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

[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.