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Mulder tapped lightly on the door to Scully’s motel room, hoping she was still awake. He took a step back when he heard barking on the other side in response. A few moments later, Scully opened the door with a dog in her arms and Mulder raised his brows in surprise.
“Scully?”
“I couldn’t leave him,” she said, hugging the dog to her chest as she kicked the door open a little wider so Mulder could come inside.
“You stole him?”
“I liberated him from confinement.”
Mulder closed the door and reached over scratch behind one of the dogs’ ears. “Thief.”
“Where have you been, Mulder?”
“You’re not gonna believe me, Scully.”
“Probably not.” Scully bent down and put the dog on the floor as she shuffled over to take a seat on the bed. The dog stayed by Mulder, sniffing his pants leg with interest.
Mulder relayed his encounter with the Lizard-Man to Scully, trying to describe the moment he felt the change in his handshake from human to reptile. Scully wore a bemused expression through the whole of his story, snorting quietly when Mulder reached the part where he skipped away into the forest.
“Did you get a picture?” Scully asked.
“It all happened so fast.”
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if he comes out of hibernation then.”
Mulder sighed and dropped down into one of the chairs beneath the window. He watched the dog paw at a small red ball on the ground and then nudge it with his nose. “So what’re you going to call him? Queegqueg the second?”
“That would probably be bad luck.”
“This guy looks smart enough not to get eaten by an alligator at least.”
“How about Einstein?”
“You know, you’re really terrible at naming animals.”
“What would you call him?”
“I don’t know. You know the Lizard-Man got a dog and named him Daggoo.”
The dog barked once and trotted over to Mulder. He looked at him expectantly, wagging his tail.
“Daggoo?” Mulder asked, cocking his head to match the dog’s inquisitive expression.
The dog barked again and turned in a circle, shaking with excitement.
“Daggoo!”
The dog could barely contain himself as he jumped up on Mulder’s legs, barking and whining at the same time. Mulder picked him up and held him tight against his chest to calm the little pup down, flinching when he was assaulted by a warm, wet tongue to the chin and neck.
“Scully,” Mulder said, laughing. “You stole the Lizard-Man’s dog!”
“Mulder, that’s impossible.”
“I'm telling you, this is Daggoo!”
“Because there’s no such thing as a Lizard-Man!”
“I think Daggoo and I would beg to differ. Don’t we, Daggoo? You’ll back me up, won’t you, buddy?”
Daggoo barked once and licked Mulder’s nose.
“In the meantime,” Mulder said, looking pointedly at the Knick’s t-shirt Scully had on. “I think we need to talk about your issues with larceny.”
The End