As to Mulder knowing Scully is pregnant... that's honestly one of the only two problems I have with "Parabiosis", much as I adore it. I don't buy that Mulder would ever willingly walk into that light, knowing he was about to be abducted (all I can ever respond to that with is "Why, why, WHY?"), and I don't buy that Mulder could somehow magically know that Scully is pregnant. How could he? As far as he or Scully know, it's just not possible. Not only that, but supposedly they've already attempted to get around her assumed infertility via IVF, which also didn't take. I see Mulder as an inherently hopeful person, but that doesn't necessarily mean he believes in the impossible just for the hell of it. It feels very much to me like something they both believed to have closed the door on, until Scully's revelation at the end of "Requiem".
It feels really odd to be defending this fic to you instead of the other way around. The ending is one of the things I like best about the story. The first time I read "Parabiosis" and was able to finish it, I had the same exact reaction. I didn't believe that Mulder could have walked willingly into that circle, especially if he suspected Scully was pregnant.
So I did it. I re-watched Requiem, and then re-read the ending of "Parabiosis." I think that what is happening at the end isn't that Mulder is willing to go. He was trapped, just like I remember, from seeing the episode the first time. What he is feeling both in the episode and in the story, when he steps toward the gathering of abductees in the clearing, I believe, is resignation. That this is his Fate, his destiny, and he is going forward, with hope and courage, into his future, whatever it may hold for him.
I didn't cry the first time I watched Requiem. I was too shocked, I suppose. I didn't cry the first time I read the ending of "Parabiosis," either, I guess my anger kept me from feeling the sadness. I did cry when I watched the second time, because of knowing the eventual outcome, and because, for me, the show I loved really ended there, with Mulder's abduction. I can see now how the ending to "Parabiosis" fits into the ending of Requiem and complements it perfectly. Yeah, I thought it was great.
As far as why Mulder would just know that Scully was pregnant, he has hunches all of the time, about things far less believable than whether or not a supposedly infertile woman could conceive. Why couldn't he have a hunch about that? We know that Mulder and Scully tried to have a child using IVF but "Parabiosis" was written and posted well before Per Manum aired. The way I read it, Penumbra sees Mulder as wondering if Scully's contact with the alien ship might have affected her fertility. Penumbra even has Mulder asking whether or not they need to use birth control, since Scully is still having her menses (not possible without taking hormones, by the way, IMHO, if she truly had no ova). I think this works fine for the story as a whole, and for her characterizations of Mulder and Scully. That it might contradict canon now doesn't detract from the power of the story.
Well, yes and no, Part 1
It feels really odd to be defending this fic to you instead of the other way around. The ending is one of the things I like best about the story. The first time I read "Parabiosis" and was able to finish it, I had the same exact reaction. I didn't believe that Mulder could have walked willingly into that circle, especially if he suspected Scully was pregnant.
So I did it. I re-watched Requiem, and then re-read the ending of "Parabiosis." I think that what is happening at the end isn't that Mulder is willing to go. He was trapped, just like I remember, from seeing the episode the first time. What he is feeling both in the episode and in the story, when he steps toward the gathering of abductees in the clearing, I believe, is resignation. That this is his Fate, his destiny, and he is going forward, with hope and courage, into his future, whatever it may hold for him.
I didn't cry the first time I watched Requiem. I was too shocked, I suppose. I didn't cry the first time I read the ending of "Parabiosis," either, I guess my anger kept me from feeling the sadness. I did cry when I watched the second time, because of knowing the eventual outcome, and because, for me, the show I loved really ended there, with Mulder's abduction. I can see now how the ending to "Parabiosis" fits into the ending of Requiem and complements it perfectly. Yeah, I thought it was great.
As far as why Mulder would just know that Scully was pregnant, he has hunches all of the time, about things far less believable than whether or not a supposedly infertile woman could conceive. Why couldn't he have a hunch about that? We know that Mulder and Scully tried to have a child using IVF but "Parabiosis" was written and posted well before Per Manum aired. The way I read it, Penumbra sees Mulder as wondering if Scully's contact with the alien ship might have affected her fertility. Penumbra even has Mulder asking whether or not they need to use birth control, since Scully is still having her menses (not possible without taking hormones, by the way, IMHO, if she truly had no ova). I think this works fine for the story as a whole, and for her characterizations of Mulder and Scully. That it might contradict canon now doesn't detract from the power of the story.