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Cops, Double Agents, and UFOs
by Ursula


"Rickkeee..."

Ricky Caruso buried himself deeper under his pillow. Angelina's shrill voice undulated higher, "RICKEEEE!! Your phone is ringing."

Ricky gave up and slowly crawled out from under the feather pillow he was using as a shield. Blearily, he rolled over and fumbled for his phone. A tinny thud and a sloshing sound meant he had forgotten to throw away the can of beer he had carried into his bedroom.

Scalli, of course, it was Scalli...The commissioner said, "Half the unit is down with the flu. I need you in now."

Ricky pleaded, "Commissioner Scalli, it's Sunday and I was out late last night."

Scalli remarked, "Caruso, if you think that the FBI will only call you on weekdays, you are very, very wrong."

Shit, Ricky thought, that again. It was a stupid idea anyway. Ricky barely squeezed through a third rate college after spending a three years at a community college. Three years because his high school years were preoccupied with sports, cars, and chasing girls. Even with two good sponsors, he'd be damn lucky if he ever were selected for the academy. Still, Ricky got out of bed and staggered to the shower. Angelina was already dressed and heading for the door. She turned to him and said, "Ricky, like I said, that was a good bye thing. I like you, but I'm not going to be a cop's wife."

Ricky winced. He didn't remember asking her if she wanted to be a cop's wife. He didn't think he was husband material. He blushed as he remembered an occasion a few months back that indicated he was far from ready to settle down with a good woman. If that meant anything, Ricky still had some interesting facets of himself to explore before that happened if it ever happened.

Ricky managed a soulful look and said, "I understand, Angelina. I really understand."

Angelina sidled over and kissed him thoroughly again. She said, "Be brave, Ricky."

Ricky just barely managed to avoid a laugh at that line. He said, "I will."

Ricky shook his head as he turned on the shower. Make mental note.... do not ever, ever, start relationship with woman whose voice was a bad blend of Lucy Arnez and Seinfield's. Ricky finished a quick shower and grabbed his not quite clean uniform from the hanger. Hell, if Commissioner Scalli made him work seven days a week then he better not expect clean uniforms every day.

Ricky got a rookie for a partner. She was so bright and earnest that he felt like he didn't need the dome light despite the fog that had draped over the city. Officer Harnish was blond, pert, and attractive in a wholesome way. She had a cute round face, fair, flawless complexion, and big blue eyes. She looked like a cheerleader and she bounced in her seat like a kid being given a joyride in a cop car for career days. Man, and people said Ricky was wet behind the ears!"

Ricky let the flow of words from the radio ease through his mind until he heard, "Car 54, motorist reports vehicle driving erratically on East River Drive. Do you copy?'

Ricky responded, "Car 54 responding."

Sally Harnish said, "All right, my first bust."

Ricky laughed and said, "You have to be kidding!"

"No, really." His ponytail-wearing companion chirped. She said, "I wasn't even supposed to start until next week. This is so great!"

Ricky rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, great..."

He turned onto East River, careful of the jack knife curves that characterized the road. "Shitttt!"

What ever it was, it was big, bright and blinding. It swooped up as the car stalled lights flooding the interior. Every hair on Ricky's body stood up...last time that had happened was the last time he had kissed Alex Krycek. Ricky's ears filled with rushing sounds. He held onto the steering wheel by sheer will power. He managed to park the car on the side of the road. Harnish scrambled out with him. She grabbed his arm and yelled over the loud beat of some enormous engine, "Caruso, look over there..."

Shit! Ricky craned his neck to watch a van slowly rise into the air. After a few moments, the van lowered with a heavy thump to the road. The driver's door opened and a heavy- set man staggered out. He ran toward the two officers, waving sweater-clad arms about.

"Help me! You have to help me!" the man screamed. He turned back around as the sound intensified. Despite a high-pitched wailing protest, the man was pulled back toward the light; his body moving forward a jerking step at a time.

Ricky covered his ears and squinted his eyes as the whining sound from the ship increased. He thought it sounded as if the light contained some gigantic hive of angry bees. He tried to move forward anyway to save the man from what he knew must be a UFO, but he found that his legs seemed paralyzed and he could only move forward one slow stride at a time. Finally, it was if he had hit some invisible barrier. He could watch through partially opened eyes as the man was drawn up into the incandescent circle of brightness...

xx

Later that day, Ricky rubbed his eyes and groped for some of the squad room coffee. He must have only had two hours of sleep before Scalli had called him to come in for the unscheduled workday. Scalli had that good humored, ‘Oh Ricky, you are so funny' smirk on his face. God, nice guy or not, what Ricky wouldn't do to wipe that expression off the sweet rotund features.

"UFO?" Scalli remarked with a tittering laugh. "Officer Harnish said that you hit a patch of ice after some head lights shone directly into your vehicle. She says that she was dizzy and can't say for sure what happened next until you brought her to the emergency room."

Ricky frowned and tugged on his uniform pants. He didn't think that Harnish was lying, but her reaction to the UFO was entirely different then his. She had seemed hypnotized by the lights and he genuinely believed that she had not seen anything of the alien ship nor of the abduction. Ricky wiggled in the chair and mentally asked, "Why him?"

All he had ever wanted was to be like his father and uncles, good Italian cops and solid family men. But all of his life he had been different and now he wondered about what Alex Krycek had claimed. Maybe he was a changeling...a cuckoo in his parent's nest. This latest event just about had him convinced.

Ricky asked himself, how would Alex Krycek handle this?

A moment later he offered a sweet disarming smile to Scalli and said, "Yeah, I guess so. I just let my imagination run away from me. Hey, did they find the driver yet?"

The van they had spotted was found wrapped around a telephone pole. It was registered to Rumford Emerson, a biochemist. There was no blood on the car so Scalli thought that the driver might have just wandered away. Scalli had said the guy's wife had just served divorce papers on him, his girl friend was pregnant, and he was on the verge of being fired from his job. If Ricky had made the bust and Emerson had been drunk, he would have spent at least a year in jail since he was still on a suspended sentence from another DWI. That was powerful motivation to leave the car, leave the city, and walk away from the shambles of his life.

Scalli said, "No, and I doubt that they will. I think that Emerson just walked away from a disastrous life. Either that or he crawled away like a wounded animal, looking for a place to die."

Scalli stood up and came around to Ricky's side of the desk. He draped a pudgy arm around Ricky's shoulders and said, "Ricky, you're a good cop and I know that you're smarter than you let on. Imagination can get to you sometimes and I have to admit that I've been working you too hard. Take the rest of the day off. " Scalli walked away but shot over his shoulder, "Sorry, I still need you tomorrow. That's the problem with being as healthy as you are, kid. You got to work when everyone else is holed up between the bed and the john."

Ricky looked at the clock and let a cynical smile flit over his face. Two hours from the maximum amount of work hours a cop could put in anyway. Oh well, he had time to grab something to eat. He'd do that and hit the sack. Tomorrow had to be better then today.

xx

It wasn't. Ricky heard the snickering from the moment that he hit the door. He was sitting on the bench in the locker room, trying to blot syrup from his last semi-clean pair of uniform pants. He had driven though McDonald's for breakfast. The little syrup container had not wanted to open until he jerked the tab hard, spilling the sticky brown stuff all over his lap.

Ricky looked up and saw Tony, grinning like an idiot. The commish's favorite cop dropped a newspaper next to Richie. "Caruso, you're a star! Mr. Punch wrote up your amazing adventure."

Ricky sat there with his pants, draped over his lap, barely covering the old worn thin briefs he had pulled on half asleep. Mr. Punch was supposed to write local color, heart-warming stories and humor. Hell, Ricky could have done most of the swelled head's stories before breakfast. Ricky winced as he read the column. His misadventure took up the whole thing.

All day long everywhere Ricky went, guys whistled the repetitive notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind or asked him if he busted any little green men lately. Ricky kept a line on his temper, but he sure and hell was going to show these guys. Yeah, and he knew exactly who he could get to help him. Ricky was going to solve this case whether anyone believed him or not.

Well, yeah, who you gonna call? Ghost-busters was apparently unlisted. Ricky just knew that Mulder was stationed in Washington DC. He hesitated and then dialed the number. He said, "I'm calling for Agent Mulder."

"Are you from the National Enquirer?"

Ricky said, "No, I'm a friend. We worked on a case together."

More like a case of Scotch...but Ricky figured that wouldn't get him past the receptionist as quickly as claiming a professional relationship.

"Mulder." The familiar voice said.

Ricky shivered. Oh, man, how could any voice that bland and bored sounding seem so sexy? All he knew was that his cock stood up and begged at the two laconic syllables. Ricky said, "Uh, it's Ricky Caruso..."

"Ricky!" Mulder sounded interested now.

Ricky peeled his suddenly too tight collar from his constricted and sweating neck. He said, "Yeah, Mulder, it's me."

Mulder cheerfully said, "I was hoping you would call. I had a certain someone check on you, make sure you were okay after we dropped you off. I understand that you are a candidate for Quantico."

Ricky said, "Well, I don't expect that they'll actually pick me, but I do have an interview. Your AD Skinner is putting in a good word. He and my Commish are pals."

Mulder asked, "What can I do for you besides staying far away out of your life?"

Ricky replied, "What makes you think I want you to stay away? In fact, I hope that you see me really soon. Mulder, I saw a UFO."

"What?" Ricky could picture Mulder's eyes lighting with interest and his sulky lower lip pulling tight as he started to chew on it.

Ricky said, "Do you believe me? I was stupid enough to say what I thought it was and man, they all laughed themselves silly."

Mulder laughed and said, "Hey, Ricky, just tell everyone that you were mistaken. Tell them it was a weather balloon, lights reflecting off fog...anything but what you know that you saw. I'm serious. If you expect to have a chance in the FBI, don't talk about UFO"S and don't admit that you know me."

Ricky leaned back in his chair and rocked on the back legs. He said, "Well, okay, I remember Alex giving you a hard time about that Spooky stuff. But can you come down anyway? You can say you read about it in the paper. This stupid airhead heard the radio talk when I was radioing for help and did this gag column on it. I can take being laughed at Mulder even if I don't like it. But this isn't funny."

Mulder said, "I know. Alex sent me the article. Sounds like they think that your abducted motorist just took a hike. I can see why...a divorce, job problems, girl friend pregnant..."

Ricky brought his chair back to rest on four legs and said, "Yeah, well that would make sense, but I saw the guy being carried away by a beam of light. I know it sounds crazy, but it really happened. So, Mulder, can you check it out?"

Mulder said, "Of course, I will. Listen, I am stuck here until I have this meeting about my last case...Skinner said if I duck out one more time, he can't do anything to save my ass. But our mutual friend isn't doing anything except hiding from his boss. He may as well hide out with you. I'm not working this weekend and I'll see if Skinner will give me a couple days off. I just need to make sure that he doesn't think that I'm running off to investigate something on my own."

Ricky decided not to mention that Mulder was doing exactly that. Alex had told him last Christmas that Skinner had the hots for Mulder. Ricky decided that wasn't a joke. Why else would the guy put up with all of Mulder's shit? Hmm, he wondered...nah, even if Scalli was interested.... some things were just not worth even having your boss on your side.

Ricky said, "Okay, I live at..."

Mulder said, "Oh, don't bother. He'll find you."

Ricky smiled in relief and said, "Listen, I got to work now. Hey, when you get down, you have to see my bed. Got one of those king sized jobs."

Mulder said, "Oh, yeah, sounds good...see you soon, Ricky."

Ricky hung up the phone. Well, hell, even if he didn't find out what happened, there was that big bed and no more wishful thinking about why he bought it. Ricky sat back and grinned.

Stan, looking like the walking dead, slumped next to Ricky and said, "What are you so happy about?"

Ricky let loose a chuckle from the soles of his feet to the top of his wavy hair. He said, "Stan, Christmas is going to come very early this year."

Stan stared at him and then shook his head. He said, "Caruso, you're crazy, but we still have a patrol to drive. Ricky just grinned.

Nothing unusual for the rest of the day other than the dumb little green man jokes from the guy at the hot dog stand, the ho who picked the wrong spot to open shop, and the three teenagers they caught breaking and entering. Ricky devoutly hoped attention spans were as short as everyone said that they were. Since Ricky was covering a shift and a half, it was late and he was dead tired when he walked in the door. He didn't even eat. He just hit the shower, poured into bed, and dissolved into sleep.

An indefinite time later, Ricky smelled good coffee and something sweet. He opened his eyes and saw black leather, green eyes, a cup of coffee, and a smile. "Alex," he purred out. "Oh, man, you are beautiful. Gimme that coffee and I'll marry you."

Alex blinked his long lashes and said, "Shit, and here I am without a diamond cock ring to mark our engagement. Okay, coffee, sweet rolls."

Alex put the tray on the shaky bed table and stretched. He said, "Been on the road since Mulder called me. I'm going to hit the sack."

Alex stripped out of the jacket, wiggled out of the black long sleeved tee shirt he was wearing and then proceeded to coax the tight jeans off. Ricky paused sweet roll in hand to watch. He'd never dare wear jeans that tight. Man, you could see everything and even more revealing, one sexy inch at a time. Ricky thought that Alex could have made it rich stripping before he lost his arm. Hell, even with the disfigurement, Ricky figured some guys and gals would still pay. Ricky watched closely, thinking that if he tried for a million years, he couldn't get that sexy hip shimmy right. Alex stood for a moment stretching, arching his back, his hand slipping down his naked skin, his eyes dreamily on some unseen lover. Ricky sighed. He would never, never be confident about his body as Alex.

Alex said, "Hey, Ricky, get your ass out of bed and come help me wash my back."

Ricky wasn't sure about that, but Alex glared at him and he scrambled out of bed obediently. He shed the gym shorts that he had slept in and joined Alex in the shower. His look alike was stretching and rolling in the water, holding his face up to it as if he hadn't enjoyed such a luxury in a while. Ricky hesitantly touched Alex's back and then grabbed his loofah to gently scrub. Alex sighed and relaxed into his touch. "Feels so good." He purred.

Ricky guiltily thought about what this looked like. Hell, they might be brothers for all that Ricky knew. Or what had Alex said he was at first...a clone? Hmm, well, if that was what he was then this was just masturbation. Right. But it did feel so nice. Ricky picked a spot on Alex's shoulder, a hollow defined by the swell of muscle, and kissed Alex there. Alex leaned back against him, nestling, exhaling softly. Alex said, "If I wasn't so tired..."

Ricky said, "Yeah, me too. We're sick puppies aren't we?"

Alex chuckled and said, "That's what Mulder sees in us, the pervert."

Neither of them dressed. They lay drowsily on Ricky's bed, an occasional smooth stroke down a back or soft rub across a firm ass reminding one or the other that they weren't alone. Alex fell asleep first. Ricky watched him for a while, pleased that Alex trusted him enough to sleep in his bed. Of course, Alex had also trusted Ricky with his Mulder so Alex must really like him. Ricky spooned around his double and relaxed into sleep.

Ricky woke up alone. He showered and came out to find Alex reading his file on the incident with the UFO. Alex had left his prosthetic arm off and still wasn't dressed. Ricky noted in the morning light that Alex still bore red marks on his neck. Mulder had some oral issues all right. Ricky went to pour himself a cup of coffee. He knew better than to pester Alex. His double could be a royal bitch if you tried to push him too hard.

Finally, Alex closed the file and said, "Did you see them?"

Ricky shrugged and said, "Not really."

Alex asked, "What does not really mean?"

Ricky confessed, "Okay, I caught a glimpse."

Alex frowned and said, "Come on. Pretend that you're Mulder and give me the whole lecture tour spiel on it."

Ricky said, "You're going to laugh at me."

Alex rolled his eyes and said, "Kid, that's not the worse thing that I'm thinking about doing to you. Come on. You want help or not?"

Ricky sulked for a moment before saying. "I'll tell you if you promise not to laugh and you stop calling me "Kid"."

Alex smirked and said, "Kid isn't bad. Hey, I let Skinner call me boy."

Ricky raised his brow. "Yeah? Hmm, how was he?"

Alex said, "My bedtime story after yours. Okay, were they gray? Or maybe looked like people but had sewed up orifices?"

Ricky said, "No. Um, they had tentacles and thick wrinkly skin. They had a tentacle like thing above their mouths and uh, really big, floppy ears. They had pillar like legs and arms. Small eyes surrounded by pouch-like skin. And they were huge. Three times bigger than a human." In a very small voice, Ricky added, "And they were pink."

Alex choked on a drink of coffee. He covered his face with a napkin, turning redder and redder, but holding in the sound. Alex gasped, "Excuse me a minute."

Ricky remarked, "Shit, I just had to tell him."

Alex came back looking serious and earnest. Ricky would have to memorize that expression to use on Scalli the next time that he screwed up and on his aunts when they asked him when he was going to get married.

Alex said, "Okay, your drunk was abducted by elephant like pink beings. We'll go check out the site later. I have to borrow some equipment."

Alex returned, driving a black van. Inside the vehicle, Ricky found a high tech crime lab. He asked, "Alex, where did you borrow this?"

"Batman...damn, I don't mind dressing up as Robin, but that spandex really makes you sweat."

Ricky realized that was all he was going to get. Hell, maybe it was even true. In a world where he got to screw Fox Mulder and pink elephants abducted drunks, maybe Batman did exist.

The scene of the abduction was quiet. Scraps of yellow crime tape blew about, catching on the broken branches that littered the street. Alex knelt, scanning the area with a metal box. Ricky stood back, admiring the way his double moved. The one thing really rat like about Alex was the way his alert eyes seemed to absorb every detail of a scene instantly. Ricky wondered if Alex would have enjoyed continuing to be an FBI agent if he had the will to choose? Ricky knew he couldn't imagine a different career. It was what he always wanted...to be a cop, even when he had been that stupid teenager, concentrating on scoring points and scoring with girls.

Alex finally finished his esoteric tasks. He said, "Well, you weren't joking. There are some odd traces of radiation here."

Ricky said, "Yeah, I told you so. Hey, could I prove something odd was here if I get one of those?"

Alex stood up and put away the machine. He said, "Maybe. But just maybe it would get you the attention of some people you really don't want thinking about you."

Ricky said, "Well, if you aren't going to help me prove what I saw, why did you come down?"

Alex shrugged and said, "It's your neck. It's up to you."

Ricky grouched, "You say that like my mom used to just before she'd lock up my bike."

Alex said, "Come on. Let's go eat. Then, we hit the good computer in my rat-mobile and look for patterns."

Alex chose a steak place, uptown of where Ricky's budget kept him from grazing. Ricky watched Alex prowl into the place. He was only wearing blue jeans, a faded brown leather jacket, and a black tee shirt, but something about him made the maitre de hurry them to a table. Alex flirted with the waitress, eyed the woman at the next table, and made the maitre de blush, giving him a limpid green eyed stare when he came back to make sure that the gentleman was being well served. Ricky couldn't have pulled any of it off in a thousand years. And the thing was that Alex didn't even seem to be doing it on purpose. It was just part of him, as natural as breathing.

Alex wouldn't talk business while they were eating. Ricky had too many questions and not only about the UFO. However, food was food and this was good. People kept telling him he would lose his fast metabolism any day now. Well, Alex must be ten years older at least and he hadn't slowed yet. Ricky stole the last bite of chocolate amaretto cheesecake and leaned back with a contented sigh.

Once they returned to the van, Ricky said, "Alex, I have to tell you something."

Alex said, "I could tell. Man, you are not exactly a closed book, Ricky."

Ricky said, "I know. This is it. My cousin, Marco, has cancer. They wanted to test everybody for a good bone marrow match. And when I had mine; they said we were so bad a match that it was unlikely that we're even related. I had some more tests run and that's right. My mom and dad weren't my biological parents."

Alex nodded. He said, "Yeah, I know. I didn't think it was a fluke that we looked alike. The day you were born there were a lot of kids in the nursery. Two dark haired boys with light eyes. A full nursery and an inexperienced nurse's aid. It happens."

Ricky felt the world get a little colder and darker. He shuddered and said, "What happened to their real kid?"

Alex shrugged and replied, "Who knows? Maybe some other family is wondering why their kid doesn't look like them."

Ricky could tell Alex didn't really think so, but he didn't want to push his friend. Alex always seemed to be hanging back and taking a good look before he encouraged someone else to take the first leap. Still, even though Mulder was the one with the roar, Alex was the one Ricky wouldn't want to cross.

Alex was silent when they returned to the van. He plugged into the computer, adapted to a technique that made some use of his prosthetic, but mostly using his one real hand on the keyboard. It was interesting at first. Mulder said that Alex was a master at hacking. Ricky imagined his counterpart sneaking on little RAM feet through all kinds of secrets. However, there was a limit to that as entertainment. Ricky groaned and said, "Alex, you getting anything?"

Alex said, "Hmm? Well, a little. Tell you what... it's working so we can go do something. Go back to your place."

Alex immediately stripped, leaving his clothes for Ricky to pick up. Alex rang up Mulder and flopped on the bed. Ricky hung up the jacket, put the rest in the laundry and decided to join Alex.

Alex cradled the phone under his chin and traced Ricky's face with his hand. "Muuhhlder," He purred. "Hey, babe, you missing me?"

Alex blinked his long lashes as if Mulder could see and said, "Yeah, I'm being good. Not even doing anything with Ricky."

Sounding injured, Alex said a moment later, "Hey, of course, you should believe me. You wanna ask Ricky? No? Okay."

A smile warmed Alex's face. He said, "What did you think I'm wearing? Yeah, skin. Ricky? Him too. We were just relaxing. When you going to get that pretty ass down here? I miss you."

Alex sighed and grinned at Ricky. He said, "Mulder says he'll be here tonight. He's at the airport now."

Ricky smiled back. Mulder... he just didn't know what there was about Mulder. Hey, if Mulder didn't belong to Alex then Ricky would be tempted to swear off women for good. Alex segued off into a secret language of sorts... lot's of semi-articulate sounds and little breathy sounds. It made Ricky hard just listening to it. He wished he hadn't just heard Alex promise to wait for Mulder.

Finally finished and unashamedly hard, Alex put away the phone and said, "He said to give you a kiss."

The two of them knelt on the bed a moment before Alex slid his hand gently around Ricky's neck to bring him closer. Not mistaking that this was no brotherly kiss...Alex started by just looking into Ricky's eyes. His eyes, exactly the same as Ricky's seemed wistful, lost. Ricky just had to reach out, trace the lines of Alex's face, smooth the eyelids closed. Alex leaned closer. Their lips brushed, a wisp of a kiss, hardly more than a movement of air across Ricky's lips. Ricky drew Alex closer and claimed a harder kiss.

Alex moved his lips from side to side, brushing Ricky's mouth in a teasing pattern. Ricky slid his hands up to still Alex's movement. Alex opened his lips, inviting. Ricky flicked the tip of his tongue to play with Alex's. Alex sucked on it, reminding Ricky of how clever that mouth was, how good it felt on Ricky's cock. Ricky moaned, letting the vibration pass between them. The kiss grew deeper until they fell apart, both painfully aware of the fire between their legs demanding satiation.

Alex finally said, "He didn't say we couldn't touch ourselves."

Ricky reached for the jar of the stuff that Alex used to massage his scars. It smelled good and felt even better as he smoothed it on his cock. He reached over, slicking Alex's erection for him. Ricky moved over to kiss Alex again. Alex hesitated. He said, "Mulder said..."

Ricky said, "That we could kiss. I won't touch you; just myself."

Ricky could feel Alex's hand moving between them; his own stroked his cock, prolonging the feeling and the contact. Alex's head flung back, his lips curled back to show a flash of white teeth. His eyelids fluttered, veiling and unveiling his green eyes. Hearing Alex's gasps, Ricky couldn't hold back...world dissolving into storm of sensation and then the feeling of climbing back, unwillingly remembering how to breath in anything other than the urgent gulps of air, limbs relaxing from their delicious tension and heart slowing from the rapid racing intoxication of moments before.

Alex said, "Ricky, you have to move."

Ricky realized that he lay mostly on Alex. He grinned and stole another kiss before rolling away. Alex thoughtfully remarked, "I don't think that's what Mulder had in mind."

Ricky answered, "Fuck him."

Alex said, "Kind of the point, Ricky. If he gets mad or jealous, I don't get to do that until I make him feel better."

Ricky got up and said, "Come one. Take a shower with me."

Alex rolled to his feet and obeyed. Ricky took it upon himself to bathe every inch of his...his...what? Not brother, certainly, more than a friend...less than a lover although Ricky would have been willing...all right, his other self then.

Ricky said, "Mulder...yeah, I see the point of the way you feel, Alex. But, Alex, hey, last time you didn't let him call the shots like he is now."

Alex said, "Last time...well, I used to think I could walk away. I thought it was just something we did like all those dress up games. But I'm not who I thought I was. I can't even breathe when I think of losing him; it's like something freezing inside of me when I think about being sent away. Ricky, after all that I've done, to be offered a second chance; well, I'm going to hold on. I have to hold on."

Alex's face for those moments as he spoke was so open, so fragile. Ricky felt like the older of them. As sexy as Mulder was, he better know what he had...that's what Ricky thought.

Ricky took out a towel, rubbing it gently over Alex's body. The slight smile on Alex's lips invited him and Ricky couldn't resist another kiss. Alex returned it, shivering a little as they parted.

Ricky said, "Let's lie down and take a nap until it's time to get Mulder."

Ricky stroked Alex's back. Alex seemed relaxed. Ricky decided to sneak in a few questions. He asked, "So, Alex, I guess that my real parents are your parents. I mean, that's less crazy than thinking you're my parent. Tell me about them? Tell me about your family and about the others...your other clones."

Alex said, "I think the less you know the better it is for you. I guess the one thing you should know is that they weren't evil. At least my parents died trying to keep my sister and I safe! Not like a lot of those other creeps."

Ricky wasn't really satisfied with that. He said, "Mulder said that your enemies messed with your head a lot and they uh, made you do stuff."

Alex grunted and said, "Mulder should keep his lips zipped. Ricky, leave it. Just be glad that some nurse made that mistake and you didn't end up with who ever the bad guys planned to be your family."

Ricky saw that he couldn't push Alex any further. He turned and put his arms around his original. Alex relaxed and let Ricky pet him to sleep. Ricky snuggled closer and soon was drawn deep into slumber.

A few hours later, Alex waited at the airport with Ricky. Mulder's flight was going to be late. Ricky and Alex waited in the lounge, nursing drinks and people watching. Alex seemed nervous, grumbling about how much he hated airports. When he had to use the restroom, he insisted that Ricky go with him, which was a little weird.

Finally the plane disgorged the rumpled FBI agent. Alex greeted his lover with a restrained, "Hey, about time."

Mulder grinned manically and said, "Let's get the hell out of here. I have a surprise for you."

Mulder grabbed Alex in the parking lot and mauled him, half undressing him as his hands rambled under the black sweater. Ricky watched with interest as Alex succumbed into quiet little moans and said, "Hey, guys. Remember that I'm a cop in this city. I'd hate to have to arrest you for public indecency."

Mulder glanced up and said, "Oh, yeah", promptly dragging Alex into the back seat. Ricky tilted the rear view mirror so he could peek at them during stoplights. They weren't exactly exposed, but Ricky could tell that jeans were open and shirts were up. Mulder and Alex were so tightly entwined that Ricky couldn't see anything, but Alex's moaning let him keep track of the progress. Alex's "Please...I want...please, Mulder!" had Ricky gritting his teeth in his hurry to get home. As an afterthought, Ricky hoped that he had remembered to use the Armor-all upholstery protector....

That particular growl of satisfaction that Alex almost always sounded with Mulder reverberated as Ricky threaded through a tunnel. Ricky waited a respectful length of time and then grumbled, "I bet you snuck gum to school and didn't share with the other kids too, Mulder."

Mulder lay back, looking very decadent and satisfied. He brushed back errant hair from his own forehead and then pulled Alex close to pet his hair. Mulder said, "My mom never let me chew gum." He said, "I'll share this treat later, Ricky."

Mulder remembered his reason for being here and asked, "So, Alex, what do you have on Ricky's UFO? Is it more military cover-up stuff or is it the real thing?"

Alex replied, "I think they're real, but they're not our kind of aliens."

Mulder covered his eyes with outspread fingers. A slow rumbling started from Mulder's chest and spread outward to his long legs and all the way through his lean body. Alex stared, looking very pissed off. Ricky wanted to put that look in his store of expressions he wanted to wear when he grew up. That was frightening even if Alex still looked more like a demonic child than a very dangerous adult.

"What?" Alex asked.

Mulder finally caught his breath. He said, "Oh, I had an aunt who was always saying that... ‘They're not our kind, Fox.' I mean what's the problem? They aren't on the social register?"

Alex said, "Ricky's says they're pink elephants, Mulder."

Mulder shut up and then grinned again. He said, "Were you drinking when you saw them?"

Ricky said, "Screw you, Mulder."

Mulder fastened his heavy lidded eyes on Ricky and said, "Hmm, maybe...if you're good."

Ricky pulled into his parking space and said, "Well, anyway, I was on duty and I was sober as hell. It's not my fault what they looked like."

Alex said, "Yeah, Mulder. Don't pick on Ricky."

Mulder grabbed his bags and said, "And you two don't gang up on me. Get your ass up the stairs, Alex. I want it."

Ricky had wondered why Mulder had packed two bags, one of them rather large. Mulder apparently had brought toys and props. He took out a baseball cap, and handcuffs. Alex looked at them and asked, "new game?"

Mulder said, "Yeah, I want to play Krycek in the warehouse."

Alex asked, "Who does Ricky get to be?"

Mulder looked and shrugged, "Scully. He can watch and wish. I need something..."

Spotting a crate like storage box, Mulder pulled it into the middle of the floor. In a moment, he had handcuffed Alex and was hovering over him. Mulder said, "Now I'm going to interrogate you, Alex."

Ricky watched Mulder stalk around Alex who looked a little anxious. Ricky didn't think this was a particularly good game. Wasn't this what happened right before Alex lost his arm?

Mulder said, "None of those stupid questions, Alex."

Alex licked his lips anxiously and asked, "Yeah? How about remarks about my moral dipstick?"

Mulder said, "No, I think I measured your depths thoroughly. No, what I had in mind was..."

Mulder knocked the baseball cap off. Ricky took a step forward. He really didn't want to see Alex hurt. Mulder grabbed Alex's shoulder and said, "First question, Alex. Who do you belong to?"

Alex looked up and then veiled his eyes, turning his face away. He mumbled, "Yours, Mulder."

"Good." Mulder said, "What I should have done is..." His hands pulled Alex's jacket back. He forced the sweater back over Alex's head, all of the material bunching around his back. Alex's chest heaved and Ricky thought it must be a little painful. Mulder ran his hand down the sweat-dewed chest until he reached Alex's zipper. He slid that down and knelt to roll the jeans down and remove the boots. Now Alex sat on the box almost naked, his shirt and jacket not covering anything. Ricky gasped. Alex looked ravished this way; eyes luminous, pupils enormous in the green of his eyes, mouth half open as he took quick deep breaths, face shining with his need.

Mulder still knelt and now he kissed Alex's stomach and let his mouth explore lower. He looked up and said, "Alex, do you love me?"

Alex swayed on the box and then he nodded. Mulder commanded, "Say it. Say it, Alex."

Alex's voice trembled. He sounded as if he had been tortured. He said, "I love you, Mulder."

Mulder smiled, but he didn't say it back as Ricky thought that he should. Instead, he nuzzled Alex's cock, teasing him for a few minutes before turning him to lie over the crate. Mulder whispered, "Should have just taken you right there. Should have showed you and Scully and everyone whom you belonged to." His fingers stroked the cleft of Alex's ass longingly.

Ricky couldn't resist any longer. He pulled off his own clothing and then tugged Mulder around to strip him. Finding the keys to the cuffs, he freed Alex and tore off the jacket and tangled shirt. He and Mulder vied for spots to kiss Alex; stopped to kiss each other before tumbling to the bed.

Ricky found himself lying side by side, face to face with Alex. They pressed their mouths to each other; writhing and thrusting blindly against sweat damp flesh. Ricky reached around, managed to get a hand on Mulder's ass, feeling the muscles bunch and relax as he fucked Alex. Ricky moaned; his own ass felt hot and he clenched his ass cheeks, imagining that Mulder was fucking him the way he was Alex.

Alex found Ricky's cock, his hand moving on it rapidly. Ricky reached down and did the same to his counterpart. Alex threw back his head, mouth wide open as a quavering sound emerged. Ricky clutched Alex close as his own release made him a puddle of boneless satiation. The three of them remained entangled. Mulder's hand brushed Ricky's hair as he pressed a series of soft kisses upon Alex's closed eyes, his open lips, his arched neck. Ricky almost didn't hear what Mulder whispered, but he could tell it was what he thought that he heard. "It scares me how much I love you, Alex."

Ricky got up after that, feeling that they should be alone for a little while. He was standing in the shower with the water rolling over his still sensitized skin. Mulder joined him, snuggling full length against his back. Mulder's hands lazily explored Ricky's body. Ricky turned just in time to see Mulder's eyes grown dark as he stroked Ricky's left arm from hand to shoulder. Mulder pressed a kiss into the inward curve. Mulder said, "It was my fault, you know."

Ricky said, "He doesn't say that."

Mulder said, "I know. All I can do is make sure that Alex doesn't think that any scar could ever change the way I see him. When I look at him, he's whole. He's beautiful." Mulder lifted Ricky's chin and said, "You're beautiful too, but I don't think you really look like him. You're different people no matter how you started life." Mulder's hands slipped lower until they cupped Ricky's ass. Ricky reddened as Mulder massaged his round cheeks tantalizing him. Still when Mulder's fingers started to slide deeper, he pushed Mulder's hands away from his ass and said, "No, I'm still thinking about that. Not ready."

Mulder said, "Okay. Forgot for a minute. Your face looks different, but that ass is unmistakably Alex's."

Alex's voice came from the doorway. "Not hardly, Mulder, or I'm going to be missing some good times with you from now on."

Mulder laughed, unembarrassed. He said, "Get in here, Alex."

Ricky stepped out, presented Alex with a deep kiss before patting him on his ass. He assured him, "Don't worry, Alex. You still have your own cute behind."

Alex laughed at that and gave Ricky's butt a playful swat. He said, "Now if you ever give into Mulder's begging, we'll rig up a Pepsi challenge and see if he really can tell the difference blindfolded."

Ricky closed the bathroom door with the two voices already started to smoke behind him. He didn't regret his kidnapping nearly a year ago even if it shook him out of a lot more than just the daily grind of his routine as a cop. Hell, he used to not see further then the end of his shift and now he had a head full of dreams not to mention a better idea about what it meant to really be in love. Ricky took a deep breath, reminding himself that he didn't want Alex or Mulder. He just wanted to feel what they felt for each other. And someday it would happen just like he was really going to do it; he was really going to be an FBI agent.

After dinner, the three of them went to check on the Rat-mobile and the computer. Alex ran the results and said, "Ricky, you may have something. There have been several of these abductions lately. Hmm, hey, one of them turned back up. Let's go talk to him. He should be home ...he's under house arrest."

The little house had a neat little garden in front. A tired looking man was weeding the rows of flowers. He was almost as tall as them, but stood with such a stooped posture that he appeared much shorter. His shoulder hunched as if he constantly was anticipating rebuke. He took off his gardening gloves and ran his hand through his thin mousy brown and gray hair. His skin was very tan and wrinkled star burst from around his pale blue eyes. The man sighed. "Cops" he said. "Three of you this time? Look" He hitched up a green denim pant leg and said, "Here it is...you guys can tell I've been a good boy."

Alex moved forward before Mulder or Ricky could speak. He said, "Hi, I'm Alex Cayce from the American Journal of Paranormal Research. These are my colleagues, Ricky Cayce, and Edgar Fox. We just want to talk to you about your disappearance a few weeks ago."

The man said, "It was a black out. That's what the cops said. Anyway, you look like cops."

Mulder said, "I don't think it was a black out. Tell us what really happened, Mr. Apple."

The man said, "Why? So you guys can laugh?"

Mulder gave Mr. Apple a soulful look and said, "We wouldn't laugh. Come on; you'll feel better if you tell us."

Alex held out a hundred dollar bill and said "You'll feel richer if you tell us."

Mulder scowled and his lower lip went pouty at that. Before Mulder could complain and screw things up, Ricky grabbed him and dragged him into the house after Mr. Apple. The house smelled like lemon oil and roses. The guy had vases full of the blooms everywhere. Alex picked up a rose and inhaled deeply. "Beautiful and unique. I've never seen this color before."

Mr. Apple grinned and said, "My own hybrid, Sapphire...if I wasn't under house arrest, I would be winning the horticulture show with this one."

Alex said, "I believe you."

Mr. Apple said, "Now, you are smart. Those other two, I don't know. Seems like all they do is play grab ass with each other."

Ricky jerked Mulder back down beside him on the rose colored couch. Mulder glared at him. Alex sighed and said, "Yes, I know. But the kid's my brother and you know how that is."

The man sat down on a doily- speckled chair. Alex sat on the hassock, his posture a semaphore expressing a sweetly subservient interest in the abductee.

Mr. Apple said, "Yeah, I know. My mom always favored my little brother too. Just because he was such a brain in school."

Alex nodded gravely and said, "Now, Mr. Apple, tell me what you remember..."

Mr. Apple said, "I was just done with my job. I'm a green's keeper at the Land Seer Golf Course. I'm a damn fine green's keeper. Would be the manager, but I got drunk just once and ...well, I used my lawn mower to carve a giant hand giving the finger in the grass." The man laughed and said, "It was almost worth it. Hell, the boss would have fired me, but I caught him playing in the caddy shack late tonight. Wasn't a girl caddy he was with either. He doesn't fire me and I don't tell."

Ricky winced as the guy let loose with a wet sounding snicker. Alex just stared at the man with an amused expression. Alex said, "I can tell that you're a smart man, Mr. Apple. The kind of man that wouldn't just make up a wild story. Tell me what happened that night?"

Oh, Alex was turning it up, gazing at the man with eager interest, his voice intimate and somehow admiring. Ricky grumbled to himself, "Now that I don't think I could ever learn."

Mr. Apple glanced at Mulder and Ricky and lowered his voice so it was difficult to catch what he was saying. Alex bent closer. Mr. Green took a deep breath as if trying to catch a whiff of some elusive, but pleasant scent. He reached fingers out and brushed Alex's sleeve. Alex didn't even twitch. Mr. Green shut his eyes and said, "I was driving home. Sure I had a nip or two. It was a cold night and I had a bad day...boss on my ass. Green tore up by idiots trying to be Tiger Woods. I stopped at a light and was waiting for it to change then over my head the sky just lit. It was this pretty color, kind of lavender like a fancy rose."

Mr. Green shuddered and continued, "Next thing I know I was out of my truck and I was floating up. Oh man, I thought I was called to justice, but it wasn't angels or the devil unless the afterlife is even screwier than this one. The big room was full of these peculiar creatures....pink with saggy skin all over. They had bundles of vine like things for fingers although I can't say that there was really a hand. They had big floppy ears that kept waving like they were some kind of fans. Their nose was a long trunk. Truth to tell they were pink elephants. And brother, I've seen snakes once or twice when I had the DTs, but never anything that corny."

Mulder shot in, "Did they say anything? What did they want?"

Interrupted, Mr. Apple scowled and said, "Don't hurry me. It's my story and I'll tell it like I want to!"

Alex soothingly said, "And you were telling it just fine. Now, what happened next?"

The man said, "They shone some kind of flashlight on me. Next thing I knew I was on a table, naked as the day I was born. All those things were looking at me and talking, but hell; I was happy and relaxed even though I knew I should be afraid. There was something in my arm and I saw all my blood being pumped in and out. After they were done, they used another light thing. It went inside me and I felt a faint burning after which I passed out. I woke up walking down the street with my clothes all inside out."

The man sat blinking, remembering his extraordinary experience. Alex said, "The police just say they found you disorientated and telling wild stories. I think there's more to it."

"After a while some cops stopped me and brought me to the hospital. I was sober, stone cold sober and I felt great. And do you know what? My liver was good as new. See it was going out, you could feel a big swollen spot where it was festering and I walked around yellow as a big lemon. Now, I was hale and hearty...my own doctor couldn't believe it, but he was scared to stand up for me. He didn't want to be known for being crazy. Well, I got my house arrest when I went to court. Even though I didn't have any alcohol in my blood, they said I violated my probation by disappearing the way I did. Hell, I don't mind house arrest. I go to my job and I come back here. Why the day they let me come home, I went out and chose two roses I had never grafted before and somehow I just knew they would make my Sapphire rose. Sure enough they did." Mr. Apple smiled and said, "Another thing, I have no craving for alcohol. If I could find those guys again, I'd be rich. Yep, sell tickets to rich alkies and get them cured for good."

Alex dragged a few more details out, taking notes in flying shorthand that Ricky dearly envied. Mulder was chewing his lower lip and his eyes flashed with resentment. Ricky couldn't figure out what the problem was. Alex was doing a great job after gaining the man's trust.

However, Mulder continued to sulk. As soon as they got to the car, he slapped Alex then pushed him against the side of the car. The slap wasn't hard, but it was enough to redden Alex's face. Mulder said, "He would have talked to me, Alex. Don't do that again!"

Alex resentfully jerked his head and his eyes darkened, but it really looked as if he was going to take it. Mulder said, "Don't forget. I was the one that Ricky called. I'm the UFO expert."

Alex just nodded and Mulder let him free. Alex moved around to get in the back seat. Mulder stared after him, face flickering with a mixture of emotions. Ricky saw guilt, but what bothered him was the satisfaction somewhere under the regret.

Ricky waited to be sure that Alex intended to just let Mulder's behavior slide. Yeah, he was. Ricky grabbed Mulder as the man moved toward the driver's side and slapped Mulder harder than he had hit Alex. Mulder swung back and Ricky decked him. By the time Mulder rose from the ground, Alex had gotten back out of the car. He ran between them and held them apart.

Mulder held his jaw in his hand and said in a stunned voice, "Alex, he hit me."

Ricky nodded and said, "Yeah, and I'll hit you again if you ever hit Alex unprovoked again."

Mulder snapped, "I was provoked. He had no reason to just take over like that."

Ricky shook his head and said, "What's wrong with you? Even I know that's not how you treat your partner...which ever kind we're talking about."

Mulder said, "Alex isn't my partner! He's...he's..."

Ricky said, "I didn't see you send Scully down to help me."

Mulder replied, "Yeah, but..." then ridiculously in Ricky's opinion, Mulder turned around and complained, "Alex, he hit me."

Alex leaned forward and kissed the red spot but replied, "Mulder, someone needed to do it and I just can't make myself."

Mulder stared at his lover with narrowed eyes and then sulkily stalked to the car. He got into the back seat and flung himself into it. "Fine. If you two are so smart, you solve the damn thing."

Alex rolled his eyes and got into the back seat too. Ricky decided to drive. Better than standing around until someone called their names. He could hear Alex murmuring to Mulder and then the familiar sound of opening clothing. Slurping sounds indicated that Alex was making his argument to Mulder in the most direct line to his brain. A deep moan of satisfaction sounded. Shortly after, Mulder said, "Ricky, I was wrong to hit Alex. I might have hurt his mouth."

Ricky didn't think that was much of an apology. Mulder said, "Ouch. Alex, what the hell are you doing? Shit, don't bare your teeth with my cock in your mouth. Oh shit, Ricky, you can hit me harder the next time I try to hit Alex. Okay, Alex?"

A moment later, Mulder said, "And you can spank me for being sulky. You can both gang up on me."

Ricky almost jerked the car into the next lane at the sudden image of Mulder's lying bare assed across his knee. Alex said, "Ricky, keep you mind on the wheel. Traffic accidents..."

Mulder chimed in, "are caused in point oh forty out of a thousand cases by drivers masturbating at the wheel."

Ricky digested that, trying to remember if he had ever heard one of the guys ever cite that as the cause for an accident. Alex informed him, "Ricky, he's just bull shitting you. He hates it when I recite facts to him. He likes to be the one with the lectures."

Ricky drove a while in silence...well, he was quiet, the pair in back were making breathy making up sounds. He could track each kiss by the sound. Wet drawing sound of deep kisses. Whisper from the sweeter kisses as prim as a courting couple on a first date. A peculiar sound you'd have to hear as Alex or Mulder delved beneath shirt or sweater to eagerly suckle a nipple. By the time, they got back to Ricky's; he was more then ready to grab his share.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Ricky stripped off and stalked Mulder. He said, "Mulder, you really do deserve a spanking."

Mulder answered, "That just makes me tremble..." His laconic delivery teased like a flick of his tongue to Ricky's cock.

Ricky had decided he was in charge. He looked at Alex and said, "Strip off... big brother."

Alex blushed at what Ricky had called him and muttered, "Am I the only non-kinky member of this trio of clowns?" However he was slicking out of his clothes like they were on fire. Alex could strip like a harem dancer, but not now. Now, he was concentrating on pure speed.

Ricky pinned Mulder to the wall and said, "Alex, get his pants off."

Alex knelt and unbuckled Mulder's belt, unzipped the zipper as quickly as he could without ripping off a piece of him. He slipped each shoe from Mulder and tucked the socks neatly inside. "Shirt?"

Ricky grandly said, "Not for now." Ricky looked at Mulder and pronounced, "Mulder, you've been a very bad boy. You hit Alex and you threw a tantrum."

Mulder protested, "I did not throw a tantrum." He swallowed as Ricky stared him down. He said, "Okay, but it was more like a sulk,"

Ricky said, "Now doesn't that feel better?" He pulled Mulder's jacket off and handed it to Alex who bore a bemused, but anticipatory expression.

Ricky guided Mulder to the couch and jerked him down over his lap. The tail of Mulder's shirt covered part of his ass. Ricky slowly moved it out of the way and caressed Mulder's taut ass-cheeks. He traced the tan line, which went low. The skin only paled right where the cleft begin. Ricky circled the globes of flesh, testing them. Mulder was nearly all muscle, but there was just enough flesh to make it sweet. Ricky rubbed the crease between ass and thigh; traced it lower to let his thumbs sink into the v-shape, brushing the hot silken sac.

Mulder groaned splendidly. Alex wiggled underneath Mulder so the man's face rested between his firm thighs. Mulder said, "A man could smother this way."

Alex said tenderly, "He could die happily."

Mulder said, "Yeah."

Ricky reproved, "Wait, Alex. Aren't you the one who always counsels making sure the timing is perfect?"

Alex gave him an interested look and said, "Aliens possessed my clone... story on page eleven."

Ricky raised his hand and slapped it down on Mulder's rump. Despite the firmness, Mulder's ass jiggled with the blow. The color rose like a ripening peach. Alex stroked Mulder's hair comfortingly and said, "It's for your own good."

Ricky delivered five more swats. His blows were not nearly as hard as the ones his Italian father had given him the day he caught Ricky skipping school. And the ones from Ricky's dad had never made him react as Mulder was. Mulder was loosing control, trying to hump himself on Ricky's legs. Ricky tried a few more for effect until Mulder's ass was a wonderful rosy color.

Mulder said, "Enough. It's enough, Ricky. I'll remember."

Ricky pushed to his feet. Mulder stood there rubbing his ass, face very ruddy and lip jutting. He did not remotely look like a little boy, not with that cock jutting like a signpost. Mulder breathed, "Fuck me, Ricky."

Alex had slipped behind. He unknotted Mulder's tie and reached around, rubbing himself on his lover as he unbuttoned Mulder's shirt. He buried his face in Mulder's neck, kissing his way down the sharp spine and ending with a tender series of kisses to his lover's abused ass. Mulder squirmed as Alex delved deeper. His legs wobbled and Ricky had to catch him before he caved backwards onto his lover.

Ricky was on a sex and power high. He eagerly led Mulder to bed and pounced on him, devouring him with kisses. Mulder's lips were even lusher, red with the effect of Ricky's attentions. The hazel eyes glazed and Mulder arched, moaning. He said something so lowly that Ricky didn't understand. Mulder said, "Hold me down... force me."

Ricky shuddered at the begging voice. Obediently he grasped Mulder's shoulders then pushed his arms askew and flat on the bed. He tightened his hold on Mulder's wrists and growled softly, sounding exactly like Alex to his surprise. And thinking about his look-a-like he had to check to see if Alex was okay with this. His counterpart sprawled beside them, watching. Ricky reached across Mulder to grab Alex and kiss him just as hard. Ricky promised, "You're next."

Alex smiled at that, but didn't question Ricky's boast. He said, "It's okay. I like to watch you with him."

Ricky still made sure he met Alex's eyes. He noticed that Alex could make his face show nothing, but his eyes would give his feelings away. He was satisfied that Alex was suffering from no more than arousal although the expression on his face hinted that this was a condition of sweet agony for him as well as Ricky.

Ricky turned back to Mulder and eyed him as if he were prey. He lowered his mouth to a pretty peak of nipple. He wasn't sure why Mulder's turned him on the way they did. They were small and precise, hardly a quarter sized range of color around each small jewel of flesh. Ricky flicked his tongue dead center, finding the small indentation and teasing it. He rubbed his pelvis against Mulder's but drew away teasingly when Mulder thrust back rapidly.

"Oh, no, Mulder, this is my show and I'm going decide when and how." Ricky scolded.

Brave words when Ricky was damn near in pain he was so eager. Funny, he hated this when women did it to him. He had never been good at dragging things out. But Mulder was a feast and you didn't just grab him up and have him. Besides, he had a feeling that things were changing. He'd never seen Mulder so intensely focused on Alex. He didn't think that Mulder would share again after this or want anyone else, even someone who looked like his lover.

So Ricky teased and prolonged, storing up each passage of his lips over Mulder's smooth skin, the smell of him somehow spicy and rich, the taste of his skin, every uniqueness of this difficult, unpredictable, adorable man. The brush of their cheeks against each other, the roughness of another man's stubble of beard was wicked and pleasing. Ricky blushed at the thought that his adoptive parents might know, looking from the heaven where they expected to go after a life of kneeling and Latin hymns. He shrugged the feeling away. Don't think; just do. His paradise for the moment here; Alex and Mulder with him and feeling more alive than he had ever felt.

Ricky finally moved Mulder around, glancing at Alex pleading. Ricky continued to kiss Mulder, remembering to hold his wrists symbolically captured as they moved in abandon, Ricky's hands and mouth molding Mulder further into a virtual madness of desire. Alex had read Ricky's mind. Ricky could tell when Alex had slid his finger inside, stroking Mulder from within. Mulder writhed between them.

"I hate you both." Mulder raged. "I want to be fucked. Do it to me."

Alex laughed at him and turned him around. Ricky hastily donned a condom; glad that it would slightly reduce the friction of entering Mulder. Otherwise, they'd both be disappointed. Alex was staring soulfully into his lover's eyes. He leaned to kiss him and yelped, bitten for his gentle approach. Alex held his bleeding lip and said, "Remember that, Ricky, loving Mulder hurts."

Mulder threw a leg over Alex and kissed him. "Shh, it was an accident."

Ricky held Mulder's hip tightly with one hand and guided himself inside with the other. He moved slowly, but Mulder thrust back taking Ricky deep into his body, uttering a deep groan of satisfaction as he did. Ricky reached around, feeling for Alex. The two of them held Mulder between them. It felt to Ricky that he was having them both. He was touched everywhere and touched as wildly. The only thing that held him back was the idea that it had to end. It was impossible that this was just flesh... it seemed as if all of them were joined. For one moment, Ricky really thought he was seeing through Alex's eyes, feeling the pressure and the incredible sensation of being taken like Mulder. Then he shattered; he felt his being dissolve and it was good, falling back senseless, nirvana, nothingness after the nova of pleasure.

Feeling drowsy and spent, Ricky didn't want to move. Alex took care of the barest necessity of clean up, even slipping the used condom from Ricky's still sensitized cock. When Alex returned, he burrowed between them. Ricky petted him and said, "Before you two leave, I want to do that. I want one of you to do that to me."

Alex kissed him almost chastely and said, "You don't have to do anything that you're not ready for. It's not like taking turns you know."


Ricky said, "Yeah, I know. But I want to see what it feels like. You like it."

Alex said, "I didn't though. I hated it before..." He looked and made sure that Mulder was as deep in sleep as he seemed. "Because it always seemed to me that they were just taking me. I was just something for them to use."

Ricky asked, "But Mulder made it different?"

Alex reddened and said, "Someone else... someone who took their time and never let me doubt that they knew it was me. So when Mulder and I finally did anything; I was ready to make love not just be fucked."

Ricky drew Alex close, trying to tell him with his hands how much he understood, feeling guilty that he had escaped all that, just because of some tired or inept nurse.

Alex snuggled into Ricky and Mulder sighed and followed his lover's movements even blind with sleep. Ricky felt his eyes droop and he happily let slumber take him drifting down.

When he woke up, it was to the sounds of Mulder and Alex making love. He turned to watch them, no longer guiltily. Mulder loved to be watched and Alex was only slightly less exhibitionist. Mulder was on top, but he was being loving and gentle. Ricky was glad at that; he knew that Mulder was badly frightened of losing control which was why it struck him as odd how completely Mulder had allowed himself to be dominated. Mulder's movements grew hasty and erratic, cumulating in a flurry of thrusts, leaving Alex unsatisfied.

Before Mulder could tend to his lover's need, Ricky said, "No, I want that."

Mulder looked disappointed. He said, "Are you sure you don't want to wait for me?"

Ricky said, "No, can't wait." But really he knew he wanted Alex because he trusted him. If he said stop, Alex would stop. Mulder might not. He'd feel terrible afterwards, but that wouldn't make Ricky feel any better.

Alex asked, "Are you sure?"

Ricky nodded. Alex reached for him and smiled. He said, "First you have to really trust your partner if it's going to be good the first time. Do you trust me?"

Ricky nodded, knowing his eyes probably were doing a blue-eyed imitation of Bambi's by now. Alex said, "And you have to relax. You'd be surprised, but Mulder does the best massages. He helps me sleep sometimes when..." Alex shrugged a quick dismissal of his pain.

Ricky readily agreed. Maybe that would soothe Mulder's wounded pride. He didn't want to hurt Mulder's feelings, but was as nervous about this as he was eager. Alex would understand that.

Mulder went to his luggage and came back with massage oil. It smelled like sandalwood and something else that Ricky had thought was just Alex. It was rich and wild, decadently enticing. Mulder poured a little in his hand, straddled Ricky and begin to work it in. Alex helped. Ricky loved this feeling, being the center of attention, feeling loved. Maybe it was not exactly the same as the two felt for each other, but it still felt good.

Alex devoted his efforts to mark every inch of Ricky with his kisses. It felt like being on fire, but Ricky wanted to be consumed. He arched, urging Alex's head to his cock, groaning in pleasure as he was engulfed. He felt Mulder's hands parting his cheeks and then the tiny probe of some invader. He knew what that was and knew he liked it although it made him sick the first time he saw Mulder do it to Alex. Ricky squirmed. He felt like he was going to burst. Mulder's intrusion didn't surprise him. He had let them do this to him even the first time they had really been together last Christmas. The finger teased and coaxed until finally another could fit. It was a little uncomfortable, but when Mulder found the right spot it hardly mattered. Ricky closed his eyes and uttered a litany of inarticulate praise for those clever fingers and the even more talented mouth that coaxed him to heights of pleasure he never had before experienced.

Ricky may have blacked out for a moment because the next thing he knew, he lay on his side and Mulder faced him instead of Alex. He felt a gentle pressure between his cheeks and tensed. Alex's face, tender, yet rough with desire said, "Easy now, shall I stop?"

Ricky wiggled his behind into Alex's groin, acting braver than he really felt. He said, "I'm fine."

Alex didn't thrust any deeper though. Instead he draped himself over Ricky and buried his face in Ricky's neck. Ricky felt the delicate kisses on his neck and then Mulder moving in counter pattern on his throat. Alex's hand moved over him, rubbing his nipples, stroking his belly. Ricky felt himself go boneless. He said, "Alex, I'm ready now. Come on."

Mulder whispered, "Push out, Ricky and exhale."

There was a sudden give and Ricky was surprised as he realized that he and Alex were joined. He caught his breath in wonder, feeling a glow even though he was uncomfortable. Alex just lay entwined with him, his cock quiet inside Ricky. Ricky finally felt silly and frustrated. He was still hard as nails. "Do something!" he begged.

Alex said, "So impatient. I'm fine. I like it here."

Ricky said, "Move, damn you."

Alex laughed at him, but started to thrust, very carefully, his cock angling inside. Ricky felt that now familiar feeling and said, "Yeah, right there."

Alex's voice seemed so close that it was nearly inside him just as his cock was. "I'm going to make it good, Ricky. Best that I can make it for you."

Ricky replied, "It's already good. I want you to come inside of me, lover. Please make it good for both of us. I'm not going to break, Alex. Don't be afraid."

Alex laughed at that and then as he started to move, his laughter dissolved into soft pants.

Ricky didn't know exactly what to do, but it felt good to let it happen. Alex moved faster, grunting a little with effort. Ricky felt the bursts of pleasure as Alex hit the spot over and over. If that wasn't enough, Mulder was taking him deep and hard in his mouth, down his throat. Ricky couldn't hold back. He felt it start in waves and he came all the harder for the long wait. Alex moaned in relief as well, shuddering as he released into Ricky. A moment later, he gently pulled out. He kissed Ricky on the neck before getting up to dispose of the condom.

Ricky stumbled up, wanting a shower to wash the sweat off and collect his thoughts. Alex had already started the water. He made room for Ricky and asked, "You okay? Are you going to regret this?"

Ricky said, "I'm fine. Um, a little sore, but I think that I'd do it again. You made it good. Feels weird. It was different than I expected. I've watched you and Mulder and I knew it must feel good, but I didn't understand. It was longer. I mean that it felt like I was coming the whole time after a certain point. It's incredible."

Alex quickly finished his shower and then asked, "You want me to stay and play or you want some time to think?"

Ricky kissed Alex and said, "I want some time to run it all back in my memory. Did anyone ever tell you that you were sweet?"

Alex blushed and said, "Not lately. Not for a long time. Shh, I'm supposed to be a tough guy, Ricky."

Ricky laughed and said, "Well, I wasn't going to go around telling the precinct what a beautiful considerate lover you were."

Alex chuckled and said, "I suppose not."

The bedding was changed by the time Ricky came back. Mulder sleepily went to use the bathroom. Alex liked the middle and situated himself there. Ricky pulled the sheet over them and laid his head next to Alex's on his pillow. He caressed Alex's cheek and said, "I'm going to dream about that for a long time."

Ricky called in the next morning, hoping to spend a few hours playing with his lovers and the rest of the day investigating the UFO. Scalli refused to give Ricky the day off. He said that half the guys were still out with the flu so he couldn't spare Ricky. Ricky should have just lied and said that he finally caught it too!

Alex said, "Hey, it's all just foot work today. Mulder and I are going to go interview the rest of the people who match the profile. If we find anything, we'll wait for you, won't we, Mulder?"

Mulder looked sullen, but he nodded. Ricky said, "Good. I don't know what I want out of this, but at least I want to have the answers for myself."

Mulder said, "Sounds like a familiar start for a gradually more obsessive search."

Ricky shrugged. Weirdness was becoming a way of life since he met these guys.

Stan and Ricky were on today. His favorite partner looked him up and down at intervals and said, "You have that well laid look."

Ricky stared at Stan and smiled. He shook his head and scooted back in the passenger seat. Stan teased, "Well she must have been ugly if you're not bragging."

Ricky practiced one of Alex's enigmatic looks and said, "All in good time."

Stan said, "I don't know who you're seeing, but you're definitely getting cocky."

Ricky spluttered and Stan's puzzled expression just made him laugh harder. He never thought he could be so relaxed about this in his own mind. Not that he was going to tell anyone. The one cop that came out of the closet in the division was treated horribly. Ricky didn't have the guts to go through that.

Stan stopped asking after a while. It was really a slow day. A few routine shoplifting busts, a ticket for a driver with tape obscured taillight, and they were about done. The radio crackled right at six thirty, almost the end of Ricky's shift. "Drunk and disorderly at 4231 Elm street."

Oh shit... Uncle Rico again. Stan looked at Ricky compassionately and said, "You want someone else to respond?"

Ricky said, "No, with any luck I can get him quietly to detox."

The sad thing was that Rico Caruso had been such a good cop and a good husband. A back injury took care of the career. Now look at him... five years of daily drinking had reduced the man to this yellow-skinned, swollen-stomached wreck. The guy was waiting for his liver to die the remaining few inches of functioning organ. He smelled. His hair hung in limp, greasy strands of gray and black over the edema- swollen face. His arms and legs were like pipe cleaners poorly attached to the bloated torso.

Aunt Emily stood twisting a corner of her over sized sweatshirt and crying. She said, "I'm sorry, Ricky, but he's been drinking for a week. You know what the doctor said... his liver."

Ricky avoided a foul breathed kiss from his uncle and said, "Don't worry. I'll bring him to detox. Maybe they'll check him into that new program."

Right. How many was it now? Four? Five? There was the old-fashioned support group program and newer aversion therapy one. There was the veteran funded one at the pretty lake and the one that used biofeedback to soothe the urge to drink. And don't forget the one that served a cocktail of drugs that hadn't replaced the alcohol, but had almost succeeded in a permanent cure and a new marker in the Caruso family plot at St. Ann's.

Ricky coaxed his uncle out to the car, remembering the strong gentle hands that taught him to ride a bike, the stalwart uncle who stood proud at his acceptance into police academy. Why did this have to happen to him? Ricky caught his breath remembering Mr. Apple. He said he didn't feel the urge and he even had been cured of cirrhosis. Man, if Ricky could just be sure, he'd take the chance to let his uncle bait an alien trap. Well, he'd wait and see what Mulder and Krycek thought.

Well, both of them thought he was crazy at first... but after a while they figured he fit right in with them that way. Their field investigation had netted them twelve more customers of the alien detox mission. All of the former alcoholics were in great health, reported no urge to drink and seemed much the better for the experience.

Mulder said, "They don't have cancer and there's nothing implanted in their necks so I guess these are somebody else's aliens."

Alex said, "Ricky, if you want to risk it, I suppose there's nothing much worse that can happen to your uncle anyway."

So Uncle Rico pretended to drive while Alex steered from an auto control panel. The three of them hid under the canopy. There were no takers the first night even though Alex had somehow inspired a clean sweep that kept every other drunk driver off the streets or if they ventured on, took them promptly off to think warm thoughts in a cool cell.

The third night of the sweep with Uncle Rico lustily trying to sing opera... not classical opera, no, he was attempting a solo of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody... the three of them were squeezed in the tight quarters, too packed to even play footsie much less any of their favorite Reindeer games.

A pink and golden light suffused the horizon like a Hollywood dawn right after the hero saves the day. Alex said, "Whoa, this is it."

And it was. Uncle Rico didn't even fight the light. He blissfully surrendered, rendering a sterling rendition of "I'm going home" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ricky was beginning to think that Rico had hidden depths.

At the last minute, the three of them ran out and flung themselves into the light. The beam wavered, but at last, it continued to draw them up. As their heads crowned through an invisible barrier, they were drawn up into a vast mostly empty room. Three huge elephant men stood waiting.

Mulder essayed, "Greetings... we come in peace."

A chorus of puzzled toots and chortles said that they had not encountered Voyager in their travels. They were pretty much as Ricky remembered... fifteen foot tall, bulky, pink, possessed of elephant ears and trunks. Their tentacle-laden wrists were about the only real difference from an earthly elephant beyond their color and their bipedal stance.

The aliens did not carry any weapons that Ricky recognized, but who needed one when they were so huge and confident.

Uncle Rico said, "Well, I never have seen one of those before. Snakes and spiders, yes ...and once that gal from the Kiss of the Spider woman, but damn, pink elephants. Maybe this is why people are supposed to see them when they have the D.T's."

The ship was enormous. It had to be to house the huge creatures. The abductees had mentioned the alien's size, but no one had mentioned their grace. They moved smoothly and silently despite the ponderous nature of them. There was a weird beauty to the inside of the vessel. The walls were semitransparent and glowed with a pinkish light. Stalactite and stalagmite-like things seemed to grow randomly from the walls, ceilings, and floors. Everything was crystal or stone, nothing metallic or plastic in nature.

The aliens urged them along to a smaller room. A pink spongy looking thing sat next to an arrangement of rock-like scales that twittered at them. Mulder pointed and said, "It's a Horta! Do you speak Horta, Alex?"

Alex had been amazingly silent until now. He said, "No, Mulder, what do you think I am? A universal translator? Get real!"

Mulder said, "I hoped you could read its mind. It's always been my secret dream to be laid by Mr. Spock."

Alex sighed and said, "Sometimes, you're even too weird for me, Mulder."

Mulder said, "I got vision and the rest of the world has bifocals."

Alex said, "Wrong era, Butch."

Uncle Rico was dreamily undressing, apparently off in some blissful visions. Ricky was scared, but he still thought it was better than drowning in your own poison. Mulder was drifting around the room, looking thrilled out of his head. Alex followed like a mother hen trying to keep a mismatched duckling hatchling out of the water.

Ricky clung to Alex and Mulder gripped both of them. The only calm things in the room were the aliens and Uncle Rico. Rico just lay with a stoned grin as a stinger hooked to a transparent tube extruded from rock creature. One of the elephant like aliens manipulated delicate instruments, the only metallic like things in the ship were the handles of what seemed to be surgical tubes. Sharply contained multicolored lights emerged from the bases. Ricky decided that the laser tools strongly resembled miniature light swords. He started to giggle helplessly and whispered, "Luke, Luke, come to the dark side..."

Alex snorted and Mulder rolled his eyes. After a while, the aliens seemed finished. Uncle Rico was sleeping. Ricky was allowed to check and found his uncle was breathing naturally and normally. He thought the man's color already seemed better. Ricky glanced at Alex and Mulder, ducking his head to kiss the bewhiskered cheek. Ricky patted his uncle's face and said, "Everything's going to be better, Uncle Rico. You'll see."

The strange faces with their huge mouths full of blunt grinding teeth couldn't smile, but Ricky got the impression that they were doing the equivalent. Ricky watched Mulder look longingly down a corridor, his eyes wide with wonder. Without the cynical mask, Mulder was like a beautiful child. Ricky hardly needed to glance at Alex to see that he was watching Mulder instead of looking around at the ship.

Mulder approached one of the vast creatures, Alex anxiously following and trying to get between his lover and the alien. Mulder shook his head at Alex and moved him aside. He actually had the nerve to touch one of the creatures; his hand reaching up to the wrinkle skinned hip. Ricky shuddered as he involuntarily looked at the mammoth male genitals swinging between the trunk-like legs. The creature leaned down and it's tentacles explored Mulder's face, almost caressing.

One of the other creatures carried a bubble of some golden fluid. Ricky had seen it take the stuff from the rock-like creature that had injected its tube-like appendage into Uncle Rico's abdomen. One of the creatures pointed with its facial trunk. Mulder followed and, of course, Alex wouldn't let him go alone although he seemed to be sensibly terrified. Ricky was scared as well, but he had decided around the time that he had met Alex and Mulder that something wasn't wrong just because it was out of his experience. He wanted to see more of the ship.

They passed two females in the hallway. They had gentle faces. One of them was accompanied by smaller version of the adults. The calf bounded their way and engaged in a snuffling examination of the three humans. After comparing them, the creature returned to Alex. It looked puzzled and seemed very bewildered at Alex's prosthesis. One of the adults seemed to explain. Promptly, tears came from the deep-set eyes and it ran its trunk over and over down Alex's left shoulder. Finally, Alex patted the trunk and said, "It's all right. It doesn't hurt."

The adults seemed to like the gesture and each ran their trunks over his face. The young one finished with a teasing whuff of air. Alex gave it back as good a puff as he could muster. A squealing sound emerged first from the child and then from the adults. It was laughter, no doubt.

The female recaptured the calf; stroked the males with their trunks and went on their way. Alex bemused said, "You know in elephant herds, it's the females that make the major decisions. I wonder if it's the same with these creatures?"

Mulder gave his famous short, sarcastic bark and said, "What does it matter to you? You flirt with everyone."

Alex grimaced and replied, "Not with aliens. I like to stay within my own species... unlike some guys who I hear like to have their bones jumped by hairy beast woman."

Mulder stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Who told you about that?"

Alex said, "A little girl talk with Scully..."

Mulder's face was a map of his thoughts. He didn't quite believe Alex or Ricky thought, maybe he envisioned his partner, whom Ricky heard was a very pretty lady and Alex sharing a chocolate covered Mulder in a warm bed some cold night.

Ricky said, "Come on, guys, argue later. I want to see the ship."

It was beyond comprehension. There was nothing here like the things that Alex and Mulder had briefly described; the insect-like coldness, the hive-like design. This ship was full of warm colors. Everything seemed alive and somehow joyous. The walls were decorated with great swatches of bright designs. The light was sunshine like. The machinery sung with a drowsy throbbing sound as if of a great heartbeat. Ricky daringly touched a wall, finding it soft and velvet-like. He could swear it purred when he stroked it.

The aliens burbled and whooped then repeated the sound at different speeds and increased their volume as if they were sure that the humans could understand if they spoke their language loudly and slowly enough. Giving up, the trunks went up in an odd comma like shape. Ricky was sure that was like a shrug as they gave up on the backwards natives of this planet.

They led the three humans to a room full of columns of light. There was a crevice in each column. Each was filled with one of the globes except one. The aliens carefully placed the globe in the empty receptacle. Immediately something changed. The ship seemed to lurch and the lights all glowed brighter.

One of the aliens twiddled its tentacles and a bubble bobbed up. Ricky recognized an old movie he had watched with Mulder and Krycek. Jeff Bridges explained to a grizzled man, "Gas..." as he waited outside of a restroom.

The alien's trunks all formed exclamation marks. Mulder nodded and said, "Yeah, I get it. Gas... somehow you get fuel from these people... something that only an alcohol poisoned body makes.

The trunks waved from side to side. Yes, Ricky was sure that meant yes.

The bubble showed another scene. It was ET saying, "Home."

A laugh came from behind a pillar. A fat man with wild hair walked out and said, "Yeah, they're leaving and I'm going with them."

Ricky pointed and said, "Rumford Emerson, my missing man."

Emerson said, "Yeah, I guess I spoiled your record. But I'm not going back. I have jack-shit left down there. You can't imagine what I've already learned. This place, these people... it's beyond what I could ever have hoped to find. I'm going to be the first one. The first human beyond the solar system."

Mulder looked deeply jealous. He said, "I wonder..."

Alex shook his head and said, "No, Mulder, sorry, we still have work to do. And you have people that would miss you... Skinner, Scully..."

Mulder's head drooped. Alex pulled him close and patted his back. "Maybe they'll come back and we can hitch a ride. We'll pack our towels just in case."

Moments later they all landed next to the stunt truck. Alex got behind the wheel and the three of them crowded into the seat. Uncle Rico rode in back, a blissful smile on his face. He already looked healthy and he was humming merrily in between exclaiming, "Well, now I've seen the elephant."

xx

A day later, Mulder and Krycek stood entwined with Ricky. The goodbye kisses seemed so final... Ricky knew he was looking at them as if he was going to run after them... shouting, "Shane, Shane, or maybe Mulder! Krycek! Come back!"

Alex tilted Ricky's chin up and said, "Hey, you're so busy looking sad that you didn't even check your mail. Come on, Ricky, take a look."

Ricky picked up the stack... AOL disc. Yahoo disc. ATT disc. Suit sale at Marco's House of Style. Letter from Angela. And official envelope. Ricky picked it up and stared at it. It was probably a rejection letter. Ricky was so ordinary that he couldn't imagine being picked for Quantico.

Alex lost patience and said, "Hey, Ricky, Mulder and I steamed it open by accident already. You're in."

Ricky looked at them. Oh well, a snoop and a shade saved you from ever opening your own mail. Still he had to see it. He pulled it out. Accepted. Sponsored by AD Skinner. Report to Quantico in three months. Oh man, so much to do...

A honk sounded. Mulder looked and said, "Taxi, Alex."

Alex grinned and said, "Save us a spot on your dance card, Ricky. See you for Christmas."

Ricky laughed and just clutched the envelope as he watched his lovers depart.

The end

xx

ursula4x@Aol.com

Fandom: X-Files and The Commish
Pairing: Alex Krycek/Fox Mulder/Ricky Caruso
Rating: NC-17
Status: New
Archive: Anywhere, as a complete story. If you have a constructive critique and wish to use a portion, contact me directly.
Fan4Richie@aol.com or Ursula4X@aol.com
Series/Sequel: Is this story part of a series: Sequel to Cops, Double Agents, and The FBI
Other websites: My page at RATB, thanks to Ned & Leny:
../ursula/ursula.htm
Disclaimers: Alex Krycek and Fox Mulder belong to the X Files, Chris Carter, and the actors who created them. I just like to play with them and put them back to beddy, very, very tired.
Stephen Cannell and Three Putt Enterprises own the character of Ricky Caruso, but I may never give him back.
Notes: I wasn't going to do a sequel to Cops, Double Agents, and the FBI, but when your beta asks, you better produce. This is a very late Birthday present for Karen-Leigh, a patient and hard working beta and a wonderful Internet friend.
Time Frame: After A Comedy of Errors and after Cops, Double Agents, and the FBI

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