#brenayla

Donna’s (Gossamer, mulderscreek) Destroying Trust (Gossamer) He won‘t even look at me, but I can feel his anger wash over me.  No, not anger, disappointment.  He’s so horribly disappointed in me he can’t even speak it.   He won’t even come into the room with me, standing there in the entrance, his hands holding onto the doorframe, holding him away from me. 

En Ami's Scully's thoughts when the disc turns up blank.

@brenayla's (Ao3) ālea iacta est A few weeks later, in a freshly abandoned office building, Scully feels foolish for ever hoping that a cure promised by a devil could be true.

Mulder demands to hear the details of her road trip and stays dangerously silent throughout Scully’s retelling of the 118 year old lady, the dinner, the man on the boat.

When she’s finished, he runs a hand over his face. “Is this payback? Were you trying to get back at me for what I said in Winslow?”

Post-Millennium Mulder and Scully start loosening the rules of their relationship.

DaniPayson's Was it Worth It? Thirty-two minutes, and we were closer to my apartment now. Soon he would drop me off and drive off angry. How long would this continue? To eat away at him, to eat away at the bond we had formed over the last seven years.

Post-En Ami Scully and Mulder have a necessary conversation.

@mldrgrl's (Ao3) Divide and Conquer Finally, she fumbles for the door handle and steps out of the car, one foot at a time, knees weak.  She doesn’t remember getting from the car into her apartment, only that one moment she was there and the next she was running a bath, sitting in the darkness of her bathroom next to a single flickering candle.

Post-En Ami Mulder drives Scully home.

Shoshana's Pop Psychology She's exhausted. Whatever sleep she's gotten in the last forty-eight hours could never be enough to compensate for the kind of stress she's been under. I glance over at her and see her eyelids flutter closed.

She can't possibly be alert enough to drive herself home so I double park my car behind hers and say, "Scully... let me have your car keys."

Post-En Ami Mulder won't leave his partner alone.

Trixie's (Whispers Of X) Your Love Like Thunder This, like so many things between she and Mulder, was a moot point, one she didn't want to argue with him. The longer they drove, the less she thought of C.G.B. Spender and his motives. The longer they drove, the more she thought of the confrontation that was surely to come.

He was so angry.

Post-En Ami Scully and Mulder explore his anger (and she realizes he needs reassurance.)

@heartbash's (Ao3) As Friends At that, she scoffed. “Yes, I do know exactly how it feels because you’ve done it to me countless times,” she said, pursing her lips and shaking her head in disbelief.

Undeterred by her rebuttal, he said, “This is different.”

“How is this different?!” she exclaimed, indignant.

Suddenly his expression shifts from frustration to something softer. His eyes darted away. That’s when it hits her.

Post-En Ami Scully won't apologize, but comes to understand Mulder's perspective.

Diana Battis's Iconoclasm I'm a fool, she thought, pinching the bridge of her nose with trembling fingers. I trusted the devil.

Post-En Ami Mulder soothes Scully's guilt.

@greekowl87's (Ao3) Want (Ao3) “The man who gave the chip that put my cancer in remission! The chip that almost cost me my life at Ruskin Dam,” I countered. “The chip we know nothing about! I am tired, Mulder! I am tired of not knowing and I don’t want to feel like this tomorrow and the day after that.”

I watched his poker face remain emotionless but something flickered in his hazel eyes. Even when he refused to give any clue as to what he was thinking, his eyes were literally a peek into his soul. I just wish I knew what he was feeling. I sighed pointlessly. This was becoming pointless.

Post-En Ami Scully gives Mulder some space.

haphazard method's As We Forgive Those "No. The machine'll get it." But he looked at them like he was looking through them, like he could see whoever was calling standing just behind them. When the answering machine clicked on and a woman's voice began speaking, he bolted out of his chair.

"Mulder, it's me. I know you're angry at me but you have to let me explain why I went with him. I thought--" Her voice was cut off when he flipped the volume down without picking up the phone.

Post-En Ami Mulder has an unexpected conversation with door-to-door religious women.

Tess's (Ao3) Sounds of Silence "I'll tell you who I'm not," I begin slowly. "I'm not Diana."

Mulder inhales sharply and stares at me.

Post-En Ami Mulder enforces the silent treatment.

httpspotter's Alien boy She pulled him closer, caressing his back, hugging him. “Shhh… It’s okay, Mulder, I’m okay. We’re okay.” Scully kissed his shoulder, and then separated a bit, now holding his face in her tiny hands. “I’m sorry.”

“That you acted behind my back?”

“No,” and he smiled, of course she wouldn’t give up of being right. “That you were worried. Next time, I will set up a lie with my mom so you won’t ever know anything.”

Post-En Ami Scully and Mulder discuss their double standards and fears lovingly.

Lovesfox's Rifts Despite the fact she had spurned his help just seconds ago, she fully expected Mulder to bring her a towel. Or to try and help her onto the couch or into his bathroom.

When no such aid came, she mumbled his name questioningly, tasting blood in the back of her throat. It made her gag.

Post-En Ami Mulder won't talk; and when forced, accidentally injures Scully (unawares) before he takes off.

Elanor G.'s Yo Creo (Gossamer) "Seems like only yesterday that you were swallowing messianic claims of miracle cures," says Mulder. "But today, you lump it all together with witch doctors and snake charmers and New Age healers with crystals."

Where did that come from? "That's not fair, Mulder." She speaks to the window. Mulder gives her another dark look before returning his concentration to the wet pavement.

Post-En Ami Mulder and Scully finally apologize after a harrowing case.

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's 87 Shades of Black (1/3, 2/3, 3/3) I can't understand why she's still acting as if at any moment I'll leave her to fend for herself, and the child that's growing inside her.

And then it hits me.

She doesn't know that *I* know about the baby. And she thinks that because of what Diana said, that I won't want it. That I won't want her, and that I'll hate her for it.

AU-- En Ami plays out very differently: Mulder is offered one chance to get his partner back. One chance at a new life (in more ways than one.)

spookycc's High Praise "Mulder, can you hear me?" Scully needed to make contact, to let him know she was there with him. She needed to see the light in his eyes. To know that he was still here with her, as well.

Post-En Ami CSM uses Gibson to trap Mulder and Scully.

Andrea's (xphilefic) Once Bitten "Hi, Mulder, it's me." I smiled at the familiar greeting. "I can't make it this afternoon. Something's come up; a family emergency. I'll call you when I can."

Was this some kind of sick joke? I replayed the message; it was definitely Scully. The message was not exactly the same as the one she had left a few short months ago, but hearing those words... 'family emergency', almost took my knees out.

Post-En Ami Mulder mistakes Scully's family emergency.

@gaycrouton/OnlyTheInevitable's Those Who Wait (Ao3) The only reason she hadn't started crying last night was because Frohike, Langly, and Byers were there. Though, by the looks of contrite pity on their faces, she might as well have been. Mulder had callously told her that the Gunmen would give her a ride home and she should take the night to put her head on straight.

Mulder and Scully face struggles and successes together through the years-- one of which includes his withdrawal post-En Ami.

ML/ML_is_me/ml_griffonnage's (Ao3, site) Though you do anything, he thinks no ill (Gossamer) He nods to the floor, raking his hands through his hair, back and forth. "I'm sorry, Scully," he mumbles. "I was selfish, letting this happen. And I guess I thought at first that it would pass..."

He hears the squeak and sigh of the leather as Scully rises and approaches him. She kneels in front of him, and places her cool hands on his head, kissing him. "I'm so sorry," she says tears thickening her voice again. "I really wanted this for you. I really hoped..."

"I know you did," he says, looking up at her so she can see the tears swimming in his own eyes. 

AU-- En Ami Mulder understands Scully wanted to cure him.

@amplifyme/wonderland/Lydia Bower's Quonochontaug (Ao3) “Mulder… Mulder what are you doing?”

“End of the road, Scully. Just tying up loose ends.”

She dipped her head and accepted the inevitable. She’d been afraid from the onset that his fragile peace wouldn’t last. Had felt the unsettled aura that’d enveloped him the last few months, the indigo shimmer of his dissatisfaction.

She knew it was in small part her unfortunate adventure with CGB Spender; the full details of which she’d chosen not to disclose to him. But Mulder had discerned her flimsy ploy and instead of pressing her, meted out punishment by withholding his affections.

Post-En Ami Mulder sorts through the past in Quonochontaug.

prufrockslove’s (Gossamer, Colonization HQ) Alienated All the ova – Mulder had been very specific about  that.  Not just many, but all; there was no way she could get pregnant the old-fashioned way, and the IVF had failed almost a year ago.  Had Cancerman done something to her?  The ultrasound indicated she was about four months pregnant, but the baby could be developing more rapidly than normal if it wasn't fully human.

AU-- Post-Requiem Mulder is returned, with extraordinary abilities, while Scully quietly balances her pregnancy secret and what the future of their partnership looks like.

nevdull's Timber (1/3), Timber (2/3), and Timber (3/3) He ducked down a bit to meet her face-to-face. "We're not sure of anything, Scully. The Gunmen, Skinner, they might be okay."

"I know." Mulder knew too -- he knew that she was lying and it wasn't for the first time lately, but this was hardly the moment to press that particular case. Instead, he turned the television volume back on.

AU-- Colonization is looming; the answer to prevent is-- so Mulder, Scully, Krycek, Marita, and the Consortium believe-- was on the disc CSM destroyed.

CONCLUSION

Hope this itches that spot, too. If not, report back and I'll try to get a more specific list out!

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~

@suitablyaggrieved/ScullyLovesQueequeg's Fictober Day 10

“Sir, with all due respect… why can’t I have Scully back?”

“We’ve gone over this, Agent Mulder. We’re a little short on forensic pathologists. You’ll have Agent Scully back in no time. Now do you want to tell me why I’m getting several complaints that you’re making things down there a hostile environment?”

Post Little Green Men Mulder is alone.

Snits's Here, Now

"He's resting his ankle," Scully lied smoothly. A woman on her left, Laura, giggled suddenly, leaning into the conversation. "I saw him, hopping about earlier," she said wickedly, "how'd he do it?"

"Chasing ghosts," Jacobs supplied, provoking laughter. "Ruh-roh, Scully," a man across the table mimicked Scooby-Doo. "Nah, he probably just fell after the aliens let him off the space ship," another woman sniggered, reaching for the wine bottle. "Seriously, Scully, any time you want to be out of that nuthouse, you just mention it," the man beside Jacobs said solemnly, as though he were the voice of reason in the group.

Scully finally understands why Mulder never goes to FBI parties.

Philiater's The Stronger Monster

The strongest, that's what Mulder had said; the monster had taken the strongest of them.

For a moment that comment had dug at her a little bit; a part of her had automatically protested that *she* was strong. But she was a fish out of water in a deep forest.

Detour Scully is willing to be a monster for Mulder.

@starwalker42's (Ao3)

febuwhump day 23: "you'll have to go through me"

As the creature approaches him, creeping forward so slowly it’s almost like it’s biding its time, almost as if it’s enjoying toying with him, Mulder wonders how long it might take to bleed out from a bite wound. Maybe the pain will be strong enough that he won’t make it that long, anyway – maybe he’ll pass out before it gets to that point. Maybe those jaws will tear right through him, and he won’t feel anything but a flash of pain and the sensation of his body being ripped apart.

Bang! A cloud of dirt flies up into the wolf’s face, and it turns away, whining in surprise. After a moment of confusion, Mulder realises someone’s fired a gun.

Scully stares down a wolf.

Anonymous's (mulderscreek, annex-files) Silence, Sea and Sky

Dana Scully watched her partner closely but his face betrayed no emotion. If she didn't know him so well she wouldn't have noticed the tiny tremble of his hands, the dull look in his usually expressive eyes.

Mulder (and Scully) is invited onto a case where he has to work alongside an old VCU foe.

@o6666666's (Ao3) Phoebe takes a job at the fbi

“Mulder is incredibly passionate.”

“He’s myopic. Small-minded for anything that’s ever shown him tenderness.”

“I think he’s a genius.”

“Do you show him tenderness, Agent Scully?”

With that, Scully shoves her chair back from the table.

AU-- Phoebe Green is back, as an FBI agent.

@wendelah/wendelah1/avesuvianface’s (Gossamer, Live Journal) When light is put away

While Mulder stepped into his trousers, she walked over to the window and peered out through the shattered glass. "There's no sign of it—him—anywhere."

Mulder nodded. Whatever he was, man or monster, Pincus moved fast. He pulled a T-shirt over his head.

"This time—" Her voice was firm. "—I'm not leaving here without you."

Folie a Deux Mulder is rescued by one Dana Scully.

Dawn’s (Ao3, Gossamer) Broken (Ao3) and Restored

I turn around to face the now-thoroughly-irritated officer. "Agent Mulder has been through quite an ordeal tonight and is feeling under the weather. I'm taking him back to the motel now. We'll come down to the station tomorrow and you can finish asking your questions."

The kid can't be more than twenty-five, baby-faced and lacks the self-assurance of Detective Webster. Still, he actually scowls and opens his mouth to argue with me until I flash him what Mulder refers to as "The Look."

Folie a Deux Scully and Mulder's thoughts after the bug flees and the cops show up.

Wylfcynne's Imagine

"You aren't getting free until we have a clear MRI," she said calmly.

Mulder exploded in rage, screaming, cursing, struggling violently. On the status monitor, everything began to escalate. Three Project doctors came running in, alerted by the system alarms, and stopped, awed at the violence they were witnessing.

Post S.R. 819 Mulder and Scully are captured while on a Kersh detail; and Scully must break out, somehow sound the alarm, and purge Mulder from a black oil invasion.

@baronessblixen's (Ao3) imagine some other agents playing a trick on Mulder

"I was getting coffee for us and then this one guy, Agent Peters, he said I didn't need to bother because, because," he stops, panic slipping back into his voice. Scully squeezes his hand to let him know she's here. "Because you were in a car accident and that... that you were... didn't look good." Tears fall from his eyes as he looks up at her. The way his bottom lip quivers breaks her heart.

Mulder rushes down to the basement, distraught.

Pattie's They Call Him AGENT Mulder

"I guess you're not too proud of me today, Scully. Sorry I reacted the way I did."

"Don't be sorry," I told him, as we got into the car. "He had it coming. It was a rotten thing for him to do to you."

S6 Mulder and the various methods of aggravation fellow FBI agents use.

LuminousPie's

Five Times Mulder Got Injured and One Time Scully Did

She looked up and frowned, debating whether to answer. She much preferred it when Diana didn’t speak. “I was just thinking about how many times Mulder has been in the hospital in the last 5 or so years.” She didn’t allude to her own ailments. She suspected Diana already knew.

Diana put down her magazine and crossed her arms, “Is it a lot?”

“I’ve lost count.”

“Mulder was never injured when I was with him.”

Various Mulder injuries through the years.

What Goes Up Must Come Down.

She whispers softly in his ear as she assesses him, “It's going to be okay Mulder, I’m right here.” She almost calls him ‘sweetheart’ but it’s not just Diana that stops her, it's the fact she also has to be a doctor now.

Mulder and Scully try to hide their secret relationship from Diana while all three are trapped in a malfunctioning elevator.

@seek-its-opposite​ (Ao3) nothing to hide (Ao3)

"Your irresponsible theories nearly got my officer killed, Agent Mulder.” The sergeant gestures at the crack house, the door splintered on the floor. “To say nothing of how my department looks on camera for taking you seriously.”

“But you did take him seriously.” Agent Scully’s voice sharpens to a stiletto point. Her partner absorbs chaos; she refracts it.

Post X-Cops Scully is incensed when the local cops lay blame at her partner's feet.

ScullyLikesScience's He is the Master of His Fate, She is the Captain of Her Soul

Mulder and Scully sat in their rental car in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s department. She sat, shaking her head. What a waste of a perfectly good weekend. He cleared his throat. “Okay, so he was actually crazy. For real crazy. Do you think the Phoenix bureau called me as a joke?”

Scully sighed, clicked one of the overhead lights, and opened the file on her lap.

Spanning from Amor Fati to IWTB, this series tracks the growth Mulder and Scully experience as they come into their own.

@neednottoneed/neednot's Unnamed

What she can't get over is the staring.

Mulder keeps tapping his fingers on the table. They sit across from each other, her foot occasionally brushing his, and it really does feel like everyone in the building is watching them.

Post all things Scully decides to hold Mulder's hand at the FBI.

@brenayla's (Ao3) midnight gold and moon shadows

Scully brushes past the group to get to the trash can, where she tosses a paper takeout coffee cup.

Agent Chang nods at her in greeting. “Agent Mulder,” he says with all the confidence of a recent Academy grad.

The being before him gives a wary look.

“It’s Scully, actually.” Not cold but certainly not friendly either.

Mulder and Scully, cryptids.

@mldrgrl's (Ao3) Tumblr drabble prompts of various shades of MSR

She heard laughter as she approached the door to the office. A cluster of agents surrounded Mulder’s desk with handfuls of files, laughing together. One of them was wearing a hat that was clearly not his own. Scully bristled. Her heels struck the ground with angry blows as she strode across the room.

“Take it off,” she said, holding her hand out to the agent with a withering glare.

S8 Scully will not stand for Mulder mockery in his absence.

Gina Rain/gina rain's Circular File

They were all assembled around the conference table. Creative bookkeeping couldn't solve some of the problems that appeared in the past year's budget. Explanations had to be given. Even Agent Scully had to attend to justify costs that were incurred during her time with the X-file division. She entered the conference room and some people stopped talking and looked up at her and then, with small smiles or sidelong glances, resumed their rapt attention of the closed files in front of them.

But Agent Scully did not sit down.

AU-- S9 Scully is having a hard time letting the FBI go (or, as she realizes, go without speaking her mind.)

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys/Slippin' Mickeys's Three Part Harmony (Ao3)

“ --der ,” he heard, in what was unmistakably Scully’s voice. But he didn’t hear her voice with his ears, but rather in his head, where the buzzing was emanating. It was remarkably similar to when he could hear others’ thoughts, pushed into what bordered on madness by an alien craft. But this didn’t feel like lunacy; it was warm and euphoric. 

“ Mulder, ” he heard again in Scully’s voice, this time more clear, the buzzing lessening. “ Is that you? ” 

AU-- Mulder and Scully save their son while on the run; and the three of them continue perpetually forward with the FBI on their heels.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

@scenes-in-between/scullywolf's TXF: Scenes in Between (Tumblr)

One scene per episode: Mulder and Scully and the mysteries they encounter. 

@cecilysass's (Ao3, Gossamer) The Boy on the Beach (Ao3)

Post Amor Fati Scully is trapped in the past-- and believes she can save Mulder's future by sacrificing her own.

Keleka’s Gray Ghosts 

Post Theef– Mulder, Scully ,and TLG investigate the violent deaths of the 47th Brigade. As Mulder plunges headlong into the alternate dimension of a vengeful demon (undeterred by his earlier proposal and recent injury at the hands of a possessed soldier), Scully grapples with her faith in religion, her father, and her military-- all of which comes to a head when she witnesses a cathedral full of praying ghosts.

Jenna Tooms/misslucyjane’s (Ao3, mulderscreek)

An Acceptable Level of Happiness (Site)

AU-- Post Requiem Scully is helping Mulder adjust to a world post-trauma. Fatherhood may be a breeze, but ptsd, triggers, and others' judgments are not.

Shooting Star (Gossamer, mulderscreek)

AU-- Post Requiem Mulder is returned to "his angel" seventeen years later, waking to an addled brain, clone confusion, and a distant son.

And last but not least: long-form fic series spanning the first nine seasons of the show.

OTHER RECOMMENDED LISTS

Anasazi– Shot and Emotionally Fraught

Cuddling for Warmth

Diana Fowl(ey) Play-- All Parts 

A Tormented Man, At Last, Is Comforted

Cleaning Out the Vineyard House

Crazy X-Cops (and Watching the Tragic Ep. Later)

Thanks for reading~

ālea iacta est

But all in for Mulder means loving her fiercely while he feeds himself on a labyrinth of mysteries. The X-Files are a siren with which she cannot compete, singing puzzles to him late at night when Scully gives in to her human need for rest. He is a dying star of relentless wonders; an itinerant supernova that cannot be put out early, even by his wild love for her.

Scully takes his face in her hands, warm in the glow of the wood paneled walls, and she tells him the truth.

Post-Millennium Mulder and Scully navigate loosening rules, their first relationship fight, the En Ami aftermath, family hopes in Hollywood A.D., and Requiem desolation.

6. He has a nightmare  

She looks up at him with wide, frightened, cut geode eyes, her skin washed out by a powder blue hospital gown. Blood falls sharply from her left nostril, ripe cherry red. It pools in her cupid’s bow for a moment before overflowing and dribbling against her rosebud lips.

Mulder, she pleads, mouthing around the blood flow.

S7 Scully soothes Mulder after a cancer arc nightmare.

Fin (Tumblr)

They’ve discussed this. On Monday morning, he will be back in this office and she will be across the universe in a Quantico lecture hall, dependent on cell phone service that can easily be severed by elevators and rural highways.

The end is anticlimactic. As soon as the clock strikes 4:50pm, Doggett leaves politely with a one-armed hug and well wishes for the little one.

And then it’s just them. Scully and Mulder in their secretive underground den.

AU-- Alone plays out a little differently (with fewer abductions and angst overall.)

Scully wakes suddenly, disoriented in time.

Mulder opens his eyes, his attention seized. “What kinda bizarre things?”

“I don’t know,” Scully fibs. “I could have sworn that he was…things kept moving around him.”

“Like what?”

“Like his mobile. Maybe other things, I can’t remember. It was a dream.”

Mulder considers his response, poorly concealing his amusement. "Scully, I don't mean to step on your toes here but don't mobiles just do that?"

AU-- Post Alone Scully dreamt up Season 9.

a mini acute postpartum MSR fic

“Hey Scully?”

“What?”

“Did you have an out of body experience when they handed him to you? Because I… when I held him, I definitely had some kind of cosmic experience. I wouldn’t say astral projection entirely, but something in that vein.”

“Mulder, please, not right now.”

“No, I’m being serious.”

S8 Mulder and Scully over-the-moon after the completely normal birth of their son.

He/she has sleep tousled hair.

The apartment is novel still. A hot mug curled between her palms, Scully settles into the crook of the couch, taking a cautious sip.

Time bleeds on, the roof of her mouth scalded by impatience.

Golden light begins to paint the lacquered floors in warm bands before she hears a peep from the bedroom.

Half-hearted cries, shuffled sheets. Her coffee has cooled to lukewarm, allowing her to take earnest gulps.

Post Existence Scully soaks in a moment of silence in this new reality.

AUs

midnight gold (Tumblr)

They were hunting a Vietnam vet who kept on evading capture and Mulder was standing in a huddle of agents who called him childish names when he stepped out for the restroom.

As he’d turned around to shake her hand, Julie would’ve sworn on her granddad’s tattered old Bible that she saw it.

His face was a flesh-toned blur, a Macy’s mannequin; shadowed sockets where his eyeballs should have been. Clear blue currents arched from his temples.

And for a moment – just for a moment – she could see that he was bleeding black from a nostril he did not have.

Mulder and Scully aren't what they seem.

moon shadows

They are different.

Fox Mulder’s hand is made of aloe vera and lush emerald vines that spiral up her wrist. He swells with crisp jungle rainwater, pupils woven with liquid gold. He dims the spring sun in the middle of the afternoon.

The skin of her palm melts into his, dripping with pearls of oxygen rich blood.

“Hi,” he says, sizzling with invigoration so strong it flickers the overhead lights. “Hi, Scully.”

“Hi, Mulder.”

Cryptids Mulder and Scully and the Pilot.

Thanks for reading~