At arms length Author : Tirduj Rating : must be R or maybe NC-17 for a part. Disclaimer : not mine, blablabla… Note : there must be a lot lot lot of mistakes, the title did mean something when I started the fic but I forgot the idea so now it means nothing...or whatever you want! Joyce was sitting on the porch of her house. She was looking at the empty street in front of her, sadly. Joyce, this 12-years-old girl was always sad, she had lost her parents not a long time ago and lived with her older sister and brother who tried their best to offer her a "normal" life. She loved them more than everything, they did so much for her. Losing her parents was not the first ordeal she had to go through, a long time ago, when she was 7, she lost her best friend. He had been kidnapped and found dead three days later. Luke was her best friend and even more, like all children do, they had planned to remain together forever, eat ice-cream, have a lot of pets and a lot of things like that. Luke used to want to be just like his father and Joyce like her mother, she still did and so did Luke. Because she still saw Luke. She saw him living, playing, growing. She first had thought she imagined that because of the pain she had, she had seen a therapist who told her this kind of things often happenned. But then the "visions" became weirder, more realistic, Luke was growing, it was like seeing a parallel universe where Luke Doggett was still alive. She became to find out what she saw when Luke started to see her too, thing that he was not able to do before. Before that moment, she was just seeing him, but then they talked and Joyce learnt that *she* had just have an accident and she was dead in Luke's "reality", she told him he was dead too in her reality. They didn't try to explain much that, they were happy to have each other again and both lived like that, hiding their secret. Only the two of them were able to watch in the other "reality". When people heard Joyce talking to Luke they just thought that it was a way for her to support the pain and they let her. Thus everybody was happy . This day, Joyce was not really looking at the empty street, she was watching two men talking at the front door of the house which face her, Luke's house. Luke was sitting beside her, they both watched John Doggett talking to Brad Follmer who wanted obviously to enter the house. Joyce turned to Luke. "Who is it?" "I think that's Monica's ex boyfriend, I'm not sure." "How could he come here like that? Where's Monica?" "Not at home, she must come back soon though, I hope he'll be gone when she shows up." "Yeah, I don't like that rat-boy." Both chuckled. Luke stood up. "got a test tomorrow, see ya later?" he said, imitating his father's accent. "Yeah!" she replied, laughing while he kissed her on the cheek, proud of his imitation. Luke left the porch, he crossed the road without looking and didn't see the car coming… Fortunately Joyce saw it and yelled to his friend and to the driver who turned violently to avoid the boy. Doing this he didn't avoid Follmer who was leaving too. The driver didn't stop and drove away, Luke was safe but the AD was lying face down on the road. Joyce and Luke both ran to him, John had run to try to see the license plate but he was already too far. He looked at his son in confusion. "Luke, where's Follmer?" "Here Daddy!?" "Yeah , the guy I was talking to." The two kids looked at each other, then at the crowd which have gathered around Follmer dead body, all of them were people from Joyce's "reality". ~*~*~*~ It was Saturday evening and Monica and John were sitting on the couch in John's living room. "I'm not sure John…." "Monica, you'll see, it's great!" "Great? 'Terminator II', great?" "Yeah! You'll love it, there are weird things, you must see it. " Monica stared at him in disbelief. John grinned and pressed the 'play' button. They watched the movie, sometimes John glanced at his partner thinking how beautiful and sexy and… He tried to focus on the movie but Schwarzeneger was not as… 'STOP!' he yelled silently. Monica chose this moment to turn to him and to ask : "Don't you think the T-1000 look like you?" "I'm not in liquid metal." He said with a deadpan face. "Seriously, the same ears, the same eyes, the..." "Are you kidding? his ears are gigantic!" "That's what I'm saying," she teased. John was going to answer when the phone rang. "Doggett…. Sir…What!?... she's here…no I'll tell her… thank you Sir, we're coming, at least I." John looked now worried and it scared Monica. "John, what's wrong?" "Monica" he said sitting next to her and looking at her straight in the eyes. "It was Skinner…AD Follmer have been found…dead…Monica I'm sorry, I know that..." Monica had gasped at the word 'dead' but she cut John in the middle of his sentence. "How, where, who…What the..." She burst into tears and John hold her silently. Two hours later, the two agents were sitting in Skinner's office. Monica's eyes were still red but she had insisted to come. Skinner had explained them that Follmer had been found near New-York, he obviously had been hurt by a car. The problem was that he had been seen 15 minutes before in the FBI building, that's why this case was an X-phile. Skinner also told Monica she could refuse to work on that case but she wanted to find out how her ex-boyfriend could have been in DC and 15 minutes later lying dead in a street near New-York. Finally he handed the file to the agents and let them go. In the plane, Doggett started to read the file while Reyes was trying to sleep. When John read the address where Follmer had been found and the name of the only witness, he couldn't help but let escape a 'Oh my God!' Reyes woke up. "What?" "Monica, that address!" He showed her the file. "Oh my God, John, that's was yours in New York!" "Yes, and the name of the witness?" "Joyce Hartwell… she was..." "Luke's best friend, yeah…. Monica, this little girl had lost her parents when I was amnesiac in Mexico, she lost her best friend at the age of 7, and now…" John's eyes were filled with tears. "John, it's OK, I understand, as bad as I want to find out what happened, I won't do anything that could hurt her." "Thanks, I just don't want she thinks that bad things happened because of her. Her sister and brother told me she did after their parents deaths." They both remained silent for a while, then Reyes asked looking straight ahead : "John are you OK?" "Yeah what about y..." "Will you be OK, then?" " I… I don't know." He admited. Once in New-York they directly went to their motel rooms. Monica was lying on the bed, she couldn't stop crying. Doggett heard her through the wall, he wanted to go and take her in his arms but he was afraid that she wanted to be alone. Finally he knocked at her door. She opened the door and let him entered. "Wanna talk?" She nodded and they sat on her bed. She talked to him about Brad, about why she had loved him, what a jerk he had been, why she felt pain now that he was gone. He listened to her attentively, almost lovingly, just holding her hand. She cried a lot, when she stopped it was late and she was exhausted. "Thank you John, for listenning." "It's nothing, Mon. Remember, you did the same for me. Try to sleep, 'night" " 'night." He headed to the door while she slipped herself between the sheets. He had hardly reached the door when Monica burst once again in tears. He ran back to the bed, climbed on it and hold his partner once again. Between two sobs she managed to talk. "I'm sorry" "Shh, Monica it's ok, I'll stay with you until you fall asleep, ok?" "Yes, please." Progressively she relaxed in John's arms who had fallen asleep long before she did. She had watched him while he was quietly sleeping, his arms embracing her. She also had whispered in his ear : 'What would I do without you.' John woke up. Monica was still in his arms and she had nuzzled her face in his neck. He kissed her hair, savouring the sweet scent of her. He felt her moving slightly and heard her sigh. He carressed her back as she shifted against him. She looked up to him still sleepy and he did what his mind was telling him to do : he kissed her. It was a soft kiss first but then they deepened it. Monica's hands began to stroke John's back just like his hands did to hers. John rolled on top of her, still kissing and Monica started removing John's T-shirt and pants and boxers, all at the same time. They stopped kissing to remove their clothes and once both naked, John explored his partner body from the ear lobs to the feet, licking, sucking, bitting. Finally Monica took his head to bring his mouth back to hers. He slipped his hand down to feel if she was ready. She lifted her head to capture his mouth while her hands captured his stiff member. He broke the kiss to look in Monica's eyes while he entered her slowly. He saw in her eyes the same emotions that could be seen in his : love, pleasure and need. They moved in rythme, back and forth, up and down. Monica's hands explored John's amazing body. She tried to catch every square inch of his body to remember it as John kissed her neck and her cleavage, descending slowly to her breast. Sky in John's eyes at on go was not pure anymore(**), at the same time Monica cried his name in pleasure. John collapsed breathless on Monica's body. They stayed like this for a while, then Monica bit John's shoulder as he kissed her neck. "I love you." They had said it at the same time and that made them laugh. John rolled back beside his partner and brand new lover. She laid (?) her head on his shoulder and they didn't move until he was time to go. Doggett pulled the rental car in the street where he had lived some years ago. But this time he parked on the other side of the street. Walking to the Hartwell's front door, he glanced at his former house, it looked like nothing had changed there. Reyes let Doggett knocked at the door, after all he knew them, he and Barbara were still friends with the Hartwell. A young woman, in her early 20s opened the door. "Mr Doggett!" she said, smiling. "Hi, Lea, How are you doing?" "Well, thanks," she answered mechanically "Please enter." "Here's my partner Monica Reyes. You may remember her, she was the task force leader when Luke disappeared." He said as she led them to the living room. It amazed Monica how he had easily mentionned Luke without a wink. "Yeah, I remember. Nice to see you. Joyce will be back soon, she's bringing flowers to our parents with Teo…our brother." She said that last part for Monica who smiled and nodded. "How are you three dealing with all that, I mean your parents?" John asked. "Sometimes it's still difficult but Joyce's better, she eventually take that quite well…maybe too much for a 12-years-old girl. Did Barbara tell that she didn't cry at the funeral? She never cried in fact… For that man, Follmer, actually it's strange, it's like she...but you'd better talk to her." "Ok." By the time they had sat and Lea had brought them drinks, they chatted waiting. Reyes notticed that Lea was always talking fast and often changed the subject to avoid the pain it brought. Few minutes later, the door slammed open and Joyce and Teo entered the house. Joyce stopped in her tracks when she saw Doggett, tears began to fill her eyes. Seeing the man's face hurt her more than anything. She often saw the 'other Mr Doggett' who was such like him except for the sadness. She walked to him, they were now both crying and they hugged to comfort each other. Doggett was happy to see his son's best friend, she had been like his daughter for so long. "I'm so sorry you miss him, Mr Doggett. I wish you can see him, I wish so much." They drew apart and Teo was at least able to say hello to Doggett and Reyes. Doggett and Reyes questionned Joyce for a while, she was she unique witness and they really needed to know what had happened. Joyce didn't know what to say, she knew that the FBI would come and she had talked with Luke on what to say. But she hadn't expected that the agents were John Doggett and Monica Reyes! She told them that she had just heard a noise, seen the car driving away and the man lying face down on the street. "Then, I ran to him, to check if he was ok, but he was…" "Joyce, were you alone in the street?" "Yeah, people only came after the accident." "And you havn't seen the man until it?" "No, I was…daydreaming, you know." "Ok, Joyce, we had just a few more questions, Monica will ask them to you while I'll talk to the twins." John left the room and went down the stairs to the living room where Teo was studying and Lea fidgeting her pencil. "Hey you guys, first time I see the twins quiet." They both smiled and Teo answered : "We growed up, Mr Doggett." "Yeah, that's why I'd prefer you call me 'John'. Thus I won't think I'm that old." "But you a…" Lea stopped her brother in time. "Teo, he does have a gun!" The three of them laughed. Doggett's face grow serious to ask: "It seemed to me that Joyce's hiding something to us, did she tell you something?" "No, nothing, but what's wrong?" "I don't know, a feeling that she doesn't say everything, that's why I let her with Mo...Agent Reyes, sometimes female witness talk more to female agent." "Do you want us to ask her, in a conversation or something?" "No, no it's ok. Where were you when it happened?" "Working. We work in a restaurant every Saturday." "To pay your studies? You know if you need money or anything, I'm here!" "Thanks… *John*, it's ok, we just keep money for Joyce." "You're very good sister and brother, you know that?" Teo replied immediatly. "Oh yeah!!!!!!!" Monica entered the living room with Joyce. Before they left, The twins had given them the names of the neighbours, so they would be able to question them too. Follmer's funerals were on Tuesday and they hoped they would have something to bring to Skinner then. They questionned the neighbours in the afternoon. It appeared that nobody had ever seen the AD before and that they just had heard Joyce shouting something like "luck"or "lock", they disagreed on the word. Skinner called them to know where they were going with the case and told them he had gone through all Follmer's file but didn't find out why he was there. It's was now dinner time and John brought Monica to a restaurant he knew. "Wow, John, french restaurant? Thank you." Monica said, smiling. He smiled back. "The FBI pay the bill. And it's the best around, but if you prefer a fast-food?" She played along. "This one good enough." She became serious. "Did you come here with Barbara?" "No, never, I don't know why though, guess that… actually I don't know." "Sorry John I shouln't have..." He took her hand. "It's ok…by the way, wanna some 'escargots'?" "They got that!?" "No, just kidding, you know even only a few french people like that sort of things." "Are you a french specialist?" He grinned. "Oui madame." "It's 'mademoiselle' John, and your 'oui, madame' doesn't impress me much." "You don't say!" They went on chatting while eating, then the conversation came on the case. "I think Joyce is the key, she's hiding something." "I know, that's why I left you two alone this morning, I thought she may have told you something, appearantly, she didn't." "No, but talking with her was strange, it was like she knaw me but I didn't questionned her while...another agent did." "How's that, she knew you?" "Well, she talked to me as a friend." "What do you think about what she yelled before the accident, why didn't she tell us she had shouted to warn whether Follmer or the driver?" "Maybe she wasn't aware that she yelled, sometimes with the rush. What I would like to know is what she had yelled." "Me too, we'll go ask her tomorrow after school. We also have to go to the police station." They finished dinner and went back to their motel. At the motel, they both were unsure of what to do. They sure wished they could read in each other mind. Doggett wanted to sleep with her, at least to be in the same room would be enough but he didn't want to impose upon her, he knew that she was trying to deal with Brad Follmer's death. They had been involved, she even had been in love with him, and if he had been a jerk lately, she couldn't forgot what they had shared for a while: a bed of course but not only, meals, laughters, the washbassin, in two words intimacy and love. She knew that John knew that too and she was grateful he didn't say anything about his feeling towards Brad. It was surely hard for her to know Brad was dead. But was were one thing she wanted: him. So badly that if it was wrong she didn't want to be right. By the time, they were in front of John's room door, Monica's was a little further. She stopped, then made a step but he took her hand to stop her. They looked in each other's eyes. "Please, but if you don't want I would understand" he said. She smiled at his kindness. "There's nothing I want more." They entered the room, kissing. The two agents arrived at the police station at 9:00 AM, everybody there seemed to be pretty busy. Doggett was looking for somebody he knew, but most of the men and women were too young for him to have known them. At last he saw one of his friend. "Jake!" "John! buddy, It's nice to see you again, so bad it is in those circumstances tough. I'm sorry for your boss." "Yeah, here is Agent Reyes, my partner, you may recognize her…" "Agent Monica Reyes, of course, the task force leader. I never forget good, kind and efficient FBI agents." They smiled at each other while they shaked hands. "Jake, we would like to know who is the officer in charge here, the guys who got the call and what you had found. You know we need to find out what happened." "I know, Detective Howard is in charge, young but smart, a very good cop. He was reluctant about the FBI but I talked to him, it's ok now, the guys who got the call are..." Jake talked as he led them to Howard's office. Reyes and Doggett stayed all the morning at the police station, talking to every person who had a link with their case. It appeared that everybody thought it was only an accident, they were all compassionate with them but they couldn't do anything. They all admited that how the AD could had been in such different places in so short time was a mystery they weren't able to resolve. At noon, Skinner called the agents, he had news. He had asked Scully to do the autopsy and it had revealed that there was a problem. Follmer had got a fracture three years ago, and he apparently didn't have the after-effects anymore. Scully and Skinner would arrived in the afternoon with all the results and conclusions. After lunch, they went to the airport to pick up Skinner and Scully. They talked about the case in Reyes' room and decided that Reyes and Doggett would question Joyce once again to find out what was wrong with her deposition; Skinner and Scully would question Follmer's contacts in New-York. Reyes give them several names, friends mostly. While Skinner and Scully left immediatly to Manhattan where lived most of Brad's friends, Reyes and Doggett had to wait until the end of the afternoon to be able to talk to Joyce. "So what do we do?" John asked. "I don't know but as Skinner and Scully are now here, I guess that tonight we won't be able to…do what we did the previous nights." "That's for sure" he said "I got the hint." And he leaned forward to kiss her, his hands on her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Removing their clothes, they went to the bed and fell on it. John crawled to the night stand. "Where did I put those condoms?" He found one and crawled back to Monica. Reyes was driving, she parked the car in front of the house. "It's still early in the afternoon, they must be at school." "Yes, maybe, but we'd better check, one never knows." They walked to the front door and rang the bell. They heard noise and a young handsome man appeared at the door. "Hello…you must be the FBI agents" He looked at them up and down "yeah, must be you." Monica spoke. "Yes, we are, what about you?" "Sorry, I'm Sam, Lea's boyfriend. You may want to enter?" He said letting them in. The three of them sat on the couch. "Where is everybody?" John asked "Lea will come back soon, she went to the store. Teo as some class late in the evening and Joyce will be back from school soon too. Wanna drink something?" "Yes please." The two agents said. When Sam came back with the drinks Doggett asked : "Sam, how well do you know Joyce?" "I have known her since I date Lea: four months and 19 days exactly!" Doggett and Reyes smiled at him. "Do you know what happened?" "Yeah, Lea and Teo told me, that's a pity, was he your friend?" "Our boss." Reyes answered "According to the neighbours Joyce screamed something just before the accident, 'luck' or 'lock', do you have any idea about what it could be?" "That must be 'Luke', her best friend, he died some years ago but she still talk to him, I often heard her before." Doggett motionned Monica to let Sam go on. Sam apparently wasn't aware who John and Monica were and it was fine with Doggett. "She talk to him?" "Yes, as if he was there, living in the house across the street, she even imagine what his life would have been." "How's that?" Reyes was interrested, with Scully's discovery and now that, she got an idea. "Well, his parent's got divorced, his father had a new girlfriend, a little brother, he help her for her tests, he got the flu, things like that. First I didn't believe what the twins were saying then I heard it by myself. Apparently the therapist said it was nothing. I hope he's right." "Hi" exclamed a female voice "Sam, would you help me?" He stood up , took the bags, and carried them to the kitchen while Lea greeted the two agents. "Do you have news?" "Not really, we came back to talk to Joyce." "I saw her in the park." "Ok, then we'll go there, thank you." "Yeah, ok, you're always welcome here, both of you." They said goodbye and Reyes hurried Doggett outside. On their way to the park, Reyes explained John her theory . "What if Joyce was able to communicate with another reality, just like Luckesh did. In that reality, Luke isn't dead and they can communicate. She tried to warn Luke about the car she told us about and which killed Brad, the other Brad and somehow he came in our reality. That would explain everything." "Yeah it would if only I can believe it, but Monica I never heard about this Luckesh except what you told me. And admit it was difficult to believe!" Joyce was sitting with Luke in the grass. Luke had asked her to tell him everything about 'the others Dad and Monica'. She had done it, describing how sad they were, mostly 'Mr Doggett'. "So it was really Monica's ex boyfriend… It's sad, I wish I could see them, talk to them and tell them how happy we are." "I wish that too, you know, maybe if we both pray for it very hard…" Luke laughed. "You're such a believer!" "You're not?" "I guess I'm like Saint-Thomas." "But you're talking with me right know…" Luke took her in his arms and lifted her up. Doggett and Reyes arrived at the same moment and saw the little girl floating in the air then fell on the grass. Then they saw her slapped in the air saying : "you, b*st*rd!" The agents looked at each other, John was quite disturbed now. "Joyce" called Monica. The girl turned around and froze. Monica went on. "Luke's here?" Joyce nodded as Luke spoke : "Monica, do you see me….hear me…feel me?" But she didn't, he sighed and walked to Doggett. "Joyce was right, you look like Dad, but your sad." "Mr Doggett, he is right in front of you." John held out his hand and Luke took it. And the miracle happened, they felt it. "Luke!" "I'm here…Dad." Tears fell on John's cheeks and then the four of them were crying. It was Tuesday morning, Reyes and Doggett had just given their report to Kersh, they had tried to explain as much as they could, but it hadn't have been an easy report. They were now at Follmer's funeral. It seemed that Brad had been popular because there was a lot of people. At the end, Monica and John walked back to the car, holding hands. Monica couldn't stop crying because whatever he had done to her, Brad was her friend. John remained silent, he knew Monica just needed his presence and it would do anything to her. They drove back to Monica's appartment and stayed there in each other arms. FIN ** it's an adapted translation from a song, in french it's great it's : " Quand le ciel dans tes yeux d'un seul coup n'est plus pur."