Meeting with Skinner - Requested by Anonymous - June 2nd, 2019

Season 7 - Mulder and Scully get a complaint about their "unprofessionalism"

"Did you do something?" she asked nervously, smoothing her skirt for the seventh time in the last three minutes.

"No," he defended incrusuously before self-conciously adding, "I don't think so."

TO: SPECIAL AGENT FOX MULDER; SPECIAL AGENT DANA SCULLY

FROM: ASSISTANT DIRECTOR WALTER SKINNER.

SUBJECT: OFFICE CONDUCT

Both of you, my office. 9:30am.

That's what they'd come into work to see. Scully immediately sent him a questioning look and he immediately tried to catalogue his actions this week.

"Well then what do you think this is about?" she whispered, glancing anxiously between Arelene and the closed doors with A.D. SKINNER printed on them.

"I don't know," he shrugged, placing his hand on top of Scully's to stop her from wearing a hole in her skirt.

"Good Morning, Agents. Thank you for coming," Skinner's booming voice greeted from the now open door. Mulder's hand retracted like it was on fire and they both stood up anxious.

"Good morning-"

"Hey Skin man-" they spoke in unison.

Skinner just looked between them and sighed, gesturing for them to take their usual seats.

The anxiety didn't diminish being in here. Skinner's face looked flustered and his whatever they did was getting him that riled up, he knew they were in for a verbal lashing. "Sir, um. May I ask why you've called us in today? We've been performing quite well in the field this past month," Scully started professionally.

Skinner raised his hand to stop her and spoke up, "This isn't about your performance. The X-Files solve rate has been even better than before." Before that bogus reassignment ordeal were the words unsaid.

"Oh, um," Scully replied, at a loss. "Then why..." she trailed off, hoping he'd take over with an explanation.

He didn't. Instead he took his glasses off and rubbed his hand over his face. "Sir, is everything okay?" Mulder asked, sending Scully a worried glance. "Are we getting shut down again?"

Skinner shook her head again, this time sitting up straighter in his seat. "No, no. Nothing like that. It's uh-I've been put in an uncomfortable position." He paused and neither of them made a move to speak, just waiting to be put out of their misery. "There's been a complaint of unprofessionalism," he sighed.

"Sir, Agent Mulder's strategies may be unusual, but-" Scully started, immediately coming to his defense.

"It wasn't just Agent Mulder, Agent Scully. The complaint was filed against you both," he mumbled.

Scully's face dropped in shock, and while he was glad he wasn't the only one to inspire that expression, he probably looked the same. "Skinner, that's ridiculous. Agent Scully is the textbook definition of professional."

"Who filed this complaint?" Scully asked, clearly intending to give that poor fool a piece of their mind.

"We barely even interact with other agents for them to-"

"It wasn't a fellow agent," Skinner corrected. His face seemed to flush even more, much to Mulder's confusion. They'd been reamed out so many times over the years, he honestly started to think the man enjoyed tormenting them.

"Sir, please. Just tell us what's going on," Scully demanded.

"Does last Friday ring a bell for either of you?" Skinner asked.

"It preceeded Saturday and suceeded Thursday," Mulder joked, his laughter halting when he saw Scully's face pale.

"Hilarious," Skinner deadpanned. "Well, apparently a janitor went down to clean the office only to find the door locked."

Mulder felt his own face pale as he remembered last Friday in vivid detail. He'd finally convinced Scully to reenact his office fantasy, and she'd gotten really into it. They'd been doing it more and more as of late since no one usually came down to the office. Or so they thought.

"Oh, um. The lock sticks sometimes," Scully offered honestly.

"Yeah," Skinner nodded. "The janitor thought about that too, so he used his key to get in."

If there was such a thing as a pregnant pause, this was it. This pause was in it's fifth trimester with ocuplets pregnant. They all just stared at each other in embarassed mortification.

"So you realize what it was he saw?" Skinner asked, clearing his throat.

"He saw," Scully began carefully. "Something that was definitely an error of judgement and will most certainly never happen again on FBI property."

Skinner nodded slowly and looked like his heart rate had started to return to normal. "Fantasic. That's all I needed to hear."

"We apologize for the discomfort we caused to everyone involved," Mulder offered.

"I'll make sure to let the janitor know the issue has been addressed, and I'll make sure the complaint dissapears. You both are dismissed," he proclaimed, shuffling some papers on his desk idly.

"Thank you, sir," they said in unison, standing up and all but running to the door.

"Oh, and agents?" he called out. Waiting for them to face him until he spoke again. "Congratulations. I mean it."