CHAPTER 2
THE FAVOUR
"What did Skinner want?" she asked, not being able to help herself. His voice would always be associated with the darkness now, no matter what guise it may take. The candid part of her knew she wanted control over Mulder, control over how much help he could give; enough to help save lives, but not enough to put him at risk. Risk was not something they needed. Risk was a foolish threat, something that should never be invited into their lives again. Realistically she knew that risk was part of life. Who was it that said that every life, every day, was in danger?
He saw the flutter of apprehension across her face. "It's okay, he doesn't want us – he wants our house."
"What?"
"He needs to hide someone, a girl who needs protection. He didn't go into specific detail, but apparently there's been an incident in Washington, some kind of massacre. They think they've uncovered an international trafficking ring but they have only two survivors. The main suspect has disappeared and they need somewhere out of the way to protect them. He wants us to hide one of the girls out here with us."
"Why us?" she asked, suddenly realising the negativity she must be emitting.
"I guess it makes sense really. We're out in the sticks, I can work from home and what could be better protection than staying with two trained FBI agents? He said that they can send someone up here if we both need to be elsewhere." He watched her face carefully, knowing her reaction and understanding it most of the time. In this instance he didn't understand where the old Scully had gone, the Scully who would have done anything to protect the innocent. His face must have conveyed his feelings well. She shot him a defensive look before backing down into resignation.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be awkward. You know how I still feel about them, Mulder."
"Them? This is a favour for Skinner. My writing, this new part of our lives, he supported me through that. If he hadn't put me in touch with Carter I might still be locking myself away and I know how much you hated that. I feel I owe him, Scully." She looked at him, biting her lip but nodding all the same. "Anyway," he continued, nudging her gently, "we're doing a good thing. Ten years ago you'd have done this without a second thought."
"Ten years ago I didn't feel this way, didn't have anything to lose."
He laughed, which only seemed to frustrate her more.
"Scully, this is straightforward witness protection. She's a young girl who could be a victim of trafficking and they need somewhere out of the way to hide her. I don't see the problem."
"When does she get here?" It seemed ridiculous that she felt a pang of jealousy, of defensiveness, because another woman would be living in her home. Her voice had obviously betrayed her because he practically beamed at her.
"Scully, don't tell me you're jealous?"
"Of course not. It'll be weird having another person living here though."
"Okay, Skinner will call tomorrow with the details." He waited for a moment, hating how quiet she had gone and how thoughtful she looked. He put on his best impression of arrogance. "To be honest with you though, I think you're right not wanting to share me. Aren't you scared that another woman might notice my masculinity?"
"Yeah, Mulder, that's it. That's exactly it." She looked away, hating that he knew her that well. He may not have been completely right, but he had hit a nerve along the way. Her own secret insecurities would only ever surface when it came to Mulder.
He smiled at her. "What? You don't believe me? I don't blame you for feeling nervous, Scully. You should want to lock me up and throw away the key. I'm offended that you cannot accept the fact that you're co-habiting with a highly desirable man, in the prime of his life. You should feel anxious." He reached over, snatching at another bottle of beer. He leaned back, burning his elbow on the scented candle that rested on the table. In one swift move he leapt in the air, yelping as he patted down the tiny flame that had burned through his shirt. As she snorted with laughter, her own beer fizzed up to her nose. She rose, going to get a towel to mop up his beer. She reached up, pulling his lips onto hers.
"Thank you, Mulder." She grinned at him.
"For what?" he asked, shaking beer from his shirt, much to her chagrin.
"For making me feel less anxious."
* * * * *
(Saturday 13th)
They stood on the porch, watching as the dark car with the blacked out windows rolled down the drive. Unsure of what to do, they waited, rooted to the spot whilst Skinner opened the car door, coaxing the girl from the car. She was only a little taller than Scully, with beautiful, dark, shiny tresses that fell below her shoulders. Her skin appeared milky and smooth and Scully couldn't believe how stunning she looked even when totally devoid of make-up. The closer they got, the more beautiful she appeared.
"This is Khai." Skinner handed a small suitcase to Mulder. The girl looked shy, unsure of herself. "It's alright, Khai." Skinner tried his best to relieve awkwardness of the situation. "You'll be safe here. You will be protected, I promise you."
Sensing the discomfort, Scully quickly stepped forward, ushering her inside. "Khai?" She took hold of the girl's elbow. "I'll show you around. Come with me." With that the girl followed her inside, her eyes downcast, meeting Mulder's glance only briefly.
When he was sure that they were out of earshot, he carefully shut the front door and questioned Skinner. "So, what's the story?"
"The justice department has been working on this for months now, attempting to dig out this guy, Jenson, for importing and trafficking young girls. We were trying to figure out how they were importing without anyone knowing. We still don't know, but one of the girls managed to escape a few days ago, nearly getting killed on the highway. She led us back to the place where they were kept. Only problem was, when we got there, Jenson was gone and his buddies and the rest of the girls were dead."
"Dead? How?"
"A few men had internal haemorrhaging. Others seemed to fall victim to mental illness."
"Mental illness?"
"Some of the men had mutilated each other."
"What happened to the girls?"
"Internal injuries mostly. A few had already taken their own lives. We haven't had chance to talk to the other girl yet; she is still in the hospital due to injuries similar to the other girls. We assume this was due to the abuse they suffered while in captivity."
"I thought you said she had been able to lead you back to the others?"
"She did. It was later that she developed complications. We'll need the two surviving girls to testify though, so whatever you can get out of Khai will be a bonus. She'll have a court-appointed therapist arrive here everyday to prepare her for the trial. It shouldn't be too far away now – we've had it brought forward due to the girls being sent back to Thailand as soon as possible. A couple of weeks should be it, obviously depending on us finding Jenson." Mulder nodded, understanding what he meant. Skinner turned to go.
"You both okay, Mulder?" he asked. He hardly pried into their lives now, save for asking about Scully whenever Mulder frequented D.C.
"All I need is the Red Sox to win the World Series and I'm a set man."
Skinner nodded, turning away. "It'll never happen!" he called, walking to his car.
