And baby makes threewendelah1December 29 2007, 21:36:09 UTC
"A minivan, some classic rock, and a trunk full of babygear. All is not as it appears." Well, when you traveling with small children, it rarely is. It was the author's summary that got me to read this story in a genre that is so different from the case files that I love. There are so many little details in this story that feel right to me, and bring the story alive.
The military didn't pack like this for Normandy, he thought. Who knew someone this small would need all this stuff?
As the mother of a formerly small, now very grown up, son, I remember all too well the amount of stuff that must be carted around when traveling with an infant or a toddler.
"A minivan?" was all she could say, the baby balanced on one hip, as he got out.
Back in the day, the mini-van was the vehicle of choice for a new family, and a 1998 tan Dodge Caravan would be so common as to nearly disappear from view. They discuss the cupholders and the miles per gallon.
"Cupholders." She gave him the same look he usually got for coming up with lunatic theories that linked vampires, aliens and Janet Reno's deputy assistant attorney general.
The baby seemed to have the same expression on his face as his mother. Man, heredity was spooky. Mulder nodded. "Twelve of them."
They start the trip and then the songfic part of the story kicks in. Mulder has left on the classical station, which is playing "Scheherezade." Although he has ostensibly left the station on to please her, he can not resist a little poke.
"Have you ever considered that 'Scheherazade' might be the 'Freebird' of the classical music format?"
For a brief second, she didn't answer, and he held his breath. Then he heard her snicker softly. "I like to think of it as the 'How Soon is Now,' frankly."
"You're dating yourself, Scully. The Smiths are *so* '80s."
She ignored him, as he expected. The familiar pattern was comforting, even if she did seem to be going through the motions. "It's a more interesting work than you give it credit for."
This ploy is eventually effective and he gets permission to change the station. He hopes for something upbeat, because as Segretti has been giving us hints of all along, this is not just an ordinary family vacation get-away. It is something more serious and sad, and perhaps, final.
I found the resolution of the William arc to be so heartrending that I resisted even watching the episode for the longest time. In fact, I resisted season nine in its entirety. Those DVDs sat in their box unopened, their owner sticking to her sworn path of "Deny Everything." When I finally broke down and watched the episode, I was shocked at the cruelty of the writers toward Scully.
I avoid babyfic for this reason. It just makes me sad, because I want to believe in a happy ending for the perfect little family that we got to view, so briefly at the end of season eight. I want to believe and I can't. It didn't happen, something else did, something unimaginable to me, as a mother.
In "Belmont, Ohio," Sarah Segretti lets me envision an ending to The X-Files that isn't quite as sad, quite as hopeless, quite as heartless as the one we were left with at the end of "The Truth." I still cried when Mulder starts singing along to "I can see clearly now the rain is gone..." but the tears were not the bitter tears I shed over the loss of William. Although she wrote this before season nine aired, it is not as bleak as it must have appeared when first posted. It is a happy ending, by comparison, and for just a little while, I let myself believe.
Re: And baby makes threeemily_shoreDecember 30 2007, 14:18:36 UTC
I found the resolution of the William arc to be so heartrending that I resisted even watching the episode for the longest time. In fact, I resisted season nine in its entirety. Those DVDs sat in their box unopened, their owner sticking to her sworn path of "Deny Everything." When I finally broke down and watched the episode, I was shocked at the cruelty of the writers toward Scully.
I avoid babyfic for this reason. It just makes me sad, because I want to believe in a happy ending for the perfect little family that we got to view, so briefly at the end of season eight. I want to believe and I can't. It didn't happen, something else did, something unimaginable to me, as a mother.
I haven't watched that episode, and I'm not going to. Cruelty is exactly right, but beyond that I can't see the scenario as psychologically realistic at all. Giving a baby up for adoption at birth? Possible, albeit heartrending. I can imagine Scully doing that in season one, say, if she had gotten pregnant accidentally and been unable as a Catholic to go through with an abortion. But in season nine, after her infertility, and having lost and found Mulder, and having given birth to and raised their baby... no. I can't see that she would ever choose that, and if she had to, it would destroy her.
Re: And baby makes threewendelah1December 30 2007, 19:21:34 UTC
I quite agree. I am sorry to be depressing you. I have been thinking a lot about the end of the series, I suppose, because of the second movie filming. I keep trying to come up with a plausible scenario for M&S to be reinstated (and to have retrieved William) but none comes to mind, unfortunately. They really did a number on my head with the adoption. I can't imagine Scully going on after that, either. I can imagine, though, the torment she was in. She wasn't able to keep William safe. She tried contacting Mulder and only ended up nearly getting him killed in the process. She was between a rock and a hard place. Stupid writers. She was betrayed by her creators.
Well, when you traveling with small children, it rarely is. It was the author's summary that got me to read this story in a genre that is so different from the case files that I love. There are so many little details in this story that feel right to me, and bring the story alive.
The military didn't pack like this for Normandy, he thought. Who knew someone this small would need all this stuff?
As the mother of a formerly small, now very grown up, son, I remember all too well the amount of stuff that must be carted around when traveling with an infant or a toddler.
"A minivan?" was all she could say, the baby balanced on one hip, as he got out.
Back in the day, the mini-van was the vehicle of choice for a new family, and a 1998 tan Dodge Caravan would be so common as to nearly disappear from view. They discuss the cupholders and the miles per gallon.
"Cupholders." She gave him the same look he usually got for coming up with lunatic theories that linked vampires, aliens and Janet Reno's deputy assistant attorney general.
The baby seemed to have the same expression on his face as his mother. Man, heredity was spooky. Mulder nodded. "Twelve of them."
They start the trip and then the songfic part of the story kicks in. Mulder has left on the classical station, which is playing "Scheherezade." Although he has ostensibly left the station on to please her, he can not resist a little poke.
"Have you ever considered that 'Scheherazade' might be the 'Freebird' of the classical music format?"
For a brief second, she didn't answer, and he held his breath. Then he heard her snicker softly. "I like to think of it as the 'How Soon is Now,' frankly."
"You're dating yourself, Scully. The Smiths are *so* '80s."
She ignored him, as he expected. The familiar pattern was comforting, even if she did seem to be going through the motions. "It's a more interesting work than you give it credit for."
This ploy is eventually effective and he gets permission to change the station. He hopes for something upbeat, because as Segretti has been giving us hints of all along, this is not just an ordinary family vacation get-away. It is something more serious and sad, and perhaps, final.
I found the resolution of the William arc to be so heartrending that I resisted even watching the episode for the longest time. In fact, I resisted season nine in its entirety. Those DVDs sat in their box unopened, their owner sticking to her sworn path of "Deny Everything." When I finally broke down and watched the episode, I was shocked at the cruelty of the writers toward Scully.
I avoid babyfic for this reason. It just makes me sad, because I want to believe in a happy ending for the perfect little family that we got to view, so briefly at the end of season eight. I want to believe and I can't. It didn't happen, something else did, something unimaginable to me, as a mother.
In "Belmont, Ohio," Sarah Segretti lets me envision an ending to The X-Files that isn't quite as sad, quite as hopeless, quite as heartless as the one we were left with at the end of "The Truth." I still cried when Mulder starts singing along to "I can see clearly now the rain is gone..." but the tears were not the bitter tears I shed over the loss of William. Although she wrote this before season nine aired, it is not as bleak as it must have appeared when first posted. It is a happy ending, by comparison, and for just a little while, I let myself believe.
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I avoid babyfic for this reason. It just makes me sad, because I want to believe in a happy ending for the perfect little family that we got to view, so briefly at the end of season eight. I want to believe and I can't. It didn't happen, something else did, something unimaginable to me, as a mother.
I haven't watched that episode, and I'm not going to. Cruelty is exactly right, but beyond that I can't see the scenario as psychologically realistic at all. Giving a baby up for adoption at birth? Possible, albeit heartrending. I can imagine Scully doing that in season one, say, if she had gotten pregnant accidentally and been unable as a Catholic to go through with an abortion. But in season nine, after her infertility, and having lost and found Mulder, and having given birth to and raised their baby... no. I can't see that she would ever choose that, and if she had to, it would destroy her.
Enough said. I am depressing myself.
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