TITLE: CHICAGO STORIES: MULDER INTERLUDE
AUTHOR: WPAdmirer@aol.com  
ARCHIVE: Yes, but please write me and tell me where.
CATEGORY: Slash Crossover (XF-ER) Skinner/John Carter
SPOILERS: SR 819 (X-Files), None (ER)
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Mulder gets asked to help Skinner find John Carter, AND gets the task of breaking the news to Scully. Such fun.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I got tired of waiting for some good John Carter slash, and there's never enough Skinner fic to suit me. The full set of stories (thus far) can be found at the ER nfic site: 
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/5437/wpadmirer.htm  and my own site can be found at:
http://chateauke.simplenet.com/chimerical/chicago/index.htm 
DISCLAIMER: It's not the author's intention to infringe upon or profit from the characters created and owned by Chris Carter, 1013 Productions or the Fox Network, nor Warner Brothers and NBC.  Skinner and Carter were borrowed temporarily and returned almost immediately. Mulder and Scully are just visiting.
SPECIAL THANKS: To KiMeriKal and ewade for beta reading and friendship.
-------------------------------------------
MULDER INTERLUDE II

by WPAdmirer


Okay, so I was a jerk. A big one. I think it was Yogi Berra who once said, "I shoulda stood in bed." Well, I shoulda.

But instead, I took off like a bat out of hell and stomped all over Skinner's private life with big muddy feet. In retrospect I'm lucky all he did was break my nose. I'm sure that breaking my neck would have been more satisfying.

Scully came into the bullpen and gave me that raised eyebrow thing she's always doing and said, "Have an interesting evening, Mulder?"

Believe me there was no way in hell I was going to tell her what I had done. Certainly not what I'd found out about Skinner. So I told this half-truth.  "I accidentally got between two lovers." Scully found this amusing, and a confirmation that I'm an even more pathetic loser at romance than she'd previously thought. 

Fuck you, too, partner.

The day sucked only slightly more than usual, and that was mostly because my face hurt. At the end of the day I headed for the elevators and ran into Kersh. The bastard actually laughed out loud when he saw my face. I turned on my heel and went the other way. I passed by Skinner's office and saw his assistant heading out. 

"Is he in?" I asked.

Kim looked at me like I was pond scum. For this tiny little person, she's got this really fierce personality when it comes to protecting her boss. "Not for you," she said.

I just nodded and got the hell out of there. Sometimes silence is the better part of valor, and Skinner had said that he'd call me later. 

By nine I was antsy. I figured that Skinner would work late, he usually did, but we needed to talk, and the night was not getting any younger. And my face was hurting more. It had gone from a continuous throbbing to a solid ache. And the Tylenol that Scully insisted I used instead of aspirin or ibuprofen wasn't touching the pain.

At nine-thirty I decided I had nothing to lose. The man couldn't get any angrier with me than he already was. So I called him. His first words to me after I identified myself were, "I should kill you." And he was not speaking metaphorically. 

My balls kind of clenched up against my body. "Excuse me, sir?"

"John Carter's missing."

I couldn't find my voice. My stomach dropped to the floor and I thought I was going to be sick right there. John Carter was missing. I'd gone to Chicago and brought him to D.C. I'd put him right into the hands of God knows who. My guess was someone in the Consortium. Fuck.

"Oh, God, sir, I'm sorry." 

What a useless fucking phrase, and one that I seemed to use a lot. I couldn't count the number of times I'd said it to Scully, my parents, even Scully's bastard brother. 

"What can I do to help?"

"I don't know." 

I'd never heard Skinner speak so softly. I'd never heard him sound lost before. He always had this strength. Even when he was lying in the hospital dying, he'd had this dignity and power. But the man I was talking to didn't have that. He was breaking inside.

And I'd done it to him. I'd handed his enemies his heart.

"I'll be there in thirty minutes, sir." I had no choice. Skinner didn't have a choice. To find John Carter would take all the resources we could muster. That meant a lot more people finding out his secret. I cringed inwardly. This was going to be so fucking hard, and there wasn't dick I could do to protect him from it. We would need Scully. We would also need the Lone Gunmen, but I wasn't going to mention that to him. Maybe I could even get by without him ever knowing I'd involved them. But Scully. Scully he'd have to know about. 

"I'd like to bring Scully in on this, sir. We're going to need all the help we can get."

Skinner was definitely not happy about this. He sighed. It was a noisy, pain-filled sound, and I couldn't help remembering the trouble he'd gone to in the hospital to make sure I didn't tell Scully about John Carter. 

When I fuck up I do it so right.

"All right." His voice was almost a whisper.

I said we'd be there soon, then I hung up. I held the phone for a minute trying to figure out how I was going to broach this topic with Scully. 

Fuck.

Shit.

Double fuck.

I hit the speed dial for her number.

"Scully."

"Scully, it's me. We need to get to Skinner's as soon as possible."

"Has he relapsed?" 

"No, physically he's okay. I'll explain there, okay?"

There was a pause, then she said, "Fine. I'll be there in twenty minutes." 

Fuck. I had to hustle. I didn't dare have her get to Skinner's before me.  The melt-down that was likely to happen in that event would not be pretty.

I broke every speed limit and half-ran a couple of lights. The traffic was light which was fortunate. I got to Skinner's just as Scully was pulling in. We both parked and I waited to walk up to the building with her.

"What's going on, Mulder?"

"You remember the lovers I mentioned?"

"Skinner."

I nodded.

"Well...."

I swallowed. "The other...person...."

"If you're bringing me here because you want a buffer between you and Skinner, I'm going to kick your ass myself."

I shook my head, and reached out and took Scully's arm to stop her.  The sidewalk in front of the building was deserted, and I didn't want to say this in front of Skinner. I'd caused the man enough grief already.

"When Skinner was dying he gave me a name."

"When he wanted to talk to you alone. It was his woman friend?"

I shuffled my feet, trying to find a good way to say this. "It was his

friend, but it's not a woman." There was a really long silence and Scully's expression didn't change at all. She just stood there looking at me with this kind of blank thing going. No raised eyebrow, no nothing.

"Not a woman," she said finally.

"Yeah."

"Mulder, you're telling me Walter Skinner is romantically involved with a man."

"Yeah."

Scully snorted and turned away. "Good one, Mulder." She started to walk into the building.

I jogged after her. "Scully, I'm serious."

Scully waved her hand at me, showed her ID to the security guard at the desk and headed for the elevators. I did the same and followed her.

"Scully, this isn't a joke."

"Why does Skinner want to see us? Is he going to let us investigate after all?"

I scrubbed my face with my hands, and gave up. "He wants us to find someone."

Scully nodded. We rode the elevator up in silence. At Skinner's door I knocked and he opened almost immediately. He looked worse than he had when he was sick. His face had deep grooves of grief around his mouth and eyes. 

Oh, fuck, what had I done this time?

Scully went right in and sat on the couch. I hung back. "I tried to explain, sir," I said.

Skinner nodded. 

"I....sir, she doesn't understand."

Skinner sighed.

We followed Scully into the living room. Skinner walked to the sliding glass doors of the balcony. He looked out for a few minutes, then he turned around and faced us.

"Agent Scully, I have for several months now been involved in a relationship with a doctor named John Carter. We met when I was in Chicago in November last year. Last night, Agent Mulder, believing that John Carter might have some information regarding my illness went to Chicago to talk to him.  They returned here together. This afternoon he was scheduled to fly back.  He never made the plane. I know that he would not have missed that plane of his own accord. He has not been in contact with either me or anyone in Chicago. I need to find him."

Scully blushed.

Skinner blushed in response. 

I just sat in the chair wishing that the floor would open up and swallow me.  "Sir, do you have any idea who might have...taken him? Were there any...rivals?" Scully's voice was very quiet.

Skinner shook his head. "No rivals. This was a first for him. We hadn't told anyone."

I started to correct that, because I knew that Kerry Weaver did know, but then I figured once again that keeping my mouth shut would lend itself to keeping me in better health.

"Could he have been taken by the man who tried to kill you?"

The color drained out of Skinner's face. His eyes grew dark and murderous. Suddenly I knew exactly how he'd looked when he'd told me he should kill me.  I came close to dirtying my shorts at the thought.

"It's possible."

"Can you tell us who that is?"

Skinner turned back to the doors. The silence grew really long. Finally I cleared my throat.

"We're losing time, sir."

Skinner didn't turn around. Scully got up from the couch and went to him. Her hand touched the center of his back and he jerked as though startled. 

"Sir?" she said.

"Krycek."

It was a whisper, but I heard the name as clearly as if he'd shouted it.  Jesus Fucking Christ. Why hadn't Skinner told us before?

"We'll start by talking to your neighbors. Why don't you check with security? Don't they have video cameras on the entrances to the building?"

Skinner nodded. 

I also made a mental note to call Matheson. I knew he'd been hip deep in the shit surrounding Skinner's poisoning, and it was possible that he might know some place to check for Krycek. I'd get it out of him if I had to beat him.  The man owed us both.

"Sir," Scully's voice was gentle. I was surprised. I'd half expected the self-righteous, Catholic Scully to raise her ugly head at the thought of Skinner's unholy alliance with another man. "Sir, I'll go with you to security. It would be helpful to talk to whoever was working this afternoon when your friend disappeared."

Skinner nodded. Scully walked back to me, pulled me to my feet and pushed me toward the door. She didn't stop pushing until she had me in the hall, and the door closed behind us.

"Start making your calls, Mulder. Matheson, Frohike, whomever you need. I'll take care of Skinner and the security people. I don't think there's much point in canvassing the neighbors, yet. It was the middle of the afternoon. Almost everyone in this building is a government worker.  It was the middle of the workday."

I nodded. "Thanks, Scully."

She laid one hand against my chest and patted me absent-mindedly.  "What's this guy like, Mulder? This Carter?"

I shrugged. "Young. Seems nice."

"Does he love him?"

I wasn't sure for a minute who she meant, but either way, I knew the answer. "Yeah."

She nodded. "Get moving."

She stepped back inside the apartment and closed the door. I hit the speed dial on my cell phone for the Gunmen.


The End