Chapter Six: A Very Scully Christmas:

Bethesda Maryland, December 25, 1998:

Stephen was nervous, very much so and had not be this nervous in a long time. He was going to spend Christmas with Melissa's mother and family, oh he liked Mrs. Scully very much and had met Melissa's twin Charles a jolly man with bright red hair, but he had never met Melissa's oldest brother and if he was like any older brother he was in for a bit of trouble. How would William "Bill" Scully treat him, he was an officer in the Navy and highly decorated. He came clad in suit and tie as this was a more formal event, Melissa was in a pretty emerald green velvet gown that had cap sleeves and was long just above her ankles and a pretty choker of diamonds with matching earrings and a lovely mink fur coat. Melissa smiled at him as he held the car door open, he had learned how to drive a muggle American car and had bought one, a four door green Jetta that he happened to be very fond of now.

"He is very nice, he has wanted to meet you." Melissa said as they walked up the drive.

"To use me as target practice?" Stephen shot back.

"No, he likes the fact that you are well educated and that you are doing very well for yourself and that you make me happy." Melissa replied.

Melissa knocked on the door and a woman two inches shorter, the height of her sister answered the door. She had short red-brown hair and was clad in a gown of purple velvet and smiled at Melissa and gave her and Stephen a hug before ushering them into the house, helping Melissa with her coat and putting it in the coat closet. They entered the living room where two men were at both clad in suits and ties, Bill rose to meet Stephan who knew he was being sized up, only fair as he was doing the same thing. He saw Bill had his mother's coloring, brown hair and his father's eyes. He stared down Stephen and Stephen was worried, what was going on in Bill's mind meeting him? The other man, a bit shorter with bright red hair walked up grinning, his tie was a Looney Tunes tie and he looked perfectly happy to see Stephen. Stephen was reminded of Fred Weasley for a moment before he took the friendly hand offered him.

"Hi, Charles Scully, the stuck up guy is my brother Bill." Charles said winking at Stephan.

"I am not stuck up, I just want to know what Mr. Stone's intentions are with Melissa." Bill said.

"All honorable I assure you." Stephen replied taking his hand.

"English right?" Bill asked.

"Was, not the best place for my kind at this time." Stephen replied, "I like America and should have come sooner."

"Well glad to have you, as long as you treat my sister right." Bill replied.

"He does, very well." Melissa said, "I could not do better than him."

Stephen smiled, he knew Melissa liked him but for her to say this made him very happy. She knew all about him, he had told her all about his life, never leaving any detail out and she still accepted him and liked him. He had never thought he would find a wonderful woman like Melissa that would care about him like this. Someone he could trust with his very soul and he realized he was in love with her. He had thought he had been in love with Lily but that was not true, he now knew what true love was and he was in love with Melissa, that much was for sure. Mrs. Scully smiled as she saw how happy her daughter was, Stephen had a dark sarcastic sense of humor that reminded her a bit of her husband at times.

He was a kind and good man and she liked him very much and could not see Melissa doing any better than him. He was tall and very good looking too and that combined with a keen mind made him quite the catch. She was already planning their wedding in her head but she would not push them at all, not she! Fox Mulder was here too, but he stuck to the background as the family was introduced to Stephen. Mulder was not sure what to make of another magic welder but if the man was not going to do anything evil he could accept him. After all Melissa was a good woman despite the fact she was a witch. It was hard for him to realize that there were the evil witches he had been raised to hate and the good ones like Melissa that far outweighed the wicked ones.

"I agree, I think both my daughters have done very well." Mrs. Scully said smiling.

"I keep getting Dana in danger." Mulder replied, "can't see how I am what you would want for her."

"You are not half bad." Bill said, "and I would say Dana is the one getting you in trouble, she sees things that are wrong and wants to right them. Always has been that way in fact."

"Yea, she could get us all out of trouble with dad growing up." Charlie said grinning, "good times, good times."

"Dinner is ready." Mrs. Scully said.

"Fresh Canadian Goose, I shot it myself." Charlie said grinning, "family tradition."

"I like goose." Stephan said smiling.

"Well you will love mine then." Charlie said, "yea I did most of the cooking, and need to get back to the kitchen before Mary kills me for leaving her there for too long. I love to cook, really love it."

"So like dad too, he loved to as well." Bill said grinning, "he and mum made a team let me tell you."

"Yes we did." Mrs. Scully said, "he was a great man."

They made their way to the dining room where the table was set with the best dishes and stemware. Charlie had put a lovely goose with crisp golden skin near the head of the table stuffed with a sage stuffing and smelling so good. Fluffy mashed potatoes were on the table with the gravy boat filled with made from scratch goose gravy. Fresh rolls, peas in butter and home made cranberry sauce and bottles of white wine rounded out the meal on the table. Bill took a seat at the head of the table, the place his father once took and his mother took a seat at the foot. Mary, a tall very lean woman with blond hair sat on the right of Bill with Dana by him then Mulder, on the other side Charlie sat then Melissa and finally Stephan. Bill said grace and then (after a bit of teasing that got Dana to glare at him) he expertly carved the goose and dished it out. After the first bite Stephan was in heaven, it was far better than the farm raised goose and even the goose he got at Hogwarts, and that was saying something as house elves were great cooks.

He liked being here and felt part of the family, there was love here and he could see how much the family really loved each other. He felt accepted, truly accepted here and wanted to do well by this family. He felt as if he were home for the first time in a very long time. This was the best Christmas he had had in a very long time, sure he had friends at Hogwarts in the professors there but the students made life far more stressful. Here he could relax and enjoy the evening, Bill's children were with Mary's parents this evening and so it was a fully adult event. He learned a bit of what Fox and Dana did, they worked for the FBI helping solve "paranormal" cases and did a fine job of it, with John Doggett (who Fox called the hound, though not to his face after the first time he was put in a head-lock and thrown to the ground in a "friendly" sparing match) they solved 75% of all cases that no-one else had been able to solve. Dinner ended and once the dishes were cleared a rich chocolate cake with a chocolate whipped cream frosting was served with coffee.

"So I know you are a wizard and all." Charlie said, "but have you ever been hunting with a rifle?"

"No, but I have been fishing, and Melissa has helped me learn how to use a rifle." Stephan replied.

"Yea and you have taught her other things." Bill muttered.

"I am a virgin Bill." Melissa said.

"She is, I respect her far too much to ask her to sleep with me." Stephan said, "I respect her religion and am in fact Catholic as well as she."

"You are?" Mulder asked, "don't have to be to be in this family."

"I was since I was born." Stephan replied, "I believe in God and Jesus Christ and the fact he is our savior."

"Well I am not sure what I believe." Mulder replied.

"Fair enough, so you want to go hunting tomorrow?" Bill asked.

"I would like that very much" Stephan replied.

"I will stay here thank you." Dana said and at a look from her brother, "you will just wrangle me into dressing the deer, you did that when we were growing up."

"Yea we did." Bill said grinning, "thought she would be such a girl about it, but she was not, guess that is why she is such a good pathologist now."

"All your fault dear brother." Dana said sipping her wine. "You boys can go hunting, while we women will go shopping."

"Sounds good." Mrs. Scully said.

"I am scared." Mulder said giving a mock shutter, "any one else?"

"Should I be?" Stephan asked.

This got a laugh from the men and the women to glare at the men. Stephan did not fully get it but the next day he would as he was told about the terrors that women got up to without their men there. Talking about them! It would be Stephan to bring down the deer and gain respect as he was able to dress the dear with ease. In the meantime Melissa went with her family (in disguise as a family friend of course) to a mall to shop and enjoy the day out. They took Bill's children, Will and Tammy, Will was three and Tammy a year old. They had a great day out and came home with two tuckered out children and found the men in the kitchen cooking and drinking.

They were clad in jeans and tee shirts, but even there Stephen really stood out. He had on an Iron Maiden tee shirt over a gray thermal shirt and was finishing up the final touches on a pie he was sticking in the oven. It was clear the hunt had gone very well as Charlie was finishing up the butchering of the deer they would have for dinner. Most of it was in plastic in the freezer but he was now working on the deer steaks for dinner while Bill, not to be left out was slicing potatoes to pan fry to add to dinner, and even Mulder was finishing up the salad as the men here were bound and determined he learn to cook more than mac and cheese, microwaved dinners and scrambled eggs.

"Maybe we should go out more." Mrs. Scully said looking at the men in her kitchen that was still clean even with all the men here, "cook and clean, very nice."

"Fox did the cleaning, neat freak that he is." Bill said not looking up from the carrot cake he was frosting. "Why do you think he is a slob?"

"Have you seen his office?" Mellissa asked.

"My apartment is not that bad, yes it is a studio and yes I sleep on the couch but it is clean and neat." Mulder said.

"So what kind of pie are you making?" Dana asked Stephan.

"Deer heart and kidney pie." Stephan replied, "it's very good when made right and I make it right."

"I left Fox in charge of the salad." Charlie said, "should turn out good, he is a good student."

Mulder smiled, he loved being part of a family that cared about him. His own family was not a loving family at all, his parents had divorced when his sister had disappeared and he had grown up with a distant mother. Mrs. Scully and Mr. Scully when he was alive had been more parents to him than his own biological parents had ever been. Even Stephan felt the love from this remarkable woman for him. He felt part of a family as well, something he had not had for over twenty years, not since the car crash that took his parents lives when he was in his sixth year of Hogwarts. They had their faults, fought like cats and dogs but they loved him and took good care of him, as good as poor parents in a mill town could that is. Stephan smiled, he was home and life was very good and could only get better for him from now on out.

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

So yes a very loving Scully family here, yes we know they are Catholic, and yea I had Stephan be one as well. There are clues in the magical world that they do believe in something , they have Christmas break and Easter break after all not winter and spring break. So here Stephan does believe in God and has a strong faith, it will help him out in the future as he will need it.

Oh and cooking is a very good thing, all the men in my family can cook, my husband is a fine cook himself. It can be a bonding thing too and having guys able to cook is a good thing. Mulder is neat when he wants to be here, I have him in a studio apartment instead of what they had in the series as he does not really need more than that. His couch here is a sofa bed and the mess in his office is paper, much like my office, paper all over the desks but none on the floor.

Oh and clothes on the indoor drying rack (apartment living makes you have to each space multiple ways after all and I now live in a large apartment outside the states for the time being) under the AC unit. Which I rarely use as it is not hot where I am living at all now. Anyway there are some other changes with Mulder too but he still is Mulder here, should we worry? :)

Anyway, please review!