At the end, when the stranger's identity becomes clear, I had a larger revelation. First the stranger is smelly and dirty and you don't want Scully to let him touch her. And then, from one second to the next, the dirty man is Mulder, and he's not disgusting any more. It's something I try to hold on to, in my better moments. Humanity lurks under appalling exteriors.

Yes, a good point, and another one I had not thought of before. That is certainly a theme that could not be conveyed as easily or with as much emotional resonance outside of fan fiction, where the love we share for the characters adds so much to how we approach the text. Thank you.