Valentine's Day

~*~*~*~

ONE

Alex moved around the living room, running his hand idly over the polished furniture. The house always seemed so quiet when Walter and Fox were not here.

With a sigh, Alex wandered into the kitchen, the breakfast dishes had been washed and put away, the gleaming counters swept of crumbs.

Walter had promised that both he and Fox would be home early tonight, he had even promised to cook the three of them something special.

Alex smiled at the thought of the big man moving around the kitchen, carefully measuring and pouring. Walter loved to cook and often experimented with new recipes, trying them out on his lovers.

With a fond smile, Alex left the kitchen and went back into the living room once more.

Rummaging around the walnut bookcase that dominated the living room, Alex finally found what he was looking for.

Carefully, he carried the photo album over to the couch. Settling himself down, Alex opened the photo album and began looking at the photos inside.

There was one that had Walter and Fox standing on a pier, fishing rods in hand. Alex had taken that photo when the three of them had gone fishing last year. It had been the very first time that he had held a fishing rod in his hands.

He remembered how exciting he had been when he had finally caught a fish, not a large on, in fact Walter had tossed it back, but it had been his very first.

Other than that one fish, they had not had any luck and Fox had joked about having to stop and buy some fresh fish to take home with them.

The next picture was of Alex and Walter standing near a large fountain. Walter's arm was wrapped firmly almost possessively around Alex's waist.

Alex swallowed hard and quickly turned the page. Another photo, this time with the three of them. Walter standing in the middle with Fox and Alex on either side. The three of them laughing, most probably at something Fox had said.

Alex remembered this photo. They had decided to take a vacation, traveling around, stopping at various places at random. It had been one of the best vacations that Alex had ever been on. In fact it was the only vacation that he had been on. The Consortium had never been one to give their operatives holidays.

An elderly couple, also on vacation had seen the three men together and had offered to take their picture. Walter, Fox and Alex had posed for the camera, thanking the couple afterward.

Walter had written down their address and sure enough, there it was, waiting in the post for them when the three of them had finally returned home.

Alex chuckled at the memory and turned the page again...and stopped.

The rose, there it was, lying perfectly pressed between two pieces of tissue paper. Walter must have placed it there.

Gingerly, not wanting to damage it, Alex touched the dried petals. He had no idea that Walter had kept it.

Suddenly everything went blurry, Alex quickly closed the photo album and put it back in it's drawer once more. Impatiently wiping the tears from his tears, Alex headed upstairs, his mind already turning back to the day that Walter and Fox had given him that rose.

~*~*~*~

Feeling refreshed from the shower, Alex pulled some clean clothes on and headed back downstairs. As he walked into the living room, his gaze was drawn towards the bookcase once more and he smiled.

The red rose is a symbol of love. That's what Walter had told him. Both he and Fox had been standing in the kitchen, offering their Valentine gifts to Alex as though they were sacred offerings, which to Alex, they had been.

Fox had given Alex a box of his favourite chocolates and Walter had given him the single long stemmed red rose.

"It mean's forever Alex." He had said, watching as Alex accepted the rose, handling it as though it were made of spun glass.

"That's right." Fox had chimed in, nodding his head. "Forever Alex. You are ours forever."

And they had both been right. There was no way that Alex could leave them now, not that he had ever wanted to. He had grown to love and need both Walter and For more than anything.

They had saved his life in more ways then Alex could count. No he was theirs for life, forever.

Suddenly Alex wanted to do something special for his lovers, and why not after all today was Valentine's Day wasn't it?

Wracking his brain, Alex wondered what he could do, then a sudden grin spread across his face as an idea formed. This was going to be perfect.

~*~*~*~

Walter was cursing by the time he met Fox down in the parking garage at the FBI building. They took the one car to work for convenience sake and to hell with the gossips.

"What kept you?" Fox asked as Walter quickly unlocked the car, as usual Fox had forgotten his own key.

"DD Kersh, that's what." Walter growled.

"Ah, that's why you are in this particularly attractive mood." Fox quipped as he climbed into the front passenger seat of the car.

Walter sighed, his shoulders visibly relaxing. "Sorry Fox, it's just that every time I have to deal with him..."

"I know, I can see your blood pressure rising even as we speak." Fox replied.

"I promised Alex we wouldn't be late tonight." Walter grumbled as he started the car.

"It's okay Walter, there's still plenty of time for that special dinner you had planned."

Walter grunted, still put out by his meeting with Kersh. Fox chuckled, laying his hand on Walter's knee.

"Cheer up, we want this to be special for Alex."

"We want this to be special for the three of us Fox." Walter replied, then his face relaxed into a smile.

"Just think, this is our second Valentine's Day together."

"That's why we can't let officious little pricks like Kersh ruin it." Fox replied.

They traveled the rest of the way in companionable silence, both of them looking forward to being able to spend a relaxing evening with their sweet young lover.

~*~*~*~

The front door opened and Walter called out. "Hi Alex, we're home." Swiftly followed by, "what the hell?"

"What is it Walter?" Fox asked as he pushed past the larger man. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight that greeted them both.

Roses, hundreds of roses.

"Alex?" Walter called as he stepped over the tiny tea roses that were scattered over the floor. Huge bunches of roses sat on every available surface, glowing with rainbow colours.

Red, white, yellow, pink, blue. Hardy looking brambler roses were draped over the mantelpiece. The living room was absolutely permeated with the scent of roses.

Stunned, both Fox and Walter wandered around the downstairs room. The kitchen and den, even the laundry room was filled to flowing with roses.

Finally Walter and Fox headed up the stairs, stepping over long stemmed roses placed with care on each step.

"Hi guys." Alex greeted them from the bed of rose petals he was lying on.

Speechless at the sight of Alex wearing a light covering of rose petals and nothing else, Walter and Fox stepped into the bedroom.

Alex's smile widened at the look on both of his lovers faces.

"Happy Valentine's Day."

"Alex, how did you manage..." Fox began, but Alex quickly cut him off, by grabbing him by his tie and hauling him down for a kiss.

"Let's just say that being an ex Consortium operative has it's perks." Alex whispered, after thoroughly kissing Fox.

Walter grinned, shaking his head at the sight of all the roses that were lined up on top of the dresser and along the window sill.

"Thank god none of us are allergic." He commented wryly.

It did not take long for Walter and Fox to strip and join Alex on the bed. And it did not take long for Alex to position himself between them both.

"You know I've never made love on a bed of rose petals before." Fox said as he reached down to stroke Alex's already hardening cock.

"Let's just hope we don't find any thorns." Walter replied with a grin as he leaned over to kiss Alex on his lips.

Suffice to say that they didn't.

The END

~*~*~*~

St Patrick's Day

TWO

"Green beer Walter?" Alex asked as the huge glass of beer was plonked down in front of him.

"It's St Patrick's Day Alex, you have to at least try it" Walter replied with a smile.

"That's right Alex." Fox chimed in, lifting his own glass up in a salute. "After all, it's tradition."

"Okay then." Alex eyes the glass of green beer dubiously. Lifting the glass up he tasted it and found to his surprise, that it wasn't too bad.

In the background an Irish band were playing all the traditional songs. They had started with, Whiskey In The Jar, than after that, The Black Velvet Band.

The singer, an attractive red head sang in a beautiful soprano. "Her eyes they shone like the diamonds, you think she was queen of the land, and her hair fell over her shoulders, tied up with a black velvet band."

Walter whose maternal grandmother had been Irish hummed along as the song finished to be replaced by wistful old air, The Spinning Wheel.

Caught by the gentle beauty of the song, Alex placed his beer glass on the table in front of him, completely captivated by the song.

The entire pub seemed to stop, everyone listening as the red haired sang, her sweet clear voice adding an almost plaintive note to the song.

The song finished and the entire pub broke into enthusiastic applause, Alex included.

After that, the band took a break, laughing and joking with each other as they left the stage.

"Are you glad we came now Alex?" Fox asked, leaning over the table so he could be heard above the noise of the other patrons.

Alex nodded, at first he had not wanted to join Walter and Fox for the St Patrick's Day celebration. Instead he had wanted to stay at home. Both Walter and Fox knew that Alex hated crowds. Years of Consortium training had left him with a natural distrust of people.

Too many betrayals from so called comrades-in-arms and assassination attempts by the men that he had worked for. Too much of his time spent on the run, or in hiding.

Alex's ability to trust had been slow work, but both Walter and Fox had helped the emotionally damaged younger man to be able to open up a little more.

The three of them finished their beer. Their break over, the band returned to the stage and and immediately struck up the brisk cheerful notes to The Wild Colonial Boy.

Half the pub patrons joined in singing with off-key enthusiasm while others thumped their feet in time to the music.

The red haired woman was joined by a young man sporting a ferocious looking beard. His pleasant bass wove in perfectly with the soprano and the song ended with a huge round of applause and whistles from the appreciative audience.

With a sigh, Walter glanced at his watch, as much as he wanted to stay, both he and Fox had an early meeting in the morning and it would not look good if they both fronted Kersh with hangovers from too many glasses of green beer.

"Time to go guys." He said, pointing at his watch. Both Alex and Fox looked disappointed, but readily agreed.

The journey home was a pleasant one, Walter singing the old Irish tunes under his breath as he drove.

Fox sat beside him, lulled by Walter's surprisingly good baritone. Alex sat in the back seat, listening as well. Suddenly his mind turned back to one St Patrick's Day when he still worked for Spender.

There had been no Irish pubs or music back then. No drinking green beer with the two men that he loved. Instead, it had been spent waiting in a dreary motel room for a phone call from his boss. A phone call to order him to assassinate a coworker who had suddenly become inconvenient.

No laughter, no warmth, just a lukewarm pizza washed down with a bottle of cheap vodka.

Alex's throat closed at the memory, at how he had finished the vodka in the vain hope of trying to dull the miserable ache of loneliness.

But no longer, he settled back against the car seat, listening to Walter sing the words to The Spinning Wheel. The gentle lyrics soothing him as the car traveled through the still night. Carrying the three of them home.