Date sent: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 17:28:50 +0100 From: Caroline Subject: Spooky Night (1/1) Caroline O'Callaghan Spooky Night (1/1) by Caroline O'Callaghan caroline.o@virgin.net Classification: Pre-X-Files story. Maybe a little angsty. Rating: G Spoilers: None. Summary: Dana Scully and Fox Mulder meet in a bar one night, two years before they famously meet in the basement of the Hoover building. ********* Dana Scully could feel the alcohol starting to buzz around her bloodstream. She was light-headed, and feeling no pain. Not that there should be any pain to be felt on this particular occasion. This was a good evening, a celebration. Her training at the Academy had finished that afternoon. She was now a fully-fledged member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Special Agent Dana 'Don't mess with me' Scully. She giggled at the name she'd made up for herself, and her friend and classmate, Melanie Sykes, stopped lining up her shot on the pool table and turned to her. "What's so funny?" Scully shrugged at her tall, dark-haired friend. "Nothing. Just looking forward to the future." Melanie sank the nine ball. "Beat ya Scully. Took me a while, but I finally beat ya." "Only because I'm drunk. Which reminds me, let's get another drink." "Sure you haven't had enough?" "Are you kidding? You're talking to a sailor's daughter here. I haven't even started. Besides, look at those guys." She nodded towards the rest of their classmates who were all sitting around a large table in the corner of the busy Georgetown bar. "They're totally wasted already, I have to catch up." Scully put her cue down and walked towards the bar. Melanie followed and they perched on a couple of stools while they waited to be served. "So long as I don't have to carry you home and put you to bed." "Might find a nice guy to do that for me." Melanie grinned. "Now I know you've had too much to drink. You're contemplating picking up a guy in a bar. Didn't your mother warn you about that?" "She said it was okay as long as he had a nice stable job and was willing to provide me with a house in the suburbs and two-point-four children." "All of which you'd run screaming from." "Exactly. I want a bit of adventure. Why d'you think I joined the F.B.I? I just wish they'd put me out in the field." Melanie caught the barman's eye and ordered for them before she turned back to Dana. "Teaching at Quantico is supposed to be an honour. You should feel flattered they assigned you there." "Its boring. I wanna do what you're going to do. Be out in the field, flashing my gun around and shoving my I.D. in people's faces." "Yeah well. Think about it this way. You're going back to somewhere where they all know you as an excellent student and have respect for you. I'm being thrown into a department with fifty-six, balding, middle-aged men, who no doubt are going to do their best to drive me out. They'll treat me like a secretary and I'll have to work twice as hard as they do before they'll sit up and realise that I'm a good agent." "But they will in the end Mel. I have faith in you." Melanie collected their drinks and they clinked their bottles of beer together. "To the future." "To Dana Scully. Future Director of the FBI." Scully laughed. "So. What's all this about picking up a guy? What about Jack?" Dana made a face. "Its over." Melanie looked at her doubtfully. "I know I've said that before, but it really is this time. I can't handle it anymore. He drives me crazy. He's a total workaholic. He gets obsessed with his cases. When he's working on something big he forgets I even exist, and then two weeks later he suddenly remembers he has a girlfriend. I can't take it. Even when he's with me, I don't feel like he's really with me." Melanie shrugged. "He's with the VCS. An agent I know who works there says that all of the department find it difficult to leave the work at the office. You take a lot of it home with you, in your head. You'd probably be the same, if they ever let you out in the field." Dana waved her hand in protest. "Absolutely not, never. I'm committed to my career, but its not going to be all my life's about. I want some kind of social life too." "I have twenty bucks says you and Jack will be back together within a week." "You're on." They shook hands and Melanie got off her bar stool. "I'm going to the bathroom." "Don't be long, I'm kind of a sitting duck here." Melanie patted her knee. "I thought you wanted to get lucky." "Yeah well the Academy has taught me the importance of back-up." Melanie smiled and headed for the bathroom while Dana took a swig of her beer and stared at herself in the mirror behind the bar. Her image looked blurry and she realised that Melanie probably was right. She had had too much to drink, which wasn't a good idea in a bar known as one of the Bureau's watering holes. Most of the clientele were off-duty agents, and her class had wanted to come and mingle with them, now that they had joined their ranks. It wouldn't do for her to get drunk and embarrass herself in front of people she may have to work with in the future. But she wanted to get hammered. She needed the kick of alcohol so that she could begin to enjoy herself. She should have been having a great time, but she wasn't. She knew she was in a funk, and why she was. Because of Jack Willis. She remembered meeting him for the first time. He was assigned to the VCS, but had been asked to teach one afternoon a week at Quantico. She had been an eager student, questioning everything, and he'd obviously liked her energy, amongst other things, and had asked her out for coffee after class. At first she'd been wary, afraid that becoming involved with him might threaten both their reputations, but his charm had won her over, and thankfully, her fellow students, despite a few joking comments about her dating an instructor to earn a better percentage, hadn't given her too hard a time. By the time Jack had come along she'd already proven herself to her classmates, and they knew she was more than capable of getting through training without having to sleep with anybody. She'd earned her badge fair and square, and they all knew it. Things had been wonderful with Jack for a while. He was interesting, full of life and not-too-shabby in bed, but it hadn't taken long for them to start clashing. On weekends she'd often found herself sitting around her apartment; when he cancelled their dates or just stood her up without even a phone call. He'd get a lead on his latest case and she would suddenly be the last thing on his mind. They'd argued and broke up several times now, but something always brought them back together. She always went back to him. Perhaps because he was without family and she seemed the only thing he had apart from his work. She hated to see people left alone, so she would unfailingly forgive him. She suddenly thought about her sister Melissa who had a theory that Dana was still taking on strays. In childhood it had been dogs and injured birds that nobody wanted, and in adulthood it was men that nobody else wanted to care for. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped suddenly at the break in her thoughts it caused. She turned to see a man grinning down at her, beer in hand. "Hey Dana." "Hey Tom." She tried to keep her voice in a friendly tone, but to be honest, although he'd never done anything to offend her, she'd never been able to take to Tom Colton. He was too much of an ass-kisser, someone who was willing to side with anybody if it suited his own agenda. He used people to make himself look good. It was something she'd noticed right from their fist few days as classmates, but as long as he didn't try any of his crap on her, she was willing to pretend to be friends. "Congratulations on the VCS. That was what you wanted wasn't it?" He nodded his blond head and sat opposite her. "Yeah I've got to get on those big cases, get myself noticed if I want to be on the fast track." Dana smiled politely. "I admire your ambition Tom." "Use it or lose it. See that guy over there, he's the section chief." She turned her gaze in the direction of Tom's pointed finger and saw an average-looking, balding guy with a paunchy stomach across the other side of the bar. "Maybe you should buy him a drink Tom." She'd been joking but Tom looked at her seriously. "You think I should?" She couldn't resist egging him on. Served him right if he ended up looking like an idiot. "Why not? Go over and introduce yourself." He considered for a moment. "Yeah maybe I should. After all, his rising star has kind of gone off the rails." Dana's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?" "Spooky Mulder. Remember I told you about him?" She'd never really kept up with Bureau gossip. She'd preferred to spend her time studying, but she did remember Colton once telling her about a brilliant young agent that seemed to solve cases on the flimsiest of evidence, pulling answers out of thin air. She remembered Jack telling her about him too, although the two had never worked together, despite being in the same department. "Fox Mulder?" "Yeah, you know? The guy who weirds everybody out. He knew all about the occult and shit like that, that's how he caught Monty Propps. Anyway, seems he won't work on anything normal anymore. He'll only deal with cases that supposedly involve space ship sightings, or ghosties and goblins. Everybody says he's lost it." Colton put a finger to his right temple and made a circular motion with his finger. "So I figure the section chief is going to need a new prodigy." "Hang on a second. You're saying that the Bureau actually allows Fox Mulder to investigate UFO sightings?" Tom shrugged. "They still think he's brilliant. They don't want to lose him, so they suck up to him by letting him pick and chose what he wants to work on. But I have to say, he doesn't look that brilliant to me." Tom nodded his head in the direction of the end of the bar. For some reason she couldn't fathom, Dana's interest perked up. "He's here?" "Well you could say that. I don't think he knows exactly where he is. Drunk as a skunk." She peered round Tom and looked along the bar. At the far end, leaning heavily against the bar and perched precariously on a stool, was a dark-haired man in a grey suit. She took in his features. A small, stubborn chin, puffy lips, huge nose, deep set eyes. They weren't traditionally attractive features, but put together on this particular face, they were striking. A peculiar looking man, who was at the same time handsome. She realised that Tom was talking again and she snapped out of her appraisal of 'Spooky' Mulder. "I give him a year before they pack him off to the funny farm. He's in burn out." "You know him?" "No, but I've heard..." She cut him off, wanting to defend this stranger for some reason. "I sometimes wonder how you managed to pass training Tom, with all the time you spend gathering and spreading gossip." "Dana. He chases after little green men." "Sounds like a better job than kissing ass." Tom grabbed his beer from the bar and gave her a sneering look. "Well you're in a pissy mood tonight. What's the matter, Jack Willis dump you again?" Dana didn't even bother responding as she watched Tom cross the room. Melanie had returned from the bathroom and took over Colton's place. "Were you not playing nice in the school yard Dana?" Scully smiled. "I'm not worried about Colton he'll be my best friend again when he wants something from me." "Why'd d'you tick him off anyway?" "I didn't. He ticked me off." Melanie studied her. "What are you staring at?" Dana looked at her friend in surprise, blinking as if waking up from a day dream. "What?" "You're talking to me, but you seem to be fascinated with whatever is over my left shoulder." Melanie turned around, glanced around the bar and then looked back at Dana. "Oh I see. Cute, very cute. But very drunk." Dana nodded. "Exceedingly drunk." "Forget it Scully. His wife probably doesn't understand him." "I can't see a wedding ring." Melanie grinned at her. "My, my. We have been looking closely." "Did you ever feel really drawn to someone and you can't figure out why?" "Drawn to him? You're probably just drawn to his tight behind." Dana smiled. "I can't even see his behind." "But you want to right?" "No. Well yes, but...I can't explain it. Its not necessarily physical. I just feel like he needs someone to talk to." "So go talk to him." "No. I couldn't." "Sure you could. Just say hi 'what's your name?'" "I already know his name. Fox Mulder." Melanie looked surprised. "Fox Mulder. The 'Spooky' guy?" "How do you know he's spooky? You never even met him." "Okay, now I'm worried about you. You're getting protective over someone you don't even know." "I just feel...." "...drawn to him. I know. You told me. So get over there and see if he's drawn to you." "He's drunk." "So buy him a coffee then. Go." She put a hand on Dana's shoulder and gave her a shove, and to Dana's own surprise she found herself making her way slowly down to where Fox Mulder sat. Self-consciously, she ran a hand over her hair to smooth it down. Her stomach gave a little flip and she cursed her nervousness. She told herself she was a strong, modern woman, and as such, should have no problem making the first move on a man. But the truth was that she'd never done anything quite like this before. She wondered why she was taking the risk now. Standing behind him she took a deep breath whilst examining the back of his neck. She even found that part of him attractive. He was staring at the long line of bottles behind the bar and she realised she was going to have to speak to gain his attention. She coughed. "Excuse me." Her voice came out in a high-pitched squeak, that caused her face to colour. The man sitting next to Fox Mulder, turned and smiled broadly at her, but when he saw the direction of her gaze, and that she wasn't speaking to him, he turned back to the bar. Fox Mulder must have noticed the movement behind him because he turned slowly. Dana took her chance. "Hi." His gaze rested on her face and examined her features. She looked into his eyes and was astonished by what she saw in their hazel depths. Pain and anguish were visibly displayed. She could hear a voice in her head telling her that she could be getting herself in deeper than she could possibly imagine. She had thought Jack had a wounded look about him, but this man looked as if he had never known anything but sadness. She pressed on, against her own good sense. "I'm Dana Scully." She held out her hand for him to shake. He looked down at it, then straight at her chest and then back at her face. He smirked. She dropped her unshaken hand back to her side. He laughed softly. "Run along back to school little girl." "I beg your pardon." "You heard me Nancy Drew. I'm not interested." She felt her face burning and a mixture of humiliation and embarrassment running through her veins. "I'm with the Bureau and I know you are too, and I just wondered if you needed any help." His smirk returned. "Help with what? I think its you that needs help tonight, but you ain't getting any from me." "What's that supposed to mean?" "You're the smart FBI agent. You work it out. I'd love to oblige but I'm afraid that you come up short in more than just one direction." With that, he lurched off the chair, brushed roughly past her and stumbled towards the exit. She stood still. Trying to gather her dignity and self- respect up off the floor where he had dropped it. She was seething. How dare he treat her that way. When a hand touched her elbow, she looked up to see the man that had been sitting next to Fox Mulder,. He had obviously heard the whole exchange. He was smiling kindly at her. "Hey. Don't worry about it, he's wasted. And he's a fool. If you'd come to say hi to me I would have been much more polite." She nodded at the door. "He a friend of yours?" "God no. I don't know him." He held out his hand and she looked up into his nicely featured face. He wasn't particularly devastating, but he wore a friendly expression which was a welcome relief after Fox Mulder. "Ethan Minette." She shook the proffered hand. "Dana Scully." He grinned. "I know. I was paying attention. Nice to meet you Dana Scully. Would you like a drink?" She hesitated for just a fraction of a second. "Yes, please." Outside on the street Fox Mulder managed to hail a taxi and tumbled into it after persuading the driver that he wasn't about to throw up. As he gave his address, he wondered why he had blown out the little red-haired woman in the bar. Okay, so she wasn't his usual type. But she'd had a sweet face and huge bright-blue eyes, and he'd sensed a keen intelligence about her. Perhaps it had been her formal demeanour and sensible suit that had screamed 'F.B.I.' at him the moment he'd seen her. He wasn't feeling too charitable about the Bureau, or the idiots that ran it, today. He'd just had a reaming from his immediate superior and been told to stop 'wasting taxpayers money on ridiculous investigations'. Didn't they know that they were the ridiculous ones? For denying that there might be more out there, simply because they hadn't seen it with their own eyes. His ticking off was the reason he had gotten drunk at the bar. He knew he'd have a killer headache tomorrow, and it hadn't made him feel any better. He wouldn't try that again. Alcohol didn't agree with him. He thought about the dark, depressing apartment he was going back to and groaned. Why the hell was he so lonely, and why the hell did he refuse to do anything about changing that? Maybe he'd find out what department the red-head belonged to and call and apologise. What was her name again? Diana Sawyer? No. Delia Saunders? No. Deidre Summers? No. Ah damn it! Who the hell ever heard of a selective photographic memory? The end ********* If you've got anything to say - don't hold back - drop us a line, or two, at: caroline.o@virgin.net