Double Indemnity
Round 4, part 1
Ursula

OooOooO

Mulder and Scully were arguing with the strange man, the man who smelled funny to Anson. He wasn't sure what it was all about except that it invovled Alex.

His brother looked yellowish. He had been asleep since they arrived here. He seemed to be struggling to breathe and, from time to time, he moaned in pain.

Anson lay down next to Alex on the bed. He put his arm around his twin. When he held his brother close, it seemed to him as if Alex's color was better.

Turning his face to his brother's neck, Anson burrowed closer.

Sharply, Mulder said, "Anson, be careful. He's injured. He doesn't need you leaning on him."

Sulkily, Anson replied, "I know how to take care of Alex. He's mine."

The little red haired woman... Anson had the urge to ask her how good ol' Charlie Brown was hanging since she dumped him... clicked her heels over to the bed.

"Mulder, I think Krycek is actually more comfortable with his brother near him," the woman said.

The different man said, "They are more than twins, you know."

"How so?" Mulder asked.

"They are connected," Jeremiah said. "Like you, like many other children of the project, they were an experiment. Spender had no problem experimenting on his children, his grandchildren. He intended the twins to be a very special team of operatives. Operatives who could act in absolute harmony without any need of mechanical communication."

"Then it may not have been a failure," Mulder replied.

Anson understood that or at least, he understood that Mulder wasn't calling him a failure. Anson stroked Alex's face tenderly. Although his brother had usually been the one that protected him, there had been times when the roles were reversed. Sometimes when Mother was very angry with Alex, Anson pretended to be him and took his punishment. Anson wasn't as afraid of the dark as Alex. You could hide from Mother in the dark, but Alex for some reason never understood that.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," Anson sang into Alex's ear.

His heart beating faster, Anson tried to make sense of things. From what these assholes were saying, grandfather was even more evil than Anson knew. It just figured that he, Anson, was a mistake.

Anson could feel how much Alex was hurting and he willed part of that pain into himself. He felt almost instantly weaker and wanted to stop, but Alex's eyes opened and he seemed to ask for more of Anson's strength.

Maybe it would be better to just give it all to Alex...

Alex was the one who could survive. Let him live and Anson would die.

A soft groan fluttered from Anson's lips. He couldn't hold Alex anymore and fell back.

His brother suddenly sat up and yelled, "Anson, what the fuck are you doing to us?"

OooOooO

Mulder had been so intent on Jeremiah Smith's discussion of the Project that he had almost forgotten about Alex.

His lover's voice not only got Mulder's attention, but also shocked the hell out of him.

Alex was sitting up and looking much stronger. Mulder rushed to Alex's side and gently drew him in his arms. "Alex, I was afraid I was going to lose you."

"Look at Anson," Alex directed.

Scully and Jeremiah both examined Anson.

"He's in shock," Scully said, uttering a grunt of frustration as she realized she had no way of caring for Anson.

Jeremiah grimaced and said, "I'll help him, but it's difficult. He and Alex almost resist my healing. I feel as if I'm being drained by them."

"Maybe because you're not just healing one," Mulder guessed. "They're joined somehow."

A moment later, the conclusion was obvious. Mulder said, "My first thought was that solving Alex's problem was simple. We could just turn Anson into the police and with his record, he would be the obvious choice for Cancerman's assailant. Especially since I could testify that Alex was with me. Now, I'm afraid that if they decided to execute Anson, that Alex would die with him."

A glowering look from Alex reminded Mulder that he was walking on thin ice. Alex growled, "I told you to leave Anson out of it."

"Alex..." Mulder said. "You need to think about this clearly. Anson is trouble for you. He's very unstable, very unpredictable."

"He's my brother," Alex said, putting his arm around Anson. "He just fucking tried to give his life up for me."

"Yeah, I know," Mulder said, trying not to think about what an easy answer that would have been.

Looking at Jeremiah, Alex said, "Couldn't you heal him?"

Smiling, Jeremiah shook his head. "Alex, your brother's mental condition isn't caused by anything physical. Despite your similarity, you were stronger than he. He broke under the abuse from your mother. You survived."

"Or that bastard, Spender, actually did me a favor by taking me away from our bitch mother," Alex growled.

Scully winced at Alex's comment, but didn't attempt to scold him for his assault against the conventional view of motherhood.

Anson woke at Alex's touch, grasped his brother's hand, and stared at the other as if waiting for an attack.

Mulder found this a frustrating experience.

He had just resolved his feelings for Alex and he didn't need any competition from Anson.

Hey, Mulder thought, if Anson feels it when Alex is hurt, did he feel his pleasure too?

OooOooO

Anson could see that Alex's lover with the big nose wasn't happy with him. The shit!

It was still hard for Anson to believe that Alex enjoyed what they did. Having a dick in your ass hurt...and Anson didn't want to think about why he knew that.

"Alex?" Anson said.

"Yeah?" Alex said, looking at him.

"You remember everything now?" Anson said.

"Yeah, Jeremiah fixed that...or somehow, I retrieved the memory when he was healing my wounds," Alex said.

Grunting, Alex tried to sit up, but he wasn't completely healed. He winced and started to sink back, but Mulder slipped beside Alex, supporting his weight.

Alex gave his lover a sappy smile.

Well, maybe Mulder was okay. If Alex loved him, he had to have something good about him.

All this talk about grandfather had made Anson think. What if grandfather was alive?

What if he wasn't done with devastating his own children and grandchildren?

Anson said, "Alex, I was married once."

Alex looked at him as if he was raving again and said, "Yeah, Mulder checked your record. I can understand how you fucked up your relationship; I never could even tell mine that I felt anything for him."

Mulder's hand squeezed Alex's gently.

That was nice. Karen had never been like that with him. She wanted Anson to be strong, but he hadn't done it right. He wanted to be like his Papa, but instead he was like the asshole his mother had married. It was bad enough that he tried to do bad things to Anson, but when Anson's mother yelled at him about it, the bad man had hurt Mother too. Anson hadn't ever hit Karen and he would never have hit his daughter, but he had yelled too and had broken things when he was mad.

Trying to make Alex understand, Anson said, "I have a kid."

"Yeah," Alex said.

"Think about it," Anson said. "What if grandfather isn't dead?"

"Shit," Alex said.

"Shit," Mulder echoed. "He might go after the kid. All grist to his mill."

"She is safe," Jeremiah said. "Her mother and her were taken, but my people were able to help them."

Thank God! Anson just wished he could have a second chance. He understood things now. He would work hard to get well and be the kind of person Papa would have wanted him to be.

The red haired woman had been looking out into the street. She took a deep breath and said, "Sorry to break up this family reunion but there are a few too many grim looking men getting out of cars below us. I think we have trouble."

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