#leyla harrison

Just, as he would learn in the next two minutes, a little, well, hell, a shitload more, enthusiastic.

Scully had begun arguing with him within the first two minutes.

Agent Harrison gushed about the X-Files and all their virtues and beauty for the first five minutes before he finally cut her off, “hi. You must be Agent Harrison. I didn’t expect you here quite so quickly. Would you like to sit down?”

Oh, God, as soon as the words left his mouth, he cringed. He offered her a chair. A place to settle in, talk until she used all the air in the room, suffocated him with words of undying devotion.

He let her ramble a few more minutes before pulling her back in again, “I’m sorry, Agent Harrison, would you like a cup of tea, coffee?”

Giving her something to hold did the trick, her hands occupied, her mouth slowing until he could process the words and sentences rolling towards him, “yes, thank you, Agent Mulder, coffee, please. I’m sorry.” Looking down at the cup he handed her moments later, “I have a tendency to blather, a lot, when I meet people I admire.”

And with that, she held her tongue.

Good lord, he actually liked her.

He really’d been hoping he wouldn’t.

But he did.

At least for now.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

She left an hour and a half later and the first thing Mulder did was shut the door and call Scully, “what did you do to me?”

And feeling just a little bit saucy and a wee bit riled up, “nothing today but I have plans for you that’ll make your eyes roll back in your head.”

His mouth went dry for the slightest second then, grinning, “tell me more.”

Watching her son finish his bottle, she stood and headed into the kitchen, “I will once you get home but for right now, what did I do to you that I don’t know I did to you?”

“You sent me a woman who is enthusiastic, doesn’t shut up, adores everything about anything weird, supernatural, or out there, and thinks that both you and I are the shit.”

“Sorry. I’ll keep combing the files. There has to be somebody out there who hates you with every fiber of their being. I’ll find them. Don’t worry.”

“Sarcasm is your thing, Scully, let me tell you.” Sitting back in his chair, looking up at the sparse pencils still stuck in his ceiling, he made a mental note to add more in the future, “I will say though, once I began sifting through her babble, I found some good theories, ideas, directions I might not have taken.”

“Did you show her some cases?”

“Yeah. She did pretty well given she’s only every really worked in accounting. She’ll need a lot of handholding in the field but I’m seriously considering trying her out.” Because she was Scully and he was Mulder, he answered her before she could even ask, “but she doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

Seriously, she had to get these hormones under control, “I was going to ask if she believed in Big Blue.”

“Uh-huh. Sure you were. So, you want to hear about her?”

“No. It’ll be more fun with a live re-enactment.”

Not wanting to let her go just yet, “then tell me what you’re doing with that kid of ours.”

“We got up late so he just finished his bottle and I’m about to eat,” having warmed frozen pancakes and rolled them around some science-oven sausages, “dirty things for breakfast.”

“Sausages in sweaters! Without me? How dare you.”

She liked to make him smile.

&&&&&&&&&

John Doggett, on the other hand, called back and set up a time to meet, the next day, 1:30 in the afternoon.

He arrived 3 minutes, 10 seconds early and stepped off the elevator with about as much trepidation as a seasoned police officer could muster surrounded by copy paper, handcarts, and the prospect of working with Fox Mulder. Namely, he figured he’d get to see what all the fuss was about surrounding the X-files and what he hoped would be a decent cup of coffee. He’d been searching out re-assignment to the DC area, looking for a change of scenery, a change of boss, a change of his life in general …

And why not do the interview? It would be a temporary assignment, get him used to the city, allow him to meet other agents, see if the Hoover Building tickled his fancy.

Then he registered the yelling.

But it wasn’t angry yelling …

It was a good old-fashioned shouting match argument like the ones he used to have with his guys back before the Bureau.

Eyebrow raising slightly then dropping back in place, he listened to mention of bats, invisible snakes, bite marks, and some science-y jargon he could neither spell nor repeat even with gun to head. Wondering if he should just get the hell out now, the voices suddenly stopped, then the door opened further, “ahhh, see, I told you I thought I heard the elevator.”

John Doggett was confronted with a cautiously friendly Scully smile as she stepped slightly aside, “come on in … welcome to the basement.” Holding out her hand once he was inside, “I’m Agent Dana Scully and my partner there is Fox Mulder. If you heard mention of giant vampire bats, don’t hold it against him, the bite marks are remarkable similar.”

Mulder moved to shake his hand yet directed his words at Scully, “so you admit vampire bats exist, just not giant ones?”

Leaning over the car seat stationed safely dead center of a cluttered desk, she made sure their arguing hadn’t woken Will, “I never said they didn’t, Mulder. Common, hairy-legged, and white winged are well document in their species and while I don’t subscribe to there being ones with six-foot wingspans and the ability to drain a person of their entire blood supply, their faces have a slight resemblance to pigs and that amuses me enough to allow you to ramble on without me killing you with a stapler.”

Glancing sidelong at a silent Doggett, “he’s still here.”

“That’s a good sign.” Finally turning her attention to the new guy, “would you like a cup of coffee?”

&&&&&&&&&

They talked to him for over an hour, drilling him about cases, opinions, past alliances, and why he drank his coffee black. Mulder analyzed every little quirking finger twitch, non-invasive nose scratch, and random, rapid blink. Scully kept Mulder reigned in enough to not send Doggett screaming into the hallway.

Doggett wondered what the hell kind of circus ride he might be getting himself into and how long it would be before both the agents in front of him were carted off by the lovely men in white coats with caged-lined vans.

Finally, the pair seemed to have finished their interrogation and Doggett got to open his mouth, his first sentence being, “I think the pair of you are thick as thieves and crazy to boot.”

Honest-to-God, Scully liked him and she thought that maybe Mulder might, too, “I keep his crazy in check.”

“She needs a little crazy every now and then. It works well for both of us.”

Doggett couldn’t help it. He had to smile, hang his head while doing it mind you, but smile, “I can only promise that I’ll do my best to solve these cases. I won’t be buying into the whole paranormal thing and I will never believe that Casper or Chuckie did it in the basement with magic herbs and a summoning circle but I will catch the bad guys, I guarantee it.”

Mulder folded his arm in a loose gesture of agreement to Scully’s unspoken question hanging between them, “he knows what a summoning circle is and whether he learned it on TV or from his hippie big sister, he used it properly in the sentence.”

“Mulder.”

Holding his hand out to Doggett, “feel like giving it a trial run?”

A Snapshot of THE X-FILES: THE OFFICIAL ARCHIVES by Paul Terry Cryptids, Biological Anomalies, and Parapsychic Phenomena [1/50] ⤷ X 129202 - Tooms, Eugene Victor