Special Agent Fox Mulder coughed and rubbed his hands together as he sat in his government-issued car. The temperature on the Georgetown street was quickly dropping and he wanted to turn on the car for some heat, but he could not risk it. Spying on someone was taxing work and anyone would be suspicious if he or she noticed the same car had been sitting in front of the same building for the past three days. Turning on his car would simply draw the kind of attention he would just as soon avoid at the moment. He did not want to be noticed, least of all by her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red and knew she was coming home. She had most likely parked a street or two away from her building. Mulder could not help but like the confidence her posture held as walked down the rather dark street. A typical young female agent. Once they got a bit of training and a gun, they all walked with that air of invincibility that would only be sequestered once they had experienced the real horrors to which all agents were eventually exposed.
Mulder checked his watch; nearly eleven. Where had she been all night? He made a mental note to start the next day's tailing as soon as she left the building. He had never actually seen her before this week, when the news came, so the odds that she would recognize him were slim.
Lights shone from windows on the third floor of the building and Mulder took out his binoculars. He could never understand people at times. All the training this woman had had; she knew just as much about the crazies and perverts as he did, and yet she still left the blinds open in her apartment. Mulder shook his head and smirked to himself. If the rumor was really true, she would soon learn to shut her blinds at night. If anything, to keep out the random people would liked watching her; like he did.
No.
He was not watching, he was on a reconnaissance mission. If the powers that be were planning on sending in someone to derail him, he had to a right know everything possible about this person. However, Mulder could not deny the fact that he did enjoy collecting his information. It was not his fault that the woman was exquisite, with an appearance that made it difficult for him to take his eyes off of her.
She had a pale, delicate face, one that denoted a certain innocence and gave away her youth in seconds. From the picture in her dossier, Mulder could almost make out the fading freckles that dusted her nose and cheeks. Her face was carefully framed by a mane of shoulder-length auburn hair; not so red that it was menacingly distracting, but so bright as to catch the eyes of anyone whom she passed. However, it was her eyes that created that special knot in Mulder's stomach each time he saw them. Large sapphires with an intelligence that sparkled even from fifty feet. Mulder was extraordinarily intrigued about whether or not her eyes were always that blue or whether they would grow lighter or darker depending on her mood. He would learn soon enough; no doubt he would have a comment or two that would have an impact on her mood.
By now, she had set herself in a chair near a window and had begun reading a book. The book was at an angle from which Mulder could not discern a title. He made another mental note to check into her credit card states and run any calls coming to and from her home. Anything that she read and anyone she spoke with was necessary to fully understand this enigma of an agent. As she read, a strand of hair fell across her brow highlighting the magnificence of her eyes from across the street, and that special knot in his stomach grew a little tighter.
A light flashed in the sky and Mulder's eyes frantically searched the sky. There was a part of him that knew the light could have been a shooting star or searchlights or even lights from a plane bouncing off the clouds, but the logic never seemed to set home with him. There were other answers, he knew it. There had to be more to it, than the mundane. There had to be another explanation other than his sister was just lost....
No.
He could not do that, not at that moment. That would have to wait for another night's endeavors.
Mulder picked up her dossier again, this time noting her major from UC Berkeley. Physics. A physics major working with him on The X-Files; and the fact that she had gone to medical school, too.... They could not have found a more qualified person to debunk the work that had so quickly and vehemently consumed his life. He picked up a 150-page stack of paper which had also been lying in his passenger seat and bemusedly read the title again. Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation. At this, he allowed a full smile to play across his lips. Smart and beautiful, a dangerous concoction, as he knew too well from previous experience.
It appeared that the young agent was in for the night and Mulder turned on his car, preparing to leave her with some privacy for the rest of the night. As he began to make his way out of his spot, Mulder could not help but think of how little he had had to smile about in the past few years. Yet, there he was, uncontrollably smiling at the nuances of the woman who, rumor had it, was about to become his new partner. He could not help himself when it came to her, not to mention the certain comfort he felt each time he saw her on the street or stared at her dossier photo. "Einstein's Twin Paradox." Whatever she thought, it was going to be interesting experience being partnered with Dana Scully.