Mulder slipped back into the bedroom to find Alex curled up in the blankets, snoring softly.

"Damn." He sat at the edge of the bed, hating to have to wake the other man, but he really needed to take his meds. "Alex." He gently shook his sleeping lover. "Baby, wake up."

"No...."

"I'm sorry I took so long," Mulder apologized, kissing the younger man's head. "Come on, sit up and take this, then you can go right back to sleep."

Alex groaned, pulling himself up, and the sight of him, tousled and sleepy, wrapped around Mulder's heart and squeezed tightly. He handed the pills to Alex, waited for him to wash them down with the water, then he crawled back into bed and pulled the younger man into his arms. "Warm enough?" he asked, adjusting the blankets around them.

"Mmm hmm."

Mulder smiled as he listened to the faint affirmation.

//Already gone.//

He bent his head and brushed his lips into the sable hair. "Night, baby."

//I love you.//

********************

Alex drifted into the kitchen, lured there by the smells of breakfast.

As he came through the door, his eyes confirmed what his mind knew. Since Fox was still asleep, it could only have been Scully in here cooking.

Cool, blue eyes turned in his direction for a brief moment, then refocused on the ham the woman was frying.

"Morning," he offered.

"Mulder still asleep?"

"Yeah. But I'm sure as soon these smells reach the bedroom, he'll be up."

No answer.

He moved to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice. "I was coming in to fix breakfast myself. I guess you beat me by a few minutes." He pulled a glass out of the cupboard and gave her a largely ignored smile. "Thanks."

"No thanks necessary," she drawled. "I'm cooking for myself. And for Mulder. You just happen to be here."

With a twitch of his lips, the smile turned from friendly to sarcastic. "Yeah. Imagine that. Me just happening to be here...in *my* cabin..."

Scully slammed down the knife she'd just picked up. "Look, Krycek, believe me when I tell you that being here in *your* cabin is not my choice. You needed medical attention, and there was no one else around who could take care of you. And if it wasn't for this damned snow storm, I'd have been long gone already."

"What? And leave Fox in my clutches?"

"He's a big boy, Krycek..."

A secretive smile curled his lips. "Yes, he is..."

Scully shot him a dirty look and continued. "He knows my feelings as far as you're concerned, and as much as I'd like to bash him over the head and drag him out of here, I won't do it. I have to let him dig his grave. It's the only way that I can see to cure him of you."

"So, now I'm a disease?" He leered suggestively at her. "In that case you'd better watch it or you might find *yourself* coming down with a bad case of Alexitis."

"God, you're an arrogant bastard."

Alex folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter, grinning at her. "Yeah. Irresistible, aren't I?"

"*I* think so."

Both occupants of the kitchen turned their attention to the one who had just come through the door. Alex's eyes lit up while Scully grimaced as Mulder stalked toward the other man and drew him into his arms.

"Morning," he mumbled just before he took Alex's mouth in a tender kiss. When they parted, Alex tucked his head under Mulder's chin, hugging him tightly with his good arm. Knowing that Scully had to have been watching, his eyelashes lifted, and he gave her a sweet smile.

If she could have hurled the knife at him without hitting her partner, she would have done it in a heartbeat.

"Have you been teasing Scully?" Mulder's voice rumbled softly above Alex's head.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you."

Alex lifted his head and looked at Mulder, a devilish glint in his eyes. "Maybe a little."

Mulder gave him a good-natured swat on his ass. "Behave, would you?"

Alex growled at the pleasurable sting and rubbed himself against his lover. "If I don't, will you give me a real good spanking?"

"God...come on, Alex," he murmured. "I'm serious."

"So am I."

"Okay, look," Scully spat. "One of you can finish this...that is if you can tear yourselves away from each other that long."

"Where are you going?" Mulder asked as she blew past them.

"For a walk. I need some air."

"It's snowing like a bitch out there," Alex informed her. "And those drifts look pretty deep..."

"So?"

He shrugged. "Well, it's just that...you know...you're kind of..." he smirked down at her. "...petite."

"So kind of you to be concerned," she sneered and continued toward the door.

"Hey, Scully," Mulder called before she disappeared. "I'll call you when breakfast is done."

"Don't bother. I've lost my appetite."

"C'mon, Scully..."

Ignoring her partner's entreaty, she stormed into the living room, pulled on her boots, yanked on her jacket, and disappeared out the door. The two men went to the window and watched as she attempted to wade through the two-foot and higher drifts. Alex shook his head, grinning broadly.

"She's more stubborn than you are."

"When she thinks she's right, yeah." Mulder slipped his arms around Alex's waist and pulled him back against his chest. "I know you've been having fun giving her a bad time, and I've been so aggravated with the way she's been acting that I've been going along with it, but the fact is, she's just worried about me. I know and you know she's got no cause to be, but she's sure that she does. She wants to protect me."

"I can't blame her for that," Alex replied, rubbing his head against his lover's cheek, "but I got *shot* protecting you, and still she refuses to believe that I'm anything more than a self-serving  son-of-a-bitch."

"She'll come around, Alex," Mulder promised. "She can't keep up this level of hatred for long. It'll wear her out."

"So, she'll learn to tolerate me just because she'll be too tired to hate me?" Alex shrugged, laughing softly. "Okay, good deal...oh...oh, shit."

"What?" Mulder followed his lover's gaze back to the window, and the two of them broke into laughter.

Scully, trying to walk too fast through the snow, had lost her balance and half-fallen into a small drift. She managed to catch herself before she fell on her ass, got up too fast, and fell forward, flat on her face into a larger drift. The two men laughed harder as she tried to get up and again fell on her face.

"Shit, Alex," Mulder tried to choke back a fresh round of hysterics. "Stop laughing! I gotta go out there and help her, and I can't do it if I'm *crying*."

Alex reared back against the back of the sofa, cackling gleefully.

"Would you shut up?" Mulder slapped his thigh. "Okay," he cleared his throat and attempted to put on a serious, concerned face, but another look at his lover, giggling maniacally, and he began to snicker. Before he knew it, he was again taken over by fits of laughter. "Ah, fuck! She's really gonna be pissed *now*." He left Alex in tears on the back of the sofa and dashed outside to help.

Scully's curses echoed in the cold morning air as she pulled herself to her knees. Before she could again attempt to get to her feet, a hand came out of nowhere and pulled her up.

"You okay?"

She brushed the snow away from her face and hair and looked up into twinkling eyes. "How did you see me?"

"I...I followed you out into the living room and watched from the window."

"Have a good laugh?"

The corner of Mulder's mouth twitched, but he fought back the urge to smile. "No! No, I..."

He stopped in mid-sentence, following Scully's glare to the window where Alex was doubled over. Even from this distance he could see that the younger man was laughing his ass off. He looked back down into infuriated blue eyes.

"Okay, well..."

"I'm glad you two are having such a good time."

"Come on, Scully, if the situation we were in was different, you'd be able to see the humor..."

"But it *isn't*, and I *don't*."

"I'm sorry, Scully, I really am. Let's go back into the house. It's freezing out here and as you can see, I'm not wearing a jacket."

Unwillingly, Scully followed him back into the cabin. Mulder entered first, pointing a warning finger at Alex, who stood by the back of the sofa, struggling to keep a straight face. Scully walked in, not giving the other man a second glance until he spoke to her.

"You okay, Scully?" he asked, voice cracking on the last syllable of her name.

"Go to hell, Krycek."

Mulder raised a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Umm, S-Scully, why don't you go get out of those wet clothes? I'll go finish breakfast."

"I told you, I'm not..."

"I know what you said. But you have to eat something. Please?"

Scully sent a hard look from one man to the other. Choosing not to answer, she flounced into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. The minute she was gone, Mulder turned to the younger man.

"Alex...*please*..."

"Please, what?" Alex approached, slipping his arms around his lover's waist. "I like it when you beg."

"God, you're killin' me." His eyes dropped shut as Alex kissed a path from his jaw to his ear. "Alex...baby, please be nice to Scully."

"I *have* been. I can't help it if she doesn't think so."

"Alex..."

Alex teased the interior of Mulder's ear with the tip of his tongue. "I'll try harder, okay?"

"Thank you. Now." He gently pushed the other man away. "Let's go finish breakfast. Maybe she'll be in better humor after she gets some food in her."

Alex linked fingers with his lover and followed him into the kitchen. "Yeah, and maybe it'll be eighty degrees tomorrow."

********************

The two men sat at the table, preparing to eat, when the door swung open and Scully appeared, looking around the kitchen.

Mulder smiled brightly up at her. "I'm glad you decided to join us."

"I'm not, I'm just going to get some eggs and go eat in the other room."

"Aww, come on, Scully. Please stay." He looked pointedly at the younger man. "Alex will behave himself."

Alex stared at Mulder for a moment, then shifted his gaze quickly to Scully. "Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I'll be good. No comments, really."

Mulder gave her a hopeful smile. "Okay? Come on, it really is more comfortable to eat here at the table."

Scully let out a long sigh and dragged herself into the room. "I don't know why I'm letting you talk me into this."

For the next ten minutes the three sat together in virtual silence, eating their breakfast. Mulder looked around the table, his gaze going from his partner to his lover, noting how both ate with their heads down, eyes to their plates. Thinking he should say something then deciding against it, he turned his attention to his own plate and dug into his eggs. Minutes later, he looked up again to find Scully in the exact same position he'd last seen her in; eyes down, chewing her food as if it had glass in it, but when he glanced at Alex, he noticed the younger man's shoulders trembling. Upon closer inspection, he observed drops of moisture running down his cheeks.

//God, I'm going to kill you.//

Alex covered his mouth in an attempt to hold any sound in that might escape, and the effort merely resulted in the increased quaking of his body and a steadier flow of tears.

Mulder shifted in his seat and gently kicked Alex under the table, but that turned out to be the worst thing he could do. The jolt knocked a tiny choking sound past the fingers clamped over his mouth. That sound was followed by another, and still another, just a bit louder, and finally, he couldn't hold it back any longer.

Scully looked up, her attention finally drawn by the increasingly hysterical giggles coming from across the table. Seconds later, Alex was lying over the oak surface, laughing uncontrollably. The two others sat staring at him in silence. Scully, angry and quickly adding up all the reasons for sinking her fork into his neck, and Mulder, torn between wanting to slap his lover silly and letting himself fall victim to his infectious laughter.

Alex lifted his head from the table, tears flowing down his face, and held his hand up. "Scully...wait...wait..." More giggling. "I'm sorry. I really don't mean to laugh, but you didn't...you didn't see yourself out there." He looked into the crimson face and swallowed another round of chuckles. "You just like..." He flattened his hand, dropping it onto the table and started to laugh again. "...and we couldn't even see you..." He leaned back in his chair in a boneless sprawl and let out an all-out roar.

Scully looked from Alex to Mulder, who was sitting quietly, face hidden in one hand. "Well?"

Mulder lifted his head and gazed apologetically at her. "What?"

"*Do* something."

"Like what?"

She looked to the man who had yet to stop laughing. "You were so positive you were the one in control last night...prove it. Control him *now*. Before I murder him where he sits."

Mulder groaned and moved closer to the other man. "Alex. Alex, come on, she's really upset."

The roars faded to soft chuckles, and he looked from Mulder to Scully, then back again. "Oh, Christ, Fox, when *isn't* she really upset? Come on, Scully, lighten the hell up. We *could* be having fun together."

"Oh, we *could*, could we?"

The chuckles stopped, and he gave her a salacious grin as his hand moved unseen up Mulder's thigh. "I don't mean it like that. I'm not sharing my man with you or anybody. I simply meant that we're snowed in, we're stuck with each other, and if we wanted to, instead of squaring off every minute we're together, we could be making the best of things...popping popcorn...watching bad movies." He looked toward the door then back at her. "I think I got some board games in the closet in the hall..."

Scully shook her head, giving the man an incredulous stare. "You're crazy." She looked to Mulder. "He's crazy," she repeated to her partner, pushing herself away from the table. "And so are you if you think that I'll see this lunatic as anything more than what he really is."

Mulder flinched as she stomped out, slamming the door behind her. His eyes then shifted to Alex, who sat, elbow resting on the table, chin in his palm. The younger man stared blankly at him.

"Does a lot of that, doesn't she?"

Mulder sat back, inhaling deeply, then letting the breath out in a slow hiss. He stared wordlessly at Alex, prompting the younger man to speak in his defense.

"Hey, I tried."

"What you're *trying* to do is make sure she never speaks to me again."

"That's not true."

"Alex, you mock her every chance you get. I know her attitude toward you makes it hard to resist, but you two are just going in circles. She irritates you; you irritate her back. She pisses you off because you irritated her, and you just gotta pay her back. It goes on and on."

Alex turned a pout on his lover. "You can't dispute that she's ticked you off too..."

"No, I don't dispute that. And I don't dispute that I've given in to temptation a couple of times and done or said things that I knew would get to her. But Alex, Scully and I are partners. There's an underlying respect between us, whereas with you..."

"Respect? You think she respects you? Fox, you're more delusional than she thinks you are. If she respected you, she would have sat you down, given you her feelings on our relationship, heard yours, then accepted your decisions even if she *never* understood them. But that's not what she's doing..."

"Baby, she took care of you when you got shot. *She* did."

"She *had* to. She's a *doctor*."

"She could have let the vet do it."

Alex began his comeback, then stopped short. "Uh...vet?"

"Veterinarian friend of mine. She removed the bullet in his operating room."

"I'm sure she thought it was an appropriate place for me."

"Please, Alex. Can't you give her an *ounce* of credit?"

"For what? You want me to tell you how many times since we got here she's told me in one way or another that she never should have helped me? Trust me on this, Fox, right now she's sorry as hell that she became a doctor. She's just itching for me to do something that she could construe as threatening so she can be justified in blowing my head off."

Mulder shook his head. "Alex, she may despise you, and she *may* want to kill you, I'll give you that, but she'd never do anything she knew would hurt me."

Alex's heart swelled at the round-about declaration of affection. "But Fox," he said softly. "She thinks *I'm* out to hurt you. And getting me away from you, in her mind, is the only way to save you from hurt."

"Well, maybe if you were a little nicer to her? Please? Just stop baiting her and let her get used to you."

"It'll never happen. Scully doesn't *want* to get used to me. She wants to go back to it being just the two of you. She can't stand the thought of you being emotionally dependent on anyone other than her. And the fact that it's me makes it worse a hundred times over. She wants you all to herself, Fox." Alex stood and bent at the waist, leaning over the table. "But she's got to realize," he rumbled, threading his fingers through Mulder's hair, "that you are *not* her private property." He pulled his lover in for a long, possessive kiss, then drew back. "You're *mine*."

Mulder searched dark, unblinking eyes, then asked, "So the war continues?"

Alex untangled his fingers from the other man's hair and sat down. "Her call."

Mulder repeated his words, but this time as a soft statement. "So the war continues." Not waiting for a reply, he rose from his seat and moved to the door. Alex's voice followed him.

"Where are you going?"

Without looking back, he answered, "I noticed earlier that the firewood is getting low. Going outside to get some." And without another word, he pushed the door open and passed into the living room.

Scully watched as her partner moved past her. He pulled his jacket from the hook by the door, and, not waiting to put it on before opening the door, he disappeared into the heavily falling snow.

A second presence in the room drew her attention, and she turned to find Alex standing only a couple of feet from her chair. "Where's he going?" she demanded.

"Away from us," he said by way of an answer.

"*Us*?"

"Yeah. I'm talking about myself as well."

"You're the *only* person you should be talking about."

"Cut the 'I'm right and the world is wrong' bullshit, okay, Scully? He's upset. Or can you really not see that? We're pulling him in opposite directions, and it's got to stop."

"So, stop."

Alex's voice rattled with irritation. "We *both* have to stop, you sanctimonious..." He choked back the words that he ached to say. After a deep breath, he began again. "He doesn't want to lose either of us."

"Losing *you* would be the best thing that's ever happened to him."

"Why, Scully? Because *you* say so? What about what *he* says? You treat him like he's six years old instead of an intelligent adult who's perfectly capable of making his own decisions."

"This wouldn't be the first time I've had to rescue Mulder from making a bad move, Krycek. He *is* intelligent. Brilliant, in fact, but in certain matters he leads with his heart, and that almost always lands him in trouble. In this case, disaster."

"And back we go to *your* opinion."

"Because it's the only one around here that's *sane*."

"What makes you so goddamn sure of that?"

"I think Mulder's obsession with you answers that question more than adequately."

"Look." Alex moved around to the front of where Scully was seated and pulled up another chair. He lowered himself into it and stared straight at her. "We've established the fact that you hate me. I think it's fair to say that we've also established the fact that I don't give a rat's ass *what* you think of me. Okay." He clapped his hands together. "So we'll never be friends. I'll try not to stay awake nights crying over it. But our feelings for each other and our inability to hide them is putting Fox in a tough spot. As much as I'd like to twist your scrawny little neck, I'm not stupid. I know that for years you've been Fox's only friend and ally. He needs you to keep him balanced. But he needs more, Scully. That's where I come in."

Scully rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Whether you like it or not, he needs me too. As much as I need him, and that's a hell of a lot. Whether or not you ever choose to believe it, Scully, we've got something here, and it isn't going away simply because you wish it to."

"I'm not the type who sits around making idle wishes," Scully said softly, casting icy blue daggers at him.

"Why are you so bent on hurting him? Is it because he's hurt you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Alex's voice was flat and emotionless. "You know what I'm talking about. You've got a thing for him."

"You're crazy."

"Possibly. But you know I'm right. You've wanted him forever, and it's eating you alive that he's chosen someone...*me*...over you."

"Mulder and I are *friends*..."

"And that's all you ever will be. Deal with it. Or you'll lose him completely."

Scully swallowed down the bitterness that had risen in her throat. As much as it killed her to admit to herself, she knew he was right. If she kept on the track she was on, she would drive him away, possibly for good. And then when Krycek was gone, he'd have no one at the time when he needed someone most...

When Krycek was gone.

When *would* he be gone?

If he wasn't using Mulder for some dire purpose, then he was just toying with him, and when he got bored, he'd likely just disappear, leaving Mulder hurt and alone.

"What do you want him for?"

Alex cocked his head to one side. "What?"

"It's just you and me here. Tell me the truth. You know that if I run and tell him what you said, he wouldn't believe me anyway, so fess up. What do you want him for?"

Alex lowered his eyes, thought a minute, then looked up at her. "You're right. He won't believe anything you tell him about me, so I guess I *can* tell you the truth....I love him."

"Oh, God, I said the *truth*, Krycek."

"That *is* the truth. I haven't told him, because I don't know if he's ready to hear it. And frankly, I'm a little nervous about saying it. I've never told anyone that before."

"Oh, now, why do I find *that* hard to believe?"

"I've done and said lots of dishonest things in my life, Scully, but I have never lied about that." He shook his head. "I've never been in love, and I could never bring myself to say the words, knowing I didn't mean them."

"Till now."

"No. I mean it. I've wanted Fox for a long time, but I've come to realize over the past few weeks that I do love him."

Scully gave him a shocked stare. "How do you sleep at night?"

"I never used to. But I sleep just great when Fox is in my bed."

A grunt of disgust rose up in Scully's throat, and she did nothing to choke it back.

Alex leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his thighs and folding his hands under his chin. "He's all I thought about from the morning I left him in that motel room until the day he walked into the mill." His expression grew distant, and his voice softened. "You don't know what it took that day for me to hold that gun on him. You don't know how sick it made me to see the hurt in his eyes when he thought I was who you'd been telling him I was. But I pulled it off. I did what I had to do, and I got him out of there alive." He sat quietly for a moment, then his eyes cleared, and he again looked at her. "As long as I'm walking and breathing, no one will ever hurt him."

Scully studied him curiously but said nothing.

"I'm asking you, Scully, not for me. For Fox. Cut him a break."

Still nothing.

"At least give him one day without having to worry that one of us isn't going to make it out of here alive."

Her eyes fell away from his, and she looked down at the book that was resting in her lap.

"Scully?"

When she refused again to answer, Alex hauled himself out of his chair and stalked over to the window. His anger subsided a bit when he caught sight of Fox, almost invisible through the mass of falling white, moving toward the house from the direction of the woods. He watched as the solitary figure gathered up an armload of wood then started to the door.

Fox looked up in mild surprise as the door swung open and Alex stepped aside to allow him to enter. The younger man gave him a wary smile but said nothing as he walked into the cabin and deposited the wood on the floor by the fireplace. He straightened his back and looked over to the woman seated a few feet away. She gave him less of a smile than Alex did and also said nothing.

"Gonna go get out of these wet things," he mumbled and disappeared inside the bedroom. Once there, he closed the door softly behind him, half expecting Alex to open it up again immediately afterward. When the younger man did not appear, he gathered up a change of clothing and moved into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, Mulder emerged from the bedroom and looked around to find his lover and his partner sitting silently in the same room. Scully was reading quietly, and Alex was half stretched across the sofa, sorting through a stack of CDs. He moved cautiously past Scully and took a seat at the other end of the sofa. After a brief silence, he spoke up, directing a question to Alex.

"What are you doing?"

Alex smiled up at him and shrugged. "Just looking at my CDs. A lot of this stuff I didn't remember I had."

"Like what?"

The other man stuck out his lower lip. "Mmm, like...The Commodores...Earth Wind and Fire..." He smirked up at Mulder. "The Bee Gees..."

Mulder gasped and threw his head back against the cushion. "You weren't like...gonna *play* any of that, were you?"

"What's the matter with the Bee Gees?"

Both men looked in Scully's direction.

"You *like* them?" Mulder asked, appalled.

"Yes."

Alex gave him a full grin. "You're outvoted." He leapt from the sofa and loaded the compact disc player.

Mulder sat quietly, trying to determine exactly when it was that his lover and his partner formed an alliance against him.

Then ensuing silence and Scully's barely-concealed glare as Alex walked past told him, of course, that it was nothing more than an incidental thing.

//Damn. Well, you should have known better...//

The sound of music jarred him out of his thoughts.

".....Smile an everlasting smile. A smile can bring you near to me. Don't ever let me find you gone, cause that would bring a tear to me..."

Alex dropped back onto the sofa, looking through the rest of his CDs, singing softly. Mulder glanced from him to Scully, who peered curiously over her glasses at the oblivious man. He smiled, happy for the reprieve, and closed his eyes.

".....Talk in everlasting words and dedicate them all to me. And I will give you all my life. I'm here if you should call to me. And you think that I don't even mean a single word I say. It's only words. And words are all I have to take your heart away..."

Mulder opened his eyes and shifted his gaze to his lover.

Feeling the warmth of Fox's stare, Alex stopped singing and looked up. The younger man chewed on one corner of his lip, then spoke. "I'll change it if it really bothers you."

Mulder gave him a tiny smile and shook his head. "No," he said softly. "It's okay."

"You sure?"

The older man nodded, not moving his gaze from Alex's. Only the loud whoosh of a page being turned broke the spell.

"Is the music okay, Scully? Is it too loud or something?"

Scully looked up at Alex briefly, then turned her gaze back down to her book. "It's fine."

"You sure?"

She slammed the book shut, a stream of sarcasm ready to fall from her lips. But one look into her partner's somber, hazel eyes, and she swallowed down the words she was dying to say.

"Yes....Alex....I'm sure. It's fine."

Alex nodded. "Okay, just checking. Sometimes I guess I tend to listen to it a little loud..."

When he received no response, Alex went back to sorting his disks. Without missing a beat, he fell in, singing in perfect harmony with the song that was now playing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mulder watched as Scully observed his lover for a moment, then returned to her book. He turned his attention to Alex, and when the younger man did not again return his gaze, he sighed softly and settled down to investigate the stack of previously viewed disks.

They passed the day in virtual silence, the only conversations being those between either Mulder and Scully or Mulder and Alex. Hardly a word was said between his lover and his partner, but he rationalized that silence was better than the sniping and slamming of doors that he'd been subjected to over the last couple of days.

The one thing that did bother him was Alex's seeming reluctance to have any physical contact with him. He was sure it stemmed from the conversation they'd had this morning, and while he appreciated Alex's attempt to keep from antagonizing Scully, he couldn't say that he appreciated the price they were both paying to keep her placated.

After dinner, Mulder insisted on doing the dishes, relegating the other two to the living room. He knew he was taking chances leaving them alone together for any length of time, but he wanted to see if their grudging truce really would last. Aside from music, there wasn't a sound from the other room, and frankly, he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Half an hour later, he walked into the living room to find Scully reading by the fire and Alex stretched out on the sofa with his eyes closed. Scully's eyes followed him as he moved over to the sofa and perched at the edge, just parallel to Alex's hip. Green eyes opened, blinking up at him, and his lover gave him a soft smile.

Scully's hands tightened on her book as she watched Mulder lift a hand and tenderly stroke the prone man's hair. She would have ripped the book in two if she could have, as Mulder got up, pulled Alex's legs apart, then crawled between them and settled his body on top of his lover's.

Alex emitted a long, audible sigh and wrapped his arms around the older man. He virtually purred with happiness, kissing and petting the head that now rested on his shoulder. He'd gone the entire day without touching Fox, and though he did his best to hide it, he was about ready to climb the walls. Apparently Fox was too, and he couldn't have been more grateful. The feel of his lover's body resting on top of his was sheer heaven.

And hell sat only a few feet away.

Scully watched in dismay as her partner draped himself over the body of the black-hearted s.o.b. who had brought nothing but pain and betrayal to their lives. And the love and trust that he radiated was a palpable thing...so solid she could almost reach out and touch it.

Her eyes snapped up to the face of the man who had so completely enchanted Mulder that he could neither see nor think straight. If she hadn't known any better, she'd have sworn that Krycek had actually been telling her the truth earlier today. He looked so captivated, so...

She couldn't say the words, even if they were only to herself. God, she couldn't even think them.

She refocused on his face.

Eyes closed, dark, ridiculously thick eyelashes sweeping his cheeks...an expression on his face that could only be described as rapturous. He held Mulder to him, one hand at the back of his head and the other sweeping slowly up and down his back.

The motion of that hand mesmerized her. Again and again she watched it travel over the cornflower-blue flannel of Mulder's shirt, making a steady path from the base of his neck to the small of his back and up again.

She had no idea how long she sat there, but she watched until the hand began to hesitate then stoppped completely, and it was then that she realized that Krycek was asleep. She looked to Mulder, observing the steady rise and fall of his back and relaxed set of his mouth, and she determined that he, too, was out.

Before she could stop herself or at least give herself a few damn good reasons why she shouldn't, morbid curiosity had her up and out of her chair, cautiously picking her way across the room to get a closer look. When she reached a spot about three feet away, she slowly lowered herself to the coffee table and looked down at the sleeping men.

Even in this unconscious state, they clung to each other, Mulder's hands clutching the material of Krycek's shirt, and the other man's fingers curled in the strands of his hair. It was as though they were afraid that someone would come and try to tear them away from each other.

Scully tented her hands over her mouth and continued her observation.

God, it couldn't be.

Though he hadn't said the words, she knew that Mulder believed that he loved Krycek, and that little delusion explained his behavior, but what to make of Krycek? Was all of this for her benefit? Could he really hold Mulder...kiss him, touch him...and not mean any of it?

Jesus, of course he could. He was Alex-fucking-Krycek. He could make the sun believe it was nighttime if it suited his purpose.

She cocked her head and looked at them.

But still...there was something in his expression. Something in his eyes when he looked at Mulder. They glowed, and while she had told herself that it was just his natural, demonic gleam, watching them now, she admitted that she had to question her judgment.

She hated this man. Always would, but what if he really did love Mulder? Was it really so hard to believe? And could she really continue to make Mulder's life miserable when he had a chance to be happy?

//Happy? With Alex *Krycek*?//

She pressed her fingers to her temples and rubbed firmly. Feeling the beginnings of a massive headache coming on, she decided to abandon her mental truth-seeking expedition and go to bed. She rose from the table and moved away as quietly as she had approached and disappeared into the bedroom.

********************

"Hmmmm."

The soft vibration against Alex's shoulder brought him up from the deep sleep he'd been in and left him hovering in semi-consciousness. The comforting weight of his lover's body on his and the warmth of it enveloped him in kept him from coming to full wakefulness until Mulder shifted and moaned softly. The inadvertent brush of the older man's crotch against his opened his eyes and cleared his head.

He blinked and looked around the room.

No signs of the red-headed horror. Good. She must have gone to bed.

Alex dropped a kiss on Fox's head and smiled when the action brought another soft moan. His hand began to move in light circles over his lover's back, and soon, Fox picked his head up and gave him a sleepy smile.

"Oops."

Alex fixed a frown on him. "What?"

"Didn't mean to fall asleep." He looked around. "Where do you supposed Scully is?"

"Bedroom door is closed." He checked his watch. "It's late. She's probably asleep."

"Maybe. Or maybe she just got sick of being out here watching us sleep, and now she's in there brooding."

Alex laughed. "I'm surprised I didn't wake up with a hatchet in my head."

"If she's gonna be pissed at anybody, it should be me. You haven't come near me all day. I'm the one who couldn't take it anymore."

Alex smiled up at him. "Yeah, I couldn't believe it when you lay down on top of me with her only a few feet away. You don't call *that* antagonizing?"

"All we did was fall asleep."

"Baby, you and me breathing the same air is enough to irritate the shit out of her."

Mulder shook his head. "I'm sorry it upsets her, but I won't stay away from you. I couldn't stand being so close to you all day and not touching you. She's just got to find a way to accept this."

"She might not," Alex warned softly.

"Then she'll do what she feels she has to do. You're mine and I won't give you up for her or anybody."

"Even if it means your job?"

"Alex, I could lose Scully, the X-files, my job at the Bureau...and as much as they all mean to me, it wouldn't hurt a third as much as losing you."

Alex tried to swallow past the lump that had begun to form in his throat. "Fox, you don't mean that."

Fox stared down at him, unblinking and deadly serious. "Don't tell me what I don't mean."

"It's an awful lot to lose..."

"*You're* an awful lot to lose."

Unable to respond verbally, Alex reached up, tangling his fingers in his lover's hair and pulled him down into an achingly tender kiss. When they broke, he found his voice.

"Fox, I..."

Fox waited for Alex to finish, but the younger man closed his mouth and let his gaze fall away. "You what?" he prodded gently.

"N-nothing, I just..." He looked up at the older man. "It's kind of chilly in here, don't you think?"

Fox glanced over to the fireplace. "Fire is dwindling." He lifted himself from the sofa and as he added more wood and stoked the dying flames, Alex came up behind him. As he turned to stand, a hand on his shoulder held him down. He looked up at the man who stood above him, a silent question in his eyes.

"I want to make love to you here by the fire," Alex whispered. "Like the last time we were here." He kneeled in front of his lover. "Remember?"

"Of course I remember," Fox whispered back. "I'll never forget a second of it."

Alex slipped an arm around his lover's waist and drew him in close. "I remember you lying here...looking up at me...the glow of the fire was reflecting in your eyes. It was incredible. I wish I could explain to you the way it made me feel."

Mulder rubbed his cheek against the other man's, enjoying the soft, scratchy feel. He brushed his lips along the outside curve of Alex's ear and whispered into it, "Tell me."

"I...I can't, I'm...it defies description."

Mulder pulled back and smiled at him. "Try."

Alex drew in a deep breath and released it. He was quiet and still for moment, then he began to slowly undo his lover's shirt. "Your eyes," he murmured, "It was like I could *feel* you looking at me. Like you were actually touching me...everywhere. You were so focused, so...it was like I was all you could see. I felt like the center of your world. No one's ever made me feel that way...like there was nothing or no one else. I don't know if that makes any sense, but..." He stopped, studying the older man. "You're looking at me like that right now."

Mulder said nothing, only continued to stare intently.

"That look makes me feel like I belong. Like I've got a place...I want to be the man who deserves that look."

Mulder traced the outline of Alex's lips with his thumb. "For a guy who couldn't explain it..."

Alex closed his eyes and turned his face into his lover's hand, kissing the palm.

"And just for the record," Mulder said softly, "you *are* that man. And yes, you made perfect sense."

Alex rested his cheek in his lover's hand, tiny frown lines etching his closed eyes.

"Alex."

Green eyes opened halfway and slowly traveled the distance to Mulder's face.

"You're not wrong to have those feelings. In fact, I'd say that they were pretty damn accurate."

Now it was Alex's turn to stare in silence.

Mulder gave the younger man a seductive smile. "Now I have a question for you. Why have you stopped undressing me?"

The laugh came out on a shaky breath as Alex resumed his task of removing Fox's shirt. Ever-so- slowly, he finished undoing the buttons, and when he was through, his hands glided up and over the warm chest and across the broad shoulders, pushing the material away as they did.

Gilded eyes fluttered and closed as lips, softer than silk, whispered reverently over the heated flesh. Automatically, Fox's hands rose to Alex's shirt and began to fumble with the buttons. Each fastening was a struggle for his trembling fingers, and he silently congratulated himself on every tiny battle won. The last button gave, and his hands moved around to Alex's back, stroking over the tense muscles as the mouth at his chest continued to taste and tease.

So good.

Alex licked gently, letting his tongue travel over Fox's chest and neck. He adored the taste of this man. The salty-sweetness of Fox's skin had stayed on his tongue for days after the last time they'd been together in the motel, and even after the taste had faded, the memory of it remained imprinted on his brain. He could have had hundreds of other lovers after Fox and tasted them all, and still, he would only ever remember this one.

He reached the curve of his lover's shoulder and pushed the shirt down farther, easing the sleeves down Fox's arms and pulling them free of his hands. The rest of the shirt fell away from the older man's body, and Alex released a long, satisfied sigh, having finally progressed in his efforts to fully undress him. Reluctantly, he backed off, his eyes caressing every inch of Fox's upper body while his hands followed.

Fox's chest rose and fell slowly, each breath timed to Alex's. Their eyes met and held as he pushed his lover's shirt from his body and his hands began to stroke Alex in much the same way he was being touched. Fingertips sliding over muscle and bone, measuring, identifying...recording texture and reaction...

Alex slipped one hand between Fox's arm and side, letting it travel over the contours of his back, feeling a tingle of satisfaction at the tiny shiver his touch generated. Slowly, he leaned forward, using his hand to gently push the other man toward him, and their lips met in the barest hint of a kiss. Alex tilted his head and opened his mouth but would not move in to claim what was his. He felt his lover's faint whimper vibrate against his lips, and he moved away just far enough to see what was in Fox's eyes.

Exquisitely tormented pools of amber stared back, waiting.

Alex moved in again, tilting his head in the opposite direction, once more just barely touching his mouth to the other man's. This time, his tongue slithered out, coaxing and teasing Fox's into play.

For long moments they went on that way, tongues writhing together as their hands moved over each other's bodies in the same languid rhythm. But soon enough, Fox grew restless, and his soft grunts and whimpers conveyed his need for more. In answer, Alex's hand moved to the area south of his waist, roving over the nicely-rounded, denim-clad muscles. Fox squirmed under his lover's touch, encouraging Alex to slip his hand beneath the waistband of his jeans.

Unable to work his hand down far enough between Fox's skin and the snug material, Alex withdrew and found the button at the front of the other man's jeans. While his other hand tenderly massaged his lover's back, he efficiently worked the button from the hole, then grasped the zipper.

Mulder kneeled before the younger man, attempting to control the tiny shudders that passed through his body as he listened to the soft grinding of the zipper. The fire-warmed air caressed his skin and his cock, unconstricted by underwear, sprang forth, straining toward his lover.

Eyes dilated to near-blackness focused on the long column of muscle, and Alex's respiration deepened noticeably. But he held himself in check, refusing to allow his desire free rein. Careful to avoid contact with his lover's cock, he worked the jeans down to Fox's knees, then gently pushed him onto his back.

Fox, having kicked his shoes off long before he'd joined the younger man on the sofa, gave Alex an unimpeded path to travel as he pulled the jeans down and off. Now he lay before Alex like some erotic sacrifice, unwittingly testing his lover's resolve.

Alex closed his eyes and drew in several shaky breaths. His lids rose halfway, and he looked down at his lover who was watching him with rapt attention. His hand moved of its own accord, touching Fox's chest, fingertips brushing gently through the scattering of golden-brown hair, then fluttering across one nipple. Gold-splashed eyes slipped shut and succulent lips parted on a silent gasp at the teasing caress.

Alex's mouth trembled into a smile, and his fingers continued on, only briefly settling to torment the other nipple before moving up the sensitive skin of his lover's throat. Up and down his fingers danced slowly, leaving the fine, light hairs standing on end, then they traveled up and over Fox's chin and approached his mouth. The older man's lips twitched as they were gently teased, and they parted slightly, enticing Alex to explore the dark warmth within.

Fox moaned softly as he felt a finger slip into his mouth, and he immediately closed his lips around it, suckling gently as his tongue caressed the ticklish underside of the first knuckle. His eyes opened to watch his lover's face as he did to his finger what they both longed for him to do his cock.

The green was just barely visible under the heavy fringe of lashes as Alex stared down at Fox. Slowly, he pulled his finger out to the tip, then pushed it back in, repeating the process several times. His tongue inched out to moisten dry lips as he added a second finger, and his lover hungrily sucked the addition into his mouth. He thrust both fingers in and out several times before withdrawing them altogether and incurring soft whimpers of protest.

Fox writhed shamelessly before his lover, impatient for his touch, as Alex removed his shirt then rose to his feet to step out of his shoes and pull his jeans off. He watched as Alex stripped and then finally stood naked above him. Catching his lower lip between his teeth, he reached out, caressing his lover's calf. When Alex made no move to come to him, he sat up and moved his hand up to the other man's thigh. Looking up through a curtain of lashes, Fox moved closer and flattened his tongue on Alex's leg, slowly bathing whatever skin was within his reach. He heard his lover's harsh intake of breath, then he nipped gently at the back of his knee. Alex's hips jerked in reaction, and the tip of his engorged cock caught the glow of the firelight. Fox licked his lips in anticipation of tasting that bitter-sweet pearl of fluid, and he rose to his knees before his lover.

Making a conscious effort to control his breathing, Alex stared down at the man in front of him. He reached out, petting Fox's head with one, then both hands and gently drew him in, guiding his head until his cock just scarcely brushed his lover's flushed lips. He fought to keep his eyes open as Fox tenderly kissed the head, then licked away the moisture. One hand rested on his hip, and the other wrapped itself around the base of his cock as the lush lips parted to slide over the head, then down the shaft. He trembled violently as he felt Fox's tongue flutter over the underside, and a sharp hiss escaped his throat.

Mulder drew back and lifted his gaze to meet Alex's as he teased the head, his tongue lashing gently at the tip and his hand slid back and forth along the shaft. The man standing over him lovingly stroked his hair and gave him a tremulous smile. He returned the smile, removed his hand, and slid forward, taking Alex's entire length down his throat.

"Oh, my *God*," Alex whispered hoarsely, finally unable to remain silent any longer. He willed his legs to hold him up, and he looked down at the top of his lover's head which was slowly moving from side to side.

//Jesus Christ.//

Watching Fox suck him off had to be one of the most arousing things he'd ever seen. That mouth wrapped around his cock was a thing of beauty. And whether his eyes were closed or open and glazed over, his expression still managed to convey the deepest passion and concentration. It was a magnificent thing to witness.

Fox gripped his lover's hips with both hands as he worshipped his cock with his mouth and tongue. He sucked delicately as Alex began to slowly thrust into the moist warmth, and his soft moans vibrated against the swollen shaft...

********************

Scully shifted position for the billionth time, unable to get the picture of her partner fast asleep on top of his assassin lover out of her head. No matter what she thought of the man, there was no way on earth she could deny that they were beautiful together. Mulder's eyes glowed, and he radiated such warmth and love when he was near the other man. It was an amazing transformation from the dry-witted, single-minded man who was her partner. Krycek had to see it. He had to know. How could he *not* know? And how could he lead Mulder on the way he was, knowing the way he felt?

She lay there considering the hell Mulder would go through if...*when*...Krycek betrayed his love.

//When. When, when, when...//

She sat up, covering her eyes with her hands.

//You sound like you're *anxious* for him to break Mulder's heart. How can you want your best friend to be hurt like that?//

//So you can be the one to comfort him...and tell him 'I told you so'.//

//God, is it *so* important to be right? Especially if it means the man you care so much about is hurting...//

She tossed the blankets off and padded to the door, intent on soothing herself with a mug of cocoa, but as she began to push the door open, sound caught her attention. She pulled the door back, leaving it open just far enough to be able to see into the living room. She choked back a gasp as she viewed her partner, naked and on his knees before Krycek, who was very slowly fucking his mouth. The expression on the faces of both men was that of pure ecstasy.

Scully covered her mouth with one hand, and she sank to her knees, shocked and more than a little shaken. She hated herself, but she was unable to turn away. They looked so sincere, so lost in each other...

*******************

Alex's breath caught in his throat as he felt his muscles begin to contract. He shook his head, mouthing the word no, and gently pushed Fox away. He bent slightly, supporting himself with his hands on his lover's shoulders to catch his breath, then slowly lowered himself to his knees. "Lie down," he whispered, waiting for his lover to obey, then stretched out next to him.

Fox turned onto his side to face Alex, and the two men regarded each other silently. He lay as still as his trembling body would allow as Alex reached out, drawing his fingertips over the curves and hollows of his face. As the questing fingers approached his lips, they paused, and Alex closed his eyes. He then continued on in a painstakingly slow, tactile investigation of the pouty flesh. The breath left Fox's lungs in a stuttering gasp as he endured his lover's languid touch. He knew that Alex was not deliberately trying to torture him. He was honestly, absolutely immersed in the experience, and that knowledge was somehow more arousing than if Alex had merely intended to torment him.

Fox ached to touch his lover...to return his sweet caresses, but he knew with inexplicable certainty that this moment belonged to Alex, and he allowed him to have it.

Alex continued to explore Fox's mouth, skimming the flesh again and again until he was positive that he would be able to identify his lover blindfolded. He finally opened his eyes and let his hand glide over the stubbled chin and down the long column of Fox's throat. He leaned forward then, eyes never leaving his lover's face, and rewarded his patience.

Mulder cried out softly as Alex's mouth covered his at last, tenderly feeding on its lushness. His fingers slid through the sable silk of his lover's hair, anchoring themselves in the strands at the back of his head, and he returned the kiss with equal gentleness.

He felt the need in Alex...felt his body quiver with it, yet the younger man refused to let it run wild. For the time being at least, he'd successfully tamed it...controlled it and used it as he wished, to show Fox the soft, loving side of the man whom most people saw as an unemotional killer.

Alex wrapped an arm around Fox and pulled him in close, their bodies now writhing together as their mouths were. His lover clung to him, joyfully accepting the wordless whisperings of his heart, and for right now at least, he was the man he longed to be. He was the lover that his beautiful Fox so deserved.

He continued to make love to that exquisite mouth, exulting in the passion it aroused in his lover. Fox deepened the kiss, groaning harshly into his mouth, and he allowed it for a moment before rolling the older man beneath him and again assuming control. He leaned in, barely brushing Fox's open mouth with his own, whispering against it, "Please let me."

Mulder whimpered, his lashes dropping over his eyes as they rolled up into his head, and he nodded his consent. An instant later, Alex's mouth was again on his, drinking in every faint moan and sigh he emitted. At length, he released Fox's swollen lips and proceeded downward, licking and nipping at his chin, then teasing the delicate skin of his throat. Mulder arched his neck, offering himself up to his lover like a sacrifice, one Alex had great difficulty declining.

Fox swallowed convulsively as he felt the not-so-gentle scrape of teeth against his skin, and he waited for Alex to claim him.

Scully waited as well, nails digging painfully into her palms. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mulder, lying so submissively under that dirty... Waiting for him...hell, practically *begging* for him to...

//Jesus Christ, Mulder, what's the matter with you? He could kill you right now if he wanted to.//

In a heartbeat she was up, scrambling for her gun. She had it cocked and ready at the door, knowing that in one blinding instant, Krycek could have her partner's jugular severed before she could get off a shot. At this point there were only two things she could do. Pull the trigger this instant and drop him before he took his opportunity, or wait and see what he was going to do and risk Mulder's life by hesitating.

Her hand shook as she took aim, watching Krycek's mouth close over the curve of Mulder's throat, but before she could squeeze the trigger, he lifted his head slightly and she saw the flash of pink tongue slithering over his skin. She tensed once more as he sealed his lips on the area and Mulder arched against his mouth, sobbing his name.

The tension eased, but the shock remained as Alex pulled away, and her partner whined and moaned his frustration.

"Shhhh."

The soft, comforting hiss came from Krycek's lips.

Scully relaxed a bit more, and she watched as Krycek licked a slow path over Mulder's shoulder then linked fingers with him and lifted his arm. His tongue left a moist trail as he teased his way from Mulder's bicep to his wrist, pausing to dance over the wildly pounding pulse before working its way back up to his shoulder. Gently, he nibbled the flesh there, then his tongue again took over, skipping down to one of the tight brown nipples.

Her body jerked as Mulder's did, as Krycek's tongue flicked over the tip then treated the other nipple to the same of sort of pleasurable torment. Her eyes snapped up to her partner's face, seeing the rapture in every clench of his jaw, every sweep of his eyelashes.

She secured her weapon and set it down by her side. The hand that had released the gun rose to her mouth and clasped gently over it as she continued to watch Alex Krycek take her partner to a heaven beyond that which she knew existed.

Envy gnawed at her as the realization hit hard.

Mulder belonged to this man, mind, body, and soul, and it made her crazy to think that the owner of his heart might so carelessly just throw it away.

Her attention turned back to Krycek, who was currently delighting in the ripple of his lover's muscles as he avidly bathed his abdomen. She studied his expression. He seemed so into it, so...blissful...

//God, Dana, come on. He's either the devil or he's not. Now, which is it?//

She refocused on the scene being played out in the next room and admitted to herself that she really didn't know.

********************

Mulder shuddered at the gentle sting of nipping teeth as Alex tugged at the line of fine, golden hairs that led down to his groin. His cock twitched in anticipation as he felt warm breath flow over him...

"Alex," he panted softly, "baby, please..."

Alex passed his open mouth over the length of his lover's cock, making no contact, but leaving Fox with the distinct sensation of his presence. The tip of his tongue skittered across the delicate skin of the sac that hung beneath, tickling the scattering of light hair. As Fox whimpered and twisted above him, he opened his mouth, taking his lover's balls in and rolling them gently on his tongue.

"God....oh, God..." Fox choked on his coarsely uttered words, and his muscles seized. His back arched and the veins in his throat stood out against the pale skin as he fought desperately against the orgasm that screamed for release.

Sensing his lover's precarious condition, Alex pulled away, and, dusting Fox's skin with light kisses, he worked his way back up to the older man's mouth. "I want you so much," he whispered against Fox's lips. "I need you," he whimpered as Fox licked at his mouth. "Are you still mine?"

Fox nodded wordlessly.

"Do you trust me?"

"With my life," Fox breathed into his mouth just before Alex took his lips in a long, passionate kiss.

Scully strained to hear the words they were speaking, but they were much too soft. Too breathless for her to decipher. She didn't need actual words, though, to know that the things they said to each other were drenched in emotion.

She frowned as Krycek broke the kiss and pulled away, leaving Fox twisting and whimpering. She watched in mute shock as the younger man moved toward his clothing, and she mistakenly thought that he was going to leave Mulder alone and in agony. But he reached for his jeans and pulled a small tube out of the pocket, then returned to his lover, and Scully breathed a sigh of relief.

A *what*?

//Dear God, you *want* him to do this?//

//Yes...well, no...but Mulder. He's so...Krycek couldn't just leave him that way...//

Alex would *never* leave Fox that way.

He kneeled by his lover's shoulder and handed him the tube, then waited as Fox squeezed some lubricant into his palm. A long sigh escaped his throat as the older man's hand gently encompassed his rock-solid shaft and stroked up and down its length. The moment he was sufficiently prepared, he removed Fox's hand then moved between his parted thighs. He anointed two fingers with the lube and carefully worked them between the clenching cheeks of his lover's ass.

The color drained from Scully's cheeks as she watched her partner sob and rock desperately against the other man's hand.

She'd heard about this stuff...discussed it as most young women did, with her girlfriends whenever they happened across a gay couple. They giggled, they speculated, but they'd never actually seen. She knew of Mulder's past encounters, though they never really discussed them at length, and now, here she was, a first-hand witness.

Scully, the good Catholic girl, was appalled and disgusted, but the woman was fascinated...titillated even, and yes, jealous as hell. She always thought that someday she and Mulder might end up together, and the thought of Alex Krycek snatching him right out from under her just went up one side of her and down the other. But the bastard's words came back to her, and as much as she hated him, what he said rang true. Mulder was an intelligent adult, capable of making his own decisions. And if his decision was to be fucked physically and mentally by Alex Krycek, then what could she do?

A frantic mewling sound drew her attention back to the two men in front of the fire, and she peered out at them just in time to see Krycek removing his fingers from Mulder's ass.

"Alex...please...God..."

"It's all right, baby. Easy..."

"Can't...I need...need..."

"I know, sweetheart," Alex whispered against Fox's mouth as he lifted his legs. "Me too." The head of his cock pressed against the clenching ring of muscle, and Fox began to tremble violently. Alex stroked his lover's hair, calming and soothing him as he pushed into him a fraction at a time.

"Fox...oh, God, you feel so good." Alex buried himself in his lover to the base, then froze. "Baby...look at me."

Fox's eyelashes fluttered as he struggled to open them.

"Please, love."

Fox fought to focus on his lover's voice and not the hard presence inside him. He opened his eyes and blinked up into glittering pools of forest-green.

Alex stared down into the aroused features of the man beneath him for a moment, drinking in the beauty of him, then, holding Fox's gaze, he began to move.

Mulder's mouth dropped open, and a long wheezing sob escaped. The fingers of one hand tangled in Alex's hair, and the other clenched in the muscles of his back. He threw his head back and pushed up as Alex thrust slowly into him. His frazzled mind screamed for him to move faster...to force Alex to move faster, but his heart refused to allow his body to obey.

They were making love. Alex was being so sweet and tender, and Fox had never felt before the way he did tonight. The times that they were together before this were explosive, but the emotion this time was different. It was as though it was amplified ten times over. He thought that it might be because this time he knew that he was in love with Alex, but that didn't explain the difference he sensed in his lover...

Alex continued to move at a snail's pace, holding his own orgasm off and making Fox feel every inch of him. His eyes burned into his lover's, saying more than his words had to this point, and he found himself hoping that Fox could read his expression and somehow know what was in his heart.

Fox writhed beneath him, moving in time to his lazy thrusts, and pulled Alex down for a long, soul-deep kiss.

Alex could feel the restrained hunger in Fox, and he knew that he couldn't keep him waiting any longer. He grasped his lover's cock and began a series of long strokes, matching the thrust of his hips.

"Oh, Jesus...oh, God, Alex..."

The sound of her partner's voice desperately calling the other man's name pierced straight through the center of the woman who still watched unnoticed. Her body vibrated in response, and she fought to keep silent as the movements in the other room began to turn frantic.

"I'm...with you...Fox," Alex panted as he increased the strength of his thrusts and pumped his lover's cock faster. "My baby...come with me...please, come...with me..."

A low rumble began in Fox's chest as the waves of his orgasm built to intolerable levels. He pushed up again and again, meeting Alex halfway, and as his lover began to shake, he did too. The force of his climax blasted through him, and Alex followed immediately, their screams echoing in the silence. Unable to hold himself up any longer, Alex collapsed into Fox's arms, shuddering violently.

As their cries died away and soft purrs of contentment replaced them, Fox summoned the strength to slowly caress his lover's back and press a few tender kisses into his hair.

When he finally recovered, Alex lifted his head and focused a damp gaze on Fox. The expression in the gold-splashed eyes robbed him of his ability to speak and shook him to his soul. He lowered his head and kissed the other man as tenderly as he had while they were making love, and when he finally released his lover's mouth, he rolled onto his back, pulling Fox into his arms.

"You okay?"

The golden-brown head nodded. "Fine. Drained, but fine. God, Alex, that was...I don't think I can explain to you what that was."

"You're not mad at me for dragging it out?"

Mulder nuzzled the base of his lover's throat. "No," he whispered. "I love...loved it."

Alex tightened his hold on the older man. "Want to go to bed now?"

"No, I'd...I'd like to stay here." He picked up his head and looked down at Alex. "If you don't mind."

"Of course not." Alex kissed the top of his head. "Just so you remember that Scully is liable to find us here in the morning, naked and stuck together."

Fox freed himself from Alex's embrace and retrieved the newly washed blanket. He unfolded it and pulled it over them, settling himself back into his lover's arms. "There," he murmured, pulling the fleece up to his chin. "She won't see a thing."

Alex chuckled and folded his arms around Fox. "Okay," he sang softly. "But in the morning, after she's given us a whole lot of attitude, I don't want to hear anything about how we should have gone to bed." He winced then laughed as Fox's teeth sank into the flesh between his neck and shoulder.

"Go to sleep," Mulder growled as he snuggled into Alex's warmth.

"Yes, my lord."

Mulder's head snapped up, and he gave Alex a curious look. The younger man's mouth turned up into a sweet, half-smile, and he closed his eyes.

Still frowning, Mulder lowered his head to Alex's shoulder. Minutes later, they were both soundly asleep.

Scully winced as she unfolded herself from the position she'd been frozen in for God only knew how long. She stood at the door a while longer, watching the men sleep peacefully.

They must have known that even if she had been asleep, those screams would have roused her. Yet they lay there, discussing her reaction to finding them there on the floor in the morning as if there was no way she could hear.

She shook her head wearily. She was too tired and too shaken to concern herself with it now. If they wanted to sleep out there and risk her walking in on them in the morning, then fine. It wasn't her problem.

Slowly, she drifted back to bed, pulling the blankets up around her neck. It was probably sometime around dawn before she finally closed her eyes.

********************

Mulder picked his head up and looked around the room. All was quiet, even though the sun was shining brightly through the windows.

Sunshine?

He blinked and focused on the scene outside.

Yep, bright. No falling snow.

Thank God.

Mulder looked down at his sleeping lover and nudged his shoulder gently. "Alex."

Sleepy green eyes snapped open. "Hmm?"

"It stopped."

"What stopped?"

"The snow. The sun is out."

Alex pulled himself up and looked at the window. "Wow," he said flatly. "They'll probably have all the roads plowed by tomorrow." He looked to his lover. "You'll be able to leave."

"Thank *God*."

Both men looked to the woman standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

Scully marched into the living room, looking like she just got out of bed. She stood before the two on the floor, hands planted on her hips. "Well, Mulder, you'd better start working on what it is you're going to tell Skinner about where we've disappeared to."

Hazel eyes lowered to the blanket pooled between his legs. "I guess the truth would be the best thing."

"The *truth*?" Alex's and Scully's voices rang out in unison.

"Well, what the hell else can I tell him?" He looked to Alex. "Do you think I shouldn't?"

Scully bristled at the way he automatically turned to Krycek instead of her.

"Of course he doesn't," she snapped. "You think he *wants* to be beaten to a pulp?"

"Scully, no one has anything on him, and you know it."

"Yeah, I know it. Only because he's a slippery son-of-a-bitch."

Alex closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"Knock it off, Scully," Mulder growled protectively.

"Oh, sorry," she said with mock sincerity. "I know how sensitive he is, poor baby." She was on a roll and she couldn't stop. "Would you like me to get you some tissue, Krycek?"

He looked up at her, and for the first time since they'd arrived, there was no fight in his eyes.

"There are lots of things I've done that I'll regret for the rest of my life. I can't go back, and I can't change them. I can only move on and try to do things differently."

"Oh, *please*...what, you're going to find new and interesting ways to kill people?"

"That's enough, Scully."

Scully blinked, hearing the soft, warning tone loud and clear.

Mulder drew Alex against him and glared up at her. "I'll deal with Skinner. You'll be absolved of any blame, don't worry."

"Your career could be finished," she responded flatly.

"Let me worry about that." He kissed the side of the younger man's head. "Now, unless you *want* to see us both walking naked into the bedroom, I suggest you disappear."

Anger bubbled up again in Scully's throat. She turned and walked away, tossing over her shoulder, "And if you *don't* mind, could you two keep it down to a dull roar tonight? *Some* of us would like to get to sleep at a decent hour."

The bedroom door slammed, and Mulder smiled down at Alex. "I guess she heard us."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Baby..." Fox pulled Alex into his arms. "Don't let her get to you..."

"She's right, Fox," Alex said softly. "Your whole life is on the line here."

"Alex, we've discussed this. My job is not worth losing you." He pulled away and stared down at his lover. "I want you to come home with me."

Alex's mouth opened and closed, not knowing what to say.

"I won't watch you walk away from me again. And I won't let Scully, or Skinner, or my job separate us."

Alex leaned into Mulder's chest and closed his eyes. "Fox..."

"I *won't*." He slipped a hand under Alex's chin and lifted. "Do you want to be with me?"

Alex nodded mutely.

"Then you're coming home with me." He hugged his lover to him. "Everything will be fine, baby," he whispered, smiling into his hair. "You'll see."

Alex wound his arms around Fox's waist, hugging him tightly. "I know it will be," he breathed.

"Damn right. Now, come on." Mulder rose to his feet and pulled the younger man up with him, nuzzling his throat. "Let's go see about a nice warm shower."

********************

"Shit!"

Scully snatched the milk carton up off of the floor, but not before it had spilled a third of its contents. Grabbing for the roll of paper towels, she quickly ripped off a dozen or so sheets and began mopping up the spill. As she threw the wet towels away and groped for the roll, another pair of hands reached down to help. She looked up at her partner, who finished wiping up the residue.

"Thanks."

Mulder completed his task, tossed the towels into the garbage, then he leaned back against the counter and stared at her.

"You uh...you want to help me locate a mop? I gotta wash this or it'll get sticky."

He pushed himself away from the counter and searched the kitchen. "Scully," he called softly as he opened a closet door, "We gotta talk seriously....found it." He pulled out a bucket and a mop and handed it to his partner.

"I tried, Mulder. I have." Scully located some detergent and poured a bit into the bucket then filled it with hot water. She plunged the mop into the water and looked up at him. "I don't know what to say to you. I understand that you want Krycek and me to get along. But do you really, seriously see that happening?"

"So this is how it's always going to be?"

"I don't see how it can be any other way."

Mulder folded his arms across his chest. "Well, frankly, Scully, then it's going to get pretty old, pretty fast. We've been together just a few days, and already I'm drained. It's starting to wear on Alex, too."

She wrung out the mop and began to vigorously wash the floor. "God, that's irks me."

"What does?"

"*Alex*. What he thinks. What he says. What he feels...what he *wants*..."

"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. That's just a little 'junior high', isn't it Scully? You're like my sister, but Alex is my lover. It's him that I'm sharing my life with. My *whole* life."

"You mean what's left of it after you tell Skinner?"

"Whatever."

"Whatever," she repeated. "Mulder, you're not thinking clearly. This man has clouded your mind."

"No, Scully, he cleared it. I've sleepwalked through twenty-some-odd years of my life. I mean, yeah, it's been a success on many levels. School, the Bureau...but it's hollow, you know? The only thing I had that truly meant anything to me was the X-files...and you...and my search for my sister. And even so, there was something missing. I still felt empty. Until now." Mulder moved closer to his partner, making her look up into his face. He splayed a hand over his heart. "Alex fills that void. I didn't know how much I hurt until he made it better. I know you hate him. I know you don't trust him. But *I* trust him. And last I knew, you trusted me. Please, Scully. Trust me now."

No response.

"You were right before," Mulder whispered. "I love him."

Scully's eyes closed. "I know you do. That's what scares me, Mulder. I know all about your hurt. While Krycek may seem like the cure for your ills, what's going to happen when he's gone? I'm so afraid of what *that* hurt will do to you."

"What makes you so sure he's going to hurt me?"

"I don't know, Mulder. History?"

Mulder turned away.

Scully raised a hand to her forehead. "God. Look, Mulder, the truth is, I *can't* be sure. But neither can you be."

He turned back. "But if I never take a chance, Scully, I'll never know. I want him. I can't tell you how much. I can't walk away from him for fear of what *might* happen. I could miss out on some of the best years of my life." He reached out and took one of her hands in his. "Please, Scully. Can't you please try to understand how I feel?"

Scully hesitated then squeezed his hand. "Does *he* understand?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I haven't told him."

"Why not?"

Mulder shrugged and cast his gaze to the floor. "I just think it may be too soon. I don't want to spook him." A soft smile curved his lips. "I don't know how much longer I can keep it to myself, though. I came so close to telling him last night."

Scully nodded woodenly. "What about him?"

"Him?"

"Yeah. Has he given you any clue about his feelings?"

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean, 'not exactly'?"

"He's never said anything, but there are lots of things...things he does...the way he looks at me. I could read stuff into it, but I'm trying really hard not to do that. See, Scully, I'm not so far gone that I'll see just what I *want* to see."

A sad, blue gaze met his. "All right, Mulder. No matter what happens, I'm on your side."

"Thank you." Mulder stepped forward and hugged his partner.

Scully stood quietly, absorbing his warmth until another presence in the room drew him away from her.

"Hey," Mulder called softly, eyes glowing as he released Scully and moved toward his lover.

"Sorry to interrupt," Alex said, eyes glued on the woman standing just a few feet away. Only when Fox wrapped his arms around him did he turn his attention away from her.

"You weren't interrupting anything, babe," Mulder assured him. "Actually, what we were talking about concerns you."

"Yeah?"

"I was just telling Mulder," Scully broke in," that no matter what, he can count on me to be here for him."

Alex's gaze narrowed just a bit. "I'm sure you will be."

Mulder looked from one to the other. The innuendo was so thick he could cut it with a knife.

//Christ. Well...I'd have to be out of my mind to think that this was going to be easy.//

He laid a hand against Alex's cheek, coaxing the younger man's attention back to him. Once Alex's eyes were back on his, Mulder gave him a tiny smile.

Alex sighed softly and wound an arm around Fox's waist. Slowly and deliberately, he wove his fingers through his lover's hair, pulling him forward, then laid a long and thoroughly possessive kiss on his mouth. When he broke the kiss, he eased the older man's head down to his shoulder and stood petting the golden-brown hair while staring pointedly at Scully. She stared back for a number of seconds then went back to the business of washing the floor.

Mulder lifted his head and gave Alex a full, beautiful smile. "Hungry?"

"Yeah, actually, I am. Let's help Scully get breakfast cooked, then we can make some calls and see if the roads out of here are passable."

After breakfast was prepared and eaten, Alex volunteered to help Scully with the dishes while Mulder made the necessary calls. The older man warily agreed, and before he left the room, Alex dragged him into his arms for a hard, passionate kiss.

"What was that for?" Mulder asked breathlessly when Alex released his mouth.

"Think of it as a little preview of what you're going to get later," Alex rumbled into his ear.

Mulder whimpered audibly, clinging to the younger man and rubbing against him with blatant lust.

"Go on now," Alex commanded softly, giving Mulder an affectionate swat on the behind.

"Fucking cock tease," Mulder growled, soft enough that Scully wouldn't hear above the running water.

"Me? Naaah. I never promise anything I can't deliver." Deep green eyes sparkled. "Later, your ass is mine."

"Mmmmm."

"Now go make those calls so we can get out of here."

Alex watched his lover disappear from the room, a lascivious little grin tilting one corner of his mouth. When he turned to the sink, the grin vanished. He looked down into a glacial, blue gaze then turned and shut off the tap. "I'll wash, you dry?"

"Your point has been made, Krycek," Scully murmured. "You don't need to rub it in my face."

"My point?"

"Mulder is yours. It couldn't be more clear."

Alex leaned on his hands against the sink, staring down into the soap bubbles. "I'm going to say this again, though I don't know why. I can say it from now until I die, and you'll never believe it." He turned his head and looked down at her. "I love him. I'll never intentionally hurt him." Without another word, he plunged his hands into the water and began washing the dishes.

Scully dried in silence, chewing on this, the second time that Krycek said to her that he loved Mulder.

When everything was put away, they joined Mulder out in the living room.

"So." Alex approached his lover from behind, slipping his arms around him and balancing his chin on the green cotton-covered shoulder. "What'd you find out?"

"By tonight, all the roads will have been plowed. Called the airport and got us a flight out at twelve-fifty tomorrow afternoon."

Alex nodded and kissed the unshaven jaw. He looked over his shoulder at Scully. "You hear that? By this time tomorrow, you'll be on your way back to civilization."

"Thank God," Scully sighed. "Well, I guess I'll go pack up what little I brought."

When she was gone from the room, Alex turned Fox to face him. "What is it?" he asked, sensing that something was not quite right.

Mulder shrugged and gave his lover a weak smile. "I just hate leaving here...I don't know..."

Alex gathered Fox into his arms. "I understand, baby. But you gotta admit that our second time back here together wasn't anything like we planned."

"I know that. I just wish we could send Scully on ahead and stay for a while."

"Me too. But you know we can't do that. You can't leave Scully to deal with Skinner on her own. She got caught up in the middle of this, not by choice. You can't leave her twisting in the wind. You wouldn't."

Mulder nodded and tucked his head under Alex's chin. "At least I'm not leaving you here this time."

Alex pulled Fox against him, hugging him tightly. "No. Now you're stuck with me."

"I'd rather be stuck *in* you."

Alex let out a loud bark of laughter, then leaned in until they were nose to nose. "You're a very bad boy, pretty Fox."

Mulder began to sway back and forth, compelling Alex to fall into the same rhythm. "So, punish me," he purred.

Alex groaned softly. "I can see that this is going to be a very long day."

"Yeah, well, whose fault is that?"

"Yours."

One golden-brown eyebrow arched. "Mine."

"Yeah. You're so goddamn sexy. Can you really blame me for wanting you every second of the day?"

"Well...since you put it that way, okay. It's all my fault."

Just as their lips touched, a faintly irritated voice sounded from the opposite end of the room.

"Don't you need music for that?"

"Where's my gun?" Alex whispered through clenched teeth as the two stopped rocking.

"Behave," Fox whispered back and licked the corner of his lover's mouth before letting him go and walking to the middle of the room. "All packed?" he asked Scully as cheerfully as he could.

"And ready to go."

"Well, we've still got another day, so..." Mulder looked at the other two. "What do you want to do?" His head snapped around and pointed at Alex just as the other man was opening his mouth to speak. "Don't answer that."

"You just asked..."

"I know. Ignore me."

"Never."

Mulder rolled his eyes. "Scully? You want to take a walk or something?"

The woman shrugged. "It might be nice to go out and get some sun."

Her partner smiled at her then turned to his lover. "Alex?"

Noting Scully's changed expression, Alex shook his head. "No, I think I'll stay here." He gave Scully a minute trace of a smirk and bowed slightly.

Mulder moved back to him and planted a light kiss on his mouth. "You sure you don't want to come?"

One dark eyebrow arched upward, and Alex rubbed his face alongside Fox's, whispering into his ear. "I'd love to come. Deep inside your beautiful ass."

Mulder grinned broadly then whispered back, "Hold that thought."

Scully watched suspiciously as the two writhed against each other, speaking in tones she could not hear.

Mulder made to turn away, but Alex's hand on his arm drew him back. He looked curiously into mischievously sparkling eyes.

"Keep her away from drifts higher than two feet," Alex mumbled, getting himself a punch in the arm for the comment.

He watched as the two readied themselves for their walk in the snow, and when they were gone, he switched the CD player on, turned up the volume, then moved off into the bedroom to pack his and Fox's clothes.

********************

"It's beautiful out here," Scully breathed, watching her words turn to thick puffs of vapor. "So peaceful."

"Yeah," Mulder agreed, smiling. The smile fell away, and he turned hopeful eyes to his partner. "I hope you can see why he'd like to keep it a secret. He can put all the bullshit and the ugliness aside and just be a regular guy. This place keeps him grounded."

"Don't worry, Mulder. I won't say anything about your little romantic hideaway."

Mulder let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Yeah, Scully, it's a place where we'd like to come to be alone, and that's what it is for me, but for Alex, it's a lot more. It's memories of a happy childhood and the security of his parents' love. I know you don't care about him, but *I* care. Please. For me. Keep the location of this place to yourself."

"I said I wouldn't say anything, and I won't."

Mulder nodded his thanks, and they continued on with their walk, trudging through the deep snow. An hour and many long silences later, they returned to the cabin where they found Alex in kitchen, preparing hot chocolate. The younger man gave Mulder a bright smile as he walked in.

"Have a nice walk?"

"Yeah." Mulder approached, stopping when they were only inches apart. "You should have gone with us."

Alex inhaled the combination of pine and cold air. He raised a hand to the other man's face and grimaced. "Damn, you're cold. Go on and change, and then I'll warm you up."

After herding the two out of the room, he poured the drinks into three large mugs, dropped a handful of marshmallows into each, and carried them into the living room. He retrieved a couple of blankets from the hall closet and took a seat in the chair closest to the fire. A few minutes later, Scully emerged from her bedroom, arms wrapped around herself.

"God, I'm freezing."

"You shouldn't have stayed out so long," Alex said, picking a blanket up and walking up behind her. He felt her flinch as he draped the blanket over her shoulders and lightly massaged them. "I'm just trying to help you get warm, Scully, I'm not going to kill you," he drawled. "Why don't you go sit by the fire?"

Scully gave Alex a cautious glance and crossed over to the chair he'd just vacated. As she sat bundling the wool around herself, a hand came down in front of her face, bearing a steaming mug of cocoa. She paused for a moment, then took the offering, murmuring a soft thank you.

"Hope you don't mind marshmallows," Alex offered apologetically. "Guess I should've asked."

"No, I like them."

"Good." He took a seat across from her in the second of the two oversized chairs and hooked one leg over the arm. He sat quietly sipping his drink, watching her avoid his gaze for a while, then decided to make an attempt at conversation. "So...beautiful around here, huh?"

"Yeah," Scully answered, speaking into her mug. She took a small sip then looked up. "What was that about, Krycek?"

"What was what about?"

"Staying behind while Mulder and I went out for our walk. Gracious in victory?"

It was Alex's turn to talk into his cup. "I knew you weren't too thrilled about me coming along, so I hung back, that's all."

"Sure. Right."

He set the mug down and looked over at her. "For God's sake, Scully. Is there *anything* I can do or say that won't antagonize you?"

"Somehow I doubt it. For Mulder's sake I'll put a lid on it, but just between you and me, I despise you. And I really, *really* don't think that there's anything you can do or say to change that."

An intense green stare focused on the woman in the other chair, and Alex's leg began to bounce up and down. Just as he was about to reply, the bedroom door opened.

Mulder stepped into the living room and walked smack into a thick wall of tension. He eyed the two combatants wondering how long this war would continue and who would be the one to deliver the death blow.

Alex's expression softened immediately upon seeing his lover standing uncertainly at the other end of the room. He pulled the fleece blanket off the back of his chair and motioned to Fox. The older man drifted across the room and sat between his parted thighs, leaning back against his chest. Alex wrapped the blanket around him and handed him his mug. "You still feel so cold," he said, hugging Mulder against him while the other man took a sip of his cocoa.

"It's *freezing* out there," Mulder explained. "But it was nice....hey, marshmallows! The big ones, not those stupid tiny things that come already in the package."

Alex chuckled at the boyish exclamation. "Nothing but the best for my baby."

"Oh, please."

"Did you say something, Scully?"

"No, Krycek," she sighed. "Not a thing."

Alex nodded and returned his attention to his lover, kissing the side of his head. "Good?"

Mulder nodded. "Been years since anyone's made hot chocolate for me." He arched his neck and looked up at Alex. "Thank you."

Alex smiled and laid a soft kiss on his mouth. And then another. "Mmmm, good."

"Same taste as the one that's in your cup."

"Nuh-uh. I like the mixture of flavors."

Mulder gave him a curious look.

"The chocolate and you."

"Ah." Mulder took another sip, making sure not to lick away the residual from his lips this time, and turned back up to Alex, who immediately swooped down for another kiss. When they parted, Mulder risked a glance at his partner, who sat glowering a few feet away. He shot Alex an uncomfortable look, then cleared his throat. "Alex, did I see a deck of cards over there in the bookcase?"

"Yeah. Play a lot of solitaire when I'm up here."

"How 'bout some poker?"

A lurid grin crossed Alex's lips. "Strip poker? Gotta warn you, I'll kick both your asses."

"Uhhhh, we'll pass on the strip poker this time. And I don't know about you kicking both our asses, Scully's pretty good...how about it, Scully?"

"No thanks."

"Come on, what are we going to do, sit around here all day and do *nothing*?"

She gave him a passive glance. "I'm sure you two can find something to do without me."

"I for one can think of at least a half dozen things right off the top of my head, but Fox would like for the *three* of us to do something." Alex tightened his arms around his lover. "You want to play poker, baby, I'm in. Even if I *don't* get to make you take your clothes off."

Mulder stretched up for another kiss. "Later," he promised, murmuring against his lover's lips. "Come on, Scully, don't just sit there all day," he nagged. "Let's play."

Scully set her nearly empty mug down and slapped her palms against her thighs. "Fine. So we'll play poker."

The afternoon passed into evening as the three played hand after hand, Alex winning most of them. When he beat the other two for the last time, he tossed his cards onto the table and stretched.

"Damn. You *both* could have been naked by now." Noticing Scully's glare, he smirked at her. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I would've kept my eyes on Fox."

Scully merely grunted and gathered the cards up.

"Well, we've been stuffing our faces all day," Mulder commented, nodding at all the food scraps at the other end of the table. "Anybody really feel like dinner?" The shaking heads decided it. "Good, 'cause it's kind of late to be cooking now, anyway."

Scully rose from her chair, picking up the cups and other utensils. "Well, I didn't sleep worth a damn last night, and I'm really feeling pretty beat. I think I'll just clean this up and get in to bed."

Mulder looked at his watch. "Yeah? It's only seven-forty."

"I know, but I just can't keep my eyes open any longer."

"Okay, well...see you in the morning, then."

She looked from her partner to his lover then back again.

//Not *too* broken up about it.//

"Goodnight, Mulder....Krycek."

The other man came up behind Mulder, winding his arms around him and nuzzling the side of his face. "Goodnight, Scully."

The woman lowered her eyes and retreated to her room, leaving the two men alone at last.

In an instant, Alex spun Fox around and yanked him against his chest. Their mouths fused in a hard kiss, and Alex's hands were everywhere at once, pulling and tearing at his clothes, burrowing underneath to get at the warm flesh.

"Alex," Fox mumbled against the mouth that refused to let him go. "Ba...baby..." His only response was a muffled growl. He worked his hands between them, flattening his palms against Alex's chest and shoved, putting a few inches distance between them. "Come on," he rasped, chest heaving, then held out his hand. "Let's take this into the bedroom."

Alex grabbed Fox's arm and jerked him back. Before the older man could react, Alex's mouth was again on his, making an admirable attempt at swallowing him whole. One hand left Fox's back and came around to the front of his shirt, pulling it open and losing a few buttons in the process. He groaned into his lover's mouth as the hand came in contact with smooth skin. Again Mulder tried to push him away, but he was ready this time, and he refused to relinquish his hold on his lover.

"We'll go into the bedroom when I'm damn fucking good and ready to go," he rumbled, prompting a soft whine from the other man.

"Alex....Scully...."

"Think she's watching?"

"I...I don't..."

Alex cast a purely evil grin in the direction of Scully's bedroom. "Well, here's something for her in case she is." And with that, he tangled one hand in Fox's hair, pulled his head back, and attacked his neck, biting and sucking.

A loud cry tumbled from Fox's lips as he absorbed the shock of his lover's assault. He clawed at Alex's back, sobbing his name, not caring that there was no way in hell Scully couldn't at least hear what was going on.

Alex continued to suck at Fox's neck, refusing to stop until he was sure that a very large reminder of his ownership would be left. When he was satisfied, he dragged his mouth away and pulled the older man toward the bedroom...

Scully lay rigidly in bed, listening to the noises on the other side of the door. Pained, distressed sounds of a man being tortured. And it was her partner emitting these sounds. She ached to get up and see what was going on, but fear of what she might discover kept her frozen in her bed.

//If he's able to make those sounds, he's able to call your name. He doesn't need you. Stay. Put.//

Shortly thereafter, the noises died away, and she heard the door to the bedroom they shared close. She breathed a short-lived sigh of relief then groaned as a loud thump sounded, and the noises, now muffled, resumed...

Mulder closed the bedroom door as they entered the room and was promptly slammed up against it. Before he could recapture the breath that was forced from his lungs, Alex was at his mouth again, ravaging the swelling flesh as he tore at his clothes. The moment he regained some semblance of composure, he retaliated, ripping Alex's clothing away with matching ferocity. Seconds later, they were both naked, kissing with unrestrained hunger.

"Remember the last time I fucked you against a wall?" Alex asked between kisses.

Fox nodded frantically, lapping and sucking at his lover's bottom lip.

"I was hard every fucking night thinking about it." He spun Fox around and shoved him back into the door, wedging his cock between the older man's ass cheeks. His voice, a mixture of gravel and honey, tickled the hairs at the back of Fox's neck. "Did you jerk off every night, Fox? I did. Every touch, every moan, every..." He pressed harder, drawing a clipped whimper from his lover. "...drop of sweat...it stayed in my mind, and it drove me insane." His hips jerked again, forcing another cry from his lover. "I missed you so much." He licked the back of Fox's neck. "Tell me you missed me," he pleaded roughly against the moistened skin.

"You know I did."

"Tell me."

"I missed you, baby." Fox turned cautiously until they were face to face. "I lay awake every night driving myself crazy thinking I'd never touch you again. I'd fuck myself with the vibrator and wish to God it was you. And after I came, I'd feel so empty and lonely, and..." He rubbed himself against the tense body before him. "...fuck me, Alex. Give it to me. Please, baby, I can't wait."

Alex sounded a deep growl, and before Fox could say another word, he was again spun around and pushed against the door. "Don't you fucking move," Alex hissed into his ear. In the span of mere seconds, he vanished and returned. There was a bit of movement, and then he clenched his fingers in the muscles of Fox's ass, spreading his cheeks and maneuvering his slick cock between them.

Fox thrust backward, anxious to feel Alex driving hard inside him. He felt the younger man grasp his own erection, steadying it as he guided the head forward and pressed into him.

Alex heard the sharp intake of breath and pushed harder. "That good, baby?" he asked on a shaky breath. The only answer Fox could give was a nod of his head. "Remember earlier when I told you that you were a bad boy?"

Another nod.

One more hard thrust, and Alex was fully buried inside the other man. "What did you say to me?"

Soft whimper.

"What did you ask me to do, Fox?" He could barely hear the whispered answer. "Louder."

"Punish me."

"That's right, baby." He stroked Fox from hip to thigh. "You ready?"

Fox nodded again.

"You gonna take it like a man?"

"Yes."

"I can't hear you."

"*Yes*..."

Scully sat bolt upright in her bed, listening. The loud, rhythmic thumps startled her into full consciousness just as she was starting to fall asleep. She leaped from her bed and threw the door open, quickly determining that the sound was coming from the men's bedroom. The door, to be exact. Someone was banging something against the door.

//What the hell are they doing?//

She crept closer, now catching bits and pieces of other sounds. Human sounds.

All right, she only determined the sounds to be human because she knew they hadn't brought any large animals up with them.

There was a low, harsh growling that almost sounded like actual speech, and a soft, tormented mewling, and there was that thumping. The heavy, wooden door vibrated with each blow, and it took Scully a few seconds to put it all together.

//Oh, my God.//

Her body began to hum as she imagined the two men, one behind the other, fucking him so hard that the recipient was slammed into the door with each thrust. She closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair as she attempted to compose herself. But the increasingly passionate sounds only served to excite her further.

//What the hell is wrong with you? Stop. Stop it right now and get the hell out of here. There's nothing arousing about this. It's vile...it's disgusting...it's *Krycek* for God's sake!//

Shaky legs carried her back to her room where she crawled into bed and drew the blankets up over her head. She lay there, listening to the faint thuds and howls, and before she knew it, her hand was creeping down into the waistband of her pajamas.

//Okay, so you're a jealous, unreasonable bitch, but you're not made of stone...//

Sweat dripped from the ends of Alex's hair as he slammed again and again into his lover. Fox clawed at the door, his pleas for mercy going unheeded. He'd attempted once to jerk himself off as Alex fucked him, but the younger man pulled his hand away, shackling both wrists up over his head. And now, his cock throbbed, swollen to painful proportions, and to take the torment one step further, Alex was now cursing in Russian. For some reason, it drove Fox up the walls.

He could feel Alex's thrusts becoming shorter and more erratic, and he knew that the explosion would be coming soon. "Alex," he sobbed, "*please* let me. Please..."

Alex knew Fox was speaking to him, but the words were all a jumble. He couldn't hear anything clearly above the deafening roar in his head. His hands tightened around his lover's wrists, and he drove into him with all his strength. And then the devastating sensations washed over him, pulling spasm after violent spasm from his body.

Alex's loud wails rang in Fox's ears as the younger man shuddered violently against him, shooting hot fluid into him. When it was over, Alex leaned heavily against his lover's perspiration-sprinkled back, and slipped out of him. Seconds later, Fox turned carefully, wrapping his arms around the spent man, and held him up.

"Come on, baby," the older man whispered. "Lie down." He moved Alex to the bed and eased him to the mattress. The younger man lay nearly motionless as Fox left him for a moment, going to retrieve the tube of lubrication from the spot on the floor where Alex had dropped it. When he returned to the bed, he stood quietly over his lover, observing the still-uneven rise and fall of his chest, and the beautifully thick sweep of his eyelashes as they fluttered ever-so-slightly, and his cock jerked in response.

Alex moaned softly as he felt the gentle depression of the mattress, then the sensation of hands caressing his thighs. He attempted to open his eyes, but Fox's soothing voice stopped him.

"No. It's okay, baby, I know you're tired. Relax. "

Fox smiled as the sable lashes dropped, and he squeezed some lube into his palm, efficiently applying it to his twitching cock. Gently, he tucked his hands under Alex's knees and lifted. His exhausted lover winced and gasped softly as he pushed forward, stretching and filling him.

"Is this why you didn't want me to jerk off, baby?" Fox pulled back a fraction then surged ahead, pushing Alex into the mattress.

The younger man arched his back and cried a soft answer, unintelligible to anyone but his lover.

"As hard as you came a few minutes ago, you want more?"

Alex swallowed and nodded. "Please."

Fox urged the other man to wrap his legs around his waist, and he leaned down, brushing his mouth over Alex's. "Insatiable slut."

A brief smile was all Alex had time for before Fox unceremoniously began to pound into him. His head snapped back, and a harsh, broken grunt sounded deep in his throat.

"That what you wanted?" Fox asked as he continued his assault. "You want it the way you gave it to me?"

Alex clutched at Fox's back and let out a loud shriek as the older man altered his position and hit his prostate again and again. Bright bursts of light flickered in the reddish-blackness behind his closed eyes, and his exhausted body began to respond.

As much as it pained him to do it, Fox slowed his thrusts and grasped his lover's half-erect cock, stroking it lightly. "You gonna get hard again for me, baby?"

Alex's whimpered 'yes' brought a taunting grin to his face.

"Well, you'd better hurry the hell up. You've already made me wait too long."

As he continued the soft, teasing strokes, his mouth came down on the other man's, gently kissing and licking at the trembling flesh. As Alex's cries grew louder and more insistent, the strength of Fox's thrusts also increased, and in record time, he was milking his lover's fully erect, rock-hard cock as he drove mercilessly into him.

Alex twisted and moaned beneath Fox, sobbing a variety of broken, incomprehensible declarations, and as his second climax rumbled through him, his body stiffened and whatever little capability for speech he possessed left him. His mouth fell open, emitting nothing more than a soft hiss, and he shook in Fox's arms as his lover reached his own satisfaction.

Fox clung to Alex, thrashing wildly against him as his body tightened and finally relieved itself, emptying a river of hot fluid into the younger man. His screams of satisfaction resonated in the confines of their bedroom and beyond, reaching the ears of the woman who lay spent and ashamed in her own room.

Scully closed her eyes and turned onto her side, praying that they were now actually, finally finished, and that morning would come soon so that they could get the hell out of this accursed cabin and back to more familiar, more comfortable surroundings...

Fox lay shuddering on top of his lover, completely drained, and exquisitely satisfied. The soft, purring rumble in Alex's chest would have lulled him to sleep were he not so concerned with causing him discomfort. Long minutes later, he rolled onto his side and gathered the younger man into his arms, scattering tender kisses in his hair, and before either one could gather enough breath to speak, sleep crept in and closed their eyes.

********************

Scully paced the length of the living room, looking at her watch for the twentieth time.

//Ten more minutes, Mulder, then I'm coming in.//

Fifteen minutes later, she looked at her watch again.

//You've got five more minutes...//

Another fifteen minutes found her sitting in a chair, fingernails tapping on the arm.

//This is ridiculous. It's almost eight o'clock, and I don't hear a sound coming out of there. Mulder's *never* asleep this late. That's it. I don't give a shit what you may be doing in there; it's time to get your asses up.//

She stormed to the door and threw it open. Her eyes immediately fell to the bed where her partner and his lover were fast asleep, curled around each other like sibling kittens.

//God, they look so sweet.//

//Who said that? No, they do *not*!//

She looked at them for a few seconds more, and a large, reddish blotch near the base of Mulder's neck caught her attention. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she stared at the mark, remembering  the noises from the night before. "Fucking animal," she whispered at the man in her partner's arms, then lightly touched Mulder's shoulder.

"Mulder. Mulder, wake up. It's getting late."

Sleepy hazel eyes blinked up at her and soon were joined by drowsy green.

"What time is it?"

"Eight."

Alex groaned as his lover shifted, tightening his arm around Fox's waist while turning his face into the older man's neck. "Not that late."

Suddenly Scully had the overwhelming urge to split his skull. Instead, she chose to ignore him and speak again to Mulder. "Come on, Mulder, I don't want to miss our plane."

"All right, all right." He hugged Alex to his chest, groaning softly, then he dropped a couple of kisses in the younger man's hair. "We'll be up in a minute," he said, giving Scully the cue to leave, which she did, spinning on her heel and stalking out the door.

Alex kissed his lover's chest and pulled back so they could see each other's eyes. "So why do you think she would walk in on us, knowing how she'd find us, and *knowing* that it'd piss her off?"

"I don't know," Fox murmured. "I don't think she does, either."

They lay quietly for a moment, then Fox pulled away and sat up, wincing. Alex smirked at him from the pillows.

"Problem?"

"A little sore."

"Sorry."

He slapped the younger man's sheet-covered thigh and hoisted himself off the bed. "Like hell you are. Come on. Let's get in the shower before she comes in after us again."

Alex got out of bed, feeling a few aches himself. "What makes you think she won't come after us in the bathroom?"

"She might," Fox said, eyeing his lover's partially-erect cock, "but if she wasn't thrilled about finding us asleep together, she's really gonna *hate* how she finds us in the shower."

Alex grinned, recognizing the suggestive tone. He took Fox's outstretched hand and followed him into the bathroom. "Okay, but just so you know, if she walks in on us, I'll be pinning the whole thing on you."

********************

The ride to the airport was, for the most part, an uneventful one. The two men sat in the front seat, Mulder's arm stretched across the back, occasionally stroking Alex's hair as they talked. Scully sat quietly in the back, every once in a while catching Alex's eye in the rear view. The first time, he'd given her a friendly smile but received none in return. His expression after that remained unreadable.

Once they reached the airport and prepared to board, Alex slipped a hand under Fox's elbow and steered him a few feet away from Scully.

"Why don't you sit with her on the plane?"

The older man gave him a curious look but said nothing.

Alex shrugged. "She's been feeling alienated for a few days now. Maybe if you gave her your undivided attention for a while, she wouldn't be so grouchy."

Mulder smiled and caressed the underside of his lover's chin with one finger. "She wouldn't appreciate your thoughtfulness, you know."

"I know." Alex gave the other man an impish grin. "It's okay, I'm not being thoughtful for her."

Fox's eyes widened, and he smiled broadly in mock surprise. "For *me*? Damn, you're so sweet."

"Don't let it get around, huh?" Alex winked at him. "My reputation would be shot to shit."

Half an hour later, they were in the air.

Scully sat quietly for quite some time before she finally turned to her partner. "You didn't have to sit with me, you know. I know you'd rather be next to him." She indicated the man across the aisle with a flick of her eyes.

"You know, Scully, it was actually Alex's idea that I sit next to you," Mulder replied honestly.

Scully looked from Mulder to the man sitting across from them, playing peek-a-boo with the three-year-old in the seat in front of him. The child giggled hysterically as they played, and Alex genuinely seemed to be having a wonderful time...

//God, how can I hate you so much one minute, then give even the tiniest bit of thought to tolerating you the next?//

"Scully?"

Her attention turned back to Mulder. "What?"

"You just seemed a million miles away."

"No...n-no, I'm here."

"You were watching him."

No answer.

"Do you think that's all an act too?" he asked, nodding toward his lover and the child.

"I...I don't know, Mulder."

He leaned in close to her ear and murmured, "*I* do."

Scully cast one more glance Alex's way, then rested her head against her seat and closed her eyes, refusing to open them or speak to Mulder for the rest of the flight.

********************

Home.

Scully practically bounced off the plane while the two men followed, watching in amusement.

"Come on, Scully," Alex taunted as they moved through the airport, "are you really *that* glad to be back to the old grind?"

"Back in my own apartment and away from *you*? Yes."

"I think I should be offended."

She turned to face him. "Well, I guess I *can* see where the truth would offend you..."

Alex gasped and covered his heart with both hands.

"Come on, you two," Mulder pleaded softly. "We're almost home. Let's just grab a taxi and get the hell out of here."

For once all three were in agreement, and they moved toward the exit. Minutes later, they were on their way home, Scully in her cab, the men in theirs.

The two sat a respectable distance from each other in the cab, but the heat between them was felt keenly by both. The moment the cab pulled up in front of Mulder's building, Alex paid the driver, tipping him way too much, but he refused to wait the time it would take for the man to make change.

They exited the taxi, walking briskly toward the building, and once they were inside, Mulder took a quick look around. Seeing an empty hall, he grabbed Alex by the lapels of his jacket and hauled the younger man against his chest. "Alone at last," he growled into his lover's mouth.

"We're not going to be alone for long if we stay in this hall," Alex giggled as Fox squeezed his ass. "You know how loud I am, and if you start that..." He thrust backward against Mulder's hands. "...all your neighbors will be out here *with* us."

Mulder stopped and stared for a second. "Good point." He grasped Alex's hand and dragged him to the elevator. The doors opened the moment Mulder hit the button, and he stepped inside, pulling the younger man along behind him. The instant the doors closed, he pushed Alex against the wall and attacked his mouth, muffling the other man's surprised grunt.

From that time until the doors opened at the fourth floor, they kissed, creating a hunger so intense, that when they finally made it into the apartment,  they barely got the door open and closed before Mulder shed his coat and dropped to his knees.

While Fox got Alex's pants undone, the younger man ripped his own coat off and let it fall to the floor behind him. He stumbled back against the door, moaning hoarsely as Fox's mouth closed over his cock and began to suck hungrily at it.

"Baby....whoa....wait....easy..." He opened his eyes and looked down at his lover whose head was bobbing frantically up and down on him, and all his good intentions went promptly to hell.

"Ah, *fuck*."

While Alex's eyes had been closed, Fox had undone his own pants and was jerking his cock as he sucked his lover's. He moaned deeply around the rigid shaft, sending little tendrils of added pleasure swirling through Alex's body. The younger man began to move, thrusting his cock in and out of Fox's mouth, now panting words of encouragement.

"That's it, baby...come on," he thrust deeper, hitting the back of his lover's throat. "Take it all...shit...oh, shit...." He turned lust-glazed eyes down to the man at his feet. "God, you're... so...beautiful...come with me, Fox...come...."

The words he spoke after that came out in a long, harsh snarl as he exploded, sending a gush of hot, bitter fluid down his lover's throat.

Fox swallowed as much as he could until the force of his own orgasm knocked him back, and he came over his fist and thigh. He slumped onto his side, chest heaving as Alex slid down the door and landed in a sitting position on the floor.

"Shit," Alex whispered, reaching out to touch his motionless lover. "Can I expect that *every* time we walk in the door together?"

Fox opened his eyes and gave Alex a weary grin. "Wait till you see what I do to you after a long day at work."

They helped each other up and slowly made their way to the shower where they washed each other gently, then fell naked across the bed and dozed off in each other's arms for about an hour. Upon waking, Fox announced that he was starving, and they called for take-out. They ate in bed, feeding each other, kissing and teasing, then abandoned their meal three-quarters of the way through, preferring to feed on each other instead. When the air vibrated with their cries of completion, they collapsed together, cooing and petting, and drowning in contentment.

"God," Fox moaned, finally finding the strength to pull himself up against the pillows and draw Alex into his arms. "Can it get any better than this?"

Alex nuzzled his lover's chest, rumbling his pleasure. "I never in my life thought I could feel this good." His tongue inched out, swiping at the beads of sweat that covered Fox's skin, prompting a giggle from the older man.

"Tickles."

"Sorry," he murmured, but didn't stop. "I love the way you taste."

Fox moaned softly but gave no answer.

Minutes later, Alex kissed his lover's shoulder and settled his head against it. "Fox?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you really thought about tomorrow?"

No reply.

"Babe?"

Fox inhaled and exhaled slowly. "A little."

"Are you really going to tell Skinner the truth? I mean, you don't have to, you know." Alex lifted his head and grinned at the older man. "Don't forget you're shacked up with the best of the best when it comes to lying. I could help you think up something plausible..."

Fox chuckled, and kissed the top of Alex's head. "I appreciate the offer, but I really have the feeling that it'll be okay."

"You had that feeling about Scully, too," Alex pointed out.

"Well...as pissed as she is about us being together, the long and the short of it is, she'll support me. She's my friend..."

"And if she absolutely cannot deal with seeing us together, she'll have to do something about it, like transfer out, and she'll never do that. She can't stand the thought of never being close to you."

"Are you back on that?"

"Yep. I'm more sure of it now than ever. Those few days in the cabin confirmed it for me."

Fox merely rolled his eyes.

"I can't be sure that Skinner'll react the same, though. Scully, he ain't."

"Oh, God, Alex..."

"I'm telling you. He'd lay you out on his desk in a heartbeat if he could. That much he's got in common with Scully. But his reaction may very well be completely different. Makes me nervous."

"Alex, the worst he can do is ask for my resignation, but I don't think he will. Skinner has gone to bat for me more times than I can count and in some pretty questionable circumstances."

"Those circumstances weren't personal, Fox. You being tangled up with me involves personal feelings...yours, mine *and* his."

"Alex, we've worked closely for years. He's never given me the tiniest hint..."

"Skinner is a man of few words, baby. You know the saying, still waters run deep? Walt Skinner is an abyss."

"I never thought that he wasn't a passionate man," Fox droned into his lover's hair, "I just think you're all wrong about where those passions lie."

"I don't want to be proven right at the expense of your job, Fox."

"Alex, if he asks for my resignation, I'll give it to him. I'd rather not, but I'm totally willing to do whatever I have to, to keep you. I told you that."

While the statement made Alex feel incredibly wonderful, it disturbed him just a bit more. The thought of Fox's life being plunged into so much chaos because of him was *not* a good feeling.

He heaved a long sigh.

But if not tomorrow...if not *this*, it would happen another time. For another reason.

He had started this by taking Fox up to his cabin last month. He had set the wheels in motion, and now there was no way that he could see to stop them. He believed Fox when he said that he would give up his career for him, and he believed Fox meant it. But if it really went down that way, he wondered just how long it would be before the other man started to regret what he'd done...and they fell apart.

Fox's arms tightened around his pensive lover, and he planted a soft kiss in his hair. "It's going to be okay, baby," he whispered, "trust me."

Alex tilted his head, meeting a sincere, hazel gaze. He stretched up for a long kiss, then burrowed into the warmth of his lover's arms. The conversation ended, and a short time later, they were asleep.

********************

Fox's arm flailed blindly, his fist finally pounding the alarm clock into silence. The man draped across his chest lifted his head and blinked down at him.

"That clock do something to you?"

"Hmm?"

"You almost beat it into the nightstand."

"Oh." Fox gave his lover a weary smile. "Guess I'm just not real thrilled about it being morning already."

"Tired?"

"Yeah." He hugged Alex to him. "And I hate to get out of bed and leave you here."

"What, you hate the thought of me getting more sleep than you?"

"Funny. No, I just hate to leave you." He caressed Alex's back. "This feels so good."

"I know." Alex kissed his chest. "I'd love to keep you right here, but that isn't very realistic, is it? You gotta go to work, and you gotta face Skinner and tell him whatever it is you're going to tell him."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess I may as well get it over with."

Alex moved away and started to slide out of bed, but Fox's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"You're getting up. I am too."

Fox smiled and scratched his head. "Would...would you do something for me?"

"Foooox, there's no time for that."

"No, no. Well....yes, but I know there's no time. No, what I'd like you to do is stay here in bed. At least until after I leave."

Alex's brows knitted into a confused frown. "Why?"

"This is going to sound stupid, but...I would have loved to have got up without waking you, and got ready for work, then come in and given you a soft kiss and left you fast asleep in my bed."

Alex gave him a slow, understanding grin. "You're as big a romantic sap as you say *I* am."

"I guess."

Alex shifted onto his back and snuggled back into the pillows. "Okay, so I'll stay here. Go on, get up. I'll try to go back to sleep."

Fox laughed and dropped a tender kiss on his lover's mouth. "What a guy." He slipped out of bed and padded naked into the bathroom, the heat of Alex's appreciative stare following him.

When the bathroom door closed, Alex closed his eyes and stretched, then curled himself around his lover's still-warm pillow. Sleep, he knew, was impossible, but if it was going to make Fox happy, he could at least give it a shot.

Twenty minutes later, Fox emerged from the bathroom, and an uncontrollable smile curled his lips. He didn't know if Alex was actually asleep or not, but the sight of his lover buried in the tangle of sheets, arms wrapped around a pillow and seemingly oblivious to his presence, went straight to his heart.

He turned away, dressing himself then running a brush quickly through his hair. He checked his appearance in the mirror.

Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI.

Funny, he didn't feel much like that man right now. He wondered if he ever would again.

He looked past his image to the one of the man in his bed, then back at himself.

Fox Mulder, man in love.

That's who he was.

He moved to the bed and leaned over his lover's still form, taking in the wild hair and relaxed set of his mouth...watching the slow, even rise and fall of his chest, and his heart pounded joyfully. He inclined his head, brushing his lips across Alex's cheek, then bit his own lower lip. The urge to whisper the words 'I love you' was stronger than any he had felt thus far, and while his heart screamed for him to say it, some tiny voice inside him insisted that the time wasn't right yet.

He kissed Alex once more then straightened up and moved to the door. One last look, and he slipped out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

A minute later, Alex's eyes drifted open. He turned onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and smiling softly. He didn't know how the rest of Fox's day was going to go, but at least he'd left happy.

He snuggled into the pillows for a few minutes more, inhaling his lover's scent, then dragged himself out of bed and into the shower.

********************

"Have you seen him yet?"

Mulder looked up from his desk at Scully as she entered the office. "No, I was waiting for you before I went up."

"Well..." She removed her coat and straightened her suit. "I'm here. Let's get this over with."

"Scully...I think I should talk to him alone."

Blue eyes widened. "Why would you want to do that? I was there too, Mulder. You're going to need me to back you up."

"You don't have to do this, Scully. I'll take all the heat...it's mine to take, anyway. My involvement with Alex is what got us to where we are."

"That's true, Mulder, but I'm not going to let you..."

"So when were you two going to let me know that you hadn't disappeared off the face of the earth?"

The agitated baritone interrupted her speech.

Two sets of eyes turned toward the door.

"Sir," Mulder began, "we were just about to go up to your office."

"Well," Skinner folded his arms across his broad chest. "Since I'm here, why don't you tell me where the hell you've been for the past few days?"

Mulder rounded his desk and came to stand before his superior. "Might we talk about this someplace else, sir? Someplace away from the office?"

Sharp, brown eyes narrowed. "Why?"

The two agents looked at each other, then to Skinner, and for the first time, Scully spoke up.

"Please, sir."

Skinner paused,  trying to read the somber expressions. "Fine. Where would you like to talk?"

"The mall would be fine."

He looked to his female agent and nodded. "In an hour." With a last, long look at Mulder, he exited the office, leaving the two alone.

"Well," Scully sighed a few beats later, "this is going to be pleasant, I can tell."

"I told you, Scully, you don't have to go with me."

"And I told *you*, Mulder, that I *am* going. I'm not going to let you take the heat all by yourself."

He looked down at the earnest expression and shook his head. "After the last couple of days, Scully...that you would..."

"It's not for him," she interrupted quickly. "It's for you. I told you that no matter what, I was on your side, and I meant it."

He took a deep breath and released it. "Thank you. Well...I guess we should get going soon. God knows I don't want to tick him off any more than he's going to be."

He handed Scully her coat, grabbed his off the hook, and the two walked out to meet their fate.

Exactly one hour later, they stood by the reflecting pool, watching the brooding hulk stalk toward them.

"All right," Skinner growled when he reached his agents. "What the hell is going on?"

Mulder stood chewing on his lower lip, then began. "A few days ago, I received a note saying that someone had something in his possession that would be of great importance to me. Scully and I went to check it out and met a man who said he was a professor at the university. He seemed on the up and up, but....we walked into a trap."

"A trap?"

"Yes. Set up by our smoking friend and his cronies."

Skinner's eyes narrowed. "What kind of trap?"

"They want me dead, sir. I've become too much of a nuisance to them. They sent someone to kill me....us."

"The man who lured you into the meeting?"

"No. There were two men in the mill....three, actually, but we didn't find that out until later."

"How did you escape?"

"The man who was contracted to kill us is the one who saved us."

"*What*? Agent Mulder, you're losing me, here. Who was this man?"

Mulder took a deep breath.

//Just spit it out.//

"The same man who rescued me from the lodge in Washington."

"I thought you had no idea who that was?"

"I...I did know. I just wanted to protect him."

Skinner shook his head. "Protect...Agent Mulder, *who* are you talking about?

Mulder watched the other man's eyes intently. "Alex Krycek."

The man went silent for a moment, allowing the words to register. Then...

"*Krycek*?"

"Yes, sir." Mulder jumped right in again, not allowing Skinner to react further. "He saved my ass, sir. Not once, but twice...and now Scully."

The A.D. raised a hand to his forehead. "What the hell happened?"

"I have to go back to the beginning, sir, if you're to understand it all."

The hand lowered and came to rest on the older man's hip. "Any time you're ready, Agent."

Mulder started his story, watching Skinners' expression go from suspicion, to disbelief, to anger, and back to disbelief.

When he was through, Skinner stood quietly for a moment, then turned to the one who had not spoken a word. "Agent Scully, he said softly, "would you care to add anything to this...this..."

"Sir...every word of Agent Mulder's account is accurate to the best of my knowledge. Alex Krycek did save us in that mill. And as a result, he was shot. Obviously, the smoking man wasn't sure he could trust him. Apparently, his suspicions were correct. I removed the bullet, and we took him to the only place Mulder could think of  where we wouldn't be hunted down. Krycek needed a little time to recuperate..."

"What about the rest of this?" Skinner broke in. He turned a withering stare on Mulder. "Are you going to stand there and tell me that you and Alex Krycek are..."

"Yes, sir," Mulder said softly, but without a hint of apology in his tone. "We are."

"Have you lost your mind completely?" Before Mulder could answer, Skinner whirled around, facing Scully. "You knew about this?"

"He told me not long after he returned from Washington."

"And you don't think he's certifiable?"

"Sir, Agent Mulder knows my very strong feelings on this matter. I've made myself crystal clear, but..."

"But *what*?"

"But," she said softly but firmly, "he's my partner and my friend, and even though I object most strenuously to his choice of a...companion, I stand behind his right to make his own choices."

He gave her an incredulous look. "Even if it's Alex *Krycek*?"

Scully hesitated then looked at her partner and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"You *both* need psychiatric care." He took a long, steadying breath and released it. "Agent Scully, you can go. Agent Mulder and I need to speak alone."

"It's all right sir," Mulder spoke up. "Agent Scully can hear whatever it is you've got to say."

"All right," the other man said flatly. "Agent Mulder, the...*man* you have chosen to get yourself involved with is a murdering, thieving, lying sack of...now, I know that those are my personal feelings and that there's not a thing that I can make stick, but I think we *all* know what he is. Your entanglement with this man is a serious conflict of interests, and in my opinion, a threat to security. As Assistant Director, I cannot allow your association to continue. I'm not going to make you decide where your loyalties lie right this second, but by tomorrow, I either need your guarantee that you two are finished, or...or I need your resignation."

Mulder fixed an unwavering stare on the other man. "I can give you that answer right now..."

"Mulder," Scully snapped. "Please. Let's just go. Come on, we can talk about this. Do what he said. Take tonight and give it some good, long thought."

"Do it, Agent Mulder," Skinner advised. "I will not accept any answer you give me today." Without another word, he walked away, leaving the partners alone.

Mulder watched the retreating figure for a few seconds, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

"Mulder...Mulder!" Scully ran to catch up with him. "Okay, Mulder, you got his reaction, which I have to tell you was a hell of a lot milder than I expected. You know what he's hoping to hear from you tomorrow. Let's talk about it."

"Nothing to talk about."

"Of *course* there is!"

"The answer I give him tomorrow will be exactly the same as the one I would have given him today."

"I...I can't believe this!" Scully railed. "You'll throw your whole career away? You'll walk away from the X-files? The search for your precious truth *and* your sister just like that?"

Mulder stopped short. "No, Scully, not just like that. You think I *want* to give it up? I *don't*. But I want to give Alex up even less." He waved a hand in the air and continued on. "I'm not going to explain it to you again."

"Wait!" She tried to catch up. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk...alone, okay?"

Scully broke off her pursuit, watching her partner until she could no longer see him, then spun around and stormed off in the opposite direction.

********************

Fox walked slowly through the park, letting the stinging wind whip his hair this way and that. He pulled his collar up as he walked, only partially shielding his face from the bits of sand and leaves that swirled around him.

//So. Here it is. Put up or shut up time. Alex, or everything you've been working for, for years.//

//What's to think about? I've already made my decision.//

//Yeah, but you've got one more chance to change your mind. So, which is it? Alex or your job?//

Frustrated, he viciously kicked a rock and watched it skip frantically ahead of him.

//I want them *both*.//

//You can't *have* them both. Skinner's made that damn clear.//

He heaved a long sigh and looked up to the gray sky.

//Looks like snow.//

//Nevermind the snow. You've said it and said it. But do you *really* mean it? Is Alex more important than your life's work?//

His thoughts wandered back to this morning and Alex asleep in his bed, lying amidst the tangle of sheets and blankets. The rightness of that moment when he kissed his sleeping lover and went off to work could never be denied.

He smiled up at the forbidding sky.

//Damn straight he is.//

The smile dimmed though, as he almost immediately began to mourn the loss of the only life he'd known for so many years.

//I can't expect it not to hurt. It's only natural. It's completely understandable.//

//Yeah, but will Alex understand, or will he start thinking that you're having regrets?//

//No. He'll understand if I just explain it to him.//

//Explain it to him, now? The way you're feeling? Don't do it. You'll only fuck it up. Just let it go until tomorrow.//

//He's going to want to know.//

//Alex isn't the only one who's good at evasion. You can think of a couple of ways to keep him occupied until you think you can talk about it without alienating him.//

He stopped and looked up again at the thickening clouds.

//It's gonna start any minute. I should go home now.//

He hesitated, looking back the way he had come, then decided to walk on.

//Soon.//

********************

The A.D. returned to the Hoover Building, and as he blew past his receptionist, he asked that all but the most important calls be held. Once inside the privacy of his office, he began to pace, trying to absorb what had just happened.

Mulder had thrown him some wicked curves in the past, but this?

He ran a hand over the top of his head and sat heavily in his chair, staring across his desk to the place where Mulder always sat. He stared at the seat, seeing his agent sitting there, hazel eyes sparkling as he confidently spewed his outrageous assessment of whatever case he'd been assigned. The notions he put forth would have been quickly dismissed by anyone else, but *he'd* always given the man all his attention, doubtful though he was. There was just something about Fox Mulder that made him want to listen...made him want to provide him with all the time and resources he needed...made him want to...

//Oh, God.//

Why the bloody hell did Mulder have to go and do this?

It was hard enough seeing him day after day, talking to him...standing so close to him, and thinking that there was no way in hell, but now...now he had information he didn't have before. Not that it made a damn bit of difference, he supposed, but *shit*.

He took his glasses off and tossed them onto the desk. Rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, he attempted to ward off the sudden flood of images that raced through his mind. Mulder and Krycek together...doing the things he'd always imagined that *they* would do.

Mulder and Krycek....

Mulder and Alex. Fucking. Krycek.

His blood boiled at the thought of that son-of-a-bitch touching Mulder. And his mind screamed at thought that Mulder *wanted* him to. And his cock throbbed at the thought of Mulder ever wanting a *man*.

He leaned back in his chair, wondering if he'd done the right thing in giving Mulder that ultimatum. He was ready to pack it all in, Skinner could see it in his eyes. Fox Mulder never did go in big for ultimatums, but what else could he do? Yes, he was shocked, and yes, he was incensed that Mulder was insane enough to take Alex Krycek as a lover, but he what he did, he did as Assistant Director, and for no personal reason. He *did* view that rat bastard as a threat to Bureau security, and he was right in his decision. But what did he really accomplish besides putting off the inevitable? Mulder wasn't likely to change his mind overnight. A more stubborn man he'd never met.

Those eyes...such a fiery shade of amber when they stared at him in total defiance. The set of his jaw...that insistent tone in his voice...the angry pout of his lips...

Jesus Christ, Skinner couldn't count the times that he had wished  he could just throw the man up onto his desk and...

He shook the thought off and jerked his drawer open. Pulling out the last file he'd been working on, he flipped it open, donned his glasses, and...

And stared blindly at the words in front of him.

********************

The hard knock at the door startled Alex out of his nap. He shook off the fog and rose from the sofa, tripping toward the door. A quick glance into the peephole revealed the red face of Fox's partner. He started to open the door, and she pushed it the rest of the way, practically knocking him over.

"Scully, what the hell...?"

"You and I have to talk."

"Where's Fox?"

"Who knows?"

"What do you mean, who knows?"

"He took off. Wanted to go for a walk by himself after we talked to Skinner."

Alex sat down. "What happened?"

"He's done. Over. His career at the Bureau is finished."

"Oh, shit. Shit, shit...Skinner dismissed him?"

"No. He gave Mulder a choice. Gave him till tomorrow to either cut you loose or hand in his resignation. Guess what he's going to do?"

"You already told me. He can't quit."

"It's as good as done."

Alex buried his face in his hands and groaned softly.

"What's the matter, Krycek? You should be happy. You got what you wanted. He's out of the way."

Alex dropped his hands and glared up at her. "Has your bitterness rotted your brain? I don't *want* him 'out of the way'. Together, he and I could bring those assholes to their knees. The only agenda this serves is *theirs*."

Scully eyed him doubtfully.

"For Christ's sake, Scully, I *never* wanted this."

"No? You knew it was inevitable, Krycek."

He rose and shook his head, turning away. "I let him talk me into believing that it would be all right. I didn't want to believe that I would tear his life apart."

"Well, you've done that for sure. Congratulations." And with that, she turned and promptly left, slamming the door behind her.

Alex paced the length of the room for at least half an hour after Scully left, wracking his brains, trying to figure a way to fix the mess he'd caused. Coming up with nothing but a severe headache, he sat down and decided that the best thing to do would be to wait until Fox got home and hash it out with him.

Over two hours later, Alex heard the key in the lock. He looked up from the droning television as Fox moved quietly into the living room, brushing a few remaining flakes of snow from his hair. He gave his lover a wary smile.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Alex waited a moment, then spoke up. "So...how'd it go?

Fox shrugged.

Again Alex waited. When no more information was forthcoming, he asked, "What does that mean?"

Fox looked up and gave him a false smile, stroking his hair. "Everything's fine."

"Fine?"

"Yeah."

"Then why do you look like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like the world is ending."

Fox moved closer and planted a kiss on the side of his head. "How could I look like *that*? I've got you." He moved away and started toward the bedroom. "God, I'm tired. I'm going to go take a shower, then we can think about dinner?"

"Fox..."

The older man gave no answer. He simply disappeared into the bedroom, and a few minutes later, Alex heard the shower go on.

He moved into the room, brushing his fingers over Fox's suit jacket. He picked it up and sat on the bed, cradling it in his lap. A few minutes later, the water shut off, and Fox emerged from the bathroom, draped in a towel.

"Fox, I'd like to hear a little more about today than just, 'everything's fine'."

The older man cocked his head. "Why? Everything *is* fine." He walked to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans, underwear, and some socks, then wandered over to the closet and yanked a shirt off of a hanger. He dressed while Alex watched, then he walked over to the younger man and covered his mouth in a long, sweet kiss. "You hungry? I am."

Alex's gaze dropped to the carpet. "Yeah. Sure. Wh-what do you want?"

"Pizza is great. Fast, easy, no mess to clean up. I'll call now, okay?"

Alex nodded, and Fox kissed him once more before he left the room. For long minutes afterward, he sat there on the bed, fingers fumbling with the buttons of Fox's jacket, wondering why his lover wouldn't tell him the truth about what had happened.

How was he supposed to talk to him now? How were they supposed to try to fix this if Fox wouldn't let him in?

He rose from the bed and left the room. He stopped in the doorway and listened as Fox completed the pizza order and hung up. The older man looked up, reading the sad expression in his eyes.

"C'mere."

Alex moved forward and took his outstretched hand. Fox pulled him down to the sofa and wrapped his arms around him.

"Pizza'll be here in about forty-five minutes."

Alex laid his head on Fox's chest and nodded silently.

They sat that way, saying nothing, absorbing each other's heat until the pizza arrived. Only then did Alex pull away, allowing Fox to get up and go to the door. The older man came back with the pizza, retrieved a couple of beers from the refrigerator, and they sat down to dinner.

An hour later, half the pizza sat in the box, untouched and ice cold. Fox folded the cover down and gave Alex a tiny smile. "Well, we got something to snack on if we get hungry later."

Alex gave no answer. He sat back against the cushions of the sofa and stared at his hands. Fox picked up the box, and Alex watched as he walked into the kitchen with it. His eyes dropped back down to his hands which were linked tightly together.

//He's quitting. He really is quitting, and he doesn't want to talk about it. *You're* the reason he's flushing his career down the toilet, and he won't even talk about it with you.//

He expelled a hard, trembling breath.

//You can't. How can you love him and let him throw his life away?//

"Alex?"

Fox's soft voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"Are you all right?"

He opened his mouth to answer but closed it again and gave a weak nod.

Fox studied his lover for a moment, then walked over and took his hand. "Come with me."

"Where?" Alex asked, just above a whisper.

The older man pulled him to his feet and wrapped him in a snug embrace. "To bed."

Alex let Fox lead him into the bedroom, and once they were there, Fox began to undress him slowly. He stood quietly, eyes never leaving his lover's face as he was disrobed.

When Alex was completely stripped, Fox removed his own clothing. He moved forward, pressing Alex backward onto the bed, and lay down on top of him. Alex's body immediately began to respond, feeling his lover's hard warmth covering him. His eyes drifted shut, and he tried desperately to block out everything but the feel of his Fox's mouth coaxing his into submission.

Fox groaned as Alex's mouth opened to him, and his tongue plunged inside, anxiously probing the moist interior. His hands wandered the body beneath him, stroking and petting, driving his lover into a sensual frenzy. He pressed downward, grinding his hips against Alex's, listening to the desperate cries the action evoked, and he released the swollen mouth.

"I want you now, baby," Fox panted. "I need you."

Alex's eyes squeezed shut, and he turned his face into Fox's neck. He arched up against his lover, whimpering his encouragement, and Fox reached into the nightstand drawer for the lube.  He quickly unscrewed the cap, squeezed a generous amount of the contents into his hand, and smoothed it on his rigid cock. Alex wrapped his legs around Fox's waist and gave himself up to the frantic, penetrating heat.

Fox released a hard sigh as he buried himself inside his lover. "Oh, God," he sobbed, "baby, I can't wait..."

Alex's fingers clenched in Fox's back, and he arched again, pulling his lover as deeply into his body as he could. He repeated the move again and again as Fox drove forward, grunting harshly with each thrust. He grabbed hold of Alex's cock and began to pump wildly.

"It's coming...it's...God...baby....oh, *God*..."

Fox's head snapped back, and he released a sobbing growl as he emptied himself into his lover. His hand continued to move, and only seconds later, he took Alex screaming over the edge. When the younger man's cries faded and his body stopped convulsing, Fox released his cock and slumped down on top of his chest.

They lay quietly together, recovering, and when the power of reason returned to Alex, a surge of tears stung his eyes. He swallowed them down and wrapped his arms around his lover, burying his face in the golden-brown silk.

Some time later, the sounds of sleep reached Alex's ears. He squeezed his eyes shut, listening to the sound. He inhaled the scent of Fox's hair and gently stroked his back, memorizing the texture of his skin. Then very carefully, he slipped out from underneath his lover and sat at the edge of the bed. He looked down at the sleeping man and gently pulled the blanket up around his shoulders. Thoughts of their conversation this morning came back to him, and he smiled sadly.

A soft kiss and then leave him asleep in his bed.

Only, he wouldn't be coming back.

The impact of that thought hit Alex like a truck, and he doubled over, shaking violently. He breathed deeply, trying to pull himself together, and when he straightened up, he forced himself to look down again into the face he'd come to adore. He leaned in, brushing a tender kiss into Fox's hair, then made himself stand on shaky legs. He reached out to touch the sleeping man's cheek, but stopped just short of contact. His fingers curled into a fist, and he tucked the hand under his other arm. His mouth opened, and a choked whisper left them.

"I love you, Fox."

Alex dressed quickly, then turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.

THE END? Yeah, *right*

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