Undercover: Chapter 4

She felt the imaginary prison walls closing around her as they drove up to the Hoover Building. She agreed to this but it didn't feel real until she looked at that building. It was where she worked, she spent more time in the confines of their basement office than she spent at home but today it looked imposing. As if it was towering over her, sealing her fate. She felt ridiculous, it wasn't even the prison, she could only imagine how bad it would be then. She felt panic coming over as she really thought about what she had gotten herself into. Prison! She's going to prison! And not just any prison, a prison where a guard is allegedly using mind control to get inmates to do sexual favors for him. While she and Mulder could debate day and night about whether or not mind control exists she has seen evidence that she can't deny its existence, though she will not allow herself to believe in it wholeheartedly she will admit that there is a suggestibility some people such as Brother Andrew and the Pusher has over others. Also, at the end of the day whether or not he has mind control capabilities doesn't matter all that much what matters is if he is guilty of having sex or sexual activities with inmates whether or not he uses mind control to do that it is still illegal regardless.

Mulder had a reason to be upset the other day, she was being led into a trap as bait for a rapist! She knew why she was doing it, she needed to protect those women. That's why she took this job, but she is starting to think she bit off more than she can chew. Maybe Mulder was right for trying to talk her out of it. Maybe she can't handle this!

Scully felt like she was spiraling but was pulled out of it a little bit by Mulder's grabbing her hand and she noticed he missed the entrance to the parking lot. Not trusting her voice, she gave him a questioning look.

"I'm giving you a few minutes, Dana. I will drive around this block as many times as you need… and before you say it, I don't care if we are late, they will have to wait for us," he said and for once she didn't argue, instead she just looked out the window as she used the grounding techniques that Mulder taught her a while ago.

"Look, I know you can do this but if you need to back out that is okay," he said as he did the third lap around the Hoover Building.

She shook her head, "No, I'll be okay, just one more lap" she said her voice more timid than he ever heard it. She is going to have to pull herself together or those women in prison are going to have a field day with her, he fretted but knowing her the second she steps out of this car it will be like this anxiety attack didn't even happen. She may be short and petite but she is strong and determined and he is sure she will find a way to do fine in prison despite the fact she should never be there in the first place. She's feistier and scrappier than she looks sometimes.

One more lap turned into a few more laps and he watched as Skinner walked out and made eye contact with him but saw understanding in his eyes instead of annoyance or anger. He nodded at Mulder as if to say 'take your time'.

"Okay," she said after one final lap, sounding more like the Scully he knows. "Let's go". He turned into the parking lot and Skinner came up to greet them.

"I'm sorry, sir" Scully said sheepishly and he smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, Agent Scully. I don't have much to review with you before our review with the full team, I allowed ample time, just in case" he said. He scheduled an hour-long review with her and Mulder but didn't expect the meeting to take longer than 30 minutes. He basically just needs to go over the plan with them in person, have them sign a bunch of paperwork, and answer any questions. He allowed ample time just in case this happened and to allow them some more time together to help her mentally prepare before she was brought into prison. This whole day is basically dedicated to getting this set up. At 10 a.m., the whole team gets together to go over the safety plan, review the case, and get their false identifications. At 11 a.m., Laura Pencott comes in and talks with everyone about how the prison runs and the working requirements of being a guard in addition to keeping Scully safe and investigating Jack as well as debriefing Scully on inmate expectations. Then it's lunch, which Skinner is treating the whole team to, and from then until 2 p.m. it is just reviewing the code system, getting used to the identities, and asking any questions that come up.

Scully seemed to calm down more as the meetings went on and while they all ate pizza they tried to keep the conversation light and she was feeling more at ease. After lunch, Mulder felt confident enough that she wasn't going to have a panic attack if she was away from him that he encouraged her to just go for a walk to get some fresh air and Laura agreed to accompany her. Scully knew that Mulder was not just trying to get her time to have a sense of normalcy with a walk but also wanting to talk with everyone yet again to convey the importance of keeping her safe. While she got more at ease, he seemed to be getting more anxious and this is all he feels like he has control over right now so she agreed and just hoped that he doesn't go too hard on them.

"I admire your courage and dedication," Laura said as they walked out of the Hoover Building.

"Just doing my job"

"This goes above your normal job duties from what I heard… either way I appreciate the help"

"Why wasn't this just an internal affairs matter?"

"It has been, IA has investigated and 'found nothing' and then more allegations, they come out and find nothing again, and on the third time, one of the IA officers got fired for getting caught disposing of evidence which he swears he would never do saying that Jack somehow coerced him. Whatever that evidence was its now completely destroyed. We don't have anything concrete to stick to him, the women always end up recanting and we didn't turn up any other evidence. Other than the allegations, he is a stellar employee, never late always does over time, and does great work but there are just too many allegations that I feel strongly that I am putting the inmates I am tasked to oversee in danger by having him here and then the IA officer said the coerce thing and the women are saying something similar and…."

"And…?"

"He's my supervisee but honestly he makes me a bit uncomfortable myself, always had, and there are times after supervision that I just feel like he had some hold over me too, I can't really explain it. I mean never anything inappropriate of course just odd. I reached out to Skinner and explained the whole thing and he told me about the X-Files. I don't know what else to try. Honestly, I need to feel like my prison is safe for the inmates but I have nothing on this guy." Laura said. "My goal is to make sure that everyone is safe; you, the inmates, and the guards."

"Well, we will do everything we can"

"I can tell… how long have you and Mulder been a thing?" she asked and Scully laughed.

"Well we have been partners for nearly 6 years now, started dating a year ago, and engaged 3 months ago," she said holding up her hand to show off the ring.

"Oh wow, he did a great job picking it out"

"Oh please, he thinks he picked it out, I guided him to it, his taste is questionable," she said and Laura laughed.

"Smart!.. Do you have a date for the wedding yet?"

"No, honestly we barely started planning it. I don't want anything too big just family and friends, maybe Spring time. I don't know, neither of us is really the wedding planning type so we haven't really gotten a lot planned"

"We should probably head back before your fiance goes full-blown crazy on them," Laura said and Scully nodded.

Meanwhile, Mulder was about ready to punch Agent Owens in the face. He feels confident that Agent Doggett and Agent Reyes are taking this as seriously as he is but Agent Owens seems to be not that invested.

"Look man, calm down," Agent Owens said in what may have been an attempt to assuage the other agent's worries but if so it backfired horribly.

"Calm down?" Mulder yelled.

"Agent Mulder…" Skinner said hoping that Mulder would keep control over his emotions right now and not punch another agent in the face today.

"No! I need him to take this seriously and I don't think he is. I think this is just another assignment for you" he yelled at Agent Owens.

"It is! This is personal for you but to me, this is just another case," he said infuriating Mulder.

"Find someone else to replace him" Mulder demanded Skinner.

"Agent Mulder!"

"Sp- Agent Mulder, I will do everything in my power to keep her safe because that's my job. I don't know either of you personally but I will have her back as I would any other agent, okay?"

"I don't like your attitude," Mulder said.

"This is serious, Agent Owens, another agent is in a very vulnerable position undercover, I need you to take this seriously"

"I assure you I will"

Mulder looked over at Reyes and Doggett, "I need whoever is working with him, to ensure he is taking this seriously. I am trusting all of you to keep her safe, please"

"Of course," Agent Doggett said. "You have my word, I'll protect her like she's my own family"

"I got her back in there, I promise," Agent Reyes said.

"Same" Agent Owens said and Mulder sighed not really trusting him at all despite him claiming to have her back.

Mulder and Scully spent the last hour together in their basement office, having gotten permission to do their preparations separately. They didn't talk for a while as they sat and reviewed the case, code, and new identity information in companion silence.

"O'Hanna?" he said testing to see if she would look up to the name yet and she did though not as quickly as her own name obviously.

"Riggs?" she asked back.

"That's guard Riggs to you," he said and she laughed. "I don't trust Owens"

"Mulder…"

"No I'm serious, he doesn't take it seriously enough. It's just another case to him"

"I'm sure it is… he doesn't know us"

"But any case with an agent undercover…"

"That's what he does, his main role is going undercover and supporting undercover agents. Basically, all his cases are that, you know that you looked into him when he was assigned, so it would be just another case but he has a great record. It'll be fine." she said looking at the clock: 1:40 pm.

"We should head back up," she said anxiety seeping into her voice again. It won't be long now before she is officially Inmate O'Hanna.

"Alright, we are gonna have to head out, any more questions before we go?" Skinner asked and everyone shook their head he looked at Scully who he could tell was anxious.

"You can still call it quits, no consequences," he said. She appeared to actually consider it for a second before shaking her head.
"I'm okay," she said and Mulder pulled her aside for a minute.

"Are you sure? There is no shame in calling it quits" he said rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. To his surprise, she didn't pull her hand away as she normally frowns upon any PDA at work despite the fact that it is now common knowledge that they are together.

"I'm fine," she said.

About half an hour later, at 2:35 pm, they arrived at the local police station where they were meeting the shuttle bus going to pick her up at 2:45 pm. They were given an interrogation room for a bit of time to have some privacy. Scully looked at the jumpsuit feeling like putting it on officially shifts her from 'Doctor/Agent Dana Scully' to 'Inmate Claudia O'Hanna'.

"Hey, it's okay, it's temporary and O'Hanna is just a role you are playing, putting that on doesn't mean you aren't Scully," he said as if reading her like a book. She blinked away the tears. She grabbed it and went to change in the bathroom, while Mulder and Reyes went to change into the guard uniform.

A few minutes later, the inmate shuttle showed up and she took deep breaths to keep her nerves in check, she needed to not have a panic attack on her way into prison it would quickly make her a target.

"Okay," she said, and he pulled her into a passionate kiss with them only breaking apart when they needed air.

"Ready?" he asked showing her the handcuffs and she took another deep breath and nodded.

"Ready," she said and he gently grabbed her hands and put the cuffs on her. He watched as she squeezed her eyes shut as he cuffed her and knew she was doing grounding techniques to keep herself calm.

"Alright, you ready to go to prison?" he asked leading her towards the shuttle. She sat down in one of the rows not making eye contact with any of the 3 other inmates that were already on. Mulder sat in a different bus row to not be suspicious. They both watched in anxious anticipation as the prison came into view. She stepped off the bus as Inmate Claudia Ann O'Hanna and was led into the prison.

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