Title: Adrift

Author: Dana Doggett - danadoggett@yahoo.com

Website: http://www.danadoggett.com/

Dates: September 11, 2008

Distribution: Semper Fi, Lost In Your Eyes, Serenity of X, We Shall Not 
Forget XFMU. All others please ask.

Rating: PG-13

Category: Doggett/Scully, humor, casefile

Timeline: Anytime after season 9 as if "The Truth" didn't happen.

Episode References: I found as I wrote this that I made a few nods 
towards "Hollywood A.D." nothing that you really need to know though.

Beta: N/A

Summary: Doggett and Scully investigate what could be a haunted yacht.

Author's Note: This story is in response to the LOST AT SEA fanfic 
challenge at the Doggett/Scully creative challenge site, Lost In Your 
Eyes.



-----





"There should be another four hours in a day." John Doggett gazes out 
to sea from the deck of a small yacht, watching as the sun's golden 
rays slowly dip below the watery horizon.

"Regardless, Agent Doggett, we still have a case to solve." Dana Scully 
gently rests her hand on her partner's arm and smiles at him 
sympathetically.

"Yeah, well, you still have yet to convince me that we're going to 
leave here with solid proof that a ghost has been haunting-"

"-Skinner assigned us to this case for his friend," and she says this 
with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Wayne Federman, if we can come 
up with an explanation that satisfies his curiosity…" Scully trails off 
when she sees the expression on Doggett's face.

"Aren't you afraid our names and faces are going to get plastered on 
some Hollywood tabloid next to his?" Doggett shakes his head and laughs 
at himself, "FBI goes Hollywood, Agents help research ghost ship for 
upcoming Halloween thriller", Doggett makes up a tabloid news headline.

Scully cracks a smile, his dry sense of humor and way of making up 
headlines or explanations lawyers could say to a judge if they had the 
balls, always make her laugh.

"John… tabloids would be more likely to make up a story about our sex 
life and how I'm pregnant with a baby ghost, and then obsess over who's 
the daddy."

Doggett winces, she's right. Tabloids only seem interested in sex, 
infidelity, weight loss or gain, the Jolie/Pitt/Aniston drama, and 
other such nonsense. Not that he gazes at the tabloids while waiting in 
line at the grocery store.

"That'd be more of an X-File than what we're actually here for." He 
looks behind him back to where Wayne Federman stands along with the 
yacht's captain, he rolls his eyes as he sees Wayne using his hands to 
frame he and Scully in a "shot" with this evening's sunset.

Scully follows his gaze and smiles. 

"Think we ought to give him some action to go along with that shot?"

Doggett grins at her, knowing what she's suggesting. He leans toward 
her and kisses her lips, lingering there for a bit longer than they're 
both comfortable with while on the clock.

Their lips part and Scully wraps her arm around his waist.

"Agent Doggett, there are rules and regulations regarding your 
actions…" She's teasing him.

"You're an exception to the rule." He winks at her.

His words make her grin. Straight from the beginning of their 
relationship they decided against trying to hide it while at work. They 
both had been in previous relationships with co-workers and learned 
that keeping a relationship secret did nothing to keep the relationship 
strong. In fact, the secrecy was one of many reasons why each of their 
in-office relationships had failed. Scully finds it refreshing when 
Doggett expresses his feelings for her while they're at work. He 
doesn't do it all the time, only when the moment is deemed appropriate.

"So whatever happened between you and Walter?" Wayne's prying voice 
ruins the moment. His question is directed at Scully, whom he believes 
to have been intimately involved with Walter Skinner.

Scully removes her arm from Doggett's waist and faces Wayne.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I was never involved with A.D. 
Skinner." The tone in her voice very well could suggest that she's a 
bad liar.

"Sure, I see, and I assume now all your… paperwork, ahem, is done in 
your office with Agent Doggett?"

Doggett fails at concealing a laugh when he sees how red Scully's face 
has become. The more Wayne pokes and prods her about whether or not she 
and Skinner had, in his words, "got it on", the harder it gets for her 
to deny his accusations.

Scully playfully slaps Doggett's arm, "What're you laughing at?" She 
gives him the stink eye and he composes himself.

"Nothing."

Wayne eyes them both suspiciously and nods his head and moves the 
direction of the conversation.

"Anyhoo, sun's-a-settin', best get out your proton packs and be ready 
for some ghost busting." His humor was nothing to get excited about.

Doggett and Scully share a look, neither one of them amused by his lack 
of respect for the work that they are here to do.

"You've said that you've heard 'ghostly voices' aboard the yacht. Is 
there a particular area where these voices are prominent?" Scully pulls 
out a small memo pad and pen from her coat pocket.

"Downstairs, in the cabins, sounds as if the voices are coming right 
from the walls."

"Are the walls made of metal?" Doggett crosses his arms across his 
chest.

"Yes."

"Metal is a known conductor of energy, spirits, ghosts if you will, 
could have a strong connection to the metals used in this boat."

"This is a new yacht. I'm the first owner."

Scully sighs, adding to Doggett's theory, "It's possible that the yacht 
was made from recycled metals from other ships, it's not uncommon for 
airliners to build planes, using recovered, metallic parts, from crash 
sites, some people believe that the trauma of the crash on the dead 
could be recorded, for lack of a better term, into the recycled metals 
therefore being the reason why your ship is haunted." Scully smiles 
remembering an episode of a TV show called "The Others" that Mulder 
made her watch years ago. Who says you can't learn a little something 
by watching Friday night primetime on NBC?

"You're saying that my boat's metals are possessed?" Wayne isn't sure 
if Scully's pulling his leg or not.

"Not possessed rather a conductor of spirit energy."

Doggett speaks up, "Mr. Federman, have you or any of your guests ever 
actually seen a ghost?" Doggett decides to eye him as if he were a 
detective questioning a suspect, if only to see the man squirm 
uncomfortably before him.

"I once entertained actress," he puffs out his chest, his tone bragging 
that he's acquainted with celebrities, "Katie Morgan, and she freaked 
out claiming she saw some man in her bedroom – not me – who was moving 
his mouth, trying to say something to her."

"Was she strung out?" Doggett asks dryly.

"No faith in the famous, eh?" Wayne thinks he's cracking a joke and 
laughs at his words.

"I asked you a question." Doggett stares him down.

"She was drunk, whether or not she doped herself up I don't know."

Doggett nods his head. He looks to Scully, she seems lost in her own 
thoughts. He's not even sure she's listening. He looks back to Wayne.

"Agent Scully and I will go about our business, if you need us we'll be 
below deck, checking out the cabins."

"If you get frisky with each other, make sure you change the sheets 
afterward, there's nothing worse than lying down in another man's dried 
up semen." Wayne walks away laughing at what he said.

Doggett rolls his eyes at him and then focuses his attention on Scully.

"Hey."

Scully looks up at him, "Yeah?"

"You don't look well, you ok? Got a case of sea sickness?" He places 
his hand on her lower back.

"No, it's not that, I just uh... he said that Katie Morgan saw a man 
trying to say something to her..." She pauses. "When my dad died, 
before I got the call from my mom, I woke up and saw my father sitting 
in the chair in front of me, his mouth was moving, saying words that I 
could not hear..." She trails off.

"And you think that Katie had a visitation from someone she knew who 
had passed?"

"Maybe..." Scully seems distant as if the case isn't the first thing on 
her mind. 

"Dana?"

"I wish my father could have met you. You two would have had so much to 
talk about, his Navy stories, your Marines stories," she smiles, "I 
know he would have loved you."

Doggett isn't sure what to say, he nods his head, also wishing he could 
have met her father.

"I'm sorry, John, being out here on this boat, it makes me think of my 
dad. I still miss him even after all these years."

"They say that when you lose a loved one that it gets better but that 
you never actually get over it."

Scully nods, reflecting on the loss of her father, her sister, her 
brother Charles who lost his life fighting over in Iraq, Emily, her son 
William, and also of the time where Mulder had been considered dead. 
Each loss took a part of her with them, which she can never get back. 
She looks into Doggett's eyes and knows that he knows how it feels as 
well, he lost his son and his father in the same year and more recently 
his mother's health has been declining. At least they have each other, 
that makes living in this world that much more bearable.

Doggett opens the door that leads them to stairs taking them below 
deck. They both pause for a brief moment, are they afraid of what could 
be down there?

Scully flips on the light switch and starts heading down.

"Are you sure you don't want to use one of these?" Doggett pulls out 
his flashlight. "Could make this more interesting."

Scully raises an eyebrow, he's awfully playful today.

"If you think darkness will aid in our investigation, Agent Doggett, I 
have no objection."

Doggett turns on his flashlight and turns off the overhead lights. He 
follows closely behind Scully and leans down to whisper in her ear.

"It's more spooky this way..."

Doggett nearly jumps out of his skin as his cell phone rings, he drops 
his flashlight to the floor.

Scully can't help it, she's laughing uncontrollably. She picks up his 
flashlight as he answers his phone.

"John Doggett."





Mulder swivels around in his chair in the X-Files basement office, a 
pencil in his hand, he flips it up toward the ceiling, planting it in 
the tile above him. He leans forward over his desk and speaks into his 
phone.

"Agent Doggett, how's it going out there? You and Scully nab any 
ghosts?"





Doggett mouths out "it's Mulder" to Scully.

"No, no ghosts yet, Mulder. You got any tips on how to bring them out 
from their hiding places?"





Mulder stands up and walks toward the filing cabinets.

"You could always try a séance, but let me warn you, Scully used to use 
séances as a way to get guys to make out with her in high school. I'm 
not sure if she ever told you that."





"No, she hasn't." Doggett eyes Scully in a way that makes her wonder 
what he and Mulder are talking about.





"Well if you think Skinner sent you two out on a bogus case, use that 
to uh... pass the time."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm sure you will." Mulder smiles as he pulls out a file from the 
cabinet, the folder is labeled RECORDING GHOSTS, "Hey, look, something 
just came in that I need to take care of. Give me a call if you need my 
help."

Mulder hangs up his phone before Doggett can respond. He sits down at 
his desk to explore, once again, this casefile about a recording ghost 
in Georgetown.

Monica Reyes comes though the door, with a large bowl of popped 
microwave popcorn in her hands.

She stops dead in her tracks when she sees Mulder looking at a 
casefile.

"I thought we weren't going to work tonight."

Mulder looks up at her, "Sorry, I got caught up thinking about that 
case Scully and Doggett are on."

"Well put it away and let's set up the projector to play that reel-to-
reel movie you won off eBay. Which one is it again, 'Glen or Glenda'?"

"Plan 9 From Outer Space."

Monica pulls a chair over from Doggett's desk and takes a seat behind 
Mulder's desk; she kicks her feet up on the desk.

"Ooh, I haven't seen that one in years." She sounds happy that this is 
the movie they're spending their Friday night watching.

"It's one of my favorites. Scully hates it, she watched part of it with 
me once with a sneer on her face the entire time." He waits while 
Monica laughs. "Of course I was saying all the dialog with the movie so 
maybe that's what bothered her."

Monica laughs and puts a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

Mulder dims the office lights and starts the projector. He takes his 
seat next to Monica.

"Bet you never knew staying late at work on a Friday could be so much 
fun." Mulder playfully nudges Monica's arm as the movie begins and 
Mulder proceeds to say the opening dialog, "Greetings, my friend. We 
are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going 
to spend the rest of our lives! And remember, my friend, future events, 
such as these, will effect you in the future. You are interested in the 
unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable- that is why you are here."

Monica laughs and throws popcorn at Mulder. To his surprise she joins 
him on reciting the dialog with him.

"And now, for the first time, we are bringing you the full story of 
what happened on that fateful day. We are giving you all the evidence- 
based only on the secret testimony of the miserable souls who survived 
this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places... my friends, we 
cannot keep his a secret any longer! Let us punish the guilty, let us 
reward the innocent. My friends, can your hearts stand the shocking 
facts about Grave Robbers From Outer Space?"





Now with her own flashlight on, Scully is going from cabin to cabin, 
pausing at each one and listening as hard as she can for any faint 
sound of ghostly voices. She and Doggett have been doing this for the 
past hour without incident.

Doggett steps out of the cabin room down the hall from where she is, 
his body language says it all, he's given up.

"Dana, maybe we could do a séance and see if that gets a rise out of 
the ghosts." What Mulder told him is on his mind.

Scully continues to investigate.

"Mulder tell you about high school and séances, did he?" She steps out 
of the cabin she was in and aims her flashlight at Doggett. He's been 
caught.

"He did." He rubs the back of his neck.

"Hmm." Scully purses her lips and makes her way over to Doggett. "Like 
you, I have a hard time believing this yacht is haunted so... why don't 
we," she leans into him and kisses his neck, "skip the séance and get 
on with what you really want to do..."

Scully turns off her flashlight and places her lips against his, and 
he's more than willing to shove rules and regulations aside and forget 
about ghost hunting for the time being to do this. Keeping his 
flashlight on, he places his hand on her back and guides her, lip-
locked, into one of the cabins. The back of his legs hits the end of 
the bed and he falls backward, Scully falling on top of him. He lets go 
of his flashlight and it provides just enough light so they can see 
what they're going to do to each other.

Scully kisses him eagerly as her hands untuck his shirt. She slides her 
hands underneath it and feels her way from his toned abdomen to his 
chest. She feels him loosening up her shirt so she rises, straddling 
him and begins unbuttoning her blouse.

Doggett can't contain himself, he sits up and takes her in his arms and 
flips her onto her back, she gasps at the manner of his delicate attack 
on her body. His mouth covers hers as he uses his left hand to finish 
unbuttoning her shirt. He moves the fabric back to expose her white 
cotton bra. He places his hand on her covered breast and gently 
squeezes it. She shifts beneath him, feeling his erection pressing 
against her thigh.

"Johnny, we can't go all the way, that'd be bad." She's disappointed 
that she's saying this, but they are out here to work, not to play.

"I know." He kisses her forehead.

Scully nods her head and proceeds to unzip his pants; he helps her 
remove them from his body and then helps her out of hers. He raises an 
eyebrow when he sees her panties...

"Friday?"

"Oh yeah, that."

"Oh yeah?" He's amused.

Scully takes a breath before explaining.

"Monica gave me days of the week panties as a gag gift for my 
birthday... I thought they were cute so..."

"So you decided to wear them?"

Scully nods her head. The look in Doggett's eyes change.

"Kinda sexy..."

He bends down and kisses her hip bone, temporarily Scully forgets their 
no sex rule, she aches for him to touch her, she spreads her legs just 
slightly, but he doesn't and continues to plant small kisses up her 
abdomen, her rib cage, her cleavage, neck and finally her mouth. She 
runs her fingertips down his back, causing his nipples to become erect. 
He lets out a gasp of his own as she cups and kneads his ass with her 
hands.

He laughs at himself and shakes his head in amusement, "Sweetheart, I'm 
gonna need a cold shower here before you know it."

She grins at him devilishly, "Maybe that's my point."

They kiss again but are jolted back to Earth by a sudden shudder 
throughout the yacht. Doggett rolls off of her and grabs his 
flashlight.

"What was that?" He's trying his best not to sound afraid.

"Sounded like we hit something." Scully throws her blouse back on, not 
taking the time to button it.

Without thinking of throwing the rest of their clothes back on, Doggett 
and Scully head back up on deck. He in his army green, bulldog, USMC 
boxer shorts. She in her Friday panties, bra and unbuttoned blouse.

On deck, it's pitch black, almost as if the yacht has been abandoned.

"You go that way, I'll go this way." Doggett points and they split up.

Scully heads toward the stern and Doggett runs toward the bow of the 
ship. Scully peers over the rail to see if they hit something. In the 
dark she can't see a thing and Doggett is the one with the flashlight. 
Quite frankly she doesn't want to see anything, she's struck by the 
sudden fear of the possibility that this may be caused by a ghost.

She wishes Mulder were here in this moment, things like this rarely 
shook him, she'd be able to ramble on and on about how rationally she 
shouldn't be scared since there's nothing to be scared of, but without 
his constant ramblings of facts on ghosts and hauntings she's left with 
her own imagination. 

"Dana!"

She hears Doggett calling out for her, his voice sounds far away. Her 
heartbeat quickens as she hears the sound of thuds growing nearer and 
nearer as if someone or something is quickly closing in on her. Her 
eyes go wide then she sees the beam of light from Doggett's flashlight.

"John?!"

"No one's on board!" He pauses to catch his breath. "No one's driving 
this thing!"

"What do you mean no one's driving this thing?!" Her voice betrays her 
and all her fear comes out in this exclamation.

She shouldn't panic, but she is. She knows how to operate a boat, she 
spent many nights with her father out at sea in his boat, learning how 
to operate it, he taught her how to use celestial navigation to find 
her way back home, this shouldn't be so terrifying, but it is.

"Nobody's on the yacht, just you and I."

He holds out a piece of paper with a note on it. Scully takes it from 
him and reads it aloud.

"John and Dana, sorry the Captain and I ditched you. Walter assured me 
that at least one of you knows how to operate a boat. There's no ghost, 
Walter made that up to get you guys out here for a nice vacation. 
Enjoy. The keys are in the cockpit. Wayne."

Scully's eyes are wide. She looks up at Doggett.

"Is he serious?"

They both go to grab their cell phones from their pockets only to come 
to the realization that they are not fully clothed. They share a "at 
least we're the only ones on this thing" look and they run back to the 
stairs. Only things aren't as they should be. Much to their horror 
water has been filling up below deck and at a good rate too.

"We did hit something!" Doggett's voice cracks. "Our clothes and 
phones!" He points at the water coming up from below, which is just now 
spilling onto the deck.

Scully grabs him by the shoulders and makes him look at her.

"John, this boat is sinking, we need to find a raft or a lifeboat."

"No one's going to know where we are if we can't call them. There's 
nothing to ping us with." 

"That wouldn't matter out here anyway since there are no cell towers 
they can triangulate from." Scully almost laughs. "Besides, give Mulder 
enough time and he'll come out here to help us look for ghosts and 
that's when we'll be found."

"Unless he's spending time flirting with Monica."

Scully gives him a look to tell him to get a grip on himself. Doggett 
takes a breath and composes himself; this is no time to flip out. He's 
faced worse situations in his line of work; this shouldn't be so 
frightening.

For the next several minutes they scurry around the yacht in search of 
a lifeboat. Doggett emerges from the cockpit with an inflatable raft 
and holds it up.

"Will this do?"

Scully nods her head. 

With the boat sinking they go to part of the deck that is already 
submerged under water and Doggett pulls the cord to inflate the raft. 
Scully steps in without a hitch and the addition of her body weight 
causes the raft to start to drift away from Doggett.

"Get in, John."

But he just stands there. She tilts her head to the side, confused 
about why he's not moving.

"John?"

"I have an irrational fear of inflatable rafts in the ocean." He looks 
up, his eyes sincerely giving away the fact that he's afraid.

"What?!" She can't believe her ears; after all Doggett's been through 
in life it's an inflatable raft that slows him down?

"I saw 'Jaws 2' and that did me in, all those kids out in their little 
boats being hunted by that shark."

The raft drifts further away from him as he takes the time to explain 
his fear.

"John, you're going to have to face this fear of yours and swim out to 
me now, ok? Focus."

Her eyes lock with his and he nods his head and doesn't hesitate to get 
into the water, a few strokes later and he's crawling into the raft, 
sopping wet. He falls into Scully's lap and lets out an I'm-happy-to-
be-alive sigh.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." 

"Maybe I ought to take you to some marine aquarium and have you suited 
up to swim with sharks so that you will know that not every shark is a 
man-eater. In fact the only reason why sharks attack human beings is 
because the splashing we make in the water sounds like the splashing of 
the animals, like seals, that is a part of their diet."

"And here we sit in a small raft miles out at sea."

"Plus great white sharks aren't common in these waters, they're more 
likely to be found off the shores of Australia."

"That's comforting."

Scully runs her fingers through Doggett's wet hair, and they let a few 
quiet moments pass.

"At least it looks like we were out swimming and got lost. No one 
should be able to tell we're only in our under garments."

This gets a laugh out of Doggett. He sits up and looks in the direction 
of the yacht.

"Take a good look at her."

They watch as the yacht sinks below the surface. Now it's only a 
question of how long they'll be lost at sea before Mulder (their best 
bet), Skinner, Wayne Federman, or the Coast Guard finds them.

Doggett leans back against the side of the raft and looks at Scully.

"Remind me to thank my travel agent."

"You mean Skinner."

"Right."

Underneath the starry night sky, they drift, waiting for someone to 
rescue them. Scully leans her head against Doggett's shoulder and 
closes her eyes as he wraps his arm around her to do his best to keep 
her warm. He kisses her on the top of her head and closes his eyes.

THE END



-----





Here are the LOST AT SEA fanfic challenge requirements:

Challenge Subject: Lost At Sea 
Doggett and Scully are on a casefile investigating something 
paranormal. They have to end up on a boat or some kind - large or 
small, and they get lost at sea. Fanfic should include at least three 
of the following:
 
* Scully's father mentioned 
* fear of water and/or sea sickness 
* sea shell 
* wine bottle 
* floating dead body 
* set of keys 
* "What do you mean no one's driving this thing?" 
* "I guess there really is no place like home." 
* "Remind me to thank my travel agent."