"One of the Chosen II: Jumping Through Hoops"
By Viridian5
1998

RATING: NC-17.  M/K.  If m/m interaction bothers you, leave 
now!
SUMMARY: Krycek turns out to be more intimately connected 
with the control Kitsune clones than he previously let on, to 
Mulder's horror, while Sera finds out something that further 
complicates her relationship with Brian.  Just when you thought 
that couldn't happen.  XF/Kalifornia crossover.  Part 3b of the 
"Tangled String" series.
SPOILERS: "Kill Switch"
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.  Brian, Carrie, 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.  Suing me would be a 
waste of time and a really mean thing to do.

Dark Angel/Alice Pryor/Serafine Fitzwalter/Cheryl "Sherry" Elend 
is all mine.

NOTES: Thanks to Small Woodinat Creature for proofreading, 
fact-checking, and pronoun-testing.
This story picks up a few months after "A Tangled String of Blood 
and Entropy" and a week after "Dead Time (I, II, and III)".  You 
don't have to read either to make sense of this, but it would 
definitely help.

The Tangled String series:
"A Tangled String of Blood and Entropy"
"Dead Time I: The Hand that Picks You Up is..."
"Dead Time II: ...The Hand that Holds You Down"
"Dead Time III: Consequences"
"One of the Chosen I: Everything to Everyone"

==============================================
"One of the Chosen II: Jumping Through Hoops"
By Viridian5
==============================================


Two hours later, Krycek was bored.  Brian had gone to bed an hour 
ago, ending a very entertaining sniping match involving the three 
of them, after he located his friend Matt at another friend's house.  
Even in sleep in that darkened end of the room, Brian's pose 
screamed don't-touch-me-or-I'll-kill-you.

Mulder finally got tired of carrying on his argument with Krycek 
and engrossed himself in the FBI records he'd called up on his 
laptop.  Mulder hadn't conceded the match but hadn't walked out 
either.  He also had that don't-touch-me aura but mixed with that 
patented Mulder intent focus that would ignore a plane landing 
next to him.  As much as Krycek would enjoy trying to distract 
him, the futility of it dissuaded him.  Mulder had his sleeves rolled 
up and his glasses on.  Why did Mulder, who looked so sexy in 
glasses, only wear them in such situations?

Krycek felt a very naughty idea coming on.  He walked over to 
Brian's bed and looked down at its occupant.  Even in the dimness 
Krycek could see that Brian looked as disturbed in sleep as in 
consciousness.  Krycek got up on the bed and straddled Brian, 
leaning over until he could feel Brian's breath on his face.  He 
looked over at Mulder, who still hadn't moved or noticed anything. 

This was dangerous, but that only added spice.  Krycek never let 
danger stop him from doing anything he wanted to do.  Of course, 
his one-armed state suggested that policy to be less than wise, but 
still...

He brushed Brian's lips lightly with his own, then went in deeper, 
parting those lush lips with his tongue.  They tasted different than 
Mulder's, less salty and spicy.  Sweeter.  Brian murmured in his 
sleep and started to melt into the kiss.  Krycek smiled as Brian's 
hands came out from under the covers and embraced him, running 
along his back.  The smile died when the arms locked him into a 
death grip and Brian's kiss turned harsh and demanding, almost 
ravaging.  Brian seemed to be humming.

Krycek couldn't breathe, could feel himself starting to black out, 
but still felt intensely aroused by the writhing body beneath him. 
Then Brian turned his face away and Krycek could hear him 
laughing maniacally, thus explaining the writhing.

"You don't have an original bone in your body, do you, Krycek?" 
Brian choked out between giggles.  "Did you really think I could 
mistake you for anyone who'd have a reason to be in my bed, like 
Angel?"

"You can't admit that you're not excited by this.  I can feel it."

"I can want you and not need you."  Brian stretched to turn on the 
light, squirming in a way that only intensified Krycek's distress.

"You bastard."

"You haven't begun to pay for what you did to me, to Douglas, to 
*her*.  Douglas faced an island full of homicidal beast-people and 
escaped blood-innocent, never having fired his gun on a living 
being.  He came to my house for sanctuary, and he was forced to 
kill two of the goons you led there."  

In the sudden light, Brian's eyes, darkly green and glittering 
madly, gave Krycek chills.  He'd last seen those eyes in Tunguska 
as Mulder, defying all expectation, rushed at him in the gulag yard.  
Years earlier, Krycek saw them in Warren Elend's face as he stood 
in a warehouse surrounded by the dead and mutilated bodies of 
young girls with his dead partner at his feet and the cause of all the 
corpses standing in front of him.  When the rest of the Miami 
police arrived they found the bodies of the girls and Elend's 
partner, Warren Elend deep in incoherent insanity, and a body that 
had been so mutilated that they could only identify it through 
dental records as belonging to the suspect.  That shimmering green 
indicated violence and madness, and not every Kitsune who went 
that far came out the other side.

Kessler had been pushed too far too fast recently, and Krycek had 
to remind Kessler of who was who here.  "It's not a good idea to 
play me like this," Krycek said.

"What else could you do to me?  What else haven't you done yet?  
Kill me?  Maybe you could rape me.  That would win Mulder's 
devotion."

Curious, Krycek deliberately ran through different emotional 
states, trying to see how sensitive Brain's empathy was, how much 
a person could influence him.  He could see the expressions on 
Brian's face shifting a minute behind each change until Brian, with 
some effort, closed down and went blank.  "So I can't scare you 
anymore?" Krycek asked.

"Are you dense, or do you enjoy rejection?"

"Before the Consortium set me up as Mulder's partner, they sent 
me after the other two controls to see how I'd do."

"Not after me too?  I'm crushed."

"You were the atypical control even before your brush with Early 
Grayce changed you.  Anyway, I got along well with Warren 
Elend in Miami and Keith Connor in Austin.  Connor was a master 
of technique, but Elend had a way of seeming to hand his whole 
being over to you for safekeeping that made him an overwhelming 
experience."

"Now you want to complete the set?" Brian sounded more tired 
than angry.

"I've been involved in varying capacities with the Kitsune line for 
years.  I have more of an emotional investment in the line than 
anyone who isn't a Kitsune himself.  I know you don't trust me or 
approve of my methods and means; that's fine and probably wise.  
But I do care."  

"Yes, but when does it end?  When do I get to stop worrying that 
every footstep belongs to someone who wants to kill or use me?"

"Do you want me to lie?"

"No, and I know the answer to my own questions."  A knock at the 
door startled them both, but Brian recovered first and took 
advantage of Krycek's distraction to dump him off and walk over 
to the door.  Brian looked through the peephole then opened the 
door to let Dark Angel in.  Mulder looked up from his computer.

Dressed all in black as usual with a shiny black raincoat as the last 
layer, Dark Angel had a very unusual shocky look in her eyes.  The 
eyeliner around them looked a little smeared, as if from tears.  
"Brian, I have something very important to tell you," she said 
softly.

"I know about the chip and the Kitsune line, Sera.  I also know that 
someone posted a message to me using some of our code-words," 
Brian answered while standing back from her, as if he expected her 
to run or hit something.

"It's another important thing.  Did you hear about the Imoto line?  
The one designed to be the Kitsune controls' younger sisters?  I'm 
one of them; the blood test confirmed it.  I match as one of 
Mulder's relatives.  I'm not Elizabeth Kessler or Samantha Mulder 
at least, but I am Cheryl Kathleen Elend.  That... makes me your 
sister, Brian, yours and Mulder's."

"I don't...  I don't understand."

She looked at the identically pole-axed expressions on the faces of 
the three men in front of her.  Her words came out in a flood. 
"There's nothing to understand; it's incomprehensible.  The whole 
Fox group is genetically identical.  The Imotos were created as 
genetic sisters, each slightly different from one another, to the 
Kitsunes.  As Warren Elend's sister, I'm also yours and Mulder's.  
I know this isn't a good time for you to have to hear this, but I had 
to tell someone before I exploded.  Now I have to get out of here."  
She bolted the room so quickly that none of them had a chance to 
react before she was gone.

"Shit!  Sera!"  Brian pulled his gun out from under his pillow and 
stuck it into his waistband, put on his shoes, and went running after 
her.  Krycek closed the door.

"You don't look as surprised about this as you should be," Mulder 
said.

"I suspected, but having my suspicions confirmed is still a bit of a 
shock," Krycek said.

"I should go after them."

"Even in their distracted state they can look after themselves."  
Krycek walked over to Mulder's chair and crouched until they 
were eye to eye.  "How is the news affecting you?"

"My family just keeps getting larger, although it does make me 
wonder if some relationships maybe aren't meant to be."  Mulder 
pulled him forward until Krycek sat on his lap and kissed him 
roughly.

When Krycek got a chance to break away for air, he said, "You're 
sending out some mixed signals here."

"I wonder if it's all that powdered sugar Brian loves that makes 
him taste so sweet.  I can taste him on your lips, Alex."

"Fox--"

"Depending on how I choose to take it, I can be either very angry 
or rather flattered.  I'm more aware of my surroundings when I'm 
working than you realize.  I'm not upset as long as you're not 
forcing yourself on him.  I know what you are," Mulder whispered 
into Krycek's ear, his words followed by the brief flick of his 
tongue.

"Fox--"

"Brian has a talent for repression.  He can be falling apart inside 
and still do a good impression of a normal human being until he 
either resolves his insanity or explodes.  I knew something was 
wrong with him a week ago, but I let Serafine reassure me that he 
was fine and she could take care of him.  Maybe she was right 
then, but it doesn't matter much now, because today's events put 
extra stress on him.  So I want to know, what are your intentions 
toward my brother since he's not willing?"  Through the torrent of 
words, Mulder still stroked and kissed him, making it hard for 
Krycek to think.

"Fox, you're seriously fucked-up, do you know that?  What's 
going on with you?"

"Two days ago I tracked an artificial intelligence to its home.  It 
took me prisoner and plunged me into a virtual reality hell.  I 
thought it was all real.  First it cut off my left arm, then smothered 
me, then took my right arm and threatened to start on my legs if I 
didn't tell it what it wanted to know."

"Oh, Fox."  Now he understood the look he kept getting from 
Mulder.

"Scully got me out.  The experience made me appreciate things a 
bit more.  I appreciate you.  I missed you," Mulder said against his 
neck.  "I don't want to think for a while."

"I can give you that."  Wrapped around one another, they 
exchanged kisses and touches, losing themselves in sensation.  
Mulder undressed him with the speed and determination of a child 
opening presents on Christmas morning.  He was about as gentle 
too, but Krycek liked it.  Eventually Krycek heard a noise that 
broke him out of his trance.  "What the hell was that?"

Brian stood near his bed putting his pack over his shoulder.  
"Sorry, I'll be gone in a minute.  As you were."  His eyes looked 
dead, matching a body that looked fatally tired.

Mulder's voice sounded harsh and raspy as he asked, "What 
happened?  Where do you think you're going?"

"She vanished.  When she's ready to talk to me again, she'll find 
me.  She'll say that she shouldn't have sprung that on me, and I'll 
say I could have reacted better, making both of us wrong, and we'll 
make up."

"Brian, she's your sister."

"Only genetically.  It doesn't matter to me if it doesn't matter to 
her.  I love her.  In the meantime, I'll get out of your way.  I'll find 
a cheap motel somewhere."

"Like hell you will."

"Mulder!" both Brian and Krycek said at once.

"I see no reason for you to leave.  Besides, I know you sleep 
deeply enough that Krycek and I won't wake you."  Mulder 
couldn't fail to notice the look of growing excitement in Krycek's 
eyes.

"Another night spent hiding under the covers.  All right, but if I do 
wake up in the middle I'm going to spend the rest of the night in 
the bathroom."

Brian finally went to sleep twenty minutes later, fifteen minutes 
longer than it would have taken him if he hadn't been hyper-aware 
of his roommates watching him so closely.  He ducked under the 
sheets and eventually stopped shifting.

"Is he asleep yet?" Mulder asked.

"Who cares?  Actually, I wouldn't mind if he watched."

"You're a slut."

"And that's why you're here.  If you don't get out of them now, 
those expensive pants are going to be ruined.  I'm totally naked, so 
it's only fair," Krycek said.

"I ruin suits all the time, but you're right." With a sudden motion 
Mulder lifted the both of them up from the chair and shimmied out 
of his pants and boxers with Krycek against him to feel every 
move.  Then he dropped them both back down.

Mulder may have been almost out of his shirt, but his loosened tie 
still hung around his neck.  Krycek used it to pull him close, letting 
it tighten a bit around the long neck, making Mulder gasp.  Krycek 
grinned at the image Mulder presented half in his federal agent 
attire, as if he were involved in some illicit office romance.  After a 
long kiss, Krycek asked, "Do you have any idea how hideous this 
tie is?"

"I don't have a personal shopper.  Besides, you don't seem to be 
complaining right now."  Mulder's hands ranged all over Krycek's 
body with a speed that seemed almost more desperate than lustful.  
Krycek deliberately slowed him down, sometimes using the tie as a 
choke collar.  

Mulder started to talk against Krycek's skin, his breathless words 
flying like bright leaves in an autumn wind.  Sex seemed to detach 
his mental editing mechanism, not that Krycek minded, and not 
just for the information or the vibrating Mulder's voice produced.  
Right now, Krycek felt like he had a glimpse into that speeding, 
free-associating mind.  What Mulder said didn't always make 
sense; his mind seemed to leap over what many people would 
consider important connecting pieces of information.  Gleaning 
anything of value from the stream was like trying to catch fish with 
your hands.

Krycek thought of all the history they shared.  The Consortium had 
him help cover up the abduction of Mulder's partner, prevent 
Mulder from stopping it, try to frame him, betray him every way 
possible, drug his water supply, kill his father, lead him around by 
the nose numerous times.  Even to Krycek it seemed like overkill.  
It was a good thing Mulder didn't have a dog, because they'd 
probably want Krycek to kill it too.  Then their relationship would 
make the perfect country/western song.  Krycek started to giggle.

"Is there something here you find funny?"  Mulder said as he thrust 
against him, making Krycek gasp. 

"No, sir."  Krycek wanted him now, and Mulder certainly felt 
ready, but before he could impale himself Mulder moved out of the 
way a bit, reaching for his suit jacket.  The friction only made 
Krycek crazier, and his voice sounded harsh as he asked, "What 
the hell are you doing?"  Mulder took out a condom and a tube of 
lubricant.  Krycek said, "Don't tell me that's standard issue."

Mulder's eyes glinted darkly.  "I knew I'd be meeting you and 
made the obvious assumption."

"I should be offended."

"I'm sorry.  I must have mistaken you for someone else.  I'll be 
going then."

"You win."

Mulder pushed Krycek back a bit then slowly and sensuously put 
the condom on and lubricated it while Krycek vibrated with 
impatience and lust at the sight.   Krycek immediately plunged 
himself down on it, but Mulder wasn't done yet.  He picked 
Krycek up a little, then let him slide back down the hard shaft, 
repeating the motion over and over, slowly building speed as he 
began to thrust.  Krycek could barely do more than whimper in 
harsh gasps.

Gasping himself, Mulder grated out, "Did Elend or Connor ever do 
anything like this for you, Alex?  Do you think Brian would?  Tell 
me, how alike are we?"  His thrusts became harder, more violent.  
Krycek screamed with pleasure and satisfaction from the 
sensations and from getting Mulder to that point of pure, ruthless 
aggression he'd wanted to see in ex-partner during sex ever since 
Mulder first got truly rough with him body-to-body in Hong Kong.

With the two brain cells that still worked, Krycek realized that 
Mulder had heard everything and that tomorrow Mulder would 
ream him in a very different, far less pleasurable way, but for now 
he didn't care as long as his ex-partner didn't stop what he was 
doing.  Krycek locked the words back with a kiss, and they 
screamed into one another's mouths as they came.

The rest of Mulder went limp, but Krycek continued to ride him, 
rocking a bit, for as long as he could.  Finally he got up and led an 
unresisting Mulder by the tie to the bathroom and into the shower 
to clean up.  One thing about Mulder few people knew was that his 
mind tended to blank out completely after sex.  Maybe that was 
why he masturbated so often.  

Krycek soaped up, kissed, and caressed a fuzzed and blissed out 
Mulder, and Mulder took it all wordlessly like a big, pliant doll.  
When Krycek's ministrations had the desired effect, he took 
Mulder in again, managing only through skill and experience to 
avoid having them both slip and kill themselves on the wet tiles 
and soap.  He burned the feeling of Mulder within him into his 
memory.  With their lives and loyalties, Krycek knew he had to 
take advantage of every opportunity that came his way.  By the 
time he turned off the water and started to towel the both of them 
dry, the tie was completely ruined, but Krycek couldn't see that as 
a loss.

He dragged them both, still naked, into bed.  He bit at Mulder's 
neck just hard enough to leave a mark.  The older man sighed and 
burrowed closer.

Sometime later, a noise woke Krycek up.  Someone was moving 
around in the dark room.  He slid out from under Mulder's arms 
and grabbed his gun from the night table.

"Krycek, what--" Mulder mumbled.

"Someone's in the room," Krycek whispered.

Mulder came awake instantly and put on his boxers before he 
picked up his gun.  "Aren't you going to get dressed?" he 
whispered back, any antipathy put aside to take care of trouble.

"This person broke into our room.  He deserves whatever he sees.  
He's in the bathroom"

Both armed, they walked to the door and opened it when they 
heard no sound.  Against Krycek's better instincts, Mulder turned 
on the light.  Brian was curled up on the floor in the corner, eyes 
wide, gun in hand, making horrible choking noises.  He didn't 
react at all to the light.

To Krycek's horror, Mulder immediately crouched down and 
casually took the gun from Brian's hands.  "They're gone, Brian," 
Mulder said.  "You can move now."

"They took her again?" Brian asked, his voice sounding very 
young.  "The bad things always take them away, and they never 
come back."

"They?"

"Bethie, Carrie, Angel.  If they come back, they're never the 
same."

"I don't get it," Krycek said.

"Brian's asleep, dreaming.  His mind is making him relive his 
sister's abduction but changing it enough so everyone he loves is 
being taken from him," Mulder said.

"His eyes are open!"

"I'm told I do that too when I'm under stress.  I walk in my sleep 
sometimes.  If anyone meets up with me, my eyes are open and 
I even seem to be making conversation, even if it makes no sense, 
but I'm asleep.  I woke up sitting under the kitchen table with all 
the lights on once.  Sometimes... I wake up with a gun in my hand 
and my back to a corner.  It's one of the reasons why I usually 
sleep fully clothed."  Mulder pulled Brian close to him in a hug 
while Brian shuddered.  "You have to go back to bed, Bri."

"No!  They never take me; they just mess me up a bit.  They only 
go after the people I love, and it's all my fault!"

"If I put him back to bed by himself he'll just do this again.  He'll 
have to get into bed with us," Mulder said then, when he saw the 
look on Krycek's face, said, "That's not happening."

"I'm not made of stone, Fox!"

"I'll send you to the other bed if I have to."

"Fine, I'll behave."

The three of them wandered over to the bed and managed to 
squeeze in.  The moment Mulder had them tucked in, Brian woke 
up.  "What?  What the hell am I doing here?"

"We found you in the bathroom, Bri.  You were paralyzed, 
clutching a gun, and talking about your sister," Mulder said.

"Oh, shit," Brian choked as he tried to get away, but Mulder had a 
death grip on his arm.

"You don't have to hide, Brian.  I understand."

"I can't--I can't let anyone see me like this.  This is weak." 
Brian's arm shook under Mulder's hand, and Mulder pulled him in 
close.  Brian held out for a minute before he started to sob into 
Mulder's arms.  

Mulder stroked Brian's hair the way you would an injured child's 
and said over and over, "It's okay.  It wasn't your fault.  You've 
been hurt, and you can cry, and I won't judge you for it."  

Krycek was caught by the sound of Mulder comforting his twin 
and, by extension, himself.  It stopped whatever snide thoughts he 
would usually have.  He found himself gently stroking Brian's 
back in slow, comforting circles, again as a person would calm a 
child.  He didn't know how long they stayed that way until 
exhaustion claimed them.

******************************************************

Brian woke with his head feeling swollen to three times its normal 
size to the sound of Mulder cursing.  It didn't take him long to 
gather that Krycek had snuck off sometime during the night.  He 
smiled ruefully then winced as the motion brought a stabbing pain 
behind his eyes.

The events of the night came back in a rush.  Shameful enough that 
he had broken down in front of Mulder but worse that he'd 
displayed such weakness in front of Krycek.  He felt his heart 
clench in horror.

Brian felt someone grip his hand.  He turned to see Serafine--
Cheryl?--sitting by the bed smiling at him.  She wore all deep, 
new black except for her favorite battered and faded Eldritch jacket 
with the duct tape over the scars.  Her pale, almost translucent skin 
seemed to glow in the morning light.  Her black eyeliner was 
perfect, with no smudges.  Good signs.  He thought of how he must 
look and tried to turn away.

She gently tipped his face back.  "Forget that; you're beautiful.  
Forgive me?" she asked.

"Always.  Forgive me?"

"Always."

"You look better."

"I've come to a kind of peace with what I've found out about 
myself.  It only increases the poetic justice.  Mulder told me that 
you said our blood relationship doesn't matter to you."

"He's right.  But what do I call you?"

"You can still call me `Serafine' or `Angel.'  The difference is that 
I now have a name to come home to."  She kissed him and licked 
the salt of his tears from her lips.  "I have something I have to do, 
someone I have to look up in Florida, but I'll stay as long as you 
need me."

"I'm going with you.  Fate is pushing me onto the road with you.  
Who am I to argue?"

Her smile blinded him.  "First, we'll go see Rachel Elend. Then 
we'll find the people who firebombed your friend's home--"

"--and we'll take them down."

"Then we'll find out who sent that taunting message to you--"

"--and we'll take him down too."  Their hands intertwined.

"They made us what we are, even more than we first realized."

Brian's smile turned savage.  "And we'll make them pay for it."

Her smile matched his.  "How do you feel?"

"Like my head is five times its normal size, my eyes are welded 
shut, and an ocean is trapped just under my skin."

"You know that's not what I mean." She leapt up onto the bed 
and snuggled next to him.

"I feel drained, bleached.  Maybe later I'll be able to say it's the 
pain you get from drawing pus from a wound, a current pain to end 
future pain, but for now I feel like shit."  He closed his eyes and 
sighed as she gently kissed the tear trails from his face.  "But I feel 
less like shit every passing moment."

A knock at the door interrupted them.  Mulder rushed to the 
peephole to see who it was, then shook his head as he opened the 
door.  A very angry Scully said, "Mulder, what have you been up 
to?" in a tone that could melt steel.

******************************************************

Brian drove the rental car through the wide sunny streets of Stuart, 
Florida.  He glanced into the rearview mirror to see Mulder and 
Dana sitting in the back seat, both of them out of their ubiquitous 
trench coats for once.  Both of them stayed quiet, although Dana 
kept shooting her partner and Angel resentful looks.  Dana had set 
these events in motion and wanted to see them to the end, even if it 
hadn't gone where she'd hoped and anticipated.  She could almost 
feel all the secrets the others kept from her.

Brian looked at Angel in the passenger seat.  She wore a white 
poet's blouse, black skirt, black opaque hose, and black pumps.  
She'd left her hair uncurled and had used more restrained makeup.  
She still looked a little threatening but much more socially 
presentable.

They'd already stopped at the house the Elend family would have 
lived in during her childhood.  They only looked at the outside.  It 
brought back no memories for her, but Brian made her notice all 
the gardenias on the property.  Gardenia was her favorite scent.

"It's so sunny and *flat,*" Angel kept muttering to herself.  Brian 
squeezed her hand.

Finally they stopped at Rachel Elend's current address.  Angel 
intended to go to the door pretending to be lost.  She just wanted to 
see the woman who'd been her mother in her forgotten childhood, 
see if the sight triggered any memories.  It would be too dangerous 
for her to form a relationship with the woman, not when so many 
people were hunting her.

Angel pressed the doorbell and waited on the step, drowning in 
nervousness and the scent of gardenia.  When the woman came to 
the door Angel almost felt relief that the sight tripped no 
memories, but then the woman spoke.  "May I help you?"

Angel knew she should say something, anything, but the voice cut 
through her mind like the laser sight on a rifle, illuminating 
memories that waited at the back of her mind for the proper 
catalyst.  Prior to this moment, she'd still felt some lingering 
doubts.  She couldn't deny the truth anymore.

Rachel Elend stared at the tall stranger quivering silently in front 
of her.  Then she asked with a trembling voice, "Sherry?  Cheryl, is 
it you?  It is you.  I prayed for this day for so long..."

"How do--"

"Your eyes, Sherry, I knew it from your eyes."  Then she wrapped 
Angel in a tight hug.  "I've been hoping to see you here every day 
since they took you away."

"You have to understand.  I don't remember anything; I don't 
remember you."

"Do you know... about Warren?"

"Yes."  Her fragmented memory of her abduction now had the 
sight and sound of him screaming her name.  She remembered him 
at last, but he was long dead by his own hand.

"We should have fought them, raised the two of you the way we 
wanted, but they said they would take you away from us if we 
didn't follow their orders.  Then they took you anyway, and later 
Warren...  It broke Arnold.  He only wanted to serve his country, 
and his country told him to be cold with you and Warren and stole 
you and told him to leave me and led Warren to kill himself.  
Arnold stopped caring after Warren died, took a bullet he could 
have avoided.  We should have fought them."

"There was nothing you could do.  If you had fought them, they 
would have taken us away."  //And maybe destroyed us for not 
being able to continue in the control settings they wanted,// Angel 
thought.  "I only just found out who I am.  I've done terrible things 
to survive."

"I understand.  I'm not the innocent I used to be.  I bet now that 
you're afraid someone will try to have me killed now that you 
found me.  It doesn't matter, Sherry.  Given the choice between 
living or dying tomorrow after seeing you again today, I would 
rather die."  Then her eyes widened.  "Oh, oh God."

"What is it?"  Then Angel realized that her mother had seen Brian, 
who had gotten out of the car and stared at the reunion with such 
hunger on his face even as Mulder tried to pull him back down out 
of sight.  She remembered what Brian had told her about his own 
mother.  "That's Brian Kessler and Fox Mulder.  They belong to 
the same group as Warren."

"I thought they'd all killed themselves." Tears ran down her face.

"Oh, no.  Eleven of them are still wandering the country."

"Can I meet them, Sherry?"

"Of course you can.  Brian, Mulder, get over here!"  Brian, 
Mulder, and Scully walked over.  "Mom, this is Brian, Mulder, and 
Scully.  Scully's not related to any of us."

"You have no idea what this means to me.  It's almost like Warren 
is still alive in some small way."

Angel grinned.  "Hug them.  You know you want to."

Rachel Elend needed no more prompting, sweeping both Brian and 
Mulder into her arms.  Brian melted immediately, but Mulder first 
stiffened with a look of total disbelief on his face before he relaxed 
into it and closed his eyes.  Watching them, Scully couldn't help 
feeling that something of value had come of this after all.  Both 
Brian and Mulder looked dazed and disappointed when Rachel 
Elend pulled back.

"Please come in and make yourselves at home.  I want to know all 
about all of you."

******************************************************

Krycek sighed as he put down the binoculars.  He didn't know how 
she did it.  While Mulder and everyone else had been distracted by 
the hug, Dark Angel's hand had swept lightly under the collar of 
Mulder's shirt and plucked out the bug Krycek had hidden under 
Mulder's hairline early this morning.  He had no idea how she 
knew.  He managed to get the plug out of his ear before the bug 
made a high-pitched squealing noise as she crushed it under her 
shoe without anyone else noticing.  It was a shame because he was 
dying to know what they'd talk about.

Instead of getting upset, Krycek thought of Warren Elend and what 
he'd just seen, Mulder smiling and letting it all go as Rachel Elend 
embraced him.  With that last image at the front of his mind, 
Krycek smiled himself and walked away.


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