Title: S.N.A.F.U. Chapter 31 & 32 Disclaimer/Notes: please see part 1 Special Note: thanks to those who are following for your patience. Real life hit one of those 'snafu's in the fall and it isn't over yet. I'll be as speedy as I can. Thanks! ********** Chapter 31 Krycek sat back, ice cubes clinking against the glass he held. He eyed his companion carefully. He had trusted her in the past but wasn't fooled; past experience meant nothing when one was involved with the likes of Spender and his cronies. Krycek had played this game long enough to keep his cards close to his chest. He set the glass down. "Well?" "She appears -- normal is the word I'd use." "Normal?" "Yes. Her blood shows none of the anomalies of the Emily series." "So? That means what, exactly?" "It means she won't need the treatments." "What about the other abilities?" "I won't know until she wakes up again and I've had a chance to run her through some tests." Marita sat down in the chair opposite him. "How much of that shit did you give her?" "I know what I'm doing." "That isn't what I asked. I want to know how long she'll be out this time." "Three hours, about the same as last time. If we need to keep her out any longer I'll have to switch to something stronger." Krycek picked up his glass and took a sip of his drink. He was exhausted. Hannah had kept him up most of the first night, scared and crying for her mother. He'd had little in the way of resources to soothe a small child. Even one who for all intents and purposes had been more lab rat than beloved child. Mulder and Scully should have deciphered the genetic testing by now, and it gave him a small amount of satisfaction to be able to screw with Mulder and that prick Spender at the same time. It wasn't a total mind fuck for Mulder this time. There had been a certain amount of benevolence in giving him and Scully the information. He wasn't completely heartless. "Alex." He was startled out of his reverie by the sharp tone in her voice. "What?" "I asked you if you'd had any contact with Spender or Diana." Krycek tried to read her face, to guess at what motivated the question. Marita's eyes gave nothing away, her expression neutral. "Limited contact." "Screw you, Alex. You brought me into this; I need to know what you've --" "I'd love to, Marita. Screw you, that is. What have we got . . . three hours?" "Fuck off, Alex." "Ooo, all this dirty talk is turning me on." He grabbed his crotch for emphasis. "You called me, Alex. Time to share with the rest of the class. Maybe we'll have time for play later." A glimpse of her tongue licking her top lip caused an immediate reaction. Krycek repositioned himself on the sofa. He should have known better than to play this game with Marita. She had proved herself more than capable between the sheets. And she was right. He had called her in during the wee hours of the second night when Hannah refused to be comforted. Who knew the kid would have been this attached to Kristen? The clone hadn't shown much aptitude in the mothering department. "Okay." He set his drink down and leaned forward. "Limited as in Spender hasn't got a fucking clue that she's here. No one but you knows about this place. I had a fit of compassion, or stupidity, take your pick. She's just a kid." "Don't worry, Alex. I won't tell anyone you have a heart." "I made a promise, Marita. That's all." "Suit yourself, Alex. I do understand, you know. None of us will walk away from this unscathed. We all have our skeletons." He knew; as he watched her eyes become unfocused, that she was reliving her own personal decent into hell. She'd never told him much of the story, of how she came to be stuck in the same web as he and the other unfortunates. It seemed the fingers of the Consortium reached into all facets of life, across continents and seas. Age, race, or sex made no difference. They took whomever they wished and the only way to survive was to worm your way into the top layers. Anyone below was deemed available for whatever was needed, from test subject to sacrificial lamb. He and Marita were survivors. It was the thing that kept them bonded to one another. It didn't mean he trusted her. "What did you plan on doing with her?" "Get her out." "Just like that?" He stood and moved behind the armchair she was sitting in. He could just glimpse the tops of her breasts. He leaned close to her ear, "yes, just like that." "Alex?" "Shh. We've still got time." He undid the first few buttons and spread her blouse open, letting his fingers brush her breasts. "Do you remember, Marita?" "Yes, Alex, I remember." He pulled her breasts out of the bra, one at a time with his good hand, liking how erect her nipples were already. He loved her breasts. She groaned as his fingers circled one and then the other. "Alex?" She tipped her head back and he caught her lips roughly with his. "Yes, kotenok?" "Fuck me, Alex." "I thought you'd never ask." ***************** Chapter 32 Mulder swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump clogging his throat. Scully was partly correct. He was worried about the effect a pregnancy would have on the work. A baby - the possibility of a baby, that whole scenario, worried him. He had meant it when he said all those things about her not being alone. But if he was completely honest, there was a part of him that knew Scully could handle the whole thing on her own. He had been counting on that independence. The sex, well the sex had been an unexpected twist. It was a pleasant twist, but still an unexpected one. The sex complicated things more than a potential baby did. As long as the baby was only a potential -- "Well, Mulder?" He pulled himself back to the room and regarded her. Scully gave nothing away; her facial features were schooled into that neutral face he hated so much. He'd rather have her anger than indifference. Even her eyes, usually expressive, were closed off. "I didn't plan on it." "Plan on what? The sex or taking off?" He took a deep breath and decided to go for raw honesty. "Either." "Oh." "Let me explain." He leaned in closer and took the cup from her hand, setting it aside with his own. When she tried to pull away he held on tight. "Let me do this my way, okay?" "Just don't touch me right now." The words were quietly spoken, and he was reminded that her game face was just that. For a moment he'd let himself be fooled into thinking she really was unaffected. He let her hand drop. "Scully, I am in this; all the way. I'm not leaving you on your own. But you can't hand me only the bits of information you think I should have." When she started to protest he put his hand to her mouth. "You asked a question, now let me answer it my way." When she nodded he continued. "For instance, this thing with your abdominal injury. Do you know how much of a shit I felt like sitting in that office? I felt -- like one of those men who keep the little woman pregnant even when it compromises her health. How do you think I would handle it if it did cause a problem for you? You keep me in the dark about things that affect your health. You kept me away for the first two IVF attempts -- I didn't even know that the first one had failed until I asked you a week later. And selective abortion? Give me a little credit here. You accused me of doling out information. Well pot meet kettle. You can't keep doing it like this. You can't just hand me the bits you think I can handle or you want me to know. Hell, the sex was easy. It's all this relationship shit that's complicating things." He leaned back in the chair, spent. "We don't have a relationship, Mulder." "The hell we don't." He sat back up. "Maybe the problem is that we haven't defined what this relationship is supposed to be." "Is that the psychologist talking?" "No Scully, it's not. If it were, he'd be telling both of us to get as far away from each other as possible. He'd tell you that your desire to have a child is an attempt to bring some meaning to your life; to leave something behind when you're gone; that you're feeling the panic so many women feel when they become aware that time is passing them by; that it's now or never. He'd say that my involvement is allowing me to have the illusion of intimacy without actually having to be intimate. Well, before the sex anyway. Then again, sex doesn't always have something to do with intimacy, does it?" "No, it doesn't." He could hear the hurt in her words. "Look, I didn't mean to hurt you by taking off. I -- you confuse me." "_I_ confuse _you_?" "Maybe we confuse each other. I know what that night meant to me. What did it mean to you?" "Oh that's ripe Mulder. You haven't said shit with all your talk and now you want me to reveal all?" She sat up and he could read the fury in her eyes. "You're supposed to be relaxing. Maybe we should pick this up later." He attempted to guide her back down into the pillows, but she had anchored herself with her arms. The look on her face was -- it was --, he leaned forward and kissed her. And kept kissing until he felt her lips soften and her mouth open, letting him in. He tried to put everything he felt into it. Words were just words, but this was -- ah shit -- she was pulling his hair and the kiss was abruptly ended. "What the hell did you do that for?" He massaged the back of his scalp. "Do you just think you can kiss me and I'll capitulate like the 'good little woman?'" "No I don't. I'm just sick of over analyzing every fucking thing we do or don't do. I know I'm not the best at all this stuff - hell, I'm probably fodder for a best seller by some shrink somewhere. Can't we just let things go at their own pace?" "Answer the question then, Mulder. If you're so enamored with me, why did I wake up alone?" "Because I'm an ass. Because I have issues with intimacy. Sex is easy - sex I can do, even all by myself. All this other stuff, it scares me. Listening to Parenti talk about what could happen if your abdominal wall isn't strong enough. And then there's the whole idea that you could be pregnant with my baby. Do you know how much of a turn on that is?" He took a deep breath and decided to go for broke. No more hinting -- it wasn't exactly working anyway. And confessions during sex didn't count for much. "I love you, Scully. And it scares the shit out of me." ************