#To Their Unremarkable House

[randomfoggytiger]

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! 

[aloysiavirgata]

Unremarkable house, Brother Bill, rooster

Mulder is in the big hammock out back, sprawled like a Roman Emperor. The chickens are out, pecking for bugs among the goat droppings. He has a lemon shandy in a frosty glass. He has a tomato sandwich with tomatoes from their garden and homemade bread. He has Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell next to him.

He has misgivings.

Scully enters his field of view, stage left, “Mulder, you’d better put those damn chickens away before he gets here, especially Francisco. That rooster is a complete menace.”

She glares at the enormous bird. They’ve had a few scuffles, she and Francisco. There have been Band-Aids and three stitches.

He slurps at his drink. “You don’t think your brother wants to see my big cock?”

She is silent for a long moment. Then, “I swear to God I will literally kill you, Mulder. I will shoot you and I will bury you out here and I will put a big gazebo over your grave and every time I sit in it I will think about how much you had it coming.”

She stalks back to the house.

“Jesus,” Mulder says to the chickens. “Someone is in a mood.”

***

It’s an awkward greeting, but not as awkward as he’d imagined. He and Bill have always hated each other, which makes it easy to pick up where they’d left off, like two enemy pirate captains running into one another at a bar in Tortuga.

Bill, per usual, looks like he was waiting for the Dulcolax to kick in. Douchebag plaid shorts that Rob Petrie wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot golf club.

He sweeps his sister up in a massive hug and she got rather teary and Bill, to his credit, looks a bit pink around the eyes and nose as well. He puts his sister down after a moment, smoothing her hair.

Bill and Mulder then acknowledge one another’s undeniable existence on the material plane. Shake hands like sulky but well-mannered children after a baseball game.

***

Now they’re on the deck while Mulder tends the grill, three gorgeous steaks from a neighbor’s cow before him.

“It’s beautiful out here, Dana,” Bill says.

“Mostly Mulder’s doing,” Scully replies, sipping at the wine her brother had brought. “He’s honestly a wizard with this property.” She glances at him when she says it and he smiles back.

“Really?” Bill says. “Well, color me impressed. Mulder, I had no idea you were such an adept little homemaker.”

Mulder moves the steaks to a serving platter. “Oh, sure. Dana just uses me for cooking, yardwork, and sex.”

Bill chokes on his beer and Scully closes her eyes for a beat the way Anne Boleyn must have when they led her from the Tower.

Mulder sets the platter on the table, uncovers the potato salad and the asparagus. Sourdough rolls and goat-milk butter.

“Now Bill,” he says, “you tell me if that steak is too rare and I’ll pop it right in the microwave for you. Let me know if you need anything else, some A-1 or ketchup or anything at all. I want you to feel at home.”

Absolute daggers in Scully’s eyes.

Bill coughs lightly. “Everything looks fantastic, thank you both.”

“It was good of you to make the drive, Bill,” Scully says, loading up plates with food. “I know it’s a bit of a haul.”

Bill smiles indulgently. “Couldn’t be this close to my kid sister after so long and not swing by!”

“Though we would have understood,” Mulder says, warmly. He butters a roll and passes it to his brother in law. “Never feel obligated.”

Bill narrows his eyes as he accepts the bread. “Thank you.”

“I’m going to need some new pictures of the kids,” Scully says brightly. “Matthew must have grown six inches since that school photo you sent, Bill! And Mom says Claire has lost two teeth.”

“I’ll tell Tara to send some,” Bill says, puffing up.

They eat in silence for a time. Knives cutting through the tender steaks and stabbing into waxy potatoes and young asparagus. Butter dripping down chins.

“It’s a shame William isn’t growing up here,” Bill says, wiping his plate with another roll. “Dana, how could-“

Her fork clatters to her plate and he shuts up.

A roaring silence like an event horizon.

“Bill,” Scully says, sweetly. “We have the most beautiful rooster to show you.”

[unremarkablehouse]

The Times That He Carried Her

Ch 1| PG | Before IWTB | hurt/comfort | A03

Summary: Scully doesn’t want to face the outside world on a frosty Fall morning, luckily Mulder is there to help her get to work.

tagging: @today-in-fic

The morning felt subdued by the cold; a thick layer of frost covered the outside world. The chill ached Mulder’s fingers as he scraped the ice off Scully’s car window with the neon green scraper they picked up almost a decade ago and had served them well. The ice came off the windshield easily, and Mulder wondered if they had enough time to clear out the pole barn for Scully to park in before the weather really turned. Starting Scully’s car in park, Mulder cranked up the heater so the car would be nice and warm for her morning commute. Scully had never asked him to de-ice or warm up her car, and he knew she was more than capable of doing it herself, but he’d been doing it for so many years it would be harder to break the habit than to de-ice her car on cold mornings. 

Walking back into their house with a shudder, Mulder smiled as Scully wordlessly handed him her mug of coffee to warm his hands. Taking a sip, Mulder carefully took in Scully’s posture as she nibbled on a corner of her toast and became concerned by what her demeanor. A fleece blanket was draped like a cape over her shoulders, covering her pants suit, and there was an involuntary wince as she despondently ate small bites of her toast and stared at her plate. Placing her coffee back in front of her, Mulder lovingly swept some strands of hair off her forehead, giving a soft smile when she finally looked up at him. 

“Are you feeling alright Scully, you’ve barely touched your breakfast.” 

“I’m okay, just a little sore and achy this morning.”

Mulder’s mind flashed back to the night before, their love making had been much rougher than normal and Mulder took advantage of Scully’s voracious appetite to extend the session much longer than week night sex normally allowed. 

As Mulder looked over at Scully’s impossibly tiny body hunched in pain, he was filled with concern and regret.

“Was I too rough last night, are you hurt?”

Scully gave a snort at Mulder’s angst, amused by his belief that he was the cause of her discomfort. 

“No Mulder, I just got my period this morning and I’m feeling bloated and crampy.” 

Mulder nodded, rubbing her back with his hand, holding back from saying that he ‘tapped the ketchup bottle too hard.’

Despite not uttering the words aloud, Scully slapped Mulder, apparently able to hear him think his inappropriate comments. 

“Why don’t you call in sick today? You can go back to bed, or we can cuddle on the couch and watch Rosemary’s Baby.”

Scully gave a grim smile at Mulder’s movie choice, the man was ridiculous and she begrudgingly loved it. With a heavy sigh Scully realized that she’d have to leave the warm comfort of the house and pretend to be a functional adult today. With an extra big pout she explained, “I can’t, one of my out of state patients is scheduled to see me. I’ll be fine, I just don’t want to go out into the cold yet.” 

Finishing the last of her coffee, Mulder watched Scully’s look of sadness as she prepared to take off her blanket and brace herself for the chill of the outside world. Leaning in close to kiss her on the cheek, Mulder clenched the blanket around Scully and whispered in her ear, “do you want me to carry you to the car?”

A small nod against his chest was her answer, and Mulder bent down so she could wrap her arms around his neck while he cradled her legs in his arms. Careful to keep the fleece blanket in place, Mulder smiled as Scully buried her face into his chest as they made their way outside. 

Scully managed to get the car door to open a crack and Mulder used his hip to swing it open wider so he could deposit her in the driver's seat. 

Scully smiled as Mulder opened her passenger’s door and let himself in. The car was toasty warm and she was grateful for the few extra minutes with him before she had to head to work. The weight of Mulder’s hand on hers as it rested on the gearshift brought tears to her eyes and slowly she began to unravel as the car approached the big security gate. 

Putting the car back in to park, Scully let the car idle as she wiped back her tears. Mulder remained silent as Scully tried to gather herself, knowing that it was time to listen. 

“I was late,” Scully croaked, willing Mulder to catch her meaning. 

“It wasn’t by much, 6 weeks, but I was going to take a test today. Now I don’t have to.” 

Kissing her hand Mulder nodded, the brief glimpse into her pain made him marvel at her strength. 

“It was stupid to get my hopes up. I feel like I already got my miracle and I gave him away, now we’ll never be parents.”

“Hey, stop that, we are parents.”

The sternness in Mulder’s voice stopped Scully mid-sob. 

“Our son is alive because of you Dana. You gave that to him- the chance at a safe and normal life. You are an amazing mother, you live with this pain to protect him.”

Scully nodded as the tears ran down her face. Wordlessly, Mulder shifted his body and Scully immediately buried her face in his shoulder, relishing the comfort of a Mulder hug. 

Kissing Scully on the crown of the head and squeezing her tighter, Mulder wondered how he was ever going to let her go so she could actually drive to work. 

“You know Scully, we don’t know for sure how you got pregnant last time, but I’m pretty certain we improved the odds with the sheer frequency that we were having sex.”

“True,” Scully replied with a giggle that reverberated through Mulder’s chest.

“I’m just saying, we could have more sex to increase our chances again.”

“Mulder, our sex life is well above the average for couples our age. I don’t want you to get tired of me.” 

Mulder tilted Scully’s chin up so she could look him in the eyes and earnestly breathed out, “never.” 

Mulder sealed his vow with a kiss, their mouths moving together as Scully tried to communicate her gratitude and love for him without words. 

As Scully pulled away, there was a new lightness in her demeanor and Mulder knew she was going to be alright. 

Scully straightened herself up and announced to Mulder that she better leave soon or she’ll be late. 

Mulder paused as he opened the car door, “see you tonight, tomato soup for dinner.”

Scully rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the car with a laugh. 

“Mulder, see if you can find my copy of Carrie so we can watch it.”

Scully’s joke caught Mulder off guard, and Scully smirked with pride as he chuckled while opening the gate for her. Things were going to be okay. 

[television-overload]

neither snow nor rain

(a short little X-Files fanfic)

Almost posted a headcanon that came to me this morning, then realized it worked better as a fic. So here it is:

Read on AO3

"What's this?"

"What?" Georgie asks, looking up at her friend.

"In the mail, check it out."

Quinn tosses a stack of glossy paper through the air, nearly knocking the gadget she's building off her worktable. It lands in a heap on top of her carefully organized wiring, and she shoots him an unappreciative look, to which he responds with a shrug.

"I thought that was out of publication," he says, nodding at the item he had so carelessly thrown.

She furrows her brows, adjusting her glasses before lifting it for examination.

As she scans over the words, her eyes widen, and she looks back at Quinn, now understanding his surprise at finding this in their mailbox.

"It's been years!" she says, flipping open the front cover of the magazine eagerly. It looks a little different, but the title on the front is unmistakable.

Quinn circles the table to look at it over her shoulder, obviously intrigued that this defunct publication had resurfaced out of nowhere.

"Wait," he says, reaching over her shoulder to turn back to the front cover. "That's different, right?"

His finger points to the title, and she squints at it, trying to picture the old magazines they'd stopped receiving about four or five years ago.

He's right to be suspicious. They don't give out their mailing address to just anybody, but this magazine had been pivotal in shaping their view of the world.

In fact, it was sort of how they met and became friends, probably more than a decade ago, at this point. It's not like it was a popular publication, like Time or People or National Geographic. When you see someone out and about with the same fringe interests as you, you can't help but gravitate toward them.

"The Lone Gunman," she reads aloud. "Wait, yeah, I think you're right. Wasn't it the Lone Gunmen?"

He nods.

"I wonder what happened. Maybe They got to them."

Georgie rolls her eyes. "Or they could have just parted ways. It has been almost five years, you know. Not everything has to be so dramatic."

"The editors of a conspiracy magazine?" he says, a disbelieving look in his eye.

"You never know," Georgie says. She'd always been the more rational one between the two of them. But, he has a point.

She opens to the front page again, and notes a number of differences between this and the old design from the late 90s.

The table of contents is there, just like it had always been. But instead of having a number of contributors listed (aliases, of course), each article appears to have been written by the same author.

F. M. Luder.

Well, hey, that's a name they recognize.

So, this is legit, after all.

The page is pretty sparse, other than that, but her eyes are drawn to a note at the bottom of the page, small and unassuming.

For the Gunmen. Miss you, guys.

Signed, your friend

"Man," Quinn says, letting out a breath. "See? What did I tell you?"

She's still not sure she's completely convinced, but she nods anyway, leafing through the remaining pages of the magazine.

"I wonder if I could send in that article I've been writing on the military use of extraterrestrial technology," Georgie says thoughtfully. "You think they still have that P.O. box for submissions?"

"Can't hurt to try," he shrugs.

She smiles, enjoying the feel of the freshly printed magazine in her hands.

"Now I just need to think of a good pen-name."

-.-.-

The house is still sparse, all scratched wood floors and peeling wallpaper behind its creaky doors. But it's beginning to feel like home, he thinks. Stacks of magazines line the walls where furniture should probably be, but they'll get around to that eventually.

For now, he's just enjoying not having to pack up and move every few days while constantly looking over his shoulder.

There's a small desk and a computer in the study, but that's about it. It's enough to keep him occupied while Scully is away. The place feels too empty when she's gone, but he knows it's a good thing. She needs to be around people, and now with her new job at the hospital, they've got a reliable source of income to work with, too.

His work is... more of a hobby, but he thinks it could bring in a little extra cash if people even bother with magazines anymore. A lot has changed since he was last an active member of civilization, so he really doesn't know.

The sound of gravel crunching on the driveway breaks the heavy silence that he's grown used to, and he decides to call it a day. The front room seems to light up with warm sunlight when she walks in, balancing a bag of groceries on her hip and a stack of papers in her hand. Her juggling act makes it difficult to pull the keys out of the front door lock, but she manages.

"Hi, Mulder," she says cheerily. She flicks on a lamp as she passes, and he watches her with the characteristic look of awe on his face that he always has when he's around her.

"I missed you," he says truthfully, entering her space to grab the groceries from her. He presses a kiss to her lips while he's at it, never one to pass up the opportunity.

Her free hand lands on his chest, its weight a familiar comfort to him, but he can feel the prickly edges of whatever else she's carrying against his stomach.

"What'cha got there?" he asks, glancing down at the papers. Envelopes, he realizes.

A playful smirk tugs at her lips, and she pulls away from him. Brandishing the envelopes in front of him like an offering, she watches intently for his reaction.

"It seems you have fan mail, Mr. Luder," she says, pride beaming from her face despite the raised eyebrow she levels on him.

His eyes widen, and he looks down again in surprise at the substantial stack of letters she carries.

"Really?" he asks, his voice cracking a little against his wishes.

She nods, and he thinks he detects a hint of tears gathering in her eyes, too.

"I stopped by the old P.O. box on my way home," she says. "I had a hunch."

"You?" he says teasingly, unable to restrain himself.

"I only opened one, but it seems your readers are thrilled to have you back, and they send their best wishes."

He chokes back an unexpected knot of emotion and feels a breathy laugh escape him.

"I can't believe it," he says, overwhelmed by the response to his attempt to keep his friends' memory alive.

She must find his disbelief amusing, because he recognizes her smile as one he's seen more times than he can count. "You're surprised?" she asks.

"Well... yeah." To put it mildly.

Scully shakes her head and sets her bag down on the threadbare couch, and he follows.

"I've read your case reports, Mulder. I think—and Skinner would probably agree with me here—you've found your calling."

He stands in stunned silence, for the first time in a while feeling that spark of passion reignite in his chest.

"Now if only we could get them to send me money," he jokes.

Scully tilts her head, flipping through the stack of letters to find the one she'd opened.

"They have," she says casually, as she withdraws a hundred dollar bill with all the air of a magician performing a trick.

His eyes widen comically again.

"You think there's more?" he asks, grabbing a few envelopes from her hands.

"Some of these are pretty thick, Mulder," she says, a knowing glint in her eye.

The tension in his shoulders evaporates, and he tosses the letters aside to pull her into his embrace. Any worry that he'd have nothing to do, no way to contribute to this life that he's all but trapped her in, goes away in an instant. Relief overtakes him, and Scully holds him tight around the middle, smiling proudly over his shoulder.

"They'd be so happy that you're continuing their work," she says, her voice unable to muster anything more than a whisper.

Words fail him, so he presses a kiss to her forehead instead, his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

"I hope so," he says, glancing heavanward as if he might see the three of them flying around like little cherubs on his water-stained ceiling.

"I hope so."

-.-.-

Mr. Luder,

I'm terribly sorry for your loss. My friend and I are longtime subscribers of The Lone Gunmen, and we feared the worst when they stopped publishing years ago.

Receiving the copy you sent in the mail was a wonderful surprise. I'm sure we will be writing again soon to pick your brain on some of the details in your articles (is there really confirmation of a flukeworm-human hybrid in New Jersey?).

I didn't see a form to renew our subscription, but if you include it in your next edition (I do hope you'll continue!), we will happily send along payment with it, as securely as possible.

I hope this letter reaches you. Thank you for carrying on with this important work. We (your subscribers) truly appreciate it!

Sincerely,

Queen George (and Sir Quincy)

(P.S. I've attached a draft of an article I've been working on. You're welcome to include it in a future publication, if it meets your standards of approval. I'd happily welcome feedback, as well! If I recall, you're the expert on this particular subject.)

-.-.-

Tag list ♡: @today-in-fic @ao3feed-msr @agent-troi @baronessblixen @captainsolocide @cutemothman @deathsbestgirl @edierone @enigmaticxbee @figureofdismay @frogsmulder @hippocampouts @invidiosa @randomfoggytiger @skelavender @slippinmickeys @teenie-xf @whovianderson

[notnotafangirl]

Imagining Scully arriving home to find this gem on the lawn of the unremarkable house and taking away Mulder’s online shopping privileges.

[fictionadventurer]

Cap Garland was strongest and quickest. Inside the window, Laura and Mary and Minnie all watched him throwing the ball and leaping to catch it. He was not as handsome as black-haired Ben, but there was something about him. He was always good-natured and his grin was like a flash of light. It was like the sun coming up at dawn; it changed everything.

- The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, passing on a childhood crush to future generations.

[marzipanandminutiae]

the thing is, 99% of the time, haunted places are pretty boring. in my experience

most of them just...aren't that consistently active? sure, there ARE very active and terrifying hauntings out there! I'm not saying there aren't! but a more realistic horror movie based on most people's experiences would be something inexplicably falling off a shelf every three months or so, and a light that turns on in the middle of the night but affects literally nothing. the residents of the house are used to it. they just don't care

move out? why the fuck would they move out? this house was a steal, and if that means they have to occasionally yell for [insert name family has applied to ghost here] to stop screwing with the ceiling fan, so be it

[anxiously-sidequesting]

sorry for the two useless posts in one day but i just need to say that just like the Storm Titan, the Storm house is So Ugly

[agent-troi]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, John Fitzgerald Byers (X-Files), Richard "Ringo" Langly, unnamed cab driver Additional Tags: POV First Person, POV Outsider, Present Tense, The Unremarkable House (X-Files), Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in Love, Star Trek References, Drunk Fox Mulder Summary:

After Byers' bachelor party, Mulder takes a cab home, where Scully is waiting for him.

@today-in-fic

[carefulfears]

where would you have ended the series at? like some people say ftf, some say s7, some say it was right to go all the way through the revival.

do i have to keep it exactly as is and decide where to cut it off or can i go all the way through and change literally everything that happens? lmao

keeping everything the same, my ideal end would’ve been after s8. mulder and scully holding that baby, family restored, deciding he was the truth they had been looking for: that IS the end of this story. that is the only natural conclusion to what we’re doing here. there is literally no reason why it ever should’ve changed from that.

and i like s8!! other than the reproductive trauma nastiness and some dull episodes, i love the narrative of that season.

if you had to do s9 and for some reason we had to lose the baby, if i had my way, 2nd movie would’ve still been a MOTW (a completely different one lol) and dedicated a lot more to exploring the themes that are already present. what it means to be followed by “the darkness”, what it’s like to live in a haunted house, what the effect of missing child after missing child is on them and their relationship. the coping mechanisms that they’ve developed and the ways that it comes in-between them.

revival could’ve still happened, could’ve had a lot of the same ideas, i’ll even allow them the same motivations for trying to find the baby. but instead of killing jackson’s adoptive parents and doing…..whatever that was……it could’ve focused on mulder and scully getting back into solving x-files while getting to know him, on some level.

and on moving forward from that pathology that kept them so haunted for so many years; a lot of the growth they do have in the revival is in them talking about their child and not just avoiding it and carrying around the guilt. to actually be able to know him and form a relationship with him would’ve gone a long way to an imperfect but still satisfying resolution to their characters.

it’s wild how bad s9/IWTB/revival are when, in my opinion, it would’ve only taken such MINIMAL changes to be good?? CC clearly regrets the plot that ruined his show, and it would’ve been so easy to fix it, rather than try to erase it.

basically, i want IWTB and the revival, written by glenn and james not chris.

[softnow]

twenty years ago, a haunted house was his wildest dream. he would have killed for the disquieted halls, the cold tendrils tip-tapping between his shoulder blades at the threshold, the sense of not-alone loneliness. would have been over the moon with half-shadows and whispered revenants, proof of a past made present.

she is everywhere, the ghost of her, satiny red hairs woven like thread into the linens and throw pillows and sweaters in the closet, the mugs she bought in arizona, before, their chips and cracks plastered with the memories of sunrise coffee and sunset whiskey. the sound of her laugh, unheard for months, dances in the bedroom, sighs from the creak of the porch swing, the judder of the eves on a windy night.

he crawls into bed each night next to the unshaped shape of her, the faded scent of green apple suave and oil of olay clinging to an unwashed pillow case, dented by the heavy memory of a head.

his wildest dream now is that he may wake up tomorrow, twenty years ago, and listen when they all tell him to stop.

[aloysiavirgata]

Prompt: wine, cheese, unremarkable house.

They’re on the porch, playing checkers with shot glasses of red and white wine.

Mulder captures one of her glasses, knocks the Sangiovese back like tequila.

“Shit,” Scully observes, frowning. “Dammit.”

“I love when you swear,” he says, with the air of a deep confession. “It’s hot.”

She rolls her eyes. “Mulder, you once got aroused by my knowledge of airplanes. You’re depraved and vile.”

He bites his lower lip, looks at her through his lashes. “Say Brewster F2A Buffalo,” he purrs. “Say Gloster Gamecock.”

“King me” she replies, jumping and then downing a Sauternes. Her lips buzz, sweet honey in the rock even after so long.

He puts a chunk of mortadella in the glass after she returns it to the board. Feeds her a morsel of Roquefort.

She licks the edge of his finger and his heart flutters like it did decades ago when she said if I quit now, they win. When she went ghostbusting with him on Christmas. When she autopsied his mother, when she carried his son.

Mulder hooks a finger behind her top front teeth. Presses his thumb to her chin. “Say F6F Bearcat,” he murmurs.

Scully’s eyes are butane, Scully’s mouth is the tender, lush cerise of a peony in May. Her tongue is like wet sand at the beach in summer. Her tongue is an amuse-bouche. Her clever mouth is the first thing he fell in love with.

“Fuck. You,” she manages.

He does, beneath the platinum moon and the old light of a billion, billion stars.

[scullys-scalpel]

Thinking a lot about Mulder in the unremarkable house pre IWTB. When Scully went for her shifts at Our Lady of Sorrows how did he spend his day? Did he start watching game shows? Did he really get into the drama of a soap opera? Did he go buy a power saw, thinking he may want to build stuff? Did he decide not to use said power saw bc his wife said he would saw his hand off?

[baronessblixen]

The best thing about el mundo gira is how it’s canon that Mulder has seen west side story. Also he totally took Scully to see the musical once during a trip to NYC. And he hold her tight at the end because she cried.

I headcanon that he loves old Hollywood musicals. And yes, I agree he took her to see the musical. I think they both cried 😁

[television-overload]

Actually, I'm so glad they got the same house for Mulder and Scully in the revival as in IWTB. Because it is genuinely the PERFECT house for them and I love it so much. It's just HOME for them, as it should be.

It would have been so easy for the crew to find a different house, and easy to explain that they moved somewhere else when they split up, but they DIDN'T and for that, I'm so thankful

[darkesttimelinestuff]

"We can't do this on our own."

Day 19 and we're closing in on the end of the month! Holy cow!

Prompt #18 - "We can't do this on our own."

Check out the rest of my fics here!

Thanks for reading!

The wind blew, clouds obscuring the sun. What had started out as a lovely, albeit cold, day was turning into a dreary one. The forecast called for possible snow, but that would not deter Scully. 

“Scully, we can’t do this on our own,” Mulder called up to her. “Maybe we should call the Gunmen. They have the right gadgets or tools or… whatever… for this.” 

“Don’t worry, I have this!” Scully declared. “Now hand me that!”

Mulder hesitated, looking down at his hand, then handed Scully, situated on their roof, the chord. She grabbed it and got to work.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Mulder sighed warily from below. 

Still tinkering and adjusting the chord, she confidently replied, “I do.” 

And with that the entire roof and walls of the house lit up with Christmas lights. The lawn sparkled. It was a sight to behold. The unpaved driveway was lined with bright twinkling snowflakes, the trees glittered, the house was a classic Christmas masterpiece. Scully smiled at her work.

“Wow,” Mulder marveled as Scully climbed down the ladder, “you really did it.”

“While Charlie and Missy had seances to call the spirits of the recently departed Scullys every year, I used to help my dad and Bill decorate the house. Inside and out. I’m a pro at this, Mulder,” she said, standing next to him. His arm curled around her, and he leaned in, kissing the top of her head. 

“I’m sorry I doubted you. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas. Never do it again.”

“Never,” he promised. “Clark Griswold would be proud.”