Title: Sleep safely ‘Was there something else Mulder?’ Skinner snapped, his tiredness overwhelming his usual professional politeness. Mulder walked across to the coat rack, pulled Skinner’s raincoat off the hook, and walked back to the AD’s desk. ‘Yeah. You’re going home.’ Skinner smiled. ‘I know you mean well Mulder, but I’ve…’ ‘…earned an afternoon off.’ Mulder finished. Skinner sighed, running his hands over his face, head, and neck. ‘You’re not gonna let me alone, are you? You’re gonna stay here ‘til I give in and leave, right?’ Forcing down his smile at Skinner’s quite unnecessary guidance, Mulder held out the coat. Skinner got up. Allowing Mulder to help him on with the coat, he followed the younger man out. ‘Um, Kim, I’m gonna head off home. I’m a little tired.’ His assistant smiled understandingly. ‘Of course sir.’ ‘Thanks. I’ll see you Monday, okay?’ ‘Yes sir.’ ************* ‘What did you tell Scully?’ Skinner slumped tiredly in the passenger seat of Mulder’s car, talking more to keep awake than out of interest in the answer to his question. ‘That I was taking you home.’ Skinner snorted. ‘And what did she say?’ ‘About time.’ Skinner smiled. ‘Your place or mine Mulder?’ ‘Yours sir. I haven’t tidied in a while.’ ‘A while?’ Skinner’s eyebrows raised. ‘Since I moved in.’ Mulder admitted. Skinner laughed quietly and lay back, his eyes closing almost immediately. ************ After several failed attempts to unlock the apartment door, Mulder took the key from Skinner’s shaking hands. Skinner stumbled slightly as they walked in, and only Mulder’s quick reactions stopped his descent to the carpeted floor. ‘Okay, I got ya. Bedroom?’ ‘First floor.’ Mulder considered the polished wood staircase and Skinner’s near-unconscious form leaning heavily against him. ‘Maybe later.’ He managed to get Skinner over to the couch and dropped him onto it, pulling off the AD’s coat and suit jacket, unhooking his tie and top button. Somehow Skinner managed to stretch himself out on the couch and lay, almost asleep, on what was easily the biggest couch Mulder had ever seen. It was long enough that, even fully stretched out, Skinner’s feet didn’t touch the arm. ‘Blankets?’ ‘Closet opposite the bedroom.’ Skinner mumbled. Mulder decided against blankets, grabbing instead a thick quilted comforter. Bundling it up, he walked back down. Skinner had turned onto his side, facing away from him and Mulder debated waking him, then decided against it. He leaned down and pulled off Skinner’s shoes and covered him with the comforter, tucking it around the sleeping form as best he could, then wandered into the kitchen. Returning a little while later with a coffee and a sandwich, he dropped into an armchair and looked around while he ate. The apartment was expensive. Even on an AD’s salary making rent on the place, would Mulder guessed, be impossible. His mind, frustrated by the need to be quiet, began to contemplate the methods by which Skinner would come by regular additional income. **************** Skinner sat up, listening to Mulder’s explanation of how he had spent the previous hour. ‘And what did you decide?’ ‘Blackmail. Or a rich relative. Or moonlighting.’ ‘Was that the best you could come up with?’ Mulder looked hurt. ‘I had to be quiet.’ Skinner stared at him, eyebrows raised. ‘And the silence hampered your thought processes?’ Mulder nodded. ‘I usually think out loud.’ Skinner shook his head and continued to eat. ‘It’s neither of those things, okay.’ Mulder shrugged. ‘I didn’t think it was.’ Skinner got up slowly from the table. He walked across to a built in bookcase and pulled down a black and white framed picture. Handing it to Mulder, Skinner said warningly: ‘You so much as smile, and I’ll throw you off the balcony.’ Mulder took the picture, staring at the teenage men crouched on the muddy ground. ‘Which one is you?’ Skinner pointed to himself. ‘I was just eighteen. Our first day there. This is the picture I sent back home.’ ‘What does the picture have to do with this apartment?’ Skinner pointed at a slightly older man in the background. ‘It belonged to Edward. He left it to me. He died eight months ago.’ ‘Were you close?’ ‘Then, yeah. Recently, yeah. But there was a big gap in between. He didn’t have a good war. After ‘Nam he kinda went wild. Hired himself out as a merc. When he came back from some conflict you didn’t read about in your morning paper, he called me and asked me to help him out.’ ‘How?’ ‘Getting set up in business. I had a few contacts. He became a personal security consultant. Instructing DC’s richest on how to protect themselves and their homes. When he died, I found out he’d left me this place.’ ‘We’re obviously in the wrong business sir.’ Skinner didn’t appreciate Mulder’s attempt at humour. ‘What I did, what I saw out there, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy Mulder. No amount of money can make up for what happened to us.’ Mulder felt suddenly awkward. He got to his feet, wiping his mouth and fingers on a paper napkin. ‘I should go. You want me to do the dishes?’ ‘You have to be somewhere Agent Mulder?’ ‘Um…yeah, that is…no sir.’ ‘Then sit down. I have a dishwasher.’ Following Skinner’s instruction, not sure why, Mulder lowered himself onto the chair. ************ Carrying the plates out to the kitchen, Mulder filled a bowl with hot water and began to rinse them. How the discussion had gotten around to their sex lives, Mulder couldn’t quite remember. The wine probably loosened his tongue. And, amazingly, Skinner’s too. Mulder sighed. ‘It was never that good. Lately it’s been non-existent.’ Skinner scoffed. ‘I walk the halls just occasionally Mulder. Every turn I hear the women talking: ‘Fox and I went…’ and ‘Fox took me…’ Mulder shrugged. ‘I haven’t even dated anyone in the Hoover building. Skinner continued to load the dishwasher. ‘Not even Agent Scully?’ Shocked at the question, Mulder dropped the mug he was holding into the water, splashing Skinner who straightened up, frowning. ‘Scully? No way! She’s my partner.’ Wiping himself dry, Skinner put a placatory hand on Mulder’s shoulder. ‘Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.’ Mulder sighed. ‘You wanna know how long it’s been, sir? Since I was with anyone? Two years. I met someone in a bar and…’ ‘When you woke up the next morning she was dead?’ Skinner suggested. ‘No. When I woke up the next morning I found his business card on the pillow next to me. I didn’t call.’ Skinner paused. Guessing he’d heard wrong, he looked to Mulder for confirmation. Mulder stared back. ‘I guess I’ll be going now then, huh?’ Skinner dropped his gaze. ‘I’m sorry Mulder. I didn’t realise you were gay.’ ‘I’m not.’ Skinner stifled a yawn. ‘Thanks for bringing me home Mulder. I’ll see you Monday, okay?’ Mulder walked towards the door. ‘Yeah.’ Pausing with his hand on the door, he turned back. ‘Just one thing sir…’ Skinner nodded. ‘Yes Mulder?’ ‘Did Sharon know?’ ‘About?’ ‘You and Edward.’ Mulder wasn’t sure Skinner was going to answer. Pulling on his coat, he opened the door, moving slowly towards it. Skinner’s voice was soft with emotion. ‘She told me I had to make a choice. I chose Edward. That’s when I moved out.’ Remembering what Sharon Skinner had said – that they had been separated for eight months - Mulder felt suddenly and unexpectedly awkward and said politely. ‘Goodnight sir.’ Quickly, Skinner said: ‘I’m not gay either Mulder. I have a guest room. The door locks.’ ‘It’s not that sir, it’s just…’ Skinner sighed deeply. ‘Edward and I never had a sexual relationship. I didn’t say we had. You made an assumption.’ Dipping his head, Mulder nodded slowly. ‘I’m sorry.’ Closing the apartment door, Mulder walked back in, pulling off his coat. ‘I should warn you now. I’m not a morning person.’ Skinner nodded. ‘I run from seven ‘til eight on a Saturday morning.’ Mulder smiled. ‘Try not to make too much noise when you leave.’ ‘You hungry? I was gonna heat up some stew.’ Mulder realised he hadn’t eaten in some time. ‘Great. Thanks. Need a hand?’ Skinner shook his head. ‘Keep me company?’ Fox followed Skinner into the kitchen, sitting on the chair Skinner waved his hand at. ************* Skinner turned round from stirring the pot. ‘For someone open to extreme possibilities, why does the idea of Edward and I having such a relationship bother you so much?’ Mulder frowned. ‘It doesn’t.’ ‘Mulder.’ Skinner said warningly. Staring at the AD for a moment, Mulder tried to form his thoughts into words. ‘I guess I…I just don’t see you in that kind of relationship.’ ‘And what kind of relationship do you see me in Mulder?’ ‘More like a kind of sub/dom thing. You know...’ Embarrassed, Mulder’s voice tailed off. ‘With whom?’ Skinner knew he was pushing Mulder, who was blushing and fidgeting uncomfortably. ‘Someone like me.’ ‘Someone like you?’ Mulder nodded. ‘Yeah. Younger, smart, well-groomed. Y’know.’ He finished lamely, concentrating on the bowl of stew in front of him. Skinner’s jaw clenched. ‘And this ‘someone’, what would they get out of this relationship?’ ‘Stability. Boundaries. Discipline.’ Skinner smiled. ‘I see.’ ‘Do you sir?’ Mulder said challengingly. He had a feeling he’d been led into exposing more of himself than he had intended, and his discomfort added a sharp edge to his voice. Skinner softened his own voice in reply. ‘Oh yes Mulder, I do. You see, that’s exactly the kind of relationship Edward and I had.’ Ignoring Mulder’s frankly pathetic attempts to hide his shock at the AD’s mind-blowing revelation, Skinner pulled a key from his keyring. ‘Spare key. In case you have to leave the apartment for some reason while I’m out.’ Mulder caught the key as Skinner threw it and threaded it onto his own keyring. ‘Thanks.’ ‘Alarm code is 1970.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘I’ll dig out a t-shirt for you to wear. There’s a spare toothbrush in the cabinet. Towels in the cupboard outside the bathroom.’ ************* Mulder wasn’t awake when Skinner left for his usual run. At least, his door was closed, and there was no sound coming from the room, so Skinner left, closing the front door quietly behind him. ************ ‘Good morning.’ Mulder looked up from the paper he was reading as Skinner walked back into the apartment. Sweating from his run, Skinner handed Mulder a bag. ‘They’re from the bakery across the street. Eat them while they’re hot. I’m gonna shower.’ Listening to the water running, Mulder unpacked the croissants and organised plates and cutlery. ‘Find everything?’ A towel at his waist, another around his shoulders, Skinner came down the stairs and snagged a still-warm croissant. ‘Yeah. Hey this is nice.’ Mulder held up the jar of strawberry conserve. Skinner nodded. ‘It was Sharon’s favourite. I developed a taste for it. Now I don’t buy anything else.’ Slathering the bright red conserve on his croissant, Skinner took a large bite. ‘You have to get there early or they sell out.’ He smiled at Mulder’s look of bliss as he ate before going back upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. ************ ‘How did Edward die?’ Mulder immediately regretted his question as he saw the flash of pain in Skinner’s eyes. But it was quickly hidden, and he waited while Skinner packed the dishwasher with their breakfast things. ‘Can you believe he was crossing the street to the bakery one Sunday morning and a couple of kids high on drugs in a stolen car mowed him down.’ ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…’ Skinner nodded. ‘I know. If you want to shower, I can dig out some old clothes.’ ‘I should get going sir.’ ‘Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.’ ‘Yes sir. Thanks for breakfast.’ Skinner nodded. ‘Any time Agent Mulder.’ ************ Understanding his reasons, Skinner put up with the frequent unimportant interruptions to his day, as Mulder appeared every hour or so, refilling his coffee, bringing him something to read or eat. ************ Eventually, just after six, Mulder appeared yet again. ‘Working late tonight sir?’ Skinner got up. ‘Actually no, Agent Mulder. I’m just about to leave for the day.’ He pulled on his coat as he spoke, walking to the door. ‘I’ll walk down to the parking garage with you.’ Mulder said lightly. Skinner bit back his amusement. Mulder’s earnest concern was touching. Or it had been the first couple of times. Now, after a long and tiring day, it was ever so slightly annoying. But he knew Mulder meant well, and was probably only acting on Scully’s instructions, so he followed the younger man to the elevator. They got into their respective cars and Skinner pulled away first, Mulder following. ************ ‘Mulder, what the…’ Skinner got out of his car and saw Mulder doing the same. ‘Humour me sir. Scully said I should…’ ‘Follow me like a shadow?’ Mulder shrugged, smiling slightly. ‘Something like that.’ To be continued in Part Two Home Send me feedback on this fic Return to the X-Files Fic Index Return to the West Wing Fic Index