#txf text

Mulder: ...

you can see his worry & how he’s a bit withdrawn, and his determination to find her. he shows his skills in handling these kinds of cases. but i also think it’s clear he doesn’t carry real guilt about her being taken.

where with duane barry, he’s desperate. the lengths he went to, with krycek screwing up his ascent to the mountain, is insane! like impressive & crazy & amazing. he was just barely too late. but he has her necklace & her faith and he’s grasping at his own belief which is harder to keep without her there now.

they were already dedicated partners, but it’s clear how much closer they became in the span of a few months between these incidents. they lose the x files but still find ways to work together. they have clandestine meetings. they don’t lose their partnership. scully doesn’t give up on him when his depression is so palpable. she knows because he didn’t even see her in the hall that time. and he always sees her.

duane barry threatened everything they had. their partnership, their friendship, scully’s life — mulder’s life by extension. he had no one to help him through this, because she was the one who started getting him through everything. even his past grief. and that’s when mrs. scully became a lifeline. someone to share in his desperation & grief. and magically (to him), she didn’t blame him for her daughter’s abduction. at the same time, he was a lifeline for her. but it was difficult to keep maggie’s faith that she would come back. i think her giving up felt like a nail in the coffin to him. but having someone else’s belief to push against bolstered him. and then she comes back. battered, bruised, near death. and he falls back on the only thing he can hold onto. avenging her. until melissa tears him to shreds. because that isn’t what scully needs, and he takes the chance on melissa’s beliefs. because scully loves her so much (idolizes her) and melissa loves dana so much and these scully women know how to bring out the best in him with their blunt forceful honesty & seeing right through him. they know the good, sweet, caring man he is whether he purposely showed them or not.

when her dad dies and she shows up to work — calling her dana, touching her cheek, urging her to take care of herself.

when she’s in the hospital, holding her hand & sitting by her side, bringing her a gift & returning her necklace (i love this one because his first instinct is to avenge her, because he doesn’t think he’s allowed to be by her side. not when he feels so guilty & so sure that it is his fault. not when he isn’t family. not when they haven’t even called each other friends yet. but melissa makes him see it isn’t about what he deserves, it’s about what scully needs and he will always do what scully needs).

after donnie pfaster, when she’s clearly hurt & scared & so many things at once. he is the one to untie her hands, lift her chin so she’ll look at him, and hold her while she lets herself fall apart in his arms.

when scully first tells mulder about her cancer, he brings her flowers. then when she’s in the hospital getting treatment, he so freely touches her. holding her hands, hugging & holding her, kissing her forehead. trying to offer any comfort he can. (and between that, he’s fighting like hell to get all the information he can to help her, but he doesn’t neglect her needs this time in favor of his guilt. he’s already learned that lesson.)

in milagro after her heart’s been torn out, she wakes and immediately clutches him and he clings right back, letting her cry out her pain & fear. you know he didn’t let go of her until she was more than ready.

when her mom is in the hospital, he’s right there despite them still having a case to work. he touches her arm when she gets the call, he holds her when she cries. and after, they sit so closely as she talks about william. he is there, listening to her and calming her.

i imagine him hating mulder, much like bill. but maggie still gravitates toward him. they still find a solace with each other and trying to keep hope. she can see his pain, how lost he is. but ahab just sees him as the cause for her kidnapping. i also feel like it would make more sense for him to be the one to move forward, assuming she is dead. it just doesn’t feel right to me that maggie did that or that melissa would stay quiet. but if it was their father, that makes way more sense to me.

maggie wouldn’t shy away from speaking up on dana’s behalf and even mulder’s. and ahab does heed what she says. i would have liked to see it. cuz maybe if bill had shown up that time, we would have gotten the first taste. but it coming from her dad would be different. yes, brothers can be protective & overbearing. but there are different expectations with a father. a brother doesn’t have the same ~authority.

and like maggie, i think ahab would see mulder’s feelings for their daughter. and the different reactions would be *priceless* especially once scully is returned. ahab seeing scully’s reaction when mulder visits? “i had the strength of your beliefs” when he realizes maggie let mulder hold onto her necklace?