#mimicsmusings

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector's Edition: S9, The Season of Secret Dad (Long Fics)

There will never be enough content to make up for the robbery of canon post S8-- parenthood and readjustment and healing for Mulder and Scully with their son, whether that has a Conspiracy attached to it or not. These fics try to bridge that gap (and shoutout to @welsharcher's coining of the phrase "Season of Secret Dad".)

These might be repeats from other lists; but I wanted to be thorough~.

**Note**: Will ghost edit later~.

Loose chronological order below~

Fics Where Mulder Stays

MissAnnThropic's Not the Same

""Awww..." Lela made the tight sound of womanly adoration, "you have a baby? Do you have a picture of him?"

Mulder flashed her a bright smile a moment, his expression saying as clear as anything 'of course I do, I'm a new father, aren't I?' and he reached into his back pocket and withdrew his wallet....

Tom leaned over to look and Miranda leaned over him to see the picture too.

It was a picture of a very small baby on his back, a stuffed green alien toy in his hand's limp grip as it rested against his belly. Tom smiled at that, despite his earlier attitude toward Fox Mulder and the whole little green men business.""

Colton is floored by how much Fox Mulder has matured.

Tess's (Ao3) The New Truth, A Project 09x00

""Startled, Scully's eyes popped open. She had been enjoying the quiet coziness of the day; tucked into the apartment with the two people she loved most in the world while rain tapped in a steady beat against the windows. She felt Mulder's steady gaze, even as she steadfastly refused to meet it and she knew that the time of living in a world of 'let's pretend' had just come to a crashing end.

"These last few weeks of being a normal little family have been wonderful," Mulder said softly. "But, Scully..." he scooted across the cushions and leaned into her side. "We're not normal people.""

Mulder and Scully have a tough conversation weighing all their options. He's not leaving; but Scully will have to return to the FBI parttime to keep its resources at their fingertips.

Lapsed_Scholar's Season 9 Rewrites and Musings

MASTERFUL fill-in series: Mulder is a stay-at-home dad during the entire events of S9. Love this to death. Below are the reworked episodes:

A Devil's Office

""Monica nodded, and they sat in contemplative silence for a few moments, before Mulder broke it.

“You know, he looks like my sister.”

She looked up—he was looking down at William again. She couldn’t see his expression, but his voice was soft and tender, full of wonder and tinged with nostalgia. Fox Mulder the man was turning out to be a very different entity from Spooky Mulder the legend.

“His eyes are hers—Dana’s, I mean—but... Maybe my mother would have told you that he looks like me, I don’t know; I never saw myself as a baby. But I remember how my sister looked. It was thirty-five years ago, but I still remember looking down at her in amazement when my parents brought her home....”

Mulder looked back down at William, ran his finger along his son’s cheek.""

Mulder is settling into stay-at-home parenthood, overcoming his feelings of uselessness with a very contented baby... and finally giving in to a consultation request from John Doggett.

Dispatches

""Hey, Scully. You’re interrupting a monumental construction project. It’s the tallest tower of blocks yet built by man.”

“Mmhm. And what is William doing while you’re assembling this feat of modern engineering?”

“I’ll have you know this is a joint project. William is...in charge of grabbing the construction material and sticking it in his mouth.""

A dialogue only piece (but it's one of my absolute favorites) featuring a VERY ticked off Scully fuming over a pain-in-her-side bug doctor and a VERY amused Mulder having a blast sympathizing and egging her on.

Semper Fi

""Speaking of... A familiar form flops itself into the chair next to his. He honestly should have expected this.

“Fancy meeting you here, sir.” Fox Mulder has a peculiar way of delivering inane pleasantries. His expression and tone are bland enough to pass scrutiny, but something in his bearing always implies that a lively mind is humming away under the surface.""

Scully rants to Mulder about Kersh purposefully interfering in Reyes and Skinner's attempts to bring Doggett home. He's on the case.

Denial

""She calls home because she needs a break from the existential, or maybe because she needs another opinion on it. She sits in the hospital cafeteria and leans her head against a window.

She asks Mulder for stories of William, and because they are who they are, he innately understands why she’s asking and indulges her thoroughly."" 

Mulder understands that Scully is denying her gut; and convinces her to look deeper into Doggett's claims that Reyes isn't dead.

Extreme Probabilities

""The two of them might have made an impressive pair of dashing FBI agents for that Bureau recruiting pamphlet, except they both looked bedraggled. John clearly hadn’t slept in awhile. He had dark circles under red eyes and the look of exhausted intensity that comes from staring at evidence for too long. His suit was wrinkled and rumpled, and there was a coffee stain on his shirt. Mulder had clearly been asleep not too long ago. His hair was sleep-mussed, and he was wearing what he usually wore to bed (an undershirt and lounge pants) coupled with running shoes and a holster. His serious and tense expression made for a marked contrast with the ridiculous outfit.

Reality usually is quite different from the pamphlet.""

Mulder doesn't believe in numerology; but he does gets pulled into this crack case about God and Burt Reynolds anyway.

A Quiet Friday Evening

""The phone rings. Scully frowns.

“That must be the sheriff. Here, Mulder, hold this open and keep the abdominal wall spread.” She hands him the salad tongs before he can ask if maybe he can answer the phone instead. He stares after her in speechless misery.

He is going to buy new kitchen utensils. They are throwing all of these away, and absolutely nothing Scully can say about boiling water or exceedingly high temperatures or using the autoclave at work will convince him otherwise.""

Mulder gets roped into a cat autopsy. Yes, it's gold.

Valor (Discretion)

""You’ve had a lot going on lately, Mulder,” Frohike gestured toward the baby. He also meant to include, of course, the whole abduction-death-and-resurrection ordeal. Most of the people who loved Mulder didn’t want to reference it directly, so, despite how centrally traumatic it was, it predominately remained in alluded subtext. “We didn’t think our problems should add to yours.”

Mulder stared for a moment. He had the audacity to look hurt. “I thought we were friends. If you have problems this serious—especially ones I can help you solve—I want to know about them. After all you’ve done for me—all you’ve done for Scully—how could you not tell me when you needed help?""

A biohazard, TLG running around like chickens, Morris Fletcher... and Mulder insisting his friends call the authorities and act rationally.

Catastrophe

""He didn’t have to wait for long. About five minutes after he had arrived, the doors to the elevator slid open, and Mulder emerged, maneuvering a stroller carefully over the gap between elevator and floor. His eyebrows raised fractionally with surprise when he saw John, but he otherwise kept his composure. John studied him. He was looking better these days, although he still had a slightly uneasy air about him, a man who wasn’t fully confident of his place in the world, not entirely grounded. But he was clearly trying, and he looked more at home in his own skin than John had ever seen him. At this moment, in fact, he appeared steadier than John felt.

“Agent Doggett,” greeted Mulder, quietly, once he had reached the apartment door. John glanced down into the stroller; William was peacefully asleep, his head turned to the side and his mouth moving occasionally in the phantom nursing of sleeping infants."" 

Doggett asks Mulder to write a profile on his son's killer, while Scully is there to support her partner after he gets sucked into the brutal randomness of the crime. The rest of the fic winds up to her disappearance while on a case Mulder asked her not work on: postpartum depression, Mulder's feelings of displacement in her life, and unfinished conversations between them. (Unfinished fic.)

Jenna Tooms/misslucyjane’s (Ao3, mulderscreek)

An Acceptable Level of Happiness (Site)

""Sunday afternoon I spread an old sheet on the kitchen floor and tie a dishtowel around Mulder's neck. He sits stiffly in the kitchen chair, his eyes on Malcolm. "Warn me," he says, his hands clenching.

"I know." I run my fingers through his hair, combing it out. I never start cutting right away. First I rub his temples and massage his scalp with my fingertips, trying to soothe him until his eyes close. I rub the base of his neck and his shoulders too, trying to reassure him that nothing's going to hurt him here. He often says he'd know my hands anywhere.

"I'm picking up the scissors now," I say when he's relaxed. He acknowledges this with a grunt, his head tilted forward....

I keep one hand in his hair as I trim it, scraping my nails lightly against his scalp. There is one scar on his head and every time my fingertips pass over it my hands tremble. They cut him open everywhere.""

Mulder and Scully are struggling with their separate PTSDs but willing to stick it out, thick or thin. She processes most of her emotions and draws closer to her partner at the Scully family Christmas; and he gets to meet Charlie and feel like a human again.

ML/ML_is_me’s (Ao3, Gossamer, DW, Invidiosa)  

Project:TruthSeekers Alt Season Nine: Home Fires, Part One (Goss)

Project:TruthSeekers Alt Season Nine: Home Fires, Part Two (Goss)

""Mulder had the door open before she got there, holding a squalling William in his arms. He raised his eyebrows at her slightly.

"Sorry," Scully said. "You got my message, didn't you?" She set the groceries down on the kitchen table, pushing aside an array of toys and teething rings to do so. She could see what kind of day her men had.

"Yeah," Mulder said. "I was here, I just couldn't get Limpet Boy to let go so I could answer the phone.""

Mulder is a stay-at-home dad battling the Conspiracy. Scully and their new partner get a call and drop-in from Phoebe, who is relatives with a higher-up in the Syndicate.

155 Words - Thankful

""Not long ago, he discovered that all he cared about had been pared down to a few essentials, and it wasn't hard to leave the rest behind.

Perhaps dying and returning is responsible for such clarity; but he hasn't analyzed it.""

Mulder marvels that Scully tracked him down with a baby in tow.

maybeamandaxffics/maybe_amanda/MaybeAmanda's (LJ)

Chataqalan - 1

Chataqalan - 2 (Goss)

Chataqalan - 3

""Who was that?" Mulder asked.

"Monica."

"Reyes? What's she doing there?"

"No one is quite sure," Scully said, settling herself on the bunk. "Least of all her."

There was a brief pause. "Excuse me?

"She asked if you could call John about her boots."

Another pause, this one a little longer. "I'm supposed to make a booty-call to John Doggett?""

Scully and Reyes team up on an investigation in Mexico: while Scully catches Mulder up on suspicious connections to Russians and Tunguska, Monica meets a possible love interest and starts to notice weird, suspicious activities from some of the other workers.

Under Construction (Goss)

""Then I got the arms. The *pick-me-up* arms. The *you're-my-dad- and-the-toes-of-my-tiny-little-Reeboks-belong-in-your-abs-pick-me-up* arms. I shouldn't hesitate - I shouldn't have to hesitate - but I always do. Anytime Scully noticed, she tried hard to look like she was trying hard not to look pained, but I saw it, anyway. It wasn't that I didn't want to hold William - hold my son. It was just that, every time I reached for him, for an instant I was sure my arms were going to pass right through him and I'd find myself passed out on the cold cement floor of my cell again, clutching my chest and aching for all I'd lost. If the price I had to pay to keep this dream up and running was never really holding it, I was prepared to accept that.

But William wasn't. "Up!" he insisted, so I accommodated.

He was solid. Real. I'm his dad. His toes do belong in my abs.

I kissed his forehead. Why isn't everything this simple?""

Mulder is returned with muddled memories of S8/S9 events, a truckload of PTSD, and a boatload of feeling that he's in everyone's way. Will already loves him; but Maggie hates his guts, and Scully isn't ready yet to smooth over that problem. And, Mulder finds out, everyone had been matchmaking her with Ellen's brother-in-law.

jeri's (MC) Ahonis (MC)

""Oh sure, Mulder could come by the office anytime and visit. Doggett often asked Scully to bring Mulder and William along on lunch breaks, or just have them drop in for a change of pace. But both Scully and Mulder felt it was best if he and the baby stayed clear of the FBI; Kersh may have left the Bureau, but he was still out there, reporting to someone. There was no guarantee that the new Deputy Director wasn't just as dirty as Kersh was.""

Doggett and Reyes work on bustin' a case that has connections to Marita Covarrubias. Mulder is only mentioned by Scully as a stay-at-home dad here and there.

@aloysiavirgata's (Ao3, WBM, Gossamer, LJ, Alt. LJ)

By Falling In and In

LiveJournal 2

LiveJournal 3

LiveJournal 4

LiveJournal 5

""Mulder sprawls across the black leather sofa in what is shortly to be his new home office. "It's so good to see you," he tells it. "We'll never be parted again."

"A boy and his couch. It's like a Norman Rockwell painting," Scully says, setting down a cardboard box on the desk. She picks up a container of fish food and taps a few flakes into the aquarium which is, for now, resting on the desk.

"She's just jealous," Mulder murmurs to the armrest. "She doesn't understand our love.""

These fics focus on Mulder and Scully parenting their magically-abled child in the leadup to an, unfortunately, successful Colonization (though the latter isn't the series' focus.) For my personal reading I skip part one and enjoy the rest of it (because Mulder running off to Mexico still makes me mad); but that's how I read everything, so it's nothing against this series.

A Heart of Star

""Mulder secures the baby into his bouncer seat on the dining room table, passing him a rubber duck to gnaw on. He then spreads his files out across the table, an assortment of highlighters next to him in a cup. He taps his chin with a pencil.

“Your mother says this is the result of clever editing, but I think we have pretty clear evidence of a ghostly apparition. There’s no sign of the film being altered. I mean, look at this. Mama is out of her mind.” Mulder holds a series of stills up for William to peruse.

“Ma,” yells William, reaching for the paper. “Mamamamamama!”

Mulder scowls. “I can’t believe you’re taking her side.""

Mulder's bonding moments with his growin' boy.

Elysium

""This is so cool,” William breathes, gripping the steering wheel.

Scully smiles, promising herself she will be calm even as she half-wishes he were still in a car seat.

“You wanna say the rosary first?” Mulder pipes up from the back seat. “To Our Blessed Lady of Brake Pads?”

“Daaaaaad,” William says. “I am a licensed driver now. I am a master of my craft.""

Scully's bonding moments with her miracle (and Mulder.)

mimicsmusings/mimic117's (Lost and Found)

Chip Off The Old Block 03 - Veracity

Chip Off The Old Block 04

""Hey, Charlie. Taste this."

Charles Scully cast a dubious eye on the bubbling mass of ham, beans and spices in the pot on the stove. He reared his head back, away from the spoon being poked toward his face.

"It smells fine, Mulder. Why don't you taste it yourself?"

The spoon followed his retreat at mouth level.

"I never taste while I'm cooking. How do you think I keep my girlish figure?""

Turns out, Will's magic baby powers are all in the family-- and not Mulder's. Charlie is telekinetic, too; and Maggie knew about it the whole time. (Bill is also here, and annoyed.)

Malibusunset's Terra Firma

""William plopped down onto the kitchen tiles in a seated position and stared after Mulder with a frown on his face.  Then he picked up his bottle in one hand, crawled a few feet awkwardly, then sat back down, tilted his head back, and plugged the bottle back in. He sucked voraciously and stared up at Mulder as if to say, "I can't do both, so I'm just gonna hang out here and eat instead."

"Right," said Mulder, bending down to a kneeling position. "How about you concentrate on transporting yourself and the bottle can catch a ride on the tray." William trustingly relinquished the bottle and Mulder placed it on the tray next to the orange juice and continued on. William followed eagerly on all fours. When he got to the stairs that led to the second floor, Mulder stopped and extended his arm down to his son.

"Will, UP," he said, offering his left arm while balancing the tray with his right. William pulled himself up on Mulder's leg, clutching handfuls of his pajama pants. Mulder lifted him like a sack of potatoes and hauled the baby and the tray up the stairs. Cooking breakfast with a baby wasn't for wimps.""

Mulder and Scully patch their lives together as new parents, buying a home, getting engaged, and expecting a second baby. The nuances of parenthood for a driven workaholic Scully and a stay-at-home writer-and-once-out-of-town consultant Mulder weave up and down; and is an entertaining read. (The way I read: Parts 1, 2, the first third of 3-- skipping the plotline-- then Parts 4... onward?) Notable moment: I particularly remember Mulder unable to speak after Scully's pregnancy announcement-- in Part 3-- because I was struck with how strikingly Mulder that is.

dlynn's Scully, NORAD called

""Mulder grabbed one of the pillows beneath his head and swatted Scully. When he reached to get his pillow back, Scully plopped the feathered cushion underneath her arms and glanced between her two men: Mulder, all rumpled and lanky, lying across the faded quilt -- his shirt untucked and sloppy, his jeans stained where Will's hands had wiped worm guts on his father's pants. Mulder's bare feet slid against each other as he rubbed the mosquito bites he'd accumulated last night fishing off the pier with their son. Will, the spitting image of his father, from the way he said, 'Oh, Mom' in the same plaintive voice that Mulder whined 'Sculleee' to the way he spit sunflower seeds with all the finesse of a pro, lay curled on his side, butted up against Mulder's chest. His wet hair stuck up like he'd been hacked with a wild weedwacker. Definitely, a Scully- Mulder.""

A Mulder family moment of bee stings and bedtime stories is interrupted by a call for him to hit the road for necessary Colonization-prevention work. Will knows he'll always be back.

thextruth's Our Next Path

""If someone had told Fox William Mulder that he would marry Dana Katherine Scully and that he would have two children with her. He wouldn’t have believed it, he never saw himself as a normal man, much less as a family man, but that's something that he wouldn’t change for anything in the world, his family is all his happiness, and see Scully give a kiss to that little one who is half her and half him, is always surreal, after all, he is a simple man who loves those little daily moments that fill his whole life."" 

This long fic is a series of family fluff-- the type with nothing but cozy family drama, a couple kids, and a twinkling happily-ever-after.

Mulder Left but Scully Joined Him

 touchstonea’s

Amor Fati: Destinata (The Fated Love), Act One: Desiderium (The Longing)

Amor Fati: Destinata (The Fated Love), Act Two: Et Perierat et Inventus Est (The Lost and the Found)

Amor Fati: The Fated Love, Act Three: Tres Discendens (The Leaving of the Three)

""From the other side of the connecting door, a complicated sequence of long and short knocks.  T…R…U…S…T…N…O…1…pause.  Mulder.  Or…

Taking a deep breath, Scully raised her fist again, and her knuckles tapped out her own sequence.   O…B…F…U…S…C…A…T…E…pause.  She turned the lock on the door and stepped back.

Holding her gun at the ready, she listened to the muffled sounds as the door on the far side opening slightly… then a little more.  It creaked.  She held her position, not sparing a glance at Will behind her on the bed.

Another breathless moment, and she was watching her knob turn, ever so slowly."" 

This epic diverges from canon after William was rescued from his kidnapping. Part 1 focuses on Scully's long, conflicted back-and-forth plans with TLG, Skinner, Doggett, and Reyes before she hits the road to reunite with Mulder. Part 2 is her journey and reunion: Mulder's fierce love and devotion, Will's uncanny abilities saving their hides, and reconnection while constantly being tagged and tailed by the Conspiracy. Part 3 kicks it up a notch: Scully insists they address Mulder's abduction PTSD and rescue other Super Soldier victims, barely escaping the Alien Bounty Hunter, and stumbling into Gibson's coalition in the woods with an alien faction. (This author writes spectacular and well-thought out logical connections that weave the misshapen mytharc back together.)

Revely's Unfinished Universe (Goss)

""They have a private evening ritual - nose to nose on the bed they practice telepathic communication.

Scully disappears into the motel bathroom for their soft-shelled display of male bonding, shutting the door behind her with aggravating finality - boys' side, girl's side. Mulder immediately stops casting out brain waves and begins to wonder what she's doing in there. She's awfully quiet. The baby just dozes and tries to nurse Mulder's nose until he manages to work one of his fists into his mouth.""

Does this count? Mulder is returned after Will is born; and Scully drives her son out to him. The three reconnect in gentle fits-and-starts on the long journey back. (LOVE this-- one of the first fics I'd ever read; and still a favorite.)

Gillian Leigh's (MC) Visitor in the Desert (MC)

""You have no other proof?" he asked, seemingly disappointed.

"No," she said, quietly.

"I'm supposed to take the word of a total stranger as the Gospel Truth?" he asked, almost mockingly. "I'm sorry, Rhiannon. But in my line of work, I've learned not to trust people." Rhiannon's eyes filled with tears again, and she looked down at her hands before speaking again.

"If you don't stop Scully from giving William up from adoption, I am an example of what will become of every human being on this planet," she said, calmly. "I may look like a human being on the exterior, but I am thirty- three and one-third percent alien.""

Mulder gets a vision while hiding out in the desert-- a girl from the future warns him against Scully adopting out William. He rushes back, reclaims his family, and drags them all (and friends) to an underground bunker civilization preparing for Colonization-- where he finds not only Scully's brothers, but also Samantha. The girl in his vision keeps appearing to him, and is eventually revealed to his daughter.

Honorable Mentions

@we-mad-guys’s forgetting the future

Skinner, TLG, and the Scullys take turns caring for Will when his parents are forced to work out of town secretly on anti-Colonization measures. (Love this fic; but I already included it in my Dad!Mulder sports fics.)

WordsSpillFromMyOpenVeins_89’s Weekend At Martha’s Vineyard

A vacation at the Vineyard for Mulder, Scully, their son, and his dog (which leads up to a proposal.)

Beduini/beduini's Hurricane Season

Not a favorite, but it fits the bill. Featuring unresolved tensions and PTSD crackling between new parents Mulder and Scully and among the Scully family at large, this fic explodes with mess and tensions every chapter or so, forcing everyone to get along in the midst of a sudden hurricane.

AND~ my previous Dad!Mulder fic lists here--

S9 Mulder Stays or Returns While the Mytharc Barrels On  

Fics That Fit My Niche “Dad!Mulder” Likes 

MORE Fics That Fit My Niche “Dad!Mulder” Likes

Dad!Mulder, His “Mini Me"s, and Sports 

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!