TITLE: Krycek v. Langly, Round 1
AUTHOR: Meghan O'Connor 
EMAIL: gyrfalcon@yahoo.com
FEEDBACK: Please! The more I get, the more you get! 
RATING: PG-13 
DISCLAIMER: The LGM, Krycek, and anyone else you recognize are 
1013's. However, Rachel Ann MacGregor is all mine. 
SPOILERS: The X-Files, all up to the last season finale, and the LGM 
series. 
CATEGORY: Post-Colonization, LGM/other, Krycek/Other
SYNOPSIS: Rachel takes something to make her feel better. But who 
is she feeling better about? 
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Society is rebuilding after Colonization. Krycek 
didn't die. All our favorites and a bunch of NPC's have ended up at 
an abandoned resort by a lake. It makes for a good place to rebuild 
a pocket of society. If I don't write Mary Sues, then I can at least 
have a promised land. Ok, maybe not that great. Argh, just read! 
This is Rachel's other alternate timeline. I call this the "Dancer" 
series.



Someone had broken into her cabin as she slept and left them on the 
table. She was sure she knew who it was, but he never acknowledged 
that they existed. Each day, there were more. She just added them 
to the coffee can full of water. After a week, she realized that she 
was looking forward to getting up, if only to look at the wildflowers 
on her table. Although she spent a lot of time with the Lone Gunmen, 
she didn't think of telling them about the fragile gifts.

She headed for the infirmary. Waving to Mr. Lomonov, she veered over 
to his porch for a moment. "Good Morning, Mr. Lomonov! Are you 
feeling any better?"

He sipped his tea and smiled. "Dobre Utra, little Anya. Da, I am 
feeling strong as horse now. How is your young lyubimy?"

"My what?"

His laugh was booming. "Your boyfriend, little Anya. The one who 
brings you flowers in the dead of the night." His eyes 
twinkled. "We old people don't sleep too much."

She blushed. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Whatever you say, young lady."

A thought popped into her head just before she bid him 
farewell. "Mr. Lomonov, what does krasavitsa mean?"

He laughed again. "He will be your lyubimy soon, little Anya. If he 
says krasavitsa, he is calling you beautiful."

She kept her expression calm. "Thank you, Mr. Lomonov. I must get 
to the infirmary now." She turned and started walking, leaving the 
old man chuckling on his porch. Her mind was a mass of confusion, 
her emotions whirling. Anguish tore through her at the thought that 
not even Frohike had ever noticed the way she looked, and certainly 
not Langly. She was slightly distressed at the thrill that ran along 
her spine when she thought of Krycek calling her beautiful. There 
was surprise and self-disparagement that anyone could think that, 
given the situation they were all in. Even a little anger shone 
through that the last time someone had told her she was attractive 
was years ago, before she even met the Gunmen. Assuredly, no one had 
since.

Now what? She headed back to the guy's place since Scully already 
had some unexpected help at the infirmary. A couple teenagers were 
interested in becoming medics, so Scully had enlisted their services 
for the day. Byers gave her some wiring to do, but it didn't take 
too long. She sat with her notepad and pencil, staring out the 
window after lunch. Trying to think logically, she started a list.

LANGLY: Pro: brilliant, funny, sweet, sexy, understanding, likes 
some of the same music, best friend, intense, loyal, honest, 
beautiful eyes, great smile, warm hugs, good at frisbee
Con: doesn't always think before speaking, sometimes impatient, 
cranky in the early morning, hasn't shown an iota of interest in past 
6 years and doesn't now

KRYCEK: Pro: attractive, can dance, bilingual, intense, nice eyes, 
good reflexes, seems romantic, leadership qualities, persistent, says 
he wants to be with me and wants to kiss me, calls me beautiful in 
Russian
Con: murderer, traitor, known liar

She looked at the comparison. She tore the sheet from the pad and 
folded it in half to take with her. Just then, Frohike came into the 
room. "Oh, there you are, Rae. They're looking for you at the main 
hall. They want to go on a raid in some abandoned stores a couple 
towns away, and you and Scully are the only two women who can handle 
a gun. She convinced them that they need women to find… women 
things. You know."

She smiled. "Ok. Couldn't hurt. Thanks, Fro. If I see any 
electronic doohickeys, I'll try to grab a few."

"Thanks. Get going, fireball." She stuffed the paper in a pocket 
and headed for the hall.


The raid went successfully. Somehow, they had lucked out and found a 
Wal-Mart that hardly anyone else knew about yet. Not that there were 
a lot of people left to remember where everything was. They were 
cautious, but found some trucks that still had enough gas to get a 
few loads back to camp. The essentials were loaded first, OTC 
medicine, baby and cleaning supplies, winter clothes, toiletries, 
tools, durable goods and non-perishable food. Then the extraneous 
items went in. Practical clothing, underwear, batteries, camping 
goods, some games and sports equipment like basketballs for boredom, 
electronics, some mountain bikes, sewing and mechanic supplies, 
fabric, and some reference books. Rachel opted for the team that 
made a final sweep of the store. She got assigned to women's 
clothing and looked thoroughly in the aisles for anything that could 
be useful. Loading up on a few missed sweaters, she went around a 
rack and saw the dress.

It hung there, swaying lightly in a breeze. A simple sheath of 
shimmering green with spaghetti straps and a flared skirt, and one 
was in her size. Looking around, she noticed that no one else was 
within sight. She made a quick decision and grabbed the one in her 
size, stuffing it hangar and all deep into her backpack. She refused 
to think about the fact that she couldn't decide if she would show it 
to Langly or to Krycek.


She slung the heavy bag down on the kitchen table as the guys 
gathered around. They'd already had their share of the practical 
items, but this was what Rachel had scavenged for them. They were 
like kids at Halloween, pouring over a dumped candy bag.

The supplies of electronic parts and small scale tools thrilled the 
heck out of Frohike. He was always trying to improve things or make 
them workable again. Byers was blushingly grateful for the selection 
of reference books in paperback form, and Langly smiled when he saw 
the array of walkie-talkies that he could rewire to the same 
frequencies for security. Rachel then placed a much lighter black 
trash bag on the table. "Now for the non-essentials." She pulled 
out a smaller bag and handed it to Frohike. He looked in, then wiped 
his eyes under his glasses after a moment. He took out the bag of 
licorice, three pairs of leather gloves and the pair of scissors.

"Damn. Thanks, Rae. I…" She just smiled and gave him a quick hug. 
She turned to Byers and gave him another small bag. His grin was a 
mile wide as he uncovered the chocolate bars, the Polaroid and ten 
packages of film. She had remembered that he regretted that they had 
no pictures of each other, just in case. She squeaked when he hugged 
her tightly. A rustle from behind made her break away in time to see 
Langly pawing through the bag.

"Langly!" Byers dropped into an admonishing tone, but lightened up 
when Rachel started giggling. He looked up from the empty bag, 
almost crushed. She couldn't hold out any more when he looked so 
sad. She brought the other small bag out from under the table.

"God, Langly, don't pout. I couldn't forget you. Yours is just a 
bit more… fragile." She handed him the bag. Opening it carefully, 
he gasped when he looked in. He upended the bag over the table in 
spite of Frohike's exclamation to be careful. A dozen comic books 
and a dozen packages of Twinkies spilled out. His hug was swift and 
fierce, taking her breath away. Almost immediately, he was picking 
up the first one and leafing through it.

"Oh, Rachel, you are the best! Damn, thank you, thank you so much. 
I don't know what to say." Her heart swelled at his words. Her 
return smile was soft and full of adoration. Coming back to herself, 
she heard Frohike questioning her.

"Did you get anything for yourself? We're gonna be pissed if you 
didn't." She smiled secretively.

"Oh I did, trust me. I grabbed a little something on the way out."