Beloved

Alex Krycek shouldered his way into apartment 42 and dropped his duffle bag in the hall. Glancing around for his lover and not finding him in the dark, silent apartment, he called out sarcastically, "Honey, I'm home."

"Great, glad to hear it. Now go take a shower. Our plane leaves in two- and-a-half hours," Mulder called from the bedroom.

"Mulder, I just got off a plane. I have no intention of getting back on another one. I don't care what haunted whatever, animal mutilation, or missing somebody you want to go investigate. The only thing I'm doing when I get out of the shower is fucking you through the mattress."

"You can fuck me through the mattress after we get to San Francisco and you make an honest man out of me," Mulder said appearing at Alex's left.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Mulder grabbed a hold of Alex's collar and hauled him forward for a hungry kiss. "Shower, change. I've already got us packed."

"What's so important in San Francisco?"

"You don't know?"

"If I did, would I be asking? I lost count of how many time zones I've been in. I'm beat. Will you stop with the ---?

"I want to show you something," Mulder said, taking hold of Alex's artificial hand and tugging him into the living room.

Alex watched as Mulder flipped through the news channels.

"Here, take a look at this," Mulder said, indicating the news report.

Nearly three minutes of silence passed between the two men as Shepard Smith narrated the footage they were viewing. "This isn't legal?" Alex asked turning his bright green eyes toward his lover.

"Maybe, maybe not. But it's sure as hell an excellent exercise in civil disobedience."

Alex smirked and leaned over to press his mouth against Mulder's ear. "You know if this turns out to be legal, you're stuck with me, because I won't give you a divorce."

"You're stuck with me anyway, 'cause if you try to leave I'll shoot you."

"It probably won't matter anyway," Alex said starting to pull off his jacket. "When Scully finds out we'll both be dead."

"She wouldn't go that far. You'll be dead and I'll just be tossed back in a padded cell."

"Mulder?"

"Alex, I'm serious. Will you marry me?" Mulder asked, beginning to drop to one knee.

"Only if you stay the hell off the floor," Alex said, catching Mulder by the bicep.

"I thought you liked me on the floor."

"That's on two knees, not one."

Mulder reached in his pocket and handed Alex a black box.

Flipping the lid open, Alex examined the two platinum bands. In Cyrillic the bands were engraved with, "I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me."

"I thought both our cultures should be represented. But if you don't like them?" Mulder said, brushing the carpet with the toe of his right shoe.

"Galupchik," Alex whispered as he drew Mulder close to seal their fate.