#201daysofxfiles

As you might imagine, there was a lot of fic written in response to "Requiem." These are a few of my favorites, in alphabetical order by title.

Alunakanula (4174 words) by dashakay Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Summary:

The moon has vanished.

Blue Patches by Maybe Amanda Rated: PG | 12K | Category VR | Archived 01-01-20 Spoilers: Requiem Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance. Post-episode. Summary: Mulder, after.

The Crouching Thing by Sarah Ellen Parsons Spoilers: Very mild spoilers for: Everything including Requiem Rating: PG-13 Keywords: Scully, Scully-angst, Skinner Summary: Sometimes we see things we don't want to see.

Cunegund's Restoration by Livia Balaban Summary: "Herein: Romance, baby, recovered family, vindicated conspiracy theorists, turncoats gone good, re-grown limbs, loads of international publicity, and no more icky aliens. I can do it. Just breathe, Livia. Just breathe."

Life As We Live It by Jaime Lyn Category: MSR, Post-Requiem, fluff/angst of sorts Rated: Mature Summary: "This is my "during-Requiem" fic, not "post-Requiem" fic. Takes place immediately following the "bedroom scene." So it's not post-episode. It's more....during episode? missing scene? I don't know. It makes more sense after you read it."

Parabiosis by Penumbra S/MSR/Rated R/315K Timeline: Sixth Extinction through Requiem Summary: Science and Mysticism conjoin Tagline: Exceptions Prove The Rule

Strangers and the Strange Dead (7982 words) by Kipler Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully Characters: Mulder Scully Summary:

In which dead bodies and shivering people disturb the hilltown of Bradenton, and our young, orphaned narrator serves hot beverages to the investigating agents even as she ponders the peculiar, elusive nature of their relationship.

Tactile Memory by Livia Balaban Rating: NC-17 Warnings: none Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Summary: Details are fading; she wants to remember. Requiem post-ep.

Tidings by Ambress Relationship: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Rating: the author says R, I'd give it a PG at most. Spoilers: Requiem Summary: lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub

Would That I Could Travel Both (2206 words) by Maidenjedi Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Cigarette Smoking Man Summary:

It's been six months or more since I last updated this blog. The original purpose for it—rewatching The X-Files before the miniseries aired—has come and gone. Why did I quit? The truth is I got derailed by the miniseries itself. I'd fully intended to come back to this but I just couldn't do it. I was too depressed. I'd prepared myself for the revival to be bad, just not that bad. But I don't like leaving projects unfinished. At the very least, I wanted to complete season seven. After that, I make no promises. I'll have to see how it goes. There are fans who swear season eight is better than seven, which was the worst, so far.

This time through I watched the final episode of season seven in light of everything that 1013 has foisted on the fans since it aired. "Requiem" was written to end the season, and possibly the series itself. If the series had transitioned into a movie franchise as all of the principle players had hoped it would, presumably the first feature would have been about rescuing Mulder. If the series didn't get renewed, I guess Carter wanted to tie up as many loose ends as possible.

Even with those goals in mind, the plot makes little or no sense. The FBI audit scene feels more like Chris Carter talking back to the Fox Studio Executives about his budget than an actual plot point. Next, without official sanction, Mulder and Scully head to Bellefleur, Oregon to investigate multiple abductions. That's a nice touch, since that's where they investigated their first case in the pilot episode. But then, for no good reason, they turn around and head back to Washington D.C., having solved nothing. At the urging of Alex Krycek, who is league again with Cigarette Smoking Man, Mulder and Skinner return to Oregon to look for a downed spacecraft in the woods. Do they bring any backup along on this risky wild goose chase? They do not. (Backup? We don't need no stinking backup!) He leaves Scully behind because she's an abductee. They're taking abductees and he "doesn't want to risk losing" her. Fair enough. Except--right out from underneath Skinner's nose, Mulder himself gets abducted! The final blow is finding out that Scully is pregnant. Good grief! How is that even possible? As usual, Carter didn't resolve anything—he just ended with the worst cliffhanger ever—at least until we get to "My Struggle II."

Despite its many shortcomings, "Requiem" is the best, most memorable episode of season seven by a long shot, and certainly the most moving. Reluctantly I have come around to the position that it might have been the best ending for the series. It's far more emotionally resonant than "The Truth," which was a pointless, static clip show. It's light-years ahead of "My Struggle II" in every respect: the writing is serviceable, the acting is stellar, the cinematography, breathtaking.

Mulder getting the proof he wanted of alien abduction by being abducted himself carries a certain poetic justice. Watching him step into the circle of light shining down from the heavens is surely one of the most beautiful images ever filmed for The X-Files. But it is also one of the saddest because this is the moment where the series that I loved ended forever. Dana Scully is my favorite character of all time but it was their partnership that made the series so compelling to watch. As a drama, The X-Files without Fox Mulder simply doesn't work. It can't work, at least not for me.

I'm starting with a fic I should have recced post-"En Ami." I have no idea why I didn't. "Wing and Prayer" has a scene of such spiritual and emotional power that I gasped while reading it. This is a story about miracles. It gets my highest recommendation.

Wing and Prayer by Revely Rated PG | 143K | Category X | Archived 00-11-10 Spoilers: Je Souhaite Keywords: Mulder/Scully. Summary: none provided

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Given how little of it I've recced here, it's probably obvious that I don't read much PWP. I don't know what it is, but most of the time, I either skip sex scenes or hit the back-button. Call it a character flaw. But "The Third Wish" is an exception to the rule, probably because the fic hits all of my kink buttons. If it hits yours, you will love it, too. And, really, it's not just a PWP, because Tim Scott gives us a perfect rationale for all of the sexy tiems that ensue, and it's an X-File!

The Third Wish by Tim Scott Rating: NC-17 Spoilers: Quite possible Summary: Just a smut biscuit -- no more, no less. I hope. Notes: This story occurs prior to "Tithonus"

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You could read "Goodbye Utah" as an AU that takes the place of "Requiem," but unfortunately, there is no followup story to confirm that theory. Bonetree is a fine writer. I've read most of her work. "Secret World," part of the Goshen universe, is my favorite, but "Goodbye Utah" is a close second for being mysterious, twisty, and in its own way, very romantic.

Goodbye Utah (8790 words) by Bonetree Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Additional Tags: Stand Alone Summary:

SUMMARY: Virginia to Utah, a familiar face, and a terrible choice to make.

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I read this back in 2011, when it was first posted at Ephemeral (or maybe it was LiveJournal?). It's a five things fic, one of my favorite genres. The scenarios are all things Mulder could logically have asked for, taken to horrifically twisted conclusions.

Palimpsest (4127 words) by Aloysia_Virgata Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Phoebe Green, Emily Sim, Eves (The X-Files), Alfred Fellig, Peyton Ritter Additional Tags: Episode: s06e10 Tithonus, Episode: s07e21 Je Souhaite, Post-Ascension Summary: Five Things Fox Mulder Didn’t Wish For

"Well, one thing I haven't been able to figure out is whether you're a good jinni or an evil one. Everybody you come in contact with seems to meet a bad end."

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I can't end a season seven post without a mention of Khyber vs. Season Seven, now can I? This can be read as a standalone, too. Mostly.

Vapour Trail by Khyber Rated PG | 8K | Category SR | Archived 05-11-13 Spoilers: Je Souhaite Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance. Post-episode. Summary: Scully's not making this too easy.

Mulder and Scully investigate the strange case of Jay Gilmore, the man with the disappearing mouth. His surgeons, who are writing up his case for The New England Journal of Medicine, are stumped as to a cause. Gilmore wants to pin the blame on Anson Stokes, his former employee at a self-storage facility in Creve Coeur, Missouri. I guess by now the X-Files division is infamous in law enforcement circles because somehow Gilmore ends up in Mulder's office, demanding justice.

Scully doesn't think there's an X-File, Mulder does, yada, yada, yada. It doesn't take Mulder long to piece together the story behind the story. Stokes is only indirectly responsible for Gilmore's condition. The real culprit is a disgruntled genie whom Stokes had the misfortune to unroll in the process of cleaning out a deadbeat's storage bin. He must have blurted out, "I wish you'd shut up," to his boss right after unrolling the genie from her carpet.

This isn't the benevolent entity you may remember from "I Dream of Jeannie." This genie takes each new owner's wishes and twists them for the worst possible outcome. For his second wish, Stokes asked for a large yacht. Unfortunately, he neglected to ask for an appropriate home for his new toy, for example, in a berth in an ocean harbor. Instead, it's sitting next to the trailer he shares with his legless brother. For his third wish, “Jenn”  tries to suggest that Anson ask to have his brother's legs restored. Instead, Anson wants to become invisible at will. Since he didn't specify that his clothes would also become invisible, he has to get naked first. It doesn't matter in the end since immediately after trying out his new ability, he runs out into the street and gets killed by a truck.

The premature demise of Anson Stokes leads to the episode's best scene: the arrival of his corpse at Scully's autopsy bay. Gillian Anderson is just as adorable as she can be, grinning from ear to ear, while making Anson Stokes's invisible body visible. But I have to ask: can you imagine Dana Scully from season one or two behaving this way? Here is what she said to her class at Quantico in a scene from "Little Green Men."

SCULLY: What this man imagined... his dreams, who he loved, saw, heard, remembered... what he feared... somehow it’s... all locked inside this small mass of tissue and fluid.

I know--there is nothing real about the way Anson Stokes died—there is nothing real here at all. These characters shouldn't expect to be treated like human beings since they were created solely in order to be ridiculed. Are we permitted to laugh at their horrible fate because they're stupid and poor? Maybe I'm just weird but I find it hard to laugh at innocent people being blown to smithereens. It makes me feel...queasy.

Paula Sorge did an excellent job of playing the genie from hell. Watching downtown Los Angeles stand in for Washington D.C. was mildly amusing to this life-long Angeleno. I like the scene where Mulder and Scully drink beer and watch a movie, although it isn’t the least bit romantic, considering the little surprise waiting for us in “Requiem.” 

On the other hand, this is the next to last episode in what could have been the last season of the series. There are 18 scenes in "Je Souhaite." Writer/director Vince Gilligan has Mulder and Scully together in just nine of them. Gee, thanks, Vince.

I'm doing the fic recs first. They're so much easier.

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"99 and 44/100ths Percent Done" is a great casefile by Sarah Segretti, which takes place a couple of months after "Brand X." Mulder has just been released for fieldwork and Scully is worrying about his fitness for duty. It's fix-it fic for an episode in dire need of it: "S.R. 819." There's MSR. Oh, and Skinner has a girlfriend. What's not to love?

99 and 44/100ths Percent Done (14491 words) by sarah_segretti Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Summary:

Two mysterious and surprising cases -- plus encounters with manhole covers, ice cream and pigs -- lead Scully and Mulder down an unexpected path: the road home.

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"Whom My Soul Loveth" is a missing scene fic by Marguerite, told from Skinner's POV. You already know the outcome, but it's still a gripping, emotional read.

Whom My Soul Loveth by Marguerite Rated PG | 15K | Category | Archived 00-10-21 Spoilers: Brand X Keywords: Post-episode. Summary: Dr. Scully in full battle armor during "Brand X."

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If you want to know what really would have happened to Mulder following his infection with the tobacco larvae—if he wasn't a main character on a popular TV series—do I have a fic for you. The careful attention to medical details elevates it above your run-of-the-mill Mulder Torture fanfic. I'm an RN so I recognized exactly which scene she kept rewriting until she got it right (if only 1013 had cared this much...). I couldn't find this fic except at Gossamer so I'm linking to her Author Page.

"What Really Happened 03: Breathless" by Deborah Goldstein Rated G | 44K | Category SA | Archived 01-06-03 Spoilers: Brand X Keywords: none provided Summary: These stories try to show what might have happened in the real world, without the miraculous healing that TV confers on characters.

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"Amnesia" is the "Brand X" post-ep from Khyber vs Season Seven. To me, it works as a standalone but I've included a link to the rest of series for those of you who are just now joining us.

"Amnesia" by Khyber Khyber vs. Season Seven Broadcast Schedule

True confession: I can't help hoping he'll return one day and finish the thing. He left fandom once before, came back, and finished "Sokol." It could happen.

There are nearly 400 fanfics for "All Things" in the spoilers section of Gossamer. There is no way for me to read through them all or even rec all of the good fics I remember. So, I'm taking the easy way out and reccing a few personal favorites.

"An Influence of Stars" by JET is not the kind of fic I usually rec—you know, the kind with a casefile and a carefully plotted beginning, middle, and end. Instead, it is a lyrical series of season seven vignettes, which culminate in a gorgeously written, first time sex scene. You get three two links to the fic instead of one, because that is how much I want you to read this story.

Read "An Influence of Stars" (way-backed) | "An Influence of Stars" (Goss, scroll to story) | JET deleted her LiveJournal sometime last year so no third link at present, though I'll keep looking.

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"Subaqueous" by Thuvia Ptarth is my favorite post-ep for "All Things." The POV is Mulder's, the style is stream of consciousness, and her theme fits perfectly with "All Things." It may not become your favorite, but I think you will enjoy it. I'm also linking to her website because the post at AO3 stripped some of the original formatting.

At her website: "Subaqueous"

Subaqueous (859 words) by thuvia ptarth Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully Additional Tags: Romance, all things, post-ep Summary:

Mulder learns how to breathe water. Scully learns how to breathe air.

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"The Ineffable Aura of Planet Spooky" comes in a close second for my favorite "All Things" post-ep. God, this fic is still so adorable. (Rereading stories like this is what makes this project worthwhile.)

The Ineffable Aura of Planet Spooky (2283 words) by sixpences Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Additional Tags: Episode Tag Summary:

Iced tea and aliens. Sort of post-ep for 'all things' (by which I mean, not the sort you are thinking of).

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For this next rec, I'm going to take a shortcut and post a quote by the late Bardsmaid, who wrote this about "Nightsong": "We do, in the end, arrive on the doorstep of the physical closeness that so many other post-"all things" offerings take for granted, but we get there by a much more adventurous route, as if instead of taking the straight path from the sidewalk to the front door, we've wandered through a magical garden full of unexpected blooms and colors." This story is magical.

Nightsong by Zuffy Rated PG | 11K | Category VR | Archived 04-12-31 Spoilers: All Things Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance. Summary: A woman awakens on a couch.

That's it for "All Things." I added "Ceremony" by Darwin to the fanfic post for "Orison." It's one of my favorite fics and I have no idea how I missed reccing it the first time around.

This cursory look at the dark side of suburbia somewhat resembles "Arcadia" from season six, minus the undercover assignment hijinks. Mulder and Scully pretending to be married provided some comic relief for the viewers; without that diversion, "Chimera" is yet another disappointing, "been there, done that," season seven episode.

Because Gillian Anderson was directing "All Things," her role in this episode was necessarily reduced. The pretext the writer comes up with for splitting up Mulder and Scully is sketchy. Why would Skinner pull Mulder off the surveillance and leave Scully alone in the warehouse? Why does Mulder look so happy to leave?

Without Scully at his side, Mulder has to discuss the case with the town's sheriff, Phil Adderly, who, while understandably skeptical of Mulder's theories, isn't equipped to provide an alternative explanation for his wife's behavior. Ellen Adderly's psychiatrist claims she has a dissociative disorder. Mulder thinks Ellen bottled up her anger about her husband's infidelity and committed murder to protect her family. Taken together, that does explain why she committed multiple homicides as well as why she can't remember doing them. But it doesn't begin to explain how Ellen Adderly can look like an ordinary housewife one moment and physically transform herself into a monstrous creature the next, without magical intervention or even conscious intent on her part.

Is the chimera alluded to in the episode title "a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve"? Or is it the fire-breathing monster, part lion, part goat and part snake, from Greek mythology? By the episode's end, I have no more idea what writer David Ammon was going for than I did at its start.

Fanfiction Recs: I have four: one is a sweetly amusing post-ep; the other three are deadly serious, heartbreaking fics from Khyber vs. Season Seven.

Let's begin with "Sheep in Wolf's Clothing" by Kel and Trelawney. It's a delightful, undemanding fill-in fic for "Chimera." With the narrative focused on Mulder's case to release Anderson to direct "All Things," we never do see how Scully solves hers. Kel and Trelawnley rectify that omission.

Sheep In Wolf's Clothing by Kel and Trelawney Rated R | 43K | Category S | Archived 00-11-30 Spoilers: Chimera Keywords: none provided Summary: Did you really believe Scully unraveled the case of the disappearing blond serial killer without leaving the warehouse?

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With "En Ami," Khyber begins to substitute his own stories for canon. Considering how bad the season got, it's an admirable, if ambitious undertaking. In his "broadcast schedule," he throws out "En Ami" and "Chimera," and gives us "Home From the War" and "Where I End and You Begin," a two part case file in which Mulder and Scully are kidnapped and subjected to brainwashing by a resurrected faction of the Syndicate. Because the final story of Kvs7 wasn't completed, the reason behind their abduction is never made clear, but these powerful stories should still be read. Just as they did in "Field Trip," Mulder and Scully join consciousness and construct their own alternative universe. They become a couple, they marry, Scully leaves the X-Files for Quantico, whereon Mulder gets a team of agents and they take down the Syndicate. They win, in other words, and they get a happy ending. And then it all falls apart, in a sequence of violent death and tragic loss. Just describing the story is making me weepy.

The middle story in the sequence, "Coyote Luck," is a post-ep for "Paper Clip," which is kind of a post-mortem of their first time together. It is exactly the way I imagined it would happen for them, but if you are looking for a feel good romance, this story (and this series) isn't going to provide it. Khyber sees their romantic relationship as a complication of their seven years together as partners, and not necessarily in a good way. I'm almost glad Khyber didn't finish Kvs7, because I suspect I wouldn't have liked his ending any better than Chris Carter's. Khyber sees their mission to save the world as a hopeless cause and antithetical to their happiness together. I see his point but I can't imagine them staying together without it. It's a conundrum.

Warnings: High end of R for violence and mature subject matter. If this was TV, it would definitely have to be HBO. If you have any concerns about triggers, please PM me.

"Home from the War" "Coyote Luck" "Where I End and You Begin" Khyber vs Season Seven Broadcast Schedule has links to the rest of the stories.

"En Ami" is yet another example of how a terrible episode can inspire (and be somewhat redeemed by) amazing fic.

Onward.

This is my favorite post-ep for "En Ami." Haphazardmethod cuts to the heart of what forgiveness really means, and why we owe it to ourselves and to others to forgive. It provides an outsider's POV on the aftermath, if not the specifics, of what Scully did when she left Mulder behind.

As We Forgive Those (3256 words) by haphazardmethod Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Summary:

Mulder was so angry in En Ami. What happened to reconcile him to Scully's actions? Barbara tells me most people said "sex." This is not that story.

"The fact that forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us isn't honored more--I blame that on writers. Because the easy story to tell is the vengeance story, and it's known to satisfy. This guy shot my brother. How's the story gonna wind up? And what does a reader think? OK, that's settled. So it's just the easiest of all stories to tell. So it in fact encourages, makes reputable vengeance." -- Kurt Vonnegut

This is not that story, either.

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This is a perfect crossover story and a perfect outsider POV fic, too. I read it many years ago and loved it. The voices of The West Wing characters are so dead to rights that I can hear the actors saying the dialogue in my head. The story is told from the POV of President Jeb Bartlett.

Thanks of a Grateful Nation (2897 words) by Sab Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files, The West Wing Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Jed Bartlet, CJ Cregg, Dana Scully, Fox Mulder, Cigarette Smoking Man Additional Tags: Crossover, Angst, Episode Related, 1000-3000 words Summary:

The root word, in Arabic, is 'fida.' Which means 'sacrifice,' too, but it also has a second meaning. 'Ransom.'

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This is short casefile/post-ep by an excellent, under-appreciated writer.

Suicide Squeeze (19140 words) by DiscordantWords Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully Additional Tags: casefile Summary:

noun. A high-risk, high-reward offensive play in which the runner runs all out at the pitch without knowing whether the batter will connect with the ball. Often used in the late innings of a close game in order to score a winning or tying run.

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I enjoyed this fic, even though the way she writes Mulder here is a little too Alpha Male for me. I'm even less certain about her version of Scully. However, I'm easy about characterization in fic (though not with the series), which makes this a sexy, well-written, guilty-pleasure fic for me. To save you the trouble of looking it up, the title is Latin for "an intention to possess."

Animus Possidendi (1935 words) by Aloysia_Virgata Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully, Fox Mulder & Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Dana Scully's Little Black Dress Additional Tags: Episode: s07e15 En Ami Summary:

“It looks good on you,” he said flatly. “It looks incredible, actually. But I still hate it. Get rid of it.”

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This is an excellent fic by another under-appreciated writer, Elanor G. The casefile explores the deeper meaning of "En Ami" for both Mulder and Scully. (Egad. Her author's note says this was her first posted story.)

Yo Creo by Elanor G. Rated R | 60K | Category XRA | Archived 00-08-07 Spoilers: En Ami Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance. Summary: Tensions run high between Mulder and Scully after the events of En Ami. A new lead on Cobra threatens to lead them further into darkness.

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The next two stories are about the perils of becoming intimate with another person. Sophia Helix calls them thematically linked but I think they are better read sequentially, with "Night Touch" taking place sometime after "Orison" but before "En Ami," and "Contours" following it. The line quoted in the summary for "Contours" tells you everything you need to know about these stories. I love both fics, but I'm a doomed-ship shipper.

Night Touch (3303 words) by sophiahelix Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully Additional Tags: MSR, Angst Summary:

Intimacy is a narrow path.

Contours (4034 words) by sophiahelix Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully Additional Tags: MSR, Angst Summary:

"The truth is, it doesn't matter whether they are lovers or not. The years have worn them down all the same."

After reading that summary and watching the new episodes broadcast so far, I find myself wishing Sophia Helix would write us a fill-in fic for the years between IWTB and "My Struggle."

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