Chapter Text
Detour
by Sallycandance
“When I stood on Mike’s shoulders, and I put that electric pencil sharpener on top of the pile, we both knew: We could never have done it alone.” Agent Stonecypher, seated in the front of the car next to Agent Kinsley, who was driving, was very much looking forward to the team-counselling seminar in Florida. She and Kinsley had been talking about nothing else ever since they had left Washington D.C.. Which had been a long, long time ago.
Mulder, who sat in the rear of the car, leaned over to his partner and whispered semi-loud, “Kill me now.” Krycek merely grinned to himself. Mulder wasn’t very good with other people, especially not if they turned out to be team-seminar-crazy knuckleheads. Nonetheless, there was no way out. A.D. Skinner had signed Agents Krycek and Mulder from the X-Files office up for the annual seminar and that was that—no, however severe, haemorrhoidal condition was going to change that.
So Krycek had watched with amusement how Stonecypher’s and Kinsley’s spirits were gradually dampened by Mulder’s sarcastic remarks. The temperature in the little car dropped slowly, but constantly. Stonecypher turned around, smiled heartily at him and then showed Mulder a stone face and quoted: “Communication—that’s the key.” Krycek was about to explode with laughter. Fate had mercy, though, and sent them salvation in the form of a sturdy state trooper, who signed for them to pull over and stop.
While Kinsley talked to the policeman, Mulder took the chance and all but jumped out of the car. Krycek followed him with his eyes, mind twirling, but was interrupted by Stonecypher, who immediately tried to get his attention.
“So,” she started, “are you… seeing anybody, Agent Krycek?”
He looked at her, looked out the door where Mulder was stretching his arms, turned his gaze back to the blond Agent, and put on his shades. He didn’t grace her with an answer, but left the car without another remark. Stonecypher turned to Kinsley, “Well, they’re… weird.”
“Now, Stonecypher,” Kinsley held up his hands in a soothing gesture, “we do not want to judge them—we’re all a team here, okay?!”
He followed Mulder into the beginnings of the forest, that was stretching out all around them. He knew his partner would use the first possible opportunity to get out of that seminar, and it seemed like one was presenting itself right now. From what he was gathering from the policemen and rangers he talked to at the roadblock, there had been ‘mysterious’ attacks on humans in the forest. Mulder probably already had a hard-on. The thought distracted him somewhat, so he occupied himself with looking for his partner between the trees.
He found him talking to a ranger-girl officer, both hunched over some sort of tracks in the ground. Barely suppressing a smirk, he strode closer. Mulder was so going to skip that seminar. He himself wasn’t too keen on attending, either, but at least one of them had to show up to avoid another one of A.D. Skinner’s morale lectures.
“Mulder,” he called out, “we have a seminar. We’re already going to be late.”
Mulder got to his feet and made towards him. They exchanged a long look. Then he said, “How am I going to say this, without using any negative words…”
Krycek sighed and waved a hand dismissively, “Yeah, yeah. I’ll tell them you won’t be making it.” This earned him an honest smile from his partner.
“See, Krycek—we don’t need that team-seminar crap. We have unspoken communication. We know what we’re thinking.” And with this, he vanished into the wood to look for more evidence. Krycek privately rolled his eyes. This was going to be so much fun—warding off Stonecypher’s attempts to lure him into a conversation and her room, while building towers out of office supplies—in teamwork! Oh, hell, at least there was going to be free food.
~~~
They came too late. Too late for the wine and cheese reception. Too late for the welcoming round where they handed out the little laminated name-tags. What a shame.
He made it through half an hour of shallow small talk and the beginning of a very, very stupid team-work assignment. Then he said he needed to use the bathroom and ditched. Any Skinner speech was easier to endure than two days in go-team-ville. He snatched a plate of food from the not yet opened but unattended buffet and called a cab.
There was only one motel in Leon County with cable TV and internet access, so Krycek knew where to find Mulder.
He didn’t knock. The motel manager told him which room number and he found the door unlocked and Mulder in front of his notebook. The latter looked up in surprise. As an answer to the unasked question, Krycek wiggled the paper plate, allowing the chicken wings to unfold their characteristic smell. Mulder sniffed then goggled at the plate, “Ooh, guy food! Did you happen to bring beer?”
“What do you take me for? Your crappy housekeeper?” And he produced a six-pack from behind his back, smiling smugly. He closed the door with his foot and made for the bed, where he put down the plate and the beer.
“So, did you ditch and get a room here, too?” He sounded uncomfortable, but Krycek decided to overplay his own awkwardness with a shrug, “Well, the owner offered me one, but he looked like he had a stick up his ass, so I told him I was your one-night-stand and didn’t need a room for myself.”
“We better make some noise then soon, so he won’t be disappointed.”
He handed his partner an opened can and held out the food plate, from which Mulder fished two chicken wings. Chewing them, he said: “Pop quiz: what sort of animal will attack the strongest, leaving the weakest to escape?” When Krycek gave no answer immediately, he gave it himself: “The answer is none. Not one of the over four thousand species native to North America will attack the strongest, when the weak is vulnerable.”
“So that creature attacked the father instead of the son—maybe it just was very hungry. Don’t tell me you are seriously looking to investigate this. I thought you were just using that as an excuse not to attend the seminar. Then again, I should’ve known you better.” He slumped on the bed and took a large gulp from his beer. He should have stayed at the hotel in the city, this was going to be a delicate evening.
“But think about it—what we have stumbled upon here is more than local authorities realize. The scenario described by that boy sounds to me like a primitive culling technique.” Now he did have Krycek’s attention. The agent sat upright on the bed. They both pondered that thought for a minute, then Krycek suggested, “What do you say, we check out the boy’s home? If it’s a predator, it might come back to finish what it started.” And anything was better than to brood in each other’s company.
“Good thinking, loverboy. And afterwards, we can build a tower of furniture.”
~~~
He was right. The creature did attack again, and hadn’t it been for the two agents staking out the family’s house, both the boy and the mother (not to mention the dog) would have been taken.
The boy insisted that one of the predators had been inside the house, so Mulder was looking for footprints, while Krycek had a look at the kid’s bedroom. He found something of interest and headed back downstairs to his partner, who was questioning what was left of the family in the kitchen. He motioned for him to come over and when they were out of the mother’s earshot, he showed what he had found upstairs.
“I think I might have some insight into the ‘invisible creature’ he said was chasing him.” In his hand he held a videotape. Mulder looked at it, then gave his partner a look, “’The Invisible Man’ was invisible.”
“And the boy said he was chased by a creature with glowing, red eyes, I know. But I’m thinking, maybe it wasn’t invisible at all, only well camouflaged.”
They looked at each other.
“Let me show you something.” Mulder said, leading his partner back into the kitchen and to the patio door. A dirty footprint could be seen on the tiles. Krycek cocked his head, “That from the dog?”
“No, look closer! It looks like a human footprint, but the weight distribution is all wrong.”
Krycek bent down, “Like it… walked on tippy-toes.”
“Like a predator.”
“We gotta catch that thing, before this gets out of hand.”
~~~
It didn’t take long to persuade Michele Fazekas, the ranger from the roadblock, to accompany the two FBI agents into the forest. Equipped with a high-standard infrared camera and the right technician to handle it, the team of four set out to meet at the beginnings of the woods.
While Jeff Glaser explained to Mulder how the infrared camera worked; while they waited for Michele to join them, Krycek had a look around. He used the short break to sort out his thoughts. He knew things were going downhill. Ever since… that night, he and Mulder had made a point of avoiding each other’s exclusive company. They hadn’t talked about it, either, chose teasing and jokes to downplay their uneasiness. It was one part of their ‘unspoken communication’ to leave certain incidents unspoken. But Krycek had the feeling he was slowly losing his only friend, and as much as he didn’t want to address certain issues, he also had the feeling that there really was no alternative. He could never stand to lose Mulder.
He was interrupted in his inner monologue when Michele arrived. From where he stood behind them, he watched his partner when she told him how to exercise cautious behaviour once they were in the forest. Mulder was all ears, all agent, all on the case. Maybe when they were back home again, he would talk to him. Maybe. Now seemed like as bad a time as always.
He used the last outskirt of communication to call the police department and check up on the way things were going so far, but they had nothing apart from a wanted drifter who was on the run and who was consuming all the PD’s attention. He forwarded the information to Mulder, but they both agreed that this was no homicidal drifter. Then he listened half heartedly to Mulder’s theory about something in the woods trying to preserve it’s habitat by diminishing its enemy’s numbers.
~~~
He was alone in the forest, staring wide eyed around in terror. The team had split up to hunt two of the creatures the infrared camera had picked up, and he and Michele had headed in one direction, Jeff and Mulder in another. And then, right in front of his eyes, Michele Fazekas had simply vanished. One second she was there, the next her red tuft of curls had disappeared out of sight.
A feeling of panic crept through his veins—he wasn’t the outdoorsy type, he really, really disliked forests, terrible things happened in the woods. And now here he was, all alone (or maybe not, maybe the creature was watching him, anticipating his next move) in the undergrowth. No sound, except his own breathing and the rapid beating of his heart. Even nature didn’t dare move, all the forest dwellers kept silent. Little beads of sweat made their existence noticed by running down his neck. His hands were clenched round his gun, pointing it wildly at anything that moved in the breeze. He couldn’t see anything! He couldn’t hear the others anymore! He was all alone!
He hollered: “Mulder! I need help!”
It took a couple of eternities, before he heard his partner’s familiar voice, shouting back, “Krycek, where are you?”
Frantic steps coming closer. He heard the thicket being shoved away, twigs breaking, earth stamped.
“Over here!”
Then Mulder’s silhouette emerged through the underwood and a shudder of relief went through his body.
“What happened?”, Mulder was out of breath, but he had come to his rescue without any hesitation.
“I don’t know.”
Jeff scanned the surroundings with the infrared, “Where’s Fazekas?”
“She was walking right ahead of me. She was right here… and then she was just gone.”
“I’m getting no reading.”
Mulder had him fixated, which he noticed. He also remembered that Mulder knew how much he hated forests, which was why he tried not to let his previous flash of panic show. “What the hell just happened here?” he hoped putting irritation in his voice would downplay the fear.
“They tried to separate us.”
Krycek caught up at once, “They divided us to get to her because she was in the lead.”
Mulder nodded, “They take the strongest first.”
Jeff wasn’t convinced, nobody just disappeared from anywhere.
He just wanted to get out of there. He tried the cell phone, which of course didn’t work—like Michele had pointed out before they had entered the forest. And although Mulder suggested to form a line and beat the bushes to find her, Jeff and Krycek persuaded him that the best way to help her, was to get back to civilization and call in enough manpower and equipment to search the entire area.
~~~
When forty minutes later, Jeff announced that they were on the wrong track and probably lost, Krycek thought he might lose his mind right now. Then he saw it. Something camouflaged, or partly invisible, sneaking through the bushes. He drew his gun, “There’s something out there.”
Jeff waved the infrared around until he found the creature, “I got it. It’s about thirty yards ahead. It’s… just sitting there.”
Mulder didn’t need a cue—he jumped forward, weapon in his hand. Jeff nearly freaked, “What is he doing?”
“Just talk to him, man!” All on the job again, Krycek managed to swallow a new wave of fright. It was difficult making out Jeff’s barked orders, telling Mulder where the creature was going, through the noise of his own blood rushing in his ears. He uselessly held his gun pointed at anything, praying that his partner wouldn’t disappear like Michele. Then he heard Mulder shooting and concentrated on something imperceptible closing in on them. He fired.
He heard Mulder’s footsteps coming back to him, “Did you hit it?”
He squinted into the depths of the forest, “I don’t know. It just stopped moving.”
“Where’s Glaser?”
The technician was gone, either heading off towards safety, or already taken. So this was going to be one of those days again! Fuck! He still didn’t dare to relax, weapon still pointed at something invisible, although he knew it wouldn’t be there anymore—the forest was breathing again. The danger had passed for now.
“I fired six shots.” he declared. Mulder, too, was concentrating on the woods again, while making his way back to his partner, “That your only clip?”
“Yupp. What the hell is it, Mulder?”
“I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s smarter than us.” And then the impossible happened, and Mulder vanished. His heart stopped a beat. For a fraction, Krycek forgot how to breathe.
Then he screamed: “Mulder?!” and rushed through the thicket to where he had seen him last.
“Krycek!” Maybe that was Mulder, maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but he followed the voice nonetheless.
He didn’t see, couldn’t make out anything, except green bushes and green leaves and brittle twigs, and thorns tearing at his clothes. This was not happening! Panic overwhelmed him once more, not because of the forest, but because of the fear that Mulder might be dead, right in front of him. Just like that. And just like that his life would stop making sense.
“Krycek!”
Then he saw him, being dragged away by one of those horrible creatures. Krycek fired blindly until the magazine ran empty and he was sure it was either dead, or hurt, but at least gone. He stumbled towards Mulder, who was lying on the ground, bruised and dirty and in shock, but alive. He looked disoriented and when Krycek asked him how he felt, he could merely nod. His eyes didn’t focus. But it didn’t matter because he was here, he was not dead, Krycek’s world had not ended. They were okay.
~~~
They were lost. They had no food and no water. Mulder was bleeding. And night was falling.
He found a spot that looked infinitesimal cosier than the other areas, and helped Mulder lie down. Then he carried together some dry twigs and branches and started a fire. At least he tried to. But Alex Krycek had never been a boy scout, or had spent quality time with his dad camping outdoors and he had no idea how to ignite something without matches or a lighter. He felt pretty pathetic when he leaned back against a long fallen tree, that already served Mulder as backup.
He waved a hand at the not burning fire, “Sorry ‘bout that.”
“Why did you have to forget your ‘stuck in an eight hundred square miles forest survival kit’ at home? It could have gotten so cosy.”
“Yeah, well. Life sucks like that. You need to keep warm, though, Mulder. Your body is still in shock.”
“I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat is to crawl naked into a sleeping bag, with somebody else who is already naked.”
Krycek avoided looking directly at the slumped figure next to him, “Maybe if it rained sleeping bags, you’d get lucky.”
The silence that followed was awkward and dripped of things unspoken. He felt Mulder’s gaze on him, but still stared unmovingly into the darkness. He thought about how for seconds out there, he had believed he had lost his partner and his will to live.
“Did you ever seriously think about dying?” he asked, not sure why. He only knew that the thought of losing Mulder was the most terrifying he had ever had. Sure, they had been on dangerous assignments before (and in forests for that matter), but the danger had never seemed as real as today, when he had to actually witness his partner’s disappearance with his own eyes.
Mulder didn’t answer seriously, but he needed this conversation. He said, “When I was fighting my cancer, after the abduction, I had a lot of time thinking about that. I didn’t so much think about the injustice of my life ending that way. I only feared that I would die without ever telling you how much—”
But Mulder interrupted him. His voice sounded angry and tired, “Will you stop that! You always do that—it’s always about *your* feelings and *your* thoughts and *your* suffering! But when you weren’t there *I* was the one who stood alone! I had no idea where you were, or what had really happened, or whether you were still alive, even. And then I thought you were dying! It’s not just about you. I lost you, too, Krycek!”
“I know that.”
“You know, I don’t think you do, sometimes.”
They were silent for a moment. He briefly entertained the idea of saying something sarcastic, but then thought better of it. Instead he continued the sentence that Mulder had so rudely interrupted: “I was going to say, I was afraid I would die without ever having told you how much you really mean to me.”
“Krycek, you’re the best friend I’ve got in the whole world.” he spoke softly again, the anger vaporized, “I know how we feel about each other.”
“Then tell me what happened! Because that night…” he didn’t finish, didn’t speak the name both of them had silently agreed never to mention again. Since neither of them made any attempt to say anything to that, Krycek continued, his voice barely a whisper, his eyes still avoiding Mulder’s, “You were so mad at me.”
“I wasn’t mad at you!” Mulder gasped in surprise. And now Krycek turned his head to look at him, puzzled, “But I thought that was what it was all about? You acted like I had betrayed you. You acted… offended.”
Mulder tried to sit himself upright, but left it at a try when he found he really couldn’t move without pain.
“I was. But not because of you, but because,” he searched for the right words but apparently couldn’t find any and lamely ended with a shoulder shrug, “I’m just no Eddie van Blundht.”
Unbelieving, Krycek shook his head, “Mulder, I never wanted you to be him! In fact, it was the other way around. I mean, I knew something was off that night, but I gotta admit, I had been thinking about that for a long time back then. And when this incredible opportunity presented itself in the form of you coming over to seduce me in my own apartment, I thought, what the hell, and jumped at it. At you, that is. Or, Eddie van Blundht in your body, actually. But fact is, I wanted him to be you. And I don’t—”
“Krycek.”
“Yeah?”
“Will you shut up already and kiss me?”
“What?”
“I’m freezing my man-parts off and I would appreciate some heating up.”
Krycek stared at him, not fully believing his words. “To keep you warm, right? It’s a matter of life and death, right?” Mulder simply nodded.
Both their lips were cold from the chilly night air, but it didn’t take long until the temperature around them rose. Krycek leaned over to get up and straddle Mulder. Sitting on the other man’s lap he had much better access, he wrapped his arms round Mulder’s neck, groped for his body, pressing it against his own. This was so much better than the night he had kissed van Blundht, so much more real. Mulder felt so good. Their tongues met passionately and when Krycek’s hip gave an involuntary jerk, Mulder escaped a moan.
“For a life saving procedure you’re enjoying this too much, Mulder.”
“It’s the pain, I swear.” he mumbled, pulling Krycek even closer, kissing the other man where he could reach him, and Krycek leaned in until he was sure that not even a shred of paper would fit between them anymore.
They spend the night like this, kissing, hugging, sighing, until the sunlight finally crept through the branches. And even then it took them a while to untangle their bodies, neither of them willing to let go for long, but the promise of a nice, clean motel room dangling in their minds, they started to look for a way out, until they were finally picked up by a rescue squad.
~~~
Although later that day, they found some of the disappeared bodies, some of them alive even, they didn’t see any of the creatures again. Another open ended X-file, Krycek thought on their way home. They caught up with Stonecypher and Kinsley for the ride back to Washington D.C., enduring colourful lectures about how this year’s team-seminar had brought all the participants a little closer and it was such a shame that the two of them hadn’t been there to experience all the team-spirit.
Krycek was of the opinion that he had experienced something far better, not only in the woods, but especially later at the motel, but he wisely kept his mouth shut about that.
When they finally reached the bureau and had to break up their little foursome, Krycek leaned over to Stonecypher and said, “Yesterday, when you asked me whether I was seeing anybody?” he waited for her face to show a look of excited anticipation before answering belated, “I am.”
~~~the end~~~