Pines Motel

8:30 p.m.

"He didn't speak to you?" Skinner asked.

"No, sir," Scully said, rotating her neck as she stood at the back of the rental car and Mulder took out both of their bags from the trunk. "The doctors said his blood pressure had begun to rise and he was extremely agitated. They sedated him so he could rest."

"And his injuries?"

"Dehydrated as you mentioned. Cuts and bruises, a few that are…" She drew in a breath and let it out, not quite of how she wanted to phrase her words.

"What, Agent Scully?"

"The injuries are odd. I hesitate to say until I know more, but they seem almost… ritualistic." She paused, catching Mulder's expression of raised eyebrows as she heard Skinner sigh loudly in her ear along with the sound of ice cubes falling into a glass.

"Ritualistic?"

"Yes, sir."

"It can't ever just be cut and dry, can it?" he mused and she turned away from Mulder as she smiled softly.

"Not usually, sir," she said and he huffed out a breath.

"Okay, thank you for the update. Hope for better news tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

"Goodnight."

"And to you."

She hung up and put her phone in her pocket, turning back to Mulder and sighing.

"Was he angry that we couldn't speak to the victim?"

"No," she said, taking her bag from him. "But, I believe we may have driven him to drink. I heard ice filling a glass." She gave him a look and he nodded.

"Or… maybe he has company," he suggested as they made their way to the motel rental office. "Did you hear any dulcet tones asking him to please leave work at the office and to join her?"

Scully stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes as she tried not to allow that image into her mind.

"Maybe Peggy, the receptionist on the third floor? I've heard her mention him before," he continued.

"Mulder," she warned as she shook her head.

"Agent Rhodes, Jackie, do you know her? She said one time she'd like to bounce a quarter off his ass. No wait, I think she said a fifty cent piece. Said she thought he could handle it."

"Could you stop?" she asked, opening her eyes and staring at him. "I don't want to have those thoughts about Skinner in my head."

"Everybody does it, Scully. Didn't you say so yourself once?" He grinned at her and she shook her head.

"There's a huge difference between the discussion of the drive of a species to procreate and thinking about your boss having a fifty cent piece bouncing off his ass, thank you very much."

"Hmm," he hummed, smiling at her as he reached for the handle and pulled the door open, a bell tinkling from above as he held it for her. "He wears tighty-whities, Scully. I've seen it with my own eyes."

She stopped again and looked at him as he raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Goddamn you, Mulder," she said under her breath as she walked beneath his arm into the lobby and he laughed as he followed her.

"Hello," said the young woman behind the counter with a smile. "Welcome to the Pines Motel. I'm Darcy. Do you have a reservation?"

"We do," Scully said, smiling back with a nod, and taking out her badge. "Agents Scully and Mulder."

"Oh, you're here about the missing men," Darcy stated, shaking her head, her long black hair brushing the tops of her shoulders. "It's terrible. Just terrible."

"Do you know any of the men?" Mulder asked and she shook her head again.

"Not personally, no. But I know of them. One of them is… was? the brother of a girl I knew in elementary school." She sighed as she looked up their reservation on the computer and nodded as she reached for two room keys with on green keychains.

"Do you have any idea as to why they would have disappeared?" Mulder continued his questioning and Darcy stared at him, unblinking.

"I don't," she said in a low voice. "But… I mean, you're with the government, right? You're here to help?"

Mulder glanced quickly at Scully and then smiled at Darcy as he leaned against the counter.

"We are," he said with a nod and Darcy nodded back.

"Brent, my old classmate's brother, he… he was into some weird shit."

"What do you mean?" Scully asked with a frown.

"I… I probably shouldn't say, but if it helps to find him…?" She looked at Mulder and he smiled kindly at her. With a sigh, she nodded. "Drugs mostly. And he hung out with this group of people who liked going to old graveyards and having "parties" where they acted out deaths or held seances, calling back spirits from the graves around them."

"Did you ever go to the parties?"

"Once," she said, rolling her eyes. "It was during a weekend home from college a few years back. Honestly, the parties are really just an excuse to get smashed and then have sex in the graveyard. Not really my thing. Then or now. It's too creepy."

"Well," Mulder said and shifted slightly. He cleared his throat and Scully frowned, wondering what was causing his discomfort.

"Maybe people saw them continue with the parties, especially around this time of year, and they didn't like the desecration of a sacred place?" Scully offered and Darcy shrugged.

"I don't know. I just know it wasn't my scene and the next time I was asked, my answer was no thanks." She smiled as she handed them the keys to rooms six and seven. "I hope you're able to find Brent and the others. He's not the best person I know, but he doesn't deserve whatever happened to him."

"Thank you, Darcy," Mulder said, smiling at her as they stepped back. "We-"

"I did what you asked," a young boy said as the door opened suddenly, slamming against the outside of the building, the bell tinkling loudly. "What else do you want me to do, Darce?" He ignored Mulder and Scully, walking between them and toward the counter as he pushed his dark blonde hair from his eyes.

"Jesus, Steven," Darcy said, rolling her eyes. "Be careful. The door nearly came off its hinges."

"Oh, calm down," he said, looking back at the door and finally noticing Mulder and Scully standing there. "Who're you?"

"They're FBI agents, Steven."

"Really? Like in the movies?" he asked excitedly, walking to Scully and smiling. "Can I see your badge?"

She looked at the boy, who could not have been older than twelve, and nodded as she took her badge out to show him.

"Wow," he said, touching it and then looking at her. "That's so bitchin'."

"Steven! You better not let mom hear you say that."

"I won't," he assured her, rolling his eyes at Scully and she felt an instant liking to him. "Can you tell me about being an FBI agent? Have you ever arrested anyone? Or… oh, shot anyone?"

"Steven," Darcy groaned. "Let them go to their rooms. Sorry. He's my little brother. I know he can be a pest."

"I'm not a pest," Steven shot back. "I just want to know."

"If you help me with my bag, I'll tell you," Scully said and Steven's eyes widened as he took her bag and nodded.

"Which room are you in? I can show you where to find it."

"Well, there's some debate on that," Scully said, taking Mulder's key from him with a sly smile. "Point us in the direction of rooms six and seven, please."

Mulder smiled as he thanked Darcy again and then opened the door, letting Scully and Steven walk out first.

It was not far to their rooms and soon they were saying goodnight to Steven, who seemed awestruck by both of them after hearing how they had both arrested people, though they did not mention people they had shot, even as Mulder had rubbed near his right shoulder with a wink to Scully.

Setting her bag down in room six, she turned the heater on to its maximum level. Mulder waited outside while she then opened door number seven and again turned on the heater, staring at him from the doorway.

"Shouldn't take too long," she said and he shrugged with a smile.

"Okay. But can I at least set my bag down?"

"No," she said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "Holding it while you wait for the rooms to warm up will be your penance for the information you shared about Skinner. I can't unhear that or scrub that image from my brain, so you get to stand in the cold, with your bag, while I choose between the rooms."

He laughed and nodded, his bag hanging from his shoulder, as he put his hands in his pockets.

She walked back and forth, testing out the warmth of each room and muttering tighty-whities under her breath every time she passed him. Finally deciding that room six would be best for her, she handed him the key to room seven.

"Of course, if the heater craps out in the middle of the night, I will be taking our room," she informed him as he took the key.

"No, you'll be sharing the room," he corrected her. "I don't have any plans to move from a comfortably warmed room into a cold one. I'll be sure to save you a nice warm spot, if your heater does indeed crap out." She stared at him as he smiled. "Goodnight, Scully. Give a shout if you need to join me."

He walked to his door and she walked to her own, glancing at him as he paused and looked over at her.

"For any reason," he said, his smile gone and his eyes serious. He nodded and went inside his room, closing the door behind him, as her breathing rate increased and she stood on the threshold of her room.

Stepping into her room and closing the door, his words continued ringing in her ears for quite some time.

Give a shout if you need to join me…

For any reason…