FIC: Even Spooky Agents Have Heroes (X-Files)
Title: Even Spooky Agents Have Heroes
Word Count: 754
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Fandom - The X-Files
Pairings (if any): Mulder/Scully if you really squint
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): N/A
Summary: Mulder wants to go to a book signing to meet a literary hero, but first he has to get around Scully.
It was a slow day in the basement office of the J. Edgar Hoover building. Special Agents Mulder and Scully were not chasing monsters, conjuring up ghosts or following up on a UFO sighting. The paranormal had seemed to take a rest for the day, and they were left trying to fill the day with paperwork. Assistant Director Skinner would be thrilled to recieve forms and reports that had been back logged for three months or more, but to Mulder it was the worst part of the job.
Except when there was something worth leaving work early going on. Which there would be, in about two hours. As he scratched his pen across expense forms trying to explain why he'd wiped out three Ford Tauruses in one year he was also keeping his eye on the clock. At quarter after eleven, he set down his pen.
"You know, we're not doing anything productive here today."
"MMmmm," Scully looked up from her laptop, giving Mulder a wan smile. "I know paperwork isn't quite as exciting as what we normally do, but it's sort of nice to have a day off from tramping through the woods after a mutant, or having to autopsy freaks of nature."
"But would you really want to spend that day off doing paperwork?" He gave Scully a meaningful look, then glanced at the clock again.
That had been his mistake.
"Mulder, I get the distinct feeling you want to play hookey today." Scully closed the lid of her laptop and crossed her arms across her chest. Her blue eyes fixed him with a piercing gaze more normally seen on teachers and Nuns. At least she didn't have a ruler.
"Not just for playing hookey's sake." Mulder stood up and grabbed his blazer off the back of the door. "I'm going to a book signing."
"A book signing." The red haired agent nodded slightly and shrugged. "That doesn't seem so bad. I'm not sure what Skinner is going to say when he finds out, which he always does, but it's not uncommon for other agents to leave work early for sports events or their kid's activities."
He smiled proudly. "Already got that covered. I can write this time off as a research trip."
"Research trip?"
Mulder bent over his desk and fished a battered paperback out of the drawer. He set it down on top of Scully's closed laptop. On the cover there was what would eventually be known as a Gray, an alien with huge black, almond shaped eyes, no nose, thin lips and a distinct grayish-tan skin tone. He tapped the book with one finger.
"I'm going to meet him. Whitley Striber."
"Communion." Scully, a born and raised Catholic, furrowed her brow a little at the title. "I've heard of this book before, I think."
"I hope so!" He exclaimed. "This is the most significant book written about the alien abduction phenomena in fifty years. Or, perhaps, ever written at all."
Scully leaned back in her chair a little and gave Mulder a knowing smirk. She shook her head a little and obviously found some aspect of it quite amusing. He was a little confused, because what he said was true. The book had helped him decide to undergo hypno-therapy to try to recover memories about the night his sister disappeared.
"What?" He put his large hands on his hips, fingers spalyed.
"I detect a distinct tone of hero worship." Her eyes were sparkling with mirth now, and she looked absolutely beautiful. And absolutely making fun of him.
"He wrote a book that influnced the entire modern view of aliens..." He trailed off, noticing the smirk stayed on her lips. "And I happen to know you've got a first edition and signed copy of Partricia Cornwell's first novel."
"And how do you know that, Mulder?" Scully raised a well manicured eyebrow, challenging him to try to say he hadn't been snooping.
He decided to take the self-righteous way out. "I'm an FBI Agent, Scully, it's my job to be observant."
"Right," She nodded knowingly, calling his bluff with a little nod and the two wrinkles that stood out on her forehead when she was being skeptical.
"Wanna come?" Mulder decided to extend the olive branch. "It should be interesting, even for a skeptical redhead."
Scully considered it for a moment, then uncrossed her arms and stood up. She flipped off her laptop and reached for her coat. "If you're buying lunch."
"Well, technically the FBI is."
"Don't push it, Mulder."
Word Count: 754
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Fandom - The X-Files
Pairings (if any): Mulder/Scully if you really squint
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): N/A
Summary: Mulder wants to go to a book signing to meet a literary hero, but first he has to get around Scully.
It was a slow day in the basement office of the J. Edgar Hoover building. Special Agents Mulder and Scully were not chasing monsters, conjuring up ghosts or following up on a UFO sighting. The paranormal had seemed to take a rest for the day, and they were left trying to fill the day with paperwork. Assistant Director Skinner would be thrilled to recieve forms and reports that had been back logged for three months or more, but to Mulder it was the worst part of the job.
Except when there was something worth leaving work early going on. Which there would be, in about two hours. As he scratched his pen across expense forms trying to explain why he'd wiped out three Ford Tauruses in one year he was also keeping his eye on the clock. At quarter after eleven, he set down his pen.
"You know, we're not doing anything productive here today."
"MMmmm," Scully looked up from her laptop, giving Mulder a wan smile. "I know paperwork isn't quite as exciting as what we normally do, but it's sort of nice to have a day off from tramping through the woods after a mutant, or having to autopsy freaks of nature."
"But would you really want to spend that day off doing paperwork?" He gave Scully a meaningful look, then glanced at the clock again.
That had been his mistake.
"Mulder, I get the distinct feeling you want to play hookey today." Scully closed the lid of her laptop and crossed her arms across her chest. Her blue eyes fixed him with a piercing gaze more normally seen on teachers and Nuns. At least she didn't have a ruler.
"Not just for playing hookey's sake." Mulder stood up and grabbed his blazer off the back of the door. "I'm going to a book signing."
"A book signing." The red haired agent nodded slightly and shrugged. "That doesn't seem so bad. I'm not sure what Skinner is going to say when he finds out, which he always does, but it's not uncommon for other agents to leave work early for sports events or their kid's activities."
He smiled proudly. "Already got that covered. I can write this time off as a research trip."
"Research trip?"
Mulder bent over his desk and fished a battered paperback out of the drawer. He set it down on top of Scully's closed laptop. On the cover there was what would eventually be known as a Gray, an alien with huge black, almond shaped eyes, no nose, thin lips and a distinct grayish-tan skin tone. He tapped the book with one finger.
"I'm going to meet him. Whitley Striber."
"Communion." Scully, a born and raised Catholic, furrowed her brow a little at the title. "I've heard of this book before, I think."
"I hope so!" He exclaimed. "This is the most significant book written about the alien abduction phenomena in fifty years. Or, perhaps, ever written at all."
Scully leaned back in her chair a little and gave Mulder a knowing smirk. She shook her head a little and obviously found some aspect of it quite amusing. He was a little confused, because what he said was true. The book had helped him decide to undergo hypno-therapy to try to recover memories about the night his sister disappeared.
"What?" He put his large hands on his hips, fingers spalyed.
"I detect a distinct tone of hero worship." Her eyes were sparkling with mirth now, and she looked absolutely beautiful. And absolutely making fun of him.
"He wrote a book that influnced the entire modern view of aliens..." He trailed off, noticing the smirk stayed on her lips. "And I happen to know you've got a first edition and signed copy of Partricia Cornwell's first novel."
"And how do you know that, Mulder?" Scully raised a well manicured eyebrow, challenging him to try to say he hadn't been snooping.
He decided to take the self-righteous way out. "I'm an FBI Agent, Scully, it's my job to be observant."
"Right," She nodded knowingly, calling his bluff with a little nod and the two wrinkles that stood out on her forehead when she was being skeptical.
"Wanna come?" Mulder decided to extend the olive branch. "It should be interesting, even for a skeptical redhead."
Scully considered it for a moment, then uncrossed her arms and stood up. She flipped off her laptop and reached for her coat. "If you're buying lunch."
"Well, technically the FBI is."
"Don't push it, Mulder."