jason atta girl todd. where whenever he's proud of you he'll say "atta girl," or "thas'my girl," even if it's a whisper, a mutter under his breath, as he softly smiles at you.
jason kiss the pain away todd. where he'll be in so much pain but just tells you to kiss the wound; the bandage even, then he'll sigh all the pain away at the touch of your gentle lips. the second your lips brush his hurt, he exhales like it actually worked. “Oh, thank you, baby… s’all better now, see?” he'll smile, half lie, half genuine, because the pain might still be there, but the touch of you makes it feel a whole lot smaller.
jason cash-on-hand todd. usually, it's an amalgamation of dirty money lifted from the people he’s taking down: thugs, traffickers, arms runners, mob couriers. he skims it off the top during raids and street shake-downs, turning their profits into something closer to restitution. he never keeps it for himself. instead, he quietly redirects it. cash envelopes slipped into donation boxes, medical bills anonymously paid off, community centres suddenly finding their rent covered, shelters receiving “no-questions-asked” bundles that just appear in the mail slot. sometimes it goes straight back into the crime alley neighbourhood: groceries for families who need it, fixing busted storefronts, covering funeral costs when the system won’t. he justifies it as balancing the scales. the money was never clean to begin with, so the least he can do is make it useful.
jason book in back pocket todd. don't really need to expand here. just that he often carries orwell or woolf in the back pocket of his navy denim jeans.
jason receipt keeper todd. and no, it’s not for insurance or budgeting purposes. he keeps them because he’s a sentimental freak. every cafe slip, movie ticket, late-night diner bill. all dated receipts, tucked away somewhere safe so he knows exactly when and where each of your dates happened. he’ll never make a big deal about it, but he keeps them. he always keeps them. he even knows how to preserve the receipt ink. years later, there’s a quiet little archive of your relationship sitting in a box, and if it ever came to it, he’d probably frame the whole collection and give it to you on your wedding day.
jason sentimental over expensive gift giver todd. he'll always choose meaning over price tags. while a lot of girls might expect the normalised markers of romance, jewellery, designer bags, flashy gestures, jason’s gifts tend to be quieter. more personal. things that actually mean something. a book you once mentioned in passing, tracked down months later. a repaired version of something you thought was long gone. a damn shell from the first beach you both went to together. the kind of gift that only works if someone’s been paying attention. a lot of his mentality comes from the way he views capitalism and consumer culture. jason has always felt like consumerism works a little like the devil in disguise when it comes to love. it dresses itself up as romance, convincing people that the value of a relationship should be proven through expensive gifts, status symbols, and price tags. to him, he believes that kind of thing messes with the ground where real affection is supposed to grow. muddying something that should be simple and sincere. muddying the importance of presence and rawness. anyone can buy something expensive. that doesn’t mean they actually know you. because of that, he tends to end up with a certain type. his attraction isn’t anchored by visuals so much as character, someone who understands sentiment, who appreciates the thought behind things rather than the status attached to them. someone who sees the weight in small gestures the same way he does. it does narrow the field a bit. some people find it underwhelming, or assume he’s just being cheap. but for the ones who get it, the ones who value the meaning behind it, it ends up becoming one of the strongest parts of the relationship.
jason doesn't fit in your bathtub todd. again, don't really need to expand here. just imagine water already climbing dangerously high as he tries to lower himself in, shoulders hunched, knees awkwardly folding, the whole tub groaning. the second he shifts his weight, water sloshes over the edge, spilling onto the tiles. you’re yelping at him to get out (!!!) before the bathroom floods, and he’s yelping (!!!!) right back that he’s not even in. the end result is a half-empty tub. there's literally more water on the tiles than the tub itself. and jason's standing there like he’s personally been betrayed by the concept of standard bathtub sizes.
hey, darlings <3 thanks for all the love with my jason hc's aaa. no seriously, most of my hc's are just probably infused with my own desires, yearnings, beliefs, etc. as much as they are how i actually perceive/want to perceive jason. so i take it to heart that some of y'all relate in yearning for them too! might do a dick grayson version soon but for now, jthc part 4 for ya, fresh outta my notes app :) enjoy <3
Warnings: MayCrossTech, sfw, cuddling for warmth, they talk...a bit
Wordcount: 1,017
“You should sleep-while he's…down.” Crosshair said, brushing a stray curl off Tech's forehead.
Mayday sighed, adjusting the gun in his lap, “My adrenaline is still racing, I couldn't even if I wanted to.”
Crosshair grit has teeth. He understood but the situation had gone from bad to worse, they both needed to be aware-for whenever Tech woke up again.
“It’ll be okay Crosshair.” Mayday's voice, usually calming, did nothing to soothe him.
“I thought-” Crosshair licked his lips, “ I thought that Tech would be able to do something, after he’d rested. Fix the ship, even just enough to send a transmission. But now he's-”
Gone.
“We’ll figure something out.”
“What is there to figure out? This planet doesn't even seem to have animals. I doubt there's even a civilization nearby. We have ration bars” Crosshair gestured with one hand to the pouring rain, “it's only because of that we have water and haven't been found. Probably. And Tech-” Crosshair felt his voice catch and he turned his face away, embarrassed.
“I don't need platitudes. I need plans.” Crosshair bit out, thinking of Tech. A handful of numbers ran through Crosshair’s head, plans the genius had made for if they'd been captured or lost. He'd wondered why the rest of the batch hadn't gotten to Tech. Even with Tantiss's high security Tech would have found a way to get a message out. Now Crosshair understood why he hadn't. Crosshair had had….hope, after they'd found Tech. Mayday had held him together but Tech was the missing piece that built him back up.
He doesn't even remember you.
Mayday let him stew and it was quiet for a long while. Crosshair looked up at a jerk of movement and Mayday cleared his throat.
“Did you fall asleep?”
“...yeah maybe.” He looked sheepish but the dark shadows under his eyes only made Crosshair worried.
Crosshair sighed, “I don't-
Tech groaned softly and Mayday shot to his feet, gun pointed at them.
Crosshair froze as pale-bright green eyes opened to meet his own.
Tech looked confused, then surprised.
“Crosshair?”
“You have got to be shitting me.” Crosshair heard Mayday mutter but he couldn't bring himself to look away as Tech sat up on his elbows, glancing around weakly.
“Wha-where are we?”
“Crosshair -” Mayday's voice was careful, a warning- Crosshair held up a hand.
“Tech, what's the last thing you remember?” He asked.
Tech's brows furrowed, “We were attempting to retrieve information about where to find you - I fell..?” He grabbed at his head. Crosshair reached out and Mayday took a step closer, Crosshair sent him an annoyed look that Mayday only returned.
“I fell…but then I woke up? There was a man-but I cannot remember who….after that I cannot recall much.”
Tech paused, finally focusing on Mayday, then on the gun he had in his hands.
“Ah.”
“It's not what you think.” Crosshair said with a wince, “He's a…friend.”
“I would ask why he is holding us at gunpoint but it would not surprise me that you would have a friend who would do so.”
Mayday smirked, “Well he knows you now, that's for sure.”
Crosshair sent him a glare, then turned to Tech, looking serious, “Tech…Something happened when you woke up earlier.”
“You tried to kill Crosshair.”
Tech and Crosshair's gaze shot to Mayday, both with varying degrees of disbelief.
Crosshair put a hand on Tech’s shoulder, “You got taken to Tantiss, like us. A scientist called Hemlock-” Visions of the man standing above him as he writhed in pain, with that empty look of satisfaction on his face, had Crosshair faltering before he let out a breath, saying quietly, “He likes to experiment…clones are especially expendable. Whatever he did- you didn't remember me. And then you just...”
The words trickled off and Tech's face twisted but he raised his hand to cover his brother's.
“I am sorry Crosshair.”
Crosshair smirked, “Well it's only fair. Turnabout yeah?”
“Technically-” Tech’s hand went instinctively to push at his goggles as he spoke but blinked when he found nothing but scarring. He ran over the beginnings of it but pulled away with a grimace.
Crosshair winced, “We have no clue where your goggles are Tech- we had to escape and they weren't anywhere nearby.”
“I-” Tech looked around the cave, licking at his lips, “I can see perfectly without them.”
His glowing green eyes found Crosshair's. It wouldn't make sense for a soldier to not be able to see. They had worried about it as shinies, when the Kaminoians couldn't correct the oversight. Crosshair remembered how Tech crawled into his bunk at night, clutching at him like it was the last time he'd be able to. And when he started to ask questions like he only had so much time to hear the answers.
Then came the goggles.
Tech had made them on his own. They fit his face perfectly, barely shifting during combat, even designing his bucket around them.
He showed he wouldn't falter.
Part of Crosshair missed the contact after. Tech no longer came to him for comfort but he flourished. He was confident and became wholly his own person. In a wave of clones it was a good thing. But even though they were a defective batch to other clones, Crosshair selfishly wanted Tech to still be his twin.
It was too complicated of a feeling to really put into words.
But seeing Tech now, without his goggles, made Crosshair feel like a shiny all over again.
He was so tired of it.
Tech cocked his head and that, at least, was familiar, Crosshair's hand tightened over Tech's.
“Well honestly that helps one glaring issue.” Mayday's voice broke up the stale air between them.
“What issue?” Tech questioned, like Mayday wasn't holding him at blaster point.
“We need to contact someone to get us off-planet-”
Because now, even without his goggles, Tech's gaze was sharp.
Tech stood, Crosshair let his hand slip off Tech's shoulder. Mayday's aim followed but he ignored the weapon and ran his hand along the wall of the cave, looking for a minute at the pouring rain, before turning back.
Now instead of feeling left behind Crosshair felt...hopeful.
“I can still see the other worlds,” Stiles said, lying in bed a few nights later. “Glimpse into them. Feel them.”
Derek raised an eyebrow. “Is that safe?”
“Yeah. I think so,” Stiles shrugged. “No signs of the branching changing.”
“What about the worlds we went to? Do they still look bad?”
Stiles closed his eyes. Derek could see his eyes moving under his eyelids.
Derek gently stroked his torso as Stiles looked.
“No,” he said, eyes still closed. “The branching is weak when we were there and a bit after, but it comes back later. In all of them so far.”
“What about that last one? Was Professor Hale right? Was the branching complete there?”
“Mostly,” Stiles said. “I think I had more control in that machine thing than they were expecting though. It looks a little less bushy than it should while we’re there. But that was one of the shorter jumps.”
“Good.”
Both of them were silent for a while before Stiles spoke again, twisting and looking up at Derek from where he was lying on his arm. “Do you want to know what happened?”
“Where?”
Stiles shrugged. “Anywhere.”
“I thought with the parallel universes that there was no ‘one thing’ that happened,” Derek said. “That after the branching returned there should have been tons of different endings.”
“Yeah,” Stiles said. “I mean there are, but for most of them there’s like a main branch. A trunk. You know? The most likely thing to happen in that world.”
“In most of them?” Derek said.
“Yeah. Some of them, there’s a ton of things. Like where we were roommates in college together.” Stiles laughed. “A lot of it is me-chaos.”
“What do you mean?”
“I end up with a bunch of different majors in college, and then wander around in my career in a lot of them.”
“By yourself?” Derek frowned.
“No. You’re there. You don’t seem to mind.”
“I don’t,” Derek smirked. “I might even like it.”
Stiles leaned up and kissed Derek. “Do you want to know about what happens after somewhere with a main trunk?”
“I’m guessing nothing interesting happened in that gray world?” Derek said.
“I’d bet that’s not true,” Stiles said, looking mischievous.
“Why? The only interesting thing in that world was you.”
“Not entirely wrong,” Stiles said, innocently. “There-me had a secret. One that he was waiting to tell you. I guess since we can’t go back there I can tell you now.”
“You did?”
“Do you know what my job was?” Stiles said.
Derek tried to think back and remember.
“I never told you,” Stiles continued. “I didn’t want to lie to you. So I tried to avoid saying. Do you remember what your job was there?”
“Yeah,” Derek said. “I was like some kind of analyst or something.”
“Yep. A testimony analyst. Your job was interpreting when people were telling the truth in interviews.” Stiles made air quotes around the last word.
“Yeah. Just corporate mumbo jumbo.”
Stiles eyed him. “Do you really not know?”
“Not know what?”
“Dude,” Stiles said with a huff. “There-you worked for this evil company that, like, kidnapped important people who had corporate secrets and then tortured them to get them out of them.”
Derek gaped. “Really? How do you know that? Did you already look at what happened there?”
“No. That was my job there. Finding out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was, like, a spy.”
“So you were just using me in that world?” Derek said, slumping a little.
“Babe, no,” Stiles said. “There-me genuinely liked you. I didn’t know you worked at my target, Information Solutions Limited, until there-me already had a crush on you. And then he, there-me, was trying to figure out if there-you was evil or not. And really hoping for not.”
Derek shook his head. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah,” Stiles said. “I mean, from what I could gather, they sanitized a lot of information to make it look like it was coming from exit interviews and what not. Compartmentalized things so most of the lower level employees didn’t see enough to see the whole picture. Before we jumped, my objective was to develop you into an intelligence asset.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means I was trying to get you to spy on ISL.” Stiles had a wild look in his eyes. “Help me take them down.”
“So what happened?”
“I don’t know. Let me see.” Stiles closed his eyes. His breaths were deep and steady. His eyes fluttering. “Okay,” he finally said. “I can see it.”
“So did you tell me?” Derek asked. “How? What did you say?”
“I ask you first. If you know what ISL really does. You don’t believe it. And then you do. And you panic and run out of the park we’re in back to the main street. You throw up. You run so fast though, that it takes me a second to catch up to you. I tell you to breathe. You yell ‘How can I breathe after,’ and then you whisper, ‘that.’ It’s not hard to convince you to help, but you keep trying to tell me that you can’t. That you don’t have the skills,” Stiles opened his eyes to look at Derek, “that you’re not a spy,” and then closed his eyes again. “I confess to you about how in love with you I’ve been and how much I believe in you, it’s very emotional and sweet. And then you start spying and we start sleeping together. And most of the time you manage to get the proof we need. In some threads you get caught.”
Derek’s eyebrows shot up. “I get caught?”
“Yeah. And then taken into interrogation yourself,” Stiles said. “But almost all of the time, we’re able to track you down and in the process find even more proof against them.”
“Almost all of the time?”
Stiles opened his eyes. “Yeah. I mean. The multiverse is messy. In all of these stories there are branches where one or both of us die while we’re fighting for one thing or another.” Stiles shrugged. “In all of them we die eventually.”
“Yeah,” Derek said. Of course he knew that, but it felt taboo to hear Stiles say it out loud. “What about where you were pregnant?”
Derek closed his own eyes to remember it while Stiles searched. Derek was happy there. His brain wasn’t working right at all, while he was in a constant fog between being high on the thought of having a brood of children with Stiles and the anxiety of making sure Stiles was safe and happy and well provided for, but he was deeply happy.
“We have the triplets,” Stiles said. “I have the triplets,” he amended. “I do all the work, and although you try your best to be helpful you are very not helpful. Until they come. Then you’re the best. You’re an excellent dad.”
Derek felt warm. “What do we name them?”
“You insist on naming the girls Laura and Cora.”
“That makes sense. Do we name our son Derek then?”
“No,” Stiles said. “Eli. You insist on that one too. It takes me a long time to get you to explain it to me. Why Eli. You eventually tell me that you wanted to name him after me, but that you knew that Mieczysław wasn’t gonna happen, and even though I’m the love of your life in all these different universes, you insist that Stiles isn’t a real name.” Stiles shot Derek a look. “But you take off the ‘S’s and the ‘T’, and put it backwards and you get E-L-I. I blame you coming down from the brain fog.”
“I like it.”
“Yeah, well, you would,” Stiles said, but he twisted around so he could kiss Derek.
---
“What do you want to see happen after we left?” Derek asked after they distracted each other for a while, and were lying on their backs again.
“I want to know what it was like when I told Scott,” Stiles said. “When we were in the band together.”
“You don’t think he’d be happy for us?” Derek said.
“There-me didn’t. I found it.”
Derek hadn’t realized Stiles had already been looking for it. Stiles didn’t say anything for a while, and the longer Stiles didn’t say anything the more nervous Derek became.
“Well?” he finally asked. “Was it that bad?”
“No,” Stiles said. “It was. I– It didn’t go how I was expecting.”
“How did it go then?”
“Well…” Stiles started. “Don’t get mad at me, okay?”
“Stiles, we’re not them. We’re not responsible for anything they did after we left.”
“Yeah. Good point. Okay.” Stiles sighed. “Seriously though. Remember that.”
“Yeah,” Derek huffed. “I get it.”
“Okay. Well. I tell him. And then he kind of goes in shock. And then he starts talking about how hot that is.”
“So he was supportive,” Derek said.
“Well,” Stiles hedged. “Then he told me that if we ever wanted to have a threesome he’d be totally down.”
Derek felt his face flush. “He did?”
“Yup. And then I told you. And you told me that would be hot and I got mad at you.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I mean I was curious about it too, and worried that you would feel weird about it when I told you, but then when I told you and you weren’t weird about it, I kind of freaked out because I didn’t expect that.”
“Stiles,” Derek said. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, and please remember that you are the love of my life in every universe. Okay?”
Stiles narrowed his eyes. “Okay…?”
“In most universes we’ve been to, dating you is kind of like dating Scott too. Half the time you guys are weirdly codependent.”
“It’s not weird,” Stiles said, crossing his arms.
Derek cocked an eyebrow. “It’s a little weird. Besides, you can’t blame there-me for wanting in on what you two have.”
“Yeah,” Stiles sighed. “That’s pretty much what there-you says too.”
“So did we stop fighting eventually?”
“Oh yeah. And then we have a threesome with Scott, and it’s a lot of fun, and we kind of date him together for a few years before he breaks up with us.”
Derek gaped. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Stiles shrugged.
“Why would he break up with us?”
“Okay, well he doesn’t in every universe, but he does, like, most of the time, and there’s not really a main reason. Different ones across different universes.”
“Wow,” Derek said. “Are you still friends afterward?”
“Yeah. And then after he breaks up with us, he usually tells me that he always knew you and I were sneaking around dating, and that he wanted to let me tell him on my own time. And that he and Kira dated in secret for like two months at one point. And sometimes they get back together in the end.”
“Wow. That’s kind of cool.”
“Which part?”
“All of it. Especially us being stable enough to date someone else together. And to be in a band together all at the same time.” Derek shrugged. “That all that worked and it didn’t get messy.”
“Oh.” Stiles laughed. “It definitely got messy, but it looks like we had fun anyway.”
Derek thought for a moment. “What happened with the B Team?”
“We didn’t get together with Scott there, if that’s what you’re asking,” Stiles said with a wink.
“Did you look?”
“I don’t have to look,” Stiles said. “He was obviously in love with Allison in that world.”
Derek leveled a look at Stiles. “Look.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Did we get married?”
“That’s what you want to know?” Stiles scoffed.
“Yeah of course.”
Stiles cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think we wouldn’t have?”
“No,” Derek said. “I just want to hear about it.”
Stiles smiled and closed his eyes, found that universe, and told Derek about their weddings. They had two. A large public one as Cam-Million and Stopwatch, where the rest of the B Team came in wedding versions of their superhero costumes, and then a much smaller private wedding as their secret identities, Cameron and Justin. Along with that universe’s versions of Scott, Allison, and Lydia.
“How did Lydia’s dress look?” Derek asked.
“At the public one?”
“Probably the private one?”
“Amazing,” Stiles said. “It’s this black floor-length gown with an asymmetrical neckline that drapes over one shoulder. She’s covered in clear gems. She’s totally radiant. Why do you ask?”
“She told me there that she could see it. See that we would get married. Said that she wore an amazing dress,” Derek said. “Do you think there’s anywhere we don’t get married?”
“Legally? Yeah.”
“Oh,” Derek said. “Where?”
“In the circus world. We live off the grid there. Even if guys can get married in that world, I can’t see there-us going into a courthouse and letting the law have anything to say about what we mean to each other.”
“That’s kind of nice too,” Derek said. “Kind of beautiful.”
Dago: You sleazy swine! Don't think I don't see through your stinking tactics! All ha-ha and hee-hee, yes? Make us all sickly rosy and blind but in the end, you! You snatch that tiberium and take off on your own!
Svend: *under his breath* Eeh! I'm outta here...
The Education of Svend Valentinius, Part IV.
previous
There, you see what Svend is like. If the heat is on, he gets out of the kitchen. A fine trait to have on Northeney, where you literally can't escape anything. He will be in for a surprise! But with my fighting villains, I was in for a surprise too. Watching their insults play out to see who'd win, the game had its own solution.
Which makes perfect sense. Doesn't the game always make perfect sense?
Tommie: Damn right I am, you bigoted rotten square-ass!
Dago: *suddenly silenced, gulps loudly*
Svend: *to himself* Whoa, ho... what's with those hearts?
Dago: No, but Tom... Oh, no, Tom, but we agreed to...
Tommie: *aggressive layers melting* Don't you look at me with those eyes!
Dago: Little piglet... Say you don't mean it! Say we... we -
Tommie: *fully weak-kneed* Oh, hon! Oh, of course I don't! Of course - it's us, it's for us... We are gonna be so filthy, mouldy, pissin' rich, Dago Captain, and we, we! gonna be so... so filthy... mouldy... pissin' happy!
Dago: Ohoh!
Tommie: *whispers* You are gonna piss yourself of happiness, my honey spoon -
Dago: Oh! By God, Tom, oh, Tom, you almost had me there, you almost...
Tommie: Got ya! Hon, just teasin'... It's us, over the seas and back! It's just your insults... your damn, rotten insults are to die for - to divinely! die for!
Dago: Really? Say that again, my little piglet... my -
Svend: *snorts, very audibly*
All is well that ends well.
Well, for one night it was. And for only them. Svend himself went inside at that moment and had sort of his own emotional expectations to battle, with someone else.
The One About Ezra & Sabine’s Fairy Tale, Part IV (End)
Part I || Part II || Part III
The Second Mission for both Ezra and Sabine is a time of personal growth while simultaneously moving back towards each other. Finding Ezra is Sabine's Hero Journey, and it should be transformative for her; likewise, there should be a transformative Hero Journey for Ezra that concludes his dealings with the purrgil.
Towards the end of it, Sabine and Ezra reunite in dramatic fashion, combining their complementary strengths to defeat the Big Bad in a way that neither of them could have done alone. Then they return to Lothal victorious.
The Otherness created for them in Rebels is resolved in their reunion. The Journey into Adulthood is complete. If all goes according to plan, they get to live Happily Ever After.
Together.
Married.
"It was a simple story about a boy who was lost and a girl who was broken."
Star Wars Rebels is about Sabine and Ezra, and so should its continuation be. Two kids without a Home and Family found new ones, and it was there that they found each other to make a Home and Family with for the rest of their days.
As the new Kanan and Hera, Sabine and Ezra should get to live out their days after the war the way that their mentors didn’t get to because their relationship existed before the war. There should be a payoff for everyone’s sacrifices.
The First Story needs its completion in the Second.
At the end of Rebels, the Epilogue reflects on what both Sabine and Ezra gave up in order to see the rewards it wrought - for everyone else. Then Sabine leaves, sacrificing Home once again, in order to get Ezra and bring him Home. To her Home. With her. It’s very much positioned as a moment of hope that anticipates a share in the peace time rewards for them, too. Together.
In the end, Happily Ever After means that the Good Guys win and the heroes return home. It means that there is hope for the future, that life will go on, that we will have people - perhaps even that one perfect person - to share our lives with, and that new life, new stories will arise long after we're gone.
The simplest fulfillment of this Happily Ever After - Home and Family as marriage and babies and community - isn't the natural outcome for every character in every story.
The Mulder Family In-Depth: (Part IV-3) Bill Mulder and the Biological Question
I have long maintained my unflinching prejudice towards Carl Spender-- more specifically, against Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, and the other writers' late-canon decision to turn him into Mulder's biological father. Unbeknownst to me, CC himself was against the notion-- it was, in fact, David Duchovny's idea. And while I can agree with a lot of DD's criticisms, critiques, and additions to the show, my Rubicon was this and the "Mulder was previously divorced" thought experiments.
Until, unfortunately, it dawned on me that Travelers's timeline-- not Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man's-- was considered canon by the top dogs themselves.
What does all this mean, then?
BILL MULDER'S HISTORY
Bill Mulder was born in 1926 and died in 1995.
We are given two conflicting backstories for his character:
In Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man, Bill is a low-ranking soldier, already proudly married to Tena Mulder and the father to one-year-old Fox Mulder (whose first word was "J.F.K.") He is, by all appearances, still on the lower rungs of his career-- untainted by the horrors he will one day face (i.e. Apocrypha's flashbacks and Anasazi's allusions) and only lightly familiar with Spender as a bunk mate and friend (from his perspective.) This flashback takes place in 1962, which would make Bill Mulder 36 years old-- quite old for a "young", low-ranking soldier.
In Travelers, Bill is a married man already entrenched in the government, presumed married with a ring on his finger and no military background to speak of. He is weighed down by the secrets of the Consortium and tries to rope in Arthur Dales to put an end to the mad hunt after Edward Skur (too afraid for himself and his family to directly disobey orders.) This flashback takes place in 1952, which would make Bill Mulder 26 years old-- a decade younger than his alleged "baby-faced" military days.
We are left, then, with an inescapable problem: which narrative is the correct one?
Luckily, Chris Carter solves this puzzle for us-- or, more accurately, for Glen Morgan (who went above-and-beyond to undermine CC's final say, on and off the set, post here):
October 1997:
Another problem arose when William B. Davis announced he hated the script. “I thought Bill was going to be thrilled to have a show about him,” Wong said. “I had dinner with him, and basically he spent the entire time telling me, ‘This is a terrible script! This is horrible! I can’t do this!’ He didn’t like anything about it. He thought it didn’t make sense, that that he didn’t know who this person was, that it wasn’t him. He hated it.” Davis promptly called Carter to ask if this was the real history of the Cigarette Smoking Man (Carter told him no), and he continued to express his concerns with the script throughout the shoot. And then there were the timeline inconsistencies, which Morgan and Wong didn’t even know about until the episode aired and Morgan logged on and was bombarded with dozens of internet posts complaining that the events of “Musings” couldn’t be for real, because they contradicted the teaser to “Apocrypha.” In the “Apocrypha” teaser, which is set in 1953, a young Cigarette Smoking Man (already smoking), a young Bill Mulder, and a third man, all in civilian dress, question a horribly burned submarine crewman who had encountered an alien in a flashback shown in the previous episode, “Piper Maru.” Morgan’s version proposed an entirely different history, with the young Cigarette Smoking Man and Bill Mulder, both Army officers, first meeting in 1961 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Cigarette Smoking Man doesn’t even smoke, until he takes his first nervous puff late in the first act. Although Morgan and Wong had seen “Apocrypha,” they didn’t remember the events of the teaser....
“The Cigarette Smoking Man’s flashbacks were my idea, because I indeed wanted the episode to be a memoir,” Morgan said. But the idea that Frohike could be the real narrator was a Carter-imposed addition to the script, to make it seem as if the events of the episode were not real. Carter even changed the name of the script, from “Memoirs of a Cigarette Smoking Man” to “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man.”
[Wong]: …“The line where Deep Throat says, ‘Maybe I’m not the liar’ was another change imposed on the script so you could make the leap that perhaps this is all. a dream, or the ramblings of Frohike.”
Musings, then, is a retelling of "historical" facts, not the facts themselves. And since the mytharc continued to build off Travelers-- including Agua Mala's and The Unnatural's pit stops-- then we are left to assume that Travelers, indeed, is the correct timeline.
Which throws a wrench in the biological question.
THE MULDER FAMILY'S EMPTY NEST
From Traveler's 1952 to Fox Mulder's birth in 1961, Bill and Tena Mulder were-- for approximately ten years-- childless.
What are some possible explanations?
Bill and Tena suffered a series of miscarriages before Mulder was born.
Bill and Tena had a previous child who died sometime before Mulder was born. (This seems extremely unlikely, since Mulder was not only never informed but also never stumbled upon mementos or burial records while digging deep in the FBI.)
Bill or Tena was infertile.
The first and third points are particularly salient: with only a three years' difference between Fox and Samantha, it's easy to dismiss Point 1's premise to favor Point 3's theory-- that infertility plagued Bill and eventually led to Tena's "miraculous" pregnancy (in the possible arms of one Carl Spender) instead of a series of unfortunate, though tragically common, events.
In order to weigh these theories correctly, we need to pick apart the evolution of the Paternity Question.
THE X-FILES WRITERS' BUILDING BLOCKS
To properly unwind the spool of mystery around Mulder (and Samantha's) parentage, we have to establish two basic principles:
Chris Carter-- and the writers by extension-- had no conclusive plans for The X-Files: only a vague sense of its direction and a fainter glimpse of its fairy-tale conclusion (post here and here.)
Chris Carter did not intend for Mulder to be CSM's son as late in the game as Season 6.
Chris Carter did intend for Samantha to be CSM's daughter as early as Redux II.
Principle One
Kim Manners summed it up best after One Son wrapped: "I've said for years that the show really resolved itself, if you will, by accident. The whole story line of the Syndicate and the bees and the aliens and the chips in the neck, they all seemed to just accidentally fall into place and create an intriguing, mysterious story line that eventually got so mysterious and so intriguing that Chris had to blow it up [One Son], because he couldn't deal with it anymore." (Post here.)
Carter also admitted, "…I feel like Lewis and Clark: I know where I’m going, but I don’t know what the hills and valleys and streams that I have to cross are.... Everything else I do past this is a big question mark to me,” he says thoughtfully. “I don’t know if it’ll be a hit or miss. It’s a business of failure mostly. While I’ve got this garden growing, I want to make sure that I tend it and that it represents my best efforts.” (Post here.)
Principle Two
CC maintained consistently, for years, that CSM and Mulder's father were separate identities: to David Duchovny (who kept lobbing the idea of a merger)--
Brian Lowry's The Official Third Season Guide to "The X-Files":
The exchange between Mulder and the Cigarette-Smoking Man [in "Talitha Cumi"]... was not surprisingly generated considerable speculation even within the show as to whether the shadowy character-- in a 'Star Wars'-like twist-- might really be Mulder's biological father. "Oh, people will say that," Chris Carter sighed prior to shooting.
For his part, David Duchovny considers that a very real possibility in adding to the series' epic mythology, and William B. Davis says he has contemplated such a scenario in the past and that such thoughts were guiding him in part when he played those scenes....
"I know that I've talked about it with Chris," Duchovny concurs.
--to the public (who were clamoring for theories after each mytharc tease)--
April 1999:
“We all know that Agent Spender is the Cigarette Smoking Man’s son, so that creates an interesting dynamic and if you’ve paid attention, you know that Mulder’s father and the Cigarette Smoking Man have some history together. We’re playing with a big, familial story here that I think enriches the idea of The X-Files in a very personal way for the characters.”
I wrote up a thorough (and compelling) timeline that tracks Carter's static ideas on the topic here; but that still leads us smack against his sudden pivot in Amor Fati, his abandoned 180° turn (again) in a deleted Requiem scene, and his final line-in-the-sand "revelation" in William (scripts and meta here.) CC wanted to flirt with "the truth"... until Season 9's numbers proved that the show's plug would have to be pulled. That, then, sealed Mulder's biological ties to Jeffrey Spender-- there would have been no time to shift again, realistically-- which, in turn, knotted him to CSM forever.
Principle Three
What about Samantha's paternity?
February 05, 1999:
Left unanswered: the burning question of Fox Mulder’s paternity. (Duchovny is going the Star Wars route, assuming CSM is Mulder’s Darth Vader of a father: ”It makes mythological sense.” Carter will only add, ”We haven’t said definitely not. What we have said is that he is definitely Samantha’s father.”)
Post Fight the Future and the narrative crafted in Demons and Redux II has not changed; post One Son, the narrative has not changed; post Closure, the narrative remains firm. Samantha Mulder, then, is canonically confirmed to be Carl Spender's daughter-- which makes sense why he kept her with him, and aligns with his twisted form of love (inflicting pain on those closest to him ala Jeffrey and Cassandra and Mulder and Tena and Deep Throat and Bill Mulder and etc.)
Although Mulder's paternity was in a constant state of flux, Samantha's was not; and even though CSM shifted his opinions on Mulder's paternity ("Bill Mulder's son" in One Son, "my son" in Amor Fati)-- and canon still waffled as late as Requiem-- his beliefs of Samantha's did not.
Which makes the Clone!Samantha situation in Redux II that much worse... especially considering that even William B. Davis thought she was the real deal:
May 1999:
What about the scene in Redux with Samantha, for example? Well, he certainly thought she was the real Samantha and that’s how he played it. Then a year later, he heard someone say, “No that wasn’t her,” and his reaction was “huh?”.)
The Conclusion to This Mystery
In short: the writers did not plan for anything; Samantha was cemented as CSM's before they extended the patriarchal branch to Mulder; and Mulder's biology was an afterthought-- like many aspects of the show-- that became crippled in service to the "next big thing."
So: what does this mean for Bill and Tena Mulder?
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
The X-Files's writers originally wrote Mulder and Samantha to be normal, though tragically separated, siblings; and would have created (and cast) their parents with that idealized conception in mind. However, as canon evolved, so, too, did their aspirations; and so, too, did the bounds of believability.
If Bill and Tena Mulder are the biological parents of both children, then either one (or both) would have had to suffer from infertility until the successful birth of Fox Mulder. Streak now broken, it would-- theoretically-- have been easier to conceive Samantha three years later: a bump enough in the timeline to logically point to another round of fertility struggles.
Or their quick turnaround could serve as proof that Samantha was CSM's-- a shortcut for Tena, exhausted and unwilling as she might have been to wait another ten years to (perhaps) become successfully pregnant again.
If CSM and Tena Mulder are the biological parents of both children... that raises more questions.
At what point did Carl Spender suspect that both Mulder children were-- if they were-- his?
Samantha was traded in her brother's stead, but that was a decision that came directly from Bill Mulder. Did he suspect that Samantha wasn't his? I don't believe so: Bill was genuinely fragile after "Samantha's" return in Colony; and genuinely grieved, shattered, and angered after her "death" in End Game (projecting that pain onto Tena to guard himself.) Further, Mulder stated that Samantha's disappearance "tore the family apart": the comfort and love both children received from their father (as shown in Dreamland II's family videos) came to an end as Bill retreated into his alcohol and Tena into her bitter condemnation. It was a matter of time before Mrs. Mulder and young Mulder moved out, leaving Mr. Mulder to his broken misery.
To add more credence to my claim, I defer to the Well-Groomed Man's revelation in Fight the Future:
"Without a vaccination, the only true survivors of the viral holocaust will be those immune to it - human alien clones. He allowed your sister to be abducted, to be taken to a cloning program, for one reason..." [to survive.] "Your father chose hope over selfishness. Hope in the only future he had, his children. His hope for you was that you would uncover the truth about the project. That you would stop it, that you would fight the future."
Bill Mulder, then, believed both children were his; and Bill Mulder, then, died believing both children were his-- his daughter who he traded away, and his son who he lied to and begged to "forgive me" on his deathbed.
TWO FATHERS, ONE SON
Despite canon's later solidification, I find One Son rather fascinating to study through the lens of Bill Mulder as Fox Mulder's biological father (as was originally intended):
In a deleted flashback (with Mulder's father arguing where Krycek now stands), Bill predicted the holes in his compatriots' plans, horrified in the face of the anticipated trade:
The scene then immediately transitions back to Mulder, the parallel between their dispositions and circumstances carefully planned and executed: parallel father and son, yet distinctly different men--
What's particularly striking is that the script actually had purpose for Fort Marlene's ill-fitting shoes: symbolism. Mulder has to (metaphorically) take up his father's mantle; and finds that it doesn't provide enough room-- Bill Mulder was a "smaller" (though well-intentioned) man than his son has become--
During the confrontation in Diana's bedroom, CSM refers to Jeffrey Spender as "my son" and laments that Mulder has turned Jeff against his sire-- as Bill Mulder attempted to do with the Syndicate, all those years ago:
CSM continues to draw parallels between both Mulders, establishing that he, himself, does not know Mulder is his biological child (if he is....)--
--and after psychologically subduing yet another Mulder--
--he leaves the younger man defeated and broken in the dark: history repeating itself.
And, as a thought exercise, I went back even further to Colony and End Game: Bill Mulder was severe and cold and unfeeling in both scripts (thanks be to the actor's decision to inject some nuance and personality)... except for one moment:
Mr. Mulder briefly cracks through the crust he'd built up in self-protection at the thought-- the culmination-- of his daughter's return. Bill Mulder, then, still needs her to come back but is too burned, beaten, and fearful to truly believe or hope (unlike his son.)
Although Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, and the rest changed their minds later, this "tell" stands as a powerful moment, nonetheless. (...And proves that CSM was still in the dark about Mulder's paternity. I wonder if he found out after Jeffrey Spender's bloodied DNA matched Mulder's in the system? Who knows.)
THE LEGACY OF THE MULDER CHILDREN
Fox and Samantha Mulder were born into a destiny neither of them chose: parents who threw them into the jaws of a Conspiracy in an attempt to save the future. Fate, then, decreed they were doomed to a dark world on the brink of teetering hope.
Freewill, however, fought it back: Bill Mulder was sucked into a game beyond his control, yes; but he let Edward Skur go (Travelers), tried to save both his children through a convoluted stratagem (Fight the Future, One Son), and was willing to face death to regain his son's last shred of respect and understanding (Anasazi.) Samantha Mulder was bartered to an alien race (Pilot, One Son) and returned to brutal tests inflicted by her biological father, yes (Sein und Zeit); yet, she escaped, and ran for help, and chose her own end (Closure.) Fox Mulder inherited his father's quest and expectations, yes (Travelers, Pilot); but he chose to trust in "the truth" as a principle and Dana Scully as his touchstone.
In a way, the nature of Bill Mulder's life-- and his children's, by extension-- can be fulfilled (fate) or subverted (freewill) with interesting degrees of similarity: either Fox Mulder and Samantha Mulder share CSM's tainted blood but choose to rise above it, or Fox Mulder (at least) carries on Mr. Mulder's legacy (genetically-- via his DNA-- and characterologically-- via the same impulse to expose the truth.) And perhaps both can be true: that the spirit of Bill Mulder lives on in his children-- his children, no matter what.
Regardless, Bill Mulder left his mark.
CONCLUSION
And that concludes the last of the Mulder Family meta saga (hopefully.)
