(We’re flying right above the clouds as Margaret speaks.)

MARGARET SCULLY: Once, when she was a girl... a very little girl... Dana was in the woods.

(The sun shines as leaves fall.)

It was autumn.

(Little Dana is running through the woods.)

She had always been a tomboy, unlike her sister Melissa.

(Dana is holding a B.B. gun as her brothers point out how to use it and things about it.)

For her birthday, Dana’s brothers had given her a B.B. gun and were showing her how to use it.

(William Scully puts a tin can down on a log.)

Their father had told them only to shoot cans...

(William Jr. picks up a garter snake from a pile of leaves.)

But in a patch of grass, Bill Jr. found a garter snake.

(He tosses the snake off and aims his B.B. gun at it, along with his brother. Dana joins in and all three shoot at the garter snake.)

And they began shooting. Wanting to fit in with her brothers, Dana also shot at the snake.

(The bullets pierce the ground near the snake as it tries to get away.)

It squirmed wildly, desperatly fighting for life but as the boys continued to shoot the snake began to bleed. When she realized what she had done...

(Dana lowers her gun and walks over to the dead snake. She kneels down, picks it up and begins to cry.)

Dana began to cry with irrevocable guilt. Through her tears, she was saying that... something was missing from the snake. She had taken something that was not hers to take. And although deathly afraid of snakes, Dana held the animal as if sheer human will could keep it alive. The snake, its blood on her hands, died. There was nothing she could do to bring it back.

(We see Mrs. Scully and Mulder are sitting at a table.)

MULDER: It’s too soon, Mrs. Scully. We can’t give up.

MARGARET SCULLY: That day in the woods, I felt for my daughter. But at this moment, I know how my daughter felt.

(The door opens and Mrs. Scully stands up. A man walks in carrying something. She walks over and he lifts the cover off. Mulder walks over, looks at it, and turns away. It is a tombstone, and it reads:

" = DANA KATHERINE
======= SCULLY
= 1964--------1994
= LOVING DAUGHTER & FRIEND
"The Spirit is the Truth." JOHN 5:07")

(An X-File, presumably Scully’s, sits on his desk. We hear moaning emanating from the TV, a man and a woman. Mulder is lying on the couch. He looks at the TV, then rewinds it and plays it again. The phone rings. He looks up at it.)

(Mulder storms through the halls, then starts jogging. Phones ring and doctors talk as Mulder runs past them. A nurse grabs his hand, trying to stop him.)

NURSE: Sir... sir, you can’t go in there!

(He breaks free and runs through a door marked "Authorized Personal Only." He runs to Scully’s side. She is hooked up to various machines, her face covered with them. She is in a coma and attached to a respirator.)

MULDER: Who...?

(He looks at Mrs. Scully, who is staring at her daughter. Mulder looks away, knowing her pain. He looks over to the various people sitting around.)

Who brought her here?

(He stands and starts around the bed.)

How did she get here?

NURSE: Sir, will you please...

MULDER: (shouting) How did she get here?

NURSE: Ms. Scully was in this condition when I arrived for the evening shift. If you’ll step outside, perhaps Dr. Daly...

MULDER: Is that Daly?

(He points at a man, then walks over to him.)

Are you Dr. Daly?

(The man nods.)

What’s going on? How the hell did she get here?

DOCTOR DALY: Would you settle down...

MULDER: Was it, was it paramedics, FBI, military? Answer me right now!

(People start murmuring and screaming. Mrs. Scully does not look up, her eyes fixated on her daughter.)

DOCTOR DALY: I...

MULDER: What, you’re telling me she just appeared?

DOCTOR DALY: Sir...

MULDER: Who did this to her!?

DOCTOR DALY: Sir...

(Mulder goes to the nurse’s desk and starts throwing papers.)

MULDER: I want to see her admission forms. Who did this to her? I want to see what tests have been done!

(Daly struggles with him for the papers. Security guards grab Mulder and start dragging him away.)

Listen, if you’re hiding anything, I swear, I will do anything, whatever it takes, I will find out what they did to her!

(Daly is looking at some charts. Mrs. Scully is sitting in a chair, Mulder is sitting on the arm.)

DOCTOR DALY: Presently, we have Dana listed under critical condition, comatose. There is complete unawareness of self or environment. There is no evidence of language comprehension, no evidence of voluntary responses to external stimuli. My apologies but... no one here can determine how Dana arrived at the hospital, administered and how she was attended to in such critical condition. Um... because of the absence of Dana’s recent medical history, I am at a loss for prognosis. I can’t determine with certainty how long she’s been in this state.

MARGARET SCULLY: You haven’t told us why she’s like this.

DOCTOR DALY: We just don’t know, Mrs. Scully. There are no indications of acute injuries, traumatic or non-traumatic, I can’t find any signs of degenerative or metabolic disorders. We have conducted every test possible.

MULDER: I’d like her examined for trace evidence.

DOCTOR DALY: She has been bathed and cleaned since her admittance. Also, there is a situation which I don’t know if you’re aware of. The F.B.I. has notified us of the terms of Dana’s living will.

MARGARET SCULLY: What is it, what did she say?

DOCTOR DALY: Well, Dana is a doctor. Her criteria for terminating life support is quite specific. She states that, um... if her glasgow outcome scale lists her...

MULDER: (to Mrs. Scully) She doesn’t want to live in this condition.

DOCTOR DALY: (to Mulder) You signed the will as her witness.

(Dana’s sister, Melissa stands over her, holding a crystal above her. Mulder comes over and Melissa looks at him.)

MELISSA SCULLY: I’ve been told not to call you Fox.

MULDER: By who?

MELISSA SCULLY: Dana, just now.

MULDER: Dana talked to you just now? If she talked, the EEG would have moved.

(Melissa laughs.)

MELISSA SCULLY: Her soul is here.

(Mrs. Scully walks over.)

Hi, Mom.

MARGARET SCULLY: I’m glad you could come, Melissa.

MULDER: You’re Scully’s sister.

MELISSA SCULLY: Dana’s choosing whether... whether to remain or move on.

(She puts her hands over Scully’s body. Margaret walks away.)

You can feel her. Here.

(She places his hand above Scully’s body. In Scully’s mind, she is sitting in a rowboat on a lake The rowboat is tied to a dock with a piece of rope. On the dock, she sees Mulder and Melissa, with a nurse in the background.)

MULDER: She’s not here.

MELISSA SCULLY: No, your anger and your... your fear’s blocking...

(Back to the room.)

...any positive emotions she needs to feel.

MULDER: I need to do more than just wave my hands in the air.

(He walks away.)

(Mulder takes some masking tape and puts an "X" on his window. He shines the lamp through it and turns off the rest of the lights. He sits down. Over the course of the night, he waits patiently, sometimes playing with a basketball, before going to sleep. In the morning, he wakes up, looks at the "X" and goes to the door. He picks up the newspaper, goes back in, unwraps it, and flips through it. He sees no help from X. He throws it away, rips the "X" off the window and slams his fist down.)

(Frohike walks in, decked out in a suit and bowtie, carrying flowers. He walks to the nurse’s desk.)

NURSE: May I help you?

FROHIKE: Uh, Dana Scully, please.

(Mulder looks over to the voice, moving the phone away from his ear.)

MULDER: Frohike?

(A nurse pulls open the curtains and takes Frohike’s flowers. They look at Scully, Frohike saddened. He takes a look at her charts.)

FROHIKE: Hey, Mulder. This is weird.

(Byers is sitting down, looking at the charts. Mulder sits at another desk. Frohike is standing, and Langly walks over and sits on the desk behind Mulder.)

BYERS: Good work sneaking out these charts.

FROHIKE: Snuck ‘em in my pants.

MULDER: There’s plenty of room down there.

(Frohike looks at him and sits down on the desk next to Byers.)

LANGLY: You look down, Mulder. Tell you what, you’re welcome to come over Saturday night. We’re all hopping on the internet to nitpick the scientific inaccuracies of "Earth 2."

MULDER: I’m doing my laundry.

BYERS: The chart shows abnormal protein chains in the blood. The amino acid sequence is in a combination I’ve never seen before.

(He slides his chair over to the computer. They all walk over to him.)

I’ve downloaded Scully’s medical data to the newest Lone Gunman.

FROHIKE: He goes by the name "The Thinker."

BYERS: This guy’s a hacking genius.

(On the screen is a picture of Nixon with such phrases as "I am not a crook!" and "Let me make this perfectly clear..." The screen flips to one that has a 3-D image of Scully’s DNA, as well as two other charts with DNA coding. The computer beeps twice and sentences begin filing in. Byers and Langly read it and look worried.

MULDER: What?

BYERS: The Thinker reports the protein chains are a result of branched DNA.

MULDER: Branched DNA?

LANGLY: The cutting edge of genetic engineering.

BYERS: A biological equivalent of a silicon microchip.

LANGLY: This is way beyond cutting edge. This technology fifty years down the line.

MULDER: What’s it used for?

FROHIKE: Could be a tracking system.

BYERS: Developmental stages of a biological marker.

MULDER: You mean a high-tech identity card?

LANGLY: Or something as insidious as grafting a human into something... inhuman.

(The computer beeps again.)

BYERS: Good theories, gentlemen, but all for naught.

(He points at a protein data map.)

This branched DNA is inactive. It’s waste product. Whoever was experimenting on Scully is finished. Now it’s nothing more than a biological poison.

MULDER: Will she live?

(Byers looks at Mulder, then at Langly, who looks back solemnly.)

BYERS: Um... her immune system has been decimated and, uh... I doubt even a healthy human body has the ability to fight this. Mulder, there’s nothing you can do.

(In Scully’s mind, there is now a nurse standing at the shore.)

NURSE OWENS: Dana? Dana, honey? I know you can hear me. This is Nurse Owens. I’m here to take care of you, sweetheart, to watch over you. Help you find the way home.

(In reality, Owens is leaning over on the bed, whispering to her.)

I know you’re far away from home tonight and that where you are is peaceful.
It would be nice to stay but Dana, you must leave here only when it’s time.

(She puts her hand on Scully’s forehead. Mulder walks in.)

I’ll be here when you need me, dear.

(She kisses Scully’s forehead and leaves. The nurse walks in carrying a machine.)

NURSE: Excuse me, sir. I’m going to have to take some blood.

(She does so. As she does, Mulder looks back into another room and sees a man in an overcoat standing over an old lady. The man looks back. The nurse puts the vial down on the counter when a long beeping sounds. She looks up to see that the old lady has flatlined. The Overcoat Man is nowhere to be found.)

Code blue crash cart!

(She runs in, along with a few other doctors.)

MALE NURSE: Red wave coming in!

NURSE: Let’s go!

DOCTOR: Alright, let’s get an airway in!

NURSE: (says something intellegibly) B.P. 80 over 60 and dropping.

(Mulder looks down at Scully. The nurse closes the curtains.)

DOCTOR: Alright, let’s shock her. Give me the paddles. 200 joules. Clear!

NURSE: Clear!

(The defribillators go off. Mulder notices that the vial with the blood is gone.)

DOCTOR: What do we got?

NURSE: (says something intellegibly)

DOCTOR: Let’s go again, 260, clear!

NURSE: Clear!

DOCTOR: Come on!

(Mulder whips back the curtain and sees the door closing. The doctors and nurses continue talking as he runs out after The Overcoat Man. He runs out to see the man walking down the hall. He begins running after him.)

MULDER: Hey!

(The man begins running as well. The man jumps into an elevator and presses the button many times. Mulder comes too late as the elevator closes. He tries to pry open the doors, pushes the button, then starts running down the stairs. He runs down to the lobby and, seeing no one outside, goes back in and runs down to the parking lot. He sees the Overcoat Man turning a corner. Taking out his gun, he moves silently along the wall until X grabs him, slamming him against the wall and putting a gun to his head.)

X: Didn’t expect you here till after visiting hours.

MULDER: There was a man, he took Scully’s blood.

X: Forget him.

MULDER: Get that gun out of my face...

X: This high-capacity compact Sig Saver .40 caliber weapon is pointed at your head to stress my insistence that your search for who put your partner on that respirator desist immediately!

MULDER: You ignore my call for help and then you expect me to do what you say? You go to hell!

X: You got him killed! You got her killed. That’s not going to happen to me. You’re my tool, you understand? I come to you when I need you. Right now, you’re heading in a direction that can lead them right here.

MULDER: What the hell are you talking about?

X: You’re not supposed to know. That’s the point.

MULDER: I owe her more than just sitting around doing nothing.

X: She was a good soldier, Mulder, but there’s nothing you can do to bring her back.

MULDER: She’s not dead.

(X laughs slightly.)

X: Listen to you. Listen. You’re a damn schoolboy, Mulder. You have no idea. No idea!

MULDER: Okay, then tell me. Tell me!

(They stare at each other angrily. X loosens his grip.)

X: I used to be you. I was where you are now. But you’re not me, Mulder. I don’t think you have the heart. Walk away. Grieve for Scully and then never look back. You will be able to live with yourself, Mulder... on the day you die.

(A door closes and X looks to the sound. Mulder breaks his grip and runs in that direction. X, trying to remain in the shadows, cannot follow him. Mulder sees the man and skulks behind the cars towards him.)

MULDER: Federal agent!

(The Overcoat Man fires at him. Mulder moves behind a column. The man runs and opens a door, then goes in. Mulder follows. He looks down both ways of the hallway, then goes right. He hears some rattling and follows the noise. Moving into the laundry room, he manages to sneak up behind the man.)

Federal agent, don’t turn around. You know I’m armed. Put your gun very slowly on the ground.

(The man does so. Mulder holds his gun at him the whole time.)

Put your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers. Turn right towards the machine and put your head on it.

(He does so. Mulder walks behind him, reaches into his pocket and pulls out the vial. He walks back to where he was.)

Face me.

(The man does, his fingers still interlocked behind his head.)

Who wants this? Who wants it?

(No answer.)

All right, let’s go. This way.

(He points and they start walking. After a few feet, the Overcoat Man grabs a cart and slams it back into Mulder. He then takes a metal pipe and smashes it into Mulder four times, knocking him down and forcing him to drop his gun and the vial. Mulder is nearly unconscious as the man bends over to pick up the vial. As he does, X sneaks up behind him, grabs his hand and twists it around his back, breaking his arm. He then snaps it back, breaking his wrist. X grabs onto him from behind and kicks the gun away. He walks past Mulder just as Mulder begins to regain consciousness. X looks at him.)

X: Stay there.

(He pushes the man forward. Mulder struggles to try to get to his feet.)

MULDER: Wait!

(X whips out a gun and shoots the Overcoat Man, apparently in the arm. He looks at Mulder again as the man groans.)

X: You want to see what it takes to find the truth, Agent Mulder? You want to know what I know?

(Mulder watches as X walks over and shoots the man again, this time in the head. He walks back to Mulder.)

I’ll attend to this.

(He walks back towards the man. Later, Daly sits in his office with Melissa, Margaret, and Mulder. They are all sitting except for Fox.)

DOCTOR DALY: Discontinuing the respirator does not necessarily mean pulling the plug or ending her life. Karen Ann Quinlan lived for nine years after cessation of mechanical ventilation. I do believe, however, that this is not the case with your daughter, Mrs. Scully. My guess is that she’s been in this state since her disappearance and she will not improve.

MELISSA SCULLY: Is she below the criteria established in her will?

MULDER: It’s possible branched DNA can be treated with designer antibiotics.

DOCTOR DALY: Agent Mulder, I don’t know where you developed this bizarre diagnosis, but I do believe you’re in no position to continue your...

MULDER: You’ve never provided an answer as to why she’s here or what’s wrong with her. We need to study her.

MELISSA SCULLY: She’s not a piece of evidence.

MULDER: She’s here because of unnatural circumstances.

MELISSA SCULLY: She’s dying. That’s perfectly natural. We hide people in these rooms because we don’t want to look at death. We have machines prolong a life that should, that should end. That’s a much more unnatural circumstance than any cause of her death.

MULDER: That’s very politically correct.

MELISSA SCULLY: That’s very human. I love her. This is right.

MARGARET SCULLY: Dana has made our decision. Fox... you and Dana had a friendship built on respect. Now, in the last year...

(She stands, almost crying. Melissa is almost crying too.)

I have lost my husband. And God knows I don’t want to lose my baby girl. But like you, I have always respected her.

(She walks to the door and turns back.)

Fox... this is a moment for the family. But you can join us if you want.

(Mulder lightly shakes his head no. Margaret, Melissa and Daly walk out. In Scully’s mind, she sees Nurse Owens standing on the dock. The rope is pulled taut and suddenly snaps. Scully starts to float away.)

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man throws a document down on Skinner’s desk and picks up a pack of "Morley’s" cigarettes. Skinner is sitting at his desk.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Read it. It’s all there. If you’re having trouble sitting on Mulder, Assistant Director Skinner, I’m sure you know we’d have no trouble.

(He puts a cigarette in his mouth and takes out his lighter.)

SKINNER: Uh-uh.

(He nods towards a sign on Skinner’s desk that reads "Thank You For Not Smoking." Cancer Man proceeds to light it anyway. He takes a few drags as he walks across the room. He stubs it out in an ashtray and walks out through the double-doors. Through the single door at the side of his office, there is a knocking.)

Yeah, come in.

(Mulder walks in and notices the cigarette, still smoking.)

Sit down.

(He does so.)

I called you right up here because of rumors about an incident at the hospital last night.

MULDER: Is this about the tooth that was found in the cafeteria jello?

SKINNER: The rumor has it that you were involved in the laundry room?

MULDER: No, sir.

SKINNER: A man was executed, Agent Mulder.

MULDER: I was with Scully.

SKINNER: Traces of her blood were found at the scene.

MULDER: May I see the police report?

SKINNER: There is no police report of this incident, Agent Mulder, and there is no body. You know that.

MULDER: Since I am unfamiliar with any such incident, sir, no, how would I know that?

SKINNER: Knock it off!

(He stands.)

MULDER: How’s it feel? Constant denial of everything, questions answered with a question.

SKINNER: I want to know what happened, damn it.

MULDER: Him. That’s what happened.

(He stands and picks up the ashtray, putting it down on Skinner’s desk.)

Cancer Man! He’s responsible for what happened to Scully!

SKINNER: How do you know that?

MULDER: It’s a rumor. Who is he?

SKINNER: It’s not your...

MULDER: Oh, you can have it all, you can have my badge, you can have the X-Files, just tell me where he is.

SKINNER: And then what? He sleeps with the fishes? We’re not the mafia, Agent Mulder. I know it’s easy to forget but we work for the Department of Justice.

MULDER: That’s what I want.

SKINNER: Agent Scully was a fine officer. More than that, I liked her. I respected her. We all know the field we play on and we all know what can happen in the course of a game. If you were unprepared for all the potentials, then you shouldn’t step on the field.

(Mulder turns away and walks a few steps before looking back.)

MULDER: What if I... I knew the potential consequences but I... I never told her?

SKINNER: Then you’re as much to blame for her condition as... "The Cancer Man."

(Mulder walks out.)

(In Scully’s mind, she is laying on a table in a white dress. All the walls are white except for one, which is a black void. Through the void walks her father, dressed in his admiral’s uniform. He walks over to her.)

WILLIAM SCULLY: Hello, Starbuck. It’s Ahab. People would say to me, "Life is short." "Kids, they grow up fast," and "Before you know it, it’s over." I never listened. For me, life went at a proper pace. There were many rewards... until the moment that I knew, I... understood that... that I would never see you again... my little girl. Then my life felt as if it had been the length of one breath, one heartbeat. I never knew how much I loved my daughter until I could never tell her. At that moment, I would have traded every medal, every commendation, every promotion for... one more second with you. We’ll be together again, Starbuck. But not now. Soon.

(He slowly turns and walks back into the void. In reality, Nurse Owens is standing over her again. She leans in and whispers to her.)

NURSE OWENS: Dana? I know death is at arm’s reach tonight, but Dana? Your time is not over.

(At the cafeteria, Mulder is eating lunch with Melissa.)

MELISSA SCULLY: You know, Fox… sorry, Mulder... you could spend the rest of your life finding every person who’s responsible and it’s still not going to bring her back. Whoever did this to her has an equal horror coming to them.

MULDER: Including myself?

(Melissa looks at him strangely. A woman comes up to Mulder.)

WOMAN: Pardon me, sir, do you have change for the cigarette machine?

(He checks his pockets for money.)

MULDER: No. Sorry, I don’t.

(She smiles and walks over to the machine.)

MELISSA SCULLY: What do you mean, yourself?

WOMAN: There’s a pack already here... Morley’s. Not my brand.

(She walks away. Mulder stands up and pulls the pack out of the slot. He unwraps the top and opens it. He takes out a folded piece of paper that reads "900 W. Georgia St.")

(Cancer Man sits in his chair, watching an old war movie. There are various screams coming out of it. On the table, his ashtray is filled to the brim with old cigarettes. His gun sits on the other side of the table as he puts his newly-finished cigarette into one of the beer bottles.)

MAN ON TV: Want a cigarette, Rev? How ‘bout a smoke?

(He picks up a pack of Morley’s and hears a creak. He starts to get up when Mulder grabs him by the back off his shirt and throws him back into his chair.)

MULDER: Sit down!

(Mulder swings around and points a gun directly at his head.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: How’d you find me?

MULDER: Shut up! Tonight, I ask the questions! You’re going to answer me, you son of a bitch!

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Don’t try and threaten me, Mulder. I’ve watched presidents die.

(He puts a cigarette in his mouth. Mulder backhands it out. Cancer Man looks shocked.)

MULDER: Why her? Why her and not me?

(Cancer Man does not respond. He is slumped back in his chair, obviously somewhat scared.)

Answer me!

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I like you. I like her too. That’s why she was returned to you.

(Mulder grips his gun with both hands and leans in a little.)

MULDER: You should be the one to die.

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man is completely cool and confident now. Mulder, on the other hand, is falling apart.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Why? Look at me. No wife, no family, some power. I’m in the game because I believe what I’m doing is right.

MULDER: (almost whispering) Right? Who are you to decide what’s right?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Who are you? If people were to know the things I know, it would all fall apart. I told Skinner you shot the man in the hospital but I didn’t really believe it. And here you are with a gun to my head. I have more respect for you, Mulder. You’re becoming a player. You can kill me now, but you’ll never know the truth...

(Mulder squeezes the trigger but slowly releases it.)

...and that’s why I’ll win. Don’t worry. This’ll be our secret. We wouldn’t want others to… start rumors.

(He lights a cigarette and takes a drag. Mulder watches, half-disgusted with Cancer Man and half-disgusted with himself.)

(Mulder sits at his computer and is typing something. He clicks a button on the mouse and the printer fires up. He takes the paper out and signs it. It reads:

"To Assistant Director Walter S. Skinner
Please accept my resignation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation effective immediately.

Sincerely,

______________ (Mulder’s signature.)

Fox Mulder."

He leans back in his chair. Later, Mulder takes his microscope and puts it in a box. Skinner walks in and sighs.)

SKINNER: When I started out, this is where they kept the copier.

MULDER: At least back then, it wasn’t just wasted space.

(Skinner walks towards him and tears up Mulder’s resignation form.)

SKINNER: It’s unacceptable.

(Mulder continues packing books into the box.)

Look, I know you feel responsible for Agent Scully, but I will not accept resignation and defeat as self-punishment.

MULDER: All the forensics, the field investigations, the eyewitness accounts... to still know nothing. To lose myself... and Scully. I hate what I’ve become.

(Skinner sighs and takes his glasses off. He walks a little bit as Mulder continues putting folders and such in the box.)

SKINNER: When I was eighteen, I, uh... I went to Vietnam. I wasn’t drafted, Mulder, I... I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day of my eighteenth birthday. I did it on a blind faith. I did it because I believed it was the right thing to do. I don’t know, maybe I still do. Three weeks into my tour, a ten-year-old North Vietnamese boy walked into camp covered with grenades and I, uh... I blew his head off from a distance of ten yards.

(Mulder looks at him, shocked. He listens intently now.)

I lost my faith. Not in my country or in myself, but in everything. There was just no point to anything anymore. One night on patrol, we were, uh... caught... and everyone... everyone fell. I mean, everyone. I looked down... at my body... from outside of it. I didn’t recognize it at first. I watched the V.C. strip my uniform, take my weapon and I remained... in this thick jungle... peaceful... unafraid... watching my... my dead friends. Watching myself. In the morning, the corpsmen arrived and put me in a bodybag until... I guess they found a pulse. I woke in a Saigon hospital two weeks later.

(He walks towards him.)

I’m afraid to look any further beyond that experience. You? You are not. Your resignation is unacceptable.

(He starts out.)

MULDER: You.

(Skinner turns back. Mulder sighs.)

You gave me Cancer Man’s location. You put your life in danger.

SKINNER: Agent Mulder, every life, everyday is in danger. That’s just life.

(He walks out, closing the door behind him. Later, Mulder carries the box down towards his car. As he reaches the door to the parking lot, a man jumps out in front of him. Mulder drops the box and goes for his gun until he sees it is X. X hands him a plane ticket.)

X: Your plane ticket.

MULDER: But we barely know each other.

X: I can’t tell you why she was taken. It’s too close to me. I’m giving you the men who took her.

MULDER: How?

X: They believe you’ll be out of town. They believe you information about Scully being kept in your desk in your apartment. AT 8:17 tonight, they’ll search your apartment. They will be armed. You will be waiting.

MULDER: Waiting.

X: To defend yourself with terminal intensity. It’s the only way, Mulder. The law will not punish these people.

(Mulder sighs and takes the plane ticket.)

After tonight, we cannot make contact for several weeks.

(He dashes off.)

(Mulder sits alone in the dark, his gun on the table. He spots a shadow covering the light under the door. He looks at his watch. ONLY 7:30. He picks up the gun. As there is a knocking. Outside, Melissa knocks again.)

MELISSA SCULLY: Mulder.

(Mulder opens the door and looks around the hallway.)

Sorry. I came by. You weren’t answering and your machine wasn’t on. Can I come in?

(Mulder looks at her.)

For a second?

(He leads her in and latches the door.)

Why is it so dark in here?

MULDER: Because the lights aren’t on.

MELISSA SCULLY: Okay. I just came from the hospital. Dr. Daly says... she’s weakening. It could be anytime. So I figured you’d want to come down and see her.

MULDER: No, I can’t.

MELISSA SCULLY: Well, I’d think that you would.

MULDER: Yeah, I would. I can’t, not right now.

(She walks up to him.)

MELISSA SCULLY: Listen. I don’t have to be psychic to see that you’re in a very dark place... much darker than where my sister is. Willingly walking deeper into darkness cannot help her at all. Only the light...

MULDER: Enough with the harmonic convergence crap, okay? You’re not saying anything to me.

MELISSA SCULLY: Why don’t you just drop your cynicism and your paranoia and your defeat. You know, just because it’s positive and good doesn’t make it silly or trite! Why is it so much easier for you to run around trying to get even than just expressing to her how you feel? I expect more from you. Dana expects more.

(She angrily unlatches the door.)

Even if it doesn’t bring her back, at least she’ll know. And so will you.

(She leaves. Mulder latches the door, sits down and puts the gun back on the table.)

(Mulder slowly walks up and pulls up a chair. The respirator is gone. Mulder stares at her for a while before putting his hand on hers.)

MULDER: I feel, Scully... that you believe... you’re not ready to go. And you’ve always had the strength of your beliefs. I don’t know if my being here... will help bring you back. But I’m here.

(He sits back in his chair and stares at her solemnly. The clock reads 8:17.)

(It is morning. Mulder walks into his apartment to find it completely wrecked. Everything is in shambles. He goes to the doorway from his living room to his office and looks in. He leans up against the door fixture and begins to cry. He slumps down on the floor, crying, looking at his hands.)

(In Scully’s mind, she is lying on a bed in a small clearing in a forest. A chair is in the corner. The area slowly fades away into the hospital room. Doctors and nurses walk around.)

NURSE AT DESK: I’ll look at the chart.

(The nurse who took her blood starts by, but looks at her and stops.)

NURSE: Call Dr. Daly, now.

(She walks over to her head. Scully’s eyes are opened. She blinks.)

(Mulder sits on his sofa as the phone rings. The machine picks it up.)

MULDER ON ANSWERING MACHINE: Hello, this is Fox Mulder. Leave a message...

(He picks up the reciever.)

MULDER: I’m here.

(He listens. Slowly, a smile comes onto his face.)

(Scully is in a room now, with flowers off to the side. Margaret sits in a chair, Melissa is sitting on her bed. Mulder walks in. Melissa gets up and makes room.)

MARGARET SCULLY: Hello, Fox.

(Scully laughs.)

SCULLY: Not Fox, Mulder.

(Mulder is smiling widely as she looks at him.)

MULDER: How you feeling?

SCULLY: Mulder, I don’t remember anything... after Duane Barry...

MULDER: Doesn’t... doesn’t matter.

(She sighs. He holds up a blue plastic bag.)

Brought you a present.

(He takes out a video and shows it to her.)

"Superstars of the Super Bowl."

SCULLY: I knew there was a reason to live.

MULDER: I know you want to get some rest, I... just came by to see... how you were doing and say hi.

(He holds her hand then starts out.)

SCULLY: Mulder?

(He turns back.)

I had the strength of your beliefs.

(He nods and takes her cross out of his pocket. She reaches up and takes it.)

MULDER: I was holding this for you.

(She looks at it, then at her mother, who smiles.)

SCULLY: (quietly) Thanks.

(Mulder smiles and looks at Melissa, who smiles at him. He walks out. Later, she touches the cross as it sits around her neck. The nurse comes in.)

SCULLY: Hmm. Could I see Nurse Owens? I’ve got something I’d like her to have.

NURSE: Nurse who?

(She hands Scully her medicine and a cup of water. Scully downs it.)

SCULLY: Owens. Short with straight light brown hair? She watched over me in intensive care and I’d like to thank her.

NURSE: Dana, I’ve worked here for ten years and there’s no Nurse Owens at this hospital.

(She walks out. Scully stares at the door, wondering.)

[THE END]