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

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

(I have no idea why this post showed up on my Friends List and when I first tried to comment it said I wasn't a member of the comm and I had to re-join. Weirdness.)

Anyway, I loved this story so much. (Of COURSE they named the turtle "Whale"!)

The older I get and the more of other people's children I see and spend time with, the sadder the whole William-arc is to me. I couldn't stand the writers even introducing this ridiculous storyline in the first place. But once they did, the way they ended it was beyond inexcusable. There are so many eps of these later seasons that I have not even had the strength to watch again because they were so awful in that regard.

But since they did introduce it, I wish they had at least dealt with it all. Even if it was as gut wrenching as this, that would have been believable.

Even though we know from the start these are all dreams, we linger on the sweet moments because... we know that's how it should have been.

And even when reality intrudes and it's all ripped away, at least the pain is acknowledged and we're left with an opening to imagine an "after", where things might change...

or maybe that's my own wishful thinking. Either way, it's open-ended in that sense. And that's good enough for me.

Wonderful story. Thanks for the rec. I'm way burned out on fic in general these days. (Especially because my eyes are having trouble and it's hard to read on a screen. I can't believe I used to do that for HOURS on end!) But I am glad I took a chance on this one!

[bachlava.livejournal.com]

I definitely still want to read and discuss fanfic. That said, you know I think the William arc just never happened. ;)

[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.

[discordantwords.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you posted this. Lovely and sad, but a bittersweet sort of sad because ultimately Scully is ok, Mulder is ok, and William is (presumably) ok.

The daydreams were lovely little slices of family life that were sweet without being saccharine (which is the primary reason I usually avoid kidfic.) I found myself nodding along as I read, thinking yeah, it could have been like this. Why wasn't it like this? Out of all the things that made little sense in seasons 8-9, Mulder abruptly leaving to go on the run is at the top of my list. Followed very closely by Scully choosing to give William up for adoption. Yes, certainly the best way to keep your targeted-by-cultists, possibly alien-powered child safe is to foist him off onto two people who have absolutely no idea what they are getting themselves into. I wish they'd handled Duchovny's absence better, I wish they'd exited Mulder and Scully together at the end of season 8, hell, I wish they'd ended the show with Requiem.

Still writing!

[suzanne feld (from livejournal.com)]

Just wanted to let you know that we have an XF fanfic writer's group on Facebook if anyone would like to join. There are still a few of us writers out there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/779354792141178/

As far as William stories, I've written a few though I'm not usually into baby or childfic. I hate the way that his storyline played out on the show and have written a/u stories about it. I'm definitely going to check out Lucky.