#txf s2

Because Scully immediately goes into hyper-competent mode. Like she has A PLAN and she is going to do the plan and to hell with anyone who is going to stop her. Everything by the book about her goes away and she’s just like nope we are doing everything this way if you get in my way I will end you. I am very worried but I refuse to let my emotions influence my plan unless I am using them to scare the shit out of bad guys. I am short and full of rage and I am the only person with the smarts to pull this off. Do not stop me.

And then Mulder just like…descends into pure chaos. He will either snap and nearly kill someone or he will descend into a puddle of tears on the floor. There is very little in between. He has not slept in a week. He has not had a coherent thought beyond the need to save her. There is no plan just him racing blindly into the darkness because there is nothing in him beyond the need to get her back. And yes to hell with everyone who tries to stop him but in a way that’s tinged with so much grief and unpredictability that’s it’s just as terrifying to us as it is to the people around him.

Idk I just like the contrast.

She’s in.

i keep seeing this post go around with certain additions and I feel the need to clarify that the framing is not what is being popularly represented lately.

"scully conceals her pleasure in seeing him. As they pass, Scully greets Mulder with restraint and professionalism."

"But mulder doesn't even acknowledge Scully as he carries a distant expression... Scully must mask her concern. This is difficult."

Mulder is distant, in a daze, bleak. Scully knows that they're not supposed to be in contact and that subterfuge is necessary. She is ready to keep up the charade, calling him "agent mulder," but she is worried enough that she can barely mask her concern for Mulder's wellbeing.

Scully arranges a meeting because she's worried about Mulder, that he's not alright. She's worried he'll do something self destructive or that he's so despondent that he's not himself. Mulder himself knows that he's not alright, though he's reluctant to burden her with it.

That is the framing and context of these interactions. Scully isn't hurt and feeling rejected. She doesn't feel that Mulder has given her the cut direct, and he didn't intend to.

Scully isn't reeling with the sting of the boys club, and she isn't worried that Mulder has joined the patriarchal structure against her -- in fact in this episode he has even less institutional power than she does, having been demoted to bottom rung scut work. She doesn't feel that Mulder no longer cares about her or values their connection. She doesn't actually believe for an instant that he's truly moved on. She doesn't feel that he's broken her trust.

She textually knows he still cares about her and the work, and is trying to protect them both.