A Jewish Christmas?

Part 3

By Trycee

Time-Line: Season 4: After Paper Hearts and El Mundo Gria and Before: Leonard Betts, Never Again, and Momento Mori.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, it is owned by Chris Carter. This is written for Fun not profit.

**This is a different take on the Mulder goes to Scully's House for Christmas. This is Scully goes to Mulder's mother's house for Christmas Eve and then Mulder goes to Scully's mom's house for Christmas day, season 4.

Mulder glanced over to Scully curled up under a blanket and pillow wedged by the car door, asleep and looking peaceful. He loved moments like this when he could freely look at her without fear, he could see her delicate features, beautiful without heavy makeup, her striking lips with lipstick or pouty lips without...no matter how he saw them it always made him want to kiss those lips...those lips that had brushed against his cheek when she'd lifted him up when he was hurt or that got his full attention no matter what she said, even when she was mad. Her hair...dark hair is what he could see being color-blind, but he always wanted to run his fingers through her hair...it was always soft, always sweet smelling...always so Scully...his Scully...if only she knew it.

He had to keep from staring at her or else they'd drive off the road...it was late morning when they left but now it was dark with only the street lamps that lined the highway lighting the way to Greenwich, Connecticut. He could see Scully sleeping soundly every time he passed a light post and just as the light hit her face, it seemed to light something within him...something he was struggling with...how could it be that he loved her? He wasn't sure...but he only knew that he did...for along time now but was trying to come to grips with it. After all...most of the women in his life had betrayed him in some form or the other. The worst to hurt him was the woman he should feel the most for...Elizabeth "Teena" Kuipers Mulder. But it was surprising that she was not the one he felt the most for...she was the one he least had feelings for...the one he cared for the most was lying beside him, snuggled up against a foggy window, with her head smushed down into the crevice between the door and her seat where her pillow had wedged itself, and he couldn't help but feel absolute love for her...pure and complete.

Mulder's mind though went back to his mother...What was the reason she wanted to see him suddenly after all these years of holidays...he'd never spent them with her and all of his memories of the holidays were painful. All he remembered was his confusion...his mother's hatred directed towards him because Samantha wasn't there to spend the holidays with them...and he remembered also...her hatred towards his father.

What would this holiday be like? What would spending a Christmas Eve dinner with her be like? It had been so long he couldn't remember. All he could recall was the few times he'd gotten the chance to hear Scully's family celebrations in the background when he'd called her. Their first Christmas as partners, he'd surprised her by calling her Christmas day. He could hear laughter in the background and she sounded so happy and peaceful spending the day with her mother and father at her apartment. That was also the day her father died...the second Christmas, he didn't want to think about...and the third one...he'd spent Christmas evening watching a lame movie with her...some B movie he'd picked up the night before when she said she was stopping by after her mother's to bring him a gift. It had been his first Christmas gift since Diana and Phoebe...this was the first gift a woman had given him since them...and it was from her...his lovely partner...the woman he secretly loved. As he wound through the streets leading to his mother's home, he gently ran his finger across her face..."Scully...we're almost there..." , he said in a gentle voice.

Scully's eyes sprang open and she looked around. The homes were beautiful lined up on the streets with bright Christmas lights all around them. She hadn't had the time to appreciate these homes the time she'd come before. She knew Teena's house the minute she sat eyes on it...it was the only one not decorated. Her neighbor's must hate her, Scully thought as she tried to wake herself from her five hour car-driven coma. Mulder turned off the ignition and turned to her, smiling. She smiled back, stretching and trying to get the crook out of her neck. "I should've slept the other way," she yawned.

"Yeah, so you could've ended up on my lap the whole way," Mulder smiled leeringly.

"Mulder, I'd deck you but I don't think you're mother would like me too much if I did..."

"Come on," he said, stepping out into the snow.

The roads had been plowed and compacted which made his shoes slick over and cause him to slid slightly as he made his way back to the trunk to retrieve their overnight bags. He walked in front of Scully as she trailed in the back, trying to hide her nervousness at showing up at Mulder's mother's home uninvited. He gave her a genuine smile trying to convey to her to relax...that he was with her. She rolled her eyes and waited as he rang the doorbell.

Teena opened the door and smiled slightly as she stood in front of her son. "Fox!", she said, as he hugged her.

She gave him a stiff hug back and then nodded towards Scully. "Dana..."

"Hello, Mrs. Mulder," Scully said, trying to smile. "Thank You for letting me stay overnight..."

"Its the holiday's...", she said, hanging up their coats. She headed towards the den which held two glass doors that were opened. "Fox, put Dana's bag's upstairs...you'll be sleeping down here tonight."

Scully blushed bright red and looked over to Mulder. He looked surprised as well. He knew that despite the fact that his mother was born in Ohio, she had in fact been raised in New England in wealth and with her formal and correct manner's she was letting her son know that she would not in anyway allow her unmarried son to sleep under her roof in the same room with his girlfriend. Mulder thought that maybe he should straightened out the issue of the relationship between himself and Scully...to let his mother know they were merely best friends...partners but then he decided against it...it was none of her business. He gave a wink to Scully who looked thoroughly embarrassed and took her bag upstairs to Teena's guest room across from her own room. Scully stood downstairs with Teena who gave a small smile. She wished she could read her expressions but Teena was a blank slate, stern and emotionless...What must she be thinking?, Scully wondered. They waited until Mulder returned and then Teena gestured that they all sit in the den.

Mulder walked in and his eyes immediately rested on the 9 ft tree lit up in the corner of the den. He turned around in a circle noticing the fireplace lit up with a wreath above it. "I'm sorry, I think we came to the wrong house," he announced.

Scully shot him a look that said, 'Shut up Mulder!', but he was too in shock to respond. Teena told them to sit down and then brought them out a tray filled with both glittery Christmas and Hanukkah-shaped cookies and eggnog. "This is definitely the wrong house!", Mulder said, sitting next to Scully.

She turned her head to him slowly, shooting him a, 'I'm warning you!', look. Teena seemed pleased that Scully could handle her son, as she watched the interaction between them. "Was it a long drive, Fox? With the holiday rush?"

"No...not too bad," he answered. "The 5 hr trip took closer to 7 hr's just getting through the greater D.C area at a snail's pace."

"So you're going to your parents home tomorrow?", Teena said turning her attention to Scully.

Scully looked a little frightened as she stared over to Teena. She had no ideal of how to deal with this woman. She was so different from her own mother, she had a cool exterior, a tight lip expression and aloofness that made Scully wonder how in the world this woman gave birth to such an emotional man as Mulder? "Ah...Yes...in very early. We need to be back in D.C tomorrow evening...we're back at work the day after."

Teena smiled slightly but even Scully could see that it was strained. This was a woman that rarely smiled, Scully figured.

"I hope your both hungry," Teena announced.

Mulder looked confused, shooting a look to Scully and then back towards his mother. "You cooked?"

"It was catered," she said, standing up to lead them towards the dining room. "Since its been so long since we've spent a holiday together...I thought I'd combine a few things...after all...Hanukkah has already passed weeks ago."

"Hannukah?", Mulder stuttered. "Since when do you celebrate Hanukkah, mom?"

She turned around sharply. "I don't...You did once...as a boy. Do you remember?"

"Yes of course I remember," he said bewildered. "But we...we..."

"Fox...Close your mouth, that's unattractive to stand there with your mouth gaped open!"

Mulder closed his mouth and then turned to Scully who was lagging behind them. He rested his eyes upon her and she stepped up closer to him, grabbing his hand as if she would infuse some strength and patience into him. He nodded and she released her grip. He turned back to follow his mother into the grand dining room. The three of them sat at one end as the caterer, a small black haired woman in her 40's served up the soups. Scully could see that in her small trace of a bowl as well as Mulder's there was Matzo ball soup but in Teena's bowl there was Clam Chowder. It was strange to Scully because as formal as some of her mother's dinner's have been, there was still a homeyness to it that was lacking in this event. Teena sat as the head overseeing the dinner with Mulder and Scully glancing nervously back and forth to each other.. They ate their soups in silence and as soon as they had finished the caterer brought out the second course, a tiny loose-leaf salad. After that course, the caterer poured them more wine and served the main course of Beef brisket served with a wine sauce, potato latkes with applesauce, and glazed carrots. After the meal, they were served a thin wedge of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

After the meal, Teena asked that the caterer bring them all out cups of coffee as they sat near the fire place. They retreated back to the den, both feeling stuffed to the brim. Scully sat closer to Mulder for moral support, knowing that despite the pleasantries earlier, at any moment, Mulder and his mother could explode into severe tension if not curtailed immediately. Teena was staring into the fireplace, waiting for the coffee and once it was served, she seemed to relax a little, for her that was. Scully couldn't help but study her, trying to compare her to her son. There were certain traits that were very familiar with Teena while others were so far from Mulder she couldn't distinguish them. Mulder though was anxious and he kept glancing back over to Scully for reassurance, his eyes telling her that if anything jumped off between him and his mother, they'd leave immediately and get a motel. It was amazing the messages they conveyed without words...as if she could hear his thoughts in her head like ESP. Teena broke Scully's concentration on Mulder as she told him to gather the two gifts under the tree. Mulder looked back into Scully's eyes, as if he were surprised again at his mother but dutifully, he stood up and walked over to the tree and reached under it without tipping the tree over and pulled out the gifts. He handed them to his mother but she held up her hands, and gestured for them to open them. Mulder again returned a look to Scully and passed her the gift labeled surprisingly with her name.

Mulder opened the gift slowly as if he thought it would explode, but found a leather bound Bible with gold lettering in the paper folds. He smiled at his mother and told her thank you. Scully too cautiously opened the gift. It was a red scarf, a plain cashmere scarf Scully knew cost $90 at Nordstrom's. She'd nearly bought the same scarf for her mother but decided against it. $90 for a scarf she'd thought was just too outrageous. Nothing low-key in the Mulder household, she thought to herself, and then felt badly that she'd thought such a thing after all of Teena's kindness.

Mulder smiled to his mother and pulled out a small box neatly wrapped with the nearly $500 cross pendant in it, handing it to her. "Its from the both of us," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Teena opened it. "Thank You Fox...Thank You Dana," she said, with little emotion.

Mulder looked deflated and then turned back to Scully with a 'I told you so', expression on his face.

"Well," Teena began. "I'm a little tired. I've got to pay the caterer and then I'm going to go rest," she said, standing up. She placed a hand on Mulder's shoulder as she stood over him. "Thank You for coming Fox. I'm glad to see you."

Mulder placed a warm hand on top of hers resting on his shoulder. "I love you mom."

"I love you too Fox," she said with a smile.

She reached out for Scully's hand and Scully placed it in Teena's. "Thank You Dana for coming."

"Thank You," Scully answered back.

"Well, I better go pay the caterer," she said, releasing her grip on the two of them and walked swiftly away.

Mulder was sporting a smile to Scully's surprise. "Mulder?"

"Scully...this is the closest I've ever come to having a regular family holiday with my mother," he said, quietly.

She looked down at her hands and then up into his eyes and smiled. "Can we just sit and look at the fire a bit?"

"Sure...I'll probably be staring at it all night," he sighed, taking off his suit jacket and sitting down on the floor, watching the flickering of flames.

Scully reached out and touched his head, running her fingers through his soft thick hair and then quickly removed it, sitting back pretending to look at the fire while watching Mulder out the corner of her eye.

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