This is not a part of my "Generations" series and harks back
to the early days of the Xfiles. Originally written for a zine
that didn't work out, it is being posted here for the first time. 
It was completed on October 1, 1995 and edited and revised
on April 25, 1996.  The series and the characters all belong to
others, Chris Carter, Fox, Ten Thirteen and some that I
probably don't know about.  They have produced a wonderful
series and I am not trying to step on any toes.  This is strictly
a work of fun with no profit attached.  

Sunday Dinner  by Macspooky
E:Mail macspooky@erols.com


     Fox Mulder left his dark, lifeless apartment to go for a
walk.  Heck, even the darn fish had died.  He had survived
another l onely holiday week, a week when he hadn't been
invited to his family home or anywhere else for that matter. 
He didn't care, or so he told himself.  He was used to it.  He
had his quest.  He just threw himself into work that much
harder and got by.  Well, the Christmas holidays were over,
thank heavens, for another year!  He and his partner had this
weekend off, however, to his regret.  He didn't need any more
time off right now.  Worse, they weren't really working on
anything important which left him feeling somewhat at a loss. 
He needed an interesting case.  Maybe tomorrow morning
would bring one.  Fox had rented a few movies and watched
them, demolished the latest issues of "Psychology Today" and
"Playboy" and finished the latest in a series of sci-fi books
that he liked.  He was bored to death, and it was only early
sunday afternoon.  Sometimes walking helped.  When he got
back to his small apartment, perhaps something stupid would
be on "Creature Features" and could relax and enjoy some
mindless TV.
     After meandering around for awhile, he found that he
had strayed into the neighborhood in which his partner, Dana
Scully, lived.  He had never been to her place of course. 
Heck, he was resigned to the fact that he had been saddled
with a partner, and was getting used to her biting skeptical
style, but he doubted he would ever really like the idea of
working anything but solo.  He certainly didn't want to
socialize with her.  He was with her too darn much at work. 
At least this time, however, he had told himself frequently,
they had paired him with a spy who was his intellectual equal. 
If they were incompatible, it was due to philosophical
differences, but she was at least fun to argue with at times. 
Then he had a sudden idea.  He remembered that Scully had
taken home the files from their last case in order to complete
the paperwork over the weekend.  Since she undoubtedly had
a life and he didn't, he thought he might stop by and pick them
up.  He could thake them home and finish it himself.  It would
give him something to think about other than some dumb
horror flick and besides, then she would owe him one.  He
picked up the pace and headed in the direction of her
apartment.

     Dana was wondering how she was going to get
through dinner.  She loved her mom and dad dearly.  They
had always been a close family, but they had spent a lot of
time together over the holidays, and she feared that this
Sunday dinner was overkill.  What worked in a large group
didn't always in a one on one situation.  In truth, it had been
her mother's idea.  Maggie was trying desperately to reconcile
Dana with her dad.  Although Dana and her father loved each
other dearly, things had been strained between them for some
time since she had joined the FBI. Matters had been made worse
when Dana had begun to date one of her academy instructors,
Jack Willis, and had become his lover, losing the virginity she
had clung to all through medical school.  Her dad did not
approve of her career choice and he definitely had not
approved of Jack.  William Scully was a religious Catholic
and had been devastated by the lifestyles his two daughters
had chosen.  The situation had been made worse by the fact
that he had proved correct in his assessment of the man that
his daugher had fallen so head over hills in love with, not that
she would ever admit it outloud.  She and Jack had broken up
within a matter of months when she had had a pregnancy
scare, and he had offered her money for an abortion. 
Although there were aspects of his character that she dearly
loved, the fact that he had refused to stand by her and accept
responsibility for what had been a mutual action had hurt her
deeply.  An abortion was out of the question for her.  Her
family would never forgive her, and she would never forgive
herself if she had killed her own child.  In the end, she had
had amiscarriage, or perhaps just a very late period. 
Pregnancy tests were not foolproof, especially when done
early on.  Her problem had been solved, but it hadn't taken
away the pain of having been abandoned by a man she
thought had loved her.  She had been celebate ever since, and
she had never told anyone why she had broken up with Jack. 
Somehow, word had gotten around that it was Jack who had
ended the relationship because she was some sort of an ice
queen.  That hurt, but she had learned to ignor it and had
gotten on with her life throwing herself into her career and
keeping her pain and sense of loss to herself.  Everything had
been going well until she had been sent to spy on Mulder. 
Dana was definitely of two minds about that.  Fox Mulder
was a very attractive man, tall, dark, with the most beautiful
eyes she had ever seen, but in her opinion, he was something
of a self absorbed jerk, a potential Jack to any woman who
might think in terms of a committment and a lifetime of love. 
On the other hand, she was aware of the pain he carried over
the loss of his sister which explained a great deal about him,
and he was, at least, interestig with an intellect that easily
matched her own even if his theories were in "outer space."

     Dana was just about to put dinner on the table when
the doorbell rang.  She was almost relieved at the distraction. 
Although they had been careful not to discuss anything
controversial before dinner, she felt the strain of it.  She didn't
like being ill at ease with her parents.  She wondered who the
heck it could be at the door.  She certainly wasn't expecting
anyone at that time.
     "Probably just a sales person or something," she said
to her mome and dad and went to the door peering out the
chain.  
     "Mulder," she exclaimed opening it, "what the heck
are you doing here?  Come in.  Come in."
     "Hi, Scully, glad to see you too, he grinned stepping
in the door, "I just came to pick up the....oh, y ou have
company.  I'm sorry.  I'll go."
     "No, no," she said quickly.  "It's okay."
     She wasn't certain whether to be annoyed with him or
overjoyed that he had put in an appearance.  Dana quickly
introduced him to her mom and dad as her parter.
     "Oh," she said,"I'd better get the roast before it burns! 
You will stay for dinner wont' you, Mulder? I've got plenty."
     She told herself she was merely being polite and that
hoped he would say no, but when he did, she argued until he
stayed.  Perhaps this was the resuce she had been hoping for,
not that she liked the idea of being saved my Mulder.  She
didn't, not one little bit.  Now if only he would keep his
wackier theories to himself.....She and her mom headed for
the kitchen to get the food where her mother announced with
a wink, much to her daughter's consternation, that Fox
Mulder was about the handsomest man she had ever seen.

     Mulder Didn't like family gatherings much.  He wasn't
used to them.  In some ways, he was kind of shy and he had
never had much family life.  He hadn't really wanted to stay,
but she had insisted, and the roast beef had smelled so good. 
He never got home cooking.  He supposed he could put with
her for an afternoon in exchange for a good meal.  He looked
around Scully's apartment.  It was beautiful, everythiing neat
and clean, the furniture a light golden oak.  A fire blazed in
the fireplace.  A large Christmas tree, elegantly decorated,
still stood.  He never had one.  There was not need, no one to
have a tree for.  The setting in his partner's home wasl almost
picture book.  The idea of a home gave  him a pang which he
quickly repressed.  So, there he stood in his jeans and a beat
up old jacket with his partner's parents.  Stopping by to pick
up those files had not been one of his better ideas.  It might
have been okay if he had liked her more, but this was
uncomfortable.  To make matters worse, Scully's mother, a
beautiful woman, disappeared into the kitchen to help her
daughter, admonishing the two men to take a seat at the
dining room table which was also set to perfection.  He sat
across the table from Captain Scully and didn't know that the
hell to say.  He felt exactly like he had the first and last time
he had asked a girl to a dance in high school.  Mulder had
gone to the girl's house to pick her up.  Her dad had been a
cop.  He had never even gotten up off the couch.  He had sat
there quietly with his feet up on the coffee table, his gun and
blackjack openly displayed, and had said exactly one
sentence, "Have my daughter home by midnight."  Fox had
complied.  He hadn't dated again for a long time.
     "So, you are my daughter's partner," said Bill Scully, a
captain in the U.S. Navy, or maybe retired.  Mulder didn't
know.
     "Yes, Sir," said Fox quietly feeling 16 again.
     "Are you a good shot?
     "Yes, Captain Scully<' he replied swallowing.  Jeez,
did the man have to fold his arms like that?"  
     "Good.  You take care of my daughter."  The man
stared at him as though he were a new recruit or something.
     "She's actually..um...a better shot than me, Sir," he
confessed reluctantly, but there was something about this man
that demanded honesty.
     "That's okay.  I'm not surprised," replied William
Scully sternly.  "You just want her back.  She thinks she's
invincible, that little girl of mine."
     "Yes, Sir.  I will, Sir....I mean I'll do my best, Sir,"
replied Fox not wanting to make promises he might not be
able to keep one day.
     The man smiled at him and then relaxed.
     "I'm sure you will, son," he said quietly meeting the
young agent's eyes.  He liked this young man, liked his shy
rather abashed look and respectful manner.  Dana thought he
was a jerk.  That was good...for now.
     Fox wanted to snap Bill Scully's head off, tell him that
he wasn't his son, that he had his own father.  He opened his
mouth to do so, in spite of feeling intimidated, and he wasn't
intimidated by many, just as the women walked into the room
with a platter of roast beef, his favorite, with mashed potatoes
and green beans and gravey, real gravy.  Scully handed h im a
beer and he forgot his annoyance.  Thye got down to the
discussion of the merits of various football, hockey, baseball
and finally basketball teams.  Captain Scully was  Knicks fan. 
That saved  him in Fox's eyes and increased Captain Scully's
estimation of Mulder.  Dana and her mother Maggie looked
at each other and rolled their eyes.  It was a guy thing they
both supposed.  Dana sighed with relief.  Maybe it had been a
good thing that Mulder had showed up after all.  She and her
mother began to discuss the latest pregancy in the family,
ignoring the men and their sports.

     Mulder didn't stay for coffee, didn't want to where out
his welcome.  He left without the files he had come for
uncertain whether he was sorry to leave or glad to escape. 
The meal had been excellent, nothing to tease Scully about
there, and he had liked Bill Scully a lot after his initial
trepidation.  Still, it was his partners family and he didn't feel
right mixing with them.  There had also been something in the
way Bill Scully had looked at him, as though he knew
something, knew some secret  that Fox ought to have known
and didn't.  It made him somewhat uncomfortable and he
didn't know why.

     "You are awfully quiet, William Scully," said Maggie
as they drove home to their suburban house.
     "I was just thinking about Starbuck," he said quietly,
"I feel better about her job now."
     "Well, I'm glad you asked her about it.  I wish you
would have told her."  Maggie knew he wouldn't, of course. 
It wasn't easy for Bill to back down, or to verbalize the way
he felt.  It had caused them some problems throghout their
long and loving marriage.  Now, of course, they knew each
other so well, it didn't matter, but the children, well,
sometimes even though they were grown, they needed to hear
things in words, words that Bill so often couldn't bring
himself to say.  The couple was silent for a time.
     "He's going to marry her, Maggie," said Bill quietly.
     "Who?" she asked, "Who is going to marry who?"
     "Fox.  He's going to marry Starbuck."
     "Now, William Scully, how can you know that?  Dana
thinks that he is a real jerk who is obsessed with his work. 
She claims he is a nutcase who would be a perfect match for
Melissa."  With that Maggie winced silently for the daughter
who had left them and never returned.
     "Precisely," smiled Bill in the dark ignoring the
reference to his other daughter who he hadn't seen in years.
"He's her opposite.  She loves him.  He loves here.  They just
don't know it yet.  When they figure it out, it's going to be
just like you and I."
     "What?  Purgatory?" asked Maggie with a fond laugh. 
"Hell on earth with a baby every year?"
     "Nope, heaven on earth."  Bill Mulder pinched his
wife's thigh with a chuckle.  "Mags," he said, "I'll die a happy
man knowing that someone is going to love Starbuck over
the years as much as I've loved you.  I can't help it that Dana
was always kind of my favorite."
     "Oh, what's all this nonsense about death?" Maggie
smiled back, but a slight shiver passed through her.  It wasn't
like him to be morbid, and it wasn't like him to speak of love
so openly, but it was nice to be told what she already knew. 
Of course, the part about Dana marrying her partner was
nonsense...well..maybe it was nonsense.  There had been just
a little something in the way he had looked at her daughter....
     That night, Captain Scully died suddenly of a heart
attack in his easy chair watching TV.  Dana awoke and saw
him sitting in her living room.  He was trying to tell her
something.  She thought she must have been dreaming.  Her
phone rang...

The End