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

[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.

[wendelah1]

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 agree with both of your statements. I have many reasons for avoiding kidfic but syrupy sweet versions of Mulder, Scully and their progeny head the list. On the one hand, I get why people want to write them and read them--they're an antidote to the horror that was inflicted on the characters we love so much. But an entire novella about Mulder and Scully going to Lamaze class or adopting orphaned children? What does that have to do with The X-Files? Maybe if the fanfics had been funny or witty or had a version of Mulder and Scully I could recognize...

But this story manages to navigate the rocky shoals of babyfic quite successfully. It neither avoids the painful reality of canon nor wallows in it. This is rare.

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.

Someone wrote a fic in which Charlie and his wife temporarily adopted William, taking on the identity of the canon couple who adopted him, knowing full-well what they were getting into. I thought that worked. I wish I would remember who wrote it.

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.

Me, too. I think everyone but the diehard fans of season 8 and 9 would agree with us. I can see now that the ending of "Requiem" was poignant and gave both characters what they wanted: Mulder got his aliens and Scully got a second chance at a normal life.

Thank you. I'm glad you gave the fic a chance. It depresses me when folks don't bother with the fanfic, and the discussion turns into yet another referendum on "William." Again, I get it. Everyone hates the episode, no one more than I. But I wanted to talk about the writing as well.

[snarkybando.livejournal.com]

It might just be the stage of life I'm in (late 20s and ambivalent about kids myself), but I just can't do anything that involves the William arc. I just put myself in her place too easily, and it's too personally painful to read.

It's the same reason why I avoid almost all of RivkaT's output, no matter how well-written or interesting, because the subject matter is just so devastating to me.

[wendelah1]

Fortunately, there's a lot of XF fanfic out there, so there's something for everyone. You can avoid all William- related posts pretty easily here, and RivkaT, too.