#fox mulder closet romantic

[monikafilefan]

i hope you dont mind me asking but do you know any msr multi-chapter ivf pre-relationship fics? pining... angst... eventual romance or slow burn, etc...

(i hate reading established relationship) (preferably on ao3)

please and thanks.

i love this ask!!! i won’t add any fics i’ve written or any au’s for this but i’ll throw in a few multiple ch canon-related fics on ao3 off the top of my head i’ve enjoyed. there’s sooo many more that i know i’ve left off though😬

*Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic

*Someday Your Child May Cry

*Unobserved

*Between Sorrow and Bliss

*Culmination

*The I in Team

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector's Edition: Diana Fowl(ey) Play-- Part I: S1-S5

A part of my soul is dying that I don't have the time to fully flesh out these lists in more detailed order... BUT that would be too time consuming, and I'd rather live. (But very fitting for this woman's fic lists, is it not?)

Loose chronological order below~

Maidenjedi’s  

Discovery

""She'd never been in this part of the building before. In fact, until Fox had grabbed her hand and told her with an excited glint in his eyes that he'd "found the answers," she hadn't even known there was a basement in the J. Edgar Hoover building.

That glint was in his eyes as he pressed the elevator buttons. He was practically standing on the tips of his toes, bouncing a little like a kid at the ice cream counter. She couldn't help but laugh, and at the sound he cocked his head at her, grinning.""

Pre-S1 Mulder's life is looking up: he's found a basement filled with answers for his sister, and a partner that returns his romantic overtures.

Keep Me Here

""I can smell it. Steak. What's the occasion?"

Any other man in the world wouldn't have noticed her gaze shift, her jaw muscles clench ever so slightly. 

Any other man but Fox Mulder wouldn't have registered these things.""

Diana is about to leave; but Mulder sweeps in and announces he's found questions and answers in the files. She puts it off for now.

Something Strange

""Her flight here had been quicker than the one she'd left town on. The airport was cleaner, and security was a little tighter. The economy was better and the news was more upbeat.

This was returning, she thought. Coming back to find things changed. Better, she thought in the cab that had new license plates and had been made in 1994. Worse, too, she thought when the driver turned on the radio and a song with cursing lyrics and too much bass filled the car.""

Diana is back in town in time for the events of The End.

I saw the mountain in the back come a tumblin'

""She kicked her shoes off, shoes that had bloodstains on them, shoes permanently ruined by a foolish quest for the truth....

She only had one other pair with her, though, and they weren't even the comfortable kind.

She hadn't expected to stay here. Or hadn't wanted to. One of the two.""

Post The End Diana believes she's the hero, vainly trying to get around Skinner's concealment of Mulder's location while battling the disrespect from Krycek and CSM.

Kelly Keil’s (FFN) 

155 Words - Blue Christmas in July

""Fox, I'm in the middle of something." Files cover the table before her, threatening to push a poinsettia onto the floor. "Can't it wait?""

Pre-S1 Diana rebuffs Mulder's mistletoe overtures; and later lives to regret it.

winter baby/typicrobots's

Trival Things

""Her new apartment is unfamiliar and cold, with a couch that casts strange shadows in the dark. She bumps into the coffee table too often. It's not in the right place.

Fox leaves messages on her answering machine. They start off worried, then gradually evolve into angry.""

Pre-S1 Diana leaves; and feels sorry for herself afterwards.

@i-gaze-at-scully’s (Ao3)

Prequel (Ao3)

""Eventually, he laughs again. He stops watching them ritualistically and starts popping them in when he wants to unwind.""

Pre-S1 Mulder's movie collection was what was left of Diana; and he rewatches every day to "reclaim" them.

Departure

""Leaves for work in the morning before he wakes, leaves no note. She takes the suitcase from their closet and slowly fills it, returning it to its hiding place each day a little fuller.

Folding the blouse she was wearing the first day she met him, she closes her eyes and whispers to herself. I am not a coward. She makes herself believe it.""

Pre-S1 Diana watches as Mulder silently retreats to his bedroom after her breakup news.

@scullywolf’s (Ao3)

Fictober Drabbles - Day 3

""Diana once remarked how appropriate it was that his office was in the basement. “The Fox’s den” she called it, and he blushed and thought her so clever. Infatuation will do that; if anyone else had said it, he’d have rolled his eyes.""

Pre-S1 Mulder's infatuation with Diana turns to a bitter sting when she leaves. Then Scully knocks.

Fictober Drabbles - Day 27

""She’d heard the stories, of course. Old habits die hard, don’t they, Fox? But once she’s actually back and able to see things for herself, she doesn’t get it. Agent Scully is pretty, certainly, but she’s hardly his type. Maybe it’s all just baseless gossip after all.""

Diana is torn between believing the rumors and being completely puzzled by Mulder and Scully's behavior.

astronaught's necromance

""And then the dead started writing back.

This was the crux of Fox Mulder’s interest of course, and the reason that he and Diana were in Albuquerque that summer. There were an astonishing number of X-Files that featured either automatic writing or spirit communication or both, but Horace Steel’s was one of the few that seemed to have any credibility. You encountered a lot of schizophrenia in parapsychology, it being the go-to diagnosis for people who saw and heard things that they shouldn’t. The correct diagnosis, more often than not. And if it wasn’t that, it was any number of other increasingly obscure psychoses. But Horace Steel’s chart mentioned only the hypergraphia and post-traumatic stress.

“Oh I never told them about the dead,” said Horace softly. “I learned my lesson.""

Post Redux II Mulder is stalling any further moves with Scully, nervous to "lose" after having almost lost her so recently. As they autopsy and investigate their way through an unsolved case, he recalls an early X-File he had investigated when Diana was still around-- the man who was committed after writing letters during and post WW II.

@admiralty-xfd's (Ao3) sneak peek

""Part of him had wanted to see her again someday. He wasn’t sure why. They weren’t compatible anymore, and Diana had made that very clear before she walked out on him.

But something between them remained unresolved. He might have never realized or been affected by it all this time but here it was, here she was, standing in front of him again in the flesh after so many years of forgetting.

He’d wanted to forget.""

The End Mulder freezes up when Diana returns; and tries (vainly) to keep her and Scully away from each other.  

zulu’s Folie a Deux

""No one guessed the cost of her vigil. In a conspiracy of thousands, each conspirator is still alone. The magicians had ushered Diana past the curtain. She had learned the operation of the great machines that bellowed for attention, the projector that threw up faces for people to blame. She had watched the light and shadow show for years; she knew how much was real, how much was fabrication. The women she studied lived in ignorance, and never truly saw her.

Dana Scully was different. Puppet strings bound her hand and foot. They pulled her in so many directions she was nearly torn apart, but time after time she found a place to stand and be strong. She could see that the magicians were charlatans; she was closer than she knew to the secrets. Diana, for her part, had spent too long guarding them. She'd traded too much for knowledge, and the greatest price of all were the days when the bargain seemed fair.""

Diana mastered the art of invisibility; but is shocked that Scully "sees" her. (I usually stop reading after she deflects Scully's confrontation, because it becomes an AU after that.)

Christine Leigh’s (Ao3, LiveJournal) The Man Who Got Away

""He's the man she never wanted to let go, and now that she has him back in her sight, she must be extremely cautious. She's known him better than anyone and is well aware that he will smell the lie on her as surely as he must the Chanel No. 5 she wears if she isn't careful of every move in this game. That he is still here and as obsessed as ever with the X-Files is something that, while not coming as a complete surprise when the assignment had been laid out in detail for her, did seem a delicious bonus to the job."" 

The End Diana thinks she can waltz in and take Mulder right back, stinging poor little Scully's heart in the process.  

@thescullyphile’s (Ao3) Succession

""Dull waves of emotion washed over her as she stared up at the ceiling, anger and hurt and disappointment settling as an almost tangible heaviness as she thought back to that hospital room, the moment when Diana Fowley had taken Mulder’s hand, and he had let her. Scully’s distress was more of a deep ache than a smarting pain, and the urge to cry was curiously absent.""

The End Scully is processing Mulder's weird loyalty to Diana.

@lepus-arcticus​‘s 30. Interlude

""Despite everything she’s read about what he’s been through, what he’s done, he’s still so good, good to his core. Incorruptible, more powerful in his convictions than ever. He fills the room with his heat and intensity, like a wildfire, like sunlight. His capacity for forgiveness staggers her, his open, affectionate touches, his familiar, intimate gaze. She almost wishes he was angry, almost wishes she had to work harder for it. Foxes shouldn’t be this easy to trap.  That new partner of his is a little she-wolf too, all scowl and shadow, and Diana thinks she’d like her in a different, better life."" 

The End Diana is completely wrapped up in her sycophantic perspective as she surveys her ex and his new partner.

EPurSeMouve's Lunch

""Two little girls, with heads of brown and red, fighting over a doll, pulling back and forth on his plastic loafers, his suit-clad shoulders. Back and forth, back and forth - until the brown-haired girl stops.

"He belongs with me. We're the same. It was always meant to be."

And in that one second of distraction, she pulls the doll free.

Her smile is not so innocent.""

Diana takes Scully out for lunch, stabbing her and trying to assert an upper hand. Scully is not to be outmaneuvered.

Enjoy!

[enigmaticxbee]

A few more season 5 fics:

Gates of Hell by @alienqueequeg - In the first case after her remission from cancer, Scully is forced to confront a disturbing time in her past. NSFW.

They Kept Buying Me Drinks by @agirlcallednarelle - post remission Scully at the departmental Christmas party.

The Queen of Hearts by @syntax6 - In early season five, during Scully's resurrection and Mulder's crisis of faith, they travel to small-town Nebraska to investigate a series of portentous crop circles and end up plumbing the mysteries of the human heart.

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

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. NSFW.

The Road to Family by @freckleslikestars - Mid-season 5 start of the IVF-arc. A discussion in a car.

the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake by audries - In layman's terms, he supposes they're sleeping together. The layman has never been much of a romantic.

Teetering by MD1016 - Mulder invites Scully to meet him at a bar, and she accepts. NSFW.

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic by @silhouetteofacedar - The Unauthorized FBI Guide to Seducing Your Platonic Colleague. NSFW.

In the Ruins by @amplifyme - post The End. Some fires destroy. Others cleanse. Mulder and Scully experience both. NSFW.

S5 Rewatch - Fic Recs

Bored like Mulder? Need something to occupy you until Scully gets back from vacation? These are a few of my favorite season 5 fics that aren’t connected to a specific episode.

Doorway to the Gods by @wtfmulder - Mulder and Scully travel to Arizona to investigate the ‘Doorway to the Gods,’ a rock formation that is said to give wanderers access to a parallel universe. Gets into some great post-cancer arc angst. I read this as a WIP and I was impatiently waiting for each installment (it’s complete now).

Laws of Motion (sequel to Universal Invariants) by @syntax6 - novel length casefile set over the course of season 5. These two fics capture something very specific about what trauma and especially the loss of memory and autonomy do to Scully over the series. I love this depiction of Scully and the development of Mulder and Scully’s relationship, which does not go smoothly even when (especially when!) they finally sleep together. (Read Universal Invariants first, which takes place over the first season.)

Embers by @syntax6 - novel length fic set in the aftermath of the Reduxes as Mulder and Scully explore a new relationship and deal with the trauma of the cancer arc. I love casefiles with good, angsty msr and @syntax6 excels at that.

Locking Out the Ghosts by skuls - Post-Emily arc, an emotionally vulnerable Scully breaks off the incredibly new relationship she and Mulder have recently been engaged in. As the season moves forward, how do they cope with this new development in their relationship, and how do the stressful situations their job puts them in affect this? Does a really nice job of tracing their emotional arcs over the course of the season, and is a good episode by episode rewatch read.

You He Did Not Fail by extraordinarily-ordinary - Five months after recovering from cancer, Scully abruptly left Washington — and Mulder — for a position at the LA field office. Mulder never understood why. Two years later, he'll have his chance to find out. I rec’d in the Emily post because it’s canon-divergent after that point, but it’s really a general season 5 era fic. Really fun, angsty casefile - be prepared to binge read 43 chapters because you won’t want to put it down.

Snakebitten by @onpaperfirst - I rec’d this in the Pine Bluff Variant post because it takes that episode’s storyline and threads it into the overall arc of season 5. It’s just fantastic.

Triptych chapters 9-11 by @iconicscullyoutfits - AU where Mulder and Diana were married at the beginning of the show, but otherwise following canon. WIP but these chapters set over the course of season 5 can be read as standalones. Really captures their dynamic - I absolutely adore the chapter where they go for a walk in the woods and just talk post Redux-arc.

See individual episode rewatch posts for episode-specific fic recs.

[silhouetteofacedar]

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 25: Prima Materia

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

Five Months Later

Friday, November 13th, 1998

“I can’t believe you,” Scully hisses as they exit Skinner’s office. “We’ve discussed this, Mulder. Multiple, no, countless times. You can’t just accuse someone of being a supernatural entity based off a… a wild hunch!”

“A hunch? Scully, we have concrete evidence. It’s literally documented in the folder you’re holding right now.”

“That ‘evidence’ is obviously subject to interpretation,” Scully retorts, stomping down the hall in an attempt to keep pace with Mulder’s long strides. “An interpretation I thought we’d agreed upon before going into that meeting. And I don’t appreciate you abandoning a solid hypothesis, that we discussed at length, in favor of whatever the hell that just was.”

Mulder stops outside the elevator, turning to her. “That was the truth, Scully. It’s out there, if you would just open your mind a little and accept that there are things science still can’t explain.”

“But science can-” She reaches out and punches the button for the elevator, “-explain it. You just like the sound of your own theories and ideas better than fact. Fox Mulder, the champion of truth, the only man willing to consider the extreme.”

“You know you like it,” he says in a low tone.

Scully’s eyes go wide, and she grabs his elbow. “Do not-”

The elevator doors open, and they scurry into the lift. Mulder presses the button for the basement.

“Do not use my weaknesses against me at work, Mulder, that’s not fair,” she says as the doors slide closed.

“Weaknesses?” Mulder asks casually. “Am I your weakness, Dr. Scully?”

“I’m serious. We’ve have a few close calls in the past few months; if we’re not careful, we’re going to be found out.”

“How, by arguing? We did that before we started fu-”

She gives him an imploring look.

“-working after hours,” he corrects. “Besides,” he continues, angling his chin downwards to reach her ear, “I happen to know arguing turns you on.”

Scully licks her upper lip. “I’m just saying we have to be more careful,” she insists, staring straight ahead.

“Then I guess this isn’t the best time to invite you out for a drink,” Mulder says.

Scully glances at him out of the corner of her eye. “It’s Friday the thirteenth,” she notes with a twinge of a smile. “Don’t you think it’s a little risky?”

Mulder shrugs as the elevator doors open into the basement. “Historically, the thirteenth is my lucky day.”

-

“You know, it’s been nine months since our first date,” Mulder says conversationally. They’d walked to Casey’s Bar from the Bureau and are now perched on stools at the far end of the counter, nursing a beer each.

Scully furrows her brow, obviously doing some quick mental math. “February… that was a date?” she says, somewhat amused. “You should have told me at the time. I wouldn’t have waited so long to put out.”

Mulder raises his eyebrows. “Dana,” he says in mock surprise. “I thought you were a good church girl.”

“What gave you that idea, my penchant for kneeling?” she mutters into her glass.

Fuck, she’s good.

They’ve been together for six months now, and it’s surprising how little has actually changed between them, in the practical sense. They’ve been pretty good at keeping their relationship a secret, Mulder thinks. It helps that everyone in the Bureau already thought they were crazy, codependent, and tanking their respective careers. Apparently, bad reputations make the best cover.

He and Scully arrive at the Hoover building in separate vehicles, squabble over conflicting viewpoints, have lunch together almost every day. He rests a hand on her back, guiding her through the halls, and she gives him withering glances and dramatic eye rolls when appropriate. From the outside, they’re still the same Mulder and Scully.

And then they go home to one of their respective apartments and tear each other’s clothes off.

Well, they usually make it home. That quickie in the office annex was an outlier.

Nine months seems significant somehow. The length of human gestation, Mulder thinks absently. It seems like a length of time worth celebrating.

“Would it be terribly corny of me to propose a toast?” he asks.

“A toast to what?”

He’s suddenly shy. “Us,” he says softly. “How far we’ve come. And how much,” he adds, giving her a nudge with his elbow. She rolls her eyes at him, and it feels overtly fond.

Scully lifts her glass. “To us,” she says warmly. “And to spooky shit.”

“You remember,” Mulder says as they clink glasses, recalling that first toast in Casey’s all those months ago.

“Mm,” she replies, sipping her beer. “I do. It was a… notable evening.”

“What made it notable for you?” he asks.

“We had an actual conversation, for one,” Scully muses. “About our personal lives, attraction, about how we relate to the outside world; and by extension, how we relate to each other. I remember very clearly feeling like we were close to something.”

“So did I,” Mulder admits. “So what happened, on your end?”

“I don’t know,” she sighs. “The spell wore off, maybe? When I got home that night I remembered all the reasons it would be a mistake to let myself feel. And then Mark happened, and you know the rest of that story.” She turns on her stool to face him more fully. “What happened for you?”

“I took you on a very cold, very dark picnic,” Mulder reminds her.

“Which was wonderful,” she offers.

Mulder nods. “But then when I asked you out again, you had a date. I don’t know, maybe I was going too slow, being too subtle. But when you started going out with that jackass it felt like… in a way, you were saying that what I had to give wasn’t enough.”

Scully doesn’t say anything, just stares down at her glass.

“And I realize that it’s selfish of me to project that onto you,” he amends. “Your choices aren’t about me. But fuck, I wished they were.”

“You’d be surprised how many of my choices actually were about you,” she says softly. “I surprise even myself. You told me before that you didn’t think I’d last a full year working with you, remember? There was validity in that. This job… it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. So much is at stake for us, so much has been taken. But I chose to continue because I believed in you, and in our work. We have different methods and come to different conclusions, but we’re working towards the same thing. That’s what I believe.”

He reaches over beneath the cover of the countertop and takes her hand, clasping it atop his knee. They sit in silence for awhile, taking sips of their drinks, palms pressed together.

The truth hides in many places, Mulder is learning. Places more secret and sacred than dusty file folders or abandoned warehouses, more mundane than the locked rooms of the Pentagon or trapped beneath thousands of years of ice. The greatest truths are scattered pieces he stumbles upon every day; reflected in his bathroom mirror, scribbled on post-it notes in their office, hidden under Scully’s warm tongue. He knows he’s an obsessed man, prone to irrationality and impulse; but in quiet moments with his partner, he finds small fragments of peace he never thought he could reach.

“Where are you?” Scully says softly, drawing him back into the present. A dim barroom, a sweating glass, her soft hand in his. He wonders if the day will come when his mind wanders too far for her to follow.

“I-I know how crazy this is going to sound, Scully but bear with me… do you ever think that we’re… that we’re bonded somehow? Like we were always supposed to end up here. Together.”

“Like here, here? In this bar?”

“Maybe. Maybe less specifically this bar and more generally this time and place on earth. This universe, this dimension. With each other.”

She shakes her head gently, smiling. “Mulder, it’s been a long week. If we’re going to talk about the metaphysical I need to either have more to drink or be under the influence of a postcoital surge of oxytocin.”

He leans closer to her. “Do you have a preference as to which, because I’d gladly provide either.”

Scully pushes her half-empty glass away from her, eyes dark and soft. “Take me home, Mulder,” she whispers.

His heart squeezes. “Will you stay?” The night, the rest of our lives, until our boat drifts over the edge of the earth?

She nods, and another piece of the truth slides into place.

[teiasviago]

for the x-files asks, 36 and 37!

Do you read fics? If so, what’s your favorite kind to read?

Reading fic is a daily ritual of mine! 😂 My favorite kind to read is either PWP or pure fluff. I don’t have the mental fortitude to deal with the long, cerebral think-pieces but I’d read the hell out of them if I could.

Do you have any fic recs?

Normal Conversations by Soronia

It always bothered me that Mulder had a degree in psychology but only seemed to use it on other people. Also I know it was the 90s, but everybody in this show needed a minimum 400 years of therapy. And yes, there’s eventually sex.

Nex Sacramentum by RationalCashew (WIP)

“Je Souhaite” redux. Mulder makes a different wish.

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic by @silhouetteofacedar

The Unauthorized FBI Guide to Seducing Your Platonic Colleague

And honestly all of @baronessblixen’s (AO3) and @frogsmulder’s (AO3) works are joys to read, too!

[audiofanficpod]

AFP 2x10: Top 3 Series

We love a good AU fic. This week @red2007 @msrtheatre0223 and @anniexami dive into some of the BEST Canon Divergent fics the XF fandom has to offer.

Petrichor by @aloysiavirgata - Podfic

What Happens in Vegas by @malibusunset-xf-blog

the WOW! signal by @wtfmulder - Podfic

Path Unwinding by @bluesamutra

Original Sin by @syntax6

Chloe Samantha Trilogy by oldmoviewatcher

The Other Man by Jess M

All That is Dark and Bright by @malibusunset-xf-blog

Laid Bare by @sisterspooky1013

Heuvelmans' On the Track by @mashnotesofthemythopoeic

The Parting Glass by @aloysiavirgata

Partners With Benefits by @gaycrouton

ATTHS Series by BigBlue82 - Podfic

Ceremony by @darwin-xf

Five Years and One Night by Shalimar - Podfic

Release Valve by @slippinmickeys

Nosce Te Ipsum by @aloysiavirgata

In a Yellow Wood by @aloysiavirgata

Written in the Stars by CSM

Promises To Keep by prufrockslove

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic by @silhouetteofacedar

Nuptiae Sub Rosa by @sisterspooky1013 and @xfmaweezy

Universal Invariants by @syntax6

Making it Personal by Brandon D Ray

One Blue Line by @sarie-fairy

[lilydalexf]

Thank you, @ekaterin1701! Here is a direct link to the story that's still online: Oh, Mister Mailman... by Imajiru.

Also, another guess for the mystery fic: maybe anon was thinking of Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic by @silhouetteofacedar that has Mulder writing Scully a letter. (Thank you for the help, @skelethalprism!)

Hey buddy! I’m losing my mind trying to find a fic and I was wondering if you might know it. It was on tumblr a few years ago. Basically mulder writes a letter confessing his love to scully and he says that if she doesnt respond by x time theyd pretend it never happened but she was away and missed the letter and so on. If you know it or know who wrote it, I could use any lead I could get. Thank you so much!!! Xoxo

Maybe you're looking for Love Autopsy by @mldrgrl. Its summary: Mulder writes Scully a frustrated letter. There's a sequel: Aftermath.

If anybody has another guess for anon's fic, let us know!

[asifyoudidntknow]

I cannot shake the feeling that everything I’ve worked for, every truth I’ve sought, has led me to you; not by way of any conspiracy or government manipulation, but because I am destined to love and honor you. I am an imperfect man, changeable and obsessive, unreliable and stubborn. Many of my quests yield no fruit, my efforts culminating in failure. But I want to be better for you. I am already better because of you. You are the fire that refines me, melts me down and burns away the bullshit. You make me golden.

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic by SilhouetteOfACedar

[marshmallow-xphile]

My thoughts on the sexuality of some of my favorite X-files characters.

I posted this in my X-files amino back in June as part of a LGBTQ pride challenge and for some reason I only just thought to post it here as well.

Fox Mulder: openly bisexual

Mulder is so open sexually that I really don't think gender matters all that much to him. He does seem to prefer females but I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if he had a boyfriend or two in the past. I don't think he's flamboyant about his sexuality but I don't think he'd hide it at all either

My evidence:

In the season one episode "Ghost in the Machine" we meet an Mulder's ex-partner, Jerry, and I absolutely feel like there is an ex-lovers vibe to the both of them. They hug upon first seeing each other, Mulder looks incredibly happy to see him, when Mulder says they worked together Jerry corrects him to say they were partners at which point Mulder looks over at Scully as if to see her reaction. Mulder has this real guilty look to him. When Jerry acts a little self conscious Mulder is real quick to jump in and reassure him. They get in each other's personal space. It just really leaves me with the impression that they care deeply for one another and broke up for other reasons, perhaps the different career goals as Mulder tells Scully.

We also have Mulder with Krycek. From the very beginning of Krycek's involvement with the X-files I feel like the writers went out of their way to make a correlation between the change in partnership and a new partner in a relationship. There is a scene in Sleepless where Mulder and Scully are on the phone and Mulder tells Krycek he'll be right there, the rest of the conversation feels reminiscent of two exes chatting about the change brought about by the new relationship. Scully even brings up that it must be nice having a partner who doesn't question his every theory.

There were many scenes in Sleepless, Duane Barry, and Ascension in which Mulder and Krycek were alone but that we never got to see who knows for example what the two of them got to talking about while they were stuck in traffic during the drive to New York in Sleepless. Or how often they hung out between Sleepless and Duane Barry.

During Mulder and Scully's partnership Mulder only called her 'Dana' on a few emotional occasions. He started casually calling Krycek 'Alex' almost immediately.

Let us not forget the infamous speedo scene. While yes it definitely showed more of a Krycek attraction to Mulder than the opposite. It does make one wonder what led him to wear such a revealing bathing suit. How many straight men do you know who wear speedos? My guess is few. How many straight men wear speedos when they can reasonably assume their male partner will show up looking for them? Not many would be guess.

And then there is their relationship after Krycek is revealed to be a traitor. They both tend to act more like scorned lovers than enemies and notice that it's Mulder, not Krycek, who cannot seem to keep his hands off the other. Seriously it's like every time Krycek shows up, Mulder immediately grabs him.

Now here's a couple quotes from Mulder,

Krycek tells Mulder he most be losing it because Krycek beat him with one hand. Mulder's immediate reaction: "isn't that how you like to beat yourself?"

When the little man in Humbug is lined up pretty much exactly with Mulder's crotch he says that Mulder would be surprised how many women find his size alluring. Mulder's immediate reaction: "you'd be surprised how many men do as well"

How many straight guys do you know comfortable enough with their sexuality to make a gay innuendo? I personally cannot think of any.

Dana Scully: bicurious

I believe that Scully is sometimes attracted to women. It definitely is not as blatant as with Mulder and I really don't think she's had any past girlfriends but I definitely think that there is an attraction.

My evidence:

In the episode "Ice" I really felt like there are a few tender moments between her and Felicity Huffman's character especially while they were examining one another for the worms. That examination had a sort of sexual energy to it I thought.

In the episode "kill switch" theres a moment where the Invisagoth asked if she could have her handcuffs removed or if she should type with her tongue. Mulder mentions that she doesn't want a vote there and the look on Scully's face and the way she licks her lips, I definitely get the impression that she would have been perfectly happy to see what Invisagoth could get up to with that tongue.

Some people point to Scully's relationship with Reyes as evidence of her bisexuality, I personally don't see any attraction there on Scully's side but I don't think its outside the realm of possibility.

Monica Reyes: Closeted lesbian

This one's probably a surprise I know there was something between here and Brad as well as a flirtation with Doggett so you would probably think she was Bisexual but honestly was either one of those even remotely convincing? To me they weren't. I believe that Reyes is a lesbian.

I kind of go back and forth on whether she's open about it. Reyes is very spiritual and open so it seems strange that she would be in the closet but maybe she has a reason, fear of it affecting her career in the FBI perhaps? It just seems strange that she keeps pursuing these heterosexual relationships she has no passion for unless she is trying to hide her true passion.

My evidence:

I admit I really have very little evidence but look at the relationship between Reyes and Brad Follmer. It had all the chemistry of two people who got really drunk once and cannot remember sleeping together. I don't for a second believe she was ever in love with Brad nor he in love with her.

Then you've got the same thing between her and Doggett. Yes the writers were obviously trying for a romantic angle with the two of them but to me it never came across as convincing. It seemed more like she thought of him as a good friend and figured she might as well date him, I saw no evidence of love or attraction.

On the other hand look at her and Scully. While I feel like the attraction there was one sided I definitely feel like Reyes was into Scully or Dana as she would call her. Reyes was willing to risk her life for Scully and yes that is her job after all but Reyes seems to take that above and beyond and it's not just Scully herself but also William. Look at how protective Reyes is of William in The Truth and of the sacrifice Scully made in giving him up. She seems to care even more than Mulder on that.

Cigarette-Smoking-Man: Asexual

CSM has probably had sex at some point, he is of course the father of at least three children but I do not think that he was ever in love with any of these women or even attracted to them. I believe they were all just a means to an end.

I believe that CSM's only love was for his cigarettes

Evidence:

There is a little bit of evidence that he might have actually felt something for Teena Mulder but I don't buy it. He freely admits that he felt nothing for Cassandra Spender but he must've been convincing if he got her to marry him and we have seen him fake emotions more than once. He also seemed to show an attraction to Scully in En Ami but that too was just a means to an end. Perhaps he does feel something towards all the women he has impregnated but I wouldn't call it love. I don't see any real attraction there either. My bet is that CSM needed some "help" in order to produce his offspring.

Alex Krycek: Gay

While Krycek did have an obviously sexual relationship with Marita Covarrubias he definitely didn't have any real feelings for her and I don't buy attraction either. No I'd say they were both just trying to use sex to get what they wanted. His anger at finding the Russian boy gone wasn't because he was heartbroken at her betrayal. Merely mad that she'd managed to get the upper hand.

Whether Krycek is open or in the closet I'm not sure, I'm thinking it probably depends on the mission hes on at the time.

Evidence:

Of everyone on this list I'd say Krycek is the one I'm the most sure of. There is no doubt in my mind that Krycek was attracted to, perhaps even in love with, Fox Mulder. From the very beginning there appeared to be a bit of longing in his eyes.

There was the speedo scene wherein Krycek was definitely checking Mulder out. There were several scenes where Krycek could've killed Mulder but chose to help him instead.

As I've seen pointed out before, Krycek's crazy motivational choices don't make any sense at all unless it's all in an effort to be around Mulder more.

Look at his sense of style and his obvious love for lip gloss. I am not saying that straight men cannot love lip gloss and dress themselves in Krycek's fashion but it is uncommon and it was especially so back in the 90s

The infamous kiss in The Red and the Black could certainly be explained away as some kind of Russian custom but it isn't one that I am aware of and he hasn't really shown any other signs of his Russia heritage.

I would say my best evidence of Krycek's sexuality is in Essence and Existence, just look at the look on Krycek's face when Mulder trusts him to protect Scully. Krycek knows what Scully means to Mulder and then look at how seriously Krycek takes the job! I definitely feel like that moment meant a lot to him and he would have protected Scully with his life for Mulder.

There's also the fact that Krycek's unwillingness to kill Mulder lead to his own death.

Of course asking Skinner to shoot Mulder goes against this theory but I do have a couple thoughts on that, the most sensical being that he knew there was no chance Skinner would shoot Mulder and he probably knew there was no chance he would survive anymore. Maybe he made that request in hopes of sparing Mulder any pain he might have otherwise felt at his death (I know it's a bit of a stretch but my other theories require a long explanation of my thoughts on where the series had planned to go next)

The lone gunmen: no one knows....not even them

Three (I don't count Jimmy for this) single adult men who all live together in very cramped quarters and are, at least in Langley's case, perfectly happy to be around each other without thier clothes on certainly makes it seem like there's something between them all but I really don't get a overtly gay impression with any of them, even Langley who as mentioned doesn't like to wear pants and is the only one who hasn't had a love interest. They just have this sort of Vegas-esque thing. "What happens in the bachelor pad/newspaper room stays in the bachelor pad/newspaper room.

I would love to hear other people's thoughts on these and any other X-files characters you think might be somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum.

[scullyverse]

Hey! You’re one of my fave x files blogs! I was just wondering what fanfics do you think are the most famous/best/well known in the x files fandom?

Thank youuuu :)

Oh that’s tricky! I’ve only really been a part of the fandom for a little while (even though I adored the x files in my childhood etc.) so I can only really judge the fics that I’ve read (so I haven’t really had time to delve too far back!) but I will link the ones I personally love the most and have stuck with me 😊

Most of them will probably be Explicit 😂 and some of them will also be crossover (with Stella from the Fall - but I will make them a seperate list)

The X Files Fics:

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic - SilhouetteOfACedar

When Two Women Collide - CultureisDarkBeer

Omens - lepusarcticus

The Science of Sex - if_the_seas_catch_fire

Pearl - SilhouetteOfACedar

Waldron Island - SisterSpooky1013

The X Files Crossover Fics:

When The Ink Dries - somekindofseizure

I am Scully - JaneIsles

Two Worlds Collide - crescentmoon223

Stella’s Rules - DanaScully77

Laws of Motion - suilven

Aureate - palepinkpores

a love forbidden - stellaxxgibson

[thescullyphile]

I wanted to ask so many but in the spirit of restraint I'll take 2 and 28 ❤️

Thank you for the ask boo 😘

2. Is there a trope you've yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Hmmmm I think something that I've always really enjoyed is a 3rd person/outsider POV, so like a random person looking at Mulder and Scully interact and saying 'There's no way that's platonic.' I've never done it before, but I think you can expect something like that from me in the near future!

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Okay so this is pretty difficult, so I'll just limit myself to within the X Files fandom (which doesn't help much because there are so many crazy talented people active in the fandom right now). 1. is @iconicscullyoutfits , Triptych literally blew my mind in so many different ways. I can't say enough good things about it. Thematically complex, not to mention a very distinctive writing style that reminds me of metaphysical poetry with the sweeping metaphors and imagery (Metaphysical poetry is my favorite genre so that's a compliment :D). Triptych feels like holy ground for the average Joe like me. What an experience. 2. @mldrgrl . I've read just about everything she's written, and reading her works was what inspired me to start writing! The instinctual comfort of her writing, the simplicity and warmness, is everything that I aim for in what I write. Stylistically she's probably been my biggest influence. She's got a HUGE body of work and literally everything is worth reading. 3. @silhouetteofacedar I've been reading Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic like a crack addict. Literally every time I log on I check for an update. I adore how realistic it feels, how in-tune it is with how I've always viewed Mulder and Scully. Her characterization is simply to die for, and the pacing of Closet Romantic is perfect (by which I mean I'm always dying for the next chapter). There are so many other incredible authors that it literally pained me not to mention but these are some of my favorites. :)

[monikafilefan]

can you recommend any mulder x scully fics that include:

angst and/or pining/mutual pining and/or jealousy and/or these two idiots are in love with each other but their two dumb to do anything about it

plz & thanks

oh wow anon! you have great taste, but since this includes such a wide variety of fic, i’ll just list a handful of my faves that fit the theme of what you’re looking for.

fox mulder, closet romantic has great mulder pov/pining/jealousy. @silhouetteofacedar

a preponderance of evidence  has wonderful pining and jealous mulder moments post never again. @kateyes224

goshen has amazing mutual pining/angst/near death moments of clarity for msr. by bonetree, it’s a series but this 1st one is my fave.

the whole truth great canon-based jealous scully and an in-depth look at the delicious s6 angst.

dissonance a perfectly done mulder hearing jealous and protective scully’s thoughts on diana. @suilven19

girl 77 by mojo is such an angsty dose of mutual pining and jealous scully!

territorial pissings  some great possessive and comforting mulder. @gaycrouton

kaleidoscope a very cool take on jealous mulder. angst and mutual pining gold. @cecilysass

rocket man an angst storm of jealousy/pining/diana drama. wip @bluesamutra

yearn by me that includes angst/mutual pining/jealous scully going to therapy.

hungry pig such a great look at s6 teamwork and emotional angst. @mldrgrl

mastodon diaries a long and amazing look at mutual pining mixed with jealousy and time travel.

overnight sensation has great s6 angst with a little jealousy within a dark case fic. @syntax6

tsunami packed full of jealous scully and emotional angst that takes them all on a life changing ride. @piecesofscully

i know i’m missing hundreds of great stories here but these are ones off the top of my head that strike me as memorable and in character, which is important to me. pls add any other fics for anon i missed!

[fandom-imagines-stories]

Faces in the Water

Fox Mulder x Reader

Words: 4175 (I’m so sorry)

Summary: While investigating the disappearance of a group of teens, the reader stumbles upon a type of cult worshipping a mysterious creature. When the group takes her to serve as a sacrifice to the unknown life form, her professional and romantic partner Mulder must find her before she becomes an X-file herself. 

Notes: I haven’t gotten this into a TV show in a while, so I’m super excited to write for it. I’m hoping to write more Mulder imagines soon, but please let me know if you guys are interested in seeing some Spooky Mulder stuff! Also, I’m just starting so in my mind, this is season one Mulder and Scully.

-

You dropped the file on an already cluttered desk and crossed your arms with a smirk. Mulder looked up at you over the top his glasses, which had fallen to the tip of his nose after hours of being hunched over paperwork and research. 

“A dozen teenagers with ages spanning from twelve to seventeen have all gone missing in a small town outside Kansas City.” You informed him. You couldn’t contain your excitement. 

“You might want to stop smiling or someone might get the wrong idea.” He pushed up his glasses and opened the file, the corner of his lips lifting slightly with amusement. As horrible as the disappearances were, it was the first legitimate case you’d found in a month and it had unusual written all over it. 

“All twelve children were taken from public areas, but no witnesses saw who took them or where they went.” 

“Have any bodies been found?” Mulder asked, flipping through each missing child’s case. The first disappearance was two years ago and the number of missing kids had escalated gradually in the past few months. The youngest was reported missing just over a week ago. 

“No, but local authorities haven’t stopped searching. And they have stops at every exit to the town. If someone has taken the kids, they haven’t left.” You perched on the corner of his desk and set down the file, taking off his glasses and setting them on top of the folder. 

“Am I sensing a road trip, Agent Y/L/N?” You took hold of his tie and pulled him up so he was standing in front of you. 

“Bring the red tie… I like that one.” You smirked. While the two of you were usually awkward in most situations, when you were with him,  you felt comfortable in your own skin. He didn’t look at you like you were crazy. He looked at you like you were more fascinating than anything in those file cabinets. With Mulder, you felt… normal. Or at least, your own strange version of normal. 

Just as he leaned over you, his lips inching closer to yours, the door opened and you heard a cough carrying more sass than you thought humanly possible. Mulder turned his attention to the visitor, but you already knew who it was. 

“Hey, Scully.” Mulder greeted, stepping away from you and picked up the file again.

“Don’t let me interrupt.” She sat down in the chair across from his, giving you a suggestive side glance. Dana was the closest thing you had to a friend and while you tried to keep your relationship with Fox private, it was no secret to her what went on in his hotel room when you snuck out of the one you typically shared like a highschool girl meeting a boyfriend her parents didn’t approve of. 

“Y/L/N may have found a case.” He handed her the folder and she looked over it, her knowing smile still turning your cheeks red. 

“I’d say it fits our typical profile.” She noted. “I’ll try and get us an investigation.” With one last subtle wink, she took the file to set up the case with your superiors. Mulder blew out a breath. 

“Do you think she knows?” 

-

Checking into the hotel, you and Scully took your bags to your room while Mulder spoke to the manager about the checkpoint set up down the road. Scully watched you put your clothes in the drawers and laughed to herself. You always made a show about putting your things around the room, setting the bed and pillows the way you liked them, to convince her that you’d be staying there. 

“Since they haven’t found any bodies, looks like I’ll be making inquiries with you and Mulder.” She announced, changing out of the clothes she wore on the plane. You nodded and changed as well. You had just finished buttoning up your shirt when there was a knock at the door. Scully opened it and barely had time to step out of the way before Mulder barreled in. 

“Did you know that the last kid to be taken called the police an hour before they disappeared?” He asked. “The manager’s brother was the first officer on the scene.” 

“Did he find anything?” You grabbed your jacket. Mulder just shook his head. 

“No one knows.” Mulder’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “Officer Beacon’s body was found the next morning.” You and Scully exchanged a glance, shock apparent on both of your expressions. 

“Cause of death?” Scully asked. Mulder shrugged.

“The manager says they never told the family.” He leaned against the dresser. “And due to the pending investigation, they haven’t released the body for burial.” 

“Guess I’m doing an autopsy after all.” Scully went out to the rental car and you went to follow her, but Mulder hooked his finger on your necklace, getting you to turn back towards him. It was a little habit he just always had with you. Whenever he wanted to get your attention, he just tugged on the necklace he’d gotten you for your birthday. 

“Something’s going on here and it’s more than just some psycho snatching up kids.” He muttered, wrapping the chain around his hand, pulling you closer to him. “We have to be careful.” You nodded in agreement and he moved his hand to the back of your neck, pressing a kiss to your forehead that silently promised that he wouldn’t let anything happen to you. And you took his other hand in yours to show him that you would have his back no matter what. It was your way of knowing exactly what each other were saying without saying a word. 

“Are you guys coming?” Scully shouted from the car. You broke apart but kept your fingers intertwined until the last possible second. 

-

Just standing outside the house felt wrong. Greyson Thermopolis, twelve years old, was the latest victim of the serial kidnappings- possibly murders. He lived with his mother and his younger sister- both were reportedly asleep at the time of the abduction. The curtains of the house were drawn, but you could just see a small, pale face looking out at you. 

“Mulder,” You motioned to the little girl in the window. 

“Lily, Greyson’s sister.” The girl vanished behind the curtain and you continued to the front door. Mrs. Thermopolis opened the door before Mulder even had the chance to knock. Her eyes were sunken and all the lights were turned off. 

“I was wondering when you would show up.” She snapped, walking back into the house, expecting you to follow. You and Mulder exchanged a cautious look before following, feeling the cold darkness of the home close in. 

“Mrs. Thermopolis, we were hoping to speak with you about the night that your son disappeared.” You began, looking at family photos as you passed by. 

“I know why you’re here.” Mrs. Thermopolis lead you into the kitchen, the little girl from the window standing in the doorway to another room. Lily stared at you, the look of fear on her small features both frightening and intriguing you. She had seen something. “I’m just glad somebody is doing something around here.” 

“What do you mean?” Mulder asked. To you, the countless checkpoints and patrolling officers sure seemed like something. 

“Those useless officers have gotten no closer to finding my boy or any of those other kids.” Mrs. Thermopolis sniffed. “All they do is poke around and stir up trouble.” Turning your attention back to the mother, you handed her a handkerchief. 

“What trouble have the police caused, Mrs. Thermopolis?” 

“All they do is roam around the woods and give my daughter nightmares.” 

“Do they think that the children may have been taken into the woods?” Mulder began asking her questions about what she thought of the ongoing investigation while you asked if you could speak with Lily. With the mother’s approval, Lily took you into the other room, sitting on the floor amongst piles of dolls and other toys.

“Are you one of the bad men?” She asked softly, holding a stuffed cat close to her chest. Her eyes held the fear of a child hiding from something in their closet. Like you were a monster she had to defend herself from. You knelt down so you were at her level. 

“No, sweetie, I want to help.” Lily picked up a few of her dolls and placed them in a circle. “Your mom says that you’ve been having nightmares… do you mind telling me about them?” She placed a doll outside of the circle. 

“The bad men come and take Greyson,” She started quietly, “they take him out to the woods where there are other bad men waiting…” 

“Do you know why you’re having these nightmares?” 

“I was supposed to be asleep,” Lily spoke in a whisper as if she didn’t want to get in trouble with her mother, who was still talking to Mulder.  “But I was playing on the porch with my dollies and I saw them.” She pointed to the toys she had placed in a circle. 

“You saw the bad men take your brother?” Your eyes grew wide. She nodded, keeping her eyes on the Barbie in her hand, the one that she had kept separate from the others. 

“Then the nice man came to find Greyson,” Officer Beacon,  “but the other one was one of them.” 

“What do you mean the other one, Lily? Did Officer Beacon have someone with him?” This time, she held up two of the dolls, representing the two officers. “Do you know what happened?” Looking up at you, she popped the head off of one of the dolls, dropping the decapitated toy to the floor. The voice behind you nearly made you jump. 

“Perhaps it’s time for you to leave.” Mrs. Thermopolis grabbed the toys from the floor, hiding the broken doll behind her and ushering Lily to her room. 

“Mrs. Thermopolis, did you ever see Officer Beacon when he came to investigate your son’s disappearance?” You asked, trailing after her. 

“No. I don’t know who that is and I would appreciate if you didn’t harass my daughter.” 

“We just want to help,” Mulder assured her. 

“If you want to help… find my son.” With that, she showed you to the door and slammed it behind you. 

“Well that went well,” Mulder scratched the back of his neck with a sigh. 

“What did she say?” 

“That she was at a late shift at work when Greyson was taken and that both children were asleep. She mainly complained about local law enforcement. Apparently, the investigation isn’t being taken seriously by the chief.” 

“That doesn’t make sense.” You scoffed. “The worst crime committed in this town before all this was the occasional chicken theft. This case would have even the most crime ridden cities on edge.”

“If you ask me, she just sounds like a mother waiting to find out what happened and she’s impatient with the investigation getting nowhere. Not that I really blame her.” The two of you got back in the car. “What were you talking to the sister about?” You shuttered, the image of that little girl tearing off the Barbie’s head still in your mind. 

“Lily was slightly terrifying.” His eyes widened with intrigue. 

“How so?” 

“She said that she saw ‘the bad men’ take Greyson and that she saw Officer Beacon arrive… with another officer.” He pulled away from the house and you took notice of the woods that surrounded the neighborhood. 

“Maybe that officer killed Beacon,” Mulder suggested. 

“That’s exactly what I think happened.” 

“Y/L/N, what if these kids aren’t being taken by some lone disturbed individual?” His brain was whirling with theories, most of which involved a town wide conspiracy. As you pulled into the parking lot, you devised your plan. 

“Why don’t you go check in with Scully and I’ll go talk to the police chief about the investigation?” You wanted to know who else went with Beacon that morning. Mulder toyed with your necklace, stalling you from leaving the car. 

“We don’t know who’s a part of this and who we can trust,” he started, the worry evident in his eyes, “just be careful.” 

“I’m a big girl, Agent Mulder,” You teased but his expression was completely serious. “I’ll be fine.” He lowered his voice to a whisper- not because he was ashamed of what he was saying, but because his words were for you alone. 

“I love you.” His lips barely moved as he talked, his eyes intensely fixed on yours. You were slightly shocked. It wasn’t that you hadn’t said that infamous four letter word to each other before, but it had only been uttered in the dark of his apartment or some secluded motel room. Even alone in the car felt public, but that somehow made it feel more impactful. 

“I love you, Fox.” You placed a hand on his cheek. “I’ll be careful, I promise.” He pressed his lips to your palm and the two of you got out of the car, trying your best to leave your emotions inside it. The coroner's office was connected to the station, so you didn’t have to go far. 

Chief Hally was more than willing to help you, offering to assist your inquiry and drive you to areas in the woods that may draw the weirdos, as he put it. After informing Mulder of your endeavor, you set out with the chief. 

“I haven’t been able to sleep in months.” He admitted with a sigh, turning down the long, narrow road that led through the woods. “I just can’t stop thinking about those poor kids, you know?” 

“It’s a difficult case,” You nodded sympathetically. He parked amongst a gathering of large, dead trees. The ground was littered with cigarette butts and empty beer cans, but nothing satanic. 

Meanwhile, Scully and Mulder were making some shocking revelations concerning the death of Officer Beacon. 

“It appears that something was injected into Officer Beacon via needle at the back of the neck,” Scully explained, showing Mulder the puncture wound. “Whatever it was seemed to eat him from the inside out. Almost all of his organs have been dissolved and it started to eat out through the skin here.” She pointed to a large tear in Beacon’s chest. 

“Y/L/N said that Greyson’s little sister saw another officer with Beacon before he was killed.” Mulder pointed out. 

“That’s where things get interesting.” Scully handed him a small log that Officer Beacon kept in his pocket. The pages were blood stained, but the most recent entry was still legible. “According to Beacon, Mrs. Thermopolis placed the call when she returned from her night shift. When he reported the situation, guess who insisted on going with him?” 

“Who?” He cocked his head with interest. 

“Chief Hally.” Mulder turned a ghostly pale like he was going to be sick. Scully put a stabling hand on his arm. “What is it?” 

“Y/N just left with him. He’s taking her to the woods.” The sheer panic on his face sent Scully into action, picking up her phone and dialing your number. If her conclusions were accurate, then Chief Hally not only killed Officer Beacon, but most likely had something to do with the disappearances. 

Hally was showing you another spot where punk teens gathered to smoke weed and complain about their parents when your phone started to ring. When you answered, Scully’s fantic voice responded. 

“You need to get back here.” 

“Scully?” She must have found something out about the body. “What is it?” 

“Chief Hally killed Beacon.”

“What?” You whispered, cupping your hand around the phone to muffle your voice. 

“He probably is responsible for whatever happened to those kids, now you have to get back here.” Scully watched Mulder pace the room. 

You looked around, but Hally was gone. Your heart dropped and you quickly grabbed your weapon, whirling around just in time to avoid the needle Hally had at your neck. He charged towards you, knocking your gun from your hands. 

“Y/N?” Scully exclaimed, hearing the commotion on the other end. Mulder stopped pacing. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” He asked. 

You struggled as Hally advanced, barely able to dodge when he tried to stick you with the needle again. With a quick motion, you kicked his hand, sending the syringe shattering against a tree. 

“Damn it,” Hally muttered. “I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way.” He stomped on the phone that had fallen to the ground, leaving Scully to listen to the static. 

“What the hell is happening, Scully!” Mulder yelled, snatching the phone from her, desperately hoping to hear your voice. “Y/N? Y/N!” Dana grabbed his arm. 

“We’ll find her.” She assured him, grabbing her coat from the chair. If it wasn’t for her hand on his arm, he would have been frozen in place. He couldn’t ignore that terrible sound of silence on the other end of the line. 

When they reached the lobby, Mrs. Thermopolis was waiting for them, an ashamed look on her face. 

“He’s taken her, hasn’t he?” She muttered. Mulder stepped forward, a slightly wild desperation in his eyes. 

“What do you know?” He growled. She sniffed, wiping her face with her sleeve. 

“I think I know where they took my son… where he’s taken her.” Her body shook, but all he cared about was finding you. "But we don't have much time. By night it will be time.” 

“Time for what.” He resisted the urge to shake her by the shoulders and demand answers. Her eyes were wide and frightened, tears pooling in them. 

“The sacrifice.” 

-

When you woke up it was dark. There was no moon to light the night so when the torches were out it was almost blinding. You could vaguely remember the sound of the windshield cracking when Hally slammed your head against it. You could feel the crust of dried blood on your face from the wound the blunt force had caused. The torches lit the faces behind them, casting dark shadows where their eyes should be. 

You tried to move, but your wrists and ankles were tightly chained to a metal chair sitting at the edge of some kind of quarry. A face emerged from the dark, Chief Hally’s sadistic smile making you fight to free yourself more vigorously. 

“Help!” You shouted at the circle of people. “Someone, please.” 

“They will not help you,” Hally spoke calmly, but his voice only made you more afraid. “The Light must be satisfied.” As if called by name, the glassy black water began to slowly rise, reaching your feet. Feeling the freezing water, you could see something breaking through the dark surface at the other end of the quarry. Soon, a bright white light had engulfed the darkness. You stopped fighting, completely mesmerized by the glow. 

“The Light brings us life.” The crowd chanted. “The Light brings us death.” 

High above the cult and the water, Mulder and Scully followed a bright light shining through the trees. They reached a sheer drop into a quarry. The water seemed to be omitting the light, blinding them at first. Once their eyes had adjusted, Mulder could make out a group of people surrounding a single prisoner, strapped to a chair as the water rose around her. 

“It’s her.” He gasped, stepping forward, the rocks crumbling beneath his feet and falling into the water. The light vanished. 

You broke out of your trance and the group stopped their chorus, turning into confused and angry shouts. You looked around, trying to see what had happened and spotted the movement at the top of the cliff. 

“Help!” You screamed. “I’m down here! Help me!” 

“No,” Hally growled, unlocking your chains. You landed one punch to his ribs before the other cultists grabbed you. 

“We have to do something.” Mulder started to figure out the fastest way down. 

The crowd threw you into the water, your mouth flooding with the black liquid when you tried to scream. You swam up as fast as you could, gasping and sputtering for air. 

“The Light brings life. The Light brings death. The Light brings life. The Light brings death.” 

“Y/N!” A voice cut through the singing, but you were pulled under before you could see who. The water was once again bright, but it was no longer beautiful. 

All around you, pale, lifeless forms floating motionlessly through the water. The children’s faces were blank, but their eyes were open, staring at you, clouded and as white as the substance around them. Some of them still looking normal, but others had pieces of skin missing as if they were being devoured. But it wasn’t the children holding you under. It was as if the water itself was keeping you frozen in place, waiting to feed. 

Mulder took off his coat, moving his momentum forward. Scully grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing?” She snapped. 

“I have to save her.” 

“If you land wrong, they’ll be fishing your body out of the water too.” She wanted to save Y/N more than anything, but she wasn’t going to let him die. “If we hurry, we can get her- Mulder!” He dove in before she could stop him. From his height, he was lucky to smoothly enter the water without breaking any bones. 

One by one, the children started to move towards you. As they closed in, the water began to burn your skin- not because it was hot, but because it was far below freezing. It was like every inch of your body was covered in dry ice. And suddenly, it all stopped. The children were yanked back into the dark as the water lost all illumination, releasing its hold on you as something else grabbed you by the waist, pulling you up and up and up until your head reached the surface. 

You were pulled back to the shore where smoking torches were left lying on the rock, abandoned. You coughed up what felt like gallons of water, a hand on the small of your back, letting you know that you were safe. When you seemed recovered, Mulder pulled you into his arms and the two of you laid together until the moonless sky until you heard sirens and the yelling of a relieved, but fairly angry, Scully. 

-

An entire day of questions and arrests and more questions passed until all of the cult had been rounded up and charged with the deaths of all twelve children along with the attempted murder of a federal agent. Officer Beacon’s brother was given at least some closure and refused to charge the three of you for your stay at the motel. The quarry was dragged, but no bodies were recovered. It was Mrs. Thermopolis who gave up the names of the conspirators, confessing to being a part of the cult. It was proven that she had been expelled from the group before any of the murders took place. 

When she tested the contents of the vile that Chief Hally had tried to poison you with, she only found the water from the quarry. The exact cause of Officer Beacon’s death was still unknown.

You were sitting on your bed in the motel room, listening to the sound of the shower. Scully offered for you to have dibs, but just the thought of the water touching your skin made it crawl. The shower shut off and Scully emerged from the bathroom and turned on the TV. 

“Go.” She said, turning to look at you. 

“What?” 

“Go ahead.” She gave you a small smile. “I won’t tell anyone.” With a grateful nod, you left the room and softly knocked on the one next door. 

“It’s open,” Mulder announced from inside. You opened the door and stepped inside. He was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Seeing you, he propped himself up on his elbows. 

“Hey.” You greeted, sitting beside him. 

“How are you feeling?” He wondered, reaching his hand out to cover yours, gently rubbing the back of your hand with his thumb. 

“I don’t know.” You shrugged, feeling suddenly overcome with emotion. “I saw them.” 

“Who?” 

“Those kids.” You sniffed, wiping away tears in the hopes he wouldn’t see them. “I saw their faces in the water. Whatever was in there was feeding off them… and it almost did the same thing to me.” He sat up to press a kiss to a spot on your shoulder, running his hands up and down your arms. You turned around to face him, hiding your face in his shirt. He gently tugged on your necklace like he always did, lifting your face so he could look in your eyes. Without saying a word, he pressed his lips against yours for a soft kiss that said more than either of you ever could and you buried your fears in his protective embrace.

[scullyfemme]

Timing -- Ch. 4

 “Would you believe it was supposed to be romantic?”

Scully buries herself in Christmas preparations and Mulder decides to try and distract her from thoughts of last year. Hopefully they can make it home before her mother's Christmas party in the morning.

Tagging @today-in-fic | Read it on Ao3

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---

After carefully tearing up his apartment in search of bugs (and then cleaning everything up at Scully’s behest), Mulder decided to keep the new bed. The two started splitting their time a bit more evenly between their apartments now that Scully could properly sleep at his place, and they rarely ever spent a night apart. 

As good as it was going, their relationship wasn’t perfect. One particular week was full of arguments and near-lateness to work after Mulder had accidentally snoozed Scully's alarm on a few separate occasions. Afterwards, she bought two new alarm clocks: one for Mulder to use at her place, and one for her to use at his. It was the sensible thing to do anyway, since she woke up earlier than him and couldn’t risk him turning off her alarm anymore. Mulder offered to pay her back for at least one of the clocks, but she just shrugged it off.

They argued about other things, too. Little things, mostly. Surprisingly, after so many years of working together and being in each others’ spaces so much, there was still a lot of stuff to navigate in this new phase of their relationship. Mulder left hair in the sink. Scully left her shoes wherever she removed them. His fridge was never stocked with anything other than leftover takeout and beer. Her stuff took up too much room in his shower.

But as much as they argued, none of it put their relationship any in real danger. In a strange way, bickering over trivial matters like whose toothbrush was whose (Mulder had two identical ones in his bathroom) lightened their relationship. When two people spend their lives with the weight of the world on their shoulders, the ability to spar over the fact that Scully put his things away in her apartment without telling him where they were (“Why are my ties in your closet?” “Mulder, they’re supposed to be hung up”) or how bad the coffee she owned was (“Mulder, after all the shitty diners we’ve eaten at, I’m surprised you still have any standards for coffee”) felt almost like a weird blessing. A way to remember that under the conspiracies and experiments and edges that had been sharpened over the years, they were still two people. Two humans.

With the events at Area 51 forgotten by everyone involved, their relationship was no longer on the Lone Gunmens’ radar (not that they knew it ever was). Scully’s mother, however, seemed to notice a change in her daughter during a lunch with her. She seemed happier, more easygoing.

“So, how’s work?” Maggie asked, trying to figure out why there was a more jovial air around her daughter all of a sudden. 

“Uh,” Dana sighed and seemed to deflate a bit. “Not great. We had to investigate more manure cases this week.” She made a face and toyed with her salad.

Maggie nodded thoughtfully. Not work, then. “How’s Fox?”

Her daughter stiffened almost imperceptibly at that. “Mulder’s fine,” She said, her voice just a bit too high-pitched to be normal. An overshot effort to sound casual.

Maggie eyed her. Ah. “Are you two...still partners?”

“Mhm,” She nodded too emphatically, not even looking at her mother.

Maggie narrowed her eyes, trying to study her daughter for any clues as to what was going on. She knew better than to ask — or even think — that the two of them might be romantically involved. Dana had stated countless times that nothing was going to happen there, and Maggie had given up asking. But still, something was different with her daughter, and she had a feeling Fox was involved.

There was no getting Dana to talk if she didn’t want to, though. Oh well. Best to just wait to see if she would talk on her own.

---

Once December set off, Scully launched herself into full holiday mode. Decorations, presents, cards, church. If it had to do with Christmas, she buried herself in it. Some days she was overly cheery, others she was extremely serious — as if the type of wrapping paper she used for Matthew’s present was a life-or-death situation.

It was strange, coming into her apartment to see her covered in flour for the umpteenth time as she tried out yet another destined-to-fail Christmas cookie recipe. She wasn’t a great baker and seemed to know it, but she kept insisting on trying. Unwilling to fail and determined to make cookies for her mother for whatever reason.

It always went the same. Mulder would lie and say they tasted good. She would chide him for lying to her because she already knew they were awful. She would heave a sigh, dump the cookies in the trash, dust herself off, and start cleaning the kitchen. He would help clean where he could, but mainly stayed out of her way. And she would try again tomorrow, or whenever she was free.

Frightening as it was to see her like this, Mulder knew what she was doing. It had been a year since the events involving Emily. Scully was trying to put it out of her mind, trying to bury the bad memories with busywork and fake Christmas cheer. He didn’t want to pry her about it; dredging it up wouldn’t help her now. If she wanted to forget, he would help her forget. So he went along with her for nearly everything else, too. Present-shopping, decorating her apartment. He even offered to go to church with her at one point, but she thought he was joking and insisted on going alone. 

He wanted to do more for her, though. Maybe a date. A unique one. Not an X-File, or at least not anything resembling a case. She wouldn’t want to work one so close to Christmas and she would no doubt bring up the fact that they weren't working X-Files anymore. Maybe something X-Files-adjacent, though. Not a full case, but more like...an attraction. A field trip.

Maybe there was a haunted house in the area.

---

Mulder always felt out of place in the department store. It wasn’t because he felt awkward tailing Scully while she shopped for her last few gifts. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He was happy to follow her around and he had fun giving unwanted input on gifts for family members he’d never heard of. He could tell it amused her too.5hh

No, he felt out of place because it always seemed like every other man here looked like they’d rather die than be gift shopping with their significant others. They trudged along behind their wives and girlfriends and merely shrugged when asked for input on items. It was especially worse today, on Christmas Eve. No one seemed to be enjoying their last-minute shopping.

He supposed he should give the other men the benefit of the doubt, but then a few of them would try to exchange knowing looks with Mulder over what they interpreted as a shared negative experience. Shackled to the old ball-and-chain while she shops. He simply shot them a confused look and then leaned over to point out to Scully that blue throw pillows would probably look better with Cousin Lucy’s living room set.

“Mulder, you’ve never even met Lucy.”

“No, but I can see her living room in my mind’s eye.” There was a gleam in his eye. “It’s, uh, it’s nautical-themed. Little decorative anchors on the walls and those, uh, those clear vases full of sand and seashells. So...blue.”

She eyed him humorously. “Mulder, Lucy is afraid of the ocean. I can assure you that nothing in her house is nautical-themed.”

“Oh.” He grinned good-naturedly. “Then go with the red ones.”

A half-hour later, they had moved on to the kitchenware section of the store.

“Hey, Scully,” Mulder started off cautiously as he watched her pore over two pans — one silver and one copper. She'd already gotten three things for her mom, but she’d noticed the sale on pans and commented how her mother needed a new one. “How do you feel about a...little field trip later?”

“Hm?” She didn’t look up from the items and it was apparent that she wasn’t listening. After a moment, though, the question seemed to register in her mind and she looked up. “What do you mean, ‘field trip?’”

He hesitated, then took the silver pan from her left hand. “Your mom’ll like this one better. It matches the rest of her stuff.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

“Mulder, what field trip?” She put the other pan down and followed him out of the kitchen section. “It’s Christmas Eve, this better not be some X-Files goose chase. And how do you know what my mom’s kitchenware looks like?”

“I’ve been to her house before, haven’t I?” He stopped and turned to face her. “And it’s not an X-File, it’s… Well…” He tilted his head and grimaced.

“It is an X-File.” She knew what that grimace meant.

“Not a case. Just...phenomena.”

“Phenomena,” she repeated, reluctance on her face. “Mulder…”

“Look, we’re almost done here, right?” He straightened up, gesturing to the multiple items they were both holding. “Just a few more gifts, and then we’re good to go. The night’s still young and we’ll be there and back within plenty of time.”

She shook her head. “Mulder...I’ve-I’ve still got to wrap all this.”

“I’ll help you wrap.”

“It’s too far away.”

“You don’t even know where it is.”

“Well, where is it?”

“Only an hour’s drive.”

She licked her lips in thought and he knew he was close to winning.

“We’ve got family roll under the tree at six in the morning,” she argued. “For my mom’s Christmas party, remember? The one you didn’t even tell me you were going to?”

He smiled. Her mother had invited him over for Christmas nearly every year since they’d started working together. This was just the first year he’d accepted.

“Like I said, we’ll be there and back in plenty of time. C’mon, Scully, it’ll be fun.”

She glowered at him — the one that meant he'd won but she didn't want to admit it yet — then pushed past him to make her way to the candle section, where she started browsing. He followed her and stood right behind her, nearly touching her. Too close for her not to notice his presence. She ignored him though, pretending that the weird candle names were fascinating full-length novels.

After a few moments, she heaved another sigh and rounded on him, then nearly backed into the candle display when she realized just how close he was.

“Mulder-” She pressed a hand to his chest and pushed him back a bit, giving herself space. “What kind of phenomena are you even talking about?”

He gave her a toothy grin. “Have you heard the Tale of the Star-Crossed Lovers?”

---

“‘Cause you’re a lonely man,” the old man said to Mulder. “A lonely man chasing paramasturbatory illusions that you believe will give your life meaning and significance and which your pathetic social maladjustment makes impossible for you to find elsewhere. You probably consider yourself passionate, serious, misunderstood. Am I right?”

Mulder blinked. “‘Paramasturbatory?’”

“Most people would rather stick their fingers in a wall socket than spend a minute with you.”

Ouch. “Alright now, just uh...” Mulder held up his hands to stop the man. Who did he think he was? “Just back off for a second.”

The man didn’t back off, though. “Spend every Christmas this way? Alone?”

Ha. That was where he was wrong. “I’m not alone.” Mulder raised his chin in confidence.

The old man looked around at the room that was otherwise empty besides the two of them. “More self-delusions.”

“No, I came here with my partner. She’s somewhere in the house.”

“Behind a brick wall?” The man gestured towards the brick wall.

Mulder smiled and nodded.

“How’d you get her to come with you? Steal her car keys?”

His smile turned confused. “No, I asked if she wanted to come.”

“Did you ask her or did you pester her until she gave in?”

The smile dropped from his face. 

“You know why you do it.” The old man shook his head as if disappointed in him. “Listen endlessly to her droning rationalizations. ‘Cause you’re afraid. Afraid of the loneliness. Am I right?”

Was he? It was getting harder and harder to dismiss the man’s analysis. He pushed the thought out of his mind.

After a moment, he finally spoke. “I’d just like to find my partner.”

---

“Oh, you poor child.” The old woman clutched her robe closed around her neck and stepped towards Scully. “You must have an awful small life. Spending your Christmas Eve with him. Running around chasing things you don’t even believe in.”

“Don’t come any closer.” Scully’s gun shook in her hand. Whoever this woman was, she was suspicious. And she certainly didn’t need pity from some old woman who didn’t know her.

The woman ignored her, stepping closer anyway. “I can see it in your face. The fear. The conflicted yearnings. A subconscious desire to find fulfillment through another.” She took another step. “Intimacy through co-dependency.”

“What?” Scully’s panic gave way to incredulity. What the hell was she talking about? Intimacy through what? Conflicted yearnings?

“Maybe you repress the truth about why you’re really here,” the old woman continued. “Pretending it’s out of duty or loyalty. Unable to admit your dirty little secret.”

Scully tensed. Dirty little secret?

“Your only joy in life is proving him wrong.”

---

“Do you realize how seriously disturbed that man is?” The old man asked. “How dark and lonely? What he's capable of?”

Scully simply blinked at him, unsure how to respond. This man was crazy. Mulder wasn’t dark and lonely, despite how much he might think of himself as such. Hell, only a couple of hours ago he was helping her pick out a new pan for her mother in a department store. Mulder may be spooky — and a little out there — but he was far from disturbed.

Someone pounded at the door. “Scully?”

“Mulder!” She started towards the door.

“Did he happen to mention a story about a lovers’ pact?” The man asked.

Scully froze. Mulder had told her the story. But surely he hadn’t brought her here for reasons like that. This was just some...eccentric Christmas Eve X-Files date, or something. 

Right?

“The man is acting out an unconscious yearning,” the old man continued. “The deep-seated terror of being alone.”

“Scully!” Mulder’s voice sounded from the other side of the door again. “Scully, are you there?”

“I’m here, Mulder!” She called out, keeping her gun trained on the old man.

“Open the door, Scully!”

“Open the door,” she commanded.

The old man reluctantly obliged. Mulder entered, gun at the ready. “Where’s Scully?”

“Mulder?” She couldn’t help the flood of relief at seeing him.

But then he turned and fired his gun at her.

Scully flinched as the bullet missed her by a mile. Shaking with panic, she aimed her gun at him despite the fact that she knew she wouldn’t shoot him. “Mulder, what are you doing?”

He fired again, missing her. He wasn’t normally this bad a shot, but she was freaking out too much to really register that.

“Mulder!”

“There’s no getting out of here, Scully.” He had a deranged look in his eyes. “There’s no way home.” He shot again, hitting the wall behind her.

“Mulder, come on,” She moved sideways across the room to make herself a more difficult target. He stepped towards her. “Mulder, you’re scaring me. Put the gun down!”

“You gonna shoot me?!” He shouted.

“I’m not gonna shoot you! I don’t wanna shoot you!” She shouted back, trembling. Did he really think she would shoot him? What the hell was wrong with him?

“It’s me or you,” he ranted maniacally. “You or me. One of us has to do it.”

“Neither of us has to do it,” she countered. “Just- Just put the gun down!” 

He ignored her, instead focusing his aim.

“Wait!” She tried to calm her breathing. “Look,” Scully took her finger off the trigger and put her hands up in surrender, gun pointed away from him. When she spoke again, it was with a calmer voice. “Please, Mulder. I’m not gonna shoot you. I’m putting my gun down, see?” She started to lower her weapon. “This isn’t you, Mulder. Please, you have to trust me. You have to snap out of...whatever this is.”

A confused look flashed across Mulder’s face and he lowered his weapon a bit, glancing over at the old man.

“Mulder.” She holstered her gun and took a step towards him. He watched her warily, looking almost like a caged animal. Another couple of steps and she was able to put her hand on his wrist, lowering it even more. She searched his face for any sign that he was coming to his senses.

Mulder glanced down at where her hand lingered on his wrist and she pulled it away self-consciously. He looked back up at her. “Scully…do you love me?”

She blinked in surprise. “What?”

“I love you,” he said, moving closer to her.

Scully backed away. “Mulder, what are you doing?” This wasn't like him. She couldn’t help glancing at the old man again, who looked particularly interested in what was going on.

Mulder’s hand on her shoulder brought her attention back to him. He leaned down.

“Mulder-”

She was interrupted by the feeling of his gun pressed into her stomach.

“Merry Christmas, Scully.”

CRACK

---

Mulder stumbled down the stairs, unsure how he was able to move when he was in so much pain. At the bottom, he noticed a trail of blood in the foyer. He collapsed onto the floor and started crawling pathetically, following the trail. Around the corner, he spotted Scully crawling towards the front door in a similar fashion.

“Scully?” His voice was strained.

She flinched, then slowly, painfully rolled over and pointed her gun at him. Was she really going to shoot him again? He grunted and managed to pull out his own gun despite the fact he knew he could never shoot her.

They stayed in their stalemate for a few moments before Scully lowered her weapon with a groan and fell back on the floor. “Ah...I’m not gonna make it,” she said.

“You should have thought of this.”

“You should have,” she countered.

“You shot me first!”

“I never shot you, you shot me!”

Mulder blinked. He never shot her. Why did she think he shot her? And she was claiming she’d never shot him.

It hit him. Lyda and Maurice. It was another trick. Of course it was.

As if undoing some spell, Mulder realized he wasn’t actually bleeding. He wasn’t actually shot, he wasn’t in any pain. It wasn't real.

“Scully,” He rolled over and stood up, feeling considerably light. He grinned. “Get up.”

She scoffed, obviously thinking he was crazy. “I can’t.”

“Get up.” He moved towards her and showed her how he was fine. “You’re not shot.”

She looked up at him with disbelief. “What?”

“Come on, it’s a trick. It’s all in your head.” He reached down and helped her up. Once standing, she started patting at her abdomen in search of the bullet wound. She looked up at him in alarm, and they both glanced back towards the inside of the house as their hands sought each other and they took off through the front door. They escaped from the haunted house hand in hand, only pulling apart to get in his car and drive away in a panic.

“Maybe it was a hallucination,” Scully said, her brain whirring at high speeds to search for an explanation. “Some sort of chemical could have been in that fog.”

“What kind of hallucinogen wears off once you realize it’s not real?” He countered.

She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it when she couldn’t think of one. “Then it was, uh... It was all in our heads, I don’t know! But whatever happened in there, you owe me for it.”

“Owe you? You shot me!” He joked. 

“No I didn’t, and besides, you shot me first!”

“I never shot you.”

“Well, you dragged me out here in the first place.”

“Well, I-” He stopped and glanced over at her. “Would you believe it was supposed to be romantic?”

She chuckled, feeling a bit giddy from the adrenaline. “From you? I’d believe it.” 

He smiled to himself.

She sighed and leaned back in her seat, feeling her heart rate ease up a bit. “Only you would see a haunted house with stories about multiple couples killing themselves in it and think of it as a romantic destination.”

He chuckled. “Are you saying you didn’t find it romantic?”

“Mulder, you shot me.”

“I told you, that wasn’t me!” He grinned.

“Well, I still thought it was at the time. And I wouldn't call it a pleasant experience.”

“I would never shoot you, Scully.”

“How romantic.”

“Of course, I know you can’t say the same since you’ve shot me before.”

“You were about to kill a man!” She argued. “I shot you to protect you.”

“Yeah, and then you dragged me out to New Mexico and I got blown up.”

“You lived, didn’t you?”

He laughed. Whatever had happened in there, they were alive. And her mind certainly seemed to be occupied with something other than last year's Christmas. Maybe a near-death experience wasn't the best replacement, but at least it was something.

Scully checked the time. “God, it’s already past midnight.” She sighed and let her head fall back against the seat again.

“It is?” He glanced over at her and saw that her eyes were closed. 

She nodded tiredly.

“Well...Merry Christmas.”

Her eyes snapped open in realization and she looked over at him with a small smile. “Merry Christmas, Mulder.”

---

They made it back to her apartment in one piece and were up for another hour wrapping presents. When they were done, they trudged to bed, falling asleep almost immediately. When her alarm went off too soon, they both groaned, having only gotten a few hours' sleep. Somehow, though, they managed to get up and make it to her mother's.

Christmas with the Scullys was more fun than Mulder had imagined it would be. He found himself wishing that he’d taken Mrs. Scully up on her invitation years ago.

The 6am roll call was only for immediate family, apparently. With Melissa gone and Charles off closing deals in Europe, this meant that it was just Scully, her mother, Bill Jr., and his wife and kid. And Mulder.

“Fox!” Mrs. Scully pulled him in for a warm hug as she answered the door. “So glad you could come.”

“Sorry, which one of us is your kid?” Scully poked her head out from behind him.

“Oh, Dana,” Her mother jokingly chastised her before also pulling her in for a hug. “He was just the first one to walk in, is all.”

“Mhm.”

“Come in, come in,” Mrs. Scully quickly took the bags of presents from the couple without giving them an opportunity to object. She led them into the living room, where Bill and Tara were already sitting on the couch. Bill shook Mulder’s hand with a stiff smile and Scully wondered if her mother had lectured him about being nice before they'd arrived.

Without much preamble and small-talk, they opened presents. Scully had gotten Mulder Resident Evil 2 (“Langly told me you liked the first one” "You'd like it too, Scully. It's horror") and he’d gotten her the bottle of perfume that she’d always sampled whenever they were out shopping at the mall for presents.

“Perfume?” Bill asked, sounding unimpressed.

“I love it.” She gave her brother a pointed look before smiling gratefully at Mulder. She’d half-expected him to get her something obscure like that keychain from a few years back. “I wanted this one.”

Bill didn’t make any more comments after that.

At eight, the cousins and family friends started pouring in. Mulder was flabbergasted. He knew Scully’s family was Irish Catholic, but he’d never fully registered how that would apply to her extended family as well. He supposed he should have, considering how many presents he’d helped her buy for cousins. It was hectic and impossible to keep up with names, so he avoided using them. He stuck to Scully’s side like a burr, letting her navigate them through the party.

“I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?” A man asked.

“Fox Mulder.”

“Fox? That’s an interesting name. And how do you two know each other?”

“Oh, we’re p- We work together,” He said, not wanting to cause any confusion.

“Ohh,” The man nodded. “At the...CIA?”

“FBI,” Scully corrected, evidently not very close to this particular cousin. Was he even a cousin? Mulder had no idea who was related to her and who wasn’t.

A woman — another cousin? — who had overheard their conversation leaned in to join them. “And are you two...together?” She asked curiously.

Scully’s cheeks turned ever-so-slightly pink. “No.”

“No, we’re just good friends.” Mulder took over, slinging a friendly arm around her shoulders. “I mean, after being partners for over five years, you either hate each other or you’re best friends, am I right?”

The other two both laughed and Scully gave a little chuckle too, looking more relaxed. They continued their conversation, but Mulder didn’t remove his arm from her shoulders. After a while, Scully realized that she had been leaning comfortably into Mulder’s side for who knows how long and quickly straightened up, slipping out of his grasp and excusing herself to go to the kitchen and get some eggnog. She ducked her head in hopes of hiding how red her face must be.

Alone in the kitchen, she braced herself on the counter and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It was stupid of her to panic like this, but she couldn’t help it. This was their first time out somewhere like this after getting together, but they couldn’t even act like a couple. It was too easy to relax with Mulder, and it was too fun being at a party with him. She was being too obvious and people were going to figure out they were together.

But on the other hand, it would be nice if they could actually act like a couple at this party. Would it really be the worst thing in the world if people knew? Keeping it a secret at work made sense, but it felt different at her mother's house in front of friends and family.

“Dana?” Her mother’s voice shook her from her thoughts. She was standing in the doorway with a concerned look on her face. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, Mom, I’m fine,” She said, quickly straightening up and grabbing a cup.

“Sorry,” her mother said. “I just...noticed you left that conversation with Michael and Hannah pretty quickly. I was worried they said something to upset you.”

“Nope,” Scully smiled — a bit too widely. “Just getting some eggnog." She grabbed a second cup.

“For you and Fox?”

Scully stiffened ever so slightly. Was her mother implying something? Or was she just being paranoid? “Yeah, he wanted some too.” She tried to sound casual.

Her mother seemed like she wanted to say something but apparently dropped it, instead moving over to give her daughter a comforting pat on the shoulders. “Okay, honey.” She smiled. “I’ll see you back out there, okay?”

Scully nodded, not meeting her mother’s gaze. After she was gone, Scully leaned on the counter again. Was her mother suspicious of them? Was anyone else? Why was this so stressful? All she wanted to do was relax, to be casual and have fun with him in this setting, but she didn’t know how to do that.

After another bracing breath, Scully picked up both cups and headed out of the kitchen. She almost ran into Mulder in the doorway.

“Oh!” She yanked the cups back with a grimace until she realized they hadn’t spilled, then let out a sigh of relief.

Mulder, who had also pulled back to avoid an accident, leaned forward a bit. “Sorry, Scully. I was just checking on you. You left pretty suddenly.”

She nodded. “I’m okay, I just-”

“Mistletoe!” Someone shouted, interrupting her. Nearly everyone’s attention turned to them. Scully’s eyes widened and her face burned as her gaze slowly rose up. Sure enough, there was some mistletoe hanging above them in the doorway. Shit.

“You guys gotta kiss!” Someone else shouted in a heavy Boston accent.

“N-No,” They both started protesting, then Scully’s mother appeared out of nowhere and whisked away the two cups Scully had been holding.

“Mom!”

“Sorry, Dana, rules are rules.” Her mother gave a fake sympathetic smile.

“She’s not sorry at all,” Scully muttered, half-believing that her mother had planned this somehow. Various people were shouting for them to kiss now.

“I don’t think we’re gonna get out of this, Scully,” Mulder said out of the side of his mouth.

She heaved a sigh, her hands on her hips, then gave him a quick nod of assent. Needing no more permission, he stooped down and pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. More chaste than most of theirs had been since the very first. It was still nice, though, and Scully had to dig her fingers into her own hips to prevent herself from reaching out to him instinctively. She had a feeling he was having the same struggle.

They broke apart to the sounds of whoops and cheers, their eyes lingering on each others’ for just a moment before they turned back to face the party, their facades back in place.

Everyone quickly went back to whatever they had been doing before the interruption (Bill took the time to stare daggers at Mulder for a few more moments) and Scully’s mother handed them back their drinks. Scully couldn’t down her eggnog fast enough, grateful for the alcohol in it.

---

Maggie Scully studied her daughter and Fox throughout the day, only half-listening to conversations with family and friends. She noticed subtle differences from how she’d seen them act before. Dana would grab Fox’s arm to lead him to the next conversation, but her hand would linger longer than it needed to, her thumb even lightly rubbing his arm. He would bend down to whisper in her ear a lot, his mouth closer than it needed to be, and Dana always smiled at whatever he said. And above everything else, they stuck extraordinarily close to each other the whole time. Even if Fox looked like he was fully engaged in a conversation with someone, he would quickly follow Dana if she moved away.

Maggie smiled to herself and let out a little hum, certain that something was going on between those two. For now, she was satisfied with that much knowledge. She’d give Dana as long as she needed to tell her about it.

At one point, Matthew came charging into the room with the unstoppable momentum of a toddler who had recently figured out walking. Scully caught him easily, using his momentum to swing him up in the air before landing him squarely on her hip. “Where do you think you’re going?” She teased her nephew with a grin.

Matthew just laughed and clapped his hands in the way babies do.

“Are you trying to find your mama?” Scully asked, turning to look around the room. When she couldn’t find Bill or Tara, she turned to Mulder with a questioning look. He also did a sweep of the room — hoping his height would give him more insight — and then shrugged.

“Well,” Scully carried Matthew over to the couch and sat down, holding him on her lap. “We’re just gonna have to wait right here for them.”

Mulder sat down next to her and watched as she entertained the baby with faces and little games. She was like a completely different person around kids, and he couldn’t help smiling fondly as he watched her.

It also broke his heart, though. Knowing what had been done to her. What had been taken from her. He knew he had to tell her about the vial of her ova, and soon. He’d put it off too long already and she deserved to know.

But not today. He wasn’t going to let her have two ruined Christmases in a row.

After a while, he realized one of Matthew’s toys was on the coffee table in front of him. He grabbed it, offering it up to the boy and then pulling away, which made the baby squeal in entertainment. Mulder played this game with him for a while, not noticing the smile of adoration that Scully was giving him.

Across the room, Maggie looked on at the sight of the two of them with the baby and couldn’t help thinking how much it suited them.

---

After Bill and Tara returned (they had stepped out to get more ice) and Matthew was handed off, Mulder and Scully returned to mingling. She drank more eggnog than he thought her small frame would allow, and by the end of the day she was leaning against him and hugging his arm without a care in the world for who saw, smiling and blinking slowly at whatever a family friend was saying.

Dinner was a buffet-style potluck, and the food in her stomach seemed to sober her up some, but she was still visibly tipsy if not drunk. Afterwards, Mulder kept his arm around her — more to keep her upright than anything else.

“FBI, huh?” Someone asked. “Do you guys get any interesting cases?”

Scully gave an exaggerated frown. “Well, last night we went ghostbusting.” Her chin ducked down and then back up. “But that wasn’t an official case.”

“Ghostbusting?”

“Well, they weren’t really ghosts of course,” She said emphatically, and Mulder couldn’t help smiling at how insistent she was, even in an inebriated state. “Mulder probably thinks they were.” She tapped her head against his chest. “But I know” — she pointed at herself — “that it was just...a hallucination or something. Brought on by the...the creepy atmosphere and our heightened senses of-of panic.”

“...Oh.” The man looked visibly confused by what she was saying. “So...what exactly were you guys doing ghostbusting on Christmas Eve?”

---

After the party was over, Mulder guided a still-tipsy Scully to the car, helping her buckle in before getting in the driver’s side, then waved a final goodbye to her mother.

As he started the car and drove off, Scully smiled lazily at him, her head resting against the seat. “Thanks for today, Mulder. I had a lot more fun than I usually do.”

“I like your family,” He said. “Most of them. I never really, uh...got the whole family thing. Especially not after Samantha disappeared.”

She pouted. “I’m sorry.”

He chuckled. “It’s okay. Today was fun to experience. Even if it was a one-time-only thing.”

“What makes you think it’ll be one-time only?” She asked. “My mom’s definitely gonna invite you again next year.”

Mulder smiled at the thought. He hadn’t considered next year. Or the year after. He let himself indulge for a moment, imagining a future where he and Scully were happy. Staying together, attending her mother’s Christmas parties every year. Their situation was still hard for him to believe; he kept waking up expecting to find that it had been a dream, or that she’d changed her mind, only to see her sleeping soundly, pressed close to him. Or already awake and watching him with an adoring look that she only used when she thought he couldn't see.

“I really- I really do love you, Mulder,” Scully spoke up after a while, as if reading his thoughts and knowing his insecurities.

He laughed. “You’re drunk.”

“No,” She lifted her head off the seat and glared at him comically. “I’m not drunk, I’m just enjoying myself. And you’re the best…” She waved her hand dismissively a few times. “Partner, boyfriend, whatever.”

He grimaced. “I think I like partner better than boyfriend.” He wasn't too fond of partner, either. It fit them in a professional sense, but not outside of that.

“Mmm, but partner doesn’t feel right either,” She seemed to voice his thoughts as she pouted again, leaning back against the headrest.

“Then what does?”

She was silent for a few moments, then shrugged. “I dunno. You’re just...Mulder.”

He nodded, knowing what she meant. Of all the ways to describe their relationship, of all the words to label what they were to each other, his brain often just kept coming back to Scully. That was what she was to him.

“‘Mulder’ isn’t exactly a label you can use to introduce me to people, though,” he joked.

“Mm.” She hummed in acknowledgment and was silent for a moment. Then she sat forward a bit, eyes wide in realization. “Mulder, was I clinging to you a lot tonight?”

He hesitated, which was enough of an answer for her.

“Ohh,” she put her head in her hands. “D’ya think anyone noticed?”

A lot of people definitely noticed, but he didn't want to tell her that. “Well…I think your mom is suspicious.”

“Well, she's been suspicious since she first met you.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded, her face still hidden.

“Bill might've figured it out, too,” he added.

“Bill?!” She looked up at him, then flopped back in her seat. “Nuh-uh. If Bill knew, you wouldn't be alive.”

---

As soon as they got into her apartment, Scully threw her arms around him and planted a kiss on his lips. She’d managed to sober up a bit more during the drive home and had gone from quite tipsy to just tipsy. Mulder pulled away, his hands planted squarely on her shoulders. She pouted, looking sad that he’d pulled away. God, he wished she wouldn't do that. It made it harder to stay away.

“What do you want? You want some water?” He asked, turning his head towards the kitchen.

“Noo.” She toyed with the buttons on his shirt and looked up at him through her lashes. Her intent was very clear.

His breath hitched and he had to clear his throat. He took her hand and pulled it away from his shirt. “I think you need some water and some sleep.”

“Mulderrrr.” She tried to move closer to him, but his hand on her shoulder kept her at arm’s length. She pouted again. Jesus.

“I don’t take advantage of drunk women,” he said.

“I’m not drunk anymore, Mulder, I told you.” She stood up straight as if that proved it. “And I’m not some random girl you found in a bar, we’re already sleeping together.”

“Scully-”

“Mulder, I'm not drunk. I’m just a little tipsy. I’m still aware of my actions and what I’m saying. And I'm very horny.”

Warmth pooled in his stomach at the way she said that, and he was distracted enough that she managed to slip out of his grip and pull him down for a deep kiss, pushing him backwards towards the bedroom and shedding various items of both their clothes on the way there.

It was a very merry Christmas.

---

Weeks later, Mulder drove them both back from Roanoke after finishing the demon baby case. Scully sat in the passenger seat, flipping through the case file and her notes and muttering how it didn’t make sense. She'd already lectured him multiple times on how a woman who's recently given birth couldn't possibly have moved around as much or done as much as Betsy supposedly had, to which he’d just shrugged and said that Betsy wasn’t human. Which, of course, wasn’t an acceptable answer for her.

“Hey, Scully?” He asked, his heartbeat quickening with nerves. 

“Hm?” She licked her lips as she continued looking through the file, not really paying attention to him.

“Remember, uh, last December? When I said why your- How the men who abducted you- Um…” He cursed himself for not practicing this.

She looked up from the file, giving him her full attention now. “How they extracted my ova,” she said bluntly. “Yeah.”

“I, uh…” He sighed. “Scully, there’s something I didn’t tell you.” He glanced over at her, then returned his attention to the road. “The men who were in charge of the lab...one of them let me take a vial of yours.”

“What?” Scully’s voice was quiet with disbelief. “You have them? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, I...I took them directly to a specialist who would tell me if they were okay,” He explained, suddenly wishing he hadn’t started this conversation while driving. This wasn't a car conversation.

“I don’t believe this.”

“Scully, you were...you were deathly ill. And I couldn’t bear to give you another piece of bad news.” He looked over at her and saw the pain and fear in her eyes.

“Is that what it was? Bad news?”

His lips pressed together grimly. “They… They said the ova weren't viable.”

She only stared at him, either too stunned or too upset to say anything.

“I-I know I should have told you sooner, Scully,” He said, wanting to apologize, to explain. “I just- You were dying, and then you were in remission and I didn’t want to risk your recovery. And then…” He sighed. “It was just never a good time. It still isn’t.”

“There’s not really a perfect time for this sort of news, Mulder,” she said bitterly.

“I know.” He glanced over at her so she could see his regret. “I’m really sorry, Scully.”

She nodded, looking more downtrodden by the news than mad at him. She put her face in her hands, hiding her emotions even from him, and stayed like that for a few minutes. He didn’t bother her, not wanting to invade her privacy. This really wasn't a car conversation.

After a while, she lifted her head. He could see the gears turning in her mind. She let out a slow, calculated sigh and he knew what she was going to say before she said it. Scully was ever the scientist.

“I want a second opinion.”

He nodded silently, eyes on the road. He didn’t tell her that he did get a second opinion. And a third. And a fourth. After she’d gone into remission, he was desperate to give her more good news. But after consulting nearly every specialist in the city, he gave up. But he knew Scully wanted to find the answers herself, and he wasn’t going to get in the way of that.

Next Chapter ->

[silhouetteofacedar]

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 20: Nattduksbord

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

This means something; Mulder can feel it.

This signifies a shift in their relationship; a step forward, from platonic partners to a romantic couple. It’s a shared experience that has the potential to change their dynamic forever. Years of trust, fighting together against a common enemy, seeking the truth… it could all come crashing down today, in a shopping mall in Woodbridge, Virginia.

They’re going to IKEA.

Summer is on the rise, and the humidity is close to stifling as they buckle into his car. Scully’s wearing a little striped t-shirt, capri pants, and sandals, revealing sky blue painted toes. For a disorienting moment Mulder wonders if he’s going to develop a foot fetish. Probably not, but Dana Scully could make even the most vanilla of men want to do crazy things.

“Do you have your shopping list?” Scully asks as he starts the car.

He pulls the folded scrap of paper out of the chest pocket of his white t-shirt. “Right here,” he replies, eyes darting over to her for one more look as he holds out the list.

She takes it, catching his eyes momentarily. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” she asks.

I want to suck your toes. “You look nice today, that’s all.”

“Oh. Well, thank you.”

Scully can probably tell he’s desperate for her; she can read him like a dog-eared, yellowed paperback. He’s simultaneously grateful for her sharp instincts and embarrassed by his carnal desires. He hasn’t gotten laid in four years, and he fears he’ll be too eager when the time comes. As it is, he can barely believe she’s let him have even the smallest glimpses of her as a sexual being. She’s intoxicating, and he’s dizzy with the knowledge that this beautiful, brilliant, downright edible woman actually wants him. Him, a mortal man of aliens and bad ties and a porn collection that’s gradually becoming least seventy-five percent redheads. A man without a bed.

Hence their Saturday morning pilgrimage to the shrine where all new couples journey to find furnishings, low prices, and themselves.

“So, we’re looking for one tall bookshelf, a locking filing cabinet, a bed, and two night tables,” Scully reads. She refolds the paper and reaches across him to tuck it back into his shirt pocket. “That’s clearly not all going to fit in this car,” she notes.

“I’ll get the bigger stuff delivered,” he says.

It’s only a twenty minute drive from Mulder’s place, and they have the air-conditioning on. Mulder is starting to relax; it’s been a long time since he’s had a partner, in the domestic sense, and he’d forgotten that it makes the mundane more bearable.

Scully clears her throat almost imperceptibly. “I’m proud of you, by the way.”

“Really? Why?” Mulder asks.

“You managed to get rid of a lot of stuff,” she says, turning up the dial on the car’s air conditioner. “And organization is very clearly not your strong suit, so progress should be acknowledged and celebrated.”

“Yippee,” Mulder deadpans.

“You know, it’s odd; we’ve known each other for all these years and I never asked… why don’t you have a bed, Mulder?”

There it is, the question he knew would come up at some point. He clears his throat, grips the steering wheel a little tighter. “I, uh… I lived with someone, around ‘91. Another agent, actually. We were together for a while, and then one day she took some assignment in Europe and that was that. I got rid of everything that was hers, and that, uh, included the bed.” Technically our bed, he thinks. He winces. He’s never talked to Scully about Diana before, and he wonders if she’ll be upset that he was withholding such a large piece of personal information.

Scully is quiet. “I’m sorry,” she says softly. “That’s… I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry I never mentioned it,” Mulder says. “It’s not like it’s some big painful secret. I just… don’t really think about her anymore.”

“It’s alright,” Scully says. “I think it’s best for these kinds of things to come up naturally. And… I was dating someone when we met,” Scully confesses. “We broke up as soon as I got back from Bellefleur.”

Mulder looks at her quickly. “Really? Why?”

She furrows her brow. “Multiple reasons, but primarily I realized that this job, my assignment, was bigger than I’d anticipated. And the things you and I went through together, the things I’d seen… when I was honest with myself, I didn’t want to be tied down to him. To have to go home and have this man ask me how my day was, as though he could ever understand even half of what we do.”

“So you chose the job over him,” Mulder muses.

“In essence… I chose you,” Scully points out. “Whether I knew it then or not. I’d never be able to turn my back on you.”

Mulder exhales slowly. He’s strangely moved.

“Take a left at the next light,” Scully prompts softly. “And yes, I do realize the irony in breaking things off with a man because of his normalcy, only to continue trying to date so-called ‘normal’ men.”

Mulder shrugs. “No, it makes sense. Maybe he just wasn’t right for you, but the next normal guy could be, right?”

“Right,” Scully sighs. “Einstein’s definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.”

“I’ve been led to believe that being with me is another type of insanity,” Mulder points out. “And objectively, I can’t disagree.”

“You do make me crazy,” Scully agrees, voice low. “But that’s not always a bad thing.” He feels her small hand squeeze his thigh. “And I fully intend to return the favor.”

Mulder lets out a quiet groan, hands sweaty on the steering wheel. “You planning on giving me some roadside assistance, Agent Scully? Because I’m gonna need it if you keep doing that.”

She removes her hand, tucks her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t do anything,” she says innocently.

“Uh huh.” He pulls into the IKEA parking lot. “Well, we’re here. You ready?”

“As ready as a person can be for a labyrinthian furniture store on a muggy Saturday,” she replies.

-

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Mulder says from his spot on the bedroom floor, surrounded by scattered pieces of a ‘HOLLEBY’ bedside table. “These instructions are useless and-” he flips through the booklet, “-thirty-two pages long, Jesus.”

Scully doesn’t respond; her eyes are glued to her own manual as she assembles a drawer from the second of the two nightstands. “Shh,” she hushes him softly. “I’m concentrating.”

“How have you managed to put any of these pieces together?” he asks, scooting across the floor to her. “There aren’t even words, just vague illustrations.”

She has a screw between her lips as she lines up two of the wood pieces. “I took wood shop in high school,” she says around the metal pin. She removes it and inserts it into a pre-drilled hole. “I guess that was some kind of preparation for assembling flatpack furniture?”

“That’s adorable,” Mulder says, rising to open a window. The room is stuffy with the day’s heat, and his t-shirt is glued to his back. “Do you still have any of the things you made in class?”

“The step stool in my kitchen,” she replies. “And my mom might have some things I’ve forgotten about.”

He casually strips off his sweaty t-shirt and tosses it in the laundry basket. “Remind me to look at that stool the next time we’re at your place,” he says. “Also I’m gonna order a pizza, you interested?”

Scully looks up at him then and is seemingly surprised by the absence of his shirt. “It’s hot in here,” Mulder explains, almost defensive.

“Oh, I’m not complaining,” Scully says, eyes shamelessly traveling his torso. “And I’m always interested.”

“Are we still talking about pizza here, or…”

“Make my half one with everything, please,” she says, attention returning to her project.

“Wait a minute,” he says, dropping to his knees next to her on the carpet. “I’m not done here.” He leans in and presses his mouth to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, tasting the salt on her skin. How she can still smell so good on a sticky June day, he doesn’t know; but he wants to lick her entire body.

“Mulder,” she sighs, putting down her screwdriver, “You’re distracting me.”

“That’s the idea,” he says, lips wandering up her neck and behind her ear. He flicks his tongue against her earlobe. “Forget the furniture, honey,” he says, all hot breath and lust. “We don’t need it for what I have in mind.”

Suddenly she’s facing him, looping her arms around his neck. “I’m doing this for you,” she purrs. “Do you think I like putting together IKEA furniture? No one likes it, Mulder. It’s like a multidimensional jigsaw puzzle.”

He pulls her onto his lap. “Oh, but I think you do,” he says, nibbling her ear. “You like being capable Doctor Scully, in charge of things… showing me what those hands can do.”

She leans in, licking his full lower lip. “Not everything is about you, Mulder,” she says, pressing a scorching kiss to his mouth. “I’m just doing my coworker a favor.”

“Is that what they call this nowadays?” he asks, hands clasping her hips as she grinds down on his lap.

She shuts him up with a kiss, the furniture and pizza forgotten.

[teiasviago]

@silhouetteofacedar really popped off here ngl top 5 lines in a fic for sure (Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic)