From: dryad@puritycontrol.co.uk   
      
   dDisclaimer: Alas, alack, they are not mine.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.   
      
   Title: 2790 Vine Street   
   Author: Dryad (at puritycontrol dot co dot uk)   
   Rating: mytharc   
   Spoilers: Pilot, Demons   
   Archive: You betcha.  A note where would be nice.   
   Summary: December 27, 1973   
   Feedback: Be brutal.  You know you want to.   
   Note: Written for the X Files Lyric Wheel.   
      
      
   His mother smoothed her raven hair, tucking invisible strands back under   
   the tortoise-shell barette.  Her reflection checked the diamond studs in   
   her ears, the pearl necklace, blotted her ruby lips one more time.   
      
   Dad swallowed the last of his scotch, set the empty rocks glass on the   
   sidetable, then buttoned his fawn-colored winter coat. "For god's sakes,   
   Teena, aren't you done yet?"   
      
   Fox idly kicked the settle's bottom panel, unable to decide which was   
   worse, staying at home or going to the party.   
      
   "Bill, do I look all right?  I'm not overdressed, am I?  Maybe I   
   shouldn't wear Grandmama's neck - "   
      
   "You look pretty, Mom," Fox said, heading for the door.   
      
   "Wait just a minute, young man," she called.  She turned him around,   
   fussed with his jacket, rewrapped his striped wool scarf. "There we are.   
     Now you look like a proper young man about to go to a Christmas party."   
      
   Fox grimaced and looked away from her too-bright eyes, her fixed smile.   
       He glanced at Dad, who'd had a long conversation with Jack Daniels   
   all afternoon.   
      
   How could they even consider going to a party when Samantha was only a   
   month gone?  And why did he have to pretend everything was okay?   
      
   They drove to the Wiltses despite the clear roads.  Mom was concerned   
   with turning an ankle in the ridiculously high shoes she insisted on   
   wearing, even though no one could see them beneath her black gown.  Fox   
   sat in the back and wished he could avoid the whole thing, stay at home   
   and read or maybe watch whatever was on tv.   
      
   ~*~   
      
   He knows everyone, of course.  He's seen them all since Thanksgiving.   
   He knows Caroline Tilton got a plane ticket to Cancun to visit her   
   brother, and that Jamie Eckland won't be coming back from the Mainland   
   because of the thing he did to Mr Mayhew's chickens.  He knows Mrs   
   Millhouse's cousin Daniel paid too much attention to Hannah Mayhew, and   
   that Daniel left the Vineyard on Christmas day.  He knows he tried to   
   ignore the presents that sat unwrapped under the tree, and that he   
   wishes they weren't there at all.   
      
   After a quick detour into the kitchen to grab a glass of cherry Kool-Aid -   
      
   ~ Help yourself, Fox.  Deborah and the boys are in the Den ~   
      
   - he skirts around the adults -   
      
   ~ Hallo Fox, have you had a happy Christmas? ~   
   ~ Mulder boy, strange thing ~   
   ~ Mulder ~   
   * laughter *   
   ~ world today is coming to ~   
      
   - and finally makes it to the Den, which in reality is an ell that could   
   be turned into an apartment as it has a seperate front door, and enough   
   of a porch to keep the snow off your head when it rumbles off the roof.   
     There's a double bedroom, a full bath, and the living room where all   
   the kids are, Russ and Debbie and Gideon and Jeremiah and Joshua, even   
   though Jeremiah and Josh are 20 and drinking beer.  Jaqui Millhouse and   
   Hannah are in the corner looking at Tiger Beat, the one with Randolph   
   Mantooth and Donny Osmond on the cover.  He still has that one, hidden   
   under his mattress, keeping it safe.  He would have kept the other   
   issues as well, but Aunt Bea had thrown them out in a frenzy the day he   
   came out of the hospital.   
      
   Ben, Hannah's five year old little brother, is in the corner too,   
   coloring.  Hannah's all right, a bit weird, but that's only to be   
   expected.  He steps into the room and a chorus of   
      
   ~ Hi ~ 's   
      
   - greets him, and he's glad, because he dreads meeting people now.  He   
   drinks his Kool-Aid and wanders over to the bookshelves, of which there   
   are three, scans the titles for something fall back upon. Mr Wiltse,   
   whose domain this is, has lots of books on history and fishing and the   
   Napoleonic Wars.  Many of the titles are in French and German.  There's   
   nothing of interest, no sci-fi, although somebody's shoved an Agatha   
   Christie into a space where it doesn't belong.   
      
   He's read them all since Thanksgiving, Sherlock Holmes and the Hardy   
   Boys, too, but nothing can shake his conviction that what happened in   
   the books is neither as simple or dramatic as what's happened to him.   
      
   Memories are fragile, and no matter what he imagines the time remains   
   blank, a dark empty place.  She's there, and then she isn't.  He cannot   
   explain because he does not know why.   
      
   ~ Fox? ~  Debbie pushes her wheat-blonde hair behind her ears and   
   motions towards a fancy Parcheesi board made of exotic wood and carved   
   stone pieces in red and blue.  ~ Want to play? ~   
      
   He shrugs.  Debbie's beating the pants off of him when Hannah announces   
   that dinner's ready.   
      
   The kid's table is set up in one corner of the living room in the main   
   house.  Gideon, being 18, is allowed to sit in the dining room with the   
   adults and Jeremiah and Josh, so it's just Hannah and Ben and Jacqui and   
   Russ and Debbie besides himself.   
      
   The dinner is buffet-style, so he easily avoids the turkey and stuffing,   
   he doesn't like turkey or stuffing any more, but he takes some mashed   
   potates and a couple of slices of ham a l'orange, with pearl onion gravy   
   and peas.  He eats until he's done, puts his plate away in the kitchen,   
   decides he has room for dessert.   
      
   Mrs. Millhouse and Mrs Cavendish are standing in front of the dessert   
   table, making no effort to soften their voices while he politely waits   
   for them to move.   
      
   ~ Cynthia, I'm so glad you gave me 'I'm OK, You're OK'.  It's just what   
   Jack and I needed, and Jaqui's been so much happier as well ~   
      
   Mrs Cavendish nods eagerly and touches Mrs Millhouse on the arm. ~ So,   
   what do you think - should we give it to Teena?  I'm thinking it's   
   exactly what she and Bill could use at a time like this ~   
      
   ~ Along with the Joy of Sex ~ smirks Mrs Millhouse.  She looks at Fox   
   when she says it, then turns away and drifts towards the kitchen, Mrs   
   Cavendish on her heels. ~ I hear Brenda's coming home for New Year's? ~   
      
   ~ Yes, but only if the weather holds.  She's absolutely loving Gallaudet ~   
      
   Fox sidles to the table and grabs a bowl.  He shoves a slice of rum   
   soaked bundt cake into it, tops the cake with a scoop of homemade black   
   raspberry ice cream and returns to the den.   
      
   Russ puts on his new Eagles album, the one he got for Christmas, and Fox   
   starts to relax a little, because no one's spoken to him besides his dad -   
      
   ~ Having a good time, son? ~   
   ~ it's okay ~   
   ~ Good.  It's important that we try and get over what's happened.  Your   
   mother and I are very proud of you tonight.  We know it's difficult, but   
   we can get through this.  We will get through this ~   
      
   ~*~   
      
   Midnight plus thirty minutes and he's brushed his teeth, changed into   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)