Written by Phil Colvin,
Chapter 4
St. George’s Books
Midnight
"I always dreamed I would wake up on Christmas Eve to find myself sleeping next to a beautiful woman", smiled Mulder, "But I wasn’t expecting the whale as well". He was lying in his sleeping bag beside Scully, who was awake, and Mosely who was snoring.
"Do you remember that time we were forced to sleep out in the forest with that mad killer thing on the loose?", asked Scully.
"Yeah."
"I’m beginning to wish I was back there now."
"Does that mean you’re going to sing again?"
"No chance."
"That’s a shame, I was looking forward to you doing a duet with the mighty blowfish", he said, elbowing Mosely who simply grunted in his sleep and continued snoring.
"I need a coffee", sighed Scully, getting up and walking into the front of the shop.
It was quiet, almost silent. But there was something there....Scully went over to where her jacket and holster were hidden under the counter and took out her gun. Silently she crept forwards. There was a definite presence in the room, near the front of the shop. It sounded like a slurping noise.... Scully clicked the safety trigger on her gun, the ‘person’ spun round. Scully aimed the gun.
"FBI! I’m armed!", she shouted.
"You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man would you, copper?", laughed Gabriel, walking out of the shadows.
"I could be persuaded to make an exception", said Scully. She was a little surprise, she had thought it was Mulder for a second. The cocky voice, manner and even the words sounded like Mulder would bring up.....nah, her mind was playing tricks on her.
"So", asked Gabriel as he handed her a coffee, "Is the floor comfortable enough for you?"
"Well, you could put just a few more creaky floorboards and little bugs on it and then it would feel just like home."
"Look, I wasn’t actually expecting you to come here. If you don’t like my shop then you can try sleeping the street."
"Why not? At least then I won’t face the prospect of being crushed every time Mosely rolls over in his sleep."
"What is your problem, Dana? Is it your time of the month?" Scully slapped Gabriel.
"Listen, Gabriel. I didn’t want to be dragged in her again and be forced to have to spend Christmas trapped in a bookshop with the New Orleans equivalent of the Marx Brothers. I wanted to be home with my family where I belong?"
"Then why aren’t you with your family?"
"Mulder thought there was a case here."
"Do you always follow Mulder or does he have to give you doggy treats first?"
"I don’t have to listen to this."
"Maybe you should! By the sound of it he seems to completley rule your life. I thought you two were partners, doesn’t he follow any of your cases?"
"We both work on the X-Files, Mulder opens all the cases. My job is to put scientific reasoning to them."
"By the looks of it, all you seem to do all day is raise your eyebrows and make ‘tutting’ noises."
"How I handle my job is my business, and mine only." She turned away from him, but she knew he had a point. How much longer could she be Mulder’s lap dog?
"Look, Dana, I’m sorry." sighed Gabriel, "I know you’re probably still down with your cancer."
"That isn’t an issue at the moment, Gabriel."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you believe in miracles?"
"Excuse me?"
"You’re a Schattenjager, a warrior of God, do you believe in miracles?"
"Do you mean the ones where I feed an entire New Orleans Police Squad with one doughnut?"
"Real miracles, miraculous events."
"I don’t know, I guess I’ve never thought about it."
"I do. I’ve seen them happen."
"Look, Dana, do we have to talk about religion? After all, it is Christmas!", Scully laughed. Perhaps this wasn’t the best time to discuss faith.
"All right. I guess I’d better get back to bed....I might manage to get a few seconds sleep in-between snores."
"Try slipping a doughnut into his mouth when he opens it", suggested Gabriel, "It works for me."
"I’ll bear that in mind." She walked back to the back room. Gabriel watched her and sighed. Once he would have followed her and taken advantage of the situation. He wasn’t sure if it was the fact he had changed morally which stopped him, or the prospect of being between Mulder and Mosely which made all future encounters an unlikely prospect. But still, he’d charmed one woman. There was still another to go...and it was Christmas.....miracles could happen.
St. George’s Books
Christmas Eve
Mulder stumbled into the front room to find that everyone else was already up. Gabriel was fiddling with his hair (surprise, surprise), Grace was writing at the counter, Mosely was on the phone and Scully was reading the local paper. Nobody looked as if they had got much sleep. He sighed and walked over to Scully.
"Anything interesting?", he asked eyeing the paper.
"Apparently there was some disturbance yesterday when a group of policemen made a strange and stupid raid in the French Quarter, other than that it was a normal day."
Mulder nodded, it was too much to hope that he’d actually get a case to do whilst stuck down here. He saw that Scully was reading the horoscopes section.
"You shouldn’t read that crap you know, he said, "It’s all rubbish."
"I don’t know", smiled Scully, "This is quite interesting: ‘You will meet a mysterious man with a strange job who’ll cause you all sorts of problems this Christmas.’"
"Well, that sounds accurate", said Mulder as Gabriel walked over.
"Actually, that guy is quite good", said Gabriel, "You should listen to him."
"I prefer to follow real lines of investigation"
"Yeah, you just aren’t happy unless there’s a roll of masking tape and a Government informant involved are you?", smiled Scully.
Meanwhile, Grace and Mosely were having the first real conversation in two days. Grace wasn’t sure whether Mosely was actually sober or not. It didn’t make much difference to the conversation, but she was terrified he might spew all over her half way through,
"Oh yeah", he smiled, "I remember Christmas as a kid with Gabe."
"Really? What did you two get up too?"
"Well, there was a time when Gabe’s gran left a bottle of brandy open next to the pudding."
"What happened?"
"Let’s just say it was a very, merry Christmas."
"I see."
"And there was that other time when Gabe and I had that bet about who could put their head furthest into the turkey..."
"Well, at least I now know where Gabriel’s hairstyle came from."
"And then I got married and joined the Force and I guess Christmas was never the same again."
"How do you mean?"
"The NOPD is my life, Grace. I’ve worked Christmas Day for the last five frickin’ years!", he sighed. Grace didn’t want to start prying into his private life.
"Doesn’t Christmas mean anything to you?", she asked.
"Not really. I’m not a Christian and I don’t see why there should be a God."
"Why not?"
"Look at this city, Grace. It’s a firkin’ mess! Drugs, cults, FBI. It sucks!"
"But what about Gabriel’s Schattenjager line, don’t you believe there to be divine influence in it?"
"Look, Grace, Gabe can believe whatever crap he wants. But as far as I’m concerned he’s got a nice talisman and he’s very, very lucky." Grace nodded, Mosely did have a point. Gabriel wasn’t exactly the master of acting tactfully in any situation.
"Look", sighed Mosely, "It’s Christmas and I don’t want to mess you guys around with my crap life. Just let me get drunk and fall asleep in front of your television and I’ll be out of this shop in Boxing Day."
"Aren’t you going to wait up for Father Christmas?"
"Yeah, I’ll wait for him straight after God."
Everywhere else in the city, there were celebrations. The faint sounds of carols and music drifted in all day. However, most of it was lost on St George’s Books. Mulder and Scully were contacting their respective families to explain why they were spending Christmas on a floor in New Orleans whilst Grace and Mosely had gone out to buy some last minute gifts. It was now late evening and Gabriel was lazing in front of the television watching a repeat of ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ when Mulder walked in from the back room.
"Ugh", he sighed, "I hate this show."
"Yeah, sorry Mulder, I know it isn’t up to your high level of intellect."
"Isn’t there anything else on?", Gabriel switched channels just in time to catch the beginning of ‘Ricki Lake’.
"My sister was abducted by aliens!", said the squealing girl on the television. Mulder smiled.
"Now THIS is entertainment." He smiled. Gabriel sighed, how very immature.
Scully was a little surprised to hear laughter coming from the front room, she assumed that Gabriel and Mulder would be ripping each others’ throats out by now. But she was surprised to see them both rolling about in laughter when she entered the room.
"What’s going on?"
"We’re watching these UFO abductees recount their experiences", laughed Mulder,
"Apparently this one was forced to eat hot dogs for six months on an alien space craft!"
"I see"
"Are these guys weird or what?", laughed Gabriel, "I wonder if any of these people really have had their brains sucked out, they’re stupid enough!"
"No", said Mulder, "Real abductees would never expose themselves on this trash. they prefer to use different mediums to recount their experiences."
"Yeah, maybe a psychiatrist!". Gabriel laughed again. Mulder smiled, he wasn’t going to get involved in a debate with Gabriel about the validity of alien abduction Scully watched him, then she heard something.
"Did you guys here that?", she asked.
"What?"
"That noise, on the roof."
"Maybe it was the aliens come to take us away and feed us pizza!", laughed Gabriel. Then suddenly, a louder noise came.
"Woah! I heard that one!"
"What the hell is it?", asked Scully, "I knew you had big rats in this shop but...."
"Hey! Don’t start!"
"I think we’d better check it out", said Mulder cautiously.
"All right", said Gabriel, "But you guys go first, you’re the ones with the guns!"
On the Roof
Santa picked himself up. The whole roof of this stupid shop was one huge death-trap, at any second he could fall to his death. Luckily some idiot was into gothic architecture and there were some weird statues all around the roof keeping him safe. He could see the chimney, just a few metres from where he’d parked the sleigh. He just had to get over to it....
Meanwhile, on the street below, Mulder and Scully rushed out of the shop followed by Gabriel. They all scanned the roof.
"If you see anything moving, shoot it!", shouted Gabriel.
"Woah, Gabe, this ain’t Miami Vice", said Mulder. Suddenly something moved.
"There!", shouted Gabriel, "I’m going up!" He quickly ran to the ladder which was conveniently positioned by the wall. Mulder and Scully watched him climb.
"Aren’t you glad I’m not this paranoid?", smiled Mulder.
"Shall we go after him to make sure he doesn’t kill himself, or something?", sighed Scully.
"Nah, he’ll just get bored and come down in a minute."
"What if there is somebody up there?"
"Oh yeah. Who do we know who would be on a roof on Christmas Eve?", joked Mulder. Then he stopped and looked at Scully. "Are you thinking what I’m thinking?"
"I’m thinking about quitting the FBI to become a belly dancer....what about you?"
"I’m thinking Gabriel is about to do something REALLY stupid."
Gabriel clambered up onto the roof. There was definitely something here. He moved slowly towards it, below him he could see the street below. It was a long way down. The object was huge, it almost filled up the entire roof. Gabriel had never seen anything like it before. And the colour was so strange, all painted red, He looked inside and was surprised to see sacks. Lots and lots of sacks. All of them were tied in coloured ribbons and were labelled in impossibly neat handwriting with labels such as ‘India’, ‘China’ and ‘France’. What the hell was going on? And then Gabriel saw the reindeer, eight of them. He hadn’t noticed them before because they hadn’t been moving but now he could just make them out. Gabriel prayed this was some sort of weird practical joke. Any second now some guy was going to jump out and do a Candid Camera. But how the hell could they have got it up here without him noticing? And then behind him, he saw something move.....
Grace and Mosely had just finished shopping. It had taken Grace a while to pick out something for Gabe, but she thought she had the perfect gift. She was however slightly worried to walk up the road and find Mulder and Scully pointing their guns at the roof.
"What’s going on?"
"We think Gabe is about to kill someone"
"Who?"
"Father Christmas"
The man who had approached Gabriel was dressed in red clothes and he had a white beard. In fact, Gabriel thought it looked like a Santa Clause impersonator. But what was he doing on the roof of his shop? Gabriel grabbed the man.
"Who the hell are you?", he shouted.
"Please don’t hurt me...."
"What are you doing on the roof of my shop?!"
"It’s Christmas Eve...."
"Yes! I know!"
"...I’m just doing my job."
"What are you talking about?", Gabriel hated weirdos.
"Just let me explain, Gabriel."
"How do you know my name?", Gabriel shuddered, "You’re either a stalker or a pervert. I wouldn’t really mind either way but you’re freaking me out!"
"Please....", but the man didn’t finished. They must have been too close to the roof because the man misplaced a foot and toppled over the edge of the roof. Gabriel grabbed hold of the sleigh to stay upright.
"Whoops." was the only thing he could say.
Everyone below heard a scuffle, Scully saw the man appear over the roof’s edge and Grace screamed as he plummeted downwards. He fell through one of the shop’s covers and into the trash skip on the side of the shop.
"Woah", breathed Mulder, "What a way to go."
"Wait a sec!", shouted Mosey, "He might still be alive!", he man over to the skip and began heaving at the body. Mulder, Scully and Grace joined him. With a joint effort they managed to heave the heavy man out of the skip and lay him out on the ground below. By this time, Gabriel had come down from the roof and had joined them.
"Oh my God", breathed Grace, "What the hell did you do, Gabriel!"
"We were arguing and he....sort of fell."
"Sort of fell?"
"Well, maybe a pushed him a bit...."
"You frickin’ idiot, Knight!", shouted Mosely, "My only holiday and I have to deal with a murder!"
"Murder?!", shouted Gabriel, "It was an accident!"
"Wait a sec!", shouted Scully, "He’s still alive! He’s just unconscious."
"Shall I call an ambulance?", asked Grace.
"Nah, they’d never take him", sighed Mulder.
"Why not?"
"He doesn’t have medical insurance, he doesn’t really need it."
"What are you drivelling about?"
"Didn’t the sleigh and reindeer give you s slight slue as to who this man is?", asked Mulder, "Look at him." Everyone looked, the man was definitely some sort of Santa Clause lookalike. A good one, at that.
"I feel terrible....", sighed Mulder, "I promised him we’d never get in his way."
"What?", Gabriel was confused.
"Don’t you remember I told you that I met Father Christmas two years ago?", said Mulder, "Well, I wasn’t lying."
"Are you saying....", began Grace.
"Yes", Scully cut in, "This man is Father Christmas....the REAL one."
Inside St. George’s Books.
Everyone was sat around the unconscious form of Father Christmas sprawled out in front of them.
"I can’t believe it", said Gabriel, "I’ve killed a mythological figure!"
"Don’t worry about it, Gabe", sighed Mulder, "I do it all the time."
"Yeah, but of all the imaginary characters had to kill, it had to be this one....I’m probably Public Enemy one, two and three!"
"It could have been worse, he could actually be dead."
"He’s as good as dead", sighed Grace, "It’s Christmas Eve and he can’t deliver presents. That’s the equivalent of not turning up for work for an entire year."
"What I don’t understand was why Santa was here in the first place", said Mosely,
"There’s no kids to deliver to here!"
"I don’t know", said Grace, "Gabe acts like a big kid half the time."
"This might explain it", said Mulder as he rifled through Santa’s clothes. He pulled out his wallet.
"Woah", breathed Gabe, "Santa’s wallet". Mulder opened it and poured the contents out. There was a little cash, a few indigestion tablets and a flying license but nothing else. A search of Santa’s pockets yielded a hip-flask of brandy and a small package.
"Well", sighed Mosely, "At least we got a flask of brandy out of it."
"What’s in the package?", asked Scully.
"I don’t know", sad Mulder, "But it’s addressed to Gabriel." He passed it over. Gabriel looked at it for a few seconds before ripping open the paper. In it was a snowglobe of St. George’s Books.
"Pretty", said Grace, "Is there a card?"
"No", said Gabriel, "But there’s an inscription. 'May the snowflakes be your memories, may you never walk alone.'
"That’s beautiful", said Scully.
"Sounds frickin’ soft to me", said Mosely, gruffly. Gabriel just sat looking at the gift. To everyone else, it was a strange gift and inscription but for some reason, Gabriel knew exactly why it had been sent to him and what it meant. Even in his time as Schattenjager, Gabriel had always felt elements missing from his life. He had always put it down to some sort of trauma over Wolfgang’s death. But as time went on, he began to think that maybe it was somehow related to his parents and his grief. And fate had decided that now was the time to bring him face to face with that. He looked at the globe. He couldn’t believe what he had just done, he had to set the balance straight. He had to get Christmas back on track.
"We have to do something about this", he said, "When I looked in the sleigh, there were lots of bags left."
"I know", said Mulder, "When I met him two years ago he mentioned that he did his ‘personal’ gifts first before going onto the others. I bet he hasn’t even stared yet."
"Then we’ll have to."
"What do you mean?"
"I never thought I’d say this.....but we’ve got to save Christmas."
"Oh great", sighed Mosely, "There goes my holiday."
If you have any comments, you can email Phil Colvin at sculder_mully@geocities.com.
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