It's only about 9:00 pm, and we got a late start today after working very, very late last night, so it hasn't been a particularly long day, but we're both feeling drained. This work we've been doing has been intense, and I'm really feeling good now since we've discovered what the medical files weren't the ominous threat we originally thought they were, but I'm also feeling really wiped out from the rollercoaster of emotions it's wrought. We've eaten, we've got a nice buzz going from the champagne, and now we're winding down. As great as I feel about the medical records, there's a sense of dread that's falling over me, knowing that Scully is going to leave soon, and then I'm going to be heading out of town in two days to fly halfway across the world for a couple months. I'm not looking forward to either.

When we leave the dining area, Scully walks right through the living room and into the bedroom she slept in the night before. I guess this is it. She'll gather her things and head out in a couple minutes. I sit down in the armchair that faces the hallway and hunch back into it, feeling defeated and yet resolved. I knew this moment would come, and I got to spend more time with her than I ever thought I would, so I need to start feeling grateful and lucky instead of miserable and pathetic. I stretch my arms out over my head, closing my tired eyes and listening. I hear the faint flush of the toilet and then water running in the sink, and wonder what I can possibly say to her before she leaves. "Thank you," seems so miserably inadequate. How do you tell someone that they've made a profound and everlasting impression on you, that you're so thankful to have been able to get to know them, even a little bit? That you're going to miss them the second they leave and you're going to think about them every day for the next few months until you can see them again?

I hear her footsteps approaching and it makes me clench my eyes even tighter. I don't want to face this. But I have to. Be a man, Alex. Open your damn eyes and help her with her things and walk her to her car and thank her for all the work she did for you. Open your damn eyes.

When I do, I audibly gasp in surprise. She's standing at the end of the hall, looking at me, and she's wearing the t-shirt and pajama bottoms I loaned her last night.

I can't help but stare. Her makeup is gone, my clothes are hanging off of her tiny frame, and she looks simultaneously 20 years old and sexy as hell. And she's essentially announcing that she's going to spend another night here with me. Is today my birthday or something? Did I do something right somewhere along the line that has earned me this rare and beautiful reward? I'm starting to contemplate the possible existence of karma when she finally speaks, misinterpreting my reaction.

"I'm sorry...I think I've been presumptuous…"

I open my mouth to start to tell her how much I'd love to see her wearing my clothes every single night for the rest of my miserable life, how there's absolutely nothing I can even conceive of that she could EVER do that I'd consider presumptuous, how I'm very nearly in tears right now by simply being in her presence, but then I close my mouth and my eyes as I realize what a bad idea that is. I promised her last night that I'd be professional, and since then she's been more comfortable and she's stayed and she's even warmed up to me a bit. So don't fuck it up with one of your flirty, wise-ass remarks, Alex.

So what the hell is the appropriate, professional response to seeing her wearing my pajamas? To knowing that she wants to spend the night again?

I bite my lip, and try to find the words.

"Krycek? Are you alright?"

I open my eyes to find her looking at me with concern. She's so fucking breathtaking.

She steps towards me. "Krycek?"

I manage to open my mouth again, but nothing comes out. One more step brings her in so close that I could reach out and touch her. So close I can smell her.

I close my eyes again, my breathing becoming rapid, and will her to move away. Instead, I feel the back of her small hand press gently against my forehead, testing for fever. I want to tell her that if she detects any, it'll be her own damn fault.

"Alex?" Her voice is soft and and full of concern. Why the hell does she have to use my first name?

My hand moves up, fingers wrapping around her wrist, and holding her hand away from me but not letting her go. I'm practically panting now. I can't believe how incredibly beautiful she is. I'm overwhelmed by her and I don't know what to do about it.

I decide that it's probably best to just let go and move as far away from her as possible, so I do exactly that. "I'm okay, Scully." I release her hand, pushing it gently away from me as I stand, and then walk into the kitchen.

When I get there, I pour myself a glass of water. I gulp it down greedily and then hold the cool, empty glass to my forehead as she steps into view and leans against the door frame.

I wish I knew how to ignore her. I wish I could pull my eyes away from her.

"Should I go?"

I hesitate for a couple seconds before deciding that if I'm going to maintain any level of trust I've earned with her so far, then honesty is the best policy.

"I don't want you to go. I really don't. But I think it would be for the best."

She looks at me steadily. There's no confusion now, she seems to understand my dilemma. After a long moment she closes her eyes and sighs heavily. It makes me feel like I've disappointed her somehow. I hope she understands that she'd be much, much more disappointed in me if I asked her to stay.

She turns and walks back into the living room, and once she's out of sight, I let out my own long sigh before filling my glass again and tossing the water back in a couple long draughts.

I'm so tired. I let myself slump into one of the chairs and rest my head, covering my face with my hands and letting my fingertips rub hard at my eyes. I knew she'd have to leave eventually, but I never imagined I'd be the one to tell her to go. God, Alex, she was going to stay another night, you idiot. What the hell's wrong with you?

"Alex?"

Her voice startles me and I jerk my head up quickly to look at her. As I take in her appearance and proximity, I can only give her a quizzical look. Why is she still in my clothes? And why is she moving in so close to me?

Without another word she takes my right hand in both of hers and tugs gently until I find myself on my feet and standing in front of her. Then she releases my hand and steps in, pressing herself against me and wrapping both her arms around me.

I'm so stunned that I can't move. My arms are just hanging at my sides. And then I'm too terrified to move. If I touch her I won't be able to stop. God, is that what she wants? Does she know what she's doing?

Her hands slide from my back to the front of my ribcage as she pushes herself away, holding herself at arms length, and she looks up from under her lashes, giving me a soft, unsure smile. She looks shy and adorable and sexy and I feel myself about to do something stupid. It's all I can do to stop and catch my breath. Instead, I try to pull her hands away from me as I look her in the eyes and issue a stern warning. "Agent Scully, you're making it incredibly difficult to stay in professional mode."

That smile of hers grows into the sexiest, most radiant expression I've seen yet, and as I begin to melt from it, she squeezes my hands, bites her lip, and then utters one small word that threatens to change my life forever.

"Good."

Suddenly my hands are cupping her jaw and my head is dipping down to reach her mouth. I stop to take one last lingering look at her lips, my thumb daring to swipe over her obscenely indecent bottom one, before I close my eyes and finally taste her.

Her arms lock around my neck, insisting that my mouth stay on hers, as her fingers comb through my hair and her nails scratch deliciously across my scalp. I groan loudly, feverishly, as that little pink tongue of hers, the one I've been seeing in my fantasies for months, flicks against me, demanding entrance. Her passion surprises me with it's intensity. She's kissing me with such fervor, and she's moaning continuously into my mouth, and her hands are beginning to roam over every inch of my body she can reach.

My hands splay themselves out to cover as much of her back as they can, and then pull her in to me, wanting her as close as possible. When she feels my erection against her stomach, she groans even louder, presses her hips against me, and simultaneously plunges her tongue into my mouth as deeply as she can. Then her hands clutch at my shoulders, tugging hard, and I think she might just start climbing right up my body.

I think that might be the best idea she's ever had, which is saying a whole hell of a lot, so I decide to help her out. I reach down and grab her perfect little ass with both hands and pull her in against me roughly, then release her, and then pull her in again, giving my deliriously happy, overly-excited dick some of the friction he's begging for, before sliding my hands down to her thighs and hoisting her up. I turn and deposit her onto the kitchen counter and then force myself to step away.

I try to get my heart rate and breathing under control while I stare at her and try to ascertain whether she's being serious or if she's just playing around and teasing me. Her hair is a gorgeous, sexy mess and it's covering a third of her face, obscuring half of one of those blue, blue eyes. Her chest is heaving, her mouth is wet and open, she's gulping in air through deep red, bee-stung lips, and she's grasping the edge of the counter, leaning forward and eyeing me like a starving animal. She looks pretty damn serious to me.

I absolutely leer at her as I drink her in. I'm the luckiest son of a bitch on planet Earth. In the Milky Way galaxy. In the entire known universe.

I narrow my eyes and stalk closer, feeling like a predator coming in for the kill, and she rewards me by biting her lip around another sexy smile. I step in closer and she opens her thighs, inviting me to lose what little is left of my mind, and I place my hands on her knees. Her legs straighten out, then hook behind mine and slowly draw me in. I hover over her exquisite face, a filthy, delighted smile on my lips, and then we simply stare at each other for long seconds, both of us seemingly in awe of the other.

She places her hands on top of mine, then slides them slowly up her thighs, up to her hips before letting me go so she can slide her hands all the way up my arms, across my shoulders, then around my neck. My fingers sink into her soft flesh and as I pull her hips forward, her fingers press firmly at the base of my skull to pull my head down within reach.

She lunges for my mouth with a deep, hungry growl, and then she proceeds to do her damnedest to suck the life right out of me.