**Okay we've all seen the deleted scene from the pilot episode where Scully was with her at the time boyfriend…I was wondering, what if she did have a boyfriend when she started on the X-Files…how would he react with her swanning off to Oregon with Mulder. This is gonna be a weird format (as usual for me!) so I hope it reads okay. Basically it's going to be all the "in-between-scenes" scenes. The off camera stuff.**
Dana Scully woke slowly to the lazy Sunday morning, batting her eyelids until they would stay open on their own. A faint aroma of toast and coffee curled around the room and she rolled over to find the rest of the bed warm but empty. Languidly she climbed out from under the heavy duvet and grabbed his t-shirt from the floor. She slipped it on over her head letting it fall halfway down her legs coming to just above her knees as she padded out to the kitchen. He sat on a chair with his bare back to her wearing only a pair of black boxers.
"Oh you're up, I was going to bring you breakfast in bed," he said as she came into the room and circled his chair to sit on his lap.
"I can always go back to bed," she murmured against his neck between the kisses she trailed over his sensitive skin, brushing her tongue against his morning stubble and nipping sharply on his jaw.
"Careful, I have to give a lecture this morning."
"What? I thought you had the morning off?" she said sitting up and looking into his sheepish face.
"So did I. Longwell called."
"But Shane it's Sunday morning?"
"I know
Dana, I'm sorry but I'm at a crucial point in my career where I need to jump
through all the hoops they give me, if I want to gain any advancement. You understand that, you're a doctor."
"I know…doesn't mean I have to like it," she conceded. "Besides I'm an FBI Agent who happens to be
medically trained."
"Now you're just showing off," he said grabbing her waist before she could squirm away.
"Actually, I could be a field agent by Tuesday morning."
"Right you're meeting. Do you think you'll get it?"
"I hope so. Section Chief Blevins has a very big department and they are all field operatives," she said biting into his half eaten toast.
"So you could be partnered up with another agent?"
"Yes. Hopefully someone tall dark and handsome."
"No, hopefully someone small fat and sixty!" he joked getting rewarded with a deep throaty laugh.
"It'll be weird working with somebody," she admitted soberly.
"You'll be fine."
"I know but I just don't want to get landed with some throw back from the 50's who think women have their place and it's never far from the sink."
"Don't worry Dana, who ever it is I'm sure you'll win them over."
"Shane you don't get it. I don't want to win them over. I shouldn't have to prove myself all the time."
"As much as you hate it you're a female FBI agent, you're going to get treated differently, you're going to meet comments, epically when you look as good as you do," he added reaching out for her.
"Shane stop," she batted his hands away and clambered off him. "Don't be so flippant."
"I wasn't…" he said as she walked across the room and emptied her now cold coffee into the sink. "Look I'm sorry but I have to go. I need to be at the university in an hour and I need to get home to change."
"Okay," she replied as she busied herself with the dishes.
"I'll drop by later and take you out to dinner…make up for skipping out on you today."
"Well actually I need to go and talk with Melissa so I'm not sure when I'll get back."
"Okay, well good luck tomorrow and I'll talk to you…soon."
She didn't realise he left until she heard the door slamming behind him and turned around to the empty room. With a deep sigh she crossed the room and picked up the phone dialling her sisters number from memory, she tapped her fingers impatiently on the couch while she waited for her to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Missy, it's Dana."
"Morning sunshine, you're up early. Shane not there?"
"He just left."
"Oh, ditched you again?" Missy said sensing her sister's angry tone.
"Yeah, pretty much. I thought we could go shopping. I need to get a new suit for the interview tomorrow and I just want to get out of the house."
"Great, I'll pick you up in half an hour."
Dana showered and dressed in record time thanking her navy trained father and brothers for her uncanny knack of getting ready quickly. Growing up on the base with six family members meant the bathroom was a necessity not a luxury so time was of the essence. As she combed her hair back from her face the knock came loudly so she rushed over to let Melissa in.
"Morning, ready?" she said as Dana returned to the couch to slip on her shoes.
"Yeah, lets go."
They wandered the streets of Washington aimlessly, eating ice cream in the unusually warm autumn and window-shopping for clothes neither of them could afford.
"I thought you said you needed a new suit?"
"I do, but I just don't feel like shopping today."
"What time is you're meeting?"
"Half eleven."
"Are you nervous?"
"Kind of. I really do want to get the field position but I never really worked with a partner before."
"How many people were interviewed for the position?" Melissa asked as they strolled into a café for a break.
"Five. But I have it on good authority that it's down to me or this other agent from San Francisco."
"Have a little faith Dana. You worked hard for it, of course you'll get it."
"I wish I could have you're optimism, Missy."
"How bad could it be?"
"I just wish I knew what department I was going to for sure. It could be narcotics, Violent Crimes…anything."
"Don't they do psychological testing for the violent Crimes section?"
"Eh…yeah they do."
"I saw it on the forensic files last night!" Missy said with a smile.
They ordered coffee and cakes and hunched closer as their conversation continued.
"Frankly…I heard that the transfer is for a secret department here in Washington."
"Secret department?"
"Well not secret but not entirely official…something called the X-files."
"What's that?"
"It's something to do with unexplained phenomena."
"Wonders will never cease Dana," Missy said wisely, adding an air of expectation to the table.
"What does that mean?"
"You…a scientist…following paranormal cases?" she said with a smile. "That I'd like to see."
"Have a little faith Melissa."
They shared a smile and gratefully accepted their order from the waitress. Missy stirred some sugar into her coffee as Scully just added milk.
"Who else works on those cases?"
"Just one Agent named Fox Mulder."
"Fox? Spiritual name. Good sign."
"Well I've never met him but by all accounts he's a little left field."
"It'll do you good to step out of the circle for a while Dana."
"I step out of the circle all the time," she retorted defensively.
"Oh yeah, when was the last time you did something…a little left field?" Missy challenged.
"I…I…used a pint of milk one day after it's sell by date last week!"
"Oh wow Dana, careful, you're threading a thin line there between social and insane!"
They both laughed loudly sharing the cakes that arrived and watched the day go by lazily, Dana's mind wondering about the X-Files and how she would cope if the rumours were true. And as for Fox Mulder…the antithesis of all her ideals and perceptions she thought to herself, only half listening to Missy's story. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and sighed.
No point worrying about stuff that might never happen she thought before focusing fully on her sister and letting the time pass slowly.
***
Fox Mulder bounded up the stairs taking the steps in two's and three's before he threw the fifth floor door open and made his way down to the forensic lab, a rarely seen smile caressing his lips. His eyes scanned the small room where he found Danny hunched over a PC, his fingers tapping furiously on the keys.
"Pay up Danny," he called as he crossed the room.
"What?" Danny asked looking up from the screen in time to see the paper Mulder was holding folded onto the sports page with the headline clearly printed across the top. "KNICKS MAKE MAGIC ON WIZARDS COURT," Mulder said loudly. "Fifty bucks," he added.
"Aww Mulder have a little pity on a lowly tech huh?" Danny said as he reached for his wallet.
"Double or quits?"
"You want to let it ride?" he said his fingers stalling over the notes.
"I'll let it slide in lieu of some information."
"Information? What kind?" Danny asked warily.
Mulder grabbed a stool from another table and sat next to him dropping the paper by the PC.
"Word is I'm getting a partner, who is it?"
"I don't know."
"Come on Danny I know you. You got a finger in every pie. Nothing goes on around here without you knowing."
"Mulder I-," he began but Mulder cut off his denial before it could pass his lips."
"Who is it?"
"It's privileged information."
"I wont tell…I promise," Mulder joked.
"Okay…it's down to two candidates. You didn't hear this from me."
"Of course."
"Rick Gleason, eight year veteran with San Francisco Violent Crimes. Last two on general assignment."
"Who else?" Mulder pushed.
"Dana Scully, teaching out at the academy at the moment. Fresh meat."
"She's not a field Agent?"
"No, she's a medically trained Doctor who's been working FBI cases from the lecture room."
"God they are really trying to mess with me," he muttered under his breath as he pushed away from the desk.
"Have some faith Mulder! It'll all be over on Monday."
"Faith? Yeah."
He left the lab and went directly to the reference library. Finding it empty on a Friday afternoon was nothing unusual so Mulder claimed a table and connected to the bureau personnel database. It wasn't long before he located both Rick Gleason's and Dana Scully's file. Scanning through them he found Rick to be a standard field agent, nothing spectacular on his record and his case files seemed mundane. He pulled up his ID and waited for the picture to download.
Soon a picture of a middle-aged man appeared on the screen. Mulder studied the tired face and sighed as he closed Gleason's file and opened up Scully's.
"Lets hope you're not as jaded as Gleason," he muttered as he read through Scully's bio. He noted her excellence in her medical education and application at the FBI Academy where she was now teaching.
"Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation," he read aloud as he opened her senior thesis.
Intrigued he read on and soon the evening passed around him as the glare from the screen cast a blue glow around his face. As he finished the final pages he sat back into his chair not realising how late it had become he ventured forward through her file. Her lack of field experience was the only thing that worried him as he opened her ID and waited for her picture to download.
Her red hair came down to rest on her shoulders and her face was stern but held promise of a hidden passion. Her lips were held fast in a firm expression but he could see the hint of a smile behind them and he smiled.
"Well, well Dr Scully, aren't we a dark horse."
He glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearing nine thirty so he switched off the PC and gathered his things. Leaving the building he drove slowly through the humid night and wondered about Monday and how he'd meet his new partner. He'd need to go through all the case files in his office and make sure that there was nothing incriminating in them.
No sense in making her spying easy for her, he thought with a chuckle at his assumption that he'd be assigned Dana Scully. He'd need to get some equipment from the Frohike to see if he can detect any bugs in the office. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and parked the car outside his flat. Lying on his couch he watched the TV without interest and planned out the clearing of his office the next day.
"A scientist…this should be fun," he muttered as he pulled
the blanket tighter around him and dozed off into the night.