02x08 - One Breath

[bunniefuu]

Once, when she was a girl, a very little girl,...

..Dana was in the woods.

It was autumn. She had always been a tomboy, unlike her sister Melissa.

For her birthday, Dana's brothers gave her a BB g*n and were showing her how to use it.

Their father had told them only to sh**t at cans.

But in a patch of grass Bill Junior found a garter snake.

And the boys began sh**ting.

Wanting to fit in with her brothers, Dana also shot at the snake.

It squirmed wildly, fighting for life...

..but as the boys continued to sh**t, the snake began to bleed.

When she realised what she had done,...

..Dana began to cry with irrevocable guilt.

Through her tears, she was saying that something was missing from the snake.

She had taken something that was not hers to take.

Although afraid of snakes, Dana held the animal...

..as if sheer human will could keep it alive.

The snake, its blood on her hands, died. Nothing she could do would bring it back.

It's too soon, Mrs Scully.

We can't give up.

That day in the woods, I felt for my daughter.

But at this moment...

..I know how my daughter felt.

We should stop.

Sir... Sir, you can't go in there!

Who brought her here? How did she get here?

Would you... How did she get here!

Ms Scully was in this condition when I arrived.

If you step outside, Dr Daly... Is that Daly? Are you Dr Daly?

What the hell is going on? Settle down...

Was it paramedics, FBI, military? Answer me right now!

You saying she just appeared?! Who did this to her?!

Sir... I wanna see her admission forms!

I wanna see what tests were done!

If you're with them, if you're hiding anything, I swear I will do anything!

Whatever it takes, I'll find out what they did to her!

Dana is listed in critical condition. Comatose.

There is unawareness of self or environment.

No evidence of language comprehension or voluntary responses to external stimuli.

My apologies, but no one here can determine how Dana arrived at the hospital,...

..or how she was attended to in such a critical condition.

Um...

Because of the absence of Dana's recent medical history, I'm at a loss for a prognosis.

I can't determine with certainty how long she's been in this state.

You haven't said why she's like this.

We just don't know, Mrs Scully. There are no signs of injuries, traumatic or non-traumatic.

I can't find signs of degenerative or metabolic disorders.

We have conducted every test possible. I'd like her examined for trace evidence.

She's been bathed and cleaned since her admittance.

Also there is a situation which I don't know if you're aware of.

The FBI has notified us of the terms of Dana's living will.

What is it? What did she say? Well, Dana is a doctor.

Her criteria for terminating life support is quite specific.

She states that if her Glasgow Outcome Scale lists her...

She doesn't wanna live in this condition.

You signed the will as her witness.

I've been told not to call you Fox.

By who?

Dana. Just now.

Dana talked to you just now? If she'd talked, the EEG would've moved.

Her soul is here.

Hi, Mom.

I'm glad you could come, Melissa.

You're Scully's sister?

Dana's choosing whether...

..whether to remain or move on.

You can feel her.

Here.

She's not here.

Your anger... your fear is blocking any positive emotions she needs to feel.

I need to do more than just wave my hands in the air.

May I help you?

Dana Scully, please.

Frohike?

Hey, Mulder! This is weird.

Good work sneaking out these charts. Tucked 'em in my pants.

There's plenty of room down there.

You look down, Mulder. You're welcome to come over on Saturday.

We're hoppin' on the Internet to nit-pick inaccuracies of Earth 2.

I'm doing my laundry. The chart shows abnormal protein chains.

The amino acid sequence is in a combination I've never seen.

I downloaded Scully's data to the newest Lone Gunman.

He goes by the name "The Thinker". This guy's a hacking genius.

What?

He reports the protein chains are the by-products of branched DNA.

Branched DNA? The cutting edge of genetic engineering.

Biological equivalent of a silicon microchip.

Way beyond cutting edge. This is technology 50 years down the line.

What's it used for? Could be a tracking system.

Developmental stages of a marker. You mean a hi-tech identity card?

Or something as insidious as grafting a human to something... inhuman.

Good theories, but all for naught.

This branched DNA is inactive. It's waste product.

Whoever experimented on Scully is finished. Now it's just a biological poison.

Will she live?

Um...

Her immune system has been decimated.

And, uh... I doubt even a healthy human body has the ability to fight this.

Mulder, there's nothing you can do.

Dana?

Dana, honey? / know you can hear me. This is Nurse Owens.

I'm here to take care of you, sweetheart.

Watch over you. Help you find the way home.

I know you're far away from home tonight...

..and that where you are is peaceful.

It would be nice to stay.

But, Dana, you must leave here only when it's time.

I'll be here when you need me, dear.

Excuse me, sir. I have to take some blood.

Code blue! Crash cart. Crash cart coming in.

Let's go!

Let's get an airway in. She's asystolic.

BP 80 over 60, dropping. Let's shock her. Paddles. 200 joules.

Clear! Clear.

What have we got? Got a catheter in. Dropping...

Let's go again. Clear! Clear.

Hey!

I didn't expect you here. A man took Scully's blood.

Forget him! Get that g*n away!

This compact SigSauer is pointed at your head...

..to stress my insistence that your search for who hurt your partner desist now!

You ignore my call, then expect me to do what you say? Go to hell!

You got him k*lled! You got her k*lled.

That's not going to happen to me.

You're my tool, understand? I come to you when I need you.

You're heading in a direction that can lead them here.

What are you talking about? You can't know. That's the point.

I owe her more than just sitting around doing nothing.

She was a good soldier, but there is nothing you can do to bring her back!

She's not dead.

Listen to you.

Listen. You're a damn schoolboy, Mulder. You have no idea. No idea.

OK, then tell me. Tell me!

I used to be you.

I was where you are now.

But you're not me, Mulder.

I don't think you have the heart.

Walk away, grieve for Scully and then never look back.

You will be able to live with yourself, Mulder,...

..on the day you die.

Federal agent!

Federal agent. You know I'm armed. Don't turn around.

Put your g*n very slowly on the ground.

Put your hands behind your head, interlock your fingers.

Turn right towards the machine and put your head on it.

Face me.

Who wants this?

Who wants it?!

All right, let's go. This way.

Stay there.

Wait!

You wanna see what it takes to find the truth, Agent Mulder?

You wanna know the things I know?

I'll attend to this.

Discontinuing the respirator does not necessarily mean ending her life.

Karen Ann Quinlan lived for nine years after cessation of mechanical ventilation.

I do believe, however, this is not the case with your daughter, Mrs Scully.

My guess is that she's been like this since her disappearance, and she will not improve.

Is she below the criteria established in her will?

It's possible branched DNA can be treated with designer antibiotics.

I don't know where you got this diagnosis, but you are in no position to continue...

You've never provided an answer as to why she's here or what's wrong with her.

We must study her. She's not a piece of evidence.

She's here because of unnatural circumstances.

She's dying.

That's perfectly natural.

We hide people because we don't wanna look at death.

We have machines prolong a life that should... that should end.

That's a much more unnatural circumstance than any cause of her death.

That's very politically correct.

That's very human.

I love her.

And this is right.

Dana... has made our decision.

Fox.

You and Dana had a friendship built on respect.

Now, in the last year, I have lost my husband,...

..and God knows I don't wanna lose my baby girl.

But, like you, I have always respected her.

Fox, this is a moment for the family.

But you can join us if you want.

Read it. It's all there.

If you're having trouble sitting on Mulder, Assistant Director Skinner,...

..I'm sure you know we'd have no trouble.

Uh-uh.

Yeah, come in.

Sit down.

I called you because of rumours about an incident at the hospital.

Is this about the tooth found in the cafeteria Jell-O?

The rumour has it you were involved in the laundry room?

No, sir. A man was ex*cuted.

I was with Scully. Traces of her blood were found.

May I see the police report? There is no report or body. You know that!

Since I am unfamiliar with the incident, how would I know?

Knock it off! How does it feel?

Constant denial of everything, questions answered with a question.

I wanna know what happened, dammit! Him! That's what happened.

Cancer Man is responsible for what happened to Scully.

How do you know that? It's a rumour.

Who is he? It's not your...

You can have my badge, the X-Files. Just tell me where he is.

And then what? He sleeps with the fishes?

We're not the Mafia, Mulder. We work for the Department of Justice.

That’s what I want.

Agent Scully was a fine officer.

More than that, I liked her. I respected her.

We all know the field we play in and what can happen in a game.

If you were unprepared for all the potentials, then you shouldn't step on the field.

What if I... I knew the potential consequences,...

..but I... I never told her?

Then you're as much to blame for her condition as... the Cancer Man.

It's Ahab.

People would say to me...

.."Life is short."

"Kids, they grow up fast. Before you know it, it's over."

I never listened.

To me, life went at a proper pace.

There were many rewards.

Until the moment that... I knew,...

..I understood that...

..I would never see you again.

My little girl.

Then my life felt as if it had been the length of one breath.

One heartbeat.

I never knew how much I loved my daughter until I could never tell her.

At that moment, I'd have traded every medal, every commendation, every promotion...

..for just one more second with you.

We'll be together again, Starbuck.

But not now.

Soon.

Dana?

I know death is at arm's reach tonight.

But, Dana, your time is not over.

You know, Fox... Sorry, Mulder.

You could spend your life finding everyone responsible and it still won't bring her back.

Whoever did this to her has an equal horror coming to them.

Including myself?

Pardon me. Sir, do you have change for the cigarette machine?

No. Sorry, I don't.

What do you mean, yourself?

There's a pack already here. Morleys.

Not my brand.

Cigarette, Frank? How about a smoke?

Sit down!

How'd you find me? Shut up!

Tonight I ask questions and you answer, you son of a bitch!

Don't try and thr*aten me, Mulder. I've watched presidents die.

Why her?

Why her and not me?

Answer me!

I like you.

I like her, too. That's why she was returned to you.

You should be the one to die.

Why?

Look at me. No wife, no family.

Some power.

I'm in the game because I believe what I'm doing is right.

Right?

Who are you to decide what's right?

Who are you?

If people were to know of the things that I know, it would all fall apart.

I told Skinner you shot the man in the hospital, but I didn't believe it.

And here you are with a g*n to my head.

I have more respect for you, Mulder. You're becoming a player.

You can k*ll me now, but you'll never know the truth.

And that's why I'll win.

Don't worry. This'll be our secret.

We wouldn't want others to... start rumours.

When I started out, this room was where they kept the copier.

At least back then it wasn't just wasted space.

It's unacceptable.

I know you feel responsible for Agent Scully, but I won't accept defeat as self-punishment.

All the forensics, the field investigations, the eyewitness accounts,...

..to still know nothing.

To lose myself...

..and Scully.

I hate what I've become.

When I was 18, I... uh... I went to Vietnam.

I wasn't drafted, Mulder. I... I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day of my 18th birthday.

I did it on a blind faith.

I did it because I believed it was the right thing to do. Maybe I still do.

Three months into my tour,...

..a ten-year-old North Vietnamese boy walked into camp, covered with grenades.

And I, uh...

I blew his head off from a distance of ten yards.

I lost my faith. Not in my country or in myself, but in everything.

There was just no point to anything any more.

One night, on patrol, we were, uh... caught.

And everyone... everyone fell.

I mean everyone.

I looked down at my body...

..from outside of it.

I didn't recognise it at first. I watched the VC strip my uniform, take my w*apon.

And I remained in this thick jungle.

Peaceful,...

..unafraid,...

..watching my... my dead friends,...

..watching myself.

In the morning the corpsmen put me in a body bag until... I guess they found a pulse.

I awoke in a Saigon hospital two weeks later.

I'm afraid to look any further beyond that experience.

You?

You are not.

Your resignation is unacceptable.

You...

You gave me Cancer Man's location.

You put your life in danger.

Agent Mulder, every life, every day, is in danger.

That's just life.

Your plane ticket.

But we barely know each other. I can't tell you why she was taken.

It's too close to me. I'm giving you the men who took her.

How? They believe you'll be out of town.

They believe you have information about Scully in your desk in your apartment.

At 8.17 tonight they'll search your apartment.

They will be armed. You will be waiting.

Waiting? To defend yourself with terminal intensity.

It's the only way, Mulder. The law will not punish these people.

After tonight, we cannot make contact for several weeks.

Mulder.

Sorry.

I came by. You weren't answering, your machine wasn't on.

Can I come in?

For a second?

Why is it so dark? Because the lights aren't on.

OK.

I just came from the hospital.

Dr Daly says... she's weakening.

It could be any time, so I figured you'd wanna come down and see her.

Well, I can't.

Well, I'd think that you would. Yeah, well, I would. I can't. Not right now.

Listen.

I don't have to be psychic to see that you're in a very dark place.

Much darker than where my sister is.

Willingly walking deeper into darkness cannot help her at all. Only the light will...

Enough with the harmonic convergence crap! You're not saying anything to me.

Why don't you just drop your cynicism, paranoia and defeat?

Just because it's positive and good doesn't make it silly or trite.

Why is it easier for you to try to get even, than just expressing to her how you feel?

I expect more from you. Dana expects more.

Even if it doesn't bring her back, at least she'll know.

And so will you.

I feel, Scully, that...

..you believe you're not ready to go.

And you've always had the strength of your beliefs.

I don't know if my being here...

..will help bring you back.

But I'm here.

I'm afraid in this case...

Let me check the chart.

Call Dr Daly. Now!

This is ICU. Find Dr Daly, stat.

Hello, this is Fox Mulder. Leave a message...

I'm here.

Hello, Fox.

Not Fox. Mulder.

How are you feeling?

Mulder, I don't remember anything.

After Duane Barry...

It doesn't... it doesn't matter.

I... brought you a present.

Superstars of the Super Bowls.

I knew there was a reason to live.

Now you wanna get some rest. I...

..just came by to see how you're doing. Say hi.

Mulder?

I had the strength of your beliefs.

I was holding this for you.

Can I see Nurse Owens? I've got something I'd like her to have.

Nurse who?

Owens.

Short, with straight, light-brown hair.

She watched over me in Intensive Care and I'd like to thank her.

Dana, I've worked here for ten years and there's no Nurse Owens at this hospital.

I made this!