A/N
This is probably the longest chapter of a story I have ever written. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I had writing it.
Beginner's Luck
Part II
Lady Sanna
Mulder, Scully, and Agent Harrison all boarded their flight to California the next day. Nothing too much was said, except that Harrison kept on babbling about how excited she was on her first case out in the field with Agent Mulder... And of course, with Agent Scully too. She couldn't stop gazing at him when he talked to her and she just had to always catch a little glimpse of him whenever he walked by.
To her dismay, on the airplane, Mulder and Scully had seats together, while hers was a row in front of them. Even more bad luck came when a very large man with a Hawaiian shirt on and shorts sat next to her. He was the epitome of 'tourist'. He had a large camera hanging from his neck, a fanny pack at the waist, and hat that had a fishing logo on it. In his hand was a burrito and he was taking huge bites out of it like a hungry animal that hadn't eaten for days. It scared the living daylights out of her.
When he had settled down, he looked over at her and gave her a smile. She winced when she saw that bits and pieces of the burrito was stuck in his teeth.
"Hi, the name's Ted." He stuck out his hand.
Timidly she shook it. "Hi, um, my name's Leyla." She gave him a weak smile.
He nodded and finished up the rest of his food and looked for his napkin, but unfortunately, he wasn't able to locate it. So, he just shrugged and wiped his hands on his shirt.
"So, where are you headed?" he asked, trying to make conversation.
"Oh, I'm just heading to L.A. to visit some friends," she replied.
"Yeah, I'm headed to L.A. too, but I'm going to take a bus to my hometown to visit my family. My sister is getting married soon." He dug in his pocket for something. "Do you want to see what she looks like? She's a real beauty."
"Uh, sure."
When he took out his wallet and flipped through some cards, he found what he was looking for. Smiling at the picture, he handed it to Harrison, pointing to the woman on the photo.
"There she is!"
He was right, she thought. On the picture was a tall and slender woman with long, curly brown hair. She was standing next to Ted and in front of her was, she assumed, their family pet. They were like complete opposites, but she could kind of see the features that they both shared.
"You know, it's kind of weird, but this picture was taken about three years ago. I haven't seen her since." His eyes turned sorrowful and his lip quivered a little. "I had lost contact with my family those three years and I'm not exactly sure why or how, but somehow, we found each other again."
"It must have been hard," she whispered.
He nodded.
Harrison looked at the photo again and all of a sudden, she felt a deep sadness for what this man had been through. He had obviously missed his family a lot and he probably spent many nights feeling lost. She handed back the photo with the vision of his sister's face etched in her thoughts.
Once the plane landed a few hours later, the agents grabbed their luggage, rented two cars, and headed to their hotel that was located right in front of the Santa Barbara beach. The hotel was actually partially run by the FBI, since so many had stayed there for long periods of time. The owner signed an agreement with the Bureau and let the agents stay at a much lower price.
When the trio entered the lobby, Mulder immediately went up to the check-in counter. Scully excused herself to the bathroom and Harrison followed Mulder, observing and learning.
"Hi, I need to check-in please," Mulder said.
"Sure. Do you have a reservation?" The man asked.
"Yeah, it's under Fox Mulder."
The man behind the counter typed it in and clicked on the name. "It says here that you reserved one room with one queen bed for two people. Is that correct?"
Harrison quirked up her eyebrow at the statement, wondering if he had done that on purpose. Mulder mentally slapped himself. He had totally forgotten to change the reservations.
"Oh, well, that must be a mistake," he added.
"No, Sir. It says it right here," the man pointed to the screen.
Then, Scully appeared and joined Mulder at his side. "Anything wrong, Mulder?"
"No, it's just that I, uh.." He suddenly felt hot as he could feel all eyes on him, waiting for a good answer. "I'll just book another room then. Sorry about that."
He inwardly groaned. 'Nice one, Mulder.'
LOCAL CORONER'S OFFICE
2:18 PM
The three decided to split up. Mulder went to the crime scene accompanied by a deputy whereas Scully and Harrison went to the coroner's to autopsy the bodies. Harrison was hesitant at first, but she had the determination to get used to seeing blood and whatnot.
As Scully put on her lab coat and looked for the scalpel, Harrison cringed at the sight of the four women's bodies lying on metal tables with white sheets drawn over the faces. Slowly, she walked over to the one that Scully was going to autopsy first and prayed to God that she wouldn't throw up.
"Are you ready for this?" Scully asked, before pulling the sheet down.
Harrison nodded with a frightened look. Her hands curled up into fists as she rocked back and forth a little, trying to calm her nerves. It wasn't her first time watching an autopsy, but every time she watched, she ran out of the room and right into the bathroom.
In a single movement, Scully drew back the sheet to the waist, revealing a deeply scarred body with bumps and bruises everywhere. It was even hard to recognize the face. When Leyla saw this, her eyes became wide and she stood there like a statue, unmoving.
"Um, Agent Scully?"
"Yes?" she replied, starting always with the Y-incision on the body.
Harrison started to sway a bit. "W-why is the room getting darker?"
Just as Scully looked back up, Harrison fainted and fell on the floor. Stripping off her latex gloves, she rushed over to her side and tried to wake her up.
"Agent Harrison?" She tried shaking her. "Leyla? Can you hear me?"
---
Meanwhile, Mulder and Deputy O'Donnell scoured the area where the crime was committed. It was in a well-manicured home that belonged to a friendly, organized neighborhood. A few kids rode their bikes out in the street and the others played basketball. The neighbors seemed nice, but once Mulder had asked if they knew anything about that particular house, it was almost like they became a different person. Their smile turned upside-down and the air around them seemed to be full of mystery. Instantly, they both knew that they were all hiding something.
The house was abandoned after the death of the family member. They stated that they couldn't live in a house that would forever remind them of what had happened. In just a few days, they had everything packed up and ready to go. Only a few farewells to neighbors were exchanged and they left to live up in Seattle, Washington.
Everyone's background was checked and they were all clean. Nothing significant or important enough to trigger a murder or suicide. This case was soon becoming a cold case file; forever to be locked into a file cabinet filled with other unsolvable cases.
When Mulder and the deputy entered the home, nothing was left behind. The police had already examined the house, but nothing came up. They certainly couldn't use fingerprint samples, since all the samples were from the family. DNA evidence was pretty much futile.
"I don't know what you'll find here, Agent Mulder," O'Donnell commented. "We've searched everything. We have nothing to conclude that this was a murder, but in fact, a suicide."
"I'm not ready to write that down in my report just yet, Deputy," he told him. "I just have a strong feeling that something is here and it's right under our noses."
They moved to the second floor and into the victim's room. Inside, they found a metal bed frame that was of the few things that was left behind. It was situated in the middle of the bedroom, pushed up against the east wall. The frame was simple with nicely, designed rods at each corner.
"I wonder why they left this here," Mulder wondered aloud. "I mean, why didn't they throw it away?"
The deputy shrugged and just stood in the doorway as Mulder carefully inspected the frame. Something was telling him that all the evidence needed was in that very room. He checked the knobs attached to the rods. The paint was chipped, or rather, rubbed off at the point where the knob and the rod were sealed. The police must have ignored it since they were told that personal items were once hung there before.
"Huh," Mulder said, thinking about a few possibilities that were running through his head.
This perked up the deputy's attention. "What'd you find?"
Mulder didn't answer his question, but instead asked, "Have you ever used a black light in this room?"
"No, I-"
A noise from somewhere inside the house interrupted him. They both looked at each other and quietly drew their guns out from their holsters. O'Donnell was leading out and checked in the bathroom first, but no one was there. Mulder then went into the master bedroom. What he found was a complete surprise to him.
"Hey, aren't you Ted?" Mulder asked, putting back his gun.
O'Donnell joined him. "You know this man?"
Ted's round face was red from crying. He was still in his Hawaiian-Tourist outfit with a camera around his neck. At his feet was a broken, glass frame with the shards scattered about. Three years and he was alone once more.
He turned around and sniffed, trying to regain his composure. "What happened here?" he asked in a small voice.
"Sir, is this your family's house?" the deputy asked.
He nodded solemnly. "I was supposed to be here for my sister's wedding... I just don't understand why everyone and everything is gone."
"How about you come with me and we'll talk about it, okay?" O'Donnell offered.
Ted nodded once more.
Before they left, Mulder placed a hand on Ted's shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod. Ted looked back at him, his eyes red, and followed the deputy. After, Mulder picked up the frame and looked at it. It was a picture of Ted with the rest of the family around him. His brow furrowed when he saw, what looked like, more brothers and sisters. They all looked similar, except for one that seemed perfect.
---
"Agent Scully?"
"...Yes?"
"When you met Agent Mulder, what were your first thoughts?" Harrison asked, sitting in a seat far from where Scully was performing the autopsy.
She looked up, her goggles pushed up to her hairline. "Well, I guess you could say, I wasn't the least disappointed." Finishing up and writing the rest of her report, she started to clean up. "That's one thing for sure."
"Disappointed? What do you mean by that?" Her eyes followed Scully around as she walked to and fro trying to get everything back in order.
"What I mean is, is that I was glad that I wasn't stuck with someone other than Agent Mulder." She placed the scalpel into the biohazard bin.
Harrison remained quiet for her to go on, eager to hear what she had to say next.
"He was different, full of passion. I'd never met another man like him," she told her.
"So, you liked him the moment you saw him," Leyla concluded.
"Yes and no. At first, I thought he was a sci-fi nerd, looking for things that didn't exist. But now, it's all different. My opinion of him is pretty much the opposite." Scully said, taking off her lab coat and joining Harrison.
"Yeah, same here," she sighed dreamily. "Agent Scully..." Leyla turned to meet her eye to eye. "Do you think he's involved with anyone?"
Scully's eyebrow raised. This was going to be difficult to answer. She couldn't tell her, not with the FBI waiting at her heels. Word would get out and who knew what could happen. Having Skinner breathing on their necks was hard enough. Even then, they hoped that it wouldn't show at the meetings or in the office.
"..Well, I-"
Harrison cut her off. "Because I was thinking of asking Agent Mulder to dinner with me tonight, since I knew he was the strong kind of shy type."
"I don't think this would be a good time to-"
"So, I wanted to take the first step! I think we kind of have a connection going on. I can just feel it. Can you feel it, Agent Scully?"
All at once, Scully felt extremely sorry for this young woman, but at the same time, she just felt like laughing. She wasn't cruel or anything, but a connection? It was only a day, since they've all met.
"Look Mulder is-" Scully was once again cut off when the subject of the matter came in. "Speak of the devil."
Mulder gave her a confused look. "Did I miss something?"
"Oh no, we were just talking about you," Leyla flashed him a smile.
"Yes, and I need to show you something that I found," Scully said, quickly changing the subject,
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a ziploc with four twisted, metal objects contained inside. Mulder took it and his brow furrowed, wondering what to make of it.
"Where'd you find these?" he asked.
"I found it in all four bodies, one in each," she began. "Do you know what it is?"
His mind searched for an answer.
Harrison gave one look at it and spoke up. "It's an object of witchcraft... deadly witchcraft. I remember reading about it for class in ancient history." Suddenly her eyes became wide with fright. "It was meant to ward off evil spirits, making the body 'pure' as they would put it."
Both agents looked at her in amazement. Sure, she seemed naive at times, but when it came to facts, she had it straight.
She continued. "I've read about people whose had those implanted in them. They wrote about how they continually threw up every night, making them become underweight. It was like the bad spirits never left them."
"Kind of like what happens after an exorcism," Scully added.
"Sort of, but they weren't possessed! Well, at the least, they knew that they weren't possessed."
"So, how did they end up?" Mulder asked.
"Dead," she said simply. "Not too many people hear about these kinds of things. It's really a hush-hush matter, but I think this could solve our case."
Scully shook her head. "But we still need to find out who did this to them and why. I mean, why would someone want to be 'pure'?"
SANTA BARBARA SHERIFF'S OFFICE
5:46 PM
They entered into the room where Ted was sitting. It wasn't one of those uncomfortable, small rooms in which they interrogate someone. It was much more spacious and decorated. A sofa was pushed up against the wall and two chairs were placed in front of that. A few plants and scenic paintings adorned the walls of the room, making the it seem more relaxing. On the right side of the couch, Ted sat there, stoic.
The three agents walked in and greeted him. Introductions were made, even though they had met briefly before. When Ted looked up, he felt a little more at ease when he spotted Leyla. Even though they had only spent a few hours together, it was nice to see some familiar faces.
"Is that really you, Ted? Do you remember me?" Leyla asked, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of him, while Mulder and Scully also took the remaining seats.
He nodded. "I was so excited to finally get to see my sister again. I just can't believe she's gone."
"I know it's hard," Leyla replied, her tone filled with sorrow.
After a few seconds of silence, Mulder cleared his throat. "Not to be insensitive, but Ted, I need to ask you a few questions," he began. "Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your sister?"
"...No," he replied flatly.
"What about her fiancé? Do you know anything about him?"
"He was her best friend since she was in high school. I know that he wouldn't want to kill her. He was a good man."
Then, Scully spoke up. "Wait, what about your family?"
"What about them?"
She detected a little bit of repulse in his tone. "Would they want to hurt her?"
He looked down.
"Ted?"
He closed his eyes and tried to shut out his tears. His whole face started to turn red and his body started to shake.
"They were the reason that prevented me from seeing my sister for three years."
"But why?" Mulder asked.
"...My family believed in a different kind of witchcraft. They and a few friends of theirs had done something terrible in the past to offend their 'gods' and to make up for it, they made sacrifices. It was like what they did in ancient Bible times, but they twisted it into ways that are unimaginable," he was able to say.
"And she was that perfect sacrifice," Harrison whispered.
The police handled the rest of the case from there and thanked the agents for their work. The black light was used at the crime scene, and splatters of blood were detected on all the walls. It was horrific. Later, after digging even deeper, they found a hidden basement. Inside were all the elements of ritualistic activities and enough evidence to put the family and their friends in jail.
Ted was relieved that it was finally over. He never spoke about what his parents did secretly, but they had crossed the line. He was determined to find them and put them were they belonged.
7:38 PM
Back at the hotel, the three agents were all packing to head back to Washington DC. They had surprisingly solved the case quickly. Without Ted, they probably would have been stuck at a dead end also.
After Harrison had finished packing, she told Scully that she was going to look around for a nice restaurant to invite Mulder to. Once again, she tried to stop her, but it didn't work. She was out the door with a puff of smoke behind her.
Scully sighed. If she wasn't going to listen, then that would be her fault, she reasoned. Feeling around in her suitcase for her bath products, her fingers glided across something smooth. Her eyebrow arched upward and she pulled it out.
Her mouth dropped and realized what had really happened when she caught him near her suitcase. "If that's how he wants to play, then fine by me."
A mischievous grin spread across her face. She then shut her suitcase, the article of clothing in her hand, and walked into the bathroom. Mulder was going to have the surprise of his life.
---
Mulder stripped off his overcoat and loosened his tie when he entered his own hotel room. He quickly turned on the TV, and waited for the baseball game to come on. All year, he had been waiting for this exact moment. Now was the time that people had all been talking about. Even the news was reporting on it frequently.
Excited, he plopped down on the bed, made himself comfortable and turned up the volume. Nothing was going to distract him now.
Right outside his door, Scully listened in, making sure that he was there. Slowly, she unlocked the door and opened it. Mulder hadn't heard her over the blaring of the TV and kept on watching. She tiptoed past the bathroom, trying to not make any noise with her heels, and to the end of the small hallway. She stopped to where she could see him and he couldn't see her.
It was now or never, she thought.
---
"Oh, Mulder," Scully called out in a playful voice.
She then stuck out her bare leg and swung it teasingly, before she stepped out from behind the corner. She smiled a vixen's smile and walked toward him, her hips swaying with each step.
"Wha-" His jaw dropped at what he saw.
Mulder watched her, surprised and utterly shocked. She was in the red nightgown that he had slipped into her suitcase as a joke. Now that she was actually in it, he didn't feel like it had been a bad idea to put it in there in the first place. As she made her way towards him, his heart started racing.
His eyes kept on moving back and forth between two of his greatest loves, sports and the woman before him. It was either he watch the game that he had been waiting forever for or spend an evening with Scully. He argued with himself in his head, hopelessly trying to find out what to do next.
"Scully, this is too cruel."
---
Meanwhile, Leyla put on her evening gown and pulled up her hair in a fancy chignon. She wanted to look as beautiful as she could for Agent Mulder. Whenever she talked to him and he looked at her with his beautiful emerald eyes, she just felt like melting. Her knees weakened and she tried hard not to swoon while they were working on the case, but now that they were done, it would be a whole different story.
She always wondered why Agent Scully and Mulder never became a couple. They were both attractive and they got along well. The fact that they weren't 'together' always seemed to be a mystery. Maybe they just aren't each other's type, she guessed.
Leyla checked herself once more in the mirror before leaving as she grabbed her purse and coat along the way. Once she got to the door, she knocked and waited. No one answered. Her brow furrowed and she leaned against the door to hear for any sounds. Faintly, she could hear that the tv was on. She knocked once more, but still no one came. Then, she turned the knob, and surprisingly, it was open.
Suddenly, she had this compulsion to look inside, you know, just in case he was hurt or something. Quickly, she made her way down the short hallway.
"Agent Mul-" Her eyes widened at the scene before her and she instinctively put her hand on her mouth in shock.
Apparently, both Mulder and Scully had 'other' plans for the evening.
Scully broke away from the kiss when she heard another voice in the room. "Agent Harrison!" She quickly pushed, or rather threw, Mulder off of her and got off the bed, trying to pull down her nightgown.
Mulder grunted as he landed on his back on the other side of the bed, the air almost knocked out of him.
"I, uh-" Leyla tried to say something, but she just couldn't. She could feel herself becoming weaker and her vision started to darken. Then, all at once, she fainted.
Scully was not prepared for that to happen. Her doctor instincts instantly took over and she rushed to Harrison's side.
Mulder put his hands on his face in disbelief of what had just occured. "Oh, great." At that very moment, he was probably the most disappointed man on the face of the earth.
---
Later on, the women returned to their own room. Scully tried to forget what had happened that evening and was trying desperately to fall asleep. While on the other hand, Leyla was disheartened and wide awake, mentally cursing herself for being so naïve. So, Mulder and Scully were 'together', she thought.
"Talk about beginner's luck," she whispered outloud.
Outside the room, a bellboy checked to make sure that he was in the right place. He then, took out a small, white teddy bear and placed it in front of the door, along with a card. It read:
"To: Miss Leyla Harrison
I'm sorry. Please give me another chance.
From: Gabe"
CASE CLOSED: JANUARY 26, 2006
The X-Files and its characters © 1013 Productions, Chris Carter, and FOX