I can't disagree more. I find the idea of Scully adopting Emily to be OOC, but allowing for that bit of canon stickiness, I find the way this fic has it playing out extremely believable. I think this is just about exactly what would have happened. As much as I hate, hate, HATE the idea of Scully and Mulder losing touch with each other, if Scully had left the X-Files to live another life, I have no doubt that's what would've happened. The work was the medium and the impetus for their relationship at that point. They loved each other, but in leaving the work she would have severed the bonds of alliance, ideology, and propinquity that bound them together. Never ones to do things by halves, Scully would have adapted to her new life as best she could, and Mulder would have readapted to his old life as best he could, and there would have been no room for each other. No room for a rash, obsessive, and exceedingly empty man with a dangerous, all-consuming quest in Scully's life, and no room for Scully's normal life with it's normal vulnerabilities and normal needs in Mulder's life.
When she’s finished (she had a spiel, she’d planned) he just says, Okay Scully. He helps her carry the boxes to her car, shuts her trunk. They say goodbye in the parking garage, Scully’s heels sinking into a puddle. He waves as she pulls out.
This is written exceptionally well. The first time I read it I remember knowing, before reading any further, that this was the end for them. That after this whatever was between them would wither away. It's right there in the writing, in the way things are phrased. They don't "part company", they say goodbye. And there's this seperation already, the way they see themselves in relation to each other: Scully in the car, pulling away, and Mulder standing there in the parking garage, waving goodbye.
Mulder knows, of course, because Mulder would know, the way bonds are broken and people change. He would know that his life is not compatible with the one she's leaving for, and vice versa. As I see it, that's what his quiet, "Okay Scully," means. It means there's nothing for him to argue about or barter for. He knows how this will go, and he understands.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
winterfish
no subject
Date: 2012-02-29 11:24 pm (UTC)When she’s finished (she had a spiel, she’d planned) he just says, Okay Scully. He helps her carry the boxes to her car, shuts her trunk. They say goodbye in the parking garage, Scully’s heels sinking into a puddle. He waves as she pulls out.
This is written exceptionally well. The first time I read it I remember knowing, before reading any further, that this was the end for them. That after this whatever was between them would wither away. It's right there in the writing, in the way things are phrased. They don't "part company", they say goodbye. And there's this seperation already, the way they see themselves in relation to each other: Scully in the car, pulling away, and Mulder standing there in the parking garage, waving goodbye.
Mulder knows, of course, because Mulder would know, the way bonds are broken and people change. He would know that his life is not compatible with the one she's leaving for, and vice versa. As I see it, that's what his quiet, "Okay Scully," means. It means there's nothing for him to argue about or barter for. He knows how this will go, and he understands.
To me it all makes perfect sense.