Title: "Double Date" Author: Angela W. Category: JAG/X-Files Crossover Rating: PG-13 Summary: Bill Scully attempts to fix his sister up with Harm Rabb. Things don't go exactly as Bill had hoped. Timespan/Spoilers: Set between Seasons Six and Seven for "The X-Files"; early in Season Five for "JAG". Small spoiler for the "JAG" ep, "Front and Center". No mention of any specific XF eps. Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned herein belong to me. Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and Bill Scully are the property of Chris Carter and 1013 Productions. Harm Rabb and Sarah MacKenzie are the property of Donald Belisarius. Archive: Feel free to archive anywhere! Note: To those of you who are used to reading my "married" series of XF fanfics, this not one of them. In this story, Mulder and Scully have the same relationship they do on the actual show. Special Agent Dana Scully answered the phone in her basement office at F.B.I. headquarters. "Scully. Oh, hi, Bill! No, I haven't forgotten I'm meeting you for dinner. I know this is your last night here before heading back to California. Yes, at seven. Yes, Milano's. No, I promise. You want me to *say* it? Oh, all right. I *PROMISE* I will not let my partner drag me off on one of his snipe hunts when I'm supposed to be having dinner with you. I'll be there, Bill! What? A friend of yours? From the Academy? No, I understand that if you just ran into him today and didn't know he was stationed in this area. . .It's perfectly okay, Bill. I realize tonight will be your only chance to see him; I've got no objections to him joining us for dinner." Scully hung up the phone and flashed a look of exasperation at her partner, Special Agent Fox Mulder. "Big Brother Billy, I presume?" Scully nodded. "He's been in town since Sunday night, but I haven't even had a chance to see him. We're meeting for dinner tonight. I was looking forward to an hour or so alone with him, but apparently a friend of his is joining us." Mulder smiled. "I heard. You know, when Samantha and I were kids, if my parents let me bring a friend along on a family outing, they let her bring one, too. If Bill's bringing a friend along, you should get to bring one, too. It so happens that I'm free tonight." Scully grinned. "Nice try, Mulder! But Bill would have a fit if I brought you along." "Who's his friend?" Scully shrugged. "I didn't get a name. Some guy he went to the academy with." Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb answered the phone at JAG headquarters. "Rabb. Oh, hi, Bill. No, I haven't forgotten we'd planned to meet for dinner tonight. Milano's at seven, right? Your sister? The one who works for the F.B.I.? No, certainly I don't have any objection to her joining us for dinner." Harm hung up the phone to find his partner, Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie looking at him with a slightly quizzical expression on her face. "Somebody setting you up, Harm?" "Hardly that. It was Lt. Commander Bill Scully, a guy I went to the Academy with. He's stationed out in California, just in town for a few days. We were planning to have dinner together; his sister just returned to town from an assignment and she'll be joining us." "Have you ever met her before?" "I was probably introduced to her at some point, but I can't put a face to her name. For that matter, I can't put a *name* to her name. He just said "his sister". "So, if something crucial comes through in our investigation, I should come get you at Milano's?" Mac asked. "If it's crucial, yeah," Harm agreed. That evening, Dana Scully entered the restaurant and scanned the room for the familiar face of her brother. She'd changed out of the suit she'd worn to work that day into a clingy dress of midnight blue silk. Bill Scully rose from the table where he'd been seated with his friend and walked to greet his sister. As he escorted her back to the table the other man rose. My! thought Dana as she got her first look at Harm. He certainly was attractive. About Mulder's height, but broader. Whereas her partner's body had the lean strength of a runner's, this man looked more like a football player. Girl, you have it bad, she admonised herself ruefully. You meet a good-looking man and all you do is size him up to your partner. Goodness! thought Harm. It was easy to see that Dana had gotten the lion's share of the good looks in the Scully family. She was shorter than Mac, though. Harm allowed himself a inward groan of amusement. He really did have it bad. He'd just met an attractive woman but his thoughts immediately drifted back to his partner. "Nice to meet you," Harm said. "Pleased to meet you as well," Dana replied. Soon after the three of them had ordered drinks and were perusing menus, Bill's beeper went off. "Sorry, you two," he said, after taking a glance at the flashing number. "I've got to find a pay phone. If the waitress comes back, go ahead and order. I haven't decided, but I don't want to hold anyone else up." As it turned out, it was quite a while before Bill returned, so Dana and Harm had ordered and were making desultory small talk by the time her brother joined them. "I feel really bad saying this, but I've got to go," Bill said. "Emergency meeting before I catch a redeye flight back to the coast." "Gosh, I think the waitress has already turned in our order to the cook," Dana said. "She has and I've already paid for both your meals," Bill confirmed. "I invited the two of you to dinner; it's bad enough that I have to run off like this, I wasn't planning on sticking either of you with the check to top it off." Harm shrugged. "I guess we'll stay, then." Dana kissed her brother goodbye and the two men shook hands. Shortly thereafter, the food arrived. As they ate, Harm said quietly, "Dana, I don't mean to insult you in any way, but do you get the feeling that maybe Bill set this whole thing up? Like as sort of a quasi-blind date?" "Funny, I was just wondering that exact same thing myself," she agreed. "The woman I'd been dating for almost a year was recently transferred overseas," Harm explained. "We mutually agreed to make a clean break of it rather than try to sustain a long-distance relationship. I happened to mention that to your brother and I guess he thought I might be lonely or something" Dana smiled. "Quite frankly, I don't think he was so much concerned with you as with me. I'm. . .very close to my partner at the F.B.I. Too close, in Bill's opinion. I think this whole evening was his way of trying to get me to spend some time with another man." "Why doesn't your brother like your partner?" "Well, I've been injured on the job a couple of times. For some reason, Bill seems to hold Mulder personally responsible for those incidents." Harm grinned. "As Mac would say, an opinion based on an unproven assumption." "Who's Mac?" "She's my partner in the JAG Corps." Just then, Scully's cell phone rang. "Excuse me," she said, getting up from the table and walking into the restuarant foyer, then flipping on the phone and answering with, "Scully." "Hey, Scully." "Mulder. What's up?" "Just wondered how dinner was going?" "Want to come rescue me?" "From Bill? What's he doing, pulling your hair?" "No, it's worse than that. He engineered me into a blind date! Bill didn't want me to actually have dinner with him, he wanted me to have dinner with his friend. Five mintues after I arrived, Bill announced he had an urgent message and had to leave. So now I'm faced with having dinner with this stranger." "What, does he have three heads or something?" "No, Mulder. In fact, he's actually quite good-looking. As a matter of fact, don't bother to come rescue me. I'll see you on Monday. Bye." As Scully returned to the table, Harm asked, "Was that your partner?" "How did you guess?" Harm grinned. "I've got a partner, too, remember? I've noticed that when a person's cell phone rings, it's usually either their partner or their spouse. In this case, since you're not married, partner was the logical assumption. Either that or a lucky guess." "I hope you don't find this horribly intrusive, but I think he may be joining us. I know this evening isn't turning out like you planned. You thought you were going to have dinner with Bill, then it turned out to be Bill and me, then just me. Now it may end up being me and my partner!" "It's fine, Dana." Just then, Mulder walked in. Scully caught sight of him and gestured. He slid into the booth beside her and snaked an arm behind her shoulders before Harm could rise. "Mulder, this is Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb. He went to the Naval Academy with Bill. Harm, this is my partner, Special Agent Fox Mulder." "Please to meet you," both men murmured. "Mulder, where did you call me from? The parking lot of the resturant?" "I don't have to answer any questions without a lawyer present." "I'm a lawyer," Harm said, just for fun. It was obvious that, even if Harm had been interested, Dana Scully wasn't an available candidate to be his girlfriend. Mulder was subtly but surely staking a claim. The signs were unmistakable. The arm slid casually behind Dana; not actually around her shoulders, but near enough. Sitting closer to her than would normally be consider a polite distance from a co-worker or even a friend. The only question in Harm's mind was whether the two agents sitting across from him actually *were* lovers or if - like he and Mac - they were trying not to give in to their obvious attraction to each other. Apparently feeling sorry for her partner, Scully switched tactics. "Here, Mulder. Why don't you finish my dinner? I'm full." "Thanks, Scully. I may nibble a bit on it. So, you're a lawyer, Herman? For the JAG Corps, I presume?" "My name is Harmon, not Herman. Yes, I'm a JAG lawyer and," he paused and grinned, "now my partner just walked in." Harm got up and walked across the restuarant. "Oh, joy," Mulder murmured. "Dinner with two military guys!" "I'm surprised at you, Mulder," Scully replied. "What? You know I'm not a military fan." "Not that. It's why would you assume that *HIS* partner is a man when yours isn't?" "You mean his partner's a woman?" "Yes." "Have I mentioned how pretty you look in that dress?" Before Scully could reply, Harm was back at the table with a dark haired woman by his side. "Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, this is my partner, Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. Mac, this is Dana. She's Bill's sister. And her partner is Fox Mulder." "Pleased to meet you," Scully and Mulder said in unison. "Nice meeting both of you, as well," Mac replied. As the two JAG lawyers slid into the opposite side of the booth, Scully allowed a small smiled to flicker across her lips. If she really *had* been interested in being "fixed up" she'd be ready to kill Bill by this point. While Harm might not have been married or engaged, a single moment of seeing him with his partner made it obvious that the man was "taken". The two sat close together and smiled into each other's eyes. "I just, um, something's come up about the case," Mac said. "Have you eaten, Mac?" Harm asked. "Yes, I'm fine. Please, go ahead and finish though. It's not like we have to leave right this minute." "I think everybody's pretty much finished and Bill paid the tab before he left," Harm answered. After exchanging polite goodbyes, the JAG couple and the bureau couple both left the restaurant. As Harm and Mac drove back to her apartment in his car, Harm explained how he had ended up having dinner with two F.B.I. agents instead of his friend from the Academy. "I was right then," Mac said with a smug smile. "You *were* being set up! She's prettier than Jordan. Do you think you'll see her again?" Harm allowed tiny smile to turn up one corner of his mouth. Mac had just pulled off a neat trick, dissing Jordan's look by giving a compliment to Dana. "Only if I want to get shot. Her partner made it pretty obvious that he considered me to be poaching and the man carries a gun! I may be brave, but I'm not foolhardy." Mulder asked Scully, "Where'd you park? I'll walk you to your car." "No you won't," she answered. "You'll drive me home. Bill suggested I take a taxi to the restaurant and said he'd drive me home. Probably all part of his nefarious plot to get Harm to take me home!" "Does Bill really think you *NEED* help finding dates, Scully?" Scully shrugged. "Bill thinks I spend too much time with you." "Do you think you spend too much time with me?" "No," Scully answered as Mulder opened the door for her. An hour later, Mulder and Scully were relaxing over coffee in her apartment when the phone rang. Mulder could only hear Scully's side of the conversation, but it was soon all he could do not to laugh loud enough for her brother to hear him. "Hello. Oh, Bill, it's you. You're calling from the airport? Yes, I suppose I had a nice time at dinner. I had been looking forward to spending more than a few minutes with you, though. Did a tall, dark and handsome man happen to drive me home? Why yes, as a matter of fact. Yes, I *did* invite him in for coffee. We're having quite a pleasant conversation. Yes, that means he's still here. I don't know. I'm a big girl, Bill. Besides, I don't know that he'll necessarily *want* to kiss me good night. Okay. I love you, too. Give Tara and Matthew a kiss for me. Bye." When Scully hung up, she found that Mulder was on the floor, shaking with silent laughter. "Oh Scully! That was priceless! Bill is going to kill you when he finds out I'm the one who brought you home!" Scully gave a grin and said, "Now, Mulder. Did you hear me say one word to him that wasn't absolutely true? If he misinteprets it, that's hardly *MY* fault!" Author's e-mail address: tapw63@hotmail.com " ===== The Gossamer Project Author - Title - Date - Spoilers - Crossovers - X-Files - Adventures - Stories - Vignettes Download Other stories by W., Angela /Please let us know if the site is not working properly. Set story display preferences . Do not archive stories elsewhere without permission from the author(s). See the Gossamer policies for more information. /