Title: Firelight 02 - Tricks and Treats Author: Ewa Other fics in this series found here http://fluky.gossamer.org/author/14623-1.html E-mail: ewa@whatewa.com RATING: PG CATEGORY: V R SPOILER: Some time in season 7 KEYWORDS: MSR THANK YOU To Peggy who has turned a mediocre story into something much better. The emails flew across the Atlantic thick and fast. Thanks Peggy, you're great! SUMMARY: All Hallows Eve DISCLAIMER: Any characters you recognize belong to Mr. Carter & Co. They don't deserve them but there you go- when was life ever fair! Others belong to me but I share. I will return them, in almost pristine condition, but only after they've had some fun. C'mon guys, don't they deserve it? ARCHIVES: Let me know where it's gone please! Feedback please, okay, so it's a bit different! ewa@whatewa.co See my stories at www.whatewa.com TRICKS AND TREATS FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC October 31st 2:13 PM She'd planned a fun night, but how to get Mulder there? This past month they'd not had a chance to spend much time together, outside of work. Even weekends had been taken up with assignments, the cases very mediocre, and both requiring too much paperwork. Each time dragging through Saturday and well into Sunday. By the time their plane had landed on both occasions, they'd grab three or four hours sleep, before having to report to Skinner first thing Monday morning. For every day it took to solve a case, there was at least two days worth of paperwork. Scully worried that this weekend might prove to be the same, with them being sent off to some hick town on yet another wild goose chase. She'd taken it as a personal challenge to put some fun into their lives, especially into Mulder's. For this reason she was now agonizing over how to get him to her apartment. The evening was planned, the preparations made, and she'd worked late a couple of nights to make sure that everything was ready. She could ask him outright, but she needed it to be a surprise. Now, how to ...? She had it! All it would take was a cryptic message. A few key words, a phrase here and there. He'd home in on them, wouldn't worry about the rest of the text. By the time he did, he'd already be with her. This was a touch of pure genius. Mulder was out of the office. She'd leave the message on his computer, then head off home to finish the preparations, sure he'd take the bait. Two hours later, Mulder walked in through the door of their deserted basement office. "Looks like Scully's finished for the day. Wish she wouldn't do that to me." He muttered to the empty room. His computer hadn't been shut down. The UFO screensaver was dodging around the screen. He moved the mouse to activate the screen and saw he had mail. "Sightings of strange beings yadda yadda yadda, mysterious phenomena yadda yadda yadda malevolent forces..." He didn't take in much more of the message. Swiftly he shut down his computer. He tried phoning Scully; her cell phone was switched off and the landline engaged. Damn! He'd just have to go over there. SCULLY'S APARTMENT Early evening Scully's apartment was bathed in candle and firelight. There was a smell of baking and a pumpkin stood awaiting sculpture. Mulder realized he'd been set up. "Am I that predictable Scully?" He asked with chagrin. She smiled at him. "All work and no play makes Mulder a dull boy." Mulder looked at her in disbelief. "Take your coat off. We don't have much time. The pumpkin's gotta be fixed before it get too dark. We need the protection. You of all people should know *that*." He still wasn't sure what to make of this. What could he do? He just did as he was told. They set to work on the enormous pumpkin, scooping out the pulp and seeds. "You do the craving Scully, you've got more experience with the scalpel." "No can do Mulder. This is your creation. I did mine earlier, otherwise we wouldn't have any pumpkin pie." " Scully! How did you know that's my favorite? " "I don't know, I must be getting psychic." She grinned. Scully went to turn some of the side lights on so that he could see what he was doing. "No Scully, don't! I like this room in candlelight, it looks special. I'll bring the pumpkin over to the fire, and work on it there." She humored him. Watching him at work was a revelation. Like with everything else he ever did, he was so intense about this. She smiled . He looked like a little boy. A lock of hair had fallen forwards and he was chewing on his bottom lip in concentration. She had to stop her hand from pushing that lock away from his eyes. Wishing she could freeze this moment in time, she went out to the kitchen to check on the cooking and to bring a candle for his creation. Her family had always celebrated Halloween, although strictly speaking, it was a pagan feast. It was her Irish immigrant ancestors that had helped popularize the revels. The Scully family celebrations had embraced many of the Celtic traditions. In the 'old country' they would have scooped out turnips to use as jack o' lanterns, and there were the traditional bonfires, to keep spirits from returning home. They would have to make do with the fire in the fireplace. Now that it was finished and the candle in it; Mulder's pumpkin looked very ghoulish. "That'll frighten anything off Mulder!" He stood at the window looking out into the gloom while Scully went back to the kitchen. Eerie sounds crept through the dusk: a human sort of hooting, then laughter, then a scream and three glittering clusters of light bobbed away from the building next door. "Scully, look!" said Mulder. Scully came to the window. She squinted at the bobbing lights and suddenly exclaimed, "Come on!" He looked at her perplexed. The three lights moved up the road towards this building. Suddenly it dawned on him, "Trick or treat! Hey Scully, you got any candy?" "'Course, Mulder. I've got the best candy in the neighborhood." "*C'mon* Mulder," she said pulling him towards the door, "Come and see." She turned out the light in the kitchen and hastily blew out the candles. The apartment was in darkness save for the flickering flames in the hearth and the ghoulish face of the pumpkin. "Shh," she cautioned Mulder as she opened the door leading to the unlit hallway. "Why are there no lights on in the hallway?" whispered Mulder. "Because it's Halloween" "That explains it all," Mulder said, a note of doubt in his voice. "Just watch Mulder. Here, you hang on to the bowl with the candy, and don't filch any of it," she added as he went to put a bit of candy in his mouth. "Aw, Scully." "Honestly Mulder you're worse than a kid at times; go on have a piece, I wouldn't want to spoil your fun." As they looked towards the stairs in silence, she felt this hand rest on its habitual place in the small of her back. And suddenly they saw them. The figures were shrouded in ghostly white sheets. The eerie light that bobbed up and down casting spooky shadows on the hallway walls and ceiling, came from the hollow pumpkins that they held. Each pumpkin had a glowing carved-out skull face, each more scary than the next. Mulder knew there were children beneath the white sheets, though he couldn't see their faces in the mysterious fluttering light. The three figures moved closed to them and a voice croaked "Trick or treat?" Scully smiled at them. "Hi, guys." One of the figures said "Hi, Miss Scully!" and pulled the sheet away from his head. "Have you any candy for us?" Now that they were close up, Mulder could see that each carried a bulging sack decorated with bats, skulls and other unsavory objects. Another sheet came off another head. Now Mulder could make out two boys, with pale curly hair. "Treats for the ghosts," said Scully. Turning to Mulder beside her, she said "Ghosts meet Mulder, he's a special friend of mine." "Mulder, meet Joe and Alex." "Hi!", the boys grabbed for candy, and when the smallest ghost let the shroud fall back, Mulder saw a serious little girl with pale hair like the others, but without curls or a smile. "Hello Mr. Mulder," said the polite little voice. Scully knelt down before her and pulled her closer. "It's just Mulder to his friends Sweetie." "This is Minna. She and her brothers live downstairs, two doors away from Lily. You remember, the one with Jack. "How could I forget?" grinned Mulder. Minna took a piece of sticky candy and began to munch. "Do you like my costume ," said Minna executing a little twirl. "Hmm, yes. Very scary," said Mulder with a smile. When the children had finished their snacks, Scully filled their bags up with the candy. "Have you finished your haunting for the night?" she asked them. "Yes Miss Scully, we always leave you till last." "Why's that?" "'Cos you've got the best candy," Joe told her. "Go home then boys, and make sure you take care of little Minna here." "Okay and thanks" With that the three of them went back down the hallway, struggling a little now, with the sheets, pumpkins and now the extra bags of candy. Mulder leant against the door jamb and gazed wistfully after them. "You know Scully," he said in a tight voice. "I remember being their age and having to take Sam out trick or treating with me. I felt so embarrassed having to take my baby sister with me, but it was the only way Mom would let me go. I wish..." "Yeah, I know Mulder." Gently she took him by the hand and lead him back inside. "Come and sit by the fire while I sort our meal out." She relit the candles and then left him gazing into the flickering flames of the fire as she went to put the finishing touches to their dinner. The leaping flames crackled vigorously in the hearth, but all the brightness and warmth in the room seemed to drain away when she was no longer there. Without conscious thought, he got up and followed her into the kitchen. "Can I help Scully?" She hadn't cooked anything exotic. It was only colcannon, but for Scully this was her childhood. "It's a traditional Irish potato dish, that's served on Halloween. Usually there's four charms put in it-a gold band for marriage and a sixpence for wealth. Mom would use a dime instead. Then there was a thimble for spinsterhood and a button for bachelorhood." Scully paused to taste the dish, then held the spoon to Mulder's mouth so he could try a bit too. "When we were children, my sister didn't much like colcannon, so Mom would wrap a lot of loose change in greaseproof paper and put that in the dish to make sure we ate it. It was a clever move, we would fight to see who could get the most money." Mulder tried to picture to scene. "It's another of my Grandmother's recipes. In Ireland they use kale, but Mom and I substitute cabbage. Do you like it? We're having boiled ham with it." As she filled their plates, she reminisced some more. " We'd make a volcano shape out of the hot colcannon and put butter in the middle of the crater and watch it melt and flow down the side. There was a rhyme we used to say. How did it go?" Scully pondered for a moment. "Did you ever scoop a hole on top To hold the melting lake, Of the clover-colored butter Which your mother used to make?" It's funny what you remember from your childhood. She glanced over at Mulder wistful face. "Me and my big mouth," she muttered under her breath. "Come on Mulder, let's eat." They ate in a companionable silence. Scully was amused to see Mulder playing with his food, just as she had done as a child. After a while he found himself telling her a little about how his family had celebrated Halloween. His Dad had been away a lot, and although there had been traditional food and usually trick or treating, there wasn't much of the *family* element. Scully told Mulder about one occasion when her siblings had been persuaded to take her along with them. She must have been in second grade then. Bill and Missy had dared her to overturn one of their neighbors trashcans. She, wanting to be 'one of the gang' did just that. When Mrs. Jacobs had complained to their parents the following morning her mother had gone ballistic. Scully had to go and do chores for Mrs. Jacobs for a week. Bill and Missy thought they'd got away with it, and Scully would have never split on them. "I don't know to this day how Mom found out, it must have been 'Mom radar'. Bill and Missy didn't think it was quite so funny when she grounded them for a week." "Your mother is a very wise woman Scully." "Yeah. Actually I enjoyed doing the chores. I would go along to help out for a long time afterwards. Despite the age difference we became good friends." He ate the colcannon and ham and the pumpkin pie that followed, finishing every thing down to the last crumb just as Scully had done. His child like enjoyment of the moment upset Scully. She stood in front of the kitchen sink as she waited for the coffee maker to finish. Having excused herself she'd gone to make their coffee. She found it very difficult to deal with how sad and lonely he must have been as a little boy. How sad and lonely he seemed now. She had hurt him with her memories, albeit unintentionally. She'd been so lucky. She'd had a wonderful childhood; her Mom was always there for her. She wanted so much to make things better for Mulder, to let him experience some of the things she'd taken for granted but she was afraid. It was irrational, but that didn't make it any better. They both seemed to have a block about expressing their feelings in words. She worried that she might be overstepping the boundaries, yet she didn't know where they lay. She worried he might take her efforts the wrong way and that she might hurt him. She came back into the room carrying the mugs of coffee. Mulder seemed to sense her unease. "Do you want me to go Scully?" "Mulder...Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean...please ... please, I don't want you to go." She looked at him "Let me try to explain..." "It's okay Scully." Looking into his puppy dog eyes, she knew that it really was okay, that he really *did* understand. And like a bolt of lightening she knew that he felt the same as her. He smiled gently at her and patted the couch beside him. "If I'm gonna stay, can we watch another rerun?" The uneasy moment had passed. Scully smiled back at him with love in her eyes. He had a knack of banishing her fears with just a look or a smile. "The things I do for you," she teased. Mulder surfed the channels until he got to the one he wanted, Scully sat down near him on the couch. Half sitting and half reclining, she reached behind her for one of the large cushions and tugged it quietly into position where she could lean back against it. They sat for awhile in silence, each in their own individual space, watching the film. She stretched out her hand to him and he laced his fingers with hers. They seemed so comfortable together. This felt so good, so right. Being Halloween, it was of course a spooky film that Mulder had chosen. The wind moaned outside. A sudden fierce gust shuddered the broad windows. He continued to watch the screen with single-minded intensity. This was what made him so successful at solving cases; this ability to fix his attention on the task in hand. Scully glanced around cozy the room and then broke the silence between them. "You want some popcorn Mulder?" "Nah, I'm too full, but don't let me stop you." He grinned at her. It didn't stop him from dipping into the bowl of Halloween candy every now and then. She didn't move from where she sat. Outside the windows the world was black. He could see their reflections in the glass, the two of them all gilded and rosy in their own little cocoon of firelight. Scully knew that the gloom that had wrapped itself around her in the kitchen had nothing to do with the season or the darkness outside. It had everything to do with an emptiness inside herself- an emptiness that had seized her without warning and that was now just as suddenly dispelled by his calm presence. No, she did not want him to go, she didn't wanted him to ever leave her but that in itself scared her. She was afraid to rely on him, afraid of not being in control. She needed him so desperately and was afraid that one day he might not be able to be there. Mutely Mulder held out his arm to her. In one dreamlike movement she slid up the couch and into his embrace. She leaned her head against his shoulder, her body relaxing against him. This felt so good, so right. This is where she wanted to be, needed to be. She would enjoy today and let tomorrow take care of itself. Mulder's attention appeared to be fully focused on the screen again, as he absentmindedly stroked her hair. She snuggled against him, like a lazy cat and felt her mind drift. As she watched the flickering of the candle in the pumpkin face, she was glad that she'd persuaded Mulder to come over today. He didn't really need a lot of persuading. Maybe he was enjoying these evenings as much as she was. This was one thing she could give him, one way she could repay him for all the wonder he put into her world, the only way she could show him how much he meant to her. They stayed there a long time, she wasn't paying attention to the film, simply enjoying being held in his embrace. Her hand went up to cover and stroke the arm that held her so securely to him and she felt his lips on her hair. It was to thoughts of Thanksgiving that her eyes finally glazed over and fluttered shut. She was unaware of the indulgent smile Mulder gave her a little while later, as he tenderly wiped the tiny bit of drool from the corner of her mouth. "You're always doing this to me Scully," he told her softly as he snuggled her even closer to himself and covered them over with the afghan. Her only reply was a soft snore. End Did you like it? Do you want another story? Can I have some feedback? Please! ewa@whatewa.com