Amorem Animalem

I Forgot My Toothbrush

Gulf Shores, Alabama
July 30th
7:26 AM

"Reservation for Mulder, please," Mulder said to the front desk worker at the Bay Street Hotel.

Scully looked around at the lavish interior of the hotel. She had never stayed in one quite so nice before. She and her partner always stayed in the dumpiest, frumpiest motels they could. It was a nice change. Well, it would be nice until AD Skinner found out.

"This is quite the place, Mulder," Scully said as they walked towards the elevator.

"It's a little extreme but I thought, why not stay near one of the crime scenes and have a little fun too." He said as they walked inside the mass of metal.

"What room am I in?" Scully asked as she waited to press the button to her floor.

"Well, considering how much this place is a night," Mulder began. Scully's eyes widened as if she knew exactly what he was going to say. "I booked us one room," Mulder said as he pressed the 10th-floor button.

"Mulder," Scully sighed,"You know the bureau's strict policy against agents of the opposite sex sharing a room."

"I am quite aware. But don't worry, it has two queen beds," He smiled. "C'mon Scully. We're at a resort on the beach. Have a little fun."

"Mulder, we may be at a resort on the beach but I didn't come here to have fun. I came here to solve the murder case and bring justice to the victims and their families." Scully said in a hard voice.

"And that's not fun?" Mulder exclaimed as the elevator opened. Scully frowned and walked out. "I'm kidding!" He yelled jokingly as he chased the tiny agent out of the elevator.

Their room was huge and smelled like fresh coconut and lemon grass. The beds were plush and pictures of starfish hung over each headboard. Scully walked into the bathroom to check the amenities and said with a smile, "It's nice to finally see a bathtub that doesn't have cockroaches in it."

Mulder set down his and Dana's suitcases and walked towards the deck door. Scully followed him, folding her arms against her chest. He opened the door and the sea breeze immediately hit him on the chest. It was warm and felt amazing. "Scully, check this view out." He said as she followed him onto the small deck.

"It's nice." She said as she put her hand against her forehead like a visor. The sun was rising and the ocean was painted with yellow and orange hues. She watched as Mulder stood against the ledge: His hair blowing messily in the wind and the smile on his face made him look like a little boy that had gone to the ocean for the first time.

"Scully, I can't tell you the last time I just stared at nothing and let my mind go blank." He said with a sigh. Dana sighed too. She felt the same way.

"Well, you have about an hour and a half to enjoy your mini-vacation before we have to get back to work," Dana said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.  "I'm going to take a short nap." She said as she closed the door quietly. Mulder took one more breath of the salty sea air and followed her inside. He got in his bed, and didn't sleep, but watched Scully snore until she woke up.

~
8:45 AM

The two agents began to get ready for the day. Scully curled her hair as Mulder showered and she did her makeup as he shaved his face. They acted like a married couple, as they compromised their space and mirrored one another.

"Oh crap," Mulder sighed as he recklessly looked through his travel bag."I forgot my toothbrush. Could I borrow your's really quickly?"

Scully sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mulder, I'm getting tired of babysitting you." She groaned as she set her mascara down and handed him her pink toothbrush.

"You're the best, mom," Mulder smirked as he began to brush his teeth. Scully replied with one of her famous eye rolls, but on the inside, she was excited that he was using her toothbrush for some odd reason. It was like a celebrity was using her pen to autograph a poster. Her mind corrected her girlish indulgence and snapped saying, "Pull yourself together, Dana." She tried to keep her cool but the more she watched him brush his teeth the more longing she felt. "That toothbrush is getting more action than me." She thought to herself as she watched Mulder harshly scrub it all over his tongue. She scolded herself for behaving like such a freak and reminded herself to keep it professional.

When Mulder was done, he offered the destroyed toothbrush back to her. "You can keep it." She awkwardly smiled. Mulder lifted his shoulders and continued to brush his teeth like a maniac. Scully walked back into the bedroom, prepared her purse for the day and placed her gun in the holster against her waist. She smoothed her light blue blazer over top of it and pulled up her matching blue pencil skirt. She smiled at herself and felt unstoppable in her favorite outfit.

The two set out for the morgue at a quarter after nine. Scully had agreed to perform the autopsies on the first two victims while Mulder said he would go gather more information on the other four.

"Mulder, did the press only publicly release information on the first two murder victims?" Scully asked as she flipped through the file.

"Yeah. They didn't want the town to be in an uproar. They sent me limited information but promised me more if I met with the police department in person." He replied.

"What do you think you'll find?" Scully asked as she looked out the window at the dozens of hotels and gift shops.

"Most likely information similar to the first case. They'll be found together, most likely tied to one another or bound together in some way, found in water or in the sand. I'm not as much intrigued by how they're found but more by what happened to them." Mulder said as he chewed on his fingernail.

"Isn't that what all agents are more interested in?" Scully asked.

"Not all of them."

They arrived at the morgue and Mulder followed Scully into the autopsy room to see that she got there without any problems. She assured Mulder that she would be okay and when she began to unzip the body bag he knew that it was his time to leave.

"9:56 AM," Scully began to say into her tape recorder. "Victim's name is Molly Griswald, approximately in her mid-twenties. Subject weighs one-hundred-and-thirty-four pounds. Height is 68 inches. I'll begin with the Y incision." Dana pressed her scalpel into the chest of the victim and cut down to the navel. Everything appeared to be normal, she thought. There were water and sand in the lungs and stomach lining, but that was only to be expected due to the circumstances the bodies were found in. There were a few lacerations around the neck and severe bruising on the rib cage and wrists, but other than that she couldn't pinpoint an exact cause of death. She decided to have both the bodies of Daniel and Molly sent in for a toxicology report. She waited for the results and wondered what Mulder had found out.