Part Seven


Disclaimer and archiving info in Prologue


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


The Thirteen Days Of Christmas-December 30: Churching Day


     The phone call came early that morning, startling 
Mulder out of a sound sleep.  Not for the first time 
he regretted leaving his cell phone on the nighttable.  
The call was simple and to the point: in Tallahassee, 
Florida the body of an ex-FBI agent was stolen from 
its grave.  The odd thing was, it looked as if said 
dead person had tried to claw his way out from the 
inside, and could he and his partner please come 
down there to investigate.  Mulder agreed, he 
didn't really have much choice especially since the 
agent on the other end said A.D. Skinner had already 
approved the trip, hung up the phone, and buried his 
face in the pillow.

     "What was that?" Scully asked, her face close 
to his ear.

     Mulder groaned into the pillow.  "You'll find 
out in a second, the next call's heading for you."  
Sure enough Scully's own cell began to ring and she 
picked it up.  After a few minutes of listening she 
clicked the phone off and she slumped back against 
the pillow.

     "A robbed grave that looks like the body clawed 
itself out of it," Scully sighed.  Mulder lifted his 
head off of the pillow and set it back down on Scully's 
shoulder.

     "S'right up our alley," he muttered, rubbing his 
nose against her shoulder.

     Scully tilted her head and leaned it against his.  
"You want to get there first, or should I?" she asked 
him.

     He pushed himself up to a sitting position.  
"I'll get down there first, you can get Rhiannon 
settled at Nora's.  Besides," he grinned impishly 
at her, "we wouldn't want to give them any ideas 
showing up together, now would we?"

     Scully gave a little laugh and rubbed his 
arm.  "Get moving into the shower Mulder," she said, 
giving him a slight push.  She got out of bed herself 
and headed for Rhiannon's room.  The baby was still 
sleeping and Scully was loathe to wake her up but 
she had to, in order to feed her breakfast before 
they dropped her off at Nora's.  After a few minutes 
of gently rubbing her back Rhiannon opened a pair of 
sleepy eyes.  She rolled over and saw Scully standing 
there.  "Mama," she said sleepily and lifted her arms 
so Scully could pick her up.  Rhiannon had been through 
this before and she knew that she couldn't go back to 
sleep just yet.

     Scully carried her into the kitchen and set her 
down in the high chair.  She walked over to the 
pantry, pulled out a box of Cheerios, and poured it 
into a bowl with some milk.  She set it in front of 
Rhiannon so she could feed herself, but if she played 
with her food too much, Scully was going to have to 
feed her.  Then she moved over to the coffee maker 
and started it up, knowing that the extra jolt of 
caffeine would help both of them get moving a little 
faster.

     Soon Mulder came rushing into the kitchen, 
hastily tying a tie around his neck.  Scully pushed 
a cup of coffee towards him.  "Thanks," he said, 
pausing to take a sip.  "The Bureau dropped the case 
file off at the airport, do you want to pick it up?" 
he asked.

     "No, it's okay," Scully said.  "You read it on 
the way down and fill me in when I get there."

     "Okay," Mulder said.  He leaned down and kissed 
her sweetly on the lips.  "I'll see you in a little 
bit."  He then leaned down and kissed Rhiannon on top 
of the head.

     "Bye bye Dada!" Rhiannon called after him, waving 
her spoon around in the air.

     "See you soon," Scully said, and soon she heard 
the front door close after him.  When Rhiannon was 
finished eating she carried her back into her room 
and dressed her, also trying to keep her from pulling 
off her socks as soon as Scully put them on.  She set 
her on the floor and grabbed an old diaper bag from out 
of the closet and tossed some supplies for Rhiannon in 
there: a few diapers, an extra outfit just in case, 
and some toys if she got a little homesick.

     Scully checked the clock, which read 7:30.  
Perfect timing, Nora should just be opening up 
shop.  She stared down at her pajamas, which she 
realized she wouldn't have time to change out of 
just for this trip one flight down.  Oh well, it 
wouldn't kill her.  Scully shouldered the bag, 
took Rhiannon's hand and they started out for the 
elevator.  The elevator ride went quickly and soon 
Scully and Rhiannon were knocking on the door to 
the daycare center.  Nora pulled the door open.  
"Hi Nora," Scully said.

     "Another sudden job?" Nora asked.

     "Yeah, the phone woke us up this morning," 
Scully sighed.

     "Are you going to be back by tonight?" Nora 
said, reaching for her schedule book which held the 
names of all the kids that were going to be there 
that day.

     "I don't know yet.  I'll give you a call by 
4 p.m. to let you know what's going on."  Scully 
knelt down to look at Rhiannon and kissed her on 
the cheek.  "I'll see you soon, sweetie," she 
said.  Rhiannon kissed her back and said "Bye 
Mama."  Scully handed her off to Nora.  "Thanks 
so much.  I've got to go get dressed now."  Scully 
ran to the elevator, decided not to wait and dashed 
up the stairwell.  Half an hour later she was ready 
and on her way to Florida.


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


     Mulder and Scully walked out of Skinner's office 
holding the newest information he'd given them on the 
grave robbing: that three similar ones had happened 
over the past six months.  Scully sighed as they 
walked into the elevator and Mulder hit the button 
for the basement.  "As soon as this case is over 
we're taking a few vacation days.  We'll shut off 
all communication so they have no chance of reaching 
us," she said.

     Mulder grinned at her.  "It's an interesting 
case, you have to admit.  Grave robbings, magic 
circles in goat's blood, now this Millennium Group 
connection, it's got the makings of a hell of an 
X-File."

     Scully leaned back against the metal wall of 
the elevator.  "I don't care.  I though we'd have 
a vacation now, but the Bureau obviously has a 
different opinion," she grumbled.

     The elevator doors opened onto the basement 
floor and they walked to the office.  "We can take 
some vacation time after the case is over.  I'm 
sure that after disturbing our initial vacation 
we can oh so subtly guilt them into giving us 
vacation time," Mulder said.

     "I hope so," Scully said, reaching for her 
jacket.  "So where exactly are we going?" she asked.

     "Hartwell Psychiatric Hospital.  There's a man 
there who's had some ties to the Millennium Group in 
the past.  Well, actually, he's gone against them," 
Mulder said, sliding his own coat on.  "Hopefully 
he'll be able to answer a few of our questions."


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


     Mulder stared silently out the windshield as 
he drove them back towards D.C.  Frank Black was 
less of a help than he'd have thought he would be.  Mulder
had thought that after all Black had been through with 
the Millennium Group he would have been more eager to 
work against them once more if they were doing something 
wrong.

     One thing he realized, as Scully had mentioned, 
was that he and Black were an awful lot alike.  
Mulder knew he had the potential to end up the same 
way, alone in a mental hospital having lost everything.  
But deep down he knew that he wouldn't go that far.  
He had Scully there to rein him back in, to let him 
know when he'd gone too far and when it looked like 
everything was lost to give him hope again.  She was 
his balance.  Now too, he had Rhiannon, the beautiful 
little girl he never thought he would have.  Those 
were his reasons for not letting himself get that 
far to the point of obsession anymore.  There were 
more things to live for than just proving the 
Consortium wrong.

     Scully saw his clenched jaw and reached out to 
place a hand on his arm.  "You okay?" she asked.

     Mulder let one eye move over to her.  "Yeah.  
A little disappointed, I thought Mr. Black would 
have been more helpful.  But other than that I'm okay."

     "Good," Scully said.  Mulder removed one hand 
from the wheel and took Scully's hand in his, 
intertwining their fingers.  They stayed that way for 
the rest of the drive.

     When they got back to the apartment, Mulder 
decided to pick up Rhiannon at Nora's, getting the 
sudden urge just to give his little girl a hug.  He 
knocked on the door and an extremely tired looking 
Nora opened it.  "Long day?" Mulder asked.

     Nora groaned and slumped against the doorjamb.  
"Don't ask.  Let's just say that a bunch of them 
were being especially rowdy today."

     From behind Nora he heard Rhiannon shout "Dada!"
 and the sound of little feet running in his direction.  
He knelt down and swept her up into a hug as she ran 
towards him.  "Hey, baby," he said, kissing the top 
of her head.

     "Are you going to need her watched again tomorrow 
too?" Nora asked.

     "Yeah, probably," Mulder said, holding Rhiannon 
in his arms.

     "Okay," Nora said.  "I'll see you then."

     "Gotcha," Mulder said, and walked to the elevator.  
All the way up he held Rhiannon tightly in his arms, 
for some reason just wanting to have her close.  Maybe 
this case was affecting him more than he thought.  
Maybe it was the comparing of what could have been 
with what really was.  That for once in his life, he 
was happy, and he didn't want to lose that.

     Mulder walked into the apartment and walked around, 
looking for Scully.  He finally found her laying back 
on the bed, her shoes kicked off somewhere near the foot 
of the bed.  He placed Rhiannon down on the bed, and she 
ran over to Scully and gave her a hug.  Scully wrapped 
her arms around Rhiannon and snuggled her close.

     He laid down next to the two of them, beginning to 
relax after the long day.  He was close to slipping off 
to sleep when he felt something poking him in the arm.  
Mulder looked down to see Scully jabbing him in the arm 
with the Christmas book.  "Read to us," she grinned, even 
though her eyes were closed.  Mulder smirked, knowing he 
wouldn't be able to refuse her.  He sat himself up 
against the headboard and started to read.


          'On the morning of Churching Day, the people
           going down to market and the people coming
           back with their purchases collected in
           little groups in Lee Street, making polite
           conversation about the weather and the
           children and how to use up leftover Christmas
           beef, and all waiting to see if the stories
           about Francis Vere and Annaple Kitson were
           true.  Annaple flounced down to the kitchen
           as soon as she was dressed.  She refused
           to take any responsibility for the livestock;
           James, Prudence, and Christopher had to do 
           all the feeding and cleaning out.  While
           Annaple stayed in the kitchen, crossly
           snipping bacon rind and pretending she wasn't
           a bit interested in possible presents, the
           children toiled around the house and the
           courtyard, feeding the partridges, the doves,
           the hens, and the birds, watering the pear
           trees, and cleaning out the coops....'


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


End of Part Seven-December 30: Churching Day