Title: Requiem Follies 3: The New Partner (1 of 1)

Author: Jennifer Adams Kelley

E-mail: swordlady@jennifarse.com 

Rating: PGish

Category: VH

Disclaimer: As you are well aware, my name doesn't flash on screen at any
point during an episode of "The X-Files." And as you should also be aware,
the show and main characters belong to Fox and to 1013 Productions.

Spoilers: "Requiem," duh! Also, news stories this past week.

Archive: Yes, please.

Summary: Scully's new partner is Mulder's worst nightmare.

Author notes: Ha ha! Thought I wouldn't be back with one of these,
especially since I posted a long story earlier this week? The reports of
who's playing the new partner, though, were too delicious to ignore.

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Requiem Follies 3: The New Partner
by Jennifer Adams Kelley
 

Scully adjusted the flow of the IV, watching her recently-returned partner
carefully for signs of consciousness. Finally, the dark eyelashes
fluttered; the eyes opened slowly, partially, as if wary of awakening.
Hazel locked onto blue. He tried to clear his throat. Scully placed a few
ice chips in his mouth. "Shh... you're home, Mulder. You're home!"

Mulder sighed, opened his eyes a little further, and wiggled to make
himself a little more comfortable on the pillow. "How long?" he croaked.

"Much too long."

Annoyance flitted across his face. "I didn't mean relative time. Months?"

Scully nodded. "Good guess."

"I could tell by your hair." He reached up with his IV-ed hand, to brush a
length of shoulder-length red hair out of his partner's face. "So... just
what *did* my hosts do to me while I was gone?"

"Amnesia?"

"Are you surprised?"

"No." She took his hand in his.

The door opened, and a tall, bland-looking man in an FBI-typical dark suit
entered the room. "Hey, Agent S, any sign of improvement?"

Scully turned to the new arrival, giving Mulder a good view of him. "Jesus
Christ!" he exclaimed, an adrenaline rush pushing him up right and halfway
out of his bed. The monitors started beeping wildly. Scully tried to pull
him back into bed, but he wasn't budging. "It's a freakin' T-1000!"

"I get that a lot," the new arrival said.

"Mulder... this is John Doggett. He's my new partner. It's okay."

"It freakin' isn't okay!  It's worse than a freakin' bounty hunter, because
you can't kill the bastard unless you drop him into some molten metal! And
then the freakin' exoskeleton survives!" Mulder tried to pull the IV out of
his hand, anything to get away.

Scully caught his hand in hers. "Mulder... it's a movie."

He stopped struggling. "Huh?"

"You're thinking of 'Terminator 2,'" Doggett supplied helpfully.

"A movie?"

"Yes. A movie. I get compared to the guy who played the robot all the time.
Although I haven't had this strong of a reaction since my days as a
cop...."

"Cop?"

Scully rubbed his hand soothingly, and helped him ease back into the bed.
"Mulder, he checks out completely. The Gunmen swear on it. I think your
brain's still a little fried from your ordeal. You should try to rest
again."

"Yeah, right." But Mulder found his eyes wanting to close again, so he let
them. He plummeted into another drug-induced sleep.

Scully dropped his hand and the IV control, then spun on her heel and
glared up at her new partner. "Doggone it, Doggett! I *told* you not to use
that form!"

"How was I supposed to know he'd remember the movie? His neural paths are
so  fried at the moment, he's lucky he remembers how to breathe."

"We're going to have to start all over now."

"Sorry." He started out. Scully cleared her throat, folding her arms over
her chest. He turned back. "What?"

"Change your form."

Doggett rolled his eyes, then turned to liquid metal and reformed as 
Skinner.

"What if the real one comes in?"

Metal flowed; Skinner became Chris Noth.

"Could we have someone a little less antagonistic, please?" Scully asked.

"You suggest someone, then."

Scully thought for a moment. "Scott Bakula."

"Oh, and he's not going to make 'Quantum Leap' jokes?" Doggett pointed out.

"If you weren't limited to looking like someone famous...."

Doggett shrugged. "Look, I can only create what I've seen. And that's been
everyone who works at the FBI and everyone I've seen on t.v."

"Well, could you choose someone not so famous, then?"

"Sure." He morphed again, this time into someone tall, late 30's, with dark
hair and eyes and a smirking, handsome face. "Well?"

Scully looked him up and down. "Good. Very good. Who are you imitating?"

"Chris Potter."

"Who?"

"That's what almost everyone says."

"Go back into the hallway. Let's take it from the top." She turned back to
Mulder's sleeping form, waiting for the soft click of the door shutting.
She then adjusted the flow of the IV, watching her recently-returned
partner carefully for signs of consciousness.

THE END