Title: The Crooked House

Author/Pseudonym: Ursula

Fandom: X Files

Pairing: Mulder/Skinner/Krycek

Rating: NC-17

Status: Finished

Date Posted: 01-31-05

Archive: FHSA, DIB, RAT B, WWOMB, FONXL

E-mail address for feedback: Fan4Richie or Ursula4X@aol.com

Classification: Slash, post series, established slash romance threesome

Series/Sequel: Is this story part of a series: Gone to the Dogs

Web Site: http://www.fhsarchive.com/stories/Ursula.html

Disclaimers: No profit, fan fiction for fun

Notes: Written for the Mother Goose lyric wheel. Beta after initial posting by Mama Beast and Laura, Wolfens.

Warnings: Threesome and Schmoop warnings for this series still apply

Time Frame: Afterwards

My lovers don't like it when I run without the pack of dogs. They like Spooky, but they don't think much of him. My lovers are dog-fundamentalists; they think every dog needs work. Spooky is a well-trained dog and I know he's intelligent and willing yet for every invitation that they make for him to compete at this or that or get his therapy dog designation, I've said, 'no'.

It's not that I think less of my dog, but he's my dog, not my lover's. I was the one that picked his tiny nearly dying body from that filthy kennel at the puppy mill. I was the one who slept beside him at our vet's office. I guess I thought of him as one of the few parts of my current life that belonged exclusively to me without input from my lovers.

Spooky is a golden retriever, beautiful to my eyes, but hardly up to breed standards, not that I care, being a cross-breed myself, not quite human. He's bright enough although high strung and inclined to bark overly much. Alex and Walter keep telling me he would settle down if I gave him a job. I tell them he has a job; he keeps my feet warm when I write. My lovers roll their eyes. I think they feel sorry for Spooky. Alex and Walter don't look down on dogs that haven't been trained, but they are frequently disgusted with the owners. We've had enough arguments over it that they finally learned to keep silent when Spooky jumped on a guest or munched on a pair of slippers. My lovers hate it when I feel strongly enough about a disagreement to sleep in the guest bedroom or in my office.

When it comes right down to it, my resistance to advanced training with Spooky is about me, not him. I love Walter and always will. I love Alex with the same fiery passion that consumed me from the first time I saw him, but damn it, I miss myself. I miss being alone, having only the twin pivots of my work and my obsession to divide my attention.

I used to call Scully my touchstone. Honestly, I have to admit that it was another way of keeping my distance, putting her on a pedestal like a goddess. Scully was someone that I couldn't have. Loving her kept me from perils of a real human relationship, the kind that remind you of the domestic grind. I didn't want a real lover who would remind me to put the cap back on the toothpaste or who would choose to pull me close in my sleep when I really felt like sprawling alone in my space on the bed. Scully usually respected my solitude. It took Alex to break into my heart and leave me defenseless as he once broke into my home. It took Walter to show me that even walls of stone can't keep love out.

I don't want to go back to the way I was, but sometimes I just want to run along the river with Spooky chasing sunbeams and birds at my side. Sometimes I want to be the Mulder I remember being before the war with heaven was won, before I became a man with two husbands, a son, and a community of friends. I want to be Spooky again; I guess that naming my dog for my once loathed nickname was a Freudian slip of sorts.

OooOooO

It had been raining like a son of a bitch for a week, freezing rain that turned to snow for a few moments before returning to an endless cold drizzle. My running shoes were soaked, but I was moving fast enough to work up a good sweat. Spooky, like most of his breed, thought wet was good whether he was swimming in it or just romping along a muddy trail. Bounding to one side, Spooky barked at a squirrel, chasing it up a crooked sycamore tree. It turned and scolded him, raggedy tail shaking in the vigor of its tirade. Walter called squirrels rats with fluffy tails, but I like them. Rats with pretty tails are my favorite kind, right, Alex?

Spooky dashed off the path to stare into the water. I jogged in place and called him back, frowning as I realized that maybe working on Spooky's recall was more essential than I thought. Finally, Spooky dashed back to my side and whined then bounced in place, barking, gazing at a car that stopped briefly at the bridge just past our property line.

What the hell was that idiot doing? I couldn't see clearly who the person was. Bad weather and the way the intruder was bundled against the rain made it impossible for me to know whether the person was male or female. He or she had stopped the small light blue Kia they were driving, took something out of the car, and threw it off the bridge.

It really pissed me off and I ran toward the fence, yelling, "Hey, hey, littering is against the law around here!"

The jerk looked scared and jumped back in the little Kia. The car peeled away so quickly that the tires squealed.

Before I could stop him, Spooky was in the river and had the bag of litter in his jaws. He struggled in the river, which was swollen with the recent rain. I climbed down the bank, yelling, "Spooky, get out of there. Come! Come!"

Spooky lost the bag and swam in a circle to get it again. I stepped closer to the water and yelled, "Come."

The soft bank gave way and I found myself floundering in the river. As I struggled, Spooky climbed effortlessly out of the water and dropped his bag. He nosed it and whined again.

I wasn't frightened. I was a strong swimmer and had confidence in my ability. The current pulled me a little further down and I struggled to escape the pull, still not worried. That's when the damn log hit me, knocking the air out of me and pulling me under. I must have blacked out for a moment because I woke up trying to breathe water. Now I was scared shitless.

Coughing and wheezing, I fought to regain the surface without ingesting any more of the dark dirty water. Another strong current sent me spinning. I flailed around in the panic that near drowning can cause even in an experienced swimmer. My hand encountered something, long wet fur. Spooky!

Teeth nipped my skin as Spooky caught hold of my sweatshirt to pull me toward shore. Still coughing, I managed to swim enough to help him save me. It was so fucking cold and I felt the heaviness of approaching unconsciousness. I shook it off to the best of my power, helped by knowing that my dog would not give up on me; he would rather drown himself.

I could feel the bottom beneath my feet, reached out and grabbed a dangling root. It held. Between the root and the steady pull of my dog's teeth, I climbed up the river side and landed on the clumps of moss and weed beneath the tree that helped save me. I clung to the trunk a moment as if the river was trying to pull me back. Spooky whined and pushed under my arm, wanting me to rise.

Staggering up, I made it back to the path. Spooky left me for a moment to go get that fucking sack. I had mixed feelings at that point, grateful that he had saved me, but pissed that he was the reason I was at risk in the first place.

"Leave it! Leave it!" I yelled, but the damn dog didn't listen to me.

Alex and Walter were right. My dog needed more training. Just as soon as I crawled home, I was going to admit it too.

Spooky danced back, still whining. I grabbed the sack from his mouth after I recovered from a coughing fit. I intended to fling it as far away from me as I could.

The sack was not what I thought it was. It wasn't a garbage sack. It was a battered plastic duffel bag.

Before I could toss it back in the river, the bag jerked in my hand and I heard a weak sound from inside.

I still thought about throwing the bag into the river, thinking it might be a live rat in there. My rat was one thing, but wild rats scared me. The sack made that sound again and I had to look.

My hands fumbled with the latch as I was starting to shake badly, but, after a struggle, I opened the bag. A weakly flailing tiny hand batted at me. It was a baby! Something was wrong with it, but I didn't take time to look. I thrust the infant next to my skin under my running jacket and sweatshirt. It moved feebly and I closed my fingers on my dog's fur, I whispered, "Spooky, good dog! Good, good dog!"

Spooky's thick tail wagged and he gazed up at me, total trust in his brown eyes. Better than I deserved. I can't say he knew that there were baby in the bag when he jumped in the river, but I think he knew when he dropped on the shore. I leaned on Spooky and started for home, hoping that I would make it. I might survive long enough for my lovers to find me if I collapsed, but no matter how tough this infant was, it wouldn't.

When I finally staggered home, I couldn't make it up the stairs, falling on my knees on the bottom step. I lost my grip on Spooky. He looked at me, whined, and ran up to the door, barking loudly. I heard Walter's growl, "Mulder, shut your dog up."

Spooky committed the ultimate transgression and scratched at the screen door, his muddy paw scraping against the Plexiglas.

A moment later, Alex had opened the door and stood, gaping down at me. "Mulder! What happened?"

Despite his question, Alex was already at my side, reaching for me. A few years ago I would never have felt relief at the sight of this man, my lover, my former nemesis. Now, it was hard to keep from collapsing completely and letting my lover figure it out and deal with the baby, Spooky, and myself.

My pride kept me from having the attack of vapors that I felt I had earned. "Fell in the river," I confessed. "Call 911. We need an ambulance and the police. Here!" I pulled the baby from my sweatshirt and thrust the infant at my lover.

"Walter, Walter!" Alex yelled, holding the baby and supporting me.

Walter only took a second to decide that the best course of action was to carry me inside. That was all right with me. I wasn't feeling like any John Wayne fortitude. Spooky shook again right before he followed us inside.

I heard Alex calling the police and the aid car as Walter pulled off my wet clothing.

Moments later, I sat by the fire, wrapped in a blanket. Alex put a steaming cup of tea in my hand. It was full of honey, not the way I take my tea, but I guess Alex felt that I needed the quick energy. Walter had toweled Spooky down. He lay near the fire, Belun grooming his ears diligently.

Alex had the baby wrapped in a towel. "It's a girl," Alex said. "She can't be more than a few hours old."

The baby was growing stronger, restlessly looking for something to suck. She was a beautiful little girl baby with fine features, rosebud lips, and a scattering of iridescent metallic scales instead of hair. Her pearlescent nails were distinctly pointed and resembled the claws of a kitten. Her eyes were oblong slits.

"Never seen one quite like this," I remarked, leaning closer for a look.

Alex had just about seen it all, but he gently ran his fingers along the scales and shrugged. "Looks almost as if she has characteristics of the reptilian stage of the Oiliens. I hope she doesn't have the personality."

I didn't think she did; she seemed like a sweet baby. She sucked at her fingers, fretting.

"She's hungry," I said. "She looks just like a little kitten. That's what we should call her, Kitten."

"Yeah, right, so she can complain about it the rest of her life like you do about being named 'Fox'," Alex said.

Walter joined the conversation from where he watched the security monitor so he could let in the medics and police when they arrived. He said, "How about 'Katherine'? We could call her, Kat, for short."

"We are not adopting a baby," Alex said. "Besides, Jeff and Matilda have been talking about adopting an infant. That way we get to be uncles and not diaper changers."

I laughed and said, "So pooper scooping doesn't reek, but changing a diaper does?"

"I'll ask Scully how often you changed William's diapers," Alex replied.

"Don't bother," I said. "I always figured it wouldn't bother her. She's had her hands in worse things."

My lover snickered at that.

In the distance, the ambulance howled along with all four of the dogs. Walter grunted and hit the gate release before walking outside to wave the medics to the house.

"Call Jeff now," I said. "He better spring the kid from the hospital as soon as he can. Tell him big brother says so."

Alex nodded and sashayed to the phone to do my bidding. I love the way he sways his ass. It warmed me all over and I needed that.

The next few moments were hectic. My lovers insisted on having the medics check me out as soon as they took Kat's vitals and put her in a special warmer, usually used for premature babies. Kat didn't look premature and she must have been one tough little sprout to survive her dunking and the subsequent exposure. Finally, they said I was doing okay and took off with the baby.

I frowned as I realized that I was still feeling her wails even after the ambulance rushed away with her. It scared the shit out of me. The last two times that part of my brain woke up, I nearly went crazy and came close to death.

Alex fussed over me, cuddling with me on the couch while Walter thawed some homemade chicken soup, the traditional Skinner cure all. I decided that I wanted to look pitiful and lap up some more tender care. Snuggling back into my lover's warm embrace, I had to reconsider this morning's thoughts. The old Mulder would have had to content himself with a hot shower, a hot cup of tea if I had remembered to buy tea, and calling Scully in the hopes of getting some sympathy. I like the way this Mulder celebrates surviving yet another brush with death.

A wet paw tentatively tapped at my knee, which had worked its way out of the blanket. I looked at my dog and realized that the real hero of the occasion was feeling neglected. A moment later, Alex had to move over to make room for sixty-eight pounds of still damp golden retriever.

"You have to admit," I said, glancing back at Alex. "My dog has good instincts even without training."

"I admit it," Alex said, stroking both my hair and Spooky. "I just think you are limiting him. But it's up to you. He's your boy."

Laughing, I turned around to kiss my lover and said, "I thought you were my boy?"

Rolling his eyes, Alex said, "I'm getting old for being anyone's boy."

"Not for me," I said. "You'll always be that beautiful boy for me, standing there, hand out, big green eyes to die for, and swimming in a suit that looked like you borrowed it from your dad."

The kiss that I received was enough to persuade me that flattery will get you nearly anywhere, including into Alex's pants.

OooOooO

Despite my chosen warm up activity, filling in an Alex and Walter sandwich, I couldn't sleep. I could still feel Kat, whimpering. It subsided at times, replaced by a background purr of content when she was fed and diapered. I felt a kick of pain that woke me once. They might have taken blood or something. She cried in my mind for a while before our connection blurred, probably because she slept.

If this didn't go away by tomorrow, I was going to have to talk to my lovers and take a trip to the institute. Last thing I wanted though. I hated being poked and prodded at. I, who prided himself on being above the crowd, really didn't like repeated proof of how damn different I was. Shows you what happens when you get what you think you wanted...

Restless, I crawled out of bed. Alex had moved back to the middle, his favorite position. I saw a slit of green eyes and put a finger to my lips, shushing him.

As I padded out to the living room, I noticed that all four dogs were following me. Spooky was no surprise, but it wasn't often that Belun, Alex's mixed breed search and rescue dog left his side. The two bloodhounds, Pluto and Mars, were devoted to all three of us and they never missed an opportunity to check on the household. Honestly, I think Pluto, the more dominant of the pair of hounds, thinks the welfare of the entire household rests on his wrinkled brow. He's so much like Walter that I sometimes start laughing when I see both of them walking though the house, making sure that everything was in the precise order they both liked.

There was a window seat in the living room where Alex often liked to sit. That's where I chose to sit, wondering. Spooky put a foot up, gazing at me for permission. I patted my leg to show him he was welcome.

Despite my attempt to reassure him, Alex came in, tying his robe. I said, "Sorry to wake you."

"It's okay, Mulder," Alex said. "Want company?"

I knew that Alex would understand if I said 'no'. We all had our dark periods where the memory of the past overwhelmed us. However, I found that I didn't want solitude. I moved over again to let my lover join Spooky and myself. Belun uttered a frustrated whine as he realized there was no room for him. Pluto and Mars were made of sterner stuff and preferred the floor most of the time unless they could inveigle their way into our bed.

As Alex's chin came to rest on my shoulder, his arm around my waist, I felt like saying a prayer of gratitude that I had this, I had all of this love.

"You want to tell me about it?" Alex asked. I turned back to him and let myself soak in his strength and his love for me. I remembered the days before he became ill, how we fought side by side. How more than once, he risked his life for me. Who would have known that we would make it through to here, to home, to paradise?

"I heard Kat crying," I said.

"Yeah, well, anyone within a mile heard that," Alex replied. "Good set of lungs on that sprout."

"No, I heard her even after the ambulance took her," I explained. "I heard her at the hospital just now. It woke me."

Another thing I like about Alex. He believes me when something out of the ordinary happens. I don't have to hit him on the head with a two by four to get through the barriers of disbelief that Walter still puts up.

"Shit," Alex said. "We better get you over to the institute. Make sure the growth isn't coming back."

"Later," I said, since Alex was tugging at my arm as if determined to rush me out the door immediately. I had a funny thought and said, "Hey, what if it's not me. What if it's Kat who has the telepathy?"

"Could be," Alex said. "Especially if she has genetic material from you or your sister."

"Yeah, that's the other thing I was wondering," I said. "Where did Kat come from? She's the wrong age group to be one of the Project kids. They're not back, are they?"

Alex knew what "They" meant. He shuddered so hard that Spooky wiggled around to kiss him, sensing his fear. Alex managed to revert to his avocation long enough to say, "See what a good therapy dog Spooky would be!"

After that almost involuntary burst of dog obsessive diversion, Alex said, "I hope to hell it's not a rebirth of the project or them coming back. There could be another explanation."

"Changeling?" I asked, knowing Alex had been exploring his stolen childhood by reading a lot of children's classics lately, everything from Mother Goose to the Blue Fairy Book. He punched me in the shoulder and glared at me.

After expressing his opinion on my theory, Alex petted Spooky reassuringly and said, "Second generation, something we've talked about. Either that or an abductee that was returned with altered genetic structure. If he or she didn't have offspring until Kat was born, they might not be aware that they had mutated genes."

Tireless advertising had lured many abductees or wannabe abductees into the genetic clinics for testing. We could find most of the modified genetic material and we could also tell those abductees who had not been previously examined whether they were sterile due to stolen ova or sperm. I knew no matter how much we tried to present abductees as victims who had no reason to hide what happened that we would never reach all of them.

"I hope you're right," I said.

Alex rubbed my shoulder where he had punched me and snuggled closer to me, wrapping his arm around me. We stayed in comfortable silence like that until I felt sleepy enough to go back to bed. When we did, Walter moved toward us without waking, his flesh seeking ours as if forever linked.

OooOooO

Alex and Walter were doing a seminar the next day. Gina was renovating her conference rooms so my lovers had volunteered our living room. They would be demonstrating how well their dogs tracked on our property. I wasn't in the mood for the company of cops. They always reminded me of the uneasy relationships I had with the law enforcement agencies who called me in when I was Spooky Mulder, the profiler. They wanted my help, but they neither understood me nor respected me. As far as they were concerned, what I did was voodoo.

In any event, I decided that a visit to my brother was due. He and Matilda had married two months ago and were still walking around with stupid blissful smiles every time they caught sight of each other. It was cute, but didn't stop me from teasing Jeff about it.

Mostly, I wanted to see how Jeff was doing with getting Kat out of the hospital. There was nothing in the law that compelled child protective services to release hybrid children to the institute when they were found in need of care. However, Jeff had learned a lot of diplomacy since the days we used to butt heads at the FBI. He maintained good relationships with child welfare... not that he was averse to turning a difficult situation over to Alex when needed. Alex still liked cutting through the crap by slightly less than regulation means when needed.

Kat's case wasn't going to be a problem, Jeff said. I was happy to hear that. "Have you seen her?" I asked.

"Yeah," my brother answered. "Matilda's been down there a lot. She's a great baby. Feisty and, if you're wondering, yes, she's related or about seventy percent likely that she is descended from your genes. I'm also having her genetic pattern compared to our data base."

"I'm glad to hear that she isn't evidence of resumption of the experiments," I replied. "If she's related to me, then she's likely to be a second generation hybrid. Damn, that's good in one sense, but that means that abductees have to worry about the laboratory engineered genetic changes passing down through the generations."

"We suspected it," Jeff said.

We had been walking through the school at the institute. I had only a mild curiosity about the workings of the institute. Alex and Walter were detail men. The only time I paid much attention was if Jeff came to me with a problem that needed some creative rethinking. That wasn't often. Things generally went smoothly here.

I saw a kid duck into one of the restrooms as we turned the corner. It could have been coincidence, but he had a guilty expression. I said, "Hang on, Jeff, I want to use the john."

Jeff shrugged and said, "I'll be in my office."

"See you there later," I said.

The kid wasn't using the john. He was standing with his head against the wall. The first thing I noticed was a scattering of scales along his neck. He might have had some under his hair, but they were well covered by the shock of red that thickly covered his head. He was tall. I looked for any mark of my gene pool and thought that he might have my nose. I guess I have a nose from my mother's family not my supposed father's. She never told me she had cosmetic surgery, but I found some pictures of her before and she had quite a distinguished nose as they say. Before I saw that picture, I didn't know where the prominent nose that Samantha and I both shared originated.

This kid's neck reminded me of Jeff's, sort of crane like and with a prominent Adam's apple. Maybe he was one of the kids that were made with combined strains of several unwitting donors.

"Hi, I'm Mulder," I said.

"I know you," the kid said. "We all know you guys."

The kid didn't seem pleased at meeting me. I said, "Which is why you ducked into the corridor to avoid meeting me? What's the problem?"

Head down, mumbling the words down the collar of his shirt, the kid said, "Wasn't avoiding you. Just had to go."

"Then you have an interesting method of going," I said. "You came in here and slammed your head into the wall. Something upset you and I am guessing it was my visit since Jeff is here all the time."

"They say you can read minds," the kid said.

"I can't," I said. "Not usually. I just have feelings about things."

Which I was currently having. This kid was old enough to be a father. He was normal enough looking that he might pass as someone with no alien genes if he was wearing a high collar.

"Your girlfriend has to be hurting," I said. "Things can go wrong in a home delivery. Her life could be in danger."

I saw the flinch and nodded. "Course, that only matters if you care. Maybe she didn't mean anything to you. Maybe she's easy and..."

Barely managing to avoid the slug that the kid aimed in my direction, I stepped to the side and grabbed his arm, letting his momentum slam him into the wall. I used a standard restraint grip to keep him pinned.

"Your daughter is in the hospital," I said. "I think you better tell me who threw Kat off that bridge. If my dog hadn't jumped into get her, she would be dead before she even had a chance to live."

"I didn't even fucking know that Carrie was pregnant. We're in love. We're going get married as soon as she's old enough. I'm seventeen. She's only sixteen and her dad is some kind of hell and brimstone preacher who thinks that all of us hybrids are the devil's curse," the kid yelled.

So I now had a suspect. I asked, "If I let you loose, you going to give me any trouble?"

"No," the kid said.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Edward Mason," he said.

My brother had given all the kids who had unidentified parentage or who were conglomerates of multiple human donors either his name or the names of our parents. His mother was Cassandra Mason before her life went sour and she married Carl Spender. Edward's name told me that he had been abandoned by his family at birth or was one of the children that Alex or his people still occasionally found in hidden Consortium labs.

"How long have you lived here?" I asked.

"Since last year," Edward said. "That guy you live with found me in Boston. I kept getting kicked out of foster homes because of the way I look. I finally got sick of it and decided to live on my own. I would have been okay if the cops would have left me alone."

The rest of Edward's story I could find out from Alex. There were so many of these kids out there and so many sad situations that I couldn't possibly know about them all. Alex always seemed to know every kid though. It was his penance for his role in the project. He had to hurt with every kid that was the result of the experiments.

"Let's go talk to Jeff," I said.

"I didn't try to kill my baby," Edward said.

"Okay," I said. "We can start from there and find out what we can do for Kat."

"What she look like?" Edward asked. "I heard she looks worse than I do."

"She's beautiful," I said. "She has scales, but she's still lovely."

"She would have been better off dead," Edward said. "I don't want the baby. Me and Carrie, we were going to get married, but I never thought about kids. I used a condom!"

"Things happen," I said, guiding Edward down the corridor toward my brother's office."

OooOooO

A couple hours later, a grim looking Matt Nolen sat in Jeff's office. He had just finished interviewing Edward. The boy had gone to his room, very upset. Jeff's wife, Matilda, was sitting with him, trying to get through the big ball of hurt that this kid was.

"Well, no big surprise on this end," Matt said.

I can never figure out how Matt manages to grow more freckles even during the winter, but there was a line of them marching across his nose like a plague of army ants. The big man ran a hand through his copper red hair and shifted in his chair.

"Sam Hall has a history that goes way back. His daughter, Carrie, had a lot of bruises reported before Sam started home schooling her. She always made up an excuse for how she got them and there was never clear enough contradictory stories. Then there are things that have happened with members of Hall's congregation involved," Matt explained. "Assaults on abductees, that attempted arson last year here, things like that."

"So having his daughter give birth to a hybrid would not be good press for the man," I remarked.

I badly wanted to go along on the investigation, but Matt wasn't going to risk blowing any legal case that resulted from his visit. He said that he would let us know.

OooOooO

After filling my lovers in on Kat's parentage, I tried to work on my new book, a fictional one. Nothing would flow and I started another one. It seemed to me that letting people hear about the project's children would be a good idea. Maybe it would get some more of the hidden children given the help they needed or the life they were being denied. Alex said he believed there were hundreds of hybrids that were being kept locked in basements and attics by fearful family members. Every year, some of them came to light after an emergency or a suspicious neighbor revealed their existence. It was time for them to come into the light.

As I typed, I was dimly aware of discomfort, the sound of an infant crying in my head. Gradually, the sensation became so painful that I couldn't ignore it. I walked out into the living room where Walter and Alex were playing chess. Standing there, it took a moment to be sure my voice wouldn't quaver from the constant burning sensation.

"Walter, Alex, I can still hear Kat crying and I think someone is hurting her," I said.

"Shit," Alex said, putting down his pawn. "We better go check on her."

"Shouldn't we call Jeff? Get one of the friendly state workers to check on her?" Walter said.

"No," Alex and I said together. "Something's not right."

I added, "We have to surprise them."

OooOooO

When we arrived at the hospital, Kat wasn't in the nursery. Walter went to the front desk and starting to go through channels to access Kat's medical record. Meanwhile, Alex picked the door and borrowed Kat's chart from her crib. We found out that she was in a lab on the fifth floor, "Genetics"

"Could be something legitimate," I said. "Maybe trying to prove that Carrie and Edward are the parents."

"This late at night?" Alex asked."No way. Someone's not wanting a lot of witnesses to whatever they're doing with Kat."

A fresh rush of pain announced that we should hurry. I grabbed Alex and shouted, "Let's go. They are really hurting her."

We found Kat strapped to one of those boards that I always thought looked like instruments of torture. Kat was screaming and her little clawed hands raked the air. The man bending over her I knew too well. I had last encountered Doctor Terrell Douglas at the senate hearings after knowledge of the invasion hit the media. Doctor Douglas was not one of the doubters. He testified that he believed the project was real and that every hybrid should be confined, tested, and not released until every trace of alien tampering was gone from their phenotype. Sweet guy ...

"Get away from her," Alex ordered.

"She's not a lab rat," I said, shoving the man away from Kat.

Alex had snatched Kat up, freeing her from the board. "Let's get out of here, Mulder. We can worry about legalities later."

My lover was always thinking. He stood on the chair and freed a disc from the computer that held the web cam recording the experiments. I snatched a sample of whatever Douglas had been injecting into poor Kat.

Douglas said, "I have permission from the infant's family."

"The infant's family, at least on the maternal side, is about to be arrested," I said.

"Nonsense," Doctor Douglas said. "Her grandfather signed permission slips an hour ago. The mother may be in custody, but she's a minor, in any event. The grandfather has already been appointed her guardian in this matter. He wants his grand daughter to live a normal life. I believe I have the key to help do that. Now, gentlemen, I'll have you arrested if you don't return my property and leave this hospital."

"We're leaving," I said, tossing the sample to Alex.

Alex nodded. We ran for an elevator. Alex slapped something onto the control panel and keyed some commands into it.

Smiling at me, Alex said, "You ever wonder how I always managed to get in and out of the Hoover so easily? How I always had elevator doors sliding closed in front of your noses?" Alex tapped the device and said, "Meet my ace in the hole. I had my own computer geek until Spender took her. Still trying to trace what happened to her. I'm going to make sure the elevator isn't stopped until we reach the garage. Walt's waiting for us."

Which Walter was, looking surly and pissed off, but still ready to be the get away car driver. Meanwhile, Alex called our attorney. We were going to need him.

OooOooO

The next morning, after Kat was placed in a neutral foster home, one that Alex used his resources to investigate before agreeing that Kat could be placed in it, we sat in the living room to do some thinking aloud.

"We have a problem," Matt announced after Walter let him in.

Since Matt was next door to family, Alex and I didn't bother to untangle from the couch. In fact, Walter sat down and shifted both of our heads onto his lap. It felt good; complete. Alex moved his copy of Mother Goose to the floor.

Matt glanced at it and said, "You having your second childhood now, Alex?"

"My first, actually," Alex said.

A raised brow was as much as Alex was going to share. Even with Walter and I, Alex didn't speak much of his life before and after his mother's death; at least, not of his childhood and adolescent years. The memories were too painful still.

Matt said, "Well, I had to let Sam Hall go."

Now, I sat up, nearly knocking Alex to the floor as a result. All of us rose to sitting positions, like a reverse domino fall.

"Why?" I demanded. "That's what Doctor Douglas said, but I hope it wasn't true."

"Carrie Hall confessed," Matt said. "She claims she drove the car to the bridge and threw the baby out. She claims that her father never even knew she was pregnant."

"Bullshit," I said.

"A man in the wilderness asked this of me, "How many strawberries grow in the sea?" I answered him as I thought good, "As many red herrings as swim in the wood," Alex recited.

"The Tao of Mother Goose?" Matt asked.

"Seems to fit," Alex said. "I've looked at Carrie Hall's record. Her father has her so subjugated that she would say anything he wanted her to say. And don't ask me how I accessed her records. You don't want to know."

"You barely squeaked by with that stunt at the hospital," Matt said. "You're lucky that the disc showed that Doctor Douglas was abusive in his methods. Otherwise, you would be facing kidnapping charges. Walt, I have to say, I expected better of you. The other two, well, I know you."

"Kat was hurting," I said. "She cried for our help. What could we do? Wait until Douglas killed her? That stuff he was trying to inject her with would have killed her, killed the alien genetic material along with her human side. By the time, we stopped Douglas, Kat was already a very sick baby."

"Seemed all right when I saw her," Matt said.

I nearly told him. My healing power wasn't under control. If I could heal anything, anyone, well, my lover would no longer be missing an arm. The healing happened when the power decided and not when I did. Last night, I had felt the warmth start inside my body, the weakness and heat that marked the few times I had been able to heal. In any event, I still wasn't ready to admit the power that Missy and I shared. Even if I could handle the attention that revealing my healing touch would garner, I wouldn't put a child through that. Missy, Scully's adoptive daughter, had suffered enough in a project laboratory before Alex and Marita rescued her. Now, our little angel with red hair enjoyed a happy childhood with Scully, whose ova had been used to create her and who adored her. I wouldn't have the press and the crack pots making a target out of Missy.

I said, "We had her treated at Jeff's clinic while we were waiting for the court order to place her in a foster home."

"You must have some pretty special medicine," Matt said, his blue eyes watching us closely.

I felt Alex's hand caress my arm as he said, "Incredibly special medicine."

"I'll find out some day," Matt said. "Secrets, secrets."

"In time," Alex agreed. "When it's time."

"Do you have someone working with Carrie?" I asked. "She can't be in good psychological shape, incarcerated, her child taken from her, herself probably a witness to the baby's attempted murder."

"Yes, Brian O'Callaghan," Matt said. "We've already had a psychological examination ordered. The girl is in a fugue state, barely speaking, barely eating. Brian is the best we have. If anyone can get through to her, Brian can."

Matt stood up, stretching. He said, "I hope Jeff is making progress with the boy. The DNA tests have been expedited and we should be able to prove that Edward is the father. Once paternity is established, Edward can petition for visitation or even for custody. That might result in Kat being moved to Jeff's home."

"Jeff's doing his best," I said.

"Well, tell him to push," Matt said. "I don't think Kat is safe as long as her grandfather's free. If Sam Hall believes his granddaughter will never be free of alien taint, he may try to finish what he started."

"You're having the foster home guarded?" I asked.

"Sure," Matt said then looked past me to Alex. He said, "I'm sure if my officers miss anything that Alex's people will stop any threat, hopefully without giving me anything to explain to my captain."

"If I have anyone watching Kat, you can be assured that your captain will have nothing to complain about," Alex said.

Alex was wearing his dangerous face. Damn, that was sexy. Made me want to pounce on him. I was an idiot to fight what I felt for him as long as I did. He is my beautiful, fierce lover and I love him more each day.

After Matt left, both Alex and I threw cautious glances at Walter, expecting at least a cutting remark for our actions.

Our lover growled, "I'm not going to criticize. You did as you had to do. The child was being hurt."

Well, things changed. I guess it's true that the longer you spend together, the more like your lover or lovers you become. Good thing my lovers were people I respected.

Thinking back, I have to say that my thoughts before I found Kat were way off target. Whatever I had lost in becoming part of this odd family of ours was hardly the equal of what I had gained.

OooOooO

I kept looking for some of myself in Edward. I knew he shared my genes and wondered if that was something that could be used. Besides, I had to admit I was coming to like Edward. I liked his anger; it was something I could understand.

We had managed to get a court order to visit Kat. She had changed foster homes. Her claws had scratched the foster father and he asked for her to be moved. The new home was one that Jeff knew and they were willing to 'supervise' our visit.

No one forced the issue of Edward participating, but we scheduled the visit in the comfortable living room at the institute. Edward entered and sat down in front of the big screen TV, pretending not to look at Kat. No one said anything when he came over and sat with us, watching Kat.

"She's kind of cute," Edward said, holding out a finger toward his daughter. "She looks like Carrie in a way. Carrie is very pretty."

"I know," I said. "She talked to me briefly the other day."

"Are you really my father?" Edward asked.

"As close as it comes," I answered. Not a soul satisfying answer, but it was honest. Edward's genes had a good dash of my chromosomes, but not enough to say that I was his father in the conventional sense. After closer study, the woman who gave birth to him did not have genes enough in common to be more than a donor of part of his chromosomes and a surrogate mother to carry him to term. Perhaps she felt that and that was why she abandoned him at the hospital.

"She's my real kid," Edward said. "Me and Carrie's kid."

Thinking of William, I said, "That's a special relationship. I know how I felt when I held my son."

"I want to hold her," Edward said. He craned his long neck, blinked his eyes in a fashion that reminded me of Alex. I carefully handed him his daughter and watched his eyes grow wide as he touched the first human being that he really knew was related to him.

"Oh, man," Edward breathed. "Oh, man, she's so little. I don't want anyone to hurt her the way they did me. The way that Carrie's father hurt her."

"You can help us protect her," Alex said.

"Okay," Edward said. "Yeah, I want to do it."

Rocking Kat awkwardly, Edward brushed his face against her head. "They're soft," he said. "Her scales are soft like hair. They look like bird feathers with all those colors in them. They're not like the one's I have, ugly grey things. I think she's pretty even with them."

"She is," Alex said.

"If I could talk to Carrie," Edward said. "I know I could get her to tell the truth."

"You're sure she wouldn't have thrown Kat into the river?" Alex asked.

Eyes fiery, Edward said, "No, Carrie isn't like that. She's gentle and sad. She makes me want to protect her and take care of her. I've never felt that way with anyone before. At least, not before today."

Gently handing Kat back, Edward said, "Carrie and me aren't going to be ready to raise Kat by ourselves, but if you guys would help, at least, we could see her all the time. She wouldn't have to wonder who her parents were."

"We can do that," Jeff said. "I tell all of you that we are family here. Even if we're not related by genes, all of us share the same inheritance, children of human tampering and alien experimentation"

"That alien shit," Edward said. He offered a small smile and said, "I used to pretend that it couldn't be true. I'd tell people that my scales were a disease and I was going to treatment to get rid of them. Stupid kid stuff."

"No, not stupid and not only something a kid would do," I said, thinking of some of the things I tried to free myself of the horrors of my past and the burden of my ancestry.

"Just get me into see Carrie," Edward said. "And make sure that the baby ... my daughter never ends up in places like I did. She should be loved."

I had handed the baby to Matilda. She was softly stroking Kat's head, cooing to her. I jerked my chin in that direction and said, "She is loved."

OooOooO

There were two ways we could have gone about getting Edward into detention to see Carrie, but Alex thought of a third. All I can say is that Edward never appeared on her visiting list and that my lover seems to have the ability to walk through walls.

They say that you should never ask a question in court to which you don't know the answer.

Our attorney pointed that out when Carrie took the stand. He wasn't sure that Carrie's resolve would continue without Edward's direct influence. Since Edward was a witness, he couldn't stay in the court room. Alex and I were exiled as well. I was a witness and Alex had no official role. Walter was our inside man. Carrie's attorney had taken him on as an assistant in the case. Walter had asked for the right salary, none, and he was good at research. Carrie liked him and because of her good response to Walter, her attorney delegated my lover to lead her through her testimony.

Carrie was being tried as an adult. Her psychological testing indicated that she had normal intelligence and that she was not mentally ill. Of course, she had every sign of post traumatic stress. The evaluator didn't believe Carrie was capable of murdering her daughter. She yearned to be with Kat, wanted to see her despite all the fears that her father had tried to instill in her.

It all depended on whether Carrie loved Edward and Kat enough to defy the person who dominated her life. Alex and I held hands as we waited, hoping for the best.

I heard commotion from inside the courtroom, shouting and sounds of a struggle. Sam Hall burst out a moment later. Alex and I took great pleasure in tackling him and holding onto him until the bailiffs could arrest him.

After order was restored, the judge took very little time to order Carrie freed. They had to convene a dependency court immediately as Carrie wanted to be released to the institute. Her mother was dead and she had no close relatives. With the promise of close supervision, Carrie was placed with the institute so she could be close to her baby.

OooOooO

A few nights later, we celebrated at the institute. The dogs accompanied us. For once, it was my dog that was the center of attention. After the story hit the national news, one of the big dog food companies had a representative contact us. The food was crap that Alex and Walter couldn't have been forced at gunpoint to feed our dogs, but the company sponsored an award for heroic dogs. Spooky was a shoo in for first place and he seemed to know it.

After dinner, Carrie and Edward were allowed to have a chaperoned walk with each other. We were being careful as Sam Hall was trying to raise hell and brimstone from jail, telling his followers that Carrie was being encouraged to live an immoral life style with Edward. The deluded fools still followed Sam, some of the crazier ones even more impressed because the preacher was willing to sacrifice his own granddaughter to the cause of purity.

Meanwhile, Alex cuddled Kat in his prosthetic arm as he turned the pages of his beloved Mother Goose. He had chosen one of the more innocent rhymes to read the baby.

"There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile. He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a crooked little house," Alex read.

I grinned at him. That was us. Our crazy little household might not seem to one that would work for most people, but we all fit together. If we were different, our differences were celebrated with love and made us stronger. And that wasn't any Mother Goose tale.

The end
 

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