FIC: Sweet Nothings For The Numb (X-Files, NC-17)

[amalnahurriyeh]

Title: Sweet Nothings For The Numb
Author: Amal Nahurriyeh
Summary: The journey from Emily's funeral back to DC: A Tragedy in Three Parts.
Pairing: MSR.
Rating: NC-17: Highly angsty and not very romantic sex.
Warnings: ( skip) I don't see any dubcon here, but this is not sex the participants are gleeful about having. Discussions of infertility

Comments

[hummingfly67]

Dark and sad and poignant, and yet, there is still an element of hope.

But she lives her life in a world where she is forced to investigate ten impossible things between breakfast and lunch, where the unexplainable is a regular occurance, where the strange occupies the jump seat in the back of any number of rented Tauruses. And it is because of that life that she is absolutely convinced that the one man in the world who could impregnate her when it is impossible is Mulder. That motherfucker, who knew how this had happened and never thought to mention it, who did what she asked him to and sulked about it ever since she found Emily; he is her curse and her salvation in equal parts, the answer to the problems he himself has caused.

I had this brilliant (probably not, but I'd like to think it was) comment about this paragraph in particular, and the story itself, but I had to leave for a few minutes and all is lost in the ether.

I did remember that the out of eggs/so's yours sister bit, which is honestly tragic, made me laugh. Because

[amalnahurriyeh]

If you ever get your brilliant thought back, I'd love to hear it--that paragraph was a hard one for me to put together, in part because there's a subtle illogic to it, an illogic that is Not Very Scully but is also, simultaneously, how you think when you are very, very hurt.

I felt very smart when I realized I had written eggs into the scene which meant I could make an egg joke. Oh, I am a loser. ;)

Thanks so much!

[sangria_lila]

Oh, thank you for writing this fic. I've never made much of the Emily arc and always just dismissed it as bad writing, but this fic really did so much to explain it. It likes Scully have her anger without cheapening her, and the detail and the clarity, gah!

There are fics I read in fandom that I do for guilty pleasure. There are fics I read just to fill in the gaps and make the show better for me. And then there are the few fics that transcend the entire genre of fanfic and actually inspire me as just a work of art. This is one of them.

[amalnahurriyeh]

I'm honored by your comment--and so glad that it worked for you.

[dashakay]

Oh my god, Amal. That just fucking destroyed me. I don't think that LJ allows enough room in comments for me to pick out all the lines that were wonderful and soul searing, so I'll just say that this is the best story I've ever read that deals with the aftermath of Emily. Seriously. Every word was there for a reason, and each word lead effortlessly to the next.

This story is going in my personal pantheon of favorite XF stories. Hell, favorite stories, period. I bow at your feet.

[amalnahurriyeh]

While I apologize for destroying you, that was, kinda, what I was going for. ;) I have to say, very little immediate-post-Emily fic is any good--the ones that do a real job of dealing with the effects are the giant pieces like Iolokus or Arizona Highways, which have to pull focus out in order to function. I wanted to get close.

Also to write some porn.

Thank you, dear!

[mack_the_spoon]

Ohhhh, Scully.
And oh, Mulder.

This is shatteringly in-character and sad and yet with just a hint of hope that their real relationship brings. It hurt, but in such a true way.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Yeah, this is a real 'OW OW OW OWWWWW' story, huh? I'm glad it rings true for you.

[namarie24]

*is nearly speechless*

This is just achingly, painfully gorgeous. I keep trying to think of something else to say to communicate how gorgeous it is, but I can't. Just... amazing.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Thank you so much!