Part Twelve


Disclaimer and archiving info in Prologue


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The Thirteen Days Of Christmas-January 4: Eve's Day


     The next morning Mulder, Scully, Vera, and 
Rhiannon sat around the kitchen table making plans.  
Vera seemed to take charge, because Mulder and Scully 
were still slightly in shock, and just a little too 
excited to get things done.  And Rhiannon was too busy 
playing with some Cheerios to care.  "Okay," Vera said, 
making notes on the yellow legal pad in front of her.  
"First things first.  I'm guessing you wanted a Catholic 
priest, is that correct?" she asked Scully, motioning 
towards the small gold cross on her neck.

     "Yeah," Scully said.

     "Good.  I talked to some people I know down at 
St. Peter's, and I found one who will be able to do 
the ceremony.  Now I just have to call up Father 
Jimmy O'Doyle and give him the rest of the details."

     "Whoa, back up a second," Mulder said, putting 
up a hand.  "Jimmy O'Doyle?  The same Jimmy O'Doyle 
who went to my high school?  Jimmy 'I can score with 
every girl in a ten mile radius' O'Doyle?"

     "You'd be amazed what happens to people after 
they survive a terrible car accident they shouldn't 
have," Vera said, reaching for the portable phone on 
the table.  After a few minutes of talking into the 
phone she clicked it off with a satisfied smile.  
"Perfect.  He'll be here at 7 p.m. on the sixth."

     "Well that's one thing settled," Scully said.  
"I don't think there's much else."

     "You don't have to worry about guests," Vera 
said, "and Penny's cooking up a meal for after.  
You need some sort of celebration after such a happy 
event, a small dinner with us and the Coopers will 
work fine."  Ben and Penny knew about the wedding, 
without their help, Mulder doubted that they would 
have been able to pull off the wedding.

     "So I guess that's it then," Mulder said.

     "There's two other things I can think of," Vera 
said.  "You need rings.  I know you don't have those 
and the ceremony wouldn't be the same without them.  
And you'll need nice clothes too."

     "I've got a suit I could use," Mulder said, 
dreading the idea of spending an afternoon shopping.

     "That's good, but Dana here still needs a dress," 
Vera said calmly.

     Scully shook her head.  "It's okay, I've got a nice 
outfit with me also."

     Vera laughed.  "Dear, this is your wedding, you
 deserve a nice new outfit.  And you're in New York 
City, the fashion capital of the world.  We can go out 
this afternoon and look for something."

     Mulder groaned.  "Leave me out of this."

     Scully smirked at him.  "Don't worry, Mulder.  
Tradition says the groom isn't supposed to see the 
bride's dress until the ceremony."

     "Anything to spare me from a day of shopping," 
Mulder said, leaning back in his chair.

     "So does that sound all right to you?" Vera 
asked Scully.

     Scully shrugged.  "Sounds good."

     Vera smiled.  "Good.  Just let me call for a 
car and driver and we'll be able to go."

     "Oh, no, I can drive us," Scully said.

     "Don't worry about it dear," Vera said.  "Let 
me handle everything.  This is the most fun I've had 
in a long time."  She reached for the phone once more.

     Mulder shot a pointed glance at Scully, laced 
with mischief.  "You see what I had to grow up with?" 
he joked.  Vera shot him a look back that said 'not 
funny'.  Scully tried hard not to laugh, and Rhiannon 
just ate some Cheerios.


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     Some time later Scully found herself walking along 
the paths of Saks 5th Avenue, looking through the 
selection of outfits she saw there.  Vera walked 
along aside her, looking as well.  Scully sighed 
and rested her forearm against a rack.  "There's 
so many things here, but I can't find one that I like."

     Vera stopped walking and faced the younger 
woman.  "It does seem overwhelming, but I'm sure 
there will be one that just screams to you 'this 
is it'."

     Scully nodded.  "I guess so.  I know there's 
some things I don't want.  I hate to break against 
tradition in this situation, but I know I don't 
want a white dress."

     "This whole ceremony is so untraditional already, 
I don't think one more thing will make a difference," 
Vera said.

     "I also don't look good in all white anyway," 
Scully smiled.

     "Hmmm, how about this one?" Vera said, pulling 
a long, dark blue dress off a rack.

     Scully shook her head.  "No, that thing would 
be dragging on the floor."

     "You're probably right," Vera said.  After a 
few more minutes of looking Vera asked a question 
that had been on her mind ever since they arrived.  
"Can I ask you a question, Dana?"

     "Sure," Scully said.

     "Why do you and Fox always call each other by 
your last names?"

     Scully laughed a little, it wasn't an unfamiliar 
question.  "I guess by now it's just out of habit.  
I know Mulder hates his first name, he once even 
told me he made his parents call him Mulder."

     "He did," Vera confirmed.  "It's not like 
they listened though."

     "When we first met," Scully continued, "we 
just started calling each other by our last names 
and it stuck.  Now it just seems strange if we call 
each other anything different."  She stopped walking 
when her eyes caught sight of a dress.  She walked 
over to it to get a better look.  It was in two parts, 
one a long black sleeveless dress, the other a matching 
floor length sweater-like over dress with gold and green 
embroidery around the edges.  The over dress fastened 
around her waist with one small button covered in 
matching black fabric.

     "That's lovely," Vera said.

     "Yeah," Scully agreed.  "I'm going to go try 
it on."  She disappeared into the dressing rooms 
and came out a few minutes later wearing the dress.  
"How does it look?" she hesitantly asked.

     "It looks perfect," Vera said honestly.  The 
dress was perfect, being just the right size and 
making Scully look beautiful.  "Fox will love it," 
she said.

     "I hope so," Scully said with a slight tinge 
of nervousness in her voice.  She got back into 
her everyday clothes and they went to pay for the 
dress.  Vera insisted that Scully let her pay, and 
only after a good fight did she consent.  For shoes 
Scully decided on a pair strappy black ones with a 
good sized heel (4 inches).  With that and some other 
basics settled they headed home.


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     Scully sighed as she walked into their bedroom.  
The shopping had worn her out.  It always seemed to, 
but that was probably because she didn't like shopping 
all that much.  She flopped back onto the bed and toed 
her shoes off.  She felt herself drifting off to 
sleep, when the bed under her suddenly dipped.  
Judging by the two scents of aftershave and baby 
powder it was Mulder and Rhiannon.  

     "Find anything good?" Mulder asked.

     She opened her eyes and saw Mulder leaning over 
her with Rhiannon sitting by her hip.  "Yes, but 
you're not going to see it until the ceremony," 
she said.

     "A guy can dream, can't he?" Mulder grinned.

     "Keep dreaming," she smirked at him.  Scully 
sat up and pulled Rhiannon into her lap.  "And what's 
this one going to wear?" she mused.

     "I know I packed a dress in along with the rest 
of her things," Mulder said.

     "She can wear that then."  Suddenly Scully 
laughed.  "This just seems so strange, I never 
thought I'd be dressing my daughter for my wedding."

     "We've never really done anything normally, why 
start now?" Mulder said, smirking.

     "You've got a point there.  But there's just 
something laughable about it," Scully said.  She 
sighed and flopped back on the bed again, taking 
Rhiannon with her to rest against her shoulder.  
"God, I'm tired," she said.

     "Take a nap.  You've had a longer day then 
we had just lounging around here," Mulder said.

     "But I wanted to read to Rhiannon.  I know 
she likes it when we do and the next few days 
we're going to be so busy so I wanted to read now 
when I got the chance to," Scully said with a slight 
pout on her face.

     "So you sit back and rest and let me read," 
Mulder soothed her.

     "Mmmmm, okay," Scully said softly.

     Mulder looked around for the book, and then 
grabbed it from off of the nighttable.  He moved 
back against the headboard, with Scully's head by 
his hip.  Rhiannon crawled up and settled against 
Mulder's chest, waiting for the story to begin.


          'Eve's Day meant treats for the women of
           the house, figgy pudding for dinner, wreaths
           of green leaves for the girls's heads, and 
           the carol singers round yet again.  "Oh, my
           goodness, here they come," Annaple said, as
           she heard the singing in the street.  "Surely
           they're excessively early?  It isn't half
           past seven yet, and usually they don't come
           until at least ten."

              "They have to come round early," James
           explained, "because Francis's presents take
           up so much of the morning."

              The doorbell rang, and he opened the
           window.  The children in the street began to
           sing.  They had high, clear voices, fresh
           and piercing...."


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End of Part Twelve-January 4: Eve's Day