Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

Frog Nights

Chapter 1: The Woman of Your Life

„What a crap!"

The dim green light that came from the fish tank illuminated his face and made it look a little spooky. Fortunately, there was no one there to see it. At the moment, the fish tank was the only source of light in the room. The curtains were still drawn and the lights were off. Reading the newspaper under these circumstances didn't seem to bother him. He was used to it.

Normally, Fox Mulder didn't read horoscopes and now he remembered why. He reached for the cold coffee that was standing on the table in front of him and took a sip. He nodded contented as he perceived its bitter taste on the back of his tongue and took another sip. The cold coffee didn't seem to bother him either. He placed it back on the table and then read his horoscope for today again. Just because it was so damn funny and absurd, of course. Otherwise he didn't give a damn about it.

Today is a good day for you! The woman of your life will burst through your door with good news and you'll go on a journey together. Later today she'll confess that she cannot stop thinking about you. She'll invite you to dinner and you'll spend the night together in a land of love. Not even minor interruptions can disturb your night-time plans. It's going to be an exhausting night. And remember: All that glisters is not gold!

"crap!", Mulder repeated and threw the newspaper on the table. He stretched his arms and his legs and saw that the fish in the tank swam up and down close to the surface of the water, full of expectation. So he stood up and fed them. Hungry as a hunter the fish lunged at the tiny flakes that spread out in the water. Mulder observed them for a while, then he had a look at his watch and let out a small sound of displeasure.

"See you later guys!", he whispered to the fish and got ready for work. Then he grabbed the newspaper on the table and left.

About 20 minutes later he was already leaning back in his chair in his little basement office, his legs stretched out on the desk with the newspaper next to his feet. He wasn't exactly doing anything, just staring at the door with his arms behind his head and a suspicious look on his face. He stayed like this for 10 more minutes. Then he frowned and whispreder to himself: "Alright, so where is this 'woman of my life'?"

He had just finished the sentence when the door swung open and his partner Agent Dana Scully jumped in.

"Good news, Mulder!", she exclaimed effusively enthusiastic or probably rather ironically and smiled.

In a fit of surprise, Mulder sat up straight and said without much interest: "Oh, it's you, Scully."

Then, without waiting for a reply, he adopted the previous position again.

Scully stepped closer, looking at him in a strange way and said in a voice as if he was insane: "Why? Who are you expecting, Mulder? What are you doing there?"

She walked around the desk and tried to follow his eyes. There was nothing to see.

"Well", he explained cool. "I'm watching out for the woman of my life!"

"You're what?", Scully asked in disbelief, now looking as if she was ready to call a mental hospital.

"I read my horoscope today.", Mulder continued. "It says that I'm going to meet the woman of my life today."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! It's right there, see?"

He pointed at the newspaper on the desk next to his feet. Scully frowned and reached for it. For a moment it was silent while she read the horoscope and Mulder kept staring at the door.

"Funny!", Scully commented and put it back on the desk. "You don't believe this nonsense, do you?"

He shook his head: "Not until the 'woman of my life' steps through that door."

He emphasized the words 'woman of my life" in a strange way.

"Alright!", Agent Scully announced, took a chair from the corner and sat down next to her partner.

"What are you doing?", he wanted to know.

"I want to see her, too."

Together they sat there for another 15 minutes, until A. D. Skinner came in. Puzzled, he looked at the two FBI agents, who didn't move at all. They just stared in his direction, concentrated and silly. They seemed to look right through him. Skinner turned around to see what they were looking at. As he didn't see anything he turned to them again and asked: "What the heck are you doing there? You should be on your way to Ohio!"

He focused on Scully: "Agent Scully?"

As if she had not noticed her boss before, she jumped up and said: "Ohio, Sir. Yes I know. We were just….oh well, never mind. We'll leave right away. You could say we're already on our way, Sir."

"Okay then."

He came over to the desk and Mulder finally took his feet off of it.

"However, since you're still here. I can give you this in person", Skinner announced and placed a file in front of them.

"What is that?", Mulder questioned without having a look at it.

"I don't know. Something you've asked for at the Computer Intrusion Section."

He remembered, nodded and thanked the Assistant Director.

When Skinner had left, Mulder looked at Scully and asked: "Oh, what was the good newsyou wanted to tell me about?"

"Well it was this case Skinner just mentioned."

She smiled a forced smile.

"Loveland, Ohio. After an accident on Riverside Road near the Little Miami river, in which a married couple died, an officer from Loveland reported that he saw a frog-like creature about 3 and a half feet tall with leathery skin and wrinkles on its head. Also, it stood on its hide legs and disappeared into the river when he approached it."

While she was talking, Mulder jumped up and walked over to the file drawers where all the X-Files were stored.

"Sounds like the Loveland Frog or the Loveland Monster, whatever you want to call it."

"You've heard of this thing?"

"Sure", he took out a file, searched a little, then reported: "There are two important sightings: On 3 March 1972, a police officer was driving on Riverside Road at around 1 o'clock in the morning, when he saw what looked like a dog on the road. He pulled over, and as he shone his headlights on it, it suddenly stood up, jumped over the guardrail, and went down the embankment into the Miami River. The officer described the creature as being 3-4 feet tall, about 50-75 pounds, with a frog or lizard-like face and leathery skin. He called the dispatcher and returned to the station. He and another officer returned to the scene later that night, where they saw scrape marks on the hill going into the river. No official report was filed.
The second sighting occurred only two weeks later. Another police officer was driving into Loveland, when he saw an animal on the road. Thinking that it was an animal hit by a car, he stopped to move it. It suddenly stood up, but in a crouched position; then hobbled over to the side of the road, stepped over the guardrail, while keeping his eyes on the officer. The officer then shot at it but missed. His description matched that of the first officer, only he may have seen a tail. Again, no report was filed.
There are some more sightings like the one on May 1955 of three strange bipedal creatures with frog-like features and Mrs. Johnson's encounter on 21 August 1955, where something with a claw-like hand under the water grabbed her knee while she was swimming in the Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana. It tried to drag her under water but she could fight off the attacker. But it left some scratches and a green palm print on her knee."

Mulder quickly closed the file theatrically and put it back into the drawer.

"Alright then", Scully said. "Let's go. I'm really sorry that it didn't work with the woman of your life."

Mulder followed her out the office.

"Who knows, I mean, Loveland sounds like the perfect place to meet 'the woman of your life'. So maybe I'll meet her in Loveland."

"Maybe...maybe."