by Ursula
Part III
Conflagration
Mulder looked up from his desk and over to the one where Alex sat, dutifully
slogging through
reports. A drop of sweat ran down from his forehead, detoured at that funny
crease above his nose
before stopping at the slightly upturned end to slide below. Alex brushed it
away and sighed softly.
Mulder looked around and everyone else had found some excuse to go home. Alex's
shirt was nearly
transparent with sweat, clinging to his body invitingly. His suit jacket had
fallen to the floor and one
sleeve was caught in the wheels of his chair. Mulder leaned his sharp chin on
one hand; his elbow on
the desk and smiled. Alex was damn cute.
Mulder watched Alex chew on a nail, mumble something as he made a wrong
keystroke and groan
as his terminal froze again as the buildings lights blinked.
Alex hunched his shoulder blades and frantically searched to see if his
document was saved. It must
have been because he exclaimed, "Got'cha!"
Mulder heard, "Harrumph" He looked up and Skinner was leaning in the doorway.
Mulder
wondered how long his boss had been standing there? Long enough to observe him,
lost in a dream
as he watched his young lover sweat?
Skinner was smiling. Even he had given in to the failed air conditioning and
was wearing a
short-sleeved shirt and lightweight suit pants. His striped tie hung loosely
around his neck. Skinner
took out a handkerchief and mopped his brow.
He said, "Mulder, Krycek, go home. If I need someone, I'll call you. Go on
now."
Alex turned off his terminal and he glanced at Mulder with a faint smile. Alex tried to push his chair away from the desk, but, of course, his coat was caught in the base. Mulder rushed to help, extracted the cotton blend suit jacket with a small moue of distaste. About the only thing, he disliked about Alex these days was his god-awful wardrobe. Alex glanced at Skinner and said, "Thank-you, Sir."
Skinner said, "No problem, Krycek. You must be a good influence on Mulder. I've never known him to hang around here in the middle of a heat wave for mere paper work. Always before, some bizarre case popped up some place cooler."
Mulder pointed out, "The X Files are closed, sir and I couldn't arrange for any domestic terrorism in a better climate." Skinner pushed his glasses back up; his sweat had made them sink towards the bottom of his nose. He walked over, his eyes following Krycek's cat like stretch with a certain interest and approval that made Mulder frown jealously. Alex didn't notice the A.D.'s attention. He was putting his desk to order with his usual attention to detail. Alex could tell if anyone had even moved a pencil. Mulder approved of the paranoia. It was just one of the ways in which they suited each other. Alex fumbled at his tie, glanced at Skinner, who said, "You're off work. You don't need that, Krycek."
Alex smiled and his eyelashes slid down to shade his eyes very becomingly. Mulder's eyes caught Skinner's glance soften and he wanted to rush his lover away from that gaze. Mulder said, "Come on, Alex, let's stop for a drink someplace where the ice isn't melting and the air conditioners are on."
In the elevator, Mulder pushed for the basement and hoped like hell a brown
out wouldn't leave
them trapped here. He pinned Alex to the wall, his groin rubbing a gentle
message into Alex's as his
fingers held the door-closed button. Mulder growled, "Did you see the way
Skinner was looking at
you?"
Alex stared at him and laughed. Oh, god, that laugh was the rustle of velvet,
the purr of a lion, it
was enough to make Mulder press his lips against that long, elegant neck to
feel the echo of the
vibration fade away. Mulder said, "Three days, Alex, we have three days off.
First holiday we haven't
had to work since I met you. I want you every second of it. I want you some
place where we can go
naked all day if we want. Some place where I can kiss you and no one will
care."
Alex laughed again and he pulled Mulder into a swift embrace before the elevator door opened. They separated. The garage at least was a few degrees cooler. It had been Alex's turn to drive. They had told everyone they were car-pooling to save gas, pointing out that if there were a case to investigate, they would go together in any event. The truth was that Alex had only been to his apartment to grab a few items and check the mail in days. They spend each night in Mulder's bed. Mulder couldn't imagine wanting it any other way. He didn't want to sleep apart. He didn't think his other serious relationships felt this way. He guessed the difference was that he felt...tender toward Alex as well as passionate. He hadn't felt that with Phoebe or with Diana. Maybe it was because they had been the seducers in both cases. Mulder watched Alex slide into the seat beside him and smiled, he had taken the initiative with Alex and he was very glad that he had dared.
In the car, Mulder asked, "So, Alex, will you come with me? I was going to spend Independence Day there anyway, alone."
Alex started the car, reached down to pick up a crumpled sunflower seed bag before he released the brake. He tucked it into a litterbag. Mulder said, "Sorry, I didn't throw it there. It must have fallen from my pocket."
Alex laughed again and said, "If I ever lost you, I'd trail you by the litter that follows you." Alex asked, "You sure you want me for three days, just the two of us?"
Mulder replied, "Yeah, oh, yeah, Alex. Let's go to your place first. You won't need anything fancy. We're going to a cabin that some relatives own. We'll pick up the food we need before we get there. Nothing but lazing in bed and making love."
Alex stretched his neck; he did that when he was uneasy. Mulder patted Alex's knee and said, "Alex, am I pushing you too quickly?"
Alex threw off whatever vagary of mood had made him look so wistful and uncertain. He said, "No, that's not it. I'm just not used to anyone wanting me to be with him. I mean, outside of bed, like, you know."
Mulder said, "Like lovers?"
Alex's smile started as a small curve and then spread in an undulation of joy over his face. He nodded and Mulder noticed for the first time that Alex had dimples. He vowed he would kiss them sometime this weekend. Mulder teased, "Say it, Alex, dare you to."
Alex shook his head, but his eyes glinted with mischief beneath the shadow of his lashes. Then in a husky whisper, he said, 'Okay, Mulder, you want to be with me like lovers do?"
And Mulder replied, achingly, "Yeah, just like that." Alex's eyes held wonder. Mulder found it hard to believe that someone as beautiful as Alex could doubt his worthiness to be loved just as he did. Still, Mulder thought, it was true as if each of them waited for the other.
Alex grabbed a few things. They would shop later on the way. Mulder had already packed. Alex said that he wanted to change. He came out wearing a grin and little else. He wore cut offs, very brief cutoffs. They were frayed and ragged, worn soft so his buttocks were both tightly cupped and almost transparently outlined. He wore sandals and carried a tee shirt in his hand. Mulder had to stared, his gaze starting at the winged beauty of Alex's neck and down, and down, those long, long legs back up to the arrogant bulge below that straining zipper.
Mulder finally ventured, "You going to try to get me arrested for public indecency?"
Alex laughed and said, "Mmm, maybe, Mulder. I just want to kick back and be myself, no ties, no white shirts, no belts."
Mulder added, "Hardly any clothing."
Alex teased, turning around to reveal that the ragged fringes barely concealed the swell of his round cheeks. If he bent down to far, the stout line that centered the garment was going to divide that luscious ass like a lover's hands. "I wanted to wear this for you since the first time I saw you."
Mulder's laughter up easily as he imagined the vision he had first encountered in the bullpen. Alex Krycek, clad like Jimmy Olsen on a bad day, reaching out an eager hand, and almost blushing beneath the bad hair cut; it was hard to reconcile that with this temptation in a scrap of denim. Mulder said, "I was such an ass to you that day. It's a wonder you could even stand me."
Alex said, "Yeah, you were an ass, but, hey, that's part of your charm,
Mulder."
He said, "I'll change if you want. I can wear this where we're going."
Mulder grinned and said, "No, leave it. I want every man and every woman we meet to take a good long look at what they can't have. Cause I got you."
Alex said, "You sure do." He slid the tee shirt on and grabbed his duffel bag and the book he was currently reading. He announced, "Ready."
They shopped at the large town between the city and their destination, picking an array of foods that required little cooking, but which suited their fancy. Alex added marshmallows, Hershey bars and Graham Crackers. Mulder wistfully remembered the last time he had made those with his sister, only a few days before her abduction. Alex caught his change in mood and said, "You don't like S'mores?"
Mulder said, "I love them. Just a good memory of Samantha."
Alex frowned and said, "You sure? I don't want you to be sad. I want this to be perfect."
Mulder said, "It will be."
They loaded their eclectic collection into the rented jeep and set off for
the cabin. Mulder took over
the driving at this point. Alex looked sleepy. He had wanted to finish a
surveillance transcription last
night. Then, even though it had been very late, they had made love, drawing the
foreplay out long
into the night.
Alex needed more sleep than Mulder did and he had only a few hours before the
alarm clock had
demanded they wake. Now, Alex threw back his head against the seat rest,
tilting the seat back as far
as it would go. "I'm going to take a nap if you don't mind." He announced.
Mulder replied, "No, get some rest." A few minutes later, Alex was asleep, his lips parted as his slow, deep breaths emerged. His eyelashes fluttered, the dark lids moved as if he was already dreaming. Mulder hoped that Alex was having good dreams. He had nightmares sometimes like Mulder did; terrors, which ripped him screaming from his sleep and sent him to Mulder's arms to be soothed back over long moments back into rest. Mulder was proud of the way he could calm his lover and he wondered what it had been like for Alex before they had found each other...
Stopped by a light, Mulder used the opportunity to study Alex, thinking
that he would never tire of
this subject. One of Alex's long legs was propped against the door; the other
lulled away so the tight
cutoffs barely covered the essentials. Mine, Mulder thought, peeking at the
golden expanse of skin
exposed. A pick-up truck taller than the jeep pulled up next to them at the
light. Alex uttered a sleepy
contented sound as his hand tumbled lower on his body, resting below his naval,
thumb catching on
the sweat darkened waistband of his cutoffs. His stretched back position
revealed the incantations of
his flesh, the call of the lithe muscle indenting the ribs, the swells and
hollows of Alex, glossy with the
sheen of his sweat. The zipper had worked partially down after Alex unbuttoned
the fly. If you looked
closely as Mulder did, you could see a black curl trying to spring loose.
The women in the car were possibly twenty, a blond and a brunette, both wearing scraps of material even less substantial then Alex's denim loincloth. On a normal day, Mulder would have been very happy to feast his eyes on all the bouncy female flesh that was exposed. One of the women, the blond driver was leaning out her window. A horn blast complaining about the length of the light blotted out her comment. Mulder frowned as Alex stirred in his sleep, startling, but not entirely waking. Mulder listened for the woman's question, expecting to hear that a tail light was out or a request for directions which would have been a very foolish move on her part as Scully or Alex could both testify that he could just barely navigate from his apartment to the office without a wrong turn. The woman dipped her sunglasses and shouted, "Oh, honey, do us a favor and slide that zipper the rest of the way down."
Mulder indulged in a faint gesture as if he was really going to do it. The light changes and he lead footed the pedal with a saucy, "In your dream, baby, this one is mine." He laughed and when he glanced in the mirror, to his surprise, the blond was flashing him a power sign. Oh, yeah, this day was a good one!
At the turn off to the cabin, Mulder took out the silk scarf and said, "Now, I blindfold you."
Alex smirked and replied, "What's next? Tying up?"
Mulder said, "Maybe. If you're naughty, I want you to see where we are going all at once. You're going to love this."
Alex submitted. He did look piquant there; nearly naked, sweat trickling down his glowing body, and the black silk tied around his beautiful head. Mulder couldn't resist a kiss, stopping as they rounded the first of many curves. The cabin hadn't changed a bit since the last time that Mulder had borrowed it. He had brought Diana up here. That was a regret now. He wished he could have saved it for Alex. Well, by the end of the next three days, he hoped he would never see this place without thinking of his beloved.
Mulder parked next to the cabin and grinned as he thought about the next part of his plan. Alex opened the jeep's door and sat there. He asked, "Can I take this blindfold off now?"
Mulder said, "Not yet. Wait. I have some place I want you to see. The blindfold will make it perfect. Trust me."
Mulder led Alex out of the car and around the back of the cabin. The path was well maintained. Money can buy good service on occasion and the people who owned this place insisted on buying the best. The path was spread with bark and under laid with pebbles. Other wise, the surroundings were untouched until they crossed a tiny covered log bridge over the stream that ran through the property. Mulder whispered, "What do you hear, Alex? How does this feel?"
Mulder watched Alex's nostrils flare as he strained his other senses to take in his location. Alex said, "I hear water. It's running fast and there's a bird singing. Mmm, insects and a breeze, just a little one." Alex smiled and added, "I know we're on a bridge because I can hear water all around us. There's coolness too. It feels so good." Alex whispered, "And I can hear your breathing change as you look at me. That feels even better."
That deserved a kiss. Mulder rewarded both of them with one. They stood in the shade of the wooden arch, the shadow made Alex's face a mystery beyond that of the blindfolded eyes. Mulder's hands traveled slowly up and down the sleek sides until they rested on the small of Alex's back. His thumbs worked their way under the waistband until Mulder could feel the swell of Alex's cheeks. When Alex's knees begin to sag, he knew it was time to move on.
The path grew narrower and steeper. The green of the place was fierce, unchecked. A riot of flowers still tangled in the long grass. The air was heady, sweet with the smell of lush vegetation. Something sweet was in bloom. Birds startled as they walked, shooting out of the vegetation with sudden bursts. Alex gripped his hand harder the first time it happened but relaxed as he realized what the sound was. Mulder had to go a little ahead and reach back to guide Alex. It thrilled him that Alex didn't try once to loosen the covering on his eyes. Alex trusted him. Mulder wondered if he would ever have been able to do this even for his lover. They climbed up the rocky summit until they stood above the silver rush of water.
Mulder waited a moment as they stood on the brink. He had to have one final kiss before untying the silken knot. Alex understood; his whole body leaned into Mulder's, offering himself as a sacrifice. Mulder's felt a sting of tears in his eyes. Alex was so beautiful. This place framed him as he deserved; it was wild, sweet, untamed, incandescent in its loveliness. Mulder swiftly untied the blindfold as their lips parted. Alex swayed and Mulder gladly embraced him, supporting him until the sensation passed.
Mulder watched the beauty register in Alex's eyes. Alex's lips parted as he drew in a swift, deep breath. The green eyes matched the surroundings, whirling in the almost unbearable clarity of this moment. Alex reached for Mulder's hand as it lay across his belly. He squeezed it, a silent message as he drank in this offering. Mulder stood with his chin resting against Alex's shoulder. His cheer lay against Alex's as he held him closely.
When Alex finally spoke, his words were simple, "Mulder, oh, Mulder, thank-you."
Alex turned gradually so they remained fully in contact at each second. Alex swayed as if intoxicated by the beauty, by their passion, by this transitory paradise. The sun dappled his skin as it shone through the branches of a gnarled oak on the cliff above. Mulder raised Alex's hands, cupped by his own and kissed them. Alex's eyes conveyed so much. He stepped closer and then they were in each other's arms again.
They walked down the path together. Alex paused looking back, the black silk scarf twisting absently through his strong hands. He whispered, "So beautiful, and you brought me here. You wanted me here."
Mulder held out his hand and said, "Yeah, ever since that first night I dreamt of bringing you here. This place was made for you, Alex."
Alex shook his head and said, "Oh, I think it will be as beautiful when we're long gone. But, you know, I like that too. I like to think of lovers past and lovers to come, sharing as you shared with me."
Mulder smiled at that. They were just different enough to delight each other with the oddities of their perceptions. He had never met anyone better suited to him. He felt a stab of guilt as he briefly recalled his interrupted partnership with Scully. He didn't mean disloyalty to her. It was just that Alex intoxicated him. Where Scully made him question himself; Alex fulfilled him. Mulder shrugged the feeling away. In the best of worlds, he would have both partners. Someday, perhaps, Mulder thought, but there would never be anyone who tantalized and satisfied like Alex.
Now that they had satisfied their hunger for beauty, there were practical matters, unloading groceries, inspecting the cabin, turning on the generator so they could indulge in electrical lights, and making the resplendent bed in the sunlit bedroom. Those tasks done, they showered, each one's hand slipping soap-slick over the other's body. "I'd know you anywhere," Mulder thought as he memorized the texture of his lover's back, petted the few silken hairs that decorated the chest. Mulder settled his lover against the wall, Alex leaning forward, body an elegant bow and his cock, just rising; the arrow of his desire. Teasing, Mulder tickled under Alex's arms, bidding him, "Got to stay still or we won't get out and try the bed." Mulder nuzzled the softness below. Clean, Alex still had a musk to him; some uniqueness that was just him. Alex writhed as Mulder flicked out a tongue to taste him. Mulder purred, "Just right now. Come here."
One of them turned off the water. Alex stepped away then he fled swiftly, his laughing face turned back a moment to be sure that Mulder chased. Mulder timed the tackle to perfection; plummeting both of them down into the soft welcome of the soft bed. He kissed and nibbled along Alex's neck, suckled on the softness just below Alex's small, pointed ears. Surprising him with his strength, Alex turned suddenly, almost lifting him fully into the air before flipping Mulder over with a scissoring wrestling move.
Mulder chuckled and said, "Wrestling team?"
Alex nodded and licked his lips. "Like my moves?"
Mulder replied, "Vastly, now you have me here, pinned down; should do something, take advantage, ravish me." His words deepened with his desire.
Alex scooted up, still holding back Mulder's arms. He said, "I could just eat you up; you look so good."
Mulder lifted his legs invitingly and said, "Hell of a good idea."
Alex's mouth briefly found Mulder's and his wicked tongue flicked in and teased, promising everything. Alex kissed his shoulder blades, his mouth nibbled and sucked on the inside of Mulder's elbows until each sensitized field of flesh decided it was a new erogenous zone. Mulder's body was smoldering with desire before Alex even cupped his quivering ball sac, caressing that until Mulder wanted to force Alex's head up to his pulsating need. Alex's tongue explored the underside of Mulder's cock, before tracing it higher. One small kiss on the head nearly made him leap from the bed. Then he was drowning his conflagration in Alex's mouth, the rythmm intense; a relief that he was more then ready to need.
Mulder wondered how it could feel like this, his pleasure a maddening climb and his body driven to the extreme of need. Coming this way felt like an explosion of bliss. His flesh was a consumption, a blaze consuming all until he gasped at the end of it, looking up into Alex's face, gazing at him as seriously and intently as the smooth features of a graven idol. Mulder tugged Alex down for a kiss. He was exhausted and even knowing that he should be giving back; all he could do was to wrap Alex in his arms and hold him; hold him as if they both were falling and it was moments to the ground, a brief suspension to express everything he felt. And, it must have been love, because Alex laid his wet face against Mulder's neck and it was enough for him.
Perhaps that mental image of falling was the seed of the nightmare. Mulder half knew that he dreamt. He woke aware from diffused light that he was back in his own apartment. He knew it was Alex's body, moving away from him that woke him. He reached out catching Alex's hand, rendered speechless by this dream. His body was leaden, heavy anchored with that terrifying paralysis which was inflicted by sleep. Alex's expression changed. At first, Mulder saw the face he had woken to see the second night that they had spent together. He remembered abruptly waking and seeing Alex sitting up, looking at him with an absolute perfection of longing and it had been unbearably sweet to the point of almost pain to draw him near and make love to him until he had healed the grief entirely.
Mulder wanted to do that again, but Alex tugged away, terror inundating his eyes, a cold sweat of fear shivering from his dear body. Some voice was calling Alex. It was smoothly smoky, a serpentine venom of a sound. "Alex, come away. Alex, leave him."
Alex's hand knotted tightly in his and Mulder tried to speak, tried to say, 'Stay, don't listen."
The voice grew stronger, like the lash of a whip leaping forward and Mulder
saw that the darkness
in his room was no natural thing. It was an oily, creeping miasma, like smoke,
but more palpable. He
wanted to scream as he saw tendrils reach the bed. God, Alex's leg was over the
side lost in that evil,
seething stuff.
Alex's hand was losing its grip on Mulder's. His other hand grasped on the
bedding, white knuckled,
shaking with fear and effort. Mulder saw a tentacle of the amorphous evil close
on Alex's wrist. He was
being dragged away. Now, Mulder's one hand was all that held him and the mass
of smoke retreated,
taking Alex with it. Alex's face was turning away, resignation replacing the
terror. Mulder wanted to
tell him to hold on, hold tighter, but words, his facile, easy, language failed
him entirely. Mulder felt
a sharp tug and his grip broke. He was not strong enough to keep Alex from the
encroaching
darkness. He had failed, again, always failed, and the fingertips just brushed
him lightly before they
too were taken and the black horror oozed away inch-by-inch, taking Alex with
it as the light grew in
the room. Alex never entirely looked away until he was swallowed entirely into
the void and the
room was bright now, well-lit and vacant of all that had any meaning; just
Mulder, just Mulder alone.
Now in the emptiness, too late, Mulder screamed, "Alex, Alex!" and Mulder sat up in the bed, reaching for his lover, a moment of de-je-vue striking as he found the bed vacant just as happened in his dream. He tumbled out of bed, looking for his lover. It was a small cabin and searching in didn't take long. He ran out the door. The jeep was still as haphazardly parked as he had left it, but someone had dug in the luggage. Mulder noted that one of the beach towels was missing and he grinned in relief. Mulder grabbed his own towel, the one with Thanks For All The Fish, printed on it over a parade of dolphins leaping off earth into space.
Mulder headed up the trail, naked except for his sandals. As he turned down the incline, he slowed, half intending to leap upon Alex and give him the scare he deserved in exchange for the fright Mulder had felt when he woke up alone. His intent became a wisp floated away on the languid breeze as he caught sight of his lover.
Mulder's toes caught the edge of Alex's towel and the inside out pair of
cutoffs that were tossed upon
it. He crouched silently as if stalking something wild as he saw Alex. Alex
gleamed in the waters of
the minuscule waterfall. The water cascaded off his shoulders and shimmered
lovingly down his body.
His legs were braced slightly apart on a pair of flat rocks. He held his
balance like a dancer as his face
lifted, eyes closed, lashes spiked like exotic feathers, lips parted, and his
expression ecstatic, a male
Danae, ravished by a shower of silver instead of gold. His nipples were tightly
furled rosebuds,
crinkled from the cold. At last, he moved a slow ripple of his hands down his
body, stroking his sun
kissed flesh, exploring the smooth muscles and the satin skin as Mulder loved
to do. He smiled, white
teeth shining in the bright reflection from the broken waters.
His lips parted in a word as his hands made love to his shivering skin. Mulder
greedily concentrated
until he saw the lips were forming his name.
Mulder couldn't resist another moment. He said, "Alex, Alex, come here."
Alex opened his eyes from his waking dream and his smile broadened in delight. "Mulder!" he said, as if surprised. "Mulder, I was just wishing you were awake."
Mulder admitted, "I'm not sure that I am. When I saw you just now, I couldn't believe how beautiful you are. You didn't seem real."
Alex emerged from the water, dashing it off his skin. His lips were blue-tinged and Mulder almost felt the urge to scold him for chilling himself to this degree, but instead, Mulder enfolded him in his own towel and in his arms. His heated flesh, his rising cock embraced the cool shivers and Mulder rubbed vigorously with the towel, kneeling to dry each long, lovely leg. Alex's foot rested on his knee as Mulder dried it and Alex looked down at him, enigmatic smile resting on those succulent lips. Alex's toes caressed Mulder's thigh lightly and then he knelt, sinking down almost instantly to lie upon the spread towel.
His voice, a husky growl, Alex said, "If you don't make love to me right now, right here, I think that I'll die."
The sun warmed them. The rush of water shielded the sounds of their love. As the day finally cooled, a vapor arose from the cascade of the waterfall. It touched their skin, still hot from the sun, heated from each other. No one saw them. There was no intrusion- yet if any had saw; it would have seemed a repeated vision, a mirage of lovers dreamt of the earth. This was one perfect moment, and the lens of time caught it here, repeating so their love, total, at the height of their passion and adoration would never be lost, this perfect moment...
In Saecula Saeculorum...
