Posted 06/11/01

I wrote this a year ago, but never published due to worries that my version
of the mythology didn't make sense. But after this past season, nothing can
be more senseless than canon, so I thought I might as well post.



=====================
Written- 06/00
Playing in the Attic IV
Gift from Above
by Araxdelan
Rated- R
Spoilers- Mythology episodes seasons 3-The Movie. And one bit that can be
considered from "The Begining". But it's a very vague reference.
Series- Part of the *Playing in the Attic* series. All parts can be found
at http://araxdelan.tripod.com and are necessary for comprehension of this
story. This universe spins off right after the movie.
Notes- Written before "Requiem", with all mythological elements developed
independantly from CC's.

Thank you to Ursula and Aris, both of whom looked over this for me.

========================





	There are times in life when you completely expect whatever comes your
way. And then there are times when the twists and turns of fate take you by
surprise.

	I didn't know where Alex was. I thought Alex might be dead. And then I
walked into my apartment, and he was there.

	I had come home from work expecting another lonely night watching
television and surfing the internet. I closed the door behind me, and made
my way towards my desk to turn the lamp on. I never made it there. Before I
walked half-way through the living room, I noticed a lump on my couch.

	My first instinct was to draw my weapon. But as I reached for it I
realized who the lump was, and sobbed with relief. I stepped cautiously
towards the couch. My footsteps didn't rouse him, and he was so still. I
was afraid that I gotten him back only to lose him again. But as I kneeled
down next to him I could make out the movement of his breathing. He was
alive.

	He was lying on his left side, facing away from me. I rolled him over, and
got the shock of my life.

	He was whole.

	I gasped and jumped back at the sight of his left arm. I thought that it
was an impostor lying on my couch. But reason soon overcame me... if this
was a shifter, why hadn't he shaped himself to have only one arm? If it was
a shifter, why was he just lying there?

	To be safe, I grabbed a safety pin from my desk drawer, and pricked Alex's
finger. He bled red, and I threw the pin on the coffee table and threw my
arms around him. He made a muffled noise in his sleep, and nuzzled me.
That's when I began crying.

	In the year that Alex was missing, a lot of things became clear. At first
I was unsure of my feelings for him, but glad for our truce. Glad for an
opportunity to be with him, should I choose to take it. But as the months
wore on my worry grew, helping to make things crystal clear. I love him. In
a "forever" sort of way. And having him alive and whole in my arms was the
greatest gift I have ever been given.

	I looked him over then, checking for any injuries. I saw none, and thought
that perhaps his unconsciousness might be drug induced. There was no way
for me to find that out short of taking him to a hospital, and I wanted
that to be a last resort. I decided to try and wake him first.

	Shaking produced a few mumbles, and spraying cold water on his face with
my fingers got me a whine and a half-hearted attempt to brush the water
off. So I kissed him.

	I leaned down and took his mouth, gently at first. Just a few brushes of
lip to lip. But then I slipped my tongue into his slackened mouth, and
kissed him deeply. Before I knew it, he was kissing back. I put my hand to
his cheek and pulled away. His eyes were still closed.

	"Alex... wake up Alex, please. You're worrying me."

	"Mu...Mul...Mulder?"

	"It's me."

	And with that his eyes slid open, and his face lit up with a tired smile.

	Tears started flowing down my face once more. I smiled stupidly at him and
stroked his face, not being capable of anything more at that moment.

	His smile disappeared, replaced by a confused look. His left hand reached
up to touch the tears on my cheek. "Why are you crying?"

	"I... I thought... I thought you were dead."

	His expression turned horrified. "How long have I been gone?"

	"A year."

	"Oh my God." He turned his face away from me and snarled, "Those
*assholes*."

	At that point I was thoroughly confused and thoroughly curious. And
thoroughly pissed at whoever fucked Alex over.

	"What happened? Do you know? Are you all right? Your *arm*?"

	He smiled at me. "Too many questions."

	I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Are you all right?"

	"I think so."

	"Okay. What happened?"

	He sighed, and tried to sit up. I grabbed a pillow and propped it behind
his back, against the arm of the couch. He patted the seat next to his
legs, and I got up off the floor to sit. He lifted his legs up, making room
for me on the couch, and then rested them on my lap. With everyone now
comfortable, he began his tale.

	"A few days after I saw you last, I was approached by the rebels. They had
an offer for me..."

	"How do they communicate? I thought their mouths were sewn shut."

	Alex smiled and rolled his eyes. "My curious Fox... they have telekinetic
powers. Now please save any more questions till I'm through, or I'll never
finish explaining."

	My mouth, which was already open to spout out a string of follow up
questions, snapped shut, and I very quietly sat back. I was proud of
myself.

	"So, the rebels approached me. They said that they thought they had a
solution to our problem with the oil aliens. I knew that if we could stop
the oil aliens the others wouldn't have a chance. We can always physically
fight off the colonists and the shifters, but the oil is infectious...
we're helpless against it. The one form takes our bodies over..."

	And here he paused in remembrance.

	"... and the other uses us as... as... *food* for it's generation into a
solid creature. There was never enough we could do about it. The vaccines
we have are weak, and even if they did work we couldn't vaccinate
*everyone* on the planet. It would be an especially large problem in third
world countries... if the oil was let loose there it would enslave millions
and use the rest to breed. It would be impossible to fight, Mulder. The
form that inhabits bodies has the ability to send out those radioactive
bursts, and the other form... well, you've seen them. They wouldn't be easy
to fight.

	"So, when the rebels came to me with a supposed solution, I jumped at the
chance. Even when they told me what it entailed.

	"They said I'd have to go away with them... *Away*, Mulder. As in 'away in
their spaceship'."

	At that point my eyes lit up, and were probably as big as dinnerplates. My
mind was racing. Nothing I thought was anywhere near coherent, but it was
along the lines of "he was in a spaceship a real live spaceship and he flew
in space but now he's home..."

	And Alex just *looked* at me. Waiting. After it was obvious that I was
going to keep my mouth shut, he smiled, and said, "Well, you're showing
remarkable restraint."

	He waited to see if I would reply, but I sat silently, with a straight
face. After a moment he laughed, and I smiled.

	"So, they said I'd have to come with them. They also said I would only be
gone a week, tops." He snorted sarcastically, but soon turned serious.
"Mulder... Fox, you know that if I had known I would have told you. I never
wanted you to worry."

	"I know." I reached for his hand, and held it within my own. "I know."

	And that was good enough for him.

	"So... they take me to their ship, and *then* they explain to me exactly
what kind of help they'll need from me. They said they needed me to be a
carrier."

	"A carrier?"

	"Yes... yes, that's the wonderful part!" he said, smiling. "The rebels,
they're sort of like... interstellar humanitarians. They don't want us to
be enslaved, so they had people working on ways to prevent the hostile
aliens from invading. They had people from different fields... their own
version of scientists, diplomats, combat experts... but, in the end,
science prevailed.

	"The oil aliens are hearty beings... they can survive in hibernation
states indefinitely. But they need very specific conditions in order to
successfully invade a host. That's why you've never seen... oh, let's
say... a cow that's been taken over by the oil. Or a... bear that's been
turned to jelly as part of the oil's generation cycle. The conditions they
require are specifically found in the human body... on this planet, anyway.

	"When the oil has the right conditions, it can invade and overtake a body.
It then behaves much like a virus. So the obvious answer to our problem
would be the creation of a vaccine. And that's what some of our scientists
have been working on. There are three downsides. One, it was only created
to protect a few key humans; collaborators, mostly. And even if the vaccine
was going to be released to the general public, we'd never be able to
create enough for everyone. I already mentioned the third problem;
distribution.

	"So, all this time, we've been looking in the wrong direction. I truly
thought the vaccine was our only hope, which is why I went with you to
Tunguska. I needed to make sure you were vaccinated, and I swear I couldn't
do it any other way. You never would have come with me, and it's not like
the Russians were just going to *hand* it to us. I had to make them think
we were prisoners."

	He answered one of the important questions I had. He disappeared so soon
after our truce that I had no time to ask him any of them. And it was in
that moment that I realized I wouldn't have to ask him anything at all.
He'd clear everything up in his own time. I nodded, and he continued.

	"But I'm getting off track here. The vaccine was the wrong way to go, and
the rebel scientists knew that. So, instead of focusing on making us immune
to the oil once it makes it's way into our system, they focused on making
it impossible for the oil to ever enter our system in the first place. And
it was pure brilliance.

	"They knew if they could upset the balance that made our systems so
perfect for the oil, that the oil would be unable to inhabit us. They had
studied our bodies before, and knew that it would be simple for us to use
them to our advantage. They saw the helpful bacteria that we carry within
us... the bacteria that helps us break down our food, that helps to keep
our bodies healthy and balanced, and they knew.

	"They engineered a special kind of bacteria that's un-harmful to humans,
but that makes our bodies in-inhabitable to the oil."

	My mouth dropped open as I contemplated the news. "My God. And there's no
need to distribute the bacteria. Bacterial spread between humans is an on-
going process! That is brilliant!"

	He chuckled huskily at me. "I'm glad you think so, because you're
officially the second person to become an unsuitable host."

	"That's what you're carrying... the bacteria."

	"Yup. And since you kissed me, you're carrying it, too."

	I touched the fingers of my free hand to my lips in wonderment. I was
safe. Alex made me safe.

	"You don't have to kiss every human being on the planet, do you?" I asked,
only half jokingly.

	He squeezed my hand. "No. It's extremely contagious. The moment we leave
this apartment, it'll begin to spread. It actually travels through touch,
not saliva."

	"Oh. Are there any side effects?"

	"No. They worked hard to make sure there weren't any. I think that's why I
was gone so long."

	I raised an eyebrow.

	"You see, they took me aboard a transport vessel.. the kind that lands
here, for research purposes. The transport vessel took me to a larger ship.
I suppose you could even call it a 'mothership'. They had facilities there 
where their scientists were working on the bacteria. When I went aboard,
they explained to me about the bacteria, and also explained that they
needed a living human to test it on. And since they were against the idea
of abductions, they needed a volunteer. And since they don't know a lot of
humans, I was their only choice."

	"What about me? They know about me, don't they? Why didn't they ask me?"

	"They did consider you. But they know that your work here is important."

	But I knew that wasn't it. I could tell from the tone of Alex's voice that
he *hated* the idea of me being the one taken. "And you told them not to
take me, didn't you?"

	"And I told them not to take you."

	"Why?! You know that it would have been my dream come true to take a ride
on one of the ships, to see the technology the rebels possess!"

	"Fox, this wasn't a guided tour. They needed to do *experiments* on me. It
was *dangerous*."

	I huffed out an upset breath and looked away. I didn't know whether to be
angry that I missed out on the trip, or touched that Alex was looking after
my well-being.

	"Well, if it was so dangerous, why did you go without telling me? What if
something had happened?"

	"Can you honestly say that if I had come here to tell you that you
wouldn't have tried to stop me or come with me?"

	I pouted. "No."

	"Well then, you see that I had no choice."

	"I guess."

	I was still sulking, and Alex could tell. "Listen... I'm supposed to have
a meeting with them in two weeks to discuss how well the bacteria has been
spreading. You can come with, and I'll ask them if they can give us a ride
in their ship. They're probably not used to giving out joyrides, but
they'll do it for me."

	"Why you?"

	"Because I risked my life to make sure that the bacteria was safe. They
offered me my arm back as a sort of repayment. I'm sure they won't mind
doing me one more favor."

	His hand was still in mine, and I gripped it just a little tighter for a
moment. "That was nice of them, considering you would have done it anyway.
So, I really get a ride a spaceship?"

	"Yes."

	"Kickass."

	"Now, can I get back to my story?"

	"Yeah, sorry."

	"So, the tests were extremely dangerous, and taxing on the body. So they
put me in sort of a suspended state. I thought that it would only last a
few days. When I woke on the ship, they explained that it took a little
longer than they thought. I guess our version of a small amount of time
differs greatly from theirs.

	"They then told me that the extra time was required due to serious
problems with the bacteria. I was still pretty out of it, but they said
something about having to re-work the delivery method. Originally, it was
supposed to have been airborne, but there was some problem with our lung
tissue... They also said something about having to re-tool the bacteria
because it wasn't spreading throughout the body properly. I'll have to ask
them more about that at our meeting.

	"But I can see how those problems would be timely to correct. I just
didn't think that they'd leave me in suspended animation while they took a
year to fix things... They didn't contact you at all?"

	"No. Why?"

	"I... when I heard how dangerous this all was, I asked them to make sure
you were contacted if I should die. I guess they didn't think to contact
you to tell you that I'd be gone for a hell of a long time. Their reasoning
works a bit differently than ours, I think."

	"Oh."

	"So, I woke up on the ship, they told me about the problems with the
bacteria, and explained that they had repaired my arm while I was in
suspended animation. They also mentioned that a side effect of the re-
awakening process would be a few days worth of grogginess."

	"So *that's* why I couldn't wake you up! You really scared the hell out of
me for a minute there."

	"Sorry."

	"Why did they bring you here, anyway?"

	"Oh, I'm sorry about that, too. Like I explained, I was pretty out of it
when I first woke up, They asked me if there was someplace safe I could go,
and I said, 'Take me to Mulder.'"

	"You feel safe with me?"

	"Yeah, Mulder, I do. There's no other human being in the world that I
trust more. In fact, I don't think there *is* another human that I trust."

	"I trust you, too."

	"After all I've done?"

	"I'm learning that you sometimes do things for reasons I don't understand.
It was never right of me to judge."

	"Am I dreaming?"

	"Huh?"

	"I have my arm back, the aliens will be gone soon, and you're apologizing
to me."

	I leaned over, and kissed him. "It's no dream."

	He sighed, his eyelashes fluttering against his cheek. "It was worth it."

	"What was worth what?"

	"Losing a year of my life was worth this. Getting rid of the aliens,
getting my arm back, being close to you..."

	Right then I wanted to tell him that I loved him. But I was so afraid and
he had been through so much. So, I postponed my confession, and decided to
try and put Alex to bed.

	I slipped his legs off of mine and onto the floor, pulling him into a
sitting position. "Do you think you can walk?"

	He nodded, so I stood and helped him to his feet. He swayed unsteadily for
a moment, but soon righted himself.

	"You okay?"

	"Yeah."

	"Still tired?"

	"For someone who spent a year sleeping? Yup, I'd say so."

	"You can sleep in my bed."

	"Where will you sleep?"

	"On the couch. Or," I ducked my head, shyly, "I could share the bed with
you, if you don't mind."

	His hand came up and cupped my face, turning me to face him. He looked at
me solemnly and said, "I don't mind."

	"Okay."

	We walked together into the bedroom. I sat Alex on the edge of the bed and
turned towards the dresser to find him some clothes to sleep in. I knew
he'd probably be borrowing clothes from me the next day, too, because the
outfit he was wearing was most definitely the same one he wore the last
time I saw him.

	He had begun undressing and when I turned back around he had just gotten
his shirt off. He was staring at his left arm, running his right hand over
the skin. When he looked up at me I could see the awe in his face.

	I walked up to him, and placed my left hand at his waist. His skin was
smooth and soft, and I couldn't help but run my thumb over it, stopping
only when I brushed against the waistband of his jeans. My right hand
grasped his left bicep, and I used it to steady myself as I leaned forward
to press a kiss into his left shoulder.

	After a year on an alien ship, I expected him to have a chemical, hospital
smell about him. But his skin only smelled clean and fresh. The aliens were
apparently above the use of common soap, because he didn't have a perfumed
scent. However they washed him left no odor but his own. Pure and deep. I
inhaled, pressing wet kisses up the curve of his shoulder and to his neck.
There I began giving him small, suckling bites that made him moan. The
vibrations from his throat tickled my lips as I made my way up his jaw, and
then towards his mouth.

	We kissed for a bit, and then Alex pulled away. "Fox, I can't," he panted.
"I'm too tired..."

	I kissed him again, more chastely. "That's okay. Later."

	He nodded. I went to the bathroom to wash up, leaving him to change. I had
brought my own clothes with me so that I could dress in the bathroom and
avoid a potentially awkward situation.

	When I came back into the bedroom, Alex was already underneath the sheets.
I shut off the light and climbed in next to him. We lay quietly for a
moment. Then Alex broke the silence with a giggle.

	"What?"

	"For some reason, this reminds me of all the times when we were young and
used to sleep over at each other's houses."

	I smiled in remeberence. "You used to be so afraid of the dark. Even when
you got older we used to have to have a night-light."

	"Yeah. Things sure have changed since then."

	I sighed. "Yeah."

	"But we'll have our lives back soon."

	I reached over and took his hand in mine. Smiled. "Yeah."

	There was a few more moments of silence, and then Alex rolled over into my
arms. I held him there.

	"You know," he said, "I still get afraid of the dark, even now. We can
never know what's hiding there."

	I rubbed his back. "It's okay. We have each other now."

	"Yeah. Thank you. For everything."

	"S'okay."

	"Goodnight, Fox."

	"Goodnight, Skippy."

	"Awww... don't call me that anymore. I *hated* that nick-name. Call me
Alex. I like Alex."

	I smiled into his hair. "Goodnight, *Alex*."

	"Goodnight."

	And with that, we fell asleep.

The
End