From: "David Hearne" <ottercrk@sover.net>
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 12:45:22 -0500
Subject: xfc: Second Step (1 of 1)
Source: xfc

TITLE: SECOND STEP (1 of 1)

AUTHOR: DAVID HEARNE

CLASSIFICATION: Post-ep for "Deep Throat"

RATING: PG

DISTRIBUTION: Can go anywhere without my permission

SPOILERS: Deep Throat, Pilot

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Website is located at http://members.dencity.com/hearne

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A hand extended itself through the doorway and waved a white handkerchief.
The sight confused Agent Dana Scully for a moment. Then she recognized the
hand as belonging to her partner.

"Mulder?"

Agent Fox Mulder leaned around the edge of the doorway leading to his
office. On this morning, his new partner had gotten to the office first and
had been reading a file left on Mulder's desk when he had arrived. The
expression on his face hovered between ironic and insecure. He was smiling
at Scully, but in a nervous way. "Is it all right to come in?" he asked.

"What are...yes, come in."

Mulder stepped into the office, hands in his pockets. Scully noted how
Mulder often had the appearance of a bashful child. "Is something wrong?"
she asked.

"I'm just wondering if you're still mad at me."

"Mulder...I was never mad at you to begin with."

"You sounded mad. Back in Idaho."

"Oh." She put down the file, looking a little embarrassed. "I wasn't mad at
you, Mulder. I was angry at how things had turned out."

"How did you expect them to turn out?"

"Well...I didn't expect having to bail you out of an Air Force base. I
didn't expect having to hold a gun on a fellow government employee..."

"So you are mad at me."

"Oh, stop that, Mulder."

"Stop what?"

"The self-pity part of your mood swings."

Mulder blinked. Scully's embarrassment went up a notch.

"Let me put it this way..." she sighed and leaned back against the desk.
"Perhaps, I'm too naive. However, I have a need to trust my government, even
in this suspicious era which is post-Watergate, post-Iran-Contra..."

"Post-Milli-Vanilli."

Scully smiled a little. "Yes. That, too. My father was in the Navy. He
instilled in me a respect for my superiors, including those in my
government."

"Well," Mulder said, sitting down in a chair. "My dad worked in the State
Department. And what I've learned from him is that the government has to
earn my trust."

"And you're right, Mulder. However...sneaking into Air Force bases and
holding a person hostage...that's not for me."

"I don't know. You looked pretty comfortable with that gun."

Scully gave Mulder a look.

"Okay. I see your point. But you told me your main priority is the truth. If
the government is hiding the truth, don't we have a right to use any means
to find it?"

"And what line wouldn't you cross, Mulder?"

Mulder looked at his shoes. He took a few moments before answering.

"Scully...if what we do here makes you uncomfortable...then you should walk
away."

"I can't walk away. I've been assigned here."

"Don't worry about that. Just write a report explaining what a big idiot I
am. That's what they want you to do, right?"

"Now what did I say about self-pity?"

Mulder looked back at Scully.

"I'm not going to push you away because I feel uncomfortable. Whatever you
may think, I still respect you. And something strange was happening in
Idaho. And in Oregon, too. I want answers for what I saw. I admit that...I
never saw myself beforehand doing this work. However, I'm willing to stick
with it. And with you."

"You mean...you're willing to deal with me and my mood swings?"

"Agent Mulder, I think I'm going to be here for a long, long time."

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