Acting Natural

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully aren't mine. The X Files aren't mine. Bill's bitter hatred for Mulder isn't mine, but it sure as hell makes things more interesting. Thanksgiving and Christmas aren't mine. Pretty much all that IS mine is this nutty little fic that I wrote a plot line to and stole...erm, borrowed Chris Carter's characters for. Its just more fun with his dynamic duo. :)

Special thanks to my beta buddy, Jen. I couldn't post without you...well, I could, but there'd be a lot of mistakes. ^-^

A/N: This is a really bizarre fic that I dreamed up (I think literally) one night in bed. I forget why but I was thinking about Mulder and Scully and holidays and of course, Bill being there to get pissy, and I put together the plot line of this fic. I needed provocation for Scully's plan, so that's where this first chapter came from. Consider it A/U if you don't think that Scully would react so drastically to this situation, but I could see her doing it in her more relaxed/emotional moments. It 'tis a good plan...and a righteous one. I hope you enjoy reading about it. As always, I believe in stories posted in chapters, lots of reviews to satisfy my muse, and pleasant endings! Nothing I write ever takes place after the no Mulder Scully's pregnant thing. I like the good ol' days. Happy reading!

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Chapter 1

Dana Scully stood alone in her mother's kitchen. Her face was enflamed with rage, and she was sure that she'd turned red in the other room. She was enjoying a cooling down period after a run in with her brother, Bill.

The extended Scully family was in the dining room, eating a nice Thanksgiving dinner which took her mother the entire day to prepare. It was a huge occasion to have the whole family together in this manner. Not only were the Scully boys and their families present, but also seemingly forgotten aunts, uncles, and cousins, whom Dana hadn't seen since childhood.

That was the precise reason that Mrs. Scully organized this immense family gathering that was taking place. She had some sort of epiphany when Bill and Tara had their second child that October.

Mrs. Scully began worrying about their family ties and the fact that they so rarely saw one another. By the time little Elianna was a week old, Mrs. Scully was already making phone calls and planning the huge Thanksgiving Day get together.

Margaret spent days cleaning and cooking and Scully even came up early to help her mother with everything. She knew how much this dinner meant to her mom, and how much work had gone into it. Scully felt a wave of remorse -not the first one of the evening- about her retreat to the kitchen.

Mrs. Scully prepared a plethora of food. Among the side dishes were mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, beats, peas and carrots, and cranberry sauce. There were home made biscuits, bread, and deviled eggs. There were boat loads of delicious gravy and at the center of it all, a humongous stuffed turkey. The meal was fit for royalty, and her family had eagerly dug into it.

Everyone was in the dining room at the moment. The adults were squeezed around Mrs. Scully's beautifully set table, while the children and younger cousins sat at folding tables placed around the room.

Only a few minutes before Scully sat at that very table, enjoying a delicious meal and laughing with her family. Her aunts engaged her in conversation about what she'd been doing since college; her younger cousins shyly admired her beauty and sophistication, while the little ones ran around the tables, knocking over chairs and cups and getting scolded by their parents.

Somehow the conversation in the room changed to current professions. In a short while every adult present had turned and focused their attention on Dana's job with the X Files. As Scully tried to explain her position at the FBI and make it sound credible, Bill launched into one of his spiels about the utter waste of his little sister's talent. Oh, not to mention the loss of Melissa, the joke of their cases, and her "spooky" partner who was clearly off his rocker. It only took him minutes to rally the whole room to sympathy for poor lost Dana, stuck in the basement and confined with a crazy man. Her aunts and uncles all wondered why she didn't do something about it. Couldn't she speak to the AD or go into the medical field? Anything but stick it out with a lunatic and be laughed at by all of DC. Bill wouldn't even let her answer their questions or defend herself, not that she was thinking clearly by that time anyway, and he kept feeding them full of bull.

Scully felt her face flush red and her blood come to an even boil. Embarrassed and completely enraged she muttered some excuse as she stood up from the table and fled to the refuge of the kitchen. She stood there now, staring at the cabinets and wondering what on earth she had just witnessed in her mother's dining room.

How could Bill have acted so unbelievably rude? He made a total mockery of her entire life while family and friends who hadn't seen her in over ten years sat and gawked, turning their pity upon her for no good reason. She hadn't even defended herself! Scully was afraid that if she'd opened her mouth she would have ruined her mother's dinner entirely, and it wasn't fair to have others' Thanksgivings ruined just because Bill was a horses ass.

Scully went over to the sink, staring at the piles upon piles of dishes and pots and pans that her mother accumulated throughout the day's preparations. She turned on the faucet and stopped up the drain. Opening the cabinet she found and added soap, needing something to do to keep from returning to the dining room and ripping Bill's throat out.

As Scully scrubbed the grease out of pans, she continued to wonder at the events of the evening. She realized that what hurt her the most; more than Bill's insensitivity, more than the sting of embarrassment, and more than having everyone laugh at her profession...he had made a mockery of Mulder. Bill completely insulted her partner and tore him apart verbally in front of her entire family. The only one in the room who knew Mulder and could have defended him was Mrs. Scully, but she'd sat quietly, twirling her fork through her potatoes and allowing Bill's tirade to continue. Scully too had been speechless, but inside she felt her heart break. Mulder wasn't perfect; he got on her nerves, and there were times when she wondered why she followed him into as much as she did, but she knew in the end that it was because they had an unspoken love and respect for one another that went deeper than anything she'd ever experienced. They'd had experiences together that no one on earth shared. They spent weeks on end together but always enjoyed one another's company. They were partners to the end; willing to give their lives for one another and knowing that the other would do the same in a heartbeat.

And Bill felt it necessary to verbally assault the man that Scully considered part of her family over Thanksgiving dinner.

Scully realized that she was scrubbing the same part of the pot and that the finish was beginning to come off due to her wire brush. Rinsing the pot, she put it in the drain board and dried her hands.

When her relatives stuffed themselves to capacity, cousins entered the kitchen with dishes; clearing the table for desert. They glanced curiously at their red headed cousin, scrubbing dishes and not acknowledging their presences. They felt sorry for her, but for all the wrong reasons. Had they wanted to pity her, they should have been sorry that she had such an awful brother. They should have pitied her for having to endure Bill's speech and stomaching it, but instead they were sorry that she worked with an incredible partner on valid cases. They didn't know that. They didn't know Mulder or the X Files; only what Bill had told them, and they believed him.

Trust no one; certainly not Bill. Don't trust his word on my life; on my friends and on my family. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know what he's said or what he's done to me, Scully thought, washing and washing.

Eventually her mother drifted into the room, grabbing goodies from the refrigerator and saying coolly, "Desert is being served, Dana."

Scully didn't bother to look up or give her mother any relief that she was okay. She wanted her to know that she was hurt; that Bill's behavior was not acceptable, nor hers. Margaret knew that she should have put a stop to her son's narrative on Dana's life, but she could not bring herself to snap a simple "enough" to him.

Mrs. Scully left the kitchen, and Scully left the dishes only when the sink had been emptied. Not bothering to say goodbye to her family she grabbed her coat and headed for the door.

Charlie came into the room just as she was about to go.

"Dana..." He began, getting her attention. She merely looked at him. "Dane, don't let Bill get you down. I know he said a lot of horrible things, but you know what? I knew he was blowing smoke, and I'll bet everyone else did too."

Scully softened, as she always did for her little brother. All of her fury pushed itself away and enabled her to answer quietly, "He had no right...Charlie, he had no right to say what he did."

"I know he didn't. I'm sorry that he ruined your night. I'm not trying to stop you from going, I mean, if you need to, do it. I just wanted to say goodbye, since I won't see you until Christmas."

Scully smiled, on the verge of tears, and hugged and kissed her little brother.

"I'm sure Mulder is a great guy, even though I've never met him. Maybe you could bring him up for the holidays. We'd all have a common hatred for Bill...."

Scully laughed, pulling away from Charlie. "Thanks. I'll try and get you to meet Mulder soon."

She turned and opened the door, but looked back once more at her brother. "I love you, Charlie," she said exiting the house.

"I love you too, Dane," he said, sorry to see his sister in so much pain. Dana had always been his favorite. When they weren't fighting with one another they were allying themselves with Melissa and going against Bill, who had oldest child syndrome. Charlie shut the inside door and headed back to the dining room.

On the road Scully sorted through her thoughts and feelings. She determined that she would bring Mulder for Christmas, if he was willing, and would get her revenge upon Bill. With everything settled, she opened her apartment and checked her machine, which contained one message.

"Hi pumpkin pie! This is your nutty partner Melvin von Mulder, wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. I know you're out with your family and everything, but I just wanted to give you my best...oh, and give Bill my worst. Haha. Hope you had a great night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow, unless you wanna hit the stores...in which case you'll be turn up in the morgue, a victim of mass riot over the last singing flower pot in Kay-bee. Nighty night, partner."

Scully smiled at the message, loving Mulder for his trouble. It was as if he knew somehow that she would need the sound of his voice and his dry sarcasm the moment she got home from her mom's. So much for her uncaring partner.

Scully drifted to sleep that night thinking of Mulder and hoping that he'd agree with her plans.

This is just the beginning...please leave me a nice review!!! It makes me post faster and feeds my hungry muse. ;)