hello! I have a hankering for protective scully. Do you have any fic recommendations? Preferably against mulder's bullies?
Collector's Edition: Dana Scully, Partner and Protector
Couldn't include Bill Scully's bullying on this list because that's a category all its own; but tried my best to scrounge up fics specifically wired around your prompt.
Loose chronological order below~
Beshter’s X-files Seasons
"How was I supposed to know," he murmured in a low voice. "I mean, liver-eating mutants? Do you really still believe...?" She knew that his entire career at the FBI was flashing before Colton's eyes and that he was begging her to see the same reason he saw.
She glanced over at Mulder, who was now speaking with one of the other agents on the scene. "Well, Tom, if you had even considered the remote possibility that there might be something to Mulder's theory, I might still have a front door."
An in-depth fill-in from Scully’s perspective-- winding up to the Pilot and supplanting every loose end with a slice of her consciousness.
@leiascully's (Ao3) Squeeze
The other agents saw only gawky, crazy Mulder, the epitome of all they sought to avoid, dragging down one of their own. They liked Scully, or at least, liked what they could see of her, heedless of the depth of her. They invited her to work with them, as if the Bureau were a junior high microcosm of an adult world. Mulder, disgusted, played the fool. She slid her hand gently up his arm, gentling him with her touch. He was a rogue agent in their eyes. Scully was what kept him from lunging, fractious and unbalanced.
S1 Mulder takes in Scully, the first agent who views him as “more.” (Part of a larger series of ficlets.)
Solia (FFN) Smudge (FFN)
It was so not the time, but from the moment he rubbed his nose with his ink-stained fingers she felt the internal itch to wipe the dark smear away.
People were judging him harshly enough already. Their eyes bore into him like he was dirt; they said his name like it was unclean.
S1 Scully feels pressured to defend Mulder.
@contrivedcoincidences6/Spooky66/geektime66's Work Party
“Why aren’t you still up there? Still about a half hour left.”Mulder asks through a mouthful of cake.
Scully rolls her head back and stares at the ceiling, “I just wasn’t enjoying it. Figured I’d have more fun watching you get frosting on every surface in the basement. I’ve got my own little pool going about the most creative places I’ll be finding it for the next few days.”
S1 Mulder realizes Scully's reputation has been tarred with the same brush as his.
@suitablyaggrieved/ScullyLovesQueequeg's Fictober Day 10
“Sir, with all due respect… why can’t I have Scully back?”
“We’ve gone over this, Agent Mulder. We’re a little short on forensic pathologists. You’ll have Agent Scully back in no time. Now do you want to tell me why I’m getting several complaints that you’re making things down there a hostile environment?”
Post Little Green Men Mulder is alone.
Snits's Here, Now
"He's resting his ankle," Scully lied smoothly. A woman on her left, Laura, giggled suddenly, leaning into the conversation. "I saw him, hopping about earlier," she said wickedly, "how'd he do it?"
"Chasing ghosts," Jacobs supplied, provoking laughter. "Ruh-roh, Scully," a man across the table mimicked Scooby-Doo. "Nah, he probably just fell after the aliens let him off the space ship," another woman sniggered, reaching for the wine bottle. "Seriously, Scully, any time you want to be out of that nuthouse, you just mention it," the man beside Jacobs said solemnly, as though he were the voice of reason in the group.
Scully finally understands why Mulder never goes to FBI parties.
Philiater's The Stronger Monster
The strongest, that's what Mulder had said; the monster had taken the strongest of them.
For a moment that comment had dug at her a little bit; a part of her had automatically protested that *she* was strong. But she was a fish out of water in a deep forest.
Detour Scully is willing to be a monster for Mulder.
@starwalker42's (Ao3)
febuwhump day 23: "you'll have to go through me"
As the creature approaches him, creeping forward so slowly it’s almost like it’s biding its time, almost as if it’s enjoying toying with him, Mulder wonders how long it might take to bleed out from a bite wound. Maybe the pain will be strong enough that he won’t make it that long, anyway – maybe he’ll pass out before it gets to that point. Maybe those jaws will tear right through him, and he won’t feel anything but a flash of pain and the sensation of his body being ripped apart.
Bang! A cloud of dirt flies up into the wolf’s face, and it turns away, whining in surprise. After a moment of confusion, Mulder realises someone’s fired a gun.
Scully stares down a wolf.
Anonymous's (mulderscreek, annex-files) Silence, Sea and Sky
Dana Scully watched her partner closely but his face betrayed no emotion. If she didn't know him so well she wouldn't have noticed the tiny tremble of his hands, the dull look in his usually expressive eyes.
Mulder (and Scully) is invited onto a case where he has to work alongside an old VCU foe.
@o6666666's (Ao3) Phoebe takes a job at the fbi
“Mulder is incredibly passionate.”
“He’s myopic. Small-minded for anything that’s ever shown him tenderness.”
“I think he’s a genius.”
“Do you show him tenderness, Agent Scully?”
With that, Scully shoves her chair back from the table.
AU-- Phoebe Green is back, as an FBI agent.
@wendelah/wendelah1/avesuvianface’s (Gossamer, Live Journal) When light is put away
While Mulder stepped into his trousers, she walked over to the window and peered out through the shattered glass. "There's no sign of it—him—anywhere."
Mulder nodded. Whatever he was, man or monster, Pincus moved fast. He pulled a T-shirt over his head.
"This time—" Her voice was firm. "—I'm not leaving here without you."
Folie a Deux Mulder is rescued by one Dana Scully.
Dawn’s (Ao3, Gossamer) Broken (Ao3) and Restored
I turn around to face the now-thoroughly-irritated
officer. "Agent Mulder has been through quite an ordeal
tonight and is feeling under the weather. I'm taking him back
to the motel now. We'll come down to the station tomorrow
and you can finish asking your questions."
The kid can't be more than twenty-five, baby-faced and lacks
the self-assurance of Detective Webster. Still, he actually
scowls and opens his mouth to argue with me until I flash
him what Mulder refers to as "The Look."
Folie a Deux Scully and Mulder's thoughts after the bug flees and the cops show up.
Wylfcynne's Imagine
"You aren't getting free until we have a clear MRI," she said calmly.
Mulder exploded in rage, screaming, cursing, struggling violently. On the status monitor, everything began to escalate. Three Project doctors came running in, alerted by the system alarms, and stopped, awed at the violence they were witnessing.
Post S.R. 819 Mulder and Scully are captured while on a Kersh detail; and Scully must break out, somehow sound the alarm, and purge Mulder from a black oil invasion.
@baronessblixen's (Ao3) imagine some other agents playing a trick on Mulder
"I was getting coffee for us and then this one guy, Agent Peters, he said I didn't need to bother because, because," he stops, panic slipping back into his voice. Scully squeezes his hand to let him know she's here. "Because you were in a car accident and that... that you were... didn't look good." Tears fall from his eyes as he looks up at her. The way his bottom lip quivers breaks her heart.
Mulder rushes down to the basement, distraught.
Pattie's They Call Him AGENT Mulder
"I guess you're not too proud of me today, Scully. Sorry I reacted the way I did."
"Don't be sorry," I told him, as we got into the car. "He had it coming. It was a rotten thing for him to do to you."
S6 Mulder and the various methods of aggravation fellow FBI agents use.
LuminousPie's
Five Times Mulder Got Injured and One Time Scully Did
She looked up and frowned, debating whether to answer. She much preferred it when Diana didn’t speak. “I was just thinking about how many times Mulder has been in the hospital in the last 5 or so years.” She didn’t allude to her own ailments. She suspected Diana already knew.
Diana put down her magazine and crossed her arms, “Is it a lot?”
“I’ve lost count.”
“Mulder was never injured when I was with him.”
Various Mulder injuries through the years.
What Goes Up Must Come Down.
She whispers softly in his ear as she assesses him, “It's going to be okay Mulder, I’m right here.” She almost calls him ‘sweetheart’ but it’s not just Diana that stops her, it's the fact she also has to be a doctor now.
Mulder and Scully try to hide their secret relationship from Diana while all three are trapped in a malfunctioning elevator.
@seek-its-opposite (Ao3) nothing to hide (Ao3)
"Your irresponsible theories nearly got my officer killed, Agent Mulder.” The sergeant gestures at the crack house, the door splintered on the floor. “To say nothing of how my department looks on camera for taking you seriously.”
“But you did take him seriously.” Agent Scully’s voice sharpens to a stiletto point. Her partner absorbs chaos; she refracts it.
Post X-Cops Scully is incensed when the local cops lay blame at her partner's feet.
ScullyLikesScience's He is the Master of His Fate, She is the Captain of Her Soul
Mulder and Scully sat in their rental car in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s department. She sat, shaking her head. What a waste of a perfectly good weekend. He cleared his throat. “Okay, so he was actually crazy. For real crazy. Do you think the Phoenix bureau called me as a joke?”
Scully sighed, clicked one of the overhead lights, and opened the file on her lap.
Spanning from Amor Fati to IWTB, this series tracks the growth Mulder and Scully experience as they come into their own.
@neednottoneed/neednot's Unnamed
What she can't get over is the staring.
Mulder keeps tapping his fingers on the table. They sit across from each other, her foot occasionally brushing his, and it really does feel like everyone in the building is watching them.
Post all things Scully decides to hold Mulder's hand at the FBI.
@brenayla's (Ao3) midnight gold and moon shadows
Scully brushes past the group to get to the trash can, where she tosses a paper takeout coffee cup.
Agent Chang nods at her in greeting. “Agent Mulder,” he says with all the confidence of a recent Academy grad.
The being before him gives a wary look.
“It’s Scully, actually.” Not cold but certainly not friendly either.
Mulder and Scully, cryptids.
@mldrgrl's (Ao3) Tumblr drabble prompts of various shades of MSR
She heard laughter as she approached the door to the office. A cluster of agents surrounded Mulder’s desk with handfuls of files, laughing together. One of them was wearing a hat that was clearly not his own. Scully bristled. Her heels struck the ground with angry blows as she strode across the room.
“Take it off,” she said, holding her hand out to the agent with a withering glare.
S8 Scully will not stand for Mulder mockery in his absence.
Gina Rain/gina rain's Circular File
They were all assembled around the conference table. Creative bookkeeping couldn't solve some of the problems that appeared in the past year's budget. Explanations had to be given. Even Agent Scully had to attend to justify costs that were incurred during her time with the X-file division. She entered the conference room and some people stopped talking and looked up at her and then, with small smiles or sidelong glances, resumed their rapt attention of the closed files in front of them.
But Agent Scully did not sit down.
AU-- S9 Scully is having a hard time letting the FBI go (or, as she realizes, go without speaking her mind.)
@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's Three Part Harmony (Ao3)
“ --der ,” he heard, in what was unmistakably Scully’s voice. But he didn’t hear her voice with his ears, but rather in his head, where the buzzing was emanating. It was remarkably similar to when he could hear others’ thoughts, pushed into what bordered on madness by an alien craft. But this didn’t feel like lunacy; it was warm and euphoric.
“ Mulder, ” he heard again in Scully’s voice, this time more clear, the buzzing lessening. “ Is that you? ”
AU-- Mulder and Scully save their son while on the run; and the three of them continue perpetually forward with the FBI on their heels.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
@scenes-in-between/scullywolf's TXF: Scenes in Between (Tumblr)
One scene per episode: Mulder and Scully and the mysteries they encounter.
@cecilysass's (Ao3, Gossamer) The Boy on the Beach (Ao3)
Post Amor Fati Scully is trapped in the past-- and believes she can save Mulder's future by sacrificing her own.
Keleka’s Gray Ghosts
Post Theef– Mulder, Scully ,and TLG investigate the violent deaths of the 47th Brigade. As Mulder plunges headlong into the alternate dimension of a vengeful demon (undeterred by his earlier proposal and recent injury at the hands of a possessed soldier), Scully grapples with her faith in religion, her father, and her military-- all of which comes to a head when she witnesses a cathedral full of praying ghosts.
Jenna Tooms/misslucyjane’s (Ao3, mulderscreek)
An Acceptable Level of Happiness (Site)
AU-- Post Requiem Scully is helping Mulder adjust to a world post-trauma. Fatherhood may be a breeze, but ptsd, triggers, and others' judgments are not.
Shooting Star (Gossamer, mulderscreek)
AU-- Post Requiem Mulder is returned to "his angel" seventeen years later, waking to an addled brain, clone confusion, and a distant son.
And last but not least: long-form fic series spanning the first nine seasons of the show.
Here’s a new story that is so very sweet. Mulder and Scully are on the verge of a romance (well, they're kinda already there - this is season 7 after all), and the way their tentativeness mixes with their deep devotion is so captivating.
Title: February 2000
Author: starwalker42 (@bitshortforastormtrooper)
Summary: Mulder and Scully go for a walk. And this time Scully's birthday present is a bit better than a keychain.
Length: 1,233 words
Classification: Friendship, romance
Rating: General audiences
Spoilers: None listed, but this takes place after Millennium
Favorite line: She catches herself an instant too late, and her fingers are wrapped around his before the thought of any consequences reach her mind, so she stays perfectly still and tries to act like nothing has happened.
Read the story!
Collector's Edition: Mulder, Scully, and Season 8 Healing (Part 4)
This post might be heavy on scars and PTSD, but be not deceived: there's always light in the dark with the X-Files duo. (Dedicated to @elstabler's original request.)
Loose chronological order below~
@enigmaticdrblockhead's Darkness (brief)
I feel like I’m falling down to earth and floating up to the heavens at the same time.
Post-Deadalive Mulder feels more dead than alive.
Agent L's (mulderscreek)
Wish List
I want some answers.
But I'm not sure what questions to ask. I would like to know when Scully is going to talk to me about her pregnancy. It's like the old joke about an elephant in the room -- and that's not a reference to her weight gain. Do they think I haven't noticed? That I'm not strong enough to handle the news? I'd also like to know when John Doggett is going to introduce himself and if he's completely destroyed my work over the past year. I wonder when Skinner will quit peering in through the door and come in and talk to me. I want to know if anybody bothered to tell Frohike, Byers and Langly the news of my resurrection...And if somebody fed my fish while I was gone.
I want my life back. Sounds selfish for a guy just raised from the dead, I know, but I've never been one to be satisfied with the status quo.
Post-Deadalive Mulder rides the waves of impatient convalescence.
Sleepless in Annapolis
His body is still bloated, discolored and scarred. I don't know how she can stand to stroke his marred cheek or clasp the chilled flesh. Or perhaps the chill I feel comes from within. He sleeps most of the time, waking only to have her feed him ice chips and reassure him -- yet again -- that this is not a dream. She was awake for nearly twenty-four hours during the course of anti-virals, as if convinced somehow that her presence alone, her energy, would bring him back as much as any medication. But at the slightest twitch from him, the smallest change in breathing, she is immediately alert.
Post-Deadalive Skinner observes his agents.
Perchance to Dream
Like a cat, he scooted over until he found a patch of sun and turned his face toward the brightness, closing his eyes with a little smile of pure pleasure. She almost expected to hear him purr.
"Call if you need anything."
"Mmm hmm," he replied, already half-asleep. As she pulled the door partway closed, she marveled that this was the same man who had previously existed on two hours of rest a night.
But he wasn't the same man. No matter how desperately she wanted him to be, his experience had profoundly changed him physically and she would no doubt see other, more subtle changes in his personality as he recovered.
AU-- Post-Deadalive Mulder doesn't want to be hovered over (especially after burial nightmares.)
Duet
I put my hand over the gentle mound of my stomach.
He hasn't asked me about it yet, but he knows. I've seen the questions in his eyes, questions he is too afraid to ask, so he tells me knock-knock jokes instead.
AU-- Post Deadalive Mulder is crackin' jokes and coppin' feels.
Impasse (txt)
Mulder had always been obsessed with his search, single-minded and occasionally downright rude to anyone who dared question him or get in his way. But since he had come back to her, after those hazy hours in the hospital when he'd done little more than smile at her whenever he was awake, he'd been driven beyond reason. He was suspicious, paranoid, and seemed to care very little that he'd been given a second chance at life.
Or maybe he cared too much.
Three Words Scully and Mulder have a necessary conversation after the DOD raid.
2:00 A.M.
"I can't sleep. I've been asleep for three months. I don't want to lose any more time."
"Mulder, not that I'm not fascinated by what happened to you, and grateful you're back...but why aren't you talking to Scully about this?"
"I can't talk to Scully."
Post Three Words Frohike gets Mulder's head in the game.
Out of the Shadows
The siren screams through his restless sleep and he jerks upright like a puppet yanked by invisible strings, his own scream ripped from his throat in a human echo of the sound. For a moment he doesn't know where he is or who he is, lost in the suffocating cloak of darkness, still tangled in the suffocating folds of the nightmare. The sound of his own breathing rasps in his ears, uneven, half-sobbing as his lungs beg for air, more air, there's not enough air...Somehow he staggers to the window and throws it open, shivering as the early spring breeze dries the sweat on his skin.
His heart pounds against his chest as if trying to escape his body. His arms and legs tingle with the rush of adrenalin, his muscles trembling like a racehorse's just before the gate opens, awaiting the brain's command to run, to fight.
Post Three Words Mulder finally calls Dr. Karen Kosseff.
In the End
In the end, there wasn't a lot to show for all the years of hard work.
Post Vienen Mulder packs up his office, weary.
Opening Doors 02
"Mulder, what are you doing?"
"I'm looking for that alien head mug I gave you a couple of Christmases ago."
"Any particular reason? I have a lot of other mugs, if you want coffee."
"No, I just wanted to see if it was still here."
Alone Mulder and Scully discuss the keychain (and other domestic matters.)
ML’s (xffics)
Do You Know?
My body still feels like it's not quite my own to command. It's like a block of stone, or ice. When you touched me, I wanted to touch you back, but I couldn't summon the strength. I could barely move my fingers to let you know I was aware of your presence. My eyes felt weighted shut somehow, until I heard the sudden intake of your breath and I had to see your face, make sure this wasn't a dream. I had to make sure you knew you weren't dreaming, too, so of course the first words out of my mouth were a joke. Whatever They took from me, they left me my sick sense of humor. I would like to say something reassuring to you, but all I can muster is a small smile. I want to keep my eyes open and look at you, a sight I've been deprived of for far too long.
Post-Deadalive Scully tells Mulder in the hospital.
Found Faith and Lost Time
I give her a big smile as she catches my eye. "Hi, Mom," I greet her.
She looks a little crestfallen. "You KNOW? Did you know last night?" she asks me.
Skinner answers first. "I let it slip. I thought he already knew," he explains. "I'm sorry, Dana." He takes the box out of her hands.
He's calling her "Dana"? I'm no longer sorry I called him Walter.
AU-- Post-Deadalive Skinner breaks the news to a giddy Mulder.
Far Away, So Close
At first, he thinks it's stuff reclaimed from when his apartment was searched. He wonders how Scully got hold of it so fast. He hopes she didn't do what he would have done, such as swiping it out of evidence storage.
Upon closer inspection, though, he sees that all the dates are from after his abduction. He sifts through the piles, picking up an article about the Presidential election he missed, and a videotape entitled, "Subway Series, vol. 1." It looks to him like Scully has done her best to give him back his missing time.
Three Words Mulder begins to struggle post-resurrection after overhearing the doctors discussing his "death."
155 Words - Dermatology
It took only moments. The blemish was small. The scrapings went into a specimen case. I dabbed the small amount of blood welling at the site.
"All done?" he asked.
"Yes. I'll have the results back in a few days, but I can say with confidence that finding any abnormalities will be highly unlikely."
Post Three Words Mulder gets his mole scraped.
Betwixt and Between
"Scully?" he says again after several heartbeats.
"I'm here, Mulder," she whispers, as if speaking aloud might scare him away.
Several more heartbeats.
"I'm sorry I bothered you," she hears him say. His voice sounds rusty, unused to speaking.
"Mulder, it's okay," she says quickly. Don't hang up, she thinks. Please don't hang up.
"I just. I just wanted to hear your voice," he says.
Post Three Words Scully and Mulder are both afraid.
The Tease
I was still working, though Mulder and everyone else kept telling me it was time to stay home. But until I could see Mulder completely reinstated, I felt I couldn't go. Mulder was going in to work, checking out leads, and generally making a nuisance of himself in ways that couldn't possibly help him get the X-Files back. In other words, he was behaving pretty normally.
Except that his heart didn't really seem to be in it. He investigated promising leads, and tried to hector Agent Doggett into following up on them, but he didn't seem as keen on going out in the field as he once was.
Post-Empedocles Scully gives Mulder to slip back into her life, at his own pace.
Pattie's When You Call for Me in Your Sleep
The tests must have been excruciating. I can only see the scars that still linger from their procedures. My efforts to prevent the further damage that was growing inside you have left scars. But what are marks on the epidermis compared to the horrible memories etched into your mind and soul? Mere badges you have earned. Symbols that you did not join the deceivers.
Post-Deadalive Mulder and Scully struggle along.
@alldolleduppink-blog's Reditum
When he was exhumed and she saw evidence of his chest rising, he was dependent on breathing apparatus and there was no clear sign of when or that he would wake up at all. Perhaps, this is such a vivid dream it's convincing enough for her to believe that he's conscious and speaking. She's had those kinds of dreams before only to be tormented by the reality that he wasn't even there. He was lost and then dead. He was missing for months. The state of decomposition to his body indicated several days of exposure to the elements when he was found and he was discarded like trash in that desolate field.
Post Deadalive-Three Words Scully scrambles to unlock Mulder's "normal" side after his PTSD kicks in.
@settle-down-frohike/settledownfrohike's
Sensory Integration (Tumblr)
He hasn’t told her this for fear she’d have kept him incarcerated, but he’s still fighting waves of nausea induced by the sensation of free fall every few minutes. His stomach rolls end over end, as if on the downslope of a rollercoaster. His feet still don’t feel as if they’ve touched ground, which is ironic for a man who was 6 feet under its surface not 36 hours ago. He feels suspended above this world, tethered only by the clinical tone of her voice as she catalogues his condition. It is the only thing that feels like home right now, and God, he wants to be home, he does, but he’s an apparition, a ghost of himself, floating along a tour of his own life like Ebenezer Scrooge.
Only people don’t talk directly to ghosts about their scars and miraculous healing and their perfect health.
Three Words Mulder is a man puppeted by shredded adrenaline and automatic impulses.
Magneticus
“Mulder, aren’t we supposed to have a wedding ring for this?” And the unintended double meaning isn’t lost on him. He can tell Scully is regretting the phrase immediately by the fact that she’s now holding her breath.
“You can use a needle too, Scully. Hold still.” Her eyes follow his hand warily as it stretches towards her cheek. “OW!!” He comes away with a single amber stand and carefully threads the eye, double loops it and dangles above her swollen middle. They wait. She sighs heavily.
“Mulder…”
“You know this practice isn’t without scientific theory Scully.” His voice has taken on that nasal quality it tends to when he’s talking mostly to himself.
Post-Empedocles Mulder discovers the sex of his son.
Prompts (Short Reads) - Chapter 3
She can't bring herself to look at him.
….because she knows he’ll hate the answer. A fitful, heavy-breathing nightmare has him probing and she knows he’ll never let up.
Post-The Truth Scully wakes from a nightmare.
FabulousMonster's It's Been Awhile
It's getting worse.
Any touch, any incidental contact overpowers me. I don't tell anyone. The only fear greater than my phobia is remaining in the hospital. I am desperate to reclaim my life, to plant my feet in the real world once again.
I tell myself that the X-Files and Scully need me.
The truth is *I* need to be needed again.
Post-Deadalive through post-Existence Mulder and Scully work through their traumas individually and together, alongside their allies and friends.
Innisfree's
Flicker
What does it take to break a man? How many times do you have to beat him before his spirit finally dies? How many days and nights can you treat him as an object before he begins to see himself as less than human? How many things can you take from him before what's left ceases to be enough?
He is considering, trying to fix upon the exact moment when he gave up.
Three Words Mulder is disgusted at his "ugliness."
Falter
"You're not gonna fit on this couch, Scully. So if you're planning on staying the night, you'd better take the bed."
He lifts his head to find her standing perfectly still by the television. She appears to him like a statue, every muscle that is visible in the dim light rigid and still. There is a glint in her eye, but he can't be sure if it's just a reflection, or if it's something more.
"They almost killed you tonight."
AU-- Post-Three Words Scully insists on having it out.
@scapegrace74-blog/scapegrace74's The Ocean Breathes Salty
The ocean breathes salty, Scully.
It sighs and gasps on these dark rocks until my face is painted with its tears and it’s the closest thing to grief that I’ve felt since my return from six feet under. There’s a gritty layer of rust inside me as well; in my head, my heart, my soul. None of them work as they should. The ancient Inca embalmed their dead with salt, you know.
Three Words Mulder feels like he's failed.
@frogsmulder/Brynstein's The Anchor that Floats
As soon as the door clicked closed behind Scully, his apartment suddenly felt simultaneously very big and very small. Like the walls were closing in around him, but the room felt empty, too large for only his presence, and he could feel the walls reel away from him, swamping him in his insignificance. The push and the pull of the walls battled with every inhale and exhale he made, like reality was warping. The reality he knew was different. Things had changed without him and still they continued to change, leaving him behind in the dirt. He blinked, and as soon as he did, he knew it was a mistake. The world turned to black like drowning in a deep sea. And then he was back there again, on the ship bright light and drilling instruments his only company. And then he was back in the room but not really. And then he blinked. And then the darkness.
AU-- Three Words Mulder runs after Scully into the hallway, panic attack in full swing.
Lolabeegood's (mulderscreek) The Silent Spaces
"Scully, I want you to expect more of me." He said as he leaned toward her.
"Mulder, you can want that until the cows come home but, you need to back up that desire with action and...and I don't think you're willing to do that."
"This baby is mine, yes?" He asked as he softly placed a hand on her belly.
"Yes," she said quietly.
Three Words Mulder feels safe enough to take his feelings out on Scully.
Shoshana's After Dinner
Leftovers had been refrigerated or disposed of as the case might dictate; all eating utensils, stemware, tableware either washed and put away or were being processed at that very moment. A comfortable silence had ruled for the last few minutes as she dunked and scrubbed and he dried and polished.
He could have left well enough alone. He could have waited, could have allowed her to tell all tomorrow, perhaps the next day. He couldn't.
Three Words Mulder and Scully share a bubble of domesticity.
David Stoddard-Hunt's
Zombies in a Newer Age
So, my working hypothesis is "zombie."
If so, all my prior notions about zombies are being shot to hell. I'm not hungry, even though I'm under doctors' orders to eat high protein to gain weight. I can't drink until I'm off the current course of anti-virals but, even then, I'm not really sure that I'll touch a drop. Dancing? Only to the real Elvis. And I'm not even going near the next part. On that score, my options seem to have been reduced from one to none during my absence.
Maybe I'm a zombie who doesn't have a lighter, gentler side.
Three Words Mulder realizes Scully never gave up on him.
No, but . . .
Yo, Nurse. Right over here. I'm the not-in-the-widely-understood-sense-of-husband husband. Scully and I have been together for eight years, minus small amounts of missing time, a couple of months off each for alien abductions, oh, and the recent period I've already mentioned in which I was severely life-force impaired. Well, and some estrangement through that whole Diana mess a couple of years ago, but we worked through that.
Empedocles Mulder navigates the hospital in his own way.
secondsflat/whithersoever's Samsara
As a kid, he used to have this cheap plastic camera with a viewfinder, and it made all the pictures he took look washed-out and off by an inch. That’s how his apartment looks now, he thinks. Like one of those poorly composed photographs. Or maybe it’s more like an elaborate Egyptian tomb, with all of the things he loved in his life Before arranged carefully and artfully around him, but by other people. A monument to his death. They’d re-created Martin Luther King’s hotel room in a museum after he died, too, right down to his breakfast, half-eaten on a tray. He'd always thought that was kind of weird.
Scully stands very still against the wall. They don't let you touch things in museums.
Three Words Mulder and Scully both feel guilty.
zulu’s Musings of a Knocked-Up FBI Agent
When his eyes had opened, it was as though the shutters on a window to a different life had been opened. Something had been there--something so far removed from their work, from his ceaseless quest, that it was almost alien. But with his first words, it had disappeared, as though some ghost had twitched a curtain back into place. They had fallen into the superficial patterns of partnership.
Three Words Scully and Mulder struggle through his anger and her loneliness.
@sixhours/6hoursgirl's (FFN) We Aren't Meant to Sleep Alone (Ao3)
“They’ll take you back at VCU. Skinner said as much…you have to apply, go through recertification, but—”
He winces. “I’m not interested.”
“The X-Files isn’t the only way to help people, Mulder. Your experience as a profiler is invaluable—”
He shakes his head. “No. The X-Files were my work, my life,” he says. “They can’t take that away and expect me to come crawling back to beg for table scraps.”
“Ours,” she says, feeling a twinge of anger at his stubborn insistence. “It was our work, our life. And I’m sorry that’s no longer the case, but Mulder, things change. People change.”
“Some of us didn’t have a choice,” he says, his eyes cold.
“You said it yourself,” she says, hating the rise in her voice. “The personal costs were too high.”
AU-- Three Words Mulder and Scully struggle through the FBI's refusal to reinstate, Mulder's (accurate) suspicion that Scully didn't want him reinstated, and her (righteous) frustrated floundering to get him to reconnect and stay.
Cathey Scully's It's been Awhile
Bits and pieces of his memory were missing. Mostly memories from right before he went missing, but somewhere in there, he'd try to think of the past and would come up blank. There was one thing he knew could never in a million years forget, the feel of Scully in his arms.
Mulder sat down heavily on his couch, his hand scraping roughly over the tender spots on his face. He barely felt the pain. It hurt more than anything to think about Scully. He felt deep blinding pain thinking about her.
Post-Three Words Mulder knows he has a place in Scully's life, but can't bring himself to accept it (yet.)
@lokisgame/Lokisgame's
Thumbelina And The Nocturnal Flower - Chapter 4
“What am I, Scully?” His voice was low, the blunt honesty took her by surprise, cutting straight to the core of her fear....
Three Words Mulder is terrified he's not himself.
A Buzzing Sound
Scully kept her chant, forcing the fear and memories away. She knew the feeling well, she couldn’t stand even a thought of visiting the dentist for over a year after being returned from her abduction and she still jumped slightly when she heard the drill start. She had to constantly remind herself that she’s present and in control, that it’s just a filling and there’s nothing sinister about it.
“You’ll have to do it” he mumbled into the small space he was getting used to sharing with her growing baby belly.
“Mulder” she said slowly, trying to spread out the sting of denial.
“Please Scully, you’re the only one I can trust right now” he was trying to move closer, as if the baby would somehow back him up.
Post-Three Words Scully (via Maggie) helps Mulder trim his hair.
@peacenik0's (Ao3) Where I Belong
He feels how expectant she is around him, but also how she holds back because she doesn’t want to overwhelm him. Her uncertainty hangs heavy on her shoulders. Mulder wants to reassure her, but how can he, when he so unsure himself? “I hope you’re hungry.”
He is in this strange state of feeling absolutely ravenous for anything he can get his hands on. And alternately sick to his stomach over the shambles he finds his life in.
Post-Three Words Mulder and Scully reconnect over burgers.
muldersboyishenthousiasm's Foundation Powder
‘What are you doing...?’ she asked. But she already knew what he was trying to achieve.
He held her gaze from where he was standing in front of the mirror. He was bent over the sink, holding her foundation powder in one hand and a damp tissue in the other. His expressive hazel eyes told her all she needed to know. She observed him while he put down the makeup material and turned to face her.
Post-Three Words Mulder tries to cover up his scars.
Dawn's (Ao3, Gossamer) Harbor (Ao3)
"You were my safe place, Scully. My one reason to hang on when all I wanted to do was let go."
I struggle to speak around the boulder in my throat, tightening my embrace when the words simply won't come.
"I'd imagine I was here with you, in this bed. The feel of your skin against mine. The smell of your hair..." Mulder's fingers falter and when he resumes speaking his voice is rough with unshed tears.
"After a while...it got harder and harder to remember. Your name was all I had left, and I was so afraid they'd take that, too."
Post-Three Words Mulder and Scully, nightmares and universal invariants.
@mctaminy/McTaminy's Scars
Mulder ran four fingertips up the length of her spine, feeling each notch of her vertebrae. She stirred awake, letting out a sleepy hum, but didn’t roll over. Her hair was longer and thicker than when he’d left, and he brushed it gently aside, hoping to touch and count the twin scars at the nape of her neck, one from the chip’s removal, the other from its replacement. But his caresses stopped. Just below her cervical notch was a longitudinal cicatrix. It lay straight along her spine and was at least 4 inches in length, edged with smaller pinpoint scars, stitch marks. He touched it lightly then withdrew his hand, an ache building behind his Adam’s apple.
Post-Three Words Mulder discovers Scully's new Roadrunner scar.
@starwalker42's (Ao3) febuwhump day 20: knife wound
It’s strange, having Mulder back. She’d always known once he returned that it wouldn’t go back to how they were before; she knew, now, what he’d been hiding from her all of last year, and they had a baby (they had a baby) on the way, and he was still processing how much time he’d lost. The first few weeks were rough, but they’re through those now and… well, even if it’s not back to normal, it’s good. Strange, but good.
Post-Three Words Mulder soaks in being "home"-- until he sees Scully's Roadrunner war wound.
Hang a Shining Star (Ao3)
Thanks to my admittedly rusty tree-decorating skills, it took me nearly an hour to get the lights just the way I want them. One good yank from that pint-sized fist and I'll be back to square one. I harden my heart to soulful wet eyes and hiccuping sobs, pulling out every toy in Will's considerable arsenal as a futile attempt at distraction. Ten minutes later rattles and stuffed animals are scattered across the floor like land mines but his sweaty, flushed face and increasing decibel level indicate he's not yet begun to fight. Despite that angelic face, Will possesses the tenacity of a pit bull when he wants something.
I think he gets it from Scully.
I eventually go for the big guns and heat a bottle.
AU-- S9 Mulder is a new father and Christmas enjoyer... and not sure if he's entitled to a happy ending.
Beduini/beduini's Legitimate
Scully exhales, the sound barely audible but the delivery enough to warrant a quick sidelong glance over at her. Under his scrutiny, her hand rests on the swell of her abdomen and her brow is slightly furrowed in thought. Lips pursed, her eyes focus inward.
Quarters at Hotel Scully are getting tight.
He is leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees. His hands form a steeple in front of his lips, tapping, and he glances up at the institutional clock mounted on the wall. Ten minutes have passed.
AU-- Post-Vienen Mulder and Scully hit up the courthouse, flashing back-and-forth between her past sorrow and his present anxiety.
Lorri's Your Father's Child (mulderscreek)
Mulder has been back for exactly 32 days, 4 hours and 51 seconds. I am 4 days from my due date and we are making each other crazy. I know, I didn't think it would be possible either. I thought I'd be so elated to have him back that I'd never complain about him again. That lasted exactly 11 days, 9 hours and 22 minutes. At that moment he asked me for the 1,000th time if it was time to go to the hospital. He has had my bag packed and ready to go for three weeks. Last night I had to break into it to get a clean bra. He immediately re-packed everything and set it just exactly in the same spot, right near the door.
Part 3 of the "Wait Until Your Father Gets Home" series: S8 Scully is driven to distraction by Mulder's attentiveness as her due date approaches.
xraelynn/Rachel Nobel's Clearing
Wordlessly, I reached into my wallet and pulled out the photo I'd been carrying for weeks. I didn't need to look at it to know exactly what he would see: Liam with his wispy red hair, so like Scully's. A grin that exposed his front teeth. The New York Yankees overalls Scully had purchased for him. Mulder's face was impossible to read as I passed it to him, but as soon as he looked at it his face seemed to crumple. Two fingers absently stroked the glossy surface of his son's face.
"He looks like her," he breathed despite himself.
"Scully always insisted he looked like you."
Mulder looked up at me, his eyes somehow hooded and wild. "Is he..."
"Agent Mulder, I know this is hard for you," I interjected. Agent Mulder. The words slipped out before I could help myself -- before I remembered that the man sitting in front of me was not Agent Mulder but the shell of him.
Mulder shook his head fiercely. "No, it's not hard," he said brusquely. "It's not hard, it's impossible."
AU-- Post-Requiem Mulder is returned years later: father to a son, widow to his partner.
Jenna Tooms/misslucyjane’s (mulderscreek) An Acceptable Level of Happiness
I lay Malcolm in his crib, trying to think of something to say. I stay at the crib, holding Malcolm's hand and watching him sleep. I say softly, "Someday we're going to have to explain to him why his daddy won't go swimming with him or why he wears long sleeves at the beach."
Mulder doesn't say anything for a moment, then he shoves the bureau so hard a bottle of lotion tumbles off, the mirror wavers and my jewelry box falls over. "We'll tell him his daddy's too ugly," he says shortly.
AU-- Post Existence Scully and Mulder (and baby Malcolm) sift and sort a life together as their first Christmas approaches.
maybe_amanda's (LJ) Under Construction (xffic)
Hers was the only story that made sense, of course - we had defeated the Supes; she had found the vaccine; I was holding a Bob the Builder backpack, so William clearly hadn't gone anywhere. Frohike had only lifted an eyebrow and told me to quit weirding him out the day he showed up at the front door and I poked him in the shoulder four or five times trying to determine whether or not he was a ghost. And as far as I could ascertain from speaking to Gibson, to Skinner, to Doggett and Reyes, the threat of alien colonization - from without and within - had really and truly been laid to rest.
We'd saved the world. And the FBI was still paying my salary.
Fox Mulder, this is your happy ending.
Try telling my brain that, though. It stubbornly refused to listen.
AU-- The world is saved sometime during the events of Season 9; and Mulder is returned, riddled with PTSD and hallucinations. He, Scully, and William stumble progressively forward, miscommunication and handsome men with trucks cluttering up their happily ever after.
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?
