Chapter 7

A/N: So...here we are. End of the line. It was a great ride for everyone, especially me. I loved writing this fic, and all of the reviews were amazing. Thanks to my betas, Jen and Kayla, and all of you guys for reading the random stuff that I decide is worthy of being posted. If it weren't for awesome people like you who read my stuff and boost my ego with how good it is, I wouldn't ever bother to write. Thanks for everything, and enjoy the last chapter!

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Soft morning light floated in through the room's two windows, throwing glistening golden rays onto the bed where Mulder and Scully lay sleeping.

Scully woke up first, blinking slowly and realizing that she was at her mother's house and in bed with Mulder.

She lay still for awhile, just listening to her partner's even breathing and watching his chest rise and fall. She could feel his warmth spreading through the sheets, insulating them from the cold air all around them.

Mulder lay facing her, his arm resting lightly around her waist. Her robe, which she'd forgotten to take off, had come undone in the night and fallen off as she tossed. Her silky night gown provided cover for her, but she still felt bare. Mulder's other hand rested with his fingertips touching one of her straps. Scully wondered if this was done by some unconscious desire during his slumber.

Mulder moved suddenly, and the slight creaking of the bed broke the silence. He woke up and blinked at the beautiful redhead lying beside him.

"Good morning..." he said, groggily. Forcing himself to wake up further and throwing his patented smile her way, he added, "And Merry Christmas."

It was Christmas, wasn't it? Scully hadn't even thought about it. She'd been too engrossed in watching him sleep. She returned his warm smile. "Merry Christmas."

Mulder and Scully lay where they were, facing each other and touching each other ever so slightly. Scully could feel Mulder's hand move away from her waist. It was heading up to her face, where it stroked her cheek and remained there.

Mulder's face came alive next, his dark eyes flashing as he stared deeply into Scully's crystal blue eyes. He drew nearer and nearer to her, drawing slowly toward her lips.

Before they met, however, the door burst open without so much as a knock. Bill entered and saw them together in bed. The covers were pulled up far enough to conceal their bodies, but he noticed right away how close they were. He saw his sister's bare shoulders...Mulder's bare chest...the look in their eyes was enough to tell the entire story. Bill drew his own conclusions. He'd heard most of the evidence the previous night, but had attempted to block it out. It was unavoidable after seeing this though.

"MERRY F---ING CHRISTMAS, now get your filthy hands away from my sister, you son-of-a-bitch!" Bill screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Bill---" Scully began, equally pissed, but she was cut off.

"No, you listen to me, Dana. You have no business bringing this bastard into our home for our family holiday and then pulling this shit on CHRISTMAS, under our mother's roof."

Obviously, her game had worked a little too well. This was absolute, inexplicable, maximum rage, and there was no stopping it. She waited for him to finish, but he turned on Mulder.

"You! You f---ing sonofabitch!"

"I think you used that one already," Mulder said dryly.

"Shut the f--- up and listen," Bill shouted. "You know how we feel about you, and yet you kept reeling her in, didn't you? USING her to get your lonely holiday kicks, and I guess you got exactly what you wanted, you stupid asshole. You love my sister? BULL SHIT. You don't love her at all. You're just a lonely, using, self-serving bastard. Just get the hell out of our house!"

Scully barely saw or realized what was happening, but she could do nothing about it. Mulder had simply sat up in bed and punched Bill directly in the face.

Blood poured out of her brother's nose, trickling down onto his t-shirt that he'd slept in. Mulder sat there, a little surprised himself that he'd actually done it.

"You bastard..." Bill said lowly. "You stupid bastard." As he repeated it he went for Mulder's face, but was blocked. The two started fighting worse than when Bill and Charlie were kids and went at it. They rolled around on the floor, hitting each other mercilessly.

Scully was horrified and could do nothing but shout at the top of her lungs for her mother and sister-in-law.

Mrs. Scully, Tara, and Charlie all arrived at the same time, hearing the noise of Mulder and Bill fighting along with them knocking over a small table and Scully's shouting.

"Oh my God!" Exclaimed Mrs. Scully upon entering. "William Robert Scully! Stop it this instant! Fox! Stop! Both of you, have you forgotten that this is Christmas morning?! What on earth got into you?"

The two men stopped wailing on one another long enough to hear her and separate. Bill left the room angrily, and Mulder stood there, having absolutely nothing to say to the shocked Scully family.

Tara had run after her husband to check on his bruises and the blood, and Charlie gave a look of disgust before leaving the room as well. Mrs. Scully turned sharply to Mulder and Scully.

"Now, you two, this is Christmas Day. It is a holy occasion as well as a family occasion. Your nieces and nephews expect both of you to be downstairs to watch them open gifts, and they expect that you start acting like the adults that you are. I don't expect any less. You have ten minutes to get cleaned up and cooled down."

After saying this, Mrs. Scully left.

Mulder looked at Scully, not knowing how to explain himself. She was also at a complete loss for words. She was upset, angry even, and not just at Bill. Mulder had thrown the first punch. They were both the same; bold, stubborn, and proud.

Throwing up her hands in disgust, she spat, "Well, what do you expect me to say?" It was rhetorical, really, because she said it on her way out of the room. She was going to the bathroom to get a washcloth to clean her bloodied partner off, but he didn't know that.

Mulder watched Scully leave and his heart broke in half. He had really upset her, and without even meaning to. It wasn't as though he expected her to congratulate him for hitting Bill. He didn't even know what drove him to punch. It was just all of the things he was saying they were so...untrue.

Scully walked into the bathroom and found her brother there. He had shut out his wife and was mopping his own forehead with a cloth. He glared at his little sister when she came in.

"You'd better damn well do something about that psycho you brought in here, or next time he'll get more than a bloody nose and a bruise on his pretty-boy face," Bill said icily.

Scully just looked at him, finally getting to say what she wanted to.

"You stupid ass-hole. You really don't have any idea, do you? What the hell was that back there anyway? You're the one who burst into our room, unannounced, and started screaming like a lunatic. You expect me to feel sorry for you?"

"I'm sorry if I was just sticking up for you after that bastard defiled you and tried to brag about it to the whole family."

"He didn't 'defile' me! What in God's name are you even talking about?" In her anger Scully had completely forgotten the night before.

"Last night. I heard you two last night...it was enough to make me sick," Bill answered with disdain.

Scully sighed, wetting a rag and preparing to leave. "Well congratulations on your magnificent and FALSE assumption. We didn't have sex, you idiot. We're not even dating. This whole thing was just for pretend. Revenge on you for Thanksgiving. I figured it'd be fun for us, piss you off a little, and then it'd be lesson learned. But I was wrong. You're so pig-headed and stupid that you went and made this the worst holiday any of us have ever had. I thought Thanksgiving was terrible...well, you two just made it look like a Sunday picnic. Thanks, Bill. Merry Christmas to you too."

She turned and left the bathroom, heading back to the bedroom where Mulder was waiting.

He was sitting in a chair, looking really upset and a little sick. Like Bill, he was covered in blood from his nose, but he wasn't doing a thing about it. He just sat there sullenly, though he perked up a little when Scully returned. He'd worried over how angry she seemed...although she didn't look any happier at the moment.

Scully approached him with a heart of stone and began to gently rub the blood out of his clothes and off of his face. They were completely silent for a good five minutes, before she finally looked up into his eyes. She saw the pain that was there. Pain just from feeling sorry that he'd hurt her.

"Why?" Scully asked in a low whisper.

"What?" Mulder asked, barely hearing her.

"Why did you hit him? What could have possibly possessed you to punch my brother, on Christmas morning, and make him bleed like that?" Scully asked earnestly, looking at her partner.

Mulder paused, wincing because Scully brushed his nose with her hand. "I didn't know...at first, but I thought about it. You want to know what I found?" Of course she did...she'd asked, hadn't she? "Maybe this is stupid too. Its probably not the greatest reason in the world, but it was what he was saying."

Scully looked puzzled. "What was he saying? I completely forgot."

Mulder looked at her tenderly. "He said that I had defiled you, used you, and didn't love you...Now I can stand for a lot of things. I can keep my cool when someone calls me a liar or a bastard, or whatever else he said, but there is no way in hell that I don't love you with every ounce in my body, and hearing him say that...I don't know. I guess I just wanted to prove myself or something. I'm sorry, Scully."

Scully changed her look completely, unable to fully mad at him after a confession like that. She knew there had been something there.

"Mulder...I'm so glad to hear you say that." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then it was a just cause?" He asked, smiling.

"No...you shouldn't have hit him. Just forget about that for a minute. I think you telling me that you love me is a little more important."

Mulder smiled and nodded, agreeing with that statement. He didn't want Scully to be mad about it, but if she was willing to forgive and forget, that was just fine with him.

"Yesterday was...well, it was better than I thought it would be. I mean, the pretend stuff was fun, but I kept feeling like there was more too it, like we were actually going through those emotions ourselves. It was so easy, and so comfortable. It was almost like we'd always been together, but I was afraid I was the only one feeling that way." Scully admitted to him.

"You weren't...I felt the same exact way...it felt so good, but I didn't think you were actually interested." Mulder laughed. "So, I wonder what does this mean for us? We just keep up the game, only its not a game?"

"I don't know if it ever was a game, now that I think about it..." Scully mused.

"It wasn't, really. All of the feelings and emotions that we 'invented' were easy to portray. I mean, hell, it was nothing to put my arm around you and pretend to be in love with you because I am in love with you." Mulder laughed, nervously as he said that aloud again. "We weren't acting some tough role....we were acting so naturally that we didn't even have to think about it."

Scully smiled, liking the idea. "So, do you want to go downstairs and get your Christmas presents?"

"I don't need any...I've already got you," he shot back, while standing up. He helped her, pulling her up by the hands.

"We don't need the corny lines now, Mulder. I only pray that they were part of the fake romance..."

"I've got a million more, don't you worry," he replied, grinning at her. He put his arms around her waist as he'd done the night before and drew her in to his chest, kissing her. It was their first "real" kiss...so natural that it took no effort at all.

~FIN~