Story 162: "Inventing the Mulders" by prufrock's love

[wendelah1]

Last year, something remarkable happened. Prufrock's love, a beloved but famously reclusive author, started re-posting her fanfic to archive them at Gossamer. Understandably, this caused quite a stir. In the wake of losing so many XF fanfic sites over the past several years, a process accelerated by Yahoo's closure of Geocities, it showed a lot of love for a fandom she had presumably left behind long ago. Well, that's how I choose to interpret it, anyway. She hasn't re-posted everything by any means, but hey, it's a start.

"Inventing the Mulders" is one of the stories she hasn't archived yet, or at least it hasn't shown up on her page at Gossamer. This is a shame since I think it's one of her best. It's an unsentimental look at how season nine might have played out, had it been better written and still had David Duchovny making an occasional appearance. Do I betray my biases? So be it.

Besides archiving her fic, she's posted an email address. You can send feedback now to prufrockslove [at] yahoo [dot] com. Please do so, then come back and let us know what you think.

The story is PG-13, no warnings. Read Inventing the Mulders.

Comments

[a-is4addiction.livejournal.com]

Is there a sequel to this story? I'm not really a Pru fan, but I rather enjoyed this. I'm not sure about the characterization in the beginning- I don't feel like Scully would go on a date with another man, even if she wasn't into it. But Mulder and Scully's relationship here is portrayed in a very interesting way. I thought that the ending was very much in line with my own ideas about the characters- they need each other, despite everything working against them.

[wendelah1]

No, this is a one-off. Her other season nine au, "The 13th Sign," which we read a couple of years ago, doesn't fit into this timeline.

I'm personally happy she left it where she did, thereby letting the reader fill in the rest. The people who want a hearts and flowers happy ending can write one in their heads. The people who think this is as good as it gets, until colonization happens and then it gets much worse, can imagine that ending in our twisted little brains.

I'm not sure about the characterization in the beginning- I don't feel like Scully would go on a date with another man, even if she wasn't into it.

I think in this universe Mulder and Scully had a baby together, but were never together, together. She asked Mulder to be the sperm donor, maybe it worked and then he got abducted, and the rest of the season eight time line unfolds. So the agreement all along was they were going to have this baby, but it was hers to raise. Her choice to be a single parent. Mulder, after all, still had his quest.

"I thought it would be different, Mom," she had admitted last week.
"I know I said I'd do it alone. I was ready to do it alone to raise a
child alone. And I know it's not fair to be angry with Mulder, but I
almost wish he'd never have been there for me if he wasn't going
to stay."

"He didn't go because he wanted to, Dana," her mother had
reminded her, unintentionally being as irritating as the voice of
reason always was.

"I know that too," she'd answered tiredly, fastening a sleeping
toddler into his car seat.

They're not a couple. So--why wouldn't Scully go on a date if the opportunity presented itself? She's a relatively young woman, and they aren't together that way. The interesting thing to me about this story is that they aren't together. Furthermore, she's not happy about it, and neither is he. This is a great set-up! And I am not aware of anyone else trying to write it.

So I'm confused here. If you take out the emotional distance prufrock creates between them at the beginning of the story, symbolized by her going on the date, there is no plot to hang this on. There is no story to tell. What would it be about? If Scully isn't going on a date, i.e. trying to have a life, what is she doing? Just hanging around, moping, waiting for him to show up? I would argue that structurally speaking, and as a character arc, this is a more interesting way to go.

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

Very good point there. I think I must be rusty on the close-reading thing.

I think in this universe Mulder and Scully had a baby together, but were never together, together. She asked Mulder to be the sperm donor, maybe it worked and then he got abducted, and the rest of the season eight time line unfolds. So the agreement all along was they were going to have this baby, but it was hers to raise. Her choice to be a single parent. Mulder, after all, still had his quest.

I missed this one out. Thanks. Now it makes more sense.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

This is what my partner thinks really happened in the series, BTW. He says it's more interesting this way than if they were actually together earlier on, and he prefers to think that they just have a really screwed up friendship that's not platonic but also doesn't involve sleeping together.

Basically, UST bunnies everywhere.

Anyway, having just re-watched all 9 seasons with my partner's UST-goggles on the couch next to me made me like this story a lot more than the first time I read it.

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

He says it's more interesting this way than if they were actually together earlier on, and he prefers to think that they just have a really screwed up friendship that's not platonic but also doesn't involve sleeping together.

That's sort of what I thought, actually :P Turns out I'm a sucker for the UST bunnies.

[wendelah1]

I love the UST in The X-Files. It's unequaled, imho. The RST in canon just seemed to mess up the show. Sometimes I like the RST better the way it's portrayed in fanfiction.

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

RST in canon?

At this point, I should probably warn that I've watched only up to Season Five (damn you, university!) So I'm vaguely clueless about RST...I think. The alternative is to admit I just can't pick up RST at all.

[wendelah1]

Oh shit. I didn't realize... Forget everything I've said here. Do I need to start putting "spoilers in the comment threads" again? Maybe I do. Just don't read any more comments on this post. Okay?

I love your icon, by the way.

Edit: You can assume any story past season five has spoilers for you.

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

No, don't worry about it! I love spoilers, that's why I'm here and all. The idea RST might crop up later is absolutely exciting. (Well, more so than the possibility that I was just to thick to pick up on it!)

And thanks :)

[wendelah1]

Oh, that's such a relief to me. Well, you've come to the right place for spoilers!

See, I hate spoilers. LOL. Seriously, I help mod a community for people who were trying to avoid spoilers before the movie came out. I don't read movie reviews or book reviews until afterward. I like forming my own opinions and I like being surprised.

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

Heh. To each their own, I guess (:

The more I look at this though, the more I love the...friction in the fic, for some reason (*Valiant attempt to get on-topic*) I don't know, I just liked the idea that they both have different priorities very much - and that Scully's a lot bigger on family than Mulder is, particularly when he's still got his quest bugbear.

[wendelah1]

I love the friction in this story, too. And I think it's supported in canon. I think Scully always has been more interested in having a life than Mulder. I keep thinking about the conversation in "All Things."

SCULLY: Look, we're always running. We're always chasing the next big thing. Why don't you ever just stay still?

MULDER: I wouldn't know what I'd be missing.

Mulder is a restless guy.

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

Good point. I don't know why, but I guess that works with me, sort of. The feel of this story *is* of two people with different priorities, trying to make things work. And the uncertainty just gels with the feel of the X-Files, IMO.

[wendelah1]

That theory works well for me if you subtract out All Things and that kiss in Existence. Plus so many people have said that DD and GA decided to play seventh season as though they were in a romantic/sexual relationship. This was news to me but I have a hard time with the shipping thing as we know.

I think it is vastly more interesting for them to have a friendship that's not platonic but also not sexual. How does your partner think they got from there to the relationship we see in IWTB, where they clearly are together that way?

[flourish.livejournal.com]

His argument re: All Things is that they don't show Mulder and Scully falling asleep or waking up together - they show Scully asleep on the couch and Mulder asleep on the bed, so they were faking us out in the first part of the episode - nothing actually happened. Re: Existence, yeah, I think he's blocking that out.

He hasn't seen IWTB yet, and I'm not sure he ever will. If he does, I bet he'll just block it out too. Hey, no shame - it isn't part of my headcanon either...

[wendelah1]

His argument re: All Things is that they don't show Mulder and Scully falling asleep or waking up together - they show Scully asleep on the couch and Mulder asleep on the bed, so they were faking us out in the first part of the episode - nothing actually happened.

But at the beginning, in the teaser, she's putting her clothes back on... She's at Mulder's house, and she's putting her clothes on. So yeah, she started out sleeping on the couch, but at some point she got up and took off her clothes. So...why was that, if it wasn't for sex? Don't get me wrong. I'm more than willing to buy this theory, but at the same time, if I'm watching the episode, I can't ignore what I see. The interesting thing to me is that she doesn't look blissed out which you would think she might, if only because she'd had a profound religious experience. She doesn't even look happy.

Personally, I think they had probably had sex a few times over the years, but it never turned into a regular, conventional, romantic relationship, because that's just not who they are.

He hasn't seen IWTB yet, and I'm not sure he ever will. If he does, I bet he'll just block it out too. Hey, no shame - it isn't part of my headcanon either...

I'm sympathetic to this. And it works very well for this story.

Some days, I prefer to ignore everything that happened after season five. Some days, I can't make it past season one.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

But at the beginning, in the teaser, she's putting her clothes back on... She's at Mulder's house, and she's putting her clothes on. So yeah, she started out sleeping on the couch, but at some point she got up and took off her clothes. So...why was that, if it wasn't for sex?

I believe that he argues that she just took a shower. Which - you know, seems a little silly to me (I don't usually take a shower at a friend's place if I fall asleep after a late night staying over; I go home and shower there) but, eh, whatever makes him happy!

[tiger-bay.livejournal.com]

Sorry, butting in here, very rude but can't resist. But....as far as I recall you see her zipping up her skirt, not exactly getting dressed. She could have had a pee!

But the one thing that made me always question whether or not something DID happen in All Things is the fact that at she leaves she never so much as glances at Mulder. It just seemed so odd to me....even if she had had sex without being madly, passionately in love, she still would have had sex with her best friend which surely would warrant SOME departing expression: a look at least?

Plus I am in denial about the whole episode because if it WAS supposed to have been their "coming together" it was hideously manipulative to be so coy about it. I am not the biggest fan of riotous sex on the telly (well, depending....) but we could have had SOME chance to feel the action.

So really the only times I believe it is when good authors write good stories about the whole damn episode....

[wendelah1]

Actually she's pulling on a sweater. You can see her bare stomach and everything. Looking at this on my computer, which makes everything crystal clear compared to my TV set, I can even see a point where she turns to look at Mulder and her face softens a little (there is even the beginning of a smile in the corners of her mouth--Gillian is such a subtle actress), then the camera pans over to follow her gaze. Watch it again.

I'm not fond of "All Things" either--obviously--but I accept it as canon that they had sex that night. I'm not convinced it was their first time, however. I firmly believe she would have spent the night if it was their first time, rather than leave him to wake up alone.

[tiger-bay.livejournal.com]

mumble, mumble, you must be right. I'll have to watch it again, it's been a long time.

Still, I found it manipulative but no surprise there. And I did enjoy it anyway even as I threw my slippers at the screen shouting my little head off...

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Very good choice. And I agree that this is among the best of Prufrock's Love's fiction, which often arouses conflicting feelings in me.

Though interesting, sure, it is also very unhappy in an arrested development way that was typical of many episodes, I suppose.

I disagree, if I understand you, that Mulder and Scully were never together in "that way," although they obviously aren't now. The sperm donor issue remains unaddressed, but Mulder refers to a "that night" and they are obviously exchanging romantic signals and gestures. Maybe sex is on-again-off-again, as he implies.

The problem now is that Mulder *can't* give up the quest and Scully *can't* give up wanting him to stay home with the family, no matter what the original single-parent deal was. It's ironic that she is left in a relationship like yet very unlike the one Maggie had with Ahab, who was at sea so much of the time.

This is magnificently written. The woman can turn a phrase and make it look easy.

She does have, is seems, a continuing fixation on menstruation.

[wendelah1]

She'd already discovered her G-spot, mastered lip liner, and she'd found Mr. Right immediately after giving birth to his child, but at least it wasn't Scientific American or Working Mother.

This is the line that makes me think that they didn't start having sex until after William was already conceived, and born. I think it's a more interesting plot that the one we were given with the miracle/alien baby.

It seems completely plausible to me that Mulder can't give up the quest and that Scully wants him to be home, which she knows is irrational. But--she loves him. She's afraid. She's aware that he's on his own, without her to watch his back, and that she chose this. And he chose it, too. It's just not going the way they planned.

I simply love this story. I really do. It feels just like their relationship should feel with the added complication of a baby. It's a mess. No wonder TPTB had her give William up.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

It's a very good story, really. But I can't "love" anything that's so morose. It's the way my brain is built.

[wendelah1]

I love it because it's a fixit fic that doesn't fix anything. Yeah, I suppose it is a downer if you look at it that way, but it's so truthful, so original. It's breathtaking, dammit.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I disagree, if I understand you, that Mulder and Scully were never together in "that way," although they obviously aren't now.

I agree with you here. I'm just not sure when we're supposed to think they got together. Mulder says, I was the platonic friend with good genes. Look but don't touch. You made the rules and I played by them. And then that changed and I got to be a real father. That makes me think it was before William was born, maybe even before he was conceived. I see this fic as being canon compliant to the implication of 'all things' and Per Manum. They tried the IVF, then they had sex, then Requiem happened, and everything after. Though I agree with wendelah1 that in the ITM universe they were never together as a couple in the decidedly exclusive sense.

Though interesting, sure, it is also very unhappy in an arrested development way that was typical of many episodes, I suppose.

THIS.

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

She does have, is seems, a continuing fixation on menstruation

Very curious about this. What did I miss?

[wendelah1]

I have no idea what she means. I don't think you missed a thing. I saw no reference to menstruation here or in any of her other fanfic. The bottom line is that Edna dislikes prufrock's love's work on principle while admiring her skill. Edna reserved the right to complain about anything that didn't meet her narrow specifications. It's a quirky approach to reviewing to say the least but I miss her anyway.

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

Reading her many reviews and responses without ever having had real time interaction and I miss her too...

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

Wait I know this is a once off, BUT... it does dovetail nicely into Dr Scully's School For Exceptional Boys (I think that is the title?) in which S & M had been meeting covertly as S raised William, spending time together, and then as in canon, S gave up William causing an apparently unresolvable rift. Anyway, seems to dovetail nicely to me, although maybe that wasn't written or posted when this story (ITM) was shared and discussed?