Part Thirteen Disclaimer and archiving info in Prologue XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The Thirteen Days Of Christmas-January 5: Twelfth Night Scully prowled around the home, wringing her hands nervously. It was one day until the wedding and the nervousness was setting in. All the plans had been made, the clothes set, a wonderful dinner made for afterwards courtesy of Penny. The only thing that was missing was the rings. They spent all of the night before and that morning poring over catalogues from jewelry stores but they couldn't seem to find the right ones. Some were too big, some too ostentatious, others just didn't seem to fit them. She walked into the family room where Penny and Ben's younger daughter, Joey, was playing with Rhiannon. Joey had taken a real shine to Rhiannon, and likewise Rhiannon liked Joey. For the rest of the trip Joey had designated herself official baby-sitter, and Scully agreed, because the next few days were going to be hectic. "Hi Dana," Joey said. "Find a nice ring?" she asked. Everyone in the household knew about the search for the ideal rings at this point, it wasn't worth it to keep it under wraps. "Slow," Scully said as she sat down on the couch. Rhiannon ran over to her and tried to climb on to the couch. When she learned she couldn't do it herself she raised her arms in the air. "Up!" she said, asking to be lifted up onto her lap. Scully bent, picked the little girl up and set her down on her lap. "We're still looking," Scully sighed. "It would be a little different if one of us liked one and the other didn't, but we both don't care for the ones we've seen." "Are you looking for a, you know, classic wedding rings or just something nice?" Joey asked. "At this point we can't afford to be picky, but I'd like something where if I forget to take it off when I go out somewhere won't get identified as a wedding ring," Scully said, cradling Rhiannon in her arms. Joey smiled. "This is so cool!" she said excitedly. "What is?" Scully asked. "This whole wedding, secret romance thing. It's like something you would read in a novel, or see on a TV show," Joey smiled. "You do remember that secret is the operative word," Scully reminded her, although with a grin of her own on her face. "I know, I won't tell anyone outside of this house," Joey said. "But what you two have is something people would kill for, myself included, it's so romantic." "It took us a long while to get to this point, Joey," Scully said. "You're only fifteen, you've got plenty of time to find that certain someone." "I know," Joey sighed, "but it's still so sweet," she said with a spaced out look on her face. Vera appeared at the door to the family room. "Dana, could you come here for a minute? I think I might have something," she asked. "Sure," Scully said, and slid Rhiannon back onto the floor. "Now you stay with Joey, okay?" she said to her. Rhiannon nodded. "Oki, Mama," she said. "Good," Scully said and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back." She stood up and followed Vera, who was leading her into the formal living room at the front of the house. When she walked in the room she saw that Mulder was already in there and seated on an over-stuffed couch. Scully went over to sit next to him while Vera went to a shelf covered by a glass panel. "So what's up?" Mulder asked. "I think I might have a solution to the ring problem," Vera said, unlocking the glass panel. "How would you feel about having rings that have been used before?" she asked. Scully and Mulder shared a glance. "That's fine with us," Scully said. Vera turned back to them holding a small wooden box. "Good. Because I think I've got some rings here that you can use." "Gram, you don't have to do that," Mulder said. "Nonsense, Fox," she said as she sat down on a chair next to the couch. "I want to do this. Besides, all they've been doing is sitting in this box, this way they'll get some more use." Vera opened the box, and they saw that inside were two rings. She picked one up and laid it in her palm. It was a simple man's ring, a solid band of platinum. "This was your grandfather's wedding ring." "But I thought you buried him with it," Mulder cut her off. "I did," Vera said. "But that was his good wedding ring. See, your grandfather hated to wear his good ring to work. He was a police officer," she added on a sidebar to inform Scully, "and he knew the ring I gave him on our wedding day wouldn't take damage real well. But he also hated taking his ring off. So I had another ring made for him, one he could wear to work and not worry about." She handed the ring to Mulder. "It's made out of platinum, the strongest metal around." Mulder stared at the ring. His grandfather was someone he admired, a good, honorable man who was a better father to him than his own father ever was. Having this ring would almost be a reminder that no matter what evil they encountered in their work, there was always a good man out there to fight it. "And for Dana," Vera continued, pulling the other ring out of the box, "I have my engagement ring." Scully was about to protest but Vera waved her off. "Like I said, I want to do this so don't worry." She handed the ring to Scully, who examined it. It was a ring made out of the same platinum. It had a square cut amethyst on top and the ring part was crafted of filigreed parts making a fine mesh of support, and turned into a solid band as it curved. "It's gorgeous," Scully said. "Try them on," Vera prodded. They both slid them on, and to their immense surprise they both fit. "Well, what do you think, Scully?" Mulder asked her. Scully smiled at him. "I'd say we just found our rings," she said. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Later that night, when they should have been sleeping, Scully found herself pacing around the bedroom. She was nervous about tomorrow. She supposed that it was normal, but she found herself wishing that her mom was there to answer some questions about what she was feeling. Scully knew that she wasn't getting cold feet, she was set on going through with the wedding. But there was still that nagging nervousness. Would the ceremony go right? Would the priest get there on time? Would someone unwanted crash the wedding? There was also the nagging fear that someone they knew from work would find out, but nothing they were doing was on the official record so that was a bit of a relief. She leaned against the windowframe and stared out into the night. It wasn't as dark as night was in the country, though. There were lights everywhere, streetlights, lights in the homes across the way, cars buzzing by on the street. She was staring so hard she didn't hear the rustling in the bed behind her. "Scully? You okay?" Mulder asked softly so as not to wake Rhiannon who had wanted to sleep in their bed again. Scully turned around. "I'm okay," she said as she walked back to the bed and climbed in. "A little nervous, I guess, but I'm okay." "Getting cold feet?" Mulder joked. "No," Scully smiled, resting her head against Mulder's shoulder. "Just some lingering nervousness that I can't seem to shake. I'm so tempted to just call up my mom and ask her if this is normal, if this is how she felt on the night before her wedding." "I'm sure that'll be a call she'll love to get," Mulder said. "A middle of the night phone call from her daughter to tell her she's getting married the next day to a man that a good portion of the family hates." "Some day we'll tell her," Scully said, looking down at Rhiannon and stroking her hair, who held the Christmas book in her arms. Rhiannon had wanted to read earlier, but had fallen asleep before they got a chance to. Scully's gentle stroking woke her up though, and she grabbed onto the book tighter. "Hi," Rhiannon said sleepily. "Hey, baby," Mulder said quietly, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. Rhiannon held the book out and looked up at Scully with those lost puppy dog eyes. "Okay," Scully smiled, and reached onto the nightstand to turn on a low light, just enough that she could read. She took the book and opened it up to the latest chapter. 'Annaple sniffed, seeing the crowded street, and said, "Perhaps after today Francis will leave me alone." The children looked at one another and sighed. The crowd was turning all one way, as if a wind blew it. Shouts could be clearly heard above the babble. "Here they come! Look, just turning up from the marketplace." "I can hear drums!" Christopher shouted. As the procession came marching up the street, the choir began to sing: "On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me--" The crowd roared the refrains. A boy with a pear tree, the top heavy partridge swaying in its branches. A man with two turtle doves cooing in their cage. ("Christopher, I suppose you had better run down and let them in.") A man holding the last batch of French hens, all squawking angrily. A boy with four robins. Another boy with a box of rings. Six goose girls carrying six geese. Seven black-masked swans sailing up the gutter to tug at the doorbell. ("If this is how a mother bird feels," Prudence said, showering bread to forty-two greedy beaks, "I sympathize.") Forty milkmaids leading forty cows. (Annaple covered her face with her hands.) Thirty-six ladies dancing along. Thirty lords leaping like schoolboys. Twenty-two drummers with scarlet sashes and gilt-tasseled drums...." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX End of Part Thirteen-January 5: Twelfth Night