crossoverfic | Fic: Time Out in Washington 5/18 [X-Files/Torchwood/The State Within/Dr Who]

Title: Time Out in Washington (5/18)
Author:

fides
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Mulder/Krycek (mostly UST), Mark/Nicholas discussed but whether there is any truth behind the suggestion is open to the reader's interpretation
Fandom: X-Files/Torchwood/Dr Who/The State Within
Rating: NC-17 overall (most parts PG/PG-13, only one part is NC-17 and that part can be skipped with minimum confusion if you want to read the plot but are put off by the idea of graphic sex)
Warnings: Spoilers for The State Within. Some violence and fantasy sexual violence
Disclaimer: None of the recognisable characters are mine, Santa has been really falling down on his job recently, but belong to their respective right holders
Sequal to 1. Plus Ça Change, 2. Hobson's Choice
Prequel to Interlunation
Previous Parts: Part 1 - Prologue -:- Part 2 - Sir Mark -:- Part 3 - Jack -:- Part 4 - Azzam

Summary: Finding out Jack's secret in the worst possible way (Hobson's Choice), Alex takes a break from Torchwood Three while he comes to terms with events and his anger towards Jack. To give him the time he needs, Jack arranges a secondment for Alex at the British Embassy in Washington working with the secret service to counter threats to the Ambassador's family. But with Mulder around things don't go to plan and Alex discovers that aliens aren't that easy to leave behind.

Notes: I know that the timelines don't quite fit so I decided to fudge things a little because it was too tempting to compare Torchwood and the Consortium. This story is set concurrent with the early part of X-Files season 6, during the second half of Torchwood season 1, during the time of the 12th Doctor (Doctor Who) and about a year after the events in The State Within. In depth (or indeed any) knowledge of the included fandoms isn't required so please don't let them put you off. Thanks to

moth2fic for the beta. Any and all remaining mistakes are own.

Alex should have expected it really. Things had been going so well in the two weeks he had been in Washington. Jennifer, the head of the household staff at the embassy and hostess when required, had been predisposed to like him for his role in keeping Azzam safe. She had been as easily swayed by his big-eyed, polite act as she had been by the boy. As yet frustrated maternal instinct finding an outlet as Mark was irredeemably un-motherable. Alex could tell Nicholas had been amused at his dissembling but he regularly got extra home-baked shortbread which more than made up for it.

The days had quickly begun to fall into a pattern. On the third morning he joined in the early workout that Nicholas ran for Mark and any other staff who wanted some exercise before the official day began. It was during one of those sessions that Alex mentally dropped the 'Sir' from the front of Mark's name. For someone who had spent his life in the diplomatic corps, Mark certainly knew some surprisingly undiplomatic words in a variety of languages when Nicholas insisted he could do those five more reps. It made a change from chasing Weevils.

Except for those times when Azzam left the relative safety of the residence, the day was spent prowling around the building trying to scare the shit out of the other security guys. An activity which was taken in the spirit it was intended. Alex had pretty much given up being perplexed by the British association of everything with alcohol so he was unsurprised to find that some enterprising spark had set up a forfeits system with those he managed to get the jump on buying the rounds for the others on their shift.

By mid-way through the second week it had become his habit to get together with Nicholas at the end of each working day and discuss the security arrangements and any potential problems. Occasionally Mark joined them, making surprisingly devious suggestions about how an attack might be launched. There was something slightly perverse about trying to work out how to assassinate yourself but Alex thought Mark rather enjoyed it. Especially when, after one particularly trying day with the American administration, they ended up switching briefs and spent the evening planning how best to take out most of the American government starting with the Secretary of Defence and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Much to Alex's amusement, it was only after they had plotted the demise of most of the Presidential advisors that they realised they had totally forgotten about the President. By the time Alex left Nicholas and Mark to it, glasses of brandy in their hands and ties loosened, they had plotted the overthrow of half the western world and were making a good start on the other half.

Even so, Alex was surprised that his first thought was actually thankfulness that he was off duty when, returning from a walk, he suddenly found himself eating the wall and trying to scratch his shoulder blade the hard way.

"Gotcha!" Mulder's gloating voice rang in his ears and explained the heavy weight on his back. Alex relaxed and didn't make any of the possible moves that would have stood a chance of getting him out of the embarrassing situation.

Getting caught by Mulder was hardly new but normally he was the one making sure it happened. It wasn't that he had forgotten Mulder, the man hadn't been far from his thoughts the whole time he had been in Washington, but he had managed to separate the Mulder of his dreams with the one who was walking around the city. Krycek knew his haunts and had kept mostly clear of them, not ready for their next encounter and not really wanting to jeopardise his job. Either of them.

"Mulder." the clear female voice was both warning and reassurance.

Alex rolled his eyes sideways and was just able to see the diminutive figure of Scully, much larger with a gun in her hand, covering them with a competence that told Alex he would regret it if he tried anything. In the grand scheme of things it was probably lucky that he hadn't gone with his first instinct and laid Mulder out.

The pressure on his arm lessened as Mulder lowered it just far enough to snick the handcuff around his wrists. The cold metal and Mulder's breath on the back of his neck took Alex back to other more felicitous occasions but the superficial similarity ended very quickly. He hadn't seen Mulder since Cardiff and the lack of anything but Mulder's firearm poking him in the back suggested that, in Mulder's case, absence had not made the heart grow fonder.

Alex kept waiting for Mulder to comment on his lack of fake arm as the agent manhandled him into the car. It wasn't something that Mulder could fail to notice and Alex had a small hope that he could use it as a way to get behind Mulder's guard. He did have alien technology to thank for his complete state and if he could just get Mulder on his own, maybe on some type of road trip to find the mythical source of that technology, then Alex was sure he could bring Mulder round. Again. However Mulder, in his typical contrary way, did not seem to have noticed anything unusual in the usual number of Alex's limbs. Just his luck; Mulder appeared to have forgotten his loss which meant that Alex was out of bargaining chips. He just had to hope that the safeguards that Nicholas and Torchwood had put into place would be enough.

The car journey passed in silence.

The interview room was purposefully comfortless. The walls a dull white that would have been monotonous if it had not been for the stains and patches of discolouration which spoke of damp and other worse things. Alex wondered if they were deliberate or merely the result of a tight budget and lack of attention. The table was as plain as the rest of the room, uncomfortable looking chairs grouped around it in such a way as to suggest that a lawyer wasn't expected any time soon and all reflected in the large glass mirror that fooled no one.

Alex landed in his designated seat hard, a push from Mulder helping him down. The man really needed to retake the course on the correct treatment of prisoners. Not that it would ever go to court but Mulder was a few more shoves away from a brutality mistrial.

Scully hovered in the corner, watching. Alex wasn't sure if she was there for his protection or Mulder's. The reasonable cop to Mulder's insane cop. He had to acknowledge that it was a dynamic that worked well for them.

"What were you doing at the hospital yesterday, Krycek?" Mulder demanded. Ignoring the chairs for the psychological advantage of looming at him.

Alex glared back; it seemed the only response he could give as he had no idea what Mulder was talking about. That wasn't entirely unprecedented but this was off-the-wall even by Mulder's standards. He could remember the previous day perfectly, and there was none of the prodding-a-loose-filling numbness that sometimes accompanied memory tinkering which made him pretty sure that the day had happened as he thought it had. It made him wonder if they had been screwing with Mulder's head again and exactly what he had supposedly done this time. Either that or the Consortium were back to playing around with cloning technology which wasn't the most encouraging thought in the world.

"Come on, Krycek. We go to interview a patient and there you are, skulking around." Mulder leant forwards across the table, so close that Alex could smell the sunflower seeds on his breath. He suspected it was supposed to be intimidating. It just made him glad his hands weren't free so he wasn't tempted to pull Mulder that last bit closer and kiss the pouting lips. Mulder pulled back suddenly, a slight flush creeping up his neck. It was an interesting reaction but unhelpful.

"George Blake," Alex said shortly.

Mulder jumped on his words. "What about him?"

Alex paused; he had been fairly sure Nicholas had referred to Blake as female but he wasn't about to reveal the limits of his knowledge. The more information he gave Mulder the more likely the man would dig his heels in and be ornery, but give him the barest of bare-bones information and he would risk everything to dig deeper. Alex smiled and refused to say anything else.

Next Part...