Chapter 8
XXXXXXX
An hour later they were all seated at a table in the Empress Pavilion Restaurant in the center of Chinatown. They had showed the photos of the missing doctors to the hostess and servers but much like Sam thought, no one recognized them. But she had to admit that she didn't mind much, she was too distracted by what was going on at the dinner table.
They were all seated in a rounded booth in the corner of the dimly lit restaurant discussing memorable cases they have all handled in their careers. Danny sat on one end, then Chao, then Sam, and Martin rounded out the other end. It took some effort to concentrate on what was being said, she was too distracted by Martin's body being in such close proximity to hers. Every time his thigh accidentally brushed against hers it sent a tingling vibration through her. Each time she took a breath she could smell his familiar scent, a fragrance she knew intimately.
"Okay, I have a good question," Chao said as he plucked a chunk of noodles off of his plate with his chopsticks, "Did you guys ever work a missing person case that was really freaky or quirky?"
"Hmm," Danny said as he considered the question. "Well, there was the case of that man who thought he had been abducted by aliens," he said at last.
"Are you serious?" Chao asked as he took a bite.
Sam picked up her ice water and said, "Oh yeah, he totally believed it. He was even a member of this group called the 'Clear Skies Society' that believed his story," she looked over at Martin and added, "You remember them don't you, Mulder?"
"Yes, I do, Scully," he replied with a knowing smirk.
Chao picked up his hot tea and before taking a drink he asked, "What's up with the nicknames?"
"The leader, if that's what you call him, the 'leader' of Clear Skies asked us," she motioned to her and Martin, "if we were the 'real Mulder and Scully' and this guy," she said, playfully squeezing Martin's shoulder, "told them that, yes, we were."
"Hey, I totally made that guy's day," Martin said defensively as he looked over at Chao. "You should have seen the look on his face. It totally lit up."
"Did it light up as brightly as that Trekkie's did when you spoke to him in Klingon?" Chao asked interestedly.
"What?!" Sam gasped. She lowered her voice and leaned in close to Martin and asked, "You speak Klingon?"
His face turned bright red and he lowered his head, trying to hide his embarrassment with his hand. All three of them were laughing when Sam reached over and tried to move his hand to try and see his face. "Say something in Klingon, please?"
"No," he said flatly.
"Come on, you spoke in Klingon for Chao," she rationalized, her hand still on his forearm, secretly enjoying being able to have a reason to touch him.
He finally looked up, a mortified expression on his face. "That was for work. I was conducting an investigation and I felt that…"
"The truth was out there?" Danny finished.
Chao smiled and happily chimed, "You wanted to boldly go where no man has gone before?"
Not wanting to be left out, Sam searched her brain for some reference and said, "The force was with you?"
He glared at them and finished, "I felt that the convention attendee's would be more willing to talk if I approached them on their level. A lot of sci-fi fans tend to also be conspiracy theorists and distrustful of the any representatives of the government. I wanted to put them at ease."
Sam raised her eyebrows and in skeptical voice asked, "Somehow I doubt that you specifically learned Klingon for the case."
"Augh," he groaned, dropping his head to the table.
Emboldened by all of the playful teasing, Chao said, "You should have seen him. We were looking for a missing teenager who disappeared during a Star Trek convention and Martin walked right up to these two guys dressed in full Klingon regalia and just started chatting them up like he had been speaking it his whole life." He laughed and finished, "Those guys were practically gushing with joy to know that an FBI agent was a secret Trekkie."
"Come on, say something," Sam playfully begged. Then giving him her best puppy dog eyes, she batted her eyelashes at him and said, "Please?"
"Ghobe," Martin replied bitterly before his lips curved up into a grin.
"Yeah!" the entire table cheered.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Martin announced as he stood up, dropping his napkin on the table. "I want you all to be ready to discuss something else when I get back."
"Come on, at least say what it was you told the Trekkies that day," Chao pleaded.
Martin turned to step away before stopping, looking at them all as if he was irritated by their taunting when he took a deep breath and said, "ghIj qet jaghmeyjaj."
The table burst into laughter as they watched his retreating form disappear down the hall to the men's room. Sam wiped a tear from her eye from laughing so hard and said, "Do you remember what that means?"
"I think it meant, 'May your enemies run from you with fear,'" Chao replied thoughtfully.
With their victim gone, Danny and Chao started discussing other cases they've worked and comparing notes on people's odd interests. Sam just sat back, not really listening as she moved the food around on her plate. She glanced over in the direction Martin disappeared, remembering how much different things were between them during the Teddy Cota case.
XXX
"Wait up," she shouted. Martin was nearing the car outside the warehouse that served as headquarters to the Clear Skies Society. He stopped and turned to wait for her. As she approached, her lips spread into a wide grin and she said, "You didn't really think I would just let what happened back there drop did you…Mulder?"
A faint blush appeared on his cheeks and he said, "Well, Scully, I guess you were bound to find this out about me sooner or later," he squared his shoulders and proclaimed, "I am a closeted sci-fi geek."
She laughed and when a crestfallen expression appeared on his face she said, "I'm sorry, I'm just so surprised to find out that you know so much about this outer space stuff. Why do you know? I mean, are you serious about this conspiracy with the men in black and the little green aliens?"
"First of all, I said grey aliens. Also known as the Roswell aliens," he replied exasperatedly as he pulled the car keys out of his pocket. "And I'm not going to talk about it if you are just going to make fun of me."
She bit her lip to restrain a laugh before saying, "Come on, I won't make fun of you."
"Liar," he said as he put on his sunglasses and opened the driver's side door and climbed inside.
She opened her door and sat down on the passenger seat. He stuck the key in the ignition as she put on her seatbelt she said, "I just have one more question."
He didn't turn the car on right away but paused and turned to look at her. "And what is that?"
She looked at him and very seriously asked, "Be honest: when you joined the bureau did you ask if you could be a Man in Black or if there was a position open in the X-Files?"
He gave a self-deprecating laugh and said, "You're not going to let this drop anytime soon are you?"
"No," she laughed. He turned the car on and pulled ahead. With her gaze out the windshield she said, "Who would have thought that this whole time I've been sleeping with a guy who believes in UFO's?"
"I never said I believe in it, I just think it's interesting," he replied as he pulled the car onto the street. "It's just fun fantasy stuff."
"Fantasy, huh?" she grinned devilishly and said, "Okay, but don't go expecting me to roll my hair into big buns on the side of my head and call you Captain Kirk while begging you to take me aboard your mother ship."
He shook his head and sighed heavily saying, "There are so many things wrong with that sentence I don't even know where to begin..."
She laughed. "Sorry, I'm not up to date on my alien references." She gave him a coy smile and reached over to put her hand on his thigh and throatily said, "But I'll tell you what: how about tonight I pretend to be the helpless abductee and you can be the big, bad grey alien looking for someone to probe."
He laughed. "You think you're being funny but I may hold you to it," he paused and winked, "Scully."
XXX
She was surprised by the ache that began to throb in her chest at remembering such a simple memory of Martin. It caught her off guard to know that what was once such a happy memory could make her feel so sad. She dropped her chopsticks, deciding there was no point in pretending that she was still eating, her appetite was gone. She reached over to take a drink of her water when Martin returned to the booth, sliding in next to her. Her heart ached dully in her chest to know that he was so near but not close enough. There was a distance between them now that she wasn't sure she could ever bridge.
He glanced around the table at the empty or discarded plates and asked, "Are we ready to go?"
"Yeah, we just need the check," Danny replied as he raised his hand to the waitress, gesturing for the bill.
Their server walked over and thanked them for dining as she placed the small black tray with the bill on the table. Then she unceremoniously dropped four plastic wrapped fortune cookies on their table and bid them goodnight.
Danny grabbed his first and immediately unwrapped it. He pulled his fortune out and read it aloud to the entire table. "Let's see what we have here: you are extremely handsome, smart, funny, sexy, and everyone admires you."
"It does not say that," Sam said as she reached over and snagged the piece of paper from his hand. She looked at it and read, "Your ability to juggle many tasks will take you far."
"I liked mine better," Danny grumbled with a smile.
She laughed and tossed the small piece of white paper at him. It didn't even make it across the table before falling down onto the platter with cold Kung Pao Chicken.
"Okay, my turn," Chao said as he picked up his own cookie. "Mine says: soon you will receive the recognition you deserve." He laughed and said, "Good, it's about time."
Martin cracked his open and read, "All you have is today. There is no such thing as yesterday or tomorrow." He shrugged and said, "Tell that to the missing persons we look for."
"Okay, Sam, it's your turn," Danny said as he munched on his cookie.
She picked up the only one remaining on the table and tore off the plastic wrapper. She broke the cookie in half and unfolded the small, thin piece of paper and read, "Life's most valuable treasures are those that are hidden in plain sight."
"Deep," Danny said as he scooted out of the booth and stood up. "Alright, let's hit the road. The hotel bed is calling my name."
"What about the check?" Chao asked as he followed Danny's lead.
Danny grinned, picked up the bill and handed it to Martin. "I think we should let the man with the most seniority pay."
Martin just shook his head and accepted the piece of paper before moving out of the booth first. As soon as he stood up she scooted out after him. As she did, she couldn't help but notice that the spot where he had been sitting was still warm to the touch.
"So what hotel are you guys staying at?" Martin asked as he reached into his jacket for his wallet to get his bureau credit card before slowly shuffling to the cash register.
"We're at the Westin," Sam replied as she put on her jacket, getting in step behind him.
"Oh," Martin replied as he turned and handed the cashier the bill and card. "So are we."
"Must be getting a federal group rate," Danny joked.
Thirty minutes later they all entered the elevator at the Westin Hotel. Martin's hand hovered over the bank of buttons and asked, "Who's on which floor?"
"I'm on ten," Chao said.
"I'm on fourteen," Danny replied.
"Twenty four," Sam said as she tucked some hair behind her ears. She was already imagining how good it would feel to take off her shoes and lay down.
Martin pressed all the call buttons for their various floors and she couldn't help but notice that he was twenty five; just one floor above hers.
Chao's stop was first and as he got off they all agreed to meet in the lobby in the morning before they headed out to continue their investigation. Sam leaned against the back wall and stifled a yawn as Danny and Martin tried to come up with a game plan for the following day. By the time they reached Danny's floor they had decided to cross check for any other doctor's attending the conference to see if there was anyone who may have been in direct competition with the missing doctors.
When they reached Danny's floor he stepped out, wishing them both goodnight before stopping and turning around, placing his hand on the elevator doors to prevent them from sliding shut he said, "Oh yeah, one more thing, Martin."
Martin looked at him curiously and asked, "Yeah?"
Danny grinned mischievously and stepped back. As the elevator doors started to slide shut he held up his hand, his four fingers divided in the center in a big 'V' shape and said, "Live long and prosper."
"Smart ass," Martin muttered back before the doors closed completely.
Suddenly Sam became very aware that it was just the two of them alone in the elevator. This was the first time since she had seen him again that they were all alone without anyone else around to act as a buffer. She glanced at him standing across from her, mimicking her posture only he was staring down at the floor. She cleared her throat and said, "Some day, huh?"
He looked up and nodded. "Yeah."
"Being an SAC seems to agree with you. You wear it well," she commented. He looked at her with a curious expression as if he was unsure what she meant. "Chao said he likes you a lot, that you're really good."
Martin smiled and said, "It's performance review time, he just wants a raise."
She laughed. "Do you like living in Washington?"
"Yeah," he replied. "It took some time to get used to but now I love it."
"I bet your parents were happy to have you back in the same state," she said softly.
He laughed. "They were impossible at first. Wanting every minute of my free time and hovering over me. I hated it." He sighed and said, "But I stood my ground and things are much easier."
"That's great," she replied.
It grew quiet again when he asked, "So how's New York?"
"Pretty much the same as how you left it," she replied, enjoying the easy feel of the conversation. "Oh, but the Nathan's near your old apartment closed."
"Damn, really?" he asked and she nodded. "I loved that place. I still dream about those hot dogs covered in sauerkraut and deli mustard."
She laughed.
"What?"
She shook her head and gazed at him gently. "Nothing, it's just nice to see that some things haven't changed."
He grew very quiet before he softly said, "Yeah, some things never change." He lowered his head, looked up at her and breathed, "No matter how much we wished they had."
Her breath caught in her chest at the penetrating look in his eyes. The blood pumped furiously through her body and she suddenly felt very self conscious under his gaze. She folded her arms across her chest, wanting some sort of barrier between them. She became increasingly aware of the giant elephant in the room named Jack. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but no words would come.
They rode in silence up the final few floors, all the space in the elevator slowly filling up with all they weren't saying. The bell dinged announcing that they had arrived on her floor and the doors opened up. Anxious to escape, she stepped out and turned to look at him. She knew that she needed to say something so she said the only thing she could, "Goodnight."
He gave her a sad smile, or maybe it was disappointment. Just as the doors started to close he said, "Goodnight, Sam."