Title: When Mulder Met Scully
Rating: K+
Status: Complete
Spoilers: None, my own imagination is responsible for this one.
Archive: Wow, what an honor, hell yes, just drop a note first.
Feedback: Most definitely
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, characters and show reference belong to their creator CC and 1013. No money so, I prefer you just read, enjoy (hopefully) and leave reviews. I need the critiques to get better at this.
Summary:
What if Scully was never assigned to the X Files. Mulder was working with Doggett in the X Files and Scully is the M.E. downstairs. A chance meeting takes place.
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"Mulder, you going over for the autopsy of the dead guy today or am I?" John shouted to him thinking he was in the back of the office.
"No need to shout John I'm just right around the corner."
"I didn't see you there."
"I'll go, I need to talk to the M.E. anyway about the Carolwood case." Mulder grabbed a file and his jacket. "And John, they only do autopsies on dead people so,….."
"Potato, patato, I don't know how the hell you always manage to go over there around lunch time, it's disgusting." John shook his head and made a face of disgust sticking his tongue out. "Plah. It's all yours partner. I'm going to meet Monica for a lunch that smells like food not rotting flesh. You want me to bring you anything back?"
"Naw, but I appreciate it, tell her I said hey. I don't know why you don't just ask her out on a real date. Stop pretending and get down to it; you are easier to tolerate after you spend time with her."
"I'm good, thanks for the dating advice even though I have no idea when the last time was you were on a date yourself that doesn't involve a tape machine of sorts." John laughed remembering those tapes in his bottom drawer weren't his.
"I will see you later." Mulder slid out the door and walked the corridors to the M.E.'s basement office on the other side of the building.
He found autopsies disgusting but necessary. The smell when they cracked open the stomach and lower bowel was horrid, he had no idea how people did that for a living. He didn't get squeamish or nauseated, he knew they were needed but, they were just foul.
He walked into the M.E.'s Office finding it empty, so he walked into the cutting room as he called it. Finding one body out on a gurney and apparently ready for examination, it was covered from the chest down with a white sheet. He was glad he remembered his jacket the room was cold.
"Hello, Doctor Carter. You here, it's Agent Mulder I'm here for the Johnson autopsy." He said semi-checking the room not wanting to walk inside any deeper. "He must be at lunch." he said under his breath.
He turned towards the door when he heard footsteps. A woman he didn't recognize dressed in maroon scrubs walked in. She saw him and stopped, no one was supposed to be beyond the office area. She figured he was an agent, but he was in a restricted area. He was tall, lanky, and had on a nice suit but the tie was horrible. She thought he was handsome, moving closer, she noticed he had beautiful green eyes and a nice smile.
"I'm sorry, you are…?" she asked him.
He opened his jacket revealing a badge while fishing out his credentials from his pocket. "Agent Mulder, I'm here for the Johnson autopsy, it's my case." He extended his hand to her. She pulled off a nitrile glove and in turn gave him hers.
"I'm Doctor Scully. Doctor Carter isn't here; he's probably home packing his things." She stepped past him and pulled out another pair of gloves, putting them on. She walked to the examination table and pulled the sheet down grabbing the microphone hanging above her.
He observed her move around the office as if she had been there a thousand times, but he had never seen her here before. He was sure of it, because he knew he would remember her. He stared at her, she was short, and had the most perfect color of copper hair he'd ever seen. It was gathered in a ponytail and hung down to her shoulder blades. Her eyes were an intense blue, not dark but not light. She had a small straight nose and a body whose form he could see through the scrubs was proportionate.
"Is Doctor Carter leaving?" He secretly hoped he was because if this woman was his replacement, he was going to find any excuse to come down here more often. He couldn't explain the draw he had towards her, but he couldn't deny it.
"Yes, he's accepted a job elsewhere." She said while she pulled the tray of instruments next to the body.
"Are you, his replacement?"
She caught herself being indignant for a brief second, but she realized it was just his lack of awareness of morgue hours. He didn't seem to mean it as a sexist comment at least she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. She chuckled and shook her head.
"I've been working here for three years now so, not his replacement but I will be working more day hours. No more vampire hours, or weekends unless circumstances require it. I teach at the Academy three days a week and I spend two nights here and take call outs two weeks a month. I'll be working two days now, no more nights unless something comes up."
"I didn't mean anything by that, it was just a question. I guess working days have a way of keeping a person somewhat sheltered. We forget about the folks who work the night hours to keep things going. My apologies…ah…Doctor Scully. I didn't get your first name." He hoped his attempt at getting her first name was as smooth as he wanted it to be.
"Well, I didn't give it to you." She turned and smiled at him. She liked him and she wasn't sure why. She had just met him for the first time, but he seemed genuine and wasn't acting like a pig as so many of the other agents had. They'd come down and realize she was alone, and start in with the unwelcomed comments. She had thrown several of them out on their asses banning them from the examination room.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." He was leaning against one of the counters, his smile was warm and just a little coy accenting the cleft in his chin. His attempt at gaining her first name was adorable. Her eyes were drawn to his suit again it was grey, Armani she guessed. She loved a man in a nice suit, and he looked good in it. It fit him well and she could tell by his physique he spent time in the gym. His shirt was a darker grey and that god awful tie was black. Whoever dressed him needed to look at a color wheel.
"Hmmm, we could guess but I don't have time today and my name isn't very common, so we'd be here a while. I have 4 more bodies waiting for me, one of them being yours. Oh, ….that, …that came out wrong, I meant one of them is the man involved in your case." She smiled and looked away from him. She felt herself blush, so she turned away and started to absent-mindedly rearrange the instruments on the tray.
"I'll bet you mine is stranger than whatever your is." He tilted his head and leaned forward in an effort to see the smile she was trying to hide as she turned away. 'Damn' he thought, she is stunning.
"I didn't say my name was strange, I said it wasn't common." She grabbed a mask and the Stryker Saw. Looking at him she grabbed an extra mask and tossed to him. "You'll need this if you plan to stay." She turned back to the body.
"Ah, hey Doctor no first name Scully before you get started on this guy, how long before you get to Johnson?" He had an idea to prolong his time with her.
She smiled at his attempt to gain her first name. "He's next so thirty to forty five minutes, I doubt this guy holds any surprises, the gunshot in his forehead is kind of a clue."
"I'm going to grab lunch. I can bring it back if there are no rules about eating in here, just tell me what to get for you."
Eating next to or over dead carcass wasn't his idea of lunch but, this woman unknowingly cast a spell over him. She looked up at him, blue eyes locking to his.
"Where are you going?" she said as she turned back to the body.
"Romano's", he swallowed hard as her gaze left his. "I was going to get a sandwich."
"Well, my hands are kind of indisposed right now, if you'll take payment when you get back, I love their turkey meatloaf sub. If you could get me one of those with marinara and a side of the hot relish it would be appreciated."
"I love their hot relish. You want a small or a large?" He began walking backwards towards the door while awaiting her answer, not wanting to take his eyes off her.
"A small please."
"Drink?"
"We have water here so, I'm good with that."
"I'll be back in a few." He turned towards the door to leave.
"Thank you, and it's Dana." She said without looking up.
He stopped and turned around. He whispered her name to himself 'Dana'. He smiled and walked out.
True to his word he returned with lunch about thirty minutes later. As he walked in, she was pushing the slab into the refrigerated compartment, closing the door. She turned around and saw him outside of the door. He pushed it open and stood there.
"You eat over the body or we going to eat like normal people at a table where dropping crumbs won't matter?"
"I won't make you eat in here. We can go to my office. I'd say the kitchen but, I don't trust the part timers to keep the table clean."
He followed her down a short hallway into an office. Two desks, one obviously belonged to Carter, it was empty. The other was adorned with files, papers, and a picture of her in a black and red graduation gown trimmed with green. He guessed by the resemblance the others in the photo were her sister and parents. Shelves behind her desk were filled with books on anatomy, biology, microbiology, and other medical disciplines.
"Here sit." She motioned to a red high-backed leather chair. "I'll clear an area. I'm sorry, I'm so far behind in my notes. It's been busy here the last few days with Carter gone and my teaching schedule I've been working double time. I guess I know how I'll be spending my weekend."
He placed the bag on his lap while she cleared her desk. As he watched her, he observed a woman who was probably not used to be behind in her work. He saw a woman who was diligent, orderly, and resolute. She pulled out a roll of paper towels and reached for two bottles of water from her mini fridge.
"Get set up. I'm going to wash my hands; I'll be right back."
"The men's room is where?" He stood, and she pointed to the left of the hallway.
"I really appreciate you grabbing me the sandwich. I probably would have grabbed some junk out of the vending machine or just worked straight through." She looked over her desk at him as he handed her the sandwich.
"Happy to do it. I was grabbing something anyway."
They ate while exchanging benign information. He discovered she had been at the FBI as an instructor at Quantico for three years. One year in she became one of the assistant medical examiners working several nights a week and taking call outs on the occasional weekend.
She discovered he worked in a small unit that investigated cases that were not easily solved. She thought he was well-spoken, intelligent, and respectful. He asked more questions than she did but nothing personal or contentious.
By the time lunch was over she was convinced she'd like to know more about this him and he was determined to learn as much about her as she would allow. As he cleaned up her desk and got ready for the Johnson dissection, he looked around but did not see a coffee maker. They walked to the examination room, she grabbed a mask and a pair of gloves donning a gown and pulled open compartment thirteen. She pulled out Johnson's body and transferred it to the gurney rolling it near the sink.
"You in tomorrow morning?" he asked her as he grabbed a mask and leaned against the counter near Johnson.
"Yes, and whatever notes I don't finish tonight I'll be completing in the morning before I start dissecting anyone because the following day I'm back at Quantico." Whatever cologne he was wearing was wonderful. It was one of those scents that would make you follow someone anywhere.
An hour later she rolled Johnson's body back into the compartment. Taking off her mask, gown and gloves she tossed them into the red bio-hazardous box and walked to the sink to wash her hands. He threw his mask into the red container like she had and stood near the sink.
There was that scent again, damn, she liked it. "Well, we'll have to wait for the tox-report but if I had to guess I say your Mr. Johnson was killed by poison. His cardiovascular system has the telltale yellow-green coloration indicating digitalis and his esophagus was raw indicating vomiting. The tox report will confirm or deny that. It should be ready in a week."
She dried her hands and leaned against the counter next to him. She tried not to stand too close, but she did enjoy the proximity to him. She was sorry the room smelled faintly like bowel and decomposition. Even with downdraft fans the amount of work just caused the room to have that ever present odor.
"I appreciate your guess I know you coroners don't like to speculate." He knew she'd correct him. He was waiting for it; he couldn't help it he just loved listening to her voice.
She turned and looked at him, crossing her arms she saw the smile creep across his face. "You are well aware of the difference between coroners and medical examiners and if you aren't I'm giving you homework."
"I saw the photograph in your office. I am well aware of my misnomer I just wanted to see you smile. It lights up this office." He glimpsed that head turn and shy smile for the second time today, it was so sweet.
"I know you're busy. Thank you for the lunch company and for giving me the tentative information on Johnson."
"Before you go, hang on." She left the room and returned a minute later. "I almost forgot to pay you for lunch." She held the money out for him to take.
"I'm not taking that so put it away. You get it next time." He smiled at her and walked out.
She stood there watching him walk out, eyebrows raised, letting out her breath 'ooh boy'. Definitely Armani, only men with nice glutes can wear those suits well. She finished up the last two autopsies and cleaned up the room spraying everything down. She changed out of her scrubs, placed them in her gym bag, and sprayed down her shoes leaving them in the locker room to dry. She changed into her regular clothes, and shoes, grabbed several files and walked out turning the office over to the night crew.
The weather was cold, and it was already dark as she walked through the parking garage to her car. Her thoughts turned to Agent Mulder. He was certainly handsome, tall, interesting and then she realized she never got his first name. Did I lose myself in him so deeply I forgot to ask, well that was rude Dana. She unlocked her car, placed her files on the front passenger seat and headed home.