Child
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a child?"
"Yes they have. Many times."
"Has it ever occurred to you why that might be?"
Mulder continues to play on the Nintendo he'd discovered at a yard sale the day before and not taking his eyes from the screen offered a careless grunt.
"Mulder! We're supposed to be working." She flips open a file and holding it in the air tells him the basics. "Young girl. Missing. No signs of forced entry into the house. A yet to be identified substance, pale yellow in colour, was found at the scene."
"It was the parents," he fills her in immediately. "Or one of them anyway. The dad, I'm guessing, faked the kidnap because their marriage is on the rocks; he wants out and doesn't want to go through a messy lawsuit to get custody. Losing a kid breaks families apart. He could leave with the kid and his wife would be none the wiser."
"The yellow substance?"
"Mucus or pus or maybe custard. That's my guess. It's probably nothing."
Scully frowns at him and runs her tongue over her lips. She closes the file. "Maybe you're right but we still have to investigate it, Mulder. Let's go." She puts the file on her desk while she pulls on her coat.
Mulder flicks his eyes up from his game for a split second and then returns his attention back to it. "Just a minute," he says. "I'm almost finished this level."
She slaps a hand to her face and sighs. "Child."
fin.