Fic Recs: 1x23 The Erlenmeyer Flask

[wendelah1]

There were more than 30 stories posted in the Gossamer spoilers for this episode, and I searched FF.net and AO3, yet these three recs are all I could come up with. For me to rec a story, there has to be something unique about it, something that makes me think I'll want to read it again someday. For a post-ep story, the bar is set even higher: I want to see the writer dealing with what happened in the episode itself, preferably with something in addition to feelings, sex, and/or a nice cup of tea.

For "The Erlenmeyer Flask," I wanted to see Scully mourning her friend, the scientist from Georgetown, and maybe even attending her funeral. I wanted Scully thinking as a scientist about what they'd discovered: the virus, the extraterrestrial DNA, the alien fetus. I wanted a story where Scully tries to figure out what happened to Mulder's eyes, maybe looking into a possible connection to the virus in Purity Control. I know Mulder is feeling discouraged about losing the X-Files, but once he was over the initial shock, would a man like him go down without a fight? Wouldn't Mulder at least try to contact his supporters on the Hill? Even though I've written it myself, I get impatient with fix-it fics that try to smooth everything over in 2000 words or less. So much MSR is just too damned—nice. Mulder and Scully are many things, but they are not nice. At the very least, a writer needs to show me something I don't already know about these characters.

Like the label says, "At Sea, At Anchor" is an origin story for Mulder's fish tank, which according to the author makes its first appearance as a plot device in "Little Green Men." She is the fan who posts Mapping the X-Files.

At Sea, At Anchor (3496 words) by Apostrophic
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Trent (Scully’s godson)
Additional Tags: Friendship, Mulder’s goldfish, Season 01-02, Episode: s01e24 The Erlenmeyer Flask, Episode: s02e01 Little Green Men
Summary:

Everyone he came to trust, to love, to need— it ended one way.

An origin story for, of all things, some goldfish. Maybe Scully has something to do with how Mulder acquires his fish tank. Post-S1, pre-S2.

Have any of you ever wondered what might have happened if they'd decided to include Gillian Anderson's pregnancy in their first and second season storylines instead of writing around it? "The Way Things Are" is one writer's take on that idea.

"The Way Things Are" by Sukie Tawdry
Rated NC-17 | 139K | Category S | Archived 03-01-31
Spoilers: Season 1
Keywords: Alternate universe.
Summary: One night and their whole lives were changed forever.

I got this rec off of fic talk back in the day. One of the participants called it her guilty pleasure story. True confession: it's mine, too. The premise is a simple one: Mulder and Scully have one night of drunken, unprotected sex during first season, resulting in Scully getting pregnant, so I guess you'd have to call it AU. *cough*

But "The Way Things Are" isn't romantic or sappy; instead, it is funny and incisive, poignant and scary; heck, it's even in character, once you get past the drunken sex scene. First season is the only time I ever thought they had a shot at a normal relationship, not that this is exactly a normal life. The writer just nails that season one early partnership vibe, even as it's being complicated by an unexpected pregnancy. The link is to her page at Gossamer.

"Dirty Girls" by Tesla
Rating: PG
Genre: Profiler!Mulder. Gen with hints of UST.
Summary: One teenaged girl has been found dead; another is reported missing. Skinner sends Scully and Mulder to Walter's Cove, Kentucky to assist local law enforcement with the investigation. Set during season one. (Wendelah's note: the summary is mine. This fic was written for my contribution to Help Haiti. It was originally posted as a WIP on LiveJournal.)

I love Tesla's writing. She has a lucid, flowing style. Her characterization of Mulder is particularly strong. She gives us a confident, competent, and sexy Mulder, which is a pleasant change from most Profiler!Mulder fic. This is set during season one so the UST is...unresolved, just the way I like it.

Season One is finally done. There are a couple of episodes without fic recs for which I have posted placeholders. If a great fanfic for, say, "Roland" gets written, I will make sure to update those posts.

Comments

[ml_griffonnage]

I'm not sure I've read any of these before; if I did, it was a long time ago. The pregnant Scully fic was great for the banter -- I felt it was really true to the characters.

I really enjoyed Tesla's story, too. I like pretty much anything Tesla writes.

"At Sea, At Anchor" was very good. I'm assuming it's recent - the author name is unfamiliar to me. Glad s/he and Tesla are on AO3 so I could leave kudos.