TEASER CHANGE: AMOR FATI (Love of Fate)
TEASER
Mulder is dreaming about a boy on the beach with, presumably, his parents. It could be Mulder with Cancerman.
Tena Mulder comes to Mulder's hospital room to see her son. The doctor is telling her that they don't know what to do. She tells him that they are making him like a zombie.
She talks to Mulder, asking if he can hear her. He says to her in his mind that he can, but she can't hear him. She walks away from the bed as Mulder screams for her.
Cancerman comes into Mulder's hospital room, talking to him with his thoughts. He knows Mulder can hear him. He injects Mulder in his temple with something, and Mulder can talk again. He tells Mulder that he has a choice to live or die. He can't read Cancerman's mind anymore. He tells Mulder to take his hand, and that he should trust him because he is his father.
ACT ONE
Scully is in the office sleeping at the desk, her laptop in front of her with pictures of parts of the crafts. Kritschgau wakes her up, telling her that she is the one who has access to Mulder, and that she needs to use it wisely. He tells her that two years ago Mulder was infected with an alien virus (the black cancer - it doesn't say that though) and that it has been reactivated in him by exposure to a source of energy that is also alien. He's living proof of what he tried so hard 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.
KRITSCHGAU: You destroy this and I'll destroy you.
Kritschgau leaves as the phone rings. Scully answers it. It's Skinner telling her to get down to the hospital, because Mulder is missing.
At the hospital Skinner tells Scully that it's better if he doesn't know where either of them are at, because his position has been compromised.
Mulder is dreaming again, seeing an older boy, who suddenly has Cancerman's voice. Mulder wakes up, handcuffed, with Cancerman in a car. He tells Mulder that his doctors worked on him, because he realized if the Syndicate didn't kill him, the FBI would (what Syndicate?!). Cancerman lights up two cigarettes.
CSM: Can I offer you a cigarette?
MULDER: I don't smoke.
CSM: Maybe now you do.
Scully comes into her home, to find Albert Hosteen already there. She thought that he was dying. He tells her that he was hoping to see her partner, but she tells him that he is missing. He tells her that she has to save Mulder.
The Cigarette-Smoking man takes Mulder to a house, saying that Mulder has a new identity. He basically says that he can leave and go to Scully, which he wouldn't be surprised at, if he wants to, but that it would put her life in danger. He tells Mulder to at least look around to know what he's missing before he decides.
Back in the office, an agent is showing Scully some of the surveillance videos from the hospital. Whoever came for Mulder covered some of the cameras. He suspects that at least three people were involved. They look closer through a space in the covering and see Tena Mulder talking to someone smoking a cigarette.
SCULLY: I know who that is.
Mulder walks into the house and looks around. He opens the refrigerator and smiles at the bags of "Spitz" sunflower seeds. (a reference to Spotnitz maybe?)
From behind him, Mulder hears:
DEEPTHROAT: They can change your name, but they can't change the things you love.
Mulder is surprised to see Deepthroat, and tells him that he watched him die. Deepthroat says that the bullet hit him, but that he didn't die. Mulder is very happy at this point, because he thought that he was responsible for Deepthroat's death. He tells Mulder that nothing that happened was his fault, and that he doesn't have to worry about any of it anymore. He should enjoy life now, like he has been. He's been living with a wife and kids down the street, and he hopes that Mulder will visit for dinner.
Mulder is sitting in a chair, dreaming again. He sees the boy again.
Mulder is lying in a bed. Suddenly Fowley comes in, dressed for bed. She unhandcuffs him and they kiss. YUCK!
ACT TWO
At the office, Scully leaves a message with Mrs. Mulder, asking her to call. She's very frustrated. Suddenly, a man enters with a package for her. It's a codebook on the Native American writing that is on the spaceship. It came from somewhere in the department. The book also tells about the Anasazi Indians that 'vanished without a trace,' as well as the apocalypse and the sixth extinction.
Scully calls Skinner, asking if he sent it. It explains everything she found in Africa. He tells her that he told her to stay away. She tells him that it tells about the sixth extinction, and about a myth of a man who could save them. She says that that is why they took Mulder. They think his illness is a gift, protection against the coming plague. Skinner hangs up on her.
Scully goes to Skinner's office. Skinner's secretary tries to keep her out, but they hear Skinner moan. They open the door and see a man running away, and Skinner bent over in pain. Scully tells his secretary to get on the phone. Meanwhile, Scully chases the man through the halls. His face is not scene, but he slides something into his pocket, presumably the device that controls the nano machines in him. He pulls the fire alarm and she loses him in the chaos.
Mulder comes outside to be met by Diana. She can tell something is wrong and asks him what it is. He tells her nothing, and that everything is perfect.
MULDER: It's all perfect. What the hell am I doing here?
He tells her that he can't be there. He has commitments to "The X-Files," to SCULLY:), and to his sister. She tells him that he doesn't know what commitment means, that he is only a child. She says that he won't know the true joy of responsibility until he has a child. He says asks what he's supposed to do, that she lays it all on him after sleeping with him only one night (YUCK!) and asks if he is just supposed to just slip into domestic bliss. She tells him that they will go visit Cancerman after breakfast.
Scully knocks at Kritschgau's door and he lets her inside. She yells at him, asking who he told, because a man attacked Skinner in his office. He tells her that he didn't tell anyone. She finds the files of the alien ship on a laptop. He hacked into her files and sent them to be analyzed by the National Institutes of Health. As she deletes the files, he tells her that it proves what Mulder's become - biologically alien.
KRITSCHGUA: What are you hiding?
SCULLY: It doesn't matter.
KRITSCHGAU: It matters to someone. And whoever it is, it sounds like they're looking for Mulder too.
Scully finishes deleting the files.
Cigarette-Smokingman welcomes Mulder and Fowley at his door. Fowley tells Cancerman that she thinks he needs to relieve Mulder's unhappiness about things that he thinks were left undone.
MULDER: Yeah, including why you live in a bigger house than I do.
Cancerman tells him that he's had quite a few mouths to feed - three grandkids of Mulder's sister. Cancerman points out Samantha, who is with her children. (This is who the woman was in the TV Guide picture.)
In reality, Mulder is lying on an operating table as Cancerman talks to Fowley about him. He tells her that a father always has high hopes for his son, but that he never dreams how much he could change the world. He says that he's so proud of Mulder and the depth of his capacity for suffering.
CSM: They think what he has is killing him, but in actuality, he's never been more alive.
Fowley asks if he thinks Mulder dreams. Cancerman says that he is sure that he dreams, of a simple life. The dreams are all he has now.
ACT THREE
FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Fowley is walking to the elevator when Scully stops her, telling her that she smells like cigarettes.
FOWLEY: Let's cut the crap, shall we?
SCULLY: Yes. Lets.
Scully and Fowley go into a different room to talk. Scully asks her where Mulder is, and Diana says that maybe before she goes blaming everyone, she could think about what she could have 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.
FOWLEY: I'm thinking, Agent Scully. I'm always thinking.
Fowley walks out.
A doctor is talking to Cancerman in the operating room. He says that he's hopeful, after having them trying to develop a compatible alien-human hybrid, that they have one ready-made. He is going to inject something into Cancerman's arm. He says to the doctor about it being so long that they've wondered why they were keeping Mulder alive, while it was so simple to remove the threat that he posed. The doctor tells him that there was no way for him to have predicted this. Cancerman tells him that Mulder has become their savior; he's immune to the coming viral apocalypse, and that he's the hero. The doctor tells him that he may not survive the procedure, and Cancerman replies that then he'll suffer the hero's fate.
Back in Mulder's dreams, he is in a tuxedo and Diana in a wedding dress. When he turns around at Diana's voice from behind her, he sees her pregnant. She tells him that it's time, and suddenly there are two boys around him. He smiles at this as he ruffles the one boy's hair. He happens to catch himself in the mirror, and he sees that he is turning gray. As he turns again, he sees Fowley in a coffin and cries at her side. His wedding ring is shown.
Someone puts his hand on Mulder's shoulder. It's Cancerman, who hasn't aged at all.
In the operating room, Fowley strokes Mulder's cheek. Cancerman tells her not to think of the man, but rather of the sacrifices he is making for everyone. She just tells him that it would have been better if he had been given a choice. He asks if she doesn't think he would have chose that, to become the one thing he's sought after, to feel what it's like. He is what he's sought. He tells her that his task is almost complete anyway, and that he'll carry the burden from there on in. Fowley looks at Mulder and strokes his cheek again.
In Mulder's dream, he turns to Cancerman. Mulder has aged significantly. Cancerman tells him that he knows about the boy on the beach, the vision he goes to in his mind. Mulder tells him that he's seen him thousands of times, but that he's never seen what the boy wants him to see. Cancerman's tells him to close his eyes, that the boy is ready to show him.
The boy is standing on top of a spaceship made out of sand. He is kicking the bottom of it. Mulder asks him what he's doing. He tells him that it was supposed to me his [Mulder's] spaceship, and that he [Mulder] is destroying it. He tells Mulder that he was supposed to help him with it.
Scully comes into her apartment again to find Albert Hosteen. He tells her that she's not looking for Mulder in the right place. He points to her heart. Scully asks him if he wants her to pray, and he says that there are more worlds than the one you can hold in your hand. Scully and Hosteen pray for Mulder.
Back in the operating room, Cancerman is talking to Fowley again, except he is lying next to Mulder with his head strapped to the table as well. She tells him that he's removing genetic material that may kill his son, and he replies that they are forcing evolution along to save man - that they are doing God's work. (Didn't you ever hear what they say about "Playing God," CSM?:) Without the immunity, everyone will die. He says that this knowledge is God's blessing, and that he'll carry on for Mulder from here.
ACT FOUR
In the operating room, Mulder wakes up during the procedure. The doctors don't think they can take him any further because he won't stay asleep. He's flat on the monitor. Yet they continue. Mulder looks into Fowley's eyes. She turns and leaves, sliding an access card through the door.
The camera zooms into Mulder's eyes, as the scene changes back to Mulder's dream. He is lying in bed. Cancerman is there with him. Mulder asks him to open the blinds so he can look outside, but he tells Mulder that he wants him to have peace. He asks where Samantha is, and he tells him that she died five years ago. He asks about Deepthroat, and he tells Mulder that they've been over that. He's dead too. He also tells him that Fowley is dead, and Scully. At the mention of Scully, Mulder starts to cry in disbelief. He tells Mulder that it's time for him to let go, that they are waiting for him. He tells him to close his eyes.
MULDER: We're the last, you and I?
CSM (nodding): The end. Of the beginning.
Cancerman tells him that there is nothing to be done at all. He opens the curtains to look at the world. There are spaceships flying everywhere through what's left of it.
The camera pans to show that only the house they are in is OK.
Flames are shown burning some X-Files. The camera pans down to show Kritschgau lying on the floor with a bullet in his head. Krycek leaves the scene with the laptop.
Scully wakes up from lying on her apartment floor to find that an envelope has been slipped under her door. She opens it to find an access card. (Note, the card says the 'Department of Defense!')
Scully walks through a door.
In the operating room, the doctors are operating on Mulder's brain, his head surrounded by blood.
Scully slides the card through a lock and she walks strangely into Mulder's [dream] room where he is lying on the bed.
MULDER (smiling): Scully! I knew you'd come.
He reaches for her. He tells her that they told him she was dead.
SCULLY: And you believed them?
Scully calls him a traitor. Mulder becomes confused. She then says that he's a deserter and a coward. He tells her not to say that, because he is dying.
SCULLY: You're not supposed to die, Mulder. Not here.
MULDER: What do you mean?
SCULLY: Not in a comfortable bed with the devil outside.
MULDER: No, you don't understand. He's taken care of me.
SCULLY (shaking her head): No Mulder. He's lulled you to sleep. He's made you trade your true mission for creature comforts.
MULDER: There was no mission. There were no aliens.
SCULLY: No aliens? Have you looked outside Mulder?
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!
Scully leaves the room as Mulder calls after her.
Scully is once again sliding the card through a lock, but this time in reality. She's in the operating room.
She sees Mulder lying on the table with a bandage on his head. She strokes his cheek and leans down to him.
SCULLY: Mulder? Mulder, you've got to wake up. I've got to get you out of here. Mulder can you understand me?
All of a sudden the scene flashes to the 'old Mulder' strapped down to the bed. It flashes back again. He's starting to respond to her.
SCULLY (on the verge of tears): Mulder, you've got to get up. I don't know how much time we have. You've got to get up, Mulder.
The scene flashes back and forth again.
SCULLY: No one can do it but you, Mulder. (Now trying not to cry) Mulder help me. Please Mulder.
A tear slips down Scully's face and lands near Mulder's eye. She leans her head on him, presumably kissing him on the cheek, and he wakes up.
MULDER: You help me.
Scully helps Mulder up. (Now we all know what Scully thought in the missing scene when his sheet would have had to come off <vbeg>)
ONE WEEK LATER
Scully walks to Mulder's door.
Mulder opens it, wearing a New York ?baseball? cap and a bandage on his head. He tells her that he was just getting dressed to come see her, but he couldn't find a tie to go with his victory cap. She takes off his cap and pulls out part of his tie, telling him he's to do no work, and that he needs to go back to bed.
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: He was there, we, we prayed together.
MULDER nods.
SCULLY: 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. And what you saw in me?
SCULLY (lowering her head): I don't know what to believe anymore.
MULDER steps closer to her.
SCULLY (starting to cry): Mulder, we're 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 what the truth is, I don't know who to listen to, I don't know who to trust.
MULDER nods.
SCULLY: Diana Fowley was found murdered this morning. I know you 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.
Crying, Scully hugs Mulder.
MULDER: Scully, I was like you once. I didn't know who to trust. And I, I chose another path, another life, another fate, where I found my sister. And even though my world was unrecognizable and upside-down, there was one thing that remained the same.
MULDER pulls back holding SCULLY'S face in his hands, looking in her eyes.
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 (crying): And you are mine.
Mulder nods. They move towards each other and Scully kisses his forehead (when she should have kissed his mouth;). When she pulls away, she strokes his cheek and puts his cap back on him. Then she strokes his face again and strokes her thumbs down his lips. She turns and leaves a contemplating Mulder.
Mulder sees the boy again in his mind. They are laughing and having fun fixing the sand spaceship.
Overall Rating : 9
*Shippy Rating: 9.5
*Based on the Redux II scale (1-10, as Redux II being a 10 [now with Triangle being an 11, above the scale])*
(be sure to check out the images, quotes, reviews, ect. of older episodes, through the main pages.)
