TITLE: The Color Of Midnight - Chapter One
AUTHOR: K.Daniels    
FEEDBACK TO:krdaniels@earthlink.net (public discussion okay)
ARCHIVING: Fine, please tell me where
SPOILERS: Fight the Future
KEYWORDS: Scully/Other; ScullySlash
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Scully's past catches up to her, and turns out to be
dangerously tangled with an X File.
DISCLAIMER: Scully, Mulder, Skinner, etc. etc. all belong to Chris
Carter and 1013, except for Jane, she belongs to me. Please do not sue
me, I am making no financial profit from the unauthorized use of these
characters.

NOTE: This is my first fanfic ever, so please, go easy on me. However, I
also want your honest feedback. I've finished four chapters, and have
ideas for more. That is, if anyone is interested in more. I hope you
enjoy it.

The Color Of Midnight  

CHAPTER ONE

*Friday, 10:47 a.m., Hoover FBI building*

"Okay, let me get this straight" Dana Scully mused as she came around
her partners desk to look more closely at the photograph in his hand.
"You are expecting me to believe that this boy·" She pointed to the
photo "·that this boy is a Werewolf?"
        
"Is that so unreasonable, Scully?" Mulder asked staring into the ice
blue eyes of his redheaded partner.
        
"Mulder, I·" Scully searched for the words. "This is a bit much, even
for you." She finally blurted
        
"Scully" Mulder implored "Draw outside the lines for a change"
        
"There's outside of the lines, and then there's completely off the page,
Mulder" Scully scolded with an arch of her eyebrow.
        
Mulder laughed at his partners disapproving gaze. Yet he knew that she
would follow him down this path, as she had countless others. Sometimes
the path proved to be dangerous, as it had this summer when Scully
almost died searching for the truth. Mulder shivered at the memory of
finding her frozen naked body in the belly of the alien vessel. That was
a close one, in which they had narrowly escaped death, but the
experience had restored Mulder's faith in his work, and had given the
two agents a renewed commitment to each other.
        
"Okay, Scully, I'm going to give you the opportunity to prove me wrong."
Mulder challenged "Even though I don't think you can."
        
"Have I ever proven anything to you Mulder?" Scully inquired, flopping
into the chair on the other side of the desk.
        
"Let's see, um, there was the flukeman thing." Mulder reminded "And
let's not forget about Pusher and of course Tooms-the-liver-eating-boy." 
        
"Right, but you believed what you wanted about each of those cases, long
before I ever tested your theories. You know, come to think of it,
that's your problem, Mulder, you don't need proof. You blindly believe
every situation, so eager to see the truth as you believe it to be that
you forgo any notion of suitable scientific formulas! It isn't until I
follow up with proven methodical approaches that we are able to
definitively categorize the phenomenon we come across." Scully paused
"Haven't you learned by now, Mulder, that there is nothing in this
universe that cannot be explained by using scientific means? Granted, we
may not know how to find the evidence, or even the truth, but I would
bet my weight in gold that any answer that is ever going to be
discovered, is found under the glare of a microscope or through the
analysis of a scientific equation." Scully leaned back, satisfied with
her little lecture, and fully aware that it was completely lost on her
partner.
        
"I just love it when you talk dirty to me, Scully."
        
Dana Scully rolled her eyes and lobbed a pencil at her partner, hitting
him in the shoulder and almost knocking him off balance and out of his
chair as he tried to catch it.
        
"Careful there pal, she has a wicked arm"
        
Mulder and Scully looked up, startled. Standing in the doorway was a
young attractive woman in a Secret Service uniform. She was about
Scully's height with short black hair and penetrating brown eyes. She
stepped further into the room, and a look of recognition came across
Scully's face as she stood to greet their visitor.
        
"Jane" She muttered, completely surprised at the woman's presence in her
office. "Oh my god, Janie Whitlaw!" Scully declared
        
"In the flesh, Kate" The young woman replied, her arms wide.
        
Scully stepped over to her and gave her a warm hug. "I can't believe
it's you, I haven't seen you since...god has it been since college?"
Scully asked
        
"Yep, since that day you packed up and went to Med School" Jane replied
        
"Kate?" 
        
Scully turned to find Mulder standing behind his desk giving the two
women a puzzled look
        
"Did you just call her Kate?" Mulder asked his eyes glistening with
devilish curiosity.
        
Scully's face reddened and she cursed the fair skin that betrayed every
embarrassing moment
        
"Later, Mulder" Scully warned "I might explain it to you later."
        
Mulder walked around the desk and held out his hand "Fox Mulder" he
introduced "I'm-'Kate's'-Partner" Mulder glanced at Scully and read loud
and clear her drop-this-right-now stare.
        
"Nice to meet you, Fox" Jane said, shaking the offered hand
        
"No, it's just Mulder, call me Mulder"
        
"Okay, Mulder" Jane agreed. She turned back to Scully and got lost in
her eyes. Feeling the heat rise in her cheeks, Scully was the first to
look away.
        
"So, Janie, what·you're with the Secret Service?" Scully asked, pointing
to the chair she had just vacated as she leaned against the top of the
desk. Mulder stood beside his partner, not wanting to miss a word of
this promising conversation. He had long wondered about Scully's past,
she didn't talk a lot about it, and it seemed that the key to his
interest was wrapped in this pretty package now standing in his office.
        
"Yeah, can you fucking believe it?" Jane said raising her arms and then
letting them fall to her sides.  She took the seat that Scully offered
and looked at the two agents. "After I finished Law school, I decided
that I hated the thought of being a lawyer. I looked for a new career
and just kind of fell into this one." She looked down at her white,
black and gold uniform "Uniformed division, I know it's not as glamorous
as plainclothes, but I like it." she shrugged.
        
"How long have you been in DC?" Mulder asked
        
"I just moved here three months ago" The dark haired woman replied "I
had been working in California, and then got reassigned to the DC bureau
after I put in for a transfer. I had a few problems with my boss back in
LA and so instead of raising a stink, I decided to just make a graceful
exit." That wasn't entirely the truth, but Jane didn't feel the need for
full disclosure at this time.
        
"Well" Scully sighed "So, how did you find me?" She hoped her voice
didn't betray her true feelings at having been found by her former
friend, and former·well, she didn't want to think about that right now.
She wasn't sure how to interpret the feelings that were churning up
inside of her, and she knew if she allowed any of them to bubble to the
surface, Mulder would figure it out. And she definitely didn't want to
have that conversation, at least not yet.
        
"I've kind of kept up with your career, agent Scully" Jane answered. "In
fact, I've been reading articles about you on a regular basis." Jane
looked over at Mulder "And quite frankly, Fox, er, Mulder, you're kind
of a celebrity to me" The admiration in her eyes was evident
        
Mulder raised his eyebrows, intrigued "How so?" 
        
"Let's see" Counting her fingers " MUFON, NICAP, oh, and of course the
'Lone Gunman' Jane volunteered "Oh, and Kate, I saw you in a rather·"
She put her finger to her chin, trying to figure out the best way to
tease her friend. "·entertaining, alien autopsy video, It's nice to see
you're still into making films"
        
"Still?" Mulder asked as he leaned sideways to glance at his partner,
his interest even more piqued.
        
"Never mind" Scully snapped. She had to get Jane out of here, before she
shared all of her past secrets with Mulder.
        
"Would you have made anything I might have seen?" Mulder inquired
        
"That depends on what floats your boat, agent Mulder" Jane replied,
giving the handsome agent a wink
        
"Okay." Scully blurted, standing up and pushing Mulder through the door
"Why don't you go get the slides on wolf-boy now, and take your time?"
Scully ordered.
        
"But I thought·" Mulder started
        
"I don't care what you thought" Scully hissed, her hand on Mulder's
chest. "Get the pictures and try and convince me that angelic little boy
is a werewolf." 
        
With a devilish grin, "Scully, did I bring up a sensitive subject with
the film·?"  
        
Scully pushed him over the threshold and pulled the door shut before he
could finish the sentence. She turned back to her friend who was still
sitting in the chair Scully had offered about a hundred years ago.
        
"Gee, Dana, that was a little rude" Jane teasingly accused
        
Scully waited a few minutes before saying anything. She leaned against
the door, her arms folded, not sure where to begin or what to do with
the stunning woman sitting before her, all she knew was that she was
growing increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, after a deafening silence,
she spoke.
        
"Janie, don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to see you, but I'm not the
same person I was in college" She took a deep breath " And I don't
really care to have all of that dredged up." She thumbed towards the
door "Especially not in front of him."
        
Jane was thrown a little off guard, "Kate, what's happened to you?" 
        
"Please, don't call me Kate." Scully requested, pinching the bridge of
her nose and squeezing her eyes shut.
        
Jane was beginning to wonder what had happened to her friend's sense of
humor. She used to love being called Kate. "What's wrong, do you have a
headache?" She asked, standing up to offer the chair to Dana
        
"Actually, yes, yes I do." Scully replied and stepped over to lean
against the desk.
        
"I hope it wasn't brought on by me." Jane stated, her eyes wide as she
placed the palm of her hand over her chest.
        
"Well, let's see. I didn't have it until you stopped by, which, I still
don't know why you're here." Scully snapped more harshly than she had
intended.
        
Jane was hurt by her ex roommate's bluntness. This was definitely not
the Dana Scully she had once known. Sure, Dana had always been very
studious and scientific. She definitely had her moments of remoteness,
but she also knew how to let her hair down and have fun, too. It almost
seemed as though Dana were ashamed of her. 'That's it' Jane realized,
'she's ashamed of me·of us'. Suddenly Jane was disheartened. Here she
thought Scully would be glad to see her, but instead all she seemed to
be bringing the pensive redhead was discomfort and shame. Well, she'd
fix that right away.
        
"Look, Dana, it's pretty obvious that you don't want to see me, that
you'd prefer to just forget that 'we' ever even existed. So I will do
you a favor·" She stood up "·and disappear." She walked towards the door
and turned before opening it. "I had hoped that you would still feel
about me the way I never stopped feeling about you." Jane's throat
tightened and her eyes threatened to well up with tears. She didn't want
to show this weakness in front of Dana, so quickly turned on her heel
and opened the door just as Mulder was about to enter.
        
"Hey, Jane·" Mulder began, holding the requisitioned slides in his hand.
But the Secret Service officer was quickly walking down the hall, and
either didn't hear, or didn't care, that Mulder was calling after her. 
        
"What happened?" Mulder stepped into the room and found Scully slumped
against the desk. She was staring at her hands as they lay limply in her
lap. The look on his partner's face told him all he needed to know.
        
"Scully, are you okay?"
        
"I'm fine, Mulder" Scully said, but Jane's words were echoing in her
mind. She'd barely had time to process how she was feeling, Jane had not
given her a chance, how could she expect her to go running into her
arms? Scully had made it fairly clear the last time they saw each other
that she could not be in Jane's life the way Jane wanted her to be.
Still, she wasn't ashamed, she was·well·she was afraid. She was afraid
of the torrent of emotions that flooded her body the minute she
recognized Jane, the giddy excitement she felt when she'd heard her
nickname 'Kate', and the all too infrequent sexual excitement that
seeing Jane had produced. Scully had decided long ago to bury that part
of herself. She had been hurt by it once before, and she didn't want to
risk that kind of pain again. Still, there was no reason why she had to
be so hard on Jane. She could see her friends pained face as she'd
assumed that Scully was embarrassed by her presence·and their past. It
wasn't true, and Scully needed Jane to know that.
        
"I have to go" She declared as she leapt up from the desk, grabbing her
purse and straightening the black pantsuit she was wearing, she walked
towards the door. "I'll be back later, Mulder" She waved at the slide
projector he was setting up "Start without me." And she was gone; the
door closed shut behind her.
        
"What do you mean start without you? I've already seen these·" Mulder
said to the closed door, his hands raised up in bemusement over his
partner's swift exit. He shrugged his shoulders and reached into his
jacket pocket for a handful of sunflower seeds. "Might as well pass the
time till you get back..." He mumbled as he stepped over to the desk and
seated with his feet up, grabbed the remote control for the TV and VCR.
He popped a few sunflower seeds in his mouth and began sucking. His
newest video had arrived that morning, it was guaranteed to be even
better than its predecessor. The screen flicked on, Mulder linked his
hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, a curious grin on
his face as he tried to figure out what kind of film-making his partner
and her friend had dabbled in during their college days. It probably was
as far removed from what he was currently enjoying as it could get.
Never would the reserved and always in control Dr. Scully participate in
something as naughty as 'Alien Probe II'. It was probably some dull
drama class project on the politics of the feminist movement.  

End Chapter One