From: Rachel Budde Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 19:55:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: fanfic Source: direct Title: Lost and Found Author: Caroline McKenna Spoilers: None, really. Minor ones up to season 6, if you're picky. Teaser: Mulder spends a Christmas with the Scully family, mistletoe and all. Catagory: MSR Rating: PG Email: JC_SizzlinSpike827@yahoo.com Feedback: YES! Please! If ya liked it, if ya hated it, whatever! I love feedback, both good and bad. Also, this is only my third fanfic, so be kind. Disclaimer: I don't own them, I never will. They belong to Chris Carter, FOX, 1013 Productions, and I like to think they belong to Gillian Anderson and DD. They're not mine. Don't rub it in. Author's Note: Set after "The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas" in season 6. Archiving: Yes, just tell me where you're taking it, and include my name and email She didn't remember falling asleep, only waking up in his arms. Dana Scully sighed contentedly, smiling at the man who was holding her tightly. She never thought she could be so happy, especially with Mulder. After all, it seemed as though all her crisis' happened because of him or when he was around. But Scully tried to think about those things. Not on Christmas. "Hey Scully," he said softly, still with his eyes closed. "You're finally awake. I was beginning to think you've sleep through the New Year." They both sat up straight, each slightly embarrassed at the position they woke up to. "Good morning to you, too, Mulder." She got up, making her way to the kitchen. "You want some coffee?" She got out her regular instant and two coffee mugs, not waiting for his reply. "Sure, Scully. Thanks." When she returned to his living room, carrying two mugs full of steaming coffee, he smiled gratefully, accepting his cup. She glanced out his window to see the snowflakes gently falling to the ground. "Mulder, look, it's snowing!" Snow was a rarity in Washington DC and the city's inhabitants were always thrilled to see Jack Frost's blessing. "Wow. It actually looks like we have a white Christmas this year." He stood next to her, just gazing out the window for several moments before realizing. "Scully! It's 8:30!" "Yeah, so?" "Your family roll call started at six, remember? The spreading of holiday cheer?" "Oh, shit! Mom will be worried sick! I'm never late. I bet she already called my place and since I'm not there..." Her face paled considerably. Mulder wordlessly handed her his cell phone. She was surprised to find her mothers' number on his speed dial, but when she thought about it again, it made sense. What if something was to happen to her during one of their cases? He'd call her mother right after he called an ambulance. She pressed the button and was relieved when she heard her mothers' voice on the other line. "Hello?" Maggie Scully said, picking up the phone. "Hi, Mom. It's me." "Dana, thank God!" The relief was evident in her voice. "Where on earth have you been? I must have called your house 10 times!" Scully chose her words carefully, knowing this was a potentially mortifying conversation. "I'm sorry to worry you, Mom. I, uh, wasn't home this morning. Mulder..." She paused, recognizing that anything she told her mother about him would be lethal. "Mulder and I were opening gifts last night and we just fell asleep." Maggie smiled. "Oh." Hearing the connotation in her mothers' voice, Scully attempted to reconcile her dignity. "It wasn't like that, Mom. Nothing happened. We just fell asleep, that's all." Mulder smiled, bemused. He like the way this was going. Or what he heard of it anyhow. "Look, Mom, I'll be there in an hour." "Okay. By the way, what is Fox doing today?" Scully pulled the phone from her ear to ask the question. "He said he's going to watch 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' with his fish." Scully tried to hold in her laughter. Unfortunately, she was not successful. "Let me talk to him," Maggie said. Scully handed the phone to her partner like it was a hot lump on coal that just came out of the fireplace. "Hello, Maggie." He said pleasantly into the phone. "Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas, Fox. Dana tells me you don't have any real plans today. And before you say anything, your fish don't count as plans." "Uh, no, not really." "Well, now you do. Join us. I'm sure Dana would love for you to come along." "Maggie, really Christmas is a time for family, and I wouldn't consider myself..." Before he could continue any further, he was interrupted. "Oh, pish-posh. You are part of the family, Fox. And you're coming whether you like it or not." With that, Maggie hung up the phone. Mulder pressed the 'End' button and turned to face Scully. "My mother rope you into the Scully family Christmas activities?" she questioned. "Yeah, she invited me, but I don't know if I'll accept. My poor fish." It was a subtle prompting if Scully ever heard one. He wanted to know if it was okay with her. "You should go, Mulder. It might be fun." "Yeah, maybe, but your brother..." "Hates your guts. Okay, I see your point, but Mulder, you can't just not go because of him. Yes, he's been an ass, but Mom'll have him on his best behavior if she knows you're coming. My mother likes you." When she received loud silence in reply, she put her hand on his arm, turning him to her. "Please, Mulder. I want you to come." And it was the honest to God truth, she realized. She did want him to come. She wanted to spend time with both him and her family. He sighed. Always a sucker for Scully's smile, he agreed. "Okay." "Good. Look, I'll go back to my place and change. I'll pick you up in 45 minutes. We'll be sipping eggnog before you know it." She walked to the door, opening for him. "Scully?" "Yeah, Mulder?" "I don't sip eggnog." "Of course not, Mulder." * * * * * Maggie Scully was just putting the turkey in the oven when the doorbell rang. Throwing the turkey in, she discarded her oven mitts and went to answer it. She opened the door, revealing her smiling daughter and a charming Fox Mulder by her side. Dana was carrying an array of gifts, all wrapped nicely in star paper. "Dana, Fox, come right in." She hugged and kissed each of them, taking Scully's packages off her hands. Scully shrugged off her coat, hanging it on the coat rack. Her hair was decorated with glistening snowflakes, and only then did Maggie realize that about three inches of snow littered the outside ground. The family emerged from the living room to greet their guests. Mulder could have sworn he heard Bill Scully groan at the sight of him. His Scully moved closer like a mother hen defending her baby chick. After the initial introductions were made, Maggie suggested that they were presents under the tree. All gifts were doled out, and Mulder was surprised to see a excellently done up package with his name on it. He patiently waited his turn while the Scully children and adults opened their presents. "Your turn, Fox," Maggie said cheerily, looking anxiously over his shoulder. It had taken her a long time to prepare Fox's gift, and she really hoped he liked it. It was wrapped carefully in gold and silver paper with little silver bells on it. It could have been wedding paper, Mulder noticed. Mulder did not have to look twice to guess that it was a book. Just about the size of 'The Big Book of Answers' he had gotten from Scully the previous night. She had explained to him that since he was the man with infinite questions, that she would give him the book to help provide some of the answers. He loved it immensely. The Scully women obviously liked their literature. Bill Scully glared at Mulder from across the room as he tentatively opened his gift. Bill had never like him much. Hell, he hated Mulder the minute he saw his all-too-perfect- face. As far as Bill was concerned, Mulder was the cause of all the turmoil and pain in his little sister's life. And, if Maggie hadn't made him promise to be civil, Bill probably would have beat the shit out of him already. Mulder hadn't left Dana's side once since they arrived, and that infuriated Bill. But what was ever worse, Dana seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself; she was smiling and laughing much more than she had before. Mulder gently peeled the wrapping from the gift, trying not to rip the paper any more than he had to. Scully, who was sitting next to him, couldn't stand the suspense anymore, so she reached over and tore the paper in one big strip. When he looked at her incredulously, she just giggled. Bill gaped open-mouthed. Dana Scully had given up giggling when she was ten years old, and now this guy had her doing in twice in the same day. For the first time, Mulder took his eyes off Scully long enough to discover the wonderful present Maggie had given him. In his lap lay a photo album, practically exploding with pictures. Pictures of Scully. After shooting her mother, who looked rather pleased with herself, her own patented glare, Scully colored furiously as Mulder turned the pages, mesmerized by the books' contents. Bowing her head, she let her auburn hair fall in her face to hide the blush. When the initial embarrassment subsided, Scully began to narrate for every photo they passed. "That one was taken at my eighth birthday party right after Bill dropped the cake on us. Missy was angry with him for weeks." Mulder glanced at the picture and then at Bill, doing his best to stifle a laugh. Flipping through the book, they passed birthdays, holidays, vacations, among other things. There was a picture of 16-year-old Scully on the beach in a black bikini that Mulder was particularly interested in and would have looked more intently at, if Scully hadn't reached across him and turned the page. There were pictures of Scully and her pets, Scully and her family, and Scully by herself. At senior prom. The picture caught his eye. How could it not? Maggie had blown in up to an 8x10. But, even if she hadn't, Mulder would have been fascinated nonetheless. She was beautiful. No, that wasn't a strong enough adjective. Gorgeous, elegant, exquisite, but beautiful just the same. Scully wore a dark green dress, the color of emeralds, that clung tastefully to her curves, and brought out the color in her eyes. Oh, God, her eyes. Mulder could drown in those eyes. And he'd be damned if he knew what it was about them that turned his legs to JELLO. Cheap JELLO at that. Maybe it was the way they seemed to change color daily. Never were Scully's eyes the same shade of blue. Or maybe it was the way they twinkled when she smiled. Especially when she grinned at him. Who knew? He sure didn't, and at that moment, Mulder didn't care very much. He was still gazing at the photo. Well, not gazing. Fox Mulder didn't gaze. Looked at lovingly sometimes, but he never gazed. Her hair was worn up, piled softly on top of her head with red corkscrew curls hanging down, framing her delicate face. "Wow," he whispered, barely audible, but loud enough for both Maggie and Dana Scully to hear. Each wore a smile of silent triumph. He pulled his Scully to him, speaking to her ear. "You're beautiful." She didn't notice the present tense of his verb, but she did detect the shyness in his voice, as if he didn't know what to expect. His caution was not irrational and normally, Scully would have been slightly uncomfortable. When people remarked favorably about her looks, she tended to take it badly. They couldn't see passed her appearance and compliment her intelligence, or honesty, or integrity. But with Mulder, it was different. It was always different when it came to Mulder. He already knew the other things and was simply acknowledging another part of her. "Thank you," she whispered back sincerely. While his was next to him was grinning at the pare unabashedly, Bill was plenty fed up with his sister swooning over that son-of-a-bitch. "Okay, enough of that," he said through clenched teeth, desperately trying to remember the promise he made to his mother. "How about we get some lunch?" The family agreed, all surprised at how hungry they were. Bill, his wife Tara, and their one-year-old son Matthew lead the way to the kitchen, with Scully's brother Charlie and his wife Brooke following. That left Scully, Mulder, and Maggie still gathered around the brightly lit Christmas tree. "Thank you, Maggie. It's great." He held up the now closed photo album. "You're welcome, Fox. I knew you'd like it." "And Mom?" Scully said, "Next time you decide to get Mulder a gift, discuss it with me first so we can avoid things like a 16-year-old me in a skimpy bathing suit." Mulder smiled. Oh yeah, he was definitely going to check that one out later. "Oh, relax, Dana. It's only Fox. Now lets go get some food. I've been cooking all morning." Mulder let out an enthusiastic whoop, and nearly hugged the woman, but restrained in fear of knocking her over. Scully's mother's cooking was the best in the country, in his opinion. Of course, he was a little biased. * * * * * "That was delicious, Maggie. Best turkey I've tasted in a long time," said Tara Scully after everyone had eaten and was gathered once again in the living room. "I agree." Charlie stated, "But as much as I liked your food, Mom, I think it's time for my favorite family tradition." All the Scully's nodded, knowing smiles on their faces. Except for Scully, who's face remained stony, as if debating something in her mind. "Come on, Mulder. We should go." She stood, pulling him up with her. Bill's smile was ear to ear. This was the tradition that he was glad they'd be missing. "Nonsense, Dana. You're staying right here. You're a Scully after all, and this is tradition." "Yeah, Scully. What's the harm in staying. It can't be that bad." Reluctantly, she sat back down. "Bill, Tara, why don't you go first this year," suggested Maggie. The couple stood, holding hands and walked to the doorway, where a sprig of mistletoe hung. Bill wrapped his wife of ten years into his arms and kissed her passionately. Mulder looked wide eyed at Scully, only now grasping what they were in store for. She simply smiled her divine Scully-smile, and turned back to Bill and Tara. Charlie and Brooke went next and Scully's anticipation grew. She hoped she had read him right and that he wasn't dreading this. She sure wasn't. "Dana, Fox, you're turn." Bill cringed. Mulder took her hand and they confidently marched to the doorway. Her arms went around his neck and his wrapped around her tiny waist. As he leaned in, ever so slowly, he was certain that she wanted this as much as he did. In some respects, they both needed it to happen. At that point, he was willingly submerging himself in her eyes, and he wasn't so sure he could swim. Their lips met, breaking the barrier that had lain between them for so long. Tentatively, he traced her lips with his tongue, and when she responded in the same fashion, he allowed their kiss to deepen, losing himself entirely to her. Out of the corner of his eye, Mulder saw Bill in open-mouthed shock. Or horror. he said to himself, amazed at his ability to form a conscious thought. But now, he wasn't interested in Bill, only in the woman wrapped in his arms. Maggie Scully had to practically pry us apart, bless her heart. "Merry Christmas, Mulder," Scully whispered as they pulled apart. He discovered just then as he gazed- yes gazed- at Dana Scully, that he had not lost himself in her, he had found himself.