WICKED GAME
By Mare
Chapter 7
Disclaimers in Chapter 1; Rated NC-17
 
Krycek lit the candles and stepped back, admiring the table. Perfect, he decided. Not too much, 
but just enough to show Scully that he knew it was a special night.
She probably wasn’t aware that he knew it was her birthday. And if this date had fallen before 
her trip, he probably wouldn’t have done anything about it. But in the eight days since she’d 
come back, things had changed.
Though they didn’t have sex every night, it was more frequent now. She was more open about 
the whole thing, and while she still couldn’t or wouldn’t give voice to what, specifically, she 
wanted, it seemed that she was no longer in denial about wanting and liking the sex.
He had made a few concessions, too. He tried to give her a little more private time, and had laid 
off the mindfucks. That put a temporary crimp in his overall plan, but he figured it was worth it. 
Better to lull her into complacency now; it would make later mindfucks easier and less 
noticeable.
This dinner was technically not a mindfuck. After all, it was her birthday, and she was entitled to 
a celebration, something nobody else in her life was likely to give her. His options were rather 
limited, but he did the best he could. He’d taken more trouble than usual with the food (surfing 
cooking websites until he found a gourmet recipe he thought she’d like), and was prepared to let 
Scully do what she wanted afterwards, no questions asked. If she wanted him to go away, he 
would. If she wanted to have sex, he’d let her dictate how it went, no matter what she wanted. 
He would make sure that everything that happened was focused on her pleasure.
Maybe it was a mindfuck after all...
"What’s all this?"
Krycek, momentarily startled, turned to find Scully standing behind him. "Happy birthday," he 
said, planting a friendly kiss on her cheek.
"Ohh..."
While he was no expert on birthday etiquette, Krycek knew that was not the customary response 
to that phrase. "Thank you very much, Alex. I’m so glad you remembered," he prompted her.
"What? Oh..."
There was that sound again. "Something wrong, Dana? Got the date wrong, didn’t I?"
"What? Oh, no... how’d you know?"
"Nefarious research, of course," he said, neglecting to mention that he’d sneaked a peek at her 
driver’s license. "Now come on, sit down. Your celebratory dinner awaits."
"Um... Alex? I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble..."
"I know it’s not much, but it probably wouldn’t be smart if we went out --"
"It’s not that," Scully said, stepping back a little. "I’m not staying for dinner."
"You’re not staying." She shook her head. "Work?"
"No, I’m going out to dinner. Mulder and some other people kind of arranged a little party..."
"Party." He had no idea why that idea should piss him off so much, but a sudden, surprising 
anger welled up inside him. "Party? And you didn’t even think to call?"
"For what? You honestly think you’d be invited?" she shot back.
"You might’ve thought that I might make some arrangements myself --"
"I didn’t even know you knew it was my birthday!"
"Well, I do, and for your information I did go to a lot of trouble. I had plans for tonight, and you 
didn’t even think to call and tell me you wouldn’t be here!"
Some little part of him realized he sounded completely irrational, but he didn’t care. So much for 
all the efforts he’d made since her trip. None of it mattered. The thoughtless bitch was just using 
him. "What the hell made you think I wouldn’t want to do something today, huh?"
"We don’t have that kind of relationship," she said quietly.
"Relationship, hell! That’s just common courtesy!"
"So now I’m supposed to check in with you every hour on the hour?"
"Who said anything about checking in? All I ask for is a simple goddam phone call when you 
know you’re not going to be here. Is that so much? Especially when there’s the outside chance 
when I might’ve had something nice planned?"
"Fine," Scully said flatly. "I’ll have to remember to take my crystal ball to work so I can tell when 
you’ve got something planned." She turned and began to move away, but Krycek grabbed her 
arm and spun her around.
"You’re going to blow me off twice in one night?" he hissed, even as something inside him 
screamed at him to just let it go. He might have, but he’d obviously been letting too much go 
lately. Control had to be reasserted.
"Get your hands off me!" She pulled her arm away from him but he didn’t let go. "Or are you 
going to hurt me and call it another lesson?"
He immediately let go, but she didn’t turn away. She remained there in front of him, breathing 
hard, glaring at him, eyes blazing, face flushed with anger, and Krycek was stunned to feel a rush 
of heat in his groin. He had a sudden, almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her, touch her, fuck her 
right here on the floor and make her forget about her dinner plans; to take care of his own needs 
for once without having to think about hers. It took every ounce of self-control he had to not do 
that; to take a step back and reign in his temper. Giving in to it had already gotten him in trouble 
once; he knew if he let it happen again it would spell the end of the deal.
Head down, he took a few deep breaths, until he felt he could trust himself to look at her 
without touching her. He looked up again to find her in the same position, seemingly waiting for 
him to make a move. He forced himself not to. Instead, he spoke.
"Look, you may not like this situation, but it is what it is and it’s not gonna change any time 
soon," he said. "I’ve tried to make this deal tolerable for you. I’ve made concessions I didn’t 
have to make. I’ve done a lot of stuff I didn’t have to do. And I’ve done it all, in case you didn’t 
notice, for you."
"Don’t do me any favors!" she spat.
"You could at least acknowledge the effort!"
"Why? I never asked you to be here. I never asked you to do anything for me. I never asked 
anything of you, so don’t expect me to be grateful!"
"You couldn’t be anyway, could you?" Krycek seethed. "Makes it harder to lie to yourself that 
this is just about sex."
"It is just about sex!" Scully shot back. "Stop trying to make it into something it’s not and can’t 
ever be!"
She spun around and stalked off toward the bedroom. Krycek followed, but stopped when she 
slammed the door in his face. He waited, debating what to do next, until the bedroom door 
opened again. Scully, in different clothes now, stepped out and thrust a familiar package in his 
face. "What’s this?"
Krycek bit back the nasty comment that came immediately to mind. "A birthday gift," he said.
"Birthday gift," she repeated. "And what makes you think I’ll accept any kind of gift from you?"
"You already did --"
"That was different," she said quietly. "I presume this isn’t deal-related?"
"Oh, come on, it’s just a damn birthday present! Can’t you just shut up for once and open it?"
"Hmph." Scully eyed the small package. "I suppose I’ll have to so I know where to return it, 
right?" She tore the paper off, opened the box, and held up the velvet box inside. He watched as 
a strange look came over her face and he thought she might throw it at him right there, but she 
slowly opened it.
She didn’t say anything; just stared at the box.
Her reaction was unsettling. Anger he could handle. In fact, the way this evening was going, he 
expected it. Silence, he couldn’t handle right now. "Well?" he asked tentatively.
Scully looked up at him, that odd expression still on her face. "I can’t... I can’t accept this..."
"Why not?"
"I just... it’s not right..."
Krycek sighed. "They’re just earrings, Dana. Birthstone earrings. I don’t know what kind of 
meaning you’re reading into that, but there’s no hidden message here. Just earrings."
She snapped the case closed and handed it to him. "I can’t take them."
"Why the hell not? Didn’t we go through this already?"
"It’s too much, Alex," she said wearily. "Don’t you get it?"
"Why don’t you explain it to me?"
She checked her watch. "I’m late already. Just return those, please? You shouldn’t have bought 
them."
He couldn’t let her leave like this. "Dana --"
"I’m leaving, Alex." She moved past him into the living room and scooped up her bag and coat. 
"Think about it and maybe you can answer a question for me when I come back. How am I 
supposed to call and tell you I won’t be home when we agreed weeks ago that you wouldn’t 
answer my phone?" With that, she was gone.
The sheer logic of her question sapped all the anger out of him. She was right; he was being 
irrational. What was it about her that made him behave that way? It seemed to happen every time 
she did something counter to his carefully constructed plan. But Scully was an intelligent, 
independent woman. He couldn’t really expect her to cater to his every whim, could he?
Krycek moved slowly into the bedroom and dropped the earring box on her dresser. "Sure," he 
muttered to himself. "Happy fucking birthday."
****************************
Scully slipped into the apartment at just past 12:30 and found it dark. She’d been expecting 
Krycek to wait up for her, but was relieved that he had gone to bed. She didn’t want to talk 
about his gift or their fight, and if she could put it off for a while, so much the better.
She moved quietly into the bedroom, noted Krycek’s still form in the bed, and then moved on to 
the bathroom. Trying not to wake him, she managed her preparations for bed without too much 
trouble, although she did drop the toothpaste tube noisily into the sink, and slight dizziness made 
her stumble into the towel rack on the wall. It’s always the last drink that gets you, she chided 
herself as she left the bathroom.
She realized she must have made more noise than she thought when Krycek yawned, stretched, 
and opened his eyes. "Hi," he said. "Have a good time?"
Apparently he’d gotten over their argument. She felt a little guilty over that, but if he was willing 
to ignore it for now, so would she. "Yes, very good," she sighed as she slipped into bed beside 
him. "I spend so much time down in the basement working on those cases nobody else will touch 
that I sometimes forget I have friends elsewhere in that building. It was nice to see them 
tonight."
"That’s good."
"You should find this amusing... it seems that Mulder’s recent speculations about my private life 
have spread. I lost count of how many people asked me tonight where my boyfriend was."
She heard a soft laugh. "What did you tell them?"
"That he was home, sick in bed."
Another chuckle. "That’s it, feed their fantasies. Should keep ‘em busy for days." Krycek settled 
deeper under the covers and she thought he was going back to sleep, but after a few minutes she 
heard his soft voice again. "Dana, why won’t you accept my gift?"
Oh, shit. She glanced over at him and found that he hadn’t moved. He was still lying on his side, 
his back to her. That was probably a good thing; at least she didn’t have to deal with those 
hypnotic green eyes this time. "It isn’t... proper," she stammered, trying to gather her thoughts. 
Her head felt much too swimmy to have this discussion. "This is a business deal. We have a 
business relationship."
"Does Mulder give you birthday gifts?"
Scully glanced at the earring box on the dresser, thinking of the Apollo 11 keyring that Mulder 
had given her. "No, he never has." Feeling a small measure of satisfaction that she’d ruined his 
point, she wasn’t prepared for the next question.
"You already accepted a much more intimate gift. Why do you have such a problem with this 
one?"
Blindsided by the obvious question. "I accepted that under duress, remember."
"I didn’t make you take it. You chose to. And you chose to wear it."
What could she say? She had. And it was quickly becoming her favorite lingerie.
"Did accepting that gift have a satisfactory outcome?"
She closed her eyes and let her mind drift back, seeing herself dressed only in the bra and panties 
he’d given her, straddling him on the sofa, rubbing herself against the growing bulge in his 
jeans... She shook the thought out of her head, but the flood of warmth the memory had brought 
to her lower body stayed. "Yes."
"So what’s wrong with this one?"
"In some ways the earrings are a much more intimate gift than the lingerie..."
"How so? Please, educate me."
"Well..." She glanced over at Krycek again and found herself studying the soft, downy hair on 
the back of his neck. "In a normal relationship, that’s the kind of thing a man gives his girlfriend 
or wife for her birthday. There’s some... feeling behind it..."
A soft laugh. "Dana, are you asking me how I feel about you?"
"Well, no, but... I..." Her voice trailed off as she realized that that was exactly what she was 
asking. Was this strictly a business deal for him? Or was he just messing with her head again?
"Did it ever occur to you that you might be reading too much into this?" he asked.
Was she? "It just seems like the kind of gift a man gives to someone he has an emotional 
attachment to..." That was so lame. I’m probably playing right into his little head game...
"And I’m not allowed to take even the smallest liberties in this relationship even though we’re 
having sex?"
Sex. The magic word. The perfect way to make him forget this discussion... "No, you’re not. We 
have a business relationship." Some business relationship...
Krycek sighed. "I’m sorry if I offended you, but sometimes a pair of earrings is just a pair of 
earrings."
Sex wasn’t only the way to make him shut up. It was also, she realized, exactly what she wanted. 
What she’d wanted all evening. What she needed now that the memory of the lingerie encounter 
had aroused her. Scully turned on her side and pulled herself close to him. "And I’m sorry if I 
hurt you, but I don’t want to think about that anymore," she purred in his ear. "There’s something 
else I’d much rather think about." She slipped her hand inside his boxers and gently stroked his 
penis.
He gasped at her touch and arched into it. "I like the way you think," he sighed.
She kissed that soft hair at the back of his neck before moving on to suck on his earlobe. "Know 
what?"
He moaned softly as she circled his organ with her hand and started long, slow strokes up and 
down its increasing length. "What?"
"I’ve had sex on my birthday exactly once in my life," she murmured, nipping at his neck. "With 
Jack Willis. And that was probably only because we shared the same birthday and he wanted it."
"So I take it this is only round one?"
"Oh, yeah. It’s my birthday. You’re not going to be the only one who comes."
He thrust into her hand, so she moved it and started to gently play with his balls instead. He 
drew in a ragged breath and let it out slowly, then rolled over onto his back. "You won’t actually 
be having sex on your birthday," he reminded her, placing his hand over hers and moving it 
where he wanted it.
"Okay, for my birthday." She reclaimed her hand from him and slid off first his boxers, then his 
t-shirt, before returning her attention to his penis. She gently circled the tip, making him buck 
again, then gathered the secretions on her finger and drew a line with that finger up his body to 
his chest, where she started toying with one nipple. "You’re not going to make me beg on my 
birthday, are you?"
He suddenly rolled her over so that she was on her back and he was on top of her. "Now, would 
I do that to you?" he teased.
"Yes."
"Think you know me, don’t you?" He leaned down and kissed her deeply before slipping her 
pajamas off and moving to kneel between her legs. "Okay, I promise, no begging tonight. Let’s 
see how ready you are..."
Suddenly she felt two fingers stroke briefly between her legs before they slipped inside her. She 
moaned and arched up to meet his hand, dangerously close to coming just from that. "Ready," 
she gasped, "but you can do that for a while if you want..."
His fingers withdrew, but nothing else happened. Scully opened her eyes to see Krycek looking 
at her, a wicked gleam in those green eyes. "What?" she asked with some trepidation.
"You up for something a little different tonight?"
Uh-oh. "Different?"
"Nothing scary, birthday girl. Just... a slight variation on an old theme. I think you might enjoy it. 
In fact, let’s call this another birthday present."
"Um... okay, I guess..."
"Good girl. Trust me, you’ll like this," he said, lifting her right leg and draping her foot over his 
left shoulder. He positioned her left leg similarly over his right shoulder, raising her pelvis off the 
bed and tilting her into a rather uncomfortable position.
"Alex? What are you doing?"
"Expanding your horizons a little. I know it’s uncomfortable, but I bet after a while you won’t 
care..." She felt the tip of his cock resting against her entrance as he laced his fingers through hers 
and pushed her hands into the pillow on either side of her head. It briefly occurred to her that 
this was just about the first time that he’d touched her with his left hand, and she wondered why 
that was. His left hand felt virtually the same as his right... except that the left hand didn’t sweat.
Needing to feel him inside, she tried to arch upward, but found that she had no leverage. 
Ordinarily she knew he’d let her twist in the wind like that for a few minutes, but this time, true 
to his word, he responded to her cue and eased himself slowly inside her.
She gasped softly, reveling in the feeling of him stretching her, filling her... and then she felt 
something else. She cried out at the jolt that started deep inside and emanated throughout her 
whole body; not quite an orgasm, but something slightly different... "Alex?" she asked when she 
could breathe.
He smiled down at her. "Looks like we found one of your secret hot spots. Can’t find those 
without going really deep. Feels different, doesn’t it?"
"Different," she breathed, squeezing him and noting that he was deeper inside her than usual. 
Quite a lot deeper, she thought. "Good. Wonderful. More?"
"Your wish is my command," he said, and began moving in a slow, deliberate rhythm.
She squeezed his hands and let herself drift, relishing the friction inside and the slightly different 
sensations that his deeper penetration provided... when he stopped moving.
"Forgot to observe the most important propriety, didn’t I?" he said in response to her unspoken 
question. He took a deep breath and, in a slightly husky tenor, started to sing. "Happy birthday to 
you..." He started to move again, his rhythm matching the pace of the song, the words slightly 
more pronounced with each inward thrust. "Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday, dear 
Dana... Happy birthday to you."
And on the last note, with the deepest thrust, she saw stars and felt her insides explode with a 
deep, volcanic orgasm. Clutching his hands hard enough to hurt him, she cried his name as the 
spasms tore through her, the sensation spreading out to every nerve ending in her body.
An eternity later, as the last spasms of the orgasm rippled through her, she was surprised to find 
her voice. "You sing very well."
"Thank you. Veteran shower-singer, y’know."
"I’ve never heard you sing in the shower."
"Of course not. You’re not usually around when I’m in the shower."
"True." She tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling, idly wishing she had a mirror there. She 
wanted to see this position, see the look on her own face as he kept up that slow, deliberate 
thrusting. Wanted to see him move, that nice firm ass...
Where the hell did that come from? Oh, hell, admit it to yourself already, Dana. Does it really take 
alcohol to make you acknowledge that this man fucking you is amazingly attractive?
It took a moment for her to realize that he was speaking to her. "I truly am sorry about the 
earrings, Dana," he said. "I never meant to make you uncomfortable. They really are just a 
birthday gift. No strings attached. I mean it. It never occurred to me that you’d take it any other 
way."
Uncomfortable as this position was, there was definitely something to be said for it. With the 
deeper penetration he was hitting spots he didn’t normally hit. Seriously responsive spots... "Hey, 
what were you doing while I was gone, watching our video? You don’t usually last this long 
unless you already came at least once."
He laughed softly. "Maybe I just have more self-control than you think."
She laced her fingers more firmly through his and squeezed tightly as she felt the exquisite 
pressure building inexorably inside her again. "What would it take to make you lose that 
control?" she wondered aloud.
He thrust a little harder, a little deeper, and fireworks exploded behind her eyes as she came 
again, almost as explosively as the first time, the waves of pleasure shooting from her groin right 
up her spine to her brain. He leaned in close, bending her into a very uncomfortable position with 
her knees practically in her ears, and kissed her, gently exploring her mouth with his tongue. Her 
wordless cries of pleasure were lost in his kisses.
"Truth be told," he whispered, "I could’ve come in my pants watching you masturbate."
He leaned back, unbending her and letting her catch her breath as he continued that deliberate 
stroking. "Pig," she said, when she could speak again.
"Don’t you know that’s every guy’s secret wet dream? Well, one of ‘em, at least."
"That’s why you tortured me so much that night?"
"No... I teased you because it’s fun."
"I hate you, Alex."
He gave a few more harder, deeper strokes. "Want me to stop, Dana?"
"No," she sighed. "Oh, God, no."
"Wasn’t it worth it?"
"Yes, yes, every minute. Do that aga--" Her words lapsed into soft moans as a small orgasm 
gently rippled through her lower body.
"I do so much for you Dana," he purred, "and all you can say is you hate me. Very sad state of 
affairs, wouldn’t you say?"
"Alex?"
"Hmm?"
"Why does watching... er... that... turn men on so much?"
"Never really thought about it. Just a guy thing, I suppose. But it does serve another purpose, at 
least for some of us. Research."
"Research?"
"Gives us some idea what you like."
She thought back, at least as much as her pleasure-fogged brain would let her. "But you didn’t 
use anything you might’ve seen me do..."
"That doesn’t mean I didn’t file it away for future reference. Besides, it’s kind of fun showing 
you new things that you might like even better..."
He’s not even close yet. How the hell can he do this? People talk about having sex for hours, but I 
never really believed them... "So what’s the other secret fantasy?"
"You don’t need to know that. Besides, you wouldn’t do it anyway."
"Why? Just how perverted is it?"
"Look through Mulder’s video collection sometime. See if you can figure it out."
"How do you know it’s in there?"
"Saw the collection. It’s represented in there. Heavily."
He suddenly changed his rhythm, thrusting harder and faster now, giving her what she’d wanted 
all evening. She tried to move with him but her position wouldn’t allow it; she could only change 
the angle slightly, letting him drive even deeper inside, almost impossibly deep. She was moaning 
loudly now, waves of ecstasy overwhelming her body and her brain until she thought she’d 
explode, knowing she would if he didn’t finish soon. She’d come enough times already she was 
sure she couldn’t anymore, but she did; one more explosive, shattering orgasm accompanying his 
last deep, savage thrust. Half a second later she heard him groan and finally felt him come; felt 
his warmth spurting deep into the very heart of her.
He recovered first, slowly sliding his softening organ out of her while slipping her legs off his 
shoulders and back onto the bed. She was glad he did that; her limbs felt like they weighed a ton 
and she wasn’t sure she could move them. He settled next to her, head propped on hand, 
watching her.
Gradually her breathing slowed down and she was able to speak again. "I like that position," she 
murmured, suddenly very sleepy. "I came a lot."
He laughed softly. "You certainly did. So tell me, was that worth waiting 33 years for?"
"Mm-hmm. Definitely."
"Y’know, you should go out drinking more often. Alcohol has a most interesting effect on you..."
She opened her eyes and glanced over at him. "It does?"
"Don’t worry, it’s a good effect." He cupped her face and kissed her gently. "Happy birthday, 
plamennaya malyishka."
****************************
Scully found herself humming as she dressed for work the next morning. For once in her life, 
she’d had a really good birthday, that little fight with Krycek notwithstanding. There was a party 
(a rare occurrence for her) and birthday sex (an even rarer occurrence). There was even the 
standard deal-related disk, with a gift bow stuck to it. She had to smile at that. Maybe it was 
only her good mood, but it seemed a very sweet gesture.
She picked up the disk from the dresser and found the earring box underneath it. She stared at 
the unopened box for a while, then opened it and stared at the earrings themselves. She had to 
admit that Krycek had good taste. First $300 silk lingerie, now tasteful birthstone earrings. Very 
pretty earrings too, with deep, dark amethysts and small, unobtrusive diamonds. Again, the type 
of thing she’d buy for herself if she were going to splurge.
After a while, she lifted her eyes from the earrings to her reflection in the mirror. Was it 
coincidence that she had chosen a plum-colored suit? She shifted her gaze from her own 
reflection to that of the man still sleeping peacefully in her bed. Maybe he was playing it straight 
for once. Maybe a pair of earrings really was just a pair of earrings.
She studied her own reflection again, then removed the earrings she had on and put on the 
amethyst ones. A very thoughtful gift, she had to admit.
Scully looked at her birthday present for another moment, then picked up the disk and left the 
bedroom, once again humming.
****************************
Krycek immediately noticed the earrings when she went home that night. Almost as soon as she 
sat down at the table, he went to her, tucked her hair behind her ears, and smiled warmly at the 
sight of his gift. He didn’t say anything, didn’t ask her what made her change her mind, and for 
that she was grateful. He just seemed happy that she was wearing them. Maybe it really was just 
a birthday gift, Scully told herself.
His low-key acceptance of the gift issue gave her the confidence to ask the question that had 
really plagued her mind all day. She debated with herself over it for hours, knowing she didn’t 
really want to hear the answer, but she eventually came to the conclusion that she needed to hear 
it. Every time she looked at Mulder that day, the question came to mind. She couldn’t let it rest 
unless she asked Krycek. So, after dinner, when they were settled on the sofa watching TV, she 
did.
"Alex," she ventured, "remember what we were talking about last night?"
He glanced briefly at her, then turned back to the TV. "We talked about a lot of things last 
night."
"I meant... the fantasy thing. Remember?"
"Mmm-hmm. You wanted to know what the other universal male fantasy is."
"And you told me to look through Mulder’s video collection to find out."
"Right. Did you?"
"No..." Scully shifted position on the sofa, drawing away from him a little. "Alex, I have to 
know. It’s been bugging me all day..."
Krycek turned to her again, this time paying more attention. "I’m not going to tell you. This one 
you have to figure out on your own."
"No, that’s not what I meant --"
"You don’t want to know?"
"Well, yes, but... there’s something else I need to know, too." He said nothing, so she took a deep 
breath and continued. "I need to know how you managed to see Mulder’s video collection. 
Enough of them to know."
A gleam came into his eyes as a slow grin appeared. "Which would you rather know?"
"What?"
"I’ll tell you one, but not both. Which do you need to know more?"
Scully just looked at him for a long moment. He was going to make a game out of this. Fine, then 
she’d just withdraw the question. She was about to say just that when the realization struck that 
if she didn’t find out, it would drive her crazy. That gleam in his eyes had to mean that the 
answer was far more complex than the obvious -- that he’d broken into Mulder’s apartment and 
watched the tapes. Which meant... no, not possible. Or was it?
"I could barely look at Mulder all day without thinking about it," she said quietly. "Tell me about 
the videos."
Krycek lowered the volume on the TV. "You sure?"
Not an encouraging sign... "Yes, tell me."
"Okay, you asked for it." He took a sidelong glance at her, then turned back to the TV. "Mulder 
and I used to have porn parties when we were partners."
Scully closed her eyes and silently cursed herself for asking. But now that she had, she had to 
hear the rest of it. "Porn parties?"
"Yeah, we used to invite the whole Violent Crimes Section over for pizza, beer and circle jerks." 
Pause. "Every Friday."
A thoroughly disgusting image sprang into her mind, but she immediately squelched it. It 
couldn’t have been like that, could it? Mulder wouldn’t...
Then again, maybe he would.
She opened her eyes again to see Krycek grinning at her, barely controlling laughter. She 
thwapped his arm. "Pig!"
"Sorry, you got the wrong swine this time. The videos were Mulder’s idea." She gave him her 
skeptical look. "Really, they were."
"No parties?"
"No parties. Still want to know how it really happened?"
If she wanted to be able to look Mulder in the eye ever again without that image coming to mind, 
she had to know. "Tell me."
Krycek shut the TV off. "It all started innocently enough," he began. "It was a week or so after 
we became partners. I dropped by Mulder’s place after work that Friday with some files he 
wanted, and he asked if I wanted to hang out, have a beer, and watch the baseball game. My 
assignment at the time was to keep an eye on him, so --"
"Your assignment?" Scully interrupted. "For the smoker?"
"Yup. He wanted me to stick close to Mulder, so I figured this could be valuable training -- see 
what he does in his off hours. So I stayed. The game’s over by 10, so he suggests a video. I’m 
thinking he’s talking about a regular movie, but instead he pops in... I don’t even remember the 
title, but it was porn."
Scully shook her head. That didn’t sound like Mulder at all. "He just started one of those tapes 
without even telling you what it was, without even asking... no. That’s not Mulder. He wouldn’t 
do that. He watches those alone."
Krycek shrugged. "Not everybody does. It’s a guy thing. Women shop, guys watch porn. No big 
deal."
"I thought men watched sports," she countered.
"Yeah, and porn. Group porn watching has a whole different dynamic than solo. The group 
aspect actually makes it less arousing... at least I found it that way. You’re more likely to sit there 
and give running commentary along the lines of ‘check out the rack on that one’ instead of 
whipping it out and --"
"Stop!" This was definitely more than she wanted to know, about both of her partners. "Too 
much information, okay?"
"Hey, you asked."
"What were you doing watching with him, anyway? I thought you said you didn’t like the 
professionally produced videos."
Krycek leaned back against the back of the sofa. "He was my assignment. I couldn’t exactly say 
no, could I? Whether I wanted to or not, I had to stay. That’s probably why most of the running 
commentary came from me. I’m a doer. Mulder’s a watcher, so these things hit him harder than 
they hit me. I’d sit there on the floor and critique whatever we were watching, and he’d be on 
the sofa doing... what he does... Most of the time he was considerate enough to get up and go to 
the bathroom when --"
"I really don’t need to know that," Scully interrupted. "How am I supposed to work with him 
after hearing this?"
"Like I said, you asked," he said with a shrug.
She was sorry she did, but she had to remind herself that Krycek could’ve made the whole thing 
up. Probably had. Mulder just wouldn’t do that. "Didn’t Mulder ever find it odd that the videos 
didn’t affect you?" she asked.
"As a matter of fact, he did. After about three or four of them, he asked me if I really wanted to 
continue watching, since I didn’t seem to get anything out of it. Though how he knew that when 
he was always in the bathroom, I’ll never know..."
Didn’t happen didn’t happen didn’t happen, Scully chanted mentally. "So you stopped?"
"No, I told him we could go out, cruise the bars and find some real action, but I’d feel bad when 
I scored and he didn’t. So in the interest of partner harmony, I’d stay and watch the videos with 
him. Besides, even if I didn’t find them especially arousing, they were certainly entertaining. 
You think old sci-fi movies are bad? You gotta see some of these..."
Scully just looked at him. "You are so full of it it’s not even funny. Why do I bother asking you 
anything?"
"If this isn’t true," he said, "how could I know so much about his collection?"
"I’m not convinced you know anything about it. Even if you do, you could’ve broken into his 
apartment and watched."
"Right," Krycek nodded. "The Morley Man paid me to take porn breaks in my mark’s apartment. 
Makes perfect sense."
So much for that idea. She sighed. "Fine. So you and Mulder had private porn parties every week 
that didn’t affect you at all. That makes perfect sense."
"Oh, those videos affected me," Krycek admitted, "but not as much as they could have. Not as 
much as... oh, say, our video... does. In fact there was one... I don’t know why this one struck me 
the way it did, but it just sucked me right in... I didn’t know he was in the room... he didn’t 
know I was in the room... or if he did know I was there, I don’t want to know about it..."
"Enough!" Scully cried. "I have to face him tomorrow morning!"
"Good. Ask him about that video. Find that one, and you find the answer to the other question."
"There’s only one that answers the question?"
"Not really," he said. "That’s just the most blatant example of it. Besides, I think I steered you 
wrong a little. There’s really two variations on that other fantasy. Version A is pretty common in 
basic porn. I guess you’d say I’m a Version A guy, only I’d rather do it than watch it. Mulder’s 
probably a Version B guy, so he has a lot of those. Not a majority, but probably a higher 
proportion than you’d find in the average guy’s porn library. Just keep track of the ones in the 
office -- he rotates them regularly with the ones at home -- and you shouldn’t have any trouble 
figuring it out."
Great. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Your Partner’s Fantasy Life But Were 
Afraid to Ask, Scully thought. Krycek might be making all this up, but it was probably true that if 
she did examine the tapes, she’d learn more than she ever wanted to know about Mulder’s 
private life. Was she ready for that? "The one that got you," she mused. "That was a Version A 
tape?"
Krycek shook his head. "Nope, B. Surprised the hell out of me." He cast a sidelong glance at her. 
"But I guess you know about that, don’t you?"
The mere memory of Krycek’s homemade video was enough to do to her what the video itself 
had done the first time she saw it. Arousal was almost immediate; the problem of how to face her 
partner suddenly seemed far less important.
Krycek seemed to pick up on this. "Let’s put one of ours on," he said casually. "I’ll show you 
why amateur tapes are better..."
"I thought you’d rather do than watch."
"Always."
"Then why watch?" She grabbed his hand and pulled him up. "Let’s go do."
****************************
Scully sat at her desk, idly scrolling through the documents on the latest disks Krycek had given 
her. She had realized that she couldn’t give Mulder the birthday disk on the day after, so she’d 
waited and copied the next night’s file onto the same disk. Conscious of Mulder’s suspicions 
about her informant and what she was doing, she’d done that a few times before, cutting down 
on the apparent frequency of contact and giving Mulder a lot to chew on at one time. He was 
doing that now, carefully reading the files and taking notes, while Scully contemplated how to 
ask him if Krycek’s story was true.
She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t even hear Mulder until he’d called her twice. 
"I’m sorry, what?"
"I was just wondering how you and that new guy of yours are doing," Mulder said casually, not 
looking up from his notes. "You’ve been seeing him for, what, about a month now?"
"Five weeks, and we’re doing just fine," she said, wondering what he was getting at.
He looked up at her briefly, but then returned his attention to his computer. "Those earrings... 
very nice. Birthday gift?"
"Yes..."
"From him?"
"Yes, Mulder, from him. Is there a point to this interrogation?"
Now he looked at her. "Interrogation, Scully? I just want to know that you’re happy, that’s all."
Happy? Only at very specific times, about every other night... "Yes, Mulder, I’m happy," she said. 
"I appreciate your concern, but really, I’m fine."
"If you say so." Mulder bent back to his notepad.
Another few silent minutes ticked off the clock until Scully, still needing to hear a denial of 
Krycek’s story, finally spoke. "Mulder, you consider us to be friends, right?"
Now he gave her an odd look. "Of course, Scully," he answered immediately. "Don’t you?"
"Of course I do; you know that. I was just wondering how close you’ve gotten to your other 
partners."
Mulder thought about that for a moment. "I never had a real partner before you," he finally said.
"Not even Jerry LaManna?"
"Yeah, I guess Jerry was a partner. Sort of," Mulder admitted.
"Was he a friend?"
"Not the way you’re thinking, Scully; not like you are."
Right, some friend I am, she thought. "That’s not what I mean. Did you ever... do anything 
together, outside of work?"
Again Mulder thought about his answer. "We caught a few ballgames together before he stole my 
work," he said at length.
This seemed to be the right approach to take... "What about Krycek?" Scully asked casually.
"Krycek was never a friend or a partner," Mulder said flatly.
"Mulder, I was there during your first case with him. I know how he worked. He was watching 
you. Didn’t he try to insinuate himself into your life?"
"Yeah," Mulder said slowly. "Yeah, I guess he did. That must’ve been why --"
"Why what?" she asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"He dropped by my place one night, right after that first case. He said he was dropping off files, 
but in hindsight, I know there had to be an ulterior motive. My mistake was inviting him to stay 
and watch the game. Somehow it turned into a regular thing -- he turned up at my door just 
about every Friday after that..."
The moment of truth... "For what?"
"Whatever. Games, movies..."
"Movies?"
"Yeah, movies. I think he fell asleep during ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’, but he seemed very 
interested in ‘Rosemary’s Baby’." He was looking at her funny again. "Are you going somewhere 
with this, Scully?"
Uh-oh... "No, I was just wondering --"
"-- how close I’ve been to past partners. Y’know, that makes me wonder just what you mean by 
close."
"Mulder --"
"Because I’d like to know how you can say you’re close to someone and not even tell them the 
name of the person you’re dating."
Scully just stared at him for a long moment. She knew he was curious, but she never thought 
he’d come right out and ask. "Mulder, my private life is private," she said at length.
"So it is. But you’ve been awfully secretive lately, Scully, about that informant of yours and this 
guy. Why do you feel the need to keep all this to yourself? Don’t friends share this kind of 
information?"
The best defense is a good offense... "I don’t remember you ever telling me the sordid details of 
every date you’ve had since we’ve been partners," she said quietly.
"That’s beside the point. This is obviously something more serious. Is there something about him 
you think you have to hide? Do I know him?"
"No," she lied smoothly.
"Then why can’t you at least tell me his name?"
"So you can check up on him to make sure he’s good enough for me? You’re not my father, 
Mulder."
Now Mulder gave her what she mentally called his wounded puppy eyes. "I’d never invade your 
privacy that way," he said quietly. "Don’t you know that?"
"Then why are you so desperate to know his name?"
"Why are you so desperate not to tell anybody?"
Scully could tell that he wasn’t going to give up. She still didn’t understand why he was so 
desperate to know, but he’d be relentless now. "Alan," she said, thinking quickly. "Alan Keller. 
Happy now?"
"What does he do?"
"Freelance security consulting. Want his shoe size too?"
The wounded puppy eyes again. "I just want to make sure you’re okay, Scully --"
"I’m fine, Mulder," she huffed. "Don’t you trust my judgment? Can’t you, just once?"
"I wonder if you should trust your own judgment after Philadelphia."
She had to stifle a gasp. It was completely unlike Mulder to hit below the belt like that. 
"Philadelphia was an aberration," she said softly, making sure not to let him see that he’d gotten 
to her. "Completely unrelated to Alan."
"What about your informant?"
"What about him? He’s an informant; has nothing to do with Alan or Philadelphia."
"Really?" Mulder gestured toward his computer. "You’ve passed along a lot of information 
lately. You must be seeing him pretty often, leaving poor Alan home all alone..."
"Completely unrelated," she repeated, more firmly. "And ‘poor Alan’ is just fine with it, thank 
you."
She was saved from further interrogation by a knock at the door. It opened, allowing A.D. 
Skinner to step into the office.
"Good morning, sir," Scully said brightly. "What can we do for you?"
Skinner glanced from Mulder to her and then back, knowing he’d interrupted something. Once 
Mulder’s attention turned to him, he spoke. "There’s been another Krycek sighting."
"Where?" Mulder asked, at the same time Scully asked, "Confirmed?"
"Near Ford’s Theater," Skinner replied. "It’s not confirmed, but the agent who filed this report is 
a veteran, and I think he knew Krycek. We need to pay attention to this one."
"Who was it?" Mulder asked.
"Jack Dellacorte."
Mulder nodded. "Good man. May I?" He held out his hand and Skinner relinquished the file 
folder he’d been holding.
"So is this investigation now official?" Scully asked, desperately wishing away the butterflies in 
her stomach.
Skinner sighed. "I think this warrants looking into. I’ll assemble a small task force and we’ll try 
to lay out some kind of strategy; maybe some stakeouts. I’ll keep you advised."
Mulder looked up from the file. "This task force... it’ll be people who know what they’re doing, 
right? I don’t want him to get away because of some rookie mistake."
"Veterans, Mulder. Good people who can be discreet."
Mulder nodded again. "If Krycek has any idea we’re looking for him, he’ll be out of here like a 
bat out of hell and we’ll just be chasing our own tails."
Scully started to feel the noose tightening around her own neck. "Are we really sure it’s Krycek?" 
she asked. "And if it is, what in the world is he doing? What’s he doing at Ford’s Theater? 
Acting like a tourist?"
Mulder and Skinner both turned to her, giving her funny looks. "We don’t know yet what he’s 
doing," Skinner finally said. "Or that it’s him. That’s why we have to watch for a while, doing 
nothing. We have to get a feel for where he’s going and what he’s up to."
"But we’re watching officially now, right?" she asked. At Skinner’s nod, she continued, "What if 
it’s not him? Are we really justified in wasting the taxpayers’ money if we’re not sure?"
Funny looks from both of them again, and Scully mentally cursed Krycek. For all the worry he 
was putting her through, she deserved a big reward. If nothing else, he ought to let her tie him 
up. Sure, he thought she wouldn’t know what to do with him...
"Scully?"
She shook her head. "I’m sorry, what?"
"Meeting tomorrow morning in my office, first thing," Skinner said. "I’d like to try to get this 
wrapped up fast."
"Of course," Mulder said, rising to usher their boss out. "Thank you, sir."
Scully drummed her fingers on her desk, avoiding Mulder’s gaze. If you don’t have a good 
explanation for this, Alex, she thought, you are a dead man.
End Chapter 7
Chapter 8
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