Part Eleven


Disclaimer and archiving info in Prologue


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The Thirteen Days Of Christmas-January 3: Adam's Day


     Mulder walked through the halls of the old house, 
re-learning the once familiar territory.  There were 
both good and bad memories contained there, of parties 
and baseball games.  The bad memories were pushed back 
into the recesses of his mind, but sometimes one would 
pop back up, like the time his grandfather called the 
police on his father because he'd tried to take Mulder 
out of the house against the social worker's and court's 
request.  But the good memories overshadowed the 
bad ones.

     Rhiannon decided to go with Mulder on his walk 
and followed him around from room to room.  It was a 
wonderful exploration for her, seeing new things she 
would have never seen at home.  Mulder had to keep 
pulling her back though, sometimes she'd explore 
through some glass trinkets or anything else potentially 
dangerous that could break and hurt her.  Or, she was 
just going someplace she shouldn't.

     He walked through the room he'd inhabited when 
he was a boy.  Most of the decor had changed, any 
posters and wall decorations that didn't go to with 
him to Oxford were taken down and probably tossed 
somewhere in the attic.  The bed was still the same 
though, right down to the old plaid comforter that 
came in handy when the heater used to die suddenly 
in the middle of winter.  'Scully in my childhood 
bed,' he thought with an evil grin on his face.  
'Now that's a nice idea.'  He shook himself out of 
his thoughts when he noticed Rhiannon trying to climb 
up the bookshelves.

     Mulder pulled her away from the shelves and he 
decided it was time to head back to the rest of 
civilization.  In one of the downstairs hallways he 
nearly crashed into Penny's husband, Ben Cooper.  Ben 
was Penny's total opposite, tall, fair-haired and 
pale, very quiet, almost stereotyping the college 
professor he was.  "You don't have classes today?" 
Mulder asked.

     "Nope, not until the seventeenth," Ben said and 
continued on with his business.  Vera let Ben and Penny 
and their kids use her house often.  Even though they 
had their own good-sized apartment on the top floor, 
Vera said the house was too big for her alone and 
always invited them or someone else in.  After searching 
around for a little while he finally found Vera and 
Scully in a smaller sitting room, one that Vera liked 
to call her picture room.

     At first glance the room could be kind of creepy 
with the hundreds of  pictures on the walls staring 
back at you.  After a while though it became comforting 
almost.  Generations upon generations were on the 
walls, some dating as far back as when the first cameras 
were invented.  Scully and Vera were sitting on a couch 
paging through a photo album.  Mulder stopped short in 
the doorway, worrying what exactly was in the album and 
if Scully was exacting the promise he'd made a few days 
back.  Rhiannon unexpectedly announced their arrival by 
accidentally crashing into his legs and giggling.  The 
two women looked up and Scully grinned, a slight hint 
of mischief coming through in the smile.  Mulder really 
began to worry about what was in the album.  "Whatcha 
up to?" he asked.

     "Oh, just looking through some pictures," Scully 
said innocently as her mischievous grin got even wider.

     "Uh oh," Mulder said, walking over to them.  
Seeing as there was no room left on the small couch 
he sat down on the floor by their feet.  He craned 
his neck back to check the contents of the album and 
cringed.  Scully caught the look on his face and patted 
his head.

     "You were such a cute baby," she said, trying hard 
not to laugh.  Mulder groaned and covered his face with 
his hands.  Rhiannon walked over and patted his head 
just like Scully did, which got a laugh from the adults.

     "Come here, devotchka," Vera said, enlisting 
Scully to help lift Rhiannon up onto the couch between 
them. 

     "Devotchka, what's that?" Scully asked.

     "It's Russian, it means 'little girl'," Vera said.  
"I use the words sometimes just to make sure I remember 
them.  I tried to teach this one here once when he was 
a teenager," she said, nudging Mulder with her foot, 
"but needless to say it wasn't a successful attempt."

     "I'm no good with languages," Mulder said.  "I have 
trouble with Spanish, how do you expect me to do well 
with something that has a totally different alphabet?  
Scully's better at these things than I am."

     Vera looked over at Scully.  "I took some German 
in College and picked up on it pretty well," she said.  
Scully sat back, sinking into the couch cushions.  She 
looked around the room.  "Are these all pictures of 
family?" she asked.

     "Yes," Vera said.  "Going back years and years.  
It's a lot easier than keeping a family tree, although 
I know something's written down somewhere."  She pointed 
to an older, black and white picture set over the 
fireplace, slightly larger than normal.  "That one's 
my favorite, it's of me and my husband long before we 
were married."  Vera was sitting on the edge of a desk, 
dressed in the typical attire of the Roaring Twenties, 
bobbed hair and a knee length dress.  Opposite her, 
sitting in a chair was a young man dressed in a three 
piece suit, although the jacket was draped over the 
back of the chair.  Both their faces were turned to 
the camera with slightly shocked looks on them, as 
if someone had surprised them by taking the picture.

     "Your grandfather looks an awful lot like you, 
Mulder," Scully said.

     "That they do," Vera said.  "It always surprised 
some people how much of a resemblance they bore to 
each other."  She stroked Rhiannon's hair gently.  
"And soon there'll be a picture of you up there too."

     Mulder looked up at Scully, knowing that this 
wouldn't be a good thing.  "Um, Gram," Mulder said, 
"we'd appreciate it if you kept any pictures of her 
away from public viewing at the moment."

     Vera nodded.  "Yes, you did say she was a secret.  
But what about the two of you?  Does anyone know about 
the two of you?"

     "Very few people do, no one connected with our 
work does, and you're the only one in either of our 
families that do," Mulder said.  "We can't even get 
married because someone would find the records of it."

     "Not even just the ceremony?" Vera asked.

     "Huh?" Mulder said.

     "You mean like just having a priest or minister 
perform the marriage ceremony rather than getting an 
official license?" Scully clarified.

     "That's exactly what I mean," Vera said.  Looking 
between the two of them she saw that she'd opened a 
can of worms judging by the looks on their faces.  
"Well, I've got to go make a few phone calls about 
an art show I'm sponsoring.  I'll be back shortly."  
With that Vera stood up and walked out of the room.

     "A ceremony," Scully whispered, almost to herself.

     Mulder turned around on the floor to look up at 
her.  To him, religion didn't mean much, they both 
knew that.  But to Scully, ever since her cancer 
religion had taken on more of a significance.  And 
so the decision to do a marriage ceremony would lay 
in her hands.  And whatever she decided, he would go 
along with.  "It's up to you," he said quietly.

     "I know," Scully nodded, knowing the same things 
Mulder did.  Suddenly she took a deep breath and stood 
up.  She had to think, but the walls seemed to be 
closing in on her there.  "I'll be right back, I'm 
just going to go for a short walk."  She walked out 
of the room and, just stopping to grab her jacket, she 
walked out of the house into the cold winter's day.

     'A marriage ceremony,' she thought.  To tell the 
truth it was something that had bothered her since 
before Rhiannon was born.  Technically in the Church's 
eyes Rhiannon was illegitimate because she wasn't 
married when they had her.  Scully didn't want her 
child to be illegitimate, even though she knew that both 
her and Mulder treasured her more than anything out 
there.

     To Mulder, she knew, that this wasn't bothering 
him as much.  At first, when Rhiannon was just born, 
she thought that the reason he didn't want to get 
married (along with the obvious reasons of getting 
found out) was because of a fear of commitment, like 
some other men she'd dated.  But she soon saw that 
wasn't the reason, Mulder was as committed to Rhiannon 
and her more than anyone could have imagined.  She 
then figured out that to Mulder, marriage was more 
of a religious thing, even with the civil part of 
it which required the certificate, and religion and 
Mulder just didn't mix.

     After walking for a little while she found 
herself in an abandoned lot which had been transformed 
into a public garden.  Scully wandered in there and sat 
down on a bench in there.  Mulder had told her the 
decision was up to her, and he was right.  They were 
both in this for the long run, they knew that deep down 
when they first admitted their feelings for each other.  
'But,' she thought, 'this makes it feel official to me.  
It gives it a sense of validation, like it's real and 
right in the eyes of the world, even though a minuscule 
portion of the world would know about it for now.'

     Scully got up off the bench, feeling as if a weight 
had been lifted from her.  They would go through with 
this.  They'd find a priest who would perform the 
ceremony and then be married.  Now she just had to 
tell Mulder.  She turned back the way she came, trying 
to get back to the house as fast as possible.

     She walked up the stoop into the house and dashed 
up the stairs, hoping that Mulder would be in their 
bedroom.  When she got in there though no one was 
there.  Scully sighed and dropped her jacket on the 
bed.  Her eyes caught sight of the Christmas book 
lying on the nighttable, and she went over to it and 
picked it up.  It was a book with a happy ending.  
Now she would have a happy ending of her own.

     Carrying the book with her Scully walked back 
downstairs and began looking through the rooms.  
She found Mulder in the family room with Rhiannon 
sitting on his lap.  They were both watching a re-run 
of a baseball game on ESPN.  For some reason Rhiannon 
was always engrossed by baseball.  She was certainly 
her father's daughter.  Mulder caught sight of her 
standing in the doorway.  "Hi," he said.

     "Hi," Scully smiled at him.  "Y'know, I was just 
thinking," she said as she walked over to the couch, 
"This book has a really happy ending."

     "Really?" Mulder said.

     "Mm-hmm," Scully nodded.  "They get married at 
the end of it."

     "Aww, now you spoiled it for me," Mulder mock 
pouted at her as she sat down next to him on the couch.

     "Like you couldn't see it coming anyway," she 
grinned at him.  "It does have some relevance to 
what we were talking about before though.  I think 
I'd like to have the ceremony done."

     "Are you sure about it?" Mulder asked.

     She grinned at him.  "Are you getting cold feet 
on me, Mulder?"

     "Not a chance.  You know I'm going to be with 
you for as long as I'm alive.  And even after that, 
knowing my luck," he smirked.

     "Good," she said.  "Because to me, this makes 
it feel official."  With that she leaned over and 
kissed him for a good long time, although mindful 
of Rhiannon who was still on Mulder's lap.

     When they pulled apart Mulder smiled at her.  
"It's been official to me for a long time," he 
whispered.

     Scully rested her head against Mulder's shoulder 
and opened up the book.  She looked over at Rhiannon 
who was still watching baseball and knew she'd probably 
end up reading it to her again later.  Other than that, 
Scully began to read.


          'On the morning of Adam's Day, Prudence had
           her bath in milk.

              "What's it like?" Christopher asked her.

              "Odd.  You feel like a sugar lump-waiting
           to dissolve.  You keep watching your edges
           to see if they're going soft."

              Annaple came briskly up the stairs.  
           "Christopher, I've heated up another potful
           of milk, and your tub's ready in the kitchen.
           James should be out by now.  Mind you wash
           properly, and give your knees a good scrub.
           And the back of your neck, too."

              "On Adam's Day," Christopher said bitterly,
           "I thought it was treats all round for the men
           of the house.  So my treat's no bath.  And
           could we please have something not eggs for
           breakfast?"

              "You can go without breakfast if you like,"
           Annaple swept out.

              "I do wish she'd get married," Christopher
           said.  "It's a pity she isn't enjoying all 
           this, like Francis...."


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     Later that day Mulder and Scully were still in 
the living room, now watching some movie.  Over the 
past couple of hours they'd talked, making semi-plans 
about the upcoming marriage ceremony.  Scully could 
tell Mulder was warming up to the idea more and more.  
It wasn't that he was against it before, but he was 
just getting used to it more now.

     Vera walked into the family room, having finished 
the dealings with the art gallery.  She also knew it 
was okay to enter because she felt that they were back 
on safe ground once more.  "So how is everything?" 
she asked.

     "Um, Vera?" Scully said, with a slight hint of 
nervousness in her voice.

     "Yes, dear?"

     "Would it be possible for you to help us find 
a priest by January 6th?" she asked.

     Vera grinned, realizing just what Scully was 
saying.  "Just leave it up to me, dear," she said.


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End of Part Eleven-January 3: Adam's Day