by Claire Dobbin
The only upside to the whole mess was that he'd been diverted off the highway close to a decent hotel that was able and willing to cater for his unexpected arrival. Spacious and well appointed though limos were, these days, the penthouse suite he'd been given was much more comfortable. It also made pacing back and forth a lot easier.
He glanced at his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes and cursed silently. Less than two and a half hours of their anniversary remained. If the gridlock ahead wasn't cleared pretty damned quick he was going to miss it altogether, and that was simply not acceptable. For nineteen years, despite all the problems two hectic schedules could create they'd always been together on the 8th December. It was sacrosanct, the special day when the rest of the world was put on hold and existence narrowed down to just the two of them, together, somewhere quiet and private, where not even a phone call could interrupt.
The final thought made him smile despite his annoyance. Last anniversary had been different from those that went before, which was not surprising considering their changed circumstances. There had been a constant stream of phone calls and one very inappropriately timed meeting, but this year things were generally calmer and the omens seemed good. That was until the weather front from hell had blown in leaving confusion in its wake.
The door of the suite opened and Bill entered in his usual 'ever present, never here' demeanour. Alex turned towards him hopefully, but the man shook his head.
'Highway patrol are telling us another two hours minimum, sir, and that's assuming all the stranded cars are drivable. It could be much longer.'
While aware of the man's sympathetic tone, he couldn't stop the disappointment from showing on his face.
"Phone?'
'Still out, sir.'
'Thanks Bill, you'll keep me informed?'
'Of course, sir, I'll be right outside.
As silently as he'd entered, the man left.
Alex turned back to the window and began to take off the heavy wool topcoat that up until then he'd stubbornly refused to remove. The movement, reflected in the dark window, caught his attention and he stopped and straightened up, looking at himself full-length in the mirror-like glass. He shrugged back into the coat and ran his hands down the lapels, remembering the crisp, cold January day he'd worn it for the first time when he stood by the side of the man he loved and watched him make the most important commitment of his life.
Correction, the second most important commitment of his life; the most important commitment of his life he'd made twenty years ago to the very day. They both had, without knowing it. What had begun as a hot one-night stand had grown and developed into a loving partnership, strong enough to withstand everything they, and the world, had thrown at it.
"Fuck," he commented vehemently, flopping down into an armchair and resisting the urge to throw something very breakable, very hard across the room.
He began to imagine the evening his lover would have planned... gourmet dinner in front of a roaring fire... silk sheets on their big bed... maybe a sprinkling of rose petals... a gentle seduction, leading to a night of tender passion...
A wailing cacophony of sirens in the distance interrupted his Oprahesque meandering and he looked out into the night. If anything the snow was heavier. He hoped the noise didn't signal another multiple pile up and was glad when he realised the vehicles appeared to be moving away from the highway, in the direction of the hotel. They came to a screeching halt just below his window and a dozen officers emptied out of them taking up defensive positions all over the car park.
"What the hell... ?" he wondered aloud, just as Bill knocked on the suite door and entered without waiting for permission. His expression was the one he wore when on full alert and his weapon was drawn.
"We've had a tip-off, sir, probably a crank, but the chief doesn't consider this a secure location so we're moving you right away."
Alex shrugged helplessly and asked, "How?"
"There's a helipad on the roof and the chopper is a minute away. If you'll follow me, sir."
The agent muttered something into the sleeve of his jacket as he moved forward, Alex falling into step behind him. Once in the corridor two other agents took up the rear and the group made its way briskly along hallway until they reached the door of the stairwell. A single flight of tiled steps brought them to the roof exit, guarded by a fourth agent, through which they stepped out into the wintry darkness.
The blast of the wind was nothing to the howling down draught of the Sikorsky VH-3D waiting on the helipad. Using hand signals the agents communicated with the crew, and holding tight to the edges of his wool coat Alex followed the prompts of the men around him and ducked low to cover the short distance to the door of the helicopter. Stepping inside, out of the wind and the noise, was a blessed relief, and he relaxed back into the padded seat, a little bewildered by the speed of his evacuation. Bill helped one of the crewmembers slide the door closed and with a gentle lurch they lifted off the building.
"Sir," Bill suggested, "your seatbelt."
"Uh, thanks," Alex said and strapped himself in.
Twenty minutes later 'Marine One' was circling the helipad at their destination. A perfect touch down and he was in a jeep driving along the wooded road up to the main house. The marine at the front door saluted smartly and, despite his eagerness to be home, Alex stopped to thank the agent who had been his shadow since he'd set off on the informal political tour.
"Thanks Bill, for everything—" he began.
"Just doing my duty," the man interrupted in his habitually calm voice, but as he moved back towards the door he smiled, very slightly, and said, "enjoy the rest of your evening, sir."
Alex's eyebrows rose in disbelief, as all the pieces fell into place.
"Bill?" he asked, but with a much broader smile the man was already closing the door.
Alex shook his head and smiled to himself as he headed for the private quarters at the back of the ranch style building. Reaching them he was about to fling open the glass double doors on the living room when he caught sight of his lover standing beside the fireplace, head bowed, seemingly lost in contemplation of the flames. He stopped abruptly and stood watching.
The unselfconscious grace and strength of Walter Skinner still took his breath away, even after twenty years. Despite the fact the man was fast approaching his fiftieth birthday his physique was as impressive as it had been the year they met. Alex, to his chagrin, had to work harder in the gym than his lover. But, more importantly, over the years Walter's physical presence had been complimented by his growing wisdom and intellect as he embraced every lesson life had to offer and made it his own. Rock solid integrity and a love of justice had been his since birth, and when you put it all together it was easy to see why people trusted this man, and voted for him.
But Alex was also privileged to know the inner man, the one with the cares and worries, and the self-doubts that could never be part of the public persona. Walter Skinner was strong for everyone, and Alex Krycek was strong for Walter Skinner. For them, the old cliché ran true; they each needed the other to be whole.
Alex opened the doors and stepped through and Walter straightened up.
"Yes... " he began before he realised who it was, and when he did his face told Alex how much he was loved and missed.
They held each other for a full minute before Alex pulled back far enough to capture Walter's mouth with his own, his hands coming up to hold his lover steady against the assault. Walter groaned loudly in response and pulled their lower bodies tight together as he ground his erection into Alex's.
"Well," Alex panted in between kisses, "I don't need to ask if you're glad to see me."
"Glad doesn't cover it," Walter told him huskily, before he asked. "Whose bright idea was it that you should go off on that fucking junket anyhow?"
"Umm, that would have been your bright idea," Alex answered, allowing himself to be manoeuvred backwards towards the nearest wall.
They bumped into its unyielding surface with a satisfying groan from both of them and Walter immediately began stripping off Alex's many layers. Reaching skin he dipped his head to suckle at a hardening nipple, mumbling as he did so, "Stupid, stupid idea... "
"As is this," Alex reminded him gently. "We can't... not here."
Walter was past words by then. He grunted and released Alex from where he had him pinned and they hastily retreated to the bedroom. Not to make use of the bed though, since the older man was very much in an 'up against the wall' frame of mind. He picked up exactly where he'd left off, and with Alex's enthusiastic co-operation they became quickly lost in the scent and taste and feel of each other as friction worked its magic.
Walter looked down at the sticky mess between them and their satisfied state and laughed.
"Maybe the trip wasn't such a stupid idea after all," he told his lover, hauling them both upright.
"Mmm," Alex agreed. "That was good... in a god awful kind of a way."
"It's never anything but good, babe."
They kicked their way out of their clothes and Walter gathered him in for a deep, knowing kiss.
"I sort of jumped us ahead in the schedule there," he said apologetically. "Thinking you weren't going to make it home tonight got me a little desperate, I guess."
"Now that's what I like to hear." Alex cuffed his ear playfully. "Anyhow, I'm here, we're together. That's all that matters."
He plastered himself against Walter's naked back and together they walked into the bathroom.
Walter chuckled.
"Have you heard the one about the lawyer who was so good he managed to have a charge of sodomy reducing to 'following too close to the person in front'?"
"Ha ha," Alex said, humouring him. "An oldie, but a goodie. A bit like yourself, Walter.
"Oh yeah, there's plenty of life in the old dog yet," Walter told him turning in the embrace and responding to the sinuous movements with some pretty provocative moves of his own.
They made out for a little while, standing in the middle of the big bathroom, just re-establishing contact, in no particular hurry for it to go anywhere.
"Okay, so you're evidently not tired," Walter stated, pulling away from his lover's insistent mouth. "How about hungry?"
"Definitely hungry," Alex told him. "I was too wired to eat."
"That I can do something about." And he disappeared out of the room.
Alex reached over and started filling the big tub. He had just sat down in the warm depths of the water when Walter returned with a couple of Philly steak sandwiches, a bottle of bourbon and two glasses.
Alex looked up at him a little misty eyed, the images of their first night together in his shoebox sized studio apartment vivid in his mind.
"I thought it might be a good idea to revisit a time when life was a little more 'real'," Walter told him, then asked, "You remember?"
"Everything."
He set out the food and filled two glasses before climbing into the tub and settling himself between his lover's legs. For a while they clung to each other and munched on the steak sandwiches and sipped at the strong liquor.
"You know I nearly didn't go to the meeting that night," Walter told him, breaking the silence.
"What?" Alex choked on his drink.
"I had spent the day having doors slammed in my face on the hill, I had a lousy headache and the last thing on my mind was fending off a bunch of student radicals, who's sole purpose in life was to talk louder and longer than anyone else in the room."
"Gee, thanks Walter," Alex told him, with a pout.
"Stop pouting, Alex," Walter replied without looking round. "How was I to know I'd find a brilliant young academic who'd be the love of my life?"
The pout morphed into a dazzling smile.
"That's better," Walter said smugly, and got a thump for his trouble.
"Well unlike you, I had been looking forward to it for weeks... because Walter... did I ever tell you... you're my hero—"
A hard yank on his legs was the only warning he got before he found himself submerged beneath the bath water. Spluttering and still holding the remains of his sandwich, he re-surfaced to find his lover high tailing it out of the bathroom.
"Waaallter," he roared between lung clearing coughs.
Dropping the soggy bread, he pulled himself out of the tub, sloshed his way across the soaked floor, and gave chase. But he didn't get very far. Walter was lying in wait on the shadowed side of their bedroom door and as his irate pursuer emerged he wrapped a robe and his arms around him and held on tightly. There was a struggle, but it was all bluster and soon they were dried and making out on the bed. Which, Alex noted with incredible satisfaction, was dressed in standard navy and white stripped cotton sheets and was completely devoid of rose petals.
"Umm.... I forgot..." Walter mumbled as he tried to pull away from the mouth that was vacuum packing his tonsils.
"No... no..."
"Wait till you see this," he promised, fumbling for the TV remote.
"Ahh Walter," Alex whined, "I listened to your Utah speech in Japan, every word, I swear... "
A hard swat on the behind made him sit up and he watched the screen spring to life. It showed a football game. A very old football game, but one he remembered well. It was the game they'd watched their first weekend together. They'd watched it in bed, same as they'd done everything that weekend.
"Wow! You were able to get a copy of it?"
"Jeez, there have to be some perks to this job!"
They settled down to watch and amazingly they got caught up in the seesawing game.
"Oh, I remember this final play," Walter said enthusiastically.
They watched it like they didn't know the outcome, and yelled when their team won. Again.
"Hey Walter," Alex said, his voice dropping to a lower register. "Do you remember the play that followed?"
He didn't wait for a reply; instead he straddled his lover and began a seduction that sent thoughts of football and anything else coherent fleeing from Walter's mind.
Afterwards he held the older man as he slept, keeping him close, keeping him safe. That was all he could do, because this was Walter's time, and though it made him proud to be part of it, it was hard. It was hard to have to share him with so many others, to see him only at the beginning or end of each day. It was hard to live in the glare of publicity and to know others were gleefully waiting for you to slip up. It was hard to be the first, to blaze the trail for those who would follow.
It helped a little knowing that after this, and probably a second tour of duty, it would be 'his' time again, when his own career could resume and he would be himself again, instead of whatever he was now. He smiled ruefully. Political correctness meant that everyone skirted the issue of his role and his title, though he'd heard from an insider friend that he was commonly referred to as 'Caesar's Wife'. Not only humiliating, but also annoying, since compared to him, that lady had gotten off pretty lightly in the 'above reproach' department. He had to live in the goldfish bowl of 24/7 aggressive media scrutiny. He was constantly on guard against doing or saying anything that would give their political opponents something to use against Walter.
In fact, the possibility of their relationship being used in this way made them both cautious to the point of neurosis, as the events of the evening had shown. They'd have spent it apart rather than risk being accused of the unnecessary expenditure of tax dollars on a helicopter ride.
But whatever the price, it was worth it. Walter was making a difference.
The man in question moved restlessly in his arms.
"Hey," he said softly, "I thought you were asleep."
"Don't want to sleep yet," Walter told him in a husky voice. "It's still our anniversary... and I never told you what a good job you did out there... the reports back were... glowing."
"Mmm, then I take it you didn't hear about the unfortunate incident in Tokyo."
Walter peered up at him warily.
"What incident?"
"Whatever that woman claims, it was she who molested me."
"What?"
"Let's put it this way, Walter, I learned the hard way that in Japan, octopus is not confined the sushi selection."
The sound of Walter Skinner's laughter could be heard across a large section of Frederick County.
finis
Near Thurmont, Frederick County, Maryland
8th December 2021—9.44pm EST.
lex Krycek stared out into the snowy night and seethed in frustration. It was infuriating to think that four inches of snow was all it took to cause the entire eastern seaboard to grind to a halt, yet here he was stranded, because the first hiccough of winter had closed the interstate. What made it totally frustrating was that he'd travelled ten thousand miles from the Far East without a hitch; it was the final thirty that were proving impossible. And to complete his misery, a freak atmospheric disturbance was causing havoc with his secure cell phone so he hadn't even been able to call home.
