Title: A Rat's Life Author: Kindli Pairing: Mulder/Cory Raines-- Mulder/Krycek UST Rating: NC-17-- slash Status: part 2 of 3 -- complete Fandom: X-Files/Highlander Disclaimers: X-Files belongs to Chris Carter, Fox and 1013 productions; and Highlander belongs to Panzer/Davis. Archive: anywhere, just let me know Website: http://trelaRose.tripod.com Feedback: kindli27@hotmail.com Part 2: A Rat's Life ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~Chapter One~~~ ~~~Two months pass~~~ ****** Sitting on Mulder's desk, Lexi watched and listened to everything that went on in the basement office. While working, Mulder would reach over to pet him every so often, feeding him sunflower seeds as he munched on them himself. --------All of this affection was a welcome break from the beatings he usually received when in Mulder's presense. Alex felt as if he could really get used to it. He wondered about Scully, though. In his book, Ms. 'Just the Facts' would have been the last person to suspect there might be anything unusual about him. But her curious glances made it obvious that she was suspicious.-------- Lexi sat on the desk while Mulder worked on his files. When Mulder and Scully went off on a case, they brought Lexi along. Life went on this way for a couple of months. One afternoon, Mulder snuck up behind Scully as she stood close to his desk, her back to the door. "What are you doing, Scully?" Swinging around, Scully glared at him, her blue eyes flashing in annoyance. "Nothing." Mulder stepped past her and smiled when he saw Lexi contentedly munching on a slice of carrot. He turned to Scully with a mock-pout. "You think I don't feed him properly?" Not looking at him, Scully walked to the file cabinet, opened one of the drawers and appeared to be digging for a file. "You don't feed yourself properly, Mulder." "Yeah, yeah, yeah... anyway, Cory got arrested last night. He wants me to come bail him out, so I took a day of vacation for tomorrow; would you like to come with me?" Scully thought about it for a moment before nodding. ~~~Chapter Two~~~ ~~~Same day, almost 5:00~~~ ****** "I'll come by for you in a few hours. I'm leaving later this evening." He promised before they left. ----Lexi wondered who Cory was. Scully seemed to know him, and Mulder didn't seem to be bothered by the idea of posting bail for him.---- That evening, they were driving toward Seacouver with Scully questioning the reasons for their having to go rescue the annoying immortal. Lexi hoped for more clarification on this word, but Scully just went on to ask why it had to be Mulder. "Why doesn't he call Mac to bail him out?" "He's got some files for me. Besides, you know how Mac feels about him." Mulder turned off onto an exit that advertised gas. "Some files? He hasn't been pretending to be Krycek again, has he?" Scully's expression was suspicious as she glanced at Mulder. They pulled into the gas station. "He didn't tell me." "Is the cabin open?" Mulder stepped out of the car, sticking the keys into his back pocket. "I didn't think to ask." Rolling her eyes Scully moved to get out of the car herself. She turned back just in time to see Lexi squeezing through the hole he had chewed into the cardboard box that was to have been his home for the road trip. There were little air holes poked all over in the box, but they didn't seem to make the rat any more content. He had been complaining quite vocally before he had started chewing his way out. She was amused by the rat's tenacity and chuckled as she reached down to pick him up. She lifted the rat and set him on her shoulder. "Come on, Lexi. You can help me make a phone call." The animal was not only tame but obviously intelligent. After some initial suspicion she finally decided that he had just been very well trained by his previous master. She was becoming as paranoid as Mulder, seeing conspiracies around every corner. Lexi clung to her shoulder as she walked closer to the road, punching a number into her cell phone. Amused by her whole-hearted acceptance of his rodent pet, Mulder watched her walk nearer to the road as she spoke into her phone. She stood watching the road as she waited for a response. She breathed a sigh of relief when the call was finally answered with a clipped grunt. "Methos?" An english accented voice carried through the phone. "Speaking." "It's Kadia. Are you still in Seacouver?" "Yeah. I'm at Mac's." "Cory's been arrested. We're going to need a place to stay for the night. Can you open up the cabin?" She crossed her fingers as she waited for him to stop swearing and answer her. Muttering could be heard in the background as he presumably informed Mac of the identity of the caller. "I suppose. Is Mulder with you?" "Would *I* be coming to bail Cory out of jail? We'll be there in a few hours. Could you wait there for us? I need to talk with you." Methos didn't sound too pleased with the idea. "I suppose." "Thanks, darling. We'll see you then. Oh, and you'll get a kick out of Mulder's new pet, I promise." She hung up and patted the rat's head again before heading back to the car. "Methos will open the cabin for us." She had barely shut the door when Mulder started the car. Navigating the car out of the lot and back onto the road, Mulder gave her a quick glance. "Good. I wasn't looking forward to a hotel." ----Precariously, Alex moved from Scully's shoulder to the back of the car seat, balancing on the slippery vinyl as he carefully walked the short distance, before finally crawling to safety on Mulder's shoulder and curled into the indent between shoulder and neck to try falling asleep. He wondered about what he had heard on the phone today. Why did Scully call herself Kadia, and who the hell was Cory? ---- Lexi was hiding inside Mulder's pocket when they entered the police station, but he wasn't allowed to peek out. Mulder worried that the sight of a rat would attract the attention of the police and would be remembered. He didn't need the Consortium to look into his 'off duty' activities any closer than they already did. After everything had been taken care of, they walked with Cory to the car and drove to the cabin. ----Lexi peeked out the pocket, but it was too dark to see anything. Once inside the cabin, however, he could see the man named Cory and couldn't believe his eyes. Cory could be his twin... at least if he were in human form.---- Upon seeing the furry, white little head peeking out of Mulder's pocket, Cory began to snicker. Methos looked to see what had aroused the other man's mirth and choked back a laugh. "This is your new pet? Are you kidding?" Mulder brought Lexi out to set him on his shoulder before removing his jacket. "His name is Lexi." "Lexi?!" Cory laughed. "Geez, Fox. We all know how you feel about Alex, but don't you think this might be carrying it too far?" Mulder defended himself half-heartedly. "Scully named it. I found him outside my door a few months ago. He sort of attached himself to me." Methos turned to tease Scully. "You insult a defenceless rat with a name like that?" "His eyes are green. And like Mulder said, he attached himself to him. Besides, he's cute, just like Alex." She winked at Methos when Mulder coughed. "Hey, if I were that size I'd attach myself to him too. Of course, it would be rather difficult to have sex in that shape, but I supposed sex isn't everything." Cory grinned at Mulder innocently. "Shut-up, Cory." Mulder shot him a tolerant smile. Raising a brow, Cory's expression challenged his friend to react. With a meaningful glance at Scully, Methos nodded at the door leading outside. They started to talk quietly as they walked away. Setting Lexi onto the couch, Mulder advanced until he had the unafraid immortal pressed into the wall. Cory waited patiently for Mulder's next move. Mulder placed his hands on the wall, trapping Cory where he was before he leaned in to kiss him. As they kissed, Cory put his arms around Mulder's waist and pulled him closer. "Just don't go calling out for Alex this time." Mulder smiled as Cory maneuvered them so that they were hip to hip before he moved in for another kiss. ---- Lexi couldn't tear his gaze away from the site of Mulder and *his* look-alike preparing to have sex. He supposed he should have realized Mulder swung both ways, but it had never occured to him to wonder. He had always been under the impression that Mulder hated him with a passion, making any sort of relationship with him impossible. He wanted to hate Cory, but he couldn't. The man reminded him too much of himself. Though he was jealous of the affection between the two he couldn't resent them: not when Mulder looked so relaxed.----- An hour later, Mulder was pulling his shirt back on with professional efficiency. "Where's the info Eastleigh left us?" Cory sighed. //Back to business.// "I locked it inside the safe; I'll go fetch it." ~~~Chapter Three~~~ ~~~A week later~~~ ***** Scully and Mulder were walking along the beach in Revere, Ma. They had been looking into local rumors that accused a Wiccan coven of interfering with the ocean's tide. ------ As usual, Lexi sat on Mulder's shoulder. In most circumstances he would have been bored out of his mind, but lately it appeared that there was a lot he could learn from these two X-Files agents. He couldn't believe some of the things they took for granted. All this time he had thought that he had had some strange experiences. ------- While they were walking along the sandy shoreline, Scully suddenly stopped and grabbed Mulder's arm. "Hold up a minute." She glanced around cautiously. "Hey, Red!" A shout came from out of the darkness, the voice itself drowned from the wind and the roar of the ocean as the waves pounded the shore mercilessly. They turned to see a tall dark-haired man approaching them. He gave Mulder a dismissive look. "This is not your concern." With a shrug that nearly dislodged Lexi from his position, Mulder turned to his partner. "I'll wait for you at Kelly's." Scully nodded her agreement. ------ Lexi moved around restlessly as Mulder walked away, and wondered why they were acting so casual about this obvious threat to her safety. He heard Scully ask the man why he was concerned with her, but was unable to hear the man's response over the constant rumbling of the wind as they walked further away. He chattered nervously into Mulder's ear, brushing his nose against the warm neck. He refused to be comforted when Mulder petted him soothingly as he crossed the street, approaching a small building whose side read *Kelly's*.----- Mulder bought a fried dough roll with powdered sugar and cinnamon. "Don't worry about her Lexi. She can take care of herself." He fed a piece of the sweet bread to the agitated rodent. When Lexi refused to settle down, Mulder pet him and gave in. "Alright, alright. Come on, let's go back and watch." He crossed the street to retrace his steps along the moonlit beach. As Mulder walked back, they saw her strolling towards them. "Hey, Scully, where's the asshole?" She shrugged as Mulder put his arm around her waist. "He'll be all right when he regains consciousness." The moon shone upon them brightly as they companionably walked back to the car. Lexi's curious chattering was ignored as they talked about the man following at a discreet distance. Eventually, Lexi became silent and listened avidly as they began talking about 'Watchers' and 'immortals'. The case of Wiccan's controlling the tides was thrown out the window when it was discovered a hurricane had begun and died out about 30 miles off shore and had caused the strange tide changes. ~~~Chapter Four~~~ ~~~Another two weeks pass~~~ ******** Mulder stepped into his apartment with an envelope clutched tightly in his hand. Opening it, he skimmed it over quickly, and then stalked over to the phone to punch in a number on the phone. He paced the living room, staring past the rat sitting on the back of the leather couch. "Krycek's Watcher hasn't seen him for almost 2 months." ----Lexi's ears perked up. What Watcher?------- "Considering how many people want him dead, of course I'm worried. No... Charles wouldn't just lose him. He's been watching Alex for over 6 years, and he knows every hide-out Krycek has." He listened to Scully for a minute and interrupted her again. "If he doesn't regain contact within a week, I'm going to start searching myself." Sighing deeply, he hung up the phone and flung himself on to the couch. Lexi moved closer and crawled onto Mulder's shoulder, silently giving comfort to the man for whom he was learning to care. ----Lexi remembered hearing them talk about the Watchers after that night with the man on the beach. Watchers recorded the lives of immortals. But he wasn't immortal and that was something Scully would surely know. So why would they have a Watcher on him? And why should it cause Mulder so much concern? Was it because Mulder didn't know where he was, or because he no longer knew what he was up to? Or was it true when Cory and the others teased Mulder about his emotions regarding his human counter-part? ------ Mulder fell asleep on the couch that evening and Lexi moved to sleep on the older man's chest. It was confusing to be so dependent on this man for affection and attention and still not know how he really felt about him. He wasn't even sure he liked Mulder. Well, he knew he did like him when he was with just Scully on an independent case, but that was because Mulder seemed to act different. He was more confident and independent. But as soon as Mulder put on that Armani suit, he turned into that annoyingly earnest and naive young man, determined to find and expose the 'Truth'. But Mulder was both of these men, and he was learning to need them both. Alex awoke to again find himself in the blood red room with a death black floor. This time the odd looking man appeared before him in a flash of smoke. "Congratulations. I never thought you'd survive, but you did. The Guardians have been appeased for now, so try not to anger them a second time." Alex snorted and fearlessly stared straight into the demon's glowing red eyes. "The only reason I'm being returned to normal is because Mulder expressed concern for me. I can get away with anything, because he wants me." "Don't get too cocky, ratboy. They have the time it takes before he's again alerted to your disappearance. And I don't have room for you down here, so quit pissing them off." With a snap of the man's fingers, Alex was unceremoniously dumped in an alleyway, sans clothing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~