Summary: Mulder & Scully are called out to investigate a case of a missing teenager after a hurricane in California. But they find themselves investigating their emotions towards each other too!

Rating: PG 13

Spoilers: None

Keywords: Mulder & Scully Romance

Categories: MSR

Discalimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully or the X-Files or Fox or 1013 or any of that stuff! But if you wanna sue cuz you work with the X-Files or you're Chris Carter, okie doke, that's fine with me, if that's the way I have to meet
you, I'm not missing an oppurtunity! LOL! :)

Feedback: I would love it!! :)


THE HURRICANE LIES

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caspar, California
July 18, 1995
6:21 am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain beat hard outside Emily Hopkin's window. Another hurricane by the looks of it. All radios and televisions were out, but she didn't need a radio D.J. or news person to clarify any confusion. This was strong winds, heavy
rains and it wouldn't take any brain surgeon to figure out that this was no minor thunder storm. This wasn't any new experience for her anyway. In fact, in Emily's vocabulary, a hurricane was expressed as "no biggy".

It came without any warning. Emily was getting dressed for school with a little drizzle pitter- pattering on her window ledge to accompany her blasting CD player. As she was about to step outside to walk to her bus-stop, the rain
picked up at an ever growing speed. The wind was unbearable and the waves beat up onto the shore, crashing like bricks on pavement.

"Forget this," Emily said. School, was not happening. She wasn't standing at her bus-stop in this weather. Emily walked back into her empty house. Her mom was at work, her sister in college and her dad, well, she didn't exactly
know where her dad was. He left her mom before she was born. He only existed in a few of her sisters memories, which she occasionally would share on holidays.

Emily had a reputation as a dare devil. She would do just about everything, and wasn't afraid of anything. She sat staring out the window, wondering what she would do with a full day ahead of her. She had been through 4 hurricanes
in her life, but she had never been outside in one before. Taking that into consideration, she stepped outside in the spiraling down pour.
She was completely drenched in less than 4 seconds. Barely being able to maneuver herself she attempted to walk down the path by the ocean side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephen Walker was a proud owner of a jewelry store in Caspar. He had started the business by himself on the idea that he would just buy and sell from his customers. Now, over ten years later, the once, little store had grown
tremendously and had turned into a very lucrative industry for Stephen.

Today when Stephen woke up at 6:30, he knew he wouldn't be driving to work in this weather so he called up all of his employees and told them not to show up. Once he was done putting down the phone after talking to the last person on
his list he walked out onto his screened in porch to get a feel of how it was outside.

Stephen turned to his left to see a teenage girl stumbling around outside by the ocean. "Oh, my god!" Stephen yelled as he ran out the door, down the steps of his porch and outside into the hurricane. He had a hard time seeing with
the rain pouring down like a thick sheet. It took him a few minutes to actually reach her. He grabbed her arm and tried pulling the screaming girl into his house.

He reached his steps and the girl tried desperately to break free of his grasp. The rain had made the steps extremely slippery. The girl pulled back from Stephen but lost her balance, falling forward and hitting her head, hard on the
corner of the top step.

She laid there for a few seconds, in shock. She grabbed hold of the banister and pulled herself back up. The girl, who wasn't usually afraid of anything, was afraid of this stranger.

She took off into the rain. Although she couldn't see anything with her blood from the gash in her head and the rain in her eyes. She kept running in her blindness. The ocean shore was the only thing stopping her. The waves pulled
her under and far out into the sea. The ocean was alive with strength as Emily Hopkins struggled with no success....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
J. Edgar Hoover Building
Washington D.C.
July 19
11:21 am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Emily Hopkins, 15, was reported missing yesterday when her mom came home from work after Hurricane Stephanie cleared up and she wasn't there. They checked everywhere and no one had seen her," Agent Mulder explained to his partner.

"What was a teenage girl doing at her house, alone, in a hurricane in the first place, Mulder?" Agent Scully asked with her eye brows raised.

"Her mom was at work and she was at home getting ready for school. Or so everybody thought. It's our job to fly out to California, knock on peoples doors and hear their story," Mulder replied. The truth was, he was bored with this
case. Skinner, Mulder and Scully's boss, gave him this case so there was no turning it down.

"Great, when do we leave?" Scully asked sarcastically enthralled.

"We'll leave at 7:30 tonight," Mulder sighed. They were both used to working on alien abduction, or child apparition cases. You know, the usual government conspiracy cover-ups. This was a normal case and it didn't capture either of
their attentions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephen couldn't believe what had happened. The girl looked like she had a pretty bad gash in her head, but she took off like lightening. It wasn't worth running after her yesterday. She ran but he couldn't see her through all the
rain anyway. He would have gotten lost and he most likely would have gotten killed. He had to keep telling himself that after he read the article in the newspaper. What had he gotten himself into?

To make matters worse, he only lived about 6 houses away from her. He would get questioned by the police. He had to lie. This was nothing minor, this was serious. He would be accused of killing or kidnapping her. He was defiantly
going to lie. He had other things to worry about......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caspar Police Station, California
July 20
9:36 am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had no follow-ups, no leads, no witnesses, they had nothing! Mulder and Scully slumped down in there cushiony chairs trying to figure out where to start.

"I think it would be a good idea if we went around questioning people, like Skinner instructed us to do," Scully argued with Mulder.

"The police already did that!" Mulder complained.

"Mulder we don't know these people. We don't know if they're any good or what they asked anyone. This is our investigation so lets start from the beginning," Scully said in a booming voice. There was no fighting with Scully, she
got her way. They went out in there rent-a-car and made there way over to Emily's house....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mrs. Hopkins, when is the last time you saw your daughter?" Scully asked once they all got seated around the kitchen table. She cradled her cup of coffee and sat in silence for a minute before responding to Scully's question.

"Just like I told the sheriff, I peeked into her bedroom before I left for work. She was there, sleeping, in her bed," Mrs. Hopkins replied in a wavering voice.

"Around what time was this?" Mulder asked. Writing down notes throughout the interrogation.

"That was 5:15, right before I leave. I check on her everyday," She answered.

"Mrs. Hopkins, does your daughter have any psychiatric disorders?" Scully asked.

"What kind of question is that?!" Mrs. Hopkins cried out.

"We need to make sure she wasn't running away from home," Scully added gently. "This could simply be a case of lack of attention or teenage revenge. You never know these days," Scully explained.

"No, no. My daughter had a lot of self esteem and had no troubles," Emily's mother explained very convincingly.

"Did she have any place outside that she would go to. Any hiding spots, or tree houses, anything like that?" Mulder suggested.

"No, she didn't go outside to much. No, not that I know of," Mrs. Hopkins stated acting very interested in her cup of coffee. She did a very good job at making no eye contact with the two agents.

"Mrs. Hopkins, we have to assume the worst. Do you know of any rapists or child offenders in this area?" Scully inquired.

"This town has never had anything like this before," Mrs. Hopkins said very nervously. "Do you think that's what happened?" She asked, eyes wide.

"We don't know anything yet. Please contact us if you think of anything," Mulder said handing her his card.

"Okay, thank you," Mrs. Hopkins said, almost in tears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was no one home at the next two houses. And they practically got the door slammed in there face at the next two after those. The people probably thought they were trying to sell them something. Mulder noted that these houses
were extremely huge.

"Can I help you?" An elderly man answered the door at the nest house. Mulder and Scully held up there badges, relieved that someone was actually going to listen to them, and might help them too.

"I'm Special Agent Mulder and this is Agent Scully. We would like to ask you a few questions about Emily Hopkins," Mulder explained.

"Yeah, sure, sure, please come on in," The man opened the door with a gesture of his hand to come in. They walked into the house and wiped there shoes on the rug before stepping in. This house looked immaculate and they were afraid
just to breath, the air smelled so strongly of disinfectants.

"Your name please," Scully asked. "This man definitely has an obsessive compulsive disorder. He looks like he takes 5 showers a day!" Scully thought. She wanted to go over and touch his arm to see if it squeaked from being so
clean to test her theory.

"Mr. Hoffman, George Hoffman," He said slowly. They sat down on the couches in his living room, they were all covered in plastic. There were paintings everywhere of a young woman. Most likely his wife in her younger years. There
weren't any that looked very recent.

"Mr. Hoffman are you married?" Scully asked. She noted that he looked to be in his early 70's.

"Why, you getting turned on?" Mulder whispered to Scully as she slapped him on his knee, trying not to get Mr. Hoffman's attention and she swallowed a laugh.

"My wife past away just over 25 years ago," he explained. "I painted those portraits of her. She was a good subject because she could sit so still for long periods of time," He added noticing Scully's interest in his walls.

"I'm so sorry," Scully responded quickly. "Did you ever get re-married?" Scully asked.

"Well no, I couldn't. I basically never took any interest in love again. I was too heart broken. It's just me and my two servants now," Mr. Hoffman replied.

"Could we talk to them too?" Mulder asked.

"Certainly," Mr. Hoffman slowly got up to find them.

"Nice house!" Mulder whispered to Scully.

"You can say that again. All of these houses are. I'm just enjoying taking a look at the insides of these," Scully agreed. They stopped there conversation as Mr. Hoffman and his servants came back. They were both women in there
early 30's and dressed in a white shirt and black pants. They sat down across from the two agents.

"We just need to ask all three of you if you saw anybody outside in the hurricane or if you know anything about Emily Hopkins that would help us on this case," Mulder explained.

"I saw a young girl running around outside but I just assumed she was running home. That would have been the most logical thing to do in that kind of weather," One of the servants spoke up.

"What direction was the girl running?" Mulder asked.

"She was running in that direction," The servant said pointing.

"Can you give a brief description of the girl you saw?" Scully asked, being skeptic, as usual.

"Well, it was really hard to see, but she had blue-jean shorts, and greenish blue shirt, and I'm pretty sure she had brown hair," She answered.

"Can I ask your name please?" Scully asked.

"Gillian Morris," She answered.

"I like your name," Scully complimented, smiling.

"Does anyone else have anything to add to that story?" Mulder asked. When nobody said anything, they said there thanks and left.

Mulder and Scully got out of their cars at the next house and walked up the brick sidewalk in silence. This house had a screened in porch in the front of the house. As Scully was about to walk up the steps to the door she suddenly
put out her arm in a motion to stop Mulder.

"What's your problem?" Mulder asked sarcastically.

"Mulder look, there's blood all over the corner of that step," Scully replied, squatting to look at it. "Oh, my god, there's hair here too, what if it's Emily's? Mulder we have to call the proper authorities to take a look at this,"
Scully said as Mulder took out his cell-phone and did just that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~25 minutes later~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder and Scully stood off to the side, questioning Stephen Walker, while the police photographed and bagged all of the so called "evidence".

"Do you know where Emily Hopkins is?" Scully asked crossing her arms and giving Stephen the patented "don't mess with me" look.

"Who?" Stephen asked giving Scully his best "what the hell is going on?" look.

"I think you know perfectly well who she is. In fact we all think that you know too well who she is," Mulder said a little too harshly.

"Look, I don't know what's going on and I don't know what's so interesting about my steps over there," Stephen relied seriously confused.

"They found blood and long brown hair on your steps over there. It's not every day that we find blood on people's steps," Scully explained. "It's quite a coincidence that we find this after Emily is missing too, would you like to
give us an explanation of what happened here?" Scully asked making full use of her higher authority.

"Oh, my god! How stupid could I be, she fell on my steps and was bleeding! Now I'm dead, what am I going to do?" Stephen thought to himself. Mulder studied the worried look on Stephen's face trying to figure out if that was the
face of a criminal he was staring at.

"Do you know how many girls have long brown hair?" Stephen asked.

"Sure, a lot of them do. But do you know how many girls with long brown hair come falling on your door step every day?" Mulder asked sarcastically making Scully laugh to herself.

"You got a point there," Scully whispered to Mulder, noting that most likely not to many girls of any hair color come to his door step.

"I don't know who's hair that is but I had nothing to do with Emily Hopkins so can you please excuse me, I'm going inside to get a drink," Stephen said beginning to walk away.

"Oh, no you're not. You're coming with us, while the police finish up over there. We have enough against you for a search warrant," Scully said leading Stephen to the back of a police car.

"I think we definitely have the right man," Mulder said when he and Scully were finally alone.

"He is definitely suspicious," Scully agreed, referring to Stephen.

"We're taking this into the lab to get a DNA fingerprint test done to prove that this hair and blood is really Emily's. Oh, and one more thing, we found a sand shoe print on two of the steps. We'll ask Emily's mom what kind of shoes
she has," Officer Paterson explained.

"Please call us when you know for sure," Scully said.

"Sure thing," Paterson replied and then walked away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mulder & Scully's hotel room
5:00 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder and Scully sat in their hotel room on the couch watching a movie they rented while eating pizza.

"Hey Scully, have you ever thought about marriage?" Mulder asked out of the blue.

"With you?" Scully asked a little confused and shocked that Mulder would even think to ask a question like that.

"Well, not just me, I mean marriage in general. With anyone," Mulder explained.

"Well, I've thought about getting married to you," Scully replied blushing and completely surprised at herself for saying that.

"Me too. Well, I don't mean I've thought about being married to me, I mean, marrying you. Actually, I think about that a lot," Mulder explained taking Scully's hand in his. Scully inched closer to him on the couch.

"I think about it all the time," Scully confessed. They both moved in for the kiss they had both wanting for..... forever. Just as their lips touched Scully's cell-phone rang making them both jump.

"Hello?" Scully said extremely annoyed. "Oh, okay...... Great, thank you. Well, be right there," Scully pressed the End button on her cell-phone.

"Officer Paterson just got the results back from the lab. The blood and hair are for sure Emily Hopkins. We have a search warrant for Stephen's house and the police team are all going over there right now," Scully explained. But
Mulder was not going to let a perfectly good moment go to waste, he pulled Scully close to him again. She had expected a quick peck, and after twenty seconds of Mulder's mouth moving softly and gently against hers, that expectation
went out the window.

The kiss deepened, grew heat, that heat spread up and down Scully's arms and legs. She leaned closer to him, threading her arms around his neck and really leaning into the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Scully looked at t the clock and quickly jumped up. "We really have to go, the police expected us at the house 5 minutes ago," They both hurried out the door and to the house of Stephen Walker....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they arrived, Officer Paterson was the first to speak to them.

"We've searched the entire house and found no sign of Emily...," he explained. While he talked, Mulder took a look around outside.

"Has anyone searched the ocean?" Mulder asked.

"No, they couldn't find anyone out there if they wanted to!" Paterson exclaimed.

"Well, I think that would be a good idea," Mulder said taking Scully's arm and stepped away from Officer Paterson.

"You think she's dead don't you?" Scully asked but the question didn't need to be answered.

"It was a hurricane, the perfect time to kill somebody. Just dump the body into the ocean and it floats far, far away," Mulder responded.

"Yeah, I think you're right about that. But why would Stephen Walker want to kill Emily, they hadn't even met according to her mother?" Scully asked.

"Why do people rape? Why do people steal? Why do people kill? It's all the same, Scully..... Because they want to. Because they like doing it," Mulder explained, sending chills up Scully's spine.

The rest of that day and the next day they sent a search team in the waters to look for the body of Emily Hopkins...... with no success...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 21
Stephen Walker Residence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Agent Mulder, this is ridiculous! I told you they would never find her. We should stop this search and just title this case "still open"," Paterson cried.

"We have had search teams out for a week before finding someone. But my point is, they found the person!" Mulder replied.

"We don't even know if she's out there! We could be searching for nothing!" Paterson yelled.

"I am not ending this search. And that's the end of that," Mulder said walking away. Scully followed with him.

"What makes you so sure she's out there?" Scully asked.

"Where else would she be?" There is no where else," Mulder explained.

"Whatever.... " Scully responded.

"Truthfully, I just like being out here in California, with you," Mulder said smiling. He took her hand in his and led her back to the car.

"Me too, lets keep that search team out there till they find Elvis," Scully replied jokingly.

"Sounds good to me, lets go back to the hotel," Mulder suggested and they went back to their car.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mulder & Scully's hotel room
2:00 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier that morning, Mulder did some shopping on his own. When they got back to the hotel room, he had the whole table in their room covered with red roses and candles. He stepped in the room before she did, so he could go light the
candles.

"Oh, my Lord!" Scully cried out in laughter. "It's beautiful, Mulder," She whispered to him. He walked over to her, took her in his arms and carried her to the couch.

"You are beautiful," Mulder corrected her, "And I love you." Suddenly Scully's cell-phone rang.

"Oh, man!" She cried out before answering it.

"Hello!" She yelled into the receiver.

"Scully, we found her, come on down here. We have Stephen here for questioning," Paterson said and then hung up.

"Well, guess what," Scully said.

"They found her?" Mulder guessed.

"You are so right," Scully smiled at him. "We got have to go down to the police station to the interrogation room to question Stephen Walker," She continued.

"It seems like we always have to get interrupted," Mulder complained. This was the second time that they had been interrupted by Officer Paterson and he was starting to get very ticked off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caspar Police Station
Interrogating Room
2:26 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now I will ask you for the second time, do you know what happened to Emily Hopkins?" Scully asked Stephen Walker.

"No, I have no idea why her blood is on my door step!" Stephen cried out. He figured the truth in this situation was just not believable. He didn't know what to do.

"Well, that's too bad that you don't know because we have her fingerprints on her pen, her blood, her hair and a show print of her's. Are you trying to tell us that she was in the hurricane and then she was nearest to your house so
she ran up to your door step, fell and then ran herself right into the ocean? Or was she by your house so you ran out, through her down on the step and then when you saw that she was still alive, through her in the ocean?" Mulder
cried out.

"No, no, no! Why won't you believe me? What I'm trying to say, is that I don't know what happened," Stephen explained.

"I've just about had it," Scully said as she walked out of the room. Mulder chased after her.

"Scully, are you okay?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just need to go back to the hotel room and rest for a while," Scully replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mulder and Scully's hotel room
July 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There was a court trial held for the suspect in the murder of Emily Hopkins, Stephen Walker on June 23, 1998. He was found guilty of first degree murder and will serve 25 years to life in the Caspar county jail," Scully said reading
the article to Mulder.

"I don't know why, but I still have this nagging feeling that he didn't do it," Mulder explained to Scully.

"I'll fix it," Scully said as she wrapped her arms around Mulder's neck and locked lips with him for the second time. They stayed in California for a couple days longer just to figure out if their feelings for each other were true.

Still to this day, Stephen Walker still remains behind bars with another 22 years ahead of him, all for doing one thing; lying....

(The End)
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