A/N: I'm sorry, but I just HAD to do ONE MORE Krycek/Scully story, before completely turning back to my MSR. I mean, I DID write a MSR towards the end of "Gasoline", a month ago, but I need to get this Krycek phase out of my system. I'm just not finished with him yet, I guess! I still have ideas, and I need to get them out in the open, so that I can move on, and go back to my original characters. Therefore, here is ONE more Alex/Dana goodie. And I hope you all like it as much as my last one (which ended up being my longest and most popular story yet, surprisingly). PLUS, I have had several readers beg me to do one more, so I just had to!

P.S. This is my first post-colonization AND first person POV story. It also goes back and forth between past and present a few times (one year/three months in the past, and then present day), and then eventually remains in present, in case anyone gets confused. And I already have some ideas for a new MSR as well, so keep your eyes peeled for a new story to emerge right after this one. : D

…also…Nicholas Lea (Alex Krycek) is adorable...admit it! You know you want to. ; ) ; )

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own anything pertaining to The X-Files, and am only borrowing the characters to satisfy my own personal fantasies and obsessions. It's my drug of choice. : )

Prologue

Mulder had been right, about everything. And of course, he wouldn't be here to even rub it in my face, after dedicating six years of our partnership, trying to get to this very moment. I don't even know where Mulder is, exactly. A little over a year ago, we were separated from everyone. And a little over two months ago, we were separated from each other. It had all happened quite slow, at first. With the first separation, that is. It took several months for the world to realize what exactly was happening. The strange lights in the sky began to multiply every few nights. And at the time, my scientific explanations made sense. But then one night, they didn't. The lights got closer, and the eerie sounds got louder. The public didn't panic at first, no. But Mulder did. Mulder always did. Because he knew. He was right, and I was wrong. And if he was here right now, I would gladly admit that to him.

But Mulder isn't here, and I am all alone, fending for myself. Everything isn't as bad as it was at first, but it's still bad. For some reason, it seems worse, being all alone. Worse than the actual alien-colonization. That part didn't actually last that long. Six months at most. And those sonsofbitches quickly discovered that they could not survive on our planet for longer than a few months. They couldn't breathe our air, or touch our water. And they quickly began to die off. Serves them right. Little fuckers.

But it was too late. They had managed to destroy a significant portion of the population, and earth. I don't even know if any of my family survived, or any of my friends. Friends. I didn't really have any friends, actually. Just Mulder. And Mulder is either dead, or alive somewhere, looking for me. Probably thousands of miles away. But I have to stay positive. I have to believe that Mulder is still alive, and that he will find me soon.

Oh, Mulder. Where are you? I need to see another human being soon, or I will go mad. If I'm not already.

XXX

"Scully! In here!" Mulder shouts, firmly grabbing me by the arm, and shoving me inside the dark building.

I skid across the dirty floor, landing on my hands and knees. I soon hear the door slam shut behind me, followed by Mulder's hands grabbing a hold of me again, and pulling me up on my feet.

"Are you alright?" Mulder asks, shining his flashlight in my face.

"Yes." I squint, holding my hand up over my eyes.

"Sorry." Mulder breathlessly replies, shining the flashlight up at the ceiling.

I wordlessly nod, looking around the dim drafty building. I doubt there has been any life in this place for many months. There are papers scattered across the floor, and thick cobwebs in every corner of the ceiling. I try hard to imagine what this place had looked like before the attack on earth. In my head, I can see people entering the building, briefcases and coffee in their hands, with the sound of phones ringing, and keyboards typing in the background. Just a normal work building, with cubicles, filing cabinets, and computers. It keeps my mind in a better place, imagining these now abandoned places the way they were before. Before earth changed, and people changed.

It boggles my mind that people still betray each other, instead of trying to help each other in this crisis. This was why Mulder and I are hiding in a dark empty building. Because we ran across a group of people that wanted our supplies, which we didn't even have with us. Skinner had sent us out looking for more supplies, like we did at the end of every week. And an hour later, we bumped into a bunch of men in black, with big guns. How ironic. Mulder had offered to split them up, but no, the bastards wanted them all, and demanded that we take them back to where we came from. Survival of the fittest, I suppose. Kill and steal, to survive. Eat, or be eaten. Disappointing, really. The aliens were gone, but we were all still fighting over food and water.

Mulder had created a distraction, and we both took off running on foot, with the sound of bullets blazing past us. Eventually, we got further and further away, and found shelter. And here we are now, just waiting for something, or nothing to happen.

"I don't hear them now." I softly speak.

Mulder presses his ear to the door, and we both silently listen for a moment. Sure enough, there are no voices, no footsteps, no vehicles…nothing.

"Should we— "

"No, not yet. Let's wait a minute." Mulder shakes his head, pacing the dirty floor.

So, we wait several more minutes. But no one enters the building. Just the sound of rain can be heard, lightly hitting the roof.

"I think they're gone now." Mulder finally speaks, slowly opening the door and peeking out. "You wait here, and I'll go check. I'll be right back." He assures me.

"No, Mulder, wait." I plead, grabbing his arm.

Mulder looks back at me, his eyes soft and sad. It took me a month later to figure out what his eyes had been telling me that day. That they had been telling me that he might not be back. That he knew that we might get separated. And if I would have known then what I know now, I wouldn't have let him go out there alone.

I watch him slowly open and close the door. And then I stand there in silence, with his flashlight, anxiously waiting for something, anything. But a good three minutes' pass, and I begin to worry. There wasn't much else out there, so I don't know why it is taking him so long to inspect the area. And just as I made up my mind to go out there and check myself, I hear Mulder's yelling from a distance.

"Scully! Stay where you are! Don't come out!" Mulder yells with intense desperation.

And then I hear gunshots, and I begin to panic.

Mulder, no, no, no, no, no. Don't leave me here.

And then I hear some shouting, and some vehicles driving off. It takes me a good five minutes to move from the very spot I have been crouching in, and look out the dirty window. And what I see is…nothing. No Mulder. No men in black with big guns. No vehicles. Nothing.

And it is right then, that I realize that I am now alone.

XXX

Dana Scully has never been a damsel in distress, and I will not start now. I can fend for myself, and I refuse to admit that I need anyone's help with anything. But I will admit, that it gets lonely being by myself. I have yet to find any sign of Mulder, or Skinner, or even any other human beings. Although, I stopped going from place to place as frequently. It was just too hard to travel every day, with my current stock of supplies. So, I resorted to once a week at the least. Leaving me with a total of 8 different places so far. I have no idea if I am even close to wherever Mulder and Skinner are being held, but I have to believe that they are both still alive. Mulder is too stubborn to die, and Skinner had excellent survival skills. He was the one that kept our little "community" running smoothly this whole time. Until almost three months ago. And as much as I want to walk on foot 24/7, I know that my body cannot handle it.

I wipe at my brow, shielding my eyes from the blazing sun. There is nothing but dirt road ahead of me, and I think to myself, how did I end up so far from the city? A lot of the road signs have been spray painted or torn down the past hundred miles or so, and I have absolutely no idea where I am headed. So, I keep walking, praying to God that the sunblock in my pack will last me another week.

After another hour or so of walking, I find myself feeling a little dizzy from the heat, and sit down under a shady tree. It's amazing how buildings were torn down, and a lot of people were wiped out, but the nature remains, lively as ever. Trees, flowers, animals…a lot of it all is still here. Why is that? Actually, I know exactly why. The earth is better off without humans and toxic waste. The buildings that do remain, will soon be overgrown with weeds and plants. And eventually, there will be nothing but nature left, with hollowed out cement. And when I look around at it all, it's kind of beautiful, in an eerie way. It's peaceful. But it's also lonely. So lonely. And I'm not even sure I would know how to effectively communicate with another human being anymore, if I came across one. That's how long I've been by myself, it seems.

I pull my pack off my back and dig for my water container in there. Taking a big gulp, I realize that I am going to have to find more water within the next 10 hours or so. After another moment of rest, I get back up and continue walking. It feels like that's all I ever do anymore. Walk.

XXX

Once I finally leave the dark building, I see nothing but storm clouds and hear nothing but the rain and wind slapping against me. I frantically run around the building, but do not see any sign of Mulder. No one is here. They must have taken him. And I can only hope that he is still alive. After another several minutes of desperate searching, I realize that those bastards probably made Mulder take them back to our site.

Dammit. God dammit.

I briefly run back into the building to retrieve the flashlight that I had carelessly tossed across the floor, and then head back to the site on foot. It takes me two hours to get there without the car we had been using, and before the area is even in my view, I know that everything is gone. That everyone is gone. And once I reach the entrance, I wonder how I hadn't smelled the smoke sooner. I fall to my knees, wheezing, as I look around at the thick dark smoke slowly emanating from the charred buildings. Nothing is left. Skinner is gone. Mulder is gone. The men in black are gone. And I can only hope that the men took them as prisoners. I have to believe that they are still alive. I have to. And I will find them.

XXX

Today is hot. So hot, that I find myself taking off my shirt and wrapping it around my waist. I still have my bra on, and I haven't run into anyone in what seems like ages, so I'm sure that it's not really considered public nudity. Not like those rules even apply to anyone anymore. There are no rules. Just survive. That's about it. And that terrifies me.

As I keep walking, I soon hear the faint sounds of a creek or some source of flowing water. I begin to sprint, until I reach a dip in the side of the road. I carefully make my way down the steep hill, until a small trail of water can be seen slowly trickling over a bed of rocks. I follow the trail, until the path of water thickens and expands into a larger area of water. I waste no time pulling my pack off my back and bend over the lukewarm water, bringing handfuls of cupped water to my cracked lips, splashing the remainder on my face.

After I've had a stomach full of water, I carefully survey the area, and begin to slowly peel off all of my clothing. First comes the shirt wrapped around my waist, then the bra, the shoes and socks, the jean shorts, and the underwear last. I throw all of the stained clothing onto the grass, giving myself a quick reminder to wash those clothes while I'm here, and slowly submerge myself into the water, immediately closing my eyes at the sensation. It has been three days since I last bathed, and the sun is setting soon, so I know that I need to hurry and find some shelter before nightfall.

I quickly wash myself up and start on my clothes, gently scrubbing them between my hands with the bar of soap in my pack. The sound behind me doesn't register at first, until I hear it a second time. And before I even have time to react, it's too late.

XXX

ONE YEAR EARLIER

Things have been "strange" the past two weeks, to say the least. Okay, let me rephrase that. 'Mulder' has been strange the past two weeks. And that's putting it mildly. It all started two Friday's ago. As usual, Mulder and I were leaving the office a half an hour later than we were supposed to, and I was inwardly hoping that we wouldn't bump into Skinner again on the way out. Because then he would chew us both out for working overtime so much lately, and we needed at least the weekend for him to cool down, so that come Monday morning, he hopefully wouldn't be as pissed off. It usually worked, as long as we didn't see him on the way out. And luckily, we didn't. Thank the lord god almighty. And it wasn't even my fault. Mulder just has a really hard time following directions, and I have a really hard time saying no to him. Which is why I "agreed" to him coming over later that night for pizza and a movie. But in reality, I just wanted to be alone with my book, bubble bath, and glass of wine. I can't even remember the last time I got a weekend all to myself. Not since Mulder started acting weird, telling me that he had this bad feeling that something big was about to happen, and that he didn't think it was a good idea to leave me alone.

So here I am, carpooling with Mulder the past two weeks, because of his "strange feeling", and stopping by his place so he can change his clothes, and then go back to my place. Since when did I become such a pushover? This is going to change, starting Monday. I am going to start putting my foot down, and say NO more often. As long as I don't look directly at that pathetic little puppy dog faced partner of mine, I should be perfectly capable of doing so.

So, we stop at his place, pick up the pizza and movie, and then finally make it to my place at freaking 7:00 pm. And now all I want to do is sleep. I would be completely fine with skipping the wine, bubble bath, and book…and head straight to bed. But here I sit on the couch, yawning profusely, as Mulder hands me a paper plate, and slips the video cassette into the VCR. I don't know why he is always so adamant on video cassettes, when DVD's now exist. But apparently, he says it takes him back to a better place and time, before his innocence was stripped away, and before technology began to transform continuously.

Ten minutes into the movie, I find myself dosing off with a half-eaten slice of greasy pizza in my lap. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure what movie Mulder picked out…but I'm pretty sure it's NOT a chick-flick, or anything that would obtain my interest, even if I was fully awake right now.

A few minutes later, I find myself jolted awake by Mulder's loud gasping, and rough hand on my shoulder, as he shakes me firmly.

"Scully, it's happening again!" He huffs, leaping up from the couch, and reaching the window in two long strides.

I blink my eyes a few times, and slowly get up to follow him. I pull back the other side of the curtain and look out the window, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Mulder, what are you talking about? I don't see-"I suddenly stop talking, as my gaze locks onto the odd lights dancing around in the sky. "Wha-?"

Mulder stares up at the sky with me, both of us transfixed by the strange lights floating in the darkened sky. My first thought is airplanes, but I can't honestly say that I have ever seen a plane move that fast before. My second thought is shooting stars, but they are moving in every direction. And my third and final thought escapes me, as I try to process what else they possibly could be.

"I've been seeing them for several nights now." Mulder replies calmly, finally looking over at me.

I stare back, mouth slightly agape. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugs. "I didn't want to scare you. I needed to make sure that they were what I think they are." He explains.

"Mulder, what are they? I—I've never seen anything like it before. I mean, I'm sure there's a plausible explanation-"

Mulder guffaws and shakes his head. "Come on, Scully. Can you honestly say that that is some new military experimental plane? Moving that fast? In all directions?"

He stands there and waits for me to answer, as I rack my brain for any reasonable scientific explanation for what we are looking at. But each time I look out the window, the lights seem to multiply. And a few moments later, there are dozens of them.

"I—then you tell me, what do 'you' think they are, Mulder? UFO's?" I smirk, crossing my arms.

Mulder only nods, and looks back out the window.

A few moments later, every single light disappears as fast as they appeared, and I wonder if this is all just a dream. But Mulder continues to stand there for another moment at the window, until he is sure that the lights aren't coming back, and then returns to the couch with me. He slowly plops down onto the couch, and leans forward, placing his face in his hands for a moment.

"Something's happening, Scully. I can feel it." He says, rubbing the sides of his face with his hands, before looking at me.

I tuck one leg underneath the other, and pluck at a string on my sweater. "How do you know, Mulder?" I ask, completely shocked that I am even somewhat considering his ridiculous theory.

Mulder heavily sighs and leans back into the couch, propping his feet up on the table. "Because those lights we just saw-they've been coming every single night." He pauses, looking me directly in the eyes. "And because two Friday's ago, there was only one. There are a lot more of them now, and they seem to be getting closer and closer each night, Scully." His voice lowers dramatically to almost a whisper.

That night, I did not sleep very well. And the few hours I did sleep, I did so on the living room floor with Mulder a few feet away. Because that night, I began to realize that I had a bad feeling now, too. And it only took another week for Mulder's theory to be proven correct.

XXX

I don't know why it takes me so long to eventually turn around and investigate the sound behind me, but when I finally do, it only takes me two seconds to put my wet shirt back on me and start on my shorts. But before I can even finish, I'm looking up at four men on the top of the hill, quickly making their way down towards me. And they look even more threatening than the men who ambushed Mulder and I three months ago. And I'm pretty sure that they have the same intentions in mind, if not more vile ones.

The smallest man, still a lot bigger than myself, makes his way down first, pointing his gun at me. The other three pick up my pack and begin to pull things out of it, as the panic begins to set in, and my whole body begins to shake. I know that there is absolutely no way for me to fight them off, and that I am going to lose all my supplies, and may even die today. But I still have to try. Mulder would never forgive me if I didn't at least try to survive. But when I said that I was lonely, 'this' is NOT what I had in mind when I said that I needed to see another human being soon. This was not good. This was bad. Oh, God.

"That's mine." I manage to croak out, as I watch the men dig into my pack and snigger.

"Not anymore." The smallest man cackles, and the other three follow suit, cackling away like hyenas.

I swallow hard and attempt to finish clothing myself, but the smallest man shakes his head.

"My, oh, my, aren't you a pretty little thing? Definitely the prettiest woman we've run into yet. Ain't that right, boys?" The smallest man smirks, looking back at his three stooges.

The three blind mice nod enthusiastically, and are soon standing right next to what I'm guessing is their "leader". And in that moment, I know that death would be much better than what I know is going to happen next. And I pray that they decide to only kill me, or better yet, just leave me alone. But I know that without my supplies, I will not last very long anyways.

God, please send me a guardian angel. It doesn't even have to be Mulder. Just send the next best thing, and I will be eternally grateful.

"Get out of the water…slowly." The leader hisses, and I do as I'm told, with only my underwear and shirt on, and my shorts still crumpled in my hands.

Once I'm out of the water, and a few feet away, I stop and wait. The four men look me up and down, and it makes my skin crawl. I knew I shouldn't have stopped. I should have just kept going, and stayed sticky and dirty another few days. It wouldn't have mattered anyways. Why did I have to stop and wash up? I should have just got some more water and kept moving. I guess I just didn't expect to even run into anyone. In fact, I don't even know where these guys came from. I didn't hear any vehicles pull up, and I know that no one had been following me.

The leader steps closer and slowly lifts up the bottom of my shirt with the butt of his gun, until my whole stomach is exposed. He slowly makes his way higher, as I hold my breath and close my eyes. I just can't even believe this is happening right now. Why do bad things keep happening? Can I just have a do-over with this whole fucking year?

"Please-"I beg in a small voice, and the men laugh at me again.

"What's that?" The leader strains to hear, and my eyes begin to burn.

"Please-don't. Just-just take all my supplies. Take them and go." I plead in a shaky voice.

But the leader shakes his head and begins to run the barrel of the gun down my stomach, quicker this time, until he reaches the top of my panties. I hold my breath again, as the man steps closer, until I can feel his hot breath on my face. It takes me a moment to realize that a fifth man has shown up over the top of the hill, and is shouting down at the other four.

"What the hell is taking so long down there?" The fifth man shouts, and I begin to wonder if this man is the leader, and not the smallest man.

For some reason, the fifth man's voice sounds really familiar. Where have I heard that voice before? With the first man standing in front of me, and the other three men surrounding me on both sides, I can only hear the fifth man, as his footsteps get closer and closer.

"We found some goodies down here." The smallest man cackles again, and slowly moves to the side, as the fifth man comes into view from several feet away.

And in that moment, I am not sure who looks more shocked, as our eyes lock, and recognition sets in.

Krycek.

XXX

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: I hope you have given this a chance so far, and that you will continue to read the rest. Things always get better after the first chapter. ; )