Walter stared at Alexei asleep in the bed, turned on his side, his one hand clenched under his head. Fox pulled Alexei’s arm back and laid it over his stomach before tucking him in. Walter leaned down to kiss him lightly before picking up the bed tray.

"Fox, I’ll put this up and we can go talk to the Gunmen. All right?"

"Sure thing." Fox got up and held the door open for Walter. " Spakoyne noiche, Alexei." Fox looked at Walter to see if he said it right. Walter nodded. <good night, Alexei>

* * *

In the living room, the Lone Gunmen had taken over the room. Computers lay everywhere. The three geeks were truly in their element. Byers sat orchestrating the group’s activities, reading from the massive index that came with the suitcase of disks. In moves that seemed choreographed, the three men searched disk after disk. Mulder stood at the doorway smiling at the organized chaos.

Skinner came up behind Mulder and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey. So, gentlemen, what do you have for us so far?" Skinner strolled into the living room.

"A lot." Langly pushed those idiotic heavy-framed glasses back onto his nose. "We even got a file on your pal Krycek. Seems he was born in good old Mother Russia until he was sold by his father."

"What?" Skinner strode over and leaned over the computer. With a few clicks, Langly brought up the file. Nudging Skinner out of the way, he attached a cord from the computer to the TV.

"This will let you see what I’m doing. Anyway, apparently his mother’s dead and his father sold him to the Consortium. See." He tapped one perfectly manicured nail on the computer screen and highlighted a document. "One bill of sale for an eight year old male child from Dimitri Ivanovitch Krycek to one C. G. B. Spender. The price was 100,000 rubles. Payable on delivery. Now on the next page is a copy of a contract between the Consortium and the Agency. Doesn’t say which Agency but we can all guess."

"No, you’re wrong. The Agency is not the CIA. It’s a different Agency. They are actually good guys. This one stays local. There’s one in almost every country in the world. Sometimes the police can’t do something or won’t. Sometimes the State or Federal can’t or won’t. That’s where the Agency comes in. They take them down and out. Like I said, they are the good guys." Mulder said, staring at the screen. Nudging Walter with his hip, he made him sit down on the edge of the couch. Without taking his eyes off the screen, he sat in Walter’s lap.

"They can’t be too good if they are dealing with the Consortium." Frohike replied.

"Well that’s assuming they know what the Consortium is," Walter replied, stroking Fox’s back and turning towards Frohike, "We’ll ask Alex when he’s better."

"Murphy or Camier would be better." Fox murmured.

Byers dropped the index on the table. "Who did you say, Mulder?"

Mulder turned to him. "Murphy or Camier."

"I saw those names, Langly go ahead about a page and half into the contract."

Langly shrugged and scrolled down. Byers kept waving him to slow down. "Stop. Highlight it. Yep. According to this, Mulder, Murphy and Camier were hired to train a suitable assassin for the Consortium. The Consortium would provide the child. The Agency would supply the training with their two best assassins. The Cleaners."

"Makes sense, Fox. Alex was lucky that they got their hands on him rather than anyone else. What else is in there?"

"Well, there are reports signed by ‘M’, ‘C’, and ‘MC’ so I would guess it was by those two... some of it is rather juicy."

"Get out of those files. If I ever find out you used anything out of those files to hurt Alex, I swear, I’ll set Murphy and Camier on you."

"That’s rather cruel, Fox." Walter said, a trace of anger entering his voice.

"So is what they are planning to do with that information. If they left anything of you, we would tear you to bits."

"Geez, calm down, Mulder. It’s not like it’s a big deal." Langly snorted.

Walter slid Fox off his lap and stood up. "No big deal?" Leveling a glare at the three men, the same one that was effective on scores of fresh young FBI agents. "You will not now or ever hurt Alexei. We will allow no one to ever harm him again. While you are useful to us, we’ll find someone else if we need to. Do we need to?"

"Walter, they don’t mind your threats but they would mind if I shot every one of their computers, wouldn’t you?" Fox slipped the ankle gun from its holster. "You have a choice, either you three shut up and do your job or you leave and never see us or this information again."

Behind them came slow and measured claps, "A very good threat Mr. Fox. However, we usually find it more effective to simply give no warning and just shoot them all." The sound of two guns being cocked, split the tense atmosphere.

Murphy and Camier stood there holding shiny, gaudy guns. The guns were silver with gold and brass inlays. The inlays were of small animals that wrapped around the handles, crept vine-like up to the barrels. The line of animals terminated with a large cat that stretched one long unsheathed claw down the barrel.

"What the hell are those?" Frohike stared at the guns in fascination.

"Mr. Murphy, I say we shoot them right now for insulting our gifts." Camier smiled.

Fox burst out laughing. "Let me guess, Alex gave those to you? Once he ‘lost’ my ankle gun snf replaced it with a new one. It was purple. I still don’t know where he got a purple gun."

Camier and Murphy smiled as they tried not to laugh. "Oh, he doesn’t specialty order these, he makes them. These two were his first successful attempts. It seems fitting we shoot them with these. Now, we have to divide the three of you up. Since it’s closer to Cam’s birthday, I’ll let him shoot two of you and I’ll take the CIA looking one."

"Thank you, Murphy, you are too kind."

"Can’t any of you just relax? Remember the half dead, no left arm, very tired, and recovering malenkiyubiytsa in here? Hey. Welcome home, papy." Alex sagged against the wall and closed his eyes.

* * *

"Mr. Mulder, Mr. Skinner, will you take our brat and put him back to bed? We will handle these three." Murphy asked lightly.

"Uhhh sure. Walter?" Fox walked over and kneeling, wrapped one arm around Alex’s waist.

"No. I’m tired of bed, I want my papy." Alex pouted.

"Mr. Mulder, I believe our Sascha is still with fever. Since he no longer wishes to lie abed. I suggest using the elevator at the end of the hall and taking him to the rooftop garden. The pools will do him good. They are cool."

"Very well." Walter stooped down and picked Alex up, "I’ll carry him, Fox."

"Ok." Fox headed off down the hall.

"Papy?"

"Yes, Sascha?" Murphy asked, rolling his eyes where his Sascha couldn’t see it.

"I’m sorry. Never mind." Alex laid his head on Walter’s shoulder.

"No, Sascha. What did you wish to ask?"

"Don’t kill them. Fox wouldn’t like it."

"All right, my Sascha. We won’t kill them. Now go up to the garden. The sun is shining and the waters are cool." Murphy told him quietly.

"Yes, papy." Alex closed his eyes and sighed, snuggling down into Walter’s arms. "You’re very comfortable, did anyone ever tell you that?"

Walter laughed and strolled down the hall, carrying a half asleep Russian rat.

"Now that the children are out of our way, I suggest you three pay close attention. First sit down and listen carefully," Camier’s voice floated down the hall after them. "Well, since Sascha doesn’t want you to die...

* * *

"A garden on the rooftop, Alexei? How did you do that?" Fox asked as he held the elevator door open.

"Fox, Lisa, Vasili... we need to give you a Russian name." Alex mumbled.

"Don’t go to sleep, Alexei... tell us of the garden?" Walter asked, shifting him slightly, stepping into the elevator.

"Well, my first assignment was a test by the Agency. They wanted to see whether or not they could tell the Consortium that my training was complete. It wasn’t. Murphy and Camier didn’t want me to do the job but the Agency’s Director overruled them. She accused them of coddling me and of being overly protective parents. She asked me directly, in front of my fathers, knowing that I had a young man’s pride and would take it. They told me to be careful. I wasn’t. I completed the mission but not without cost. Ummm you can carry me anytime Sergei." Alex nuzzled his nose into Walter’s neck as the elevator stopped.

"So, now that you have Sergei’s warm arms around you, you don’t need me, is that it?"

Alex’s eyes widened and he turned carefully towards Fox, "No... I didn’t mean that, Fox, really I didn’t. I..."

"I was teasing you, Alexei. I won’t do it again. Tell us more?" Fox caressed Alex’s face before taking his hand and rubbing it gently with his thumbs.

Alex moaned and tried to snuggle down further.

"Careful now, I don’t want to drop you." Walter said as he settled Alex in his hands again before stepping out of the elevator. In front of them was a narrow stone covered hall, just wide enough for one person to walk through with perhaps two inches of clearance on each side. Walter looked at Alex in his arms and set him down. "It’s narrow."

"Of course. We don’t want a lot of people coming here. But we can rest here and I’ll walk down the hall. Back to the story of the garden, I completed my mission but I was badly hurt. My Fathers couldn’t stay home with me and they didn’t want me bored. So they installed an elevator so I could go up to the second floor or up here. Back then; this was nothing but a deck. Then over there was another room. On the second floor is my workshop. I build guns, other weapons; throw pots, a lot of things. I was forbidden to leave the house. The one time I did do so without their permission, I was punished. They... doesn’t matter. Soon I became depressed. It affected them, though people at the agency mostly didn’t care or couldn’t tell. A librarian at the Agency left them plans for a rooftop garden. It even showed how to build up a part of the land so you could put in a couple of pools. One day, I woke up to find a note telling me to go up there. They were waiting for me... in the garden." Alex squeezed Fox’s hand and stood up. "As long as you hold me, I should be able to make it."

Fox walked over and stood behind Alex. "As long as we are here, we will never let you fall." Wrapping his arms around Alex’s waist, he started shuffling towards the hall.

Walter walked backwards in front of them. Smiling at them, they walked slowly down the hall. Over Walter’s shoulder, Fox could see light shining at the end of the hall. Moving one hand to shade Alex’s eyes. They walked into the light.

* * *

The ground was carpeted with grass and a small hill was set a little off center, with a pool at it’s center. Around there were benches of stone and potted trees. Bushes grew up and shaded quiet corners. Here and there birds sang. Flowers covered the grass, blue, purple, orange, yellow, red, white, even black. Fox slowly moved Alex over to the nearest bench and sat him down.

"Alexei... this is amazing... how did they get it all up here?" Fox stared around, a sweet smile on his face.

"I don’t know... Nathan never said. I know they did it during a two-day period that I was at the Agency for tests. I asked Nathan once but Nathan is… crazy. He’s convinced that Alex Trebek runs the world. That if anyone goes on vacation, they are going to report to the Illuminati. I love him; he’s like a cousin to me. He’s insane. Sergei, please don’t dig too deep? I know it’s at least a foot of dirt. I did it once and there is an average, not including the hills, of at least twenty inches difference before and after. So there has to be almost eight inches of reinforcement materials so it won’t cave in the house." Alex smiled as Walter walked around, his face tilted up towards the sun, low in the sky. Walter’s hands were dirty where he had dug in the dirt. For the first time in a very long time Walter smiled for the joy of smiling.

"It’s so beautiful, our Alexei. A bright and sunny place for us to talk."

"About what?" Alex leaned back against the brick wall that enclosed the garden, closing his eyes.

"Many things." Walter said quietly.

" ‘Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings...’ " Fox shook his head at Walter rolling his eyes. "Sorry. About Love, Alexei. About how you can love us with all we have done to you and how we can love you with everything you have done to us. What we are to do about us… about the three of us living and loving and not letting each other fall. We’ve failed you plenty of times…we just didn’t know how much until we read your journals. You betrayed us but then you didn’t and you confused us. Part of love is trust and none of us, really trust each other. I know that I can love you, I even want to but I don’t know if I can trust you. Walter betrayed me a couple of times and I want to trust him but if it comes to a showdown, either you or me, I don’t know who he would choose. I have trust issues but then again everyone I’ve cared for lied to me, played games with me. So how do I? How do I love you and Walter, Alexei? How do I trust you two?"

"Easy, Fox, our lisa."

"Lisa?"

"Yes, I did put you in danger. Yes, I did hurt you. Yes, I confused you. Yes, I even lied to you. I did all that and more for one simple reason. As long as you were alive then you had a chance to be happy. I already love you and I knew that if I died, my fathers would have found you two and given you proof that the Consortium heads were dead. Strange… isn’t it? That they were hunting me down and willing to take the information back to the Consortium but they would have done this for me. It would have been my last wish. And now that we are taking the Consortium down, I won’t ever betray you again. If we go back into the FBI or we can even go work for the Agency; I suppose we will sometimes need to appear estranged. Just don’t believe it. I guess it’s a credit to my acting that you believed me to be willing to hurt you." Alex replied, reaching his hand out for Walter, "Sergei?"

"You killed me. You implanted machines into me and you killed me. You held the controller in your hand and you pressed the buttons that killed me. I will never forget that. In time I will forgive you but I can’t forget that. You know that Fox and I read some of your journals, I read the timeframe. Sometimes you lapsed into Russian… but I know it well enough. I could see how you saw this as a way to kill me and bring me back. Cardinal’s bullet would have been more permanent. I suppose I should thank you but I can’t. You looked me in the eye and killed me, Alexei. I saw no love in your eyes. I saw no regret. Only a willingness to kill me because I wasn’t obeying you." Walter sat down and wrapped one arm around Alex. Tucking Alex’s head on his shoulder, he stroked his hair. On the other side, Fox was squeezing Alex’s hand. "Yes, you were trained well but not so well that you could be so ill and still lie to us. I do believe you didn’t know it was us at my office. I do believe what you said. I do believe you love us. I also believe it will be a very long time before we will lay all this to rest. Now stop crying, my shirt is getting all wet." Walter ruffled the longish hair at the back of Alex’s neck.

"Sergei… I… I’m…" Alex wiped his eyes and squeezed Fox’s hand.

"Hush, Alexei. I’ve already started to forgive you. I just need time. Let’s talk about what we have done to you."

"We don’t need to. When I decided to stop running, stop fighting, I made my peace with both of you. So don’t feel guilty, I mean you likely will, but I don’t want you to. You beat me up, shot at me, cursed me, set people to chase me, hunted me, and dragged me everywhere in Mulder’s case. Sergei cuffed me to his balcony and beat the crap out of me. Ummm, Fox, Sergei, we ever go to Russia, I don’t care if an alien is there signing autographs, I’m never going back to Tunguska. Next time they might want a leg." Alex smirked. "Oh stop being so guilty about my arm, Lisa." Alex flashed a smile, "It happened. If you can’t laugh about it then it’s worthless isn’t it. Napoleon once said, ‘I must laugh at Man to avoid crying for him’. I have to laugh at this, otherwise I’ll cry and not stop, Fox. Look the sun is going down, can’t we just sit up here and enjoy the sunset. If you will help me over to the east wall, we have a seat put into the wall so we can watch the sunset." Alex levered himself up.

Walter pulled him into his lap. Placing one hand under Alex’s legs, he lifted Alex into his arms. Following Alex’s instructions, they came upon a set of iron steps that led to a high bench, where they could see over the wall and watch the sunset. First the sun flattened out and became a long strip of red fire. The sky flowed into the bright oranges and crimsons, delicious peaches, honey golds, and shocking purples. As the dark cape of Diana covered the sky that the sun fled, her coat with a thousand sparkling eyes shimmered. A flash of green, the last ../images/Image of the setting sun sparked and met the clear eyes of Alexei Krycek, happily being held by the two who were learning to love him.

* * *

"Well I think I can make it if I go sideways." Walter looked at their lanky love.

"It’s not fair to make you carry him back down, Walter." Fox told him.

"But I am bigger and I can carry Alexei easier."

"Well..."

"I can do it, Lisa." Walter reached over and moved Alex until he could get a firm grip on him. "Go ahead, I’ll follow behind."

Fox gave Walter a strange look before heading over to the short hall that led to an elevator. Halfway through the hallway he stopped. Turning, he spread his legs to block the passage, he looked at Walter. "Lisa? Why are you calling me, Lisa? If it’s the hair, I’m getting it cut."

"Fox, it’s not the hair. Can we get moving? I can carry Alexei but he is heavy." Why now, Fox?

"Not until you tell me why both of you called me Lisa?" Fox replied, gritting his teeth and pushing his jaw out.

"Fox..."

"Walter..."

"It’s Russian... it’s... it’s your name in Russian."

"So if I went to Russia, I would be called a girl? I know Alexei as well as his fathers want me to pick a Russian name. I know I’m pretty but that pretty? I didn’t think my features were fine enough for a girl." Fox straightened up and leaned again a wall

Walter’s laugh started in his stomach and rumbled up like rapids. "No Fox... I mean you are beautiful but ‘Lisa’ is the name for fox in Russian." Walter set off once more for the elevator. His long strides eating up the distance

"Ahhh, ok. Why did he call me little?" Fox asked a smile on his face, "I mean he hasn’t even seen me yet." Fox stopped and stared at the all but running Walter.

"FOX! Uhhh, I think in his way he was teasing you." Walter’s pace quickened and Fox’s eyes narrowed as he took several steps closer. "You’re our little girl." Walter reached the elevator and ducked in quickly, pressing the button for the bottom floor. Walter smiled as the door closed in Fox’s face.

* * *

Fox stood at the elevator waiting for it to come back up. Shaking his head, he stared up at the stars. This place is beautiful. The garden is a paradise. Murphy and Camier are excellent. Everything is going well. The Lone Gunmen are taking down the Consortium. So why am I up here wondering when everything will fall apart and we will be left in pieces? Somehow I don’t think that the FBI is in my future.

* * *

Walter walked down the hall towards Alex’s room. Laying Alex down in his bed, Walter covered him before laying a kiss on his cheek. Quietly he closed the door and walked back towards the elevator. As the door softly shushed open and Fox stepped into his arms, Camier’s voice came down the hall, "Sergei, would you and Fox come down here for a moment? I believe the boys have found something that would be of interest to you."

"Sure, just give me a moment." Fox reached up and dragged Walter’s head down to his, touching foreheads with him and staring into those wonderful dark brown eyes. Walter wrapped an arm around Fox’s waist. "If I’m your little Fox and Alexei is our Rat, what are you?"

"A strong and sturdy dancing bear that will always protect both of you. We protect each other. You with cunning. Alexei with his ability to find a way to survive. Don’t worry. We will survive. Promise. Now let’s go see what the Gunmen found." Walter took his hand and led him down the hall.

In the living room, each man sat with straight backs, eyes front, hands held at the perfect angle for typing. Their voices were hushed and soft. Walter watched as Langley got up and asked with extremely polite words for Byers to ‘please move his legs so that he might retrieve one of the indices on the table by the door’. Walter started clapping softly and smiling wide, he walked further into the room. "Murphy, Camier, what did you with them? They almost sound human."

"Walter Sergei Skinner, we try for positive reinforcement. Suffice it to say that Mr. Byers, Mr. Langley, Mr. Frohike, and we have come to an understanding. They clearly understand the rules and boundaries." Murphy replied, "However the reason we called you here was because of something that we found. Perhaps... Fox can come closer."

Camier headed over to take Fox’s hand. "It’s about your sister, but I will allow them to take their own time." He led Fox over to the couch and sat him down. Walter settled in beside him and watched the screen. Neither noticed Camier leaving.

"Well, Mulder, we did a search for the words ‘Sam’ ‘Samantha’ ‘Mulder’ and every combination of them. We got a bunch of hits but it took time to go through everything. Most of it was about Bill Mulder. We have enough on him to well... first off prove that he’s not your blood father. Unfortunately it does prove that C. G. B Spender is. So lucky you, you have a brother. That has bad news to it too. C. G. B. demanded his death. Krycek killed him fast. I guess knowing that Spender wanted to turn Jeffrey over to be experimented on really bothered him. Krycek did him a favor really. Some of this stuff... Mulder it’s sick! How can they..." Langley lowered his head.

Byers cleared his throat. "We know that she was cloned. We know that. We know they had hers and thousands upon thousands of other’s DNA samples. We know about the colonization attempts but this... even we didn’t know, Mulder. They planned to take over a million cloned children to a planet and there to raise them... as hosts, as slaves, as raw materials. Mulder... Sam was part of a breeding program to make the perfect genetic slave and host."

"I see... there’s more right?" Fox smiled and bit his lip. Suddenly two arms came around him from behind. Fox jumped. Alex nuzzled his neck and walked around the edge of the couch and sat next to Fox. He moved over until Fox was sandwiched tight between him and Walter. Alex laid his head on Fox’s shoulder as Camier came around in front of them and sat on the arm of Murphy’s seat.

"What they are trying to say, dear Fox is, that your sister, Samantha died. She escaped from where they were keeping her during a transport. She fell. It was on a highway on the side of a mountain in Colorado. Interstate 70, so it says. They couldn’t claim the body because they didn’t have anyone in the Climax Police Department, which found her. She is buried in a pauper’s grave. I have taken the liberty to have someone from the agency go and claim her. We will rebury her where you wish. If it is any consolation, both the coroner for the police and the Consortium agree that she didn’t feel any pain. She likely tripped. And when she did so, she knocked her head. It put her to sleep. She felt nothing." Camier looked at the stunned young man. Standing up, he closed the laptop closest to him. "I believe it is time for you gentlemen to leave. You may come back tomorrow after 12 noon. Sascha, you and Sergei take Fox to bed. Keep him warm. If you should need us, you know where to find us."

Murphy stood up, helped them close down their programs, he allowed them to choose which computers they wished to take and gently but firmly escorted the three young men out the door. Camier moved quickly to gather a comforter and an electric blanket to lie on Sascha’s bed. Slowly their muffled steps came closer. Murphy came out of the kitchen with a tray. On it sat three mugs and a teapot full of hot chocolate. Slipping into the room before the other three, he placed it on the night table. Carefully Walter and Alex led Fox in and pushed him onto the bed. So intent were they on taking care of their Fox, neither of them noticed when Murphy and Camier left the room. Undressing him, Alex’s eyes clouded and sparked.

"We are taking them down, right?"

"Yes, Alexei we are and they are going to pay for everything."

Tucking Fox in, they crawled in on either side of him and held him. Trembles started slowly and built up. A low moan started in his throat and climbed higher and higher until he was screaming behind his teeth. After a time, the screams faded into whimpers and transformed into sobs.

* * *

"Cam?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we should call Nathan in to help the Lone Gunmen?"

"No, I don’t think so."

"Very well. What about dear Fox?"

"We will destroy the Consortium and make sure those who harmed his sister live only long enough to give testimony. Then we take them and have fun."

"Ahh, I’m glad we think alike."

"How can we not, we share the same heart. Now come to bed and stop thinking of that sort of fun."

"Just one more thing, love. Sascha. How does this help Sascha? I know he cares for them, but right now are we even sure they can help? Perhaps we made a mistake. Now that Mulder is having trouble, Sascha has retreated. I talked to Walter and he told me Sascha railed against them when they told him they were going to love him. Now, he accepts it. Could it be that our Sascha is doing another role for them? He will take... no, accept what they will give him but he will be their strength? He’s so used to helping others, supporting others, despite his training as a lone assassin, how many times did we look to him for support in our work?" Camier sat on the bed and leaned into Murphy’s arms.

"I see, so you don’t want us to get so wrapped up in Fox’s problems that we ignore Sascha?"

"No, I’m afraid Sascha will get so wrapped up in Fox’s problem that he will ignore his own. We may see him sinking further and further but he will not allow anyone to help him until he realizes it himself."

"Yes, well, the only thing we can do now is watch our silent son."

"I know. I don’t like it though."

"Sleep, Cam. Tomorrow we try again."

* * *

The smell of sausage drifted down and crawled under the door. The spicy aroma covered the barely asleep young men. Slowly, Alex opened his eyes; clear of the clouds that fever had put in them. He stretched his legs until he heard his joints pop. Turning around in the bed, he met two warm dark brown eyes. Smiling he reached over and gently took Walter’s hand. "So we wake up the sleeping kit and go to breakfast?"

"Yeah... Alex... I..."

"Don’t worry, Sergei, k?" Alex swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Slowly he reached up, on his tiptoes, and then bent over backwards until his hand touched the bed. He arched his back until he could hear the vertebra popping.

Walter looked over at him and shook his head. Together, they went into the bathroom. Alex moved closer to the sink and picked up his toothbrush. Reaching for the mouthwash, he looked into the mirror and saw Walter staring back at him. Without moving his eyes, Walter reached around him for a blue toothbrush.

Slowly, he put the toothpaste on and started brushing his teeth without taking his eyes from the mirror, from Alex’s reflected jade gaze. He spit the foam into the sink, eyes still locked. Wiping his mouth, he leaned over and kissed Alex on the cheek. "I’ll go wake, Fox."

Alex finished brushing his teeth and splashed his face with water, shaking his head to get rid of the excess water. Walter had Fox on his feet and walking towards the bathroom. He would place a hand in the air to turn Fox. He always turned away from the hand. Alex smiled and got out of his way. As Fox passed, Alex reached out and touched his hand. Mulder jerked away and hit the wall. Alex shook his head and went to get dressed.

* * *

Alex watched as Walter walked Mulder into the dining room. Murphy was making stacks of pancakes. The table was set with simple white stoneware. Shrugging at Alex’s questioning expression, Walter shrugged and sat Fox down. Walter walked over and made up three plates. "Alexei, do you like a lot of sausage or eggs?"

"Sausage." Alex walked over and took one of the patties off the griddle.

"Sascha, drop the sausage." Camier commanded without turning around.

"He always tries to steal at least one, Sergei. No one will ever call him a rabbit, he loves meat. Sit down both of you and I’ll bring your plates."

"Are you sure?" Walter asked.

"Yes, we are." Murphy said as he opened the refrigerator. He pulled out a jug of milk and placed it on the table, did the same with the orange juice, before closing the refrigerator. Reaching up, he pulled down a glass-stoppered pitcher of thick maple syrup. After laying that on the table, he stopped by the stove and picked up a platter of sausage and eggs. "We’ve already made up your plates, eat those first, ok Sascha?"

"Yes, papy." Alex smiled at their normal, natural tone. For once within the past few days, everything is normal. Except for Fox’s silence. I am not going to worry about that. I’m going to enjoy this. Alex watched as his fathers chatted with Sergei, the ebb and flow of a family at breakfast. It was good and calm. Anyone seeing this would think us a really happy family. Maybe this will work. Maybe they can love me.

Fox reached for a sausage and dropped it, laying down his fork, Alex reached over and handed it to him. Fox flinched back and dropped it.

"Pick it up, Fox."

"Alexei, maybe he doesn’t..." Walter started.

"Shut up, Walter. Pick it up, Fox. I’m truly and really god bedamned tired of your self-pitying shit. So your sister was stolen, so your father didn’t love you, so god dammit the Consortium ran you on a leash and ruined your fucking life. My father SOLD me because he liked rubles more than he liked throwing me into a wall. I was raised to be a consortium spy, assassin, and tool. To be used and abused and discarded. They at least thought of you as a person but I was just a thing! So get off it, you suffered but so did a lot of people. Most of them aren’t even alive. They aren’t staying in a nice three-story house that’s a refuge and paradise. I did things you didn’t have to. I had to stay with your cigarette smoking fucking bastard of a father, MULDER and I hate him. I killed him, and I’m so damn glad."

Eyes gleaming with pent up hatred Alex leaned over the table and spat his words into Fox’s face, "I hate this life, I was ready to die! But no, you had to bring me back, you had to apologize, you had to make up for everything. Well damn you but I didn’t want to come back. I’m so tired. I want to sleep." Alex fell back into his chair. "I’m tired. I wanted to die, to sleep. To be at peace. Maybe death isn’t peace but it isn’t here either.

"Why couldn’t you let me go? Why didn’t you let me go?" Alex leaned back, closing his eyes, tears falling gently. Suddenly strong arms came around him and he heard Walter’s voice.

"Shhh, cry it out, Alexei, Sascha, our Alex."