From: eponine119  <eponine119@att.net>
Date: Fri, 03 Jul 1998 17:56:22 -0700
Subject: NEW: Mulder, Krycek & the Dog 1/11

Disclaimer: carter, 1013, fox, not us.

Meg would like you to know: This story goes straight to hell.  Really.

Jess would like you to know: this story was started because she was in a
hot room with no air conditioning. 

Comments appreciated; email us both and remember this is humor, people! 

Mulder, Krycek and the Dog
by 
eponine119  & Jessica Zyvarek Taylor
eponine119@att.net, jzyvarek@udel.edu


	Scully heard the little click and she knew what it meant.  She
cried out in frustration, grabbing the phone. 
	"Mulder," he answered instantly. 
	"Mulder, do you have AOL?" she demanded. 
	"Scully, I'm shocked you would subscribe to such a tenet of
commercialism in our society, an organization that by its very existence
-" 
	"It kicked you off, too, didn't it?" 
	"Yeah," Mulder admitted. 
	"I was right in the middle of a download, too," Scully complained. 
"And it's Saturday afternoon, I'll never get back on now!" 
	"I thought they fixed that busy signal problem," Mulder suggested. 
Scully rolled her eyes silently.  "So, what do you want to do?" 
	"I don't know," she said. 
	"Have you had dinner yet?" 
	"No." 
	"Want to go to Taco Bell?" Mulder asked. 
	"Mulder, I'm shocked you would even suggest such a thing," Scully
said.  "Do you know what they put in their food?" 
	Mulder was silent. 
	"I'll meet you in ten minutes," Scully told him and hung up. 

xxx

	Taco Bell was quite the exciting hangout on the weekends, Mulder
and Scully discovered.  Unfortunately, no one hanging out there was old
enough to drive.  Except for them. 
	"Maybe we should have been able to find something better to do,"
Scully said, eyeing the blond boy who was skateboarding around the tables.
He wasn't very good. There were bruises up and down his arms. 
	Mulder shrugged, but she saw him watching the three year old girl
who didn't seem to believe that glass was solid.  "Let's eat," he said
cheerfully, unwrapping the first of five tacos he'd bought. 
	Scully tried not to think about what he was eating and took a bite
of her vegetarian pita-burrito thing.  She figured if it didn't have meat,
she would be safe. 
	"Hey look, Scully, there's some kind of contest on the side of my
drink,"  Mulder said.  As he peeled off the sticker, she turned around her
own paper cup. She found the pull-off tab and looked at it.  No winner. 
What a surprise. 
	"These things are such a rip-off," she said, looking at him.
Mulder looked as though he were in shock. "Mulder?" 
	"I won," he said. 
	"Stop goofing around." Mulder was too easily influenced by the
children around them, Scully thought.
	He shook his head and handed her the game piece.  He was good, she
thought, his act hadn't wavered.  "I won," he said again in a gravelly
voice. 
	She looked at the game piece and her hand began to tremble. She
blinked and looked at it again, but the words hadn't changed. 
	"INSTANT WINNER - $1,000,000!!!!" 

	"Mulder, are you OK?"  Scully took her eyes off the instant winner
message long enough to notice Mulder's skin had turned a frightening shade
of green. 
	"I don't feel so good, Scully."  He clamped a hand over his mouth
and tried to swallow. 
	Scully poked a plastic spork at the remnants of Mulder's food. 
She couldn't remember which meat was supposed to be in it, but she was
sure that no meat was supposed to be green or purple, the overwhelming
color scheme of what was on his plate.  "I think we should take you to the
hospital, Mulder." 
	He tried to nod, but it just served to make the room spin.  "Walk
slowly."  He pushed the keys across the table at her and waited until
she'd come to his side and offered her arm before he even attempted to
stand up.  She put an arm around his waist and he slung his arm around her
shoulder and together they tried to hobble to the car.  Halfway through
the restaurant, Scully remembered the winning soda and abandoned an
unhappy Mulder by the garbage can to retrieve his $1,000,000 drink.  When
she returned, he had slouched down to his knees and was in the process of
emptying his stomach into the can.  Skateboarder boy made a face and found
another place to practice breaking his neck.
	Scully grabbed some napkins off the table and handed them to
Mulder.  "Think you can make it to the car or do you want me to call an
ambulance?" 
	"I could run a marathon right now if you promised it would get me
out of this place right now."  He struggled to his feet and clamped his
hand around her arm.  "Please get me out of here, Scully.  I don't want to
die in a Taco Bell." 
	She smiled gently at him. "I've had food poisoning, Mulder.  Death
might look like a better option, but considering the small amount you
ingested, it's not exactly probable." 
	They hobbled toward the car slowly and after managing to get
Mulder comfortably arranged on the back seat, Scully slid into the
driver's seat and headed for the hospital.  She drove in silence for a few
moments, every turn punctuated by the click of the turn signal and a soft
moan from the back.  At red lights, she turned around to check on him.  He
didn't look good. 
	"Hey, Mulder, if you do die, can I have the money?" 
	"Pull over." 
	She'd barely gotten out of traffic before Mulder pushed open the
door and wretched until she was fairly certain there wasn't a drop of food
left in his system.  She tossed some napkins at him and quietly pulled
back out into the road.  The moans became slightly louder and somehow more
pathetic.  He was suffering and it made her feel guilty for having the
fantasies of going shopping in New York with her share of the money. 
"You're going to be fine, Mulder.  Just hang on." 
	"Mmmmphhh." 
	A few minutes later, she parked in the fire lane at the emergency
room and physically pulled Mulder out of the car.  Then she went about
answering a hundred different questions about his insurance and watching
helplessly as they wheeled her whining partner off without her. 

	Scully sat in the waiting room for what had to be hours.  She
checked her watch again and bent her head to one side and then the other,
popping her stiff neck.  The walls were a putrid shade of green.  It
reminded her again of how sick Mulder must be.  She really hadn't thought
food poisoning could come on so quickly, though.  The times she'd had it,
it had taken hours and with Mulder it had been a matter of minutes. 
	Weird. 
	She sat there flicking the winning game piece back and forth
between her fingernails for a while. 
	When the doctor emerged, she was shocked to see how much blood and
icky stuff there was staining his smock.  Its cool blue clashed with the
walls.  Scully looked around, thinking that this had to be the doctor for
some other patient, but she was the only one in the waiting room.  She got
to her feet. 
	"What's happened?" she asked. 
	The doctor's grim look could only mean one thing.  She'd gone to
medical school - she knew that look - and she couldn't believe it was
true.  He put his hands on her shoulders and she had to pull away.  "No,"
she said.  "It can't - there's no -" 
	"I'm sorry," said the doctor and Scully felt her knees getting
weak.  Her head felt light and she sank back into the chair, afraid she
might faint. 
	"What -?" she asked, wondering if she might be able to finish a
sentence ever again.  "It was food poisoning..." 
	"It wasn't," the doctor told her.  "He'd ruptured his appendix. 
Apparently some time ago. I'm surprised he wasn't in agony before this,
but sometimes it happens that way.  He had peritonitis.  There was little
we could do -" 
	Tears were running down her face. 
	"Is there anyone we should call?" the doctor asked. 
	She shook her head.
	"I'm sorry," the doctor said again lamely. 
	She nodded, putting her head down because she didn't want him to
see her cry.  And she found herself staring at the winning game piece. 
Talk about Mulder's luck, she thought. He wins a million bucks and then
dies. 
	She'd just inherited a million dollars. 
	And all she wanted in the world was Mulder. 

xxx

	Scully called Mulder's mother. It was the hardest phone call she'd
ever made. The woman blamed her, of course.  It wasn't her fault. She
hadn't even wanted to go to the damn fast food joint.  Then again, it
hadn't been their fault either. It had all been a fluke accident. 
Something that never should happen to anyone, but had happened to him. And
to her. 
	Because it was so strange, Scully wanted to do the autopsy.  Her
mother thought it was sick and so did all the doctors, because they didn't
understand it would be her way of saying goodbye.  She couldn't believe he
was gone. And she couldn't leave him in the uncaring hands of some other
pathologist. Even if he was dead, and probably didn't care. 
	As it turned out, he didn't end up in the hands of any
pathologist. Mulder's mother remembered belatedly that she was Jewish, and
while Mulder had never practiced any religion, she didn't want to go
against her faith by embalming the body.  He was put into the ground
untreated. 
	And every night, Scully looked at that game piece before she went
to bed. She looked at it long and hard.  It would be wrong to cash it in.
It would be wrong to benefit from Mulder's death that way. 
	But Mulder's death had ruined her.  She'd been losing weight
because she was too sad to stand the thought of food.  There were circles
under her eyes and all she wanted to do was sleep. Even Skinner was
worried about her, so worried he'd told her not to come back to work. 
	She'd lost her job.  She'd lost her reason to live.  She'd lost
Mulder. 
	A million dollars would go an awfully long way towards filling
that gaping hole in her heart. 
	She knew what she had to do. 

xxx

	"How do I go about claiming a prize?" she asked the woman behind
the counter at the restaurant.  The same kids were playing there as though
they'd never left.  They were staring at her now - they'd never seen a
walking ghoul before.  That was what she'd become. 
	"Que?" 
	"Fuck it," Scully muttered, and the woman behind the counter
understood that.  She walked away, looking at the game piece in her hand. 
There was an eight hundred number on it.  She called and they gave her a
local address to visit their prize claims center. 
	It didn't take her long to arrive there. It was a nondescript grey
office that looked like an accounting firm. Scully'd thought about going
home to comb her hair and put on a suit, but she knew if she did, she
would chicken out and not come back to claim the prize. She was getting
scared just standing there waiting for someone to greet her.  She didn't
know what she was so afraid of - no one was going to tell her she couldn't
have the money. No one would know she'd stolen the winning ticket from a
dead man. 
	Hell, they'd both gotten diet sodas that day.  It could just as
well have been her drink as his. 
	A little man who looked like an accountant took the ticket from
her and congratulated her.  He told her the arrangements that would be
made to put the money into her bank account.  None of it seemed real. 
	Her life had just changed again. 

xxx

	The light coming through the window seemed too bright and when he
tried to sit up, hands stopped him.  A soft voice caressed his ears. 
"You've been sick a long time," the woman told him. 
	"Scully," he said, reaching out, but even though he couldn't see
her face clearly, he knew this wasn't Scully.  "Where am I?" he asked,
frowning, wishing the woman would pull down the shade so he would no
longer be blinded by the sunlight. Everything was white and shadowy. 
	"You're safe.  You've finally gotten away from them, Fox." 
	He would have jumped out of the bed if he'd had the strength.  He
recognized that voice.  He must have betrayed his shock, because the woman
sat down on the bed next to him and patted him comfortingly.  "They tried
to kill you. We went to a lot of trouble to fake your death.  We almost
weren't able to save you.  But you're okay now.  You're okay." 
	Mulder groaned and lay back on the pillows.  He couldn't even
begin to explain why he was so upset.  But he tried. "I have to - I have
to go back -" 
	"You can't, Fox. Don't you understand?  They think you're dead." 
	"They've thought that before," he protested. 
	"We went to a lot of trouble. If you go back, you'll be dead," she
told him. 
	"But Scully -" 
	Something was wrong.  The moment he mentioned Scully, the woman
got up from the bed and walked away, not saying anything. 
	"What about Scully?" Mulder demanded. 
	"She was in on it," she told him shortly and pulled the door
closed after her, leaving him to deal with the terrible news.  It couldn't
be true...could it? 

	The mystery woman left without another word, leaving Mulder to try
and figure out why his Scully would have joined forces against him.  After
a while, he closed his eyes, trying to block out the obnoxious brightness,
and allowed himself to know that Scully would never have been involved. 
The woman was confused, as far as Mulder was concerned.  He smiled to
himself, hoping that Scully was having a good time with the money he'd
won, and then drifted off to sleep. 

XXX

	Scully awoke with a start.  She'd fallen asleep on the couch,
again, with the TV on, again, in the middle of the day, again, having had
no intentions of taking a nap in the first place, again.  But she was
without a job and a friend and a reason to live.  She did, however, have
an impressively large bank account with money she'd taken from her friend
on his deathbed. She sat up, switching off the television, and rubbed her
eyes.  It was 5:45 on a Saturday, but beyond that she had no idea when it
was.  She didn't know how long Mulder had been dead or even how long she
been sitting on the couch.  She could have been there for days.  But she
didn't have a boss who wanted to know where she was or anyone who cared
what she did anymore other than her mother, and, well, that was a mother's
job, after all.  It didn't mean anything beyond the politically correct
emotion for a mother to have. 
	She heard one of her neighbors return home, the loud, excited
barking of his dog giving away his arrival before she heard his footsteps
on the stairs.  She heard the man's muffled voice as he greeted his dog . 
She shook her head and pushed the blanket off her legs.  She wanted Mulder
back.  She'd give anything, even the million dollars in her account, for
just five more minutes at his side.  She needed his companionship.  She
didn't need a boyfriend or a coworker or a friend, she needed her Mulder. 
She needed someone who would be there for her at all hours of the day,
someone who would answer her frantic 4 AM call after a nightmare had
scared her, someone whose eyes would light up when she walked into the
room, someone who would break his own neck if it would help get him to her
side faster.  She needed someone who was guaranteed to be on her side no
matter what. 
	Then it hit her- she needed a dog.  She couldn't have Mulder back,
but she could have a dog.  And a dog would fill part of the spot Mulder'd
left behind in her heart.  And a dog would make her feel less stupid for
talking to herself.  Energized for the first time since Mulder's death,
she jumped off the couch and headed for the mall, smiling to herself the
whole way. 
	She waded through the crowd of kids at the front windows of the
pet store, the ones who were happily knocking on the glass, ignorant of
the 'no tapping on the glass please' sign, and the angry, bored mothers
who were patiently reminding their kids of the pets at home who were no
longer novel and young and adorable.  Scully walked past the cat cages,
pausing to gently stroke one friendly kitten with her finger when he
grabbed hold of her sleeve.  She pushed her way through the group at the
wall and began looking over the selection of dogs.  It never entered her
mind as to what kind of dog she was looking for, she just knew she'd
recognize it when she saw it. 
	She saw a tiny Pomeranian, one just like her Queequeg, but she
didn't want a little dog.  She wanted a gangly one, one that would hear
her key in the lock and come barreling down the hall, one that would jump
up and threaten to knock her down with its enthusiasm.  One that would
remind her of the way Mulder would run to her side as quickly as he could
when she walked into the room and say something, usually something
pointless and stupid, just to have an excuse to bend down and whisper in
her ear. 
	Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about him.  They'd been
robbed of so much- time, friendship, love.  They'd been through everything
together, but she knew there was lots more that they hadn't gotten the
chance to share yet.  She wanted him back.  But she couldn't have him and
she was using the money he'd won to buy a replacement for him.  It didn't
seem fair, but she wasn't working, so she didn't have any choice.  It was
use his money or become a bag lady. 
	A teenaged girl in a bright blue smock, wearing jeans so big that
three of her could have fit in them and a nametag that read 'Heather,'
ambled up to her.  "K'I help ya find something?"  Heather's blonde hair
flipped back and forth as her head bounced.  Scully wondered idly if
Heather's head wouldn't roll off if it wasn't for the three inch thick
choker fastened around her neck. 
	"I'm looking for a dog.  Can I pet some of them?" 
	Heather cracked her gum and shook her head happily.  "Sure, any
one in particular?" 
	Scully looked back at her choices.  "How about that black lab?" 
	Heather grinned and retrieved the dog.  It yipped and yelped and
barked and ran around Scully's feet.  She knew instantly that it wasn't
the right dog for her.  She didn't have that much energy, in fact, it was
tiring her out just watching the thing.  "Do you have any that are a
little bit older?"  She was afraid that she wouldn't find the right one
that night and she was sure it would kill her if she didn't take it home
right away. 
	"Well, the puppies are usually all we've got.  They're cuter and
younger and not as old as well, older dogs.  They sell better.  Lemme
check with Chuck."  Heather grinned, snapped her gum again and went off to
check with Chuck. 
	Scully regarded the frisky puppy who had moved on and was eating a
bag of dog food he'd ripped open.  There was no way that thing was getting
in her house.  A few minutes later a man in his forties ambled over to
her.  He smiled a disgustingly toothless smile at her.  "I hear ya looking
for a old dog." 
	She nodded. "Well, an older dog, than, say, this young one here." 
She pointed at the dog who had moved on to a box of cat treats. 
	He smiled and nodded, looking rather constipated.  "Normally, I'd
have to tell you to try the dog pound, but it just so happens that we got
us a dog that just didn't sell.  He's been here about a month and we were
going to take him to the pound next week."  He led her away from the puppy
display, back past the frogs and snakes, past the rabbits and mice and
hamsters and past the fish tanks.  They entered the small office in the
back and shoved under the desk was a dog cage. 
	Scully dropped down to her knees, already feeling sorry for the
poor thing, and opened the door.  She peered in the cage, and saw a dog,
curled up with his tail tucked around his head, sound asleep.  She reached
in carefully and patted it.  It's head popped up immediately, licking her
hand excitedly and then slowly uncurling itself.  She watched the dog free
itself from its cage, walk around the office twice and then flop into her
lap.  It was a beautiful white dog, with a few tan spots on its back and
long floppy hair that looked like it needed to be brushed.  She patted its
head again and it stood up, licked her face and then regarded her
solemnly.  Its gorgeous brown eyes had the adoring, loving look she'd
always seen in Mulder's. 
	"What kind of dog is this?"  She scratched behind its ears and he
licked her hand again.  She loved him already.  He was perfect. 
	"It's an English Setter.  Used to use 'em for fox hunting way
back." 
	She laughed at the irony and picked up the dog, who already looked
like his body was too big for him to control properly.  "I'll take him." 

end of part one.  
eponine119@att.net, jzyvarek@udel.edu

Mulder, Krycek & The Dog part two

	An hour later, with bowls and a collar and leash and toys and flea
powder, Scully and her new dog Fox headed home.  That night he jumped in
the middle of her bed and refused to move, so she was forced to curl up in
a tiny edge that he left vacant.  When she woke up in the morning, it was
to playful licks on her face.
	A few weeks later, he was house broken and pretty well trained, so
long as she was holding something that he wanted.  She could tell him to
sit all day long empty handed and he'd ignore her, but the moment she
brought out food, he'd do anything.  She brought him home from a walk and
was holding a treat for him above her head.
	"OK, Fox, now sit." 
	Fox rolled onto his back.  She smiled. 
	"Fox, roll over." 
	Fox stood up on his hind legs.  She grinned at him. 
	"Lay down." 
	Fox sat. She reached over and handed him the treat and scratched
behind his ears, not even minding the doggy breath anymore.  "Your just
like the real thing, Fox.  Just like the real thing." 

	Just then the telephone rang.  Scully grabbed it automatically. 
"Yeah?" 
	"Oh, Dana, honey, I'm so glad you're not sleeping!" her mother
cried.  Scully rolled her eyes and patted the floor in front of her.  Her
new pet trotted over to her and curled up in her lap. "What're you doing?" 
	"Nothing," she replied, squirming because Fox was walking all over
her legs. 
	"Doesn't sound like nothing." 
	"Fox, stop it!" she cried as the dog started sniffing an area she
considered to be rather private. 
	"Dana?"  The silence from her mother's end of the line was almost
deafening. Scully knew her mother was sitting there thinking her daughter
had completely lost her mind. 
	"It's a dog, Mom.  I'm not talking to dead people.  Stop worrying
about me." 
	"You bought a dog?" 
	Hadn't she just said that? "Yeah." 
	"And you named it *Fox*?" 
	She was certain she'd just said that too. "Yeah." 
	"Are you sure that was wise, Dana?"'
	"Mom -" she sighed, knowing she sounded like she was fifteen, but
she couldn't help it. 
	"I think you should get away from here, honey.  Take a trip. Get
out of town.  Away...from all the memories.  You know how I had to sell my
house after your father..." 
	That's great, Mom, Scully thought bitterly, but Mulder and I were
never married, and he never let me call him Fox. "I'm fine," she insisted. 
	"Think about it. If you need the money you know I'd be happy to -" 
	"It's okay, Mom, I can afford it," Scully told her.  She still
hadn't mentioned the prize money to her mother.  She didn't know why she
should, and besides, her mother wouldn't understand. 
	After a few more cursory words, the two women hung up. Scully sat
there with the phone in her hand.  She was getting tired of everyone
worrying about her. Maybe she should go somewhere.  Maybe if she did, when
she got back, people would stop nagging her so badly. 
	"How does that sound, baby, hmm?" she asked her new puppy.  "Do
you want to go on a trip?"  She looked at Fox and he just cocked his head
and looked back like he understood most of what she was saying.  Just the
same look Mulder used to give her.  "Where do you want to go?" she asked,
teasing him by scratching his stomach and then stopping suddenly. 
	Fox didn't answer. 
	"Well, England's out.  They have a quarantine on dogs." 
	Fox kept looking at her.  Scully snatched up a balled pair of
nylons and tossed them across the room. She wasn't going to wear them
anymore, so they might as well become a toy.  Fox brought them back to her
slobbery and shredded.  He still didn't have any suggestions on vacation
plans.  She supposed she could call up the State Dept. and ask where she
could go with her dog, but Scully was having a different thought. 
	If she was going on vacation, she'd need new clothes.  She had no
desire to wear another dull colored pantsuit.  They reminded her of her
old life, with Mulder, the life she could never get back.  She remembered
every time she'd worn those clothes, which ones he liked and which ones he
hadn't.  She couldn't wear either. 
	She was thinking black.  She was in mourning, after all. 
	"Wanna go to the mall, Fox?" she asked. 
	He bounced up, abandoning the socks instantly. 
	"You're such a smart dog, Fox," she told him as they went out to
the car together. 

	Scully found herself tracing her usual old path at the mall, to
Saks and Nordstroms and Macys, through the petite departments, but all of
the suits turned her stomach just as surely as the ones hanging in her
closet did.  Finally she found her way off the carpeted track out into the
mall, actively looking for a store she'd never been to before. 
	She found one.  It had hard rock playing and skateboards in the
window, but something about the way the display reminded her of death made
her think she would find what she desired inside. 
	A punk kid who probably wasn't even out of high school, who wore
earrings in his eyebrows and a safety pin through one cheek, swaggered up
to her.  Scully marvelled at the privilege of being able to go to work
looking like that.  "Help you?"  he mumbled. 
	"Looking," she replied, remembering suddenly the last time she'd
been in this sort of mood.  She'd ended up with a LCD-spiked tattoo. 
Maybe she should run for her life, she thought. 
	"No dogs allowed," he mumbled, looking at his vivid purple Doc
Martens that matched his hair. 
	"What?" she demanded as Fox nuzzled her leg.  Why the hell hadn't
Mulder been as docile as this dog? 
	"What, you think you're one-a those rich bitches who takes their
dog fuckin everywhere?" he demanded. 
	"Actually, I am," she replied. 
	"What?" he roared. 
	Scully shrugged and sought refuge in a junior's shop across the
path. Most of the clothes were tiny pieces of polyester, but she managed
to find a couple of pairs of black jeans, some T shirts and a baseball
cap.  When she was rung up, she was sorry to see the total came to less
than one hundred dollars.  She was rich, she ought to be enjoying it. 
	So she bought a five hundred dollar black leather motorcycle
jacket that made her feel much better. 
	Until she got home. 
	Her apartment was cold, and lonely.  She jacked up the heat and
snuggled into her new jacket, but it didn't make it any less quiet.  The
more she sat there, the more she was certain Mulder was not very far away
from her.  The thought raised the hair on the back of her neck and she
grabbed the phone.  There was no ban on dogs travelling in the USA, after
all. 
	"Hello, I'd like a plane ticket," she said. 
	"Where to, and what dates will you be travelling?" asked the
agent. 
	"Well, I live about an hour for the airport, so what's your next
flight after that?" she asked. 
	There was a silence as Scully knew the travel agent was thinking
she was crazy.  Everyone seemed to think Scully was insane.  Then she
heard the woman begin to type. 
	"Los Angeles," the flight attendant told her. 
	"Perfect.  One first class ticket, please.  And...I have my dog
travelling with me.  Does he need a seat as well?" 
	"Um, your dog needs to be in a carrier in the luggage compartment,
ma'am,"  the travel agent informed her. 
	"The *luggage* compartment?" Scully demanded.  "Can't you just put
him in coach?" 
	"No, ma'am." 
	Scully sighed. She couldn't lock Fox in a box and hope he'd fare
better than her luggage usually did.  It was unfair to him.  "Thanks
anyway," she said and pressed down the disconnect button. 
	She looked at the dog, who was curled up sleeping again.  Then she
dialed again, a number she knew well. 
	"Lariat car rentals, how may I help you?" 

	She arranged for the rental car quickly, and for the first time in
all of her dealings with them, asked for them to come pick her up.  She
had never wanted to leave her car unattended anywhere but at her house for
long periods of time and Mulder always picked her up.  She closed her
eyes, squeezing them hard for a moment.  She had vowed when she woke up
laughing at the tickling sensation of a dog licking her foot that she was
going to make it through the day, the whole day, without crying.  It would
be the first one since Mulder's death that she would break down at least
once.  She was going to make it. 
	She patted Fox's head and tossed her new purchases into a back
pack. Fox trotted along happily behind her, miserable enough to whimper
when she closed the bathroom door between them.  He'd grown considerably
in the few weeks she'd had him.  He was a slim dog, but when he launched
himself at her, she always fell to the ground.  She'd grown more attached
to the dog every second she had him, but the one thing that she loved the
most was the quiet way he would sleep next to her.  When he was stretched
out he was almost as tall as she was and the heat his generated was better
than a heated blanket. But she'd lie there in the dark listening to him
breath and whisper 'I love you Fox' and she could almost convince herself
that Mulder was there. 
	Once her bag was packed, she sat in a chair by the window and
waited for the rental car to arrive.  Fox sat beside her with his head on
her leg. 
	"Fox?" 
	He lifted his head and looked hopefully at her. 
	"Promise me you'll never leave me, OK?" 
	He stared, his big brown eyes so sad and lonely looking that it
hurt her. 
	"I'm never going to leave you and I'm never going to let anything
happen to you.  I'll protect you." 
	It might have been a trick of the light, but she could have sworn
that his eyes were wet with moisture.  She squinted at him, putting her
hand in front of his face and letting him sniff it. 
	"You know, sometimes I could just swear..."  The dog licked her
hand happily.  His tail started to wag, alerting her to the car that
pulled up in front of her building.  She took Fox by the ear and stared
right into his eyes.  "Mulder, are you in there?"  Fox dropped a slobbery
kiss on her lips and bounded away towards the door, holding his leash in
his mouth, and wagging his tail so hard it made a thumping sound as it hit
the wall. 
	She wiped the slobber off her face and dropped the leash back on
the floor.  "You'll behave for me, right?" 
	Fox barked at her, but she decided it was just the knock at the
door. He hadn't started to answer her she decided.  She opened the door
and greeted the rental car guy, laughing when Fox growled at him.  "He
won't hurt you." She frowned sternly at Fox and the dog ducked his head
and trotted along behind her.  He didn't like that he was being forced to
sit in the back seat and he left both people know it by draping his head
over the seat and drooling on the man's shoulder.  Scully just laughed at
his behavior.  When they reached the agency and the man left the car,
Scully patted the seat beside her and Fox hopped over the seat to join her
in the front. 
	"Still over protective, aren't you?" 
	Fox yapped happily, leaving Scully to ponder her new theory. 

	Once, Scully had driven all the way from DC to New Mexico without
stopping and it took her about 36 hours.  She remembered it frequently
while she was driving along in the dark.  Then, she'd shot Mulder and he'd
sort of lain in the front seat alternately bleeding and drooling quietly. 
	She looked over at her companion Fox, who was staring moodily out
of the window.  Kind of the same thing now, she thought, with her silent
friend.  She took one hand off the wheel to pat him on the head.  He
ducked his head and accepted the caress proudly, without so much as
looking at her. 
	He was getting cocky awfully fast, she thought. 
	Scully yawned and tried to stretch as she drove.  The highway was
straight and relatively well-lit.  There was no scenery out the window. 
She thought they were somewhere in Kansas, which would explain why there
was nothing to look at. 
	"What's so interesting out there?" she asked him, but he didn't
answer. 
	The radio began to come in as static, losing the station from the
town she barely remembered leaving.  She began to turn the knob, searching
for something that wasn't country music.  There weren't a lot of choices. 
	"What do you want to listen to?" she said. 
	No answer. 
	"I should've brought some tapes." 
	Scully looked over at Fox, remembering a book she'd read once
where the hero got ahold of a really smart dog.  A dog that could talk. 
Or maybe it could just read...she wasn't sure now. 
	The dog glanced at her eeriely, as though it could sense what she
was thinking. 
	"Mulder?" she whispered and the dog barked.  Scully jumped at the
unexpected sound and found her heart racing suddenly.  She didn't believe
in reincarnation, let alone the idea that Mulder could die and come back
as a dog she would just happen to pick up at the mall.  I mean, she
thought, how unlikely is that? 
	She sighed, wishing the dog could talk. 
	"Oh say can you see..." she began to sing to keep herself alert. 
Mul...Fox groaned and leaned closer to the window.  Mulder never had let
her sing in the car, either, when they took their long road trips. 
	Hell, there were the tears again. She glanced at the clock. It was
after eleven p.m.  That was midnight in DC, which meant she'd made it
through her twenty-four hours without crying over Mulder. 
	One whole day. 
	She would make it through another.  She was off on a grand
adventure now. No reason to be sad.  Except, of course, that she wanted
him with her. 
	Wasn't there a movie, she thought, with a dog that could talk and
it turned out to be this reincarnated detective sent back to save a
woman's life? 
	Suddenly she liked the idea even less.  She snuck another glance
at her dog, staring haughtily out of the window.  She yawned again and saw
a brightly lit sign for a Motel 21.  Time to take a rest, she decided,
pulling off the highway. 
	It was simple to get one of the guaranteed-clean $21 a night
rooms. She didn't mention that she had a dog with her, and seconds later
was walking out with keys in hand.  She smiled conspiratorially at the
pup, who was crouched down in the passenger seat so the suspicious motel
manager wouldn't see. 
	The moment she opened the door to the room, Fox bounded past her
and jumped up on the bed farthest from the door - the one she generally
preferred, just in case something happened - and fell asleep.  Scully
walked over there and nudged him playfully. He wasn't faking.  He was
asleep. 
	"Dumb dog," she muttered.  She wasn't tired, suddenly, but the
room was hers until check out time, so she had time to sleep. After all,
she was in no rush to get where she was going.  She had no where else to
go. 
	From the window, she could see the blinking neon light from the
bar next to the manager's office and thought it looked tempting. 
	"Should I?" she wondered and looked, again, at the dog. 
	"I need to get a life," she said to herself.  She walked over to
the mirror and arranged her hair back around her face with her fingers. 
	"Scully, you're talking to yourself," she said to her reflection. 
	Maybe all those people had a very good reason to think she was
crazy.  She was talking to herself and every so often, she checked with
her dog for his opinion. 
	Yeah, she needed a life. 

	She patted the sleeping dog and changed her shirt before picking
up the key and opening the door.  Not quite a second later, immediately
after she'd turned the lock behind her, she heard a distinctive whimper
that could only belong to her dog.  She thought about Fox, and how in a
matter of three weeks she'd spoiled him rotten, and then she continued to
walk.  The more steps she took, the louder his voice got.  She sighed and
walked back toward the room, refusing to admit that if she listened
closely, it sounded more like he was calling for 'Scully' than like a dog
howling.  Glancing back almost forlornly at the bar, she decided it was
probably better that she not have any alcohol until she mentally sobered
up and stopped thinking that her dog was the reincarnation of her dead
partner. 
	Ten minutes later, she was staring Fox down.  She was perched on
the edge of her bed while he was perched on the edge of his.  Staring into
his sad puppy eyes, she knew she recognized the look.  Probably just
unconditional love that both Mulder and her dog felt for her.  She shook
her head and stood up to put on her pajamas, telling herself that it was
absolutely insane that she was thinking that Mulder had ever loved her. 
They'd been friends, nothing more, and she'd tried her best not to
consider it. 
	As she changed, she noticed the way the dog was staring at her. 
She glared at him and then stomped into the bathroom to change.  She
brushed her teeth and had put her hair up in a bun when she heard a knock
at the door. She fastened the chain and then peeked around the edge,
smiling politely at the leering face of the motel clerk. 
	"Uh, ma'am, did I hear a dog in here?" 
	"No, I'm sorry, the TV was too loud, but I'm going to sleep now,
so there won't be anymore noise."  She shut the door rudely in his face
and turned back to her dog.  He ducked his head sheepishly and glance up
at her. 
	"All right, mister.  I'm tired of thinking I'm insane.  You're
either him or you're not, but I want to know now. OK?" 
	Tailwagging. 
	"I didn't say we were going for a walk, what are you so excited
over?" 
	Panting and more tailwagging. 
	"If you're Mulder, roll over." 
	Fox happily rolled over, right off the bed and yelped quietly when
he hit the ground. 
	"Maybe you've just finally learned to obey commands."  She sat
down on her bed and closed her eyes.  "If you're Mulder, get up here and
give me a backrub." 
	Fox jumped onto the bed and rolled against her leg.  "oh, I guess
you need opposable thumbs for that."  She regarded her dog.  "Do you love
me?" 
	Sad eyes looked back at her and his head cocked to the side. 
	"Sure you do.  Good night, Fox."  She turned off the light and
slipped under the covers, proud that she hadn't even thought of bursting
into tears in the previous hours. 

	Morning came too early and so did the morning dog breath that she
was used to as an alarm clock.  She shoved him away and pulled the covers
up.  A whimper later, she pushed the covers back down and glowered at Fox.
"Why can't you ever sleep?"  She dressed quickly, telling herself that the
dog wasn't watching her, but turning away from him nonetheless.  She took
him for a short walk and then they climbed back in the car.  "All right,
Fox, I'm thinking maybe northern California, what about you?"  Fox
stretched out on the seat and rested his head on her lap.  "Good, I'm glad
we agree." 
	The miles stretched on before her, and eventually behind her.  The
dog alternately slept and stared out the window and gave fairly good
indications that not only was he listening and understanding, but that he
was disagreeing with her reasons for why he couldn't possibly be the
reincarnated soul of Mulder. 
	She rubbed her eyes as she pulled into a gas station.  She needed
to use the rest room and stretch her legs and she figured she might as
well get some gas too.  "Now you behave, Fox."  She cracked the window and
patted Fox on the head before she locked the car.  The attendant, a young
boy somewhere around ten, smiled and offered to pump her gas.  She nodded
and handed him some money.  She went into the bathroom, splashing cold
water on her face and was about to brush her hair when she heard a loud
yelp. 
	She rushed out of the bathroom and saw two large men trying to
pulled Fox out of the car. They'd managed to get the door unlocked and
were threatening the poor dog with sticks.  Scully pulled her gun out of
her waistband, thankful that she'd neglected to return it to Skinner, and
fired it into the air. 
	"Get the hell away from him!" 
	The men dropped the sticks and raised their hands, stepping
backwards away from the car.  She hurried to the car and climbed in,
speeding off without checking on Fox.  She wanted to get as far away from
those bastards as she could.  She pulled over a few minutes later, after
her heart rate had slowed somewhat. 
	"Fox, come here."  The dog was still cowering on the floor of the
back seat.  "Fox!"  He whimpered.  She got out and climbed in the back,
pleased when he moved from the floor to deposit himself in her lap.  She
gently patted his head and her hand came away bloody.  "Oh, Fox, I'm
sorry.  I'm so sorry.  I promised you.  You'll be OK, right?" 
	His big sad eyes just stared back.  She checked over him, and
found his wounds to be superficial.  She decided to call it a day early,
checking into another motel and carrying Fox in from the car.  She curled
up on the bed with him, hoping he'd eventually get over the events of the
day.  She closed her eyes and slipped into the most realistic dream she'd
ever had. 

end of part two.  

Mulder, Krycek & The Dog part three 

	She was in a bright room with blue gingham curtains.  There was a
glass of milk and a huge plate of peanut butter cookies on the table in
front of her.  She could smell them and felt sick to her stomach. There
was nothing on this earth Scully hated more than peanut butter cookies. 
Maybe it had something to do with them being the only food her father
could make. And so, every Sunday when he spent the day with them, he would
bake what seemed to be hundreds of peanut butter cookies. Every week young
Dana would stuff herself until finally she knew if she ever ate another
one of the damn cookies she would be sick. 
	She pushed the plate away and noticed that Mulder was sitting
across the table from her. 
	"Hi, Mulder," she said, frowning. "I thought you were dead." 
	"Well, I'm not." 
	"That's never happened before," she said sarcastically.  Great,
she finally had the chance to say to him all the things she hadn't gotten
to say in life and she was making fun of his frequently faked demises. 
	Mulder tilted his head, which made him look exactly like her dog. 
	"I got a dog," she told him. 
	"I know," he said. 
	She nodded. What else was there to say? 
	"Scully, why are you staying in two-bit fleabag motels?" Mulder
asked her. 
	"I don't know." 
	"You don't have a gun - are you asking to get killed?" He was
agitated now, rising from the table and beginning to pace. 
	Scully just frowned at him.  "No," she said, but then she had to
think about it. "No," she said again.  Was she in some strange way
passively suicidal? She didn't think so.  "Mulder, I never got to tell you
I was in love with you." 
	"That's okay," Mulder told her. 
	"That's okay?" she cried. 
	"It wasn't like I couldn't tell," he said. 
	She waited.  He didn't say anything else.  "Don't you have
anything to say about that?" 
	"I'm not your dog," he said. 
	"I'm sorry I named him Fox," she told him, feeling oddly teary. 
	"I have to go," Mulder said, looking toward the door. 
	Scully jumped up, standing in front of him, something she would
never have done in life.  "Won't you...at least...kiss me?  Just once?" 
She looked up into his eyes and realized they weren't brown at all, they
were an odd shade of greyish blue. 
	Mulder put one hand on the side of her face and she stopped
breathing.  He brushed her hair back from her face, like he was going to
kiss her. She could smell him. 
	And then he turned and walked away. 
	She stood there, upset and furious. 

	Scully was started awake by a sharp sound from outside the motel. 
She sat up in bed instantly and blinked, suffering from a terrible head
rush from sitting up so quickly.  She looked around. 
	"Fox?" 
	She stumbled to the door.  The sun had come up.  "Fox?" she cried,
her voice growing more urgent. 
	Scully pulled open the door and shut it again only a few seconds
later, turning around and leaning on it, as though the horror would follow
her inside.  She closed her eyes, but the sight was already burned in. 
	Fox. 
	Had run away. 
	Scully wandered back to bed and pulled the covers around her.  She
put her head down on her knees and sobbed.  She didn't even know how the
dog could've gotten out.  It must be fate, she thought. Everyone around
her died.  This was her fault. 
	She cried for an hour and then got into the car, operating almost
on automatic pilot. She put gas into the car and drove to the nearest
airport.  She turned in the rental car and walked into the large terminal. 
It was midday, but a weekday, so the airport was uncrowded.
	She walked around for a while, trying to decide what she wanted to
do. Scully didn't know. She just didn't know. She wanted to be where
Mulder was.  But he was gone, and so was the dog she'd loved so briefly
that she'd thought was him, but it wasn't. 
	Okay then, she thought, digging through her bag. She came up with
two items.  Her prescription pad and her passport.  She had a choice. 
	She wrote herself a prescription for 200 sleeping pills and found
a pharmacy right there in the airport.  The man behind the counter didn't
even look at her twice as he accepted the small slip of paper.  "Twenty
minutes," he told her. 
	She wandered around the tiny shop where everything was overpriced. 
Dental floss cost three dollars.  A can of soup - and she couldn't imagine
why someone getting on a plane would want a can of soup - was almost five. 
For that much, Scully thought, it should come with the can opener. 
	She walked over to the magazine rack and sat down in the brown
plastic chair with an issue of a vapid women's magazine with a half-naked
woman on the front.  She didn't understand that, if they wanted to sell to
women, why didn't they have naked men on the cover? 
	Scully found herself reading an article about Teri Hatcher, the
anorexic actress who was still considered a celebrity although she hadn't
done a movie in quite some time. The article proclaimed that the woman was
five foot seven and weighed one hundred seven pounds.  Scully suddenly
realized she couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. A terrible
craving for a Snickers bar overtook her when she did a quick calculation
to realize that if she wanted to be as thin as Teri Hatcher, at five foot
two, she would have to weigh 86 pounds. 
	The world is a sick place, she decided as the pharmacist called
her name. She paid for her pills along with a bottle of duty free vodka
and a Snickers bar. Chewing on the candy, she walked out into the airport
and tried to decide what to do. 
	She could kill herself. 
	That was what the pills were for. 
	But she was in an *airport* for crying out loud!  Where was she
supposed to do it?  Scully had seen death before.  She didn't want herself
to be that exposed in a public place.  So she put the pills and the liquor
into her bag and began to wander the ticket counters again. 
	She had her passport, after all.  And no dog... 
	She wasn't going to cry. 
	She'd never been to Egypt. 
	Sounds good, she thought, getting in line. 

	Many hours later, Scully found herself standing in another
airport. It was hot and dark and there were grains of sand on the linoleum
floor.  The swarthy men walking through carrying briefcases looked at her
in ways no American man would ever dare.  They spoke a language she'd
never so much as heard before. She knew no one, had no map, and no foreign
currency. 
	Scully was wondering what the HELL she had been thinking. 
	She sat down in one of the black plastic chairs and put her chin
in her hands, looking around, trying to figure out what to do.  There
weren't any gift shops.  She couldn't send her mom a postcard, let alone
buy a map or a phrasebook to learn to say, "Take me to the pyramids." 
	A man sat down next to her.  She knew this without raising her
head. She didn't look at him because she didn't want to encourage him. 
"Need some help?" His voice was a whisper and he leaned over, his posture
mirroring hers. She could feel his eyes on her, gauging her reaction to
the fact that he spoke English. 
	Scully remembered herself.  She didn't mope. She didn't whine. She
took care of herself.  She sat up straight. "I'm fine," she said, turning
to look at the man for the first time. 
	He could have been her twin for the way he was dressed in black
jeans and a jacket.  Except his T-shirt was white. 
	"What a small world," she said, choking on laughter.  Not only was
he American, she knew him!  This was absolutely ridiculous.  He smiled at
her when she said that and he had really nice teeth. She wondered if he
used whiteners. 
	Scully started to cry and she couldn't stop.  Tenderly, he put his
arms around her, not asking her what was wrong, just letting her cry
against the cracked leather of his jacket.  It was just as well, she
couldn't tell him what was wrong. Mulder was dead and her dog was gone and
she was in a foreign country crying on Krycek's chest.  He wouldn't
understand. 

	Krycek said nothing as she sobbed. She looked up at him a few
minutes later, pulling away and wiping at her tears.  She felt a blush
rise into her cheeks at the very thought of what she'd done. 
	He grinned at her and she felt his hand continued to run up and
down her back.  "Feeling any better?" 
	"I'm fine."  She pulled completely out of his reach, arranging her
shirt, which she noticed in retrospect was too tight. 
	"Yeah, I noticed."  He stood up, taking her hand and pulling her
with him.  "Why don't you come with me.  I'll get you a room and some food
and then we'll talk." 
	She pulled her arm away defiantly.  "I'll be fine on my own." 
	"OK, why don't you take a look at the gentleman standing to your
left in the black shirt and tell me that you want to be alone right now
without being able to understand a word of this language." 
	She glanced at the man Krycek was referring to.  She glanced back
at Krycek.  He might be a murderer, but he was definitely attractive.  "If
you'll just walk me to a hotel, I'll give you the money for the room..." 
	"If you want to pay, that's fine with me.  I hear you've come into
some money recently." 
	 Indignantly, she folded her arms across her chest and followed
Krycek acting much like a four year old throwing a temper tantrum.  "How
would you know anything about me?" 
	He handed her a paper he pulled from his pocket.  It took her a
moment to recognize it.  It was a credit report.  In fact, it was hers. 
Complete with bank account balances, recent account activity,
everything...  "Where's the dog?" 
	"What?"  Tears threatened at the mention of her precious dog, but
she was took busy trying to determine how he knew about the dog to cry. 
	"You and Fox have been inseparable for weeks.  I'm just a little
concerned that you've left him in a kennel some place." 
	She slugged him in the shoulder with all the strength she had, and
much to her dismay, his arm fell off.  He grimaced as he picked it up and
reattached it inside his jacket.  "Don't hit me again." 
	"I'll be more careful in the future.  I just didn't realize that
your arm was going to fall off."  She snickered to herself. 
	"Well blame it on your partner.  It's all that asshole's fault." 
He took her arm roughly with his good arm and pulled her behind him. 
	"Don't worry, he got his."  Her voice was sullen and her face
contorted as she fought the tears again. 
	"Things aren't always the way they seem, honey." 
	"What does that mean?"  She stopped walking, waiting for him to
turn around and face her.  She pulled off his sunglasses so she could be
sure that he was looking at her.  "What do you know?" 
	"Plenty."  He shrugged.  "Do you think it was an accident that we
bumped into each other?" 
	She stared at the wall coldly, trying not to betray how nervous
the question made her.  "Are you telling me it was a set up?" 
	"No, I followed you.  I've been following you since Mulder's
supposed demise." 
	"What do you mean you've been following me?" 
	"I mean I followed you.  In fact, I was listening to you." 
	"How?"  She didn't want to believe it, but she didn't think he had
much to gain by lying to her. 
	"Fox's collar.  Your faulty alarm system.  You're a heavy
sleeper." 
	"What?" 
	He grinned at her and started walking again, hailing a taxi as
soon as they'd reached the outside and giving instructions to the driver. 
"I was in your bedroom while you were sleeping replacing the dog's collar. 
You were talking to me.  I figured that I was as good as dead.  But then
you rolled over and went back to sleep.  Your dog, on the other hand, took
a bite out of my hand."  He held up his bandaged hand as proof. 
	"I don't believe you."  It was the best comeback she could think
of with the revelation she'd just heard. 
	"I really like your nightgown.  Forest green satin suits you." 
	She blushed furiously at his leer.  Mulder had only ever known
about her light blue tame pajamas.  She had never let him see her
spaghetti strapped, mid-thigh length nightgown.  "Go to hell." 
	Before he got the chance to answer her, the cab stopped in front
of a marvelously gorgeous hotel.  Krycek led the way, nodding at the
doormen who politely nodded back.  Scully tried her hardest not to seem
flabbergasted at their surroundings, but it was the biggest hotel she'd
ever seen.  She could certainly afford it now, but one night here was the
splurge she'd been looking for and she'd have to go home in the morning to
avoid feeling to guilty. 
	He led her to a penthouse suite and presented her with a freshly
delivered room service tray.  He smiled broadly as she dug into the food. 
She hadn't eaten in days, but now that there was food in front of her, she
remembered how hungry she was.  Once she was done eating, she looked up at
him.  "What now?" 
	He'd taken off his jacket and shirt and was stretched across one
of the huge king sized beds.  "Well, I thought we'd have mad passionate
sex first and then think of something.  What do you think?" 

	Scully gave it half a moment's thought. "Nah, I'd rather see the
pyramids,"  she said. 
	Krycek pouted at her. 
	"Besides, I'm afraid your arm might fall off again," she
explained. 
	Krycek got up and pulled his shirt on over his head in seconds.
Scully was sort of sorry about that.  "Like it that rough, do you?" he
whispered as he passed her on the way to the door. 
	"Wouldn't you like to know," she murmured. 
	"I already do," he shot back with a half-grin that really rather
disturbed her.  What if he *had* been watching her?  Why would he? 
	Krycek hailed a yellow cab for them both and they got in.  It was
even hotter in the cab than it was outside.  Scully was amazed it could be
so hot even when the sun was down.  She felt the sweat break out on her
forehead instantly. She glanced at Krycek and he was completely cool. 
	She began to shrug out of her jacket and pushed back her hair,
which was damp.  She felt gross and she didn't want to be gross sitting
next to Krycek. She didn't know why, since he was a murderer and if they
ever managed to put him in jail, he'd have to deal with people much more
disgusting than her. 
	"You get used to it," Krycek smiled at her. 
	Scully rolled her eyes.  Bad enough she was hot, that Krycek had
to *notice.* Then again, he seemed to notice everything about her, which
she wasn't used to at all. 
	He paid the driver and held the door open as she climbed out of
the cab.  Mulder had never done that. Not even once.  Funny how killers
had all the manners.  She guessed that made it easier for the authorities
to identify them. 
	"Wow," she said, freezing in her tracks at the sight of the
enormous stone building all lit up. The sky was dark blue and clearer than
she'd ever seen in the United States.  "Wow," she said again. 
	Krycek's hands were on her back and she looked at him.  "Traffic,"
he said and she realized she was standing in the middle of the street. 
	"I'm sure they get used to it," Scully said, trying to say
something cute.  He pulled her across the street. 
	"I should just let you get hit by a car," he told her. 
	"Like my dog," she said, suddenly feeling sad again. 
	"What?"  He looked at her like she was insane.  And she hadn't
gotten that "you're nuts" look in almost twenty four hours. Maybe longer. 
How long had she been on the plane, anyway? 
	"He ran away, he must have gotten hit by a car.  All my pets die." 
	Krycek looked at her sympathetically.  He nodded toward a bench
and Scully sat down, pulling her legs up underneath her.  He sat down next
to her. "When I was a kid, I had this rabbit. It wasn't really mine, but
it was my family's.  And it died." 
	"The rabbit died?" he asked. 
	"Not like that!" she told him. "Although..."  Her mom had been
pregnant with Charlie not long afterward...but it wasn't as though the
rabbit had just dropped dead in its cage, either, was it?  "And my dog got
eaten by an alligator, and my new dog ran away and Mulder..."  She felt
dangerously close to tears. 
	"Mulder wasn't your pet, Scully." 
	"You know what I mean!" she cried.  Why was she so emotional? she
asked herself.  She was still in shock about Mulder's death, that had to
be it.  "What about you?" 
	"I'm here, Scully," Krycek told her. 
	"I mean, did you ever have any pets?" 
	Krycek shook his head, reaching over to gather her hair in his
hands. She was mesmerized by his hands and she just stared at him, trying
to understand why he was doing it.  There wasn't a reason, he just was. 
He gathered it into a makeshift ponytail, pulling it away from her face. 
A breeze blew across her neck and she shivered.  They stared at each other
for a long moment, but then he had to let her go and her hair fell back
around her shoulders. 
	"Let's go see the Sphinx," he said, dragging himself up from the
bench as though he were under obligation.  Scully jumped up and followed
him. 
	"What're you doing here, Krycek?" she asked as they walked up the
street together. 
	He stopped and looked at her. "How about you call me 'Alex' and I
call you 'Dana'?" 
	She ignored him and kept walking. She didn't want him to call her
that.  And she didn't want to call him Alex.  She didn't know why.  Too
personal, maybe. It didn't seem right.  He didn't seem like a guy with a
first name. 
	Just like Mulder, she thought.  The Sphinx was in sight now and
they stopped to look at it.  "Women," Krycek muttered. 
	"What makes you say that?" she asked him. 
	He shook his head. 
	"No, really, I want to know." 
	"Want to see the Nile?" he asked her. 
	"No." 
	"It's right over there," he pointed out. 
	"I'm worried you'd push me in," she told him.  He laughed.  It was
a nice sound.  Scully didn't laugh, though.  She didn't laugh.  Especially
not now that Mulder was dead. 
	"I'm not the killer." 
	Scully laughed and Krycek stared at her.  "What?" she demanded. 
	"Rumor has it you killed Mulder for the cash," he said. 
	"I would never!" she cried, instantly enraged.  She reached up to
slap Krycek across the face but he grabbed her arm, holding it above her
head.  She struggled, but he was stronger.  She stared up at him and saw
in his eyes that he wanted to kiss her.  She wasn't sure she would have
minded so much, but she was angry and Mulder was still dead. Of course, he
was probably going to remain dead and she was going to have to move on
with her life eventually. 
	But Scully still brought her knee up, which made Krycek release
her because he doubled up, groaning in pain. Scully stood by, embarrassed,
wondering what she was supposed to do next. He had the key to the room and
all the Egyptian money.  She didn't think the cab drivers took Visa, but
she could try it... 
	A crowd of men were gathering around them. Angry looking men. 
Scully was reminded she was in a country where women weren't necessarily
as highly regarded as men.  She'd probably just started a war. 
	"It's okay," Krycek ground out from between clenched teeth. 
	"You sure?" asked a big, burly guy. 
	Krycek nodded, managing to stand up and grab Scully's arm.  It
hurt her, but she said nothing. He dragged her away from the crowd and she
could feel them watching her walk away.  "I'm going to kill you," Krycek
promised. 
	"I'll look forward to it," she said with a sweet smile. 
	"We're not going to be having wild, passionate sex after that
move," he continued. 
	"Oh darn," she said in that same insincere tone. 
	"You are the most annoying woman I ever met.  No wonder Mulder -" 
	He stopped himself, but it was too late. "No wonder Mulder WHAT?"
she demanded. 
	"Why should I tell you anything?"  There was a hurt look in his
eyes. 
	"Tell me!" Scully demanded.  Krycek was silent and she shoved him
up against a wall in a dark alley alongside the hotel.  "Tell me, you
motherfucker or I swear I'll -" 
	"Kick me again?" Krycek said and he was smiling.  He was laughing
at her. She pressed her arm against his windpipe, but it was kind of a
stretch for her.  "You don't have a gun, Scully.  What power do you have?
You're just a little girl."  He put his hand on her hair again and she
pressed harder against his throat. 
	"Are you telling me Mulder's not dead?" 
	He laughed. 
	"Are you telling me Mulder's not dead!" she screamed. 
	"Get a clue, Scully," Krycek said meanly.  "You've spent five
years following him around like a spaniel.  Mooning over him when he
doesn't give a damn for you.  He doesn't respect you.  He certainly
doesn't love you.  Let alone like you.  You're not a very likable person,
Scully.  You could do a lot for yourself.  You could be pretty if you
smiled once in a while and didn't walk around pouting all the time.  If
you maybe stopped thinking about yourself for a minute or two.  He wanted
to get away from you.  And I can't say I blame you." 
	"Fuck you, Krycek," Scully said, releasing him, breathing hard
with anger that coursed through her. 
	"You wish," he snapped.  He started for the door of the hotel. 
"Come on, Scully." 
	She crossed her arms and stood her ground.  "I'll stay here." 
	"Come on, Scully," he told her, marching back over to her and
reaching for her arm.  She jerked it away, not wanting him to touch her. 
	"I'll stay here," she told him, glaring up at him. 
	"You can't," he told her. 
	"Oh yeah?"
	He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder easily.  No one
on the street even glanced at them twice as Scully kicked and screamed. 
He threw her on the bed in the hotel room and locked the door. 
	The lock was the kind where you need a key to get out.  It wasn't
the normal, run of the mill bolt.  A lock.  And Scully watched the key
disappear into the front pocket of Krycek's formfitting black jeans.  He
sat back on the sole bed and looked at her.  It could only be called a
"come hither" look.  Come and get the key, his eyes said to her. 
	She was tempted.  But she knew where it would lead. It was hot,
and hotter with his eyes on her.  She wanted to take a shower but she
didn't want to take her clothes off.  Scully walked over to the window and
opened it.  Her shirt rode up over her stomach as she lifted her arms over
her head to push the sash up. 
	Krycek was at her side in a second, pulling the window back down. 
She looked at him. "It's hot in here." 
	"Mosquitoes," he informed her. 
	She rolled her eyes. 
	"You're annoying," he told her.  "Anyone ever tell you that?" 
	"Yeah, you just got finished with that speech," she reminded him. 
"I didn't realize you had more to add."  She waited, but he just smiled. 
	"What if I said I liked you, Scully?" 
	"I'd know you were lying, wouldn't I?" 
	"No, I'm serious."  Those eyes reminded him of that guy who'd
seduced her in college.  She'd known he only wanted sex, but she'd allowed
herself to believe it could be so much more.  First time she'd had her
heart broken.  And it could have so easily been avoided... 
	"Then I'd think you're immature," she told him.  "You're only mean
to the girls you like? Third grade, Krycek." 
	"I wish you'd call me Alex." 
	"I wish you'd leave me alone." 
	"I don't believe you," he breathed. 
	"You're only interested in the money," she whispered back. 
	"What's a million dollars to a man like me?" he smiled
enigmatically. 
	"What do you mean?" 
	"You think government secrets sell cheap?" Scully was speechless. 
Krycek's grin widened.  "So, want to go to bed with me now?" 
	She didn't say anything.  He leaned in, ready to kiss her.  And
she wanted him to.  But at the very last second, she said, "Sure you can?" 
	Krycek was all the way across the room from her in one second. 
"Of course I can." He said, but something about the way his arms were
crossed told Scully an entirely different story. 
	"Prove it." It was time for her to smile at him, certain he was
harmless. 
	He shrugged. "You don't do it for me, what can I say?" he said
casually. "I prefer real women." 
	"What's the definition of real?" Scully asked, glancing down at
herself.  She had all the parts.  She was beginning to wonder if it was
only Krycek's arm the Russians cut off... 
	"You know," he murmured.  She raised her eyebrows.  His eyes
drifted to the level of her breasts. 
	Scully shook her head and faked an enormous yawn.  "I hate jet
lag. I'm so tired," she said, pulling off her shirt.  Krycek flinched. 
She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her head, blocking out
the light. 
	She thought she felt his presence softly join her on the bed just
before she drifted off, but she wasn't certain. 

end of part three.  
eponine119@att.net, jzyvarek@udel.edu

Mulder, Krycek & The Dog part four 

	She woke up early the next morning.  At least, it was early
according to her watch.  She wasn't sure what time it was for Egyptians. 
Krycek was still snuggled against her with his arm wrapped around her, his
mouth hanging slightly open, sound asleep.  He looked like a harmless
little boy, but she knew better.  He must have gotten up during the night
and turned on the air conditioning because she didn't remember it having
been so cold the night before.  She was also fairly certain that she'd
gone to bed wearing clothes, but apparently, that wasn't the case at all.
A quick check assured her that dear old Krycek was completely naked as
well.  She was tempted to smother him with a pillow, but decided against
it, on the off chance that she ever wanted to leave the confines of the
suite. 
	She stood up and dressed quickly, ridiculously afraid that he
would wake up and see her getting dressed.  It was one thing having sex
with someone, it was entirely different to put your clothes on in front of
them.  Once she was dressed, she felt considerably better.  She thought
about maybe dressing Krycek so that he would think it had just been a
dream, but she was too afraid of having to explain what she was doing if
he woke up.  Instead she took herself on a tour of the room, remembering
to take the key out of Krycek's jeans while they were lying defenselessly
on the ground by the bed.
	The room must have cost a fortune, she realized.  She'd never been
in such a large hotel room in her life.  He was telling the truth about
government secrets not being cheap.  But she was a millionaire now and she
didn't have to concern herself with financial matters anymore.  She called
for room service, pleased to discover that they spoke English, and ordered
a gargantuan amount of food for herself and a bowl of cereal for lover boy
and charged it to his room.  She might be loaded, but that didn't mean she
couldn't take advantage of people.  She settled at the glass table on the
balcony and helped herself to her food, stopping herself before she
dropped a piece of bacon on the ground for Fox.  He wouldn't be there to
clean it up.  She took a deep breath and reminded herself about her
promise not to cry.  Not only wouldn't crying bring either of the back,
but Mulder wasn't there to wipe away the tears and Krycek was sound asleep
and wouldn't be holding her either.  She shook her head and denied that
she'd even thought of something, squelching down the mushy feeling inside
of her when she thought about his cologne.  He'd taken advantage of her,
had used her while she was sleeping, and she didn't really want to
entertain warm fuzzies toward him.  She realized in the middle of her
second course that she had probably been dreaming about Mulder, the way
she always did, and had probably been talking in her sleep, the way she
always did, and Krycek had probably just not realized that she was talking
to a dead man. 
	Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden intrusion of a man
who'd dressed and reattached his prosthetic arm and wrapped her in a giant
bear hug from behind.  "Morning, beautiful." 
	"Get off me."  She struggled, thought of the way she'd knocked his
arm off the day before, and stopped. 
	"You didn't mind me so much last night, sweetheart."  He moved to
sit beside her, playfully kissing her on the cheek in the process.  He
certainly looked pleased.  With himself, with her, with life.  Why hadn't
she ever gotten the good end of the deal? 
	"Yeah, well, I was asleep and I don't remember anything about it." 
She pushed his cereal at him for something to do.  She didn't want to have
to look at his gorgeous smiling face.  The spoon clattered loudly to the
ground.  When had she started connecting Krycek and gorgeous? Oh, probably
when her world suddenly and irrevocably changed its orbit around the sun. 
Her world was circling Pluto, she decided, and that explained everything. 
Well, most of it anyhow. 
	"How about we do something special today?"  Krycek's unbridled joy
was contagious on Pluto. 
	She smiled at him, not a full-fledged smile, but a hell of a lot
closer than she'd been in weeks.  "Why?  And what did you have in mind?" 
	"Well,"  He took a dramatic pause and snared her hand. "I was
thinking we could fly to Paris, since I've about had it with Egypt anyway. 
And I thought while we were there, maybe we could get married." 
	"Wha-who-huh-wha?" 
	Lover boy produced a ring, at least two carat, and slid it on to
her finger.  She wondered how she'd known it would fit perfectly.  "I've
been wanting to ask you that since the day we met, even though I didn't
know you well. I knew the instant our eyes met that you were the one for
me.  What do you say?  Will you marry me?" 
	Scully looked at the perfect ring and loved it instantly.  A huge
grin formed on her face as she looked up at him.  "Who's William Aramy?" 
	Krycek looked like the wind had been knocked out of him.  He
shoved the chair back so hard that it fell over the railing and plummeted
26 stories to the ground.  They both heard the cry it elicited from the
man it struck and the widow as soon as she realized what had killed her
husband.  Scully leaned over the balcony to survey the damage.  It wasn't
good.  She waved at the crowd that had gathered around the decapitated man
and shrugged.  "Sorry!" 
	Krycek took her by the arm and pulled her back into the room. 
"Fine, you have it your way."  He pulled a gun and leveled it at her face. 
"You want it the hard way, we'll do it the hard way."  He grabbed her bags
and shoved her out of the room at gunpoint. 
	Two feet down the hallway, the elevator arrived and out stepped... 

	...the Cigarette Smoking Man. 
	"Wow, he has a nice tan all of a sudden," Scully murmured as
Krycek spun her around by the arm and began marching her down the hall to
the stairwell.  She looked at him, wondering what he thought he was doing. 
Of course the cigarette smoking man was going to recognize them.  After
all, she had incredibly distinctive red hair and Krycek had...many
incredibly distinctive features of his own. 
	She glanced back as Krycek opened the door to the stairs. The
Smoking Man was banging on the door to their former hotel suite with a
vigor she wouldn't have expected from an old guy who smoked all the time. 
Krycek pushed her just as the police arrived. They were probably upset
about the dead man on the street. 
	Krycek hailed a cab and shoved a great deal of money at the
driver, muttering something to him in a language Scully didn't understand. 
	"You speak Egyptian?" she said, surprised. 
	Krycek nodded tensely, looking over his shoulder through the back
window.  The only person following them was a guy on a bike with a load of
laundry balanced on the handlebars. 
	"How many languages do you speak?" Scully asked. 
	Krycek shrugged. "English, Russian, Egyptian, Greek, French,
Spanish, Italian's just like Spanish so I guess I can count it...how
many's that?" 
	Scully's jaw was hanging open.  "Um, seven?" 
	He started counting on his fingers.  "Which one am I missing?"  He
frowned. "Hungarian!"  He looked at her.  "What?" 
	"Wow," she said. Mulder only spoke English. 
	"Why, how many languages do you speak?" Krycek asked. 
	"English," she said. 
	"Wow," he said with the same amazement she'd had at his prowess. 
	Now he thinks I'm stupid, she thought, trailing along behind him
through the airport. She wasn't sure why that bothered her so much.  She'd
gone to medical school and had a degree in Physics. 
	Hey, I know the language of Mathematics, she thought, and opened
her mouth to tell him just as it was their turn at the ticket counter. 
	"Two to Greece, nonstop," Krycek told the ticket agent. 
	"What happened to Paris?" Scully asked. 
	"He'll look for us there," Krycek answered, glancing nervously
around the airport again. 
	"He will?  How?" 
	"You didn't want to marry me anyway, did you sweetheart?" Krycek
asked, taking the tickets and putting his arm around her waist to sweep
her along toward the departure gate.  Scully didn't answer. What could she
say?  Oddly, both Yes and No seemed like the wrong answer. 
	Krycek shoved her along the departure ramp and up into the plane. 
"I'm getting tired of you manhandling me," Scully told him as they found
their seats. 
	"Sit down," he ordered. 
	"You're not very nice," she informed him.  He made a face at her
and took the window seat.  She sat down on the aisle and looked around at
all the people, since she couldn't see out the window. 
	"Krycek," she whispered a moment later, slouching down in her
seat, something he couldn't do because there was next to no legroom at
all. She tugged on his sleeve and whispered it again. "Krycek." 
	"What?" he cried. 
	"Keep your voice down.  That guy - the one with the manicure - is
sitting two rows up," she told him. 
	"What's he doing here?" Krycek demanded, leaning over her to look. 
She guessed he'd seen his fill when he slammed back against the seat. 
	"Maybe he's going on vacation?" she suggested. 
	"We have to get out of here," Krycek said, grabbing her arm again
and pulling her out of the seat.  She leaned back to grab her bag and he
dragged her to the back of the plane. 
	"The door's that way," she reminded him. 
	He shook his head and opened the door to the bathroom.  "Are you a
member of the mile-high club?" he asked her. 
	"No - yeah," she amended, because she didn't want him to think she
was stupid *and* inexperienced. 
	"Great," he said, climbing into the bathroom with her and closing
the door, locking it firmly.  Scully climbed up on the closed toilet lid
to try to give herself a little more space.  A moment later, they heard
the ding-ding-ding that told them the plane was ready to take off. 
	"Hope we don't hit turbulence," Krycek said to her with that
charming toothy grin. 
	"How long is this flight again?" Scully asked, because it was
going to be a very long ride.  She wondered what would happen if she set
off the smoke alarm.  She wondered if there was adequate ventilation, or
if they could suffocate in there. 
	She wondered why she was worrying so much and decided to enjoy
herself. 

	Two hours later they were in Greece.  It was just as hot and the
men were looking at her the same way they had in Egypt, only these men
weren't as tan and had curly hair.  "What do you want to do?" Scully asked
Krycek as they walked through the airport. 
	"Get as far away from that guy as possible," he told her, looking
over his shoulder.  He stopped.  "Where is he?" 
	"He got in line to catch the connecting flight to New York.  He
must have flown in to hold old Smokie's hand on the plane, is all," Scully
said. 
	Krycek gave her a look as though he didn't understand what she'd
just said. "You're nothing like I expected you to be," he said and she
noticed he was staring at her. 
	She was tempted to ask what he'd been expecting, but she didn't
want another speech about what a cold bitch she was.  If she was a cold
bitch, she'd have run off with another man immediately after Mulder's
death and be having a great time. 
	Well, at least she wasn't having a great time. 
	"Oh look, postcards," Krycek said, walking over to the gift shop. 
	Scully gave him a look.  "You're nothing like I expected either,"
she muttered, looking at the rack of candy bars.  At least, she assumed
they were candy bars, even though their wrappers looked more like they had
the names of fraternities on them. Because they'd been hiding in the
bathroom, they'd missed the meal on the plane. 
	"Are you eating again?" Krycek asked as she joined him in line. 
	"You're buying souvenirs?" she snapped back. 
	"I want to remember this time always," he told her.  The cashier
handed him his change and he slipped the cards into his pocket.  Scully
gave the woman a dollar bill and dug into her candy bar.  They emerged
into bright sunshine. 
	Krycek hailed a cab with one hand and brushed her lips with the
other, plastic hand.  Scully jumped back and looked at him.  "You had
chocolate," he told her, looking sheepish. 
	"Oh," she said, wiping her mouth. 
	"You know, we could get a flight to Paris," he told her. 
	"I'd rather see the Parthenon," she said, flouncing into the cab.
It felt good to sit down after standing in that cramped space for so long. 
"Or is it the Acropolis?" 
	Krycek rolled his eyes and the cab sped away. 

	"Closed for remodeling," the sign read when they reached the
thousand year old building.  Krycek began to laugh and Scully felt like he
was mocking her. 
	"How can they remodel such an old building?" she frowned, taking
several steps back. 
	"Maybe they had one of those terrible avocado green
refrigerators,"  Krycek suggested helpfully. 
	"And I can't even see the outside!" Scully cried.  The entire
building was covered with a blue and yellow striped tarp that looked like
a circus tent.  She hadn't thought stone buildings could get termites. 
	"Hey, look over there!" Krycek said, tugging on her hand.  She was
getting tired of him pulling on her body parts, she thought, wondering if
she should go to Paris by herself.  He raised his fake arm in greeting.
"Guido! How are you buddy!" 
	"Guido?" Scully muttered.  What the hell kind of name was Guido
for a Greek guy? 
	"Alex!" Guido replied, dodging cars to meet them. "Come on, we're
having a party!" 
	Scully stood there for a second, gaping. Guido had a thick New
York City accent.  She looked at Krycek, thinking he was an interesting
person to be around. Then he yanked on her hand and dragged her across the
street. 
	"Guido?" she whispered to him. 
	"We grew up in the same 'hood," Krycek whispered back quickly. 
	"What's going on here?" Scully asked. It didn't look like any kind
of party she'd ever been to before.  She was the only woman.  Everyone
else was male, dressed in what looked like white pajamas.  She expected
them to start doing karate or maybe tai chi, but instead the men linked
hands and began doing a dance around in a circle. 
	Scully yawned and sat down.  Over on the table was a bottle and
some tiny glasses, so she poured herself some.  It was liquor and it was
strong. She had one serving and it made her eyelids heavy. 
	Krycek and the other men kept drinking, though. It was the only
way she could tell when the dances ended.  Uniformly, they would come over
and drink together, then go back to dancing.  Every time, Krycek would
look at her with eyes that burned bright, but he never said anything. 
	The sun went down. 
	Scully looked at her watch. He had one hour, and then she was
going to Paris by herself, good sex or no. 
	She touched his arm the next time he came to have a round.  "Can I
dance too?" she asked. 
	He shook his head.  "No women allowed," he told her. He was
breathing hard from the exertion and his cheeks were pink.  He was awfully
cute, she thought, watching him walk back to the circle. 
	Then the bottle was empty and the party ended.  "Hey, precious," 
Krycek grinned at her and she knew she was in trouble. 
	He was drunk. 
	Really drunk. 
	Scully put her arm under his shoulders and hauled him out into the
street.  His arm lay heavily against her neck and his head drooped.  His
feet kept getting in the way of each other.  She wished she were anywhere
but where she was. But she couldn't leave Krycek in the gutter. 
	"You're pretty," he said, forcing the words out, spraying her as
he struggled with the "p." 
	"Gee, thanks," she muttered.  It looked like there was a hotel up
ahead.  A Marriott, of all things. Perfect. 
	"I like you," Krycek mumbled. 
	"Just another block," she told him. 
	"Y'know, I think I love you," he said. 
	Oh no.  She had that terrible feeling of dread in her stomach. The
same feeling she got when she knew something bad was going to happen, like
when Mulder got that gleam in his eye and started talking about military
bases and flashlights and night vision goggles and she mentally started
counting money for his bail in her mind. 
	Poor Mulder. He deserved better than food poisoning. Appendicitis,
whatever. 
	"I think I love you!" Krycek cried and then he began to sing at
the top of his lungs, off key and horrible.  He was still singing when
they walked into the hotel lobby.  Scully's face was bright red and she
wished she would disappear where she stood. 
	"He was at a party," she explained to the desk clerk. 
	"I'm sure," the clerk said, requesting what seemed to be an
enormous amount of money for the room.  Scully put her hand in Krycek's
back pocket and pulled out his billfold, presenting the clerk with an
American Express card that declared he was Fox Mulder. 
	They were going to have to have a talk about that. 
	"I think he likes you," the clerk said as she handed over the key
to their room. 
	"We're getting married," Scully replied, surprising even herself. 
	"We ARE?" Krycek cried, sounding like a child. 
	"Shut up," Scully said. 
	"Did you buy me a ring?" Krycek asked, looking up at her and
batting his eyelashed.  It made him look like an idiot, although he did
have very nice eyelashes. 
	She dropped him on the bed in the room, wondering why these rooms
that cost so much money only had one bed, and went directly into the
bathroom, staring the shower going full blast. 
	"In," she ordered, maneuvering Krycek into the small white room. 
At least it was clean, she thought. 
	"I don't think this is how you do it," he informed her seriously
as she pushed him into the shower stall.  He didn't even react to the cold
water, unless pressing his face against the tile and closing his eyes
counted as a reaction.  "I usually take my clothes off." 
	"Tough," she said, standing there to make sure he didn't drown
himself. 
	"Scully?" 
	"What?" 
	"Don't you want a shower too?" he asked, giving her a tempting
look. 
	"I'll wait," she told him. 
	"Come on." 
	"No." 
	"Scully?" 
	"What?" 
	"Take your clothes off." 
	She walked out of the bathroom.  She heard the shower go off and
figured he was safe and she didn't have to check on him. 

xxx Meanwhile somewhere else

	"She what?" Mulder cried. 
	The woman nodded.  "She's in Europe. With Krycek." 
	"That rat-bastard," Mulder said, "Why would she...?" 
	She shook her head like she couldn't understand it either.  "It's
likely they've been working together this entire time.  They were both
assigned to you by the consortium." 
	"And she has a million dollars?" Mulder asked, astounded. 
	"Which she was paid to kill you, Mulder. If you go to her, she'll
finish the job." 
	Mulder sat there, frowning. 
	"What is it?" his female companion asked, leaning toward him,
looking concerned. 
	"It's just that I remember...something...or I think I do." 
	"What?" 
	Mulder shook his head.  "Something about...a skateboard.  And Taco
Bell.  I feel like it would explain all of this, but I just can't figure
it out..." 
	"It's probably a dream you had.  Your fever was very high." 
	"Maybe," Mulder said, but he wasn't ready to let it go so easily. 
	"What are you going to do now?  You're well enough to leave," she
said.  "We've established a new identity for you." 
	"Who am I?" he asked, picking up the wallet that lay on the table
between them. He couldn't help but wonder what terrible things Scully and
Krycek were doing at that very moment. 

	He looked at the papers in his hand.  He looked at the strangely
familiar looking woman before him.  He looked at the papers again. 
	"Walter Skinner?"  He threw the papers at her.  "Couldn't you have
come up with something better?" 
	The woman shrugged and gathered the papers together before handing
them back to him.  "Well, due to some logistical problems, and Walter's
well, shall we say, no, I guess we shouldn't anyway, he's using the name
Krycek, which my organization thinks is a cover for the real Krycek who,
as I mentioned previously, is vacationing with the hit money in Europe
with his new wife, you ex-partner, and anyhow, you're Skinner now."  She
smiled sweetly and Mulder watched the wheels turning in her head and knew
she was as confused as he was. 
	"So, I'm Skinner, Skinner's Krycek, Scully's married to Krycek and
who's Krycek?" 
	Finally realizing that he wasn't going to accept them, she laid
the papers down on a table next to Mulder.  "Actually, ha ha, the funny
part is, well, Krycek's using the name Fox Mulder, so technically," She
made a great deal of hand gestures right then which Mulder could only
interpret as meaning to draw attention to her words.  "Scully's married to
you." 
	"Huh?" 
	"Yeah.  Well, she got paid a million dollars for killing you, so
to save herself from being fingered in an investigation into your death,
she married Krycek, under his assumed name so that she could say she
surely hadn't killed her husband."  The woman tucked her blonde hair
behind her ears, and shrugged again.  "I know it's confusing..." 
	Mulder closed his mouth, which had been hanging open, and cleared
his throat.  "Who are you?" 
	"My organization has an interest in seeing your murder be
avenged." She moved the papers around some, seeming disappointed at his
lack of interest in them. 
	Mulder narrowed his eyes and looked at her.  It was an incredibly
detailed dream that he was having.  "How can my faked death be avenged?" 
	"Well, Scully and Krycek think that you're really dead, since that
was their plan.  So, we felt in the interest of keeping you alive, we
should retaliate in some way to keep up the illusion that you are dead." 
	Mulder pushed her against the wall and held his arm against her
throat.  "If you hurt her..."  His voice came out as a low growl.  He
managed to regain control of himself somehow.  "Where is my real wallet?" 
	The woman produced it from a small bag she had, hanging her head
dejectedly.  "I really do wish you'd reconsider.  We've gone to a lot of
trouble." 
	Mulder let go of her, grabbing his wallet from her and looking
through it, checking to make sure everything was still there.  "All right,
where are they?" 
	"In Europe." 
	"Where exactly?"  He was growing angrier by the second and the
woman ducked back against the wall. 
	"Greece." 
	"Thanks so much."  He scowled at her and ran through the door.  He
had no idea where he was or what had been done to him, but it didn't
matter. He knew Scully hadn't sold him out and he was sure she hadn't
married Krycek, no matter what name he was using.  He ran through the
halls, ignoring the strange looks he was getting, and slammed hard against
the front door.  He shoved it roughly, annoyed that it wasn't opening. 
After a few more pushes on it, he noticed the sign that said 'pull.' He
stuck his tongue out at it and continued on his way. 
	As far as he could tell, he was still in Washington and
thankfully, there were cabs everywhere.  He hailed one and issued a
directive for the cabbie to take him to the airport.  He was heading to
Greece to kill Krycek and reclaim his partner.  Then he'd work on figuring
out what had happened.  His first concern was to protect Scully from
whatever she'd stumbled into. 

Meanwhile, in a hotel room in Greece... 

	Scully had just settled down on the bed, pleased that Krycek was
able to handle bathing on his own.  She started flipping through the
tourist magazine she'd found in the bedside table and turned on the
television for noise.  She enjoyed her peace and quiet for all of three
minutes. 
	"Dana?" 
	She turned down the TV. 
	"Sweetie?" 
	She grinned at the drunken tone of his voice and went to the
bathroom to see what had gone wrong.  She burst out laughing when she saw
him.  Krycek was sitting in the tub, the water pouring onto his face, his
fake arm sticking out of the toilet, his shirt in the sink, his pants
twisted around his ankles, and his hand completely blocking the tub drain
so the water had overflowed and spilled onto the floor. 
	"Dana, can you help me?" 
	Her shoulders continued to shake with laughter as she inched her
way across the disaster area that had once been a very clean, very dry
bathroom. She pulled the arm out of the toilet and set it down on a towel. 
She through the shirt into the trash and turned off the shower.  Then she
sat down on the edge of the tub and contemplated the man still up to his
chin in water. First things first, she decided.  She leaned forward and
pulled his jeans the rest of the way off.  The she held out her hand and
helped him up.  Krycek was quite heavy when he was water logged and he was
quite drunk, so his balance was slightly off.  She tugged a little too
hard after they'd gotten him to his feet and he pitched forward, falling
against her and pinning her against the sink. 
	His chin dropped into her hair and his one arm took a firm hold of
her waist.  "I want to make love to you." 
	She giggled and tried to push him away.  "I don't think that's
going to happen tonight." 
	He laughed to, placing a kiss on her neck.  "You said as much last
night and look what happened."  He kissed her again, this time on the
cheek. 
	"Alcohol has certain effects on a man, Krycek.  You wouldn't want
to embarrass yourself, would you?"  She managed to right him a little
more, and together they tripped out of the bathroom. 
	He fell across the bed, completely soaking everything in sight and
Scully catalogued a thought away for future use:  a soaking wet, extremely
intoxicated Krycek lying spread-eagle on a bed was a very pleasant and
enticing thought.  She pushed him over enough that she could claim a small
corner of the bed for herself and then crawled under the covers. 
	Two seconds after she turned out the light, she heard a sleepy
drunk voice from three inches away.  "Dana?" 
	She sighed again.  "Yes, Alex?" 
	"Can I sing to you?" 
	She wanted to laugh, but she couldn't.  He was too sweet when he
was drunk.  He acted like a little love struck boy.  "Sure.  Do you know
lullabies?" 
	He was silent for several minutes and Scully thought he'd fallen
asleep.  But just as she gave up on hearing him sing to her, her spoke
again.  "Dana, I don't know many songs." 
	"That's OK.  You don't have to sing."  She smiled into the
darkness, thinking of how much she was acting like a mother and how much
she enjoyed having someone to take care of again. 
	"I want to.  Promise you won't laugh." 
	She couldn't ignore the sincerity in his voice, so she promised
quietly and took his hand.  He squeezed hers gently and then began to
sing. 
	"My bologna has a first name, it's O-s-c-a-r.  My bologna has a
second name, it's M-e-y-e-r." 
	Scully feel asleep biting the inside of her lip to keep from
laughing at the completely sincere man serenading her. 

end of part four.  
jzyvarek@udel.edu, eponine119@att.net

Mulder, Krycek & The Dog part five 

Greece's Airport...early the next morning. 

	Scully sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair, trying to shift
around to maintain some small amount of comfort.  She pulled the shirt off
her back, wishing there was air conditioning there.  A few minutes later,
Krycek joined her side, his tight jeans having been replaced by cutoffs
and the sleeves having been cut out of his shirt.  It was a brave move
without two working arms.
	"Alex, honey, you look like something out of an early eighties
Madonna video."
	He knelt down in front of her chair and brandished a pair a
scissors.  He grabbed one of her legs and stuck the shiny metal into the
fabric of her new jeans.  "It'll make you cooler." 
	She sighed, resigned to the way her jeans were being butchered. 
"So would air conditioning." 
	"You've finally come around, I see."  He grinned at her. 
	Sucked in by his ridiculously addictive and miserably excessive
charm, she grinned back.  "Around about what?" 
	"You called me honey.  That's an improvement, darling."  He winked
at her. 
	It was a good thing she was sitting down, because her knees turned
to jelly.  "Well, actually, I wasn't calling you honey." 
	Alex looked perplexed.  "Yes, you did." 
	"You're going by Fox, aren't you?" 
	He leaned forward, pressing between her legs and brushing his lips
across her cheek.  "You think I'm a fox?" 
	She shoved him away, unable to wipe the embarrassed smile off her
face. "No, I think you're using the name Fox." 
	He stood up, pulling a good 75% of her jeans off.  "You're no
fun." 
	She stood up too, tugging uncomfortably at her new hot pants.  "So
you've mentioned.  Now, if you're going my Mulder's name and I marry you,
then that means I'm really married to Mulder, right?" 
	He shrugged and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked
toward the gate for their flight.  "I guess so.  As long as you consummate
the marriage with me, I don't care what you change your name to." He bent
down and nuzzled her ear, causing her to giggle like a school girl. 
	"Fine.  I've always liked the name eponine119 ."  She beamed up at him,
amazed at her ability to absolutely love two men at once.  She loved
Mulder for his intensity, she loved Krycek for his lack of intensity.  The
only thing intense about Krycek was his gleaming green eyes.  Sexy,
gleaming green eyes. 
	"OK, eponine119 Scully."  He handed over two tickets to the ticket
agent. "Seats 16 E and F, Mr. and Mrs. Mulder." 
	Scully leaned over and patted the woman on the shoulder.  "Call me
eponine119 ." 
	The woman nodded and waved them by.  Once they were seated, Krycek
put headphones on Scully's head and told her there was a song she
'absolutely' needed to hear.  He turned the volume all the way up and
smiled.  He wouldn't let her take them off until after the pilot had
finished his announcements.  Then he removed them and placed them back in
his bag. 
	Scully frowned at his behavior, which was odd even for him. 
"There was no music, Alex." 
	"I know."  He pulled the baseball cap over his eyes, folded his
arms in front of him, and then rested his head on Scully's shoulder.  "I'm
going to take a nap, dear." 
	"Will you tell me where we're going?" 
	"No." 
	She made several more attempts to engage him in conversation, but
he ignored every one, magically falling asleep in the midst of trying to
dodge her barrage of questions.  After she was content that he was asleep,
she called one of the flight attendants over. 
	"Miss, can you tell me where we're headed?  The tickets don't say
anything and my husband is asleep." 
	"Sorry, ma'am.  No can do." 
	"Why not?"  Scully voice was indignant, obviously rather annoyed
at the way the woman was talking down to her. 
	"Hon, if I were you and that were my husband, I'd stop being
concerned with where I was going and concentrate on how much time I was
wasting." 
	"Wasting on what?"  This had to be the strangest period of time
she'd ever witnessed. 
	The flight attendant raked her eyes up and down Krycek's lean
form, appreciative of his air conditioned clothing.  "Waste waste waste. 
I'll trade you."  Then she walked away. 
	Scully sighed and looked at her 'husband.' He looked so innocent
and sweet and delicious.  She couldn't help herself.  She leaned over and
kissed him full on the lips. 

	Scully sat back and tried to figure out where they were going. 
The plane was flying over water.  That didn't mean much - Greece was an
island, wasn't it?  She wasn't all that sure. Not a lot of geography in
medical science. She'd flown all over the USA with Mulder, but she still
wasn't real sure where Montana was. 
	She hoped that wasn't where they were going. 
	Alex started to snore.  Scully thought it was cute until his head
sank down onto her shoulder and he started drooling on her as well. 
"Krycek," she whispered, poking him. "Krycek, wake up." 
	He was out.  Must be the aftereffects of the booze, she thought. 
At least he wasn't whining about a hangover. 
	When she found herself humming the Oscar Meyer song, she ordered a
drink for herself. 

	The plane landed about fifteen hours later.  Scully was ready to
murder her companion by then.  He lifted his head just as the plane's
wheels slammed into the runway.  "We're here already?" he asked, blinking
innocently. 
	"Yeah, already," she muttered.  Now that his head was off her arm,
she could move finally.  Prickles of feeling slid back into her fingers
and she winced because they hurt.  She wasn't certain she would be able to
walk off the plane without stopping at the bathroom first. "Now will you
tell me where the hell we are?" 
	"Why, Niagara Falls, of course, sweetheart," Krycek told her. 
"Where else would we be?" 

xxx

	Mulder deposited the equivalent of fifty dollars in the equivalent
of quarters and punched in the number. 
	"I thought you said they were in Greece!" he cried. 
	"You didn't go there, Agent Mulder," the woman cautioned from the
other end of the phone line. 
	"No, no of course not!" he protested. 
	"Good, because they're on the move again," she told him. 
	"May I ask where?" he asked. 
	"May I ask why?" she asked back. 
	"Never mind," he said and hung up. Time to get some more quarters. 

xxx

	"We are not," Scully told Krycek. 
	"Relax, you'll like it.  We can even go across to Canada, if you
want."  He started rubbing her shoulders with one hand.  She went to move
her head away, but it felt good, so she let him. 
	"I've been to Canada, and this is a big giant waterfall.  Who
cares?"  she sighed. 
	"Where do you want to go then?" he asked. 
	She didn't have an answer.  She wanted her life back, to be
perfectly honest.  Krycek was an amusing trifle, but she was getting bored
of their bickering.  She still missed the hell out of Mulder. 
	"We don't have to sightsee," he said, winking at her with a leer
that reminded her of the lecherous Eddie Van Blundht.  Eew. 
	"Krycek," she said, facing him so he would stop rubbing her neck,
"I just spent fifteen hours sitting on a plane not knowing where I was
headed with you laying on me, my arm numb, being drooled on *and* I had to
pee.  For fifteen hours. I don't particularly want to be around you
anymore." 
	"Okay," Krycek said tentatively.  "So what do you want to do?" 
	"Take a shower and sleep," she told him. 
	"I'm up for that," he said amicably. 
	"ALONE!" she cried, turning her back and walking away.  She was
rich beyond belief - even though a million dollars wasn't as much as it
used to be - and her life was even worse than before.  What she wouldn't
give for some weird mutant or alien, or even a contrived coincidence. 
	She checked into a hotel, aware that Krycek was following several
feet behind to give her the illusion that she was alone, to make her feel
better. It was a sweet move, but she didn't entirely appreciate it. 
	When she peeled off her clothes for the shower, she was worrying
when Krycek would turn up to bother her again.  But he didn't bother her
and she slipped between the stiff white sheets of a heart-shaped vibrating
bed and she thought she had never been so happy in her life. 

xxx

	"Come on, guys, you know better than to believe it when somebody
says I'm dead," Mulder pleaded across Transatlantic phone lines to the
Lone Gunmen. 
	"Yeah, well prove you're you," Langly challenged. 
	"You guys probably know more about me than I do!" Mulder
protested. 
	They were at an impasse. 
	"I know, you can tell me where I am right now.  Where I used my
AmEx card last," Mulder suggested. 
	"Duh, Mulder, we know you're in Niagara Falls," Langly joked. 
	Mulder slammed down the phone. "NIAGARA FALLS!" he screamed,
causing many people to stare at him.  They'd been right about Scully and
Ratboy.  He was gonna kill that guy... 

xxx

	"Wha...?"  Scully was roused from a deep sleep by the sound of
someone knocking on her door. It was dark, and the middle of the night. 
At least she'd had a few hours of sleep, she thought, rubbing her nose as
she wandered over to the door. 
	"Fine, Krycek," she mumbled, pulling the door open.  But it wasn't
him at the door. 
	Scully screamed with joy. "Fox! Fox, you came back to me!"  She
sank her hands into his thick brown hair, hugging him against her. "I
never thought I'd see you again!  I can't believe - I'm so happy!" she
cried. 
	Fox didn't say anything. He was just a dog, after all. 
	It occurred to Scully that she could ditch Krycek - much the way
Mulder tended to ditch her - and go home. With her dog.  To her normal
life. She liked that idea, when she looked at Fox, she knew he did too. 
	"Come on, boy, let's go home," she said, rubbing his coat.  He
woofed and she took it as a good sign. 

xxx

	Mulder was drunk with exhaustion, but he went straight to the
hotel where Scully rented a room. He cringed at the idea of what he might
find when he got up there, but he steeled himself against it. He had no
claim on his partner, after all. He'd never said he loved her, never
kissed her, barely ever hugged her. All he'd done was take her on a date
to Taco Bell, and he knew how well that one had turned out. 
	"Where is she!" he screamed as he threw open the door to room 517. 
Krycek was sitting on the bed. Alone. Fully clothed, thank goodness.
Mulder walked into the room.  Bathroom unoccupied, door open.  Scully
wasn't in the room. "Where is she?" he asked again. 
	Krycek shook his head sadly.  "I wish I knew," he said. 
	"I was gonna kill you, Krycek," Mulder said, walking around his
enemy the way he usually did. 
	"And now?" he asked, looking at Mulder. Just that look in his eyes
was a mockery and Mulder knew it. 
	"Now," said Mulder, "I guess I don't have to."  So he punched
Krycek in the stomach, hard.  The man cried out and fell to the floor. 
His plastic arm skidding across the carpet, picking up lint as it went. 
Mulder tried not to laugh as he turned and walked out.  To find Scully and
reclaim her. 

xxx

	Meanwhile, Scully was...

	Sitting on the curb outside the rental car agency.  The cabbie had
refused to take her to the airport and she didn't know where else to go. 
The car place was closed and she knew if she went back to the motel, she'd
wind up curling up in Krycek's arms.  Arm.  She snickered to herself and
scratched Fox's ears. 
	"How'd you know where I was, boy?" 
	Blank doggy stare. 
	"You know, I thought you were the reincarnation of Mulder before
you vanished without a trace.  Now you show up at my door and expect a hug
and I know you're him."  She pulled the dog into her lap and placed a kiss
on top of his head.  Then she stared at the horizon and waited for the sun
to come up. 

XXX
	
	Mulder sat down on the heart shaped bed beside Krycek, jet lag
having finally caught up with him.  Krycek had reattached his arm and was
rubbing his stomach.  "Hey, look, Mulder, no hard feelings.  I thought you
were dead or I wouldn't have made a play for your girl." 
	With the learned patience of someone who'd heard it a million
times and the thin rope of someone who'd said it a million times, Mulder
answered him in an even, measured voice.  "Scully and I are not involved." 
	Krycek perked up immediately.  "No?"  He grinned to himself. 
	Mulder glared at him.  "No.  You got a problem with that?" 
	Krycek looked at his former partner and smiled.  "So, you don't
have a girl?" 
	"If I had a girl, wouldn't that be some sort of criminal act?" 
	Krycek carefully placed his good arm around Mulder's shoulder and
leaned closer.  "Ever had a guy?" 
	Mulder immediately jumped from the bed and sat on the dresser
instead. "You really don't know where she went?" 
	Disappointed, Krycek placed his hands in his lap.  He was striking
out all over the place.  "Well, I heard her talking to 'Fox' and she was
saying how she'd thought she was never going to see him again and how much
she loved him, but I figured she was just talking in her sleep." 
	Mulder shrugged.  "Yeah, she does that." 
	Krycek grinned.  "I know.  She fucked me in her sleep." 
	A fist slammed into Krycek's jaw, spurting blood all over the
heart shaped sheets.  "Don't you talk about my Scully that way, you
bastard!" 
	Krycek's voice was muffled by the hand he had clamped to his
bleeding lip.  "I fought vou fed fee waddent vour gir." 
	Mulder growled and left the room, jumping back in his rental and
heading to the airport.  He knew if she was trying to escape Krycek, she'd
head for the airport.  He just had to make sure he got there and caught up
to her before she vanished again. 

XXX several hours later... 

	Her butt was still numb from sitting on the sidewalk, but she
didn't care.  A lovely woman in her green smock had unlocked the front
door and turned all the lights on.  Scully smiled broadly and opened the
door, allowing Fox to walk in first. 
	"Um, ma'am, you can't bring a dog in here." 
	"Why not?" 
	"Because the sign says no dogs allowed." 
	Scully glowered at the evil bitch in the green smock.  "But I
could bring a cat?" 
	"Well, actually, it says no pets allowed." 
	"So you lied?" 
	"Well, no, not really." 
	"You said it said no dogs, now you say it says no pets.  One of
them is a lie." 
	"It doesn't matter, you still can't bring a dog in here." 
	"He's not a dog, he's a fox and he's not a pet, he's the
reincarnated soul of my dead partner.  I'd like to rent a car, please." 
	"Uh, ma'am, the fox partner dog pet needs to remain outside the
building." 
	"Why?" 
	"Because that's what the sign says." 
	"I don't see any sign.  I'd like to rent a car please." 
	"Ma'am, the sign is right here."  The woman tapped on an eight and
a half by eleven plastic sign holder holding a sign that clearly read, in
large block letters 'no pets allowed.'
	"I'd like to rent a car, please.  He's not waiting outside." 
	"Ma'am, I can't rent you a car if you can't follow the rules." 
	"I don't believe there is any such rule stating that my Fox needs
to wait outside."  Scully pulled her wallet out of her bag and began
handing out assorted credit cards and metro passes to the woman. 
	"Look, lady, I just showed you the sign.  That's the rule, I'm
sorry." 
	"I didn't see a sign."  Scully tossed her checkbook onto the
counter as well as her badge and her parking pass for the garage under the
FBI building. 
	"It's right here.  Look." 
	Scully turned toward the sign, read it again, and looked back at
the woman.  "I'm blind.  And I'd like to rent a car, please." 
	"Well, I can't let you rent a car if you're blind.  It's illegal
for a blind person to drive a car." 
	"This is my seeing eye dog.  He'll drive." 
	"A dog can't drive a car." 
	"Give me a rental and I'll prove it." 
	"No.  I'm going to call the police." 
	Scully pulled out her service weapon and held it up.  "See, I am
the police." 

	And that's how Scully got arrested for holding up a rental car
office... 

end of part five.  

Mulder, Krycek & The Dog part six

xxx

	"This is your cellmate.  Marge," the policeman told her as he
opened the barred door and ushered her through with a sweeping gesture. 
	"This is all a big mistake!" Scully cried, eyeing her cellmate. 
At least she wasn't large.  Well, compared to Scully, she was rather tall,
but she wasn't large. And just because she was dressed like she belonged
in a motorcycle gang didn't mean Marge would jump her bones. After all,
Scully looked like a biker chick herself. 
	Marge turned around, tucking her blond hair behind her ears and
eyeing Scully. 
	"Your name's not Marge!"  Scully screamed, backing away.  She
reached for her gun, but that was the first thing the police had taken
away from her. 
	"On the contrary, Marita is also a nickname for Margaret," the
woman informed her in slow, low, even and completely boring tones. 
	"Stay away from me!" Scully warned, raising her arms as though to
defend herself, knowing if she beat up a woman in prison she was going to
be in a lot more trouble. 
	"Why would you think I would want to harm you?" Marita asked,
approaching her ominously.  "It's not because I've sworn revenge on you
for causing Mulder's death, is it?" She grabbed Scully's hair and pulled
her into a headlock. 
	"HELP!" Scully screamed, but no one came to help her.  "I didn't
kill Mulder!" she cried as Marita rammed her against the cement cellblock
wall.  It hurt.  A lot. 
	"You did!  And you were paid a million dollars to do it. Not only
that, you stole my boyfriend, you bitch!" 
	"Put me down so we can talk," Scully suggested.  "I can explain
all of this."  She was happy to feel her feet touch the floor.  She swayed
slightly, feeling the bruise on her forehead, and sat down on the bench. 
To her dismay, Marita sat down next to her.  "I didn't kill Mulder. He
died of a stomach ailment, which may have been related to eating at Taco
Bell." 
	Marita laughed. "Next you'll tell me you found a frog in your
taco." 
	"That happened to you, too?" Scully said sarcastically.  "No. But
Mul - I won a million dollars in their contest.  So I took off and
happened to run into Krycek in Europe. He's really obnoxious - if he's
your boyfriend, I'm sorry." 
	Marita was looking at her like she didn't know what to believe. 
"Okay, maybe I believe you on the Mulder thing. And maybe even the money
thing.  But you stole my man!" she shrieked, launching another attack on
Scully.  Marita pulled a knife and Scully knocked her to the ground. 
	The two women struggled for the knife, but Scully got it away from
her.  She shoved it into the lock and the door opened.  Scully slammed it
in Marita's face and ran from the prison, nodding to the guards on her way
out. 

xxx

	"What's that noise?" Mulder said to Krycek as they sat next to
each other on the bed, careful not to touch each other. 
	Krycek shrugged and scratched himself. 
	Mulder got up, cautiously pulling his gun before opening the door. 
Out in the hallway stood a dog.  "Hey fella," Mulder said, reaching out to
him. 
	The dog snarled at him and pranced inside, walking up to Krycek.
It barked sharply once and nodded with its head. Krycek frowned at the
animal, and Mulder watched it too. 
	"I think it's trying to tell us something," Krycek said.  "Is it
Scully? Is that it, boy?" 
	The dog barked again. 
	"I think that thing has fleas!" Mulder cried, slapping his hand
against his arm. 
	"Had yourself checked lately, Mulder?" Krycek teased as the dog
began to paw the floor.  "It is Scully! She's in trouble!" 
	The dog barked again. 
	"Scully's in *jail*?" Krycek asked and the dog nodded. 
	"I'm not going to ask how you did that," Mulder remarked. 
	"You know, he kind of looks like you, Mulder," Krycek told him as
they followed the dog out of the room. 

xxx

	"Damn it," Mulder said, facing Marita. 
	"You did what?" Krycek demanded. 
	"I tried to kill her and she kicked my ass," Marita mumbled,
holding an ice pack to her lip. 
	"Hey, buddy, that dog's not allowed in here," the policeman called
to them. 
	"Cool it, Marita can't help it if she's a bitch," Krycek
responded. 
	"You want me to hit you?" Marita offered. 
	"I don't get off on violence, unlike you," Krycek snapped back. 
	"Children," Mulder cautioned, unwilling to listen to them snipe at
each other when it had been weeks since he'd seen his partner and he
didn't understand what the hell was going on. 
	"You want to talk about getting off on violence, you want to talk
to Scully,"  Marita offered. 
	"How could you tell?" Krycek asked. 
	"You tell me."  Marita crossed her arms stubbornly.  "You're the
one who fucked her." 
	"Do the two of you have something going on?" Mulder asked, looking
from the bleach blond to the one armed man. 
	"Not anymore," they said in unison.  Marita crossed her eyes at
Krycek and he stuck his tongue out at her. 
	"Why did you try to kill her?" Mulder asked. 
	"I wanted to," Marita informed him.  "And I'd do it again." 
	"Did you hear that?" Mulder asked the police. 
	"Every kinky word," the policeman responded. 
	"Where did she go?" Krycek asked, but Marita shook her head.  She
wasn't talking.  The two men walked out together. 

xxx

	Scully was able to rent a car and she visited the pounds in the
area.  None of them had seen her dog.  She'd heard stories about dogs
finding their owners many miles away from home, and Fox had already found
her once. She was certain he would be able to do so again. 
	She drove home, anxious to sleep in her own bed.  When she reached
her apartment, however, she was instantly aware that there was someone
waiting for her inside. 
	"Who's there?" she called, turning on the light and walking
through the rooms.  "I said, who's there?" 
	She could smell cologne.  It wasn't Krycek, and sadly, it wasn't
Mulder, either. Fox didn't wear cologne. 
	"Olly olly oxen free!" she called and just then, the bathroom door
opened. 

	"What are you doing here?"  Scully reached for her gun again,
having momentarily forgotten that making a jailbreak didn't mean she could
have her gun back.  Having nothing to protect herself with, her hands
dropped back to her sides. 
	"Agent Scully, rumor has it that you killed your partner.  Have
you got anything to say about that?"  The man dropped a cigarette to the
floor and squashed it under his foot into her pale blue carpet. 
	She snarled at him.  "What are you doing in my apartment?" 
	He shrugged, walking past her to the door.  "Actually, I was in
the neighborhood and I needed to use the restroom.  Last I heard you were
in Egypt." 
	"Yeah, well, you're a few days late."  She followed him to the
door, almost closing the door behind him when she thought better of it. 
"And I didn't kill him." 
	He withdrew another cigarette from the pack and lit it.  "To tell
you the truth, Agent Scully, I'm not sure that anyone did.  Good day."  He
nodded and vanished into the shadows. 
	"See ya."  She slammed the door at his disappearing back and
turned back to the floor to attempt to scrub the ash out of her rug. 
	Half an hour went by and she continued to scrub.  She was sure
that she'd removed as much of it as she could, but she had nothing better
to do, so she continued to wipe at it until the fibers were twisted and
knotted together.  Someone came by later knocking on the door, but she
ignored it, deciding she didn't really want to buy candy bars from little
Josh even if it would make the other kids stop picking on him or Christmas
ornaments from Ellie no matter what prize she was guaranteed to win.  She
just didn't want anything but her dog and her partner and her job and her,
well, husband.  Come to think of it, she could really use some innuendo
laden arguing with Krycek.  She hadn't even realized when she'd grown
attached to his blatant attempts to get her in bed, or that he was really
sweet underneath his assassin front, or that he looked at her with eyes
more adoring than both her partner and her dog. 

XXX

	Mulder, Krycek, and the dog arrived at her door and knocked
quietly.  They'd tried the airport, they'd tried tracing her steps from
the jail.  The best they could come up with was that she'd returned to DC,
but she wasn't answering her door, Mulder didn't have his key, and Krycek
had forgotten his lock picking kit.  The men looked at each other and
shrugged.  The dog hung his head and led the way to the car. 
	"Hey, uh, Mulder, do you think you could drop me off at the
airport? " 
	"Going somewhere?"  Mulder wasn't happy that he could find his
partner, he didn't really like his recently developed allergy to dogs, and
he'd realized several hours previously that as far as cocky murderers go,
Krycek was damn fine looking. 
	Krycek shrugged and patted the dog.  "Well, I figure we aren't
going to find her until she resurfaces so I might as well continue
traveling until she shows up.  Give me a call when she does."  As they
pulled up in the express check-in lane, Krycek scribbled his number down
on a napkin and thrust it at Mulder.  Krycek was about to shut the door
when Mulder called out to him. 
	"Hey, don't I get a goodbye kiss?" 
	Much to his dismay, Krycek leaned back in the car and planted a
sloppy wet one on his lips. 

	Mulder went home and took three showers in rapid succession and
then he brushed his teeth eleven times.  He was just leaving the bathroom,
but changed his mind and decided to take another shower and brush his
teeth again just to be sure.  Then he took the dog to the park to run
around some. 
	"Fox!" 
	At the sound of her voice, Mulder spun around.  A huge smile
formed on his face at the sight of her, standing before him with her arms
stretched out wide.  He stepped toward her, ready to hug her before he
commented on her use of his first name.  But the dog lunged forward,
beating Mulder to the punch, barreling towards Scully, knocking her onto
her back and licking her face all over.  Mulder thought that was bad
enough.  The worst part was, Scully was laughing.  She loved it.  He
grumbled to himself something about her never having been so happy to see
him and how sure he was that she would never let him lick her face and
then turned to walk away.  Sure, so the dog did remind him of himself. 
She still could have noticed him. 
	Mulder walked home, feeling like a loser the whole way.  When he
got home, he took his shirt off and dropped it on the dining room table,
tossed his shoes into the kitchen, his socks and belt went in the living
room and he was happily clad only in his boxers when he dropped into his
bed, content to cry himself to sleep.  But his bed spoke. 
	"Ouch!" 
	He growled at the bed and plopped back down on it.  It growled
back. "Shut the hell up!"  The bed screamed and then tried to bite him. 
He pulled the comforter back and discovered Scully and her dog stretched
out comfortably.  Well, comfortable except for the fact that Mulder's
elbow was insinuated rather deeply in a sensitive part of Scully's
anatomy. 
	"You're alive!"  She tried to smile, but it turned to a grimace as
he shifted around, pushing his elbow even harder against her chest in his
attempt to stand up. 
	"You're in my bed!" 
	"You're not dead!" 
	"You're not dressed!" 
	"Neither are you!" 
	"What are you doing naked in my bed?" 
	"I thought you were dead!" 
	"So?" 
	"So what?" 
	"What now?" 

	"I think that's pretty obvious, don't you?" 
	There was no response.  They kissed each other, tangling on the
bed. Mulder held Scully down but she decided she wanted to be on top, so
she rolled him over, still kissing him. 
	They kissed some more. 
	The dog began to whine, but neither of them really cared enough to
shut it up. 
	And they kissed some more. 
	The telephone began to ring, and neither of them cared at all who
was calling. 
	So they kissed some more. 
	"This is kind of fun!" 
	Well, they had to breathe some time. 
	The answering machine clicked on. 
	But they were still kissing, so... 
	"Mulder, do you know where Scully is?"  Skinner's gruff voice
sounded like he was standing over the bed. 
	They stopped kissing. 
	"I've been trying to reach you.  A matter has come up that I think
deserves your attention." 
	Scully jumped off the bed, grabbing at her clothes.  She hated
being naked while Skinner was talking to her... 
	...or something along those lines... 
	"Call Scully, get her down here. I need to see you both urgently." 
	Mulder watched Scully throw her clothes on. He didn't have the
heart to tell her her sweater was on wrong-side out.  Skinner's
interruption had put a damper on things for him, as well. 
	"This is Skinner, by the way.  Assistant Director Skinner."  The
recording ended. 
	"No shit, Sherlock," Scully muttered, doing a charming little
dance as she pulled on her shoes.  "Come on, Fox." 
	Mulder got up. 
	Scully looked at him.  "Yeah, Mulder, you come too." 
	He rolled his eyes. If he didn't love animals so much, he'd kill
that damn dog in a second. 
	"Put some clothes on first, though," she suggested, wandering out
toward the kitchen.  "Got any food, I'm hungry." 
	If he didn't love her so much, he'd kill Scully in a second, too. 
	"Coming, darling," Mulder muttered, grabbing his jeans off the
floor.  He'd liked it so much better when they were kissing. 

xxx
	
	"Mulder, something's bothering me," Scully said, tilting her head
to look up at him in the elevator.  Something about that stare irritated
Mulder, something he couldn't...quite...put his finger on. 
	"What?" he asked. 
	"How did Skinner know you're not dead?" she asked as the elevator
doors opened.  She stepped out, heading for their basement office. 
	"Scully, why are we in the basement if we're going to Skinner's
office?" was Mulder's best comeback as he trailed after her down the hall. 
	"I forgot my lipstick," she explained. 
	"Scully, I think you've been possessed by Ally McBeal," Mulder
informed her. 
	She turned and looked at him.  She turned that seductive smile on
him and he found himself smiling back in spite of himself.  "Possession by
a television character, that has to be an X File," she commented as she
opened the door to their office. 
	"SURPRISE!" 
	Scully slammed the door, terrified, looking at Mulder with wide
eyes. "That's an X File," they said at the same time. 
	They waited in the hallway for several seconds looking at each
other. 
	Mulder reached for the doorhandle.  "Mulder, I'm scared," Scully
said, but he opened the door again. 
	"Surprise!"  Their enthusiasm had waned somewhat.  A banner hung
from the ceiling that read, "Happy You're Not Really Dead...Again!" 
Skinner blew a noisemaker.  Scully thought his striped party hat clashed
with...his bald head?  Well, maybe not.
	Krycek was slapping his hands together in an imitation of
clapping.  He was grinning, which was also slightly odd.  He threw one arm
around Mulder and one arm around Scully.  Scully got the plastic end of
the deal. 

	With some reservations, they joined into the celebration.  It was
an interesting party, just the four of them and about a case of wine
bottles.  There weren't any glasses, so each one just grabbed a bottle and
drank straight from it.  After they'd each finished their second bottle,
Scully was leaning happily against Skinner, gazing dreamily up at him. 
Mulder was sitting on top of his desk, after having pushed everything
including his computer to the floor.  Krycek was leaning over Mulder, his
arms propped on either side of him. 
	"Come on, Mulder."  Krycek's words slurred together somewhat. 
"Gimme a kiss." 
	Mulder was trying to shove him away, but after hearing Scully's
report of his quick release plastic arm, he was afraid to push too hard,
especially considering it was his fault the arm got chopped off in the
first place.  "Stop, Krycek, please." 
	Krycek sighed and backed away, heading towards Scully instead. 
Skinner had propped her against a filing cabinet when he went to use the
bathroom and Scully and the cabinet seemed to be getting along famously. 
He figured he stood a pretty good chance with her. 
	"Hey, baby."  He tried to casually lean against the file drawers,
but he didn't drink much and when he did, it hit him fast.  He slammed
into the wall hard enough for his arm to fall off and land in the trash. 
He glanced at it, did the mental calculation that resulted in him knowing
it would very difficult to attached the arm intoxicated since he couldn't
do it properly sober and it was made for someone with two arms to attach. 
He shrugged and left it there.  Summer was coming, he'd need to get one
that would match his tanned skin anyway. 
	Scully looked at Krycek with half closed eyes and fell on him in
her attempt to wrap her arms around his neck. "How's my lover boy?" 
	He smiled drunkenly at her.  "How do you call your lover boy?" 
	She coyly stepped away from him.  "Come here, lover boy." 
	He stepped toward her ago.  "And if he doesn't answer?" 
	She took another step back.  "Oh, lover boy..." 
	He snagged her wrist with his one hand.  "And if he STILL doesn't
answer?" 
	Suddenly regaining her ability to control her body, she did kind
of slithery dance move backwards out the door that made Mulder's jaw drop
open. 
	"I simply say baby, ohoh, baby, my sweet baby, you're the one." 
	Skinner had returned in time to see Scully crooning away at
Krycek.  Two more lines and Krycek was dancing down the hall with her,
singing along in a wonderful tenor.  Mulder glanced at Skinner and
shrugged, tipping back his fourth bottle of wine and taking the rest in
one gulp.  Skinned inclined his head toward the door and extended his
hand.
	"Shall we?  I know this great conference room upstairs.  No one
will hear a thing." 
	Mulder contemplated the older man and shrugged again, grabbing two
more bottles and a corkscrew.  He popped the cork off one in the elevator
and drank half the bottle while Skinner was working on unbuttoning his
shirt.  He closed his eyes and thought of... 

end of part six.