SCENE 1

(The Wyoming state flag - a blue flag with red and white borders and a white Buffalo in the middle -- waves in the wind. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the grass is green.)

CUT TO:

(Inside the house, a man is painting a wooden buffalo carved figure white. He glances up. His wife is sweeping the floor by the doorway.

MR. VAN DE KAMP: Easy there, hon. You're cleaning so hard I'm afraid you're going to stick the dog in the dishwasher.

(She stops sweeping. The man looks up and sees his wife just standing there with the broom in her hands looking down at the floor. He stops what he's doing and gets up.)

MR. VAN DE KAMP: Hey. Come on, now. Quit it. This is what we dreamed about. What we prayed for

MRS. VAN DE KAMP: I know. I'm sorry.

(She sighs.)

MRS. VAN DE KAMP: I just can't stop wondering why. Why give up a child? Give it up to strangers?

MR. VAN DE KAMP: God has his reasons and his ways.

(They kiss. In the background, the sound of a car driving up the road interrupts them. The car parks.)

SOCIAL WORKER 1: Mr. and Mrs. Van de Kamp. Hi. This was so hard to find.

(Two female social workers get out of the car. The first social worker holds a folder in her hands. The second social worker is getting the baby out of the car.)

SOCIAL WORKER 1: I'm so sorry but there's a page here that didn't get signed. If I can just get you to do that now. Here we go. Okay. Right there.

(The first Social Worker hands the papers to Mr. Van de Kamp to sign. Mrs. Van de Kamp has her attention on the car.)

SOCIAL WORKER: Thanks.

MRS. VAN DE KAMP: I keep asking myself a question. I know there's been a medical exam ... but are you sure he's okay?

MR. VAN DE KAMP: Now, honey.

MRS. VAN DE KAMP: Why would the mother give him up?

SOCIAL WORKER 1: You should understand ... this was a life choice by a single mother and a terribly difficult decision for her. But I can say it was only for the good of the child.

(This answer seems to satisfy Mrs. Van de Kamp for the moment. She nods. The second social worker appears holding William. She gives the baby to Mrs. Van De Kamp. William is wearing his blue stars and moon bunny ears hat.

SOCIAL WORKER: I want you to meet William.

OPENING CREDITS

SCENE 2

GEORGETOWN

10:55 PM

ONE WEEK EARLIER

(SCULLY drives up in front of her apartment building. She parks her car. She's singing softly to WILLIAM who is in his carseat in the back of the car.)

SCULLY (singing softly): William was a bullfrog. ... was a good friend of mine. ... never understood a single word he said ...

(SCULLY gets out of the car as she's done so many times before and moves to the back to get WILLIAM.

(Off across the street in the shadows, there is a figure watching her. The person has difficulty breathing.)

SCULLY (singing): ...and it must have been some mighty fine wine. ... joy to the world. All the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes ...

(SCULLY gets WILLIAM out of the car. He's wearing a blue stars and moons bunny hears hat and is sucking on his pacifier. Behind her a faint clattering interrupts her singing. SCULLY turns around and doesn't see anything.)

SCULLY (singing): ...in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me. If I were the king of the world, I tell you what I'd do ...

(The figure watches from a safe distance away as SCULLY turns on her car alarm and goes into her apartment.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 3

FBI HEADQUARTERS

11:21 PM

(It's late. DOGGETT is in the office. He's reading a file and doing push ups on the office floor. There's a coffee cup and some empty Chinese take-out containers on the floor behind him.)

DOGGETT: 1,492. ... 1,493 ... 20.

(DOGGETT finishes his push ups and collapses on the floor and rolls onto his back. He's tired. He glances at his watch.)

DOGGETT: They don't pay me enough.

(Deciding that its late enough, DOGGETT gets up and leaves the office. He turns the lights off behind him. His jacket in hand, he makes his way to the elevator, unrolling his shirt-sleeves as he goes.)

(In the darkness of the corridor, a figure wearing red tennis shoes slips into the office. He shuts the door quietly, pulls out a flashlight and begins going through the files. He's looking for something)

CUT TO:

(The elevator dings and the doors open. DOGGETT exits and begins walking down the hallway. He stops, pats his pockets as if he's forgotten something, turns around and runs to catch the elevator before the doors closes.)

CUT TO:

(The elevator dings and the doors open to the basement office. DOGGETT opens the office door, doesn't bother turning on the lights and walks in to the office. He looks down on the floor and the file he was reading is still there. Opened. He reaches over to pick it up. Behind him, the figure of a man appears. DOGGETT doesn't sense anyone behind him.)

(The intruder hits DOGGETT from behind. DOGGETT crumples to the floor. The man gives DOGGETT some good kicks before running out the door.)

(DOGGETT gets up and follows in pursuit. He pulls out his gun and makes it out the doorway as he sees the intruder heading up the stairs.)

DOGGETT: Right there! Hands in the air!

(The man stops.)

DOGGETT: Turn around and step forward.

(The man turns around. The light at the top of the stairs is behind the figure casting his face in the shadows.)

DOGGETT: Step forward.

(The man slowly turns around and makes his way down the stairs. DOGGETT still has his gun on the man.)

DOGGETT: Let's go, tough guy! All the way down!

(The man approaches DOGGETT. His hands are still raised in the air. As he gets closer, DOGGETT sees his face. (Off DOGGETT), he looks surprised.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 4

2:02 AM

(FBI Building. The elevator bell dings and the doors open. SCULLY is standing there. She looks like she was just called in and rushed over. Her pants cuff is tucked inside her right boot. She makes her way down the hallway, glances down and notices it. With a small hop and skip, she corrects it and continues on down the hallway without breaking her stride.)

(SCULLY enters the observation room. In the adjoining room, DOGGETT is questioning the intruder.)

SCULLY: Agent Reyes.

REYES: Agent Scully.

SCULLY: Do we know who he is?

REYES: He says his name is Miller but he has no identification on him. Beyond that, we don't know a lot.

SCULLY: Why are the lights off?

REYES: He wouldn't speak with them on.

SCULLY: What do you mean?

REYES: If you saw him in the light, you'd understand. Something's wrong with his face. He's been severely burned by fire or maybe acid.

SCULLY: And he says he knows me?

REYES: And that he's afraid. A victim of what he calls the alien conspiracy.

CUT TO:

(Inside the Interrogation Room. DOGGETT is sitting there with his arms crossed. Approaching footsteps can be heard.)

DOGGETT: You won't talk to me. You going to talk to her, Mr. Miller?

THE BREATHER: If she'll help me and protect me.

(THE BREATHER'S voice is raspy. His face is covered with scars. DOGGETT gets up to meets SCULLY at the door.)

DOGGETT: You better hope she's feeling more charitable than I am, partner.

(Scully enters while Reyes remains in the observation room. Scully's eyes land on the man, trying to get a better look at him.)

DOGGETT: Agent Scully. He's under arrest for assaulting a federal officer. I've explained to him the penalties but he still refuses a lawyer.

SCULLY: How did he get in the building?

DOGGETT: We found a card key on him. Says it was given to him by Fox Mulder.

(This is news to SCULLY as it strikes her someplace she wasn't expecting. SCULLY turns, evaluating the man critically now. Although DOGGETT is talking to her, SCULLY'S focus seems to have shifted to the man sitting at the table.)

SCULLY: His name is Miller?

DOGGETT: Daniel Miller of Fredericksburg. He gave us an address but we're still working on the confirmation.

(SCULLY moves further into the dark room and closer to the man at the table.)

SCULLY: What are you doing here?

THE BREATHER: I came here to find answers.

(Like his features, the man's voice is a damaged distortion. It is at once disturbing, affecting, pathetic and true.)

SCULLY: Answers to what?

THE BREATHER: To this. What they did to me.

(THE BREATHER gestures to his own face.)

SCULLY: From your scarring, it appears that you've been burned. Are you claiming that someone burned you and that there is evidence here to incriminate them?

(SCULLY fights focus and composure just hearing the name.)

THE BREATHER: According to Fox Mulder, the men who did this are part of a government conspiracy.

(THE BREATHER pauses. SCULLY waits. She moves to take the seat on the other side of the table.)

SCULLY: Go on.

THE BREATHER: You know who these men are.

(THE BREATHER pauses again.)

SCULLY: Did Mulder tell you that, too?

(THE BREATHER remains silent.)

SCULLY: When?

THE BREATHER: If I were to tell you that, you might use the information to find him. Mulder doesn't want to be found.

DOGGETT: When I searched him I found those X-Files stuffed inside his clothes.

(SCULLY pulls out a photograph of a young MULDER with SAMANTHA.)

DOGGETT: You know who that is?

SCULLY: That's his sister.

DOGGETT: Whose?

THE BREATHER: Mulder's. She was abducted from her home when she was a little girl -- part of this same government conspiracy.

SCULLY: You seem to know a lot, Mr. Miller. It gives an impression either that you are telling the truth or you just want us to believe that you are.

THE BREATHER: (glibly) If I thought you'd believe me, I wouldn't have snuck in here.

SCULLY: Agent Doggett. Would you please arrange the transfer of this man to Quantico? I'd like to personally examine his injuries.

CUT TO:

SCENE 5

(Quantico. In the examination room, THE BREATHER is lying undressed on the examining table. There is scarring from his feet to the top of his head. There doesn't appear to be a single inch of him not scarred.)

(SCULLY removes the layers of latex from THE BREATHER. She places another piece on the side table next to the other pieces there: two ears, his hair and his nose.)

(REYES watches from the back.)

SCULLY: from the tissue quality, the scarring is fairly recent ... the extent of it severe but it's not from burning or chemicals.

THE BREATHER: No.

SCULLY: What is it, then?

(THE BREATHER is quiet, however, he breathes a little more rapidly than before. His mouth works as if to force the words out. He's quiet.)

REYES: Mr. Miller?

THE BREATHER: I was injected.

(THE BREATHER suddenly turns his head to face SCULLY.)

[QUICK FLASHBACK: A hand holding a hypodermic needle. A man strapped down naked in an examining chair. The needle slowly approaching. Three men in which lab coats surrounding the man in the chair. A large overhead examining light above the chair. Metal clamps holding the man's mouth open. The hypodermic needle being inserted in the man's neck. The man's hand griping the chair's arm rest in pain and another hand physically holding it down. ]

SCULLY: Injected with what?

THE BREATHER: I don't know. It burned. Throughout my whole body inside and out.

(THE BREATHER again quickly turns his head toward SCULLY in reaction to the flashback. Almost as if he were trying to escape the memory.)

[QUICK FLASHBACK: Back in the room. The needle injecting something into the man's neck. The mouth clamps used to keep his mouth open. Three men in white lab coats surrounding the naked man strapped in the examining chair. The man writhes in pain. His head thrashing from side to side. Needle injection into the man's neck. The scarred hand gripping the arm rest. The men in lab coats standing by the man in the examining chair. The mouth clamp. The hand physically holding the man's hand down. Mouth clamp. Pain.]

(THE BREATHER can't speak any more. The memory of his experiences overcoming him.)

(The door opens and DOGGETT appears.)

DOGGETT: Agent Scully, Agent Reyes. I need to speak to you.

(SCULLY places a comforting hand on THE BREATHER'S shoulder and reluctantly leaves him.)

CUT TO:

(They move out into the hallway.)

SCULLY: What is it, Agent Doggett?

DOGGETT: I've been out running this man's supposed ID. There's seven Daniel Millers in Fredericksburg but I can tell you, he isn't one of them.

REYES: Then who is he?

DOGGETT: I got an idea but you're not going to believe it.

SCULLY: Well, who is he?

DOGGETT: You asked him how he got in the FBI -- how he knows what he knows.

SCULLY: He said that he contacted Agent Mulder -- that Mulder told him...

DOGGETT: I don't think so. I don't think Mulder told him anything. I think that how he got in here and the reason he knows what he knows is because that man in there is Mulder.

(SCULLY laughs at the thought.)

SCULLY: That's ridiculous. It's absurd.

DOGGETT: Is it? What is true and what we want to be true aren't always the same.

SCULLY: I'm telling you, that's not Mulder.

DOGGETT: I hope you prove me wrong.

(Behind SCULLY thought the window, THE BREATHER is sitting up on the examining table.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 6

(Still in the examination room. A needle injection in THE BREATHER'S arm prompts another flashback.)

[QUICK FLASHBACK: A scarred face close up. Head thrashing from side to side. The man in a white lab coat wearing an executioner-like black mask over his entire head approaching the man in the chair. One man in a white lab coat in the room with the naked man in the examining chair. Mouth clamp and head thrashing from side to side. A scarred hand gripping the arm chair rest. Close-up of a hypodermic needle. Three men in white lab coats surrounding the chair. Needle injection. Mouth clamp. Scarred hand being held down. The man in a white lab coat wearing an executioner- like black mask over his entire head. The man slowly pulls off the black mask over his head ... the mask slowly comes off ... ]

(THE BREATHER looks sad. He closes his eyes at the memory. SCULLY is standing next to him. She's holding a needle, drawing blood from his arm. When she's done, she carefully caps the needle and puts it on the tray beside her.)

SCULLY: (softly) Can you open your mouth, sir? I need to look at your dental work.

THE BREATHER: You're not going to tell me I need braces, are you?

(THE BREATHER chuckles at his own joke. SCULLY doesn't crack a smile. THE BREATHER complies. SCULLY flashes light inside THE BREATHER'S mouth.)

SCULLY: Now your eyes.

(SCULLY shines the light from her penlight into his eyes.)

THE BREATHER: Are you going to help me?

(SCULLY turns away.)

SCULLY: Are you going I don't know how I can.

THE BREATHER: Help me make them pay for this.

SCULLY: You, uh... refer to them as if I know them or know where they are.

THE BREATHER: They did terrible things to you, too, when you were abducted.

(SCULLY gently feels THE BREATHER'S glands at the side of his neck. Her fingertips lightly pressing.)

SCULLY: Sir, you've given us a false name. We know that your name is not Daniel Miller.

THE BREATHER: No, it's not.

SCULLY: What is it?

THE BREATHER: I can't say.

SCULLY: Why lie to us, if you want us to help you?

THE BREATHER: Because there are people working here at the FBI who would kill me if they knew I was being held here. The same people who would kill Mulder.

SCULLY: You can put your clothes back on.

THE BREATHER: I'm asking for your help. But I might be able to help you.

SCULLY: How can you help me?

THE BREATHER: You're looking for answers, too.

(SCULLY has a QUICK FLASHBACK of something MULDER once said:)

[MULDER: We're both looking for answers.]

(SCULLY puts a hand to her eyes at the memory.)

(SCULLY seems upset. She leaves the man sitting on the examining table and heads out to meet DOGGETT and REYES in the hallway.)

SCULLY: It's not him. It's not Mulder.

DOGGETT: You're absolutely sure of that?

SCULLY: Yes. And so will we all be once you bring me back his DNA tests.

(SCULLY hands the capped syringe of drawn blood to DOGGETT.)

REYES: What do we do with him now?

SCULLY: Well, admittedly he's lying about who he is but the danger to him may be real. I think we need to figure out what it is that he wants and then see if he lies about that, too.

DOGGETT: How are we going to do that?

SCULLY: Well, first, I think we need to quietly get him back to D.C. To FBI headquarters.

(They all turn to look at the man inside. THE BREATHER has his back to the window. He reaches out for his latex nose and gently begins to piece himself back together.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 7

(Inside the X-Files basement office. Memories of Mulder and of a legacy left behind. The camera pans from the "I Want To Believe" poster to the pencils stuck in the ceiling. The office lights switch on. SCULLY and REYES walk into the office. THE BREATHER is already standing there. It was through his eyes that we were seeing. He seems retrospective as if remembering ... )

SCULLY: You came here looking for something. What is it that you hope to find?

THE BREATHER: I didn't find it.

REYES: You stole several files pertaining to the 1973 abduction of Mulder's sister. But yet you say there's danger to your life right now.

THE BREATHER: The conspiracy to keep the truth about aliens from the American public all but destroyed a few years ago has given rise to a new conspiracy in the government now by men who are alien themselves.

SCULLY: And what does this have to do with you?

(THE BREATHER is leafing through the same file cabinet that he started going through just prior being interrupted by DOGGETT.)

THE BREATHER: What you can see they did to me was a failed attempt to turn me into one of these alien men. I was a guinea pig -- a test subject. And now I want to expose their evil plans.

REYES: What plans are those?

(THE BREATHER stands and turns to face them.)

THE BREATHER: To do this to you ... to everyone. Mulder said there were files here -- cases like mine. He gave me names and case numbers but I don't see them. They're not here. Someone's already removed them.

SCULLY: Yes.

REYES: Who?

CUT TO:

SCENE 8

(Scully's apartment. SCULLY opens her closet door digs into the back. She pulls out a file storage box. She puts it on her bed next to THE BREATHER and opens the cover of the box.)

SCULLY: This is what you're looking for.

(THE BREATHER looks at SCULLY.)

THE BREATHER: You trust me? Thank you.

(SCULLY doesn't say anything and leaves.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY and REYES walk out into the hallway leaving THE BREATHER alone to examine the files. REYES is absolutely confused by SCULLY'S uncharacteristic behaviour.)

REYES: What are you doing?

SCULLY: Proving Agent Doggett wrong. That that's not Mulder in there.

REYES: How? I don't understand.

SCULLY: Mulder and I agreed to take those files out of the X-Files office and leave them here for safekeeping. Mulder would have known where they were. And that man in there didn't.

(In the background, WILLIAM begins crying. SCULLY and REYES go to check on WILLIAM. SCULLY glances into the bedroom where she left THE BREATHER. He's not there. SCULLY hurries to check in on WILLIAM. THE BREATHER is standing over WILLIAM'S crib in the dark.)

SCULLY: What are you doing?!

(SCULLY pushes THE BREATHER away from WILLIAM.)

SCULLY: Get away from the crib!

THE BREATHER: The baby was crying ...

SCULLY: It's none of your business!

THE BREATHER: I'm sorry. I'd heard so much about William. Mulder told me how he missed him.

SCULLY: Well, if that's true, then where the hell is he?

(THE BREATHER looks at here sympathetically.)

SCULLY: Just tell me where he is!

THE BREATHER: You don't want to know.

SCULLY: I have to know.

THE BREATHER: He's in pain. Terrible pain.

SCULLY: Then let me go to him.

THE BREATHER: There's nothing you can do.

SCULLY: That's not for you to decide.

THE BREATHER: You know as well as I that's Mulder's decision. I... he begged me to honor it. For your safety ... and William's.

(SCULLY hasn't stopped staring at THE BREATHER since his slip-up.)

REYES: Here, Dana, let me take him for you.

THE BREATHER: No.

(He holds out his arms. WILLIAM has stopped crying)

THE BREATHER: Please. May I?

(SCULLY hesitates and yet, she considers it.)

THE BREATHER: I want to hold him.

REYES: Mr. Miller ...

THE BREATHER: No, it's important I do this. I want to hold him for Mulder.

(SCULLY gives WILLIAM to THE BREATHER to hold. Tears fall on WILLIAM. THE BREATHER is weeping.)

THE BREATHER: He's so beautiful.

(THE BREATHER continues to hold him. SCULLY looks troubled.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 9

(AD SKINNER is sitting in his office at his desk working.)

(The door opens and DOGGETT walks in.)

DOGGETT: Assistant Director. You said you've spoken to the lab.

SKINNER: I got some advance info on the exam that Scully performed on the man.

DOGGETT: What?

SKINNER: The blood type matches Mulder's but there are aspects of the physiology that aren't a match.

DOGGETT: Such as?

SKINNER: Well, the body mass, of course. He's shorter and weighs considerably less than Mulder did.

DOGGETT: You haven't seen this guy -- what they've done to him. They way he's twisted, he's like an old man. He could be a hundred years old.

SKINNER: I'm just relaying the facts. And the fact is he's not a hundred years old, is he? Not the way he attacked you.

SKINNER: Well, whoever he is, he wants something.

DOGGETT: He says he wants revenge against the people that burned him. And Mulder directed him to the place where he could find the files and the people who did it.

SKINNER: That doesn't make any sense. Mulder knows those files inside out. Why would he direct him? Why not just tell him?

(DOGGETT nods at the logic of this. The phone rings. SKINNER answer it.)

SKINNER: Skinner. Yeah. You're sure about that? All right.

(SKINNER hangs up.)

DOGGETT: What?

SKINNER: That was the lab. They were able to rush the PCR test and they came up with a definitive DNA result.

DOGGETT: What is it?

SKINNER: Where is this man right now?

CUT TO:

SCENE 10

(Scully's apartment. THE BREATHER is sitting on the bed in the bedroom. He's reading through the files.)

(SCULLY is standing in the doorway watching him.)

SCULLY: It's all been a good act.

THE BREATHER: I don't know what you mean.

(SCULLY closes the bedroom door.)

SCULLY: I think you do. You knew those files were here. You just pretended not to know.

THE BREATHER: No.

SCULLY: I want the truth from you.

THE BREATHER: What truth?

SCULLY: The truth that you won't speak.

THE BREATHER: I want the same truth you do.

SCULLY: (begging) Don't do this to me. Not you.

THE BREATHER: I didn't come here to upset you. I didn't plan on being caught. I know you must have a hard life living alone raising a son not knowing whether you'll see Mulder again.

SCULLY: How do you know my life?

THE BREATHER: I know what Mulder knows. I know they used you to create the child. I know they continue to use you to take care of it and raise it.

SCULLY: What are you saying?

THE BREATHER: You know what I'm saying. Your son -- your child is part alien.

SCULLY: Just tell me who you are. Come on, just say your name. Say it! Just say it!

(REYES appears in the doorway and interrupt the conversation.)

REYES: Agent Scully ...

SCULLY (to REYES): Could you please leave? And close the door?

REYES (to THE BREATHER): Can you step out, please?

SCULLY: This was a private conversation.

REYES: I understand. I'm sorry.

(THE BREATHER gets up and without a word leaves.)

SCULLY: Do you know who that man is?

REYES: Yes, I do.

DOGGETT: Agent Scully ...

(Both DOGGETT and REYES enter the bedroom and close the door behind them.)

SCULLY: What is this? What?

DOGGETT: We got DNA results. A positive ID.

SCULLY: It's not him. He wouldn't say these things.

DOGGETT: The DNA's a match to Fox Mulder'S.

(Even though faced with the scientific proof, SCULLY will not go against her gut.)

SCULLY: It's not him.

CUT TO:

(Standing in the hallway just outside the door, THE BREATHER listens in on their conversation. He hears everything.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 11

(SCULLY is sitting on the bed in her apartment. She's silent and thoughtful. DOGGETT and REYES stand next to the door. SCULLY hasn't moved. DOGGETT opens the door to leave.)

DOGGETT: Can we get you anything?

SCULLY: No, thank you. I just need a minute.

(SCULLY lets up and leaves the room without looking at the other agents. She moves into her bedroom and closes the door behind her.)

(DOGGETT and REYES walk out into the living room. THE BREATHER isn't around.)

DOGGETT: Where'd he go?

REYES: I don't know. I'll go check the nursery.

(DOGGETT notices that the front door is slightly ajar. He opens the door and looks down the hallway.)

DOGGETT: Monica, stay with Scully!

(DOGGETT goes off after THE BREATHER.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 12

(DOGGETT comes out of SCULLY'S building and onto the open street. THE BREATHER is not too far ahead.)

DOGGETT: Hey!

(DOGGETT takes off after him. THE BREATHER tries to loose DOGGETT in the twists and turns between the buildings. For as fast as THE BREATHER runs, DOGGETT runs faster. THE BREATHER turns into an alleyway. DOGGETT rounds the building's corner into the alleyway. He's lost THE BREATHER. There is no exit in this alley.)

(DOGGETT looks around and walks further into the alleyway. He doesn't see anything. THE BREATHER, thinking that it's clear, makes a break for the open road from his hiding place behind the dumpster. DOGGETT catches up with him and tackles him.)

DOGGETT: No more running, Mulder. We're going to protect you now.

CUT TO:

SCENE 13

(SCULLY is standing by the doorway in her apartment. She doesn't look happy. REYES appears from behind her holding a prescription bottle.)

REYES: Give him some time.

(Inside the bedroom, REYES gives THE BREATHER a couple of pills. DOGGETT pours a glass of water for him.)

DOGGETT: You're going to live, buddy.

THE BREATHER: Think that's going to scar?

REYES: We're going to talk, but first you're going to get some sleep.

(They both watch as THE BREATHER takes the pills with a sip of water. SCULLY walks away. THE BREATHER lies down on the bed. DOGGETT and REYES stand there for a moment, then leave.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY is sitting on the sofa. REYES joins her. DOGGETT is standing off to the side.)

SCULLY: So, what now?

REYES: What do you mean?

SCULLY: What do you want to do?

DOGGETT: Keep it a secret, for starters.

SCULLY: Well, that's not going to be hard.

(She sighs.)

SCULLY: Nobody's ever going to believe that that's Mulder.

REYES: Somebody did this to him. Whoever that is is going to know it's him. I mean, that's what he's afraid of.

SCULLY: If he's so afraid, then why did he run?

DOGGETT: You still don't believe it's him.

SCULLY: You know a person in so many ways. Ways that a test can't even begin to know.

DOGGETT: Look, I'll be happy to run his DNA again for you but I don't have to tell you what a long shot it is. I mean, it came up a perfect match.

REYES: You asked why he'd run. Stop and think how hard this is for him. I mean, the way he looks.

SCULLY: If that was Mulder, I wouldn't care.

REYES: But he cares. He has to.

(DOGGETT moves to sit next to REYES on the couch.)

DOGGETT: Maybe he's ashamed. Of what?

(He sighs.)

DOGGETT: Not just the way he looks but you let him go to protect him only he couldn't protect himself.

SCULLY: You believe that?

DOGGETT: I don't know. We'll have a better sense when he wakes up.

(The three sit on the couch. Each deep in their own thoughts.)

CUT TO:

(THE BREATHER is lying on the bed. He coughs out the sleeping pills. He only pretended to swallow them waiting for the opportunity where they would leave him alone and not bother him. He gets up and makes his move.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY moves to settle on the couch. THE BREATHER slips out of the bedroom and makes his way to the nursery. It's dark inside and WILLIAM is resting. He is awake with a pacifier in his mouth.)

(THE BREATHER takes out a small cloth pouch containing a small bore needle. He fills the syringe with an unknown substance, takes out another bottle with stuff in it, dips his little finger in it, gently removes WILLIAM'S pacifier and rubs a bit in WILLIAM'S mouth (this we don't see on screen).)

(He then takes the syringe and ... )

CUT TO:

(SCULLY is sitting on the couch. REYES is quiet next to her and DOGGETT'S pretty much tuckered out.)

(Sounds of WILLIAM crying pierce the air. Whether is a different kind of cry that babies make, something alerts SCULLY that WILLIAM needs her. She gets up and runs to the nursery to check on WILLIAM. WILLIAM is alone in the bedroom. He's on his hands and knees, up and crying. SCULLY picks him up to comfort him.)

SCULLY: it's okay.

REYES: Is he okay?

(DOGGETT bursts through THE BREATHER'S room to check on THE BREATHER who is back in bed feigning sleep. He is wide awake, his back to the door.)

(DOGGETT turns and rushes back to SCULLY as he hears the panic in her voice.)

SCULLY: Oh, my god, there's blood! Oh, my god!

REYES: There's blood on the sheets.

(DOGGETT arrives in the doorway, a grim look on his face.)

SCULLY: What'd he do? What'd he do to him?!

(SCULLY is still trying to comfort WILLIAM ... and now, herself. She glances at DOGGETT who has a grim look on his face.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 14

(Hospital Emergency Room. SCULLY and REYES rush through the ER doors. SCULLY is carrying WILLIAM. REYES follows close behind.)

SCULLY: Where's Dr. Edwards?

DR. NEWMAN: I'm Dr. Newman. I'm going to take your baby.

(DR. NEWMAN takes WILLIAM from SCULLY. WILLIAM is still screaming.)

SCULLY: He's been injected with something.

DR. NEWMAN: Take him to trauma.

DOCTOR (checking WILLIAM): Airways are open. Lungs are clear. Heart rate slightly elevated. Skin is warm. Nondiaphoretic.

REYES: I spoke to another doctor, a woman -- Dr. Edwards.

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: I'm Whitney Edwards. Agent Reyes?

REYES: Yes. This is Dana Scully.

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: Do we have any idea what he's been injected with?

SCULLY: I've no idea. I don't know. I don't know.

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: We're going to run some tests ...

SCULLY: I'm a medical doctor, okay? Can I ...

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: (interrupting) Good. Then you know what this is all about. You just need to sit tight for me and let us do our job.

(SCULLY and REYES watch helplessly as the ER physicians work on WILLIAM. SCULLY glances down at WILLIAM'S blue moon and stars bunny-ears hat in her hands.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 15

(Inside Scully's apartment, DOGGETT slams THE BREATHER up against the wall. He is very angry.)

DOGGETT: What'd you do to him?! What'd you do?!

(DOGGETT briefly frisks the man. He's looking for something.)

DOGGETT: Where'd you put it?

(DOGGETT leaves THE BREATHER next to the wall and begins to tear the room apart. He pulls the pillows off of the bed. He strips the sheets off the mattress. He throws the mattress off of its frame. Then he finds it. Hidden beneath the mattress is the cloth pouch and contents.)

(DOGGETT picks up the syringe and turns his attention back to THE BREATHER.)

DOGGETT: Is this it?

(He holds out the syringe in front of THE BREAHTER'S face.)

DOGGETT: Is this what you used? Answer me!

THE BREATHER (straining): Yes.

(DOGGETT removes the cap from the needletip. It's not a gun, but it's a promise and just as effective.)

DOGGETT: Anything happens to that kid I'm going to take you out personally. I don't care who the hell you are.

CUT TO BLACK.

SCENE 16

(Time passes slowly in the hospital. SCULLY and REYES are in the waiting room. SCULLY hasn't moved in her seat. Her hands are clasped around WILLIAM'S tiny hat. REYES stays with her.)

(REYES stands as she sees the ER physician approach.)

REYES: Here she comes.

(They both meet the physician eager for an update on WILLIAM.)

SCULLY: How is he? Is he all right?

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: He's good. He's doing fine.

SCULLY (smiling): Oh, god.

REYES: Well, can she see him?

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: We have him in step down right now as a precaution but I think he'll be going home in no time.

SCULLY: What did you find?

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: Nothing.

(SCULLY'S suddenly quiet. REYES takes over the questioning. SCULLY simply stands there, her mind working furiously over the pieces of information.)

REYES: How could you find nothing? There would have to be something.

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: There's some slight bruising on the head where something clearly broke the skin, but... he's fine.

REYES: What about a tox screen?

DR. WHITNEY EDWARDS: There's an elevated amount of iron in his blood but other than that, your son is completely normal.

(Realization dawns on SCULLY. She now understands what happened and how it happened.)

REYES: That doesn't make sense.

SCULLY: No ... I think it does. It makes perfect sense now.

CUT TO:

SCENE 17

(THE BREATHER is once again sitting in an interrogation room. He's completely relaxed. His mission complete. SCULLY enters.)

SCULLY: I have seen my share of the hideous of the disgusting and the repellent, but you, sir, are the most perfect expression I will ever see of all that is vile and hateful in life.

JEFFREY SPENDER: That may well be, but for a moment, you believed it -- that I was him

SCULLY: I never believed it.

JEFFREY SPENDER: You wanted to believe.

SCULLY: You are as false as your face.

(JEFFREY SPENDER stands and moves to look at the mirror - a mirror that he knows is two-way.)

SCULLY: I bet you wish night and day that that bullet that was meant to kill you had succeeded.

(On the other side of the mirror, SKINNER stands amazed.)

SKINNER: I don't believe this.

DOGGETT: What?

SKINNER: Who this is.

CUT BACK TO:

JEFFREY SPENDER: You're wrong about that. When I look in the mirror I see something much different than the world sees. He could destroy my face and my dignity when he shot me in that office ...

JEFFREY SPENDER: ...but he couldn't destroy the one thing I love most -- my hatred of him.

SCULLY: Your cigarette-smoking, son of a bitch of a father.

JEFFREY SPENDER: And Mulder's.

(This information doesn't surprise SCULLY.)

SCULLY: You counted on the DNA ... that we'd buy it without question and not look any further. DNA's what Mulder shared with Jeffrey Spender.

JEFFREY SPENDER: Ah.

(JEFFREY SPENDER sits back down at the interrogation table.)

JEFFREY SPENDER: Half brothers raised apart -- that's about all that Mulder and I ever shared.

SCULLY: You haven't seen Mulder, have you? You haven't even talked to him. So, getting caught at the FBI ... winning our trust was all towards one thing. It was only to get to William.

JEFFREY SPENDER: Sitting here, you'd wish me dead. Shortly, I'll do you the favour.

(SCULLY pulls out the bottle found with the syringe. The bottle that contained whatever it was that was injected into WILLIAM.)

SCULLY: I had this checked. It's an unknown metal that you injected into my son.

JEFFREY SPENDER: It's a form of magnetite.

(He inhales deeply.)

JEFFREY SPENDER: A gift.

SCULLY: "A gift"?

JEFFREY SPENDER: Having failed as a conspirator to control alien colonization, my father wanted nothing more than to see the world fail, too.

SCULLY: So, what, you've prevented it now? You've ... prevented alien colonization by injecting this metal into my son?

JEFFREY SPENDER: Your son is the one thing the aliens need. I took revenge on my father by taking William away from them.

SCULLY: So, he's all right now? I mean, just like that?

(He nods.)

SCULLY: So, it's over. They'll let him be.

(JEFFREY SPENDER looks sad.)

JEFFREY SPENDER: It'll never be over. They'll always know what he was. They'll never accept what he is.

SCULLY: Well, I can protect him.

JEFFREY SPENDER: And if you can't? Look at me ... what they did. Is this what you want for your son?

(There are tears in SCULLY'S eyes as she listens to the man before her.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 18

(Inside Scully's apartment. WILLIAM is lying down in his bassinet, the stars and moon mobile hanging above him. SCULLY is sitting next to him, watching over him. She's been thinking. REYES appears in the doorway.)

REYES: (gently) Dana ... the room's all fresh for you. I threw out all the old bedding and bought some brand-new stuff, okay?

SCULLY: Thank you.

REYES: I know it's impossible to stop thinking about what he said about William ... but it's all lies, Dana and you were the one who proved it.

SCULLY: And how should I prove it now? By insisting that I can protect him ... only to learn too late that I can't?

REYES: You say it as if you have a choice.

SCULLY: He didn't have a choice to come into this life. I don't have a choice about what he is or was ... but I do have a choice about the life my son will have ...

(SCULLY turns away from REYES to look down at her son. Her voice breaking.)

SCULLY: ... And shouldn't I choose that he never have to be afraid of anyone or anything? And can I ever really even promise him that?

REYES: But who can?

(SCULLY reaches over the crib and lightly taps a star in WILLIAM'S mobile. She bursts into heart-breaking sobs.)

DISSOLVE TO:

SCENE 19

[The song is "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore".]

(We find ourselves in the Van De Kamp house. The camera travels through the house. Mr. Van De Kamp is sitting at his desk. He's busy working on something. Probably continuing the wood project he was working on at the beginning of the episode.)

(The camera moves to the back into the nursery where Mrs. Van De Kamp is carrying WILLIAM and is ready to put him to bed. The walls of the nursery are covered with cloud-printed wallpaper. WILLIAM is wearing a planet and stars pajamas with a huge red UFO in the middle. MRS. VAN DE KAMP is carrying WILLIAM and rocking him gently.)

MR. VAN DE KAMP: ... in there. Look what I got. Big buffalo.

(MR. VAN DE KAMP enters carrying a hand made mobile with wood carvings of four white buffalo He proudly shows his wife and son the work he's done. He playfully jiggles the mobile in front of his son. All of them laughing and sharing a loving family moment. He hangs the mobile above the crib. MRS. VAN DE KAMP gently puts WILLIAM in the crib and under the mobile.)

(MR. VAN DE KAMP stands closely behind his wife leaning forward to take a long look at his new son.)

MR. VAN DE KAMP: Sweet dreams, baby boy.

(The both move to leave. They linger at the doorway, turn the light off and leave the nursery.)

(WILLIAM is smiling at the mobile. He lifts his hand pointing at the mobile (just as he did in NIHT). The mobile doesn't move.)

[Fade to black]

[THE END]