Returning to the dining room, Dana and Alex are taken back a bit when they find that most of the dishes have been cleared away.

John and Walter are, in fact, in the kitchen loading the dishwasher and putting leftovers into the refrigerator.  While Monica and Mulder are sitting on the couch in the living room, engaged in a hushed discussion relating to the Alien Virus; however, the two grow silent when they notice the couple standing off to the side of the table.

“Scully.  That was a great dinner you made.”  Mulder offers, trying his best to ignore the fact that the pair before him is once more holding hands.

“Yes, Day.  It was.”  Monica agrees.  She also notes the stance of the two, and catches Mulder’s glare.  Shit, I hope this night turns out all right.  I want her to be happy, and Mister Krycek apparently makes her just that!  I hope Mulder can get over his pride and see it, too.

“Thank you, Mulder.  Mon.  But, I didn’t make it.  All praise should go to Alex.  All I did was buy the beverages.  However, I’m glad that you enjoyed it; once you finally sat down to eat.”

Mulder stares at Krycek, indeed stunned.  “It…it was good.  Now.  What else do you have to say to me?”  I can’t believe that I’m being nice to this son of a bitch!

“If you can wait a few minutes, I’ll tell everybody.  But first, I want to help finish cleaning up.  Then we can open the discussion over some coffee.”

“Sounds good to me.”  Dana replies, giving Alex’s hand a comforting squeeze, before allowing him to pull away from her.

“Day?  Would you like to sit down?”  Monica asks, scooting over a little to allow her friend a place to sit.  Alex smiles shyly, as he watches her move to join the agents, keeping a cautious eye on Mulder, as he walks around the dining area to pick up soiled napkins, and empty cups.

It’s nice to see her have a woman for a friend.  Damn, if only I could have saved her sister!

“That would be nice, yes.”  Dana responds, unaware of Alex’s hidden melancholy.  “I want to hear about your decision to move up here, Mon.”

Alex smiles fully, as the two women start to talk, and turns his full attention to his chore.

Monica glances at Alex, and then smiles at Dana.  “It’s nothing really.  New Orleans bores me, if you want the honest truth.  From what I have both experienced, and heard, in the past three months, I think the X-Files will be the perfect place for me.”

“I think so, too.  I’m very happy that you’ll be joining our team.  Now, we just need to start looking for a place for you to live.”

“You know, with all of the excitement of the day, I hadn’t thought of that.  I suppose I’ll stay at a hotel for now.  I better look for something soon, though, if my transfer takes affect a week from Monday.”

“Walter will let you have some time to get settled, I’m sure.  You can stay with me for awhile, if you’d like.  The baby isn’t due for another few weeks.  It would be nice to have a friend around I can talk to.”  Dana laughs.

“I know what you mean, Day.”  Monica rejoins with a chuckle of her own.

Mulder, simply sitting there, watches the two women converse.  I can’t believe the changes in her.  She looks so…  Alive.  So happy.  I know they say pregnant women “glow”, but she is positively radiant.

“Scully?”  He asks, hating to break into their conversation, but feeling as though he must.

“Yes, Mulder?”  Now what?

He looks at her sheepishly.  “I merely wanted to say that you look great.  I’m glad that things are starting to finally work out the way you want them to.  You seem happy.”

She looks at him, then at Monica, then back at him-surprised.

“Things are starting to work out, Mulder.  I’m glad that you came back here tonight.  I know it was difficult for you, but I am happy you did.  You too, Monica.  I’m happy that you are both here.  However, we aren’t finished yet.  I know the next few hours may be hard for you, Mulder.  But trust me.  It will make sense to you.”

“I trust you, Scully.  I’ve always trusted you.”  He stands up, places a small kiss on her cheek, winks at Monica, and then walks into the kitchen to see how he can help the other men with the cleaning.

Monica and Dana stare at his retreating back; shocked by Mulder’s uncharacteristic behavior.

“He likes you.”  Dana informs her friend, with a grin.

Monica gapes at her taken aback.  “What makes you think that?”

“Just a feeling I have.  I have known Mulder for a long time, and you are the first woman that I have seen catch his eye.  He’s been throwing glances at you all evening.”

“No he hasn’t.”  Monica protests, shaking her head vehemently.  “Has he?”  She then asks, a hopeful smile creeping across her face, as she sneaks another peek toward the kitchen.

Dana laughs.  “Yes, he has.  I think the two of you would be great together.  Just be careful, Mon.  He can be rather…intense…at times.”

“That, I have noticed.  But, it doesn’t bother me at all, Day.  I like it about him.  Yet, I must admit, at first I was a little worried.  What with regard to his feelings for you.”

Dana smiles at her.  “No worries about that, Mon.  He and I are only friends.  Yes, we may have a quirky relationship, but, if there is one thing about Mulder that makes him so endearing?  It is his loyalty to those he cares about.  I wish you all the luck in the world.”

“Day, please?  I just met the man last night!”  Monica responds, blushing.

“Yes, well.  I have seen stranger things happen, Monica, believe me.”  She presses with a chuckle; thinking of Alex.

~~~

Mulder walks nervously into the kitchen; hoping to lend a hand.  Upon hearing the banter taking place, he moves to the side for a moment,  and stands; watching the interaction between the three men with a bit of awe, and feeling a little out of place.

Okay, now this is surreal.  This cannot possibly be the same Alex Krycek.  The man that I have hated for so long.  Look at him, laughing and joking around with Skinner.  As if they have been friends their entire lives!  I don’t understand.  This man almost killed him, too!  Those nanobots are still in him!  Isn’t he even remotely worried that Krycek will simply turn them on one night when he least expects it?

“Hey, Mulder?”  Skinner calls out, as he turns and catches him standing there, “Come on in.  Help us with these damn dishes.”  He demands, chuckling.  “I guess I’m not used to having so many people over.  I forgot about the mess you have to clean up after a big meal.”

“My wife and I used to entertain a lot, back in New York.  We would have guys from the precinct over just about every Saturday.  Damn, did we have fun back…?”  John trails off, lost in the memories of a happier time.

“Are you all right, Agent Doggett?”  Mulder asks, as he grabs a towel and, though still skittish about his feelings regarding Krycek, starts to help him by drying the pans, after the younger man has rinsed them.

They unconsciously fall into a pattern.

John washing, Alex rinsing, and Mulder drying, as Walter puts away the dishes.

“I’m fine, Agent Mulduh.  Just, rememberin’.  Sometimes it’s painful, but other times?  Like now?  It’s okay.”

“What happened to your wife?”  Mulder questions, completely oblivious to the history of John Doggett.

Walter and Alex both look at Mulder, surprised.  But then they realize that he is only asking to make conversation.  He has no idea about John.  In fact, they really don’t either.  John has kept pretty mum about the entire subject.

“We’re divorced.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  I didn’t know.”  Mulder replies, feeling like a jerk.  Again.

“How could you?”  John responds.  “I don’t exactly talk about it.  Plus, you and I just met, so you wouldn’t know.”

“Know what?”  Dana inquires, as she and Monica appear in the doorway, enchanted by the image of the four men doing the dishes together.

“That I am divorced.”  John answers, swiftly glancing at Monica.

Monica looks away, and flushes.

Mulder, seeing this exchange, is instantly intrigued.  What is she hiding?  Or is this something she would rather not talk about, either?  She did say she has known Agent Doggett before.  But, in what capacity?

Dana notices the woman’s reaction, too, and also wonders what’s going on.  Then, feeling as though the subject needs to be changed immediately, she chances a look over at Alex.  He catches her eye, and nods toward the coffeemaker.  She blinks in return and moves into the kitchen to make some, as Alex says, while drying his hands off with a towel, “Come on guys.  The dishes are done.  Let’s get back to the table.  I think it’s time we had our talk.”

“All right, if we’re going to do this, we might as well start now.”  Mulder agrees, tossing his towel onto the counter.  He walks passed Krycek, up to Monica, and takes her by the hand, surprising everyone.  “Shall we?”

“Okay.”  She replies quietly, unable to say anything else.

John and Walter walk by Dana on their way out of the kitchen, and as John passes her; she holds out her hand and touches his arm.  “John.  He didn’t mean…”

“I know, Dana.  I’m okay.  I realized he has no idea about me.  So, maybe…  Maybe I will tell him my story, too.  Might as well get it all out into the open.  Start that new beginnin’ you were talkin’ about.”

“John, don’t think you have to bare your soul to us, because you don’t.”

“It’s all right, Dana.  Really.  Maybe it’s time for me to get it out of my system and move on, too.”  He smiles at her, and then continues out to the dining room.  He retakes his seat and starts talking to Walter about the time he spent in Lebanon while in the Marines.

Dana walks to the doorway and watches all of her friends for another moment, as they each talk amongst themselves; Mulder and Monica discussing whether or not, since he has some free time, if she would like for him to join her in Louisiana to help her move.  John and Walter continue their chat about the military.  She smiles, and in turning back toward the coffeemaker, catches Alex grinning at her.

“What?”  She asks, blushing a little under his intense gaze.

“I love you.”  He tells her, clearly.  Confidently.

More than a little startled at how easily he shares his feelings for her, she stares at him.  So unlike Mulder.  Yet?  She turns to look through the doorway at Mulder again, as he talks with Monica.  Mulder does have potential.  She turns back to Alex, enjoying that he does not hide his feelings for her.  Thus, with a new lightness in her heart, she decides she will not hide hers from him, either.  “I love you, too, Alex.”

His smile broadens, and he lowers his lashes shyly.

She walks up to him, places her arms around his waist and lays her head against his chest.

Taken by surprise at her overt action, he puts his arms around her, enjoying the feel of her plump body against his own.  He sighs, gently squeezing her to him.  “I still find it hard to believe that you are here, Dana.  That this is really happening with the two of us.”

“Why?”  She asks, quite comfortable where she stands, but also desiring to look up at his face.  At his eyes.  Oh, his eyes will drown me, if I’m not careful.  She lets him go enough to raise her head, and smiles up at him, as he gently starts stroking her cheek.

“This is real, isn’t it?  I’m not just hallucinating all of this from some dark alley somewhere, am I?”  He questions, gazing into her sapphire pools.

She chuckles.  “No, Sashka.  No dark alleys.  Not anymore.  This is happening.”

“Good.  Because if it were all a dream, I would rather not wake up from it.”  He admits, as he bends his head and kisses her.  Gently, at first, but, as she opens her mouth to grant access to his tongue, he pulls her even closer, and then nibbles on her bottom lip.

She giggles, sending electricity flowing through him, straight to the soles of his feet

He pulls away, much to her disappointment, but his eyes promise there will be more kisses for her, very soon.

She grins.  “Come on, Alex.  Let’s get this over with.  Then we can talk about ways to make you realize that you are not dreaming.”

“That sounds promising, Katya.  Are you, by chance, flirting with me?”

She pulls away from him entirely, and takes the creamer from the refrigerator.  “Maybe.”  She says coyly, with a gleam in her eye.

“I am in trouble now.”  He laughs, as he hurriedly picks up the tray of mugs and the coffee decanter, and follows her out to the table.

~~~

Mulder, watching avidly as the couple approach, still cannot get over how happy Scully looks, as she and Krycek come out of the kitchen.  The fact that it is obviously Krycek’s doing, does not make me feel any better, either.  Yet, I know whatever it was that had happened between them recently, if forced, she will choose Krycek over her friendship with me, because of it.  Child or no child.

That is another thing.  That is my child she is carrying.  Mine.  A little Mulder.

“Scully?”  He asks, after they have taken their seats and the coffee has been poured for all.

“Yes, Mulder?”

“What are you going to do about the baby?”

Well, at least he is still blunt.  That part about him hasn’t changed any.  She thinks, noticing how quiet the rest of the room has become at his question.  However, I don’t feel this is the time to be discussing that issue.  Not with Alex and Mulder still at odds with one another.  “Mulder, I’m sure that you have a lot of questions, but would you mind if we got through this discussion first?  I think it will be easier on all of us, if the two of you,” she looks at Alex, then back at him, “were to work out your differences, before we talk about the baby.  However, if you are worried that I won’t allow you to be a part of the baby’s life, you need not.  You are the father and our child will grow up knowing that.  As for the details?  Unfortunately, I’m unable to answer any specific questions you may have, at the moment.”

He gazes at her for what feels like an eon, and then nods.  “All right, I can respect that.”  He replies, before turning his complete attention to Krycek.  “What is it you have to say to me?  What could you possibly say that will make me believe that you did not kill my father?  Or Scully’s sister?”

“The truth, Mulder.  Only the truth.”

“I already know the truth.  That’s just it.  I know about Samantha, how she left.  When she left.  I know about The Syndicate.  I know about the Project that my father died trying to warn me about.  I know about the Black Oil.  The Virus being cultivated and spread by bees.  I know a lot of these things.  So, again, I ask you, what could you possibly tell me that I don’t already know?  I saw you there, in the bathroom, the night my father was killed.  Luis Cardinal implicated you for the death of Melissa Scully.  Putting two and two together, I would say, Krycek that places you, as the killer.”  He states plainly, trying very hard-for Scully-to keep his temper in check.  Yet he wonders how long he can hold out, before he simply says ‘screw it’ and hits the man.

Not bothered by his tirade, Alex simply looks at him and asks, “Mulder?  Didn’t it ever occur to you, how precise it seemed?  How I ‘just happened’ to be there, when your father was killed?  Did it never occur to you that I was there to warn your father?  That I knew there was going to be an attempt made and thus, I was trying to stop it?  Yet failed?  Miserably?”

“That is bullshit!  If you were there to protect my father, than why did you not simply go to the front door?  Like normal people do?  Why through the fucking window?”  He inquires harshly, finding himself losing his temper, anyway.  Scully or no Scully.

Alex can’t help but chuckle.  “With you there?  Mulder, how far would I have actually gotten, before you put a bullet into me?  Not very.  Therefore, I went in the ‘back’ way.  The way I always have.  The way you, of all people, would have expected me to, yes?  You are the one who, so eloquently, gave me the name ‘Rat Bastard’.  Therefore, I was a rat.  I’m not a bad person, Mulder.  Yes, I have done some pretty stupid things and made some incredibly naïve decisions, but, I have never killed anyone simply to do it.  Only if my life was in danger.  Or to protect someone else.  All right, except for Spender.  Nevertheless, do you really see anyone crying over that loss?  No.

“Mulder, I love Dana.  I always have, and I realize that is a huge shock to your system, and I can even sympathize with you, on a certain level.  However, I do love her, and I would never have killed her sister or any other member of her family.  Nor yours.  It goes against everything I believe in.  I believe in justice.  I believe that, with our combined efforts, we can eradicate the problems we have regarding the Aliens.  Yet, I…we…cannot do it, if you can’t trust me.  If we cannot trust each other.  I’m not an idiot, Mulder.  I don’t expect you to sit there and suddenly trust me, like some switch has been turned on.  However, I would not be sitting here, if I were lying to you.  There is too much at stake for that type of bullshit.

“Now, you can believe me, or not.  That is your choice.  All that I can do is give you the truth.  Because that is all I have.  I don’t have a magic bullet to give you, Mulder.  To prove, physically, that I didn’t kill your father.  However think about this.  I could have killed you a hundred times over, but didn’t.  Hell, I had the perfect chance that night I went to your apartment.  The night I tried, so fucking hard, to explain to you the plans about colonization.  Yet, I did not.  Because I had no need to.  We are on the same side here, Mulder, whether you want to realize that or not, we are.”

Mulder sits, sipping at his coffee, contemplating everything that Krycek is saying to him.  Calming down, a little, as he does.

What he says does make some sense.  But, still.  It has been almost seven years since Dad’s death.  Why come forward now?  “Why didn’t you tell me this a long time ago, Krycek?  Instead of years later?  Why have you waited so long?  Wouldn’t it have been better-easier-if you had told Scully and I this, sooner?  Instead of now?  After all that we have been through?  Don’t you think some of this could have been prevented?  For instance, her being taken again!  To the fucking Antarctic, of all places?  If you love her so much, why didn’t you do something then?”

“I did.”

Dana looks over at him, surprised, yet again.  “What did you do?  I still don’t have a very clear recollection of that time, Alex.  The last thing I remember is standing in Mulder’s hallway.  The next?  I was waking up, naked and freezing to death, on top of a thick sheet of ice.  Mulder had given me a shot.  The vaccine, I later found out.  It, along with Mulder, saved me.  However, I don’t recall having seen you there.”

“I wasn’t.  Physically, anyway.”  He admits with a sad smile, love showing strongly from his eyes.  He blinks, and then turns to Mulder.  “Did you ever wonder, Mulder, how Wheaton, the British Man, got the vaccine?  The night he gave it to you?  In the limo?  Did you ever wonder why I was not driving him that night?”  He asks, before pausing, clearly waiting for an answer.  When it is obvious that he is not going to receive one, he sighs, and then continues.

“That night I knew, if you saw me with him, you would not get in the car.  You would not listen to him.  So, I gave him the vial and the syringe and the coordinates.  He was sick of the entire mess, too, Mulder.  He wanted out just as much as I did.  I gave him the vaccine, complete with instructions and he went to meet you.  I, of course, had no idea he would take the coward’s way out, by blowing up his own car, but the goal was achieved.  You got to Dana, gave her the vaccine and saved her.  Once again, the hero.  Yet, once again, aided by the ‘devil’ you think I am, even if unknowingly.”

As Alex ends his sentence, Dana cannot speak; as she is much too shocked by his admission.  That this man had saved her life, and she had not known it.  She had thought it was Mulder.  Always Mulder.  Where in fact, it had been the two of them, together, though Mulder had never known it, either.

He wasn’t kidding when he said he was watching my back!

Mulder, too, is succumbing to shock, as the pieces start to fall into place in his mind.  “What do you mean, ‘again’?  How did you save her before?”  He demands to know, trying to think back to a time when the three of them may have been together.  The only time he can recall was with Duane Barry, but that was definitely not it.  Or at the scene of the militia group raid.  This was not it, either.  When?  I can’t remember him ever sticking his neck out for her!  He thinks, searching his eidetic memory, to no avail.

“Where do you think you got the second chip that’s in her neck?”  Alex asks, as a small smile creeps across his face.  He can see the turmoil playing across Mulder’s own, and hopes that he is finally breaking through.

Mulder gapes at him, incredulously.  “I never made a deal with that son of a bitch, but I still received the chip.  I stole it!  Though I still don’t know how it got into the hands of the Defense Department.  How it was at the Pentagon.  But it doesn’t matter.  I did get it, and she is fine now!”

“I did it, Mulder.  That is how it got to the Pentagon.  I had it taken and placed there by Kritschgau, so you would find it, after he led you there.  Which is what he did, and you then had it sent to the hospital, where, as we all know, it worked.  Her cancer is now in remission, and it will stay that way, as long as the chip is never removed.”  He says confidently, looking at Dana, before he smiles brightly, sending her blood pumping faster through her veins.  “This, of course, is a promise.  It will stay there, as long as I draw breath.”

Mulder stares at him, dumbfounded, ignoring his words to Scully.  “How did this happen?  Why?  Why the hell did you even care?  Why do you care?”

“Because I love her.  I always have.  From the moment I laid eyes on her in that autopsy bay, when she, in turn, hated my guts on sight.”  He plainly states with a grin.

“I did not hate you, Alex.”  Dana replies, defensively.  “I was merely, jealous.”

“I know that, too.  That is all in the past, though.  The past, Mulder, which we are burying tonight.  Because, the present and the future are too important for us to have to keep dealing with things that can never be changed.  No matter how badly we may want them to different.”  He replies, while reaching over and starting to refill his cup.  “Anyone else need a refresher?”

“I could use one.”  Monica says, raising her cup.  Glad for the interruption, as she has been listening intently, trying to figure out all of the information she has been receiving, and her head is beginning to ache.

Alex pours coffee into her mug, and then returns the decanter to the center of the table.  He then peers at Mulder, waiting for a response to what he has said; knowing he will receive one.

Come on, Mulder…talk to me.  Ask your damn questions!  Get your precious truth, while you’ve finally got the chance!

“Okay, Krycek.  You have given me a lot of pieces, but...I want the whole pie.  Tell me everything.  You, finally, after all of these years, have my undivided attention.”

Alex grins widely.  It’s about time!

Watching Alex’s smile, Mulder suddenly startles, feeling very uncomfortable.  I can’t believe this!  Am I starting to actually like this guy?  This is Krycek for Christ’s sake!

Scully, meanwhile, gauges the expression on Mulder’s face.  Though the separation they had been forced to endure was a long and painful one, she can still read him like a book.  A favorite book.  One that, no matter how many times it is read, still holds a special place in her heart.  She smiles at him when she notices the slight squint of his eyes, realizing with relief that she can see he is starting to believe.  She can also see that he can’t quite believe it himself.  She then grins, but stays silent.

This is between you and Alex, and I know I must keep quiet for the next few moments, or you will not make his decision for yourself, but for me.  I don’t want that.  I want you to believe for yourself.

As John had.

As Walter had.

As I have.

Alex uses the moment of silence to gather his thoughts.  He knows from experience how hard Mulder is to persuade.  No matter what theories the man may have, he is still a genius and he will need proof to believe in his story.

Stunning everyone, he suddenly excuses himself from the table, walks upstairs to the guest room and grabs his laptop.  All eyes are upon him, as he returns, but he does nothing else, except retake his seat; placing the computer off to the side of him on the table.

Dana looks at him, questioningly, flashing her famous ‘eyebrow look’, as he returns a smile to her.

He grasps her hand to reassure her that everything is fine, and then turns to Mulder.  “What do you want to know?”

Mulder watches him, recalling everything that he has already been told thus far.  After careful consideration he replies, “I want to know everything.  From the point you lost your arm, to the point you made yourself known to Walter.”

“Fair enough.”  Alex agrees.  He glances at Walter, who has already realized that this, indeed, is going to be a long night.

Walter silently nods at him, and stands.  He takes the coffee decanter from the center of the table, and walks into the kitchen, to brew some more.  Upon his return, he grabs the Palm PilotÔ-like device from the side table, and places it onto the table, beside him.  He figures Alex will need it later on in the story, and would hate to have to break into the conversation to retrieve it.  After which, he will finally be able to destroy it, and never have to worry about the damn nanobots again.  Not that he is worried about them anymore, anyway.

He clears his throat once more, looks around the group of individuals seated at the table, and begins...

Copyright ~ 2001 - 2006 ~ ThamasD