ispyforthefbi | PSL: Ask Me No Questions

Mulder sticks another sunflower seed in his mouth and chews on the kernel inside the shell. He and the Doctor are enjoying a nice back-and-forth about aliens, their relationships with humans, and what to do about when they get hostile. The conversation has reached a lull, however. He removes the leftover seed shells from his teeth and places them in the table's ash tray.

"All right," Mulder sighs as he tucks his bag of seeds back into his coat pocket. "Let's mix things up a bit. We can talk aliens until the cows come home, but I'm curious about you—an alien yourself."

He crosses his legs and leans back in his chair, arms crossed in an almost challenging fashion.

"Truth or dare, but without the dare. We each get to ask each other a question and the other has to tell the truth no matter how unpleasant the answer might be for either of us. And it has to be personal questions. Nothing mundane like when our grandmothers were born. Real, hearty questions. What do you say?"

He raises his eyebrows and awaits the Doctor's answer.

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The Doctor's shoes are on the edge of Mulder's desk. The Doctor isn't taking the situation seriously or saying he owns the room or both. If anything, Ten finds Mulder intriguing, least for a 20th century human that isn't Torchwood or U.N.I.T.

"Mmmm?" Ten remarks sipping on some of his tea. Ten quirks an eyebrow back at Mulder because there are some questions he cannot answer truthfully. Like the equation to time travel, "Alright." How much The Doctor will keep that remains to be seen, "Who starts?"

"I asked first last time. You go," Mulder urged. A bit irked by the Doctor's casual spread of shoe dirt around his desk, Mulder stands up just enough to lean forward across his desk and swat the Doctor's feet away, gesturing for the man to plant his feet on the floor.

The Doctor's mouth is open for a moment, unconsciously licking his teeth slowly. Thinking. "Whut would you do, if you ever did find the aliens that took her?"

Mulder leans back in his chair and thinks hard for a moment. Something violent, he's sure, but he's fairly certain the Doctor would want a better answer than that.

"Everything I could to bring them down. The thing is, they never would have found her if certain humans hadn't gotten involved. They'd be the ones I would target."

The more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.

"I'd dig up any dirt I could find on them. Every shred of evidence that they're hiding something. Something big. I'd expose them for what they really are and everything they've done. I'd be sure they'd be held accountable for the lives they took or ruined. What I did with the aliens would depend on how well I could communicate with them and what their intentions for humanity are. I can tell they're doing what they're doing for selfish purposes, but for Scully's abductions, the human element is definitely more at play."

The Doctor raises an eyebrow and gives a non-verbal look of, Mulder - calm down. Okay. Nothing wrong with exposing them. Then gives Mulder a look. A look that reads, oh, how would you hold them accountable? Don't mind the judgement, Mulder.

Then gives a firm but approving head nod, "Good answer." Ten remarks simply.

"Thanks," Mulder replies, settling down and easing up his clenching fists. "She's my partner and my best friend, and I already screwed up getting revenge the first time, so if given the chance, I won't blow it the next time."

He exhales and look back up at the Doctor.

"My turn.

He ponders for a moment, stroking his chin as he thinks of a good question.

"Why do you never take me to visit your home planet?"

The Doctor beams because that's what he expects of humanity. Learning. Ten, quickly and emotionally withdraws and decides to lie to himself, "Because - humans aren't allowed." That is the truth, the lie is just The Doctor pretending that Gallifrey isn't burned.

Mulder scoffs.

"We're 'not allowed?' What kind of answer is that? How about an explanation? One word non-explanations don't count, Doctor. Our answers have to make sense."

"Just what I said you're not allowed." The Doctor remarks back his voice more firm with a tense face. Trying to figure a way out of this - the truth of that fact that the other Time Lords look down at the rest of the universe or that they're all gone. In a calmer tone asks, "Why do you want to know? There's many other worlds out there with life on it besides my own. Why is mine so interesting?"

Mulder frowns and rubs the back of his neck. This is clearly a touchy subject for the Doctor and Mulder doesn't want to step on his toes.

"Because it's yours. Because you're my friend and I'm curious. That's all."

Mulder shrugs defensively.

"We can drop it if it means that much to you. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

The Doctor internally groaning. There's a long pause and Ten shifts. His feet grounded and turning to look out the window. His hands semi-folded between the space of his legs; "Because - they're gone."

Mulder squints at the Doctor, baffled.

"Gone? Gone how?"

He's not even thinking about the question game now. He's curious and wants to know what happened.

A short silence, "They was a War. And they lost. Everyone lost."

Mulder is speechless. What do you say to someone whose entire civilization was wiped out? He has no reason to doubt the Doctor or believe he's pulling a prank. The look on the Doctor's face says it all; he is dead serious. Being a mere human, there really isn't anything Mulder can do to help.

"That's terrible. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

He looks down at his hands, lying in his lap, while he twiddles his thumbs awkwardly.

"I didn't mean to drudge up any bad memories. It was just a game."

Ten gives Mulder a firm head nod and looks away. The space is filled with silence. Then, "You should have seen it though. That planet was beautiful. Used to be called, the Shining World of the Seven Systems.."

"That sounds great," Mulder responds. "Feel like telling me more about it?"

Mulder senses it might be a bit therapeutic for the Doctor, so he asks kindly and considerately.

"The second sun would rise in the south, the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver and when they caught the light every morning it looked like the forest was on fire."

"Wow..."

Mulder mutters in amazement. It sounds beautiful.

"That's incredible. I don't, um, suppose our Autumn leaves turning red and orange hold a candle to that kind of sight, does it?"

The Doctor shakes his head in dismay, "Who is Scully?"

"You want me to talk about her some more? Okay, I'll bite."

Mulder's heart flutters thinking about her and he can't help but have an affectionate tone in his voice when he describes her.

"Dana Scully is my FBI partner. We were assigned to the same department 5 years ago. They assigned her to me because they think I need to be proven wrong in my endeavors towards the truth of alien lifeforms."

Funny. He now has confirmation that aliens—good aliens—exist. If he really, truly wanted to prove his superiors wrong, he could probably ask the Doctor to take him to any alien planet and bring home a shred of evidence or alien technology. Maybe that would get them off his back.

"She, um... she keeps me in check. She second guesses me when I make wild assumptions and keeps me grounded if—when—I decide to run headlong into dangerous situations. I'd probably be dead a million times over if it weren't for her."

He shrugs, trying not to talk his friend's ear off about how great his partner is.

"Should I go on?"

PSL: Ask Me No Questions

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