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Scully had come to accept the fact that when she entered the basement office that belonged to both of them--though it was only his name on the door and there was only on desk--that she should never expect too much of the man she shared it with. All the times that she had entered to find a slide projector set up and over sized pictures of mutilated cattle thrown onto an unoffending screen where too numerous to count. The bizarre had become the norm, so it made her at least pause to find him considering something so normal.
"The Bureau Halloween party?" she asked, her eyebrow moving upwards of its own accord. She could hardly control the facial expression, even after she tried when Mulder pointed it out.
"Yeah, I figured it would be fun," he said without any hint of irony or self-deprication. She sniffed his coffee. No alcohol.
"You're serious?"
"Yes," he said, snagging his cup away from her. "And I'm not drunk."
"Fine," she offered.
"What? You don't want to go?"
"Not particularly, Mulder. I like to hand out candy on Halloween, and there are a lot of children in my building."
"I bet you give out oranges, Scully."
She snorted. "I give out full size candy bars, thank you."
"You spoil them."
She shrugged. She didn't have children of her own, so the least she could do was spoil the ones she had some contact with. Her nieces and nephews (who got massive care pakages from their loving Aunty Dana every year) and the children who lived near her. How could she tell Mulder that it made her happy and sad at the same time to see their gleeful, manic smiles, and their little forms covered in all manner of costume. It was like a cuter, non-terrifying version of an X-File.
The day wore on, as did the week, and she went home on Halloween to prepare the candy and await the nightly visitors. She wished Mulder a good evening and a good time at the party and left.
She had no idea what Mulder was going as for the party; she hadn't asked and he hadn't volunteered. She set up painted pumpkins outside her door, unable to have traditional jack-o-lanterns in her hallway due to fire concerns. She had taken mini-pumpkins and worked on them last weekend. They were pretty good if she said so herself.
It was just starting to get dark when she heard the first knock of the evening. Opening the door, she remembed that she should never expect normal from Mulder.
He was standing there in the cheesiest Dracula costume she had ever seen. "Trick-or-treat!" he said in a over the top accent.
"I dunno, you seem a little old to be trick-or-treating. Mulder," she said, leaning against the door frame, putting the candy out his reach.
"Awwww... come on, Scully. You gotta invite me in," he whined. And then he pouted. She sighed.
"Come in," she told him, "But keep your hands off the candy. That's for the kids." She shut the door behind him.
"Then what treat do I get?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows at her in his usual faux-flirting manner. She shoved a bag at him. "Candy corn?" he lamented.
"Candy corn," she affirmed, and just then there was another knock on the door. Mulder lept to answer it and she let him, watching him play up being Dracula, quizzing the kids about what they were and giving out candy. He was like a big kid himself, and it occured to her that of course this holiday was hard for him, as all others were, when you lost your childhood and your little sister at the same time. But maybe, when they were together, the holidays weren't as hard for either of them. She smiled, taking the next batch of kids and giving out candy.
It turned out to be the best Halloween had had in a long time.