Summary
A week apart following the events of Millennium gives Mulder and Scully a lot of time to think. They come to the decision that a late Christmas is MUCH better than none at all.
My notes
Their first kiss at the millennium starts something between them, but Mulder doesn’t think so at first. When he sees Scully’s face fall when he murmured that “the world didn’t end”, he assumes the worst. We then jump back to the previous week to when Scully is in San Diego for Christmas, where we witness why those words end up causing a reaction. Scully is preoccupied throughout her vacation, with both Mulder’s recent brain illness, and the looming alien invasion she has been letting invade her thoughts and fears since they learned of it. Scully and Bill have a blowout after she calls Mulder to tell her a story, and she abruptly leaves to return to DC.
One of my absolute favourites – really romantic and well written story. Maggie Scully has great character exploration in this story, and she shares a really special moment with Mulder when he drops by her house to deliver a gift from Melissa to Scully that Maggie recently discovered.
Favorite quote:
“What I’m saying is, what would be so wrong with us being happy sometimes? That’s not what’s going to cause the end of the world. I’m tired, Scully. I’m tired of being consumed by the fear and the focus and I’m tired of seeing you consumed by them, too. Our lives are like endless penance and we didn’t do anything wrong, except maybe what we’ve done to each other in all this. And I think we’ve paid for that in spades. I don’t want more than anyone else has, but I’m tired of always expecting less. I just…”
His voice faltered a little. “I just want to see you smile sometimes, Scully. Like the night we played baseball.”