Story 253: "Lucky" by Peggy Sue

[wendelah1]

Hi, everyone. Does anyone still want to read and discuss fanfic?

I found this story from a new recs community on Tumblr: MSR Archive. It's not an archive in the traditional sense but each entry does have a picture, the author's summary and a short excerpt, as well as the link. It's the only story they've posted so far that I haven't read, but it was good enough to get me posting here again.

But first, a warning. If you hate the William arc, this is may not be the fic for you. It is not a fix-it fic, and it's certainly not a happy family AU, which understandably is what the fandom seems to prefer.

Instead, "Lucky" is future-fic, set post-IWTB. It reminds me a bit of Mulder's extended dream-fantasy from "Amor Fati" about the ordinary life he didn't choose. In this fic, it's Scully who is dreaming of a different life, a life where she didn't leave the FBI to go on the run, a life where together with Mulder, she gets to raise their son, rather than giving him up for adoption.

"She hears a woman in the supermarket bragging into the phone about how her baby is talking at nine months one evening, and she imagines what it'd be like if Will could have talked, could have made noise when he puckered his lips together, trying for 'Ma.' She couldn't have handled that, she doesn't think. She probably would have run away with him."/ Post-IWTB.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Angst/Family - F. Mulder, D. Scully, William - Words: 1,966

Read Lucky.

Comments

[rainatlas.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I'm so glad you're back. I haven't been in the right head space lately for fanfic, so it was nice to take a break, but I was beginning to worry that my nomination broke the book club.

This story is beautiful. The William arc was heartbreaking and tragically mishandled, but I do love fic that can tackle the emotional repercussions since that part was so sorely lacking in the series.

"Bureau of Binvegetagation". Yes.

I also appreciated the open-endedness, not in the sense that things could change, but in the sense that she still has hope for him or being reunited with him in some way. The fact that she panics over the idea of never seeing him before 2012, "What if I never see him again - What if-" is truly tragic, because we can identify with that sentiment, and because we know it's unlikely, but she's still thinking about it nonetheless. What if the end of her dreams mean he's gone? What if the weight of it all really strangles her before she gets her chance? What if 2012 comes? What if? Etc. But what if it doesn't? What if she does get to put her arms around him just one more time? Maybe there's hope.

Do I wish things were different after Field Trip? For sure. I struggle with the William arc but rather than wishing it never happened, I just wish it had been done very differently. What I really hate is the Mulder Abduction/Dies/Returns from the Dead/Goes into Hiding/Goes to Prison Arc. Ugh. And don't get me started with alien babies or super soldiers. But Scully giving William up and continuing on with her life at the FBI? That will never make an ounce of sense to me.

I do love William arc stories like these, and I will look forward to a cancer arc story.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly agree with this post (which I suppose is taking the easy way out). "Lucky" is a tragic story with a happy core, which is what touches the heart. The fantasies of what might have been are both a gift and, perhaps, a curse. It reminds me of the Khyber duo in which the captured and drugged agents somehow dually create a magical, romantic existence. (Names? Forget it. I think one was called "Where I End and You Begin." The story was made of dreams.)

Scully will never give up William. She considers that a blessing. I love how she keeps her wedding ring on the same chain as her cross.

I approve of changing canon when a writer so wishes. So I love stories about William. Penumbra's "Fathoms Five" is an excellent example, though William is almost used as a compensation to Scully for a dreadful personal fate. It is a monumental achievement in our fandom world.

I am not fond of the cancer arc, but I'm reject no good fiction just for of its subject.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Forgive typo in final line.

[wendelah1]

Thank you for giving the story a chance.

Although I'm glad to think Scully hasn't given in to feelings of hopeless despair, I think it's unlikely they would see William again--just as it's unlikely that they could do anything to stop colonization.

These are very incompetent alien overlords. What are they waiting for again? I never understood the myth-arc.