@X@X@X@X@

"Hey, the postman's been." Alex announced cheerfully as he finished the last of his breakfast. He was looking out of the kitchen window, watching as the postman rode past on his bike.

"Great, maybe the package from Mum and Dad has finally arrived." Walter said. "I'll go and have a look."

Last week had been Walter's birthday and his parents had promised to send him something special. Walter had no idea what it could be, but his parents never disappointed him. He knew this year it would be something really good.

Sure enough, there was a parcel was waiting for him. Excited now Walter carried it up into the house.

Both Mulder and Alex crowded around him, just as excited and curious as Walter was.

"I wonder what it could be?" Alex mused as he watched Walter carefully cut the packing tape off the large cardboard box.

"Maybe they sent you that set of cookery books you wanted." Mulder suggested. "You know, when you were doing the International Cuisine course."

"Could be." Walter replied. The last of the tape was peeled off and using both hands, Walter dived into the box and pulled out...a doll.

"What the..." Both Mulder and Alex stared at it with a mixture of shock and distaste.

Walter glared at the doll for a moment, his face had suddenly gone two shades lighter.

It was the ugliest doll that any of them had ever seen. It was carved out of wood, with deep grooves running down either side of it's insanely grinning mouth.

It's black hair was shaped close to it's skull and swept back from it's face vaguely nineteen forties style. It eyes, once a bright blue but now faded with age, seemed to regard them all with a malevolent humour.

"What the hell is this?" Mulder asked confused. Why would Walter's parents send them a creepy looking doll?

"It's the damned doll that Auntie Amy gave to me when I was five years old." Walter stammered, visibly upset. "Jesus Christ, I hated that thing."

"I can see why." Alex said, his face screwed up with distaste. This had to be the ugliest doll he had ever laid eyes on

"Wait, here's a note." Mulder said suddenly, spying a white envelope sitting in the bottom of the cardboard box the doll had arrived in.

Pushing aside the pale purple tissue paper, Mulder fished the note out and handed it to Walter.

He and Alex both watched silently while Walter tore the envelope open and quickly read the note inside.

"This package is actually from my Aunt Amy." Walter said after a couple of moments. "She was going through all the old junk in her attic and she happened to find the doll. She sent it to me because she thought I might like to have something from my childhood as a keepsake."

"Well it looks very old." Alex ventured. "It could be a valuable antique."

"Yes, a collectors item." Mulder chimed in uncertainly. "It could be worth a lot of money."

Walter took a deep breath, then shook his head. "I don't care how much it's worth, I'm going to get rid of it. Damned ugly looking thing. It always scared the hell out of me. No matter what I did to it as a kid. No matter where I hid it, it would always end up back in my room. I remember how it would sit there on the end of my bed, staring at me with those eerie fucking eyes. I always had the feeling the rotten thing would end up strangling me in the middle of the night or something."

"Walter, I know it's a creepy looking thing, but it's only a doll." Alex told him firmly. "It's not like it's alive you know."

"No?" Walter replied skeptically. "I remember once how I buried the thing in the backyard. That night I found it sitting on the stairs waiting for me. And another time I threw it down the well. The next day it was sitting back on my bed. Explain that."

"Oh great, an X File." Mulder said, that familiar gleam appearing in his eyes, making Alex groan inwardly.

"Look Walter if you hate it that much, just toss it on the fire, or give it away to Goodwill."

"It will only come back." Walter muttered darkly, glaring at the doll, who was glaring back at him.

Alex sighed and rolled his eyes, this was getting ridiculous. "Here give it to me, I'll take it down to the garage, okay?"

At that, the doll's head snapped around, it's faded eyes fixed directly on Alex.

With a hard gulp, the ex-Consortium agent took a step backwards. "On second thought, maybe not." He stammered.

"Um, how about you take it down to the garage Walter." Mulder suggested nervously. "After all, it is your doll."

Walter shook his head. "Uh huh, there's no way I'm getting this thing pissed off at me." He stated.

"Maybe we should call Scully." Mulder said suddenly. "She'll know what to do."

"Are you crazy Fox?" Alex almost yelped. "Call Scully to save us from the Voodoo doll from hell? She'll bust a gut laughing at us. She'll never let us live it down."

"Well, do you have any ideas then?" Mulder snapped, irritated now. He had to admit, Alex was right. Scully would never let them forget if she had to save them from the 'Killer Doll'.

"How about calling John Doggett then?" Mulder asked helpfully. "We could ask him to take this thing down to the river and toss it in. Bingo, problem solved."

"Yeah, and then he'll tell Scully." Alex replied. "No, we can't ask either of them."

"How about the Lone Gunmen?" Walter asked hopefully. He was still holding the doll out at arms length now. The doll in return seemed to be regarding his old owner with demented amusement.

"Nope, that's no good either." Mulder said with a sigh. "The three of them are out of town at a Star Trek convention."

"That's just great." Walter grumbled. "So what do we do now?"

"Why don't we just toss the damned thing in the fireplace and light a match?" Alex replied.

The three of them looked at each other. "Sound good to me." Mulder replied.

"I'm for it." Walter agreed.

"Great, I'll get a fire going, then all our problems solved." Alex said, satisfied that this was all finally working out.

"I'll go and bring in some logs from outside." Walter said. With that, he set the doll back down inside the box and left the living room, heading out into the back yard where the logs were kept.

Mulder went over to give Alex a hand laying the kindling in the fireplace. Both of them were so intent on what they were doing that they never heard the faint rustling of tissue paper behind them.

@X@X@X@X@X@

"Here are the logs." Walter announced as he hefted in several pieces of ash and pine from the woodshed. He dumped them down into the huge wicker basket that sat beside the fireplace.

"We have the fire started." Alex said, sitting up to wipe his good hand across his brow. It was far too hot for a fire today, but this was in a good cause.

Walter tossed a couple of the seasoned logs onto the fire and soon the flames were roaring up the chimney.

"I'll go and get that doll." He said grimly.

Both Mulder and Alex watched as Walter walked over to the box, bending down he peered in.

"That's strange." They heard him mutter.

"What's up Walter?" Mulder asked. Walter glanced up at them both, a deep frown creasing his brow.

"It's gone." He told them both.

"What?" Mulder and Alex cried in unison. "How the hell can it be gone?" Mulder asked. Alex got to his feet and hurried over to the cardboard box, looking inside.

He dived his good hand in, frantically feeling around in the wrapping paper.

"It's got to be here somewhere." He said.

Suddenly he felt an urgent tapping on his shoulder. "Uh Alex." It was Mulder.

"Not now Fox." He snarled, still searching through the paper.

The tapping became more insistent. "Alex...Alex, look up."

"Oh for the love of..." Impatiently, Alex looked up to see both Walter and Mulder staring toward the couch.

Alex's eyes widened. There sitting in the middle of the couch was the doll. It was grinning at them in very much the same way that Pee Wee Herman would if he was on LSD.

"H...h...how d...did he g...get over t...t...there?" Alex stammered.

Terrified and completely dumbfounded, Walter and Mulder shook their heads. This really was the doll from hell.

"You'd better go and get it Walter." Mulder whispered. Walter shot him a startled look.

"Why me?"

"Because it's your fucking doll, that's why." Alex snapped. "Come on Walter it's not going to bite you...I don't think." He added uncertainly.

Walter stared at both of his lover's, real fear in his eyes now. Mulder's heart suddenly went out to the older man. Poor Walter, he had faced being shot and haunted by a succubus. He had even been infected by nanocytes. But to expect him to face that thing all on his own..

Mulder leaned forward to lay a comforting hand on the bigger man's shoulder.

"Good luck Walter." He said as comfortingly as he could.

"Yeah big feller." Alex added. "Don't you worry, Fox and I will be right behind you"

"Yeah, way behind you." Mulder muttered under his breath.

Swallowing hard, Walter, with Alex and Mulder crowding close behind, approached the doll. It stared at them, it's eyes seemed almost alive...and filled with a almost hideous awareness.

"Becareful Walter." Mulder whispered from behind.

"Yeah." Alex agreed nervously. "And if it makes a move, just throw Fox at it. While it's attacking him, we can use the time to get the hell outta here."

Mulder shot Alex a glare. "I have an even better idea, how about we just toss Ratboy here at it instead."

"Knock it off you two." Walter growled. He was in no mood for their bickering now. Not when he had the Voodoo doll from hell to deal with.

Cautiously he moved towards it, then with a cry that sounded vaguely like, Banzai, he lunged straight at it.

Both Walter and the doll plunged straight over the couch, tipping it over. Worried now, Alex and Mulder dashed around the upturned couch to find Walter lying on his back, doll clutched in a death grip in both hands.

"Help me up." He gasped. Both Mulder and Alex took hold of Walter and heaved him to his feet. Sweat trickling down his face now, Walter carried the dreaded doll over the fireplace and with one massive throw, the doll landed right in the center of the blazing fire.

Thr three of them watched solemnly as the flames licked around the still grinning face, slowly turning it a charred black.

"Thank god." Alex murmured fervently, the others had to agree. At last, this would be the last they would see of that damned doll.

@X@X@X@X@X@

Alex sighed with contentment as he felt Walter's mouth nuzzle at his nipple. He sighed and arched slightly, lifting himself towards Mulder's hand as his lover stroke his rapidly hardening shaft.

The three of them made love, releasing all the earlier tensions of the day. Seeking comfort in the arms of each other.

Finished at last, Alex got up to go to his own room. Even though the bed was big enough to fit the three of them comfortably, Alex still needed his own space. It was a hangover from his days in the Consortium. Walter and Mulder hoped that one day he would decide to stay with them, but they both respected his need for privacy.

"G'night baby." Mulder mumbled, turning over as sleep quickly overtook him. Walter gave Alex a hug, something he did every night, knowing that the younger man still needed plenty of reassurance.

Alex hugged him back, then headed to his own room. Walter quickly climbed back into bed, snuggling into the warmth of Mulder's lanky frame.

Eyes beginning to close, they popped open again at the sound of the terrified shriek that came from the next room.

"Oompphh." Walter gasped as Mulder sat bolt upright, hair standing straight up on end. Terrified, he wrapped himself around Walter, elbows digging into his ribs. By this time the older man was trying to scramble out of bed, to get to Alex who was still screaming his head off.

With images of Consortium death squads or alien bounty hunters racing through his head, Walter made it out of the bedroom, Mulder right behind him. He could hear the younger man's frightened whimpering, and reached behind to pat him reassuringly.

Reaching out, he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The sight that greeted him was one that Walter would never forget for a very long time.

Alex was sitting bolt upright in bed staring fixedly at the chair near the window. Sitting on it was the doll.

It sat, it evil smirk reminding Walter of the gym teacher he knew back in High school that had been arrested for stealing goats.

"Get it out, please Walter." Alex wailed, he was sitting, his back pressed against the bedhead, covers pulled up to his chest.

Gulping hard, Walter turned to look at Mulder. The younger man had now backed towards the bedroom door, white faced and mumbling what sounded like...evil, and...cut it's damned head off.

"It's all right Alex." Walter spoke as soothingly as he could despite his own fear. Using all the caution that he could muster, he approached the doll. It sat staring into space. Walter swore he could see a demonic twinkle appear in it's creepy wooden eyes.

Alex watched, wide eyes as Walter grabbed the doll and yanked it out of the chair.

"How did it survived the fire Walter?" He whimpered. "We all watched it burn, didn't we?"

"We sure as hell did." Walter replied grimly. He carried the doll past Mulder, who cowered backwards.
Taking it back down into the living room, Walter quickly came to a decision. He knew precisely what to do with this damned thing.

@X@X@X@X@

That night Alex slept in the bed with Walter and Mulder, he refused to go back to his own room until, 'that horrible weird thing' was safely out of the house.

It had taken a great deal of comforting, but finally Walter managed to soothe both his traumatized lovers. After a while, both Alex and Mulder finally managed to drop off to sleep.

The next morning, Walter got up and after quickly pulling on some clothes, hurried downstairs.

Leaving the quiet house and his two sleeping lovers, Walter carried the cardboard box out to the car. The doll lay nestled amidst the tissue paper inside.

Waiting for the post office to finally open, Walter quickly addressed the box and after paying the postage, mailed it away. Hoping to god that it was the last they any of them would see of that damned godforsaken doll. Besides, he had a felling that the doll was somehow going to like it's new owner.

@X@X@X@X@

Spender frowned as he held the doll up to examine it. It grinned down at him in a way that made him feel vaguely uncomfortable.

There had been no return address on the box that the doll had been delivered in. And try as he might, he could not figure out for the life of him who the hell would want to send him a doll in the first place.

Finally he sat it on the end of his desk. This was a mystery that he would eventually get to the bottom of but for now he had other matters to concern him.

Taking his coat down off the hook, Spender left the office, closing the door behind him. He was completely unaware of the speculative look that had crept into the doll's eyes now. Or the way it's grin it's grin seemed to widen ever so slightly.