untitled
'A
DIFFERENT KIND OF CHRISTMAS'
The snow
had been falling heavily all day - all week, for that matter,
with a blizzard sweeping through the area two days ago - but it
finally looked as if it was easing up a bit. Each distinctly
individual snowflake - occasionally being picked up by a breath
of air and falling a few centimetres off course - is smaller, and
there is an obvious decrease in their numbers. It's the perfect
weather for Christmas in urban Washington D.C.
It all means nothing, however, to one lonely soul as she stands
at the window and watches the white specks fall from heaven; it
doesn't make it a perfect Christmas. There's
something...*someone* missing...and this isn't even D.C., for
they'd left that all behind seven months ago. She remembers
standing and looking out of her Georgetown apartment at the snow
too many times alone, several times in the company of Mulder, a
couple of times with the warmth of his arms encircling her, and
once with a baby resting against her shoulder. But this, as she
lives the life of a fugitive in a perfect home, on the complete
opposite side of the country in some town she'd never even heard
of before and silently watches the doomed drops of ice spatter
against the glass panel, makes it all seem like an age ago and
too nostalgic to not wish she had them all back.
Of course, the missing status of her beloved partner right now
does not distil the bitter darkness that fills this new life in
Freesol.
She'd awoken to find his note on the pillow five weeks ago -
short, but to the point - and there'd been no word from him
since. Her heart persistently assures that he wouldn't have left
unless it was critical, but her brain needs to find a solid
explanation, and so her torn emotions have been warring since
that day, and it's practically draining everything out of her.
'I have to
disappear somewhere for a little while. It's
better you stay behind for your safety. I
swear I'll explain when I get home.
Love you always, M'
'When'? More like 'if'! He'd been gone so long, she had to wonder
if he was even still alive, considering the threat against them.
She'd lost him three times (four if you counted his 'death'
separate from his abduction) in the short space of two and a half
years; explanations, promises and apologies were just not enough
anymore.
After fruitlessly waiting by and searching out through the window
for him for two hours, she finally turned away and moved to
switch the lights off in the house, before then getting into the
large double-bed he'd made sure was here before they'd arrived.
Alone.
For several minutes she just lays there in the darkness, staring
at the ceiling. A year ago she had done the same in her
Georgetown apartment - praying for Mulder's safe return ASAP and
silently wishing him a warm Christmas wherever he was. At least
then, however, part of him had been sleeping in the crib not ten
feet from her...their miracle had given her a reason to go on.
Now she's in a strange place, with no ability to contact her
family, and absolutely no idea where her son is...
Suddenly, the word 'ditchee' feels like her middle name.
"Your explanation had better be good," her sleepy voice
slurred as her eyes slipped shut. "Please..."
XxXxXxXxX
She's swirling in a dream about the first time Mulder had driven
her and William home a year and a half ago when her senses are
sharply awoken by the sound of a creaking floorboard beyond the
bedroom door. Her body sits bolt upright and her arm
instinctively reaches for the holstered gun on the bedside
cabinet.
"Who's there?" she calls out, aiming the automatic at
the closed entrance. Only the silent darkness replies, so she
calls out the question again before swinging her legs out of the
bed and standing.
Suddenly, the door opens, though, and a silhouetted figure looms
in the doorway. It's tall, but wide also - certainly nothing like
the person she had longed to see standing there every second
since he'd walked out five weeks ago. He's also carrying what
looks like a large bag in his right hand.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Still no response from the stranger as it steps toward her.
"Stop where you are, or I'll shoot!"
Step. Step.
"Who--"
She's cut short as an arm wraps around her and pulls her up
against the stranger's body. Of course, she struggles as hard as
she can to free herself, but then the last thing she expects
happens: a mouth bordered by a fluffy beard claims hers. The
struggle continues for a moment or two...but then, as the
visitor's tongue slips past her lips, something familiar about
the feel of the kiss and the realisation that the beard is fake
kicks in and she reciprocates for several long seconds before
pulling away a fraction.
"Mul-der?" The cautionary tone is unavoidable.
"Hey," comes his whispered reply as he gently rests his
forehead against hers. "I've missed you so much...Have you
been a good girl while I've been away?"
Frowning, Scully steps out of his embrace, and moves to switch on
the bedside lamp, only to see her partner dressed in a complete
Santa outfit - padding included. Despite the mixture of joy and
anger mixing within her, she can't help but smile at how
ridiculously good he looks in the costume.
"Don't tell me you got abducted by elves?"
"Yeah, from the Land Of Frohike," he smiles back,
letting go of the sack and taking another step forward so that he
can once again hug her.
"Mulder, this isn't funny...don't--...You walked out on me!
Do you know how painful it's been? How hurt I was to wake up and
find a piece of paper in your space on the bed? For all I knew,
the supersoldiers had taken you back! You could have been being
tortured, or...or d-dead, and I wouldn't have known a damn thing
about it just because you felt it was okay to assure me you'd
explain all when you got back!"
The tears stinging her eyes sting Mulder's heart as he watches
her fight against the desperate need to sit down or collapse on
the floor. He had known what his ditch would do to her emotions
straight after Deep Throat had told him where to go, but leaving
her behind had been the only option, and she would never have let
him go alone. He just hoped the reward would be enough to make it
up to her.
In the dim light, he approaches with outstretched arms and
fiercely pulls her back against him. It's been too long since he
was last here...
"I'm sorry," he utters, resting his cheek against the
top of her head after placing a kiss there. "I--...God,
Scully, it wasn't a move I took lightly - it killed me to leave
as much as (if not moreso) when I walked out on you and
William....but I *had* to go. There was no other way."
"Why?"
It's his turn to step away, and as the uncomfortable tension
begins to suffocate the atmosphere, Mulder goes to the bag he
brought in with him. "I was hoping I could save this til
later - maybe after I'd snuck into bed beside you and had the
first decent night's sleep in over a month, but....I
guess...." He falters and looks at the sack - unable to look
her directly in the eye just yet. "I just got the most
important gift for the most important person in my life..."
Shrug. "Merry Christmas, Scully."
All Dana can do is stare at him with confusion creasing her worn
features until she follows his gaze and stares at what she had
believed to be a sack, but what is in fact a disguise. He's
turned it around, and she can now see that it's nothing more than
a metal frame, supporting a safety seat, which holds a child - a
strawberry-blonde haired child.
Their child.
William.
Everything she's been feeling up until this point takes its toll
on her senses, and as the disbelieving gasp whooshes past her
lips, she finally drops to her knees, with arms reaching out
toward the infant. "Mul--...Wil--...How--?...Oh, my God,
William!?"
Mulder lowers himself also to the floor and lifts the boy out of
the seat, smiling "See, kiddo? I told you she'd be
happy." His glance flicks back to Scully, and the tears of
joy streaming down her cheeks makes the pain of the last five
weeks fade away. The smile on his face broadens, and there's no
longer any point hiding his own tears, so he lets them fall
freely. "I told you we'd get him back...I've promised time
and again since that night in Roswell that it'll be okay...I
figured it was time to get my ass in gear." He kisses Will's
head and then carefully passes him over to her. "Excuse my
language, sorry. I didn't want to leave you alone, but another of
those lost to us appeared and told me where he was..." A
thoughtful pause, and he strokes a hand down the soft cheek of
his long-missed son. He's had two weeks on the road to enjoy
being back with the miracle he had thought he'd never see again,
but here, reuniting with Scully and - in turn - reuniting her
with William on Christmas Day, it's like the day he was born and
seeing him for the first time all over again. "I didn't
realise how short my time was until I got there..."
Dana had had her eyes shut whilst cuddling her baby boy as
tightly as possible since claiming possession of him from
Mulder's grasp, but now she looks up - wide-eyed - as she only
now thinks to ask how he recovered their son from the adopted
parents.
"What do y-you mean? Mul-der, what happened to--"
His gaze drops, and she knows there's no need to finish the
question.
Silence.
"I found him hidden in a crawl space down in the
basement...I don't know how They didn't find him, but I'm just so
thankful They didn't..." Once again, Mulder reaches out to
stroke an unsteady hand over the strawberry-blond hair.
"He's grown so much, but to me he's...he's still a few days
old..." He inches closer as she gives a slow, understanding
nod of her head, and then wraps his arms around them both -
rebuilding the protective wall around his family that had been
smashed to pieces and left them exposed in his eleven month
absence after Will's birth.
More silence as the two fugitive agents stare down at their son.
*'The Truth we both know...'*
They both look up at the same time, she pulls the fake white
beard down away from his face, and lips meet in a slow,
passionate kiss even fiercer than the one on that night a year
and a half ago.
"I'm sorry I doubted you - I just got so scared I'd lost you
again after all we've benn through... I love you."
"Love you more..." he slurs, trying to conceal the
yawn...with no success.
"Mulder, you're exhausted!"
"I drove all day and night. I *had* to be here today...It's
our first Christmas together in three years - since before I was
abducted...I couldn't--...I--...I'm fine...I just wanted to get
back...to you..."
With a sad smile, Scully shakily stands - struggling a little to
carry William's slightly heavier bulk. "You're not fine.
Come on, you need to rest." She sits Will down in the middle
of the bed, turns back to where Mukder is knelt and offers a hand
to help him stand. He obliges, but just stands there staring down
at her once at full height. "What?"
No reply.
"Mulder?"
She's ready to think he's fallen asleep, when he suddenly lifts a
hand to cup her cheek. "Our first family Christmas," he
muses, smiling and briefly glancing toward William.
"Mulder, we've got no decorations...We've still got the
turkey in the freezer I didn't have at Thanksgiving, but there's
no dinner and trimmings to have...No gifts for William...There's
nothing to make this Christmas..."
"Silly woman," comes his chuckled reply as he tenderly
rubs his thumb back and forth over her skin. "We may not
have the tree or the lights and ornaments, we may not have a full
dinner topped with everything edible, but we have something a
million times more important."
All Scully can do is frown in confusion, but then hesitantly
suggests with a smile, "William?"
"Well, there is that," he beams. "But there's
something more precious: each other." Yawn. "I'd
happily...trade in every Christmas I've ever had - even the ones
on the Vineyard with Mom, Dad and Samantha - for *this* one. To
be able to look into the...blues of your eyes....T-to hear our
child cooing to us...from across the r-room... Every pain and
sacrifice and moment of loneliness was always brightened by the
fact that at the end of a cellphone line, or just across the
office, or walkin' by my side was the one person that...that
m-made it all...worthwhile... So, we don' ne-ed
derecorationses...Just...this..." He slumps as the
exhaustion weighing down his body takes control, and she quickly
helps him over to the bed.
"Come on, Romeo," she whispers, laying him down on the
right-hand side. "Let's leave all those heavy words til a
little later..."
William looks up at her and then taps a chubby fist against his
father's leg several times. "Dada eep!" he cheers.
With her already broad smile reaching its maximum girth, a
wide-eyed Scully snaps her head round to stare at the boy, and
has to rest her palms down on Mulder's lightly snoring body to
help keep her from falling flat on her face. "Oh, my
God...William...Daddy Santa's just taking a little rest from all
his hard work...He's a very sweet but exasperating man."
With a thoughtful chuckle, she finishes removing Mulder's boots,
rolls the blankets she had thrown aside at the sound of the
intruder back up the bed (covering him and Will), and then
carefully crawls in beside them. "I've missed you *so* much,
sweetie," she whispers, hugging up to her two men.
"Don't ever leave me again...*Please*..."
Mulder shifts to wrap his own arms around them, and quietly
mutters, "We...won't."
No coaxing needed, Will immediately closes his eyes after the
bedside lamp has been switched off, and it's not long until all
three are asleep.
Later, they'll eat turkey sandwiches; the former-FBI agents will
take their first steps in being parents together; William will
scream with delight at the toys Mulder got on the way home, and
maybe there'll be a little time to watch an old B-movie....
They're different people celebrating a different kind of
Christmas that nobody else would give a glance to, but they've
got Hope, Faith, their lives, and each other. That's all they
need to survive, and that was all that mattered
xxxxxxxxxx
THE END
'I
don't want a lot for Christmas
There's just one thing I need
I don't care about presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true...
All I want for Christmas
Is you...'
..............................~'All I Want For Christmas' by
Mariah Carey
DISCLAIMER:
These characters belong to each other, but CC and 1013 own 'em! I
don't fit into the equation.
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