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Title: Arms of a Stranger Summary: Part two of the Far From the Tree series. Katy and Nick return to St. Petersburg with Alex. Passion and Fury ensue..... Legal Stuff (I am , after all, a law student). Almost everybody in this story except Katy and Nick were thought up years ago by someone far more talented and creative than I (namely, Chris Carter). They are all the property of CC and 1013 Productions in conjunction with Fox Broadcasting . I am using them without permission. No infringement is intended. Rating: This story is mostly Alex and Katy having sex. I'm going with a solid NC-17 here. If you are a minor, and actually heed these warnings, but are following along at home, (and have high tolerance for my INCREDIBLE run-on sentences) feel free to tune in again in Part Three- it shouldn't be too hard to catch up. Author's Notes: This story takes place immediately after "Far From the Tree". Katy and Nick have been taken to Alex's townhouse in St. Petersburg. Katy has been sent to bed while Alex takes care of some business. Katy Krycek shifted in the bed. It was always hard for her to sleep in strange places, but this was worse. Every moment for the past several hours had been spent in almost unbearable tension. Her entire body laid tense against the cool cotton sheets as her ears strained against the darkness- listening for the slightest rustling to give away what Alex was doing in the other room. She wanted him to come to her. She deserved it. The thing she had done for him...How she had betrayed Fox Mulder's trust.... She cut off the train of thought before it had a chance to gain steam. She wouldn't think about it- not now anyway- The sound of a knee slamming against the edge of a table, followed by a muffled Russian curse caught her ear. Alex was still downstairs. She closed her eyes tightly and called to him mentally. Please some to bed, Alex. I need you. Nothing. New sounds pierced the darkness: the creak of an ancient sofa , the faint click of a lightswitch and then... silence. The muscles in Katy's stomach clenched painfully as she muffled a sob. He wasn't coming. She buried her head in the pillow and allowed her tears to flow. What had she done? She racked her brain, clawing after a reason- something to blame, something to change so that she could win him back again- but there was none. Alex Krycek was a changed man. She had somehow sensed the change even before she had seen him. Her father had called her on the phone. "Alex has been in an accident. He's not dead, he's...." . Katy finished the memory with a thought of her own. Worse than dead. She hadn't made it happen, and there was nothing she could do to change him back. She could only lie awake in the darkness and pray for a miracle. There had been a strain between them since Alex had left the FBI. She remembered the night he had left- when he had explained to her who he was and what he had done. She had listened to her husband, a man she thought she knew completely, confess to murder, betrayal, treason....and somehow, it didn't matter. She had felt strangely calm, as if her life was part of a movie and she was watching herself move across the screen. It made an odd sort of sense to her that Alex could lead such a double life. She remembered a conversation they had the night they ran away together as teenagers. They had driven his parents car into Virginia and hidden it in the woods next to an empty cottage. Alex made sure that no one was at home, but Katy had balked at going inside. He had laughed at her hesitation. " C'mon Katy. It's empty." "I can't." He sighed. " The lake is closed for the season. There is no way anyone is going to catch us." "But is isn't ours." He had laughed. " What does it matter, Katy? The people who own this cottage- they don't exist for us." He eased the front door open and pulled Katy inside. " Our worlds are never going to touch. " "But its wrong." His face darkened. " Who decides right and wrong?" He slammed the door shut and slumped in a nearby chair. " Who says we can't take something that we need, but what happened to our parents is alright? I don't believe in that anymore." She was staring at his face, and detected the slightest twitch at the corner of his eyes- pure determination holding back the tears that threatened to fall. " I'm not asking the world for any favors- and I don't expect any in return." A steely conviction was building in his voice. "Not after tonight... The only rules I follow are my own." His own rules...The crimes he had confessed to the night he left- and the ones he had committed since- seemed forgivable, even necessary when viewed in that light. She believed in him- if not in his innocence, then in his mental superiority- his qualification to decided what he should and shouldn't do without the reproach of popular morality. She accepted it, and moved on. Eventually, she had joined him. A few months after he left, he had mysteriously dropped out of contact. Maybe he had abandoned her- but it just didn't feel right. There was no warning, no signs...But who could she turn to?Alex's boss had tried to have him killed. There was no one - except.... Katy hadn't thought about her father in nine years. She was furious with her mother for betraying him, but she was somehow even more furious with him for providing the temptation. He had shamed them. He had risked their lives. And poor Alex, his own parents innocently cut down in the crossfire of deception and betrayal, how could she face him if he she told him the truth? But she was all out of options. Sergei Arntzen was suspicious. Katy's had refused her loyalty once, and he dared not trust it now. But it was so hard to refuse her....and there were so many reasons to comply- his love for his daughter, the grandson he had never seen, his debt to Alex's parents....Colonel Arntzen's cooperation was acquired-at a price. Alex was recovered from a missile silo in North Dakota, and in return, Katy entered the "family business". Her first assignments were simple- designed more to invest Katy in secrecy than gather real information- but then came Doctor Rickman. She had to finish Alex's work. Katy and Alex had lived apart for more than a year, but she had never felt closer to him than as she pushed the needle into Rickman's neck and watched his breaths shallow and then fade away. This was his world,* their world*, and she understood at last that it was never ever going away. Katy hadn't seen her father's face in eleven years, but she ignored him as she rushed to Alex's bedside. Her husband wasn't awake yet. She looked at Sergei Arntzen with concern. The flight from Washington to St. Petersburg had taken eleven hours- had something gone wrong? " He was delirious when he came out or surgery." The older man offered, sensing her fear. " The doctors thought it would be best to put him back to sleep." Katy knelt beside her husband and tenderly traced his jawbone with her finger. She kissed his forehead . "It's okay Alex," she whispered. " I'm here." Her father quietly moved toward the door. "Your boy...is he with you?" Sergei asked. "Yes. He's in the lobby." She began to raise her head to meet her father's gaze....And then she saw it. Bandages hid the worst of the wound, but the ravaged skin of Alex's shoulder betrayed enough. It was a pulpy, swollen mass of purple and black. A thin, blackened line that looked like a burn started at his collarbone and disappeared into a thick wadding of gauze and then....nothingness... She gasped. " They couldn't save it Katy. When we found him it was too late." Colonel Arntzen put his index finger under his daughter's chin and raised it so that their eyes met. "He's going to be alright though....with today's technology...." he let his voice trail off. He considered her intently- looking for something, a reassurance, perhaps, that she wasn't going to turn tail and run away. "I know this will be hard, but..." "Can I be alone?" Katy knew that she was going to cry, and she didn't want him to see it. He silently acknowledged her request, and left. She listened as he introduce himself to Nick, and she followed their voices as they faded away down the hall. Only when she was sure she was alone did she allow her gaze to turn to Alex. She forced herself to look at IT. Her eyes begged to turn away, but she stubbornly refused to give in. She was *not* going to run. She loved Alex, not because of what he looked like, but because he stood by her, he protected her when she was all alone- she would do no less for him. It would be hard for her, but for him- She couldn't imagine the torture he had suffered. People always said that childbirth was the worst pain a human being could endure. Maybe it had something to do with wide hips or modern drugs- but she had survived *that* experience relatively unscathed- she would certainly choose it again over this... Unbidden, the image of the knife came to her mind. She imagined that she could hear the rusty metal scraping against bone and her stomach heaved. She turned away. "Katy?" a voice called weakly. It was Alex. She spun back around. " I'm here." She moved to the other side of the bed and took her husband's hand . "Katy? I can't move my arm." He looked frightened. She should tell him- but surely he would remember soon enough... "Shhhh...." she silenced him with a soft kiss. "Rest." His eyes met hers. The look- so trusting yet afraid- melted her heart. "You'll stay?" "I'll stay." Pleased by the reassurance, his eyes slowly drifted closed and, unbeknownst to Katy, the man she had loved drifted away. The man who awoke hours later was changed. Hardened. Suddenly he was so angry. Katy had never seen Alex so impatient- so hungry for action. He had always been cool and detached- steadfast in his belief in the impersonal nature of life. Even in pursuit of revenge he had been dispassionate, choosing to wait for an opportune moment to arise. Now he seemed consumed by some inner demon. Katy's sympathy had been discarded and her assistance had been refused. Alex was hell-bent on proving that he could overcome what had happened- that he had exactly the same capabilities, that any perceived weakness was just that- a perception- and nothing more. Katy and Nick were forgotten. After a few short days, they were returned to Washington. "Too dangerous here." was the excuse Alex had used. Katy knew it was something more. She could already feel him slipping away- but she was powerless to stop it. That was the last time she had seen him before today. Now she found herself alone in a king sized bed, wearing a ridiculous black nightie listening to her husband sleep in another room. The sofa in the living room creaked as Alex shifted his weight. Katy sat up in bed. She couldn't take the waiting any longer. She would go to him. Katy padded silently down the stairs into the living room . She hesitated for a moment in the doorway. Alex had told her not to come downstairs because he was meeting with "associates"- FBI day code for "people it would be best for you not to know." Screw that. The "associates" had left hours ago. She was willing to take her chances. "Alex?" He said nothing, but she could sense that he was awake. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure of herself. She half turned away before regaining her composure. "I thought you were coming to bed." He sighed. " I...." was all the answer he could manage. "Please come." The pleading quality of her voice made her ashamed. She sounded as if she were about to start crying again. She counted three breaths as she waited for Alex to make a move. Nothing. Katy turned and ran back up the stairs before the tears could break free. She flung herself on the empty bed and curled into a ball, her jaw clenched as she concentrated all her strength against the flood of pain that threatened to crush her. She didn't hear the footsteps until they were outside the door. There was hesitation, and then a soft knock. Katy wiped at her eyes, but it was a futile gesture. It was too late now to contain her sobs. She didn't answer, she merely burrowed deeper into the bedclothes. The knock was repeated, and then the door slowly creaked open and then closed on its rusty hinge. "Katy?" Alex crossed to the bed and seated himself beside her. "Katy, I'm sorry." He put his hand lightly on the back of her neck and urged her to turn to face him. She looked up at him with her tear-stained face and he guiltily averted his gaze. "I didn't think you'd want me here." he said in a quite voice. " Not now that I'm...." he didn't finish. "Now that you're what?" She refused to feed his paranoia. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of so much as looking at his stupid arm. He looked deep into her eyes, but didn't answer. " I love you Alex..." she said at last. "I want you with me." Say you love me too... He looked away, almost as if he was going to go, but at the last instant he changed his mind. "What do you want Katy?" She was confused by the question. Her brow furrowed slightly as she searched his gaze. Suddenly, his right arm snaked around her back and drew her to his lips. She felt his mouth coming down on hers. His cool lips , softening and tensing as they molded to her own. He broke away slowly. "Is that it?" "Yes." She answered breathily. She was still to surprised to manage an answer. This was what she wanted. This was what she had prayed for... He resumed the kiss, allowing his arm to trail further down her back. The barely perceptible touch of his fingers against the silk of her chemise sending a tingle down her spine. His tongue licked against her teeth, urging them apart so that he could explore her mouth more deeply. The hand continued its journey down her back, resting against her buttocks, drawing her closer to his body... She shifted on the bed so that she was lying on her back, and Alex settled down beside her on his side. His caress traveled up her back again, ending in the soft mass of her hair. He tousled it between his fingertips, pulling a handful back to expose the delicate white skin of her neck. His lips moved from her mouth , along her cheekbone to her ear. Her teased her lobe with his tongue, and then moved down. Katy's twisted and let out a gasp of pleasure as he touched her sensitive skin. She slid her palms under his thin gray T-shirt and pressed them against his stomach. One hand lingered in the well-defined ridges of his abdomen , the other inched upward to his nipple, pinching it into a small pink bud. "Katy" he moaned softly. He captured the wayward hand in his own and slid it back to his stomach, and then lower. She passed lightly across his crotch, pleased to find his flesh already hardening and yearning toward her own. She slipped her hands inside his boxer shorts wrapping one set of fingers around his growing erection, and gently cupping his balls in the other. "Katy." This cry was louder, and a little more strained. She pushed his onto his back and pulled the boxers off in one swift motion. She straddled him and then sat back on her heels for a moment to admire his body. She put her palms against his hip bones and then rubbed them down along his thighs as she lowered herself to take him in her mouth. Katy gently stroked the insides of his legs with her fingertips as she caressed him with her tongue. She smiled to herself as she felt his hips strain toward her, and heard his shallow breaths. She worked faster, alternating the work of her fingers and tongue. She could feel him draw near climax. Almost.Almost.Almost- she stopped suddenly and gave him a wicked grin. "Katy!" he was almost pleading, but she moved away, lying on her side to face him. "Not yet..." She put her index finger against his lips and then pressed in inside. He sucked it slowly, begging her with his eyes. "You asked me what I wanted." She whispered huskily. She moved closer to him, so that her warm, sweet breath brushed against his ear. "What do you want, Katy?" "I want you to fuck me." He closed his eyes and shuddered, and then, in an instant he was pressed against her, his hardness brushing against the soft flesh of her inner thigh. He crawled further down the bed, pulling her chemise over her head, so that his face was against her chest. He buried his mouth against one plump, white breast, gathered a nipple in his mouth and began to nurse it. His hand slid down her stomach and between her legs, pushing her panties impatiently to the side. He laid his hand against the silky wetness, stroking her gently before proceeding. He pressed two fingers inside of her and used his thumb to tease the nerve endings on the outside of her body. He knew her body so well....he found a rhythm instantly: pushing, stroking, sucking....How many times had he explored her body ? Yet, everytime there was something different, some new sweetness to discover. Katy moaned and arched her back, reveling in the assault on her senses. Before she even knew the tension was building, she felt a sudden, jagged release. She cried out as her body convulsed in pleasure. Now it was Alex who smiled smugly. "No Fair." he whispered. He rolled out of bed and began to walk across the room. "Where are you going?" He pulled the ancient, scrollback chair away from the writing desk and into the center of the room. He sat on it, his legs spread wide apart, so that one was on either side of the seat. Katy went to him, and stood in front of the chair, awaiting his instructions. He looked her over carefully, stopping as he reached her panties to slide them down her legs and into the floor. He admired her nakedness, trailing his fingertips over her curves, wondering at the incredible combination of hard and soft....and then he drew her to him. She straddled him again, so that she was sitting on his lap, with her legs wrapped around his hips. His erection peeked out between her legs and she grasped it again, drawing it against her wetness. "Tell me what it is you want again." Alex said against her hair. " I want you to fuck me." As she spoke the words, he pushed inside her, so that she choked on the last word. "Oh, God." she cried against his chest. After the first climax, the muscles of her vagina had constricted tightly, so now she felt every nuance of his thrust. If she pointed her toes, she could just reach the floor to push off . She rested her hands against his shoulders and moved up, tilting her pelvis upward, so that the downward stroke rubbed against his chest. She experimented with the rhythm- alternating short and long strokes-. She looked down into his eyes, clearly enjoying her control. "Do you like that?" She questioned. Alex nodded, his face knotted in concentration as she drew him toward the edge. " I like it to."She whispered, " I love it when you fuck me with your big hard dick." Making them both hotter with her uncharacteristically filthy language. She could feel the tension building in his thighs- the way he moved, the strokes deeper and harder as he neared release... But she beat him to it. "Oh, God....Oh, God I'm coming." she gasped against his sweaty skin, clawing at the slick skin of his back with her fingernails. This one came in waves- warm trickles of pleasure that coursed up to her shoulders and then back down her spine to her toes. She writhed against her husband, savoring every instant of the release before she finally collapsed in his arms. Alex nuzzled her back to attention, " Had enough?" Katy nodded weakly. "Too bad...."He laughed and pushed her off him toward the bed. "it's my turn now." He laid Katy on her stomach against the edge of the bed. He kissed her back as he moved into position, but had little patience for anything else. He had been denied too long. He entered her forcefully, and she shivered as he pressed against her soft white buttocks, driving himself deep into her body. He grunted with effort as he thrust again, and again, and again. Katy laid her cheek against the cool sheet , to weak to attempt any other movement. "Oh, Alex..." she called over and over. With a long, shuddering sigh, he came. She felt him tense and then release, sweet warm liquid filling her. Alex fell limply against her back as the currents of pleasure worked through his body.Katy listened whit satisfaction as he exhaled in long, trembling breaths. He held her tightly in his arms. He was *her* Alex again- just as surely as he had been the first night in the seedy hotel in Indianapolis. Hers. Completely and unconditionally. She smiled to herself. It was finally over- at least part of it. She could accept his dangerous lifestyle. She could move to Russia . She could even endure life on the run if she had too- as long as they were together... For a long time they both laid still content to listen to their heartbeats and the distant sounds of St. Petersburg at night. Finally, Alex drew away. he crawled up into the bed and laid on his back. Katy joined him, using his body as a pillow, letting the shiny black curtain of her hair fall against his chest. "I love you Katy." He said....sadly? "I love you too." He took a deep breath, as though he has something else to say, but he reconsidered. He looked away into the darkness, absentmindedly tracing patterns on her back with his fingertips. She felt herself getting sleepy. She pressed harder against his chest. "Katy?" Alex's voice jarred her to attention. " I think.....I think we should get a divorce." "What?!?!" Katy was instantly awake. She sat bolt upright in the bed. She stared at him in disbelief. "I think we should get a divorce." He repeated slowly. His voice was suddenly flat and toneless- like someone who was reciting lines. "But....But Why?!?!" She was confused...disoriented. Why was he talking so crazy? "We just made love..." "You said it was what you wanted...." "I wanted..." she grasped for words, too startled to think," I wanted you to love me again. To really want me- not just to...to patronize me." Katy felt her stomach getting queasy. The memory that a mere moment ago had filled her with happiness now making her feel dirty and cheap. She felt suddenly as though she was going to get sick- as if getting sick would make her feel better- at least adding tangible aspect to her pain. "It's not you...." he began with the lamest line in history," I...I just....I can't love anybody anymore...It's just too dangerous." She stared at him imploringly , but he refused to meet her gaze. " In the woods in Tunguska....I thought I was dead.." he said at last. "...then when I wasn't" He sighed, frustrated by his inability to explain. ".....I can't be responsible for that happening to you or Nick. I won't be." " We're safer here with you. Alex- you have to let *us* choose." His expression was unchanged. " I've made my decision. I have a job to do- and I don't want you involved." "Don't want us involved?!?!" Katy was rapidly moving from devastation to fury. "YOU DON"T WANT US INVOLVED?!?!?!?!" What do you call yanking your son out of his house and flying him halfway around the world to live with a grandfather he's never known so you can get a stupid computer disk? What do you call having your wife fuck and *use* your ex-partner? I MURDERED Alan Rickman for you!!!!! How are we not involved already?!?!?!" Alex was infuriatingly calm. " Katy. I think you need to get control of yourself. I'm doing this for your own good." "How do you know what's good for me?" " For Nick, then." His voice was finally gaining emotion. " They're going to KILL me, Katy!" He met her eyes for the first time. " Nick needs a father. You need...I don't want you to be alone." "I'm willing to take the risk." " But I'm not!" He gave her a meaningful look. " Life is full of tough choices Katy-" "-and you didn't choose me." Her sentence hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity. She shot him and evil look, half daring him and half begging him to deny it. He looked away. "Say it you coward!" She screamed. "Mommy, what's wrong?" For the first time Katy noticed that Nick had come to the doorway- no doubt awakened by his mother's yelling. "Say it!" She continued, drawing the sheet aroung her more tightly, but giving her son no other notice. " Katy, you're scaring Nick." He glared at her and walked toward his son. "SAY IT!!!!!!!!!!" Alex turned to face her. "Alright." He began at last in a small voice. " I didn't choose you." She stared at him, stunned, refusing to believe the words. *Her* Alex- her first-only- love.....he couldn't leave her...he'd promised. Take it back. Every ounce of her being cried out. "It would be so easy to fix this Alex.," she thought to herself, "Just say you didn't mean it. I'll forgive you. They're only words....take them back now before they turn into something else." But he didn't. He simply led Nick away to bed. Katy collapsed into sobs as she awaited his return. "Alex....please." She gave him a look full of so many emotions: fear, pleading, desire... "I'm sorry Katy." His face was still unflinching. "My decision is final." Katy lost all control. She sent her hand flying across his face. He was knocked back a little, but quickly regained control. His damn composure. " I HATE YOU!!!!! " Katy screamed "I HATE YOU!" . Over and over until she was hoarse. She fell into a heap and continued crying...she was running out of tears- her cries were now dry heaves that pulled her to the floor. " I think I'm going to leave you alone for a while." He sounded patronizing- as if disgusted by her loss of self--control. He turned to leave. "You'll regret it." She hissed through clenched teeth. She climbed awkwardly to her feet and began throwing on clothes. " I know EVERYTHING about you. I'll ruin you." "Please don't say that Katy. You'll only get yourself in trouble." His voice was softening now- more like a warning... "I will. I don't care if they come after me. I swear to you, Alex Krycek," She was trembling, " You can't....you can't do this. You can't just say goodbye- it isn't that easy. You can't just walk away..."She grabbed her purse and stumbled toward the door in mis-matched heels. "...I won't let you." The End
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