And Never Brought to Mind by Ratadder (PG-13)

[anglopollyanna.livejournal.com]

Fandom: X-FILES
Pairing: Skinner/Kyrcek Mulder/Krycek
Author on LJ: ratadder
Author Website: the compound
Why this must be read:

A deceptively simple story of Mulder meeting Krycek a few years into the future. It manages to combine touches of humour, with wistfulness, and uses mundane details to give the whole thing a realistic framework that makes it credible.

I always remember this as 'the pork chops story' since the first time we see Krycek is with this description: He stands calmly in the frozen foods, studying pork chops. It seems a strange thing to remember, but I think it's this familiarity that draws the reader into the action. Nothing much happens in the story, Mulder and Krycek run into each other, have a few beers, talk over old times, and realise the mutual attraction is still there. But the potential of the meeting was enough to spawn a whole series.

The piece was posted quite a few years ago (I haven't been able to work out the actual date) and was happily standalone for some time, but when I started the XF Lyric Wheel, Ratadder decided to write the back-story to this one as his entry. Since then he's managed to write several more stories looking at the past history, and one set after this meeting, and they all flow seamlessly from this one, testifying to the strength of the original story.
Sometimes, without great drama, or without writing at length, an author just gets it right. That there's more is a bonus, but even by itself this would still be a favourite of mine.


And Never Brought to Mind

That's the last of my X-Files recs, which I hope you've enjoyed. I really hope you've enjoyed them, since I'm back next month doing Star Trek!