Author's Note: Chapter Two is up, hope everyone enjoys, I have a lot of ideas in my head floating around so stay tuned for more!

Georgetown

Dana Scully Residence

Christmas Eve

11:37 am

Dana Scully was just about ready to head over to her mother's house for the night as she counted all the things she needed to bring with her. Stuffing, check. Change of clothes and overnight bag, check. Presents for her mother and sister, check. Present for Charlie, check. Presents for everybody else including the elderly neighbors, check. She was ready to go, except for that Mulder had still not called her. He was probably sleeping she thought at first, but then remembered a conversation they had recently in which he told her that he barely slept past seven on the weekends.

So maybe he was distracted by the television or had gone out for a bite to eat or maybe he was in the shower. Before she knew it or could do anything about it, she was imagining him showering. His lean nude body glistening in the morning light as the water droplets pelted his perfect skin. She could see him shampooing his beautiful lush hair and running his hands through it over and over again. She saw his hands running over his chest, oh God how she wanted to feel his chest again…

No. Stop it Dana she thought to herself. The man was her partner not her personal sexy fantasy man she could think about whenever she felt…the urge. The shame she had felt a few times before came surging back into her mind.

It wasn't a…dirty thing. She had just…thought about him a few times while aroused. It was perfectly natural, to think of an attractive man she was close with in that way. At least that's what she told herself afterwards. And it wasn't like she had ever gotten 'off' to the pure thought of him before, he just sometimes…graced her thoughts while she was in the middle of, well, it.

Dana suddenly realized she was standing in the middle of her living room carrying the bag of presents and overnight bag. Once again, he had stopped her from doing what she needed to be doing.

She slung the duffle bag over her shoulder and moved into the kitchen. Just as she was able to balance the bowl of stuffing into the cradle of her arm the phone rang from her desk near the window in the living room. She quickly dropped the stuffing back down on the counter and moved to her desk picking up the phone after the third ring.

"Dana Scully," she said very officially.

"Uh yeah is the hotline for the kid's charity going on?" It was Mulder. "I'd like to make a donation of three expired cans of soup please."

"Mulder," she said plainly back.

"Oh come on Scully not even a giggle?" he asked breaking character. "It's Christmas shouldn't you have to laugh at all my jokes?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." She said very sarcastically but keeping the mood light. She didn't want him to think she was angry with him. No, she wanted him to know how happy she was that he had called, even though she knew she couldn't tell him.

"Alright Ebenezer calm down," he jokingly said back. "Anyways Scully my parents and I will be joining your festivities tonight, if that's still okay."

She smiled very widely and was glad he couldn't see her right now. "We're glad to have all of you," she said simply.

"What time should we be over?" he asked.

"Oh, uh probably about 5ish? My mom always eats early," she explained not knowing she never needed to explain herself to him.

"Alright then I won't finish off the expired soup," he answered. "See you at 5ish Scully."

"See you then Mulder." The line clicked and she slowly put the phone back down onto the receiver. She stood there for a few seconds basking in absolute joy. Then she picked up all her things and headed out of her apartment for her mother's house. This could quickly become her favorite Christmas Eve to date.

Arlington, Virginia

Margaret Scully Residence

Christmas Eve

2:31 pm

"Mom!" Dana shouted as her mom walked into the kitchen.

"I'm right here darling what is it?" Margaret asked walking past her daughter and opening a drawer near the dishwasher.

"What do you want to do about this?" Scully asked motioning to the broken faucet.

"Just…leave it for now, I'll get your dad to look at it when he gets back," Margaret said calmly as she continued to rummage through the drawers.

Scully looked over at her mother like a person looks at an injured dog. "Mom…," she said quietly.

"What is it darling?" she asked unaware of her error.

"Mom…," Scully said softer as she felt the beginnings of tears form in the crevices of her eyes.

Margaret Scully looked up at her daughter with a confused look on her face. "Well Dana honey spit it out, what is it? Why do you look like your about to cry?"

Dana Scully moved over to where her mother was standing and tightly embraced her, trying to give all the love she could before she broke her poor frail heart.

"Dana…what's wrong? Is Fox not coming?" she asked quizzically.

She thought quickly about that last part of her mother's question. Did her mother really think that having Mulder not show up would cause her to cry openly? Maybe. Truth be told, she didn't know herself, but this wasn't about Mulder and she quickly looked her mother in the eyes.

"Mom you said you would have dad take a look at the faucet when he…got back," she said trying to refrain from crying. Her mom's expression instantly went blank as she realized she had indeed said that.

"Oh honey…," she said restoring the hug pulling her daughter close. Dana could feel her mother's tears begin to drip down onto her thin polyester sweater. "It's just been so…so strange," Margaret said softly whispering into Dana's ear. "Not having him here…I guess I'm just slipping now and then. And with your brother overseas, well I just think I'm missing the strong men in my life."

"It's okay Mom," Dana whispered back as she held her mother close. Her father's death just a few months prior had taken them all by complete surprise and although she knew it had taken an extreme toll on her mother, she didn't know how much her mother had faded away. With her father, her mother had been a complete puzzle. Now, with him gone she was missing pieces, most of her pieces. And she couldn't display a perfect picture without all the pieces to her puzzle. Dana had felt a few of her own pieces get stripped away as well, but nowhere near to the degree of what her mother had felt.

Her mother retracted from the embrace and grabbed a nearby dish towel to wipe her eyes. Dana wiped her eyes with her sleeve as she sniffled a few times.

"It's Christmas, we shouldn't be sad," Margaret said calmly restarting her work on the dishes. "When did you say Fox and his parents would be here?" she asked.

"Um, I told him 5ish," Dana said quickly. "When will Melissa and Charlie be here?"

"Your sister should be arriving any minute and Charlie said he would try and be here by 4," Margaret answered.

The oven suddenly dinged and her mother went to open it. "Perfect," she said quietly as she pushed a few buttons and shut the oven door.

"So," Margaret said moving to the countertop where Dana was standing as she began to slice fresh tomatoes. "Did you get something for Fox?"

"Um, yes, yes I did, though I don't know if he'll like it," she answered truthfully as she positioned the knife in her hand correctly.

"Are you giving it to him tonight or in the morning?" Margaret asked innocently.

"Mom," she said suspiciously. "Obviously I'll give it to him tonight, it's not like he'll want to stay over, or planned on it."

"Oh you never know darling," Margaret said as she brushed past her. "Men are sometimes very surprising."

"Well where would he sleep?" Dana asked as her mom was exiting the kitchen.

"I think that parts up to you sweetie," her mother said as she winked once more at her and rounded the corner exiting the kitchen and leaving Dana standing there without the slightest inkling as to what her mother had meant.