MARCH 3rd 2000
"I've got to put a wire on you."
Mulder stood right in front of her in one of the first floor rooms of the Lexor Hotel. The room had been set up as a control area, for all the surveillance equipment they had put into the hotels restaurant earlier. Clothes had been strewn about the place unceremoniously by the Agents that had changed into their undercover uniforms to blend in with the bar staff.
She stood still, almost unaware of her surroundings and Mulder standing so close. Slowly she shrugged. He hesitated when he saw that her eyes were glazed and distant. He could almost see the past few weeks play across her face and the pain that was clearly etched there. She wore a dark pair of linen trousers and a low-cut black cotton cardigan. He gradually reached for the top button that seemed to dare him as it nestled snugly against her breasts. With a small cough to clear his throat and take in some much-needed air, he undid it and quickly moved onto the next one and the next until the cardigan fell open. He was surprised and yet not by the simple black bra that she wore but looked away quickly to find the wiretap.
Fixing a small piece of tape to the wire just below the mike, he gently pressed it to her skin. She gasped audibly when his fingers brushed her skin. He looked up and caught her smiling for the first time all day.
"Didn't they tell you to warm your hands before you did this?" she said laughing softly.
With a crooked smile he taped the wire down her chest and snaked it around her waist, pushing it just below the hem of her trousers with his fingers as he went. Her skin felt soft and warm and she squirmed as his fingers lightly traced the line of the wire. Reaching for the clip he fixed the wire to its power pack and attached it to the back of her trousers, in the middle, and pushed it low so it couldn't be seen.
"There," he stood up fully in front of her and noticed that she had retreated inwardly again. "You can…do …up…" he murmured.
As if noticing her undone top only now, she half turned away from him and fixed it.
"Can you see it?" She twirled in front of him brushing her hands down the front of her chest as she fixed her top.
"No. You look fine." He watched her for a moment and saw that her smile was tired and didn't reach her clear blue eyes. "Ready?"
"Yes, lets go."
FEB 15th 2000
The case was moving slowly and Scully was tired of the questions that still remained unanswered. She had revisited all the crime scenes but still no evidence had been recovered. Mulder had developed a profile but she felt, as did he, without more information it was vague and stale.
She sat at David's desk at the precinct and re-read reports, hoping the clue she wished to be there would show itself. The phone rang loudly cutting into her thoughts.
"Scully," she answered automatically as she had been working from his desk for days.
"Dana," David's voice was urgent. "There has been another one."
"Where?"
"34th street. Homeless guy. Some kids found him in a dumpster."
"I'll be right over."
The crime scene was in full operation by the time she arrived and she held her badge in her hand ready to show it to various officers to gain access.
"Dana, over here." David called.
She walked over and found the body still lying crumpled in the dumpster, large bloodied cavities where his eyes should have been.
"Eyes," she said softly.
"It's almost like he's collecting."
"What do you mean?"
They stood back as the body was lifted onto a gurney
"It's different every time. Jessica Strong, heart, Brian Dobson lungs, Michael Green stomach and now this homeless guy, eyes. Like he's making a whole new person."
Scully said nothing at the far-away look in his eyes as the body was wheeled away.
"I'm going to the lab for the autopsy."
"I'll finish up around here. Call me if you find anything."
It was nearing eight when Scully breezed through the door of the basement office. Startled by Mulder's presence she stopped in her tracks almost dropping her file.
"Working late?" she asked.
"Just finishing off a report for A.D Skinner." He produced the file from his lap and she saw the doodles and sketches that lined the page. "How's your case going?"
"There was another victim found this morning. Homeless guy without his eyes."
"Any luck with the evidence?"
"No. Same killer though. I found more Rocuronium and more bad surgery."
Mulder didn't miss the weariness in her voice or the slumped shoulders she was carrying. "How's your new partner?"
She caught the gleam in his eye as he smiled over at her. "He's…a handful."
"What do you mean?" he probed, the laughter gone from his voice.
"I've been working with his for over two weeks now and I just feel that he has brought little to the case. He's inexperienced, easily distracted, convinced that we are never going to catch this guy and he's terribly squeamish about examining the dead bodies." She looked for a moment and wondered if she should continue.
"What?" he asked, noticing her hesitation.
"He's got very little self confidence…he's not you, Mulder," she blurted out. "I'm trying very hard to relate to him and to connect, but he's agreeing with any theory I come up with, no question. He bounces back everything I say with a smile."
Slightly surprised and more than flattered by her words he said nothing and watched her for a moment.
"You look tired Scully."
"You look bored Mulder," she retaliated.
"Well seeing as I haven't seen you all week how about you let me take you out to dinner?" he stood up and slipped into his jacket.
"I don't know…I am tired."
"Come on," he nudged her. "I promise to let you talk about all the grisly details of the autopsy."
She smiled and followed him to the door. He placed an arm lightly around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. She rested into him and relaxed into the easy friendship they had developed over the years, letting her weariness fade away.
FEB 29th 2000
David sat at his desk staring out the window and imagined her sitting next to him. With the window opened he imagined how her hair would rustle gently into her eyes but she'd quickly placed it behind her ear. He imagined her smell and took a deep breath as if he could inhale it.
When a small hand touched his shoulder he turned to find her standing behind him, her simple smile warm and carefree.
"You okay David? You seem miles away."
"Yeah…I was just thinking."
"What about?" she pulled out the chair and sat next to him.
"It's my birthday today."
"Oh…happy birthday."
"Thanks. Don't you know the date?" he asked her smiling oddly.
"Today…it's the eh…" she checked her watch, "29th"
"Leap year."
"Oh, yeah…" she laughed "so that makes you…"
"Eight years old," he laughed with her, enjoying the sound of her voice.
"Are you doing something special?"
"I dunno, I suppose I should, seeing as it only comes around every four years." He smiled again, this time embarrassed. "Would you like to go out after work for dinner with me?" he said suddenly.
"For your birthday?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay. Sure."
David walked away and left her to her thoughts. She spent the day at the precinct, searching through the known offenders who had been released coinciding with the beginning of the murders. Without much luck she was rewarded with only a headache by the end of the day. David said little to her since her conversation earlier and she felt his nervous tension. She wondered if she did the right thing by agreeing to go to dinner with him but decided as they hadn't become a better working team it might help them if he relaxed a bit more with her.
When she spotted the clock sighing towards six pm she reached out for the phone and called Mulder. She asked him to double check on the victim background checks as they still hadn't developed a link between them all and if there was one to be found Mulder would catch it. Without protest he agreed and said he'd call if he found anything.
"How are you holding up Scully? You sound pissed off."
"It's been a long day and it doesn't promise to end anytime soon."
"Why?"
"It's David's birthday today."
"On a leap year? Wow."
"So we're going out for dinner after work. I'm hoping it'll help him relax."
"Be careful Scully, don't let him relax too much." She heard him laughing and shook her head.
"See you tomorrow, Mulder."
Another hour passed before David shuffled over and stood behind her.
"Shall we go?"
He chose a small Chinese restaurant that was close by so they walked. He steered her away from talking about the case and asked her about her FBI work. They were seated at a secluded table in a corner by the window and a waiter took an order for drinks straight away.
"So what's your partner like?"
"Mulder?" she smiled as she thought of Mulder asking her the same question. "He's great. He's very good at he does and we work really well together. He's also a really good friend."
"It's a challenging job I'd imagine."
"Yes it is," she replied not entirely comfortable with his line of questions. "How long have you been part of the force?"
"Not too long. Five years here in DC."
"Late starter."
"Like yourself, I had a career change."
"Like me?"
"You know, from medicine to FBI."
"What did you do before?"
"I was an EMT for six years in Chicago."
"Really?"
"I had enough of seeing the damage so I thought I'd try to be on the side of prevention."
They ate dinner and spoke companionably, sharing a bottle of wine and finishing it before desert.
"Should we get another one?" he asked.
"No not for me, I'll have a coffee."
As they walked back to the precinct where their cars were parked, Scully placed her hands in her pockets and held her coat tightly closed around herself.
"Are you cold?"
Afraid that he might take her admission as an invitation she shook her head.
"I had better get a cab. I'm in no state to drive." She waved her hand into the street, urging a cab to stop for her. When one pulled up she turned to him and said "Happy Birthday, David" before climbing into it and closing the door before he could offer to share it with her.
MARCH 3rd 2000
She walked into the hotel restaurant alone and immediately spotted David sitting at a table in the corner. A quick glance around the room and she could see Agents Black and Smith serving drinks behind the bar. Agent Doyle took her jacket and showed her to her table where Agent Walker handed her a menu. When she sat down she felt the wire pack press into her back and wished it were her gun that prodded her so uncomfortably.
She could feel all their eyes on her and wondered if David could tell. She knew Mulder would be watching her every move through the surveillance cameras and listening to her through the wire but she wondered briefly if he could hear her heart ramming against her chest.
"Thanks for coming to see me, Dana."
"David, you are in trouble. A lot of trouble."
"You have to understand…let me explain."
"I think you made everything perfectly clear." Her hand reached up and gingerly touched her wound.
"Dana, I am so sorry about that…it was an accident…I never ever meant to hurt you," he said earnestly. "You have to believe me."
"I'm not talking about me. I'm not going to press charges." He sighed, visibly relieved by her words. "David, you knew her. Why didn't you say?"
"I didn't think-."
"What happened?"
"I knew her from college. I hadn't spoken to her in years."
"David you're lying, I know about the missing evidence."
"No Dana, I have no idea what happened to it."
"Yeah?"
He reached across the table and took her hand in his. He stroked the back of it with his thumb and searched her eyes.
"When I got to the precinct I left it in my desk and I got called away to check out the missing order of that drug, remember? When I left your place, I was panicking, I was in a hurry and got pulled up for speeding and I had left my badge in my coat at your place. By the time I had taken the ticket and gotten to the precinct it was all happening."
"Great David, get me the ticket, get the names of the officers who issued it… get an alibi."
"Oh Christ Dana…" he rested his head in his hand.
"David after five murders we find our first piece of tangible evidence, it goes missing while in your custody and then it turns out that you knew the first victim and lied about it. Now we have a fresh body in the morgue from yesterday evening."
He didn't reply but his hands began to rub his face vigorously.
"Why didn't you log the evidence straight away?"
"I was in a rush, by the time I'd finished the questioning, I was running late to meet you."
"Jesus Christ, four…five victims and only one piece of evidence, you should have logged it immediately. No excuses."
"I know I know it was stupid. I've been working so hard…"
"It was stupid. But you're a lucky man."
He looked up at her through his fingers a quizzical expression on his face. "What do you mean?"
"We were at the scene today of a young lady found in her apartment hallway. Mulder found a partial. I've got an appointment with the body tomorrow morning to see what else I can find. But at least all is not lost."
"A partial? Where did he find it?"
"On the lift call button in the lobby."
"That could be anybody's."
"Well the lift has been broken in the building for over a month so non of the resident would have used it. We took fingerprints from all of them for verification."
"That was…a good catch," he coughed and sipped his glass of water. "Has it been tested?"
"Mulder brought it to the lab this evening and we should have the results by tomorrow."
Scully's phone rang and she reached for it into her pocket.
"Scully."
"Scully I want you outta there." Mulder's voice was low and insistent.
"Yes."
"Scully. Out. Right. Now."
"Now? Oh but I-,"
"Come on Scully, the trap has been set. Get back up here."
"Of course. Okay Mulder, I'm on my way."
She hung up her phone and pushed it into her pocket.
"I'm sorry David, I have to leave."
"Something come up?"
"Mulder was going through a background check, he might have found something."
"Oh…do you want me to come?"
"No David, go home, rest up and we'll see about cleaning this mess up." She stood up from the table and found Agent Doyle standing next to her with her jacket. She slipped into it and stood for a moment to watch him.
"We'll sort this out. Okay?" A soft hand rested on his shoulder and squeezed. He covered it with his own and smiled gently at her. She tried to return it but knew her efforts weren't enough. She walked away without looking back. Feeling his eyes bore into her back.
MARCH 1st 2000
The piercing ring from her phone pounded mercilessly into her head and she struggled to wake from her slumber.
"Hello?" she croaked into the receiver.
"Scully…are you okay?"
"Yeah Mulder, what is it?"
"Another body…and something else."
Suddenly alert she sat up and waited until the wave of nausea passed. "Where are you?"
"In a bar on Wesley Avenue. The victim was a bartender here. O'Reilly's."
"I'm on my way."
Again Scully found herself walking into an active crime scene. She spotted Mulder immediately but found no sign of David.
"Mulder," she walked over to where he stood and saw the body. It was a young white girl that Scully guessed couldn't be older than 20.
"Do we know who she is?"
"She had an Irish passport in her pocket. Louise O'Gara aged 19. It looks like she was attacked in the hall and dragged in here for the…surgery."
Scully pulled on a pair of latex gloves and leaned in closer to the body. With a quick examination she found a small puncture wound in the girls left hip.
"See this Mulder." He bent over her, his tie falling onto her shoulder. "It's our guy."
"He's stepping up."
"Have you spoken to David?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you about that."
He held her elbow as she stood and led her out to the relative privacy of the back alley. Dodging two officers who were scouring the area for evidence he led her further down the alley.
"What is it Mulder?" beginning to get annoyed at his vagueness.
"Did you know that Detective Blake wasn't always a cop?"
"Yes. He was an EMT in Chicago for six years."
He said nothing and looked at her as if what he was thinking was obvious.
"What? Because of his medical experience? You've got to be joking."
"No-."
"Mulder by that rationale, I'd be a suspect."
"You would be if you knew the first victim. He studied with her at medical college."
"The size of a class-."
"They lived together while working at Chicago General."
She looked at him for a long time and wished he would speak clearly for once, no puzzles, no clues just shout out one succinct sentence.
"Isn't that all circumstantial?"
"He was fired from his job at Chicago General for striking a patient and stabbing him with a scalpel. He spent time in a psychiatric ward for violent mood swings."
"Do you really think…" she left her sentence unfinished and hanging in the air between them.
"Scully I don't know, but something is not right. Why didn't he mention anything about knowing her?"
"In case they took him off the case?"
"Scully-."
He was cut short by the
side door opened out into the alley and David emerged.
"Detective Blake," Mulder stepped around Scully, not without giving her a long gaze and held his hand out to David. "I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder." Scully didn't miss the emphasis he put on his title.
"Of course, Mr. Mulder. Dana has told me so much about you."
"All good I hope."
"Of Course," he smiled at Scully who smiled back hesitantly. "It turns out Louise O'Gara has been in the country for 2 months."
"Have you seen the body?" Scully asked.
"I glanced, but you know me Dana."
Mulder squirmed at his familiarity towards Scully. "There are stab wounds. He's getting angry and the murders are getting worse."
Just then a large cop in uniform called over and beckoned for them to follow him. He showed them the cluster of hair strands that were caught in a button on the girl's waistcoat. Mulder took an evidence bag and carefully placed the hair in it with a pair of tweezers.
"Looks like there was a struggle," Scully said.
"Fighting Irish," Mulder quipped as he stood holing the bag into the light in front of David.
Scully spoke to the guards about covering the body and delivering it to the morgue for examination.
"I'll take that to the lab," Blake offered to Mulder pointing to the evidence.
"No that's quite all right, Detective Blake, you can finish off here. I'll take it."
"I've done all I can do here. And I was on my way to the lab anyway."
Mulder began to speak but Scully touched his arm. With an almost imperceptible shake of her head he remained silent. Reluctantly handing the evidence over to Blake he watched as Blake shoved it into his pocket and left without a word.
"Scully…there's something about that guy."
"I'll talk to him."
"No, it's too dangerous…what if-,"
"No what if's. I'll call him later and talk to him. Right now I have to go to the morgue."
"I checked out any recent orders of Rocuronium," he said changing the subject and letting it lie.
"Find anything?"
"Only that it's a controlled substance. For research doctors and large medical facilities."
"None reported stolen?"
"Not yet not. But I asked all of them to double check their orders."
She looked at him and saw the concern in his eyes but pushed it away. She didn't need his protection, she needed to finish this case and get back to the X-Files. Get back to relative normality.
"I'm travelling with the body. I'll see you later Mulder."
"Scully…" he paused and she turned to face him. He seemed to struggle with what he wanted to say. But finally he settled on "Be careful." Without a reply she climbed into the ambulance and slammed the door shut behind her.
The autopsy took longer than she thought. She called David when they arrived at the morgue but got only his message minder. She asked him to call her back and changed her clothes for the autopsy. As she slipped out of the building and fumbled for the keys to her car, her phone rang in her pocket.
"Scully."
"Dana, it's David."
"David? Where have you been? Any results from the Lab yet?"
"No…I haven't been out there yet. I got to the precint and had to follow a lead."
"What lead?" she asked trying not to let Mulders suspicions cloud her judgement.
"The drug, we thought we found a stack of missing orders from the Psyciatric ward out on Carson Road."
"Any luck?"
"No. Dead end. So what were you calling for?"
"I want to talk to you about something."
"Where are you? I'll come and meet you."
"I'm at the morgue."
"Oh…" he hesitated. "Can we meet at your place?"
"Eh…" Scully was unsure but agreed. "Sure I'll be there in ten minutes."
"See you then."