Chapter 17
Arlington, VA
Wednesday October 4th, 2000
12:25 p.m.
When Jordan had told me that Leigh was outside yelling at Scully, I'd quickly asked Maggie to call Detective Murrilo. He was Skinner's contact with the Arlington PD. Maggie was still on the phone when I carried Scully into the house.
"Mommy!" Jordan rushed over to us.
"I'm okay, Jordan," Scully's voice was gentle.
"He wants to talk to you," Maggie held the phone against her chest.
"One sec," I set Scully on the couch.
"C'mere," she held her arms open to Jordan.
He practically flew into her arms and curled into a little ball. I wished I could have joined him, but I had to tell Detective Murrilo what had happened. As I took the phone from Maggie, I could hear Jordan snuffling quietly and Scully's voice softly soothing him.
"Hey, Tony."
"Hey, Mulder. I was just calling to tell you that we got a hit on the fingerprints, but your mother-in-law says that wingnut showed up at your place," Tony Murrilo wasn't one to pull any punches.
"Unfortunately," I sighed.
"Is everyone okay? Do you want me out there?"
"I think everyone is mostly shaken, but we'll be fine. Maybe you could step up the patrols?" I suggested.
"Beat you to it," I could hear him grinning.
"Yeah, I heard you were quick off the mark," I couldn't resist.
"Always the wiseass, Mulder," he chuckled. "Did you want to hear about the prints or not?"
"Let me guess, brunette, about 5'5", first name Leigh."
"And last name Neilson," he filled in what I didn't know.
"So who did she stalk before?"
"The hit wasn't NCIC, Mulder. She's employed by the FBI, at the DC field office."
"You must be kidding!" I was stunned. "I can't believe someone like her could get through the screening process."
"It doesn't matter how many background checks you do, or how many personality tests you give 'em, a few always slip through," Tony reminded me. "Look at that nut job, Dunlop, we had last year. That freak cut his own dick off, for Christ's sake. And the fibbies did let you in, after all."
"Very funny," I was still wincing at the thought of Dunlop.
"Well, I'm going to see what else I can turn up about your wingnut. I just love questioning feds," he chuckled. "If she turns up again, call us right away."
"I will, and thanks, Tony."
"Not a problem. Just take care of that family of yours," his voice had become serious. "If that crazy bitch hurts one hair on Agent Scully's head, she'll have me to answer to."
"She already has, Tony," I kept my voice low, not wanting Jordan to hear. "She knocked Scully to the ground, just now."
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I am telling you," I pointed out.
"I'll be right over."
"Tony, wait," I tried to slow him down. "Can we do it tomorrow? I think we need some time to ourselves. Let's do this at the office. I don't want the kids dragged into this more than they already are."
"Is Dana all right?" his voice was tight.
"A little shook up, but she says she's fine," I looked over at her snuggling with Jordan on the couch. She was rocking him gently and whispering something into his ear that was making him smile.
"For such a tiny thing, she's pretty tough, isn't she?" I could hear a touch of awe in his voice.
"Yeah," I agreed. It was true that Scully wanted everyone to think that she could take care of herself. In her position she had to appear to be twice as tough as the men. If not, they would have walked all over her. To keep up that reputation she didn't let anyone see her vulnerable side -- anyone but me.
"You still there, Mulder?" Tony interrupted my thoughts.
"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking."
"Okay, I'll let you get back to your family. I'll catch up with you at the office tomorrow."
When I hung the phone up, I looked back over at Scully and Jordan giggling on the couch. It was a side of her that most people never got to see. It was clear to me now why she was so reluctant to let even me see any weakness for so many years. I'd always felt like I had to protect her and she'd always pushed me away, assuring me that she was fine. If she hadn't, if I'd thought she needed my protection, it would have ruined our partnership. That hadn't really changed. I saw that today. In our encounter with Leigh, Scully had reverted into agent mode -- not wanting to be taken care of, but to catch Leigh. It was going to be hard for me to separate Scully, my wife, from Scully, my partner. I could see the desire to protect my wife sneaking into our working relationship. How could it not?. On the other hand, I knew that if I didn't make that distinction, Scully, my partner, would have my ass in a sling.
"Mulder?" Scully was suddenly standing right beside me.
"Yeah?" I blinked several times.
"My mom says lunch is ready," she looked up at me questioningly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just thinking about what Murrilo said," I smiled.
"Do they have anything?"
"I'll tell you when there aren't as many ears around," I slid my arm around her waist. "Let's just be us for awhile, okay?"
"That's my favorite thing to be," she smiled softly and stood on her tiptoes to kiss me.
Scully and I tried to keep the mood during the meal as light as possible. Jordan told me about his day in school and then about his show and tell plans. When lunch was finished, Scully took Jordan upstairs to settle him for his nap. I got Megan quickly tucked into her crib and went back downstairs. Maggie offered to stay and help us with the clean up, so while she was in working in the living room, I called the three horsemen of the huevos rancheros.
As soon as I put the phone down, I regretted calling them. They seemed a little too excited about being let loose on our house. Figuring that Jordan should have been asleep by now, I went back upstairs to check on them. When I eased the door open, I couldn't help smiling. Scully was curled up on the bed beside Jordan, sound asleep. I closed the door quietly and went to our bedroom to start getting it back in order.
I began by picking up Scully's lingerie and putting it in the hamper. The bustier, the scrap of leather that Scully turned into the most erotic piece of clothing I'd ever seen, was still sitting on the dresser. Its usual lustrous sheen was marred by splotches of red. I took it into the bathroom and wiped it off with a damp cloth. As I turned it over slowly in my hands, remembering the way it hugged Scully's every curve, I knew it would be a long time, if ever, before she'd be comfortable wearing it again. Sighing, I slipped it back into the drawer and began to wipe the latent print powder off the dressers, mirror and bedside tables. I was just finishing cleaning up the door handles when I heard Maggie's voice floating up the stairs.
"Fox, your friends are here."
When I arrived downstairs, the Gunmen were still standing in the foyer. I was surprised to see a uniformed officer with them.
"You know these men, Mr. Mulder?" The cop looked skeptical.
"Yeah, sometimes we feds have to rub shoulders with misfits," I grinned.
"These clowns are for real?" He was incredulous.
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" I had to chuckle.
"A headbanger, an accountant and a --" he looked Frohike up and down. "A vagrant? I thought they were casing your house," he closed his notebook and slipped it back into his breast pocket. "They were walking around the outside of the house, and peering in the windows. When I confronted them, they said they were here to see you, but they wouldn't give me their names. I almost took them in, but they insisted that I talk to you first."
"What happened to being presumed innocent?" Byers looked unamused.
"After what went on here this morning, we had to take extreme precautions," the cop informed him dryly.
"And I appreciate that," I assured him.
"We'll be close by if you need anything," the officer extended his hand.
After I shook his hand firmly, he gave the Gunmen another disbelieving look, shook his head and left.
"Misfits?" Frohike folded his arms across his chest.
"I thought you'd take that as a compliment," I kept my face deadpan. "Don't you pride yourselves on being non-conformists?"
"Yeah, well --" Frohike began muttering, but Langly interrupted him.
"Put a sock in it," he rolled his eyes. "If we're going to finish this job before it gets dark, we need to get started. No one wants to hear your whining."
"Where's Scully?" Frohike changed his tack quickly.
"She nodded off when she took Jordan up for his nap," I told him as we moved into the living room.
Frohike mumbled something incomprehensible as he slumped to the couch.
"Don't worry, Melvin," I consoled him. "I'm sure she'll be down soon."
"For God's sake, man, give it up," Langly shook his balding blonde head. "It's not like you ever had a chance, anyway."
"I just wanted to know if she was okay," Frohike huffed. "Are you having a flashback or did you drop some acid before we left?"
"For your information, I haven't had a flashback since --"
"Would you two please stop? We've got a lot of ground to cover here. Mulder and Scully need our help and all you two can do is bicker," Byers chastised them.
"Have you two ever considered counseling?" I chuckled. Before either of them could protest, I silenced them by continuing. "Byers is right. I'd like to get some better security installed as soon as we can."
"So what exactly is going on? Some chick broke into your house and threatened Scully?" Langly perched himself on the arm of the couch.
"Yes and no. While Mrs. Scully was taking Jordan to school this morning someone broke into the house. Then at lunch time after Scully picked Jordan up from school, the same woman confronted her."
"On the phone, you said she'd knocked Scully down," Byers frowned.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"Why didn't Scully kick her ass?" Frohike looked confused.
"Yeah, Scully's a crack shot. You think she could've at least winged her," Langly wrinkled his brow.
"Jordan was right there. Scully could hardly come out with guns blazing," I pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess the kiddies put a whole new spin on things, don't they?" Frohike nodded sagely.
More than you know, I almost said out loud as I thought about the life growing inside of Scully, but instead I only nodded in agreement.
"On the way over we tossed around a few ideas," Byers began, but stopped when we heard Scully coming down the stairs.
"Hey," she smiled sleepily at the Gunmen when she walked into the living room. "Why did you leave me there, Mulder?" She came and sat on the arm of the chair I was sitting in.
"I thought you probably needed the rest," I put my hand gently on her leg.
"Probably," she nodded as she rested her hand on top of mine. "So you guys are going to help us set up some security?" Scully turned to face our guests.
"Yes, and here's what I was thinking," Byers leaned toward us. "I'd like to set up a voice recognition system. Neither of the doors will open unless the computer has the voice in its database," he finished proudly.
"Voice recognition?" Scully repeated uncertainly. "Wouldn't that be complicated?"
"Ha!" Frohike crowed. "I told you so. Here's my plan," Frohike scooted forward on the couch. "A hand scanner."
"A hand scanner?" I repeated, trying not to laugh.
"It's much simpler than the voice recognition," he nodded toward Byers. "You just have to scan your hand three times and then the computer will recognize it. The voice recognition is more finicky, like when you have a cold or a sore throat."
"Yeah, but what happens if you end up in a cast, or something," Langly argued. "The most reliable system is retinal imaging."
I glanced up at Scully. Her eyes were laughing, but she had her lips pressed tightly together.
"I'm sure Scully can back me up on this," Langly continued, "but you might not know, Mulder, that the eyes are the one part of the body that doesn't change as you age. The blood vessel pattern in your eyes is just as unique as a fingerprint," he looked over at Scully for confirmation.
"Yes, that's true," she nodded, mirth evident in her voice.
"We could even scan Megan," Langly suggested proudly.
"Megan?" Scully leaned away from him in shock.
"I think we've got our signals crossed here, guys," I held my hands up in front of my chest to slow them down. "I think Scully and I were thinking more along the lines of an alarm system and maybe some motion detectors outside," I looked up to Scully to see if she agreed and she nodded her head vigorously.
"We won't be here that much longer anyway," Scully told them.
"You won't?" Frohike looked alarmed.
"I guess I haven't talked to you in a few days," I nodded. "We bought a house," I smiled.
"What's wrong with this house?" Langly looked perplexed.
"Too many sad memories," Scully explained. "We stayed here at first to give Jordan some stability, but it's never really felt like home to Mulder and me."
"Wow, Mulder," Frohike shook his head. "I thought you'd never settle down, and now look at you -- married, kids, buying a house. I guess there's no going back now," he put a hand to his heart.
"Jesus, you can be such an ass sometimes, Frohike," Langly punched him on the arm. He looked up to see that Maggie had joined us. "Oops, sorry," he mumbled and I was amazed to see his cheeks grow pink.
"I barely noticed," Maggie waved him off. "I *was* married to a sailor after all."
I'd often wondered if Scully had picked up some of her more colorful vocabulary from her father. From the way she described him, I didn't picture him as the type to swear a lot. And I certainly didn't think that Maggie was the type to allow it in her house. I assumed she was just being gracious.
"Can I offer you boys something to eat?" she smiled.
"That'd be great," Frohike chirped up.
"I'm famished," Langly patted his stomach.
"That would be very nice. Thank you, Mrs. Scully," Byers smiled politely.
"Be careful, Maggie," I warned her. "If you start feeding them, they'll just keep coming back."
"Oh Fox," she chided me. "Don't be mean to your friends."
"Yeah," Langly stuck his tongue out at me.
"Maybe you could all try growing up?" Scully rolled her eyes and stood up. "Do you want me to help you, Mom?" she called after her mother who was already heading back to the kitchen.
"If you like, Dana," Maggie called back.
"I assume you don't need me here anymore, do you, Mulder?"
"No, I think we're in agreement about what we want," I smiled up at her.
"Before you go, Scully," Byers stood up. "I found this outside," he reached into his pocket. "I think you may have dropped it earlier," he held out a black velvet box.
"Oh," Scully reached out to take it. "This is what Leigh took from Andrew's bedroom."
"I didn't know that," I stood up quickly.
"We haven't exactly had a chance to talk about it, Mulder," she reminded me.
"I know that, Scully," I put my hand on her shoulder. "I only meant that I thought that Leigh hadn't taken anything. May I see?" I reached for the box.
When I opened it up, I recognized the necklace that Andrew had bought for his niece's birthday. He'd showed it to us because he was so proud of his choice.
"I don't understand," I shook my head as I turned the locket over. "What would Leigh want with this?"
"She thought it was meant for me," Scully was completely serious.
"What?" I had to laugh. "For you? Why the hell would she think that?"
"Apparently she thought I was Andrew's 'special girl'," she shrugged.
"What?" I heard myself repeating. "She thought that you and Andrew --," I couldn't say the words out loud. "Because of this necklace?"
"I guess so," she shrugged again.
"Actually," I paused for a second.
"What?" Scully looked up at me quizzically.
"It makes perfect sense."
"It does?"
"Yeah, it couldn't have been Leigh's fault that they broke up," I began to explain my thinking. "Something else must have caused it."
"Oh," Scully nodded, understanding what I was getting at. "So, I must have stolen Andrew away from her. And this was the proof she needed."
"Yup," I closed the box and set it on the coffee table. "I doubt anything is ever Leigh's fault."
"I guess I know why I'm such a whore now," Scully chuckled.
"I beg your pardon," Maggie had reappeared with a plate of cheese, cold cuts and crackers.
"That's what Leigh is fond of calling me," Scully explained, a faint blush apparent on her cheeks.
"Why on earth would she call you that?" Maggie looked upset as she set the food down.
"Mulder thinks that Leigh assumed I'd stolen Andrew away from her, and that's why he broke the engagement," Scully continued.
"Well, that's just ridiculous," Maggie shook her head. "Not only is Andrew extremely young, but you're married, with children and another --" she cut herself off, glancing over at the Gunmen. She could've mentioned Scully's pregnancy and they wouldn't have heard a thing. They were too busy chowing down. "What could you have possibly wanted with him?"
"Any reasonable person knows that, Mom," Scully tried to explain.
"That girl obviously isn't all there," Maggie's eyes flashed the same way Scully's did when she was angry. "How did Andrew ever get mixed up with someone like her?"
"Did I hear my name?" a voice called from the foyer.
"We're in the living room," I called.
"What happened here this morning, anyway? I pulled into the driveway and two Arlington cops descended on me. I had to show them my badge to get out of the car," he kept talking as he walked from the foyer. "Oh, hello, Mrs. Scully."
"I made a tray of --" she pointed to the coffee table only to discover the plate was empty, save a few crumbs. "I'll get some more," she was speaking quickly. I could tell that she was embarrassed that Andrew had heard her talking about him.
"I don't want you to go to any trouble," Andrew protested.
"No trouble," she hurried off with the empty tray.
"Andrew," Scully smiled. "These are the guys that Mulder told you about, the Lone Gunmen."
"Oh right," he walked over to shake their hands. "Let me guess. Byers is easy, the suit is a dead giveaway," he smiled as he shook John's hand. "And Langly has the hair," he glanced to the other end of the couch, "So you must be Frohike," he shook Frohike's gloved hand over the coffee table and then reached over to Langly. "I'm Andrew Guernsey."
"Guernsey?" Frohike repeated. "Like the cow?"
"Yeah, the cow comes from the island in the English Channel. We still have relatives there...we're the poor cousins," Andrew chuckled.
"You're the poor cousins?" I looked at him in surprise. "Do they own the entire island, or what?"
"Just about," he smiled.
"So your protege has got some bucks?" Langly grinned. "I didn't know you liked to have your palms greased, Mulder."
"It's not like that," Andrew looked shocked. "No one at work knows that my family has money. Well no one but the Mulders, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Calm down," Frohike laughed. "We won't hold it against you. And if there's one thing we can do, it's keep a secret."
"I thought you published that paper 'The Magic Bullet'? Don't you print all kinds of secrets?" Andrew eyed Frohike suspiciously.
"We've got bigger fish to fry," Langly assured him. "And we only print things that the government is trying to conceal."
"What could the government possibly be trying to hide?" Andrew rolled his eyes. "Of course, there are certain things that have to be kept quiet, like military advances and covert surveillances of subversives, but other than that --"
"Wow," Frohike looked at me in amusement. "He's pretty green, isn't he?"
"He'll learn soon enough. Scully did," I pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Andrew looked confused.
"We can talk about this later -- at the office. There's something else I need to tell you," I nodded toward the armchair opposite mine as I sat down again.
"What is it, what happened this morning?" his eyes grew wide as he sat down.
I nodded and began to fill him in on the morning's events. Maggie came in with another tray of food while we were talking and Scully left when she heard Megan wake. By the time I'd finished, the new tray of food was gone, but Andrew hadn't eaten a morsel.
"I had no idea," he leaned forward and put his head in his hands. "Dana must hate me."
"Of course she doesn't," I assured him. "It's not your fault."
"We dated for almost two years, and I lived with her for six months. How could I not have seen it? What kind of investigator does that make me?" He looked up at me, sorrow evident in his eyes. "And she worked for the FBI? She said she was working as a clerk. Why wouldn't she have told me?"
"I'm not sure if we'll ever know all of the answers, Andrew, but I think it's safe to say that Leigh fooled a lot of people. Look at all the background checks and tests she would have gone through to work at the field office. Apparently she sailed through those, what makes you think that you should be able to spot something that the professionals missed?" I tried to console him.
"I guess," he shook his head remorsefully, but I don't think I managed to convince him. "If she was mad at me, why would she take it out on you and Dana?"
"Because she thought that we got in her way," I explained.
"She was the one that insisted on the stupid prenuptial agreement. That's what started all of this. It was her own damn fault," he began to sound angry. I'd never seen him angry before.
"This is probably none of my business," I began, "but I'm willing to bet that nothing that happened in your relationship was ever Leigh's fault."
"Yeah," a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, "but I found it was easier in any relationship just to take the blame. It seemed so much smoother that way."
"I guess that's true to a certain extent," I had to smile too. "But must people will take the blame occasionally."
"I should have seen it," he shook his head again.
"Don't beat yourself up, Andrew. Leigh latched onto you because you were a nice guy and she took advantage of that. It's happened to the best of us," I assured him.
"Amen," Frohike piped up. "Look at what happened to Byers."
"That was completely different," Byers began to defend himself.
"Let's not get into that right now," I cut them off. "I think it's time to get started with the added security."
"You're right," Byers apologized. "I shouldn't be thinking about myself. C'mon guys, we have work to do."
"Hey, Andrew," Langly gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Want to help us beef up the security around here?"
"Sure. What can I do?" he stood up.
"Did you see the blue van in the driveway?" Langly inquired.
"Yeah," Andrew nodded.
"Bring everything in," he tossed Andrew the keys.
"Okay," Andrew agreed pleasantly.
"Langly," I began to admonish him when Andrew was out of earshot. "You shouldn't take advantage of him."
"What? He's a healthy, young guy and he needs to do something to keep his mind off things," Langly explained himself.
"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, Ringo," I shook my head.
"What?" He maintained his innocence as he left the room.
Soon the house was buzzing with activity. The amount of equipment Andrew hauled in was staggering. Jordan had awakened from his nap and was trailing around after the Gunmen, completely enthralled with all of their gadgets. Scully had to keep Megan up off the floor because of all of the colored bits and pieces that grabbed her attention.
"Are they going to have this all cleaned up today?" Scully asked about two hours into the project.
"I'll make sure they do," I promised. "But I assume they'll be here for awhile yet."
"I'll let my mother know so she can make extra food," Scully sighed.
"Do we have that much food in the house?" I raised my eyebrows. "For that matter, is there that much food in Arlington?"
end chapter 17