BACCARAT FIGURINES III (1/3)
by Sean Spencer
seans13@hotmail.com


CATEGORY:  SRA

RATING:  NC-17 Slash (Sk/M)


WARNING:  Explicit but always loving consensual sex between members
of the same sex.


SPOILERS:  none


KEYWORDS:  Skinner/Mulder, Slash


ATXC:  no


ARCHIVE:  yes


MSSS:  yes


DISCLAIMER:  Walter Skinner, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are the 
intellectual property of Chris Carter and 1013 Productions and FOX.  No 
infringement nor copyright is implied or should be inferred from their 
use in this work of fiction.  All other characters are mine.



SUMMARY:  Deputy Director Skinner tries to maintain a low profile to 
preserve harmony at home and at work. Relatives putter around in a 
haunted house.  Features "odd" and "even" days. 



BACCARAT FIGURINES III (1/3)
by Sean Spencer
seans13@hotmail.com


CHAPTER ONE

DEPUTY DIRECTOR DRAWN OUT DAYS


It was already eleven o'clock and Skinner still wasn't home. 
Mulder sighed and looked at the photograph Skinner had at his
nightstand.  It was the picture taken on their fifth anniversary
three months ago.  It was a wonderful study of both of them, in
black and white.  No one would doubt that the two handsome men
in the picture were lovers.  Mulder had chosen that particular
shot from the contact prints the photographer had submitted.  It
showed both of them laughing, very relaxed, both in crisp white
shirts with an arm on each other.  Mulder was looking in the
distance while Skinner was looking at him.  Even Mrs. Jackson
had liked the picture and she'd been glad when Mulder presented
her with a copy.  It turned out that the photographer was famous
with his craft and had wanted to include it in his next show. 
Skinner however put an end to that stupid notion and even
secured the negatives.  Fortunately, the man good naturedly
turned it over, sympathetic to the sensitive nature of those
negatives if it ever got into the wrong hands.



Mulder liked looking at the picture when he was missing Skinner
and he found that he was doing this with much more frequency
nowadays.  Skinner was now Deputy Director for two months and it
seemed that he was never home.  His job was taking up all of his
time and he'd promised that once he'd adjusted to his new
position, things would get better.  It was just that these past few 
weeks were painfully reminding him of his days in his old apartment when 
he was alone.  Only Taylor's occasional amusing antics kept him 
occupied.  Taylor likewise was quite happy with the turn of events 
because Mulder always took him for long, long walks whatever the 
weather.  



Mulder was still with the X-files and fortunately, the new AD
wasn't Ashcraft so things were going relatively smoothly.  But
he and Scully were still adjusting to the new AD.  However,
because Mulder still had the same responsibilites, he still had
much of the same schedule.



A lot had changed in their personal lives, however.  Skinner
rented another apartment in the same building, to solidify the
pretense that he was a bachelor living alone in his condo.  He
now had a set of drivers cum bodyguards who made sure that he
reached his destinations safely.  Fortunately, those drivers
were only for official work so they could still be free for the
occasional and now rare weekends in the cabin.  The presence of
those drivers prevented Skinner's spontaneous phone calls to him
lest they be overheard.  He called now only when absolutely
necessary and there was none of the comfortable small talk they
used to have.



Skinner likewise travelled a lot more, checking on the field
offices.  There was even a whole two weeks when they didn't see
each other because of their hellish schedules.  Their lovemaking
had been affected also.  Skinner was so tired all the time that
Mulder felt guilty about asking for or even initiating sex.  The
three times they had indulged in it had been less than ideal
because Skinner had been rougher and Mulder even got really 
hurt once.  It seemed to him that Skinner just wanted to get it
over with and wasn't taking his time like he used to.  



But Mulder only had to feel the ring on his pinky and look at
the time when he would somehow feel better, because he hoped
that the Skinner he used to know would eventually resurface.

........................


Skinner tossed his briefcase on the chair out in the hallway. 
He loosened his tie as he started undressing as he entered the
bedroom.  As he was pulling out the shirt from his pants, he saw
red when he spied Taylor  sleeping on their bed with Mulder's
arm over the dog.



"Off the bed," Skinner commanded the dog as he shook it awake. 
The dog complied and followed Skinner's command to leave the
room.  In the process of getting off the bed, the agent stirred.
"Fox, how many times do I have to tell you not to let Taylor
sleep on the bed?"



"Okay, okay, he's off the bed," Mulder muttered, irritable that
he was awakened.  It was already midnight and he had a long trip
to California tomorrow.  



Skinner had disappeared into the bathroom and was brushing his
teeth and washing up.  By the time he returned, he saw that
Mulder was back to sleep on his side of the bed.  He nudged the
younger man and Mulder sleepily stirred so Skinner had to nudge
him again.  Mulder managed to move over groggily and Skinner got
under the covers.  He turned off the lamp that Mulder had left
burning on his nightstand.  



After a few minutes, Skinner was still awake and reached for
Mulder.  Mulder didn't even move and when Skinner put a
practiced hand into the agent's shorts he was offended when
Mulder stiffened.  



"I'd rather not, Walter."



"Why not?" Skinner persisted with his hand.  



"I'm tired and I have a flight at seven," Mulder was still
trying to squirm away. 



"Come on , Fox," Skinner continued. His hand was now insistent in 
Mulder's crotch.



Mulder, in a fit of pique, had taken Skinner's hand and threw it
off him.  He withdrew to the other side of the bed and was
enraged when Skinner continued to close the gap between them.



"I told you, I don't feel like it," Mulder repeated, trying to
be calm.  



Skinner then came to his senses as he heard the break in timbre
of Mulder's voice.  He turned on his bedside lamp and took a
deep breath.  



"Are you mad at me for working late again?" Skinner paused when
he realized that he'd been through this before with his ex-wife.



Mulder, however, shook his head.  He blinked at the harsh light.



"I just don't feel like it," Mulder said in a small voice.  He
was still turned away from the older man.  



"But we haven't made love in two and a half weeks already,"
Skinner said, his voice rising uncharacteristically.  "Come on."



"Please, I don't feel like it."  By now, Mulder was at the very
edge of the bed.  Skinner put a hand on his shoulder and again
Mulder flinched.  The older man got angrier when he felt that
Mulder was protectively holding his shorts in his hand.



"It hurt, it hurt last time," Mulder finally said in a rush and
the rest came tumbling out.  "I told you it hurt and you kept on
going and everything's different."



Skinner listened and was appalled with Mulder's revelations. Skinner 
tried to think of the last time they made love and he couldn't frankly 
remember the exact circumstances, especially if Mulder had said that it 
was painful. 



"Why didn't you tell me?" Skinner was now fully alert and sat
up.  "I told you that the last thing I want to do is hurt you. 
What do you mean that everything's different?"



"You're always in hurry now and you rush through," Mulder
muttered reluctantly.  "I know you have a lot on your mind, but
when you start doing it, you zone out.  Once, I didn't even come
but you didn't even know.  And when you hurry, it burns really
bad."



It was during times like these that Mulder often wondered if his lover 
ever experienced anal intercourse firsthand.  It was always difficult  
asking about previous sexual encounters with other people, no matter how 
many years one has been with one's partner.  Obviously, Skinner was more 
experienced than he ever was but that didn't mean that they traded 
information on how knowledge like that was obtained.  All he knew was 
that the older man's male sexual partners were fleeting encounters in 
his youth.  Sometimes, he wondered if Skinner actually knew what it felt 
like to be entered so roughly, how much different and unpleasant and 
downright painful it could feel.



"Oh, baby, I'm sorry," Skinner was contrite.  He embraced Mulder
and was surprised when he  bumped into something hard.  Mulder
sheepishly took out their portrait from under him.  He'd fallen
asleep clutching the picture and that made Skinner feel worse. 
"I'm sorry; it won't happen again, honey."



Mulder finally sighed and relaxed with not a small amount of
relief when Skinner settled for cuddling.  



Skinner removed his arm gingerly from under the head of Mulder,
who'd fallen asleep after a few minutes.  The younger man was
now softly snoring and was dead to the world.  Skinner was very
upset with what Mulder had told him and the photograph on his
bedside table had been staring back at him accusingly.  He
couldn't forget how Mulder had been physically afraid of him,
with his hand securing the waistband of his shorts.  It seemed
that the events of three months ago had been a lifetime ago.  He
really was inundated at work and Mulder was being neglected in
the process. Not just neglected, but had been harmed.  Skinner
fell asleep much later, after hours of soul searching.


CHAPTER TWO

APHRODISIAC CAREER


Things eventually improved as Skinner got the hang of the
workload and he only had Mulder to thank for being so patient
and understanding.  His late nights were confined to times when
Mulder was in the field and he made it a point to be home
earlier when Mulder was in DC.  Of course, there were still the
period of adjustment but things worked out.  



Skinner only had to remember his failed marriage with Sharon to
prod him to make sure that he didn't commit the same mistakes
with Mulder this time around.  By now, he was mature enough to know that 
a committed partnership was actually a give and take affair, with each 
partner not keeping track of his actual number of gives or takes.



Skinner took things slowly and had to admit that the only way
Mulder was ever going to regain confidence with the older man in
bed was for Skinner to woo him back.  Not a few hours were spent
with just heavy petting and Mulder was finally able to relax
enough that things were back to normal in bed in no time. 
Mulder for his part made it a point to initiate more of the sex,
because Skinner wanted to make sure that they were having their
lovemaking only when Mulder was ready.  



So it was with a great measure of gratification for Skinner that
a few weeks later, he had Mulder under him bucking wildly
against him as he thrust powerfully into him.  He knew that
Mulder was highly aroused from long experience by the flush and
dampness on every inch of his skin, the pitch in his voice at
every moan and grunt and the way his sphincters were fully
relaxed, providing just the perfect friction on Skinner's
straining engorged member.  Skinner had a protective arm under
Mulder's sweaty stomach which tightened and heaved with each
thrust of his hips.  When the timing was just right, Skinner's
hand went lower as he proceeded to his lover's penis and with
just the lightest of caresses on Mulder's frenulum, brought them
both to a breathless completion.  Mulder gave that tight little
scream he usually made when he couldn't let go because the
neighbors might hear.



"Was it good, honey?" Skinner already knew the answer.  He was anxious 
to make it good for Mulder because of his previous claim that their 
lovemaking hadn't been that good the past few months.  They were still 
connected by Skinner's already soft penis.  Mulder moaned in assent as 
he nodded, pressing close to Skinner.  Reluctantly, Skinner dismounted, 
feeling the warmth of his own semen and the remains of the  lubricant 
seeping out of Mulder's rectum as he withdrew.  He knelt up on the bed 
and reached over Mulder to his nightstand where he cleaned off both of 
them with the damp washcloth.  



Mulder, in one of the rare times he was awake after lovemaking,
turned impulsively to Skinner and kissed him fiercely, knocking
back the older man against the pillows.  Skinner was caught by
surprise and laughed gladly.  



"Hey, I didn't know I was that good."



"But you are," Mulder had to tell him, playing with the hairs on
the older man's chest.  "All I could think about since this
afternoon's conference was that the big powerful Deputy Director
on the podium was all mine and no one else's.  I had a hard on
the whole day since then and once I had you in me, I couldn't
get the image of you on that podium out of my mind.  That of all
the people there, I'm the only one privileged to see you all hot
and sweaty like this."



As usual, Mulder's overactive imagination had come into play
again.  That afternoon was one of the rare Bureau-wide meetings
held in the big auditorium of the Hoover.  Skinner had a long
speech and had been nervous about it, because it had been his
first official task to preside over there as Deputy Director. 
He was happy to avoid Mulder's eye in the crowd for he knew that
he would just get all flustered in case Mulder had it in him to
put a devilish grin on his face.  He hadn't known how much of a
turn on it had been for Mulder until now.



Like a possessive child, Mulder was placing light pecks on his
chest, neck and face, muttering as if to himself "You're all
mine".  Of course, that heated them both up and by the time
Mulder had changed his litany to "You're my big man," they were
ready for another bout.  Mulder seemed to revel in the fact that
the Deputy Director was on him.  For  once, Skinner didn't mind 
that Mulder kept calling him "sir".   Skinner furiously penetrated
Mulder, the agent's anus already relaxed from his previous come.
It was times like these that Skinner didn't hurt him even when
he was in a hurry.  Mulder sighed with contentment and growing
excitement as he felt himself culminating, followed shortly
thereafter by Skinner.



CHAPTER THREE

BAD LUCK BRIEFS



Agent Gutierrez impatiently looked at his watch he waited for
the DD at the back entrance of the Crystal City condo.  It was
past nine thirty and DD Skinner still hadn't emerged.  Gutierrez
already had verified that Skinner was still upstairs in his
apartment when the housekeeper had informed him that the DD had
just overslept.  It was a freezing March day and there was no
question that Gutierrez would have to wait in the car.  He hated
waiting in the car, even when it was the only oasis of warmth at
the moment.



Like the other eight agents provided with the responsibility for
the security of the Deputy Director, Gutierrez had come to know
Skinner quite well in the five months he was on the rotation. 
Skinner commanded quite a lot of respect in the Bureau. 
Gutierrez prided himself in being a good judge of character and
Skinner's hard working serious ex-Marine demeanor had made an
impression on him.  Skinner's habits were regular and
predictable.  He was considerate to his security personnel
and was aware that they were more than drivers.  Skinner was usually in 
the Hoover by seven thirty and sometimes stayed there until all hours.  



So it was quite uncharacteristic that he was so late today. 
Gutierrez had been cooling his heels in the car, in the lobby
then back in the car since seven o'clock.  He knew that Skinner
had gotten home early last night at five thirty and he was
wondering what was taking so long.  He sighed with relief when
he saw Skinner's broad shouldered form emerge from the double
doors and he pulled up the car and the DD got in.


"Good morning, Agent Gutierrez," Skinner said as he got into the back 
seat.  The agent looked at his boss from the rear view mirror, surprised 
at the light tone in Skinner's voice.  The Deputy Director was usually 
terse and business-like.  "Sorry about that.  I overslept."


"That's okay, sir," Gutierrez answered as he put the car into gear and 
drove from the apartment building.


What was unusual was that Skinner had ridden in the back.  The DD almost 
always rode in front.  Gutierrez surreptitiously glanced at his boss 
from the rear view mirror as he eased onto the expressway
and saw that Skinner was looking out the window with a far away
smile on his face.  That was unusual, too.  Most days, even out here in 
the car, Skinner would already be going over some of his papers as soon 
as the car was on its way to the Hoover.  Gutierrez then did a double 
take later when he saw the red mark on his boss' neck just above the 
crisp white collar.



Gutierrez had to smile when he finally added up the evidence. 
So the Deputy Director got some last night and the agent
wondered who the lucky woman was.  The other eight agents
assigned to Skinner's security detail met about a month ago for
security debriefing by the most senior agent.  It had been an
uneventful debriefing , almost boring because there was nothing
to talk about.  Skinner's activities mainly was centered on the
Bureau and home.  Of course, there were official functions that
he attended with appropriate dates, but Gutierrez knew that most of the 
women were driven home.   

Sometimes however, Skinner stayed over at the women's apartments but 
that was rare. It had caused them no end in amusement at another 
security debriefing about three months ago when they all realized that 
Skinner didn't stay over in his date's apartment whenever Agent Parker 
was his assigned bodyguard.  They all concluded that because Parker was 
a woman, the DD felt uncomfortable about doing that.  They all thought 
Skinner was so old fashioned, because Parker didn't make no bones about 
her own dates to them and all knew that she had an adventurous streak of 
her own.  Since then, they agreed that if there was a scheduled evening 
function it was better if Parker wasn't assigned for that night, to give 
the DD more leeway on his dates.

  
But twice since Gutierrez knew him, Skinner had made calls in the car 
and Gutierrez instinctively knew that Skinner seemed to have a 
significant other.  Skinner's voice had grown soft and murmuring into 
the phone and Gutierrez distinctively heard him say "darling".  Skinner 
also called this particular "darling" when he sat in the back, but never 
when he rode in the front.  



Somehow, with Skinner seeing someone probably on a regular
basis, had made Gutierrez feel better.  Scuttlebutt had it that
Skinner had an ex-wife.  So when he finally deposited the Deputy
Director at the Hoover, Gutierrez felt he knew him enough to
tease him a little.  



"Uhm , sir," Gutierrez said, just before Skinner got out from the
car.  Skinner paused.  Gutierrez pointed to his own neck.  "The ladies 
might get scandalized in the elevators."



He grinned when Skinner colored then the Deputy Director
chuckled good naturedly and rearranged the collar of his shirt. 
He really did have a good time last night, Gutierrez said to
himself as he drove down to the Bureau car pool to return the
car.  It was the first time Gutierrez ever heard him laugh 
spontaneously.



It was a month later when Gutierrez was yawning on the way home.
Skinner had pulled another late night and it was midnight
already when Gutierrez was leaving the Crystal City apartment. 
He glanced at the backseat.


"Jesus," Gutierrez moaned tiredly, when he saw that the DD
had inadvertently left his second briefcase in the car.  He deccelarated 
and turned the car around back to Skinner's building.


Skinner sometimes had two briefcases and this one was the important one, 
the thicker and bigger one.  Gutierrez grabbed the offending briefcase 
and went over to the lobby and cursed again whe he saw that it was 
empty, with no doorman in sight.  He shrugged to himself and went up the 
elevator.  



Gutierrez knew that he couldn't have left the briefcase with the
doorman anyway because of the sensitive nature of the papers
that might be contained in it.  He punched the seventeenth floor
and was glad that the elevator was fast.  Gutierrez reached
Skinner's front door and rang the doorbell.



It was just that everyone was tired in that late hour when
Skinner opened the door.  



"Good evening, sir, you left this in the car," Gutierrez explained.  The 
DD was in his shirtsleeves and had a drink in his hand.  Skinner's 
surprised expression at what Gutierrez held out for him told the agent 
that Skinner hadn't even known that he'd inadvertently left the 
briefcase in the car.  



"Thanks, Gutierrez," Skinner said gratefully as large yellow dog was 
frisking at Skinner's feet.  


Gutierrez looked up at the blur of movement and saw a younger man in 
briefs walking through the living room.  Gutierrez' eyes widened
in shock, it was then that Skinner looked back and everyone
froze.



"Shit!"  The man had released the curse and had run up the stairs.  



"S-sorry, sir, I didn't mean to intrude," Gutierrez was stammering his 
apologies.  He aware that he might be babbling at that moment.


 
Skinner for once looked uncertain, then the hard expression
returned to his face as he pulled Gutierrez inside.  Before he
knew it, Gutierrez found himself in a smaller room off the
living room.  It was a den.



Gutierrez could hear two sets of furious heavy steps upstairs
as he sat down on the edge of the couch.  The den was furnished
with modern furniture just like the rest of the living room and
to pass the time, Gutierrez went over to the bookcase.  As he
was nervously scanning the titles of the books, he saw a small
framed picture on the shelf.  Like a scab that shouldn't be
picked, Gutierrez just had to look and scrutinize the picture. 
It was a blurred photograph of someone Gutierrez vaguely knew
but just couldn't place.  The young man on the photo was
handsome, with a full lower lip, a rather big nose and sad eyes even 
when he was grinning into the camera.  Gutierrez gave a guilty start 
when the door opened and Skinner came back.



"I'm sorry, sir," Gutierrez said even before Skinner closed the
door behind him.  "I didn't mean to invade your privacy like
that."



Skinner tiredly motioned for him to sit and Gutierrez sat down
on the couch.  


"Would you like a drink?"  Skinner asked.  Gutierrez had never seen him 
so tense and the eyes behind the DD's glasses were unreadable. 



"I can't, sir," Gutierrez declined, although he did want one bad by now.  
"I'm driving home."



Skinner gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand over his bald head as he 
gathered his thoughts.  He sat down opposite Gutierrez.



"I know I would just look stupid if I told you that it isn't
what you think, Agent Gutierrez," Skinner began.  "It is exactly
what you think."



"Sir, it's none of my business..." Gutierrez was about to rise
to leave but Skinner held up a hand.



"No, it is your business," Skinner finally snapped at him and drew
another deep breath to calm himself down.  "I am currently in...in a 
homosexual relationship with Agent Mulder."



So that was why the man was familiar, Gutierrez mused when
Skinner mentioned the name of the agent.  Gutierrez had seen the
agent only a few times in the one year he'd been at the Hoover.



"All I want you to know is that my ability to stay in this
relationship is presently hinging on what you will reveal to
anyone else," Skinner said, his teeth clenched.  "If it ever
comes down to me choosing my job and Agent Mulder, there is no
question that my job is something that I could give up just like
that.  Before you get the wrong impression that I am in the
habit of seducing younger agents, I would like to tell you that
Agent Mulder and I have been in a monogamous relationship for
five years now."



"It's okay, sir," Gutierrez said, "I always keep my mouth shut
and if I can say so, sir, I could see that your personal life
has never interfered with your work."



Skinner seemed to visibly relax after that.  He led his driver
out of the apartment and Gutierrez again apologized.



"I know Agent Mulder might be upset," Gutierrez said, just before he 
left.  "Please tell him I'm sorry and that he
shouldn't worry."



.................................................................
 


Skinner sighed heavily as he walked up the stairs.  He found
Mulder sitting up tensely on the bed with Taylor's head on his
knee.  Skinner smiled ironically to himself.  Mulder had just
recently converted to Jockeys for his underwear and it now was
highly probable that he would go back to boxers by tomorrow.  



"I'm sorry, Walter," Mulder stated in a low voice. " I know
you've always told me not to go walking around the house in my
underwear.  What if OPC launches an investigation?"



"Then let OPC investigate," Skinner said.  "I had a talk with
Gutierrez and he seems to be the type to keep his mouth shut. 
But of course, only time will tell if he keeps his word.  By the
way, he told me to tell you that you shouldn't worry."



"I am worried," Mulder declared miserably.  "What if you lose
your job and be a laughingstock as Deputy Director?  You know
that no matter how good you are in your job, everything would be
overshadowed by sensational news."



Skinner just shrugged.  



"I know your fears are well-founded, Fox,"  Skinner said as
pragmatic as ever.  "But at this time of night, there is nothing
more we can do.  Plus if I so much as try to talk to Gutierrez
again, he might feel threatened that I am trying to fire him. 
Come on, let's get into bed."



Both of them slept fitfully however.  It was a sensation of deja
vu that Skinner and Mulder were extra vigilant the next few
days.  Gutierrez was hard to gauge, because he maintained his
usual affable and bland self.  Skinner felt uncomfortable with
him the first time he rode with him again after three days but
things went smoothly after that.   He had no way of knowing that
Gutierrez was fairly embarrassed more because of his invasion of
the privacy of his boss than the revelation about his sexual
proclivities.  



Mulder, too, was more than uncomfortable when he spied Gutierrez
in the Hoover two months later.  Gutierrez smiled at him in
recognition, but Mulder had to fight down the urge to punch out
the guy in the hallway.  That would only cause more trouble. 


Mulder was feeling pretty down for the last two months.  It was
one thing for Scully to know about his relationship with
Skinner.  After all, she was his best friend and they've known
each other for a long time already.  However, it was another
thing for other Bureau personnel, especially male personnel to
know about him and Skinner.  But Gutierrez seemed true to his
word and no one was the wiser.



CHAPTER FOUR

NATURALISTIC PREMIER





Skinner was finally adjusted to the heavy responsibilities such
that they were able to go to the cabin regularly again.  He
found that he was enjoying the new challenges his job offered. 
He was feeling pretty potent the past few weeks with he and
Mulder having sex on a daily basis again.  He was embarrassed by
the recent trend of what turned him on, that of dominating
Mulder more thoroughly than usual.  But Mulder seemed not to
mind and also liked Skinner's reactivated libido.   Skinner had
to admit that having the increased work load agreed with him.



So one weekend found Skinner and Mulder taking their regular
walk in the woods.  Skinner left Taylor in the house, saying
that he didn't want the dog with them for once.  They hiked a
while and Mulder wondered why Skinner was taking a circuitous
route, away from the usual path.  But he made out a flash of red
through the trees and as they neared it, Mulder realized that it
was a large flannel blanket.  Skinner's intentions were made
clear when he started kissing Mulder's neck.



"Come on, Fox, wouldn't it be great if we made love here?"
Skinner breathed as he kissed the skin of the younger man which
was covered with the light sweat of their exertions through the
woods.  "We've never made love outside since Belize and it would
be nice to do it right here."



"I see you've had this planned in advance?" Mulder had to moan
as Skinner slowly unbuttoned his shirt and slipped a hand inside
to pet his chest.  They sank to the blanket and Skinner
proceeded to make love to him.  At first, Mulder thought that
Skinner would want it fast, but the DD was taking his time and
seemed to revel in having Mulder naked on the blanket; he had to
admit that Mulder's pale smooth skin overlying the bright red
textured pattern of the material made a satisfying sight.  



For once, Mulder was fully taken up by the experience and gave
up any thoughts of discovery.  Skinner had him in his mouth and
the wet hot mouth of Skinner contrasted sharply with the light
cool breeze.  



"Look at you, baby, you're so hard and ready," Skinner sighed as
he smiled down at the totally mesmerized agent.  "I want you to
come first for me, honey."



Skinner took out the tube of lubricant from his pocket and
generously smeared Mulder's pink parts with it.  



"I want to see all of you, baby," Skinner said,  "Can you squat
for me?"



Mulder dazedly complied and planted his feet on the blanket as
he carefully squatted.  It was awkward but also arousing to have
his genitals dangling so freely.  It also gave better access to
his nether parts.  Skinner took Mulder's scrotum in his hand and
gently kneaded his testes.  Then Skinner took out the anal
vibrator and carefully inserted it up the agent's rectum. 
Mulder had to hold on to Skinner's powerful shoulders to keep
his balance.  



"Deeper, Walter," Mulder gasped.  Skinner had to be careful in
gauging the depth of the vibrator's penetration through his
lover's body.  He'd asked their doctor about the usage of the
vibrator a few months ago and he had been warned that in the
squatting position, the vibrator had to be used judiciously. 
Mulder's body was shuddering as Skinner varied the pattern of
the in and out motion with occasional rotation of the cylinder. 
He didn't bother to turn on the vibrator because from
experience, he knew that Mulder would come in a hair trigger's
notice when the machine was on.



"You should see yourself, honey," Skinner encouraged lovingly. 
"You're so beautiful...Oh, baby, come for me, baby."



Skinner's other hand concentrated on Mulder's penis and the
younger man was soon arching helplessly against him as his penis
squirted its seed.  Skinner immediately withdrew the vibrator
lest Mulder impale himself with it as he collapsed.  The older
man carressed the shudders away and when Mulder opened his eyes,
Skinner turned his face to him.



"Can I come in now?"  Skinner asked, as he started unbuttoning
his fly front.  Mulder nodded and turned on his front and
splayed his legs.  Skinner gently reinserted the vibrator and
when Mulder's orifice was ready, he plunged in.  Mulder was so
slick and soft and hot and smooth but Skinner consciously
restrained his thrusts, mindful of not hurting his Mulder.  When
Mulder started to thrust back against him, Skinner knew that
Mulder was ready for the deeper penetration and he raised both
of them to their knees as his thrusts gained power.  



"You're so big, Walter," Mulder managed to gasp.  Skinner's
thick long member filled him up just right.



"Who's your big man, Fox?" Skinner growled as his hips continued.



"You, Walter!" Mulder howled.  "Only you!"



Mulder came again and was followed by Skinner's copious
ejaculation into Mulder's gut.



Mulder's eyes finally came open after a few minutes.  He liked
being completely nude under the still fully clothed Skinner; he
could feel the roughness of the denim and the softness of the
flannel shirt.  Skinner was taking his time regaining his
breath, playing with Mulder's hair and breathing in his scent.  



When Mulder started to wriggle from Skinner's weight, the DD
withdrew and he took out his handkerchief as he wiped off the
semen and lubricant from Mulder's creases.  He threw off
the handkerchief once he'd wiped himself off as well and spent
the next few minutes kissing the nude Mulder under the trees.
Mulder au naturel was intoxicating.  



"Oh, honey, I love you so," Skinner said, crushing the younger
man to him as Mulder just as uninhibitedly clung to him. 
"You're so  beautiful."



Eventually, they had to leave.  They headed back to the cabin to the 
joyful barks of Taylor, who thought they'd forgotten about him.  Mulder 
exhaustedly crashed on the couch as Skinner took a brief shower.  When 
he left to walk the dog, Mulder was still sound asleep.  



By the time Skinner returned, it was getting dark.  The kitchen
lights were on which meant that Mulder was now fully awake.  He
found the agent cooking dinner at the stove.  He had that post-coital 
flush that Skinner thought suited him so well.  



"I was getting worried, it's almost dark," Mulder kissed him deeply as 
he stood by the kitchen door damp from his shower, with the sauce spoon 
on one hand.  



"So now you know how I felt on our first Thanksgiving here," Skinner 
said ironically as he remembered his own frantic thoughts at the time 
Mulder had left the cabin in a huff when they had fought about calling 
his parents.  Mulder grinned evilly at him then went back to the stove.  
Skinner was struck at how domestic they seemed, especially with the dog 
underfoot.  There was nothing to beat going home to a happy sexually 
fulfilled partner, eager to please him.  A nice warm cabin by the lake 
with the whiff of something good in the air just completed the picture 
just fine.  It just gave him a nice warm feeling inside, as if 
everything was all right in the world.  



Skinner was pleased with the way Mulder had adjusted to his new
AD.  There was a conspicuous absence of incident reports and
official reprimands.  Skinner made surreptitious inquiries and
found that Mulder was performing up to par in the last months. 
One of his apprehensions about his climb up the ladder was that
Mulder would have a hard time with the new AD.  But Mulder was
surprisingly more mature now and could handle authority figures
much better.  Skinner didn't know if it was just due to the
passage of time or due to Mulder's enduring relationship to a
particular authority figure.  



CHAPTER FIVE

MALL BULLDOG



A few days later found Skinner in the mall.  He was able to
leave work early for once and was now shopping.  Because it was
a weekday, his agent was following him around, trying to look
inconspicuous.  Skinner needed some new shirts and other things.
Because of his larger than normal neck size, it was sometimes
difficult to buy shirts that fitted him.  Then, out of habit, he
got some shirts for Mulder, too.  Somehow, the agent had trashed
four shirts on his latest traveling foray.  By this time, Skinner had 
given up asking Mulder why he seemed to go through his shirts as if 
these were disposable.  Even the economical Mrs. Jackson had thrown up 
her hands at being handed another set of shirts to darn.  And the stains 
on them were sometimes beyond belief.  Popped buttons and torn pockets 
were one thing, but bile stained, bloodied or green-acid-eaten-away-
shirts were something else.



Shirts for work was easy to buy for Mulder because they basically wore 
the same type of dress shirt, although Mulder had more of the light blue 
kind while Skinner confined himself to white shirts.  After making the 
purchase, Skinner wandered over to the more casual wear and got some 
things for Mulder there as well.  He could already accurately gauge 
Mulder's tastes in casual clothes and it was rare that Mulder returned 
any of the things he bought.  Mulder hated shopping in the malls and had 
gladly turned over the task to Skinner.  The older man wryly noted that 
as he did more and more of the clothes shopping, he had improved 
Mulder's wardrobe surreptitiously.  



As Skinner stood in the underwear section, he observed that most
if not all the men shopping in the men's section were
accompanied by their wives or girlfriends.  He was guilty of
such a thing too when he was married to Sharon.  It seemed that
women didn't trust men in their judgment in choosing their own
clothes.  More than once, Skinner could remember fitting
something in the fitting room and going out so that Sharon would
approve the fit and style of the clothes.  All around the country one 
can find women clustering around the entrance of men's fitting rooms 
waiting for their husbands or boyfriends to come out.   



Skinner then picked out more tasteful boxers for Mulder.  He was back to 
wearing boxers these days, saying that briefs for him was bad luck. 
Fortunately, Mulder's boxers were more streamlined because Skinner was 
buying those for him too.  There were less weird prints circulating in 
Mulder's underwear drawer although sometimes, Skinner still bought 
Mulder some of those if anything caught his eye.



A  brief foray into the socks section replenished their socks
supply.  Skinner's socks were mainly dress socks while Mulder
needed more of the cushioned athletic ones for his running.



Skinner could freely go around and shop for Mulder in the
department store because Gutierrez was the one with him.  If it
had been another agent, Skinner knew that there would be talk
about Skinner buying clothes obviously so much smaller than his
size.  He had come to appreciate Gutierrez' discretion.  The
young agent was as tight-lipped as ever and had kept his word
about not blabbing.  



Skinner was sorry that Gutierrez' tour of duty in his security team 
would be over in two months.  It was of course a waste of an agent's 
training just to be a glorified bodyguard even if they were fresh agents 
from regional Bureau offices who just needed to get used to the Main HQ 
before starting in the various departments at the Hoover.  It was also 
more prudent to rotate agents because it kept them on their toes, with 
less slip-ups because the longer one was responsible for the security of 
one person, the more likely one could become lax.  



When he got home, he found Mulder engrossed in front of the
television with the latest primetime science fiction serial. 
Taylor was at his feet.  Mulder absently returned his kiss and
nodded when Skinner showed him his new clothes.  With his
attention no longer riveted at the television at the next
commercial, Mulder turned his attention to Skinner's purchases
and grinned appreciatively at the older man's choices.  



"Do you like those, honey?" Skinner asked as he sipped his
scotch.  "Are the shirts okay?"



"Yeah, these are just right," Mulder said.  He pointed to one
T-shirt.  "Did these come in different colors, too?"



Skinner leaned forward and saw that Mulder was referring to one
of the Ralph Lauren shirts.  He shook his head and hitched up
his tails of his shirt from his trousers and Mulder knew that
the bigger man wanted his back scratched.  As Mulder watched the
show, he scratched Skinner's back for him and Skinner sighed
with satisfaction as Mulder settled on a particularly itchy
spot.  Once the show was over and Skinner's back was itch-free,
they heated up Mrs. Jackson's dinner and ate it companionably in
the kitchen.  



Later that night, just before he turned off his lamp at the
nightstand, Skinner reflected that it had been a good  weekday. 
He started off with a good workout that morning on his machine. 
The office was relatively stress free with none of the usual
meetings that got nowhere, the problems at work presented to him
had their solutions, he was able to squeeze a few minutes of
shopping, Mrs. Jackson's stew was particularly good, and he and
Mulder just made love, leaving him in just the right mood to
fall into a deep sleep.



END OF BACCARAT FIGURINES III (1/3)





BACCARAT FIGURINES III (2/3)
by Sean Spencer
seans13@hotmail.com



WARNING:  Slash NC-17 Skinner/Mulder

DISCLAIMER IN PART ONE



CHAPTER SIX

URTICARIAL SCARE


It was three a.m. when Ray Cormier got to his clinic.  Such
strange hours weren't unusual in his general practice because of
his clientele.  But the last few days had been particularly
exhausting because of the seemingly endless requests from his
patients at all hours.  He was barely awake now as he pulled up
the driveway.  He wasn't surprised that there was a dark car, a
late model luxury one already waiting at the parking lot, near
the entrance door to his clinic.



Cormier saw the big bald bespectacled man with the bulbous nose
get out of the car.  The look of anxiety and guilt was barely
suppressed.  Cormier got out of the car and greeted the man with
just the right amount of concern and sobriety.  He peered into
the car and saw the hunched figure inside.  



"Good morning, Mr. Mulder," Cormier said as he was bending over.
"I'll just open the clinic and we'll have a look at you in a
jiffy."


He opened the double doors to his clinic with his key and set
about turning on the heat and lights.  He let the couple in and
they patiently waited at the hall.  Cormier knew these two
relatively well, although they had only appeared together once
or twice as a couple in all the years he'd been their doctor. 
Cormier knew that they worked for the Bureau and that their
appointments were for the "even" days.  His secretary knew what
that meant, though Cormier doubted that his patients ever caught
on with the way he scheduled them.  

"Even" days meant that he confined his appointments to the closeted 
ones while the "odd" days were for his patients who were out.  
These two were definitely still in the closet, probably because they 
were in law enforcement.  He kept those "even" and "odd" days 
mainly for patients like these, who would feel very uncomfortable 
with sitting in the waiting room next to a drag queen or someone 
with green hair.  It also tended to increase compliance in their
keeping appointments.  



Cormier tried to hurry up with opening up the various doors to
the examining rooms and the storage areas.  He could see the
obvious discomfort of the younger man.  Once he had the
examining room ready, he ushered the younger man into it and
told him to get into the paper gown.  



Ray waited for the requisite few minutes and tried not to keep
his eyes from closing.  He'd been in practice for fifteen years.
No, he wasn't gay but he confined his practice to these men for
the last ten years mainly because it was a vow he made since his
brother died of AIDS.  His wife and kids complained about the
irregularity of his working hours, but they rightly agreed with
him that it was seasonal irregularity.  He just wondered what it
was this past two weeks that had him taking calls at all hours. 
It wasn't even a full moon and he'd been here almost every night
for emergencies such as this.  Just last night, he had to
carefully extract an unusual gadget from a patient's rectum.  He
already had a nasty collection of his extracted stuff, so that
he could orient new patients more clearly on the injudicious  
insertion of  materials up their asses or on their penises.



But this couple was a puzzle.  Cormier knew that these two were
ultra conservative and  had been particularly devoted to each
other, for years now.  By what he remembered, for gay men they
even had very unexciting  whitebread kind of sex.  So he had
been confused an hour earlier when the older man had made a
frantic call.  



Cormier finally called in the bigger man into his office.  It
was his usual strategy to call in the partner and interview him
briefly for the description of the series of events and to
instill in him a bit of guilt so that this episode won't be
repeated.



"Mr. Skinner," Cormier said, indicating the bald man to sit
down.  "I'd like you to make a brief rundown on what happened
before I examine Mr. Mulder."



As expected, Skinner blushed, turning his bald pate into an
interesting color.  Then he stammered that they had wanted to
make love in the bathtub and had tried a new lubricant which was
supposed to work well in water and was flavored.  Skinner
fortunately had the tube of lubricant in his pocket and had
given the offending material to Cormier.  Cormier looked at it
dubiously and read the ingredients.  Apparently, the lubricant
had worked and they had made love.  However, after two hours,
the receptive partner started having the most severe case of
pruritus ani.  Skinner himself denied any symptoms.



Of course, Cormier had to make sure that this wasn't an STD so
he asked about the number of sexual partners Skinner has had for
the past months.  He was satisfied when the bespectacled man had
reared back as if in shock at the idea that he was unfaithful.



Cormier tried not to sigh as he got into the examining room and
saw the younger man trying not to scratch through his paper
gown.  Cormier suddenly remembered him as the patient who was
always uncomfortable whenever he was examined.  After confirming
Skinner's story with his partner, Cormier also asked about any
extracurricular sex the younger man was having, but Mulder
vigorously shook his head at the idea.  



Cormier's cynical eye misted for a second and told himself that there 
was love after all in a gay partnership.  From his records, Cormier 
remembered that this patient only had one male sexual partner all his 
life, which was even a rarer feat, enough for Cormier to give him a
medal.  Most of the patients he saw in his clinic were notoriously 
promiscuous, notwithstanding the AIDS epidemic, whether they were in or 
out.  Monogamous couples like these were very few and far between.



"Would you like Mr. Skinner with you?" Cormier said, kindly. 
Mulder nodded and Cormier ushered in Skinner.  Just like an
obstetrician, Cormier confined the partner to the head of the
examining table and fortunately they held hands as he completed
his examination.  These two really were sweet and Cormier didn't
miss the glint of the ring on Mulder's finger.  



Fortunately, there were no systemic signs of severe allergy,
with blood pressure normal, heart rate understandably fast, no
rashes on the skin, no abdominal pain.  The perineal exam
however was something else.  The perianal skin was very
erythematous but no bullous formation was present which was a
good sign.  



"Mr. Mulder, I'll just do a rectal, all right?" Cormier warned
and the younger man tensed up.  This one really hated rectals,
unlike some of the patients he knew.  Mulder hissed.



"It hurts," Mulder moaned.  The distress on Skinner's face was
apparent, although he was trying to hide it.  



"I'm sorry, Mr. Mulder, but this will only take a minute,"
Cormier through long practice and kind words was able to get the
examination done quickly.  The anus was boggy in consistency
from the edema, the sphincters with the tone typical of an anal
receptive partner, and the anoscope revealed that there were no
hemorrhoids nor fissures which meant that Skinner must be really
careful.  Presently, Cormier saw traces of  fresh semen  and the
offending lubricant in the rectal vault, which of course was not
unexpected.  He took some swabs just for completion's sake.  



"Mr. Mulder," Cormier said, "the surrounding skin is very
swollen and red and it most probably is due to severe contact
dermatitis.  You're very allergic to the lubricant.  I take it
that this is the first time you used it?"



Mulder nodded.



"There are still some left inside and if you pass it in your
stool, the allergy will just get worse.  I'm going to have to
evacuate as much of the lubricant through the anoscope.  It'll
be uncomfortable but only for a few minutes.  Then you'll feel
better when I apply some Lidocaine ointment.  This will provide
immediate, but temporary relief.  You'll have to apply
hydrocortisone cream there twice a day and anytime after
defecation.  You must keep yourself really clean for the next
five days.  I'll also give you antihistamine tablets and
antibiotics.  And hot sitz baths three times a day.  You got all
that, Mr. Skinner?"



The older man nodded, and Cormier felt sorry for him because the
big man looked like he was close to tears.  Cormier irrigated
Mulder quickly and efficiently  being careful to suction the
liquid feces as much as possible to prevent any more of the
lubricant from getting onto the perineal skin.  The Lidocaine
jelly provided seemingly magical relief.  



Once Cormier got to his office, he saw that Skinner was the
shaky one.  Just to complete everything, he examined Skinner's
genitals to make sure that he wasn't developing an allergy, too.



"Come on, Mr. Skinner," Cormier patted the broad shoulder as his
other patient was zipping himself up.  "It's not that bad. 
He'll have to stay at home for three days at the most, mainly
because I will be prescribing very powerful antihistamines that
might make him woozy.  I've seen more cases like these since
those flavored lubricants came on the market.  There won't be
any lasting physical effects."



"I really didn't want to use it, but he was insistent," Skinner
moaned into his hands.  " He said he wanted to try it in the
tub, but the last time we made love in the water was a year ago
and he said it wasn't as smooth as he would like it."



"Hey," Cormier further reassured the older man.  "You have a
normal active sex life with your partner.  It's not against the
law to try something new once in a while.  You just made a
mistake this time and I bet that this thing won't be repeated."



" I just don't want him getting sick so much," Skinner said. 
"He's been in and out of the hospital so many times."



"You take very good care of him," Cormier admitted.  "I could
see that you've been following the anal precautions we've
previously discussed.  There is no  sign of overt damage due to
carelessness in the area.  It is quite evident you only want the
best for him."



Mulder shakily entered the room and Cormier repeated his
instructions.  By the time they left, an itch-free Mulder was
smiling although Skinner was still grim.  Mulder walked normally
to the car and got in.  Skinner gave a grateful glance at
Cormier before they drove away.  Cormier sighed again with
exhaustion.  It was now five o'clock and there was no use going
home.  He locked the clinic doors and ensconced himself onto one
of the examination rooms and took a nap on the table.

....................................................

Mulder tried to make light of the situation on the way back home
but kept quiet when he saw that Skinner was seething.  



"I just wanted to try it," Mulder said in a small voice.  "The
guy at the shop said it was supposed to be okay."



"It's not okay," Skinner almost spat out.  "It's not okay when
you have to stay home for three days because of a few minutes of
fun. I'm sure you won't be so jolly once the effect of the
Lidocaine wears off."



Skinner became contrite after a few minutes.  He drew Mulder to
him to make the younger man feel better.



"I think that next time we try anything new, we should discuss
it with Dr. Cormier first, the way I discussed the use of the
vibrator with him," Skinner said.  "In light of your new found
allergy, I think it prudent that we avoid using stuff like that
until you have a test or something."



"I don't think that discussing our sex life to the minutest
detail and asking for permission for each new move in bed is a
good idea," Mulder frowned.  It gave him the creeps that someone else, 
even if he was a doctor, should know so much about them. 



"I'm tired, Fox," Skinner said.  "Let's talk about it some other
time once you're better.  I have a meeting with Freeh in four
hours and I'd like to take an hour of shut eye before that."



"Okay," Mulder acquiesced.  He leaned against the DD and slept
the whole way back to the apartment.  It was six o'clock once
they got to the basement parking and the antihistamine had
kicked in.  Mulder was mildly incoherent when Skinner guided him
to the elevator.  He just barely made it to the bedroom and
Skinner dressed him into pajamas to decrease the  scratching
opportunities.  



Skinner was able to grab a couple of hours of sleep and hurried
through his morning routine, forgoing his workout.  He talked
with Mrs. Jackson, telling her to remind Mulder to drink his
medications at the proper time.  She was alarmed that Mulder was
sick again and Skinner didn't feel like elaborating on the exact
nature of his illness.  She reassured him that she'd take care
of Mulder and that she would take Taylor for his morning walk. 
She also told him that he would be the one to call Scully to
inform her that Mulder will be absent today.  Skinner profusely
thanked her as he rushed out the door. 



Mulder woke up that afternoon, totally disoriented but very
itchy.  He went to the bathroom and gave a sigh of relief on
lying down in the tub in hip deep warm water.  He almost fell
asleep in the tub again except for Taylor coming in and licking
his face awake.  Mulder dried off and found out how difficult it
was to apply the hydrocortisone cream in that particular area. 
He got into a fresh pair of Skinner's pajamas and got back in
bed.  



Having heard his footfalls, Mrs. Jackson entered later with a
tray of lunch, which Mulder devoured.  He wondered why she put a
hand on his forehead to check for fever and blushed as he
realized that Skinner hadn't briefed her on the nature of his
sickness.  He allowed her to fuss over him, straightening the
bedclothes and fluffing his pillows.  It was nice to be attended
to hand and foot.  But Mulder was still glum because he knew
that Skinner might be annoyed with him.  He was the one who had
wanted to make love in the tub and had gone to great lengths to
find that particular lubricant.  Skinner, in fact, was dubious
and it had taken most of Mulder's power of persuasion to
convince the older man about its usage.  Mulder just knew that
when Skinner got back home, he would be given the cold shoulder
probably for a few days.  Mulder scratched himself as he watched
Oprah and Rosie, shifting channels every few minutes.  



Mrs. Jackson returned to take away the tray and to make sure
that he downed the rest of his pills for that day.  He took
another sitz bath.  Mulder inevitably gave in to his heavy
eyelids.  He subconsciously felt Skinner slip into bed a few
hours later.  Skinner shook him awake.



"Let me see," Skinner said gruffly.  Mulder was at first
confused but the older man was patting his buttocks.  Mulder
turned on his side and loosened the drawstring of his pajamas
while Skinner turned back the bedclothes.  The older man helped
Mulder lower his trousers to his knees and surveyed the damage. 
He hissed.



"Is it bad?" Mulder contorted himself trying to look.



"It's very red," Skinner said impatiently as he grabbed the
hydrocortisone from Mulder's night stand and applied the
ointment himself.  The cleft of the younger man's buttocks and
both cheeks were red while the actual perianal area was very
red. Mulder sighed with relief as he felt the hydrocortisone
starting to work.  Skinner's finger was gentle as it even went
through the orifice to apply more of the substance up inside. 
Once he finished, Skinner gave Mulder an affectionate slap on
the buttock and helped him back into his pajamas.  At least,
Skinner wasn't giving him the cold shoulder he'd expected.



"Remind me to put more of the ointment before I go to work
tomorrow," Skinner said gruffly.  Mulder recognized that Skinner
was in his short-tempered teddy bear mood and snuggled up to 
the torso of the bigger man once he came back from the bathroom.
It was just a relief that he wasn't as mad as he thought he
would be.  Mulder's suspicions on the teddy bear mood were
confirmed when Skinner grudgingly started kissing his hair.  As
long as Mulder didn't say much and cuddled up to him, Skinner
would eventually be buttered up to.  The younger man was
finally rewarded by long slow strokes on his back as Skinner
read some of the papers he occasionally took to bed
with him.  



With the aid of the antihistamines, Mulder started drifting off
to sleep.  It was nice also to spend quiet evenings like this,
just curled up in bed with Skinner, an arm flung over the broad 
chest and his face in that special place that was his alone on
Skinner's neck.  Skinner was still wearing his glasses as he
perused his papers.



"Honey, I need to move, my arm's numb," Skinner whispered
quietly as he gently pushed away the agent.  Mulder mumbled and
refused to budge.  It was too comfortable to move and Mulder
tried to gain a few more minutes.  After two more requests from
Skinner, Mulder finally shifted and kissed Skinner's neck before
detaching himself.  



Mulder was drooling into his pillow early the next morning and
groaned when he felt Skinner insistently patting his hip to
shake him awake.  Skinner pulled down his pajama pants again and
with a wet washcloth, cleaned the area and then applied more of
the cream.  



 "Is it better?" Mulder mumbled.



"Maybe," Skinner answered.  "But I'm not so sure."



Mulder heard Skinner take his morning shower.  It was barely
dawn outside and the grayish cast in the room was interrupted by
the sharp beam of light from the bathroom.  Since he had nothing
better to do, Mulder waited for Skinner to emerge from the
bathroom so that he could watch the older man in his morning
ablutions.  It was rare that he did this because on most
weekdays, he had to get up at the same time as Skinner and most
weekends, he was out cold.  



After a few minutes, the sound of water from the shower stopped
and Skinner got out.  From Mulder's vantage point on the bed, he
had a clear view of Skinner through the half open bathroom door.
Like always, each of the movements of the ex-Marine were spare
and showed off his muscles beautifully.   The only time Mulder
ever saw his partner's hair in a disheveled state was after his
shower and on waking up in the morning.  Skinner was drying off
his hair, then his face and neck, his torso, between his legs
then his legs and feet.  He tied the towel around his waist as
he faced the mirror and then meticulously combed his hair. 
Mulder grinned when Skinner spied Mulder's sink area and
muttered darkly under his breath as he grudgingly straightened
out the haphazard toiletries for the nth time.  Then Skinner
raised each arm to apply his deodorant.  After which, he started
shaving.



There were no wasted movement in the way Skinner shaved.  Just
the right amount of shaving cream was sprayed from the can onto
his hand then applied over the strong jaw and upper lip.  He
even used a straight razor, expertly flicking the shaved cream
onto the sink with the barest wrist movement.  



Within a few minutes, the shaving was done and Skinner wiped off
the excess cream with a towel, then aftershave was applied.  All
his toiletries were stored back into the medicine cabinet then
the sink wiped off, leaving no trace that the sink and bathroom
had ever been used.  He walked out of the bathroom and then
opened his closet.  The underwear drawer was opened, the towel
around his waist discarded then he stepped into his briefs.  The
white undershirt followed and dark socks were pulled on as he
sat on the chair beside the closet.  And then he surveyed his
clothes, thinking for a brief second on what he would wear for
the day.  As usual, the heavily starched inevitable white shirt
was taken out of the laundry plastic bag; after which he put on
the trousers of his charcoal grey suit.  Belt followed then the
highly polished shoes.  Tie in a Windsor knot and another
shuffle through a drawer and a handkerchief was put into his
right pocket.  Wire rims last.   Skinner then shrugged into his
suit jacket and was now officially the Deputy Director.  



Skinner then bent over the bed as he shuffled the papers he'd
slept with into manila folders.  He reached over to kiss Mulder
goodbye.  He was surprised to find the younger man awake and was
yawning as he stood up.



"It's barely six, Fox," Skinner whispered.  "Go back to bed."



"I've been in bed the whole day yesterday, Walter," Mulder
yawned again as he grabbed Skinner's briefcase and went down the
stairs.  "The least I can do is eat breakfast with you. "



Skinner smiled as he followed Mulder, whose hair was standing on
end and having to hold the pajama trousers with one hand to keep
it from falling below his hips.  



"It's low fat granola," Mulder said as he set out a bowl and
poured the cereal into two bowls.  



"But you hate cold cereal," Skinner said as he started on his
own bowl.  It truly was endearing of Mulder to wake up 
early just to eat breakfast with him.  



"As long as it's not cornflakes or anything that resembles it
like Wheaties, Total," Mulder said as he spooned the granola
into his mouth.  "Granola looks like it's a different species
altogether.  And the doctor said I should eat a lot of roughage."



Skinner regretted that he had to eat so quickly.  He reminded
Mulder to confirm his doctor's appointment tomorrow and then
left after kissing Mulder a goodbye.  

Once Skinner was out of the apartment, Mulder spewed out the
half-chewed granola from his mouth and threw away the rest into
the sink.  He still hated cereal but he hadn't wanted Skinner to
leave without something resembling breakfast.  The older man was
working so hard for the past months and Mulder wanted to make
sure that he was getting three meals a day.  As far as he knew,
there were only two episodes of hypertension since Skinner had
been DD, but he didn't discount the possibility that Skinner
would hide the true state of his health.  





CHAPTER SEVEN 

ODD AND EVEN


Sitting in Cormier's waiting room sure made Mulder uncomfortable.  He 
didn't know that he was on an "odd" day.  Cormier had rescheduled him on 
the next available follow up instead of waiting for an "even" day.  The 
doctor rarely did this for the closeted patients except when a close 
follow-up was required.  The waiting room was full of the leather 
bondage type of people with a smattering of effeminate types and one 
with a serious love of piercing.  Mulder couldn't keep his eyes from the 
guy, taking in the nose ring, about five earrings per ear and the tongue 
stud.  



He'd never felt so out of place in the clinic before.  He was
the only person in the waiting room in a Polo T-shirt and jeans.
There were two leather clad men who were giving him the eye,
causing Mulder to look away in nervousness.  He was just glad
that he didn't come from the office or else he would have been 
the only one there in a suit.  That would make him really stand out.  
Adding to his discomfort was the intense desire to scratch.  



After twenty minutes of being squeezed between a drag queen and
a leather jacket, he almost gave a sigh of relief when the nurse
called him.  The guy on his right had been pressing his knee to
him quite insistently.  The nurse led him to a cubicle and told
him to put on the paper gown.  



Dr. Cormier came in after a few minutes and apologized about
scheduling him with the irregular clientele.  Hopefully he said,
it wouldn't be repeated.  He briefly checked Mulder and saw that
the allergy was subsiding as expected and that there were no
side effects with the various drugs he was taking.  Cormier gave
him a prescription for more medications including some bulk
laxatives and then dropped his bombshell.  Mulder was supposed
to abstain from anal intercourse for a month.



Cormier had to refrain to keep from chuckling at the young man's
face, which had fallen quite noticeably.  



"We want the area to completely heal," Cormier explained to
lessen Mulder's dismay.  "The tissues down there would bleed and
eventually scar if you engage in vigorous activity . Scarring in turn 
would cause a lot of problems in the future, especially if the passage 
narrows."



Mulder left the clinic after checking to make sure that none of
the more interesting clientele of Cormier hadn't followed him to
his car.  As he drove back home, the implications of Cormier's
warning began to sink in.  Except for the time they were
separated for eight months so long ago, this was the first time
he and Skinner would have their lovemaking severely curtailed.
The times when either one of them were ill didn't count of
course. In some ways, the previous separation was easier because
they weren't living together then and were pointedly ignoring
each other except for the occasional meetings in Skinner's
office.  



Of course, there were other ways of making love but for
the past two months, Skinner had been pretty ardent and had only
been satisfied with frequent actual intercourse between them. 
He himself had been caught up in Skinner's renewed libido, too,
and to him, nothing could ever beat being as one with the older
man in the actual physical sense.  Mulder had no choice and
glumly waited for Skinner in a blue funk.  With the antihistamines 
discontinued, Mulder meanwhile used up his energy running with Taylor in 
tow.  Tomorrow, he would be back to work and during his run, he was 
thinking up plausible reasons for his absence that would pass muster 
with Scully.  After all, this latest escapade was indeed embarrassing 
and there were things even Scully shouldn't know about him.  



Skinner arrived that night relatively early for him at six
o'clock.  Skinner wasn't as upset as he thought he would be
about the curtailment of their activities.  He accepted the news
with grace and they spent the night playing gin rummy with
Skinner losing most of the time because Mulder could keep track
of the cards.  



The next few days were occupied with work as Mulder readjusted
to going back to the grindstone.  He had to endure a few minutes
at the Bureau clinic with a note from Dr. Cormier to Dr. Rivera
explaining his absence from work the last few days.  Just like
always, Mulder couldn't meet Rivera's eyes as the astonished
doctor read the referral form.  Thankfully, Rivera just gave him
a quick physical.  It was the first time Mulder had ever been
incapacitated by something he'd done on a sexual whim.  It
helped that he were on a case out of town again.  The usual
three days were spent in a regional office, sifting for clues
that the locals missed.  Once they were back in DC, Mulder
watched with envy as Scully left the airport with her husband. 
Skinner was now too high profile to even fetch him from the
airport.  



So it was with some temper that Mulder slammed his car shut when
he got out of it at the apartment parking basement.  He angrily
wrestled with his bags through the double doors leading to the
elevators and impatiently waited for a ride up the building.



Once he got in, however, he was surprised when there was a
figure in the dark that caught him up in an embrace with the
familiar haze of aftershave.  He was literally being ravished by
Skinner right there by the front door.  



"Wal...Walter, I haven't even...showered," Mulder was trying to
push away from the intoxicating kisses of the older man.  



"That's okay, I have," Skinner breathed.  "Sometimes, I like you
like this."



Mulder felt his clothes being hastily peeled from him and he
couldn't believe it when he felt Skinner's mouth on him.  They
were soon busily writhing on the floor, the living room filling
with their heavy sighs and gasps.  Mulder arched his back as he
came in Skinner's mouth and then reciprocated. In a few minutes,
Skinner grunted happily when he ejaculated into Mulder's own 
mouth.  



"So, how was your trip?" Skinner laughed once they got their
breaths back. Mulder chuckled and nestled on the carpet with the
older man.  They were both of various stages of undress, Mulder
still in his regulation suit although there was nothing
regulation about the way his shirt , belt and trousers were open
and twisted.  Skinner's pajama trousers, in turn, were around
his knees.  Once they found the floor too hard, they both stood
up, with Skinner putting his nightclothes to rights, while
Mulder shed his clothes right then and there and went up to take a 
shower.  Skinner shook his head as he gathered up Mulder's
discarded clothes and luggage and brought it up to the bedroom
to dispose of properly.  



Once he came back from his shower, Mulder crawled into bed and
snuggled against Skinner as the older man watched the late news
while Mulder started to snore.  He awakened when Skinner nudged
him insistently.



"I want to congratulate you, baby," Skinner said.  "I just got
your efficiency rating from your AD.  It's the highest in your
unit, even higher than Scully's.  So you're a pretty damned good
agent even when I'm not your supervisor.  It's just that you
haven't had objective feedback for the last five years.  I just
wanted you to know."



Skinner very rarely if at all notified him of his actual status
in the Bureau because such data were classified from the
underlings.  



"So is that why I got that particular homecoming?" It was good
to hear that another Bureau superior agreed to what Skinner
already knew about his skills as an agent.



"Agent Mulder, are you blushing about the news?" Skinner teased.
"Everyone seems to have noticed that it has been a long time
since you ditched your partner, no incident reports have been
filed against you, your paperwork is now superb and your
relations with the local law enforcement staff is agreeable to
all concerned.  More importantly, you have not incurred any
injuries to your person and the insurance people are rejoicing. 
You have been one good boy for the past months."



"So shouldn't I deserve a kiss?" Mulder pretended to pout. 
Skinner chuckled and bestowed a quiet kiss of congratulations on
his forehead.  Mulder grinned happily as he settled back under the
covers.



Mulder's next follow-up was on an "even" day three weeks later. 
This time, the patients in the waiting room  were all avoiding
each other's eyes and the room was quiet.  Each was huddled
behind a magazine and Mulder had to settle for the Advocate
while the rest were reading Time, Newsweek and National
Geographic.  Of course, he was much better with nary a trace of
the effects of the offending lubricant.  But reading the graphic
descriptions on the proper technique of anal intercourse in
another magazine was making him uncomfortable this time.  It had
been a difficult three weeks, only made tolerable by the fact
that he had to be frequently out in the field.  



Cormier this time did a rectal on him, unlike his last follow
up.  The physician was satisfied with the healing and gave him a
slight reprieve.  Mulder blushed again when Cormier gave him
strict guidelines on what Skinner could stimulate him with, but
actual intercourse was still out until next week.  Mulder
couldn't wait on going home.  



Next week, of course, Skinner finally unleashed himself and
roared into Mulder like a freight train, to the agent's delight.
But Skinner was a gentle freight train and things were back to
normal.



"That was great, honey," Skinner moaned as he dismounted from
Mulder.  He got up and went to the bathroom.  After cleaning up
himself, Skinner went back to the bed where Mulder was still
lying down spread eagled on the bed.  The older man cleaned off
the agent and gently checked that no harm had been done.  With a
hand on Mulder's shoulder, he urged the agent to turn onto his
back as he wiped off the traces of semen from the bed and from
Mulder.  



"Walter, thank you," Mulder said once Skinner got back to bed. 
Skinner laughed and told him that after all these years, he
didn't need to be thanked.



"But it's the polite thing to do," Mulder said defensively.  "I
always like the way you make love to me."



"Always?" Skinner teased.



"Well...when you're not in a hurry," Mulder clarified.  He still
had sore memories of the time when Skinner just made Deputy
Director.  



"What's the best parts of our lovemaking for you?" Skinner's
interest was peaked.  He was surprised when Mulder blushed and
took his time in answering.  



"When we're face to face...you're taking your time so slowly and
you're so big inside me...and you're so deep..." Mulder began, "And the  
lube's just right, not too cold...then you ask me if my legs aren't 
tired...I love that about you, Walter...when you're always
asking how I'm doing when we're in the middle of it...I also
know when you're trying to hold back in coming so that I would
come first."



"I'm glad you appreciate my technique," Skinner said drily as he
ran a hand through Mulder's hair.  "What else?"



"I really love it sometimes when you forget to remove your
glasses and it's even better for me when you're in a white
shirt," Mulder revealed.  "It always reminds me of my first time
with you when I thought you were the stern and gruff AD.  I like
it too when you're close to coming and you make those small
sounds.  What about you, Walter?"



"I like it when you're so aroused you're almost incoherent,"
Walter began.  "It's great when we're face to face, but
sometimes when we do it with you lying on your front, I really
love it when I have a clear view of your buttocks and it gives
me a rush when I part it.  Then once I'm in you, and we're going
at it really hot, you rise up on your knees and the feel of your
stomach under my hands when I'm supporting you.  It has this
special feel when I come inside and when I withdraw.  I love the
way you smell too.  Then once we're finished, it isn't complete
for me until I clean you up.  I'm glad you allow me to do that."



"Unlike you, I like it better when you're completely naked,"
Skinner added.  They were feeling especially close to each
other.  It was the first time they ever did these true
confessions thing and Mulder was feeling vulnerable again.  He
was lying on top of Skinner under the covers, with his head on
Skinner's chest.  Skinner was alternately rubbing his back and
running his hand through his hair.  Then he felt Skinner's hand
straying to his buttock and Mulder sighed when Skinner
once again had his right index finger going in and out of
Mulder's anus.  At first the younger man was still except for
parting his legs.  But he found that he needed to move and his
squirming brought his hardening penis against Skinner's right
hip.  Mulder couldn't help himself and found that he was
grinding against Skinner's hip with his right leg thrown
carelessly across the older man's leg.  



"That's it, honey, you're so hot," Skinner encouraged him as he
continued the in and out motion of his right index finger. 
Mulder had been deprived of his anal stimulation too long and
was now making up for lost time.  Skinner maneuvered his hand
and managed to gently scrape against the younger man's prostate.





"Right there, Walter!" Mulder gasped and ejaculated after
Skinner pressed on his prostate again.  This time Mulder was
limp after having come twice for the night.  



"Good night, Fox," Skinner kissed the younger man and wiped him
clean.    




CHAPTER EIGHT

AQUARIUM UNCLE



Mulder looked up with apprehension at the large Georgetown
townhouse.  He tried to smile bravely at Skinner before they got
out of the car.  He still couldn't believe it when Skinner's
Uncle Charles had invited them over for dinner.  Mulder hadn't
wanted to come and had argued with Skinner for accepting the
invitation without telling him.  For once, Skinner rightfully
got angry at him for whining about it.  He probably wouldn't
have his job now if it hadn't been for Skinner's relatives.  



So now, he stood with Skinner by the front door, feeling stupid
in his new blazer and tie.  Skinner even told him what to wear. 
He was surprised that the older man hadn't slicked down his hair
with water to make him presentable, just like what his mom did to him 
when he was a little kid.



It was the first time that one of their own relatives was
meeting them as a couple.



A major part of Mulder's apprehension, however, had more to do
with unpleasant memories. For him, seeing relatives for dinner
meant reprimands and resentful silences.  It didn't help matters
any that this Georgetown building had a glaring resemblance to
Bill Mulder's Boston townhouse.  



"Relax," Skinner murmured as he gave Mulder's arm a squeeze. 
Skinner rang the doorbell and was surprised when Uncle Charles
answered the door himself.



The old man greeted them warmly, saying that it was good that
Skinner looked well.  



"So this is your...partner?" Uncle Charles asked as Skinner
thrust Mulder forward.  The handsome younger man looked positively
nervous.  



"You've met Fox Mulder before at the hospital, Uncle," Skinner
said.



"Pleased to meet your, sir," Mulder held out his hand but was
surprised when Skinner's uncle gave him an embrace just like
he'd done with Skinner.  



"So I heard that you're the newest family member," Uncle Charles
smiled kindly.  



The dinner went smoothly with the old man having an open mind
about their relationship.  Mulder's resentment about Skinner
keeping him in the dark about his relatives evaporated when he
learned the whole story.  It turned out that Skinner and Uncle
Charles were especially close and had known about his existence
since the MJ files fiasco.  Uncle and nephew kept in touch with
calls at the office and not at home.  They were only invited now
because Uncle Charles' wife wouldn't have understood, being the
very proper lady that she was.  She'd even strongly disapproved
of Skinner's divorce so it was accurately predicted that it
would have been asking too much of her in her old age to
understand Skinner's new lifestyle. However, now that she was
dead, Uncle Charles felt it was time to renew seeing his
favorite nephew.



"You don't get to be my age and seen much of the world's
troubles without becoming tolerant over some things that would
have shocked me when I was younger," Uncle Charles explained. 
He took it seriously when his dear sister had told him to keep a
close eye on her son at her deathbed.



The old man was genuinely curious about Mulder and about his
background.  Skinner had to smile when he realized that Mulder
was being grilled much the same way Sharon had undergone the
same treatment when she'd met his mother for the first time. 
Mulder initially stammered in response and was intensely
uncomfortable.  It was always difficult talking about his family.  It 
was even more difficult talking about your relatives over a steak 
dinner.  The food was always getting stuck in his throat.  Meeting one's 
in-laws was hard enough without having to reveal that your father was 
dead by an assassin and your sister kidnapped.  



"Your mother doesn't know about you and Walter?" Uncle Charles
asked in surprise.



"Fox's mom is old fashioned, too, Uncle Charles," Skinner
smoothly interrupted when he saw that Mulder was getting
distressed at the line of questioning.  "As of now, we feel that
she wouldn't understand."



"But you are her only child, aren't you?" Uncle Charles probed. 
Mulder nodded and was relieved when Skinner skillfully steered
the conversation to a more general topic.  



It helped immensely that Uncle Charles had an interest in the
paranormal and the old man and Mulder had a lively discussion
about ghosts.  By the end of the evening, Uncle Charles had a
genuine affection for the agent and there was talk about seeing
both of them again.



"See, it wasn't so bad," Skinner said once he started the drive
home.  Mulder slumped in his seat and loosened his tie.  Skinner
felt the beginnings of a headache, something that meant that he
had been clenching his jaw too much throughout the evening.


They were both wrung out.



"I was just waiting for him to tell me to open my mouth to check
my teeth," Mulder said tiredly. "Do you think he liked me?"



"Yes, especially since you're the only one who ever took a
serious interest in his sighting of that ghost in his house,"
Skinner chuckled.  "I wouldn't be surprised if he calls you for
all your ghost paraphernalia someday to check out the veracity
of his story."



Skinner's suspicions were right.  Within the month, Uncle
Charles called up Mulder at home and they set up ghost hunting
nights.  It wasn't unusual for Mulder to spend a night once a
month in the Georgetown house as the two vainly tried to
document the elusive ghost.  Mulder inevitably became close to
the old man and Skinner looked on in benign amusement as Mulder
started treating Uncle Charles as a his own kind elderly uncle. 
Mulder didn't have memories of his maternal grandfather while
his paternal grandfather had been a man to stay away from since
even Bill Mulder had feared him.



Things were getting serious between Uncle Charles and Mulder
when the agent set up an aquarium for the old man.  Pretty soon,
dinner with Uncle Charles became an almost weekly affair for the
three of them, regularly set at Thursday nights if their
schedules matched. It came to the point that Mulder would even
come  over even if Skinner wasn't available.   It was nice having a 
relative accept them for what they were and it was even nicer that 
Uncle Charles had accepted Mulder so wholeheartedly.



Meanwhile, Mulder still continued to send Hallmark cards to his
mother on a regular basis, although none of them were ever
acknowledged.  As far as Skinner knew, the last time Mulder ever
saw his mom was four years ago after the MJ files.  



Now that four years had passed since he last saw her, Mulder was
missing his mother terribly but never talked about it with
Skinner.  The agent saw it as his mother not wanting to see him
because he was a terrible son, instead of the other way around,
that Mrs. Mulder wasn't seeing him because she was a terrible
mother.  His now infrequent nightmares  centered on feelings of
abandonment, feelings engendered by his unfeeling mother.



These last few months, Mulder's old obsession of finding
Samantha was more acute, because to his mind, that was the only
way that his mother was ever going to acknowledge his existence
once again.  Skinner rolled his eyes much like Scully would have
done once he learned that Uncle Charles was now Mulder's partner
in finding Samantha.  Uncle Charles' more vast resources and
staff were recruited in sifting through  endless data to look
for Samantha.  



Apparently, the two were now fast friends and it just made
Skinner glad that Mulder had another friend to rely on.  It was
just icing on the cake that Uncle Charles was his favorite
relative.  Mulder made it his mission to check on Uncle Charles'
aquarium regularly as a way of keeping in constant touch with
the old man.  



CHAPTER NINE

PERFUME ON MY SHIRT COURTESY OF THE GOOD LITTLE AGENT


It was another late night for Skinner.  Mulder woke up groggily
on the bed as he heard Skinner come into their bedroom.  It was
past midnight and he could see that Skinner didn't have a good
time at the dinner.  Skinner had tiptoed into the room, trying
to avoid making noise as he undressed and washed.  



Skinner seemed to take a long time in washing and when he
slipped into bed, he flinched when he realized that Mulder was
somewhat awake and was embracing him.  Mulder sniffed and came
fully awake when he smelled the perfume on Skinner.



"Walter, that's perfume," Mulder sniffed again, trying to keep
the quaver from his voice.



"Well, the prim and proper lawyer from the DJ Scully set me up
with turned out to be not so prim and proper," Skinner groused. 
"She couldn't keep her hands off me the whole night.  Whatever
gave Scully the impression that I would be safe with that...that
hussy?"



"Hussy; Walter?" Mulder relaxed.  From the genuine tone of his 
voice and his honest indignation, Skinner was telling the truth.  "No 
one uses that word anymore."



"Slut then," Skinner said.  "Once we were in the car, her hands
kept straying everywhere.  I swear, Fox, that was an octopus if
I ever saw one.  Even the presence of the driver didn't deter
her one bit.  You should see all the lipstick on my shirt."



"Because I bet she found you so cute in your tuxedo," Mulder
said good naturedly.  "You really are hard to resist in your tux,
Walter."



"I just wish that I could take you to these stupid benefit
dinners," Skinner sighed.  "Aside from being so boring, I have
to have a blind date each time.  It's getting to be a pain
having to deal with these blind dates.  Maybe it would be a good
idea to try one of those escort services...after all they're
professionals and we could explain the situation..."



"Don't you dare!" Mulder said indignantly.  



"She had her hands all over me," Skinner said in bemusement,  "I
guess I haven't lost it with women, huh?'



"You haven't lost it with anyone, Walter," Mulder was starting
to get jealous.  Skinner could see that and continued on with
his blow by blow account on how he had to fend off his date. 
Mulder's frown just became darker.  When Skinner finally smiled,
as his account got more elaborate, the younger man realized that
he was being teased and playfully punched him.

...............................................




Scully noticed a profound change in her partner since Skinner
was made Deputry Director.  Mulder was a lot more serious in his
work and their closure rate just continued to climb.  At first, with
AD Wilson, she thought that the adjustment period would mean
more reprimands just like when Skinner first became their AD the
first year she and Mulder were partners.  But it seemed that
Mulder was being very careful with his work and was anxious to
show Scully that having Skinner for his lover didn't mean that
he would slack off.  




Mulder was more settled now these last few months, compared to the time 
when Skinner was first made DD.  She had the distinct impression that 
Mulder was unhappy for about a few months.  But now, Scully could see 
that Mulder was positively glowing, especially more so on Monday 
mornings when she knew that they came from their weekend retreats.



"So, I guess sex with the DD has been good?" Scully had to
tease him as they sat down for lunch in a booth in their usual
Monday morning pub.



"Sculleee!" Mulder hissed, looking around the restaurant in
embarrassment.  He could feel his face going hot and Scully was
smirking knowingly at him.  He looked at her for a moment then
he had to ask. "Am I that transparent?"



"Yes, Mulder," Scully confirmed, patiently.  "Every Monday
morning, you return to the basement like you've been recharged. 
You're very cheerful and breezy and it's actually funny by the
way you try to look so nonchalant..."



"Breezy, Scully?" 



"And you have this pink glow on your cheeks," Scully continued
unabated.  "Mulder, I can even tell on weekdays when..."



"Scullee!"



"But Mulder I told you you're quite transparent," Scully stated.
"And for the past few weeks, it's almost everyday, hasn't it? Or
should I say every night?"



Mulder was too embarrassed to answer that.  She was now such a
good little agent that she barely missed such details anymore.



"I guess he's insatiable," Scully said.  "So I guess it's true about 
what they say of bald men."



Mulder was now covering his reddened face with his hands.  
Their burgers were promptly brought by the waitress and for 
once, Mulder didn't wolf it down like the usual way.   He was 
desperately trying for a quick retort but for the life of him he 
couldn't think of something in Scully that would indicate the 
same thing for her.  Up to now, her private life has been just 
that, private.   She was still enigmatic about her love life.




"I'm just thankful, Scully," Mulder opened up, looking at her
with earnestness.  "We're going on our sixth year now and you
know how unusual that is for people like us."




Scully smiled kindly and her eyes grew wide when Mulder took off
his watch and showed the inscription to her.  It wasn't lost on her 
that the watch was so expensive.    



"He's the romantic type," Scully was surprised.  It was hard to
reconcile the stern and gruff and by-the-book DD with the
side that Mulder obviously loved so much.  That was why she had
been so startled when she witnessed the stolen kiss between the
two men in the airport so many months ago.




"Well, he is," Mulder found that his voice had a defensive tone.
"But he's romantic only to me."




"And that's the way it should be," Scully said with finality. 
They finished their burgers and they rose to leave.  There were
a lot of other agents in the restaurants and Scully nodded and
smiled at some of the ones she knew.  Both of them paid for
their bill at the door; it wasn't so unexpected when the machine
wouldn't accept Mulder's charge card.  The double doors suddenly
flew open and a whole slew of Bureau personnel came in with
Walter Skinner in the midst of it.  




Skinner almost lost it then, seeing Mulder arguing with the
cashier.  Most likely he was overdrawn again and seeing the
younger man in such a typical Mulderish predicament almost
brought an affectionate but highly uncharacteristic grin on
Skinner's face.  Only Scully was able to see ghost of a repressed smile 
as Skinner schooled his features to its usual Bureau mode.  



"Oh, Mulder," Scully said, trying not to grin herself.  "Let me
pay for it.  You owe me one for this."



It was completely surreal for Scully as Mulder and Skinner
nodded to each other, desperately holding on to the fiction that
this was just an encounter between an agent and his previous
boss at a Bureau watering hole.  



"Good afternoon, sir," Scully said cheerfully as she signed for
Mulder's lunch  She found that it was quite easy to be cheerful
to their old boss because of what Mulder had let slip during
lunch.  Her partner had merely confirmed her suspicions that
Skinner must have been pretty horny for the past months.  And
here was their old boss trying to maintain a semblance of decorum
between the three of them.  Sometimes, life with these two was downright 
bizarre.



Skinner nodded at her too before proceeding through the
restaurant with his party.  Before they went through the doors,
Scully glanced behind her and saw that Skinner was working the
tables, greeting the people that he knew.  Well, she must say that 
Skinner has refined his networking abilities to a new high.



"That was close, Mulder," Scully said as she got into the car. 
"He almost smiled at you in a not so professional way."



"Can I help it if I'm so irresistible?" Mulder deadpanned.
Scully hit him on the arm as he tweaked her nose.



CHAPTER TEN

FIRST HOUSEGUEST


Michelle Lister paid the cab driver and tiredly got out of
the taxi.  She entered the lobby of her dad's building and
lugged her backpack and luggage and waited for the elevator. 
She got into the next car and smiled vaguely at the two men
inside.  She saw that the seventeenth floor button was already
punched.  She looked at the two men and saw that they were
talking to each other in low tones.  The big yellow dog on the
leash caught Michelle's eye as the animal wagged her tail at her
and looked at her with equal interest.



All of them got off at the seventeenth floor and Michelle was when the 
bespectacled man easily got her suitcase.



"Let me help you with that," he said smiling down at her. 
"Which one's your apartment?"



"1701," Michelle said. The man set down her luggage in front of
her door and she thanked him.

As she waited after ringing the doorbell, Michelle watched the
two men enter 1704 with their own bags and the dog.  



Michelle waited and rang the doorbell again. After ten minutes
of waiting and no one answering the door, Michelle got that
familiar sinking feeling in her stomach again.  Her father
forgot again that she was coming for two weeks for the summer
holidays.  She came straight from school and it seemed that
there had been another mix-up.



She thought out her predicament.  She had one dollar left after
taking the cab.  Even if she had access to a telephone, she
couldn't very well call her mother or her stepfather because her
mother and her new family were in Europe.  As far as her mother
was concerned, she was supposed to be at her father's now.  But
her father was nowhere to be found.  She didn't know anyone in
DC.  And she was getting really hungry.



Michelle sat in the hallway and thought about other solutions to
her problem.  It was hearing the dog's bark that saved her.  She
really had no other choice.  All she could think of  was that
the man in glasses in the elevator seemed nice enough.  Leaving
her things at her father's apartment door, Michelle went to 1704
and rang the doorbell.



Skinner wondered who could be at the door. He looked through the
peephole, checked to see that Mulder was not in any state of
undress and opened the door.  The little girl from the elevator
stood there before him.



"Ye-es?" Skinner said, his frown creasing his forehead.  



"I'm supposed to meet my dad at his apartment but he's not
there," the little girl said somewhat nervously.  "I was
wondering if I could use your phone?"



"Sure," Skinner let her in and showed her the phone in the den. 
He then went back to the kitchen where Mulder was just putting
dinner on the table.  It was a Sunday night, another end to a
perfect weekend.



"Who was that?"  Mulder asked.



"The little girl from the elevator," Skinner said.  "She wants
to use the phone because her dad's not home."



"That must be Lister's kid," Mulder said.  They sat down and
started eating.  "He's divorced and he gets the kid for two
weeks every summer.  She was here last year, I think.  Her
name's Michelle."



Michelle waited for the tenth ring but there still was no
answer.  The dog was looking at her and put his head on her
knee.  Somehow, she felt better with the dog.  She thought of
other people to call  but there was no one else.  Dejectedly,
she stood up and left the library.  She heard voices coming from
the kitchen and she knocked on the swinging door.



"Sir?" she called.  "Thank you for letting me use your phone."



The man with glasses opened the door and to her embarrassment,
she saw that they were eating dinner.



"Uhm, it's Michelle, isn't it?" the younger man asked.  "Did you
get in touch with your dad?"



Michelle shook her head.



"I'll try again later," Michelle said.  "Thank you.  I'm sorry
for being a bother."



The girl was about to leave when the one with glasses told her
to wait.



"You can't wait out in the hallway by yourself," he said.  "By
the way, I'm Walter and this is Fox.  We'll try to see if we can
find your father.  In the meantime, it would be better if you
wait here."



Before Michelle could say anything more, Skinner got her things
from the doorway of her father's apartment and put them in the
den.  Mulder set out another plate for her and told her to eat. 
Meanwhile, Skinner got on the phone and called the doorman,
asking the time that Lister left.  



The two men were very kind.  They were able to determine that
her father had gone out a couple of hours earlier, probably on a
date, Michelle thought.  Skinner then told her to write a note
on a piece of paper to tape to the apartment door so that her
dad would know where to find her when he came back.



It was kind of nice having a houseguest.  Now that Skinner
thought about it, Michelle was their first houseguest.  Mulder
kept her occupied by watching television with her while Skinner
retreated upstairs to get a headstart on tomorrow's paperwork. 
By nine o'clock, however, Lister still hadn't shown up and
when Skinner went down to check, he found that both of them were
dozing off on the couch.  Skinner got a blanket and pillows and
prodded the two awake, telling Michelle that she could stay
until her dad came back.  Taylor stayed with the girl and he
told her that he and Mulder would be just upstairs.



"Uh, Walter, what if she comes up here?" Mulder asked as they
undressed for bed.  



"I've already locked the door," Skinner said.  "Maybe, we can
convince her that we are just having a slumber party.  When you
were eleven, did you know about these things?"



"Hell, no," Mulder declared.  "I barely had the facts of
straight sex."



"I bet you were a cute innocent eleven year old," Skinner
laughed.  He took Mulder into a bear hug and squeezed him 
hard with affection.  Mulder was slightly stiff, the little 
girl downstairs always at the back of his mind.


Skinner could see that Mulder wasn't up to it tonight, but he 
certainly was.  The DD couldn't get enough of Mulder these
past month and right now, all he wanted to do was get into 
Mulder's pants.  He started off with kissing the agent on the
neck, knowing that this was something that Mulder could barely
resist.  Skinner managed to maneuver them onto the bed and soon
had Mulder dazed on the pillows, not even protesting when 
Skinner pulled up his shirt from his jeans and unbuttoned
it.  



"She's down there, Walter," Mulder's protest was very mild and
Skinner smiled when Mulder started kissing him back with eager
lips and tongue.  It didn't take much more effort on Skinner's 
part before he had Mulder fully undressed and writhing under
his mouth and hands.  



"Sshh..." Skinner hissed when Mulder's cries were becoming too
loud.  Somehow, he could sense that part of Mulder's excitement
was due to the fact that they were making love in the house for
the first time with someone else was in it, not counting Mrs. Jackson
which had been accidental.  Mulder eagerly turned
to his stomach and shuddered when Skinner lovingly lubricated his
moist parts.  



Skinner then parted Mulder's buttocks and easily slipped inside
the younger man.  Mulder had to bite into the pillows as the 
extreme pleasure threatened to engulf him.  




"Walter..." Mulder's moan was tempered to a whisper, "you're so
big for me..."




"Only for you, honey," Skinner said through clenched teeth.  
Mulder's silken hot sheath was intoxicating and Skinner ground his
hips into the agent, making sure that he wasn't generating too
much force.  Skinner forced himself to go slow, the rhythm itself
driving him to a frenzy.  Somehow, it was all right, too that they
had to keep as quiet as possible and when Mulder came, a small
satisfied sigh was all that escaped, just the right tone of voice
that Skinner liked.  He himself, however, gave in to a loud grunt
and stifled it unsuccessfully.




Skinner laughed at his inability to keep as quiet as he should as
he slumped onto Mulder's back.  




Skinner was just  reaching for the washcloth when both of them 
froze at the knock  on the door.




"Sir?" they both heard the little girl's voice through the door.




"Shit," Mulder shuddered as Skinner jerkily pulled out.  Skinner 
put a reassuring hand on his back to calm him.




"I'll take care of this," Skinner whispered.  He said in a louder
voice, "Michelle, I'll be right out in a minute."




Skinner hastily put on his glasses and frantically searched for his 
bathrobe.  It didn't help any that Mulder had used it a few days ago
and the bathrobe wasn't in sight.  Skinner hurriedly put on a pair
of pajamas and told Mulder to bury himself under the covers.  Then
he opened the door.




Michelle stood in the dim hallway light and Skinner's irritation
softened when he saw how little she seemed.




"What's wrong, honey?" Skinner said, kneeling down at her level.  He
just hoped that she couldn't smell Mulder on him.  




"The dog, sir," Michelle said.  "He's crying."




Skinner cocked an ear and indeed heard Taylor whining downstairs.  
The DD ran down the steps, followed by Michelle.  It was unusual 
that Taylor would be disturbing them since the good natured dog 
never fretted.  




Skinner found the dog lying down on its side and from what he could
surmise, its abdomen was slightly distended.  Fortunately, the vet
was easily called and the tentative diagnosis was a possible ingestion
of a mild irritant plant from the vicinity of the cabin.  




"Michelle, would you be okay down here alone?" Skinner asked as he 
lifted Taylor with the intention of keeping the dog by their bed for the 
night.




"Yes, sir," Michelle said.  "I just hope he gets well."




"His doctor said he should," Skinner tried to reassure her.  
Fortunately, the girl seemed to be no crybaby and settled back onto the 
couch in the den with aplomb.




Skinner gently laid the dog on the floor on his side of the bed, making 
sure that there was a towel by the dog's head that could catch anything 
the dog might bring up.  Being within the sphere of his two significant 
others, the dog seemed to calm down and Skinner sighed with relief as he 
got into bed.  Mulder was curled up into a ball in the middle of the 
bed, taking up most of the space and the older man had to shove him  to 
make him scoot over to his side of the bed. 




The next morning, Mulder went down the stairs to the kitchen and
found that Skinner had already prepared breakfast.  Skinner was leaving 
for work much earlier than before.  Prior to going to work, he'd 
awakened Mulder to make sure that he knew that Taylor might need to be 
looked after closely.  The dog was much better this morning and he was 
to wait for Mrs. Jackson to come in at seven thirty so that he could 
tell her to keep a close eye on the dog for the rest of the day.




Mulder went for his morning run and saw that it was going to be another 
warm day.  He had to mainly walk-run because he wanted to be sure that 
Taylor would have no difficulty catching up.  When he got back to the 
apartment half an hour later, he was startled to find that Michelle was 
still there in the den.  He went out to check 1701 and saw that the note 
Skinner had stuck on the door was still there.  Mulder frowned and 
wondered what to do.  He was due for work within an hour and a half and 
he wasn't sure if an eleven year old could be left alone in the house.




He was very wary of leaving children alone in the house.  




The agent took a shower, fed Taylor, judicious that he didn't leave too 
much kibble in the dog bowl and ate his breakfast.  After a few minutes, 
Michelle showed up in the kitchen, saying a shy good morning.  




Mulder poured her a glass of milk and told her to help herself with the 
bacon and eggs.  He made toast for her and as he watched her eat, he 
asked if she knew how to get in touch with her dad.




He was worried after a few minutes of interrogating the girl since she 
didn't even know where her dad worked.  Mulder called her dad's 
apartment to verify that Lister was still out and then made a few
calls to the doorman and to the apartment manager.  His worry deepened 
when it turned out that the information they got last night was wrong.




It seemed that Lister was out of town and that his newspaper delivery
was stopped for a few days and that the apartment manager was collecting 
his mail until Thursday.  The fact that the girl's mother was in Europe 
was another serious matter.  So from today, Monday until Thursday, the 
little girl had no place to go.




Mulder got hold of Lister's place of work and was able to contact
some people who knew him, hoping that the man was on a business trip
or that they knew where to get in touch with him.  




Michelle shrank back in her chair as she watched Mulder getting 
exasperated by the minute.  She never meant to cause so much trouble.  
She wasn't  supposed to.  It didn't surprise her that her dad forgot 
again.  When Mulder was asking her for any other relatives she could 
stay with, Michelle shook her head and said that there was no other 
relatives to take her in.  She could see that the man was already late 
for work and kept looking at his watch.




Finally, Mulder was able to elicit Lister's phone number from a 
coworker. He was able to get in touch with the elusive Lister and told 
him of the situation.  Michelle almost balked when Mulder gave her the 
phone.   Just as she expected, her dad yelled at her over the phone and 
Michelle  kept saying that she was sorry.




Mulder was in the process of putting the breakfast dishes in the sink 
and he froze when he heard Michelle's repeated "I'm sorry". It sounded 
so much like he did when he was her age.  It reminded him painfully of 
similar situations  with his dad, that of apologizing over something he 
had no control over as  a little kid.  



He just couldn't help it.  Mulder saw red and grabbed the phone from 
Michelle  before more harm could be done.  The agent wanted to scream 
some sense into the man,  but mindful that the kid was in the room, 
Mulder instead talked tightly and in a measured tone of voice.  


Lister was apparently so dense that he didn't catch the tension in 
Mulder's voice. Instead, the man pleaded with him to keep Michelle at 
their place for one more  day because he had a meeting that just 
couldn't be cancelled.  Mulder could only see how small Michelle was 
trying to make herself.  Mulder tried to sound  pleasant for Michelle's 
sake and in a sudden generous mood, told Lister that 
it would be no problem if they could keep Michelle until Thursday so 
that  the dense neighbor wouldn't have to change any of his previous 
plans.



The relief in Lister's voice only made Mulder realize how much Michelle 
was  unwanted.  The conversation ended with Lister quite satisfied with 
the  arrangements.


Because Mrs. Jackson still wasn't there to keep an eye on both Michelle 
and Taylor, Mulder excused himself to make a call from the upstairs 
bedroom. Mulder called Skinner with perfect timing.  The DD was just 
about to start his endless round of meetings.  


"What!"  Skinner exclaimed when he heard how Mulder had acquired the
unexpected babysitting job for them both.  Mulder was dithering at the 
other end, trying to explain why he felt it would be better for Michelle 
if she stayed with them instead of with Lister, who obviously wasn't too 
keen on  having his daughter with him.


"I know, Fox, but you know how people will talk if the doorman or anyone 
there knows that a little girl is living with two men, none of whom is 
her blood relative," Skinner had to close the door to his office.  He 
had to stop his voice from rising above its normal decibel range.  

As usual , he had to be a voice of reason.  He knew why Mulder wanted 
to keep the  girl at their place.  It was just something about Mulder 
and  little helpless girls that undid him.  He'd seen him more than once 
or twice coming to the rescue of these little girls.  The first one was 
in Boston,  where a six year old got separated from her mother in the 
park.  It was then that Skinner had a sudden understanding of how Mulder 
must have treated his own sister when they were kids.  They had spent an 
hour  looking for her mother in the huge park, Mulder making it seem 
like a  game for the benefit of the tearful child.  The next one had 
been in some airplane where he found himself seated next to a  ten year 
old travelling  alone.  Although the stewardess was assigned to look 
after her, it had been a busy flight.   Mulder was the one who took it 
upon himself to make sure that the girl was comfortable throughout the 
three hour flight.



It seemed that Mulder had another project of saving little girls from 
the cruel mean world.  But this time, it would be an all out project, 
lasting more than a few hours.  Days, this time.  At first Skinner told 
him that it might be better if Michelle stayed with some female, like 
Scully perhaps. But Mulder kept talking a blue streak and the DD 
couldn't interrupt.


Skinner resignedly listened to Mulder, who refused to listen to his 
objections.    Just a hint of impropriety for the next few days could 
have long lasting implications.  But it was just like the old days when 
Mulder was badgering him for a 302 on another outlandish case.  He 
wouldn't let go of it, like a fox with a bone.  Skinner just couldn't  
say no.  Besides, he was already going to be late for the meeting.


"Okay, Fox, as long as everyone behaves," Skinner said, alluding to
Mulder's tendency to run around the house in his underwear.


Mulder was late for  work that morning, waiting for Mrs. Jackson and
handing over Michelle.   Mrs. Jackson didn't seem flustered at 
finding the little girl in the kitchen.  It was nice having company for  
the day while she worked in the apartment. 


Meanwhile, Mulder hurried to the Hoover, but ever mindful of being
careful on the road.  He was breathless by the time he got to the 
basement office.  Scully,  however, was understanding when she
heard his explanation and just wordlessly handed him a file for 
him to peruse.  Scully also knew about Mulder's absolutely mushy
 heart when it came to small children.  


The rest of the week was surprisingly pleasant for Skinner.  Having a
small person in the apartment was quite strange.  Now that he thought
about it, he never really had close contact with kids, except for the
brief times when he coached Little League so long ago.   At first 
Michelle was shy and barely said a word.  But later, as she opened up, 
mainly to Mulder, Skinner agreed that having this particular houseguest 
was not so bad after all.  


Mrs. Jackson had whispered to Mulder that Michelle only had her 
threadbare school uniform and had no other clothes.  Plus the few 
pairs of underwear and socks had holes.  Skinner tried to stop Mulder
from going shopping with Michelle, saying that it was too much to
do since her dad was coming back in a few days.  Mulder had hissed
back that he didn't want Michelle to lack for anything when she
was with them.  So after taking her to see the latest summer movies
with Scully,  Mulder dragged her to the mall and bought her a few 
things.  Of course, Michelle came back with shiny bright eyes, 
clutching the jeans and t-shirt to herself.  Mulder was blissfully 
unaware that this was the first time Michelle ever had anything new in 
quite a few years that weren't school or camp uniforms.



Skinner tried to see if the girl was aware of their unusual household. 
It was his turn to be surprised when Michelle fully understood that they 
were not just two men living together.




"Fox is your boyfriend and you're his boyfriend,"  Michelle said
simply.  She was playing with Taylor, who was fully recovered
as the two of them watched television.  



"How did you know?" Skinner looked at her with interest.  



"When I first saw the two of you in the elevator," Michelle
cryptically said, her eyes now distracted by the television
as Taylor tired with the game.  Skinner waited for more.  How
did she know when everyone else, except for a handful of people
was unaware how close he and Mulder were?


Skinner prompted her again after the commercial.  He just really
wanted to know.


"In the elevator, your collar was crooked and Fox fixed it for you,"
Michelle finally said.  "Other men don't fix each other's clothes for
them."


Well, they really had to be careful, Skinner mused.  Those little
gestures between him and Mulder might give them away someday.


They had Michelle with them until Thursday night.  Somehow, 
both of them restrained themselves from each other while Michelle
stayed downstairs during the rest of that short stay.   Lister came
back and collected her.  Although her father was now there, 
Michelle still visited quite frequently during the rest of her stay with 
her father, having taken on a shine to the two men who had rescued her 
from the hallway.




END OF BACCARAT FIGURINES III (2/3)



BACCARAT FIGURINES III (3/3)
by Sean Spencer
seans13@hotmail.com



WARNING:  Slash NC-17 Skinner/Mulder


DISCLAIMER IN PART ONE




CHAPTER ELEVEN

BRATWURST AND VISCERAL CALISTHENICS


Skinner looked at his watch and  for the nth time that day, tried to pay  
attention to the meeting.  The agent who was presenting for this meeting  
was stuttering away, once he saw that the Deputy Director was getting 
impatient.  It didn't help any that this meeting was called for 
disciplinary measures, that the agent in question didn't follow 
procedures and that there was a serious error in judgment.  

Agent Nelson was from the regional New York office and Skinner still
couldn't believe how much younger the agents were getting to be 
nowadays.  This particular one was not even 27 and the fact that he
was licensed to carry a gun and used it unwisely was the whole reason
for this meeting.  

Skinner was just glad that Mulder was never in called in for these kinds 
of sanctions.  He really should stop thinking of Mulder.  Skinner shook 
his head slightly and concentrated.  The OPC chief was now badgering 
Nelson, and the young agent was starting to crumble under the intense 
questioning.  Chief Vaughan was making the agent see the errors in his 
ways, that a suspect with vital information was now dead and that two 
years of fieldwork just went down the drain.  



Just as Skinner had predicted, Nelson was starting to cry and he 
intervened.  He really hated it when the agents cried under the  
pressure of meetings like this.  Especially well meaning agents, eager 
beaver agents like these.  Skinner called for a recess of the meeting, 
finally  told Nelson and the OPC chief to stay.   Skinner put out the 
box of Kleenex he had prepared and shoved it into the agent's hands and 
waited  for the agent to collect himself.  When Chief Vaughan looked 
sufficiently  contrite, Skinner knew that it was time to leave.



He said a few more words, enough to encourage Nelson and just enough
for Vaughan to realize that this really was a good agent, then dismissed 
them both.  Skinner stretched his aching back and gathered up the 
papers. He must be getting old when he started to think of a 26 year old 
as young and too green for the field.  He suddenly remembered that he 
was 18 years old, so full of himself, when he was in the Marines.  And 
he even had automatic weaponry.

It was only four o'clock and he knew that it was still early but he just 
had to go home.  Mulder just returned from Germany, where he was given a 
short stint as adviser for the German police on investigative techniques 
of paranormal phenomenon.  Apparently, the paranormal was very big there  
and they had heard of Mulder's work.  But now he was back, verified by 
Skinner after a brief call to the apartment.  

He called Kimberly and gave her a few instructions for tomorrow and 
left. He exited from the side entrance where the car was waiting and got 
in.  He greeted his driver less curtly today and after debating, he got 
the car phone and called the apartment again.

Skinner got the answering machine and he was puzzled.  He shrugged and 
thought that Mulder might be taking a shower so he hung up without  
leaving a message. He impatiently drummed his finger on the armrest, but 
he was glad that today's route was the scenic route, away from the  
highway and through the suburbs.  

Finally, he got home.  He thanked the driver, like always and got his 
things in the car.  The elevator seemed to crawl but he knew that it was 
only because he was just so eager to get home.  He dumped his stuff in 
the living room,  noting that  Mulder's presence was signalled by the 
luggage strewn all  over the place and the packages.  Skinner called 
Mulder but there was  no answer.  He got to the bedroom but he was 
alarmed when Mulder  likewise wasn't there. Taylor was following him 
around.

Skinner found him in the den, asleep on the couch.  Jet lag had taken 
its toll on the younger man. Skinner looked at him first, drinking in 
the  sight of him, after being away from each other for two whole 
months.   His hair was longer and he had a five o'clock shadow.  He 
seemed thinner, too.  

"Hey, Fox," Skinner whispered, laying a hand on his arm and gently 
shaking him.  Mulder didn't awaken and Skinner had to shake him again
for a second time.  The younger man finally stirred and was stretching 
awake;  Skinner smiled at him in welcome and Mulder smiled back.

"Walter," Mulder murmured, as he ran a hand over his mouth.  He still
wasn't fully awake and Skinner waited for him to do so.  As Skinner 
embraced him in welcome, he noted that Mulder indeed had lost weight
as he crushed the younger man to him.  

"I missed you," Mulder muttered.   



"You haven't been eating," Skinner lightly admonished as he took
the agent at arms' length and eyed him critically.  



"I've been eating but it's just different," Mulder curled up happily,
sighing with satisfaction that he was now with Skinner.  He crawled
into Skinner's lap and they just cuddled for a while.  Mulder even
smelled different, probably from the different shampoo and soap he
used while in Europe.  



Despite Skinner's protests, Mulder got up and rummaged through
his bag and got out a box for Skinner.  It was an expensive pair of 
cufflinks, a very expensive pair.  Mulder was getting more animated
and took out his pictures.  He'd gone around Germany touring in 
between work and had a lot of pictures to show Skinner.  Skinner 
looked at the pictures with initial passing interest, but as he saw
more of the pictures, he realized that there seemed to be an awful
lot of pictures that included an Aryan type, a young blonde man.  
Skinner knew that Mulder never mentioned anyone who seemed
to be constantly with him.

Mulder had seen Skinner's darkening features as he perused the
photographs.  He smiled inwardly and was sort of glad that the
older man seemed jealous.  It always made him shiver when 
Skinner was jealous and he wanted to prolong the agony for the
older man.  

"Gunther's gay, too, Walter," Mulder mentioned casually and he
almost laughed when Skinner's frown deepened further.  "He was
my room mate in the apartment.  Don't you think he's kind of cute?"

"Yes, he's very cute," Skinner intoned.  "You never said that 
your room mate was gay."

"I didn't think it was important," Mulder said.  He folded early
however.  "No, Walter, we never did anything.  He had his own
lover and he wasn't interested."

Mulder didn't mention that he had been tempted, however.  That
was why he lost weight.  He felt so guilty all the time.  He'd never
been attracted to men his own age and he had been disconcerted.
It was hard enough to find out his housing had included a room mate
and it was even harder that Gunther had known at once at first
glance that he was gay, too.  Gunther's lover was an older man, 
just like Skinner and had frequently visited from Munich.  They
stayed mainly in Gunther's room and it really didn't help Mulder
that the walls were so thin.  Mulder sure learned a lot of German
words, but he wasn't sure if those words could be used in polite 
company.  In between visits from his lover, Gunther was a willing
tour guide however.  

Skinner seemed to be appeased somewhat and Mulder took more
pity on him and told him more of what went on.  Skinner couldn't
keep his hands off Mulder, however.  Once he saw that Mulder 
wasn't so tired after all and wasn't hungry either, they went upstairs 
and made love after showering together.  

Now that Mulder smelled like his old self, Skinner launched his attack.  
Both still damp from the shower, Skinner was kissing Mulder on the neck 
even before they got out of the bathroom.  Skinner knew he wasn't being 
as gentle as Mulder preferred but he couldn't help 
himself.  Mulder moaned as Skinner's tongue ran over his mouth
and he felt Skinner sucking his tongue.  

"I really missed you, Walter," Mulder repeated and sighed as he 
elicited a deep moan from Skinner with a strategic lick of his nipples.  
Their heavy breathing was punctuated by sharp gasps and much movement on 
the bed.  When Skinner finally entered Mulder, he
noted at once that there was a difference.

"You're so tight, honey," Skinner groaned, with a bit of puzzlement 
in his voice.  Mulder laughed and watched as Skinner's face above
him got that slack look that was his alone to see.  Skinner only lasted 
a few thrusts.  Mulder was almost as tight as when he was a virgin and 
the very pleasant surprise was too much for Skinner as the tight silken 
grip seemed to make him feel every ridge and heighten each sensation.

It was one of the rare times when Skinner had his orgasm before Mulder 
and he finished off Mulder with his mouth.  Mulder's legs were over his 
shoulder as Skinner focused his full attention on Mulder's penis. The 
two months of deprivation was too much for Mulder also and he soon came.

"Did you like it?" Mulder chuckled as he got into Skinner's welcoming
embrace.  He was still gasping. "Was there a difference?"

"What have you been doing in Germany?" Skinner asked somewhat
suspiciously.  "You're absolutely virginal.  Do you want me to get
a heart attack?"

"I wasn't sure if it was going to work," Mulder started to explain.  
"Before I left for Germany, I saw Dr. Cormier and he told me to do 
some exercises while I was away from you.  He said it was 
guaranteed to drive you wild."

"Exercises?" Skinner was puzzled.  

"They're called Kegel exercises," Mulder said.  "They were first
developed for women but it seems that they work for men, too.
Cormier said that it will help me control my coming much better."

Skinner wasn't appeased until he asked for permission to check
out Mulder.  Mulder turned on his side and Skinner inserted a
finger in Mulder.  Then he was astonished when he felt the grip
that Mulder's internal muscles had over his finger.

"Christ!" Skinner said.  Mulder smiled back at him and laughed
again.  It was rare that Skinner ever took the Lord's name in 
vain.  Skinner cleaned him up and they cuddled for a long while.

Mulder couldn't get enough of having Skinner beside him after
two whole months of being away from each other.  He was lying
on Skinner with his head in the crook of Skinner's neck as they 
talked.  He shivered as his skin tingled as the older man ran a 
loving hand over his back and buttocks.  It was very nice to 
finally be in bed with his one and only Walter after two months
of having to listen to his roommate and his lover rutting away
through the thin walls.  Sometimes, due to his need, he had
masturbated while Gunther and his lover were at it hard,
desperately wishing that Skinner was with him.  Then he would
feel guilty for masturbating and his bad mood pervaded through
the whole day.  He felt that he was being unfaithful to Skinner
when he did that.  


He breathed in Skinner's warm and comforting and clean scent 
and ran his hands over the bigger man's chest, as if memorizing 
what he missed so much.  There were times, too, when he was so 
homesick and it had been a grim reminder of his condition when 
he was at  Oxford.  Although the McDonald's was just a few blocks 
away, the food tasted somehow different.  In the first few days he 
was there, he'd made daily collect calls to Skinner but with the older 
man's hectic schedule, he couldn't get hold of him in the house
as often as he liked.   It was easier to find Scully through 
transatlantic phone but it was a poor substitute for the voice he really 
wanted to hear.


"Walter, did you miss me?"



"Oh, baby, the house seemed empty even when Taylor was here," 
Skinner stated, hugging Mulder to him.  He rained more kisses
on Mulder until the agent relaxed.  "My honey was gone from me
and all I did was work my ass off when you were away.  I only
went to the cabin once, you know."



"You did?"



"I couldn't stand it being so big and empty," Skinner declared as
he shifted Mulder's weight on him.  



"Next time, can we go to Europe for a vacation?" Mulder asked.
Skinner nodded.  After a few more minutes, Skinner's stomach
was growling and they made their way down for dinner.  Skinner
heated up Mrs. Jackson's prepared dinner and they ate while
Mulder showed more of his photographs.  It was so sweet of 
Mulder to have indulged in those exercises while he was gone
and Skinner felt his affection and deep love for the younger man.



He ran a hand over Mulder's longer hair and yanked it affectionately.



"I know, I'll have it cut tomorrow," Mulder said ruefully.  He knew
that Skinner preferred his hair to be short.  Skinner watched with
amusement as Mulder demolished most of the food.  Mrs. Jackson
had taken pains to cook Mulder's favorites.  During one of their
infrequent conversations about his family, Mulder had casually
mentioned that his mother never cooked him his favorite foods on
special occasions, like his birthdays.  So through their years together,  
Skinner had found out Mulder's preferences and made Mrs. Jackson aware 
of what these were.  



Once the dishes were in the dishwasher, Skinner helped the agent
unpack.  Even Taylor got a welcome home gift.  Although Skinner
wanted to make love again that night, he restrained himself
because of Mulder's full stomach and the younger man was now
indeed conked out.  Skinner took out his usual sheaf of papers to
read and did his work as Mulder slept beside him.  Mulder's 
naked torso was tempting, however, and Skinner couldn't help it
sneaking a hand over the smooth pale skin once in a while just
to reassure himself that the younger man was indeed home at 
last.



CHAPTER TWELVE

DRIVE-IN KNIGHT



Skinner was in one of his generous moods again and Mulder reaped
the benefits.  He'd been back for three days and in that short span
of time, Mulder was sated almost all the times they were together.
Skinner wanted to have him everywhere in the apartment and they
would sometimes make love twice a day.  That first night he was
home, Mulder had his climax four times and he had to stay home
the next day.  All the pent up tensions and frustrations of their two
months apart was gradually dissipating.  Skinner couldn't get
enough of the younger man while Mulder couldn't get enough of
his "big man".  

He knew that Scully watched him from sidelong glances with 
amusement but he didn't care.  He was too happy that Skinner was
always there for him.  

While he was in Germany, Mulder had lost weight but had gained
a corresponding increase in muscle because he'd run frequently
when he had nothing to do.  Skinner appreciated the strong muscles
he'd obtained, especially at how good it felt under his soft skin.  

They had dinner with Uncle Charles as the old man was likewise
eager to see him and wanted his aquarium checked.  It was nice
being wanted by others after being gone for some time.  Mrs.
Jackson was cooking up a storm in the kitchen, too, determined
that he have his favorite dishes.  

But, of course, it was back to work and he got back to the old
grind.  Pretty soon, he and Scully were out in the fields again,
working on cases, some of them X-files while the others weren't.

It was just sometimes frustrating for Mulder that he and Skinner
were even going out less than before.  Previously, when they 
wanted a getaway, they could safely go to the Boston townhouse
and spend a weekend there if they wanted to go out to restaurants
or concerts together in relative anonymity.  But now that Skinner
was Deputy Director, there was more chance of being recognized
especially since Skinner was appearing more on television whenever
some sort of crises came up and a spokesman was needed to clarify
some matters to the public.  

At home, it was still great of course,with Skinner always so concerned 
about him and loving him all the time.  But it really hurt sometimes 
when he wanted to do something even go out to watch a baseball or 
football game and not be able to do it with the older man.  Skinner, of 
course, planned some things for them, mainly camping or other solitary 
pursuits where there was less of a chance for them of being  seen.  But 
Mulder had never been an outdoors kind of guy, having grown up in 
suburbia, with too many bad memories of unsuccessful camping trips with 
his dad.  


Mulder chafed of course that anything he wanted them to do together had 
to be approved or vetoed by the older man.  He knew that Skinner was 
more sensible with these things, but sometimes, he wished that they had 
the spontaneity of just going out together to some bookstore
or eat out when they felt like it.  As it was, the last time they
ate out was months ago.  He couldn't even remember when they last went 
out to see a movie.

But Mulder knew that situations like this when both of them were in the 
closet was something inevitable, that there would be a lack of 
spontaneity.  From the very beginning of their relationship so many 
years ago, Skinner had made it clear that this was the way their life 
was going to be together.  So he just gritted his teeth and bore it, 
especially when he knew that Skinner was the only one he ever was
going to have a relationship with.  He only had to look at the signet
ring and the watch and remembered the best times.  

Skinner could see that Mulder was in one of his grey funks again and
somehow knew the cause.  They were in the apartment and  having a quiet 
night.  He hadn't gone home too late and they'd already
had dinner.  It was only eight o'clock on a Tuesday night.  Mulder 
was fooling around with his aquarium again,  adjusting the salinity 
and water temperature and other mysterious things that Skinner didn't 
care to know about.  


All he knew about the fish was feeding them and making sure they were 
still alive.  Since that damned aquarium had been his responsibility 
whenever Mulder was away from DC on his cases, Skinner had tried to keep 
the mortality rate down.  Seeing Mulder anguish over that dead Chichlid 
floating on the surface was too much for Skinner.  It didn't help 
matters any that the aquarium was a lot more elaborate than the one 
Mulder used to keep in his old aparment.  That small old one was a 
freshwater tank while this one was saltwater with the more expensive and 
larger kinds of tropical fish.

Taylor's eyes watched Mulder's actions with interest.  The dog always 
seemed to hope that one of the fish would fall flopping to the floor and 
then straight to his mouth, Mulder complained.  Skinner went
over to the newspaper and checked out some things.

"What say we catch a movie at the Odeon?"  Skinner suggested.  He
cringed inwardly when he saw how Mulder's face lit up. He kicked 
himself for being so selfish with Mulder, only doing things that he
knew was safe all the time.  When was watching a movie ever 
dangerous?



"But if we catch the last show, it would be too late for you.  You
need to get up early tomorrow," Mulder was still unconvinced.  Too
much of his caution was rubbing off on the younger man, Skinner
thought.



"Let's live dangerously," Skinner said wryly.  "There's a show in 
half an hour.  Would you be finished by then?"



Mulder nodded and hastened to finish with the aquarium.  The Odeon
was only two blocks away and they didn't need to take the car.  Like
always, when they were walking down the street together, they were 
apart from each other.  Looking like two old friends instead of the 
lovers that they were.



The theater was almost empty, being a weeknight and was dark enough
that Skinner relented and drew Mulder to him with one arm.  Mulder 
was stiff for a while, looking around the theater.



"We're at the back, Fox," Skinner hissed and the younger man finally
softened up against him.  



Skinner was glad that they watched the movie.  It was good with a lot
of special effects.  They walked back to the building at almost midnight 
and on the way back, he took Mulder's hand in his.  



Like before, Mulder stiffened and looked around the street.  Skinner
gave him a reassuring smile and held his hand more firmly.  Even
a simple pleasure like watching a movie and walking home afterwards
had to be so complicated for them and Skinner was getting tired of
the subterfuge as well.  



"You okay with this?" Skinner asked, shaking their hands so that
Mulder knew what he meant.  The street was deserted and only an
occasional passing car was the sign of life around them.  Mulder 
nodded back at him with some trepidation, but walking with Skinner
hand in hand was too good.  



"We should do this more often," Skinner sighed once they were in 
their elevator.  



When the weather got warmer and the drive-ins opened, it was even
better because they were now able to go to the movies in relative
anonymity.  Mulder was glad that they were now able to see first-
run movies instead of having to wait for the videos to come out.
Skinner would usually take the Town Car with the dark windows
while they were surrounded by rowdy kids in convertibles.  It was
less than ideal sometimes but it was better than risking it everytime
they wanted to see a movie.  



It was one of the Friday the 13th movies that Skinner absolutely
abhorred but Mulder liked.  Skinner didn't want to watch any of 
the gory stuff, saying it reminded him too much of Vietnam.  
He was trying to entice Mulder into necking in the car just 
like the other kids were doing in the cars all around them.  Mulder, 
however, wasn't biting and his eyes were transfixed on the screen.  
It was the middle of the movie and he wanted some popcorn.  
Skinner was kissing his neck but he wasn't really into it.  



"I'm going to get popcorn.  Do you want anything?" Mulder 
asked.  Skinner sighed as he extricated himself from the agent
and shook his head.  Mulder got out and because he
was walking backwards to be able to view the movie, he didn't 
see the group of young men  who had watched him emerge 
from the car with interest.  




Mulder first went to the bathroom.  He was standing in front
of the urinal, using it, when he realized that two large young
men were beside him, ostensibly using the bathroom, too.  
Some sort of sixth sense kicked in and Mulder tried to finish
as fast as possible.  It didn't escape his notice that the two were
both looking down on him and when he was zipping himself
up, the one on his right looked him straight in the eye and 
mocked him with pursed lips.  Mulder tried to hurry out of
the bathroom, not even bothering to wash his hands.  But there
were two more of the seedy men blocking the bathroom door
and that was when Mulder knew he was in real danger.



The one in the ponytail swaggered up to him and sneered.



"I saw you with your 'daddy' out there," he said, menacingly
advancing on Mulder.  "You let him put it up your ass, don't
you?"




Mulder cursed when he realized that he didn't have his gun.  
He'd left it at home.  He sized up the four men and with a 
sinking feeling knew that he was outmatched even if he could 
take out one or two of them.  The cramped bathroom also
didn't have any other avenues of escape.



It happened so fast that Mulder didn't even have the time to 
fast talk his way out of there.  The four were belligerent and 
Mulder found himself backed into a stall, the worst place to
be and when there was no way out anymore, he used all his 
self defense maneuvers taught at the Academy.  But he was 
soon pinned helplessly against the tiles and he really started
 to get scared when the one with the tattoo started ripping
off his t-shirt and a damp cold hand was on his bare skin.  
As he struggled, he felt a malicious hand on the crotch of his 
jeans.  Mulder felt the first tendrils of panic  as the hand 
down there was just starting to hurt when he was suddenly released and 
he collapsed to the floor.



There seemed to be a commotion but he was too dazed to 
get out of there.  A door was slammed shut and it was abruptly
silent in the bathroom.



Skinner shakily put back his gun into his jacket and approached
Mulder who was silent on the floor.  The DD didn't like the
way Mulder looked, all pale and sweaty despite the chill in
the air.  



"Oh, honey, are you okay?" Skinner crouched down at him in
the narrow stall and was rubbing Mulder's back.  "Fox, I'm 
here...you're safe.  The bastards are gone."



Skinner took out his handkerchief and wet it in the sink and
then wiped Mulder's face with it.  The agent's breathing was
still irregular with fright but it was slowing down as Skinner's 
soothing words were starting to register.  The older man checked
out Mulder and saw that aside from the torn T-shirt and a red
bruise on one arm, there were no other marks on the younger man.



"You okay, now?" Skinner murmured to him.  "Can you stand?
I'll take you home."



Mulder seemed to come back to himself and Skinner helped him
get on his feet.  Mulder was still pale but less shaky now and when
they emerged from the bathroom, there were thankfully only a few
people milling around.  They went back undisturbed to the car, the
perpetrators long since gone.


Skinner saw that Mulder was still pale but he was now answering in
monosyllables.  Skinner knew that if they pressed charges if he caught 
even one of them, it would only cause further anguish for both of them 
if the local police were involved.  

He started the car and drove home.  Mulder was silent as Skinner felt
guilty about the drive in thing.  His jaw clenched as he eased the 
Lincoln onto the expressway.  The drive in was located in a bad
part of town and he shouldn't have been persuaded by Mulder.  
Likewise, he should have gone with Mulder to the concessionaire 
stand.  Especially since his car stood out like a sore thumb.  But 
they had used his car precisely because of  black windows.  

Once they were in the safety of their building, Skinner could see that 
Mulder was still badly shaken. 

"At least they didn't get my watch," the agent said in the monotone
Skinner knew he used when he was trying to distance himself.  Once
they went into their apartment, the DD was baffled when Mulder 
shed his clothing.  When he heard the shower running, Skinner 
understood.


When the shower was still on after more than twenty minutes, Skinner
stuck his head in the bathroom.


"You okay, Fox?" Skinner asked again.  


"I'll be out in a minute," Mulder shouted above the noise.  


It was a full ten minutes before Mulder emerged.  Skinner saw
that the agent was wearing one of his pajamas as if it afforded some
sort of protection for him.  Just as he expected, the agent's face 
and neck were red probably from vigorous scrubbing.  


"Thanks, Walter," Mulder said once they were in bed together.
"I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been there."


As usual, Skinner's protective instincts were fully activated and
he took Mulder into his arms and embraced him tightly.


"Sorry, Fox," Skinner breathed into his hair.  "I should have
gone with you for the popcorn."


Mulder knew in his mind that he was safe now but the whole
incident had agitated him.  Even if  he was used to people deriding
his ideas and being scornful of him, it had upset him to the core
that anyone could hate him enough to actively harm him because
of his orientation.  Sure, he had moments of real danger in working
in the Bureau, but those dangerous moments had never been directed
personally at him, it was just part of the job of being a field agent.


The predatory nature of what happened, that it was planned and 
that there were four of them all the more served to illustrate how
vulnerable anyone could be.


More than that was the extreme feelings of  helplessness that 
had surfaced despite all the self-defense lessons in the Academy.  
The two men who had held him down each outweighed him by 
thirty pounds and the third one who had  his filthy hands on him 
had been his height but was still more built than he was.  Only
the fourth one keeping watch by the door had been smaller than
him.



Skinner drifted off into sleep but a few hours later, he stirred
awake when Mulder moved.  



"Fox, you awake?" the older man turned on the light at his
bedside.  Mulder looked exhausted with dark circles under
his eyes.  "Oh, honey, why didn't you tell me you couldn't 
sleep?"



It was in the wee hours of the morning and Skinner was being 
so kind and solicitous.  Mulder hated it but he started crying,
releasing all the fears of being harmed and possibly raped in
the bathroom.  Skinner clucked and soothed him as best he
could.  



"Hey, baby," Skinner murmured.  "I'm here for you.  I'll never
let anyone harm you..."



"Why do bad things always happen to me?" Mulder moaned
through his sobs.  He knew he was being childish but he didn't
care.  Right now all he wanted was to have Skinner's strong
arms around him.  Skinner waited for him to cry himself out.  




CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WINNER WORSHIP

Once morning came, Skinner woke up early as usual and went
to Mulder's study to make a few calls from the telephone there.
First, he called Scully and gave a sanitized version of events,
telling her that Mulder won't be in for today.  Then he called
Kimberly at home and told her that he was sick.  A call to 
Cormier yielded a name of a therapist and Skinner made 
an emergency  appointment.  



The agent was starting to stir once Skinner got back to the 
bedroom.  Skinner knew the younger man needed comfort
and he tried to provide it by touching him, thinking that maybe
Mulder needed to make love.  But Mulder reared away .  Skinner 
acquiesced and let him be.  Despite his protests, Skinner took 
him that morning to Baltimore where the therapist had her clinic. 
Mulder was the first appointment for the day, the therapist 
aware that this was the best time to deal with the crisis, at 
the earliest possible moment.  




Skinner stayed in the waiting room for more than two hours.
He was called at the end of the session, with the therapist 
telling him that it was a good thing that Mulder was brought
in so early.  She gave him a prescription for mild tranquilizers
and told Skinner that Mulder was dealing with the incident
adequately.  He was supposed to stay home for one more day
because the tranquilizers might make him too woozy.  Then 
he was supposed to come back after three days.  She gave 
Skinner her card in case they needed to get in touch with her.




The older man looked closely at Mulder as they sat in front
of each other in the therapist's office.  His eyes were red and
swollen but his face was more animated.  




"How do you feel?" Skinner asked as they exited the clinic and
headed for the car.  




"Better," Mulder said.  His voice was likewise stronger and more
confident.  




"Do you think you'll want to see her again?" Skinner questioned
casually.  He was well aware of Mulder's tendency to ditch 
medical personnel when he could.




"Uh-huh"




It was midday and it did Mulder a lot of good that they went around
Baltimore and ate lunch in a nice restaurant.  Skinner insisted that he  
take the tranquilizer and pretty soon, the deprived hours of sleep from 
last night was beginning to show.




"I want to go home," Mulder yawned once they were back in the car.



"Sure," Skinner patted him on the thigh.




Mrs. Jackson was righteously indignant when Skinner explained their
early presence in the apartment.  She shook her head angrily and, as if 
to banish the incident, started chopping up vegetables in a fury to make  
Mulder's favorite soup.  




Skinner made a call to Kimberly and tried to find out how things were
holding up in the Bureau.  She was holding the fort and was competently 
managing the endless calls for him.  Mulder was trying to watch a sitcom 
on the Comedy Channel and promptly fell asleep in the den.




Miraculously, Mulder was able to sleep on the couch without nightmares 
for the rest of the afternoon and when he woke up, Skinner could see 
that the sleep had done him lot of good.  Mulder was stretching on the 
couch to straighten out the kinks in his back and he grinned when he saw 
that Skinner was watching him sleep.




"I'm okay," Mulder reiterated.  "What time is it anyway?  You didn't
have to watch me."




"I wanted to make sure you were safe," Skinner mumbled.  "That there
were no nightmares."




Just being home and safe had the desired effect and Mulder seemed
to have bounced back from the incident.  Skinner was glad that he'd
inquired with Cormier on a crisis interventionist.  He knew it was the 
newest thing in victim advocacy but he wasn't sure if they would
handle cases like Mulder's, who was not really assaulted but just
nearly assaulted.  




The older man was pleasantly surprised when Mulder spontaneously
got up and sat on his lap, wrapping his arms and legs around Skinner's 
torso and laying down his head on his shoulder.  




"I love you, Walter," Mulder breathed.  His voice was rough with
sincerity and Skinner put down his book and hugged him hard with
his other hand insinuating through the T-shirt so that he rubbed
Mulder's bare smooth back.  "Dr. Morgan said that I shouldn't
be blaming myself for being so impotent, that no one could have
beat off those four bastards especially with the element of surprise
they had on me.  But you were there for me, Walter...like you
always are."




After a few minutes of hugging, Mulder looked up and had a 
solemn look on his face.



"You're my hero."



The bald adoration in Mulder's voice caused Skinner to blush.
Surprisingly, Mulder laughed and Skinner was able to chuckle
with him.  They had a nice, relaxed dinner and Skinner noted
that Mulder ate with more appetite.  They went to bed early and
made love with Mulder being more submissive than usual and
Skinner fiercely solicitous of his lover's sensations.  Somehow,
the act reaffirmed Skinner's protective role over the younger
man and Mulder was lapping it up, having Skinner's bigger
body shielding him  as his own body fully opened  to the older
man.  




Mulder was being transported and he was writhing on the bed
in abandon as he thrust his hips upwards in counterpoint to 
Skinner's rhythm.  His neck and back were arching off the bed
with his hips just angled right with the pillow underneath him,
affording maximum stimulation of his prostate.  



"Walter,  you're my big man," Mulder grunted and moaned as
Skinner could feel the internal muscles gripping him so lovingly.
The DD bent his head to nip at Mulder's right nipple while one 
hand supported Mulder's back to further deepen the thrusts.




The agent's hero worship of him was having the desired effect
on Skinner and he made sure that Mulder was having the time
of his life.  It took all of his self control not to come until
Mulder had his orgasm.  Skinner was growling at the effort,
intoxicated by the rubbing of their sweaty bodies against each
other.  




"This..is...for...you, baby," Skinner grunted with each strong
thrust.  Mulder's eyes were rolling up his head and Skinner 
kissed him with extreme intensity, pouring all his effort into
his mouth as he muffled Mulder's howl as he ejaculated.




Skinner took his time and slowed down his thrusting despite
his own pressing need and once Mulder's orgasm subsided,
he took the semen slicked penis of his partner and lightly
rubbed the frenulum at just the right pressure, renewing
Mulder's spent arousal.  




"Come for me again, baby," Skinner moaned as he stilled
his hips and concentrated on gaining another erection for
Mulder.  




"Oh, God, Walter, I'm...getting hard again."




"Come, on, love, come for me again...That's right...You're
getting big again...Look how big you are."



It took only another two minutes before Mulder's member
stiffened and Skinner restarted his powerful thrusts.  Mulder
had his tongue out between his lips as his younger body
revived under Skinner's skillful hands, hands that were
large and powerful and well shaped and exclusively for
him.  Mulder had his hands over the potent broad shoulders 
of the older man, riding out the process of being ridden by
the man he loved.  Skinner gasped as he urged on Mulder
who had another equally strong culmination.  Only then
did Skinner let go and release his own bottled up arousal.




This time it was Skinner who sobbed with ecstacy as his 
muscles relaxed over Mulder and he sagged onto the younger 
man's body.  The agent still had his own hands on the DD's
shoulders, not wanting to let go of Skinner's all enveloping
warmth.  Mulder slipped down a hand to a special place in
Skinner's now sweaty armpit that he knew was pretty sensitive and the
older man wriggled as he got tickled lightly.  Skinner absolutely
loved it like this, lying over Mulder's sated body, both of them
with that cherished exhaustion that always never failed to 
revive them both and renew their love for each other.  



Skinner bent down and and resumed kissing Mulder, his tongue
aggressively entering Mulder's mouth, just as his nether parts
had done so earlier.  Mulder moaned and let Skinner's questing
tongue seemingly drink him up to a different sensation.  Lately,
Skinner had been preferring to do this more and more, as if he
wanted to enter and become unite with Mulder's body in more 
ways than one.  



"Uhm...my legs are...cramping, Walter," Mulder had to tell 
him, because Skinner's body was still between his legs just as
his softened penis was still within Mulder's sated anus.  




"Sorry, baby," Skinner moaned and withdrew with a sucking
sound.  He helped Mulder adjust back his long limbs in a more
comfortable position and massaged it to make it better, but 
did not cease his deep, very deep kissing of Mulder's luscious
mouth.  He'd found that this was one way to keep the agent
awake after vigorous lovemaking, that of occupying him with
kissing.



Skinner took Mulder up in his arms as he sat them both up
and had Mulder's head bent back with Skinner's broad hand
supporting his neck.  It was just like in the movies, Mulder
thought dazedly as the older man's other hand ran down his
heated side.  For the third time that night, Mulder found 
his erection was starting to demand attention.  He didn't 
know if he could have another come tonight.



With Skinner's hand rubbing his side, it was inevitable that
the older man would encounter Mulder's renewed arousal.



He looked down with surprise.



"You still hot?" he said with some amusement.  Mulder's 
naked form still had that flush over his neck, face, chest and
upper thighs.  



"Yeah," Mulder moaned through half-lidded eyes.  He still couldn't 
believe that it was so good after six years.  He arched his back 
involuntarily as his Walter lightly put his fist over his penis and 
scrotum and carressed him lovingly, with just the butterfly wings'
pressure that was all he needed at this point.  It still amazed him 
how well the older man knew his body so well.  Mulder held 
Skinner's head in his hand so that their kiss wouldn't be broken 
off.  His hips started their involuntary motions.



"That's it, baby, honey...show me how your body loves me."




Mulder gasped as he came with a force much decreased from the other two 
that night but no less pleasurable.  He shuddered against Skinner who 
held him as he rode out the extreme delight.



"That's why I will protect your body and you to the best of my
abilities, Fox," Skinner breathed into his neck.  "I want you
safe for always."




Mulder smiled that special smile he only had after a very good
come.  Skinner gave him a final kiss as he got up and cleaned
up Mulder who was stretching like a cat on the bed, a very sated
cat.  When Skinner got back in bed after taking a very quick
shower, Mulder was caught up in his embrace again.  The agent's
heart was full to bursting.  Even if yesterday was a bad time, 
today more than made up for it.  Skinner taking the day off just
for him even when there were more pressing issues in the office, 
finding the right therapist to help him banish the fears, helping 
him to deal with it, holding  him and not being judgemental 
when he cried, all the more convinced Mulder that Skinner 
was the only one for him.  No one would have done the same, 
no one.



Because he had Skinner with whom he didn't need to hide being
vulnerable, this gave Mulder the strength to appear more invulnerable
to the world.  Skinner was his avenging angel, who would do
anything to protect him.  This was shown with some clarity 
yesterday when he had stormed that drive-in bathroom even 
with the four burly thugs inside.    



"I really love you, Walter," Mulder whispered before he slipped
off into the sleep of the surfeited.  Those words came so much
easier throughout the years they were together.  Sometimes, even those 
words didn't even seem to convey what he actually felt inside.



"I know, honey...I know," Skinner smiled.



Skinner went back to work the next day, only when he was
sure that it was okay with Mulder.  He left the younger man
in bed, opening the window because of the musty smell of
sex in the room.  He ruefully shook his head as he saw the
sheets spattered with the drying evidence of Mulder's 
activities last night.  It was just as well that Mrs. Jackson 
had long since gotten used to Mulder's stains on the bed,
although she would reprimand mainly Skinner when she had to clean the 
dried encrustations in the unlikeliest places, especially "her" kitchen.  


Mulder saw the therapist three more times and the tranquilizers
were stopped when it was clear that he didn't need them 
anymore.  Skinner forced him to go out to the movies again, 
not wanting him to develop a phobia for going out.  Once a 
week, with seeming regularity, it became part of their after
work ritual.  It was better after they had a weekend in Boston,
when Skinner finally was able to leave the work behind for
once.  



On their sixth anniversary, Skinner took pains to locate one
of his old friends from Vietnam.  Jake Reilly had a beach house
in Cancun and wasn't using it for the four days in October.  
Skinner did some careful interoffice maneuverings and was
able to schedule Mulder's yearly vacation so that it coincided
with his own. 



The Cancun vacation was another highlight in their life together.
Mulder was loved thoroughly there and when he returned to
work with a tan and that stupid glowing of his person, Scully
once again teased him endlessly about the insatiability of the
Deputy Director.  Skinner had given him a videocamera for
his birthday and he irritated Scully endlessly in turn by following
her around with it.  Of course, Mulder got creative with the
camera and once, only once, mind you, Skinner agreed for them
to make love in front of it.

Skinner forgot about the video Mulder made and 
was completely startled when Mulder showed it to him 
mischieviously one night.  The older man had to admit it
was very erotic watching yourself and your partner going
at it on television.  That had been a night where Skinner was
being especially solicitous of the younger man.  He blushed
hotly at the obvious evidence of their love for each other
but he had to take a firm stand and told Mulder to erase the 
thing because with their luck, the tape could get into the
wrong hands.  Besides, he couldn't stand watching his
own naked form cavorting so uninhibitedly on the bed, although
for Mulder that had been the chief attraction of the video.  Mulder 
pouted but he had to follow Skinner because as usual, the 
ex-marine was only sensible and right.




CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CAGE CRISIS




It had been fantastic.  The ex-Marine still couldn't believe how they
had gone at it a few hours ago.  He only had Mulder to thank.  The
agent always welcomed him home, but the lovemaking was something
else.  It had been an intoxicating meld of Mulder being submissive
but dominant all at the same time and Skinner found that he preferred
it that way.  Skinner laid back against the pillows, luxuriating in
the way his body was feeling so satisfied and rejuvenated.   

It had been a hellish week.  The pressure to find the militia 
bombers were coming from all sides, from the press, the Justice
Department and the public.  Fortunately, the Director for once
was handling the brunt of the blows.  Skinner called Mulder from the
various nameless hotel rooms he was forced to stay in and the
young agent fortunately only focused their conversations on
themselves, instead of asking for updates on the situation the
way Kimberly, his secretary, had done.  Skinner found that 
calling Mulder whenever the day was done made him long for
the man all the more.  

Just as he expected, the telephone rang with the New York 
regional head at the other end.  It was only during times like
these that Skinner tolerated calls of this nature at home.  As 
much as possible, he wanted to keep his life as Deputy Director
and his life as Mulder's lover as separate as possible.  However,
he didn't begrudge Scully's very rare calls here when she had
to speak to Mulder.  He knew that the pretty redhead only called
when absolutely necessary. From experience, he knew she was prudent.

The news was encouraging in that there were significant strides 
being made on the case.  Skinner smiled evilly to himself as the voice 
at the other end shook with the tension.  Skinner had made his 
displeasure widely known in New York, on the way the case 
had been handled at the outset.

Mulder stirred in the bed and would have groaned heavily while
stretching if Skinner didn't clamp his hand over the younger 
man's mouth to silence him.  Skinner barked more orders over
the phone, satisfied with the way the regional head had snapped
to attention.  As Skinner hung up, he found Mulder grinning at
him.

"What?" Skinner asked,  his tone abruptly gentled since he was 
now talking to his love.  

"Ooohh, I like the way you sounded on the phone," Mulder 
crooned mockingly.  "I bet all their balls are crawling up
their abdomens even as we speak."

"Well, their balls should," Skinner muttered darkly.  "I didn't
see any evidence of their having them with the way the press
is harping on the Bureau...Let's not talk about it, okay? I've
had enough of this bombing to last me a lifetime.  Come over
here and let me give you a hug."



Mulder shivered as he complied.  He could still feel Skinner's 
semen seeping out of him and feeling and smelling the evidence
of Skinner's love for him only made him quiver inside.  Skinner
kissed him hotly and Mulder smiled when the older man
thanked him for the fantastic time they had a  ago.



"I'm glad that you're mine," Skinner growled into his mouth.
"Have I ever told you that?"



"I...I think so," Mulder said, moved beyond words.  They both
got up after a while and Skinner cursed when he saw that it was
already one o'clock in the afternoon.  Most of the Saturday was
slipping by, a Saturday he'd hoped to spend in the cabin.  




"Let's just stay here, Walter," Mulder said as he dragged Skinner
into the bathroom.  Skinner started on his shower as Mulder sat
on the toilet and used it.  The bigger man was glad that Mulder
was losing his inhibitions about using the bathroom with Skinner
inside with him.  It had taken years of breaking down those
inhibitions.  That damned New England stiff upper lip and demand
for privacy was finally being chipped away after years together.
What was the use of locking the bathroom or getting into a tiff
when Skinner inadvertently walked in on him when every inch
of Mulder's body was more familiar than his own? 

 
As far as he hoped, Mulder shouldn't feel he had anything to hide
from him anymore, that they were truly of one body and soul
by now.  Skinner knew every mole and bump on the younger
man's person, knew all his rough spots and smooth spots, the wet
spots and dry spots, where the most tantalizing erogenous zones 
were and knew the places he was still shy about.  He would have
recognized the agent in a line up by feel and smell alone.  



Because of his particular interest in particular parts of Mulder's
anatomy, he was now familiar enough to know when the agent
had bouts of constipation or diarrhea since Cormier had emphasized
that Mulder's bowel health was mainly his responsiblity.  After
finishing up quickly, Mulder flushed the toilet and joined Skinner
in the shower.  He wriggled and splashed about as Skinner took 
it upon himself to bathe the younger man.  Pretty soon, he had
Mulder gasping with his hands spread out on the tiles as Skinner
masturbated him into completion with soaped hands.  The older
man made sure that no soap touched Mulder's urethral meatus
where soap could sting.  



"God, Walter, you're so good to me," Mulder writhed his hips
which he pumped into his lover's hand.  It didn't take long 
before Mulder ejaculated, his semen spurting out in thick gobs.
The quivering of his lover's body was so precious to Skinner
that he savored the moment for what it was, that of Mulder 
surrendering his desires and keeping nothing of his response
from the older man.



They got out of the shower in a few minutes, both spanking clean
and smelling wonderful.  Mulder shaved as Skinner dressed.  The
agent was still getting the hang of the straight razor and Skinner
chuckled to himself as he heard Mulder curse at another nick.



Skinner turned on the small television in the bedroom, changing
the channel to CNN to see if there was more about the bombings
in New York.  



"Were you planning on going fishing this weekend?" Mulder
asked, his voice muffled as he put on a T-shirt.  Skinner shot a 
glance at the agent, amused to no end at how ludicrous Mulder 
appeared, struggling with the T-shirt sans boxers.  Sometimes,
he was such a child.  Skinner stood up, his eyes still fixed on
the screen while he helped Mulder extricate himself and put 
the T-shirt to rights.  



"Yes, I wanted to, but it's too late now," Skinner answered after
a while, his attention still transfixed to CNN.  "Want to do 
something special instead?"



Mulder stepped into his boxers and hitched it up.  His face was
still screwed up as he thought of an answer to Skinner's question.
Skinner tried not to wince when he saw Mulder taking out the
rattiest pair of jeans he owned and putting it on as well.  He must
remember to conveniently "misplace" that pair in the future, Skinner
thought.  



Fortunately, there was an important NFL game.  It was one of the
few sports they both liked to watch.  Skinner found himself relaxing
as they both got caught up in following the game.  Mulder made
his monster sandwiches which they munched on as the game
progressed.



The telephone rang again.  Each of them had separate phone lines and 
both of them recognized that it was Skinner's phone.  He wiped the 
mayonnaise from his hands and answered the call.



Mulder tensed when he heard Skinner barking over the phone again.  From 
what he could tell from Skinner's side of the conversation, it had 
something to do with the bombings.  The agent sat up, football game 
forgotten.  Skinner continued to talk grimly on the phone.  It was a 
good thirty minutes before he hung up.



"What was that about?" Mulder could see that the older man was rigid and 
seemed to be collecting his thoughts.



"Fox, we might be in trouble," Skinner began.  "Ashcraft's home was 
bombed just now.  Fortunately, no one was home.  And the militia who did 
that thing in New York has owned up to the bombing.  Freeh just called 
and said that us higher-ups will need 24 hour security for a while.  
They'll be coming in an hour to start the security sweep here."


Mulder swore an oath and started collecting his things from the den. 
Skinner hid Mulder's picture in the drawer and the younger man went 
upstairs.  The portrait of their fifth year anniversary, Samantha's and 
Skinner's photograph from Mulder's bedside table, all these went into a 
box.    


They'd talked about this before: what they were going to do in case 
something like this ever happened.  It was one thing to talk about it 
and quite another to actually do it.  Skinner packed up more of Mulder's 
things from the bathroom.  Both of them were concentrated on their 
immediate task, that of eradicating any traces that Mulder even lived 
there.  What they were going to do in the next few days weren't 
discussed.  


As always, Skinner's foresight paid off.  The extra apartment in the 
same building that was barely furnished and unlived in, the one that was 
Mulder's official address was now going to be used.  The two brought the 
few boxes there. 


Skinner left the agent, with a brief kiss.  Even if he was preoccupied 
with the current bombing crisis, he couldn't help noting how miserable 
Mulder looked in the empty apartment.  He honestly didn't know how long 
the tightened security was going to last.  


Mulder watched the door close, not daring to think of how uncertain 
everything always was.  He opened the nearest box and saw the Pooh bear, 
somewhat grimy now after almost seven years.  He took it into his hand 
and put it on the top of the dust laden empty shelf.  And thought hard.


END OF BACCARAT FIGURINES III.


It would be just great to hear from you and give me more ideas of what 
you want our boys to do.


Written in the tropical summer of 1997 while on vacation (away from the 
weak summer sun of Wisconsin).  You should see my tan!