#MonikaFileFan
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Collector's Edition: Reviving that Love
Let's have an assortment of mature, (mostly) fluffy, coupley Revival fics, shall we?
This list only scratches the surface; but hopefully it's enough to soothe a particular itch.
**Note**: Another Revival list I've done is Beefy Revival Mulder (and Other Muscular Mentions)-- perfect pairing to this, I believe.
Loose chronological order below~
@oohnotvery/the_eternal_optimist's Always Wanted
But he has a key to her place, because they’ve always had keys to the other’s place, even in horrible times. It arrived in the mail one day, sealed tightly in a bubble-wrapped envelope, addressed from her to him with a handwritten note that he hadn’t even bothered to read before crushing it up in a ball and tossing it into the trash can. Several hours later, in a fit of frustration, he had fished the note out of the trash and shoved it, unread, into a kitchen drawer.
Breakup Mulder realizes Scully has been waiting for him.
@aloysiavirgata’s (Ao3, WBM, Gossamer, LJ, Alt. LJ)
Si Hoc Legere Potes, Liberaliter Educatus
"It was very important to Deputy Director Skinner that you two meet with me. He felt that you needed some guidance before you could resume any kind of professional partnership."
I grit my teeth. You're a dead man, Skinner.
S10 Mulder and Scully run laps around the FBI recruitment therapist.
I need a fic with Scully's stolen dog Dagoo, and her wearing a Knicks tshirt.
“This is the one I ripped a piece off of for Boggs, Scully. This isn’t just my Knicks shirt. This is my favorite Knicks shirt. I’ve been looking for it!”
She pulls Tesla closer. “Stop violating the fourth amendment, Agent.”
“Stop violating the eighth commandment, Doctor.”
Post The Weremonster Mulder and Scully debate dog names and Knicks T-shirts.
What's your Mulder and Scully Thanksgiving sex headcanon?
"I'm going to die," she mumbles, her eyes half-lidded in tryptophanic stupor.
Mulder and Scully are stuffed after dinner.
@flukemen?/@pinebluffvariants/scienceandmysticism/contradictiontonature's (Ao3) Tie (prompt #1)
“Hello?”
“You know it’s me.” He did. “What are you doing?”
“I’m shopping. And I hope you’re using your bluetooth.” He could tell she was driving from the white noise over the sound of her breathing.
Mulder uses Scully's expertise to pick out a tie.
@hemisphaeric's (Ao3)
"Mulder you need new clothes"
The next day they decided to go into town and do some shopping, after Scully had had to tell Mulder for the tenth time he needed clothes and that no, he couldn’t wear those old ones just to seduce her.
Scully helps Mulder pick out new suits for his new job.
Let me carry some of the pain for you
Suddenly warm hands were touching him but he didn’t react. He couldn’t react, feeling so distant from everything. Scully was speaking, he recognized her voice, but not her words, those were like a white noise in the back of his head, which was so loudly screaming.
“I am better Scully, for real” he didn’t realize he had started talking at first, but he couldn’t stop, tears fogging up his vision.
Mulder panics, thinking Scully will leave him again.
touch.
Things had changed again in the last period though, she had come home; she had been spending time there with him more and more frequently.
He understood her necessity to take things slowly, to test the territory before diving in head first, but he felt ready for it.
Mulder is glad to have Scully back.
Mulder, Scully and Elon Musk
She pushed him away and swatted at his arm. “You woke me up early to talk about Elon Musk??”
Mulder wakes Scully early for Elon's rocket news.
grumpysimon's Morse Code
He asks you for a pen. The genius always loses things. Your coffee comes and he spills a little on the napkin. He taps on the table. Morse code, maybe. You’re too tired to figure out what he’s saying to you in secret. You say his name and that smile is more crooked than ever.
Scully secretly loves Mulder's obsessive passion.
@baronessblixen/Baroness_Blixen's
Belong
He closes his eyes and counts. What will it be, he wonders. The sound of a car or their creaky door?
Another minute passes before he hears the soft squeak behind him.
Mulder tells Scully he's "done okay without her."
A few months after they're back on the x-files, Mulder's notices that his neck and shoulders are sore.
Mulder feels better and promises - with a wink - to do the same for her, she just needs to ask. She doesn't ask but Mulder knows her feet are sore a few days later, after hours of walking around. He silently starts massaging her feet while consorting in his hotel room, half-empty take-out containers on the bed next to them....
Mulder doesn't replace his chair-- which is just fine, because Scully becomes his masseuse.
Mulder giving Scully a foot massage
“Exactly. My feet hurt and I need a break. I’m not…” She trails off again as she massages her foot.
“Not young anymore?” Mulder offers and her head shoots up like a rocket, her eyes shooting daggers.
“Not used to it anymore.”
Post Ghoulie Scully's high heels finally catch up to her.
There's No Place Like Home (Ao3)
He loves her stubbornness. Once, she told him that she fell in love with him because he was stubborn. Well. That was the pot calling the kettle black. No one is as stubborn as his Scully.
AU-- Nothing Lasts Forever Mulder brings an injured Scully home.
Growing Old (with You) (Ao3)
“Just wait til you’re my age,” he jokes.
“55 looks good on you.” She proves her point with a kiss on his nose. “I can only hope to look as good as you when I turn 55.”
“You will. And I will remind you of it. If I’m invited to your birthday, that is.”
“You’re always invited to my birthday.”
Scully drops in for Mulder's 55th, assuring him his aging concerns are overblown.
A Study in Chemistry
"I didn't know you cared for this kind of movie, Scully." Mulder, sprawling on her bed, in her motel room, looks slightly disgusted at the small screen where two generic actors share a truly boring, less than passionate kiss in a typical, cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie.
"I don't," she says, returning her attention to the case report they're supposed to be working on. Despite his words, Mulder's eyes are glued to the movie and Scully can't help but smile.
Mulder and Scully bridge the gap between them-- and all because of Hallmark and memories.
Surprises Are Best Served Ice-Cold - Chapter 1
They both start towards each other at the same time, laughing.
“Mulder, I don’t remember how to stop,” she says, trying to get her skates under control.
“I’ve got you,” he says calmly and she hopes he’s right because she loses her balance, stumbles the last few steps towards him and crashes right into his chest, knocking him to the ground.
Mulder surprises Scully with a frozen over lake for Christmas.
A Day in May (Ao3)
Mulder puts on cheesy Christmas music and turns down the lights, creating a mood. They share a cup of sugary hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and whipped cream. When Scully raises her eyebrows at the cream, Mulder dips a finger in and deposits a blob on her nose.
“Live a little, Scully.”
And she does.
Mulder forgoes sleep to help Scully decorate their tree on Christmas Eve.
Night Out
"I can't breathe." Mulder is pouting. She wants to be angry with him - all of this is his own fault, after all - but he looks so miserable and yet so adorable that she feels sympathetic. She strokes his cheek and smiles at him.
"I'll make you make some soup."
"Are you sure I'm not dying?" he asks again, coughing. She offers him some tea and he sips it noisily.
Mulder gets sick after a night of Squatchin.
@wtfmulder/@momdadimpoppunk‘s (Ao3)
post-Plus One
“You reasoned your doppelgänger out of existence,” he says flatly. She smiles against his bare shoulder, nodding.
“She was a very reasonable woman.”
He laughs softly, the rumble of it caressing her cheek.
Post Plus One Mulder and Scully catch a few winks.
ficlet; twenty-six years
On her side of the desk, he has procured for her a plain blue baseball cap, a skinny caramel macchiato, and a not-skinny blueberry muffin.
She sits down as he hums and types away at something, taking a bite of the muffin and putting the cap on her head.
Scully always guesses which anniversary Mulder is celebrating.
fluff 🤢
They’re packing up the basement just one last time. They both learned early in life that saying goodbye is so much easier when it’s a choice, and the moment holds no bitterness, no fear.
Post Revival Scully finds flowers she'd once given Mulder in their basement office.
@myassbrokethefall's untitled rm9sbg93zxjz post-ep
Scully had chanced to see a picture of a blobfish on the internet some months ago and he wasn't sure he had ever, in their years and years together, seen her laugh so hard. It was one of the best things that had ever happened to him, frankly, watching the outsizedly hysterical reaction of Dana Scully MD, his serious scientist partner, to a picture of a lumpy, slimy, theatrically frowning fish on the internet. He had brought it up at every opportunity for weeks, renamed the wireless network at the house Blobfish Cove, found a way to work a reference to it into a meeting with Skinner, once printed out a picture of it and left it on Scully’s pillow, and watched in utter delight as she got the helpless giggles every single time. (Even the Skinner time. He hadn't even asked, just looked wearily at some point behind their heads for a few seconds before sighing and continuing on.)
AU-- Robot episode Mulder dreamed up the whole thing.
@onpaperfirst's (Ao3) Honey Hi
The doors slid open and Mulder wrangled a cart from the corral.
“They set up the little rooms and it makes you feel like you’re at home,” she said. “It dulls your senses. You forget you’re in public. And all of a sudden you’re in the middle of a fight about which rug matches the couch.”
“Let’s not fight in Ikea, Scully. It’s so bourgeois.”
Part II to Home, Home, Mulder and Scully's romantic life is examined through the lens of perfectly balanced humor... and their IKEA trip.
@ghostbustermelanieking's (Ao3) bearing north (Ao3)
“The cops out front will stop him,” Mulder says comfortingly.
She nods. Her skull is still pounding, but she feels limp in his arms, safe. “I tried to fight him off,” she says. “I almost did. But he got angry and shoved me into the pool. I hit my head.”
Mulder takes Scully home after she's injured while pursuing a perp.
"You’re beautiful, you know that?” (Ao3)
She turns her eyes up to meet his, burning blue eyes in the night. “You’re… all I have left now, Mulder.” Names are left unsaid between them, but they all register in his brain, like a knife. “I think my leaving was for the best, but I’m ready to come back. You’re my family, Mulder.”
Scully proposes to her Mulder.
@settle-down-frohike's Headcanon: It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota.
It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota. She was flipping through a dossier and he was dozing, as per usual. She heard a mumbled version of her name and threw a distracted “Hm?” his way without glancing up. “Scully.” Firmer, more forceful this time. She looked over, annoyed, and spat “What Mu-“ and realized he was still asleep, but fitfully so.
My Struggle II Scully hopes she can comfort Mulder once more.
@lilydalexf/LilydaleXF 's My Andromeda
He looks back at the road and answers honestly, "I didn't watch many shows. The ones I really wanted to see I wasn't allowed to watch. Except after excessive begging."
"And on nights you could successfully sneak into the TV room after your parents fell asleep." It's a statement, not a question.
"You know me so well, Scully."
Mulder and Scully imagine a night of stargazing.
Eternity Awaits
"Mulder…. We need to go to bed."
"You don't want to freeze together?"
"Not on this decrepit couch I don't."
Post This Mulder and Scully discuss their eternal conversations.
Apostrophic/@mappingthexfiles's
This
Mulder said Push a third time and they both groaned with the effort of heaving the massive piece another three feet, barricading it firmly against the bedroom door.
“What does this,” he gasped, “remind you of?”
Scully, drawing in deep gulps of air, pushed herself up on her elbows, propped on the edge of the chest. She did not say the fleeting thought that had gone through her head: maybe it was not a bad thing Mulder had not been present at the birth of their child.
“Um,” Scully said.
“Yeah,” Mulder said. Panting out, “Towers of furniture.”
Post This Mulder and Scully move their furniture back into place.
The Scully Treehouse of Horror
The automatic taps don’t turn on and off for him. He’s invisible to its sensors. The alarm, on the other hand, blares every time he walks in the door. Sometimes, even, once he’s inside the door and has been for some time. He’ll get up at night for a drink of water and Scully gets jarred out of postcoital bliss by the klaxon siren of intruder alert, intruder alert, Mulder cursing at the sink in the kitchen, yelling for Scully....
If she yells back for him to punch in the code, he does the wrong birthdate or botches the spelling of Queequeg. More often than not, she pads out in bare feet, tying her robe, entering the right code, filling the glass with cold water, sleepily herding a grumbling Mulder back to the warm bed.
Scully's house hates Mulder; and she loves him all the more for it.
Lapsed_Scholar's Wake-Up Calls
On their way into work, his phone rings. It’s just a wrong number, and the other commuters don’t really take any notice, but Scully arches her eyebrow.
At her questioning look, “Do you recognize this theme?”
“Vaguely. Should I?”
“It’s our theme song, Scully! And I think it suits us. Kind of spooky.” A beat. “Don’t you remember our movie?”
If possible, her eyebrow climbs higher.
Mulder always ratted he and Scully out to people-- and still does now, years and years later.
@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys's
Prompt: ballet slippers, chocolate pudding in a can, Wyoming
It was like a Carlton Varney fever dream; like a brothel with aspirations. Mulder actually paused in the doorway and leaned back out to double check the address number on the side of the house.
“Wow,” Scully said, daintily setting down her suitcase a few feet inside the door. She wanted to make a joke, but Mulder looked appalled.
Mulder books a truly terrible vacation spot.
Prompt Drabble Collection - Chapter 12
“I want something I can’t make.”
It was Day 18 of self-isolation and if you looked at quarantine like the stages of grief, they had rolled easily past panic and guilt, skipped loneliness altogether and were deep in the grip of isolation.
Scully shot him a look.
Mulder and Scully are sick and tired of COVID quarantine.
Prompt: Mulder & Scully vacation Christmas/Hanukah at the Quonochontaug cabin post season 11
“When was the last time you stayed here?” she asked, wrinkling her sensitive nose at the smell of dust, of mildew.
One suitcase on the floor at his feet, one still in his hand, Mulder closed the door behind him, his face ponderous. “Overnight?” he clarified. “I think I was nineteen?”
Post Revival Mulder and Scully spend the New Years in the old Mulder summer home.
outsquatchin94's Joy to You and Me
“Those hipsters… But Scully, that was such a look. Also, I hate to break this to you, but I’m quite sure it’s in the back spare room somewhere in a box.”
For a moment, he thinks she’ll spring off the couch and go find the offending object. She doesn’t though, she only smiles a little.
“I think we turned out okay in the end, even without the sleeping bags.” And Mulder has to agree with her.
Mulder and Scully discuss her old jacket.
@msrafterdark/msrafterdark's A concept : slow dancing on an ill lit front porch late in the evening while it’s thundering and maybe just starting to rain?
When they’re like this again, as though no time has passed, the pleasure of the familiarity is so good it almost hurts her. To have him well again, to be safe and wanted and in his arms is only made sweeter by the fact that the knocks and falls they have taken ultimately only made them stronger.
Mulder and Scully, the Unremarkable House and dancing.
@tofuttim's Comfort and Chaos (Ao3)
The rain pelted relentlessly against the windows of the small cabin. The night air was cold, but inside the cabin, a fire and a shared bed with Mulder kept her warm. The sound of the storm thrusted her thoughts back to the beginning.
The beginning of forever.
Scully asks Mulder what he remembers about their first case.
@defnotmeyo's (Ao3) The Cost of Living is Just Right
The beds are wrapped in white and light grey sheets with sky blue pillow cases on the spare pillows. The tables all look like something you would have seen on the Jetsons.
It takes a bit of time for Mulder to feel comfortable at Scully's apt.
Ingot Silver
“Birthday time, huh? We could go uh,” he licked some sauce off his finger as he moved a dish over to the sink, “we could go squatchin’.” He turned and winked at her.
Mulder learned plans an evening dinner for he and his Scully.
the “before i even needed glasses” line
Then, on days he doesn’t hate himself (and those days are multiplying and growing closer together all the time), he remembers he has a son, healthy and alive. He has the love of his life and while she’s not home yet, her toothbrush is back in his bathroom.
Post Cathedral episode Mulder isn't letting his homie get away ever again.
It really looks like Mulder when youre seeing two of everything.
“Mulder… you… you hurled a raccoon down our stairs.”
He shrugs, sheepish as ever.
“Like… you hurled him.”
“It was for Daggoo!”
A raccoon holds the Mulder-Scully household hostage.
I always laugh at that bit in detour where mulder is like “if ur lucky u get seventy-five (75) yrs. if ur rly lucky u get eighty
She refrains from rolling her eyes, instead slides in front of him and slinks an arm around him, patting that soft of his oblique threatening to turn into a love handle.
“Charlie has a decent head of hair,” Mulder mumbles.
“Charlie is four years younger. And you made it passed 50, Mulder. You won.”
Scully reassures Mulder he still looks gooooooooood.
BONUS (HAD TO INCLUDE THESE FOR THE MSR)
@monikafilefan/MonikaFileFan's
Language of Love: Prompts of Angst and Romance - Chapter 6
A sudden rise in emotion crests in her throat when she sees the wondrous look of awe and admiration seize the love of her life.
It’s the exact look she saw grace is face eighteen years ago.
“Mulder…” she whispers, raking her fingers through his silky hair as he grins up at her with a trembling chin.
Post Revival Mulder feels his baby move during the witching hour.
39 and 82 from the prompt list 😁/Just Breathe
“She’s here and she’s beautiful, honey, she’s just—”
“What, Mulder?” Scully shot up onto her elbows with her heart in her throat. “She’s just what?”
“It’s fine. She’s fine, Scully. She just looks like a he.”
Her jaw dropped. “What are you—are you sure?” Their slippery, pink baby covered in layers of vernix and blood mewled in protest as Mulder lifted the tiny bundle away from the comfort of his warm chest and pointed wide-eyed between its legs.
Mulder and Scully and unexpectedly fast Halloween baby makes a chaotically competent three.
RoseThornhill's
Spooky Mulder: The Revenge
Excited dad!Mulder wants a spooky theme for his Halloween daughter's name.
Alice is a Punk Rocker
Mulder, Scully, and their Halloween baby are happy together, despite a few bumpy patches.
@myownsuperintendent/MyOwnSuperintendent’s Renewal
She tries to shift in the bed, to touch him too, and he stops and pulls back. “Don’t try to sit up,” he says. “They made me promise I wouldn’t disturb you.” He’s trying to smile at her through the tears in his eyes. “You’re all right,” he repeats. “Please don’t scare me like that again. Not ever again.”
Post Revival Scully loses a lot of blood during delivery, which helps convince Jackson to stay with his family and new sister a bit longer.
Thanks for reading~
Enjoy!
#txf#fic#Collector's Edition#Reviving that Love#outsquatchin94#lilydalexf#onpaperfirst#sigritandtheelves#DarlaBlack#monikafilefan#RoseThornhill#oohnotvery#the_eternal_optimist#settle-down-frohike#myownsuperintendent#hemisphaeric#wtmulder#aloysiavirgata#defnotmeyo#slippinmickeys#baronessblixen#xfiles#x-files#the x files#xf fanfic#Revival#Mulder#Scully#MSR
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hi, i’m not sure if it was you or another blog in the past that shared the s10 bts photos of david, gillian, and sheila in “home again” where sheila hugs david, but i’m looking for a hi-res image of this if anyone has it to share???
I don't think it was me. I wish it was, though, because it's driving me crazy that I can't find the original source.
I think you're talking about a behind the scenes video from "Home Again" when Sheila Larkin filmed her last X-Files scene. Best I could find was this gif and broken links to the video (like here). I definitely remember the video, but if I saved it I hid it well in a folder deep in my computer files and can't find it now.
If anyone can help, please let us know!
#behind the scenes#home again#asks#monikafilefan#times when my enormous x-files folder is proven unruly
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20 Questions for Fanfic Writers
Tagged by @slippinmickeys <3
1. How many works do you have on A03?
75 (maybe one day I’ll reach 100?)
2. What’s your total A03 word count?
589,435
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Basically just txf fandom but I have dabbled in GoT, The Fall, and Sex Ed.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Five Years and a Lifetime
Only One Choice
All Eyes Lead to the Truth co-written
Together
Language of Love: Prompts of Angst and Romance
5. Do you respond to comments?
I absolutely do, just not every one of them. Unfortunately A03 counts author responses as comments and that bugs me, but I wholly appreciate any and all feedback!
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Oh damn. Probably a chapter in my prompts collection called That Night in 2014 when Scully left, and one called Bone Deep set post Tithonus are angsty enough. I love writing angst, but prefer to leave my fic on less of a dreary note.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Ha it turns out I write a lot of fic with happier endings, but I guess Brother Bill ended very happily considering it was during the cancer arc. There’s plenty more I could’ve chosen though.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Not that I know of.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what?
Yes, I mix it up. Lots of soft, sensual sex, but also some downright dirty smut too. Depends on the tone of the story.
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
I wrote one where Mulder and Scully go see Jean Milburn from Sex Education and have a therapy session. Coming Undone. It’s ridiculous and funny and was way too fun to write haha!
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I know of but I hope not.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes but I can’t remember which one 🫣
13. Have you ever co-written before?
YES many times and I love it. I’ve written with several amazing writers @cultureisdarkbeer @admiralty-xfd @fridaysat9 @gaycrouton @slippinmickeys one several different fics.
14. What’s your all time fave ship?
MSR ofc! I do also love Jamie/Claire and Stella/Reed.
15. What WIP you want to finish?
I have this Unruhe fic that isn’t even that long but I cannot seem to fucking finish it for the life of me. I will eventually though.
16. What are your writing strengths?
Details? Creating a scene and capturing the characters as close to THEM as I possibly can comes easier to me than other things.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Probably dialogue and writing longer novel length fics.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
I want to dive into the Outlander fandom very badly but I’m too scared to try Gaelic/accents and be happy with the outcome. Maybe one day.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
X-Files! I was just a wee 15yr old on my dialup desktop trying to write a post FTF fic on the original XF storyboards. I never did finish it past the second chapter.
20. Fave fics you’ve written?
I have a few I really love, but I am kind of hard on myself as a writer. I enjoy writing but can’t seem to reread my own stuff and come away beaming about it. The ones off the top of my head I’m proud and have not mentioned above of are A Life to Remember - an AU were Mulder and Scully are doctors and meet under interesting circumstances. Lots of UST, angst and family fluff as they flashback to their past on how they met.The Things They Say in the Dark is another one I love. It has angst, lots of hurt/comfort (not to mention Scully washing Mulder’s hair post Amor Fati) and serious yearning! Honestly love these two so feel free to check them out if you haven’t, I’d be blessed if you loved them too!
Tagging @today-in-fic and anyone else who wants to join in. This was fun!
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Indulgence by @monikafilefan
Read by @red2007
Please leave the author a comment if you enjoyed their story 😘
#monikafilefan#audiofanficpod#audio fanfic#audio fiction#audio fanfiction#the fall#stella gibson#stella x reed#pride fic#wlw fic#podfic#SoundCloud
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15 Questions 15 Answers
Thanks @randomfoggytiger
1. Are you named after anyone?
My Dad said yes, my Mom said no. So, maybe? It’s a very unusual name and in my entire life I’ve only met a handful of other people with it.
2. When was the last time you cried?
Yesterday when talking about my deceased father.
3. Do you have kids?
Three. Girl, boy, girl.
4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
I sure did when I was younger. It was my default. Now almost never.
5. What sports do you play/have played?
Zero. I don’t even really like to watch them much. Baseball is OK.
6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?
Their height.
7. What’s your eye color?
A warm brown, almost amber.
8. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings, if I have to chose. But I actually prefer gritty realism.
9. Any special talents?
Special? I have talents, but I think they are pretty run of the mill, such as playing the piano.
10. Where were you born?
California, US. But I have lived many, many places.
11. What are your hobbies?
Sewing. I love to make my own clothes. Anything X-Files. Learning Finnish.
12. Do you have any pets?
Two cats, Mochi and Clementine.
13. How tall are you?
5’11”, which is probably why I always notice people’s height.
14. Favorite subject in school?
Music, English, and History
15. Dream job?
Other than Agent Mulder’s personal assistant, you mean? Composer. Which I am, so lucky me, I guess. Although I would like to be a world-famous Pulitzer Prize winning composer, which I am not. So there’s that.
Let’s see your answers
#paperheartsarts#mashnotesofthemythopoeic#the-rock-in-my-shoe#notapsychologistfox#monikafilefan#medicaldoctordana#all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth#cecilysass#sweet-scully-sighs#agent-troi#burritoscully#wtfmulder#Darwin-xf#slippinmickeys#storybycorey
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All Time Favs
I began reading fanfic in my teens during the original run of the show. There were lonnng breaks from it, but coming back to the fandom in 2017 reignited my interest. I now keep a spreadsheet as well as a "to read" list. I already have almost 600 logged (not including 5 years), so I wanted to share my top favorites. Divided into my 4 favorite genres (AU, casefic, angst + romance, and smut + romance) and in no particular order...
*Alternate Universe*
I used to wonder why someone would choose to read AU. Then I read one of these and was completely blown away.
Katherine of Ireland by Jenna Tooms (gossamer)
Katherine, princess of Ireland is married to Walter, king of Angora. When Walter is killed during battle, Katherine is taken by the enemy, FitzJames. William is FitzJames right hand. When FitzJames orders her to be beaten (even after discovering her pregnancy) William devises a plan to save her, heal her and get her back to Ireland. Will William always be seen as the enemy or will Katherine come to see him for who he truly is?
By the dim and flaring lamps by @sunflowerseedsandscience (ao3)
Civil war AU’s are my jam and this was one of the first ones I read. When Mulder discovers (disguised boy) Scully bathing in a waterfall by darkness and realizes what he is dealing with will remain etched in my brain forever.
In darkness by DKSculder (ao3)
What if Scully was married to Daniel? What if Daniel was a serial killer? What if Mulder was a VCU agent still? This is an unfinished work, but the idea is unlike any other I’ve come across.
Blinded by the white light by DashaK (ao3)
Need I say more? When Mulder and Scully find each other after colonization, will they remember each other and will they act on it?
The second side of light by @scapegrace74-blog (ao3)
Oregon Trail. Mulder is leading scully and Melissa across the trail when Melissa dies. They end up getting very close to one another on the journey.
Paracelsus by profuckslove (ao3)
Another amazing civil war AU. When Mulder goes looking for his lost son and comes across a pregnant scully what will happen to them?
Hiareth by profuckslove (gossamer)
Wales 1215. Scully escapes the king by marrying Mulder, the prince of wales. Marriage leads to love and fighting off dangerous men.
Paracosm by @softnow (ao3)
This is an unfinished work. College AU. Mulder has a crush on the library girl, will she return his advances?
A companion unobtrusive by @slippinmickeys (ao3)
A college AU where scully is looking for a roommate and Mulder is looking for a room. Melissa introduces them and the rest is history.
Qui Si by Trixie (gossamer)
After accepting an offer from a gypsy to go back to a life with Samantha in it, Mulder, a child psychologist, helps Scully, a PhD, get over her past.
You he did not fail by extraordinarily_ordinary (ao3)
Scully abruptly leaves TXF after surviving cancer and moves to LA to start anew. She is dating when Mulder is assigned as a profiler to a case she is working and they have to deal with things left undealt with.
Five years and a lifetime by @monikafilefan (ao3)
Mulder is a Peds psychiatrist. Scully is a Peds neurologist. They meet at a conference and have a one night stand. What happens when they come to work together 5 years later and Scully is a single mom?
Amish country by lolabeegood (gossamer)
Mulder and Scully go undercover in Amish country trying to catch a serial rapist while navigating very traditional values and roles.
You and me by lolabeegood (gossamer)
Mulder leaves his wealthy parents to serve under Scully’s father in the military. In order for her to stay safe, fed, and clothed she needs to marry.
The mountain man by aka Jake (gossamer)
Scully is sent from nyc (where she was becoming a doctor) to Montana at her father’s wishes. He wants her to marry a lieutenant under his command and not practice medicine, but she becomes intrigued with a local mountain man.
The countess/the earl by @slippinmickeys (ao3)
When scully is to be married to an old duke in order to save her family from financial ruin, a strange, alluring earl steps in to save her.
*Case*
There is nothing quite like a casefic. It's classic x-files and I am here for it. Writers in this fandom are so talented with their abilities to create a fic that rivals/trumps actual episodes.
Perchitor by @aloysiavirgata (ao3)
A little girl goes missing in the mountains with the superstition of Jenny Greenteeth to blame. Mulder and Scully investigate while navigating a new physical relationship.
Omens by @lepus-arcticus (ao3)
I read this one as a WIP and was anxiously checking for an update every night. There were several lines in this fic that made me gasp. Cancer arc angst. Give me it alllll.
XII by fragilevixen (ao3)
A killer that romanticizes every victim. His next target? Guess who. *coughSCULLYcough*
Hearts desire by malibusunset (ao3)
While in a small town scully runs into an old BF and starts wondering why she doesn’t prioritize her dating. She decides to go for it. The author makes me like Scully’s old flame. That says something. When the MSR convo finally does come, I thought I’d die from the slow burn.
Resurgam by opheila_interrupted (ao3)
One of the most xfiles like cases I have ever read. Remains unsolved at the end and has our agents investigating ghosts near Mulder’s hometown while dealing with their own (Emily & Teena).
Universal invariants/laws of motion by @syntax6
Scully is engaged to Ethan throughout the first season while her and Mulder’s relationship is deepening and then consummated right before she is abducted. How do two guys in love handle Scully’s abduction and what happens when she is returned?
All the way home/head over heels by @syntax6
Mulder is pulled into a past unsolved VCU case of a killer with a shoe fetish while navigating a new physical relationship with scully. When scully is targeted, Mulder has to gamble with his personal feelings while working to find the killer.
Queens gambit by Suzanne Schramm (gossamer)
Under Kersh, Mulder and Scully are assigned to a VCU case Mulder worked in Utah in 89’. The killer was put to death and then revenge began. Local mines and children involved.
*angst + romance*
This is my crux. Angst in any way, shape, or form. Add in some slow burn/ust and finally the rst *chefs kiss* particularly fond of Ethan fics and cancer arc.
Contact high by penumbra (gossamer)
Still feeling the residual effects of the spores post field trip, our agents try out Mulder’s new waterbed.
Early on by @sunflowerseedsandscience (ao3)
10 vignettes set during season 1. Our baby agents are becoming close, but Ethan is still around. How does scully navigate her relationship with Ethan while working with Mulder?
Center Mass by @kateyes224 (ao3)
Another Ethan fic set in season 1. Mulder and Scully make an effort to get to know one another… in more ways than one. And when Mulder gets aroused at Scully’s marksmanship it’s all over for me.
One blue line by sarie_fairy (ao3)
IVF arc. Scully is defeated by a negative pregnancy test. When Mulder tries to comfort her, she suggests having sex. I just remember wondering if I was reading or actually doing the act myself considering how detailed it was.
Salt by anjou (gossamer)
I remember reading this and being like WTF is happening to only have it all make sense at the end leaving me speechless.
Triptych by @iconicscullyoutfits (ao3)
My favorite FTF, post bee, how the f*ck did they get out of anarctica fic.
Snowbound by malibusunset (gossamer)
After missing their flight and being snowed in their rental on the side of the road, discussions lead to their relationship. Once they’re recused they are put up in an inn with 1 room. Dun, dun, dunnnn.
The ache by @storybycorey (ao3)
1999 Mulder has a visit with 2015 Mulder to urge him to get help with his depression and not lose scully.
Love bites by living_underground (ao3)
A review of vampirism cases throughout the years. Hickeys from Ed. Love bites from Mulder.
Goshen by bonetree (ao3)
Mulder and Scully are in a car accident where their car can’t be seen. Major injuries lead to near death experiences and visions of Emily.
All that our senses can perceive by wonderland (ao3)
Mulder’s POV looking over Scully’s transformation from girl to woman and how all of his senses perceive her.
Caught in the Act I by parrotfish (gossamer)
Although the whole series is amazing, the first part is my favorite. I love when scully lays into the review panel about being sexist.
The things she carries by @edierone (ao3)
One of my favorite cancer arc fics. When Mulder confronts Scully 3 years later on the porch I literally stopped breathing.
Red valerian series by dashakay (ao3)
Scully looks to skinner for comfort during a grueling case, starting a 6 month affair. Will scully ever love him or will the buried truth prevail?
Sex and Loathing by malibusunset (ao3)
Scully takes a drunk Mulder home after Roche. He makes a move and they have terrible sex. After 2 years of poking at each other they face things head on after Mulder almost dies in PBV.
Snakebitten by @onpaperfirst (ao3)
Set throughout season 5. My favorite season. Say no more.
Five years and one night by Shalimar (gossamer)
When Scully transfers to LA and Mulder finds more babies like Emily, can they work together again to get to the bottom of this conspiracy?
The letter by Shalimar (gossamer)
Post TFWID, scully goes searching for more clues to her and Mulder’s past lives when she comes across a letter in a local Apison museum she sent to Mulder.
*smut + romance*
It's hard to have just smut when it comes to MSR, am I right? these two idiots are so in love that my smut category must also be romantic.
Undercover swing by 2momsmakearight (ao3)
What if Mulder and Scully go undercover as a married couple interested in swinging? Can they both keep their jealously in check?
Be kind, rewind by OnlyTheInevitable (ao3)
To help catch a suspect, skinner requests our agents watch porn together. While watching, conversation leads to critiques about the performance and comments about personal preferences.
Girl 77 by mojo
A stripper is found dead with Mulder’s card on her. She looks exactly like Scully. Scully notices and confronts Mulder about it.
Dropped call series by @phillippadgettwrites (ao3)
Phone sex, but make it “not them”
December 31, 1984 by @phillippadgettwrites (ao3)
When Mulder saves an unimpressed scully from some jerk on NYE, they end up at her apartment having a one night stand.
Damsels by @sisterspooky1013 (ao3)
Scully is sent undercover as a stripper to find a missing woman. Mulder is kept in the dark regarding her case, but pieces together where she is and what she’s doing and sets out to find her.
The Shirt by Audrey Roget (gossamer)
Skinner reconciles with Sharon leading to a vow renewal celebration. Skinner asks mulder and Scully to stand with him as his best agents. After slow dancing together, mulder bolts out of the celebration before scully catches the bridal bouquet and he crosses a line. When they end up in an accident while driving in a storm, things come to a head in an Elvis inspired motel suite out in the middle of nowhere PA.
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XF AU - Fic Recs
When the world was unrecognizable and upside down, there was one thing that remained the same. You... were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant... my touchstone (or, alternate universe and canon-divergent fics):
Contemporary AUs:
A Companion Unobtrusive by @slippinmickeys - She needed a roommate. He needed a room.
The Annapolis Grant by @slippinmickeys - Fake relationship! Scully hires Mulder to pretend to be her boyfriend.
Aprons and Scrubs by @lokisgame - Scully’s a doctor and Mulder runs a bar.
Five Years and a Lifetime by @monikafilefan @slippinmickeys - One night stand AU. Five years later, Scully and Mulder work at the same pediatric hospital, and Scully's four year old daughter bears a striking resemblance to the picture of a dark haired girl that sits on Mulder's desk...
Skin by Annie Sewell-Jennings - In a world where Mulder and Scully have never met, fate intervenes and brings two worlds colliding in the city of Charleston, as a vicious murderer reigns and a storm approaches.
Sinners Come Down by aster_risk - Six years into her marriage to Daniel, Scully meets Fox Mulder at a bar one night, and they get talking and fucking over alcohol and self-pity.
In the Best Interest of the Child by @mldrgrl - When tragedy strikes, Mulder is forced to take guardianship of his young niece, but the matter is complicated by the arrival of a sister-in-law he's never met.
Historical AUs:
By the Dim and Flaring Lamps by @sunflowerseedsandscience - Civil War AU. Captain Mulder befriends Private Scully who’s hiding a secret…
The Countess and The Earl by @slippinmickeys - Regency Romance!
Old Growth Forest by Andrea - Mulder and Scully travel back to frontier times
Rocky Mountain Interlude Part 1 and Part 2 by Jacquie LaVa and Tess - Mulder and Scully travel back in time to solve the case of a Colorado mining ghost
The Science of Sex by @if-the-seascatchfire - Masters of Sex AU. Mulder and Scully are doctors in the late 1950s who undertake a years-long study about human sexuality, and as part of the research, they also have sex with each other - you know, for the science.
Out of this World:
The Magician by Suzanne Bickerstaffe and Jennifer Lyon - Fantasy series where Mulder and Scully travel to another world full of magic (one of the first fanfics I ever remember reading!)
Out of the Little Grove by @slippinmickeys - Crossover with His Dark Materials (a mashup truly made just for me, my 13 year old self would have been over the moon)
Blinded by White Light by @dashakay - Post-colonization. What are we, but the sum of our memories? A classic.
Julia and Gabriel by Mish - Post-colonization. A new identity, a new, dangerous society, an unchanged heart and soul. Gave me Hunger Games vibes for some reason (although written years before that was published)
Canon-Divergent: Pre or Early Series
Eleventh Hour by Rachel Anton - Mulder travels back in time to find college-aged Scully and change everything.
Belphagor’s Prime by Prufrock’s Love - When Scully disappears Mulder travels back in time to a pre-X-Files Scully for help.
In Another Life by @mldrgrl - What if there was no conspiracy? What if Mulder was just a regular FBI Agent? What if Scully was just a bureau pathologist?
How They Met by @peacenik0 - After an encounter at Scully’s FBI academy graduation party they must determine how to deal with their past and their undeniable attraction to one another when partnered up.
One Week at Quantico by CrossedBeams - What if Mulder had been teaching at the Academy when Scully was training…
Paging Dr. Scully by @mangokiwitropicalswirl - Mulder keeps ending up in Dr Scully’s ER.
Only One Choice by @sisterspooky1013 - Scully was never assigned to The X Files.
The Way Things Are by Sukie Tawdry - A season 1 one night stand changes everything. Baby-fic.
Departures & Arrivals by anarchybeauty - After the X Files are closed in 1994, Scully moves on. Two years later, she runs into Mulder in an airport.
Right Hand Return by humphreywrites - Scully is returned from her abduction with a baby, no memories of anything prior to her captivity and some PTSD.
12 Rites of Passage and 12 Degrees of Separation by Anne Hayes - mytharc story written very early in the series run.
parent_1 by @markwatneyandenesemble - It’s 1996, Mulder’s been off the X-Files for three years, and not speaking to Scully. They’ve almost moved on with their lives. Almost.
Canon-Divergent: Mid Series
A Different Place by @myownsuperintendent - When Mulder successfully brings one of the Samantha clones back from the farm with him in Herrenvolk, she must learn to adapt to a different life.
Once More With Feeling by skinfull - While on a stakeout Mulder is shot in the head and loses his memory.
Iolokus by rivkat and MustangSally - Mytharc AU. Painted across the barren and desolate reaches of Texas, the shadows of the Project put additional pressure on Scully and Mulder's already fragile relationship. After a hostage crisis raises more questions about the Project's breeding program, Scully begins her own investigation, leaving Mulder to choose between saving her and saving himself. Pretty disturbing but fascinating, a classic.
Arizona Highways by Fialka - Mytharc AU. Visions of Melissa lead Our Heroes on a case confirming the existence of a series of Emilys. But does Melissa really have a message, or is it all in Scully’s head? Another classic.
Heuvelmans' On the Track by @mashnotesofthemythopoeic - post-FTF mytharc AU, truly a ride you’ll never forget.
The Leap and Landfall by Ambress - Scully has a one time opportunity for motherhood, given to her by the Kurt Crawfords.
All That Is Dark and Bright by @malibusunset-xf-blog - Emily lives AU.
Five Years and One Night by Shalimar - Scully leaves the X-Files post-Emily but gets drawn back in when Mulder discovers Emily wasn’t the only child created.
Cubed by Louise Marin - Mid-season 6 Scully does a little body-swapping of her own. Can she and Mulder make it back to each other? Do they want to?
The Boy on the Beach and Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 1999 by @cecilysass - One moment she was sitting in the chair. Her chin up, her expression ice. And the next moment she was gone. Fantastic exploration of the Samantha storyline.
Canon-Divergent: Late or Post Series
40 Weeks by @malibusunset-xf-blog - What if the IVF attempt in Per Manum had been successful?
Mobius by L.A. Ward - Post-Requiem while investigating the disappearance of a physicist, Scully finds someone she didn't expect - Mulder. But is it her Mulder?
By the Wind Grieved by Karen Rasch - Mulder is returned several months post Requiem but he doesn't know who he is or what Scully and he are to each other. Together they must reclaim the past before their enemies take away their future.
Deadalive AU by @markwatneyandenesemble - Mulder is returned but is missing several years of memory.
The 13th Sign and 7 Days in May by Prufrock’s Love - Post-Deadalive. Mulder saw no reason for life, death, sex, Armageddon, or emotional dysfunction to stand in the way of true love.
Hurricane Season by rah and beduini - Post-Existence week at the beach with the Scully family and baby Wim.
Terra Firma series by @malibusunset-xf-blog - Post-Existence domestic family drama, a classic comfort read for me.
2008 by MystPhile - With the quest at an end, the X-Files closed in the year 2000. Our heroes went their separate ways. In 2008, they meet in Bloomingdale's and the past, present, and future are explored.
Dr. Scully's School for Exceptional Boys by Prufrock’s Love - More than a decade had passed. Mulder had no reason to hole up in his apartment alone, wearing a Three Dog Night T-shirt with dried mustard on the hem and blue jeans that had seen better days. He wasn't "saving himself" for anyone. Especially not Her. Though she remained epically, beautifully, brilliantly kick-A-S-S.
Machines of Freedom by Amal Nahurriyeh - post-IWTB. The end of the world is coming. And they're doing everything in their power to stop it.
North of Zero by @slippinmickeys - Post-IWTB, post-colonization. The bombs have fallen. The aliens have come. What’s next?
Canon Parallel AUs:
I've got you under my skin by cuits - In a universe where soulmate identifying marks exist and affect a part of the population, would Mulder and Scully's relationship evolve any different? Unfinished but complete through Existence so it still ends in a satisfying place.
Half-light by skuls - Mulder and Scully get a second chance.
The Family G-Man by Neoxphile and FelineFemme - A double tragedy strikes Mulder the week before Christmas of 2003. What if he could go back and change things, save the son one lost and give the other the family she wanted? Could it keep them safe?
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Twelve opening sentences to twelve different fics.
“It was an inauspicious start to the mission, he had to admit.”
-The Mesas of Deuteronilus Mensae
“It is a cannon fodder neighborhood, Scully thinks, the kind you only get out of the hard way.”
-The Snallygaster
“Dana Scully was, foremost, a believer.”
-Out of the Little Grove
“Without the churn of industry raising global temperatures, the earth slid back into the Holocene”
-North of Zero
“Stonehenge had called to him with its mythical bent, the ringing of its igneous bluestones a clanging tomentum to the spiritual hole inside of him.”
-The River Avon
“It was only after the major-domo announced her that Lady Dana Scully gave any thought to the state of her dress.”
-The Countess/The Regency Files
“He’d never had her picture up on his desk, didn’t even have one in his wallet.”
-Of the Eight Winds
“Margaret Scully remembered the day her youngest daughter had come into the world, affronted and wailing, with her father’s nose and his bright red hair.”
-Extraordinary
“They were never going to make it to Shinesburg.”
-Storm Front
“The worst thing about it was the screaming.”
-Three Part Harmony
“When she’s shoved into the hotel room, it is on a scorching dump of adrenaline; dry-throat, sphincter-clenching, pure terror.”
-Proof of Life
““You can’t tell anyone I gave this to you,” she said, and he had a sudden almost-psychic sexual flash of his cock splitting the soft autumn fur at her center.”
-The Post
Tagging…whoever wants to do it! @aloysiavirgata @monikafilefan @admiralty-xfd idk
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"We walked together to our condo, not being able to pay attention to anything else but us."
That's the last sentence of my new fic I am currently working on.
Wow, 17 words. Now I'll play the WIP game of @agent troi...
@katy-kt-katie @agent-troi @baronessblixen @msrafterdark @rxdheaddana @phillippadgettwrites @today-in-fic @cecilysass @alienbaby-babymama @admiralty-xfd @borogirl @drislesbabe @monikafilefan @fistful-of-fandom @femkehermus @knowleitall-super-soldier @lilydalexf
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There’s No Place Like Kroner
Author: @monikafilefan
For: @cecilysass
Sometimes Scully thinks that this line, this intimate separation they continuously push against, is the only thing keeping her from falling further down the rabbit hole than she’s ever imagined possible.
Ao3 Link
#XFFlickedSwitch2023 19/27
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WIP Game
RULES: Post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic / original / anything) and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence.
I was tagged by @randomfoggytiger @xxsksxxx @unremarkablehouse @dsmulder4u @atths--twice @monikafilefan
Thank you! I haven't written in ages 😭
"And he wonders why he keeps letting her walk out of his life."
Tagging whoever has a WIP and wants to share their latest sentence!
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All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Season Three Master Post
We’ve come to the conclusion of a momentous season! From some of the most iconic episodes to some of the most beloved characters, season three was full of intense chapters!
Check out this thread to see all the characters we got to meet!
3x01 | The Blessing Way - The Well-Manicured Man (@fridaysat9
They were all living on the precipice of the end of the human race, but they were only concerned with jobs, school assignments, and playdates.
Life, as it should be.
3x02 | Paper Clip - Victor Klemper (@monikafilefan)
The offspring of a rebel syndicate member unearthing truths Victor has spent decades trying to bury beneath buttercups and begonias has marked him for certain death.
3x03 | D.P.O. - Darin Peter Oswald (@gaycrouton)
His friend was scared of him, and it made Darin feel powerful.
3x04 | Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose - Clyde Bruckman (@fridaysat9)
A funny thing happens when you see your own death. At first you try to make sense of it– what could it mean, why the tears, why her? Then you try to change it.
3x05 | The List - Dr. Juan Ullrich (@monikafilefan)
Juan fidgets with an evidence bag, trying not to blatantly stare at the agents holding an entire conversation with their eyes while systematically categorizing every sway of their bodies, every touch of her hands.
3x06 | 2Shy - Lauren MacKalvey (@gaycrouton)
2SHY > You have no idea how beautiful I think you are. I must confess… I feel inextricably drawn to you. I can’t stop thinking about what you said the other day… You don’t deserve to feel lonely, Lauren.
3x07 | The Walk - Leonard 'Rappo' Trimble (@admiralty-xfd)
Every night, he walks again. And every morning he wakes in the same bed with the same phantom pain. Every day he wishes he’d just died; that explosion that didn’t quite kill him cost him his life, anyway.
3x08 | Oubliette - Lucy Householder (@monikafilefan)
She has to go. It’s all so clear now. She has to go back. Through the woods, through the house — into the dark. Maybe she was never meant to leave it at all.
3x09 | Nisei - Penny Northern (@gaycrouton)
It was the strength of these women that got her through those experiences, and it was the strength of these women that would help her embark on this dark path they were all destined to walk.
3x10 | 731 - First Elder (The Well-Fed Man) (@admiralty-xfd)
The one thing that can be manipulated more effectively than any other is her fear of the unknown… of what happened to her last year.
3x11 | Revelations - Owen Lee Jarvis (@fridaysat9)
He gave of himself, abandoning what little life he’d had, to honor God’s words and do as he had been called.
3x12 | War of the Coprohages - Dr. Bambi Berenbaum (@gaycrouton)
Bambi felt a flush spread across her chest as his hypothesis brought a smile to her face. Hearing that he hadn’t been merely indulging her earlier was a refreshing change of pace.
3x13 | Syzygy - Detective Angela White (@admiralty-xfd)
Detective White stops as Agent Scully finally glances over at her, somewhat defensively. And then she gets it. Everything about the way she’s been treated since the agents arrived makes perfect sense.
3x14 | Grotesque - Agent Bill Patterson (@fridaysat9)
Patterson figured that Mulder might have a theory about a potential copycat killer, but no; he’d been researching gargoyles and goblins. Monsters recorded in dusty old tomes pulled from the library shelves.
3x15 | Piper Maru - Kimberly (@monikafilefan)
Kimberly Cook is good at her secretarial job. So when the man she’s been working closely with for two years is troubled, she refuses to let him file the feeling away like some confidential case in his cabinet.
3x16 | Apocrypha - Luis Cardinal (@admiralty-xfd)
The Scully woman is not simply angry, she’s unhinged. And there’s a small part of him that understands; it’s the part of him that, prior to working for the Smoker, had never been asked to shoot an innocent woman before.
3x17 | Pusher - Agent Frank Burst (@fridaysat9)
Frank doesn’t care if he has to tell him his mother’s maiden name and his favorite breakfast cereal if it means getting his location.
3x18 | Teso Dos Bichos - Officer (@monikafilefan)
He doesn’t get paid enough for this shit.
3x19 | Hell Money - Hsin Shuyang (@gaycrouton)
The gods might not be listening, but the devil was waiting for him down the street, ready to play a game with all the men whose American dreams had turned into nightmares.
3x20 | Jose Chung's From Outer Space - Detective Manners (@fridaysat9)
That's a bleepin' dead alien body, if I ever bleepin' saw one.
3x21 | Avatar - Carina Sayles (@monikafilefan)
She can tell he doesn’t do this. Doesn’t drink alone in a bar, letting a stranger slowly seduce him.
3x22 | Quagmire - Queequeg (@gaycrouton)
Queequeg was loved.
3x23 | Wetwired - 'Doctor' Stroman (@admiralty-xfd)
Another town, another test, another shitty motel room… but always the same boss.
3x24 | Talitha Cumi - Teena Mulder (@monikafilefan)
If only Bill had known back then that the untrustworthy person he was referring to would sleep with his wife and father his son.
Stay tuned for more perspectives coming in Season Four!
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
#all eyes lead to the truth#mulder#scully#msr#x files#fanfic#x files fanfic#fanfiction#x files fanfiction#the x files#teena mulder#queequeg#detective manners#luis cardinal#kimberly#bill patterson#first elder#penny northern#clyde bruckman#well manicured man#viktor klemper#the blessing way#paper clip#dpo#clyde bruckman's final repose#the list#2shy#the walk#oubliette#nisei
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Wondering if you’ve read a story where Mulder and Scully aren’t living together but Scully comes to visit him at the unremarkable house and they get lost in the woods and get back together???There’s a magic cabin and Scully finds something special in Mulder’s wallet. Pretty sure it was a fanfic exchange story? I would love to reread it!
Sounds like you're looking for the fic where the heart is by @monikafilefan. It's set pre-revival, Scully goes to visit Mulder, they get lost and find an abandoned cabin in the woods, and Scully sees something fall out of Mulder's wallet. And there's only one bed!
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The Best of You
Rated X | 6116 words | Read it here on AO3
This work was written for @monikafilefan for the @xfilesfanficexchange Jealousy Exchange.
“Thanks for coming by, Dana. I know you’re busy.”
“It’s no problem, Mom. I just wish you’d called me sooner.”
Scully slides a box marked “Japan” towards the front edge of the shelf in the basement, widening her stance on the step ladder as she eases it into her arms. The air is thick with dust and the damp funk of the subterranean.
“Oh, it’s fine. Tara didn’t say she had any specific time frame in mind. She just wanted some copies for her scrapbook,” Maggie says with a dismissive wave of her arm.
Scully carefully maneuvers down the ladder and then carries the box up the basement steps, her mother trailing behind her.
“Still, I don’t like the idea of you having to wait so long for something basic like this. You can always call Mulder, you know. His time is very…flexible,” she suggests.
She sets the box on the dining room table with a little grunt and peels off the yellowed tape that has held it closed since at least the seventies.
“I do call Fox sometimes, but he’s been busy with Anna and I didn’t want to bother him,” Maggie says as she reaches into the sagging box and pulls out stacks of thin photo prints held together with brittle rubber bands.
Scully pauses briefly, her heart leaping up into her throat. Maggie is sorting the contents of the box, oblivious to what she’s just inadvertently disclosed.
“Anna?” Scully repeats, and Maggie’s head snaps up, her eyes widening.
“Oh, Dana,” she says, laying a hand on her daughter’s forearm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay, Mom,” Scully interrupts, busying herself with picking through the stacks on the table. “We’re not together. Mulder is free to see whomever he likes.”
Maggie sighs and waits, and eventually Scully lifts her head to regard her mother with wet eyes.
“It’s okay if it bothers you, honey,” Maggie says gently. “Even if it was your choice to part ways.”
Scully nods and sniffs, grabbing a stack of photos.
“Are these the ones from the market?” she asks, effectively changing the subject.
__
For the majority of the drive she manages not to think about what she’s doing, much less why. Familiar landmarks whip by in her periphery: the alpaca farm, a long-abandoned fireworks stand, the scorched foundation of a house that burned down three summers ago. When she turns the sharp corner onto Wallace Road, fresh tears flood her eyes and the pit in her chest tightens. She has no right, absolutely no right to feel the way she does, but she lost the ability to stand firmly on logic while ignoring her feelings years ago. Somewhere around the same time that she admitted to herself that she was in love with Mulder.
She sees the mailbox in the distance, the once buttery yellow paint now faded and chipped. When they’d first moved here, she kept missing their driveway and having to double back when she hit the fork in the road that told her she’d gone too far. Mulder teased her mercilessly, identifying half a dozen ways she should have known she was almost there: the fallen tree, the fence that’s stained a horrific shade of orange, the pothole in the middle of the road. One night after a difficult shift at the hospital, she walked through the door sobbing over the extra fifteen minutes she’d added to her commute by missing the driveway yet again. He’d been surprised and concerned by her uncharacteristic emotional response, and immediately drew her a bath and poured her a glass of wine. When she came downstairs an hour later wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe and smiling with embarrassment, she found him waiting in front of a crackling fire. He spent the evening rubbing her tired feet and shoulders, listening patiently as she retold stories of overbearing priests and distressed patients, and the nagging feeling that she wasn’t cut out to practice medicine full time. When she’d let it all out, when she was relaxed and pliant with a belly full of wine, he peeled the robe from her body and kissed a trail from her mouth to her mons, pushing her thighs open wide and bathing her with the warm slip of his tongue until she came in his mouth. In the morning, he snuck out of bed at sunrise and painted the mailbox yellow. She never missed the driveway again.
It’s been nearly two years since she moved out, and theoretically moved on. Over a year since the last of her things were loaded into a moving truck while Mulder sat morosely on the porch swing and watched. Nine months since he invited her to have coffee and told her he was getting help, that he was doing much better. He’d never explicitly asked her to come home, never directly asked for another chance, but she could feel it in his touch and see it in his eyes. She didn’t have to tell him that it was too late; he knew by how tightly she hugged him when she said goodbye, and how sincerely she told him to take care of himself. Since then it’s been only phone calls here and there, and one occasion when they had to meet at the bank to deposit a check made out to both of them. It’s not that she doesn’t want to see him, but that she doesn’t trust herself. She’s always been so weak when it comes to Mulder, and for once she is trying to be strong enough to stay away.
Strong enough to stay, strong enough to leave, strong enough to protect her heart from being broken yet again. It’s taken every kind of strength imaginable to navigate life with him, and now without him. Strength she didn’t know she had within her, and strength she wished she’d never been forced to summon.
The day she finally left she felt weaker than ever, worn nearly to dust by the constant rub of his rejection. She knows he never meant to hurt her, but the lack of intent certainly didn’t make it hurt any less. He started coming to bed later and later, and then not at all. He left his office only to use the bathroom and fetch food from the kitchen, leaving his dirty dishes in the sink and apparently never wondering how they made their way into the dishwasher. Too many dinners were eaten alone at the table; too many formerly special occasions passed unacknowledged. She tried everything from subtly attempting to summon him with new lingerie, to directly asking him to come to bed, to begging him with tear-streaked cheeks and barking sobs, ultimatums pouring from her lips like water from an open dam. He was unmoved, perhaps unmoveable. He was gone, no longer the man she knew and fell in love with. She found that she no longer had the strength to keep trying.
He’s already stepping out the front door when she reaches the end of the driveway, the distinct sound of a vehicle pitching over the gravel one they both know well. He’s smiling a kind of surprised smirk, concurrently confused but happy to see her, and she feels a wave of nausea grip her belly. What is she doing? She parks just in front of the steps and cuts the engine.
“Hi,” she says as she pushes her car door closed and slowly approaches the porch.
He’s wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, his cheeks clean shaven and his hair shaggy. He looks good.
“Hey,” he replies, stepping down the last two stairs to meet her. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She sucks in a deep breath, then realizes she hadn’t thought to come up with an excuse for stopping by. In the end, she just shrugs, and he nods.
“How have you been?” she asks, both a platitude and a loaded question. He could answer, “Fine,” or he could answer, “Fucking someone else.”
“Good,” he says, his eyes flicking over her dark wash jeans and navy blouse. “You?”
She nods in agreement of being good, and he cocks his head slightly towards the house.
“You wanna come in for a bit?” he asks, and she can hear the hidden hopefulness in his voice.
She almost asks him if he’s alone, but there are no other cars here besides his and hers, and even on his worst day she doesn’t think he’d stoop to surprising her with an introduction to his new girlfriend. She says yes and follows him inside, hovering near the bottom of the stairs.
The house is clean, surprisingly, and there are new knick knacks and pieces of furniture filling the vacancies she left. It smells woody and musky, but not bad. It smells a little like his apartment back at Hegal Place: distinctly masculine and a little bit neglected. For the first time since they moved in, the house doesn’t feel like hers. It no longer feels like home.
“You want a beer?” he asks, his back to her as he pads barefoot into the kitchen.
She doesn’t answer, but watches him retrieve two lagers from the fridge and set them on the counter above the silverware drawer before he begins digging around in search of the bottle opener.
“Who’s Anna?” she asks, the words coming up like vomit and surprising them both.
He pauses briefly, then resumes pushing utensils from one side of the drawer to the other with increasing frustration. She crosses the room cautiously, stepping up beside him and reaching across his body to pull out the can opener. He grunts his thanks and takes it, popping the tops on both the beers without looking at her. She accepts one and leans against the counter, taking a frothy swig that burns her throat. Mulder heaves a sigh and turns to face her, pushing the drawer closed with his hip.
“How’s Maggie doing?” he asks, briefly dodging the question. Scully shrugs.
“I think you’d know better than I would. Sounds like you two talk often,” she replies with a slight edge of irritation.
Mulder heaves a sigh and huffs a mirthless laugh.
“You’re free to remove me from your own life, Scully, but can I at least keep your mom? I’ve known her nearly as long as I’ve known you,” he teases, though she can see the hurt in his eyes.
“I didn’t remove you from my life, Mulder,” she objects, and he scoffs.
“Didn’t you?”
“Who’s Anna?” she asks again, her voice raspy and small.
He looks at her long and hard, like he has so many times before. It always precedes some kind of ultimatum or directive. It’s always how he looks at her before he says something she doesn’t want to hear.
“You left, Scully. That was your choice. I never wanted this,” he says defensively.
“I never wanted this either,” she replies, her throat thick with tears.
Mulder drops his head, poking at a knot in the wooden floorboards with his toe.
“You could have come back any time,” he says quietly. “You could come back now. You choose not to.” He lifts his head, his expression more defeated than it was moments ago. “That’s your choice. Don’t try to tell me this isn’t what you want.”
A fat tear slides down her cheek and she detects the slightest wince on his face, but he doesn’t reach for her. She sniffs loudly, runs the back of her hand across her face to wipe away the tear, and then sucks down half her beer in a long gulp. The carbonation swells in her belly and she remembers how he used to marvel at her ability to belch, always so enamored with the unrefined side of her that she rarely allowed anyone to see.
He liked to run his hands over her stubbled legs, watch her meticulously shape her eyebrows in the bathroom mirror, kiss her unmade face on Sunday mornings and tell her that her freckles tasted like cinnamon. He used to find her endlessly fascinating, until he suddenly lost all interest. He used to know her better than anyone, better than even herself, but now they feel like practical strangers. She turns her head to the side and burps quietly behind her hand.
“I met her at the bank,” he says, looking at her shoulder instead of her face. “It’s not serious or anything.”
She nods, wondering what “not serious” means. Does it mean they’re just friends? Or maybe that it’s just sex? Maybe serious relationships are the ones where your very souls are stitched together, where you lose the ability to discern where one of you ends and the other begins. Maybe “not serious” means sleeping in late and going to the farmer’s market, then making love after lunch and reading together on the couch until dinner. Maybe “not serious” is everything she always wanted but could never pin down. Not with him, anyway.
“How old is she?” Scully asks, and he meets her eye with a questioning look. She isn’t sure why she asked.
“Is this why you came over?” he asks in reply, setting his beer on the counter and crossing his arms over his chest. “You don’t want to be with me, but you don’t want me to be with anyone else either?”
His eyes are bright and the volume of his voice is slowly increasing. She feels the blood rushing through her veins, her heart thrumming. It’s been so long since he bothered to argue with her, since he cared enough to fight. She sets her beer down and steps forward, craning her neck up to look at him.
“All I ever wanted was to be with you, Mulder,” she spits back, her own voice dropping disastrously low. “I ruined my fucking life to be with you, and you left me. Again, and again, and again, you left.”
Angry tears fall freely, but her voice is steady. His jaw twitches and she sees him swallowing back things he knows he shouldn’t say. Things he can’t take back.
“I know I’m far from perfect,” he says, his tone much more measured. “I’ve made mistakes, many of them. But I never gave up on you. I never gave up on us.”
His words hit her with the force of a slap, and she recoils. One step back, then two, then several. She turns and strides towards the door, prepared to leave. This was a mistake. She should never have come here.
I never gave up on us.
She turns on her heel and marches back towards him, stopping just out of arm's reach. She’s so angry she’s afraid she may actually hit him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Maybe I’m the one who walked out the door, Mulder,” she says levelly, fighting for control. “But you’d given up long before that. You gave up on us years ago.”
He drops his head briefly, then looks at her with a wounded expression that softens her anger.
“That’s not fair, Scully,” he says, shaking his head. “I wasn’t well, mentally. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“I know that,” she whispers through a constricted throat. “I know it wasn’t your fault, Mulder. But you wouldn’t get help. Not even if it meant losing me.”
“I didn’t know—” he begins, and her anger comes charging back with breakneck speed.
“Yes you did!” she shouts, and he visibly startles. “You knew, Mulder. I told you. Hundreds of times, hundreds of ways. I tried so hard to make you understand.”
She’s sobbing in earnest at this point, her cheeks wet and her face contorted. She can feel moisture in her nostrils, and she looks around for a box of Kleenex.
“I didn’t think—” he starts again, but stops and grimaces a little.
She meets his eye, sees what is behind them. The truth that isn’t worth saying aloud, because it won’t help.
“You didn’t think I’d actually leave,” she finishes for him, and he looks away.
She turns from him, walking down the hall to the bathroom to blow her nose. She avoids her reflection, haphazardly tearing squares of toilet paper off the roll and noting that he still uses her brand, the one he always complained wasn’t worth the extra money. So many years, and so many small ways she improved his quality of life. Got him to eat more vegetables and get more sleep. Wear sunscreen and use fabric softener. Talk about his feelings instead of running until he can’t breathe and love someone instead of pushing them away to protect his own heart. It was all worth it, he was worth it, every second of heartache and pain. That’s what she used to think, anyway.
On the counter near the sink, she spots a small black circle and picks it up. It’s an elastic hair tie with one blonde strand looped tightly around it. The air evaporates from her lungs and it feels like someone socked her in the gut. It hurts. It’s embarrassing. It’s so fucking unfair. She stalks back down the hall, rage rising in her throat.
He sees her coming, and his face flashes on something between fear and confusion. She stops short of him, a million thoughts careening through her mind but none finding their way to her mouth. How he took her for granted from the beginning. How he consoled her with sweetness and grand gestures between stints of ditching her and risking both their lives and careers. How even after she gave up everything that mattered to her, including her own child, he continued to insist that she would be better off without him. By then, he was all that she had left.
“I hate you,” she says, small and bitter.
His eyes widen and his mouth drops open. She’s only ever said that to him once before, on a night a bit like this one where she allowed herself to take inventory of all that was lost. Where she was so bereft and detached from anything resembling normalcy that she just wanted to feel something. Where he was so far from her that she needed to pull him back, and anger was the only bait he would take.
He closes his mouth, sucks his bottom lip between his teeth, and considers her. She wants to run to him, to ask him to hold her, to beg for lazy mornings and farmers markets and afternoon lovemaking. She wants to punch him and scream and break every single item in this house that tells the story of a life that has moved on without her. She wants to make him understand how much it hurts to see that he did have the ability to get better, but that she wasn’t worth the effort. For all the years he was willing to die for her, living was too much to ask for.
“Why?” he asks, standing up a bit straighter as though preparing for battle. “Tell me why you hate me, Scully.”
Because I threw my entire life away for you, and you weren’t willing to fight for me.
Because I loved you at your worst, but this woman is getting the best version of you.
Because watching you fade away in front of me was worse than burying you.
Because I never stopped loving you for a single second, and it took every scrap of courage I had to walk away.
Because I’m so afraid of losing you like that again, I can’t bring myself to give us another chance.
Because I know I will never stop loving you. I will never truly let you go, and that makes it feel like my life is over.
She covers her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with her sobs. She wants to disappear. From this house, from this life, from this planet.
She feels two strong hands rest gently on her shoulders, the weight of them increasing steadily as he waits to see if she’ll push him away. She should push him away, but instead she wraps her arms around his neck and lets him pull her close, his hands on her waist lifting her slightly off the floor. She presses her face into the side of his neck, and the familiar smell of his aftershave and the scrape of his shorn skin against her cheeks is the home she’d expected to find when she walked through the door. It was never the house; it was him. It’s always been him. She’s afraid it always will be.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpers, and he shushes her, rocking gently back and forth.
“I’m the one who should be sorry, Scully,” he says quietly, his breath warming the tip of her ear. “I am sorry, every day. It’s true that I didn’t think you’d really leave, not after everything. But even if I had, I don’t think it would have made a difference. It wasn’t about you, or anything you did or didn’t do. I had to be ready to get help, and I wasn’t there yet. I loved you — I love you — so much. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Knowing that I fucked that up is probably my biggest regret in life, and I think we both know there’s quite a bit of competition for that title.”
She manages a weak, wet laugh at his joke, sniffing and pulling away from him slightly to wipe her cheeks. He sets her down, but maintains his hold on her waist so she can’t move away from him. She dabs at her eyes and glances up, finding him looking down at her with a soft, pained expression.
“I’m okay, Mulder,” she reassures him. “I’m sure I don’t look it, but I’m fine.”
“You look beautiful,” he says resolutely. “You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever known.”
A memory comes crashing to the forefront of her mind, called forth by his hands on her waist and the melancholy in his eyes. A stolen weekend in Ocean City, their first non-work trip as a couple, standing like this on the shore with the sun setting in the hills behind them. Her hair kept whipping across her eyes and she laughed with embarrassment as the elements ruined what would have otherwise been a sweet, romantic moment. Mulder was looking at her just like he is now, like his heart was breaking.
“What?” she’d asked, pushing her hair behind her ears before the wind picked it up again and slashed it across her mouth.
He shook his head slightly in an attempt to dismiss her, and self-consciousness told her that something was wrong, that this wasn’t working out the way he’d hoped. That she wasn’t what he’d hoped.
She’d started to pull away, feeling her armor go up swiftly at the first sign of rejection, and he tightened his grip on her waist. She looked up at him, bronzed and beautiful in the light of the setting sun, as he screwed up his mouth in contemplation and then smiled shyly.
“You’re so perfect,” he said with awe. “I keep waiting for the moment you realize you’re way out of my league and kick me to the curb.”
She chuffed a surprised laugh and kissed him, their mouths gritty with sand and her windswept hair.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mulder. Relax.”
She wonders now if she was lying when she said that so many years ago. She’d certainly meant it at the time. And she did stay: she stayed and stayed and stayed. She waited for him: he always came back to her. Until he didn’t.
It’s she who pushes up on to the tips of her toes and tugs on his neck, but it’s he who presses his mouth to hers. She can remember with painful acuity the last time she kissed him, his mouth soft and non reciprocating. So many nights she’s tried to recall the last time he kissed her back, but the memory didn’t feel important enough at the time to retain, it seems. Now he is kissing her with all the passion she’s begged her body to forget, his eager lips coaxing hers apart and his tongue hot and wet against her teeth. He stoops and scoops her up, her legs around his waist and her hands on his jaw, and the taste of his kiss like a salve on her broken heart.
She didn’t register movement, but suddenly he is lowering her onto the couch and climbing over her, his mouth on her neck and his pelvis cradled between her thighs. The seam of his jeans presses against hers, and she feels that he’s hard. The realization makes her throat constrict anew, tears threatening her eyes. He wants her. Something she once took for granted and then mourned the loss of for years. She’d been shocked and disappointed to discover how tightly his wanting her was tied to her own self esteem, but it was, it is. And his arousal, his wanting, ignites in her something that she’d thought died along with their relationship.
She reaches for him, palming him over his jeans, and feels herself swell. He groans, flexing his hips in encouragement, and her fingers go to the button on his fly. For a split second, she remembers that he is not available, that he belongs to someone else, but she pushes the thought away. He is hers, has been hers since she walked into his office twenty plus years ago, will be hers until they take their last breaths, even if they wish it weren’t that way. She undoes the button, pushes the zipper down, and slides her hand under the cotton of his boxers.
“Fuck, Scully,” he mumbles, kissing her mouth sloppily.
She feels a slick of precum bead at the tip and she smears it over the head of his cock. He’s impressively stiff, the hard edges of the mushroom tip and corded veins in his shaft bulging and firm. She wants to see him, to taste him, to feel him. She wants him to want her, to take her, to make her whole. She needs this.
Urgent hands push and pull and tug, divesting them each of their shirts, their pants, her bra and panties flying over the back of the couch and his boxers falling to the floor. She kneels at his feet, grabbing the base of him and swallowing him whole as he cradles her head between his broad palms. She sucks him greedily, hungrily, wanting to make him come but also not wanting this to be over. Finally he pushes her away, saying “Please, I want to feel you.”
She climbs into his lap, draping her naked body over his and reveling in the hot press of his bare skin. She wriggles and arches, guiding him to her entrance without the use of hands, and sinks down onto him with a shuddering sigh.
“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he says proudly, one hand on her breast and the other on her hip, their open mouths meeting and parting as she rises and falls.
“You feel so good,” she whimpers, trying not to cry.
She doesn’t want this to be sad, if it’s to be the last time. She wants this to be a good memory that she can hold on to forever, after she lets go of the last remaining thread of hope that they can come back to each other again.
They slow, trading a frenzied fuck for a leisurely grind, one where they can kiss and touch and revel. Their bodies reacquaint themselves with one another, remembering just how and just where to touch, recalling how much pleasure they once sought and found together.
“I wanna come,” she confesses, and his thumb finds her clit.
She rocks against him, kisses him deeply, loves him so fully it hurts. She peaks and plummets, overcome by racking waves of bliss. He tells her how good she feels, how beautiful she is, how much he loves her. She feels the hot spurt of his orgasm and the tears come rushing back full force, wetting her cheeks and his as they kiss and kiss and kiss.
Weak-kneed and sated, he slowly turns and lowers them to lie down, pulling a blanket off the back of the couch to cover their nakedness. She rests her cheek on his chest and feels him slip out, then the wet rush of their combined fluids, but doesn’t move. He runs his hands over her back as the silence creeps from comfortable to tense, and she wonders whether he’s thinking about her. Anna.
“I get so lonely, Scully,” he says suddenly, startling her. “That’s all it is with Anna, just someone to spend time with.”
“But you’re more than just friends,” she counters, grateful that she can’t see his face.
“Supposed to be, yes,” he says tentatively.
“Supposed to be?” she repeats in a request for clarification.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail,” he offers, and she cringes at the idea of what the unabridged version might be. “But let’s just say that I was fairly confident that ED had finally found me before today.”
She can’t suppress the smile that stretches across her mouth, but it quickly falls.
“You deserve to have someone, Mulder. You deserve to be happy,” she says, hating the words as they leave her mouth but knowing that they are true.
“I don’t want anyone else,” he replies. “I won’t be happy with anyone else. I’m not saying that to guilt trip you or try to convince you to come back; I understand why the risk feels too great. It’s just a fact: it’s you, or it’s nobody.”
She heaves a sigh and lifts her head, resting her chin on his chest and looking up at him. Crow’s feet are beginning to wrinkle the corners of his eyes and his persistent lack of sunscreen use is catching up to him, but he is still so much that tenacious young man who stole her heart and changed her life. She smiles weakly at him, and he lifts his arm to push her hair behind her ear.
“What do you want, Scully?” he asks gently, and she can see that he is both afraid of and desperately wants the answer.
“I don’t think that what I want is reasonable,” she says sadly.
“Tell me,” he encourages her.
“I don’t think I can just…go back to how it was,” she says tightly, and he nods in understanding. “But I know that I can’t imagine myself with anyone else. And I know that the idea of you with someone else —”
She cringes and he shakes his head, indicating that she shouldn’t continue.
“So, not together, but not seeing other people?” he asks, and she wrinkles her nose.
“That sounds really unreasonable.”
“Unconventional, yes,” he says with a nod. “But we’ve never really stuck too closely to convention, have we, G-Woman?”
She smiles broadly, and he returns it. For a fleeting moment, it feels like nothing changed.
“So…not together. Not seeing other people. Seeing each other?” she asks, gauging his reaction.
“I’d like to. But whatever you’re comfortable with is fine. I’ll take what I can get.”
“I’d like to see you,” she says hopefully, and he gives her a squeeze. “What about Anna?” she asks, and his mouth sinks into a frown.
“I’ll break things off with her. I don’t think she’ll be too surprised. I’ve been waiting for her to ask why I seem a bit—detached,” he says, struggling for words.
“Why are you? Detached?”
He sighs and trails his finger over the shell of her ear contemplatively.
“She’s a really nice person, but she has this one fatal flaw that I’ve found myself unable to look past,” he says somberly.
“She doesn’t believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?” she quips, and he huffs a little laugh through his nose.
“She’s not you,” he says fondly, meeting her eye.
She smiles at him, and they sit like that for a beat, absorbing this new plan for their next chapter.
“If you do decide at any point that you want to give it another shot, just let me know,” he says lightly, though she knows it’s anything but a lighthearted statement.
“What if I’m never ready?” she asks, feeling guilty and afraid.
He smiles at her affectionately, massaging her shoulder with one hand.
“Back in our prime, I was prepared to wait forever for you,” he says gently. “I’m glad I didn’t have to, but I would have. The sentiment still stands.”
She makes a face.
“I don’t want that for you, Mulder,” she objects.
“Well, let me clarify something,” he interjects. “This ‘not together but seeing each other’ thing, does it involve sex?”
She raises her eyebrows and then says, “I sure as hell hope so.”
“Well, then I can confidently say, Scully, that you don’t need to worry about me. I don’t need a label on it. I just need you.”
She bites her lip and nods.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he repeats, and she nods again. “Will you stay the night?” he asks cautiously, his eyes narrowing in a preemptive wince as he anticipates her declination.
“I’d like that,” she says softly, and the breadth of his smile is one she hasn’t seen on his face in years.
_
She wakes with a start to the snap of the screen door slamming closed and finds herself alone in the bedroom, the amber light of sunrise dappled across the comforter. She feels a wave of anxiety and fear, waking up alone in this bed. Muscle memory tells her to get up, get dressed, and start the coffee. The memories stored in her heart tell her that she will drink it alone, listening to the clack of Mulder’s keyboard from behind his office door.
When she exits the bedroom, the smell of freshly brewed coffee is wafting up from the kitchen, and she feels an unexpected swell of joy. She finds him at the table, two steaming mugs and an open newspaper sitting before him.
“Hi,” he says brightly, standing to greet her with a kiss and a long, tight hug. “How’d you sleep?”
“Really well, actually, though I’ll admit it was a bit strange waking up here,” she admits, taking the seat beside him.
He nods in acceptance of this, then pushes one of the mugs across the table top towards her.
“I hope I still remember how you take it,” he says shyly, and she offers him a warm smile.
“I can’t stay long,” she says, taking an experimental sip. “I have to get to work.”
She doesn’t miss the disappointment on his face, but he quickly hides it behind his coffee mug. His fingernails are caked with yellow, and she briefly wonders how she hadn’t noticed it the night before.
They chat and drink their coffee, and there are long goodbyes at the door, then at the bottom of the steps to the porch, and again beside the open door of her car. She promises to come back soon, and she sees the way he is concurrently hopeful and guarded, once bitten twice shy.
“Have a good day at work, honey,” he whispers in her ear before he pulls away, and it feels so familiar and so foreign at the same time, this easy way of being together.
She watches him in the rearview mirror as her car jumps and lurches over the potholes in the driveway, extending her arm out the window to return his wave before he disappears from sight. At the end of the driveway she sees the mailbox, shining with a fresh coat of buttery yellow paint. She sits there, the car unmoving, trying to talk herself out of running again. The risk feels so big, but so does the potential reward.
Her phone dings and she fishes it out of her purse, surprised to see a new text message from him.
I wanted to make sure you can always find your way home.
The pit rises in her chest, constricting her throat and squeezing at her tear ducts. She pulls onto Wallace Road, smiling as she passes familiar landmarks. The scorched foundation of a house that burned down three summers ago, an abandoned fireworks stand, the alpaca farm. She remembers summer nights with the windows down, singing along to the radio with a week's worth of groceries in the bed of the truck. She remembers the thrill of a life that stayed put. And it’s still there, waiting for her, whenever she’s ready to return to it.
Tagging @today-in-fic
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Paging, Doctor Scully by @monikafilefan
Read by @msrtheatre0223
Please leave the author a comment if you enjoyed their story 😘
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MSR prompt: saw this post on twitter and i think it make a good story if you're interested in writing i'll be there to read it.
monikafilefan/status/1433553798614683656?s=20&t=hzUYxhSfGSxV2RAX9Ecb-w
I know it's been a while, but I can't see this tweet. If you happen to remember what it was, send it my way! :)
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