From: "* Childeater *" Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 10:33:42 -0500 Subject: Submission Source: direct Title: Lucid Fallacies Author: Silver Ghost and Starbuck75 E-mail: silver_ghost22@hotmail.com, Starbuck75@hotmail.com Distribution: Anywhere, as long as our names stay on it and no money is exchanged. Also, it would be nice if you could tell us what is going on. Content Warning: PG-13; some sexual innuendos - adult themes. The whole thing is MSR. Spoiler Warning: None of this story contains any reference to the X-Files movies, T.V. series, or whatever else - except of course the characters, which were borrowed for usage in this masterpiece. (j/k) Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files in any way. Please do not sue, for I have nothing to give. Summary: A sick and twisted psychopath on a killing spree is seemingly ready to disappear. Can Mulder and Scully find him before he kills for the last time? Will this murderer bring them closer together? Or will the clues tear them apart and cause them to succumb to the wishes of a madman? Dedications: I dedicate this to my good friend Debbie who first introduced me to Mulder and Scully and their extraterrestrial adventures, and also to my friend Alyson, who may finally become interested in the X-Files now that there's sex involved. (LoL) Scully was cold. She walked into her bathroom. She turned on the hot water tap all the way and added some of her favorite rosemary bath oil to the steamy water. She stripped down and slid into the soothing brew. Suddenly a sharp noise interrupted her short-lived moment of pleasure. Mulder burst through the front door of her apartment and called her name excitedly. ''Scully!'' he yelled. ''I have a great lead to our new case! Scully? Where are you?'' Leave it to Mulder to disrupt her only moment of peace since she first got assigned to the X-Files to be Mulder's partner. ''Mulder, I'll be right there. Just don't come into the - '' Mulder burst into the bathroom door. '' - Bathroom,'' finished Scully. Scully had always been proud of her toned figure, but as she sat there shocked as Mulder stared at her naked wet body, she felt more self-conscious then she ever had before. ''Wow!'' grinned Mulder. ''And we haven't even gone on our first date!'' ''Out!'' screamed Scully. And as she watched Mulder close the door behind him, with that boyish grin still plastered on his face, she felt a tingle ran through her whole body. She had never felt this kind of a rush before. Her embarrassment was replaced with a somewhat juvenile excitement. She felt like she was back in high school again, tingling like a virgin did when touched for the first time. She slowly climbed out of the tub, her legs dripping water all over the floor. She took her towel off of the hook and wrapped her now chilled body in warmness again. She watched the tub drain, then reluctantly opened the bathroom door to face Mulder. When she stepped out, Mulder was on the couch, waiting for her. ''So, um. The case.'' Scully stuttered. There was an uncomfortable pause. ''The lead... what did you discover?'' Mulder just smiled. Then he got up and headed toward the door to leave. ''You know, you can't just pretend it didn't happen.'' Then he left. Scully stood at the door and watched him walk to the elevator. Suddenly, he turned. ''And about the case...'' he said, ''I'll email you.'' Scully walked into Mulder's downstairs office at the J. Edgar Hoover Center where they worked. Mulder was leaning over a microscope, examining some slides. He did not look up when Scully entered the room. Scully knew that Mulder knew that she was there. And Mulder knew that Scully knew that he knew that she was there, but they both pretended to ignore each other. Mulder could feel her presence - he could smell that light strawberry fragrance that lingered in the air whenever she walked into a room. ''Hello, Scully.'' She did not reply. She seated herself on a small rickety chair in the corner and started to review her report on the autopsy she had conducted. ''The body was found to have trace amounts of chlorine in the bloodstream, indicating that the subject was drowned in a residential swimming pool, not the local lake like we originally thought. Also, the body was only in the first stage of decomposition, indicating that the death took place - '' ''Scully,'' interrupted Mulder. Scully looked up. ''Yes, Mulder?'' she said, using the tone of voice one would use with a 6-year-old. ''What is it?'' ''Well,'' he said, looking quite amused, ''I would just like to point out that... that... well, um...'' he tried in vain to suppress his laughter. Scully had never seen Mulder act this way before. ''Mulder, what?'' she begged, a look of concern now crossing her face. Mulder leaned in a fit of laughter. ''Fine... ha ha! I'll... heh.. tell you! Heh... Scully? Your bra strap is showing!'' He couldn't hold back his laughter any longer. He fell to the floor in a fit of masculine giggles, if there was such a thing. Suddenly Scully realized the irony of it all; Mulder had seen her naked, and he was worried that her bra strap was showing. Before she had time to stop herself, Scully was laughing along with Mulder. But Scully's laugh was more of an embarrassed laugh than an amused one. They both just sat there, Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, and they laughed for who knows how long until they did not remember what they were laughing at and they could laugh no more. Their laughter died down like a fire dying down to glowing embers. They sat for a while smiling and staring at the ground in thought. Then without realizing it, they both looked up at the same time - right into each other's eyes. They both leaned closer and closer. Right before their lips touched they pulled back a bit as they realized what they were doing. Then they kissed. It was a long, passionate, meaningful kiss. Mulder buried his hands into Scully's thick crimson hair. They could not resist each other anymore. Scully was no longer ashamed that Mulder saw her naked body - in fact, he was about to see it again. But this time, it would be just at the right moment. ************ Then, Scully woke up. She must have drifted off right after Mulder left. Lately she had been getting virtually no sleep at all. 'Wow!' she thought. 'That was the strangest dream . . . I mean, Mulder? No way! It could never happen.' She stretched and went to look at the clock beside her bed, then realized she had fallen asleep on the living room couch. She rolled off of the couch and stiffly walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She was greeted by the soft and steady hum of the refrigerator. Her eyes were still half closed as she reached for a glass near the top of the cupboard. She filled the glass half-full of tap water and then started back to the couch. All of a sudden, the glass slipped from her hand and shattered into pieces on the hardwood floorboards. "Damn," muttered Scully, and bent down to pick up the razor-sharp shards of glass. Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through her finger. A piece of glass had slit through her pointer finger and a thin trickle of blood was starting to run down her finger onto her palm. "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" she repeated, until she reached into the bathroom cupboard and pulled out a band-aid to stop the bleeding. Now there was a throbbing pain in her finger. 'How could I have been so clumsy?' she scolded herself. She now needed a good night's sleep more than ever. She crawled into her big cozy bed and buried herself under the thick comforters. She fell asleep right away. ************ Hours later she awoke with a start and looked at her alarm clock. It said 11:21 ... typical, she thought. Then she blinked, and it now said 10:00 am. "Shit, I'm late for my meeting with Skinner!" she screamed. She ran into the J. Edgar Hoover Building and down to the basement to drop off her stuff before running up to apologize her ass off. When she went to open the door she glimpsed at the nameplates on the door. 'Wait a second,' she thought, 'there should only be one nameplate, Mulder's'. There was a new one though that said Dana Scully. 'How nice,' she thought, ' Mulder finally decided to recognize me as his partner'. When she walked in the door she got an even bigger surprise though- there across from the desk Mulder sat at was a brand new desk. "Good morning, Scully!" offered Mulder, "I thought that I owed you an ... apology for walking in on you yesterday." "Oh, Mulder, Thank you, Thank you so much!" She walked over to his desk as he got up and she hugged him, and then kissed his cheek. "Thank you!" She whispers again. "I figured you deserved it long ago for putting up with me for so long!" explains Mulder. Scully eagerly disregards the idea, "Mulder the best years of my life have been with you. This whole time with you it didn't matter what happened or what weird things we investigated as long as ...as long as we both made it through to be together again .No matter what happened, I never once thought of leaving you ever!" They pulled away and Mulder placed his hands on her cheeks, cradling her beautiful, flushed face with such tenderness the world has never known. She looked into his eyes and she saw love, friendship, and loyalty. They inched closer and they're lips grazed, when all of a sudden Scully pulls away shouting ''No, Mulder. No, there can never be any us because that would render our fully platonic relationship obsolete and we can't have that happening; people will talk!'' ''Scully, they already talk, they already think we've been together for years, what's stopping us?'' Mulder protested. ''Protocol, Mulder, Skinner - and lots of other things!'' Defended Scully. "Scully why should those things stop us from having a relationship. If we are in love then we have every right because we of all people deserve to be happy." Mulder stated," Plus it would cut down on our expenses because we would only need one hotel room." He said as his famous half smirk appeared on his face and he let out a giggle. Scully sighed and replied, "Mulder that's not very funny." "I thought it was, "he grinned and continued, "At least think about it, Scully, please?" he begged with his puppy face. "Fine, Mulder, I'll think about it, but there are a lot of things to consider because there would be a lot of challenges and some changes that we would have to make. "She conceded as she headed out the door to the elevator. She pushed the button and the elevator began to rise slowly. 'Skinner is going to kill me,' she thought as she looked at her watch, '10: 45,I'm dead'. The elevator doors opened and she stepped out and into A.D Skinner. "Good Morning Agent Scully, you're late," he said in a stern voice, "Where have you been all morning?" he asked. "I apologize Sir. I was up late last night thinking about some important case information and I slept in.," she explained. "Let's go to my office," he said and he turned and walked towards his office. *************** She had never been grilled that much in one meeting. First he had taken her head off for being late, then for not handing in the report on their last case yet and lastly for not handing in last month's expense report on time. After apologizing profusely and promising to have last moth's expense report and latest case report in by tomorrow and have this month's expense report in on time. He finally let her go. She sauntered back to the elevator and pushed the button. It changed and the door opened. She stepped in and the door closed and took her to the basement. She walked in the office door. "Mulder, I'm going home. I have a headache." She explained. He asked, "Scully, you will think about it right??" "Yes Mulder I will think about it tonight and tell you when I'm done thinking," she answered. "Right away?" he asked. "Yes Mulder, right away." she replied. Then she threw her coat over her arm, picked up her briefcase and said, "Good night Mulder, see you in the morning." "Yeah, you too Scully," He replied quietly, while paying more attention to the computer screen. She walked out the door and headed home. ************** She got home and realized that her minor headache had become a full-fledged migraine. 'Great,' she thought as she hung up her coat and put her briefcase away. She then went and began to run a bath with her favorite rosemary bath oil, she continued to let the warm water run as she went to her bedroom. She grabbed her fuzzy robe, her most comfortable pair of pajamas and her fuzzy slippers. She took them to the bathroom with her and stripped, then turned off the water. She dipped her toe in and retracted it, slipping into the warm water with a unique gracefulness. She got all the way in and slid down, far down into the paradise that warm water and the smell of rosemary created. After she had soaked in the tub for a while. She got out and put her pajamas, robe and slippers on. Her headache was still there so she went to the kitchen took out two Tylenol and made some tea. She took the Tylenol and tea to her bedroom, where she slipped off her robe and slippers and slid into the soft comforters of her bed. She downed the Tylenol with some tea and began to think about Mulder's request. 'If there was any couple that deserved happiness together, if they loved each other, it was them and I do love him and he does love me. He was right. What is stopping us' she thought 'I think that we should give it a try'. She remembered that she promised Mulder that she would tell him as soon as she had decided, so with her headache gone, she picked up the phone and dialed Mulder's home number. "Mulder," he answered, "Mulder, it's me," she replied. "Oh, hi Scully, what is it?" he asked, "You told me to call you when I made up my mind." Mulder automatically perked up, but cracked a joke to keep his cool, "Okay, spill it G-Woman," Scully smiled to herself and said," Very Funny, Mulder, yes." He stopped laughing and just caught what she said. He hung up the phone. "Mulder, this isn't very funny, Mulder c'mon," Scully said in an exasperated tone. Then she heard the beep, beep, beep telling her that Mulder had hung up. Ten minutes later there was a knocking at her door. ************* "Who is it?" she inquired from the couch. Getting no answer, she got up and went over to the door. When she looked through the peephole all she could see was Mulder. He was gorgeous and he was standing there with flowers and a smile on his face that stretched from ear to ear and then some. She opened the door and said, "Mulder, hi." He then picked her up and twirled her around, setting her down with a slow, loving kiss. Then he said, "Dana, call me Fox when we're not at the office." She was surprised when he said this, but figured that if he had not wanted her to he wouldn't have asked her to. Then he gave her the flowers and she said, "Thank you Mul...Fox. They're beautiful!" He smiled and said, "Just like you." 'He is quite the charmer' she thought 'and he's all mine'. She went to the kitchen to put the flowers in some water and Fox followed her putting his arms around her tiny little waist and caressing the base of her neck with tender little kisses. She giggled because it tickled and he continued to do it. Almost asking her to laugh again and she did. Once she had put the flowers in the water he scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to the couch. They sat down close to each other, cuddling and just enjoying each other's company. Then Fox said, "Dana I love you so much, more than life itself." She blushed and said, "I love you too Fox. More than anything in the world." And then in unrehearsed unison they said, "I would die if anything happened to you." Then they both laughed and snuggled closer. ************ Scully stirred awake to the dripping of coffee in the kitchen. She yawned and tossed back her covers. She gabbed her robe and put on her slippers. As she walked towards the kitchen she covers herself with her robe in one graceful motion. She steps into the kitchen and sees Mulder standing in front of the coffee machine in his boxers and a t-shirt. She creeps up behind him and throws her arms around him and said, "Hey, handsome!" to which he replied, "Hey, beautiful!" Then he turned around and kissed her, she kissed him back and he asked her if she wanted some coffee. She nodded her head. So he poured two cups of steaming coffee and passed one to her. She accepted it gratefully as she giggled and grabbed his hand. She continued to giggle as she pulled him towards the bedroom. They climbed under the plush covers and snuggled together while sipping the steamy coffee. *********** "So Fox," Scully smiled. "What do you suppose Skinner will think of this, when he finds out?" "You mean if he finds out," countered Mulder. "No one has to know." He gave her a sly grin and swallowed the rest of his coffee. He then untangled himself from the soothing warmth of the comforters and went into the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. Scully followed him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Fox?" she said, kissing his neck. "I'll be in the shower." She slid her fingers down his back and threw a sexy glance over her shoulder as she headed towards the shower. He stood still for a moment and then shouted, "Scully, why are you doing this to me?" Her teasing laugh floated in from down the hall. Then he did exactly what she wanted him to do and took a detour on his way to the kitchen. Needless to say, he forgot about that second cup of coffee. *********** As Dana and Fox confidently strode to their office in the J. Edgar Hoover building, someone approached them from behind. They both turned around and were surprised to see Skinner standing behind them with storm clouds in his eyes. "I know what's going on," he stated. "Sir, I assure you that I nor Agent Mulder have any idea what you mean by..." "If you would stop talking, Agent Scully, I could explain to you that what I mean is the fact that you both arrived in the same vehicle this morning." He paused. "I know what is going on and I am also aware that neither of you are breaking any rules. Nevertheless, before this gets out of hand, I am going to take control. Agent Mulder, report to my office for reassignment today at 9:00 am. That is all." He gave them a final nod and abruptly turned and walked back to where he had come from. "Well," said Mulder. "We sure did a great job of keeping this under wraps." Scully could do nothing but glare at him icily, for it was his idea that she hitch a ride with him, just this one time. Mulder shifted uncomfortably and avoided Scully's stare. Off in the distance, they could hear the clicking of someone's shoes on the cold hall tiles, then all was silent. "So..." said Mulder. "My place tonight?" "Uh-huh," she replied immediately and they continued on their way ********* As 9:00 approached, Mulder rose from his seat. Scully glanced at the time and also rose. She started to exit the room, when Mulder stopped her. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked. "I'm going to see Skinner,' she replied. "Scully, I think I know what you're going to do, but I can't let you." Replied Mulder. "What do you think I'm going to do?" asked Scully, "Take the blame and have him transfer me instead?" Mulder nodded, while Scully shook her head at him and replied, "That is not what I'm going to do. I'm just going to tell him a little white lie that will keep us together." Mulder stared at Scully in disbelief, "What little whit lie?" Scully grinned and sighed, "Oh just that my car is in the shop and that I mentioned it to you and you offered me a ride." Mulder laughed, " You really are the brains in this operation, but I'm not sure that Skinner will go for it. He's a hard nut to crack." Scully giggled, "I'm sure he'll succumb to my feminine whims." Then Mulder held the door open for Scully and they went up to see Skinner. ****** "Agents, I'm sorry, but I don't believe you." Skinner scowled. 'These two really are getting on my nerves,' he thought. "But Sir..." Scully argued, "It's the truth, you can even call my auto shop. They'll tell you that my car is there." Skinner sighed, "Fine, then let's just give them a call, shall we? What's the number?" "The number is 202-555-6721, Sir." Replied Scully. Mulder and Scully listened as Skinner called the auto shop and asked whether or not they had Scully's car. They heard the man say that they did and Skinner hung up the phone. He sighed, "I guess you were telling the truth agents, that'll be all." ******* As they stepped on the elevator together Mulder waited for the doors to close. Then he grabbed Scully around the waist, swung her around, and kissed her. "How on earth did you pull that off?" He asked. She giggled and answered, "Easy! You know when I went to the bathroom? Well, I took my cell phone with me and made the call. I just told them that someone would be calling to see if they had my car. Then I told them to say that they did." Mulder laughed even harder and walked into their office. "You really are a genius Scully," said Mulder. "Thanks," replied Scully, "I know." ******** Mulder dropped the 3-inch thick file on his desk and aroused a cloud of dust. "This is what we have to work with," said Mulder rolling his eyes. "Just lifting it will be a workout," remarked Scully sarcastically. She gingerly lifted out a stack of newspaper clippings. "The evidence is contradicting," said Mulder, "It's all connected by one fact-it was found at the scene of each murder." Scully looked up questioningly. Mulder reached out and handed her a plastic bag containing a small black computer disc. "There were twelve murders. At the scene of each, a computer disc was found, revealing only one line of a poem. We believe the killer is trying to tell us the location of the people he has killed. The only problem is that we must wait for him to kill one more person for the last line of the poem." "How do you know that it's the last line of the poem?" "Well, the killer used the number thirteen in the poem when he said, 'the sun will set on the thirteenth day.' " "Well, that explains that, but what about connections between the victims?" "There was one thing, it appears that at the time of each murder the victim was by them self in a car. They had left their previous location, but never arrived at their destination." "So what you're trying to say is that the killer must have some authority on the roads, otherwise why would someone pull over?" "Unless they were ran off the road." "No, according to the police reports, all the cars were found in ideal condition except for the blood stains on the driver's seat and the number etched on the hood." "And no bodies were ever found?" "Not according to this." ********* Mulder began flipping through the file when he stopped all of a sudden, "Scully, I think you should take a look at this." "What is it Mulder?" "It's the poem." "Just read it out loud." "Okay.... 'Twelve bodies buried in the ground, Where on earth can they be found? Only you can find the key, Where to look, Just wait and see. My hint to you is not to wait, Solve this puzzle before it's too late. The sun will set on the thirteenth day, If you know what's best you won't delay. The final line will be revealed, After the thirteenth person has keeled. The time has come to know the location...' " "That's it?" "Yep, which is why we're assuming that the thirteenth line contains the location." "This person sounds really twisted." "Most criminals are. Anyways, Skinner told me t hat we should hand our current case off to Agent Westwood and get out to Downing County, Iowa as soon as possible. He told me, and I quote, 'This is priority!'" "I'll reserve the tickets. What's you preference, morning or night?" "Night is when the Freaks come out!" "You'll feel right at home," retorted Scully as she reached for the phone.