That Mirror Was Modest Productions - 'Fox & Rat'
Title: The 23rd Episode In The 11th Slot
Written by: Cassie
Date Written: October 21, 2002
Final Draft: October 21, 2002
Summary: This one is for a wonderful person who gave us feedback based on "The Science of Chocolate", you gave us the inspiration to do this one. This one concerns Krycek and Marita.
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: I do not own John Doggett, Monica Reyes, Fox Mulder, Alex Krycek, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, or Marita Covarrubias. They belong to Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen Productions, and 20th Century FOX Broadcasting. Robert Alfredo is mine and Kristi’s wicked creation, and we own everything about him.


FADE IN:

EXT. PUBLIC PARK – NOVEMBER 12 – 2 P.M.

It’s a rather chilly day. The trees in the park have lost most their leaves. On a walking path, we see Marita Covarrubias walking her new cat pet, Kitty. The cat is on a pink leash, and has a cute little collar around her neck with a jingle bell attached. Despite the colder weather, Marita is wearing a pastel yellow-orange sundress with red roses printed on it. Her hair is in pig-tails and on her feet are not walking shoes, but rather pastel yellow-orange high heels. Marita walks with short and quick cutesie steps.

Though unlikely, the kitty cat seems to be taking Marita for a walk, rather than the other way around. To the casual passerby, it looks like Kitty is dragging Marita on this quick walk.

Elsewhere, yet very near, on the park’s walking path, is Alex Krycek. He’s wearing black sweatpants and a gray FBI sweatshirt. He’s jogging in Marita’s direction and he hasn’t noticed her.

Upon seeing Krycek jogging, Marita starts waving her free arm in the air, to grab his attention.

MARITA
(shouting)
Alex!

Krycek hears his name and looks out ahead of him. He squints his eyes and sees the silhouette of Marita against the sun. He slows down to a walk.

KRYCEK
Marita. Surprise to see you out…
(he looks at the cat on a leash)
… walking your uh… cat.

He looks at her, puzzled. Cats usually don’t take walks on a leash, and where did she get this cat?

MARITA
Well, Kitty was crawling around
on the couch and swatting at the
towels in the kitchen. I think she
needed some exercise.

Marita looks at Krycek’s workout clothes, and is puzzled.

MARITA
Why, whatever are you doing
at the park?

KRYCEK
Why, I’m working out just
for you, babe.

He gets closer to her and bends down to kiss her on the cheek. Blushing, Marita looks down, leaning her head down toward her shoulder, in a cute and innocent manner.

KRYCEK
Did you hear about what happened
to mine and Mulder’s apartment?

Marita shakes her head “no”.

MARITA
No, remember, I haven’t really been
spending much time with you and
Mulder since we came back from the
dead.

KRYCEK
Well, our landlord put the wall back up
and now I’m forced to live in Mulder’s
apartment. We don’t have a lot of room,
so if you want to, I’d love for you to come
over and help me clean it up.

Marita is unsure, she looks down at her feet and shuffles them. She is supposed to meet Skinner for dinner at his place later that day. Oh well, Krycek is a friend, she can hang out with him and then leave later. She’ll just tell him that she and Monica are going to have a “Girls Night” or something.

KRYCEK
Mulder is out for the day, following
some lead he got in his e-mail about
alien hideouts in California.

MARITA
He’s so silly, that’s not where any
hideouts are.

KRYCEK
(laughing)
I know! He’s so optimistically gullible.

Krycek wraps his arm around Marita’s shoulder and they walk off.

CUT TO:

EXT. MALIBU BEACH, CA – 2:30 P.M.

Scully and Mulder are walking along the beach, in their work suits. Mulder is using a metal detector, skimming the sand surface for anything that may be not of this planet.

Scully’s attention is elsewhere, she’s glancing out at the ocean, wishing this were a vacation and not some “assignment” that Skinner decided would be “funny” to approve.

SCULLY
Mulder?

Mulder looks up at her.

MULDER
Yeah?

SCULLY
Aren’t you bored?

MULDER
What do you mean?

SCULLY
We’ve been combing this beach
for three hours now, we haven’t
found anything –

MULDER
- Scully, you have to be patient with
this kind of investigating technique.
Just think, we’ve only searched Malibu
Beach, think of how much more beach
space there is to search in California. (beat)
We can’t give up, Scully.

Mulder stops and looks at Scully seriously.

MULDER
After all your time on the x-files, after
all we’ve heard and seen, why haven’t
you the determination to join with me
in the search for the truth of alien
existence? What if, through our work,
we can find a way to stop conspirators
in our government, stop them from working
with aliens to colonize our planet?

Scully crosses her arms across her chest and gives Mulder a look. She takes a deep breath and sighs before answering him.

SCULLY
Maybe because I feel I need to enjoy
what I have left of my life, instead of
using all my time and energy on something
that may not even exist, this takes me away
from living the life that I’ve always wanted to live.

MULDER
How can you say that? You’ve known me
for so long, don’t you want to know for sure
what happened to Samantha? Everything we’ve
uncovered, everything Krycek has told us…
I just know that is has to be true.

Scully lets out a sigh, obviously Mulder didn’t hear what she had to say, he still thinks this is all about what he wants, and who’s help he needs in order to accomplish his life’s mission. Ok, she’ll play his card again.

SCULLY
Mulder, you have blind faith, you don’t
need hard evidence to believe –

MULDER
- Then, why am I out here, searching?
I believe, but like you, I need evidence,
to use it against those that conspire
against us. They need to be exposed, the
public needs to know.

There is an awkward silence.

SCULLY
Well, maybe that’s how you want to live
your life, but it’s not how I want to live mine.

Scully turns her back to Mulder and continues to walk down the beach.

Mulder watches her walk away, gives a sympathetic frown and then switches on the metal detector and continues his search, keeping his distance from Scully.

CUT TO:

INT. MULDER/KRYCEK’S APT. – 3:30 P.M.

Krycek and Marita stand in the middle of the living room, unsure of where to start their cleaning. Krycek’s couch is still leaning up, vertically, against the wall. His crappy little TV set is sitting on top of Mulder’s larger TV set.

There is a bunch of random junk, pushed into piles against the walls, consisting of paperback books, porn videos, old t-shirts, old shoes, a rake, a shovel, window scrapers, English/Russian dictionary, clothing hangers, hockey stick, dumbbell weights, pool cue, music CDs, a box of newspaper clippings, toolbox, palm pilot, and a Care Bear (Wish Bear). All of which are Krycek’s belongings.

MARITA
You know, Alex… you sure have
a lot of useless things. Maybe what
we should do, is start by determining
what you don’t need and throw it away.

Krycek steps over a volleyball and picks up an old sock with holes in it.

KRYCEK
Like old articles of clothing that
I’ve held onto for years, that I’ll
never use?

Marita nods her head and picks up a garbage can and takes it to him.

Krycek throws the old sock away. He continues rummaging through a pile, searching for more trash. He picks up one of Mulder’s romance novels and throws it away.

KRYCEK
I can’t believe Mulder actually
reads that crap.

MARITA
Why do you think romance is “crap”?

KRYCEK
I don’t. Well, only when it’s in the
form of sappy and predictable fiction.

Krycek looks up at Marita.

KRYCEK
I think romance is best when
it’s unpredictable.

He gives Marita a sweet smile. Marita quickly looks away from him and moves across the room to the pile of porn magazines. She picks up an issue.

MARITA
(disgusted)
Why do you collect such filth?

KRYCEK
I don’t know. Most men look at
that kind of stuff now and then.

Marita gives an unapproving sigh and tosses the magazine in the garbage.

Krycek doesn’t argue against this. In fact, he thinks to himself that maybe he should give up such petty things. If he is to finally be serious with his confusing relationship with Marita, he should grow up and be the kind of man Marita needs.

He watches as Marita continues to throw away years of porn magazines that he has collected. Then he grabs an empty box.

KRYCEK
You know what I just thought of?
Instead of throwing all my old clothes
away, maybe I should wash them and
donate them to charity.

MARITA
That’s very thoughtful of you, Alex.

Marita gives him a fake warm smile. He smiles back at her. Something doesn’t feel right, something feels to be missing between them. It seems to Krycek, that Marita is purposely distancing herself from him.

Marita continues cleaning, throwing old clothes in the box Alex is going to take to charity.

KRYCEK
Marita? I’m a little confused here.

MARITA
(humored?)
Oh? That’s not surprising.

Krycek takes a tennis ball out of her hand and kneels down next to her, holding her hand. Marita is uncomfortable.

KRYCEK
It’s been a long time since we’ve
spent time together.

MARITA
I know.

KRYCEK
I guess what I’m trying to say, is
that I’m confused as to where we stand.

MARITA
(playing dumb)
Why, whatever do you mean?

KRYCEK
I mean, us, together, as a couple.

Marita lowers her eyes to the floor. She knows exactly why things between them have been off. She’s now with Skinner… she has been with him for a while, but they’ve only recently decided to be serious. They even told Scully, well rather Scully found out about them and confronted them about it. Suddenly, Marita feels sick to her stomach, how will she tell Krycek about her and Skinner, without upsetting him? She guesses that this is impossible.

MARITA
(slowly/soft)
Us? As a couple? (beat) Alex…
I’m going to tell you something
that you will not want to hear.

KRYCEK
(serious/looks into her eyes)
You know you can tell me anything. I’ll understand.

Marita hesitates and then takes a deep breath and looks Krycek directly in the eyes.

MARITA
The reason why we haven’t been
together, is because I’m seeing someone else.

Krycek’s expression changes from soft and loving to hurt and confusion. He doesn’t move, only lets go of her hand.

KRYCEK
(hurt)
Oh?

MARITA
It’s been going on seriously for a
few weeks now. I hope you understand.

KRYCEK
Can you tell me why you chose this
other guy without informing me that
we weren’t together anymore?

MARITA
Alex… before I got involved with him, I
thought about us and where I thought we
were going in our relationship. I realized that
though I do love you, that I can’t see myself
spending my life with a boy in a man’s body.

Krycek knows exactly what she is talking about. His immature doings, out-weigh his adult moments by a long-shot.

KRYCEK
Were we still together, according to us,
when you started seeing this guy?

MARITA
Yes.

There’s a beat of silence.

KRYCEK
When?

Marita looks up at him, small tears forming in her eyes.

MARITA
I think it was a year and a half ago.
Around the time Dana moved in with
you and Mulder.

KRYCEK
What? Were you jealous
of my history with her?

MARITA
No. I just… things happen, Alex.
You were so busy spending all your
time with Dana and Mulder, that you
seemed oblivious to the fact that I was
a part of your life too. I was lonely, upset,
afraid I had just lost Dana’s friendship
because she began to remember how we were
before she had her memory erased –

KRYCEK
(hurt/about to cry?)
- Why didn’t you talk to me?
Why sneak around behind my back?

MARITA
I thought that was the best thing
to do at the time.

KRYCEK
(anger building)
Marita. You know lying and sneaking
around is not what a good relationship
is based on.

Krycek stands up and runs his hand through his hair. Marita stands up as well and turns him to face her.

MARITA
(getting angry)
If that’s so, then why didn’t you tell
me about what you and Dana did when
John left you guys on our way back
from Colorado?

Krycek freezes. How does she know about that.

KRYCEK
How do you know about that?

MARITA
I may pretend to be stupid sometimes, Alex,
but when I saw where you and Dana spent the
night, I could tell what had happened. Nevermind
the fact you weren’t a horny bastard when I first
saw you when I got back to D.C. I put two and
two together, and knowing how you and Dana
always run to each other in times of desperate,
pathetic, sexual need, I just figured –

KRYCEK
- Why should that matter now? Especially
since at that time, you were already with
another man?

MARITA
That’s beside the point, you thought that we
were together when you did her, so you purposefully
cheated on me with her, with the sole excuse for
doing so, being that you were horny!

Marita slaps Krycek’s face, he doesn’t flinch. She turns on her heel and walks out of his apartment, grabbing Kitty before slamming the door behind her.

Krycek stands there not sure what to do next.

CUT TO:

EXT. MALIBU BEACH, CA – 8 P.M.

Scully is sitting alone on the sand, up away from the water. She looks down upon a group of people… more specifically, she looks down upon a group of people who decided to meet on this beach for the sole purpose of having an UFO Party. That was what the e-mail was about that Mulder received, it was an invitation to a UFO Party. Mulder requested that he be allowed to investigate this “tip” he got, in order to “play” with a bunch of other UFO buffs. Well at least he actually did try to find some kind of evidence of alien existence, before the party started. Otherwise this trip would have been a dreadful waste of time and money for the Bureau.

Scully rolls her eyes when she sees Mulder dancing like a robot, wearing a HUGE hat that is in the form of a flying saucer. At least he’s enjoying his time here.

Scully glances at her watch, 8:07 P.M. Eastern time. Monica or Marita should be home by now, hopefully Monica, she hasn’t really felt like talking much with Marita after finding out she and Skinner were together behind her back.

Scully stands up, dusts sand off her pants and she heads back to the hotel she and Mulder are staying at. No bother telling Mulder she’s leaving, he’ll figure it out sooner or later.

TIME CUT: 8:40 P.M.

INT. HOTEL ROOM

Scully enters the room, throwing her keys down on a table. She sits down on the bed and kicks off her shoes. Some sand falls onto the floor.

She picks up the phone and dials a number.

After a few rings, she hears Doggett answer.

DOGGETT
(filtered)
Hello?

SCULLY
John? It’s Dana, is Mon’ there?

DOGGETT
Nope, she’s at home.

SCULLY
I thought I called “home”.

DOGGETT
You called my home. (beat) Are
you all right? You sound exhausted.

SCULLY
Oh… you know how it is… alien cases
with Mulder that are actually UFO beach
parties. (sighs) We spent the entire day
combing the beach with a metal detector.
I lost track of mow many bottle tops, can
openers, pocket knives and coins we found.

DOGGETT
Did Agent Mulder actually believe he’d
find evidence of aliens? ‘Cause A.D. Skinner
was laughin’ about how he sent you out there
with Mulder, to help with this case.

SCULLY
(bitter)
That’s typical.

DOGGETT
Pardon?

SCULLY
(sighs)
I just said that’s typical. Walter has
been a little “nasty” to me these past
few weeks. It’s getting tiring. He knows
darn well that Monica would have loved
to go on this “assignment”, yet he sent me.

DOGGETT
Yeah, Mon’s been ranting about how
she wishes she were there with you guys.
Heck, she even wore an aluminum foil
hat today to prove her point.

Scully laughs, Doggett smiles at this sound.

SCULLY
(still chuckling a bit)
She’s so weird sometimes.

DOGGETT
Actually, she didn’t. I just wanted
to hear you laugh. It means a smile
is on your face.

SCULLY
Thanks. I guess I needed that.

DOGGETT
Well, you do know that when
you smile, you relax, right?

SCULLY
(smiling small)
I know. (beat) I should get going, John.
I’ve got sand to wash off and a case
report to write up. And I guarantee that
A.D. Skinner will hear of this little
UFO Party Mulder was invited to.

DOGGETT
All right, you try n’ have a nice
night, ok?

SCULLY
I will… I’ll see you when I get back.
(beat) Goodnight.

DOGGETT
Bye.

INT. DOGGETT’S HOUSE – BEDROOM – 9:03 P.M.

Doggett hangs up his phone and looks over at Buddy, who is comfortably lounging on the right side of his king size bed. Buddy is looking at him weird.

DOGGETT
(to dog)
What?

Buddy makes a whiny sound, as if answering his question.

DOGGETT
You know what Buddy. If that noise
ya made was your way of answering
my question, I don’t understand Dog.

Buddy cocks his head and lets out a quiet bark.

DOGGETT
What? You need to go outside?

The dog lowers his head and seems to roll his eyes at Doggett, then the dog lets out an almost frustrated sigh and closes his eyes. Doggett looks confused, then shrugs it off, grabs his TV remote control and searches for something interesting to watch. After passing a bunch of commercials, he stops on a documentary about Titanic. He smiles to himself, thinking about how he and Scully both love the movie “Titanic”. Then his eyes widen in fear, realizing how horrible it would be if Monica discovered that he likes this so called “chick movie”, her jokes would be relentless.

CUT TO:

INT. SCULLY/MARITA/MONICA’S APT. – 9:46 P.M.

Monica and Alfredo are cuddled up on the couch with an aphghan covering the both of them. All the lights are off and they are watching “Halloween”. We hear music from the movie, cue in a scary moment. Both Monica and Alfredo laugh out loud.

ALFREDO
Man! This movie is so funny!

MONICA
I know! I mean, these people should
know better. For starters, they are in
a “scary” movie, of course the killer
is going to be after them. Then there’s
Jamie Lee Curtis here, wandering about
in a neighborhood where obviously no one
is at home, well no one but the killer, and
she’s going up to a house with no lights on,
without any kind of weapon, and I doubt that
this chick even knows any means of self defense.
I’m amazed she lived through all the movies and H20.

ALFREDO
Kill her in Halloween 2 and get it over with.
I’m guessing that you would kick some ass if
you were in her situation?

Monica nods her head “yes”.

ALFREDO
It’s good to know I won’t be
losing you to any psycho brothers.

Alfredo laughs and Monica shoots him a serious look.

MONICA
Don’t even joke about psycho
brothers, I have six brothers.

ALFREDO
Six?

MONICA
(next topic please)
That’s not important right now, Robbie.

Monica rests her head on his shoulder. Behind them, we see Marita quietly enter the apartment, unnoticed to Monica and Alfredo. Marita slowly makes her way to them.

MARITA
(loud)
Oh my goodness!

Monica and Alfredo both jump in their seats and scream. Marita scared them.

MONICA
How did you enter so quietly?

MARITA
That’s something I’ve been practicing.

Marita gives Monica an evil/playful smile.

MONICA
I thought you went to the park to
walk Kitty today? Where have you been?

MARITA
Oh, I ran into Alex, and helped him
start to clean his apartment. Oh and
I told him that I’m with someone else.
Then I went over to Walter’s for dinner
and then I came home.

ALFREDO
Dinner sure took a long time.

MARITA
Oh, dessert took a lot longer,
if you know what I mean.

Marita winks at him, which freaks him out.

Monica pauses the movie, interested in how Krycek reacted to finding out Marita is not his.

MONICA
Well, how’d Alex take the news?

MARITA
We got into a fight and I wasn’t able
to tell him I’m with Walter. And you
know, I’ve decided I’m not going to
tell him, he’s not grown up enough to
take that kind of information.

Marita gives a smug smile, she feels this is the best idea she’s had in a long time… well, since she decided to seduce Skinner into a relationship with her.

Alfredo and Monica share a look, they think withholding this information could only be a bad thing.

Apparently deciding to stop this conversation, Marita gets up and excuses herself so she can go to bed. Alfredo and Monica continue watching “Halloween”.

CUT TO:

INT. MULDER/KRYCEK’S APT. – 11:12 P.M.

Krycek hasn’t cleaned or moved a thing since Marita slapped him and stormed out of his apaprtment. He is now sitting, emotionless on Mulder’s couch.

He’s deep in thought and has been for a long time. Why should he care for Marita anymore? Why does he want her to be the focal point of his life? Can he do better? He thinks not. Maybe he can work on improving his social life. Maybe he should hang out with people who will positively influence him. He thinks to himself that John Doggett is a very mature person, and that it would be good to get to know him better. Krycek looks at the time… 11:13 P.M. He won’t be calling him tonight, it’s too late and John may be sleeping already.

Krycek stands up and goes into Mulder’s bedroom (AKA: The Love Room) to throw on some pajamas, then he comes back out and lies down on the couch and falls asleep.

FADE OUT:

THE END