After a rather uneventful flight from Miami International to Port-Au-Prince International, the horrific connecting flight Mulder and Scully had to endure from Port-Au-Prince to Port de Paix, where the Atrius Technological Institute was based, came as a shock to the system. The airplane, built to seat 6, had been tossed like a toy boat in a bath, diving dramatically before levelling out, only to drop again after a few seconds. This pattern meant that what in actual fact was only a 40 minute plane journey had felt like it lasted a lifetime to its two passengers. More than once during the flight Scully had been convinced that they were both going to die, if not from the plane actually crashing then at the very least from a myocardial infarction.

Even Mulder, who normally was unfazed by any kind of turbulence, looked more than a little shaken when they finally touched down at the tiny airport and disembarked the plane. Running a hand through his dishevelled brown hair, Mulder leaned towards Scully and whispered, "I gotta tell you, I'm fighting the urge to throw myself on the floor and kiss the runway." Scully smiled weakly, her stomach still somewhere near her tonsils. Just before they actually reached the "airport", which to Mulder looked more like a glorified shack,

Scully stopped abruptly and dropped her bags to the floor. Mulder, who was a few steps ahead of her halted also and turned round to face her, starting to speak as he did, "Scully, you o…" his question tapered off as he turned round in time to see that he had directed his previous statement to Scully's rapidly retreating back. She dashed round the side of the airport building and out of sight, though still within earshot, as Mulder could hear the pained sounds of heaving and retching as the turbulent journey finally took its toll on her.

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Roughly an hour later, after Scully's stomach had settled sufficiently to allow them to travel, the agents pulled up in front of the Atrius Technological Institute. Mulder drove, as usual, although Scully for once had absolutely no objections to this; she didn't think she would've been able to concentrate both on the task of driving and tempering her nausea.

The Atrius Technological Institute was nothing like what Mulder and Scully had been expecting. It was mainly laid out on one storey, although a second storey was visible at the back of the building. From what they could see, there weren't many windows but all of them had blinds drawn. The walls had probably been white at one time, but the years and the elements had not been kind and the color had faded to a dull, dirty cream.

There was an entrance foyer about a hundred or so meters from where the car was parked, which both agents strode confidently towards once they had exited the vehicle. As they got closer, Mulder's eyebrows furrowed as he noticed something, or rather the lack of something.

"This is supposed to be a government facility yet there's no security? Doesn't that strike you as slightly odd?" Scully simply nodded as she pushed her way through the glass doors, holding on to one long enough for Mulder to catch it and make his way through. The doors shut behind them with a satisfying 'whoosh' of air.

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Upon entering the building, Mulder and Scully were confronted by what appeared to be a reception desk, with a bored looking receptionist perched behind it, filing her nails and skimming through a magazine that lay on the counter. Hearing the agents' footsteps, she jerked her head up and shot them a dazzling smile, which was returned half heartedly by both Mulder and Scully. Having already retrieved his badge from the right hand pocket of his jacket, Mulder took the lead.

"Hi, my name is Agent Mulder and this is Agent Scully, with the FBI. We're here to meet with Professor Jacques Arkouche, could you please tell him that we're here?" The receptionist simply gave Mulder a blank look, causing him to repeat what he'd said, only slower. Again the receptionist stared at him in confusion. Mulder turned to Scully, an exasperated look on his face, and was about to ask for her assistance when the woman behind the desk finally spoke.

"Chuis désolée; je peux pas vous comprendre. Je parle pas l'anglais. [I'm sorry; I can't understand you. I don't speak English." Mulder's eyebrows rose as his gaze shot to the receptionist then back to Scully, who shrugged.

"Well, Haiti is a predominantly French-speaking country." Rolling his eyes, Mulder turned his attentions back to the receptionist, trying unsuccessfully to get his point across by repeating his previous sentence over and over, only louder and whilst gesticulating wildly. All the receptionist could do was look blank and keep repeating the same phrase, "Je comprends pas.[I don't understand."

After about 5 minutes of the ridiculous exchange Scully could stand it no longer. Heaving a sigh she stepped forward, capturing the other woman's attention and smiled before beginning.

"Je suis désolée au sujet de mon collègue. Il ne parle pas le français. [I'm sorry for my colleague. He doesn't speak French. Je suis agent Scully et lui c'est agent Mulder. Nous venons avec le FBI et nous sommes ici pour rencontrer Professeur Jacques Arkouche. Pourriez-vous s'il-vous-plaît lui dire que nous sommes ici[I'm agent Scully and he's agent Mulder. We're here with the FBI to meet Professor Jacques Arkouche. Could you please tell him that we're here?" Mulder's mouth fell open in shock as Scully spoke in effortless French with a perfect accent. The receptionist smiled and picked up a phone, replying,

"Oui madame, je lui appellerai pour le lui dire. [Yes madam, I'll call him to tell him." After dialling a number and speaking in rapid French to the person on the other end, she hung up and turned back to Scully. "Il vient. [He's coming"

Scully smiled before concluding,

"Merci. Nous attendrons là-bas. [Thank you. We'll wait over there" She walked over to a small waiting area to the left of the reception desk. Mulder could do nothing but follow her; unable to close his mouth until they'd sat down and Scully did it for him. After a minute, Mulder regained his composure enough to speak.

"What the hell was that?" Scully simply shrugged, a coy smile spreading across her face. "Why didn't you tell me you could speak French, and save me from making an ass of myself?" She smiled wider.

"Well after you woke me up last night I couldn't get back to sleep so, given that Haiti's first language is French, I thought I'd do something productive."

All Mulder could do was shake his head.

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Thanks for being so patient. It's a bit difficult as me and my co-author don't really have the time to see each other except in lessons, so it can take us a while to get things sorted, but we've written quite a bit over the half term, so there's more to come after this!
Lily
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