The remainder of the afternoon had, thankfully, passed without incident. No mysterious phone calls, ghosts of any kind, and, best of all, not a single outburst from Bill. Whatever Charlie had said had caused big brother to limit his disapproval to stony silences, glares, and the odd tut. However, this Mulder could put up with, as it didn't cause him to fear for his life.

At the moment, though, he was being spared any of Bill's methods as the man, along with all the rest of the Scully clan save little Mattie, was at Midnight Mass. It seemed that this was a family tradition, something Mulder guiltily realised that he had interrupted on more than one occasion. He had been invited to join them, but he wasn't in any way religious and didn't want to intrude, so he offered to stay home and look after Mattie, who had screamed his lungs out through most of the service the year before, causing him to be housebound this year in order to avoid a repeat performance. He would be allowed to stay up until they got back though, as he was going through a clingy phase, and wouldn't settle down to sleep unless Tara was there.

Bill had not been entirely pleased about the idea of the man he hated looking after his son, but some choice words from Tara this time soon had him backing off. Having made his bed on the couch, Mulder had settled onto a chair with Mattie to watch Hercules, which was a compromise between The Lion King and The Mummy. Possibly a compromise weighted more heavily in Mattie's favour, but Mulder was enjoying the Disney film anyway. It was easy to watch, which meant he could let his mind wander.

As usual it had wandered to thoughts of Scully. He was a little frightened at what he had come close to revealing to her earlier, of acting on an impulse that he was finding harder and harder to resist. Sighing he allowed his memory to take him back into their shared past, hoping to find the answer he needed. He recalled her telling him that she wouldn't leave him, that she was there for him and that she wouldn't change a day spent with him. But then he remembered her almost leaving him, almost leaving the FBI for that matter, and that debacle with Ed Jerse. He knew he trusted Scully with his life, body and soul, but was not yet sure that he could trust her with his heart.

He was rudely pulled from his musings by the indignant shriek of the boy sitting on his lap. Concentrating he realised that the film had finished, and probably a while back too judging by the state of the credits.

"Sorry kiddo, wasn't quite with it there." He muttered, hoisting Mattie off his lap and onto the sofa as he went to remove the video.

"Hung'y." Was his only reply, along with a disgruntled look.

"Hungry? Ok, let's go raid the kitchen before the adults get back." He grinned at the boy and swung him up into his arms before marching to the kitchen, doing an army walk to make Mattie laugh. Depositing him in his high chair Mulder turned it so that Mattie could see all the cabinets.

"What would you like, monsieur?" He asked, bowing low. Mattie simply giggled and pointed. Mulder followed his finger.

"Cereal? At this time in the morning?"

Mattie nodded seriously, so Mulder shrugged and went about finding the milk to pour on the Cheerios. He realised that he was also hungry, and figuring he'd follow Mattie's lead he made a bowl for himself too, flopping down in a chair at the table to eat. But Mattie had decided that now was the time to be fussy, and wanted to eat what was in Mulder's bowl rather than his own. Sighing Mulder pulled the boy back onto his lap and allowed him to do so, reaching over his head with his spare hand to eat what was left in Mattie's bowl.

That was how the others found them when they got back. Two empty bowls sitting near each other on the table, and Mulder leaning back in the chair with Mattie on his lap, both of them fast asleep. Tara and Scully especially were amazed at this, Tara because this was the first time in almost 6 months that her son had fallen asleep without her in the very near vicinity, and Scully because she knew Mulder's insomnia rarely let him sleep. The two did make a cute picture though, and the women were most disappointed when Bill tried to yank his son off Mulder's lap, causing both to awaken.

"No!" Mulder cried, grabbing at Mattie and cradling him against his chest as he leapt to his feet, a hand reaching down for his gun, causing Bill to stare at him in alarm, too bemused to yell. Realising what was going on Scully carefully moved to stand by her partner.

"Mulder, Mulder?" He glanced at her. "It's ok, we're back now, you don't have to protect Mattie any more."

As she spoke his eyes began to clear, and with an apologetic look he handed the boy over to his father.

"Sorry, it's uh, it's a force of habit."

Impressed despite himself Bill nodded, and left the room. He was followed a few seconds later by Tara, who had thanked Mulder and then left.

Mulder had slumped back down into the chair, rubbing tired eyes. Scully sat next to him and patted his shoulder.

"Not your fault." She said, knowing it wouldn't help much.

"I know. It's just that he's a kid, and I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to him while I was looking after him, it'd be just like –"

He cut himself off, but Scully didn't need the words to know that he was thinking about Samantha, his little sister, abducted at the age of 8. It was the reason Mulder was always on guard, whether awake or asleep, endlessly but fruitlessly hoping that in his dreams this time he'd be able to save her.

A soft clearing of the throat interrupted the moment. Charlie and Maggie were still standing in the doorway, and had suddenly thought that they ought to make their presence known. Maggie was sure that the two hadn't noticed, but Mulder and Scully had been lost in the other's eyes, and identical expression of sadness on both faces.

"Fox dear, don't apologise. You might have made us all jump, but even Bill knows now that you are an excellent guardian for his son. You're going to make a wonderful father some day."

She smiled at him and walked to the table, dropping a kiss onto both his and Scully's heads before bidding them goodnight and leaving the room. Charlie remained in the doorway a few seconds more, waiting for Mulder to stop blushing after Maggie's unexpected praise.

"Mulder 2, Bill 0." He stated calmly. "I've never seen someone react so fast, going from sound asleep to FBI man that quickly is certainly impressive."

Mulder nodded his embarrassed thanks and got up, busying himself with tidying the table. Charlie flashed a grin at his sister, who returned it, thankful for his easy attitude toward Mulder. He gave her a bear hug and kissed her cheek before disappearing upstairs after his mother, calling out a goodnight as he went.

"We should really hit the sack too, Mulder." Scully noted through a yawn. "Got to be up early to see if Santa came."