"Dana, will you please come help me make the stuffing for the turkey?" Maggie's voice drifted over the sounds of Christmas music.

"Yeah, mom. Be right there!" Scully hollered back at her. She turned to her husband apologetically. "Mulder, will you please help me up?"

Mulder took his arm out from behind her head and stood up, offering his hands to her for leverage. She was nineteen weeks now, and the baby was in full bloom. According to the baby book he was reading, their little girl was the size of a mango. They knew for sure now that their baby was a girl. Their appointment last week confirmed it. Both he and Scully knew she could full well get up on her own, but according to Scully it made her back hurt less at night when he helped her.

She went off to go help her mom. His eyes followed her form until she disappeared around the corner. Looking back to his present company, he immediately became uncomfortable. Bill Jr. was staring a hole into his head. And Melissa… she was smirking at him over the top of her cup of Chai tea. Their silent attention made him wish that there wasn't so much snow outside. He could escape the tension if there weren't. Looking down at his hands, he wished that Charlie would show up soon and provide a distraction. He got along really well with Charlie, thank goodness. They wouldn't be here until tomorrow though. There was a huge storm moving into Maryland; they were likely to be snowed in until New Year's.

Glancing back up, Mulder couldn't help himself. "Missy," he began lightly. "What gives?" He couldn't help the hot feeling that tinged the tips of his ears. He didn't like to be center of attention.

He wasn't even going to register Bill's presence. He knew from past experiences in their last life that it was best to just leave Bill be. Talking to him or trying to play nice only made it worse.

"Nothing." Missy's smirk grew wider. Her head ducked down lower to try and hide it. "Dana and I talk. That's all."

Mulder narrowed his eyes at her. There was a certain… nefarious… aspect to her tone that made him nervous.

"You sure take care of her real well." Her emphasis on the latter part of her statement made it obvious that she was hinting at something that he definitely didn't want to be mentioned out loud in front of his brother and father-in-law.

Bill Jr. scoffed loudly and got up to leave. He was clearly not pleased with Melissa's statement.

She laughed under her breath at her brother's reaction. "He is so easy," she mentioned after he had left the room.

Thankfully, the shrill ringing of his cell phone prevented him from having to answer Melissa.

"Hello" he spoke into the phone once he made it into the hallway.

A male voice spoke of the line. "Agent Fox Mulder?"

"Speaking. Who is this?"

"This is Special Agent Moe Bocks. I'm calling about a case in Minneapolis..."

Mulder felt like all of the air had been sucked out from around him. "What's the case?" he croaked out.

"There's been a grave disturbed out here and some people are under the impression that aliens are the ones who did it."

"You think that aliens are responsible for a grave desecration? Mulder tried to sound nonchalant, even though his heart felt like it was going to explode. Anger and hatred flowed through his veins.

"I saw a lot of things like that during my stint with the Violent Crimes Section. You're going to want to look for backhoe tracks somewhere nearby. What is the exact nature of the desecration? What's been disturbed?"

Bocks swallowed audibly. "Well, the hair has been cut… The fingernails are gone, too."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like a classic model." Mulder sighed and bit down on his temper. "The person you're looking for has probably worked at a cemetery or a mortuary at one time or another. He may work at the same cemetery where the desecration happened, but I doubt it. It would be too risky at this point..."

The other agent was clearly uneasy. "So, you think we're dealing with a person here?"

"If you want to call him that..."

"Anything else that I should immediately have the PD down here start scoping through?"

"Uh, yeah. You should look for a man in his 30s or 40s. Probably grew up being the only boy in his family. Mother is probably deceased. He's either killing out of aggression because of her. That should be a good amount of information to help begin your search. I would come out to help, but I'm snowed in at my in-laws currently and the forcast doesn't have the weather clearing out for another week or so."

"Well, Agent Mulder. I can't thank you enough. I hope you have a nice Christmas with your family."

"I'll get in touch with some of my contacts and see if I can't come up with any names to check out. If there's one thing that rings trues with these types of monsters… he's going to eventually end up escalating to real women. And he'll escalate in level of violence, too." Mulder dragged a palm down the side of his face. This was not a call that he ever wanted to get again.

A shudder ran down his spine as his memory recalled the image of Scully, looking so small and broken after escaping Pfaster's demented grip. He never wanted her to have to go through it… or even think about it… again. He wished he would never have to, as well. Pfaster had messed with Scully's mind more than he ever thought possible. Mulder's stomach churned at the knowledge that he was going to have to go tell her about it on the day before Christmas.

After he wrapped up the conversation, Mulder reluctantly went off to find Scully. He found her in the dining room, helping her mom set the table. Bill was also there bringing in an extra pair of chairs. Great. He cleared his throat quietly. "Scully?"

"Uh huh..." She didn't look at him when she answered. She kept on counting out the silverware.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Now? We're just going to announce dinner..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It can't wait."

Her eyes snapped up to meet his. He tried to mask his nerves and remain passive.

"Okay." She began to follow him out of the doorway.

Mulder caught Bill glaring at him as he let Scully go in front of him. Maggie seemed to catch it too because she swatted Bill's arm with a dishtowel.

She chided him in a tone that probably used to strike fear into the young Scully children's minds. "Enough."

Scully glanced back at Mulder and continued to look at him as they walked towards the bedrooms. However, she didn't say anything until they were both standing in Scully's childhood bedroom, which was also serving as their temporary room while they were staying there. "What is it?" she asked worriedly, her brow knitting together as her mind started jumping from possibility to possibility.

"I just got a call from an agent in Minneapolis..."

"Mulder, it's Christmas…" she began to whine in protest.

"Scully." His tone was scaring her now. He could tell. "The call was about the Pfaster case."

Her mouth formed to say, "Oh," but no real sound came out. She wasn't quite sure what to say.

"I told him that we're snowed in and that we won't be able to make it out there for at least a week. I gave him a basic profile to go off of… hopefully they find Pfaster before he actually kills anyone."

She hugged her arms around her rounded frame. "Okay," she said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Mulder took the opportunity to kneel down in front of her. "Scully, we just need to be prepared to go out there and deal with this is they can't catch him. I told the agent that I would use my contacts out here to try and find any names to check out so we can try and help them that way without having to go near him, but..."

"Okay. Okay," she repeated again. She felt like she was a million miles away from him. It worried him a little bit. He knew how strong she was… but he also knew that Pfaster still made a regular appearance in her nightmares.

"I didn't want you to be mad at me for not telling you about it."

"No. I know." She reached out and grabbed his hand. "Thank you, Mulder." She squeezed it for emphasis.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fi-" She paused. "I'll be okay."

He leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. "It's all going to be okay, Scully." He kissed her abdomen, too. Looking up at her, with his chin in the rise of her small protruding belly, he asked her, "Do you want to go down with me? Or do you want to wait up here and be alone for a little bit?"

She blinked down at him slowly. "I, uh, want to go with you… but can we wait a few more minutes?"

"Yeah… Yeah… Of course we can, Scully."