TITLE: Wedding Toast
AUTHOR: R. Franke
E-MAIL: rbfranke@juno.com
RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: V, MSR
SPOILERS: Requiem (7th season finale)
SUMMARY: Bill Scully Jr. offers a wedding toast.
DISCLAIMER: Scully, Mulder, et al. are the property of Chris 
Carter, 1013 Productions, the Fox Network, the actors, writers, 
and all other persons known or unknown with a legal claim on the 
characters. This is a story of fan fiction, written for the purpose of 
personal satisfaction and the enjoyment of others, and monetary 
or other compensation is neither expected nor desired.
ARCHIVE: Permission is given to archive this story, provided it is 
archived without alteration, including this disclaimer and 
copyright notice, and the author is contacted at 
rbfranke@juno.com
COPYRIGHT: 2000 by R. Franke



WEDDING TOAST


"Nervous?" Bill Scully asked.

"Terrified," his sister admitted. "What if we forgot something? 
What if something goes wrong, and I drop the ring, or step on my 
train or, or- People are going to think the only reason we're doing 
this is-" she motioned towards her stomach, swollen in obvious 
pregnancy.

"Honi soit qui mal y pense, Dana," Bill replied. "The people who 
love you know why. And," he continued firmly, "between Mom 
and Tara everything's been taken care of." He leaned closer, 
lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Besides, I have it 
on excellent authority that Murphy is absolutely terrified of 
messing with the Scully women when they've got their minds set 
on something running right."

Scully swatted her brother, a small giggle escaping her. "Stop it." 
She plucked a microscopic piece of lint off her brother's uniform. 
"Bill," she said, her voice suddenly serious. "I just want to say 
thank you. For everything. I know you still don't like Mulder that 
much, and-"

"Hey," Bill interrupted. "Do you think I'd let somebody else walk 
my baby sister down the aisle?" He smiled as the opening notes of 
Chopin's Wedding March filtered through the closed door and 
offered Scully his arm. "Ready?"

"Absolutely not," Scully replied, taking his arm and nodding to 
the attendants. The two men swung the church doors open.


*     *     *     *     *     *


Bill stood and tapped his water glass with a knife. "Everyone? 
May I have your attention please? Everyone?" He waited until the 
murmur of conversation died down. "As a lot of you know, I 
didn't have too high an opinion of Fox Mulder when we first met, 
and I let him, and everyone else, know it in my typically 
diplomatic fashion." He paused while his audience chuckled. He 
smiled slightly. "I guess I let my overprotective big brother 
instincts take over a bit. But I'll behave myself, especially since 
Dana all but promised me a repeat of the Baseball Bat Incident if I 
didn't." The Scully family burst into laughter.

"That was an accident," Scully called out. "Besides, you deserved 
it."

"Baseball Bat Incident?" Mulder asked, an exaggerated quaver of 
fear in his voice.

"Trust me," Bill smiled and rubbed his temple. "Messing with 
Dana is definitely not healthy."

Mulder gave an answering smile as he rubbed his shoulder. "Oh, I 
learned that one real quick."

"Oh!" Scully swatted Mulder and glared at Bill. "Shut up, both of 
you." A rosy blush covered her cheeks as she tried to keep from 
smiling. "Just shut up."

"Aunt Dana," Matthew Scully spoke with the total seriousness 
only a young child could muster. "You're not s'posed to say shut 
up. S'not nice." 

Scully blushed further as the wedding guests laughed. "You're 
right, Matthew, it's not nice. And I apologize."

"S'okay," Matthew replied.

Bill hugged his son to him with one arm and ruffled his hair. "Sit 
down, Tiger," he ordered. Matthew complied with a slightly 
confused grin. "Anyhow, as I was saying, when I first met Fox 
Mulder I thought he was a flaky goofball who didn't deserve to 
have my sister as a partner. But I've gotten to know him these past 
few weeks, and now I can say with absolute conviction," he 
turned towards Mulder, "you are a flaky goofball, and you 
definitely don't deserve Dana. But," he continued with a slight 
smile, "you make her happy, and I guess that's what really 
matters." He turned back towards the guests and raised his 
wineglass in salute. "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Fox 
William Mulder."


FINIS


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bill quotes the motto of the British Order of 
the Garter to his sister, which is most commonly translated from 
the French as "Shame to him who thinks it shameful." I wrote this 
little vignette because I disagree with the seeming consensus 
among fanfic authors that Bill Scully Jr. is an overbearing, 
pompous ass determined to wreck his sister's only chance at true 
happiness, if not the immediate and proximate cause of every bad 
thing that has ever happened to her since birth, instead of just 
possibly an overprotective big brother who may have reason to 
worry about his little sister's personal and professional well-being. 
Having said that, I will grant that he can be pompous and 
overbearing, as well as stubborn and occasionally hotheaded. But 
then again, stubborn and occasionally hotheaded would be a good 
description of Dana Scully as well.

Comments? Questions? Opinions? rbfranke@juno.com