#msr family

[stephy-gold]

Emily today

There it is the family home where she lived most of her life until college; she see it with so much love remembering the times when she used to play catch with dad, running around chasing butterflies, showing her little brother the stars and constellations, the times when she helped her mother with the garden, the place where she and her friends used to make bonfires.

She’s home even though she has her own home now in the city, were she live alone and sometimes with her partner at the time no need to say her parents doesn’t know about it. She make the effort to stay in contact with her parents but work, partner and life in general makes it hard to do it, her parents understand most of the time but after weeks of not talking to her and just see her life trough social media they would called, yesterday was one of those days.

YESTERDAY

*iPhone rings*

Home-pod “in coming call from Mom”

Emily to her Home-pod “answer the call”

Emily: Mom, Hi what’s up? *getting ready to go out*

Scully: hi sweetheart, we just wanted to talk to you, you haven’t called

Mulder: hello Kiddo, hey what’s the noise?

*looking for clothes*

Emily: sorry mom, oh I’m getting ready to go out so I answer the call with the home-pod

Mulder: you know I don’t trust those things they’re always hearing and spying, who knows who’s listening

*putting the clothes on*

Emily: Dad you’re just being paranoid

Scully: mulder cut it. Sweetheart you’re going out?

Emily: yeah with some friends and Derek we’re heading to the bar

Mulder: be careful, don’t drink too much kiddo

Emily: dad I’m almost 30 not a kid anymore

Scully: well you’re our daughter no matter how old you are

Mulder: well the reason we called you is because we want you to come tomorrow, your brother is coming from college, we want to spend the day together

Scully: that’s if you’re not busy of course

*putting her makeup*

Emily: No mom I’m not busy, yes I will see you at noon tomorrow and I’m sorry for not calling I miss you guys

Scully (a sad understanding tone): we know honey don’t worry about it

Mulder (loving tone): we love you kiddo

Home-Pod “call ended”

Today

*standing in front of the unremarkable house*

The porch creaks more, the house needs a bit of paint, the old swing in the yard is rusty.

Emily enters the house but there wasn’t any noise, they were home cause the cars were outside but her parents nowhere to be seen “MOOOOM!!!!!” “DAAAAD!!” “Anyone home??”

Scully answered from upstairs “sweetheart give us a minute we’re coming” Emily cringe at the thought of what was her parents doing, she likes to believe that they’re not active because well no one wants to know if they’re parents still do it.

Mulder and scully enter the living room to see Emily looking for something in the Tv; Mulder “hey miss Emily how you’re doing kid” he muffled her hair and emily sighs “DAD common” Mulder grinning “I couldn’t help myself”

Scully reach her daughter and gives her a kiss “we missed you honey, we haven’t heard from you”

Mulder “if it wasn’t for your social media we wouldn’t know how are you kid”, the tone of both parents was soft but incriminating towards her daughter;

Emily explains herself a bit annoyed “mom, dad, I told you before that im sorry, it’s just the hospital is always busy, you both know how it is having demanding jobs” she ends with a sigh beating herself for not called them.

William show up “Mom Dad I’m Home” everyone give him a hug and his mom kiss him on the cheek like a little boy. During dinner everyone talks about their respective lives, William is in his fourth year of college almost finishing his degree (he gained a scholarship due to excelled in baseball, he might go pro after college), his adventures as a handsome bachelor and also the academic success he has;

Scully scolded him for date so many girls and partying a bit too much for her liking, Mulder stand with scully but afterwards tell william just to be careful and enjoy his time in college.

Emily told them about her current work at the hospital and the specialties she is interested, Mulder asked her about who’s Derek and she told them he is a neurosurgeon a bit older than her, good looking and nice.

In the afternoon william and emily were teasing each other and having a play full banter about each other’s life, they text or DM regularly, they cover each other’s backs when they don’t want their parents know something, like the fact that emily is been living with Derek for a couple of months, that would be a major shock to the parents not because their old fashion or prude but because emily haven’t presented him and Mulder would be mad at her for being with a man almost 10 years older than her; emily knew that her mother would give her a talk about her experience and all that. Emily cover william partying nature and disasters when he got into trouble because of it; he likes partying and women too much for his own good.

Mulder asked william to help him fixing and moving things in the house that mulder couldn’t do it due to some back pain and his knees.

William “I think your knees can be heard all the way to D.C. Dad”

Mulder shot him a look “laugh while you can Punk but I was your age too and you will get to mine”

Emily teased him about it “what’s up dad? Old man back problems?” but mom cut her off with her famous raises eyebrow look.

Scully and Emily enjoy discussing some cases emily worked on the hospital and some of scully work at the nearby clinic as well. They talk about new procedures and tactics; a few doctors Scully knows at the hospital where emily is doing her residence. Scully always the FBI agent asked more details about Derek but emily didn’t respond despite her mother’s insistence. Scully asked her if she was thinking about family someday, mulder and her eager to have grandkids to spoil, but didn’t want to pressure their children too much about it.

The whole evening was nice. When the time came for emily returned to the city and william went to stay with her to see some friends in town, he would return tomorrow though. The house became lonely again just the two of them.

Sitting on the porch recliners, old people furniture said william.

Scully remembered the time when she was 29, a young woman, medical doctor specialized in pathology, with a new job at the FBI, a whole life ahead of her, knowing her cute, boyish, intelligent and handsome partner, who 30 years later is her husband, she also recalled the times when she too lost contact with her parents due to work and the comments her mother told her about family and kids.

Mulder joined her in the reminiscence, he recalled the first year they worked together and how they were at the time; “scully we were chasing monsters and killers, running around conspiracies and putting our lives at risk when you were 29”;

Scully “I know mulder and now Emi is the same age, where the time has gone?? It’s almost like yesterday we were in the rain at Bellefleur” she give him a chaste kiss;

Mulder “I can’t imagine emily in that situation, I think she’s still so young and green for this world, but that’s hypocritical of us” he sighs defeated;

scully “when I was 29 I’ve already make so many mistakes too, ones that emily didn’t have to learn from her own experience thank god”;

Mulder “well she and William got the better of us”;

scully “but we are now at the other side of the street mulder and is not nice, I’m thinking about the times that I forgot to call my mother for weeks and whenever I was injured she was the last to know about it”;

Mulder “yeah i got it now and I don’t like it either, I missed them so much too and accepting they have their life apart now is heartbreaking”;

Scully “yeah but they’re good kids emily is so intelligent so it is william as well, she is doing her residency in a great hospital, she’s responsible and have a great future a head; William almost finished college and have an amazing future if he decides to practice or going professional on baseball either way”;

Mulder “I know we are so proud of both”. They leave the recliners with a few cracks of knees and head upstairs to call it a night.

Mulder thought “if scully was lucky I maybe could give her one or two orgasm, common friend don’t failed me like the other night” he was grinning while climbing the stairs.

Tagging: @today-in-fic @randomfoggytiger @maybe-its-beyond-words @samucabd @pennyserenade and all my mutuals 💖💖💖💖

Hope you like it 🥹🥹

(I’m a visual person so here it is emily, william, mulder and scully in 2023 and also MSR as parents when the kids where little)

[aloysiavirgata]

Loved your Skinner POV. I am the ultimate sucker for a Margaret Scully POV. Do one? *doe eyes*

Cancer. How can it be cancer, how can Fox already have been at the hospital, how can they plot and whisper and conspire; how can Dana have cancer?

Margaret is so angry and so afraid. So, so angry.

Terrified.

She has the wild, insane thought that Dana is too beautiful to have cancer, as though Melissa hadn’t been too beautiful to be casually murdered.

Fox looming and lurking in hallways and corners and sunsets and pre-dawn stillness. Like a grim guardian angel, like the beautiful statue of Lucifer Bill once took her to see at Liège.

Margaret sees Fox kiss her daughter’s bright hair one night, kiss her daughter’s sad, smiling mouth.

She doesn’t know what she wants for them. She crosses herself and walks away.

***

She doesn’t understand the situation with Emily, not really. She listens to everything Dana says about induced hyperovulation and surrogates and she nodded, dutiful, because she can hear Dana’s throat so tight, trying not to cry.

Emily is very sick, Dana says. The courts have no precedence for this, Dana says. I want to help her, Mom.

If Emily is Dana’s, if she really is, then she’s Margaret’s granddaughter and Margaret, to her shame, doesn’t want her to be.

Fox stands in the corner of the room, staring out the window at nothing, his jaw hard as stone. He radiates a quiet steadiness and Margaret feels her strange, lovely daughter draw strength from it, like a solar panel on a bright day. Are there lunar panels? Mulder’s eyes are nothing like the sun.

He radiates a cold fury and Margaret almost has pity for the target of it.

“When I was abducted by Duane Barry,” Dana begins, her voice mostly steady. “Wherever he took me had some kind of program where-“

Fox slams his fist into the windowframe and Margaret jumps, gasps. “Fox!”

“Mulder…” Dana breathes, her eyes closed.

He stalks from the room like a panther. Like an assassin.

***

“I’m pregnant,” Dana says, a little blushing laugh. Her hand splays over her flat belly.

Margaret surges with such piercing love for this incomprehensible child she birthed. “Oh honey,” she breathes.

Dana drops her head to the side, cheek to shoulder. “I’m so tired already,” she confesses. “I don’t know how you had four with Daddy away.”

She reaches for her daughter’s slim fingers. “I wanted five. Eight, if we could have. Three miscarriages after Charlie and then….” she is appalled at herself. “Dana, I’m so-“

Dana squeezes her mother’s hand. “Miscarriages aren’t some kind of thought virus, Mom.”

Margaret squeezes her hand back. “I know, I know. It just feels like bad luck. And Fox, will he be….?”

Dana looks up, a flush high in her cheeks. “Why are you bringing Mulder up?”

Margaret rolls her eyes. ““I’m a Vatican I Catholic, Dana. Not an idiot.”

Her daughter has the grace to look away. “He wants me to marry him,” she murmurs.

Margaret loves Fox. She loves him the way people love barn cats and funny cock-eared dogs and every pied beauty. But all of a sudden it’s Fox at Thanksgiving, Fox properly at Christmas this time. Uncle Fox, wedding-anniversary Fox, Fox calling her…what? Mom? Surely not Mrs. Scully still.

Margaret knows her children have done the math on her oldest son’s birthday, that he was mighty hefty for a “preemie.” She knows her latest grandchild deserves to be born in wedlock, she knows every Catholic from Father McCue back to Saint Peter would be absolutely appalled with her.

“Be sure of what you want,” she says to the chestnut tree just past the living room window. To Saint Mary Magdalene, to all repentant sinners.

***

William, six. William clever and tall for his age and gingerbread-colored like his father, with his mother’s round lapis eyes. Fiona, four, happily squirting colored water into a large plastic bin of shaving cream. The twins - Silas and Clara- are nearly three and getting bathed in the sink by their father. Dana, a tenured professor, lolling on the couch. Dana pregnant with number five.

Dana yawns like a cat over some tedious medical journal. Dana ever rail-thin since her cancer. Dana still looking depleted of essential nutrients. Phosphorus? Zinc?

But Dana is still a doctor, so Margaret is silent.

“Are you all right?” Margaret asks her irritable daughter. She beams at Clara, absurdly chubby, with her Aunt Melissa’s coppery curls. Clara with her plump hands like little stars. Silas, rosy and dark-haired, howls in general indignation. Silas with his father’s fairy-forest eyes and impossible lashes. Silas who loves to pat his grandmother’s cheeks.

“Mother I’m FINE,” Dana sighs. “Sy, hush. It’s only warm water.”

Margaret watches her son-in-law for a time, watches his long hands and his furrowed brow as the twins laugh and splash and protest in the deep farmhouse sink. Her Bill could never have done what Fox does.

“Loretta Lynn said she stopped having babies when they started coming in pairs,” Fox observes, sluicing water over his anguished twins. Clara laments pitifully. Silas has a broken air about him, weary as his mother.

Dana laughs, sweet as communion wine. “Stop knocking me up, then,” she grins, hand over her enormous belly.

“Not until you marry me,” Fox replies, thumbing Silas’s fat cheek. Kissing his darkly curled head.

Fiona on the carpet, giggling as William makes farting sounds in his armpits. Fiona with the blackest hair and the bluest eyes and the most perfectly sprinkled freckles like her Uncle Charlie.

William like a wood-elf, so tall and bright.

Dana laughs again. “No priest would ever, would they, Mom?”

Margaret, exhausted and happy, sighs at the pair of them.

In the oven, turkey tetrazzini from the Thanksgiving leftovers. Potty-training sticker charts on the fridge. Will’s perfect math homework, Fee’s wobbly I LOV YU!! above a careful crayon drawing of her family.

Margaret could have never predicted this, could never have seen Fox in sweats and baking Texas Sheet Cake for the PTA. Fox staying home and juggling nap schedules so that Dana could tell anecdotes about maggots to her adoring students.

Fox has a blog, which is Quite The Thing nowadays. Fox is a bestselling author. He’s made the talk show circuit and the girls from bunko send her newspaper clippings.

Fox towels off his exhausted babies. He diapers them, dresses them in fleecy pajamas. They look at him with enormous, reproachful eyes. They pout.

Margaret holds her arms out, draws them in when they toddle over.

The babies nestle, nuzzle, make sweet baby sounds as the sink drains away. Their little mouths pop open, lashes curled on their flawless cheeks. She’s never expected Dana, of all of her children, to be living this life. Cold, prickly, distant Dana with her lunatic partner and her brain cancer and her dead little girl.

“There are infinite infinities,” William tells Fiona. “But some infinities are larger than others.”

[singeart]

Honey, please squeeze me tight / Don't you want your baby to be alright?

[enoughslices]

Behold! I wrote a fun, fluffy little future fic in which William and Emily are normal, human, snarky adult children!

The Best by thefinestmuffins (my AO3 handle)

Rating: Teen and Up Relationship: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Word Count: 5.1k Summary:

“When my card declines in therapy,” Will says with a loud sigh, glancing up mid-signature, “they’re going to pull out the NDA my mother made me sign.” Will shows Emily a shocking discovery in their parents' basement; Mulder and Scully have some explaining to do. (Or: how Emily and Will learn about the X-Files!)

Read it on AO3!

Tagging: @today-in-fic In case links break: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57869401

[numinousmysteries]

Mulder/Scully/William texts

Inspired by this post: (I wanted to do a photoshop thing where I make these look like actual texts on an iphone but I don't know how to use photoshop. if you do, please feel free to steal this idea and run with it.)

Scully:

Scully: Back soon! Did you do your homework?

William: umm..where are you? and is that blood on dad’s hoodie?

Scully: Yes, but not his, so don’t worry!

William: if anything i’m more worried now

Mulder: It was 👽👽👽

Scully: No, it wasn’t aliens. Did you do your homework?

***

Mulder:

Mulder: Look what mom is eating for dinner!

William: wtf is that?

Mulder: I know what that means. Watch your language!

William: why does it have a face?

Scully: Kind of cute, right?

William: sure. whatever.

***

Scully:

Scully: The muffins aren’t that good here. 

William: looks like dad is enjoying his

Mulder: It’s mom’s. She spit it out in my hand. But it’s not bad.

William: you guys are gross.

Mulder: 😘

***

Scully:

Scully: Is that your math teacher?

William: ???

Scully: Guy in glasses on the right. Thought we recognized him.

Mulder: We took a selfie so it wouldn’t be obvious.

William: who let you guys into the FBI?

Scully: Is it him?

William: i literally see no one else in this photo besides your giant heads

Mulder: Doesn’t mom look pretty?

William: 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Scully: Did you do your homework?

[gaycrouton]

I think it’s so symbolic that the first and last lines we ever hear Mulder’s mother speak are delivered at a distance over a telephone whereas Scully’s mother’s first and last lines are spoken in moments where she is surrounded by her family.

I sympathize with Teena Mulder’s trauma, but it’s evident her silent resignation at their situation versus Mulder’s relentless pursuit caused them to drift. Even in the scenes we get of them physically together, while they love each other, there was always something in the way.

Conversely, the most important thing for Maggie Scully was having her family close. In her first appearance, she’s encouraging Bill to connect with Scully, and in her final one, she wants to talk to her estranged son and reveals she still thinks about her lost grand baby.

I don’t say this to pit Teena against Maggie, they both lost children and were severely impacted by it. It’s just find the symbolism (intentional or not) fascinating.

The same can be said for their fathers*.

In their respective fathers’* first appearances, both Mulder and Scully instigate a hug, and while Scully’s is warmly received, Mulder is coldly rebuffed with a handshake.

In their final moments, we see Bill Scully lamenting about his love for his daughter, while Bill Mulder* is too little too late.

*All for Mulder to find out his real father is the man he hates above all else, and he was the only one who didn’t know.

It’s poignant that the man who grew up held at arms length was destined to be with the woman who yearns to wholly embrace the ones she loves.

[atths--twice]

Saw this picture on Twitter and my mind immediately goes to a story idea. A little “what if” type thing…

“It’s a great opportunity,” William said, downing the last of his Coke as they finished their meal. “I wanted Skinner here too, to thank him for helping me get the job, but he said he had too many meetings today.”

“More like he was worried he’d go too red from your words of appreciation,” Mulder said, catching Scully’s eye and smirking.

“I’m sure both are true,” she said, rubbing William’s back gently. “We’ll have him over for dinner and then he can’t run away so easily.”

“That’s a good idea,” William laughed, wiping his mouth on his napkin. “I’ll write down bullet points and put them on notecards to see his face when I pull them out.”

“That’s my boy,” Mulder said, snapping his fingers and pointing at William as Scully laughed and patted William’s back before moving her hand.

“And lunch is on me,” William said, taking the bill from the waiter. “My thanks for putting up with me being back home for the past few months with no job in sight.”

“We’ve loved having you home,” Scully insisted, staring at him with a slight frown.

“Even with the dirty mugs and plates and socks left everywhere?” he asked with a smile, taking out his wallet and counting out the cash.

“Hey, I’ve lived with your father for almost thirty years and raised you, I’m used to the mess that goes with it,” she said, bumping his shoulder gently.

“Yeah,” he agreed, bumping her shoulder back. “But I still want to say thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Lum,” she said, using the name he had called himself when he was younger as William had been too difficult to say.

“Alright,” he said, closing the bill book and leaving it on the table. “Gotta get back to it.” He smiled at both of them and they stood up, leaving their napkins on their plates.

“Hold on,” Mulder said as they reached the lobby of the restaurant. “I know you don’t want us to make a scene or follow you to work, but how about a first day picture here? Like we used to do when you started school?”

“Dad,” William said, looking around as he adjusted his suit jacket.

“Amuse your old dad. Come on. One picture.” He took his phone out and motioned for him to stand still. William rolled his eyes, looking so much like Scully, they both laughed quietly.

Mulder snapped the picture in front of the sunset mural on the wall, William unable to hold back a smile, his eyes happy and shining.

“Okay, you’re free to go now,” Mulder said, smiling at the picture.

“Thanks, Dad,” William said with a nod. “Bye, Mom.” He stepped closer to Scully and bent his head to kiss her cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you too, honey,” she said, pulling him close for a hug. “Have a good day. I’ll set up the dinner with Skinner.”

“I’ll work on the notecards,” he said and she chuckled. He smiled as he stepped back. Looking at Mulder, he gave him a high five and then a hug. “Talk to you later, Dad.”

“Yeah,” Mulder said with a nod. “Later.”

William waved at them and then walked out the door, his step light and quick.

Mulder and Scully were quiet for a few seconds and then he sighed as he looked at her. She turned her head and he smiled softly.

A waitress walked by them, smiling as she nodded.

“I hope you enjoyed your meal,” she said.

“We did,” Mulder said, nodding back at her. “I’m sorry to trouble you, but would you mind taking a picture of us?”

“Oh not at all,” she said, stepping closer and smiling at them.

“Great,” Mulder said, handing her his phone.

“What?” Scully asked as he put his arm around her, his thumb rubbing her back gently.

“One, two, three,” the waitress said and then the sound of the shutter clicking could be heard. “There you go.” She handed his phone back and he took it with a smile.

“Thank you.”

“Yup,” she said, walking away and leaving them alone.

“Why a picture of us?” Scully asked, watching him smile at his phone.

“Because it’s a first day for us as well, Scully,” he said, raising his head and looking at her. “It’s our son’s first day at work. At a job he wanted, is more than qualified for, and will love to go to every day. We made him. We raised him. It’s our day too.”

“Mulder,” she said softly, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“I’m so proud of him,” Mulder whispered as he rubbed her back. “So very proud.”

“Me too,” she whispered back, closing her eyes as she let out a deep contented breath. “Me too.”

[tbpickle]

Mulder & His Parents Fic

There are so many great fic around the relationship between Mulder and Maggie. I was wondering if there are any with his parents? Their family story is so tragic, but there were moments on the show that showed he was close to them and recalled fond memories, like going camping, happy home videos, visiting his mom's place, and why he likes sunflower seeds.

Mulder has such a good heart and is a loyal person. These traits are rooted in his upbringing..

Thanks! =)

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 2 Part 11 Group 53

Propaganda and further images under the cut

MSR: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully

Leverage Crew: Nathan Ford, Sophie Devereaux, Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, Parker

MSR:

Sorry, I got no propaganda for them yet :(

Leverage Crew:

The development of crime team into crime family over the course of the show is beautiful.

They’re a bunch of thieves who are basically modern day Robin Hood and fuck over big corporations and give money back to people who have been hurt (fuck capitalism lets go) and at the beginning none of them trust each other, because they’re all thieves, but over 5 seasons they care for each other and get to know each other in a way that they haven’t been able to do with anyone else in a long time, they all start off as jaded loners and within the span of one episode say ‘fuck that’ and actively seek out the others to work together, even though each members MO is ‘I work alone’

They all looked at a white man and said “Hey, we are now gonna do crimes for the little people and your gonna help whether you like it or not”. They also have really interesting stories and take care of one another but not in a pushing I need to know way. They are just the best!

[spiraltastic]

Screw it let's have a go at a poll

[femininomen0n]

the uber-scullys conversation in s04e02… hello??

[stephy-gold]

Fic Ideas (some im working on and others are just things that came to mind and I write just to revisit them some day)

Agents Miller, Einstein, Mulder and Scully go undercover as a family in a cult 

agents Miller and Einstein / others, are the new generation leading the x files

Mulder discover TikTok 

Agent William Mulder is paired with a short temper and reckless Agent Astrid Vega; scully and mulder doesn’t like Astrid because she put Will in danger but he trusts her with his life. 

The colonization happened; mulder and scully fought and then stay behind as leaders to plan strategies; 17 years old William found them and take the lead, they didn't like the idea. 

Domestic MSR. They gave 3 kids, Emily 25, William 18 and Sophie 15. 

Domestic MSR. Mulder and scully deal with the most difficult thing they ever encounter their own strong will, very intelligent and reckless teenagers (Emily, William and Sophie). They never saw that coming. 

Mulder took scully to a lana del rey concert because he thinks she is a witch. (It’s a dump idea. Disclaimer I love lana) 

William took his girlfriend to Taylor Swift Eras tour. Scully discover Taylor swift music.

AU Time travel. Grown Emily visit her parents before william was given, to stop her mother. 

Baby #3 (revival baby) learn to drive 

Mulder take scully dancing for her 60th birthday 

Will is a professional baseball player 

Senior agents mulder and scully go undercover they get kidnapped and younger agents are sent to save them. Generations battle between the agents

Case fic. They come to san Diego for some sightings of what happens to be an apparition (la llorona) of some sort that kidnaps children from Mexican backgrounds 

Uncle Skinner likes to give mulder and scully kids a free pass whenever they come asking for help

AU melissa didn’t die so when scully is about to put william for adoption she change her mind and sends him with her sister instead. 

Mulder wants to do a sappy TikTok with scully 

MSR now live a very normal, boring American middle class life much to mulder dismay. 

mulder discovers Reggaeton (bad bunny, arcangel, something like that) scully isn't a big fan when they look for the lyrics translation

feel free to use them if you like :)

[aloysiavirgata]

What do you think Scully and Mulder would disagree on as parents? A prompt, if you will.

Scully wanted schedules. Meal plans. Calendars. She wanted piano lessons on Thursdays, swim lessons on Mondays, and labeled bins for the Legos and Thomas train cars. She wanted whole grains and bento boxes and clothes from Boden and Hanna Andersson and Tea Collection. Vacations in the Galapagos and the Grand Canyon. She wanted - in her most secret heart - for him to be the star of the soccer or lacrosse teams. Or both.

Mulder wanted the gauche consumerism of Disney World every spring. He wanted drippy ice cream cones and a perpetually muddy dog and troops of sticky neighbor children marauding through the back door so he could say JESUS CHRIST WILLIAM I’M NOT PAYING TO AIR CONDITION THE WHOLE STREET. He imagined burnt pig-anus hot dogs over a campfire, a floor strewn with action figures, snow angels, Chef Boyardee. No chess coach, no deportment classes, those new-fangled sneakers that lit up. He imagined Welch’s grape juice stains on the couch.

***

Scully, luscious and fully fleshed again, with William suckling at her blue-veined breast. Scully like a Renaissance Madonna reimagined by Margaret Atwood.

“My mother sold her wedding dress to pay for Charlie’s football gear,” she says, touching William’s rose petal cheek. “My father made pretty good money for the Navy and all, but four kids so close together…we ate a lot of spaghetti. Lots of hand me downs. Missy shoplifted makeup a whole lot, if my mother ever knew…”

“Malnutrition why you’re so short?” he asks, because he knows she wasn’t actually malnourished.

She scowls. “It was never dirty, my mother would have died first. But just…you know. Heaps of rain boots at the door and school books on the table and hair ribbons and pencil stubs and recorder sheet music and half a cream-cheese-and-jelly sandwich withering on a plate because Bill and Missy were pinching each other…”

Scully trails off, switches the baby to her other breast. Remembers dinners of store-brand fish sticks and creamed corn because one of them had an unexpected pricey field trip.

William gurgles, clutches a fistful of his mother’s silky hair. Blows a raspberry beneath her Delft pottery gaze.

Mulder kisses William’s warm, fragrant head.

Mulder remembers his father, pleasantly loquacious on bourbon, teaching him about shoulder lines and top-stitching at 8. His mother and Samantha in matching ruffled Gunne Saxe dresses, the starched disapproval of the maid when he tracked footprints over the fresh vacuum lines in the carpet.

Chicken a la King, wedge salad, Steak Diane, swigs of his mother’s sidecar…

William hiccups, dribbling milk down his fat cheek. He begins to hiccup more, which makes him laugh at first, and which then makes him cry.

“It was just always loud and chaotic,” Scully says, propping the baby against her shoulder. “Someone was always hurt or in trouble or pulling hair or getting their hair pulled…it was impossible to think or relax. College was such a gift.” She remembers a study- fort she built in the San Diego coat closet.

William belches, then cheerfully vomits down her cleavage.

Scully groans.

Mulder mops her up with tender precision, watches William try to stuff his dinner-roll fist into his mouth.

“It’s been silent at my house for twenty-eight years,” Mulder says.

[slippinmickeys]

Three Part Harmony (22/25)

“I don’t know why, but I think the girls’ cabins are probably cleaner,” Scully had said, their arms full of firewood at a fork in the woods above the lodge. He had nodded and followed her and now a small fire was burning cheerfully in the grate of the first cabin to the west, a sign that read ‘Ojiig’ over the outside of the door. 

There were bunks all along the edges of the small building, stripped bare for the season, but they found a small cedar cabinet that housed linens and blankets a plenty. The top bunks were removable from the bottoms and easily lashed together to create a bed big enough to sleep the two of them with William in the middle. The pack-n-play had been one of the few things that Scully had not been able to bring. 

Once they had their minimal chores completed, the cabin warming up nicely, they turned to each other and existed in the exhale of the moment, so much ground to cover they were overwhelmed into silence. 

“Do you have any idea,” Scully finally said, stepping up to him, pressing her nose into his chest. “Do you know…”

He brought his arms around her and pulled her close, shushing her. 

She was hyper aware of him, had been since she’d connected with him during the rescue, and now every part of her body thrummed at every point of contact. 

“That was incredibly risky, what you did,” he mumbled into the crown of her head. “But thank you.”

At that she let the tears come, all the frustration and fear and longing coalescing into a tight ball of emotion that released like the opening of a steam vent. 

“Hey, what’s with the waterworks?” he asked gently, dipping his head to look at her. “I was only gone a few days.” 

Scully huffed a watery chuckle and held him, amazed at his capacity to laugh, to forgive, to love, to hope. After everything Mulder had been through, he was still soft, affectionate, ultimately kind and noble. She could occasionally feel herself harden against what felt like life’s continual abuse, but endeavored to take her cues from Mulder, who was always able to find a humane equilibrium.

He continued to murmur words of comfort, rubbing her back, his hands pulling little frissions of energy that skittered along her skin. She didn’t know if it was a byproduct of their mental connection, or just the result of their reunification, but she shivered under his touch. 

“Are you cold?” 

She pressed her body more firmly into him and looked up into his eyes. 

“No,” she said, and she could feel the energy in the room shift. Knowing what was likely about to happen, she closed the door on the connection to her son–he was at the apex of the distance she could be away from him anyway. 

Oddly, she could still feel Mulder’s consciousness, rippling just under the surface like river grass. 

Mulder leaned down, his lips just a hair's breadth from hers. “Whatever this is,” he whispered. “I can feel it, too.” 

Scully pushed up and pressed a kiss into him, and the careful control she’d been holding for the better part of a week instantly unraveled. Any semblance of restraint that they’d maintained due to the danger of their circumstances, or a necessary propriety in the presence of William or Rhonda, crumbled. 

Mulder’s hands raked through her hair and she threw her arms around his neck, their kissing turning desperate and frantic. 

Before she knew it, she was on her back on the makeshift bed, the scratchy wool of the blanket smelling pungently of cedar and making a mess of the back of her hair. Mulder was in between her legs, his body weight a delicious press. Her muscles felt heavy as rain clouds, the blood pooling above her thighs like a thunderhead.

They’d had so many close calls, she thought. So many missed opportunities. All of them running roughshod through her mind whenever their bodies came together. It made their lovemaking more urgent, and more poignant. It was still something to be cherished, but it was also something that needed to be felt . 

They were still wearing most of their clothes when Mulder pulled aside her panties and slid thickly into her, the noise he made as he did so throaty and hoarse. 

There was no finesse to this bout of lovemaking, no rhythm, but she still soared higher with every rough thrust, the wet sounds of their coupling the only soundtrack as she climbed.

Mulder had a pained look on his face, but she could sense his impending release, could feel it building alongside her own, the tension running just under the skin, arcing back and forth between them until they both came apart at the exact same moment. Their orgasm was roaring, chemical, like a deflagration to detonation transition, the spread of a flame that only burned between the two of them. 

They collapsed together in a damp heap, utterly spent and out of breath. 

Mulder was the first to move, rolling off of her briefly before pulling her into his side. 

“I love you,” he said. 

She turned in his arms to kiss him, to look him in the eye. "Me too."

“Now,” he said, and she could feel his nerves still thrumming alongside her own. “Tell me. What all can the two of you do? How do you do it?”

Scully reached out and strummed the bristles along his jaw. 

“I’ll show you,” she whispered.

XxX 

When they walked through the door of the lodge, Rhonda was holding a squirming William. Both the older woman and child lit up at the sight of the boy’s parents. 

“Something tells me,” Rhonda said, wearing a knowing smile, “that you got here just in time.”

Scully gave her a curious look. 

“Here,” Rhonda said, handing the child over. “Why don’t you help him walk over to his daddy.”

Scully felt a zing of delight shoot through her. She suspected what was about to happen. Reconnecting to the boy’s mind, she turned him and set his feet on the floor, holding him by the hands. 

Mulder, wearing a small curious smile, squatted down about six feet away and faced them, opening up his arms in invitation. 

“Hey bud,” he said encouragingly. “Come here!”

William took a few wobbly steps toward him, holding onto Scully for balance. 

“Go see Daddy,” she said, loosening her grip on him when they were only a couple feet away. And then William let go of her hands and lurched forward, walking on his own for three steps before falling into Mulder’s outstretched hands. 

Everyone immediately cheered, Rhonda and Scully whooping for joy while Mulder swung the boy up in the air, holding him above his head, the widest smile Scully had ever seen Mulder wear stretched across his face. 

“You did it!” Mulder praised his son effusively, and Scully could feel a surge of what felt almost like mental voltage coming off of the boy in a rushing wave. 

Above them, the lights hanging from the ceiling of the lodge glowed in white-hot candescence and then dimmed back to normal. Rhonda and Scully exchanged a quick look, but then turned back to William, all of them telling him what a good job he did, what a genius he was.  

Mulder lowered the boy until he was tucked up against his side, his face joyful. 

“If he’s done that before,” Mulder said, turning to Rhonda. “I don’t want to know.”

Rhonda smiled at him. “He looked like he was about to, so I scooped him up before he could. Wanted you both to be here to see it.”

Scully shot Rhonda a grateful look. William’s first steps and both she and Mulder were with him to bear witness. It felt a little like fate. 

XxXxXxXxXxX

Mulder leaned back in his chair and sighed contentedly, his belly full of a warm meal. 

They had pulled one of the cafeteria tables to the floor near the lodge’s fireplace and Rhonda had thrown together a delicious dinner of some of their more perishable foodstuffs. Scully had William in her lap, and she was taking turns feeding herself and the boy from the plate in front of her. She’d been wearing a small rare smile since their son had taken his first steps a little earlier in the evening. What Mulder wouldn’t give for that to be something she wore regularly. 

He studied his little family pensively. Flicked his eyes to the woman who was helping them at great risk to her own life. Scully caught his expression and her gaze lingered on it. 

“What I did to rescue you,” she said, feeding William a bite of banana. “I thought I would be pushing the limits of what William is capable of.”

He nodded at her eagerly, leaning forward so that his arms rested on the tabletop in front of him. 

“I didn’t,” Scully said, giving him a significant look. Goosebumps rose up on Mulder’s skin. “His power is even more vast and incredible than we dreamed.” Mulder considered this for a moment, what she was inferring; that these gifts would be both a blessing, and a curse. 

“Luckily,” she went on, “there’s a lot there that he can’t tap into. I think eventually he will be able to, or maybe only when he has very big feelings. But I think we can guide him as he grows up. Help him control it. Teach him when and how to use it.”

Important, Mulder knew, but he was more focused on the part she was leaving out. 

“You say there’s a lot there that he can’t tap into. Do you mean you can?”

Scully took a breath and then nodded at him solemnly. 

“So what kind of power are we talking about here, Scully? I saw you rip bolts from solid steel. Crush car door handles like they were soda pop cans…Do you think you can use his powers to kill?”

Mulder saw the apprehension wash across her face. 

“Yes,” she eventually said.

“And would you?”

Mulder knew that Scully would do anything to protect their son. He knew that she would kill without a second thought if someone were coming after him. But he needed her to say it. Needed her to acknowledge it. 

“Mulder…”

Mulder flitted his gaze to Rhonda and William and leaned toward Scully, resting his arms on his knees.

“Would you?” he asked quietly. 

Her voice was equally low. “Yes.”

Mulder gave her a small smile. It was finally time to give voice to something he’d been thinking about since his rescue.

“Good,” he said. “Because I think we need to fight back.” 

Scully swallowed thickly, turning her own eyes toward where their son sat on the floor at Rhonda’s feet, playing with a soft fabric book. 

“Fight back,” she said without inflection. 

“We can’t run forever,” Mulder explained. “We can’t give William a normal life if we’re being hunted. I think we have to hit them back. I think we have to hit them back so hard they wouldn’t dream of coming after us again.”

He watched Scully’s face for a reaction, but she kept her features unnervingly steady. 

Finally, she said, “And how would we do that? We take the fight to them?”

“Oh,” he said. “I think we all know they’re going to bring it to us. One way or another.”

Mulder could see Rhonda pale, even from several paces away.

“Agent Bryson,” Mulder went on. “Tried to make me a deal. William for our freedom. When I told him to go to hell, he assured me that he would get our son. He said this time when they came for him, it would be like the very hand of God coming down, rather than an SUV of black ops mercs.”

The room was very still, even William taking a moment to look up at the faces of the grown-ups around him. 

“And you think we can fight that and win?” Scully asked.

“I need to know if you think we can,” Mulder said. “Because I don’t think we have a choice.”

Most of the burden of their defense would necessarily come down on Scully’s shoulders, though he would do whatever he could to help her. His connection to their son was still and might always be rudimentary. A sharing of feelings, a wordless communication. He did not have the connection with him that Scully did. He couldn’t control what William could do like she could. And Scully seemed to be a necessary component to their shared nexus; the circuit through which their impulses passed. 

She looked at him levelly. 

“And if we take out whoever they send after us, you think they’ll leave us alone after that?”

Mulder looked at her squarely. “I don’t think they’ll have a choice.”

Scully released a slow breath. It was always going to come down to this, and they both knew it. 

“I don’t want to run any more,” she said. She sounded tired, but also determined. 

Mulder nodded at her, and as one, they turned to Rhonda. 

The woman looked down at William and then stood up straighter, a look of conviction settling on her features. 

“I’ve been running from things my whole life,” she said. She looked at Scully. “If you want to fight back…I’ll fight with you.”

Mulder turned to Scully as well. She licked her lips, looked at their son for a long moment. 

“Let’s end this,” she said. 

[television-overload]

Might or might not be working on a little something in the Of Our Own Making universe... Stay tuned, I'm hoping something will come of it 👀

[baronessblixen]

Family Principles

Day 3 for the Eight Nights of Mulder: celebration and my prompt for the 24 Days of X-Mas Files Challenge: family Christmas with separate beds

Summary: They're spending Christmas at Mrs. Scully's house and Mulder is in for a surprise. (AU, fluffy fluff, William is there; wc: 715)

Tagging @today-in-fic @eightnightsofmulder

She should pinch herself, just to make sure she isn't dreaming. In many ways, this Christmas feels like a fantasy. One she had many, many years ago. But it's real, all of it.

Over there, surrounded by a few of her mother's neighbors, stands Mulder. He's grinning from ear to ear, quickly becoming the star of the party. At least as long as their son is napping.

William is without a doubt the not-so-secret superstar of this holiday get-together. With his dimples and his charming smile, he wraps everyone around his little finger. Including her grinchy brother, who tried his damnest not to be swayed. He lasted all of five seconds before he, too, oohed and awwed at his nephew.

"I saw you staring at me." Mulder's voice is a soft murmur as he puts his arms around her, holding her close. She must have been so lost in thought that she didn't even notice him walk over to her. "Do I have something on my face?" He nuzzles her neck, making her giggle.

"You do," she says, swatting at his hand. They may have been a couple for a while, but here, in front of everyone and her family, their public display of affection is new and she doesn't yet know how she feels about it. "You're grinning."

"I'm happy," he says simply. "Your mother throws great parties."

"She invited you every year," Scully reminds him. The first few times she asked him she wondered whether it was because of Christmas. But he never celebrated Hanukkah either. A fact they're planning to change next year so that William can learn about the festival, too.

"I'm a late bloomer." His lips graze the shell of her ear and she shivers. "Do you think anyone would notice if we snuck away?"

"They might." Though she's not sure she cares. "William will wake up soon, though."

"I can be patient," he promises, kissing her cheek. "We have all night."

"If you're prepared to sneak around." Mulder's confused pout makes her smile. She hasn't had time to speak to him about the sleeping arrangements yet. And he's not going to like what she has to say.

"My mom decided to put us in separate bedrooms." Mulder stares at her as if expecting her to admit she's making a joke. "She said, and I quote, she can't let us share a bedroom in good consciousness." Her mother loves Mulder, and she dotes on her youngest grandchild, but she's a woman with principles. One of which is no shared rooms and beds when unmarried.

"Is it because of what I said earlier?" When her mother and Father McCue talked about baptizing William, Scully intervened, saying they weren't sure yet what to do, with Mulder being half Jewish. And his skepticism towards organized religion, but she kept that tidbit to herself. Both her mother and Father McCue had looked surprised and then Mulder decided to call William a religious remix, which caused a few more shocked gasps from both of them.

"Surprisingly not," Scully says. "It's because we're not married."

"Well, I'm sure we can find someone here to change that. We have a priest, a rabbi, and a pastor. This could also be the beginning of a bad joke. This is a joke, right?" Scully shakes her head, and Mulder pouts fully.

"She knows we live together," Mulder says and she nods. "We have a child together." She nods again. "She knows that we- you know."

"Not in her house." He sighs loudly.

"What if I promise her to marry you as soon as possible? I'm gonna ask. You know what? I'm gonna use Willam to argue. He's my secret weapon." He kisses her mouth, his grin returning. He runs off like she's used to, but for once, she doesn't mind one bit.

She just watches as members of her family pat Mulder's back, or engage him in short conversations. Everyone loves him. And he basks in the attention. She knows one Christmas won't erase the years he suffered, where he was alone - sometimes by choice. But it's a beginning.

She knows that her mother won't change her mind about the sleeping arrangements, but she also knows that no matter what, they will find a way to be together tonight.