Town of Kālacakra

by CultureisDarkBeer

Summary:

Angst, Tension, First-time, MSR

Set during December 1999, pre-Millennium and post IVF, Mulder and Scully take on a case, and each other.

This is a completed fic.

Chapter 1: Let it Snow

22 Dec 1999

Soft blinding precipitation fell from the dark clouds up above, covering the highway, transforming the landscape from a vibrancy of color to an all-encompassing monochrome.

Scully shifted in the passenger seat, adjusting the heating vent away from her body. Mulder had the car suffocatingly hot. The blades of the wipers scraped against the glass, pushing the snow into drifts along the edges until it took flight in the wind like flocks of doves. 

“Mulder, it’s snowing so heavy I can hardly see the road. Why are we out here?”

“I told you, for a chance to witness a true spectacle of nature that few have been lucky enough to behold with their own eyes.” His pupils dilated as he glanced at her, while his eyebrows jumped and waggled in that frustratingly cute way they did whenever he was persuading her to do something she had her doubts about. 

Scully opened the glove compartment only to have a map and rental agreement fall onto her lap. She slammed it shut and rummaged through the center console, then strained against her seatbelt to unsuccessfully grab the newspaper laying on the back seat.

“It’s in here somewhere, Mulder.”

“What is?”

“The answer as to why, with only two shopping days left, I’m out here in the middle of nowhere with you.”

Mulder poked out his bottom lip. “I thought it was because you enjoyed my company.”

“Out with it.”

He sighed. “I got a tip from one of the park rangers. There have been several reports of Yeti sightings in the area, and I just thought...”

“It would make a nice pet? Mulder, there’s no such thing as a Yeti, it was probably just a bear or maybe a coyote.”

“A Werewolf?”

“No,” Scully said shortly, but couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from curling. “Mulder, we’re going to get stuck out here. We need to turn around.”

Mulder squinted out through the windshield at the flakes of snow growing larger and heavier as they fell. “Come on, Scully, where’s your sense of adventure?” As he said it, he looked straight ahead and into the two blaring red lights on the back of a skidding semi. Mulder quickly jerked the wheel to the right and slammed the brakes; the car slid sideways along the icy road and crashed into a bank, sending snow cascading up into the air, covering Mulder’s side window in snow and simultaneously killing the motor. A loud thud followed from a falling chunk of white from the tree above, denting the roof of the car. 

“What did you say about turning around? I hope you signed up for the rental insurance,” Mulder said with a smirk. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she said, angrier at herself for making the initial decision to get in the car in the first place. 

Mulder removed his cell from inside his jacket and flipped it open. “No service.”

The frigid outside air leaked into the car as the frost grew in weblike fashion. Deciding against her life ending inside a Ford Escort, Scully tried her door, and it opened without complaint. The wind shivered her insides as she wrapped her long black coat tighter around her. Mulder followed, climbing out the passenger side. She turned her back to him as another gust of wind sent a chill up her spine.

“We better start moving before it gets dark,” he said, his feet crunching ahead of her.

Reluctantly, she fell in step behind him. They had been walking possibly twenty minutes when a royal blue four door F350 diesel pulled up along the side of the road. A cheery bearded heavy-set man with a camo John Deere cap rolled down the window and offered them a ride. Scully climbed into the back while Mulder graciously took the passenger seat.

“What brings you two out this way?” the driver asked, his eyes cascading over their formal dark suits. “Going to a wedding?”

Mulder pulled out his badge and flipped it open. “FBI.”

“You after poachers?”

“Something like that,” Mulder replied, tapping his bifold back into his inside pocket. “We’ve had some reports of some fairly large animals in the vicinity.”

This made a wiry grin spread across the driver’s face. “You’re after the Yeti.”

“You’ve heard of the sightings?”

“Be careful around these parts. You may think you know what you’re looking for, but what you find… might not be what you expect.”

“Oh, brother,” Scully whispered under her breath. Little did that driver know, he was sparking the fire inside Mulder.

When they pulled into a gas station the driver pointed down the road. “I have to turn here, but if you walk, maybe a quarter mile, there’s a town. You’ll be able to rent a car, get a bite to eat, a place to stay, whatever you need.”

“Thank you,” Scully replied and thought, Why couldn’t he just drive them the quarter mile into town? This guy expected them to walk in the snow? Scully shook her head. Another blustery wind sent snow into the air and made her hands flex inside her gloves. Whatever the man’s reasons she decided to be grateful for as far as he was willing to drive them.

Meanwhile, Mulder headed inside to call local authorities and notify them of their abandoned rental car. Scully decided it was time to use the restroom. When she returned in search of coffee, Mulder was waiting for her.

“They said they won’t be able to get the tow truck for a few days with this storm,” he said, biting into some jerky and handing her a steaming cup of dark deliciousness. He offered her the package of jerky and she shook her head. Unidentified dehydrated dead animal wasn’t on her shopping list. 

Mulder shrugged, placing a bag of sunflower seeds into his pocket. “Let’s take the hike to town. We can rent another car and get something to eat while we wait for the snow to subside.”

“Mulder, if I miss my flight to San Diego...”

“I’ll never hear the end of it,” he finished.

Chapter 2: Christmas Threw up on Whoville

By the time they reached the town, Scully couldn’t feel below her ankles. Luckily, she had worn heeled snow boots, but every so often, when the drifts became too deep, snow crystals slipped inside. It caused a painfully shocking, icy experience.

As they passed a sign that read: Town of Kalacakra , the snowfall lightened, and the sky turned velvet. Colored lights draped the trees and framed the houses. Twinkling lights flickered along white picket fences. Tinsel and ornaments graced the evergreens, and each cookie cutter house had glowing decorations adorning their lawns.

“Well, this is festive,” Scully said as they crunched along the meticulously paved sidewalk.

“Like Christmas threw up on Whoville,” Mulder added.

They entered a quaint little shop on Main Street labeled, “General Store” with a jingle of the bell.

“Welcome and Merry Christmas,” the young man smiled behind the counter. “How may I help you?”

Mulder explained the situation while Scully browsed through the Christmas cards. 

“We have no car rental company in town,” the man replied, “but you can borrow my old pickup if you like and the Inn down the street would love to have you.”

After exchanging glances, they thanked the man for his unexpected kindness. Realizing their overnight bags were still in the car, they picked up some toiletries, but with only one clothing store and a lack of any kind of chain stores, the choices were slim. 

“I understand Mrs. Sully..” a chubby cherub cheeked older woman replied behind the reception desk of the Inn. “But it is Christmastime, and we have only one room at the Inn.”

“ Miss Scully ,” Scully corrected. “We’re work partners. We’re not married.”

The woman tucked a salt and pepper curl behind her ear and smiled like she knew a secret not ready to be revealed. “I understand and there are twin beds in the room.” She glowed at Mulder and with a wink said, “I’m sure your friend will be a complete gentleman.”

Lacking any other choices, Scully closed her eyes and accepted the room key.

Exiting the bathroom, Mulder looked kind of cute in his ugly Christmas sweater -a Santa in his sleigh flying over the rooftop with all his reindeer, the red of the tip of Rudolf’s nose glowing. 

Scully exchanged her dripping wet clothes with slim fitting dark jeans and a sweater that turned her into a human Christmas tree, including the tinsel. She pressed the attached button, and the lights of the Christmas tree blinked to the tune of jingle bells. She looked up and caught Mulder’s gaze. “Not one word,” she warned.

He shook his head with a tight lip. “You look… cute.” Mulder raised up his nose. “I smell food.”

“Good food,” Scully replied, her belly rumbling in agreement. 

They made their way down the staircase wrapped in fresh spruce garland and red bows, to the table with Christmas tree silverware and hand painted Dickens ivory china plates. Centerpieces with big red Christmas balls and gold and silver accents around white and red flowers stood tall in the center. A young attractive woman in a formal suit was already seated and an older man with a loud Christmas sweater beside her. Mulder and Scully sat at the only two empty seats.

“Oh good, you’re just in time,” the woman that had greeted them at reception stated, carrying a large platter of what Scully could only imagine was a large candied spiral sliced ham. “Bart, why don’t you introduce yourself.”

The old man grinned and stood to shake Mulder and Scully’s hand. “That’s my bride serving you tonight. I’m Bart.”

“Hi, I’m Sara,” the woman said with a small wave.

“Dana,” Scully said, “And this is Mu..”

“Fox,” Mulder returned, shaking the woman’s hand and passing her a little warmer of a smile then Scully approved of. She hated when Mulder made her the third wheel. 

“Well, what brings you to town, Fox?” Sara asked, meeting his eyes.

Mulder glanced over at Scully and pursed his lips, acting suddenly shy at the sound of his name. “Work, actually.”

“I’m here in town on business as well. What do you do?”

“I’m an FBI agent. And you?”

“Broker mostly. Purchase mortgages and resell them to entrepreneurs.”

Mulder nodded. “And you have a potential seller.”

“There’s a tree farm in town that a builder is looking to transform into an entertainment plaza.”

“A strip mall?”

“Much more than that, but in essence.”

“Disgraceful,” Bart replied. 

“Eventually all towns must move with the times.” She turned her attention back to Mulder. “I meet with the landowner tomorrow and then I’m headed back. I can give you..” she looked over at Scully, smiling at her, her eyes floating up and down her frame,  “And your sister.. a ride to the airport if you like. Get you home before Christmas Eve.”

“I’m his partner,” Scully sneered.

“Great.”

 “Dinner is fantastic,” Mulder said and his attempt at pacifying her only served to irritate Scully even more. “Do you do this kind of spread every night?”

“Every night through the New Year,” the hostess’ husband answered. 

“I’m glad you liked it,” the woman said. “After we eat, there’s a tree trimming party in town square. We sing carols, and drink cocoa, and when it gets dark, we light the tree.”

“Sounds delightful,” Mulder said, laying it on thick with a little extra zing.

Scully rolled her eyes, taking her napkin off her lap and placing next to her cleaned dish. She rose from her chair. “Thank you for the wonderful meal.”

“You’re not going to stay for dessert?” the hostess asked.

“Really, I couldn’t eat another bite,” Scully replied, her hand resting at her stomach. “I’m going to head upstairs, see if I can get a flight out in the morning. Mulder?”

“I’ll see you upstairs, Scully.” He winked at their hostess. “After pie.”

“Don’t forget the tree lighting,” Bart added.

 

*

 

Back in the room, as Mulder entered, Scully told him, “I got a hold of the airline. There’s a redeye flying out from here to San Diego. It should get me in town at six a.m. on Christmas Eve.

“It’s going to be cold tonight. You think you’ll be warm enough in that sweater?” 

“I’m not going.” His question indicated to her that he was choosing to ignore her need to get to her brother’s house.

“Why not? What happened to your Christmas spirit?”

“Mulder, I want to get out of this town, back into my own clothes, and over to my brother’s house before Christmas.” 

“Your flights leaving tomorrow. We’ve got nothing else to do.”

He wasn’t going to give up. She wasn’t certain of his motives, but his logic seemed sound enough. “I guess it could let the time go by a little smoother.” Scully couldn’t help herself. “That, and you’ll get to see Sara.”

That made him grin. “You’re jealous.”

Scully’s hands rose to her hips. “Jealousy is not what this is about.”

“But there is something bothering you.”

Scully started to pace. “Let’s see, there’s an attractive single female in the picture and all of a sudden I’ve become second string.” 

“A sports analogy,” Mulder replied. “I have to admit I’m a little excited.”

“I’m being serious, Mulder.”

“So am I.” Mulder paced, then drew in closer. So close she could smell the cedar scents of his cologne. In a softer voice he admitted, “Scully, I’m not interested in that woman."

“That’s not the point,” Scully said, holding her stance, but something in his tone had weakened her resolve.

Chapter 3: Carousel

Summary:

After totaling their rental, Mulder and Scully try their best to get to the airport to catch their flight.

Scully opened her eyes to the strange empty bed next to hers with winter wonderland sheets and a Christmas Vacation comforter. The light under the bathroom door glowed. Her muscles tensed, then relaxed. Mulder was on the other side. She listened to the streams from the shower hitting the tile, running down his chiseled body, and imagined the way the water would darken and mat down his hair. The skill in which his hands would clean every cut of muscle, curve of his backside. Scully’s jaw slackened, parting her lips. She recounted the day she had returned to tell him the IVF didn’t take. Her throat tightened and she swallowed. That night he had welcomed her into his arms, against the hard flat planes of his chest, willing her pain away. Tucked inside his embrace he held her, refusing to leave her side. With her hand in his, she had invited him to her bed, and he had curled his body around her, cocooned her inside his warmth. That night he gave her his whole heart without saying a word or removing a stitch of clothing. 

In the morning, underneath her shower spray he had once again dried her tears. His eyes never faltered from her gaze, only holding concern, and not a breath of ill intent. She never once felt naked under his soft tender caress. All their modesty had been cloaked by his altruistic heart.

Unlike with all others, Mulder had no discretion when it came to her. She tried her best not to stare when he emerged from the bathroom in nothing but his light gray boxer briefs, the light hairs below his belly button trailing beneath the tight waistline hugging his V.

“Will you be staying to further seek out your abominable snowman?” Scully asked, watching him as he dressed, switching on her professional persona as she got out of bed and into the bathroom.  

“I think the word abominable is an unproven adjective,” Mulder replied, “but no, I’m going to rent a car and make my way back to D.C.”

Breakfast for the citizens of the town seemed to be equivalent to a four-course meal consisting of bacon, sausage, and mountains of pancakes in rivers of pure maple syrup. While Scully nursed her yogurt and blueberries, Mulder questioned Bart on the best taxi service to use.

There was a moment of exchanged glances from Bart to his wife. “There are no taxi services. There’s no need. No one ever leaves.”

Scully wasn’t certain how to take that statement. She supposed small businesses like theirs didn’t allow for vacations or much time for visiting relatives. To spend your entire life in one place seemed unimaginable.

Mulder tilted his brow. “Well, I guess we’ll see if Steve will let us borrow his truck a little longer then.”

 

*

 

Steve wasn’t any more help than the others. He returned the keys to Mulder. “Look, people come here and they all wind up staying. I can’t explain it to you. You’re going to have to see it for yourself.”

“No one has chosen to leave this town?” Mulder asked, clearly in disbelief.

Steve massaged his beard with his thumb and forefinger. “Well, I wouldn’t say no one, there have been some, but for the majority, they choose to stay. It’s a wonderful town. No place that I’d rather be.”

“I’d rather be in a town that served coffee without chocolate and peppermint flavoring,” Scully muttered as she climbed back into the truck.

“I’m sure they have coffee at the airport,” Mulder offered, straightening his spine, pushing up against the driver’s seat.

“You’re upset we didn’t find proof of the Yeti.”

“It could have been a nice Christmas present.”

Concerned for Mulder’s tendency to search out the darkness when left to his own devices, Scully decided to pry. “May I ask what your plans are for Christmas?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe take in a movie, a workout, go visit the three unwise men.”

“Frohike, Byers, and Langly? Mulderrr… You’re not going to spend anytime with family?”

“Christmas is difficult for my mother.”

Scully pushed further. “And you?” 

“I enjoy watching the classics. Reminisce. My sister and I would divide the house up in search of presents. Every Christmas Eve Mom would dress us up to impress the neighbors and we’d pile in the car to the Country Club for their annual dinner. When we got home, Santa Claus had come and all the presents would be under the tree. I never told her, but exchanging presents with my sister was my favorite part. As much as I picked on her, Samantha knew me better than anyone. We never went to that Country Club again after she was taken. Christmas became somewhat of a dark chasm. No more tree or decorations, no acknowledgement of any holidays at all.”

“Mulder, I’m sorry.”

Mulder breathed in deeply through his nose, then slowly released it.

She wanted to comfort him, touch his arm, cradle his hand, but she wasn’t certain if that was what he needed so she withheld her affection. They drove on and Scully’s mind wandered. In the past year she had learned of the secrets that Mulder had been keeping from her -the reasons behind her infertility, of her recovered ova, and that she had one last attempt through IVF of carrying a child. She had asked Mulder as she couldn’t think of anyone with more perfect traits. Besides, he had become her closest and dearest friend. The only thing she questioned was his motives. Did he do it strictly because of the bond they had built or did he have a different reason? Or perhaps it was simply out of guilt or some responsibility he felt for her abduction.

She watched him drive, stared at his youthful appearance, the fine lines of his face, the beauty of his eyes, until finally they laid upon her with a smile. She turned her attention away and onto the frosted trees and pillowed snow covering the shoulder. 

Suffering from boredom she leafed through the news rag Mulder had brought with them, perusing the Yeti sightings, the fad diets, and alien females looking for love. It appeared these females abducted male earthlings for their own sexual needs, then birthed their hybrid babies on Earth to begin inhabiting the planet. If they only knew. Scully sighed and pushed up her sleeve to look at her watch.

“Shouldn’t we almost be at the airport?”

“Normally, that might be the case.”

Scully crossed her arms and ankles. “What are you not telling me?”

“Remember when I invited you to the haunted house last year?”

“Was it a haunted house?”

Mulder ignored her challenge for debate and continued, “You remember the library? How we’d attempt to leave the room only to walk through the door and wind up right back in the room?”

“At least until we split up. What are you getting at?”

“I’ve stopped at this stop sign, at the corner of Candy Cane Lane and Gingerbread Drive eight times. At least from when I started counting.”

Scully searched the road signs. “You must have taken too many turns without realizing it, or the road might not be a thruway.”

“Scully. Every time we get to this corner and I cross this street it turns into Sugar Plum Way.”

“There must be a logical explanation. You’re obviously taking a wrong turn.”

Mulder gritted his teeth. “Traveling in a straight line?”

“It’s an illusion.”

The wheels screeched as Mulder yanked the wheel to the right and pulled over to the side of the road. “Would you like to try?”

Scully got out of the car and traipsed in the snow to the other side of the car. The wind had picked up since they had reached the outskirts of town, now whistling through the trees. The temperature had dropped several degrees. Fortunately, the path was easy enough, covered with only a light dusting of snow dancing over the blacktop, but she ended up just as Mulder did. So she made a right at the stop sign down Gingerbread drive and ended up on Sugar Plum Way. Then she made a left, and the result was the same. 

“Now you understand?” Mulder inquired.

Not wanting to give up, she waited until they got to the four-way stop then backed her way down Candy Cane Lane, passing the town until she ran into… Sugar Plum Way.

Scully slowed the car to a stop. That uneasy feeling swirled around her stomach.

“Mulder, what’s going on?”

“I’m not certain, but I think we fell into some kind of Vortex or Wormhole, a pocket ripped from the fabric of Spacetime.”

“Are you telling me I’m going to miss my plane?”

“I’m telling you if we don’t get out of here, we’re going to miss our lives, and our deaths.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We go back into town. Try to find the doorway, the wormhole that brought us here. The truck driver must have known. It must have been why he insisted on dropping us off and not entering the town.”

Chapter 4: St. Nowhere

“Mulder, I want to go home.”

“You could try closing your eyes and clicking your heels twice,” Mulder retorted, waiting for the steam from her ears to dissipate. 

Her shoulders drooped as her hands remained at ten and two on the steering wheel. “Bill is going to kill me.”

“Just blame it on me; he already hates me.”

“I told Bart about not being able to find the airport,” Scully said. After failing to successfully parallel park she settled for the wider spot across the street from the town hall.

“And he said?” Mulder asked.

“He said our questions would be better answered if we went and talked with the mayor.”

“Which is why you so crookedly parked in front of town hall?” Mulder replied as he unhooked his seatbelt.

When they reached the top of the steps, the bronze plaque outside displayed the mayor’s name.

“Niccoli Klaus,” Mulder read out loud. 

“A little on the nose don’t you think?” Scully opened the two large doors adorned with holly and lights. The inside was equally as cheery with not one but two large fully decorated trees.

“We’re here to meet with the mayor,” Mulder said to the bubbly receptionist. “We have an appointment.”

“Yes. You can go right in, he’s waiting.”

“Hellooo! And Merry Christmas!” the judge bellowed as he swung open the door stretching out his suspenders. “Come right in.” 

“Don’t look now,” Mulder whispered into Scully’s ear, “but I think he just shook like a bowl full of jelly.”

The mayor scratched at his neatly trimmed long white beard. It reminded Scully of cotton candy. “I heard you two have had some trouble leaving town.”

“This town is a regular Hotel California,” Mulder replied, sitting in the leather chair across from the mayor.

Scully sat in the chair beside him, adjusting the height, making a loud clicking with each notch, twisting it towards the oak desk. “Has anyone ever left this town?”

“There have been a few,” his big white bushy brow knitted. “Not many want to, but if you really want what’s in your heart.. with a little Christmas magic..”

Scully smiled tightly, giving up on the chair after it deflated again. “Excuse me.” Her knuckles whitened as she grasped the arm of the chair and rose, marching out of Town Hall, down the steps and out into the street. With snow in her hair she paced, waiting for Mulder, her nerves on end. She couldn’t stand listening to one more second of that nonsense. Of all the craziness she had witnessed through the years… They might as well be trapped inside a snowglobe.

The sun above grew extra bright yet it melted no snow. The air was still. She didn’t feel cold like she did on the outskirts of town. Yet, invisible spiders crawled up and down her skin. Not because she felt jailed, but because she felt empty. Had she wished this? Materialized it from the cosmos? If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t really looking forward to going to Bill’s. Wasn’t looking forward to the empathetic looks from her mother, or taking a spectators seat to parenting. Having children had never been a priority in her life, but to have her choices ripped from her without any chance for recourse… And now, trapped in the most family oriented of towns, of holidays. She found herself on the outside, looking in… And she felt more alone than ever.

“Hey.” Mulder’s softness soothed her like a fluffy warm comforter during a blizzard. “Scully, we will find a way to get out of here.”

“Mulder, this is just so improbable,” she said without even looking his way.

“But you can’t say there’s no basis for this in science.”

“I mean, there are theories in quantum physics concerning interdimensional travel that could give partial validity to the theory… but Mulder, even if it were true, to see a wormhole only visible within a dimension we have no known way of seeing…”

“Unless the mayor’s right.”

Now Scully looked up into his eyes. “We need the Christmas spirit? Mulder, you can’t be serious.”

Mulder settled his hand at her lower back and guided her to the car, stealing the car keys in the process. “Not exactly. I mean, using quantum logic, the opening is there, but we can’t see it because we don’t have the knowledge or ability to see in five or six or however dimensions it takes for it to become visible. But what if there was a way to obtain that knowledge which will give us the ability to see the door?”

“And singing Christmas carols, building snowmen and decorating trees will give us this knowledge?” Scully protested as he closed her door and swung around to the driver’s side. When he got in she added, “Mulder, that sounds crazy.”

“Any crazier than a man in a red suit delivering presents to all the children of the world in one night? Or a virgin birth?”  

Heat rose up her spine. She didn’t appreciate the cheap shot. “So you believe we should go along with all the activities in this place?”

Mulder started the car. “Until we discover what it is we’re sent here to do that will show us how to see like them.”

Scully crossed her arms watching the couples outside pushing strollers, others window shopping, and still others falling blissfully in love. “What if it’s as simple as an evolution in the DNA from the people of this town that enables them to have these abilities?”

Mulder nodded. “Could be.”

She knew he was only humoring her. Scully sighed in disgust. “Fine. So what now?”

He looked her way and smiled. “I hear they have sleigh rides at six.”

“Well, until then, I think I’ll go back to the Inn. I need to call my brother, let him know I won’t make it.”

“What are you going to tell him?”

“The truth. We got caught in a blizzard.”

“Right.” Mulder stuck his tongue deep into his cheek.

“I’ll give Skinner a call too.”

He nodded. 

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, I’m a little wired. Maybe go for a jog.”

*

After dropping Scully off and changing into more suitable workout attire he had picked up at the sporting goods store they discovered, Mulder hit the freshly salted pavement.

It felt good to get his heart beating hard again. The cold air burned his lungs, but he pressed on, enjoying the full stretch of his legs, the pump of his arms..

“Miller?”

He slowed to a stop, the fire in his thighs resonating into his calf muscles. His hands dropped to his knees as he panted. When Sara caught up to him he corrected her. “It’s Mulder.”

“Oh. Well, Mulder, where’s your partner?”

His eyes followed her long legs up to her cinched waist. The only person in the entire town in black. “Still trying to find her way back home.” He averted his eyes away from the cleavage she was exposing and met her gaze. “Weren’t you supposed to leave as well?”

They started their stride in the same direction and headed down the street. “The tree farmer is a harder sell than I thought,” Sara admitted. “How can anyone turn away millions for a life of hard labor and a total lack of creature comforts? He’s single, childless, it makes no sense.”

“I can’t speak for him,” Mulder said, squinting from the bright reflection of the sun off the snow, “but I feel like I might understand where he’s coming from.”

Sara lifted her jacket’s faux-fur lined hood over her head. “You’ve turned away money and opportunity for principal?”

“For a desire to chase the truth.” Mulder stopped walking. “My whole life, I’ve followed my own path. It’s not the most lucrative or the most rewarding for a career or much of anything else.”

“And knowing what you threw away, you’re still happy? How? Why?”

Mulder shook his head, his brow lifting, lines forming between them. “I’m living my truth.”

“Alone?”

“No,” he returned, so quickly he surprised himself.

“Your partner.”

Mulder breathed in and started back down the path. “It’s more complicated than it sounds.”

“You’re telling me you’re taken.”

He took another hard breath. “In a way, I always will be.”

“She doesn’t know.”

Muller half shrugged. “Our friendship means everything to me. I won’t do anything to risk it.”

“Your feelings are doing that for you,” she said, waving her finger.

“That’s her call.”

Sara shoved her gloved hands back into her pockets and shook her head. “Guess it’s not worth barking up your tree.”

“Have you considered the tree farmer? Heard he can swing a good ax.”

“Why would you suggest that?” she blushed.

“I see the way your eyes sparkle when you speak of him.”

“So, you’re playing cupid now?”

Mulder chuckled, kicking at some snow that fell from the branches above. “I don’t know. I’m sorry, I feel like I’m stuck in a Hallmark movie.”

“So, if you were stuck in a Hallmark movie or some old timey rom-com, wouldn’t that mean you were meant to find true love to unlock the curse?”

“I’m an FBI agent, I investigate other people’s lives, maybe I’m here to find someone else's true love, and that might open my eyes to see the doorways.”

“Doorways?”

“Places in time and space where the fabric has thinned so we might pass through.”

Sara smiled. “You are an odd one.”

“I’ve heard that before. It’s part of my charm,” Mulder returned with a crooked grin.

Meanwhile, Scully headed to the tree farm to interrogate John. She hoped he might be able to shed some light on, well, anything.

“I love this place,” John said. “Why would anyone want to leave?”

His wide smile and taut jawline made Scully wonder if there was any part of his body that wasn’t chiseled. You could probably bounce quarters off his ass. “It’s not too far away from everything? You never think about moving to a big city? Seeing what life is like on the other side?”

“I haven’t been here my whole life. I even went to Columbia University for agricultural engineering, but there’s only one place I would call home.”

“You have everything you need here?” Scully asked as they walked through the maze of evergreens.

“Almost everything.” He looked almost sad as he said the words, but it soon faded as his face turned to concern. “You haven’t been sleeping very well, have you?”

“What gave it away?”

“The luggage under your eyes suggests a lack of sleep.”

“It’s a little difficult to sleep,” Scully admitted. “It’s so incredibly quiet out here.”

“And it’s not where you live?”

“No. Outside my apartment you’ve got honking horns, sirens. Lots of noise to lull you to sleep.”

“Well, you look very stressed.” He mimicked the lines between her brows. 

“Yeah,” She breathed deeply. “I guess since I’m stuck here for a while, it would do well to not think about it for a while. You said something yesterday about showing me around?”

She followed him along the path of Christmas trees and into a large hollowed barn. 

“This is where I keep my plows, tractors, and other equipment.”

“Some of these seem like antiques,” Scully mused.

John nodded. “They have value. At least to me. My family’s history is within these walls.”

There were carriages there and equipment dating back to the times when everything was horse drawn. There was a certain charm in all of it and Scully could see the love he kept in taking care of it. 

They returned to the entrance where families were busy picking out their trees to decorate that night. “You enjoy dealing with the public?” Scully asked.

“Conversing with the townspeople, breathing in the fresh air…” he stopped mid sentence and followed her line of sight.

Scully’s smile faded as Mulder came into view, both his hands in his pockets, smiling at the woman they had shared breakfast with. There would always be someone trying to get their claws into him. And who could blame them?

“Scully. I thought you were making calls,” he said when they were within arms length. 

“That was hours ago,” she returned shortly, the hole she felt in her chest growing larger and colder.

“Oh,” he replied, scratching his head. “I guess I lost track of time.”

Scully lifted her chin indignantly. “I’m going to catch up with the mayor, Bart said he’s having a workshop with the local children. They’re making handmade ornaments.”

Mulder peeled his eyes. “Okay, well, d-don’t forget, sleigh ride at six.”

Notes:

Next chapter, Mulder and Scully go on a Mulderdate IYKYK

Chapter 5: Inside the Void

Summary:

Mulder takes Scully on an excursion that is kinda like a date, but not exactly a date.

23 Dec 1999

“I thought maybe you were standing me up,” Mulder said as he helped Scully up into the sleigh. The driver, sitting atop the carriage, tipped his top cap with a smile and a nod, puffing the strong scent of vanilla into the air.

“I lost track of time,” Scully replied when he slipped in next to her, covering their legs with the red sherpa lined blanket he had brought with him. 

“Why are we here, Mulder?” she asked, a question she had repeated so many times during the years they fell off her tongue like rain. “You think the problem is we’re using a motorized vehicle to leave?”

“Interesting, but no. I don’t know, it seemed like the right thing to do.” His head tilted upward and he held his hand palm side up. They watched together as each snowflake fell and melted from the warmth of his skin.

Her heart squeezed. His sweet innocence always touched her profoundly, but tonight the emotions came in droves. This man, this wonderful, beautiful man gave of himself to her for her chance at a child, a family, without asking for anything in return. 

“Did you get a hold of your brother?” Mulder asked as the sleigh bucked, then made its way down the snowy trail.

“Yeah,” Scully replied, weakly.

“What’s wrong? Is your mother okay?”

“No, yes, she’s fine.” She contemplated whether now would be an appropriate time to broach the subject, fearful of what it might mean. Still, if she tried to mask it, Mulder would only keep pushing. “It was the strangest thing. When I told him I’d missed my flight he asked me how I could miss a flight that hadn’t even taken off yet.”

Mulder didn’t even flinch. “And Skinner?”

“The conversation was just as strange. What does it mean? Are we losing time?”

“I think time is moving slower here.”

Scully considered for the moment where those facts might fall into the realm of science. “If that were true, then wherever we are, this world must be traveling at a different orbital rate than where we came from. Or we’re at a different distance from Earth’s gravitational well.”

Mulder’s eyes widened. “Like the inside of a black hole?”

That made her crack a smile. Always reaching. “Mulder.”

Mulder laughed, his eyes drifting upward at the sky. “Look at all the stars.”

The silvery sky shimmered. There were more stars in the sky tonight than she had ever seen before. The sky moved Mulder in ways she wished she could fathom. Could it really be possible they were in another space and time?

“Why are we really out here, Mulder?”

He leaned back and looked at her in the way he did whenever he tore her from her slumber in the middle of the night to race across the country and see the improbable. “I thought it might help us to take our minds off our situation for one night. Get us away from main street.”

The crisp frigid air tickled the cilia within her lungs, awakening her body and all its senses. She listened to the clapping of the horse shoes against the frozen ground, took in the scent of the tall evergreen Blue Spruce and Balsam fir trees encapsulating them, and the chill of the velvet canopy with its innumerable fiery explosions above. “It’s all so beautiful,” she said inside a whimsical gasp.

From underneath the blanket, the warm inviting touch of Mulder’s fingertips slipped over her hand. It sped up her heart to see the desire in his eyes for her to share wonders with him.

“Thank you,” she said, her breath visible in the frosty night.

She stared into his eyes for long moments, as beautiful as the Atlantic Ocean and twice as deep. The tension between them coiled tight. She felt herself being drawn to his lips. “Mulder, it’s just…”“You know it’s much more than that.”

Lightning struck inside her chest. The heat from his breath fogged the tethered air. With his head tilted it wouldn’t take much more than a lift of her chin for her lips to meet his. Their noses brushed. Her heart pounded. The carriage slowed.

She couldn’t do it. That small reach was longer than the leap across the cosmos.

“We’re here,” Mulder smiled. His mouth so close to hers, she could feel the movement in the flattening and widening of his lips. 

Her eyes dropped to her hands. “Where’s here?” It appeared they were deep in the forest. Mulder came around and assisted her off the sleigh. The pulsing that occurred between her thighs when his hand gripped her waist almost caused her to slip on the icy snow along the path.The chemistry between them, tangible on most nights, but here, inside the gap between worlds, it became undeniable.

The forest opened up into a small clearing. A translucent igloo laid in front of them. Inside, a small propane fire contained by stone walls stacked about a foot high. Four large red pillows laid on berber rugs circled the campfire. Mulder sat down first, offering his hand to share the pillowed seating and Scully accepted. It was quite warm inside the cocoon, yet she found herself nestling inside his arms. 

“I went to my yearly oncologist appointment last week,” she admitted. Speaking out loud where her mind chose to travel.

“And?” he asked, snuggling his face in her hair. 

“All tests remain negative.”

His eyes brightened and smiled like she had just told him she bought him an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle BB gun. “You’re a survivor.”

Tendrils of darkness spun its web inside her chest. She didn’t feel as if she had survived anything. The damage had been done. The men that gave her the cancer had stolen too much of her life, and now her children’s. 

Mulder’s lips brushed her temple, drawing her back into his orbit. “Did they tell you something more?”

Choking back a tear, she murmured a brisk, “No, sorry. Everything’s fine.”

“What is it, Scully? Please, don’t keep me in the dark.”

She breathed in her tears. “There’s nothing that can be done. We tried. You did all you could. It’ll pass.”

He held her tighter. “Scully, when the IVF failed, it signified a death, your chance to bear children. You have a right to allow yourself to mourn that death.”

She lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Did you?”

“What? Did I mourn the loss?” He paused. “Yes. I failed you Scully, in so many ways.”

“But you can’t know what it was like to want to have a child so badly.” She turned to face him. “That loss I must face alone.”

The wispy lines in his face deepened. His brow arched so severely the pull at his skin nearly covered his eyes. “I-I wanted that baby too.”

“For me. Mulder, it’s different..”

“No. I mean, at first, but then, as we went through the process, I realized that I wanted it too, to have a son, or a daughter.”

“Mulder, you can have a child, but I..” 

“I wanted one with you.” Now it was his eyes that glazed over. “When I was under the alien influence inside my brain, I dreamt of a world where I had children..”

“If I recall, you told me you thought I was dead..”

“As the vision progressed, they sort of faded away, but what I realized, that initial desire, wasn’t just to have them or raise them. My desires stemmed solely on the contingency that it was with you. In fact, my entire world imploded without you.” 

Oh, God. “I never considered how it might have affected you, Mulder.”

She waited for his response. The silence spread like blood on virgin white sheets. 

“Just know,” he croaked out, “you’re not alone.”

She stared out at the fire, watching the flames wick up into the night air. “Mulder, if we’re stuck in this void, away from what we know of as our own reality..”

Mulder shook away the theory. “It’s not worth the risk. Even if we experience memory loss when we come out the other side.”

“That’s a possibility?”

“I’d say it’s most likely.”

“If your theory is correct, you believe that the stress induced in the prefrontal cortex by the change in gravitational pull and spatial distance of time would cause memory loss?”

Mulder tilted his head in a half shrug. “I was thinking more of snapping back in time would cause us to forget because there would be very little time elapsed in our own timeline, but, yeah, that works too. Kind of an autocorrect of life.”

 “Mulder, this gap between time, it could be quite dangerous if it’s created a way to live life without consequences.”

“I don’t know if that’s completely accurate. I’m starting to believe that this place is having an effect on us.”

“In what way?”

“What was my intention for bringing you out here? What was your intention for coming? After you told me about what your brother and Skinner said, I’m beginning to question everything.”

“Mulder, after all we’ve been through..”

“Exactly, Scully, after all we’ve been through. I don’t want it to be because of some outside factor..”

“It’s not.”

“How can we be sure?”

Her heart beat in her throat, pounded in her ears. She forcibly pushed the words through her vocal chords.  “Because my feelings haven’t changed.”

Two lines formed between Mulder’s brow. She felt her hands trembling as he searched her eyes. “Scully, when we get back, even remembering nothing, changes made here could have catastrophic effects.” 

“If there’s something I learned through my bought with cancer, it’s how precious living can be. I want to live.”

“I come with a lot of baggage, Scully.”

“No, Mulder, you come with a moving van followed by a tractor trailer carrying an EBE.”

That caused a rise from his lips. “Be gentle with my fragile heart.”

It was a whimsical slight of tongue, but Scully also knew it as truth. A plea to consider before acting. Scully rubbed her hands together and blew into them, getting a sudden chill. She warmed her hands over the fire. “You know, for a place that has snow on the ground and flakes falling from the sky, it’s never cold. No wind, it’s like we’re on a movie set or under a dome.”

“Inside an igloo?” he smiled as he nodded. “I know what you’re saying.”

“You really created a perfect night.” 

Silence passed between them once again, before Mulder reassured her. “You’re not alone, Scully, and you weren’t the only one who cried.”

Reality slammed her in the chest. When she had asked him, was this really what she had wanted from him? Had it been only fear that kept her from searching those feelings? Mulder was right. It wasn’t just a child, she wanted their child.

Mulder’s eyes remained fixed on the flames while the words of Albert Hosteen echoed in her mind. “Have you looked in here?” he had asked, pointing to her heart. “There are more worlds than one can hold in your hand.” Now, it was all she could see.

Softly, delicately, she whispered, “Mulder, look at me.”

As he turned his head, her hand gently cupped his cheek.

“I’m tired of living life inside my head.”  Her eyes closed and their lips gently aligned like it was always meant to be -their teeth didn’t clash, their tongues naturally sought out the other, their mouths danced and caressed like long lost lovers. Heat between them rose; she snaked her arms and legs around him, gliding into his lap. 

Mulder broke from their kiss, staring at her with a look of almost disbelief.. And desire. It deliciously burned low inside her, rapidly spreading into her chest. Her mouth covered his again, light and soft. This was Mulder . Electricity shot so sharply through her it weakened her knees. Mulder’s hand crept underneath her blouse and played along her rib cage. She placed her hand over his and he froze. Instead of pulling it away, she guided it up and over her breast. Mulder moaned and kissed her harder, massaging her, teasing her. 

Her body throbbed in response. A moan burst from her throat, followed by a sharp staccato cry of his name, “Mulder.”

Scully felt the heat beneath his jeans calling her, and it flexed against the hard arc of his erection. Reaching between them, her fingers pushed the button through the hole before lowering the fly. Her eyes rose to meet his.

“Will anyone come to check on us?” Her breath came hard and fast.

“No, we’re alone. Just you and I..” he lifted his brow, “and the stars.”

“If you don’t want this…”

“I do..” he said, so tenderly her heart beat in time with the now constant pulse between her thighs. 

Her fingers slowed with precision as they breached the band of his boxers, caressing and cradling his erection. His eyes watched on, then met hers with amazement. “Scully,” he moaned, his jaw slacked, pupils dilated.

She felt the pull of her hair as his hand tangled through it, his mouth crashing against hers. With little help he pushed away the clothes covering the lower halves of their bodies, kneeling between her legs. The initial feel of him came with a welcoming sting. 

“Scully,” he groaned. “It’s only me, Scully.”

She felt her body relent with his plea. He withdrew then pushed on, only to withdraw again. It drove her crazy. Her hips bucked on their own accord, reaching to keep in time with his. Her insides gripping and succumbing to the pleasure, building with each one of his hard poignant thrusts, pulsing and convulsing around his erection, one hand gripping his back, the other threaded snugly in his hair. 

“You feel so good.” Words tumbled from her lips, stray whispers into the shell of his ear, “I’ve never felt like this, Mulder, nothing like this.”

Mulder grunted and groaned, long moans, a quickening of his thrusts. Her body tightened. “Come with me, Mulder, please,” she pleaded before she cried out. At her request he strengthened his embrace around her, burying himself completely, deep enough to make her cry out again, the pleasure severe enough for her to fight for consciousness. Warm streams of his soul entered inside her and she absorbed it all, mixing it with her own, bathing, blanketing him.  

They held each other for a long moment without separation. The glowing embers warmed their skin. Their mouths met without hesitation, their foreheads followed. Her fingers graced his cheek, caressed his lips. “What are you thinking?”

“I want to go back to the Inn,” Mulder replied in thick hushed tones. “I want to sleep with you in my arms.”

Chapter 6: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Summary:

Mulder and Scully take their "date" back to the inn and then spend the day at the Christmas carnival where things start looking up.

24 Dec 1999 - Christmas Eve

Scully’s heel bent and she tripped clumsily backwards up the stairs, her mouth firmly attached to Mulder’s lips, pulling the rest of his body on top of her in the process. His visible enjoyment only made her kiss him harder. Lifting them both from the ground, he carried her the rest of the way to their room with her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms flung about his neck. It got interesting when he had to fumble for the keys and unlock the door, forcing Scully to return her feet to the floor. A fleeting thought -how thick were the walls?

The door was barely closed before Mulder had his hand at her cheek and was kissing her again. It was both strange and surreal to act this way with Mulder, to be so free and cavalier with their urges, yet she couldn’t stop. Her arms lifted as he removed her blouse, followed by the unsnapping of her bra. His hands covered her torse, hungry and greedy, warm and rough, tender and soft.

She returned the favor, removing his reindeer sweater. Undoing his jeans, reaching inside to find him, his hot smooth skin stretched to the max. Long, thick, and hard, he would soon be inside her performing his lascivious wizardry.

With clothes strewn about, he gingerly guided her onto the bed. Her leg hooked at his elbow he pushed inside. The shock of being stretched so fully and eagerly was still new, but soon she felt her hunger build. Mulder’s weight on top of her, the scent of him, the sounds of his pleasure all around her. “Oh, God.”

Hips flicking faster, harder, his hand dipped between them and he circled her clit, changing his speeds until he found the one that made her squirm. God, she had never been with anyone as good, as open, that sent her heart screaming to be let go. She clung to him tighter. “Oh. My. God. Mulder.”

“Scully,” he moaned out in a throaty whisper. He kissed her gently, before meeting her eyes, studying them as his hips slowed, burying himself as deep as his cock would take him. The fullness he gave her, arched her back, sending her body clenching hard around him. 

The heels of her feet pressed firmly into his ass. “Stay inside me.”

With eyes hooded and a slack jaw he groaned and growled, “For hours. Or the rest of my life.”

His hips rotated in long, deep circles. Pleasure pulsed from between her thighs, harder and deeper each time, reverberating all the way up to her scalp. Her body needed him. Her soul even more. Warmth spread into her chest staring into his eyes, watching the sensations take him over, take her with him. Lightning broke inside and coiled. This time Mulder slid partially out and pushed back in. Scully saw incandescent stars, her chin jerked up, exposing her neck and Mulder’s mouth clamped down, spiking the feeling, sending them higher. Her hips rose up off the bed and rode him hard as he met her speed. Her hand, stark white pressed against the headboard. Her orgasm rolled through her, catching her by surprise before exploding in brilliant color. And as she soared she felt the hard pump at the root of him, and the warmth of him firing into her again and again. 

 

*

 

They slept entwined, arms and legs overlaid, until Scully shifted to her side. Then Mulder wrapped himself around her. It was far from the first time they had slept together, but she never recalled sleeping so deeply, so soundly. Around four a.m. she opened her eyes. The blinking lights of a decorated Fraser fir made her squint. “Mulder?”

“Mmmm.”

“Has that Christmas tree always been here?”

“From the Christmas tree guy. He gave it to me.”

“Decorated?”

He pulled her in tighter. “No, I did that. You deserve a little Christmas too. Besides, Santa needs a place to leave the presents.”

“You did this; For me?”

“Maybe not just for you.” He smiled and kissed her, gently guiding her to her back, then trailing more kisses down her body.

“Mulder, wait.”

He stopped at her belly button and raised his head. 

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable..”

He dropped his shoulder blades, leaning his forehead on her abdomen, then lifted it after a moment. “I don’t want you to feel pressure to do, or not do, anything, even if that means we revert to a platonic friendship… but if there’s something you want… I’ll do my best to make that happen, and make you feel… comfortable.”

She closed her eyes. She had kept Mulder at arms length for a long time. Some of it due to the trauma, some because of his own damaged life, and partly to maintain their professional partnership, but in the end he never faltered. He deserved to always have the truth.

As he waited patiently for her response, she could feel the oxygen filling his lungs, pressing against her sex. “I haven’t..” she started.

“Hey, neither of us have..”

“No Mulder,” she sighed and gave herself another moment to gather her thoughts and a little bravery. She sighed again. “I’ve never let a man do that to me. Not that any of them really tried very hard or weren’t easy to distract.” She closed her eyes, a wave of embarrassment flushing her system. God, why was she bringing up the past?

He took it in stride, his brow arching above the two lines between them. “Other men don’t matter to me. You do.”

“Well, you’ve obviously done that before and..”

“No, Scully. We’re not going down this road because..” he paused, looked almost like he might cry. “With you and I.. it’s not even close to the same planet as anyone else. Not even in a neighboring universe. You need to know that.”  

“I do know,” she said softly.  “With us, it’s always been more.” 

In the years they had known each other, Mulder had perfected his way of passively giving her courage; And as his Caspian seas stared into her oceanic blues, she felt completely unafraid to show her world to him. With the flick of her tongue, she moistened her top lip. “And I don’t want you to stop.”

He moved slowly, with a feather light touch from her calf, leading into her inner thigh. His lips kissed her sex with the same passion he had for the lips on her face. It brought her into the moment and she liked the way it felt, but it wouldn’t take her anywhere. Maybe it was the total lack of control, of exposure. She didn’t know, but gently, he took her hand, and caressing it softly, led it to the place his mouth had indulged. “Lead me, Scully.” He sent another kiss to her sex and her insides buzzed. 

“Mulder, I can’t.”

“You can.”

She closed her eyes and with the pads of her fingers began in a circular fashion, his tongue just underneath them, licking, his nose rubbing up against her. Her mind focused on his movements and not her own. She caught the feeling and sped up her pace. Mulder’s moan vibrated against her clit and her body jerked in pleasure. He nudged her hand aside with his cheek, his jaw moving more aggressively, his tongue flattening and moving like a millipede over her clit. Soon, with her legs resting on each of his shoulders and hands raking through the hair at the back of his head, she could no longer feel anything, but the numbing pleasure he created. Her body began that familiar pulse, followed by jerks of acute pleasure, only for her to pulse harder with the next swirl of his tongue. His lips wrapped around her clit as both his hands covered her breasts, teasing her nipples, pinching and rubbing. “Mulder,” she rumbled from deep inside her as he clamped down on her clit and sucked. The throbbing grew deeper and her fingers gripped and tugged at his hair. It made Mulder really start to move, moaning, his hands coming down to hold her in place. She heard herself scream and then she was coming in a way she never felt before, with abandon. And absolutely no control.

He slid up her body and she felt so exposed she couldn’t even meet his eyes. In unspoken words he understood, spooning her and whispering, “Do you want me, Scully?”

“Always,” she replied, reaching back to thread her fingers back through his short silky hair. “I’ll always want you, Mulder.”

He thrust in, in one easy slide. “You’re so wet,” he said in his throaty low monotone. “From me, from you.”

“From how much I want you, Mulder.”

His hips jerked, pounding himself into her. One hand at her hip, the other at her breast he moaned, “I need you, Scully.”

Her fingers trailed from his hair to around the back of his neck. “You have me, Mulder. You have me.”

 

*

 

Scully woke to the smell of… “Mulder, is that coffee?” 

Shifting up on the bed, leaning her back on the headboard, she couldn’t think of a time anything ever smelled better. 

Already dressed, handing her a piping mug, Mulder joined her with a kiss. “It wasn’t easy, and it is flavored, but it’s better than the alternative.”

With closed eyes, the mug warming her palms, she sipped at the dark roasted goodness. “It’s good.”

When she opened her eyes, Mulder was staring back at her adoringly. “I did good?”

She smiled. “You did great.”

He nodded, tracing the snowmen design on the bedspread. “Tonight, being Christmas Eve, I was thinking we should head into town and check out the festivities.”

“Mulder, what are you planning?”

“I think it’s important we keep an eye on what’s going on around town.” Mulder tried his best to keep his mouth in a straight line, but failed. “Aaand, I want to meet up with our two lovebirds. See if they found true love.”

And there it was. “You know Mulder, for someone who claims to be uninterested in this town, you’ve become quite the Yenta.”

Scully took another sip of coffee and the words they exchanged last night struck her in the abdomen. They had shared so much in that short period of time. With their words and their actions.  “Mulder, last night..”

“Was incredible,” he finished. “Something I wouldn’t mind repeating if you ever had the inclination.”

“Mulder, I can’t give you a family.”

He sucked in a breath like she had speared him with an arrow. “I thought we were a family.” He tilted his head, “A little incestuous…”

“You think of me as family?”

The lines in his face deepened. “You don’t think of me that way?”

She hadn’t consumed enough caffeine for this conversation. “I’ve never really considered,” she could see the disappointment and devastation brewing in his eyes. “But I could never picture a time of me not knowing you, not caring for you.”

He patted her knee. “Finish your coffee and get dressed. I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast.”

 

*

 

The annual Christmas carnival was similar to most carnivals only with a festive theme. As with the rest of the town, the trees were covered in lights and all the buildings were wrapped in garlands covered in pinecones and large red and silver ornaments. Past all the red and green colored tents with people selling their crafts was the midway games. Scully looked up at all the prizes hanging from the walls and ceiling. The booth with the milk bottles had large adorable stuffed toy puppies hanging on the wall. One could have been made in the exact image of Queequeg. 

“You want that Queequeg dog don’t you,” Mulder asked, sliding his hand inside hers, linking their fingers, letting their stride naturally swing their hands between them.

Their electricity flowed up her arm and into her chest with every swing. “It does resemble him. You really think you can win though?”  

Mulder fired her a crooked grin. “Scully, this game was made for me."

Three balls later and three firmly planted bottles, Mulder laid another buck on the table and growled, “One more round.”

“Mulder, let’s go. I didn’t expect you to win..”

“You know, Scully,” he said, ignoring her pleading, “The trick is not to hit them straight on. You need to hit it from the side and take out the middle bottle. Those bottom bottles could weigh up to ten pounds to keep them from budging.”

“This is a Christmas fair, Sir, for the kids. These games aren’t fixed,” the man interjected.

“Right,” Mulder said, giving him a nod. He threw another ball as hard of a fastball as he could muster and it hit, but only shifted the bottles back, toppling the three milk bottles at the top of the pyramid.

He picked up the last ball. “Speed isn’t as much of a factor as accuracy.” He released the ball and it hit, the milk bottles all falling. Mulder waggled his brow at Scully like it had been the plan all along. “You see that shot?”

Scully only smiled, hugging her newly acquired Queequeg. Not as good as the real thing, but she knew Mulder felt guilty enough for the original’s demise. 

When they passed by the hoops Mulder informed her, “They usually make those rims oval so you need to shoot with only a 3% room for error.”

“Yessir,” the teenager said, “But not here. Everyone should get a fair chance at winning.”

Scully removed her gloved hands to point at the next booth. “What about shooting at the water balloons, Mulder? Care for a little friendly competition?”

Mulder grinned. “You’re on G-Woman.” 

They saddled up on their respective stools. Scully eyeing all the deflated balloons and choosing one that looked a little saggier than the rest. One that had been stretched previously and begging to be popped. 

“Ready?” the man asked and Mulder and Scully exchanged smiling glances before gripping their guns and nodding their heads.

The shrilling bell sounded and thin streams of water shot from both Mulder and Scully’s guns, hitting the bullseyes and filling the balloons. Out of the corner of Scully’s eyes she could see Mulder’s balloon filling as large as hers, she considered cheating for a second, distracting him in some nefarious way, but dismissed it. No, she wanted to win this one fair and square… and bang! For a moment she thought it was Mulder’s, but it was hers. Mulder’s smile dropped, his head as well, but it rose up quickly.

“You always were the better shot,” he admitted to her surprise.

“You’re not bad yourself, Mulder,” handing him the little stuffed alien she won. He took it with a huffy grin.

“Mulder look,” Scully said, pointing just past the cotton candy booth. “John and Sara.”

“They’re kissing,” Mulder replied.

“I guess they really did get together.”

“If I’m correct then you may want to start shopping for that Christmas goose because you’re going to make it on time to your brother’s after all.”

Chapter 7: Wanna Go For A Ride?

Heading away from the Midway and down towards the rides, Scully glanced up at the large Ferris wheel. “Now that’s something I’ve never done.”

“If it’s anything like the last thing, I might need some electrolytes,” Mulder smiled back.

“I’m referring to the couple from the inn. They are kissing at the top of the Ferris wheel.”

“You’ve never ridden on a Ferris wheel?”

“Not with a romantic partner. I’ve always dated older men that weren’t into such childish things.”

Mulder somehow found that odd. “Not even your high school boyfriend?”

“Scared of heights.”

“Well,” Mulder replied, slinging his arm over her shoulders, “I think the Ferris wheel is actually too slow for two fast paced people as ourselves.”

“Is that so?”

“We crave a little more excitement.” He gently guided them past the carousel and over into the main area. “I always preferred the caterpillar ride.”

“Caterpillar?”

“It was a ride at my town carnival that went slightly up and down and in a circle inside a partial enclosure while they played rock music. Then it slowed and a canvas cover came over the entire ride. Then it  would go in reverse.”

“I think where I’m from we called that ride the Musical Express. It didn’t have the canvas top, but if I remember correctly the centrifugal force was pretty strong.” 

“Well that’s the beauty of it. You ask someone you like to go on the ride with you and you get to be close to them and possibly find out if they liked you.”

“I think they have that ride on the other side of the park.” A flirty smile passed across her lips. “You want to give it a whirl?”

Joining her gaze, he couldn’t help but return her levity. “Let’s go.”

It was called Santa’s Sleigh Ride inside this Christmas village, but it worked the same. Instead of rock, fast paced Christmas music blared from its sound system. Offering a hand, Scully stepped up onto the platform where they handed the attendant their Queequeg and alien prizes. From there they stepped into the sleigh, and the ride started with a jerk forward. Scully grabbed onto the bar and gave Mulder a nervous giggle. Round and round it went, the centrifugal force drawing her body closer and closer to his, sending his tingling in a very good way. He put his arm around her as the ride picked up steam and she plastered against him. She whispered, “This is much better than high school.”

Mulder’s heart skipped a beat. He had truly entered into heaven. Since the absence of his sister, he couldn’t recall a time he had felt so free. Too soon, the ride slowed. He couldn’t help but grin. Scully was having as much fun as he was. He followed her eyes as the canvas came up over their heads, then met them with a warm smile. With a soft roll, the wheels grinded steel against steel and they began the small descent backwards. Sleigh Ride started to play over the large speakers propped up on either side under the big top. To his pleasant surprise, Scully took his hand. Locked on her gaze the look in her eyes caused the gap within his jeans to lessen. She leaned in as the ride drifted her towards him. He closed his eyes and felt her smooth soft lips against his. Pleasure pulsed up his spine. Her hand was at his knee, her lips moving over his. His entire body throbbed. 

Please touch me. The thought pounded in his skull so loud for a moment he thought he actually said it, but his tongue was too busy for that, stroking hard against Scully’s. Her hand ventured higher and he broke from her kiss for a gasp of air, the anticipation so pleasurable he had to shift in his seat, but her hand seemed on a mission. Perspiration formed along his hairline.Her hand ventured under his coat…. That familiar tingle was happening way too soon. He might just explode right there. The ride slowed, the canvas shook as it started to rise…

Mulder slid from their embrace and out of the sleigh, feeling his cheeks flush. Luckily his parka covered the evidence of the heavy throbbing inside. God, Scully . What she did to him.

With her hand in his and Let It Snow! blasting from the sound system, they exited the ride. The attendant winked at Mulder, but he paid him no mind. Mulder was lost in thoughts of him and Scully touring the country, solving the unknown and breaking all the mattress springs from NY to LA, North Dakota to Texas. 

“Mulder, why don’t we take a break from the festivities?” The blues of her eyes flamed like a pilot light.

“Are you hungry?” he asked tentatively.

“I was thinking more like going back to the Inn..”

Mulder’s mouth went dry. This place really was magical. “Okay.”

A tug at the hem of his coat made him glance down at the source.

“Mister? Can you help build our snowman?” the little girl asked.

He looked at Scully, she nodded and he sighed. Opening up presents would have to wait.

“All the women want you Mulder,” Scully teased. 

Mulder rolled the snowball into about a three foot diameter. The issue the kids were having was they were trying to make all three snoballs for the body the same size. He knew the most efficient to be a 3:2:1 ratio and guided the kids while Scully gathered up the buttons for the eyes, carrot for the nose, and charcoal.

While Scully put on the snowman’s hat. Mulder stood back and admired their work. She bent down to pick up a scarf and Mulder got overwhelmed. Acting on his emotion, he scooped up some snow and sent it down Scully’s back. She squirmed and squealed, giving Mulder a cheap thrill in more ways than one. Mulder ducked, preparing for Scully’s retaliation.

“Help!” he cried. “I’m being attacked!”

The children screamed in delight, sending snowballs flying through the air. Scully flung a few that nailed him in the chest. She yelped when four hit her at once, holding up her hands. This only excited the children more, pelting her with more and as they reloaded, Mulder dove in their way, blocking several that exploded onto his coat. He guarded Scully, tackling her in the process. They rolled in the snow laughing, Scully waving her arms and legs, making a snow angel before rising. 

Without reason, Mulder glanced at his watch. While they had been playing, the clock had been ticking. They didn’t have much time before Christmas Eve. There might only be a short window of time where they would be able to walk through. They needed to find the location where the fabric between realities thinned or a wormhole might emerge.. Or.. the more he thought of it the more outrageous it sounded even to himself. That love, an emotion, could enhance your perception to such an extent that you could actually see into another dimension, access a wormhole. Then again, love stopped the rains in Kroner, Kansas.

“Scully, we better get ready.”

They said goodbye to their new friends and headed back to the Inn. “Take only what you think you’ll need,” Mulder instructed when they were back at the Inn. “I don’t know what restrictions we’ll come across. There is a chance we may have to go through naked.”

“How do you know where to look for this wormhole?”

“I don’t, but the center always seems like a good place to start. I was thinking of Town Square in front of the mayor’s office.”

They drove through town in the rusty old pickup and strolled around on foot. Then they drove the perimeter. Even used a grid pattern to scour every street. 

Beyond frustrated, Mulder pounded on the steering wheel of the car. “I don’t understand, getting them together should have changed our perspective. We should have seen something by now, some sign of it. If the key wasn’t Sara and John, and it wasn’t us…”

Scully lifted her left eyebrow. “What do you mean, if it wasn’t us ? Mulder? Mulder, what do you mean, us ?”

Why did it feel like she was holding a hand grenade waiting for him to say the wrong word for her to pull the pin? “I mean, if it wasn’t that they were supposed to get together..”

“You thought we were “true love’s kiss?”

When she said it like that it felt tawdry. Dirty. “I guess I was wrong. That doesn’t mean..”

Her voice rose with the color in her cheeks. “What does it mean, Mulder? Last night, today, was that all a ploy to get home? To prove your theory?”

“No, Scully.”

“Well? Did you or did you not believe that if last night happened it might help to get us home?”

“Scully, I didn’t plan that.”

“You didn’t? The sleigh ride, the fire, the coffee this morning..”

Mulder felt his entire body deflate while running on quicksand and shouting into a storm. “Scully.”

Tears sprung to Scully’s eyes. “Everything we did, everything we said.. It doesn’t mean much of anything anymore does it?” 

“Scully.”

“You know Mulder, it wouldn’t hurt half as much if it wasn’t coming from you.”

“Scul-” But it didn’t matter what he said right now, she wasn’t listening. He wanted to chase after her and clear things up, but that might mean a conversation they weren’t ready to have. How do you tell someone that after only one night together his heart wanted to put a ring on her finger.

Chapter 8: My Realm or Yours

Christmas Eve, 1999

While Scully was blowing off steam, Mulder stayed around town still searching. In the back of a feed store, he looked up from a slew of Christmas cards on a rack near the register and saw the mayor. 

Mayor Klaus met his eyes and Mulder greeted him warmly. “Mayor, Merry Christmas.”

“Mr. Mulder, how come you’re not at the fair with the charming Ms. Scully?”

Mulder reached for the sunflower seeds in his pocket, but all that was left was lint. He really didn’t want to get into his issues with a stranger. “Scully and I were there earlier today. I think it only reminded her of how she wants to get back home.” Mulder nodded at the 50lb sack of deer feed the Mayor had on his cart. “Looking to get more fiber in your diet?”

“It’s for my livestock,” the mayor replied. “They need some extra calories.” He looked pensive as he stroked his fluffy cloud-like beard. “I might be able to help you.”

“At this point, I’m not certain how,” Mulder replied.

“You’re looking for the portal.” 

Mulder was taken aback at how open the mayor was being with something so fantastical. “Does it even exist?”

“As long as you believe.”

“I want to believe,” Mulder monotoned. 

“You’ll have to hurry, we only have a small window of time.”

Everything suddenly felt a little odd, like the magnetic poles had shifted or the tilt on the earth’s axis. “I need to find Scully.”

 

******

 

She couldn’t have traveled far, she had no vehicle unless she hitched a ride with someone else. Everyone in the town was so hospitable it could have been likely. The sun had already set over the horizon and darkness had creeped in. He decided to head down Main, crunching in the soft snow atop the sidewalk, leaving prints, some flying from his heels as his pace elevated into a jog. The street seemed like an endless barrage of dimly lit store fronts. The animatronics gawked at him. The large clock in the square mockingly ticked away his time. Panic began to set in when he heard a faint call. “Mulder!” He turned towards the sound of her voice to see her waving at him in front of the toy store. 

When he caught up to her he noticed her jaw tight, then her shoulders drew back. The distance between them hurt like the tiny cuts of a blade. She was still upset. “Scully, I..”

“Mulder, this toy store, did you know that behind it is a huge manufacturing facility?”

He didn’t understand the connection. “Manufacturing what?”

“Toys. Mulder, what’s really going on here? How could the population of this town justify the production of that many toys?”

“Do you think it’s a front?”

“I’m not sure.”

A thought came to his mind. What happened to this town once Christmas was over? Do they tear it all down in February and trade it for candied sweethearts, flowers, and chocolate covered strawberries? Could this be just a normal town that got really carried away for the holidays? Or would it all dissolve into nonexistence? He really didn’t want to stick around and find out. More importantly, he didn’t want to endanger Scully. “Scully, it’s time to go.”

“Where?” she asked, following him down the darkened snow covered streets. 

“Home.”

“How?”

“I ran into the Mayor and he knows when and where the wormhole will open.” He stopped and faced her. There was still something hanging in the air that he needed to clear up on this side of the vortex. “Scully, you need to know, I would never use you..”

Scully held up her hand. “Mulder, there’s no need, I know you wouldn’t. .. Maybe I was looking for an excuse..”

That furrowed his brow. “For what?”

“To push you away.”

Mulder’s heart sank down into the depths of his stomach. “Is that what you want?”

“No. In fact the complete opposite. Walking around this place, I had a lot of time to think. Sometimes I believe I purposefully try to create distance, but it’s only because of my own fears. It terrifies me how badly I want the opposite.”

Mulder, unable to keep his own distance, stepped into her personal space. “Scully, if we’re admitting things, it’s true that when you went to the workshop with the Mayor I worked on getting John and Sara together. I thought if this Hallmark Movie nightmare ended with a kiss it might open a doorway, but nothing happened.”

“But you saved the farm,” Scully replied, deepening the intense gaze they were already sharing. Inside that invisible tether their silent realizations were augmented. If Mulder believed their kiss could be pure enough to open their perspectives, then he had believed what they shared between them to be true. As exposed as Mulder felt in that moment, it was Scully that broke first. “I stopped by the bakery and the old couple from the inn was there. They told me Sara’s no longer moving forward with the proposal to invoke imminent domain.”

He listened to the faint whistle of a train in the distance. The air had a chill in it as the night rolled in. Mulder braced himself. There was more he needed to tell Scully. The most importantly horrible and hardest thing he ever had to do. “Scully, there’s something else you need to know.. what we did last night, the lines we crossed while on this side, it was dangerous. If we bring those changes into our world..” 

“Last night we weren’t only risking our friendship..”

“..We were risking everything and everyone,” he finished.

Scully was speechless for a moment, strolling beside him. The scent of chocolate and taffy and peppermint lingered in the air as they passed the fudge shoppe. Then another look came over her, one that could only be described as one of the unattainable trout, right before it bites down on a lure. “Mulder, what about the mayor? Isn’t he risking the destruction of our world?”

“I think the mayor has been doing this for a very long time. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of years.”

“On Christmas Eve?”

“Yes.”

Her expression transposed to intimate understanding. She blinked. “Mulder, you’re not suggesting that the Mayor is Santa Claus.”

“Would that really be weirder than anything else we’ve seen?”

“Yes Mulder, it would,” she replied stiffly.

“Look, Scully, if I’m wrong then we’ve lost nothing, but if I’m right..”

“We go home.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Fine. Let’s go.”

And so they headed back to the Inn, thanked the couple, wished them a Merry Christmas, and were off to the mayor’s office in Town Hall.

“At midnight it will all become clear,” the mayor repeated to Scully after her endless challenges to his explanations. 

Mulder stared at the ornate grandfather clock in the corner of the room. Two minutes to midnight. Following Mulder’s eyes, the mayor gaped at the clock then spun his chair to face the wall. He rose, removing the giant painting, revealing a gold plated safe door about seven feet tall. The mayor proceeded to put in the combination then spun the giant wheel. The bolts clicked and retracted and the thick safe door slid open. With a wave of the mayor’s hand they entered the room. It felt larger on the inside than the outer dimensions. Within the center was a cubed Faraday cage, although It was almost impossible to discern what it contained. Even though they were only a couple feet away, their vision of it blurred. All Scully saw were horizontal stripes of pastel colors. Like an old antenna television with bad reception, but not quite. 

“Come on,” the Mayor said. “It’s time.”

Mulder dropped his hand to Scully’s lower lumbar to guide her through, but she hesitated. 

“Mulder,” she breathed, the color draining from her cheeks, “what if we step through and we forget everything that’s happened here?”

Tears welled at his lids and burned his eyes even though he knew that no matter what they may or may not recall, the feelings would always exist. “Maybe it’s for the best. Like I said before, everything we do could affect both ends and the results could be catastrophic.”

“The end of the world.”

Mulder agreed. “If you consider the butterfly effect.”

He held out his hand for her to take hold. Gently she slid her fingers between Mulder’s and grasped it tightly. “See you on the flip side,” Mulder snarked. Together they stepped into the looking glass and into -Kennedy airport! Tar tinged snow covered the grass beneath their feet and on either side of them was a line of bare Maple trees. To their right was a long cold concourse three stories high and covered in lights and windows against the charcoal clouds of the night sky. On the left the parkway was full of life with cars zooming by, their headlights scoping the road ahead and leading the way. 

“You’re on your own from here,” the mayor said over the heavy gusts of wind. “I must be on my way.” Then he added, “Don’t look so sad, we’ll meet again. All you need to do is believe.”

“But how did we get here?” Scully demanded bundling her coat tighter in a failed effort to keep warm.

“Rotation of the Earth,” the mayor replied. His smile widened, placing his rosy colored cheeks on display. “Never stop believing in each other and you’ll do just fine. And always remember, never give up on a Miracle. Merry Christmas!” He laughed heartily before raising his finger to the side of his nose and giving a nod ducked out of sight.

“Come on,” Mulder said with a slight tug at her wrist. 

“But Mulder, how.. Where did he go?”

“Scully, you’ve got a flight to catch to San Diego and I have one back to D.C. If I’ve calculated this correctly, if you can get a ticket, you should still make it there before Christmas Eve.”

“But, but..”

“Listen Scully, you’ve got to go..”

“What about everything that happened, the town, all of it. Those past days, It's all just been erased?”

“Scully, it still happened, but we need to be careful.”

“Will we forget? Will the memory fade?”

Mulder’s chest warmed. His tone, low and monotone. “I could never forget, Scully.”

“Then..”

“We go back to being friends,” he replied.

“We never weren’t friends, Mulder,” Scully answered, softly. “When I said always, I meant it.”

If there was ever a time he wanted her lips against his it was at that moment. He wanted to be and feel as close as their physical existence permitted. He pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his arms tight around her, surrounding her with his heart, before closing his eyes, nuzzling her hair, and sending a kiss to her forehead. 

Raising his eyelids he caught a glimpse of what Scully would say was simply a shooting star that with a trick of the eye appeared to be blazing by the moon, but he had his own theory.

 

29 Dec 1999

“Mulder, have you been spreading rumors?” Scully asked, peering off the edge, six feet above Mulder as he scoured the grave for clues as to how their once dead traveler escaped their post mortal slumber.

“Why? You hear any good ones lately?” he retorted.

“Not particularly. So what do you have here?”

“Merry Christmas by the way, Scully.” He said the words with his heart as if words alone could regain that closeness they left in the other realm. The last they had spoken or seen of each other had been that night at JFK airport and although they had technically celebrated Christmas together, that portion of their lives seemed like some fairy tale dream that they had now awakened from. Maybe it had all been a dream. And just as with dreams, the memories were fading, blown away like papers on a crowded city street, by time and the daily bustle. 

“Thank you. Merry Christmas to you too,” she replied, but not in a way that he could discern if she recalled their days of whimsy. No matter, there was a dead… or not so dead.. mystery to be solved, and Mulder just happened to be in the mood to wrap his mind around something truly puzzling. Life on this Earth could be as magnificent and enigmatic as any other.

“Grave robbery with a twist.”

Mulder was happy. Yes, she may have been called back early from her visit with family for work, but it meant he got to spend time with Scully -bantering, debating, solving crimes tainted with the supernatural. What better way to pass the holiday season? He could think of none.

Chapter 9: Happy New Year

Summary:

After the events of "Millenium", Scully helps Mulder into bed.

48 hours later…

 

The dull ache in Mulder’s arm as he stood in the hospital hallway beside Scully felt negligible compared to the euphoric beat in his heart. They survived the threat of the apocalypse yet again. Quite definitely, they could withstand anything. This only underscored that unbreakable belief. On the television, a sparkling orb of lights and fancy lowered down from the sky at the will and chants of those around the east coast. Mulder took it all in, standing next to his best friend in the entire world. The camera panned to all the couples, kissing and celebrating the new year. Being a spectator was never Mulder’s strong suit. Life for him consisted of constantly leaping, charging, sometimes blindly, into the fire. Why would he stop now? Why deprive them? 

With no one to witness but a Christmas tree, holly, and a few wreaths, it seemed almost kismet. Mulder leaned in, closed his eyes, held his breath, and pressed his lips against Scully’s. Sparks, fireworks, lit and fired with a heat that Mulder had never experienced. He pulled back and witnessed the illuminated cosmos of her eyes turning indigo under the fluorescents. He shook his head slightly, unable to stop the grin plastered over his face. He knew it was against all their plans, but hadn’t they always transcended all logic, science, religion, and philosophy? Her smile told him all he needed, but the “Happy New Year” in return put the icing on the cake. With his only good arm slung over her shoulders, he led them out the door and into the night. 

Behind the wheel of the car, after buckling him in, Scully sighed deeply, pushing hard on the steering wheel like she might be preparing for a crash.

Finally, she spoke. “Given it is New Year’s.. and after everything we’ve experienced tonight..  your injuries..  I was thinking it might be best if you spent the night at my place.” Her eyes darted his way then back to the road.

Mulder pursed his lips, but his smile wasn’t fading anytime soon. He nodded in agreement. “Let’s keep celebrating.” 

Void of decorations, Scully's apartment seemed cold. She must have felt it too because she lit a fire. There they sat on her couch staring at the television as it played the yearly Twilight Zone marathon. 

“Was it a dream?” Scully asked quietly, her eyes locked to the television screen. 

“I don’t know,” Mulder replied in even tones. “If it was, it would have to be a shared one.”

“We’ve had those before,” she said, glancing his way before refocusing on the television.

Her stark admittance to something so fantastic unnerved him.

“If the mayor knew a way for us to get home,” Scully paused, then asked, “Why didn’t he tell us that in the beginning?” .

Mulder’s tongue massaged the inside of his cheek as it often did when he was in deep thought. “I think he felt there was something we needed to learn before crossing back over. And.. he had to be certain we wanted to leave.” Mulder shrugged. “Maybe he thought if he came right out with the truth, we wouldn’t believe him.”

“Why would anyone want to leave such a perfect place?” Scully said mimicking the question so many of them had proposed while they were there.

“I’d like to think we need more than what it provided.” Her questions made him wonder what she did believe happened to them. Perhaps she wasn’t certain at all. Anymore than he had been. “Maybe he didn’t tell us because we wouldn’t be able to step through without the journey.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we found that wormhole, it was like we had gravitated towards it, like the universe sucked us in. What if it wasn’t random? What if there was something we needed to discover about ourselves before the universe decided it was time to spit us out?”

“Like what?”

Which led him to the present. The two of them on that couch and what he promised himself he would say if he ever survived the attack of the Millennial zombies. “Scully, I’ve spent the last couple days paralyzed thinking of you, of us. Of everything that happened between us. While I stood in that basement, surrounded by the undead, face to face with my own mortality… Well, as you are aware, an experience like that changes your perspective and the urgency of finding and doing what’s important…”

“It’s not just you,” Scully admitted. “Bill kept accusing my mind of drifting into outer space.”

Mulder chuckled, lifting his brow. Whether they tried to prevent it or not, their time on the other side of the wormhole had changed their way of thinking, the experiences and people had left an imprint.

Scully met his eyes. “When I was first told I had a chance at having a child, you were the only one that crossed my mind, and now when I imagine myself with someone… you’re the only one I could ever imagine myself with..”

Mulder’s hand threaded through her hair, and ever so gently guided her lips to his, caressing them with every bit of his heart. A faint kiss before his forehead leaned against hers as his hand settled at the back of her neck. He took a breath, feeding off their connection before lifting his head only far enough to meet her eyes. “I want to try. If there’s a chance of this working, I want to try, because I don’t want to go through life not knowing, I don’t know that I can.” He waited, searching her eyes for any indication of an answer. “Please, say something.”

She tilted her head away from him, her eyes slightly building in either repulsion or fear. Finally, just when Mulder thought he might implode, she said, her voice cracking, “I guess that means I don’t have to make up the guest bedroom.”

Mulder’s heart skipped a beat. Time stood still. He held out a hand for her to join him, but then winced as he stood from the couch. “I think I’m going to need some help getting ready for bed.” He didn’t mean it as a euphemism. 

In the bathroom, Scully’s gaze intensified under the soft lights. Diligently, she unbuttoned his jeans, pulling the zipper down, separating the metal teeth, exposing the navy blue boxer briefs underneath. He listened to her breath quicken and felt the cotton slide against his skin as she began to lower them. If it was not for the serious concern in her gaze he might have been rock hard from the intimacy. Taking her hand, he lifted his brow and said softly, “I think I got it from here.”

Taking the hint, Scully left the room and using his unfamiliar hand, he emptied his bladder. Tucking everything back in, he stared at his toothbrush leaning against hers in the holder. “Little help,” he called out.

 Scully returned, standing beside him, she turned the faucet on, adjusting the temperature until the water ran warm. With a tender caress she took his hand and washed it. The methodical care put him in a calming trance. His other arm remained in the sling aching, but the pain was pushed to the far distance of his brain by her ministrations. 

Dipping a washcloth into the stream, she wrung it out and gently brought it up to his face. A warm, delicate touch wiped away the day, the pressures of the case. Long strokes of the damp cloth, from his forehead to his chin, he closed his eyes, absorbing her love, trusting her completely, as she massaged contentment into his temples.  

When she had finished, she placed the washcloth aside and reached for the toothbrush, squeezing a ribbon of toothpaste onto the bristles. She handed him the brush, standing close, ready to assist if he needed it, their proximity welcome and desired.

After his teeth were clean, she held a glass of water to his lips so he could rinse, then gently wiped away the remaining toothpaste with a fresh washcloth. They shared a quiet smile. This hadn’t been the first time they had done this tango, their job demanded sacrifice of not only their lives, but their bodies. In fact, sometimes it seemed as though they took turns leading, but he never took this delicate dance for granted. 

The bedroom was bathed in a warm, golden light, as she untangled his shirt from his sling and slid the fabric over his head. Mulder once again winced in pain. “Easy,” he huffed, but he couldn’t keep the gratitude and affection from his voice. 

Stepping into his flannel pants was much less painful with Scully’s assistance. “Thank you.” He monotoned. “It would have been a rough night without you.”

Scully smiled softly, her fingers brushing against his neck and down his collarbone. There was a palpable sense of her emotion in every gesture and Mulder felt Scully’s touch right to the bare core of his soul. 

Scully helped ease him into bed, fluffing the pillows behind him for extra support. He knew he was spoiled by her and he gleefully sucked up every bit of it. Switching off the bedside lamp, she laid down, sleeping on the side of his unblemished arm, hugging it against her breasts, sandwiching his right hand between hers, entwining their fingers. Her head rested on his shoulder. The darkness she had plunged them into amplified the sounds of their quiet breathing and the rhythmic ticking of a nearby clock, wrapping them in a peaceful comfort.

“In your dream, did you make a Christmas wish?” Her voice was low and filled with tenderness.

“I did.”

He could feel her heavy breath across his chest. “So did I.”

*

 

He woke to his arm throbbing and Scully propped up on an elbow, staring at him.

“Do I have a zit?” he asked to break the tension.

“No,” she smiled. 

He couldn’t quite read the look in her eyes. “What?” 

As her face got closer he closed his eyes and craned his neck, meeting her lips. The kiss, surprising and needed, lit his body on fire. His morning wood twitched and Scully’s hand was there, her finger teasing at the waistband. His cock thickened and grew. The air tingled as she exposed it before warming it with the palm of her hand. Mulder hummed against her mouth, stifling a moan so as to not sound too eager. This. was not. a dream. They were back in their own time and this was really happening.

When their lips separated, Scully stroked him lightly, her hand sliding over the crown then back down to the root. “Scully,” he breathed, then warned, “this is going to be difficult with my arm..”

Scully lowered her body, her lips kissing the muscles of his abdomen before devouring him. Reflexively, Mulder’s hips jerked with a long loud groan, returned by Scully’s garbled choking. 

“Sorry,” he said quickly, withdrawing, the pleasure just as intense. “Scully, I wasn’t expecting, I mean you don’t have to.. I..”

“Mulder,” she replied, demanding his attention, staring up at him through her lashes as she fisted the stiff base.

“Yes.” He answered, his entire body at attention.

“Shut up.” And with that she ran her lips around him and down his length. It was erotic and sexy. He loved when she took control. His eyes closed and his mind cleared. 

Her tongue lapped vigilantly against his hard cock, her lips soaked in saliva slid upward, her tongue running around and over the head before sailing back down to the root. He didn’t even question how she knew him so well, because on some level he already knew. Her tender fingers grew eager, stroking just underneath his scrotum, applying ample amount of pressure for the tingle and throbbing to begin.

“Scully, soon I won’t be able to hold back, Scully, Scully please.”

She sucked hard before taking him all, he felt the head scrape along the back of her throat and his entire body stiffened. Each contraction, sensations of pleasure almost too much to stand. He heard himself holler out his appreciation as he pumped into the abyss of her throat. What he felt was the closest he had ever been to the divine. 

With his only good hand he pulled her towards him and crashed his mouth against hers, not giving her a chance to object, not giving a damn about the taste of him on her tongue. His body was still feeling the after shock as his fingers found her sex, stroking it with intention. “Oh, Scully.” She was wet, incredibly amazingly deliciously wet. It shocked him. He never considered what she had just done to be anything but a selfless act. “Doing that to me is exciting for you?”

“Oh, God, yes, you are beautiful Mulder,” she replied and his fingers responded, circling and pressing hard against her clit. 

“I’m yours Scully,” he whispered, “Everything I have is yours. Now speak to me. Let me hear what I do to you.”

She moaned with eyes closed, burying her face in his neck, sucking and sending kisses to his chest. He wanted all of her and now his desire to have her come had become a need. Two fingers worked their way inside her to find her body tight and soaked, and pulsing. He found himself growing hard again; Scully writhing against the palm of his hand.

“Yes,” he moaned, wanting her to come badly. Needing it like oxygen, but he didn’t quicken his movements, instead firming his motion. “Ride my hand.”

His hips were unintentionally grinding into her abdomen, into soft silky skin. She rose back to his lips and rode his hand hard as he curved his fingers and matched her rhythm. Her moans, the smell of her sex surrounding him, the feel of her skin, her need for him slick and throbbing against his fingers... he was going to come again. It was going to happen. Her body clamped down on his fingers. His head dropped so his cheek laid against hers, his forehead resting on her shoulder. She moaned his name in his ear. Mulder lost himself inside their heat. Without shame his body released up into her abdomen.   

Waiting until their breath slowed, Scully lifted her head to join his eyes. 

Caught up in the moment, in his own emotion, he blurted out in a throaty breath, “Marry me.”

It hung in the air like the Hindenburg. 

“I was thinking dinner and a movie first,” she replied, her rapier wit on point.

 

***

 

Two weeks later his arm no longer pained him, but his heart told a different story. His sleeping quarters had returned to the hunter green leather of his couch. He lay awake, staring up at the old mundane cracks in the ceiling, tossing his basketball, wondering if Scully missed the warmth he provided on the opposite side of her bed. No, he had to scrub his mind. They had a date planned this week.

The phone rang interrupting his thoughts. It was Skinner. Their night out may have to wait. Their services were requested by Skinner to investigate some very peculiar happenings in Pittsfield, Virginia, justified and accentuated by the brutal and deadly attack of an officer of the law. As Skinner described it, the victim looked like he had taken a punch from Superman.

Chapter 10: Where Do We Go From Here?

Mulder felt the heat coloring his cheeks. This had been their first case since New Year’s Eve. Their first assignment since they decided to transform dreams into reality. Scully had let him know in subtle ways she was anxiously awaiting the end of the case as much as him -the button left open at the top of her shirt revealing just enough skin to make his body react, the stroking of his tie as she artfully requested they try it her way, the sharp pinch at his elbow claiming her territory. Of course he retaliated with his own, “I’ll show you my theory if you show me yours.” The chemistry between them crackled and surged with a power that had almost taken out all the lights in the building. 

While they hovered over the victim’s body, she spoke to him through clenched teeth to avoid smiling, but behind her eyes they were discussing much more than the case. And even now, back at his apartment, the case over, staring into her eyes, he felt it. Felt it stiffening his extremities in a very unexpectedly pleasant way. It was really a shame he felt the need to pour ice water over the entire situation, but sex was not something he ever wanted to blind him from his goals. Whether it was about finding his sister or the lasting bond between him and Scully. And right now there was an elephant waving its trunk around his living room. They made a commitment to create a life, to raise and care for it. Just because the IVF failed, did that mean they shouldn’t pursue other avenues like adoption? What did the mayor really mean when he repeated Mulder’s words to “Never give up on a miracle?” What if..

“What if we’re too old?” Mulder asked, his eyebrows gathering as if trying to hold a meeting above the bridge of his nose. “Scully, if we had a baby right now, we’d be applying for AARP cards before they hit high school.”

“Speak for yourself,” Scully answered, the edge of her mouth rising with the heat between them. It simmered with the question, “Are you saying upon reflection you’re relieved it didn’t work?”

“I’d never say that.” Mulder felt his heart pump hard. “No, I was trying to say I need to start working out more.”

That beautiful crooked grin returned. “You look pretty good to me.”

“Pretty good?” he replied, chewing at the corner of his mouth. “Scully, our jobs..what we do.. the dangers involved… to bring a baby into this..”

“Agents have families, Mulder.”

“I know, but it is still something to consider. I guess I just need you to know that if you ever wanted to go back to medicine I would support your decision. I’d miss you, but I wouldn’t stop you.”

“One day I might return, but right now I’m perfectly happy working for the Bureau.”

“So, adoption,” Mulder said with a glimmer of hope in his eye. “Is that on the table?”

Scully stepped towards him and his eyes closed at the feel of her warm caring arms around him. “You told me never to give up on a miracle,” she whispered, “then gave me the courage to see that through.” She nibbled at the smooth lines of his neck, her lips skimming the sensitive area all the way up to behind his earlobe. She scraped it with her teeth and gently sucked. A moan escaped his lips as his body throbbed in response. He took a deep breath through his nose. He needed to focus on the long ball. They needed to get out of his apartment before his willpower weakened further. “Are you still up for dinner and a movie?”

Scully sent one last kiss to his neck before meeting his eyes. “You’re taking this very seriously.”

His head cocked with the dance of his brow attempting to read her signals. “You’re not?”

“Of course I am. It is a little strange given all we’ve been through, but yes, Mulder, I would love to go out on a date with you.”

“Did I say a date?” he asked, bulging his eyes and dropping his jaw in faux surprise. He broke at the blush in her cheeks. “Will you wear my Varsity jacket?”

Gratefully, her coyness returned. “Depends how good this date is.”

 

Months later…

Outside, the only cars along the city streets were the ones parked along the curb. Even the rustle of the trees took on a delicate wave and only church mice scurried among the sidewalk.

Inside, a tsunami of emotion flooded the bedroom. Scully’s eyes shimmered with tears gazing down at the tiny, fragile life Mulder held in his arms as he sat at the edge of the bed. Gently, she stroked the baby’s soft head as she sat down next to them while Mulder marveled at how beautiful and fragile it all seemed.

Everyone had gone, leaving just the three of them. Mulder basked with Scully in the unfiltered joy of welcoming their newborn son into the world. He felt like his heart might burst with appreciation and pride. Outside, the faint sound of birds chirped, harmonizing with the soft coos of their little one. Still drunk from the taste of Scully’s kiss on his lips, something caught the corner of his eye and drew him to the object casting a strange shadow from the closet. 

“Scully, I don’t want to alarm you, but I think there’s a monster in your closet.”

“What is that?” She asked curiously. “I put all the gifts in the guest room.”

Carefully, Mulder transferred the baby into her arms and crept silently towards the door before opening it. At his feet sat a large stuffed pomeranian doggy and a smaller alien sitting on top. The stuffed toys they had won in Kālacakra at the Christmas fair. Last time he had seen them, he was building a snowman with the local children. He looked over to Scully.

“You don’t think..” Scully asked, her eyes frightfully wide. “It can’t be, it must be a joke from Skinner or The Lone Gunman.”

“Maybe,” Mulder replied doubtfully, “Or maybe William really is our miracle after all.”

Notes:

That's all folks. I'm returning to continue writing my other fic. It's called When the Shadows Speak. It was just too heavy for the Christmas season, but I'm ready to tackle it now. It's about Mulder and Scully's relationship. It starts off in the future sometime before the Revival. It's not about William or the events of the Revival. This is about them, their relationship, and addressing all the years they had together and how they can move forward together. It truly is a MSR story and they will be looking back and reminiscing about events that occurred in the original run.
Also, I'll be updating Rooted in Friendship with additional chapters. They will be added in between already existing chapters, but I'll let you know which chapters are new as I post them. Not changing the story, just adding some additional stories to enhance what's already there. As always, Love, Light, and Positive Vibes -CIDB