Yee Naldooshi

Chapter 10

Agent Scully straightened the lapel of her gray blazer, refraining from fidgeting in her chair at the front of Assistant Director Skinner's desk. She slid a glance to her left to see how well her partner was doing at sitting still.

Mulder sat without moving, his gaze on AD Skinner, almost in a confrontational manner. "Yes sir, I do expect you to believe what my partner and I wrote in that report," he said.

Skinner threw said report onto the desktop in disgust and turned his gaze to Scully. "You of all people, Agent Scully...you are asking me to believe our villain is a shapeshifter?" He voice was mocking.

"Sir, during my career with The X-Files, I've seen things I cannot explain. I have experienced the unbelievable. Always, I rely on science to make sense of these phenomenon. I fully believe a scientific explanation is possible, but I have not had the opportunity to do an autopsy on the perpetrator."

Mulder rolled his eyes and tried to remain silent.

Scully continued. "Unfortunately, the perpetrator's body is not available for autopsy because it disappeared from the morgue. Therefore, I can neither substantiate Agent Mulder's claims, nor can I disprove them."

Unable to stay silent any longer, Mulder said, "Technically, sir, the perpetrator was a skin-walker not a shapeshifter. The effect is similar, but the origin is entirely different."

Scully heroically refrained from making comment.

"Furthermore, there are other X-Files where skin-walkers make an appearance. Sylvester impersonated a priest and used that as a way to murder seven different women after murdering his own wife. He used his power as a clityani to change his shape to accomplish these evil deeds. As far as we can tell, there was one survivor, Julie Steiger."

Skinner looked back at his report. "You wrote that civilians," he practically hissed the word, "were instrumental in the capture of the perpetrator."

"Yes sir," said Scully. Ms. Steiger and her singing partner, Ms. Morgan Baker, consider themselves amateur detectives. They purposefully interfered in order to participate in the investigation. However, for the purpose of full disclosure, they were an integral part and we possibly would not have caught the perpetrator without them."

"These civilians and their friends were injured because of the willingness you both displayed in allowing them access to this investigation," Skinner accused.

"They would have been involved regardless of anything Scully and I did," defended Mulder. "This is a hobby for them, and Ms. Steiger was already targeted before Scully and I ever arrived."

Skinner sat in thought, thumbing through the pages of the report. Several long minutes later, he laid it flat on the desk and looked at the two agents. "Re-submit this report to reflect corrections made to the supernatural nature of the events. Turn in your claims at the same time. I expect all of it on my desk before you leave tonight. You are dismissed."

Without a word, Mulder and Scully exited the plush office. Once in the hallway, Mulder whirled to speak to Scully. "Gee thanks, Scully, that was great back-up in there. When are you going to leave off the scientific explanation crap? You know what you saw!"

Scully calmly looked at him. "I do know what I saw. But I also know that there is a rational way to explain what I saw. I just don't know what that rational explanation is yet. Besides, I was injured and drugged with painkillers." With that, she smiled at Mulder snidely and walked to the elevator.

6 months later

Julie and Mo bowed to the audience, applause ringing in their ears from the encore. Smiling, they exited the stage, hyped up on adrenaline from a successful show. Another successful performance, a good crowd, and a bigger venue than usual. But more important things waited.

Mo grabbed face cleanser and hurriedly began to remove her stage make-up. Julie did the same.

"Do you think we should look for clues tonight?" Mo asked.

"I don't know. It's a four hour drive just to get to the woman's house and Edgar will want to go, too," answered Julie. She glanced over at the roses on her dressing table that her fiance' sent without fail to every performance. A knock at the door interrupted her next statement. She went to answer, then shrieked in surprise. "Alex, Tate!"

She embraced both and stood back as Mo ran over to throw her arms around the two for an exuberant hug.

"You two look fabulous!" said Mo, standing back to look at the two visitors.

Tate smiled. "You'd be surprised at how much less stress I feel after quitting my job. No more government workplace equals one happy woman."

Julie laughed. "I still can't believe you star in a reality show on female fisherman. Er… is that female fisherwomen? Fishgirls? Fish female?"

Mo gave Julie an easy shove. "Stop while you're ahead," she laughed. Gesturing to a comfortable sofa and chairs in the dressing room, the group sat down to visit.

After catching up on news, Alex cleared her throat. "We have something to tell you." She looked slightly embarrassed, but happy.

"What is it?" asked Julie.

Without saying a word, Alex held up her left hand, showing off an elegant ring on her third finger. Julie and Mo jumped up and grabbed Alex's hand, whooping with excitement.

Tate grinned and held up her own hand. "I have one, too," she said.

After congratulatory hugs, Mo and Julie returned to their seats. "When are you getting married?" asked Julie.

"It depends," said Tate. "Would you do us the honor of being best friend and maid of honor?"

Mo and Julie exchanged delighted smiles, then both nodded. "Name the date and we'll be there," they promised.

Plans for investigating a missing heiress vanished from Mo and Julie's minds as they began discussing wedding plans with their two good friends. There was time for being detectives later.

The End