The next day
10:30 am
The ringing of his cell phone caused Mulder to jump a good 5 feet from his perch behind his desk and spill his fourth cup of coffee all over his white shirt. "Mulder," he growled wishing he could start the day over again.
"Dude you are never going to believe what Byers managed to dig up last night on the net," came an excited Frohike over the phone. "We found evidence that microwave ovens are being used as mind control devices in the common American home."
Looking down as his shirt and the puddle of coffee on his desk Mulder snapped, "Frohike, did you ever think that some of us have jobs that they are supposed to be doing right now?"
"Am I keeping from some important discovery regarding EBE's? Because if so I can get the low down on it from you later," Frohike replied.
"No," Mulder sighed wiping his shirt with the closest thing to a napkin he could find, a piece of computer paper. "I'm just waiting for the door to open."
"Well remember Mulder: a watched door never boils," Frohike replied hanging up as Mulder stared at his empty cup of coffee and his damp shirt. So much for the tidy office for Scully, who for probably the first time ever was late for work. Stalking over to the ancient coffee machine on the corner table, Mulder wondered why she hadn't even bothered to call him. He was so consumed in his own frustration, that he didn't notice the door opening as Scully entered the office.
"Mulder," Scully said taking a cautious step into the office. Mulder for his part was so startled by her voice behind him that he jumped, spilling more coffee on his shirt.
"Are you okay?" Scully asked rushing over to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Mulder grumbled reaching for more computer paper. "The heating coil is broken so it's gross cold coffee that I'm covered in."
"What are you doing," Scully asked gesturing to the computer paper he was blotting his shirt with.
"I couldn't find any napkins," Mulder replied not looking at her, still wanting to brood over her tardiness.
"Well of course you couldn't. You cleaned this place so well I bet you could barely remember where you put your desk," Scully replied digging into her purse. After a moment she produced a wad of tissues from her bag. Pushing him gently against a table she said, "Have a seat."
Pleased that she had noticed the clean office, Mulder decided the drop the stubborn fifth grader act for a few minutes and comply. Letting her dap at the huge coffee stain on his shoulder in silence for a minute or two, Mulder smiled at her kindness.
For her part, Scully was glad he had given both of them the chance to drop their defenses for a few minutes, even if his shirt had to pay the ultimate price. She knew that any second now Mulder would ask her where she had been earlier in the morning, and she really didn't know how she could lie convincingly to him. It still amazed her that she and Mulder had not even known each other a year, and yet she considered him one of her best and only friends. Maybe that's why it was so hard to tell him what was on her mind recently; the fact that she would be letting him down. As she continued to dab at Mulder's shirt, she wished there was some unrealized choice that would satisfy everyone and not force her to choose someone to disappoint.
"So did you ever find what you were looking for last night?" Scully asked trying to sway her thoughts back to work.
"Yeah," Mulder replied as Scully moved to sit across the room, all hope for his shirt being lost. "You know I managed to save you a good bit of that ice cream being that it was the last carton in the whole store and you left without so much as a goodbye."
Scully merely raised an eyebrow at him, tapping her fingers on the desk impatiently.
"But yes, I found the file. It was actually only about ten minutes after you decided to go home, again without so much as a goodbye. Am I sensing a pattern here," Mulder continued knowing that very soon he was going to find himself on thin ice.
Catching the file her partner had tossed to her Scully began skimming through an old profile Mulder had written of serial killer Orvil Floyd. Even ten years ago, Mulder had suspected that Floyd possessed some kind of telekinetic abilities, which he may have inherited from his mother.
"Well am I?" Mulder said deciding, agianst his own good judgement, to the press the issue.
"Are you what?" asked Scully with her nose still buried in the file.
"Am I sensing a pattern or not?" Mulder replied.
Pausing for a moment to continue reading, Scully then looked up at her partner who was staring intensly at her. Choosing her next words very carefully Scully said, "Why yes Mulder you are. It seems that Floyd had a fixation with geometric imagery, killing each of his victims with an object he viewed to be a 'perfect shape.' Now Floyd has been dead for about five years, so whoever is committing these copy-cat crimes must be someone who shares that same fixation. You mentioned in here that Floyd has a half-brother. We should concentrate on finding him first and foremost unless there's something else you're not telling me on this."
"I think the question I'm finding in all of this is," Mulder paused for effect, there was no way in hell he was letting her get down to business before he found out what was wrong. "Is there something else that you're not telling me?"
"Mulder, do you mind letting me in on whatever's been bothering you this morning because otherwise we aren't going to accomplish anything and might as well both just call it a day," Scully sighed.
Before he could answer, the phone rang. While Mulder continued to stew in his own frustration. He could believe that Scully's mystery of what was bothering him was actually the mystery of what was bothering her. It was moments like these that he wanted to crawl back into the file room for a couple of months and take in some reading on Big Foot and Godzilla as they would probably be easier to decipher than his partner's shifty behavior.
Meanwhile Scully had answered the phone to an exuberant Langly. "Tell Mulder that we really may have something on this microwave thing. I wanted to try testing it with him here because he knows more about psychology than we do," Langly chattered away.
"Ask Mulder if his door ever boiled," Frohike said in the background as Langly corrected him saying that he was talking to Scully.
"Nevermind," was Frohike's muffled reply.
"Anyways," said Byers who had obviously picked up the other phone. "Tell Mulder we'll be by his apartment later to show him this awesome discovery."
From the look on Scully's face, Mulder knew that the phone call had been from the Lone Gunman.
"The 3 Stooges wanted to know if a playdate could be arranged for later tonight," Scully said.
"Oh yeah, they want to show me this microwave oven test they just figured out," Mulder replied absently. "You want to join us?"
"No thanks, I have things to do," Scully replied quickly.
"The same things you do when rush away from work so quickly at the end of the day," Mulder said once again feeling like he was lauching an attack on the most secure fort in the world with a pocketknife. "The same things that made you late this morning?"
"Mulder," Scully began slowly.
"You know if you had forgotten to tell me when you left in that big rush yesterday, you saw me again at the grocery store," Mulder grumbled. "And there are these wonderful inventions called telephones. I don't know if you've heard but..."
"My god Mulder," Scully said getting more and more angry by the minute. "I don't know if I've ever seen you act like more of a two year old in the entire time I've know you."
"Well at least I don't run off and not tell you where I am," Mulder said instantly wishing he could erase his last statement as he saw his partner's blue eyes shift into an icey glare.
"If I could give you some sort of exact number of the times you've done it to me," Scully said standing up.
"Why don't you just tell me what is going on with you and we'll call it even," Mulder snapped.
"Mulder did it ever occur to you," Scully began, and then the phone rang again. This time Mulder answered it trying not to let AD Skinner in on the argument that had been unfolding only seconds ago. Scully sank back into a chair folding her arms and looking away.
"There's been another murder," Mulder said quietly hanging up the phone. He crossed over to Scully putting on a hand on her shoulder, though unsure as to whether he would get said hand back in one piece. "They want us to go take a look at the crime scene."
Scully rose and made her way towards the door without so much as a word. Mulder followed her in akward silence. The only speaking that occurred on their way to the parking garage was done by Agent Hall asking Spooky Mulder if he'd found any aliens. The only reply Hall got was the look of death from Scully, which Mulder considered as an improvement to the silent treatment she was now giving him.
10:30 am
The ringing of his cell phone caused Mulder to jump a good 5 feet from his perch behind his desk and spill his fourth cup of coffee all over his white shirt. "Mulder," he growled wishing he could start the day over again.
"Dude you are never going to believe what Byers managed to dig up last night on the net," came an excited Frohike over the phone. "We found evidence that microwave ovens are being used as mind control devices in the common American home."
Looking down as his shirt and the puddle of coffee on his desk Mulder snapped, "Frohike, did you ever think that some of us have jobs that they are supposed to be doing right now?"
"Am I keeping from some important discovery regarding EBE's? Because if so I can get the low down on it from you later," Frohike replied.
"No," Mulder sighed wiping his shirt with the closest thing to a napkin he could find, a piece of computer paper. "I'm just waiting for the door to open."
"Well remember Mulder: a watched door never boils," Frohike replied hanging up as Mulder stared at his empty cup of coffee and his damp shirt. So much for the tidy office for Scully, who for probably the first time ever was late for work. Stalking over to the ancient coffee machine on the corner table, Mulder wondered why she hadn't even bothered to call him. He was so consumed in his own frustration, that he didn't notice the door opening as Scully entered the office.
"Mulder," Scully said taking a cautious step into the office. Mulder for his part was so startled by her voice behind him that he jumped, spilling more coffee on his shirt.
"Are you okay?" Scully asked rushing over to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Mulder grumbled reaching for more computer paper. "The heating coil is broken so it's gross cold coffee that I'm covered in."
"What are you doing," Scully asked gesturing to the computer paper he was blotting his shirt with.
"I couldn't find any napkins," Mulder replied not looking at her, still wanting to brood over her tardiness.
"Well of course you couldn't. You cleaned this place so well I bet you could barely remember where you put your desk," Scully replied digging into her purse. After a moment she produced a wad of tissues from her bag. Pushing him gently against a table she said, "Have a seat."
Pleased that she had noticed the clean office, Mulder decided the drop the stubborn fifth grader act for a few minutes and comply. Letting her dap at the huge coffee stain on his shoulder in silence for a minute or two, Mulder smiled at her kindness.
For her part, Scully was glad he had given both of them the chance to drop their defenses for a few minutes, even if his shirt had to pay the ultimate price. She knew that any second now Mulder would ask her where she had been earlier in the morning, and she really didn't know how she could lie convincingly to him. It still amazed her that she and Mulder had not even known each other a year, and yet she considered him one of her best and only friends. Maybe that's why it was so hard to tell him what was on her mind recently; the fact that she would be letting him down. As she continued to dab at Mulder's shirt, she wished there was some unrealized choice that would satisfy everyone and not force her to choose someone to disappoint.
"So did you ever find what you were looking for last night?" Scully asked trying to sway her thoughts back to work.
"Yeah," Mulder replied as Scully moved to sit across the room, all hope for his shirt being lost. "You know I managed to save you a good bit of that ice cream being that it was the last carton in the whole store and you left without so much as a goodbye."
Scully merely raised an eyebrow at him, tapping her fingers on the desk impatiently.
"But yes, I found the file. It was actually only about ten minutes after you decided to go home, again without so much as a goodbye. Am I sensing a pattern here," Mulder continued knowing that very soon he was going to find himself on thin ice.
Catching the file her partner had tossed to her Scully began skimming through an old profile Mulder had written of serial killer Orvil Floyd. Even ten years ago, Mulder had suspected that Floyd possessed some kind of telekinetic abilities, which he may have inherited from his mother.
"Well am I?" Mulder said deciding, agianst his own good judgement, to the press the issue.
"Are you what?" asked Scully with her nose still buried in the file.
"Am I sensing a pattern or not?" Mulder replied.
Pausing for a moment to continue reading, Scully then looked up at her partner who was staring intensly at her. Choosing her next words very carefully Scully said, "Why yes Mulder you are. It seems that Floyd had a fixation with geometric imagery, killing each of his victims with an object he viewed to be a 'perfect shape.' Now Floyd has been dead for about five years, so whoever is committing these copy-cat crimes must be someone who shares that same fixation. You mentioned in here that Floyd has a half-brother. We should concentrate on finding him first and foremost unless there's something else you're not telling me on this."
"I think the question I'm finding in all of this is," Mulder paused for effect, there was no way in hell he was letting her get down to business before he found out what was wrong. "Is there something else that you're not telling me?"
"Mulder, do you mind letting me in on whatever's been bothering you this morning because otherwise we aren't going to accomplish anything and might as well both just call it a day," Scully sighed.
Before he could answer, the phone rang. While Mulder continued to stew in his own frustration. He could believe that Scully's mystery of what was bothering him was actually the mystery of what was bothering her. It was moments like these that he wanted to crawl back into the file room for a couple of months and take in some reading on Big Foot and Godzilla as they would probably be easier to decipher than his partner's shifty behavior.
Meanwhile Scully had answered the phone to an exuberant Langly. "Tell Mulder that we really may have something on this microwave thing. I wanted to try testing it with him here because he knows more about psychology than we do," Langly chattered away.
"Ask Mulder if his door ever boiled," Frohike said in the background as Langly corrected him saying that he was talking to Scully.
"Nevermind," was Frohike's muffled reply.
"Anyways," said Byers who had obviously picked up the other phone. "Tell Mulder we'll be by his apartment later to show him this awesome discovery."
From the look on Scully's face, Mulder knew that the phone call had been from the Lone Gunman.
"The 3 Stooges wanted to know if a playdate could be arranged for later tonight," Scully said.
"Oh yeah, they want to show me this microwave oven test they just figured out," Mulder replied absently. "You want to join us?"
"No thanks, I have things to do," Scully replied quickly.
"The same things you do when rush away from work so quickly at the end of the day," Mulder said once again feeling like he was lauching an attack on the most secure fort in the world with a pocketknife. "The same things that made you late this morning?"
"Mulder," Scully began slowly.
"You know if you had forgotten to tell me when you left in that big rush yesterday, you saw me again at the grocery store," Mulder grumbled. "And there are these wonderful inventions called telephones. I don't know if you've heard but..."
"My god Mulder," Scully said getting more and more angry by the minute. "I don't know if I've ever seen you act like more of a two year old in the entire time I've know you."
"Well at least I don't run off and not tell you where I am," Mulder said instantly wishing he could erase his last statement as he saw his partner's blue eyes shift into an icey glare.
"If I could give you some sort of exact number of the times you've done it to me," Scully said standing up.
"Why don't you just tell me what is going on with you and we'll call it even," Mulder snapped.
"Mulder did it ever occur to you," Scully began, and then the phone rang again. This time Mulder answered it trying not to let AD Skinner in on the argument that had been unfolding only seconds ago. Scully sank back into a chair folding her arms and looking away.
"There's been another murder," Mulder said quietly hanging up the phone. He crossed over to Scully putting on a hand on her shoulder, though unsure as to whether he would get said hand back in one piece. "They want us to go take a look at the crime scene."
Scully rose and made her way towards the door without so much as a word. Mulder followed her in akward silence. The only speaking that occurred on their way to the parking garage was done by Agent Hall asking Spooky Mulder if he'd found any aliens. The only reply Hall got was the look of death from Scully, which Mulder considered as an improvement to the silent treatment she was now giving him.