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

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I'm uncomfortable with an oncologist falling in love with a patient he's actively treating, dating her and presumably taking her to bed, an ethical dilemma that's not commented on.

Yeah, the idea that Scully would go for that rings false with me. Not that I'm shaking my finger at her. It's not her fault that Max wasn't being professional. I just don't think she'd have a relationship with this guy in this circumstance.

The only plot element I can think of that I didn't like is the Mulder family psychodrama. I can't see Mulder as a survivor of a physically abusive father. That became a fanfic cliché at a certain point, one I don't personally care for.

Normally this would have bothered me more, but I pretty much just wrote it off as rivkat writing like rivkat, i.e., giving her character an even more fucked up internal life than he already has. But no, I don't see Mulder as a survivor of a physically abusive home life either, beyond maybe a belting now and then.

Good conflict is created when the obstacles are believable and real. I cared not a wit for Scully's fiance or what it did to Mulder because it was crystal clear that he was there to fuck with Mulder and not to last.

I feel like that was kind of the point. The thing that Max brings to the story has more to do with Scully than Mulder. Scully spends two months away from the x-files, forms a relationship with this man, believes she cares about him, and he proposes. It's an idealized "normal life" being offered on a platter. Yet there's no substance to it, it's a plot device she made for herself, and she lays it out for Mulder to see how it tracks with reality, but it doesn't take. She returns to work, to Mulder, and she's spookier, a bit more 'abnormal', than she's ever been.

The part that throws me (in fact it's probably my least favorite line of the fic) is this:

"How can you love someone so much who doesn't believe in the things that are most important to you?"

He took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes. "It's not that hard," he said.

I'm not buying that she loved this guy. I'm not even buying that she thought she might love him. I'm certainly not buying that she'd say so to Mulder. I can buy that she thought Max might actually love her, and that she wasn't thinking about it beyond that, but that's about it. I think Scully is not the type to use the word love in anything other than the most intimate or grave of circumstances. (unless it's about family)

I also take issue with Mulder's response to her. The implication is obviously that he loves her. Which is fine, but since when does Scully not believe the things that are most important to him? Sure, she doesn't believe in the specifics, but she's always believed the most important parts. She believes in finding the truth, she believes in exposing corruption and deciet, she believes in the work even if she doesn't believe in Mulder's explanations to individual cases. And in this situation she's come back because of her belief in their work.

It's like this part was written purely because it seemed like a sharp, clever soundbite, rather than because it actually fits the characters.

[wendelah1]

I'm not buying that she loved this guy. I'm not even buying that she thought she might love him. I'm certainly not buying that she'd say so to Mulder. I can buy that she thought Max might actually love her, and that she wasn't thinking about it beyond that, but that's about it. I think Scully is not the type to use the word love in anything other than the most intimate or grave of circumstances. (unless it's about family)

She certainly doesn't love him enough to give up the X-Files and leave Mulder. I thought she was speaking about Max not believing in the things that were important to her, since that was ostensibly the reason she left him. Mulder is arguably her best friend in the world at this point. If she can't talk to him about Max, who could she talk to?

I also take issue with Mulder's response to her. The implication is obviously that he loves her. Which is fine, but since when does Scully not believe the things that are most important to him? Sure, she doesn't believe in the specifics, but she's always believed the most important parts. She believes in finding the truth, she believes in exposing corruption and deceit, she believes in the work even if she doesn't believe in Mulder's explanations to individual cases. And in this situation she's come back because of her belief in their work.

It's like this part was written purely because it seemed like a sharp, clever soundbite, rather than because it actually fits the characters.

I agree with you: Scully does believe the most important things Mulder believes. But this story is entirely from Mulder's POV, and he is not the most reliable of narrators. This is fourth season Mulder, the wild and crazy guy who went out and got a hole drilled into his head to recover lost memories of his childhood. He's "several ensigns short of an away team." He's not focused on her return. He's not thinking of who and what she's given up to come back, or of what that means about her feelings for him and her loyalty to the X-Files. He's still thinking about how he nearly lost her to someone else (or so he believes). He's probably still thinking about how he nearly lost her to the disease. So I don't think the comment is out of character given the nature of the discussion and how Mulder sees his relationship with Scully at this juncture.