7:30am, Christmas Day.

After finishing their breakfast, everyone made their way back through to the lounge and sat in the same seats as before with Peter and the twins making a beeline for the presents under the tree, picking up parcels at random asking if it was for them. Charlie and Jess hastily brought them back from the tree and sat them on the floor beside their couch, telling them to be patient. Maggie got up from the couch to get her camera that she'd left in the kitchen and Mulder moved closer to Scully so that he could whisper in her ear.

"So, Scully. How does this all work?"

"Well, Charlie and Jess start us off since Charlie's the youngest. They give out all of their presents from the both of them and Mom gives hers to them. Then it's our turn, followed by Bill and Tara. Then Mom gives her presents to the kids whilst we all have 'couple-time' and give our presents to each other. The kids then get the rest of their presents from their parents while we watch."

"Okay, that makes sense. It's very organised."

"It has to be - this way none of the kids get left out. They each get the same number of presents at the same time."

"Ahhh, I see."

Maggie returned from the kitchen with her camera and took pictures of everyone and then of the tree with all the presents still under it. Once she had finished, she sat down beside Mulder on the couch and told Charlie that it was time to start. The children cheered as Charlie and Jess made their way to the tree to find their presents that they had put under there the night before. All the joint presents were handed out and unwrapped very rapidly so it was soon 'couple time'. Charlie and Jess had moved to both sit on the free armchair leaving Bill and Tara on the couch. Mulder and Scully were left alone on the other, as Maggie had moved so she was sitting in the other chair with the children all round her. Scully handed her first present to Mulder and watched him as he tore away the paper much like the children had been doing with their gifts. He very quickly unwrapped the gift to discover a deep blue dress shirt that slightly shimmered in the light so that it looked lighter from some angles and darker from others.

"I know it's a bit boring but I bought it before we...anyway, it was going to be a subtle invitation for us to go out somewhere that we needed to dress up for."

"What...you don't want to give me that invitation now?"

"Course I do, you know that's not what I meant."

"I was only kidding, Scully. You don't really need to be subtle anymore."

"I know that. I thought the colour would look great on you. You nearly always wear white shirts to work so I wanted to get you something different and smart."

"Well I think it's terrific. Thank you Scully. Now it's your turn."

Mulder brought out a small, square box wrapped in purple paper with a small silver bow on top. He passed it to Scully and gave her a quick peck on the cheek as she took it from him and started to carefully unwrap it. She gasped as the box opened to reveal exquisite drop earrings with an amethyst stone set in a delicate gold design.

"Mulder they're beautiful. I love them."

"I'm glad. I wasn't sure if you would wear dangly earrings. You never wear them to work but they're your birthstone and they're pretty so I thought I'd take a chance."

"My birthstone? I never knew that amethyst was my birthstone. I only wear studs to work because this kind would get in the way."

"You know it's funny. I bought these as a hint that we should go out so that I could see you wear them. Great minds really do think alike."

"Great minds? How great can they be if both of us wanted to go out with the other but never did anything about it?"

"Hey...we've done something about it now so stop worrying about what we didn't do. Do I get to see them on you or not?"

"Of course you do."

Scully leant towards Mulder and kissed him gently. He returned the kiss but, mindful of the other people in the room, namely Bill, they broke away quite quickly. Scully turned away from him to pick up the second present from the floor where she had put them. She handed the parcel to Mulder and looked slightly nervous as he took the wrapping paper off, once again taking little care. She bit her lip as he opened the box he had unwrapped and revealed silver cufflinks in the shape of alien heads.

"I don't want them to cause offence, I saw them and I thought they were cute and...I don't want you to think I'm making fun of you or laughing at your beliefs - I'm not. I still don't quite believe in them but I don't quite not believe either. You've helped open my eyes to the paranormal and I thank you for that. As long as you believe, I will keep my mind open and I will always believe in you."

"Scully...I...they are pretty cute aren't they."

"Mulder!"

Scully laughed at his abrupt change of topic and lightly hit him on his arm. He laughed with her but both could read the seriousness in the other's eyes. She reached for his hand with hers and he grasped it immediately, squeezing gently. His eyes began to fill with happy tears but he blinked them away quickly, coughing to try to cover them up, and reached behind him for her next gift. He held it out to her, slightly hesitant to give her it.

"This next thing - it's not really a present...well it is ...but the meaning behind it isn't.

"What? That didn't make much sense Mulder."

"Here...open it and I'll explain what I mean."

"...Battleships Mulder?"

"Yes. I thought we could play it in our newly furnished office."

"Newly furnished...Mulder, did you get me a desk?"

"Yes. That's what I meant by it not being a present. I should have got you one a long time ago, I just didn't think. I need for you to know that you're both wanted and needed in that office, our office. I'm sorry it took me so long, you should never have needed to question your place there."

"Thank you Mulder. I think that I have always known that I was wanted; but that I was needed...every now and then I wondered. I thought sometimes that I was holding you back...that you would get further without me."

"There's no way...never question that Scully. I wouldn't get anywhere without you...I doubt that I would still be here without you."

He cupped her cheek gently and wiped away a small tear that had ran down it. She leant her head into his light caress and they sat staring into each other's eyes for a long time. They were distracted by an excited shout from Adele as she opened one of her presents and Scully realised that they still had presents to give. She reached for her last present, placing it in Mulder's lap and, after giving her cheek one last stroke, he began to open it, carefully this time. He uncovered a silver picture frame with an angel engraved in the top corner underneath which Scully had had words engraved. In the frame was a close-up of the two of their faces smiling at one another, oblivious to the photographer or any thing else. Mulder lovingly ran his fingers over the picture and then tenderly over the engraved words which read:

'Together we will find the truth. All my love, Your Angel.'

"Scully...it's perfect...it's... Is this one your mom took yesterday?"

"Yes. Mom had finished one of her films with pictures of us coming back from our walk and we got it developed while we were shopping. When I saw this one I knew I had to get a copy. It's one of the first photos of us as a couple and I thought it was lovely...do you really like it?"

"I love it...I really love it. But I think I've already found my truth. It's you, it's us...it's right here in this photo."

"Oh Mulder."

"It's true...I..."

Mulder was unable to finish his sentence and instead pulled Scully tightly to him, placing soft kisses in her hair and then, as she pulled away to see his face, on her forehead. He kissed away the two tears that had escaped her eyes and then caught her mouth with his own. Again, wary of displaying too much in front of Bill, they pulled out of the kiss rather quickly but they remained cuddled together. Mulder stroked her hair gently as the two looked once again at the photo frame until Mulder remembered that he had another gift yet to give.

"Well, I also did a bit of shopping yesterday."

Mulder handed her the last present from the couch, wrapped in kiddie wrapping paper. He apologised for the choice of paper but she shook her head and told him it didn't matter. Saying that, she tore at it vigorously until it came away in her hands and left her holding a black box roughly A4 size. She opened it up and carefully folded away the luxurious tissue paper that was concealing the gift inside.

"Oh Mulder. You shouldn't have."

"I saw you looking at it in the window yesterday and I thought it looked perfect for you."

"Wow...it looks even more gorgeous than it did in the shop."

Scully held up the cornflower blue evening dress that she had admired in a shop window as they had passed it yesterday. She had casually remarked that it was a lovely dress but Mulder had seen through her nonchalant attitude to see how much she really liked it and had went back later to buy it for her. She turned it round to admire the back and caught Mulder's gleaming eyes watching her, relishing in her delight. Carefully placing it back into it's box, she moved towards Mulder and kissed him lightly on both cheeks before moving to his nose. He chuckled and then tipped his head upwards to capture her lips briefly.

"It'll look even better when it's on you. You could wear it when we go out to dinner tomorrow, thanks to your mom."

"That's right. It'll be perfect for our first date."

Maggie had given them a certificate of booking for a table for two at a fancy restaurant at 7pm on Boxing Day. She told them that she had been relieved that they had seen sense before she gave them it because, although she wasn't adverse to some gentle coaxing, she hadn't really wanted to force them to confront their feelings if they weren't ready to. Mulder had been slightly shocked at realising that she had known about his feelings before he had told Scully and possibly even before he had admitted them to himself. He had felt better when Scully had reassured him that he wasn't the only one who her mom had done that to - she also hadn't known until after her mom. They both chuckled about it being an X-file and wondered if Skinner would allow them to investigate it.

Now that all the present giving was over, it was time for everyone to go and get dressed and then to show off all their presents. Maggie took one final photo of them all before beginning to tidy up all the wrapping paper from the floor before Matthew got hold of it. Bill had not been impressed when his son had been more interested in the sparkly wrapping paper Mulder and Scully's gift had been wrapped in than his actual presents.