Title: Which One?
Author: Angelee
Fandom: The Sentinel/ X-files
Pairing: I’m not telling. (o:
Summary: See title.
Beta: By my sister Anna. All remaining errors are mine. With apologies.
Which One?
“Can I sit here?”
Jim Ellison opened his eyes to look up at the man who’d just spoken to him. “If you want?” he replied, neither welcoming or unwelcoming.
“Thanks?” Jim grunted in acknowledgement before closing his eyes once again. “My name is Fox Mulder by the way.”
Whatever.”
“Are you always so grumpy?”
Jim opened his eyes once again. “No. Most times I’m grumpier. Right now I’m positively glowing with welcome and good cheer.”
“Ah.” Fox reached into the pocket of his long coat, pulling out a small bag. “Sunflower seeds?”
Jim looked at the small bag and then up to meet the friendly hazel gaze. “To much salt.”
“All you gotta do is dial down taste.” At Jim startled look. “You’re a Sentinel on your way to the Guide facility, aren’t you?”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m on this bus for the same reason.”
“Oh.”
Mulder smiled at him. “Want some?” he asked offering the small bag once again. “Just dial taste down a bit and you should be able to handle them. I can.”
With that sort or encouragement Jim placed his hand out for some of the seeds. After the first few. “I’ll be damned it actually worked.”
“Course it worked. Weren’t you paying attention at the orientation.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Jim offered his hands for more seeds. “Because I don’t want to be a Sentinel.”
Fox poured more into the open palm. “But it’s not like you can change.”
“But still.”
“Go with the flow, man.”
Jim frowned at him. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Be all you can be. Only better.”
Jim glared at him. “I was doing okay. I had a nice job I really liked. A wife. Nice place to live. Now job won’t take me back till I get a Guide. Wife left me when she found out I was a Sentinel. Nice place to live is being held hostage until I’ve gone back with a Guide all nicely wrapped and ribboned.”
“Oh it’s not that bad. Same thing happened to me and you don’t see me whining about it.”
Jim’s glare intensified. “You’re not me.”
“No. I’m not grumpy. I might be a paranoid, slightly neurotic individual, but I’m a happy paranoid, slightly neurotic individual. And I want me a Guide.”
Jim bit into a seed. “Then you can have mine.”
Mulder chuckled. “What the fuck am I going to do with two?”
“I could use some water. Don’t care.” Jim watched the Fox reached into his coat again and pull out a bottle of water. “What else you got in there? Kitchen sink?”
“You’d be surprised what you can fit into these rather roomy coats.”
“I bet,” Jim replied, opening the bottle. “So what do you do?”
“I work for the FBI.”
“Since when did they start hiring paranoid, slightly neurotic individuals?”
Mulder smiled at him, hazel eyes twinkling merrily. “Didn’t know they’d stopped.”
Jim tilted his head to the side. “Point,” he replied as he took a health drink of water.
“What do you do?” Mulder asked as nibbled delicately on a seed.
“Work for the Cascade Police Department, in Major Crimes.”
“Cool.”
Jim took another drink of water. “Sometimes. Lately it’s been nothing but a pain in the butt. What with all their regulations and whatnots.”
“They’re just thinking about your health and well-being. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Whatever. So what else you got in that coat of yours to eat?”
***
They spent the next two hours in peaceful companionship as
they made their way through the
Guides were chosen out of whoever had the pheromones that would attract a Sentinel. Never coerced or forced onto a life-long relationship they didn’t want. Once recognized as a potential Guide they were told what was expected of them. They it was totally up to them if they continued the journey into a relationship that was not for everyone.
Those that chose not to pursue a Sentinel/Guide relationship were given an injection that would neutralize the pheromone. Thus making it safe for them and any potential Sentinel they might unwittingly come across. Saving many from an ugly scene when a Sentinel tried to bond a Guide who wanted nothing to do with them.
Fox stretched once his feet hit the dirt outside of the retreat. “Ah, smell that clean mountain air. Great isn’t it?” he asked his grumpy companion.
Jim rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
Fox smiled. Jim might be grumpy, but he was beautiful, blue-eyed grump. Not to mention he had a body to die for. Fox looked at him speculatively. Make that to live and love for.
“Oh, come on. It’s not going to be that bad.”
“Yeah, right. From now on I’m going to have a Guide around my neck. With a choke hold on my life. Yeah, it’s not going to be that bad.”
Fox chucked softly. “Come on, let’s go look at the pickings. I get to choose first,” he said taking Jim arm in a gentle hold and pulling him toward the retreat.
“You can choose first, second and last,” Jim replied. “I’ll just wait in the bus.”
“No, no, no. Come on. Let’s go,” Fox told him tugging the reluctant Jim. “It’s gonna be great. Just wait and see.”
Once inside the retreat Fox looked around curiously. It kind of looked like a meet and greet. A large table off to the side was overflowing with food.
People were already starting to mingle. On the other side of the room were a group of men and women shyly waiting as if unsure what to do.
“Look over there. Those have to be the Guides.”
“Yeah, okay. Look food. Let’s eat.”
Mulder rolled his eyes at his companion. “Come on, where’s your sense of adventure, your need to journey into the unknown?”
“My sense of adventure is sitting in front of the TV with a beer and a Jags game.”
Mulder dropped his head, shaking it gently. “I despair for you my friend.”
“Yeah, okay. Let’s eat,” Jim said looking over at the Guides across the room, despite himself.
“In a minute. Which one looks good to you?”
“Huh?”
Fox started at the group speculatively. “Which one calls to you? The cutie over there with the big, blue eyes and curly hairs it turning my crank.”
Jim made a face at him. “Man, you talk funny. Look at the one standing next to him, with the funny haircut and green eyes. He looks okay.”
Fox turned his gaze to the one Jim was mentioning. “Yeah, he’s cute too. Wanna go say ‘Hi’,” Before Jim could respond he was being pulled over by the arm. “Come on, hurry up, before someone else gets them. Hi, fellas. Are you guys spoken for?” Fox asked with his most charming smile.
The curly haired fellow spoke first. “No, not yet,” he was told shyly.
“Great. I’m Fox Mulder and this big, grumpy lug is Jim Ellison.”
“I’m Blair Sandburg and this is Alex Krycek.”
“Nice to meet you,” Fox replied cheerfully. Offering his hand first to Blair. Allowing his enhanced senses to roam over him. Oh, yeah, there was a definite something there. It was like taking a walk down a garden path on a summer’s day. The warmth on your face. Serene, calming and so very good. He turned to look at Blair’s companion. Big, green eyes stared at him out of a pale, delicate face. “Hello, Alex.”
Alex looked down then up, before answering him. “Hello.”
Mulder frowned slightly. There was something so familiar about Alex. “Have we met somewhere before?”
“I don’t think so,” came the softly spoken reply. “I don’t get out much.”
Mulder looked at Alex curiously. Trying to gauge what the hell he was feeling. “I’d swear we’ve met before.”
Alex shook his head. “No. I’d remember, if we had.”
Mulder smiled at him, reaching out an unsteady hand to gently caress the side of Alex’s face. Watching the Guide move into the touch. “Unforgettable, am I?”
Alex looked at him shyly from beneath lash so lush and thick they’d put a super model to shame. Not to mention eyes the color of emerald, sparking and clear. “Oh, yes.”
Mulder unable to help himself pulled Alex into his arms. Holding him close. “I know what it is I’m feeling.”
Arms came up to hold him as well. “Hmm?”
“This sense of well-being, of welcome. You’re my Guide,” Mulder replied in awe. “You’re my Guide.”
“That’s nice.”
Mulder pulled away slightly to looking into slightly dazed green eyes. “I guess. I was sort of hoping to get Blair though, but you’ll do in a pinch,” he told him. Belying his words with a gentle kiss to Alex’s nose.
Alex chuckled softly. “I’ll do in a pinch, huh?”
Mulder pulled him back into his arms. Rocking him gently back and forth. Enjoying the sense of calm that over took him. Almost like being under a warm, fuzzy blanket on a cold winter’s day. “Oh, yeah, in a pinch.”
“I’m glad.”
“Me too,” Mulder replied softly. “I’d read getting a Guide was special. I’d just never realized how special. Want to go back to
“A hamster?”
“Sure. Be my Guide and there’ll be a hamster in your future.”
Alex gave Mulder a brilliant smile. “With enticements like that, how could I possible say no?”
“Cool.”
Mulder ran his finger over Alex’s face. Loving the feel of the satiny sooth skin. Enjoying the way those beautiful green eyes dilated in pleasure. “I think I know you. In another life we’ve met.”
“Hmm, do we get along?”
Mulder pulled the unresisting body of his new Guide into his arms. “Don’t know, but in this one we sure as fucking hell will.”
TBC