Work Text:
‘Oh, praise be! The wanderer has returned to us!’
‘Frohike…’ Mulder edged past.
Langly burst into the room, Byers close behind.
‘Mulder? I knew it was you. Did you get it?’
‘Guys …’
‘Dammit, Mulder!’ Langly punched his thigh and slumped into the nearest chair.
‘I was closer than I’ve ever been.’
Sensing more, Byers also sat.
‘Did you see it?’
‘Almost.’
‘What happened this time?’ Frohike wheeled two more chairs over.
‘It was there. An actual Extra-terrestrial Biological Entity. It was practically confirmed.’ Mulder held on to the back of the seat.
‘What did they do to it?’
‘They killed it and destroyed the evidence. I missed it by minutes.’
‘Shit.’
‘But you were so confident -’
‘I was. I had good intel.’
‘Where did it come from?’
‘The man that killed it.’
‘What!’
‘He’s a source. Has high-level access. He leaked a file - a UFO downed over Iraq. The wreckage was shipped here and trucked across the country.’ Mulder finally sat. The four men formed a loose circle. ‘Unusual levels of UFO activity marked the route. We ended up at one of the sites. We even had the damn truck!’
‘And you just … what? Followed it all the way to Mattawa?’
‘No - if we’d stayed on the truck, you’d have your front cover, Langly.’
‘What happened?’
‘I - uh - I … took my eye off the truck.’
‘Why?’
‘Same source, gave me a photograph. I thought it was the best photographic evidence of an actual UFO I’ve ever seen.’ Mulder grimaced. ‘Until it wasn’t. It almost sent me to Georgia - the opposite end of the fucking country.’
‘Where’s the picture?’
‘Here.’ Mulder took an envelope from the inner pocket of his coat and handed it over. Byers took it over to a worktop, turned on a desk lamp and leaned over the image with a magnifier.
‘It was faked?’
‘Oh yeah.’
‘How d’you realise?’
‘I didn’t. I was totally sold.’
‘Right …?’
Mulder sighed.
‘Scully pegged it in minutes because she didn’t trust my source. I … wouldn’t listen to her. I thought she should trust me. Especially after we found the bug in the office. I … got quite angry with her.’
‘Wait! Your office - in the Hoover Building of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - was bugged?’
‘Shit. Holy shit, Mulder. How high does this go?!’
‘High. Deep. I found one in my apartment too.’
‘We’ll have to sweep it. What about Scully’s place?’
‘We might have to work on that one.’
‘Shit … Mulder -’
‘Mulder.’ Byers looked up from the photograph. ‘The moon in this reflection shouldn’t even be visible.’
‘I know.’
‘And you missed it.’
‘I saw what I wanted to see.’
‘Look, it’s good, but …’ Langly had joined Byers by the image.
‘It’s a different moon. Quarter full here, half full there. Dammit.’
‘So, you didn’t go to Georgia …?’ Frohike was too busy studying Mulder to bother with the photograph.
‘I was going, with or without Scully, but then I looked more carefully at the image. When I realised I’d been completely played, I went back to Scully and the truck … by then the damage was done.’
‘Why would your source give you the information and then distract you?’
‘He gave me a truth so that I would believe the lie. How did he put it? ‘There are some truths people are just not ready to know’.’
‘That’s exactly the moral smoke-screen that’s been used to keep secrets from the American public for decades. That’s the kind of arrogance we’re up against.’
‘He told me the world’s reaction would be too dangerous. Dammit! They treat us like children!’ Mulder launched from his seat to pace the room. ‘He treated me like a child. And I fucking fell for it. He dangled his secrets and his top secret files -’
‘It’s how they work. It’s about control -’
‘Well, he controlled me alright. He’s been managing me all along.’
‘Maybe. But this time, he failed, Mulder.’
‘No, no. He succeeded well enough -’
‘No. Listen. Mulder!’
‘I can’t believe I actually -’
‘Mulder! Sit down and think about it.’
‘I have been! I’ve thought about nothing else.’ Mulder paused in his pacing, dragging his hand through his hair. ‘You know, he said he’ll carry on passing me intel. Like none of this ever happened. Like I’ll still trust him.’
Frohike watched as Mulder resumed his pacing, weighing his words carefully.
‘Some of what he gave you was true, wasn’t it?’
‘Some? Some! How am I supposed to separate the truth from the lies?’
‘Maybe the same way you did this time.’
‘What?’
‘Scully doubted him all along?’
‘Yeah. She thought he was stringing me along for his own reasons.’
‘Right. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He didn’t control you in the end, did he? Because it’s not just you any more, is it?’
Mulder sighed, but sat, crossing his arms as he leaned back.
‘I turned it into a matter of trust, Frohike. Scully didn’t trust the source but I made it about me. I chose him over her.’
‘Temporarily. But she slowed you down, right? Her doubts were enough to make you look again. And when you did, you saw it for yourself.’
‘Too late.’
‘Yes. Too late. This time. But that’s kind of my point.’
‘What is your point? That I should have listened to Scully?’
‘Well, yeah.’
Byers switched off the lamp, leaving the photograph behind. He and Langly rejoined Mulder and Frohike in mismatched creaking chairs.’ Byers broke the silence.
‘She’s sharp.’
‘Your sceptical partner definitely has her uses, Mulder.’
‘She’s hot.’
‘Frohike …’
‘You didn’t ditch her this time. That’s progress.’
‘I would have -’ Mulder uncrossed his arms to lean forward and develop his point. Frohike was having none of it. Not this time.
‘Even better, you got her to chase that truck across the country with you on an alien hunt. How did you manage that?’
‘I didn’t. Scully was chasing a 2,000 pound anomaly around the truck’s weight.’
‘Ah, tomayto / tomahto.’
‘I like her, Mulder.’ Byers leaned forward, smiling shyly. ‘I’m glad we finally got to meet her.’
‘Her face didn’t give much away. Until Byers destroyed her money …’
Mulder smirked, remembering. She’d called them deluded. Paranoid. But she still listened to them. Mulder wanted his friends to like each other.
‘Byers, you owe her twenty dollars.’
‘Tell her I’ll give it to her in two tens so she can’t be tracked.’
Langly leaned forwards, nudging Byers.
‘When she actually gave you her money, I thought you’d melt!’
‘She was interested!’
‘Nah - she was humouring you.’
‘We were having an intellectual debate -’
‘Maybe she was. You were showboating -’
‘I was not -’
‘Trying to impress her?’
‘No!’
‘I say ‘yes’. You’d have done anything to keep her attention. When was the last time a woman who wasn’t taking your food order actually listened to you?’
‘When do I have the chance to meet women, holed up in here with you two all the time?’
‘So you admit it? Scully probably felt sorry for you. Now, if I could have finished what I was saying about the actual guy who shot JFK - what are you laughing at, Mulder?’
Mulder shook his head and put his hands up in surrender before turning to Frohike.
‘She’ll want that photo and the negative destroyed.’
‘Not happening. I’ll need it for security reasons. Admit it, Mulder. You just want it for yourself,’
‘Why would I need a picture of her -’
‘Do I really need to elaborate -’
‘Do NOT go there!’
‘He sees her every day, Frohike.’
‘Lucky bastard. And he tries to deny me one tiny little picture.’
Mulder huffed a laugh, in spite of himself.
‘You were right, Mulder.’ Byers leaned back. ‘You are getting closer. She’s good for you.’
‘Yeah. I… um …’ Mulder stood, ‘Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update, after all you did.’
‘You’re leaving already?’
‘I’d better get back to work.’
‘Tell Agent Scully she’s welcome back here any time.’
At the door Mulder turned. All three Gunmen were watching him.
‘Thanks guys.’
The door clicked shut behind him.
Langly exhaled. ‘Man. He’s so screwed.’
‘Completely lost,’ Frohike agreed.
Byers smiled. ‘He’ll figure it out.’
Frohike snorted. ‘Ten to one he already has. He just won’t admit it.’