Ropes
A tangle of ropes lay on the floor of the basement when Scully arrived at work. She sighed, loudly, and on seeing Mulder, asked, "Do I want to know?"
"There's a giraffe at the local zoo. The carer thinks it has been possessed, and called us in for an exorcism."
"Mulder, we don't perform exorcisms. We're the FBI." She pulled off her coat and arranged it on the rack next to Mulder's.
"I know. I was kidding. I went rock climbing on the weekend."
"Then why are the ropes here?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Why is anything here? Why are we here, Scully? It's all relative."
Rolling her eyes, she made her way to her desk, stepping carefully over the ropes. "You couldn't have at least organised them better? They're all over the place."
"I will. Later."
"What's so important that you can't do it now?"
"I'm looking for a case." He beamed at her. "Maybe something with bulls?"
This time, Scully's glare could have melted metal.
Mulder put up his hands. "Joking, joking. It's a missing person's case."
"That sounds almost too reasonable," Scully said. "What's the catch?"
"Giant ravine?"
"Oh, brother."
Mulder grinned, sheepishly. "Grab your coat, Scully. And your hiking boots. We're going to the mountains."
She reluctantly left her desk, offering it a longing look as she stepped once more over the ropes, and retrieving the coat she had only just placed on the rack. Mulder followed. He put a hand on the small of her back and led her out toward the elevator.
"We're not taking the rope with us?" she asked, confused.
Mulder shook his head. "Nope."
"Why not?"
"It's the mountains, Scully. The park rangers we'll be meeting up with will have a rope or two."
Two hours later
"We should have brought that rope," she said.
fin.
