xfc Doppler Effect by N. Y. Smith 1 of ?
Mini...@aol.com
Chapter 1 Lability
The elevator car lurched clumsily, disturbing both of its occupants.
The shorter occupant immediately reached for her companion who steadied
himself against the back wall. An electronic voice announced the floor
number before the polished steel doors parted. She pressed the "Door Open"
button while he made his way into the hallway, his progress punctuated by a
sadly familiar snick-swing-snick-swing. She walked by his side avoiding, as
he did, contacting the eyes of those who stopped and stared. And whispered.
Which was followed by the inevitable expression of pity, which he despised
most. He had gone from "Spooky" to "poor Spooky" and he hated it. Hated
them. Hated these crutches. Hated himself.
Thankfully, Skinner's office was near the elevator and they were able
to duck inside before some kind soul made the mistake of expressing some sort
of pity or kindness. The AD's assistant, Kimberly, greeted them both warmly
and showed them into the sunlit office.
Their old boss met them at the door and ushered them not to the "hot
seats" they had so often occupied in front of his desk but to the sofa and
chairs against the wall. He waited a moment while the lanky agent selected
the less-cushioned chair. Slipping his forearms from the C-shaped cuffs at
the top, the younger man grasped the crutches and the chair arm firmly for
support while he lowered himself into the chair with his good right leg. He
laid the crutches on the floor next to him, unlocked the brace at his knee
and tugged at the paralyzed appendage with both hands until it was bent like
the good one.
All the while they carried on small talk about the impending
holidays, their flight from Montana to DC, Scully's mother. Skinner had
leaned back in the other chair, his ankle propped casually on the other
thigh. His hands were tented and the new gold band on his left hand
glittered as he gestured. "I'm not sure but I think Mary and I may have
replaced you two as the top water cooler topic around here."
"Believe me, Sir," Scully replied, "that's a title we happily
relinquish."
"How soon they forget," Mulder observed wryly. "How is Mary?"
Skinner fairly beamed. "Great. She's great. Still sick as a dog,
but great."
"Will you be staying here for Christmas?" Scully asked.
Her boss shook his head. "We're leaving for Texas tonight. In
fact," he leaned forward as he checked his watch, "she should be picking me
up in about an hour."
"It will be nice to see her again," Scully said and then silence
ticked away.
"Have you heard from Bynum?" Mulder asked, finally.
"Yeah," the AD replied. "He's in Cincinnati, head of Security for
some electronics firm."
"Did his wife have her baby?" Scully inquired.
Skinner nodded. "Boy, somewhere in the nine-pound range."
"That's nice," she said wistfully.
Nearly a minute ticked by before Mulder stirred, "Why are we here,
Sir?" He stretched out his good leg. "I mean, the visit's nice and all, but
. . . "
Scully shot her partner a hard look.
"It's okay, Scully. I do apologize for infringing on your holiday
plans, but something has come up that I think you'll be interested in."
"A case?" Mulder pushed himself upright.
"In a manner of speaking," the AD replied slyly as John Grayson's
face appeared in the open door. "Come on in, Agent Grayson."
Grayson dragged a chair from the desk area and perched in it. "So,
how is every body?"
"Peachy," Mulder replied sulkily, immediately ashamed when he noticed
the rubber ball Grayson was pumping with his broken-arm hand.
"Fine, Agent Grayson," Scully replied politely.
"Have you talked about anything?" he asked the AD.
Skinner shook his head. "I thought we'd wait for you before we
discussed our proposition."
"What?" Mulder asked impatiently.
Skinner grinned. "It's not a case, Agent Mulder."
"It's about 200 cases." Grayson continued despite Mulder's
incredulous look. "It's simple, really. I've got 5 shiny new profilers and
a backlog of cases. I need help. Which," he grinned evilly, "is where you
come in."
"Agent Grayson has taken over the responsibility of the profiling
section," Skinner explained. "While he is, on paper, staffed adequately, his
people are very green."
"So I've asked for, and been given the budget for, a Senior Agent
position," he glanced at Scully. "Two, in fact."
Mulder sat stone-faced but Grayson continued. "I envision one of the
Senior Agents being responsible for managing the new agents' case load and
the other being responsible for managing the Forensics of the unit as well as
lending investigative expertise."
"And you're offering this to us?" Scully asked skeptically.
"Either or both, as you wish," Skinner confirmed.
"What about the X-Files?" Mulder asked. "What about Spender and
Fowley?"
Skinner twisted his wedding ring. "Agent Fowley has been sent back
from whence she came. Agent Spender," he paused, "has been given an
assignment more appropriate for his, uh, talents."
Mulder grinned. "You dumped him in the Library."
Skinner returned the grin and nodded.
"And the X-Files cases?" Mulder leaned forward.
Grayson took a deep breath. "They're yours if you want them. You'll
just have to work them in between ISU cases."
"And if we want to work just the X-Files cases?"
"No deal," Skinner shook his head. "It will be a long time before
we can get approval again to create a separate X-Files Unit. Until then,
this is the best deal going. Unless you've become attached to investigating
fertilizer sales in Montana . . ."
"No!" they both said at once. Then they proceeded to carry on
another of their wordless conversations before each nodded, albeit Mulder was
the more reluctant.
"Well," Grayson stretched out the word, "our new offices at Quantico
should be ready after New Year's. That should give you the time to get moved
from Montana . . ."
"What about handicap access?" Scully asked quietly while Mulder
closed his eyes, as if he refused to hear it.
"Whatever you need," Skinner promised.
End chapter one
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