#6hoursgirl

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files' Collector's Edition: Fight the Future Fics (Part I)

No introduction necessary, I think.

Loose chronological order below~!

astronaught's Equilibrium - Entr'acte

""He doesn’t like having an aversion to smallness because it means he might reject a truth for being insufficiently grand. Tall tales curdle in Kurtzweil’s mouth, and for the eighty-seventh time that year he feels dirtied by their hold on him....

If their work was going to be destroyed by anything, he didn’t think it would be because she lost her nerve. He and she share a tendency to hold their noses when it comes to dealing with the spiritually mundane, but they don’t do so childishly....

But all the same. Their intellectual honesty has always been its own kind of snobbery. It isn’t really smallness (nor practicality, nor effort) that he’s averse to, but rather inefficiency of a very specific kind. His duty is to the necessary. To the fundamentally true....

And he thought she was the same.""

Mulder and Scully spin their wheels, confused and hurt by each other's lines they draw about the work.

red2007's Icarus

""One breath. Two breaths. Chest compressions.

Molten lava was licking through his veins. Every movement he made, every memory he conjured was a four alarm fire coursing through his body. He’d been pulled closer to her everyday since they’d first met, no one else heard him or bothered to listen. No one could see him the way she did, she made him feel relevant. Her trust in him made him feel invincible. He didn’t remember what life was like before her, he didn’t care to.

He was terrified of a life without her and it was burning him up from the inside out. This partnership turned friendship turned codependency turned love…he didn’t know how to survive without it.""

Mulder's body is on fire with adrenaline as he pushes its limits to save his partner.

@leiascully's (Ao3)

OctoberFicFest Day 6: Frost (Ao3)

""He’s too desperate to revive her to think of how empty, how shattered his heart will be if she doesn’t wake up."" 

Mulder ruminates on twisted fairytales while saving his frosted partner.

To The Ends Of The Earth (Ao3)

""He’s still shivering, even in his suit in the sun in the summer. He’s seen her shivering too. They’ve both been drinking more coffee since Antarctica. He’s been watching her lace her fingers around her mugs, just letting the warmth seep into her. He hopes his hand is as soothing to her as the terrible coffee in the bullpen.

“If I quit now, they win,” she said. He turns it over and over in his mind as they walk. He doesn’t know where they’re going. He doesn’t care. They’re together. They survived. They have their work. That’s all that matters to him anymore, Scully and the work.""

Post FTF Mulder and Scully leisure around DC, he enjoying and she surprising.

@scapegrace74-blog/scapegrace74's Walking After You

""It was foreordained that Mulder be beside her.  Where fear and the improbable intersected in her life, there was her partner, vigilant defender against all her katabases.  She no longer questioned his presence there.  He simply was.

...Her beautiful Don Quixote, caring only for the quest, and not its consequences.""

Scully pulls Mulder to her on the ice, contemplating her childhood dreams and her partner's revitalized wonder.

@all-these-ghosts's (Ao3

if i am hopeful - Chapter 6

""After everything, all of the strife and regret, she will die here. In this great whiteness. They say that freezing to death is an easy way to go, but she is a doctor and a realist and nothing, nothing has ever been easy for them.

He has already stopped shivering."" 

Scully is convinced she and Mulder will freeze to death, noting his deterioration but grateful to perish with him.

unfinished business

""This is Scully, he reminds himself. Scully who follows him on every insane adventure, who pulls him back from the edge, who not even a year ago was dying in a hospital bed while he raged, unable to contend with his absolute powerlessness.

And now, here in his living room: he is not powerless.""

AU-- Scully is overthinking her rescue, questioning why Mulder went to the ends of the earth for her. He finally demonstrates why.

@scully/humancredentials’s

a series of tumblr prompts - Chapter 8 (Ao3)

""Her eyes sting, her tears freezing on her face as soon as they fall. She feels the ache in her bones and her lungs burn with every inhale of cold air. She presses her cracked lips to his forehead and tastes blood. His, she thinks, but she’s not sure....

“Mulder,” she murmurs, her voice hoarse and underused. He doesn’t react, doesn’t even move, this foolish hero of hers that followed her to the ends of the earth. He has given her his warmest clothes.""

Scully begs her partner to stay awake, thrilled and relieved when he cracks a joke.

@frangipanidownunder’s (Ao3) 

I Love You Prompts: Tiny Fics - Chapter 2

""Thank you,” she says and her voice is cracked like the ice.

He doesn’t know what to say. She would have done the same for him. Had done the same. Their rescues of each other are becoming more epic by the year. He chuffs out a laugh at the thought but it gets stuck in the frozen air.""

Mulder drags Scully to the Snocat, letting Scully off the hook for not remembering the hallway completely. They always save each other, after all.

Cold, happy, tired.

""She can recall his expression though. Standing before her in that chamber, willing her to breathe. His lips parted, his eyes wide with a mix of terror and happiness. Wet hair flopping over his face. He had saved her and himself - the relieved note in his voice told her that. In that moment, a tiny speck of time between them, she knew she loved him. Irrefutably. The thought flashed through her mind, a bolt of reality. It warmed her chest, spurred her on.""

AU-- Scully sees the spaceship; and, mind blown, helps drag her weary partner to safety, welcoming his tiny little move.

@sixhours/6hoursgirl's (FFN) Waking Hours - Chapter 1 (FFN)

""Mulder,” she tries again, jaw aching with the effort. “Wake up.”

He does, then, ice crystal lashes blinking open to reveal muddy hazel eyes. His lips form her name, a soundless whisper cast into the storm, received by mutual telepathy.""

Scully wakes Mulder up in the icefield, pulling him away from looking for the spaceship he claimed to have seen for more practical pursuits.

@scullydubois/scully_dubois's txf prompts - Chapter 2

""He is numb to everything except a weight and warmth near--one that could not possibly have originated from him, for he has known nothing except ragging breath and stillness for...well, he doesn’t know how long. There are no sunrises or sunsets here to mark the time.

He remembers, then, why he is here. That he’s not alone. That he came here to rescue the one person that’s ever believed him when he needed it, and that he did, and so she must be here, she must be that weight against his side.""

Mulder wakes to Scully, filling her while on the ice and leaving it open-ended on how to go forward.

@contrivedcoincidences6/Spooky66/geektime66’s

Never Let You Go

""For as long as I live I’ll never be able to get the image of her in that capsule out of my head. It will haunt me till the day I die.""

Mulder drags Scully back to the Snocat, both vowing to never let the other go.

Helpless

""I’m too late.

As I helplessly pump at her chest I begin to feel the sobs. My chest and my throat feel like they are being ripped open with the force of them.

She’s gone. Scully is dead and there is no point in living.""

Mulder has a nightmare; and he makes a move on Scully while she attempts to comfort him.

@i-gaze-at-scully’s (Ao3)

Tundra

""I saw it,” you whispered, holding me, as the loose wet hair around your face froze in strands.

Belief as soft and fresh as the snow we laid in insulated us from the cold.""

Mulder and Scully lay on the tundra, warmed by their belief.

Pad Thai and poison apples

""They get out together though, naturally, at the basement level. Scully wants to be smug, wants to rub it in Diana’s face that this is her office, her work, her.... she wants to, but she can’t. Not without a nameplate on the door. Or even a desk.""

Post FTF Diana goads Scully about not getting a lunch invite from Mulder. And even though he'd forgotten about Fowley, it doesn't soothe the sting.

ML/ML_is_me’s (Ao3, Gossamer, DW, Invidiosa)  and LaVa, Jacquie and Tess

Fight the Good Fight

""His cot was less than ten feet from hers but it might as well have been ten miles. She was exhausted by the time she reached his side. Collapsing onto the floor beside him, she called to him.

"Mulder. It's me."

Fear sent her heart bumping against her breastbone when he didn't stir.""

Scully is worried for her partner, both physically and mentally: it's obvious that he's losing his drive for a quest that always hurts her.

@allyinthekeyofx’s (Ao3)

Small Considerations Between Partners - 6 (Ao3)

""Because mostly what I remember is the fear; the absolute all encompassing terror I felt when I tried to swallow and discovered my throat was blocked by a tube, gagging as I tried to scream, to shout, to have someone please come to get it out of me. This invader of my prone body that stole my breath and rendered me almost hysterical as I fought with everything I had to lift my hands in an attempt to rid myself of it; the restraints that prevented me from doing so biting cruelly in to the soft flesh of my wrists even as I arched myself from the bed, the high pitched sound of alarms piercing my already aching head as I silently screamed for him to help me, needing him to find me, to save me just this one last time as scalding tears streamed down my face only to become instantly chilled against my skin.""

Scully is traumatized while recovering from her experience; but Mulder is there (as always) to comfort and reassure.

@danascullysrationalism/ARoadInCapeCod's Whatever's Left

""For too long, she had been his ripcord.... She would always bring him up and out. Alive.... It had saved him too many times when he wandered too far in the ticks of light that led him astray. She was the storm that let him live. He always knew there was something righteous inside her.

This was all he could do to thank her.""

Scully is lost in her recovery, knowing she can't follow Mulder forever; and Mulder is lost watching her recover, knowing he can't give her more.

chezamanda's The Five Times Fox Mulder Didn’t Tell Dana Scully He Loved Her (and the One Time He Did)

""Now here they are, still together even though it feels like the world is constantly trying to keep them apart. If I quit now, they win.

FTF (amongst other seasons) Mulder ruminates thrice on his awe of and love for Scully.

Singing_Violin's This I Can Do

""We are so cold. But she is alive. I am thankful for that."" 

The one thing that Fox Mulder can do is hold Dana Scully.

@broadcastnews1987/audries/@kennedyandheidi/inkspl0tchess's (WBM 1/2/3)

string theory (or seven times dana scully wore fox mulder's clothes)

""be careful,” she thinks she says as the medics move them into the helicopter. the voice in her head is cool, detached, precise. hypothermia demands gentle treatment, it says. he needs me, she tries to tell them, he told me so. she doesn’t know why they won’t let her hold his hand.

two days later and he is slouching in her doorway wearing sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt. he tilts his head to wait for permission and she uncurls her fingers to open her palm like a flower.""

Scully's hypothermia hinders her responses but not her resolve-- to care for and stay with her partner.

DanaScully77's Delirium

""Dearie, you really shouldn’t be speaking.” The nurse is kind with a calming hand on his chest. “Do you remember what happened?”

Mulder shakes his head no. His eyes are pleading with the nurse, confusion too thick in his brain to make sense of anything around him. All that keeps ringing in his mind is that Scully is hurt and that he needs to get to her.

“You both were found in Antarctica by a team of scientists exploring disturbances in the ice. Do you remember how you got there?”

Flashes of alien testing tubes fill his mind and his jaw opens. “Scully."" 

The Unnatural Mulder remembers comforting Scully during the events of FTF. Now, they enjoy hot cocoa at his apartment, happy.

@frogsmulder/Brynstein's Chapter 1: Post Fight the Future

""Mulder, it's me."

He couldn't help but let a laugh go down the line. "Never have I heard sweeter words, Scully."

"Mulder?" The was a pause of quiet, no doubt filled by the rise of a singular eyebrow. "Have you just taken your meds?""

Post FTF Mulder wanders around, bored, before calling Scully to re-patch his wound.

@mashnotesofthemythopoeic/Penumbra/The_Mythopoeic - Works/Penumbra's X-Files Fiction (Alt., Zuffy's Tripod)

The Cretan Paradox

""No minotaur," she says, as they gain the center.

"Looking for trouble, Scully?" he asks, with some intent. His soft mouth quirks.

Labyrinths, Mulder explains, are convoluted journeys fraught with dead ends and blind passages, and are solved by intuition and creativity. "But a maze is a left-brained puzzle." He looks down at her, eyes narrow and warm in the afternoon light. Not unlike you, his eyes say.""

Post FTF Mulder takes Scully to a maze, showing her how to always escape it and leading up to his tentative movie night invite.

AUs

@oceanofthesky/noifsandsorbees’s White Noise (Ao3)

""She smiles and she laughs. A lot.” Mulder says suddenly, and his eyes are faraway, lit up and peaceful. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“What are you talking about, Mulder?”

“Scully. The rare moments when she lets herself be happy. It’s really something.""

Mulder and Scully may resolve things between them in the hallway, but she's still reassigned. Many phone calls, doubts, and insecurities plague their long-term relationship, deeply rooted by the time they're reunited.

@starwalker42 (Ao3

can't stay awake

""Underneath our cocoon of blankets, trembling fingers wrap around mine. I barely feel the contact, but I’m glad for it all the same. It’s not lost on me that not an hour ago, she was frozen in ice on the brink of death, and now she’s the one comforting me. She’s too good at this – looking after me when she’s the one in pain. I know I don’t deserve Dana Scully. I certainly don’t deserve to die next to her. But I’m glad that if I have to go, I get to go like this.""  

Mulder keeps a slurring Scully awake by bantering about penguins; but the two of them soon slow on the ice, dropping a love you before they succumb to sleep.

@o6666666's (Ao3) Prompts 1, 2, and 83

""He came with a big bottle of aloe, planning to paint her cheeks with it. How funny that his conscientious Scully should get sunburned in the dog days of August from lying out on the ice. (It wasn’t funny.)

They’d brought her all the way to Antarctica in her skirt suit. He pictured the henchmen in their parkas and gloves and boots, none of them caring how she shivered.""

Mulder's guilt over his ice-burned, clingy Scully almost destroys the potential between them. She sees past his reticence and reassures.

2plumsandagherkin's Like You Wanted to

""Do you remember anything that happened… in the hallway?” he asked, tentatively.

“No, what happened in the hallway?”

He explained about her getting stung by the bee and the ambulance crew taking her and trying to shoot him, but she had the feeling he was leaving something out."" 

Scully doesn't recall the hallway incident until later, rushing over to Mulder's and affirming her love.

@frostbitepandaaaaa/FrostbitePanda’s Four Days AU

""If she had just followed her parents’ wishes... she would be laying in a king bed right now. Safe in some boring suburb with a dog and perhaps even some handsome husband watching reruns of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and idly wondering what it would feel like to be a pioneer, a woman planted on the edge of the unknown, spread before her vast and endless and hers for the taking. 

That’s what Mulder gave her— a borderless realm, a fertile landscape lain with both the dreadful and the sublime.

“I’ve always felt… that it should interest me. That… in order to be a real person in the world, I needed to want those things.” She shakes her head, tilted back on the seat, staring at the riveted ceiling, beaded with condensation. 

A great breath shifts out of him, but he says nothing. 

“But the only thing that has ever made me feel like a real person, Mulder, is you."" 

While trapped in the Snocat for four days, Mulder and Scully reopen their hallway discussion and plan for a first date that is not over file cabbage packaged meals. Diana tries to throw a wrench in that; but Skinner is not going to sit idly by at the FBi shindig.

Ann Ripley's Any Resemblance

""The chip was reinserted and her health steadily improved. I know this because I was able to watch the process through a two-way mirror.... They cured her but also filtered out all her memory of our work, our partnership, our love.

Anna's recovery and future safety was the price I paid for my silence. Any subsequent investigation into the consortium or revelation of colonization plans would result in the cancer's return. It was not too high a price to pay. I would do it again in a second.

The show debuted a year after Mrs. Spriggs wheeled Anna out of the consortium-run hospital and started a new life.""

FTF was based on the life of two real people; but the fact was separated from fiction after the unhappy reality. The man who Mulder was based on watches the show, ruminating on all that never and really was.

Enjoy!

[spooky-jordan]

Has anyone read the Umbra Reverie series by 6hoursgirl? I’m currently reading it and loving it. I’m on the third and final book now, around six chapters in but I’ve only just seen the Major Character Death archive warning and now I’m PANICKING! Chat, am I cooked???

[pookie-mulder]

June 2024 fic roundup

Here are my favorite June reads:

👶📝 Of Our Own Making by @television-overload

I totally forgot to put this on last month’s list! I absolutely loved reading each new chapter every morning at work. I can’t not read a marriage of convenience fic, especially when there’s a baby involved.

💌🦃 Small Lives Awake by Jesemie’s Evil Twin

You know when you read something so sweet, so pure, that you feel like it breaks your heart in the best way? That’s this fic. It’s incredibly fluffy without being cheesy, and the writing style is so elegant.

🏝️👨‍👩‍👦 The Eden Series by Jacque LaVa

Was this the best fic I’ve ever read? No. Was everyone OOC? Definitely. Did I still enjoy it? You bet. I cannot resist the siren call of a survival fic, an amnesia fic, or a kidfic, and this had all three.

👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️ The Marriage Spectacular by @cecilysass

I’ve never met a cecilysass fic I didn’t like, and this was no exception. Fake relationship my beloved! Only one bed my beloved! Mulder and Scully being idiots in love my beloved! Absolutely delightful. 10/10, no notes.

🌀☔️ Hurricane Season by beduini & rah

This fic perfectly captures M&S’s “we’re completely and utterly devoted to each other and literal soulmates yet we still doubt our place in each other’s lives and we never actually talk about it” dynamic that we know and love. It takes place when William is a few months old and they’re still trying to define their relationship. I loved it SO MUCH!

(hmu for an epub — the chapters are long, which makes it easy to lose your place if you don’t finish the chapter in one sitting)

❄️✈️ WHITEOUT by EvanBlack

A classic “Mulder and Scully get in a plane crash and have to survive until help arrives” story. (You all know by now how much I love a survival fic!)

I absolutely adored the dynamic between them in this one. They’re down SO bad for each other, and it shows. I especially loved the beginning when they’re both wishing they were sitting next to each other so they could hold hands. That’s the good stuff right there!

🛁🧪 Antidote by Rachel Howard and Karen Rasch

Mulder and Scully investigate an unknown contagion in a remote town. You can probably guess what happens from there.

This was the perfect road trip read! Engaging and exciting without being too plot-heavy.

🤰👶 40 Weeks by @malibusunset-xf-blog

What if the IVF worked?

The most delectable pregnancy fluff with a dash of smut and a healthy serving of Mulder and Scully figuring out their relationship.

🪶🐎 Omens by @lepusarticus

I cannot say enough good things about this fic. It’s definitely a new addition to the Holy Grail list.

It’s a casefic, but it doesn’t feel like a casefic…more like an exploration of magic and family and love. With its spooky small-town gothic vibe and emphasis on powerful women and strange houses and ancient magic, it reminds me a lot of my favorite book series, The Raven Cycle. (If you liked this fic, you should go read TRC!)

This fic has layers and nuance and themes and motifs and gorgeous metaphors and one incredibly hot scene that ticked all my boxes. Even the OCs are rich and compelling. I would read a whole series set in this universe!

💥🚗 Goshen by Bonetree

Emily angst plus survival plus tending to each other’s injuries plus hurt/comfort? Yes please! I love it when I find a fic that seems to be created in a lab just for me.

(After reading the summaries of the following installments, I’m not quite sure if they’re really my thing. Has anyone read the rest of the series? Did you like it?)

👦🏻🦊 A Boy and His Fox by 6hoursgirl

Mulder and Scully “platonically” coparent their son. Mulder learns what it means to be a dad. Pure, unadulterated fluff! If you like kidfics, this one is a must-read.

📚👩‍⚕️ Heuvelmans’ On the Track by The_Mythopeodic

This fic is a fandom classic, and I can definitely see why. The author uses language in unexpected and interesting ways, which is not something you see very often in fic.

I tend to go for “popcorn” fics that are addictive and easy to binge. This one is more like a hearty slab of meat. Both types are good in their own way, but this fic made me work for it.

Anyway, I got a bit frustrated with myself around the halfway mark and kept having to reread passages a few times to truly understand what’s going on. I lamented that I needed a reading guide like they used to give you in English class.

After putting it aside for a few days, I came back and DEVOURED the second half. I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you’ve read it, you know what I’m talking about. I loooooved seeing Scully be resourceful and scrappy and capable, and the epilogue is incredible. I’m glad I pushed through!

🪡🌨️ Skamania County by Sarie_Fairy

This is actually the second time I’ve read this one, which I didn’t realize until near the end when I tried to leave kudos, haha. Anyway, I loved it both times! It has everything that makes survival fics so enticing: a nice trip to the woods that quickly goes wrong, one person hiding their life-threatening injury from the other, the intimacy of tending to their wounds, cuddling (naked) for warmth, and finally resolving that UST. Chef’s kiss!

🧙‍♀️🔭 The Mars Differential by @asteraceae-blue

This one is a WIP, and I cannot wait for the rest! It’s an intriguing casefile with plenty of msr.

I also read a bunch of @o6666666’s fics thanks to this masterlist that made its way around recently!

They are the master of writing fic that hurts so good. This IVF arc one might be my favorite, along with this season 9 one that squeezed my heart like a stress ball.

[cecilysass]

Milagro Fic Recommendations

These are good for any time of year, of course, not just February 14. But here are my favorite fics related to the season 6 episode Milagro, a long time favorite. (And @sisterspooky1013's favorite episode of all time: happy VD, girl!) I’ve been reading and sifting through these for some time, and I have tried to include some from all eras: newer AO3 fics, some written right after the ep aired, etc. But I'm sure I've missed some, so hit me with your own faves, please.

Because of Milagro's ending, this entire genre of fic tends to be heavy on the hurt/comfort and angst (which is fiiiiine by me), but that’s not all that’s here. Many of these are smutty, but not all.

Adagio - Terma99 A meditative, peaceful take on the aftermath of Milagro by a veteran author that includes both agents realizing something they had learned. Lovely.

Alma - 6hoursgirl (@sixhours) A lovely hurt/comfort Milagro piece. This one is Mulder POV, which is a little less common for post-Milagro, I think, and I like this characterization of Mulder as desperately wanting to help Scully, desperately wanting to protect her, but also a tiny bit scared of the intimacy and relationship he feels they’re on the cusp of. He’s so good-hearted and also a little dysfunctional here, and I love it.

Bated Breath - dreamingofscully (@dreamingofscully) This one has an original take on Scully's experience; it leaves Scully with clarity and new direction in her relationship with Mulder. DreamingofScully tends to write a more confident, in-charge Scully in the MSR than some do, and I appreciate it.

Beyond the Strokes of a Typewriter - storybycorey (@storybycorey) When Scully is stricken and ashamed that it’s been so long since anyone has seen her as a woman as Padgett did, Mulder is pushed to revelations. Mulder 3rd person POV. Very good smut build up. And nobody does a gorgeous feelings reveal from Mulder like storeybycorey, man.

I Believe - Diana Battis There are a lot of lovely, heartfelt hurt/comfort fics about the aftermath of Milagro (for obvious reasons), but this one is especially well done. Viewed from Scully’s third person point of view, it focuses on Mulder’s capacity for tenderness and guilt. Plus some smut.

Don’t Look Up - ArtemisX5 After Padgett's hallway revelation, Scully is horrified that she has no secrets left. But you know, Mulder is much slower on the draw than she gives him credit for. There is also such moving hurt/comfort in this.

Intimacies with Strangers -mldrgrl (@mldrgrl) This mid- and post- Milagro piece has Mulder and Scully simmering in tension and then boiling over. Their relationship is complex and painfully entangled, and I love how it plays out. There is also excellent Scully characterization. This one helps me to get more fully why she might have been drawn to Padgett initially, something I struggle with in the episode.

La Madrugada - h0ldthiscat A carefully told tale of RST that takes both characters seriously and is sincerely moving. Excellent.

Lacuna - Aloysia_Virgata (@aloysiavirgata) This is a longer work, not really a classic post ep per se. But I love this moody, angsty casefile set right after Milagro. This Scully has not come to terms with her emotions, is thoroughly freaked by how she reacted to Padgett, and hasn't even entirely worked out how she feels about Mulder. There is Scully/other here, but the ship is steering home. The end of this is so moving, but cw: dark themes in the casefile, extreme violence against children, traumatized agents.

Still Life - Seek_Its_Opposite (@seek-its-opposite) Ah, this is such a thoughtful and exquisitely written Scully character piece — and it contains some truly beautiful insights about Mulder, too. It suggests the heartbreaking idea that Mulder’s way of showing Scully respect (giving her distance) is continually hurting her. So tragic (and consistent with canon, e.g. Never Again.) One memorable line: “Every one of their fights is about how to care for one another, every last one.”

Alma Gemela - matchingfabric (@matchingfabric) After the events of Milagro, Scully (and Mulder) get accustomed to platonically sharing a bed for comfort. This is a slightly different take on post-Milagro. Exceptionally, irresistibly sweet. Oh, and smutty.

What did I miss? Tell me. And yes, I'm working on my own short Milagro fic that will be coming soon-ish.

[bumblepony]

If you have not already read this story, you need to. It's by the amazing @sixhours, and I absolutely love it. This chapter was my favorite so far! It's got everything a girlie needs, Action, stinky raiders, bloody death, reconnection, truth, forgiveness on two fronts, love on two fronts, Joel being a blubbering idiot, but so damn sweet.

[enigmaticxbee]

And more:

Parallel by @sisterspooky1013 - Scully wakes up as an alternate version of herself, NSFW. Twist on a Contemporary AU.

Gaslight by @sisterspooky1013 - Dana wakes up to a life she doesn’t recognize, a life in which someone very important is missing—if only she could remember who. NSFW. Twist on a Contemporary AU.

December 31, 1984 by @phillippadgettwrites - pre-series one night stand, NSFW

Pause by @cecilysass - Scully wakes up in her car with her memory wiped. Canon-divergent mid series.

A Boy and His Fox by 6hoursgirl - What if the IVF in Per Manum worked, NSFW. Canon-divergent late series.

XF AU - Fic Recs

When the world was unrecognizable and upside down, there was one thing that remained the same. You... were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant... my touchstone (or, alternate universe and canon-divergent fics):

Contemporary AUs:

A Companion Unobtrusive by @slippinmickeys - She needed a roommate. He needed a room.

The Annapolis Grant by @slippinmickeys - Fake relationship! Scully hires Mulder to pretend to be her boyfriend.

Aprons and Scrubs by @lokisgame - Scully’s a doctor and Mulder runs a bar.

Five Years and a Lifetime by @monikafilefan @slippinmickeys - One night stand AU. Five years later, Scully and Mulder work at the same pediatric hospital, and Scully's four year old daughter bears a striking resemblance to the picture of a dark haired girl that sits on Mulder's desk...

Skin by Annie Sewell-Jennings - In a world where Mulder and Scully have never met, fate intervenes and brings two worlds colliding in the city of Charleston, as a vicious murderer reigns and a storm approaches.

Sinners Come Down by aster_risk - Six years into her marriage to Daniel, Scully meets Fox Mulder at a bar one night, and they get talking and fucking over alcohol and self-pity.

In the Best Interest of the Child by @mldrgrl - When tragedy strikes, Mulder is forced to take guardianship of his young niece, but the matter is complicated by the arrival of a sister-in-law he's never met.

Historical AUs:

By the Dim and Flaring Lamps by @sunflowerseedsandscience - Civil War AU. Captain Mulder befriends Private Scully who’s hiding a secret…

The Countess and The Earl by @slippinmickeys - Regency Romance!

Old Growth Forest by Andrea - Mulder and Scully travel back to frontier times

Rocky Mountain Interlude Part 1 and Part 2 by Jacquie LaVa and Tess - Mulder and Scully travel back in time to solve the case of a Colorado mining ghost

The Science of Sex by @if-the-seascatchfire - Masters of Sex AU. Mulder and Scully are doctors in the late 1950s who undertake a years-long study about human sexuality, and as part of the research, they also have sex with each other - you know, for the science.

Out of this World:

The Magician by Suzanne Bickerstaffe and Jennifer Lyon - Fantasy series where Mulder and Scully travel to another world full of magic (one of the first fanfics I ever remember reading!)

Out of the Little Grove by @slippinmickeys - Crossover with His Dark Materials (a mashup truly made just for me, my 13 year old self would have been over the moon)

Blinded by White Light by @dashakay - Post-colonization. What are we, but the sum of our memories? A classic.

Julia and Gabriel by Mish - Post-colonization. A new identity, a new, dangerous society, an unchanged heart and soul. Gave me Hunger Games vibes for some reason (although written years before that was published)

Canon-Divergent: Pre or Early Series

Eleventh Hour by Rachel Anton - Mulder travels back in time to find college-aged Scully and change everything.

Belphagor’s Prime by Prufrock’s Love - When Scully disappears Mulder travels back in time to a pre-X-Files Scully for help.

In Another Life by @mldrgrl - What if there was no conspiracy? What if Mulder was just a regular FBI Agent? What if Scully was just a bureau pathologist?

How They Met by @peacenik0 - After an encounter at Scully’s FBI academy graduation party they must determine how to deal with their past and their undeniable attraction to one another when partnered up.

One Week at Quantico by CrossedBeams - What if Mulder had been teaching at the Academy when Scully was training…

Paging Dr. Scully by @mangokiwitropicalswirl - Mulder keeps ending up in Dr Scully’s ER.

Only One Choice by @sisterspooky1013 - Scully was never assigned to The X Files.

The Way Things Are by Sukie Tawdry - A season 1 one night stand changes everything. Baby-fic.

Departures & Arrivals by anarchybeauty - After the X Files are closed in 1994, Scully moves on. Two years later, she runs into Mulder in an airport.

Right Hand Return by humphreywrites - Scully is returned from her abduction with a baby, no memories of anything prior to her captivity and some PTSD.

12 Rites of Passage and 12 Degrees of Separation by Anne Hayes - mytharc story written very early in the series run.

parent_1 by @markwatneyandenesemble - It’s 1996, Mulder’s been off the X-Files for three years, and not speaking to Scully. They’ve almost moved on with their lives. Almost.

Canon-Divergent: Mid Series

A Different Place by @myownsuperintendent - When Mulder successfully brings one of the Samantha clones back from the farm with him in Herrenvolk, she must learn to adapt to a different life.

Once More With Feeling by skinfull - While on a stakeout Mulder is shot in the head and loses his memory.

Iolokus by rivkat and MustangSally - Mytharc AU. Painted across the barren and desolate reaches of Texas, the shadows of the Project put additional pressure on Scully and Mulder's already fragile relationship. After a hostage crisis raises more questions about the Project's breeding program, Scully begins her own investigation, leaving Mulder to choose between saving her and saving himself. Pretty disturbing but fascinating, a classic.

Arizona Highways by Fialka - Mytharc AU. Visions of Melissa lead Our Heroes on a case confirming the existence of a series of Emilys. But does Melissa really have a message, or is it all in Scully’s head? Another classic.

Heuvelmans' On the Track by @mashnotesofthemythopoeic - post-FTF mytharc AU, truly a ride you’ll never forget.

The Leap and Landfall by Ambress - Scully has a one time opportunity for motherhood, given to her by the Kurt Crawfords.

All That Is Dark and Bright by @malibusunset-xf-blog - Emily lives AU.

Five Years and One Night by Shalimar - Scully leaves the X-Files post-Emily but gets drawn back in when Mulder discovers Emily wasn’t the only child created.

Cubed by Louise Marin - Mid-season 6 Scully does a little body-swapping of her own. Can she and Mulder make it back to each other? Do they want to?

The Boy on the Beach and Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 1999 by @cecilysass - One moment she was sitting in the chair. Her chin up, her expression ice. And the next moment she was gone. Fantastic exploration of the Samantha storyline.

Canon-Divergent: Late or Post Series

40 Weeks by @malibusunset-xf-blog - What if the IVF attempt in Per Manum had been successful?

Mobius by L.A. Ward - Post-Requiem while investigating the disappearance of a physicist, Scully finds someone she didn't expect - Mulder. But is it her Mulder?

By the Wind Grieved by Karen Rasch - Mulder is returned several months post Requiem but he doesn't know who he is or what Scully and he are to each other. Together they must reclaim the past before their enemies take away their future.

Deadalive AU by @markwatneyandenesemble - Mulder is returned but is missing several years of memory.

The 13th Sign and 7 Days in May by Prufrock’s Love - Post-Deadalive. Mulder saw no reason for life, death, sex, Armageddon, or emotional dysfunction to stand in the way of true love.

Hurricane Season by rah and beduini - Post-Existence week at the beach with the Scully family and baby Wim.

Terra Firma series by @malibusunset-xf-blog - Post-Existence domestic family drama, a classic comfort read for me.

2008 by MystPhile - With the quest at an end, the X-Files closed in the year 2000. Our heroes went their separate ways. In 2008, they meet in Bloomingdale's and the past, present, and future are explored.

Dr. Scully's School for Exceptional Boys by Prufrock’s Love - More than a decade had passed. Mulder had no reason to hole up in his apartment alone, wearing a Three Dog Night T-shirt with dried mustard on the hem and blue jeans that had seen better days. He wasn't "saving himself" for anyone. Especially not Her. Though she remained epically, beautifully, brilliantly kick-A-S-S.

Machines of Freedom by Amal Nahurriyeh - post-IWTB. The end of the world is coming. And they're doing everything in their power to stop it.

North of Zero by @slippinmickeys - Post-IWTB, post-colonization. The bombs have fallen. The aliens have come. What’s next?

Canon Parallel AUs:

I've got you under my skin by cuits - In a universe where soulmate identifying marks exist and affect a part of the population, would Mulder and Scully's relationship evolve any different? Unfinished but complete through Existence so it still ends in a satisfying place.

Half-light by skuls - Mulder and Scully get a second chance.

The Family G-Man by Neoxphile and FelineFemme - A double tragedy strikes Mulder the week before Christmas of 2003. What if he could go back and change things, save the son one lost and give the other the family she wanted? Could it keep them safe?

[dnscully]

hi! I’m just now getting into the X-Files fandom and ur blog is amazing. I was wondering if you had any fanfic recs? I desperately need more MSR content, but I have no idea where to start

ahhh thank you so much! i have loads of favorites but here are some i go back to a lot:

Bite Size Love by malibusunset - season 7 fic. prequel to another series but can stand alone

The Common Fat of All Things Rare by Aloysia_Virgata & Scarlet - cancer arc fic in between never again and memento mori

Dating Kings and Queens by @baronessblixen - rain king fic

Between Sorrow and Bliss by @sunflowerseedsandscience - cancer arc fic

All The Times by agoodwoman - all the times mulder has said i love you before triangle (wip?)

the things she carries by @edierone - cancer arc angst and jealous mulder

Momentum by @msrheadcanon - post en-ami angst

The I in Team by @spookydarlablack - diana angst, mulder and scully in a team-building seminar

Fowl Play by @baronessblixen - diana angst

pocket guts by @wtfmulder - developing relationship but then ~boom~ diana fowley. diana angst 

Mulder, Scully and Diana Fucking Fowley by @sarie-fairy - diana angst, scully dates and mulder is jealous

Marshmallow World by agoodwoman - holiday fic. so cute. jealous mulder and flirty msr. kind of long?

Partners with Benefits by @gaycrouton - friends with benefits fic

AUs

In Another Life by @mldrgrl - au where mulder is just another fbi agent and scully is a bureau pathologist. a fave

close to knowing by @o6666666 - emily au. very cute 🥺👉🏻👈🏻 (wip)

the unspeakable fear of things by @how-i-met-your-mulder - emily au

A Boy and His Fox by 6hoursgirl - kidfic. post - per manum, and if im not mistaken its an au where the ivf works. also very cute. i’m such a sucker for daddy mulder 🤧

Another Man’s Child by Amorfati32 - au where scully has a kid (very long fic! and one of my favorites to reread)

Variations by Lapsed_Scholar - requiem au. the different ways requiem could have ended if mulder never went to oregon

Deadalive AU by @markwatneyandenesemble

Not on AO3 

i don’t like reading on places not on ao3 or tumblr, so when i rec fics on other sites like whispersofx or gossamer you knOW i like them

Worth Breaking by Narida Law - friends with benefits fic. mutual pining. sooo good

Cubed by Louise Martin - body swap fic. i read this some time ago so all i remember is that i quite liked it. im pretty sure they that scully body swaps with a scully [from] an alternate universe. (long fic!)

Skin by Annie Sewell-Jennings - au where mulder and scully have never met. but they kind of have? i haven’t read this in a long time. its complicated. also a long fic!

i just know im missing so many !! but these are all great

[sixhours]

I adore AO3! I much prefer to read there when I can, and I always post there first. I'm 6hoursgirl.

calling all my pedro pascal character writers who use AO3…

so we know I love a project. and as someone who began on AO3 (for other fandoms) and has a deep love for it, but has neglected it a lot (I’m sorry my love, forgive me), who else is on AO3 and can you share your usernames?

I am naturally, undercoverpena

this might help create a bit of a database to help people who prefer reading there or use screen readers or wish to download for e-readers! but, other benefits of following on there too is that you can subscribe and get notifications (as tumblr can be… tumblr) 🩷

tagging some moots who I know use it to help spread the word, but no pressure at all! I’m just a jo trying their best hehehe: @goodwithcheese @secretelephanttattoo @pedgito @swiftispunk

@nothoughtsjustmeds @psychedelic-ink

[mulderscreek]

First Christmas With You Challenge (2014)

This year’s challenge is to write a fic about an X-Files character sharing a first Christmas with their child. Although we typically think of a “first Christmas” as the first one a child is alive, the important element here is that it’s the first Christmas the character is sharing with this child no matter how many the child has already lived through.

Therefore there are multiple possibilities for how a “first” Christmas might come about, such as:

- Scully’s first Christmas with William - Scully and/or Mulder’s first Christmas with a non-canon baby - Any character’s first Christmas with their baby - Any character’s first Christmas with their newly adopted child - Any character’s first Christmas with their newly discovered child - Scully and/or Mulder’s first (AU) Christmas with Emily when she’s four if she lived, or at any age when was later discovered to be alive in your story - Mulder’s first Christmas with William in your AU story where William was never given up - Mulder’s first Christmas with William after being reunited - Any character’s first Christmas with their child who was physically separated from them for their previous Christmas(es) - William’s first Christmas with his adopted parents - William’s first Christmas with a newly born or adopted sibling - it’s permissible for this “first” Christmas to be a few months before the child’s birth if their mother’s pregnancy is far enough along for the unborn child’s presence to be felt - Any character’s first Christmas with a grandchild

These suggestions are not all-inclusive, so if you come up with another way a character would be spending the first Christmas with the baby or child, you’re welcome to strike out on your own =)

Very Optional:

* Combine this challenge with the elements of any other challenge on this site for entry in the Take Two Challenge

* You can write about more than one child’s first Christmas, so if you’d like to write about a six months’ pregnant Scully celebrating her 11-month-old’s first Christmas with Mulder after discovering Emily’s alive, being reunited with William and adopting the Van De Kamp’s other child after their untimely deaths… well, we’d be really impressed ::grins::

* If you’d like to, you can write a duology or trilogy, writing this as a sequel to a fic you write for the First Halloween With You challenge and/or the First Thanksgiving With You challenge

Fics so far for this challenge:

Nativitatis by 6hoursgirl

Choices at Christmas Time by trycee  

Another Man’s Child - A Christmas Tale by AmorFati32  

Home For the Holidays by Neoxphile

Please submit your story or the link to it to nurseryfiles@mulderscreek.com or post here on our submissions Tumblr  - or send me a message with your fic on Tumblr to reblog. - by  New Years Eve  

[txf-fic-chicks-blog]

Post Colonization / AU Tuesday

*Insert imaginary gif of Patty and Kristin doing the happy dance* 

Philes, we have another Master Post for you!  We don’t know about you, but we are obsessed with lists of fantastic fic, because what better way to keep track of great fic to read/reread??

A quickie reminder: this list is really a mixed bag.  We have pre-colonization, current colonization, post colonization, and, of course, alternate universe. Now, we here at Txf Fic Chicks consider pretty much anything that strays away from what we know as canon to be AU (secretly, some of our favies are season 8&9 rewrites, though), so it covers a vast amount of fic. 

Save this list, Philes, as it’s months worth of stories in one post.  And as always, the links take you to our original posts that contain the rating, length, and trigger warnings.

Love you, mean it xo

Hurricane Season by Rah and Beduini 

Abaddon’s Reign by Aka Jake

Song of Innocence by Christy

A Boy and His Fox by 6hoursgirl

The Other Man by Jess M.

White Ink by Bonetree

Fathom’s Five by Penumbra

All the Mulders by Alloway

The Seventh Age by David Hearne

One One-thousand by Nevdull

Lives Reclaimed by Vickey Mosely and Donna

Running Lessons by Maybeamanda and Spookey247

After the Future by Donna

Glass Landscape by Annie Sewell-Jennings

All Which It Inherit by Brandon D. Ray

Atomic-Powered Sex by Ten

Before Them by Donna

The Family G-Man by Neoxphile and FelineFemme

Rocky Mountain Interlude by Char Chaffin and Tess

The Unfinished Universe by Revely

Night Giving Off Flames by Jet

Eines Tages by Revilo Witts

Patient by Gwendolyn

Tempo by Jess

False Memories by Zuffy

Portions of Eternity by Dianora

Beating the Darkness Back by Anjou

Mexican Fried Ice Cream by Mish

Meeting Charlie by Donna

Where There’s a Will by Andrea

Chip Off the Old Block by Mimic117

A Madness Called Love by David Hearne

Winterlong Series by Neoxphile

Smoke on the Horizon by Paige Caldwell

Operation Clean House / Won and Lost by Sarah Segretti and Branwell

The Eleventh Hour by Rachel Anton

Full Reward by Bonetree

Foux by Alanna

Diary of the Second Holocaust by Megan Reilly

Wearing Icicles by Annie Sewell-Jennings

Last Call by Frogdoggie

Cunegund’s Restoration, or, The Best of All Possible Worlds, Really by Livia Balaban

[lilydalexf]

👽 Random X-Files Fic Rec

The first story here is from Scully's point of view, and she's spot-on throughout. Could it be any more beautifully romantic and devastatingly angsty? No, no it could not. But there’s more! There’s a whole second story to completely savor, this time from Mulder's point of view. Title: Waking Hours and Dreaming Hours Author: 6hoursgirl (@sixhours) Summary: Five times Scully woke up with Mulder, and one time she didn’t. Length: 3,894 words / 4,800 words Classification: Angst, MSR Rating: General Audiences / Explicit Spoilers: Home Again, Requiem, all things, Fight the Future, I Want To Believe, The Truth Favorite line: Their breaths mingle in the stillness, but he can no longer sleep, heart thrumming with the miracle of her presence and the burden of his guilt. Read the stories: Part 1, Part 2

[numinousmysteries]

Blinded by White Light by Dasha Kay has had a hold on me for over two decades.

Ditto anything by Prufrock's Love but probably Paracelsus if I had to name one.

Eclipse by Diana Battis and alanna is a forever classic for me that I think doesn't get mentioned enough on lists like this.

Dance Without Sleeping by Lydia Bower/wonderland is an OG.

M. Luder, King of SETI Troopers Fanfic by Livia Balaban is my personal Roman Empire.

The Laws of Coming and Going and The Great Beyond by Buckingham are canon to me.

A Boy and His Fox by 6hoursgirl/@sixhours is my comfort fic.

And Death Shall Have No Dominion by Jean Helms is having a moment on here, @thexfileswithoutcontext, @deathsbestgirl and @fringephile have all posted/asked about it and I absolutely love that this classic fic has stuck in so many people's brains. It's so good and is such a good reminder of how lucky we are to have literal decades worth of brilliant fic writing in this fandom. I'd love to know what other fics have lodged in people's brains in the same way!

[xfrevivalfanfic]

Title: Meteor 

Author: 6hoursgirl

Rating: PG

Category: Vignette

Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST

Spoilers: Revival

Summary: She remembers the space he'd carved around himself, and the moment she realized the distance was too great to cross.

[lilydalexf]

👽 Random X-Files Fic Rec

This story paints a quiet moment for Mulder and Scully under the night sky with beauty and gravity. It's perfect for them. Title: Meteor Author: 6hoursgirl (@sixhours) Summary: She remembers the space he’d carved around himself, and the moment she realized the distance was too great to cross. Length: 1,049 words Classification: Vignette, Friendship Rating: General Audiences Spoilers: Season 10 Favorite line: She finds his hand without trying and listens to the sound of their mingled breathing as the sky falls around them. Read the story!

[lilydalexf]

⛄️👽 X-Files Fic Rec Advent: Day  13

Holiday story time! The ghosts that come to visit Mulder in this Christmas Carol-esque story are snarky and annoying, which seems just about right for Mulder. Poor guy. But he has Scully, which not for the first time turns everything around. Title: An Xmas Carol Author: 6hoursgirl (@sixhours) Summary: Ghosts and Christmas go together like Mulder and Scully. Length: 6,279 words Classification: MSR, UST Rating: General Audiences Spoilers: None listed (but there are some for some early season episodes) Favorite line: “You clearly have feelings for this woman, and yet, you show it by inviting her to Wisconsin to look at a bunch of dead animals.” Read the story!

[enigmaticxbee]

A few more season 8 fics:

Remnants by 6hoursgirl - post Per Manum vignettes. Everything that’s left of her broken dreams is standing at the counter, returning her smile.

Untitled by @ghostbustermelanieking - post Three Words Scully takes some space.

Raspberry and Lace Part 1 and Part 2 by Virtues & Vices - casefile set over the course of late season 8 with flashbacks to season 7. Two different women. Two different lives. Both learn to survive with the help of one man. NSFW.

Not Again by @mldrgrl - an AU version of season 8 where Scully was abducted instead of Mulder.

An Acceptable Level of Happiness by Jenna Tooms - canon divergent after Requiem, post season 8 babyfic. Christmas is the most stressful time of the year. Fortunately Scully has Mulder, and Mulder has solutions. NSFW.

Not the Same by MissAnnThropic - canon divergent after Existence. At a bureau party, Tom Colton comes face to face with Agents Mulder and Scully, and finds that a lot has changed for the two agents.

S8 Rewatch - Fic Recs

Need something really angsty and engrossing to read while you wait for your partner and alien baby baby daddy to wake up from the undead? Here are a few of the fics that got me through the season - exploring aspects of the pregnancy and abduction arcs that went unexplored or remained off screen on the show, or just fixing them.

Canon-compliant or adjacent fics:

Hour of Lead by spookydarlablack @sigritandtheelves - Scully’s perspective on Deadalive through Existence and it’s really, really rough but really good.

Gerber Daisies by DiscordantWords - casefile involving Charlie Scully set during the back half of season 8, with a focus on the canon-adjacent off-screen evolution of their relationship. There’s moment where Mulder has a flashback to Scully saying goodbye to his (un)dead body that just -

all the old familiar places by @seek-its-opposite - exquisite fill in for the missing months between This Is Not Happening and Deadalive, just the right amount of pain.

Slow Returns by @o6666666 - helps make sense of Scully’s behavior in Empedocles, especially that awkward scene in Mulder’s apt (because she is not fine) and then fixes it. The post TINH part though, oof, rip out my heart why don’t you.

Canon-divergent fics:

Terra Firma series by @malibusunset-xf-blog - canon-divergent after Existence. Lovely domestic drama, a classic comfort read for me.

Hurricane Season by rah and beduini - canon-divergent after Existence, a week at the beach with the Scully family and baby Wim. Fantastic Scully family dynamics.

By Falling In and In by @aloysia-vergata - canon-divergent after Deadalive, vignettes from a mostly normal life, for a time. Great Scully family dynamics.

Deadalive AU by @markwatneyandensemble - What if when Mulder woke up from his undead coma it was only a couple months later and Scully wasn’t visibly pregnant? What if he had amnesia and couldn’t remember anything past 1996? A fun read.

Home Ec by ArtemisX5 - canon-divergent after Existence, although not much. Very sweet, I particularly enjoyed the Millennium first time reminisces. (On Gossamer so if the link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Promises to Keep by Prufrock’s Love - canon divergent after Requiem, Mulder is returned 4 years later to find Scully married to Skinner. I almost noped out on the first Scully/Skinner sex scene (which are explicit) and I can’t exactly recommend it (a lot of it felt ooc to me) but it was interesting and I did get drawn in.

The Unfinished Universe by Revely - canon divergent after Badlaa, Mulder is returned a year after Requiem. It has a lovely sense of history, weaving in reminiscences of their earliest cases and shifting perceptions of each other as they slowly find their way back together. Absolutely fantastic.