TITLE: Conhouse - Chapter One e-mail Address: ErinStone1@aol.com RATING: PG-13 CATEGORY: Scully/Slash SPOILERS: None Keywords: Scully Slash/Other Romance Summary: none Disclaimer: Fox, Chris Carter and 1013 own them ALL, except Lena Conhouse, she's mine. I'll say it again - please don't hurt me. Comments are welcomed. Please send them to ErinStone1@AOL.com ________________________________________ Special Agent Conhouse. Lena Conhouse. That was the woman's name. And Scully liked her immediately because she was intelligent and had an odd sense of humor. And the beauty of the thing was this, Conhouse seemed impervious to Mulder's obvious appreciation of her. "Alrighty then, family, here's the last of the samples. Call me crazy but they appear to be infused with a drug known as coaxin." "What's coaxin?" Mulder asked. Scully noted that he was invading Conhouse's personal space as he had done with her since their first day together. Conhouse didn't seem to notice.. "I was getting to that... Coaxin is a drug that is used to sedate patients prior to organ removal. If you're giving a kidney to your brother, say, you'd be given coaxin to sedate you, and - here's the interesting part - to coagulate the blood in your body in order to expedite the removal of organs without much blood loss." "And the victims had Coaxin in their bloodstream's?" "Yep, all three, which doesn't make much sense really. Why would a killer be concerned about slowing the blood loss of his victims if he was going to let them die anyway? It makes me think that they weren't meant to die." Conhouse paused, then looked at Scully, quickly raising and lowering her eye brows. "Things that make you go hmmm..." Scully smiled, she couldn't help it. The murders were grizzly. Three seemingly innocent people had been killed. Found in their hotel rooms dead, with major organs missing, and she was smiling. But hey, the woman was funny... "So, my friends, that's what I got so far. I'll keep looking, but the chances of me finding more at this point are a crap-shoot." Mulder found himself smiling too. This woman had integrated herself into the investigation. She was charming, really. And her use of the words 'family' and 'my friends' were very effective. He could see Scully being sucked in. And felt himself being sucked in as well. "Here's the good news. Coaxin has only one manufacturer. Chemtech. So - your perp would have to go directly to the source to obtain the substance." "How do we get a hold of Chemtech?" Scully asked. "Well - actually, I hope I'm not hopping on your last nerves here agents, but I did that. I called to find out who may have gotten the drug without the benefit of regular hospital pharmacy channels. What I found out is that no one but a hospital pharmacist can get coaxin." "So... we're looking for a hospital pharmacist?" "Or, someone with access to a hospital pharmacy, or I suppose, access to a pharmacist. That'd be my guess." Conhouse said. Scully watched Mulder and Conhouse talk about a possible profile of the murderer. Instead of listening to the profile, she took a good hard look at Conhouse. She guessed the agent at 35 or so. Shoulder length dark hair, almost black, in a kind of messy layered style. Dark brown eyes that had flecks of gold. Really good makeup, not heavy and tastefully done. She regarded the woman with a praise born of admiration for her sense of style. Or so she told herself. She knew how to dress herself, good clothing choices, black pants and top, tight fitting. Probably a blazer gracing the back of her chair at a desk somewhere nearby. She was sporting gold jewelry, although silver may have been a better choice for her. No wedding ring. She had shorter nails with opaque polish and white tips, a French manicure. She wasn't olive toned exactly... she had a skin color that Scully couldn't put her finger on. She was wearing Doc Marten's, Scully was sure of that. It was a more sedate pair, but Docs none the less. Somehow, the shoes matched the outfit, and Conhouse pulled off the 'executive woman' look with no trouble. "So that about covers it." Conhouse stated, looking toward Scully. "Well, thanks Conhouse. We appreciate your help." Mulder was effusive, touching his hand to her upper arm. "Not a problem. Let me know what turns up, this is 'barrel of monkeys' fun compared to what I have been working on." Scully couldn't resist. "And what would that be?" "DNA sampling for all new Agents. Directive from AD Skinner. What a bully that guy is huh? He called me into his office, sat me down, I was sure that I was going to be shit-canned. And then he just gave me the directive. All that drama just to ask me to do my job. Sheesh." The other agents looked at one another, smiling in recognition of Skinner's description. Conhouse came nearer to where both agents stood, looking around as she did so, gave them a sly smile and lowered her voice in a conspiratorial whisper, "That guys got some issues. I don't know if its personal rage or what, but his inner child is crying out for attention. Maybe a little decaf could take the edge off - who knows." Scully laughed. Mulder was smiling. Conhouse smiled at them. She liked these two, liked that they laughed at her kidding. Other agents just stared at her when she went off on a tangent. These two were different and it was a blessing. Mulder gave Conhouse a half wave and opened the lab door for Scully. "Keep us posted." "You betcha." Conhouse waved them out. "We've got nothing to go on." Scully was perched on the edge of Mulder's desk, a file in her hands. "Why don't I run a check on DC area hospital pharmacy's? Maybe something will turn up there. Organ selling is a lucrative business, and I think our killer may be selling what he gleans from his victims. There's really no other explanation." "Yeah, maybe he's new at this and hasn't been able to keep his victims from expiring while he takes the organs." Mulder's phone rang and he picked it up, "Mulder." Scully watched as his expression clouded over, "We'll be right there. Don't touch anything." "Scully, call Conhouse and see if she's into doing some field work. We've got another body and I think she could be helpful at the scene." "Okay. I'll see if she's up for it. Meet you there?" He nodded and scribbled on a sheet of paper and handed it to her, "This is where we're headed." "Thanks." "You okay?" Scully looked at the woman beside her in the car as she drove through the thick DC traffic. "Yeah, it's been a long time since I've been to the sight of a homicide. I see the body's in the lab and can disconnect myself a little better from the violence of the crime that way. Know what I mean?" "Yeah I do." 'No Scully, you don't.' Conhouse thought. "Listen, if it's too much, when we get there, don't feel like you have to go in." "I think I'll be okay, thanks though." She smiled at Scully, trying to appear brave. Scully had forgotten that not everyone sees eviscerated bloody bodies at crime scenes as 'typical'. "Hoo wee, somebody got crazy with the yellow tape." Conhouse said as they pulled into the motel's parking lot. It was a bit overdone. The police must have gone through a whole role of 'Police Line, Do Not Cross' tape. "Yeah, hope we can get through it." Scully parked and got out of the car. Conhouse fell in behind her as they walked up to the first policeman in sight. He looked awfully young. Scully and Conhouse both held up their Federal ID badges, "Scully, Federal Agent. This is Agent Conhouse. Okay if we go in?" "Go ahead." Conhouse turned back to him, looking very serious, pointing randomly around the area and said, "You need more tape out here mister." The policeman nodded and started scrambling in the trunk of his cruiser. Scully turned back to look at Conhouse, smiling and shaking her head. Conhouse just shrugged. They walked through the hotel room to the bathroom in back. Mulder was standing in the bathroom over the tub. "What have we got?" Scully looked up at him and he started to explain what they knew about the victim. Conhouse remained in the bathroom doorway, looking a little pale. "38 year old woman from Ohio, here on a sales training through her job with a vitamin company. The maid found her at about 1 o'clock this afternoon. She appears to be missing a kidney and a lung." "And a pulse." Conhouse stated simply. "Yeah, that too." Mulder said. Conhouse eased her way into the room and the other two agents stepped back against the wall to give her space. She knelt by the tub and looked carefully at the wounds in the woman's chest. "Got any latex on you Scully?" Scully handed her a pair of gloves from her pocket. Conhouse pulled them on and touched the edges of the chest wound. The flash came, as she knew it would. She could feel herself being lifted and placed in the tub. The ice came next, filling in the spaces around her. A voice, a man's voice, told her not to be afraid. She was drugged, that was certain, and she couldn't seem to open her eyes to get a look at the man. She managed to open her eyes just slightly, but saw only the top of the man's head. She smelled alcohol, and felt a syringe being inserted under the nail of her index finger. The flash was gone and she realized she had fallen back against Scully's legs. "Are you okay?" Scully had her shoulders and was squatting behind her. "Conhouse?" "I'm okay, just a little, ah, spinney." "We should get you out of here. Mulder help me get her up." Mulder grabbed an arm and Scully grabbed the other. They lifted Conhouse and walked her into the other room, setting her down on the bed. "It's a man, I'm sure of that." Conhouse stated, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. "He drugs them first, I think, then injects the coaxin under the nail of a finger, that's why I found no injection marks during the autopsies. " Mulder was stunned, "How..." "Just observation Mulder." Conhouse turned to Scully. "He doesn't want to hurt them. I have a feeling he doesn't enjoy his work. I think we need to check out unskilled hospital workers. Those incisions were done with a scalpel, but they weren't done well. Even a surgeon in a hurry is more careful than that, it's an ego thing. We need to figure out how he drugs them, that's a missing element too." Scully just nodded, she was fascinated. "Oh, dark hair, he may have dark hair." "Conhouse, how could you know all this?" Mulder's eyes narrowed a little. Skeptic, thought Conhouse. "Observation. Pure and simple." "Did you see dark hairs on the body?" "Nope, it's a hunch." She could see the wheels spinning in Mulder's head. He'd figure it out eventually, especially with his propensity for the unexplained, but she wanted to put it off as long as possible. "I missed any sedatives during the autopsies. Stupid of me, really. I'll have to check the lab work again. Look for obscure sedatives that aren't easy to get." "I'd like to help with that if I could." Scully said. "Please do." "And this autopsy, can I sit in on that too?" "That would be swell." Conhouse smiled. "Well, I'll leave you two to slice and dice." Mulder said. "I'll follow up on the hospital checks you started Scully. Catch you two later." And he made his way to the outside door. "What is with all this tape?!" They could hear Mulder ask as he fought his way through the door. Conhouse smiled at Scully and the redhead started laughing. She was alarmed to find that she couldn't seem to stop. "You're not thinking about snorting are you? Because I just hate that. Such an undignified noise for a grown up to make." Conhouse had a dead pan look on her face and it sent Scully into a new stream of laughter. Conhouse looked smug. "Let's go Ms. Laughsalot." Conhouse motioned towards the door. As they drove back to the lab Scully slowly recovered. It had been a lifetime since she'd laughed that hard. She had never been treated like this, teased like this by anyone except her brothers. And that teasing was never this pleasant. She was surprised to find that she liked it. She thought of Mulder and the tape comment again and tried in vain to suppress a laugh. Conhouse glanced at her, smiling. "You're a piece of work Conhouse." Conhouse looked surprised, and then let out a , 'ha'. Scully noted that she looked pleased through her feigned indignation. Mulder sat at his computer and typed "Conhouse, Lena" into the bureau's ID database. Seconds later, Conhouse's employment record popped up. He read through it carefully. Federal Bureau of Investigation Personnel record - Employment Division **Access limited to L-4 and above** Name: Conhouse, Lena Elizabeth DOB: 1st March 1964 Birthplace: Stoneboro, Pennsylvania Race: Caucasian Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Dark Brown Height: 5'5" Weight: 121 Sex: F Marital Status: Single Education: Stoneboro High School - Stoneboro, Pennsylvania BA - Northwestern University - Evanston, Illinois MA - New York University - New York, New York Doctorate - New York University - New York, New York Internal Medicine & Forensic Science with emphasis in Psychology Residency served out at Lutheran Mercy Medical Center - NY, NY Career History: August - 1994: Recruited into Bureau following completion of residency. Trained at Quantico, VA. Received highest level of accreditation in forensic sciences and deviant profiling. Hired directly by Quantico upon completion of training. Worked on numerous 'hard to profile' cases. Ninety eight percent solve rate. June 1998 - Assigned to the profiling/forensic sciences division, Washington D.C. bureau office. Personnel record notes are available through Human Resources Dept. at 202-555-1021. Mulder clicked on the 'print' icon and then called the number. A half hour later his e-mail notification chimed. To: S. A. Fox Mulder From: Human Resources Attachment: Conhouse1.doc Mulder downloaded the attached file and poured through it's contents. The words 'uncanny', 'perceptive', and 'unbelievable' were sprinkled throughout the descriptions of Conhouse that were written by her superiors. He hit 'print' again and sat back in his chair. 'She saw him', Mulder thought. 'I knew it. She can see the killer.' "Okay, the body is on it's way over. Should be about 20 minutes or so." Conhouse was taking her blazer off and draping it over the back of her chair. Scully looked around the woman's office. Her desk was cluttered, not unlike Mulder's actually. She had stacks of paper in piles, other papers scattered around in no particular order. Her nameplate had little gold star stickers all over it. Conhouse noticed Scully looking at it and said, "The lab administrative assistant gives me a gold star for every expense report I hand in that she can actually read." Scully smiled, raising an eyebrow at her. "I see." Conhouse sat down at her desk and scribbled some notes. Scully continued her visual tour of the office. She walked to the corner where a bulletin board was hanging on the wall. Miscellaneous notes were push pinned here and there. There were a handful of fortunes from fortune cookies. After each fortune, someone, Conhouse she assumed, had written the words, 'in jail'. "Shouldn't this be 'in bed'?" Scully asked. "Beg pardon?" Conhouse spun slowly in her chair to face her. The look with which she regarded Scully gave her sudden and unexplainable butterflies. Conhouse had her head tipped down, but her eyes were on Scully's, and the way she was looking at her.... "These fortunes," Scully drove on, trying to talk her way through the unfamiliar feeling, "like this one. Shouldn't it be 'You will have a long and fruitful life - in bed'?" Conhouse laughed. "Well yes, I suppose. I just put 'in jail' at the end of those because I was having lunch with my Dad. Thinking about sex things, and my parents... just gives me the woolies." "Really?" Scully laughed. "Yes - really." "That's funny Conhouse." "Not too." Conhouse was serious. "Yeah, that's funny." Scully smiled softly. The outer door to the lab opened and an EMT pushed a gurney through it slowly. "Ready?" Conhouse asked. "Yeah." They walked out into the lab area. The EMT looked at Lena, "Dr. Conhouse, you'll need to sign here." Conhouse grabbed the clipboard and signed quickly, handing it back to him. "Thanks Jack." "You bet." The professional tone Conhouse was using, along with her being addressed as 'Doctor' made Scully realize that she was in the company of a smart woman. Such wit and an active brain to go with it - quite a combination. Scully imaged that there weren't too many people mentally equipped to handle her. "Now, Dr. Scully, would you like to do the rap, or should I?" Scully wanted to watch her work. "You. Please." "Ok." They put on smocks and gloves. Conhouse flipped on the overhead recorder and slid the safety glasses into place on her nose. "September 1, 1998. 4:38 p.m. Doctors Dana Scully and Lena Conhouse, Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation - presiding over the autopsy of one Denise Ann Lang, white female, 38 years old, resident of Ohio. We will start by trying to determine time of death, then move on to means of death." Conhouse picked up a scalpel and started to cut. -end-