9.00pm, Christmas Day

After dinner Mrs Scully had invited her neighbours over along with some of her relatives and they now were all gathered in the lounge. Her two sisters had come, bringing with them their children and grandchildren, who were asleep with her own grandchildren upstairs. All of her neighbours had brought some food and drink so she had set up a buffet in the kitchen for people to help themselves from. The noise level was pretty high due to copious amounts of alcohol being consumed and the vast number of conversations that were taking place at the same time.

The only person in the room not joining in was Mulder who stood silently by the door, politely ignoring Scully's frequent gestures to go over to join her and her two second-cousins on the couch. Scully was growing increasingly worried about him, as he had been distant ever since she came back from sledging, gently but firmly pulling away every time she tried to even hold his hand. He had not told her why he had left the sledging early and, when she had asked Charlie about it, he had told her that if Mulder wouldn't tell her it was not his place to do so. She had also tried to ask Bill but he had denied any knowledge of what had happened and swiftly changed the subject. From that response she had realised that Bill had played a big part in Mulder's current mood but still he would not tell her what had been said. She watched Mulder as he made his way out of the lounge into the hall and went to follow him but was intercepted by Mrs Currie, her mother's next-door neighbour. She saw Mulder meet Charlie and Peter, who were coming down the stairs, and crouch down to Peter's height in order to talk to him but she couldn't hear what was being said.

"Hey buddy, how are you doing? It's pretty late for you to be up. Aren't you tired yet?"

"Daddy...don't let him. I want up."

"What's wrong? ...Don't let Mulder what, Peter?"

"Don't let him hurt me daddy. I don't wanna get hurt."

Mulder straightened up from his crouch hurriedly as Peter tried his hardest to hide behind his father's legs. Charlie bent down to pick him up and Peter burrowed his head into Charlie's chest, not wanting to see Mulder. Trying to find out what was wrong, Charlie attempted to pry his son away from him slightly to see his face but Peter clung tightly to him and would not lift his head. Mulder looked away quickly to mask his hurt feelings and started to move past Charlie to go up the stairs.

"Mulder, he didn't mean anything by it. He must have heard Bill earlier...I didn't realise...he just..."

"Leave it Charlie, it doesn't matter."

"Mulder...Mulder..."

Ignoring Charlie's calls, Mulder moved up the stairs, almost running away from the two of them, and went into Scully's room. He came out five minutes later dressed in jogging bottoms, a sweatshirt and running shoes. He closed the door behind him and placed his hat on his head, ready to go out running. Making his way back down the stairs he opened the front door, hoping to escape without being noticed. Charlie had been watching for him to come back however and caught his arm just as he was about to leave. Mulder sighed and turned to face him, desperately wanting to just get out of the house and be left alone.

"Where are you going Mulder?"

"I'm going out for a run...would you tell Sc...Dana when you see her. Tell her that I left my keys and wallet in her room - I'm not going home, just for a run."

"I'll come with you if you give me a couple of minutes to get changed."

"No, Charlie. You should stay here, it's where you're meant to be."

"You're meant to be here too, Mulder."

"It's your family Charlie, I don't belong in there. I don't even belong in this house as your brother told me."

"My brother talks out his ass Mulder. You must know that by now."

"See that's the thing Charlie, he wasn't talking crap. That stuff he said this afternoon - it's not as if it's never crossed my mind before. It's not even the first time it's been said to me, I just never really thought about it properly. Your sister usually made sure I didn't - but now that I do..."

"Mulder, Day wouldn't want you to be thinking like this - you just said so yourself. Bill was being an ass. He..."

"Forget it, Charlie. I'll be back in an hour or so, maybe more."

Charlie shook his head as he watched Mulder leave, silently cursing his big brother's interference. He followed Mulder's progress down the path with his eyes, only slightly shocked by the realisation that he was watching a broken man. Shutting the front door, he felt a hand on his back and he turned to see his mother standing behind him. He saw confusion in his mother's eyes and wished that he had told her what had happened earlier. He realised that she would have probably been able to handle it much better than he had, and that she would have known whether to tell Dana or not.

"Was that Fox? Did he leave?"

"He's just gone for a run. He said he is coming back."

"Why did he go, Charlie? What happened this afternoon?"

"Mom..."

"I've been watching him grow more and more detached ever since I walked him home from sledging and I heard what Peter just said to him, Charlie. Dana doesn't have a clue what's going on and she's getting pretty concerned about him - so am I. I let it go earlier and didn't press for the details but I think it's time you told me what's going on."

"I thought Mulder would tell Dana...or I thought he would just ignore it - you know? Shake it off but..."

The two of them had been walking down the hall as they talked and had reached the empty kitchen. Charlie pulled out a chair for his mother to sit on and then sat down on the seat next to her. Staring out of the window trying to collect his thoughts, he smiled as he remembered seeing Mulder and Scully kissing on Christmas Eve through the window whilst he was building a snowman with his children. Shaking away the memory, he rubbed his hands over his face, trying to sort out how to tell his mother what needed to be said. Maggie caught one of his hands in hers, pulling it away from his face and recognised the reason behind his hesitation.
"Charlie, the easiest way is to just go from the beginning. How did it all start?"

"It was my fault. I threw a snowball at Mulder when he was holding Mattie - I didn't realise, didn't even think... Anyway, Mattie began to cry and Bill jumped to his own conclusion that Mulder had caused him to cry."

"Of course. So... did Bill say something to him?"

"Did he ever! I never knew until this afternoon how much of an asshole my brother could be...No offence, mom, but he has been acting like a complete bastard to Mulder."

"As much as I hate to admit it about my own son, I actually realise that Charlie, but what did he say to Fox this afternoon?"

"He said he didn't want Mulder holding Mattie - he told him that he didn't want his son getting hurt."

"What? I don't understand - hurt how?"

"Hurt like 'everyone else Mulder's ever known' according to Bill. Apparently he thinks that Dana's going to be the next to be hurt and Mulder doesn't give a shit -sorry mom, didn't mean to swear."

"Nothing I haven't heard before. Anyway, that's a load of rubbish - Fox cares more about Dana than he does about himself."

"I know that mom. I only met him two days ago and even I can see how much he cares about her but Bill just can't see past his own hatred of the guy."

"Everyone has their faults Charlie. Bill's just happens to be called Fox Mulder - which doesn't excuse it though. I'm glad you told me Charlie - even if it did take a while. When did Fox say he was coming back - we need to get this fixed."
"He said about an hour but, in his mood, it could be a lot longer... Are you going to tell Day?"

"I'm not sure. She really should know but, if we can sort it out, then there's no reason to upset her. I think I'll wait a while unless she gets really worried - or if he doesn't come back."

"He said he left his keys and wallet upstairs - he's not going home."

"That's a relief. Okay Charlie - go put your son to bed and then enjoy yourself. We can't do anything else until Fox comes back. I don't particularly want to make a scene with Bill in front of all my guests so that will have to wait until later as well."

"Okay mom."

Charlie let out a sigh of relief, feeling much better now that he knew he wasn't alone, that his mother could help get this sorted out. He stood up and walked into the lounge to get Peter from his wife and take him to bed, leaving Maggie sitting alone in the kitchen. Looking around, she caught sight of a photo on her fridge and stood to look at it more closely. It was one off the reel she had had developed on Christmas Eve and showed both Mulder and Scully playing out in the snow. She thought of how happy they had been then, even after Bill's first outburst and hoped that this second rift could be healed just as quickly so that they could get back to being that happy once again.