December 25th, 2012

Presents for six children and two adults involved quite a lot of wrapping paper. Delaney, recently mobile on all fours, was keeping Cat busy as she crawled from one snow drift-like pile of paper to another and tired to put the colorful stuff in her mouth.

Taking pity on her, William grabbed his sister on one of her crawls by him, and restrained her on his lap. It was a brief reprieve, though. Delaney had the short attention span of most seven-month-olds and was soon nearly tearful in her wordless demands to be released. Shooting Cat an apologetic look, he let her go, and she was instantly on the course towards another mound of wrapping paper.

"Santa bought me a sled! A red one!" Kyle exclaimed happily as he ripped the paper off of the long, package. It made William smile, since it had been completely obvious to him what it was, even wrapped.

The mention of Santa made him think of the conversation he and Mulder had had at the end of November.
#
It had been to William's dismay that his father's insurance company had insisted he'd get a physical, but it did mean he got to spend time alone with Mulder, so he supposed that the shots weren't too high a price to pay for that.

On the way home they'd stopped at the grocery store, and William had dropped a quarter into the kettle of a bell-ringer who'd dressed as Santa Claus. "William, what do you think of Santa?" Mulder had asked as they walked to the car.

"That Santa?"

"Santa in general."

"Santa Claus is not real but he represents the spirit of giving." William promptly replied. It had been the explanation Mrs. Van Dekamp had given him when he'd asked two Christmases before, and it made sense to him.

"Okay. I figured you probably realized he wasn't real. But your brothers don't."

"Well, they're younger."

"Exactly. I want the same promise from you that my parents asked of me when my sister was young." Mulder's eyes had a far away look just then, reminding William that talk about his aunt still pained his father. "I want you to promise that you'll let them work it out on their own, okay? There are few things kids can do to each other that are crueler than destroying their dreams on them."

"I wouldn't dream of telling them Santa isn't real." William protested.

"I wouldn't have told Samantha either, but some times things slip out if you don't promise not to say them. A promise makes you more mindful of what you say."

"Oh, okay."

"Santa brought me the scooter I wanted." Benji said, running his hand over the shiny red finish.
#
"And I got two movies. The Land Before Time twenty-three and Disney's Silas Marner." Owen said, waving the cases to the cartoons with the hand of his good arm. The cast on his other arm had been artfully decorated by Cat, painted with mistletoe leaves and berries.

"What'd Santa bring you, William?" Kyle asked suddenly.

He smiled at Kyle. "A family that loves me."

Before any of his brothers could insist that that wasn't a Santa present, two things happened. The first was that one of the local papers arrived, begging for a picture of them by the tree so they could do a "Despite everything they still had a happy holiday" type of story. After the pictures were snapped, Mulder handed William a box.

"Your mom asked me to give it to you." Mulder told him, with a twinkle in his eyes that suggested he knew exactly what was in the box.

It must have been what she'd gone back into the mall for he thought. Holding the small, flat box in his hands, William wished it was as obvious as the sled. He peeled off the dark blue and sliver paper, and found a note taped to the lid of the box. All the note said was "William, no pressure. This has no expiration date, so you can use it whenever you want to. Merry Christmas, love Mom."

Inside was a round trip plane ticket from New Mexico to Washington DC.

"Dad, can I use the phone? I want to thank her for the present."