The evening had been amazing for Sarah Jones. She hasn’t felt this way in a long time. For that matter, she hadn’t gone out on a date for a very long time either. She simply didn’t have the time. But she had made an exception for Chris, and she was glad she did. Even though this is the first time Sarah had met Chris face to face, she felt like she’s known him for a very long time. Well, technically, she has...... After dinner in a seaside bistro, Chris has suggested to go for a little walk. So here she was, walking hand in hand with Mr. Perfect, along a very quiet beach, as the weather is too cold for a swim. Sarah was lost in thoughts, wondering what did she ever do to deserve this. "Sarah?" Sarah was pulled out of her thoughts by Chris’ voice. She turned towards him, and stared into..... .........the last sight she would ever see in her life. The basement J. Edgar Hoover building, Washington, D.C. 10:00 a.m. Mulder was bored! There was no x-files, no vcs case, he even finished all the paperwork left over from all the previous cases(that was most definitely a x-file), but most important of all - NO SCULLY! There was a two weeks forensic medical conference, in which Scully was invited to speak in. She, of course, was honor.......well more like ecstatic. Meanwhile, Mulder wondered what the hell was so interesting about dead bodies. But he had never seen Scully so excited about something and the last few cases were a little stressful. So it would be good for her to get away for awhile. //Sorta like a vacation really, when you compare it to our cases.// So here he was, bored out of his wits, while Scully was in LA happily talking about how to slice and dice a corpse. Mulder was in the process of making paper airplanes, when the phone rang. The sudden noise nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. As he mumbled a curse, he picked up the phone. "Agent Mulder?" it was Skinner’s secretary. //uh oh!// "Yes?" "Assistant Director Skinner wants to see you, right away!" //shit!// "All right, I’m on my way." Mulder hang up the phone. He wondered what he’s done wrong this time. He didn’t even have a case, for god’s sakes! //Maybe one of my reports gave him a paper cut!// he joked to himself. He prepared himself for the wrath of Skinner, as he quickly made his way to his boss’ office. //Well, at least this would be more interesting than throwing paper airplanes into the waste basket// Kimberly, Skinner’s secretary, was no where to be seen, when he got there. But the door to Skinner’s office was open, so gingerly Mulder got in. "Have a seat, Agent Mulder." The strict and demanding ex-marine was seated behind his desk, reading over a file. Mulder waited for him to finish. "I’ve noticed that you are currently not assign to any case, is that correct?" "Yes,sir." "And Agent Scully is not here." Mulder nodded. "I have a new case for you. The daughter of a supreme court judge was murdered last night. There’s a lot of pressure from above to get this case solved. So I’m putting my best people on it. The agent assigned to this case doesn’t have a partner and neither do you. So Mulder, you getting a new partner...." "But sir...."Mulder started to protest. "No buts! It’s ONLY temporary. Your plane is leaving in two hours, you can read about the case on the plane." With that Skinner handed Mulder the file he was reading and dismissed him. Mulder knew any further protests were useless, there’s no way to change his boss’ mind. So he grudegely left the office. On board Flight 187 Washington, D.C. 12:00p.m. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelt and put your tray in the upright position. We are about to take off. We would also like to ask you to refrain from using any electronic equipment before we climb up to the appropriate elevation. Thank you." Mulder relaxed in his seat. Unlike Scully, he had always enjoyed plane rides.Fortunately, the plane was relatively empty, allowing him to stretch out his long legs. Then he pulled out the case file from his bag, put on his reading glasses and started filing the case into his photographic memeory. There had been a rash of murders with the seemingly very different M.O. in New York. All the victims had been of different age, sex, and race. There had been an old man, a middle aged woman, an early twenties young man and a 35 years old woman. They had all died from different causes, the police would’ve thought the murders were done by different people. Except for the fact that there was a similar piece of evidence left in each crime scene. Since this particular piece of information had been held from the public, so it was impossible for it to be the job of a copy cat. This had both the police and the N.Y bureau field office baffled, since neither had ever seen anything like it. So that’s why Spooky Mulder had been sent it, he’s the best there is when it comes to getting inside serial killers’ heads. (As much as he hates that thought) When he finished reading the case reports, he noticed that there was a brief profile on his new partner. //Skinner must’ve put it in, maybe he’s worried that he might turned out to be another Krycek. Skinner worried about me??!! Nah...// Mulder started reading. His.....um.....actually, her name is Special Agent Jessica Harrison. She graduated from Quantico last year. //A rookie? Hey, Skinner didn’t say anything about babysitting a rookie! Hmmm.....What’s this?// Agent Harrison was orginally Detective Harrison of the N.Y.P.D//Blue? Isn’t she rather young to have made detective?// Her quick promotions were due to her excellent investigative skills//probably earned her a lot of jealous enemies, too!// Which reminded Mulder of his own experiences in the V.C.S. She received three citations of bravery in various cases in which she risked her life and save others. //This lady has guts!// Mulder’s respect for this woman was increasing, she sorta reminded him of his own tough partner. She applied and was accepted to Quantico, the F.B.I. academy//hm..wonder why?// Then she was assigned to the New York field office. Apparently, both the instrutors at Quantico and her S.A.C. think very highlyof her. And that’s all that was included in the file. Mulder leaned back in his chair, sipping the water the stewardess gave him. He pondered about his new partner, he’s not keen on the notion of someone replacing Scully, however temporary. However, the file on Agent Harrison had stirred up Mulder’s sense of curiousity.He relaxed and closed his eyes, and decided to get some rest. As he slowly slipped out of conciousness, he thought that this Harrison might not be so bad after all. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx