House of Cards - Chapter 18
By Jennifer T. Brooks
E-Mail: Jenntou@excite.com
*******************************************************
"Perhaps it's true that things can change in a day.  That a few
dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes.  And that
when they do, those few dozen hours, like the salvaged remains of
a burned house-the charred clock, the singed photograph, the
scorched furniture-must be resurected from the ruins and
examined.  Preserved.  Accounted for."
          Arundhati Roy "The God Of Small Things"

*******************************************************
En Route to Walter Skinner's Residence
Washington, DC
Saturday, September 11, 1999
3:00 am 


"Mulder, it's Skinner," Walter Skinner said into the phone.
  
"Sir, it's 3 am.  Can't this wait?" Fox Mulder said as he slowly sat
up in bed.
  
"No, I have Dana with me right now and we are headed over to
my house to spend the night.  I need you to grab a bag with your
own clothes and a bag of her stuff and bring it over here.  I need
you here now. "
  
"May I ask why we're having a slumber party at your house, Sir?"
Fox Mulder said trying to lighten the mood on the phone.
  
"Because Dana is drunk and high?"
  
"High?"
  
"Don't act ignorant of her little habit, Agent Mulder.  She
informed me that you are well aware of it." He was livid at this
disclosure.  This could cost both of them their jobs.  As a director
at the FBI he was obligated to report problems that agents were
having if it could and did affect their work.  He could get into a lot
of trouble if anyone found out that he was called to pick Dana
Scully up at a bar to take her home.  How could she have been so
careless?
  
"Shit" Oops, he was in big trouble.  He wondered what the  hell he
had done to make Scully disclose this little habit of hers to their
boss.
  
"Shit is right."
  
"Sounds like you have everything under control.  Why do you
need me to stay there.  Can't I just bring by her bag of things?" The
last place that he wanted to go at that moment was over to the
AD's house to babysit Scully.  Who the hell called Skinner to
come and get her?  He thought that he had made it perfectly clear
to the bartender John, that he was to call Diana or himself.  They
both were in deep shit.
  
"No.  Dana is very intoxicated and quite horny right now."
  
"I'm sorry Sir, this connection must be bad.  It sounded like you
just said that Scully was horny."
  
"I did."
  
"Oops.  What was she doing, dancing on the tabletops?" As his
mind replayed an image of her doing the very same thing a month
ago.
  
"No, worse.  She's trying to talk me into engaging in sexual
intercourse with her."
  
"She what?" This had to be really bad for Skinner to call him in the
middle of the night saying that Scully wanted to have sex with
him.  That was so out of character for her, not that he knew what
was in character or what could be expected of her right now. "I'll
be there in a half hour sir." Fox Mulder got out of his bed and
began to dress.

"Where are you going, Fox?" Natasha asked.

"I have to go over to Walter Skinners house."

"What does he want? Why do you have to go in the middle of the
night?"

"It is just agency business," he said trying to reassure his wife.  He
wondered if he had even mentioned Scully's name on the phone.

"Bullshit.  This is once again about Dana Scully.  God, I'm
beginning to hate that woman.  She can take care of herself Fox. 
You can't always be there for her.  Let someone else watch over
and take care of her.  You have been more than a good friend to
her, Fox.  But, we need you here now."

"I know, Natasha.  You know that I love you and our unborn baby
more than anything in the world, but I need, no I have, to do this. 
Please, don't make this harder than it has to be.  Scully needs me
right now.  Skinner wouldn't have called me if things weren't
really bad." Fox had not disclosed to his wife Dana Scully's
problems.  The extent of what she knew what that Dana was 
going through a really rough time finding out that the man who
raised her wasn't her biological father.  Mulder thought that the
fewer people who knew her true paternity, the better.  He was
unaware that Natasha already knew all about Dana Scully's
paternity all the way down to the DNA tests.

"Don't do this to us, Fox," She pleaded with him as he left the
bedroom and closed the door behind him.
**********************************************

Thirty minutes later Walter Skinner heard a knock on his door. 
He assumed and was hoping that it would be Fox Mulder and was
not disappointed when it was. 

"Thank you for coming over on such short notice Agent Mulder.  I
really didn't know who else to call."  He wasn't comfortable in
having to call Fox Mulder, but he didn't know what else to do.  If
it ever got out that he took a subordinate to his home, no matter
what the circumstances are, he would be in big trouble.

"How about her mother?" Mulder suggested.

"You know that Maggie Scully is the last person that I want to
talk to right now and I could probably say the same for Dana."

"I suppose that's true.  Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what the
hell happened tonight?  You said something about her wanting to
have sex with you?"

"God," Skinner said as he rubbed his temples slowly, "Please do
not remind me of that.  I got a call around 1 am from some man
who identified himself as the bartender, to come and  pick up one
Dana Scully.  The bartender said that she was quite inebriated and
in no condition to drive.  Other than that, I don't know anything. 
How he knew to call me, I have no idea.  He knew who she was
and where she worked and somehow knew that I was her
supervisor.  Maybe she's a regular there?  Maybe one of the
smoking man's friends was following her?  I don't know!  All I
know is that I got the call and went to get her."

"That doesn't sound like Scully at all, sir."

"Agent Mulder,"Walter Skinner began before he was interrupted.

"Please just call me Mulder, sir."

"Alright, Mulder, can you honestly say that anything she has
done since you got back from Antarctica has surprised you?"

"Yes, this isn't like her."

He couldn't believe that Fox Mulder was stating that this behavior
was out of character for Dana Scully. 

"Mulder, think back over the past year.  When you two got back
even I began to notice subtle changes in her.  Her attitude was
somehow different.  Sure, she  gave off the same professional aura
as usual, but you could tell that she wasn't the same person."

"Sir, after what we went through how could we have not changed. 
I think that she has grown stronger because of the experience. 
Maybe she's a hell of a lot more trusting than before, but that's
not a character deficit.  I think I admire her more now, I think that
she's a stronger person now, for rising above all the shit that she
has been dealt with."

"Mulder, for someone so intelligent, you are sometimes the most
dense person that I have ever known.  Sure Dana closed herself
off more when you came back!  What I'm talking about is the
eating disorder that she developed.  Her addiction to exercise.  Her
mood swings.  Her denial.  She's different, and not a good
different either.  Why the hell am I even telling you this in the first
place?" He knew that he had no business discussing confidential
information in Dana Scully's file and that he would be
reprimanded if Dana ever found out and told OPR or if anyone
else found out.  He was tired though, it was four am, he just
wanted to go to bed.  He didn't want to have to deal with this.

"Scully doesn't have an eating disorder.  Okay so she's a little
thin, but after the cancer scare, and who knows what else they
have done to her body and metabolism, it is natural that she
should be thinner now."

"Mulder, I saw her medical charts.  I have read the psychological
evaluations done on her. Whether or not you want to believe it,
your partner suffers from some eating disorder.  Perhaps
anorexia."

"Bullshit.  If she was I would know.  She would have told me."

"Listen to yourself Mulder.  You are a trained psychologist, in
your studies I'm sure that you have come across many cases of
eating disorders.  In any of them did the victim ever come out and
openly admit of their disorder?"

"Well no, but Scully would have told me something like
that."

"No,  she wouldn't  have.  You and I both know it.  Mulder, Dana
is really sick.  There's a lot of stuff she isn't dealing with now for
whatever reasons.  You seem to be the only one that she will talk
to.  You have got to take her off the pedestal that you have her on
and make her face her problems."

"I don't have her on a pedestal,"Mulder said adamantly.

"You do to.  You refuse to see her faults. To you she's perfect. 
She's far from perfect Mulder. She sees a psychiatrist three times
a week, sees Karen Kosoff once a week, and is obviously still
suffering from some type of eating disorder.  Not to mention the
fact that she's in denial over my being her father and her
excessive drinking and recreational drug use."  Oops now he was
going to be in even more trouble if Fox Mulder ever disclosed to
Dana Scully that her supervisor told him about the psychiatric help
she was receiving.

"Okay, I get the picture.  I'll talk to her.  Where is she?"

"She's sleeping in my bed."

"In your bed?  Do you really think that's a good idea?" He
couldn't believe that Walter Skinner would have been so stupid to
have let Scully get into his bed.  Did this man want to be fired?


"Where else was I going to put her?  On the couch?  In the
bathtub?"

"Don't you have a spare room?"

"I converted it into an office."

"The couch would have worked, Skinner.  Well I guess I had better
go find her.  You weren't planning on sleeping in the same bed
with her tonight, were you?" 

"Of course not.  I'm not that perverted."

"Just checking."  Fox Mulder got up off the couch and walked
into Skinners bedroom where he found Dana Scully passed out and
barely dressed.

"Skinner.  Did you take off her clothes?" Mulder yelled to him in
the other room not even thinking about the fact that he might
wake her up. 

"Yeah.  I started to undress her to put her into something more
comfortable but she started moaning and grabbing me so I quickly
stopped and left her there," Skinner replied as he entered the
bedroom.  He felt that he needed to explain his actions or Mulder
might get the wrong idea.  He wanted to make it perfectly clear
that Dana Scully was the sick demented one, not him.  She was the
one that initiated the whole mess, not him.  Fox Mulder needed to
understand that.

"God, this is a mess and you aren't helping her at all Skinner."

"What do you mean?"

"Grown men don't undress their grown daughters and put them
to bed.  That borders on incest."

"I'm sorry.  I'm still having trouble seeing her as my daughter. 
To me she's just another woman who I would have probably taken
home and made love to if not for the family connection."

"That's really sick.  You didn't just need to tell me that.  I'm
going to try my hardest to forget those words just came out of your
mouth. She's your daughter for god sakes. That means off
limits.  No more lewd thoughts about her.  She doesn't need to
be encouraged." 

"I know Mulder.  I don't need to be reminded of the family
connection.  As much as I would like to forget about this whole
mess, I can't.   But it isn't easy when she has her hand on my
cock rubbing up and down." Walter Skinner could not believe that
he just told Fox Mulder that.  He wanted Mulder to know how
depraved his precious Scully had become.  When did Scully
become the innocent little girl in this mess?  Why was Fox Mulder
assuming that he was the big bad father who lusted after his
daughter? 

"She did what?  Exactly what have you and Dana done?"

"Nothing. Nothing!.  I swear I haven't touched her tonight.  She
tried to kiss me and fondle me, but that's the extent of it.  I swear
that I didn't lay a hand on her." He was going to make it perfectly
clear to Mulder that Scully was the instigator.

"Why the hell is she acting like this? She has done some strange
things over the past year but even this isn't normal behavior for
her.  Let me clean her up and keep her safe in here
tonight.  I'll talk to you about this tomorrow."

"Thanks for coming over Mulder.  I didn't know who else to call."

*******************************************

Walter Skinner's Residence
Sunday, September 12, 1999
4:30 am

Walter awoke to the sounds of someone wretching in his
bathroom.  He assumed the person to be Scully as he tried to
block out the sounds.  Sometime later he heard Mulder go in there
and bring her back to the bedroom.  He wondered if she had put a
little more clothing on then when he had last seen her. 

He hated this whole mess that they were in.  He thought that he
and Dana had a good relationship before it was ruined by Maggie
Scully and her lies of omission.  He knew why Dana was acting
this way but he was incapable of helping her right now.  He
supposed he ought to be as messed up as she was right now, but he
needed to be the strong one this time.

Above all he had his reputation to protect.

**********************************************************
Walter Skinner's residence
Sunday, September 12, 1999
7:00 am 

Dana Scully woke with a start.  Someone was laying partially on
her.  She wondered who it was.  She vaguely remembered that she
was in a bar and that someone took her home.

 <Great.  I probably had sex with a stranger.>

<Who did I go home with.  Do I dare open my eyes and look
around the room?>

Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around the room. 

<This is Walter's bedroom.  Shit.  Did I sleep with him last
night?>

She felt someone stirring behind her.  

<He's waking up.  What the hell am I going to say to him?>

The persons arms went around her waist to pull her closer to
them.  She could feel the early morning erection pressing against
her thigh.  She started pressing her ass back against them.  She had
the over whelming urge to fuck this morning.  The person
responded eagerly against her.  She felt her bra being lowered and
her breasts freed from her bra.  The early morning air was chilly
and she felt her nipples hardening instantly.  She arched into his
hands and moaned his name,  "Walter, oh God, fuck me please.  I
knew that you couldn't stay away.  Three years has been to
long.  Ooh, you feel so good."

She then felt the person behind her push her away, "What the fuck
is wrong with you Scully.  It's me Mulder."

<Mulder.  Oh shit.  Mulder.  Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  How the hell am I
going to get out of this one>

"Scully look at me."  Mulder said while pulling her body over to
face him.  He could not help but notice the arousal in her eyes and
the flush of her cheeks. <She really thought that I was Skinner
and that she was going to get laid.>

"What,"  She said while calmly looking at him through hooded
eyes, "Don't you want to fuck me."

"Oh course, but not when you think I'm Skinner.  He's  your
father in case you forgot. You know, you are some really sick fuck
if you think that wanting to fuck daddy dearest is normal."

"Mulder.   I do NOT  need this shit.  I'm going home." She got up
off the bed not even caring that all she was wearing was her
underwear.  She walked into the living room where Walter
Skinner was sitting on his couch watching the morning news.  He
stared at her, his mouth open, as Mulder ran behind her trying to
put a sheet over her nakedness.  

"Stop staring Walter.  It's nothing you haven't seen before. 
Where is my coat?  I want to go home now," She said as she
frantically looked around the room.

"No," Fox Mulder said to Dana Scully as he grabbed her arm "You
aren't leaving here until we settle some things.  Sit over there in
that chair and for god sakes cover yourself up," Mulder said to her
angrily.  When he had started fondling Scully that morning he had
thought that he had been doing it only in his dream.  The dream
came to an abrupt end when she rudely called out Walter's name
and woke him up.  He was confused over what she had said and
why she had said it.  He wanted to straighten things out, he wanted
to know what she had meant.

"Mulder.  If she wants to go, let her,"  Walter Skinner said while
staring at the walls, not wanting to look at her. 

"No, Skinner, you need to know what happened in the bedroom."

"Listen, if the two of you had sex, that's fine with me.  I just do
not want to hear about it." He said hoping that was what Fox
Mulder was alluding to, but knowing that it probably wasn't.

"She wanted to make love, but.."

"Shut up, JUST SHUT UP,"  Dana Scully screamed and
interrupted him. "Stop treating me like I'm not sitting here or that
I'm a child.  I make my own decisions and I'm going home.  If
you two want to talk about me like I'm not here, fine.  Do it when
I'm gone."

"Some decisions you make, Scully," He seethed, "You thought that
Skinner was trying to fuck you back in the bedroom."

"Shut up Mulder," Scully warned him.

"No.  We are going to have this out right here, right now."

"Goddamn you Mulder.  Don't do this." He was her friend, wasn't
he?  Why was he doing this to her?  She still had some alcohol in
her system, but she wasn't drunk enough to not know what was
going on.  Mulder was going to double cross her.

"Don't do what?  Make you wake up and realize whatever sexual
fantasies you have about Skinner are wrong.  He's your fucking
father." He was mad at her.  It was supposed to be him that she
wanted, him that she had sexual fantasies about, not Skinner.  At
that moment he hated them both.  This wasn't supposed to be
happening.  Scully was supposed to pine after him for the rest of
her life and Skinner was supposed to go on with his.  Never in his
wildest dreams did he imagine that Dana Scully was sexually
attracted to their former boss.  Why the hell hadn't he picked up on
that before? 

"Mulder please, don't do this." Scully sat down on the floor in
front of the door and started crying.  She was worn down, she
couldn't do this anymore.  She knew that she did stupid things
when she was drunk and she was terrified as to what she might
have said or done last night to make both of them so mad at her. 
They hated her, she could see it in their eyes.. 

"Mulder, she's right.  Leave this alone," Skinner making an
attempt to bring order into this chaos that was spinning violently
out of control.

"Are you both out of your mind.  This isn't fucking normal.  I
find myself waking up making love to a beautiful woman and she
calls out her father's name."  His fantasy would have come true if
not for Skinner.

"Please," Scully whispered while crying.

Walter Skinner looked over at Dana Scully.  She seemed so
small and fragile wrapped in the king size sheet sobbing.  "Don't
do this to her Mulder."

"To her sir?  What about to you?  You let her touch you.  I bet you
probably didn't eagerly push her way.  You brought her back to
your apartment.  You probably only called me when you actually
contemplated fucking her.  Am I right sir?"

"Mulder, that was so out of line.  You have no right to talk to me
this way."

"What are you going to do Skinner?  Reprimand me?  I don't think
so.  I wonder how OPR would take the news that I found a half
naked, very drunk subordinate of yours, who coincidentally 
happens to be your daughter, in your bed wanting to fuck." Mulder
threatened Skinner.

"Shut up Mulder.  Stop it," Scully said while standing up suddenly.

"What are you going to do Scully?  Huh? What are you going to
do?  I don't think the OPR would be too happy to hear about the
formerly perfect Agent Dana Scully's behavior either."

"Are you threatening me Mulder?"

"Call it whatever you want, but do know that I will turn both of
you in if need be.  I want to know what the hell is going on.  I'm
tired of the secret looks you give each other, the meetings behind
closed doors, the discussions that no one else is privy to.  That
stops here and now.  I will go to the OPR if one of you doesn't tell
me what the hell is going on?" It came out nastier than Mulder
intended, but if it got one of them to talk, what the hell.

He didn't get an answer from either of them.  They looked at each
other and then at him.  So they were going to give him the silent
treatment.  He would just have to try a different tactic to get them
to talk. "Don't you realize that sleeping together is morally and
ethically wrong?"

"Of course, Mulder," Walter Skinner replied.

"You may realize that, but Dana, for whatever sick reason, doesn't
seem to care."

Scully looked up at him with hatred in his eyes.

"He isn't my father."

"Quit floating down the river denial Scully.  DNA tests proved
without a doubt that Walter Skinner and not William Scully is
your father."

"No shit, Sherlock. But, he isn't my father in my heart."

"And so, what, if you don't feel like he is your father than he's 
not?"

"No.  It's not like that."

"Then please try to tell me how it is. I'm really trying to
understand you, to understand this Scully.  But I'm having a hard
time." He truly wanted to know why she was acting like this.  The
phrase was true, things could change in a day, and they had.  His
image of Dana Scully had been destroyed and in her place was a
very fallible broken woman.

"You can't understand this Mulder.  We aren't lovers.  You can't
know."

"You lost me there.  What can't I understand?  I don't have to be
your lover to know that this is wrong.  The two of you can't ever
have a sexual relationship." He noticed that Walter Skinner hadn't
said much. "You are awfully quiet over there Skinner.  Cat got
your tongue?"

"This doesn't concern me."

"The hell it doesn't!  How can you not be concerned that your
daughter wants to hop into bed with you.  Doesn't that concern
you at all?"  He didn't know why, but at that moment but he could
not get over the fact that Scully wanted to make love to Skinner
and not him.  

"Oh course I'm concerned.  But there's nothing I can do about
this. About the past, about these feelings." He supposed on some
level he wanted Mulder to know everything.  He didn't want to
carry this secret alone.  He wanted it out in the open, so it could be
dealt with and they could move on with their lives.  

"Feelings?  Please tell me that besides some sick curiosity or
fantasy you might have about her, you aren't really aren't
contemplating a relationship with her."

"No, of course not."

"Well, Scully sure seems to be. Legally if I knew that if the two of
you ever touched each other in a sexual manner I would have
report it.  There are laws in place against this kind of thing for a
reason."

"Well,  then you had better arrest me now," Walter joked.  He was
tired of Fox Mulder running the show.

"Walter, shut up,"  Dana screamed at him "You are making things
worse.  Just let him say what he wants and then he'll leave."

"Why should I arrest you Walter? You didn't touch her last night,
did you?"

"Well, no."

"Have you ever touched her?"

"Stop it Mulder.  Please, I'm begging you to stop.  Leave this
alone.  This doesn't concern you.  Go home to your little wife. 
You have played the concerned ex-partner long enough."

"What the hell are you two hiding?" They probably kissed each
other and didn't want him to know, he reasoned.

"Mulder, if you care at all about me then you will leave this alone
and go home."

"No, I'm onto something.  I know it. There's something wrong
here.  Something is going on that both of you are hiding and scared
to death that I will find out about.  What did you kiss her and like
it, Walter," He joked.

"Mulder.  Stop it,"  Scully said pulling on his arm trying to usher
him to the front door. 

"No.  Not until I get to the bottom on this," He said as he shook his
arm out of her deathlike grip.

"What the hell do you want, Mulder? Do you want the truth? Do
you want to see me broken and humiliated Mulder.  Is this
some kind of sick sexual fantasy of yours?  Are you getting off on
this Mulder.  Is this making you all hard."

"What the hell is wrong with you Scully?" He seethed at her.  Her
behavior was troubling him. She wasn't the strong Scully that he
was in love with, she was a pathetic whiny woman.

"What is wrong with me is that in the course of 10 minutes you
have managed to ruin our relationship.  You think that you can
handle the truth? You want to know what's going on?  Fine, I'll tell
you." 

"Dana, don't," Walter said trying to stop her.

"No, he wants to know, lets just get it out in the open. He thinks
that with his superior intellect and charming ways that he can
fucking fix the world.  Well try to fix this Fox Mulder.  I have
fucked my father hundreds of time.  He knows my body like no
other.  He managed to bring me to orgasm with his mouth more
times than I can count. Are you satisfied now?" She was out for
blood.  She was going to hurt him, he was going to feel her rage.

"Stop it Dana,"  Walter said to her as he lowered his head in
shame. 

For once in his life Fox Mulder was speechless.  He just looked
back and forth between the two of them.  This wasn't what he
expected.

"Shit, this wasn't what I expected," Fox Mulder said as he sat
down on the couch speechless. He felt guilty for his behavior.   It
really was none of his business that they had had a past sexual
relationship that they didn't want anyone to find out about it.

"What did you expect Mulder?  That Walter and I were only
playing kissing games? Well you asked for the truth and you got it. 
I can see that you aren't man enough to handle the truth." Fox
Mulder could tell that Dana Scully was mad.  He wanted to diffuse
some of that anger. He was genuinely sorry that he had forced
these two people to reveal something of this magnitude to him,
something that was obviously none of his business.

"How long ago were you two involved?" He asked really wanting
to know..

"Does that even matter anymore? Do you want to know so that you
can write it down in your little book and take it before the OPR?
So you can check and recheck to make sure that we didn't break
any protocol?"

"No, I'm just curious." He really did want to know to see if she
had been dating Skinner while they were partnered.  He was
beginning to think that he really didn't know Dana Scully that well
at all.

"Don't worry, I didn't date my superior Mulder. And beyond that,
it's none of your damn business.  You wanted to know what we
were hiding, now you know.  Go make your little report to the
OPR about us.  Go ruin our careers.  Do what ever the hell you
want with the information. JUST STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY
WAY AND OUT OF MY LIFE," She screamed at him.  He could
see her mind working, see her walls starting to form again.  She
had let them down long enough for him to see her private turmoil
and rage, but like most of the emotions she felt, they were never
meant to be seen.  As her self protection mechanisms went into
over drive, slowly the walls were reconstructed.  The old strong
invincible Scully was back.

He slowly approached her and placed his hand gently on her arm.

"Do NOT touch me," She seethed through clenched teeth as she
jerked her hand away. 

"Scully, I'm sorry.  I had no idea."

"It's a little too late for that Agent Mulder."

"Please don't hate me, Scully.  I'm sorry." He couldn't lose her as
a friend, he couldn't.

"I warned you Mulder.  I gave you fair notice what would happen
if you continued on your little inquiry.  Yet, in your search to know
the truth about all things you systematically destroyed our
friendship."

"Scully, I didn't know.  I didn't think it would be this."

"That's your problem, you never think."

"I want to help you Scully, I really do."

"That's very touching, but I neither want nor need your help.
Haven't you done enough damage for one day?  I told you it's over
and I mean it," She said coldly as she looked him in the eye. She
then looked around the room for Walter Skinner.

"Skinner where are my things?  Where is my car?" 

"Your coat should be in the hall closet and the rest of your
clothing should be on top of the dresser.  I don't know where your
car is.  Probably in the same place that you parked it last night."

"Shit, my purse is in the trunk.  Skinner can I borrow $30 
for a cab?"

"I'll drive you back to your place, Scully.  You don't have to take a
cab," Mulder said.

"Yes I do,"  She said coldly as she went into the back bedroom
and shut the door.  Walter and Fox were left to stare at each other
in a moment of uncomfortable silence.  

Five minutes later Dana emerged dressed and headed for the door,
"I called a cab from the bedroom.  I'm going to wait for it
downstairs." She quickly left his apartment before either one of
them could stop her.

Mulder and Skinner were left staring at each other.  

<I hate moments like this.  What the hell am I supposed to say to
the guy?   I'm sorry that you have fallen in love with your
daughter and can no longer sleep with and lust after her?'> Mulder
thought to himself.

"Um Sir, I really don't know what to say to you right now.  I'm in
shock, I think."

"There really isn't anything you can say regarding this situation."

"When did you date her?"





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"We dated for a little over a year when she first got out of the
academy.  She had just broken up with Jack Willis."

"So the last time you slept together was 4 or 5 years ago."

"Something like that."


"Sir, how could you sleep with her in the first place?" Mulder
asked angrily. 

"I didn't know that she was my daughter at the time.  How sick do
you think I'm?"

"You may not have known that she was your daughter at the time,
but you knew that she was a subordinate."

"I started seeing her right before she was assigned to the X-Files
with you.  She wasn't under my command at the time."

"But if you dated her for a year, surely during some of that time
you were her superior."

"Only for a few months.  It was part of the reason why the
relationship was ended."

"Who ended the relationship?"

"Is that really important Mulder?"

"Yes, it is."

"I ended the relationship.  I really don't want to talk about this
anymore. I don't mean to be rude, but all this talk coupled with
almost no sleep has given me a headache."

"Sure no problem.  I'm sorry about this, sir.  I didn't mean to
threaten you or your job."

"A word of advice, Agent Mulder. Before you go on making
threats you had better be damn sure you know what you are getting
yourself into.  I could have your ass in front of the OPR Monday
morning over this little stunt that you pulled."

"I'm sure that you could, sir."

"I'm not though, because this is something I don't want out in the
open. I don't think I need to remind you of the extreme need for
utter discretion in this matter.  The repercussions to both our
careers if this ever got out are astronomical."

"I know sir.  I won't mention it to anyone."

"Thank you Mulder, for coming to get her."

"Lot of good that did.  Who knows where the hell she is now."

"Just find her and be there for her.  She really needs a friend right
now."

Things were the way that former Marine Walter S. Skinner wanted
them, nice, neat and orderly, though he was the only one who
could see it at the time..  

End of Chapter 18