Tesla is in my top tier of fic writers, as This House Is Burning is in my top tier of her X-Files fiction. She is simply sensational from the point of view of sophistication, streamlined style, built-in wit, grammar, all that good stuff. I reread her with unusual pleasure (except for, you know, the exceptions).

The good thing about THIB is that it is a detailed, law-enforcement-savvy casefile which is *actually* about the Mulder and Scully relationship. Brisk business as usual with a sexy subplot. The perfect fic for me!

I suppose there are some theoretical problems. The middle part, excellent in itself, doesn't seem to advance the main plot or enlarge Mulder's comprehension of his emotional situation. One wonders why Mulder is so impervious to the notion that his partner might be in love with him. A friend pointed out that one could say the same of Scully. Why didn't *that* occur to me? Maybe because, like Tesla, I think of Mulder as a sex god. How embarrassing.

I call these problems theoretical, because they didn't bother me. I am not normally in favor of same-bed scenarios--so unrealistically contrived to one purpose--but Tesla makes hers work. I can't see Mulder as a moony, needy, self-denegrating lover or Scully with a schoolgirlish hot crush. Yet Tesla pulls both characterizations off. I think it has to do with the cool, no-nonsense presentation, the refusal to indulge in excessive interior whine. Scully gets into Mulder's bed because she's scared, they do it because he's stoned, they keep doing it because people do keep doing it, sometimes very foolishly. I bought it all.

Oddly, I thought the final scene was not all that. Of course we want the declaration of love, but the ultimate sex seemed gratuitous. Also, I don't like Scully calling Mulder "you maniac." Fussy, fussy, fussy.

Still absolutely in the top tier.