The Truth About Socks: For the Sake of Curiosity
by Amanda Larson

Disclaimers and all that good stuff are in the first
part.


I actually let Scully drive.  Actually, I don't let
her do anything.  She informed me that she was
driving.  It's nothing personal, me wanting to drive. 
I know that she knows how and that her feet can reach
the pedals with a few minor adjustments to the seat. 
There are simply so few things in my life that I have
the ability to control.  Driving is one of those few
things.  The car does what ever I say.  I'm in
control.  I wonder if Scully feels the same way.

When we get back to the hotel Scully orders pizza.  I
was still pretty hungry.  We joked about the case and
discussed some serious differences in opinions.  It
was nice being able to so casually discus a case.  No
one will die if we don't soon find the answer.  No one
is getting hurt.  We don't have to worry about each
other getting hurt. 

After our talk I went to my room and laid on the bed
while I surfed through one-hundred channels of
nothing.  That's fine by me.  I don't really care if
anything is on.  It's simply nice to have the
television bring sound into the silent room.  It makes
the room seem a lot less lonely.  I'm not really
lonely, I always have Scully.  But she is in the next
room.  It's not very late yet but I fall asleep before
I know it.

***

That stretch felt so good.  I don't think I've slept
that long...ever.  I'm not going to be able to sleep
for weeks.  Someone turned off my television, must
have driven Scully crazy.  Maybe I fell asleep on the
volume button.  There's something stuck on the
television screen.

I stumbled not so gracefully out of bed and trip over
my own suitcase, which Scully had nagged at me to
move.  Why does she always have to be right?  Once I
make it to the television I stare at the screen for a
moment until I am awake enough to really see.  It's a
note.  That's funny, there's little flowers drawn in
the top corner of the paper.  I haven't seen that for
over twenty-six years.

"Mulder?" I just jumped about fifty feet into the air.
 It's not like Scully to sneak up on me, especially
when I'm only wearing my boxers not to mention I was
just about to revisit my childhood.  Then again, maybe
she does sneak up on me in my boxers and I just don't
notice, I wish.  I'm not usually pondering my
childhood.  That's a subject best left undiscussed.  

"Jeez, Scully, don't do that!" I didn't mean to come
out that harsh, not at all.  Those little flowers just
got me worked up, but that's no excuse to talk to
Scully that way.  "Sorry, Scully," I say sincerely.

"No, I'm sorry, Mulder.  I didn't mean to startled
you, but you weren't answering me.  What are you
doing?"

"Someone left a note on my television."

"Someone came in here last night?"  She starts looking
around the room as if the person was still here and I
hadn't seen them.  Actually, considering my current
level of awareness they could be standing next to the
television and I probably wouldn't see them.  Now
she's going to start asking me questions.  Yes, they
came while I was asleep and without me hearing
anything.  Yes, I locked the door.

"Was your door locked?"  Hey maybe I'm a little
psychic too.  Just with Scully, I can never guess what
Skinner is going to say next.

"Of course it was locked and I didn't hear anything."

"What's it say?"

"It's about the investigation."

"Socks?" I nodded to her as I read the note.  "Do you
think it was Sheryl?"

I smiled wryly at her.  "Do I think that Sheryl
quietly broke into my hotel room and snuck around in
here without me hearing a thing?  What happened to
your scientific analysis?  What is the likelihood of
that happening without some of the Great Muttato's
fertilizer stuff?  I don't see any violated frying
pans lying around."  I'm rambling because I can't tell
her what I think about the note since I don't know
what I think.

"Forget it.  What about the investigation?"

"It has the address of a warehouse in town.  It says
the first of our answers are there," I say mindlessly.
 Scully notices of course that something is not right.

"Do you want to check it out?"

Check what out?  How could we substantiate that it was
Samantha who wrote that note?  I look back at the note
to see what Scully wants to check out.  Oh, yeah, the
warehouse.  "Sure," I respond without conviction.

"Mulder what the hell is wrong?" I jump at her tone. 
That's her 'cut the bullshit because I've known you
too long to fall for that crap' tone.  What can I say
to that?  What is there to say?  She'll probably shoot
me if I say nothing is wrong.  There's no doubt that
she'll kill me if I say I'm fine.

Today just doesn't feel like a good day to die.  I
still don't know what happens to socks or what
happened to Samantha.  I may be getting closer to one
of those answers, but I'm not sure which one.  I don't
know what to tell Scully yet.  "It's just kind of
weird that someone got in here without me noticing, I
guess."

She nods, temporarily convinced.  "This warehouse
could be a trap."

"Yeah," I say like I had already considered that.  In
truth, it hadn't occurred to me, but there is no
reason she has to know that.  "We'll never know if we
don't go."  Maybe she would prefer not to know.  I
need to know.  It was important enough for Samantha to
bring a note or at least someone who did a lot of
research on her.

***

It didn't take long for us to arrive at the warehouse,
just to find the right one.  This one is a lot nicer
than the warehouses I'm used to; looks like they just
finished construction.  The whole area around this
place is still a mud hole, hope they're planning on
paving this over or this place will probably float
away next time it rains.  Maybe that would be for the
better.  I wonder what pretense this place was
constructed under.

"Are you planning on breaking in?" Scully asked after
we did a preliminary inspection of the perimeter.

"Yes we are," I answer as I pull out a lock pick.  

"No, Mulder you are and I'm going in out of my duty to
you as your partner."  She then added, "And friend."

I smiled at her before turning my attention back to
the lock.  I really couldn't do this if she wasn't
here.  I don't mean break into this building.  I mean
care about this building or any of this, who drew the
flowers on the note.  I love her.  I don't know why it
has to be such a big secret from her, but it does.  My
guess is she's already picked up on some of my not so
subtle hints even if they were said in a joking way. 
That's how I handle stress.

I was hoping that we wouldn't find this.  The lock on
the door finally gave and this building is full
of...dryers?  Not just dryers, but super computers and
who know what the rest of these machines do.  I can't
believe this, is it really what it looks like?  It has
all the signs of a Syndicate operation.  There are
socks everywhere.  I don't see any people, but I do
hear sirens.

Several police cars come skidding into the muddy
parking lot.  Scully and I both turn to face the
officers as they file out of their cars yelling for us
to freeze.  The Auburn Police Department.  "I don't
believe this," I tell Scully.

The officers rush over to us.  "Relax, we're federal
agents," I say as I begin to search my pockets for my
badge.  I can't find the damned thing, I know it's in
one of these pockets, it always is.

Apparently the officers didn't think I was looking for
a badge because a couple of the rushed me, knocking me
into the mud.  There goes another suit.  They begin to
search me and of course find two guns.  "He's armed!"
one of them yells.  Look at the guns you idiot!  FBI
issued, I guess they could think I stole them.   "Do
you have a permit to be carrying these?"

"Sir, as he said we're federal agents," Scully says as
they all train their guns on us.  

"Are you armed too?"

"Yes I am and if we could all relax for a moment I can
show you my identification."

"Okay, slowly," the officer responds.  She's searching
her pockets, she doesn't have hers either.  Shit,
again.  I'm soaking wet and this big guy won't get off
of me and now some one is coming out of the warehouse
and who could it be to make this situation perfect? 
No other than Cancer Man himself.  This is truly
perfect.  Why is he letting everyone see him, he
usually hides in the shadows and right now he is about
as far away as he could get from hiding.  

A car pulls in behind the line of squad cars.  That
looks like Sheryl's car.  It is.  "Excuse me
officers," she says as she hurries towards them. 
Can't she see that these trigger happy men have guns? 
"These are friends of mine, they work for the FBI. 
They left their badges at my house."  Oh, they must
have fallen out during the lamp incident.

The officer inspects them before letting me up. 
"Sorry about that, son."  Scully smiles as she sees me
cringe.  I don't like being called son any more than
she likes being called ma'am.

"That's fine.  You guys have some quick response time.
 I'm impressed," I tell them.  As I watch the Cancer
Man, he's just standing there.  

"We try.  The manager of this building told us that he
had sensitive equipment inside so when you set the
alarms off we got over here as soon as we could."  I
figured that was the situation.  "If you need any help
on your investigation our resources are open to you."

"Thank you very much."  Finally, they're leaving. 
They were surprisingly friendly given the situation
and nobody got shot so I say all in all it was a good
encounter with the local law enforcement.  I can only
hope our encounter with Smokey goes half that well.  

After the police are gone I turn my full attention to
the Cancer Man.  "Who is that?" Sheryl asked.  I
forgot she was there.  How about you think up an
explanation for him, Scully.

Scully again reading my mind told Sheryl that it would
be best if she waited for us in the car, with the
motor running.  Good idea. Scully is always thinking,
unlike me.  It must have been something in Scully's
voice, because Sheryl actually listened.

I started to walk towards the Cancer Man who likewise
began to move towards me.  I immediately pulled out my
gun.  "You won't need that, Fox."  I hate this
presumptuous son of a bitch.

I look nervously at Scully who is watching my back. 
Oddly, I feel better that Sheryl is here.  Now Scully
has some one watching her back too.  "What do you
want?" I ask him.

"I want to help you."

"That's a bunch of crap you lying bastard!" I shout
angrily at him.  I've had about as much of this as I
can take.  I'm going to shoot him if he doesn't say
something really good really fast.  I hope Scully will
stop me from doing something I'll regret.

"Your sister and your sock case are more closely
connected than you think."

"Why do you keep doing this?  If your going to help
him than by all means help him, if not stop torturing
him with your lies."  Doesn't sound like Scully is
planning on stopping me from shooting him if I decide
to do so.  I don't think I've heard her that angry
before.  Smokey is in trouble.  I wonder why I haven't
just shot him and ended this charade.  There is
something stopping me from doing it.  I guess I'm
afraid he has the answers and the hope of finding the
truth is what I would be killing.  His death won't end
this anyway, he's not as important as he thinks he is.

"I assure you both that my intentions are of the most
sincere nature."  That's the biggest load of bullshit
I've ever heard.  This ought to be real good. 
"Samantha is alive."

"I know you've shown me.  I've seen several of her," I
tell him with bitter sarcasm.  I can't do this now.  

I turn towards Scully for a brief moment, in time to
see her pull the trigger of her gun.  When I turn to
see who she was shooting at I see what looks like one
of Cancer Man's henchmen aiming their gun at me.  This
was a setup?  I don't believe that he would bring us
here to kill us.  Nope, he didn't.  He looks as
shocked as I likely do.

More men come out of the building.  It is time to make
a very quick exit as I hear him yell for the men to
stop shooting.  Now I really owe Sheryl.  Scully and I
both run for the car, as soon as we get in Sheryl
speeds off.  She acts like she's done this before. 
I'll worry about that later.  I'm in no position to
question, not by a long shot.  

It doesn't look like they're making any attempt to
follow us.  "I'll add this to your tab," Sheryl said
to me as we lost sight of the warehouse.  

"Yeah," I said as I worked on catching my breath.  

"What did you see?" she asked.

I knew this was coming.  As soon as I figure it out
I'll be glad to tell her.  "We didn't see much of
anything except for some equipment that could have
been anything," Scully answered.

"How about what Agent Mulder..." she stopped as she
looked back at me.  My eyes are closed I am not trying
hard to look asleep, I'm just trying to let her know
that I need to deal with things by myself for a little
while.  "How are you feeling, Agent Mulder," Sheryl
asked.  

She really can't take a hint.  How do I look like I
feel?  She's a mother, and from what I can tell a
damned good one.  I guess she can't help that my
mother never asked me that question.  

While I was about to respond with my flippant 'fine'
or at least my  'I really don't want to talk about it
fine', for some reason I don't.  Scully and I have
been playing that game for years.  It's a bad habit
and it just doesn't go away.  It's too easy of a way
out.  Once you start saying it, it's too hard to say
the truth.  

I know Sheryl's not my mother, but she is a kind
person who is asking a legitimate question and I got a
nasty habit to kill.  Scully and I both do.  We owe it
to each other.  

Here it goes, the semi honest answer.  What is the
honest answer?  I don't think I can tell Sheryl how I
really feel I have never really thought about it. 
It's suppose to be a simple question, for most people,
but when you feel like I do right now and nothing
makes sense how could you know?  "Confused," I finally
answer.  That sums everything up nicely.

Scully grasped my hand, I continue to stare out my
window.  I don't have to see her face to know what is
there.  The genuine concern, caring, love I hope.  I
do need to see her face.  Yep, it's all there and
more.

"Hope all this mud doesn't stain this seat," I say
suddenly relaxing enough to realize how muddy and wet
I really got.  "Just put it on my tab it does, but
don't hold your breath on receiving any
reimbursement."

"It'll probably be out of my taxpayer dollars when I
get it, I presume," Sheryl responded with a laugh.

"Not if our assistant director has anything to say
about it," Scully reminds me.

Before I realize it, we're back at the hotel.  I can
hear the dry close calling me and my cell-phone. 
Where is that thing.  Oh, there it is somewhere in my
jacket that I threw on the car floor.  "Mulder," I say
when I finally find the phone.

"Where are you?" Skinner asked.  He sounds mad, really
mad.  

"Auburn.  Working on the case," I reply honestly.

"What state and what case are you currently working
on?"

"Auburn, Washington.  That case you gave us on Friday,
the one about the socks."

"Socks?  Agent Mulder, what the hell are you talking
about?  You're suppose to be investigating the
disappearance of Sally Flemings, not socks."  What's
the date?  I know it's not April Fools Day, but it
must be, either that or this is Skinner's sick idea of
a joke.  I heard about the Sally Flemings case before
we left.  Eight year old abducted from her home by
some sick man who has likely taken up to a dozen girls
of the same age, all twins.

"Sir, the case you gave us was an investigation on
missing socks in the dryer."  I didn't want to sound
like I was calling him a liar or questioning his
correctness, but frankly he's just wrong.  I can read.
 He probably thinks I'm being a smart ass, I'm not
that stupid or insensitive. 

"I want you two back here immediately.  I hope you are
sincere about this, because if you did ignore that
case to pursue an X-File it was irresponsible and may
have resulted in another death.  I know it's not your
standard case, but we need everyone we can get on
this."

"I assure you, sir..." 

"I'm sorry Agent Mulder, have no right to question
your integrity.  You're the most honest man I know. 
We've been pulling some long hours here.  I need you
two to show these agents how to catch this monster,
that is what you do best."

"Yes, sir.  We're on our way."  Skinner just gave me a
complement.  It wasn't really disguised either. 
Things must be really bad back there.

"Mulder, what did Skinner say," Scully asks
impatiently at my silence.  

"He wants us back in D.C."

"Right now?"

"Two days ago.  Apparently he gave us the wrong case."
 Her expression say it all 'told you so'.  Fine.  How
was I supposed to know?  Now she is going to try to
make this look like my fault.

"That's it?  Your leaving?" Sheryl asks with clear
disapointment.

"Sorry, Sheryl, but little girls are dying and there
is an escalating killer we have to stop.  Believe me,
I'd rather be here than trying to enter the mind of a
monster."

"I understand.  Be careful, now I'm going to worry
about you, both of you."  I wish she was my mother.

"We will, this is what we do."  By this point the
conversation had worked itself into my hotel room.  I
began digging through my bag to find a suit that was
something like presentable.  A small piece of paper
fell to the floor.  It's a note, just like the last
one.

"Did someone come in here again?" Scully asked.

"Probably not, they probably left it when..." No, she
couldn't have left it last night with the other one
because my suitcase wasn't zipped this morning, it was
all over the floor.  "Yeah I guess they did."

"What's this one say?"  

"A warning."

"Of what?"

"To be careful of this case, for Sheryl to back down
too."  I stood there looking at the note, lost in
thought.

"Mulder we don't have time for this if we want to
survive Skinner."

"Your right."  If you only knew how much this case
means to me, Scully, and how hard it is to walk away. 
We are really onto something.  I know she thinks it is
all a waste of time, but somehow this goes back to
everything we have been fighting.  Back to why I
opened the X-Files and what awaits the human race.  

Scully would never believe any of that and I don't
blame her.  This is likely what it has always been
some more fun with the gullible Spooky Mulder.  I
suspect that's how Scully sees me sometimes.  They lie
to me, any one can, then if it looks like I might be
figuring it out, they dangle my sister or the truth in
my face than there I am running after the same
clandestine truth.  Following their every command
without even realizing it.  And I'll keep following
them as long as there is the tinniest hope that I will
find the answers, that I'll find her.

"Mulder?" Scully asks with concern.

"I'm fine."  Uh oh.  I said the f word, busted again.

"We'll talk about this later, Mulder."  I'm going to
have to make it through hours without escape from her
relentless questioning on the plane back to
headquarters.  I can't do it, I know she'll be able to
break me.  Maybe I should just warn her now that she
doesn't want an answer to those questions.  Besides
this case is over.  I'm going to have to drop it,
there was never really proof that it was her.  Just
another game.  

"So what am I suppose to do, now?" Sheryl asked.

"This note says to stay away from the case, so that
would probably be the best thing to do until we can
reopen this case."

I wasn't looking at Scully or Sheryl, just the note. 
What if this is my last chance?  Maybe there won't be
another clue.  Well, if this really was Samantha who
left these notes, then at least she must be doing
okay.  I had thought that Sheryl had left when she
said, "You won't be reopening the case will you, Agent
Mulder?"

I look at her with surprise then shake my head.  "No,
probably not.  But I will add it to the X-Files."

Sheryl nodded.  "Good luck on catching the monster." 
She began to leave, but turned back before leaving. 
"Will you two be needing a ride to the airport?"  That
would have been pretty funny.  I didn't even think
about the fact that we ditched our rental car.  It
would have been Scully and me hitch hiking to the
airport.

"Yeah, I guess we will."  Like I don't owe her enough
already, she really doesn't care.  I wish the IRS was
more like her.  

Scully and I quickly got our bags and rode with
Sheryl.  She never stopped talking for the entire hour
and twenty minutes it took us to get to the airport. 
I know more than I thought there was to know about the
Puget Sound area.  She is quite the tour guide. 
Unfortunately we've arrived and it's time to face the
gauntlet of Scully's questioning.

***

She's been kind, she knows I'm upset about something,
but she's gotten down to the question that I've been
dreading.  I either tell her the truth and listen to a
lecture the rest of this trip or I lie.  I can't lie
to Scully, not only because I morally as a friend
would never do that, but because I physically can't. 
Avoid a question, dodge it, change the subject,
ignore, but outright lie.  Won't happen.

"Mulder, what do those flowers mean?" I never should
have let her see the notes.  Again I guess it goes
back to the fact that she told me that she was going
to look at them not that I allowed her to view them.

"They probably don't mean a damned thing."  That
wasn't a lie, unfortunately, it's likely the truth.  

"They mean something to you," she replies softly.

"Samantha," I begin, that name changed this whole
conversation, Scully probably guessed that this went
back to Samantha.  Everything does with me.  I turn to
face her, I want her to know how much this means to
me.  "She used to make those exact same flowers on all
the notes she wrote."  I can't bring myself to say her
name again.  

"You think she left those notes?"  It's nice of her to
humor me.  If I had any other partner they likely
would have told me to stop being stupid.  If I had any
other partner, I wouldn't be here.  I probably
wouldn't be anywhere.  I would be dead by one hand or
another and it wouldn't matter.  No one would care,
except maybe my mother and she partially thinks of me
as being dead anyway, I think.

"No, not logically, but I guess I'm not all that
logical.  It doesn't matter little girls just like
Samantha are dying.  If she is alive, I'll just let
her live her life.  She could obviously find me if she
wanted to.  It doesn't matter."  That was a lie, but
it doesn't count because we both know it is and it's
true that there is nothing more that we can do.  I'll
just have to leave Samantha to her life and start
living mine.  "If it is her she's playing their
games."

"Maybe she was compromised."  It doesn't matter what I
say Scully always plays devil's advocate, that's why I
need her.

"Maybe she is one of them, maybe she doesn't want me
to find her."

"I don't believe that and I don't believe that you do
either.  Where ever she is, Samantha loves you."  I
wish I believed it, Scully.  The conversation abruptly
dropped off there, neither of us had anything else to
say.  Sometimes I wish I could be more like Sheryl,
never running out of something to say.  Maybe then
Scully and I could stop having to endure these painful
silences.  I wish we were still investigating socks.

***

"Right now we have ten bodies, two missing girls and
absolutely nothing to go on," Skinner informed us as
we began getting caught up on the case.  I don't feel
ready to do this.  It would be too close to home on a
good day and today is not a good day.  "They were all
taken from in and around the D.C. area and all the
bodies have been found in the same house in a small
town in Virginia."

"Aren't there agents posted on the house?"  I know
it's a stupid question, but how hard could he be to
find if every day he comes back to the same area with
the body of a little girl?

"Yes, and every time the body is found inside the
house.  Somehow he is getting them in there right
under the stakeout agent's noses.  Nothing is working.
 The fact is they don't know who they're looking for. 
No one has seen him and lived.  Five agents have died
trying to stop this man."

"He killed them?"  That question was just plain
stupid.  

"Presumably."

"What does that mean?" Scully asked.  Sounds like a
threat to her solid logic.

"No one knows what killed those men.  They were just
found dead, nothing wrong with them except for the
fact that they were dead.  No similarities in the
death could be found except they all died in pursuit
of the subject."  

Skinner pushed the case file across the table and I
begin to leaf through it.   He's wrong.  There is a
similarity in all of these deaths.  The pictures of
all the crime scene show that the men all died next to
a dryer.  What does that mean?  I have no idea, but it
must mean something.  They didn't all die in
laundromats.  Two did, but the other three didn't. 
One was in an apartment building; one next to the
locker room of a high school, where they wash the gym
towels, and one by the towel dryer of a local
restaurant.  Some coincidence.  

"What is, Mulder?"  Scully knows that I found
something.

"I don't know yet.  Sir, who's the SAC on this case?"

Skinner looked at me for a moment before answering. 
"Agent Colton.  I didn't want you involved in this
case, but frankly we are running out of options and it
wasn't my call to make."  Most the time I forget that
he's only an assistant director, not the king of the
FBI.  

"No problem, sir."  Colton, great things just get
better and better.

***

"Hello, Dana," Colton said with his back turned
towards me.  Hey, nice to see you too, jerk.

"Agent Colton," Scully acknowledged before turning
towards me.  "Ready for the conference?"  Sure, after
just seeing Colton's face I think things might be
looking up, but I just nod in response.  I'm not going
to start anything.

"Dana, can I talk to you for a minute, *alone*?"
Colton attempts again.  You're too late looser, she
knows what I total ass you are.  

"Anything you need to discuss about the case should
wait till the rest of the agents are assembled.  I
don't believe that we have any other subjects to
discuss."

"Don't do this, you'll regret it."  Just try
something, you'll be the one to regret it.

"You think you are something special and maybe if you
didn't get where you are by tearing everyone else down
I would consider you to be something above a parasite.
 However, I don't see any reason to think of you as
anything besides a creature that lives of the hard
work of others.  We all know that you could profile
till the day you die and you wouldn't find out half of
what Mulder already knows about that man."  

I sure hope I can live up to that.  Not that it
matters, Scully's right Colton is nothing but a
parasite.  Even if I can't catch that man I won't have
hurt anyone trying.  Scully begins to walk towards the
conference room and I follow.  Before we make it
Colton grabs my shoulder.  Try something, just try it.
 

"She protects you because she feels sorry for you. 
You're nothing, but a pathetic piece of garbage,
Spooky.  You probably killed your sister and you're
probably brain washing Dana so you can kill her too,"
he whispered into my ear.  

I pulled my hands into fists, I want to hurt him so
bad.  If Scully wasn't there I would have done it
without a second thought, but she's there to remind me
that someone does care about me.  Even Sheryl cares. 
What would she think if I ended up in a fight because
some idiot said a bunch of shit that wasn't true?  

That's funny, I never thought that way about my mom. 
Must be the thought of getting lectured by Scully and
having her and Sheryl worry about me.  That's two
people who care, Skinner might too in his own strange
little way.  That's three who genuinely care, more
than you got Colton.  "It won't work, Colton.  You're
the pathetic little man."  I said and I didn't whisper
it.

Everyone is staring at him.  They'll probably just
pass it off as crazy Spooky Mulder, but ask me if I
care.  Scully is smiling and proudly grasps my hands
as we walk towards the conference room.  She doesn't
feel sorry for me, she's proud to be Mrs. Spooky.  

End 2/3