When Mulder Met Ronon

Wild dreadlocks. Scruffy facial hair. Dark eyes.

Mulder stopped in his tracks and fixed the man with a calculative stare.

"Excuse me," he began when the man turned to leave without sparing him so much as a glance. "I'm with the FBI. Were you here last night, same time?" He flipped his badge open to show the man and then neatly tucked it back into the inside pocket of his coat.

The man paused, flicked his gaze back to him. "Yeah I was around," he said simply. "Is that a problem?"

Mulder sighed inwardly to himself. Judging by his companion's body language and the tone of his voice, they were in for an awkward conversation. "It's no problem at all, sir," Mulder replied smoothly. "If you could just answer a few questions we'd greatly appreciate it."

"We?" Trained eyes scanned their surroundings.

"Yeah. I'm with the FBI. My partner is over there," he explained, nodding towards where he'd parked the company car. "She's the one waiting by the car."

The man studied her for a moment, small frown in place. "Right."

"You're a man of few words, huh?" Mulder tried, smiling encouragingly.

His only response was a shrug.

"What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

"Sorry, I should have opened with that. I'm Agent Mulder. Fox Mulder." He extended his hand.

The man stared at it for a moment as if assessing any danger it may bring to him and then slowly shook it. "Fox as in the animal?"

"Yeah, that's right." Mulder confirmed with a sigh. "And you are?"

"Ronon Dex."

"Where are you from Mr Dex?"

Ronon gives a short burst of laughter and his lip curls into a sardonic smile. "A long way away," he supplies. "Let's leave it at that."

"Right. Of course," Mulder agrees. "That's fine. Now, did you see anything strange around here last night? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, you know. People behaving strangely. Unusual lights in the sky. Anything like that."

"Spaceships, you mean?" Cautious.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right." Mulder gave him a look. "Did you see something?"

Ronon stared back at him for a long moment and then suddenly shook his head. "Nah. I didn't see anything."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. Thank you for your time," Mulder said. He offered Ronon a small smile and then turned and headed back to the car and Scully. As he opened the door and climbed in, he frowned to himself.

"Well," he murmured. "That was definitely strange."