Title: Wardrobe Woes

Rating: K

Status: Complete

Spoilers: The Pilot

Archive: Sure, just drop a note first.

Feedback: Yes, please

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, characters and show reference belong to their creator CC and 1013. I wish I could be so creative as to have invented them but…I am not. If you know the characters, they aren't mine. Blah, blah, blah, you know the drill but please leave a review.

Summary:

I always find Scully's wardrobe and her look fascinating. The pilot had her looking frumpy and unprepared to look like a professional FBI Agent. I love seeing the ensuing episodes just to watch her clothing style and her look evolve from young and naive to professional and jaded. She received a new job assignment, but her wardrobe was unprepared for it. She calls a college friend to help her navigate a professional look. Her college friend is my creation, all the others belong to, well see the above.

Chapter One-

FBI Agent Dana Scully had just hung up after receiving a phone call from FBI Section Chief Scott Belvins. Belvins summoned her to his office the following day at 0800 to speak with her about a job opportunity. She had no idea what he was talking about as she had not inquired about other jobs or assignments since she had been hired two years prior. She was happy to be working in the FBI morgue and teaching new recruits the finer points of forensic sciences. She had been head-hunted out of medical school when she graduated from Stanford with her Doctorate in Medicine. She wanted to return to the Baltimore area since that is where her parents settled after her father retired from the Navy and the FBI afforded her that opportunity. She hadn't thought about the FBI but after listening to them pitch their opportunities and benefits she decided it was a place she could distinguish herself.

She enjoyed teaching, she loved seeing fresh, wide-eyed agents hungry to learn and serve their Country to the best of their abilities and training. Captain Scully was disappointed his daughter turned down a promising medical career for the FBI. She carried guilt for upsetting him as he was her greatest teacher, she was his baby girl, but she wanted to serve her country as he had. She couldn't see herself answering emergency medicine when she could help solve crime and bring criminals to justice. She would be practicing medicine, sort of, they would just be dead, unable to speak, leaving her science to speak for them. She saw this as a chance to both practice medicine, serve her country, and provide justice.

The day started out bleary, a cool drizzle that looked like it would be around all day. Spring was on its way and the trees would soon be covered in bright green buds as they awakened from their winter slumber pushing out the new season of leaves. The grey clouds hung heavy and low in the sky. Earlier she had received a message commanding her to appear in Washington D.C. at 1600 hours to meet with Section Chief Scott Belvins. She pulled into the parking garage at the Hoover Building at 1530. She was early but better than making the Section Chief wait. The notice of the meeting left her intrigued, she hadn't asked for a transfer, nor had she inquired about any other positions. She parked her car, grabbed her briefcase which had copies of her updated resume, a legal pad and multiple pens. The escalator glided her to the second floor where she checked in.

She looked around as she stood in the office space. She felt honored to be working for such a storied government agency, but she was afraid she looked underdressed. Looking around all the women were wearing nice suits many appeared to be tailored. Having spent the last two years at Quantico she was used to wearing business casual clothing, usually under a lab coat. She was thankful she still had a blazer she had borrowed from a friend hanging in her car. She needed it to look business professional for the meeting. She wore a pair of light grey dress slacks, a dark grey collarless top, so the colors in the blazer matched. Looking around she regretted it. She thought the blazer probably looked ridiculous on her. It felt two sizes too big, and she was sure it looked like it. Paying her student loans and her monthly bills left little money for a sizable or up-to-date wardrobe. Her closet needed a clothing makeover, and she knew just who to call if she needed to.

As she walked to Belvin's office she was greeted by his secretary who advised her to have a seat on the couch and she would let him know his four-o'clock appointment had arrived. Sitting in the smaller reception office she looked around, American Flag in the corner, check, photos of President Bush and US Attorney General William Barr, check. Black leather couch in the waiting area, check.

"Chief Belvins will see you now Agent Scully. This way please."

She rose and followed her into his office. Walking in she noticed there were three men inside. Chief Belvins was seated behind his desk, another man next to him and a third in the right corner leaning on the file cabinet smoking a cigarette. He looked disinterested, and stared at her in a strange way making her feel a bit nervous as to what was about to unfold.

When Agent Scully emerged from Belvins' Office she was now Special Agent Dana Scully. She wasn't sure what had happened in the twenty minutes she had been in Belvins' office, but she went from large classrooms and a well-equipped morgue to a basement office and a spooky partner. She smiled wondering how she went from an office above ground to one below it. Was she to take her new assignment as a test of her ethics, a promotion, or a demotion. It didn't matter, if her new partner Special Agent Mulder could work in the basement she could too, after all she left Belvin's office believing herself to be his equal right from the start. She saw her addition to the X Files as the Bureau's way of balancing the investigations, profiling and science, two very different disciplines.

She made her way to the elevator at the south end of the building. She knew not every elevator went to the basement since it was used mostly for storage. She wondered what to say to him when she met him. She knows him by reputation, but she knows nothing else about him. How would he react to her being assigned to the X Files, what did he look like, what did the office look like, would be cold and dark or would it have a window for light. The elevator stopped and "dinged" indicating she was about to meet her new partner and see her new office. She walked slowly to the office that had his name plate on it, Fox Mulder.

She knocked on the door and heard a sarcastic reply, sorry, no one down here but the FBI's most unwanted walking in to meet her future she opened the door and saw him leaning over a lightbox slide viewer. She walked in and looked around the office, it was small, cramped and was filled with file cabinets, photographs, a poster, a small desk and case files lying around in an organized, chaotic mess. The one saving grace; a window, small but light flowed through it giving the office some natural light. The window kept the office from being dank and depressing.

He had his back to her and hadn't looked up yet, but she knew he knew she was there. She decided to interrupt him.

"Agent Mulder, I'm Dana Scully I've been assigned to work with you." She reached out her hand to greet him.

"Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded. So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail Scully." He said that looking away from her, seeming slightly irritated.

"Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you, I've heard a lot about you." She was intrigued by him, she had heard how brilliant he was at profiling, and investigations. He had graduated number one in his class both at Oxford and the FBI quite the accomplishment.

"Oh really. I was under the impression you were sent to spy on me."

"If you have any doubt about my qualifications or credentials, I'd…." She couldn't believe he just cut her off.

"You are a medical doctor, and you teach at the academy, did your undergraduate degree in physics. Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation. Dana Scully Master Thesis. Now that is a credential, rewriting Einstein."

"Did you bother to read it?" Ugh, she thought, he was incredulous.

Scully was indignant at what she thought was a mockery of her paper. Her paper, that took a good majority of her time as a graduate student at University of Maryland. She spent months researching, calculating, speaking with her professors and scientists to make her project respectable and able to withstand the scrutiny it would be under by the committee review board so she could defend it, graduate, and move on to Stanford. How dare he she thought. His reply surprised her.

"I did, I liked it. It's just in most of my work the laws of physics rarely seem to apply."

Mulder started a slide show referencing their first trip on a case as partners. Young people in Bellefleur Oregon were dying with small marks on their backs. He asked Scully her medical opinion on the marks. She could only guess at the photos, simply speculation of course, but she thought perhaps needle punctures or bites. Mulder explained to her this was their next case, and they had an eight-o'clock flight to Oregon, and he would meet her at the airport bright and early the next morning.

She left their office that afternoon feeling good about her new assignment. She entered her apartment and slipped off her shoes and walked to her bedroom. She slid off the blazer and placed it on a hanger to be returned. She pulled her shirt off and grabbed her travel bag from the floor, throwing it onto the bed. She changed into her FBI shorts and t-shirt and began packing. She looked at her sparse professional wardrobe and decided she needed to call her friend for tips and a shopping trip. If she was going to be taken seriously, she needed to look like an FBI Special Agent. She brought two suits and some casual clothes and a rain jacket in case they ended up outdoors in the rainy west coast and her thick, soft robe.

She made a quick dinner and drew a warm bath. She poured a glass of wine and stepped into the almost hot water. She allowed herself to lay back and think about her day. She didn't care for the way Belvins explained her role in the X Files. He made it sound as if they were looking for her to make Agent Mulder's work trivial or unnecessary, to debunk his work and place him back into a mainstream unit. She didn't care what Belvins wanted, she would make honest, truthful notes. She would never compromise her integrity or honor. In fact, integrity was one of the FBI's words, a code to live by, she had no intention of being a part of their agenda. If they wanted Spooky Mulder back into another unit they could do it, they were after all the FBI.

Meeting Mulder in his office, which became their office the minute she walked in was a pleasant surprise. She heard of Spooky Mulder, but she had no idea what he looked like or what kind of person he was. She found him to be quirky, intelligent, handsome, confident, and challenging. He would give her challenges to be sure and she looked forward to their discussions and differences in theory and opinion. Mulder was tall, with dark hair and green eyes, he appeared to be physically fit and had a nice smile with dimples. She would call her fashionista friend when she returned from Oregon. She would need her help to find the perfect professional suits for work. She stepped out of the bath, dried off, set her alarm, put on her pajamas and fell into bed.