#audries

Getting It Right and New Possibilities

“I’ll be there soon,” Sawyer now says, glancing at his watch. “I’m getting my girlfriend her favorite coffee. Remind her that we have a date tonight.” Mulder plays with the button on his coat, trying not to think too much about what he’s just heard. Girlfriend. He didn’t think they were there yet. Hasn’t it just been two dates? Scully wouldn’t lie to him about that. He can recall the moment she told him in great detail, right up to him choking, and her hand on his back. Two dates. Meaning that tonight is their third. The third date.

Mulder is jealous over Scully's new date.

Feelings You Can't Hide

“Are you gonna keep wearing that thing?” He doesn’t mean for it to come out as harsh as it does. Scully musters him, obviously trying to understand what’s wrong with him.

“No, of course not,” she says. “It’s just warm and it’s cool in here.”

“You can have my coat,” he says, taking it off.

“Mulder, you’re gonna be cold.” Except he feels warm. Hot, even. Boiling almost.

Bad Blood Mulder is in denial.

Blizzard of Emotions

Scully, however, reveled in the conversation. Dr. Benjamin Cartwright was a delight. They talked as if they’d known each other for five years and not five minutes. She asked him if he needed to make any calls home, let his wife know that he was detained. The second Benjamin said that he wasn’t married and that no one was waiting for him, Mulder had cleared his throat.

Post-FTF Mulder and Scully are trapped in a freezer.

Sometimes You Lose, And Sometimes You Win

“How about we catch something to eat?”

“As long as it’s not fish,” Scully says and the two of them laugh, Mulder watching on, wondering what he missed.

“Just an inside joke between Dana and me,” Patrick says, squeezing Mulder’s shoulder as if they were friends and not strangers who met a couple of hours ago. Mulder tries to catch Scully’s eyes but she’s avoiding him. 

Mulder's afraid he missed his chance.

On Thin Ice

It’s getting worse. The instructor – his name is Steve – puts his hands on Scully’s waist. She giggles again, a sound Mulder wants for himself; he doesn’t want to share, especially not with Steve. His fingers dig into the hand rail, his eyes never leaving the scene. Steve is behind Scully, his front pressed to her back. He’s holding her, touching her, and moving them forwards. He’s smiling, positively grinning, as he leads them. So is she. He must be saying things to her, if the puffs of air are any indication. They’re moving towards Mulder and he considers just pushing Steve away and taking Scully away from him. They skate past him, but not before Scully throws him a happy grin.

Mulder is definitely going to hurt someone and soon.

Post-Millennium Mulder fumes about Skinner's FBI-mandated ice-skating lesson.

The Definition of Something

Mulder keeps pacing Scully’s bedroom and stuffs his hands into his pockets. His fingers come into contact with a crumbled-up piece of paper and he takes it out. She clearly didn’t look through them before she washed these pants. The ink is blurry, but Mulder can still read the words: ‘Had a great time, Dana. Let’s do this more often!’

S7 Scully hands Mulder a pair of pants that aren't his.

Just a Shopping Trip

“You look beautiful, Miss,” he fawns with a big fat smile on his pimply face. He’s bagging their small items, but staring at Scully as if she were a unicorn. Mulder can’t really blame him, as annoyed as he is. Scully, albeit nine months pregnant, is glowing. There’s no other word to describe her. She’s spectacular. Pregnancy suits her and she knows it. And to his greatest horror, she’s enjoying this exchange.

“Could you please hurry up?” Mulder asks through clenched teeth. 

AU-- S8 Mulder and Scully and a friendly checkout clerk.

A House Is Not A Home (And A Dinner Is Not A Date)

“He’s sweet.”

“Sweet.”

“Are you parroting everything I say now? Yes, he’s sweet. It’s just dinner, Mulder. He’s sorry my house burned down.”

“Um, no, Scully. It’s not just dinner. That guy was hitting on you.”

“I could be his mother, Mulder. He wasn’t hitting on me.” But he sees doubt creep into her expression. “Was he?” Mulder nods at her. 

Revival Mulder is right-- Scully was being hit on.

@lotsoforangesoutside/lots_of_oranges_outside's

Silence (Ao3)

Newbie probably rolls up his socks and folds his underwear. What’s his name again? Jax? Jordan? Jedediah? Mulder vaguely recalls that the rookie has some pretentious name. Where did the name Jedediah come from?

Scully can’t be interested in men like that, Mulder denies the possibility. 

S1 Mulder is jealous.

Detoured: Chinga (Ao3)

“And I did visit the harbor with Captain Bonsaint, where we sampled some local delicacies. He ordered this—”

Mulder interrupts, “what’s on the itinerary for today, Dana?”

His use of her first name startles her a little, and she looks at his eyes, trying to read him, trying to see if she’s reading him wrong.

AU-- Chinga Mulder flies up to Maine.

Detoured: Bad Blood (Ao3)

Mulder opens his mouth, slowly. He needs to convince her that they don’t have any business here before the cowboy out there smarts up and makes his move.

AU-- Bad Blood Mulder tries to ditch the case after Sheriff Hartwell arrives.

@monikafilefan/MonikaFileFan's Platonic Placeholder

While he was tidying up the neglected office, several more bouquets were sent down. Some were delivered by admirers, some from the accountants he knew Scully liked, but all of them were lavish and inviting. Mulder wasn't quite sure where they should go, so he decided to scatter them around the room so that she was reminded of her welcome no matter where she looked. As he moved the various vases and bouquets around, he couldn't help but nosily glance at who each arrangement came from. 

Pre-Firewalker Mulder offers Scully a platonic date to counter a real offer (and flowers.)

IStanYouStan5676's The Men In Her Life

“Hi Queequeg, I missed you.” She said in a baby voice.

The dog yaped as if carrying on the conversation. Mulder walked past the little reunion and went straight for the bathroom. 

AU-- Post-Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose Mulder is shocked (and a bit jealous) over Scully's treatment of Queequeg.

@gaycrouton/OnlyTheInevitable's Partners, Friends, Lovers - A Collection of Tumblr Prompts - Chapter 34

"To be so jealous you lash out? Seems a little rash," she mused.

Images of the men who gave Scully a lingering glance during their last case flashed through his mind, followed by the charming young doctor that made her laugh, and the officers who tried harder to make her laugh than solve the case – a Viewmaster of all the men that made his jaw clench as they tested his patience over the course of this case. "I dunno," he mumbled, not offering an explanation.

Mulder isn't enthused with another pathology doctor.

Nascent's Theory and Practice

Then there was the matter of Ben Hsu. He hadn't missed the man's affectionate greeting, nor had he missed the subtle glances at Scully's fingers or the way the man leaned toward her, engaged in prolonged eye contact when she spoke. _So what?_ he thought. _This isn't the first time someone's flirted with her._

Post-Demons Mulder and Scully are slowly pulled apart on a case, unable to fully be honest with each other before disaster strikes.

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's Prompt Drabble Collection - Chapter 50 (Ao3)

The man’s hair is very shiny and his teeth are very straight. Mulder bets he’s the kind of guy who puts his seat back the second the flight attendant sits down for takeoff. In any event, he sounds like Foghorn Leghorn, which Mulder assumes is performative. Do people from Virginia even have southern accents? Not in his experience, though Alexandria’s not exactly deep in the state.

Post-FTF Mulder, while irritated, has to admire the competition's guts.

Prompt Drabble Collection - Chapter 49 (Ao3)

You’d drink, too , he’d said, maybe out loud, and it took him a moment to register the warm hand that clapped his back, the presence next to his barstool. 

“I know, buddy,” Frohike said, eyebrows like caterpillars crawling across his brow, his hand squeezing Mulder’s shoulder.

AU-- TLG pick up an intoxicated Mulder after Scully goes on a date.

@cosmicmulder/mechup's the green-eyed monster

It’s not her he’s upset with. She’s her own person and is entitled to like whomever she wants, in no way obligated to return the feelings he has for her. His dismay is at himself, not only for falling so completely and hopelessly in love but also for thinking, for hoping that she might feel the same way. Of course she wouldn’t. Why would she, when he’s Spooky Mulder who’s obsessed with aliens and conspiracies and is the cause of every bad thing that’s happened to her in the last six years?

Post-Triangle Mulder hears a few agents gossiping about Scully and Skinner's elevator incident.

@h0ldthiscat/h0ldthiscat's

fic prompt: mulder plays a halloween prank on scully

Mulder is struck with sudden urge to recapture their original incarnations, their first selves, those careless fools who didn't know each other but were more sure of themselves than anything else. Now, he thinks, he’s a stranger but he would know Scully in the dark.

With a childlike grin, he gets down on his hands and knees and hides under his desk. It's not comfortable; his long limbs will cramp if she's not back from the vending machine in the next thirty seconds, but the effortless laugh he knows she's going to emit will make it all worth it.

Post-Triangle Mulder feels things changing.

Unnamed

“What were you going to ask me?” she asked, dribbling as she walked back towards him, only slightly out of breath.

“What?”

“In the kitchen. You were going to ask me something and then you stopped yourself.”

Mulder shrugged. “I don’t know, it just seemed like you thought I was jealous of Mike.”

“Were you?”

“Did you think I was?” He squinted in the dim light of the garage.

Arcadia Scully and Mulder fumble over her supposition of his jealousy (and his perhaps-realization that he might have been.)

Lovesfox's Erroneous Equation

"I heard them making lunch plans for that trendy new eatery a few blocks away." Another pause, clearly for dramatic effect, and then Colton added, "I take it you didn't meet them there?"

Even knowing he should answer lightly and not give Colton the satisfaction, Mulder was unable to prevent his short and abrupt reply. "No."

Post-One Son Colton riles Mulder's jealous streak.

yukla's like a lonely house

“So…” Mulder drums his fingers on the steering wheel, stopping only when she turns to look at her. He almost seems nervous. “Are you one of those people, Scully?”

“What?”

“You…appreciate Lieutenant Harding being obvious?”

Post-One Son Scully begins to believe Mulder sees them only as partners after he runs out on their restaurant date; and Mulder begins to believe Scully only wants friendship when she doesn't discourage other advances on their next case.

@sisterspooky1013/SisterSpooky1013/Sister Spooky's And You Are Mine (Ao3)

The lab tech who had replaced Pendrell didn’t initially strike him any kind of way. Towheaded and statuesque, he had a pithy, comedic way about him that was concurrently likable and irritating. Mulder might have noted that the man was a blonde, blue-eyed version of himself had he any reason to consider him at all. He didn’t make a habit of sizing up other men, finding it a waste of time and energy, but when Pendrell 2.0 made a joke about Luminol and Scully tittered like a school girl, he suddenly felt the need to assess the threat that had presented itself. 

Mulder is jealous of Smith Ryan.

@cecilysass/cecily_sass/Cecily Sasserbaum's The Kaleidoscope (2/4) (Ao3) and The Kaleidoscope (4/4) (Ao3)

“I have plans,” she explains.

“Oh yeah?” He removes the kaleidoscope from his eye to look at her. “Friday night date?”

She doesn’t say anything right away and seems to consider her next words. “Actually… yes.”

“Really?” He casually rolls his seat a little to try to see her more full on. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

“It’s very new. Only been a few weeks,” she says, beginning to put away items on her desk.

“A few… weeks?” He becomes aware he’s rattling the kaleidoscope a little in his hand.

S6 Mulder faces four different endings to a (purposed) misunderstanding between Diana and Scully (and Scully's new date.)

apckrfan (FFN) Mutant Deer

As Scully was conducting her external examination of the deer, Mulder observed Donald walking toward them accompanied by two other men.

"Scully, you'd better finish up real quick. Take any specimens you need quickly. I'll be right back. Put your tape recorder away as soon as you're done." He saw the questioning look in her eyes and said shortly.

Mulder gets jealous on a case.

Anne Haynes's (site)

12 Tales - Rules

"I'm saying that whatever it was that killed those people, it was not human," I repeat. "I don't know if it was actually a thought form, as Agent Mulder believes, since we weren't able to examine it more closely."

Kresge stares at me for a moment. Then he smiles. "You're just full of surprises, Scully FBI."

Mulder's expression is frozen in place at Kresge's words.

Post-Arcadia Mulder leaves it up to Scully to choose him (and their new relationship) or Detective Kresge.

Across the Rubicon (site)

"You were right. About how I'd been running from things. I had a talk with Maggie. A good talk. She helped me see how wrong I was, how selfish. She's a good girl--better than I deserve." Daniel pushed to his feet and stood, taking a step toward her. "She gave us her blessing."

Behind her, Scully heard Mulder's footsteps falter to a stop. He was close enough to hear Daniel, she guessed.

Post-All Things Scully runs into Daniel Waterston again.

@aloysiavirgata/Aloysia_Virgata's

Prompt: Jealous Mulder and Scully reassuring him, UST

“Hitting on my wife in front of me is a bold move,” he observes, even though it’s the point of this little game they’re playing out.

Scully waggles her fingers so that the ring catches the light. “Maybe you should be a touch more possessive,” she suggests, her voice just past throaty.

He looks at her, then past her out the window. “That you talking or Mrs. Daphne Tillyard?”

“What do you want?” There’s so much in the question.

Post-Field Trip ruminates on Fellig, immortality, jealousy, and his own inaction.

Daniel Waterson and his baggage come back into her now-married life

“You were there,” Mulder says, his buckskin hands woven and laced. “What did you see?”

Daniel looks at Dana, Daniel is here for Dana, because he believes she is cold and lonely and alone in the way of the outer planets. He still thinks only he can warm her.

(He doesn’t know, Daniel, not really, that there is a solid core beneath the icy mist.)

AU-- Mulder observes the man who still loves his wife.

@purrykat/mylifeinshadow's #8 and #25

You recognize him the moment you open the door. Craig, from forensic accounting. The world’s most boring person with the world’s most boring job. Any other day, you might have shrugged it off. You’d inject yourself into the conversation, make him feel awkward and out of place, until it was just business as usual. Scully would scoff, roll her eyes, but that pleased little grin would remain.

Post-All Things Mulder realizes he's not the only possessive partner in their relationship.

Jenna Tooms/misslucyjane's (mulderscreek) Reunion

"Who was with you when you gave birth?" He is trying not to feel jealous. Honest.

"My mother."

He can live with that. If it were Skinner or the faceless partner . . . Still . . . "It should have been me."

AU-- Requiem Mulder is returned three months after the birth of his daughter.

@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack Paresthesia

“Scully,” he says again.

When she’s run out of small tasks, she turns around to face him and crosses her arms over her chest. He stands awkwardly at her kitchen table, hands resting on the back of a chair. Waiting.

“Mulder, where do you think this baby came from?”

Another jab—she goes right for the heart. “I—“ he begins, then shakes his head. “I don’t know, Scully. I thought maybe you…”

Three Words Mulder struggles with his return (and the belief that the baby isn't his.)

@audriesfic/audries (WBM) sonnet 27 (Ao3)

“Why not?” He looked uncertain now, in a grey sweater and the green of the booth, frowning in a pained kind of way. “I thought you liked him.” 

“I do like him. I trust him. I think he’s an excellent agent.” 

Mulder nodded, that snide purse to his lips again. He nodded like, aha! Like this is what he’d suspected all along, like he’d won. 

“But he didn’t know you,” said Scully. 

Post-Deadalive Scully tries to wait patiently for Mulder.

@alienbaby-babymama/ABBM515's 12 Days of Ficmas (Ao3)

Mulders eyes brighten even further and makes his way down to her recovery room.

Thing 1 and Thing 2, move aside to let him through the doorway. He stops abruptly, not even a pace inside her room.

It looks like a florist came while he was gone. All different shapes and sizes of bouquets surrounded her hospital bed. His spirit deflated, he walks closer to her bed, he notices the card on one of the arrangements. “Congratulations. Love, John.”

Existence Mulder realizes he's a dad now.

MaybeAmanda/maybe_amanda's (LJ, xffics) Under Construction (site)

The fabled Mark, as it turned out, was taller than me, younger, blonder, arguably better looking. His easy smile revealed more teeth than any one human being not named *Osmond* could possibly have use for. I could tell just by looking at him that he'd never given any thought to losing his hair or his flat stomach or his sanity. He stood in the driveway, holding my delighted son a little too comfortably in one arm and a really expensive Tonka truck in the other, looking at me like I was something that had been scraped off the bottom of his left shoe.

Naturally, I hated him on sight.

AU-- Post S9 Mulder returns to a too-perfect happy ending (his partner and son, a chipper suburban residence, and the Gunmen alive), which is further marred by medicated PTSD, a bitter mother-in-law, and a man waiting in the wings for Scully.

thextruth's Our Next Path - Chapter 4

The man notices the expression that Mulder gives him and looks at Scully again.

AU-- Mulder and Scully and the joys of family and paltry jealousies.

BONUS

@virtie333/Virtie333's Flight 814

With a roiling stomach, she began to eat, trying not to recall how she had awakened from a slight doze to find her partner breathing heavily and in an obvious state of arousal next to her. She had felt amusement upon first discovering his predicament. But that amusement had quickly changed to anger. Anger fueled by jealousy. Who had he been dreaming about? She hated the fact that she wanted to know. She hated that she wished he would turn to her and tell her he had been thinking about her. 

A Scully jealousy fic I missed previously: Scully withdraws from Mulder right before their plane takes a nosedive.

Thanks for reading~

@welsharcher's The X-Files: The Field Where I Died 

With a sigh, Scully walked over and dropped the plastic evidence bag on his desk, savoring the resounding thud it made. Mulder casually looked up; his apathy undisturbed.

Another sigh escaped as she pulled out the book, “Sarah Kavanaugh’s journal was found hidden under a loose floorboard in Melissa’s room.”

Post TFWID Scully attempts to give Mulder comfort.

@officialmulder/specialagentpao's broken hearts, paper hearts

He buried his face in his hands. Scully sat in front of him on the coffee table. “We can talk about it if you want.” Her voice barely a whisper.

AU-- Paper Hearts Mulder finds Samantha's body.

@agent-troi/AgentTroi's Still Walking Into That Room

Mulder remained limp and passive throughout all of this, not reacting in any way except to follow numbly as Scully led him out of the house and back to her car. He sat down when she opened the passenger side door and gently nudged him inside, but he made no move to buckle his seat belt, so she did it for him.

Post Demons Scully needs to know that Mulder will be okay without her.

@seek-its-opposite/seek_its_opposite's

photosensitivity (Tumblr)

“You don’t have to stay in here,” he tells her, trying to sound casual. “If anything happens I’ll just scream in agony.” He doesn’t pull off the joke.

“I’m good,” she soothes.

He called her in the middle of the night with blood down his shirt and she came to find him. It’s been too late to leave for years.

Post Demons Scully and Mulder are confronted by his seizures and her mortality, his past and her present.

folie imposée (Tumblr)

He’s straining, struggling against his restraints to reach her. She unhooks the belt across his chest and he grasps for her, pulling at the straps around his wrists. When she takes his arm in her hands his skin burns hot and pink, rubbed raw by cheap canvas.

She could play his scrapes on a turntable and the vinyl would sing a slow tragedy, a myth reborn in jazz. Cassandra the cursed prophet, reincarnated as a boy who believes in aliens.

Folie a Deux Scully spirits Mulder away.

@amplifyme/wonderland/Lydia Bower's

Affinity/Affinity 01

"Scully. You really thought it was me that night. Right?"

We've covered this ground before. It's one of the few questions he's allowed himself to ask, and one of the queries he continues to make. It's like he's stuck on these few questions like a needle in the groove of an old record.

"Yes, Mulder." I wait for the question that will inevitably follow, the one that never directly addresses what he saw when he burst through the door. He can afford to be vague: we both know what almost happened, what he interrupted.

"And you… you were okay with that."

Second verse same as the first.

"Yeah, Mulder. I was okay with that."

He nods. I haven't changed the answer to that one, either. I think he finds that reassuring, in some odd Mulderish way.

AU-- Post Small Potatoes Scully and Mulder redo that night.

Burning in Heaven

No, not asleep. Her head swung around and he was greeted with a smile. "Mulder. You're still here."

He took another step into the room and stopped. A small part of his brain got busy trying to figure out what it was about Scully that calmed him. Simply walking into her room had settled and centered him. He could feel the threat of shattering begin to reverse itself, his pieces coming back together to make a whole. Scully was his glue.

Post Redux II Mulder and Scully process their raw emotions.

@settle-down-frohike/settledownfrohike's

Missing Scenes (1/3, 2/3, 3/3)

“Mulder…are you sure you shouldn’t have someone examine you?“ he waved her off, scanning the floor for her shoes, doing his best not to appear frantic.

Mulder's journey through the final days of the cancer arc. (Scully comforts him in Part 3.)

120 for the drabble prompt

When he returns Scully is ensconced in pale pink silk, drunkenly slurring at her mother that she’s fine. She attempts to reach for the stack of drenched journals, winces, and that is just about enough for Maggie Scully. She enters the bedroom, raises a hereditary eyebrow at the hulking figure trying to decipher a fitted sheet from flat. 

“Fox. Thank you. I think I can take it from here on out.” 

It’s not Maggie’s style to be brutish or cruel, but she’s tired, and her tone is a bit more clipped than usual. Mulder remains mute, and nods a yes m’am. He gathers the empty Macy’s bag and passes her as she resumes the preparation of the bed. When she exits, he’s sitting crosslegged on the floor, coffee table askew to make room, trying to peel apart pages from The Lancet mumbling, “just a second, I’ll find it...”. 

Her daughter’s hands are roving the top of his scalp, petting and combing through his hair like a beloved dog.

Post Tithonus Scully is not exasperated with Mulder's efforts.

Luctus

She looks over at his sleeping form, studies the exaggerated bow of his upper lip, and thinks what a nursing blister it must’ve made. She gazes back down at the somber toddler in the faded image clutching his mother’s leg and sucking his thumb, her with one hand on his scalp, the other cradling her belly. His humanity is real and disconcerting at this moment. All this time, it felt as though she were merely patching up this omnipotent, otherworldly force, acting as an aid to propel him toward an epic destiny. There’s proof before her now that somewhere, he had a beginning. 

Post Sein und Zeit Scully cares for Mulder in the aftermath.

5 Pt. AU Prompts

The words “small cell” are anything but small. They are Goliath, and David is no where to be found. She feels the words rather than hears them. Malignant, it feels like quicksand.

AU-- Mulder has cancer; and Scully is ready for war.

Headcanon (Tumblr)

It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota. She was flipping through a dossier and he was dozing, as per usual. She heard a mumbled version of her name and threw a distracted “Hm?” his way without glancing up. “Scully.” Firmer, more forceful this time. She looked over, annoyed, and spat “What Mu-“ and realized he was still asleep, but fitfully so. His breathing was coming in pants, nostrils flared and his brow was beaded with perspiration. 

Mulder's name is a comfort to Scully.

@o6666666's (Ao3)

8, 52, or 89!! 

“I think you should go home.”

He shrugged, but in the way small boys do when they are lying, and his eyes were wet. 

“You need sleep.” 

She knew, and he knew, that he had not been sleeping. She pet his hair and he blinked like it hurt to be treated gently.

He shrugged again. 

“Don’t lie to me,” she admonished, and pinched his ear so he knew it was only that she cared for him tremendously. 

He laughed but it knocked loose some piece of the great thing inside him that hurt and hurt, and in a moment he was crying. 

Post Paper Hearts Scully tries to call in Tena Mulder for support.

AU where Mulder is the one who gets sick in season 4 instead of Scully and Is... is it cruel to request more of the Sick Mulder story?

She wipes his mouth with her sleeve.

“Open your eyes,” she whispers, and he blinks and blinks.

“It’s blurry,” he sniffs.

She wraps herself all around him and lays her cheek to his, adopting his vantage point.

“I don’t wanna wrestle,” he says.

“In a second you’ll see the cabinet,” she says. “Just the plain brown cabinet. And our feet, and my other shoes.”

He sniffles.

“Tell me when you see it.”

AU-- Post Terma Mulder has cancer.

I love you prompt 14?

If you asked Scully whether she crashed Mulder’s disciplinary hearing to be his hype man, she’d tell you no.

But she did.

Scully refuses to let Mulder feel chastised.

@mulder-fight-him's Spiderwebs and Butterflies

She doesn’t know what exactly woke her, but blue eyes snap open suddenly and quickly fill with confusion, suprise, and maybe a little hint of love.  

Less than two feet away her lanky partner is sprawled out on her bed. At least she thinks it’s her bed. That’s where she fell asleep last night. She gently lifts her head and takes a quick inventory.  Yes. Her bed.

S5 Scully lets Mulder stay after a nightmare.

Anne Haynes's (xf-redux) Irrevocable

I watch her walk away from me, and I try to comfort myself with the picture of how life would have been for her had she not been thrust into my world. I try to see myself, sitting on one of the benches outside the Hoover Building, maybe eating lunch on a sunny day, and looking up to see Dana Scully walking down the sidewalk, a beautiful little tow- head little girl clinging to her hand, laughing and whole. I want to see this. I need to see this.

But I can't.

Because in this future, I don't exist. In this future, I am dead a thousand times over because Dana Scully wasn't there to save me.

There is no comfort to be found.

Scully finds Mulder mourning Emily's death.

Chibiness87's Seeing is Believing

He blinks harshly, gaze trapped by her intense stare. Four points of sensation appear on his neck, and he suddenly realises she is digging her nails in, making him focus.

Chocking, he manages to gasp out, “I can’t stop.”

Scully nods, tightening her grip on the nape of his neck. “Can you keep your eyes open for me?”

He squeezes his eyes closed, feeling his chest tighten. “I can’t… I can’t calm down.”

Her voice is the only anchor he has, and he latches on to it. “I’m not asking you to calm down. I’m asking you to look at me.” Her grip changes, making his face tilt more towards her. Her voice is still gentle, but firm. “Look at me, Mulder. Come on.”

Post Kitsunegari Scully guides Mulder through a panic attack.

DanaScully77's Night Hags and Restless Sleep

“Scully, is it bad the pills didn’t work?”

“Yes.” Scully admits, not wanting to lie to him. Her palm strokes through his hair, a normal occurrence for her when she’s tending to him and worried about his health. Much like his hand on her back, his hair is her calming space. “If you don’t sleep within the next twenty-four hours, you’ll need to be admitted to the hospital.”

“ Scully .”

The whine in his voice is almost childish, but Scully doesn’t comment on it. With how little rest he’s gotten, it’s only natural to resort to young behaviors. “I know, Mulder. But your body can’t survive with no sleep.”

Post-case Mulder cannot fall asleep.

saltringangell's the time it would take (to fix my heart)

He doesn’t stop, doesn’t look back.

“Mulder, slow down.”

He swings open the front door to the FBI building, wind whipping his hair back and causing her to practically stumble across the threshold. She lets the cool air sting her face, a nice change from the smoke and fire that licked at her skin just moments prior. Mulder continues down the pathway to his car, a little slower now, but still just enough steps ahead so she can’t see his face.

“Mulder, please, just let me-”

“Just get in the car, Scully.”

Post The End Mulder falls apart.

Emeraldsoleil's Beginning to Thaw

His body rippled against hers as he attempted to put distance between then, but a gasp of pain arrested his progress and he relaxed back against her.  "I realize this is an awkward position we find ourselves in, partner, but I, uh...I can't move." 

"I'm not surprised.  Your muscles are tied in knots.  I'll try to get the nurse in her to give you a muscle relaxer.  Until then, don't try to move to much.  You might tear something." She tugged on his hair again.  "Doctor's orders."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered.  The silence grew heavy, curling around them in a cloud of frustration.

"What is it, Mulder?" she asked.  "What's wrong?"

Fight the Future Scully and Mulder have a conversation at the bottom of the world.

@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls’s 

mondays on an endless loop (Tumblr)

“Scu… ly,” says Mulder. He takes another breath, and he sounds horrible, inches away. His eyes are half-closed.

“Don't try to talk, Mulder,” she whispers. She moves her hand back to his face, brushing his sweaty hair away, touching his cheek, his forehead. She's forgotten everyone else in the bank; it's just the two of them. “Just… just keep breathing, Mulder,” she says. “Hang on, okay? Keep breathing, Mulder, please.”

He doesn't listen, because of course he doesn't. He rasps, “I'm… sorry,” and then his mouth shuts and he says no more. Heartbeats slowing, slowing.

Mulder, Scully, and the endless Mondays that could be (and were.)

Foxsong 's Ruego

The words were easier to say than she had expected, not shattering as she'd thought they'd be. They were sweet in her mouth. "I love you, Mulder," she said again, marveling at how freely it left her lips. "I love you, love you..." It became a chant, a prayer. She whispered it over and over into his ear and felt how it calmed him, how he steadied against her, how his trembling eased. "I love you." It seemed so important to tell him. Why had she waited so long?

He had finally stopped crying, and was still; and she became aware that he was praying with her, echoing her whispered words. "I love you, Scully... I love you. I love you..."

Post Milagro Scully and Mulder alternate their breakdowns and caregiving.

@baronessblixen/Baroness_Blixen's Lucky

I know what I’m doing, Scully,” he told her, amusement apparent in his voice – famous last words,

“I grew up around here, you know.” If only he hadn’t tried to look good while climbing down the steep trail from the cliffs to the beach. Scully told him to take the long, official way. Of course Mulder dismissed her idea as silly and unnecessary. He insisted on walking ahead, naturally, and Scully let him. He was telling her something about crabs when it happened. One moment she watched his head bob up and down while she tried to find the best, least dangerous path, and in the next instant he slipped.

S6 Scully nearly laughs over Mulder's tumble.

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's

How about a super shippy MSR fic?

Amongst the pain and the fear and the sensory overload, hers is the mind that shines like a beacon in the night.

It is a revelation.

Biogenesis Mulder is comforted amidst the chaos.

@nowwhateinstein's (Ao3) things you said that made me feel real

He pauses, worrying his bottom lip, as if searching for the right words. “It’s what led me to start looking for her. The desire to find her was my coping mechanism, I suppose. Knowing that she’s out there, somewhere, keeps my fear at bay.”

Something - perhaps it’s intuition - urges me to glance at clock on the nightstand. Of course, I realize with a sinking feeling. 11:21pm, November 27, 1998. The anniversary of Samantha’s abduction. Twenty-five years later, and he’s still searching for her.

Scully realizes her partner is "off."

@greekowl87's (Ao3) No One Is Perfect (Tumblr)

She opened the door and saw the television had gone to a late night infomercial with playing in the background on mute. Mulder was wide awake, laying across his couch with legs crossed, staring at some unknown fixed point. She recognized that look. He was lost in his own thoughts, mulling something over, and he needed to be brought back to Earth. 

Post Orison Scully assuages Mulder's guilt.

aRcaDIaNFall$'s Longest Night

"I feel lost." It's the first he's spoken in almost forty minutes. I've been silent, too.

I don't speak, just wait for him to go on.

Sein und Zeit Mulder has a hard night.

@incidental-ao3/incidental's Verlust

She held his head against her chest, fingers stroking his hair, and rocked with him. It was instinct, an act buried deep within her, as she breathed in the smell of him and kissed the crown of his head. He hung onto her like a life raft, his weight bearing down on her as she crouched on the floor in front of his chair. When her shoulders and knees began to scream for relief, she gently extricated herself from him and took his hands in hers, encouraging him up out of his seat. He followed without words or hesitation, letting her lead him across his apartment and into the bedroom. 

He sat on the edge of the bed with a vacant expression on his face, his eyes a million miles elsewhere. It scared her, seeing him that way, so completely drawn into himself.

Sein und Zeit Scully opens up to help Mulder process.

@bohoartist/Bohoartist's The Healing Power of Touch

Mulder adjusts his body so he is facing ahead and she turns her face to look at him. She can see the shininess in his eyes and understands perfectly well how the grief of losing a loved one creeps up on you in the most random of times. She thinks of the days and weeks after losing Ahab and how her eyes would well up with tears for no discernible reason as the weight of her loss would crash down on her. She thinks of how he would notice her grief but knew better than to say a word in an attempt to comfort her, instead choosing to brush his hand across her back a little more than necessary, or to push a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.

Sein und Zeit Scully keeps vigil.

@writingwell/RocketMan's (xffics) I'll Be Waiting for You

I creep slowly to the sound; I think it's coming from the bathroom.

The door is closed.

I hear . . . the shower running.

I scramble back to my window, the one overlooking the parking lot, and see with relief that Mulder's car is right next to mine.

I must have been too preoccupied to notice it.

Mulder distances himself when emotionally troubled.

@brenayla's (Ao3) 6. He has a nightmare

Scully’s voice says, “Mulder?” She’s groggy; there’s a small, warm hand against his flexed bicep.

He whips around. “Scully?” He echoes, frantically pressing the length of his finger into the divot under her nose.

Scully comforts her partner after his nightmare.

@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack's If She'd Known

 Is it a miracle from God or a gift from the devil? Some hellish combination of mad science and corporate greed conspire to rip his lungs to shreds and in doing so, strap him down to a North Carolina hospital bed. Scully is tracking down his other records, his brain scans, when they administer the nicotine or it never would have happened. She’s not there when he is poisoned back to life, but first to death. She never would have left him but… His heart stops for a moment. For a moment he is dead. A moment. Then a minute. A full minute. And then it beats again.

AU-- Scully works hard to save Mulder from his brain disease.

Lolabeegood's (mulderscreek) Five Months Lost (Ao3)

"Mulder," she said softly as she walked toward him and stopped his forward motion. She grabbed his wrists and made him look her in the eyes. "I have been, we all have been, looking for you for over five months."

"Five months?" he said disbelieving.

"You didn't go to the conference in Philadelphia, or spend time with the Gunmen, or feel the baby kick until you put your hand on my stomach this morning," she said softly.

AU-- Post Requiem Mulder is returned with false memories.

@monikafilefan/MonikaFileFan's

Pre-IWTB at the unremarkable house

“Doctor Dana Scully?” he asks, head bowed. “I’m here to see Dr. Scully.”

He knows Scully’s shift ends in twenty minutes so they can leave together after she pokes and prods him to her liking, but the waiting room is packed full with injured people. A man with a rag covering a bloody hand sits by a woman with a red welt on the side of her face where half her hair is singed off. Fireworks are as dangerous as lovesick men on ladders.

The intake nurse arches a bleached brow. “And you are?”

Mulder tugs the brim of his Knicks hat lower on his forehead, a niggle of paranoia creeping up his neck.

A familiar voice interrupts, “I’ll take it from here, Margo, thanks.”

Pre-IWTB Mulder's best laid plans go awry.

@greycoupon's (Ao3) Hello Teacher

“Mulder, if you don’t open up I’m calling 911!” That he knew she wouldn’t actually do...would she? THEY were still looking for him. They had been in the house for almost a year and Mulder had left it exactly twice. They weren’t running his profile on America’s Most Wanted anymore but he was still a wanted man. Scully would never risk exposing him like that unless she had to save his life.

Slowly, as his limbs felt like they weighed 200 pounds, he dragged himself to his feet.

“Mulder!” He could hear her sobbing through the door. Quickly he unlocked and opened it. She had been leaning against it and fell into the bathroom in her rush to get to him.

Scully grabbed him and hugged him tightly.

Pre-IWTB deeply depressed Mulder locks himself in the bathroom.

@msrafterdark's (Ao3)

Can you write a fic where Mulder finds some gray hairs

“I feel old,” He confesses, “I feel…like I’m less of what I used to be, like there’s even less to offer you.”

The teasing is gone; the spark of honesty that always frightened yet thrilled him when they were younger is now alight in her eyes. He can’t help but smile softly at her.

“I love your gray hairs, Mulder,” she murmurs, “I love your frown lines, I love your laugh lines, I even love your achy back.”

Scully catches her partner checking for gray hairs.

@oceanofthesky/noifsandsorbees's open door. (Tumblr)

she leaves the key, leaves a way for him to know that if he can ever do what she couldn’t, if he can pull himself out of his head, that she is still right there.

it’s three months before he uses it. she comes home from a long day of work in the height of summer to him in her bed, snoring lightly under the sheets. she thinks she should be annoyed, that she should tell him that she can’t handle the emotional toll that has become their relationship tonight, but instead she is just grateful to have his warmth to crawl in beside.

Breakup Scully leaves the door open for her partner.

@audriesfic/audries's battle scars

it’s a cry of pain and then her name, curving up at the end to become a near pitiful whine. she’s out of the bathroom and taking the stairs two at a time before he even gets past the the first syllable. she’s never been the creative one, in her family or her marriage, but her mind conjures impressive images of sniper bullets through windows and sudden cardiac arrest. she’s breathless by the time her feet hit the cool tile of the kitchen.

his name is on her lips as he turns to her, one hand covering half his face. he fixes her with one puppy dog eye and pouts, points an accusatory finger at the cabinet where she keeps the glasses. it’s eye level, (because who puts glasses on the top shelf, mulder. how do you expect me to reach?) and he looks as though he’s been terribly wronged.

Revival Scully "heals" Mulder's cabinet injury.

BONUS

The Emergency Room is a site compiling Mulder in distress and Scully taking care of him fics.

Thanks for reading~

Ten’s (xffics) Candles of Ice Scully had forgotten her own birthday before, when doing her killer medical exams. This was different. She was away from home and she didn't even have Mulder. She was stunned and upset and wanted to cry tears of frustration and fear. How could she celebrate?

"I sent some presents up for you in a big box," Maggie continued. "Some from me and some from the rest of the family. Ben made a drawing for Fox to look at as he gets better. Lots of bright colours."

Post-End Game Scully spends her birthday in vigil for Mulder to wake (and calling her mother.)

@lotsoforangesoutside/lots_of_oranges_outside’s 

Wednesday 100s (Ao3) He wanted to make a big deal out of it, so he made sure he didn’t.

Hence, the Hershey’s Bar. 

Scully’s 30th birthday. 

Friday "You plan to go to the bank today, Mulder?"

"Nah, I got you. Here," he opened his wallet and handed her two twenties. "I probably don't need to make a trip to the bank until next week. You wanna, um, have your birthday dinner sometime this weekend?"

"I thought we did that already, in Florida?"

"Nope."

Post-Monday Mulder covers Scully’s bank card (and takes her out to dinner.) 

@neednottoneed/neednot’s An Act of Fearful Symmetry They started towards the truck.

“Oh Mulder, you’re kidding,” she said. “Where’d you even get this?”

“Borrowed it from a family friend down in North Carolina,” he said, adopting an awful Southern accent.

“I didn’t know you knew how to drive stick,” she said as she climbed in, knowing he was laughing at her on the other side as she practically jumped into the seat.

AU-- Post-The List Mulder and Scully eat a picnic, take a tumble, and give in to their feelings. 

@swinging-stars-from-satellites/bravest_person_in_Wonderland’s 

Whumpay Day 15: self-hatred (Ao3) Scully is alone in the office in late February, 1996, when there's a hesitant knock at the door. It's Saturday, she's already got plans for the weekend — she's meeting up with Mulder tonight to catch him up on the case she's been studying while he was out complainingly recovering from a sprained ankle, then dinner with her mother tomorrow, because it's her birthday and Maggie wanted to do something.

Post-Pusher Holly wishes Scully a happy birthday. 

how to live, not how to cry (Ao3)  When Scully walks into the office on the morning of February 23rd, 1997, she is shoving a reddened tissue into her pocket to throw away when Mulder isn't looking. There is a rhythm to how they go about office days, now, a different one than before her illness. She would have forgotten her own birthday if first Charlie — at far too early, forgetting the time difference between them — and then her mother hadn't called to wish her a happy one. She wishes it could be happier, without the shadow of her impending death hanging over her and reminding her that likelier than not, this will be her last birthday.

AU-- Tempus Fugit Scully tears up over her gift. 

@gaycrouton/OnlyTheInevitable’s 

Breathe, Pendrell When he first saw just exactly who Agent Mulder was, he knew he didn't stand a chance. It only got worse when he found out they were married from the office grapevine. "Mr. and Mrs. Spooky are coming for the results on that monster goo." He presumed Spooky was just a nickname because they work on the cool, weird cases, but the Mr. and Mrs. never failed to stab at his heart. Not that he needed that as confirmation really. Anyone who looked at them could tell how close they were, it was how they were when they were together.

Pendrell takes Scully out for her birthday. 

34 (Ao3) "After last year, I figure you deserve to enjoy a birthday sans-governmental conspiracy," Mulder teased. Then, sombering in a way she wasn't used to, he said, "Besides, I'm… I'm really glad you made it to see 34, Scully."

Seeing as 33 was plagued with cancer scares, she knew exactly what he meant. "Me too."

It wasn't until later that night that she realized Melissa was still 33.

Scully outlives her sister. 

Quirky  Scully awoke to the sun beaming down at her through the curtains. Looking at her alarm clock she sighed in contentment when she saw 10:10 glaring back at her in red neon. However, her tranquility was extremely short lived. As soon as her head was back on the pillow, she heard a loud crash in the kitchen, followed by a voice grumbling something unintelligible.

Scully’s burglar makes her a Valentine’s Day-birthday breakfast. 

sarah_segretti/Sarah Segretti’s Just Send the Card What if she took that the wrong way? What if she was the sort to see sexual harassment wherever she looked? Heaven knew there were enough women in the Bureau who would. Then again, that partner of hers would have been out on the street by now, from what he'd heard, if she was the sort to mind --

Oh, no. Her partner.

Pre-Tempus Fugit Pendrell drafts a birthday card. 

@vgcam/veredgf’s The Gift (Ao3) Behind him he could hear as Agent Scully was thanking her colleagues for the presents she was receiving. He turned around only to realize he was next in line. He quickly hid the tiny box behind his back. Maybe he could still somehow run out of the lounge and save his face. He looked behind him only to find a rather large gathering, all eagerly waiting to reach the birthday girl. There was no escape route whatsoever.

Pendrell’s bad day goes from bad to worse (and then better.) 

joanswritings’s Mulder, the Party Planner “I haven’t skated in such a long time, want to?” Scully asks.

“I don’t think we have time.”

“Time? We have all night.” Scully says.

“Actually, I have tickets for us for 9:30.”

“For what?” Scully asks.

“It’s a surprise.”

AU-- Scully’s Tempus Fugit birthday isn't interrupted. 

 Beshter‘s Seasons: Fourth "For what it's worth, Scully," Mulder murmured against her hair, his chin resting lightly on the top of her head. "Happy birthday."

A deep, body shaking laugh erupted out of her, bittersweet and appreciative. "Thank you. Some birthday, huh?"

"Not one of your finest ones. But hey, at least I wasn't trying to shoot you this time around."

"There is that." She smiled, turning to look up at him. "No Pusher creating havoc, convincing you to turn your gun on me."

His arm tightened briefly, almost spasmodically, before he let her go, rubbing her shoulders briefly before stepping away. "All right, Scully, we got to get out of this burgh and to someplace with food. I'm not about to raid Max's leftovers for sustenance."

Although Season 4 Scully and Mulder battle a long and weary year, there are still bright spots-- be they birthday snowballs or Apollo 11 key chains-- wedged in the madness. 

@libbytxf/LibbyT’s My Funny Valentine (Ao3) It’s a birthday gift and a Valentine all the same. It’s a Sno-Ball and a sparkler at The Headless Woman’s Pub, and it’s his silent regret that he’s lost so many chances to celebrate her birthday already.

In the midst of year-by-year snapshots, Scully has a Tempus Fugit birthday. 

@sunflowerseedsandscience‘s (Ao3) "Things You Said" prompts - Chapter 2 With his ears deadened by the inane chatter of strangers all around him, Mulder almost misses the quiet snick of Maggie Scully’s back door closing. He’s pretty sure there’s only one person it can be, and a quick glance around the room, at all the distant relations and family friends he’s never met- or heard of, even- confirms it for him: Scully’s fiery hair is notably absent. Looking over at Mrs. Scully, he sees her daughter’s exit has not been wholly unnoticed, and with a quick jerk of her chin, Maggie gives Mulder permission to go after her. Which he does. Gladly. He’s a curiosity to these people, Dana’s crazy partner who believes in flying saucers. More a museum exhibit than a real person.

Post-Max Scully withdraws from her family’s celebration. 

shannono’s (xffics) Happy 34th Dana Scully pushed open the door to the office, took one step inside -- and froze in astonishment. A bunch of balloons were attached to the back of her chair, a gaily wrapped box sat on the seat, a card on top of it, and two cupcakes with burning candles in them sat on the table next to her computer.

Standing behind her chair, a silly grin on his face, was her partner, wearing a party hat and holding a blowout noisemaker in his hand.

Mulder and Maggie have their schemes. 

@aloysiavirgata/Aloysia_Virgata’s (Gossamer, LJ, WBM) Unnamed “You accused me of never remembering last year,” Mulder says, attaching a final piece of tape to the HAPPY BIRTHDAY! banner across the back of the boardroom.

Scully turns in a slow, queasy circle. He has sprinkled the conference table with confetti, has put an enormous sheet cake emblazoned with HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPECIAL AGENT DOCTOR DANA KATHERINE SCULLY, MD in the center. The writing is bright purple and rather squished.

Mulder and Skinner conspire on Scully’s birthday. 

Malibusunset/Malibu Sunset’s All That is Dark and Bright  Scully looks from one to the other and back again. “Plans? What kind of plans? I’m not invited?”

Grabbing a plate from the cupboard, Mulder scrapes a pile of fluffy yellow eggs onto his plate. “Nope.”

“It’s a secret,” says Emily, her smile nearly leaping off her apple cheeks.

AU-- Post-A Christmas Carol Emily survives, kicking off a whirlwind engagement, wedding, and custody fight jointly spearheaded by Mulder and Scully. 

somekindofseizure’s (WBM) Unnamed She holds the handle on the heavy hotel room door when she goes out for the night, lets the latch slip into its cradle.  Mulder is just next door, most likely napping.  Her new perfume trails down the hallway, wallpaper hugging the scent of loamy fields and bejeweled queens, neat bespoke suits and desperate paisley bursts of repressed desire.  

AU-- Post-FTF Scully flies to London for her birthday (and Mulder joins her.) 

pokeitlikejello’s A Birthday Reset “Wonderful,” Scully muttered, not that she felt she needed to say anything. Mulder seemed to be speaking more for himself than her, plotting out their day once they arrived.

Scully fumes over having to spend her birthday in manure. 

@cecilysass/cecily_sass/Cecily Sasserbaum’s Tonight We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1999 (Ao3) “No, you’re stalling. You’re making us late to your own birthday dinner on purpose.”

“What are you talking about?” Dana sighed wearily, examining the jawline of her uninteresting baby face again.

Missy sprung to her feet and leaned over Dana’s shoulder, looking at her reflection in the mirror, whispering playfully in her ear. “You’re waiting for something.”

AU-- Young Scully nervously waits for a birthday call from young Mulder, believing (while afraid to believe) what he’s repeated over the years. (Conclusion to The Boy on the Beach, Ao3.)

@television-overload/ContentsPriceless’s rain (Ao3) His cheek rests against her damp hair, breathing in the scent of rain and lingering notes of her shampoo, and he closes his eyes, feeling his heart leap in his chest.

"Happy birthday, Scully," he says, and he thinks maybe next time, she won't mind the rain so much.

Mulder and Scully cross that line in the rain and the mud. 

@o6666666‘s (Ao3) 

Five in One Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 There is a photo in Mulder’s bedroom, on his dresser, that Scully always lingers over: him at four, maybe five, holding Samantha. She was a big baby, Samantha. He remembers lugging her around to show her matters of importance: worms in the garden or the nest of baby bunnies their mother found once, under the porch steps. He used to sit the baby Samantha on a beach towel on the lawn while he dug, for the two of them, a tunnel to go under the ocean. In the photo they are blonder than they ever were as older children. In the photo no one has tamed the cowlick at his crown. He is nuzzling his sister, smiling. Baby cheek on baby cheek. He doesn’t remember how she smelled—perhaps both of them like sunscreen, or ivory soap, or sweat.

Scully touches the photo now with reverence, as if stroking his cheek.

Mulder makes up for years of missed birthdays. 

Untitled Why are we flying all the way up in the middle of winter, you just came to check on the house last week, and the kid was stowed away at Maggie’s. Had been since they dropped her off on the way to Scully’s grown-ups only birthday dinner Friday night. Earlier Friday afternoon they had come to Scully’s office at the hospital and urged her with kisses and baby arms round the neck and promised lunch at her favorite deli to cancel her afternoon appointments. Scully agreed and returned her kisses, as usual far more agreeable than she pretended to be. Now she stood staring at her boat in island wind, red nosed in his fifteen-year-old barn jacket. She wiped her eyes.

Scully is gifted a boat for her 40th. 

@baronessblixen's (Ao3)

I have a 3 sentences prompt She finds the first few sunflower seeds right by her shoes and doesn't think too much about it. That's Mulder for you. Then she finds more of them in her kitchen on the counter and in the living room next to the remote control.

Mulder leaves a trail for his romantic partner.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl (Ao3) “Are you sure?” He holds out his hands knowing how heavy she feels, how difficult it is for her to get up from the couch. She takes his hands and he pulls her up. Her stomach bumps against him.

“I’m so ready for this to be over,” Scully says, sighing. Two seconds on her feet and they’re complaining already.

“You hear that, baby? Do your mommy a favor and get ready, too.”

Post-MSIV's baby has her own timing.

@mappingthexfiles/Apostrophic’s The Law of Large Numbers Tonight, Mulder was tired, not asleep. Scully placed a dripping dish on the rack by the sink and picked up the next one to scrub with the sponge. What was left of the cake was in a heap on the counter and Mulder popped a bite in his mouth, licking whipped cream and jello off the end of his thumb. “Why’s that your favorite cake?” he asked, mouth half full, as if it had never occurred to him that he should ask her that question. William proved contagious.

“I don’t know,” Scully said. She let a second dish drip. “My mom used to make it. She’d use my favorite jello, and pile strawberries on top. Thank you,” she said, mouth suddenly full with a strawberry Mulder put there. She ate it, swallowed, and said, “I remember Bill hated it.”

Mulder grinned. “Well, that’s reason enough,” he said, but the old rivalry had worn out, it was just something familiar and funny to say.

“We’d have it on the Fourth of July,” Scully said. “And sometimes on my birthday, if we could find strawberries that time of year.” 

AU-- Scully, William, and Mulder are together (if cautiously.)  

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys’s Funfetti Universe “Yeah,” Mulder finally said, clearing his throat. “One second.” He stood up to excuse himself and Scully was worried she needed to go make sure he was okay when he came back to the table carrying three plates. On each, sat a fat, pink Hostess Snoball.

“I was saving these for your mom’s birthday,” Mulder said, winking at his wife. “But I think this calls for a celebration, and these are the only pink things in the house.”

“For now,” Scully said, winking back. 

In the Funfetti Universe, Mulder and Scully support their struggling son, learn the gender of their next baby, and celebrate Scully’s birthday. 

@melforbes/everdaymsr’s (Ao3, WBM) reazione “i wrote a research paper on this in undergrad,” she answers the unspoken question. “it was a long time ago, i know, but it stayed with me. you spend so much time focusing on things like this, but they’re just out there, you know? they feel celebrity and unreal. they don’t make you feel as though you can be this close to them.”

she takes her hand back, dries her face on the wool of her coat, leaves a little line of brown mascara on the sleeve.

“i just didn’t expect it to feel this real,” she says. “that’s all.”

For Scully’s 50th, Mulder takes her to Italy. 

XSketch’s (mulderscreek) Soledad Para Dos "Mommy say you gots to stop cwying," the boy sniffled, climbing up onto his father's knee and reaching to wipe the damp, grey-speckled beard.  "Mommy upset you upset."

AU-- Mulder and William weather his late-partner’s birthday. 

@mollybecameanengineer/Sareki's A Cup of Kindness (Ao3) It had been easier last year, on the first birthday after she died, because Will had still been home. Mulder suggested they watch The Exorcist , without making reference to Scully. But Will knew his mom’s favorite movie. So they made popcorn and watched, and Mulder held in his tears until after Will went to bed. 

He took a big swallow from this drink before writing (in complete sentences with proper punctuation and spelling, unlike his spawn), I love you, Will. Goodnight. After hitting send, the three typing dots appeared from Will’s end, then disappeared. This happened a few more times, like Will was typing and erasing. Finally: u ok?

AU-- Mulder works hard to be the father William needs (but some days, he just needs a listening ear.)  

CONCLUSION

And there you have it!

Thanks for reading~