Chapter 1 - A knock on the door

It was another doll Saturday in Virginia. The landscape was covered in snow. Mulder and Scully was not going to do anything that day – or at least they were not aware of it yet. They had just finished their breakfast in silence. It had been a late night for Scully at the hospital and Mulder had been asleep for at least a couple of hours, when he had felt her crawl under the covers and into their warm bed in the middle of the night. He had wanted to hold her close to him, as she had been working a long shift, and he had not seen her for what seemed like days, but at the time he had turned to face her, she already slept herself, and he settled with kissing her forehead. Scully was always tired after working long shifts at the hospital, and Mulder knew she liked the silence when she came home, after all the noise still in her head from work.

"I think I am going to take a shower, Mulder", Scully said winking her eyes at him.

"Oh, really", Mulder replied with enthusiasm in his voice. He knew all too well what that wink meant and followed Scully as a happy little pup, as she almost ran into the bathroom.

After their shower, they decided not to leave the house the whole day, and Scully wore nothing but her underwear and one of Mulder's old sweatshirts, while Mulder was wearing a regular white t-shirt and his grey boxers. As they were half lying half sitting on the couch in the living room, they cuddled while watching 'War of the Worlds'. Not more than a half hour into the film Mulder muted the TV, and carefully pressed his weight against Scully kissing her. She tugged her leg in under him, placing him between her legs. He lifted her up a bit, letting her head rest on a pillow from the couch. He pulled back from their long kiss. He looked at her, admiring her beautiful blue eyes.

"Damn, you´re beautiful", he said with the deepest honesty in his shivering but determined voice.

She giggled and blushed slightly, as she did every single time he complimented her. This was one of the wonderful things he did to her, that no one else ever had been able to do. Not with that much conviction and sincerity at least. She pulled him close to her once again, placing a hand on his neck. Just as Mulder had led his hand slide up under Scully's shirt a knock sounded at the door. They tried to ignore the knocks, thinking it was nothing more than a salesman.

"You better get that, Mulder, or else they'll never stop", Scully finally said, making Mulder sigh annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah – I'm coming, I'm coming", Mulder called out, as he made his way towards the door, leaving Scully with a small smile on her lips.

Her smile however disappeared, when she heard the familiar voice by the door.

"Hello Fox, I hope I'm not interrupting anything", said the voice, which belonged to Maggie Scully.

"No! Mrs. Scully… what are you doing here?" Mulder asked. Scully could here in his voice, that he was ashamed of opening the door in his tight boxers.

"Well, I thought Dana had told you. We were all supposed to fly out together and spend Christmas in Texas with Charles", Maggie said confused.

"Sorry, Mrs. Scully. We've completely forgot that. It's been a hard week at work for Dana, and you know me. I forget as soon as I'm told", Mulder excused for him and Scully.

"That's alright, Fox. I'll just wait with Bill and the family in the car while you get packed", Maggie replied laughing and understanding.

As soon as Mulder had turned around after closing the door, Scully was already heading for the bedroom to pack for the two of them. How could she have forgot, they were going for her youngest brother's house for a week and spend Christmas there. She had almost forgotten just how close they actually were from Christmas, with all the work she had had. Mulder feared she was angry with him, but realized she was only feeling guilty for not remembering and embarrassed, that her mother had practically walked in on them.

"Should I pack my own bag?" Mulder asked, nervous of getting in the way.

"If you find clothes for us to wear now, I'll pack our bags", she said strict, but friendly.

Mulder did as he was told, and they were packed and ready to go in less than 10 minutes. FBI training the both of them thought, as they walked out the door, Mulder locking up after them.

The second he looked towards the minivan he could see Bill with an unusual annoyed expression, even for him. He knew Bill had never liked him, and truth be told, he didn't care much for him either, but he did try to be polite, because he knew it would please Scully if they got along.

They sat in the back of the minivan, while Maggie and Matt sat in the middle, leaving Tara in the passenger seat next to Bill. Scully excused for them as soon as she got into the car, while Mulder knew not to say anything, with Bill in a mood like the one he was in.

The drive from Mulder and Scully's residence and to the airport, took approximately an hour. Mulder was afraid of saying anything, and only spoke when Maggie or Tara asked him about something, and when he whispered the occasionally word or two to Scully.

"Do you think he will talk to me at all this week?" he whispered worried at Scully.

"He is always cranky in the morning – it will pass around noon", she whispered back, trying to calm him down.

"I love you", Mulder said softly kissing her cheek. Scully didn't expect this and she blushed a bit. Mulder decided not to respond to the fact that the 10 year old Matt hat heard his words and the sound of a peck on Scully's cheek. Matt giggled for himself for a few seconds, not being used to his father kissing his mother in public. He had only seen them kiss one time, and it had been a bit awkward due to the fact that Bill had been drunk, and Tara had been so ashamed she didn't speak to Bill for two days. It had been in front of all of their friends and coworkers at the annual Scully BBQ. Nobody had ever brought it up since. He would like to tell this to his uncle Mulder, knowing Bill didn't approve of him, and that Mulder had tried so hard to be a member of the Scully clan. Matt had always liked Mulder and couldn't see what his father could possibly have against him. He seemed to love Aunt Dana and she seemed to love him. Everyone else in the family liked him. Grandma even thought of him as her third son – he had heard her say so to Bill once she tried to convince him into liking Mulder.

The flight went great, but there were a lot of people on the plane and in the airports because of Christmas. Scully fast remembered it had been a long time since Mulder had even been in a public place like this, let alone during a holiday season. She grabbed his hand quickly as soon as they walked into the airport in Virginia, and only let go when it was absolutely necessary. He appreciated this gesture, and told her by squeezing her and when he felt it grab a hold of his.

At the airport in Houston, Charlie stood waiting for them. Mulder shook his hand as he walked up to him, knowing this man was a friendly spirit. He had only met him a few times, as it had been hard for them to keep in touch with Scully's family, when he was wanted by the FBI. They had never even told them where they lived before, afraid someone might find out. They had been right taken this precaution, as Bill had often thought he would have told the bureau and he wouldn't have thought twice about doing so, even though it would mean death for Mulder.

When they arrived at Charles Scully's residence, Jill, Charlie's wife, and his three children; Naomi, Nick and Chris were all standing in the door handing out hugs and kisses for their loved family members. Nick and Chris were twins, and only a few years older than Matt, so it didn't take them long to bond, and head for their room to play some videogame. Naomi, on the other hand, was 16. A difficult age, especially if there is no one to hang out with. Mulder was surprised to see how high this sixteen year old still cherished her grandmother. Her eyes lit up, when she saw Maggie and she spend the rest of the day with her, sitting next to her at the table at dinner and following her to her room, when she was tired from the flight and wanted to head early to bed. As she came down she announced she was tired herself, and after saying goodnight to all, she turned in herself.

Not too long after, Charlie and Bill were sitting by a table in the living room, while Mulder and Scully sat on a couch in the other end of the room, facing Tara and Jill, who sat on another couch.

"We better go tell the boys to go to sleep. It's almost ten o'clock!" Tara said to Jill.

"Really, already!" she answered truly astonished at how fast the time had gone by.

As they both headed down to the basement, where the boys' room where, Scully whispered softly in Mulder's ear:

"Do you want to head to bed too, and finish what we started this morning?"

Mulder realized that Bill had seen Scully whispering teasing in Mulder's ear and the sparkle in Mulder's green eyes as she did. First Mulder tried to hide it, but then de decided to prank Bill, and put a hand on Scully's thigh, while kissing her passionate. They kissed for almost a minute, and when they got up to say goodnight to Scully's brothers, and head for the bed in the spare bedroom upstairs, Mulder could see Bill's eyes full of hatred towards him.

"Why do you act that way towards Mulder, Bill? It isn't very civilized, you know?" Charlie said to Bill a few moments after his sister and Mulder had left the room.

"He is bad news, Charlie! I can't believe that none of you are able to see that", Bill answered his younger brother in a strict tone.

"He makes her happy, and he loves her. There is nothing bad about him, Bill", Charlie said annoyed with his brother's narrow-mind.

"I swear, Charlie, when this holiday is over, they won't be together anymore. I'll make her realize what a loser that man is", Bill said in a self-confident voice, that scared his little brother.

Charlie was afraid of what Bill was capable of doing, to get Dana to realize, what he thought to be the truth. He liked Mulder and was definitely going to warn him about Bill in the morning. Not just because it was the right thing to do, but also because he liked Mulder a whole lot. And knew how much he meant to both Dana and Maggie.