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randomfoggytiger · 2 years

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X-Files Collector’s Edition: Coming Home to Their Unremarkable House

Whether they be road-weary, discouraged at their losses, or happy in each other, Mulder and Scully always carve out a piece of the world for themselves to bunker into. These fics are a few variations on finding their perfect home.

Loose canonical order below~ Canon Timelines

@purrykat/mylifeinshadow‘s Maps for the Getaway

““She’d lost so much, sacrificed so much. Little more than five minute phone calls to her mother on store bought burner phones to connect her to her old life. You’ve considered it so many times, just up and leaving. You’d be doing her a favor, allowing her a freedom she hadn’t known since walking into your office nearly ten years ago. Every time you’ve talked yourself into it, the mere sight of her so small in an over sized hotel bed, clutching a blanket, the last remaining connection to her son, and you’d found yourself breaking down instead. So selfish. So, so selfish. But not anymore.””

Mulder is so moved by Scully’s noble sacrifices that he puts his “selfishness” aside to get her what will truly make her happy.

CSM’s Home Sweet Home

““She can see a rainbow of emotions fly across Dana’s face before she nods her head in agreement. Dana finger’s curl around her own phone, the metallic blue of the Razor glistening in the bright sunlight.

“Do you need to make a call before we go?” Anna Maria asks her kindly.

Dana shakes her head, “I want to see the house before I call, makes no sense getting….I prefer to see the house first.””

Monica’s realtor aunt gets two interesting clients; but loyalty to her niece keeps her nose directly out of their business.

Chibiness’s Impulse Buy

““Missy told her once her impulsiveness would only end her up in trouble; that no good could ever come from an impulse buy. So she swapped her impulsive attitude from clothes to life choices.

Like swapping her focus from medicine to the FBI.

And getting a tattoo on a dare.

And running away from her respected life to a life on the lam.””

Scully impulsively buys a house for Mulder; but her happiness drops when she thinks Mulder doesn’t want it. Happily, that is not the case.

@atths--twice’s (Ao3, Alt. Ao3, FFN) Refuge

““We need food, Mulder. I will be fine.”

“I know. I just…”

“I know.”

Scully sneaks Mulder to their new home; and sneaks back out to surprise him with a little celebration for his birthday.

@crossedbeams‘s (Ao3) Mulder, it doesn't go in like that!

““Scully’s objections are swallowed by gravity as Mulder risks her wrath and uses his strength to tug her over the arm and on to the seat.””

Mulder cares for one thing and one thing only: to shove his leather couch in. The rest of the furniture can be done later (and he’s successfully convinces Scully with his usual brand of logic.)

@hipsbef0rehands/Millenial_Falcon’s (WBM/WBM) A Nice Hike in the Woods (Ao3)

““He had been trying hard to make their new house a home, feeling responsible for dragging her into this new life. For Thanksgiving he had attempted to cook a small turkey unsuccessfully. They ended up salvaging what parts of the bird they could and making sandwiches with a side of potatoes and green beans.””

Scully sees Mulder’s desperate scramble to turn their UH into a home for her. She follows him into the woods, and is surprised by his kindness.

@scullyphile‘s (Ao3) Unnamed

““The Lone Gunmen were over to her apartment for the first time since she brought their son home. They had laughed with her and Mulder about old times and doted on their son like proud uncles. Before they left, Byers had produced a camera.

“I want to get a shot of the happy family,” he’d said.””

While moving in, Scully finds a happy family photo that TLG had taken... before the dark times.

@seek-its-opposite (Ao3, WBM) the second law of motion

““Mulder smiles, grabs both of her palms in his long fingers. And kneels.“Mulder, what—?”

“Dana Scully,” he begins, solemn as a sacrament. “Will you watch paint dry with me?”

This is the man she married under a made-up name in a one-stoplight town, in sickness and in health and under threat of state-sanctioned execution. She loves him.””

Mulder and Scully settle into their house; and agree to never mention any “lost time”, instead savoring the present.

@wtfmulder/@momdadimpoppunk‘s (Ao3) Unnamed

““Every half hour or so, he called out to her to once again be his watch. “Missed any spots?” He’d ask, careful not to get paint in his eyes when he shielded them from the sun. From her notable distance, nearly swallowed by the shade of their walnut tree, she looked up, squinted, and gave him a thumbs up. He returned to work, and she returned to the same sentence she’d been reading from the time she had sat down.””

Mulder’s blissful ignorance in his new domestic routines shields him from Scully battling emotions as she broods about a pregnancy test... which turns negative.

@scully-loves-ruthie’s Fictober Day 17

““Dusk settled outside the house. The smooth amber glow snaked its way across the front porch ushering in the promise of twilight. The air snapped with fallen leaves and a sharp chill, all the ambiance of a movie night. They’d settled into the house 2 months ago, to call the lead up to finally having a real home together harrowing would be putting it mildly. They had lived life through the rocky crags of tragedy tumbling out the other end shiny worn-down pebbles, necessary in their existence. As they repurposed their personalities and shorn love affair to fit into a happily domesticated couple, the exchange they had made was causing more than a few growing pains.””

Mulder rents Legally Blonde to shake up his and Scully’s odd feelings.

@vgcam/veredgf‘s Christmas Lights

““It was their first Christmas celebration as a couple. Not that they hadn’t been together during the past number of Christmases but this one was different. This one was being celebrated.

After hiding out in New Mexico for a good number of years they’d finally managed to find themselves a place of their own. No more moving every few days from one motel to another. No more transient jobs for Scully, no more windows they had to draw the blinds on so nobody would find out where he, Mulder, was hiding.””

Mulder’s banter hits a raw nerve of Scully’s, since they can’t welcome William to the new home she bought them. He leaves a sign up for him, anyway.

@tatooedlaura-blog‘s (Ao3, Gossamer) Her Own

““She lived in five different houses with her family, called Maggie’s current place home since she was eight, leased her condo on a yearly basis and bunked in 427 different hotel rooms in the last two years but now, as she walked into the dusty, slightly sad, sagging, weather-beaten gray farmhouse, she felt the smallest of flames flare in her chest.

She had her own home.

She had her own Mulder.””

Scully is so happy to finally own a house of her own. Mulder is interested in being introduced to ladybugs.

@greekowl87‘s (Ao3)

Gardening

““He remembered her look of surprise when he mentioned staying in a place for a few months and instead of a few weeks. He shrugged and suggested it would be a nice change of pace for them. She just gave a Mona Lisa smiled and said nothing.

She was smiling even more when she saw the house for the first time. He remembered standing in the doorway nervously as she inspected each room in her meticulous Scully-esque way. She came back, smiling. Tears in her eyes.””

Mulder buys he and Scully some plants to help put down their roots.

Summer Humidity

““Despite the window A.C. unit spitting out cold air, Scully pulled back the sheets to their bed in a haze of sleep. Sweat clung to her and she felt gross. She was hot and sweaty and she bemoaned the thought how bad summers in Virginia could get with the humidity, even with dying A.C, and how much she had forgotten in the years she had been absent. She rolled onto her stomach ungracefully, her arm making a large sweeping motion, searching for Mulder, only to find the bed empty. Her sleepy mind blinked itself awake as she sat up in bed. Mulder was nowhere to be found.

They had just purchased the unremarkable house.””

Scully finds Mulder awake one hot and sticky night, simply absorbing the feeling of their new house. She joins, content.

@debbierhea/@i-am-alittle-on-edge/thexfilesbabe ‘s (WBM, Alt. WBM)

We Wander One - Wanna Dance?

““When Scully returned to the kitchen, they put the groceries away together, picking out the best shelf in the fridge for her yogurt and the most convenient cabinet for his Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. They had fun, teasing each other and flirting as paper plates and silverware were unpacked from the final bag and Scully began making them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sitting crisscross applesauce on the living room floor, Mulder and Scully ate their sandwiches and chips. While Mulder got up for two glasses of iced tea, Scully stole half of his Cheetos off his plate and when he returned, Mulder pretended not to notice, smirking to himself as he caught sight of the red stains on her fingertips.””

Mulder and Scully are so happy with their domesticity that they dance.

Unnamed

““He’s so in love it’s almost ridiculous. He always had a feeling that settling into a home would feel better for both of them, but he hadn’t realized just how much tension had been stuck between them since they hit the road. The moment she walked up the steps and took a deep breath, turned to him and said, “It’s perfect,” was the moment he realized just how much time they had spent being upset and stressed. She looked ten years younger that day, with a braid hanging over her shoulder.””

Mulder observes as Scully slowly adjusts to calm domesticity, even considering writing to Maggie.

Lolabeegood’s (mulderscreek) Gardening Day

““I'm not trying to impress anyone," she said as she turned to look at him more fully. "I just want some flowers; what's the crime in that?"

"Scully, I'm not saying..." he started and then stopped. "It's just that you've never shown much interest in...in nesting.”"

Mulder questions Scully about her new botanical bent. She finally feels “home.”

@melforbes/@claup‘s (Ao3, WBM, Alt. WBM)

““next week, she has an interview with a hospital, but if that doesn’t work out, she’ll pursue private practices, maybe even find a natural medicine clinic or two where she can apply; all she asks is that she ends up in the medical field, starts that part of her life. though she always saw life as a series of linear accomplishments, she’s beginning to understand that life extends in multiple dimensions - “like how the mantis shrimp sees, scully,” she hears him say in her head - and that there will, in fact, be places that want her.””

Scully is elated to have a home, and even more content that she has found a wholeness in her sense of self.

@lepus-arcticus‘s

Unnamed

““Silence was absence. It was the echoing emptiness of Chilmark hallways. It was mothballs folded into a pink quilt, and then stowed away in an heirloom cedar chest in the basement. It was a picture frame face-down on his mother’s bedside table. It was waking up from dreams of his son’s newborn squall. But this silence was new. He stood at the open screen door and scratched at his beard, marveling at the pillowy softness of three feet of overnight, unbroken snow. The only sound was Scully’s even breathing from the air mattress in the living room.

This silence was good, was right, was patience, was love.””

Mulder considers the newness of this silence in a home.

O Hushed October Morning Mild

““Mulder, please stop talking.” He pauses, smiling gently down at her, suddenly a little lovestruck. This is their home, he reminds himself. No more motels, no more remote hideaways. They have a home. With a porch, and a gas-burning stove, and a clawfoot bathtub, and a dusty old attic. His leather couch is out of storage, their books together on the shelves. In the last few weeks of living here, he’s felt strange, like he’s been peering in from the outside at the life of another, luckier man.””

Mulder’s joy over his new domesticity with Scully bubbles over in October.

@leiascully‘s (Ao3) Housewarming (Ao3)

““I love this,” she said, the words cloudy in the air. She’d always been afraid of that before, she thought, that if she told him she loved him, it would linger between them, tangible. She wasn’t afraid now. Whatever she didn’t have, she had him, and they had the house, and they had built something solid between them, somewhere between the Southwest highways and the trail through the woods.””

Mulder chops wood for he and Scully to admire in their new home while they brew up plans for the future.

FridaysAt9′s Five Christmases - Chapter 5

““I also bought cinnamon rolls and fruit when I was out yesterday, so we can have a nice breakfast.”

“Is there bacon?”

“Maybe,” she said with a smile.

“Dana Scully,” he said with a teasing tone. “Are you giving us an idyllic Christmas?””

Mulder calls Maggie for a home warming and Christmas dinner all rolled in one.

@iwtbscully/@jewish-mulder/@anders-hawke/BananaChef‘s Enigmatic

““He beckons her over and she goes with a sigh as if she truly disapproves, laying down next to Mulder on her side. “Alright, but only because I love you.”

“That’s funny, ‘cause I love you, too,” he replies, rolling over to face Scully with a grin. “I guess we’re in agreement.”

“I love you and our creaky house in rural Virginia. Say hi to your mom for me tomorrow.””

Mr. and Mrs. Egotistical have fun settling into their new routines. Mulder, particularly, loves getting Scully out of work early.

Canon-Divergent/AU Timelines

@scully-loves-ruthie’s Unnamed

““All immediate reservations aside she’d grab his hand, the slap of the screen door a symphony of forgotten charges, dead bodies being dragged across the threshold finally laid to rest.

“Here,” She’d say as she beckoned him against what would surely be his office door. “Is where we’ll fight about you leaving trails of sunflower seeds on the floor. A chocking hazard if I’ve ever seen one.””

S8 Mulder and Scully map out their son’s future growth on the walls of the Unremarkable House. It all ends squashed hopes. (I like to skip the sad ending and Frankenstein it into my happier headcanon post S8.)

@postmodernpromartheus‘s Unnamed

““Life with a baby on the lamb is nothing but a challenge. The endless running is wearing on her and Mulder. Will, however, is just as happy as calm. It’s his normal, and she’s begun to wonder how much therapy he’s going to need as a teenager.””

Mulder helps Scully to heal the broken bond Maggie had shattered when her daughter and grandson vanished onto the open road. In return, Maggie helps them get their Unremarkable House.

Tess’s (Alt. Ao3) Take No Chances

““To the funeral," he clarified.

"I can't, Mulder. How? There's no..." She shook her head in automatic denial. "I can't," she repeated.

"Scully... your mother's funeral... surely we can find a way.”"

Mulder is shattered to have to tell Scully about Maggie’s death; but he is blown away by her strength and belief in her mother’s love and understanding.

@iwtbscully/@jewish-mulder/@anders-hawke/BananaChef‘s

Unnamed

““For legal reasons,” she elaborated. “We can get a higher tax return, and there’s marital benefits in the event that one of us is injured.”

He looked away and nodded. “Makes sense.”

“We can go down to the courthouse in a couple days to do it. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Mulder replied, not meeting her eyes.

Scully suggests marriage practically; but Mulder is soon heartened to find out his wife does, indeed, have a romantic streak as well.

@dashakay‘s (Ao3, Gossamer)

Fabric of Our Lives

““Dr. Cooper-Gowdy, my obstetrician, is one of the foremost specialists in high-risk pregnancy. She has given me every pre-natal test known to medicine and the results have all come back within normal parameters. This is the thread I cling to, the only thing that keeps my sanity during this endless waiting.

And Mulder, of course. Through the years in the FBI, working on the X-Files, we kept each other sane. The terror, the tragedy, the loss were enough to send the healthiest of psyches completely to the brink, but we managed to keep each other from splintering apart.””

Mulder and Scully are married, mortgaged, and medically bed-bound all in the hopes her IVF miracle won’t succumb to the placenta previa diagnosis. She quilts for her family while she waits.

Bound Together With Invisible Cord

““I once told Scully I'd walk through fire for her. I did not say those words lightly. She would do the same for me. She has, a hundred times over. It is getting late.

She has been asleep for at least five hours.””

Mulder waits for Scully to wake from her drugged sleep, reminiscing over their relationship and their daughter.

@lyndsaybones’s (Ao3)

AU where Mulder and Scully move in together circa S7?

““She wants grass, a place where they can see the stars. The more she thinks about it, the more she likes it.

“You wouldn’t be able to just go around the corner for milk and bread, you know,” he reminds her, looking at the real estate ads.

“I know.”

He nods and smiles, goes back to searching.””

Even though the IVF fails, Mulder insists he and Scully still buy the UH.

Follow up AU where Scully gets to rock William in the white chair

““She’s too tired to get up on a sunny Saturday morning. They were meant to be pulling the million year old tile backsplash out of the kitchen today, but she’s just so sleepy.””

After Scully collapses during their home renos, she and Mulder speed up their house projects before the impending arrival of their son.

There we go!

Enjoy!

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