"Why are we hanging around the bunker again, Mulder?"

He turned to see Scully standing there, her hip against the doorjamb, a wry smile on her lips. He smiled back before shrugging a little. "There's a new recruit to the BSU, and I want to make certain that she settles in all right. Gideon and Rossi still seem to feel that it should be a bit of a boy's club, but agents like you and her should be welcomed amongst the profilers."

"And you found out about this, how?" she replied as she closed the distance between them, looking up into his eyes. "I mean, you hardly have enough time to complete your reports for Skinner."

Mulder groaned a little, shaking his head as he looked out the door, seeing a flurry of motion pass by. "I'll finish the reports later today, I promise," he muttered as he went out of the room and looked down the corridor. Gideon and Rossi were huddled near the elevator, talking conspiratorially, which meant that they had left the new woman alone. "Come on, this is our chance, and I want you to confirm something for me, anyway."

Scully frowned deeply as she shook her head, but still, she followed after him as they made their way towards the bunker, not being noticed by either of the other agents. The door was open, and Mulder smiled as he stuck his head in and saw that the new recruit was seated behind her desk, looking over a file. Quickly, he knocked on the doorframe, and the woman looked up, a wide smile on her lips. "Agent Mulder, it is so good to see you!"

He heard Scully gasp next to him, and knew that she also saw what he had seen from the moment that Erin Strauss had accidentally walked into his office, having gotten lost while trying to find the bunker. "I see that you've finally got your own desk, Erin."

"Strauss. Call me Strauss, please, otherwise the men won't think that I'm a serious member of the department. I've noticed that everyone calls the assistants, and the secretaries, and those who aren't as important as special agents, by their first names. And surprise, surprise, that is usually exclusively women. Gideon and Rossi are finally starting to get the hint when I don't respond to them using my first name. I hate to be like that, but I want the respect due me by rights of being a member of this elite team."

He nodded as he strode over to her desk and took a seat on the edge of it, Scully following him silently. "I completely understand. How have you found it so far?"

"It's a bit daunting, to be honest, but I just had word that my best friend from the Academy is also going to be a member of the BSU, so I won't be the only woman here. Is this your partner?"

Glancing over at Scully, Mulder noticed the slight blush on her cheeks and wondered what that was about. He shook his head a little before looking back at Erin, his smile growing a little. "Yes, this is Doctor Dana Scully, my partner and overseer. Spooky Mulder has to be kept on a short leash, after all."

Erin tittered as she extended her hand towards Scully, who shook it firmly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Scully. I have heard nothing but good about you from Mulder, which is a pleasant surprise, considering some of the stories that he's told me about Gideon, Rossi, and Ryan. It's hard to be different when others are hellbent on shoving you into the same mold as everyone else, and those three are the worst offenders. Though I can't wait until I get to go out in the field for the first time, instead of just consulting with different police departments on their cases."

"Going out in the field can be overrated."

"Says the man who jumps at the chance to go to the most remote, out of the way, places to chase after the hint of anything supernatural." He glanced over at Scully, seeing that her face was a placid mask, and Erin let out another round of giggles at the sarcasm evident in his partner's voice. "Now, I think that we've taken up a little too much of Agent Strauss's time…"

"Actually, I'm a doctor, too, even if it is just my PhD," Erin said softly, a blush staining her cheek as if she was embarrassed to correct Scully. "Though it's been suggested that I don't talk about my academic accomplishments, as it makes some people feel insecure. I'm sorry."

Scully folded her arms across her chest as her eyes narrowed almost dangerously. "That is nothing to apologise for, and you shouldn't have to hide the hard work that you put in to achieve that accomplishment. It was good talking to you, Doctor Strauss."

Erin nodded and gave them each a small smile before turning her attention back to her work. As they left the office, they passed by Gideon and Rossi, who were returning with coffee and arguing about something. Mulder had to suppress his laughter when Scully accidentally on purpose knocked into Gideon, jostling his arm enough so that he spilled his coffee all down his shirt. "Watch it," he growled, and Scully nodded, giving him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just a clumsy woman," she lisped out, sounding so completely different from her usual self that Mulder had to do a double take. "I'll try to make certain that it doesn't happen again."

Gideon grunted in response before he and Rossi went back to their argument, stepping into the bunker and closing the door behind them. "That was great."

"That was only a little of what they deserved to make Strauss feel like she couldn't talk about her accomplishments, or that she wasn't worth the respect that they give the other agents."

He nodded as they made their way back to their office, and after he'd settled down behind his desk, Mulder leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. "So, I couldn't help but notice that you gasped when you got your first good look at Strauss. Who do you think that she looks like?"

"I don't know what you mean," Scully replied as she sank down into her chair. From the corner of his eye, he could see that she was staring at the soles of his shoes, which told him that she was not being entirely truthful in that moment.

"I think that you know exactly what I mean, and that the coincidence is much too great to be believed. She looks exactly like the missing Willa Ambrose, don't you think?"

"They look nothing alike, Mulder."

He sat up and folded his hands on the desk as he stared her down. "I think that you know that you're just trying to deny what you've seen with your own two eyes, Scully. But for the hair color, those two could be identical twins. I noticed that straight away when she came into my office, looking for the bunker. Now, granted, she doesn't sound like Willa, but I wouldn't expect that to be the case, either. It's just a little too weird for comfort, you know?"

Scully let out a long-suffering sigh as she shook her head. "No, Mulder, I don't know. Besides, aren't we all supposed to have a twin out there that looks exactly like us? A doppelganger?"

"Like the Eves?"

Scully closed her eyes as she took a few deep breaths. "That was a weird case, I will give you that, but murderous twins are not the same thing as doppelgangers, Mulder."

"So you admit that there are weirder things happening in this world than what the average person knows about?"

"I will give you that, yes, Mulder. But science will always lead the way and provide us with answers to some of the questions that we have in this world. Just because something is inexplicable at the current moment does not mean that it will always be that way."

Scully did have a point, even though Mulder didn't want to concede it in that moment. Still, he gave her a small nod of agreement, not wanting to get into a larger disagreement with her, especially not when there was a new case that was practically made for his particular set of skills. "I will try to keep that in mind. As long as you try to have a little less skepticism when it comes to some of the cases that we see. And speaking of cases…"