Author: Tesla

Address: gah1093@hiwaay.net

Rating: NC-17 (sexual situations, adult language & lawyers)

Category: Mulder/Other

Spoilers: Assume that this alternate universe careens off track after "Field Trip,"

But spoilers for "Orison".

Archive: Sure, everyone, I would be in a tizzy of pleasure and tell everyone I knew.

Feedback: See above, only I'll write fulsome thanks.

Disclaimer: If Ten Thirteen is even reading this, settle with Duchovny!

Summary: Continuation of "Flying Under the Radar", "Gaining Altitude", "Some Turbulence Expected", "Visibility Zero" and "Flight Delayed".
 

THANKS to Emerex for excellent beta work, and general encouragement, and for creating my little webpage: www.home.hiwaay.net/~gah1093; and to the small select band of folks on my reading list--and Fran58's site, at www.atmosphere.be/media/fran58, which showcases other new authors.
 

NOTES: Waiting for that "Bob" MulderClone, complete with pullover and loafers.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dana Scully grew quite accustomed to talking about the invasion of her apartment. She first talked about the original case, when Donnie Pfaster had abducted her, in Minneapolis, and how he had attempted to "prepare" her. Then, she talked about walking in on him at her own home. Her lawyer did not let her wander from the script, and her lawyer did not let her appear alone before the investigative committee. Scully had repeated her planned testimony at least six times before they showed up.
 

"I'm astounded that you ever testified before these people without a lawyer," Scully's lawyer said angrily. "Talk about a death wish."
 

Janet Durrell was pacing in the hallway. She obviously couldn't wait to get started. She only stopped when the door opened, framing Assistant Director Skinner. Scully stood up, and Janet stepped in front of her.
 

"Ms. Durrell," he said frostily. "The committee is ready for Agent Scully, but was not prepared for her lawyer." He closed the door behind him.

"Then Agent Scully isn't talking," Janet said, and picked up her briefcase. Scully kept her expression neutral: they had rehearsed this. The employee handbook clearly stated that any agent was entitled to be represented by counsel at any hearing of this nature. Meaning, shooting suspects was serious, had possible political repercussions, and said agent could be facing a shitstorm.
 

"You are inferring that Agent Scully has something to fear," Skinner was saying.
 

"You are inferring that Agent Scully loses her Constitutional rights because she is a federal employee," Janet said back. "Hey, I got all day to debate this, but I would assume that high officials of our nation's chief law enforcement agency have other things to do than interrogate and humiliate a federal law officer, one who should be commended rather than excoriated."
 

"We have no other agenda than making sure that Agent Scully acted properly on this occasion."
 

"Well, surely your own investigation and your own report should be sufficient. Or is there a secret FBI handbook of procedure that is not furnished to agents?"
 

The two just stared at each other. Scully felt impatient with the entire dance. She knew that Skinner believed her, and filed the appropriate report. They all knew this was just a farce.
 
 
 

"Farce?" Janet had repeated. They were in the law office. "This is to keep you from getting snotty remarks in your personal file, a pay cut, or a suspension. Didn't you have enough of the old boys' club when you were in the general office pool? Don't you realize that this is just like any corporation in America? Women have to try twice as hard to stay in the same place. "
 

"But it's all garbage. Skinner told me everything was all right."
 

"Okay, it's garbage. But you have to do it, so get used to it. It's part of the game."
 

"Donnie Pfaster was pure evil," Scully said sharply. "Do you know that he was a necrophile? Mulder let the Minneapolis cops say 'death fetishist', but he liked dead women. He wanted them nice and cold. He wanted to groom my hair and nails. You could see the Devil in his face." Janet said nothing, sitting back in her chair, playing with a snow globe of the Lincoln Memorial. "I saw it," Scully said.
 

Janet turned the globe over. "Tell me all that again, with more detail," she said.

Scully blinked. "I mean it, " Janet said. "Tell me again. Tell me about the Devil."
 

"It's too late to use an insanity defense," Scully said. She picked up her coffee cup and set it back down.
 

"Tell me about the Devil." Janet repeated.
 

"I saw him. The first time, in 1994. I saw his face change. His face--he looked--he was a demon. I can't really explain it. Maybe I hallucinated. But he was evil. He tortured his victims. He was going to torture me."
 

"Yes, so you were in fear of your life. You knew what was in store for you. You knew you were going to be raped and mutilated, and murdered." Janet put the globe on her desk. "You say you can't remember if Mulder was there when you shot."
 

"It all happened at the same moment." Scully said, slowly. "But I could have shot Mulder. I was shot, you know. My partner in New York came in and shot a suspect and the bullet went through him and hit me."
 

"A different partner, not Mulder, shot you?" Janet asked, wrinkling her forehead.
 

"Peyton Ritter. But it was the same thing. Ritter barreled in, and thought I was in danger. And I got shot."
 

"No, if you use that analogy, then Mulder would have shot Pfaster. In fact, the fact that Mulder wasn't shot suggests that it was over by the time he was there."
 

"But did I have to shoot him?" Scully asked. She stood up, and went to look out the window of the tiny office. Janet swiveled her chair to watch her. "I had my weapon. Mulder was right there. He had his weapon. Something made me shoot him." She looked down at Janet. "But what if I wasn't supposed to shoot him? What if it was a test, and I failed?"
 

"Is this a Catholic thing, or are you being karmic on me?" Janet asked expressionlessly. "Because I thought shooting the bad guys was what the good guys are supposed to do."
 

"Don't patronize me, counselor, "Scully said, still staring outside. "You should clean these windows."
 

"Don't patronize me," Janet said equably. She swiveled slightly in the chair, until her knee nudged Scully. "Hey. Listen up. " Scully glanced down, out of the side of her eyes. Janet raised her hand, palm out. "This is how it will go. Your assistant director will first act like you aren't entitled to a lawyer. That's bullshit. Then, if all signs are right, and I'm damned sure they are, we go in to the little committee, and you either tell them what you told me, or they say they accept your report and your assistant director's report, and the matter is closed."
 

Scully looked down at Janet for a long minute. Then, seemingly out of the blue, she asked, over her shoulder, "Did Mulder ever tell you that I'm supposed to be some sort of Snow Queen?"
 

"You rode a float in the Snow Parade?" Janet asked.
 

"No. Like the Hans Christian Andersen story. I don't know if anyone really said it. Someone told me someone else told them--"
 

"Triple hearsay," Janet interjected. "But I know the story."
 

"Do you think I act like a Snow Queen?" Scully asked harshly.
 

Janet paused. Scully turned fully from the window and faced her, knee to knee, waiting.
 

"I think you're more like Kay," Janet said gently. "You might have a sliver of ice in your heart, and it's freezing everything."
 

Scully felt her face scrunch up hideously, painfully, and then she was kneeling, crying with her face in her hands, on Janet's knees.
 
 
 

With a wrench, Scully was back in the present. Skinner was closing the door behind him.
 

"I thought you'd gone into a trance, " Janet said, stuffing Altoids in her mouth.

"Now, watch. It'll go like I said it will."
 

And it did.