Sui Generis

by Kerttu

Mulder has believed in extreme possibilities during whole of his life. Now he has to live with two of them.

4. Revisited

Revisited

23rd of January, Friday, 2004

"Why did she choose a place in the middle of fucking nowhere?" Mulder ranted angrily, as their rental Range Rover made a desperate attempt to skid off the road - the third time in the last twenty minutes.

Scully, who held on the seat like a bulldog, gritted through her teeth: "For that very reason. And Mulder, please let me remind you that these road conditions need a different approach. Like being careful-"

The car skidded again. There were two reasons for that - the road was very slippery indeed, and Mulder had raised the stakes by using his most reckless style of driving.

"You are going to get us killed, Mulder, if you don't slow down!" Scully's voice hadn't risen in volume but Mulder knew that a little more carelessness and he might find himself ditched on the snowy road. However picturesque the scenery, it was damn cold out there, so he gave in, slowing the machine down. Scully sighed in relief and stopped gripping the seat.

"Why are you so hasty about this, anyway?" she asked, fishing two sandwiches out of the bag. "It didn't bother you for a long time..."

"I want to sort this thing out. I want to know why she did what she did and..."

"- and whether or not you are the father." She unwrapped one of the sandwiches and gave it to him.

"Yes." He accepted the snack.

"How do you feel about her?"

"I feel nothing. The fact that she might be carrying my child doesn't mean that I have feelings for her."

"Perhaps you should have." The latex snapped in her voice: Scully's comment came in a tone that she usually reserved for dictating autopsy reports, her hands elbow-deep in somebody's guts.

"What?!" He almost lost the control of the car again, because he took his eyes off the road. Scully saw them growing wide. 'It was rather unexpected statement from me, I admit that much.'

"You had to like her, at least a little, to do the wild thing with her. You had to be attracted to her."

"Scully!"

"Mulder!" she parroted. "There had to be something-"

"Yes, like booze, an oceanful of Scotch!"

"And her hands on you, smoothing that hurting forehead of yours..." Scully half-teased, then gaped before saying slowly. "Like I've done so many times..."

"No, Scully, no. Don't make that connection." It hurt Mulder to hear Scully comparing herself with Krycek. They were too different. And whatever had made him to give in to his lowest animal instincts, and even made it possible for him perform on that fatal night, now it ate his soul away. Scully should never compare herself with anyone. She was in a class on her own. A class Mulder respected and loved and was willing to die for.

"Why not?"

"I love you. Don't doubt that."

"I'm not doubting that. I'm just saying that you might have responded physically to a similar touch, or to a touch that had a certain degree of similarity, even if only on the mechanical level."

"May I remind you that she was the one who kissed me first."

"Like some years ago. You asked her about that kiss. Don't look so surprised, she told me." Scully pushed some strands out of the way of her eyes. "Why did it interest you?"

"I thought... I thought that she was a guy and, well... it was odd, you know."

"Using the adjective 'unresolved'?" she questioned and took the first bite from her sandwich she had prudently purchased from the shop next to the car rental.

"I did?"

"Mmmm" Scully confirmed, her mouth full.

"Who the hell knows? I can't remember much more of that night than I have already told you." 'Only that one expression on her face... The unsuitable and so natural fragility.' That flashback hurt him, differently than the other pain from the comparison. 'What am I doing? Feeling guilty because I didn't have a burning desire for fucking Alex Krycek? Just because I recalled her facial expression?'

"You better remember something. I'm sure when we meet her, she might want to ask you, why you went along."

"As if I don't think about it all the time now..." Mulder noticed a sign for a gas station and he decided to get them something hot to drink. 'Any distraction is good right now...' "I'm pulling over. Do you want something?"

"Burning hot tea."

"Tea?"

"I'm thinking about the future, even if you don't." Scully sighed seeing Mulder's totally puzzled expression and explained. "Me, pregnant? Caffeine not very good for the baby?"

"Oh... Okay. Then tea it is." Mulder climbed out of the car, quickly zipped up his parka and jogged to the small shop. He still felt uneasy about the emotional mystery he had just experienced. He had been able to stop thinking about that night of error. Only the nightmares had pulled it back to the surface again... 'So why does her fragility bother me?' He ordered the XL teas and drummed the edge of the counter with his fingers. 'And why do I always fuck up my relationships?'

They arrived in the small city very late. The road conditions had gone from bad to worse and they had both wished that instead of wheels the vehicle could have had skis. They really needed to get there - wherever the 'there' was - in one and hopefully in a living piece.

When they finally had registered and taken their keys - separate rooms as it was proper for Special Agents of Federal Bureau - they stumbled to the rooms. They cast off the heavier layers of clothing which had provided needed warmth but they still needed extra 'warmth'. The situation resolved by them almost simultaneously opening the connecting door - Mulder sensed that the door was being held before he opened it.

"So," said Scully, standing on the doorway. "Are we going to break the procedure... again?"

"Rules are, yadda, yadda... Come in, you woman!"

23rd of January, Friday, 2004

It's not so late, but I dozed a little. And I had the weirdest dream this far.

I was a woman there - yeah, I'm quite acutely aware that I'm one now, too.

I mean I was really feminine - slender, my skin was smooth, the kind they call silky, I think. My hair was also longish, over the shoulders at least. When I looked at the mirror above, however, I could recognize my features in that female face, and how very relaxed the face was... Oh, the mirror was above a double bed... and I wasn't alone on it. The feeling was light, happy, something I remember from the brief period of my childhood. I felt really happy, satisfied... Yep, it was definitely an afterglow of something I'd call a mind-crushing climax. I couldn't quite see him, the man who was holding me in a manner, as I was something very valuable and fragile. His face somehow blurred but I knew that he loved me. And he wanted me, and we were going to live happily forever after.

Can a dream get more corny and Barbara Cartland? Nope, not good old pink Barbara, there is never any sex in her books. Never mind.

I - the dream-me, that is - had just had sex. Good sex, and a lot of it. I sat up and saw myself in the other mirror. I was pregnant, like I'm now, but he wrapped me into something that was made from the finest wool, cashmere... It was so incredibly soft, warm, loving, like his fingers brushing my hair from my neck and his lips kissing the skin there....

He was happy about the child, our child and when he finally looked up over my shoulder I recognized him. Yeah... Your father, kiddo.

He would never ever like this kind of domestic bliss, and even less so with me. Or the female variation of me. But the feeling of lightness is still with me. I should leave tomorrow and find another city with a good little ER. Better go and start packing... I wonder how I'm going to get up, when I have to collect that second pair of boots from the closet?

24th of January, Saturday, 2004

Mulder yawned and blinked sluggishly when the smell of fresh black coffee reached his nose.

"Hey, my handsome sleepyhead." Scully appeared in his line of vision holding two mugs.

"Hi... Coffee?"

"Yep." Scully scooted next to him and gave him one of the mugs. "Morning is not perfect without it."

"But you said that the caffeine-"

"One cup in a day won't hurt her."

"Her? Did the ultra sound tell-"

"I just know the child is a girl. Call it a motherly instinct." She folded her legs under her and rested against the pillows.

"I'd call it a type of foreseeing." Mulder mumbled, his nose in the mug.

"I'd call you a workaholic." Scully stared at the ceiling, then sipped her poison of the day. "Mulder... We're here to investigate the UFO sightings. There are about twenty people who saw... something. But you're not going to come and help me with those interviews, are you?"

"Not before the morning run, no."

"I meant after the run, and shower, and putting on the suit and tie..."

"I'm coming. However tempting the chance to find Krycek is, we have to have something to write about in the report that would at least try to explain why the FBI has to cover the travelling costs."

"You're not ditching me to search for another woman? How come?"

"For another woman? Of course not. But give me aliens, implants, secret government cover ups, and I'm out of here in a second."

The weekend interviews were exactly what they were expecting - a bunch of nervous locals that got even more nervous when they were introduced to the representatives of FBI. The four housewives, two teenagers, one truck driver, one bookshop keeper, and two waitresses were waiting to talk to Scully. Mulder got two old spinsters, one bachelor - whom he suspected to be gay, another truck driver, a carpenter, a local drunkard, three schoolchildren - from the almost reasonable age before the teens, and a delivery boy. They all told the same story, although with a slight variations - there were lights over the city, under the clouds, going sometimes through them, and moving in weird ways - not like helicopters or planes.

"Well, are you finished?" Mulder peeked in to the room where Scully was sitting behind a table writing something. She looked bored.

"Yes. I wrapped up the last testimony. Of sorts. And I'd kill for something full of harmful simple sugars and fats."

"Mutual understanding is the thing I've always liked about you. Let's raid the local bakery."

The local bakery actually tripled as a small store and a tiny cafeteria with nine chairs and three tables. They took the table near the window. They could see out but the two leafy plants prevented others seeing them. Scully bought two pieces of cake- one with strawberries and other with cappuccino cream. Mulder settled for one but large piece of pie, which had at least apple, pineapple and something else in it. It was very good. So were Scully's cakes from which he stole a spoonful.

"So we have finished the official part of investigation." Scully dabbed her mouth with the pale blue paper napkin.

"Yes, we have." Mulder finished his coffee and looked at the street.

"Where do you want to begin?"

"I think we just got lucky. Look."

Scully turned and forgot to close her mouth for a moment.

It was Krycek; Scully would have recognised her anywhere. From the first look at him, way back then, she had committed his features into her memory. The new partner, the one who had taken her place... And she had decided to hate him. It wasn't hard, and it got even easier with each new fact she learned about him. But now... to see, to really see that she was pregnant... Very pregnant, for that matter. She was the embodiment of the phrase 'swollen with new life'.

'I hope', Scully thought 'I won't look THAT round...' It was somehow improper to hate HER now.

Krycek walked on the street, wearing those 'maternity' denim overalls and a longer version of the parka. She entered the shop across the street, oblivious of the two pairs of big round eyes tracking her movements.

"Oh my God."

Mulder nodded. "I couldn't have put it better." He grabbed his parka and shrugged it on.

"Mulder..."

"Yes?"

"You better use her first name. She's probably here with a false ID and it's easier to explain away a nickname..."

"You've thought a lot about this meeting, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have." Scully looked at him, her eyes clear and serious.

"Why?"

"Because you slept with her."

"Hello, Alex."

Krycek turned, not believing her ears.

But there he stood, with his usual placid look on his face, and even one of the infamous ties visible under the parka.

"Mulder..."

"Aren't you happy to see me?"

"About as happy as I'd be encountering the personification of a tooth ache. What are you doing here?"

"An X-file. Lights in the sky, you know the drill."

"Not here to gloat?" Her voice was low in order not to attract the attention of the other customers or the salespersons. 'And I'm standing here with a freaking can of beef in my hands and I'm talking to the love of my life and...'

"About what, your longer hair?" Which was true, Krycek's hair was about as long as it had been on their first meeting.

Krycek blinked and then almost snorted with laughter. "Hair?! How about how I look like a pregnant elephant or that I've now got two arms? Hair! You're just amazing, Mulder, just bloody fucking amazing!"

"I just thought you might not like gloating..."

Krycek shrugged and threw the can into her shopping cart with an angry clank. "I knew that I should've travelled further... To Alaska, perhaps."

Mulder fingered some package but grinned a little: "Would have been fitting. There are Rat Islands..."

"Well, you're definitely NOT here gloating." Krycek glared at him angrily. "What do you want?"

"To talk to you."

"About my hair?" Her light green eyes were dangerously sparkling.

"No. About that night and-"

"We fucked, that's all there was to it!" She really-really hoped that Mulder would believe it. 'I've always lied so well...' "So may I go now, Special Agent Mulder?"

Mulder tried to answer, but Krycek didn't wait. She pushed by him, threw some money on the counter and stormed out like a supertanker out of control. Mulder could only shrug and jog after her.

"Would you wait?"

"Or what? You'll pull a gun on me like you used to? Or maybe you want to slap me around a bit? What will it be?"

"Perhaps we all should sit down and try to behave like grown ups."

Scully's voice made Krycek spun around. 'Not her too... Can it get worse than this?'

"Hello, Scully." It came out sounding almost civil, although she wished she could disappear from Scully's judging eyes.

"Hello... So how about sitting down?"

The little bakery accommodated the odd group. Scully continued to eat her last piece of cake, while the two others kept up a staring contest until Scully had had enough. She coughed.

"How have you been?"

Krycek snorted again. "Pregnant."

"Right, it was a stupid question. But you two have some things to discuss and this is as good a time as any to tackle them." She shut up and watched the ex-co-workers shoot each other icy looks. "I'll go to the ladies room, but please, don't kill each other while I'm gone. And don't finish my cake, Mulder!"

"Do you always steal her food?" Krycek asked innocently, when Scully was out from the hearing distance.

"Constantly." Mulder eyed her, half of him struggling with the plain fact in front of him, half of him filled with weird peace - he could have his answers now. "Let's use the time, shall we?"

Krycek shrugged. Mulder took it as an agreement.

"Why did you sleep with me?"

"I think it takes two."

"You started-"

"-and you were just lying there and thinking of the FBI! Oh, come on. Even you don't believe that." Krycek smothered the yell into a growl. "You took quite an active role."

"This talk is not getting anywhere-"

"Should it?"

Mulder took couple of breaths to calm down. "Am I the father?"

Krycek held his eyes and lied without a blink: "No. Have we finished now?" When Mulder didn't answer, she started to get up.

And it came again as it had been happening from the moment she stopped blurring her mind with alcohol.

Danger. Near. Danger.

She grabbed hold of the chair's back and looked around. No one seemed suspicious.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing..." but she sounded breathless.

Danger. Get moving. Now!!

She started to move towards the door, but Scully, who stormed out of the restroom, blocked her way. Her gun was drawn and her eyes seemed as similarly haunted as Krycek's.

"What's going on?" demanded Mulder.

Scully shrugged as if trying to clear her head. "Something ... like an alarm in my head..." She dropped her aim and clicked the safety on.

"You heard it?" For a moment Krycek had stopped panicking, because Scully's reaction was so bizarre.

"Yes." She turned to face her. "What is this?"

"I don't know-"

Danger. GO NOW.

This time Scully snapped out of it quicker. "We better follow the orders."

"What orders?" Mulder was absolutely lost and ignored, but he followed them outside.

"Are you armed?" he heard Scully asking.

"Never leave the bed without it."

He looked at them walking ahead of him and talking... Scully talking to Krycek whom she had despised... 'What the hell is going on?'

"Okay," he caught up with them. "What-"

"I have to get out of here," Krycek stated and sped up.

"Scully?"

"You'll love this... Something warned her to leave. It's like a strong feeling of..." Scully searched for a word for a second. "..fear, almost palpable urge to run."

"How do you feel it?"

"I'm not sure. But do you know how you saw your nightmares?"

"No..." Mulder kept eyes on Krycek's back, almost hoping she would bolt. It would be easier to think of her as a traitor than something else. And a traitor would try to flee... After lying.

"I think it's the same channel of communication."

'Or not', agreed Mulder, unused to hearing that Scully was accepting the unscientific approach but he had to be convinced that she was aware of what she was about to do.

"And YOU trust her?"

"This time I do. Her fear is valid. I felt it, too. She's in danger."

Krycek lived in a flat on the second floor, which had a separate entrance. The house seemed a bit run-down, but probably it suited a person who didn't want to attract attention. 'As if she could go unnoticed right now', Mulder thought giving the building a once over.

"I'll go with you."

Mulder turned, forgetting everything - had Scully just implied that she would back up Krycek? 'This is unheard of...'

"You wait here, don't let anyone pass..." and Scully was climbing the stairs after Krycek, her coat's hems flapping. Mulder sighed - now she was ditching him... 'Not that I have any right to complain...' He leaned against the closest parked car and waited.

"Is Miss Feldson up there?"

Mulder turned his head. The low voice belonged to a middle-aged woman about Mulder's height, who wore dark green parka and well-used denim jeans. "And you are..?"

"Her landlady, she asked to be informed when her car was fixed. Is she home?"

"She is..??"

"The now very round woman." To Mulder's silence she added: "Oh, I thought you didn't look familiar, well, she's pregnant, ready to pop, but for some reason she wants to travel... Anyway, is she in?"

"Let's go and see." A woman that appeared just moments after Krycek and Scully both had a warning premonition didn't feel right. The woman started to climb up, Mulder close behind.

On the landing she rapped against the door. "Miss Feldson?"

The door opened a fraction and Krycek peeked out. "Yes, Betsy?"

"Your car is ready, honey."

Mulder, who stood behind the landlady, felt a click in his head. 'It's Saturday... no garage works in a little place like this on Saturday... unless Krycek paid, of course... But it still feels wrong.'

"So soon, good-" There was no time to finish the sentence, because the woman suddenly kicked the door open, so Krycek almost fell, staggering backwards from the impact.

Mulder tried to pull out his gun but he was snatched from the back of his neck and hauled inside the apartment with such a speed that he landed in the middle of the corridor, losing his gun and severely hitting his elbows. He heard the door slam shut behind him and muffled pops, and rolling over, he saw Krycek shooting at the lady- who wasn't a lady anymore, she shifted under their eyes into a too-well-known bounty hunter. 'That explains the UFO sightings...' Mulder scrambled after his gun, being too aware that it would be of almost no use against their enemy. Krycek was still emptying her clip into the being, but the bounty hunter was stepping closer to her, only slightly annoyed by the bullets that were hitting him in the midchest. And Krycek looked really scared, as much as Mulder was able to see.

At that moment a door opened and his brave Scully screamed the usual: "Stop, FBI!"

'No use, Scully, we don't have the means to kill him...' Mulder finally got his gun and aimed it at the shape-shifter who had cornered Krycek.

Scully's voice distracted the extra-terrestrial murderer for a moment, he shot a glance at them- and then shuddered. Somehow Scully's appearance had been enough of a distraction for Krycek. She withdrew the icepick from its neck 'Where did she have that?' and let the body drop. Her gun was still frozen in aim at the killer. Mulder got up, and crouched by the body.

There were at least five chest wounds each one leaking the green fluid these things had for blood. 'We should be dying... Why are we not?'

He heard Scully stepping closer. "You're Okay?"

"Yes..." Mulder nodded and put his useless gun away. "You?"

"Fine. Are you alright?" Scully asked, looking at Krycek. Mulder raised his eyes. 'Did I hear that? I did, didn't I?'

Krycek nodded, although her breathing was heavier than before. She also leaned against the wall.

However, her gun didn't waver.

"Is he dead?" she rasped.

"Yeah", Mulder got up, where he had been checking for life signs. Luckily, there was none. He looked at his partner.

Scully was still eyeing Krycek. "Are you sure?"

"It's ... nothing, it will pass." She dropped her aim and slumped heavily against the wall.

"What will pass?" Mulder noticed the somewhat surprising worry in Scully's face. He turned to face Krycek. The - what exactly? Man? Woman? Hopefully human... - seemed a bit pale and in pain.

"These..." Krycek made a nervous waving gesture with her hand, "-pains. They come and go..." She started to unscrew the silencer.

"How often?" Scully's voice was precise enough to cut glass.

"Oh, about every ten minutes or so." Krycek raised her head "So what?" The silencer found its place in the pocket and the gun in the holster.

"And how long have you been feeling them?" There was suddenly no pleasure seeing Krycek's eyes grow wide. With recognition. She swallowed hard.

"What's going on?" Mulder wanted to intervene, but Scully put up her hand to quiet him and stepped over the body, moving closer to Krycek.

"How long?" she demanded.

"Most of the day..." her voice faded into a whisper. Mulder could have sworn that he heard fear there. She continued: "You're not suggesting that..." Krycek couldn't finish, only swallowed again, staring at the shorter woman.

"It's very likely." Scully didn't give any ground and didn't stop staring back, until Krycek averted her eyes.

"It can't be. It's not... it's not time." She was afraid, alright.

"Sure. Not until the interval between the contractions is about three minutes."

The word 'contractions' made Mulder gape.

"Scully, you're not saying that she's going to have the child now? Are you?" He sounded a little panicky.

After a short pause, Scully answered. With constructive orders.

"You better sit down." That was said to Krycek, who clutched the wall. "And you better help ... her-" Scully still stumbled over the unusual pronoun. "- to do that." When Mulder didn't budge at once, she added, louder. "Now!"

That made him move. He got to his feet moving and walked up to Krycek. She, too shocked from the abrupt revelation, didn't even fight him when Mulder slipped his arm around her waist.

It was weird to touch her... Really weird. Mulder focused again on the task at hand.

"Let's go."

All three of them walked back to the bedroom, Scully leading the way and even opening the door.

When Krycek was dropped onto the armchair, Mulder and Scully occupied the only seats facing her, that is, they sat on the bed.

After a moment full of awkward silence, Krycek opened her mouth to talk.

"So, you think that I'm..." she found that she couldn't bring herself to say IT out loud.

"In labour." finished Scully for her. "Yes, I think you are." She tried hard to sound confident. "Couldn't you guess yourself?"

Krycek shrugged. "No.... And it's not the right time." she didn't sound very convinced, however.

"How do you know?" Mulder had finally been able to say something.

"I did my homework." Krycek glanced at him, eyes angry. "When I ... couldn't get rid of it, I ... got some books and did the math."

Scully took over again. "And the counted time would have been?"

"The 4th of February." Krycek sighed and undid her uppermost shirt button. She felt hot and was sure that she looked flushed. 'Damn hot spells.'

"You did notice in those books that the labour can start two weeks earlier and it's completely normal?"

Krycek narrowed her eyes: Scully the laser was doing a great job pissing her off. Nothing like during the merciful-doctor's-act.

"Nothing of this is normal to me, damnit! I didn't ask for this!" Mulder raised his eyebrows, but she didn't let that distract her: "I didn't want this!"

"But you're stuck with it now." Scully sighed inwardly: once again she had to clean up Mulder's mess. At least this time he was there to help, to actually do some things.

Mulder observed how Scully surveyed the room. He could almost hear those medical files opening and booting up in her brain.

"This place is relatively safe... And I am almost sure that you don't want to go to the town's hospital?" Scully was taking her scarf off.

The glare answered better than any words.

"Right." she stuffed the scarf into her coat pocket. "I'll make some arrangements then." She rose to her feet. "Why don't you two get ready for a long evening?" Unbuttoning her coat, she strolled out from the room.

The ex-partners listened her going through things, first in the bathroom and then in the kitchen. They didn't look at each other, as they heard Scully filling something with water, switching on the cooker.

Then a shout: "Is this half-empty bottle of vodka yours, Krycek?"

"Yes," came an angry snap.

There was some mumbling which Mulder interpreted as 'Not really a healthy diet'. Krycek seemed to come to the same conclusion, because she visibly ruffled up.

Then Scully's steps got louder and she returned to the room. "You should get to the bed, Krycek."

"I should get to the bathroom first," she retorted and got up, the armchair creaked, when she leaned on it for support. "And I can go there fine by myself, thank you." Krycek prevented Scully from sending Mulder after her. Since she needed some help, she accepted it, but she didn't need unnecessary humiliation.

"Okay, do as you please. But if you need anything..."

"Sure, sure..." and she walked out, feeling their eyes on her back. 'I must look like something from a cartoon.... Ridiculous, pathetic and big.'

"So we're helping her?" Mulder stated the obvious.

"Yes." Scully busied herself with the bed. "And don't ask why. She's afraid, we both heard that, she's not prepared for this and we're here."

"You're amazing, you know that?"

"I'll take that as a compliment, Mulder. Now help me."

He did. Then he asked another question that had bothered him from the moment he saw the green blood. "Why are we still alive?"

"What?" she looked up, shaking a pillow.

"The toxic blood... We should have choked to death almost instantly."

"Perhaps the virus and the vaccine together gave us immunity." She sighed. "It's the best idea that comes to my mind right now."

"But Krycek?"

"You told me that he had a similar encounter... that time when we got shoed out from the North-Dakota silos."

"So we can go around and off the shapeshifters-"

"Sometimes you're such a teenager..."

"I think that Scully might be right."

Krycek's tensed voice made Mulder, who had been sitting in the armchair, turn his head. She was back from her very long trip to the bathroom and held on to the doorframe, looking in pain again. Her knuckles were white from the gripping.

This time Mulder moved without an order. He was up to support her quickly enough to make a sprinter proud.

"Why do you think that?" he asked, while manoeuvering Krycek to the bed. 'Why does this situation feel oddly reversed?'

"The water broke... and the pain just got worse." her voice was cracking, since the garrote on her muscles hadn't eased yet. When it finally did, she felt limp. 'I hope it doesn't get much stronger....'

"I'll get Scully."

She nodded her approval and closed her eyes. She had wished to see Mulder again, but not like this. 'I'd better watch what I wish for...'

"Her water broke."

Scully looked up. "Where?"

"In the bathroom, I suppose. There were no extra-puddles on the corridor when I came here."

"Extra-puddles?"

"The body has started to disintegrate... Lots of nice goo to step into."

Scully gave him a warning look and changed the subject back.

"Is she-"

"She's fine, just had another contraction."

"I'll go and see her." When Mulder wanted to follow her, she stopped him. "Stay here, I need to prepare her and I'm fairly sure that she doesn't want you around at that particular time."

"Will you be alright?"

"I'm a trained Special Agent and a doctor." She flashed a brief smile and was gone.

Krycek opened her eyes, when Scully walked in. She looked frightened for moment, and then the usual expression took its place.

"What do you want?"

"To prepare you and to talk to you." Scully sat by her side. Krycek turned away and stared the wall.

Scully sighed. "I'm not here to hurt you."

A pause. Scully watched Krycek's left hand wrinkling the sheet. She was almost sure that Alex herself was not aware of that movement. Then the fingers relaxed and she heard her answering:

"I know."

"So let me help."

"Like you had a hell'va lot of experience!!"

"More than you."

Krycek drew a long angry breath but said nothing.

"You need to get out these clothes. And I have to check-"

"You are not doing that!!"

"Okay." 'Better to give some ground...' "Then just change into something you are not very keen on keeping. Some T-shirt or something."

After a moment Krycek nodded and started to get up. In the middle of that she shuddered and clenched her teeth.

"Pain?" Scully actually didn't need to ask. She watched her struggle, then reached and rubbed the points on her back she knew would help. After a couple of seconds Krycek could breathe again.

"What did you do?" she panted.

"A trick I learned in the pre-natal course. Worked for me." She smiled a little. "The interval has shortened, right?"

"Yeah."

"Must be the shock. It accelerated the process. I'll get the thing you wanted, where is it?"

"In the closet in the bag." Seeing Scully eyeing her, surprised, she snapped." I felt that I had to move again."

"In your condition?"

"I thought I had at least one more week!"

Scully nodded, and went to fetch whatever Krycek wanted but somehow she didn't need to ask - when she opened the carryall, she knew exactly what to search for. It was weird but right now she didn't have the time to ponder about it. 'No more bizarre than the warning we both felt...'

"Put it on." She threw the shirt on the bed and saw that Krycek was astonished. "A lucky guess." Then she tactfully exited the room, closing the door after her.

And bounced into Mulder.

"What are you doing here?"

"Nothing."

"Like hell you are. She is not going anywhere and I'm not in danger." Scully raged but felt the feeling melt away when Mulder embraced her.

"I was just afraid that she still might do something to you. You know what she was!" His voice was honest and truly concerned.

"She's in labour... I don't think that killing us could be her top priority right now. Especially when we just helped to save her life." She allowed herself to indulge in the luxury of his arms some seconds more, but then released herself. "I have to go back. Alone." Mulder looked sad, but let her go. "Maybe you should check the house."

Mulder smiled, he understood that she was trying to make him feel useful. And he liked that about her. "Okay, ma'am, I'll check the perimeter!!"

Krycek lay on her side and was staring into space.

"How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, eyes indifferent. "Tired," she finally reacted. 'Well, she does look tired', Scully thought when she closed the door.

She sat on the bed again.

"You didn't imagine us being here when..."

"I didn't."

"What were you planning to do?"

"To go to the nearest emergency room." She finally looked at Scully.

"Could have worked..." Scully approved. "But what then?"

"I would have found a way." Krycek shifted a bit. "Why are you helping me?"

"You're obviously not prepared for this. You could use some help."

"You've changed your speciality?"

"No, but I have delivered two babies. One as a doctor and the other as a..." Scully stopped, feeling that her voice would give her loss away completely. "Anyway..."

"Yeah... You have more experience. How long does it take then?"

"Couple of hours more, considering the period you have already had the contractions."

"And it gets worse?"

"Stronger."

"Just what I need." Krycek sighed and turned her eyes away again.

"It can be helped. With correct breathing..." - Krycek snorted - "...and with the back rubbing."

"The same you did?"

"Yes."

"That seemed to work, at least." Alex was looking at her again. Scully watched her face and wondered for a moment what would have happened if instead of her, Krycek had been Mulder's first partner. When the change of gender would have happened while Mulder and Krycek had been trusting friends? Krycek would have probably still loved him... And they might have become lovers... even before the sex change. 'And most definitely after it. Mulder couldn't have resisted a living and adoring X-file who would be in his reach and begging for his help... and support. Yes, they would have been... lovers.' Scully hoped that the jealousy she felt flashing through her didn't register on her face in any way. 'At least... she has pretty looks.' Dana found herself comparing Krycek with Diana Fowley - and Krycek won. 'Scully, what are you thinking'

"Oh shit..." Krycek's voice brought her out from the weird reveries. Scully focused and saw her clutching the pillow. It was another contraction.

She reached across her - big she really was - to give Krycek a second back rub. While she was smoothing the tensed muscles she tried to explain what she was doing.

"These points are supposed to be linked to the nerves that have endings in the internal organs, the uterus included-"

"You... believe that?" Krycek whispered in a strangled voice.

"It is scientifically plausible, though more commonly used in Oriental tradition..." Scully felt Krycek getting more comfortable under her hands. "But even relieving the muscle tension helps you to feel better."

Krycek sighed and relaxed. "This is hell."

"But it ends." Scully unbuttoned her suit jacket, she felt hot - it had been a hard work. "May I ask a question?"

"You would probably ask it any way." Krycek got rewarded with one of the 'oh-you-know-me-so-well' looks. She smirked in return, still a bit out of breath.

"How did you change? If you did."

"IF?" Krycek almost laughed. "I'm in labour, for God's sake, and you're suspicious over whether I changed?? Or have you suspected me being a woman all the time? Even the first time we saw each other."

"No, you're were an annoying young man to my eyes then but I'd never seen you naked."

"Yeah... But I was a man..."

"Then how did you change?" Scully made herself more comfortable.

"I fell asleep... like hibernating or something." Krycek brushed a hand through her hair. Scully noticed that she did that again with her left hand. "You see, the week before -"

"When did it occur?"

"Last spring. I slept from the end of February to the first days of March. It took about a week."

"In a way it would make sense... something similar to the transformation butterflies go through."

"Me, a butterfly? I think that in my case a common house fly would be more accurate."

"You're not so hairy-" Scully abruptly stopped, finding that she was answering to Krycek as she would have done with Mulder. Somehow it was damn easy to play the game 'following-the-tangents' with Alex, too. 'And from what point did I start referring to her as "Alex"? Mmm, although it is a genderless name.' "What were you saying about the week before you transformed?" she regained her scientific posture.

"I was hungry all the time... and I wolfed like crazy. And I was also exceedingly sleepy."

"Your body was storing nutrients and getting ready for the transition. You were probably hungry when you woke up?"

"Starving."

"Were you aware of having changed?"

"No." Krycek shifted again, trying to get a better position to lay. It felt good to talk; it kept the focus off of the things that were happening around and inside of her. "I remember stumbling to the bathroom and drinking directly from the tap, I was parched, you see, and when I finally straightened up, I saw from through the window that the trees were freshly leafed and the snow gone. When I went to take a leak, I found something else gone, too."

Scully found herself feeling amused by this, perhaps it was the way she told the story.

"Krycek... Do you remember the disc you brought me?"

"Yes."

"There was a file on you."

Krycek stared at her. "On me?"

"On you. You were a test-tube baby. One of the first in the world. There were accounts of your DNA and blood work, the whole medical file."

"I was a test?"

"Seems so."

"Did it show anything to explain this?" she pointed at her protruding body.

"In a way. I showed your DNA to a specialist, who, quite frankly, hadn't seen anything quite like that before. But you are human nonetheless. He did mention the possibility that there might be something tricky about the gender of the DNA owner." Scully drew a breath and seeing Krycek's expression, added quickly: "I didn't enlighten him about who this particular person was or what is supposed to have happened to him-her, whatever."

"So I was a test... Yippee... Mulder is right. I'm a rat, a lab-rat."

'I'm a very special lab-rat' echoed words on Scully's mind. Gibson Praise had said that... It looked as if any one who came into a contact with X-files had been poked and probed somehow. Mulder had been operated on, she herself had been through thousands of medical treatments, some of which she remembered and some she didn't... Even Skinner had his encounter with the nanotechnology - which Krycek so willingly provided. "You made Skinner your personal guinea pig."

Krycek was silent for a moment. Then she simply stated: "I needed to know what was happening in the FBI. He wouldn't have given me anything freely."

"You killed him."

"I also brought him back. He had to believe that I was serious or he would've beaten the crap out of me again and called in the hyenas. The smoking kind."

Scully wanted to ask something more, but the door opened and when Mulder stepped in, he found himself facing two guns, both pointed at him

"Whoa, ladies!"

"Mulder, damnit!! Knock!" Scully put her gun back, wondering from were Krycek's had come from. She hadn't seen her reach for it.

Now the gun was beside her and she was gasping. Her labour was advancing.

"Mulder, come here. Sit on that side of the bed. Good. Now do this..." Scully took Mulder's hands and showed.

"You want me to massage her?"

"You better learn it, I might need it some day."

That shut Mulder up. 'But this is weird... even by my standards this IS weird...'

"I'll get some water to drink." Scully stood and went out leaving them in this awkward situation.

Krycek closed her eyes and lay there, doing her best not to move either away from Mulder's hands or closer to them.

"That's enough." Krycek sounded tired.

Mulder stopped his kneading and shrugged his wrists. "That's rough."

"Yeah..." She closed her eyes, feeling already exhausted.

"I think you're doing fine..."

"Oh, please! " She turned and faced Mulder looking over her shoulder. "Spare me the bed-side manners!"

"I just..." Mulder's voice was sheepish but he looked gorgeous. 'How can he look so good? How does he dare to look so good, when I'm feeling so bad?' Krycek felt anger pushing energy in her system. 'Adrenaline-junky, me?'

"That's right! Actually..." she paused and smiled not a nice smile. "- it should be you here! You put me in this... ungraceful situation! You are the guilty party in this trial. You-"

Pain whipped through her again and she tried not to moan. She felt his hands on her back doing the rubbing Scully had taught, but it was becoming useless.

"It... is just... getting worse." She hissed, when she could talk again.

"It's supposed to."

"No, it's not! I'm not supposed to be here in pain giving birth to your child!"

"My child?" Mulder came around the bed and looked straight at Alex. "Now it's my child?"

"Yes, yours! And has always been!"

"So why the lie?"

"Isn't that something I do best?" Krycek half-grinned. "But it's yours."

"How do you know?"

"Jesus... Whatever you think I am, a whore I'm not. There was no one else."

Scully, who came back with a tray, heard the last comment and halted behind the door. Eavesdropping or not, she had to hear this.

She could imagine the face going with Mulder's shocked mumbling voice. "But it happened just once..."

"I must be really lucky then." Krycek's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Scully felt her entrance call.

"It just takes one time." Arguing parties looked up at her. She put the tray on the nightstand. There was a large jug with three glasses. "Do you want some?"

"Yeah..." Krycek nodded but shot a glance at Mulder. "But I remember three times in one night..." Her tone was half-vicious.

'So do I' thought Scully and peeked at Mulder. 'Is it his trademark, while knocking women up?' Out loud she said: "It seemed to have done the trick." The room temperature lowered considerably. She sat by Krycek, blocking Mulder out, who had to go back to his previous position behind Alex's back.

The glass in Krycek's hand shook. "Here... we go..." She thanked Scully in her mind, who grabbed the glass, before it fell to the floor. She buried her face to the pillow and smothered her wish to scream or yell or something along those lines.

When she came up for the air, Scully gave her a stern doctor's look.

"What?" she gasped, face flushed and sweaty.

"I need to check you."

"No!"

"Then we don't know when to start, and you may die."

Krycek considered arguing, but dying wasn't really high on her list of things to do. "But Mulder goes out," came the breathless capitulation.

"Done." Scully promised without hesitating.

"You're not asking me at all?" croaked Mulder.

"No. Now go!" Scully gave him a look, too. Krycek felt her hair stand on end, when she noticed Scully's eyes and the determination in them. 'Now I understand how she was able to shoot him.'

Mulder went out, rubbing his neck.

"Now, let me see..."

Krycek bore this examination, the forth of this kind in her life, like she had born all the other not lethal but unpleasant events before. She stared the ceiling, now so familiar from the nights she couldn't sleep. She had also noticed, that Scully still wore her gun. 'It's just fitting that I'd have a midwife who's armed... Damn appropriate.' Scully's hands left her and she relaxed.

"You have an hour to go, tops." She heard her saying. 'Thank God, she spared me from the details...'

"I can live with that... I think."

"I assume that you have no idea, in what position your child is?"

"No, I didn't get to do the baby-book with the pre-natal pictures."

"So we don't know how hard or easy this is going to be..."

"You mean, whether I'm living or dying?" Scully realised that she was serious. 'She's afraid... Well, there's first time for everything.' But she had to give her confidence right now; that was her role as a doctor. 'Midwife for Krycek? Scully, what's next?'

"Don't think we'll come to that. I'll call Mulder back in."

Krycek's head flopped on Mulder's shoulder. "I... can't do it."

She had been huffing and puffing for a half an hour and she was exhausted. Scully had ordered him to help Krycek, but he really didn't know what else he could do other than talk.

"Yes, you can." He was feeling bloody hot, trapped behind Krycek and steadying her when she struggled for the release of her child. Moreover, she was sweating like a pig. 'Do pigs actually sweat?' "Scully, how are we doing?"

"Well enough. Krycek!"

"No... don't make me..." Mulder heard her whisper near his ear. She sounded almost like crying.

"You have to!"

And she found the strength again. And again. And again, until...

"A boy."

"Huuh," was all that Krycek could manage. There were two things in the world she really didn't want to go through again - getting an arm lopped off for one and childbirth for the other. Now she just wanted to sleep. She felt shudders of exhaustion racking through her body, she was aware, that Mulder moved her against the pillows...

"Krycek..." It was Scully again. Her voice brought her back from the drowning fatigue. She blinked at her.

"It's not entirely over yet."

"What..."

"You still have to help me here, a little."

"God..." She was so tired. Somebody was pouring something into a glass. She felt thirsty, too. Then Mulder sat by her side her again; he was holding a glass and offering it to her. She made an effort to take it, but she saw how her hands shook. 'No use.' Then the glass moved closer to quench her thirst and she was beyond caring how she would look while letting herself be spoon-fed. 'But there is no spoon...' Mulder touched her cheek -'How am I able to recognise his touch? Even now...'- and she opened her eyes.

"Scully's ready when you are."

She somehow managed to... but that was her limit. She fell to the pillow and was gone. The last picture Krycek registered, was Scully, who took the baby up and was carrying it to the table. 'Probably for cleaning and wrapping---'

"Will she be alright?"

"Yes, I think so." Scully put the child beside her mother, the bed was big enough for them both, and the newborn would feel safer close to a familiar person. She had also done everything to make Krycek as comfortable as possible. The ex-G-man/thug/assassin snored with exhaustion and hadn't even moved when Scully had laid the child by her side. "It's just unusual that a mother falls asleep so quickly."

"How come?" Mulder sounded baffled. "It's a major effort."

"Well, the nature has made us so, that we manage to feed our offspring at once. I didn't feel like sleeping at all after William was born." Scully glanced at Krycek. "Then again, she wasn't originally a woman, perhaps the energy levels aren't the same."

"But she's OK?"

"As far as I could tell, yes." In her sleep Krycek appeared just a tired human, and not at all the usual cocky personality. Like this - Scully realised with a start - she could actually like her.

Scully stretched her back and looked at Mulder who still seemed to be consumed by the Madonnaesque tableau in front of him.

"How does it feel to be a father? Again?"

"I ... don't know. I never imagined I'd sire a child with..."

"A known criminal?"

"For one." He stepped closer and watched the child. This new son of his was done with his vocal exercises for this night and slept now. "I don't think I have so long lashes, Scully," he whispered.

"Then those must be mother's."

"Why didn't I want to hear that?"

"Guilt?"

"Yep." After another longish inspection of his son's appearance - and after finding some other unnerving resemblances to the child's mother - he followed Scully to the kitchen.

They both needed to have a moment to wind down.

25th of January, Sunday, 2004

It was a little after midnight, when Mulder returned from his second night round.

"He's still asleep." Mulder came up close to her and accepted the mug of coffee.

"The baby or Krycek?" Scully cradled her mug - of tea - in her palms and waited Mulder to correct his slip, but he had to be more tired than she thought.

"Both..." answered Mulder, rubbing his nose, "although I meant Krycek."

"She."

"Mm?"

"Krycek - she."

"Yes..." He did still think occasionally about that... that person as 'him', although he knew - intimately - that 'he' was actually she. Damnit, he had just helped bring her child into the world... "Sometimes I can't believe that she is a... she."

"Can't or won't?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Just the slogan came to my mind."

"Which one?"

"The one in our office, Mulder."

'I want to believe.' Now it sounded mocking, a cruel joke of destiny. He had wanted to believe in the unexplained. Now he had done something he couldn't explain even to himself. 'Does that qualify as unexplained?' Mulder sighed and noticed that Scully had said something.

"What?"

"It's going to be hard," mumbled Scully now louder from her mug. She looked like she, too, could use some sleep.

"Krycek having a child to care for? Sure."

"Yes... and how will the future turn out... for your children, Mulder."

"What a mess," Mulder agreed and hugged her. "You should sleep." Her hair was soft to push fingers into...

"And you?" She almost purred when he was rubbing her neck and relieving the tension there. And his smile was warm when he said:

"I'm the infamous insomniac."

Mulder had tucked Scully under a light blanket and now she slept there, curled up on a couch. He watched her, her face now so serene in her sleep and he couldn't understand why he had slept with someone else. Especially with the particular someone who now dozed in the next room... and was the mother of his child.

He shook his head. He knew that he had a unique and powerful talent to fuck up his personal life but this time he had exceeded everything he had done before.

Mulder sighed and run his fingers through his hair. He didn't know what to do. Finally he stood and tiptoed out. The door of the bedroom was ajar, and when he walked by he saw that Krycek had changed her position but was still sleeping. So was the child, the bundle in the makeshift cocoon...

"My child... God..." He headed to the kitchen, refilled his mug and sat behind the table.

'I have a son... and soon a daughter... with different women. How? How did I end up like this? I started out to look for the truth and now the truth is that I'm a father...' He sipped the lukewarm beverage, shuddered because of the disgusting taste and poured the coffee down the drain. There was no way to make more coffee without a making noise, so he sadly decided to go without. After some useless fighting with yawning, he sneaked back into the living room, seated himself in the armchair and, putting his gun into his lap, he readied himself to keep a sleepy vigil. A quarter of an hour later he was asleep, safe and sound.

Something woke Krycek. She was still extremely tired and she also felt very cold. 'Fever? Why not, I'd probably deserve to die...' She tried to pull the covers closer, but something lay heavily on it. She turned her head.

And saw the child.

Her child.

Her and Mulder's child.

The newborn had also wakened, shifting inside the blanket, but hadn't made a sound. 'Careful little bastard, aren't you?' She rolled cautiously closer, being acutely aware of her body and the ordeal it had gone through. For a moment she wasn't sure, whether she should reach out and touch him at all. In that way she would make a connection, and she feared that it was something she shouldn't do. What joy would a child have of a mother who is hunted most of her time, whose instincts are trained to keep a person alive...

But now the tiny snippet of a man made a small sound. It was so quiet, so careful, but full of fear before loneliness. More precisely - being left alone, being left behind... Something she had learned in the silo.

Something changed with that moment. Krycek knew that she wouldn't ever forget this moment or the sound or the need to touch her child.

So she reached out her hand and caressed his head with the tips of her fingers and he settled and fell back to sleep.

"He recognised you."

Mulder's voice made her jump. 'My well-tuned survival instincts are totally shot...' Krycek looked at him for a second, not particularly wanting to know, what he thought about this moment of weakness. Mulder seemed sleepy, he stifled a yawn when he walked closer and took a seat by the child. 'So this is how your father looks... but you won't see him, because you sleep.' In a way she felt bad that he probably would never see Mulder again, but then, what good had come from the fact that she had seen him... 'Perhaps it's better for you that you don't.'

"How do you feel?"

"Like being run over by a herd of overweight elephants." She refused to raise her eyes at him and watched her child instead. He was so small in that messed up swaddle, so peaceful... 'Was I ever so peaceful? Was I ever so small? So... innocent? Was there a time when I didn't know about the X-files and people being manipulated.... Was I?'

"What are you going to do?" Mulder touched the child tentatively and Krycek felt an urge to push his hand away. She contained it, answering him instead.

"I'll find another place to live."

"I meant - with the child." He stroked the top of the boy's head.

"What do you care? I somehow doubt that a child with me would look good in your CV. So, don't bother playing the father." This made Mulder to pull his hand back.

"It doesn't change the fact that I am his father."

"You think that only because I said so. Have you ever trusted my words? Why start now?"

"Are you changing the story again, Krycek?"

"Actually I'm too tired for that. I'm not up to spinning nice glittering lies." Krycek drew a long breath. "And I can't believe that I'm having this conversation with you. I can't even believe most of the last year to be true. I can't believe that I have a child." She stopped, shocked that she was ranting - and panting too. 'How perfectly pathetic... a hysterical woman in a post-natal situation. The dream of my life...'

"I suppose this is the place where I should say that I can't believe that WE have a child. Which is actually true." Mulder added and looked at the sleeping body lying between them.

It hurt to hear Mulder use the pronoun 'we' like something dirty. She resisted the anger and just shrugged: "All that I'm saying is this: I don't expect you to take care of him. I think he's more of my problem."

At that moment the boy opened his dark eyes and looked straight up, at Mulder. Mulder looked back.

There was a moment of intense silence, so intense that Krycek was almost waiting for lightning to strike.

And it did.

"I think," whispered Mulder very quietly, "that he knows, who I am."

"I don't believe you."

"He... told me."

Krycek blinked and turned to stare at him. "What?"

"He told me." Mulder hadn't yet broken his eye contact with the child. "He somehow... said it to me. I'm not kidding."

The bad thing was that Krycek believed him. It scared her.

"How can a child, a few hours old, say-"

"Don't know. It's more like a feeling. Maybe you can feel it too."

"Don't turn my child into an X-file, Mulder."

"I've seen children who are X-files. Even you're one, if the records are right."

"Does it please you to know that I'm a scientific experiment?"

"Not particularly." Mulder resisted the needling Krycek tried on him and at last shifted his gaze. The boy squirmed in the blanket, but when Krycek touched him, he relaxed again. And she understood what Mulder had said: her son 'emanated' - for the lack of a better word - something, a feeling... She felt that he loved her, unconditionally, that he really did know who sat by his side... who his father was.

"You feel it, don't you."

She could only nod. She was suddenly so very afraid. She didn't know what to do with this child, this... ESP sensitive child, she didn't exactly know how to care for a child, even if it had been a normal one... "I can't believe this..."

"You're repeating yourself... That he's an extraordinary thing?"

"Don't you ever get tired of stating the obvious, Mulder?"

"Only on Mondays." The look Mulder got promised no good. So he changed the tactics. "Do you want something, water?"

"Yeah..."

This time she managed to drink without help. The cold water, however, brought back the chill she had felt when she woke up. There was one particularly strong shiver she couldn't hide, and the situation was the more humiliating, because Mulder still hovered over the child. And, of course, when one doesn't want to get caught, one does. Mulder noticed it.

"Are you cold?"

"No, I'm happy and pink!"

"I wasn't mocking you." He stood up, in order to rummage through the closets.

"There aren't any more blankets. These two here and the one you obviously gave to Scully." Krycek scooted closer to the child, so she could half-hold him. He was warm.

Mulder stood for a moment in the middle of the room, pondering, then walked out and came back with Scully's coat. Before Krycek could say anything, it landed on her.

"She won't mind, I'm sure."

"Sure..." But it got warmer and it made her sleepy again.

Mulder sat and watched the child. The child watched him. "I have one question."

"What?"

"Why did you choose to have him?"

"I didn't. I had to." She smiled suddenly without joy. "Seems like I never have a choice..."

"Why?"

"He wouldn't allow himself to be killed. If he had died, so would have I." She closed her eyes, relishing the feeling of warmth. "And as you know, I don't want to die."

"Who does... How did you get your arm back?"

"You said that you had one question... I'm tired, Mulder." He didn't move, however. Krycek grinned, shaking her head. "Always on the search of the unexplained... Oh God… If it gets you off my bed. It just, like that, started to grow back, when I was- mm, on the fourth month. Itched before like a bloody acute rash. Will you now go?"

"Okay, sleep." Mulder was visibly dissatisfied with the explanation, but he also understood that she wouldn't tell more. At least not now.

He got up and walked out.

And Krycek felt suddenly so alone that she almost lost it. Only a tiny line of self-control, stretched to its utter limits, kept her from calling out, begging him to come back. She was afraid, so damn afraid of the future. There was no one to support her, not any more.

She fell asleep, sobbing silently.

When she woke, the room was already filled with grey light of a winter morning. She heard somebody fumbling in the kitchen. A muffled cough. It sounded like Scully.

She craned her neck and looked at the child. 'My child,' she reminded herself. It was almost impossible information to adjust herself into. 'I'm a mother...' Her son moved a little, opened his eyes and tracked her face with his eyes. Krycek wasn't sure, but she felt that so small a child shouldn't do this yet. But he did. And he wanted to be closer to her, she just knew that he did. 'Perhaps the ESP is not so bad after all.' She moved carefully closer, so that he lay in the crook of her body and she could caress his head with her left hand. 'I tend to prefer to do most things with this now. Never noticed it before...' And then he squealed, like a small but very hungry piglet.

The noise in the kitchen stopped and the steps started to come closer. Krycek sighed but braced herself for the meeting. The door cracked slowly.

"I'm awake."

Scully nodded and stepped inside. "But Mulder isn't." She eased the door shut and came by her side. "How are you two?"

"Probably alright. I'm tired, he... seems to be hungry."

Scully flashed a small smile. "So... what are you going to do about it?"

"Somehow I can't see myself breast-feeding."

"But are you able to lactate? Do you know?"

"Nope, I don't have the faintest clue." She shifted slightly. "By the way, I hope the unusual usage of your coat-"

"Don't worry. Your body needs to recuperate. Which reminds me, do you want some tea, I made s- what are you laughing at?"

Krycek drew a stuttery breath: "We somehow end up drinking tea... and you taking care of me. This seems to be growing into habit."

Scully smiled again. "Life is mysterious. So do you want some?"

"Mm, yes." The boy squealed again. "He seems to want some, too."

"I don't think it's tea he wants..." cooed Scully to the newborn, not even noticing the tone she used. Krycek watched her, astonished. This side of Scully was new to her.

"I'm not breast-feeding him," she still firmly stated.

"Mmm..." Scully thought for a moment. "Are there 24 hour stores somewhere close?"

"There's one in the gas station and another near the liqueur shop." Seeing Scully getting up, looking quite determined, Krycek was at a loss: "What are you-"

"Fetching some things for him. You didn't do that in time."

"I wouldn't have known what to get. If you go, I'll pay for it."

"Really?"

"Really. Take my wallet from the right pocket of the parka."

Scully did, she also found the plam. "You used this thing with skill..."

"I have had some experience... Only on aliens." Krycek added, noticing her inquiring expression. Scully tiptoed out, but her cautiousness was not rewarded - before she got to the door, it opened, revealing the sleepiest Mulder Krycek had ever seen.

"Hi."

"Go back to sleep. It's early," Scully scolded him with words whereas her voice caressed him. Krycek felt a painful knot on her gut that had nothing to do with her health.

"You should go to sleep, in your condition you should take care..." Krycek almost missed that, wallowing in her pain. 'What is he talking about?'

"I'm fine, really. There's tea in the kitchen." and she slipped out, only to return bringing the blanket and changing it for the coat. "Bring her a cup too, I promised her." And she was gone again. The door of the apartment clanged shut and the fresh parents were alone with their offspring.

Who started to make silent sounds of discontentment.

"What's his problem?" yawned Mulder and stretched his back.

"He's hungry."

The look in Mulder's face was priceless. Krycek was willing to bet her life on the fact that there were many 'low-cut' pictures going through Mulder's twisted mind about how exactly she should appease her son's hunger. "I'm not going to give you any voyeuristic pleasure, Mulder. And where's my tea, by the way?"

The tea came and Mulder with it - to sit by her side on the bed.

After sipping it, Krycek looked up: "Are you going to ask me another round of questions? Use the situation for your own good?"

"Do you always have to taunt me?" Mulder seemed genuinely bored.

"Oh, that sounds almost as if you like me."

"I might have. You blew your chance." Not noticing how thunderstruck Krycek appeared after those words, Mulder watched his son struggle with the blanket and demand food. "He should be fed, you know."

"I know."

Mulder's head snapped up: Krycek sounded fragile, in the brink of tears.

She was, although she turned her head away, hiding her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Hormones."

She was obviously lying but he didn't pursue. He did recognise a humiliating situation when it sat in front of him. "I'll go and mop the floor."

"What?"

"The alien you offed?"

"Oh."

Mulder downed the cup's content with three big gulps and left the room. As it turned out, Scully had done the mopping, but he didn't want to return to the bedroom. He sneaked by the closed door and halted, when he heard what he had expected to hear - Krycek was crying. Very silently, but the fact that he could hear it at all, was alarming. She would never make a sound that would give her feelings away, unless... 'Unless the feelings are too strong to control. What have I done by giving her more to grieve about?' He felt like banging his head against the wall. He had made even bigger mistake when sleeping with her than he had thought at first. And now he had offended her. Again.

Krycek cried so hard that the sobs almost doubled her over. It had been so raw to hear that she might have had a chance... So cruel.

Then an emotion crept into her mind. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but when she noticed its existence, it grew stronger. It was love and worry. Her son's feelings were enveloping her like a warm soft blanket. Soothing her. She turned to face her son, but she couldn't stop weeping, although she felt a little bit better. 'I know that, I know that you love me... I'm just sad.' And he understood. She felt so irrationally thankful that she broke down again.

Scully returned with two big bags. After putting them to the small table near the front door, she walked first to check Krycek and her son. She seemed to be asleep and the child was quiet, though Scully knew that he had to be hungry.

Mulder sat on the living room, on the couch and looked deeply in thought.

"Hello." He raised his eyes, but the smile he gave her didn't reach his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I... I suppose I lied in the car," he admitted so quietly that Scully almost didn't hear.

"Would you specify?" she went and took a seat by his side.

"When I told you that I don't feel anything for... her." He paused, watching his hands. "It's not love, of course, but... I seem to care, at least now. I didn't want to offend her."

"But you did?"

"Yes." Mulder leaned to the seat. "I made her cry."

"What?"

"With my usual verbal fencing. I didn't mean to."

"I wouldn't have liked to hear that you could do something like that purposefully. And although it will sound weird... I think it's good that you care. It is, after all, your son and she is his mother." Scully took Mulder's hand. "What I learned with Emily and William" she sighed, "the lesson I learned was this: every child is a precious gift. Any child." She squeezed his hand. "And she is probably prone to crying right now - she might never admit it but childbirth is an emotional event. It can knock one quite out of balance. Even a tough guy, mh, girl like her."

"Then why do I feel so bad?"

"Because you're human, Mulder. Now I'll go and give her a lesson in childcare. Will you be alright?"

"Yes."

"Good." She gave him a small but hearty peck on the cheek and went to take her coat off. There was a child to feed.

The second look in the bedroom revealed to Scully the true situation: Krycek just pretended to sleep in order to avoid attention. She sighed but entered anyway: the boy had to be starving.

"I brought the necessities. And I know you're not asleep."

Now it was Krycek who gave a sigh. Scully shrugged her jacket off and rummaged through the bags she had dragged in. "Here," she put the box of tissues within Krycek's reach of the bed.

"How did-"

"They can be used for lots of purposes besides blowing one's nose, however, this is the thing you need them for right now. And this too-" she gave her a small package. "Valerian capsules."

"To calm the hysterical mother?"

"To smooth the mood swings." Scully started now in earnest to unpack the bags. "Right... Babywipes, the milk formula... Yes, you seem to understand that it's for you.... The diapers, the smallest size now, but you need to switch later, you know that, don't you?"

"I do now."

"The feeding bottles-"

"Why so many?"

"To make things easier. You really don't want to wash the single bottle each time after feeding him. Especially in the night."

"Good point."

Scully smiled and lectured on, building a pile of things on the edge of the bed. Krycek looked at the mountain with horror.

"All this is necessary?"

"And I didn't even bring anything to carry the child with."

"I knew that children were expensive, but that they are so cumbersome..."

"It just takes training, that's all." Scully watched her shaking her head. "It did in my case. I didn't expect to get pregnant, too. Not ever. But now it's high time we gave him something to eat and put a diaper on him, so this bed or the car seats won't smell for months."

Krycek watched her leave with the milk powder and the feeding bottles. There was a moment of dread - what would have happened if she had had to get all these things herself? She couldn't imagine herself walking down the aisles of some market and buying them. 'But I will have to... Very soon.' Somehow she had hoped that after the birth things would get easier but the situation seemed to be the opposite. Yes, she had had nightmares of giving birth on a street or in the hands of Consortium - which usually ended up with her dying because of the blood loss or being shot. But now, when she had to buy some of these items almost on a daily basis... The chance of being exposed increased remarkably: she was doomed to be caught in those supermarket surveillance tapes. 'You still may cause me my life, you little rascal.'

"Here we go. I'll show you how to hold him," Scully was back and continued her lesson. Krycek tried to pay attention to everything, this ability had kept her alive for years, but nevertheless Scully had to help her, when it was her turn to pick the baby up and feed him. It was so strange to hold him, totally bizarre. For one, he was so small...

"I'll fix a few sandwiches, are you going to manage?"

"I... think so." Krycek didn't sound very confident, but she held the boy and the bottle steady enough, so Scully dared to leave.

'God, this is odd...' Her son - 'what a concept, indeed' - ate hungrily whatever the bottle contained and was extremely happy with the situation. Krycek couldn't say the same, but at least she was alive. And warm and relatively safe. She still felt jittery inside, probably because of the burst of tears. So she balanced the bottle as securely as possible with the one hand and reached with the other for the capsules. The herbal remedy couldn't do anything bad, it might even help her. Opening the package one-handed wasn't a delight but now her past helped her. She managed to get out two capsules and even take them with the cold tea, before Scully came back with the sandwiches. By that time the boy had finished his meal and was waving his arms. He felt satisfied, Krycek could sense that. 'At least it's relatively easy to make you happy...'

"Do you want some more tea?"

"Yep, I wouldn't like to choke on bread crumbs, after all this it would be a lousy way to die."

The early breakfast was followed by a short war council around Krycek's bed. The child slept through that, totally indifferent of the fact that the talk concerned directly his future.

Scully, very aware how much Krycek would have liked to bolt already, tried to find some solution how to keep them all together. It would be safer for the boy, for one. Secondly she was still a bit uneasy about the way Krycek had dropped off after the birth. She seemed fine now, but Scully couldn't be sure that she wouldn't have complications later.

"I'm aware that you'd like to be out of here in an hour, but you're just not up to it yet." Scully stated, when Krycek groaned after she had explained that the fresh mother should take things really easy for at least a day more.

"But there may be another of those fuckers coming, damnit! And I should just lay here?!" Krycek puffed angrily. Scully put her hand on her arm, but Krycek shrugged her off.

"I agree in this part, that this place has lost its security," said Mulder and rubbed his nose. "But I also trust Scully's medical expertise."

Krycek turned away, feeling disgusted of her own helplessness - she was dependent on them. She hated to be dependent of anything or anyone. "So what is the grand scheme?"

"We get you somewhere out of this city and then provide you-"

"Mulder, if you are trying to put me into a witness protection program... forget it. I'm not going to show myself anywhere or testify. I brought you two information in the past, but that will be all! Do you really think that I will now go around, with this child and talk about- ah, never mind..." Krycek drew a breath and closed her eyes. She still felt too rattled and weary to put up a long argument.

"Are you sure that you want to disappear again?" Scully's tone was careful, though questioning.

"It has worked for me for a long time. Why change it?"

"Because of him."

"He'll be fine!" Alex growled and realised that she had just now protected her son. 'What next, Alex? Cooing to him too?'

"If the searchers were only human, I'd believe you. But they're not." Mulder sighed. "Can you spot them? We saw that you can eliminate them but can you find them, before they get too close?"

"He senses them."

"So it was him who warned you?" Now Mulder was his usual nosy self.

"Yes, Spooky."

"Hey, calm down, two of you, please!" Scully stood up and starting pacing. "You want to leave." Krycek nodded, tired of talk. "And I think it's wise, considering the fact that the bounty hunter found you here. But you can't just get up and walk away. You aren't well yet-"

"You said that already."

"I did. What about your car, is it still being repaired?"

"What about it?"

"Tracks." Scully sat in the armchair. "You can't leave it behind. If we start moving, the car has to come with us, at least to the next point of civilization. And your son keeps us safe?"

"Yeah... But nothing happens today?"

"Well, no." decided Scully for all of them.

Krycek snarled but gave in. "Then I'll go to the bathroom, and then I want to sleep."

When Krycek was back in bed, the boy beside her and they both asleep, Scully sat down with Mulder in the living room and they made some more decisions. One was to get their things out of the motel and check themselves out. Then, of course, they needed to deal with the local police. Scully saw Mulder's expression - he hated authorities of all kind. Sometimes even the hotel clerks were an obstacle for him. So she graciously offered to do all those things herself. Which left Mulder with Krycek and the baby, an explosive combination, but there was no other way - although Krycek was able to shoot straight, it was better that she had back up.

"And I'll check about her car, too." Scully added, buttoning her coat for the second time in this morning.

"Why would they tell you? Unless you use our credentials?"

"Mulder, don't you think I can mislead them, too?" and there was a mischievous gleam in Scully's blue eyes.

"You keep me honest, but you lie?"

"Must be the influence of the people I hang around with." Even Mulder smiled to that and gave her a kiss for the road.

26th of January, Monday 2004, daybreak.

"What did Mulder mean by your 'condition'?" came a slow question from the back seat.

"Nothing." Scully tried to concentrate on driving but she knew that Krycek wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. She was right.

"Cancer?"

"No. Nothing life-threatening."

A pause and then a soft chuckle: "Mulder's really unbelievable, isn't he? He just has to go around and knock up people..." and Krycek laughed listlessly.

Scully didn't answer. It did make her angry that Mulder had this fling with Krycek and that she had to drive now to get the mother and Mulder's child to a secure place. She was also jealous. However, all she could really blame was Mulder and herself, not Krycek and definitely not her newborn son.

"You better sleep. You need the rest," was all she answered.

"Yes, ma'am!" And it grew silent in the car. In Krycek's semi-truck, to be exact. She chose to drive it, when they had started out on this morning, while it was still dark. The keys of Krycek's apartment were back in the hands of the real landlady; everything Alex now owned was in the car, between the car seats and Mulder was driving the rental in front of them. Krycek's car's radio didn't work but fortunately the heating did, so they all felt rather comfortable. Or had felt so until Krycek started to pry about her 'condition'. Scully shrugged her shoulders; the grey morning and the exhaustion of the previous night were catching up with her.

Then the boy woke and made that particular sort of hungry yelp, which seemed to have become his trademark demand for food. Krycek stirred in the back seat.

"God, he's hungry again..." she yawned.

"Their metabolism is rapid because they're growing."

"I knew that much. Where are the bottles?" Scully had had the sense to fill some of the feeding bottles before they started driving.

"In the left bag, on top." Scully glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw that Krycek had it. "Warm it up."

"How?"

"Put it against your skin under your shirt. That way we only have to stop to feed him."

"Have you always fed children in the car, Scully?"

"No, but sometimes I warmed the milk like that when it got cold while we took a walk in the park."

"Good thinking."

Ten minutes later - the boy was grizzling all the time, reminding them of what they ought to be doing instead of driving - Scully blinked the lights twice. Mulder slowed down and stopped his car, so did she.

By the time Mulder had come to them, the boy was happily sucking and the crisis was over.

"What happened?" He looked tired. They needed to find a place to crash or they would become statistics in the highway patrol mortality rate report.

Scully cracked the door - the windows didn't work too well. "Dinner-time."

Mulder shot a glance at the back seat and shook his head in disbelief. "This is a view I didn't expect to see in my entire life." His breath was visible in the air - it was still very cold.

"Welcome to the club," commented Krycek from the back seat, balancing the bottle.

"How much time do you need?" He inquired, not yet able to stop staring. For a moment Krycek stared defiantly back.

"Actually we can go on right now." Scully shifted on the seat and wriggled her fingers. Mulder's attention centered on Scully and something about him changed, brightened up somehow.

"Good." He smiled at Scully, who returned it, and he walked back to his car. Scully noticed that Krycek swallowed couple of times, but when she saw Scully looking at her, she lowered her head. 'So she... yep, she does want him. Damn, Mulder! Damn, you, too, Krycek! Damn, damn life!'

She started to follow Mulder's rear lights once again - all the while listening to his son drinking his fill behind her, in the lap of another-

"I've thought..." started Krycek to say, but had to stop because the boy kicked the bottle and there was nearly a case of spilt milk. When it had been avoided, Krycek continued: "I was saying that I've been considering why the alien came after me."

"Why then?" Scully didn't feel like listening much, but the silence and the sucking noises made her sleepy - a very dangerous frame of mind on the slippery winter road.

"Because of my child, I think. He must be naturally immune to their toxic blood and maybe even to their viral offspring. Maybe they wanted to create an even more potent viral strain to be sure they can cut out all they don't want around in their Brave New World."

'At least she seems to have a point.' Scully thought for a split second. "Hmm... May I take a sample of his blood to confirm that idea of yours? Because I've suspected something similar. The toxic blood didn't affect us. In my case and in Mulder's it must have been the exposure both to the virus and to the vaccine... But what about you?"

"I... I think that the only good thing that came out from being a mindless vessel for the E.B.E. was the immunity. I've offed enough green-blooded creatures to know what other humans feel when the goo starts to ooze out from the nasty guys. It didn't affect me at all."

"So... because the father of the child is inoculated against the virus and the mother has a kind of a natural immunity.... Sounds logical." There was a pause, when the only noises came from the boy and the wheels eating away... whatever they were eating.

"Your child might be immune too."

"She could." Scully's mind stirred, but too late to take back the revealing pronoun.

"She?" Krycek put the empty bottle away and heard the boy belch even without urging him to. 'He's too weird, really... too easy for a child.'

"I somehow know that it's a girl. Didn't you?"

"I tried to avoid thinking," lied Alex, very much aware about the journal in her carryall. "And, yes, you may take his blood sample. Perhaps there's some good in this freaking situation after all."

Scully nodded and grinned a little. Krycek noticed: "What?"

"This has certain irony, don't you think? You might be the one who gives us the gene for virus resiliency, you who were first sent to destroy all the work that has got us this far."

"True, it has irony..." Krycek shrugged and made herself as comfortable as possible when one has a child in one's lap. Then she gave a crooked smile and mumbled: "Krycek the Saint."

"What?"

"Oh, something Mulder once said."

'Said when?' This woke Scully in earnest. 'I really must talk to him and ask.' "Do you want to put him back?"

"We'd have to stop then again?"

"Yep."

"Then I'll keep him here. Besides, he's warm."