Story 222: "The Laws of Coming and Going" by Buckingham

[wendelah1]

I love this story. I love everything Buckingham has written, so I don't know why we have only done one of her stories. This fic is set during season eight, sometime after "Dead Alive." Summary: Life after death.

"Tell me again," he says. His voice sounds coarse and needy even to his own ears, but somehow he's unashamed. "Please."

She's told him all of it already, a couple of times actually. He's heard about the wet, gritty snow and tough, dry flowers, how Frohike cried loudly and openly, like someone was tearing at his skin or ripping his fingernails off one by one, how her mother held her hand in a bone-crunching grip the entire time, as if she feared that Scully would slip through the cold earth to meet him, how the air was heavy with the smell of flames and it turned out that there was a house on fire, just five blocks from the cemetery, how Skinner's face was like stone, unmoving and unseeing, but his eyes held a wet glimmer of guilt, how Scully threw up in a dingy motel bathroom just before the car picked her up for the cemetery and how the baby just seemed like a heavy thing in her gut that day, an unbearable, painful weight.

She tells him it all once again, weaving her story of heartbreak, horror and hell with the same chilling seriousness that she used to deliver her case reports.

Yeah, it's melancholy. It suits my mood right now.

You can send email to this author. Please do, as the last I heard she was still working on a season seven story. I have also heard that feedback from readers encourages our writers to persevere. And we'd like to hear from you too, so please let us know what you think.

The nomination post is always open for business.

The link is to an archived copy, but if it goes down, or you prefer old-school text file formatting, you can find this story at Gossamer.

Read "The Laws of Coming and Going".

Comments

[xphileangel.livejournal.com]

Perfect for a day home with the flu. I adore her work as well great rec, and yes, feedback is always a good idea.

[wendelah1]

I hope you are feeling better now and that you enjoyed the story.

[jouissant.livejournal.com]

Oh, this made my heart hurt. In a good way. Kind of.

[wendelah1]

It's a hard time in canon, for Mulder and Scully. Those last two seasons. Yikes.

I just reread the story (this week has crazy for me) and wanted to add that the reason for me that this hurts so much is that we already know what's coming for them.

He wants to tell that he's stayed away
because he couldn't stand leaving again, couldn't stand losing her one more
time. He wants to tell her that he finally realizes where it is he does fit -
with her, anywhere with her. He wants to hold her, tell her that it's all going
to be all right, that she doesn't have to be afraid anymore, that he'll protect
her from anyone or thing that tries to lay a hand on her or the baby.

Mulder is filled with hope, which makes reading those lines so heart-breaking. The next thing we know, he's gone again. And then they lose William. And then they lose everything--except each other.

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

What a great season 8 story. I personally don't like anything after season 7 (fanfic or actual show) but this was really great. Mostly because I like it when writers write Mulder like he is... kind of an asshole. In most msr he is sweet and always thinking of Scully and pining for her, but we know that ain't really Mulder. Mulder acts like an jerk on regular occasion, and he is not easy to love. That's not to say he doesn't love Scully, but he's defiantly not some over the top romantic that we sometimes wish he was.
"The Laws of Coming and Going" addresses Mulder's coming back to the world and trying to find his place. It's easy to mistake his actions for bitterness and indifference, but when we really look at what he does we find that he is trying to adjust to his new life.
I still don't like anything after Requiem. I don't know if others feel this way, but I wish they would have ended the series there.

[wendelah1]

It is a great season 8 story, one of my favorites along with Revely's "The Unfinished Universe." I might even like this story better because it follows canon more closely.

I hear what you are saying about most MSR. There is a lot of very syrupy stuff out there, although we try hard to avoid that here. I think Buckingham finds a good balance. Mulder is thinking a lot about Scully in this story. But he's thinking about the Scully he remembers, not the one he found when he returned. It's clear that he's in love with that Scully but that he has no idea what to make of the woman who is eight and a half months pregnant with his child. He can barely acknowledge that he bears any responsibility for the baby; even though he's going to Lamaze classes with her, it's clear he's just going through the motions. There are fans who give Mulder a hard time for his behavior through the end of season eight and he is acting like an asshole much of the time. Certainly he's been through a lot. PTSD accounts for some of his actions. But the rest? That's all Mulder. He is who he is. He never really changes, not through all nine seasons and even the second film. Scully's character really gets the best arc; over the course of the series, she changes and evolves.

I wish they'd ended the series with "Requiem," too.

[xphileangel.livejournal.com]

what you said.....yes! I could just gag on some of the stuff that is out right now....and Buckingham does avoid that. And ITA Mulder is Mulderish always.

[mementox.livejournal.com]

I liked this, it was so true-to-character for Mulder.

This part made me sad:

"Head thrown back, he imagines that Scully will return from the bathroom her old self - no pregnant stomach, no weepy eyes, no mournful smile - and they'll get into his car to drive, drive, drive, in pursuit of some dark mystery or another. "

... because that's exactly what I wanted in seasons 8/9 :(

[wendelah1]

It does feel very in character for Mulder, doesn't it? I think Buckingham really gets Mulder. I'm less convinced by her Scully, but then we only see her through Mulder's eyes in this, and he is clearly an unreliable narrator.

... because that's exactly what I wanted in seasons 8/9 :(

I wasn't happy with the direction the show went in during the last two seasons. They had a chance to make it right with the second movie and completely blew it. The writers never give us Mulder and Scully as true partners again. The shippers get their wish; the series goes down the drain.

My only consolation is that bad canon makes for good fanfiction.

[mementox.livejournal.com]

"The writers never gave us Mulder and Scully as true partners again."

YES, exactly. I considered myself a shipper and always wanted them together, but I was also a preteen and teenager at the time (and personally in love with DD, lol). Now that I'm an adult, if I could go back and change the show, I don't even know if I would have been a "shipper" in the widely understood definition of the word.. I really like M&S as partners, riding in the car chasing monsters, with the UST and banter that came with it. They're so much MORE than just a romantic couple... the kisses in Existence and The Truth almost felt cheap and out of character. I almost think CC didn't realize what a perfect partnership he had created, and then you add the crazy chemistry DD and GA have and he just didn't know what to do with it.

As for seasons 8 and 9, I STILL haven't watched most of s9, even though I have the DVD set. I know I should, my husband is always saying "how can you be a big fan if you haven't seen all of the show?"... but s9 makes me sad :-/ I didn't know this before, but the other day I was reading that they were planning on making a season 10 with just Doggett and Reyes. WHAT?! I know that the show was their job and that's where they make money but damn, where is your creative integrity? I'm also a LOST fan, and the end of that show was also somewhat of a hot mess, but at least they had a set number of seasons and a set storyline that they wanted to tell. Shows just go off the rails when they keep trying to milk them like a cash cow.

I don't even want to talk about the second movie, lol. I saw it at midnight, during Comic Con here in SD, and after the movie all these people were gushing about how good it was and I was like, this is the worst possible movie CC could've given us. I stopped posting at the Idealist Haven boards because I posted a bad review of the movie and everyone jumped on me and said I wasn't a real fan. Crazy ass shippers.

Anyway now that I have ranted I feel better :) if you or anyone else has any fic recs that are as in-character as this one, I'm all ears! I especially love angst. :)

[wendelah1]

YES, exactly. I considered myself a shipper and always wanted them together, but I was also a preteen and teenager at the time (and personally in love with DD, lol). Now that I'm an adult, if I could go back and change the show, I don't even know if I would have been a "shipper" in the widely understood definition of the word.. I really like M&S as partners, riding in the car chasing monsters, with the UST and banter that came with it. They're so much MORE than just a romantic couple... the kisses in Existence and The Truth almost felt cheap and out of character. I almost think CC didn't realize what a perfect partnership he had created, and then you add the crazy chemistry DD and GA have and he just didn't know what to do with it.

This comes very close to how I feel, although I think I was fine with the kissing by the eighth season. A canon ship is a canon ship. And the characters had been through so much together. I didn't want them to end up alone, you know?

But yes, they were so much more than just a romantic couple. They were epic, the ship to sink all other ships. They deserved a better ending than they were given, by far.

You should not blame your teenage hormones for your shipper feelings. Plenty of fully adult women and men felt exactly the same way, including the Duchovny adoration. Plenty still do...

And I still haven't watched most of season nine. Yes, I own the dvds, too.

You asked for "in character" fanfic recs. The problem is that means something different to each of us: each writer, and each reader. My Mulder seems perfectly in character to me. You might not agree.

My favorite writer is Kel, but I also love Amalnahurriyeh, and Fialka, cofax, Penumbra, and many others. There are so many good writers. You will find your own favorites, writers whose creative visions come close your own for the characters. The fun is just beginning.

The less said the better about some of the fans at Haven. There is no excuse for their behavior.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I always wanted Mulder and Scully to be together--guess you'd call me a finis shipper--but the show failed terribly in handling the relationship. Once CC knew that he had a powerful sexual chemistry in his actors, writers had carte blanche to exploit that within limits. But the actual resolution of their relationship turned soggy, as did everything else. (The Brits would say "went pear-shaped," which is a phrase I love though don't quite understand. Could it refer to Scully's pregnancy!!) Being eternally teenage in my approach, I would say that the kisses were unsatisfactory because they expressed a reverent respect but no lust! CC was such a prude. DD could have corrected that situation, but by that time he had lost interest and was virtually detached from influencing the show.

The movies have gone downhill. I expect no third.

Kel and Amal have both written fics that resolve things more satisfactorally.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I apologize for my amateur handling of the ital icon.

[sophie brown (from livejournal.com)]

I really enjoyed that one too, I like the darker fics. So many XF fanfics are light, fluffy pieces (and I do love those too) but the show was so much darker and more twisted than that, and so were were Mulder & Scully, especially by the end. Those were two deeply damaged people and it's good to see a fic that reflects that part of them without turning them into deranged sociopaths.

[wendelah1]

I try to present a balance here. I wouldn't say I prefer one type of fanfic over the other. My favorite stories have elements of comedy and tragedy in them, in the same way that the series does. Kel's writing is the best example of that, imho.

I understand the impulse to write them as deranged psychopaths. Scully does crazy stuff but only when she's under the influence of the Consortium. But Mulder does stuff that should get him kicked out of the FBI, if not committed to a mental institution, and on a fairly regular basis.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

You're talking about Paper Hearts!

[wendelah1]

Man, I hate that episode. I couldn't even finish it the last time I tried, I got so angry at Mulder. That's Mulder at his absolute monomaniacal worst, but there are plenty of other episodes where his behavior is dangerous, illegal and/or crazy. "Deep Throat," "Demons," and "Fallen Angel" are three more that come readily to mind. The actual list is far longer.

[wendelah1]

I love this story. I think this passage best illustrates why:

The way she smiles up at him as he sits down, so patient and lovely, makes him want to throw himself at her feet and beg for forgiveness. He wants to spend hours explaining to her that he was just scared, for her and what might have been done to her, for the baby and what it could be used for, for himself and all the memories of ships lost among the stars and the cold, dead earth that might come back to him at any moment. He wants to tell that he's stayed away because he couldn't stand leaving again, couldn't stand losing her one more time. He wants to tell her that he finally realizes where it is he does fit - with her, anywhere with her. He wants to hold her, tell her that it's all going to be all right, that she doesn't have to be afraid anymore, that he'll protect her from anyone or thing that tries to lay a hand on her or the baby. He wants to tell her that he loves her, has always loved her, that he loved her all the
way up in that lonely, black sky and from that pine box deep in the ground, even if he can't remember it. Loving her is too much a part of who he is to ever be
really lost.

He doesn't say any of those things, though. He hopes that she already knows.

It redeems the things about season eight that annoyed me: how they never addressed Mulder's experiences and how it had to have affected him, how difficult it had to have been for them both to navigate the unfamiliar territory of impending parenthood without ever having been a couple, at least on screen. Dumping that revelation on the audience and then never addressing it? Chris Carter, you are an idiot.

The writing here is lushly romantic, even lyrical, with a grace and flow that many aim for and few achieve.

I cannot tell you much I want and need that season seven story she's got sitting unfinished on her hard drive.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I always thought this was a real good story by a real good writer. Sorry, but I had no time to reread.

[wendelah1]

That's okay! I think I might send her some more feedback even though she didn't answer my last email. Is that stalkerish? I really want that season seven fic of hers to get finished. Of course, Kel never answered my emails either. Oh well. I still love her. Nothing will change that.

I'm trying to think of something lighter to read.