Why is it night and day?

Something is just not right today

Why am I so uptight today?

Paranoid is all I got left

I don't know what stressed me first

Or how the pressure was fed

But I know just what it feels like

To have a voice in the back of my head

Like a face that I hold inside

Face that awakes when I close my eyes

Face that watches every time I lie

Face that laughs every time I fall

It watches everything

Linkin Park

Dana Scully arrived into the office early the next day, she had wanted to be there before Mulder, have a cup of coffee waiting for him and straighten up the place a bit before he could arrive and complain about her doing so. She knew he would have had a rough night, cases like the one he had to profile last night always made him a little nutty.

"Morning Scully," Mulder smiled at her ten minutes after she had cleared off the desk. "I see the neatness faeries were here again, apparently that poison I set out last time didn't work…"

"Mulder, I know you thrive off having your entire life in utter chaos, but some of us tend to like things in a neat and orderly manner."

"This" he motioned to the neater version of the once chaotic basement office. "Wouldn't have anything to do with our little house guest yesterday would it?"

I hate it when you analyze everything Mulder, she fumed. "No," she offered instead. "But do you really want Skinner to walk in on all of this?"

He let it go, stepping around to the business side of his desk and landing in his chair. He tossed the case file onto the desk and turned on his computer. "I have work to do today Scully," he said turned away from her.

She tried to ignore his brusque demeanor, instead she went to her side of the desk and began to catch up on the piles of paperwork for their own cases that he did not seem to care about.

They worked in almost absolute silence, a far cry from their usual chatty work habits. Mulder often bounced ideas off Scully, and usually she in turn bounced rubber bands off of him. Today was like those quiet reading times in grade school. Offered usually when the teacher had a lot of papers to grade, or an oversized headache.

The knock at the office door shortly before they took lunch was almost welcome. "Agent Starrling," Mulder smiled. Scully sat up a little straighter as she walked into the office. "I wasn't expecting you until after lunch, " he looked at the report on his computer. "I was just about to email you a copy of my report…"

"I thought we could do a lunch meeting to discuss the case Agent Mulder," her face was characteristically unreadable, however Scully almost detected a different tone in her voice, something almost pleasant.

What the fuck?

"Yeah, "Mulder shot back, too fast. "That sounds like a plan Agent Starrling. "He looked over to Scully. "You wanna join us Scully?" his question was an earnest one, he seemed a little afraid to be alone at a lunch with Starrling, but she left him out to dry.

"Too much paperwork here can't stop…" she grinned "Go on without me, hey Mulder?" she called as they were almost out of the door.

"Big salad right?" he asked smiling at her predictability.

"Yeah and don't forget the…"

"Extra grilled tofu?" he nodded.

"You know me so well." She waved them out the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The gossip mill was set off at the vision of Spooky and Starrling walking out to lunch together. They all snickered behind the two agents about how Starrling had finally managed to find someone scary enough to take Lector's place.

They settled on the diner that Mulder usually frequented with the red head. Settling in the booth in the back, they got down to business.

Starrling sat and read through his report as Mulder attacked the extra large rib special with adolescent glee. Scully always nagged him about eating that much for lunch, but Starrling seemed unconcerned with what he had chosen for lunch.

"Agent Mulder am I to understand. "She began as she picked at her turkey sandwich, "That you believe this man is or was a priest?" the look on her face told him he may as well have gone with his first thought…aliens.

"Agent Starrling, look at all the things that point to it, the confirmation gowns, the prayer. This guy is clergy, and since he is obviously Catholic, I would have to say he is or was a priest." She had moved so quick that he didn't realize what she had done. One hand shot out from beside her and thumbed away a piece of sauce that had hung off the corner of his mouth. She did it so smoothly, without even taking her eyes off of the file in front of her.

"I think, he was a priest, and I guarantee you he got pitched out of the order. " he tried not to show her how her swiftness had unsettled him. Probably one of those things she picked up from all that time with Lector, he mused.

"What do you know of Catholicism Mulder?" she asked out of the blue.

"My partner is Catholic," he offered, but did not yield the smile he was trying to elicit

"Catholics are generally nonviolent, even with religious zealots, the members of this faith are not known for violent tendencies."

"What, you never heard of the Inquisition?" he eyed her suspiciously.

"Agent Mulder," she offered completely dead pan. "No one expects the Spanish inquisition."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scully munched at her salad that Mulder had placed in front of her with great flourish. He was looking for a big thank you, and when she offered a mumbled "Thanks," He offered a crestfallen pout.

"How was your lunch date?" she asked with a smirk

"Scully, the Earth moved, the angels wept…." He grinned back.

"Mulder!" The eyebrow came up without even her knowing it.

"Seriously Scully," He started. "Agent Starling is a top notch agent, and I am surprised that so many people in this building have such a skewed view of her." He was a little star struck and Scully was trying not to be a little jealous.

"Well Mulder, I am sure you know all about that, I know I sure do." He smiled at her then, she understood him, better than he would like to admit.

"Yeah, well anyway Agent Starrling is going to spend the day down here tomorrow." He was surprised at her gaping stare at him.

"Excuse me Mulder?" She was really trying not to be jealous now.

"Well, she noticed that things were a little messy down here, offered to help organize the place a bit." He wasn't sure how to phrase to Scully that he had found a new buddy, someone who while didn't believe in the X-Files, had a pretty good working knowledge of Monty Python, and loved baseball.

"Mulder, did we not just have this conversation this morning?" she eyed him morosely. "You are going to let a stranger poke around in your precious files?" She knew there was nothing going on between them, that they connected on a wholly different level, one that only evil geniuses could be privy to. Scully suspected that something in his nature vaguely reminded Starrling of Lector.

"Well," he mused out loud. "I think she needs a different change of pace for a while, that and there are a lot of books down here on ritualistic murders and this case." He said tapping on the file in front of him. "Has a lot of that in it."

"Hmmm," she began teasingly," an all day play date with Agent Starrling. Next you'll be taking her to meet the guys. "She jeered getting her salad mess cleared away.

"I don't" Mulder gagged audibly. "I don't think Frohike would survive it.' He muttered.

"Me either."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Starrling paced the hallway outside of Apartment 42. She didn't know where Mulder had disappeared to after work, but she had to find him, and his cell phone was off. There was a new body, and time was ticking away on the freshness of the scene.

His long heavy footsteps alerted her to his arrival. "Agent Mulder," she greeted the surprised man. "We need to leave for Pittsburg immediately."

The plane had landed only ten minutes ago, and already they were en route to the scene. Starrling moved with the ease and speed of a hungry cat. Mulder had to walk fast to keep in pace with her. When the hunt was on, her blood ran ice cold.

"Agents Mulder and Scully? We didn't report any ghosts or lights in the sky." The fat, balding field agent from the Philadelphia office grinned at his own witticism. He wasn't the only one laughing; snickers ran through the crowd of law enforcement that had gathered in the cobblestone alley. The area was a quaint little side of town, what was once homes for wealthy Steel Mill Barons and politicians.

"Actually Sir," Agent Starrling spoke up before Mulder could get his usual crass reply in. "I am Agent Starrling, I am sure you are familiar with the particulars of this case? If not why don't you go find me whatever person is in charge here while you run and get us a couple of cups of coffee." He loved that about her, she had a way of disarming people, especially men, she feared nothing, and being paired with Spooky changed nothing for her except how fast she went for the jugular. "Cream, no sugar." She added flatly.

"Agent Starrling?" he scratched his head like the ape he had portrayed himself to be. "Aren't you the one that caught Buffalo Bill," he stopped and his eyes got wide. "You're the one with the thing with Lector. "The man went pale as Starrling made a slithery noise with her mouth. Like she was hungry.

Once the agent ran off, Mulder couldn't hold it any longer. "Man" he shook his head, laughing openly, "And I thought I had problems…" this was too much.

"Stick with me kid, "She smiled, actually smiled. "I'll teach you how to fish, cut, bait and gut them before they know what hit 'em."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The scene was more grotesque than the photos; the young strawberry blonde was propped in the usual manner, locked in mortal prayer. Agent Mulder gingerly and reverently examined her, seeing that the eyes had been removed. "Do we have a name yet?" he asked leaning over the girl examining odd marks on her bound legs.

Starrling grabbed at the stack of notes she had been given minutes ago. "Her name is Jordana Ashley, age 19, sophomore at Steel Land Junior College. She is a Math major and currently holds a 4.0 G.P.A."

"Man, Math," Mulder shook his head in disbelief. "I never could get that stuff." He admitted. "Anything about her home life?" He asked trying to keep focused.

"Mom and Dad are still together, younger brother and sister. Family has a median income, First Generation College." Clarice understood this. "She was going to make them proud." She added.

Mulder looked over to Starrling to make sure she was ok. "So she fits in with the rest of them. How would he know the victims Starrling? He is going after them systematically. How would he know which ones to go after?" He posed the question to her the same way he would have bounced it off of Scully.

"They are all A students, what about Phi beta Kappa or the honor society?" She asked as a student trying to get a pat on the head from the teacher.

"Yeah, we can start there. Also, I think it might be a good idea to check out some of the community organizations that offer scholarships. And, Catholic Charities." He stopped and thought for a second. "What school did you graduate from Starrling?" he asked deep in thought.

"UVA," she answered. "Public school." She added remembering what college he graduated from.

"University Of Virginia? Good school, I hear they have a great Criminal Justice Department. Ok," he seemed like he wanted to say something else, but stopped. Fox Mulder had realized that he came from a background that was different than most. "Did the other girls attend Junior College?" he asked examining the strips used to bind the hands "These are interesting…" he began.

"No Mulder," she began answering his first query," But they did all attend public schools." She wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"Have them cross reference someone that sits on one of the honor societies, and see if there are any former priests that sit on any of those boards. " He rose to look at the woman "Don't give me that look Agent Starrling, I am sure you know what a hunch is…" he teased, though he was well aware he was taking his life into his own hands by being playful with Clarice Starrling.

Her genuine smile, though brief, let him know he would live to joke another day. "Mulder," she spoke shaking her head, "I don't see how Agent Scully has put up with you for five years."

"My charm Agent Starrling," he reached into his pocket for a bag of sunflower seeds. "That and she has this Nightingale complex." He grinned.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Mulder," Scully whined long distance, "You know most women get flowers or candy on Valentine's Day…" It wasn't like her, but it was what Mulder would have expected her to do, complain, especially given how he knew she hated this day.

"Aww c'mon Scully, if I sent you that stuff you would either kill me or drop me off at the nearest asylum." He grinned; it was always fun to sweet talk her into things. He knew she would do it; she just liked to feel appreciated.

"Fine, ok, whatever." She huffed. "I'll autopsy the body, but you owe me big time Bucko..." she warned.

He made one more phone call after he thanked Scully profusely for her help.

"Yeah, I need you guys to do me a big favor, yeah I am gonna send it over. Just make sure Dr. Scully gets it ok? No don't tell her who it's from, no it's not like that. OH GROW UP!" he mashed the end button and huffed off in the direction of the car.

After checking into adjoining rooms at the motel 6, Mulder and Starrling found their dinner in a small roadside diner that looked like it had less roaches than the motel rooms were sure to have.

Starrling pushed her mashed potatoes around on her plate, as Mulder dove into his Mexican Platter with almost savage gusto. "Did it get to you tonight Starrling?" he asked between bites of his refried beans.

"No," she didn't look up from the meatloaf she was dissecting. She debated whether or not to tell him what each body she looked at reminded her of, what this case along with all the others dragged out of her. "Agent Mulder, I think you and I have become friends." She began, for some reason, maybe their shared pariah status at the Bureau, she felt like she could trust him.

"Lector," he breathed.

"I heard he was the one case you refused to profile."

"Yeah, well I had my reasons Starrling. I think Crawford was a little inept in sending you out there in the first place. I don't doubt your skills Agent Starrling, you are a stellar agent. But Lector, man, that guy is just wrong."

She graced him with an honest lingering smile this time, one that he was sure was only brought out for true friends. "Mulder, he got into my head…" she didn't know how else to explain it. "In more ways than I care to admit he is still rolling around in there."

He placed a hand over hers, and nodded in understanding. "One of the reasons I didn't care to get into his Starrling. Afraid of what would crawl back out with me." He shook his head. "I gotta tell you, you got more guts than me." He said earnestly. "You got more guts than all the agents in that whole damn Building put together."

"Thank you Mulder." She went back to picking at her dinner

"You ever talk to anyone about all of what went on?" he asked, suddenly feeling protective of her.

"Yeah, you know they tried to get me to talk to someone at the Bureau." He watched here as her armor went back on and she straightened up."But you know how those idiots are over there. Someone would have got hold of the whole session and pinned it up in the Bull Pen."

Trust issues.

Yeah he knew well how that went.

"Starrling, if you ever need to talk…" She nodded quickly and he let the conversation drop, better to not poke the bear.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Scully arrived at Quantico at five in the morning. She knew the body had not arrived yet, but she needed time to scrub up and get everything ready for the examination.

She walked through the eerily quiet halls of the building, her heels clicking as she went. The front desk let her know that the body would be delivered to Exam Room six, housed in the far room of the wing; it was the best of all the exam rooms, adjacent to the labs. She would never admit the rush she got when she was setting to a body. Never to Mulder especially, he already had a pet name for her that he didn't think she knew.

He affectionately would refer to her as the Queen of the Underworld.

Not exactly a hurtful moniker, but still one that put her on a gruesome level. He had snickered this one to Byers over a phone conversation she wasn't supposed to hear. She merely smirked at his clever naming and feigned stupidity. Sometimes with Mulder, that's all you could do, otherwise he would drive you absolutely insane.

She laid out her tools, after meticulously scrubbing the work area down and setting up the lab for the day's work. She never liked having assistants around; they only got in the way and asked more questions than she felt like answering. Man, she mused, I have been around Mulder too long.

"Dr. Scully?" the young agent asked peeking his head into her realm.

"Yes?" she laughed as the young man jumped; she usually worked in the dark, or at least as dark as she could. She had not turned on the work lamp yet and the room was still cast in shadows.

The agent wheeled the body in and assisted her in getting it onto the exam table. "Oh, before I forget" he remarked fishing under the transport Gurnee. "I was told to make sure you got this." He handed her a gaudily huge heart shaped box. The weight of it had to be four pounds; she accepted the heart with a smile.

"I can't tell you who sent it Dr. Scully." The young man grinned heading for the door.

"Its ok Agent Ross, I already have an idea of who to kill for this one." She smirked trying to recall which local asylums took emergency drop offs.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Subject is Caucasian female, of approximately 19 years of age…" Dana Scully began making her preliminary view of the body, noting the marks around the body, noting the girl's height and weight. "Subject has small ligature marks around the neck, but the hyoid bone appears to be in tact which tells the subject did not die of strangulation, though some sort of strangulate measures were done pre mortem." Dana further examined the naked female body in front of her.

"Victim has no defensive wounds on her fingers; though I am scraping for tissue under the nails it would appear that there was little to no contact with the perpetrator." She held the wrists in her gloved hand. "Victim has severe ligature marks of the carpal regions, due to the pooling of the blood it is determined that these were done post mortem.' There were a lot of things about this case that don't make sense. For that reason it had Mulder written all over it.

For one, the marks on the legs, they were almost delicate carvings, intricate etchings that had to have a meaning. She made a mental note to request photos or rubbings of the other victims' markings. Also the staging was done post mortem, not that unusual, but the way the girls were killed. That was something that made her shiver visibly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do we have anything on our searches?" Mulder asked Agent Starrling as they drove off for the home of the Vic. They needed to get a handle on who she was, and then work backwards from there.

"No" she returned, frustrated at the findings. She sat in the passenger seat staring at the print outs. "But this is just preliminary; they need more time to check for all fifty states." She added hopeful.

He tried to get a handle on the case, trying to get a bead on who this maniac may be. "Agent Starrling," he began. "What did you make of those weird markings on the legs, the carvings?"

"There was something familial about them Mulder," she admitted. "Something I did not quite recognize." She looked at the brilliant man seated next to her. "You think these are important?" she asked again hopeful.

"I think," He smiled "That we need to get copies of all the drawings. "He looked at her full "I think its time you met some friends of mine…"

The home of Jordana Ashley was so typically middle class, that Mulder felt almost awkward strolling through it in his suit. The house was a four bedroom Tudor, two car garage. In short it was Americana at its truest form.

The parents had first appeared at the front door, red faced and puffy eyed. They hesitantly allowed the two federal agents' access into their home, further persistence on the part of Agent Mulder gained them access into the girl's room.

It was usually easier, Scully was the one who did the snooping while Mulder interviewed, and they had the routine down to a fine science. They would both sit in on the interview, then Scully would excuse herself for the bathroom, slipping into unguarded areas of the house. It wasn't Bureau policy, but then few things about the two agents were. Often Mulder would join her in her search once proper permission was granted.

This was different, Mulder wasn't sure what to expect with Agent Starrling, and they were so busy discussing the particulars of the case that they had not had the discussion yet. About who would tag team. So when Agent Starrling rose five minutes into the interview, asking for use of the facilities and winking at Mulder, he was almost rendered speechless.

"So did your daughter receive any special scholarships or awards?" Mulder went on regaining himself.

"Yes Sir," Mr. Ashley smiled proudly. "They called her one of the best and brightest." He walked over to a small bookshelf, erected especially for the display of his daughters trophies. Mulder rose and took note of each special accolade.

"You guys are Catholic, correct?" he asked as tactfully as he could manage.

"Yes," Regina Ashley answered, almost hollowly:"Though not exactly devout, we haven't attended mass in what Nick?" she turned to her husband. "Ten years" he agreed.

"May I look into her room now?" he asked having been given the signal from the other agent when she was sure the Ashleys would not see. After assuring them to leave the room as he had found it, he followed their directions into the dead girl's realm.

"Agent Mulder," Starrling began in a hurried hushed tone. "I found something I think you need to see." Mulder grinned as he followed her, you are good with bedrooms Clarice, and you get your best interpretations of a case there.

What she showed him was more than what he had expected to find in the bedroom of a straight A, Catholic student. "I think," he choked fingering the book that had been found on the girl's desk. "This may explain a lot." He thumbed through the book, almost feeling ill as he turned the pages.

Hey wow, would you all beleve this is becoming my favourite fanfic that i have written? I think this would have3 made a stellar epi, but that is just me

Don;t worry, SStarrrling would never go for Mulder, she is too into other things.

But, i always thought they would really pal around together, ya know? Hey its my fanfic and i can do what i want LOL