An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
posted this a few days ago on ao3 and forgot to share it here!! a hurt/comfort fic set during darkness falls that I had a lot of fun working on :]
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully, Fox Mulder & Dana Scully
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Missing Scene, Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e20 Darkness Falls, Panic Attacks, Dissociation, not explicitly romantic in a very canon-typical way, Happy Ending, Cuddling & Snuggling, Sharing a Bed
Summary: Theyāre stuck in a cabin in the middle of the woods, their power generator is on its last leg, and Scully is desperately trying to fall asleep.
this is stupid and probably too personal in the most roundabout way but lately i've never understood buffy more than when she said "i fight evil, but i don't really win."
It was a chilly night, bordering on cold. The type of night where frost stole quiet over the whole world, like it happened between one blink and the next; and suddenly, you looked outside and everything was that soft silver-grey in the moonlight, orange and red leaves frozen on the trees and where they lay. Scully's breath fogged up the window as she admired the quiet beauty of it all, arms crossed and head tilted to rest on the windowpane. After a long day of investigating, it had been a relief to return to their lodgings: not a cheap motel for once, but a cozy bed-and-breakfast in a gorgeous old house. Mulder had grinned at the sight of it when they arrived, making some comment about how perfectly classic and apple pie the whole thing was--Scully had to agree. Sometimes, it was nice to relax, to catch one's breath; an easy case and a bed-and-breakfast seemed to be the perfect way to do it. Whatever it was--the case, the town, or the weather--it had them breathing easier, smiling more often. Mulder had been practically joyous the whole time, and Scully couldn't help but lighten her own mood to match the rare, bright and infectious enthusiasm.
The thought of her partner had her turning, making her way to the door of their adjoining rooms and knocking softly, before carefully turning the handle. They were both no strangers to letting themselves into the other's room, by now--travelling and working side-by-side tended to do that. When Scully opened the door and cast a brief glance around the room, she found a sight that warmed her heart more than she'd admit to anyone. Mulder was laying on the bed, halfway curled around one of the many throw pillows, and apparently fast asleep; he was still wearing day clothes (a long-sleeve tee and sweatpants), but didn't seem bothered by that fact, expression peaceful and breaths soft.
Scully paused for a moment at the scene. Mulder sleeping at all was a thing to celebrate on its own, with how the man generally avoided it; but moreover, it was... Good, perhaps was the word for it--pleasant, maybe? The thing was, Mulder always had that constant guardedness about him, the look of always waiting for something to happen. But now, for once, he simply looked peaceful; something about that made Scully feel peaceful in turn, knowing her partner was safe and sound and resting (for once in his life). Maybe that wasn't a normal feeling to have towards someone who was technically supposed to only be her colleague--but she and Mulder had left normal behind a long time ago. Non-normal was the job description, after all.
Scully stole forward on silent feet, careful to avoid the squeaky floorboards such an old house was sure to have. She didn't want to risk waking Mulder, but he'd managed to fall asleep without any blanket, and it just didn't feel right to leave him without one on a night like this. So she gathered up the quilt that lay at the end of the bed--a soft and worn old nine-patch--and gently draped it over her partner, pausing just a moment to smooth it over his shoulder and remember that peaceful expression. Her task complete, Scully turned to go back to her room, not wanting to overstay her welcome or risk waking Mulder; but as she took half a step away, she felt a gentle hand on her wrist, and quickly turned back around.
Mulder was looking up at her through half-lidded eyes, clearly still mostly asleep, but his voice was certain as it was soft when he asked: "Stay?" And there was something trusting in it, and something pleading, and something warm. In another time, Scully would have said no, would have thought herself ridiculous for even considering it. They were supposed to be colleagues, after all; nothing more.
But she and Mulder had left normal behind a long time ago.
"Alright," Scully murmured back into the quiet of the room, and Mulder offered her one of those soft and genuine smiles that it seemed she alone could summon. She left her slippers by the side of the bed, and slid under the quilt next to him. They were separate for a moment, keeping their distance; then Mulder moved an arm to circle Scully's waist--careful, questioning, waiting for permission. She gave it by curling closer to him, and they moved until there was no space between them. There was a moment where their eyes met, and it was just as charged as it always seemed to be between them, a silent conversation running just beneath the surface; but this time it was quiet, and gentle, and trusting. Mulder offered one of those soft smiles again, and then he was looking away, laying his head back down--this time, to rest just beneath Scully's chin. She closed her eyes, heart fluttering for a moment, and allowed her hand to drift upwards, landing to rest in soft brown hair. In that moment, Scully knew that there was nowhere else she'd rather be.
"Goodnight, Mulder," she whispered, voice curling around the syllables like a song.
"Night, Scully," he murmured back, embrace tightening for just a moment in acknowledgement of the unspoken words beneath.
Frost fell over the cold landscape outside, turning the world to silver-grey. But inside, together beneath the quilt, Scully and Mulder were warm.
{Now cross-posted on ao3! https://archiveofourown.org/works/86663301}
iāve come to the conclusion that trying to explain how i experience my bisexuality is like trying to describe the scent of a perfume to someone whoās not in the room.
what do you mean when you say switching never again and leonard betts was the best of two bad options?
I mean that ideally we would have more than one episode that looks at scully like never again does. in the best timeline weād have at least one scully rebellion with the original intent of never again (scully is thinking about how she wants to live, just for the sake of thinking about it) and another (or more than one) after sheās diagnosed with cancer. but if we only get the one, Iād much rather see her lash out after she finds out she has cancer. the transition to memento mori would have been too jarring otherwise. I donāt want to see scully facing death so stoically. scully rages. seeing her rage gives texture to her whole cancer arc that we wouldnāt get otherwise; we have to know sheās falling apart even when sheās trying not to show it. and I donāt think her anger in never again comes across as āscully is mad sheās dying.ā I donāt see death as her focus. sheās still thinking about how she wants to live her life.
honestly, I think everything morgan and wong worried would happen when the episodes were switched is actually what would have happened if the episodes werenāt switched. never again would have been swallowed up by the cancer arc if it came first. it would have felt like the writers gave her all of these important questions to ask and then diagnosed her with cancer and immediately drowned out those questions. it would have turned never again into an episode about how to live and the cancer arc into a story about how to die. by incorporating never again into the cancer arc, I think the show does something much smarter and much truer to the x-files, which is to say that life and death are impossible to separate
Kelly talk to me about Leonard Betts. the framework of the episode leading into the sudden tonal shift at the end as we head into the cancer arc makes me feel INSANEEE I want to know your thoughts!!
it's soooo crazy to be putty in the x-files' hands!! they trained us so well to expect big revelations only during the mythology episodes, and it makes "leonard betts" work like a sleight of hand trick. I knew scully's cancer was coming in the next few episodes, and I still thought they were probably just using leonard to gently introduce cancer into the conversation (maybe that was clueless of me). "you've got something I need" hit me like a truck. incredible twist. I love the immediate turn toward silence once the reveal hits; you can really feel the air get sucked out of the room, which leads so well into "never again" (I'm a defender of "leonard betts" airing first). I think it helped that I didn't know it was the super bowl episode before I watched it. what's funny is that they kind of sacrificed making the episode too great for the sake of making the reveal more surprising, which I respect. no one has ever yelled at me for not putting "leonard betts" on my best episodes list. I think it's a solid episode, and the ambulance crash decapitation is a big spectacle to keep super bowl audiences watching; I don't want to sell it short. but until the big reveal it's good in a pretty normal way, which just makes it more shocking when you realize where it's headed. it's a really confident move.
exactly itās so sinister they made it look like a regular motw and hit you with the revelation, also the thought that the writers wrote a body horror only to reveal that scullyās got cancer is haunting me
i love txf s5 for how experimental it is. the writers tried so many new formats (the unusual suspects and travelers for side characters and mulderās personal history, post-modern prometheus and bad blood for their unconventional narratives, detour and folie Ć deux focusing mainly on the msr dynamic, etc.). albeit with some unsuccessful attempts, itās just very lovely to watch, and i really admire and respect them for taking the risks. like, s3 and s4 are classic txf at its peak, yet s5 goes even further, exploring what it could be
been thinking about the x-files place in media and how the show, and mulder and scullyās relationship influences how tv is created. i think any show that is a police procedural with the skeptic/believer dynamic is genuinely inspired mulder and scully. iām talking about bones, castle, and lucifer among many others.
i enjoy this dynamic but have been wondering why, aside from lacking david and gillianās chemistry, these shows and ships cannot capture what the x-files and msr did so effortlessly.
iāve come to a few conclusions.
first: the msr dynamic is misunderstood. people think that this dynamic is man is an annoying manchild and woman puts up with him. the msr dynamic is not that. not really.
mulder is, at his core, a deeply traumatized person on a mission to find his sister who was abducted by aliens. he becomes blinded by his mission, but he is highly intelligent and accomplished on his own. scully is also highly intelligent and accomplished, and they see that about each other in very first scene that meet. there is immediate respect between the, which is VITAL.
i think a lot of modern media thinks that the man has to be kind of an actual idiot (or overly sexual in his advances) at first and the woman has to help himĀ āgrow upā when that is not the case with mulder and scully at all. mulder and scully challenge each otherās world views and beliefs and help each other become the fullest versions of themselves, which is not always easy. but it is always with fundamental respect and true friendship. if mulder becomes a more mature and serious person because of scully itās because of her influence on him, just how he influenced her to have the courage to open herself up to belief in the unknown.
and mulder and scullyāsĀ āslow burnā is so iconic because their moments of flirtation and intimacy early on is subtle. but it is there. mulder doesnāt have to ask to see scullyās tits for us to know he wants to. (but itās a hell of a long time til he does.)
and, unlike instances with caskett and deckerstar - they are notĀ āforcedā or tricked to work together, they choose to. they actually refuse to be pulled apart because together, they will find what theyāre looking for
which brings me to my next point! i think something a lot of shows donāt do if give a real reason for the copaganda other than it just being copaganda, especially a fantasy show like lucifer. on the x-files, mulder and scully are fbi agents- but them working for the fbi serves for the plot as a way for them to gain access to government secrets and lies by working from within. in a lot of ways, it is a criticism of the fbi and the government at large. mulder and scully are fbi agents because of their mission, their mission is NOT to be fbi agents.
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