Chapter Two - I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife
Mulder sat on the small bench outside Skinner's office waiting for Scully to arrive. He had thought about calling her several times since she had stormed out of their office, but had decided against it. He knew his partner and when she was this annoyed, the best thing was to let her be.
Scully arrived just in time to be led into Skinner's office. She barely glanced at Mulder as she strode past him and took a seat at the conference table.
Skinner was already situated there and to his right sat a drop dead gorgeous blonde.
She was the last thing Scully needed to see. But Scully secured her professional posture on and sat down - several seats away from Mulder.
Skinner noticed the subtle tension between the two partners and regretted for a moment he decision to assign them to this case. He was particularly fond of the two of them and hoped that he hadn't jeopardized their partnership.
"Good morning Agents, I would like you to meet Lydia Bennett. She is the one who brought the murders to our attention. She used to live in the Berkley neighborhood."
Both agents nodded their acknowledgements to Lydia and began questioning her.
Scully asked direct questions concerning where she lived in Berkley, how long she had lived there and what had made her come to the FBI.
"Well Agent Scully, I lived in Berkley pretty much since getting out of grad school. Steve and I moved there as soon as we got married."
Scully nodded for her to continue. "We both had great jobs and made a good amount of money. We looked all around Minneapolis for the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood and thought we found it in Berkley."
"It was perfect until we started hanging out with some of the other professional couples in the neighborhood."
"Go on" Mulder said when it looked like Lydia was going to hesitate.
"In the beginning we were thrilled to be making so many new friends. There seemed to be a party at someone's house practically everyday. Nothing too fancy - a cocktail party here, a wine and cheese party there. We all worked really hard at our jobs and looked forward to getting together to unwind."
"After a couple of weeks, we noticed that the themes became a little bit more outrageous. People started arriving wearing more provocative clothing and then one night, everything changed."
Lydia looked down at the ground and took a deep breath. "It was like something was in the water - everyone just got really, really...hmmm.horny. They started making out with whoever was around at the time. Husbands and wives stuck together or picked out new partners. Women started going down on other woman with the men cheering them on."
Skinner and Mulder exchanged a subtle glance at this and shifted a bit uncomfortably in their seats. Both were very happy to be wearing their suits jackets that would hide any embarrassing signs that they were enjoying Lydia's story a bit too much.
There was no sign of Scully being affected by Lydia's story and she encouraged her to continue. "Did you participate in all of this" she asked softly with no sound of judgment in her voice.
Lydia blushed a bit and nodded. "I have no idea why I did, but I just jumped into the fray along with everyone else. I don't even remember who I ended up with that time."
"That time - how often did this occur?" Scully said her eyes widening a bit.
"Oh, I don't know. Two or three times a week. Maybe more maybe less."
Mulder finally blocked enough mental images from his mind to ask a question "So why did you stop going to these parties?"
"About three months ago, Roger - the head of the neighborhood association - decided to throw a massive party at his house. He always threw the best parties. But anyway, I was having wicked PMS and terrible cramps so I sent Steve off without me. I guess I missed a heck of a party because Steve told me the next day that the police had been called to the house by one of the elderly neighbors down the street."
"I assume this neighbor had not been invited?" Mulder said smiling.
"You assume right Agent Mulder." Lydia said smiling back. "Only the young and the beautiful are invited. You two will fit in nicely."
Scully ignored the compliment "what happened then Ms. Bennett?"
"Oh yes, well the police came and broke up the party and everyone went home. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Tim (who lived down the street from us) was found dead."
"Any idea what Tim was doing at the party?"
Lydia blushed a bit. "From what I heard, he was trying to take on four women at one time."
Skinner and Mulder shifted again trying to block out yet another exciting mental image.
"Did that stop you from going to any more parties?"
"For a while everyone kept a low profile but a couple of weeks later things started hopping again. This time it was Steve who seemed to been the most active. One of the guys had bet him that he couldn't get laid more than 5 times throughout the evening. I think he made it to 6 but was dead before morning."
"No wonder" Mulder thought to himself figuring that no man could withstand that much activity. He stifled the thought and asked "What killed your husband Ms. Bennett?"
"No one seems to know. I found him in a crumpled heap in the hall near the front door. He looked perfectly fine except he wasn't breathing. I called 911 and they came almost immediately but couldn't get a pulse on him. It was until the x-rayed him at the hospital did they discover that his heart was missing."
"I know this is difficult for you, but do you know what his autopsy revealed?" Scully asked quietly.
"Autopsy? They didn't do one on him, it was his wish to be cremated and that was done within a day or two of his death."
"I moved away shortly after I buried him but came to you only after two more men had died. It just seemed to be too much of a coincidence"
"I know this may seem like a rather stupid question" Scully said hiding her disappointment about the lack of autopsy results "but why did these parties continue even after people seemed to be getting murdered?"
Lydia smiled sadly. "It was like we were addicted to them. We craved the excitement, the attention, the love. What we got seemed to justify the risk."
"I see" Scully said not seeing at all.
Skinner, who managed to finally get his lower body back into order, asked Lydia to describe in detail how Mulder and Scully should look and act to get themselves included in these parties.
Lydia looked both partners over carefully and smiled. "They will have no trouble. We haven't had a red head around in quite some time and the women are always looking for new blood."
Lydia then talked about what type of behavior would be expected from them and how they should dress. Both agents didn't say a word during this part of the conversation but seemed to both be very interested in their legal pads.
Skinner thanked Lydia for her time and sent his agents from his office with orders to be in Minnesota within the next couple of days. A house in the neighborhood had been rented for them and they were to proceed there as soon as they had their cover stories in place.
Scully still seemed to be unusually quiet as they left Skinner's office but agreed to meet up at Mulder's apartment that evening to work on their cover story.
Scully headed off to review the victims' medical records and try to dig up any autopsy reports there might be and Mulder planned to return to the basement to finish up some paperwork.
Before Scully could leave, Mulder reached out and stopped her. "Scully?" he said with a look of concern on his face.
The frown on Scully's face softened a bit. "I am fine Mulder. I will see you at seven."
Scully tried to concentrate on the reports in front of her, but was having quite a bit of difficulty. She had been on a wide array of cases with her partner, but this one was probably going to be the most challenging.
How was she supposed to look like she was in love with Mulder, try to pick up other men without succeeding, she hoped, investigate a murder undercover while have to watch Mulder seduce every woman in the room.
She knew she had deep feelings for Mulder, so that part would be easy. The only difficult part there would be to stuff those feelings away again after the case was over. But she would worry about that later.
The rest of her assignment she dreaded - some parts more than others. She was relatively confident that she could attract the members of the opposite sex - even if her feminine charm didn't work on Mulder - but she thought she might just tear the head off of any woman who went near Mulder.
Mulder too spent some time thinking about the assignment. Part of it seemed like the answer to every male's fantasy. How many guys would turn down the opportunity to be with a variety of women with no strings attached?
"Frohike is going to kill me when he hears about this case" Mulder smiled to himself and he put away the last of the files sitting on his desk.
Mulder also knew that this case would be harder on him than he liked to admit. He would have to act interested in a lot of different women, when the only woman he wanted tried to pick up men in front of his very eyes.
Mulder was also worried about Scully's current state of mind. He was used to her being mad at him, they had their little squabbles all the time, but this seemed different and he wasn't sure why. He would have to try to get her to open up tonight.
Looking at his watch, he noticed it was nearly 5:30. He would have barely enough time to pick up Scully's favorite takeout and a bottle of wine before she arrived at his apartment.
Scully arrived at Mulder's promptly at seven and Mulder quickly realized that her mood had not improved much. She no longer appeared to be angry with him but seemed to be constantly lost in her own thoughts.
They ate the Indian food Mulder had bought in relative silence. Mulder didn't even bring up the case until they were done eating and Scully was on her second glass of wine.
"Scully, I stopped by Skinner's office on the way out today and Kim gave me our documents for our cover story. She told me that you had picked out our names - just as we agreed after Arcadia."
Scully smiled slightly "I hope you don't mind being called Richard."
"Not at all. Why did you pick that name?"
Scully looked a bit sheepish. "Well, you always reminded me a bit of Richard Gere."
"And the name Jodi for yourself - is that because I teased you about being like Jodi Foster after we rented Silence of the Lambs that time?"
Scully nodded smiling a bit more. "So what do what do Mr. and Mrs. Buckland do for a living?"
Mulder opened the folder and took a peak. "Jodi Buckland is a research scientist working on synthetic polymers." He looked up at Scully "Very impressive"
He looked back at the folder "Richard is a novelist specializing in Sci-Fi stories involving outer space."
Scully laughed at this. "Who came up with these?"
"I think Skinner did. I never knew he had sense of humor."
Mulder paused a minute and then continued. "The Bucklands have been married four no make that five years now. They are both so devoted to their work that their personal relationship has suffered."
Scully nodded adding "They have no lives outside of their work and are looking for a little fun."
Mulder then began to fumble around in his pocket. He took out a box and opened it. Inside sat two wedding rings and a large engagement ring.
Scully paled a bit at the sight of the rings but nodded when Mulder said "May I?"
He slipped the rings on Scully's fingers not letting go of her hand immediately. "I don't know Scully, if I were Richard and had a wife like Jodi, I don't think I would ever look elsewhere for fun."
Scully blushed a little at this and Mulder quickly realized that things were getting way too serious. "At least Richard has good taste in jewelry. That is quite a rock you have on your finger."
Scully smiled and said quietly. "We should probably set up some ground rules now."
"Rules?"
"Yes, rules. What is acceptable behavior on both of our parts."
Mulder just looked at her. She felt a bit nervous but continued "You know we are supposed to be married. I want it to be as authentic as possible but I don't want it to make things strange between us. Does that make any sense to you?"
Mulder smiled kindly at her. "Don't worry Scully, we will go by whatever rules you want."
Scully nodded and stood up. "I really should get going. We have an early flight tomorrow morning."
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay here and consummate our marriage?" Mulder said looking suggestively at his bedroom door.
Scully gave him a half-hearted glare. "It's tempting Mulder, but unless I get home and pack, Jodi will have nothing to wear."
Mulder smiled and opened the door for Scully to leave. As she was walking down the hall towards the elevator he yelled behind her "Tell Jodi to pack her black sleeveless shirt. The one that makes all the men at work drool."
Scully pushed the elevator button and smiled back at Mulder. "Good night Mulder."
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End of Chapter two - comments anyone
Mulder sat on the small bench outside Skinner's office waiting for Scully to arrive. He had thought about calling her several times since she had stormed out of their office, but had decided against it. He knew his partner and when she was this annoyed, the best thing was to let her be.
Scully arrived just in time to be led into Skinner's office. She barely glanced at Mulder as she strode past him and took a seat at the conference table.
Skinner was already situated there and to his right sat a drop dead gorgeous blonde.
She was the last thing Scully needed to see. But Scully secured her professional posture on and sat down - several seats away from Mulder.
Skinner noticed the subtle tension between the two partners and regretted for a moment he decision to assign them to this case. He was particularly fond of the two of them and hoped that he hadn't jeopardized their partnership.
"Good morning Agents, I would like you to meet Lydia Bennett. She is the one who brought the murders to our attention. She used to live in the Berkley neighborhood."
Both agents nodded their acknowledgements to Lydia and began questioning her.
Scully asked direct questions concerning where she lived in Berkley, how long she had lived there and what had made her come to the FBI.
"Well Agent Scully, I lived in Berkley pretty much since getting out of grad school. Steve and I moved there as soon as we got married."
Scully nodded for her to continue. "We both had great jobs and made a good amount of money. We looked all around Minneapolis for the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood and thought we found it in Berkley."
"It was perfect until we started hanging out with some of the other professional couples in the neighborhood."
"Go on" Mulder said when it looked like Lydia was going to hesitate.
"In the beginning we were thrilled to be making so many new friends. There seemed to be a party at someone's house practically everyday. Nothing too fancy - a cocktail party here, a wine and cheese party there. We all worked really hard at our jobs and looked forward to getting together to unwind."
"After a couple of weeks, we noticed that the themes became a little bit more outrageous. People started arriving wearing more provocative clothing and then one night, everything changed."
Lydia looked down at the ground and took a deep breath. "It was like something was in the water - everyone just got really, really...hmmm.horny. They started making out with whoever was around at the time. Husbands and wives stuck together or picked out new partners. Women started going down on other woman with the men cheering them on."
Skinner and Mulder exchanged a subtle glance at this and shifted a bit uncomfortably in their seats. Both were very happy to be wearing their suits jackets that would hide any embarrassing signs that they were enjoying Lydia's story a bit too much.
There was no sign of Scully being affected by Lydia's story and she encouraged her to continue. "Did you participate in all of this" she asked softly with no sound of judgment in her voice.
Lydia blushed a bit and nodded. "I have no idea why I did, but I just jumped into the fray along with everyone else. I don't even remember who I ended up with that time."
"That time - how often did this occur?" Scully said her eyes widening a bit.
"Oh, I don't know. Two or three times a week. Maybe more maybe less."
Mulder finally blocked enough mental images from his mind to ask a question "So why did you stop going to these parties?"
"About three months ago, Roger - the head of the neighborhood association - decided to throw a massive party at his house. He always threw the best parties. But anyway, I was having wicked PMS and terrible cramps so I sent Steve off without me. I guess I missed a heck of a party because Steve told me the next day that the police had been called to the house by one of the elderly neighbors down the street."
"I assume this neighbor had not been invited?" Mulder said smiling.
"You assume right Agent Mulder." Lydia said smiling back. "Only the young and the beautiful are invited. You two will fit in nicely."
Scully ignored the compliment "what happened then Ms. Bennett?"
"Oh yes, well the police came and broke up the party and everyone went home. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Tim (who lived down the street from us) was found dead."
"Any idea what Tim was doing at the party?"
Lydia blushed a bit. "From what I heard, he was trying to take on four women at one time."
Skinner and Mulder shifted again trying to block out yet another exciting mental image.
"Did that stop you from going to any more parties?"
"For a while everyone kept a low profile but a couple of weeks later things started hopping again. This time it was Steve who seemed to been the most active. One of the guys had bet him that he couldn't get laid more than 5 times throughout the evening. I think he made it to 6 but was dead before morning."
"No wonder" Mulder thought to himself figuring that no man could withstand that much activity. He stifled the thought and asked "What killed your husband Ms. Bennett?"
"No one seems to know. I found him in a crumpled heap in the hall near the front door. He looked perfectly fine except he wasn't breathing. I called 911 and they came almost immediately but couldn't get a pulse on him. It was until the x-rayed him at the hospital did they discover that his heart was missing."
"I know this is difficult for you, but do you know what his autopsy revealed?" Scully asked quietly.
"Autopsy? They didn't do one on him, it was his wish to be cremated and that was done within a day or two of his death."
"I moved away shortly after I buried him but came to you only after two more men had died. It just seemed to be too much of a coincidence"
"I know this may seem like a rather stupid question" Scully said hiding her disappointment about the lack of autopsy results "but why did these parties continue even after people seemed to be getting murdered?"
Lydia smiled sadly. "It was like we were addicted to them. We craved the excitement, the attention, the love. What we got seemed to justify the risk."
"I see" Scully said not seeing at all.
Skinner, who managed to finally get his lower body back into order, asked Lydia to describe in detail how Mulder and Scully should look and act to get themselves included in these parties.
Lydia looked both partners over carefully and smiled. "They will have no trouble. We haven't had a red head around in quite some time and the women are always looking for new blood."
Lydia then talked about what type of behavior would be expected from them and how they should dress. Both agents didn't say a word during this part of the conversation but seemed to both be very interested in their legal pads.
Skinner thanked Lydia for her time and sent his agents from his office with orders to be in Minnesota within the next couple of days. A house in the neighborhood had been rented for them and they were to proceed there as soon as they had their cover stories in place.
Scully still seemed to be unusually quiet as they left Skinner's office but agreed to meet up at Mulder's apartment that evening to work on their cover story.
Scully headed off to review the victims' medical records and try to dig up any autopsy reports there might be and Mulder planned to return to the basement to finish up some paperwork.
Before Scully could leave, Mulder reached out and stopped her. "Scully?" he said with a look of concern on his face.
The frown on Scully's face softened a bit. "I am fine Mulder. I will see you at seven."
Scully tried to concentrate on the reports in front of her, but was having quite a bit of difficulty. She had been on a wide array of cases with her partner, but this one was probably going to be the most challenging.
How was she supposed to look like she was in love with Mulder, try to pick up other men without succeeding, she hoped, investigate a murder undercover while have to watch Mulder seduce every woman in the room.
She knew she had deep feelings for Mulder, so that part would be easy. The only difficult part there would be to stuff those feelings away again after the case was over. But she would worry about that later.
The rest of her assignment she dreaded - some parts more than others. She was relatively confident that she could attract the members of the opposite sex - even if her feminine charm didn't work on Mulder - but she thought she might just tear the head off of any woman who went near Mulder.
Mulder too spent some time thinking about the assignment. Part of it seemed like the answer to every male's fantasy. How many guys would turn down the opportunity to be with a variety of women with no strings attached?
"Frohike is going to kill me when he hears about this case" Mulder smiled to himself and he put away the last of the files sitting on his desk.
Mulder also knew that this case would be harder on him than he liked to admit. He would have to act interested in a lot of different women, when the only woman he wanted tried to pick up men in front of his very eyes.
Mulder was also worried about Scully's current state of mind. He was used to her being mad at him, they had their little squabbles all the time, but this seemed different and he wasn't sure why. He would have to try to get her to open up tonight.
Looking at his watch, he noticed it was nearly 5:30. He would have barely enough time to pick up Scully's favorite takeout and a bottle of wine before she arrived at his apartment.
Scully arrived at Mulder's promptly at seven and Mulder quickly realized that her mood had not improved much. She no longer appeared to be angry with him but seemed to be constantly lost in her own thoughts.
They ate the Indian food Mulder had bought in relative silence. Mulder didn't even bring up the case until they were done eating and Scully was on her second glass of wine.
"Scully, I stopped by Skinner's office on the way out today and Kim gave me our documents for our cover story. She told me that you had picked out our names - just as we agreed after Arcadia."
Scully smiled slightly "I hope you don't mind being called Richard."
"Not at all. Why did you pick that name?"
Scully looked a bit sheepish. "Well, you always reminded me a bit of Richard Gere."
"And the name Jodi for yourself - is that because I teased you about being like Jodi Foster after we rented Silence of the Lambs that time?"
Scully nodded smiling a bit more. "So what do what do Mr. and Mrs. Buckland do for a living?"
Mulder opened the folder and took a peak. "Jodi Buckland is a research scientist working on synthetic polymers." He looked up at Scully "Very impressive"
He looked back at the folder "Richard is a novelist specializing in Sci-Fi stories involving outer space."
Scully laughed at this. "Who came up with these?"
"I think Skinner did. I never knew he had sense of humor."
Mulder paused a minute and then continued. "The Bucklands have been married four no make that five years now. They are both so devoted to their work that their personal relationship has suffered."
Scully nodded adding "They have no lives outside of their work and are looking for a little fun."
Mulder then began to fumble around in his pocket. He took out a box and opened it. Inside sat two wedding rings and a large engagement ring.
Scully paled a bit at the sight of the rings but nodded when Mulder said "May I?"
He slipped the rings on Scully's fingers not letting go of her hand immediately. "I don't know Scully, if I were Richard and had a wife like Jodi, I don't think I would ever look elsewhere for fun."
Scully blushed a little at this and Mulder quickly realized that things were getting way too serious. "At least Richard has good taste in jewelry. That is quite a rock you have on your finger."
Scully smiled and said quietly. "We should probably set up some ground rules now."
"Rules?"
"Yes, rules. What is acceptable behavior on both of our parts."
Mulder just looked at her. She felt a bit nervous but continued "You know we are supposed to be married. I want it to be as authentic as possible but I don't want it to make things strange between us. Does that make any sense to you?"
Mulder smiled kindly at her. "Don't worry Scully, we will go by whatever rules you want."
Scully nodded and stood up. "I really should get going. We have an early flight tomorrow morning."
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay here and consummate our marriage?" Mulder said looking suggestively at his bedroom door.
Scully gave him a half-hearted glare. "It's tempting Mulder, but unless I get home and pack, Jodi will have nothing to wear."
Mulder smiled and opened the door for Scully to leave. As she was walking down the hall towards the elevator he yelled behind her "Tell Jodi to pack her black sleeveless shirt. The one that makes all the men at work drool."
Scully pushed the elevator button and smiled back at Mulder. "Good night Mulder."
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End of Chapter two - comments anyone