PLEASE NOTE, THAT THIS WAS RE-EDITED FOR THE WEBPAGE, By the Webpage Goddess....Diane Title: Something Left to Chance: Part 1 Author: Katelin B. Email: katelin_b@hotmail.com Discussion: absolutely! Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, Skinner, and the X-Files belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, Fox and various other important people. I own Dr. Christina Chance. She’s all mine. I created her, and this story outline. Please don’t steal her. It took me a long time to come up with this. Cross Posting: atxc, scullyfic Rating: NC-17 for f/f consensual sex, if that bothers you... don’t read it. If your not of legal age... don’t read it. Summary: During an odd arson case, Scully finds herself confused by the lack of clues, and her powerful attraction to another Doctor working the case... *** "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world..." Special Agent Dana Scully yawned, not for the first time, behind the wheel of her Ford Taurus, and realized that the blasting music coming through the car's speakers was only serving to annoy her, not wake her up as she had thought. Who the hell came up with those sort of lyrics anyway? Reaching out to turn down the window rattling volume, she cursed softly again at having been woken so early by her partner. Mulder had the annoying habit of calling her at the strangest hours of night to meet him in the weirdest places, convinced there was something that was about to be covered up. Of course they just HAD to get there before the evidence could be whisked away by some super secret organization. Even if that meant waking up at... Scully checked the digital clock on the dashboard. Three in the morning. Oh he would owe her big time for this one. Scully pulled her Taurus in to the parking lot of the Medical Examiner's office for the District of Columbia and ignored the signs that stated the spot was reserved for the Chief, Dr. Kalvin Saquetti. She smirked as she stepped out of the car and locked it, walking briskly toward the front door of the building. It was an unseen shot at the man she had grown to despise for his technique in autopsy, and his holier than thou attitude. The only bright point in her very early day so far. Scully ran a hand through her messy red locks, and tugged at her Quantico sweatshirt, wincing at how her sneakers squeaked on the tile floor of the lobby as she strode toward the labs, quickly flashing her badge at a clearly unimpressed security guard. If he was suspicious of her ragged appearance, and the patches in her jeans, he said nothing, merely waved a hand and went back to his infomercial and his crossword book. She stomped further and further down the hall, looking in one observation window after another, growing more and more angry at Mulder, until she reached the end of the hall, and the last lab, peering through the window and finding the object of her search. Disregarding the sign that informed access was restricted until the donning of protective scrubs, Scully shoved the doors open, and entered, glaring at Mulder when he looked up, surprised at the sudden noise. "This better be good," she barked. The autopsy doctor that was almost elbows deep in her work looked up and glared right back, pulling away from her subject, a burn victim that had lost his face for one reason or another. "Who the hell is this Mulder?" the woman snapped behind her mask, obviously enraged, her chocolate brown eyes radiating hostility at Scully, "And why the hell is she in MY lab?" Mulder snapped out of the frozen stance his partner's glare had put him in and stepped in before the two women could continue. "Scully, relax," he said calmly, holding up his hands defensively, "Glad you made it." He turned to the annoyed autopsy doctor, hands still up, "Chance, it's okay," he said, obviously trying to be a peace maker, "This is my partner, Dana Scully. I called her while you were suiting up." He was trying to explain, but it was clear that "Chance" didn't want to hear it. "Whatever," she snapped, turning back to the body on the steel table, "Just keep her out of my way." Scully was instantly irked, but kept any smart retort from slipping out, instead turning her hostility on her partner. "What the hell is going on Mulder?" she asked, crossing her arms and giving him another patented Scully-glare. She had to choke back a grin when he cringed visibly. "Take it easy, Scully," he said defensively, gesturing to the table, "This is the body that was recovered from that fire on the west-end this afternoon." "Yeah... So?" "His face is missing." Mulder looked as if that answered her question. "I repeat... So??" Scully heard "Chance" snicker softly at that, though a quick look confirmed she was still hunched over her subject. Mulder seemed not to hear the humor at his expense, and tried to explain. "It wasn't burned in the fire, Scully," he explained, "Chance has confirmed there was no charred skin mixed in with the burned muscles. It must have been removed before the fire started." "Uh hunh," Scully snorted, giving him a dirty look, "And this involves the X-Files how exactly?" "She's got you there, Mulder," the autopsy doctor broke in, finally looking up from her work. She stepped away from the blackened body and walked over to the big stainless steel sink, holding something in her hand. Scully watched "Chance" rinse something off in the sudden spray of water, and turned back to Mulder, waiting for his explanation. "Well?" she snapped, tossing another Scully-glare. "I've been looking at the old cases," he started, looking over at "Chance" so that he wouldn't have to face his partner's nasty expressions, "There is a case that dates back 30 years, involving 4 dead bodies where the face was removed during the crime." Scully remained silent for a few moments, and watched "Chance" strip of her gloves, tossing the little object she held between her hands. "Mulder..." Scully stopped and sighed softly, shaking her head. Then she turned on "Chance". "And you're helping him with this?" she asked incredulously. "Chance" held up her hand and tossed the object to Mulder. "Hey, don't look at me," she said, humor in her voice, "I just owed Mulder here a favor. His little suspicion about alien implants in the chest turned out to be a ricochet." She chuckled softly, turning to watch Mulder blink at the misshapen bullet she had just dug out of the corpse's charred heart. The room was taken over by silence for a few moments as Mulder studied the bullet, and the two women watched him, until "Chance" spoke again. "I'm going back to bed," she sighed, reaching up and pulling off her face mask, "We're even, Spooky." Scully almost gaped as the face mask was removed and the rest of the surgical scrubs were removed, revealing a woman who was every bit as beautiful and strong as her eyes. A sleeveless tee shirt revealed well toned arms that spoke silently of long hours spent in the gym, and jeans that looked as though they had been painted on, they were so tight. She couldn't have been more than a size six, and it sparked a twinge of jealousy in Scully. She was an eight, and this woman topped her 5'2 height by four or five inches. She looked like a gazelle; strong and graceful at the same time. Swallowing her pride of their original meeting, Scully walked over to the sink where "Chance" was starting to scrub her arms all the way to her elbows with surgical soap, totally ignoring Mulder, who was still staring intently at the bullet in his hand, as if willing it to change shape. "I don't think we got off to a good start earlier," she said politely, now intrigued with the woman before her, "I'm Dana." "Chance" looked up from what she was doing when Scully walked over, but her gaze immediately softened. "Yeah," she replied, rinsing off the lather and reaching for a towel, that Scully handed her, "Thanks. Sorry about that, I haven't had my coffee yet, so I guess I'm a little snappy." She smiled sardonically, and Scully nodded, totally understanding. "I'm Chris," she said, finally holding out a hand, which Scully grasped firmly. "Nice to meet you, Chris," Scully said with a half smile, noting the woman's strength and gentleness in the handshake, "Why does Mulder call you Chance?" Chris smiled. "Because it's my name," she replied, "Christina Chance. Doctor of Forensic Pathology. I'm with the Violent Crimes Unit. That's where I met Mulder a few years ago. I see he still calls everyone by their last name." Scully didn't let her surprise show that Mulder actually still had friends in the VC unit, and smiled. "He's never mentioned you," she said, turning to walk along side the brunette as they left Mulder behind in the lab, still staring at his ricochet. "Not surprised," Chris smirked, holding the glass door to the lobby open for the shorter woman, then following her through, "He never has forgiven me for stealing Denise Lebrawnski away from him." Scully gave Chance a startled look, not sure what to make of that statement, and wondering if she had meant it the way it sounded. Mulder had mentioned his old girlfriend to her a few times, but only said that it ended because the secretary was sleeping with another agent. Surely it couldn't be this woman. "You?" Scully said softly, listening to her sneakers squeak on the tiles of the lobby as they strode past the security guard again and out into the cool early morning air. Chance caught Scully's surprised look and chuckled. "Yes Dana," she answered, walking across the well lit parking lot to the redhead's Taurus, "I'm a lesbian." Scully stared down at the pavement for a moment, then looked up again and opened her mouth. "But how did you manage to stay with the department?" she asked, truly curious, the knowledge of Chance's lifestyle not nearly as surprising to her as the fact that she hadn't been booted out of the FBI. Chance snorted and stopped at the bumper of Scully's car, turning to look at her. "Not many know," she said with a shrug, "I don't broadcast. The agents in the department know as does my superior, but I get the job done better than most. So they overlook it." She paused for a moment, then snorted softly. "Shit, I don't know why I'm telling you this. I better be going." Chance turned to leave. "Watch out for him Dana. See you around." With that, Chance walked across the parking lot, toward her own Escort. Scully watched her go for a moment, then looked back at the door of the Medical Examiner's office when she heard it open. Mulder walked out and began approaching, but she didn't feel like talking with him, and quickly walked around, unlocking the door and getting in. The engine roared to life quickly and she backed out of the space, gunning the motor when she saw Mulder step even closer. She smirked when he stopped, and tossed the car into drive, squealing her tires as she flew out of the parking lot, hearing a second squeal as Chance's car followed her. Turning her music up again, Scully watched the lights of the car behind her turn left at an intersection, and she continued on home, eager to jump back into bed. Briefly she wondered how Mulder was going to get home, then dismissed it. He got there, he could get home. Scully continued on to her apartment with a satisfied smirk on her face. Two Weeks Later... "Morning, Scully," Mulder looked up from his desk as she walked into their basement office, trying to balance a paper cup full of Dunkin' Donuts coffee in one hand, her briefcase in the other, and attempting to close the door behind her with an elbow. "What?" he smiled, noticing the coffee, which was a rare occurrence these days, "No breakfast with Chance today?" "Thanks for the help, partner," she smirked, finally kicking the door shut with a high heeled shoe, and walking over to her desk, "And no. We don't have breakfast every morning, Mulder." Scully thought back over her statement, realizing with an internal grin, that she and Chris had indeed met every morning since they had bumped into each other one morning only three days after meeting that fateful night and decided on breakfast together. Conversation that had started on the topic of work that first shared meal, and slowly progressed to more personal aspects of their lives, including their childhoods, right up to their college years. "What are you doing here so early?" Scully asked, changing the subject quickly, "Or do I even want to know?" Mulder laughed and dropped the line of inquiry for the moment, pointing to the file he was reading. "There was another one of those fires in Virginia two days ago," he explained, still unwilling after two weeks to give up his current obsession, "This time in Richmond." Scully sighed. "Oh Mulder, not again," she groaned, dropping her briefcase on the table and sipping carefully at her steaming coffee, "I thought you were over that." She sat down carefully at her desk and placed her feet up on the desk, cradling her coffee like it was a lifesaving elixir. "That autopsy should have proven to you that this has nothing to do with unexplained phenomenon." "Rub it in why don't you, Scully," he said dismally, looking back down at the file on his desk, "I had to walk for fifteen minutes before I found a cab. I'm just getting over that cold I caught from being soaked to the skin. Why didn't you turn back when it started raining?" "Cause you deserved it for waking her up, Spooky." Scully looked up at the sound of the voice and smiled slightly, seeing the familiar form from that very night, and many meetings since, standing in the, now open, door. "Hi Chris," Scully said with a smile, watching the beautiful brunette agent step inside and close the door behind her. "Hiya, Dana," Chance grinned, and strode over, dropping gracefully into one of the plastic chairs in front of Mulder's desk and placing her Doc Martin's neatly on a stack of files at the corner of his desk, "Morning to you too, Mulder." "Hi, Chance," Mulder grumbled, reaching forward and lifting her feet long enough to move the files, then dropping them back down again. Scully noticed that she didn't seem phased by it in the least. "What brings you down to the dungeon?" he asked, looking back down at the file again. "Your chosen reading material actually," she said sweetly, taking a peek at the file, then leaning back in her chair, fingers laced behind her head, "All of a sudden, the Special Agent in Charge puts me in charge of the investigation of this new fire, which brings the total up to seven so far, by the way." Mulder looked up from the file, suddenly interested. "I've been authorized to bring in whoever I want," Chance continued, looking from Mulder over to Scully, "I'd like your help on it." "Does your SAC know you've come to us?" Scully asked, sipping at her coffee again. "He said get the job done however I can," Chance said, neatly evading the question, "And that's what I'm doing." Mulder cut in. "In other words, no," he said with a smirk, leaning forward, "That's why I like you Chance. We think on the same wave lengths." "Yeah," Scully sighed, putting her coffee down on her desk, "You both have no concept of authority." Chance laughed and quickly stood. "I'm heading out there now," she added, heading for the door, "You're both more than welcome to join me." She looked over at Scully and smiled. "I'd like your opinion on the victim as well, Dana," she added, then ducked out, leaving the door open behind her. Mulder wasted no time in slapping the file closed, and tucking it under his arm as he rose and hurried out the door, without another word to Scully. She watched him go and sighed softly, dropping her head into her hands. "Why me?" she groaned softly. "Cause you're special," a voice answered, and Scully's head darted up, eyes wide in shock, catching sight of Chase standing in the open door again, grinning sarcastically. Scully gave her a dirty look and shook her head. "Why do you do that?" she asked, rising from her chair, amused and annoyed at Chase's apparent need to startle people. "Because I can," Chase answered honestly with a shrug, and grinned again. Scully snorted and shook her head again, gathering up her things and heading for the door. Chance allowed her to pass, then fell into step behind her, closing the door gently and making sure it was locked." "Mind if I ask you a question?" Scully stated as they walked toward elevator that would take them down another level to the parking garage. "Go ahead," Chance said brightly, pressing the down button for the elevator and waiting patiently. "Why do you call him Spooky when you know he hates it?" Chance laughed softly and smiled. "Cause I'm the one who started calling him that, Dana," she answered quickly, then explained, "When he was with VC, his knack for profiling was so accurate it was just spooky. So I started calling him that. Then he started his alien abduction obsession, and it sort of migrated with the other agents. I stopped calling him Spooky when that started up, but he said he missed it." Chance fell silent and shrugged, looking up when the elevator chimed and the door slid open. The two women stepped inside and rode down to the parking garage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When they had met up with Mulder by the cars, Chance told them to meet her back there in two hours, giving them time to go home and get things packed. She had packing of her own to do, and had to call their boss, Skinner, to let him know where they were going. The ride to Richmond took a little over an hour at the warp speed that Chance liked to drive, and left Mulder nearly spastic with shock, and Scully grinning in exhilaration. Both women had to hold back the giggles when Mulder stepped shakily out of the back seat, looking down at the ground like he wanted to kiss it. "Have you ever thought of Nascar racing, Chance?" he asked, his voice tight and strained as he walked around the car, apparently looking for something. Chance and Scully couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing, but only for a moment before noticing Mulder's behavior. "What are you doing, Mulder?" Scully asked, still snickering lightly. "Looking for the wings," he shot back, then waited by the trunk for Chance to come over with the keys so he could retrieve his briefcase and overnight bag. The two women laughed again and Chance walked over, patting Mulder's shoulder lightly before opening the trunk. Scully thought she heard Chance mutter 'wus' but dismissed it, trying not to snicker again. "Let's get checked in," Chance stated, pulling her own overnight bags out of the trunk and heading for the door of the motel front office, "We can head over to the morgue after that." ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The day passed slowly for the two G-women. Mulder had gone off on his own to do some investigating on his wild theory, and left the two doctors to deal with the charred body found after the deadly fire. The body had been burned so badly it was reduced to bone in some places, mere ash in others. The unidentified male had little or no flesh left on his lower extremities, and his arms were missing completely. Chance and Scully were washing up after a extremely long exam, both hungry, and tired beyond belief. It took unbelievable amounts of energy to remained hunched over a corpse for hours at a time. And still they had nothing to show for it. The body had been so terribly damaged that an official cause of death couldn't be found. Both had their theories about a certain nick on one of the remaining ribs, but no bullet was present. Not surprising, seeing as how the body was a nearly empty cavity, the flesh of the back, completely burned away, along with several vertebrae. Nothing more than ash now in the waterlogged ruins of the house. "Ugh," Chance groaned, wiping her hands off on a towel and tossing it to Scully, "I've never been bent over a table that long in my life." She shook her head and chuckled. "Tell me about it," Scully agreed, stretching her back out, and wincing at the cracking sounds, "I'm going to be hunched over like my grandmother for days." Both chuckled weakly at that. "Well this is a first for me," Chance joked, stretching a bit herself, then tugging her street shoes back on, "I've seen some strange things, but never, ever have I failed to find a cause of death beyond 'partial cremation'." Scully laughed a little stronger at that, and pulled her trench coat over her shoulders in a Herculean feat. "How about some dinner?" Chance added, pulling on her own coat. At that moment, Scully's stomach growled deeply, making them both look down. "Um... I guess that was a yes," Chance cracked with a smirk and Scully shook her head, "After you, my lady." Chance held the door open for a snickering Scully and they finally left the morgue, neither surprised at the lack of a secretary at the front desk, considering the time. Chance and Scully just placed their visitor badges on the desk for the security guard to see when he returned from his rounds, and left quickly, both breathing in the fresh air, a welcome change after the stale, disinfectant smelling rooms inside. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ TBC....