Xander

Walter Skinner looked at the gold edged invitation with a puzzled frown on his face.

The Meridian Gallery cordially invites you to the preview showing of Oils, Watercolours and Photographs by Stacie Russell.

He was about to discard it into the trash when the design on the background caught his eye... he gasped, for rendered in muted colours were two eyes with green irises.... Two eyes that he knew so well.

He released the indrawn breath... "Alex."

Staring at the design, his mind wandered back over the years....

He had first fallen under the spell of Alex Krycek when the young man had been assigned to partner Mulder... one demure glance from under those sinfully long eyelashes had been enough to fuel his fantasies... and make him break a lifetime rule of not getting involved with a subordinate.

He had loved, then hated the man, and when the alien menace had been fully revealed, had loved him again. He, and Mulder, had both managed to resolve their differences with him - particularly as Alex had apologized to prettily.

Although they hadn't always been able to agree with his methods they did have to admit that he had been effective in keeping them all alive so that they could face the imminent invasion together. They still had had quite a few differences of opinion on how to handle the undeclared war, and a few trust issues too, until that memorable planning session where the arguments had been spectacularly loud... testosterone thickening the air... and Krycek yelling at them that they both needed to get laid. Which was when they had found out that they had both had affairs with Alex while he'd been at the bureau...

One thing had led to another and the next morning they had woken to find themselves in a tangle of limbs on Alex's bed, naked and with the memory of some very hot sex....

After that they had formed an unbreakable triumvirate, showing a united face to the world, and enjoying each other's company to the full in private.

He sighed, he had always thought that when it was all over the three of them would stay together... but it didn't turn out that way. In the chaos which had followed the aliens' defeat Alex had disappeared.... Disappeared so completely, that even the Gunmen, who had searched for him at his and Mulder's request, had failed to find any trace of him.

Sadly they had tried to carry on without him, but Alex had been their catalyst... the glue which held them together... without him in their lives, he and Mulder had drifted apart and eventually lost touch.

That had been two years ago... and now there was this... this tantalising glimpse of those incredible eyes.

He looked closely at the invitation again - in small script at the bottom there was a notation 'Background: Detail from Xander by Stacie Russell.'

Making up his mind to attend the preview, he called Kim and arranged to take a week's vacation, cautioning her to keep the following week clear in case he decided to extend it.

The day after Walter Skinner booked a vacation for the first time in years; Fox Mulder picked up his mail from the post office.

After discarding the junk mail into the trash can near the mailroom door, he looked inquisitively at the thick, cream- coloured envelope... half inclined to throw it away without opening it. In his experience this type of envelope contained bad news, invitation to things he felt obliged to attend... and he really didn't want to attend any more conferences on aliens. He'd had enough.

This though, looked a little more high-class than normal. Curiosity won out over apathy and he took it with him to the coffee shop for the weekly ritual of opening his mail before returning home.

He dealt with the bills first, writing cheques where necessary, readying them to put back in the post, until only the cream envelope was left.

With a put-upon sigh he slit it open and withdrew the invitation... a type of invitation he really wasn't expecting.

"Why would I want to go to a art exhibition on the other side of the country?" he asked the air.

"Did you say something, honey?" Laura Baker, the proprietor, asked as she refilled his coffee mug.

Mulder laughed, "Sorry, I didn't realize I was talking out loud." He threw the invitation down on the table in front of her. "I was just wondering why someone would send me this invitation. I don't frequent art galleries."

She studied it for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno love, it's a lovely pair of eyes they have on the background. I wouldn't mind seeing the painting that came from."

Mulder picked up the card and looked at the design and froze with shock. "Alex." After the shock wore off, he said. "You know, I think I will go and look at that painting after all. I want to ask the artist a very important question."

Meridian Gallery,
13 February

Mulder was bouncing on his toes outside the entrance well before the stated opening time of 10a.m., eager to find out how well this Stacie person knew Alex, and why he had been invited.

He had dug one of his Armani suits out of the closet for the occasion and felt a trifle uncomfortable having become used to wearing jeans in his everyday life.

As the time drew nearer to ten o'clock and no one else was waiting outside, he went up to the main door and read the notice again to make sure that there hadn't been a mistake. Nope, no mistake. 'Special preview showing 10a.m. by invitation only.'

At two minutes to ten, a cab drew up at the kerb and disgorged one passenger - Walter Skinner. Mulder felt his mouth go dry. Was it just coincidence that the first, and at the moment, only people to turn up were Alex's ex-lovers?

They exchanged polite greetings; both feeling a bit tongue-tied by unexpectedly coming face-to-face after such a long time.

They were saved from a long embarrassing silence by the door being opened by a young man in a dark suit, who didn't seem a bit fazed by the fact that there were only two people waiting to be admitted.

He examined their invitations, then waved them inside with a cheery, "Enjoy the show."

Inside, Mulder turned left; Skinner turned right, neither wanting to endure the discomfort of the other's company. They examined each exhibit carefully, and although they admired the artist's work, they reached the back of the gallery without seeing the one painting which had been used for the design on their invitations.

Frowning, Mulder looked around for the man who had admitted them, but there was no sign of him, and he and Walter were still the only attendees.

Meanwhile, Walter had spotted a partly open door, almost hidden behind one of the display stands, and made his way towards it. As he got closer to the stand he saw there was a notice attached to the back of it. Under an arrow pointing towards the door, it read: Xander, this way.

"Fox! This way!" he called, waving and pointing to get Mulder's attention, then went into the side room... and stopped; his eyes riveted on the only painting in the room... Alex Krycek, looking towards the artist, a gentle smile on his face. Mesmerised, he and Mulder walked forward until they were brought to a halt by the wooden barrier which had been set up to guard the painting.

The unfriendly green eyes which had been watching them; assessing them since they had entered the gallery, grew warmer when they saw the mixture of love and yearning on the upturned faces of the two men.

Their rapt contemplation of the painting was disturbed by a loud click as the key was turned in the lock. Turning towards the door as one, they stared as a woman moved out of the gloom nearer the circle of light in which they were standing.

Skinner was not amused. "What is going on here?" he demanded.

"My name is Stacie Russell, and I invited you here."

"I'm-"

"I know who you are Mr Skinner, and you also Mr Mulder."

She gestured towards the painting. "I saw the way you were looking at my picture of Xander, I think you both have deep feelings for him."

Mulder nodded. Then feeling it would be best to be candid, he added, "I love him. I never really realized how much until he was gone. He just... disappeared. I tried to find him, but..." He trailed off with a helpless shrug.

She gave him a small smile, then turned to Skinner.

Embarrassed about admitting his feelings in front of a stranger, Walter went a little pink around the ears as he stated, "That goes for me too." He blushed a deeper pink, then went on, "I, too, tried to find him, to tell him that I loved him; that we both love him."

"Please, tell us what happened to him?" Mulder asked, his eyes pleading with her to tell him... give him some hope for the future.

He looked so forlorn that Stacie felt her heart start to melt, then Xander's sad, wounded eyes swam in front of hers and she hardened her heart again... she just had to find out what had happened... to make up her mind whether to risk telling them where they could find him.

"You say you love him?" she asked, wanting no there to be mistake.

"Yes," they affirmed.

"Then why weren't you at the rendezvous? Why did he have to make his way home alone?" she demanded.

They stared at her, opened mouthed.

Skinner recovered first, "I don't understand. What rendezvous?"

"Home from where?" Mulder chimed in, sounding equally puzzled.

Stacie continued to glare at them for a moment, then went on, "Home from that last raid to Mexico, deep into the Sierra Madre's to destroy the last of the colony ships. You were supposed to be at the rendezvous point to bring him, and his team, home.... Instead he and his men had to walk out. One of them, Jaime, died in the mountains. When they finally made it to a town he tried to phone you, but the number didn't answer. They didn't have much money between them, so they hitched most of the way home."

The two men stared at her in disbelief, looked at one another, then back at her again.

"But, we didn't send him on a mission to Mexico," Mulder stated, finally finding his voice. "The last raid he went on was to a laboratory in Texas. I was supposed to have gone with them, but I got a stomach bug so was left behind. The technicians and most of the men came back, leaving Alex and four men to set the charges and make sure that there was nothing left that the colonists could use. We got word that they would be taking a few days rest while one of them recovered from a sprained ankle. We waited at our headquarters for weeks, and got the Gunmen to search for them, but eventually we had to go back to our lives."

It was now the woman's turn to look puzzled. There was no doubting the sincerity of the men in front of her. Making up her mind, she said, "Let us go into the next room where we can sit down and have a cup of coffee... and I have something to show you."

When she moved into the light, it became very obvious that she was related to Alex, she had the same high cheekbones, the same shape eyes, though not quite the same colour; her hair wasn't as dark either, but she had the same graceful way of walking.

She room she led them into was furnished with sofas and comfortable easy chairs grouped around low tables. They helped themselves to cups of coffee and sat in one of the groups.

As they seated themselves, Skinner said, "I'm guessing that you are closely related to Alex."

Stacie nodded. "I'm his sister, Anastasia... generally called Stacie." She opened her shoulder bag, and took out a small box, from which she extracted a piece of folded silk. Silently, she handed it to Skinner, who put down his cup to open it out.

Once it was spread on the coffee table, he and Mulder stared at it in an uneasy silence. The map on the silk was of part of the Sierra Madre, showing the drop zone where the operatives would be parachuted in, the approximate position of the colony ship, and the LZ, the rendezvous from which they would be picked up at the end of their mission. Wrapped inside the map was another piece of silk with written instructions on it about the mission, and if Skinner hadn't known otherwise he would have sworn the writing on it belonged to Mulder and himself.

"I don't understand it. This looks exactly like the maps which were produced for other missions... but who made this one I really don't know," Mulder said in hushed tones. "Why would someone go to so much trouble to keep the mission a secret?"

"It's a good forgery, but unfortunately I don't think we are ever likely to find out who did it... or why." Skinner stated.

"I'm still going to ask the Gunmen to try to find out, though." Mulder replied. He looked up at Alex's sister. "Which brings me back to my first question, do you know where Alex is?"

"You'll find him here." Stacie held out a piece of paper with an address and a small map drawn on it."

Mulder took it and smiled, "I won't say goodbye, just au revoir, as I'm sure we are going to be seeing a lot of one another."

They shook hands with Stacie then left the still deserted gallery.

Once they were outside, Skinner asked, "Where are you staying?"

Mulder grinned, "In a Motel a couple of blocks away."

"In that case, I suggest we go there, book two tickets to San Francisco, then go to my place so I can pick up some clothes."

"'Kay, sounds like a good plan to me."

California
February 14

Having stayed overnight in Frisco, they started out early for the drive south, even so, with the early morning traffic it took them some time to get clear of the city.

With the aid of the hand-drawn map they found the house quite easily. Leaving the car on the drive, they walked towards the front door with a feeling of trepidation, wondering what sort of welcome they were going to get.

Mulder rang the doorbell, and after what seemed like an interminable wait, Alex opened the door. Seeing who was there he tried to shut it again, but Skinner had been anticipating such a reaction and put his foot in the way, then used his superior weight to force the door open wide.

"We need to talk, Alex," Mulder told him as he walked into the house.

Alex sighed, let the door go and took his uninvited guests through to the living room and served them some coffee.

"What do you want?" he asked, after he'd put the tray of drinks on the table.

Mulder decided not to beat around the bush. "We had a very enlightening conversation with your sister, Stacie, yesterday- "

"What the hell..." Alex started to get to his feet.

"Let me finish." Mulder overrode him. "Also yesterday, we delivered a forged map and instructions to the Lone Gunmen to try to find out who had prepared them - since neither Walter, nor I, had ever seen them before."

Alex sank back down in his chair, his eyes opening wide in amazement. When he had finally got his brain working again, he said, "I don't understand, how could it have happened."

Skinner's brow darkened. "We don't know, but right at this moment I could cheerfully strangle whomever was responsible. They have deprived all three of us of what should have been some very happy years."

Alex swallowed. "But you had each other, I saw you..."

Mulder shook his head, tears in his eyes. "I moved to Arizona about two years ago. Without you... well we missed you... and..."

"We want you back," Walter added when Mulder floundered to a halt.

Alex closed his eyes over the sudden moisture collecting in them, and tried desperately not to break down in front of them

Mulder moved to kneel by Alex and gathered the distressed man into his arms. "I've missed you, Alex."

"Oh God, I've missed you so much," Alex wailed his reply as the dam broke and tears started running down his face. Walter knelt at the other side, put his arms around both his boys, and held them as they cried, finding that occasionally he had to give his own eyes a surreptitious rub against Alex's shoulder.

It didn't take them too long to find Alex's bedroom, although there was a moment of panic trying to find something to use as lube. Without any need for consultation, Walter and Fox gave Alex their full attention, mapping the familiar body with mouths and hands.

Walter kissed and nibbled on the lush pink lips while caressing his nipples, Fox had Alex's burgeoning erection in his mouth and was making Alex's hips rise to meet him, his fingers stretching the puckered opening, getting him ready; reaching inside to rub at that spot that made Alex moan with pleasure.

Changing position slightly, Walter helped lift Alex's legs, then took over the task of sucking and stroking Alex's erection while Fox entered him. Alex's hand snuck between Walter's legs to stroke the hard column of flesh he found there.

Alex spoke in tongues as the sensations created by his lovers overwhelmed him, his orgasm, when it came dragging a long, drawn- out wail from him, which was almost echoed by Fox as the muscles spasming in Alex's ass milked his cock. Walter swallowed the creamy liquid, and spattered both Alex and Fox with his come. For a moment they seemed frozen like statues, unable to move, then as lethargy took over they collapsed side by side on the bed.

After a while Walter stirred, went into the bathroom and brought back a washcloth. He cleaned them up, then got back into bed to join his two young lovers who were already nuzzled into one another nearly asleep. He propped himself up on one elbow and gazed at them for a moment, then snuggled down behind Alex. He was aware that they would have things to discuss, but since today was the day for lovers... everything else could be left for the morrow.