#cecilysass

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector's Edition: Crazy X-Cops (and Watching the Tragic Ep. Later)

Inspired by @scullys-scalpel 's post (found here.)

Loose chronological order below~

@scullywolf's (Ao3, Masterlist)

X-COPS

""That’s correct, yes. And Agent Mulder… well, his working hypothesis for the case is, as you might guess, paranormal in nature, and–”

“Yes, Scully, I’ve met him.""

When Scully calls him up, Skinner debates the wisdom of-- oh, hang it all, put 'em on tv.

First Person Shooter

""They’re at LAX waiting for their flight home when his phone rings.

"Mulder.”

“Mulder! It’s Langly. How soon can you get to L.A.?”

“Uhh…” He looks around the bustling airport terminal, half-wondering if the guys are here somewhere and this is some sort of joke. “Why do you ask?""

Post X-Cops Mulder and Scully are still in the Cali area when he receives a call from The Lone Gunmen.

@seek-its-opposite​ (Ao3) nothing to hide (Ao3)

""Sergeant,” the man offers gently. “I think you have us all wrong.” He has all the ease of a hostage negotiator but none of the slickness. Despite how much he looks the part of a detective, he cuts an almost iconoclastic figure when he speaks.

“Your irresponsible theories nearly got my officer killed, Agent Mulder.” The sergeant gestures at the crack house, the door splintered on the floor. “To say nothing of how my department looks on camera for taking you seriously.”

“But you did take him seriously.” Agent Scully’s voice sharpens to a stiletto point. Her partner absorbs chaos; she refracts it.""

Post X-Cops Scully is infuriated the local cops blame Mulder for the night's failure, and reams them out in the honor of the man she loves.

@cecilysass/cecily_sass/Cecily Sasserbaum's

We’re Not Here To Get Involved in Personal Problems

""Scully,” Mulder interrupts himself suddenly. “Mangoes.”

She tracks the direction of his eyes, seeking the source of this nonsequitur. A half block ahead of where they are walking, a man and his teenage son work together to lift wooden flats of pale green mangoes from the back of a pick-up truck to a sales cart in their front yard.

Mulder turns to her, his eyes now taking on a manic, child-glimpses-ice-cream-truck gleam.""

Post X-Cops Mulder is in an unflappably good mood despite their empty gas tank; and Scully is-- reluctantly-- swept up in it. A leisurely walk, a mango barter, and a back-and-forth conversation ensues.

@agirlcallednarelle/TabithaJean's Good Morning, Sweet Dreams

""Mmmh,’ she mumbles, straightening up. ‘I’m awake, I’m awake.’

‘Looks like it,’ he smiles. ‘Didn’t you want to shower? Get those sheets all good and fake slept in?’

‘Yep,’ she murmurs, her eyes closed still. ‘I’m gonna do that. I’m getting up. Right now.’

‘You don’t have to, Scully,’ he tells her softly. ‘You don’t have to move.""

Post X-Cops Scully is too bushed to even shower.

@i-gaze-at-scully/ i_gaze_at_scully's Bad boys, bad boys

""Humor me, G-woman.” His voice is as sleepy as he is, with the same bite of electricity that’s keeping him awake. She sighs into the receiver and somehow hears the smug grin that spreads across his face as he resettles himself on his couch. That, she can actually hear: the rustle of fabric, the little crunch as the worn leather gives and the springs complain. She smiles in spite of herself, and decides, in fact, to humor him. 

“The very beginning?”

"Spare no detail,” he implores, and she remembers the panic of their briefing with Skinner after Chaney, years ago."" 

Post X-Cops Scully recaps their night over the phone to Mulder, who drops off (or at least snores) when she winds up to her list of grievances. (Her "unbelievable" floats around my head continually.)

@minuete-blog/Minuete's Out-Of-Scope Assignment - Chapter 8

""The two sat in their usual seats across from a scowling Skinner as they recount the COPS filming the elusive X-File and the somewhat successful bodyguard-turned-sting-operation.   He flipped through the report and underlined a few things for himself."" 

Post X-Cops Mulder wants to investigate another file but is squashed flat by Scully's "no." Instead, She invites him over for another work-night-turned-movie-night.

Girlie_girl7’s Bill Scully meets the X Cops

""Just then someone on the screen says they have a disturbance down the street. Mulder and Scully climb into their car. Scully stops the camera crew from going with them. "No, you go with someone else."

"About time Dana, you take charge.""

Post X-Cops Bill Scully, Jr., is shocked with his nightly COPS viewing; but gets swept up in the melodrama, cheering his sister on.

Sheryl Martin’s Feedback

""Thunk.

"Scully..."

Thunk.

"Scully... stop it."

Thunk.

"You're going to hurt yourself."

Thunk.

"Don't hurt the desk, then - put something under your head."

Thuddle.

"I didn't mean the case file. Besides, we did okay.""

Post X-Cops Scully is AGHAST that her family saw the episode.

ColebaltBlue/colebaltblue's Nothing to Hide

""Agent, you seriously believe we're looking for some kind of-"

"We'll, I'll show ya."

"Oh Mulder, you didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"Show that drawing on national television." Scully watched as Mulder unfoled the picture of wolf-man on screen. "Oh, yes, you did."

"Scully?" Mulder sounded amused, but with just a hint of hurt under it all. She bumped his shoulder with hers by way of apology. He bumped back and all was forgiven.

Post X-Cops Mulder and Scully watch the episode; and she grapples with the heartwarming (but oft frustrating) realization that Mulder cares only for her good opinion.

Erin Blair/Erin M. Blair's Halloween Evening

""Mulder nodded. "Twenty people wanted candy from the 'cool FBI agents' - that's what one of the kids said to me." He saw her give him one of her patented looks. "I don't know where he recognized us from. For all we know, he probably watched the 'Cops' episode with fifty repeated viewings.""

Post X-Cops Mulder and Scully were kept hoppin' on Halloween.

IngridGradient's Filmed on Location

""Mulder can’t help but feel smug about the fact that Scully has been reasonably attentive for the whole thing, barring a few scoffs and mutterings about how they shouldn't have let themselves be filmed. She even appeared amused a few times, basking in the (relative) innocence of their (relative) youth. And she ate the popcorn.

“Well. That was…something,” she says. “I’m still not clear on the M.O. of the creature you were proposing — precisely how it would pass the…the ‘fear’ along its chain of victims. You know what I mean, Mulder? The mechanism, the vector for transmission.”

“Always with the ‘how’ and never with the ‘wow’,” Mulder says."" 

Post Revival Mulder finds the episode and convinces Scully to watch it. Their moods sink the longer it goes on; but they're jolted out of the doldrums by their shock at a "lost scene." (As someone not into smut reading, I just skip that section~.)

AUs and Extras

@wtfmulder/@momdadimpoppunk (Ao3) TXF Fic Snippets

""Mulder pops in through the connecting door while she’s undressing, and she shakes her head before he gets any words out. “Absolutely not,” she says sternly.

“What do you think I’m here for?” He laughs, leaning up against the doorframe.""

In a collection of fic snippets, post X-Cops Scully sinks to the floor of her motel room, batting off Mulder's intentions.

stellar_dust's (Ao3) Cause and Effect (Ao3)

""He laughed. "Come on, Scully, it's a classic. How often do we get to see ourselves together, huh?"

She groaned. "Who says I want to, Mulder? That's what cameras are for. *Personal* cameras."

"... You know, Scully, you're really short," Mulder mused, like he hadn't made a point of noticing that fact at least a thousand times since they'd met.""

In a fic that spans S7's events post The Goldberg Variation, Mulder contemplates magic and trickery and chicanery.

FootlessData507′s Do You Want to Believe? - Chapter 12

""You look around to figure out what’s happened. You can’t move very far, obviously, because of that oxygen mask you are currently dependent on, but it soon becomes clear to you that something is going on in the economy section. You can hear screaming in addition to that strange sucking noise, and a whole lotta beeping and wailing, like there’s an episode of Cops playing in there.

You were in an episode of Cops once. Remember that? How did that not get brought up more?""

In a Pick-Your-Own-Adventure series of events, Scully is determined to have a beautiful flight... aliens interfere, of course; and Mulder gets right in the middle of it.

Do You Want to Believer? - Chapter 28

""Momma Mulder didn’t raise no chump! You put on your mask first, breathing in that sweet, sweet Element Eight.

            O-utstanding.

            Get it?

            Anyway, eventually you get around to helping that kid. Once you’ve done so, you look around to figure out what’s happened....

            You were in an episode of Cops once. Remember that? How did that not get brought up more?""

In that same series of events, Mulder gets a shot at a Cops shoutout.

Defnotmeyo’s (WBM, Alt. WBM) FTF- AKA The Tentative Trio (Alt.)

""The last torn up picture, the one left on top, is her first ultrasound.  One of the ones Mulder wasn’t there for.  The first one.  The first time he felt her hold his hand, kinda quite ‘that way.’

He’s not immune, to Mulder, either.  In that heap of a trash pile is a torn up L.A. newspaper, asking why the FBI was in town, and was partnering with COPS.""

S11 Skinner-- having received CSM's "biological" revelation-- tears his place apart and reflects on Mulder, the man he thinks of as his son.

@onpaperfirst's (Ao3, LJ) Snakebitten

""She went into the bathroom and he heard quiet movement, a zipper, fabric, then the squeak of pipes and water running in the tub. He wished he could fall asleep, nap in front of the TV, so he wouldn’t be waiting there expectantly when she came out, like some creep who’d just been sitting there the whole time, listening to her in there, thinking about her naked, which, well, he sometimes did, but he wasn’t now. 

He watched most of an episode of COPS before deciding she’d been in there too long. You could drown in an inch of water. Not to mention the things they’d seen come up a drainpipe.""

AU-- S5 Mulder and Scully secretly push apart as she investigates her cancer and abduction and he is forced into the long-con of recruitment leading up to The Pine Bluff Variant-- though, as per their bond, they are ultimately pulled back together.

@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls's encephalon - Chapter 1

""She wrinkles her nose up at him from where she's collapsed in the desk chair. “I liked Los Angeles,” she says seriously. “I don't like ridiculous movies that over-exaggerate and misconceptualize our jobs. At least that COPS episode showed what we really do.”

Mulder taps his chin dramatically, pretending to be in deep thought. “I seem to remember a certain Jose Chung and his horribly inaccurate portrayal of a certain case,” he says coyly.

She makes a face at him. “At least the names were changed,” she retorts.""

AU-- Mulder and Scully work through his brain disease in S7, with Scully's science ultimately saving his life. X-Cops is mentioned briefly after the disaster of The Lazarus Bowl.

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

#txf #Collector's Edition #X-Cops #S7 #Crazy X-Cops (and Watching the Tragic Ep. Later) #x-files #xfiles #the x files #xf fanfic #onpaperfirst #scullywolf #Scenes in Between #minuete-blog #Minuete #cecilysass #cecily_sass #Cecily Sasserbaum #Erin Blair #Erin M. Blair #i-gaze-at-scully #i_gaze_at_scully #ghostbustermelanieking #skuls #TabithaJean #agirlcallednarelle #Girlie_girl7 #stellar_dust #IngridGradient #ColebaltBlue #Defnotmeyo

[lilydalexf]

👽 Random X-Files Fic Rec

Buckle up and take a ride on this imaginative fic that meshes together dreams, Mulder, Jackson (William), Clyde Bruckman, and everyone's love for Scully. This really is the post-revival Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose sequel I never knew I wanted! Title: Jackson Van de Kamp's Not-so-Final Repose Author: cecily_sass (@cecilysass) Summary: A dream café. A dead old man at a table. A message for Jackson Van de Kamp. Mystery, unconventional MSR, and family feels. It’s the post-revival Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose sequel you never knew you wanted! Length: 6,907 words Classification: Fix-it of sorts Rating: Teen and up Spoilers: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, My Struggle IV Favorite line: “Dumb in love you get from your mom,” Mulder says, his voice creaky. “I am a goddamn genius in love. I punch way above my weight.” Read the story!

#fic rec #clyde bruckman's final repose #my struggle iv #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #cecilysass

[pianogirlxf]

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

[invidiosa]

Favorite fic: Words, Words, Words. I also really enjoy that conversation in Surely Not The Devil.

(I will say that in poking around your site, I found several I don’t know that I have read yet! So maybe I will have to revisit my answer.)

For the followers’ favourite fanfic of yours ask.

Thank you so much @cecilysass! They were fun stories to write. It's always very humbling when someone remembers some of my old stories from many many years ago. I appreciate you taking the time to answer!

poke away! Enjoy!

#cecilysass asked #xf fanfic #my fanfic #circe invidiosa fic

[pookie-mulder]

My Holy Grail Fics

After the past several months of reading TXF fic, here are some of my ultimate faves so far! I’d love to know what your holy grail fics are, as well. This fandom is full of incredibly talented writers!

(Also, if have any recommendations of fics you think I’d like, send them my way!)

The Boy on the Beach by @cecilysass

I read this entire thing yesterday. Ooh boy was it a page-turner! Time travel in fiction can get dicey, but this one handles it so well. I love how the time travel plot forced M&S to confront themselves and their pasts in order to better understand each other and move forward in their relationship.

Gaslight by @sisterspooky1013

This one should come as no surprise to you. It’s rare that a fic consumes my every waking thought and I spend every free second reading as much as possible, and boy, this fic delivered. I’m such a sucker for stories like this one where the character(s) don’t know if they can trust their own minds and have to really dig deep inside themselves to find the truth.

Pause by @cecilysass

Similar concept to Gaslight as far as the amnesia goes, but totally different vibes! I love the dramatic irony of the reader putting together the pieces before Scully does. It’s agonizing in the best way!

Fall Into Place series by @skelavender

My favorite WIP fic! I look forward to reading the newest installment every Friday. I adore the slowburn, UST, teetering-on-the-edge-of-something-more MSR, and LT is the master of it! This series is filled with heart-squeezy moments that make me feel like I’m melting into a puddle of goo.

X-File #02291996 by @skelavender and @7crowsinadress

Time loop my beloved! Such an interesting (and 🔥🔥🔥) take on this trope. I can’t wait to see where it goes!

Arizona Highways by Fialka

I’m always down for an Emily AU, and this one has such a compelling, angsty twist and an air of mystery that forced me to keep reading late into the night!

Tempest by MissyPennington

I love a good survival story! There’s something so delicious about two people leaning on each other both physically and emotionally to keep going. The follow-ups are incredible, too!

All That Is Dark and Bright by @malibusunset-xf-blog

Amazing Emily AU! Dad!Mulder is my weakness. Plus, I love the way they figured out how to treat her illness. It really felt like something that would happen in canon.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin by cuits

Beautiful soulmate AU! Only M&S could have literal, undeniable proof they’re soulmates and still overthink their relationship to a ridiculous level. And I ate it up! Give me the angst! The drama! The tension!

Emily AU by skuls

Last Emily AU, I swear! This series melts your heart in the first installment, crushes it to pieces in the second one, and then makes everything better in the finale.

#thanks to LT for recommending like half of these and converting me into a longfic enjoyer #txf #the x files #fanfiction #txf fic #msr #dana scully #fox mulder

[dsmulder4u]

"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

#agenttroi

[cecilysass]

It’s Saturday morning here, so here’s a podfic version of @sisterspooky1013’s absolutely perfect angsty little Never Before.

Now when you go to the gym or grocery store or whatever you do, you can be listening to something dark and steamy, too.

Thank you, @audiofanficpod!

#xfiles fanfic #x files fanfic #the x files #fox mulder #x files #dana scully #xf fanfic #never again #fic recs #msr #audiofanficpod #audio fanfiction

[amplifyme]

Saw your ask-- was torn between probing about the series, but I'll abstain. Instead: Top 5 or Top 10 txf fic writers (or people you return to on rereads.)

Let's get this started and see how how the numbers come out.

These are some of the folks I consider the cream of the crop and find myself returning to. Before I start, I should probably confess that I don't read a lot of TXF fanfic these days, so I'm probably missing out on a bunch of good stuff.

In no particular order:

@mashnotesofthemythopoeic

@cecilysass

@lepus-arcticus

@broadcastnews1987

@aloysiavirgata

The writing duo of @mustangsally78 and RivkaT

@storybycorey

Karen Rasch

@darwin-xf

@leiascully

Anything any of these folks have written is a sure bet. I'd link you to particular stories for each of them, but that would take me all day and I have an apartment to clean and groceries to buy. Just go poke around and see what you find!

Thanks for the ask @randomfoggytiger!

#ask and answer #top 10 #txf fanfic writers

[heatherwentwest]

TXF Recs: My Favorite Newer Mulder/Scully Fics 🛸

The X-Files canon may be complete (for now), but the fandom has kept right on evolving and creating beautifully original stories that center Mulder and Scully’s emotional journey. Much as I’ll always adore the 13 classic Mulder/Scully fics I first recommended, I am also thrilled to regularly discover new favorites from the many talented writers continuing the agents’ story. Allow me to introduce a few that have won my heart in the past few years…

Includes must-read stories by @cecilysass, @sisterspooky1013, @leiascully, @silhouetteofacedar, @dreamingofscully & more, plus links to entertaining book club discussions on @audiofanficpod!

#mulder and scully #the xfiles #the x files fanfic #txf fic recs #msr #msr fic #mulder x scully #xfiles fanfic #the x files #txf #xf fanfic #xf fic #txf fanfic #fic recs #otp: one in five billion

[sisterspooky1013]

In This Place, at This Time

Rated T | 4447 words | Read it here on AO3

Written for @cecilysass for the @xfilesfanficexchange Baby Agents exchange.

“Oh my god, Dana. You’ve got it bad.”

Scully looks up from her salad and regards her friend with confusion.

“What are you talking about?” she asks, and Ellen shakes her head.

“Mulder this, Mulder that, all with that little smirk. Sounds like someone has a crush on their partner,” Ellen teases.

Scully looks around the crowded restaurant as she feels heat rise to her cheeks. Every table is occupied, but none of them by anyone she recognizes, thankfully. She sets her fork down and levels Ellen with an irritated glare.

“I do not have a crush on Mulder,” she says sternly. “We work together, and work is a big part of my life, so it’s only natural that his name will come up.”

“Okay, okay,” Ellen says, holding up her hands defensively. “I’m just curious, though. Have you been to his apartment?”

“Of course,” Scully answers with a sigh. “And he’s been to mine. What’s your point?”

Ellen shrugs, and Scully has half a mind to tell her that she has no room to talk about persistent smirking.

“Did he invite you over for pizza and beer to ‘review case notes’,” Ellen says, making air quotes with her fingers.

As a matter of fact, Mulder did recently invite her to his apartment to review case notes over pizza and beer. It was fun and productive, and they did just that—reviewed case notes.

“Ellen, will you just stop, please? I will admit that Mulder is an attractive man, but that’s irrelevant. We work together, so there’s simply no possibility for it to be anything more than that. Case closed.”

Her phone rings and she fishes it out of her purse while Ellen continues right on smirking.

“I bet that’s him,” she says in a stage whisper, and Scully rolls her eyes as she brings the phone to her ear.

“Scully,” she answers.

“Hey, Scully, it’s me.”

“Hey, Mulder,” she says, then glances over at Ellen to see her mouthing I knew it!

“Are you free tonight? I found this wild field report about a colony of human-bat hybrids out in Hawaii. I thought we could grab dinner and look it over.”

“Well, nothing stokes my appetite quite like human-bat hybrids. Count me in,” she says, pivoting her body away from Ellen, who is making little kissy faces like a high schooler.

She says goodbye to Mulder, then continues to eat her salad as though Ellen isn’t staring daggers at her.

“I bet he’s great in bed,” Ellen says, and Scully snaps her head up. “The weird ones always are.”

“You’ll have to seduce him and let me know,” Scully retorts, and Ellen shakes her head again.

In the space of time between her lunch with Ellen and her impending dinner with Mulder, she gives a great deal of thought to what Ellen said. She knows that it’s true, in a sense; she does have a bit of a crush on Mulder. She denied it even to herself for a handful of weeks, but pretending that it wasn’t there did not make it go away. After her relationship with Ethan ended and he cited her preoccupation with her partner as a contributing factor, she was forced to tear down the facade and confront her true feelings, at least with herself.

Physically, she is undeniably attracted to him. The few times she’s caught sight of him partially dressed certainly did not serve to diminish that physical attraction. His impish, understated smiles and those Richard Gere-esque hooded eyes have set off a tumble in her belly on more than one occasion. If it were only that, it would likely wear away over time and no longer serve as a distraction, but unfortunately, his intellect is just as attractive to her as his physical form. The way they can slip so easily into repartee, the space he leaves for her in their conversations, and the fact that he never makes her feel small—either physically or mentally—makes her want to talk to him exclusively above anyone else. She feels seen by him in a way she hasn’t experienced before, like she doesn’t need to pretend to be more or less of any part of herself in order to be accepted. After a lifetime of performing a certain type of femininity to fit in with her female friends, and displaying uncharacteristic levels of stoicism and detachment in order to be taken seriously by her male colleagues, she’s always felt a bit like she’s playing a part. But with Mulder, she’s just herself, and he doesn’t appear to prefer her any other way.

She suspects that these feelings are somewhat mutual. While he is exceedingly respectful, she’s caught him giving her the occasional long glance when he didn’t realize she was looking. They’ve engaged in some mildly flirtatious banter that one or the other changed course on before it veered into the inappropriate. She didn’t miss his disappointment when he learned that she had a date, nor his satisfaction when she told him she didn’t plan to see the man again. Had there been iced tea in the bag, who knows what might have happened. But there wasn’t, and that fact encapsulates their relationship in her mind. In another place, at another time, maybe he would have taken her out. Maybe they would have had a fling or dated, or maybe something more substantial. But they are in this place, at this time, and it’s simply not within the realm of possibility.

Rather than feeling like a disappointment or a constant temptation, it feels like something unique and special. Two people who are drawn to one another, but choose to channel their connection into an incredibly profound friendship and partnership. Two people who know that they could easily fall into bed together, but resist temptation in pursuit of something greater than the brief gratification of release. What could possibly be more meaningful than that? What other man would be so willing to set his primal urges aside in exchange for her partnership and the potential of the work they can accomplish together? It’s just another bit of evidence in a long list of ways that his respect for her is above reproach. Neither is willing to jeopardize what they have for sex, or even a potential relationship. It feels almost poetic.

That night, he picks her up and takes her to a place called Jimini’s that she’s never been to before. They order drinks and appetizers, and she rolls her eyes while he explains how a tribe of human-bat hybrids could have hidden from the public on the small island of Maui for so long. He scoffs when she details the genetic impossibility of such a hybrid, and points out that they’d have to be horrifically inbred at this point if they existed at all, which they don’t. He makes her smile, and laugh, and frustrates her in the very best ways. She enjoys herself, and she can tell that he does as well. When he drops her off, there is just a brief glimmer of tension before she unbuckles her seatbelt and exits the car. It’s a glimmer they both look away from, and again she is reminded of this special thing that they share. This unique thing. She feels protective of it, especially in light of what Ellen said.

Days later, she enters the basement copy room to find their machine out of order. Work orders for the basement are never put on the top of the pile, so she heads for the second floor to make her copies, as well as to try and grease the wheels with the facilities department in hopes that they won’t be without their own machine for weeks again.

As she waits for her copies, another woman enters the room and hovers nearby, a hefty stack of papers in her arms. Scully has seen her before, but they’ve never been introduced. She’s short, even compared to Scully, with mousy brown hair that’s pulled back into a low bun. She’s pretty, but in a classic, less obvious way. She looks like she could be the heroine in a Charlotte Bronte novel.

“Sorry, this shouldn’t take too long,” Scully says with an apologetic smile and a significant look towards the woman’s stack of papers.

“Oh, take your time,” the woman says. “I’m not in any rush to get back to my desk.”

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Scully says after a beat. “I’m Dana Scully. I’d shake your hand, but…”

The women both look at the stack and smile.

“I’m Meredith,” the woman offers. “One of the peons of the secretarial pool.”

“Nice to meet you, Meredith.”

Scully turns back to the machine, noting that it has fifteen copies to go. She feels Meredith’s eyes on her and turns to see the woman staring at her intensely.

“Is something wrong?” Scully asks, and Meredith shifts the load in her arms uncomfortably.

“You work with Fox Mulder, right? You’re his partner?” Meredith asks.

“Yes,” Scully says cautiously.

“This really isn’t any of my business,” Meredith begins, giving a quick look around to confirm that they’re alone, “but you might just want to be careful around him.”

Scully’s eyebrows lift, and she finds that she’s concurrently curious and suspicious.

“Why’s that?” she asks.

She expects to hear about Mulder’s “spooky” reputation and the damage it will do to her career to be associated with him. It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before.

“He and I went out a few times a couple years ago,” Meredith says. “I thought he was interested in me as a person, but it turned out he just wanted sex.”

Scully gives the woman a sympathetic smile.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she says. “Mulder and I are partners, nothing more. Thank you for your concern, though.”

She turns away again and collects her copies, then lifts the glass to take the original document.

“First it was his place for pizza and beer, then a nice dinner at Jimini’s. Next thing you know, he’s inviting me over to watch a movie and then telling me that he isn’t looking for anything serious,” Meredith is saying, almost to herself.

That gives Scully pause, and she has an impulse to ask for more information. But this is exactly how rumors enter the mill, and she isn’t interested in being party to that.

“It was nice to meet you, Meredith,” she says, then heads back to the basement.

By the time she reaches the door to his office, she’s talked herself out of reading anything into it. Even if Mulder is doing things with her he might typically do with someone he’s dating, so what? The only thing that matters is that they both understand the nature of their relationship, which is entirely platonic.

“What do you make of this, Scully?” Mulder asks without looking up as she walks through the door. He always knows when it’s her.

She stashes her stack of copies on top of a filing cabinet and walks around his desk to look over his shoulder at the article he’s reading.

Woman With Two Vaginas Delivers Half-Siblings the headline reads.

“There’s a condition called Uterus Didelphys where a woman can have two separate uteri, and it’s also possible for it to exhibit as two vaginal canals. One or the other is uncommon, both even less so. A twin pregnancy would be extremely high risk, but it’s possible it could be carried to term,” she tells him.

“So you’re saying it’s…” he says, swiveling his chair so he’s facing her.

“Not an X-file,” she finishes for him.

“What would I do without you?” he asks with a smile, and she feels that little tumble.

“Probably ask a woman with a rare, but very terrestrial, medical condition a set of extremely invasive questions,” she quips, and Mulder laughs.

“Probably right,” he says, and turns back to his desk.

She feels a warmth in her belly, and knows that Meredith was wrong: she doesn’t need to be careful with Mulder. She’s safer with him than she’s ever been with any man in her life.

When he invites her over to his apartment for dinner a few days later, she doesn’t think anything of it. Pizza, beer, case review. It’s practically becoming tradition at this point. But when he mentions a movie he wants to show her, it does give her the slightest bit of pause. Watching a movie isn’t something they’ve done together yet. But that doesn’t mean that there are nefarious motivations behind the invite, and she’ll be damned if she lets gossip from some random secretary on the second floor sour her friendship with Mulder. She accepts, and intentionally wears something frumpy just to make a point to herself.

Mulder, for his part, answers the door shirtless.

“Hey,” he says brightly, ushering her inside. “I was just about to order dinner. Is Italian okay?”

Pizza is technically Italian, but there’s something less casual about pasta and complex sauces. Italian can be romantic, if you want it to be.

“Sure,” she says, removing her coat and shoes. “Italian sounds fine.”

“You look nice,” he says, giving her a quick once over. His tone is fairly neutral and his expression is observant, not leering.

She feels a flush of some strange combination of embarrassment and pride as she looks down at her raggedy jeans and baggy Georgetown T-shirt.

“Thanks,” she mutters. “Wearing your invisible shirt, I see,” she adds, and her tone comes out just a bit snarky, though that hadn’t been her intention.

Mulder looks down at his bare chest and laughs, then disappears into his bedroom and comes back with a heather gray T-shirt on, much to her relief.

The movie he wanted to show her is a silent film starring Charlie Chaplin about working in a factory, and ultimately tells the story of the ways in which modern-day advancements make our lives more difficult to the same degree that they improve it. Their dinner arrives sometime in the first half of the film, and they eat it hunched over his coffee table. It doesn’t feel romantic at all, and for that, Scully is grateful.

During the second half, Scully shivers, and Mulder wordlessly grabs the blanket draped over the back of the couch and spreads it out across both their laps. He’s a respectable distance away from her, but she can’t help but think back to the boys in high school who used a shared blanket to conceal surreptitious attempts to hold hands, or even cop a feel over her jeans. A little pit begins to form in her chest, and she scoots to the far end of the couch before folding her legs up on the cushion beside her such that he can’t reasonably sit close enough for any shenanigans.

When the movie ends, Mulder clears their plates while she uses his bathroom. As soon as she sits back down on the couch he plops down right next to her, so close that the sides of their thighs brush up against one another. If she had any room to scoot away from him, she would, but the arm of the couch is flush against her other side and she feels somewhat trapped.

He fans out a handful of case files on the coffee table, then turns to look at her.

“Ladies first,” he says playfully. “What looks good?”

She can smell him—his deodorant and aftershave, the beer on his breath. The heat of his body radiates against her side and alarm bells begin to quietly sound off in her head. Be careful.

“This looks promising,” she says without much affect, plucking one of the files off the top of the stack.

“Excellent choice,” he congratulates her. “I’ve been wanting to dig into this one for a while. Are you familiar with the concept of corporeal vaporization?”

Scully chuffs a laugh, but Mulder is quiet. She turns her head to look at him, bringing their noses within inches of one another.

“You’re serious?” she asks, incredulous, and Mulder smiles in that impish way that she finds irresistibly charming. In this circumstance, however, his charm makes the alarm bells grow louder.

“I am,” he says in a tone that reminds her of the day they first met, when she asked him if he’d read her thesis. I did. I liked it.

The butterflies in her belly flutter against the pit in her chest, and the alarm bells jangle in her ears. She runs her tongue across her bottom lip, deciding whether she should make up an excuse to leave.

“Ah, you’ve got a little sauce on your cheek,” he says as he leans in closer and brushes his thumb across the skin at the corner of her mouth. He’s so close, so close, and she just knows he’s going to kiss her.

“Mulder,” she says firmly, leaning away from him and closing her eyes. “Can you please give me some space?”

When she opens them, he’s staring at her with nothing short of abject confusion on his face. He scoots to the middle cushion on the couch, and she feels the tension drain from her body.

“Sorry,” he mumbles as he runs his palms over the tops of his thighs, his eyes averted to the coffee table.

They sit there in palpable awkwardness for what feels like an eternity. She could just leave and let him take her rejection of his advancement as evidence that she isn’t interested in being anything more than friends, but the idea of facing him at work tomorrow without addressing this is unbearable.

“Mulder,” she starts, not looking at him, “I really enjoy working with you, but I’d like for our relationship to remain professional in nature.” She waits for a beat to see if he has anything to offer in response, but he remains quiet. “I’m not passing judgment on how you comport yourself at work, but I am not a person who engages in casual sex, much less with coworkers.”

Again, she pauses so he can respond. Again, she is met with silence. She turns her head just slightly and peeks at him out of the corner of her eye. He’s sitting back against the rear cushion of the couch, his hands still resting on the tops of his thighs. He’s looking at her with a strange expression on his face, one she isn’t familiar with.

“Scully…” he says uncomfortably, scraping his thumbnail across the denim covering his thigh with an audible scritch. “I’m gonna be totally honest with you—I have no idea where this is coming from. Did I do something that made you uncomfortable?”

She looks at him sharply, her initial impression being that he intends to feign ignorance. But he doesn’t appear to be putting on an act—he looks truly bewildered.

“Why did you invite me over tonight, Mulder?” she asks flatly.

“To look over some case notes. Eat dinner. Watch a movie,” he lists off, watching her reaction to determine which of these invitations was the offensive one.

“You said I look nice,” she points out.

“I don’t normally see you dressed this…casually, I guess. I’m sorry if that was an inappropriate thing to say,” he replies, looking mildly horrified.

“What about the blanket?”

“The blanket?”

“You put a blanket on me.”

“It seemed like you were cold.”

“Why were you sitting so close just now? And you were…touching my face,” she says, brushing her finger over the spot beside her mouth where she can still feel the warmth of his thumb. There’s a bit of something there, maybe marinara.

“Scully, did you…did you think I was making a pass at you?” he asks dubiously, like the very idea of it is absurd.

More absurd than the existence of extraterrestrials. More absurd than liver-eating mutants and primitive homosapiens living in the forest outside New Jersey. More absurd than parasitic alien life forms trapped in the Arctic ice is the idea that Fox Mulder would be sexually interested in Dana Scully. She feels her cheeks flame, and she looks away.

“I—” she starts, but finds that her throat is growing tight. Embarrassment is something that she diligently avoids for this precise reason: the way her body responds to it is with the rapid onset of tears. “I may have misread the situation, Mulder. I’m sorry.”

She moves to stand, but he catches her by the wrist. She’s perched on the edge of the couch cushion, tethered to him by one hand, and the vision of his coffee table is blurring behind the pool of tears in her eyes. She can’t see how they can possibly recover from this. How she can.

“I think that came out wrong,” he says gently. “It’s not that I wouldn’t make a pass at you because I’m not attracted to you,” he explains, and she cringes at his attempt to make her feel better. “You’re beautiful, and insanely smart, and funny. But you’re also lightyears out of my league, Scully,” he finishes with an uncomfortable chuckle.

After blinking rapidly to encourage her tears to dissipate, she looks at him and finds only earnestness on his face.

“That’s not true,” she says quietly.

Again, he laughs.

“Uh, yeah, it is,” he says matter-of-factly.

She heaves a sigh, suddenly exhausted by this entire exchange. She loses the will to dance around the subject, and decides to just come out with it.

“I ran into this woman at work. Meredith. She said you two went out a while back,” she divulges, feeling like she’s in high school again.

“A few years ago, yeah,” he confirms, narrowing his eyes skeptically.

“She told me you used her for sex, and essentially warned me about your proclivity towards seducing your coworkers, and….” She drops her head into her free hand, the other still being wrapped up in Mulder’s. “I’m sorry, I have no idea why I gave any credence to it.”

“Ah,” he says knowingly. “I don’t want to come across as overly defensive, but that’s a gross misrepresentation of what happened between me and her.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Mulder. It’s none of my business,” she mumbles.

“I know that I don’t have to, but I don’t like the idea of you thinking that I would do whatever it is that she said I did. She and I did go out a few times shortly after I got out of a relatively serious relationship, and it made me realize that I wasn’t ready to date yet. We started…messing around, if you will, and I felt like I should tell her because I didn’t want to lead her on. She got upset and left, and that’s the last time I ever spoke to her. She practically dives headfirst into a conference room when she sees me coming, so I’ve never had the opportunity to apologize or clear things up.”

“Yes, that’s quite different from the way she tells it,” Scully says, chagrined.

There’s an extended silence, though the weight of it isn’t nearly as heavy anymore.

“Even if I thought I stood a chance with you, I’d never take it,” he says, quite tenderly, and she looks at him then. At those Richard Gere-esque eyes and his softly smiling mouth.

“I feel compelled to correct your assumption that you’d never stand a chance, but I don’t want you to think I’m making a pass at you,” she says, and his soft smile breaks out into a grin.

“I’d hate to have to file an official complaint with H.R.,” he quips, and she cringes again.

“Sorry,” she says, reliving it all over.

“Don’t be,” he tells her. “H.R. and F.B.I. policies aside, I’ve never worked as well with someone as I do with you. The idea of fucking that up is a little terrifying.”

She nods in agreement.

“Let’s not fuck it up, then,” she tells him, and his eyebrows jump up.

“Agent Scully, I didn’t know you knew that word,” he teases, and she rolls her eyes.

“Here’s another word for you, Mulder: bullshit. Which is exactly what this case file is,” she retorts, finally breaking free of his grasp and picking up the corporeal vaporization file they abandoned.

“That’s exactly what that son of a bitch Skinner said,” he shoots back, and her mouth falls open with surprise before she laughs loudly.

“You have a great laugh, Scully,” he says with a smile, then sits forward and collects all but the corporeal vaporization file into a neat stack. “That wasn’t a come-on, by the way.”

“Shut the fuck up, Mulder,” she says, punctuating it with a slap to his arm.

“Watch your goddamn mouth in my apartment, for fuck’s sake.”

They go back and forth like this until they run out of curse words in both the American and British vernacular and Scully again has tears in her eyes, but this time from laughter.

“I better get going,” she says as she wipes the corners of her eyes, her cheeks aching. “It’s a school night.”

He walks her out, leaning against the table with his hands in his pockets as she dons her jacket and shoes. Once she crosses the threshold into his hallway, she turns around to find him standing in the open door.

“Goodnight, Agent Scully,” he says formally, extending his hand.

She looks at his outstretched hand, then at his face, where she sees the corner of his mouth quirk as he attempts to fight off a smile. Stepping past his hand, she slings one arm around his waist and gives him a squeeze.

“Goodnight, Mulder,” she says casually, and he wraps one arm across her shoulders and gives her a squeeze in return.

WShe leaves him there, noting that she does not hear his door close behind her. Not until she’s standing in the elevator does she look up to find him watching her, an affectionate expression on his face. She waves, and he waves back, and then he disappears behind the mirrored metal doors.

It’s a special thing. A unique thing. To feel the way she does when he looks at her like that, but have no intention of doing anything about it. To know that he very likely feels the same way, but would rather never find out if it could work than risk ruining their friendship. In another time and place, maybe they could have gone on a different kind of adventure together. But here and now, she just feels lucky to know him in any capacity.

It’s enough. More than enough.

Tagging @today-in-fic

#the x files #x files fanfic #txf #dana scully #fox mulder #xf fanfic #x files #the x-files #xfiles

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

Fannish Year Review - 2023

Thank you for the tag @enigmaticxbee !

1. Your main fandom of the year: the x-files, my one and only. really my only fandom for awhile now.

2. Your favorite film this year: barbie was on the only movie i saw in theaters and i loved it! i also really enjoyed smile, thought it was actually scary and sosie bacon was great.

3. Your favorite book this year: hard to pick! i finally read the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid and loved it. malibu rising by the same author was good as well. and i have some questions for you by rebecca makkai, which read like a true crime podcast.

4. Your favorite album or song this year: it came out in 2022, but stick season by noah kahan continues to be on played on repeat.

5. Your favorite tv shows this year: i enjoyed the new seasons of never have i ever, you, black mirror, and the handmaid's tale (not actually new, but the latest season). as for completely new to me - i really liked dopesick, jury duty, and search party!

6. Your favorite tumblr community this year: x-files is the only community i'm a part of lmao.

7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year: kinda lame but anytime i see new fans of txf on tumblr, i get excited :)

8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year: the lack of hype around the 30th anniversay. not on tumblr - i loved everyone's gifs and contributions in september. but no mention from david and/or gillian? c'mon.

9. Your tv/movie boyfriend and/or girlfriend of the year: mulder&scully4eva

10. Your biggest squeeze moment of the year: just the fact that people keep writing fics for a 30 year show - i love reading them all. but special shoutouts to gaslight by @sisterspooky1013 and pause by @cecilysass - there were both suspenseful & entertaining stories that sparked a lot of interesting discussion and theories! thank you for posting chapter by chapter, it felt like watching the show.

tagging @cyb3rpeach, @mandalorianmuffin, @gingerteaonthetardis, @cutemothman, @pennyserenade, @bakedbakermom, @suitablyaggrieved

#i hope some people have more interesting answers than me #i'm basically on tumblr for one thing - msr lol #tag games

[randomfoggytiger]

You just led me to RocketMan, and I realized this is yet another XF fanfic author who went on to be a novelist IRL. You probably already know that, but I was so excited. So cool!

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!!!!

Wow-- thank you so much for telling me (ironically, I have heard of chezchuckles somehow on my travels; but not the connection to Laura Bontrager.) I'm so excited, too!

Adding this to my tbr list~.

#asks #cecilysass #RocketMan #Laura Bontrager #woooooooooooooooooow #I didn't know that #what an amazing world it is #again: thank you so much for dropping in to let me know

[fine-nephrit]

🥏 TXF Fic Rec #19: "The Caller You Are Trying To Reach" by Cecily Sass

My favorite missing scene/post-ep of episode 6x20, “Three of a Kind,” this fic is so fun, hot, and hysterical!

What if drugged Scully talked to Mulder on the phone in the Las Vegas casino?

The dialogue is consistently stupendous. M&S are so in character that I can’t get enough. I love, love this story. All around brilliant.

---

🥏 on AO3

author: @cecilysass length: short, 3,000+ words season: season 6, 6x20 Three of a Kind pairing(s): M/S UST tags: episode-related, humor, talk!fic rating: mature/R

#x files #the x files #xf fanfic #x files fanfic #msr #nephrit's fic rec #favorite #len: short #season: 6 #6x20 three of a kind #ship: m/s ust #genre: episode related #genre: humor #genre: talk!fic #rating: r #by: cecily sass

[sagan-starstuff]

Thanks @randomfoggytiger for the tag!

Favorite painter: Salvador Dali, I could stare at some melted clocks and weird objects that turn into other weird objects all day. Van Gogh, obviously. Mary Cassatt, who captured the lives of women so beautifully. And Duane Breyes, creator of Hilda, the best, most joyful and self-indulgent 50's pin-up of all time

Favorite writer: Sir Terry Pratchett. GNU. Followed by Neil Gaiman and Martha Wells.

Favorite band: Foo Fighters for life! Planning a tattoo. All it took was hearing "Walking After You" on the X-Files Movie: Fight the Future soundtrack and it was all over for me.

Favorite meal: As much shellfish as humanly possible, and then more. I will WRECK a seafood tower.

Favorite drink: A fancy bourbon cocktail.

Favorite outfit aesthetic: I don't know much about named aesthetics but I do love a nice light sundress.

Favorite singer: Currently Alanis Morissette

Favorite item: My shiny red stand mixer, Mary Cherry.

Favorite possession: I have several very personally meaningful pieces of jewelry. And my X-Files collection.

Perfume: I don't wear it! I work in healthcare and avoid strong scents because so many of my patients are sensitive to them. I like citrus smells and Ro's Argan body wash from Lush, though.

@precedex-files @calimanc @cecilysass @wtfmulder @deathsbestgirl

[xfilesfanficexchange]

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

#XFFlickedSwitch2023 #mulder #scully #msr #x files #fanfic #x files fanfic #rain king

[monikafilefan]

can you recommend any mulder x scully fics that include:

angst and/or pining/mutual pining and/or jealousy and/or these two idiots are in love with each other but their two dumb to do anything about it

plz & thanks

oh wow anon! you have great taste, but since this includes such a wide variety of fic, i’ll just list a handful of my faves that fit the theme of what you’re looking for.

fox mulder, closet romantic has great mulder pov/pining/jealousy. @silhouetteofacedar

a preponderance of evidence  has wonderful pining and jealous mulder moments post never again. @kateyes224

goshen has amazing mutual pining/angst/near death moments of clarity for msr. by bonetree, it’s a series but this 1st one is my fave.

the whole truth great canon-based jealous scully and an in-depth look at the delicious s6 angst.

dissonance a perfectly done mulder hearing jealous and protective scully’s thoughts on diana. @suilven19

girl 77 by mojo is such an angsty dose of mutual pining and jealous scully!

territorial pissings  some great possessive and comforting mulder. @gaycrouton

kaleidoscope a very cool take on jealous mulder. angst and mutual pining gold. @cecilysass

rocket man an angst storm of jealousy/pining/diana drama. wip @bluesamutra

yearn by me that includes angst/mutual pining/jealous scully going to therapy.

hungry pig such a great look at s6 teamwork and emotional angst. @mldrgrl

mastodon diaries a long and amazing look at mutual pining mixed with jealousy and time travel.

overnight sensation has great s6 angst with a little jealousy within a dark case fic. @syntax6

tsunami packed full of jealous scully and emotional angst that takes them all on a life changing ride. @piecesofscully

i know i’m missing hundreds of great stories here but these are ones off the top of my head that strike me as memorable and in character, which is important to me. pls add any other fics for anon i missed!

#fanfic #msr #asks #fic rec #angst #romance #mutual pining #jealousy