Title: TyflosAuthor: Amazon X
E-mail: yankeestarbuck@yahoo.com
Website: http://yankeestarbuck.com
Feedback: Why, yes, thank you!
Category: X-Files, Skinner/Krycek, slash
Rating: FFAO (Fic For Adults Only)
Summary: What are the long term effects of the acid that messed up Walter's eyes in "Without"?
Archive: I'll send it for archive.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, I have no money.
Notes: Well, this is for Callisto's SKINKS Writing Bee AND the UXFS Zine. I'm pooped. I got a bug about this a while ago, and it just took on a life of its own. I dedicate this to Ursula's mom and dad, who were blind and deaf, respectively. Her mother, a blind woman, raised her kids, cleaned her house and cooked for the family. Her dad, who was a deaf man, raised his kids, worked to feed his family and was just like everyone else. Both of them we just like everyone else. We'll see what Alex thinks of that. Oh, and see if you can tell who Walter's assistant is (it's not a MarySue). Thank you, Aunt Ursula for the beta, as well. And thanks for the nudging. :)
*-*-*-*
*OOOF* Walter coughed as Penny jumped on his belly. "Ok, sweetie, I'm up. God, you can go out on your own, you don't need me." Walter ran his hands through her hair, nuzzling her neck. She poked her nose in his chest and snuffled.
"OK, girl, get in," he said, raising the blankets to let her in. She curled up beside him and he settled down. "Now be quiet and sleep with Daddy a little while. It's only..." Walter reached out to the clock and hit the big button on top and it announced "The time is four thirty-seven and twenty seconds."
"Exactly. Stop wagging that tail and go to sleep, Penny." She settled down and soon both were snoring. Walter had chosen her because she wasn't very friendly when he needed to find a Seeing Eye dog. The friendly part came later. Penny's trainer, Laura Wolfe, assured him that she was very smart and was more appropriate for him.
"And what does that mean, Ms. Wolfe?" he'd asked at the time. "I'm a mean old man, is that it?"
"No, Mr. Skinner. It means that when an adult, and yes, an older adult, loses his sight, it's more difficult to adjust. I just think that a more subdued and quiet dog would be better suited to your particular personality. You don't seem like the kind of man who wants a puppy-like dog. And with your background, maybe I'm assuming incorrectly, but I would figure you'd want to get back to work as soon as possible."
Walter cracked a smile, something he hadn't done in a long time. "Yes, you're right. I want to get back to work. The FBI gave me six months to either get back on my feet or retire. I'm far too young to retire, which is what they would prefer. I prefer to tell them to kiss my ass."
"Well, good. I think Penny will get along with you just fine." Laura became very close to Walter, the closest to him as far as any of his teachers went. He did enjoy spending time with his Braille instructor, Bianca, especially since her soft hands were always warm. His "occupational therapy" instructor, who taught him how to get around his office and how to get around the world was one tough cookie. Ursula would not let him get away with anything. He respected that, but preferred a softer touch. His "home life" instructor, Georgia, was just a peach. She taught him how to do everything in his home, including cooking and cleaning. He decided if he was going to make his way in his world, he'd go all the way, or eat his gun. And he had considered it more than he wanted to admit.
When it first started, it wasn't much. He needed new glasses every six months instead of every year, right after returning from the Arizona hospital. When Walter defended Mulder, he didn't tell anyone that the room looked four shades darker than it should have. Maybe six. By the time Kersh and he had cleaned the FBI of its infiltrators, with the help of Krycek, who had miraculously come back to life, he was totally blind.
Krycek had faked his death, which Skinner raged about. The nightmares of shooting the man, in what was to be calculated as cold blood, haunted him still. Of course, Krycek never faced Skinner, the lot of good it would do. In a year's time, when he finally told Mulder and Scully they were free of all charges and could come out of the cold, Krycek had vanished, along with Walter's sight. By 2003, he was learning to read again, learning to walk again, learning to live again. It was as though giving away his sight meant that the threats against the ones he loved were gone. This is how Walter rationalized it in his head.
It had baffled the doctors, until Scully read all of the test results, reports and tied it in with the nanotechnology information Mulder had gotten from Senator Matheson and the records from Skinner's hospital stay in Arizona. The damage done to his optical nerves by the nanocytes and the exacerbation by the acid was too much for his body to handle. She was the one who helped him arrange his new education.
By six-thirty that morning, Walter was out of bed, showered, dressed and had cleaned his bathroom and bedroom. Always a tidy man by nature, he wanted to learn to clean after he'd lost his sight. He wanted to be completely independent. All of his instructors, Georgia, Ursula, Laura and Bianca, were very impressed with his fast progress. He'd embraced his disability and worked past it. Walter had pretty much mastered his world again. After that, when he'd realized he'd been in the FBI for twenty-five years, and he was, in essence, back at square one, he knew it was time for a change.
So, with a tearful goodbye from Kim, a civilian medal of honor from the president for helping eradicate the traitorous and alien threat, and a handover of power to the new Assistant Director John Doggett, Walter Skinner went back to his condo. He called a realtor and enquired about a new home and sold his condo. He bought a large house in Burnaby, British Columbia, and retired to Canada. He didn't mind the rain and he settled in happily.
After leaving most of his friends behind in Washington, Walter realized he needed someone to help with things like money when he couldn't feel the difference between bills, to read his mail to him, and to just do the things he didn't feel like doing on his own anymore. Walter wanted to write about his experiences on the X-Files and in the world of the FBI. He'd read all of the X-File folders, as well as all of Mulder's notes about them. He knew the cases almost as well as Mulder did. Mulder showed no interest in being a best-selling novelist and gave Walter the omini-domini to go ahead.
Walter hired a woman a few months after moving to Burnaby, just outside Vancouver proper, and she turned out to be the best thing for him. She was about his age, but acted much younger, with a teenage son who was a dream and set up Walter's computer world. The boy was very intuitive about teaching the blind man how to use his scanner to view money when his assistant, Linda, couldn't be there. The boy, Mike, also really enjoyed putting the Braille reader on the computer for Walter. So, in essence, with the talking software, the Braille reader/writer and the regular keyboard, Walter was set to begin working.
This was where Linda found him, in the study, typing away, radio news on in the background. "Hey, Walter, what's new?"
"No mail yet. I had breakfast already." He knew he would hear about that comment.
"What use am I if I can't cook for you?" she shouted. "I'll bet you cleaned the shower and made the bed, too."
"Lin, you're my assistant, not my maid."
"No kidding. Your maid doesn't have any work to do."
Walter didn't answer her. He just continued to explain in detail the Grissom case for his latest novel. She entered with a glass and put it on the table beside him.
"I didn’t ask for orange juice, Lin."
She sighed. "You'll want it when it's room temperature, the way you like it."
He waited for her to leave before he raised the glass to his lips and sipped the juice, not too cold and full of pulp. He typed for a few hours until Penny stood and brought her leash to Walter. "We're going for a walk, I take it?" He harnessed her and grabbed his jacket. The good thing about living where he did was a HUGE park about two streets away. He could take her there for a run and she didn't need to be working.
"Linda! I'm going to the park with Penny. Do you want anything from the store while I'm out?" he called out. He always asked, and she always refused.
"I'm doing your grocery shopping in a little bit, so I'll get what I need then. Do you have any dry cleaning?" she asked.
"You're not my maid."
"Shut up!" She walked over and handed him the backpack of walking supplies.
"Goodbye, Linda," he stated as he walked out the door with his girl, shouldering the pack. He headed towards the park, anticipating a relaxing afternoon of fetch and a nap under their tree.
A few of Walter's neighbors were near and called out hellos to him. He called back, waving. Somewhere in the back of his head, he wondered if they waved to him. Probably not. Canadians weren't that stupid. At least not in his interactions with them.
At the park, Walter took joy in hearing Penny barking and whining at him to throw the rubber toy. It was a huge bulbous thing made of super-strong polymer with a rope attached so he could fling it farther. She would dutifully bring it back and plunk it on his sneakers. They played for about an hour, with Walter regularly flipping open the crystal on his watch and feeling the hands. It was a gift from Laura, who was so impressed by his ease in learning a whole new language. She could easily have gotten him a talking digital watch, but the analog watch with Braille on it looked to be more Walter's style.
When Walter sat on the warm grass to pull out the bottles of water, a small one for him and a big one for Penny, she didn't come over to him right away. The smell of the fresh early spring day was heaven to him. It was a surprisingly dry day, and knowing the Pacific Northwest, he would have rain by the afternoon and the evening would be clear and cool. He let out a loud whistle and called Penny, but she stood still for a moment before trotting over to him. She pulled at the harness and pushed at his hand.
"What’s wrong, Penny? Something wrong?" he asked, petting her head. He got a bark in response. "You don't want a little water, girl? You've been running around a lot." Another soft bark and the harness was rattled. "Ok, we're going home. And you were the one who wanted to go out. Great, I'm bitch-whipped."
He buckled her harness and they set off back to the house, Penny on point. Walter figured he'd humor her and tightened his hold on the harness. She walked away, leading him quickly. Walter could feel her swinging her head back and forth, as if she was looking around. "OK, Penny, we're going. Someone sure is spookin' you, huh, girl?"
She never answered when she was working. She just walked beside him the two blocks to the house and led him in. Walter was very curious why Penny didn't want to spend time in the park. She loved going for runs and being off the harness. In the house, she ushered Walter in and stood before the door, preventing Walter from getting near it to look outside.
"Linda, come here," Walter called out.
She came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a dish towel. "What's wrong?"
"Look around outside and see if you can figure out why she's so damned upset," Walter ground out, dropping the harness and backpack on the floor.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"She pulled me out of the park like she was working. Something upset her enough to drag me into the house."
Walter heard the curtains being pulled aside and Linda said, "There's a man walking down the street. That's about it."
"Stranger?"
"Well, if I knew him, I'd have said his name, wouldn't I?" Linda remarked. Sarcasm was her second language.
"What does he look like?"
"About your height, not as built, but bulky, so around 200 pounds. Black leather jacket, black jeans, black boots..."
"Fucking hell, are you kidding me?" Walter shouted. He flung open the door and was followed by Penny who began barking. He heard the footsteps on the gravel stop about ten yards away. "Alex Fucking Krycek, I should have known. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be gone."
"Well, I guess I came here for nothing," Alex said.
"Would you for once say something that makes sense?!" Walter shouted.
*-*-*-*
The scene made no sense to her. Linda watched as the two men faced off. Walter stood his ground. Alex Fucking Krycek stayed where he was, not looking up at Walter, but intelligently at Penny, who was barking, not wagging her tail. Linda wondered why.
The stranger was handsome, no doubt about that, if a little world-weary. He looked as if he'd seen action over the years, especially his jacket. He wore black gloves as well, giving Linda the impression that he was hiding behind his wall of black leather. He stood solidly, not tentatively, waiting to flee. No, he was standing his ground on foreign soil.
"Walter, should I call the police?" she asked, backing towards the door.
"No. This is my...former agent, Alex Krycek. He was just leaving."
"I came to see if you needed any help," Alex Krycek said, voice deep, quiet, whiskey-gravel quality to it. Linda was immediately in love. She would have made a move if her gaydar hadn't gone off the moment the man's leaf-green eyes lit on Walter and turned sultry.
"I don't need your help. I need to be left alone." Walter was making a good show of it, looking in Alex's direction. She could tell that Alex knew how blind he was.
"Walter, why don't we take this inside? Nosy Mrs. Finnegan is already peeping out of the blinds." Linda walked back into the house, patting her leg for Penny to follow. No one moved, man or dog. "I mean now, you three!"
Penny, not a stupid dog, moved first and trotted into the house. Walter turned and walked in, his only tell of his blindness was reaching out for the doorframe. Alex walked in behind them, closing the door and looking at the locks for a moment before engaging them. Walter walked himself into the living room and sat in his favorite chair, Penny taking vigil beside him.
"Mr. Krycek, excuse my boss' manners. Have a seat. Can I take your coat and get you something to drink? Are you hungry?" Linda asked. She walked up to him and held out her hand for his jacket.
"He's not staying that long, Linda. He's leaving as soon as he tells me whatever it is he came here to say." Absently, Walter began stroking Penny's head.
Alex sat on the couch and cleared his throat. "I came here to make sure you were OK...to see if you needed any help."
"I don't. Goodbye. Since you can see, you can find the door yourself."
Walter began to get up. "Wait a minute!" Alex called out. "Are you going to leave just like that? Walk out of the room? I came here to talk to you. Help me out here!"
"What should I say? Thanks for not being dead, but I still have the nightmares. Thanks for helping us out but never coming to my face to say you're sorry for killing me and hurting me with the nanocytes all those times. Not to mention threatening my life with them. Thank you for seducing me and making me fall in love with a greasy-faced, stiff-haired, green, sweet and beautiful little boy, who was a wolf in hiding, and made me ruin my marriage for him. Is this what I should be saying? Let me know, so I can say the right things and you can be on your way."
"I'm sorry..."
"So am I! I'm sorry I was so needy and stupid to love you! Are you here to kill me again? Do it quick and make sure Linda calls the dog trainer to get Penny. You don't deserve her."
Alex sighed and fidgeted on the couch. Then Walter heard a sound that was familiar to him, but not from the man sitting in the room. It was clapping. A man can't clap with one hand.
"How the hell did you do that?" Walter asked.
"Modern science meets modern technology. I'm trying out the newest bionics money can buy. Well, in exchange for using the arm and allowing them to make me a test subject, they're letting me have it free of charge. But I have to write these really detailed reports. What do you think of that?"
"Alex Krycek working for a better tomorrow. Whoopdie-fucking-do."
Alex laughed. "Well, why not? It's the new me. New arm, new outlook. Why not?"
"Because I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you. And with my current situation, you don't want me throwing you anywhere. You could end up under a bus or a truck or something."
Alex got up and a distinct warning bark reverberated through the room. "Walter, I'm not going to do anything to you. I swear it. Please call her off."
"She's a seeing-eye dog, not an attack dog, Alex," Walter said, purposely using Alex's first name. "Get to know her like you would any other animal."
*-*-*-*
Alex looked down at Walter, sitting in his chair, seemingly looking up at him. Alex knew he hadn't had any sight since just after Mulder and Scully went on the lam. He wanted to go to Walter, help him, explain what was happening, tell him it could be erased, but he couldn't. After all he'd done to Walter, and this side effect of the nanocytes which no one could foresee, he had finally found his streak of guilt. Walter was one of the few people who remained "good" in Alex's mind.
Walter was never part of "Them" as far as Alex knew. He had been suckered in the same way, Alex found out. Walter wanted to be a patriot, do right by his country and his fellow Americans and rid them of the threat of invasion. Neither man counted on giving away his soul in order to get the job done.
There was one fringe benefit to the whole deal. Walter was an exquisite lover. Alex never appreciated being gay until he spent a night with Walter Skinner. The man was older, so he was experienced, patient and had an oral penchant. He was a far cry better than the boy-toys Alex had been picking up in the clubs on weekends. They spent their time at Alex's apartment, seven glorious encounters. When Alex needed to leave the FBI, against his will but as directed by the Smoking Man, he regretted never getting the chance to say goodbye to Walter. One of many regrets he had for the man.
Putting those regrets aside, Alex decided to just move forward and get on with what needed to be done that day. First things first. He needed to make friends with Walter's dog. Seeing-eye dog or not, she was a dog. Walter's best friend. She was almost as important to get to know as Walter's assistant. She was a cool-looking chick. Graying auburn hair, nose ring, visible tattoos. Walter obviously chose her for her attitude. She kept them in line.
Alex approached Penny slowly, cautiously, hands out. She visibly relaxed, ears down, but her tail was still. Alex had a bit of experience with dogs, but not working dogs. She wasn't wearing her harness, so he figured he was allowed to pet her. Holding out his hand, saying calm, soft, nonsense words, he knelt and let her sniff his real hand. A few tentative sniffs of the pink wet nose and soon the golden tail was wagging as Alex made a new friend.
She was a friendly dog, not overly so, but she gave his neck a sniff, then a lick to his face before trotting back to Walter to sit at his feet. Alex smiled as Walter's hand immediately sought to stroke her.
"So, that's done. My dog trusts you. What did you want to show me?"
Alex reached out and stroked his left hand across Walter's cheek. Slowly, he stroked under the strong chin, down Walter's corded neck and back up across his lips. He smiled when he felt the lips purse a bit, giving a small kiss to his hand. He didn't pull away fast, waiting for Walter to settle back.
"It feels like a real hand, Alex. Where did you get that?" Walter asked, turning his face away from Alex's hand.
"It's from Switzerland. The latest in bionics."
"So? You're the Six Million Dollar Rat. So what?"
Alex pulled up straight at that last comment and walked back to his place on the couch. He didn't like the first time that Walter called him that after the betrayal and he didn't like it that time, either. "Well, I thought you might like to learn more about it. They're working on all different body part replacements. There's a heart, there's all the limbs. I think someone is working on a pair of eyes..."
"Get out," Walter said quietly.
"What?" Alex watched the color come up in his face, watched as the cheeks pinkened and the jaw clenched.
"I said get out. You will not come here and talk to me like that. I will not be insulted!"
Walter stood and stomped out of the room and into his office, slamming the door behind him. Penny watched Alex a moment before trotting off into the kitchen. Alex sighed and stood from the couch, looking around the room. It was...plain. It all matched and was pleasant looking, but lacked the subtle touches of Skinner's condo. Like the photos of him and his war buddies that hung in the alcove. The ever present wedding picture was gone, which was a shame since Alex did think Sharon was a looker, God rest her soul.
It just wasn't a real home at all. It was comfortable. The couch sat like a cloud under his ass...and Alex realized. It didn't have to be decorated too nicely. It had to be nice for company, but the owner didn't care. He couldn't see it. Taking a deep breath, Alex walked to the door that closed behind Walter. He listened for a moment, trying to hear if there were sounds. All he could hear was a computer generated voice. It was describing...something. Taking a deep breath, the he opened the door and went inside.
It looked as he thought it would, dark and comfortable. Skinner sat at a huge desk in a large comfortable leather chair. Penny trotted in behind him and sat at Walter's feet, putting her head on his thigh.
"Hey, girl, how's the back yard?" he asked. She rubbed her nose into his hand and sniffed. "Don't just stand there, Alex. Come over if you want, and see what I'm doing."
"You told me to get out," Alex said, quietly.
"And you ignored it and walked in here without knocking. You must want something. May as well see what I'm doing."
Alex walked up behind Walter and looked over his shoulder. He didn't recognize the program Walter was using, but it was a form of word processor and he was writing. It was a story Alex knew well; the case of Augustus Cole and the disappearing gun. He smiled and let out a quiet laugh.
"That was my first X-file. Why are you writing about that?" Alex asked.
"It's the next file in line. Each novel is about a case. Why?" Walter didn't turn to look at Alex, but his typing had stopped. There were three levels of keyboards. One normal keyboard, one with Braille on the keys and one that Alex didn't recognize. It had a long blank black strip with dots on it.
"What's that other keyboard?" Alex asked.
"It's a Braille reader. When the voice can't articulate what's on the screen, I touch here, and it writes it to me. Granted, it's slower than just hearing it, but the vocal capacity isn't as vast as the far reaches of the internet. So, I need all three."
Alex was silent a moment, taking it all in. Walter had begun typing again. He was comfortable working. There was a Braille printer on a raised part of the desk for him. Alex had read the last four novels he'd printed. He was a good writer, thrilling and captivating, even though Alex knew all the stories anyway. He portrayed Scully as a Virgin Saint, and Mulder as the Brilliant Detective Savant. Neither could do any wrong, even by their curmudgeon of a boss. Of course, all names were changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.
"You said I insulted you, Walter. How did I do that?" Alex asked.
"You want to try and make up to me because this is all your fault. You want to afford me a means to see again, based on some unproven alien technology, to soothe your conscience. Well, fuck no!" Walter stood from his desk and faced Alex, even if he was looking somewhere toward Alex's navel. "You are not going to just ease your guilt by miraculously healing the blind. YOU are NOT the savior! Not mine, anyway!"
"You think...you arrogant bastard! Fuck you! You think this is about me? That I'm doing this to ease my conscience? What a complete bastard you are!" Alex turned to walk out of the house and encountered and angry assistant.
"Mr. Krycek, you will not speak to Walter like that. You will apologize to him. Right now."
Alex looked the woman over, and knew she wasn't joking. Hanging his head, he walked back into the den and looked at the broad back of the man he thought he'd come to help. He saw the muscles tighten, and the fingers slowed.
"I'm sorry, Walter. I didn't mean to insult you or to...yell at you. If you think my offer is based on guilt, I can't help that. All I can tell you is that it isn't based on anything but..."
"But?" Walter asked, turning his head slightly to show half his face to Alex.
"But good will. If you believe that."
"And if I don't?" Walter asked, turning back to his work.
"Then I'm wasting both our time." Alex knelt and held his hand out to Penny, tempting her forward. She walked over and nudged Alex's hand with her nose. He petted her head and began walking toward the front door.
"Wait a minute, Alex," Walter called out, standing. He turned away from the desk and took a step forward. Alex watched as Walter slowly walked toward him. "If you can smell it, Linda's making her crab alfredo for me. I try to get her to stop cooking, since she's not my maid. I only wanted her for shopping and reading the mail, but she likes to cook and clean. And the laundry. Well, she's probably cooking enough for her son and you, since you're here. You may as well stay."
"What a stunning offer!" Alex exclaimed sarcastically. He knew it was completely out of character for him, but he needed to shock Walter a bit. He didn't want to be seen as the same old rat bastard Krycek.
"Don't be an asshole. Just go get your stuff and bring it upstairs."
Alex snorted a laugh. "What makes you think I want to stay here?"
"I’m not asking you. I'm telling you. You have enough time to walk to wherever you left your car to drive back."
"How did you know I drove and left the car somewhere..."
"I didn't hear you drive up. Alex...Christ, I can't see, but I'm not stupid."
Walter turned and sat back at his computer. Alex nodded and walked out to the living room to see Linda coming out of the kitchen.
"Is it all settled?" she asked, wiping her hands on a towel.
"Yeah, it's settled. I'm going to get my things from my hotel and I'll be back in about an hour." He smiled sheepishly.
"OK, that's fine. I have to change the sheets upstairs, anyway. Or...will the spare bed not be slept in?"
The smirk on Linda's face almost made Alex want to smile back. He didn't, just nodding silently and left.
*-*-*-*
Walter sat typing, recounting the last few moments of the meeting with Mulder and Alex, that afternoon that was the beginning of the end for him. He ended his novel with Mulder's thoughts as he mused to Krycek in the basement office, when in fact, it ended with Alex staying behind, asking him to go for beers after work. They ended up tangled in his sheets later that night, Walter both loving and regretting his decision.
He knew that seeing Alex after that was a mistake, but every time he ended up at the door to his apartment, he had no conscious knowledge of how he arrived. It was as if his body, on autopilot, wanted to live out his desires, even if his brain knew it was wrong. Not wrong in morals, although Walter was a married man. It was just wrong.
He continued to ignore that little alarm at the back of his head and when Alex betrayed them all, his heart was broken. It had taken a long time for it to even begin to heal. Sharon, his late wife, noticed. It was part of why she filed for divorce. Even separated from him, Sharon had become a victim of the conspiracy; Walter would always blame himself for her death.
Walter pushed these useless thoughts from his head. He could remember things later. At the moment, he needed to finish his novel, go through it for mistakes and send it to his agent. She would get it edited and send it back for his final approval. She loved working with him. Stephanie would even take the time to make sure the manuscript was lovingly printed in Braille on finger-friendly paper for Walter to reread and approve.
Just has he wrapped up the last few lines of the email to Stephanie with the attached file of the novel, Penny stood and wagged her tail, waiting to see if Walter would let her go. "Yes, sweetie, go see who’s there."
He heard her pad out to the door and give a low bark, indicating a friend, some she'd met before. Walter went to the door and asked, "Who's there?"
"It's Alex. I have my bag."
Walter opened the door and smiled. "My door's usually open. You heard that soft bark? Penny was giving you the OK. Just come in next time."
"Will do." Walter heard Linda come in and said, "Is Michael coming to dinner with us?"
"Of course. He'll grab a free meal where he can." Linda reached out for Alex's duffle and asked Walter pointedly, "Which room is this going in?"
"The guest room. I'm sure Alex would like his privacy."
Linda laughed and took Alex's bag, disappearing up the stairs. Walter turned and said, "Come and sit with me until dinner's ready. I want to watch the news."
Alex followed and Walter sat on the wide leather couch in the office. He reached out and took the remote from the table to turn on the TV. Penny jumped up beside him and they cuddled on the couch, Walter taking time to massage her ears, head and paws. The news flowed over them, usual Canadian stories about local teams, petty crimes and the weather, of course. One didn't live in the Pacific Northwest without the usual complaints about the weather.
"So, how do you like Vancouver, Alex?" Walter asked at a commercial.
There was a snort and Walter could tell Alex was smiling. "I've always liked it here. I spent several months in the Gastown area, between..."
"Engagements?" Walter supplied with a sarcastic edge.
"Yes, I guess you could say that. I was staying at a hotel downtown, actually. The drive was nice. I may like settling here."
"You're settling here? How interesting. You do know you can't do that unless you have a job, right?"
"Yeah, I interviewed a few days ago at the University of British Columbia. I'm going to be in the foreign language department, teaching Russian and Cantonese."
"Cantonese? Really? I didn't know you spoke."
"Yes, and French, Spanish and German. I was a language major in college."
"I didn't know that. Your jacket said..."
"I know what my jacket said," Alex interrupted. "They made it all up. I'm sorry."
Walter thought about it a moment, and conceded that there were plenty of things that were out of Alex's hands at the time. "Look, you should just let it go, OK? You don't have to keep apologizing for things that were...out of your hands. I mean..."
"You're going easy on me, now? After all the posturing at the front door?"
Walter laughed. "Yeah, I just..."
"Needed to pee in the corners?"
Nodding before bursting into laughter again, Walter reached over Penny to touch Alex's shoulder. Alex's hand covered his. Those hands that he remembered, covered with soft, warm skin. There were dry patches now, and he could feel a few wrinkles of age. This was not his sweet young boy.
*-*-*-*
When Alex saw Walter's hand reach out, he reached out and took it. Walter's hands felt exactly the same, soft, strong and sure. He still had impeccably manicured nails. It was probably more necessary since he needed to touch everything to see it. It had been so long since Walter had touched him. He remembered the last time clearly. They'd gone for a run in a park close to Alex's apartment in Falls Church. It had begun to rain, so they made their way back to the apartment, running as fast as they could out of the rain.
That afternoon, they tested the integrity of Alex's old fashioned claw-footed bathtub. It had been filled with hot water to warm both men up, a liberal splash of bubbles, both of which ended up mostly on the floor. The men ended up tangled in the sheets, sweaty and breathless from lovemaking. Walter had stroked Alex's head, kissed his cheeks gently and told Alex that this was becoming a bad habit. One that Walter had no intention of breaking. Alex knew that he would take the betrayal hard, but what could he do? They had ensnared him so securely, his life depended on his participation. As well as Walter's own life. He wouldn't risk the only true love he'd ever known just to get out of doing a few distasteful things.
Alex clung to Walter's hand, bringing it to his mouth and gently kissed each knuckle. Penny took her hint and jumped off the couch, trotting out of the room. Alex moved in to kiss Walter's face, taking it in both hands. He leaned Walter back and lay on his chest.
"I've missed you, Walter," Alex whispered.
"Could have fooled me."
"Really?"
"Took you long enough to come here, didn't it?" Walter said, running he fingers of his right hand over Alex's face.
"I was putting my life back together, Walt. Learning to be a human again. Living like a person. You think I could just walk out of the war, move in and be your...what? Your boyfriend? Your husband? Not the way my head was. No, I needed time to just...learn who Alex Krycek would be after the fight was over."
Walter sat up, dislodging Alex from his chest. "I would have helped you, you dope!"
"When? While you were learning Braille, or while you were getting to know the dog? I watched, from afar, and kept tabs. The Gunmen were good for that. They put me up a while."
"Where are they?" Walter asked. Alex knew Walter had tried to find the Gunmen, but when then men wanted to play dead, they wanted to stay alive. Any inquiries would have alerted the Colonists to their location.
"They're living in New York. They bought some old factory in the South Bronx. I had a whole empty section to myself for a while. Good place to freak out for a few months."
"I still have nightmares, that wasn't a lie."
Alex pressed a kiss on Walter's temple. "I didn't think you would. I'm sorry we had to do it that way. I still have them, too. We can comfort each other."
Walter pulled back and turned his head away. "What's wrong, Walt?" Alex asked, putting a hand on Walter's shoulder.
"Was there...did you sleep with anyone else, while you were getting you life back?" Walter asked cautiously.
Alex took a moment, took a breath and tried to think of exactly what to say to Walter.
"How many were there, Alex?" he asked, quietly.
"A few. Not many. You?"
"No one since you. I was..."
"Heart broken?" Alex asked.
"A little. Faithful, as well."
"Faithful to a man who sold you out, killed you and controlled you? You are a piece of work, Walter Skinner." Alex sat back and straightened himself. The television had gone from the news to some action show by John Woo. Canadian television always made Alex smile. Things seemed simpler north of the border, every time he visited anyway. He just waited until Walter eventually stood from the couch and left the room. And of course, Alex sat there, dumbfounded, until he walked out to find Linda talking to a tall, thin young man with long, dark hair.
"Alex, this is my son, Michael. He's joining us for dinner, as he does when he's not working or in classes. Michael, this is Alex Krycek, a friend of Walter's from...the past."
Alex shook the kid's hand and smiled at him. He looked like his mother, pretty yet practical. Walter walked back down the stairs and said, "Hi Michael. When did you get here?"
"While you were upstairs. We eating?" The young man looked at his mother for confirmation.
"Yes, come on. Alex, if you want to wash up, the bathroom is up the stairs and two doors on the right."
Alex took Linda's advice and went up to the bathroom. He relieved himself and washed his hands well. This bathroom didn't look very well-used. Alex figured it for the guest bathroom. He went back downstairs and followed the voices to the eat-in kitchen. The table was set for four and Alex found himself cleverly placed between Walter and Michael. He couldn't help but smile.
He watched carefully as Walter reached out for bowls, pasta, salad, garlic bread, and looked as if he was perfectly fine, as if his sight hadn't been bothered one bit. He watched the man raise the fork to his mouth each time with the perfect amount of pasta wound around it, not poking himself in the lip once.
"Is he staring at me?" Walter asked Linda and Michael.
"Yes," they answered together.
"I'm not staring," Alex said. "I'm merely...observing."
"You're observing like a peeping tom. He can eat."
"I...I'm sorry, Walter," Alex said, reaching out to touch Walter's knee.
"It's OK. I would have thought you of all people would be less surprised of someone with a disability living a normal life."
"You're disabled, Alex?" Linda asked.
Alex liked the woman more and more. She waited pointedly until he took a sip of his white wine and patted his mouth. "I had an...unfortunate accident in Russia and lost my left arm just below my shoulder."
"Uh, you have a working arm, dude," Michael said, sipping his Coke.
"No, this is mechanical. It's the newest technology in bionics." Alex rolled up his sleeve and showed the most natural looking arm and hand to the two onlookers. He slipped his finger into what had originally looked like a scar and flipped open a small door to show the inner workings of his arm.
"It's entirely water resistant. It's all microprocessors and high capacity fiber optics. And it cost a bundle. But since I'm a guinea pig, I got it for free."
"Looks like Luke Skywalker's arm, sort of," Michael said, reaching out to touch the back of Alex's hand.
"Like that?" Walter asked. "I remember that the insides were rather mechanical looking."
"That was the technology Lucas had at the time, Walt," Michael explained. "Walt, this looks awesome. Does it feel the same?"
"I notice subtle differences, like it doesn't ever go numb. If I burn it, it heals faster. It doesn't scar. Very strange piece of technology."
"Do they have eyes?" Linda asked.
"They're working on it. They need someone who had optical nerve damage to test them on. Isn't that why you went blind, Walter?" Alex asked.
"I already told you that I am not interested in testing out some new eyes. Am I clear?" Walter asked, throwing his napkin on the table and standing. He left the room quickly and slammed his office door.
"Linda, he doesn't want it. I've asked. I've touched him with this hand. He won't do it."
"I don't see why not," she quipped.
"Walter will tell me when he wants to. It's OK. I'm not taking this personal. He's doing as well as I was when I lost my arm. Believe me, I bounced back fast."
"Was the surgery long?" Michael asked.
Alex's eyes darkened as his face fell with the memory of that cold, wet night in the Tunguska forest when he was held down and mutilated. "No, it was quite short, actually. If you'll excuse me, I think I would like to be alone for a bit. Dinner was delicious."
"I'll put the leftovers in the fridge in case you or Walter would like more tonight. It was nice to meet you, Alex," Linda said. It was noncommittal. As if she didn't know if he'd be there in the morning. Michael's goodbye was the same.
Alex made his way to his room and closed the door gently behind him. The room was well designed with a large bed, a quilt on it and another across the foot. There was a large wardrobe and a desk with a chair. There was also a comfortable armchair by the window with a reading lamp next to it. Alex thought that these probably had belonged to Walter until he lost his sight. He probably didn't read much before bed anymore. Then again, who knew with the man.
Alex sat in the chair and closed his eyes for a while. He wanted to think, consider what he was going to do, and how he was going to leave without hurting Walter's feelings. The thoughts and feelings swirled around in his head until he drifted into a quiet sleep.
*-*-*-*
Walter sat at his desk, not touching the keyboards or listening to anything. He didn’t even move. All he could think of was the last kind look he got from Krycek. It was just before the shooting, which he never quite explained fully. It didn't matter anymore. For all Walter knew, the Goa'uld from Stargate revived him with their sarcophagus. He laughed to himself. Mulder had liked that television show, got him hooked on it.
He knew he'd acted rudely to Alex. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew that Linda would come crashing in the room and tell him off. When she didn't, Walter walked out to try and find her. He heard her and her son in the kitchen finishing the dishes.
"Walter, I'm going to take Michael home now. Do you need anything else?" she asked.
"No, um...thank you. I...you're off tomorrow, so I'll see you Thursday."
"OK, Walter. Take care of yourself."
They left the house and Walter felt incredibly alone. Even Penny was scarce. He couldn't hear her anywhere in the vicinity. He knew he had to talk to Alex, just to explain why he was so upset. He wasn't even sure if he could put it into words. Walter wasn't worried, though. Alex had this uncanny knack to make all of his emotions come flooding out.
Walter slowly walked up the stairs, listening for any sounds of stirring from upstairs and heard nothing. He knew the room in which Linda had installed him, the spare across the hall from his. Walter felt along the wall until he came to the doorframe. It was closed. Time to test his skills.
Opening the door soundlessly was a feat Walter didn't know he was capable of. It swung gently under the pressure of his fingertips. The sound of Alex's steady breath filled the room. He would have moved or said something, so Walter thought he must be sleeping. He knew the layout of the room and began moving towards the sound of breath.
Alex didn't stir. Walter quietly crept to the bed and sat, listening to Alex's deep breathing. He checked his watch and knew that it was sunset, a beautiful time of day. He could imagine Alex sitting in front of the window, head tilted slightly to the side against the Queen Anne wings, red and gold of sunset glowing in his sable hair. Walter remembered another time, their last time together, when they spent the whole night together.
Walter had woken early and saw Alex sprawled on the bed, golden light of sunrise sparkling in the hair on his taut belly. He looked so young and handsome, exactly the kind of lover he's always wanted. Walter wasn't ignorant of his preference, but he came from a small town and had small town parents that had small town ideas and expectations. He was the captain of the football team and was expected to marry the homecoming queen, which he did. They were expected to have babies. But after three miscarriages, he stopped asking her to make love. She knew he preferred not to make love to her.
Walter tried so hard to keep his relationship with Alex secret, but that night, they'd gotten drunk at a local pub and wobbled back to Alex's apartment. Walter missed Sharon sitting in the cafe across the way with a friend of hers, seeing them hanging onto each other, kissing under a streetlight. It wasn't long after that Alex left, his marriage fell apart and Sharon died.
"Stop thinking so hard. You woke me up," Alex said, and yawned.
"I'm sorry. I was just sitting here...thinking..."
*-*-*-*
Alex waited to hear what Walter would say. He wanted to know what Walter was so afraid of, why he wouldn't try and find a cure to his blindness. He wasn't supposed to be blind. The combination of nanocytes and alien acid wasn't supposed to do this. Alex felt extremely guilty. That wasn't a lie. He wanted to make it right. He wanted to help. Walter's reluctance was baffling.
"Why won't you come with me to Switzerland, Walter? I want you to see me..."
"I can see you, Alex. I can see you sitting in the Queen Anne chair with the russet beams of the setting sun glowing around you. I can see your eyes almost glowing, green as emeralds. You have a gentle smile on your face. And the wrinkle at the top of your nose is there. You look stunning, the way you always did."
Alex rose from the chair and walked to where Walter sat, resting a knee beside him on the bed. Slowly, he lowered his mouth to Walter's, joining their lips in a fiery kiss that gapped a decade of hate, hurt and heartache. Walter reached up, taking Alex's face in his hands, holding it still to deepen the kiss, sliding his tongue into Alex's mouth. Alex moaned, pleasure coursing through his veins with each heavy heartbeat.
He'd dreamed of this, fantasized, wished with all his heart to be with Walter again. Something in the man reminded him of when he was young and vulnerable. But with Walter, he was safe. He wanted that feeling again, craved it. Alex wanted to fall asleep in those huge arms again, and feel the safety of the man who loved him.
Walter pulled back and let his hands move onto Alex's cheeks, his eyes, his mouth, especially stroking the slope of his pert little nose. "No one broke your nose. Thank God."
"Why?"
"I love your nose, Alex." Walter pulled his face down and kissed the turned-up tip. He slid his fingertips over Alex's ears, gently stroking the pointy tips. "You have ears like an elf, Alex."
"An elf? You're crazy, old man."
"I may be crazy, but I'm horny."
"How about we take this to your bed, Walter? I'll show you how well this new hand works," Alex whispered in his ear.
"What's wrong with right here?" Walter asked.
Alex pulled back a bit. "You don't want me in your bed?"
Walter stroked a hand down the softened flank of Alex's body. "I don't want to move. I just want to hold you again."
"Come on, we can hold each other all you want," Alex said, pulling Walter to his feet and leading him with kisses. They passed Penny in the hall, who had an innate sense to leave the room and the men to themselves. When Alex looked at Walter's large bed, remembering the man liked room to roll around in bed, the comforter was pulled down, condoms and lube were on the night stand, as well as a dry wash cloth.
"Your assistant was wishfully thinking for you," he said, lowering Walter to the bed.
"What makes you say that?" Walter asked, pulling Alex down on top of him.
"She left condoms and lube out for us. I think that's what her son brought over. She wants us to fuck as much as we do."
"Oh, Alex, I don't want to fuck you. I want to make love to you." And make love he did. He rolled Alex onto his chest and reveled in the feeling of the weight on him. Alex was never thin, always solidly built. With his age, he had gotten a bit softer, his muscles a bit less defined, which would make sense since he didn't need to constantly be in peak condition to make through to the next fight. No, Alex was letting himself become human. And Walter loved it.
Rolling back over, Alex relaxed into the bedclothes. He wanted Walter to "see" him again, look at him with hands. Walter sat up and slid both hands up from Alex's waist, grasping a bit of belly, which made Alex laugh. "No tickling."
"I'm sorry. It's just so nice to see you with a bit of weight on you. You were always lean, sometimes you looked half starved, but this is nice. I love your body so lush and soft."
That struck Alex a moment. This man was blind, and didn't care that Alex's slightly plump body didn't "look" fashionable. He loved how it felt. It was all that mattered that he felt the way Walter wanted him to. Trailing up the front of his shirt, Walter's hands briefly ghosted over Alex's pecks, thumbs toying with the soft nipples below, causing them to jerk awake.
When the large, soft hands circled Alex's throat, gently sliding over the skin of his neck, Alex didn't flinch, didn't tense, didn't even swallow. Walter wasn't going to choke him. Walter only wanted to touch him, caress him. Hands that wanted to care for him, hands he cared for were the best kind, and he wanted them all over him.
"Do you want me to undress, Walter?" Alex asked.
"No, I'll do it. I miss taking your clothes off you." Walter reached for the shirt front, pulling it from where Alex had tucked it into his pants. Each tiny button popped for Walter's blunt, deft fingers until he spread the cloth open wide. The cool air drifted across Alex's chest, peaking his nipples perfectly. Walter's hand slid over Alex's chest again, followed by a questing mouth that worried the perk nipples to aching heights. Following his hands down, Walter trailed kissed down Alex's chest, across his ribs and to his soft belly.
Walter leaned up and kissed Alex's navel a last time before reaching for the button on his jeans. Without his sight, he was even more adept at manipulating the clothing, making quick work of the fly buttons. He fought Alex's pants down, both men laughing a bit, especially when Walter tried to wrestle off Alex's shoes.
"I have laces now, Walter. It's kind of a guilty pleasure," he said sheepishly, pulling them off.
"I can understand," Walter breathed in his ear. "It must be wonderful to have your arm back."
"It is. I feel whole again. You can, too, Walter. Just let me help you."
"Alex, I feel whole. I don't think of my blindness as a punishment or a loss. I accept it as a sacrifice to keep the ones I love safe. It was something I had to give to let the revolution continue. I never thought of you as less than perfect, even with the loss of your arm. Even with that ridiculous wig and mustache and beard when you held the palm pilot, squeezing the life out of me. You may have been doing what you had to do, but you were still perfect to me, even if I'm not perfect to you."
Alex sat up, regardless of being dressed in only boxer briefs and socks, he wanted to get up and pace, but a strong arm held him down. "Walter, you are still perfect to me. You always will be. I just wanted...I wanted you to be able to see me again. I rely so much on my looks...it was always the way I got the upper hand with my marks, being sexual or being predatory, but it was always about how I looked. It...I can't do that with you anymore. What if that's all we ever we're to each other?"
Walter smiled sadly at Alex. "I can still see you, Alex. Clearly. Right now, you have that little wrinkle between your eyes," as Walter reached out to touch Alex's face, rubbing the patch of skin. "Your face is still as beautiful as the first day I took you to bed, still young and fresh. I'm glad you washed out all that gel." Walter ran his hand through Alex's hair, which he'd let grow a bit. "Since it was just winter, your hair is a raven color, but once the summer comes, it will lighten a bit, getting all these red highlights."
"I have wrinkles, and liver spots and freckles, and..."
Walter put his hand on Alex's mouth. "I can’t see those things. When I touch you, wrinkles are smoothed out. So they're irrelevant to me. You'll never get old and ugly, you never could. In my mind, you'll always be young and beautiful."
Alex fought back the tears. He was never called beautiful just for the sake of being loved. He leaned up and kissed Walter, removing the rest of his clothing and trying to roll Walter onto his back.
"No, Alex. Let me just look at you for a while, please." Alex lay back and let Walter see him. Two large, soft, strong, gentle hands began their quest over his face. He rubbed the spot between Alex's eyes, forcing a giggle when he tickled Alex's wrinkle there. Fingers traced his slope of nose, the gently turned up tip was tickled. He explored down the jaw to Alex's perfect elfin ears, following each section with his lips, kissing, tasting, worshiping. Down Alex's corded throat to his wide shoulders, down his strong chest, teasing his nipples, eliciting a giggle. Walter quested across Alex's belly, which Alex felt was getting soft and too thick, but the tongue delving into his navel was oblivious to that.
Alex gasped for breath as two hands held his hips and that questing mouth made its way to his hard cock, jutting out from his body, purple and throbbing. "Alex, make sure to keep your voice down. Penny will think we're hurting each other," he said, and then slid his mouth onto Alex's cock. Alex near came off the bed with the feeling of Walter's hot mouth around him.
It was like coming home, back to the man he loved. He never felt anything so complete in his life, nothing so soothing and safe. He opened himself to Walter, allowing the big man to stretch his hole with lube before sliding in. Alex was amazed at Walter's ability to apply a condom to himself without seeing his cock. When Walter finally slid in, balls deep, Alex lay back, pulling Walter's weight on top of him. Their mouths latched on, sharing their desire, their need, their total oneness. Alex was determined not to let go of Walter's lips until they both came.
Walter stroked inside him gently, nudging his prostate, causing the most spectacular fireworks on his eyelids. Alex locked his legs around Walter's waist, keeping the man's strokes short and quick. It gave him the most delicious friction on his cock. "Oh, yes, like that, Walter. I'm going to come if you keep that up," Alex moaned in his ear.
Not one to disappoint, Walter continued on his course to bring Alex off, thrusting harder and faster, as Alex wanted. Alex felt the bubble growing bigger in his belly as he floated closer and closer to the precipice of paradise. One last kiss on Walter's lips and he tumbled over the edge, bringing Walter with him. Feeling the massive member throbbing and jerking in his ass pushed his orgasm longer than ever before.
When they both settled, Walter still on top of Alex and buried in him, they shared another kiss. "Thank you, Alex, thank you so much. That was incredible."
"No, Walter. Thank *you* for making me come harder than I ever have. God, is this what a woman feels like?"
"I don't know, I've never been a woman. But you have always felt better than a woman to me."
Alex got up to do the clean up, smiling since way back when, it was always Walter who did it. Alex enjoyed taking care of his lover this time. When he finally came back to bed, and curled beside Walter, holding the big man in his arms, he finally felt the completeness he'd been searching for. He wanted to kick himself for giving it away so many years ago, but there was no use to that now.
"Alex, can I tell you something?" Walter asked, almost whispering.
"You can tell me anything, Walter." Alex felt his guts lurch. This is where is all went to hell. This is where it all fell apart in his hands.
"I just wanted to tell you that no one's ever made me happier than you have. I'm glad you came back into my life. And I love you."
Alex fought the tears from his eyes, fought the lump from his throat so he could answer. "I love you, too, Walter."
Alex fell asleep with the feeling of oneness with the man in his arms. It was the most restful sleep of his life.
*-*-*-*
In the morning, Walter got up early and began breakfast for Alex. He had the microwave tray for bacon, he put bread in the toaster and began to scramble eggs. They were Alex's favorite. He set the coffee to brew and started running juice oranges over the citrus extension for the juicer. He was happily cooking away when Alex dragged himself in, dressed in his boxer briefs.
"Morning, Walter. Whacha doing?" He walked up behind Walter and reached around to hug him from behind.
"Making my lover breakfast. I thought he might like that."
"I better get the hell out of here before he gets up, huh?" He tried to move away, but Walter spun around and caught him, pulling Alex's body to his.
"Don't you dare," he commanded, kissing Alex soundly.
"Good. I need some coffee." Alex went to the coffee pot and found an empty mug waiting for him. He took it to the table to drink it the way he liked, black. Walter always liked a touch of milk and just one sugar, which was sitting beside his place. Walter smiled to himself as he brought two plates of breakfast to the table and set one before Alex, perfectly, then another for himself.
"This looks great, Walter," Alex said. "I'm impressed..."
"That a blind man can cook?" Walter asked. "Really? Is it such a stretch that maybe a blind mother could care for her child?"
"No, Walter. I'm impressed that you remembered how I like my eggs, well done. And my toast is light, bacon crispy. Thank you."
Walter pinkened in a blush. "You're very welcome. I guess I'm...defensive. Sorry, Alex. I just want you to think of me as you always have. The only thing that's changed is that...I have a dog." Walter smiled and blew kisses into the air, calling Penny from the other room, where she was resting. She trotted in and sat at Walter's feet.
"No bacon, Alex. It's no good for her."
"OK, no problem, but she's not near me. She's sitting beside you."
Walter forked a helping of eggs into his mouth and chewed. "I know where she is, I can hear her breathing. But she's sneaky."
"And I guess so am I, huh?" Walter took a sip of coffee, listening to tell if Alex was more aggressive with his cutlery. The telltale scrape of Alex's fork across his plate made Walter jump.
"I never said you were sneaky. Although how you managed to get into my car's backseat that night, I'd like to learn that trick."
Walter heard Alex snort a laugh. "Yes, Walter, I will teach you how to pick a lock. If you teach me how to scramble eggs."
"You still haven't learned to cook? Oh, Alex, we have tons to do with you."
When the men dispensed with their shower, which they shared, using it as an excuse to give each other exquisitely long, soapy hand jobs, they cleaned the bedroom and bathroom and ended up both in the den, where Alex was taking advantage of the extra port on Walter's router to check his email. Linda arrived and was pleased to see Alex still in the house.
"Hey you, nice to still see you here. I hope you two have stopped fighting."
"We have, Lin," Walter answered. "I'm going shopping today. Is there anything I need?"
"Oh, I'll go later, Walter..."
"No, you won't. Alex is going to be...staying a while. He and I will be able to do the things you shouldn't be doing as my assistant. Now, just get the mail and sort it for me and sit down and have a cup of coffee. I'll get more milk so use up what you want. Besides, you're not supposed to be here today." Linda snorted. That was settled.
Walter walked out of the den to the stairs and said, "Is Michael coming over tonight?"
"Uh, don't know. Why?"
"I'm going to need to talk to him about making the house wireless for Alex. I know you've been wanting that too, so there you go. Uh...I think I'm going to need to thin out my wardrobe, to make room for Alex's things. I want space for him here. Could you do that for me, please?"
"Sure. Am...are you going to still need me around here?" Linda asked, sighing in defeat.
Walter walked down the stairs and stood before Linda, based on the soft scent of her perfume, Clinique Happy. "I will always need you. I hate to cook." He took Linda by the shoulders and kissed her forehead.
He left her there, laughing at him, as she dialed her phone for her son. Walter got his wallet and cell phone and went back down. "Alex, did Linda give you a list?"
"Yes," he answered, wrinkling the paper for Walter to hear.
"Good. I assume you have a car here. Take me grocery shopping."
"What about Penny?" Alex asked. "They let seeing eye dogs into the supermarket."
"Uh, yeah, get me her harness. I think she'd love a ride in the car. She likes Linda's truck."
"Good." Alex let out a loud whistle and Penny came trotting in. She sat at his feet and looked up, tongue lolling out. Alex handed the harness to Walter and watched as he gently strapped it on.
*-*-*-*
Linda stood back and watched the two men go to Alex's SUV and get in, letting Penny into the back. They drove off to do the shopping together, and Linda had to smile at them. She wasn't afraid that Alex was going to replace her. Her boss was in love, and the man he had loved for a very long time was finally with him. She went about her day smiling, thankful that things were finally going to be happy around the Skinner household.
*-*-*-*
Alex followed Walter through the supermarket, listening to him ask what was on sale, what was on the shelf. There was a lot he could do, especially with the fruit and vegetables. He smelled everything. Alex was more than happy to choose the dry goods. He even paid for everything on his credit card. Most of the shoppers ignored them, but a few said hello to Walter, hello to him as well. He realized they were a friendlier people north of the border, so he greeted them back, saying hello.
He followed after Walter, who put his complete trust in Penny. She never let him down. After they checked out and loaded the car, Alex drove them back to the house. He knew Walter was confident, was comfortable with who he was, but he had to ask one last time.
"Walter, are you sure you don't want to give the surgery a shot? I mean, I don't get it. I know you think of this as a penance, but I'm sure that Mulder and Scully and William would give their freedom, even a little, just for you to be able to see again. I know I would. I'd give my arm back, in a moment."
Walter took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his cheeks.
"You have to understand something. I learned how to live completely on my own in the condo. I didn't have Penny because they didn't allow pets. I didn't have an assistant, so Kim would read my mail. But I did everything myself. I only chose to adopt Penny and hire Linda, but I am in control of my world. If I go have this surgery, I may lose my eyeballs completely. I don't want empty sockets that no one can look at. I like still having eyes there, even if they don't see. I don't want someone else in control of what will happen to me. No, thank you, Alex. But unless you find me an alien healer, I am staying as is."
Alex sighed. "If I could find an alien healer, I'd have a real arm. I'm sorry I couldn't..."
"Alex, I'm very happy. I have a family again. You and Penny and Linda and Michael. You're my family. I have a lover and a daughter and a sister and a nephew. What more could I want?"
"I see your point. I didn't mean to press you..."
"I know Alex. Just think, though. If I get my sight back, Penny won't have any work to do, will she? And I could never do that to my girl."
Walter blew her kisses and she turned to him. The good dog that she was, she stayed on the seat. Alex smiled and realized, Walter was happy. He was whole. And Alex couldn't have loved him more than at that moment. He drove them home, and into their future. Together.
The End
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