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The basement smelled of fast food, onion rings, fries, and burgers. Mulder should be there, Skinner has no idea where he's run off to. Leaving his partner to do all the paperwork. He could ask. But he isn't sure he would get the truth even if Skully did know where she was.
“Sir?” Scully asked, tilting her slightly, once her eyes had held trust. But ever since she came back the only one that has her trust was Mulder. If Krycek hadn't killed Duane Barry, he might have done it himself. Whatever happened to her, they had taken something from her. Something in her soul. Skinner understood that. Vietnam had done the same to him. “If you are looking for Mulder I don't know where he is.”
“I'm not,” Skinner said, he wasn't why he had come down there. To make sure that she hadn't been snatched away by little green men? “I just wanted to see how you are doing since returning to work. What you went through was a lot.”
“I'm fine, Sir,” Scully told him, but her eyes didn't meet his. He cursed the men that dragged into the world of shadows which Mulder was determined to chase and hunt. Taking her along with him for the ride. Skinner cursed himself for allowing himself to be used to put her into this world of shadows. His world. “Although this report seems to be never ending.”
She's trying to change the topic, something safe that they can cling onto. Skinner took it. “There would be less if Agent Mulder did his own,” Skinner sighed, if it didn't interest him then he left it up to Scully. She shouldn't let him. Skinner shouldn't let her let him, but often he does. “Go home Agent Scully, the report can wait.”