Introduction

This entire set - two so far, and the perpetually in-the-works sequel - evolved entirely from a single scene. When first I stumbled across X-files and the enormous fanfic following, one of my original ideas was a basic situation: I visualized Mulder's reunion with Scully after a prolonged absence. At first I was wary to write it; I had seen only a few episodes, and wasn't sure if the emotions I imagined would be accurate.

Then I saw "One Breath" and realized that it was more than possible. I set to work writing my story. Some seventy-odd pages later I finally reached the reunion scene I had planned, and saw soon enough that the sequel was needed to take care of what had come up in the course of those pages.

I still haven't figured out precisely what happened. To tell my story properly I needed to be outside of Mulder, and since Scully wasn't around I created my own observer. How that observer evolved into a team of supporting characters is beyond me! Admittedly a few of them I borrowed from original stories of mine, but I never expected them to gain their own lives in X-files.

I'm glad I let them, however, for it gives an interesting perspective or two on Mulder and Scully, and how the rest of the world might view their partnership. We readers share that in common with my X-files agents - we're observing this beautiful relationship from the outside, trying to understand the thoughts the creators and writers put in their heads and their actions. No different from how we relate to people in the real world, really, and that's the joy in writing - trying to figure out where everybody is coming from, even if we're not inside their brains.

I enjoyed writing these; I hope you enjoy them equally when you read them. There is some divergence from the show's timeline; they were written in the period between Memento Mori and Redux, and thus the world they present is somewhat different from now. All the same, welcome to the future of the X-files!

(And for everyone who wonders what these people look like... Lee Pender, to my surprise, actually had an identical twin working in California - I was startled to find that Detective Kresge, played by the wonderful John Pyper-Ferguson, was almost exactly as I had pictured the good agent. Terry Guss is similar to, though not precisely like, a young Paul Gross, a.k.a. the Mountie Benton Fraser of Due South. As for the others, I have no comparisons, except for Agent Burnett, who was modeled after a character in an animated series and even took his name. Still waiting for someone to catch this one...)

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