#jesus mary and joseph
The fourth series reads as follows:
Apple Balancing…Potential…The Newbies…The Dessert…Dinosaurs and Cannibalism…Sassy Sprinklepants…The Secret Vault of Mudlerness…Taco Night…Neckhole Wrestling…The Onesie…Multiplication…Catching On…Thanksgiving…The Funeral…Midnight Libations…Stockings were Hung …Mama Walter
To catch up: First series…Second series … Third series
&&&&&&&&
A heavy snowstorm blocked Veronica’s way into town but she called and told Mulder she would be down when the snow cleared. “I’m sorry you’ll be alone for Christmas.”
He could hear the gentle smile in her voice, “Fox, I’m not alone up here. I have neighbors and friends and my church. I’ll be just fine so don’t worry about me, all right?”
“Merry Christmas, Aunt Veronica.”
“Merry Christmas, Fox.”
Hanging up, he looked at Scully, “I have this weird urge to fight the snowstorm and go get her.”
Handing him his badge and gun, “go to work. Drive safe. We will see her soon.”
“Two days to Christmas.”
&&&&&&&&&&
He very nearly didn’t make it home for Christmas, the case Doggett and Harrison were on required another set of investigative hands, flying out three hours after his conversation with Veronica and landing back home after begging his way onto the only plane left heading to DC, 2:42am Christmas morning landing time making his brain hurt. Doggett waved a goodbye at baggage claim, informing him he was going home for a nap and would be back at Maggie’s, as instructed, at 11am, for post-church festivities. Harrison offered him a hug and yet another apology for turning down Maggie’s Christmas invite, “tell everyone ‘Merry Christmas’ for me.”
“Merry Christmas!”
Mulder, without luggage struggle, shuffled as fast as possible to his car, pants legs soaked from snow and slush by the time he got there. He expected her and Will to be sound asleep when he walked in, locking and double checking behind him but instead, he found her half-laying on the couch, feet on the coffee table, tree lighting her face in the dark of the room. Hearing the snuffling sleep of his son through the baby monitor, he set down his carry-on, whispering, “everything okay?”
Turning her head to see him over the back of the couch, she smiled, “everything’s good.”
Shoes off, he sat down next to her, feet beside hers, hand on her thigh, “were you waiting for me?”
“Maybe.”
With a grin, he snuggled a little closer, “do you remember our first Christmas together?”
“As partners in general or the one where my mother demanded you come to the house for Christmas dinner under penalty of death as well as threats of being cut-off from Thursday night card parties?”
“The second one.”
Turning, dropping a kiss to his shoulder, “that was a good Christmas. Toby threw up on you, you had pudding in your hair from your formal holiday dinner induction, you were wearing black jeans and that dark red and gray sweater which, thinking about it and willing to admit out loud now that we’re an old, married couple, you looked exceptionally handsome in.”
“Handsome?”
“Hot and jumpable, okay, geez.”
By now his fingers were laced with hers, “no wonder you were staring at me all night.”
Who was she to deny him a truth and letting out a slow sigh, “yeah … that was a really nice sweater.”
Chuckling, he squeezed her hand, “come on. I’m exhausted and we need to be at your mom’s in something like four hours. Come to bed so you can dream about me in that sweater.”
“Whatever happened to it?”
“I lit the sleeve on fire leaning over the stove a few months later.”
“Ahh, yes. The ‘Flaming Mudler’ incident.” Standing with a little push from his willing hands, “I miss that sweater.”
“Merry Christmas, Agent Scully.”
“Merry Christmas, Agent Mudler.”
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
He was buried under wrapping paper, drunk on alcohol-less eggnog and the happy feelings created by spending the day with his people.
And coming down from the sugar high of two bags of peanut M&Ms, sharing size.
Betsy and Toby were under there with him, the paper rustling every so often as Frohike piled more on.
Scully was feeding Will and talking to Grandma Gertie and Maggie while others were playing with toys and planning a snowman making expedition to the front lawn. Mulder kept an ear on the snowman troupe, not wanting to miss the chance to throw an accidently errant snowball at his brother-in-law.
Either brother-in-law would do …
“Uncle Mudler?”
Betsy’s voice was quiet in his ear and Mulder whispered back, “what?”
“If me and Toby make our own snowman, will you help us?”
“Of course.”
Frohike piled some more on, and Toby’s missing tooth lisp from his left made him smile, “Uncle Mudler?”
“Yes, Toby?”
“If Uncle Dave throws me in the snow, will you be angry?”
“I will be so angry that I will throw him in the snow next to you.”
“Thanks, Uncle Mudler.”
He loved his life pretty much all the time now, “should we stand up in a second and scare everyone? I think they forgot we were under here.”
Both kids wiggled, immediately excited to be scaring the adults and their giggles gave them away but being five and six, they had no idea everyone could hear them, “yes, yes!”
“Sshhh. We have to be quiet.” He found both their sides and nudged them, counting quietly, “on three. One … two … three … GO!”
All three popped up, arms flailing, paper flying, adults acting appropriately surprised, Will clapping his hands and Skinner, in the role of Uncle Skimmer, yelled, jumping in the air then gracefully falling to his butt on the floor, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!”
Betsy and Toby thought he was the greatest thing ever invented from that day forward and spent the next thirty years, minimum, randomly yelling ‘Jesus, Mary, and Joseph’ and dropping to the ground whenever he was near.
G.G., once the room had quieted and most of the people had clomped to the front lawn and neighboring lawns to make snowmen, turned to those who were left, “thank you.”
Maggie, along with Joanna and Scully, looked curiously at her, Scully speaking up, “for what?”
“For having me for Christmas.” Her round cheeks rose in a smile, squishing her eyes to slits, “my family growing up was quite large, with seven of us plus my parents and now, it’s just my brother Harry and my Walter. This week has taken me back 60 years and I just …” looking at each of them in turn, “I had no idea how much I missed this.”
“You enjoy this insanity?”
Looking at her daughter-in-law, “every minute of it.”
Maggie hugged her arm, “in the words of Fox, ‘you are a keeper’.”
Scully had to constantly remind herself that her mother was a daughter-in-law and she, with her step-grandmother sitting across from her, was a granddaughter once again.
Good lord, her family tree was a joyful mess.
Joanna gave Gertie a smile, “we are very, very glad you decided to come for Christmas and conveniently,” glancing out the front window to make sure they were all still outside, “since Walter isn’t here, I think we need to hear some Walter stories to hold over his head.”
Gertie re-settled in her chair, “did you have any idea that Walter once wanted to be a professional baseball player?”
&&&&&&&&&&&
Dinner was wild, Gertie appropriately spared initiation. Maggie gave her warning, Charlie ignored it, this time claiming ‘lob’ as the word left out of his mother’s speech.
Straight-faced, finger-pointed, eyes squinted, in her younger son’s direction, quick glancing at Byers, who was wiping butter from his forehead and trying not to laugh, “if you have given John some kind of buttery concussion, you will be doing dishes every dinner for the next six months.”
Mulder, taking his life in his hands, ‘lobbed’ his own roll, bouncing it off the top of Charlie’s head, sending it ricocheting sideways, directly into Gertie’s lap.
Maggie turned around slowly, the fire in her eyes now aimed at the line of them behind her, Mulder, Sam, Frohike, Doggett, Hannah, Sarah, and Graham, “who did that?”
Because they were them, in perfect unison, six fingers pointed directly at Mulder.
He whispered “rats” out of the corner of his mouth at his accusers, then shrugged. The jig up, he gave Maggie a crooked grin, the one that got Scully to go into haunted houses and follow him to the ends of the Earth without question, “pretty sure that was a ‘hurl’.
Gertie cracked first, with Maggie close behind, the rest following suit on their coattails. Charlie looked at Mulder, “that was a pretty good shot,” then turned to Byers, “sorry but it had to be done.”
“That beats my initiation of nacho cheese in the ear. I approve.”
Langley leaned over and picked a breadcrumb from Byers’ hair, “it’s totally easier to clean, too.”
Dessert followed, Maggie’s finger re-appearing, with a blanket, “if anything on this table flies anywhere but into your own mouth, you will be banned from holidays until the end of time.”
Skinner tossed a marshmallow in the air and caught it in his mouth, looking Maggie dead in the face as he chewed, “I love you.”
Toby smacked his forehead, exclaiming in his adorably toothless way, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!”
&&&&&&&&&&&&
As usual, it took forever to clear out the house, goodbyes followed by returns to collect a missing glove or a forgotten scarf. Mulder and Scully maneuvered a floppy, sleeping Will into his car seat, then headed out, leaving Sarah and Charlie attempting to get an asleep Toby into his coat, the poor boy mumbling and flapping his arms like a drunken duck.
Home by 11, they were in bed by midnight, Scully exhausted beyond understanding while Mulder was awake behind her, working his lips slowly across the back of her neck, “merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.”
“Are you even awake?”
Her voice sounded remarkably like Toby’s earlier, “maybe … possibly … I don’t know.”
“You are one of my four greatest Christmas presents.”
Her hand automatically rubbed her belly, “you are one of my four.”
