Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Scully Residence
8:00 pm
After Christmas Eve dinner had finished, Fox watched Dana start to help her mother and sister clean up while Hannah happily continued to pick at her dessert in her highchair. He smiled just a little bit as he studied the messy toddler and then glanced to the door when he noticed Dana's father leaving the room. Dana had told him that her family had a tradition of watching A Christmas Carol after they had finished eating and cleaning up on Christmas Eve so he was assuming her father was going to set up the movie. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment before slowly standing to go speak to his girlfriend's father in the family room.
William Scully had not exactly been pleased with him and Dana after the surprise pregnancy announcement at Thanksgiving dinner nearly a month ago, but he was slowly becoming more accepting. It probably helped in his eyes that Fox had never hurt Dana, unlike the man who had gotten her pregnant with Hannah, but Fox couldn't say that actually made him feel any better about speaking with William lately. Fox knew all William wanted was for his daughter to be happy; he did not like those who hurt her. That fact was part of the reason why Bill Jr. wasn't present at the Scully family's Christmas celebrations that year, along with the fact that Bill had stated that he would rather spend Christmas with his girlfriend's family instead of dealing with his pregnant, slut sister. Those comments had not gone over well with his father.
Just thinking about Dana's jerk of an older brother made Fox's blood boil. It still baffled him that any brother could treat his little sister like Bill Jr. had. He definitely knew he would never ever come close to treating Samantha that way, and he would want to kill anyone would try to treat her like that. His sister had been through far too much in her life to be treated like that now, as had Dana.
Before entering the living room and approaching William, Fox had to take another deep breath, trying to gather his courage. Finally, he approached the man, slowly sitting down in an armchair near him. "Sir..." he started uneasily, using the formal title William had told him not to use the first time he met him. After the blow up at Thanksgiving, Fox felt as though he no longer had the right to be informal with him. "I would like...um...I would like to ask you something..." He trailed off a little and glanced to William, gulping when he saw Dana's father staring at him. "If I may..." he added uncertainly, his voice quiet.
There was silence for a few moments, the only sound Fox could hear being the sound of his own pounding heart in his ears as he waited nervously for William to say something. "Well, what is it?" William finally asked, his voice surprisingly calm to Fox.
Fox cleared his throat and quickly looked down, fiddling with a string on the hem of his shirt nervously. "Um...I want to ask to marry your daughter," he explained softly. "And...and I would like to ask for your permission." He looked up at him, needing to blink a few times when he realised tears had filled his eyes. He didn't even know what he would do if William Scully wouldn't allow him to marry Dana. "I-I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her and Hannah...and our baby. I promise I'll protect them with everything that I am. I won't ever let anything hurt her..."
"Fox," William interrupted, surprising Fox when he started chuckling quietly. "I don't need you to explain your reasonings to me. I can see how much you and Danna love on another. I may have been angry and disappointed with the both of you when I first heard your news, but just watching the two of you over the last month has helped me come to accept it. That and the fact that the two of you are clearly perfect for one another." He gave Fox a small smile and slowly leaned forward to clap the young man on the shoulder. "Ask her to marry you, Fox. There would never be anyone else I would want to marry my little girl besides you. You have my permission and my blessing."
Fox's eyes widened and he let out a small laugh, a large smile growing on his face. "Thank you, sir!" he exclaimed happily, his smile falling when the man gave him a look at the formality of his words. "William," Fox corrected, his smile slowly starting to come back.
Chuckling, William nodded at his enthusiasm, turning his attention back to the tv as he brought up the menu for the movie. "I know I don't have to tell you to be good to her," he told him with a pointed look.
Shaking his head, Fox's smile continued to grow. "No, William. I would die before I was anything else to her."
I am so sorry for how long this took me. School and everything. I hope the time jump was okay, I was having issues figuring out what to right in between Christmas and Thanksgiving so I just skipped right to Christmas. I just hope it was worth the wait for everyone and that it fit :) I apologise for the length, but I felt that this needed to be done on its own and not within a larger chapter. Thanks for bearing with me! :D
Oh, also thank you to JustTooMuch on AO3 for helping me and motivating me!