On Votaries, I am posting about Characters Who Transform. A subcategory is Characters Who Disguise Themselves. And an odd subcategory is Characters Who Disguise Themselves Permanently.
Under that last category, I am posting about Mulder and Scully.
I'm a huge fan of Mulder and Scully. I think they fall into the "Friendship" category of romantic partners rather than the "Knight and Damsel in Distress" or "Instant Attraction" categories. And a great deal of that friendship comes about because Scully joins Mulder on his "island." They are not technically in disguise but they are isolated by their mutual knowledge of the Truth or the Pursuit of Truth.
This type of thing can get a little squeamish--Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?
But like the young man who returns to his wolf lover, nobody is being coerced. The choice to walk into the dark, onto the island, away from the "accepted" narratives is made with the eyes wide open.
Friendship runs the relationship because the final "I love you! I love you!" confrontation is not the point. The couple have already been living a "marriage" for most of the seasons. Their relationship is the relationship of people who are so far gone in terms of intimacy with another human being, there can be no one else.
One of my favorite scenes where closeness replaces declarations of affection is "Memento Mori." Scully tells Mulder that she has cancer and instead of getting maudlin, he says, "I refuse to accept that." I LOVE that line: "I refuse to accept that." Somehow, it makes Mulder so much more real and more passionate than the usual romantic hero and yet, at the same time, gives you a sense of Mulder's personality.