FBI Headquarters:
Agent Whitney approaches Mulder, "The sketch artist just sent this over," She hands him over the sketch Father Joe helped put together describing what he saw go into the missing agent's back.
"What the hell is that?" Mulder asks
"Not sure, I've sent it out to some top Zoologists, I'm waiting to hear back," Whitney tells him.
"Alright, want to split the list, make sure they are taking this seriously?" Mulder asks.
"Good idea," Agent Whitney tells him, "You want A-M or N-Z?"
"Never been too fond of the AM I'll take N through Z." She passes him over the list and they both get to work calling scientists.
2 hours later...
"I got nothing concrete you?" Mulder asks.
"Nothing, but there's one who still hasn't gotten back to me."
"Who?" Mulder asks,
"A new hire at Oxford, Katherine Muller." Whitney tells him.
"My old alma mater? How about that,"
"I can't keep doing this and have nothing to show for it," Whitney tells him frustrated, "They are days away from declaring her likely deceased.. and I can't let that happen, not without knowing for sure."
"Alright, I have some frequent flier miles saved, how about you go back to working the classic angles of missing persons cases and I'll let you know if I kick up anything interesting in jolly ole England."
A few hours later Mulder is boarding a flight.
Scully POV:
I got the sketch the FBI had faxed over, nearly had a stroke when my T.A. told me they had left a message for me. I thought I would have to run and grab James... disappear again. Apparently, there was a missing agent and they had reason to believe she had last been seen in proximity to this unknown slug-like creature.
The pattern of the skin and overall shape suggested a cone snail but I couldn't be sure. For one thing, there were head ferns depicted, which are typically only found on Axolotl. They increase the surface area for gas exchange working like gills. A snail wouldn't need gills. The other irregularity was the presence of a tail. It almost seemed to qualify as an X-file.
Deciding I had nothing that could help the missing agent I decided not to call back and headed home for the day.
I held James longer than normal when I got home... today had made me miss Mulder, more than I normally do. But eventually, I let my little man go back to playing as I made dinner for us.
3rd Person POV:
Mulder's plane landed early in the morning, he decided to get a few hours sleep before showing up unannounced at Katherine Muller's office. He didn't have a lot of hope about following this lead but it was better than doing nothing when an agent was missing and about to be declared dead.
He arrived at Oxford at 3 pm and took his time strolling around for a bit before making his way over to the Zoology department.
He arrived at Katherine Muller's door and knocked,
"Sorry no one here," The voice responded... there was something about that voice.
No, it couldn't be... for one thing she had an English accent. Still, Mulder was suddenly very nervous as he turned the handle and entered anyway.
It was a blonde woman who had her back turned to him, just when he started to deflate that it clearly wasn't Scully she swiveled her chair around and BAM, their eyes connected...
they had found one another again.