Story 182: "Up the Ladder" by rivkat

[wendelah1]

Fall is here, though you'd never know it by the temperatures in SoCal. I read "Up the Ladder" in 2007, when I was new to the fandom. It's novella length, at 30,000+ words, but wow, it is a fast read. I would have pegged the word count at half that or less. It was originally posted in 1997. Yep. This is old-school fanfiction at its best.

Summary: Marita comes through for Mulder, giving him what he wants most. But twenty-five years haven't brought as many changes as he might have thought, and her gift might be more dangerous than anything he's faced to date. And what's up with those bees? A potpourri of Conspiracy elements with many old favorites present. Note: Almost everything here about bees is actually true, except for the parts that are just paranoia.

"Up the Ladder"

The link is to AO3, where you can easily leave feedback for our author, but you can read this at her website or at Gossamer if you prefer. Leave your suggestions at the nomination post. And don't forget to let us know what you think.

Comments

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I found the M/S relationship toward the end of the fic to be...maybe too sweet isn't quite what I'm reaching for. There's plot-necessitated full body contact. There's giggling. I found the relationship earlier in the fic much easier to digest--I thought Mulder's withdrawing from Scully and Samantha very believable.

I'd be interested to hear what you think.

None of the characters look so nice under the light this fic shines on them, but for the most part I think they are still in character, which is what I find so interesting.

RivkaT doesn't show her characters a lot of sympathy, either in story angst or in exploring their characterization. It's interesting to me because a lot of fic writers seem to try to see/explore the best in the characters.

I like that creepy shippiness excerpt, as you say it's creepy but kind of accurate. I'm not sure how well it works coming from Samantha.