but i also found it extremely believable that scully didn't realize what mulder was essentially seeing in sarah until the end. scully has to work to always be on the level, even when mulder's not being very forthcoming - a fact which is apparent in this fic, without it being overly dramatic. it makes sense that, already on edge, she would automatically jump to fearing 'the worst' - fearing that mulder was projecting his sister's abduction onto the case. after all, isn't that the number one matter that is ever at hand for him? she can't see the forest for the trees (pun noted), in this case, and rather than judge her harshly for it, i felt heightened empathy for her. confusion is such a staple of her life, she is constantly struggling to apply reason and logic to each troubling new situation, and i was very glad that kipler paid her that due; that just because she doesn't always understand what's going on doesn't mean she gives herself licence to stop trying.

Kipler's clear-sighted empathy for her characters informs and shapes every scene. Scully can't stop trying to apply reason and logic to every situation, because it's integral to her character. Rather than make her look like an idiot for having the bad luck to be living in a universe that keeps making her wrong for standing up for science, Kipler makes her position sympathetic, even understandable. No one comes off as the bad guy in this, there is no villain; in the end, there is just something new to understand, something miraculous, a mystery for science to try to unravel. What elevates the story out of the MOTW category into something rarer is that scene at the end, with Mulder playing the piano and Scully looking on, as she comprehends at last what drew Mulder to the case, and to Sarah.