FICTION: Just Breathe

Sometimes the easiest things in life are still learned the hard way...

Who would have thought that the very unlikely story (dreamed up by William B. Davis) of a dirty old man lusting after a young woman would result in my creation of JUST BREATHE? But that's exactly what happened. Were it not for En Ami, this story would not exist.

Dana Scully once told Mulder that "without the FBI, personal interest is all that I have... and if you take that away, then there is no reason for me to continue". Think of that line when you consider that very powerful scene in Mulder's apartment towards the end of Mr. Davis' episode. Mulder is framed in a doorway, tall, perhaps overbearing. Scully is sitting down, perhaps as low as she can possibly be. She looks up at him, but he doesn't look at her. The disk that she risked her life to get turns out to be nothing.

I have read many interpretations of Mulder's refusal to meet Scully's eyes in this scene. I've read that he was pouting, that he was pissed off, that he was hurt, etc. He could be all of those things at once, but I have a more complex take on it that I explore in this post-ep story.

I'd also like to point out for the record — for those who are of the opinion that Mulder had no right being "whatever" in this scene when he has ditched Scully numerous times in the past with no word at all — that this was not about a mere "ditch". Mulder and Scully from season one or even season four are not the same individuals to one another as they are in season seven. When Mulder says, "the only thing I can't figure out is why you're still alive", it's very telling.