X Files:
Welcome Back Mulder office party
Chapter 2
The end of the day couldn't come fast enough for Agent Scully. She was excited to introduce Mulder to her friends at the FBI. She remembered a few faces in Skinner's search team who helped find Mulder when they stampeded into the compound in which Jeremiah Smith was hiding.
They found Mulder dead at the camp, and Scully ran to find Smith. But it was too late - by the time she ran back to the compound, Smith had been abducted and taken back by aliens in a spaceship that hovered over the camp for a few minutes before disappearing. Scully thought their one last hope to save Mulder had gone for good, until they bought Mulder back to hospital and took him off life support. Scully had found that it was incubating the virus in Mulder's body, and Mulder would heal simply by lying in hospital and having some anti-virals. So that's what they did, and Mulder recovered in hospital a few days later.
Scully was looking forward to seeing her friend Sally Howton. Sally had kept watch over Mulder in hospital when Scully wasn't there, and she felt she had a great debt to Sally. At 5pm, she asked Doggett to go to the bullpen and keep the door closed for Mulder. So Doggett did, and took his bags with him.
Agent Doggett wasn't great mates with Mulder, but the two were on talking terms again now that they had time to get to know each other. Scully told him she thought the party would build their friendship too, so it was doubly important to Scully that Doggett and Mulder both came.
FBI agent Sally Howton opened the bullpen door for Doggett and ushered him in. Doggett and Howton had met before but only briefly. He met her when he had to go with Scully and leave Mulder for a while. Howton then arrived after Scully had called her and she had made small talk with Doggett before Doggett and Scully left her in charge of watching over Mulder. Doggett thought Howton was a likeable person. She was in her mid forties, and had long brown hair. Her hazel eyes lit up when she recognised him. "Agent Doggett," she said. "Agent Howton," Doggett replied with a grin, and the two shook hands. "Come in. Scully said she'd call us when she'll come up with Mulder," she said. "We don't have long, though. Have you got everything?" she asked.
"Everything except the kitchen sink," Doggett told her. He looked behind her in the darkened office, and could make out about a dozen people standing behind her. One figure he recognised instantly was his partner, Special Agent Monica Reyes. She smiled as she walked up to Doggett. "Hey," she greeted him, and he grinned at her. "Hey, Monica," he replied. "Ready to party?" he asked her. Reyes grinned back. "As ready as I'll ever be," she said.
Doggett took in the scene. Above them was a huge banner saying, 'WELCOME BACK AGENT MULDER', and there was a drawing of a little grey alien under the writing. The banner was hung over a table which was laid with cakes, cans of beer and drink, as well as squash and chocolate. Scully had a craving for pizza, so there was a few pizza slices on the table, too. Everyone stayed quiet. Doggett unpacked his bag and another agent showed him where to put his contributions to the party.
He had a six pack of beer and a cake, which said, 'Welcome back Spooky' and a picture of a UFO underneath it in the icing. After he laid his items on the table, Howton made a 'ssshhh' gesture by placing a finger over her lips. "I hear them coming," she told them as she waited by the door. So Agents Doggett and Reyes stood quietly with the rest of the group as they waited for Scully and Mulder to come in.
