The Assignment 1/? By Dawson E. Rambo Disclaimer : Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner and any other tangentially mentioned characters created by Chris Carter remain his copyrighted property, the property of 1013 Productions, and the property of Fox Television, a unit of 20th Century Fox, Inc. No infringement of any copyright is intended. Characters created by the author remain his property. Original Post : August 2, 1997 Archive Entry : "Assignment, The" Classification : MSR, Angst, teeny bit of humor. Rating : PG-13 (Language) Missing Parts : http://www.sonic.net/~drambo Feedback : All feedback (good or bad) to: drambo@sonic.net Antishipper : 5 on a scale of 1-10. Shipper : 5 on a scale of 1-10. Casting : None, yet. Timeline : Fourth season, after "Momento Mori," but before the ender. Enjoy! ------ -1- "I'm about out of here," Scully commented, looking through the contents of her IN box. "I have one more combination expense report and excuse sheet to fill out for Skinner, and then I'm done." Mulder smiled at her use of the phrase `excuse sheet.' It was their private joke regarding the set of official FBI forms that every field agent was required to fill out whenever a piece of Bureau property was lost or damaged on assignment. This time, it had been her cellular phone that had gotten destroyed. Considering the way it had bitten the dust, Mulder couldn't wait to read her versions of the events. Then he considered again. He glanced up at Scully and felt a frown forming, the crease on his forehead deepening. She was looking tired, he thought. The stress of the past few weeks, the announcement of the silent invader ravaging her body, the cases that had piled up and seemingly deepened in intensity had obviously begun to take their toll on his diminutive partner. "Why don't you just take off, Scully? I'm going to stay late anyway and watch the Knicks game here," he offered. "Here?" she asked, confusion written across her delicate features. "Cable's out at my place," he said. "They're converting to coaxial or fiber-optic or some damn thing. It'll be out for a day or two, and I can't miss this game!" Scully nodded; Mulder and the Knicks. As predictable as a sunrise and gravity. "Whatever," she said. "You sure you don't mind?" "Of course not. Besides, if I'm the one that fills out that form, Skinner'll only have to tell at me once, instead of twice." She nodded, glad that he'd offered. "Ok...I'll see you Monday," she said, moving to the coat rack and gathering her London Fog. "Bye," he said as she left the office. He sighed, standing and walking to her desk. Her new desk. The veneer looked untouched by human hands, and Mulder knew that was only because Scully spent a good portion of every day with a can of Endust in one hand and a damp rag in the other. When he turned back to his own desk, Mulder almost dropped the files he'd grabbed. Seated behind his desk was...him. The smoking man. Smiling evily. Mulder dropped the files on Scully's desk, his hand already reaching for the holster SIG at his hip. "Mr. Mulder," the nameless bastard said, "I wouldn't be too hasty with that." "Mulder!" another voice called. Glancing to the side, Mulder saw that Skinner had also entered the office unannounced. "Sir?" he asked, confused. "We have to talk to you," Skinner said gently. Mulder looked between his most hated enemy and someone he'd considered as one of his closest friends. Not as close as Scully, his mind announced. But then again, who was? "It's about Scully," Skinner amended. "I'm listening," Mulder said. *** "Before we get to the reason for my being here," the smoking man started. "There are a few things I need to make clear." He stood, vacating Mulder's desk. "First, I am aware of your partner's...condition. I know you won't believe me, but I assure you that I had nothing to do with her...problem." "I don't believe that," Mulder insisted. "Mulder," Skinner said. "I've...researched this with our friend here." The way Skinner said "friend" made Mulder's stomach turn. "I am convinced that he has nothing to do with her contracting the cancer." Mulder started to speak, but the smoking man beat him to it. "But," he said, "I may have a way to remove the problem. Forever." Mulder glanced back at Skinner, who nodded. The look in his superior's eyes was easy enough to decipher. How much do you want it, Mulder? he seemed to ask. How committed are you to making her better? "You have my attention," Mulder allowed. "The people I work for," the smoking man said, smoothly switching gears, "have a problem. A problem they feel, as do I, that you can help us with." "What sort of problem?" "Information. Specifically, a leak of information. One of the men that I work for has a certain...lady friend. Some of us in the organization feel that this woman is the source of a leak. We want you to find out." Mulder frowned. "What-?" "Specifically," the smoking man continued, "by getting close to her." "Close?" "Very close," the smoking man said, confirming Mulder's sudden suspicion. "Why me?" "Because she knows of you; at least, she knows of you. She's heard my colleague speak of you, and he showed her a picture of you. That picture soon vanished, and the member of our organization that I am speaking of discovered the picture in his lady friend's possession. It was most obvious that she's been...thinking about you. That she's obsessed with you. That she..." he paused, and then finished, "...wants you." Mulder gulped. "What do I get if I cooperate?" he asked. "A cure," Skinner said quietly. "But that's not all of it." "What's left?" Smoking man spoke. "If you do this for us, I will provide you with a cure for your partner's cancer." Mulder's ire grew. "Why don't you just give it to me? She's done nothing to you?" "On the contrary, Agent Mulder," Smoking man said, "She's done quiet a lot to me. To us. She's helped you in your quest to destroy me, to destroy things you have no understanding of." "I understand enough," Mulder said slowly, moving towards the smoking bastard. "No," the man said, "you do not. You do not know what I do, and therefore this argument is pointless." He moved to the door. "Listen to me, Agent Mulder. I have no intention of letting your partner die. She will live, no matter what, for we have...other plans for her. Other missions. She is not one of us, she never was, contrary to what you might think. But she is important to our plans, plans that you could never discover if you searched for a thousand years. But, the timing of her recovery is of no importance to us. You have the power to remove her suffering, Agent Mulder. Sooner, rather than later." "Why?" Mulder asked. "Why would you let her suffer?" "To teach her a lesson!" the man spat. "To teach you one as well. But now, circumstance has favored the bold, Agent Mulder. You can either accept my offer of help, and cure Scully now, or you can watch her waste away until she's almost dead before she recovers. It makes no difference to me. But I've been led to believe by Mr. Skinner here that it does make some sort of difference to you." Mulder nodded, defeated. "I'll do it." "Excellent," the man said, doing a more than reasonable impersonation of Montgomery Burns. "One more thing, Agent Mulder." "Of course," Mulder said. "There always is." "The second price is that you may not tell your partner. She must never know that it was you who secured her cure. If you ever tell her, she will die." Mulder frowned. "But if you cure her..." The smoking man's grin was evil light in the dim office. "There are six million ways to die, Mr. Mulder. I have five million plus left to choose from." And with that, the man was gone, leaving Skinner and Mulder alone in the office. "You said you would do anything," Skinner said gently. "I know. But I didn't think I'd have to fuck someone to save Scully," Mulder replied. Skinner said nothing. "Give me the details," Mulder said, and Skinner did. *** Two hours later, Mulder yawned and stood up from his desk. "Well, that about covers it," Skinner said, standing to join Mulder. "Remember, you can't tell Scully that you're doing this to cure her. That's the deal." "What if I tell her, and make her promise never to-" "Mulder." Skinner's voice was flat, emotionless. "You have to know that these people know everything. Your apartment is bugged, as is hers. They will know, no matter when you tell her. They will discover the truth, Mulder...and they will make Scully pay for your hubris." Mulder nodded. "I understand." Skinner held out his hand. "Good luck, Agent Mulder." Mulder shook it, hating the man standing before him. *** Apartment of Dana Scully Annapolis, Maryland Scully's phone rang just as "Xena:Warrior Princess" was starting. Groaning, she muted the television and reached for the receiver. "Hello?" "Scully, it's me," Mulder's voice said. "Hi. What's up?" "Can I come over? I need to...talk." Scully didn't even pause. "Sure. Pick up something to eat. I'm starved." "Actually, I'm a block away. Let's order out," he said. "Deal. Mushrooms?" "Fungus? I think not. Onions?" "Ewww...bad breath." "Planning on kissing someone, Scully?" he teased. Maybe, she thought. If you're lucky, you blind fool. "Not really. Ok, onions it is. Pepperoni?" "Sure. And extra cheese. Be there in a sec," he said, and the line went dead in her ear. Thirty seconds later, he knocked. Scully opened the door to find a very casual Mulder, dressed in jeans and a pale grey t-shirt, a leather jacket tossed casually over his shoulder, held in place by two hooked fingers. "Hey," she said, opening the door. "C'mon in." Entering and shutting the door, Mulder considered what he was about to do. He had a very fine line to walk, but he felt that if he handled it right, when this assignment was over, he would be in position to capitalize on his most fervent hope, wish, dream and fantasy: Scully as his lover. *** "What's up?" she asked. "Skinner came to see me after you left," Mulder started. "He gave me an assignment," he amended. "Oh? Where are we going now?" Mulder scratched his chin. "Not us. Me." Scully stopped her movements. "Oh." She moved to the couch and sat, reaching over to thumb the TV off. "Where is it?" "Here in DC." She arched an eyebrow. "Are we going to have to play twenty questions? Tell me about it." Mulder sighed and dropped his jacket on the chair facing the couch. "I need a favor, Scully. I need you to listen to what I'm going to say, without interruption. I'll answer any question that you have... at the end. Can you do that for me?" "I'll try," she said, a smile on her face. He sat, his forearms on his thighs. "I'm serious, Scully. I know how your mind works. You'll want to ask a thousand and one questions, and I need to do this my way. I need to just...get it out. Get it out in the open. Then...and only then...will I answer your questions." She nodded without speaking. "Promise me," Mulder said. "I promise," Scully said, holding up three fingers held close together. "Girl Scout's honor." "Ok..." Mulder said. "I have to do something I don't agree with, something that I'm going to hate every moment of. I can't tell you the reasons because Skinner swore me to secrecy. It's very highly classified, Scully. Beyond any level that I've ever seen." Ok, Scully thought. You've got my attention. "We've always...danced around certain issues," he said softly, gently. "You know how I feel about you as a partner...and as a friend. Probably my only friend. My best friend." Scully nodded. "But I don't know if you know how I feel about you as a woman. And I don't know how you feel about me as a man." Scully felt her heart stop. "I am not asking you to tell me what your feelings are. If there even are any. As far as I'm concerned, we can be partners for the rest of our careers, and I couldn't be happier." Liar, he thought. "But this assignment...if you do have any feelings for me, I'm telling you this much because I want those feelings to remain unchanged, Scully. I don't want you to get the wrong idea." She smiled. "Honey trap?" Mulder smiled in return. "Yeah." A honey trap, as both agents knew, was the traditional term inside the intelligence community for using a woman to bait a foreign agent or operative. The term had fallen into disuse in recent years. Scully sighed. Well, no time like the present, she thought. "Done?" she asked. "For now." "Good." Scully stood and moved to where Mulder was sitting. Placing one arm on either side of him, she lowered her face until her nose was inches from his. "Mulder?" she asked. "Y-yeah?" "You better not enjoy it, you son of a bitch." Her voice was lace, edged with steel. "W-w-w-w-why?" he stammered. "Because," she said sweetly. "I have plans for you." And then she kissed him. Softly, gently, a brush of lips against lips, nothing more than a whisper. But it was a kiss, Mulder thought. A real-life, one-of-a-kind, get-yours-while-supplies-last kiss. Smiling smugly to herself, Scully returned to the couch. "So you-" Mulder started. "Ah!" Scully said, holding up a hand. "Same deal goes, Mulder. No questions." She tried to hide her smile. "But you will, someday-" "Someday, Mulder, we will have this conversation again. But not until this assignment of your is over." Mulder nodded. That much was fair; she had, after all, shown him that there were some feelings there for her, as there were for him. "Deal," he said. "One last question," Scully said, "but it's not about what you told me...at least, not directly." "Shoot." "Are you going to tell me the gross, intimate details of this case?" she asked. "Are you going to call me every night and update me on the status of your...assignment?" "Probably," Mulder admitted. "You're...my partner." Scully nodded. This was going to be fun. "Fine, Mulder. Whatever." --------------- END PART 1 Ok, folks, this is pure mind candy, I know. I am also aware that a similar theme was just recently posted by starbuck72@earthlink.net. I tried contacting her to ask permission to `reuse' some of the basic plot points (the fact that Mulder has to seduce a woman as an assignment,) but my mail to her bounced after repeated attempts. So, Leyla, if you're reading this, and are upset at my using portions of your plot to my own ends, I apologize. This is NOT an attempt at plagiarism, just a different spin on this idea. What's coming? Well, I don't want to give it ALL away, and this is basically something I can use to fill in the spaces between "Umbra" chapters. But I will go so far as to say that in the coming days, Mulder will call Scully to tell her the status of the assignment, and Scully will use the information to slowly torture Mulder to death about his attraction towards her. Feedback is greatly appreciated.