Home for the Holidays

Author: Lorilie (lorilie_x@yahoo.com)

Archive: Gossamer and others, yes.

Category: just a little
drabble, Byers POV

Rating: PG?

Timeline: Season 4ish

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not
making any money...etc...

Written for Maybe Amanda's X-OK challenge
(http:home.earthlink.net/~iwonder). I think it contains everything it
was supposed to except for soy. It's also a wee bit too long. Sorry.

*********************

T-minus one hour and counting. Another Lone Gunmen Christmas party is
about to begin. I guess we really shouldn't call it a party since the
guest list only consists of two people. Of those two names - only one
will show up. It's a rather pathetic affair really. A couple bags of
chips, some store-bought cookies and enough tequila to drown a frat
house. Later we'll end up ordering pizza. Pathetic, but we continue
this annual tradition for lack of anything better to do. Misery loves
company.

Langley and Frohike will return any minute with supplies. They will be
arguing about who got stuck with more than their share of the bill.
Then they'll bitch at me because there isn't enough tinsel on the
tree. Tinsel. I hate tinsel. No matter how careful you are it ends up
*everywhere*. Months after Christmas you still find strands of the
stuff in the strangest places. It's insidious. I would skip it
entirely, but I'm always out- voted. I still can't figure how
decorating the tree became solely my job anyway. They don't help, but
they certainly have plenty to say if it doesn't meet with their
approval.

I made the mistake of asking for Mulder's opinion about the tree one
year, to which he replied that, being red/green color blind, it was
all just 'shiny gray crap' to him. I don't bother asking for his
decorating input anymore.

The ritual is the same every year. Langley, flying on his controlled
substance du jour, will go on and on about his last hacking
masterpiece. Frohike will recount all the 'hot babes' he *almost* had.
Mulder will brood until Quervo's ghost possesses and transforms him
into the life of the party. He's a great storyteller once you get him
going. We'll listen to him recount his greatest adventures into the
wee hours of the morning. They're good stories, but we're never quite
sure if any of his big fish tales are actually based in fact.

Around three in the morning, when we're all drunk as skunks, Mulder
will let loose with the case that almost crushed him that year. Last
time it was a story about this woman, Lucy something- or-other; the
year before it was Scully's abduction. I don't remember what it was
the year before that, but it always ends with him getting really upset
and crying until he finally just passes out. We're not the best at
dealing with that sort of thing and it always makes for some awkward
moments over our huevos rancheros the next morning. He will apologize
for his outburst with a shrug and mutterings about not swallowing the
worm next year and all will be forgiven.

I expect my role to be the same as always. I will play host and
mediator. Make sure every one has a full glass, enough food, and step
in when they start fighting for control of the CD player. I will hold
Langley's hair while he gets sick, steer Frohike to his bed at the end
of the night, and make sure Mulder has enough Kleenex and a blanket.
Before turning in I will tidy up and leave the aspirin bottle out in
plain sight for the first person who stumbles into the kitchen in the
morning.

It's certainly not a Norman Rockwell Christmas scene, or even Martha
Stewart, for that matter. It is, however, my family. Every family has
it's own holiday traditions. Sad as it may seem to some - I'm not sure
I'd change ours if I could.


End.