Part Five


Disclaimer and archiving info in Prologue


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The Thirteen Days Of Christmas-December 28: Holy Innocents' Day


     Mulder watched Scully march with a determined 
glint in her eye around the kitchen, removing things 
from the refrigerator and pulling objects off the 
shelves.  She'd been acting like this all morning, 
since she'd woken up.  She'd also gone out somewhere, 
and came back with bags loaded with food.  Mulder 
hadn't been able to ask her about it yet, but now 
he was going to find out.  "What exactly are you 
doing?" he asked her.

     Scully turned around and leaned against the 
counter.  "I was just thinking about something this 
morning, something that Nora said, that there are 
days when her family will be asking for a homecooked 
meal, and I realized that we never really have time 
for that.  We're always so busy with work that the 
most we have time to do is call the local Chinese 
place.  But now, we have a few days off and I just 
though that it would be nice to make something for 
a change."  She suddenly moved away from the counter, 
turned Mulder to face the living room and gave him a 
push.  "Now get going.  If I'm going to do this I can't 
have any distractions."

     Mulder chuckled and walked back into the living 
room.  Scully was in a mood and he'd learned from 
experience that it was best not to mess with her 
when she was in one.  He sat down on the floor next 
to Rhiannon who was playing with a mound of stuffed 
animals.  "Your mama is acting very strange," he said 
to her.  Rhiannon looked up at him and offered him a 
stuffed bear.  Mulder took it from her.  "Thank you."  
He reached behind him on the coffee table and grabbed 
the remote.  He clicked on the television and laid 
back, propping his head up on the stuffed bear.  
Mulder surfed through the channels until he found 
a Knicks game.  'C'mere, Rhiannon," he said, pulling 
her towards him.  "I'm going to teach you all about 
basketball."

     A couple of hours later Mulder was still banned 
from the kitchen.  Even when he went in to get a 
snack Scully kicked him right out and tossed a pack 
of sunflower seeds after him.  He'd also figured out 
Rhiannon didn't like basketball.  After a few minutes 
of watching she turned back to her animals.  Oh well.  
He'd had better luck with baseball anyway.  During the 
World Series (while he was still on sick leave from 
that hellish time where someone did something to his 
brain) she'd sat next to him totally enthralled at what 
was happening on the screen.  Soon he knew he'd be 
signing her up for little league.

     When the game was over he migrated to the spare 
bedroom with Rhiannon following in his wake.  There 
was still that stack of paperwork sitting on the desk, 
but that idea really wasn't endearing itself to him.  
He sat down at the desk and booted up the computer, 
deciding to play a bootleg copy of a game Frohike 
had downloaded.

     After a few minutes of that he quit the game.  
He got up and prowled around the small room.  'Face 
it, Mulder, you're bored stiff,' he thought.  He 
jokingly mused whether it was because Scully wasn't 
there he was bored, but then re-thought it because 
that probably was the real reason he was bored.

     He walked back into the living room, getting 
restless from boredom once more.  He went over to 
the bookshelf and pulled out the book Scully had 
got him for Christmas.  After a check to see where 
Rhiannon was, once more playing amongst the stuffed 
animals, he settled into the couch and began to read.

     Soon he realized that Scully was standing over 
him, holding Rhiannon in her arms.  His eyes shot 
over to the clock and he saw that he'd been absorbed 
in the book for a half-hour, it was that good.  
"C'mon, dinner's ready," Scully said.  Mulder got 
up and followed her into the kitchen.

     "Wow, that smells good," Mulder said, looking 
at the nicely prepared plates of food set out on the 
kitchen table.

     "Yeah, but you know what I figured out?" Scully 
said as she put Rhiannon into her high chair.  "I 
hate cooking!  Now I know why I never spent hours 
in the kitchen making something.  I don't have the 
patience for it.  I could spend my time doing something 
much more valuable than slaving over a stove."

     Mulder laughed as he sat down.  "Well it still 
smells good, although I'll be happy with something 
simple."

     "Thank God," Scully said as she slumped back 
into her chair, pushing stray strands of hair out 
of her face.  "Because next time I even think of 
doing this please just tell me to quit right there."

     Dinner went surprisingly well, although Scully 
spent most of the time wondering vocally why she'd 
decided to make this big banquet of a dinner again.  
When it was over Mulder somehow managed to convince 
Scully to get out of the kitchen and let him clean 
up, and even though Scully feared that the dishes 
wouldn't make it through that alive she let him and 
went to go soak in a bubble bath.  By the time Scully 
was well and fully relaxed she wandered out into the 
living room Mulder was sitting on the couch eating 
some strawberry ice cream and in between feeding 
some small bites to Rhiannon.  It wasn't really a 
bad thing for her either, it made her feel better 
when she was teething.

     "How can you eat that in this freezing cold 
weather?" Scully asked, sitting down next to him.

     "It's quite easy.  Wanna try?" Mulder said, 
holding up a spoonful.

     Scully shook her head.  "Why can't we be 
normal?" she sighed.  "Why can't I enjoy something 
simple like cooking a meal for my family?"

     "That's because we're not normal, not by 
society's standards," Mulder grinned at her and 
she shot him a look.  Mulder sighed and tried to 
improve his argument.  "Look, between the two of 
us we've seen more and experienced more things than 
no one with an ordinary, mundane life could even 
dream of.  That's made us different than them, and 
the things that work for them don't work for us."

     "Sometimes I envy Nora," Scully said.  "I mean, 
she's leading what some people would consider the 
ideal life.  She's got a husband, kids, her own 
business, her life is nearly perfect."  Her face 
broke out into a sudden smile.  "But there are 
things that I have that I wouldn't trade for 
anything.  I've got you, I've got Rhiannon, these are 
things I never would have gotten if I took the easy 
way out, the normal life.  So I guess I can most 
certainly live with not being 'normal'," she finished 
as she leaned over and kissed him.

     "Who needs normal?" Mulder grinned as she 
pulled away.

     "But there are some things I'd like to keep 
normal, you know?" Scully said as she reached for 
the Christmas book.  And as Mulder kept feeding 
himself and Rhiannon ice cream, Scully read once more.


          'On the morning of Holy Innocents' Day, James
           and Prudence and Christopher went down to
           the church with all the other town children
           to watch the choosing of the boy bishop.
           The choirboys lined up in the marketplace
           around a manger full of straw, stuck with 
           Christmas roses and ivy trails and sprigs
           of holly.  The bishop sat in his chair in
           the church porch, with all the local
           clergy, including the five uncles, clustered
           around him.

              Nine o'clock began to chime.  The
           choirboys went up in turn to pull straws
           from the manger, and then the choir-master
           went round comparing and measuring.  He
           stepped back, bowed to the bishop, and
           announced that Will Verney had pulled the
           shortest straw.  The crowd clapped, the
           choir cheered, and Will flushed and stared
           hard at the cobbles....'


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End of Part Five-December 28: Holy Innocents' Day