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cecilysass · 9 days ago

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just realized i never posted my list of favorite x files eps so let’s GO!!! before i jump in here’s the criteria i used to decide if an ep made it on this list (eps with all 3 are marked in bold):

is it Good (“objective” quality in story, direction, etc. and overall cohesion),

is it compelling (am I sat),

and how crazy is the msr (woven into the ep not just 1 scene). in absence of (or in addition to) msr it can also be like. how crazy is the scully or mulder characterization.

bonus least favorite episodes are marked in red. typically these are because of the writer not taking the characters seriously or contempt for the genre or scully crimes or wasted potential. currently accepting asks telling me how correct my opinions are.

one final note this list is from my nov ‘24–feb ‘25 rewatch and some of my opinions have changed. addendums are in blue!

SEASON 1

1x01 pilot, chris carter. iconic. the blueprint of the blueprint. the beginning of it all (good, msr)

1x03 squeeze, glen morgan & james wong. trust building, other agent, already developing codependency (good, compelling, msr)

1x08 ice, glen morgan & james wong. obviously. like obviously (good, compelling, msr)

1x13 beyond the sea, morgan & wong. crucial crucial scully episode. first instance of role reversal (good, compelling, msr)

1x20 darkness falls, carter. vashta nerada ep. semi unsatisfying ending but such a good premise and good side characters and good conflict (good, msr)

1x21 tooms, morgan & wong. sequel to squeeze, established trust, lying for him, first skinner appearance (good, msr)

SEASON 2

finding it harder to single out top tier episodes in this season bc the average quality is higher than in s1; there’s overall fewer duds. i wouldn’t say there’s many duds in s1, i def like way more of it now

2x01 little green men, morgan & wong. mytharc but like early mytharc so it’s bearable. cool incorporation of real science (good, compelling, msr)

2x03 blood, morgan & wong. such good cinematography and sick voiceovers from each of them (good, msr)

2x06 ascension, paul brown. hard to say if it’s a GOOD episode or just compelling. insane msr dynamics but has mytharc residue all over it (compelling, msr)

2x08 one breath, morgan & wong. compelling AND good. another crucial scully ep. mytharc base but that’s not really the point (good, compelling, msr)

2x13 irresistible, carter. classic horror ep, scully centric, nutter directed so it’s also beautiful (good, msr)

2x19 død kalm, howard gordon. lost at sea accelerated aging. good side characters & mystery & msr (good, msr)

2x24 anasazi, carter & dd. maybe I just fucking like mytharc. although this is more of a “let’s make fucked up things happen to mulder” win (compelling, msr)

SEASON 3

3x01 the blessing way, carter. flip side: let’s make scully deal with fucked up things (compelling, msr)

3x08 oubliette, charles grant craig. empathic link kidnapping victims. good mulder ep specifically (good, compelling, mulder)

3x12 war of the coprophages, darin morgan. it’s sooo funny to write scully as a bitch bc she’s a woman. take this shit seriously please

3x13 syzygy, carter. it’s SOOOO funny to write scully as a bitch. and for mulder to shit talk her behind her back. literally the darin morgan influence bc cc did not write eps like this before this season. forever a hater of two “funny” episodes back to back. okay amendment despite everything scully does retain some agency in this ep and actually reacts to mulder’s insane behavior. so no scully crimes I guess. honestly it’s less ooc and more that they’re believably in a fight. god I can’t decide if I love or hate this one. i would say i fall on the side of enjoying syzygy, i think seeing it back to back with coprophages just put a bad taste in my mouth lmao. i love when they’re at each other’s throats and like obviously that’s the point here

3x14 grotesque, howard gordon. mulder goes too deep except not really. beautiful shots, she cares about him, kept watching even though I was trying to make gifs. aka: (good, compelling, msr)

3x17 pusher, vince gilligan. obviously like obviously. (good, compelling, msr)

3x21 jose chung’s from outer space, darin morgan. yayyy another unserious ass dm ep this time with rape subplot. AND it’s boring. this is my absolute least favorite episode of the entire show and i will never understand why it’s a fan favorite. genuinely feel like i must’ve watched something different

3x22 quagmire, kim newton. how a lighthearted episode should feel. nessie and moby dick metaphors. honestly very run of the mill ep but has a little extra magic (good, msr)

3x23 wetwired, mat beck. you know I love a tv episode about tv. scully trauma + fun science + mr. x spookiness (good, compelling, msr)

SEASON 4

4x02 home, morgan & wong. genetic disorder baby incest family “most fucked up” episode award. sex convo scene. (good, compelling)

4x05 the field where I died, morgan & wong. they sure can tell a good and fucked up story with impeccable characterization woven throughout. cult reincarnation regression hypnosis soulmates. (good, msr/mulder)

4x08 tunguska and 4x09 terma, cc and frank spotnitz. largely mytharc shit that never matters again but watching mulder physically abuse krycek for 40 minutes fills my heart with joy. also mulder torture and charlottesville. for terma it’s mostly just off the charts scully loving mulder (compelling, msr) (like literally tunguska is compelling and terma is msr neither are both at the same time)

4x10 paper hearts, vince gilligan. off the charts incredible episode. intense mulder insight and mystery you’re on the edge of your seat for the whole thing (good, compelling, msr/mulder)

4x12 leonard betts, vince gilligan & john shiban & frank spotnitz. if it was a regular episode it would be batting average but since it is an elaborate and intentional set up for cancer arc it’s actually kind of genius. definitely better to appreciate it with that knowledge and to know exactly what point it’s coming to. (good, compelling)

4x13 never again, morgan & wong. scully scully scully scully scully scully scully I love you. you are so crazy and perfect you are my best friend. but for real this is The scully ep- we get to see her without her work mask (put together, in control) OR her mulder mask (comfortable silly in love etc) on and instead get to see her be naturally fucking weird and awkward and make bad decisions. such provocative commentary on her relationship with mulder with only a few lines of dialogue and the SILENCE as the ep ends god. also the music (both score and soundtrack) goes off in this ep in a way it rarely does (good, compelling, msr, SCULLY)

4x14 memento mori, by fucking everyone ig damn. so goddamn much happens in this episode I almost wish it was like five different eps. scully voiceover god tier. possibly the blue ribbon msr episode. just enough mytharc nothingness at the plot level to keep it from being a genuinely good story in and of itself. (compelling, msr but like extra msr points)

4x20 small potatoes, vince gilligan. god I expected better from him. things can be silly without being stupid. I understand that it’s difficult to watch on purpose but I just don’t enjoy that kind of thing. I know they are queen of not talking about it but god for once can an event’s impact on their relationship be addressed or even just implied instead of something I have to make up in my head

4x22 elegy, john shiban. autism bowling episode. deals heavily w scully’s impending mortality. she loves him and he lashes out (good, compelling, msr)

4x24 gethsmane, carter. it’s not that I can’t stand it it’s just SO MUCH mytharc nothingness to the point that it’s like. literally this entire episode stands on the word of some guy we’ve never met and we don’t even know what his word is. “he told a story that made me believe” is the extent of detail we get. HELLO?? like obviously we are being misled in other ways this episode maybe I’ll change my mind watching redux but god So Much Nothing

SEASON 5

season of hard hitters but also the beginning of the decline into stupidity

5x01-02 redux i/ii, carter. okay. a lot of mytharc nothingness based on 4x24 but it actually feels like something coming to a head. like this was the end of x files 1.0. there’s a sense of things being wrapped up although if you actually look at a play by play of the plot I don’t think anything is. probably second place msr story. (compelling, msr)

5x04, detour, spotnitz. mothmennn. good example of lighthearted ep. very m&s driven and the campfire scene is one of their best in the show. I try not to let it matter in the ratings but they are so beautiful in this one (good, compelling, msr)

5x05, the post-modern prometheus, carter. I’m not sat for this episode. I don’t think the story is particularly noteworthy. I don’t like unserious episodes. and yet??? somehow the campiness and black&white and cher combine to give it a certain allure. the last two minutes are doing a lot of heavy lifting which I said I wouldn’t let happen but come onnn just this once. honorary placement here. (literally none)

5x06 christmas carol / 5x07 emily, gilligan, spotnitz, & shiban. christmas carol is significant scully episode paired with genuinely enticing mystery and awesome dream sequences. (good, compelling, scully). emily starts so crazy strong and has some of the most intense msr of the show but alien storyline kind of goes all over the place and devolves and drags out. but then the end is strong as fuck too. (compelling, msr)

5x08 kitsunegari, gilligan & TIM MINEAR. pusher 2 breakout version now with 100% more twins (good, compelling, msr)

5x12 bad blood, gilligan. sorryyyyy I just genuinely hate a funny episode. I do like the pov concept and obviously that lends itself to a certain amount of comedy but I just wish we could have non-ridiculous episodes that focus on their characterization/relationship. even the crazy interesting parts of this ep feel like they can’t be extrapolated to the larger show bc of how exaggerated for comedic effect it is

5x18 the pine bluff variant, shiban. heists and double crossing and torture (good, compelling, msr)

5x19, folie a deux, gilligan. hostage situation, they butt heads, she saves him. (good, compelling, msr)

SEASON 6

an extremely “love it or hate it” season, surprising lack of mid episodes

6x02 drive, gilligan. gotta go fast. mulder’s first second antisemitism. (good, compelling)

6x03 triangle, carter. I loveee creative direction I love time travel I love watching scully navigate bureaucracy. (good, compelling, msr)

6x04-05 dreamland, spotnitz/shiban/gilligan. this was honestly easier to stomach the second go round but my complaints remain the same. I know the concept lends itself to a certain amount of comedy but I still wish they had played it straighter. scully crimes bc she’s not that stupid. suspension of disbelief issues bc no way they’re just like okay bye forever. “and it never happened at all” is the laziest ending in the entire world

6x06 how the ghosts stole christmas, carter. he does not “listen to her droning rationalizations” just bc the alternative is being alone. her “one joy in life” is not to prove him wrong. I don’t care if chris carter said it the past five years just do not indicate that in any way. addendum i think part of the point is that these things aren’t true and that’s why they escape/get a sweet ending but the following is all still true. this could be such an interesting psychological horror and insight into their relationship but it can’t take itself seriously for two minutes what with the fart jokes and over-acting (direction’s fault not theirs). genuinely such wasted potential

6x08 the rain king, jeffrey bell. stupid. unserious. it was not the flick of a switch

6x10 tithonus, gilligan. scully violence and immortality. (good, compelling, scully)

6x12 one son, carter & spotnitz. genuinely terrible script like every single person’s lines sound stilted and bad. and even beyond just not liking fowley, cc is blatantly using her/mulder to piss off the audience instead of like. for actual plot reasons. top disrespectful episode for that alone. AND it’s so much mytharc “yes and” bs

6x13 agua mala, david amann. silly but the way a doctor who episode is silly. fun ensemble cast and cool medical shit ft. doctor scully. (compelling)

6x14 monday, gilligan & shiban. I already love timeloops and this episode alters that narrative tool in an interesting way by asking “what if someone else could get pulled into the timeloop?” I love that the focus of the story is a side character. I love that she has to die. literal chills at “this hasn’t happened before.” bonus mulder bleeding out in scully’s arms and both of them repeatedly rushing to the other’s rescue (good, compelling, msr)

6x21 field trip, gilligan & shiban. dreams within dreams are also a sort of time loop and this shit rules. awesome use of role switching in absence of the other and doubt as a theme. love when she thinks he’s dead (good, compelling, msr)

6x22 biogenesis, carter & spotnitz. I do love mulder mind reading and being in pain but GODDD we are doing such a stupid “oooh aliens wrote the bible” storyline. and then you put fowley in it too but the fridging is hilarious it has to be said

SEASON 7

potentially most mid season

7x01-02 sixth extinction, carter & dd. oh my GOD can I please have ONE cohesive story I’m fucking sick of “and then what if and then what if and then what if”!!! and never any fucking consequences bc this show has the short term memory of a goldfish. and let’s time skip any interesting parts while we’re at it

7x07 orison, chip johannessen. loveee a return to an og case. love scully trauma and role reversal and role of religion. helps that it’s beautiful (good, compelling, msr) i would actually hedge on the “good” distinction now bc how the narrative handles scully killing pfaster is so bizarre. like if mulder had shot someone we would not be scrutinizing it like this

7x08 the amazing maleeni, those three. stupid as fuck. it’s okay soon they’ll get it out of their system with the lone gunmen show

7x10 sein und zeit / 7x11 closure, carter & spotnitz. was not expecting this to make it on here. is this an underwhelming end for samantha? yes but that’s every prior samantha story’s fault, not this one’s. genuinely interesting crime A plot with insane mulder emotions mixed in and beautiful soundtrack and like. yeah. closure. (compelling, msr)

7x17 all things, the loml. “everything happens for a reason” and the concept of a series of choices leading you to where you are is my shit. like 22 year old scully simultaneously being a victim and a homewrecker is awesome. I wish the resolution was less like. ooo mystical eastern religion. (gooood?, compelling, msr)

7x19 hollywood AD, dd. sorry but it’s stupid

7x20 fight club, cc. also stupid. where are the main characters

SEASON 8

things are serious again!!! we can actually go 44 minutes without the show pointing and laughing at itself!!!

8x04 roadrunners, gilligan. awesome fucked up cult shit and scully recklessly doing her own thing and getting tortured about it. beginnings of genuine trust btwn her and doggett. (good, compelling, scully)

8x14 this is not happening, cc & spotnitz. literally 44 minutes of your heart breaking over and over. actual good use of previous characters? suspenseful as fuck in a way where your questions get answered? mytharc hasn’t done it like this since s2 (good, compelling, msr)

8x20 essence, cc. [40 minutes of a guy walking slowly towards the camera] let’s just bring back krycek for the millionth time that will surely make things interesting. does scully do one single thing to impact the story here

8x21 existence, cc. woww what a good choice to split up the main duo for this ep that definitely makes sense. peak scully as vessel for baby and nothing else. also I feel like her dialogue about the baby is just so weird and unnatural

i didn’t rewatch s9-11 but it’s probably safe to imagine a lot of red

#this is a fascinating list

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cecilysass · 15 days ago

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Would be asleep right now, but there are Fictional Characters to imagine in emotional situations. You know how it is.

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cecilysass · 17 days ago

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Leiascully Fic Recs

In honour of my dear friend @leiascully , here are 40 of my favourite of her fics. Leia writes a Mulder and Scully that I always recognise. They're smart, they feel deeply, they're imperfect and they can have sharp edges. And she's very generous with the smut as well. She's been in the fandom since the old days and has a huge library of fic available on ao3. She has something new and exciting on the way, so keep an eye out!

Baseball Metaphors

Absolute top quality MSR right here. There’s fake couple, there’s banter, there’s slow burn, there’s hot smut, there’s deep love, what more could you ask for?

Rating: E

Words: 30,081

Summary: When you run into your ex, you pretend you're dating your partner. Sometimes things spiral from there.

Favourite line: She smiles up at him. "This was a bad idea."

He grins back. "Terrible. One of the worst you've had in the years I've known you."

A Cabin In The Woods

I love this fic. Love it. So very, very much. It's a quiet series of vignettes that act almost a Scully character study. It's beautifully written and feels like life: awesome and mundane, serene and restless, comfortable and wanting. Treat yourself.

Rating: T

Words: 13,768

Summary: Mulder and Scully, on the run, stay for a while in a cabin in the mountains in Montana. A series of interlacing vignettes.

Favourite line: In an abstract way, she misses Monica and her mother, Doggett and Skinner. But she has spent so much more time missing Mulder. The reservoir fills slowly but surely, restoring that part of her to equilibrium, but there are other absences that can never be redeemed, not in this world, not by mortal means. Something about the cabin, the mountains, the quiet makes all of that a little less unbearable. The wilderness requires nothing and everything of her in a way that makes her feel whole and competent and insignificant all at once. She remembers the feeling from church when she was younger. She has not felt it for many years. She wasn’t aware how much she missed it. It isn’t something she can explain to Mulder, whose worshipful gaze turns upwards, but toward mysteries she will never fathom.

adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication

This is a special one that explores how the trauma they have experienced might weave its way into their physical relationship.

Rating: M

Words: 2,051

Summary: Sex is easy for them, after all the years of lofty intellectual foreplay. Sex is difficult for them, too. Arousal and fear walk the same paths.

Favourite line: Gooseflesh ripples her skin and she forgets to breathe, and it feels like love, and it feels like terror. They both have their too-tender places where the nerves are laid bare. There are times he starts to move against her and then shies like a skittish horse.

the alchemy

Delicate IVF fic that breaks and heals your heart all at once.

Rating: M

Words: 1,401

Summary: This is the moment, he understands. This is what could make or break them, after everything they’ve endured. Total honesty or nothing.

Favourite line: There’s something primal about how territorial he felt about her during the IVF process. He felt larger, heavier, tangibly aware of her relative delicacy. He prowled at her side, showing his eyeteeth to Skinner, sensitive to any attempt to invade their pride of two.

And They Lived

Family fic perfection complete with William squeezing an apple cider doughnut with his chubby baby hands.

Rating: M

Words: 1,815 Summary: Mulder, Scully, Emily, and William enjoy a nice day at the pumpkin patch as a family.

Favourite line: “Mom, you never let us have two sweet treats in one day.” Emily was suspicious, but it didn’t stop her from taking a big bite of her doughnut. Will was already plowing through his, squeezing it in his chubby fists. He knew better than to argue.

April 25th Is The Perfect Date

Sweet little number in which Mulder gets rejected over and over.

Rating: T

Words: 769

Summary: Mulder keeps trying to ask Scully out on a date, but she seems oblivious.

Favourite line: “There was clear intent,” she teased. “I saw how you licked that whipped cream off the fork before you handed it to me. It was clearly foreshadowing of your lingual abilities.”

Breakfast & Bed

A perfect morning after, they deserve to be this happy.

Rating: T

Words: 912

Summary: Mulder cooks breakfast for Scully after their first night together.

Favourite line: Something about the morning light made him look like a cloud had passed, leaving everything about him brighter. She had done that. They had done it together.

Caller ID

Companion piece to Light Refreshment 😉

Rating: E

Words: 770

Summary: When Bill called, Scully was a little distracted.

Favourite line: “Well,” Mulder said, “I know it’s not Easter yet, and I know you had a pretty, uh, full morning, but I’m happy to report a miracle: he is risen.”

Common Pleasure

The old five times and one format on the excellent subject of cunnilingus.

Rating: E

Words: 3,604

Summary: Many times Mulder and Scully went down on each other.

Favourite line: “I’ll eat you up, I love you so,” she says, slithering down the sleeping bags on her belly.

Consume

We all know that Mulder eats pussy like a champ and I love how Leia’s Scully gives as good as she gets.

Rating: E

Words: 1,026

Summary: She hadn’t tasted him yet. The thing between them was too new and they’d been focused on more mutual pleasures.

Favourite line: There was enough good Catholic girl left in her to relish the rebellious ambiance of black leather, even if, in the end, Mulder was more lost boy than bad boy.

Control

Emotional post-Pusher pegging fic. Scully taking care of Mulder in more than one way.

Rating: E

Words: 1,728

Summary: Putting herself between Mulder and the world was all she could do, knowing that one day, it wouldn't be enough. But tonight, she'd taken control. Tonight, she'd been the one who shaped Mulder's reality.

Favourite line: "When I can't trust myself, I can trust you," he said, and buried his face in her shoulder.

Days of Rain

We’re with Scully throughout this beautiful season 7 fic, full of bittersweet loveliness. It’s an oldie and it’s absolutely a goodie.

Rating: M

Words: 6,141

Summary: She was Heisenberg's uncertainty: Mulder's skeptical disciple, a professional woman in love, a barren mother.

Favourite line: I love this fic and could choose so many but this one (written 16 years before we met) seems designed for me: She wasn't his first love. How could she be? He had a heart as defenseless as Belgium: women rolled right over him in three days.

Decompress

Written for me when I had had a long day.

Rating: T

Words: 920

Summary: Scully's had a long day. Mulder orders takeout.

Favourite line: He did this for her: saw her aching inarticulate need and brought her gifts to nourish her, body and soul.

Don’t Rub Me The Wrong Way

I adore this Syzygy fic, they are so angry but Leia keeps it the right side of mean. They fight so hard because they care!

Rating: E

Words: 2,101

Summary: He expected Scully knocking on the door to his motel room. What he didn’t expect was for her to kick the door closed behind her and shove him up against the wall.

Favourite line: It’s all my favourite line. The whole fic. But this is iconic: He drank her down like he was some motherfucking pussy sommelier: notes of citrusy tang balanced by the musk of a long day’s sweat.

Dress-Up

Very hot and fun with Mulder in some male lingerie. Maybe one day– if we’re very, very good– we might be blessed with another chapter.

Rating: E

Words: 6,674

Summary: Mulder wishes Scully still had those white cotton panties from the Pilot. Scully wishes Mulder would slip into something black and sexy and do some funky poaching.

Favourite line: She leans up on one elbow and watches him ogle her breasts as they shift. Mulder, unsurprisingly, is extremely visual. If she opened her legs a little further, he’d follow his own line of sight all the way into the V of her thighs and bury his face in her cunt.

Endeavors Too Short Of Desires

Full of season 6 Mulder yearning.

Rating: T

Words: 4,523

Summary: Not all wisdom has benefits, he thinks: too wise to woo, they are stuck in the stasis of longing and denial.

Favourite line: Every now and then he remembers she is someone's little sister.

Fever Dream

This fic makes me keyboard smash. Love a horny meeting fic, this one is short but it has everything you need.

Rating: M

Words: 966

Summary: Scully is distracted in a meeting by thoughts of what happened the previous night with Mulder. Skinner is not amused.

Favourite line: "I'll make sure she gets what she needs," Mulder assures him, putting one hand on her back. Skinner knows, Scully's sure of it, but he just lets them pass without another word.

Get Lucky

I love how comfortable they are with each other in this SOSS fic.

Rating: E

Words: 2,688

Summary: “Come on,” she said, pausing with her fingers on the last button of her shirt. “For once we agreed. The guy was lucky. The luckiest man on earth.”

“He can’t be,” Mulder said. “I’m the luckiest man on earth.”

Favourite line: “Mulder,” she said, and he savored the sound of his name on her lips. “I want your mouth.”

“Where?” he asked, because she liked it when he acted like a little shit, to a point.

Grand Slam

A season 8 fic that allows them to be human and angry and messy and unfair on their way to reconnecting.

Rating: M

Words: 2,555

Summary: Maybe he'll kiss her, maybe he'll storm out: either way, they'll have reached a tipping point.

Favourite line: "You never miss a chance to needle me about my tattoo," she says. It's a completely unfair statement, the kind of deranged nonsense that only couples say to each other, and she didn't even mean to put "needle" and "tattoo" in the same sentence.

Have It Your Way

Tasty little morsel of our lil guys out after a long day.

Rating: T

Words: 1,104

Summary: She sees the white and blue sign of a Culver’s looming like an angel. Her stomach growls. On top of everything else, she’s on her period, and the idea of a burger stokes a need deep inside her. “There,” she says.

Favourite line: He picks up his shake and his jacket and tips his head inquisitively, and Scully follows him, feeling the eyes tracking them out of the restaurant. She ignores them. They always draw attention, regardless of what they’re doing. She’s just glad no one’s hit on Mulder yet. She’s not sure she’d tolerate that well today.

Heaven Is A Place On Earth

I’m such a slut for Mulder is huge fics, this is one of my favourites. A perfect example of Leia’s incredible talent for writing smut.

Rating: E

Words: 1,331

Summary: No if, ands, or bees; or: what would have happened if the FTF outtake kiss (tongues edition) was real.

Mulder and Scully's first time, set during Fight The Future.

Favourite line: I knew you were…substantial,” she said. “But I can’t say I expected this.”

He knows. Phoebe used to drag her palm down the length of him when they were out with friends. Showing him off, she always said, but it was embarrassing. He’s not embarrassed when Scully touches him.

Here’s A Hand In Thine

Early MSR, they were just babies!

Rating: T

Words: 3,798

Summary: After their Firewalker quarantine, Mulder invites Scully to the Lone Gunmen's New Year's Eve party.

Favourite line: God. Mulder. Most of the time she was ambivalent to his charms, recognizing them but relatively unaffected. Then there were nights like these, where everything he did dragged over her libido like a bow across cello strings. She didn’t even have a full moon to blame. If she was turning into some kind of were-Scully, sniffing at his trail and sinking her fangs in deep, she had only herself to blame.

Hurl Clichés At Me

I love this “surprisingly unprudish” and composed Scully and this blushing but very up for it Mulder. I will never get over my favourite line.

Rating: E

Words: 3,153

Summary: "You do have some pretty bad pickup lines, Scully."

Favourite line: "Go make sure your room is locked," she says. "And maybe put your weapon away."

He glances down automatically at his pants, and she laughs at him. It's more like a snort, honestly, but it's still pretty damn hot.

"The one the Bureau issued you," she clarifies.

I & love & you

Short and sweet, exactly what it sounds like: Scully telling Mulder she loves him.

Rating:

Words: 305

Summary: She tells him every day.

Favourite line: All the times she’s watched him walk away and known it could be the last time, and she never said it until now, by accident, apropos of nothing as they’re about to go to lunch.

I Can See You (Up Against The Wall With Me)

Poor Skinner. We get to see them through his eyes during the SOSS and it is HOT.

Rating: M

Words: 1,464

Summary: Skinner goes out to a bar and catches Mulder and Scully there on a date during the Season of Secret Sex.

Favourite line: Six years of restraint, abandoned. I mean, goddamn, I’d seen them make a handshake look like a hard fuck. I could only imagine what they were actually getting up to in the bedroom. Or the bar bathroom. Or, and I don’t know why this hadn’t occurred to me before, their isolated basement office.

if the truth forgets about us

Oh the pain of the cancer arc. Gets you between the ribs.

Rating: E

Words: 2,628

Summary: Both of them understood this was likely to be a singular encounter. They were running out of time.

Favourite line: He hissed between his teeth, a sound of pain. “Don’t.” Tears rose in a hot rush behind his sinuses. He could see one gleaming in the corner of her eye too. He wanted to kiss it away, to ingest the salt of her.

The Inequity of Lingerie

Lovely revival era fic where Scully is treated to a gift and a little striptease.

Rating: E

Words: 3,215

Summary: A very early or very late birthday present that doesn't involve a batting cage.

Favourite line: He throws in some groovy moves that he knows look more goofy than suave. Anything to keep his hands off himself. She’ll tell him when she’s ready.

Keep Christmas With You (All Through The Year)

It’s delicious. The fetch quest grocery store trip, the buying dish soap to wash the newly bought mugs, the banter, the consorting, all of it.

Rating: M

Words: 6,512

Summary: Mulder and Scully are snowed in at the end of a case. Will they consort in the same hotel room while on assignment? Will they ever!

Favourite line: “I’m not a hurricane, Scully.”

“And yet you come with a flash flood warning.”

He frowned. “Because of the tears when we leave town?”

“No,” she said. “I was thinking more about the inundation of local basements.”

The penny dropped. “Scully!”

Light Refreshments

I love it when Leia takes the pals yapping and turns it into gems of fic like this one.

Rating: M

Words: 572

Summary: When Skinner called for an update on the stakeout, Mulder was a little distracted.

Favourite line: She had a Cheshire cat smirk. “I’m amazed you held off, and frankly a little disappointed in myself.”

One Day I’ll Wish Upon A Star

Post Rain King delightful first time fic.

Rating: M

Words: 2,106

Summary: There was only one bed in Scully’s room.

Naturally.

Favourite line: It was unfortunate that every time she’d straddled him up until now had been for medical reasons.

“I know you’re checking for symptoms,” he mumbled as she gazed into his eyes, kissed him, gazed again, tipped his face from one side to the other with her dexterous little fingers.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied cheerfully.

One Lonely Night

A first time fic full of tenderness born out of one brave decision.

Rating: E

Words: 2,574

Summary: "Why have we been lonely for so long?"

Favourite line: “Scully,” he whispers. "Is this happening?“

She sits back, her hand still splayed over his chest. "Do you want to stop?”

“No,” he says immediately, and then calms himself. "No. I just want to make sure it’s what you want. I think you know I’ve wanted this for a long time.“

"I know,” she says. "I haven’t wanted it any less than you have.“

"You never said anything.” He looks a little lost. The trepidation in his eyes strikes her somewhere undefinable, maybe even in her soul.

“I thought you knew,” she says.

The only thing I ever wanted will be standing at my door

The logical outcome of the closet worm check in Ice.

Rating: E

Words: 2,660

Summary: The logical part of her knew her hunger for him was honed by the terror she’d felt earlier, “fight or flight” transmuted into “fight and fuck”. But they hadn’t fucked in the storeroom where Mulder had been imprisoned, and the impulse had gnawed at both of them for the rest of the day.

Favourite line: Mulder’s grin was probably a controlled substance in at least six states. She watched his eyes calculate the number of condoms and then rake over her body again. She shivered, letting him see the need in her. Yes, she wanted to use them all. Yes, she wanted him anywhere. Everywhere. She’d wanted him since she met him. She wasn’t going to die in an Arctic research facility without having her fill of him.

palimpsest

A shortie but goodie about Scully’s adoration of Mulder.

Rating: M

Words: 795

Summary: When Mulder moves in her, it’s like poetry.

Favourite line: All this time later and she still feels such profound gratitude when he touches her. His tenderness seems infinite; she’s never found its bounds. She flings love into the well of him and never hears an echo.

Pink Pilates Princess

When Spotify started spewing out its nonsense and dubbed me a pink pilates princess, Leia wrote this perfect little treat for me. Mulder in full himbo gear, being a very silly, very sweet man.

Rating: T

Words: 933

Summary: Mulder's hiding something, so Scully follows him.

Favourite line: “It’s good for my core,” he says mournfully.

POÄNG

The fic that started it all. I love everything about it. Horny Scully, yearning away. Playful Mulder, driving her insane. Their weird mating dance, how they’re still getting their signals slightly crossed all the way to consummation. They’re such freaks (affectionate)

Rating: M

Words: 4,435

Summary: The solve high hits Scully right in the libido. A trip to IKEA doesn't help.

Favourite line: She wonders if her pupils are dilated as she gazes up at him. She wants to push him up against the wall, but there’s a cabinet in the way. He’d hit his head, and he’s had enough cranial trauma. She’s his doctor. She knows better.

Relax

Completely G rated caretaking porn.

Rating: G

Words: 925

Summary: "Sit back, relax, and enjoy your quarter 'til Valentine's pampering, Scully," he told her. "And if you need any help undressing, I'm here for you."

Favourite line: There were moments now when she felt like they had the normal, perfect life she'd dreamed of when she was younger, but phase-shifted into something approaching reality. She hadn't known herself then, not the way she did now. She hadn't known what she needed her life to be: here, in this unremarkable house, with this wholly remarkable man.

Siren Song

This fic is something a bit different to Leia’s usual recognisably human Mulder and Scully and it’s pure magic!

Rating: E

Words: 4,403

Summary: Navy sailor Dana Scully, in disguise as Daniel, has a very close encounter of the mer kind.

Favourite line: She blushed, wondering if he’d felt her wonder at being held, the tiny ember of desire he’d kindled in her belly. A ripple again, as he gave her a one-sided smile: yes, he’d noticed. He’d felt it too.

Sláinte

This one stings real bad and is technically Scully/Other which is really not normally my thing, but at the same time you will never, ever convince me that this isn’t MSR at its core.

Rating: M

Words: 13,611

Summary: Despite the occasional passing interest in dating, she passes the majority of her time with him. He's aware that he likes it that way, has been engineering Scully-traps since the slides he showed her the day they met. He baits her with conundrums and impossible questions and then sits smugly, luxuriating in her company. He has let her leave or lose anyone else who mattered to her. Maybe he can offer her the boys from the lab as a stopgap, a seawall built against her loneliness.

A slightly alternate Season 4.

Favourite line: He loves her more than he has ever loved anything in this world, including the memory of his sister; his envy battles with a genuine contentment that there is some comfort for her here, in this place he disdains, with this man he resents.

Take It Like A Champ

I love how annoyed, endeared, adoring, horny, loving and irritated Scully is in this fic. And how Mulder takes it like a champ, of course.

Rating: E

Words: 9,162

Summary: Scully thinks they're on vacation. Mulder thinks they're on a case. Good agents don't consort while on assignment, but they really, really want to.

Favourite line: “I’d stay there again,” he said. “Recreationally.”

“Oh? Are you seeing someone?”

He stopped suddenly in the middle of the passageway. She stopped too and looked at him curiously. He took her face between his hands and kissed her. It was profound. It was passionate. It was making her weak in the knees in the middle of a fucking airport. She put her hands on his waist to steady herself.

“It wasn’t because this is a secret, Scully,” he said. “I’d get your name tattooed in five inch letters on my ass tomorrow if that’s what you wanted.”

“I know.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I know. The work matters. It was just weird not to be on the same page.”

Wide Open

This absolutely happened, you will never convince me otherwise.

Rating: E

Words: 1,447

Summary: "You came and you cracked the case."

Favourite line: "What about a system of tunnels?" she asked. "A link to the outside world."

"Scully," he said, raising his head a little. "I'm a little busy."

"I know," she said. "Keep going."

#xf fanfic #txf fanfic #fic recs #yesssss

120 notes · View notes

cecilysass · 20 days ago

Note

I always feel like Mulder doesn't get enough/any comeuppance for the whole Diana arc. I know you have a list of Diana fics but do you have any specific recs for where he is truly made to suffer consequences?

Collector's Edition: One Son's Repentance

I believe Mulder's suffering and consequences were meted out in Biogenesis-Amor Fati: circumstances which forced him to confront and reform the cracked foundations in his psyche.

That aside: there weren't any on-screen scenes that addressed One Son's rift, now were there? And while the writers and actors and crew barreled onward towards more laughs and light times, viewers were left a bit short-changed, I'd say.

Which is what fanfic's for, isn't it?

Loose chronological order below~

@baronessblixen's

Never Cold With You By My Side

Her anger dissipates as she catches sight of Mulder in that too-small bed, looking like a giant sleeping in a dwarf’s bed. There’s half a smile on his face and a hopeful gleam in his eyes that disarms her. Tonight, it’s not enough. It may not be his fault that they’re locked in here, but when push came to shove, he chose Diana, the path of least resistance.

“I want to sleep,” she says, squashing whatever hope he might have had of making her laugh with his jokes tonight. “It’s been a long day,” she adds.

AU-- Mulder and Scully spend a night in Fort Marlene.

Mulder gets really mad at Scully for running from their feelings

“Look at me, Scully."

"No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m giving you privacy.”

“I didn’t ask for privacy. I don’t want privacy.” I want you, his mind screams.

“Well, why don’t you ask Agent Fowley back then. I’m sure she’d love to keep you company.” Before he can utter another word, she passes by him and walks out without a glance back.

One Son Mulder and Scully are at cross-purposes.

Fictober Day 18: At The Crossroads

“This isn’t just about us stranding here, is it?” She doesn’t answer. “Is it because of-”

“It’s not,” she says too quickly.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“It’s not because of anyone,” she says, turning to him and staring straight into his eyes. She won’t say the other woman’s name. She’s not important. “It’s because of me.”

“You don’t want to be doing this anymore.” Mulder lets go of her arm as though burned by her touch.

Post-One Son tensions are heightened by a broken-down rental and scorching temperatures.

Making Progress

“No, Diana. That was all you.” Mulder’s voice picks up, is louder now over the fake laughter on the screen. “No, I did not. Not once.” If only Scully could hear Diana’s side of the conversation. Mulder is quiet, appears to listen. He sighs once, runs his hand over his face.

“Scully is my partner, Diana.” Scully stands up straight, takes her lower lip between her teeth, worrying it. She should not be here, should not be listening in on this private conversation. But why can’t she leave?

Arcadia Scully overhears Mulder's phone call.

In Sickness And in Health (Ao3)

The waitress wanders off, leaving Mulder and Scully alone with their thoughts and their silence. He starts playing with the salt and pepper shakers, his hands unable to stay still. Scully wishes she had something to say. Anything. She watches and waits for the waitress and their food. Her stomach is in knots. She knows it’s not just because she hasn’t eaten anything in a while. It’s because of whatever is happening between her and Mulder. She wants things to go back to normal, but she still flinches when he touches her. The way he treated their first case back still leaves a sour taste in her mouth. The way he treated her, as his wife, even more so.

Maybe they should have sent Diana with him.

Post-Arcadia Scully and Mulder draw back together when she's hit with a nasty case of food poisoning.

@queeenpersephone/light_loves_the_dark's

wishbone

If Diana’s a liar, then Scully will be the only person to hold him without hurting him. And as much as he loves her, the idea that only one person has ever loved him without ulterior motives is almost unbearable. Is he that hopeless? Is he that unloveable?

He’s ready to bark at Diana to give them a minute when Scully catches him by the wrist, and the fact that she’s still willing to touch him makes him hate everything a little less. He wants to touch her too: everywhere. To climb over her and into her and block out the past few months in the solace of her body. For now, he settles for turning back to her without a second thought to Diana, watching as she breathes in and out before speaking. “If you love me,” she says carefully, her voice breaking on love, “prove it.”

One Son Scully refuses to join Mulder and Diana.

in this metallic silence

“It has been six years,” Scully says quietly, like she is empty. Like she has lost a fight that he didn’t even know they were having. Lost a war while he has been on a different battlefield altogether. “If I am still just assigned to you, I should go.”

Post-One Son Mulder's trust in Diana is finally torn away after Scully is injured in the field.

Erin M. Blair's

Never Me

Does he trust me?

Sometimes, I wonder.

One Son Scully is fed up with the lies and deceit.

Mistaken Moments

"Are you going to quit?" asked Mulder.

"Is that what you think I should do?" inquired Scully. Her eyes flashed with anger at Mulder. "Sometimes I don't think you really trust me. You have droned on and on about how not to trust other people but then you placed your trust with Diana Fowley. And I wonder why." Mulder and Scully were both in the elevator towards the basement office. As Scully watched the floors go by, she turned towards Mulder, "I wonder why you trust her."

Post-One Son Skinner has to facilitate a vacation for his emotionally bruised agents.

@minuete-blog's Done

“No. We’re done. I’m done.” She looked at him slightly wide-eyed, stunned at her remark seeing the mirrored expression on Mulder’s face. Did she genuinely feel that way?

One Son Scully reaches her limit.

@contrivedcoincidences6/Spooky66/geektime66's Things you said #10 (Ao3)

He sees her there, still in her car but she doesn’t see him. Scully’s face is in her hands and her shoulders are shaking. The need to run and comfort her overwhelms him. He can count on one hand the times that he’s seen her cry.

Before he can second-guess himself he knocks on her window, startling her.

One Son Mulder promises to verify Diana's trustworthiness.

Diadem's

Scene 15 - Winner Takes All

Some little part of you must know that I love you. I never told you, it wasn't really necessary. But I'll be there when you fall, Mulder, and as always I'll be right beside you to pick you up again.

One Son Scully doesn't know what Mulder sees in Diana.

Maybe and Movement With Time

id he ever find me useful? Were my theories, my versions of events ever taken seriously, or was I simply around for amusement value? Did he ever find me attractive, as a woman, rather than a gun-toting authority figure? I thought he did. Maybe he didn't.

Post-One Son Scully navigates her complicated feelings with distance, looking for evidence of Mulder's loyalty and devotion.

Dianora's Impasse

The ride back from the Air Force hangar passed in tension-laden silence, none of the passengers in the car ready to discuss what they had seen, or the carnage they had witnessed. Despite her inner turmoil, Scully half-dozed for much of the ride, the physical and mental exhaustion of the past 24 hours finally catching up with her. She was looking forward to a long hot bath and then a good night's sleep, but when Skinner pulled up in front of Scully's apartment building, Mulder got out of the car too.

"What are you doing?" she asked, slamming the car door shut.

"I'm going in with you, so we can talk."

One Son Mulder stubbornly clings to Diana's friendship, forcing Scully to prod the limits of his loyalty.

Vehemently's Rainbow Sign

Agent Spender matched his white dress shirt, the arterial red a startling speckle on skin and cloth alike. Mulder noticed the gauze padding that blood was gluing to the man's ribcage. Scully, who had worked hard to forget her rotation in emergency medicine, saw instead the face upturned, nostrils gaping and half-open eyes revealing only the whites.

They stood together like that, in the hallway, while the elevator took on its passengers and began to close. Before the doors had closed all the way, the paramedics began shouting to each other. There was just a glimpse to be had of a man climbing astraddle the gurney before the doors were shut and all they saw were their own dull reflections.

Post-One Son Mulder pieces together the breadth of Diana Fowley's duplicity.

@is-on-its-way/Ophelia_is_a_nun's In the name of the Father, the Skeptic and the Son (Ao3)

He did have to talk to Scully. The stooges had been a little bit right. He had been a jerk at their place. But not because Scully might have been wrong, because he had so much else on his mind that seemed so dire at the time. Preventing an invasion of colonist aliens for one. That when she’d made it clear she didn’t trust his judgement, it had been the last straw for his patience. But he’d been dismissive and mean in a way he’d never been with her. He’d hurt her, and he was terrified she would leave him for good. He needed to try to make this right.

Mulder, Scully, and the aftermath of One Son.

JLB's Car Ride

We haven't spoken for the last ten minutes, but I will not be the one to break the silence. I refuse to give in first even though I know that this entire situation is strange and I should make allowances. I'm driving Skinner's car, which he graciously offered to us since he had to stick around and oversee the official investigation. Part of me wishes I that I had insisted on staying, that I had just let Mulder take the car and go by himself. I could have caught a ride with someone else later. But then I would have been avoiding the inevitable, not confronting this head on. Not like I'm actually confronting anything now, but at least we're sitting in the same car, even if it is in complete silence.

But I refuse to speak first. I will not do it. For a variety of reasons. Yes, I'm still angry with him.

One Son Scully and Mulder are goaded into tears and confessions.

@all-these-ghosts/all_these_ghosts's what happened in the scene at the Lone Gunmen between Mulder and Scully in Two Fathers/One Son?

“I went to her apartment,” he says. For a moment his eyes lose focus, and she goes very, very still. “After what you said at the Gunmen’s. I went to see if I could find any evidence that she…that she’s what you say.”

She can’t keep the hope out of her voice. “Did you?”

“No.” And the hope evaporates. “But while I was there, the Smoking Man stopped by.”

Her eyes flash up to his. “At her apartment?”

“He said he was looking for his son,” Mulder says, “but I don’t—I don’t know anymore. Diana didn’t seem surprised by any of it. Not the fact that he was there, not the fact that the world as we know it was about to end.”

There are so many things she wants to ask him, but she stays quiet, waiting for him to go on.

Post-One Son Mulder and Scully are reinstated.

Vesalius's The Estrangement of Shared Purpose

At the sound of her voice, Mulder stopped and looked up. Scully solemnly held his gaze for a moment, and then spoke again.

"And if we..." she paused briefly, placing emphasis on the "we", "are going to look for answers, we need to talk."

Mulder stiffened, blinked slowly, and said quietly: "About?"

"About our ability to continue working together."

"Are you saying you want to quit?"

"No. I'm saying I have concerns about our ability to work together effectively as partners."

AU-- Post-One Son Scully's frustration forces Mulder to open up about his past.

Brandon D. Ray's There But By the Grace of God

Diana. How could I have been so wrong about her? How could I have failed to see the signs? Especially when my own partner, the one I have come to trust as no other, my one in five billion, kept trying to get through to me, kept rubbing my nose in the unpleasant facts that I didn't want to see, didn't want to hear, didn't want to know. How could I have been so blind?

Scully... I'm so sorry.

Post-One Son Mulder's contemplation.

Shoshana's Breathing Room

Mulder glanced through the peephole, saw Scully, and threw open the deadbolt. The knock had sounded familiar but he'd been nervous all day since young Spender's blood was found in their basement office. He was less concerned about Diana's whereabouts, not wanting to dwell on her betrayal.

He didn't want to think about his ex-partner and sometime friend because he didn't want to face Scully.

Post-One Son Mulder and Scully have an honest conversation about his guilt.

Jennifer Brady's Laughing Out Loud

"That's it? I sign this, and we're back?" I ask, running my fingers over Mulder's jittery scrawl.

He smiles a bit and nods. "That's it,"

I quickly grab a pen and try to unwrinkle the paper. Mulder's right behind me, I can feel his breath. All of a sudden, I am struck with a realization. If this is going to happen, it's going to be on my terms.

AU-- Post-One Son Scully seizes an opportunity to forge her own conditions.

@agent-troi, @tofuttim, and baronessblixen's Eden

Mulder’s arms wrapped around her completely, like he was afraid she would escape.

“What are you doing, Mulder?” she whispered.

“I…” his voice was tight, unsteady. “I need you to be still for a moment, to let your guard down and hear me. Can you do that?”

“Okay…” Scully said cautiously, realizing the warmth and pressure of his wrapped arms instantly brought her comfort.

“I’m sorry.”

AU-- Post-One Son Scully is furious over the events of the past few days (if not years.)

@alienbaby-babymama's 12 Days of Ficmas (Ao3)

He didn’t want to believe it.

“You told me you loved me.” Diana barely hears his muffled statement but she’s prepared with her retort.

“I told you a lot of things I didn’t mean.”

Post-One Son Mulder has to know.

amorfati3215's

I watched AmorFati and actually had a dream about it last night.

When he’d walked into the office earlier that morning he’d hoped for an easy day; he had a headache brewing, no doubt a result of little sleep the previous night, and for once he just wanted to go eight hours without arguing with Scully.

Post-One Son Scully is not letting the matter go.

Prompt: Post ONE SON.

So instead she enquiredabout vacations further afield, and ten minutes later found herself booked on abreak to St Lucia in the Caribbean. Sun, sea, relaxation, not to mentioncopious amounts of rum and somewhere Mulder wouldn’t think to look - it wasjust what she needed.

But now she was back, and as Scully walked into the Bureau building, she felt a ball of anxiety in the pit of her stomach as she prepared to face her partner once again.

AU-- Post-One Son Scully finds herself replaced by Diana.

@foxmulders's daniel waterson just knocks on scully’s door, hoping to rekindle things

In all the years she’d known him, Daniel had never ended a lecture a minute early or a second late. Which is to say: The man had an uncanny sense of timing.

AU-- Post-One Son Daniel Waterston shows up on Scully's doorstep.

@gaycrouton's Up Close and Personal

"What part of 'I want to be alone' was confusing, Mulder?" she asked, venom lacing her tone. She took a few steps forward to confront him but was shocked at the damage her room had taken in such a short amount of time.

"Trouble in paradise?" an unexpected voice teased from behind her.

Scully jumped forward and whipped around, immediately making eye contact with the last person she expected to see: Alex Krycek.

Post-One Son Scully and Mulder's distance is broken by a particularly cruel manipulation on Krycek's part.

@cecilysass's One Hand Tied (Ao3)

Scully doesn’t see the point of this kind of charade. Surely she understands that the gig is up. Surely she doesn't think anyone is fooled by this friendly, reasonable persona she puts on. Surely she doesn't think Mulder is softening towards her. Is she actually attempting to win him back?

There's abruptly a bitter taste in Scully's mouth behind the gag. She hopes that’s a ludicrous idea. But Mulder has not been entirely predictable where Diana is concerned.

AU-- Post-One Son Diana Fowley preys on Scully's growing distrust, ferreting Mulder away under the guise of lovestruck abandonment.

@actual-changeling's

the definition of insanity

They will try again tomorrow, and maybe it will be different, maybe they will mend and heal, maybe she will slide her fingers between his and squeeze.

Maybe they will find the truth tomorrow.

Post-One Son Scully is struggling to forgive.

agent_starbuck's What You Don't Know

“Scully…” he breathes, her name rolling thickly off his tongue, and her belly flutters at the way he says it. She hates that he can do that. Even when she’s furious at him. She settles a palm against her stomach, willing the sensation to go away. It never does.

Before she realizes it, he’s made his way to the living room, planting himself on the coffee table across from her.

“I’m an idiot. I shouldn’t have second guessed you or your intentions. I don’t expect you to forgive me. But at least let me try to make amends.”

His confession is a breath of fresh air to her weary soul. It is definitely a start. But she needs more than his cool, practiced and calculated words.

Post-One Son Scully takes a personal day.

@lotsoforangesoutside's Mulder’s Chickadee (Ao3)

“Was she your partner like… I was?” Scully never beat around the bushes, he knew.

“Are you asking me…” His voice trailed off.

“The Boys called her your chickadee.” She spat. “Though I certainly don’t want to ever be reduced to Mulder’s Chickadee, yet… How personal was she to you, Mulder?”

He wondered if he should get up and put some clothes on. This is Scully, his heart reminded him, Scully will never hurt you.

His brain chose this exact moment to pipe up about him being shot in the shoulder.

Post-One Son Scully confronts Mulder over what TLG had said.

Defnotmeyo's Unnamed

Mulder will forever remember that from the last meeting in Kersh’s office, Jeffrey proved himself the bigger man.

Dribble. Bonk. Mulder rebounds the ball. The thunk of his dribble echoes in his maniac mind.

There are more apologies to be made. Considering Diana’s body was not among the remains of El Rico.

“Thou-thought they could sleep with the enemy.” A statement. A gaze. A skeptical eyebrow. And a billion apologies swallowed in Kersh’s office.

Post-One Son Mulder dribbles the ball as he processes.

Lynn Saunders's Unbreakable (Gossamer)

"Don't think, Scully. Don't talk. Just listen," he says in his rushed, single-minded manner, all in one breath. He has wandered through the grimy streets, through the storm raging outside, to stand here looming in her doorway, dangerous in his black leather jacket. His hair is slicked back, dripping rainwater down his collar.

"I don't know where things started going wrong or why we've been acting this way when we're together... but I'm not leaving until we fix it."

Post-One Son Scully brings to mind Melissa's courage.

@wtfmulder's Sharp Turn Blues

Scully looked surprised by his entrance which made him feel worse. It was her intention, then, to brush it all off, let it fester, only to add it to a checklist she could later refer to when she eventually came to her senses and left, like she’d threatened just days before. She sat on the floor with her knees tucked in, a microwaved meal going cold on the coffee table . Something dramatic and mind-numbing played on the TV.

“Mulder?” She asked, making no move to get up. She was tired, so, so tired, he could see it on her face. He imagined what it must have looked like before he’d burst in, the listless shoveling of bland food into a sullen mouth, a half hour flipping through channels only to land on something she didn’t even like.

Post-One Son Mulder confesses his feelings.

@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack's Hurt's Hopeful Plunder

She sat down again on the couch, farther from him this time. She stared at her fingers, which were folded in her lap. “Do you want to be with her?” Scully asked, her voice so low he could hardly hear.

He thought for a moment. Part of him did, maybe–the part that hated himself and thought he deserved whatever misery Diana had to offer up. But that part had always been prone lies and terrible self-destruction. What his heart wanted was right here, glowing in a rumpled bathrobe and bare feet, but bruised by his miserable tendencies. “No,” he said.

“Do you love her?” Impossibly, quieter. Still, she didn’t look at him.

Post-One Son Mulder's apology spills into more.

thenonexisting's life is just a game. - Chapter 1

“You smell good, Mrs Petrie,” he rumbled.

Just like that, the veneer shattered.

“Stop.”

Hands thrown up, she pulled entirely away from him and hopped off the counter. Stumbling dizzily towards the sink, she ran the water and splashed her face. Wake up, Dana.

AU-- Arcadia Mulder and Scully have a short and painful post-One Son discussion.

Anne Haynes's Friendly, Whole, and First Day Back

Her dark eyes were sympathetic. "I heard other things, too."

"Spender's resignation?" It wasn't what she meant, and he knew it, but he wasn't going to talk to her about Scully.

"Seems he's cleared out of town." She gave a little shrug, uninterested. "But that's not really what I was talking about--"

"We're just settling in. First day back." He changed the subject with a faint air of desperation. The cafeteria seemed close and small. He looked across the table at Diana and felt something dark and mean curl in his gut. Suspicion, something he'd fought against when Scully tried to bring her own doubts to his attention.

Post-One Son Scully and Mulder struggle back in their partnership, wanting to vent and understand and find their own answers.

EPurSeMouve's Dinner

She raises her eyebrows, confused. He thinks it's confusion, at any rate. He is just starting to realize that there is so much about her he doesn't understand...

"It's been a while, Diana. Three weeks. And I've been doing a lot of thinking, trying to figure out a lot of what happened... It still doesn't make a lot of sense. But I can't help wondering about what role you had in all of this."

Post-One Son Mulder realizes the old Diana is gone.

yukla's like a lonely house

Scully’s hardly listening anymore. Grab dinner, he said.

As if they’re stopping at one of the endlessly sticky dinners on the side of the road after a long day of investigation with nothing to show for it, tossing change over the counter in exchange for the country’s gummiest cheeseburgers. As if they’re doing overtime on a weekend and pulling cold, smushed sandwiches out of their bags to wolf down before returning to their paperwork. As if she hadn’t been waiting on this moment for ages now, as if she hadn’t summoned all the courage in her body preparing herself for this night, hoping that he would feel the same. She’d assumed he did.

Scully nods sharply to herself, feels her stupid, lonely, dangly earring bounce off her jaw with the movement. That strange hot feeling, high in her face now, creeps into the space behind her eyes, and with sudden clarity, she recognizes it as humiliation.

Post-One Son Scully believes Mulder no longer has romantic intentions.

Vivian's Amends

"Scully, I'm sorry."

"Mulder, this is not your fault."

"I mean for, well, for all of it." He ran an agitated hand through his hair. He took a few more steps, and stood still, his back facing her. She could practically see him struggling for words.

Despite the unremitting pain in her wrist, Scully felt the tension she'd been carrying for the past weeks slowly begin to slip away. Glancing outside, she noticed the gloom was beginning to dissipate. "It looks like it's letting up a bit," she noted. His shoulders dropped a notch, and his stiff posture eased.

Post-One Son Scully realizes Mulder is trying to show he cares, in his own way.

@leiascully's Endeavors Too Short of Desires

There are days lately that they just prickle at each other until the air is so charged he isn't sure one of them won't take a swing. He gets smug and she gets arch and he wants to remind her of Scully-that-was with the bad suits and the naivete, but the quips dry up when he looks at Scully-that-is, who might just shoot him to shut him up, her eyebrow cocking almost audibly as a pistol. It was easier when they were upstairs, Moose and Squirrel against the Badinovs. Now they've won and they're back in their weird seclusion, and he spends all day trying not to think about things. Diana and Spender and the enormous scar on Scully's stomach and a normal life and that's just for starters. Scully nags at him: he should be thinking of his knees, his cholesterol, his prostate, his geriatric future chasing phantoms, and he almost blushes under her cool stare as she dissects him and gets irritable about that.

Post-One Son Mulder ruminates on Scully's innumerable losses and the endless road pitching them perpetually forward.

@settle-down-frohike's Desert Woman

He mourns not meeting her first, before anyone. He can’t help wanting to assume the best in anyone who’s ever even pretended to understand him, but he wishes he could, for both their sakes.

Post-One Son Mulder, Scully, and TLG at a birthday party.

OnlyFoxMulder's Sunshine in the Rain

Indignant at first, it took a long drive and a greasy burger from his favorite hole in the wall to see the light. Then, he called Scully. It was late, definitely after midnight, and he found her awake and willing to finally conquer the growing space between them. In the end, it worked. After that night, the air felt lighter; they allowed themselves to joke with each other again, even flirt a little bit when the mood struck them. He was delighted to have her back, the giddiness he felt every morning returned. She was smiling again, albeit less than she did before Diana, but she flashed him many of her cute tight-lipped smiles that made his insides turn over.

Post-Milagro Mulder mulls over his and Scully's post-One Son reconciliation after Padgett's attack.

fxckthishit 's You're It

Her breath hitched as his voice twisted something painfully within her. Foregoing the feeling, though, Scully stiffened her spine and crossed her arms. “What’s there to talk about?” She got her coat, “I’m not abandoning you, Mulder, if you are worried about that. I don’t know about you, but my priority has always been my work and the X-files.” She started heading out the room before turning around at the doorway, regarding Mulder with a look. “We’re partners, Mulder. I still got your back. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the scene,” she turned around and walked away, leaving Mulder dazed with only the receding sound of her heels, the cacophony of his muddled thoughts and an eerily familiar scent.

AU-- Post Amor Fati Diana Fowley is alive and squirming her way back into Mulder's life, forcing Scully to erect inner walls for the sake of the partnership.

Shoshana's Recovery 01, Recovery 02, Recovery 03, and Recovery 04

From my conversations with Scully and the journal entries I've made it through so far, we were both going to deny that moment ever occurred for the sake of our partnership. The indignity of having the X-Files ripped out from under us, the embarrassment of scut work like background checks and fertilizer investigations must have suppressed my libido in a big way.

Most likely, and from what I read between my own lines, I lost my nerve, waiting for her to give me some sign, show me how she felt. I wasn't willing to take the risk and lose her forever, not after she chose to stay with me, X-Files or not. She remained my partner, my best friend all last year. And I'm so very grateful for that. But something must have happened last February that shook her up, made her extraordinarily sensitive to the mere mention of Diana's name.

AU-- S7 Mulder wakes from an injury with amnesia; and, via Scully and his journal, slowly catches up on the past year's events.

BONUS

Flywoman's The Blessed One Bites the Bullet

"Here it is," he said triumphantly. "Diana Fowley, Special Agent with the VCS from September 1985 through October 1987. Seems she was suspended from duty following a joint panel investigation into certain unauthorized extra-governmental employment opportunities."

"Drugs?" Scully asked. "Weapons? Embezzling Bureau funds?"

Frohike consulted his sheet. "Apparently she played a starring role in a soft core porn film with some nobody called David Doo-chuhvnee."

Crack-- Post-One Son Scully ends up siding with Diana Fowley.

Ryo Sen's Revanche

Pulling the antenna up with her teeth, Scully punched the Send button and answered, "Scully." She felt supremely stupid with a phone to each ear.

"Who are you talking to?" Mulder's familiar voice demanded. "Your phone's been busy for hours."

Scully paused, unsure how much she wanted to confide in her partner. Deciding to share as little as possible, she asked, "What's the problem, Mulder?"

AU-- Post-One Son Scully's nightmares begin to unravel her abduction memories.

@writingwell/RocketMan/Darkstryder's Refuge of Lies

Mulder kept too much from her. If some police department somewhere found something about Emily or the other fetuses, she wasn't confident that Mulder would tell her.

And now, she'd been e-mailed this article about an unknown virus, her contacts were reporting some suspicious stuff, and large quantities of medical supplies were being moved across the globe, through holding companies and warehouses that had no real board of directors.

The worst news of all. . .three microbiologists had disappeared, two pre-natal doctors had been lost at sea, and thirteen virologists were either reported missing or presumed dead.

She was going to be sick. This couldn't be happening all over again.

Post-One Son Scully and Mulder are caught up in the Consortium and Rebel war.

@mldrgrl's Looking Back: Nine Moments That Changed Things

“Sorry,” Scully said, jumping in surprise and then fumbling with the keys.

Mulder put his hand on her wrist and she held her breath. “You could tell me we’re going to Florida,” he said, “and I’d say my overnight bag is in the trunk. You could tell me we’re going to Switzerland, and I’d say, good thing my passport is in the glove compartment. Scully, you could tell me we’re going to McDonalds and I’d say I love French fries.”

It was quiet for the next few moments and Mulder ran his thumb over the side of Scully’s wrist. She sniffed lightly and then inclined her head towards him, but cast her eyes down to his knees.

“You know I don’t like McDonalds,” she said.

Mulder smiled at her and her lips curled slightly as well. “You could also just tell me you’re taking me home,” he said.

“And what would you say to that?”

“I’d say, maybe you’d like to come up for awhile. Unless there’s somewhere else you need to be.”

Mulder and Scully's personal journey from Alpha to Millennium.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

#Diana angst my beloved #thank you for the rec #xf fanfic recs #xf fic recs #diana fowley

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