He hit the mute button. One more rendition of God
Rest Ye Merry
Gentlemen
and he’d throw a shoe through the screen. No, not really.
It had been
a good Christmas as far as his Christmases went.
He’d spent Christmas Eve with the
guys. That had been fun. They’d
watched A Christmas Story. Langly
especially had enjoyed it, snorting
beer through his nose when Ralphie
decoded the secret message. Frohike
had rolled his eyes and shaken his
head. That was what had gotten the
chuckle from Mulder. He’d have to
look for a lamp like that for
Frohike next year.
It was comfortable with them, no
strain of ‘family’. Frohike had none.
Byers, like him, never mentioned
his family and Langly was estranged.
It gave them one more bond at times
like this. He’d spent more than
one holiday with them and felt all
the better for it. But it would
have been nice . . . no, don’t go
there.
He stretched and got comfortable.
It hadn’t been all bad not having
any work to do. Though it would
have been nice to have an X-File as an
excuse to see . . . Yeah, right.
He grabbed up the phone when it
rang, startling him. “Hello?” He
looked away from the screen where
he’d been waiting for the commercial
to end.
“Hi.”
“Scully?” He sat up, the TV
forgotten immediately.
“Just thought I’d call to say Merry
Christmas. I wasn’t sure you’d be
home.”
“I’m glad I was.” He smiled just
visualizing her.
“I didn’t know if you’d gone to see
your mother.”
He gave a dry chuckle. “Mom likes
to vanish this time of year. She
usually goes to
Raleigh.”
“Vanish?”
“Well, she
is Jewish.”
“She’s Jewish? I don’t think I knew
that.”
“We didn’t practice. Dad was
Episcopalian - very proper, so we
celebrated with a tree and all; at
least until the divorce. Then she
couldn’t get far enough away from
Protestantism. I thought you’d be
with your family,” he changed the
subject, his voice softer.
“Uh, no, Mom went to Charlie’s to
be inundated with grandchildren.”
A frown formed on his brow. “So
where did you spend Christmas?”
“Oh, Ellen invited me over. I got
to see my godson and the new baby.
I don’t see how she does it.”
“Does what?” Mulder asked,
listening closely to her tone, which seemed
a little strained now.
“Keep up with two kids.
Trent is
all boy; and with a toddler careening
around the place, it was a madhouse.”
“Worse than what I’ve put you through?”
She chuckled then. “No, but more
compressed.”
“Are you home now?”
“Uh, yes,” she sounded sad now, and
lonely. Or was he projecting?
It hit him then; this was the first
Christmas since she lost her
father. The two of them had been
close, not like . . .
“Scully, would you mind if I came
over?”
There was a definite pause then. “I
couldn’t ask - “
“I’m asking, Scully. An hour,
okay?”
“You don’t have - “
“Scully.”
“O-okay. Mulder, thanks.”
He was smiling as he hung up.
*****
It was dark when he arrived at her
door. She answered his knock
quickly and a smile appeared when
she saw him. She looked comfortable
in her casual clothes, a light
green sweat suit, but there was
something about her eyes . . . He
pulled a package from behind his back
and entered.
“I thought we weren’t going to
exchange presents.” Her eyebrow was
high.
He shrugged and handed it to her.
“Guess I forgot. Go on, open it.”
She smiled shyly and he followed
her to the couch. He sat beside her,
watching. She tore the paper from
the box. She opened it and smoothed
back the tissue paper. It was a
lovely blue scarf. She lifted it from
the box. “Mulder, it’s beautiful.”
He smiled down at her. “The color
made me think of your eyes.”
Her jaw dropped slightly.
“I’m sorry. I just - “
“No, don’t apologize.”
“You’re not offended?”
She smiled then. “No. I was
thinking ‘great minds’.”
He looked puzzled, but grinned when
she pulled a package out from
beside the couch. “Great minds,
huh?”
She glanced down, then met his
eyes. He ripped the paper from the box
and his face lit up when he spotted
the scarf inside. It was dark
heather brown and when he lifted it
from the box, he saw a green thread
running through it.
“I like it, Scully.”
She blushed then. “It made me think
of your eyes.”
Her smile grew as his face lit up.
Working with this man was
frustrating at times, a lot of
times, but things like this made it
worthwhile. He hadn’t hesitated to
come over when he realized she was
lonely. And now, she wasn’t.
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