Title: Duo

Author: Ursula

Status: NEW - Standalone

Size: 28k

Category: Story, Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, AU (Alternate Universe), Crossover ~ Once a Thief

Pairings: Skinner/Other ~ Skinner Flirtation with Victor Mansfield

Rating: NC-17

Gossamer Category: Crossover ~ Romance, Angst ~ Slash

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the rights to the characters.

Notes: For Linda's birthday. Victor wanted to be a brother, not a lover. Thanks to Karen Leigh for a beta and some added details.

Warnings: Lots of spoilers for both series. AU for the X Files.

Time Frame: Set when Mansfield was a cop.

Duo
by Ursula

The latest speaker never looked up from his paper. His voice droned endlessly, talking about employee waste reduction. Walter imagined what the man would think of Mulder and Scully's expense reports. The man would probably jump out the window. Walter had never liked the FBI agents with an accounting background such as this one. They may have been the ones to get Capone, but that didn't mean he had to like them.

Whoever dreamed up this Canadian/American Teaming Conference ought to be boiled in hot oil.

It was an unbelievable waste of time. Walter did not expect to be teaming with anyone in Toronto any time soon.

Seeing the Director looking his way, Walter tried to look more alert than he felt. Why bother though? He knew that his career had come to a standstill. He had climbed as far as he was going to go unless he kissed some serious ass. It wasn't going to happen. Not that Walter hadn't kissed ass in his time, but not the way the Director liked.

Sitting back, Walter folded his arms and mentally calculated how far he would be able to stretch his personnel budget this year. If he could dump some of the dead weight, he could stand the small reduction in force without leaving work uncovered. Unfortunately, that was almost impossible. There was a couple though...he thought if he rode them hard enough they might transfer. Mulder and Scully, however, they were his.

For that matter, he wished his other agents worked as hard with as good a solve rate. The only thing that kept the pair down was Mulder's excursions after his damned X Files. Walter couldn't understand why a brilliant agent like Mulder would flush his career down the tubes with all that nonsense.

Finally free, Walter had no intention of attending the social gathering that was scheduled for this evening. He was heading out on his own.

A woman met brushed close to him as he entered the elevator. Walter jumped as her hand connected with his ass. He glared at her, wanting to protest, but she seemed such a lady that he thought it must have been an accident. She smiled at him. She had hair as red as Scully's. She was a pretty woman, but not Walter's type. He liked dark hair like Sharon's. Like. . . . Alex Krycek's.

OooOooO

What the hell was he doing here?

Shit!

Alex moved his chair quietly back into the dark corner of the bar and slumped to further conceal his features. He knew better than to bolt or to do anything out of the ordinary that might draw Skinner's attention.

The bastard looked good too. He had shed his suit and wore tight denim and a sweater. The black material pulled across acres of chest and shoulders. The black denim displayed the tight, taut hips of a stud bull. Walter rippled with power that he seldom displayed in his role in the stifling bureaucracy of the FBI.

Shit, it was Walter they should have turned. He had an inner ruthless that scared the hell out of Alex at the same time as it turned him on. Right now, it was not at all thrilling. Alex's balls were pulled up right into his pelvis. There was no way that Walter would believe that Alex had saved his life in that hospital stairway. Cardinal had meant to kill Walter.

Sure, Walter had taken a beating, but Spender had administered worse to Alex just to amuse his colleagues.

In fact, it was during one of those sadistic displays that Walter, an unwilling guest, had pointed at Alex and said, "You said if I wanted a bed partner. Well, I want him. Don't mark him up any worse."

In the plush bed that Spender had assigned to Walter, Alex had shown Walter how grateful he could be. After that, Spender had sent Alex around whenever Sharon Skinner had kicked her husband out again. It had been a welcome break from the harsh regime of Alex's life.

All that had ended when Spender decided that Alex would be a perfect little FBI mole. All cleaned up and with a shiny new past, Alex had been sent off to the academy.

His old lover had not been pleased to see him, but that didn't stop Walter from renewing their acquaintance. There had been some passionate promises about helping Alex to get something over on Spender, but it had all come to nothing. Alex ended up doing as he was told and Walter had been unable to help.

The worst part was that Spender tried to kill Alex anyway. There was a nagging pain in his back from a deeply embedded piece of metal. Alex hadn't stopped running long enough to get a rogue doctor to take it out. The idea of having it pulled out without anesthesia made him ill, but the idea of being out under a stranger's care was even more frightening.

Just when Alex thought that Walter would leave without spotting him, a drunken man stumbled into Alex's table, spilling his drink and a plate of free appetizers all over him.

Trying to keep his voice down was useless. The man kept smearing the stuff around with napkins and bellowing, "Hey, man, I'm sorry. C'mere. Buy you a drink."

"No thanks," said Alex. "It's not a problem. I was just leaving."

"You too good to drink with me?" the man roared, taking a swing that Alex easily ducked.

"No, I was just leaving," Alex said. Ah, shit, Walter along with everyone else was looking at them.

Trying to get out, Alex slipped past the big man. His panic caused him to do something he normally would not have done. Never turn your back on an enemy. Never.

The man swung again and hit Alex on the back, exactly where the piece of shrapnel had lodged. A guttural scream tore from Alex's throat and he fell to his knees, almost blacking out.

The next thing Alex knew, he was in the alley with Walter shaking him like a toy.

OooOooO

Something was wrong with the Rat Bastard. Walter had intended to pay him back for the assault in the hospital stairway. Up to that point, Walter had believed that Alex had been forced to obey Spender and that he really cared as much as he had said that he did. The physical pain was more than eclipsed by the emotional. Alex had used him. Used him like the little whore he was.

Now, Alex wasn't even fighting to defend himself. He had been dazed when Walter dragged him into the alley, but he should have regained his spunk by now.

Holding, Alex up with one hand, Walter drew back the other. He would have connected but someone grabbed his arm.

"Hey, Mister," a husky voice growled. "You're under arrest."

"I'm an FBI agent," Walter said.

"Yeah? Well, last time that I looked this was Toronto," the voice said.

Then as Walter turned, unblocking the cop's view of Alex, both the Canadian cop and Walter gasped. Walter because he was looking at a slightly older version of Alex Krycek and the cop as he saw his double.

"What the hell?" the cop said.

Damn, Mulder had talked about clones one time when Walter had taken him out. Walter had attributed that to Mulder's wild imagination, but now he thought Mulder must be right.

"Now I find him," Alex said, panting.

"It can't be," the cop exclaimed. "Alex? Is that you? They told me you died. They took you to the hospital and you never came home."

"I'm not dead. . .yet." Alex said. "They had to tell you something, Moose. Mom and Dad bred me so they could keep you."

"What the hell do you mean?" the man asked.

It was almost comical, three men standing in a dimly lit alleyway, one swaying on his feet, held up only by a fist grasping his jacket at the throat, one standing in shock, his mouth open and one whose head swung between them like someone at a tennis match as they carried on a very strange conversation.

"It's almost Biblical," Alex said. "One sacrifice from each family. Of course, some tried to fight it. Others donated more than one, like that bastard, Spender. Our dear parents decided that they would keep the first son and decided that they 'wouldn't get attached to the second one'. You don't even remember me, do you? I remember you, Moose. You were the one I cried for those first nights."

"I remember. How could I forget? They said it was a birth defect, that you had a bad heart," Alex's look-alike babbled.

Walter had slackened his grip. As he released Alex, Alex groaned and almost fell.

"I didn't hit you that hard," Walter argued.

"My back, there's something in it. Spender tried to kill me. Had Cardinal blow up the car. I saw the clock blinking and I knew but I didn't get out fast enough and the blast caught me. The motherfuckers," Alex said. He groaned again.

"I told you that you couldn't bargain with the devil," Walter said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the cop asked. "I have to get my head straight around this. I think my brain is going to boil over."

"What's your name?" Walter asked.

"Meet my brother, Victor Mansfield," Alex said. "Yeah, that's me, Alexander Mansfield. Of course, they left me as Baby Mansfield until Spender had my birth certificate altered. They didn't even want to take me home from the hospital, but the project has rules. They don't want the kids until they are toilet trained. You can bet that they toilet trained me early, but I guess they still made them wait until I was four. My parents never even called me by name." The stunned expression on Victor Mansfield's face yielded to a strained expression. "Oh my God, I always knew there was something wrong with our parents, but how could they have done this?"

"Oh, they aren't worse than most of them," Alex said. "Not many stood up to the Project. They gave up a child to save themselves."

Before more words could be exchanged, Alex clutched at his back and collapsed.

"I'll call for an ambulance," Mansfield said.

"You want your brother alive," Walter said, "you'd better not. There are men looking for Alex. Ruthless men who will stop at nothing to silence him. Is there some place we can take him?"

"My apartment," Victor said. "I have a car at the mouth of the alley. Help me."

God help me, thought Walter. Two of them.

OooOooO

In the car, Alex slumped in the back in the custody of Walter Skinner.

"We have a sister, Alex," Victor said.

"Yes, I know, Alice or what does she call herself? Allegra? Sounds like a mood pill," Alex said. "I bet she's crazy about you, Moose. I remembered you. You were the one that picked me up when I fell, taught me to tie my shoes, and let me crawl in your bed when I had nightmares."

"Alex, if I had known," Victor said, his voice shattering under the burden of his grief.

"You were a kid," Walter said. "Trust me, grieving over things you can't change isn't worth the time of day."

"Yeah, Walter," Alex said, his tone bitter. "I know you don't have any regrets."

"I didn't say that," Walter replied. "You made your choices, Alex."

"And you'll never forgive for that," Alex said.

"I didn't say that either," Walter answered.

The two men spoke no more, leaving Victor to his worry and his memories.

OooOooO

Victor felt his world crumbling about him. He finally understood the distance between him and his parents, the tension. He knew they were far from perfect parents, but this. They had given up one child and fed another with horrible lies.

"Who is after my brother?" Victor asked. He sat in his armchair, staring at his brother asleep on the couch.

"The men for whom he worked," Walter said. "The men who tried to kill him. The ones that took him and raised him to be a weapon."

"I don't understand," Victor admitted. He reached out, brushing the long hair off his brother's sweating forehead. "Why would they take him and spend all that time and money only to kill him?"

"I've observed that the project leaders end up doing things the hard way," Walter said. "Their reasoning is flawed. They react rather than plan."

"You sound like a chess player," Victor said. He met the dark brown eyes and felt his face heat. "AD Skinner, what's with you and my brother?"

"Why don't you ask me?" Alex muttered.

"You're supposed to be resting," Victor said. "This woman I know, Ivy, she's looking for a doctor that can help. He's a real doctor, but he lost his license. Eugene somebody or another. He'll fix you up."

"Yeah," Alex said. "I guess the shrapnel shifted when that bastard hit me."

"So what is it between you? AD Skinner beats you up in a dark alley but tells me that I can't take you to a hospital because he couldn't protect you there?" Victor said.

"AD Skinner doesn't always walk the straight and narrow," Alex said.

"As in?" Victor asked.

"As in, he likes pretty boys," Alex said.

Victor's fist connected before his brain did. Seconds later, his hand was grabbed in an iron fist and slowly forced down. He was slammed into the wall with Skinner's arm across his neck.

"You'd better get that your sweet little brother is long gone," Skinner snarled. "Yeah, we slept together, but he wasn't a boy. He was a grown man, young and pretty, yes, but over the age of consent. He was happy as hell to climb into my bed. I treated him better than he deserved."

"Alex?" Victor inquired.

"Maybe that's true," Alex said, "But he could have loved me more. He should have loved me enough to save me."

Letting Victor go, Skinner whirled around and went to the couch. Victor followed him closely.

Sitting down, Skinner picked up Alex's hand and said, "Did you ask me for help? Did you trust me enough to ask me to show you how you could compromise with Spender?"

Eyes dropping, Alex said, "I guess not. I just thought Spender had you by the balls."

"Perhaps he does," Skinner admitted. "But he hasn't castrated me. I compromise and live to fight another day. You don't have to give them your soul,
Alex."

"If I had a soul, my parents sold it to them when they gave them my body," Alex said.

"Don't whine, Alex," Skinner said. "You were a kid. Now you are a man. Take responsibility for yourself."

"Look, man," Victor said, "He was a kid. Give him a break."

Moving Walter away with a nudge of his solid hip, Victor sat down near his brother. "Don't you worry about it, Alex. Your Budder Moose is going to take care of you from now on. Anyone who wants to hurt you has to go through me."

"You don't have a problem with me being gay?" Alex asked.

"No" Victor said.

"You walk that side of the road yourself?" Alex said.

"I'm not saying," Victor said. "But I don't have a problem with you, Alex."

Glancing up at Victor, Alex said, "You don't trust me."

"I don't know you," Victor said. "But you can trust me."

"I bet I can," Alex said sadly.

"I wouldn't have let them take you if I had known," Victor added.

"There wasn't anything you could have done, Mansfield," Skinner said. "You were a kid. I guess you and Alex were both victims."

Victor saw hope flicker into Alex's eyes. His brother still had feelings for Walter Skinner.

OooOooO

The Doctor looked enough like Mulder to make Walter believe that clone stuff. He was different though, somehow both more cynical and less world-weary. He set up his operation room with the ease of someone who had been doing this type of meatball surgery for years.

"You better know what you're doing," Victor said. "Or your ass is going to be jail."

"I know what I'm doing and I'm clean," the doctor said. "Now, one of you needs to wash up. I'm going to need help."

Watching Victor blanch, Walter said, "I can do it. You are going to put Alex out?"

"No, I'm just going to give him something to ease his anxiety and then I'm going to do a local. I can't hang around to make sure that he comes out of anesthesia," Sands said.

"Why not?" Victor asked, belligerently.

Walter felt like telling Victor he was beautiful when he was angry. His good sense stilled the impulse.

Instead, Walter said, "Calm down, Mansfield. Let the doctor work his way."

"Don't call me 'Mansfield'. I wish I could change my name. I hate those assholes. How could they have done that to us?"

"I don't know," Walter said. "I never had children. I don't know what I would have done if I was forced to choose between my kids if I had them."

"They should have run," Victor said.

"Doesn't work," Alex said.

A few moments later, Walter held Alex's hands as the doctor administered the local. "How do you feel?" Walter said.

"Like I just had a hit of the good stuff," Alex replied.

"Don't get used to it," Doctor Sands said. "That stuff is more than anyone can handle. Trust me."

Walter wondered what the story was. Sands was good. He was competent and quick. He performed the delicate surgery as easily as Walter might have removed a splinter from his hand.

It took less than half an hour. Sands left Alex sleeping; his eyelashes, glistening with unshed tears, spread against his high cheeks.

OooOooO

Alex woke with just a glow of light in the room. His mouth was dry. His back hurt. His head felt fuzzy.

Hearing voices, low voices, Alex strained to hear them. He turned his head toward the sound carefully, not wanting them to know he was awake.

Fuck them.

How dare they?

Alex could see his brother, the brother for whom his life had been sacrificed, standing there with his lover's arms around him.

It made sense in a way. Walter would want someone like Victor. A good cop. A square shooter.

Somehow Alex had always believed that Walter loved him. He thought it was beyond his looks. He thought that Walter saw something inside him that was worth salvaging. Right.

Alex had to face the truth. Walter never saw anything beyond his body and his pretty boy appearance. Now he had a chance to look into a face that was a near twin to Alex's and not have to deal with the dilemma of Alex's moral
culpability.

Life was a fucking joke.

It was like a train wreck. You could see it coming for miles, but you couldn't stop it.

Walter had his arm around Alex's brother. Alex couldn't tell what was being said. He had to imagine it instead. His mind supplied caustic truth. They had to be laughing at him, laughing at the way that he came looking for Victor only to yield to his brother the last decent thing in Alex's life.

Not that Alex hoped that Walter still cared.

Not that Alex had any hope at all.

Alex closed his eyes against what he could not bear to see. His Walter kissing Victor, his Walter's burly hand splayed against Victor's cheek. Ah God, Alex knew what that felt like. All that strength offered in gentleness. His rough skin contrasting with the delicacy of the contact. Alex touched his own cheek. Fucking wet. It wasn't tears. He didn't cry. He didn't care. Let Victor have Walter. Victor had everything else.

OooOooO

"Walter, I don't care what my brother has done. It wasn't his fault. Can't you see that?" Victor said.

"You heard what I told him," Walter said. His heart wanted to forgive Alex.

"I heard, but that doesn't make it true. You should have known Alex when he was little. He was so full of love. Somehow I knew it wasn't right with my parents and him. I knew I had to be the one who was there for him. I fucking failed him," Victor said.

It seemed natural to put his arm around Victor. Alex always liked to snuggle close to him, burrowing for the comfort of Walter's strength.

Sometimes, Walter didn't feel strong at all. Losing Alex had made him weak. Believing that he had fooled himself hurt like hell.

Victor could have been everything that Walter had wanted Alex to be. He had the looks that Walter admired, those wonderful eyes that seemed windows to a soul as lovely and unique as the multi-shaded jade of his eyes.

That kiss...

So sweet.

Victor didn't pull away. His lips yielded. His mouth didn't taste like Alex's. He took control of the kiss, grabbing Walter's neck to pull him close.

Walter moaned, his mind teased by the memory of making love to Alex. Yet he knew that this was Victor. Victor would be good for him.

Victor would never be Alex.

Smiling, Victor gazed into Walter's eyes. "You see, it's not me that you want to kiss. Never me at all. You love him."

The simple truth. Walter loved Alex, sweet, deadly poisonous beauty. Not Victor. Not this good man. This loving brother.

"I think that you are right," Walter said.

"So get some rest," Victor said. "And think about it. I'm not a wise man, but I know the one thing in this life that would make me give up who I am, being a cop, would be love. If you love him, you should take my brother somewhere safe."

"Where would that be?" Walter asked.

"I don't know. Just go," Victor said. "Somewhere. There has to be a place for my brother. I don't know you. I barely know my own brother. Yet I trust in the rightness of the universe and I trust you. Do the right thing, Walter Skinner. Give it up for him. Take what life is offering you. If it was me, I would grab it."

Victor was right.

Walter drew a deep breath. What the hell did he have anyway? A dead ending career, a fight that he couldn't win with the shackles that were on him. Perhaps Alex and he together could find another way to fight the battle.

OooOooO

They were both sleeping. Victor's legs stretched endlessly across the floor as he sprawled asleep in his armchair. The bedroom door was open. Alex could see Walter lying atop the covers.

Well, at least, they had the grace not to consummate the thing with him in the next room. Alex could thank them for that.

It hurt to get up, but Alex could function with pain. He had learned to do that before he was five. He could do this. He would get up and walk away from Walter and Victor. He couldn't make himself be the person that Walter wanted, but he could get out of the way and leave it clear for the only family member for whom Alex had ever cared. Victor deserved to be loved. Alex knew who he was. He had earned everything that Spender had done to him. About the only thing he had
ever received that he had not amply deserved was the love of Walter Skinner.

How strange...

By giving up any chance of being loved by Walter, perhaps Alex was worthy of him for the first time.

Where the hell was his shirt? Never mind, here was Victor's. He would wear his brother's shirt.

Lurching, Alex managed to creep to the door without knocking into any of the furniture.

The door had been carefully oiled. Alex wondered if Victor maintained it himself. It seemed the kind of thing his brother would do. Even as a kid, Victor had always tried to fix the toys, take care of everything.

The door seemed so heavy but Alex managed to open it. He leaned against the doorjamb, trying to will his body to complete its flight. After he was out of here, nothing mattered. There was strength in the emptiness inside of him. He could do anything because he had no more reason to fear. He had nothing to fear. His life was over.

OooOooO

Pure instinct woke him. It wasn't really a sound. Walter propelled to his feet. Yes, there was Alex, running away again, but this time Walter could stop him. He would stop him.

Catching Alex with carefully restrained strength, Walter let him struggle for a moment before turning Alex around to face him.

"You're not doing it this time," Walter said.

"Why don't you just kill me now?" Alex said, his words harsh with his emotions. "I don't want to die, helpless in a jail cell. This way I have a chance to get away and at least, I'll have the illusion that I can win until I lose."

"You're not going to jail," Walter said.

"Then what? You want me to hang around and watch my brother and you?" Alex said. "No thanks. I'd rather die."

"You fool," Walter said.

"Walter, don't pretend for me," Alex said. "I saw you with Victor."

"You saw us talking about you," Walter said.

"You kissed him," Alex said.

"I'd have to be a better man than I am to stop from trying that," Walter said. "It was irresistible."

"Yeah, what I said," Alex replied, eyes downcast.

"Ah, fuck," Walter said. Words didn't always work.

Alex's eyes opened wide with surprise as Walter changed his custodial grip to an embrace. He didn't resist as Walter covered his mouth in a kiss that left them both breathless.

"What?" Alex asked, when Walter's mouth freed him to speak.

"We're going away together," Walter said.

"What?" Alex said.

"Going away," Walter said, "I'm throwing it all away for you, lover."

"You can't," Alex said. "Mulder, Scully, they need you."

"You need me. Besides, if we put our heads together I bet we can take Spender and the rest of those old men down. We're invincible, Alex," Walter said.

Victor's voice said, "I believe that. You going to leave now in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, I think that's for the best," Walter said, "I don't think they have us located and I want to keep it this way. I have money. I know Alex does. When we can, we'll contact you. If you ever need help..."

"I know you'll be there," Victor said. "If you can."

Walter kissed Victor again. Alex fell into his brother's embrace, hugging him so long that Walter had to grip his shoulder and get him moving.

OooOooO

Never did anything like this, Walter thought. Never just took a plunge without thinking it through. It feels like being drunk, but better. He hadn't felt like this since he was a kid in Vietnam. It was the craziest thing he had ever done, but he wouldn't regret it.

Grinning at Alex as they waited for the next standby to anywhere, Walter said, "I don't know where we are going, but I'm glad that I'm going there with you."

"I love you," Alex said. "And whatever time we have, I'm going to make it good for you."

The woman with red hair from the elevator approached, her stiletto heels clicking precisely. "Gentlemen, I think we have much to offer each other."

His arm around Alex, Walter said, "Who are you? Are you with the project?"

"On the contrary, I oppose the project," the woman said. "I think the two of you are in need of employment and protection. I am in need of good agents. I think you two will be an excellent team. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. I'll help you fight the project, but from time to time, I'll have other tasks for you."

Alex shrugged as Walter exchanged glances with him.

"Any port in a storm," Alex said.

"Then, we have a flight," the woman said, producing three tickets.

"You were confident," Walter said, "as if you had all the cards."

"But I did, Mr. Skinner," the woman said. "I like to win, by any means. I think Mr. Krycek will appreciate that."

As they boarded, Walter saw Eugene Sands already seated. He looked at them, startled, before covering his shock with a bland expression.

The woman said, "It was a fruitful trip. My agents frequently need discreet medical care."

"What do we call you?" Walter asked.

"You may call me The Director," the woman said.

"No name?" Walter said.

"None needed," The Director said.

Alex said, "Listen, I have a brother. Can you watch over him? Make sure he's all right?"

"Oh, that can be arranged," The Director said. "I've had my eye on Victor anyway, but the time is not quite right."

Another exchange of glances.

As the plane lifted, Walter took Alex's hand. Hand in hand, they were uplifted. Whatever the future brought, they were together.

They could face anything, anyone.

### The End ###