Work Text:
They pulled into the small township in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia, the long drive from DC over. The light of motel sign flickered in the darkness showing it had vacancies, good job as it was the only option in town. They had left in the afternoon, arriving late in the evening having stopped just before the state border in Virginia for dinner. They would be heading to the sheriff’s office in the morning to start the investigation of this latest X File.
Once more they picked up their cases from the trunk and into their rooms, they still needed their own space although the friendship was coming back, spending time together outside work. They knew the things that drove each other mad, and things they loved about being together, but right now they liked living in their own space at home.
Dana opened the door to her room, with its chintzy duvet cover belonging to the past. A slightly worn padded chair sat in the corner, the top faded from years of sun shining on if through the window. Another old dusty motel room. She had spent too many nights in too many motels like this over the years with Mulder. Occasionally they managed to luck out with a chain hotel and nicer furnishings, usually when someone other than Mulder booked it…
She put the case on the black webbing luggage rack, ubiquitous with so many hotel rooms. Slipped off her heels, leaving them underneath and collapsed to sit on the bed. How many different hotel rooms had they stayed in over the years together? They had pretty much visited all the states except Hawaii, hmm she thought, wonder if we could convince Skinner to sign a 302 for an investigation there one day?
There was a knock at the room door, she saw Mulder stood there through the spyhole so opened the door.
“Going out for a run, won’t be long, I have my phone” he informed her, the tone of the last part came across as ‘I’m telling you this before you have a go at me’.
“Thanks for letting me know, I’m going to freshen up and read for a bit, see you in the morning. 8am for Breakfast?”
“Seeya” he replied jogging away across the motel car park, even after all these years he loved his tatty running t-shirts.
She got changed out of her clothes, headed into the shower to freshen up after the long drive over. Shower done, she got into her pyjamas and headed to bed to read for a little bit before sleep. The bed wasn’t as lumpy as she feared. She heard the TV go on in Mulder’s room, Basketball from the sound of it. Were his beloved Knicks playing tonight? At least she knew he was back from his run.
A new morning and the start of their investigation with the local sheriff. Her hand knocked her book off the bedside table. She picked up from the floor, looking under the bed … never a great thing in motels like this. Oh great joy, she found a dead wedge of lime, somebody had had a better time here that she would.
Work day ready to start, she headed out to knock on Mulder’s door for them to pick up breakfast and discuss plans for the day.
The sheriff’s office was a typical rural affair, they were the city types from DC in their smart suits. They were welcomed, but in a slightly reserved manner, the locals wary of them. At least these days, having a female FBI agent wasn’t so strange. She was glad that Mulder had treated her as an equal from day one, with him she had only ever had to persuade him to believe in her science, never her right to be there as a woman. She knew of many other female agents who had to show their partners and managers they were just as good as the male agents. But then Fox ‘Spooky’ Mulder wasn’t your usual FBI agent. They had cried together, laughed together, waited for each other by hospital beds too many times. Their lives had been changed by the X Files, but they were both still here, once more working on X Files. They shared their love for William, the hope that one day the world would allow them to be reunited. They shared dark periods together, when Mulder had been on the run, each of their disappearances, Mulder’s depression… but these days the sun shined more often in their lives. Maybe they were older, wiser or just those who would thwart their mission to find the truth were no longer alive. She smiled to herself, she had come a long way since she first entered the basement office of one Fox Mulder. Mulder turned to face her, happiness upon his face, she was glad. He was at his most beautiful when he smiled, it didn’t come often given his troubled mind, but when he did, especially towards her, the automatic reply was a smile back and if lucky he would hug her in his arms. His arms had provided her with so much protection over the years, he had held her safe, one of the few people she could show weakness to. He knew how strong she was, she had held him at times, been at his bedside too many times to fight doctors for his life.
The case they were here for was unexplained deaths of locals, that seemed to lean towards the paranormal. So she would perform the autopsies to check the cause of death, while Mulder would head out the field and case his ‘spooky’ eye over the scenes for any sniff of the paranormal or just plain out of place in the scene. They would work like their usual well oiled partnership and all being well head back home a few days later ready for the weekend. The unspoken interaction between them as they dealt with locals but still working in the method they preferred.
Two autopsies down, she found Mulder in the conference room that was his temporary office in the sheriff’s office. She knew he needed her intervention to ensure food entered his body during the day, and he knew she would make sure he didn’t work himself ill. He still had some underlying issues from the various run ins with the shadowy side of the government which would remind him when he didn’t look after himself. So, the unwritten rule was that she would find him to make sure he stopped and ate during the day, tell her what he had learnt about the case. This would stop him entering the hole he had too many times in the past. It worked generally and so these days he was in a far better place because of her, and she was going to keep him there and moving forward in the hope that one day he would accept he was loved by many people and deserved to be happy and safe.
“Mulder, time for lunch” Scully called across the room to get his attention.
“Just let me finish this paragraph” he responded, looking up at her and smiling.
She leant against the doorframe and watched him at work, finishing the work, he put the shut down the laptop, rubbed his eyes and got up from the chair.
“nice to have a break away from that screen” he said to her rubbing his eyes once more.
They went to the diner a few doors down from the sheriff’s office, everyone in town would know they were FBI from DC by now no doubt, so they would need to be subtle with any discussion of the case. Sitting down in a quiet corner hopefully they would be able to catch up on what each other had found about the case over the morning. Menus in hand they worked out what they fancied for lunch. Mulder was holding the menu card out at nearly arm’s length in front of him.
“Mulder, when did you last get your eyes tested?” She’d noticed this action was becoming more regular with him of late. He didn’t tend to bother with reading glasses as he had in their early years, but maybe time was really catching up with him and he did really need them.
“A while back, hmm not sure, definitely not since I’ve been back at the FBI.”
“Have you been getting headaches at work?”
“Not really but often getting the start of one if I’ve been working on reports all day”
“I think you should get an eye appointment, I think you need reading glasses”
“Scccuuulllyy” he whined back. “You’re making me sound old”
“but you are” she quickly replied with a smile, there were only a few times when she played on their age difference.
The waitress came to their table and took their order, bringing a jug of iced water for them to drink as they waited for the food, at least these days his consumption of sweet iced tea had lowered. Mulder had improved his male bachelor ways so he was almost civilised, even if he still had his weakness for pizza and burgers, as seen by his lunch choice.
“Yes, Dr Scully, I’ll get an eye exam booked … happy now?”
“Your eyes will thank me” She replied with a smile.
They sat and discussed the main findings of the autopsies before the food arrived, so they could cover Mulder’s findings as they ate.
The waitress approached with the pizza slices for Mulder and a chicken salad for Scully. They dived into their respective lunches.
It seemed that there were some leads to follow up to explain the deaths, unusual for the location but not paranormal. One for science this time round and another case closed all being well.
They headed back to their respective working areas ready for to bring the conclusions together and prove the theories the leads were indicating. Hopefully they would be back in DC by the weekend.
The day drew to a close, Scully’s autopsies had proved the cause of death being the same in all cases. Mulder had closed off some of the theories raised by the locals and was homing in on the actual suspect, a local redneck known to many in the town. She stood at the doorway once more and saw him rubbing his temples, yep, he wasn’t going to admit it but his eyes were rebelling against him.
“Home time Mulder, your chauffeur has arrived” Scully held the car keys up, the mortuary was further out of town so she had used the car to get there.
“Sounds good, don’t think I’m going to be any more productive here.”
The journey back was short and fairly quiet Mulder laying back in the seat for a change, rubbing his eyes before staring out the window. They headed into their rooms to kick off smart shoes and clothes to change into something more casual to head out for dinner.
Scully sighed at the sight of the chintz bedcover, housekeeping had made the bed, but no doubt the room wasn’t much cleaner than when she had found the wedge of lime last night. These dirty dusty rooms were starting to get her down, she needed to make sure she was the one sorting out the hotels in the future so maybe they could get something that belonged in the 21st Century.
A knock at the door with a now more comfy Mulder in jeans and a Henley top, which seemed to be his out of office go to. On a whim she had packed a floaty dress and some wedge sandals, this felt much better than an suit or scrubs. As she had opened the door to him, he had looked her up and down and smiled back. It was that stunning beautiful loving Mulder smile.
Back to the diner once more, but this time they were not going to talk shop. The sheriff had recommended the potato cakes to go with the skillet dishes that the chef was well known for over the area.
They sat in a booth seat, able to relax at the end of the day. As Mulder would put it they were ‘chewing the cud’ talking about something and nothing, making each other laugh. This was them working well together once more. At least it wasn’t with one of them injured in the darkness of a northern Floridian forest for this conversation, once more team building was happening without the need for an enforced fun training on the subject.
The journey back to the motel following on from the dinner conversation Mulder updated Scully on the active interventions he taking to make sure the anxiety and depression from his period on the run to when the world was due to have ended in 2012 was kept in check. He was in a good place, as he commented that being with her was good for him, she made him whole as they had been in the past, so he was in a pretty good state for his mental health. It wasn’t a discussion for the diner, but here in the car and over coffee to go together in one of their rooms, it was a good check in with Scully.
They returned back to the motel, take out coffee still in hand, they both headed to Scully’s room to finish the conversation and coffee. She teased him, that despite the rubbish furnishings of both their rooms, at least she wouldn’t have smelly musty running gear over the furniture.
It felt good to talk, they had been through so much together, they would always look out for each other even when maybe the other party wasn’t going to take the advice and help. They had a child together, William, and both hoped one day to be reunited with him. They finished the conversation, she and Mulder hugged for a long time before he released her and returned to his room to attempt to sleep.
She heard the TV go on, strains of The A Team coming through the wall. 'Pity the Fool' thought Scully, hope Mr T was in that episode. Just then the rattling noisy fan kicked in, no doubt leaking on the carpet.
The case was nearly over so just loose ends to tie up before leaving, so they were checking out this morning.
“Allons-y mes amis, it’s check out time” Mulder said to her in his best high school French …
“It’s time to say goodbye to our dirty dusty rooms” replied Scully
“We all spend too much time, in these dirty dusty rooms” responded Mulder.
Having checked out they headed off together starting the journey back to DC….