Christmas 2013
The Family Meets William
by Trycee
Time-Line: Christmas 2013
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-files, this is written for fun not profit.
William sat on the sofa in his parents living room, trying to block out their chatter as they moved furniture out of the way for the pre-light 8 ft Christmas tree they were setting in place. William ignored them as he texted yet another girl he liked, smiling to himself at the newest one. She was a little older than he was, a sophomore and he was sure she wouldn't want anyone to know she was texting him. William didn't care, he wanted to see where this new 'text relationship' was going if anywhere. Scully could see the lopsided grin on her sons face as she watched him glued to his cell phone. She sighed and shook her head, knowing she wasn't going to get any work out of him without a battle. "William Mulder! I have been asking you now for the last time to get up and help us!"
William sighed loudly so both his parents could hear him. Mulder looked down at Scully and then over to William. He walked up to his son and reached out his hand. "Give me the phone."
"Why?"
"I SAID, give me the phone!"
William rolled his eyes and handed him his cell phone and then stood up from the couch. He was almost at Mulder's height. "I don't understand. What's all the fuss about anyway? I just want some cash for Christmas!"
Scully dropped the carefully labeled Christmas lights back into one of the boxes and stared at William. "This is the first Christmas we get to spend with you and this is the first Christmas our family gets to meet you, William. What's with the attitude?"
"Who still celebrates Christmas?", William asked, staring down at his phone cradled in Mulder's hand.
Mulder noticing Williams agitation quickly pocketed the phone. "Help out your mom and me and you can get your phone back...attitude-free, that's is!"
"Fine," William said, heading towards the attic door. "You know, if you let me use my powers, I could have this tree up and decorated in a second."
"And that would ruin the whole experience," Scully said, trying to figure out why William was in such a bad mood. "William, come here!", she said.
He walked over to his mother and she stared up into his identical blue eyes. She smoothed her hand over his forehead and hair like she always did to Mulder. "What's going on? What's wrong?"
"I don't like Christmas in particularly," he said.
"But, why?"
"Because I can remember," William said. "I can remember you crying all those years. Every year you would cry for me and I could feel you so strongly that I would cry," he said, looking down at his mother who quickly cupped his chin. "I would spend Christmas crying and all I wanted was to be back with you and to take away your pain and I couldn't. I was too young to understand it but I could feel your emotions and I just never liked this time of year because this was the time that you mourned me."
"But you're here William", she said, looking into his eyes, "It's okay now. We have you back home. I'm happy now. I feel complete for the first time in my life."
He shook his head no. Scully looked perplexed.
"My adopted parents tried to make me happy but it never worked. Physically I was there with them but mentally I wasn't there, I was with you. And every year you mourned me and you mourned her too..."
Scully's eyes fluttered quickly. "Mourned her?"
William nodded. "Emily..."
Scully gasped. She had never mentioned Emily to William and she had died well before he had been born. Scully stumbled slightly and Mulder was quickly by her side. His eyes searched hers until she finally broke the connection and turned back to look up into the sorrowful eyes of William. "William?", she questioned.
He shook his head."I could feel you so strongly, Mom. The loss would be so great, so enormous and so deep that I started to hate this time of year."
"But William, your here with me now."
"But Emily isn't," William said, disraught.
Scully wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and brought him down to her level as he enclosed her small frame and laid on her shoulder. "Oh William, I didn't realize you were so affected by it all."
"She was my sister," he said. "I didn't know her but I knew of her," he said. "Because of who and what I am, I knew of her. And I knew you still mourn her loss," he said, pulling back and looking at his mother.
Scully glanced over to Mulder and her eyes cast down. "I do. I probably always will. Even as a baby, you and I were connected emotionally," she said turning back to her son. "If I cried, you would cry. You feel me and I feel you. We are very connected, William. But your sister would not want you to miss out on memories with me and your dad. She would want you to move on. That's something I didn't have with Emily."
"Memories?"
"And Time," Scully said, as she watched her son whose hair color, skin tone and eyes were just like her own but his jawline and lips were like Mulder's. "She was mine for such a short time," Scully said, as a tear trickled down her cheek. "But, now I have you and your dad and I want to makeup for the time we lost with you, and have the things we didn't have with her, do you understand?"
William nodded his head.
"Now, come on!", she said, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "We've cried enough," she said. "Come on. We need to decorate this tree so your Uncle Bill will have something to complain about besides your dad."
Mulder smirked.
William and Scully chuckled and turned to look at Mulder. He was rolling his eyes. "Oh, Mulder," Scully said, reaching out and touching his hand. "From what I hear, he's pretty tame now. He's a grandpa now, so he's not as mean."
"He better not be," Mulder said. "Besides, this is my tree and my decorations!"
"Whose tree and decorations?", Scully said, raising an eyebrow.
Mulder cleared his throat and shot a quick glance at William and then looked back at the tiny but fierce woman in front of him. "It's our tree, our decorations."
"That's right!', Scully said. "And it won't be complete without your spinning UFO topper, will it, Mulder? Bill was so fond of it the last time," she said, sarcastically.
"What happened?", William asked.
"Oh, your dad had to put your Uncle in his place that's all."
"So what's with the feud between you and Uncle Bill?", William asked.
"He hates me," Mulder stated as they unloaded the decorations. "That's all you need to know. He hates me."
William smiled. "He hates you because he thinks you are the reason for mom's sister's, Missy's death though he knows that's not true," William said, tapping into both of their minds.
Scully looked at William and nodded. "Yeah."
"But he really hates Dad because you fell in love with him and because this Uncle Bill feels you threw your career away for a guy that chases around extraterrestrials."
Mulder glanced at Scully and their eyes lingered on each other for a moment.
"Well," William said, "He's gonna love me!", he said, spreading out his hands and in an instant the boxes full of Christmas lights and ornaments were empty. Both Mulder and Scully stopped in their tracks and stared at the Christmas tree and it was fully decorated with their signature mixture of Christmas ornaments with UFO ornaments and a few blue Hanukkah ornaments representing Mulder's Jewish heritage. The UFO topper was spinning at the top of the tree and flashing various bright colors as if it had just landed on Earth and the tree was lit up and sparkling with various greens, pinks, reds and blues capturing the eye. Scully with a glare turned to look at her defiant son but he had a smirk on his lips. He held out his hand and Mulder slammed his phone back into his hand.
"See ya!", William said, taking off for his room.
Mulder looked at the tree and kicked at a box. "Damn smart alack kid!"
"He gets it from you," she sighed.
Mulder reflected back over the numerous times in his lifetime and FBI career he would defy authority and he nodded. "You're right. We'll, I guess I'll put the empty boxes in the attic. Now what?"
"We still need to figure out sleeping arrangements. Whose gonna stay here with us. Whose gonna stay at Mom's."
"Bill can stay at your mothers!", Mulder said, gathering a few boxes and walking over to the stairs, tossing them up to the landing of the attic without walking up the stairs.
After Mulder had completed his task with the boxes, Scully pulled out the vacuum and cleaned up the living room. "You know Mulder, this tree is so gorgeous. We shouldn't let it go to waste...," she said, with a sparkle in her eye."
"Scully...," Mulder said, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. "William is right down the hall."
Scully erupted into laughter, slapping him lightly on the arm. "Mulder!", she said. "I'm not saying for us to do the naked pretzel on the living room rug."
"No?", he said, disappointed.
She giggled some more as Mulder watched, mesmerized at her incredible beauty. He bent down and kissed her deeply, pulling her close to him. Slowly they parted. "What was that for?", she said, with sparkling eyes.
"I couldn't resist," Mulder sighed. "You're so beautiful and you're mine and I couldn't resist."
"I love you too," she said, touching his cheek. "Let's get some wine and play a little music and just cuddle by the fire and watch the snow fall?"
"Sounds like a plan," he said, reluctantly releasing her.
Mulder gathered some candles and wine glasses as Scully gathered the chilled wine from the fridge door and a soft blanket from the linen closet and adjusted the stereo to Christmas carols. Mulder lit the candles and poured the wine and handed her a glass as she spread the blanket over them. He stretched his arm out and Scully snuggled in laying her head against his chest. She breathed him in and he breathed in the fruity scent of her hair. They were content as they watched the snow fall from the large picture window as Mariah Carey's melodic voice belted out a Christmas carol. Mulder caught Scully's glass in time before she fell asleep. She was notorious for falling asleep like a child with car rides or during romantic moments, he thought back. It was a quality that he thought was adorable since the time they were only partners. He had always loved to watch her sleep but unlike in his youth when he would watch her sleep for hours, he now fell asleep right next to her.
William walked out of his bedroom with his stomach grumbling. He found his parents asleep on the couch curled up together and he couldn't help but stare. His father's arm was protectively wrapped around his mother's shoulder drawing her closer. He smiled as he looked at them. He was careful not to wake them as he turned and looked back at them one last time before heading towards the kitchen to scrounge for something to eat. Soon he knew there would be more holiday food packed in the fridge then it could handle but right now there was mostly his mom's healthy salads fixings and just plain stuff he didn't really want to eat. He spotted a pack of his dad's sunflower seeds and headed for his bedroom, leaving them to sleep in peace.
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