The Course of True Love...
by Beth
Scully walked toward the elevator, amazed at quite how guilty she felt.
Turning down Agent Pendrell's offer of a drink had been like kicking a
puppy. She'd seen the hurt in his eyes, but he hadn't pushed it; she
respected that. Most of the other agents that had come on to her had acted
like they were doing her a favour, and refused to take no for an answer.
Any other day she might have taken him up on it. He was cute, in a
vulnerable kind of way, and he seemed quite decent. But a careless comment
from the oblivious man, about knocking before going into her office, had
finally forced her to admit the truth to herself. Now she just wanted to go
home, eat a ton of ice-cream, and finally indulge in the feeling of
hopelessness she'd been smothering ever since Alex Krycek had invaded their
partnership. She needed to watch a chick-flick, have a good cry, listen to
"I Will Survive", and return to work with some semblance of normality.
She was actually surprised at how little she felt—guilt over her treatment
of Pendrell was currently her strongest emotion.
It'd probably hit her later.
Mulder walked toward the elevator, gleeful that he'd finally managed to make
Alex leave work. It wasn't usually this hard—his lover was mostly as eager
as he was to return to the apartment, the water-bed, and the array
of...toys... they'd collected.
But today Alex had seemed particularly engrossed in a file about some UFO
sightings in Utah, and it had taken all of his persuasive skills to convince
him to leave it until tomorrow. Most people had already left for the night
by now, but they still couldn't hold hands, just in case. But for him, just
having the other man near him was enough. The man he loved. Maybe tonight
he'd finally tell him.
Krycek walked toward the elevator, smiling as he thought of how much Mulder
had whined before he'd finally decided it was late enough that they and
Scully would be the only ones in the building. As the three of them walked
along the hallway he dropped back a little so that he could admire Mulder's
ass. He han't told him yet that he loved him—that he only wanted to make
him happy.
If tonight's events went according to plan, Mulder would be happy
enough.
Then maybe he could tell him how he felt.
Pendrell walked toward the elevator, trying to forget the humiliating day
he'd had. If he could just get home without anything else happening, he
might be able to keep going. One more incident and he was moving to Utah to
raise sheep. Nothing ever happened there.
"Hold on!"
The voice called out just as Krycek leant against the emergency button,
letting out a buzz that made him jump like a scalded cat. She managed to
stop before pressing the button, waiting until the man had entered the
elevator. A familiar face flushed bright red as he realised who it was that
was already there.
She smiled at him and pressed the button, noticing the hostile look that
Krycek was giving the poor guy.
The fact that he didn't like Pendrell made her even more determined to be
nice to him.
Mulder was bored, and he was horny. Standing so close to Alex, occasionally
brushing against him, was not helping any.
~The lights flickered as the elevator ground to a halt, and the grating
muzak (a new idea from sadistic bosses) stopped. The woman gasped, and
thought of oxygen ratios and ice-cream. The man with red hair seemed to
shrink in on himself a little and thought longingly of sheep. The tall man
with golden brown hair tensed and thought of conspiracies and abductions.
The dark man smiled.~
The maintenance crew had been extremely unhelpful. When Scully had pushed
the button, the buzzer had sounded again, making Pendrell visibly tense. The
guy said it would take at least an hour to get to them, and had then called
her "babe", putting Scully in a foul mood. Mulder had gone silent,
apparentely thinking.
"Krycek...?" Green eyes widened innocently in response to the tone. "Why did
the maintenance guy sound so much like Frohike?" The other man couldn't stop
his mouth from twitching.
"I really have no idea. Coincidence?" By now Scully was also glaring up at
him, while Pendrell just looked confused. His frown deepened further as
music came through the speakers.
Scully cocked her head, and almost without thinking identified the "test,
this is a test" refrain. "That's a WWF themetune. Test."
Two pairs of incredulous eyes stared at her. The other pair were closed and
tears were streaming out of them as Alex cracked up.
"What, women aren't allowed to enjoy physical activity?"
Mulder scanned their temporary cell, looking for surveillance equipment. The
gunmen wouldn't just leave them to get on with it... "Frohike... Byers,
Langly—are you there too?" Soul Coughing's "Unmarked helicopters" came on.
They'd always joked that it was pretty much their theme tune. What the hell
were they up to?
Krycek frowned. "They can hear us?" That wasn't part of the deal. "Can you
see this?" Another song came over the speakers. He didn't recognise it, but
Pendrell mumbled something. "What?"
"Um... it's "Middle Finger Salute", by Propoghandi."
"God, don't you guys have anything better to do with your time?" Krycek's
annoyance increased as they put on "Stuck With Me", by Greenday. Funny. He
started singing. "Go away, go away, today, nah nah why don't you get a job?"
Not exactly faithful to the original, and kind of juvenile, but maybe they'd
get the point and stop intefering. then again, this was the Gunmen...
It was Scully's turn to crack up as they played Smash Mouth's "Sorry About
Your Penis". Now that was juvenile. Krycek noticed how Scully had
instinctively turned to Pendrell to share the joke. He'd been pissed at the
other agent for messing up his plan, but now he had got a new idea. He
decided to have a little fun.
Pendrell was getting steadily more unnerved as the green eyes remained fixed
on him. He knew Krycek didn't like him a whole lot, but he wasn't sure what
he'd done that warranted this much attention. He jumped a little as the
other agent reached out to touch his arm, and frowned at the smoky,
almost... seductive tone the other agent used as he asked "So, Agent
Pendrell... do you have a first name?"
end Act 2...
Interval 2
Which was why he'd pretty much stopped talking recently. He was scared if he
couldn't get the guy out of his head that he'd say something that would give
him away. He hardly even looked at him, in case his eyes showed what he was
feeling.
The worst of it was that he thought that Frohike had realised something. He
kept giving him really sympathetic glances. And he really didn't need
that. He tensed as the van door opened, and he felt a heavy warmth settle on
his shoulders.
"You forgot your coat." And these little moments of genuine concern, or
moments when they were laughing together or when he smiled at him... These
were the moments he couldn't deal with. Because they made him feel like
maybe it wasn't just lust. And he didn't think he could deal with a love
that would never be returned. The other man seemed about to speak, when
another song leaked out of the van.
"Beth I know you're lonely, but I hope you'll be alright..."
Langly frowned and turned back to the van. ""Aliens exist" is on the other
side do-hickey."
Byers smiled and followed him back into the van.
End, for now....
Act 2
Let's see her try and avoid the subject now.
On a dark,dark night, in a dark, dark basement, in a dark, dark van, three
men were arguing. The little one said Now? The blond one said No. The
bearded one pressed a switch. In a dark, dark place, a little light
blinked.
In a dark, dark van, a small man moaned.
Frohike was absorbed in watching the top of Scully's head, claiming that
about 5 minutes before he'd seen her bra. Byers muttered "Wishful thinking",
and got out of the van. It was absoloutley freezing in the car park, but
anything was better than being shut up in a confined space with both the
most sex obsessed man in the Universe (but only if the sex involved a
certain G-woman), and the most sexy man in the Universe. His breath plumed
in front of him as he laughed, as he realised how trite even his thoughts
were getting.
How can I be in love with
a man that puts Kiss and Blink 182 on the same tape?
