TITLE:  All the King's Horses
SPOILER WARNING:  Anasazi/The Blessing Way; FTF
RATING:  PG
CONTENT WARNING:  MSR; SkinnerAngst; MulderAngst; ScullyAngst
CLASSIFICATION:  SRA
SUMMARY:  Everything of any value has its price.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This is a continuation of the Silver Bracelet universe,
which exists in an alternate timeline which diverges from the one on the
TV sometime after FTF.  Specifically, Season 6 never happened.
FINALLY:  It is not necessary to read the first set of stories to
understand this one.  The only thing you really need to know is that
Mulder and Scully are engaged in a committed, romantic relationship,
which has been going on for just about a month as the curtain rises....
 

All the King's Horses

by Brandon D. Ray
 

It was cold and dark, and it was snowing.

Walter Skinner sat in his car outside Dana Scully's apartment building,
and tried to will himself the courage to do what he had to do.  He'd
been sitting there for nearly twenty minutes; long enough that the heat
had seeped from the car, but the physical cold was nothing to the cold
which had enveloped his heart when he received the phone call from the
OPR late that afternoon.

Twice he'd started the engine again, intending to drive away.  Really,
he'd thought, it would be more appropriate to deal with this in his
office on Monday morning.  Let them have the weekend before he lowered
the boom.  Let them have two more days of illusion.

But he couldn't do it.  He couldn't spend Saturday and Sunday going
about his private life with this issue unresolved.  It felt dishonest. 
It felt like he would be lying to them.

With a sigh of resignation he climbed out of the car and headed into the
building.

The whole sorry business had started a week ago Monday.  Skinner had
arrived at the office early, as was his habit, and was already up to his
elbows in paperwork when his administrative assistant buzzed.

"Yes, Kimberly?"  He'd been in one of his rare expansive moods, and
remembered thinking that he really ought to take her out to lunch; it
had been too long since he did anything to let her know how much he
appreciated her.

"Sir, Agents Mulder and Scully are here to see you."

Skinner raised his eyebrows slightly, then shrugged to himself.  The two
agents of the X-Files Division had been pretty quiet the last couple of
weeks -- in fact, he hadn't heard very much from their basement office
since before Christmas, other than a single 302 for a trip to Iowa right
after the first of the year, and then the subsequent report a few days
later.  He supposed it was about time they made their presence known again.

"Send them in."

He quickly straightened the papers on his desk, then leaned back in his
swivel chair and waited as the two agents entered the room and took
their accustomed seats in front of his desk.  They both seemed to be
tense, but that was nothing new; these two perpetually walked the fine
line between initiative and insubordination, and they knew it.  And so
Skinner rocked slightly in his chair, and steepled his fingers in front
of him on the desk.  And he waited.

To his surprise, it was Scully who finally broke the silence.  Normally
Mulder was the one to initiate the discussion at these meetings while
his partner sat quietly and listened, only pitching in when she felt it
necessary to carry whatever point Mulder was making.  When he first took
over supervision of the X-Files, Skinner had thought this pattern
indicated that Mulder was the dominant member of the team, but it hadn't
taken him very long to correct THAT assumption.  These two had, in fact,
the closest thing to a perfect symbiotic partnership that he had ever
witnessed within the Bureau.

"Sir, we have an issue which we feel needs to be brought to your
attention,"  she said.  Typical Scully, Skinner remembered thinking;
direct and to the point.  Then:  "Agent Mulder and I have recently
become involved romantically."  And she stopped speaking.

For a moment Skinner was sure that she was pulling his leg.  Certainly
there had been casual office gossip about these two, but that was
nothing unique; EVERY male-female team was subjected to that sort of
treatment from time to time.  The fact that Mulder and Scully were
regarded as outcasts by most of the Bureau had caused them to receive
more than their share of such chatter, but Skinner had never taken it
seriously.  The two of them were far too professional, and far too
committed to their work, to allow THAT to happen.

But apparently he'd been wrong about that, and despite himself Skinner
felt a momentary surge of anger at the two agents sitting in front of
him.  How dare they endanger the X-Files this way?  Especially after the
way he'd put his own ass on the line to keep the Division open and under
their control after that miserable fiasco in Antarctica last summer. 
And it had been a near thing:  If Jana Cassidy had been placed in charge
of the review board, as had been originally planned, things might have
turned out very differently.

The rest of the interview had been pro forma.  Skinner had elicited the
necessary details, while trying to avoid invading their privacy any
further than necessary.  And as the three of them talked he had started
to cool down a bit, and by the end of the meeting he was actually
feeling cautiously optimistic. Perhaps things would work out okay. 
There was, after all, no formal Bureau policy prohibiting partners from
engaging in a romantic relationship.  As long as Mulder and Scully
maintained their historical solve rate, and didn't engage in
unprofessional conduct during working hours, it was possible that there
would be no repercussions.

And then at 5:34 this afternoon, it had all come crashing down.

Now Skinner stood in front of Scully's apartment door.  One last time he
considered turning around and leaving, and then he reached out and
rapped lightly on the door.

For a moment he wondered if they were here after all.  But the light had
been on in the window, and both cars were parked out on the street.  He
was about to knock again when he heard the chain rattle, and Agent
Scully's voice.  "Move your ass, Mulder; the pizza's here!"

And then the door was swinging open, and Dana Scully was standing in
front of him in jeans and a t-shirt, a surprised look on her face.

"S-sir," she said, and glanced hurriedly over her shoulder and then back
at him.  "We weren't expecting you."

"That's quite alright, Agent Scully," Skinner replied in correct, formal
tones.  "I have no wish to intrude, but I have something I wish to
discuss with you and Agent Mulder.  May I come in?"

She nodded wordlessly and stepped aside, then shut and locked the door
behind him.  "I'll go get Mulder," she said, and turned and left the room.

Skinner continued to stand quietly just inside the door.  The last time
he'd been in this apartment it had been to execute a search warrant for
a classified government data tape, and somehow he didn't feel right
about encroaching any further into Agent Scully's personal space --
especially considering the purpose of his visit.

A few moments later the two partners emerged from the back hallway, and
it was not lost on Skinner that they were holding hands.  That would be
Mulder's influence, he thought -- aggressively declaring that this was
their territory, not the Bureau's.  The Assistant Director shrugged
slightly; it hardly mattered anymore.

"Agents," he said, his voice still calm and professional, "I'm sorry for
this imposition, but I have some news which I thought you would both
want to hear as soon as possible."  He paused for just a moment, and saw
that Scully had already deduced his purpose, and that Mulder was not far
behind her.  Before either of them could interrupt, he hurried on, "Late
this afternoon I received a call from the OPR informing me of the
outcome of their review of your partnership in light of...recent
developments.  I'm afraid their conclusions are not positive."

Skinner fell silent, and waited for them to digest what he had just
said.  Finally, Scully said, "What are their recommendations?"  But her
tone of voice said that she already knew.

Skinner nodded slightly.  "I'm very sorry, Agents.  The OPR's
recommendation is that the two of you be reassigned to separate
divisions, and that the X-Files be closed down."  He allowed a tinge of
bitterness to enter his voice.  "I was not permitted to review the draft
report before it was issued, or I would have objected.  It has already
been approved by Director Freeh.  Your transfers will be effective a
week from Monday."

Again silence fell in the room, and Skinner took the opportunity to
study their faces.  Scully was calm and composed, as he had expected,
but Mulder....Mulder's expression was completely walled off.  Skinner
felt a prickle run down his spine.  Mulder normally wore his emotions on
his sleeve; if he was this reserved....

"May I ask what our new assignments will be, Sir?"  Scully again, taking
the lead for both of them.

"That has not yet been determined, Agent Scully."  He hesitated, then
added, "I have been informed that my input is not required on that
matter, either."

"They're cutting us out."  Mulder's voice was flat and without affect,
and Skinner saw Scully squeeze his hand a little tighter.  "The fucking
bastards are cutting us out."

"Mulder --"

"It's over, Scully.  It's over."  He took a deep breath and looked down
at her sadly.  "It's over."  And he let go of her hand and turned and
walked out of the room.  And after the briefest of hesitations, and a
short, helpless glance at Skinner, she went after him.

The Assistant Director stood by the door looking after them for a long
minute.  Finally, he let himself out of the apartment.  It was cold and
dark outside, and it was snowing.
 
 

Fini