"Dead Time III: Consequences"
By Viridian5
1998

RATING: R.  M/K.  If m/m interaction bothers you, leave now.
SUMMARY: A momentous morning after, and Scully's 
appearance only adds to the trouble.  XF/Kalifornia/Red Shoe 
Diaries crossover.  Part 2c of the "Tangled String" series.
SPOILERS: "3," "Paper Hearts"
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, as long as you ask me first. 
FEEDBACK: to Viridian5@aol.com
DISCLAIMERS: All things X-Files belong to Chris Carter, Ten 
Thirteen Productions, and 20th Century Fox.  Jake Fleiss and Stella 
by Zalman King.  Brian, Carrie, Adele, and Early Grayce courtesy 
of Dominic Sena.  All things from _The Island of Dr. Moreau 
(1996)_ from Edward R. Pressman and New Line Cinema.  No 
infringement intended to anyone.  Suing me would be a waste of 
time and a really mean thing to do.

Dark Angel/Elizabeth Walker/Alice Pryor/Serafine 
Fitzwalter/Danielle Morley/Claudia Konanykhine is all mine.

NOTES: Thanks, as usual, to Small Woodinat Creature for 
proofreading and fact-checking.
This story picks up a few months after "A Tangled String of Blood 
and Entropy."  You don't have to read "A Tangled String..." to 
make sense of this, but it wouldn't hurt.

==========================
Dead Time III: Consequences
By Viridian5
==========================

Agent Dana Scully scrutinized Brian Kessler as he signed out of 
the police precinct.  It still shocked her how much he looked like 
Mulder, even to the way his eyes seemed to drink in the world 
around him, dismissing no detail as insignificant.  From a distance, 
only the scar on his face and the scars around his wrists gave his 
true identity away.  He looked tired and pissed off.  His short hair 
stood up a little, something it seemed to do when he was angry.  
She couldn't help noticing the way his black T-shirt and worn, 
tight blue jeans clung to him and told her mind to get out of the 
gutter.  The very officious-looking man in a suit standing next to 
him was probably his lawyer.  If so, it made her feel better 
knowing that Brian was taking care of himself.

He smiled when he saw her, and her heart clenched.  "Dana, it's 
good to see you.  Don't worry, everyone's fine." By "everyone," 
she knew he meant "Mulder."  He dismissed his lawyer with the 
usual round of promises not to do anything to incriminate himself 
or antagonize the cops.  When the man left Brian asked, "So what 
brought you here?"

"I got worried when I tried to call back and the phone line was cut.  
The cops at the beach house directed me here.  What happened?"

"I'll tell you once we're away from here."  A crowd of reporters 
barraged them as they left the building.  Brian fended them off 
with "no comment," "I can't say while the investigation is going 
on," and "I'm sure a police representative will be out to talk with 
you shortly."  Once they left the media barrage behind, Brian 
muttered,  "I was there all night.  They decided it had to be a 
terrorist plot, and, after the Oklahoma City bombing thing, 
mentioning that word is a magic wand that waves a lot of rights 
away." 

"I'm glad you thought to get a lawyer."

"I learned after the Early Grayce thing.  The cops took shameful 
advantage of me while I was concussed and in shock.  They 
twisted everything I said and tried to put me up for murder and 
aiding and abetting.  Then the whole mess disappeared.  I can only 
assume that the people who wanted my existence kept secret from 
Mulder took care of it.  I won't have that working for me this time.  
Hey, Jake!  Dana, come meet one of Mulder's other `brothers.'  
Jake, this is Agent Scully.  You talked to her on the phone 
yesterday."

Another version of Mulder, followed by a big friendly dog, ran up 
to Brian and gave him a big hug.  Even Brian seemed nonplussed.  
The man--Jake?--pulled back with a slightly embarrassed smile.  
"Hi, Scully.  Brian, they had you in there forever.  I figured the 
cops were applying the thumbscrews.  I haven't known you long 
enough to feel right about losing you now."

"But maybe later?  I'm fine.  Who's your lady friend?"  Brian 
waved to an attractive blond who was standing a few feet away and 
considering the both of them with a highly speculative look.

Jake looked embarrassed again, and Scully realized that the 
resemblance to Mulder didn't extend much beyond the physical.  
He didn't share as many facial expressions as Brian did.  "Well."

"Do you mean that while I was being interrogated by the police all 
night you were cruising for chicks?"  Brian grinned. "You're my 
idol.  Good for you.  Get on with your life."

"You sure you don't want to stay at my place?  It wouldn't be any 
trouble, and I think Cindy would be jazzed by the idea of a 
threesome with you.  Oh, damn, I'm sorry.  There's Angel to 
consider."

"Of course her name is `Cindy.' It's okay.  Angel's trying to wean 
me off her, because she thinks her life is too dangerous for me.  I 
can't stay with you because I know the police will be keeping track 
of me and seeing the two of us together would raise questions.  
Matt has a big enough apartment, and he doesn't even have a 
parking ticket on his record."

"Matt?" Scully asked.

"My copyeditor.  Ours is an illicit friendship.  Don't worry, he 
doesn't stint on the criticism when my work needs it.  He says I 
remind him of his younger brother.  I had to find out from someone 
else that his younger brother committed suicide two years ago.  I'm 
in for some intense mothering, but I think I can stand it."

"What will your publisher think about all your troubles?" Jake 
asked.

"Are you kidding?  Considering my genre, she'll be thrilled.  You 
can't buy this kind of publicity."

Jake smiled.  "Here's the motel's phone number and address.  
Don't worry about me.  Cindy promised to take me and Stella 
home.  Good-bye, Brian, Scully.  Brian, don't forget to visit when 
you can."  Jake started to turn away, then said, "Oh, and please 
thank Douglas for me.  I wouldn't be alive if not for him."  He 
walked back to the blond and they left.

Brian looked a bit surprised by Jake's last words.  Ignoring 
Scully's questioning look, Brian found a phone and dialed the 
number.  "Sera, you're okay!  I'm so happy.  You just sound a bit 
different.  I'm fine.  The police don't have anything on me but 
they'll be shadowing me for a while to make sure.  I can meet you 
now because I have Agent Scully with me, and the cops will 
probably let her be the one to keep an eye on me for now.  Make 
sure to tell Mulder that she's here." His voice went raw and choked 
sounding.  "I'm so glad you're okay.  I love you.  See you soon."  
He carefully put the phone back down on the receiver.

"Brian--"

"I'll tell you everything on the ride over.  You rented a car, right?"  

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"--I love you too, Brian."  Serafine put down the phone.  She took 
her battered jacket, which now had two new duct tape Xs for the 
entry and exit holes in one sleeve, off her lap and put it on the bed.

"Is Brian all right?" Douglas asked as he struggled his way through 
the motel's idea of a Continental breakfast.

"Throw that box of Corn Pops over here, will you?"

"That is not a breakfast.  That is a tiny box of sugar with a little bit 
of corn for fiber."  He threw the box to her anyway.

She caught it and ripped it open.  "Oh, yes, I forget.  You come 
from England, the home of great cuisine." She softened the blow 
by smiling at him. "Brian sounds tired.  It seems that he wants me 
to warn Mulder that his partner is coming over." She looked at her 
fingernails again.  The first thing she'd done after showering and 
dressing was paint her nails black with a coat of blue sparkles.  
After the damage done last night, she needed to be Serafine, only 
more so.  She had curled her hair, lined her eyes Egyptian-style in 
thick black, and painted her lips deep red.

"Why?"

Her eyes went cold.  "Because, and I think I'm remembering 
correctly, Mulder took a room last night with a man involved in 
her sister's murder.  Brian must think that something's going on 
that Agent Scully wouldn't approve of.  Douglas, what's wrong?"

He had gone pale.  "I'm fine."

"Douglas--"

"Aside from being the home of great cuisine, England is also the 
home of people who don't feel the need to unburden themselves of 
their life stories to everyone they meet."

She started to tie her boots on, paying great attention to her task to 
give him some privacy.  "Then I won't pry."  As she left the room 
she could just hear him whisper, "Montgomery," with so much 
anger and confusion that she shuddered to hear it.

When she reached Mulder and Krycek's room she smirked at the 
Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob and knocked.  After waiting 
two minutes she took a slim metal rod, one of three, off one of her 
hoop earrings and picked the lock.  After putting the lockpick back 
on the hoop, she opened the door and carefully closed it behind 
her.

She didn't need enhanced senses to know what had happened here, 
but they did tend to rub her face in it.  The rage hit her like a fever.  
With a little bit of thought, she copied Scully's voice exactly and 
yelled, "MULDER!"  One of the bodies under the cover jerked, 
bouncing the other one to the floor.  The body on the floor scooted 
under the bed but not before Serafine got a good view of a very 
firm ass.

Mulder, still on the bed, peeked out above the covers.  When he 
saw her he first looked very angry, but that anger quickly turned to 
fear as he saw the look on her face.

"Serafine, you look fine," he said, his voice shaky.  Actually, 
"fine" wasn't the word.  Something seemed to have shifted behind 
her eyes.  She wore a fishnet mesh shirt over a black, lacy bra, and 
the fishnet barely concealed a cornucopia of scars.  It looked like 
she had a knife sheath on each wrist.  Black jeans with holes in the 
knees and heavy, black boots with steel toes that Brian called 
"shitkicker boots" completed the picture.  She looked like Death.

"No thanks to a certain rodent.  I just came in here to give you a 
taste of things to come.  Scully picked up Brian at the precinct.  
He's going to take her the long way around, but she'll arrive 
sooner or later.  Party's over."

"That's not fair, Angel," Krycek said as he rolled out from under 
the bed.  Mulder had to appreciate the way he'd put his boxers and 
jeans on while under there.  No reason to antagonize her any 
further.  Mulder just wished Krycek hadn't opened his mouth to 
Angel when she already looked at them like this.

"Not fair," she said, the words sounding like broken glass.  "Not 
fair is having a place you consider your sanctuary--and you know 
how rare and precious that is, Alexei--discovered and violated.  
Not fair is knowing that Brian and I have to stay away from one 
another after this because the cops will be keeping an eye on him.  
Not fair is the possibility that he's been further marked for 
attention by the crazies.  Not fair is having to reboot.  I can see 
from the look on your face that you know what I'm talking about.  
How nice that the Consortium gives its agents my operating 
manual.  Some of my memories have been destroyed, and I only 
know they're gone because they were connected to memories I still 
have.  One of the fortunate things of having an eidetic memory is 
that most of my memories are linked to others, though I'm sure 
there are things missing that I don't know are gone yet.  I lost my 
sense of taste for four hours last night. That's not fair."

Krycek stood up and approached her.  "You're really angry 
because--"

Her hand flew and so did Krycek.  He hit the wall and bounced.  
"Alexei, you can be sure that when I hit you, it's because I want to 
beat the shit out of you so don't tell me how I feel." She laughed at 
the sight of Mulder with his gun trained on her.  "You're learning, 
Mulder, but I'm faster than you can imagine.  If I wanted to, I 
could kill you with your own gun before you even saw me move.  I 
won't kill him.  Hate would be a waste of time.  Our deal is 
completed, Alexei.  I killed more than enough people last night to 
hold up my side of the bargain.  When I get over my mad-on, 
maybe I'll even be able to work with you again.  But if you ever do 
anything that puts Brian in danger again, I'll make a hot knife in 
Tunguska seem like a vacation."

What scared Mulder most about watching her right now was the 
cold she radiated.  Usually she had a fractured warmth and while 
on the hunt she crackled with a kind of electricity.  Right now, she 
seemed like a machine.

He remembered that night she had helped him through the end of 
the John Lee Roche effort.  On the strength of Mulder's profile, 
they'd caught the bastard, but Mulder couldn't get the man out of 
his head.  A child molester and killer who targeted little girls.  If 
ever a subject had been designed to break Mulder, it had been 
Roche. Everyone else celebrated Roche's capture and couldn't 
understand why Mulder sat in the corner with such a look on his 
face.

When Angel had first approached him, he thought her another 
person wanting to meet him either for being the FBI's golden boy 
or Spooky, the freakshow.  It still amazed him how long he 
managed to reconcile the two before he started investigating the X-
Files.  He knew her by reputation as a genius at profiling who 
occasionally got lent out to the ISU from whatever top-secret 
project she usually worked on.  Danielle Morley.  Back then he 
hadn't known why they'd never met before.  Now, considering that 
he knew she called the Cancer Man "Mr. Morley," he wondered if 
Cancer Man had given her that name as a mark of ownership or if 
she'd supplied it as irony.

She took him out for coffee and listened in a silence sometimes 
punctuated by supportive sounds as the words for what he felt 
seeped out of him like blood from a deep wound.  Staring into his 
coffee made it easier to talk, but he felt the care she radiated like 
warm sunshine toward him, a warmth he drank in.  Sometimes she 
rapped his knuckles when she felt him descending too deeply into 
self-pity.  All he remembered about her appearance that night was 
that she had rich, dark brown-black hair like his sister's.  It had 
made it easier for him to talk to her.  She walked him home, and he 
didn't see her again until years later after she had cut loose from 
the conspiracy.

After the remembered warmth from last night and that long ago 
night, seeing her like this scared the hell out of him.  Was this what 
she meant by rebooting?

"So say your good-byes or exchange money or whatever.  If you're 
both still here when Scully gets here and she shoots you, I'll just 
stand back and laugh.  Don't forget your arm on the table, Alexei."  
She walked out without seeming to worry that Mulder still had his 
gun pointed at her and slammed the door behind her.

Mulder rushed to Krycek's side.  His former partner had blood 
running from one corner of his mouth.  "You should feel 
privileged.  Not many people get to see her as the Angel of Death 
and survive," Krycek said ruefully as he batted Mulder's shaking 
hand away and wiped his mouth. 

"Angel of Death?"

"Yeah, they still tell stories about her.  She was so good so young 
that the other assassins felt threatened and arranged some accidents 
for her.  She sidestepped them all and started hunting down the 
people who planned them.  Then she killed the people who just 
knew about them and didn't warn her.  She left a love note on each 
body to make sure people got the point.

"Once everyone started to believe it really was her work, the 
cigarette-smoking bastard had to intervene to make her stop.  Some 
people started calling her, not to her face, `Infant Death' after--"

"--after Claudia, the child vampire, in _Interview With the 
Vampire_."

Krycek smiled.  "Right.  One day she heard someone call her that, 
but instead of killing him she just laughed and asked why she 
would object to such an appropriate name.  Once she gave her 
approval, use of the name died out."

Mulder remembered that when he had met her in October of 1994 
she had gone by the name "Claudia."  He had been waiting for his 
contact on the steps of the New York Public Library when a tall 
blond woman in a business suit, looking like any other 
businesswoman, walked up to him and introduced herself with: 
"I'm Claudia Konanykhine.  I'll be your guide to the role-playing 
vampire world."

Despite the whole vampire role-playing thing and the release of the 
movie that year, he had never thought about that connection.  Sure, 
Scully had been abducted and his new partner had betrayed him 
two months earlier, distracting him, but none of that excused 
sloppy thinking.  The resolution of that case had affected his 
viewpoint, even with Angel's assertion that true vampires existed 
even if this killer wasn't one, on the Trinity Killers case that, 
ironically, had come to him only a little while after that. 

"She had to reboot.  No wonder she's pissed." At Mulder's look, 
he said, "The implants in her brain overheated and killed some of 
the surrounding tissue.  For her it'll grow back, but she's lost some 
things."  Mulder shuddered.  "I have to go.  She's right about 
Scully."

"Will I see you again?"

"You know I turn up every so often.  Now I have another reason to 
come back."

"What are we to one another?"

"You're my... sanctuary, Fox." Krycek kissed him deeply.  If he 
hadn't already been on the floor, he would have ended up there.

"I'll help you get dressed, Alex.  I especially want to help you put 
on the arm."

Alex laughed at the gleam in his eye.  "Dressed, Fox.  It'll be much 
worse for us if Scully comes in and we're going at it again." It took 
them forty-five minutes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian had passed out in the passenger seat, his head back, exposing 
the long line of his neck.  His recitation of the events of the night 
before had taken a long time but Scully still sensed that he had left 
a number of things out.  His evasiveness on the identity of the 
informant especially caught her attention.  Amazing how many of 
Mulder's tricks he'd used to try to skate her around the trouble 
spots.

Even with his scars visible, even with him sitting in the passenger 
seat, Scully still found herself thinking of him as Mulder.  Brian 
had once told her that, as far as he knew, he was the clone most 
like Mulder.  She imagined Brian in Mulder's position and could 
only feel that the facial scar, visible but somehow not disfiguring, 
would only make him more effective.  Mulder sometimes looked 
like he had walked out of a _GQ_ spread, professional brooding 
male model expression and all.  Brian had the quirky good looks 
but also the feeling of having survived something terrible and 
transfiguring and having triumphed over it.

Suddenly they had to come to a complete halt as they hit traffic.  
The stop jerked Brian out of his sleep.  "Ah, California traffic. 
Welcome to the world's largest parking lot."  He sounded 
altogether too happy about it.

He was holding out on something.  "I get nervous every time you 
start doing Mulder," she said.

"I'm not doing Mulder!" he protested suddenly, then flushed.  
"Although that would be interesting," he said, recovering.

First, she realized that he really wasn't doing an impression of 
Mulder to manipulate her, that he just shared this trait with him.  
Second, she thought it strange that he'd made that interpretation of 
her statement. Third, she realized that he was engaged in Mulder's 
distracting-tangent routine, Mulder's equivalent of "Look, behind 
you!"  Fourth, she realized, to her disgust, that Brian's ploy had 
worked, that he had succeeded in manipulating her.  She had a 
mental image trapped in her head that she couldn't shake loose.  
Not an entirely unpleasant image...  

She needed to distract herself.  Seeing that they wouldn't be 
moving for a while, she put the car in Park. "I don't understand 
why you stay with this Dark Angel woman when she puts you in 
such danger."  That should do it.

His eyes went distant.  "I love the way she can look at any page in 
a road atlas and tell a story about any town or highway in any state.  
I love the way she can describe those things, the way she notices 
everything.  That whole amnesia thing she had as a child gave her 
problems in school that prevented her from having the confidence 
to be the writer she should be.  She makes me see the world 
through new eyes.  I can be anyone I want to be with her.  I love 
the way she walks into a room and instantly knows where every 
exit and piece of furniture is placed.  Watching her in action is like 
watching someone with Jackie Chan's grace and ease and ability to 
defy gravity."

She looked at the dark circles around his eyes, the way simple 
consciousness seemed to drag at his weary body.  "But, Brian, 
she's a killer."  <She's killing you,> Scully thought.

He turned to look at her with such desolation and despair.  "But, 
Dana, so am I."  His voice sounded like raw silk.

She saw such hurt and loss and vulnerability in him.  Surely it was 
only his resemblance to Mulder that made her reach out to stroke 
his hair.  It was soft but with a slight sharpness at the ends that 
suggested he had gotten it cut recently.  Then she leaned over and 
kissed him, leaving the excuse of him resembling Mulder far 
behind.  <Dana Katherine Scully, what the hell are you doing?>

The lips felt as good as she'd always thought they would.  Her 
fingers traced the slight depression of his scar--from the feel and 
look of it, Grayce must have slashed him quickly with a very sharp 
blade--and she felt Brian respond, his long fingers tracing patterns 
on her neck.  Then the blare of a car horn made both of them jump 
back.  Traffic had started moving again.

Brian looked flushed and confused, making her wonder what 
expression was on her face.  She felt so disgusted with herself.  
She had taken advantage of a very tired man who had, only hours 
before, been chased by killers and repeatedly raked over the coals 
by LA's Finest.  She had started him talking about his girlfriend, 
who had been badly injured and whom he'd been worried about all 
night, then jumped him.  Of course he was confused.  Considering 
his bond and then her bond to Mulder, it was almost incestuous.

More car horns joined in the chorus.  "Dana, I think you should 
start the car." His soft voice wobbled a little.

"Right."

Scully and Brian spent the rest of the trip in uncomfortable silence.  
Brian still hadn't lost his look of confusion by the time they 
reached the parking lot.  Mulder, Dark Angel, and her English 
friend, Douglas, waited for them near a black van.  It appeared that 
they had already checked out.

Brian immediately engulfed Dark Angel in a hug, and they stood 
molded together, leaning on one another.  Scully, still feeling 
guilty, walked over to join Mulder, who was grilling Douglas.  
"Don't you want your story to get out?" Mulder kept displaying a 
goofy smile that couldn't have anything to do with the 
conversation.  It made her wonder.  He was so intent on prying 
Douglas' secrets out that he hadn't noticed her yet.

Douglas was even taller than Mulder.  Joining them made Scully 
feel like a midget.

"I did before I saw the reaction.  Angel tells me that you're having 
enough trouble with factions in your own government.  You don't 
need to antagonize the UN"

"So the conspiracy is global."

Scully couldn't help smiling at the look on Douglas' face.  "I have 
no idea what you're talking about.  It seems that the U.N. wants to 
cover up my story.  If I tell you anything else you might find 
yourself in restraints in a high-security mental ward."

"I'm already expecting that to happen any day now."

Scully decided to rescue the poor man from Mulder.  "So, Mulder, 
you're looking well." 

He smiled.  "I don't remember a thing, but I seem to be fine.  I 
guess I proved to you that abductions were occurring in 
Shelbyville."

"Actually, your abduction by the conspiracy doesn't prove 
anything about the other alleged abductions."  She laughed at the 
look on his face.  Things were back to normal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian tilted Serafine's face up to his and looked for lingering signs 
of last night's damages.  He touched the new duct tape Xs on the 
right sleeve of her jacket.  "You have no idea how happy I am to 
see you looking better."

"You've looked better, though.  Brian, how much trouble are you 
in with the law?"

"The fact that they're taking this from a terrorist angle is giving me 
more trouble than I'd usually get, but they can't directly link me to 
anything.  I'm just tired, Sera." 

"It's not just fatigue, Brian.  I can tell.  Tell me."

"Well, I was just starting to feel safe at the house again.  Last night 
I felt like I had a kind of family, then I got to see that whole family 
put in danger.  Talking to the cops bothered me.  I've been terrified 
of them ever since I last spoke to them and my concussion made 
them look distorted and frightening, their features running like hot 
wax.  I still have nightmares about it sometimes."  

"And there's your fa--" His finger at her lips stopped her.  "I'm 
sorry.  I won't mention it again," she said.
 
"I have to stay in town while they're investigating, and we won't 
be able to see each other safely.  I was worrying about you all 
night, and don't say I shouldn't have.  You looked so damaged.  
Douglas was my guest, and he had to kill to protect himself and 
someone who's starting to seem like a kind of brother to me."

"That's my fault.  I brought Douglas to the dance, marshmallow 
bunny.  He's my responsibility."

"All right, circus peanut.  I'll try to let you keep that blame 
yourself.  It bothers me that my dinner got interrupted and ruined.  
Isn't that stupid?"

"No, it's not.  It ties in with your family thing.  And I'm your 
`spongy' circus peanut and don't you ever forget it."

"Dana kissed me on the way over."

Serafine's eyebrow raised.  "That doesn't bother me, not on your 
account."

"But I don't know how I feel about it.  I was kissing her back.  I 
don't want to hear your speech on how it would be better for me to 
find someone else."

"Brian, I don't care if you shtup every warm body that crosses 
your path--"
 
"'Shtup'?"  The word brought him out of his pit a little, as she'd 
hoped, but it didn't distract him for long. "No one else understands 
me about..." He patted the small bulges of her guns through her 
jacket.  He meant that no one else understood how he felt about 
killing.

"Bunny, do you still want to continue the way we are?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, fear filling his eyes. 

"No!  I don't mean that.  I mean, do you want to give up your 
citizen identity and hit the road with me forever.  Comforting the 
afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.  You already experience 
the isolation and the paranoia involved.  I want you to know that, 
whatever decision you make, I'll understand and love you."

Brian looked torn.  "That wouldn't work long-term.  We both 
know that." 

"Okay.  I'll leave with Douglas when you're better."

"Sera, it's not safe--"

"Fuck safe!  Brian, I would give you the world if I could.  I know 
you well enough to see you falling apart."

"I'm not--"

"Hush.  I'm not Carrie.  You don't have to pretend with me.  You 
need rest, comforting, and industrial-strength pampering.  I won't 
go until you get it."

"What about Douglas?"

"He mentioned an urge to take a walk and go sight-seeing.  He's 
been drugged and tied down for months without fresh air."

"Don't let Mulder and Dana see me like this."

"Nobody has to know a thing you don't want them to.  You just 
had a really scary night."

Brian let out a long breath.  "I love you, Peanut."

"I love you too, Bunny."  She opened the passenger door on the 
van and set him into the seat.  "Take a rest, Bri.  You deserve it."  
She picked up a pair of sunglasses, one of the pairs he'd left with 
her, from the dashboard and gently sent them over his eyes as he 
smiled.  Her hand trailed down to his neck and stopped at the silver 
cross she'd given him.

"I like your nail polish, Sera," he said.

She grinned.  "Siesta time, Bunny.  I'll be back soon."  She closed 
the door as quietly as she could.  She saw Scully start to walk away 
from Mulder and Douglas toward her.  Serafine's expression 
darkened, and she started to walk toward Scully, to meet her 
halfway.  She imagined they looked like gunslingers getting ready 
to face-off.  With Scully gone, Mulder went back to interrogating 
Douglas.  Serafine could tell because she heard the change in 
Douglas' voice.  His voice always turned darker and flatter when 
angry.

Serafine scrutinized Scully and felt the shorter agent doing the 
same to her.  Serafine had once described such a meeting as being 
like matter meeting anti-matter.  Serafine could respect Scully as a 
warrior of a different kind on another side of the war, but she 
couldn't understand how Scully could twist logic and facts into a 
more personally palatable form to fit her viewpoint.  Serafine had 
spent her life battling the Scullys of the world.

"What more will you have to do to him to be satisfied?"  Scully 
asked.

"Whatever else I can say about you, I have to admit that you 
certainly have nerve."

"You should make a clean break since he can't.  What you have 
with Brian could never work.  Occasionally dropping into his life 
bringing danger and lethal secrets with you, dragging him into 
your hole with you.  Tainting him with your own bloodlust.  Then 
disappearing for an irregular period of time, never the same one 
twice."

Serafine smirked.  "The members of the Fox group seem to find 
that stimulating."

Scully frowned, not seeing the reference but also not willing to 
admit it. "What could you possibly base your relationship on?"

"Mind-blowing sex.  You'd be amazed what those pouty lips and 
long fingers can do.  Or maybe you wouldn't be.  Brian has enough 
people messing with his mind without adding you to the list."  
Serafine's eyes narrowed.  "We're bound by love, Scully.  Duh."

"Love?  It looks more like obsession to me.  Has anyone ever told 
you that you and Brian look like siblings?  The height, the high 
cheekbones, the eyes that range from any shade of green to hazel.  
You seem to be proud that you don't know who you used to be, 
when a simple blood test might answer all your questions."

"Are you suggesting that I'm Samantha Mulder now?  Doesn't this 
violate your beliefs?  Or are you willing to bend them when they 
get in the way of something you want?  You're hardly the 
impartial, objective observer you like to pretend you are."

"If I can bring myself to accept Mulder's clones, I can see a 
number of new possibilities attached.  Are you afraid that Brian 
might not accept being his sister's lover?"

"We're back to schoolyard taunts now?" Serafine laughed. 
"You're calling me a chicken."

"I don't know you very well, Dark Angel, but from what I've seen 
you share some traits with Mulder.  What I'm saying to you now, 
the doubt, will stick in your mind and irritate you.  Eventually it 
will drive you to resolve the question."

"Maybe you're right, Scully.  Stranger things have happened.  But 
if I were you, I'd be taken a long, hard look into my motives.  It's 
good for the soul.  Now I'm going to rescue Douglas from your 
partner." 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As everyone said their good-byes, Mulder worried about Brian a 
little.  He'd looked like hell, and a worried-looking Serafine 
refused to let Mulder wake him to say good-bye.  Serafine 
explained that anyone would look like hell after spending almost 
half a day being interrogated by the L.A.P.D.  She swore he would 
be fine after a little rest and that she would take care of him.  
Mulder couldn't doubt her word and didn't want to start another 
fight with her.  She didn't seem to be quite as angry with him 
anymore, but the coldness hadn't entirely left her eyes.  Besides, 
Scully seemed to be upset and impatient to go.

He had gotten nothing out of Douglas, who seemed to find his 
attempts at intimidation funny.  Mulder got the impression that the 
Englishman had previously been intimidated by much scarier 
people.  Douglas had the look of a man who'd seen madness and 
death and come scarred out the other end.  Why should he tell 
Mulder anything when Serafine would soon make him disappear?

Stymied, Mulder decided to look into the U.N. angle.  It might be 
worthwhile to do some fishing around Marita and see what he 
could dredge out.

When Mulder got into Scully's car to leave, his peripheral vision 
caught some movement.  He saw Krycek wink at him, then 
disappear.

**********************THE END***********************