Sadly Christmas doesn't fit into the timeline of my story at present, so this will have to do as your Holiday treat for now. I hope you all have an awesome Christmas, and thanks for sticking with this story. Oh, and this chapter contains spoilers for...you've guessed it...Small Potatoes.

"Mommy?"

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong with Mulder?"

Scully finished dishing up a plate of vegetables before placing the potin the sink. "What do you mean?" Putting on a pair of oven gloves that she'd picked up off of the counter, she retrieved the chicken from the oven, trying hard to concentrate on the matter at hand instead of her daughter who was hovering beside her. Since she'd revealed the news about her cancer to Ashley just over a month before, the little girl seemed reluctant to let her mum out of her sight for long, as though she was scared she'd disappear while her back was turned. Scully meanwhile felt fine in herself. Though the cancer was never far from her mind, thanks to the recurring headaches and nosebleeds she had to endure, she kept herself busy with work and family life. Things were ok. She was ok. For now. "Mulder's ok".

"He's acting weird".

Smiling, Scully began slicing the chicken before transferring it to the plates. "He's Mulder; he's always weird".

"But he's acting reallllllllly weird". Ashley had just finished up talking to Mulder on the phone. It had been a few days since she'd seen him, so Scully had allowed her daughter to give him a quick call. Obviously Ashley wasn't too impressed.

"What did he say this time? If he mentioned the Flukeworm again just ignore him. You had nightmares for weeks the last time he told you that story".

"Nooo he didn't tell me a story".

"Well what did he do?"

"I said it was me calling and he said 'Ashley who' and he didn't seem to know who I was".

"He was joking honey".

"But he sounded like he meant it. He sounded confused".

"It's Mulder; he always messes with you".

"What if he's forgotten me?"

"I wouldn't worry; you're pretty unforgettable".

"Can I invite him to dinner?"

"What? No, not tonight. Sweetie can you grab some cutlery please?"

The little girl did as her mom asked. "He sounded like he didn't want to talk to me", she replied dejectedly. Scully paused in her task to put an arm around her daughter and pull her close.

"Don't be silly. Mulder loves you. He was probably just busy, but that doesn't mean he didn't want to speak to you. I happen to know that he thinks you're pretty awesome". She thought back to their recent argument; at the look of horror on Mulder's face when she ordered him to stay away from her daughter. Ashley meant the world to Mulder, and Scully knew it.

"I am awesome", Ashley agreed.

Scully couldn't help but laugh. "And you're so modest too". Picking up the two plates in front of her, Scully followed her daughter over to the dining table and set them down. "Give him a call tomorrow and I'm sure he'll be back to his normal self".

"Was he ok at work?"

"He was fine". He had been acting a little weird, Scully thought to herself, thinking back to their earlier meeting with Skinner, but then that was nothing new. "Now", she said, taking a seat next to her daughter and brushing Ashley's bangs out of her eyes. "Don't worry about Mulder. Eat your dinner before it gets cold and maybe we can watch a movie before bedtime".

Ashley's eyes lit up. "Can we watch Toy Story?"

"Again? Don't you ever get sick of that movie?"

"Uh uh", Ashley shook her head enthusiastically, taking a bite of chicken.

"Alright then". Scully concentrated on her dinner and prepared herself for an evening with Buzz and Woody.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As it happened, Scully didn't need to worry. The movie had barely started when she looked down to see that Ashley had passed out in her arms. Rather than instantly wake her and put her to bed, Scully instead took the time to study her daughter. Ashley was turning into a miniature version of her mom – at least in terms of her appearance. Her wavy blonde hair had grown a lot in recent months and more often than not she had it clipped up in a ponytail. Her eyes, nose and height could all be attributed to Scully, but she had Jack's mouth, and his diabetes, she thought sadly. Thankfully Ashley was coping with her illness remarkably well and had taken to her daily insulin injections like a pro. But besides Jack's mouth and Scully's features, Scully saw a lot of her partner's attributes in her daughter. Yes Ashley had inherited her mom's stubborn streak, but she had Mulder's cheekiness and a knack of having Scully wrapped around her little finger. Scully could hardly believe how much her daughter had changed over the years, but in some ways she was still the same little girl who used to cry whenever she saw Scully's older brother Bill and who refused to go to sleep without her favorite teddy bear, blanket and a kiss from her mom. And Scully realised with a pang that soon there would come a time when she wouldn't be around to tuck her daughter up in bed. She still found it hard to believe that her body was a ticking time bomb; that in months, weeks or even days she could die and leave her daughter alone. But she wasn't going to give up without a damn good fight.

"Hey sleepyhead", she said softly to her daughter, who shifted in her arms but didn't stir. "Wakey wakey baby girl; time for bed".

Ashley slowly came awake, stretching as she let out an impressive yawn. "Hmm?"

"Time for bed".

"I don't want to go to bed", she protested weakly, though she allowed her mom to pull her up off the couch. Scully led her to the bathroom and guided her through brushing her teeth before helping her into her pjs and into bed, noting that Queequeg had taken up his usual spot of sleeping next to the little girl's bed. No sooner had she pulled the covers up, Scully noticed that her daughter was fast asleep once again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Satisfied that Ashley was out for the count, Scully returned to the living room, switching off the television in favor of going through details of the case she and Mulder were working on. She certainly wasn't expecting the knock at the door that came barely ten minutes later. Not expecting her partner, she peered through the spyhole, surprised to find Mulder smiling back at her. There was nothing about the case they had to discuss and he knew that Ashley had to be in bed – something must have been wrong. "Mulder?" She opened the door. "What's up?"

"Scully? Is this a bad time?"

He wasn't bleeding, she noticed, and he didn't appear to be in any distress. Maybe it wasn't an emergency. "No. No uh come on in. Did Ashley invite you?" She thought back to her daughter's earlier suggestion of having Mulder over for dinner.

"Ashley? No". As he moved past her into the apartment, Scully noticed he was carrying a bottle of wine. "Who's that for?"

"Uh…us".

She stared at him, wondering what on earth was going on inside his head, but then she realized it was Mulder. She'd been working with him for over four years and still she didn't know how his mind worked. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. "Ok". She accepted the bottle from him. "Have a seat. Try not to make too much noise; Ashley hasn't been asleep for long". Heading out into the kitchen, she realized that Ashley was right. Mulder was weird.

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After opening the bottle of wine and retrieving two glasses from the kitchen cupboard, Scully returned to the living room and took a seat on the sofa next to her partner. She eyed him cautiously as she poured him a glass of wine. "So seriously Mulder, what's going on? You ok?" Handing him his drink, she then poured a glass for herself.

"Mmm. I was just kinda knocking around and was…" he paused to clink his glass against Scully's. "just thinking". He coughed as he took a sip of wine. "Uh good. We never really uh…talk much…do we?"

"What do you mean like…really talk?" Scully half wondered whether she was imagining this entire conversation. "No, no we don't Mulder". Yes they saw each other outside of work, but it was largely due to Ashley, and all conversations revolved around the little girl.

"Well what's stopping us?"

When she couldn't think of a good enough reason, Scully sighed and sat back, preparing herself for the long night ahead.

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Scully didn't object when, after finishing his glass of wine, Mulder rose from the sofa and started rifling through her CD collection. Neither did she protest when he lit a fire – she was a little cold after all. The next thing she knew he was pouring the last remaining drops of wine into her glass, and her head was a little woozy. She was also telling Mulder things she'd never told him before. Her sober self would have been mortified. "So there we are at two o clock in the morning; me and my moire taffeta dress and Marcus in whatever the hell it was he was wearing…" She paused as Mulder finished pouring her drink. "Thank you very much. It had a umm…a Kelly green cummerbund on it. Anyway, so I know that Marcus is thinking that it's now or never and I'm thinking…"

"What are you thinking?" Mulder prompted.

"I'm thinking, 'what is that siren I hear getting louder?"

"No way! Who called the cops?"

"It wasn't the cops, it was the fire department. My friend Sylvia and her idiot prom date –"

"Berwood?"

"Had built this campfire that went totally out of control and so we all had to ride back on the umm…what do you call it? The umm the pumper truck. Yeah. Marcus was the twelfth grade love of my life". Chuckling to herself, Scully took a sip of wine. "I can't believe I'm telling you this".

"I don't believe you haven't told me before".

"Now I'm seeing a whole new side of you Mulder".

"Is that a good thing?"

"I like it". She caught his eye, her face flushing. She did like it too. It felt good to connect with Mulder on a personal level; particularly after everything they'd been through recently. She was glad that their recent argument was now a thing of the past, though she couldn't help but think back to Mulder's kiss. It had surprised her at the time, particularly after the way he'd spoken to her earlier that evening, but it hadn't been unwelcome. Not entirely anyway.

"Do you ever wish things were different?"

"What do you mean?"

"The person you wanted to be when you grew up, when you were in high school. How far off from that did you end up?"

"I never expected to be a single mom if that's what you're asking. And career wise? Miles off target".

"No no, not just that. Do you ever wish…that you could go back and do it all differently?"

"Do you?"

When she saw Mulder nod in affirmation, Scully then realized he must have been thinking about their recent kiss. Her eyes widened as he scooted across the sofa next to her, and her lips parted as she anticipated his touch once again. She wasn't going to push him away, she decided in the moment. She was going to let him try again, and it would be different this time. She could feel his breath against her lips; practically taste him, and just as he moved to close the remaining distance between them, the front door burst open. Scully, in horror, saw her partner standing in the doorway and looked back to the man who was practically on top of her. And then she knew. Pushing him back, she got to her feet and looked on in a mixture of amazement and disgust as he slowly became Eddie Van Blundht. She'd almost kissed this man, she realized with revulsion; she'd let this man into her home where her daughter slept soundly in the next room, and she almost let him take advantage of her. Mulder meanwhile also looked pretty dismayed at what he had seen; taking in the empty wine bottle, the roaring fire, the seductive music filling the room. He knew exactly what had almost happened, and he wasn't particularly happy about it. As he closed the door and moved to apprehend Van Blundht, Scully quickly set about restoring her living room to normal – putting out the fire, turning off the music and clearing away the wine glasses. She was just returning from the kitchen when she heard the door to Ashley's bedroom open, and saw the little girl walk out. "Mom?"

"Go back to bed sweetie". She tried to intercept Ashley on the way to the living room, but the little girl beat her there.

"Hi Mulder". It was then Ashley saw the strange man sat on the sofa. "Who are you?"

"He's nobody Ash; get back to bed", Mulder answered, a look of satisfaction overcoming him as he saw Van Blundht grimace at his choice of words. He was a nobody, but a nobody who had almost kissed Scully. Deep down Mulder wanted to know why Scully had done it, why she was willing to let Van Blundht kiss her. Was it the alcohol? After all, Mulder had seen the empty bottle of wine residing on the coffee table. Or was there a part of her that believed he really was Mulder; that she was willing to let him kiss her once again? Still, he thought to himself, Scully knew him better than anyone; she should have known that Van Blundht was an imposter.

"Are you ok Mulder?"

He looked over at the little girl who seemed as though she was still half asleep, and nodded. "I'm fine. We'll talk tomorrow, ok?"

"Are you feeling better?"

"Better?" Now he was confused.

"You sounded weird on the phone earlier".

"I did?" Suddenly it clicked. Not only did Eddie get in to Scully's house, but he'd also impersonated Mulder on the phone to the little girl. "So your eight year old knew something was up Scully", he remarked dryly to her. She at least had the decency to blush. Rather than face her partner's jibes, Scully instead took hold of her daughter's hand and pulled her in the direction of her bedroom. "Say goodnight to Mulder. You can speak to him tomorrow", Scully promised, though she would make sure it would be over the phone rather than in person. She needed some time before she could face him after her actions that evening.

"Night Mulder".

"Night Ash". As both Scully and her daughter disappeared from view, Mulder read Van Blundht his rights and cuffed him. "You're coming with me".

"You've got a good thing going here", Eddie remarked, and Mulder resisted the urge to punch him. He'd just made an awkward situation a damn sight more complicated. "She thought I was you, and she was going to kiss me back".

Mulder paused before dragging Van Blundht to his feet. Maybe there was a chance for he and Scully after all.

Happy Holidays!