Scent Of A Scully

^{The Scully Crest- The Irish name Scully is derived from the native Gaelic O'Scolaidhe Sept that is taken froma word that translates as 'student'. The Sept was initially located in County Westmeath but migrated to County Tipperary. The O'Scollain Sept of County Derry also sometimes adopted Scully as the anglicized form of their name.} 

Author: PhileyX 
E-Mail: phileyxback@yahoo.com 
Web-site: https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx 
Rating: PG 
Category: UST 
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: The characters are borrowed solely for kicks and most assuredly not a single cent is made with the production of this piece imagination. 
Summary: Mulder meets the most formidable Scully women of all.

XXXXXXXXXX
Scent of a Scully 


Scully yawned noisily and stretched herself. "I'm clocking out, Mulder." 

He looked up from his file and frowned at her. "Tell me you're going home to get some sleep first."

She grimaced slightly, recognizing an argument beginning. "With the long drive ahead of me, I will already be missing Christmas Eve dinner with my family. The least I can do is be within the same walls by Christmas morn."

He raised an eyebrow. "You haven't had a wink of sleep in 52 hours."

"I stole a couple of seconds in between your narrative to the counsel just now." He gave her a look and she sighed. "Okay fine, I'll take a cab."

"Take a five hour cab drive on Christmas Eve? I hate to give you a reality check partner, but we just don't make that kind of money."

"So what do you suggest I do?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I could drive you up."

She was surprised at the suggestion and wondered why he made it. They had always spent the festive holidays apart. Although she missed him terribly, it was a much-needed time away from him. "Is that my cue to extend an invitation to my family gathering?"

Her partner gave her a look of horror. "Thanks Scully, but I'll pass. Actually I was thinking of checking out my father's summer cabin that's another hour's drive away. Thinking of selling that junk heap."

"I thought you wanted to keep it?" She questioned, surprised at herself for actually being disappointed.

"Well, I changed my mind." He lied smoothly and hoped she would leave it as that. The truth was that after 52 hours mind-boggling paranoia, he needed a little dash of sanity. And who better than his touchstone? A five-hour drive would be dosage enough for the long week ahead without her. 

"Mulder, you haven't much sleep either." She reminded him.

"So we'll take turns to drive and keep each other awake. It's easy, I'll tell you one of my beliefs and we argue about it all the way to the next state. Don't worry." He tapped his forehead with the pen in his head. "There's enough in here to last us two lifetimes."

"I bet." She rolled her eyes. "Okay fine. But are you sure you wouldn't want to stay the rest of the night? You could always leave in the morning."

"Thanks but no thanks. I can only handle one Scully glare at a time." He shuddered. "A couple of them might finally turn you into a believer of spontaneous human combustion with me as the sacrificial lab rat. I would gladly die for the cause but the problem is I wouldn't be alive to say 'I told you so' to your face. And all I live for is for that pleasure." 

She glared at him and he clutched his tie in mock horror. "That's the glare I was talking about. Arghh…" His voice died when he ducked, avoiding a paperclip thrown in his direction.

XXXXXXXXXX

Mulder called out to his partner after realizing that she had dozed off while he was in mid-sentence. "Hey Scully, you're supposed to keep me company." 

She jumped slightly and grumbled. "You're an insomniac, Mulder. You don't need me to keep you awake."

"But I'm bored." He whined.

She shifted to face the window, clearing indicating that she didn't give a damn if he was.

"Scully?" He tried again but to no avail. Sighing, he fumbled with the radio buttons of her car instead. Suddenly, a blast of country music resounded loudly through the powerful car speakers.

"Mulder!" She protested. 

"Sorry." He mumbled apologetically and lowered the volume.

Scully closed her eyes again but the cheery tune kept waking her. After five minutes, she gave up. Her eyes remained closed as she started thinking about her recent case that had kept them busy the past three days.

Mulder glanced over at her and smiled. "You still can't explain it, can you?"

"Shut up, Mulder. I'm asleep."

He grinned. "Give it up, Scully. Your report is going to raise Skinner's eyebrows whether you like it or not. No scientific jargon to get you out of this one."

"There's always a scientific explanation for everything."

"Not this time." He almost rolled his eyes. "Just like there was no explanation how Christ walked out from his tomb nearly two thousand years ago."

"I thought you didn't believe in Christ?"

He shrugged. "He may have existed. What I don't believe is that millions of people worship till this day."

She didn't even bother to react to the blasphemy. "You believe in aliens. I believe in God. Let's just leave it as that, shall we?"

"After all you've seen…"

She interrupted him with the same taunt. "Exactly the point, Mulder. After all you've seen, don't you even allow the benefit of the doubt that there is a higher being pulling all our strings?"

"Oh, I believe in higher beings all right but just not the kind you believe in." He paused before he continued. "I guess there just weren't many miracles in this boy's childhood for him to believe that there is a God."

She held her tongue, unsure how to react. Mulder was always uncomfortable talking about his feelings. In fact, she was surprised that he had let it gone this far without breaking the melancholyness with his usual sloppy brand of humour.

"Did you know I always wanted to be a professional water boy?"

"Spoke too soon." She muttered under breath. 

"Seriously, Scully. I was five. Did you know that they get to keep all the jerseys left behind in the showers?"

Despite herself, she had to smile. "Yeah Mulder, I'm sure it's an honour collecting sweat-soaked baseball shirts for a living."

"Hey, people pay top dollar to get their hands on them. Cups itself went for a thousand bucks a piece."

Scully grimaced at the thought and finally opened her eyes to glare at him. 

He grinned. "What?"

"I wouldn't mind so much if your information were less gross." She looked out the window and caught the mileage from an up-coming sign. "Oh good, only fifty miles of this to go."

He ignored her. "Baseball players have really weird hang ups. Some wear the same underwear for the whole season, others have peculiar sexual rituals and yet others abstain from sex completely. I know a friend of a friend of a friend, who is a baseball pro, he drinks 3 cups of egg yoke mixed with a Bloody Mary before a game."

His narrative received no response as she stared out the window absently. He debated with himself whether or not to continue. He knew he was pushing it but he was bored out of his mind and exasperating Scully was always so fun.

To his surprise, she unexpectedly asked him. "Why is it that you always wish that you were somewhere else?" 

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I mean, here I am with you and I'm wishing I'm already with my family." Her words hurt. He didn't show it but he couldn't think of anything to say to it either. She seemed to be unaware that he was uncharacteristically quiet and went on. "It's strange. And when I'm with them and they're driving me nuts, I wish ….. I'm with you."

Suddenly it didn't hurt anymore. "But I'm still **way** better than your brother, right?"

"Barely."

"Aw come on Scully, admit it." He whined.

She couldn't help but smile. "Mulder honestly, sometimes you're such a kid."

He grinned. "You know wanna know what your mom told me once?"

"What?"

"That she liked me better than Bill."

She looked at him incredulously. "She did not."

"Did to." He insisted vehemently and waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. "What can I say? The Scully women just have a natural weakness for me."

She smirked and waggled hers back. "Maybe you're right, Mulder. Let's test that theory out, shall we?" He looked at her in surprise, a hundred thoughts running through his head on how Scully and he could **test** it as she had put it. His bubble burst when she continued. "My Nana has flown all the way from Florida to join us this Christmas. "If she makes a move on you, I'll admit you're right."

He glared at her and she laughed.

XXXXXXXXXX

By the time they reached Bill's house, it was three in the morning. Scully dug out the spare keys that her brother entrusted to her and unlocked the door. As she stepped through the living room, Maggie Scully appeared at the top steps. "Dana?"

"Yeah mom, it's me." She whispered in reply. "Sorry I'm this late. Go back to sleep."

Her mother smiled. "It's all right, honey. Your room's already made up. It's the same one you used last year. Don't make too much noise. Nana and the kids are fast asleep in the next room."

"Okay. See you in the morning."

"G'nite."

She switched on the lights and looked out the open door. 'What was taking Mulder so long?' She wondered.

As if he heard her, his head suddenly popped from the doorway. "Do I put these under the tree?" Mulder asked loudly, nodding at the box of presents in his arms.

"Shhh, everyone's asleep!" She shushed him and whispered. "No, put them in my room. I need to wrap them first."

He gave her a disbelieving look. "You're hardly awake, Scully. You're going to stay up and wrap all these?"

"I don't really have a choice, Mulder." She motioned towards the stairs. "First room on the right." He shook his head but obeyed her. She closed the front door and followed his lead.

The door of the first room on the right was open. Mulder stepped in cautiously and managed to make out the bed in the darkness. Depositing the box on it, he turned only to squint at the sudden brightness of the room. His partner had switched the lights on.

"Scully, where's the bathroom?"

"Straight down the corridor."

He nodded and disappeared in a hurry.

She smiled and thought it had to be of the 2 cups of Cokes that he had guzzled at their last pit stop. Then looking at the box on the bed, she almost groaned. "Well, might as well get this over and done with." She told herself softly and reached for the Christmassy roll of paper.

When Mulder returned to the room, he found her partner yawning uncontrollably while wrapping a box of chocolates on the bed. He smiled at the sight and wondered if he should help. A look at the number of items in the box told him that she sure could use it. At least then, she would be able to catch some sleep before the big day tomorrow. Decided, he propped himself on the bed and took control of the sticky tape.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "It's all right, Mulder. I'll manage. Do you want a cup of coffee before you go?"

"No, I want to help before you fall over."

"I'll be fine."

He shrugged. "It's no big deal. Just let me, okay?" She was too tired to argue and did. Between the two of them, they finally completed wrapping all of the presents in an hour. 

Looking at her partner, she knew that he was in no shape to drive another hour to his father's cabin. "Maybe you should sleep for a while before you head out, Mulder?"

He looked at her, a little dazed and realized that maybe she was right. Then again, the prospect of meeting a scowling Bill in the morning was not something he would like to go through. "I'll be fine, Scully." He turned at looked longingly at her pillow. "Well, maybe just for a few minutes…" Then he plopped noisily onto it and closed his eyes.

Scully frowned. "Not here. I meant downstairs. On the couch."

He mumbled. "Aw Scully. Just a few minutes, please…"

She sighed and watched him, her eyes threatening to close as well. Gathering whatever left of her energy, she replaced all the wrapped gifts into the box and shifted it to the floor. Then imitating her partner, she lay beside him. 

'Ten minutes.' She told herself. 'Then, I'll kick him out.' 

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Mulder!" 

He jumped. "What?" The room suddenly was filled with sunlight causing him to squint. After a few seconds, he began to make out his partner glaring at him beside the withdrawn window. "Sorry, I overslept."

She sighed and glanced at her watch. "Well, it's still early so you still can sneak out of here."

He frowned. "Gee Scully, it's not such a big deal. You did ask to stay over last night, you know."

"On the couch Mulder, not in my room. This wouldn't look too good in front of my nephews and niece, thank you very much." She then mumbled under her breath. "Not to mention, Nana…"

He got out of her comfy bed and stretched himself. "Relax. They're too young to jump to those conclusions. Bill, on the other hand…."

"Mulder." She interrupted him. "Just go."

"All right, all right." He rolled his eyes and made his way to the door. 

She was about to follow when she remembered. "The presents…" And she turned back to get them.

Mulder opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He was just about to turn for the staircase when he heard a noise behind him. He twirled around quickly and was surprised to see a wide-eyed, pajama clad girl, staring at him. He smiled at her. "Hi!"

She gaped at first and then let out a shrill scream. Stunned, he hastily backed into the room, bumping into his partner and causing her to drop the box she was carrying.

"Mulder!" She protested for two reasons. "What did you do?"

He held his hands in the air. "Nothing, honest!"

She poked her head out but the child was nowhere to be seen. "You must have scared Laura. At least, it sounded like her."

"Why did she have to scream like that? I don't look that bad in the morning… or do I?"

She held her first impulse of an answer and shook her head instead. "Come on, let's get you out of here before she wakes the whole house up." This time she grabbed his arm and led him out. 

They were only on the second step of the staircase when they both froze. At the bottom of the flight of stairs stood four Scully women, two boys, one dog and little Laura with her index finger pointing straight at Mulder.

As if on cue, the dog began barking furiously and occasionally baring his teeth at him. It was a silly sight considering the little terrier height was only up to his ankles. 

"Hush Knox!" Maggie scolded the terrier that immediately complied to her wishes. Then turning to the couple, she said in relief. "Goodness Fox, you scared us. When Laura told me there was a 'bad man' in the house, I thought it was a burglar." 

Dana grimaced. "It's all right everyone, it's just my partner."

"Is that what they call 'em these days?" Grandma Scully asked loudly with a condescending look at her grandchild.

Tara and Julia giggled while Dana blushed. "Nana, it's not what you think."

"Aunt Dana?" Laura's voice squealed, claming attention. "Is he a bad man?"

Before she could answer, her ten-year-old nephew gallantly replied for her. "Of course not, carrot head. He's Aunt Dana's boyfriend. He's just sleeping with her, that's all."

"Tommy!" Julia objected loudly and firmly grabbed her son's ear. "I don't want you to say things like that to your sister, do you understand?"

"But it's true, isn't it?" His mother glared at her son and then threw a thanks-a-whole-bunch-look at her sister-in-law. 

Little Matthew stepped out to reason with her aunt. "Maybe he's afraid of thunder. I sleep with mommy when I'm afraid of the thunder."

Dana cringed and poked Mulder in the rib. "One of these days Mulder, I swear I'll…."

He hissed in frustration. "I helped you with the presents, didn't I?"

"All right everybody, that's enough. Breakfast is ready so go on into dining room." As everyone downstairs reluctantly obeyed her, she eyed the couple walking down the stairs.

"Sorry about that, Mrs. Scully."

"It's all right, Fox. Now, I hope you like pancakes."

"Actually Mom, Mulder was just about to leave."

"Relax, Dana." She gave her look. "Bill and Charlie are at the Base. They had to report for an emergency of some kind."

Although relieved, she still insisted. "He still can't stay, right Mulder?"

"Uh yeah." He dutifully replied.

To her dismay, her mother shook her head firmly. "Oh no you don't, you are staying for breakfast, Fox."

"I am?"

"Yes, you are." Her eyes twinkled. "No one sleeps with my daughter and then sneaks out of the house like some fifteen year old teenager."

"Mom!" Dana eyes widened in horror.

Maggie laughed. "I was kidding. But he is staying. I will not have the children thinking that the both of you have anything to hide. And running off will only set their imaginations on fire."

So with that, they followed her into the dining room. As they sat, Dana noticed that both her sister-in-laws were looking at her speculatively. She frowned at them but it only made them grin wider. She tried ignoring them and looked at her Nana instead. She seemed to be preoccupied with watching Mulder.

"Scully?" Her partner whispered to her. 

"What?" She answered, trying hard not to notice the snickers shared between the two women opposite her.

"Your Grandma is staring at me." He tersely told her.

"Well, you just slept with her granddaughter in the bedroom next to hers. You would too if you were her." 

He gave her a look and growled softly. "If I really did, she wouldn't be able to sleep with all the noise."

"Don't flatter yourself, Mulder..."

Before she could continue, Maggie poked her head between them and hissed angrily. "Another word out of you two on this subject and you'll be standing in separate corners, counting backwards. And I don't care how old you are."

They fell silent and quietly helped themselves to the pancakes. The silence didn't last too long however when Grandma Scully began her interrogation. "Are you Catholic?"

Mulder almost laughed. "I don't even beli… Yeouch!" He yelped when he received a swift kick in the shin. He glared at the culprit beside him who glared back. He read her mind and sighed resignedly. "No ma'am."

"Jewish?"

He hesitantly answered the elderly lady. "Yes, ma'am."

Nana smirked loudly and shook her head in disgust. Mulder lowered his voice enough so that Dana could hear him. "Is she a Nazi?"

By now, she had recovered enough to smile. "Close. Watch your back, she owns a elephant gun." His eyes widened and he studied the 98-year-old woman cautiously.

"Back in my days, we had to ask permission even to look at a man. These days…. tsk tsk tsk…" Nana turned her crooked finger towards her daughter-in-law. "This child is your responsibility, you know."

Maggie groaned and rolled her eyes at her daughter. "Why are all your decisions my fault?"

Tara chuckled. "Just like whenever Matthew decides to misbehave, it's always Bill's fault."

Nana snapped. "Now don't you all try to change the subject. Dana would be much better off if you had encouraged her to mix around with girls a little more when she was younger. Instead you let her…"

"….wonder around wildly like the tomboy she turned out to be." Maggie, Tara and Julia chimed together in continuance. 

"Nana, you say that every time we meet. I'm beginning to get offended." Dana whined and wished desperately that Mulder didn't offer to drive her at all. She would gladly risk her life driving on her own, anything but this embarrassment. Her partner was clearly enjoying her misery, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Well it's the truth, that's what it is. And your father was no better. Dragging you fishing, sailing and God knows what!"

Maggie smiled indulgently. "Ahab and I had an agreement, mom. I take Missy in hand while he took care of Dana."

"Huh!" Nana snorted in repulsion. "He would have done better taking his two ninny sons in hand and left the girls to you."

"Dana didn't really give him a choice. She kept following Bill around like a dog. And when Bill grew up and didn't want her tagging along, she was just stuck with her boyish ways so Ahab brought her along on his trips."

Dana scowled. "I **did not** follow Bill around like a dog."

Maggie sighed. "Yes you did, honey. You adored him at one time."

"God I must have been stupid at that time."

"Hey, that's my husband you're talking about." Tara jokingly retorted.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you gotta admit. Bill's a jerk."

"Mom, what's a jerk?" Laura asked.

"A funny man, sweetheart."

Tara smiled. "Yeah but he's **my** funny man. So lay off, okay?"

"Don't worry Tara, I've got the slightly younger version so I feel for you." Julia told her.

Maggie shook her head and wondered if her sons knew exactly what their wives thought of them.

Nana frowned and tapped her finger on the table loudly. "What happened to the Stevens boy last Christmas. Why didn't you like him?"

Dana groaned while her sisters-in-law tried to contain their laughter. "Nana, that was four Christmases ago. And that Stevens boy had hardly a boy. He was in his late forties!"

"So? You could have been married four Christmases ago. Instead of bringing this boy to the house and …"

"Mom, please!" Maggie interrupted before her mother-in-law said anything to begin another tirade of questions from her grandchildren.

'Boy?' Mulder felt insulted. He certainly was old enough to be considered anything but a mere boy.

Dana sighed. "He was just helping me wrap the presents for the kids, Nana."

Mulder helpfully added. "One thing just led to another and we fell asleep. I guess we were spent. It was a long night." Tara and Julia burst out laughing as Dana's horrified face turned into a glare. "What?" He asked, confused.

"Mulder, don't help." She growled.

"Are you using protection?"

"Nana!" Four of the younger women chorused together as Mulder looked back helplessly.

"What? I think I deserve to know if my grandchild is in safe hands."

Tommy pulled at his mother's sleeve. "Mom, is Mr. Fox a cop or something? What protection is Grandma talking about? A helmet?"

"All right, that does it!" Maggie briskly got out of her seat. "Honestly mom, I should think you would know better than to bring this up in front of the children." 

"It's not my child that brought a man into the house without anyone's knowledge and stashed him up in her room." She snapped back.

Dana groaned and was about to say a line in her defense when she stopped herself. 'What would be the use?' She thought.

Her mother told the eldest grandchild. "Tommy, bring Matthew and Laura into the living room. And yes, you can begin opening your presents." The children squealed away happily.

"Now that the toddlers are not around, may I receive an answer to my question?"

Mulder turned to look at his partner who was trying to look everywhere else but at him. 'God, take me now.' She prayed.

"Yeah Fox, do share the contraceptive of your choice." Tara laughingly added and immediately received a glare from her sister-in-law. 

Once again, Maggie came to the rescue. "Mother, that is hardly something that you should be asking about. Don't you think it's a tad bit personal? Besides, even if they did tell you, you wouldn't know what they're talking about. These new fangled birth control devices are totally alien to us, not to mention they're a big no no in our religion."

"Speak for yourself. I know all about them. Condoms, the pill, Sponge, Diaphragm…" The room fell silent, all too speechless to say a word. Grandma soon rolled her eyes. "I'm not still living in the ancient times as you all think. They gave a session on these things in our Senior Citizens Club. We even had props." She declared proudly.

Julia frowned. "How about demonstrations?"

"Well, there's a video."

Mulder muttered. "That's one club I should aim for." 

"So?" Nana persisted. 

He sighed and lied. "The condom. She's not comfortable with anything else."

Shocked, Dana glowered at him in fiercely. "Mulder!"

"What? She's never going to give up on that question." He lowered her voice and explained. "She's a Scully! And in my experience, they are as stubborn as they come."

"I give up!" Dana declared and refused to be fazed by anything else that was about to be questioned or answered. Mulder and her grandma could dream and concoct their relationship anyway they like, for all she cared. They were both incorrigible. 

Maggie smiled and patted her daughter's hand comfortingly. "Just be glad your brother isn't around for this conversation, honey."

XXXXXXXXXX

It was a quarter past nine and Dana looked nervously past her partner and out to the road. The worst thing that could possibly happen right now was for her brothers to turn up before he left. 'But God wouldn't be that cruel to me or would he?' She wondered.

Mulder was still under the power of her grandmother, having a private exchange of their own. She was obviously still drilling him with questions to which he gladly answered and rather smugly too. Considering she would have to live up to the stories in his absence, she only hoped that he had limited his colourful imagination for her sake. But the fact that Nana had only thrown her looks of contempt twice all throughout the two-hour grilling was comforting. God knows if Mulder had been more explicit in his fabrications, Nana wouldn't hesitate to give her a piece of her mind, grandchild or no grandchild. 

Mulder leaned to kiss the wrinkly old woman in front of him. She was a Scully all right. And the thought of his Scully turning into a dear old thing like her was heart-warming. Okay, a little scary at first but still heart-warming. 

"Promise me something, young man."

"Anything." He gallantly replied.

"Promise me you'll marry her and make an honest woman out of her." He blinked and she warned him firmly. "And you better mean it because I'm an old woman. It won't be long before I go and you can bet your last dime I won't forget to haunt you."

He grinned at the thought and wondered what would his partner think if one day he claimed that he was being haunted by her very own grandmother. She glared at him seriously and he quickly wiped the smirk off his face. 

"Well?" She asked impatiently.

Mulder was torn. How could he make a promise like this? Turned briefly to look at his partner, he caught her gaze. She looked at him curiously as if asking him 'what was Nana asking now?' He smiled at her and turned back to face the elder woman. "Only if she'll have me, Nana."

"Oh, she'll have you. That girl has never looked at any other man like she looks at you. I've always wondered why she's so gloomy-eyed during the holidays, now I know. It's because she's not at work, that daft girl!" She clucked her tongue in disgust. "Well if you ask me, it serves her right! Falling for a Jewish boy, indeed! What she needs is a good Catholic boy! Then again, no one listens to a old lady like me."

"Merry Christmas, Nana." Mulder wished her for the last time. Then he walked towards Maggie and gave her a little hug. "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Scully."

"Merry Christmas, Fox."

Nodding to Dana's sister-in-laws. "Tara, Julia."

"Goodbye. It's nice meeting you." Julia wished him sincerely.

"Yeah, I'll tell Bill you send your fondest regards." Tara added impishly.

He grinned at her and turned to his very own Scully. "Scully."

"Yeeees?" Maggie, Tara and Julia laughingly answered in unison while Dana rolled her eyes at their weak joke.

Mulder blushed and corrected himself. "I meant Dana."

Pretending not to care that there was a very nosy group of bystanders among them, Dana gave her partner a quick hug and wished him Merry Christmas. "It's rather late. You'd better go."

"Okay. I'll see you next week." She nodded and watched him set off.

He got into his car and started the engine. Before moving, he wound down his windshield and waved to the Scully women. 

Nana called out loudly. "Remember your promise to me, young man!"

"Yes ma'am." And with that, he drove off.

As this car went out of sight, Dana took to her grandmother side and asked curiously. "What did he promise you, Nana?"

"Never you mind, young lady." She snapped and then looked at her gravely. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a Catholic boy?"

And Dana groaned.

XXXXXXXXXX
Scent of a Scully 

By PhileyX 
E-Mail: phileyxback@yahoo.com 
Web-site: https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx