Chapter 2: Basement Office Revisited.
Scully walked into the familiar office as if they had never been away from it. The X-files were reopened they had been busy with other cases but the office had been badly damaged in the fire and so it had been in a state of disarray until they could return. They had been established in another department, temporarily, to continue with their work, but as she walked in the comfort of knowing they once again had their own space hit her and she smiled to herself knowing that Mulder would be waiting down in the quiet basement for her. Surprisingly enough the office had always been a mess of papers, folders, books and photographs and Mulder sat at his desk pouring over something that he looked very interested in, like nothing had ever changed. Scully couldn't even tell that things were different. The office was already a mess, the posters had already found themselves back onto the walls, and Mulder's desk was almost completely covered with anything and everything he could possibly put on it. The rest of the office wasn't as bad but it did not look like a new office. Mulder had already been nesting and he got the office back, as fast as he could, to the way he liked it.
"Morning Scully," Mulder said as he looked up at her. "You look chipper today."
"Happy to be back are we?" She asked with a laughed.
"Its like coming home," Mulder smiled, "don't you think."
"What are you working on?" She asked as she sat down and faced him.
"This has been sent our way," he said handing the file to Scully.
"It doesn't sound like one of our cases," she said as she leafed through the folder.
"People eating people is just too much for behavioral to handle I guess," Mulder said, "we always get the weird ones even if it's paranormal or not, but maybe this time we'll really find Hannibal the Cannibal, doesn't that sound fun?"
"It's a serial case," Scully said, looking at the crime scene photographs, "why are you interested in it. So the killer takes trophies. Why had behavioral sent it to us?"
"Because the killer eats only the fleshy parts of the woman's fingers and takes her hair." Mulder stated. "He eats the meat right off the bones…"
"And someone else wants you to profile it?" Scully asked with a hint of uncertainty on her voice.
"No it's been turned over to the X-files," he said.
"But why, it's not an X-file," Scully stated
"It reminds me of Toombs," Mulder said.
"I'd say more like Donnie," Scully stated.
"I wasn't going to bring him up, but alright," Mulder stated, "it has some similarities with Donnie, but I don't want to lump them together. I think there is something worth investigating here."
"These murders have all happened in the last five years; the bodies are intact minus the hair and the fingers being eating. It's a case of serial killing and cannibalism. How it is an X-file?" she asked.
"And every agent who has ever taken this case has left the bureau unexpectedly following some slight investigation," Mulder said.
"Agents leave all the time, they become too involved in the case, or the case becomes too disturbing," Scully said and shrugged her shoulders.
"You don't have to take the case if you don't want to," Mulder said as he leaned back in his chair.
"Mulder, you are the one that gets all uptight about wasting our time. You really think this is worth it?" she asked.
"It could be a really big break for us," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"And since when is that priority for you?" Scully asked.
"We need to lay low for a while, make some progress. If we break this case then maybe the Bureau will get off our backs for a while," Mulder said.
"I knew there was something else!" Scully said as she slammed the folder down on the desk, "Alright, I'll go see if I can take a look at the most resent victims. You dust off you profiling cap and get on figuring out our killer," she added.
"The body has been sent to Quantico," Mulder said.
"Yeah I read that," Scully said as she stood.
"Have fun," Mulder laughed.
"Oh always, at least this time I know there is nothing crazy and infectious going to jump out at me," Scully said.
"Yeah it will be a nice break for you," Mulder laughed, "no alien autopsies!"
"Wow, this is going to be so weird!" Scully said sarcastically and walked out of the office.
"And you mean weird because it's not going to be weird at all?" Mulder asked teasingly. "We'll have this case solved by dinner time, then you can get all dolled up and I'll take you out somewhere fancy to celebrate."
"You're idea of fancy is a baseball game," Scully laughed.
"Hey baseball is high culture, woman," Mulder smiled.
"Goodbye Mulder," Scully chimed from the doorway and left.
Mulder laughed to himself and settled back in his chair looking around his office and deciding what to change next. There was a lot of work to do to get the place back to the way he liked it. There were tons of case photos he wanted up on the walls to make it feel like he had never left, and with Scully out of his way, and her feminine touches not to be worried about, he began his task of setting his office to its original state. After all, it was his home away from home, when he wasn't staying at Scully's.