Title: Coda to Neither Here Nor There
Author: addicted2fanfic
Email: addicted2fanfic@hotmail.com
Classification: V, post-ep, AU
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Only for Tesla's ‘Neither Here Nor There.' Read that first. 
Really, it's good. http://www.WonderHorse.net/authorspgs/tesla/tesla.htm
Summary: A post ep for Tesla's ‘Neither Here Nor There.' If someone crossed 
Scully, what could she do?   Fanfic for fanfic? Yup.
Author's notes:  The Mulder and Scully in Tesla's story kept talking to me 
after her story ended. More playful than Tesla's universe, but derived from 
it. This fic wouldn't have been written without Fran's help and 
encouragement. Thanks Fran!


SKINNER'S OFFICE
Two weeks after Scully finds
Henderson's apartment empty

"Thank you Agents."

Mulder watched the A.D. wince just moving his arm to close the case file on 
his desk. Mulder knew that Scully's attention had deserted the meeting some 
minutes earlier. She seemed to know what was coming next and didn't need to 
pay attention to their boss. He watched her remove a bit of lint from her 
skirt.

For some reason she'd been careful not to look at Skinner. Scully wasn't 
afraid to confront hardened criminals. Their boss was hardly the enemy. At 
least not recently. Dr. Scully didn't seem to notice that Skinner's 
movements were slow and seemed painful.

Having dismissed them, Skinner closed his eyes. Scully rose from her seat, 
smoothed her skirt and made her escape without waiting for her partner.

As the door clicked shut, Skinner moved his head back, winced and looked up. 
He's surprised to see Mulder still sitting in his usual chair.

"Agent Mulder?"

"Are you feeling alright, sir? Is it, the, um, nanites?" he asked, not 
wanting to pry, but always the investigator.

The corners of Skinner's mouth curved, he breathed out noisily and softly 
growled,  "No. Nothing like that. Boxing."

"Boxing?" Mulder knew Skinner boxed for exercise, but he'd never seen the 
A.D. like this after a workout.

"Got a sparring partner out of my league last night," he sighed and rotated 
his shoulders, "Got my butt beat, but good."

Mulder's eyebrows rose at the extreme possibility of such a mundane 
explanation. He tipped his head to the side a little trying to make room for 
it. "Don't you have a regular partner, someone at your skill level?"

"My usual partner canceled at the last minute. This guy was a whole lot 
better." The A.D. groaned slightly as he rotated his head, stretching the 
sore muscles in his neck and upper back.

"How convenient. Are there usually boxers just waiting around hoping for a 
match?" Mulder didn't know if boxing matches worked like basketball pickup 
games.

Skinner looked thoughtful when he replied, "Not usually. Most of the guys I 
know have partners arranged in advance."

"So," Mulder continued, "There just happened to be an 'extra' boxer, a spare 
sparring partner looking for a match when your regular sparring partner 
didn't show?"

"Now that you mention it," Skinner said, "I haven't seen him around before.  
The crowd is never exactly the same, but I know most of the regulars. Never 
saw this guy before."

Mulder looked Skinner in the eye and asked  "A ringer in the ring?"

"You would say that," snorted Skinner at this latest sign of Mulder's 
paranoia. The A.D. ended his neck loosening routine facing the door Scully 
had exited. Mulder thought he could see a glimmer in Skinner's eyes as if he 
had just drawn a line between two dots.

"Scully?" Mulder made his own connection. What about her?

Mulder sat silent for a moment, lips pursed in thought, turning over the 
evidence. Coming to a conclusion, he reached into his pocket, extracted some 
business cards and looked down, sorting through them. "You think Scully 
could have 'arranged' last night's sparring partner?"

Finding the card he wanted, Mulder pushed himself back in the chair and 
stared beyond Skinner's right shoulder, shoving the rest of the cards back 
into his pocket. Musing to himself, he muttered quietly "Payback? Payback. 
Because you called me when Scully and Henderson got roped into that suicide 
turned murder investigation? Because you invaded her private life?"

Mulder would never forget that phone call. Even now his stomach flopped at 
the thought of Scully with Henderson.

Skinner eyed the case file on his desk and muttered. "Or because I 
'encouraged' Henderson's transfer."

Mulder eyes moved to his boss's face waiting for an explanation.

"Henderson is a good agent. An inspired profiler, according to you. Talent 
like that shouldn't be wasted."

"And," Mulder continued the thought, "his career was in the toilet. Having 
your boss commit suicide doesn't set well with the FBI."

"You should know. Look what it did for yours." The shooting of Section Chief 
Blevins had been deemed a suicide. Yeah. Right.

Looking at Skinner, Mulder pushed a business card across the desk. Skinner 
picked up the business card of the local massage therapist Mulder had 
silently recommended. A therapist that boasted 'we cater to cops without 
copping a feel.'

"If it was her, I figure you got off easy."

"How's that?" Skinner murmured.

Mulder smiled, "She shot me."

fini
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