#elliel

35) things you said that made me feel real (Ao3)

"I haven't been sleeping well." He pulls up a chair and sits close to her bed, but not too close. She can see him better now; shadows playing on his face, his eyes alert and curious. But she keeps quiet. Scully can tell he wants her to admit the same. She flushes with horror thinking he might have heard her scream out from her nightmare. The first few nights her mother had stayed with her and after her Melissa. Both, with teary, pitiful eyes had told her about her night terrors. What are those dreams about? Her sister had wanted to know. Scully had not told her. Could not tell anyone.

Post-Firewalker Mulder helps ward off nightmares.

Early season MSR, #30 (Ao3)

“Mulder, you’re not the problem.” Her whisper in this dark, quiet closet could have just as well have been a scream. He is silent after that and Scully is convinced she can hear him think. He is going through their files in his mind, searching for any indication why this is so difficult for her; it takes him a while, longer than she thought it would, and she knows exactly when he gets it. His gasp is audible, sounds painful in her ears, and almost immediately his hand is back on her shoulder.

“Duane Barry.” It’s not a question. “He- when you – when he…” Scully nods, hoping to shut him up.

“I’m so sorry, Scully.” His apology is different this time and his hand leaves her shoulder, lands on her back, and gently starts stroking up and down; Scully is uncertain if he’s even aware of what he’s doing.

Pre-Red Museum Mulder helps his partner cope with Duane Barry flashbacks.

Anything For Her

“Oh hey,” Mulder stumbles over his greeting. He swallows and sits upright on his couch, as if that would make a difference. He turns down the volume of the TV. “How – how are you feeling?” There’s more silence, graver than before. Mulder expects the worst, even if he can’t say what that would be right this moment. His throat is dry and he swallows again.

“Can you… I don’t think I should be alone tonight.” Even now she can’t ask him. But Mulder, after all this time, can’t blame her. He turns off the TV, searches for his shoes.

“I’ll be right there, Scully.”

Cancer arc Mulder makes bread for Scully.

Whispered Words (Ao3)

“Scully? Are you okay?”

How many ‘I’m fine's’ are too much, she wonders as she stares at him, leaning against the wall. She’s breathless, can’t take in enough air. Her stomach revolts against everything and she prays silently like she never has before to please, please not be sick right here, right now.

“Hey.” Mulder is by her side, crouching down to be eye-level with her. She doesn’t want to look at him. She wants to tell him that she’s fine. She wants to be okay.

“I’m- I don’t-,” she breaks up, sobs; she doesn’t want to cry but her tears fall anyway. If she doesn’t say it, if she doesn’t admit she’s sick, then she won’t be, right?

“It’s okay,” Mulder says and touches her arm. “Do you- can you walk on your own? Do you need an ambulance? I’m gonna call-”

“Mulder, no.” She puts her hand on his where it lays on her arm. “I just want to go home. Just… home.”

Cancer arc Scully nearly collapses after too many hours on her feet.

So I'm on the 3rd day of my field work and sharing my room with a colleague.

She keeps telling him that she’s fine of course, and while he believed her at first, wanted so badly to believe, he sees it’s a lie. No amount of make-up can cover up her pale complexion. The exhaustion that follows her around, palpable in every move she makes.

Cancer arc Mulder shares a room with his waning partner.

39 - scully

"Scully!" She hears the breathless desperation in Mulder's voice and the rustling sound his boots make, running through the leaves surrounding them.

"I'm fine," she yells back, hoping he'll slow down. If they both fall and hurt themselves, then how are they going to get out of here? But he doesn't slow down; his pace increases.

"There you are." Mulder comes into view, out of breath, and falls to his knees right in front of her, a tree limb breaking under his weight. The sound reverberates. "What happened? You were gone and then- Scully?"

Scully falls down a hole and twists her ankle.

Fine (Ao3)

She hobbles away from him as best as she can on one foot. He stares at her, dumbfounded.

“You’re not carrying me.” The way she says it leaves no room for negotiation.

“Then how are you planning on getting back?”

“I’ll walk,” she says, hopping on one foot.

“Let me help you, please,” he begs her. “Just… let me make sure you don’t break your other ankle, too.”

“It’s not broken, Mulder.”

“Potato, potahto.” He puts his arm around her waist and lets out a sigh of relief when she doesn’t fight him. “Are you happy now?” He asks her as they hobble along at a snail’s pace.

Scully sprains her ankle.

Some h/c! Late season 6-ish. (Ao3)

She’s on the ground holding her throbbing leg when she sees Mulder rush towards her. He’s a blur as he falls to his knees in front of her, swirling up a bunch of leaves.

“What happened?” he asks, his hand finding hers on her hurt leg.

“I tripped,” she says through gritted teeth.

“Can you get up?”

“Yes,” she says and tries to put weight on her leg. The pain shoots through her whole body, blinding her. “No, I can’t,” she admits sheepishly.

Scully breaks her leg while in cryptid pursuit.

Scully is attacked and Mulder helps her.

After five years on the road with Scully, Mulder knows that motel room walls are paper-thin. So thin in fact that sometimes Mulder imagines watching Scully’s silhouette on the other side of the wall. They’re so thin that Scully can reiterate whatever movie he’s watched to fall asleep the night before. One of the reasons why, at least when they have adjoining rooms, Mulder no longer watches porn movies in his room.Tonight, they’re so thin that Mulder is woken by a gentle thumping noise against the wall. Thump, thump it goes without rhythm, hard, then harder. He rubs his eyes, listens. Thump, thump. Various scenarios run through Mulder’s mind as he gets up; he pays them no attention. Thump, thump.

Mulder intercepts a violent attack on his partner.

Always Partners (Ao3)

She doesn't know if she's happy or sad that Mulder is here at the crime scene too. They weren't working together - again. And he shouldn't be here. She doubts that anyone called him. Even Skinner wouldn't dare. But now he's here. Much to her chagrin, he's not alone. She catches the exact second when Mulder spots her. One moment he's walking and smiling with Diana, the next he’s sprinting toward her, his face a mixture of terror and anger.

“What happened here?” he asks, his voice close to a bark. The paramedic working on Scully jumps back in surprise. But Mulder pays him zero mind.

“What happened to you?” His voice and his expression soften. He only has eyes for her. 

Post-Tithonus Scully is injured on a Kersh assignment.

Hi, do you take prompts for Fictober? ;) (Ao3)

“Mulder,” she says, suppressing a giggle, “I’m not made of glass.”

But she’s wrong there, he thinks, as he keeps his arms around, leading her inside her apartment by taking tiny steps as if he’d just learned to walk. In many ways, he feels like he has. There’s precious cargo between them. 

Mulder pampers Scully after her first IVF round.

The Space Between Words (Ao3)

He doesn’t know how much time has passed when his cell phone lights up, flashing Scully’s name. His head throbbing, he reaches for it and presses the phone to his ear.

“Hi,” he says softly, his tone full of tears and dreamless slumber.

“Hi.” Her voice is barely more than a whisper.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks, trying to get comfortable. He may be used to sleeping on a couch, but he’s not used to sleeping on one that’s designed for someone much shorter.

Post-Per Manum Mulder waits for Scully to let him back in.

Prove It (Ao3)

She should have known he wouldn’t leave her alone once they get back. His hands are on her as soon as she’s out of the car. His concern, while exaggerated, is sweet, and she smiles up at him.

“Now that’s what I like to see,” he mumbles, his own lips curling into a smile. “I’ll get you some painkillers and a glass of water. Do you need anything else?” It doesn’t happen often that Mulder pampers her. Not because he doesn’t want to; she knows he does. Tonight, she decides, she will indulge him.

“Just you,” she says, surprising him.

Post-Theef Mulder cares for his partner.

The whole room is asleep... (Ao3)

The whole room is asleep; there’s no humming from the air conditioning, no ticking clock, no blaring TV set. Only Mulder is awake. The clock reads 10 pm, but his mind says 1 am East Coast time. The three hour time difference between this hotel room in California and home messing with his mind and body. They’re flying home tomorrow; the Peattie case now solved and at rest. Next to him Scully shifts as if reading his thoughts. He half expects her to open her eyes and talk to him about the case, Dr. Wieder or Peattie or really anything at all. But she doesn’t. She’s sleeping on her stomach now, her face turned away from him. 

Post-Theef Mulder writes his feelings on Scully's skin.

Love is Not Blind

“Of course. I, um, need your key.”

“It’s in my coat pocket.” When she makes no move to take it out herself, Mulder reaches into her pocket, feeling around. The action is far too intimate, and his head is too close to hers. She must hear him breathing shallowly. His fingers come into contact with something cool and solid, so he takes it out.

“Found it,” he says stupidly and unlocks the door to her room. “Wait a second,” he says, touching her hip. “I’m just going to turn on the lights.”

“Makes no difference to me.” When he turns to her, he sees the smallest of smiles on her face. But her bottom lip quivers, trying to keep her real emotions at bay.

“Better not risk me falling over, huh? My doctor is currently unavailable.” 

AU-- Theef Scully's eyesight doesn't return immediately.

There Has To Be An End, (Ao3)

“Mulder, we shouldn’t…” but what they shouldn’t, she doesn’t specify and Mulder doesn’t let go. If she wasn’t feeling so dizzy, maybe she’d get up, pretend they’re nothing but professional. The words he said to her last night still ring in her ears: there has to be an end. There is so much more than this. When will they ever not find the other in peril? Is there an end for them? What if he’s right?

Requiem Mulder and Scully decide to leave.

(There’s No) Me Without You, Ao3

“Mulder, I’m going with you.”

“Going- Scully, no. You can’t go away. You just- you just gave birth. William is only a few days old. We talked about this.” His hair stands up in all directions, and her mind is filled with the first time he showered at her place after they’d become intimate. She’d rubbed his hair dry with the towel because his arm was still sore after his New Year’s Eve attack. They’d laughed and kissed, feeling carefree for once in their lives. That is what she wants back. That is what she’s prepared to fight for.

“I can, Mulder,” she says, handing him a sleeping William and walking back into the living room.

Post-Existence Scully insists she and William run with Mulder.

@scullygazer's From Now… Until Forever

Mulder held Scully’s hand tightly (but avoided grabbing it too tightly as not to scare her again) as he walked her to the car.

Post-Irresistible Mulder supports Scully.

@agent-troi's Security Questions (Ao3)

“You know what I think? I think you’re just embarrassed that you failed to recognize it wasn’t my voice and you’re exaggerating her abilities to save face.”

Mulder shook his head emphatically. “No, Scully, it was an exact replica, and if there’s anyone– or anything– else out there that can impersonate either of us that well, we need to develop a system.”

“A system?” Scully raised an eyebrow. “Like a secret password or something?”

Post-Die Hand Die Verletz Mulder decides he and Scully need code words (which comes in handy with shape shifters.)

@writingwell's

Holding Me (xffic)

Mulder caught her as she fell back, the gun slipping from her limp fingers.

Panic seared into him, fresh with the blood soakign through his shirt and slicking his hands. He figured they had ten minutes until someone realized that they were not dead, and that their hit man was not coming back out.

Scully is shot while she and Mulder are caught on a stakeout.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

What did he have at the FBI anyway?

Ashes.

Nothing but -

Her body quaked.

He sat very stilly, very quietly, silently holding his breath.

She was seeing the detruction again, behind her closed eyes, watching the fire of nothing burn them alive.

She shivered and he held her tighter, closer, needing to comfort her too, needing to give back what she had wordlessly given.

Post-The End Mulder and Scully weather together.

Don't Quit

He ran back after hanging up, falling on all fours at her side.

"They'll be here soon, Scully. Just hang on."

Her head lolled to see him, but he wasn't even sure she was focusing too well. Her neck arched as she struggled for air and her hands scratched at the dirty hall floor. Mulder grabbed one of her hands and held her cheek with his other. She made a little sobbing noise that shattered his soul and he pushed closer to her.

FTF Scully slowly loses consciousness.

Vatic Room

"All your clothes were still on the bed and wrinkled in the suitcase--"

"Oh. I was too tired to try," she lied and turned away from him.

"That's not like you. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. His voice was soft and hesitant; he didn't seem to know what he could say or do without threatening the tenuous connection they had established on New Year's.

Pre-Orison Scully misses the warning signs.

Noyade

"You can wear your pajamas, Scully."

He pulled her arms into the sleeves of her black coat, then tugged it over her shoulders, pulling the lapels together snugly and smiling at her. His body was radiating heat at her and she leaned in unconsciously, closing her eyes.

Post-Orison Mulder comforts his blank, injured partner.

Midnight

She likes to be touched, because she likes to know she is alive.

Mulder waits for Scully to call him after a particularly rough case.

Told You So

The motel room was lit by soft candles they'd found in the drawers, suggesting that blackouts happened often.

Scully was standing by the door, pacing as she looked over their notes on the case, glancing intermitently at him for reassurance.

His black eye was still slightly swollen, but the dazed look no longer glazed his features, and he had managed to work a bit on his profile.

For a fleeting moment, she was oddly proud that Detective Bonne had only managed one punch before Mulder flattened him.

Mulder and Scully trade turns defending each other from the local force (and an ambush of racists.)

Found

The man who comes to the door looks even worse than the woman who rises to meet him. His hands shake as they take mine, his eyes thanking me before moving to see her.

"Scully," he says, strangled.

Scully is found, bloody, on the road.

Through Time I, Through Time II, Through Time III, Through Time IV, ThroughTime VI, and Through Time VI Two

He crept forward, suddenly shy and siddled up to the bed, peering at the bundle she held. Caddy titled it so he could see and leaned toward him.

"You've got a boy, Malcolm," she whispered.

There were tears in his eyes as he bent forward and kissed his son's new pink flesh. ...

Caddy smiled and caught her breath. "Shall we name him Dryw?"

Malcolm made a face; his name meant wise fox in Gaelic and he hated it, after being constantly teased when he was a wee child.

"Nay," he said. "How about Keefe?" The name was a sign of favor for a son, meaning love, promise and good looks.

AU-- Mulder and Scully's reincarnated lives.

EllieL's

The River

I feel Mulder's arm behind the back, lifting me to the cot. It makes the pain worse. Leave me alone.

His hands are shaking. I feel his hands moving around my stomach. That must be where I was shot.

AU-- Mulder and Scully are trapped with Albert Hosteen during a prison riot.

Walls

She could hear him rattling pots, perhaps searching for the kettle, or perhaps just trying in his own blatant way to remind her of where he was.

Post-Orison Mulder gives Scully his support.

@incidental-ao3's Febuwhump 2023: The Truth is Out There (And the Fic is In Here) - Chapter 5

“It’s barely a flesh wound, Mulder,” she corrected as he nudged the door open with his foot and leaned inward as if to say, after you. “I’m really fine.”

“You were still technically shot,” he insisted, closing the door behind him and beginning the process of disentangling himself from her many belongings.

Mulder hovers after Scully's been shot.

@tatooedlaura-blog's

Our Moments

He made his way to her door to find her curled on the bed, small lump under thick covers. Stealing to the other side, he carefully lay down, sliding under the quilt in silence. If she wanted to, she could hit him later for arriving in her bed unannounced.

He would love it if she had the strength to hit him hard enough for it to make an impact.

Then again, she’d hit him before and it never made an impact.

AU-- Cancer arc Mulder and Scully draw closer during her illness.

Luck and Stubborness 

He moved his forehead to hers, knowing she’d recognize the gesture if not the voice, “Scully, please, I need you to look at me right now; I need to know you’re back with me; I need to know that you’re alright.”

Her eyelids fluttered, opened once, caught sight of him, closed again, “it’s not my blood.”

Whispers couldn’t cut it right now with all the chaos surrounding them, “what?”

Voice an octave higher, “it’s not my blood.”

One mystery solved, he moved on to another, “you’re already bruising up. Did he hit you?”

Single nod.

Mulder cares for his shell-shocked partner after she survives a bank robbery.

@slippinmickeys's

Unnamed (Ao3)

He would have crumpled then and there if her nose hadn’t started to bleed. Instead he felt something in him ignite.

AU-- Samantha Mulder was Roche's last victim.

87 Shades of Black

I sit here, shell-shocked by not only what I've just seen, but by the fact that some of the things I've put my trust in over the years were all bunk. I'm such a hypocrite.

I can see why Scully was so upset now. *Is* so upset.

But she should know by now that I wouldn't be here now if I'd chosen the X-Files instead of her. She should have known that anyway, but then, Scully is a little more insecure than she lets on.

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.

We shall have to remedy that.

AU-- Mulder is forced to give up the X-Files or lose his captured (and pregnant) partner forever. Of course, walking away is never truly black-and-white.

Only Say Goodnight (Ao3)

He wouldn’t remember it later – carrying his new little family through the dusty empty streets. What he would remember, with a harsh pang of anguish and regret, was the crew telling him he couldn’t fit with Scully and the baby in the back, that if he wanted to ride with them at all it would have to be in the cockpit, in the seat he’d ridden in on.

The whole ride, he’d craned his head like a meerkat, trying to see her, see the baby, but she was strapped in behind his seat and his headset kept knocking into it, getting skewed and knocked off, the sound of the engine roaring into his ears.

Existence Mulder arrives to shepherd his family to safety.

Three Part Harmony (Ao3) 

The fist around her heart seemed to squeeze tighter. “Don’t do this, Mulder. Don’t make my baby out to be-“

On her words, Mulder punched the table below him hard enough to cause the silverware on it to jump, and her jaw snapped shut. His face was thunderous, and she watched as he took a steadying breath.

“Do not,” he started, barely able to keep his anger in check. “Start with the ‘my baby’ again, Scully. I played that game before he was born, but I refuse to play it again. That boy is just as much my child as he is yours, and I will not let you or anyone else diminish that ever again.” He took another breath. “I’m not attempting to establish patria potestas here, but if we can’t agree, out loud, that he is different from other kids, we don’t have any hope of protecting him.” 

AU-- Post-S9 Mulder and Scully stumble across their son in time to save him from Consortium agents, hitting the road in a desperate attempt to stay one step ahead.

North of Zero (Ao3) and More North of Zero (Ao3)

It had been ninety minutes since William had been sick and they had made decent time though the boy was clearly miserable. The both of them smelled like horse and fear-sweat, maybe vomit, and his son’s head would occasionally bump back into his shoulder, each time resting there for a little bit longer. 

“It’s okay to sleep on me, Will,” he said into the boy’s ear, “your mom does it all the time.”

Seconds later his heavy head thunked back onto Mulder’s shoulder and stayed there, the boy relaxing against his chest. 

Post-Colonization Mulder and Scully reunite with their son, forcing them to evade capture by alien and earth-bound pursuers.

The Mesas of Deuteronilus Mensae, Ao3

“A couple more inches and you’re there, Mulder,” she said, watching the winch’s cable closely. 

“Copy,” came Mulder’s voice. 

“Okay,” Scully said a moment later, putting her hand on the cable to better gauge its tautness. “I think we’re there. I’m going to back away from the anchor in case it snaps.”

“Twenty feet to your four o’clock,” Mulder instructed her. She knew he was keeping a careful eye on her so that she didn’t find a quicksand pool herself. 

“Copy.”

AU-- Mulder and Scully, astronauts, are tangled up in a sabotaged Mars mission.

@wtfmulder's What We Do in the Trees

She awoke in a dark room, the blinds drawn tight against the sun outside, her mouth dry and evil-tasting. Her headache was gone, but her thoughts were impossible to catch as they swirled around her. They were dreamlike, hallucinogenic.

“Scully?” Mulder’s voice.

She blinked and tried to bring the room into focus. It was moving too fast. The bed dipped down beside her and she automatically rolled inward, like she weighed too little to offer up resistance.

“Hey, Scully.” His hand on her scalp. Warm and heavy. He petted her, breath hitching when her nails found his thigh and dug in. “You told me to bring you back here and fell asleep. Are you feeling okay?”

She wasn’t.

While cancer arc Scully's condition worsens, she and Mulder solved a case steeped in the extremities of loss, grief, and superstition.

@melforbes's

seaglass blue

“Would you mind making me some tea?” she asks, making him flinch with surprise at the sound of her voice. With her tone low, her speech dry, she sounds drained, too tired even to sleep. “There’s chamomile in the cabinets.”

So he nods and stands, looking back at her as he leaves the bedroom, seeing the curve of her body in bed, the way she sinks into the mattress. Though he’s always seen her as small, as little shoes alongside his, as skirts he could hardly fit a single leg of his in, she’s never been so frail to him, so fragmented. At first, he could deny it all, but now, she looks as if she’s dying. 

AU-- Late-S4 Mulder takes his dying bride to the sea.

sunday, 3am

“It’s okay,” he whispered, the bag of ice in his hand hovering before her, his brain buzzing in the overtired way he used to feel accustomed to. If his circadian rhythms were reliable, then he and his body estimated that three in the morning, maybe half past, had come and gone. A long time ago, she’d told him that keeping lights on from the nighttime hours of ten-to-ten harmed the brain’s ability to produce melatonin, but he figured that light would be the least of their worries tonight.

Pre-IWTB Mulder cares for his battered partner.

in sickness

for hours, he knew she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop coughing long enough to let herself fall asleep. at one in the morning, he propped her up with some extra pillows, let her curl up next to him as she cringed against each cough. he rubbed her sore back, could tell that her chest hurt already, was glad she called in sick.

Post-IWTB Mulder whisks a very ill Scully to the hospital.

a past fill

he tried giving her soup, a plan that didn’t work because she wouldn’t eat it. he tried giving her advil, heard no end about how fever reducers only end up making fevers last longer. he tried massaging her shoulders, an action that only left her more irritable and achy. when he recommended tamiflu, she scoffed and insisted that that stuff’s controversial, that it’s a placebo. now, he has tea for her, but she doesn’t want the tea either. though she’s been sick around him plenty of times, it’s been years since either of them last had the flu, so his run-of-the-mill fever cures won’t work. if he knew what she needed in order to feel better, he would go to the ends of the world to get it for her, has done that once before already, but for now, he hasn’t a clue as to what will help.

Revival Mulder cares for his sick Scully.

shawntaw's Flight

They were about fifteen minutes into the flight when Sheila heard it.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, Scully."

There was a moment of silence during which Sheila held her breath, waiting for Mulder's benefit.

"I know, Mulder. But you have to stop hovering. Its over, just let me go on with my life."

Post-Redux II agents observe Mulder and Scully's yearning, distanced relationship.

XP1's

Still Waters

She thanked him with a slow blink, and kept going.

“Listen.” she continued. “She is my child. But you were right. You were right.” Her eyes were hard as she looked at him. “She is not my daughter. This was not meant to be. We are strangers to each other, brought together by circumstance.”

His hands tensed on her bicep and he couldn’t make sounds. His mouth worked, open, confused, unbelieving. He brought his head down to her brow and his heat and his anger met her cool understanding.

"No", he said softly, kissing her forehead. “No” he mouthed wetly, angry, and he thread a hand through her hair, tilted up her mouth.

“Yes.” she said softly, and he had trouble breathing. She was working hard to stay calm, and to help calm him down. 

Mulder proposes the only solution he can think of to save Emily's life.

Fire

The stress and the adrenaline that had lent her their strength dissolved from her now, leaving her aching and shakey. He felt her body begin to give in to gravity, and he carefully, if awkwardly, half carried her to the ground.

She hissed as her back arched on the cold tile and she coughed deep and phlegmatic, rolling onto her side.

 “Up.” She commanded as she struggled to sit. ‘Sit the patient up, Mulder,’ she’d once taught him as they both worked together to keep a victim alive. ‘Airway straight, airway clear’ she’d instructed, showing him how.

He remembered the lesson and sat with his chest to her back, pulling her to him between his legs, holding her tight.

Mulder cares for his weathered partner after she saves a child from a burning building.

This Is Nothing - Chapter 2

A tooth passes by him unnoticed,lost in a memory, of her body on his, and her hands led by her hips. As the little kind crumbles Mulder remembers that warm summer night, as she choked up on the bat and swung for the fences. Someone is screaming in pain but all that he hears are the words that he’d said: In life, as in baseball, if you aim to connect, then make sure you follow through.

This, through Mulder's perspective.

@scullyphile's Unnamed

The art museum was crowded with children. If only they had known the sheer number of field trips that would be there that day, perhaps they would have gone somewhere else to spend the afternoon. But, alas, they were already committed to the outing. It seemed they were perpetually behind one of the groups of middle school children that was milling about.

Mulder and Scully's date to the museum doesn't go as planned.

@welsharcher's Safe

“Go to sleep.” He whispered in her ear, memorizing the way she felt in his arms as he tucked her close, “I’ll keep you safe.”

Post-Orison Mulder comforts Scully.

@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls’s

oregon forest

 Skinner finds them. They’re somewhere in the desert, and they’re still together. They’re shivering. Scully’s teeth are chattering. Mulder is wrapped around her, his face in her neck, his fingernails digging into her back desperately. She’s gripping him just as hard, and she squints as someone shines a light into her eyes. She’s frightened all over again until she hears Skinner’s panicked voice: “Scully? Mulder?”

AU-- Requiem Mulder and Scully are abducted together.

cold desert nights

He stays by her side in the hospital, watches them stitch up the wound. Sits by her bed and holds her hand tightly. He tells them about the baby in a quivering, uncertain voice, and they assure him that they will do an ultrasound as soon as Scully wakes up. They ask if he’s the father and he says yes without thinking. It feels like a lie. They ask more questions—how far along she is, when her last ultrasound was—and he cannot answer those. It isn’t until they leave that he remembers what Doggett said before: that he was only gone a month. That he remembers that Scully was sick in Oregon, feeling nauseous, collapsing on the forest floor. He holds her knuckles to his lips and hopes that the worst has not come out of this all.

AU-- Mulder is returned during the events of Roadrunners.

bearing north (Ao3)

“Scully,” he whispers, eyes full of fear as he kneels beside her, his fingers brushing her cheek. “You all right?” he asks softly, tucks some loose hair behind her ear, brushes his fingers over the bruise along her jaw where the suspect punched her. She nods, dizzy, quivering on the cold concrete, reaches up to cover her hand with his.

Mulder grips her hands to help her to her feet. She wobbles, his arms around her keeping her from toppling back over. She’s tense in his awkward embrace, still not quite out of the panic mode that came from when she was jumped inside the house, but she presses a hand to his chest for traction, breathing shakily.

“He’s still at large,” she reminds him.

“The cops out front will stop him,” Mulder says comfortingly.

Revival Mulder cares for his partner after she takes an unexpected dive.

Spooky2u2's Only Death Would Stop Me

"Being pregnant reeks havoc on the body. It's understandable that the last few weeks have taken their toll on you. You've been under a lot of stress. Why don't I take you down the hall for a check up just to be safe."

"That's not necessary. Really," she protested.

"It's no trouble." Doctor Garrett unthinkingly took hold of Scully's upper arm to guide her out the door. No sooner had he moved his hand to her lower arm than he felt a *hard* blow to his back before his face met with the cold floor. Caught off guard, the struggle he offered against his attacker had little effect. Before he knew what was happening, he was being pummeled into the floor. He could hear the woman shouting something but he couldn't tell what. Two orderlies came rushing in after what seemed like an eternity and managed just barely to tear his assailant off of him. It was only then that he got a look at who had so savagely ambushed him....

Fox Mulder.

AU-- Post-Requiem Mulder is returned, seemingly unresponsive... until Scully and his doctor come to (mild) conflict.

Violetta_Valery's The bittersweetness of pie

He’s pacing the entrance, looking for a place to sit where he can watch her from afar without disturbing, but his eyes never leave her truly, and before he can even sit in the chosen booth at the very end of corridor, there’s no more numbness, and no more shock: Mulder’s all unfiltered rage when he sees her getting up and having her butt slapped by the smirking man with whom she is.

“HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!”

He doesn’t even know how, but when he notices, he’s standing by their booth with his hands grabbing the man by the collar. He’s pulled him up and is practically foaming.

“Don’t you dare touch her!”

Post-IWTB Mulder runs into Scully again while out looking for pie.

AUs

Sukie Tawdry's The Way Things Are (1) and The Way Things Are (2)

When they separated, finally, Scully took a good look at Mulder.

What she saw shocked her, and she understood why Paula had been so concerned about him. His face was all angles, his jaw a sharp, painful edge. His hair had become overgrown, casting shadows where it hung over his eyes. It was the pain and desperation in those eyes that took her breath away.

"When was the last time you slept, Mulder?"

He offered a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. Nothing matters now that you're safe." Hunger radiated from his eyes, and he seemed unable to look away. His hands never left her, touching her arms, her face, her hair. Even a discreet knock on the door failed to distract Mulder.

AU-- After post-Miracle Man Scully and Mulder accidentally make a baby, the two dance around his distance, her disappearance, and their slow-burn relationship. (Yes, I'm breaking the rule by including this fic; but it's littered with protective Mulder, so.)

Deadcanons's X-Tropy

After the twins were born, the attic had been Scully’s bedroom. She had insisted on it, even against the Candaces’ argument that it made more sense for her to sleep next to the nursery. That had made sense, but back then Scully was focused on ensuring that Tamika could be the mother—the whole point of all their efforts in the first place. Scully saw herself as backup, someone who was there for emergencies, and thus the attic struck her as more than generous. She did not realize that Tamika and Bradley had already accepted her as a member of the family.

            At some point in mid-2040 she had eventually moved into a proper bedroom. After that they closed the attic stairs and, as far as Scully was aware, no one had gone up there since. The only exception was when Scully had retrieved her gun to rescue Doggett—and at the time, the attic had appeared unchanged. It was only by following the vision of Mulder that she’d had occasion to go up here again.  

            All the missing furniture had been assembled on the far wall of the attic, so that it was the first thing someone saw when they reached the top of the stairs. To the average eye the layout was extremely unusual, but to Scully its meaning was clear. The coffee table from the living room had been placed between two chairs, a wood panel from the corner of the attic propped up in front of it to give the impression of a panelled desk. A chair from the kitchen table was in front of the “desk,” facing it, and the loveseat from the living room was behind it, as if it were an office chair. One of the bookshelves—still full of books—had been pushed into the corner behind the desk, where one might expect to see a filing cabinet in an office. But the real kicker was on the wall behind all of this. There hung one of the posters from Abel’s room, a glossy print of three cartoonish UFOs floating above a city with the caption JUST HANGIN’ OUT.

            The last one had been bigger.   

AU-- An immortal Scully slips in and out of a normal life-- falling into a new family and saving them (and her old basement friends) from vengeful bats and alien bounty hunters and summoning cults-- while Mulder's spirit attempts to make contact.

prufrockslove's Hiraeth

"Duana," he said, and secured her hand. "I said your name with my breeches on, so take note. Duana, listen to me. I know King John. I did not expect you to be with child by him, but you have taken me as I am. I intend to do the same. You are that anchor. I have found where I want to be and I intend to stay. I intend for you to stay."

Her face was still flushed and wet as she looked at him. "William, the King-"

"You are my wife, not the King's. By harvest, you will have a child. Perhaps, it will be born early. That happens in Wales and people pay no mind. If you agree, I will claim the child as mine and dare any man to say otherwise. The King will never know. He never knew with Dafydd."

She stared at him, her mouth open. He looked back at her steadily. He was rash, he knew, but he meant every word. He would die before he lost her.

To borrow prufrock's description: Aber, North Wales, 1215. In a world of dangerous men, she was a dangerous woman to love.

BONUS

Previously listed fics (that you can search via author tags) off the top of my head:

JenAndrews's "Skyland Mountain"

DiscordantWords's "Somewhere North of Fiji"

GingerAlchemy's "Static Codes" (VIII)

cecilysass's "The Boy on the Beach"

baronessblixen's "Five Minutes"

nowwhateinstein's "Seeking Warmth"

ElizabethJaneway1158's "The Fall, X-Files Style"

prufrocklove's "Malebolge"

Lapsed_Scholar's "Variations"

Karen Rasch's "By the Wind Grieved"

Thanks for reading~

EllieL/Ellie's Rendering Judgment of Chthonic Gods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Justin Glasser's (xphilefic) Kevin

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

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

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

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

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

Jabberwocky

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

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

"Probably not enough."

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

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

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

Maria Nicole’s

Stand by the Window

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

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

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

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

Bridge

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

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

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

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

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

Wylfcynne's Imagine

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

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

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

She stared at him. "We know why."

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

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

Joann Humby's The Pattern

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

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

"But you still left the ISU?"

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

"And you and Diana?"

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

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

aka Jake/ aka_Jake ’s (Gossamer) Reprise

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

“I noticed that.”

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

“Maybe they missed a spot.”

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

Mulder tapped the end of his nose.

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

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

Gefangener (txt)

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

Tell it to someone who cares.

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

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

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

@admiralty-xfd/admiralty's Novam Domum

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

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

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

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

AUs 

Adam Webb's Pyre

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

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

Thalia D'Muse's Nowhere to Hide

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

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

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

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

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

“He killed her,” he said, deflating.

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

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

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

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

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

Kim Berglund's Blood Dimmed Tide

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

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

It had been his darkest night. Until now.

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

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

Kristen Kilar, The Trinity Killers.""

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

bellefleur/bellefleur1013's Triple Returns

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

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

J. C. Sun's Leave

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

This coldness, this is what he lacks.

This coldness, it makes him better.

"Very pretty. You have good taste."

He starts.

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

"You are happy?" I say.

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

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

Thanks for reading~