Scully crossed her arms over her petite body. She sighed and looked at Mulder, wanting to leave. They were sitting in a meeting, listening to a speaker drone on and on about how important it is in child cases to be repetitive and to get your point across. Mulder yawned and Scully crossed her legs restlessly.
Twenty minutes later they were both sitting in their basement office, complaining about the meeting. They were laughing as the phone rang and Mulder answered casually.
"Special Agent Mulder." He said into the phone still slightly laughing with Scully. As he listened to the phone his face started to fall into seriousness. "Yes Sir, yes, I just have one question, how is this an X-file?" Mulder listened for a while again and frowned a little. "Yes Sir, I understand. Yes Sir, goodbye." Mulder hung up the phone and there was complete silence for a moment.
"Who was on the phone?" Scully asked after a while.
"It was Skinner, he had a case for us." Mulder replied absently, thinking about the case.
"What is it?" Scully asked, slightly irritated that she had to ask.
"A 14-year-old female went missing in Colorado. It's thought that she was abducted by a known kidnapper that has been abducting children in the area. If she has been abducted by this serial kidnapper then she doesn't have much time to live. The abductor has been eating the children he takes." Mulder was saying this all on autopilot, talking like a robot.
"Oh. That's awful, are we going to Colorado?" Scully asked, already planning in her head.
"I don't see how it's an X-file." Mulder said.
"Mulder, the guy eats children." Scully said in a tone that sounded like "duh".
"Yes, but does he turn into some scary monster? Does he do something unnatural?" Mulder was still searching.
"Yes, Mulder, he eats children. Let's just go down there and see what we see, we can come back if we need to." Scully wanted to go.
"All right, I guess that sounds reasonable." Mulder shrugged, still occupied by his thoughts.
Four hours later, both agents are in Denver, on their way to the crime scene. Mulder rented a nice car and they both piled in and settled for a two hour drive. Scully had her eyes glued to the window, watching the flat land go by. Mulder drove with a certain laziness, all the long straight-a-ways with no cars had him bored.
"Scully, why did you want to do this case?" Mulder asked suddenly.
"I don't know, I guess I didn't want the girl to get eaten." Scully shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess. Scully, have you seen the case file yet?" Mulder asked.
"No, I haven't really thought about it yet." Scully said grudgingly.
"I'll spare you the reading. All the children that the abductor, otherwise known as George Henry, were female. They all were in the range of 10 to 15. Oddly enough, all the girls were also blue-eyed blondes, making it seem as though he only likes young, blonde, blue-eyed girls." Mulder explained to Scully eagerly.
"That's very interesting Mulder, but it feels like there's a catch." Scully smiled at Mulder and he smiled smugly back.
"Good job Scully, our girl, otherwise known as Violet Harris, has very dark brown hair. She fits the age description but she has brown hair and violet eyes." Mulder was quick to tell Scully.
"Violet eyes? Was she named after them?" Scully asked, hardly moved by the oddity that she didn't fit the description.
"Scully, he picked someone that he wouldn't dream of picking! All you're concerned with is her eyes!" Mulder practically yelled.
"Well Mulder, the only way a person can actually have purple eyes is if they wear colored contacts, they're fake, they're natural, or she was engineered to have them because the parents wanted a baby with purple eyes. Now, the reason the abductor may have chosen her is because if she was engineered then in reality she could have been anything, blonde and blue-eyed even." Scully explained hotly.
"Oh, well maybe you're right. Maybe Violet was engineered, but George doesn't seem like he would just go and eat anybody." A silence fell in the car as the scenery rushed past. Scully went back to looking out the window and Mulder went back to being bored.
As the sun went down, the agents started looking for a place to stay. They passed countless motel sixes, but Scully wanted to stay somewhere nicer. They finally went by a little hotel and stopped. Mulder and Scully pulled into the parking lot and went into the small lobby.
"Uh, hi, can we get two rooms?" Mulder said to the girl behind the desk.
"I know this seems odd, but we're completely booked. We only have one room available, would you like to stay there?" The girl answered after a moment of surfing on her computer. Mulder turned to Scully.
"Scully, they only have one room. Do you want to go back to a different hotel?" Mulder asked.
"I'm so tired, is she sure that there's only one room available?" Scully said wearily.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's sure. Do you want to share a room?" Mulder asked. As uncomfortable and awkward as it would be, Scully wanted to.
"You don't mind?" Scully asked.
"No, of course not." Mulder replied. A look of relief washed over Scully's face. Mulder turned back to the desk girl.
"We'll take it." He said to her. "How many beds are there?" He asked after getting the key.
"Just one. Hope you enjoy your stay here." The girl said and went away.
Yeah, thought Mulder, I'll just try and hope Scully doesn't get pissed off with the whole 'one bed' situation.
Mulder and Scully walked up to their room, lugging their suitcases behind them. Mulder sighed when he got to the room. He began preparing for an onslaught from Scully as he put the room key in the door and the door swung open. Scully went in first, and Mulder tried to think of something that would make him leave for a few minutes.
"Mulder, there's only one bed." Scully said after a minute. She turned from her suitcase to Mulder. "I get the window side." Mulder was shocked by this and could hardly close his open mouth.
"Uh, yeah, you can have the window side. You must be really tired." Mulder mumbled and put his suitcase on his side of the bed.
"I'm going to take a shower." Scully said and gathered some clothes and went into the bathroom. Mulder's eyes followed her in and he sighed again.
When Scully came out of the bathroom Mulder hardly glanced at her. He was watching TV and his eyes seemed to be glued to the screen. Scully sat on the bed next to him, and eyeballed the screen, hoping what he was watching was half-way decent. When she finally understood that he was watching Family Guy she mentally sighed.
"Mulder, this is awful. Why don't you watch the news, or something that has any intellectual value at all?" Scully asked him after a few tortures moments of watching the show.
"Scully, this is classic entertainment. A fat, stupid guy, walking around and making a fool of himself." Mulder tried to explain, to no avail.
"Mulder, this is pure stupidity!" Scully said in exasperation.
"Exactly!" He yelled back. Scully made a sound of disgust and got off the bed. She went over to the desk and grabbed the case file.
"Hey Scully." Mulder said to her as her back was turned.
"Yeah?" She said absently.
"Your hair is really flat when it's wet."
"What?" Scully turned around, the open file in her hands.
"Your hair is just really flat, usually your hair is sorta poofy. It's just weird, that's all." Mulder said.
"Thanks Mulder, I really needed your opinion of my hair. Tomorrow I'll change it just for you." Scully said sarcastically.
"Well, I'm just trying to help." He said and turned his attention back to the TV. Scully sighed and made her bangs go askew. She sat back on the bed with the case file and tried not to go insane from the sounds from the TV.
After a while Scully shut the file and looked at Mulder. He didn't really notice until a commercial came on and Scully couldn't help thinking that that was pathetic.
"I'm going to go to bed now." Scully announced.
"Okay, sweet dreams." Mulder said and resumed watching.
"Mulder, it would be nice if you could at least turn that down." Scully complained.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry." Mulder said sheepishly.
"And Mulder." Scully began.
"What?" Mulder asked when she didn't finish.
"No funny business." Scully warned.
"Scully, I'm shocked that you even think I would do any such thing!" Mulder said, faking his offense.
"Yeah, well, I guess I know you too well Mulder." Scully shrugged and climbed under the covers. Mulder stared at her for a little while and then went back to his show.
Mulder started getting bored and tired with the stupid shows that came on and decided to go to sleep. He got up and brushed his teeth and switched the desk lamp off as he went by.
Big mistake.
Mulder couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. He carefully tried to maneuver to what he thought was his side of the bed. When he finally felt the warm, silky blankets of the bed he got up carefully and laid down. He also totally forgot about Scully and his hand happened to touch her. He didn't think anything of it but after 30 seconds Scully was in top of him, pinning him down.
"What the hell Mulder?" She seethed.
"I'm sorry, I can't see anything, I didn't mean to touch you!" Mulder seethed back.
"Yeah, that's what they all say." Scully muttered. She slowly got off Mulder and he could here her searching for the edge of the bed. Then he heard her yelp and there was a loud thump.
"Scully, are you okay?" Mulder asked.
"I fell off the bed. I'm fine." She said and Mulder felt her get back on the bed. Mulder leaned over to see if he could help. Scully turned to where she thought Mulder would be and leaned over, trying to make sense of the darkness. Scully ended up smacking into Mulder's lips with her own. They were both slightly alarmed, but neither one pulled away. In fact, the kiss only deepened. Mulder had his hands in her hair and Scully had her hands around his neck.
Suddenly, Scully noticed that Mulder's hands kept getting lower, and pushed away.
"What is it?" Mulder asked.
"I-I just, I don't know." Scully sighed, wondering why she stopped. Mulder reached out to her, wanting to kiss her again.
Suddenly a sound like a gun shot rang out, waking Mulder from his fantasy. Mulder looked out the hotel window to see some teenagers breaking glass bottles on the sidewalk. The TV whispered noise and Mulder looked over at a very alarmed Scully.
"What was that?" She whispered.
"Some teenagers breaking bottles. Everything's all right, go back to sleep." Mulder reassured her and turned the TV off. He got under the covers with her and he finally slipped into a dreamless sleep.
In the morning Scully and Mulder climbed in their car and zoomed off to Boulder, the crime scene. The scenery went by quickly and the time went by even faster. Soon they were outside the house where Violet Harris's parents lived. Mulder went up to the door and knocked. A slim, young woman opened the door.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Mrs. Harris, we're with the FBI. We're here because of your daughter, Violet." Mulder explained.
"Oh, yes, come in, come in." Mrs. Harris said, ushering in the two agents. Before they knew it they were both seated on the couch with a cup of coffee.
"Mrs. Harris, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully, and this is my partner Fox Mulder." Scully began. "When did you say your daughter went missing?" Scully asked her gently.
"Um, it was friday night, she was out with her friends." Mrs. Harris thought back.
"Who was she with?" Mulder asked.
"Um, well she's always with Shay Scarsdale and I think she was with her boyfriend, William Shaffer." Mrs. Harris answered.
"Do you know what they were doing?" Scully asked.
"Yeah, they went to a movie."
"Was your daughter ever showing signs of depression or rebellion?" Mulder asked.
"You think she ran away?" Mrs. Harris asked.
"We're just looking at all the probabilities." Scully reassured her.
"No, she liked it here. She had friends." Mrs. Harris answered Mulder.
"Mrs Harris, was Violet engineered to have purple eyes?" Scully asked hesitantly. Mrs Harris looked taken aback.
"My violet has blue eyes, the coldest blue eyes I have ever seen. She has always hated her eyes so she got contacts that she wears all the time. She also dyed her hair when she was eight, she used to have platinum blonde hair. I loved that hair, I never agreed to let her get it dyed, she saved her money and got it done without me." Mrs Harris sounded regretful.
"Let us know if you here from her." Mulder said.
After about two hours of questioning Mrs Harris the agents were on their way. They stopped by a little cafe for lunch. It was small and homey, the agents walked in and were immediately struck by the good smell of coffee. Scully and Mulder took a small booth in the back of the cafe and waited to for the waitress.
"Mulder, Violet fits the profile." Scully said suddenly.
"Yeah." Mulder agreed reluctantly. "Question is, how did he know she used to be a blonde and has blue eyes?" Mulder asked Scully conspiratorially.
"Mulder, it's not like he stalked her since she was eight." Scully said, with a hint of doubt in her voice.
"That's just it! What if he has stalked her since she was eight, waiting for the perfect time to get her. Than he snatched other victims that looked like her along the way, so he could still get off." Mulder was on to something.
"I suppose." Scully sighed and put her head in her hands. "I need a cup of coffee." She muttered.
"Um, excuse me, are you talking about Violet? Violet Harris?" A girl's voice asked. Scully looked up and saw Mulder looking behind her, an eyebrow arched in interest and amusement.
"Yes, did you happen to eavesdrop on our conversation?" Mulder asked the mystery girl. Scully finally turned around and was met with a 13-year-old girl wearing Doc Martens over black skinny jeans. Her hair was a deep titian, and styled to be choppy and straight. She looked like she stepped out of a goth Vogue magazine cover.
"Busted." She said, her arms in mock surrender.
"And who are you?" Scully asked, her face not covering her bewilderment on how the girl looked.
"A loner, how 'bout you?" The girl snapped. "My name is Shay, Shay Scarsdale." Shay glowered in Scully's direction.
"I'm Dana Scully, this is Fox Mulder." Scully said to Shay who seemed to not be paying attention.
"Wow, you guys must really be cops." Shay said to herself more than to Scully or Mulder.
"Why do you say that?" Mulder asked, curious.
"Because your names are awful." Shay said simply.
"Anyway, you were with Violet before she went missing, weren't you? You went with her and your boyfriend to a movie." Scully said, trying to get back on subject.
"Actually, I was covering for Vi, she was going out to a party and my parents weren't home so I invited William over. I stayed at my house in case her mom called and I could say she was fine but she was 'in the bathroom' when she called." Shay explained.
"Do you know who's party it was that she went to?" Mulder asked.
"Somewhere by a lake, I think. She might have gone somewhere else too, Vi liked to go places where people wouldn't find her. She was stupid that way." Shay told the agents.
"Do you know-" Scully was cut off by Shay's phone. It was playing a loud song that sounded something like 'say what you mean, tell me I'm right, and let the sun rain down on me. Give me a sign, I want to believe.'.
"Shit." Shay muttered pulling out a metallic blue flip-phone. "Sorry, I should get this." She said to the agents and walked outside.
"'Give me a sign, I want to believe.' Sounds like something we need." Mulder quoted.
"You know, she reminds me of me when I was a teenager. I used to have the same color hair and dressed the same way." Scully said, staring out the window at Shay who was frowning as she listened to the phone. She looked concerned as she listened then she turned and looked in the window, straight at the agents.
"I could see you dressed like that." Mulder commented, a sly grin on his face. Shay hung up and started coming into the cafe again.
"She's coming."Scully said. Shay sauntered up to the agents and they both looked at her expectedly.
"That was William, he said he saw Violet today and she was headed to a party." Shay told them about her phone call.
"Where's the party?" Mulder asked.
"It's downtown, on the corner of Thelma and Louise, and I'm not lying, those are the names of the streets." Shay smiled. "Building number 14, apartment number 5 on the first floor." Shay gave them directions and Scully scrawled them on a napkin.
"All right, thanks for the tip Shay." Scully said and grabbed her coat.
"Wait. There is no way you're going to get anywhere near that party looking like that. I suggest you shop before you go. Just try to look more like me." Shay threw the suggestion over her shoulder and was gone.
"I guess I do get to see you in those clothes." Mulder said, grinning.
"Don't get your hopes up Mulder, I'm going to burn the clothes after I'm done with them." Scully winked at him.
Three hours later, after Scully and Mulder went their separate ways to look for clothing, they met at the hotel. Mulder (much to Scully's pouting) claimed the bathroom first. When he came out Scully laughed so hard she fell on the bed.
"You poor, unfashionable boy." Scully said when she got her breathe back. "Let me help you." Scully buttoned his black shirt that he had left unbuttoned, exposing his chest. Next she unrolled his pant legs, letting them pool over his black sneakers. Scully stepped back to see her work and smiled.
"Much better." She said and grabbed her bags from the bed.
"I feel like a dork." Mulder muttered.
"Just watch some TV while you wait for me." Scully said and went into the bathroom. She was in there for a good twenty minutes before coming out and getting all of Mulder's attention at once.
"Oh my god. Would it be wrong to say I'm totally turned on right now?" Mulder asked her, his eyes wide.
"Yeah, that would be wrong." She said. She had pulled on a tight black miniskirt and a deep red corset was cinched around her waist. She had twisted and tousled her auburn hair, making it look like a girl-next-door style. Her knee length boots did her good in giving her hat badass meets stripper style and gave her about four more inches of height; her heavily eye-lined eyes underlined the badass style.
"You look like one of those girls on the cover of video games that are there to get your attention." Mulder said.
"Do they get your attention?" Scully asked, a little embarrassed by Mulder.
"Oh yeah." Mulder grinned from ear to ear.
"Mulder, shut up." Scully's cheeks were hot and red. "Let's just go." Scully grabbed her purse and Mulder followed her out the door. When they got out in the hall Mulder was still walking behind her.
"Mulder, you're practically burning a hole through my ass. Stop staring or I'll jam these four inches of heel somewhere you won't like." Scully said matter-of-factly.
"You just look so-" Mulder started and was cut off by Scully's hand coming up, silencing him.
In the car Scully insisted for Mulder to drive, thinking that it would take some attention off her. Mulder still managed to drive decently and stare at her breasts the whole way. Scully was sick of it and decided to play a little game.
"Mulder, what do you dream about at night?" Scully asked mischievously.
"Usually nothing, but I think I might be dreaming about something tonight." Scully puked in her mouth a little and forced a playful smile. She leaned over and whispered in Mulder's ear. When she was done She sat back in her seat and Mulder was looking at her like she was insane.
"Are you serious, I thought you were just playing a game with me." Mulder looked her dead in the eyes, not at her chest or other areas.
"I am dead serious." Scully said solemnly. Mulder still looked uncertain. Scully sighed. "Cross my heart and hope die." She said crossing her heart.
"Okay, if that's all it takes." He said and shrugged, looking back to the road. "Deal Scully, I just hope you know what you're getting into."
"Deal, and I do." Scully said just as levelly as Mulder.
When they got to the party people were strewn outside but there were a lot of people inside. Music was blaring and windows were rattling. People were jumping up and down to the beat. Scully looked at Mulder, who grinned back at her.
"This is my kind of party." He said and got out of the car. Scully got out too and pulled her skirt down. She walked to Mulder who held his hand out and she took it. They walked up the house steps together and met a guy that looked like a bouncer. He looked them over and opened the door. The music got suddenly louder and the agents could see the party was in full swing. Mulder went in first, Scully trailing behind him. They walked into a corner and tried to talk to each other.
"How are we going to find her?" Scully asked Mulder.
"I have no idea, want to dance with me? Maybe we can see if she's dancing too." Mulder suggested. Scully looked at the dance floor and saw how people were dancing.
"Mulder, all they need is a pole and they could turn this place into a strip club. I can't dance like that."
"Come on Scully, all you gotta do is move your hips." Mulder smiled at her and she couldn't resist.
"Fine, but not for too long." Mulder grinned and pulled her into the throng of dancing, sweaty people. Mulder was dancing just fine, but Scully was at a loss. Mulder smiled at her and came over to her. He went behind her and put his hands on her hips, guiding her. Finally Scully seemed to get it, swing your hips to the beat and your good. Mulder's hands were warm and she was glad that he had come to the rescue. Scully wanted to tell him something and ended up putting her arms around his neck. He bent down to hear her and she tried to talk to him over the music.
"Have you seen her?" She yelled.
"No." Mulder yelled back.