Title:  3's A Charm: Missing Scenes

Authors:  Ocean Summers and Sage O'Neil

Ratings:  PG-13

Summary:  Why is Ben acting the way he is and what was 
really going on in the scenery when he arrive?

Thanx to:  The Emu, Elisabeth and Beth whose managed to 
turn this piece in to what it is today <g> You are great 
guys!

Disclaimers:  I do not own these characters they belong to 
Chris Carter and FOX Network, you know the drill.

I'd love to get some feedback, tell me what you think and 
write it down to: sageo@hotmail.com

Archivist's Note:  The URL for the MSKRA (Mulder Scully 
Krycek Romance Association) is dead.  I have removed it.


3's A Charm: Missing Scenes
by Ocean Summers and Sage O'Neil


A couple of months earlier


"Damn."  Mulder pressed the stop button before the computer 
linked him to the wrong site.  "Come on, I don't have time 
for this."

The mouse button, however, gave no response.  He pressed it 
a few more tries, then shook the laptop in the air for a 
couple of seconds in sheer exasperation.

"And you ask why your computer doesn't work."  Krycek 
walked up from behind him.  "What are you doing anyway?"  
he leaned forward to nuzzle Mulder's neck.  "Hacking into 
the Department of Defense?"

"Very funny, Alex.  " He tried to blow out any dust from 
the mouse that could have been the source of the problem.  
No response.

"Are you coming to bed soon?"  Krycek kissed his cheek, 
placed his hands on his shoulders and gave a little 
squeeze.  "Dana and I are getting ready."

"Yeah, soon," Mulder answered him distractedly.  "I just 
have to finish up here first."

"We'll be waiting for you."  Alex smiled, kissed him again, 
then pulled away reluctantly.  "Don't take too long."

Mulder nodded and placed the mouse back on the pad.

"Where the hell am I now?"  he muttered to himself and 
tried to find some kind of logotype or guide to where he 
was going.  "Let's try this."  He clicked on a link.

Something happened and the computer started downloading a 
site.  Mulder sighed and stretched his neck, not feeling up 
for a slow Website at this hour.

"You still out here?"  Scully's voice floated from behind 
him from the bedroom.

"Mhm."

The screen flickered and he was just about to give the 
monitor a little tap -- useless, but satisfying -- when it 
adjusted itself.

"Aren't you coming to bed soon?"

"Yeah, soon."

Some kind of a code was requested and he pressed "enter" 
violently.

"What are you doing?"  she walked up and put her arms 
around him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Surfing."

She looked at the screen.

"What are you downloading?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know as in you don't know or as in X-rated 
sites," she dared him and nudged his earlobe with a little 
breath.

A laugh escaped him and he turned his head to look at her.

"You've got a dirty mind, Agent Scully."

She nibbled his earlobe and ran her hands down his chest.

"Well, Alex and I are waiting for you with very 'dirty' 
intentions, so please hurry."

"I will."  He stole another kiss and smiled at her before 
she went back to the bedroom.

*******************

"Sir, someone's gotten into our database.  They're 
downloading information," the younger man said to one of 
the men gathered in the room.

The elder rose and stubbed out his cigarette on his way 
over.  He leaned over the computer and noted the error.

"Sever the connection immediately," he ordered, a hint of 
panic in his voice.

"I can't do that, sir, not from here, but I can slow down 
the downloading."

"Do that.  And put a trace on the source."

"Yes, sir."

The older man took a deep breath, wiped his expression of 
any concern and turned back to the rest of the group.  He 
went for his pack of Morleys.

*******************

"Mulder, we're ready."  Krycek was once again standing 
behind him.

"You have no patience, Alex."  Mulder kept staring into the 
screen.

"Well...  I..."  Krycek started.

Hearing Alex stutter, Mulder couldn't help but smile.  With 
a sigh, he turned off the computer and closed the laptop.  
It wasn't as if he were getting anywhere.  They were more 
important.

"Coming to bed now?"  Krycek sounded hopeful.

"Yes, Alex."  Mulder rose from the couch and walked over to 
his lover.

Krycek smiled and pulled him into a kiss.

"Of course, if you have more important things to..."

Mulder shut him up with another kiss.  "Now, what was it 
that you wanted me to do?"

*******************

"Sir, whoever it was seems to have stopped."

Taking a quick puff on his cigarette, "What do you mean?"

"Well, either he's logged out or what he was going for 
didn't open for him.  The downloading stopped."

"Good."  He walked up to take a look for himself.  "Did you 
manage to get the trace?"

"Yes, it's coming in."  The man turned to the phone, 
turning on the speaker.  "Did you get a hold of the user?"

"The computer ID is for a Fox Mulder," the operator 
answered.

With instant recognition, the man looked back at the group, 
the worry he tried to hide so much, bleeding through.

"I guess we should look into this matter and evaluate it as 
soon as possible."  He took a drag on his cigarette, willed 
his hand not to shake.

"We must assume that he saw what wasn't for him to see," 
the British man spoke calmly yet determinedly.

A long string of smoke slowly rose to the ceiling as the 
half-smoked cigarette was ground out.

"I'll arrange for some distraction and tell my man to step 
back for a while," the smoker decided as he reached for his 
jacket.  "In the meantime, it will be taken care of."

*******************

A dark, handsome man was waving for a cab on the Lower East 
Side.  He was holding a brown map file in one hand and a 
sodden cigarette in the other.

It was raining, the pavement slick from the pouring water, 
and the streetlights mirrored in the street before him.  
This wasn't exactly the best part of the city to be in if 
you wanted to get a cab, not in this kind of weather.

He started walking, observing the people around him.  
Finally, a cab pulled over and he threw away the useless 
cigarette before scanning the area and stepping inside the 
car.

"Eighty-second and Park," he said, positioning himself in 
the middle of the back seat to have the best possible view 
past the driver.

The driver obligingly hit the gas and headed in the 
direction he'd been told.

*******************

He pulled the map file from his jacket and sat down on his 
couch with an uncomfortable feeling inside of him.  This 
assignment had been dropped in his lap without as much as a 
warning.  Still, it was a chance he couldn't let go.

With a loud sigh, Ben looked at the file for a few seconds 
before he had the courage to open it.  He flipped through 
some papers, looking for the photo section.  First there 
was a woman, Special Agent Dana Scully.  He looked at her 
for quite some time in hoping to find what prompted Alex to 
become involved with a woman.  She was pretty, but that 
didn't really matter.  He was surprised it had mattered to 
Alex.

Putting down the picture, he found another, one of a man.  
Staring at the picture, he was mesmerized by the face he 
saw.  The man had such a strong face.

"Well, Alex, you sure got taste," he said to himself, 
smiling, before he flipped over to the last picture.

As soon as he laid eyes on the picture of his old lover, 
Ben felt a lump in the back of his throat.  He smoothed the 
face with a single finger and smiled.

"Oh, Alex," came as a whisper when he recognized every line 
in that familiar face.  "My sweet Alex."

He stared into the picture for a while, remembering every 
detail of what they'd once shared.


//The sun lit up the bedroom as it rose over New York.  Ben 
snuggled closer to the warm body beside him, letting his 
arms encircle the familiar waist of his lover.  He sighed 
as he noted a reaction from the man in his arms and leaned 
forward to place a soft kiss behind his ear.

"Morning, sleepyhead."  He grinned and continued to kiss 
the spot behind his ear.

"I'm not awake yet," Alex mumbled, not ready to open his 
eyes.

Ben laughed softly and hugged him tighter.  It was so like 
him to answer with a contradiction.

"You smell good," Ben told him, burying his nose in Alex's 
neck and inhaling deeply.

"Mhm..."  Alex felt Ben's erection against his body and 
couldn't help but move against him.

Running his hand over the flat stomach of his lover, Ben 
finally reached the part of Alex's anatomy that seemed to 
be most in need of his attention.

He heard a soft moan and felt the firm flesh in his hand 
growing stiff.

"Are you sure you aren't awake?"  he teased, gently nudging 
at Alex's earlobe.

"Oh, I think I'm quite awake," Alex smiled and placed his 
hand over Ben's.  "Or what do you say?"

Ben muffled a laugh and nodded into his neck.  He released 
his grip around Alex's erection and shifted for him to lie 
on his back so he could look into the eyes of the man who 
had captured his soul.  Such beautiful eyes.

"Did you have fun last night?"  Ben smoothed his hand over 
the side of Alex's face, staring adoringly into his eyes.

"Yeah, I had fun."  Alex smiled.  "How about you?"

"Oh, it was okay."  He arched a brow and leaned in for a 
kiss.  "Ethan knows how to throw a decent party."

Tilting in for another kiss, he felt Alex's hand against 
his neck, the fingers entwining in his hair as he was urged 
down to the mouth claiming him.  When their tongues met, 
Ben felt a chill right down his spine, affecting his body 
in a way he was getting dangerously used to.

"Slow down, Alex," he whispered against his lips.  "Slow 
down."

Alex looked into the eyes of the man he loved.  He didn't 
understand the request, didn't know if he could go any 
slower when it came to this, to them together like this.

"Don't look so worried."  Ben grinned as he noted his 
expression.  "I will make love to you, but I just thought 
we could take it slow."

"Why?"

Alex didn't grasp what Ben was getting at.  They always 
made love in a frenzy, driven by a mutual lust and 
compassion, but never slow.  He didn't know if he could 
handle slow.

"Alex."  Ben couldn't keep from laughing at him, he looked 
so innocent.  "You are so..."  he tried to find the right 
words; he noted how confused Alex looked all of a sudden.  
"Hey, come on," he kissed him gently.  "Sweety," he said 
another kiss.  "I didn't mean to make fun of you."

Alex lowered his gaze.

"Alex."  Ben felt his heart starting to beat harder at the 
thought of what he was going to say.  "Look at me, Alex."

A little resistant, Alex did as he was told and met a pair 
of very serious eyes.

Ben hoped Alex couldn't sense how nervous this was making 
him as he started to speak.

"Alex, I just want you to know something that you should 
...  know."  He ran a hand through his hair and tried to 
find a way for this not to sound sappy.  "You mean ...  a 
lot to me, I mean you ..."  He was waiting for some kind of 
reaction to cross Alex's face.  "Do you understand what I'm 
trying to say?"

"Uh ...  not really," Alex admitted, looking a little lost.

Well, he couldn't blame him, could he?  It wasn't as if he 
were being crystal clear.  Maybe a direct approach would 
work a little better.

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath.  "What I mean to say 
is that I ...  I love you," he broke out in a grin.  "I 
love you, Alex."

"You do?"

He sounded so surprised.

"Of course I do, you idiot."

Alex smiled.

"I love you too, Ben."

"No, you don't get it," Ben answered.  "I mean that I ...  
that I love you."

"Mhm."  Alex didn't understand what he'd missed.  "And I 
love you too."

Ben sighed out loud, wondering if it was him or Alex who 
was being slow.

"Alex, Alex," he said plainly and decided to explain it to 
him at another occasion.  "You sure know how to mess up my 
head."

"I do?"  Alex grinned, looking absolutely proud.

Ben laughed and rubbed his nose against Alex's.

"Come here and let me make love to you already."  He smiled 
and pulled Alex with him .//


Ben put aside the pictures of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, 
but brought the one of Alex Krycek with him to his bedroom 
to place it on his nightstand.  The next day he had to meet 
an Assistant Director Skinner at the FBI headquarters in 
Washington, but more important, he was going to see Alex 
again.

*******************

A last-minute meeting had gotten everyone of importance 
gathered.  And now, as they sat around the oval table, the 
members of the consortium eyed each other with great 
suspicion.

A corpulent man sitting at the end of the table had, during 
a short silence, surveyed the crowd of men in an attempt to 
see if anyone understood the seriousness of the matter.

"Mulder has become a much bigger problem than we thought," 
he finally said.

A streak of cigarette smoke spread through the room.  The 
responsible for it leaned back in his chair.

"Is it possible that we overestimated our friend at the 
FBI?"

His question and smug grin were ignored.

"It is in our best interest to pursue this and make sure 
that our 'friend' stays anonymous so we can proceed as 
planned."

"We need to act fast.  If any of this were to get out...!"

The sudden remark made by the older gentleman a little 
further down the table didn't exactly come as a surprise.  
His fears of exposure were much greater than the other 
men's.

"A man is flying in today, and he will be awaiting further 
instructions."

"Can he be trusted?"

"He's been loyal to us in the past."

An uncomfortable silence went through the room.

"Well, everything is set, then," the cigarette smoking man 
announced.  "We'll adjourn for a meeting when we know 
more."

***********************************

As soon as Ben saw Alex in AD Skinner's office, his heart 
had begun to beat faster, his hands had started to sweat 
and that feeling of desire that had been dormant for so 
long came to life inside him.  He'd taken one quick look at 
those green eyes, those long eyelashes that seemed to grow 
every time they met, and realized more than ever why he 
wanted this man.

It was of course, painful to know that he belonged to 
Mulder.  He had noticed those glances, the innocent smiles 
between them that they naively thought no one else paid 
attention to, and felt time after time how
he fought the urge to step between them.

/ My Alex./  Screamed the voice inside his head.  /Mine.  
/

He sat down on the bed in the small room he'd been offered 
in the surveillance house.  It had become very obvious to 
him that Mulder had found out about his and Alex's past, 
and that it didn't appeal to him.  Ben wondered how much 
Alex had actually told them, if they knew everything.

Of course they did.  Alex was the worst liar he'd ever met.  
He'd probably told them the whole story.

Then again, Alex wasn't the kind who would break a promise 
either ...  a promise shared when times were different.  
Every time he met Alex, he was different.  This time it was 
a different he didn't like, didn't want to accept.  Not 
after all that they'd been through.

*******************

Sitting alone down in the living room, Krycek tried to 
collect his feelings, make clear of where his mind was and 
come to terms with he'd handled this right.

The most natural thought was that he hadn't.  He shouldn't 
have lied to them.

It was true that Ben and he had been lovers when they 
started working as partners, but that wasn't how they'd met 
at all.  He and Ben went way back.  Farther back than he 
allowed himself to remember.

He had been around 16 years old, living on the streets of 
New York, when he'd run into Kyle, a friend of Ben's.  Kyle 
let him live with him for a while and introduced him to the 
group of friends, a group of very liberated gay men.

Within a short time, he was accepted by the group and 
included in their company.  As the youngest member, he 
became something of a mascot to the others, who were in 
their 20s, and they did everything they could to look after 
him.

Ben and a man named Ethan had been considered the leaders 
of the group, the ones everyone looked up to.  The story 
went that they'd known each other forever and had a 
relationship closer to brotherhood than friendship.  This 
was something Krycek soon understood better when he moved 
in with Ethan after an incident at Kyle's place.  Ethan had 
really gotten to like the small skinny kid.

"Kyle is a nice guy, but he wants to get into your pants 
and that we can't have," Ethan had said as he came over to 
help Krycek pack one day.

"Where should I go?"  Krycek had watched Ethan with 
terrified eyes.

"You're staying at my place," Ethan proclaimed and realized 
that the tornout shopping bag he held had Krycek's only 
possessions.

Krycek had given him a skeptical look that said, "How do I 
know you're not after the same thing?"

"Relax, Alex."  Ethan grinned and walked up to him.  "I'm 
not going to molest you.  I like you, kid.  You're like my 
...  kid brother."

And he was from that day forward, and Ethan never laid a 
hand on him.

Smiling at the memory, Krycek couldn't help but think how 
innocent he'd been back then.  It had been a dangerous 
world for him to live in if it hadn't been for Ethan, and 
eventually Ben.

After a year of living with Ethan, Krycek moved in with 
Ben.  They became lovers and lived in total adoration of 
each other, Krycek looking up to him as a role model and 
Ben always feeling the need to protect his younger lover.  
They were an idyllic couple, and if anyone had dared to 
mess with Krycek before, they wouldn't think twice about it 
now.

When he looked back at that time of his life, he sometimes 
missed it, all that time spent hanging out with Ben and 
very often, Ben and Ethan.

Ethan and Krycek kept their special bond.  Ben had nothing 
against their relationship and Ethan was the only one 
except for Ben he trusted completely with Krycek.  If 
anyone else as much as looked at him funny, Ben's jealousy 
got the better of him.

Ultimately, it was Ben who betrayed Krycek.  They had been 
living together for a couple of years when Krycek found him 
in bed with Ethan's bed partner, Rick.

The apartment was so silent when he came home that day that 
he doubted anyone was home.  After having skipped his last 
two classes to surprise Ben, he was a little disappointed 
not to find him there.

He was heading into the kitchen for something to eat when 
he heard a sound from the bedroom.  A wicked smile came 
over him as he forgot why he was going in his current 
direction and turned to the bedroom.  He slowly slid up the 
door.

"I hope you're ready for..."  the words got stuck in his 
throat as his eyes flickered over the scene in the bed 
before him.

There was Ben, naked under the sheets, with no less than 
Rick.  Ethan's Rick, also shamelessly naked with his arms 
around Ben.  Krycek felt the tears burn under his 
eyelashes.

"Alex."  Ben pushed his way out of Rick's embrace and took 
a quilt with him as he got out of the bed.

Krycek turned to leave, feeling the tears run down his 
cheeks, the pain in his chest too hard to handle.

"Alex."  He heard Ben hurry after him.  "Alex, wait."

"Leave me alone, Ben."  He tried not to show he was crying.  
"I don't want to talk to you.  I don't want to see you 
again."

"Alex, please."  Ben's voice was growing desperate.  "I'm 
sorry...  I love you.  Don't walk away."

"I'll ask Ethan to come over and pick up my stuff.  Don't 
bother coming after me."  He slammed the door shut and left 
standing the man he still loved so tremendously.

After that, he'd left everything behind.  Ben tried to 
convince him to come back, but Krycek wouldn't even talk to 
him; he pushed him away.  What he had done was too much; it 
had hurt too damned much.

He went to college and cut off all bonds with his years in 
New York.  He was known around his dorm as "the quiet one," 
but the students left him alone rather than bug him.

Years later, when he started at Quantico, he ran into Ben 
again.  As it turned out, Ben was choosing the same line of 
profession as himself.  Later, he came to understand this 
was not at all coincidental.

Keeping his distance, of course, Krycek tried once again to 
make sure he didn't have anything to do with Ben.  But it 
was difficult and Ben was persistent.

"Can't we at least be friends, Alex?"

Krycek looked at him.  Those eyes of Ben's were pleading 
like a beaten puppy and he didn't know which was growing 
faster, his heart or his arousal.

"Alex, I really miss you."

No matter how much he tried, he couldn't deny the fact that 
he did too.  Not that he wanted Ben to know that.

"So?  Friends?"  Ben tried again.

Friends would be dangerous.

"Friends."  Krycek nodded and walked away.

They managed to stay friends through Quantico, but Krycek 
never let down his guard around Ben.  He never stayed with 
him long enough to risk getting too friendly and always 
made sure they were among others.

The turn in their relationship came, though.  Ben pulled a 
few strings and made sure they ended up working their first 
years in the field.  Long hours alone working on cases was 
all it took for Krycek to fall right back.  He didn't even 
see what hit him.

"God, Alex I thought I'd never get to feel you like that 
again," Ben breathed onto his neck after an amazing session 
of lovemaking.  "I've missed you so much."

Krycek felt the familiar touch of Ben's arms around him and 
closed his eyes.  It had been wonderful, always wonderful 
with Ben.  Familiar.  Safe.

"I never meant to hurt you, Alex."  Ben's voice grew 
serious as he turned to look into his eyes.

"You did," Krycek answered.  He had a hard time meeting 
Ben's eyes.  "You hurt me really badly."

"I know."  He stroked a hand through Krycek's hair.  "If I 
could undo it, I would, but I can't."  He searched for his 
hand.  "All I can say right now, Alex, is that I still love 
you.  I never stopped loving you."

Krycek decided to forget about the past and move on.  After 
all, he hadn't stopped loving Ben all this time either.

Being together this time was harder than before.  They had 
to sneak around, hide their affection, and try to keep 
apart in public.  It was hard and they risked getting 
caught so many times they almost had a record of it by the 
end of  the first year.

They made a promise to each other to never mention they had 
known each other before Quantico, a promise that served 
them both well.  While Ben didn't want people to know about 
some business he'd been having back then, Krycek didn't 
like the idea of letting them know he was gay.  It was hard 
enough being a new recruit.

After about two years together, Ben screwed up again and 
that time, Krycek promised himself he would never forgive 
him.  He would never let Ben Julien hurt him again.//

*******************

The dark room was hazy with smoke, and when the men were 
all seated around the big table, their eyes gravitated 
toward the man holding the cigarette.

"Naturally, things are going according to plan."  He spoke 
with that self-confident tone of voice he'd been using 
lately.  "Mulder will have too much on his mind to start an 
investigation of any kind.  It is most unlikely he will 
look further into this."

"How can you be so sure?"  the overweight man asked.

Insulted by the doubt of his colleague, the cigarette 
smoking man rose from the table and stubbed out his 
cigarette with determination.

"I'm keeping Agent Julien around to further distract 
Mulder," he stated.  "My man is handing him the information 
he needs as we speak."

As he started to walk out of there, no one could see the 
uncomfortable look on his face.

"I'll let you know if there will be any change of plans," 
he announced and left the group of men.

*******************

Ben had read through his new instructions carefully as he 
came home from that late meeting with Cardinal.  It amused 
him too much.

"Keep Agent Mulder distracted."  He smiled to himself and 
picked up the picture of the man in question.  "Don't 
worry, Agent Mulder," he grinned.  "I'll keep you 
distracted.  If that's what it takes to get what I want."

His gaze wandered over to the picture of Krycek on top of 
the table and he smiled.

"Soon, Alex," he whispered dreamily.  "Soon."

Continued...