(Outside Cradock Marine Bank on 8th Street. SWAT team is getting into position behind the crime scene tape. Police cars pull up. A woman, PAM, is watching from the street. She is late twenties - early thirties. She looks very sad and tired. SKINNER runs up and ducks under the crime scene tape and goes to LIEUTENANT KRASKOW. He shows his badge.)

SKINNER: You in charge here?

LIEUTENANT KRASKOW: Lieutenant Kraskow. Is the Bureau taking over?

SKINNER: You're welcome to any help that I can give you, but that's not why I'm here. What can you tell me?

LIEUTENANT KRASKOW: Silent alarm tripped 30 minutes ago. We think there's one robber, armed. Probably a handgun. Definitely no pro or he would have been long gone. A single gunshot about 20 minutes ago. Blinds are down but we think we've got a body on the floor. But you're not here to take over?

SKINNER: Two of my agents might be in there.

(PAM runs up to them, but a COP grabs her and holds her back.)

PAM: Skinner! Skinner!

COP: Hold it right here.

SKINNER: Do I know you?

PAM: Stop this. Don't let this happen!

(Inside the bank. SCULLY is kneeling on the floor with MULDER's head in her lap. He is bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the chest. She is on the verge of tears and pressing her hand over the wound. The other customers and tellers are also on the ground. SCULLY caresses MULDER's face then looks up at the gunman, BERNARD, who is staring down at them breathing heavily. He is not a stable person. Explosives are strapped to his chest. His thumb is on the switch.)

SCULLY: (quietly desperate) You're in charge here, you know. It doesn't have to end like this.

(SWAT team enters the front doors.)

BERNARD: Yeah, it does.

SCULLY: (screaming) Nooooooo!!!!

(BERNARD reaches for the switch on the explosives strapped to his chest. Exterior shot of the building exploding. SKINNER ducks behind one of the police minivans to avoid the debris. Smoke fades to black.)

(MULDER's apartment hallway. Paperboy delivers paper hard against MULDER's door. MULDER wakes up suddenly. He is on his waterbed and has been sleeping on his right side. He lies still for a moment and realizes something is wrong. Reflected in the overhead mirror, we see him sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed. He is wearing yellow pajama bottoms. His feet land on his carpet with a splash. The floor is covered in water. He flips the corner of the sheet up and a continuous jet of water spurts out of the bed.)

MULDER: Son of a... (grunts what sounds like "Damn it.")

(He looks at his clock, which has no display. He bangs it against the nightstand. Nothing. He moves the nightstand away from the wall and sees that the stream of water is falling directly on the power outlet. In disgust, he pulls out the plug. He then reaches for his cell phone, but accidentally knocks it onto the wet floor. He looks down at it, sighs, then picks it up. It doesn't work. He pours the water out )

MULDER: (disgusted) Yes... Yes.

(He looks at his watch - Omega. It reads Monday, 7:16 and 9 seconds. He curses under his breath and quickly walks out of his bedroom stepping over his athletic shoes. The phone rings. He tosses the useless cell phone to the floor in the living room and grabs a small pot from the kitchen and goes back to the bedroom, but trips over the athletic shoes and lands flat on the wet floor on his face and stomach. He slowly crawls to the phone and answers it. He puts the pot in position to catch the water.)

MULDER: (on phone) Hello? …. It's coming through down there? … Ugh! … It's my damn waterbed. My damn waterbed sprung a leak. …I-I-I know I'm not supposed to have a waterbed. … I don't know what to tell you. … I-I think it was a gift. … All right.

(He hangs up and puts his finger over the hole in the mattress. For a moment the flow stops, but then water starts spraying out and when he removes his finger, the leak is worse than before. He picks up the pot and pours the water back on top of the mattress, then stares at the leak with hatred and places the pot over it.)

(X-Files Office. Yea!! MULDER is at the desk. He opens his paycheck with a letter opener. FOX WILLIAM MULDER 2630 HEGEL PL #42 ALEXANDRIA, VA 26242. He endorses the check. SCULLY walks in.)

MULDER: I know. I missed the meeting.

SCULLY: You didn't miss the meeting. You're extraordinarily late for the meeting. It's still going on.

MULDER: What are you doing down here?

SCULLY: We took a short break and I came looking for you. What are you doing down here, Mulder?

MULDER: (sarcastically) I'm having the best damn day of my life. Any moment I'm about to burst into song-- "Zip a dee doo dah." My, uh, waterbed sprung a leak and shorted out my alarm clock. (SCULLY blinks in surprise.) My cell phone got wet and crapped out on me and the check I wrote my landlord to cover the, uh, damages is going to bounce if I don't deposit my pay. You ever have one of those days, Scully?

(MULDER crosses to the door.)

SCULLY: Since I've been working here? Yeah. When did you get a waterbed, Mulder?

(MULDER pauses in the doorway and thinks about it for a moment. SCULLY stares at him questioningly. MULDER ignores the question. Very funny.)

MULDER: Bank's just down the street. I'll be back in ten. Cover for me, will you?

(MULDER leaves.)

SCULLY: (to herself) When do I not?

CUT TO: (Corner of E Street and 8th Street. Outside the bank. A really ugly car driven by BERNARD with PAM as a passenger cuts across two lanes of traffic and pulls up across the street from the bank. Other cars angrily blow their horns.)

DRIVER: Jerk!

BERNARD: Yeah? You want some? (looks at PAM) We good? Pam?

PAM: Go run your errand already.

BERNARD: (very nervous) Yeah. I just got to go pick something up. No biggie.

PAM: (not looking at him) Right, Bernard. No biggie.

BERNARD: I'll be ten minutes. Wait here for me.

(BERNARD gets out of the really ugly car just in time for a bicyclist to almost hit him. Pam mouths the dialogue along with them.)

BICYCLIST: Hey, man, you need to watch it next time!

BERNARD: You watch it!

(BERNARD goes into the bank. PAM sees MULDER approaching.)

PAM: (sadly) Right on schedule. Poor guy.

(MULDER looks in the car window and stares at PAM for a moment, then continues on into the bank. PAM stares in surprise.)

PAM: (to herself) You never did that before.

(MULDER enters the bank and gets in a long line. At one of the tables, BERNARD is writing on an envelope - "This is a robbery …")

CUT TO: (SKINNER's office. SCULLY is in hell. She and SKINNER and two other agents are listening to AGENT ARNOLD give a report. There is a vertical bar chart next to him. He is EXTREMEMLY boring - flat delivery with meaningless pauses. The chair next to SCULLY is conspicuously empty.)

AGENT ARNOLD: Now, that's assuming these trends continue well into the coming year. Um, other D.O.J. projections estimate a larger, uh, two to three percent drop in the overall homicide rate versus the, uh, one to one and a half percent cited in the earlier, uh, Tanner study. However, there is some dispute that the, uh, statistical methodology in this latter study is not the D.O.J.-preferred methodology. In any case added variables make crime trends for the coming year particularly hard to predict.

SKINNER: The unpredictable future. Which brings us to Agent Mulder. Will he or will he not grace us with his report?

(SKINNER looks meaningfully at SCULLY who gets up and leaves the office.)

CUT TO: (Inside the Cradock Marine bank. MULDER is still in line behind the WOMAN WHO WILL NEED TO BE SLAPPED. He checks his watch impatiently.)

TELLER: May I help the next in line, please?

CUSTOMER: I've got … a few transactions.

(MULDER checks his watch. BERNARD, having finished writing his note, "This is a robbery. Put the money in the bag … " He takes a moment to breathe heavily, then crumples the note and suddenly turns and points a gun at the customers.)

BERNARD: (yelling) Customers, face down! You know what this is!

WOMAN WHO NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: (hysterical) Oh, god.

BERNARD: You! On the floor!

WOMAN WHO NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: (more hysterical) Oh, god, don't shoot us!

BERNARD: Shut up!

MULDER: (kneeling) You're the boss.

(MULDER lies down on the floor next to WOMAN WHO NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED who begins sobbing.)

MULDER: (quietly to the WOMAN) It's all right.

BERNARD: All right, I'm the boss! No silent alarms, no dye packs. Do it like the insurance company taught you. Start with the counter money. Quicker you go, quicker I go. Everybody else out here on the floor. (TELLER begins removing money.) Ahh! Leave the last one. No tricks. (TELLER pushes silent alarm with her foot) All right, come on. Come on.

MULDER: (disgusted, to himself) Zip a dee doo dah.

(Through a window, MULDER sees SCULLY approaching the bank.)

BERNARD: (to TELLER) All right, get your keys. Come around here. We're going to open up the ATM.

(TELLER obeys.)

MULDER: (to BERNARD) Hey, lock the doors. You forgot to lock the front door.

BERNARD: (to TELLER) On the ground.

(SCULLY enters the bank then pauses as BERNARD points his gun at her. MULDER stands and aims his gun at BERNARD's back.)

WOMAN WHO NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: No!!!

(BERNARD turns and shoots MULDER on the left side of his chest. He falls.)

SCULLY: Drop it! Drop it now!

BERNARD: You drop it!

(SCULLY looks at MULDER lying on the ground. BERNARD opens his jacket to reveal the explosives strapped to his chest.)

BERNARD: You drop it.

(SCULLY stares at him in shock then slowly lowers her gun.)

CUT TO: (SKINNER's office.)

SKINNER: Travel expense reimbursement. Who's got those figures? All I've got here is third and fourth quarter.

AGENT ARNOLD: No?

SKINNER'S ASSISTANT: (entering the room) Assistant Director?

CUT TO: (Street outside the bank. PAM is sitting in the ugly car. She hears tires screeching as the SWAT team arrives.)

PAM: (resigned, not looking at them as they run past) Go, go, go.

SWAT TEAM LEADER: Go, go, go!

(PAM gets out of the car. SKINNER arrives on the scene showing his badge.)

COP: Sir.

SKINNER: Who's in charge here?

LIEUTENANT KRASKOW: I am. Unless the Bureau's taking over.

(PAM comes running up to them. A COP grabs her and holds her back.)

PAM: Skinner!

COP: Hey, hold it!

PAM: Skinner! Don't let them charge in there. Skinner!

SKINNER: Do I know you?

PAM: Skinner!

CUT TO: (Inside bank. SCULLY removes MULDER's tie and rips open his shirt - go Scully! - and then cradles MULDER's head in her lap and presses her hand onto the wound in his chest. Throughout the scene, she is on the verge of tears, but stays calm.)

BERNARD: They're supposed to call, right?

SCULLY: They're not going to call. What's your name?

BERNARD: Yeah.

SCULLY: Look, I got to call you something, right? How about Steve? It's a nice... honest name. Steve.

BERNARD: Bernard.

SCULLY: (voice breaking) Bernard. I have to get my partner out of here.

BERNARD: I am blowing this whole freaking place right off the map if they come in here.

SCULLY: Oh... look, they don't know that. Don't you realize that? They can't see you. They don't know what your plan is.

BERNARD: They better know. They damn well better figure it out.

SCULLY: Look... just walk in front of the door and show them.

BERNARD: You want to get me killed.

(SCULLY looks down at MULDER who is barely conscious. She strokes his cheek.)

SCULLY: (quietly pleading) I just want everybody to live. That's all. I just... just show them. You have control over everything that happens here. You do. And it doesn't have to end this way.

(The SWAT team runs in the front doors.)

BERNARD: Yeah, it does.

SCULLY: (screams) Noooooo!!!!

(BERNARD flips the switch on the explosives on his chest. Exterior shot of the bank exploding. SKINNER ducks behind the minivan to avoid the debris. Smoky haze fades to black.)

(MULDER's hallway. Paperboy flings a paper against the door. MULDER, startled, wakes up on his waterbed. He was sleeping on his back. He notices that the sheets are wet. His feet hit the wet carpet. He finds the stream of water shooting out of the bed.)

MULDER: Oh, son of a...

(He bangs his alarm clock. No response. He knocks his cell phone to the floor, then picks it up to use it, then pours the water out of it.)

MULDER: Son of a bitch.

(He sets the cell phone down and picks up his watch. Monday 7:14 A.M.)

MULDER: Oh... that's great.

(He walks out of the bedroom to his kitchens stepping over his athletic shoes. He returns, steps over his shoes and sets a pot in position to catch the water. His phone rings.)

MULDER: (on phone) Yeah? … It's coming through down there? … It's my damn waterbed. … It sprung a leak. … Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to have a waterbed. … I don't know what to tell you. … I... I... I'm sorry. I mean, I...

(He hangs up. He puts his finger over the leak. The leak gets worse. He stands up and begins looking around for something else. He backs up and trips and falls backwards over his athletic shoes. The phone rings again but MULDER, seeing that the pot is already overflowing, ignores it. He goes back to the kitchen.)

CUT TO: (PAM and BERNARD's apartment. PAM is alone in a room on the phone waiting for MULDER to pick up. It rings several times, then she hangs up as BERNARD enters the room.)

BERNARD: Who you calling?

PAM: Nobody.

BERNARD: What do you mean, nobody? It's got to be somebody.

PAM: It's nobody you know, Bernard. Forget it.

BERNARD: There's something I got to do. I want you to come.

PAM: (turning away) I'm not going with you.

BERNARD: Look, I'm not asking. Pam? Don't go getting all weird on me. It'll only take a couple of minutes.

PAM: Look, Bernard, ... just go to work. It's not too late.

BERNARD: I'm not going to work today. And don't say they're going to fire me.

PAM: I wasn't going to say that.

BERNARD: 'Cause you know what? Who cares? Like there's a big future in mopping floors. Like that's something to lose.

PAM: We lose everything.

BERNARD: No, no. I got a plan. This time tomorrow, Pam...

PAM: Everything will be roses.

(They exit the room. Old digital flip clock clicks to 7:17 A.M.)

(X-Files office. MULDER is at his desk opening his paycheck without a letter opener. When he pulls the check out of the envelope, one corner is mangled.)

MULDER: Aw... Damn it.

(SCULLY enters.)

MULDER: I know. I missed the meeting.

SCULLY: Well, not yet, but, uh, only because it's the longest in FBI history.

MULDER: What are you doing down here, then?

SCULLY: Well, I came looking for you. We took a five-minute break (looks at watch) three minutes ago. Mulder, your cell phone's not working. (He glances up at her.) Did you oversleep?

(MULDER is taping the check back together.)

MULDER: Scully, did you ever have one of those days you wish you could rewind and start all over again from the beginning?

SCULLY: Yes. Frequently. But, I mean, who's … who's to say that if you did rewind it and start over again that it wouldn't end up exactly the same way?

(MULDER endorses the check.)

MULDER: So you think it's all just fate? We have no free will?

SCULLY: No, I think that we're free to be the people that we are-- good, bad or indifferent. I think that it's our character that determines our fate.

MULDER: And all the rest is just preordained? I don't buy that. There's too many variables. Too many forks in the road. I meant to be on time to work this morning but my waterbed springs a leak flooding my apartment (…SCULLY looks surprised…) and the apartment below me so that makes me late for the meeting. Then I realize I got to write a check to cover the damages to my landlord but, as I'm walking to work, I realize that that's gonna bounce unless I deposit my pay. So now I got to go to the bank, which makes me even later.

SCULLY: Since when did you get a waterbed?

MULDER: I might just as easily not have a waterbed then I'd be on time for this meeting. You might just as easily have stayed in medicine and not gone into the FBI, and then we would never have met. Blah, blah, blah...

SCULLY: Fate.

MULDER: Free will. With every choice, you change your fate.

(SCULLY steps forward and takes the signed papers from him.)

SCULLY: Then let's change yours. I will deposit your check. You gather your files, go to Skinner's office, give your report before he takes it out on both of us.

(She leaves. MULDER goes to the file cabinet.)

CUT TO: (SCULLY enters the bank and gets in line. BERNARD is writing another note. "This is a HOLDUP….")

CUT TO:

(X-Files office. MULDER gets some more files out of the cabinet and is almost out of the office when he looks down and sees a paper on the desk. He turns it over. It is his paycheck.)

MULDER: (amazed at his own stupidity) I endorsed my damn check stub.

(He angrily slams the drawer shut and leaves the office with the check. There is a pair of wind up teeth on the desk.)

CUT TO: (MULDER on the street almost to the bank. PAM runs up to him.)

PAM: Mulder! Don't go in the bank today.

MULDER: Excuse me?

PAM: Bernard's in there. Please don't go in the bank.

MULDER: I'm sorry. Do I know you?

PAM: You pass me every day on the street. Every single day. This day, on your way to the bank. And then you go inside, and everybody gets killed-- you, your partner, Bernard, everybody

MULDER: . I pass you... and then we die.

PAM: Yes. Over and over. Only... only last time you looked at me, you looked at me like you knew me. Like you remembered. Please remember me.

(They hear a gunshot from inside the bank.)

PAM: (pleading) Don't go.

(MULDER runs to enter the bank, avoiding cars. Tires screech. MULDER enters the bank and sees BERNARD and SCULLY holding guns on each other. He pulls out his gun. The WOMAN WHO NEEDED TO BE SLAPPED has been shot.)

MULDER: Drop your weapon!

SCULLY: Drop it.

BERNARD: I ain't dropping nothing. You put yours down. I'll shoot her!

MULDER: What do you think I'll do then?

(BERNARD opens his jacket showing the explosives. MULDER and SCULLY look at each other.)

MULDER: Bernard... that's your name, right?

(SCULLY gives MULDER an odd look, then kneels down and checks the pulse of WOMAN WHO NEEDED TO BE SLAPPED.)

SCULLY: Bernard, she's not dead. You're not a murderer yet.

MULDER: You can end this the right way.

TELLER: Sir, please. Listen to them. Don't hurt anybody else. A whole lot of police are coming.

(BERNARD stares at her, then lowers his gun in resignation.)

BERNARD: You tripped the alarm.

(BERNARD drops the gun then reluctantly flips the switch on his chest. MULDER runs to try to stop him.)

MULDER: Noooo!!!

(Exterior shot of the building exploding. Outside, PAM ducks behind the car and covers her ears as the debris flies, she cries.)

(MULDER's hallway. Paperboy delivers paper against MULDER's door, then quick cut to paper delivered again and finally a third time as if to show that the day played three more times. MULDER wakes up on his left side in his waterbed. He realizes he is wet. He finds the leak. He puts his feet on the wet floor. Phone rings. He picks it up knocking his cell phone to the floor.)

MULDER: (on phone, impatiently) Yeah, I know. … Yeah, I know. I-I know already. … I'll pay for it.

(He looks at his dead alarm clock then at his dead cell phone. He looks at his watch. Then off camera he trips over his shoes and falls to the ground with a wet thud and yells "Owww!" Time on watch is Monday 7:15 exactly.)

CUT TO: (FBI building. SCULLY is walking to an elevator, cell phone to her ear.)

RECORDING: The cellular customer you are trying to reach is not responding … (closed captioning: We're sorry, the D.C. Cellular subscriber you wish to reach cannot take your call at this... )

(She hangs up and pushes the down button on the elevator. PAM, wearing a tourist badge, comes running up to her.)

PAM: Agent Scully...

SCULLY: Yes?

PAM: Please don't go inside the bank today.

SCULLY: The bank?

PAM: Cradock Marine-- Eighth Street branch a block from here.

SCULLY: Uh... I'm not following. Did-did you get separated from your tour?

PAM: I'm here to see you. I'm begging you... please don't go this time. Don't let Mulder go, either.

(Elevator opens behind SCULLY.)

SCULLY: Um... I'm sorry...

(TOUR GUIDE walks up to them.)

TOUR GUIDE: Excuse me, miss? You're not supposed to be in this area.

PAM: If you walk in that bank, you'll die. Both of you.

(TOUR GUIDE escorts PAM away down the hall. SCULLY makes a scoffing sound and enters the elevator.)

(SCULLY enters the X-Files office. No one else is there. A moment later, MULDER enters.)

MULDER: Oh, hey.

SCULLY: Hey.

MULDER: Did I miss the meeting?

(MULDER opens his paycheck without an opener.)

SCULLY: Huh? No. No, we, uh, took a five-minute break about, uh, three minutes ago. Uh, Mulder, your cell phone's not working.

(MULDER gets a very odd look on his face.)

MULDER: Wow, that is so strange.

SCULLY: What?

MULDER: I just got the weirdest sensation of deja vu. I've been having it all morning.

SCULLY: Well, that's fairly common.

MULDER: Yeah, but never to this degree. I mean, I woke up, I opened my eyes I was soaking wet...

(SCULLY looks at him curiously. He endorses his check.)

MULDER: It's a long story but I had the distinct sensation that I had lived that moment before.

SCULLY: Well, you may have. Did you do a lot of drinking in college?

(MULDER looks up at her.)

MULDER: I wonder what it means.

SCULLY: Mulder, I don't see why it has to mean anything.

MULDER: Well, you know, some Freudians believe the deja vu phenomenon to be repressed memories escaping the unconscious. That it represents a desire to, uh, have a second chance to set things right.

SCULLY: Set what kind of things right?

MULDER: Whatever's wrong.

SCULLY: Mulder, it's more likely that we're talking about simple neurochemistry-- a glitch in the brain's ability to process recognition and memory. Doesn't mean that the memory's authentic.

MULDER: Yeah? Well, but what if it were?

SCULLY: What if you'd lived this moment before and now you're living it again?

MULDER: Yeah-- so that I could right some wrong or change fate.

SCULLY: Well, right now I'd say you're fated to go to this meeting.

MULDER: No. Actually, I'm fated to go to the bank.

SCULLY: Mulder... what bank?

MULDER: Cradock. Right down the street.

SCULLY: Eighth Street.

(MULDER pauses in the doorway.)

MULDER: What?

SCULLY: (sighs) Some ... some woman just stopped me in the hallway not ten minutes ago. She knew both of our names and she warned against either of us entering into the Cradock branch on Eighth Street. She said that we'd die.

MULDER: What did she look like?

SCULLY: Five-eight, thin, green eyes, dyed hair. M-maybe you know her. Maybe... it's just somebody pulling a prank.

MULDER: I'll use the ATM machine. I don't want to tempt fate.

CUT TO: (SKINNER's office. Back to the meeting from hell.)

SKINNER: All right, our next order of business is federal crime projections. Who's got those figures?

AGENT ARNOLD: Uh, right here. Um, if you all could just bear with me one second. (He looks through his files. There is a colored horizontal bar graph next to him.) Uh, "federal crime projections."

(SCULLY looks at MULDER's empty chair.)

CUT TO: (Street outside the bank. MULDER is standing in front of the ATM machine. He seals the envelope, then gets his wallet out, but then sees that the ATM is out of order. He looks apprehensively at the door to the bank, then turns and sees PAM and crosses over to her.)

PAM: (hopefully) Do you remember me?

MULDER: You match a description. You're the, uh...you're the woman that gave a warning to my partner, aren't you? (She nods.) Uh... Have we met?

PAM: More times than I can count. Right here on this sidewalk. Usually, you walk right by. You'll pass a few minutes earlier a few minutes later-- little details, they change. But it always ends the same.

MULDER: What always ends the same?

PAM: I keep having this conversation.

MULDER: We go inside the bank... and we all die. That's what you told my partner. Is... is something going to happen inside the bank? Is there going to be a robbery?

PAM: (on the verge of tears) Every time I tell you there's going to be a robbery you run in there to try to stop it and that's when things go bad. Don't you see? We're all in hell. I'm the only one who knows it. Something went very wrong on this day the first time around. Something got screwed up. Things didn't end the way they were supposed to. Now it's like a needle stuck in a groove.

MULDER: You're saying this day repeats over and over again.

PAM: Until we get it right. Till my boyfriend doesn't blow up that bank. I have tried everything to stop him. I've hid his keys, I've drugged his coffee... I even called the police on him myself. He always gets here. He's meant to. It's you. It's you and your partner every time. If it wasn't for you, nobody would die.

MULDER: If what you're saying is true, how come I don't remember it? How come you're the only one?

PAM: That's got to be 50 times you've asked me that.

MULDER: 51. What's the answer?

PAM: I don't know. I just do. Be glad you don't. Please... you can stop this. You're the variable. It has to be you. I have tried everyone else. All I'm asking is just walk away.

CUT TO: (SKINNER's office. AGENT ARNOLD is droning on. MULDER enters with his files and gives a weak smile to SKINNER who does not smile back. He then notices the empty seat beside him.)

AGENT ARNOLD: That's assuming these trends continue well into the coming year. Other D.O.J.. projections estimate a larger two to three percent drop in the overall homicide rate, uh versus the, uh, one to one-and- a-half percent cited in the earlier Tanner study. However, there is some dispute that...

MULDER: (interrupting) Um, excuse me uh... Agent Arnold. Um, where's Scully?

SKINNER: She just left, Mulder -- I assume to look for you.

MULDER: Uh, excuse me. Um...

(MULDER gets back up and leaves the room. SKINNER looks quite over it all.)

AGENT ARNOLD: Umm….

CUT TO: (Inside bank. SCULLY enters and looks around unsuccessfully for MULDER. BERNARD finishes writing and turns around holding his gun on the customers.)

BERNARD: Everybody, face down! You know what this is! Give me the money.

WOMAN WHO REALLY NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: Oh, God! Oh, God...

BERNARD: You! On the floor!

(SCULLY kneels.)

WOMAN WHO REALLY NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: Oh, God, you're going to shoot us? Oh, God he's going to...

BERNARD: Shut up!

WOMAN WHO REALLY NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: He's going to shoot us! Please don't kill us! Please don't do this!

BERNARD: Shut up! (to TELLER) Give me the money!

WOMAN WHO REALLY NEEDS TO BE SLAPPED: Don't shoot us! Don't shoot us!

BERNARD: Damn it, shut up!

(SCULLY slowly reaches for her gun. BERNARD sees her.)

BERNARD: Hey! Hey! Get your hands up where I can see them! Do it! Do it now!

(MULDER enters the bank and pulls out his gun.)

MULDER: Drop your weapon!

(BERNARD turns. MULDER shoots him in the shoulder and BERNARD falls to the ground. MULDER and SCULLY look at each other and then, guns still out, approach him. BERNARD rips his jacket open exposing the explosives strapped to his chest. MULDER and SCULLY freeze.)

MULDER: (quietly repeating to himself) He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb.

(BERNARD flips the switch.)

[Fade to black]

(MULDER's apartment hallway. Paperboy delivers the paper against MULDER's door waking him up. Everything in the apartment happens in slow motion, like he is just going through the motions. He wakes up on his left side. He sits up and his feet hit the wet floor. He looks at his watch. Monday 7:15 and 2 seconds. He talks on the phone and hangs up.)

CUT TO: (X-Files office. MULDER is at his desk endorsing his check - Fox W. Mulder. There is a pair of wind-up chattering teeth on the desk. SCULLY enters.)

MULDER: I know, I know. I missed the meeting.

SCULLY: You didn't miss the meeting. You're extraordinarily late for the meeting.

MULDER: (touching her shoulder familiarly and leaving the office) The bank's just down the street. Cover for me, will you?

CUT TO: (BERNARD and PAM pull up in front of the bank in the ugly car. Another car blows it's horn.)

BERNARD: We good, Pam? Pam?

PAM: (not looking at him) I know-- you just got to go pick something up. No biggie.

BERNARD: What is with you? Why are you always in a mood?

PAM: 'Cause nothing ever changes.

BERNARD: Things are going to change. You wait and see. I'll be ten minutes. Wait here for me.

(He gets out of the car and is almost hit by the BICYCLIST. She mouths the words of the next two lines.)

BICYCLIST: Hey, man, you need to watch it next time!

BERNARD: You watch it!

(PAM begins crying quietly. MULDER comes down the street and pauses beside PAM's car window. She rolls it down. She doesn't look very hopeful.)

MULDER: Do I know you?

PAM: Do you?

MULDER: Yeah, you just look really familiar to me.

PAM: Do I?

MULDER: Yeah. No? Uh, all right. I'm-I'm sorry to bother you.

(Inside the bank, MULDER gets in line.)

TELLER: May I help the next in line, please?

(MULDER looks out at PAM sitting in the car, then over to where BERNARD is writing. Camera closes in on MULDER's face.)

MULDER: (whispering): ...He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb.

CUT TO: (SKINNER's office. Meeting from hell. SCULLY is very nervous. The graph is now the jagged line type.)

AGENT ARNOLD: ...estimate a larger two to three percent drop in the overall homicide rate, uh, versus the one to one and a half percent cited in the earlier Tanner study. However, there's some dispute that the statistical methodology in this latter study is not the D.O.J.-preferred methodology.

(SKINNER looks at his watch, then looks sternly at SCULLY.)

AGENT ARNOLD: In any case, added variables make crime trends for the coming year...

(SKINNER's assistant enters the office.)

SKINNER'S ASSISTANT: Excuse me. Agent Scully?

SCULLY: Excuse me.

(SCULLY gets up from the table and goes out of the office with SKINNER's ASSISTANT.)

SKINNER'S ASSISTANT: It's Agent Mulder, and he said it's urgent.

SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, where are you?

MULDER: (quietly, on phone) I'm at the bank.

SCULLY: (on phone) Yeah, I know where you are, but what's taking so long?

MULDER: (on phone) Scully, I need you to do something for me right now.

CUT TO: (Street in front of bank. Pam is sitting in the car. Her watch says 9:55. SCULLY knocks at the window showing her badge.)

SCULLY: Ma'am, will you come with me?

PAM: Why?

SCULLY: Just come with me, please.

PAM: What's this about?

SCULLY: My partner said you'd know.

(Inside the bank BERNARD is writing his note. "This is a robbery. Put the money in the bag. No alarm. No tricks." MULDER places his gun on top of the note.)

MULDER: (quietly) Take it. I'm a federal agent. I don't want us all to die in here.

BERNARD: What are you talking about?

MULDER: You've got a girlfriend outside in the car and you've got a bomb. Something very bad is going to happen here today and I want you to know that I'm not going to let it happen. But if you walk out that door right now I'm not going to stop you. You're in charge here, Bernard.

BERNARD: You're damn right.

MULDER: You could change your fate.

(BERNARD struggles with the thought for a moment, then sighs, picks up the gun and aims it at the customers.)

BERNARD: Everybody down! Now! You know what this is!

WOMAN WHO UNFORTUNATELY NEVER GOT SLAPPED: No! Oh, god!

BERNARD: Get down!

MULDER: If you don't believe me, ask her.

(SCULLY and PAM enter. SCULLY draws her gun and steps in front of PAM.)

SCULLY: Drop it!

BERNARD: Get away from her, Pam.

PAM: (to MULDER) This isn't gonna work. You can't be in here.

SCULLY: Drop it now!

BERNARD: You drop it.

MULDER: Listen to me, Bernard...

BERNARD: You get her out of here.

MULDER: You get her out of here. You're dooming her. You're making her live this day over and over again-- her, you, me, all of us.

BERNARD: What the hell are you talking about?

MULDER: Every day you die in here and every day it starts all over again. You can't want this for her. It's hell!

BERNARD: Hell? I'm doing this for her.

PAM: Listen to him, Bernard.

BERNARD: (to SCULLY) Put your damn gun down!

MULDER: Put your gun down, Scully. Trust me, it's the only way to get out of here. You got to put your gun down and let them out. He's got a bomb.

(After a long hesitation, SCULLY kneels down and puts her gun on the floor.)

PAM: (crying) Come on, Bernard. Let's go.

(Sirens are heard approaching.)

BERNARD: You son of a bitch!

(BERNARD aims his gun at MULDER.)

PAM: No!

(PAM throws herself in front of MULDER and takes the bullet in her shoulder and falls to the ground. BERNARD, shocked, lets the gun fall to the floor and then drops to his knees. MULDER handcuffs him. SCULLY checks PAM's pulse and then steps away to call 911. MULDER kneels down beside PAM.)

SCULLY: (on phone) This is Agent Dana Scully with the FBI…

PAM: (to MULDER, a look of wonder on her face) This never happened before.

(PAM's eyes slowly close.)

(MULDER's apartment hallway. Paperboy delivers paper against MULDER's door. It wakes him up from where he is sleeping … on his couch! He is wearing a gray shirt and dark plaid pajama bottoms. The phone rings and he answers it.)

MULDER: (on phone) Yeah?

(SCULLY is sitting at the desk in the X-Files office playing with the wind-up chattering teeth.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, it's me.

(Mulder looks at his watch. Tuesday 7:20. He gets up and goes to get his paper.)

MULDER: (on phone) I'm late again, aren't I, Scully?

SCULLY: (on phone) No, not yet but Skinner wants to see us in his office as soon as possible. He's asking for our report on the robbery yesterday.

MULDER: (on phone) I'll be there in an hour.

SCULLY: (on phone) I'd like to hear it, too.

MULDER: (on phone) Well, you were there, Scully.

SCULLY: (on phone) That's not what I mean. You still won't explain what happened yesterday-- how you knew that Bernard Oates was strapped with explosives.

MULDER: (on phone) Call it a feeling.

SCULLY: (on phone) And it was also a feeling that he had an accomplice waiting in the car?

MULDER: (on phone, looking at the paper) I don't think she was an accomplice. I think she was just trying to get away.

SCULLY: (on phone) Are you okay?

MULDER: (on phone) I'll be there in an hour.

(MULDER hangs up and sets the paper down on the couch. One of the headlines is above a smiling picture of PAM. "Woman Dies in Robbery Attempt")

[Fade to black]

[THE END]