From sgormle2@chat.carleton.ca Fri Dec 20 18:01:27 1996

Since it is the holiday season, I decided that I'd throw in a
holiday story myself (of sorts). This is a follow-up to my
story of a year ago called "Under the Tree" (which will be
reposted before this story in both "PG" and "R" versions).
This time around I'm leaving out the sex (I know, you're all
*so* disappointed <g>) and just going for a straight story.
There are some 'swear' words, but nothing most of you probably
haven't heard (or said ;) before.

Let the mantra begin...I don't own Mulder and Scully, they are
creations of the warped mind of Chris Carter. They belong to him,
Ten Thirteen productions, and FBC. I intend no infringement in
using them, I just like putting them through hell and back again.
<g>

This story may be passed around, but only with the author's 
permission. All comments/feedback/constructive criticism are/is
always welcome; pointless flames are not.

And so it continues...

            _Under the Tree II: Resolutions_
                   by Siobhan Gormley


Dana Scully practically slammed open her front door, a distinctly
pissed off look on her face.  She kicked the door shut and
shrugged her jacket off, allowing it to fall to the floor in a 
puddle of material.  She kicked off her shoes and headed into
the kitchen, pulling out some herbal tea from a cupboard.  She
then plugged in the kettle to start boiling the water.

*Hopefully this'll do the trick*, she thought.  

Today had started out badly, and had just gotten worse, at least
as far as she was concerned.  Traffic had been hell, but she was
able to make it in before 9 a.m.  Unfortunately, there was a pile
of case reports waiting for her when she got in, and no Mulder
in sight.  She had begun working on them until Mulder finally
appeared, so she was then able to toss some work his way which
he reluctantly took.  He had always hated doing paperwork, but
she was not about to be saddled with it all this time around.

Around lunch time, Scully decided to give Mulder his Christmas
present since she knew he was going home to his mother's this 
weekend and that she wouldn't see him until after Christmas.
When she had brought it out, Mulder looked slightly surprised,
but gratefully accepted it.  Scully had stayed standing there
while he put the gift aside, foolishly expecting him to give her
something in return.  But when he had turned back to face her,
the only thing he gave her was a talk about the last case
they had been working on.  She had stood there, turning redder
by the minute, feeling distinctly embarrassed for having thought
that he would be giving her something.  Once he was finished
talking with her, she quickly went back to her desk and hid
herself in work for the rest of the day.  As the day had gone
on, she started to feel angry because of the fact that she had
felt embarrassed.  Why in hell should she feel bad for hoping
that he would return the kindness?  It wasn't like she was
expecting some sort of extravagant gift, just something to show
that he had thought of her.  Considering how close their
relationship had become after all...

Scully broke out of her reverie of rememberance and unplugged
the kettle before it boiled all the water away.  She walked
over to another cupboard and pulled out a cup, pouring the
hot water in it and dropping one of the tea bags in, letting it
steep.  She walked into the living room with the cup in hand,
sitting down on the couch and stretching out. She sipped
cautiously from the cup, but her head jerked back at the heat
of the liquid.  Scully placed the cup on her coffee table,
letting it cool.

Yes, she and Mulder had become quite close again after a long
time of keeping their distance from each other.  Last New Year's
Eve had been...Well, it had been an experience, that was for
sure.  She still wasn't quite sure why they had slept together,
and they certainly had never talked about it afterwards.  Their
relationship had suffered slightly after that fateful evening, 
and it had taken months before either of them had even felt
comfortable enough to even touch the other.

But now things were better.  Their relationship seemed to be
stronger than ever, but Scully couldn't help but still have a
nagging feeling of doubt, and this bothered her greatly.  The
fact that Mulder didn't even think of getting her a gift made
her even more worried, making her think perhaps she had been a
little too presumptuous.

"Stop it Dana. It's pointless making yourself feel guilty for
doing something nice for a friend," she said aloud, chastising
herself.  And that's all he was and ever would be, a friend.
And that suited her just fine, or so she told herself.  It suited
her fine most times, but there were times when she couldn't help
remembering the feeling of him inside her, his gentle touches,
his soft lips...

"Oh *god* I need to get laid!" she yelled, putting a pillow over
her face as if to hide herself in embarrassment.  She then she
found herself giggling at the desperation in her voice.  With
the giggling, her anger at Mulder seemed to disappear.

At that moment, the front door bell rang.  Scully pulled the
pillow off of her face and curiously look at the door.

"Wow, you really have great timing," she said, looking up at the
ceiling.  She couldn't help giggling again.  For all she knew it
was some kid selling chocolate bars.  Of course, chocolate could
be a great substitute...

She pulled herself off the couch and walked over to the door,
looking through the peep hole.  

"You truly have a sick sense of humour, you know that?" Scully
said aloud, speaking to the ceiling again.  She took a deep
breath and opened the door to none other than Mulder.

"Hi Scully. I'm not interrupting, am I?" Mulder asked, glancing
around.  She was tempted to say yes, just to see his reaction, 
but deep down she feared that if she did, he would go away, and
she did want to see him now that her anger with him was gone, so
she shook her head negatively.

"No, come on in.  Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked
as he entered the apartment and closed the door.

"No, thanks.  I can't stay long, I'm on my way to my mom's."
Scully simply nodded in response, indicating for him to sit
down on the couch, which he did.  She sat down at the opposite
end of the couch where she had been earlier.

"So, I see you have your tree up," he commented, glancing at it.

"Yep."

"It's a really nice tree."

"Yeah, well it's no different than the one I had last year.  You
remember that one, don't you?" she replied, then closed her eyes
in disbelief that she had said that.  Scully looked up at Mulder
who now had a somewhat nervous smile on his face.

"Yeah, that was certainly a tree to remember," he answered,
bringing a small smile to Scully's face.  They sat there for
a few moments, just looking into each other's eyes, as if they
were saying something, but without words.  She looked away from
him after a bit, beginning to feel suddenly self-conscious.

"Scully...Dana.  We never did talk about...you know..."  Scully
looked back at him again, the smile still there.

"No, we didn't.  But I think maybe it's better that we let it
rest as is.  I think it was something we needed to do, to sort
of get out of our system.  You know what I mean?"  He nodded
mutely in reply, but Scully thought she saw a flicker of
disappointment cross his face, almost like he wasn't really
pleased with her response.  Before she said anything more, he
reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a smallish box, presenting
it to her.  Scully looked at it curiously, then took it as he put
it into her left hand.

"I felt really bad after you had given me a gift and I didn't
have anything to give to you, so I went out at lunch and got this
for you.  I hope you like it."  Scully didn't say anything, just
looked at the box, now feeling guilty for thinking ill of Mulder.

"You can open it now if you want," he said, but Scully shook her
head, putting the gift on the coffee table.

"No, I think I'll wait until Christmas."  Mulder nodded
affirmatively, then got up from the couch.

"I guess I better get going.  Traffic's going to be murder
heading out to Connecticut since it's the weekend."  Scully
got up and followed him to the front door.  She leaned against
it as he stood in the doorway.

"Thank you, Mulder.  I really appreciate your gift," she said.

"I'm glad.  I just thought I should show you how lucky I am to
have such a good friend as you are."  Scully smiled shyly,
looking away from him.  Mulder turned her head back to face him,
then leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.  Their kiss
deepened momentarily, and Scully moaned softly as she felt his
left hand move from her shoulder to caress her breast.  They
finally moved apart after a few moments.

"Merry Christmas, Dana," Mulder said, his voice sounding husky.
He then walked down the hall, leaving Scully standing at her
front door.  

Scully felt like she was coming down from an incredible high as
she stood there watching him walk down the hall.  She felt like
calling out to him, to tell him not to leave, but by the time she
finally found her voice, he was gone.  She let out a disappointed
sigh, then closed the door, heading back to the couch.

As she sat down, she picked up the now cold tea and sipped at
it absentmindedly as she stared at Mulder's gift.  She had told
him that she would wait until Christmas to open the gift, but
after that kiss, she *really* wanted to know what he had gotten
her.  Her curiosity got the better of her and she put down the
cup and picked up the present.  She gave it a little shake and
it moved around, making a bit of noise.  She nibbled on her lower
lip, trying to decide if she should open it or just wait until
Christmas day, like she had told Mulder.  

After a few minutes of internal debate, she decided to open it.
She carefully took off the wrapping paper, placing it on the
couch beside her.  She then lifted the box top off, then removed
the bit of cotton baton to reveal a sprig of mistle toe
surrounded by a silver bracelet.  

Scully couldn't quite believe it.  She couldn't believe that he
had gotten her something so incredibly personal, and god only
knows what he meant by the mistle toe.

"Oh please, Dana, like that kiss didn't give you a hint," she
said aloud to herself.

Scully took out the bracelet, but before she looked it over, she
saw a card lying on the bit of cotton baton that was in the
bottom of the box.  She pulled out the card and read it.

"Dear Dana, I know I've never been very good at expressing my
feelings to you, but I just wanted you to know how much you mean
to me.  You are the greatest woman I have ever known, and the
best friend anyone could ever ask for.  Thanks for putting up
with all my crap.  I just hope this small token can make up
for it.  All my love, Fox."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and one rolled down her face,
dropping on the card and streaking the ink.  Scully brushed the
tear away and put the card down, then looked at the bracelet.  It
was a simple design, but quite beautiful.  Most of it was links,
but one part was a flat surface where something was engraved.  It
read: "To my best friend and confidante; may you never lose faith
in me, because I have never lost mine in you."  

Scully felt tears well up in her eyes again, then spill over and
down her face.  She never really imagined that Mulder felt so
deeply for her.  Not to say that she was adverse to it, on the
contrary.  She felt just as close to him as he seemed to feel to
her.  

Now she was upset with herself for not opening it when he was
there.  There was so much they needed to talk about.  Oh sure,
she had told him that they should just let it rest, but maybe
they shouldn't, maybe there was a chance...

*No, it's better to not complicate things*, she thought, wiping
away the tears.  *Just because a man writes stuff like that does
not necessarily mean that he wants to make a major change to your
relationship.*

Scully put the bracelet on, leaning back against the couch arm.
She looked at the bracelet, a happy smile spreading across her
face.  She slid down the couch so that her head was leaning
against the couch arm now, and she closed her eyes, holding
the arm with the bracelet close to her heart, the smile remaining
on her lips as she drifted off to sleep.

THE END


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Siobhan Gormley, Carleton University        * X-Phile, Trek Fan, B-5er,    
         Ottawa, Canada                     * Disnophile, Dragon Posse,
Email address: sgormle2@wabakimi.carleton.ca* Whovian, Hopeful Romantic,
  http://chat.carleton.ca/~sgormle2         * Austenite*****************
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   Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.
       --French taunting from _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_
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