#because scully establishing firm boundaries for mulder has never happened in 20 to 30 years

[figureofdismay]

i guess i've said this before but my thing about not believing Scully would leave Mulder because of/for the sake of his Mental Health is not that I see it as some kind of Healthy, Love Conquers All thing, but as a 'not having the perspective or ability to emotionally separate or break habits of 20+ years after going through All Of That and shaping their whole lives around each other.' Actually going through all the details of making a separation happen and making it stick long enough to make a significant change for either of them would be terrifying and functionally impossible for both of them.

like, i could more likely see Scully leaving him For The Sake Of His Mental Health but accidentally taking him with her mid-leaving. Because he's so much a part of her routine and so much the person she talks to, especially after [indeterminate number of years] sharing motel rooms on the run together, and being apart for any significant length of time would give her that antsy flashback feeling of the 6 months of Mulder's abduction/death and his year on the run without her. So she'd get an apartment and a job (i guess, somehow, despite the background check that's going to show up some insanity???) and she's still going to end up calling Mulder all the time and he's going to end up not-sleeping on her couch instead of not-sleeping on their couch at home, and sharing meals and putting things on each other's shopping lists and really not functionally spending any more time apart.

and at some point he's going to say something like, 'not that I'm complaining, because this has brought some interesting variety into our lives that has, admittedly, been lacking in recent years, but what exactly was the aim of this exercise we've been doing?'

'we need some time apart. A separation is good for us. You need to work on these issues, Mulder, and I've just been hovering around and enabling you.'

'A separation. We're taking some time apart.'

'Yes. And it's been helping, hasn't it? you've seemed... more present.'

'yes, I guess so, but, honey, you called me. We really only spent about 72 hours without contact, remember?'

'Yes. But I had to see how you were doing.'

'we're not really spending that much more time apart, though.'

"It's still something. I'm working, you're, you're obviously doing something with your time when I'm busy.'

'Yes, sure, the book.'

'The book, that's new.'

'Newish. And that thing where five or six times a week we have breakfast over here and then do the dishes and after work we have dinner over there, and then we do the dishes, the thing where we have two sets of dishes and two kitchens to keep clean, that's part of the separation?'

'I would have thought that would be obvious. We need to step back, remember how to focus on our own concerns, kitchens included.'

'Well, I have to say I like your new pad, very sleek.'

'Actually, I'm not crazy about it, but it came furnished and my shifts are too long for furniture shopping, so I'm making do.'

'Ah. So you wouldn't be offended if I told you this couch doesn't really offer enough leg room.'

'No, no, not offended. That's fair.'

'And if I offered to take you couch shopping middle of next week, would that be in contravention of the separation?'

'I wouldn't say it was traditional, but I suppose I wouldn't mind.'

'right. sounds good. You know in a way, it's nostalgic. Me over there, you over here, an average of three phone calls a night. Has it occurred to you that we're regressing?'

'We're not regressing. We didn't know anything then. About us. And I don't see that we un-know it now. Besides you're not over there, you're over here.'

'is that my cue to hit the road?'

'no, i don't think so.'