From: wisty Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 12:30:52 -0000 Subject: NEW FIC: Snow Crisis Source: atxc Snow Crisis Snow Crisis By PoorMulder Type: MT,MSR Rating : PG Spoilers : none Usual disclaimer. Not ours but we play with them nicely and give them back. Mulder turned his feverish eyes towards Scully, and for the third time in two hours steadfastly repeated the same thing he'd been trying to convince her of. "Scully, we're wasting our time here. I'm sure it's just a pesky winter bug or indigestion or something. Nothing that a little rest and a few Tylenol won't cure. I am ..ugh...ow ! " He rose very carefully, still speaking and at once dropped back heavily onto the chair, his face a study of pain, breathing hard through his clenched teeth." I think it's...just a pulled muscle." He wondered who he was trying to convince more as he cradled his lower stomach, his face crumpling with his suffering. "And it's well-known that you especially have a talent for pulling a muscle like this, spontaneously, without any effort at all", answered Scully, smiling but growing concerned by the obvious distress of her partner. "But you are also feverish Mulder, and you have acute lower quadrant pain, I am practically certain that you have appendicitis. You are presenting with all the classic symptoms. It is necessary for you to be examined by a surgeon." "We could at least waited till we returned to Washington. They know me there; they give me my regular bed. One nurse even sneaks me in twinkies and seeds if a bat my eyelids at her. A real home from home at least, over there," whined Mulder, with his usual reticent humor, although his face was now hidden between steepled hands, elbows digging into his bouncing knees. Scully couldn't do anything but smile. She adored him even more when he took on this sulky pouting tone, when he knew he wouldn't get her to budge when she was in full doctor mode, and regretted simply that she couldn't see his face right now. She imagined his cute pouting bottom lip, the beaten puppy eyes to go with the hunched shoulders, and her hand went instinctively to the nape of his neck. She felt him shiver with the contact of her comforting touch. An unspoken gesture that shouted she cared and would be here all the way with him through this. "I'm sure we won't have to wait too much longer. And I heard that the doctors of Cook county ER were the best in Chicago. Just trying to loosen you up and relax you a little. For what its worth Mulder, the airport has been closed due to snow for two hours. Noho on getting any kind of flight. If you need surgery, we are in the best place here, not in mid flight. Come here.." While murmuring comforting words to him, she pulled him against her and eased him down to rest his head in her lap. He didn't resist and was content to let her make him comfortable. He pulled his long legs up as slowly as he could with the painful tremors, and propped them on the row of vacant seats beside him, before he snuggled into Scully's knees. He was weak and felt his eyelids closing despite his efforts not too let them. He felt Scully's roving fingers in his hair, cherishing and softly stroking his scalp. Despite his pain, he almost purred as he leaned into her touch. "You know that you can do that as long and often as you want to, Scully, even when I'm not sick ..." Scully smiled again at hearing his sleepy voice. She stepped up her comforting caress, letting her fingers slip deeper into his thick, soft hair, while exerting a light pressure massage all over his scalp and neck. She laid her other hand gently on his shoulder and felt that even through his shirt, she could feel the abnormal tepidity of his skin. "I'll remember that, Mulder," she answered softly continuing to play with the brown strands. "Try to sleep a little. I'll wake you when its your turn to be seen. Busy night from the looks of things. Hopefully it wont be too long.." She soon felt his body slacken against her and heard light snoring a few moments later, which brought another smile to her lips. Even she felt incredibly tired, sighing, thinking about Mulder, her family and yet another year that bad luck had visited their Christmas plans, and she pulled her partner closer. Her caffeine depletion was reaching critical levels and she couldn't exactly move right now. But a sleepy Mulder was a cooperative one, and at least he was getting some respite from his discomfort. She prayed they would be seen soon. In the meantime, she didn't want to wake him. He looked like a big overgrown child. She continued to stroke his temples and smiled, trying not to watch the tediously slow ticking of the clock in the ER waiting area. It had been a very difficult previous three days for the both of them. They had been summoned to Chicago for an investigation into satanic murders but had the added annoyance of being pressurized by the local authorities for a quick result. The press had interfered in every way possible, their unwanted and potentially dangerous intervention, making the agents jobs even more difficult and complex to bring the case to a close. To make matters worse, Mulder had started to feel very unwell the day before. Now the city was covered with thick snow just to add to everything, and they couldn't get a flight out. As with the usual Mulder mule like stubbornness, he had waited until he was in so much pain he could barely stand upright, before being forced to share his symptoms with his exasperated partner. Finally by 8 p.m., no longer able to stand seeing him grimacing and groaning with pain, she'd ended up convincing him to present himself to the nearest ER, where unfortunately for them, on the advent of a busy Christmas eve they were not deemed one of the more serious cases, the triage teams were all swamped with victims of a horrendous traffic pile up just south of the hospital. It was going to be a long night. Hopefully her partner would get seen before his potentially hot appendix burst. For once, thank god, Mulder wasn't on the point of death. She forced back a shiver from memories of all the moments that she'd spent in vigil at his bedside. His body was hot under her touch, and she felt a renewed pang of anxiety that he should been seen by a doctor urgently and given some pain relief. He was twitching restlessly in his sleep so she switched to rubbing his back in slow circles. She observed the busy comings and goings of the ER staff, doctors and first-aid workers, while pressing herself against the sleepy dead weight of Mulder's body, enjoying the familiar contact and hope that he would soon be well, anxiety invading her thoughts more and more as time went by. She was startled when her partner's name was finally called. She looked up sleepily to find a young nurse holding a clipboard in front of her. Her tinsel angel earrings swinging as she checked her down her list. The nurse, whose name was Cathy, smiled, but looked tired. " Sorry for the wait. How is he doing?" "He's in a lot of pain actually, and running a fever. Pretty much exhausted from the case we were here to crack." Scully awoke him gently. "Mulder? "She shook him carefully and helped him back to a sitting position, noting with concern the paleness of his face, and the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. " Hey partner, it's finally your turn. Come here sleepyhead. How you feeling?" She helped him get to his feet, her right arm slung around his back for supporting him, as straitening up seemed to be beyond his current pain level and they both followed the nurse who showed them towards an examination cubicle. "Mr. Mulder, I will ask you to please undress and slip on our latest word in fashion." Mulder groaned as he took the offered gown from her hand. "It's a bit skimpy but should fit you, so you get that on so now that the doctor on call can examine you. I'll return in a few minutes to take your vital signs." She left the room quickly, before that pulling the curtain around the bed to give him his privacy while stripping, sensing his embarrassment, Scully averted her gaze, smiling coyly while Mulder struggled to get into the dreaded clothing, naturally too short for his lanky frame. One arm protectively tucked around his belly, and another holding his bare ass inside the inadequate covering of the gown, Mulder gingerly climbed into the bed and tried to get comfortable, the acute pain now worse and making it difficult. His eyes closed tightly almost at once. Scully came over to his side and pulled a blanket over his legs up to his waist. He looked pretty miserable, hot and exhausted from hours of discomfort. "Mulder it is necessary that you remain awake while the doctor looks you over. I know that you feel awful and that you're very tired, but they will ask you questions... " "Scully... you will be able to answer them just as well, ...if not better than me..." Suddenly Mulder almost doubled over under a wave of the most violent pain to have struck him since this crisis had started. His face twisted with suffering, he lay down curled up on his side, his innards contracting like white hot knives were plunging into them again and again. "Shit... it's hurting.. !" "I know, I know.... Try to think of something pleasant. What would you wish for Christmas this year?" "....A white Christmas and glass of wine to be shared with you, ..Buttered popcorn, and the dust bunny which inhabit the attic of my mother..." "You're delirious, Mulder. The dust bunny ?" She ruffled his hair affectionately. Noting with alarm how much he was sweating from constantly bracing himself against the pain. "Yes, it is the first toy which my parents gave to me. I was two years old... " Sympathizing, she took hold of his hand in her own and lovingly stroked his fingers. She knew exactly what poor Mulder was going through. She'd had appendicitis at the age of twenty and she remembered with clarity the knife like agony she had suffered for almost two days, while waiting for a proper diagnosis and the surgeons decided to operate on her hot appendix. She shuddered at the memory, squeezing her partner's hand in empathy even more as a sharp pain exploded through him again. His was gasping at times and his heart was racing. She didn't think now there would be any doubt as to what the prognosis was. She hoped that the surgery would go quickly and smoothly, and that Mulder would soon get some relief from this terrible pain and be well on the mend in time for New year. What a lousy way to spend Christmas. He started to groan gently and she murmured all the comforting words and reassurance she could think of, making soothing circles on his bare back through the opening in his gown. The nurse returned a few moments later and began the ER ritual of effectively filling in her patient's notes: then taking temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and scale of pain... Mulder eyes widened when they took in the huge a needle and a syringe she was producing from her instruments tray. "Not... Not that... I hate needles...ow... You are really sadistic , you hospital... nurses." "A simple blood test, Mr. Mulder. We need that to establish a diagnosis. Will Mrs. Mulder hold your hand, perhaps that will take your mind off it?" "Vampire!" The nurse flashed a grin toward Scully while raising her eyebrows and by shaking her head in an amused way. "These men, are all the same." Scully folded her fingers over Mulder's hand and murmured comfort in his ear., he was shivering with pain again and his eyes were tightly closed. Scully liked his nurse. She was obviously impressed to be dealing with two "FBI Agents", she'd taken very particular care to gently draw his blood sample in order to get it off to the lab and get the results back swiftly. Mulder had been too long racked by this pain and Scully couldn't wait until this life threatening, hot appendix was history. "We will have the results in approximately thirty minutes" the nurse informed her a few moments later when she returned. "I also need a sample of urine. Mr. Mulder, I'll leave you the bottle. The toilets are to your right beside the cubical." Mulder sighed when she left the examination room. He shuddered deeply, curling up into a fetal position, as much as the pain in his mid section would allow, which wasn't a lot and his bloodshot eyes had taken on a glassy look. "How can she expect me to go out in the corridor like this... I'm practically butt naked..." Scully helped him slowly to a sitting position, grabbed his long greatcoat with one hand and draped it delicately around his shoulders with her other. "You feel better with this covering your pride?" She helped him gingerly manoeuvre his legs over the bed and onto the floor, her arms supporting him. Mulder answered her with a weak smile. "Yes, much. Don't want all and sundry staring at my pan dulches. They can get their Christmas treats elsewhere. Lets go get this over with." "Sure you're okay? You could just use the bottle." "No, I'm all cramped up. I need to move around a little." A few moments later and one horrendous bathroom visit later, they were back in the room, where Mulder could barely wait to get back to the comfort of his bed. He lay there shivering as Scully pulled the blankets up to his waist again. She cursed herself for allowing him to make the trip to the bathroom, at the same time cursing her partner for his stubbornness. Too uncomfortable to remain flat, he pulled his legs up to his chest, keening as a wave of violent pain shot through him, he was getting very little respite from his ordeal now, the pain barely leaving him at all. Instead one long stream of discomfort that blended together, making him feel like he was tearing in two. Scully bent over, placing a light kiss on his cheek, and pushed back the wet strands of his hair from off his face. Ten minutes passed before a doctor appeared in Mulder's cubicle. He was about Mulder's age, almost bald with glasses and had a big friendly joy-of-Christmas smile and looked altogether too cheerful for Mulder's current appreciation levels. "Good evening, Agents, I'm Doctor Mark Greene, head of the ER department. How are you feeling tonight Mr. Mulder?" Mulder reluctantly peeled open his eyelids. His eyes were red, puffy and not helped by the penlight the doctor was now blinding him with. Scully stifled a laugh as he took in the grimace Mulder greeted the man with. It almost shouted 'go away'. "Terrible. It came on suddenly yesterday evening." Scully rolled her eyes as she watched the doctor taking Mulder's pulse. It had at least been another day before her partner had fessed up about feeling ill. If he hadn't have looked so pitiful at that point, Scully doubted she would have let him live until Christmas. She had almost wanted to kill him. Greene then flicked back his blanket and pulled up Mulder's gown to examine his patient. Quickly and gently he palpated his lower extremities, but it was when pressing down hard on the right quadrant that Mulder started to groan enough to strip wallpaper. Scully's heart tightened in empathy at seeing his face contorted in such pain. "Well, I think it's pretty obvious you have the appendix equivalent of Mount Vesuvius in there. Time to take that loose that sucker I think. It also confirms it in your examination and blood work results that I got back a short while ago. Needed a physical exam to make sure. Sorry about that." Mulder grunted, still gasping for breath and reaching for Scully's hand. "They show high infection, your white cell count is elevated to 30 000. You have other symptoms?" "Yes... I have a killer headache, want to vomit a lot and I can't straighten up with the pain." "You present all the signs of acute appendicitis, I am going to admit you, but it's generally customary to ask for a second surgical opinion. My colleague will be with you shortly." Greene was on the point of leaving when Mulder called out to him. "Wait...You're not going to give me any pain relief?" "Sorry, but that would be likely to mask the symptoms. That could be dangerous. You will have to be patient still a little bit longer." The door had barely closed before Scully heard Mulder's loud groaning punctuated with one word ... "Asshole". She suppressed the urgh to giggle at that and concentrated on her partner, who was now making a superhuman effort not to show his pain. His face was contorted by agony lines, and his pallor had taken on grayish sheen. He was writhing about all over the place and she was becoming alarmed at his evident distress. With his back turned away from her it took a moment to realize he was silently weeping. Scully left his side for a moment to fetch a wet cloth, and then delicately wiped his face made clammy by the fever and tears. His breath escaped his lips in gasping shudders as the pain increased. Tears continued to spill down his nose and over his cheeks. Suddenly, he grasped hold of her hand, so intensely he almost broke it. "Scully... please, do something... I cannot stand this.... any more.." He tried desperately to find comfortable positions without success, just folding in on himself more with the each bolt of pain as he moved, his body protested by sending waves of fresh agony through him. "Oh...fucking...hell." Scully leaned over him stroking his sweat soaked hair and murmured gently in his ears. "Okay Mulder. I've had enough of this too. I'll have to leave you for a few moments. I will see whether I can get them to speed things up. I will try to find the surgeon, ok? Will you okay alone till I come back?" She felt him release her hand and he sniffed a bit. "Yeah." Her heart clenched at the truly pitiful sight he made. "I'll be back in a few minutes and I swear that I will employ force if needed. If that fails I'll.... I'll hijack an OR and whip it out myself. Just hold on for me partner, try to sleep a little." She pressed a tender kiss to his cheek, which managed to make him smile and left the room. She knew the hospital was busy with RTA victims, but Mulder needed something to happen and soon. For both their sanities. ************* Mulder awoke with such a strong pain in his lower abdomen; he couldn't hold back the cry of pure white-hot agony, which escaped, from his throat. He was soaked with sweat and just had time to catch the small basin Scully was thoughtful enough to place by his hand, before vomiting in, and over the side of it. The effort of heaving only exacerbated his suffering. He finally finished before breathlessly collapsing onto the wet bed. He was finding it hard to catch his breath now. And a little frightened that he felt this bad. It was obvious to him he must have dozed off, but it seemed like an eternity since Scully had gone to kick ass with the doctors. Where was she? The noises of the hospital came through to him like his head was wrapped in cotton, so much so his ears were buzzing. His eyes burned and when he touched his face, he felt the heat that emanated from him even before they touched skin. Anxious that Scully hadn't returned, he tried to rise, but the fever made him as weak as newborn and the pain consumed him entirely, threatening to make him lose consciousness. After several attempts, teeth clenched tightly to stop him shouting out, he pulled himself upright. A wave of nausea shook him, and he had to grab the basin again to empty what little still remained in his stomach. With trembling legs and short of breath, he folded into two, his arms hugging his stomach to try to alleviate the stabs of agony that radiated all through his gut, he staggered unhappily towards the door. Mulder grabbed the handle with both hands, steadying himself as tried not to fall as he entered the corridor, but the spectacle, which greeted his eyes as he looked around, made him instantly forget his own suffering. Two armed men were holding the entire ER personnel and any patients who had been gathered at the bottom of the corridor hostage. He immediately distinguished Scully from the rest of the group and she also saw him, her face paralyzed by anguish. Her eyes begged him silently not try anything, along with the discreet shake of her head. He silently slunk back to his room, the best he could manage without falling on his face, heart pounding and holding his breath, closing the door behind him with infinite stealth. The thugs had not seen him. He hoped that would last long enough to exploit the element of surprise and to try to take them down without anyone getting hurt, but the fever and the pain made him vulnerable. He frantically sought a means of alerting outside help or security, but the room didn't have a telephone. His jacket! With jerky pain filled, shuffling, he located his clothing and dove into his pockets for his mobile: feeling despair wash over him in a heartbeat as he realized the batteries were dead. Crap. He made his decision. Cursing his current medical state and racked with pain, he managed to struggle into his pants and tee shirt. He checked his Sig and tucked it in his pocket, comforted by the heavy feel of metal and the power it represented to this life or death situation unfolding outside. He could hear shouting now. Scully! Adrenalin pulsed through him, only slightly taking the edge off his pain. His FBI training kicked up a notch and he took a deep breath, taking the few unsteady steps which separated him from the door. He could hardly go on, the pain threatening to topple him at any moment, sweat pouring off him, but he forced himself to concentrate on his task. He had to watch his partner's back, and the people outside needed his help. It took precedence over everything, even his frighteningly imminent appendix rupture. Scully's heart both soured and despaired when she saw him reappearing in the corridor, his gun aloft and sweaty face taut with agony. Her face didn't show it, but her eyes conveyed silently how broken up she was by the torment he must be enduring to come to her aid, she just knew that he was going to try omething. It was so like him. She felt a tear at the corner of her eye, threatening to escape. She mentally shook herself. The next few seconds were crucial and could all go to hell in a heartbeat. The thugs were too busy pistol-whipping the desk clerk, while the other was demanding large qualities of drugs and yelling to have noticed Mulder. Things looked like getting ugly. A woman patient screamed suddenly and Scully used that as a diversion. She slid her hand carefully into the back of her jeans, feeling the cold metal reassurance of her own revolver. Without a word, his eyes gestured in the direction of the attacker whom he was going to put out of commission, while Scully signaled that she was focused on the other hooligan. There was only a slight wavering of Mulder's hand as he raised his gun to a firing stance. Then everything happened at once. "Freeze FBI!" Mulder's pain drench yell resounded around the corridor; the hooligans startled and turned towards him, they scowled in anger, drawing their guns and pulling the trigger in his direction almost instantaneously on hearing the word 'FBI'. A shot rang out in tandem with Scully's two shots, hers hitting both attackers in non-vital areas and knocking them to the ground. They were howling in pain and trying to grab back their dropped guns, but were disarmed at once by the doctors and other staff who had thrown themselves on top of them. Scully rushed to Mulder's side and just caught him before his knees buckled from under him. She gasped with fear at growing bloodstain on his tee shirt welling out of a wound in his upper left chest and shoulder. "Scully..." "Shhhuush partner. You're hit. But it will be okay. Somebody, I need help here!" She yelled for assistance as she applied pressure to the wound with her fist. She pulled them both down together the rest of the way to the floor immediately. Shocked, she delicately cradled his head across her thighs, whispering reassurance with a strangled voice that told Mulder his partner was close to loosing it, her fingers lovingly worrying his sweat soaked hair. "Oh God, You'd go to any length to get seen by a surgeon faster, isn't that so, Mulder?" He peered down at the crimson pathways of blood running from his chest through her tiny fingers, and then back up at her sleepily. Even with eyes glazed from pain and shock, a small smile took shape on his lips. "We make a fine team, don't we? What's...your Christmas wish...Scully?" The last thing he was aware of, was watching Scully's face crumple and blur alongside the sound of urgent approaching footsteps and voices. They were surrounded at once by a Medical team and Scully gave Mulder over to them to work on, who by now had mercifully sunk into unconsciousness. Scully followed them and her partner's gurney into the elevator, without relinquishing his hand for a second. She quickly alerted the doctors who freinzied tended and gave him oxygen, the original reason Mulder was here and his diagnosis for an emergency appendectomy. They raced him to the surgical floor, Shouting instructions between them, the tension high, knowing this looked really bad. The complications from both serious chest wound and appendicitis didn't even bear thinking about. She looked at Mulder's pale form lying motionless and bloody once more, she leaned and kissed him, before reluctantly letting go of his lifeless hand, watching them whisk him away from her through the OR doors. I can't lose him, her mind told her frantically. Not now. Not here. I can't. In that moment she'd been excluded from her partners care, she'd never felt so alone. Too exhausted to stand anymore. Scully let her body drop into a chair outside the OR waiting area, thoroughly wasted by the stress that she had just lived through. Both the difficult case of the last week and this. She felt she ought to ring Skinner, her mother...but just for a while she wanted to sit. Her eyes closed of their own volition and she let her head rest back against the wall. It was only when she started processing how much in danger Mulder was in now, did she give in to the groundswell of her tears. ************* She passed the next few hours giving her statement and answering the usual volley of police questions an incident like this required, also to the local FBI who came to take her deposition after the shooting. Aggravated beyond belief, the only thing her mind was on now was her partner. No one had been by to tell her how he was doing yet, and her eyes were riveted on the door behind through which a dying Mulder had disappeared seemingly hours ago. She answered them their questions concisely, almost absently. They all eventually withdrew leaving her still staring at that important door like she was in a trance, barely hearing them while they excused themselves, asking if there was anything they could get her, wishing her a happy reunion with Mulder once he came out of surgery and they hoped he'd have speedy recovery. They obviously regarded him as a hero and mentioned that they'd be back tomorrow to see how he was doing and bring some christmas cheer. Another hour of anxiety passed before The doors of the OR suddenly opened, disgorging Mulder's surgeon. Scully didn't recall walking up to the man, who immediately reassured her with a smile. "Mulder? How is he?" She felt annoyed, as those few words struggled not to trip over themselves. "Dr. Scully. It's okay. Our hero came through surgery very well. The bullet would was less serious than we first though and didn't cause any serious or permanent damage. The bullet missed his lungs and major arteries, and it didn't compromise the articulation of the shoulder itself, even though it grazed a rib and rebounded up his soft shoulder tissue. He will undoubtedly need physiotherapy to find complete mobility again, but all that should be arranged quickly once you get back to D.C. Hopefully in a few days. And his appendix was indeed one very hot mamma. A few moments longer getting him on the table and it would have burst. I don't need to tell you Dr. Scully, how catastrophic that would have been. Thankfully we avoided that little additional drama. We carried out its extrication by keyhole surgery, which will minimize any post surgical complications. I expect Mr. Mulder to make a full recovery and come rejoin the land of the living in time for the excellent Christmas lunch they serve here." Scully let escape a huge sigh of relief that made her feel a bit giddy. She took a few seconds to steady herself. "To enjoy his new status as a hero? I'm sure he will enjoy that. And trust me, he will be hungry." She smiled her thanks, shaking his hand. "I'd like to make a point on behalf of all the team of the emergency dept of thanking you and your partner for all you did. Your quick thinking undoubtedly avoided a massacre. And Mr. Mulder was definitely acting beyond the call of duty. We've had a few problems with raids like this. These drug head types were ready to kill and you stopped them with the minimum of damage and bloodshed, save for your partner's own blood. I can ensure you that your partner will be revered in the eyes of all the personal of cook county ER for a long time to come." The surgeon offered her a broad smile before adding: "The hero of the day will soon be back in recovery. No doubt needing to see your pretty face. I expect you like to join him there and stay with him?" She nodded, overjoyed that Mulder would be fine. Again. She followed the surgeon eagerly, relieved that Mulder, despite all that had happened had escaped the jaws of death by the seat of his pants. They would have a hell of a Christmas, once they got home, if not a little late. They desevered this time of peace to reflect and unwind after such harrowing case ...and Mulder's ER adventures. They could enjoy each other company along with Scully's family while her partner recuperated. She couldn't wait to get him safely home. ************* Mulder awoke a few hours later and noticed immediately that he was pain free. Without opening his eyes, he felt himself floating around the confines of his head, conscious thought only permeated by a strong waft of creamy hot chocolate and sound of his steady heartbeat blaring out of the monitor by his bed. He forced his eyelids to function and was rewarded by the dazzling smile that Scully reserved for all his hospital vigil awakenings. She was looking over the top of the TV guide she'd been reading, which she now put down, instead she took his hand in hers , squeezing gently. " Merry Christmas Mulder. How do you feel?" "Well... I ...feel...no pain...hungry actually." She started laughing, fingers stroking his hands." Disgustingly normal for you then Mr. 'Die hard with a vengeance.' You're under morphine, Mulder. It always has this goofy effect on you... " "Am I hallucinating or I do I detect the smell of hot chocolate?" "Not, you are perfectly lucid, Mulder. But it is Christmas day afternoon now, do you remember what happened? Seems you are a real Hero. The press want to talk to you later , but I'll keep them at bay for you, as long as I have the right to a small yuletide treat...with chocolate sprinkles.." He nodded, incredulous at his new Hero status. He inwardly cringed at the though of having to face reporters. He just felt sore and needed to rest. He was thinking back to the drama of the night before. Not one he would care to repeat. Scully informed him that everyone was safe and the villains were spending their Christmas in a jail cell. His attention was distracted then by the inviting sight of her mug of chocolate. She taunted him with it. Grinning. "Hey not fair, me too... I want the right to ice cream rather than ice chips this time." His eyes widened, as he tried to reach her mug but she lifted it out of his reach. He looked gorgeous even amongst his nest of tubes and monitor leads with that classic pouty look. She shook the head while smiling. " Ice cream is for a tonsillectomy, Mulder. Not for an appendectomy. But one of your Christmas wishes came true at least. Look outside." She rose and drew the curtain away from the window. Mulder slowly pulled himself up the bed enough, frowning with the pain of putting too much strain on both sets of stitches. Both of them cast their eyes on the winter wonderland of downtown Chicago. His face filled with joy as Scully came back and clasped his hand, eyes bright with unspoken emotion and the sight of the city covered with snow. "White Christmas, Mulder. And if you are very good, we will be celebrating it a little late in a few days at home with wine glass and popcorn." They drew each other into a careful hug, Mulder's merry Christmas to Scully getting lost as she pressed her mouth to his lips and claimed them, they came up for air and smiled as the visiting carolers in the corridor outside Mulder's room sang a rendition of Bing Crosby's Winter Wonderland. The End