TITLE: XFV-N-575
AUTHOR: Forte
E-MAIL: Bjm1352@aol.com
URL: http://www.thebasementoffice.com/
RATING: G
CATEGORY: V
SUMMARY: A challenge.
ARCHIVE: Gossamer and Ephemeral OK; anywhere else please ask first.
DISCLAIMER: They belong to CC, 1013, and FOX; *definitely* not me.
FEEDBACK: Would make my day!
THANKS: To Audrey Roget and mountainphile for quick beta and
encouragement!


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XFV-N-575
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March 29, 1996

The basement office,
late at night, door opened by
janitor with mop.

"That was quick, Scully,"
Mulder, back to the door, told
the file cabinet.

He turned to greet his
partner; found instead the bald,
pudgy janitor,

who gaped at him with
wide eyes, surprised to find the
office occupied.

"S-sorry," he said,
"I didn't think anyone
worked this late at night."

"Only night owls who
just came back from out of town,
stuck in the office

doing paperwork,
and waiting for their dinner
to be delivered,"

Mulder responded,
eyes narrowing, "and what brings
you here at this hour?"

"I tried to clean up
earlier," the man replied,
"a few hours ago,

"but the other man
said he was busy; told me
to come back later."

Mulder frowned.  "Other
man?  Who was it?  A tall, bald
guy wearing glasses?"

The janitor shook
his head.  "Gray hair.  No glasses."
Mulder's eyes widened.

"Was he smoking?"  "No,
but now that you mention it,
he did smell like smoke."

Mulder huffed, paused, then
turned and slammed the cabinet
drawer shut.  "Great.  Just great,"

he muttered.  He turned
back to his visitor.  "What
was this guy doing?"

"I'm not sure," the man
said, "but it looked like he was
looking for something."

Mulder looked upward,
hands on hips.  "What could Smokey
be up to?" he mused,

really to himself,
although the janitor, too,
was very concerned.

"I'll let you get back
to work.  Sorry again for
interrupting you."

Mulder just nodded,
lost in thought.  The janitor
slipped out quietly,

wanting to be gone
before Scully returned to
the basement office.

He had taken a
risk coming here tonight to
see Mulder; to

warn him, however
indirectly, that Spender
was up to something.

He couldn't yet show
his true face, or give his name:
Jeremiah Smith.


END

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Author's notes: the date stamp is significant for two reasons:
(1) it's before the original air date of "Talitha Cumi" (i.e., at the
time of this fic Mulder had not met Jeremiah Smith yet), and (2) that
date is the original air date of "Hell Money", the first XF ep I ever
saw.  Talk about a life-changing event!

I wrote this as a challenge to myself to come up with a mini-fic
in haiku form (albeit =bad= haiku form :-).  Did it work for you?

Thank you for reading!