Beep-beep! The horn of the expensive car behind them blared angrily.

"Hey, watch it!" the irate motorist leaned out his car window, while screaming some choice words, and giving the occupants of the rental car that swerved past him a very familiar hand gesture.

In the passenger seat of their rented '99 gold Chrysler Seabring, Alex Krycek rolled his eyes in frustration. That exact situation had happened so many times in the past hour, he found it useless to react.

"Not bad, huh?" Fox Mulder grinned from the driver's seat, turning to his friend, while narrowly missing an elderly woman carrying her groceries across the busy city street.

"Damn it, Mulder! You're gonna get us killed!" Krycek quickly grabbed hold of the steering wheel, "I know you're still a little....um, loopy from your pain medication, but-"

"I'm fine!" Mulder exclaimed, pushing Krycek's hand away, "Everyone acts this way after-"

Krycek immediately slammed on the brakes as the traffic light turned red. "The dentist said you're not supposed to drive yet," he gritted his teeth.

Completely ignoring him, Mulder stared out the window, into a beautiful city park. The scene was picturesque, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

"Mmmm," Mulder smiled, drooling a little, until he saw something completely out of place. A swirling, blueish-green object was hovering over a secluded section of trees!

"Good night!" he shrieked, leaping out of the car, past oncoming traffic, and into the park.

"Oh, no!" Krycek groaned, too late to stop his insane friend. Even before their arrival in San Francisco from Rachel, Nevada, Mulder had "sighted" at least fourteen "UFOs" in his drugged up daze.

Racing full speed past picnicers and others enjoying the summer day, Mulder soon arrived where the "UFO" hovered just seconds before.

"What the...." he murmured, disappointed. There was no crop circle, or other evidence of an alien craft, just four people walking past him.

"Hey!" he grabbed the shoulder of an attractive, petite woman with reddish brown hair, "Did you just see that blue object in the sky?!"

"Um, no," she answered, quickly passing a nervous glance to the tall, handsome, blue eyed man next to her, "Sorry!" She began to travel more quickly out of the park with her three male companions, leaving Mulder behind.

"Wait!" he pleaded, jogging after them.

Meanwhile, after taking control of the car and parking it nearby, Krycek headed into the park, angrily striding past the four strangers.

"Excuse me," he said, distracted, rudely brushing past the woman Mulder questioned minutes before.

"It's okay," she looked up at him, then smiled. Krycek returned the smile, as the blue eyed man walking next to her gave him the evil eye.

Before he had time to reflect, Mulder turned the corner and rushed into Krycek, knocking him to the ground.

"There they are!" he yelled, on top of his aggrivated friend.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Krycek hollered, despite the crowd's stares, pulling Mulder off of him.

"It's them!" Mulder caught his breath, but still did not lower his voice, "They know something about the UFO I just saw! Especially the woman....I can tell!"

Krycek sighed, dragging Mulder out of the park, in a hushed whisper, "Nothing is strange about those people....I would *love* to get to know that woman better, believe me....The only one I don't like is her overjealous husband."

"Whatever, let's not talk, okay?!" Mulder whined, which led to the friends walking through the city in silence for at least a half hour.

The silence finally ended as Mulder and Krycek walked past a large Starbucks Coffee.

"Mmmm, I could sure use a Vente White Chocolate Mocha Frappachino (Author's note~ My favorite!) right now!" Mulder stopped by the window, pointing inside.

"No, the dentist said *no* caffeine!" Krycek grabbed Mulder's arm to pull him away, until he saw the woman inside. Completely ignoring Mulder's irratic behavior toward them, he changed his mind.

"Sure, why not?" he smiled, opening the door, "Maybe it will shut you up."

"Yes!" Mulder exclaimed like a child, not noticing the four strangers seated inside.

Once Mulder and Krycek were seated across the cafe from the strangers with their coffees, Krycek suddenly glanced at his bare wrist.

"Oh, darn! No watch!" he pretended to be upset, climbing from his chair, "Guess I'll find someone to ask about the time!"

Mulder only nodded, too busy gulping down his drink, after popping more pain pills into his mouth. He was already shaking from all the medication and caffeine.

"Hello there," Krycek arrived at the strangers' table, smiling warmly at the woman, "I don't feel I got the chance to properly apologize."

"It's all right, don't worry," she returned the smile, extending her hand, "I'm Wade Welles....Have a seat."

Despite the blue eyed man's dirty looks, Krycek pulled over a chair. "Thank you so much," he beamed, "I'm Alex Krycek."

"Very pleased to meet you, Alex," Wade also ignored her friend, still not letting go of the handshake.

The blue eyed man cleared his throat loudly.

"Oh, I'm so rude!" Wade laughed, "I forgot to introduce my friends!"

Passing the man a "back off" look, she continued, indicating him, "This is Quinn Mallory."

"Ohh, *hello*, Quinn!" Krycek faked smiling and acting friendly to the best of his ability, "I know it's none of my business, but....are you two together?"

"No way!" Wade giggled, "We're just friends."

"But, we do get that a lot," Quinn quickly interrupted, placing his arm on the back of Wade's chair.

Wade rolled her eyes and continued the introductions, indicating a black man, "This is-"

"Rembrandt Brown!" the friendly looking man jumped in, "but, you can call me Remmy."

"Okay, Remmy!" Krycek laughed, enjoying the pleasant time, finally away from Mulder.

"And, this," Wade smiled proudly at a large, older man with black hair and a short black beard, "Is Professor Maximillian Arturo. He really is like a father to me."

"Thank you, Miss Welles," Arturo beamed at her, speaking in a British accent, "Hello, Alex."

"It's a pleasure, sir," Krycek shook his hand, thinking, "I haven't had this much "family fun" since dinner with Marita's family!"

Unknown to the settled Krycek, Mulder suddenly sprung up from his chair across the room, knocking his empty cup to the floor.

"Where are you, Krycek?!" he yelled embarrassingly loudly, causing everyone else in the cafe to stop talking.

"Oh, no!" Krycek murmured, turning a deep shade of purple.

"Is *he* talking to *you*?!" Quinn whispered to Krycek sarcastically, as Wade slapped him.

Stumbling across the room, appearing very drugged, Mulder located his target. "Alex! My friend!" he knelt on the floor next to Krycek's chair, taking his hand.

"What now?!" Krycek mumbled, covering his still purple face with his left hand.

"Marry me!" Mulder shrieked, leaning over closer to Krycek's lips, "I love you, man!"

Krycek leaned away in absolute horror, as Quinn tried his hardest to contain his laughter.

"Wait a second," Mulder backed away, as Krycek sighed loudly with extreme relief, "You're sitting with-"

"No!" Krycek pleaded, not caring who heard him.

"The aliens!" Mulder exclaimed in childlike awe, "Stay away from my Krycek!"

After a dramatic pause, Mulder picked up the Professor's iced tea, throwing it in Wade's face!

As Wade coughed and caught her breath, overwhelmed with shock, Krycek searched his mind for an escape....and soon found one.

"Hey Mulder," he began cautiously, as if he were negotiating in a hostage situation. Rising from his chair, he pointed to the door, "There's Bob Saget!" he finally burst out.

"Oh my gosh!" Mulder shrieked, " I *love* that man! I want him to tell me a joke!" With that, he raced out the door and out of sight.

Moaning a bit, Krycek shook his head.

"How did you do that?!" Remmy whispered in amazement.

"Well, I figured the only way to get rid of insanity....Is to mention a person who could seriously *drive* someone insane," Krycek smiled proudly.

"Bob Saget!" Wade gasped, "Too many of his lame jokes could *kill*!"

"Exactly!" Krycek laughed, as everyone in the cafe applauded and cheered him loudly.

Before Krycek had a chance to bow "celebrity style", the Starbucks manager burst into the cafe.

"Get out of *my* cafe!" the six foot plus man, who resembled a wrestler, bellowed. He lumbered right over to Krycek, lifted him by the arms, and threw him out the door, as if they were in an old Western movie!

Soon after his head broke a mirror on his way out the door, Krycek hit the sidewalk. After seeing many images of coleslaw, everything went black.

A loud crash of thunder caused Krycek's eyes to slowly open.

"What the...." he whispered, observing his surroundings. The TV was on, showing images of an asteroid coming toward Earth. Krycek peered down at his chest, finding a half empty bag of sunflower seeds, and an open carton of orange juice on the table next to him.

"There's no place like home," he smiled, again turning his attention to the TV. An image of Quinn and Wade kissing passionately after the Earth was spared jogged his memory.

"Ugh, I'm *never* falling asleep during "Sliders", while eating Mulder's food ever again!" Krycek winced, as Mulder arrived in the living room, carrying two paper bags of food.

"Hey sleepyhead," Mulder teased, "I thought I would take the liberty of stopping by Starbucks to keep you awake, so you'll at least be able to sleep tonight."

"Starbucks!" Krycek yelped, running out the door.

Mulder shrugged, following him, "I have coleslaw, too!" he yelled down the hall, but Krycek was long gone.

"What's he on?!" Mulder wondered, closing the apartment door.

THE END