(Early morning. Rhythmic dripping sound. SCULLY is getting dressed in a bathroom. A ceiling fan spins slowly above her. She pulls down her green t-shirt, then zips up her black skirt. The old faucet drips rhythmically as she looks at herself in the mirror, fixes her hair, then walks into the other room, a bedroom.)

SCULLY: (voiceover) Time passes in moments ... moments which, rushing past define the path of a life just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen, to consider whether the path we take in life is our own making or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed.

(She picks up her black jacket and puts it on. She looks thoughtfully at the figure in the bed for a moment, then walks quietly out of the room.)

SCULLY: (voiceover) But what if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? And, seeing those choices, choose another path?

(The camera pans across the bed. We see a man's naked foot and leg lying tangled among the blue sheets and beige comforter. Moving up, we see his bare arms and chest and peacefully sleeping face. It is MULDER.)

(X-Files office. Close up on the slide projector's light as it flickers in time to the music playing loudly on the boom box on the desk. "The Sky is Broken" by Moby. Very hypnotic style, rhythmic drumbeat. MULDER, casually dressed, is dancing slightly to the beat as he arranges the slides. SCULLY enters carrying a paper bag.)

MUSIC: "See, the storm has broken in the middle of the night nothing left here for me, it's washed away the rain pushes the buildings aside... "

SCULLY: I got the lab to rush the results of...

(SCULLY turns off the music.)

SCULLY: I said, I got the lab to rush the results of the Szczesny autopsy, if you're interested.

(SCULLY pulls out a packed salad and sets it on her desk.)

MULDER: I heard you, Scully.

SCULLY: And Szczesny did indeed drown but not as the result of the inhalation of ectoplasm as you so vehemently suggested.

MULDER: Well, what else could she possibly have drowned in?

SCULLY: Margarita mix, upchucked with about 40 ounces of Corcovado Gold tequila which, as it turns out she and her friends rapidly consumed in the woods while trying to reenact the Blair Witch Project.

MULDER: Well, I think that demands a little deeper investigation, don't you?

SCULLY: No, I don't.

MULDER: Well, it doesn't matter. We got bigger fish to fry.

(SCULLY pulls a wrapped sandwich out of the bag as MULDER advances the slide projector to show three crop circles.)

MULDER: Have a seat, Scully. Check this out. Is that beautiful or what?

SCULLY: Crop circles, Mulder?

MULDER: Computer-generated crop circles. It's a fractal image predicted by a computer program and using data of every known occurrence of the phenomena over the past 40 years.

(MULDER takes a bite of the sandwich that she hands him.)

MULDER: What most people don't realize is that, since 1991...

(Sound of slides changing. MULDER continues his monologue while watching SCULLY prepare and eat her salad. She doesn't look up once.)

MULDER: ... there's been a dramatic increase in size and complexity of circle design. That's when the Mandelbrot Set appeared in England.

(SCULLY methodically drips dressing using a fork from a small cup onto her salad.)

MULDER: A series of geometrically perfect rings appearing almost impossibly overnight in a field near Cambridge.

(MULDER pauses and watches her. He clicks to the next slide.)

MULDER: But that was merely prelude of what was to come. Three years later, in 1994 even more complex formations occurred simultaneously on opposite ends of the English countryside with the Mandelbrot Set, were it still there, at its center. Then, in 1997, even more complex formations occurred...

(SCULLY is completely engrossed in her salad. MULDER pauses.)

MULDER: ... and I'm not wearing any pants right now.

(SCULLY looks up from the salad after a beat of silence.)

SCULLY: Hmm?

MULDER: You're not listening.

SCULLY: I am.

(He looks at her.)

SCULLY: I guess I just don't see the point.

MULDER: The point is is that a computer program has shown us that these are not just random, happenstance coincidental occurrences and that same program has predicted that in just 48 hours even more complex formations are going to be laid down in a field near Avebury-- 48 hours, Scully-- but I wouldn't mind getting there earlier if you don't mind.

SCULLY: Getting where?

MULDER: England - I got two tickets on a 5:30 flight.

SCULLY: Mulder, I still have to go over to the hospital and-and-and finish the final paperwork on the autopsy you had me do. And, to be honest, it's Saturday and I wouldn't mind, I don't know, taking a bath?

MULDER: Well, what the hell does that mean?

(As SCULLY speaks, she stabs the air with her fork containing a piece of lettuce to emphasize her remarks.)

SCULLY: What it means, Mulder, is I'm not interested in tracking down some sneaky farmers who happened to ace geometry in high school.

(MULDER looks hurt.)

SCULLY: And besides, I mean... what could you possibly get out of this? Or learn? I mean, it's not even remotely FBI-related.

(MULDER is disappointed, but not devastated.)

MULDER: I'll just cancel your ticket.

(He takes another bite of the sandwich thing she brought for him.)

MULDER: Thanks for lunch.

(He puts the rest of the sandwich next to the slide projector on top of the hand-held advance unit. Then he picks up his coat and starts out the door.)

SCULLY: Mulder...

(He stops in the doorway and looks back at her.)

SCULLY: Look, we're always running. We're always chasing the next big thing. Why don't you ever just stay still?

MULDER: I wouldn't know what I'd be missing.

(MULDER leaves. The half-eaten sandwich and advance unit falls to the floor. SCULLY sighs as she is left alone with the now auto-advancing slide projector. The clicking sound segues into the next scene.)

(Hospital nurses station. Two NURSES are at the desk. One NURSE with blonde hair, is tapping a pencil rhythmically on the surface of the desk as SCULLY walks up.)

SCULLY: My name is Dana Scully and I was told I could pick up a postmortem folder for a Ms. Szczesny here. It's, uh, for the FBI.

NURSE 2: Let's see...

(NURSE 2 is surprised as NURSE 1, the blonde, silently hands SCULLY a file from the holder on the desk.)

NURSE 2: Oh!

(In slow motion SCULLY takes the file. The pencil keeps tapping. Time slows down around it.)

NURSE 2: You just sign here, please.

(SCULLY looks at her. All is normal again.)

SCULLY: Thank you.

(SCULLY signs, takes the folder and removes an image of a patient's brain from the folder. She looks down at the folder. The name SZCZESNY is on the folder, but the name D. WATERSTON is on the x-ray. SCULLY looks at it in surprise and confusion. She returns to the NURSES station. The blonde NURSE is no longer there.)

SCULLY: Hi, um... I was given the wrong test results. This, uh, x-ray marked "D. Waterston" was in the envelope marked "Szczesny." I was expecting autopsy results.

NURSE 2: Oh, I'm sorry. They must've gotten switched. Sorry for the inconvenience.

(NURSE 2 hands her another folder.)

SCULLY: Thank you. Is the, um... is the "D. Waterston" that was on the x-ray is that a Dr. Daniel Waterston?

NURSE: (Looking at her charts) Let's see: Waterston, Waterston... Yes, it is. Admitted yesterday, coronary care unit, room 306.

SCULLY: Thank you.

(SCULLY goes to room 306. A man, DR. KOPEIKAN, is talking to a young woman, MAGGIE WATERSTON. SCULLY watches from the doorway.)

DR. KOPEIKAN: I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. Everything appears to be as it should under the circumstances so don't worry. If you'd like, I can show you the hospital cafeteria.

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (upset, not sure of what to do) Uh, yeah, I guess... Yeah, okay.

(SCULLY ducks out of the way and grabs a magazine as MAGGIE WATERSTON and DR. KOPEIKAN pass her. She is not looking at the magazine, "FUNG SHUI LIFE.")

MAGGIE WATERSTON: Are there phones down there, too? I need to make some phone calls.

DR. KOPEIKAN: Yes.

(They are gone. A heart monitor is beeping. SCULLY enters the room and pushes back the curtain. All other sound stops as she looks at the patient. Slow motion. A bell chimes ten times. A man, DANIEL WATERSTON, is lying in the bed asleep. He is a handsome older man, late 50's. SCULLY gazes at him.)

DR. KOPEIKAN: Excuse me...

(SCULLY is startled. Sound of heart monitor starts again. Slow motion stops. DR. KOPEIKAN is in the doorway.)

DR. KOPEIKAN: Can I help you with something?

SCULLY: Um, I'm sorry. I'm Dr. Scully. I-I was just in the hospital and...

DR. KOPEIKAN: Can we step into the hallway?

SCULLY: Yeah.

(SCULLY follows him into the hallway.)

DR. KOPEIKAN: I'm Dr. Waterston's cardiologist, Paul Kopeikan. Did you say your name was Scully?

SCULLY: Uh, yes, Dana Scully.

DR. KOPEIKAN: Dr. Waterston's mentioned you.

SCULLY: I'm sorry, you must be mistaken.

DR. KOPEIKAN: No, you were a student of his, right?

(SCULLY does not answer.)

SCULLY: He has a heart condition?

DR. KOPEIKAN: Dr. Waterston came in yesterday with severe chest pains and he ordered us to do an echocardiogram and a biopsy because he'd had symptoms of an upper respiratory infection the week before. Fortunately, it was the right call.

SCULLY: Then it's serious.

DR. KOPEIKAN: But treatable. I have to wake him up soon, if you'd care to...

SCULLY: No, that's all right. But, uh, thanks for your time.

DR. KOPEIKAN: He must've been a wonderful teacher. I've been following his work on constrictive pericarditis for years now.

SCULLY: Yes... he's a remarkable man.

(SCULLY's apartment. Late afternoon. In the foreground, one of the curtain pulls is swinging back and forth tapping the window frame rhythmically, like a heartbeat. SCULLY enters just as the phone rings. She answers it. )

SCULLY: (on phone) Hello?

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone, voice) You came to see him.

SCULLY: (on phone) I'm sorry, who is this?

(MAGGIE WATERSTON is in the hospital waiting room.)

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone) Margaret Waterston.

SCULLY: (on phone) Maggie. Is everything all right?

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone) Well, that depends, doesn't it?

SCULLY: (on phone) I'm sorry?

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone) Whatever. Dr. Kopeikan told my father you were here and now he wants to see you.

SCULLY: (on phone) About what?

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone) Look, he asked me to call, so I'm calling.

SCULLY: (on phone) I don't know, Maggie. I don't know if I've got time.

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone, voice) Don't know if you have the time.

(The call waiting signal on SCULLY's phone beeps.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Maggie, can you hang on a second? I have another call coming through.

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone, voice) Listen... it's your choice, but if you come it doesn't mean I accept you being in his life.

(MAGGIE WATERSTON hangs up quickly. SCULLY presses the flash button to connect to the other call. The curtain pull keeps tapping.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Hello?

(In his apartment, MULDER is packing. An old black and white movie is on TV. [Camille?] It is a critical moment in the movie where the hero is saying goodbye to his heroine. MULDER's phone is on speaker, so SCULLY can hear the movie.)

MAN ON OLD BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE ON TV: I'll never see you again.

SCULLY: Hello?

(Surprised to hear her voice, MULDER stops packing and runs to turn down the TV.)

MAN ON OLD TV MOVIE: You're breaking my heart.

MULDER: (on speaker phone) Hey, you're there?

(MULDER picks up the receiver.)

MULDER: (on phone) Hey.

SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, aren't you supposed to be on a plane?

MULDER: (On phone) I got a 5:30 flight, remember?

SCULLY: (on phone) Right. Guess I lost track of time.

MULDER: (on phone) Listen, uh, the reason I called-- am I catching you at a bad time?

SCULLY: (on phone) No, I just walked in. Why?

MULDER: (on phone) Uh, there's this group in D.C. that is researching crop circles. They've got a totally different set of coordinates from the one that I got already.

SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, I'm not going.

MULDER: (on phone) I got to ask you a favor. One of the researchers lives out near the hospital and they've got these sensitive photos and data and stuff that they won't fax to me so I was just wondering if you would just, maybe go over there and, you know, and get it and put it in the bureau pouch for me...

(Mulder's voice fades out as SCULLY gazes at the swinging curtain pull. It goes into slow motion. MULDER's voice breaks through again and the pull begins tapping in normal time.)

MULDER: (on phone) Speak to me, Scully.

SCULLY: (on phone) I'm out for the evening, Mulder.

MULDER: (on phone, shutting down defensively) Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place?

SCULLY: (on phone) Look, um... why don't you leave that address on my answering machine and, uh, I'll try for you.

(She hangs up.)

(Back at the hospital. Close up of wheels of a gurney being pushed down the hall. SCULLY walks down the cardio hall and enters the room. A person lies in bed surrounded by family and friends, including a tall RED-HAIRED WOMAN who looks up at SCULLY. SCULLY steps back in surprise. She looks up at the room number. She had entered room 304 by mistake.)

SCULLY: I'm sorry. I-I have the wrong room.

RED-HAIRED WOMAN: (friendly, smiling) It's okay.

(She walks on down to room 306 and enters. DANIEL WATERSTON is sitting up in bed. MAGGIE WATERSTON looks up from her magazine and angrily leaves the room. SCULLY and DANIEL WATERSTON look at each other for a moment.)

SCULLY: Hi.

DANIEL WATERSTON: So I have to lock eyes with the Devil for you to grace me with your presence?

SCULLY: Surely not the Devil.

(He gives a little nod of acknowledgement.)

SCULLY: How are you feeling, Daniel?

DANIEL WATERSTON: It's a real drag when the body doesn't want to play anymore.

SCULLY: You're extremely lucky you called that diagnosis.

DANIEL WATERSTON: Luck has nothing to do with it, Dana. It's what doctors do everyday. You may have forgotten that.

SCULLY: (softly, looking away for a moment) Daniel...

(Pause.)

SCULLY: So, how did you happen to be here in Washington?

DANIEL WATERSTON: That's a long story.

(He reaches out and takes her hand. She stares at their intimately clasped hands for a moment, then she sits in the chair beside him.)

DANIEL WATERSTON: How's the FBI?

SCULLY: Is that why you wanted to see me? To remind me once again what a bad choice I made?

DANIEL WATERSTON: (pressing her hand to his lips, shaking his head) Believe me. My motivation is far more selfish than that.

SCULLY: You scare me, Daniel.

(He lets go of her hand.)

DANIEL WATERSTON: I know. I scare you... (he doesn't like scaring her) ... because I represent that which is ingrained not only in your mind but in your heart-- that which you secretly long for.

SCULLY: You never accepted my reason for leaving.

DANIEL WATERSTON: It wasn't a reason, it was an excuse.

SCULLY: But you understood why.

DANIEL WATERSTON: I can't believe the FBI is a passion. Not like medicine.

(SCULLY rises.)

SCULLY: I'm sorry I came.

(DANIEL WATERSTON gently strokes her face with his finger.)

SCULLY: I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

DANIEL WATERSTON: (looking at her longingly) I know how difficult it must have been for you... just walking through that door but you wouldn't have come if you didn't want to and that says something, doesn't it?

(Later, outside the hospital, SCULLY gets into her silver car. Just as she closes the door, her phone rings, so she doesn't put on her seatbelt. She starts the car and enters traffic.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Scully.

(MULDER is in an airport.)

MULDER: (on phone, voice) I was just about to leave you a message. Listen, I got that, uh, that address that I wanted you to go to for me. It's a woman you're going to be dealing with. She's affiliated with The American Taoist Healing Center.

SCULLY: (on phone) She researches crop circles?

MULDER: (on phone, voice) Don't roll your eyes, Scully.

(SCULLY rolls her eyes. She turns on her left turn signal as the light turns yellow. It clicks rhythmically. The car in front of her makes the left turn, and SCULLY starts to follow.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder you want me to...?

(As SCULLY pulls forward to turn left, a woman with a blonde ponytail in a baseball cap walks in front of her car. It is the blonde NURSE from earlier, now in casual clothes. SCULLY drops the phone and slams on the brakes just as a large truck speeds through the intersection. In slow motion, the blonde woman looks over her shoulder and smiles at SCULLY. The turn signal clicks rhythmically.)

MULDER: (on phone, voice) Scully? Scully, you there?

(SCULLY stares after the woman.)

(Night. Close-up of a sprinkler running. SCULLY arrives at a house in a nice neighborhood. She parks her car in the driveway, gets out and walks up to the doorway. She rings the doorbell. The RED HEADED WOMAN from the hospital answers the door.)

SCULLY: Hi. I'm...

(They recognize each other.)

SCULLY: You were...

WOMAN: (nodding) ... at the hospital today.

SCULLY: Right. That's strange. Um, I-I'm Agent Scully. I'm-I'm here on behalf of my partner.

WOMAN: About my research.

SCULLY: For the FBI, as odd as that may sound.

WOMAN: Right. I'm Colleen Azar. Would you like to come in?

SCULLY: No, thank you. I think I need some fresh air.

COLLEEN AZAR: (concerned) Are you all right?

SCULLY: Yes, I... I mean, yes, I-I'm just a little shaken. I... a near car accident, I think. It's nothing, really.

COLLEEN AZAR: A car accident isn't "nothing."

SCULLY: I'm sorry?

COLLEEN AZAR: In my experience they're often the end results of us not paying attention to something.

SCULLY: Look, I-I don't mean to be rude but I really don't have much time.

COLLEEN AZAR: Sure. I'll go get my papers.

(COLEEN gets a folder.)

COLLEEN AZAR: You think what we do is a little ridiculous, don't you?

SCULLY: Uh, to be honest, I don't know exactly what it is that you do.

COLLEEN AZAR: But you've already formed a judgment about it.

SCULLY: I really should be going.

COLLEEN AZAR: There is a greater intelligence in all things. Accidents-- or near accidents-- often remind us that we need to keep our mind open to the lessons it gives.

(She hands the folder to SCULLY.)

COLLEEN AZAR: (directly) You may want to slow down.

(COLLEEN AZAR releases the folder and shuts the door. SCULLY sighs in displeasure at the woman's audacity. As she turns, she drops the contents of the folder. In slow motion, she sighs and bends down to pick up the papers. She stares at one of the images on a paper. It is an Oriental symbol on a green crop circle - the heart chakra. SCULLY is snapped back into real time by her ringing cell phone.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Hello.

(Hospital. DANIEL WATERSTON's room. Heart monitor beeping. SCULLY and DR. KOPEIKAN join DANIEL WATERSTON and MAGGIE WATERSTON.)

DANIEL WATERSTON: Aw, Hurricane Scully has arrived.

SCULLY: I was summoned.

DANIEL WATERSTON: Would you please tell the doc here why he should listen to me.

DR. KOPEIKAN: Sir, we've already agreed to doses of digoxin that are far beyond what I normally recommend.

DANIEL WATERSTON: I guarantee you, Doctor, you're doing it right.

DR. KOPEIKAN: But I can't be responsible for treatment that might exacerbate your illness. There hasn't even been a double-blind analysis of prednisone's effect.

SCULLY: Prednisone? That won't complicate cardiac arrhythmia. Not if it's just a short burst.

DANIEL WATERSTON: There. An informed opinion.

(DR. KOPEIKAN leaves the room.)

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (bitterly to SCULLY, as she leaves the room) You come off so rational but maybe you know less than you think.

(DANIEL WATERSTON sighs.)

DANIEL WATERSTON: She's ... been through some difficult times and she's very angry.

SCULLY: How did she even find out?

DANIEL WATERSTON: There are things you don't know... things I'm not proud of.

SCULLY: What things?

DANIEL WATERSTON: I screwed up, Dana. Things got bad at home after...

(SCULLY sits. Pause.)

SCULLY: Bad how?

DANIEL WATERSTON: I haven't been completely honest with you. It was hard for me... when you walked away. Shut down from my family and needless to say, it was very difficult for Barbara.

SCULLY: You divorced.

DANIEL WATERSTON: Only after an interminable period of discomfort for us both.

SCULLY: Where did you go?

DANIEL WATERSTON: Here. Washington.

SCULLY: When?

DANIEL WATERSTON: (softly) Almost ten years ago.

SCULLY: (also softly) Daniel... you didn't move here for me?

DANIEL WATERSTON: I didn't mean for it to happen this way, of course.

(SCULLY does not know how to process this information.)

SCULLY: Oh, God.

(She begins to cry.)

SCULLY: You've come at such a strange time.

DANIEL WATERSTON: I know, I know. You-you have a life.

SCULLY: (shaking her head) I don't know what I have. I mean... your x-rays were in the wrong envelope. I never would have even known you were here if it wasn't for a mix-up. It's just...

DANIEL WATERSTON: What do you want, Dana?

SCULLY: I want everything I should want at this time of my life. Maybe I want the life I didn't choose.

(SCULLY is crying softly. He holds his hand out to her. She clasps it with her own, then lays her head down on DANIEL WATERSTON's chest. He softly strokes her hair. She calms, her crying stops. She looks peaceful. The beep of the heart monitor matches the beat of the music under it. As SCULLY rests on his chest the monitor changes tempo, getting faster, then flat-lining. SCULLY jumps up in full doctor mode and begins performing CPR. She frantically calls to the nurse down the hall.)

SCULLY: Nurse! We have a code in here! Nurse!

(Hospital room. SCULLY is still trying to revive DANIEL WATERSTON. The NURSES arrives with the crash cart.)

INTERCOM VOICE: Code blue, C.C.U.

SCULLY: He's in v-fib, get his head.

(A NURSE switches pillows under DANIEL WATERSTON's head. SCULLY gives mouth-to-mouth until another NURSE arrives with an oxygen mask.)

SCULLY: In!

NURSE: In.

(SCULLY gets the defibrillator paddles off the crash cart.)

SCULLY: 200 joules. All clear?

NURSE: Clear.

(SCULLY applies the defibrillator paddles. Still there is the flatline tone.)

NURSE: No pulse, no resp.

SCULLY: 300 joules.

NURSE 3: 300 charge.

SCULLY: Clear!

NURSE: Clear.

(SCULLY applies the paddles again. Still the flatline tone continues.)

NURSE: No pulse, no resp.

SCULLY: Epinephrine, one milligram, I.V. Push. Now! Who's paying attention?!

(The injection is readied.)

NURSE 3: Ready.

SCULLY: Clear!

NURSES: Clear.

(SCULLY applies the paddle again. There is the sound of the flatline tone, then the heart monitor begins beeping normally again.)

SCULLY: We have a pulse.

(The blonde NURSE checks the heart beat.)

SCULLY: Okay. Thank you.

(SCULLY is gasping for breath, relieved and exhausted.)

(Next day. Raining. SCULLY arrives at COLLEEN AZAR's house and rings the buzzer. A woman, CAROL, answers.)

CAROL: Hi, can I help you?

SCULLY: Uh, I'm looking for Colleen.

CAROL: You want to come in?

SCULLY: I just need to speak with her that's all.

(CAROL steps aside so SCULLY can enter. The house is tastefully decorated with lots of Eastern influences. SCULLY, awed, admires the simplicity of the furnishings. A small chime is ringing, slow motion. The moment is broken when CAROL and COLLEEN enter the foyer.)

CAROL: I have to go. Call me if anything interesting happens.

COLLEEN AZAR: Okay. Bye.

(The two women kiss on the lips and CAROL leaves. SCULLY looks away, then COLLEEN AZAR approaches her.)

COLLEEN AZAR: I'm surprised to see you again.

SCULLY: I'm sorry that I was rude before. I'm a medical doctor and a scientist and, you're right, I don't know what it is that you do ... but there was something that you said that I wanted to ask you about.

COLLEEN AZAR: About slowing down? Would you like to sit down? Please.

(SCULLY joins her on the couch. A small fountain is on the coffee table.)

SCULLY: I have a friend who's ill, and, um... I had a strange feeling today-- just a short while ago, actually-- that he may be dying from a more serious condition than anyone realizes.

COLLEEN AZAR: You sense something? Holistic practitioners believe, as do many eastern religions, that living beings exist beyond the physical dimensions of time and space that we're composed of layers of energy and consciousness. You've probably heard it referred to as an "aura."

(Oh boy, has she.)

SCULLY: Hmm... Yes.

COLLEEN AZAR: Witness this energy field and truths come out that have little to do with scientific proof and much to do with faith.

SCULLY: What are you saying that I saw?

COLLEEN AZAR: Pain. And where there's pain there's a need for healing-- physically, mentally or spiritually.

SCULLY: But he has a heart condition.

COLLEEN AZAR: When we hold onto shame and guilt and fear it creates imbalance, makes us forget who we are.

(SCULLY sighs.)

COLLEEN AZAR: This is difficult for you to accept.

(COLLEEN AZAR gently places her hand on SCULLY's leg. In the background, we hear a tea kettle whistling.)

COLLEEN AZAR: (brightly) Would you like to have some tea?

(Later, COLLEEN AZAR is pouring tea for them. SCULLY is contemplating a piece of hanging sculpture.)

COLLEEN AZAR: Have you ever had moments when everything gets incredibly clear? When time seems to expand?

SCULLY: Yes. It's so strange.

COLLEEN AZAR: You may be more open to things than you think. It's just a matter of what you do with it.

(She hands SCULLY her cup of tea as SCULLY reflects on her words. COLLEEN takes her cup and leans against the kitchen sink.)

COLLEEN AZAR: I used to be a physicist. I was successful in my field working 80-odd hours a week. I thought I was happy. Truth is, I was cut off from the world and from myself. I was literally dying inside. I was in a relationship with Carol, who you met but I was so afraid of what the world and my family and my fellow scientists would think that I told no one. Then, two years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

(SCULLY is very sympathetic.)

SCULLY: I'm sorry.

COLLEEN AZAR: (she takes a sip of tea) Mmm... Don't be. It's the cancer that got my attention. It stopped me from being on the self-destructive path I was on. It made me realize I was in a field that had little meaning for me and it's what's allowed me to be happy for what feels like the first time in my life.

SCULLY: But how?

COLLEEN AZAR: I was introduced to a healer who helped me see the disease for what it was. It wasn't until I began releasing shame and telling the truth that my cancer went into remission.

(SCULLY looks down.)

COLLEEN AZAR: You still aren't sure. You came here looking for answers and you want something to take back with you. Everything happens for a reason.

(SCULLY looks at her.)

(Hospital. SCULLY enters carrying a bouquet of red flowers. She sees MAGGIE WATERSTON.)

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (angrily) Are you happy?

SCULLY: I'm sorry? I was just going up to see your father.

MAGGIE WATERSTON: You can't. He's in a coma.

SCULLY: Since when?

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (angry) Since about two minutes after you supposedly saved his life.

(SCULLY starts to continue down the hall. MAGGIE WATERSTON steps in front of her.)

MAGGIE WATERSTON: Do you have any idea the hell you created in our lives?

SCULLY: Maggie, to be honest, I left so that there wouldn't be hell in your lives.

MAGGIE WATERSTON: Don't try to be reasonable with me. I am so sick of being reasonable. You moved on but we've had to live with what you left behind.

CUT TO:

(Out on the street. The rain has stopped. The same rhythmic song that MULDER was playing in the office earlier plays under the scene. SCULLY, flowers hanging limply from her hand is walking slow motion down the sidewalk through a Chinatown. Her black coat billows in the wind. Very surreal. Two men slowly turn and watch her as she passes. She turns and looks up at a slow-motion swinging sign above her. Apothecary, in English and Chinese characters. The music stops and the sign creaking rhythmically is the only sound. She sees the blonde woman in the baseball hat walking across the block. SCULLY runs after her. She is almost hit by a bicyclist, breaking the slow motion. She pauses and continues after the woman. She loses her, but stops at a plain wooden door. She enters. It is a peaceful Oriental garden with a pair of ornate red doors at one end. SCULLY enters the doors. Inside is a beautifully lit temple with a golden statue of Buddha. Votive candles surround it. SCULLY kneels in the rays of light streaming from above and sways as she closes her eyes, trancelike. Bright light, she has a vision. Images from her life rush past her. Still images of her family at her father's funeral, her father in dress whites, her mother, Mulder, Cigarette-Smoking Man, her sister, herself looking at Mulder for the first time in the pilot, the "I Want To Believe" poster, Colleen Azar, herself holding Emily, she and Mulder looking at her first UFO in Deep Throat, season 1, Mulder holding her in the hallway in Memento Mori, her frightened self just before she was abducted, and finally DANIEL WATERSTON lying transparent, floating in white light, his black heart thumping loudly, hypnotically. His lips move as if he is speaking silently. His eyes fly open suddenly. At the same time, SCULLY gasps and her eyes fly open. She is still in the temple. She catches her breath, very disturbed by what just happened. She looks up at the Buddha.)

(DANIEL WATERSTON's hospital room. He is in a coma. SCULLY and MAGGIE WATERSTON watch as a man, the HEALER, holds his hands above DANIEL WATERSTON's chest. Another nurse, NURSE 3, is wheeling a medical cart down the hall. She sees what is going on through the window in the room. She walks away quickly.)

HEALER: What I try to do is clear the body's energy channels-- what we call Chakras-- which can become barriers to a doctor's ability to effectively heal the patient. When these channels are working improperly-- whether from poor physical or emotional health-- the block serves to create conditions for disease. If I can unblock the energy early on then I can prevent the onset or escalation of an illness or provide a place...

(He is interrupted by the arrival of DR. KOPEIKAN who was likely summoned by NURSE 3. He is not pleased.)

DR. KOPEIKAN: What's going on here? Dr. Scully, who do you think you are?

SCULLY: We have nothing but Dr. Waterston's welfare in mind here.

DR. KOPEIKAN: You're not his doctor.

SCULLY: I understand that. What's taking place here is an alternative approach.

DR. KOPEIKAN: What's taking place here is a waste of time, Dr. Scully, and I think that Dr. Waterston would be the first to agree with me. Have you considered that?

SCULLY: I just wanted to help him. It seemed like nothing else was working.

DR. KOPEIKAN: With all due respect that is not for you to assess. That is for me or Dr. Waterston's family to decide.

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (quietly) Then let him continue. If it isn't hurting him we should at least be open to it.

(MAGGIE WATERSTON and SCULLY look at each other.)

HEALER: I'm afraid there's really nothing more I can do at this time. This man, quite frankly, is ready to move on. But something seems to be holding him back. Unfinished business is binding him to the physical plane-- something he needs to release before he can let go.

(SCULLY's apartment. Same rhythmic music from before playing under the scene. SCULLY moves in dreamlike slow motion.)

MUSIC: Broken heart pushing us hear the rain fall See the wind come to my eyes See the storm broken now I'm nothing Speak to me, baby in the middle of the night ...

(SCULLY is wearing a large white terry bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. She has made a cup of tea in her kitchen. As she passes through a door, the scene shifts and she is wearing a dark suit walking into a hospital room. SCULLY looks down at the bed and sees herself two and one half years ago dying of cancer. Her cancer self looks up and mouths the words along with the song.)

MUSIC: Speak to me...

(SCULLY's eyes fly open and she gasps as she sits up in bed, staring up. It was a dream. The phone is ringing. SCULLY, white satin pajamas, catches her breath and picks up the phone)

SCULLY: (on phone) Hello?

MAGGIE WATERSTON: (on phone, voice) It's Maggie. I need you to come to the hospital right away.

SCULLY: (on phone) Maggie, what's...?

(MAGGIE WATERSTON hangs up.)

(DANIEL WATERSTON's hospital room. SCULLY enters. DANIEL WATERSTON is awake.)

SCULLY: Daniel?

DANIEL WATERSTON: You think I'd give up so easily?

(SCULLY exhales and walks close to him.)

SCULLY: You were slipping away. No one thought you'd come out of this. I'm still in shock.

DANIEL WATERSTON: Imagine my shock when my doctor told me the voodoo ritual you'd arranged for last night.

SCULLY: I was afraid it didn't work.

DANIEL WATERSTON: (chuckling) Of course it didn't work. Don't be absurd. Where do you get this crap?

SCULLY: Daniel, that "crap" may have just saved your life whether you're open to it or not.

DANIEL WATERSTON: It doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about that. Look at me. I'm going to get well... and we need to talk about... what happens next for us.

(He looks up at her confidently and warmly.)

SCULLY: I spoke at length to Maggie. It's time... that you took responsibility for the hurt you caused in your family. It's no accident that you got sick, Daniel. You've been running from the truth for ten years.

(DANIEL WATERSTON doesn't want to hear this.)

DANIEL WATERSTON: (a whisper) Dana... It was only to be with you. You were all I lived for.

SCULLY: Maybe the reason you're alive now is to make up for that. To make it up to Maggie.

DANIEL WATERSTON: That's Maggie talking, not you.

SCULLY: (voice breaking slightly) No. I'm not the same person, Daniel. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't seen you again.

(SCULLY turns to see MAGGIE WATERSTON in the doorway. The three of them look at each other for a moment, then SCULLY leaves. MAGGIE WATERSTON hesitantly approaches her father.)

(Later, outside the hospital. SCULLY stands watching people pass. All is in slow motion. Two nuns walk past her. Camera circles around her. She sees the woman with the blonde ponytail. Slow motion stops. SCULLY runs past the nuns and stops the woman. Same clothes, but it is no longer the blonde woman. It is MULDER. He is wearing a cap that says "Stonehenge Rocks." He is happy to see her. She is surprised to see him.)

SCULLY: Excuse me!

MULDER: Hey.

SCULLY: Mulder?

MULDER: I was just looking for you.

SCULLY: But you're supposed to be in England.

MULDER: I'm back.

SCULLY: What happened?

MULDER: (bummed) Nothing. There was no event. No crop circles. Big waste of time.

(SCULLY sighs.)

SCULLY: Maybe sometimes nothing happens for a reason, Mulder.

MULDER: What is that supposed to mean?

SCULLY: Nothing. (she smiles) Come on, I'm make you some tea.

(SCULLY puts her arm around MULDER's and leads him away companionably.)

(MULDER's apartment. MULDER and SCULLY are sitting close together on the sofa. Two half-drunk mugs of tea are on the coffee table. SCULLY, drowsy, has her shoeless, stockinged feet propped up on the table. They have been talking a while.)

MULDER: I just find it hard to believe.

SCULLY: What part?

MULDER: The part where I go away for two days and your whole life changes.

SCULLY: Mmm, I didn't say my whole life changed.

MULDER: You speaking to God in a Buddhist temple. God speaking back.

SCULLY: Mmm, and I didn't say that God spoke back. I said that I had some kind of a vision.

MULDER: Well, for you, that's like saying you're having David Crosby's baby.

(SCULLY smiles and looks thoughtful.)

MULDER: What is it?

SCULLY: I once considered spending my whole life with this man. What I would have missed.

MULDER: I don't think you can know. I mean, how many different lives would we be leading if we made different choices. We... We don't know.

SCULLY: What if there was only one choice and all the other ones were wrong? And there were signs along the way to pay attention to.

MULDER: Mmm. And all the... choices would then lead to this very moment. One wrong turn, and... we wouldn't be sitting here together. Well, that says a lot. That says a lot, a lot, a lot. That's probably more than we should be getting into at this late hour.

(MULDER looks down at SCULLY. She has fallen asleep against his shoulder. Music begins again. In slow motion, he tenderly brushes a strand of hair out of her face, then gazes at her a moment. He pulls his Indian blanket over her and carefully tucks it around her. Camera pans around to the fish tank with it's bouncing UFO decoration as MULDER gets up off the couch. The rhythmic song "The Sky is Broken" continues playing. The camera pans down under the fish tank to a small figurine of Buddha on the shelf below.)

[THE END]