Promises to Keep (X-Files story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Promises to Keep
Author(s):	prufrock's love
Date(s):	September 2000
Length:	210K
Genre:	het, MSR
Fandom:	The X-Files
External Links:	it was here at geocities
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Promises to Keep is an X-Files MSR story by prufrock's love.

Reactions and Reviews

2000

The newest story...Promises to Keep. Considering I'm all Requiemed-out, and just not generally interested in Scully/Skinner...I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this story. (I know, it's still MSR...but, there is a lot of Scully/Skinner in it, too and while I never totally "buy" that combination...this story made me forget that bias for awhile). I remember there was one story that caused some very passionate love/hate reactions a few months back...but, I don't remember which story it was. From the things I've read so far, I've enjoyed them.

This is soooooo depressing, and yet I just can't get enough of prufrock's work. I don't know how this author does it, I'm terrified to read and glued to the page simultaneously. As long as there is a flicker of hope in every ending, I'll keep reading.

2007

Very interesting. A sort of double of Iolokus, although whether it's an evil twin or a good twin I'm not sure. More Skinner, less clones, more cerebral palsy, less ice cream. Also less Marita (thank god). Similar quantities of twins, cats, and slightly-askew domesticity. While the story isn't nearly as good as Iolokus--frankly I would have fallen off my chair with surprise if it had been--it's good enough to be the basis for some interesting comparisons, had I only time to write them out.

The story diverges from canon after "Requiem." Four years later, Scully is struggling to take care of her three-year-old twins, one of whom has cerebral palsy and one of whom has mild developmental delays. She wouldn't be able to manage without Skinner, who stood by her side after Mulder's abduction, and gradually evolved from a boss and a friend into something just a little bit more... Scully's husband in fact. When Mulder is finally returned (unharmed), all three of them have some difficult adjustments to make.

There are definitely some flaws in the story. Mulder and Scully make a few choices that I'm not sure they'd really make. And it wraps up a bit too quickly for my taste, not entirely dealing with the repercussions of one major development in the storyline. (See how carefully I'm trying to avoid spoilers for a story that you'll probably never read? I hope you appreciate this.) Still, I must be a sucker for the realistic-take-on-babyfic genre, because I did definitely enjoy it. The contrast between Mulder and Skinner's styles of parenting is worth the price of admission alone. And I like the summary too:

What happens to a marriage of convenience when it becomes inconvenient? A seriously fractured, quasi-Jewish fairytale.