Trust Book 2: Trust, Love and Happiness, too. Pt 5
by Nikita
Title: "Trust, Love, and Happiness, too." Chapter 2.
By: Nikita
Series: 5/?
This is a sequel to my first series: "What We Need Now is Trust." Available at Down in the Basement, Slashing Mulder, or at my own website: http://www.koukla.net/nikita_slash
Summary:
Spoilers: Season 7.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the X-Files or any characters, plot lines, etc. They belong to Chris Carter, Fox, and the wonderful actors themselves. This is an unauthorized story for entertainment purposes only. I'm but a poor humble grad student struggling to make ends meet. Writing this stuff and keeping a website actually costs me money. But I do it as a labor of love.
Warnings: Slash. M/M relationship, sex, language. Schmoop, angst, plot, all the good stuff. Mpreg., aliens, etc. etc.
Feedback: Yes, please! nik_cleo@hotmail.com
Authors note: Yes, I know I love wordy titles... This is the sequel of my first Trust series. It continues almost 5 years after we last saw our happy little family...
^ Still means telepathic communication
'' still means internal thoughts
Alex and Mulder LIKE to dangle off of cliffs. Honest.
And now for our feature presentation...
Trust Series Book 2
Trust, Love and Happiness, too.
by Nikita
Part Five
*Beep*
*Beep*
-hiss-
*Beep*
*Beep*
-hiss-
Mulder opened his eyes to the harsh white light streaming from the window. He blinked and moved a hand to cover his eyes. He was startled to see a black and blue wrist and padded bandages on his forearm. He glanced at his other arm and saw the same plus an I.V. He glanced further down and saw the cause for the sharp and throbbing pain in his thigh, a large heavily padded bandage making it nearly impossible to sit up. He winced and lay his head back down. Why-?
Memory flooded back in a flash and he glanced over at his lover. Alex's face was still puffy, but looked slightly better than last night. He watched Alex's chest rise and fall a few times before he allowed himself to take another breath. He glanced back up to Alex's face and noted the dark purple bruises underneath long black lashes.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he reached out with his senses...and sensed Scully down the hall walking to their hospital room.
He opened his eyes and looked at his lover once more. Nothing. His mind was silent.
Scully quietly entered the room, a newspaper and coffee in her hand. She looked surprised to see him awake. "Hi." She whispered. 'Why whisper? He can't hear us.' He let it go.
"Hi, is that for me?" equally quiet. She smirked and shook her head.
"Mulder, you know you shouldn't have caffeine after-"
He pouted. She gave in with a sigh. "I don't know why I bother trying. Here. Do you want the paper, too?" She asked, mock exasperated. He shook his head.
"No. I have a headache. But you could read the sports page to me if you want." She smiled crookedly and pointedly turned to the front page.
He looked back at Alex.
*Beep*
*Beep*
"Where's Kat?"
Scully looked up guiltily. "Mulder maybe-"
He glared at her, feeling panicked. "WHERE is my daughter?!" He forgot to whisper.
She slumped slightly. "Skinner is trying to straighten it out, but the locals are being stubborn..."
"Scully..."
"They have taken away your custody- temporarily! Due to the incident and ...well..."
"And what?"
"And the uh, unusual family situation at home."
He tried to sit up, "What?!"
"Mulder, please don't...Skinner is trying to work it out and..."
"Are you telling me that those bastards are trying to take my daughter away?!"
A nurse came rushing in. "Please, Mr. Mulder! Mr. Krycek needs quiet and-" she cut off her spiel at the sight of the blood showing through his thick bandage. She rushed over and pressed down on the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
Scully helped as she and another nurse checked the wound once the bleeding stopped. He had popped some stitches. They sewed him back up and handed him a tranquilizer. Scully stared him down until he finally took it. As he felt its effects, he looked over at Alex. 'God, Alex...they are going to take Kat away...help...'
XXX
Skinner headed over to the hospital around noon to check on the men and make Scully eat lunch. He found her holding Mulder's hand at his bed. Skinner glanced around and seeing no nurses lurking nearby at the moment, he slipped in. She looked up at him, her eyes were slightly red and puffy.
Mulder was out cold. "What's wrong, Agent Scully? Is Mulder-?" She shook her head.
"He's okay. He was agitated over Katerina and popped some stitches. We stopped the bleeding and sewed him back up. He's sleeping off a tranquilizer right now."
Scully looked up hopefully at him and he shook his head.
He felt terrible. He had made little progress so far in getting the locals to cooperate with him. They were upset at losing two good deputies and the incident had stirred up the town. Mr. Jacobson was helping to make the situation worse by making wild accusations about Krycek and Mulder.
Mulder stirred slightly, moaning. Scully patted the hand she held, but he wasn't soothed. He didn't wake, but his breathing was irregular and he made distressed sounds. 'Nightmare.' Scully mouthed.
Eventually he quieted, but his forehead remained wrinkled and worried. They watched him sadly. Alex's monitors continued to beep and hiss.
XXX
November 25 2004
St. John's Hospital
3:13 a.m.Alex moaned softly, his right hand twitching. Mulder was out of his bed in an instant. He was at his lover's side as fast as he could hobble. His wound was still tender and easily torn open so he was careful.
Alex twitched again and his eyelids fluttered. Fox thought of calling for a nurse, but was interrupted when Alex's eyes opened. "Wh-"
"Shh...It's okay, Alex. I'm here. We're okay."
Alex focused his eyes on Mulder's face with difficulty. "Fox?"
"It's me, baby. You're in the hospital. You'll be fine, though." He hoped Alex wouldn't notice-
"What happened to my hands?" he had lifted them up and was staring at the mummified forms.
'Too late.' "You killed the morph infected by the oil, remember? The morph's blood and the oil spilled on your hands..."
Alex tore his gaze off his hands to search Mulder's face. "Are you okay?! It cut you! I cut you-"
Mulder held a hand up to the younger man's lips. "YOU didn't do it and you know it. And don't start talking like that...the last thing we need is you confessing to crimes you didn't commit. I'm having a hard enough time as it is trying to convince them it was a man that looked like you...not you. I told them that he held us hostage in our house and we were injured by him. He killed the two policemen and fled when he heard Skinner and his team coming. Okay?" Alex nodded numbly.
"Where's Kat? Is she okay?" his voice was hoarse and broken, eyes glistening. Alex wanted desperately to touch Fox's face, but his hands...and Fox might not want him to...
^I do want you to. When you're better. I love you, you idiot. You didn't do anything to me...the oil did. You saved us, don't you remember?^
Alex shook his head and avoided his eyes, denying his innocence. Mulder sighed and checked the door. He then lowered the rail of Alex's bed and climbed in as best he could. He grunted in pain as his injured thigh bumped Alex's hip, but he ignored it and nudged Alex to sit up a little so he could cradle him in his arms.
His thigh throbbed, his arms hurt and he was as happy as he'd been in days. He dropped his cheek to his lover's head and wrapped his arms gingerly around the other man.
Alex was frustrated that he couldn't grip Mulder's arms with his hands. He settled for resting his forearms against Mulder's. His eyes were directly above Mulder's arm bandages. 'How can he stand to be near me?'
^Stop it. I love you, Alexei Krycek, but you need to cut this out before I bop you in the head. And that would hurt both of us, so just shut up and close your eyes. I'm tired; I haven't been in a coma the last three days...^
Alex was startled at that, but remained quiet, listening to Fox's breathing slow down until he was fast asleep, his arms relaxing around Alex's. He looked at Mulder's arms and his own hands.
Mulder never had answered about Kat...
XXX
November 25 2004
St. John's Hospital
6:15 a.m.Nurse Chattenay entered Rm 313 as she glanced over the clipboard in her hands. Looking up she saw both patients in the Mr. Krycek's bed. Mr. Krycek was in the other patient, Mr. Mulder's lap and they lay lightly snoring, their arms entwined. She shook her head disapprovingly and poked her head out the door, motioning for Nurse Jones to come and help her.
They came on either side of the bed and Nurse Chattenay tapped the intruding patient on the arm. "Mr. Mulder...Mr. Mulder! You can't be in this bed. You have to get back in your own-" She stopped at the sight of the comatose patient moving his head and then opening his green eyes at her. She stepped back, "Oh! Mr. Krycek..., Nurse Jones, please notify Dr. Branson that Mr. Krycek is conscious. Mr. Mulder, you need to go back to your bed!."
Mulder opened his eyes to the vision of an old gray haired nurse shaking her finger at him. He flinched. He felt Alex shift in his arms and smiled, remembering that his lover had finally woken up from his coma. He had meant to call the nurses, but he'd fallen asleep with Alex in his bed. 'Shit, I'm going to pay for that now...'
^Yep, you're in deep shit, Fox. What are you doing disturbing my rest in my bed? For shame!^ Mulder couldn't help grinning at that, Alex had been so depressed last night, it was good to hear him tease. He stretched as much as he could with his lover on top of him and then grunted in pain. His thigh hurt. And his arms. And his right leg had fallen asleep, pins and needles jabbing at him.
The nurse scolding him got an evil satisfied look on her face at his grunt of pain. "You see? You need to be in your OWN bed, Mr. Mulder." She gripped his arm and helped him shift Alex off of him. He stood none to steady on his own feet as she guided (almost pushing) him to his bed.
Alex watched with a tired half grin on his face. The gray haired harpy was still scolding his lover as she adjusted Fox's leg on a pillow. He quickly lost his smile as he realized Mulder had been injured enough to be in the hospital for a couple of days. And where was Kat? His thoughts were interrupted by the other nurse returning with a gray haired doctor.
After checking his pupils, reflexes and asking him routine questions, they were satisfied that he wasn't suffering permanent brain damage as far as they could tell. They admonished him to rest, ignoring his questions about Kat. As they left, Alex turned to glare at his lover, "Fox, WHERE is Kat?! Why won't anyone answer me?"
Mulder had been quiet throughout the exam, he was watching Alex through half lidded eyes, they had given him another dose of painkiller. He sighed, shifting slightly in his bed to ease the throbbing in his leg, "She's in a foster home." He stated flatly, closing his eyes.
Alex fought his own medication, "What do you mean?! Shouldn't Scully be...?"
Mulder didn't open his eyes, but Alex could see wrinkles of pain around his eyes, he could tell it was emotional rather than physical, though. Mulder's voice was broken, confirming this, "They- They won't give her to Scully...they think she's better off in a neutral foster home until they finish investigating us..."
Alex was shoving blankets off of him, Mulder's eyes snapped open at the sound. "Alex, don't...You've been hurt...I've been trying since I woke up. They won't let you see her. And- and I think the hospital is in on it..." these last words were slurred. Alex stopped his actions and glanced at his lover, 'why do my eyes feel like lead weights on my lids...' he saw that Mulder suffered the same affliction.
"What- What do you mean?"
"I don't think...I don't think my injuries are bad enough to stay in the hospital this long...but they keep druuggin' me..." he trailed off, his head dropping on his pillow. Alex felt a strange kind of numbed horror. 'Where IS Scully anyway...?' He fell asleep, the sheets twisted around his legs.
XXX
It had been 24 hours since she last saw her former partner and Scully was PISSED. The hospital, so friendly and cooperative the first day or so, had turned into an uncooperative bureaucratic wall. Every time she tried to see Mulder she was informed it wasn't visiting hours, or that he was resting and not to be disturbed. She'd flashed her badge, no luck. They had actually turned hospital security on her for attempting to barge past the nurses last time.
Skinner was too busy trying to straighten out Kat's custody to know the trouble she was having at the hospital. She sat in a waiting room on another floor than Mulder, stewing at her troubles. The whole town seemed determined to keep them from Mulder, Krycek, and their daughter. Skinner had called her the night before to tell her that he was having trouble since there were no official birth certificate or adoption papers. Scully remembered Mulder saying that Krycek had taken care of making 'official' papers, but those papers had now disappeared. Without them, Scully and Skinner's hands were tied.
Nurse Jones walked past her, her eyes on her clipboard, Scully sprang to her feet. "Excuse me, Ms. Jones!" Nurse Jones kept walking as if she hadn't heard her.
Scully caught up and grabbed her arm, "Ms. Jones! I need to speak with you. I want to know Mulder's and Krycek's conditions."
Nurse Jones pursed her lips and glanced around, looking for a distraction or an excuse, not finding one she glared at Scully. "Patient confidentiality is-"
"Cut the bullshit. I'm a federal agent; if you keep giving me the run around I'll have you and this entire place under investigation so fast your head will spin. Tell me how they are doing NOW."
The woman shook her head, but gave in slightly, "Mr. Mulder was agitated again, this morning. We gave him a mild sedative to calm him. Mr. Krycek has awoken from his coma, but is currently resting. They are not available for visitors." With that she spun on her heel and stalked away, clipboard firmly in hand.
Scully fumed, Mulder was being sedated far too much, and he should have been released yesterday at the latest. His wounds were still needed antibiotics, but were healing fine and could be cared for at home. And now Alex was awake.
Scully pulled out her cell phone as she left the hospital.
XXX
November 25 2004
St. John's Hospital
5:35 p.m.Alex and Fox sat in their respective beds propped up on pillows. Their faces turned slightly towards the other, but their eyes were both glazed and they had tired smiles on their faces. They were quiet, their link silent as well.
Their dinners arrived; an orderly plunked a tray of processed turkey loaf and a pale slimy slice of pumpkin pie. The door shut behind the harried man and the two patients looked at their dinners numbly.
XXX
10:06 p.m.
The room was dark except for the street light outside which couldn't be completely shut out by the blinds. The thin stripes of light decorated the floor and beds. Mulder and Alex lay awake, their latest pills hidden under their mattresses.
^Lisa? ^
^I'm awake. Did you palm them? ^
^Of course, are you ready? ^
^I don't know how far you think we'll get without any clothes and with me tottering over. ^
^Do you really want to stay? ^
^Fuck, no! Just wondering...^ Mulder slid his legs over the side of the bed and stood as best he could without bending his leg. He stood and swayed for a moment, clutching the bed frame.
Alex climbed out and was a little shaky and off balance for a moment, but quickly recovered. He met Mulder in between their beds and hugged his lover quickly, but gently, his hands were throbbing dreadfully.
They were just about to make a run for it when they heard the door snick open. Caught, they froze, unable to dive into their beds quick enough. Their hearts pounded at the shadowy sight of a woman.
"Mulder? Alex?" They sighed as one, Scully.
She walked over and hugged them both then let go and held up her bag, pulling out sweats. "Let's get these on you..."
First she helped Mulder step into his pants, then, much to Krycek's extreme embarrassment, she helped him with his. Mulder shrugged into his top and sweatshirt as she helped Alex, careful of his bandaged hands.
Once she finished tying their shoelaces she straightened up with a satisfied smile. Both men blinked back at her meekly, the act of dressing had worn them out. 'I could get used to this...'
^Scully... ^
'Whoops!' she thought back to Mulder looking anything, but sorry.
She checked the hall and then herded them out of the room. They passed a few people on the ground floor, but no one that they recognized. Leaving the ER, Scully opened the back door and they scrambled inside. She jumped into the passenger seat and they drove off quickly, but not so much as to draw attention.
Mulder was directly behind Skinner's baldhead. He leaned in between the two front seats, "Where's Kat?" he demanded, unable to be too polite after worrying for so long.
"We're going to get her now." Skinner was terse, attention focused on maneuvering through the dark bumpy streets.
Mulder and Alex sat back in their seats, they heard a small 'mewl' and glanced down, in between them was a small cloth pet carrier and Kisa peered up at them, scared. Mulder smiled sadly, Kat would be glad not to miss her kitten. Scully glanced back, "We packed some clothes, your photo albums and the cat. We'll have to send a packing company later... Mulder was too focused on his daughter to pay attention. He nodded tiredly, one hand on Alex's arm and the other dug into the carrier to pet the distressed feline.
They pulled up to a house, there were lights in the front two windows and they could see the flashing screen of a TV. Scully got out; Mulder opened his door. "No, Mulder, you need to stay-"
^Shh, think to me, Scully...don't talk. And I AM coming with you. I can communicate with Kat and get her out without anyone knowing. ^ She shut her mouth and nodded. Alex cursed his hands, he wanted to help, but knew he'd be a liability. He leaned over and kissed Fox hard and urged him, ^Go on, go get her. ^
Skinner was going to come, but stayed behind when Mulder got out. Alex and Skinner sat in the car in tense silence, watching the dark figures of the two former partners creep around the side of the house.
^Kat, it's daddy. You need to stay quiet, but 'think' to me to answer me, okay? ^ He was as quiet and reassuring as possible, hoping she would remain calm and not tip the foster parents off.
^Daddy! Where are you?! ^
^I'm here, baby, but I need you to be quiet about that, we're going to sneak you out, okay? Where are the people you are staying with? And how many are there? ^
^Just Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Johnson, they're in the living room watching TV. ^
^Where are you? ^
^In the bedroom...the children's room. I'm the only one here, though. ^ Mulder saw the room she was in and could 'hear' the TV and 'see' the light from the living room through her. He motioned for Scully to go to the back window. Kat's face appeared as they reached it.
A few moments later she was in his arms and they were walking quickly back to the car. Kat's warm face was pressed against his neck, she was crying, her tears tickled as they trailed down his neck and shirt. He was trying not to cry as they got in the car. Once in, he sat her down on the seat in between him and Alex. She saw her papa and cried harder, "Papa!" She dove for his middle, clutching him tightly. He put his arms around her and squeezed as best he could, not caring about his hands.
Mulder leaned over and joined the hug, all three sobbing quietly. Skinner and Scully glanced at one another and then focused their gaze on the road ahead, letting the family have a moment together.
They raced down the highway, towards Virginia.
They drove all night, Skinner and Scully switching off. As Scully traded places, she glanced in the back and saw the two men slouched, sleeping with their heads propped up against one another. Both had their arms wrapped around Kat, who slept soundly, a hand on each of her fathers.
XXX
Mulder woke to the murmur of voices in the front seat. He raised his head and looked at his daughter and Alex, she was in his lap, her head on his chest and his head lay on a wadded up jacket pressed against the window. Mulder had had his head on Alex's shoulder. Alex was going to be pretty sore when he woke up. He glanced at Alex's bandaged hands sadly; he wished he had the healing power still.
Kisa was sleeping soundly and he knew they'd need to let her out soon.
Fox stretched his neck and yawned, scooting forward to lean in between the front seats.
"Where are we heading?" he asked softly. Scully glanced at him and then back at the road.
"We were just discussing that. We need a place to crash and regroup. My father owned a small fishing cabin by a lake in Virginia. My brothers still use it occasionally. It's big enough for the five of us, it has three bedrooms, but it IS a bit rustic..."
Mulder nodded sleepily. "Sounds good. No one will be there now, will they?"
"No, Bill's at sea and Charlie is on a business trip. It's too cold for them to want to go fishing, anyway. It's mostly a summer place, but it is heated."
Alex woke and shifted on the car seat. Mulder sat back and gently lifted Kat off his lap so he could stretch. Katerina snuggled into his arms sleepily. He cradled his daughter, he loved her so much...and to think that he might have lost her...
Alex straightened with a grimace and rubbed his neck. He smiled at his lover and daughter as he stretched as best he could in the small car. "We're on the run now...what's the plan?" Skinner frowned and shifted in his seat to face the back. "We aren't really on the run. Once you are settled in the cabin I'm going to D.C. to straighten this out. We decided to get you two out of the hospital and Kat out of the foster home because it would have taken longer to get you out than we wanted. I have already set an investigation in motion for the county police department as well as the hospital. For now, you three can recuperate and rest while we take care of it. I'm also having new paperwork done for Kat. The originals vanished, by whom I'm not sure. I believe Chris Jacobson had quite a few friends in the sheriff's office."
Alex's eyes glittered with malice, Fox was glad Kat was still sleeping; he actually was a little intimidated by the look. No one messed with Alex Krycek's family and lived.