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Title: Sentinel of The Potomac: Prima Facie Summary: Jo Barnes was lost. Completely and utterly lost. Note: Annie and Jo are original characters. ;-)Mucho tanks to the Wonderful Azar, my beta reader Jo Barnes was lost. Completely and utterly lost. It wasn't a new condition for her. She had a lousy sense of direction and freely admitted it. Didn't really bother her but, on occasion, it could be a real pain in the ass. "If John doesn't show up in five minutes, he's a dead man," the slender doctor grumbled as she looked around for her friend. "'The office's easy to find,' he says. 'No way even you could get lost,' he says. 'Just get in the elevator and go to the basement, no problem.'" Jo's voice dropped a level as she mimicked her friend's easygoing tone. "Easy if the damn elevators are working! Which, of course, they aren't!" she huffed in frustration. "Next time he wants me to look at a file, he can bring the damn thing to the hospi- ooof!" Rounding yet another corner, the doctor found herself bouncing off a fairly hard surface. Momentarily confused, the brunette wondered aloud, "Who put that wall there?" At the same instant that she realized walls don't have hands--like the ones that were holding her upright--she heard an amused chuckle. Looking up, Jo found her obstruction to be a tall, imposing, man in a suit and wearing an FBI ID. 'Oops.' Flashing an embarrassed smile, the doctor fought down a blush. One of the drawbacks to being younger than most doctors, and shorter than most doctors, was that she was often told she looked like a teenager especially when she blushed. While sometimes that brought her laughter it could also be a serious pain in the ass when dealing with someone in a professional capacity. "I'm sorry," she stated, trying for her most professional voice. "I really didn't see you." He smiled slightly and released her. "No harm done. Are you all right?" Jo brushed imaginary wrinkles from her linen slacks and nodded. ""Seems like...well...my dignity's a bit bruised, but that happens a lot. Slight side effect of being absent-minded." She smiled wryly at that and held out a hand. "Doctor Jo Barnes." He shook her hand firmly. "Assistant Director Walter Skinner. A pleasure to meet you, Doctor." Automatically returning the greeting, Jo barely registered speaking as she recognized the name. 'Oh shit! Way to go Barnes! He's John's boss! Probably thinks I'm a total airhead now. Oh damn!' Her mind racing with colourful expletives, Jo inhaled slowly and did her best not to squeak when she spoke. "Um, may I inquire as to which direction I need to go in to find the X-Files office?" He frowned briefly. "The X-Files?" She nodded firmly. 'Lousy way to meet John's boss. He's gonna kill me!' "Yes. Agent Doggett's a friend of mine and he asked me to take a look at something." Knowing Skinner might not appreciate that, Jo pushed ahead quickly. "His partner's out of town and since I've consulted with law enforcement before, I was his next choice. Unfortunately, the elevators are temporarily out of action and the only stairwell I found is closed for painting. Not my day, I suppose," She finished with a sigh. The quick explanation seemed to head off any objections and he nodded. "There's a stairwell around the corner. I'll show you." Smiling gratefully at him, Jo fell into step with the tall man and did her best not to chatter too much. Which wasn't easy since she was quite embarrassed, a little nervous and quite distracted by her companion. Distracted in a good way but distracted nonetheless. To her relief, the Assistant Director didn't seem to find the conversation inane or annoying. Quite the opposite in fact--he seemed to be enjoying it immensely, responding to her questions and asking his own. It turned out to be one of the more enjoyable conversations she'd had in a while. Of course, that didn't let John off the hook. No sir, when she saw him he was going to get a serious lecture. Much too much fun involved with lecturing John to let it slide. When Skinner opened the stairwell door he smiled down at her again. "The last door should lead you to the X-Files office. If you still can't find it, just ask the first agent you see and they'll help you." "Thank you." Smiling briefly, Jo slipped past him then glanced back. "Again, it was a pleasure to meet you." 'As well as one of the more embarrassing moments of my life.' With that, she turned and hurried down the stairs, the blush that had been looming finally taking over her face. "Likewise, Doctor," Skinner noted before closing the door behind her. "What took you so long?" Doggett questioned when Jo appeared in the doorway. The dark-haired woman glared at him in a very Scully-esque manner. 'Must be the little lady-doctor thing,' he surmised as Jo responded irritably, "The elevators are out and I got lost." She gave him a decidedly evil grin. "Bumped into someone who proved to be quite helpful in finding the place though." Uh oh. He knew that look. "Who?" came the wary question. Jo didn't seem to be paying attention. "Just rounded the corner and--WHAM!--there he was. Mr. 'Tall, Cute and Intimidating.'" Seating herself in his chair and putting her feet up, the doctor smirked at him. "Did I mention cute?" "Josephine..." John deliberately drawled out her full name, earning him a glare from the petite woman. "Who did you meet?" "Assistant Director Walter Skinner..." She grinned. "You didn't mention he was cute." "Never noticed." Doggett muttered, eyeing her suspiciously. "And just how did you two meet?" "Like I said, I rounded the corner and smacked into him. Quite literally. He's in great shape. Nice hands too." "Jo...." he trailed off, frowning at her. "Relax, John, relax." The brunette gave him an impish smile. "I played nice. He's a very interesting person..." "Down, girl." Doggett pointed a finger at her. "Don't even think about it." "Think about what?" she asked innocently. "Nice try, Short Stuff, but I know you. You be a good girl and leave AD Skinner alone." John picked up a file and handed it to her. "Read that." Walking to the file cabinet, he muttered, "He's too old for you anyway." "Hmm?" Jo lifted her gaze from the file. 'Damn weird stuff in this office.' "You say something, John?" "Nothing, Short stuff. Just talking to myself about the case." "Yeah, well, you know what they say about people who talk to themselves..." "Behave." "Not a chance in hell." There was a pause and then they laughed. "Get to work, Short Stuff," John said after their laughter faded. "Time to earn your keep." "You're not paying me!" Jo protested immediately. "And you're not paying me and Annie rent for that cottage behind the house," he countered smoothly. "I see your point..." Jo tapped the file. "Be a dear and dig up any more you've on this stuff...when you said it was damn weird you weren't kidding." "You think that's bad...wait 'til you read the rest of it." With that, Doggett began digging through the files again, his mind no longer on his friend's apparent interest in his superior... No, now he was wondering where his partner was. It seemed his day for missing lady doctors....except he doubted Scully'd come waltzing through that door as Jo had done. 'Hope she's alright...' He worried to himself, pulling another file. 'If she doesn't call in an hour, I'm gonna check the sheriff's office.' His decision made, the FBI Agent turned to talk to his friend. In the meantime, they had work to do. finis
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