Chapter Text
She felt as if she'd stumbled into an old horror movie. Dust shrouded the neglected furniture; there was a
cobweb veil across every doorway. Dark stains of long-ago violence were splattered over the walls and
tattered drapes. Only the haunting rumble of organ music was missing from the scene, and she would have
welcomed it to mask the hollow sound of her footsteps. The lonely echo reminded her that she had come to this
place alone. Or so she thought, until something brushed against her shoulder.
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"qa Suj'a'?"
"Excuse me?" Scully was a little puzzled.
"tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?" he questioned in a low voice.
"No, I-- Wait, I think I remember this one," she smiled. "tlhIn-gan Hol vee-jat-hlaH-beee."
The man smiled. "Close enough."
Scully blushed a little and looked around surreptitiously before settling her eyes back onto the man in front of her. He had such
an elaborate costume, the leather of a warrior's formal clothing, the wig of long black hair, the forehead ridges. Most impressive
was the ornately detailed bat'telh resting upon his left arm. It was most definitely real and most definitely sharp. He obviously
was a *really* big fan to go to so much trouble.
"So," he said, startling her out of her perusal, "what brings a Starfleet officer like you to a place like this...all alone?"
"I'm supposed to be meeting somebody, but he's late, as usual," she replied, not really wanting to stand around and talk all
night with someone she'd never recognize out of costume. Damn Mulder for putting her in a situation like this.
It had been a slow October case-wise, quite an unusual situation actually--almost like they were on a hiatus. Mulder was opening
his mail when he began chuckling quietly. Ordinarily that wouldn't have bothered Scully, but he just kept laughing.
Finally she gave in to his obvious baiting. "Mulder, what is it you find so amusing?"
"I got this invitation for a Halloween party, and--" he broke off to chuckle some more.
Scully let out an exasperated sigh when he wouldn't continue. "And what, Mulder?" She hated when he did this.
"It's for Trek fans, and I was...I was picturing you dressed up as...as Spock." He pinched the tops of his ears and started
laughing again, this time quite loudly. Scully rolled her eyes.
"Number one, Mulder, I wouldn't dress up as Spock for Halloween even if someone paid me and number two, he was the most
interesting character on the original series." She turned back to her computer screen.
"Wanna go?"
"Hmmmwhat Mulder?" She continued typing. "I didn't hear you."
"I asked if you wanted to go to the costume party. You know, get out of the house, see the wide world."
"Fine, Mulder," she answered, not really paying attention.
Mulder was more than a little surprised. "Uh, Scully, are you sure?"
"Yeah, sure, sure," she answered again. She began poring intently over receipts from their last case.
One week later, Mulder stopped her short as she was walking out the door for the weekend.
"So, see you tomorrow night?"
"What?" she asked, confused.
"That costume party..."
"What about it Mulder?" Scully was feeling a little impatient. Some peppermint bath salts were calling her name. Quite loudly, in fact.
"Scully, don't tell me you forgot about the costume party." His infamous pout began to take form. "I've got my Captain Kirk
costume all ready."
"Oh, yeah, right. The costume party..." She honestly had no idea that she'd supposedly agreed to go to the party, but she
might as well. Nothing else to do this weekend but work on that article.
"Um, what time does it start?"
"Eight o'clock. It'll take about half an hour to get there. You can meet me at my place, or I can pick you up?"
"Um, I've gotta...run some errands tomorrow Mulder. Lots of them. I'll...I'll meet you at the party, just give me
directions, okay?"
"You don't have a costume," Mulder accused with a smirk.
"I..." Scully was caught red handed. Or red-shirted as the case may be. She'd be lucky if she could even get one of those from a
costume shop at this late date.
Typically, Mulder read her thoughts. "You'll be lucky to get a red-shirt two days before Halloween. Of course, you *could* get
some dancing girl outfit and be one of the chickadees from the pleasure planet. You know, fawn all over Captain Kirk." He
leered playfully. "But damn, I wanted to have you go as Spock, so we could help substantiate those rumors that he and Kirk had a
little of a 'thing' going, if you know what I mean." Here he waggled his eyebrows in such a way that was supposed to be
suggestive but actually reminded Scully of Groucho Marx.
"Yes I do know what you mean, Mulder. Unfortunately." She grabbed the paper on which he had scribbled semi-legible
directions and left.