From: Kmspider Date: 28 Sep 1998 11:46:00 GMT Subject: New: Everything is Evidence by KMS! & Whitney Cox Title: Everything is Evidence Author: KMS! & Whitney Cox EMAIL: Kmspider@aol.com & WhitneyCox@aol.com RATING: G Classification: V & H Spoilers: The End and Chinga. Archive: Gossamer=yes, ATXC=yes Keywords: pencils/fire Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Can't afford to buy 'em. Characters lovingly borrowed from Carter/1013/Fox. Summary: Mulder faces some hard facts after his office is burned. Everything is Evidence Or Lead Astray (A post 'The End' story) by KMS! & Whitney Cox Kmspider@aol.com WhitneyCox@aol.com "Mulder!" Skinner grabbed the young agent's arm as he stumbled from the ruins of his office. Torched. Fired. Burned to the ground. Everything he had worked for in the past six years... destroyed. Gone. Consumed by some hellish ballet of smoke and flame. After an entire lifetime of living in fear, his pyrophobia was finally justified. The fire had taken away everything... everything floating away on a cloud of ash. Mulder ignored the hand on his arm and continued on, oblivious of the touch, until it tightened in an ex-marine's fist and brought him to an abrupt halt, spinning him around to face his superior. "Mulder. The Fire Chief thinks it's arson." Brilliant, Doctor Watson. Somebody get the man a cigar. Of course this mess was arson! Did Skinner think he left half-smoked Morleys lying around his office all the time? That chain-smoking son-of-a-bitch had finally put his foot down.... Or in this case, his cigarette. And poof. Like a bad nightmare, no more X-Files. Mulder's jaw clenched and he refused to answer verbally. If Skinner wanted to know what he thought, he could read the bitter disappointment in his eyes. "Mulder. You don't understand. They think *you* may have caused this yourself!" Was the man completely insane? Burn down his *own* office? His home away from home? Hell, his *sanctuary*? Had Skinner completely lost his mind? "Mulder, I'm sorry, but they want to bring you in for questioning." The hand on his biceps tightened imperceptibly. He willed Skinner to read his expression, to understand that he didn't *want* to... *couldn't* talk to anyone right now. Hell, he'd barely had the wherewithal to acknowledge Scully's presence in the room with him when he had first seen the damage. And now they wanted to accuse *him* of it? Had everyone gone completely insane? Mulder felt the world tilt just a little more. "Why?" He barely managed to gasp out the word, as though his lungs were choked with the burning rage that had destroyed his office. "Why me?" Skinner gently tugged on his arm and drew him back to the entrance of his office. Avoiding the last of the exiting firemen, Skinner pointed up towards the ceiling over Mulder's desk. "There's your answer, Agent Mulder. There is the reason that they think you deliberately set your office on fire. They think that you used those to make the fire spread and to insure total destruction of this office. No one else would have had all the time necessary to have *put* those particular fire-inducing objects in their place. They're coming after you, Mulder, and they're coming after you hard. The Battalion Chief thinks he can make a good case for arson. With you as the prime suspect!" Mulder looked up at the ceiling. Had Skinner completely taken leave of his senses? "But, s-s-sir," he stuttered out. "They're only *pencils*!" Like charred stalagmites, the burned pencils stared down at them in mute accusation. "It doesn't matter, Agent Mulder. They are going to try and prove that you tossed those pencils up there and made them stick in the ceiling tiles for the sole purpose of spreading this conflagration." "But I was just... *bored*, sir." Skinner shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mulder. I don't think there is any way I can help you out of this mess. You're on your own this time, son. They're talking about calling Agent Scully in as a witness." "But...but...." "Look at that, Mulder. There's got to be at least a hundred pencils up there!" "Uh, Scully was gone and I was really, *really* bored." "Sorry, son. When the arson investigators are through with you, I'm afraid that OPR will want to have a talk with you." "About *what*?" "Misuse of government property. I'm sorry, Mulder, but it doesn't look good." Skinner stepped aside as two officers of the DC Police Department stepped up and placed Mulder into custody. "But... but... *THEY'RE ONLY PENCILS*!" The naked despair in his eyes shook Skinner to the core. The AD reached out and put a hand on the younger man's shoulders and lowered his voice to insure confidentiality. "Don't worry, Mulder. They may kick you around a bit, but just hang tough." Skinner watched as the two officers dragged Mulder away, all the while listening to him wail, "They were just *pencils*!" Upon the removal of the younger agent, the Battalion Chief walked up to Skinner. "Very odd, sir. Very odd. Seems like a nice kid, though." Skinner cleared his throat. "Tell me about it. It's always the saddest when they go bad." "Not the kind I'd suspect as a penciller at all." "No." Skinner shook his head sadly and kicked a piece of rubble. ********** The End ********** Comments to: Kmspider@aol.com Or WhitneyCox@aol.com **********