At Arm's Length
Author : Tirduj (dollarstodonuts@hotmail.com)
Rating : must be R or maybe NC-17 for a part.
Disclaimer : not mine, blahblahblah...
Notes : There must be a lot, lot, lot, of mistakes, the 
title did mean something when I started the fic but I 
forgot the idea so now it means nothing...or whatever 
you want. 
Feedback, bad, good, I take them all!

Joyce was sitting on the porch of her house. She was 
looking at the empty street in front of her, sadly. 
Joyce, this 12-year-old girl, was always sad.  She had 
lost her parents not too long ago and lived with her 
older sister and brother who tried their best to offer 
her a "normal" life. She loved them more than 
everything, they did so much for her. Losing her 
parents was not the first ordeal she had to go through.  
A long time ago, when she was 7, she lost her best 
friend. He had been kidnapped and found dead three days 
later. Luke was her best friend and even more, like all 
children do, they had planned to remain together 
forever, eat ice-cream, have a lot of pets and a lot of 
things like that. Luke used to want to be just like his 
father and Joyce like her mother.  She still did and so 
did Luke. 

Because she still saw Luke. She saw him living, playing, 
growing. At first she thought she had imagined it because 
of the pain she felt.  She had seen a therapist who told 
her these kinds of things often happen. But then the 
"visions" turned weird, more realistic.  Luke was 
growing.  It was like seeing a parallel universe where 
Luke Doggett was still alive. She became to find out what 
she saw when Luke started to see her too, a thing that he 
was not able to do before. Before that moment, she would 
just see him, but then they talked and Joyce learned 
that *she* had an accident and she was dead in Luke's 
"reality".  She told him he was dead too in her reality. 
They didn't try to explain much more than that.  They were 
happy to have each other again and both of them lived like 
that, hiding their secret. Only the two of them were able 
to watch in the other "reality". When people heard Joyce 
talking to Luke they just thought it was a way for her to 
deal with the pain and they let her. This way, everybody 
was happy.

This day, Joyce was not really looking at the empty street.
She was watching two men talking at the front door of the 
house that faces her.  Luke's house. Luke was sitting 
beside her.  They both watched John Doggett talking to 
Brad Follmer who obviously wanted to enter the house. 
Joyce turned to Luke.

"Who is it?"

"I think that's Monica's ex-boyfriend.  I'm not sure."

"How can he come here like that? Where's Monica?"

"Not at home.  She must come back soon though.  I hope 
he'll be gone when she shows up."

"Yeah, I don't like that rat-boy."

Both chuckled. Luke stood up.  "Got a test tomorrow.  See 
ya later?" he asked, imitating his father's accent.

"Yeah!" she replied, laughing while he kissed her on the 
cheek, proud of his imitation.

Luke left the porch.  He crossed the road without looking 
and didn't see the car coming.

Fortunately, Joyce saw it and yelled to her friend and to 
the driver, who turned violently to avoid the boy. In 
doing so, he didn't avoid Follmer, who was leaving too. 
The driver didn't stop and drove away.  Luke was safe but 
the AD was lying face down on the road. Joyce and Luke 
both ran to him.  John had run to try and get the license 
plate but the driver was already too far. He looked at 
his son in confusion.

"Luke, where's Follmer?"

"Here Daddy!"

"Yeah, the guy I was talking to."

The two kids looked at each other, then at the crowd 
which had gathered around Follmer's dead body.  All of 
them were people from Joyce's "reality".

*End of Teaser*



It was Saturday evening and Monica and John were sitting 
on the couch in John's living room.

"I'm not sure John...."

"Monica, you'll see, it's great!"

"Great? 'Terminator II', great?"

"Yeah! You'll love it, there are weird things, you must
see it."

Monica stared at him in disbelief. John grinned and 
pressed the 'Play' button. They watched the movie.  
Sometimes, John glanced at his partner thinking how 
beautiful and sexy and... He tried to focus on the 
movie but Schwarzenegger was not as...

'STOP!' he yelled silently.

Monica chose this moment to turn to him and ask, "Don't 
you think the T-1000 looks like you ?"

"I'm not liquid metal," he said with a deadpan face.

"Seriously.  The same ears, the same eyes, the.."

"Are you kidding?  His ears are gigantic!"

"That's what I'm saying," she teased.

John was about to answer when the phone rang.
"Doggett.... Sir...What!?.. she's here...no I'll tell 
her... thank you Sir, we're coming, at least I am."

John looked worried now and it scared Monica.  "John, 
what's wrong ?"

"Monica," he said, sitting next to her and looking 
her straight in the eye. "It was Skinner...AD Follmer 
was found...dead...Monica I'm sorry, I know that.."

Monica had gasped at the word 'dead' but she cut him 
off.  "How, where, who...What the.." She burst into 
tears and John held her silently.


Two hours later, the two agents were sitting in 
Skinner's office. Monica's eyes were still red but 
she had insisted on coming. Skinner had explained to 
them that Follmer's body had been found near New 
York.  He obviously had been hurt by a car. The problem 
was that he had been seen 15 minutes before in the FBI 
building, making this case an X-File. Skinner also told 
Monica she could refuse to work on the case but she 
wanted to find out how her ex-boyfriend could have been 
in DC and 15 minutes later lying dead in a street near 
New York. Finally, Skinner handed the file to the agents 
and let them go.

On the plane, Doggett started to read the file while 
Reyes was trying to sleep. When John read the address 
where Follmer had been found, and the name of the only 
witness, he couldn't help but let escape an 'Oh my God!'
Reyes woke up.

"What?"

"Monica, that address!" He showed her the file.

"Oh my God, John, that was your address in New York!"

"Yes, and the name of the witness?"

"Joyce Hartwell... she was.."

"Luke's best friend, yeah.... Monica, this little girl 
lost her parents when I was an amnesiac in Mexico, she 
lost her best friend at the age of 7, and now..." 
John's eyes were filled with tears.

"John, it's OK, I understand.  As bad as I want to find 
out what happened, I won't do anything that could hurt 
her."

"Thanks, I just don't want her to think bad things 
happen because of her. Her sister and brother told me 
she did after their parents' deaths."

They both remained silent for a while, then, looking 
straight ahead, Reyes asked, "John are you OK?"

"Yeah what about y.."

"Will you be OK, then?"

"I... I don't know." He admitted.


Once in New York they directly went to their motel 
rooms. Monica was lying in the bed.  She couldn't stop 
crying. Doggett heard her through the wall.  He wanted 
to go and take her in his arms but he was afraid that 
she wanted to be alone. Finally he knocked on her door. 
She opened it and let him enter.

"Wanna talk?"

She nodded and they sat on her bed. She talked to him 
about Brad, about why she had loved him, what a jerk he 
had been, why she felt pain now that he was gone. He 
listened to her attentively, almost lovingly, just 
holding her hand. She cried a lot.  When she stopped, 
it was late and she was exhausted.

"Thank you John, for listenning."

"It's nothing, Mon. Remember, you did the same for me. 
Try to sleep.  'Night."

" 'Night."

He headed to the door while she slipped between the 
sheets. He barely reached the door when Monica once 
again burst into tears. He ran back to the bed, climbed 
on it and held his partner once again. Between two sobs 
she managed to talk.

"I'm sorry."

"Shh, Monica it's ok. I'll stay with you until you fall 
asleep, ok?"

"Yes, please."

Gradually, she relaxed in John's arms, who had fallen 
asleep long before she did. She watched him while he 
slept quietly, his arms embracing her. She whispered 
in his ear. 'What would I do without you.' 


John woke up. Monica was still in his arms and she was
nuzzling his neck. He kissed her hair, savouring the 
sweet scent of her. He felt her move slightly and 
heard her sigh. He caressed her back as she shifted 
against him. She looked up at him, still sleepy, and 
he did what his mind was telling him to do.  He kissed 
her. It was a soft kiss at first, but then they 
deepened it. Monica's hands began to stroke John's back 
just like his hands did hers. John rolled on top of her, 
still kissing, and Monica started removing John's 
T-shirt and pants and boxers, all at the same time. 
They stopped kissing to remove their clothes and once 
both of them were naked, John explored his partner's 
body, from her earlobes to her feet, licking, sucking, 
biting. Finally Monica took his head to bring his mouth 
back to hers. He slipped his hand down to feel if she 
was ready. She lifted her head to capture his mouth 
while her hands captured his stiff member. He broke the 
kiss to look in Monica's eyes while he entered her slowly. 
In her eyes, he saw the same emotions that could be seen 
in his.  Love, pleasure and need. They moved in rhythm, 
back and forth, up and down.  Monica's hands explored 
John's amazing body. She tried to touch every square inch 
of his body to remember it as John kissed her neck and 
her cleavage, descending slowly to her breasts. 
Sky in John's eyes at on go was not pure anymore(**), 
at the same time Monica cried his name in pleasure. John 
collapsed, breathless, on Monica's body. They stayed like 
this for a while, then Monica bit John's shoulder as he 
kissed her neck.

"I love you." 

They had said it at the same time and that made them 
laugh. John rolled back beside his partner and brand 
new lover. She lay her head on his shoulder and they 
didn't move until it was time to go. 


Doggett pulled the rental car onto the street where he 
lived some years ago, but this time he parked on the 
other side of the street. Walking to the Hartwell's 
front door, he glanced at his former house.  It looked 
like nothing had changed there. Reyes let Doggett knock
at the door.  After all, he knew them.  He and Barbara
were still friends with the Hartwells. A young woman, 
in her early 20s, opened the door.

"Mr Doggett!" she said, smiling.

"Hi, Lea, How are you doing ?"

"Well, thanks." She answered mechanically. "Please, 
come in."

"This is my partner, Monica Reyes. You may remember 
her, she was the task force leader when Luke 
disappeared," he said as she led them to the living 
room. It amazed Monica how he had easily mentioned 
Luke without a wink.

"Yeah, I remember. Nice to see you. Joyce will be back 
soon, she's bringing flowers to our parents with 
Teo...our brother." She said that last part for Monica,  
who smiled and nodded.

"How are you three dealing with all that, I mean your 
parents?" John asked.

"Sometimes it's still difficult but Joyce is better. 
She eventually takes that quite well...maybe too much 
for a 12-year-old girl. Did Barbara tell you she didn't 
cry at the funeral? She never cried in fact... For 
that man, Follmer.  Actually it's strange, it's like 
she..but you'd better talk to her."

"Ok."

By the time they sat down and Lea had brought them 
drinks, they chatted, waiting. Reyes noticed that Lea 
was always talking fast and often changed the subject 
to avoid the pain it brought.

A few minutes later, the door slammed open and Joyce 
and Teo entered the house. Joyce stopped in her tracks 
when she saw Doggett.  Tears began to fill her eyes. 
Seeing the man's face hurt her more than anything. She 
often saw the 'other Mr. Doggett' who was so much like 
him except for the sadness. She walked to him. They 
were both crying now, and they hugged to comfort each 
other. Doggett was happy to see his son's best friend.
She had been like his daughter for so long.

"I'm so sorry you miss him, Mr. Doggett. I wish you 
can see him, I wish so much."

They drew apart and Teo was at least able to say hello 
to Doggett and Reyes.


Doggett and Reyes questioned Joyce for a while.  She was 
a unique witness and they really needed to know what had 
happened. Joyce didn't know what to say.  She knew that 
the FBI would come and she had talked to Luke about what 
to say. But she hadn't expected that the agents were 
John Doggett and Monica Reyes! She told them that she 
heard a noise, seen the car driving away and the man 
lying face down on the street.

"Then, I ran to him, to check if he was ok, but he 
was..."

"Joyce, were you alone in the street?"

"Yeah, people only came after the accident."

"And you hadn't seen the man until then?"

"No, I was...daydreaming, you know."

"Ok, Joyce, we have just a few more questions.  Monica 
will ask them while I'll talk to the twins."

John left the room and went downstairs, to the
living room, where Teo was studying and Lea was 
fidgeting with her pencil.

"Hey, you guys, first time I see the twins quiet."

They both smiled and Teo answered, "We grew up, Mr. 
Doggett."

"Yeah, that's why I'd prefer you call me, 'John'. 
Then I won't think I'm that old."

"But you a..."

Lea stopped her brother in time.  "Teo, he does 
have a gun!"

The three of them laughed. Doggett's face grew 
serious.  "It seemed to me that Joyce was hiding 
something from us.  Did she tell you something?"

"No, nothing.  What's wrong?"

"I don't know. A feeling that she's not telling 
everything.  That's why I left her with Mo..Agent 
Reyes.  Sometimes, a female witness talks more to a 
female agent."

"Do you want us to ask her, in a conversation or 
something?"

"No, no it's ok. Where were you when it happened?"

"Working. We work in a restaurant every Saturday."

"To pay for your studies? You know if you need money 
or anything, I'm here!"

"Thanks... *John*, it's ok, we just keep money for 
Joyce."

"You're very good sister and brother, you know that?"

Teo replied immediately. "Oh yeah!!!!!!!"

Monica entered the living room with Joyce.

Before they left, the twins gave them the names 
of the neighbours so they would be able to question 
them too. Follmer's funeral was on Tuesday and they 
hoped they would have something to bring to Skinner 
then.

They questioned the neighbours in the afternoon. It 
seemed that nobody had ever seen the AD before and 
that they just had heard Joyce shouting something 
like "luck" or "lock".  They disagreed on the word. 
Skinner called them to know where they were going 
with the case and told them he had gone through all 
of Follmer's files but didn't find out why he was 
there. It was now dinner time and John brought Monica 
to a restaurant he knew.

"Wow, John, French restaurant? Thank you," Monica said, 
smiling.

He smiled back.  "The FBI pays the bill. And it's the 
best around, but if you prefer fast food?"

She played along.  "This one's good enough." She 
became serious. "Did you come here with Barbara?"

"No, never. I don't know why though, guess that... 
actually I don't know."

"Sorry, John, I shouldn't have.."

He took her hand. "It's ok...by the way, wanna some 
'escargots'?"

"They've got that!?"

"No, just kidding, you know even only a few French 
people like that sort of thing."

"Are you a French specialist?"

He grinned.  "Oui, madame."

"It's 'mademoiselle,' John, and your 'oui, madame' 
doesn't impress me much."

"You don't say!"

They went on chatting while eating, then the 
conversation turned to the case.

"I think Joyce is the key, she's hiding something."

"I know, that's why I left you two alone this morning. 
I thought she may have told you something. Apparently, 
she didn't."

"No, but talking with her was strange. It was like she 
knew me, but I didn't question her while..another 
agent did."

"How's that, she knew you?"

"Well, she talked to me like a friend."

"What do you think about what she yelled before the 
accident?  Why didn't she tell us she had shouted to 
warn Follmer or the driver?"

"Maybe she wasn't aware that she yelled, sometimes with 
the rush. What I would like to know is what she had 
yelled."

"Me too. We'll go ask her tomorrow after school. We also 
have to go to the police station."

They finished dinner and went back to their motel. 

At the motel, they both were unsure of what to do. They 
sure wished they could read each other's mind. Doggett 
wanted to sleep with her.  To be in the same room would 
be enough, but he didn't want to impose on her.  He 
knew that she was trying to deal with Brad Follmer's 
death. They had been involved.  She even had been in 
love with him.  And if he had been a jerk lately, she 
couldn't forget what they had shared for a while.  A bed, 
of course, but not only that.  Meals, laughter, the 
wash basin... In two words, intimacy and love. She knew 
that John knew that, too, and she was grateful he didn't 
say anything about his feeling towards Brad. It was 
surely hard for her to know Brad was dead. But there was 
one thing she wanted: him. So badly, that if it was wrong, 
she didn't want to be right.  By that time they were 
in front of John's room.  Monica's was a little further. 
She stopped, then took a step, but he took her hand to 
stop her. They looked in each other's eyes.

"Please, but if you don't want to, I would understand," 
he said.

She smiled at his kindness. "There's nothing I want 
more."

They entered the room, kissing.

The two agents arrived at the police station at 9:00 AM.
Everybody there seemed to be pretty busy. Doggett was 
looking for somebody he knew, but most of the men and 
women were too young for him to have known them. At last, 
he saw one of his friends.

"Jake!"
"John, buddy! It's nice to see you again.  It's too bad 
it's in these circumstances, though. I'm sorry about your 
boss."

"Yeah, this is Agent Reyes, my partner, you may 
recognize her..."

"Agent Monica Reyes, of course, the task force leader. I 
never forget good, kind and efficient FBI agents." They 
smiled at each other while they shook hands.

"Jake, we would like to know who the officer in charge 
is here, the guys who got the call and what you had 
found. You know, we need to find out what happened."

"I know. Detective Howard is in charge. Young but 
smart, a very good cop. He was reluctant about the FBI 
but I talked to him, it's ok now. The guys who got the 
call are.." Jake talked as he led them to Howard's 
office.  Reyes and Doggett stayed all morning at the 
police station, talking to every person who had a link 
to their case. It seemed that everybody thought it was 
only an accident.  They were all compassionate but they 
couldn't do anything. They all admitted that how the AD 
could have been in such different places in so short 
a time was a mystery they weren't able to resolve. At 
noon, Skinner called the agents.  He had news. He had 
asked Scully to do the autopsy and it had revealed that 
there was a problem. Follmer had a fracture three years 
ago, and he apparently didn't have the after-effects 
anymore. Scully and Skinner would arrive in the 
afternoon with all the results and conclusions.

After lunch, they went to the airport to pick up Skinner 
and Scully. They talked about the case in Reyes's room 
and decided that Reyes and Doggett would question Joyce 
once again to find out what was wrong with her 
deposition.  Skinner and Scully would question Follmer's 
contacts in New York. Reyes gave them several names, 
friends mostly. While Skinner and Scully left immediately 
for Manhattan where most of Brad's friends lived, Reyes 
and Doggett had to wait until the end of the afternoon to 
be able to talk to Joyce.

"So what do we do?" John asked.

"I don't know, but since Skinner and Scully are now here, 
I guess that tonight we won't be able to...do what we did 
the previous nights."

"That's for sure," he said. "I got the hint." And he 
leaned forward to kiss her, his hands on her waist. She 
wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. 
Removing their clothes, they went to the bed and fell 
on top of it. John crawled to the night stand.

"Where did I put those condoms?" He found one and 
crawled back to Monica.

Reyes was driving.  She parked the car in front of 
the house.

"It's still early in the afternoon.  They must be at 
school."

"Yes, maybe.  But we'd better check, one never 
knows."

They walked to the front door and rang the bell. 
They heard noise and a young handsome man appeared at 
the door.

"Hello...you must be the FBI agents." He looked them 
up and down. "Yeah, must be you." Monica spoke up.

"Yes, we are.  Who are you?"

"Sorry, I'm Sam, Lea's boyfriend. You want to come 
in?" he said, letting them in. The three of them sat
on the couch.

"Where is everybody?" John asked.

"Lea will be back soon, she went to the store. Teo 
has some class late in the evening and Joyce will be 
back from school soon, too. Wanna drink something?"

"Yes, please," the two agents said.

When Sam came back with the drinks, Doggett asked,
"Sam, how well do you know Joyce?"

"I have known her since I started dating Lea.  Four 
months and 19 days exactly!" Doggett and Reyes smiled 
at him.

"Do you know what happened?"

"Yeah, Lea and Teo told me.  That's a pity.  Was he 
your friend?"

"Our boss," Reyes answered. "According to the 
neighbours, Joyce screamed something just before the 
accident. 'Luck' or 'lock.'  Do you have any idea what 
it could be?"

"That must be 'Luke', her best friend.  He died some 
years ago but she still talks to him. I often heard 
her before."

Doggett motioned to Monica to let Sam go on. Sam 
apparently wasn't aware who John and Monica were and 
it was fine with Doggett.

"She talks to him?"

"Yes, as if he was there, living in the house across 
the street.  She even imagines what his life would have 
been."

"How's that?" Reyes was interested.  With Scully's 
discovery and now this, she got an idea.

"Well, his parents got divorced, his father had a 
new girlfriend, a little brother, he helps her for her 
tests, he got the flu, things like that. First I didn't 
believe what the twins were saying, then I heard it 
myself. Apparently the therapist said it was nothing. 
I hope he's right."

"Hi!" exclaimed a female voice. "Sam, would you help 
me ?"

He stood up, took the bags, and carried them to the 
kitchen while Lea greeted the two agents.

"Do you have news?"

"Not really.  We came back to talk to Joyce."

"I saw her in the park."

"Ok, then, we'll go there.  Thank you."

"Yeah, ok, you're always welcome here, both of you."

They said goodbye and Reyes hurried Doggett outside.

On their way to the park, Reyes explained to John her 
theory.  "What if Joyce was able to communicate with 
another reality, just like Lukesh did? In that reality, 
Luke isn't dead and they can communicate. She tried 
to warn Luke about the car she told us about, which 
killed Brad--the other Brad--and somehow he came into 
our reality. That would explain everything."

"Yeah, it would, if only I can believe it. Monica, I 
never heard about this Lukesh except what you told me. 
And I admit it was difficult to believe!"

Joyce was sitting with Luke on the grass. Luke had 
asked her to tell him everything about 'the other's Dad 
and Monica'. She had done it, describing how sad they 
were, mostly 'Mr. Doggett'.

"So it was really Monica's ex boyfriend... It's sad, I 
wish I could see them, talk to them, and tell them how 
happy we are."

"I wish that, too.  You know, maybe if we both pray 
for it very hard..."

Luke laughed.  "You're such a believer!"

"You're not?"

"I guess I'm like Saint Thomas."

"But you're talking to me right know..."

Luke took her in his arms and lifted her up.

Doggett and Reyes arrived at the same moment and saw 
the little girl floating in the air then fell on the 
grass. Then they saw her slap the air, saying, "You, 
b*st*rd !"

The agents looked at each other.  John was quite 
disturbed now.

"Joyce," called Monica. The girl turned around and 
froze. Monica went on.  "Luke's here?"

Joyce nodded as Luke spoke.  "Monica, do you see 
me....hear me...feel me?" But she didn't.  He sighed 
and walked to Doggett.  "Joyce was right, you look 
like Dad, but you're sad."

"Mr. Doggett, he's right in front of you."  John held 
out his hand and Luke took it. And the miracle 
happened.  They felt it.

"Luke!"

"I'm here...Dad."

Tears fell on John's cheeks and then the four of them 
were crying.

It was Tuesday morning.  Reyes and Doggett had just 
given their report to Kersh.  They had tried to 
explain as much as they could, but it hadn't been an 
easy report. They were now at Follmer's funeral. It 
seemed that Brad had been popular because there were a 
lot of people.

At the end, Monica and John walked back to the car, 
holding hands. Monica couldn't stop crying because 
whatever he had done to her, Brad was her friend. John 
remained silent.  He knew Monica just needed his 
presence and it would do everything to her.

They drove back to Monica's appartment and stayed 
there in each other's arms.

FIN

** it's an adapted translation from a song, in French 
it's great it's: "Quand le ciel dans tes yeux d'un seul 
coup n'est plus pur."