Hmm.. interesting points. That's the main thing though.. and maybe I'm just not far enough into it to really comment... but the codependency I can see (the characters are nearly paralyzed by their codependency here), but the love I can't see at all.

And yes you're right, they should be cold and angry, with all the ridiculous, heartbreaking tragedies they've had to shoulder.. but a huge part of their characters is the fact that they're not cold and angry. Well they are to some degree, of course, but it says so much about who they are that they don't let the tragedy touch their humor, their affection for one another, their confidence in their own goodness as people. The tragedies make them stronger individually and together.

But in this story, I feel like the essence of who they are is entirely different. Like you say, it is who they COULD be... but part of the reason I like Mulder and Scully so much is the way they take all the shit they've been dealt and use it to secure the solidness of their own foundations. Here, they're letting it destroy them. For me, that contradicts the very nature of the characters... which is why I'm having such a hard time getting through this story.

-Kate