By 9:00am Agents Mulder and Scully were sat outside the office of Assistant Director Walter Skinner, waiting for his secretary to give them permission to go inside. Mulder, impatient as always and for some reason more excitable than usual, was drumming his fingers against his knee, pausing every now and then to glance down at his watch. When his leg started jumping in time with the drumming Scully could stand it no longer. She placed one hand over his drumming fingers, stilling both them and his leg.
She shot him a look that bode no arguing, then removed her hand. It took him about five seconds to resume the drumming, with the left hand this time so Scully couldn't reach. With an exasperated sigh, knowing full well that Kimberly was probably watching this scene between Mr. and Mrs. Spooky with growing interest, she lent across Mulder, grabbing both his hands and placing them firmly in his lap.
"I'll handcuff you to the couch in a minute if you don't keep still," she said in a terse whisper.
"Fine by me, but shouldn't we get rid of Kimberly first," he replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at her. She shot him a look that could've turned him to stone before placing her own hands back in her lap.
Before Mulder could think of any more annoying antics to start up, the door to the office opened and Assistant Director Skinner stepped out.
"Agents, sorry about the delay. I'm ready for you now."
He held the door open while Mulder and Scully stood and approached him, Mulder's hand, as always, finding the small of Scully's back and steering her through the doorway. Both loacted their respective seats in front of Skinner's desk and settled themselves into them while Skinner crossed and took his place behind it. After a moments pause to readjust his glasses he began.
"Agent Scully, I'm sure Agent Mulder has already given you some of the background to this case?" She nodded in the affirmative.
"Some sir, about it being a missing person's case, but nothing really more than that." Opening a file on the desk before him, he lent across and passed it to Scully who turned her attention to it while the Assistant Director continued speaking.
"Over the past four months seven people have gone missing from the Atrius Technological Institute in Haiti. Run by Americans, no one over here is entirely sure what they're researching. Needless to say, local law enforcement is at a dead end and has requested help from the FBI. Given the unexplainable nature of the case, I'm assigning it to you. Here are the missing person's reports on all seven victims for you to read on your way down there. You're booked on a 12:25 flight to Miami, with a connecting flight from there to Haiti."
Skinner retrieved the fax containing their ticket confirmation and was about to lean across the desk to hand it to Mulder when he paused, thinking better of it and changed his direction to hand the piece of paper to Scully.
Mulder feigned a look of hurt.
"Sir, don't you trust me with something as simple as the confirmations of our flight?"
"Quite frankly Agent Mulder, no. Not after the Seattle incident when you and Agent Scully were stuck there for 24 hours after you lost the confirmation of your return tickets."
Mulder lowered his head sheepishly while Scully suppressed a smile, tucking the offending piece of paper into her inside jacket pocket. Skinner dismissed them with a wave of his hand and both agents rose simultaneously to leave, Mulder scooping up the seven missing persons reports on his way past the desk. He reached the door first and held it for Scully, who was forced to duck under Mulder's arm as he blocked the rest of the doorway with his body. She glared at him and he smiled broadly back, only serving to irritate her further.
The door swung shut behind them, leaving A.D. Skinner to merely shake his head and return his attentions to the pile of paperwork that occupied the majority of his desk.