Title: Wali
Author: Shahara Zade
Spoilers: Vague ones for Amor Fati, but it goes pretty au.
Summary: A good friend will help you move. A *really*
good friend will help you move a body.
Keywords: Diana/Kim friendship
Notes: "Wali" is the Sufi word for saint, but literally translates as
`sincere friend'.


She knows there cannot be much time left. She shivers and slumps
deeper into the driver's seat of the rental car. Its color is too
bright, she thinks, too vibrant a gray. There has been no time to
consider details since she effectively "retired" herself from field
work as few hours ago when she passed on that keycard.

By now, he has been found - god willing. The tightness in her chest
grows as she considers that decision. There was, of course, no
other she could have made.

There is no god but god, and Mohammed is his prophet. There is no god
but god.godgodgodwhereisAlex? Has she been wrong in trusting him this
time?

He *will* come. This measure was his idea. He won't fail her.

There is no god but god.

A white cargo van pulls up beside her car and she releases a sharp
breath.

.and Mohammed is his prophet.

Inside her coat pocket, she thumbs off the safety on her weapon. The
concrete sounds hollow under the click of her heels as she goes to
greet the driver.

The flash of red hair, back turned away, left vulnerable stops her in
her tracks. What has gone wrong?

"Arlene, where's Alex?" she demands.

The familiar brow is furrowed. The lower lip is swollen as though she
has been chewing at it.

"I'm Kim, Diana."

It is a voice accustomed to the correction and out of the FBI office
they've always used first names.

"What's happened, Kim? Where's Alex? You're assigned to Skinner this
week - why wasn't Arlene sent?

Her heart is in her throat. She takes a step backward. This is all
wrong. It's a slip an imposter would make. She waits for the pretty
features to melt.

"I had no choice, she wouldn't come. Alex said to tell you he's
running interference. Agent Scully found the facility so quickly-"

"She wouldn't *come*?"

Kim moves toward the back of the van, opens the cargo doors and
disappears inside. The van rocks slightly, and Diana hears a loud
thump followed by an exasperated sigh.

"Arlene believes this is murder."

The woman pants audibly.

Diana is stunned. "*Murder*?

"Can you help me, please? I can't move her by myself."

It's here. Alex has come through after all. This will be done and she
will be on the plane to Tunis in a few hours. Kim has rolled the bag
to the edge of the doors. It's longer than Diana expected. If they
are seen, there will be no way that can hide the fact they're
carrying a body up to Diana's apartment.

Diana grabs one end of the bag.

"You just left Skinner there alone in the office?"

The other woman shakes her head as she pushes the bag forward.

"No, of course not. Arlene's with him, covering for me. She couldn't
condone this, but she wants you out of here safely, just as much as
the rest of us."

Together, they maneuver the bag towards the stairs. It seems far
heavier that it ought to. Diana wonders what Arlene means by murder.
She met Kim and Arlene's "mother" during the second sage of her MUFON
work. The case was unusual in that the woman had been allowed and even
encouraged to nurture and socialize with her identical "daughters".
Diana suspects it was just another form of experimentation. Unlike
the hybrids, the pure human clones tended to be quite emotionally
unstable. Kim and Arlene though have remained unique in their
integration and usefulness in the field.

At the door, they pause. Kim's face is bright pink as Diana fumbles
for her keys. Diana knows they could not have made it much farther.

"Where do you think they would do it?"

She tries to keep the question light. Casual. They haul their load
inside and Kim leans against the door, catching her breath, not
answering. They have been friends for a long time. Her face darkens
as she seems to consider the possibilities.

She crosses the room to the elegant oriental hutch, opens it and
switches on the TV She rummages around in the cabinet below,
pulling out videotape, which she slips into the player above the TV.

Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart flicker on the screen.

"You fall asleep here on the couch, Diana. The assassin simply picks
the lock and walks in." She nods to the front door.

The mood lifts for a moment and Diana grins at her.

"I die watching *Casablanca*? Who is going to buy that?

The sparkle in the other woman's eyes fades.

"Those with no sense of humor. Come on, let's do this. I've still got
to get you to the airport and review half a dozen documents for Mr.
Skinner."

"Arlene can't do it?"

Kim's tone is wry. "I trust no one with those kinds of details."

Diana kneels beside the bag. The zipper sticks at first and then
opens to reveal crimson painted toenails. Her nose wrinkles.

"You gave it a pedicure?"

"Alex said to. For the autopsy. We can't do anything about her feet
not having calluses though, or her teeth not having any fillings -
there wasn't time. But I did the best I could, Diana."

"I'm just glad I've never had my appendix out." Diana tries to smile
reassuringly and fails. "Kim, I will never be able to thank y- oh!"

She sways backward.

"It's eyes!"

The dark eyes which match her own are wide open and blinking. Kim
helps her to her feet.

"Well, yes, her eyes are open. She isn't *dead* yet."

"Dead? Kim, it isn't alive! At least not like you and I. The brains
aren't allowed to develop. There are no motor skills, no mid-level
functioning. It's just clay."

Kim shakes her head.

"She made noises in her throat as soon as we got her out of the tank.
She gripped my arm until we shot her full of muscle relaxers."

"Not *she*, it. It is not alive. Not like me. Not like you and Arlene
either. The two of you were special. We took years cultivating-"

"Diana, Alex won't even replace his arm from the creche stock. Not
even he believes they're only clay."

Diana crouches down, grasps the body under the armpits and begins to
drag it out of the bag. From this angle, she can see it has no
gray hairs in its head.

"Do you think this is murder too, Kim? Are we killers?"

Kim is at the other end, lifting by the ankles. She ducks her head.

"I don't know. I think Alex found other business today because he
couldn't stand to pull the trigger with your face at the other end of
the barrel."

Diana snorts and almost trips over the mahogany coffee table as they
make their way to the couch with the subject of debate.

"Alex has always known he might have to pull the trigger when my face
was at the other end of the barrel for real. It's the risk we all
take."

"Not anymore, Diana. You get to go home."

Kim's mouth twists in a sad and somewhat envious expression.

"I haven't been allowed to see or speak to my husband in over a year
now," Diana says. "I've missed him so much. They asked me to come
back and I did. I have done what I can here, but..."

Her eyes begin to sting.

"This...this...Alex was supposed to take care of it. I never dreamed...my
god, it doesn't even have stretch marks!"

She covers her face with her hands.

In the background, Bogart and Bergman are in love in Paris.

Kim gently arranges the feet on the floor and slips her arms around
her friend.

"You have done so much, made so many sacrifices. I believe she
would make this sacrifice if she was capable of understanding how
much is at stake."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because *I* would. Arlene would too, for you anyway."

"Do you think it has a soul, Kim? Do you suppose it has that Divine
spark?"

They stand together, holding each other, regarding the form on the
couch.

Kim recites:

"Remember when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo I am creating a
mortal out of potter's clay. So when I have made him and shaped
him and have breathed into him of my Spirit, do ye fall down
prostrating yourself unto him."

"They'll hunt me, Kim. They might not even be kind enough to kill me
for what I've done." Diana's voice shakes. "You can quote me Qur'an
all night, but we both have friends that are still test subjects!
I can't."

Beside her, Kim says softly, "I know." She squeezes Diana's
hand. "I'm just going to get that green silk kimono for her - I doubt
you watch old movies naked very often."

Diana owns a silencer for her weapon, but she has never used it. It's
in a drawer in the kitchen, under a box of expensive German chef
knives she never uses either. When she comes back to the living room,
the body is dressed in her kimono. It has always been her favorite
garment, but she now decides it looks better on that unlined face and
un-freckled skin. Kim stands at the door, waiting.

Diana fluffs the velvet cushion behind the head. She pushes the legs
into a more comfortable angle. There is no more time. Before she
pulls the trigger, she whispers, "Allah forgive us."

Kim and Diana take the elevator to a car waiting in front of her
building, silently reaching back and forth to brush away tears
from each other's cheeks as they descend.

On the TV screen, Bergman's plane takes off into the night.

END