Title: Edge of Seventeen: Lessons Author: Hephaestion Date: Sept 1999 Archive: NO Webpage: http://www.slashcity.com/hephaestion Rating: PG Disclaimer: The X-Files characters belong to Chris Carter but Luke Winston is all mine ;-) Author's note: third and final story to the Edge of Seventeen series. This is dedicated to Karen and Sarah. ********************* Edge of Seventeen: Lessons Mulder and Luke hardly spoke the next morning. Mulder didn't know what to say to his nephew, who had decided to come out to him. He realized that sex was a subject he had his own problems with. Mulder had been single for so long and his sexuality reduced to masturbation and bizarre dreams. However, Mulder took a week off from work to get his nephew situated in the apartment. They also went shopping quietly for clothes and other essentials Luke might need. The boy was a senior so Mulder had him registered at a near by public high school. Mulder and Luke woke up almost at the same time every morning. They quietly got ready for their busy day. Mulder found an eerie calm to having someone in the apartment instead of the dark loneliness. Mulder jogged in the morning while Luke listened to Howard Stern's radio show and ate his corn flakes. The boy was efficient in keeping his stuff neat. When Mulder asked about it his penchant for neatness, Luke only commented that the habit was beat into him by his stepfather. Mulder didn't know if the teen was lying or not. Mulder called his sister at work, however he got very little out of her besides the fact that she was eternally glad Luke was with him. Mulder asked her if it was true about Luke's dad beating him because he found out the boy was gay. Samantha stuttered and for a while made no sound on her end of the line, until she finally said that they were a Christian god-fearing home, and her husband was doing what he thought was best. That they were both trying to save their son from ending up with AIDS or whatever it is 'those people' get for their disgusting lifestyle. Mulder had clutched the phone tightly in his hands listening to her 'holy ranting' and he felt his stomach turn. Mulder didn't bother getting into a debate with her, but just hung up the phone. ********************* At school Luke felt like an outsider and kept to himself. Mulder watched the kid at night doing his homework and then go to the bedroom to listen to music or watch TV. They pretty much stayed out of each other's way. Eventually, Mulder got Luke to accompany him to the basketball court where he met his friends for a game of hoops. Luke watched his uncle play, and felt really happy when Mulder scored. Luke got up during one game to go to the bathroom and as he opened the double doors of the gym he bumped into a man. Luke looked up to the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen. The man was dressed in leather and wore a tiny gold hoop earring in his right ear. Luke felt his body come alive and stuttered an apology to the man for bumping into him. "It's alright kid" the stranger said and winked at him. Luke saw the man walk away slowly but with determined grace. The guys from Mulder's basketball game decided to go for pizza, and Luke tagged alone. The guys were great pranksters and jokers, who didn't seem to pay too much attention to his uncle's weirdness or his own. That night Mulder and Luke sat on the couch watching Aliens with Sigourney Weaver. Both guys appreciated the tall woman's strength and bravery against such a lethal foe. "She kicks ass man," Luke said before shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth. "Fuck ya " Mulder said and crunched his salty sunflower seeds between his teeth. " I saw a really hot dude today" Luke said suddenly, he watched Mulder, prepared to see some form of disgust at such a comment on his face. "Really? Where" Mulder asked, he was actually curious. "At the basketball game, the guy was standing outside the double doors. He must have been snooping at something or us. Maybe checking you out Uncle Fox." Luke said and smiled evilly. "Hey, I happen to look damn good in my sweat pants" Mulder said and grinned watching his nephew's surprised face. "So Luke, what made this guy HOT?" Mulder said and popped more seeds in his mouth. "Oh man..I guess it was his eyes. They were green like jade and he wore leather too. Very butch guy, very hot." Luke said and smiled dreamily to himself remembering the hot guy he saw. When he turned to look at his uncle he was surprised to see the man looking a bit upset. "Uncle Fox? Are you ok?" Luke said. Mulder grabbed Luke's arm in a tight grip, "did he say something to you? Did he do something unusual? Tell me now." Luke felt the tears brim to his eyes, his uncle was hurting him and memories of pain gone by came rushing to him. Luke shook his head fast; "no he didn't say nothing to me I swear". Mulder looked down and saw his hand on the boy's thin arm. " Oh god Luke, I am sorry..hey don't cry I won't hurt you. I just..I think I know the man that you saw, and I been looking for him for a long time. Shit. That bastard." Mulder closed his eyes and hit the arm of the sofa. Luke rubbed his arm and looked at his uncle. "Is he someone you know? Is he like..uh..a boyfriend or something?" Mulder furrowed his brow and looked at Luke. "Yes I know him...but he is NOT my boyfriend, however I guess if I was too look at him objectively I would have to agree that he is quite beautiful. However, he's very dangerous and I don't want you near him ok. If he tries to contact you, just run away and call me ok?" Luke heard the warning but already figured in his head that he couldn't wait to bump into that guy again. He was dying to know what he had to do with his uncle. ******************** Krycek was surprised to see how much alike Mulder's nephew looked like Mulder. The kid was going to be gorgeous and the gir...the boys were gonna love him. Krycek knew everything about the kid, his mother the Samantha clone and that entire mess of a family. Funny how brave that kid was about his sexuality and Mulder was still so deep inside that closet of his he was probably only fucking his suits now. The bugs in Mulder's apartment revealed the easygoing relationship uncle and nephew had established. However, Krycek saw this kid as his opportunity to break through some of Mulder's steel walls. ******************** The Gunmen were immediately thrilled to meet Mulder's nephew. The kid turned out to be as weird as Mulder when it came to conspiracies. Luke was instantly psyched out to find out they were the actual guys who printed the Lone Gunmen zine. Luke and Langley were immediately at the computer talking about hacking. After discussing making Luke's grades all A's in the school board computer, the guys watched Luke play Quake. They all sat and had enchiladas made by Frohike who refused to give out the secret ingredients to the sauce he put on them. Luke begged Byers to give him a good Adult ID pass for the porn sites that required it but Mulder gave him the evil eye. "Sorry kid, when you're 18" Byers said and patted his back. "Ugh, damn! Uncle Mulder only has those stupid het and bi tapes; I lose it when I see a woman pop up naked. Blah!" Luke said and folded his arms to pout. "Bi?" the Gunmen said in unison and looked at Mulder. "I got the wrong tape once..the box was deceiving" Mulder said innocently and wondered how the hell Luke found that movie which he hid very well in the apartment. Eventually Mulder and Luke left the Gunmen lair and went home. They talked about movies and books in the car and never noticed the black sedan that followed them home. ******************** Mulder got up and dressed for work. Luke had a slight cold and decided to stay home and Mulder didn't pressure it. "Don't open the door to anyone kiddo, I will call you later." Mulder said to the sleep head under the covers. Mulder grabbed one of those free books that had rental listings in them. He was starting to think it was time they got a bigger apartment. Conversations with his sister were only getting more depressing at the future that lay waiting for Luke at home. His family was discussing therapy and even military school as ways to cure the kid's homosexuality and Mulder shuddered at putting the kid through all that. In the end, being with Luke wasn't very tough and actually quite fun. Mulder found inspiration in his nephew, a new 'mission' for his life. Krycek watched Mulder getting in his car and pulling off to go to work. He knew that Luke was home and this was his moment to make a more formal introduction to the kid. Krycek walked into the apartment and noticed it's different look. There were pictures of Luke and Mulder up on the bookshelf. He noticed the kitchen that was for once well stocked with food of all kinds. Krycek noticed the milk, juice, eggs, soda pop and beer and other stuff in the fridge that was usually empty. On the fridge being held up by a magnet was a report card filled with A's and a certificate naming Luke Winston the winner of his high school's essay contest. There was also gay pride magnet on the fridge holding up a cut out picture of some actor named Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Krycek walked soft as a panther approaching his prey to the bedroom. Inside he saw the huddled-blanketed form of Luke. On the wall near the window, Krycek saw the posters for Phantom Menace and Velvet Goldmine. He also saw more pictures of that actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and of aliens, space ships and CK male models covering the wall. Krycek sat down on the edge of the bed, and watched the body under the covers begin to move. "Uncle Fox are you back already?" said a mumbled voice. Luke sat up and saw that the person in his room was NOT his uncle but that guy he saw the other day. He remembered his uncle saying he shouldn't speak to the guy, and he was able to suck out more info about this guy from Langley. According to the Langley the only green eyed 'hunk' that Mulder ever knew was a guy named Alex Kryeck. They were partners in the FBI for a while, and according to Langley they seemed to get along well. However, eventually the shit hit the fan and Mulder found out Alex was a spy sent to foil Mulder's plans at the X-Files. Mulder seemed to be very hurt by Krycek's 'doublecrossing' however, when it came down to hurting Alex for probably being the man who killed Mulder's dad, his uncle couldn't do it. Instead, Langley said that it was a really strange 'relationship' Mulder and Alex had, cause neither man seemed content to really leave the other alone. Langley seemed afraid to speculate too much on what he thought was going with Mulder and Krycek, and ended the conversation. "You're Alex Krycek" Luke said and wrapped the comforter around his thin body. "You know who I am? Who told you?" Alex said and looked at the boy. "I just know...my uncle said you're dangerous. Are you here to kill me?" Luke said and clenched his fingers on the comforter. "Nah kid I won't hurt you..so just relax." Alex said and smiled. "My uncle's not here by the way." Luke said and coughed a bit. "Sounds like you have a cold, and yes I know he's not here. Get up, put your robe on, I will make you some tea and we will chat a bit." Alex said and went out of the bedroom towards the kitchen. Luke remembered the warnings his uncle gave him but shrug them out of his head, this was too exciting. Luke sat in his thick robe drinking the tea Krycek had made him. It had just the right amount of sugar and he drank it down. "Are you trying to hurt my Uncle Fox?" Luke asked, cause one thing was for sure, he really loved his uncle and didn't want him to get hurt. Luke never told Mulder how he sometimes worried about him when he was out at work catching bad guys. "I try really hard not to hurt your uncle but sometimes it's very hard. Sometimes I need to hurt him a bit, so that others don't hurt him a lot. I don't know if you can understand that Luke." Krycek said and looked at the picture of Mulder smiling with his nephew on the bookshelf. "Sometimes we hurt the ones we love you know" Luke said and waited to get a bullet in his big mouth. However, he only saw the beautiful bad guy look at him with those jade eyes that were filled with water, he was looking so sad. He was in such pain, that Luke wondered if he actually hit the nail on the head. "What do you know about hurt kid?" Alex said and tried to swallow the lump in his throat that appeared whenever he thought about Mulder. He tried everything he could think of to rip Mulder from his memory and from his heart, and it was useless. In the end he always ended up here, at Mulder's door, or at the man's feet. "I know cause my parents tell me they love me but they hurt me. My uncle gets weird when your name is mentioned too you know. I think he's lonely and confused and afraid, but I think you need to keep trying cause one day..something might happen." Luke said wrapped the comforter tighter around his body. He felt himself shiver uncontrollably now. He wasn't sure why cause he wasn't really afraid of the guy. Krycek saw the kid shiver and walked towards him. He touched the kid's forehead that was burning up. "You're burning up kid, I think we better get you to bed." Krycek said and helped the kid to the bedroom. Luke shivered under the covers and grabbed Krycek's hand, " please don't leave me, I don't feel well." Krycek looked at the big eyes and saw a bit of Mulder in that face. "Ok kid, hold on, I will get something for that fever." Krycek said, and went into the bathroom. He got a wet cool washcloth for the kid's forehead, and some Tylenol. He gave the kid water and helped him swallow the Tylenol. Krycek took off his jacket and got comfortable, and decided to wait a few hours with the hope the fever will go down before being forced to contact Mulder. After 3 hours, Luke's fever was 104 degrees and Alex called Mulder. "Mulder, it's me, you need to come home, Luke's sick." Alex said and waited to hear Mulder' tirade. "What's wrong with him?" Mulder asked. "Fever is very high, he feels stiff a bit and has a headache." Alex said softly, trying not to disturb the boy next to him. Alex heard Mulder talk to Scully, eventually Mulder came back on the line. "Call an ambulance Scully says, and I will meet you both at the hospital. Don't fucking leave him Alex!" Mulder said and hung up. Alex went over to the sick boy and touched his forehead. "It's ok Luke, we are gonna get you all better. I am going to call an ambulance, seems we gonna take a little ride. Hang in there, your uncle is going to meet us there." Luke looked up at Alex, "don't forget our lesson of the day, sometimes we hurt the ones we really love." Alex called the ambulance and waited. He had his gun loaded and ready to go if someone dared get in his way. However, he wasn't too afraid these days, not with so many of the Constortiuim men dead and the live ones hiding busy making new plans. He rode the ambulance holding Luke's hand, he watched the paramedics working fast to get an IV into Luke's thin arm. ***************** Mulder had come rushing through the hospital doors demanding to find out about his nephew. Scully was on his heels trying to get the agent to calm down and that they would find out what's wrong. Mulder eventually spotted Krycek standing near a glass window. Mulder ran towards the leather-clad man and turned him around quickly, surprised to see the killer so teary eyed. "What the fuck is going on Krycek? What the hell were you doing at my apartment? Where is Luke?" Mulder asked so many questions that Krycek wasn't sure which to answer first. Krycek swallowed before talking; " I was there just talking to the kid, that's all Mulder. He started feeling worse..he complained of a fever, shivers, headache etc..you did leave him home alone knowing he was sick right? As for where he is, he's not here, they are doing some test on him trying to find out what's wrong with him Mulder. Hey, don't worry that kid is a fighter, just like you Mulder, he will be ok." Krycek said and slowly grabbed Mulder's hand. He gave it a quick squeeze and let go when he saw Scully appear towards them. She didn't even acknowledge presence but looked at Mulder, "they are doing a spinal tap on Luke, they are trying to rule out many things that could be causing the fever. It's going to be ok Mulder." "I better call Samantha" Mulder said and opened up his cell phone. Mulder contacted his sister who said she would be taking the next flight out there to DC. ******************* The spinal tap only confirmed the worst of possible scenarios. Samantha Mulder Winston never got to the hospital in time to see her son Luke pass away from bacterial meningitis. Krycek and Scully both watched through the window of the intensive care unit Luke was in as Mulder held his nephew hand as the boy passed away quietly. Mulder sensed the intense feeling of rage go through his body, and he stood up only to kick the hospital equipment around him. A nurse saw him and instantly called security. Scully for once spoke to Alex and begged him to hurry and help Mulder. They rushed inside the room and tried to reason with the grieving agent, who cried and yelled at the cruelty that life had become. He screamed at why Luke was gone, when Luke never hurt anybody ever in his entire life, but was always the brunt of other people's anger. Alex grabbed Mulder and held him tightly, "easy Mulder ..come on..please..don't do this.." . Mulder looked at Krycek, and for a moment Alex thought Mulder would beat him like he done so many times before. "He's gone!" Mulder sobbed and clutched at Krycek's body, and continued to wail. Mulder lifted his teary face and watched Scully and grabbed her arm pulling her into the embrace. Mulder cried and cried, letting out his anger and grief in the arms of the two people he knew were the most important in his life. He had a third, but that one was gone now, and he was damned if he was going to lose the two he had left. "I'm sorry Mulder, so sorry" Krycek said into Mulder's ear. "Why Alex why?" Mulder sobbed, even Scully knew what the cryptic talk was about. Krycek swallowed the lump again in this throat, "I guess it's because of a lesson I learned today Mulder, sometimes we really do hurt the ones we love." Mulder bit his lip but to no avail and cried even harder, they held onto each other, waiting only for Mulder to decide when it was time to let go. The end