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! ==== XFV-N-575 ==== 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 ==== 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!