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[SCENES FROM PREVIOUS EPISODES...]
ANNOUNCER: Previously on The X-Files ...
(SCULLY is looking at the ship buried in the beach in Africa and at the images from its hull and then in the tent translating the words.)
SCULLY: It appears to be a craft; its skin covered with the intricate symbols you and I both saw. They are somehow imbued with power.
(MULDER attacks SKINNER in the hospital.)
DR. HARRIMAN: There's activity in the temporal lobe we've just never seen. His brain is going to just die.
(MULDER lying in the hospital bed talking to MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU and SKINNER.)
MULDER: What's causing this?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: It's a temporal lobe abnormality. That's how you're able to read minds.
MULDER: What's causing this is alien.
(SKINNER talking to MULDER who is lying in the hospital bed.)
SKINNER: Agent Mulder I want to help you.
(SKINNER and MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU injecting MULDER.)
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: You asked me to come down here.
SKINNER: You're going to inject him?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: He's being given the wrong treatment.
SKINNER: You're not a doctor.
(MULDER talking to SKINNER, with shots of KRYCEK, armed, with the really long haired wig and SKINNER suffering from the effects of the nanobots from S.R. 819.)
MULDER: Look, I know you've been compromised. I know Krycek is threatening your life.
(DIANA FOWLEY at MULDER's bedside.)
DIANA FOWLEY: I know you know about me-- that my loyalties aren't just to you.
(SCULLY in SKINNER's office and MULDER tapping the computer monitors from the last ep.)
SCULLY: He's not dying. He is more alive than he's ever been and what's causing it may be extraterrestrial.
(SCULLY at MULDER's bedside rubbing his hand and crying.)
SCULLY: Please, Mulder. Hold on.
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SCENE 1
(Unknown beach. Lots of rocks and seagulls. Very dreamlike quality to the light. MULDER, barefoot and dressed in jeans and a blue-grey T-shirt, is sitting on a rock watching a young couple teach their TODDLER son to walk. The MOTHER holds the TODDLER's hands in the air as she helps him stumble toward the eager FATHER.)
DR. HARRIMAN: (voice heard over the beach scene) We've exhausted all medical and scientific evidence. By that I mean nothing we can find -- no disease, no hint of disease, only symptoms. The brute fact is he's experiencing so much activity in his temporal lobe that it is effectively destroying his brain.
(CUT TO: MULDER's hospital room. MULDER is lying still, staring sightlessly. DR. HARRIMAN is talking to TEENA MULDER.)
TEENA MULDER: (upset) Enough. There's only so much bluntness a mother can take.
DR. HARRIMAN: I'm sorry. I just...
TEENA MULDER: All you do is sedate him. You're turning him... into a zombie.
(TEENA MULDER strokes MULDER's face tenderly.)
TEENA MULDER: I know you can hear me, Fox. Can you give me a sign?
MULDER: (voice, not physically spoken, matter-of-factly) I can hear you, Mom.
TEENA MULDER: (voice) Fox.
MULDER: (voice, not understanding what is going on) Mom, I can hear you. I'm here.
TEENA MULDER: (voice) I love you, my darling boy.
(Seeing and hearing no response, TEENA MULDER sadly walks away. We hear MULDER's voice getting more and more desperate as she leaves, but his body does not react.)
MULDER: (voice) Mom, where you going? Mom! Mom! Come back, Mom! Mom! (he is yelling) Mom! ( anguished screaming now) Mom!
(Room grows dim around MULDER's still body, then lightens as time passes and we see CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN standing at the window. The following conversation takes place entirely within their heads. No physical speaking.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (voice) "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes." (he turns to MULDER) Ah, but your mummy will still love you. All a mother wants is to shield her boy from pain and danger. Safe in the world as he was once in the womb. But maybe we think a father demands more than mere survival. Maybe we're afraid a father demands worldly adulation, success, heroism... (he leans close to MULDER's face) I know you can hear me.
(MULDER moves his eyes to look at CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN.)
MULDER: (voice) I could always hear you. Even when my mind is jammed with a thousand voices I can hear you like a snake hissing underneath. How the hell did you get in here?
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN fills a syringe from a bottle.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (voice) How does anything I do surprise you now? Aren't you expecting me to sprout vampire fangs?
MULDER: (voice) You've come to kill me.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (voice) It would be better than living like a zombie, wouldn't it?
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN delivers the injection into MULDER's temple. MULDER gasps and grimaces in pain. Something major and painful happens in his head. The rest of the scene they speak to each other normally.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I'm giving you a choice.
MULDER: What choice?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Life or death. Your account is squared -- with me, with God, with the IRS, with the FBI. Rise out of your bed and come with me.
MULDER: I'm dying, you idiot. If I could get up, I'd kick your ass.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (not impressed) Don't be so dramatic. Only part of you is dying. The part that played the hero. You've suffered enough - for the X-Files, for your partner, for the world. You're not Christ. You're not Prince Hamlet. You're not even Ralph Nader. You can walk out of this hospital and the world will forget you. Arise.
(As CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN lifts his hands, MULDER sits up in bed.)
MULDER: Wh... wh... what the hell are you doing to me?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I'm showing you how to take the road not taken. Take my hand.
MULDER: Why should I take your hand?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: You can't read my mind?
MULDER: (relief) No... I can't. All the voices are gone.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Take my hand, Fox. You have to take the first step.
(Flash of TODDLER on the beach stumbling on his own from his MOTHER to the FATHER's hands. Cut back to MULDER's hospital room.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Take my hand. I am your father.
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SCENE 2
(X-Files office. Morning. SCULLY is sitting at MULDER's desk asleep, glasses off, her head resting on her arm. Her laptop displays images from the hull of the ship in Africa. Someone enters. She wakes suddenly at the sound of his voice.)
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: Sleep is a luxury, Agent Scully. A self-indulgence we have no time for. Nor does Agent Mulder.
(SCULLY closes the laptop defensively.)
SCULLY: How did you get in here?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: Getting in is easy. It's what you do once you're inside that's key.
SCULLY: What's that supposed to mean?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: You are the only one with access to Mulder. I need you to use it wisely.
SCULLY: Like you? Almost killing him by shooting him full of Phenytoin for a few moments of lucidity.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: It's what Agent Mulder wanted. He knows what's wrong. What he wants now is to prove it. It's why he asked for me, not you.
SCULLY: I don't believe that.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: Two years ago your partner was infected with a virus he claimed was alien. A virus reactivated in him by exposure to a source of energy also alien. Agent Mulder is living proof of what he tried so long to substantiate: the existence of alien life.
SCULLY: Well, whatever it is, it's killing him. And we have to get it out of him.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: (leaning close, threatening) You destroy this and I'll destroy you.
(The phone on the desk begins ringing. SCULLY and MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU stare at each other for a moment, then MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU leaves the office. SCULLY answers the phone.)
SCULLY: (on phone) Scully.
SKINNER: (on phone, voice) Agent Scully, you need to go to the hospital.
SCULLY: (on phone) Why? What happened?
SKINNER: (on phone) Mulder's gone. He's disappeared.
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SCENE 3
(SCULLY bursts into MULDER's hospital room. SKINNER and another man, AGENT FLAGLER, are standing next to the empty bed.)
SCULLY: There were guards posted here. A man who's gravely ill doesn't just get up and disappear.
SKINNER: I know. I know.
SCULLY: How did this happen?
SKINNER: His mother checked him out.
SCULLY: His mother?
SKINNER: That's what they're saying.
SCULLY: Has anybody spoken with her?
SKINNER: I'm leaving that up to you. It's better I not be involved any further in this case.
(SKINNER starts to walk towards the door.)
SCULLY: Sir, this isn't just a case. This is Agent Mulder we're speaking about.
(He stops to speak to her.)
SKINNER: And I am trying to help him by staying out of this from now on.
SCULLY: Sir!
SKINNER: I'm in a compromised position. The less I know about Agent Mulder's whereabouts and yours the better.
(SKINNER leaves.)
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SCENE 4
(The Dream Beach. MULDER, still sitting on the rock, shields his eyes from the glare of the sun. A BOY, about 8 years old, wearing a blue shirt and jean shorts, walks up to where MULDER is sitting. He speaks with CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN's voice.)
BOY IN CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN'S VOICE: The child is father to the man.
(Cut to MULDER shielding his eyes from ...)
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SCENE 5
( ... the headlights from oncoming traffic. Car. Rainy night. MULDER, still in his hospital gown and with his arms handcuffed in front of him wakes to find himself in a car driven by the CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: You've been asleep quite a while. I expect it'll be some time before your sleep patterns return to normal. Would you like an explanation?
MULDER: I'm not sure.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: While you were lying unconscious in the hospital this afternoon my doctors worked on you.
MULDER: Why?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: At some point I realized that if the Syndicate didn't kill you the FBI would. If the FBI didn't kill you your own misguided heroism would. There's really no way out for you. There's no way for you to cheat death except by disappearing.
MULDER: A man can't just disappear.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Oh, we've made entire cultures disappear. Like me, now, you'll... you'll become a man without a name. But even while you miss your former identity, you'll... you'll learn to love life's simpler pleasures.
MULDER: (holding up his cuffed hands) Well, that'll be kind of tough with these on.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: When you no longer want to run, those will come off. How do you feel?
MULDER: I feel better than I did. (sighs) I've got to tell Scully. I've got to tell her.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: If you do have contact with her you'll put her in danger. You're entering a kind of, uh, witness protection program, for want of a better term.
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN lights two cigarettes in his mouth.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Can I offer you a cigarette?
MULDER: I don't smoke.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Maybe now you do.
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SCENE 6
(SCULLY's apartment! How we have missed it. Fridge in the right place. Nice windows. SCULLY walks in tiredly and drops her keys on the kitchen table. She opens the refrigerator, then is startled by a sound in the living room. She pulls out her gun and aims it at a shadowed figure near the door.)
SCULLY: Don't move. Who's there?
(It is the old Native American man from 6x22, Biogenesis, and from the Anasazi trilogy before that.)
ALBERT HOSTEEN: I don't mean to frighten you. Albert Hosteen.
SCULLY: (lowering the gun) What are you doing here? How did you get here?
ALBERT HOSTEEN: I'm sorry to surprise you.
SCULLY: Surprise? That you're standing here. The last time I saw you was in New Mexico. They'd taken you from the hospital. Your... your doctors feared the worst.
ALBERT HOSTEEN: I was hoping to see your partner.
SCULLY: He's missing.
ALBERT HOSTEEN: You must save him.
SCULLY: He's very ill.
ALBERT HOSTEEN: You must find him before something happens not only for his sake-- for the sake of us all.
(SCULLY is confused.)
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SCENE 7
(Day. Suburban street. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN and MULDER pull up in front of a nice house.)
MULDER: Where are we?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Home. This is your new life.
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN holds out a key. After a moment MULDER takes it.)
MULDER: I don't understand.
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN gets out of the car, then leans back in the window.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (pointing to the keys still in the ignition) You can drive away right now. Drive back to Scully and your X-Files and imminent death and I wouldn't be surprised if you did but I think you should take a look around. I mean, why leave something behind until you... until you know what it is you're leaving?
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN walks off down the street. MULDER looks up at the house.)
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SCENE 8
(Hospital security. SCULLY and AGENT FLAGLER are looking at security video footage.)
AGENT FLAGLER: Mulder was taken out of the hospital at just before 2:00 a.m. His mother's signature's on the hospital documents. It's her handwriting, she checked him out a.m.a; against medical advice. It's all legitimate, until you go to surveillance. This is the camera in the hall outside Mulder's room.
(We see black paint sprayed on each of the camera lenses obscuring the view of the surveillance area.)
AGENT FLAGLER: Here's inside his room. And two other cameras on the ward. We're guesstimating there were at least three others involved. Check this out. Where's Waldo? She's talking to someone.
(In the tiny bit of one frame not covered with the black paint we see TEENA MULDER talking to a man who is smoking a cigarette.)
SCULLY: Yeah. I know who that is.
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SCENE 9
(Suburban house. MULDER knocks as he lets himself in.)
MULDER: Hello? Anybody home?
(MULDER, still handcuffed and wearing his hospital gown enters the house. No one is there. He walks through the very nice kitchen and opens the refrigerator. Inside, next to the regular food, are lots of bags of Spitz brand sunflower seeds. MULDER smiles.)
DEEP THROAT: They can change your name but they can't change the things you love.
(MULDER turns and sees DEEP THROAT standing behind him.)
MULDER: It can't be.
(DEEP THROAT chuckles.)
MULDER: You're dead.
DEEP THROAT: (laughs heartily) No. No, just really relaxed.
MULDER: Scully... saw you get shot... on the bridge six years ago. Sure, you're... dead.
(They hug, MULDER, grinning, doing the best he can while handcuffed.)
DEEP THROAT: One, uh, well-placed bullet... (pulls up his shirt to show the long healed wound) A punctuation mark in a man's life and you get to start a whole new chapter. I'm fine, son. Aside from a little tennis elbow.
(MULDER, sits, trying to take it all in. He is extremely happy.)
MULDER: I felt responsible for your death.
DEEP THROAT: You can let that go. Clearly, I'm alive.
MULDER: I thought that you died for my quest.
DEEP THROAT: Yes, along with Scully's sister and the man you thought was your father and Duane Barry and even Scully's mysterious illness and on and on and on. You can let go of all that guilt. I'm here to tell you that you're not the hub of the universe, the cause of life and death. We-- you and I-- we're... merely puppets in a master plan. No more, no less. You've suffered enough. Now you should enjoy your life. Let me show you something. (pulls out his wallet and shows pictures) That's my wife and daughters, we live just down the street. I hope... you'll visit us for dinner.
(Later, MULDER is sitting in the house in a chair with his eyes closed. A glass ashtray next to him is filled with sunflower seed husks. Cut to ... )
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SCENE 10
(Dream beach. MULDER walks up to where the BOY is building a structure in the sand. A wave comes up and ruins the structure.)
MULDER: Hello.
(The BOY looks up at him, tears in his eyes. MULDER pats him on the shoulder comfortingly.)
MULDER: Hey, buddy, that's okay. You can build it again. Just start again. Okay?
(The BOY nods hopefully as MULDER brushes the tears off of his face. CUT TO ...)
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SCENE 11
(Suburban house. Bedroom. MULDER, still handcuffed, but wearing pajama bottoms is lying in bed, thinking. He gets out of bed at the sound of the bedroom door opening.)
MULDER: Who's there? Who are you?
(Silhouetted in the doorway is DIANA FOWLEY wearing a black negligee. She walks toward MULDER.)
DIANA FOWLEY: Hundreds of little joys-- to open a door and have a woman beckon you in, to have her make a fire and lay the table for you and when it's late, to feel her take you into her arms.
(She holds up a key, and unlocks his handcuffs, then runs her hands seductively up his bare chest, then they embrace and begin kissing passionately. Fade to black.
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SCENE 12
ANSWERING MACHINE: This is Teena Mulder. I'm not in to take your call. Please leave your message.
(SCULLY is in the X-Files office.)
SCULLY: (on phone) This is Dana Scully.
(An OFFICE COURIER hands her a large envelope.)
SCULLY: (whisper as the COURIER leaves) Thank you. (back into the phone) As before, you can reach me at your son's office at the FBI. Thank you.
(SCULLY hangs up and opens the envelope. Inside is a large book. "Native American Beliefs and Practices." She stares at it, then looks back at the envelope which says it is inter-departmental correspondence, but there is no origin listed. There is writing on the cover of the book that perfectly matches the writing on one of the panels of the ship that she has displayed on her laptop. She opens the book. Chapter Three IS TITLED: "The Anasazi - An Entire Native American Indian Culture Vanishes Without a Trace - History as Myth and end of the world symbolism. Apocalypse and The Sixth Extinction." SCULLY stares at the book in awe.)
(In his office, SKINNER answers the phone. Another man is in the office with him walking around the room, but we cannot see his face.)
SKINNER: (on phone) Skinner.
SCULLY: (on phone, quietly) Sir, did you send me this book?
SKINNER (on phone) Excuse me?
SCULLY: (on phone) This book. It explains everything that I found in Africa... using the same symbols that I found on the ship.
SKINNER: (on phone) Agent Scully, I asked you not to involve me in this.
SCULLY: (on phone) It's all here, sir-- a foretelling of mass extinction; a myth about a man who can save us from it. That's why they took Mulder. They think that his illness is a gift-- protection against the coming plague.
(SKINNER nervously and abruptly hangs up phone.)
(Cut to SCULLY entering SKINNER's ASSISTANT's office. SKINNER's ASSISTANT gets up and tries to intercept a very determined SCULLY on her way into SKINNER's office.)
SKINNER'S ASSISTANT: I'm sorry, Agent Scully. The Assistant Director has given me express orders not to let you in.
(SCULLY steps around her and opens the door in time to see a long-haired man run out the other door to SKINNER's office leaving SKINNER leaning over his desk in pain. SKINNER groans, and SCULLY runs to him.)
SCULLY: Sir... Are you hurt? Are you cut? (to SKINNER's ASSISTANT) Get on the phone.
(SCULLY runs out into the hall after the man who slides a small handheld computer into a pocket. He is wearing black leather gloves. The hallway is crowded, and SCULLY has trouble keeping up with him.)
SCULLY: Hey! Stop that man!
(The man pulls the fire alarm and gets lost in the crowd. SCULLY is not happy - does some little disgusted hand wave thing.)
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SCENE 13
(Morning. Suburban house. MULDER walks barefoot down the driveway to get the newspaper. He's wearing the same t-shirt and jeans as in his dream beach scenes. DIANA FOWLEY, wearing a very casual gray sweater set comes out the door holding a mug of coffee. MULDER smiles at her shyly.)
MULDER: Morning.
DIANA FOWLEY: What's wrong, Fox?
MULDER: (not sure about the situation) There's nothing wrong. Perfect. It's all perfect. What the hell am I doing here?
DIANA FOWLEY: (smiling) You just need some coffee.
MULDER: No. I'm serious. I have commitments-- to the X-Files, to Scully, to my sister...
DIANA FOWLEY: (sighs) You think you know what that means... commitment. It's all just childish, Fox.
MULDER: (staring at her) "Childish"?
DIANA FOWLEY: Yes. You've been a child... with only the responsibility of a child to your own dreams and fantasies but you won't know the true joy of responsibility until you plant your feet in the world... and become a father.
MULDER: Wow... (sighs and laughs nervously) Diana, if... you lay all this on me after I sleep with you one time what's it going to be like tomorrow?
DIANA FOWLEY: You have to let go, Fox.
MULDER: Just like that? I'm just supposed to slip into domestic bliss even after I was dropped off here by a man I have every reason to believe left here to carry on his dirty work.
DIANA FOWLEY: (soothing) Hey ... he lives the next block over. We'll go visit after breakfast.
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SCENE 14
(There is an insistent knock at a door. MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU's apartment. He opens it and SCULLY bursts in.)
SCULLY: You told someone, didn't you? You let the information out.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: What are you talking about?
SCULLY: A man attacked Skinner in his office.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: For what?
SCULLY: For what he knows about Mulder.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: I haven't told anyone.
(SCULLY closes the door, then sees a laptop on his table. She lifts the screen and sees copies of the photos of the inscriptions on the ship in Africa.)
SCULLY: (amazed) What is this? These are mine. You've hacked into my files. What are you doing with these?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: I was having them analyzed.
SCULLY: By whom?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: National Institutes of Health.
SCULLY: What?
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: The material you have there-- encrypted data that describes advanced human genetics-- where did you get it?
SCULLY: This was not supposed to go public.
(With about four keystrokes, SCULLY somehow manages to permanently delete the all the files off of the laptop.)
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: Wherever you got it that data supports what's happened to Mulder. It proves what he's become-- biologically alien.
(They stare at each other.)
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: What are you hiding?
SCULLY: (depressed) It doesn't matter.
MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU: It matters to someone. Whoever it is it sounds like they're looking for Mulder, too.
(Files finish deleting and SCULLY leaves.)
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SCENE 15
(Suburban street. MULDER and DIANA FOWLEY knock at a door. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN opens the door and smiles.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I wasn't expecting you so soon. I thought you'd take a few days to settle in.
DIANA FOWLEY: I think you need to allay his unhappiness with things he perceives as left undone.
MULDER: Yeah, including why you live in a bigger house than I do.
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN chuckles.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I've got quite a few mouths to feed-- three grandkids... and, uh... your sister. She's been living here all along... living a life you'd forsaken.
(He indicates a woman, SAMANTHA MULDER and her three young daughters playing in the driveway. It looks like they are teaching the youngest to ride a tricycle. They are all laughing. SAMANTHA looks up and smiles when she sees MULDER staring happily at her. She runs up to him and they embrace.)
SAMANTHA: He said you were coming.
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SCENE 16
(Unknown location within the Department of Defense. Some kind of medical room. MULDER is now ... well ... on the cross. He is lying on a large medical-type of table lit from below that is in the shape of a cross. His body is on one long leg of the cross, and his arms are stretched out to either side and held down by bars from the ceiling as are his feet. His head is in the middle. On his head is some kind of monitoring device with many probes attached to his skull. A crown of thorns. He seems completely peaceful, eyes closed, unaware of his surroundings. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN and DIANA FOWLEY stand beside him.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: A father has high hopes for his son but he never dreams his boy's going to change the world. I'm so proud of this man-- the depth of his capacity for suffering.
DIANA FOWLEY: Like father, like son.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: They think what he has is killing him but, in actuality, he's never been more alive.
DIANA FOWLEY: Do you think he dreams?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I'm sure he dreams.
DIANA FOWLEY: About what, I wonder.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: The dreams all men who are owned by the world have-- a simpler life... full of small pleasures. Extraordinary men are always most tempted by the most ordinary things. Dreams are all he has now.
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SCENE 17
FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, DC
(FBI Building corridor. SCULLY comes up behind DIANA FOWLEY who is waiting for the elevator.)
SCULLY: Bum a cigarette, Agent Fowley?
DIANA FOWLEY: I don't smoke.
SCULLY: Really? I could swear I smell cigarette smoke on you.
DIANA FOWLEY: Let's cut the crap, shall we?
SCULLY: Yes. Let's.
(The two women enter an empty office.)
SCULLY: Where's Mulder?
DIANA FOWLEY: Maybe before you go around blaming everyone you can find for what's happened to Mulder you could think about what you could've done to prevent it.
SCULLY: I just want you to think. Think of Mulder when you met him. Think of the promise and the life in front of him. Think of him now. And then try and stand there in front of me, look me in the eye and tell me Mulder wouldn't bust his ass trying to save you.
(What SCULLY has said has affected DIANA FOWLEY - slightly.)
DIANA FOWLEY: (tightly) I'm thinking, Agent Scully. I'm always thinking.
(DIANA FOWLEY walks past SCULLY and leaves the office.)
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SCENE 18
(DOD medical room. MULDER still comatose on his cross. PROJECT DOCTOR and CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN are in the room. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN sitting on the empty arm of the cross. His sleeve is rolled up and the PROJECT DOCTOR is prepping his arm for a needle.)
PROJECT DOCTOR: It's a chance none of us ever expected... let alone hoped for. After all these years trying to develop a compatible alien-human hybrid and to have one ready-made.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: All these years... all the questioning why... why keep Mulder alive? When it was so simple to remove the threat that he posed?
PROJECT DOCTOR: There was no way you could have predicted this.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: The fact remains, he's become our savior. He's immune to the coming viral apocalypse. He's the hero here.
PROJECT DOCTOR: He may not survive the procedure.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Then he suffers a hero's fate.
(Camera closes in on MULDER, then cut to ... )
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SCENE 19
(Inside the suburban house. Urgent sound of a heartbeat throughout scene. MULDER, wearing a tuxedo, turns and sees DIANA FOWLEY standing in a wedding gown.)
MULDER: Diana?
(He goes to her and lifts up the veil, then turns at the sound of her voice behind him. DIANA FOWLEY is entering from the bedroom, very very pregnant and smiling.)
DIANA FOWLEY: Fox? It's time, honey.
(No longer in the tuxedo, but still processing the quick change, MULDER turns at the sound of children. Another door in the house opens and MULDER sees two boys with DIANA FOWLEY.
DIANA FOWLEY: Hey, how you doing?
(They laugh and run past him. He playfully makes a grab for one of them, then catches sight of himself in the mirror. He now looks like he is in his mid-fifties. When he turns again, he sees DIANA FOWLEY, still young, lying dead in a coffin. He walks slowly to the coffin and leans his head and arm against it, wedding ring clearly visible. A hand touches his shoulder and he looks up to see CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN, not looking any older. CUT TO ... )
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SCENE 20
(In the DOD medical room. MULDER is still comatose. DIANA FOWLEY is stroking his cheek. Doctors are making preparations. )
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Don't think of the man... Think of the sacrifice he's making for all of us... for the world.
DIANA FOWLEY: It would've been nice to give him a choice.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: You don't think Mulder would've chosen this? To become the thing he sought for so long? To feel what it's like? He is what he sought.
DIANA FOWLEY: We'll never know.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (taking off his jacket) Besides, his task is almost complete. I'll carry the burden from here on in.
(DIANA FOWLEY strokes MULDER's cheek again.)
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SCENE 21
(Suburban house. MULDER, now in his eighties, is sitting in a chair. He looks very tired. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN, still no older is talking to him.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I know about the boy. The boy on the beach. The vision you go to in your mind. We all have such places... born of memory and desire.
OLD MULDER: I've seen him thousands of times. I've never seen what he wants me to see.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Close your eyes. He's ready to show you if you're ready to see.
(With a smile, OLD MULDER complies. Cut to ... )
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SCENE 22
(The Dream Beach. 39-year-old MULDER in jeans and a T-shirt walks over to the BOY who has finished a HUGE sand UFO, just like the one SCULLY found in Africa.)
MULDER: Wow. What did you make?
BOY: An unidentified flying object.
(The BOY jumps down from the top of the ship and begins kicking it apart.)
MULDER: Hey! What are... what are you doing? Why are you destroying your spaceship?
BOY: (accusing) It's your spaceship. You're destroying it. (throws a handful of sand at MULDER) You were supposed to help me.
(MULDER is speechless, watching the BOY destroy the ship.)
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SCENE 23
(SCULLY enters her apartment, exhausted. She is startled by the presence of ALBERT HOSTEEN.)
ALBERT HOSTEEN: You're running out of time.
SCULLY: Why do you come to me like this? Why? When I can't find him.
ALBERT HOSTEEN: You don't look in the right place.
SCULLY: I don't think you're hearing me.
ALBERT HOSTEEN: You don't know where he is?
SCULLY: Even if I did I wouldn't know how to save him. This science makes no sense to me.
ALBERT HOSTEEN: Have you looked for him here?
(He points to her chest, right above her heart.)
SCULLY: Are you asking me to pray?
(He gently pulls her down into a kneeling position beside him.)
ALBERT HOSTEEN: There are more worlds than the one you can hold in your hand.
(She kneels with him in the dark apartment.)
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SCENE 24
(In the DOD medical room. Lots of DOCTORS getting ready. MULDER is still comatose, and now has a tube down his throat. Now CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN is lying on the free arm of the cross, his head next to MULDER's. They are both prepped for surgery on their heads which are inches apart. DIANA FOWLEY stands next to CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN wearing medical scrubs.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I hope you see the poetry in this, Diana.
DIANA FOWLEY: You're removing genetic material that may kill your son.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: We're forcing the next step in evolution to save man. We're doing God's work, Diana. Without this immunity, everyone would die. This knowledge is God's blessing. I'll carry on for Mulder from here.
(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN smiles and squeezes DIANA FOWLEY's hand. She looks upset.)
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SCENE 25
(In the DOD medical room. MULDER is still comatose. DOCTORS are about to begin. MULDER opens his eyes.)
DIANA FOWLEY: Your patient's come out-- Mulder's awake.
DOCTOR 1: I've got him topped off, but he won't stay under.
DOCTOR 2: I don't think we can take him any further.
DOCTOR 1: Is he feeling any pain?
DOCTOR 2: Flat on the monitor. Any flatter, he'd be circling the drain.
DOCTOR 1: Okay... Let's do this thing.
(DOCTOR 2 pushes MULDER's eyes closed again, but they drift back open and seem to focus lazily on DIANA FOWLEY. He is awake, but somewhere else. As one of the doctors starts up a medical saw and goes for MULDER's head, DIANA FOWLEY takes off her mask and uses her keycard to leave the room. Focus on MULDER's distant expression as the saw gets louder, then CUT TO ... )
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SCENE 26
(Suburban house bedroom. MULDER, now VERY OLD, is lying in bed. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN sits in a chair beside him. Dim light filters in through the red drapes over the window.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Rest now.
VERY OLD MULDER: Can you open the blind? I'd like to take a look outside.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I wanted you to have peace.
(VERY OLD MULDER's breathing is labored. He looks around, wanting something.)
VERY OLD MULDER: Where's Samantha?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Your sister died five years ago.
(VERY OLD MULDER is sad. Breathing is hard.)
VERY OLD MULDER: Where... What about Deep Throat?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: We've been over this. He's dead. Diana's dead... and Scully.
(MULDER gasps in anguish.)
VERY OLD MULDER: Scully's dead?
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: She's dead.
(MULDER begins to cry.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: It's time for you to let go. They're waiting for you... if you let go. Close your eyes, Fox.
(MULDER sighs heavily.)
MULDER: We're the last, you and I.
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: The end... and the beginning.
(MULDER sighs.)
CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: There's nothing to be done. Nothing at all.
(MULDER closes his eyes. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN goes to the window and opens the drapes. Outside is Apocalypse Now. Everything is in flames and fire rains down from the sky. An alien ship flies overhead. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN stands framed in the window, smoking a cigarette and not looking at all upset. Fire fades to ... )
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SCENE 27
( ... someone setting fire to files and folders in an apartment. He tosses a long-haired wig into the flames also. With everything burning, he picks up a laptop and goes to the door. We see MICHAEL KRITSCHGAU lying dead on the floor of his apartment, then KRYCEK leaving, laptop under his arm.)
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SCENE 28
(SCULLY's apartment. SCULLY is lying alone, still fully clothed with keys in hand, in the same place where she and ALBERT HOSTEEN had knelt the night before. The sound of footsteps and an envelope slid under the door wakes her. She picks up the envelope and opens it. Inside is a keycard for a door in the Department of Defense. MSF 1225 L1. SCULLY opens the door and quickly leaves her apartment.)
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SCENE 29
(DOD medical room. MULDER's eyes are open and sad. There is a pool of blood beneath his head and DOCTORS are probing around in his brain. CUT TO ... )
(SCULLY walking cautiously through halls of DOD. She uses the card in a lock. It turns green, then CUT TO ...)
( ... SCULLY walking into the bedroom of VERY OLD MULDER. He reaches out eagerly and holds SCULLY's arm in his hand. He is weak, but is beaming at her, happy she is there.)
VERY OLD MULDER: Oh, Scully! I knew you'd come. They told me you were dead.
(SCULLY has no sympathy for him.)
SCULLY: And you believed them. Traitor.
VERY OLD MULDER: (confused) What?
SCULLY: Deserter. Coward.
VERY OLD MULDER: (hurt) Scully, don't... I'm dying.
SCULLY: You're not supposed to die, Mulder-- not here.
VERY OLD MULDER: What do you mean?
SCULLY: Not in a comfortable bed with the devil outside.
VERY OLD MULDER: No, you don't understand. He's taking care of me.
SCULLY: No, Mulder, he's lulled you to sleep. He's made you trade your true mission for creature comforts.
VERY OLD MULDER: There was no mission. There were no aliens.
SCULLY: No aliens. Have you looked outside, Mulder?
VERY OLD MULDER: I can't. I'm... too tired.
SCULLY: No, Mulder, you must get up. You must get up and fight... especially you. This isn't your place. Get up, Mulder. Get up and fight the fight.
(She drops his hand, turns and leaves the bedroom leaving VERY OLD MULDER gasping her name and trying to sit up to see where she went.)
VERY OLD MULDER: Scully... Where's Scully? Scully? Scully!
(He cannot see her. CUT TO ... )
(Green door light. SCULLY entering the DOD medical room. It is deserted except for MULDER still lying with his arms outstretched. Almost all the medical devices and tubes and monitors have been removed except a chest monitor. All he has is a small sheet over his hips and a white gauze bandage on his head. SCULLY quietly steps up beside him and touches his head. She whispers quietly.)
SCULLY: Mulder. Mulder, you've got to wake up. I've got to get you out of here. Mulder, can you understand me?
(MULDER's eyelids flicker slightly and he cries out at an image of his old self screaming in the medical restraints.)
SCULLY: (beginning to cry) Mulder, you've got to get up. I don't know how much time we have. You've got to get up, Mulder.
(Another flash of himself screaming.)
SCULLY: (whispering, pleading) No one can do it but you, Mulder. Mulder, help me. Please, Mulder.
(A tear rolls down her cheek and falls on his eyelid, then down his cheek as she lets her face fall onto his shoulder. MULDER opens his eyes and clears his throat. His voice is raw.)
MULDER: (weakly) You... help... me.
(He wraps his arms around her as she tenderly supports his neck and head.)
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SCENE 30
ONE WEEK LATER
(MULDER's apartment building. SCULLY, in some fabulous heels, walks down the hall and knocks at MULDER's door. They seem to have a new secret knock. He opens it wearing a half-buttoned shirt with a tie under the collar. His head is still bandaged and he is wearing a New York Yankees ball cap over the gauze. He is very happy to see her.)
MULDER: Scully, what are you doing here? Actually, I was just getting dressed to come see you but I... I couldn't find a tie to go with my victory cap.
(SCULLY reaches up and takes the cap off of his head.)
SCULLY: Mulder, no work. You have to go back to bed.
(She starts to pull the tie away, but he grabs it back playfully.)
MULDER: Oh, wait. Tie goes to the runner.
(MULDER chuckles at his joke, and SCULLY smiles.)
MULDER: Scully, I, um... I was coming down... to work to tell you that Albert Hosteen is dead. He died last night in New Mexico. He'd been in a coma for two weeks. There was... no way he could have been in your apartment.
SCULLY: (insistent) He was there-- we... we prayed together. Mulder, I don't believe that. I... I don't believe it. It's impossible.
MULDER: Is it any more impossible than what you saw in Africa or what you saw in me?
SCULLY: (about to cry) I don't know what to believe anymore. Mulder, I was so determined to find a cure to save you that I could deny what it was that I saw and now I don't even know... I don't know... I don't know what the truth is ... I don't know who to listen to. I don't know who to trust.
(Pause. She is now crying.)
SCULLY: Diana Fowley was found murdered this morning. I never trusted her... but she helped save your life just as much as I did. She gave me that book. It was her key that led me to you. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I know she was your friend.
(She puts her arms around his shoulders and they hold each other.)
MULDER: Scully, I was like you once-- I didn't know who to trust. Then I... I chose another path... another life, another fate, where I found my sister. The end of my world was unrecognizable and upside down. There was one thing that remained the same.
(He holds her face and gazes at her.)
MULDER: You... were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant... my touchstone.
SCULLY: And you are mine.
(They move their faces close together ... and SCULLY kisses him on the forehead. Not a peck. A very nice, sweet, long kiss. They pull slightly apart, still touching. SCULLY puts his ball cap back on his head and cups his face in her hands. They look at each other with every bit of trust, friendship, respect, love, and whatever else these two have for each other. Then she touches his lips gently with her fingers and leaves. MULDER stands in the doorway and closes his eyes.)
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