Collector's Edition: Varied Reflections on Valentine's Day
This year, I whipped up a shorter fic list that sits along case file or "the bitter with the sweet" lines-- a little tenderness, a little touch of heartache, and a mostly happy ending. (As a bonus, there are also some fics that don't strictly fit the theme.)
Previous fic lists:
MSR Kicks Platonic Valentine's to the Curb
Valentine's Day, the Platonic Way
Loose chronological order below~
@storybycorey's (Ao3, FFN) The Fox Mulder Phonetic Alphabet OUTTAKES
He’s been on the phone, order ready, too many times to count—on her birthday, Valentine’s Day, any given Thursday—only to lose his nerve. One of these days though… soon, he promises himself…she’ll barely be able to move for the roses that will fill her apartment.
Mulder and Scully and their slow-moving relationship, one special moment at a time.
@atths--twice/ATTHS_TWICE's (FFN)
The Best Decision
He had spent every night with Scully since his return, but they had not been intimate since before he had left. He had not been in the right headspace and Scully had not pushed him.
On Valentine’s Day, however, that had changed.
AU-- Mulder saves Scully from Duane Barry, is shot by his new partner, and leaves the X-Files for a teaching position in a relatively short time... but that's not all the surprises in store for the basement agents.
A Life Without Regrets
How could he have forgotten what day it was? He turned to his mother and she seemed to be as stunned as him at the decorations. She met his eyes, her own wide in surprise, and shook her head.
Pre-Arcadia Mulder and Tena have an important conversation on Valentine's Day.
@i-am-alittle-on-edge's
luminary
Romance. The sugary sweet of stardust.
Cancer arc Scully reflects on her father, partner, constellations, and Valentine's Day.
candy hearts
When was the last time she had even celebrated Valentine’s Day with someone else? Jack, perhaps. Yes—he had told him not to do anything too extravagant since they were going away for their birthdays (which were the same day, a cosmic disaster she had heard on one case somewhere with Mulder). There was a candlelight dinner that ended with him dropping her off early to go chase down a lead.
Her eyes widened and she thought of Mulder and his capacity for… ditching. I need a new type.
Mulder surprises Scully with candies at work.
@mulderwearingglasses's (Ao3) Stupid Cupid (Ao3)
Her face was barren, having washed off her work makeup before she crashed in front of the TV. Her freckles were on high alert.
Come as you are! Everyone had! And everyone had just happened to leave the opera, or what?
Scully could see Mulder watching her.
His eyes followed hers as the wheels in her head spun.
Skinner calls in his agents on Valentine's Day; and Scully struggles with the knowledge that she'd forgotten the holiday and that she suspicions Mulder had a date.
@somanycandles/FootlessData507's The Disappearance of
Bruce Speta
Scully studied the photo Mulder had handed her. A woman in her late 30s, chubby cheeked with short, curly, dark hair. Although she had prominent laugh lines, her expression in the photo itself was neutral. Probably from a driver’s license or passport, judging from the white background.
“Is she an alien or a werewolf?” Scully asked. She set the photo back on Mulder’s desk, where it joined three file folders, an issue of The Lone Gunman, and a tabloid asserting Elvis was currently living in Florida and had some quick and easy weight-loss tips to share.
Mulder grinned. “The woman in the photo—Tina Walters-Speta—is more interesting than any mundane extra-terrestrial or lycanthrope. She holds the dubious distinction of expecting a crummier upcoming Valentine’s Day than yours truly.”
Mulder and Scully's ghost case spirals into alternate dimensions.
@scullyphile's (Ao3) Will You Be My...? (Ao3)
Thick socks muffled her footsteps as she padded to Mulder’s room, wanting his warm company. Her room had a couch, but his had an easy chair, which he had drug to in front of the television. Scully lingered in the doorway until he looked up, eyes a little morose. “What day is it, Scully?”
Sensing his mood, Scully edged forward until she was less than a foot away. He liked her close, she had figured out. “February 15.”
He nodded and leaned back with a sigh. “Another one gone.”
Mulder mourns another fleeting Valentine's Day.
muldersboyishenthousiasm's
Prompt: you should enjoy it.
Mulder had suddenly stopped talking when he saw her disappearing behind her desk and heard the Emergency Ties Drawer slide open. He watched with wide open hazel eyes and she stared at him with it dangling in her hands.
Scully invites her partner to dinner with Maggie.
@msrafterglow/msrafterdark's A Playful Ruse
“Good evening, you two,” a thin, knobby man with a prominent Adam’s apple and a cluster of tightly wound brown curls steps up to their booth, “Happy Valentine’s Day, can I get anything started for you?”
Their eyes meet, two sets a little wider when they come to a realization at the same time.
It’s Valentine’s Day.
They’d both completely forgotten.
S7 Mulder and Scully are fake dating... and then....
For the Valentines Day prompt! 10!
‘You’re sure you’re okay?’
He nodded and began shuffling through the numerous sheets lying atop his desk. He moved a file and a dozen little red heart-shaped cards fell on the floor. Scully’s eyebrows went up and he clumsily hurried to pick them up and tried to hide them from her but she was too fast and got to the last one before him. She examined the card with attention and smelled it.
‘Is it from one of your secret admirers, Mulder?’ she teased.
Scully pranks Mulder.
Invisigoth's Heart Burn (Gossamer)
"Scully?" she heard behind her, felt the air shift as he stepped closer. "I'm sorry I dragged you out there. You could have stayed with the Deputy and gone over the evidence again."
She didn't answer for a long moment, wrapping her arms around her waist and staring at a couple walking, hand in hand. She touched her ear to her shoulder and discovered she couldn't feel it.
"Someone has to watch your back," she murmured, quiet enough that he had to bend to hear her. His nose touched her hairline and she felt a tentative hand cover her own on her waist. "We caught him before he could kill again. That's what matters."
Valentine's Day is both bitter and sweet.
melforbes's in the woods
according to the true locals, this is off-season, and they’re in a portion of the state that’s been owned by a specific family for years; the lake water, apparently, is safe to drink though she made sure mulder boiled it anyway. nonetheless, it’s just them and the neighboring cabin’s occupants out here for the weekend, the nearest paved road being thirty miles away, the closest gas station probably thirty-five.
Post-Millennium Scully is shocked her partner wants to celebrate Valentine's Day.
@writingwell/RocketMan's (xffics) Blooming
He smiled again, that Cheshire-cat smile that made her just a bit nervous.
"Why?" she blurted out, feeling sleepy and confused.
He wanted to laugh but he just leaned back instead. "Today's Valentine's Day, Scully, and I'm a free man."
Post-Closure Scully wakes to a rose on her bed.
OKayVal's Ramp 01 - The Right Angle
"Mulder, I want to know what's in that box."
"You'll find out tomorrow night."
Mulder surprises his partner for Valentine's Day.
@o6666666's Five in One
“There was some reason I thought we should be late today,” he shakes his head, as though thinking. “But I can’t remember it for the life of me.”
She swats him, giggling. When he grins it is in the bashful way that shows his front teeth. Then his eyes on her go hazy and soft, like to be lying there under him is a gift of unprecedented sentiment even still, after two months of precedent. Two whole months. Perhaps it is.
He cooks her an omelet with peppers and onions and no shirt on. Real eggs. It is cold, but later they have her favorite wicked lunch of hot dogs on the mall, and he buys her a single rose—some Valentine’s relic that should have been peddled to a tourist, if there were any tourists in February. It droops in her fist and she tucks it into one of his buttonholes like a boutonnière.
Mulder is making up for Scully's past birthdays.
Donna's Spa Time
"I, what's going to happen?"
"Your friend scheduled a full day. First you'll have a mud bath and steam, then a massage and facial, and your hair will be styled as well as a manicure and a pedicure."
Again her mouth fell open.
A Valentine's Day to put all others to shame (or so we're promised.)
@skuls-s's Scully didn't leave the next morning after All Things (Ao3)
She tidies up his room first, just a little, to keep up images. Puts the dirty clothes in the hamper she bought for him a few months ago (the sticky note she put on it said Happy Valentine’s Day), picks up the lamp from where they knocked it over, straightens the comforter over top of him.
Post-all things Scully has unfinished business.
Christina Shuy's
Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 01, and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 02 - More Wishes, More Roses, and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 03 - A Rose By Any Other Name..., and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 04 - The Year of the Rose, and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 05 - Every Rose has its Thorns, and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 06, and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 07 - Time to Heal, and Wishes, Roses, and Valentines 08 - Sanctuary
"Scully? What say we don't go out to dinner this year for Valentine's Day but take maybe the week off or something, and get away from it all. Just you and me. Now that I finally have closure on at least one subject."
Nine years of Valentine's Day.
@thespookyintrovert/PiecesOfScully's The Patron Saint of Healing
The walk to her SUV is short, and she nearly misses the items sitting propped against her windshield and windshield wiper. A small, plain black box and a single red rose.
Post-IWTB Scully misses her partner. (Not quite Valentine's Day themed, but it sort of squeaks by.)
@frangipanidownunder's (Ao3) Symphony of the Golden Years
Her skin warmed as she opened the back door and drank in the aromas of living. The house felt so much more like a home now, filled with the paraphernalia of family. Stacked on the counters, table and windowsill were baby bottles, a Peter Rabbit bowl and spoon set smeared with the remains of pumpkin and rice puree, two coffee mugs bearing the slogan The FBI’s Most Unwanted under a photo of the pair of them circa 1994, which Skinner thought was a hilarious wedding present, Bonsai trees in various stages of training, two of Mulder’s watches which he claimed lost nine minutes the last he went Squatchin in that ridiculous suit but also bore the telltale bubbles of water submersion, a pair of binoculars, newspaper clippings and a Valentine’s card that had been mysteriously left on the steps to the house and read ‘You are still my touchstone’ but elicited a denial from Mulder that would have made the head of the Bureau proud. He had steadfastly refused to allow her to recycle it, claiming it was evidence…of what, other than his silver fox sappiness, she didn’t quite know.
Post-Revival Scully battles between morbid reflections and happiness with Mulder and her daughter.
Invisigoth (played by Kristin Lehman in "Kill Switch")
The Eves (played by Harriet Harris & Erika/Sabrina Krievins)
Voting ended onDec 30, 2025
Invisigoth/Esther Nairn: she has a doctorate and a truckload of eyeliner. what more do you need?
The Eves:
Such a cool concept. So terrifying.
"You and you. You have 46 chromosomes. The Adams and the Eves ... we have 56. We have extra chromosomes. Number 4, 5, 12, 16, and 22. This replication of chromosomes also produces additional genes. Heightened strength. Heightened intelligence." "Heightened psychosis."
I paid too much attention to a guard. Bit into his eyeball. I meant it as a sign of affection. Are you going to give me an IQ test by any chance? I think I can top 265. We're very bright, we Eves. It runs in the family.
My watercolour painting of Invisigoth aka Esther Nairn, one of my faves. Great visuals in this ep, fantastic acting by Kristin Lehman. From the X-Files “Kill Switch.”
Gillian Anderson and Kristin Lehman in The X-Files (1993) Kill Switch
S5E11
Mulder and Scully's investigation into a mass shooting in a coffee shop leads them to believe that the targets were not the low level drug dealers and wholesalers who were killed but rather Donald Geldman who had been sitting at a table working on his laptop computer. The Lone Gunmen tell Mulder and Scully that Geldman was one of the original computer geniuses who disappeared years before. His laptop leads the agents to a hacker, Esther Nairn, who goes by the name Invisigoth. She tells them of a vast government conspiracy involving artificial intelligence that allows them to see everything and take action against all enemies.
*Gillian Anderson's fight scene with the nurses is one of the actress' favorite scenes in the series.
