Partners By Chance - chapter three
Disclaimers - see chapter one
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scully walked down the hall towards Bishop's office and smiled at the sight in front of her. McCormick was busily flirting away with Bishop's assistant. Penny, a full figured blonde with huge blue eyes, was being polite enough to McCormick but anyone with half a brain could tell that he had absolutely no chance with her.
Seeing Scully approaching he gave up attempts at winning Penny's love and admiration and focused on Scully instead.
"Good morning Dana" he said giving her a dazzling smile. "How are you this morning?"
"I am fine Harvey how are you?"
McCormick was going to start in on the details of the morning when they both spotted Fraser, Mulder and Wakefield walking down the hall chatting away with each other.
McCormick looked at them and smiled at Scully "Think we will be lucky enough to find that they have figured out who the killer is without us?"
Scully just raised an eyebrow at him and he muttered "Doesn't hurt to dream, does it?"
After they all greeted each other, Penny showed them into Bishop's office. He was still on the phone, but motioned them to have a seat in the row of chairs that stood in front of his desk. Fraser, McCormick and Scully sat with Mulder and Wakefield pacing slowly behind them.
Bishop looked at his taskforce as he hung up the phone noticing how easy it was to judge them just by how they sat. Mulder and Wakefield were chomping at the bit, as always - ready, willing and able to jump into the situation and take it head on. McCormick sat watching everything and everyone, happier to be an observer instead of a participant. Fraser and Scully were the thinkers. They would jump into the fray when needed but they preferred to know exactly what they were jumping into first.
They all offset each other nicely Bishop thought as he cleared his throat to begin.
"Good morning agents - thank you for being so prompt." He looked directly at Mulder when saying this making it obvious that punctuality was not one of Mulder's normal virtues.
"I received all your field reports and will be reviewing them this morning. Mulder, you and Scully are to spend the day conducting interviews and working on tweaking your profile. Knowing you, you will have this man pegged soon enough."
"The rest of you will continue going over the surveillance tapes from the crime scenes."
Bishop ended the meeting quickly and the agents quickly parted company to start on their assignments. Mulder and Scully agreed to meet after lunch so he could follow up on some things for his profile and she could go over the lab results from the autopsy.
McCormick seized the opportunity to ask Scully to join him for lunch. Feeling somewhat trapped and not wanting to hurt the sweet man's feelings, Scully agreed.
She gathered together her lab results, typed up her field report and met McCormick at the local Chinese restaurant where he swore the lunch buffet could not be beat.
Scully suffered through lunch by smiling and nodding as McCormick tried to impress her with his field experience and anything else he could bring up that he thought would interest her. She found him to be a very nice guy who did absolutely nothing for her. She made a mental note to make sure she was busy during lunchtime during the rest of her time in Boston. She sincerely liked McCormick, but definitely didn't want him getting the wrong idea.
Mulder stood in the hallway outside the bullpen waiting for Scully to return from her lunch. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Scully and McCormick walking down the hall together. It would take a fool not to notice how he was looking at Scully with the same big puppy dog eyes he was gazing at Penny with just a few hours ago.
Mulder didn't blame the man for his infatuation. Scully was a smart woman who also was incredibly good looking. She held herself with a certain air of confidence that was hard to resist.
Mulder knew the look of a man who thought he was in love and the look of a woman who couldn't wait to get away from that man.
Mulder was curious to find himself a bit relieved at Scully's lack of interest in this potential suitor.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting Mulder" Scully said as soon as she was within speaking distance.
"Don't worry about it Scully, I just got here myself but we should get going. Our first interview is across town in 30 minutes."
Mulder used his hand on Scully's back to guide her towards the elevator and broke into a broad grin once the elevator doors shut.
"What?" Scully said trying to portray innocence.
"Nothing. I was just thinking that you and McCormick make a very cute couple."
Scully glared at him and but half-heartedly told him to shut up.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scully and Mulder spent the rest of the afternoon and evening interviewing anyone who had contact with the victims or could have been a potential witness to the crimes. Time and time again they came up with very little besides the fact that all of the victims were well liked, not socially involved with anyone in particular and basically led normally dull lives.
Frustrated and hungry, they stopped by a small pub close to Scully's hotel for a quick bite and a beer or two.
The waitress took their orders almost immediately and the two of them fell into a bit of an awkward silence. They were both suddenly conscious of not making a bad impression on the other. They were two agents working on a case, but this felt more like a date.
They sipped their beer in silence before Mulder finally broke it. "Scully, is there someplace that you would rather be? I didn't mean to drag you out to dinner if you had something else to do - with McCormick."
That broke the tension and Scully dazzled Mulder with a sincere smile. "Sorry Mulder, I was just thinking about how I can hardly believe I am up here in Boston working on such a high profile case."
"Why does that surprise you?"
"Well, I guess I don't really understand why I am on this case. To have you on the case makes perfect sense - you are a top profiler - if not the top profiler in the Bureau, the other three have been on the case since the beginning. But me? Makes no sense."
"Come on Scully you and I both know that you wouldn't be here if the powers to be didn't think you can handle it. Believe it or not you have quite a reputation."
"I do?"
"Oh yeah. I was eager to work with you after hearing that the only thing exceeding your good looks was your intellect and fact that you were able to beat Section Chief Blevins at the shooting range."
Scully was mortified when she realized that she was actually blushing. Mulder thought it very cute but said nothing instead wondering if the blush was the result of his compliment about her looks or her beating her superior.
"That was just a competition for charity" she murmured "not really fair if you think about it - Blevins hadn't picked up a weapon in years"
"Let me guess - he saw you, a rookie and a female and figured taking you on was a sure bet."
"Something like that I guess"
"All that aside, how many medical doctors are running around the FBI Scully. You are a special agent and I predict your career will only go up from here."
"You should talk Mulder."
"Huh?"
"You are the golden boy of the VCU. Everyone knows if you can't figure out who done it all you have to do is put Fox Mulder on the case."
"Thanks but for every person whose respect I have earned, I have probably pissed off or alienated two or three."
"How?"
"The reason I am so successful, they tell me, is because I can think outside the box. Sometimes I think too far outside the box for most people. Their minds are not open to all the extreme possibilities that exist out there. They basically think I am nuts."
"Are you?" Scully said relaxing now and teasing Mulder a little bit.
Mulder smiled back at her glad to see her finally relaxing a bit "Yeah a bit, but in a good way."
Mulder and Scully spent the next hour or so just talking getting to know each other. They found that their views often opposed each other. They seemed to have the ability to debate a topic to death, much to their mutual delight, and finally agree to disagree.
Both were a bit reluctant to end the evening, but they both knew that they had several more days of interviews in front of them and that they needed to get some much needed sleep.
Both fell asleep thinking of the other and the killer they were assigned to catch. The next few days fell somewhat into a routine. Mulder and Scully hooked up early in the morning and spent the majority of the day interviewing relatives and victims. They saw little of the other members of the taskforce but whenever they did, McCormick tried again to pry Scully away from Mulder.
Scully was happy that she could honestly tell McCormick that she was too busy for lunch but that she would take a raincheck later. Much later if she had her way.
The evenings were spent together as well. They began feeling comfortable enough together that they would spend hours either in Mulder's temporary apartment or Scully's hotel room going over the interviews they had done and filing the daily field reports. They both truly enjoyed this time for not only did it provide the mental stimulation they both craved but also gave them a chance to talk and grow closer.
After the last day of interviewing, Scully had gone over to Mulder's apartment laden with notes and Indian food. For some reason she felt nervous as she knocked on the door. Perhaps because she knew that this was probably the last evening that she would have to spend alone with Mulder. They would be revealing their completed profile during the meeting the following morning and would then be assigned to do who-knows-what by Bishop. For all she knew, she could be sent back to DC.
She thought that what she feared the most was being sent back home with so much left unfinished - both on the case and with Mulder. She had become very attached to the case - wanting desperately to catch the person who had so horribly mutilated those women and as much as she hated to admit it, she was getting pretty attached to Mulder too.
She was no fool, she knew he if wanted to he probably could have gotten her into his bed by now. God knows it had been a long, long time since she had been with a man. She found Mulder attractive and liked him enough that she knew with a couple of glasses of wine in her, she would be butter in his hands.
Somehow she thought, she hoped, that Mulder didn't think of her as a one night stand.
But now it seemed like she may go home without ever finding out.
Mulder seemed a bit more tense than normal when he opened the door for her. He looked at her a bit longer than necessary and often throughout the night looked like he was on the verge of asking her something.
They went over the last of their field notes quickly with little conversation above that which was absolutely needed. They ate their dinner in relative silence too one often catching the other covertly gazing at the other.
The tension grew until Scully could not stand it any longer. Usually they would finish up their official business, crack open a beer or pour a glass of wine and just talk for an hour or two. Tonight, though, Scully was determined to get out of Mulder's apartment as soon as she could.
Obviously Mulder had made up his mind about her on a personal level and she wanted to leave before he felt obligated to tell her.
Maybe she would ask Bishop to send her back to DC in the morning.
Scully closed down Mulder's computer and starting making noise about it being late and having to get back to her apartment.
Mulder raised an eyebrow and looked at the clock. It wasn't even eight yet. "Scully, before you go, I need to talk to you about something."
Scully turned to him and nodded hoping that the raw fear she felt in her stomach wasn't reflected in her eyes.
"Okay" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
end of chapter three. Comments - ideas. What does Mulder have to tell Scully?
Disclaimers - see chapter one
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scully walked down the hall towards Bishop's office and smiled at the sight in front of her. McCormick was busily flirting away with Bishop's assistant. Penny, a full figured blonde with huge blue eyes, was being polite enough to McCormick but anyone with half a brain could tell that he had absolutely no chance with her.
Seeing Scully approaching he gave up attempts at winning Penny's love and admiration and focused on Scully instead.
"Good morning Dana" he said giving her a dazzling smile. "How are you this morning?"
"I am fine Harvey how are you?"
McCormick was going to start in on the details of the morning when they both spotted Fraser, Mulder and Wakefield walking down the hall chatting away with each other.
McCormick looked at them and smiled at Scully "Think we will be lucky enough to find that they have figured out who the killer is without us?"
Scully just raised an eyebrow at him and he muttered "Doesn't hurt to dream, does it?"
After they all greeted each other, Penny showed them into Bishop's office. He was still on the phone, but motioned them to have a seat in the row of chairs that stood in front of his desk. Fraser, McCormick and Scully sat with Mulder and Wakefield pacing slowly behind them.
Bishop looked at his taskforce as he hung up the phone noticing how easy it was to judge them just by how they sat. Mulder and Wakefield were chomping at the bit, as always - ready, willing and able to jump into the situation and take it head on. McCormick sat watching everything and everyone, happier to be an observer instead of a participant. Fraser and Scully were the thinkers. They would jump into the fray when needed but they preferred to know exactly what they were jumping into first.
They all offset each other nicely Bishop thought as he cleared his throat to begin.
"Good morning agents - thank you for being so prompt." He looked directly at Mulder when saying this making it obvious that punctuality was not one of Mulder's normal virtues.
"I received all your field reports and will be reviewing them this morning. Mulder, you and Scully are to spend the day conducting interviews and working on tweaking your profile. Knowing you, you will have this man pegged soon enough."
"The rest of you will continue going over the surveillance tapes from the crime scenes."
Bishop ended the meeting quickly and the agents quickly parted company to start on their assignments. Mulder and Scully agreed to meet after lunch so he could follow up on some things for his profile and she could go over the lab results from the autopsy.
McCormick seized the opportunity to ask Scully to join him for lunch. Feeling somewhat trapped and not wanting to hurt the sweet man's feelings, Scully agreed.
She gathered together her lab results, typed up her field report and met McCormick at the local Chinese restaurant where he swore the lunch buffet could not be beat.
Scully suffered through lunch by smiling and nodding as McCormick tried to impress her with his field experience and anything else he could bring up that he thought would interest her. She found him to be a very nice guy who did absolutely nothing for her. She made a mental note to make sure she was busy during lunchtime during the rest of her time in Boston. She sincerely liked McCormick, but definitely didn't want him getting the wrong idea.
Mulder stood in the hallway outside the bullpen waiting for Scully to return from her lunch. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Scully and McCormick walking down the hall together. It would take a fool not to notice how he was looking at Scully with the same big puppy dog eyes he was gazing at Penny with just a few hours ago.
Mulder didn't blame the man for his infatuation. Scully was a smart woman who also was incredibly good looking. She held herself with a certain air of confidence that was hard to resist.
Mulder knew the look of a man who thought he was in love and the look of a woman who couldn't wait to get away from that man.
Mulder was curious to find himself a bit relieved at Scully's lack of interest in this potential suitor.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting Mulder" Scully said as soon as she was within speaking distance.
"Don't worry about it Scully, I just got here myself but we should get going. Our first interview is across town in 30 minutes."
Mulder used his hand on Scully's back to guide her towards the elevator and broke into a broad grin once the elevator doors shut.
"What?" Scully said trying to portray innocence.
"Nothing. I was just thinking that you and McCormick make a very cute couple."
Scully glared at him and but half-heartedly told him to shut up.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scully and Mulder spent the rest of the afternoon and evening interviewing anyone who had contact with the victims or could have been a potential witness to the crimes. Time and time again they came up with very little besides the fact that all of the victims were well liked, not socially involved with anyone in particular and basically led normally dull lives.
Frustrated and hungry, they stopped by a small pub close to Scully's hotel for a quick bite and a beer or two.
The waitress took their orders almost immediately and the two of them fell into a bit of an awkward silence. They were both suddenly conscious of not making a bad impression on the other. They were two agents working on a case, but this felt more like a date.
They sipped their beer in silence before Mulder finally broke it. "Scully, is there someplace that you would rather be? I didn't mean to drag you out to dinner if you had something else to do - with McCormick."
That broke the tension and Scully dazzled Mulder with a sincere smile. "Sorry Mulder, I was just thinking about how I can hardly believe I am up here in Boston working on such a high profile case."
"Why does that surprise you?"
"Well, I guess I don't really understand why I am on this case. To have you on the case makes perfect sense - you are a top profiler - if not the top profiler in the Bureau, the other three have been on the case since the beginning. But me? Makes no sense."
"Come on Scully you and I both know that you wouldn't be here if the powers to be didn't think you can handle it. Believe it or not you have quite a reputation."
"I do?"
"Oh yeah. I was eager to work with you after hearing that the only thing exceeding your good looks was your intellect and fact that you were able to beat Section Chief Blevins at the shooting range."
Scully was mortified when she realized that she was actually blushing. Mulder thought it very cute but said nothing instead wondering if the blush was the result of his compliment about her looks or her beating her superior.
"That was just a competition for charity" she murmured "not really fair if you think about it - Blevins hadn't picked up a weapon in years"
"Let me guess - he saw you, a rookie and a female and figured taking you on was a sure bet."
"Something like that I guess"
"All that aside, how many medical doctors are running around the FBI Scully. You are a special agent and I predict your career will only go up from here."
"You should talk Mulder."
"Huh?"
"You are the golden boy of the VCU. Everyone knows if you can't figure out who done it all you have to do is put Fox Mulder on the case."
"Thanks but for every person whose respect I have earned, I have probably pissed off or alienated two or three."
"How?"
"The reason I am so successful, they tell me, is because I can think outside the box. Sometimes I think too far outside the box for most people. Their minds are not open to all the extreme possibilities that exist out there. They basically think I am nuts."
"Are you?" Scully said relaxing now and teasing Mulder a little bit.
Mulder smiled back at her glad to see her finally relaxing a bit "Yeah a bit, but in a good way."
Mulder and Scully spent the next hour or so just talking getting to know each other. They found that their views often opposed each other. They seemed to have the ability to debate a topic to death, much to their mutual delight, and finally agree to disagree.
Both were a bit reluctant to end the evening, but they both knew that they had several more days of interviews in front of them and that they needed to get some much needed sleep.
Both fell asleep thinking of the other and the killer they were assigned to catch. The next few days fell somewhat into a routine. Mulder and Scully hooked up early in the morning and spent the majority of the day interviewing relatives and victims. They saw little of the other members of the taskforce but whenever they did, McCormick tried again to pry Scully away from Mulder.
Scully was happy that she could honestly tell McCormick that she was too busy for lunch but that she would take a raincheck later. Much later if she had her way.
The evenings were spent together as well. They began feeling comfortable enough together that they would spend hours either in Mulder's temporary apartment or Scully's hotel room going over the interviews they had done and filing the daily field reports. They both truly enjoyed this time for not only did it provide the mental stimulation they both craved but also gave them a chance to talk and grow closer.
After the last day of interviewing, Scully had gone over to Mulder's apartment laden with notes and Indian food. For some reason she felt nervous as she knocked on the door. Perhaps because she knew that this was probably the last evening that she would have to spend alone with Mulder. They would be revealing their completed profile during the meeting the following morning and would then be assigned to do who-knows-what by Bishop. For all she knew, she could be sent back to DC.
She thought that what she feared the most was being sent back home with so much left unfinished - both on the case and with Mulder. She had become very attached to the case - wanting desperately to catch the person who had so horribly mutilated those women and as much as she hated to admit it, she was getting pretty attached to Mulder too.
She was no fool, she knew he if wanted to he probably could have gotten her into his bed by now. God knows it had been a long, long time since she had been with a man. She found Mulder attractive and liked him enough that she knew with a couple of glasses of wine in her, she would be butter in his hands.
Somehow she thought, she hoped, that Mulder didn't think of her as a one night stand.
But now it seemed like she may go home without ever finding out.
Mulder seemed a bit more tense than normal when he opened the door for her. He looked at her a bit longer than necessary and often throughout the night looked like he was on the verge of asking her something.
They went over the last of their field notes quickly with little conversation above that which was absolutely needed. They ate their dinner in relative silence too one often catching the other covertly gazing at the other.
The tension grew until Scully could not stand it any longer. Usually they would finish up their official business, crack open a beer or pour a glass of wine and just talk for an hour or two. Tonight, though, Scully was determined to get out of Mulder's apartment as soon as she could.
Obviously Mulder had made up his mind about her on a personal level and she wanted to leave before he felt obligated to tell her.
Maybe she would ask Bishop to send her back to DC in the morning.
Scully closed down Mulder's computer and starting making noise about it being late and having to get back to her apartment.
Mulder raised an eyebrow and looked at the clock. It wasn't even eight yet. "Scully, before you go, I need to talk to you about something."
Scully turned to him and nodded hoping that the raw fear she felt in her stomach wasn't reflected in her eyes.
"Okay" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
end of chapter three. Comments - ideas. What does Mulder have to tell Scully?
