From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 22 Sep 2002 21:33:19 -0000
Subject: Teamwork by Starbuck_Jayne
Source: direct

Reply To: Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk


Teamwork
By Starbuck_Jayne
Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk
www.geocities.com/Starbuck_Jayne

Rating: PG I would think

Spoilers: References to The Goldberg 
Variation, Bad Blood

Keywords:  Probably AU but only because 
Mulder, Scully, Doggett and Reyes work as a 
four.  Implied romance.

Disclaimer:  None of the characters in this 
story belong to me I am just borrowing them 
for a while.  They belong to Chris Carter, 
1013 and Fox.
 
Archive:  Anywhere at all just please keep 
my name and e-mail attached, but no flames 
please I'm way too delicate!

Summary:  It was like "Big Brother" for the 
FBI:  "Four agents, one house, one 
innovative team-building mission."  

Feedback:  On my knees and begging for it.

Author's Notes: Ok attempted humour but in 
case I fail miserably let's call it light-
hearted.  Please be gentle!

Teamwork

Starbuck_Jayne

It was Mulder's fault.  Then again, most 
things were.  Scully had to credit the FBI 
though; it was an incredibly simple but 
wonderfully effective plan...if only she 
wasn't one of the guinea pigs.  Skinner had 
tolerated two of Mulder's outbursts towards 
Doggett, and may have even endured a third; 
if only that third hadn't involved the two 
male agents, one of the female agents, a 
trip to the emergency room and a law suit 
against the FBI for damages suffered when a 
stapler became airborne and penetrated the 
window of a moving vehicle at high speed.  
It was like "Big Brother" for the FBI:  
"Four agents, one house, one innovative 
team-building mission."  Scully could feel a 
headache coming on already, and they hadn't 
even arrived yet.  

Mulder was driving, of course, and this had 
caused minor friction between him and 
Doggett within the first ten minutes.  
Scully knew how much her partner hated 
having his navigational skills questioned by 
her, a woman, and needless to say when an 
argument had arisen about which way to turn 
at the crossroads he was far from pleased.  
Brakes had been slammed on, tyres had 
screeched and Agent Doggett had been 
threatened with a walk down the white line 
in the middle of the road.  Agents Scully 
and Reyes had merely exchanged glances, and 
silently hoped they would make it to the 
disused safe house alive.  The FBI had 
decided that, if the four agents were to 
work together, they would need to 
concentrate primarily on the basics:  "Would 
they be able to stay in the basement 
together for longer than an hour without 
turning the office into a murder scene?"  
Consequently, some wise-ass psychologist had 
suggested the "group confinement" 
experiment.  Amid protests about whom that 
would actually be punishing, Scully could 
have sworn she saw the Assistant Director 
actually laugh. 

"It's a conspiracy!"

"It's infringement of our human rights!"

"It's an outrage!"

"It's the end of the discussion."  Skinner 
had handed his agents a single key and 
dismissed them from his office.

The house was lovely, despite being in the 
middle of nowhere.  Surrounded by trees it 
could have been anywhere from Florida to 
Scandinavia, but that's all that did 
surround it- trees.  Scully didn't think 
she'd seen another house, let alone a 
convenience store, for miles.  The romantic 
in her was impressed by the, as yet, 
tranquillity of the location; but the FBI 
agent kept repeating the line: "out here no 
one can here you scream".  Taking her 
suitcase from the car she followed her 
colleagues towards the building, not 
forgetting to collect the paper work she was 
expected to catch up on- God forbid that the 
FBI would risk letting this excursion 
turning into a holiday.  

Predictably, the first argument was about 
who had the key.  What was unexpected, 
however, was the fact that the culprit was 
Scully.  Neither Mulder nor Doggett seemed 
to notice though, seemingly engaged in a 
competition to see who could throw the 
contents of their pockets onto the lawn the 
fastest.  Scully unlocked the door and she 
and Agent Reyes stepped inside.  The house 
was spacious, but in severe need of updating 
with regards to furnishings.  Monica moved 
towards one of the large, French windows and 
drew back the heavy curtains.  The view that 
exposed itself was stunning.  The house 
appeared to be placed at the very tip of a 
hill, and beneath it lay a small lake, the 
water inside it glinting gold and silver in 
the late-morning sunlight.

"Wow," she breathed, "it's beautiful isn't 
it?"

Scully moved over to where her companion was 
standing.  "In a surreal sort of way, yes."  
Her comment was aimed at the two men who had 
just appeared at the doorway.

"Monica," John was already looking somewhat 
dishevelled, his shirt spilling haphazardly 
over the waistband of his jeans, "you wanna 
go unpack?"  Reyes took her suitcase and 
headed up the stairs after her partner.

"So..." Mulder looked around the room with a 
lop-sided grin,  "this is what they have to 
offer the FBI's most incompatible."

"Yeah well you'd better get used to it, 
Mulder, because the way things are going 
we're going to be spending all our vacations 
here until retirement."  Scully hadn't moved 
from her position in front of the window.

"Oh come on, Scully, maybe after this it'll 
go back to being just you and me."

"Yeah, or just John and Monica.  Mulder I'd 
have thought you'd have been pleased about 
this!  The X-Files now have four times the 
exposure they had ten years ago!  Why must 
you insist on trying to drive them away?"  
She knew the answer and he knew he didn't 
have to tell her.  It was a territorial 
thing.

Meanwhile, Doggett and Reyes were having a 
similar conversation.  Monica was perched on 
the edge of the large bed in John's room, 
watching him unpack.  

"So, this is nice, huh?"  John spoke 
bitterly, finding a stray clump of grass in 
his jeans pocket, no doubt a result of his 
scramble to collect and return its contents 
after his dispute with Mulder.  

"John," Monica couldn't help but smile, "why 
don't you just try to get along?  It's been 
months!"

"Monica, *I* never had a problem with the 
guy.  First meeting and what does he do?  
Comes tearing into Skinner's office and 
smacks me in the face." 

Reyes could see that the only place this 
conversation was heading was another 
argument, so instead decided to change the 
topic to one that ultimately proved to be 
far more dangerous- what was the plan of 
action with regards to that evening's meal?

It turned out that Skinner, in all his 
wisdom, had decided that it would be 
beneficial if Mulder and Doggett were to be 
forced into performing the task of cooking 
together.  Scully, upon hearing this, had 
instantly protested upon health grounds, but 
her plea had been rejected and she had 
additionally earned herself the dubious task 
of writing a report on the pair's co-
operative skills.  That was how she had come 
to be perched on one of the stools at the 
breakfast bar, watching her partner 
demonstrate a novel new method for removing 
eggshells from a mixing bowl using a fork.  
Scully knew that Mulder was perfectly 
capable of cooking a decent meal, albeit in 
his own individual style; which was possibly 
why she found the fact that he'd forgotten 
to put the lid on the mixer before turning 
it on particularly frustrating.  Then again, 
it was true that at that particular moment 
he had indeed been having an argument with 
his sous-chef about whose fault it was that 
the meat had been marinating in an unheated 
oven for the past hour or so.  At this point 
Scully had subtly managed to conceal the 
largest of the three chefs knives, but was 
unwilling to jeopardise her personal safety 
by retrieving the others.

"What are they making?"  Reyes appeared 
behind her, sipping a cup of coffee whose 
origins puzzled Scully somewhat.

"I'm not sure," she had to confess, "but it 
looks interesting."

Upon seeing the raw bird in the oven the 
young woman was inclined to agree.  

"They know about that right?"

"Oh yeah."  Scully pursed her lips into a 
half smile of confirmation, feeling on the 
whole rather pessimistic about the whole 
evening meal experience.  Tomorrow it was 
"Lucky Boy".  She was that desperate.

XXXXXXX

The truth of it was that she was simply 
exhausted.  Somewhere between consciousness 
and sleep she'd lost her way, and now she 
was approaching nothingness much too 
quickly.  Her eyes slid shut and she heard 
her voice mumble something that she hoped 
would suffice as a response to her partner's 
question.

"Monica?"  He shook her awake, but she was 
too far-gone, instead falling listlessly 
against the pillows of Doggett's bed.  With 
a sigh he helped her under the covers, 
before making the snap decision to get in 
bed beside her.  It was too late to be 
wandering around the house, and besides 
which, Mulder and Scully would be too busy 
hiding their own affair to notice what he 
and Monica were doing.

On that account, however, he turned out to 
be wrong...

Scully had accepted a long time ago that her 
partner's sleeping patterns were of a design 
unlike anyone else's.  What she found 
difficult to come to terms with was the 
manner in which Mulder went about dealing 
with his problem.  It had to be said that 
the walls in the house were a little on the 
flimsy side, but Scully doubted that this 
accounted entirely for the fact that she was 
now positioned with her head under her 
pillow and could still hear every word of 
whatever was on the TV in the other room.  
She was beginning to feel as if she was 
banging her head against a brick wall- since 
arriving in the house any changes to their 
relationships seemed to have been negative 
ones, and the fact remained that initially, 
she'd had no real problem with Mulder.  
Dragging her head out from under the pillow 
she moved towards her partner's room. 

"Mulder, would you turn the TV down?"  She 
didn't think to look around the room before 
going in, so she failed to notice, 
therefore, that the room was empty.  It was 
only the silence, well, of sorts, which 
greeted her request that alerted her to the 
fact that her partner had seemingly gone 
AWOL and was more than likely shimmying down 
the side of the building at that very 
moment.  Running to the window Scully was 
relieved to find no traces of broken 
branches, or indeed comatose bodies, that 
would no doubt have followed any attempt 
her, somewhat inelegant, partner had made to 
escape.  Turning back to the TV, she stood, 
hands on hips, and wondered at the 
inconsiderate nature of someone who would 
leave a television on at a level of so many 
decibels then not even watch it.  She 
flicked off the offensive machine and set 
off in search of her partner.  

XXXXXXX

Reyes woke up with a sudden jerk.  The dream 
remained clear in her mind, and she took a 
few calming breaths before turning back on 
her side.  The room was black with the 
darkness, and the heavy, government-issue 
curtains were designed to let as little 
light in as they let out.  She rolled onto 
her back, and was surprised to find herself 
huddled into one corner of the bed.  
Stretching her arms above her head she moved 
towards the centre of the mattress, an 
action followed closely by a small scuffle 
and startled cry as Monica and John collided 
in the middle of the bed.  

"John?!"  

"Monica?!"  Despite the fact that he had 
actually been conscious upon getting into 
bed with his partner, Doggett seemed equally 
confused by the situation.  

"Jesus, John!  What are you doing in my 
bed?"

"I think," Doggett was fumbling about for 
the light switch, "that you'll find this is 
*my* bed."

The light was flicked on to reveal the two 
startled partners, sitting up now and 
blinking in the sudden rush of light.  
Monica, discovering that she was still more 
or less fully clothed, checked her watch.

"It's only 2am," she announced, and then 
thought to lower her voice to a whisper.  
"We should probably stay here so we don't 
wake Mulder and Scully."  

Doggett wasn't sure how far this was pushing 
the limits of a platonic friendship, but 
certainly didn't want to risk running into 
Agent Mulder at two in the morning, so he 
nodded his agreement and turned off the 
light.  The partners lay on their backs, 
arms folded across their chests and staring 
up into the blackness that surrounded them.

"So," Reyes broke the silence, "I guess 
*we'll* be ok at any rate."  

XXXXXXX

Scully couldn't believe that she'd actually 
managed to locate Mulder in the basement.

"Mulder, what on Earth are you doing down 
here?"  She shook the dust from her pyjamas.  

"Scully where's your sense of adventure?"

"Back upstairs with my self-control."

Mulder gave Scully the usual look that he 
reserved for her little jokes, and gestured 
towards a hole in the wall with his torch.  
Scully raised an eyebrow.

"Mice, Mulder.  The place probably hasn't 
been inhabited for over a year.  It's hardly 
surprising, especially in a wooded area like 
this."  She had absolutely no idea where he 
was going with this- maybe the pressure of 
living with Doggett was already getting to 
him.  "Seriously, Mulder, what's going on?"

"Don't you think it's strange, Scully?"

"What?"

"The FBI.  The fact that they've just left 
us out here, seemingly cut off from 
society."

"You think they're watching us?"  Scully 
rolled her eyes.  "Mulder, I thought we 
talked about this."

"It'd make perfect sense, Scully!  Don't you 
think they're going to want some way of 
monitoring us?  Making sure we're doing what 
we're supposed to?  Like good little FBI 
Agents?"

"Mulder, I'm going to bed.  If you want to 
stay down here and talk to holes in the wall 
then that's fine, but to be honest, I think 
you could use the rest."

Mulder heaved himself up from the floor and 
dusted off his trousers with his free hand. 

"Well, since you're offering," he gave her a 
lopsided grin and followed her upstairs, 
making a quick stop in the bathroom before 
continuing to his partner's bedroom.  Some 
minutes later Scully was alerted by a, 
somewhat louder, shriek to the fact that 
Mulder had managed to climb into bed with 
Agents Doggett and Reyes.  He was now lying, 
legs entwined with Monica's, with his arms 
around Doggett's neck.

"Well," Scully couldn't help but smirk as 
she entered the room, "looks like the plan's 
working better than we thought."  

XXXXXXX

The following day, tensions were running a 
little high. Nobody seemed willing to speak, 
or come to mention it even look at each 
other, over breakfast.  It was as Monica had 
said, theoretically this should have united 
them in the fact that they all had something 
they were trying to keep secret, but 
realistically, it had just made them 
uncomfortable.  

After breakfast had been cleared away, 
Scully announced that she was going to take 
a shower.  The others merely nodded, and 
Doggett said he was going to walk down to 
the lake.  Reyes and Mulder settled 
themselves down in the living room, and 
Reyes proposed a game of cards.  Mulder was 
reluctant but as Reyes pointed out, there 
really was nothing better to do.  They 
talked in some detail about various X-Files, 
and Mulder had to admit that it was 
refreshing to listen to someone who shared a 
similar point of view.  Monica was bold in 
her analysis of each case, and prompted the 
comment from Mulder:

"If only your partner saw things in a 
similar way."

Monica selected a card from her hand and 
placed it on the table.

"I don't think that's the reason you don't 
get on, Agent Mulder," she said, meeting his 
gaze and letting him know through her 
expression alone that she was growing tired 
of the territorial situation.  Mulder laid 
down his cards on the table and proclaimed 
himself the winner.  He was saved from 
having to think of a response by the 
unexpected sensation of water trickling down 
his cheek.  He moved a hand to his face, and 
then examined the substance on his fingers.  
Both FBI agents looked up to the ceiling and 
noticed the patch of water that was slowly 
spreading across the paintwork.

"Great," Mulder stood up and moved towards 
the staircase, taking the steps two at a 
time as he prepared to inform his partner of 
the damage she was causing.  

The partners looked at the mess in dismay.  
Scully had a distinct image in her mind of 
what had happened the last time Mulder had 
turned his hand to plumbing, and she didn't 
feel like treating injuries caused by a 
plummet through the fragile ceiling.  

"Well, I guess we won't be enjoying the 
luxury of showers for the next few days 
either," Scully sighed and tightened her 
bathrobe.  She hadn't noticed Agent Reyes' 
troubled expression.

"I think we may have a bigger problem," 
Monica spoke from by the window.  "Does 
anyone know what's happened to John?"

XXXXXXX

That night, the four agents huddled around 
the living room fire.  Each of them nursed a 
cup of coffee, containing a shot of 
something a little stronger that Doggett had 
found locked away in a cupboard.  Mulder and 
Scully shared a blanket but neither that nor 
their shared body heat seemed to chase out 
the cold.  Reyes was also positioned in such 
a way that Doggett's arms were wrapped 
around her, and it was Monica who finally 
broke the silence.

"On the bright side we worked as a team," 
she offered, taking a sip of her coffee and 
looking around for any support.

"On the other side we nearly died of 
pneumonia... if not worse," Mulder spoke.  
He looked at Doggett.

"I don't know why you're looking at me like 
this is my fault," Doggett couldn't be 
bothered arguing and technically he was 
right- it wasn't his fault.  

The three other agents had scrambled down to 
the lake in search of John, having no 
success along the way.  After a brief time 
spent beating the bushes and shouting to the 
missing agent, all of which to no avail, 
Mulder decided to take matters into his own 
hands.  Having decided it would be typical 
of Doggett to fall into the lake, despite 
the fact that, in reality, this was probably 
a rather implausible idea, he made the 
decision to dive in.  Unfortunately, at the 
very same moment Scully thought she saw 
something move in the bushes to her right, 
and grabbed her partner by the sleeve in 
order to gain his attention.  Needless to 
say, his impromptu leap into the water 
resulted in her stumbling in after 
him...only the "stumble" involved a rather 
large drop into the lake below.  Monica 
watched in horror as the partners hit the 
water with a smack that sent ripples tearing 
through the previously motionless liquid.  
On instinct she lunged after them, and 
consequently all three became trapped in the 
murky pool.  The upshot of the scenario was 
that Doggett, rounding the corner of the 
lake and oblivious to all that was going on 
around him, ended up dragging his co-workers 
from the water, one by one, and, to the 
bewilderment of the female agents, beginning 
with Mulder.

XXXXXXX

The four had been back in DC less than a 
week when they were summoned to Skinner's 
office.  The Assistant Director began by 
asking his agents assorted questions 
relating to their tasks, and concluded by 
requesting their various reports.

"Well, Agents, may I say that I am impressed 
by the way in which you co-operated towards 
the end of the task, and I hope this will 
mean the end of any further office-supply 
related law suits."

They agreed that it would, and he dismissed 
them.

"Oh, and Agents, one more thing before you 
leave," he pulled a video tape from a drawer 
in his desk, "you know the rules about male 
and female agents consorting in a room 
whilst on an assignment."

XXXXXXX

The End