Author's Note: This story is based on characters from the X-Files. No copyright infringement is meant. The following work is approximatly PG-13 for strong language, violence, and details of alien abduction. Christmas Cheer Jer Pond@aol.com 12/26/94 Prolouge Massachusetts 8:47 PM September 6th, 1973 The boy sat stretched out on the floor watching the political news show. Soon it would be over and "The Magician" would be on. Man, that show was cool. Suddenly, the channel flipped. "Why'd you do that?" he asked. "I want to watch something else." said the little girl. "While mom and dad are at the Hendersons I'm in charge and I say that we watch "The Magician". Got it, buttmunch?" asked the boy as he raised himself to his full height. He was tall for his age and the girl was short for her's. Suddenly, the house began to rumble. The two children look around in fright. Then a bright light began to shine inside the windows. "Fox! What is that?!?!" asked the girl as she fell to the ground. Then a bright flash lit the inside of the house. The boy felt himself freeze in his tracks as the light became blindingly white. "FOX HELP ME!" screamed the girl as she felt herself levitate. "SAMANTHA!!!!!!!!!" screamed the boy. Then the world went black. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. J. Edgar Hoover Building November 5th, 1984 "You have the job. Welcome to the FBI. As soon as you pass the mandatory 2 years at the FBI Academy in Quantico you'll be an official field agent." said the balding man behind the desk. On the other side of the desk sat the man who had once been the boy. He wore a plain grey suit and a red tie. "Thank you, sir." he said politely. He always spoke in the same even tone, ever since that night 11 years ago. "You're welcome Mr. Mulder. I see great things for you here at the FBI." said the man as he dismissed him. Mulder stood and walked out of the office. Maybe he could lose himself in this job and forget his pain. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quantico, West Virginia FBI Academy April 21st, 1985 Fox Mulder walked down the hallways at the end of a long day. He had just finished class with Agent John Geehreng, which was criminology. Now he wanted to go back to his dorm and get some sleep. As he walked through the crowded halls the other students gave him wide berth. After all, he was that wierd Mulder guy. One student, however, missed no chance ot bother him. Kyle Johnson was the best scholar in the academy until Mulder came. Kyle stuck his foot out to trip Mulder, who was not paying attention to where he was going. Mulder was sent sprawling. Then he whirled around to face his antagonist. "Just what the #@$% is your problem, jerk?" asked Mulder angrily. "You, you self righteous piece of #@$%!" yelled Kyle. "Stuff it, @$%-hole." retorted Mulder as he walked away. Then Kyle ran up behind him and gave him another push. Mulder turned and punched, connecting with Kyle's jaw. "Who the @#$% do you think you are?" "Me." "I think you're "Spooky" Mulder." "That's a new one. Did you think it up all by yourself?" asked Mulder. "You're always talking about those aliens, and UFOs, and #$%, you're Spooky." "Shut the #$% up." said Mulder as he continued to walk away, knowing "Spooky" would probably stick. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. 2nd National Bank Garage Level 5, Section B4 September 24th, 1986 The armored car door slammed with a resounding thud. As the two men got out Mulder saw them from behind. His 45. automatic felt cool in his hand. The safety clicked off silently. "Oh %#*, the FBI!" yelled the suspect in a New England accent. Mulder raised the gun to shoot but hesitated when the man pulled the driver up to his gun. "One move and he dies!" yelled the suspect to the agents around him. Mulder saw his partner and supervisor Agent Reggie Pardue acrossed the circle surrounding the suspect. "Just release the hostage." said an agent Mulder didn't recognize. But soon his face would stay forever fixed in his mind. Barnett, the suspect, fired a round into the driver's chin and turned the gun on tne agent who had spoken. Mulder's gun fired at the exact second Barnett's did. Barnett's gunhand ripped almost in two. The agent and Barnett both fell at the same time. Mulder felt the grief well up inside of him as he realized that he could have saved the agent's life by going against the regulations. He stumbled away from the rushing agents. His life was one pitfall after another. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. J. Edgar Hoover Building The Basement December 24th, 1991 An older Agent Mulder sighed in disgust. His last case had come with a nightmare amount of paperwork. He had gone looking for a quiet place to work on it and had found this room. All it contained was a desk, an ancient IBM 286 PC and several filing cabinents. Mulder had been doing paperwork for the last 3 hours and decided to take a break. He wondered if the computer had a modem. No, nuts. Maybe the filing cabinets would have something interesting. They were jammed shut. Maybe, he could just unjam... THERE! Mulder picked through the first few loose papers in the front. He thought he saw a Don Mattingly 1991 baseball card in there. Then he came to the files which were marked with a red and yellow pattern around the edge. He picked one out to look at it. It was marked "The X-File Project" on the top. The case number was X-NCC-1701-D. Then he saw the three words which where to change his life: "Alien Abduction-UNSOLVED". "What in the world?" he wondered. Then he began to read. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- New York City The Office of Dr. Hytes Verber January 4th, 1992 "I want you to count slowly down from ten, Mr. Mulder." said an aging man wearing thick glasses. His white hair was thin on the top and his skin was wrinkled with age. He seemed to have more life in him than most children, despite his age. "Are you sure you can help?" asked Mulder. He was sitting in a chair self conciously looking around him. He did as the doctor asked and felt his tension slip away. The doctor took him back into his repressed memories of the day of the abduction. He remembered everything in a horrible clarity. What seemed like seconds later was really 3 hours later when the doctor pulled him back to the present. "Mulder, I offer my consolation. I am truly sorry." said the man. "Th...that's okay."said Mulder. He leaned back into the chair, wondering what was next. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. J. Edgar Hoover Building September 29th, 1993 Mulder sat putting slides in the projector for the guest he was expecting any minute now. He had a report on his desk that said, "Transferred Agent Dana Scully: VCS to The X-Files." below this he had another report that said, "Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpetion by Dana Scully." Mulder heard the knocking on the door that signified his guest's arrival. "Nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted." he said. The door creaked in and a short woman with auburn-red hair entered the room. She looked around at Mulder's unique taste in decore. Mulder smiled and shook hands with her. "I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder." he said. "Agent Dana Scully. I've been sent to work with you." she replied. Mulder turned back to finishing his unique slide show. "So who'd you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?" he asked. For a second she composed herself before answering, "Actually I'm looking forward to it, I've heard a lot about you."she said. "Oh, really? It's so nice to suddenly be held in such high regard. I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me." he retorted. He knew this was the beginning of something new. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. America Bridge November 5th, 1994 Conciousness swam around Mulder fleetingly giving him glimpses of the world around him. He saw the government assassin in the front of the van. The van pulled to a stop on the bridge and Mulder forced himself awake. He saw the figure of Deep Throat in the window. He was handing the assassin a package. The assassin pulled the trigger of a gun after he had the package. Deep Throat let out a choked cry of surprise before falling over. Mulder was thrown out the back of the van and he hit the hard ground. He saw Scully check to see if he was alive then she left his field of vision. He felt conciousness slipping away again. He tried to speak but couldn't. Scully came back to where he was and she looked as if she was about to cry. "He's dead, Mulder." she whispered as he fell into the deep pool of blackness around him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Virginia October 24th, 1994 An enraged Agent Fox Mulder stood over Duane Barry choking him to death with his bare hands. He had just seen some of Scully's hair on the man's watch. Scully had been abducted by him to offer a replacement for him to the aliens. Mulder suspected it had something to do with the fact that he seemed so close to an answer and the shadow government knew it. Finally he let go of Barry. His uncontrollable rage still burned white hot but it was giving way to sorrow. Everything was over. Everything. Scully and the X-Files were gone. His sister had never returned, he was no longer the FBI's prize psycologist. It was all over. He wanted to quit. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. Mercy Hospital Garage November 17th, 1994 Agent Fox Mulder ran after the swiftly retreating figure. The escaping man held a tube of Scully's blood and possibly an answer to her abduction. After pursuing him for quite some time he caught him and was about to take the blood when his head was hit by a pipe. Mulder fell to the ground semi-concious. Then he heard the snap of a broken bone and a gun shot. Instead of finding himself dead he saw his new informant hovering over the injured assailant. "You want to know what it takes to know what I know?" asked the man in a rhetorical voice. Then he lifted his gun to the man's head and fired. Soon Scully's blood sample mixed in with the man's oozing blood and gore from both gunholes. Mulder fell to the ground, exhausted. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. Mercy Hospital Reconvalencse Ward November 18th, 1994 Agent Dana Scully heard the door open and her heart leaped with joy. Her best friend had come. Mulder nodded politely to Mrs. Scully and Scully's sister, Melissa. "Hey, Scully." he said. "Thank you for coming, Fox." said Mrs. Scully. "Not Fox, *Mulder*, mom." said Scully with mock annoyance. "I brought you a present." said Mulder. He handed her a package. Scully strained to focus her weak eyes. "It's the Best of the Superbowl tapes." he said. "I knew there was no reason to live." moaned Scully and Mulder smiled for the first time in weeks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. The residence of Fox Mulder December 23rd, 1994 Mulder took his burritos out of the oven and sat down to watch some tv. He found "The Field of Dreams" on HBO. As he watched the phone rang. "Hello." he answered. "Fox, it's Maggie Scully. It would mean a lot to us all if you would join us for Christmas. We've rented a cabin in Canada. Would you like to come?" she asked. Mulder briefly considered declining but then he remembered last year's New Year's vow: "Don't Seperate Yourself from People." Of course he made that vow every year. Then he remembered Scully's absence had taught him to cherish time spent with those you hold dear. "I'd love too ma'am." he replied. Mrs. Scully's smile could almost be heard over the phone. "I hoped you would. We'll see you over at Dana's at 8:00 am tomorrow." she said. "I can't wait." replied Mulder truthfully. "Never can we. Bye, Fox." "Bye Mrs. Scully." replied Mulder pleasantly and he hung up. Mulder felt good that he had decided to go after all. Maybe it would allow him to get over previous holiday traumas. He hadn't celebrated Christmas since his sister had disappeared 21 years ago. Maybe it would. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington D.C. The Residence of Dana Scully December 24th, 1994 7:54 am Mulder approached Scully's door and rang the bell. He felt both happy and embarressed by coming. However, he would not back down now. The door creaked open and Scully looked out. "Hi, Scully." said Mulder. "Call me Dana, we're not on the job." said Scully. "Call me..." began Mulder. "Mulder, I know." said Scully. "Fox." finished Mulder, astonishing himself. "S..sure, Fox." said Scully. Then the doorbell rang again and Scully went to answer it. Her mother and her 3 brothers walked in bringing holiday cheer with them. They all thanked Mulder for coming and then the group prepared to leave. As they piled in the car, Mrs. Scully explained that each two people take a turn in the front seats. Mulder and Scully were one pair, two of Scully's brothers were another pair, and Mrs. Scully and the last brother were the third pair. Mulder and Scully's turn would come around midnight. Mulder climbed inside the minivan that they were using and stored his backpack in the back. The bag had been through a lot with him, from infiltrating a bogus government quarantine to backpacking in the wilderness and running from a swarm of ancient bugs. Scully threw her bag in the back and hopped in beside him. Mrs. Scully, Scully's sister, and Jon (one of Scully's brothers) sat in the middle, while Jeremiah and Chris (her other brothers) sat in the front. Jeremiah started up the car and they were off. Sometime later they began singing Christmas carols. At first Scully was unsure of what Mulder would think. Then to everyone's surprise Mulder joined in on "Holly Jolly Christmas". Scully smiled and joined in as well. After awhile they stopped and there was silence for about an hour. Scully fell asleep and Mulder was on the verge of dozing off, as well. "Fox?" asked one of Scully's brothers. "Yeah?" mumbled Mulder semi-coherently. "What got you into the X-Files?" he asked. Mulder winced and Scully awoke as she felt him tensing beside her. "What?" she asked. "The uh..." Mulder stuttered in surprise. Scully's brother didn't know exactly what he had just asked, but he was beginning to realize. "Was that a bad question?" he asked. Instantly Scully knew what was going on. "Fox....Chris, it's kind of hard for him to..." said Scully but Mulder put his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Dana. I can answer it," he said, then he took a deep breath. "Fox, are you sure?" asked Scully again. "I was twelve when it happened, my sister was eight. We were alone at home when she just disapeared. My family was crushed. Dad divorced Mom, I haven't seen him since I left for colledge in England. Mom moved away to the coast and she's married again. I went to Oxford and became a psycologist. Then I entered the FBI academy. There I first became interested in investigating paranormal cases. I heard rumors of a project called the X-Files but I didn't believe them until I found them myself. I read everything I could, then I found out about a psycologist named Dr. Hytes Verber. He took me through my repressed memories to the night of the disappearance, I recall a bright light and my sister crying for help. I was paralyzed, I couldn't respond at all. Then she was gone." recounted Mulder. "I'm sorry, Fox." said Mrs. Scully. "Don't be." said Mulder reassuringly. Then he relaxed to fall back asleep. Scully also settled back in the seat. Soon they both had fallen to sleep. Sometime later, Mulder was driving the car at night. They were about 3 hours away from their final destination. Scully sat next to him staring out the window in silence. Mulder wondered if Scully and her family would like the presents. He had gotten each of Scully's brothers a different video from the "NFL's Greatest Plays" collection. He had gotten Scully's sister a book called "Mind Over Matter: ESP". He had gotten Mrs. Scully a set of candle holders, and he had gotten Dana a membership on his favorite Internet gateway. Previously she had expressed an interest in trying out one of those computer services he always talked about. Mulder sighed happily. "What?" asked Scully. "Well, it's like I have a real family again when I'm with all of you." said Mulder. "We all are glad you could come, Mulder. I've never had a closer friend than you." "Thanks a lot, Scully. You're the best friend I ever had." said Mulder as he smiled even wider. His hand clasped over Scully's. "It's gonna be a great Christmas." said Scully as she smiled, too. "The best I've ever had." said Mulder in agreement as the car drove on. The-End