Night Watch

He's sitting alone in the dark.

He's been watching her apartment building for a week. He's been waiting for the perfect time.

He's tired of waiting. But he's still watching.

Dana Scully fought her way through the door of her apartment, her arms filled with FBI files and mail from the box that hadn't been emptied in three days. She often put off collecting her mail and then had to deal with too much at once.

Dropping everything on the kitchen table, Scully took off her shoes first thing. Her panty hose came next.

Her phone rang. Not her cell phone. The cordless phone that sat on the stand by her kitchen window.

"Scully. I mean, hello?"

"Don't stop now, beautiful. Why don't you get really comfortable?"

"Mulder, is that you?" Even as she said it, she wondered how Mulder would know that she'd been taking her clothes off.

"Mulder! Not even close. Don't make that mistake again, Dana."

Scully took a deep breath as she recognized his voice.

"All right, I understand. So it's you, Krycek. I suppose you're out there spying on me in your own nasty way."

He chuckled softly in a way that made her skin break into goosebumps.

"What do you think, Dana? I enjoy watching. I especially enjoy watching you. I've been watching you for a few days this time."

Scully tried to recall her actions during those few days. Had she actually done anything worth watching?

"Why are you calling me then? Why bother me with it? Watch if you want to, if that's all you want to do. If that's all you can do."

Krycek's voice was low and hoarse. "Is that an invitation, Dana?"

"To use your own words, Krycek, not even close. You'll never be welcome around me."

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep watching, keep using my imagination. I've gotten real good at it over the years. I've wanted you for a long time, Dana. Did you know that?"

Scully was starting to feel slightly warm and lightheaded. She got a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sank into a chair at the kitchen table.

"Suppose I did know, Krycek. What if I said that I knew how you were thinking about me all along. That sometimes I did things I might not have done otherwise, just because I knew you were watching. Watching and thinking. Thinking about being with me." Scully's voice was low now, too, and angry. Who was she angry at?

"Maybe I'll give you something more to think about."

She got up and went back to the telephone console. She pushed the speaker button, then set the receiver back in the cradle.

"So Krycek...are you still watching?"

Without waiting for an answer, Dana Scully stood by the window and removed her jacket. She did it slowly. Then she unzipped her skirt and let it fall to the floor.

"Alex? Still watching?"

Krycek's voice came back over the speaker. "Oh, yes, Dana. I'm most definitely still watching. Aren't you worried that I might not be the only one?"

"Not really, Krycek. If they are, then let them watch. I don't really care. I don't know any of them. But I know you. And it's all for you."

Scully unbuttoned her silk blouse and eased it down past her shoulders. She was wearing her sexiest brassiere. She wondered just how well he could see. Where was he, was he using binoculars? Was he across the way somewhere with a telescope in a window? How long, how many times had he been watching her? What had he seen?

The blouse slipped off her body. She took her slip off next.

"Oh God, Dana. You look so good. So hot."

Scully turned around so that her back was to the window. Just to tease him a bit. But she was having too much fun to make him wait much longer.

She wanted to hear his voice when she showed him everything.

She unfastened her bra and played with the straps until she could hear him breathing heavily over the speakerphone.

"What are you looking at, Krycek? Do you really think I'm going to give it all to you the first time you ask? Suffer, victim."

"Jesus, Dana! I never knew you had it in you. You fucking tease! Do you do this to him, too? Has he ever watched you and wanted you like I do? Have you ever given it to him? Does he touch you in all the places that I've always wanted to touch you?"

Scully let the bra slip off. While Krycek was breathing hard, Scully was hardly breathing.

"What do you think, Alex? Worth the wait? But maybe you've seen it before."

She bent over to take off her panties and heard Krycek moan from wherever he was.

Alone and hot and wanting her.

When she stood back up she was completely naked. She touched her breasts and her body swayed with her own sudden need.

"What are you doing now, Alex?" she asked him. "Are you touching yourself? I want you to. Go ahead. Look at me, watch me, and do it."

By the sounds on the other end of the telephone, she knew he'd taken her advice.

Scully's body and hands moved in time to the noises Krycek made.

When she heard him come, she did too.

She pulled down the window shade.

"Call back again sometime, Krycek," she told him before she hung up the phone.