Part 3

"He's not going anywhere."

Nodding in relief, the agent checked her mirrors and pulled out into the street from where she had parallel parked in front of the Spencer's house. "You seem to be taking this rather calmly. I'm getting more frazzled by the moment, but you look as though this kind of thing happens to you every day."

"It does."

"What? You have white mice interrupt your lunch on a daily basis?" Scully shot him an amused look.

"Not mice..."

"But something?"

He shrugged. "Let's just say I can't remember a time when my life was uneventful."

"I don't suppose you could be more specific."

Chance leaned back in his seat, a thoughful look on his face and his brow furrowed in concentration. "Okay...what are the chances of winning the lottery?"

"Probably one in a million."

"Well, for me it's one in seven."

Scully shot him a skeptical glance that she usually reserved for Mulder, complete with raised eyebrow. A loud horn blast from an oncoming car pulled her attention back to the road just in time to swerve out of its way.

"Sorry..." she muttered under her breath, coloring a little in embarrassment that she'd allowed herself to get so distracted. Chance didn't seem to have noticed, so she resumed the conversation. "How is that?"

"It's never taken me more than seven tickets to get a winner." He paused and shrugged. "Well, except once."

"And I presume you have an explanation for that exception?"

"That was the day Angie sort of 'borrowed' my luck."

Scully decided not to ask for details, since Chance's earlier attempt to tell her this story had been interrupted. "If you don't mind me asking, how does that relate to white mice and engagement rings?" This time, though she was dying to see the expression on his face, she kept her eyes on the road.

"It was just an example. You asked me to be specific."

"You're saying this goes beyond the lottery, huh?"

"Yep."

"How so?" They were at a stoplight, so Scully allowed herself to give him her full attention.

"More specifics?"

"You got it."

"Let's see...You're a doctor, I take it you've delivered a baby?"

She nodded, glancing back at the light to see if it had turned yet.

"Well, I'm NOT a doctor and I've delivered several, often more than one a day. I've had my car stolen half a dozen times and the one time I traded it in, the other one broke down on me. I've never run into someone unless it's for a reason. Stuff like that, though that's not even half of it." He nodded in the direction of the light. "Green."

Caught in the act of getting distracted twice now, Scully accidentally hit the gas with a little more force than was necessary. She quickly got the car back under the speed limit, but was having trouble not imagining the deadpan teasing her partner would be putting her through right about now if he was here. Chance must be getting a great impression of her driving skills, she reflected grimly.

Unconsciously, she channeled her embarrassment into irritation with her passenger. "Wait a minute, are you trying to tell me that you think what happened in the cafeteria today was your fault?" Her voice was incredulous.

"Not the words I would have chosen, but, yeah. Sort of."

"Unless you let the mice out and baked Laura's ring into the bread, I find that rather ridiculous." She hadn't meant that to come out so sharply, but he was beginning to remind her of Mulder, only maybe worse. This guy didn't just believe in the paranormal, he thought HE was paranormal!

Chance took it in stride though, and just kept grinning. That crooked smile of his reminded her of Mulder too. The difference was that Chance used his a lot more often. "How would you explain our little adventure then?" he asked.

She shook her head again in disbelief. "For someone named Chance, you certainly don't have a whole lot of respect for it. Is there some unwritten rule against living up to your name?"

"If there were, I get the impression your name would be Destiny," was the jovial reply.

"Is that so?"

Chance raised his hands in mock surrender, leaving the collander balanced precariously on his knees. "I was just kidding. Although..." A smile crept over his face and he looked thoughtful for a moment. "What's your middle name?"

"Katherine. Why?"

"Oh, nothing, just an idea."

They rode on for a few moments in silence, Scully trying to calm down by reminding herself that she wasn't really angry with Chance. It helped that he hadn't responded in kind to any of her jibes, making her realize he probably didn't place nearly as much importance on her _driving_ slip-ups as she did either. A little more relaxed, and rather contrite now, she smiled at him, and he returned it as if nothing had happened. The relief that washed over her was incredible.

At the next stoplight, which was only about a block from Headquarters, Scully glanced down at her watch. "I still have a few minutes left for lunch. You want to try again?"

"If our food's still there, I'd be more than happy to eat it."

"Good, you can tell me about your idea then."

"I'm surprised you want to hear it."

"Curiosity is not limited to the 'believers' of the world, Mr. Harper." Scully resisted the surprising temptation to wink at him.

She was turning into the parking lot when a curiously piecemeal car like nothing she had ever seen before came out of nowhere and almost hit them. Scully and the other driver both slammed suddenly on the brakes, her car blocking the only exit from the lot.

"Hey, that's my car!" Chance exclaimed.

The agent didn't allow herself time to wonder why anyone would want to steal such a junker. She threw open the door and jumped out, leaving the photographer to turn of the ignition.

"Are you sure this is your car?" She tossed the question over her shoulder as she drew her gun and badge.

"You think there are two of those things in the world?"

Good point. "Federal agent--" she called to the single occupant of the car. "Get out of the car and put your hands on top of it!"

Slowly a young man with shaggy dark hair and a sour expression on his face climbed out of the car. He sneered when he saw that a woman had arrested him, and turned to flee. Scully fired one shot that caught him right in the knee and the boy collapsed.

"Chance, do you think we can wait to get the mouse back to Headquarters until we take this guy down to the police station?"

He glanced at the collander in his lap. "Yeah, no hurry," he replied calmly, his voice displaying a hint of amusement. "It's dead."

A phone rang in the background, and Sheehan glanced over his shoulder to make sure it wasn't for him. One of the plainclothes officers picked it up. Two men in uniform passed them, leading a couple of scantily-clad ladies in handcuffs.

Scully reflected with a faint smile, turning back to the captain. "What does he do with the vehicles?" she asked.

"We're not sure. Probably resells them on the black market or something. I'm just glad he doesn't live in Southern California. Did you hear that they'd been having trouble with stolen cars being taken across the border and sold to Mexican police?" Scully noticed that he sounded almost as incredulous as some of Mulder's theories made her.

"Yes I have. It is a rather unusual problem."

"I'll say! What do you tell the victims of those crimes, for crying out loud--'Gee, we've found your car, but we can't return it because a Mexican cop bought it and won't let us bring it back across the border?'"

She smiled faintly.

One young female officer approached Sheehan and handed him a sheet of paper, smiling in passing at Scully and Chance. The captain grunted briefly and set the paper down on his desk. "The only thing I don't understand--" he continued. "And I hope you don't mind me saying this, Mr. Harper--is why Charlie went after your car. He usually goes for the classier models, a LOT classier."

For the umpteenth time that hour, the agent found herself staring at someone in disbelief. "Charlie?"

"Yeah, Charlie Soames. He's been in here so often, I think he's on a first name basis with everyone in the precinct. Drug charges, trespassing, harassment... The kid's got just about everything in his file but kidnapping and murder."

Scully shook her head in exasperation. "I don't believe this!" she muttered indistinctly to herself.

The captain left after thanking them again, and Scully just stood there for a few minutes, lost in thought. That really was an incredible coincidence--aggravatingly so. If it weren't for the fact that what Chance had told her completely defied logic and reason, not to mention reality, she would be tempted to believe it. She glanced over at him as if to reassure herself that he really was a perfectly normal human being. He was sitting down, scribbling something on a small scrap of paper, an amused look on his face.

"What are you writing?"

"My idea. Look at this." He stood and handed her the paper.

On it was written her full name, Dana Katherine Scully, and underneath it, the word "destiny." Several of the letters in her name were crossed out.

"What's this?"

"I spelled that..." he pointed to 'destiny,' "only with letters from your name. It is in there." He grinned. "If it weren't, your name would be 'Ana Kahre Cull.'"

Scully laughed. "Well, what do you know?" Her eyes drifted back to her watch. "Damn. I've got to get back to work. Do you want to come with me? Mulder should be back by now."

Chance shook his head. "Nah. I'm going to head home. Here..." He flipped the paper over and scribbled his address and phone number on the back of it. "If you're ever in my area, look me up. And if I'm not home, look for me at the Blue Plate Diner. We can make up that lunch we were supposed to be having."

She nodded, her eyes shining merrily. "Will do."

"By the way..."

"Yes?"

"What am I supposed to call you? You never did tell me."

"I guess I never really thought about it. Call me..." She glanced down at the piece of paper in her hands and laughed. "Call me 'Destiny.'"

Chance grinned and stuck out his right hand. "Well, Destiny, it was good to meet you."

"Same here, Chance."

"If my Luck holds, I can guarantee you we'll meet again."

Scully smiled. "I hope so, Chance. I hope so."

Scully hung up the phone with a sigh and reviewed the events of the afternoon in her mind. The salad she had twice abandoned was sitting on her desk. Since she hadn't had time to finish it once she got back from the station, she'd brought it down to the office with her. Even though she wouldn't allow herself to believe that Chance was somehow the reason for the string of bizarre events that had occupied her lunch hour, she still found herself thinking that things would probably calm down now that he was gone.

Then again, maybe not. After all, she did still have some explaining to do. She'd realized that when Skinner had congratulated her as they passed in the hallway. At first, she'd simply muttered a confused 'thanks,' but it hadn't taken her long to realize what misapprehension she'd accidentally perpetuated. She smiled, amused at the thought of Chance being mistakenly assumed to be her fianc'e.

As she took a bite of raw spinach drenched in bleu cheese, Scully's eyes drifted to Laura's engagement ring, which she was still wearing. She felt a sharp pang of regret, or something like it, pass through her heart. she wondered with a wistful smile, She'd never been engaged, and sometimes wondered if she ever would, but so far....well, if the right man HAD come along, she sure didn't know it yet.

Mulder chose that moment to make his appearance, and had no sooner reached his desk than he did a double take at the expression on the face of his usually serious partner. It didn't take him long to spot the apparent source of her change in mood and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey, Scully," he kept his voice deliberately casual. "Did you have a good lunch?"

"Ask me when I've finished it." She held up her salad. "As for lunch HOUR, well, it was...eventful. We didn't even get around to eating."

"I can see why not," her partner commented wryly.

Following his gaze with a puzzled frown, Scully's eyes drifted back to the ring. A knowing smile crept over her face as she reassessed her earlier comments under the assumption Mulder had obviously made. She studied her partner's face. Even though it was completely devoid of expression, she could tell he was intensely curious. Her smile broadened.

"Do you like it?" she asked, putting a note of lovesick eagerness into her voice and playfully twisting the ring around her finger. "Chance gave it to me..."

The End