Chapter Text
Mulder’s entire face lit up when he heard the word “undercover,” though Scully only pressed her lips together, narrowing her eyes, “Is it imperative that we must go undercover as actors in the play?” she questioned.
“The cast and crew have already been questioned.” Skinner said, “There’s a suspected double homicide at play, all you need to do is go in and question the cast from the angle of a peer, not an agent.”
“Were there no other agents, perhaps better suited for acting?” Scully questioned tentatively.
Skinner shifted in his chair, “We required a female and a male agent for this case.”
“Why not Hurdman and Roberts? They’re female and male.”
“We needed younger agents for the casting call,” Skinner started, “and your red hair made you a good fit.”
Scully’s jaw tensed as she nodded begrudgingly.
Mulder grinned at Scully back in their office, pitching the case as if they had any choice but to accept, “Carolina Hernst and Kurt Hinwood, both having played Rocky and Janet respectively in a theatre production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and both having disappeared after work without a trace. According to security tapes, they never left the building.”
“Are you hoping to find some kind of an alien who took them?” Scully raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, “Is there a ghost abducting these actors? What’s the catch, Mulder?”
Mulder shook his head with a grin, “Just solving crime, G-woman.”
Scully grinned, and Mulder sat near her, continuing, “Didn’t you ever do any theatre in highschool, university?”
“Not really my crowd,” she shrugged.
Mulder smiled and leaned over, close to her ear, “Well it’s your crowd now, Jeannie Eaden.”
Scully audibly groaned, “I Dream of Jeannie, Mulder?”
“That’s Larry Nelson to you,” He grinned, “Skinner let me pick our names.”
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The cast met in a room full of mirrors and light wood, everyone being dressed in dark, non-restricting clothes. Mulder gazed at Scully, she was wearing exactly what she had been told to wear, though Mulder still felt he was seeing a different side to her. She was dressed in black leggings and a grey sweater, an inconspicuous outfit created to avoid drawing attention to herself, yet it seemed to have the opposite effect on Mulder. He struggled to drag his gaze back to the directors in the front, who were making speeches about how they wanted the production to be “sexy” and “wild,” just like the original screening in the 70s.
The first one spoke, “We’ve increased the safety measures since the last play, which I know was a great concern for many of you. Your safety as our actors is of the utmost importance to us.”
Soon, the cast was handed their scripts, and began their initial read-through. Mulder enthusiastically sang his lines, the entire room praising him.
Scully tightened her jaw as a brunette with curly hair tapped him, “You’re a great pick for Rocky, I can’t wait to see you in your costume,” she purred.
“Thanks,” Mulder tittered, “Gold is my colour.”
The directors scolded Scully when her later lines came, “Your uptightness worked in the first part, but it doesn’t really make sense now, be more loose. Maybe take some notes from this guy over here,” he said, pointing to Mulder. Scully pressed her lips together and Mulder threw his head back towards her with a grin.
“Then Matt’s going to kiss Jeannie over here, we can block that out later,” the director said blankly. Scully darted her eyes over at a tall, athletic man, winking at her before casually returning to his script.
A tall and skinny, androgynous man read his line, “Scott is researching UFOs and aliens for the government”, An older actor butted in, “I’m actually looking for my nephew, Eddie.”
Scully smiled at the line, it reminded her of Mulder. People often thought of his work as crazy and not worthy of respect, but behind all the conspiracies, that were right more often than she cared to admit, was really just a man looking for his sister. What was more worthy of respect than that?
Soon the reading was over, and the two agents decided to subtly interview the cast members. Before they could split up, Scully tugged on Mulder’s shirt and he leaned over, his breath hot against her neck. “You interview Matt,” she stated, “I’ll get the brunette over there.”
Mulder nodded, casually walking over to Matt, who was already walking towards Scully. “Hey,” Mulder said casually.
Matt nodded in greeting, but kept his eyes on Scully, who was already mingling with the brunette. “What’s the deal with the redhead over there, you know her?”
Mulder shrugged, “We met through the casting calls, but I don’t know her that well.”
“Is she free real estate, then?”
Mulder shifted, but before he could answer, Matt butted in, “I got it. Don’t worry, I don’t mind a little competition.”
“So you’re on the lookout for a new girl?” Mulder questioned, trying to get back on topic.
Matt smirked, “Who isn’t”
“None of these other girls interest you?”
“Nah,” Matt swiped his hand dismissively, “I’ve been with all of ‘em already, that brunette over there’s crazy for me, but why eat old food when there’s fresh meat?”
Mulder nodded in agreement, barely masking his disgust for the man, “What about the last girl that played Janet, what happened to her?”
“Dude, she was smokin’,” Matt grinned, “Before she went missing and all, but you must’ve known that, they gotta tell you in auditions and stuff. It’s all over the news.”
Mulder spoke in a lower tone, “Any idea what happened to her?”
“I don’t know, man, she just disappeared,” Matt shrugged, “I heard she was with the props guy, Zach. Her and Kurt, the guy who used to play Rocky, were with him the night before.”
Mulder took a mental note and continued, “What’s Zach like?”
“Oh man, he’s a total nut! He thinks he’s a time traveller or whatever,” Matt laughed, “Oh look, Red’s chatting to him right now,” He said, pointing to Scully.
Scully made eye contact with Mulder, signalling him to meet her outside, Mulder nodding in response.
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Mulder’s motel room was dark. They had turned the lights off to watch a movie, but now that was over, Mulder had turned off the TV as well, leaving the room only dimly lit from the hallway glow under the door. Scully sat comfortably on Mulder’s bed. Originally, Mulder was on the chair, but Scully had insisted he come sit on the bed after she noticed him cranking his neck in strange positions in an effort to see the TV.
The room had succumbed to silence for a couple of moments before Scully spoke, a whisper much lighter than she had intended, so light that he wasn’t sure he had even said anything.
“Mulder?” she breathed.
Mulder looked back at her, “Scully?”
She paused, “Did you happen to notice page 9 of the script?” she said, hoping her blush was covered now, in the absence of light.
“Yeah, great musical number,” He grinned sarcastically, his cool demeanour being betrayed by his hand massaging the back of his neck.
Scully hesitated, “I meant the stage kiss,” she managed to squeeze out. Her eyes stayed focused on the brown carpet, tracing the square pattern as she waited for a response.
Mulder licked his lips nervously, “I don’t think we’re going to get that far into the script by the time we’re done with this case,” He said with a playful tone.
Scully’s eyes flew up, studying his face before replying, “Don’t you think we should practice?”
Mulder stayed silent, eyes locked with hers, unable to speak or think straight. Was Scully asking him to kiss her? He didn’t notice his mouth was hanging open ever so slightly.
Scully bit her lip, her eyes darting around his face, “Just to be safe.”
Mulder tried to get words out but all he managed was a nod, his eyes leaving hers for the first time, only to take a trip to her lips.
She leaned forwards, her eyes never moving from his. Her hand stroked his shoulder, testing the waters. She looked into his eyes for any signs of regret, her breath heavy, before softly grabbing the side of his face.
Mulder felt frozen, not wanting to move, lest this all be a dream that stood to be broken. He leaned back on his elbows, placing one hand on the small of her back, the position forcing Scully to lean over him. He felt her breath against his lips as she pressed her forehead against his, both closing their eyes subconsciously. Their noses brushed together as Scully tilted her head, their chests firmly pressed together.
A knock on the door startled them. Mulder, still having lost his ability to speak, blankly stared at Scully, who stumbled until mumbling, “I’ll get it.”
She walked over and opened the door, a man in a bee costume standing there.
He smiled excitedly, “Just got out of dress rehearsal, you guys are from Rocky Horror, right?”
Scully smiled back, though only as a courtesy, “Yes, we just started.”
“We’re your studio mates, Birds and The Bees The Musical. We're having a studio party tomorrow, you should come.”
Scully nodded and took the paper from his hand, “How did you get my address?”
Zach told me, but he must have gotten a number off, he told me it was the next one over.”
Scully smiled, Zach was right about her room number, “ I’ll think about it,” she said, closing the door.
She turned back to Mulder, his eyes fixed on her.
“Zach asked for my motel room, he said his was no good,” Scully tried to explain awkwardly, “He wanted to know if mine was better.”
Mulder nodded, still silent, so Scully tried to fill the silence, “He’s been sleeping in his office lately, between his desk and a big prop elevator, can’t be too comfortable.”
Something went off in Mulder’s head, suddenly remembering what he had been meaning to tell Scully, “I went through the security tapes before rehearsals started, I found one that wasn’t on the report. On the tape, there was a locked office with a prop elevator in it,” Mulder said abruptly, sitting up.
“That must be Zach’s office, I don’t think anyone else has a prop elevator in their office.” Scully noted.
“Did you notice anything off about Zach?” Mulder questioned, standing and walking back over to the chair.
Scully smiled, though feeling deflated. She walked back to the bed and sat on the edge, “Nothing huge, except the fact that he believes he’s a time traveller.”
Mulder laughed, “And you call me spooky?”
Scully smiled and continued, “He implied he travelled from the seventies.”
“Groovy,” Mulder grinned, “Is there any documentation of him in the seventies?” Mulder asked.
“You can’t seriously believe his story.”
Mulder sighed, climbing back onto the bed to sit with her, “You think time travel is impossible?” he prodded.
She hesitated, “Well, no, there are scientific theories-”
“Exactly,” Mulder said, “There’s science behind his statements.”
“Theories, Mulder, not proof.”
“Okay well in theory,” Mulder pushed, “How would Zach be able to travel through time?”
“I knew you would find a way to make this into an X-File,” Scully shook her head. She raised her gaze to meet his and sighed, giving in, “There is a theory linked to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. It theorizes that if there’s a contained area of extreme gravity, time would slow down for those inside of it, meaning that they could essentially travel in time as the rest of the world would experience the world much much faster than they would.”
Scully paused for a moment, “Essentially, there would need to be a tightly enclosed space that a human could fit in, but I imagine not much larger, that would somehow create an area of extreme gravity, which would disperse if ever opened.”
“I forgot you were an Einstein girl," Mulder grinned, “Now,” he started, “Let’s watch the footage.”
Scully looked at the TV as it played Mulder’s tape, it showed the two missing actors walking into the prop elevator in Zach’s office the night they went missing, and then hours of nothing in a time lapse. It was clear they never left.
Mulder looked past the TV as it played his tape, he had already seen it. He instead chose to watch the faint green light shine over Scully’s alabaster skin. He watched the highlights flicker and shift as she turned to him with a smirk, “Proof that we need to investigate Zach more? Yes. Proof that time travel is real? Not quite.”
Mulder leaned back, looking up at her with a confident smirk, “Do you notice any tightly enclosed spaces, just large enough for a human to fit in, Scully?”
Scully rolled her eyes, “Mulder, you’re not suggesting that this elevator is a time machine, are you?”
“We need to at least investigate the elevator, since it was the last place they were,” he said smugly.
Scully smiled, shaking her head at his obvious ploy to check out this so-called time machine, “We do need to investigate it as the two actors could be trapped inside of it, but first we need to gain access, and make a plan to do it subtly, so as to not blow our covers. I don’t want this to end in a chase scene with one of us holding the door shut or anything like that.”
“Fine.” Mulder whined.
The room fell into a silence one again, so Scully stood up, “We should sleep on it.”
As she began to walk towards the door, Mulder softly cried out, “Scully, wait.”
Scully turned back to look at him. Mulder swallowed hard, “stay” he asked weakly, but only in his mind. He watched as Scully scanned his face. He smirked, “No kiss goodnight, Jeannie?”
Scully grinned and shook her head, reaching for the doorknob, “Goodnight, Mulder.”
He watched as she left, perhaps this was a dream that he had somehow broken.
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Back in Scully’s room, she had collapsed on the bed, falling asleep with thoughts of their almost-kiss. Did it mean anything, or was Mulder just a very good method actor? Did it mean anything to her? Scully knew the answer, but continued to question it until she fell asleep.
Her window creaked, a sliding sound being heard. Her cupboard where she kept her gun was opened, yet she remained sound asleep.
The floorboards creaked but there was nobody to hear.