From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 29 Nov 2007 05:32:03 -0000
Subject: Of Mothmen and Militant Nationalists by 19
Source: direct

Reply To: xff19@yahoo.com


TITLE: Of Mothmen and Militant Nationalists 
AUTHOR: 19 
E-MAIL: xff19@yahoo.com 
DISTRIBUTION: Archive freely

RATING: R for language 
CATEGORIES: S 
KEYWORDS: MSR (implied)
SPOILERS: minor ones for Detour, Field Trip, FtF, Squeeze, the
Host, 731, Anasazi 
SUMMARY: Another attempt at a partnership seminar.

Disclaimer: X-Files characters belong to FOX Corporation and 1013.
If I could make money at this, that would be ridiculous.

Author's Notes: Randomly started writing X-Files fanfic how many
years after the end of the show? Oh well, let me know if you like
it and maybe I'll write more!


Of Mothmen and Militant Nationalists


"Okay, Agents. Agents. It looks like everyone is here now so I'd
like to get started."

The speaker looked around the room at the twenty or so people
seated on uncomfortable government-issue chairs in a large circle.
The room itself was drab and uninspiring but there was a strange
mental buzz in the air, likely the combined electrical impulses of
so much nervous energy bundled in an small confined space.

It wasn't hard to get the attention of most of the agents in the
room - in fact, it had been fairly quiet already, with only a few
agents making awkward small talk.

"My name is Dr. Allan Benton and I'm here today to lead this
debriefing on the events that occurred during the Partnership
Seminar last week. I am a clinical psychologist specializing in
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and I lead the Bureau's Critical
Incident Stress Management team. I have led many agents through
this debriefing process throughout my years with the Bureau and,
believe me, what we do here today will help you process what
happened. If you have any doubts about that, I'm confident that, by
the end of the session, you will have changed your mind."

Dr. Benton looked around again with an experienced eye. As
expected, most of the agents seemed to be buying into what he was
saying. In fact, they appeared to be eager to talk about their
experience - for a lot of them it was their first shooting incident
and hostage incident rolled into one event. A few of them looked
uncomfortable and he made a mental note to keep an eye on those
agents. Then there were the two in the corner who had been talking
quietly through his introduction. They both clearly hadn't heard
anything he had just said and wore slightly pained expressions on
their faces. Well, at least the woman's expression might have been
due to a physical condition - her arm was in a sling and her
shoulder was clearly bandaged under her suit jacket. However, he
suspected that both their expressions were due to heavy feelings
regarding what happened. As the two most affected by the incident,
they were his biggest concern. He hoped that, in due time, they
could come to terms with what had happened.

"So let's start by setting some guidelines for today's session.
Does anyone have any suggestions?"

"I think what's said in here should stay in here," a young male
agent suggested. He looked to be straight out of the academy and
was eager to participate in the discussion.

"Good idea. Do anyone disagree with that?"

Of course no one did.  A few other agents laid down more basic
ground rules; speaking one at a time, respecting differences in
opinion, being open to new ideas.

"Okay, that's good. We have some established guidelines to work
within now as we start to explore our feelings about what happened
at the seminar. But to start with, lets try to establish, as a
group, a narrative of the events that took place. Who would like to
start?"

Dr. Benton looked around to room as to open the floor to the
participants. There was a brief uncomfortable moment of everyone
glancing furtively at each other before someone began to speak.
Benton noted that it was a slim man who looked slightly out of
place sitting next to a broad shouldered man who was older but
clearly fitter. Benton recalled that they weren't part of the
agents pairings - the younger man, Mitch Kearns had been the
facilitator of the seminar and the older was an Assistant Director
who was sitting in on the session to hear a first hand account of
what had happened to two of his agents.

"Well, I guess I can start as I was the facilitator of the
partnership seminar. It was supposed to be a two-day condensed
course at Quantico for agents who couldn't make to any of the
regular four-day weekend getaway courses. There were twenty agents
signed up - ten sets of partners and, ironically, we started just
like this, with all the agents sitting in a circle."

A couple of knowing murmurs around the room indicated that he
wasn't the only one experiencing a slight case of deja vu.

"We started with a common icebreaker, the one in which you tell two
truths and a lie about yourself and the group tries to guess which
is the lie."

As Mitch began his narrative, Mulder glanced over at his partner.
She sensed his eyes drift over her and tried to not twinge in pain
as she shifted positions, settling in for what was bound to be a
long day. Dr. Benton looked like he was going to be pretty thorough
and the other agents in the room looked eager to participate.
Scully sighed inwardly and looked up at her partner's eyes as she
thought back to the events of the partnership seminar.

* * * *

Mulder sat in his seat with his arm slung behind the back of the
chair, fingers idly drumming a tune. He turned towards his partner,
rolling his eyes. At the same instant, she turned towards him,
eyebrow characteristically raised and with a slight knowing twitch
on her lips. Even if she hadn't already known his feelings
regarding teamwork seminars, she could have read his expression
easily. He looked every bit the smart-ass he was - cocky, bored,
and slightly mischievous all at the same time. Suddenly, Scully's
amusement at his distress was joined by a slight feeling of dread
as she spied the twinkle in his eye. If he was going to have to do
this, he was at least going to toy with some heads.

Scully sat and thought about what Mulder was going to say for his
two truths and a lie. So far agents had been throwing out some
pretty boring stuff about numbers of siblings or family members,
places they'd worked, where they'd gone to school. A few agents had
elicited a laugh or two with amusing anecdotes involving high
school pranks or personally embarrassing incidents but nobody had
really offered up anything too interesting. Now it was almost
Mulder's turn and she was pretty sure that he was going to up the
ante on the game. She had to think quick if she was going to ready
to compete with his little game.

"Okay, Rob, was the group right? You were never a professional
golfer?"

Agent Rob Jones of computer crimes nodded with a slight look of
chagrin.

"Okay, then next is..."

"Mulder."

"Mulder - we're trying to go by a first name basis here. To get to
know each other better and feel more comfortable with each other."

"Sure. No problem. I'm just more comfortable with everyone if they
call me Mulder."

"Okay, fine then, Mulder, what are your two truths and a lie."

Back came the twinkle in his eye. Scully silently prayed that he
wouldn't say anything supremely embarrassing - she was resigned to
suffering moderate embarrassment but if he brought up that Cops
thing on Fox or that goddam travesty of a movie 'loosely-based on
them', she was going to have to hurt him.

"Okay, well, let's see..." "I was attacked by a giant mushroom."
"I've been trapped in a bomb-rigged train car with an alien." "I've
never been shot by another agent"

Mulder sat back, looking rather self-satisfied as the murmurs
began. He had long ago come to terms with the idea that pretty much
everyone thought he was crazy. There was no harm in perpetuating
the 'spooky' rumours and it was always fun to see how people
reacted to the stories.

Everyone, including the facilitator, Mitch, but excluding Scully
was looking around, slightly bewildered at this new turn in the
game. Many of the agents were whispering to each other with the
typical 'what a nut' looks on their faces. Finally, Mitch composed
himself.

"Okay, so who thinks Mulder is lying about the giant mushroom - you
did say giant mushroom right?"

Mulder nodded, his usual deadpan blank look on his face.

Quite a few agents raised their hands to vote for the giant
mushroom tale.

"Okay, and the alien train bomb thing?"

Pretty much all the agents that hadn't already voted raised their
hands.

"How bout never being shot by another agent?"

There was only one hand raised.

"So which one was the lie Mulder?" Mitch asked, ready to move on
but managing to keep upbeat.

"Scully wins, of course," Mulder answered, looking over at his
partner who wore a bemused expression on her face.

Mitch nodded a bit nervously. "Right, good, good. It's good when
your partner can guess which one's the lie. Okay, so, next,
it's..."

"Dana Scully."

"I've been attacked by a liver-eating mutant" "I was rescued from
an alien spaceship in Antarctica" "My favourite memory of my work
is examining a giant fluke"

Mitch looked at her, mouth slightly agape. The murmurs began again
as she looked smugly over at her partner. Mulder grinned at her,
excited that she had chosen to participate in his little game. The
Mrs. Spooky myths were going to get a big boost if Scully was going
to act the part.

"Okay, well who thinks Dana was not attacked by a, um, liver-eating
mutant?"

A few hands went up.

"And who thinks she was not rescued from a space ship in
Antarctica?"

The rest of the agents raised their hands. However, Mitch sighed
inwardly as he noticed Mulder had yet to cast his vote. Either
Mulder wasn't going to vote or he was obviously not playing the
game properly. Really - not only a spaceship? But in Antarctica?
They were supposed to be being realistic.

"How about the giant fluke?"

Mulder raised his arm and silently laughed. They were two for two
but, of course, they had insider knowledge. He supposed that he
couldn't blame the others for their incredulity - in fact, he
almost couldn't believe she had just admitted, in front of him,
though in a surreptitious way, that it was a spaceship.

"I suppose Mulder is right Dana?" Mitch asked with evident
annoyance, though trying to keep up his happy facilitator act.

Scully nodded stoically. "Yes. That was the lie," she said evenly,
as if she had not just basically admitted to seeing both a
spaceship and a liver-eating mutant.

Mitch nodded and continued on to the last couple of agents who had
not gone yet. It had taken some time to get around the whole group
and he was anxious to get onto the next activity. They finished the
game with another two mundane 'lies' and then he started to
introduce their first teamwork activity.

"Alright, now that we know each other a little better, let's get
started with our first activity. For this one, you'll get a chance
to stretch your legs and get some fresh air. In the first part
you're all going to go out on your own and find one item that
represents your partnership. You have twenty minutes to find this
item - it can be anything - a rock, a leaf, a newspaper, whatever
just as long as you can explain why it is representative of your
partnership. Does anyone have any questions? Ok, perfect, then
we'll meet back here in twenty minutes."

* * * *

Scully walked out of the building onto the general Quantico campus
and took a long breath of fresh air. It had been awhile since she
had been at the FBI Academy but it still felt familiar and she
smiled to herself at some of the memories it brought back. She
glanced over in the direction of the Forensic research training
centre where she had once taught classes. It felt like a long time
ago, a lifetime ago really and she reminisced somewhat fondly at
her innocence in those days. Even in her second stint there, after
her first year with Mulder and the X files, she had been so young
and naive. In a way she wished she could go back to the easiness of
being in the dark, not knowing about the vast government
conspiracies that perpetuated evil doings in the world. But she
knew that, given the chance to go back she wouldn't hesitate for a
second, she would still make the same choices that had led her to
this moment, walking around aimlessly trying to find something that
represented her and Mulder's partnership. Ignorance might be bliss
in some cases but not when it came to Mulder. To think of the
things she would have missed had she never been partnered with him
made her somewhat queasy to her stomach. Sure, he was infuriating
at times but he was also, somehow, endlessly endearing at the same
time, she thought.

Take last night for instance. He had invited her over for dinner
and a movie, a regular Friday night for them. After dinner, during
the movie she had fallen asleep snuggled up against him, also a
regular occurrence. Normally, he would wake her up after the movie
with his signature gentle touch and they would eventually make it
into the bedroom but last night she had planned to go back to her
own place as she needed to change her clothes and put on her
professional face before they went out to Quantico in the morning.
Also, his place was on the way to Quantico so it only made sense
for her to pick him up in the morning. Knowing her plan, Mulder
hadn't woken her up or tried to get her to the bedroom at all.
Instead, he had taken advantage of her sleepiness and had settled
into the couch with her, pulling her tight against him until she
melted into his arms and sighed contentedly. They slept like that
for a few hours, entangled on his couch which was definitely not
big enough to sleep two, even when one of the two was as small as
Scully. She had woken in the middle of the night and attempted to
extract herself from his grasp but he was clearly not willing to
let her go without a battle. He had mumbled some incoherent
arguments about her being too tired to drive and finally resorted
to rubbing her back gently while pleading with her to stay. She
didn't know what happened to her usually strong willpower when
Mulder was involved - somehow, he could convince her to do pretty
much anything and that was when he wasn't massaging her sensuously.
She had finally gavin in and let him drag her into the bedroom,
definitely not regretting her decision as she settled back into the
warmth of his body. He had pulled her close and murmured a promise
that they would get up early and go over to her place so she could
get ready for the seminar.

Scully sighed to herself, knowing that it wasn't entirely his fault
that they had been late getting to Quantico in the morning. It was
easy to blame things on him though - he was completely incorrigible
and impossible to resist, especially when he insisted on waking her
up with the most gentle of caresses. By the time they had finally
gotten to her place they were basically late already and by the
time they got to Quantico they had missed the morning coffee and
pastry session and disrupted the introduction of the icebreaker
activity as they took their seats. So here she was, trying to think
of an object that would represent her and Mulder's partnership
while all she wanted was an extremely large cup of coffee and a
bagel. 'Seriously, what the hell am I going to find here that
represents me and Mulder?" she thought to herself as a glance down
at her watch informed her that she only had fifteen more minutes to
find something and get back.

* * * *

Mulder breathed a sigh of relief as he was allowed out of the
conference room to find an object to represent his and Scully's
partnership. He wasn't sure he knew quite what to bring back but
was confident that he would find something appropriate. As he
wandered about the Quantico grounds, he thought back to the
previous night and morning. Sure, it had mostly been his fault that
they had been late but, as he had reminded a slightly cranky Scully
that morning while en route to the seminar, it takes two to tango.
Still, he had felt a twinge of guilt when they had to  interrupt
the first activity - Scully hated being late and she really hated
missing out on her morning coffee. Now he wanted to do something to
make it up to her but he had to find an item for the stupid
teamwork activity too. God, he hated these teamwork games - he and
Scully weren't going to learn anything about their partnership by
saying how they were like a rock or a leaf or a bagel with cream
cheese.

* * * *

EIghteen agents milled back into the conference room at the end of
the twenty minutes. Mitch looked around and saw that they carried
various items with them, flowers, sports equipment, rocks, books.
He noticed that many looked around nervously, not sure if they had
picked the right thing. Where were the two nuts though? he asked
himself - neither had made it back yet. He sensed that they would
be troublesome for the whole weekend - they had looked alternately
bored and mischievous during the first exercise, not making eye
contact with anyone else in the room except each other. However, he
also noticed that they seemed completely at ease with each other.in
a way that he didn't often see and he had run training seminars for
a lot of law enforcement and military agencies. He had watched them
closely from the minute they had walked in late, Mulder with a
subdued smirk on his lips, Scully with a barely hidden look of
annoyance in her eyebrows. Now, he watched as Scully walked in to
the room, late again and this time carrying two coffees and a paper
bag. She looked around the room, noting that everyone except for
Mulder seemed to be back already and walked around to her seat.
Just as she was sitting down, Mulder walked into the room, also
bearing two coffees and a paper bag. He looked across at his
partner and grinned stupidly. Scully couldn't help but to offer a
small twitch of the corner of her mouth in return. It didn't always
happen, but sometimes they really were on the same page.

"Hey Scully, what's in the bag?" he asked as he sat down in her
seat.

"What's in your bag Mulder?" she asked back.

"No fair - I asked you first."

Scully considered the validity of his argument and acquiesced.
"Bagels and cream cheese and lox," she said. " How bout you?"

Mulder grinned slyly. "Bagels, cream cheese, lox and a danish."

"Well, Mulder. then what does coffee, bagels, cream cheese, and lox
have to do with our partnership?"

Mulder's mouth was too stuffed with food to answer before Mitch
started speaking again.

"Okay, now that we're all back, we're going to take some time in
pairs to look at and discuss what we each brought back. You can
choose to stay in this room or find a more private spot to discuss
your..."

Mitch's instructions were interrupted by the arrival of two men
dressed in black commando uniforms, one of whom strode up to him
and calmly placed a large gun to his head.

"Everyone hands over your heads and lie down on your stomachs or
this piece of shit is dead," said the one pointing his gun at
Mitch.

There was a moment of stunned silence. What the hell had just
happened? Many of the agents thought that it was part of the
teamwork games but, even so, it was probably best to play the
situation realistically and, realistically, when someone threatens
to kill the seminar leader, you obey. All of the agents, one by
one, held their hands up and lay down on their stomachs.

Quickly, his partner ran around the room and collected all the
agents' weapons, putting them in a bag in the far corner of the
room.

* * * *

"Okay, thank you, let's stop there," Dr. Benton said, interrupting
Mitch's account of what had happened. "I want to give everyone a
chance to talk about how they felt at that point in the events.
Mitch, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to start with you."

Mitch looked a bit green by this point and took a deep breath
before starting.

"Um, okay. How did I feel? I was terrified - it's not like I've
ever had a gun pushed up against my head before. I mean, it still
makes me a bit jumpy just thinking about it. I've had nightmares
ever since. I guess I'm still trying to get over that feeling of
pure fear but I can't stop thinking about it and reliving that
moment. Every time, it's just as intense too - I can't help it."

"Okay, that's good. Thanks for being honest with the group, Mitch.
It's really helpful when everyone is up front with their
experiences. So what I heard is that you felt fear like you've
never experienced before when your life was threatened. I think
that everyone in this room can relate to that. Would anyone else
like to share their feelings from this moment?" Dr. Benton asked
while making a mental note to check in with Mitch later as he was
exhibiting signs of both ASD and, potentially, PTSD.

"Well, at first, I thought that it was just part of the seminar,
you know, like a scenario to test how we would react so I wasn't
really that scared at the start," a young female agent, Watts,
answered.

Many of the agents around the room nodded in agreement and a few
'yeahs' were heard.

Dr. Benton looked deliberately over at the two he was keeping tabs
on - they looked to be deep in whispered conversation, most likely
discussing how things had gone so wrong at the seminar. He wandered
closer to listen in on their conversation.

"Mulder..." Scully said, her whisper low, like a warning.

"C'mon, Scully, do it - I double dog dare ya," Mulder replied, with
a glint in his eyes that belied his serious expression.

"Mulder, I am not going to fake anything, ice cream or not," she
replied.

'What the hell were they talking about?' Dr. Benton asked himself.
It didn't seem like they had heard anything that was being said by
the other agents. In fact, they seemed to be off in their own
little world. He figured they were repressing their emotions
regarding the event, pushing their feelings aside in order to avoid
dealing with the experience. Benton decided to stay close to try
and get a better idea of what they were thinking as he continued on
with his standard debriefing strategies.

"Okay, so most of you weren't very scared at the start - when and
how did that change?"

"Well, one of the guys started yelling something about snakes and
that confused me a bit but then it was obvious that something was
wrong when the shooting started." Watts continued.

At the word shooting, most of the agents minutely flinched and Dr.
Benton looked sideways at the two whisperers. They were still at it
and had barely bothered to listen to the ongoing debriefing
session.

"When it rains sleeping bags Mulder, when it rains sleeping bags,"
Scully was saying, her mouth exhibiting the slightest twinge of a
grin, which was only noticeable to her partner.

Mulder was giving her a pretty good orphaned puppy-dog look, his
lower lip displaying a perfect, but fake, pout. "Fine, then I get
to choose next pizza and none of that half and half crap - you have
to eat what I pick."

Scully looked dismayed, like he had finally found something she
truly dreaded. Dr. Benton, on the other hand, looked confused as he
had absolutely no understanding of what was going on. He was used
to dealing with trauma survivors and victims. He couldn't remember
anyone ever talking about food in the midst of discussing the
shooting of a fellow agent. He couldn't even figure out if Mulder
and Scully were having a conversation. They seemed to understand
each other but for him it was like listening to a conversation with
most of the  lines removed. Dr. Benton sighed and turned his
attention back to the rest of the group - whatever Mulder and
Scully were talking about could wait - he had to get through the
rest of the debriefing.

"Alright then, why don't you continue the story for us then," Dr.
Benton suggested, nodding towards Agent Watts.

* * * *

All of the agents were lying face down on the ground, still roughly
arranged in a circle. Most were craning their necks to see what
would happen next, to try and figure out what they were supposed to
do next in the exercise.

Suddenly though, the second gunman, having put the agents' weapons
in the corner, started yelling.

"Okay, so who's the snake? Which one of you is a real man?" he
shouted into their ears.

The agents all looked completely baffled. What was he talking
about?

"Who's the snake? You bullshittin' us man? You a chickenshit? Be a
man!" the gunman yelled, pacing and staring at the agents, working
himself into a frenzy.

He waved his gun around maniacally and pointed it at the agents,
one a time. "I'm going to start shooting soon snaky - who's gonna
be the first one to die?"

Still no one moved. The air was pulled tight with confusion and
tension. Was it a game? An exercise? It was getting harder to tell
what the hell was going on.

The gunshot was excruciatingly loud and cut through the stiff air
of the room with a concussive force. It was followed by an equally
excruciating scream that emanated from one of the older male
agents, Bob something or another.

Everyone turned to look as he grabbed his knee in pain. Blood
spurted everywhere, it seeped and ran through his fingers, soaking
into the carpet around him as he moaned in pain.

* * * *

"Okay, thank you, you can stop there," Dr. Benton interrupted,
bringing the agents back to the present. He could see that many of
them had been vividly reliving the experience as Agent Watts
described what had happened. It had been less than a week since the
incident and many of the agents had reported experiencing
flashbacks in that time. Hearing it described again and being in a
room with all the other agents made it just that much more intense
for a lot of the agents.

He glanced over at Mulder and Scully, to gage their reactions to
the retelling of the events. As per normal, they were turned
towards each other. Mulder was smirking and Scully was pretending
to scowl. Dr. Benton looked closer and caught a glimpse of Scully
trying to pry something out of Mulder's hand. She was being very
discrete about it and he wouldn't have noticed had he not been so
focused on their behaviour, but even he couldn't see what she was
after. Again, he had no idea what was going on - it was like they
were living in a different existance than the rest of the agents in
the room.

"So, how did you feel then, after Bob was shot?" he asked, trying
to tear his eyes off of the two disinterested agents.

This question brought out an on slot of answers. Even some of the
older male agents who disliked all the newfangled ideas such as
Critical Incident Debriefing were contributing their thoughts. They
talked about feeling powerless and the shame that went along with
being unable to help their fellow agents. A lot of the younger
agents admitted to a feeling akin to panic - they had undergone so
much training but, when faced with a real life-or-death situation,
they had no idea what to do.

Finally, Dr. Benton couldn't stand it anymore. He was only
listening with one ear to the many agents eagerly contributing to
the discussion because he was still trying to eavesdrop on Mulder
and Scully's conversation. He had to get them talking to the group,
other wise the whole debrief was going to be pointless. Sure some
of the agents were talking about their feelings but no one, with
Mulder and Scully being the possible exceptions, really even
understood what had happened!

"Uh agents?" Dr. Benton said, trying to make eye contact with
either agent.

Both were still facing each other and seemed to be deliberately
ignoring him.

"Ahem, Agents Mulder and Scully?" he tried again.

Finally, they couldn't decently pretend to not hear him anymore and
turned their attention back to the group. Scully, who had been
close to a full-fledged smile, immediately put on her game face,
and instantly became someone that was clearly not to be trifled
with. Mulder, on the other hand, looked both irritated that he had
to look at someone other than his partner and bemused by the
attention they were getting.

"As you two were key participants in the ensuing events, can we get
your view on what happened that day?" Dr. Benton asked, trying to
ease them into what could be a difficult conversation.

They looked at each other and shared a moment of silent
conversation that Benton could not decipher before, finally, Mulder
sighed and started talking.

"Well, as I explained to Assistant Director Skinner, Agent Scully
and I were just not meant to attend partnership seminars," he said
with a small shrug. "You know, if it's not mothmen then it's
radical nationalists."

Benton glanced over at the Assistant Director to help interpret
Mulder's obscure comment. Skinner looked a bit pained, as if he
wanted to both agree with and punch his agent at the same time.
Looking over at Scully, Benton noticed that she was rolling her
eyes while also giving her partner a tiny grin.

Benton, however, was not surprised by the agent's glib comment - he
was sure that Mulder harboured hidden feelings and was just using
humour as a crutch.

"But how did you feel when Bob got shot and it became obvious that
the situation was real?

There was another indecipherable glance between the two agents
before Scully answered the question patiently.

"Dr. Benton, I think I am speaking for both Agent Mulder and myself
when I say that we both felt relatively fine. The situation was
problematic but, with proper communication, it was going to be
under control. The bullet wound that Agent Debakker sustained was
not life-threatening in the short term so we had time to deal with
the gunmen."

Dr. Benton suspected that she was lying but Skinner knew
differently. He had seen Scully lie before and, if there was one
thing she was terrible at, that was it.

"Agents, we're really doing our best to keep an open mind about our
emotions here and it only really works if everyone is being honest.
Now I don't want to accuse you of lying but maybe you are not being
honest with yourselves. I, for one, don't see how anyone could have
felt 'fine' in a life-threatening situation."

The look on their faces was priceless. They looked at each other,
irony lost on neither of them. In fact, Skinner himself had to hold
back a minor guffaw.

Now Dr. Benton was really confused. Something he had said had set
them off again and they were no closer to the deep emotions he was
looking for.

"Okay, agents, we don't have to discuss emotional reactions right
now. Maybe, though, you can help the group flesh out what happened
after the first gunshot was fired."

They eyed each other warily, each waiting for the other to suck it
up and begin. Finally, Mulder took pity on his injured partner and
started to tell the story.

"Fine. I'll start. We were lying on our stomachs and goon number 2
had just shot Agent Debakker. Agent Scully had a weapon but was
originally facing away from the gunmen. I was...

"Wait, " interrupted Dr. Benton. "I thought the gunmen disarmed
everyone. How did Agent Scully still have a weapon?"

* * * *

Mulder arched his back as he lay, belly-down, on the ground, to get
a better look at the two gunmen. One still held his gun to Mitch's
temple and hte other had just collected all of the agents' weapons.

'Well,' Mulder thought to himself, ' Almost all the weapons.'

A glance around the room showed all the agents down on their
stomachs, still in a circle, mostly all with their heads facing
towards the middle of the circle. Beside him though, Scully had
lain down with her head toward the wall so that they were facing in
opposite directions. In fact, she had carefully positioned her
right hand close to his right ankle and, as the second gunman was
busy putting the weapons in the corner of the room, she deftly
unsnapped his backup weapon from his ankle holster and snuck it
under her torso.

Mulder felt her slip the weapon off of him and sighed internally.
They had only had a couple of glances to work out a silent plan as
the gunmen had stormed in and taken Mitch hostage. With mouths
stuffed full of bagels and lox, they had wasted one look on
expressing confusion but then Mulder had used the last second
before dropping to his belly to deliberately look down at his
ankle. He knew that she had gotten his message with she had quickly
turned around, ostensibly to look at something, before reacting to
the gunman and also lying down on her belly.

* * * *

"Hold it - you're saying that Agent Scully knew to take your weapon
because you looked down at your feet?"

Mulder looked at Dr. Benton like he was a complete moron."Yes,
that's exactly what I said," he said impatiently.

"One glance, over maybe a few seconds and she got enough out of
that to figure out what you were looking at? What if you hadn't
brought your weapon? Why did you bring two weapons to a partnership
seminar? You could have just been looking down for no reason. It
seems unreasonable to me that your partner could have answered all
of those questions in the time to act."

Finally Scully couldn't take it anymore. Mulder was right, this was
pointless and she should totally have faked sick. She would way
rather be strolling around outside with her partner, eating ice
cream instead of explaining their actions to a facilitator that
clearly just wanted them to say that they were suffering from
post-traumatic stress. But now she had missed her chance at faking
enough pain to get them out of the debriefing and was going to have
to explain her actions to a moron.

"Yes, one glance. Is that really that hard to understand? Why else
would Agent Mulder look down at his right ankle? He sure as hell
wasn't just looking for a comfortable spot to lie down. And of
course he had brought his ankle holster - like anyone who
constantly loses weapons in dangerous situations with armed
combatants would. And just because we made it to the seminar this
time doesn't preclude trouble from mothmen or militant
nationalists." Scully was at her best - firing lines precisely and
articulately in a derisive manner only reserved for total idiots.
As he watched her address Benton, Skinner flinched, realizing that
she had, on more than one occasion, used that tone with him. For
some reason, being thought of as an idiot by Scully was something
he particularly dreaded.

"Okay, fine, so you got Agent Mulder's weapon," Dr. Benton said,
finally realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere by
continuing on that path. "Tell us what happened then."

Scully still looked annoyed. She didn't really want to be
responsible for getting a dim-wittted facilitator to understand
what had happened between Mulder and her that day. Also, she wanted
to wash the smirk off of her partner's face. He was reveling in her
irritation at the debriefing process, as if suffering together made
up for his annoyance at being there. But she couldn't see a way out
of the debriefing without cooperating so she sucked it up and
followed protocol, as usual.

* * * *

The tension in the air intensified immediately as all of the agents
in the room very quickly realized that they were not dealing with
an arranged teamwork exercise. A couple of the agents moved to help
the injured man but the gunman harshly ordered them to stay still.
The palpable silence was suddenly interrupted with the sound of two
equally confident voices.

"You can't just let him bleed out. I'm a doctor, let me help him,"
Scully said, glancing over at the injured agent, who was trying to
staunch the flow of blood but quickly succumbing to shock.

At the same time, Mulder started talking too. "Okay, okay. It's me.
Don't shoot me! I'm Snake."

The two gunmen looked first at Scully, then Mulder. "Shut up, or
I'll kill him quicker," one of them said to Scully before regarding
Mulder with a disarmingly nasty look.

"So you're Snake. What the fuck happened man - fucking chickenshit.
You got no balls you piece of shit? Stand up." he yelled, glaring
at Mulder with dark eyes.

Everyone's eyes were glued to Mulder as he stood up, his hands
heldl high over his head. He stood, facing the two gunman. The one
had let go of Mitch and was now pointing his gun at Mulder's head.
The other was still pointing his gun at the other agents but was
also looking at Mulder.

"Piece of shit! You're going to be the first to die if you don't
prove you're worth something. Here, take this," the second gunman
snarled as he walked over to the weapon stash and threw a gun a
Mulder.

"Now, who are you going to demonstrate your loyalty on? You pick
the first to die for their country."

Mulder fingered the gun nervously. He knew there was really only
one choice for what he had to do. But still, even as his only
viable option, he was loathe to go through with it. He could feel
the sweat in his hairline, threatening to expose his nervousness.
He wiped his palms discretely and looked around the room again.

"Wait, what's the point of this? What are you trying to prove?
You're never going to get out of here if you kill any of us. We're
all federal agents and we're in a heavily secured federal building.
What do you want? Maybe we can work out a way for this to end
favourably for everyone."

Everyone now swung their attention to the speaker. Scully was still
lying face down on her belly but had managed to turn towards the
middle of the circle and looked up at their captors.

Apparently, she asked the right question too as one of the gunmen
started to rant.

"We want to show America how pathetic it's national security is.
This is FBI property, it's the fucking place where you learn to be
a FBI agent and we basically just walked in here with our guns and
took you all down. What the hell is that? No wonder we're getting
our asses handed to us by the fucking A-rabs. Them fucking Arabs at
least have the right fucking idea - kill or be killed or die
killing. So we want to make a point. Prove to the American public
that our security is shit and our training is shit and our strategy
is shit. Them fucking Arabs - they're showing us up. They've got
fucking martyrs blowing shit up every fucking day. And what do we
have? Weak ass bullshit fucking FBI agents who don't do nothing
when Americans are dying. We are regular fucking people and we can
walk in here and kill a fucking roomful of FBI agents. That is
fucking bullshit! If this is what it takes to get the fucking
government to learn it's job, then at least we're fucking man
enough to do it. So yeah. That's what we fucking want. We want to
make show our American boys that them that it ain't just Arabs that
can be martyrs. Show them there's a price to pay if America is
gonna be safe. What do we want? We want a fucking room full of dead
fucking FBI agents for the news."

Scully was definitely regretting she had asked. Apparently, the
gunmen had no real intention of getting out of the building alive.
And they definitely had intentions of killing all of the agents.
There wasn't even any point in stalling for the Hostage Response
Team to show up. They had to resolve the situation soon or there
was going to be a lot of dead agents in that room. She looked up at
her partner, standing in the middle of the circle with a gun in his
hand, ostensibly choosing the first victim of the day. Scully was
pretty sure the gunmen weren't going to be shooting at knees
anymore and, from the nervousness in his face, Mulder was pretty
sure of that too.

"Hurry up and choose, man - we don't got all fucking day," one of
the gunmen said impatiently. He was the one standing next to
Mulder, a gun to Mulder's head, prodding him to pick a victim.

"Yeah man - anyone of them will do. Let's get the show on the
road!" the other gunman yelled. He still stood outside the circle
of agents, with a gun at hand and a good shot at anyone in the
circle.

Mulder licked his lips nervously. He had to do it but he needed to
make sure that she understood. His eyes met hers and saw her give
him the slight eyebrow. The expression in her eyes told him she
knew exactly what needed to be done. Other than that she was as
stoic as a statue - all business, ready when he was.

Damn. He wasn't fucking ready at all but his hand was being forced.
There was nothing to do but act.

Mulder looked at the guy holding a gun to his head. This had to
work perfectly or they were all going to be dead. He took a deep
breath in a futile attempt to bring down his escalating heart rate.
Then he indicated towards Scully with his gun.

"Her. I pick her," he said slowly.

It was like a momentous collective gasp. The agents in the room
craned their heads to look at each other. Even in the midst of a
hostage situation the urge to exchange a look of shock and a
whispered 'no way!' was difficult to resist. What the hell was
going on? He had a roomful of people to choose from and he chose
her?

"Stand up, red." the gunman behind Mulder said gruffly. "Good pick
man - she looks fuckin' feisty. Good to do her first."

Mulder tried desperately to calm himself down as Scully stood up in
front of him. She held her hands to her sides and he could see her
right hand inching almost imperceptibly towards the gun tucked into
her waistband behind her. He had to do this and he had to do it
right or they were both dead. He looked into her eyes and the
vivacity of the blue in them showed exactly how ready she was. For
a millisecond, his confidence wavered and he considered taking the
half-assed approach to their problem but she saw it in his eyes and
glared at him until he acquiesced. Apparently she wasn't going to
be changing her mind so what right did he have to chicken out?

Mulder raised the gun and deliberately targeted the perfect spot.
He was nervous as hell but his hands were steady, the hours of
shooting practice paying off when he needed it most. If he was
lucky, he would get her in exactly the right spot - the same spot
where she had gotten him.

"Okay man, no more fucking around. Take the shot." the gunman with
the gun trained on Mulder was getting impatient and Mulder didn't
like the idea of a twitchy trigger finger right next to his head.

It was now or never.

He looked at Scully and made sure his aim was true. His eyes and
the smallest nods of his head started the countdown. Thankfully,
countless games of Rock Paper Scissors had their countdowns
perfectly synced. No questions on whether you go three-two-fire or
three-two-one-fire.

Three

Two

One

Fire

They fired just milliseconds apart. Mulder pulled the trigger on
his gun just as Scully aimed her weapon and fired. She had pulled
the gun out during the count and timed it perfectly so that her
shot caught the goon with a gun at Mulder's head square in the
forehead. Mulder's shot hit her in the left shoulder just before
she saw the gunman's brains spill out of his head. Then, instantly,
as soon as he had fired the first round and while everyone,
including the second gunman, was trying to figure out where the
second shot had come from, he turned and placed a bullet dead
centre to the second gunman's chest.

The sound of the three gunshots rang through the conference room
and was followed by dead silence. The shots had been consecutive,
seconds apart, and had come from at least two directions.

Everything had happened so quickly that none of the agents, except
for Mulder moved for at least thirty seconds. They were all still
busy trying to figure out what had happened and whether it was safe
to move yet. Finally, one agent was brave enough to stand up slowly
while another realized that it was probably best to disarm the
gunmen even if they didn't seem to be in any shape to use their
weapons anymore. Eventually all the agents got up dazedly, most
still completely unaware of what had actually happened.

Mulder, on the other hand was moving more quickly than a cheetah on
speed. He almost got to Scully before she hit the ground but wasn't
quite quick enough to save her from a big bruise on her hip. At
least she was conscious enough to not have hit her head but the
hole in her shoulder was bleeding fairly profusely. Mulder took off
his jacket and applied pressure to the wound.

"Hey Scully, how are you feeling?" he asked, glad to see that she
still had a strong grasp on consciousness.

"I'm fine, Mulder," she said because it was what he expected her to
say. She knew that the pain in her expression and the clench of her
jaw told him the truth - that it hurt like hell. And as much as she
was all for taking care of her own injuries, she figured that
letting him staunch the flow of blood was probably for the best -
she wasn't sure she could hold onto consciousness much longer.

"Of course you are, Scully," he murmured in her ear. " Of course
you are." He looked down at her and gently brushed some hair away
from her eyes. "You're gonna be okay. It's going to be okay. That
was some nice shooting Scully. Now you can close your eyes, sleep
for a bit. Everything is gonna be okay," he whispered to her, not
really for any reason other than to keep on holding her and
touching her.

He sat down and took her shoulders into his lap, carefully
protecting the wounded one while still managing to stroke her good
shoulder gently. "It's okay, Scully, the paramedics will be here
soon. You're going to be fine, just like you always say."

Scully felt herself being pulled into Mulder's lap and considered
struggling against it. She was in a roomful of agents that did not
need to see her being held in her partner's lap. The rumours were
really going to be going all out on Monday, she thought warily,
but, in the end, she couldn't be bothered to resist the warm
feeling of her head and shoulders being cradled in Mulder's arms.
The pain in her shoulder was excruciating, even through the dull
feeling she recognized as shock. Mulder was saying something about
sleep and she was mumbling that she was fine and that she wasn't
tired when she passed out in his arms.

Mulder looked down at his unconscious partner - so much for being
fine, he thought, grinning to himself. For once, he wasn't
panicking about her lack of consciousness - the ambulance was on
it's way and  the pressure on her wound was keeping the bleeding to
a minimum. Still, he let his breath come in out with her heartbeat,
attuning his life to that of his partner's. He loved the feeling of
touching her hair, her skin, her everything. He loved the feeling
of whispering sweet nothings in her ear and seeing her lips twitch
in response. A Scully lip twitch was like a full-fledged smile from
most women. He didn't get the chance to take care of her very often
and he reveled in it when he did. Next time though, he hoped that
he didn't have to shoot her to get the chance.

* * * *

The room was silent. Everyone except Mulder was gaping at her. Even
Skinner was having a difficult time keeping his jaw from dropping.

Scully wasn't sure what part of the story was so surprising. They
had all been there - they had all witnessed the events. Surely,
they had all figured out what had happened.

Dr. Benton took a second to compose himself before speaking.

"Um. Okay. So, Agent Scully, you are saying that you knew Agent
Mulder was going to shoot you?" he finally said.

Scully was now the one who wanted to gape in confusion - hadn't
that been obvious from the start? It was the only way that things
made sense.

"Well, clearly that was the only option," she said.

"Um, agent - I don't think I understand what you mean. How did you
come to that conclusion? And how did you understand that Agent
Mulder had come to the same conclusion? From what I gather, the two
of you didn't have any time to come to a plan." Dr. Benton replied.

"As I said, sir, that was the only option. Agent Mulder had to
shoot someone in that room. He couldn't risk shooting anyone else
and I needed a reason to stand up or I wouldn't have been able to
draw the weapon I had, let alone fire it quickly and accurately,"
Scully explained.

Dr. Benton nodded slowly. It did make sense. But the likelihood of
a such a risky plan succeeding was close to zero. There were too
many variables. What if Mulder's bullet hit Scully too soon and
knocked her aim off? What if they had then both turned their
weapons to the same gunman leaving the other time to shoot? What if
Scully flinched or moved (as almost any human would) and the bullet
hit her in a more dangerous spot? This wasn't a plan that most
agents would come to even after hours of preparation and debate.
And then to go through with it? It would take a lot for things to
go back to normal after such a dramatic event. Dr. Benton didn't
even want to think about the traumatic stress that both agents had
experienced. Likely, they were struggling with the incident and he
wanted to break through to them. In most situations like this, he
would have stopped and invited the two agents for a more private
session to work through their issues. However, he could tell that
neither agent would be interested in going to a follow-up session
with him. Therefore, unfortunately, the session would have to take
place in front of all their peers.

"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, please explain to us the reasoning you
went through while this situation was developing. I still see a lot
of holes in this story. For example, why, Agent Mulder, did you
assume the role of informer? What if the real snake had been in the
room too? You would have been found out right away." Dr. Benton
finally said.

"Just before the gunmen entered the room one of the agents at the
seminar left, ostensibly to visit the restroom. When they were
calling around for Snake, I realized that it was the guy that left,
that he had chickened out so I was safe in assuming his identity."

"But why do it at all? Why not just play dumb?"

"They were on the edge. I thought they might shoot someone else so
I went for it. And I thought they might give me a gun. Seeing how I
was the only other person in the room that knew Agent Scully had my
weapon, I figured I was the best qualified person to help her plan
a way to take out the gunmen."

"And when you say plan - how exactly did you plan with Agent
Scully? Neither of you could possibly have said anything to each
other and I imagine even if you were both proficient in
lip-reading, it would have been difficult to communicate with the
gunmen watching your every move."

Mulder stopped to think. How had they communicated? It was like he
could have a conversation with Scully in his head and get a close
enough approximation that they could come to the same conclusion.
Sure, sometimes she still threw him for a loop but, most of the
time, he could read what she was saying with a combination of the
look in her eyes and the countless past conversations they had had.
How could he explain that?

He was still thinking about how he could effortlessly communicate
silently with Scully when she started speaking. Maybe she was
silently understanding that he was having a hard time coming up
with the words. Scully would know what to say - bless her logical
heart for being able to come up with the stuff that saved him from
times like this.

"Agent Mulder and I have worked together for over 7 years. In that
time, we have been involved in countless stressful situations in
which we have resolved in numerous ways. Most of the time we are
reasonably successful in coming through without serious injury.
Knowing what Agent Mulder is most likely to be thinking in a
situation gives me the ability to formulate a plan that meshes our
two styles of problem solving and I believe that Agent Mulder would
say the same thing."

It sounded pretty reasonable but still damn risky. To trust
yourselves that completely to follow through on a plan that
involves being shot or shooting your own partner? "Agents. You know
that the slightest mistake and you would likely both have been
dead, along with everyone else in that room. How could you be sure
that it was going to work out?"

"Gee. I hadn't felt the traumatic stress until you put it like
that." Mulder deadpanned as Scully discretely nudged him with her
elbow. "But it was going to work out because the plan was perfect."

"If executed perfectly. Why, Agent Mulder, didn't you deliberately
miss when you fired your weapon? What if one of you had shot too
soon or too late?"

"The goon was right behind me. He would have noticed if I was
aiming to miss. And Scully knows it's three two one shoot." Mulder
said by way of finishing. He was done with Dr. Benton. The man was
clearly not understanding the situation. He and Scully were fine
except they had to get through this dull bureau-required exercise.

"How did Agent Scully know which man to aim for?

Scully looked over and saw the set in Mulder's jaw. He was done
talking. She had to suck it up and get them through.

"Dr. Benton. I would think the reasoning is obvious. Mulder
couldn't possibly have reacted fast enough to shoot the man behind
him but he had plenty of time to aim at the other gunman once he
was distracted."

"Okay. Fine. So let me get this straight. You and your partner were
able to agree on a plan which involved shooting you in the
shoulder. How did you even know where he was going to shoot you?"

At that question Scully looked over at her partner with a tiny,
enigmatic smirk gracing her lips. He returned her look with a
knowing grin. He wondered how exactly she was going to say it.

"Uh, Agent Mulder knows that is the best place to shoot someone if
you are able to get it through clean. No major organs nearby, away
from major arteries, and won't do a lot to affect a right-handed
shooter's shot."

"Did you have a discussion with your partner on where best to shoot
one another? Because that's what it sounds like to me and, correct
me if I'm wrong, but this topic isn't really something that comes
up in conversation too often."

Scully might have looked unflustered to all the other agents in the
room who were all, including Skinner, gaping at her and Mulder but
her partner could see through the professional face she had on. She
did not want to have to explain to a room full of agents that she
had also shot her partner once before. A story like that would only
add fuel to the flaming rumours ran rampant around the Hoover
building.

"Agent Mulder and I often converse about things that don't usually
come up in other peoples' conversations," she replied truthfully.

Dr. Benton nodded in defeat. He was clearly still skeptical but
couldn't seem to come up with an argument so he moved onto the
topic that he really wanted to cover.

"Okay, then. So you formulated this plan together you say. But, in
my experience, often plans that are understood logically sometimes
don't work out emotionally. So, Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, how do
you feel about what happened?"

They looked at each other with matching expressions of dismay and
Dr. Benton noted that he had hit a tender spot in them both.
Repressed guilt and anger would be spilling over soon as the agents
confronted their feelings.

Oblivious to the nervous tension in the room, Mulder and Scully
were having a staring contest, each challenging the other to give
in and start talking. Finally, the exasperation on Scully's face
made Mulder give up the silent routine.

"What do you want us to say? Wait - forget it, I know what you want
us to say. You want me to say that I feel horribly guilty about
shooting my partner. That, despite the fact that I know it was the
logical thing to do, I still feel terrible about it. So I could say
it but it wouldn't be true. I don't feel guilty about this and I
haven't repressed my emotions about it. And, let me tell you, I
know what guilt feels like - this isn't it." Mulder stopped for a
breath and looked over at Scully who was hiding a knowing grin at
his last comment. Mulder was the king of guilt complexes and it
felt good to know that he wasn't feeling guilty about what had
happened. They had talked about it right afterwards, while she was
still in the hospital and, even then, she was able to tell that he
wasn't doing the usual guilt trip thing.

"Okay. Fine, so you don't feel guilty about shooting Agent Scully
because you knew it had to be done. However, that doesn't mean that
this incident didn't affect both of you. Agent Scully, you took a
bullet to the shoulder - that must have hurt. How did you feel
about it?"

Scully gave Dr. Benton a skeptical look that challenged even the
best raised eyebrow looks she usually saved for Mulder's more
imaginative theories. Mulder noted her expression and winced - he
was sure he didn't want to be in Dr. Benton's shoes right then.

"How did I feel about it? Well, you're right, it was painful -
physically. Emotionally, though, I was extremely relieved."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I wasn't sure Agent Mulder could go through with it. I thought
that he might look for another solution even though we had agreed
on the most logical plan. When the shot hit me I had already fired
and I was fairly certain that I had hit my target. So I was
relieved - that the plan had worked, that Agent Mulder trusted in
our decision, and that the situation had been resolved with minimal
damage."

"So you felt relieved because the problem had been resolved
successfully. Did you feel any other emotions towards your
partner?"

"Again, Mr. Dr. Benton, what you want us to say and what I feel are
clearly two different things. How can I make this clear to you? I
do not feel angry at Agent Mulder. He does not feel guilty about
shooting me. Neither one of us resents what the other had to do -
in fact, I would say that I am more satisfied with the level of
trust and commitment in our partnership than ever before. Agent
Mulder followed through with a plan that he had personal qualms
with because he trusted in our decision. I allowed him to shoot me
because I trusted him. This is the type of respect that we have for
each other and I ask you not to suggest that this respect can be
marred by such a trivial occurrence. It may not seem trivial to any
of you, but, believe me, for us, this is a mere anecdote -
something we will look back on with something akin to fondness."

Dr. Benton looked at the red-haired agent and didn't bother to open
his mouth. What was he going to say? If he challenged her statement
she was clearly going to tear him a new orifice. So he decided to
take her at her word.

"Okay then. I guess that settles it. Our time is up and,
unfortunately, I have to be somewhere else soon. If any of you
would like to set up a time to meet and talk more closely about
this I would be glad to meet with you. Otherwise, I hope that
everyone has gained some insight into their personal experiences
and emotions through this debriefing process. It's very important
to sort out our emotions after stressful situations and this is the
first step to a healthy recovery for all of you."

Dr. Benton definitely seemed to want to get out of there fast. He
was stopped, however, by a certain voice that he had started to
fear.

"Dr. Benton? I would like to ask something before we adjourn,"
Scully said loudly, over the din of agents starting to stand up.

Mulder, for once, looked surprised. He glanced over at Scully with
questioning eyes but she was focused on her own plan this time.

Dr. Benton looked at her warily and nodded briefly, indicating that
she should continue.

"Dr. Benton - how would you rate Agent Mulder and myself in terms
of positive partnership qualities such as trust and communication?
Mitch, perhaps, as the leader of many partnership seminars, you
could help Mr. Dr. Benton evaluate our partnership."

Benton still looked wary but couldn't figure out what Scully was
getting at so he just went with the easy way out.

"Agent Scully, I would say that I have never seen or heard of a
partnership that is more sound in trust and communication and I
would be very surprised if Mitch has either. It is a rare to see
such high levels of respect in any two people. If what you have
described here is true then I can't say that I'm qualified to
evaluate your partnership, having never encountered something like
this before."

"Thank you sir. Mitch - would you agree with Mr. Dr. Benton's
assessment?"

Mitch, who was still looking a bit woozy at having to relive the
stressful hostage experience, was quick to answer.

"Yes, I would definitely agree."

"Seeing as you have led many partnership seminars in the past,
would you be able to tell me what Agent Mulder and myself would
have learned that would have improved our partnership?"

"Um... Well, we cover issues of trust and communication mostly. And
I guess I would say that you two have that covered pretty well. I'm
not going to suggest that we would have done any exercises that
require the levels of trust and communication that you two
demonstrated. So I can't say that you would have gained anything
during the seminar."

Scully smiled and nodded her head as she turned and looked
pointedly at Skinner. The look on her face spelled satisfaction as
she made her final point.

"So, then, you would both be willing to recommend, officially, that
Agent Mulder and myself are no longer required to attend
partnership seminars?"

Skinner scowled. He had been outplayed and he knew it. Both seminar
leaders were nodding like morons and agreeing readily with Scully.
Mulder was grinning like a cat who had just ingested the largest
canary to ever live while Scully was giving her partner a sly look
that suggested that, under her poker face, she too was hiding a
satisfied smile.

Mulder held her jacket for her as she struggled into it with her
good arm and she took the opportunity to lean into him and whisper
into his ear.

"Mulder, you owe me big time."

Mulder smiled even wider and gave her a gentle squeeze before
moving his hand to the small of her back as he led her towards the
exit.

"Yeah, Scully, I owe you big time."