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irondad-creator-awards · 3 years

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The Nominations So Far (Kinda)

Some of you have been asking to see who’s nominated in which category, so I’m putting up what I’ve done so far. This is by no means everyone nominated, as we’ve had 96 submissions to the form, and I’m not going to be able to log them all until nominations close. But if you’ve been contacted to say you’re up for an award, you should be listed below...

Good Luck to everyone nominated x

1. THE ONE THAT MADE YOU GASP! — A story which had a plot twist you didn’t see coming. Something that caught you so off guard that you had to stop a minute and take a breath before devouring the rest. What’s the story for you?

A Peter Parker Problem by Spagbol99

Chaotic Peter Parker by Isnt_It_Pretty_To_Think_So

Cycle Through by Ambivalentangst

Ever In Your Favor by Iron_Spider

Irondad Ficlets by Ironxprince

Like Father, Like Son by An_Odd_Idea

Love Leaves A Memory No-One Can Steal by Ironmum

More Peril In Thine Eye by Iron_Spider

No Longer In Service by Starryknight09

Proof Of Concept by Flurrbee

Serenity by Jolinarjackson

Spidey Tot by Kevy_Grayce

Stab Me In The Back (I'll Catch You From Behind) by Lansfics7

Stop, Look, Listen by Forthenightisdarkandfullofterror

2. THE MULTI-CHAPTER YOU COULDN’T PUT DOWN — A story which kept you up all night or calling in sick for work so you were free to read. Who’s the culprit?

A Parent Apparent by Happyaspie

A Peter Parker Problem by Spagbol99

A Sailor Went To Sea by by Yellowdistress

Air I Breathe by Heartofcathedrals

And You’ll Blow Us All Away by Losingmymindtonight

Astronomy In Reverse by Pansley

Come My Darling, Homeward Bound by Iamirondad

Every Beautiful Lie (Always Has An Ugly Truth by Da_Moose

Five Times Tony And Peter Chaotically Cleaned by Ironmum

I Will Carry You (Always) by Thestarvingwriter

Identity Crisis by Kitcat992

If They All Knew About You by Mshermia

In Unlikely Places by Looneylizzie

Irondad Ficlets by Ironxprince

Mr. Parker Declined To Commentby Apisdn

Pain Will Always Come Back To Haunt You by Kevy_Grayce

Permanence by Theexhaustedalchemist

Pieces Of Echoes by Geekymoviemom

Proof Spiderman Loves Clickbait by Mauvera

The Lost And Forgotten by Lizcraz

3. THE ONE-SHOT THAT THAT HAD YOU HOOKED — Some writers can cram more greatness into less words than a 100k monster. What’s the one-shot that did it for you?

5 Times Peter Sleepwalked And The 1 Time He Pretended He Did by Losingmymindtonight

Countless Ways To Say I Love You by Hopeless_Hope

Familiar Faces by Happyaspie

First Wednesday Of March by The Case Of The Missing Museum Bea-Storer

Fitting In (Tiny Spaces) by Aloneintherain

I Can Hold The Weight Of Worlds (If That's What You Need) by Bluesweatshirt

I Promise I'll Do Better by 221broadwayiron

I Will Soften Every Edge by Losingmymindtonight

Petey And The Hermit by Eccentric_Artist_221b

Something Here Will Eventually Have To Explode by Madasthesea

What You're Feeling Is Probably Normal by Finny3120

4. THE BEST THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES — A drabble (under 1k) can pack in all the goodness that you need in a coffee break read. What’s that story for you?

Butter Me Up by Iron_Spider

Cuddle Bug by Marvelous_Writer

Food At Home by Aimaim94

Insomniacs In The Dark by Littlemissagrifina

Irondad Cuddles by Lilacsoulw

Let The Mind Games Begin by Ironmum

5. THE BIODAD THAT TOUCHED YOUR HEART — Some of the greatest stories flip canon and make Tony Peter’s biological father. Be it baby Peter taking his first steps or Tony dealing with the fact his son is following in his superhero footsteps as Spider-Man, which is the one you loved most of all?

An Abstract Concept by Iron-Spider

Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Just Get It by Savana_Marlark

Built From Scraps by Peter Stank

Happy Hogan Never Forgets A Face by Jen27ny

Hardest Lessons (Softest Results) by Mainstreamelectricalparade

If They Knew All About You by Mshermia

My Little Bambino by Maicaly

Return To Me, The One I Love So Endlessly by Superherotiger

Slow Down, Start Again From The Beginning by Cassiecasyl

Sound Logic by Aytheria

Spiderson by Emily_F6

Stars, Hide Your Fires by Yellowdistress.

The Less Than Secret Life by Yellowdistress

The Ties That Bind Us by Winterturtle

They Say Boys Don't Cry (But Your Dad Has Shed A Lot Of Tears) by Tempestaurora

What’s In A Name? by Geekymoviemom

6. THE ONE WITH THE FIELD TRIP — The field trip trope is one of the most popular in the fandom. What’s the story that you think pulls all the elements together to make it great?

A Different Take by Cyberwolfwrites

Constant Internal [Spider] Screaming: Semi-Connected Scenes From A Graduating Senior’s Life by Isadancurtisproduction

Field Trip by Inkinmyheartandonthepage

Field Trip Flip by Happyaspie

I Don’t Want To Talk About It Anymore by Bees_And_Wasps

Mr Stark Enough For You? (Another Field Trip Fic Bcs We Dont Have Enough) by Livinei

Neon Liar (Hiding In Plain Sight) by Isadancurtisproduction

No Reason To Go by Pokegeek151

Tower Of Donuts And Doubts by Platinumdollz

Who Is He? by Velarisstars

7. THE TIME AFTER TIME ONE — There’s some great time travel stories out there, but which is your favorite?

Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Just Get It by Savana_Marlark

Every Beautiful Lie (Always Has An Ugly Truth) by Da_Moose

I Have Time by Peterparkr

The End Is Just A New Beginning by Tytach

The Time Traveler’s Mentor by Iamirondad

Whatever It Takes by Starryknight09

8. THE ONE WITH ALL THE OWIES — Another massively popular Irondad trope is hurt/comfort, and there’s some amazing stuff out there. Which is the one that you love most of all?

A Peter Parker Problem by Spagbol99

Air I Breathe by Heartofcathedrals

Be Weak by Fluencca

But What Is Grief? by Odd_1

Danger Pizza by Alice_In_Ink

Darkness Will Be Rewritten by Marveal

Dude, Do These Tacos Taste Funny To You? by First_Page

Follow The North Star Home by Fallingforbees

Foolish, Fragile Spine by Plnkblue

Outnumbered by Heartofcathedrals

Sometimes It’s Easier To Just Swim Down by Mjscorner

The Room Where It Happens by Notapartytrick

We All Chase After A Few Dying Stars by Losingmymindtonight

What I Have, I Give To You by Aatticsaltt

When My Body Won't Hold Me Anymore (Where Will I Go) by Madasthesea

Your Heart Changed (Mine Stayed The Same) by Loisselina (Loisselina)

9. THE ONE THAT HURTS SO GOOD — We all like a bit of angst sometimes, so what’s the story that you wanted to hide from but you had to keep reading to get to the happy ending?

Built From Scraps by Peterstank

Cycle Through by Ambivalentangst

Fifteen Years In The Making by Potts89

Held On As Tightly As You Held On To Me by Itsreallylaterightnow And Killerqueenwrites

I Need You To Be Free by Marveal

I Promise I'll Do Better by 221broadwayiron

If You Listen You Can Hear The Ibis by Yellowedistress

Let's Get On With Living (While We Can) by Almond_Blossoms

Love Leaves A Memory No-One Can Steal by Ironmum

May Parker's Complete Guide On How To Raise Your Spiderling by Embarrassing_Myself

More Peril In Thine Eye by Iron_Spider

Of Flying And Falling by Polaroid15

Sunlight by Ardenskyeholmes221

The Room Where It Happens by Notapartytrick

When Trauma Comes Knocking by Kevy_Grayce

10. THE ONE THAT SOOTHES THE PAIN — What’s the story that you go to when you need a pick-me-up after the angst?

5 Times A Spider-Baby Got Dad Smooched by Buckets_Of_Stars

5 Times Peter Made Tony Laugh Out Loud by Grilledcheesing

5 Times Tony Stark Protected Penny Parker by Emily_F6

Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Just Get It by Savana_Marlark

Bitch Better Have My Money by Neicy286

Career Day: A Short Story by Shewritesall

Early Childhood Education by Thedisneyoutsider

Five Times Peter And Tony Chaotically Cleaned by Ironmum

Hardest Lessons (Softest Results) by Mainstreamelectricalparade

I Can Hold The Weight Of The Worlds (If That's What You Need) by Bluesweatshirt

Instant Kill Mode by Isnt_It_Pretty_To_Think_So

Kids These Days by Isnt_It_Pretty_To_Think_So

The Road So Far by Nicolemoon8

No More Lonely by Shewritesall

Petey And The Hermit by Eccentric_Artist_221b

That's How You And I Will by Frostysunflowers

What You're Feeling Is Probably Normal by Finny3120

Whatever It Takes by Starryknight90

11. THE ONE WITHOUT A HOME TO GO TO — There’s some wonderful homeless Peter stories out there, so which is the one you were blown away by?

A Difference In Husbandry by Happy_Cloud

After The Landslide by Freyaatterton

Distracted by A Dime by Happyaspie

I Told You I Had Issues by Bergen

Is It Too Much To Ask For Home That Lasts? Ft. Peter Parker by Wakandaforever2357

The Little Things (That I Miss) by Da_Moose

The Third Option by Uncertainty_Principle

Unexpected (Everything I Never Knew I Wanted) by Moonchild2593

12. THE ONE THAT’S A WHOLE NEW WORLD — There’s lots of imaginative AUs in Irondad fic. Whether it’s Steve and Tony as baseball players or Pepper being Peter’s mom, which one is your number one?

A Guardian Among Us by Superherotiger

A Soul's Best Friend by Superherotiger

Ever In Your Favor by Iron_Spider

Have Patience, A Quick Wit, And A Gentle Heart by Ironfamjam

I Battle My Jerk Step-Dad by Andromath

Petey And The Hermit by Eccentric_Artist_221b

Sea Spider by Bean_Reads_Fanfic

Spidey Tot by Kevy_Grayce

Though Everything Is A Miracle by Overtures

Until It Disappeared From Me by Ashleyparker2815

When I Am On Your Shoulders by Ladyblackwater

You Mispronounced Spider by Lliblo

13. THE TWEAKING THE SETTINGS ONE — There’s things we all wish we could change in canon — *cough* Endgame *cough* — so which canon divergence does it for you?

5 Times Peter Made Tony Laugh Out Loud by Grilledcheesing

Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Just Get It by Savana_Marlark

Beautiful Boy by Emily_Davison

Bittersweet by Kevy_Grayce

Built From Scraps by Peterstank

I Will Restore All That Was Broken by Killerqueenwrites

May Parker's Complete Guide On How To Raise Your Spiderling by Embarrassing_Myself

Moulded Minds by Wingswithstrings

Pieces Of Echoes by Geekymoviemom

The End Of Infinity by Friendlyneighborhoodfangirls

The Returned by Nicolemoon8

What Was Missing Was You by Happyaspie

What Were The Words I Meant To Say Before You Left by Madasthesea

14. THE ONE YOU GO BACK TO AGAIN AND AGAIN — Some fics deserve a re-read or ten. What’s the story you go find yourself going back to?

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood by Ambivalentangst

A Parent Apparent by Happyaspie

Age Regression Was Impossible... Right? by Chvotic

Am I Just A Shadow You Drew by Ironxprince

Apartment 43B by Ironfamjam

Back To Bed by Eccentric_Artist_221b

Beautiful Boy by Emily_Davison

Family Is More Than Blood (It Is Light) by Moonchild2593

Keeping Company by Whumphoarder And Xxx_Cat_Xxx

Moulded Minds by Wingswithoutstrings

Play by Losingmymindtonight

Rules Are Made To Be Broken by Ironmum

Sins Of The Fathers by Geekymoviemom

The Darkest Hour Is Just Before The Dawn by Starryknight09

The Lost And Forgotten by Litcraz

The One Where Peter Is Bucky’s Weakness by Jinxquickfoot

The Rise And Fall Of A Spider by Spidersoning

The Spider-Man Conspiracy by Tempestaurora

15. THE SERIES THAT SWEPT YOU AWAY — Some of us love to go on a long ride with a series, so which is the world of multiple stories that you binged or waited anxiously for each update?

Another June Day by Skeeter_110

Chaotic Peter Parker by Isnt_It_Pretty_To_Think_So

Home by Glwilliams97

I Love You More Than Anything (Bio Dad Au) by Iron_Spider

Irondad NSAP by Chvotic

Lights To Guide You Home by Jolinarjackson

Mr. Stark & His Kid by Writerstrash

Once Upon An Adoption by Kevy_Grayce

Out Of Darkness by Starryknight09

Soul Stone Realm by Marvelmusicmystery

The Room Saga by Iamirondad

Tony Stark Is A Good Mentor by Happyaspie

Was That A Star Wars Reference, Dr. Stark? by Jen27ny

We Forgot Peter by Inkinmyheartandonthepage

Webcams And Webshooters by Losingmymindtonight

16. THE IN-PROGRESS ADVENTURE — What’s the story that has you checking your email each day, hoping for an update?

A Difference In Husbandry by Happy_Cloud

A Perfect Storm by Grilledcheesing

Ain't My Blood; Still My Boys by Parkrstark

All The Stars Align by Ashleyparker2815

Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Just Get It by Savana_Marlark

Every Beautiful Lie (Always Has An Ugly Truth) by Da_Moose

Fifteen Years In The Making by Potts89

Found Family by Thedisneyoutsider

If They Knew All About You by Mshermia

If You're Going Through Hell, Keep On Going by Baloobird

Mr. Stark, Something Is Wrong by @Simping-For-Peggy

Outnumbered by Heartofcathedrals

Peter’s New Step-Brother by Bowtiez

Priorities by Jlmonroe1234

Return To Me, The One I Love So Endlessly by Superherotiger

Sleeping Through A Rogue Winter Storm by Pogokitten

Survivors Guilt by Ember_Darla And Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_Fan

Tech Of Nondestructive Yakking by Wabisabi

The Case Of The Missing Museum Bea-Storer by Ironmum

The Hero Of Our Own Story by Kingdomfaraway

The Many Adventures Of Iron Dad And Spider Son by Lbigreyhound13

What You Were Then I Am Today by Madasthesea

You Are My Sunshine by Iamconstantine

17. THE COMPLETE FIC THAT YOU CHERISH — Whether or not you’ve got the patience for an in-progress or not, there’s a wealth of complete stories you can devour at leisure or all in one coffee-fuelled binge. What’s yours?

Intern Spider by Emily_F6

Only For A Little While by Eccentric_Artist_221b

The Guardian by Emily_F6

18. THE ONE THAT GAVE YOU ALL THE LOVE — We all love Irondad, but some stories come with bonus bonds that give us just as much. Do you have a Peter & Bucky, or a Peter & Steve working alongside which delivers all the found family goodness?

"I Have A Nephew!" by Zimnokurw

5 Times Happy Hogan Nearly Had A Heart Attack Because Of Peter Parker by Thespydersargon

Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Just Get It by Savana_Marlark

Brighten Up, Sunshine by Iron_Spider

It Must Be Nice (To Have Mrs. Potts On Your Side by Sdottkrames

It Takes A Village (To Make Sure You're Okay) by Baloobird

Kingdom Come Undone by Killerqueenwrites

Project: Get Bucky Barnes A Dog by Ruxian

Road Work Ahead by Toniwilder

Rules Are Made To Be Broken by Ironmum

When In The Dark by Kevy_Grayce

19. THE PROLIFIC WRITER AWARD — Irondad has some amazingly prolific writers. Which are the ones you’ve subscribed to get at that fic-wonder goodness of 10 works or more?

Aimaim94

Buckets_Of_Stars

Emily_F6

HAPPYASPIE

Inkinmyheartsandonthepage

Ironmum

Iron-Spider

Jen27ny

Littlemissagrafina

Madasthesea

Magicalyss

Mshermia

O0CITRUSEE0O

Parkrstark

Superherotiger

20. THE NEWBIE — New writers are joining the fandom all the time. Who’s the newbie (posting for 12 months or less) that’s delivering the good stuff for you?

107thinfantry

Fallingforbees

Ironmum

Jinx_Frost

Just_Ppeachy

Kittybellestark

Lilacsoulw

Maicaly

Polaroid15

Spagbol99

Sunflowerspideyy

21. THE OG — Who’s the writer that’s been around for a while (12 months or more) that keeps you captivated?

Ashleyparker2815

Emily_F6

Happyaspie

Iron_Spider

Jen27ny

Kevy_Grayce

Parkrstark

Snarkymuch

Spooderboyandtincan

22. THE WILD CARD STORY — The story that does (or doesn’t) fit into the above categories but you believe deserves the prize. Which one is that for you?

Aliens Really Are Out To Get You Aren't They? by Some_Sort_Of_Trash

Born To Cherish by Ironfamjam

Everyday Superhero by Stoneage_Woman

Five Times Tony And Peter Chaotically Cleaned by Ironmum

Guess I’m Not Good Enough by Freyaatterton

I Can Hold The Weight Of Worlds (If That's What You Need) by Bluesweatshirt

I Will Soften Every Edge by losingmymindtonight

I’m Not Telling Him. Period by Scooter3scooter

Irondad NSAP by Chvotic

Kids Suck, But You're Great by Gymlily06

Long Gone | Marvel Au Strangerlyparker

Play by Losingmymindtonight

Tech Of Non-Destructive Yakking by Wabisabi

The Reinvention Of Tony Stark by Losingmymindtonight

This Ride Is A Wild One by Just_Ppeachy

What You're Feeling Is Probably Normal by Finny3120

ART 1 — DIGITAL MEDIA - Who has those PhotoShop skills, who makes the best mood boards? We have some wonderful artists in the Irondad fandom, and we’re here to celebrate them. Who's your favorite artist?

@Itsybitsyspiderling (Tumblr)

@monireh (Tumblr)

@Blackchessknight (Tumblr)

ART 2 — SKETCHES — Who has the skills with the original medium of art in sketches? Whose pencil can create the characters we love best?

@broskev (Tumblr)

@Dakt37 (Tumblr)

@monireh89 (Tumblr)

Ellarie.png (Instagram)

ART 3 — CARTOONS — Chibis, Manga, Anime, who can create the very best?

@Maryo274 (Tumblr)

yes-i-am-happyaspie (Tumblr)

ART 4 — FANVID — Some of the greatest creators are the ones that match the music to the mood, find the perfect scenes to make us laugh and cry. Who does that for you?

All My Life || Tony & Peter (Father/Son Au) by Akapotatogirl (YouTube)

Emsxworld (YouTube)

Tony Stark & Peter Parker | Ashes by Mythicalroyalty (YouTube)

ART 5 — BEST IRON FAMILY FANART — Who can create those feeling of Ironfam with their art? Who captures the characters we love in that iconic family.

@broskev (Tumblr)

@moonestaly (Tumblr)

eccentric_artist_221b (AO3)

Ellarie.png (Instagram)

#Irondad Creator Awards #irondad #spider son #irondad and spiderson #iron man #spider-man #peter parker #tony stark #art #fanart #creators #fandom awards #artists #writers #writing #fanfic

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scapegrace74-blog · 5 years

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Sabine

A/N This is my gift to CodenamePegasus (@Twitter) for the @xfilesfanficexchange. They made the very rash decision to give me carte blanche for my fic, and this is what I came up with. The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati post-ep/AU. Angst with a whipped topping of MSR. Rated G.

1. His lips tingle with the sensory echo of Scully’s fingertips, and the door closes softly behind her. It isn’t lost on Mulder that he has just effectively exchanged vows beneath the ersatz chuppah of his doorframe with the woman bringing him news of his ex-wife’s death. It makes a kind of twisted sense in its morbid symmetry.

He is moved, not so much by the words of devotion they exchanged, but by her tears. Scully is neither maudlin nor overwrought, but she wept for him, for the loss of another piece of his past. He’s a selfish man. He’ll continue to water the arid garden of his life with every drop she sheds on his behalf.

Sighing, he moves to the phone, knowing what needs to be done. There’s no need to look up the number.

“Hello, Mrs. Fowley. It’s Fox Mulder.” He takes off his Yankee’s cap and places it gently beside the receiver, no longer in the mood for celebration.

“Yes, it has been a while. I just heard about Diana - I’m deeply sorry for your loss.” The fishtank throws murky light, shadows ribboning languidly against the wall.

“Mrs. Fowley, I need to talk to her.”

2. The office lays under an oppressive hush, with the shuffling of paper and the scritch of Scully’s pen the only relief from awkward silence. It has been like this for several days, and she burns with the need to understand why. Granted, Mulder is still recovering from his involuntary brain surgery and the loss of Diana, but normally the kind of information she brought back from Africa would lift her partner out of any dark place. Instead, he seems… indifferent, maybe even slightly robotic. Shortly after 5 o’clock each afternoon, just as the light from the clerestory windows is growing dim, he rises, politely bids her goodnight, and leaves without a backwards glance.

Parking on Hegal Place is notoriously scarce, so she is sitting in her car down the block from Mulder’s apartment, trying to formulate a plan of action. For someone so verbose and extravagantly perceptive, Mulder is surprisingly reticent with self-disclosure. Even after six years, she still has to intuit the cause of his moods from circumstantial evidence, but that method is failing her now.

Before she can decide her next move, she sees him leaving his building, carrying a dark umbrella against the chill rain that has begun to fall. He approaches a parked car and bends towards the passenger window, obviously speaking with whomever is within. He straightens as the door swings open and a petite woman with long dark hair emerges. Is this what he looks like next to her - towering and solicitous? He carefully shelters the woman, one long arm hovering carefully near her shoulders. Scully stares at her lap until they have disappeared inside, unwilling to see what can’t be unseen. Her heart feels bruised. She drives home.

3. The drumbeat of heels animates the sterile basement corridor, and he rushes to finish his call.

“I’ve got to get back to work, okay sweetie? I’ll see you tonight. Uh-huh, to the stars, you know that. G’bye.”

He can tell she’s overheard at least part of his conversation by the tight mask of composure she wears as she settles deliberately into her chair, focus strained towards her monitor. Several minutes pass with only the staccato sound of her typing. He waits to see if she’ll ask. He wants her to ask, because it will spare him the obligation of divulging. He wants her to ask, because he wants her to feel that she possesses certain inalienable rights where he is concerned: to question the questioner, to test the tensile strength of the fascia that binds them.

Her eyes brim ocean-water that she refuses to blink away. In a war of emotional attrition, he knows he doesn’t stand a chance. He could lay siege to her heart and still go home empty-handed. Scully isn't about mastery. He's learned this the hard way.

“Scully, there’s… I need you to meet someone. Someone important to me. Can you come over to my place today after work?” She is shaking her head before he’s finished, chin lifted with resolute dignity.

“Scully… please?”

Her shoulders slump in defeat.

4. Mulder’s hallway has never seemed so long, not even after she’d announced her intention to leave the FBI, to leave him alone with the endless futility of his one-man crusade. As then, her heart beats with leaden precision high in her throat. What’s about to happen will change everything between them, and unlike the previous year she has no back-up plan. She’s placed all her bets on an outside chance, and now the house is folding.

Mulder is still dressed for work, his tie loose and jacket discarded somewhere. His apartment, which usually envelopes her like a worn sweater, feels foreign. She smells spaghetti sauce, and his television emits a quiet laugh-track in the background. It’s a domestic scene, but for once she stands outside the frame, a trespasser in someone else’s narrative.

Her partner is uneasy, that much is clear. His hair is in disarray, and as she watches he shifts from one foot to another. A familiar light of determined resolution settles on him, and he takes her cold hand with his own, drawing her forward towards her fate.

“Come inside, Scully.” She trails behind him towards his couch, where a pair of slight, pale shoulders divided by glossy brown curls can just be made out.

“Mulder, I don’t think…”, she balks.

“Scully, I want… let me…” he blows air past lips pursed in vexation. In this moment, his eloquence fails him. They are finally standing beside the couch, and as she gasps, Mulder finds words.

“This is Sabine. My daughter.”

5. Back in 1989 when he first learned that Diana, his on-again-off-again girlfriend, was pregnant, his first reaction had been to offer to pay for an abortion. His second had been to call the family lawyer. For a man obsessed with rebuilding his family from the ashes of his sister’s disappearance, he was resistant in the extreme to potential fatherhood.

Diana thought she could have it all: a demanding career, an evasive but passionate lover, and an all-American family. And for a time, she did, or a credible facsimile. He came around to the idea of becoming a parent slowly under Diana's careful manipulation. She slipped a blurry ultrasound picture into his briefcase, and he spent the better part of a flight to Atlanta looking for meaning in its abstract ovoids. At the second ultrasound, he was sitting beside the technician, listening to the rapid pulse of his redemption. By the time Sabine was born, they were married.

It lasted a little over a year. He never managed to forgive Diana (and by extension, Sabine) for luring his attention away from his newfound paranormal suitor. Shortly after he witnessed Sabine’s first steps across a slopping meadow in Rock Creek Park, they left for Europe. The divorce papers claimed spousal neglect, and he could hardly disagree. He signed over custody, paid enough child support that Diana’s mother quit her job and moved to Germany to become Sabine’s full-time caregiver, and witnessed their baby grow into a striking young girl via semi-annual photographs and an occasional phone call.

Now, here she sat - a long-limbed ten year old with Samantha’s hair, his indolent gaze, and her mother’s patrician cheekbones. A virtual stranger. An orphan. Another chance to prove that he was a worthy custodian of fragile things.

6. Scully’s first reaction should have been shock, or at least relief. It wasn’t. It was a conflagration of burning jealousy. At Diana, for being a mother and a wife. At Mulder, for welcoming his daughter into their nation of two. And at Sabine - lovely, blameless Sabine - for having a claim on her partner that she could never equal.

Their first meetings were stilted and short. Sabine barely recognized her father when he showed up at her grandmother’s the day after Diana’s funeral. She called him "Mr. Mulder" and he felt two feet tall. They are slowly piecing together a relationship, a few hours at a time.

Since that first introduction, Mulder has tried to include Scully in as many of their plans as possible. By his own admission, he knows next to nothing about adolescent girls, and he is obviously hoping his partner will serve as some kind of female buffer to his ineptitude. They’ve rented bikes and ridden through fallen leaves around the Tidal Basin. They’ve taken in the tigers and elephants at the National Zoo. With the weather turning cold, there are pizzas and candy and the entire Disney collection on VHS.

After a weekend visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, they drop an exhausted Sabine off with her grandmother past nightfall. Christmas is the following week, and the street is alight with green and red bulbs. Mulder’s hand is moving to the ignition when she stills it with her own.

“What’s up, Scully?”

“Mulder, I’m thinking of asking for a transfer.” The words are out before she even realizes what she is going to say. He gapes at her, mute.

“Your priorities have shifted. You aren’t going to want to chase the truth with the same zeal, and I completely understand. Sabine needs you. But it’s not… I still have answers I need to find, and if we can’t look for them together, then maybe I should…”

“Scully, stop. Please. Did I give you the impression I was abandoning you? God, I could never…” He shakes his head with so much certainty, she begins to doubt her resolve.

“But, Mulder, you have other obligations now and…”

“The world could be ending tomorrow, Scully, and you’d still be my first priority. Yes, Sabine needs me. Yes, I’ve taken my foot off the gas at work, and if that’s left you feeling forsaken, then I’m truly sorry. But nothing, not the truth, not Sabine, none of it means anything without you. I thought you knew that. Sabine and Samantha, they are my blood… but, god, you’re my family, Scully. My fam-ily.”

His voice cracks, and she’s weeping openly with relief. His fingers clasp behind her neck and he draws her towards him, raining kisses and murmuring gratitude in her hair as flickering lights illuminate the dark around them.

7. Tomorrow is the dawn of the new millennium, no matter what Scully and the fiscal purists say. Watching Frank Black with his daughter makes him eager to get home to Washington. He's taking Sabine to the Air and Space Museum tomorrow, in what Scully teasingly claims is a boldface attempt to subvert her grounding influence, and what he calls father-daughter bonding and take-your-kid-to-work day. But first, with the threat of the Apocalypse curtailed, he has a little unfinished business to attend to. Six weeks ago he likened calling Scully his touchstone to a wedding vow, but he never got to kiss his bride.

She's watching Dick Clark as he approaches, his lame wing cradled tight against the butterflies in his belly. He's struck anew at how luminous she is, even under hospital fluorescents. He asks so much from her, and she demands so little in return. With Sabine's presence in their lives slowly becoming more normal, it's time to start clearing his debt. It's the work of many lifetimes, and he looks forward to never finishing.

As the apple drops, he leans into her, parting his mouth just enough to brush the sensitive flange of his inner lip against her. He feels the shocked intake of her breath against his cheek and certainty settles over him like a wool blanket. He's going to make this work, for all three of them.

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