#adam webb

Offspring

""The doctor ushered Mulder and Scully into a small office where he had a desk. "I know. You must think this is just something in the lake water, or regular hepatitis. But this kid puked up what looks to be a flatworm."

"A fluke." Mulder nodded to Scully.

"Yes, a fluke. Last month, we removed one from a woman's liver, and it wasn't a typical fluke. We embalmed it until we could find someone to identify it. Then, when Kevin Johnson was brought here yesterday, we had our second fluke. It's in an aquarium in the same lab. as the one we embalmed.""

S4: Flukeman-infested lake.

Genetic Appetite

""Scully was adamant. "We are staying." She knew she wasn't going to have a good night's sleep when Mulder started thinking aloud in the lobby of the apartment building.

"You don't suppose he... "

Scully's patience was wearing thin. "What? Don't suppose he what?"

"Mated. Well, it's not that impossible to believe, Scully. All beings have the urge to procreate. Maybe he could get through a date without eating.""

Liver extractions and bodies are piling up... but Tooms is dead. Mulder and Scully track down an unexpected source.

EllieL/Ellie's Rendering Judgment of Chthonic Gods

""Atropos has cut the line. You saw it happen. Whatever you may see that she has to do in the future, the decision was made that she shall not continue. It cannot be undone, not by my will nor my husband's."

"You could give her a choice. She's coming here unguided, and has dipped her hand in the river and tasted it. That must change matters."

"That--that does change matters, somewhat. She was a good woman in life, and I am not unsympathetic to her or what you see of her future. And she still has a choice where to drink. Let her make that choice, and perhaps she'll make the decision for us.""

Scully's nurse in One Breath bargained indirectly with her son-in-law, Death, for her patient's life. Invisible deals are struck, allowing Scully both to live and to see her father one last time.

JET/Jesemie's Evil Twin/eviljesemie's Things That Lie Outside

""He must have been the one to apologize but has no idea what he really said. After the family leaves, he realizes her presence behind him. Turning, he catches an expression on her face so protective of him he almost steps back. She straightens up, goes to grab their files off the internal audit conference table.

It might not have been there at all, that look. Probably not. Almost 100% guaranteed it was not.

He misses his sister at this moment, he realizes, because in every alternate world he's imagined, every place Samantha is alive and well and his sister, she has grown up to be the kind of person he would tell about that look, and he might let something into his voice that she would suspect, and it would be a secret between them.""

Post Paper Hearts Scully finds the last girl, setting her partner free from this last horrific hold.

Justin Glasser's (xphilefic) Kevin

""Miss Scully, this is Nathan, Kevin's brother. I talked to you today and--Miss Scully, I don't know if this is, like, your jurisdiction or what, but if there's anything you can do--he's gone, and we can't--I don't think we can find him. He said he was afraid of the moloch and I didn't believe him . . . Miss Scully, please." Click. The machine whirred in rewind, and shut off, light glowing placidly.

"You don't know what that is?" she asked.

Mulder shrugged. "Can't know everything, I guess.""

S5? Scully is called two years later when Kevin Kryder goes missing. While she and Mulder locate Kevin, his new brother is taken as well... and killed.

The Sybarite Collective's [msk (Ao3), bcfan, maybe_amanda/MaybeAmanda (Site, LiveJournal), Tesla (XLibris), Amy, Kmom, Lucy Marchmont]

Jabberwocky

""Sybil, have you go got a crucifix, a cross, an article or symbol of your faith on or about your person? Necklace, earrings, scapular, sacred vestments of any sort? Bottle of holy water, maybe?..."

Sybil shook her head. "I have another pair of duck earrings in my purse. How's that?"

"Probably not enough."

"Mulder," Scully said, her voice sounding harsh even to her own ears, "I'm giving you three seconds to start making some sense. One, two-"

"The glyphs," he said. "It's like a welcome mat. Only instead of saying *Welcome,* or *The Addams Family,* this is more like, *Vlad lives here. Trespassers will be eaten*.""

S6 (or S7) Mulder takes Scully back to Texas for another undead case, courtesy of Frohike. Between her jealousy of a flirty, bubbly redhead, pique at Mulder's constant Sheriff Hartwell teasing, enjoyment at an incredibly fancy hotel her partner booked specifically for her, and fear of said flirty redhead's two horrific insurance brother-bosses, Scully is torn between annoyance and affection. She is, however, able to pull it together just in time for the crazy finale involving her partner, a vampire feast auction, and a law enforcement bust led by the vampire Sheriff himself.

Maria Nicole’s

Stand by the Window

""Once they had tracked him down, only his threatened cascade of disclosure kept them at a distance, growling and snapping.

A few years ago he might have fought them, might have tried to disappear for good, or else oust Strughold. Now he was simply tired of it all.

And so he was finally forced to live the life he had pretended to have all along.""

The Well-Manicured Man survived FTF's car bomb, fending off his compatriots with threats of exposure. Plunging himself into caged retirement, he awaits the inevitable, befriending his spy-housekeeper leading up to the events of One Son.

Bridge

""So what do you want to call them? Little bug-boys?"

"Bug-ees. Buggers. The deadened. The ungrateful dead. Deadheads. Hey, yeah...deadheads."

She looked like she was struggling to suppress the smile, but it came out anyway. "All right, so we have the disappearance of these deadheads from the previous case. We have two people dead now, with some sort of puncture wound in the back of their neck. Have you considered that you were hallucinating?"

"I thought you just said you believed--" She shook her head. "That Pincus injected those people, without a doubt. But what if...you've been assuming that he's a large insect-like creature who can trick others into believing he's human. What if it's the other way around? What if he's a human who can trick others into believing he's a monster?""

Field Trip Mulder and Scully ditch their quarantine early, experiencing unexpectedly peaceful and soul-searching mind-melds while investigating a case very like Folie a Deux. The depths of Scully's plumbed from the depths of an ocean, Pincus and snake venom, and rescuing Mulder from himself-- this is a gorgeous read: more exploratorily honest than neck-stiffeningly intense.

Wylfcynne's Imagine

""He headed for the door, then hesitantly turned. "Agent Scully?"

She turned, surprised by his tone. "Yes?"

"You want to know why the X Files and the two of you have been shut down so hard?"

She stared at him. "We know why."

"Because you terrify them, Scully, with your courage, your integrity and your uncompromising principles. You terrify me and I'm on your side. Imagine how they feel.""

Post S.R. 819 Mulder and Scully are captured by a cult. He's infected with the black oil while Scully frees herself enough to call in Skinner and the cavalry. She then must save her partner, ruthlessly torturing the alien virus in his body to death. Everyone else stands in awe.

Joann Humby's The Pattern

""She kept her voice professionally mild even when she finally changed the subject. "Skinner said that Diana Fowley worked for Patterson."

He let his hand rest on her shoulder, admiring her courage. "I effectively introduced them. He liked her." He ignored the way that Scully flinched, and was grateful that she bit down her instinctive response to his remark. Talking was hard.... "After the Props case, he helped her to get funding for her research. In San Francisco," he added, not quite disguising the amusement in his voice. If Scully could be courageous then so could he. "About as far away from me as he could manage."

"But you still left the ISU?"

"Reggie was willing to take me off Patterson's hands. He wasn't in a position to say no."

"And you and Diana?"

"It suited us. A couple of thousand miles apart.""

Post Amor Fati Mulder's history with Monty Propps becomes relevant again. He slowly unravels the current mystery whilst reflecting on his past with Diana and his possible future with Scully, IVF, and angels. (There are even sections from Diana's POV during her early relationship which delves into her assignment to California and her recruitment parallel to Mulder's discovery of the X-Files.)

aka Jake/ aka_Jake ’s (Gossamer) Reprise

""She turned to face him, laundry abandoned. “I don’t have to tell you, we saw Eugene Tooms chopped into a million pieces by an escalator.”

“I noticed that.”

“City Square thoroughly cleaned the area before the shopping mall reopened. They sent us their bill.”

“Maybe they missed a spot.”

“And what, Tooms grew a new body from a finger or a pinky toe?”

Mulder tapped the end of his nose.

“No.” She shook her head. “It’s impossible.""

Post S11 Mulder and Scully battle another Eugene Tooms-like case... in fact, it is Tooms, who just won't die.

Gefangener (txt)

""Opponents of the death penalty often cite that capital punishment is not a deterrent to murder, those executed are usually poor, and many innocent people have been wrongly sentenced to death.

Tell it to someone who cares.

...Special Agent Fox Mulder has not seen Gerry Schnauz since testifying at his trial. He isn't sympathetic to the fact that Schnauz is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, who, according to his court-appointed lawyer, belongs in Melvoin Psychiatric Hospital, not a maximum security prison.

Fox Mulder wishes Gerry Schnauz had committed his crimes in one of the forty states that gas, electrocute or inject its serial killers.""

AU-- Post Unruhe Mulder darkly reflects on Schnauz not getting the death penalty while Scully lies forever in bed, her mind ruined.

@admiralty-xfd/admiralty's Novam Domum

""Seventeen year old Daisy Peacock stepped on the gas but wasn’t certain where she was headed. The radio blasted Del Shannon and she rolled her window down. The smell inside the car was awful.

...Edmund Peacock sat stoic in the front seat, staring straight ahead, not saying anything. He never said anything. And her mother laid in back, blood slick down her thighs, screaming not out of pain but of rage. The noise was akin to the whinnying of a horse, or cattle being zapped. All she wanted was to make the sound stop the way Father would when the babies came out all wrong. 

Waiting was her only option. Mother wasn’t long for this world, anyway."" 

Post S11 Mulder and Scully were settling into their new lives as expecting parents when another family from their blast blows in, searching for their own place to call Home.

AUs 

Adam Webb's Pyre

""As the casket stopped in front of him while loading documentation was double checked. Mulder saw L'Ively holding up his palm, displaying that it was empty in the manner of a theatrical magician. The next instant a tiny fluttering orange fire blossomed from his extended index finger. In the space of a second its intensity quadrupled, flaring into a pencil-thin lance of white hot flame. Coming from the casket a high-pitched beeping sound filled the air, indicating that the rise in temperature had been registered by in-built sensors. L'Ively appeared unconcerned, either with the fact that his pyrokinetic display had tripped the alarm or that his skin was being consumed. Mulder had a fleeting vision of the wiry little Englishman's body repairing itself and staggering out of the burning wreckage of a downed aircraft. It was a fact stranger than fiction that Lively had already survived three deaths. But all of those had been death by fire, Mulder reminded himself, falling from a great height would prove as fatal to L'Ively as it would to anyone else. Grinning like a hob-goblin L'Ively used the residue of his own melting flesh to draw a large greasy brown heart shape onto the glass, and through it blew a kiss to Scully. Then folding his blackened finger into his palm he abruptly banished the fire.""

Post Paper Clip Cecil L'Ively cut a deal with the government-- because, of course-- and puts Scully in a coma. Mulder and Phoebe team up to take him down, healing a few old wounds and earning a bit of redemption.

Thalia D'Muse's Nowhere to Hide

""The cabin is set back in the woods, two miles from the nearest dwelling. It is perfect. Your screams will be for my ears only. A sweet symphony with me as the sole audience. I shudder in anticipation as I remember your voice: a deep, sensuous alto, caressing my ears like a sultry torch song. I want to hear that voice again so badly. I want to hear that silky-smooth voice speak my name. I want to hear it scream, cry, beg for mercy. These are the sounds that will be music to my ears.

Sleep now, my Dana. We will be there soon.""

Alternating between the madness of Pfaster and the desperation of Mulder, this post Irresistible fic toys with an AU: if Donnie Pfaster were able to break free and recapture his last victim.

@slippinmickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's (Ao3) Unnamed (Ao3)

""Mulder felt like he’d been punched in the solar plexus.

“He killed her,” he said, deflating.

He’d been expecting a ‘we don’t know that yet’ or a ‘without a body, there’s still hope, Mulder.’ Instead, she said: “And you killed him.” Something in the way she held her shoulders made him think she wasn’t sorry for it.""

 Post Paper Hearts Mulder finds a photograph of Samantha that matches the last cloth heart; but his extreme sorrow is immediately channeled into determination to save Scully from her cancer.

Erin M. Blair’s (Ao3) A Little Twist of Three

""Hold that thought," Scully replied, as carefully put down little Dana, and she opened the door. It was Kristen Kilar, one of Melissa's New Age friends.""

S1 deviated with Mulder and Scully becoming parents and a family. When S2 Duane Barry rolls around, it's Melissa Scully who is taken instead. Kristen Kilar is one of Missy's friends.

Kim Berglund's Blood Dimmed Tide

""Morbidly he reached in and slid out the state trooper's photo that had tormented him for many sleepless nights. Scully gagged and tied, her eyes wide with fear.

He dropped it back into the folder and closed his eyes.

It had been his darkest night. Until now.

He thought he could hear the beating of wings. La gargouille waiting impatiently for death.

Opening his eyes, Mulder let go of the file and reached for the one behind it.

Kristen Kilar, The Trinity Killers.""

Post Grotesque Scully is withdrawing from Mulder, thinking she's failed to help her partner-- giving up. Kristen arrives, creating more friction; and Mulder, sick of it all, pulls out his gun.

bellefleur/bellefleur1013's Triple Returns

""Kristen herself had not actually committed the murders the first time, but she had led her unholy trinity to each of the victims, and she alone as an observer knew the intimate details of each victim and crime scene. The identical nature of the crimes could only mean one thing--Kristen was reconstructing the path that had first brought them together. By duplicating the case that Mulder had solved, she was sure to attract his attention and draw him into it again.""

It's S7: Kristen Kilar is back; and Scully has to pry open Mulder about his past with her and save him from being turned into a vampire.

J. C. Sun's Leave

""Cold, very cold, yet lovely, this woman.

This coldness, this is what he lacks.

This coldness, it makes him better.

"Very pretty. You have good taste."

He starts.

He casts a nervous glance towards his gun. I laugh, and he relaxes.

"You are happy?" I say.

His mouth twitches, and I read that he is happy, as happy as he can ever be.""

Vampire Kristen lived, running across Mulder's path years later. She sees Scully, his peace, and-- finally-- her own reflection.

Thanks for reading~