Collector's Edition: Never Again and the
Endless Line
Got some Never Again angst for the phile populace. Step right up and take a whirl!
Loose chronological order below~
Beshter's Seasons: Fourth
Scully watched Mulder whip around the doorway to the office, bag in hand, partly envious of his time off, partly irritated. He wouldn't be taking it if he didn't have to, she knew that, and it was disgusting that he was forced to it. Mulder had no concept of "vacation." She wasn't much better. What was she doing instead of vacationing? Checking up on Moose and Squirrel? Is this what her life had devolved into, back and forth, up and down, her life in a standstill chasing one false lead after another, and all the moments of life passing her by. Her fingers slipped into her coat pocket, pulling out the delicate rose petals she found the night before. They looked even more ephemeral in the wan, florescent light of the dim office. She felt as dry and desiccated as they were, fragile and empty.
Part of Beshter's fill-in series: post-Kaddish Scully begins to examine her life, its choices, and consequences... and (momentarily) runs away from the endless line.
Stephanie Davies's Insufferable Sting
It was as she was pulling up behind her brother's Volvo that she felt it: a cold tickle on her upper lip. And her fingers came away bloody.
Pre-Never Again Scully's questions about her desk and that endless line began at her brother's birthday party.
Anne Haynes’s (Gossamer) Ishmael
What smacks me in the face is that, no matter how much I tried to distance myself from him and his influence in my life, no matter the uncharacteristic lengths to which I went in my quest for rebellion, I am less free of him than I was before we parted.
Never Again Scully is consumed by her partner.
@scenes-in-between/@scullywolf's (Ao3) Never Again
Telling Mulder would make it real. And she wasn’t ready for that, not yet.
Post-Leonard Betts Scully's fear drives her to Philadelphia.
Chibiness87's Transient
Following a suspect into a tattoo parlour dressed as she is may appear a little unwise, but she is intrigued despite herself. The design of the ouroboros calls to her; a direct contrast to what she claimed in the office the previous day about life. Here the snake is constantly reborn, life continues on forevermore, a constant loop.
A symbol of infinity.
Of permanence.
She likes it immediately.
Never Again Scully wonders if she has cancer.
Clementinewoolysocks369's The Problem - Chapter 1
Maybe she just wants to take a normal risk for once. Maybe she just wants to reassure herself she’s alive. It’s a side effect of being one of the few people her age who has had the privilege of seeing her own gravestone. “Dana Scully. Loving daughter and friend.” Her life summed up in a few words.
Post-Leonard Betts Scully feels disconnected from life.
@bakedbakermom/lonegunga1's Ouroboros (Ao3)
It was the first place Mulder ever really touched her, on that first case in his dark Oregon motel room with rain sheeting down outside, as Scully stood trembling in the candlelight and the tiny flame flickered in the warm cloud of his breath. She had trusted him enough, even then, to bare her body, and he in turn trusted her enough to bare his soul.
It is still the place he touches her the most, the place she has come to think of as “his.”
Never-Ever--Again
This is a moment of truth. Another, and so soon after the last. My life is crowded with them these days. I stand outside our office, ready to enter for the first time since returning from Philadelphia.
All the delicious heat I'd felt when I was close to Ed Jerse was, it seems, a mere precursor to his nearly incinerating me, then toasting his own arm.
Never Again Scully ruminates on her avenging anger.
After
For the tenth time, she wondered what they were doing here. It wasn't as if blood was allegedly pouring from human flesh, and she doubted that Skinner had assigned the case. Where was the *crime*? Had Mulder brought her to Philadelphia to watch her squirm? Had he chosen this bogus- looking religious case purely to poke fun at her faith? Was he really that cruel, and were they that far gone? She tried to shake off the depression this thought spread over her like a pall.
Pre-Never Again Mulder and Scully fell into bed, never talked about it, and are now grappling with her Philadelphia weekend-- in resentful silence, on a case.
@syntax6's (Gossamer, FFN, omniscribe) 20 - Chapter 4
Snow is falling again when he picks her up from the hospital. Tiny little flakes drift from the silent sky, illuminated briefly by the yellow street lamps before settling softly on the cold white world around them. Scully shivers insider her coat as she waits for him to open the locked car. Snow catches on her black shoulders and dull, burnished hair, and he barely recognizes her. The red seems muted to him now in the wake of all those pictures - her body and Jerse's, catalogued as evidence.
Never Again Scully, injured, asks for help.
defnotmeyo's It's My
And it’s the with who that driving you particularly crazy, right? Because you kind of think that maybe if Ed Jerse wasn’t completely off his rocker, he might be a little bit better than you. He was certainly more stable, outwardly, despite the failed marriage. He was certainly suaver, getting her to open up to him. He was certainly at least as good looking as you, a little more ripped, a little bulkier.
That goads you, doesn’t it?
Never Again Mulder can't finish his sentence.
@mldrgrl's (Ao3) Seeing Red
“Get out, Mulder,” she mumbles, trying not to move her lips too much. Blood seeps into her mouth anyway and she grimaces at the coppery tang on her tongue.
“Keep your head back,” he answers, as though he didn’t hear her. He turns the faucet on and turns to the paper towel dispenser.
“I said get out!” she says again, and the force of her voice causes the blood on her lips to splatter on the sink and mirror.
Mulder freezes with a paper towel fluttering in his hand.
Post-Never Again Scully has a nosebleed (in front of her partner.)
@thursdayinspace's (Ao3) fic: five times Mulder doesn't ask Scully out on a date (and one time he does) (Ao3)
She’s right to be mad at him. He deserves it. He’s mad at himself. He doesn’t know if he’s ever been angrier.
Amongst other opportunities thoroughly fumbled, Mulder misses a glaring one during Never Again.
@incidental-ao3/incidental's
Febuwhump 2023: The Truth is Out There (And the Fic is In Here) - Chapter 8
But eventually, the yawn came, unbidden, and he reached for the remote.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said hurriedly. He had already flipped it off.
“Nah, you need your beauty sleep,” he joked. He turned his lamp off, but she hesitated.
“Uh, Mulder, can I… can I confide something in you?” she asked, setting her book aside. He propped himself up on his elbow, brow crinkled.
Post-Never Again Scully is plagued by night terrors.
Nothing Else Matters
“You… are all that I care about, Scully. All. Nothing else matters without you.”
“Oh,” was all she could manage to say in response. It was disarming, how quickly the energy between them had changed.
AU-- Post-Never Again Mulder and Scully yell out their anger (and finally, finally communicate.)
Diana Alexander's The Vain Shadow of the Past
He walked over to Scully's desk, and she looked up at him as he spoke softly. "I'm sorry, Scully."
Post-Never Again Mulder reflects on their complicated relationship.
@frogsmulder/Brynstein's Love Me Tender
The shadow of Phoebe Green was his ghost. He had collected others since, they always seemed to follow him, stitched to his heel. But Phoebe had been his first. In every sense of the word. When they had been together she had completely and utterly shattered him. In a way that was both exhilarating and terrifying, but now it was just terrifying. Or so he tried to tell himself.
Post-Never Again Scully realizes Mulder is afraid.
@jessahmewren's (Ao3) Mulder & Scully, #15
Scully watched he scenery slide by in green/blue flashes. They’d been driving for ages. Her tattoo itched, but she couldn’t discreetly scratch it without Mulder noticing, and it was still a sore spot for him.
Ed Jerse was a sore spot for him.
Post-Never Again Scully is ready for a fight.
@suitablyaggrieved/ScullyLovesQueequeg's #4 Come Here, Let Me Fix It For You
“Thank you,” She said that lowly, as if forbidden, and that’s when Mulder noticed it. Her cross was not on her neck.
“Scully, what happened to your necklace?” He asked.
“It broke. After all these years, and you wearing it some, it finally broke."
Post-Never Again Mulder does his best to fix things (literally.)
@just-a-donut-who-reads/just_a_donut_who_reads's Unnamed
Pacing done, she stands on her toes, arms above her head, stretching her shoulders and mid-section and twists at the waist, allowing the tension to seep out of her body. The action makes her cropped sweatshirt ride up, and from the corner of her eye, she can see Mulder's eyes following its hemline. Suddenly, he looks away, and his hands tighten almost imperceptibly on the cushion he's holding. Scully lowers her arms and turns to him.
"What?" She asks, examining her abdomen. He shakes his head but she continues, lifting up the back of the sweatshirt and twisting to look at her back.
Oh.
Post-Never Again Mulder glimpses his partner's tattoo.
@scullysexual/PostApocolypticAlien's
30 Ways To Say "I Love You" (1/30)/How It Was Before. - Chapter 1
You return from the little café down the road and venture over to her area.
“It was two sugars, right?” you ask.
Startled, she glances up at you and the coffee cup in your hand.
Post-Never Again Mulder apologizes.
A Ghost Inbetween
It's a tiny dab of red. You could of easily missed it, would of if you were anyone but yourself yet, either way, you wouldn't miss anything when it relates to her, especially recently. Recently something had been very off with her if the last case was anything to go by.
Post-Never Again Mulder sees blood on Scully's shirt.
Michelle Kiefer's The Bar Scene - Race the Wind
When she raised her eyes, Mulder's smug look had been replaced with concern and perhaps a little guilt.
Post-Never Again Scully and Mulder aggravate each other on their next case.
@aloysiavirgata's Snow Carefully Everywhere Descending (LJ)
Mulder eyes her sidelong; her height requires her to shimmy to the edge of the tall stool and hop down in an undignified fashion. He watches her stride through the room - linoleum the color of old computers, of old bones - and resents the pairs of eyes that follow her dark, trim figure. They have no idea about her, he thinks. They can’t possibly begin to imagine her, the complexity of the brain cloistered behind that bruised and lovely face. They cannot fathom the things her sea-deep eyes have watched unfold.
Post-Never Again Mulder and Scully, prickly still, begin to slowly
open up.
@h0ldthiscat's (Ao3) 7 (things you said while we were driving)
She shoves the sunshade back up and clears her throat. “Can we go?”
He notices for the first time that her eyes are wet, that her chin is quivering despite her best attempts to control it. Remorse and guilt wash over him as he remembers an offhand comment from earlier in the week that explains her makeup, her nicer-than-usual suit, the set of her jaw."
Post-Never Again Mulder realizes Scully feels used.
AUs
@seepunkrun/Punk/runpunkrun's (site, Gossamer) Across a Desk (Ao3)
She waited to see what he would do. It occurred to her that he wasn't going to say anything on his own. She had to decide if it would be worth it to flush him out of his hole.
Foxhole.
Something in her appreciated how much that remark could hurt him. She held that power inside of her: She could hurt Mulder.
AU-- Post-Never Again Scully's tattoo can talk.
@writingwell/RocketMan's (site) I Hurt
"Scully, did you hear me?"
I shake my head no. I hurt, I hurt, I hurt, I hurt
"Scully, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" he asks.
AU-- Post-Never Again Scully, still saddened from the Tunguska-Terma fiasco, is shocked by Mulder's question.
Brandon D. Ray's (Gossamer, xffics) No Place Like Home (Gossamer)
"Tell you what, Scully," her partner said as the chuckles finally died down. "You ever decide you DO want a tattoo, give me a holler and we'll go get one together, okay? We need to spend more time social time together relaxing, anyway -- the stress is getting to both of us."
AU-- Never Again was all a dream.
@swinging-stars-from-satellites/bravest_person_in_Wonderland's even more of exactly the same (Ao3)
It might hurt too much to acknowledge that she walked away from her best friend of four years over a stupid fight, a pointless desk and the point of a needle dripping ink into her skin. A part of her misses him, the part that wakes up panicking and praying she won't find blood on her pillowcase, but another part is still angry.
He has no claim on her. She has no claim on him. That makes her sad.
AU-- Post-Never Again Scully leaves without a goodbye... and calls again after her diagnosis.
BONUS
@kateyes224's Mulder’s real panic face.
Whatever you do, do not think about how Mulder had answered Scully’s phone call early that morning with one of his usual pithy Mulderisms, eager to regain a tenuous balance with her after she had reduced him to ashes and unfinished sentences in the wake of the Ed Jerse case. Don’t think about how Mulder’s face fell as the words “Can you meet me at the oncology ward?” slowly floated into his ears, his smile fading, as it took his brain several long moments to play catch-up before the words actually made sense.
Post-Never Again Mulder is given bad news.
Meredith's Backhand
Her life was his as much as his was hers. And she was waiting to tell him until after she was dead.
Two and a half days of nonstop searching and five hours in a variety of uncomfortable chairs had brought him to his knees. He had been moving so fast for so long that the reality of the situation hadn't sunk in; his brain had been processing the facts nonstop since Scully's call back in D.C., but his heart hadn't been able to keep up.
Memento Mori Mulder understands Scully's Philadelphia excursion.
@cecilysass's We’re Not Here To Get Involved in Personal Problems - Chapter 6
“Blood-related sexual activity!” Scully finds herself getting belatedly frightened and angry. “Mulder, did HIV/AIDS cross your mind?”
“I guess I probably forgot to review the pamphlets that night. Hey, maybe you can tell me for the future, Dr. Scully, how safe are kinky contaminated tattoo needles?”
Scully notes by the bright quality in his eyes that he is a little angry, too, and she questions if Mulder’s fear monster theory is right after all.
Post-X-Cops Mulder and Scully walk the neighborhood, eat mangoes, and delicately discuss past trysts.
@leiascully's tattoo
He grazed the snake on her back with one fingertip. She could hear the question in his quiet.
Hearts now open to each other, Mulder and Scully discuss her tattoo.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
This new story set after “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” is all kinds of sweet and has accurate tags including “fluff” and “dorks in love.“ U make an Ass out of Me by Chibiness87 - go read it and smile!
do you have any good mulder hurt/comfort fic recs? Specifically scully comforting mulder? I feel like most fics on ao3 are mulder comforting scully
Collector's Edition: A Tormented Man, At Last, Is Comforted
Sorry this took so long, anon! These recs are nowhere near all.
If you want an entire catalog of fics in that genre, I'd highly suggest reading through @baronessblixen's work-- hurt/comfort and fluff are her specialties; and she writes incredible an Hurt!Mulder (or Mulder post-latest-shenanigans) and Caring!Scully. (I've rec-ed a lot of her fics in the past, so if you search up #BaronessBlixen on my page, they should all pop up.)
I also recommend the "Mulder, Scully, and Season 8 Healing" and Dad!Mulder rec lists on my pinned page; but Injured but In-Charge Scully is practically required reading for this topic (@sarie-fairy's Skamania County is the first that comes to mind.)
Loose chronological order below~
@thursdayinspace's
the ginger invasion
He just about manages to lift his head and there she is, Scully, in his bedroom doorway; she turns on the light and it hurts his eyes, but even as he squints against it the glow of her red hair in the sudden brightness is enough to make him let out a relieved breath. "Hi." He hates to admit when he needs help. But he needs help. And help just showed up.
Early partnership Scully helps Mulder recover from an illness.
travel in style (Tumblr)
She lifts her head and twists around trying to look at him, and when that doesn’t work, she sits up and rubs her eyes, yawning. “That doesn’t look comfortable.”
He sighs. “That’s probably because it isn’t.”
She looks at him for a long moment, obviously thinking.
Scully helps Mulder sleep in the car.
Beshter's Seasons: Second: Chapter 118
"No, come on. I want you to lie down." She tried directing him to her bedroom, but her steering threatened to tumble him over. "Whoa, come on I want you to lie down, let me take your coat off." She began to work off the long sleeve of the jacket he wore. It was summertime in DC, sticky and humid outside. What did he need with a coat in the first place?
Anasazi Scully cares for Mulder's fever after his father's death.
@bytethehand/homecomingserf's fragility
Scully can hear him pacing through the wall. Back and forth, back and forth on the creaky motel floors. He’s got a tendency to pace at night, of course, she knows this, but never this long and never this late and never this fast and loud and anxious-sounding.
Post One Breath Mulder finally lets Scully in.
@welsharcher's The X-Files: The Field Where I Died
With a sigh, Scully walked over and dropped the plastic evidence bag on his desk, savoring the resounding thud it made. Mulder casually looked up; his apathy undisturbed.
Another sigh escaped as she pulled out the book, “Sarah Kavanaugh’s journal was found hidden under a loose floorboard in Melissa’s room.”
Post TFWID Scully attempts to give Mulder comfort.
@officialmulder/specialagentpao's broken hearts, paper hearts
He buried his face in his hands. Scully sat in front of him on the coffee table. “We can talk about it if you want.” Her voice barely a whisper.
AU-- Paper Hearts Mulder finds Samantha's body.
@agent-troi/AgentTroi's Still Walking Into That Room
Mulder remained limp and passive throughout all of this, not reacting in any way except to follow numbly as Scully led him out of the house and back to her car. He sat down when she opened the passenger side door and gently nudged him inside, but he made no move to buckle his seat belt, so she did it for him.
Post Demons Scully needs to know that Mulder will be okay without her.
@seek-its-opposite/seek_its_opposite's
photosensitivity (Tumblr)
“You don’t have to stay in here,” he tells her, trying to sound casual. “If anything happens I’ll just scream in agony.” He doesn’t pull off the joke.
“I’m good,” she soothes.
He called her in the middle of the night with blood down his shirt and she came to find him. It’s been too late to leave for years.
Post Demons Scully and Mulder are confronted by his seizures and her mortality, his past and her present.
folie imposée (Tumblr)
He’s straining, struggling against his restraints to reach her. She unhooks the belt across his chest and he grasps for her, pulling at the straps around his wrists. When she takes his arm in her hands his skin burns hot and pink, rubbed raw by cheap canvas.
She could play his scrapes on a turntable and the vinyl would sing a slow tragedy, a myth reborn in jazz. Cassandra the cursed prophet, reincarnated as a boy who believes in aliens.
Folie a Deux Scully spirits Mulder away.
@amplifyme/wonderland/Lydia Bower's
Affinity/Affinity 01
"Scully. You really thought it was me that night. Right?"
We've covered this ground before. It's one of the few questions he's allowed himself to ask, and one of the queries he continues to make. It's like he's stuck on these few questions like a needle in the groove of an old record.
"Yes, Mulder." I wait for the question that will inevitably follow, the one that never directly addresses what he saw when he burst through the door. He can afford to be vague: we both know what almost happened, what he interrupted.
"And you… you were okay with that."
Second verse same as the first.
"Yeah, Mulder. I was okay with that."
He nods. I haven't changed the answer to that one, either. I think he finds that reassuring, in some odd Mulderish way.
AU-- Post Small Potatoes Scully and Mulder redo that night.
Burning in Heaven
No, not asleep. Her head swung around and he was greeted with a smile. "Mulder. You're still here."
He took another step into the room and stopped. A small part of his brain got busy trying to figure out what it was about Scully that calmed him. Simply walking into her room had settled and centered him. He could feel the threat of shattering begin to reverse itself, his pieces coming back together to make a whole. Scully was his glue.
Post Redux II Mulder and Scully process their raw emotions.
@settle-down-frohike/settledownfrohike's
Missing Scenes (1/3, 2/3, 3/3)
“Mulder…are you sure you shouldn’t have someone examine you?“ he waved her off, scanning the floor for her shoes, doing his best not to appear frantic.
Mulder's journey through the final days of the cancer arc. (Scully comforts him in Part 3.)
120 for the drabble prompt
When he returns Scully is ensconced in pale pink silk, drunkenly slurring at her mother that she’s fine. She attempts to reach for the stack of drenched journals, winces, and that is just about enough for Maggie Scully. She enters the bedroom, raises a hereditary eyebrow at the hulking figure trying to decipher a fitted sheet from flat.
“Fox. Thank you. I think I can take it from here on out.”
It’s not Maggie’s style to be brutish or cruel, but she’s tired, and her tone is a bit more clipped than usual. Mulder remains mute, and nods a yes m’am. He gathers the empty Macy’s bag and passes her as she resumes the preparation of the bed. When she exits, he’s sitting crosslegged on the floor, coffee table askew to make room, trying to peel apart pages from The Lancet mumbling, “just a second, I’ll find it...”.
Her daughter’s hands are roving the top of his scalp, petting and combing through his hair like a beloved dog.
Post Tithonus Scully is not exasperated with Mulder's efforts.
Luctus
She looks over at his sleeping form, studies the exaggerated bow of his upper lip, and thinks what a nursing blister it must’ve made. She gazes back down at the somber toddler in the faded image clutching his mother’s leg and sucking his thumb, her with one hand on his scalp, the other cradling her belly. His humanity is real and disconcerting at this moment. All this time, it felt as though she were merely patching up this omnipotent, otherworldly force, acting as an aid to propel him toward an epic destiny. There’s proof before her now that somewhere, he had a beginning.
Post Sein und Zeit Scully cares for Mulder in the aftermath.
5 Pt. AU Prompts
The words “small cell” are anything but small. They are Goliath, and David is no where to be found. She feels the words rather than hears them. Malignant, it feels like quicksand.
AU-- Mulder has cancer; and Scully is ready for war.
Headcanon (Tumblr)
It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota. She was flipping through a dossier and he was dozing, as per usual. She heard a mumbled version of her name and threw a distracted “Hm?” his way without glancing up. “Scully.” Firmer, more forceful this time. She looked over, annoyed, and spat “What Mu-“ and realized he was still asleep, but fitfully so. His breathing was coming in pants, nostrils flared and his brow was beaded with perspiration.
Mulder's name is a comfort to Scully.
@o6666666's (Ao3)
8, 52, or 89!!
“I think you should go home.”
He shrugged, but in the way small boys do when they are lying, and his eyes were wet.
“You need sleep.”
She knew, and he knew, that he had not been sleeping. She pet his hair and he blinked like it hurt to be treated gently.
He shrugged again.
“Don’t lie to me,” she admonished, and pinched his ear so he knew it was only that she cared for him tremendously.
He laughed but it knocked loose some piece of the great thing inside him that hurt and hurt, and in a moment he was crying.
Post Paper Hearts Scully tries to call in Tena Mulder for support.
AU where Mulder is the one who gets sick in season 4 instead of Scully and Is... is it cruel to request more of the Sick Mulder story?
She wipes his mouth with her sleeve.
“Open your eyes,” she whispers, and he blinks and blinks.
“It’s blurry,” he sniffs.
She wraps herself all around him and lays her cheek to his, adopting his vantage point.
“I don’t wanna wrestle,” he says.
“In a second you’ll see the cabinet,” she says. “Just the plain brown cabinet. And our feet, and my other shoes.”
He sniffles.
“Tell me when you see it.”
AU-- Post Terma Mulder has cancer.
I love you prompt 14?
If you asked Scully whether she crashed Mulder’s disciplinary hearing to be his hype man, she’d tell you no.
But she did.
Scully refuses to let Mulder feel chastised.
@mulder-fight-him's Spiderwebs and Butterflies
She doesn’t know what exactly woke her, but blue eyes snap open suddenly and quickly fill with confusion, suprise, and maybe a little hint of love.
Less than two feet away her lanky partner is sprawled out on her bed. At least she thinks it’s her bed. That’s where she fell asleep last night. She gently lifts her head and takes a quick inventory. Yes. Her bed.
S5 Scully lets Mulder stay after a nightmare.
Anne Haynes's (xf-redux) Irrevocable
I watch her walk away from me, and I try to comfort myself with the picture of how life would have been for her had she not been thrust into my world. I try to see myself, sitting on one of the benches outside the Hoover Building, maybe eating lunch on a sunny day, and looking up to see Dana Scully walking down the sidewalk, a beautiful little tow- head little girl clinging to her hand, laughing and whole. I want to see this. I need to see this.
But I can't.
Because in this future, I don't exist. In this future, I am dead a thousand times over because Dana Scully wasn't there to save me.
There is no comfort to be found.
Scully finds Mulder mourning Emily's death.
Chibiness87's Seeing is Believing
He blinks harshly, gaze trapped by her intense stare. Four points of sensation appear on his neck, and he suddenly realises she is digging her nails in, making him focus.
Chocking, he manages to gasp out, “I can’t stop.”
Scully nods, tightening her grip on the nape of his neck. “Can you keep your eyes open for me?”
He squeezes his eyes closed, feeling his chest tighten. “I can’t… I can’t calm down.”
Her voice is the only anchor he has, and he latches on to it. “I’m not asking you to calm down. I’m asking you to look at me.” Her grip changes, making his face tilt more towards her. Her voice is still gentle, but firm. “Look at me, Mulder. Come on.”
Post Kitsunegari Scully guides Mulder through a panic attack.
DanaScully77's Night Hags and Restless Sleep
“Scully, is it bad the pills didn’t work?”
“Yes.” Scully admits, not wanting to lie to him. Her palm strokes through his hair, a normal occurrence for her when she’s tending to him and worried about his health. Much like his hand on her back, his hair is her calming space. “If you don’t sleep within the next twenty-four hours, you’ll need to be admitted to the hospital.”
“ Scully .”
The whine in his voice is almost childish, but Scully doesn’t comment on it. With how little rest he’s gotten, it’s only natural to resort to young behaviors. “I know, Mulder. But your body can’t survive with no sleep.”
Post-case Mulder cannot fall asleep.
saltringangell's the time it would take (to fix my heart)
He doesn’t stop, doesn’t look back.
“Mulder, slow down.”
He swings open the front door to the FBI building, wind whipping his hair back and causing her to practically stumble across the threshold. She lets the cool air sting her face, a nice change from the smoke and fire that licked at her skin just moments prior. Mulder continues down the pathway to his car, a little slower now, but still just enough steps ahead so she can’t see his face.
“Mulder, please, just let me-”
“Just get in the car, Scully.”
Post The End Mulder falls apart.
Emeraldsoleil's Beginning to Thaw
His body rippled against hers as he attempted to put distance between then, but a gasp of pain arrested his progress and he relaxed back against her. "I realize this is an awkward position we find ourselves in, partner, but I, uh...I can't move."
"I'm not surprised. Your muscles are tied in knots. I'll try to get the nurse in her to give you a muscle relaxer. Until then, don't try to move to much. You might tear something." She tugged on his hair again. "Doctor's orders."
"Yes, ma'am," he answered. The silence grew heavy, curling around them in a cloud of frustration.
"What is it, Mulder?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
Fight the Future Scully and Mulder have a conversation at the bottom of the world.
@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls’s
mondays on an endless loop (Tumblr)
“Scu… ly,” says Mulder. He takes another breath, and he sounds horrible, inches away. His eyes are half-closed.
“Don't try to talk, Mulder,” she whispers. She moves her hand back to his face, brushing his sweaty hair away, touching his cheek, his forehead. She's forgotten everyone else in the bank; it's just the two of them. “Just… just keep breathing, Mulder,” she says. “Hang on, okay? Keep breathing, Mulder, please.”
He doesn't listen, because of course he doesn't. He rasps, “I'm… sorry,” and then his mouth shuts and he says no more. Heartbeats slowing, slowing.
Mulder, Scully, and the endless Mondays that could be (and were.)
Foxsong 's Ruego
The words were easier to say than she had expected, not shattering as she'd thought they'd be. They were sweet in her mouth. "I love you, Mulder," she said again, marveling at how freely it left her lips. "I love you, love you..." It became a chant, a prayer. She whispered it over and over into his ear and felt how it calmed him, how he steadied against her, how his trembling eased. "I love you." It seemed so important to tell him. Why had she waited so long?
He had finally stopped crying, and was still; and she became aware that he was praying with her, echoing her whispered words. "I love you, Scully... I love you. I love you..."
Post Milagro Scully and Mulder alternate their breakdowns and caregiving.
@baronessblixen/Baroness_Blixen's Lucky
I know what I’m doing, Scully,” he told her, amusement apparent in his voice – famous last words,
“I grew up around here, you know.” If only he hadn’t tried to look good while climbing down the steep trail from the cliffs to the beach. Scully told him to take the long, official way. Of course Mulder dismissed her idea as silly and unnecessary. He insisted on walking ahead, naturally, and Scully let him. He was telling her something about crabs when it happened. One moment she watched his head bob up and down while she tried to find the best, least dangerous path, and in the next instant he slipped.
S6 Scully nearly laughs over Mulder's tumble.
@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's
How about a super shippy MSR fic?
Amongst the pain and the fear and the sensory overload, hers is the mind that shines like a beacon in the night.
It is a revelation.
Biogenesis Mulder is comforted amidst the chaos.
@nowwhateinstein's (Ao3) things you said that made me feel real
He pauses, worrying his bottom lip, as if searching for the right words. “It’s what led me to start looking for her. The desire to find her was my coping mechanism, I suppose. Knowing that she’s out there, somewhere, keeps my fear at bay.”
Something - perhaps it’s intuition - urges me to glance at clock on the nightstand. Of course, I realize with a sinking feeling. 11:21pm, November 27, 1998. The anniversary of Samantha’s abduction. Twenty-five years later, and he’s still searching for her.
Scully realizes her partner is "off."
@greekowl87's (Ao3) No One Is Perfect (Tumblr)
She opened the door and saw the television had gone to a late night infomercial with playing in the background on mute. Mulder was wide awake, laying across his couch with legs crossed, staring at some unknown fixed point. She recognized that look. He was lost in his own thoughts, mulling something over, and he needed to be brought back to Earth.
Post Orison Scully assuages Mulder's guilt.
aRcaDIaNFall$'s Longest Night
"I feel lost." It's the first he's spoken in almost forty minutes. I've been silent, too.
I don't speak, just wait for him to go on.
Sein und Zeit Mulder has a hard night.
@incidental-ao3/incidental's Verlust
She held his head against her chest, fingers stroking his hair, and rocked with him. It was instinct, an act buried deep within her, as she breathed in the smell of him and kissed the crown of his head. He hung onto her like a life raft, his weight bearing down on her as she crouched on the floor in front of his chair. When her shoulders and knees began to scream for relief, she gently extricated herself from him and took his hands in hers, encouraging him up out of his seat. He followed without words or hesitation, letting her lead him across his apartment and into the bedroom.
He sat on the edge of the bed with a vacant expression on his face, his eyes a million miles elsewhere. It scared her, seeing him that way, so completely drawn into himself.
Sein und Zeit Scully opens up to help Mulder process.
@bohoartist/Bohoartist's The Healing Power of Touch
Mulder adjusts his body so he is facing ahead and she turns her face to look at him. She can see the shininess in his eyes and understands perfectly well how the grief of losing a loved one creeps up on you in the most random of times. She thinks of the days and weeks after losing Ahab and how her eyes would well up with tears for no discernible reason as the weight of her loss would crash down on her. She thinks of how he would notice her grief but knew better than to say a word in an attempt to comfort her, instead choosing to brush his hand across her back a little more than necessary, or to push a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.
Sein und Zeit Scully keeps vigil.
@writingwell/RocketMan's (xffics) I'll Be Waiting for You
I creep slowly to the sound; I think it's coming from the bathroom.
The door is closed.
I hear . . . the shower running.
I scramble back to my window, the one overlooking the parking lot, and see with relief that Mulder's car is right next to mine.
I must have been too preoccupied to notice it.
Mulder distances himself when emotionally troubled.
@brenayla's (Ao3) 6. He has a nightmare
Scully’s voice says, “Mulder?” She’s groggy; there’s a small, warm hand against his flexed bicep.
He whips around. “Scully?” He echoes, frantically pressing the length of his finger into the divot under her nose.
Scully comforts her partner after his nightmare.
@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack's If She'd Known
Is it a miracle from God or a gift from the devil? Some hellish combination of mad science and corporate greed conspire to rip his lungs to shreds and in doing so, strap him down to a North Carolina hospital bed. Scully is tracking down his other records, his brain scans, when they administer the nicotine or it never would have happened. She’s not there when he is poisoned back to life, but first to death. She never would have left him but… His heart stops for a moment. For a moment he is dead. A moment. Then a minute. A full minute. And then it beats again.
AU-- Scully works hard to save Mulder from his brain disease.
Lolabeegood's (mulderscreek) Five Months Lost (Ao3)
"Mulder," she said softly as she walked toward him and stopped his forward motion. She grabbed his wrists and made him look her in the eyes. "I have been, we all have been, looking for you for over five months."
"Five months?" he said disbelieving.
"You didn't go to the conference in Philadelphia, or spend time with the Gunmen, or feel the baby kick until you put your hand on my stomach this morning," she said softly.
AU-- Post Requiem Mulder is returned with false memories.
@monikafilefan/MonikaFileFan's
Pre-IWTB at the unremarkable house
“Doctor Dana Scully?” he asks, head bowed. “I’m here to see Dr. Scully.”
He knows Scully’s shift ends in twenty minutes so they can leave together after she pokes and prods him to her liking, but the waiting room is packed full with injured people. A man with a rag covering a bloody hand sits by a woman with a red welt on the side of her face where half her hair is singed off. Fireworks are as dangerous as lovesick men on ladders.
The intake nurse arches a bleached brow. “And you are?”
Mulder tugs the brim of his Knicks hat lower on his forehead, a niggle of paranoia creeping up his neck.
A familiar voice interrupts, “I’ll take it from here, Margo, thanks.”
Pre-IWTB Mulder's best laid plans go awry.
@greycoupon's (Ao3) Hello Teacher
“Mulder, if you don’t open up I’m calling 911!” That he knew she wouldn’t actually do...would she? THEY were still looking for him. They had been in the house for almost a year and Mulder had left it exactly twice. They weren’t running his profile on America’s Most Wanted anymore but he was still a wanted man. Scully would never risk exposing him like that unless she had to save his life.
Slowly, as his limbs felt like they weighed 200 pounds, he dragged himself to his feet.
“Mulder!” He could hear her sobbing through the door. Quickly he unlocked and opened it. She had been leaning against it and fell into the bathroom in her rush to get to him.
Scully grabbed him and hugged him tightly.
Pre-IWTB deeply depressed Mulder locks himself in the bathroom.
@msrafterdark's (Ao3)
Can you write a fic where Mulder finds some gray hairs
“I feel old,” He confesses, “I feel…like I’m less of what I used to be, like there’s even less to offer you.”
The teasing is gone; the spark of honesty that always frightened yet thrilled him when they were younger is now alight in her eyes. He can’t help but smile softly at her.
“I love your gray hairs, Mulder,” she murmurs, “I love your frown lines, I love your laugh lines, I even love your achy back.”
Scully catches her partner checking for gray hairs.
@oceanofthesky/noifsandsorbees's open door. (Tumblr)
she leaves the key, leaves a way for him to know that if he can ever do what she couldn’t, if he can pull himself out of his head, that she is still right there.
it’s three months before he uses it. she comes home from a long day of work in the height of summer to him in her bed, snoring lightly under the sheets. she thinks she should be annoyed, that she should tell him that she can’t handle the emotional toll that has become their relationship tonight, but instead she is just grateful to have his warmth to crawl in beside.
Breakup Scully leaves the door open for her partner.
@audriesfic/audries's battle scars
it’s a cry of pain and then her name, curving up at the end to become a near pitiful whine. she’s out of the bathroom and taking the stairs two at a time before he even gets past the the first syllable. she’s never been the creative one, in her family or her marriage, but her mind conjures impressive images of sniper bullets through windows and sudden cardiac arrest. she’s breathless by the time her feet hit the cool tile of the kitchen.
his name is on her lips as he turns to her, one hand covering half his face. he fixes her with one puppy dog eye and pouts, points an accusatory finger at the cabinet where she keeps the glasses. it’s eye level, (because who puts glasses on the top shelf, mulder. how do you expect me to reach?) and he looks as though he’s been terribly wronged.
Revival Scully "heals" Mulder's cabinet injury.
BONUS
The Emergency Room is a site compiling Mulder in distress and Scully taking care of him fics.
Mourning the Lost anon here again (bet you thought you’d seen the last of me) to humbly request any fics that are canon divergences of all the different near death experiences that Mulder and Scully have experienced. For example, fics like
“What if Mulder had actually shot Scully in Pusher”
“What if Mulder hadn’t realized the trick Linda Bowman pulled and shot Scully in Kitsunegari”
“What if Mulder died in the bank explosion in Monday”
“What if Scully had died in Tithonus”
“What if Mulder and Scully had died in Field Trip”
There’s probably so many other near death experiences that I’m missing but you get the gist. Sorry if this is too big of an ask, I’m just a sucker for angst and grief
Welcome back! I was wondering if you'd drop back in.
It's been... a long time since you sent this ask; but I hope these are sufficient (or at least worth it.)
Also, I included links to previous fic lists at the very bottom-- that way, you can jump from these stories to ones like them, if you want.
Loose chronological order below~
“What if Mulder had actually shot Scully in Pusher”
dksfwm’s Episode: Pusher
“Agent Mulder.” It’s the SWAT lieutenant, he deciphers. His ears start ringing and he doesn’t know what sounds are real. The lieutenant’s lips are moving, and he thinks he can make out “attempt” and “stabilize” and “if you want her to survive”. He feels paralyzed. His chest is heaving so hard that he feels like he’s going to suffocate.
AU-- Mulder shoots Scully.
@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls's Scully Russian Roulette’s with Modell instead of Mulder /in another world - Chapter 8
Mulder’s eyes widen, genuinely speechless. He is wearing a vest, but the muzzle is angled to where it will hit just above, in his neck or his head, and Scully shakes her head again. She feels so stiff, everything in her straining, and she manages a small word, a strained, “No.”
“C'mon, Scully, this should be easy for you,” Modell says casually. “You’ve shot him before, I read it in your files.”
It's Mulder, this time, at the other end of Pusher's gun.
“What if Mulder hadn’t realized the trick Linda Bowman pulled and shot Scully in Kitsunegari”
Chibiness87's Seeing is Believing
He glances down, and the movement is enough to make a shot ring out, and he glances around in shock.
Scully’s body is no longer lying in a pool of blood behind him. She has gone.
No. No. Nononono. Not again.
He can’t have lost her again.
Post Kitsunegari Scully guides Mulder through a panic attack.
“Back up! Back away from him!” Scully said and slowly advanced. In the dim light she saw that there was a dark stain on Mulder’s shirt. Linda was unscathed as well, a fresh bloodstain under her nose. Just then Mulder pulled his gun down, aiming it at Scully.
“She’s making me do this.”
AU-- Kitsunegari Linda Bowman controls Mulder.
@starwalker42's (Ao3)
febuwhump day 13: forced to hurt a loved one
All he knows - all he can allow himself to think - is that he will kill Linda Bowman, to make up for the fact she hurt Scully, and then he'll save her. He'll save Scully, somehow, because that's what they do, they're partners and they save each other.
Bowman talks, she won't stop talking, but he doesn't hear it, not really. He tells her to shut up, but she doesn’t listen. Why won’t she shut up? He aims his weapon at her chest, not thinking about the consequences, only thinking about Scully, dead at his feet… he aims his weapon, and he fires, hoping his aim is off because then she'll die slowly....
AU-- Kitsunegari Mulder doesn't listen to "Linda"; and kills her.
@mctaminy/McTaminy's The Ebbing of This Life-Tide Breath
Skinner reaches down and picks up the gun Mulder was holding, checks the clip, chamber, locks the safety and pockets it. He squats next to his agent, hand on his shoulder. Mulder glances at him, Skinners eyes are compassionate, but his teeth are bared. He’s worried.
“I played her game,” Mulder whispers, numbly, “I played her game and, and I lost.”
“V-tach!” One of the EMT’s say. A machine whines. “AED charged!” Scully stares lifelessly, lids half closed, chest still. Mulder can do nothing but stare, the corners of his mouth moving downward, his heart stopped, his hands and feet numb, stabs of dull pain from his knee. One medic calls, “Clear?” The other responds, “Clear!” and the half lids spasm close, her jaw clenches, then dull blue eyes open halfway again, one lid slower than the other, blood trickles from her mouth, she’s quickly lifted from the cement to a collapsed gurney, one medic straddles her and immediately begins CPR, the bleeding from her shoulder oozing with each chest compression.
AU-- Kitsunegari Skinner keeps Mulder together after the latter almost kills Scully.
Jennifer Maurer's Slow Promises
"It was *you*, Scully. You pointed your gun at me, and then you..."
"I know." I reached out, and Mulder grabbed my hand. "I saw the same thing once, only it was real."
"Tell me you would never do that."
"Come up off the floor, Mulder," I said, as I tugged on his hand and moved over to make room for him. He climbed onto the bed and sat next to me. When I put my arm around him I could feel him shaking, and I rubbed his back to try and soothe him a little.
Post Kitsunegari Mulder and Scully have a heavy conversation.
Rachel Howard's Without Reason
I stick my finger in my mouth and suck hard. The metallic taste in my mouth and nose takes me right back to that warehouse. For maybe the hundredth time today, I see Scully's blank face, a pool of blood fanning out behind her shattered skull.
I slam the file drawer shut, and the whole filing cabinet shudders. I don't need this.
"Need what?"
I didn't even know I'd said it out loud.
Post Kitsunegari Scully is fed up with Mulder "mea culpa"ing.
Ten's (xffics) Disconnection
He was together enough for the doctor at the hospital and Scully to agree about him being released, but Mulder was walking around as if someone had drastically turned his personality down or hit the 'mute' button. When he spoke, it was rarely on his own initiative - it was usually in reply to a comment or question. He had not fidgeted or shifted in his seat once during the meeting to give their report. When Skinner had first ushered them into his office, he handed Mulder back his gun. It had been the first opportunity their AD had to do so. Mulder had looked at it as if their boss was giving him a tissue or a pen, then nodded and put it away.
AU-- Post Kitsunegari Mulder resigns.
@pipistellus/pipistrelle's The Aftermark
He heard the click of Scully's heels on the warehouse floor, but didn't turn until she stopped at his side and rested a hand on his elbow. "The Falls Church PD have everything under control. Come on, let's get out of here."
He motioned with his head back into the interior of the building, where Skinner and the police chief stood over the smear of Linda Bowman's blood on the floor. "What did you tell them?"
"The truth," Scully said simply. "Linda Bowman brought me here in an attempt to get to you. During the standoff, I had a clear shot on her, and I took it."
Post Kitsunegari Mulder thinks his hate almost killed Scully.
@baronessblixen/BaronessBlixen’s "I can't breathe"
It's sheer luck that she finds him in the stairway, huddled in a corner, holding on to an open case file, loose papers circling him.
"Mulder," she says, more to herself than to him, and then she's by his side, on her knees, touching his ice-cold hands. "What happened?"
"Can't- I- can't-ca-," he stutters, horror flashing in his eyes.
Post Kitsunegari Mulder has a panic attack after looking over Linda Bowman's file.
“What if Mulder died in the bank explosion in Monday”
ghostbustermelanieking's mondays on an endless loop (Tumblr)
It all happens too fast to stop it.
The sudden movement must spook Bernard, because he immediately turns back to Scully and pulls the trigger. No hesitation. Scully goes down mid-crouch, hitting the floor with a wet smack, a stunned look on her face.
Mulder cries out without thought, without coherent words.
The many Mondays Mulder and Scully lived (and died) through.
Vickie Moseley’s (Ao3, Gossamer) Monday, Monday
Have I gotten her back only to lose her forever?
"Why, Mr. Skinner?" I ask, not really expecting an answer.
Skinner's and Maggie's perspectives of one bad day.
Donna/donnah’s (Gossamer, mulderscreek) Tuesday
Mulder jerked awake, then sank back down into his pillow. A dream, she was fine, it was only a dream. He found the phone in his hand anyway, dialing the first number on his speed dial.
"Mulder?" Her voice was trembling.
"Scully, are you okay?"
"How did you know?" She might even be crying, that scared him as much as the dream.
Post Monday Mulder and Scully figure out what their dreams mean.
@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack’s Here and Now
Mulder was in full projector-mode, rattling on about something called the “black pit” and a haunted train tunnel. He had slides, interviews with locals, even an audio recording of what he swore was EVP of a hundred-years-dead mine-worker. He was in the middle of flashing to a new slide–1950s newspaper clippings–when the thought (no, the memory) came to her—a false remembrance (a truth), a surety that could not ever have been (but it was).
The bank, his soft head in her lap, blood covering her hands as she tried to hold his life force in, tried to will his heart to keep beating. His sweat-prickled brow and unfocused eyes, lost in the shadow of death that was surely consuming him. The wet sound of his labored breathing. If she hadn’t been sitting, she’d have fallen down.
Mulder looked at her across the projector and stopped talking. “What’s that look for? Did I do something wrong?”
AU-- Post Monday Scully remembers Mulder's death in the bank.
“What if Scully had died in Tithonus”
I haven't read any fics with this conclusion (huh, interesting); so, I included a Tithonus-adjactent fic list instead:
Post Tithonus Mother Hen Mulder
“What if Mulder and Scully had died in Field Trip”
(**Note**: As the previous section, so this one.)
@badforthefish/Scarlet's The Festival
He still liked to think of her as his partner even if these days their partnership had a definite parenting slant to it. They hadn't worked together for many years – though he couldn't remember exactly how long. Somewhere along the line, they'd gotten married. They'd moved to the suburbs. He'd taken a desk job as a behavioural analyst. She'd gone to work at the local hospital. He tried to remember something about her job and failed. That was odd. He and Steve from accounting had been discussing their respective spouses' professions not two days ago, he remembered that much. So why couldn't he –
It didn't matter. Everything was fine.
AU-- Field Trip Mulder and Scully have a family... or do they?
