understand why she and John always seemed to repel in their methods, rather than mesh.
"Another point of view?" She said, more than asked. "We have a patient missing, Agent Doggett." She felt herself losing more patience with each moment that passed. For all she knew, Theresa Hoese was dead. Somehow, both agents always had different priorities on cases. Scully's most urgent priority was securing Theresa. Doggett however, seemed to have a different idea.
"You should just hear her out," Doggett said. Slices of memories crept into Dana's mind, and she recalled characters like Karin Berquist, or as Scully liked to call her, "The Crazy Dog Lady". She'd spoken to many "experts" and specialists in her time on the X Files, but she had never quite felt comfortable accepting outlandish ideas.
"Hear who out?" Scully said, too irritated already to keep the disdain out of her voice. The morning had been long; she hadn't slept, eaten, or showered, and she had all but broken down in front of A.D. Skinner the previous night, having clung to him like a child to her father. She had no time for patience.
Agent Doggett turned, shading his eyes from the sun, and looked up a towards a hill. Skinner and Scully followed his gaze. A dark-haired woman was standing with her back to the agents, the wind whipping at her short brown hair. Doggett began to walk towards the hill, Skinner and Scully in-tow.
"Her name's Monica Reyes," Doggett started. "I worked a case with her once. She's got some expertise I thought we might take advantage of."
Scully almost rolled her eyes., but was too busy avoiding the knotted roots and sharp rocks in her path to bother. "Expertise in what?"
"She's got her Masters in religious studies," Doggett said. "Her specialization is Ritualistic Crime."
"Are we working the same case here?" Scully exclaimed.
Doggett scoffed, and Scully hated herself for softening slightly at his enduring smile. The three continued towards the woman, who Scully could now see was wearing dress-pants, a grey jacket and heels. She certainly looked FBI, but "ritualistic crime" was not a division Scully was willing to commit herself to.
"Agent Reyes," Doggett said as they approached. The woman did not immediately turn, but quickly leaned forward and flicked what looked like a cigarette butt onto the sandy ground. She turned with a straight smile.
"Assistant Director Skinner," Doggett motioned to Walter. "Agent Scully." The woman smiled, folding her hands in front of herself, nodding slightly towards the introduced agents. Doggett turned back to her, "Monica Reyes."
Agent Reyes nodded again before lightly blowing a wisp of smoke out of the corner of her mouth. "Hi," she nervously raised a hand, clearly ashamed to be caught smoking during introductions. She had a wide, genuine smile that Scully found both sweet and shy. Sweet and shy didn't seem like the help she needed.
Scully watched the woman, waiting for more. Clearly John believed she had a purpose and could be of help in their case, so she waited to be impressed. An unsure silence crept through the group, John gauging reactions between the two women, Reyes waiting for John to speak, and Scully's eyes glued to the new agent. As Doggett caught Scully's gaze, she raised her eyebrows.
It was Agent Reyes who broke the silence first. "Beautiful country out here," she said, still smiling. She almost looked as if she was going to laugh, and Scully reasoned it must have been her way of dealing with awkward situations. She seemed like the type of person who was difficult to anger. Clearly, John had "warned" Monica about Agent Scully prior to introducing them; she seemed to be avoiding the redhead's piercing eyes.
Reyes moved towards the butt she'd flicked, extending a toe to flatten it into the ground. "I know it's not very FBI of me but I'm really trying to quit," Reyes said with sincere apology on her face. Skinner stood with a polite smile, but Scully's eyes remained as sharp as thumbtacks. She could have spoken up at any time, as was usual for her, but something about Agent Reyes made her feel inclined to simply observe. She wanted the agent to present to her, rather than go fishing for her own advice.
Agent Reyes seemed to take Scully's queue. "So Agent Doggett's been taking me through the case," she crossed her arms around herself in the gusty wind, her eyes on Skinner. "Interesting."
Scully looked towards the ground, a pessimistic smile blossoming on her lips, one that she didn't try to contain. "Interesting," she repeated, analyzing the other agent's choice of adjectives. It had a detachment about it, like what someone who didn't understand and didn't care to might say.
"Well what do you think happened?" Reyes asked, shedding the last of her polite introductory attitude and suddenly appearing quite professional.
"Isn't that what you're here to tell us?" Scully pushed at Reyes again; if the other agent had cracks, she'd find them. This was not a case on which she wanted to play games.
"Oh, I have my own thoughts," Reyes said, her voice friendly and light compared to Scully's current grumble. "It's just… what we think happened and what actually happened aren't always the same thing. But not altogether insignificant, either."
Scully thought a moment. "I'm sorry, this feels like therapy," she said, finding the analytical lose ends of Reyes' statement too out-in-the-open for her rational mind.
Reyes tried to explain. "What happened being different from what we want to have happened."
"What who wants to have happened?" Scully felt like she was in a tennis match of words, but she knew she started it. It would only be moments before the ball would fall in Reyes' court, and the brunette would lose the match.
Reyes' smile disappeared for the first time, her expression both respectful and strong. "Well I'm told this case involves you."
Scully hesitated. It was possible Monica Reyes knew more than she would have liked John to share. "It may have involved someone close to me," Scully all but growled, completely unwilling to let any other agents handle the fragility of her relationship with Mulder. "Can we stick to the facts please?"
Agent Reyes did not falter easily, and she thought quickly. She barely quaked at Scully's sullen disposition as she answered. "Well, it's pretty clear that the woman that was found out here did not inflict her own injuries," she started, as she walked past Scully and Skinner. "She was dropped here by someone, and whoever it was cared about her enough not to kill her."
Scully, Doggett and Skinner faced Reyes as she turned. Scully needed more.
"Did you happen to know the peculiar nature of her injuries?"
Reyes answered immediately. "Yes, they were peculiar. But not altogether different from your typical cult ritualistic abuse." She nodded, and Scully momentarily found herself convinced by the "expert", or at least by her presentation.
Skinner began to speak, bringing up that this was a case of abduction, not cult rituals. Like she had with Scully, she answered instantly and openly. Scully was meanwhile looking for the point in their meeting. Was John trying to convince her that all the abductions and Mulder's disappearance was some sort of a cult ritual? If this turned out to be so, she promised she'd have a stern discussion with him at a later date. It was clear to her that whatever John believed was the case might have come from the ideas of Agent Reyes. Had she rationalized him out of believing in the extra-terrestrial explanation? It would be ironic, since Scully spent the first five years of the X Files doing the same to Agent Mulder.
"So what do you think happened?" Scully asked Reyes, anxious to figure out her character.
"Well, I'm told that Mulder and the others who were taken were true believers," Reyes began. "People one-hundred percent convinced in the abduction phenomenon."
"If this is about people staging their own abductions. . ." began Skinner.
Reyes recovered, "No, it's about people coming together. Like minds as a group…" She was talking to Scully, and Scully was beginning to find her more solid, though she still knew more than Reyes did. She kept silent however, and continued to listen. Reyes made it known that she believed Mulder was part of some kind of group. She never accused him of being a cultist, and when Scully asked, she gave her smile and corrected her, insisting she call it a group instead. Still, Scully had witnessed the faceless men burning innocent people-members of these "groups"; she knew the people of the groups were not the cause of the violence and disappearances. Still, Reyes implied that Theresa Hoese was both left and taken by the cult leader-why, none of them could say.
"It makes sense," Doggett addressed Scully, trying to justify both himself and Agent Reyes. "The leader drops her off out here, leaves her to die, then finds out she's still alive and comes back to pick her up for fear of exposure."
"Are you asking me to believe this?" Scully asked Doggett.
Surprisingly, Reyes answered. "No, that's not what I said," she said gently. "I don't think he left her to die. I don't think she's dead."
"Based on what?" Scully asked, wanting to believe Theresa was alive, but not wanting to believe Reyes' theory.
The innocent smile crept back onto Reyes' lips, but she was past avoiding her gaze. "Nothing really," she said. "It's just a feeling."
Her eyes, which Scully only now noted were a rich brown, were sincere. Everything in her body language indicated she was a creature of instinct and feeling, and as opposite as this was from Scully, Dana found herself almost willing to trust it. Still, it did not tell her where Theresa was, who was responsible, where Mulder might be, or even if he was alive. The only thing their meeting had accomplished was to complicate the web of persons involved who neither understood nor cared like Agent Scully. None of them, including John, knew what she had known, or seen what she had seen, and she was tired of trying to explain. Throwing the towel in on their "other point of view", Dana simply walked past Agent Reyes and away.
She heard footfalls behind her and knew it was Doggett. Her pace did not slow.
"What are you walking away for? It makes some kind of sense," Doggett caught up with her.
"I'm glad you agree with her Agent Doggett because I'm not even sure she agrees with you," Scully said, becoming aware of the fact that there was a chance Doggett and Reyes might have had a closer relationship than she previously thought. If this was Doggett's attempt at rekindling old flames, she wanted nothing to do with it.
As she brought up the peculiarity of the doctor who removed Theresa the previous night being in two places at once-something she knew to be associated with the alien bounty hunters-it was Doggett's turn to lose patience.
"If you're going to tell me this is another alien bounty hunter, this is where we part company," Doggett said, the sunlight illuminating his face.
Scully held onto her sternness. Slowly, she nodded, "Well enjoy your new company."
Doggett watched her go, and she could feel his eyes on her. She didn't regret what she'd said, because she knew it to be true. If Doggett wanted to be around the people he agreed with, she'd let him. She knew what she knew, what Mulder knew, and if she had to find him alone, she'd do it.
Skinner exchanged some final words with the other agents while Scully sat in the car, looking out onto the desolate territory. She mused on how her role had been so strangely reversed. There was a time when she would not have swallowed a story about shape-shifting alien bounty hunters, just as Doggett didn't, but years had proven themselves; Mulder had proven himself. She sensed in Doggett the same unwillingness to believe that she held onto those first few years.
In Agent Reyes, she sensed a willingness to believe, but a lack of experience. Reyes wanted to rationalize the situation with what she knew, which in this case, wasn't much. Scully assumed that if Reyes had seen some of the same things she and Mulder had, she'd instantly understand, and probably wouldn't deny her belief.
But Scully was exhausted, frustrated, and in need of silence. She didn't have time or patience to make a believer out of another rookie.
"Thank you for coming in on this," Agent Doggett said to Reyes as he returned from his conversation with Scully. "I'm sorry if we couldn't be more-understanding." He cast a glance at Skinner, who knew he was referring to Agent Scully.
"Well, I'm sure there are many angles to this case," Reyes said. "And nobody said it would be easy."
She gazed towards the car where Scully was sitting and looking out the window. Doggett nodded, understanding her meaning. He had briefed Reyes a little on the history of the case, and the connection Agent Scully had to it, but even he felt like he could never understand enough.
"I was hoping you'd stay on," Doggett said, turning back to Reyes. "There might be more to this cult ritual thing than we know."
Reyes was nodding. "I'll help any way I can."
Doggett gave Skinner a brief nod, which he took as his queue to return to Scully. He extended a hand to Agent Reyes, "Nice to meet you, Agent."
Reyes nodded and smiled. Skinner and Doggett exchanged glances and half-smiles as Skinner left. Reyes watched as he walked back towards the car.
"Shall we?" Agent Doggett's voice cut through the newfound silence. She turned to him and nodded, feeling like her morning could have been a lot smoother. She got in the car as Doggett opened the door for her, realizing how out-of-place she suddenly felt. She and John had worked the toughest case of either of their careers together, and yet she felt completely blind now, and much like a child trying to swim in the deep end. Her body and brain longed for a cigarette.
"I'm going to run a sweep of this area today with some help from the investigative team," Doggett said as he got in the driver's seat and buckled his belt. "I'd like your help, in case we find anything out of the ordinary."
Reyes nodded, but she was thinking back on something Scully had said. The whole morning had been like a trial, and Monica found herself being tested on details she could only piece together with her imagination. Scully had questioned her knowledge of Theresa Hoese's injuries-something that Doggett had only briefly mentioned to her earlier that morning. Often in her work, the injuries were the best evidence. If this was cult-related, the wounds on the woman would surely be an indicator.
"I'd like to look at the injury reports," Reyes said as Doggett began to drive.
"What? What for?" Doggett asked.
"You told me a little about how she was found, but I'd like to study the charts myself," Reyes said. "I think I might be able to tell you more after I do."
Doggett looked at her briefly, then returned his eyes to the road. "Alright, I'll drop you off."
"If you still want my help, I can drive back out here," Reyes said.
Doggett nodded. "If you could," he made a quick turn back onto the highway and the ride smoothed out. "Listen, I hope you weren't too put off this morning. Nobody's asking you to impress… Scully's just had a rough time with things. She's usually more than cooperative."
Reyes blinked. "You don't need to apologize for her, John," she looked at him and smiled. "And I wasn't put-off."
She may have been flying-blind on this, taking lucky stabs in the dark, and trying hard to look like she knew what she was doing, but she often did her best work that way. Dana Scully wasn't blind, she did know what she was doing, and Reyes knew she could sense her inexperience, but Monica never backed out. If Scully were to ask her to back off from the case, she'd acquiesce. But until then, Reyes was determined to play.
Back at headquarters, Agent Reyes stared at the X-ray images of Theresa Hoese's neck and skull. She had read the initial injury report when she'd had a thought: if this woman had indeed been abducted, she might have received an implant chip, something she'd heard a little about from Agent Doggett. Her theory of ritualistic abuse was growing cold; Theresa Hoese showed none of the familiar signs that would indicate the symbolism of cultist violence. Instead, she thought she'd follow Scully's road a little and see what she could interpret there.
She absently stroked at her neck as she studied the X-rays. There was definitely something spooky about the situation, alien or not. She hardly noticed a figure breeze past in the hallway, until Agent Scully came back to the door. Reyes turned to her, feeling oddly like a child with a hand in a cookie jar. Scully stood in the doorway, silently watching.
"Hi," Agent Reyes said simply. Scully did not respond, but seemed to be fighting an inner struggle as to whether she should stay, or go. Slowly, she advanced towards Agent Reyes, clearly curious but hesitant to admit it.
"I thought you'd be out combing the hills with Agent Doggett," Scully said, her heels sounding on the hard floor. Reyes absently noticed how much shorter Scully was compared to her, but still felt like she was being subordinated to her.
"I'm on my way out to see him," Reyes said, again feeling like she was justifying herself for no reason. "I just wanted to see film on this woman's injuries."
She turned back to the X-rays as Scully stepped further into the room and slowly closed the door behind her. "Is there something you're looking for, Agent Reyes? Something in particular?"
Reyes faced Agent Scully and decided to be open and honest. "Implants, or signs of them," she said, turning back to the screen.
"Implants?" Scully repeated, her eyes also scanning the X-rays. "I don't understand."
"Metallic implants, placed in the body," Reyes began, wondering if Scully was trying to keep the lid on what she knew. It would not be the first time Agent Scully "tested" her. "Often made of cartilage or bone, making detection a little more difficult."
Scully was nodding, "Yeah, I'm well aware of how they work."
Reyes was growing confused at Scully's game. "You said you didn't understand," she said lightly, and with a smile.
"I don't understand your interest in something that is commonly considered evidence of alien abduction-as a disbeliever in that phenomena," Agent Scully said, crossing her arms.
"Oh, I'm not a disbeliever," Reyes replied, realizing Scully's mistrust of her and her experience was something she had developed after many encounters with skeptics unwilling to believe.
"I know what I heard," Scully continued. "And what I heard you say is that what we're dealing with is nothing more than a UFO cult…"
Reyes realized the misunderstanding. "There's the confusion," she smiled. "I still believe that, but it doesn't mean I don't believe in the phenomena."
Scully's look softened curiously. "You believe in extra-terrestrials?"
Reyes laughed lightly, turning back to the screen and flipping off the light. "Let's just say I don't not believe." It had always been her way to be open to anything-willing to believe, but not prematurely convinced. "As I said, I try to stay open."
She walked past Scully, who didn't answer immediately. She knew Scully was interested in her take on the case, maybe even believed she could help, but she also knew Scully was herself skeptical. Reyes wasn't going to push anymore; if Scully had questions, she'd be open with her, too.
"What is it you specialize in again?" Scully's voice did not surprise her, and Reyes knew she'd cast an effective lure. "Ritualistic crime?"
"Right," nodded Reyes, studying an injury report. "Satanic ritual abuse… or I should say claims of it, we never found any hard evidence."
She saw Scully nod out of the corner of her eye. "We should talk sometime."
Scully was smiling slightly, which was more than Reyes had expected to get from her all morning. Encouraged, she continued.
"Not that I don't believe in it; I was something of a "black sheep" in the field office back in New Orleans, because of my beliefs."
"And what beliefs are those?" Scully asked, her usual sternness softening slightly.
Reyes hesitated. She wasn't sure how much she should delve into her spirituality in front of Agent Scully; she was already being inspected under a microscope, and nothing she could say to the hardened agent could possibly gain her any points. But Scully hadn't even softened up to her until she'd brought up her department and her specializations. Tiptoeing out on a ledge, Agent Reyes let herself be honest with Scully.
"I just have certain spiritual notions," Reyes said. "I believe there are energies in the universe. It might sound kind of cosmic, but I think I'm sensitive to them."
Scully listened, her face remaining interested, but straight. What she was thinking Reyes couldn't even guess at, but she took it as a good sign that the other agent wasn't stomping away again.
"I get these feelings," Agent Reyes continued, hoping Scully's interest was holding. She was about to elaborate on her "feelings" about Theresa Hoese, but Scully posed a question.
"Do you have any… feelings about Agent Mulder?" Scully asked. Reyes saw desperation behind her eyes, but never quite burning to the surface. Reluctantly, she shook her head.
"I don't know Agent Mulder," Reyes explained. "And I don't have any feelings about him…"
Scully nodded, looking absently past Reyes to the wall behind her. Reyes could feel her weaken; it was part of the energy phenomena she had been trying to describe. It had served her well her whole life, so she let it guide her in her response.
"But I am feeling your fear," she said delicately. "And fear's not going to help you find him, or anyone else."
Scully was nodding slightly, her lips parted, and Reyes knew she had been let in. She had been honest, and from Scully's reaction had hit the nail on the head, but it didn't make her feel any better about the brutal reality. She now felt Scully's fear herself, washing over her and fighting against her constant need to stay strong and determined. Reyes knew what Scully needed.
"Maybe you can try and stay open, too," she said softly, noticing now Scully's eyes only barely made contact with her own, whereas before, she was always looking into her. The agent cast a glassy blue gaze on Reyes, nodding in her agreement and comprehension for what she had said, before letting her eyes again fade to the wall. Reyes gave a final smile before exiting the room; John would be waiting for her help in the field.
Agent Reyes brushed past Scully as he exited. Her words sunk in, just as she had intended, and Scully nodded again to herself as she tried to contain all-too familiar tears. As she exited the lab and walked back down the winding hallway, Scully replayed her conversation with Reyes. From what she gleaned, Monica Reyes was almost comparable to Fox Mulder: an outcast in her field office, but honest and open about her beliefs and views. Unlike Mulder, she wasn't convinced of things she had no evidence of, but rather open to the ideas of phenomena explained by the unconventional. This made her appealing to Scully in that she was not a skeptic-Agent Doggett had been a skeptic, and it took weeks for Scully to even accept him as her new partner.
Reyes knew about the implants, and seemed to know about how they worked. How, Scully couldn't say, but she chided herself for underestimating the agent. Reyes was operating her own kind of X-file division in New Orleans, and had studied the paranormal years before Scully had even met Agent Mulder. It was possible the agent's point of views and expertise might after all be useful. Even if they ended up irrelevant to Scully's case, Scully felt that they might be something Mulder wouldn't out-rightly dismiss. So, for Mulder, Scully decided she would let Agent Reyes have a go. If the agent's feelings were as acute and insightful as she claimed, she may be able to understand Scully better than anyone else she'd been associated with since Mulder's absence.
She silently mused to herself as she got into the elevator. Who better than a black sheep to find another black sheep?