The door opened, and he automatically sat up straighter.
Reflex.
"Agent Mulder," Skinner said, sitting down behind his desk.
"You'll be happy to know that you're not going to jail."
"And a good morning to you, too, sir," Mulder said.
Skinner glared at him, but it, too, was an automatic response to
Mulder's mouth. The look behind the glasses wasn't terribly angry.
As a matter of fact, he seemed a little—happy, Mulder thought.
"InSec's report is going to be handed down this afternoon.
Apparently they've had second thoughts about implicating you in the
murder of Juda Zawarska."
Mulder raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know they cared."
"It seems that there were some allegations made about
planted evidence."
"Involving who?"
"A junior-level agent. He's been disciplined and re-assigned."
"Of course."
"I believe that Agent Thomas has been careful to distance
himself from the entire matter." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of
his nose. "This is no way to start a Monday morning." Picking up a
case file, he slid it across the desk. "This is your new assignment.
You and your new partner will be flying out to Chicago later today—"
"My new partner?" Mulder asked, startled. "Since when am I
getting a new partner?"
"Since this morning. He should be here by now." As if on cue,
the intercom buzzed. "Send him in, Kimberly," Walter said.
Mulder turned at the sound of the door, and found himself
looking at the smirking face of Alex Krycek.
"What the hell—"
"Didn't I tell you?" Alex smiled. "I was reinstated."
Mulder was staring at him, his mouth open.
"How else am I going to make sure you get home in one piece?"
Skinner was quick to respond to Alex's smile. "The first sign of
fraternization on the job, gentlemen, and I'm hauling the both of you
out of the field and into permanent wire-tap duty. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Alex said, his smile only slightly tempered.
Mulder could only nod.
"Good." He handed the file to Alex. "Agent Krycek, take the
case file and your partner and get to work."
"Yes, sir," Alex said again. "Coming, Mulder?" There was a
hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Scully."
"Hey, Dana. You up for an early lunch?"
She glanced at her watch. "Sure, Beth. Where and when?"
"How about Molloy's at eleven?"
"Great. I'll meet you there."
Dana clicked the receiver, then dialled the direct number to her
husband's office.
"Skinner."
"Hi. What are you wearing?"
"How do you know that I'm not in a meeting?"
"I'd hoped that you were," Dana laughed. "I check your book
every morning before you leave. I know what you do better than I
know what I do."
"You're unbelievable."
"Uh-huh. Flattery will get you everywhere. Look, Beth called
and asked me to lunch, so I have to cancel our date."
"Better you than me."
She groaned. "Not another meeting. They're working you
too hard."
"One doesn't get to be Director overnight, you know."
"Don't even joke about that."
He laughed. "Don't worry. Are we still on for dinner?"
"I don't know. What's the schedule look like?"
He checked his calendar. "I believe I should be out of here
sometime in mid-December."
"Tell you what—I'll come in at six and personally rescue you
from whatever boring meeting you're suffering through."
"My hero."
"That's me—Sharp-eye Scully, they called me at the Academy."
"I thought they called you—"
"Walter!"
"Must have been somebody else," he said, hurriedly. "I'll see
you at six. I love you."
"Nice save," she said. "I love you, too."
"Where the hell did you get that tie?"
"It's one of yours," Alex replied, grinning. He threw his
overcoat on the back of the chair that used to be Scully's, and looked
critically at the garish red and purple striped tie. "Oh, come on,
Mulder. It's not that bad. It was the least obnoxious one I could find
in the closet."
"Has anyone ever told you you'd make a really good spy?"
Mulder shook his head. "How long have you and Skinner been
planning this?"
Alex shrugged. "We worked together on your disappearance,
and he helped me out when I was being interrogated by Thomas
about the Juda thing. We talked in the hospital the first night Beth
was in, and a couple of times since then. He told me that the job
was mine if I wanted it."
"But they offered it to you when the whole Consortium deal first
blew open, and you said you didn't want it."
"I didn't, then," Alex said, leaning against the desk. "But I've
had some time to think. I don't like the idea that you don't have
anyone to watch your back, and knowing your predilection for falling
in love with your partners—"
"Hey!" Mulder protested.
"It's true. I'm just protecting myself. God knows who Skinner
would have set you up with the next time. With my luck, Cindy
Crawford would have been the first supermodel FBI agent."
Mulder shook his head. "I'm not that bad."
"True," Alex said. "Look, if you hate the idea of me working
here—"
"I don't."
"Good," he smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you, but I
wanted it to be a surprise. And, it worked out well with the whole 'no
discussing work at home' thing." He wrapped his arms around
Mulder's neck. "Forgive me?" he asked, nuzzling softly.
"Have you forgotten about the no-fraternization rule?"
"So I guess christening my first day back on the job with a
quickie is out of the question, right?"
Mulder groaned. "How am I supposed to work with you here
looking so—so—" He paused, narrowing his eyes. "Did you cut your
hair?"
"Only a little."
He shook his head. "The suit, the haircut. I'm having deja vu to
three years ago."
"Only this time, you know you can trust me."
"It's not you I'm worried about." He looked around the office,
and groaned again. "Did they have to return everything today? I
was looking forward to having a clean office for one day."
Alex started pulling open some the dozen of boxes that were
strewn in the small room. "We'd better start putting this stuff away.
It's not going to get any better than this. When's our flight?"
Mulder checked the case file. "Noon." He paused. "Does this
mean we can't have phone sex anymore?"
"Are you telling me you like phone sex with me better than the
real thing?" Alex looked amazed.
Mulder turned and hurriedly started shuffling through boxes.
Alex, trying to hide his grin, turned him around and looked sternly into
his partner's eyes. "It's true! You get off on the phone, don't you?
No wonder you had a panic attack the last time your cell phone
batteries ran down."
"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer," Mulder said,
turning back to his desk and digging through the box.
Alex just shook his head. "And here I thought it was me that
was turning you on," he muttered. He then pulled a small round
object out of the box he was going through. "Mulder, what is this?"
Mulder glanced up. "A moon rock."
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"It was a gift," Mulder said, as if it were the most obvious thing
in the world.
"So what have you been doing?" Dana Scully sipped her water, and
regarded her lunch companion across the table.
"Wig shopping." Beth Locke grinned back at her. "I'm thinking
of going blonde."
Dana shook her head at her friend. "You don't know that you're
going to lose your hair."
"I did the last time, and I wasn't allowed to have a wig. The
nuns thought that it reflected vanity on my part. I had so many
scarves, you wouldn't believe it." She scanned the lunch menu. "I'm
starving."
"I've never seen you look healthier."
"Yeah, I'm in the middle of the treatment cycle. I'll be puking
my guts out by this time next week, I'm sure, so I have to eat now
while I still want to."
"I remember."
Beth glanced up at her. "I hope my talking about this doesn't
bring up any bad memories for you."
Dana shook her head. "No. We're survivors. And it's probably
your attitude more than anything that's going to keep you alive."
"Good. Keeping it all inside would drive me nuts, but it's not
the sort of thing that I can talk to Fox about—he's in denial when it
comes to me. I mention the big 'C' and I can see him age right in
front of me." She put the menu down. "So, what's going on with
you?"
"Walter and I have decided to try to have a baby."
"Dana!" Beth's eyes lit up. "That's wonderful."
"Yeah, it's been fun so far," Dana laughed. "Walter's very
enthusiastic about the idea. And we're having fun practicing."
"What does your mother think of the idea?"
"Are you kidding? She was more excited than I am. It's all that
she's ever wanted—for me to be married, and a mother. If I quit my
job, she'd be in heaven."
"Are you going to?"
Dana shook her head. "No—at least not right away. I'm going
to try to juggle the working-mother thing, and see how it works out. I
need my job, right now. And the teaching is going well. I've got
some really promising students."
"Do you miss the X-Files?"
"Sometimes. I miss working with your brother, I guess.
Except when he was ditching me, of course," she laughed. "We did
good work together, but I don't think I could go back to it."
"Alex started back to work today."
"I know," she nodded. "I hope it works out for them. It can be
hard to work with someone you're in love with. The X-Files aren't
exactly low-stress."
"I think Alex was under more stress worrying about Fox when
he didn't know what was going on," Beth said. "I hope this way is
better, for both of them. And who knows—maybe he'll be able to
reign Fox in a little." They both looked at each other for an instant,
and said, as one, "Nah." They both started to laugh.
An internal messenger arrived about thirty minutes after they came
back to the office, bringing with him the last of the boxes of files that
InSec had confiscated from the X-Files. Mulder and Alex were still
going through the ones that were there, trying to re-arrange the files
into at least the semblance of disorder that they'd been in before,
when a cell phone rang. Mulder instinctively reached for his, only to
find that there was no one there. Alex got his coat jacket and pulled
his own cell out.
"Hello?"
"Alex. You're a very difficult man to get a hold of."
Alex paused a moment before he placed the voice. "Did you
find out something?" He glanced significantly over to Mulder, who
came over and listened in beside him.
"Maybe. Can you meet me?"
"I'm leaving for the airport in two hours."
"Great. Meet me in the duty-free shop." The line clicked off.
"Who was that?" Mulder asked, shutting the file drawer.
"An old associate of mine," Alex said. "Sergei Markov. I
asked him to get me some information on Juda when you were
gone."
"And he has something?"
"So he says. I'm going to keep the meeting, if we have time."
"We should. Do you trust him?"
"No. But he might have some information. It's the only thing
I've been able to come up with."
"If he can tell me who either of those men were, I'll be happy."
"Well, there's always hope."
"Have you talked with your mother, lately?"
Beth sighed. "On the phone. I'm afraid to rush her with
anything. I just got out of the hospital, and—" She shrugged. "I
don't know if it was just stress over the thought that she might lose
me that brought her to see me, or what."
"Maybe you should give her a chance."
"I want to. I'm just a little gun-shy, I guess. I don't want to
get my hopes up."
"I think she wants to try again with you, Beth. You're her
daughter."
Beth smiled. "She actually said I was, in the hospital. She'd
never said that before." She looked thoughtful. "I suppose I don't
really have anything to lose, do I?"
"And you have an awful lot to gain."
"I guess I just wish she was more like your mother."
"My mother is not perfect," Dana pointed out.
"Nobody is," Beth agreed, "but I'm sure you've never
questioned whether or not she loves you. Or any of her children, for
that matter."
"No, that I never did. If I can give that to my child, that will
be a lot."
"More than you know," Beth smiled. "More than anything else."
They left the office at eleven, to get a jump on the traffic to the
airport. The place was still a disaster area—even more so, now that
they'd started putting things back together they way they'd been
before.
"Well, looking on the bright side," Alex said, "if anyone breaks
in, they'll never be able to find anything."
"If anyone breaks in, we'll never be able to tell. They'll
probably trip and drown in a wave of paperwork." Mulder put on his
coat. "We'd better get going."
"Did you ever think of requisitioning a secretary from Skinner?"
Mulder gave him a look of complete disbelief. "Are you
kidding me? I can barely get him to sign off on the expense report."
"Maybe we could kidnap Kimberly?"
"Can't," Mulder said, shaking his head. "She doesn't like me."
"Why ever not? I didn't think there was a female alive capable
of resisting the Mulder charm."
"I'm not sure. Scully said something cryptic to me about the
Christmas party a couple of years ago. I've never been able to get
the full story out of her."
"Don't tell me you hit on her, too?" Alex rolled his eyes. "Can't
you turn it off?"
Mulder grinned. "It's genetic. I have no control."
"The hell you don't!"
"Alex—"
"What?"
"We're going to miss our plane." He opened the door, and
handed Alex his coat, ushering him out.
Walter was in his office, leaning back in his chair, trying to massage
away a little of the stress of the day. Stress of the day, he thought.
It's only eleven-thirty.
The intercom buzz brought him out of his reverie.
"Yes, Kimberly?"
"Agent Thomas to see you, sir."
"Does he have an appointment?"
"No, sir."
"Then tell him I'll see him when he makes one!" he said
sharply, and cut the connection. Let him cool his heels for a while.
Ten minutes later, he picked up a sheaf of files and left for his
lunch meeting in another part of the building. He was surprised to
see Agent Thomas still in his outer office.
"I need to speak with you," he said.
"I'm sure Kimberly will be able to set up an appointment for
you, Agent," Walter replied shortly, walking past him.
Thomas caught up with him halfway down the hall. "I really
think you want to talk to me, Skinner. It concerns one of your 'pet'
agents."
Walter turned sharply. "I don't have any 'pet' agents, Agent
Thomas. If you have something to say, I suggest you say it, rather
than making coy double-talk. I've had about enough of that from
you."
He was pleased to see the smaller man cower slightly. Afraid
I'm going to hit you again? he thought. That's not a bad idea. He
started walking again.
"Agent Mulder is in trouble."
That stopped him short. He turned and regarded the other
man. "Agent Mulder is on a plane for Chicago."
Thomas checked his watch. "Not for another twenty-three
minutes. In the meantime, I have good reason to believe that he will
be dead before he reaches the airplane."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I'm getting out. They tried to pin the Zawarska fiasco on me,
but I outsmarted them."
"And got another agent implicated."
"And what did they do to him?" Thomas laughed. "Gave him a
desk job. He doesn't even know why—he probably thinks it's a
promotion."
"Who's 'they'?"
Thomas shook his head. "Don't ask questions that you don't
want the answers to, Skinner. Find your agent. Maybe you can stop
them from killing him."
Before Walter could say anything else, Thomas turned and
disappeared down the hall.
"He's not going to show. The flight will be boarding soon."
"Give him a few minutes, Mulder," Alex said, watching his
partner pace. "Maybe he can't make it. Why don't you call and get
our messages, and I'll wait here?"
Mulder nodded, and walked to a bank of pay phones across
the corridor from the shop. He picked a phone that afforded him a
clear view of Alex, pulled out a phone card and dialled the number of
their apartment, listening as the messages ran through. Nothing, he
thought, and was about to hang up, when a phone rang. His cell.
"Mulder."
It was Skinner. "Agent Mulder, listen to me carefully—where
are you?"
"The airport."
"Okay—I want you to get your partner and get out of there right
now. I have good reason to believe that you're being set up—"
Mulder didn't hear anything else. He dropped the phone and
ran back towards the duty-free shop. It wasn't that far away, but it
seemed to be taking him an inordinate amount of time to cross the
small amount of space.
As he was moving through the crowd of people, he scanned
the crowd, and spotted one man moving with deathly precision
towards the spot where Alex was standing. Like a slow-motion
movie, he saw the man pull a gun out of his pocket, and take aim.
"Alex!" He shouted out the name, hoping to be heard over the
din of the p.a. system, the crowds, and the noise of the airplanes.
"It's a set-up! Get down!"
Too late, he realized that Alex hadn't heard him. He pulled the
service revolver out of his holster, and rushed over to catch up to his
partner. Alex turned towards him, smiling and shaking his head.
"Get down!" Mulder screamed.
Mulder saw the flare of the gunshots before he heard anything.
There were a few horrified screams from behind the ticket counter,
and he and someone from airport security tackled the shooter. The
entire thing had taken less than thirty seconds.
He turned to see Alex, crumpled to the floor.
"No!"
Three
by Mona Ramsey
He shifted in the chair. Waiting in Skinner's office still made him
feel as if he were a naughty thirteen-year-old waiting to talk to the
principal. The pictures were Johnny's, honest, he thought to
himself. I didn't even look at them.
