TITLE: Have Yourself A Merry Little... Aw, Screw It. (also kinda applies to Alli's October week fanfic challenge (6) #1.)
AUTHOR: Bee Slayer (bee.slayer@virgin.net)
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORY: S, R,
KEYWORDS: Story, Mulder/Scully relationship, un-Ashley-safe, Kissfic, almost a songfic but not quite.
SPOILERS: Um... I didn't notice any! Wow! HTGSC maybe, but the biggest spoiler for that's in the summary!
SUMMARY: It's December 24, and it looks like Scully's going to be spending yet another Christmas Eve with Mulder. But this time, she's not complaining.
DISCLAIMER: Do we really have to go through this every single time a person writes a fanfic? Is it really likely that CC is going to sue a pathetic little phile for playing with his characters for a few thousand words? Actually, yes, it is likely, so go here: http://www.geocities.com/chocolatefudgebee_slayer/disclaimer.html I mean no offence to any ginger, spotty geeks with glasses who were still a virgin when they left college. *ducks*
ARCHIVE: If anyone wants it, they can have it. Tell me first though.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Could this possibly be the first Chrissy fic of the year? I wanted to get in ahead of the crowd.
Yes, I'm writing this instead of getting on with Just a dream. But the idea came to me (out of the gutter please, people) last night, and I had to write it down in my little notebook. And now I'm typing it up. Just pretend it's Christmas Eve, okay? Hear those sleighbells...
Oh yeah, it's October and I'm writing Christmas stuff. And your point is...?
Alli, you didn't really specify the size of the pizza...
FEEDBACK!!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME FEEDBACK!!
Anyway... enough of my ramblings. On with it!
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Scully shut her eyes as the nerves set in.
"Christmas present my ass," she muttered, wringing her hands together to stop her from biting her carefully polished nails. The last thing she needed tonight was chipped nail varnish.
Actually, to say that the nerves were setting in wasn't entirely accurate. She had been feeling nervous for the last two days, but it was as she approached the sand that the feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified.
"I must be mad."
That sentiment was echoed as she realised that she was talking to herself. She shook her head, not quite sure how it had come to this.
She had began to worry about a week ago, when Mulder had flashed her a knowing smile and muttered something about a 'memorable Christmas present.'
On Tuesday, a note had been left in her apartment, asking her to be here, now.
She hadn't mentioned it to Mulder on Wednesday, she hadn't needed to. It was obvious from the look on his face, the glint in his eyes that he was behind it. So she hadn't asked for details, and he hadn't offered any.
She grinned, remembering the look on Bill's face when she had told him that she wouldn't be spending *another* Christmas Eve with the family. She had apologised, although she had a feeling that she hadn't sounded altogether sincere. The might have had something to do with the fact that she didn't *feel* sincere. She *wanted* to spend Christmas Eve with Mulder.
And to be honest, no one was more surprised than she was.
But it was on Wednesday night that she had practically started to hyperventilate over this. It had sunk in - what she was getting in to be agreeing to this.
This wasn't a casual meeting.
Tonight was serious. Important.
She stood for a moment, watching the sea. She knew not to stand there and wait for him. The note had said; 'I'll be around.'
So she started to walk down the beach, after a while taking off her shoes and padding through the sand.
'If he's not here...'
The thought was pointless, she knew he would be.
Scully shivered slightly, although it was more in anticipation than from the cold. Although, in truth, her expectations for tonight weren't *that* high, she wasn't wearing her best underwear or anything.
She thought about that for a second, her mind going back to when she had gotten ready that day.
'Actually...'
Okay, so maybe her hopes for tonight were higher than she would like to admit.
She looked down at her outfit: an old pair of jeans, a tight T-shirt and her brown suede jacket. She grinned; she was going to freeze. But she didn't really care. For some reason, she almost felt like a teenager again, sneaking down to the beach to meet her boyfriend.
Not that that feeling had compared in any way to how she felt about Mulder, and she was hardly sneaking around, but she certainly felt different.
Almost...liberated.
'No more pretences,' the note had said.
No more pretences.
She had the note in her pocket, it had been there since Wednesday morning when she had woke up to see it in her pile of bills. Having the note close to her helped reassure her that she wasn't imagining it, that this was really going to happen.
Not that she had any idea what *was* going to happen, but she did know that it was going to be... different. If Mulder was involved, it was sure to be.
She heard music somewhere in front of her, and as she walked, she recognised it as the Corrs. This struck a nerve as she remembered that her Corrs CD had been missing the last week.
She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned towards the dunes.
She gasped, and Mulder looked up at her, a smile in his eyes.
For a moment she just stood there, taking in the scene before her.
Mulder was sitting there, also in jeans and a T-shirt, sitting on a rather large blanket, looking very comfortable. Also on the blanket was a bottle of wine in an ice bucket, a portable CD player, and the crowning touch, meal a la Mulder.
A *huge* pizza box.
Scully burst out laughing as she came to sit beside her partner, "I'm speechless Mulder."
He grinned, moving over slightly to make room for her. "I spent ages deciding on what kind of food to bring."
"Really." She didn't sound convinced.
"Yeah, couldn't decide between Chinese or pizza."
She smiled, "Mulder this is beautiful."
He shrugged, feigning modesty, "you think so?"
Scully looked around her, he couldn't have picked a nicer spot. They were sheltered from the wind, but not at the expense of the view, she could easily see the water crashing against the shore.
"Yeah I think so. You do realise that we're going to freeze though, don't you?"
He shook his head in resignation, causing Scully's smile to widen, and leaned towards her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"You know, Scully," he murmured, his breath tickling her ear, "you really need to lighten up a bit. Live for the moment."
She leaned into him, her head resting in the crook of his neck, rearranging her feet to get more comfortable, "whatever you say," she murmured back, deciding to agree with him, just this once.
"So what do the family think about this?" he asked softly, moving his arm to around her waist and joining his hands.
She almost couldn't remember, she was so distracted by Mulder's closeness.
She sighed, "Bill wasn't too happy, but mom just smiled knowingly at me and went back into the kitchen. I promised to spend the whole of tomorrow with them."
"Oh."
"You're welcome to join us," she hinted hopefully, knowing that the day wouldn't be the same without him.
"Welcome by you, maybe. But I don't think-"
"Oh for god's sake, Mulder, I really don't care what my brother thinks. It's my mother's home, and she has invited you. I'm sure Bill will be able to live with it." Her voice had a hard edge to it, and she sighed again, slipping an arm around his waist.
"I'm sorry. It just annoys me that he still thinks that his opinion will make any difference. I swear he thinks I'm going to just request a transfer because he doesn't like you."
"He has a point, Scully."
"Let's not get into this right now, okay? I'm sure you didn't invite me here to talk about my brother."
She turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow speculatively, " so why *are* we here?"
His grin returned, "all in good time. Pizza?"
He sat up, withdrawing his arm to open the pizza box. Scully shivered at the loss of his warmth. The feeling of not being herself returned, as she thought about how they were acting.
They certainly weren't acting like partners, or like friends, to be perfectly truthful.
'We're acting like something else entirely,' she thought as Mulder handed her a slice of ham and pineapple pizza.
"'I don't know why, but suddenly I'm falling,
Was I so blind, I was loving you all the time, and now I'm hopelessly addicted'"
The song reminded her, "I was wondering where my CD was," she commented.
Mulder gave a sheepish grin, "I hoped you wouldn't notice. I almost borrowed your Barenaked Ladies CD, but it didn't really fit."
It wasn't long before they couldn't eat any more pizza, and Mulder cleared the box away, refusing to let Scully lift a finger. He then poured them both a glass of wine, ignoring Scully's amused expression.
"You're not trying to get me drunk, are you Mulder?"
His half laugh was the only answer he gave.
She took a sip, and she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so relaxed.
She could feel Mulder looking at her, his gaze burning into her face.
"What?"
"I was just thinking...why would you want to be here with me when you could be spending time with your family? Because you don't have to stay, you know. I wouldn't-"
"Mulder, shut up. I *want* to be here, okay? I wouldn't have agreed to come if I didn't. I'm here because I want to spend some time with you outside of work. I'm assuming that's why you invited me here?"
He was looking at her with subdued amazement, "you're crazy, you know that?"
She laughed, startling him slightly, "would you believe that's exactly what Bill said?"
He laughed along with her, and the relaxed mood was returned, "I do have one rule for tonight that you have to agree to."
"Do I want to know?"
He nodded slightly, "one rule. We don't talk about work."
"I'll drink to that," Scully agreed, taking another sip of her wine.
She said nothing for a while, not sure how to word her thoughts.
"You know, Mulder, this really was a great idea. Maybe a bit out of season, but still a great idea."
She watched him, practically able to see the cogs turning in his head.
"I just figured that this was the least I could do, given everything I've put you through over the last few years. I suppose this is kind of a thank you, for putting up with me. I couldn't have gotten this far without you, I hope you know that."
She felt her eyes well up with tears, she could see that he meant every word of what he said, it was completely from the heart.
"And I hope *you* know that I don't regret a day, and that I blame you for nothing, despite what you might think. You've saved my life countless times, Mulder, maybe it should be me thanking you, not the other way around."
He smiled humourlessly, "maybe, but you wouldn't have been in those situations in the first place if it weren't for me. You always manage to forget that."
"That's not the point, Mulder. I knew the risks of the job when I started, and there are risks no matter what section you're in. Just - just stop blaming yourself, okay?"
"You sound like this isn't the first time you've had to say that," Mulder commented, knowing he should just drop the subject, but not quite able to.
"Bill...Bill seems to have taken over Dad's role of disagreeing with my choices in life." She shrugged, "the typical big brother, I suppose." She laughed, "think yourself lucky, he broke the nose of one of my high school boyfriends."
She studied her wine glass as she realised what she had just implied. She felt him staring, and looked back up, "luckily you seem to have a thicker skin than any 'unsuitable' person I hung out with back then."
"Yeah, you can't get rid of me that easily."
"Thank god."
They shared a smile, and Scully forced herself to break the gaze before she dropped her glass.
"Was he like that with Melissa as well?" Mulder was genuinely interested, he always enjoyed hearing about Scully's childhood. It was nice to hear what a 'normal' childhood was like.
"Mmm, he was for a while. In fact, I think he was worse with her until she was about 15."
"What happened when she was 15?"
Scully grinned at the memory, "she hit him. He had the biggest black eye you have ever seen."
Mulder laughed, he would remember that the next time 'big bad Bill' started with him.
"I suppose he figured she could look after herself after that."
That was an understatement, he had positively avoided her for about a month, until Mrs Scully had forced them to make up. It was the last time he interfered with her life.
"And to think," Mulder said, still grinning, "I always thought Melissa would be the sweet, quiet one of the two of you."
Scully snorted, "Missy got herself in to more trouble than anyone I have ver known - apart from maybe you. She was always getting wrong at school for taking in her crystals, or meditating in class or something.
"It seemed to gain her a lot of friends. I mean, she wasn't like me, I mostly kept to myself, but Missy liked her social life. She always seemed to be at some party, even if it involved sneaking out of the house, which most of the time it did. Constantly moving schools had the opposite effect on her. I usually made a couple of friends, and that was it, but she was always surrounded by people. She never quite made the 'in-crowd,' you know? I think the new-age stuff put them off."
"So you were what, a social outcast?"
She hit him lightly on the arm, "I was not! I was just classed as a 'brain,' I think. I was hardly a ginger spotty geek with buck teeth and glasses who didn't have a boyfriend until she was 18 and didn't loose her virginity until she left college."
She groaned as she saw the look on Mulder's face and realised what she had just let herself in for.
"I'm not telling you, so don't even ask."
"Why not? I can't help being curious about the early life of Dana Scully, can I?"
"Yeah, well you can stay curious, because I am not telling you anything about my first time."
He turned on the wounded puppy look, "don't you trust me? Please."
"Yes and no."
"Please?"
She thought about this. She didn't know much about Mulder's childhood, apart from the obvious, and thi might be the perfect opportunity if she played her cards right.
"I'll tell you if you tell me."
"Deal. Now tell."
Scully stared at him for a second, exhaled loudly and lay down on the blanket, making herself comfortable. The sun had set, and she could see the moon's reflection on the water. "Isn't that beautiful?"
She felt Mulder lie down next to her, "stop trying to change the subject."
"I'm not!"
"Whatever."
She couldn't believe they were having this conversation, it was so unlike them.
'Maybe it's just the wine,' she told herself, but wasn't at all convinced.
"Okay. I was, um... 17, and I had been seeing this guy, Matthew, for about...four months, I think."
"And?" prompted Mulder.
"And what? You want details?"
"A few more than that! Come on, quit being so boring!"
"Boring?" She rolled over on to her side to glare at him, "I'm not being boring!"
"Whatever."
"And will you please stop saying that! It's starting to bug me."
Mulder opened his mouth, presumably to repeat himself, but at Scully's glare thought better of it.
"Okay. My parents had gone away for the weekend, leaving Bill in charge. He, however, had other ideas, and went out the minute their car left the street. Charles and Melissa both had dates, which meant the house was empty. So...I think you can guess what happened."
"You're not gonna give me any more than that, are you?"
"Nope. Your turn."
"I was 15, at a party and very drunk." He shrugged, "there was an empty bedroom, it wasn't exactly a memorable experience, I didn't even know the girl."
"What was that, the Reader's Digest condensed version?"
"Something like that. The same could be said for the actual experience."
"Hmm, same here."
Mulder stood up, dusting off the sand that he was somehow covered in. He held out a hand for Scully, "fancy a walk?"
She considered it, tipping her head to the side, "only if it means I don't have to give you any more details of my sex life."
"Deal. Come on,"
She sat up, taking Mulder's hand to help her up, and neither of them made any attempt to release the other's hand as they began to walk slowly down to the waterline.
"I've always liked the beach. Even as a little kid, I always insisted on dragging my entire family down here as often as possible."
Scully smiled a little at the image of a 5 year old Mulder pulling on his mother's sleeve.
"I used to just sit, watching the waves. I was fascinated by them, always wondering how it worked."
Scully could see a faint smile on his face, lost in his memories.
"It was like magic. They come up, they go back. Always the same, except that sometimes the waves were bigger, and sometimes they were smaller.
"the thing is, everything loses some of it's charm when you figure out how it works, and you always feel...kind of cheated, you know? Like the thing shouldn't have such a mundane explanation, you know what I mean?"
Scully nodded, she knew exactly what he meant.
"But the thing with waves, it that it isn't really such a mundane thing. The pull of the moon's gravity. It's hard to believe that something so far away can have such an effect."
He paused, and Scully looked up at him, pushing back the hair that was blowing in her face.
"It all kind of lost its wonder to me when Sam disappeared. I guess it was partly due to my father, I just felt that I shouldn't be wasting my time on something as trivial as waves when my sister was missing. It just lost its appeal to me."
Scully squeezed his hand, she knew that it was still difficult for him to talk about his life at that time.
They reached the shore, and stopped for a while, just looking out to sea. Mulder continued, "I actually think that this is the first time since then that I've actually taken the time to watch the sea again. It just doesn't seem so pointless anymore."
They started walking again, their joined hands swinging, and Scully yelped slightly as the cold water washed over her feet.
"Why do you think that is?" she asked him, kicking the water out in front of her.
"Maybe because for the first time in a long time I'm looking at them with somebody who's important to me."
She wasn't quite sure how to answer that, so she just nodded.
Mulder's face gained an evil grin, and he kicked some water at Scully.
"Hey!" she exclaimed as the water hit the top of her legs, soaking in to her jeans.
He laughed at the indignant expression on her face, and kicked some more water at her, enjoying himself more than he had in a long, long time.
"That's it," Scully said decisively, kicking some water back at him, and giggling when he shouted.
She remembered a trick she had learned as a kid, and flipped her foot, flicking water up to Mulder's face.
Her giggles turned into a full-blown laugh as water dripped off the end of Mulder's nose.
"Oh, you are gonna regret that," he threatened, taking a step towards her, which caused her to take a couple of quick steps backwards.
"Ooh, I'm so scared," she teased, pushing away the thought that they were acting so out of character.
She moved to kick more water towards him, splashing him full on in the face, but at the same time managing to lose her balance and start to fall backwards. She squealed, and Mulder quickly reached out, pulling her towards him.
Scully wrapped her arms around him as she tried to regain her balance, and her pride. Dimly, in the back of her mind, a premonition of what was going to happen next came to her. She ignored it.
She laughed slightly, looking up at Mulder, who was gazing intensely down at her.
He removed one hand from her waist to gently caress her cheek, and her breath caught in her throat at the contact.
The beach disappeared. She was no longer aware of the wind whipping her hair across her face, or of the waves crashing down just inches away from them. She no longer heard the faint strains of The Corrs, or noticed that her feet were going slowly numb because of the cold water.
All that she was aware of, all that mattered, was the touch of Mulder's hand on her face, the closeness of his lips and the look in his eyes that said he wanted her, and only her.
His lips met hers, softly at first, and she could taste the saltwater on him. She felt her heart thudding in her chest, and she barely suppressed a moan as he pulled her closer, crushing his lips to hers. She felt his hand move to the back of her head, and she grabbed his hair, wanting to get as close as possible.
She opened her mouth gladly, lightly running her tongue across his lip.
They broke apart for a second, needing to breathe, and then they were kissing again, more passionately than ever. She felt like she had been waiting for this her whole life, Mulder's tongue exploring her mouth, his hot breath on her face.
His hand slipped under her T-shirt and she gasped at the contact, feeling *very* aroused.
This brought her crashing back down to earth as she remembered that they were in the middle of a public beach, and were likely to get arrested if they didn't stop now.
She pulled back regretfully, and immediately missed the sensation of his warm mouth on hers.
Neither one said anything for a while, they merely stared at each other, their feelings reflected clearly in their eyes.
They talked about anything and everything that night, curled up under another blanket, just talking, laughing and kissing. Scully had never felt so blissfully happy in her life, and she never wanted the night to end.
Mulder looked at his watch, remembering for the first time in hours what day it was.
"Merry Christmas, Scully," he murmured, moving away slightly to start rooting through his bag.
"Don't I get a Christmas kiss?" she asked mischievously, a smile in her voice.
He rolled back over with a large box in his hand, "all in good time. Open this first."
She remembered that she had brought Mulder's present with her. It wasn't a big thing, more of a joke really, but he might appreciate it all the same. After all, it's the thought that counts.
"Mulder, you shouldn't have"
"Yeah, if I were you I'd wait until you open it before you say anything,"
He handed her the box, and she opened it cautiously, snuggling into Mulder while she did it, she'd been right, it had started to get very cold, and the only thing stopping them both from getting serious frostbite was each other's warmth.
She pulled out the contents of the box, and laughed.
Inside was a huge desktop Shaun The Sheep pencil sharpener, with a suspicious looking button on the top.
She flashed Mulder a look, noting the amused expression on his face, and pressed the button.
The pencil sharpener made a bleating noise, and then Wallace could be heard saying 'Will somebody shut that sheep up!'
She laughed, "Mulder, that is too cute! Where the hell did you find it?"
"Trade secret. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. And I really don't wanna do that."
"Funny. While we're doing the present thing..." Scully pulled a nicely wrapped present out of her purse, and passed it to Mulder, a grin on her face.
"Ooh, I love Christmas," he said, shaking the package a few times.
"Just open it."
He did, and rolled his eyes when he saw what it was. He gave Scully a look, before breaking out into a grin, "'How to Stop your oral fixation: In 12 easy steps'. Very funny, Scully."
"I couldn't resist it Mulder, sorry."
"Now, you know that oral fixations aren't necessarily a bad thing..." Mulder started to nibble on her earlobe before remembering something.
"Can't forget your proper present now, can we?"
Scully raised her eyebrows in surprise, she hadn't been expecting this.
He faced her again, a much smaller box in his hand, his expression serious once again.
"Here, open this."
Once the wrapping paper was off, she could see that it was a jewellery box. She looked up at Mulder quickly, before turning her attention back to the box.
She turned it over in her hands a few times, before the suspense became too much for her, and she opened the box.
She gasped when she saw what was inside it, "Mulder...you really shouldn't have."
A few years ago, while on a case, a pair of her earrings had been stolen. They were a family heirloom, first owned by her great, great, great grandmother.
She had been distraught when she couldn't find them, even Mulder had noticed how upset she was. The earrings had been emerald, with diamond drops.
And they were sitting in the box that Mulder had just given her.
"How - how did you find these?" she asked in disbelief.
"I just stumbled across them a few months ago, they were in the window of an antique shop in Alexandria."
"Mulder, this must have cost you a fortune."
"No more than I can afford. Look, Scully, don't worry about it, okay? And don't even think about arguing with me on this. You are keeping these, and that is the end of it, okay?"
"She shut the box, handing it back to him, "Mulder, I can't accept this."
"Yes you can, they're *your* earrings Scully."
"But-"
He placed a finger on her lips, "no buts, okay? I want you to accept these, think of it as payment for putting up with me for the last 6 years, okay? "
She felt tears come to her eyes yet again, "God, Mulder, you've made me go all weepy." She made as if to hit him," I love you, you know that?"
In answer to this, he kissed her, a long and lingering kiss that said everything.
"Merry Christmas, Mulder," she whispered, happy that she was there, rather than any other place in the world.
Big Bad Bill and the family could wait another few hours.
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Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la
Whoever came up with the lyrics to these Christmas songs?
Jesus.
Anyway, I *know* it's only October, but I love Christmas.
Alli, that wasn't exactly written especially for the October Games, but it includes all the stuff, right? A huge pizza, a talking appliance and a self help book.
I know, its cheating a little bit
And I promise, I'll get back to JAD now, and stop wasting your time.
Dedicated to Angela, for talking me out of setting this fic in a treehouse.
Feedback, negative of positive, to bee.slayer@virgin.net
I love feedback, especially 'constructive criticism'
I also love laughing at flames.
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Doctor what is happening to me,
Palpitations, my minds diseased,
Even my vision is impaired,
I'm losing my head,
Cos when I hold her in my arms,
I feel like Fred Astaire
Lovesick, my temperature's high,
Just met a girl who believes we can fly.
James - Just Like Fred Astaire (Don't get me started on how Adam Bloody Rickett got higher than this in the charts. They only got to Number 17! I'm gonna go and cry now.)