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Usual disclaimers.  I don't want to violate your silly laws, but I
guess I will anyway.
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	     Partners
	     by Marie Miller
	     (all comments CC:DanaS111@aol.com)


8:15 AM
    Dana Scully walked out of Assistant Director Skinner's office. He's
really not such a bad guy, she thought to herself. He'd told her that
because of her recent ordeal, he thought she should only work half days
for a few weeks. He also stated that she wouldn't have to go back to the
pressures of teaching if she didn't want to; he would reassign her to
pathology if she would feel more relaxed there. Dana was glad he'd offered
the reassignment, she hadn't realized how irritating and unintelligent
those kids seemed until she'd been moved back after the X files had been
closed.
    But now the X files were open again. Mulder had told her that they'd
sent him a new partner, but apparently she was only temporary. Scully had
hoped that Skinner would have offered to let her work with Mulder again,
but that would probably have been vetoed by somebody higher up. Oh well,
pathology wasn't too bad. Besides, she wouldn't be stuck out at Quantico-
maybe she and Mulder could have lunch together every once in awhile.
    Dana walked down to Mulder's "basement office with no heat or windows" 
and knocked on the door. When he called out "Come in," she open the door
and walked in, seating herself in her old chair.
    "Scully, you don't have to knock! Why didn't you come right in?"
Mulder looked almost hurt, as if he thought that because she knocked,
they were no longer friends.
    Scully almost laughed, but managed to keep a straight face.
"I didn't want to walk in unannounced on you and your new partner. I've
heard she's a very attractive woman," Scully teased him.
    Mulder only raised his eyebrows at her. " You wanna come down and have
lunch with me today?"
    Scully was only slightly surprised and said, "I'd love to. I've got
an autopsy at 9, though; it'll take a while. How does 12:30 sound?"
    Mulder smiled at her and gave a small laugh. "It sounds wonderful."
    Scully was still slightly confused, but said "OK. See you then.
Have fun with her, Mulder," she ended sarcastically.
    Mulder gave her his I-appreciate-the-joke smile. Dana smiled at him
and walked out of his office. Right outside his door, she ran into a tall
blond woman just entering. Dana thought "This must be his new partner.
She really is attractive"  She held out her right hand, "Hi. You must be
Mulder's new partner. I'm Dana Scully."
    "Linda Simmons," said the woman, eyeing Scully's hand with distaste.  
    Dana felt extremely uncomfortable and dropped her hand. Maybe Linda
was just shy. She tried again. "I used to work with Agent Mulder, but I'm
in Pathology now. Where were you before you were assigned to the X files?"
    "I wasn't doing anything specific," Linda replied evasively, trying to
avoid the question.
    Scully took that to mean, correctly, that Linda had no actual skills.
But why would they assign her to the X files if she didn't have any
intellectual ways to refute Mulder's claims? Maybe it was supposed to be a
learning experience for her. She'd need a lot of them if she was as
irritating as she sounded. A learning experience in manners wouldn't hurt,
either. "Well, maybe we'll meet again sometime. Bye." Dana turned to walk
away, but had an attack of deja vu and came back. She pulled a small piece
of paper from her briefcase and quickly wrote a few words on it."Could you
give this to Mulder for me?" Scully asked with her sweetest smile.
"I've got to go."
    Linda looked confused. "Sure, I suppose so," she said hesitantly.
    "Thanks so much. See you later." Dana turned and quickly walked towards
the elevator, trying desperately to keep from smiling.
    "Bye," Linda called after her. "No wonder they call her Mrs. Spooky,"
she commented to herself. She turned and looked at Mulder's door. "Oh god,"
she thought, "I didn't ask for this." She took a deep breath and walked
into his office. She greeted him as politely as she could-he ignored her.
Linda gave an exasperated sigh and handed Mulder Scully's message."That
short woman asked me to give this to you,"she stated abruptly.
    Mulder turned in his chair and raised his eyebrows at her. "Do you
mean Agent Scully? You know, that 'short woman' is an MD. She could
dissect you in ten minutes and go eat lunch afterwards without a second
thought." He reached up, grabbed the note from her hand, and read it. All
it said was: "She reminds me of Phoebe." Mulder laughed and told Linda,
"She's also a great judge of character." He turned back to his file and
dismissed Linda from his mind.

8:30 AM

    Mulder decided that everyone deserves at least one chance; after all,
if Skinner hadn't given him another chance, he wouldn't have the X files 
back. The only thing that still rankled was that he was stuck with this
idiotic green agent. Why couldn't they have reassigned Scully? Oh well,
life was full of questions, but Mulder was determined to have at least
this one resolved. He handed Linda a paper from the report he was working
on and asked, "What do you make of this?"
    "What do you mean? It's an autopsy report."
    Mulder wondered how this girl made it through the Academy and quietly
asked, "Yes, but what does it tell you?"
    "That somebody died."
    Mulder gave up. He gently took the paper from her hand and asked her
to go get them some coffee. It was going to be a long day.
    
12:15 PM

    Dana arrived downstairs early, having finished her autopsy in record time.  
She had even written up an outline or her report, indicating that the subject
had died of arsenical poisoning. She walked up to Mulder's door and opened
it, without knocking this time.
    As she walked in, Mulder looked up briefly with laughter in his eyes.
Scully recognized the pose. He sat behind his desk, looking calmly at Linda,
who was standing in front of him with her arms crossed.
    Mulder called to Scully, "Hey, Scully. How ya doin? I'll just be a
minute; sit down."
    Scully sat down in her old seat, across from Mulder.
    "I'm not done with you yet, Mulder," Linda stated flatly, her voice tight.
"You are insane to even consider thinking that any of your theories are
remotely plausible."
    "Do you hear that, Scully? I think she's trying to tell me I'm crazy!"
    "Surely not," Dana replied, trying not to laugh.
    "And that my ideas are... spooky!"
    Dana gasped in mock astonishment.
    Mulder turned his attention away from the outraged Linda and handed
Scully the autopsy report that he had tried to show to Linda.
    She studied it for a few moments, eyes widening as she read further.
"Oh my god, Mulder. This is incredible; where did you get this?"
    "It was included in a recent X file. Come on. I'll tell you about the
case over lunch."
    Scully realized then that Mulder intended to continue their partnership,
just in a different way than before. "Mulder, isn't that cheating?"
    He knew precisely what she was talking about, but kept his tone innocent.  
"How would it be cheating? All I want is a friend's opinion. Besides, you're
not strong enough to be running around with me... yet."
    Scully got up. "Mulder, you act like we're just moments away from being
official partners again," she said disapprovingly. 
    "What's wrong with that? Skinner's my pal." He held her coat so that she
could put it on and moved to open the door for her, ignoring Linda, who
was fuming.
    Dana simply smiled at him tolerantly and they walked out of the room,
leaving the other woman alone. Linda let out a sound of frustrated rage,
that Mulder and Scully heard, as well as everyone else in the vicinity.
    Scully tried to look reproving. "That was cruel, Mulder. She'll know
what you're doing, how you're excluding her; she's not stupid."
    "She's not exactly a member of Mensa, either."
    Scully tried to suppress her laughter, but failed miserably. Most
surprising to her was that Mulder started laughing, too. Scully had never
seen him like this - relaxed.
    "So, Scully. What would you like for lunch?"
    "Are you buying?"
    
Fin

This story is based on the characters and situations created by Cris
Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting. Used without
permission and no infringement is intended.