TITLE:  Christmas Eve
AUTHOR: Tabby
WEBSITE: www.themajestic3.com/tabby.htm
RATING: PG-13/R (implied situations, language)
CLASSIFICATION: MSR, babyfic
SPOILERS: everything up to and including Existence
DISCLAIMER: Mulder, Scully, Will and aforementioned members of the 
Scully clan belong to the Great Surfer Dude and Rupert Murdoch. No 
infringement intended, I'm not making any money off of this. (If I 
was, then I would quit my day job in a heart beat)
SUMMARY: Will's first Christmas Eve.
FEEDBACK: Cherished...good, bad, indifferent. Send it along: 
tabby@kronerxf.net 
 AUTHORS NOTES: Since the canon timeline is subject to question, and 
after conferring with my partners in crime, here's my theory: Mulder 
was abducted in May, so Scully gave birth in February. Make any 
sense??? I'm not into this whole year-long pregnancy crap so I'll make 
my own rules ;)
----
December 25, 2001

Call me selfish, but I wanted to spend Will's first Christmas with 
just him, me and Scully. At least Christmas Eve. Even though I am in 
no way religious, I admit that there is some special magic about the 
night before Christmas. I can't really explain it, but it's something 
that transcends religion and faith. I had never had a truly perfect 
Christmas, at least not since I was a young child, and I was harboring 
this quasi-fantasy of a traditional romantic Christmas, complete with 
roaring fireplace, carefully hung stockings, a beautiful miracle child 
nestled snugly in his crib dreaming sweet baby dreams, the delicious 
smell of cider floating through the air, wrapped packages waiting 
under the tree and me proposing to Scully in the middle of all of this 
holiday magic.

Yeah, you heard me. Propose to Scully. Her saying 'yes' is my one true 
Christmas wish, and I just wanted everything to go perfectly. Over the 
past year, I had already been dead for three months, and when I missed 
Will's birth I was heartbroken. I wanted to make up for all of the 
troubles that life caused to Scully. I wanted her to truly know that I 
do love her. We have spent the past year adjusting, not evening 
mentioning the 'm' word, but I want her to know that I would never 
even think of leaving her and Will. I made a promise to her when we 
first became lovers so many years ago that she was my only family. 

In essence, all I wanted was to be alone for six hours with my 
beautiful partner, our amazing son, and a dead stick.

However, nothing is ever that simple for Fox William Mulder. 
--
I knew that things wouldn't go as planned when I heard Scully on the 
bedroom phone extension. Sure, our new townhouse is bigger than both 
our old apartments, but I was right in the hallway closet, putting 
away the last of the Christmas wrapping paper before Will, the power 
crawler, woke up from his morning nap. I swear, my son will be walking 
any day now. Anyway, Will is quite mischievous when it comes to 
carelessly discarded anything. I say he gets it from his mother. 
Scully says it comes from me.

I don't have to tell you who won that argument.

It doesn't take an FBI veteran of going on 15 years to become 
suspicious when the love of his life quickly murmurs to her mother 
over the phone "don't worry about it, we'll be there" and then hangs 
up with a guilty look on her face upon hearing the footsteps and 
seeing the cast of my shadow in the hallway. What really gave it away 
was when I heard Scully's little girl voice pitifully whimper "Mulder? 
Can you come here for a moment?"

I knew what she wanted. It was frustrating. I shouldn't have even 
bothered planning a night for us, never mind a holiday evening. 
Something always got in the way. When we were both at the FBI, it was 
work, and now since I've quit, it seems to be her family spoiling our 
downtime. I love Margaret Scully, but sometimes her idea of 'helping' 
me and her daughter with Will turns into more trouble than it's worth. 
"Scully, I thought we agreed that we would spend our first Christmas 
Eve as a family alone together, and go to your Mom's tomorrow 
morning," I calmly explained to her.

Scully must have known my patience was being tried because when she 
bypassed the usual "Oh Mulder" with the tears welling in her face and 
went straight for the hug. I immediately melted. Not like I minded 
that or anything. Scully's had me in the palm of her hand for nearly 
eight years now. It's just different when she reminds me in a physical 
way. 

"Mom just needs some extra help getting things ready for tomorrow. She 
doesn't usually ask us, Mulder. But she is getting older, and I don't 
want her moving all that stuff around by herself. Charlie and Bill's 
families won't be here until later this afternoon, and she doesn't 
want to get Bill worked up. Plus tomorrow is going to be hectic and 
Charlie wants to meet you and Will in the worst way. Mom promised that 
she would shove us out the door by four, okay?"

As usual, Scully presented me with a fool-proof plan that made it 
impossible for me to say 'no.' I bent down and kissed her. "I just 
want tonight to be about us," I whispered, meaning us including Will 
and excluding him. I don't mean to give my son the shaft, but marriage 
is about two people. Baby makes three but he isn't taking the eternal 
vows. If Mrs. Scully keeps her word (which I am sure she will: Being 
the wife of a sea captain means that she is quite punctual. I know 
that Billy-boy won't have a problem with me leaving promptly at four, 
which works out on my end), then I can play with Will and Scully in 
the living room, then tend to dinner, put Will down to sleep, arrange 
Christmas presents under the tree with Scully, propose to Scully, 
hopefully make love to Scully, all before Will wakes up in the middle 
of the night, which he sometimes does just for the sake of spending 
some good ol' QT with his Daddy. Kind of a tight schedule, but 
miracles do happen on Christmas Eve. Or at least they do in the 
movies.

"It will be, Mulder. I know how important this is to you. Believe me, 
if my mother hadn't called me three times this morning, I would have 
said no," Scully sincerely said to me.

"I know. Your mom is important to the both of us," I relented with a 
small smile. 

"You know," Scully slyly purred. "My mom really does feel bad about 
this. She offered to watch Will for a weekend for us."

I could feel my eyes bulging out of their sockets and a full-wattage 
grin permeating my face. "When do we leave for your mother's?"
---
Sometimes I wonder if Margaret Scully only likes me because I'm a big, 
strong, manly man. I'm not a sexist pig on purpose, but I can't help 
but notice these things. I move furniture, she feeds me. I provide her 
with an adorable grandson, she hugs me. Notice it's not the other way 
around. Anyway, as soon as I finish moving around the dining room and 
living room furniture, Margaret set before me a plate filled with 
homemade corned beef, potatoes and green beans. "Thanks," I smile at 
my lunch, ravenous with hunger. Scully kissed me swiftly on the lips, 
handing Will to me.

"What have you been up to, Will?" I asked my son, who just giggles in 
response. I sat him on my lap as I sat at the kitchen table, feeding 
him smaller bites of my lunch. "You hungry too?"

"You did good work, Fox," Margaret responded with her mother patented 
grin as she gave me a glass of soda. "I really appreciate it."

"Thanks, Mrs. Sc-Margaret," I corrected myself. 

Like most episodes at the Scully motherhouse, as I refer to Margaret's 
residence, the simplicity of that particular domestic scene soon gave 
way to that of a more chaotic nature. Within ten minutes of settling 
down with Will, I heard the clatter of engines in the driveway and 
small voices filtering in from the outside.  "Gramma!"

Will looked at me with a funny look on his face, as if to say "why are 
they so loud?" "I agree, Will," I said to him, bouncing him slightly 
on my knee. "Let's hide out in here."

Will and I stayed quiet in the kitchen, pouring over the newspaper 
together. I read him the comics and sports sections, (Will agrees with 
me that the 'news' part of the paper is all rehashed trashed) 
gleefully thinking of the Snoopy stuffed animal and the newest 
addition to the Knicks clothing line that were both wrapped underneath 
the Christmas tree. 

"Baby?"

The soft voice belonged to a toddler. Although I did not recognize 
her, I placed her as a Scully. Reddish curls sprang from her head, and 
her wide blue eyes inquisitively stared into Will's matching pair. 

Will grinned and flapped his hands into my arms, his way of greeting 
his cousin. "Will says hi," I interpreted. 

"I know," the little girl, who I guessed to be about three, knowingly 
responded. She placed a stubby finger in her mouth, and began to shy 
away from the table where I was sitting with Will.

"Caroline, there you are, silly girl," a gentle and teasing voice 
softly reprimanded the wandering toddler. The tall woman with raven 
hair bent down to her daughter's height. She turned to me and warmly 
smiled. "You must be Mulder. I'm Sarah, Charlie's wife."

I nodded in Sarah's direction. She looked familiar from a few 
photographs, because I had this feeling that I was supposed to know 
her. "Carrie, this is your Uncle Mulder and your cousin Will. Did you 
say hi to them?"

I was taken aback (as much as I could be while sitting) by Sarah's 
comment. I hadn't really thought about my relationship to Scully's 
brothers' children. After my previous experiences with Bill, I had 
kind of figured in my head that I wouldn't have much (if any) contact 
with the Scully nieces and nephews. The idea of having a tangible 
relationship with these said children was alien to me-until now. 
Thankfully, Scully came into the room before I had to carry on some 
sort of inane, unimportant chitter-chatter.

"Mulder, I would like you to meet my brother Charlie, and I see you've 
met Sarah and Carrie," Scully smiled. I had never seen her so shy in 
my presence before. I guess she was more nervous about my first 
meeting with her brother and sister-in-law than I had thought. 

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mulder," Charlie nodded in my 
direction.

"Same here. I guess you really do exist," I attempted to make the 
situation a little bit more light-hearted. I could tell that Scully 
was appreciative of my efforts, for she crossed the room to stand next 
to me, placing her arm familiarly across my shoulder. What a normal, 
modern-day American family unit we made.

"What can I say, although I do hate being the destroyer of that myth," 
he laughed. I had to admit, Charlie was a pretty decent guy, as was 
his family. I could tell within the first ten minutes of their 
presence at the Scully homestead that the four children were quite 
rambunctious and curious. I also had a feeling that Charlie and 
Sarah's two daughters and two sons reminded Margaret of her own 
children growing up. It was kind of endearing, actually, being able to 
physically visualize a typical holiday of Scully's childhood. My 
thoughts were soon disturbed though, by one of the members of 
Charlie's brood.

"SANTA'S COMING TOMORROW!"

If I wasn't already an FBI agent who has survived abductions, hostage 
situations and departmental budget meetings, I would have had a 
headache by now. In the thirty five minutes that Charles and company 
have arrived, five-year-old Shaun has screamed that phrase about ten 
times. 

"Only if you're good!" Sarah shouted back to her son as she finished 
making hot chocolate for everyone. When Shaun scampered back to the 
kitchen, she softly scolded him for not remembering to use his 'indoor 
voice.' Shaun then tiptoed quietly out of the kitchen with an 
innocently devilish grin on his face. I settled back on my chair, with 
Will dozing in my arms, thinking of future conversations of that 
nature that Scully and I would inevitably be having with Will. I was 
beginning to comfort myself with the knowledge that this wouldn't be 
such a bad holiday. Another hour and a half, and Scully and I would be 
free to go back home with our son, and the chaos we would face the 
next day wouldn't be as traumatizing for me or Will.

"Matty's here!" bellowed Shaun.

I put two and two together and figured out what that meant. Bill had 
arrived. I threw a helpless look at Scully who shrugged in my 
direction. I had a feeling that she might have guessed that Bill's 
crew would be arriving before our Christmas Eve departure. "I think 
that Will wants to watch TV," I said. "Let's go buddy."

Will and I made a beeline to the family room, where the two oldest 
spawn of Charlie were watching Home Alone.  "Your hiding too?" asked 
Max, who I guessed to be about age eight.

"You better believe it," I answered. 

"Uncle Bill's mean," he narrowed his eyes. He caught my look of 
surprise at his boldness of being so forward of his obvious despise of 
Bill.

Kerry, the oldest Scully child at the age of ten, and the spitting 
image of her mother, rolled her eyes from her perch in the rocking 
chair. I could tell she was using her best 'grown-up' voice when she 
half-told half-lectured to me, her cousin and brother when she said, 
"Uncle Bill used to yell at Max all the time. He still does, but I 
just ignore him so he doesn't talk to me." 

"Good plan," I agreed. I could see Kerry eyeing Will, so I asked her 
if she wanted to hold him. 

"Did you guys say hi to Uncle Bill and Aunt Tara yet?" Charlie asked 
from the doorway about twenty minutes later. His response was in the 
form of three lopsided, guilty grins and one tearful look. 

Scully appeared behind her brother, and rolled her eyes in much the 
same way as her eldest niece. "Mulder, please don't cry," she 
reprimanded. 

"I have a cold," I protested. "And he's not my uncle!" That last 
comment provoked giggles of glee from the rest of my fellow refugees 
who were hiding from the wrath of William Scully, Jr. We were safe in 
our makeshift cocoon until about three thirty, when I was just sighing 
to myself that I only had thirty minutes of this Scully madness to 
deal with until I got to go home.

Of course, I thought too soon. 

CRACK. 

BANG.

"AAAHHH!" 

"DADDY!"

"MOMMY!"

"GODDAMNIT!"

"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!"

I'm not sure which scream was the most terrifying, but my money was on 
Tara's chime, which occurred right after her husbands, which in turn 
followed their son's, who took his cue from Shaun who was reacting to 
some sort of crash/bang explosion.

Scully looked out the window. "Shit," she sighed quietly. "You know 
that tree that we always thought would fall down?"

"Yeah," replied Charlie.

"Well it's now blocking the driveway. Bill must have hit a root or 
something pulling up," Scully deduced.

"Will Santa still come?" sniffled Shaun.

"Santa will come even though the driveway is blocked. He flies, 
remember, Shaun?" Sarah consoled her youngest son. "Go and talk to 
Daddy about it."

"The tree can't be removed until the twenty sixth at the least." I 
heard the distinguishable grumble coming from Bill's voice in the next 
room. Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, I wasn't so 
surprised. But I was annoyed.

Very annoyed.

Incredibly pissed off even.

"I'm so sorry Mulder," Scully slid onto my lap, looking forlongingly 
in Will's direction. "This is spoiling our first Christmas together. 
I'm sorry I made you come."

"Sssh," I shushed. "It would have been worse if you came and I stayed 
back with Will or vice versa.  At least we're together this time. And 
Will will have the presents that your Mom has stashed away, and we can 
have our own private Christmas when we get back."

"Thanks for being so understanding," Scully whispered back. She 
nestled against me more closely, a move that almost made me forgive 
whatever gods (or even Bill) for doing this to us. And in all 
seriousness, I really wasn't even *that* forgiving. I was actually 
very bitter. This sweetness I displayed was just a mere façade for the 
more sinister thoughts (those of the most un-Christmas nature) brewing 
in my soul. The misery never ends for the miserable.
--

"At least we're all together and all safe," Maggie tried to sprinkle 
her adages of  fool-proof wisdom to her children, but the effort was 
completely fruitless considering that all of us were pretty 
intelligent individuals. (Of course, Bill was out of the room at the 
moment, setting up a game of Candy Land for Shawn and Matty, so he was 
exempt from the above comment).

"And the kids all have their presents so there should be no complaints 
about tomorrow," Sarah added just as Bill re-entered the room.

"So we will be one big happy family right?" Maggie pointedly asked her 
sons and daughter.

"Of course, Mom," Scully sweetly answered her mother. She entwined our 
hands together, giving me a supportive squeeze when she spoke. I'm not 
sure who needed the strength more: her or me. Maybe we both did 
equally. I wasn't one to argue, especially when it came to her family.

Dinner was subdued, if your definition of the word encompassed two 
milks tipping over, four arguments (I swear that I didn't know Bill 
was an O's fan) and five threats of sending Shaun to bed without 
supper. I spent a good deal of the time wondering who Will would take 
after personality-wise: the boisterous Shuan or the more serious and 
subdued Max. 

Just as a lull appeared in the conversation that I wasn't really 
participating in over dessert settled in, Will yawned quite audibly in 
my lap. The perfect excuse for me to leave the room. "Thanks buddy," I 
whispered as I dropped a kiss on the top of his head.

"I set up the Port-A-Crib upstairs in the girls' room. I figured that 
they wouldn't mind sharing their room with him. Carrie will go down 
early and Kerry isn't much of a talker," Mrs. Scully said. I silently 
thanked Mrs. Scully. If Scully and I were alone in a room tonight, 
then things would go according to plan more so than if we were 
separated. Maybe there is a God.

"Thanks Mom," Scully smiled. "We'll put him up right now."

Scully and I got up and put William down to sleep in the upstairs 
bedroom, the one that used to be Scully's. "I wish that we had been 
able to take some Christmas Eve photos of Will. I don't even have my 
camera with me. It's his first Christmas and his stocking isn't even 
here."

"We can take pictures when we get back home," I promised Scully. "The 
spirit will still be there. Plus, it's an extra story we can tell him 
when he's older."

"Mulder, don't remind me that he's growing up so fast," Scully scolded 
me. It was true. Will was a good size for his age, and it looked like 
he was taking after me in the height department. He was also very 
active for an eleven-month-old, but he hadn't (as of yet) lost his 
baby sweetness. It was hard to believe that he was nearly a year old. 

"Maybe the baby stage won't be gone forever," I added. Scully looked 
up at me with her wide blue eyes, the ones that she had given our son. 
We hadn't really discussed the possibility of a second child, but we 
certainly hadn't ruled it out. Nothing of William's had been thrown 
out: everything was stored in boxes in the spare bedroom of our new 
home.  Sure, being new parents had been an adjustment to the both of 
us, but the thought of not having any infant in the house seemed to be 
a kind of lonely prospect.

"You think?" Scully asked me hopefully.

"Miracles do happen," I echoed quietly.

Our tender family moment was soon disturbed by none other than Big 
Brother Bill. "I think Sarah wants the kids to go to bed now," he 
said. "Dana, you can stay here with Will and the girls."

Bill must have sensed both of our expressions of confusion. "Mulder, I 
thought that you could spend the night with the boys downstairs so 
they won't try and sneak into the living room at the crack of dawn."

First he just happens to be the one who knocks down the tree which 
barricades all of us together on Will's first Christmas which Scully 
and I intended to celebrate at our own home, and now he's separating 
us. I tried to swallow my anger (not to mention my pride) but Billy 
boy was making it mighty difficult for me. I knew that Scully didn't 
want to make a scene, but I could see the softness of her eyes give 
way to anger.

"Bill," she steadily warned.

Bill put up his hands in self-defense. He's obviously seen this look 
before. "There's no other room," he shrugged.

Both Scully and I knew that was basically bullshit. Yet we both kept 
quiet. At least for the sake of Scully's mother, we did not want to 
create a scene. "Let's go downstairs. I don't want to wake Will up," 
Scully mumbled, as she tugged my hand and we escaped to the dining 
room, where the sleeping arrangements were being made. 

Bill had beat us down to the dessert table, and by the time Scully and 
I had resettled ourselves at our seats, he had made his case about 
separating the two of us. Don't get me wrong, I respect Margaret 
Scully and her beliefs. I would pretty much understand her not wanting 
me and Scully to sleep together unmarried, but for God's sake, we hve 
a *child* together. And honestly, just between you and me, I don't 
think that she minds as much as Scully thinks she does. If everything 
went well, or if anything went well tonight, our unmarried status 
would definitely change (and for the better, in my humble opinion).

I could tell that Sarah and Charlie wanted to protest, but Scully and 
I sent them "don't-get-in-the-middle-of-this" vibes. After all, I 
didn't want to start another family fight at Christmas time. Some 
traditions are not meant to be kept. "As long as everyone agrees with 
it," Margaret carefully added to Bill's speech. All of her children 
nodded slowly in agreement. It was decided that the (married) couples 
would take the upstairs bedrooms, with Margaret in the master room and 
the girls, Scully and Will in the room where the baby was already 
settled. Me and the boys would take the family room, and it would be 
my job to keep them from running into the living room (where the tree 
was) until a decent hour (preferably before eight). Since Sarah and 
Charlie had driven all the way from Long Island with the kids, and 
Bill and Tara had flown from California, they had all the Christmas 
presents shipped to Margaret's house weeks earlier, either from their 
home or directly from the company. Margaret had enjoyed wrapping the 
presents using Santa's magic handwriting. I felt bad about all of me 
and Scully's gifts to Will being stuck back at home, but knowing 
Margaret, I knew that she spoiled Will rotten. After all, he was her 
only miracle grandchild who lived near her. 

Miraculously, the rest of the children got to bed before ten. Even 
Max, who protested that he wasn't going to go "be a baby" and go to 
sleep like his younger brother and cousins was asleep by nine thirty. 
 Us adults didn't even attempt to put Santa's gifts under the tree for 
another extra hour just in case one of the children was faking. 

It was nearing midnight and Charlie and I were still hard at work 
putting together the rocking horse that Margaret had gotten for Will. 
Before going to bed himself, Bill had played the part of dutiful son 
and arranged the stocking stuffers that Scully had spent the previous 
weekend putting together at our house.  Margaret had also gone to bed 
half an hour earlier, in anticipation of a crazy day tomorrow (as if 
today wasn't as bewildering as possible).  I know that she had planned 
on bringing the family to mass tomorrow morning,  but considering the 
fact that her eldest son had successfully barricaded all of us in the 
house, that wasn't possible. Although I don't share Margaret's faith 
in a higher being, I do respect her religious beliefs and I hoped that 
she wouldn't mind too much about missing Christmas Mass. 

Finally, all of the presents had been assembled. "I'm hitting the 
sack," announced Sarah wearily. I didn't blame her: she had driven 
four hours in horrible traffic with four hyper children.  "Thanks for 
spending the night down here. I'm sure without you, Shaun would be up 
by five a.m."

"No problem," I answered nervously. I was still upset about the turn 
of events and unhappy about the sleeping arrangements to boot. 

"Do you happen to have a Swiss Army Knife on you, Mulder? I just want 
to tie this up so nobody trips on it, and I think Max took mine," 
Charlie said, pointing to the piece of twine that was on the ground 
fallen from the door frame that was supporting the tree. 

"No problem," I answered. "I keep mine in my jacket now because Will 
is so impish. I'll get it. You go to bed." I could tell that Charlie 
was trying to give me and Scully some private time, something which I 
appreciated. I turned to Scully, who was sleepy on the sofa. "I'll be 
right back."

I went into the front hall, where all of the coats were in the closet. 
I found my leather jacket and felt around the inside pockets. I don't 
like to keep dangerous things near Will, especially with him being so 
active. Scully and I are quite vigilant about our guns. The only 
reason why we both keep guns in the house is because of the threats 
that we face every day. Both guns are in locked safes, behind a fake 
panel in our bedroom. We are the only ones who know their location and 
it's impossible for Will (or any child, really) to even find the safe, 
let alone the gun. Just based on that, imagine my paranoia with 
smaller and equally dangerous objects. Before I found the Swiss Army 
Knife, my hands brushed something else in the pocket. It took me a 
moment to figure out what it was, but then it hit me.

The ring. In it's velvet box. Here. At Margaret's house. Not at home. 
I peaked into the living room, with the dimly lit Christmas tree and a 
perfectly sleepy Scully unsuspectingly slumped on the sofa. I looked 
down at my hand, at the ring. I made my decision quickly...or rather I 
finally made a decision after eight years in the making.

"Mulder, you have that look on your face. What's up?" Scully asked, 
moving over to make room for me on the couch. I just sat down next to 
her. 

"I just wanted to tell you, Scully, that this has been undeniably the 
best year of my life," I slowly began, and I looked up at her, tears 
mixing in both our eyes. "And I just want to make this last week of 
this year just as good. I want to make the rest of our lives this 
good. Scully, will you marry me?"

A smile curled her lips and a small gasp emitted from Scully's throat 
as I somehow managed to pop the question-and the lid of the ring 
box-at the same time. But my perfect timing wasn't that perfect 
because before Dana could answer for herself, another Scully responded 
for her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bill roared loudly.  Very loudly.

"You'll wake up the kids," shushed Scully, pointing in the direction 
of the next room, where up til now, the three oldest Scully grandsons 
had been peacefully sleeping.

"Too late for that," I muttered, leaning back against the couch, 
feeling completely defeated. Within two seconds of that ouroar, Max, 
Shaun and Matt ran into the room.

"Santa came!" shouted Shaun. 

Two minutes later, his sisters (Kerry carrying Will) ran down the 
stairs, quickly followed by Margaret, Charles, Sarah and Tara. Great, 
the whole family was here. No matter what Scully said, I would be 
humiliated. In front of my own son as well. 

"Swanta!" repeated Carrie and Matt in unison.

"HOLD IT! All of you, just stand over there by the stockings. Kerry, 
sit down with Will, okay? You don't want to drop him." 

Until now, I hadn't heard Sarah much raise her voice in front of 
anybody. "Bill, what's the matter?" she asked. 

"I came downstairs to get a drink of water, and.."

"You saw Santa?" Shaun asked excitedly, looking eagerly at the pile of 
presents in front of him.

"I think Uncle Bill just missed him. He  woke up 'cuz he heard the 
reindeer on the roof," Tara insisted. 

"So did I!" Shaun exclaimed. 

"You and Uncle Bill can talk about it later then, okay?" Sarah 
distractedly told her youngest son.  "So why were you so loud?"

"Because *he* (Bill pointed in my direction) just-"

"All Mulder was doing was proposing, and thanks to you, I haven't been 
able to accept," Scully went on, but I didn't hear the rest of her 
words. I held her hand tighter, and as I looked around the room I saw 
everyone's jaw drop and smiles sprinkle around others' faces. 

"Since we know that Santa came, why don't we all go to sleep now and 
wake up in the morning to open our presents, okay?" Sarah asked 
kindly. "Because, if Santa knows that you are all up, he might think 
that he made a mistake and take the presents away."

I think that the kids were too shocked to complain. Margaret lifted 
Will from Kerry's arms and both Scully and I kissed him as he fell 
back to sleep. "You two have some talking to do," she whispered. "I'll 
change him for you."

Soon we were alone again. "Merry Christmas, Scully," I whispered as I 
slipped the ring on to her finger and kissed her soundly. 

"I love you, Mulder," she said.

"I love you too," I answered. I wrapped my arms around her and held 
her close. We didn't wake up until the next morning, when the kids 
came roaring in to the room at seven thirty am. I didn't mind.

I already had my Christmas gift.

The End...For Now

Feedback? Good bad, indifferent, my muse needs 
encouragement...tabby@kronerxf.net