#the fbi wants to silence me because i know the truth

[hawkeyeslaughter]

burdened with forbidden knowledge that hawk would chomp jolly ranchers . the swamp would be completely silent ( for once ) and there’d be a loud cracking sound from hawk’s bunk and gleeful giggling while charles berates him for doing it

[certaimromance]

𝜗𝜚 You Says.

Post prison Reid x Reporter!reader

Read part one here!

Summary: After a rough night and some misunderstandings, Spencer needs to do everything he can to make things right with you and get his relationship back on track. The problem is, things aren't so easy for you, and he's willing to do anything you ask, even take care of you when no one else will.

Words: 3,1k.

Warnings & Tags: mentions of crime and trauma. fem!reader. angst+comfort. reader gets sick (nothing serious, just a normal cold). second chance yep. english isn't my first language (sorry for my mistakes, be kind please).

Note: Ok, I didn't think of doing a second part before, but reading my own work made me so sad😭 the cat deserves happy parents (we are the cat) but I warn you that I do not believe in magic apologies.

I. I Love You, I’m Sorry.

Spencer had been losing his mind since the last time he saw you in person, and it was all his fault. From the moment the door to his apartment closed behind you and the oven beeped, he began to feel the broken pieces of his heart that you had once held together unravel and shatter even more. He hated himself for letting his insecurities get in the way of the one good thing he had managed to have over the past few years, and for pushing you away when you didn't want to. You had been his exception among all the bad things that had happened in his life for as long as he could remember, the only one that didn't seem to want to be temporary and left him when he least expected it. And he himself had forced you out of his life, even when you didn't want to, begging him with tear-filled eyes for a little remorse that he didn't give you.

Just a few hours after the incident, he tried to go to work as if nothing had happened to clean up the mess the leak had made and put the killer in jail. He brought Penelope the promised cookies and your computer for her to examine because it felt right at the time. Part of him needed her to find real proof of your betrayal so he could stop feeling bad about making you cry and saying such ugly things to you.

Then he found out that you were telling the truth and that your computer contained nothing but photos of the two of you, all the articles he had ever written or been mentioned in your searches, and a few writings in which you poured out all your love for him in the cheesiest and most poetic way possible. You loved him, you really did, and there was no evidence to the contrary, because even Garcia could later assure him that the information had come anonymously and had been bought for five hundred dollars. But it was too late, because he had given you a conviction without even knowing it.

That's when he started to fixate on making amends for what he'd done. Every time you left work, bouquets of your favorite flowers with notes asking for forgiveness and wishing you a good night began to appear in your car. He also made a point of stopping by to talk to you and repeat how sorry he was. You knew this would happen when he realized his mistake. You had told him before you left, and that's why you refused to see him. It was good that the security guards at your workplace didn't let him in, even with his FBI credentials. The tricky part was your building because the doorman already knew him and let him in normally thanks to the excuses Spencer made up, even though you said a thousand times that he shouldn't have.

And that was happening again, for the fifth or sixth time in the last few days.

“Please, just let me talk to you and tell you how sorry I am. Listen to me for a moment.” You could hear Reid's voice from the other side of the door.

You didn't say anything. You just sat with your back against the door and one hand on your heart, as if you were trying to hold it. It didn't even cross your mind that he was in the same situation.

“Just a few minutes, please."

Once more, you remained silent.

Silence was the worst answer someone could give. You knew it, and it hurt to have to do it with him. But you had no choice because you knew that by looking into his eyes for just a few seconds, all the bad things would dissipate and maybe you would even forgive him without thinking just because of the love you had for him. You didn't like being this vulnerable and having so many feelings for someone who didn't trust you.

Lately, you've been spending every waking moment wondering what you could have done to make him believe that you were really capable of betraying him in such a cruel and selfish way. You were the one who woke up in the middle of the night to try to comfort him every time he had a nightmare or couldn't sleep. You drove to his apartment no matter what time it was to make sure he was okay. You lost your breath repeating that he was safe with you. You drank many cups of coffee the next day so you wouldn't fall asleep on the job every time the situation repeated itself. That's why you started sleeping in his apartment, wrapped in his arms because he said it made him happy to wake up and see you. And even with all that, Spencer was able to believe that you didn't love him.

You were running your hands through your hair and sighing, trying to block out all the thoughts running through your head, when you heard his phone ring. You could tell it was important by the way he spoke and changed his tone of voice, so you got up from the floor at the same time he did to put your ear to the door.

“I really have to go now, but could you open up a little bit so I can take a quick look at you?” He asked in a pleading tone after hanging up the call. “Please, I know you can hear me. I can see the shadow of your feet under the door.”

You really thought he didn't know you were there, feeling like a fool for listening to every word he said.

“If you want to see me, turn on the TV.” Your voice finally reached Spencer, and it gave him a glimmer of hope. It was the first time you had spoken to him since that night, and even though there was a door between the two of you, you were talking to him.

“It's not enough.”

“And it's not my problem.”

That was more hurtful than your silence.

“I know, it's mine.” He replied after a couple of seconds, trying to process everything. “And I will do everything I can to fix it...I have to go now, but take care of yourself. The nights have been getting colder lately, so wrap up warm.”

You knew it was a bit silly to think of that now, but his attention to detail was impressive. Since you did the evening news, you used to get off work very late, and the change from air conditioning to the city cold was quite a lot. Spencer had cited scientific studies to you many times to make you aware and know what kind of clothing materials to use to avoid a cold. You missed that a lot.

If he had the same attitude as the night of the conflict, it would be easier. You could hate him and stop loving him so strongly.

“I love you, William misses you and so do I.”

You frowned because you didn't know anyone by that name.

“William?”

“Our cat.” He answered simply. “When we talked about how we would name him, you said that a lot of people name their pets after their favorite characters. You love the movie ‘Notting Hill’ and whenever we watch it, you always say you like Hugh Grant's character named William. It also means strong-willed warrior. I just thought you would like it.”

You didn't say anything at the time because you had to cover your hand with your mouth to keep from doing so, but you liked it and you liked it too much. Once again, he focused on the details.

“You can change it if you want because I don't know if he likes it, but what I do know is that he misses you. He lies on your blanket and starts meowing, and he also looks at the door. I certainly think that every time I come home he expects it to be you.” He kept talking as he received no response from you. “It sounds like I'm talking about myself. And it's true because it happens to me the same way.”

When he paused, a tear escaped and fell down your cheek. It wasn't fair for him to say those things now.

“If you want to see him and me not being there, you can send me a message...but I'd really like to be.” He paused again, as if searching for the perfect words.

What did it cost him to have searched for the perfect words the night he distrusted you?

“I must go, I love you.”

The last thing you heard before he left was Spencer's footsteps heading towards the elevator.

II. I Miss You, I’m Sorry.

Just two weeks later, you realized that maybe you should have listened to Spencer when he said the nights were getting too cold. If you had, now you probably wouldn't be lying on your bed with an unbearable flu and no one there to bring you soup or a cold washcloth for your forehead because your mother was taking too long to get to city.

When you were younger, you thought it was a great idea to get as far away from your hometown as possible. Now, however, you realize that you need a familiar face to take care of you because you can't do it alone all the time.

You felt a sense of relief when you heard the door to your apartment open.

“Mom? I'm really hungry and the soup is all gone.” You spoke in a tired tone as you heard footsteps approaching. But at that moment, you watched as the cat you shared with Reid jumped onto the bed and started purring at you.

You thought you were hallucinating from the fever until you saw Spencer walking into your room with a couple of bags.

“I know you were expecting your mother, but we brought you soup and medicine.” He said, sitting up in bed to look closely at you and put a hand on your forehead. “You're burning up.”

“What are you doing here?” You asked, trying to pull away from his touch.

“Your mother called me because she couldn't find a flight today and was very worried. She asked me to take care of you.”

Of course she did, because she adored him and didn't know that things were bad between you two.

“I don't need you to take care of me.” You barely settled into bed and petted the cat. “Go to work, make sure no one leaks information.”

Oh, that was a low blow for him.

“I asked for a few days off because you have a high fever and someone needs to take care of you.”

“You don't have to...”

“I want to.” He said, interrupting you and putting a cold cloth on your forehead.

“Just because you're looking out for me doesn't mean I'm going to forget everything and forgive you.” You clarified right away, trying not to lose focus because of the relief you felt thanks to the cold compress.

“I know, and I don't expect you to. Just let me take care of you now, forget you hate me until you get better. I won't take advantage of this, I swear.” He looked at you with a serious gaze, as if he were swearing an oath. “Please.”

God, not puppy dog eyes now.

You used to love it when he looked at you with those sparkling eyes. Now, though, you felt manipulated by it.

“Fine, give me the soup.” You finally agreed, knowing you didn't have much of a choice. “Just a warning, please don't answer any calls near me. I can listen in and use the information to hire a nurse.”

He ignored the comment and didn't bring it up to make you uncomfortable. He sat on the edge of the bed, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. His touch was light, and his eyes searched yours as he spoke.

“Is there anything else besides soup I can bring you? More tissues, or maybe some medicine?” He asked in a soft, soothing voice.

You shook your head, still a bit dazed by the situation and your stomach rumbling. You watched as Spencer disappeared into the kitchen, and you could hear his footsteps echoing throughout the house, followed by the clatter of pots and pans and the sound of the stove being turned on. You could only lie back on your bed, feeling a wave of tiredness wash over you.

A few minutes later, he came back with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and sat down next to you on the bed, being careful not to spill anything.

“Are you planning to feed me soup?” You asked, with a hint of irony in your voice, as you watched me hold the spoon and watch you.

“If you wish, I'll be happy to.” He replied simply and brought the spoon gently to your mouth.

“I'm not a baby.”

Especially not his baby.

“You hate me, I know. But I really want to take care of you, and I won't leave until at least your mother arrives.” He paused for a second, as if to catch his breath. “If you don't want me around, that's okay, I'll just sit in the corner of the room or in the living room in silence. It hurts, but I'll take whatever you want.”

You remained silent for several seconds, dedicating yourself to stroking the cat to avoid Spencer's gaze.

“I don't hate you.” Was the only thing you could say at the time.

Something inside you was expecting a more exaggerated reaction for letting your guard down a bit, or maybe you were just too feverish. The thing was, he had only given you a small, almost non-existent smile.

“I know.” He finally spoke and gently adjusted the cold compress on your forehead. “And that's why I hate myself.”

At that moment, while you were trying to make sense of how things had changed so much in just a week, he was watching you.

Spencer was waiting for you to explode, to tell him how sorry you were for getting involved with him and his complicated world, that it was all one big mistake that you would regret forever. He was expecting disaster, pain, tears, and a lot of chaos.

But you didn't give him any of that.

Just a sweet nothing.

He could tell at that moment that even though you were in a feverish state and had many reasons to be cruel, you would not be. He realized that you would never yell at him or do anything to hurt him, that the most painful thing you could give him was your silence. And it was then that he confirmed that you loved him the way he thought he did not deserve to be loved: honestly and genuinely.

“Why?” You whispered after a few minutes of silence. “Why are you with me if you don't trust me?”

“I trust you.” He looked you straight in the eye as he spoke, trying to show that he was being completely sincere. “I just don't trust myself.”

You frowned and let out a groan from the discomfort in your forehead. You weren't sure if you were hallucinating because of the cold or if Spencer was really shivering.

“I don't think I'm good enough for you, or deserve you, or that you love me because you want to.” He finally admitted, his voice slightly shaky. He seemed to be in a worse state than you. “It's silly because you've never given me a reason to distrust you.”

“I know you thought I was going to leave. But I didn't want to leave until you asked me to.” You were close to crying, so you pretended to sneeze to hide your watery eyes. You didn't want to show how vulnerable you were. “It was easier to distrust me and blame me like I was just another bad person you catch.”

“Yes, but...” He replied, trying to answer your question.

“Don't talk. It's my turn.”

He nodded after a few seconds, watching you with concern. “Just be careful, you're still sick.”

You already knew how sick you were and how deplorable you probably looked, but you wanted to say it all and stop feeling a lump in your throat.

“You say you trust me, but you really don't, and I've been trying to understand you for almost a year, Spencer. It's been eleven months of trying not to invade your space, avoiding topics that make you tense or your eyes glaze over.” You had to stop to catch your breath and drink some water with his help. “And you think I don't understand you or really know you, but I do. I know how all your dishes are arranged, I know how you like to fold clothes and eat toast, I know that chess reminds you of someone because your eyes get watery every time we see a board, I know about the book signed by Maeve that you hide in your closet and about which you tense up every time I'm near, I know about your nightmares about prison that you don't like to talk about, and about your mother's favorite colors that change every day. I know so much about you, and yet you think I know nothing.”

Once more, there was a long, quiet pause.

“I'm so sorry.” He held your hands as he repeated the same thing, this time with a truly sincere tone. The whole room was still tense as his knees touched the floor, and the apology he gave you seemed like a plea. “I'm really sorry. I know you don't want apologies, you want trust, and I'm going to show you that.”

You didn't say anything as he sat down next to you on the bed.

“I trust you, that's why I always tell you about my cases. And I will tell you about all my past, if you want, because for me you are my present and my future...of course, only if you still want to.”

The eyes of both of you were fixed on the cat you shared, who was purring and lying very comfortably in the middle of the bed. It was nice to know that at least one of the three of you was happy.

“Tell me.”

And just as you asked, he told you everything because he wanted to show you that he trusted you.

This time he really trusted.

[juniperskye]

Those Were Brand New!

Sneak peek: You and Hotch attend a wedding together – Not together, together…carpooling just made sense, right? Things between you change, resulting in a ripped pair of tights.

Aaron Hotchner x (Fem) FBI Reader

Smut/Fluff

Word count: 747

REQUESTS ARE OPEN - not edited, please be kind. Requests are open and feedback is welcome if it's constructive!

Warnings: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! My blog is 18+, minors DNI, no use of y/n, no physical description of reader other than she/her pronouns and female anatomy, explicit language, sexual themes, P in V sex, unprotected sex (Don’t do this!), sex on the kitchen counter, Let me know if I missed any!!!

I do not consent to having my work translated or reposted to any other site. That being said I do not own the characters portrayed in this story.

His eyes had been on you all evening, since the moment he picked you up for this wedding. You had left your apartment in the most beautiful deep green dress. The velvet rested just above your knees and beneath it, your legs were adorned in black lacy tights, your feet tucked gently into a pair of stilettos.

As the wedding festivities died down, the chill in the air had increased. You had drifted closer and closer to Aaron, trying to regain some of the warmth that had slipped away throughout the evening.

“Why don’t we go say goodnight to the happy couple? That way I can get you out of the cold.” He suggested.

“That sounds good!” You shivered.

--

Music was playing quietly, filling the otherwise silent vehicle. This happened a lot when you drove with Aaron, you’d fall into comfortable silence, only chatting when it was needed. Truth is, you were just so comfortable around one another.

“Thanks again for driving me Aaron, I really appreciate it.”

“Of course, sweetheart. Let me walk you up.” He offered.

You nodded in thanks, knowing it was no use arguing with him – he’s the most stubborn man you know.

--

“I uh, I had a really good time tonight. It was nice to see you let loose Aaron.” You teased.

“I had a great time too. I enjoyed spending time with you.” He returned.

You shared a look, only this one held more weight than usual…this gaze felt charged. Which you both must’ve realized because your lips quickly met in a heated kiss. Aaron had shifted the two of you, so your back was pressed against your door, his lips shifting to your neck, allowing you to fumble for your house key.

Once you had the door unlocked, Aaron’s lips found yours once again. He was gently leading you to your kitchen, only stopping when your ass met the edge of the counter. His hands dropped down to the back of your thighs, lifting you to sit on the edge of the counter.

“You look so beautiful.” Aaron breathed.

“So are you.” You gasped.

His hands slid under your dress, grasping your thighs, as his mouth moved to your neck, sucking harshly, sure to leave marks. A fact you couldn’t care less about in this moment.

“I have wanted this for so long.” You confessed.

“Me too sweetheart, and as much as I want to take this slow…I need you. You have to tell me if you want to stop.” Aaron was breathless.

“Don’t stop.”

Aaron’s hand moved further up your dress, his fingers gripping the material of your tights. Your head fell back, and his lips started their descent further toward your collar bones. The room was filled with the salacious sounds of his wet kisses and your hands ruffling his hair…until a tearing sound cut through the kitchen.

“Aaron! Those were brand new!” You gasped. Taking in the fact that Aaron had just ripped your tights open to give himself access to your soaked heat.

“I’ll buy you a new pair.”

One of his hands moved to toy with your center while the other pulled your sleeve down enough to expose your lace covered breasts. Aaron’s mouth closed around your pert nipple while his fingers circled your clit.

You brought your hands to the waistband of his slacks, pulling them open and releasing his throbbing cock and guiding it to your entrance.

You both understood that there would be another time for slow and sensual…but right now you were both desperate for this.

--

He thrust into you in one quick fluid motion, stealing the breath from your lungs. Aaron’s arms wrapped around you, one around your waist and the other reaching up to grip your shoulder as he pounded into you. Your body was leaned back against the counter, arching up into his embrace.

With every thrust, Aaron’s tip kissed your cervix, and you could feel your climax quickly approaching.

“Aaron I – I’m so…” You let out in short gasps.

“I know baby, let go for me.” He replied, kissing you once more.

After a few more thrusts, your orgasm ripped through you. In your hazy state, you could feel Aaron’s pace faulter, signaling how close he was.

“Fuck I…”

“Let go baby.”

With a final thrust, Aaron filled you. Collapsing onto you, allowing himself to relish in this moment with you, Aaron thought about all the exciting things a future with your would hold.

[hksdlgsyappage]

Autumn

Aaron hotchner x female reader

C: angst

Word count: 1.1k

Summary: Aaron Hotchner's dedication to his FBI work strains his relationship with his partner, who feels neglected and invisible.

Aaron Hotchner never seemed to stop. There were always cases to solve, lives to save, and people who needed him. But as much as he wanted to help the world, he was losing grip on the one thing that mattered most to him—the person sitting across from him in their dimly lit apartment.

She sat at the small kitchen table, her fingers absentmindedly tracing the rim of her coffee cup. Her eyes, which once sparkled with life and warmth, now felt distant, clouded by frustration. She knew who Aaron was—the man who was always there for everyone else, always putting the Bureau and its cases first—but she had never anticipated how that would make her feel like she was living in the shadows.

Aaron stood by the counter, his jacket still on, his tie loosely hanging from his neck. He had just come from another long day at the office, the weight of the day’s work heavy on his shoulders. His eyes were tired, his jaw clenched as though he was carrying the weight of the world. But when his gaze met hers, it was clear—he knew something was wrong. She had pulled away, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to reach her anymore.

“We need to talk,” Aaron said, his voice low, tinged with the exhaustion of a man who had been running on fumes for far too long.

She took a long breath and looked up, her lips tight. “We do,” she replied softly, the sadness in her voice evident. “But I don’t think either of us wants to hear it.”

Aaron furrowed his brow, stepping closer, his gaze softening. “Talk to me,” he urged, his hand resting on the table in front of her. "I can’t fix this if I don’t know what’s wrong."

She shook her head, her fingers still tracing the cup in a rhythmic pattern, almost like a nervous habit she’d developed. "You’re always fixing things, Aaron," she said quietly. "But you never fix us."

His heart tightened at her words, but he didn’t argue. He had always been good at fixing things—problems, cases, people—but when it came to his own life, it was as if the pieces never quite fit together. The team at the BAU needed him. His work consumed him. But what had that left for her? For them?

“I’m trying,” he said after a long pause, his voice cracking slightly. “I’m trying, but there’s always something else, something more urgent. I’m not trying to push you away. But I can’t stop, not when people need me.” She stood, a sudden movement, her eyes flashing with frustration. “And what about me, Aaron? Don’t I need you?” she asked, her voice rising, but not with anger—just hurt. “I know you love your job, but I’m here too, and I’m… I’m drowning.”

The words hit him like a punch to the gut, and for a moment, he just stood there, stunned. The truth had never been so sharp, so clear. He had been so absorbed in his work, in saving everyone else, that he hadn’t noticed how far apart they had drifted. “I didn’t mean to…” He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, because he knew the truth—he had meant to. He had meant to give more, but somehow the balance between work and love had always been skewed.

There was always another call, another case, another life that needed saving, but in the end, he had lost her. “Do you even see me anymore, Aaron?” Her voice cracked as she looked at him, her heart breaking in two. “Do you see how much I’ve changed? How much we’ve changed? You say you’re trying, but you’re not. You’re here, but you’re not really here.”

He wanted to say something, anything to make it better, but the words wouldn’t come. His mind raced through the days, the nights he’d stayed at work, the calls he had ignored, the moments he had promised to make up for later. Later had never come. And now she was slipping through his fingers.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, a mere breath against the thick silence. “I never meant for it to be like this. I never meant to make you feel invisible.” She shook her head slowly, the weight of it all too much to bear. “It’s not just about you apologizing, Aaron. It’s about what you’re doing with that apology. You keep saying you’re sorry, but you don’t change. You think that being sorry will fix everything, but sometimes that’s just not enough.”

He stepped forward, reaching for her, but she stepped back, her eyes filled with a mixture of love and sorrow that tore him apart. “I can’t keep waiting, Aaron. I can’t keep waiting for you to come home, for you to come back to me. You promised me once that we’d find a way, that we’d be a team. But I’m not in this alone anymore. I can’t be.”

Aaron’s chest tightened, his breath shallow. He didn’t want to lose her. He had never wanted that. He had promised to always be there for her, but somewhere along the way, the job had become a wall he couldn’t tear down. “I love you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I love you more than anything, but I don’t know how to do this… how to make it right.” She closed her eyes, her voice barely a whisper. “I love you too, Aaron. But I’m not sure I can keep waiting for you to see me. For us. Maybe this is where we stop trying.”

The words felt like a death sentence, a final blow he had never expected. It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other—it was the overwhelming reality that love alone couldn’t hold them together anymore. The cracks had formed, too deep to ignore, and no amount of apologies could fill them.

Aaron stood in silence as she walked to the door, her heart aching with every step. He wanted to stop her, to beg her to stay, but the truth was, he had been living in a lie—thinking that his love for her could somehow fill the emptiness created by his absence.

“I’ll always love you,” he said quietly, watching as she turned the handle. "But I can’t make you wait anymore."

She paused, her hand on the door, but she didn’t look back. The silence between them was deafening, and all that remained was the sound of her heart breaking.

And with that, she walked out the door.

Aaron stood there for what felt like hours, staring at the door she had just closed. The weight of his choices hung over him like a dark cloud, but the truth remained—he had been too busy saving the world to save the one thing that mattered most. Now, he was left with nothing but regret and the haunting question of when he had stopped seeing her.

[randomfoggytiger]

Fight the Future Hallway, In-Depth (Part I): "I Just Held You Back"

Mulder's head snaps up from his father's old photos when a knock raps at his door.

Scully opens the door, advancing slowly in, resolute in her decision but hesitant in her method of delivery. Her left hand twitches, her lips tighten, her expression remains muted and war torn. Already determined to aid him by leaving.

Mulder senses her weariness, senses her something else; and asks softly, "What's wrong?"

She responds flatly, unemotionally: "Salt Lake City, Utah. Transfer effective immediately." Punctuating her recital with a gulp.

Mulder looks away, annoyed at this obstacle, snide at the FBI's interference; then sits back in his chair, frustrated by what he believes to be her lack of faith and conviction. He begins fidgeting as that annoyance blooms into emotional turbulence.

Again unemotional, again flat, Scully says, "I already gave Skinner my letter of," looking up to admit, "resignation."

Mulder coils into himself, bending at the waist, voice slightly thickened with righteous anger and racing fear. "You can’t quit now, Scully," he insists, head down, not wanting to face her denial.  

Scully, unrelenting, hands him the truth-- as she believes it-- no matter how distasteful, knowing-- believing-- she is handing him the key to his success. To freedom. "I can, Mulder. It's done."

Looking down and closing her eyes briefly, she admits in self-deprecation (one eyebrow raised rebukingly at her cowardice), "I debated whether or not to even tell you in person, but--"

Escaping this reality, this moment, is no longer feasible: Mulder explodes, cutting her off, chin shaking with barely suppressed emotion: "We are close to something here--"

Because, for him, it's long since become "we."

He twists around in anger, furious that he has to explain himself to Scully, that she has seemingly lost faith in their mission. In him. But the mission is all that ties them-- all that Mulder has allowed to tie them-- so he grasps for that life preserver: "--we are on the verge--"

The first spark of life flickers in Scully: still too detached, too dispirited for complete frustration, she cuts him off. "You're on the verge." Pausing to close up her emotions once again, she begs, "Please don't do this to me, Mulder."

Mulder doesn't back down, bolting from his chair to pursue that brief acknowledgment of what is shared between them-- disguising his hope, again, in the language of the quest. "After what you saw last night-- after all you've seen-- you can just walk away?"

He's run away from his shakier, unsteadier emotions into familiar, though barbed, debate, believing he can prod her beyond her stubborn boundaries and back to his side.

This angle, unfortunately, only reinforces Scully's decision: leaving him because she's failed him, will continue to be a hindrance to him. Immovable, unflappable, and flat once again, she masks her expression into one of ease. Unable to maintain the facade for long, she looks to the side while halting through "I did. It's done."

Mulder cracks, throwing aside all pretense in a last desperate attempt: I need you on this, Scully." His way of repeating her plea back to her.

Scully shakes her head no before he’s even finished her name, continuing its hypnotic, robotic pivot as she softly refutes, "You don't need me, Mulder. You never have. I just held you back."

Mulder is shocked, horrified, struck dumb by her assumption-- a strikingly similar parallel to his silence in Never Again: her mind opened to him paralyzes him in inaction.

Scully takes his silence as confirmation of her words; and looks down, pretense gone, while she tries to think of any last words, fruitlessly smacking her lips.  

Realizing the wisdom of a quick departure, she flings "I gotta go" over her shoulder as she begins her retreat.

(Rob Bowman explains, "So she’s running because she’s afraid that he’s going to talk her out of it, and so the best thing she can do is hit the elevator button and go, go, go. She never makes it.")

So, she turns; so, she leaves.

Mulder watches her go, popping his hands on his hips, internally warring to stay back, to go after. Ultimately, he can't let her leave believing a lie, propelling himself forward on that truth alone.

Angry at his cowardice, worried and desperate by her exit, he barges through the door and into the hallway.

Scully is fleeing, was hoping to outpace Mulder before his second wind, doesn't flinch so much as brace herself when he yells "You wanna tell--" after down the hallway. She was expecting this last stand, but had hoped he wouldn't. Discouraged, she keeps walking-- she must flee, flee, flee.

"--yourself that--" immediately snags her attention; and the injustice of his claim-- that she isn't being torn apart by acting on the truth (or what she believes it is), for his sake-- finally provokes anger.

Scully pivots immediately, standing her ground and preparing to fight, seeing that Mulder won't let her go without one-- to his own, she believes, detriment.

"--so you can quit with a clear conscience, you can, but you’re wrong," he finishes, thundering up to her with conviction. He's made his decision and is prepared to tell her the truth. All of it.  

Scully’s veneer has cracked; and she is no longer willing to deal in careful terms to spare their feelings. The truth is the truth, and they both must live and die by it.

"Why did they assign me to you in the first place, Mulder?" she asks, searching his face, hoping he will relent and let her go.

Finding he won't, she continues, voice wavering: "To debunk your work." She pauses, shaking off the last of her apathy to save him-- at least once-- with the truth. She may have been used against Mulder all these years, but she can help him now, even to her own detriment. "To reign you in, to shut you down."

Mulder cuts through her pain, her fear, her fight with a tender, startling admission: "But you saved me."

The truth revealed.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s5 episode 1 thoughts

bouncing. bouncing up and down. off of the walls. this episode was SO good. thank you. everyone say thank you, chris carter. thank you for fainting scully, tomato lover scully, doctor scully, crying mulder, plotting mulder, breaking and entering mulder, and for skinner in general.

but back to who i was before yesterday... allow us to return to past juni.

it’s been 800 years… (and by that i mean a week and 2 days have passed since i last watched an episode)

we left off in a pretty… precarious position. so i’m interested to see where things go from here. and hopefully they will be less stressful.

but i’m so happy to be back! i swear once i finish this show i’ll have to quit my job. there will be nothing to get me through LMAO.

it sounds like mulder is going to do some breaking and entering… again, fork spotted in kitchen

how the HELL did he fake his own death… this is giving sherlock!!

god, hearing her voice trembling again as she talks about identifying his body… i did not need to relive this pain!!

so we go back to him crying and watching alien stuff on his couch the night before her big meeting

“an act of faith began with an ineloquent certainty that my journey promised the chance not just of understanding, but of recovery” <- oh… so he admits to the whole thing being about healing…

and he says that he hoped finding the truth would reunite him with his sister, which i KNOW he was thinking all along, but hearing him SAY IT is still devastating; the way he never actually said it aloud before was very impactful, and so is his decision to break that vow of silence

“a belief which i now know to be false and uninformed in the extreme” <- NOOO please do not give up my king… i do not entirely believe this kritshcgau fool

he’s sobbing. he's so pretty when he sobs even if it is sad.

“my folly revealed by facts which illuminate both my arrogance and self-deception” <- oh no… i wanted him to Realize he was being Like That... but not in this way…

so he picks up the gun, saying it would be easier to end this journey if the pain had just been his own… and oh my god......

but then the phone rings… and it’s kritshcgau? he’s trying to explain that he might have been followed after leaving his apartment, but mulder does not give a FUCK LMAO

he wants to know who this man is and if they really gave scully cancer because of him. understandable.

he’s looking around for bugs in his room as he is warned of what’s going on…. and he finds one on the ceiling!! and not the insect kind, the camera kind!!!

mulder finds someone upstairs watching him on camera and burning stuff, but then this mystery guy picks up his shotgun and shoots mulder??? maybe?? it’s hard to tell??? strategic cutoff??

(i assume it’s shotgun guy from before, but frankly i don’t remember what his face looked like, so. listen! a lot can happen in a week and two days)

ah, it feels so nice to be watching the intro again. nature is healing… and by nature i mean me.

scully gets home at midnight, checking her voicemail… she starts to get undressed for bed

“keep going, FBI woman” <- WHAT THE FUCK. 

IT’S MULDER??? she’s soooo GAGGED LMAOOO THE LOOK ON HER FACE???? i’m howling 

MULDER BABY YOU CANNOT JUST SAY THAT WHEN YOU BREAK INTO SOMEONE'S HOUSE. BAD BOY (sprays with water) (sprays with water) (sprays with-

“mulder? what are you doing? why are you sitting in my bedroom in the dark?” <- a VERY reasonable question!!!!

he says there’s a dead guy in his apartment. she’s had ENOUGH of his shenanigans, and he clarifies that he is NOT joking

he had been under surveillance for at least 2 months!!!!! that is freaky omggg… god only knows what they saw him doing

he says that he can’t talk to anyone at the bureau because this whole hoax leads back to the FBI!!!

HOLD ON PAUSE. WHY THE FUCK DOES SCULLY HAVE A POSTER OF DIFFERENT TOMATOES ON HER APARTMENT WALL. HOLD ON I’M FUCKING CRYING. STOP. THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY. oh my gooood. 

she saw a poster of tomatoes and said you know what? this would look FANTASTIC in my apartment. 

god, scully, you truly are the best character of all time. i had no idea you felt so strongly about the humble tomato. 

i cannot complain about anything else that happens in this episode, i’m out of breath from laughing. oh my god. this is gonna get me through so much. tomorrow i’m gonna go to work and a customer is gonna yell at me and i’m just gonna smile thinking about scully’s tomato poster.

i don’t even really remember what was happening. 

okay, right, so the guy whose apartment was above mulder’s, he was destroying records of himself calling the FBI. so who in the FBI was he calling?? and must it be the one who is behind all of this??

“i will not allow this treason to prosper- not if they’ve done this to you” he says <- OKAYYYY!!! protective man is in his protective mode 🔥 you truly do LOVE to see it. it’s almost as good as scully in doctor more but let’s be honest, nothing can ever beat that.

ohhh, he says they can lie back to them!!!! sneaky sneaky man... your fox-like nature is showing

so it was HIS IDEA to have her come and make the ID on his "body" even though it was false!!??

so she was ACTING in that meeting??? WAS SCULLY A THEATRE KID?? because she sold that for real!!!!

he’s going on about how he’s asking her to lie so they can find out who this enemy from within is….

scully runs into skinner after identifying the body, who asks if it’s true that mulder is really dead, and she lies, saying yes. he wants to know if she’s okay, and she pulls the “i don’t know what to say” card, which is entirely understandable.

he asks how she made the ID if he died from a shot to the head, so she says she saw him earlier that morning and he was wearing the same clothes. and there’s a look skinner has into the distance as he tries to determine how and why they would have seen each other before 6:30 am. like you could see the gears turning in his head as if he was saying omg, so they WERE together this whole time. it’s comical, in a way. 

which also leads me to wonder, well i’m no expert in these things, but if you know someone long enough, wouldn’t you recognize them even sans face? by body alone? 

he says he’s very sorry. and when she tries to leave he very sternly calls out “agent scully >:| section chief blah blah blah thinks you’re hiding stuff” (paraphrased obviously)

skinner looks SOOO suspicious of whatever she's plotting lmaooo. and he is right to be!

meanwhile, a very alive mulder is going to the department of defense to scout some advanced research using the dead guy’s ID!! ooooo high stakes, high stakes!!!! he's narrating that if they’re busted, they’re done for good!!

now scully is in the office with the section chief. and he’s talking about someone from the DOD giving her classified information. 

they ask her for information and she’s clearly hiding stuff…. but she identifies kritshcgau!!! omg i didn't think she was going to!!

uh oh… kritshcgau sees mulder in the DOD!! “hey! how’d you get in here?” “through the front door” <- lmao he can never be serious!!

kritshcgau tells mulder to come with him… is this a trap??? 

he’s gagged because that card gives mulder LEVEL FOUR CLEARANCE which i take is a BIG DEAL

yes, it is, because it would give him access to EVERYTHING!! even the thing he wants most of all… the cure for scully’s cancer!! you can see the tears forming in his eyes at the thought… oh man. ohhh mulder…

cancer man has burst into mulder’s apartment… now what are you doing here, you freak???

OHHHH he finds a photo of mulder and samantha on his desk when they were kids... ohhhh... my heart 😭😭😭😭😭

(there’s also some art on the wall of mulder's apartment that i can’t make the details out on. one piece seems to be some sort of pastoral scene with a sheep in it? and the other seems to be abstract. does anyone know what they are? i mean, it’s no tomato poster. but still)

CSM is actually crying seeing this photo and the blood he presumes to be mulder's on the carpet, and i don’t know if he feels genuine sadness or is just heartbroken his decades long alien colonization plan has been thwarted. honestly i do think he’s sad about mulder. he seemed to be in love with both mr. and mrs. mulder tbh, and that can do things to a guy. 

he finds the secret ceiling camera...

scully is in mulder’s office now, calling someone. she pulls out the phone number shotgun guy had been calling!! holly answers it and says she is so sorry to hear about what happened to mulder…. but scully has no time to talk about these things

who is this holly? how does she know scully? are they friends? i need the backstory.

scully… you are so beautiful…. holding this paper and calling holly on the phone, telling her when the calls were placed so she can track down who shotgun man called a million times…..

OH GOD!!! IT’S SKINNER’S EXTENSION!!!

scully looks devastated by this… but just as she begins to process it all, the scientist calls her back about the ice!! she has so much on her mind, please do not make her come look at some damn ice 😭

now, i do not believe that skinner is really behind all this. if he is involved at all, it is because he made that deal with CSM to try and save her... and maybe he was tricked, but he did NOT do it willingly!

kritshcgau and mulder are talking about level four, which apparently a place and not just a classification, and is home to medical facilities!! and vast quantities of DNA storage!! from every person who has ever given blood or tissue since ww2!!! 

damn that’s crazy. how tf would you even store all that?? it’s gotta be a warehouse.

he’s saying this is the hoax into which mulder was drawn…. the US fanned the flames of UFO stories to draw attention away from the whole “mutually assured destruction” thing, which, well, not sure how well that worked out 

OPPENHEIMER MENTIONED‼️him and that damn hat…

(actually still haven’t seen that movie btw. sorry i guess. idk. i’m busy)

KHRUSHCHEV APPEARS ‼️i love to see a familiar face from my textbooks in my TV programs. it's like a crossover event.

kritshcgau says the business of america isn’t business at all, it’s war. well yeah. that is true. and the cold war was an excuse to keep spending military money with no war. which i guess that sort of maybe tracks??

writing off korea and vietnam as just countries squaring off “a few times” is kinda crazy, but his point is: no one used the big bomb.

mulder asks what we are all thinking: what does this have to do with UFOs?

well, let kritshcgau tell you, son. after roswell, the more the government denied about UFOs, the more the public believed them, which was great timing for a country developing supersonic flight

oooo, he claims they almost got caught in korea, as they were accused of using germ warfare. but it’s nothing like what they have now, like what was used for the gulf war, developed in this very building! (said with a very dramatic flourish)

this is a lot of world building at a breakneck pace, and i don’t even know if i’m supposed to believe any of it. maybe some secret top percentage of the government thinks this is true, and the tiny syndicate knows it actually isn’t. that’s my best guess.

the abductions actually did happen, he clarifies, but not by aliens. hmm. a top secret project. well without aliens what's the point?

kritshcgau says it’s about DNA control. but for what purpose???

mulder asks, why make a whole fake alien body for all this then? and kritshcgau says because scully wouldn’t have been alive to disprove the alien body if their timing had been correct!!! so he would have believed it, then they could discredit him!

kritshcgau also says his son coming back sick from the gulf war is his retribution for going along with all of this, and he's thinking there’s a cure for him somewhere in there. well i think the whole gulf war disease and advanced cancer are very different. but maybe they both have secret cures?

off mulder goes, into level 4, taking one last look at kritshcgau, who is immediately apprehended by the DOD for questioning!!!! i feel that this will be the last we see of him.

cutscene to someone racing a horse?? is it bestie well groomed man?? and his many horses??

no!! it’s the department chair guy meeting with CSM!!! CSM is pissed that he didn’t know someone was watching mulder, but the chairman denies it.

he is even MORE pissed about being cut out of this project; “i CREATED mulder” <- okay so that is not putting out the “CSM is actually his father” allegations

chair guy says that mulder is dead

OHHH BUT CSM SAYS “i’ve never underestimated mulder. i still don’t” <- DAMN!!! that’s absolutely wild… i guess it’s important to know your opponent, and how willing they would be to fake their death, and if they could pull it off or not

(CSM angrily leaves)

back to scully at the ice core guy’s lab. and again, oh my god, she’s beautiful. no no no i don’t want to hear about fetal bovine serum. what the hell does that even mean. go back to her beautiful face.

he put the junk from the ice core in the serum... the cells were dividing… into somatic development?? the beginning of a life form. she looks shocked by this, but again. idk what that means!

bleugh, the ice core sample creature... it looks ugly…….

mulder’s snooping about the level 4 area, but the DOD people are behind him, and none of the doors have opened!!! he says that if they find the cure, it will mean for sure that he has believed in a lie from the start. well, i don’t think that’s true necessarily. i mean, the abduction thing could be from an alien-government collaboration, or aliens could still be out there, just not involved with this one thing, you know?

he picks a lock (okay!! crazy skyrim reference) and finds himself in a very dark room. and i am attracted to him. don't worry about it. anyway, whatever he sees seems to shock him???

cut to a TON of CGI aliens on cots LMAO WHAT???? just laying out n about 😭 it had to smell so bad in there… i imagine aliens smell very bad

now this alien closest to him has been lovingly crafted with practical effects, which is much better. so we can see his slime. that is not the part that is better, the slime visibility; its just that practical effects look more visually convincing in such a case

scully is narrating that she had no way to reach him and talk about their discovery of an unidentified life form. which is what happens when you fake your death and go in the secret medical facility of doom.

why is he TOUCHING the nasty alien body???? EUGH!!!!!!

scully is pondering if this thing she found in the serum could be the proof of an alien or the proof of a hoax… a lot of big questions for her to handle here 

he sees some flashing lights deep in the secret corridor, and follows it…. a whole lot of strobe light action going on in here. that stuff doesn't even bother me and i was like damn, that was a lot. i imagine it was much worse for the people who already have issues with bright lights.

she says that maybe this thing in the ice core sample is biologically connected to her cancer?? 

how does this connect to all of those half-alien, half-human people they found back in arizona??!!

beautiful man is looking through the window… 

OH MY GOD HE SEES A BUNCH OF WOMEN BEING SCANNED????? WITH BRIGHT FLASHING LIGHTS?? oh man.... WHAT IS GOING ON???? what are they DOING??

what did they call it before?? inducing mega ovulation?? yikes.

BLEUGH. i paused here as scully was getting blood drawn. i am woozy. how do they fake that for filming??

she needs a southern blot, btw. if that means anything to you. to compare that culture to her own DNA.

belaughhh. she needs the match before 7. he says we can’t do that.

“it’s got to happen. everything in my life depends on it” <- YOU TELL HIM!!!

he has no idea wtf that means but is taken aback by her seriousness

NOW WHY IS SKINNER WATCHING THIS????

OHHH SHE GOES OUT AND CONFRONTS HIM!! “is this more dirty work you’re doing for the DOD??” <- OHHHHH she is NOT HOLDING BACK

he says he has the tests from the body they found in mulder’s apartment on his desk; he knows it isn't him!!! and as she compounds the lies, she compounds the consequences!!!!

OHHHHH THAT WHOLE SCENE WAS SOOOOO JUICY I’M GONNA TEAR OUT MY HAAAAAIR

“all lies lead to the truth, isn’t that right?”

“and what about your lie, agent scully? what does it lead to?”

“the truth- about the men behind what happened to me, about my abduction and the tests, about being exposed to something against my will, about being put on a table and having something implanted in me and then having my memory stolen, only to have it returned along with a disease that i was given.” (ohh she was getting more and more furious as she said this and it was SO good)

“is that your justification? if that what you’re going to tell the joint panel tonight?”

“are you afraid of that?” <- OHHH her mocking and accusatory tone… i need it bottled

“well, considering the dead man in mulder’s apartment was murdered in cold blood and you willfully misidentified him, yes, i am afraid. but i’m only afraid for you” (<- and i do believe him, that he is scared to watch her proceed in this way, almost recklessly, even though it's calculated)

“you’re going to use that against me, aren’t you? you’re going to use me as i’ve been used all along- to preserve the lies”

“where is agent mulder?”

(she walks away)

WOOO baby, that scene was ACTING!! the tight closeups on their face was crazy, and it def could have backfired had they not been so freaking talented. every microexpression spoke a thousand words. i feel energized just watching it!!

jumping up and down. jumping up and down. we are sooooo back.

ohhh she goes into the lab herself to do the testing… in her lab coat… and her goggles… spinning the blood around… i’m faint…

meanwhile, mulder's walking through some weird pipes?? 

AUGH, there’s something IN HER BLOOD WATER, and she says it could be a connection between the conspirators and the cancer in her blood…. well to me it looks like a worm

he finds a new secret door and enters with a hand in his pocket, looking around... tension!!!

she’s ready to blow open this whole conspiracy!! ooooo you'd better stand back and watch it happen!

(they’re narrating all of this because this is a tv show and that is how an audiovisual media works, but i find it funny to imagine them speaking into a voice recorder as they describe their highly illegal activities)

he reaches the end of the mystery space and finds a ton of filing cabinets??? so he’s going to the scully file. he finds hers!!! it is a paper with a bunch of letters on it. which clears up nothing

and he pulls one out for kritschgau’s son as well!!! but it looks like his is blank???

someone from the DOD calls CSM to say that “scott” (mulder with the dead guy's ID card) made his way into the pentagon!! so he’s off to go find him. stay away from him, freak...

scully is rolling some sort of paper after soaking the mixture of stuff from her blood. you’re confused, i’m confused, i’m fascinated as to how this was explained for filming purposes, but here we are

“if my work with agent mulder has tested the foundation of my beliefs, science has been and continues to be my guiding light” <3

“now i’m again relying on its familiar and systematic methods to arrive at a truth- a fact that might explain the fate that has befallen me”

i love that she sees science as familiar and systematic; she really seems to be someone that values those aspects of stability, of knowing what can and cannot be true, and as the world grows more and more complex as they unravel the conspiracies, she turns to what she knows she can rely on. it reminds me in a way about how she values the comfort of a home, of the known, of what can be experienced and understood. she seems to thrive on that sort of knowledge, and i relate to it. something steady to keep her afloat, you know? it also speaks to her rigidity in following the rules. there is order and structure that maintains things, and that can be a great comfort, or a terrible hindrance if it is used for evil. but she, deep down, believes that there still is fundamental good. the rules, the science, the facts, the comfort of them all. it’s a terribly scary world; her biggest fear is what others are capable of. of course there is comfort in the known and the material. i like that a lot.

she hopes to match the virus from the mystery organism to the stuff in her cells, which would mean that her cancer has a cause, even if a cure is unknown! and maybe then they could find a cure to the virus thingy...? is this wishful thinking??

“if science serves me to these ends, it is not lost on me that the tool which i’ve come to depend on absolutely cannot save or protect me, but only bring into focus the darkness that lies ahead” <- hey. hey ouch. pain.

i refuse to consider such a possibility. there are too many more seasons ahead.

back to mulder in the labyrinth, looking for stuff that matches the numbers on her card. ough… why does his hair look so good…

anyway, he finds some sort of liquid

OH scully has done it!!! she’s mixed her DNA with the viral DNA from the cell!! oh, the ice core doctor guy is SHOCKED to learn that she has stuff in her that was also in the CANADIAN ALIEN MOUNTAINS!!

she explains that she believes she was exposed to this material that gave her an illness… and when he asks what kind, all she says is that it cannot be cured. damn. that was very dark.

so mulder finds this little vial of stuff with the specific numbers on it?? in a tiny tiny little bottle?

is it shots shots shots shots time??

he’s leaving from the pentagon, and in a voice over monologue, points out that he is as dependent upon her as she is upon him for the cure!!! as now she must convince the committee of her story!!!

she goes into the meeting room, bracing herself…. and she begins where we began in the last episode!!!! and now we know WHY she is reporting on the illegitimacy of his work!! ah, it is sweet relief to know there was no backstabbing between them

mulder is trying to sneak out… but his card swipe isn’t working…. and the military guys enter!!! 

can he play it cool?? can he beat them in a fight??? well, it FINALLY works, and one thing he can do is run!! and he manages to!!!!

GASP! CSM sees mulder leave, and says to let him go!! he seems almost relieved to see mulder alive and with this mystery liquid

and scully’s doing her oscar-winning performance about identifying a body. an absolute serve.

but skinner comes in just as she says this…. 

her eyes are filled with tears as she pulls out the evidence… (which is just two lines on paper, but you KNOW she is going to explain it)

and she notes that the whole thing was “planned and executed by someone in this room”, seeming to blame it all on skinner… oh my god…

OH MY GOD SHE’S STARTING HER PRESENTATION AND HER NOSE STARTS TO BLEED???

SHE FAINTS?????? and SKINNER CATCHES HER????

she looks at him and says “you…..” before passing back out <- WHAT DID SHE WANT TO SAY TO HIM??!??!?!?!?!

mulder is with the lone gunmen analyzing the mystery liquid…. and it’s water??

hold on, i had to rewatch her fainting and skinner catching her… how he starts to hold her face but stops himself… the way she says “you” so quietly… and then she loses consciousness again… oh my god… to be caught by the person she thinks is killing her… 

and skinner… i don’t believe for a minute that he is behind this. how hurt he must be at her accusations, his terror in watching her march ahead recklessly and lie to these people who would kill her in a heartbeat, and actively ARE killing her, and he was the one that made the deal with the devil to try and get this to stop happening, but what if he’s only advanced the work of the devil and got nothing out of it for himself…? and she doesn't even trust him!!!!

i rewatched that scene 4 times. and it was amazing during each of them.

and mulder… with his water… mystery water in vials… what can it do?? is it really just water?? why tf would the government hide vials of water with incredibly specific numbering deep in the pentagon. i don't buy it.

oh man, we are SOOOOOO back!!!!! i am bouncing off the walls. i cannot WAIT to learn what happens next. the angst here was EXQUISITE.

i’m such a sucker for angst involving mulder/scully and skinner. it’s going to get me EVERY time. over and over and over again. it just punches me in the gut. and all the other stuff punches me in the gut too, but this one has a certain je ne sais quoi factor about it; is it the mentor/mentee relationship of it all?? the way they care about each other but don’t know how to express it?? how they go from being willing to die and to kill for each other and then suddenly that trust is entirely removed, back and forth, back and forth? oh, it’s like CATNIP to me.

scully fainting and him catching is already going to be on my list of favorite moments, i know it, i know myself too well.

AUGHHHHHAUAGGHHHHRAUGGHHHHHAUGHHHHHH i LOVE THIS SHOW see it can be SO GOOD WHEN IT WANTS TO BE!!!!!!!!!

the trickery!! the plotting!! the deception!! the mysteries within mysteries!!! i still think the aliens are real though!! what are they doing with those women?? giving then alien DNA so they can steal their eggs to make alien babies?? what is that oil stuff in mulder?? and where does krycek fit into this??? and again, those half alien things in arizona?? don’t tell me!! don’t tell me because i am excited to learn!!!

YEAHHHHH!!!

[braveclementine]

Chapter 15

Warnings: None. (Will however be a 18+ reader book)

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own a few OCs like Elizabeth, Katherine, Stacy, and Jessie. I do not condone any copying of this.

The next few minutes seemed to pass in a blur. Maybe that was because of the adrenaline of trying to outrun these military-type men. Maybe it was because the Bahaman sun was glaring off all the water and sand. Or maybe it was because of all the tears that were dropping down your face in streams.

You felt terrible for so many reasons. You felt like there was something you should've been able to do. What? No idea. But something. For another, you felt guilty for having misjudged him and so harshly. It was hard for parents to love other children of different soulmate parentage, unless you were already blood related or soul related. Like if Maria had Fury's kid, Coulson would still love the kid.

It was why adoption was so rare in this world. It was just to hard.

So now, your feet pounded down the sidewalk, aware that the men behind you were shouting for you to stop with heavy accents. So they probably wanted you alive. That was both comforting and terrifying.

You turned the corner and found half of the Avengers running up towards you. Of course, with tears in your eyes, you misjudged the distance and ran flat into Steve's chest.

"Y/N, are you hurt?" Steve and Bucky were the only ones that stopped running to make sure you were alright while the others descended upon the soldiers that had just come around the corner.

"T-they killed my d-dad." You hiccupped.

"Oh doll." Bucky said softly, pulling you into a hug before shooting his gun over your shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Steve flung his shield out, "Take her back to the hotel Buck."

Bucky nodded, scooping you up with his metal arm, shooting at anyone that came at the two of you with his flesh hand. You hiked it back to the hotel where Loki and Thor were just about to head out, apparently only just now hearing about the fight. Nat was also there, loading up on guns and knives while Bruce was slowly, but surely turning green.

"Y/N?" Loki asked carefully as Thor flew out the hotel with his flying hammer to join the fight.

"She's physically fine." Bucky told Loki, "But she watched her father die."

"Poor thing." Loki murmured, pulling you into his arms, "I'll take her back up to her room and run her a hot bath."

"Good idea." Bucky murmured, kissing the top of your head, "Are you going to be okay, doll?"

You nodded, feeling a bit dazed. "I'm o-okay."

Bucky smiled a bit sympathetically, running his thumb over your cheek tenderly before running back out of the hotel again.

Loki teleported up to your bedroom, laying you down on the bed, going into the bathroom. You could hear him running the bath in the other room, the steady rushing of pounding water against ceramic echoing through your ears.

Finally, you heard the tap being slammed off. Loki came back. "You okay about taking it by yourself?"

You kind've just stared at him. You couldn't remember if you'd ever seen anyone die before.

Loki decided to take your silence for 'no'. He picked you up in his slender, yet muscular arms, carrying you into the bathroom. He settled you into the bubble bath, which smelt like mint and chamomile. Two very calming scents.

After a few moments, you came back down to Earth, realizing that you were still in your bathing suit.

You looked at Loki, "I'm still dressed?"

Loki smiled a little, "Well, I wasn't going to undress you without your consent pet."

You smiled a little and then it dropped off your face, "He. . . he told me the truth. About the prophesy surrounding me and how after I get married, I can't be used to end the soulmate bond. And he told me that he isn't my biological father, he is an FBI agent. And that my adopted mother died taking a bullet for me without me even knowing."

Loki's face was sympathetic and sweet as he rubbed your arms softly with the bar of soap. "I'm sorry My Queen."

"Did you know about the prophesy?"

"I'm sure I've read about it somewhere." Loki said nonchalantly. "Especially now that you've brought it up. But it wasn't something that popped in my mind upon meeting you or spending time with you."

You just nodded. "Did any of them know?"

Loki thought about it for a moment, "Perhaps the wizard? He reads just as much as I do. I'm not really sure about any of the others. Thor definitely does not, he isn't a big reader."

"I don't understand. Why would the ones who want soulmate bonds to stay try to kill me? Why wouldn't they just push me to get married faster?"

Loki shrugged, "Midgardians- and most species out there- don't ever make any sense when it comes to things that scare them. In three days this is all over pet. You don't have to worry. Although, we would all understand if you wanted to postpone the wedding for a funeral for your father."

Postponing the wedding sounded good. You weren't sure how you were supposed to act like you were happy when your father wasn't going to be there. It was so strange how quickly your attitude towards him had changed. Or maybe. . . maybe you'd just loved him all along.

On the other hand, postponing would give those on both sides more time to either attempt to kidnap you to use you, or attempt to kill you. What if it wasn't your father next time? What if it was one of your soulmates instead? Or your sister?

"No, I want to go through with the wedding. If we could speed it up, I would." You answered.

Loki dipped his head slightly.

"Loki?"

"Yes my Queen?"

"Can you untie the back of the bathing suit top?"

"Of course."

You leaned forward a little bit so that he could untie the stretchy strings that were holding the bathing suit top up. His fingers were nimble, deftly pulling out the knot that would probably have taken you a solid five minutes to get out. He pulled the strings free, letting them fall against your back when he was done.

You slid off the top and then pulled the bottoms off, soaking more fully in the tub. Your body didn't show as the bubbles from the bath covered most of your body up.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked as he clipped your wet swimsuit to hangers, hanging them up so that they could dry. How was he so good at home chores?

Loki summoned that book of poetry that he had read to you in the library. He read lots of different poems. The last one, he liked so much, that he tried to explain why he loved it so much. It went something like this:

One fine morning in the middle of the night,

two dead boys got up to fight.

Back to back they faced each other

draw out the swords and shot each other.

A deaf policemen heard this noise

and shot the two dead boys.

If you don't believe my lies to be true,

ask the blind man, he saw it too!

"I mean, the entire thing is a paradox." Loki said with absolute delight. "I mean, cause morning in the middle of the night, and back to back they faced each other! I mean, they're complete opposites in the same sentence."

You giggled, feeling a little lighter. "Loki, I heard the poem too."

"Sorry, it's just such good writing. And humorous as well." Loki said, delight in his eyes. You watched how passionately he spoke about writing that he liked.

After you finally felt a little better, you drained the bathtub. Loki put the book away, fetching you a fluffy towel that he wrapped around your bodice, helping you out of the tub so you didn't slip.

He let you dry off and get dressed while he kept his back to you. "Hey Loki, do you think we can have the second soulmate dinner up here? I don't know, just some random food or something. . . I don't really want to leave tonight."

"Of course, I'll let Tony know." Loki said softly. You could hear his fingers tapping on the phone.

After a half hour, the others came up with a lot of Chinese food. You all sat on the floor in the living room section, a few of them on the one couch. You leaned against Bucky's legs, sitting with Clint on one side of you and Thor on the other.

Dinner started with the heavy conversation. All of the soldiers were either dead, or they had been taken into custody to be questioned. Then you had provided with what your father had told you. You knew your sister was the one who needed to hear this, but you were still torn about whether or not you should tell her.

Most of them had heard about the prophesy, but the only one that had really connected me to it was Fury. Even Stephen hadn't, something he looked rather embarrassed to admit.

I was also made aware that my father's body was on ice until after the wedding. Now that they all knew exactly why people were coming after me, they all adamantly agreed on having the wedding as it was planned. Steve and Bucky even wanted to know if it was possible to speed up the process.

It was decided that there would always be at least one of them at all times. Which was fine with me. It was decided that I would be hanging out with Tony, Stephen, Wong, and Rhodey tomorrow.

Things came to a close quickly before everyone started to file out after wishing you a good night with some sort of affectionate hug or kiss on the forehead, cheek, or even lips.

Bucky was the last one and you suddenly felt the urge to grab his arm and say, "Bucky."

Bucky looked down at you, Steve and Sam pausing. You wanted to ask him to stay with you tonight. You didn't want to be left alone in this room, although Fury had promised that no one would be able to get in.

Then you realized that it might look like favoritism to the others and you let go of his arm and said, "Good night."

"Night Doll." Bucky said, kissing your cheek before walking down the hallway with Steve and Sam, throwing his arm over either of their shoulders.

Even though they were your soulmates, in that moment, it felt like they were something you could never be a part of.

----------------

You tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep. Suddenly, there was a ding on your phone.

🪣🦾❤️: You still awake?

Y/N 🍸: Yes

🪣🦾❤️: One second

Three minutes later there was a knock on your door. You slid out of bed, peeping through the hole to see Bucky standing there. You opened up the door, "What are you doing here Buck?"

He held out his hand, "Come on. Let's go see some wild cats."

You smiled, taking his hand. The two of you walked through the semi empty hallways before going downstairs. Though it was past midnight and all the stores and shops were closed, there were still couples milling about.

Bucky led the two of you outside, and you guys walked for a bit. You could see lots of different cats that just looked like normal house cats walking around, drinking water from puddles or little bowls of milk that had been left outside of certain shops.

Bucky and you sat down on some steps by one of the pools. He put his arm around you and after a while, a white cat approached the two of you. It put its' paws on Bucky's knee, pushing up on its back legs to get closer to his face.

Bucky smiled before revealing a bunch of fish that he had in a little baggy. They were dead, but still in water to keep them fresh. He must've gone fishing at one point.

He held one of the fish out to the cat. The cat picked it up daintily, before promptly deciding to eat it right there. You looked away, staring up at the galaxy instead while you listened to Bucky absolutely adore the cat.

"Aww, you're so adorable. Yes, eat the fishy like a good little kitty. There you go, that's it. Awww~"

You smiled a bit. Yes, you should definitely get a cat when you guys went back.

Eventually, a few other cats wandered over, either because you were the most interesting thing around, or because they could smell the fish on Bucky. He gave all of them away and the cats were immediately curling up around us.

You scratched one behind the ears, loving how smooth, though slightly coarse the fur of the cat was. "We should get a cat or two when we get back home. Loki wants one too."

"Really?" Bucky sounded both surprised and excited.

"Yep. Black cats especially." You said with a slight smirk.

"Ah yes. A witches cat." Bucky said with a grin.

You laughed again and then yawned. The hot air was suddenly making you rather tired and you laid your head down on his shoulder. "That's alright doll, you can fall asleep. I'll carry you back up to your room."

"Don't wanna be alone." You mumbled.

"Okay. You don't have to be." Bucky whispered. You could hear him saying sad good-byes to the cats, before there was a sweeping motion and you snuggled into his arms.

"I love you Buckaroo." You mumbled, "So much."

"I love you too Y/N." He said and you could feel his lips lightly press to the temple of your head. "Gonna take care of you forever, I promise."

You smiled, feeling one tear slip down your cheek, though you weren't entirely sure why. All you knew, was that you were happy, content, and loved.

You fell asleep before you even reached the hotel.

[deathsbestgirl]

pine bluff variant

for @edierone

okay listen. i'm going to try really hard but i am 90% sure i love what you hate about it. i honestly don't know what anyone expected when they asked about certain episodes BUT i know my hope was to maybe help people see it a little differently. but i guess we'll see

honestly season five is so rough for mulder & scully, and this definitely happens at a crazy time. after cancer, emily, and cassandra. over & over scully is faced with her abduction and what was done to her, for her role on the x files & in mulder's life. they maintained silence in never again and throughout the cancer arc, and after...mulder isn't ready. he doesn't know how to give scully what she wants (once again saying i don't think their feelings are in question, like ever). but mulder still has lessons to learn.

pbv is another way mulder loves people. he doesn't trust his government, but he would never aid terrorists. especially not ones killing civilians. it's shortly after he was struggling deeply with his beliefs, his guilt. the way he's been played.

he's contacted by the new spartans and he takes the information to skinner. consequently, mulder goes undercover and becomes part of a bigger operation but he's ordered not to tell scully. i think this is something people struggle with, but i just think it makes perfect sense. maybe questionable on skinner's, the fbi's, cia's etc end. but to mulder, he understands this a dangerous and delicate situation. mulder has a history of trying to protect scully. sometimes by keeping information from her, sometimes bodily. and i just can't be mad at him. the moment scully knows, mulder is more at risk and literally thinks he is walking to his death.

from the beginning of the episode, scully is on the task force. she's hypervigilant of the danger mulder is in. the moment she can't see him, she goes running after him, as skinner yells her name trying to stop her. she witnesses mulder letting haley get away. she can't make sense of it, and when she confronts mulder with this information, he doesn't give her any answers. he avoids her. and the truth is, mulder couldn't have done anything differently because he would have cracked. the way scully can't lie to him because he always knows, he can't lie to her either. and he can't tell her.

i love scully doing her own side investigation, following mulder, getting his fake name. "are you the wife?" "not even close." and this is part of the struggle. they're partners, they're not married. but they share a lot more than partners.

as soon as scully gets too close, mysterious men in black run her off the road and take her to skinner & leamus. she quips at the silent men "obviously not the office of information" and i LOVE that about her. if mulder was there, he would have been laughing. giving her that smile & dreamy gaze. anyway. she yells at leamus & skinner, for having these men run her off the road. (she's been there before and it was much more sinister, in irresistible. but it also happened in deep throat, where these other government agents assaulted mulder.)

i always love when scully tells off men, especially above her rank. so many times, she's spoken freely with skinner. telling him he overestimates his power, that closing melissa's investigation is in someone's interest, just not his or hers. and here is just so similar to me, but now they've put her partner in danger -- it's her job to have his back -- by keeping her out of the loop. she forced their hand.

i also think this episode is a huge lesson for skinner. he's been slowly coming to their side since his first episode, tooms. as soon as scully is more included, skinner sees more behind the curtain. he's a military man, and he follows orders. but there's always been something inside of him, especially since overseeing the x files with mulder & scully reporting to him, that wanted to question things. they are his proxy for this and he does try to help them -- but he also won't be able to help them the same if he wasn't assistant director.

scully goes to mulder's apartment to wait for his return, sitting there in the dark. reminiscent of mulder waiting in her apartment in redux. i always love these little moments!! he's injured and afraid and he tells her to get out, but she's calm and she expected this reaction. she won't budge, tells him she knows. she doesn't question why he didn't tell her, because she understands. it doesn't mean she's happy about it, but i think she's much more angry with skinner & leamus, rightfully so. i know mulder isn't one to follow orders exactly, but this is a very different situation. he doesn't have experience with terrorism. that's not his hat, and he needs to follow orders. he may not care about himself the way scully wants him to, but he also isn't trying to die at this point. this isn't one of his reckless missions. this isn't his truth, but he absolutely cares about saving people. he doesn't want anyone else to die at the hands of these terrorists.

scully tells him they killed more people, and he goes to meet with skinner & leamus -- skinner is immediately suspicious when leamus "planned for this" and has files ready. mulder immediately looks to skinner at this too. and when scully calls skinner to talk about how the toxin was distributed, and what it is...she asks skinner to take her off speaker before she'll tell him. i don't think skinner was questioning leamus until scully came on. i just fucking love these three so much. mulder & scully see things that others don't, or maybe what skinner in particular is afraid to question. i think scully & skinner are similar this way, but scully started asking these questions in season one. after mulder posed them to her in the pilot and she didn't have answers. after seeing what mulder really does, seeing how people treat mulder. scully immediately started incorporating these suspicions into her worldview, her work. and now mulder & scully do this for skinner. and much like mulder & scully, skinner does not escape personally unscathed by the conspiracy. they try to kill him, ruin his reputation & destroy his job. but...these are risks he's willing to take. he told mulder in one breath he was responsible for what happened to scully too. skinner has understood the risks since then, and mulder has tried to protect her even more after that. but the thing is, i think scully understood the risks in e.b.e. when she found the bug in the pen, and then mulder found one in his apartment. but truthfully, mulder only got close once scully joined the x files. that's when the true dangers began to unfold. they learned them together. anyway.

mulder walking to his death with no escape, because bremmer outs him to the new spartans with a recording of mulder & scully talking in his apartment. i think about if scully knows this happened, because it would kill her. bremmer letting mulder go, killing the guy who broke mulder's finger instead...and haley too.

scully recognizing mulder by his finger and getting to the money in time. mulder racing back to the bank. immediately scully is trying to ease mulder's panic, telling him the toxin may have come from our government, mulder concluding he was set up. skinner trying to tell them they don't have hard evidence of that (mostly i think to try to calm them down). leamus claiming they're wrong and the money was cleared. and scully LOSES it on this man. "you knew about this all along!" literally screaming in his face. she is fierce. she's been fierce this entire episode, and so has mulder honestly. their shared values are shining through, even as they were divided. but in the end, they were always on the same page. they get to the bottom of it when they're both on the case, and skinner did his best to back them up & protect mulder from the position he was forced into.

[eddies-hid3out]

I watched Silence of the Lambs the other day, which then led to me rewatching Mind Hunter so now I have a brain worm that won't leave me alone. I'll never write it because I can't get it coherent enough in my mind, so I'm throwing the bare bones out there! It's a bit of a lengthy ramble, I'll put it below the cut.

Eddie lives au where Vecna didn't succeed in 86 so Hawkins didn't go to shit, and when he finally resurfaces he has to start from scratch.

Eddie lives, but he isn't cleared of the crimes. All the big wigs who could make sure he's declared innocent agree that he's the perfect scapegoat to hide the upside down. He's found guilty. They spin the narrative that he became obsessed with the Victor Creel murders, he studied them and used them as inspiration for his ritual killings. The fact that Nancy and Robin visited Victor is twisted and used as evidence against him. So he's shut away in Pennhurst, even if he does talk about what he went through no one will believe him, because who believes the guy in the nuthouse? Roughly a decade passes and Eddie has gotten used to the monotony of his new life. It sucks and he's bored but he finds comfort in the fact that there's been no more killings. At least him rotting away is worth something because he finally got to help, to be useful.

Until someone is found. A girl in her teens who has been left broken and bloody, and in walks you. FBI agent (BAU) in your late 20s/early 30s, a little young to be where you are but you're good at reading people and fantastic when interviewing killers to get insight. So it's only natural when word of copycat killings in Hawkins reaches you, you go out there to talk to the previous copycat, Eddie Munson.

Eddie's doesn't give you much when you first meet him, he plays into the whole satanic panic thing but it only takes one interview for you to know that he's innocent. You keep visiting with him, you want the truth of what happened but more than that you want to get to know him. You speak to his friends, ask them about 1986, ask Nancy and Robin why they were visiting Victor if it wasn't because of Eddie. They're hard to get a hold of and don't give you much but you know they're hiding something.

And Eddie, he tries so hard not to like you. You're just the latest in a long line of authority figures to come waltzing into his life and it's never ended well before so why should now be any different? But you're kind, and easy to talk to. You treat him like a human, and something deep in his gut tells him that you are different. That maybe he could tell you the truth and you'd not only believe him but help him too.

[autobot2001]

Finding The Truth a Little Too late

Author: Autobot2001 Genre: Fanfiction Fandom: Transformers Rating: T Warning: None Pairing: None Description: Mirage and Sunstreaker find out who Dylan is, but they're too late warning everyone. Note; this is a scene from my story Hidden Killer that I have yet to start, minus scenes inspired by prompts. This contains a spoiler. I debated whether I should post this ( and another scene snippet) or not with no ETA on the story being posted. Uncertain if anyone seeing the posts would read the story and think 'I already know what's going to happen'.

@chaos-company angstpril day 12; a little too late

Mirage’s skills in hacking systems impress Sunstreaker. He knows Mirage does it with good intentions as a spy. The two are aware of the consequences if they get caught doing an unauthorized investigation, but both don’t trust Dylan. They hack briefly to avoid detection, even if it delays uncovering the potential truth. They can only hope they’re not making a mistake by taking a while.

Today, a training mission awaits a few soldiers and Autobots. A simple mission to practice teamwork. For the recruits, this is part of basic training. For everyone else, it’s a refresher course. Mirage and Sunstreaker are concerned about Dylan taking part in the training. The Autobots being in bipedal form isn’t assuring. The concern is training to escalate into a battle. Mirage and Sunstreaker are unsure about Megatron’s willingness to collaborate with humans again, but they suspect that’s who Dylan is working for. "What if that’s true, rather than Dylan being an insider for the anti-Cybertronian group?” Mirage questions. “Either way, we’ve found nothing,” Sunstreaker reminds him, “even if we find something, how do we get the others to believe us? They know you wouldn’t fake data, but Dylan will argue against you.” "We have dedicated weeks to this. I know it’s because we’re not working on this for hours a day like I normally would. I think if we find nothing by the end of the week, that we accept we were wrong.” “Fine,” Sunstreaker says, irritated. Once the rest leave for training, Mirage and Sunstreaker will spend the entire day working on their investigation. They don’t have to worry about getting caught by someone walking into Mirage’s office.

“Trust training?” Megatron asks, intrigued. “A perfect place to attack,” Starscream suggests. “Silence! We stick to the plan to get Jamie away from the Autobots. I want them to discover everything, to witness the Autobots’ expressions. You have your orders, Austin. Do not fail me!” “Yes, sir,” Austin replies and ends the call. Austin knows Jadin can sense Jamie’s energy and that Jamie will protect the Autobots. He needs to get her to leave the base with no Autoots. Austin believes the training grounds won’t allow him to be successful. His goal is to have as few Autobots and soldiers as possible when provoking Jamie to take him elsewhere for a fight.

“You couldn’t tell me this, why?” “I would have, as soon as I had a lead,” Mirage explains, “What good is telling you there’s no one named Dylan Greene Living in DC. without a lead where to take our search next?” “Fair point, so?” “Facial identification. It’s not as easy as identifying a fingerprint, but it’s all we have left.” "That’s why you should have informed me. Too late now to get his cup from breakfast.”

The search takes all day, Several databases to find the correct facial ID match. Hacking the DC police database and the FBI’s most wanted turned up empty. While it seems random, Mirage searches the database of the asylum that burnt down. “Perhaps there’s a second survivor no one knows about,” Mirage explains. As he scrolls through the images, one catches both mechs’ eyes. “Stop, that’s him!” Sunstreaker comments, and gets the photo of Dylan he has, “He dyed his hair and got eye color changing contact lenses, but look at the face. We know Austin has a twin brother, but he wasn’t in the asylum with Austin.” “Frag, we have to warn everyone.” Mirage and Sunstreaker rush to the hangar as it’s time for everyone to return.

The two deactivate their holoforms and transform. They’re ready to explain everything as they know Optimus will ask why are they waiting for everyone to return. It’s uncommon for those returning from a mission to be welcomed back upon returning.

Upon arrival, Optimus questions the two’s reasoning for waiting for the team to return. He listens before arguing about the two’s lack of permission to search Dylan’s records. “You seriously have a jealousy problem,” Sideswipe accuses Sunstreaker, “and you got Mirage involved as well, that’s a new low for you-.” Clapping cuts off Sideswipe. The Autobots, Jamie, and the soldiers see that Dylan is the one clapping with an evil grin. “Well done, Mirage. Even if Sunstreaker convinced you to search my files, as you’d be too stupid to do it yourself,” this angers the yellow frontliner, “I wouldn’t do anything, Sunstreaker.”

[orphanedshadow]

continued from (x) with @ladiesandwitches

“Well, even urban legends, no matter how ridiculous, are said to have come from some original basis of truth, so I suppose it’s reasonable to believe that they might have some helpful information,” Scully allowed, if reluctantly. Though the young woman made a fair point, she didn’t like the idea that even giving so much as an inch of allowance to any kind of ridiculous, fantastical local stories would also give Mulder more of a an allowance to take them seriously and drag her all over the country to investigate mothmen and yetis.  “So which is it?” Scully asked, “Someone being cruelly practical in silencing their victim or someone who believes they’re doing a ritual to honour some old voiceless God?” Both were equally likely; there had been enough killings in America over the decades due to cults and fanatical belief systems, that it wasn’t too out there to believe someone might think themselves a devotee of a deity-level boogeyman.  “They would have just left them there? Screaming for as long as possible because they thought it was an offering?” Scully couldn’t hide her disgust or her horror even as she tried to remain professional, “Have you seen this before? Or have you just read about it?” She hoped it was the latter. If the girl had seen it for herself before then that meant there was either a serial killer, or an entire cult creating ‘offerings’.  Scully hesitated over the buttons on her phone, “What do you mean you don’t see eye-to-eye?” She was starting to sense something as off as the mutilated corpse on the ground, and every instinct in her body was telling her to be on age, to not trust everything she was seeing. Trust no one, Mulder always told her. “Who are you really? You said you’re a ‘metaphysical investigator’, but I don’t think you’re telling me everything. I think you’re keeping secrets and you know more about all this than you’re saying” Her hand went to her gun, ready to draw it if necessary, “You have no intention of explaining yourself to anyone I call in; well you’re gonna have to explain it to me””

Why did investigators always want more answers than she wanted to give? Who she was didn’t matter, this wasn’t her victim, and the hunter couldn’t do her job if she was stuck babysitting an FBI agent.

“Yes, I have seen this sort of thing before, I have been doing this since I was very little. Call it a family business, one that is not always appreciated by your kind.” Normal people, law enforcement officers, it was all the same in that regard. No one seemed to appreciate her work, or even noticed anything more than a change in the local mortality rates.

“As for your question. In this region? Based on the patterns? I suspect followers of the voiceless god. Especially given the depth to which it was buried and the disinterment. This region was colonized by one of the lycan sects, and there are some indications on trees near the burial site.

Her hands moved to twist into a claw-like shape as she knelt down by the corpse once more, lining her fingers up with the markings on the bone, though she kept her other free just in case. "These were made by a wolf’s-claw, a sort of tool that mimics the claws of a wild animal. They slide over the fingertips, somewhat akin to metal thimbles, and are sharpened to rip through flesh. Some variants are held in place by the thumb, but not all of them.”

Fingers hovered over the corpse, pointing out tiny pinpricks on the bone. “Now these ones lack hesitation marks, and would be in non-vascular areas. They would be done by a leader or an elder, in the initial sacrifice. They would be painful, but not enough to cause shock.”

Other bones were soon gestured towards, these ones with a variety of scratches “As for these ones, they are of different distances, indicating different people with different hands. Some have hesitation marks and are quite small, potentially from someone participating for the first time. These would be delivered once the person passes out, to draw out the "last scream” and would usually be performed by all those who are of age. It is believed that the more of these that are delivered the moment before the victim perishes, and the more people participate, then the more fruitful the harvest will be.“

Kara decided it would be best not to mention that there was a reason that most of the smaller and shallower of the claw marks were located on the outside of the thigh, or how those areas were considered "safe” for the youngest to test their claws on.

“Most sects sacrifice the oldest ram of the flock, like this one may have in the past. There were traces of wool around the burial site, as well as a fire and bone bundles. The sheep are eaten afterwards, then the bones buried for a time, until they are dug up, left to dry for a few weeks, and then bundled.”

After a second of thought she gestured vaguely to the surrounding area, a region that had clearly had a few bad harvests in the past. “When harvests fail despite the sacrifice of rams some people will resort to the older methods. In many faiths that practice such things is believed that the more value a sacrifice has then the more the gods will listen…” And perhaps they would…but unfortunately this path tended to lead to some rather unpleasant places.

“Are those enough answers agent, or is there more you need?”

[sakuraswordly]

Homura: This is a government conspiracy to hide the truth about alien existence and their doomsday plan. Who keeps this information? No, if the bad guys know that this stuff exists. I don't think only the government who behind this.....But at least there's a report to Punch. Huh.....Occasionally, a human is born with at least some of this DNA activated, giving him such abilities as telepathy; the series refers to these individuals as being “more human than human.”......wait...so that means....they're the experiment, even alien existence in these files?

???????: Stand right there.

Homura: ...........................You did a good job as a follower.

???????: Who are you?

Homura: Homura Akemi....and you?

Mulder: Fox Mulder. A highly skilled but unconventional FBI agent. Specializing in paranormal investigations as the leader of the X-Files unit.

Homura: (FBI agent?!...wait a minute....)*sniff sniff* You're not human.

Mulder: And you too. What are you doing here?

Homura: I'm coming here to destroy these files.

Mulder: Are you an alien traitor?

Homura: No. I just came here to destroy these.

Mulder: Why?

Homura: Some of them are meant to be kept.

*pulls out the gun*

Mulder: Drop your weapon.

Homura: Why are you trying to save these files?!.....This is dangerous!

Mulder: The government knows about it, and I got to know what they're protecting. Nothing else matters to me!

Homura: Why are you still investigating these?! You know your life will be in danger even maybe you are being used by some people who want to use you as a tool!

Mulder: I don't know what's your point young black girl, but you can't do this! Don't destroy these files!

Homura: (Actually, I'm going to ask Punch first before destroying these. I had to prolong the time for Punch to get here quickly.) I am a witch...despite my main goal being to protect my dearest friend, Madoka, my desire is considered to be a self-destroying obsession and ultimately leads me to become a devil. I was originally human. But in the end, I turned out to be not human and rejected people.

Mulder: Why did this happen.......to you......

Homura: But in the end, when I became a witch to destroy Kyubey's scheme, my world was destroyed even my dearest friend, Madoka. That's why this time....I won't repeat this mistake.

Mulder: Similar things are said about the men in black. That they purposely dress and behave strangely so that if anyone tries to describe an encounter with them, they come off sounding like a lunatic. In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in black suits, who question, interrogate, harass, threaten, allegedly memory-wipe or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have seen.

Homura: Actually you're not different from me, FBI agent. Now you're next, can you tell me why are you doing this? Why are you putting yourself at risk? You're not strong enough because you're not human.

Mulder: Before my memory as a non-human returned and ran away and hid in secret., I once had a sister named Samantha. By an unknown force that later I came to believe was alien, Samantha was taken from the house without explanation.

Homura: Even she's not your real sister....but still...

Mulder: I am the one who is responsible for my sister's death and my family's death....if I had remembered my true identity quickly…. none of this would have happened…!!

Homura: (His overriding goal is to locate his sister, Samantha, who was abducted by aliens, and to blow wide open the government conspiracy of silence regarding extraterrestrial life on Earth.......but...).

Madoka: Homura-chan

Homura: (Some of them are meant to be kept.)

Punch: Uh.....what on earth is going on here?

Homura & Mulder: Punch?! Huh?! You know her?!

Punch: Homura? What are you doing here?

Homura: Well....

Punch: I see.....Mr Gilgamesh.....

Mulder: Er.....can somebody explain what is going on here….?

Punch: Ephemer.....I want you to stop investigating this and leave this to me. I want you two to stop running.

Continue in EP19.1 Special: I only enjoy human pleasure. Aren't we alike Homura?

Special Agent Arthur Dales becomes entangled with Bill Mulder, Fox’s father and a secret member of the Syndicate, and thereafter becomes obsessed with cases with an extraterrestrial or otherwise paranormal bent, thereby officially birthing the X-files unit. When Dales retires years later, the FBI hierarchy is only too happy to have the X-files shut down – until Agent Fox Mulder, hugely successful as a psychological profiler and with contacts in both the Senate and the State Department (thanks to his father), can use his sway to reopen them.

Albert Hosteen: There is an ancient Indian saying that something lives only as long as the last person who remembers it. My people have come to trust memory over history. Memory, like fire, is radiant and immutable while history serves only those who seek to control it, those who douse the flame of memory in order to put out the dangerous fire of truth. Beware these men for they are dangerous themselves and unwise. Their false history is written in the blood of those who might remember and of those who seek the truth.

To the Navajo, the earth and its creatures have great influence over our existence.The stories passed from generation to generation help us to understand the reason for our tears of sadness and our tears of joy. Animals like the bear, the spider and the coyote are powerful symbols to our people. When the F.B.I. man Mulder was cured by the holy people, we were reminded of the story of the Gila monster, who symbolizes the healing powers of the medicine man. In this myth, the Gila monster restores a man by taking all his parts and putting them back together. His blood is gathered by ants, his eyes and ears by sun, his mind by Talking God and Pollen Boy. Then lightning and thunder bring the man back to life. At the end of the ceremony, when the F.B.I. man had been healed, we heard the news from other Native Americans in the northern plains that a great event had taken place. Like the Navajo, these people have their own stories and myths. One of these stories tells of the white buffalo woman who came down from the heavens and taught the Indians how to lead virtuous lives and how to pray to the creator. She told the people she would return one day, then she turned into a white buffalo and ascended into the clouds, never to be seen again. But on this day, when the holy people had given the F.B.I. man a miracle, a white buffalo was born and every Native American knew, whether he believed the story or not, that this was a powerful omen and that great changes were coming.

Punch: And I want your help, Ephemer. Do you want to come back with us once again? Or you can live a life as investigator Mulder? I know how to stop this prophecy of the Maya tribe so I need your help once again.

Mulder: But what I investigate....this can't be stop.....

Punch: No, it can.

Predicting the future is best accomplished by inventing it!

*Flashback*

Artorius: Never let your guard down, even when victorious.....And one more thing, if you're attacked, run away. Am I clear?

Sonic: What? No way! I can handle a bunch of---

Artorius: Those daemons can only be challenged by those with the talent. That's the cold logic of the world, and no emotions can change it.

Sonic: Still...you still believe me that I could be a shepherd.

Artorius: Why do you think that birds fly?

Sonic: Why.....? Well.....without wings....they couldn't find food....

Artorius: The Shepherd is a human who has made a pact with a Seraphim. So it takes a particular innate talent. Unfortunately, very few humans have it within themselves.

*End of Flashback*

Punch: (Not that because you can't Mulder...but unfortunately, very few humans have it within themselves. Even moving forward...that's why...some of them are meant to be kept.)

.

.

Skuld: You were right. There is no justice.

Ephemer: I don't think this is about justice, Scully.

Skuld: Then what is it about?

Ephemer: I think it's about something we have no personal choice in. I think it's about fate.

Skuld: I need something to put my back up against.

Ephemer: I feel the same way. We've both lost so much... but I believe that what we're looking for is in the X-Files. I'm more certain than ever that the truth is in there.

Skuld: I've heard the truth, Ephemer. Now what I want are the answers.

Explanation 12(Analysis)

Homura: The truth that you should know? And finally, friends of mine couldn't accept the truth behind it. This is wrong for your investigation of X files. Even Punch was the one who will keep them safe, but I don't agree with what you will do in the future.

Ephemer: But if I don't know these things, how can I accept and trust Punch, Homura? Including fighting supernatural things, even though I'm weak now, it's still better than being a slave or a lab rat to supernatural things. We study science for fighting these things.

Homura is a magical girl who first appears in Madoka's dream.  She is a time traveler who was originally a shy, timid student with low self-esteem. She suffered from heart disease and had no friends.  Homura became attached to Madoka after meeting her and wanted to join her in becoming a magical girl. Homura is beautiful, intelligent, and excels in academics and athletics. She is popular with her classmates, but is cold to others. Homura's main goal is to protect Madoka, but her obsession leads her to become a demon.  Homura has a potent time-stopping ability that can end most fights. However, her shield can be damaged or she can be immobilized to negate this ability. As for Mulder....He's, um... he's obsessed with his work. Mulder is a skilled criminal profiler, a conspiracy theorist, and an ardent supernaturalist. Mulder is so consumed with his beliefs that he can come off as an eccentric, fervently attempting to convince everyone around him, especially Scully, of extraterrestrial life. Still, he refuses to ever let up in his pursuit for truth. Even though they have different ideas, they face the inescapable truth that they just want to find a way to protect the important people in their lives. So in the end, the two of them understood each other. The "truth" that makes these two keep moving forward.

[evemarielouis]

"aww, doc", cheek pressed against her knee, left leg against her chest & the other folded underneath her. she is pale as a shard of glass, sharp as one too. an illusion of a girl, a knife masquerading as a good time : she has always been that way. you would think that after months of custody, her criminal nature would blossom in horrid thorns all over her thin body; and yet the girl is as beautiful as ever. sweet & sunny as the first days of spring. even her smile, that goddamn winning grin, has yet to lose its light. it shines upon her lips, golden & full as a small sun. no matter the hours spent in that small cell of hers, she looks unfazed. she whines & screams & sings, if only to fill the silence with words of her own, but it is evident in her posture that fear has yet to slip itself inbetween muscle & bone. perhaps if they had had an actual file on her, they would have known that her childhood was a similar torture, made of closed windows & muffled screams. if they had had a file, perhaps they would have known better than to keep her alive. the death penalty would have been a safer choice, yes, she knows it & she hopes juno does too.

"are ya really worried 'bout me or are ya just makin' small talk?" she wonders, eyes as calculating as they have always been. it is complicated to account for the girl's truth : it seems that everything she says is a time bomb, meant to explode in your pocket the second you have forgotten its existence. sometimes the truth of it occupies your mind for years. sometimes, it is the inaccuracy that keeps you awake. either way, it is what she wants : her words plastered all over your skin in gashes of red. even her presence here is torture : paperwork fallen into juno suarez's lap & ishtar firmly waiting for the police on the day of the appointment, handcuffs already in hand. she had orchestrated her apparent downfall & the fbi had done nothing but sing / dance their part. that no one apart from juno suarez had ever dared to ask why the girl went so willingly... well, that was part of her game too.

"experience, uh? is that what we're callin' it now?" interest has yet to spark in her eyes. in fact, it seems she is seconds away from taking her legs & leaving the room. while he might be interested in showing her gruesome pictures of decadent murders, the dead have never been a big interest for ishtar. it is a common misconception about her, one she has no interest in squashing because someone that prefers concepts to real observations is someone meant to be fooled. but reid should know better : has he not been watching ? "come on, doc. say what ya wanna say. we ain't got all time in the world and this whole nice cop thin' you got goin' on? makes me bored." a smile that is more teeth than anything else, only for her to support her chin with her knee. "what do i get for helpin', anyway?"

[talentforlying]

@spookyagentfmulder / continued.

yeah. that's about the reaction he was expecting.

the barked repetition, though, has whatever sheepish, half-arsed apology he'd been ready to offer sliding right off the tip of his tongue with all the graceless finality of a bouquet dumped in the bin. he pauses with one hand perched on the back of the chair, shooting a flat look of warning across the desk — you don't give me orders writ in bold blue typeface — before doing what he politely chooses to think was requested, ankle crossed over knee with pointed nonchalance.

hypnotizing the victim was stupid. it was ill-advised, reckless, and downright cold, and the least mulder deserves from him is some sort of acknowledgment for it. but fucked if constantine's going to take an unconditional bollocking just because mulder needs to fill out the federal fucking chip on his shoulder.

he waits out the build-up of steam in perfect silence, eyes narrowed and watchful within a mask of polite indifference. sure, it stings: trust and faith in the past tense, it always stings, and if they were having this lovely little chat at a reasonable volume, not as some ultimatum-riddled power play, he might even show it. they're not. he won't. and mulder wants to get pissy with constantine, not john, so that's exactly who he's going to get.

' . . . got that all out've yer system? ' his voice stays quiet and even, a scathing sliver of ice that refuses to melt under the heat of mulder's tirade. ' feelin' good and proper righteous yet? fuck me, with a monologue like that you could've gone onstage, 'stead of paper-pushin' in the FBI's basement. '

it's low, and he knows it. no taking it back, though. legs uncross as he leans forward in his seat, forearms braced against his knees and an edge creeping along the margins of his tone, whittling the ends of his words down crisp and curt. ' so let's straighten out the score here, agent mulder, ey? i never asked you t'cover my arse. you could sell me up the river to that twat boss of yours any bloody time you'd like, and i could figure me own way out just as easily; the reason you don't is 'cos you know i get results. the results that you want, free of bureaucratic red tape bollocks. '

he pauses for breath, and in the beat of silence, regret seeps into the frown lines of his face, bruising it as dark and deep as frostbite. then the mask slips back in place, over a shrug that's too abrupt to be the careless dismissal it's trying for.

' by my accounting, that cost you're so keen on billing me for? it'll be a whole bloody lot less than otherwise, since i went ahead an' bought you a little genuine deniability 'stead of just making you lie. reads like a mistake rather than a choice, dunnit? you don't have to like that i did it. you can g'wed and keep bangin' around over it like king fucking kong all you fancy. but you know we weren't gonna find the truth any other way. that's how we work together, and don't pretend it en't what you signed up for: you do what you can, and i do what you can't. f'you only like to save people when it's risk-fucking-free, then that's your problem, not mine. '

[violentcurse]

"aww, doc", cheek pressed against her knee, left leg against her chest & the other folded underneath her. she is pale as a shard of glass, sharp as one too. an illusion of a girl, a knife masquerading as a good time : she has always been that way. you would think that after months of custody, her criminal nature would blossom in horrid thorns all over her thin body; and yet the girl is as beautiful as ever. sweet & sunny as the first days of spring. even her smile, that goddamn winning grin, has yet to lose its light. it shines upon her lips, golden & full as a small sun. no matter the hours spent in that small cell of hers, she looks unfazed. she whines & screams & sings, if only to fill the silence with words of her own, but it is evident in her posture that fear has yet to slip itself inbetween muscle & bone. perhaps if they had had an actual file on her, they would have known that her childhood was a similar torture, made of closed windows & muffled screams. if they had had a file, perhaps they would have known better than to keep her alive. the death penalty would have been a safer choice, yes, she knows it & she hopes juno does too.

"are ya really worried 'bout me or are ya just makin' small talk?" she wonders, eyes as calculating as they have always been. it is always complicated to account for the girl's truth : it seems that everything she says is a time bomb, meant to explode in your pocket the second you have forgotten its existence. sometimes the truth of it occupies your mind for years. sometimes, it is the inaccuracy that keeps you awake. either way, it is what she wants : her words plastered all over your skin in gashes of red. even her presence here is torture : paperwork fallen into juno suarez's lap & ishtar firmly waiting for the police on the day of the appointment, handcuffs already in hand. she had orchestrated her apparent downfall & the fbi had done nothing but sing / dance their part. that no one apart from juno suarez had ever dared to ask why the girl went so willingly... well, that was part of her game too.

"experience, uh? is that what we're callin' it now?" interest has yet to spark in her eyes. in fact, it seems she is seconds away from taking her legs & leaving the room. while he might be interested in showing her gruesome pictures of decadent murders, the dead have never been a big interest for ishtar. it is a common misconception about her, one she has no interest in squashing because someone that prefers concepts to real observations is someone meant to be fooled. but reid should know better : has he not been watching ? "come on, doc. say what ya wanna say. we ain't got all time in the world and this whole nice cop thin' you got goin' on? makes me bored." a smile that is more teeth than anything else, only for her to support her chin with her knee. "what do i get for helpin', anyway?"

    𝐭𝐡𝐞   𝐚𝐢𝐫   𝐢𝐬   𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝   𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡   to   make   the   tips   of   his   ear   numb,   a   sharp   ring   beginning   to   take   over   as   the   fluorescents   burn   bright,   white   orbs   into   his   eyes.   the   bags   underneath   his   lashes   have   faded   to   light   purple,   fingers   gripping   papers   upon   papers   tightly,   cane   clicking   against   the   slick   floor,   a   beat   ahead   of   the   toe   of   his �� shoe.   there   isn’t   any   pleasure   in   doing   this,   but   he   doesn’t   have   much   of   a   choice   and   as   a   master   of   statistics   (   he   did   have   a   phd   to   vouch   for   this   ),   spencer   knew   it   was   pointless   to   insist   on   an   alternative.   the   perpetrator   he’s   about   to   confront,   though   been   detained   for   quite   some   time   now,   had   committed   every   crime   under   the   sun   and   more.   the   list   of   offenses   circles   in   his   head,   round   and   round,   like   some   mangled   merry   go   ‘round.   

    the   officer   stationed   at   the   door   addresses   him   with   a   short   nod,   opening   the   door,   and   he’s   flooded   by   an   icy   gust,   now   plaguing   his   fingers.   she   smells   like   a   bar   of   soap   and   handmade   perfume   ──   it   would   only   make   sense   to   want   to   scrub   yourself   clean   considering   your   new   home   wasn’t   the   most   hygienic   of   places,   mask   it   and   pretend   you   were   still   the   same   girl   as   before.  

    ishtar’s   freedom   was   restricted,   not   entirely   pinned   away   because   she   had   her   conditions   if   she   were   going   to   continue   talking   to   them,   but   reid   knew   it   would   never   be   the   same   for   her.   the   enjoyment   now   was   purely   toying   with   them.   calling   for   meetings   out   of   the   blue   only   to   sing   a   little   tune   or   whine   about   how   boring   it   was.   she   was   more   challenging   when   her   favorite   agent   wasn’t   there   to   stroke   her   ego,   so   it   would   be   spencer   she   would   deal   with   today.   on   his   terms,   of   course.   “   i   trust   they’re   tending   to   you   in   here?   ”   her   hair's   combed,   skin   healthy   and   colored   pink,   and   not   many   in   her   position   can   mimic   the   same   disposition   of   put-togetherness.   “   we   need   your   .   .   .   experience   .   .   .   on   a   case   we’re   investigating.   ”   he   holds   the   file   close   to   him,   not   too   eager   in   gracing   her   with   red-soaked   photographs.     

𓂃@violentcurse

[katy-kt-katie]

Truth Serum Experiment

Skinner needs Mulder and Scully to test a truth serum post "Fight The Future", what could go wrong?

Rated: Explicit

Read COMPLETE FULL STORY on AO3: Link, or chapters here daily.

Betas: ❤️❤️ @tofuttim and @agent-troi ❤️❤️

CHAPTER 1/4

“Please take a seat, Agents,” Skinner said motioning to their customary seats across from his desk.

Mulder nodded at Skinner and snuck a glance at Scully. They didn’t know why their boss wanted to talk to them. They’d been on thin ice lately; ice being the operative word to describe their chaotic summer which included a trip to Antarctica to save Scully from an alien virus.

The talk amongst the Chief Directors had shifted away from Scully being transferred, but decisions about their roles and the X-Files remained unresolved.

“The Bureau needs your help with something kind of delicate ,” Skinner said, the last few words in a whisper.

“Anything, sir,” Scully replied, immediately. While Mulder usually admonished her willingness to take orders blindly, he was actually in alignment here, being asked to do anything at this point was better than being completely ignored like they had been in recent weeks.

“How can we help sir?” Mulder added, to show his support.

“Well, there is a chemical weapon. Defense has gotten their hands on it, they won’t disclose how or from where, but it’s designed to act as a sort of truth serum. Supposedly, when administered, you can get someone to tell you anything; they cannot withhold the truth.”

Mulder nodded and glanced at Scully as she nodded too. “Okay, why involve us?” He questioned.

“Defense wants to have someone try it, see if it really works as well as they’ve been told. The trouble is, everyone is reluctant to try it for fear that they will overshare or embarrass themselves.  I was asked to consider if we had any partners at the FBI who could try this. You two make the most sense, for one, Scully is a doctor so she can monitor if there are any concerning physical effects.

“Sure, I could do that. Do they believe there are any dangerous side effects?” Scully wondered.

“No, they don’t,” Skinner replied. “And the second reason Agents; I know you two have no secrets from each other. So, you shouldn’t have to worry about oversharing or embarrassing yourselves. You two are the closest partners I’ve ever supervised; you know each other better than anyone else.”

The room fell silent for a moment. Mulder didn’t have any little secrets from Scully. She knew about his porn collection, she knew his shitting schedule, she’d even seen him naked during medical emergencies.  But he did have some big secrets; like how he was falling for her, how he never watched porn anymore because he spent most nights thinking of her.

He looked at Scully to try to get a sense of what she was thinking. She smiled, but Mulder quickly realized it was a fake smile.

Skinner broke the silence, “You two don’t have any secrets from each other, right?”

Mulder didn’t want to admit to Scully that he had thoughts so embarrassing that he kept them from her. He was certain she had the same concerns; he knew she guarded herself from him.

It was like a game of chicken, who would admit first that this potential situation made them uncomfortable? Who would admit they had secrets? Not me , Mulder thought.  He’d seen Scully interrogate witnesses and he did not want to endure questions about what secrets he was unwilling to disclose.

Scully must have been thinking the same thing, because almost in unison, like two perfectly matched secret harboring partners they both said, “No sir, no secrets.”

“Great,” Skinner said, seemingly relieved. “Here’s the suggestion, you two lock yourselves into one of your apartments. We can’t have you wandering around and risk someone asking you something about FBI business and you blurting out confidential information. Take the phone off the hook too. They don’t know how long the effect may last, but it is temporary. You may be tired after too, so you should plan to be locked up together for a full day or overnight.”

Mulder turned to see Scully nodding with her mouth ajar. She looked overwhelmed.

“I’ll tell you each an inane secret separately; once the truth serum kicks in, the other can interrogate and see if the secret is revealed. We will not only want to know if it really forces you to tell the truth but also how difficult it is to get the truth out.”

“Okay sir,” Scully said, meekly.

“However, we can help,” Mulder said, matching her tone.

“Agents…can you do it tonight? This is kind of time sensitive. Sorry it’s a Friday, hope you don’t have plans.”

Mulder saw Scully nodding, “Yes sir, we can do it tonight,” Mulder said. His only Friday night plans lately had been hoping to get Scully over to watch a movie.

“Great, I’ll get the serum from DOD and you two can get it from me at the end of the day. Thank you for doing this, it should go a long way in pleasing the brass.”

“Okay, thanks sir,” Scully said meekly, before standing up and heading out of Skinner’s office.

Mulder followed behind her. They stepped into the elevator and found themselves alone. “Scully, you seemed a little worried in there. Are you sure you want to do this? We can say no.”

“Mulder it’s fine. I have no secrets from you whatsoever,” she said directly, the game of chicken continuing. Neither wanted to admit they harbored hidden truths.

“Right. Me neither. Open book for you, Scully,” he teased.

“Let’s plan to do it at my place after work, since I have a bed and a couch.”

“Okay, Scully, sounds good.” Mulder said, feigning confidence.

They sat in near silence the rest of the day, shuffling through paperwork. They weren’t allowed to take any new cases until decisions were formally made about the future of the X-Files, but that didn’t stop the bosses from burying them in expense reports and case summaries. They were separately called by Skinner and told their ‘secret’ for the purpose of their mission.

Mulder kept catching Scully with dazed expressions. He wondered if she was lost in thought, considering the same things he was. He had a million secrets from Scully, and they were secrets for a reason. They were either incredibly embarrassing or about her.

As the morning grew into the afternoon, he couldn’t help but focus on the secrets he’d be most embarrassed to share with Scully, sometimes I’m so lonely I call a phone sex hotline just to talk to someone ; and the secrets he is most nervous to disclose because they are about her, I think I’ve been in love with you for a while and I don’t know what to do about it.

Near the end of the afternoon, Arlene had called to tell them the serum was ready to be picked up. Scully agreed to go retrieve it, and Mulder was going to grab his overnight bag and pick up food for dinner.

As she stood to leave, she turned to Mulder and sighed. “Okay, well…I’ll see you in a little bit then.”

“Okay, I’ll be over shortly. Don’t start without me,” he teased, trying, and failing to break the tension as she left their office.