She tells Mulder he's the only one she has called. She has a naso-pharyngeal tumor that is inoperable. Treatment is difficult in the extreme due to the location between her sinus and cerebrum. Mulder refuses to believe that it's inoperable, that it's hopeless. She tells Skinner she wants to pursue this through the Justice Department rather than as a personal matter. They find that Betsy Hagopian passed away two and a half weeks ago. This news leaves Scully momentarily shaken. Scully has a feeling of deja vu when she steps into the front room, remembering her meeting with the group of women claiming to be abductees. Eleven women are abducted, all with similar recollections about the experience, all developing identical brain tumors, and all refused state or federal health care because of their insistence of the facts. And all dying within the space of a year. M: If what you have is a result of your abduction and that abduction is something the government knows about then those are facts that should be brought to light. S: (adamantly) I don't know what happened to me. I have no clear recollection. And I don't think these abductions are even abductions. Penny Northern tells Scully about a Dr. Scanlon who treated both her and Betsy, telling them he might have isolated the cause of their cancer. Dr. Scanlon told her if he'd caught it earlier he might have been able to do more for them. S: Mulder, whatever you found or whatever you might find, I think we both know that right now, the truth is in me. And that's where I need to pursue it. As soon as possible. M: I will be right there. As Crawford goes through the files, he hears someone enter the house. He calls out, thinking it's Mulder, but it's the Gray-Haired Man, seemingly the hitman of choice these days. When GHM leaves the room, Crawford lies dead in a pool of his green disintegrating body. MaScully: I don't want to be kept in the dark. Dana: You'll know Mom. MaScully: You have always been the strong one but you are my only daughter now. Dana: I know. Scully tells Penny the vague recollections from her dream. Someone was doing something bad to her. She says Penny was there, that she heard her voice. Penny tells Dana that they let her come to Dana during the procedures. S: I'm sorry, Penny. I can't...I can't hear this right now. M: CSM knows what they did to Agent Scully. He may very well know how to save her. Sk: If he knows you may know too. But you can't ask the truth of a man who trades in lies. I won't let you. M: We are talking about Agent Scully's life. Sk: Find another way. Mulder wants to go to the facility. He tells the Gunmen, "Pick out something black and sexy and prepare to do some funky poaching." S: I need a miracle. CSM: Well, you think a lot more of me than you let on, Mr. Skinner. S: What will it take? CSM: For Agent Scully's life? What would you offer? S: What'll it take!? CSM: Well, I'll have to get back to you on that. As they wait for Frohike and Langly to bypass the next internal security panel, Mulder happens to see a plaque with doctors' names on the wall. Dr. Scanlon is among them. Mulder sends a frightened Byers to warn Scully to stop treatment for her cancer. We see Mulder going deeper into the facility. He finds a room where someone is working and, pounding on the door, is greeted by several Kurt Crawford hybrid clones. Crawford has stopped and is pointing at one drawer. Mulder finds himself looking at Dana Scully's name printed on the tag. Crawford tells Mulder that the frozen ova were harvested using a superovulaton techniques during her abduction. GHM pops a clip in his gun as he walks down the hall and begins firing at Mulder. Luckily, the bullet proof glass is holding but Mulder's begging the Gunmen to work faster. Enough shots at the glass and the door will be breached and GHM seems to have plenty of ammo, as he pops in another clip and continues his merciless barrage. He runs to find a nurse and Byers calls to him, letting him know that Scully is alright. She is sitting at Penny's bedside. Mulder seems content to just confirm that Scully is alive and well. Mulder, I can't kid myself. People live with cancer. They carry on, and so will I. You know, I've got things to finish, to prove to myself, to my family. But for my own reasons. Mulder holds her head in his hands and gently kisses her forehead in a gesture of caring and support. As she walks down the hall in the direction of her room, Mulder stands alone holding the vial of her (thawing!) ova. Mulder says Skinner was right about CSM. They have to find out what he knows but they have to find another way. Skinner replies, "There's always another way." We pan through his office as he hangs up the phone and see CSM, sitting across from Skinner's desk puffing on a cigarette. "Yes, I believe there is. If you're willing to pay the price," CSM says.

Memento Mori The episode opens with a Scully voice-over. The monologue is a piece written by Chris Carter that is supposed to be a journal entry of Scully's written with Mulder in mind as the recipient. You can link to the opening monologue at http://www.thex-files.com/quote415.htm. As the journal entry is heard, Scully stands in a hospital room looking at an imaging film showing a tumor in her head. Holy Cross Memorial Hospital, Washington D.C. Mulder arrives with a bouquet of flowers to meet Scully in the Oncology Unit. He finds her alone in a room, contemplating the imaging film. He hands her the flowers telling her he stole them from a guy with a broken leg earning himself a rare Scully smile. She tells Mulder he's the only one she has called. She has a naso-pharyngeal tumor that is inoperable. Treatment is difficult in the extreme due to the location between her sinus and cerebrum. Mulder refuses to believe that it's inoperable, that it's hopeless. Scully says, "For all the times that I have said that to you, I am as certain about this as you have ever been. I have cancer. If it pushes into my brain, statistically there is about zero chance of survival." Mulder doesn't want to accept this news. We next see Scully and an uncomfortable Mulder letting Skinner know about Scully's condition. He begins with condolences and Scully interrupts to say she doesn't want this to be awkward, she'd prefer it was kept confidential, and that she'd like to keep working. She wants Mulder's assistance in investigating her cancer and its cause, starting with the abductees in Allentown, specifically Betsy Hagopian who had cancer when Scully saw her last. All of the Allentown women had the same implants as Scully's. She tells Skinner she wants to pursue this through the Justice Department rather than as a personal matter. When they arrive in Allentown, Pennsylvania, they find that Betsy Hagopian passed away two and a half weeks ago. This news leaves Scully momentarily shaken. Flashing his badge to the realtor, Mulder convinces her to let them inside to take a look around. Scully has a feeling of deja vu when she steps into the front room, remembering her meeting with the group of women claiming to be abductees. In the basement, they find a computer and someone is remotely logged onto the system, actively downloading files from the hard drive. They phone in a trace on the caller and find themselves at the home of Kurt Crawford. When they buzz the apartment, there's no answer and Scully tries to locate the manager while Mulder goes around back to have a look-see. He runs into Kurt Crawford trying to make a break out the rear entrance. Scully keeps him from exiting the alley by chasing him back toward Mulder, who tackles him and cuffs him. The effort may have been too much as Mulder points to Scully's nose where she finds she has a nosebleed. Her response is, as usual, "I'm fine, Mulder," but he seems concerned. She reiterates, "Quit staring at me. I'm fine." Crawford tells them that he's a member of MUFON, as was Betsy Hagopian, and that he was downloading the files for safekeeping with her permission. He ran because he thinks his life is in danger. He thinks there's a government conspiracy to suppress the information in those files. S: You think he's credible? M: He seems to know an awful lot about what happened to Betsy and the other women in the MUFON group that you met at her house. S: Well, that will have to be cross-checked. M: We can't. S: Why not? Mulder's lack of an answer is answer enough. She asks Crawford how they died. His answer is brain cancer, all within the last year. He says that all the women from the group she met have died except Penny Northern, and she's in the hospital and not doing well. S: What makes you think this is a conspiracy, that the government's involved? KC: What makes you think it isn't? Eleven women are abducted, all with similar recollections about the experience, all developing identical brain tumors, and all refused state or federal health care because of their insistence of the facts. And all dying within the space of a year. Mulder takes Scully aside. M: I want you to listen to me. S: About what? M: About what you won't admit to yourself. What you're denying. S: What am I denying? M: Where your cancer came from. S: Mulder, it doesn't matter. M: It DOES matter. If what you have is a result of your abduction and that abduction is something the government knows about then those are facts that should be brought to light. S: (adamantly) I don't know what happened to me. I have no clear recollection. And I don't think these abductions are even abductions. M: All these women are dead. S: (with emotion) No. They are not. One woman isn't. This Penny Northern. M: If you won't listen to me then I think you should go talk to her. S: About what? What it feels like to be dying of cancer? What it's like to know there's absolutely nothing you can do about it? M: (pained expression) If that's too hard for you then I think you should go as an investigator. You have one remaining witness, Agent Scully. I'd think you'd want to know what her story is. Scully goes to the hospital where Penny Northern lies very weak and sick. She's wearing a turban, most likely due to the loss of her hair from her treatment. The total picture of the dying, once vibrant, woman must be quite a blow to Scully. Penny looks up to see Scully and calls her by name. She says she recognizes Dana, not just from their brief meeting last year but from when she held and comforted her "in the place, after the tests." Scully tells Penny she doesn't share those memories. Scully wants to ask Penny some questions. She tells Scully about a Dr. Scanlon who treated both her and Betsy, telling them he might have isolated the cause of their cancer. Dr. Scanlon told her if he'd caught it earlier he might have been able to do more for them. Scully seems a bit overwhelmed at the possibility. Mulder and Crawford are going through boxes and file cabinets at the Hagopian house when Mulder receives a call from Scully. Before she can tell him why she called, he launches into some important information he's turned up. He tells her that some of the women who have died are childless and had been treated at an infertility clinic nearby. She tries to interrupt but he goes on, telling her he's made phone calls but nobody is talking to him. She finally gets a word in and tells him she needs him to come to the hospital and to bring the overnight bag. She wants him to call her mother and have her bring some additional things to the hospital. S: Mulder, whatever you found or whatever you might find, I think we both know that right now, the truth is in me. And that's where I need to pursue it. As soon as possible. M: I will be right there. Mulder slams a file cabinet shut and heads immediately to the hospital, leaving Kurt Crawford at the Hagopian house. As Mulder drives away, we see another car on the street pull forward and park outside the house. As Crawford goes through the files, he hears someone enter the house. He calls out, thinking it's Mulder, but it's the Gray-Haired Man, seemingly the hitman of choice these days. As Crawford backs away, knocking over boxes, the GHM pulls an alien ice pick pithing device from his coat pocket and advances. When he leaves the room, Crawford lies dead in a pool of his green disintegrating body. Scully awakens in a hospital bed and, as she turns toward the windows, she sees a figure bathed/backlit by a bright light. It looks strangely like a vision from her abduction flashbacks. It turns out to be Dr. Scanlon. He says her charts haven't arrived yet but he knows what to expect, and so should she with her medical training. He tells her they will combine chemotherapy and radiation therapy to knock down her system to improve the chances of successful gene therapy. As the doctor talks to Scully, Mrs. Scully arrives. Scully tells her mom she's fine. That she's going to be fine and is only here for treatment. As the doctor leaves the room, Dana starts trying to talk around the anger she sees building in her mother. Dana: I know what you're going to say but I don't have any experience being sick. I promise you I feel fine. MaScully: I don't know why you didn't tell me. Why you didn't tell me immediately! Dana: I wanted to get all the answer first. MaScully: And you found them here? Dana: I have found some clarity and maybe a way to fight back. MaScully: I don't want to be kept in the dark. Dana: You'll know Mom. MaScully: You have always been the strong one but you are my only daughter now. Dana: I know. As they share a tearful hug, the only thing I regretted was that it wasn't a longer scene with these two. Mrs. Scully is a vastly under-used character. Scully is shown being prepped for radiation therapy while we hear the second voice-over reading of a journal entry. She is explaining the cancer and the hoped for cure. Meanwhile, we see Mulder, flashlight in hand, breaking into the Center for Reproductive Medicine where Penny Northern, Betsy Hagopian, and the others were treated. As he attempts to log on to their computer system, he hears someone else enter the office. It's Crawford. Mulder is suspicious, saying Crawford disappeared with the files from the Hagopian house and hasn't answered any of Mulder's calls. He tells Mulder they're looking for the same thing. He's tried to get into the clinic's computer system but can't get past the password protect. Together they search the desk and drawers for a clue to the password. Mulder finds a snowglobe with the placename Vegreville and a giant egg (!) inside. Appropriate. They type in Vegreville and, just that easy, they're into the system. Scully is shaken from an abduction nightmare by Penny who has come to her room to visit. She's disoriented from the nightmare and nauseous from the chemotherapy drugs. She tells Penny the vague recollections from her dream. Someone was doing something bad to her. She says Penny was there, that she heard her voice. Penny tells Dana that they let her come to Dana during the procedures. S: I'm sorry, Penny. I can't...I can't hear this right now. P: You've got to try and make sense of it, Dana. It will help you through the pain. To understand why this is happening to you. Penny holds onto her hand and they sit quietly. Skinner comes into his office to find an unannounced Mulder waiting for him. Mulder looks like hell. He says he needs Skinner to set up a meeting for him. He tells Skinner that Scully is in the hospital beginning treatment. Skinner asks about their "investigative avenues". Mulder shows him a paper he says is a file directory from the federally operated fertility clinic and Scully's name is on it, though he's "pretty damn sure" Scully's never sought treatment. He says he only accessed the directory and the files are housed at The Lombard Research Facility. Skinner asks who Mulder wants a meeting with. Mulder tells him he wants to meet with CSM. He has no doubt that he's behind this. M: I'm willing to deal now. S: Find another way. M: No, I need that meeting. S: You deal with this man, you offer him anything and he'll own you forever. M: He knows what they did to Agent Scully. He may very well know how to save her. S: If he knows you may know too. But you can't ask the truth of a man who trades in lies. I won't let you. M: We are talking about Agent Scully's life. S: Find another way. Mulder's next move is to contact the Lone Gunmen. They manage to hack into the Lombard Facility's mainframe and access Scully's file. They come upon a gene sequence they saw in Scully's blood after her abduction. Branched DNA which Byers says is prone to mutation, and probably made her sick. Mulder wants to know why someone would go to the trouble of storing this data. Byers says that scientists "get funky about having their research poached." Langly says they might be looking for a cause or a cure. Mulder wants to go to the facility. He tells the Gunmen, "Pick out something black and sexy and prepare to do some funky poaching." Skinner meets with CSM in Mulder's office. Skinner says that it's odd that Mulder's assigned to the basement even with Skinner as his patron. Skinner replies, "At least he doesn't take an elevator UP to get to work." "You think I'm the devil, Mr. Skinner," CSM queries. But Skinner has another topic on his mind, and CSM knows what it is. He asks if Skinner wants to discuss Scully's cancer, whether it's terminal. CSM says with modern medicine, he hears they can perform miracles. S: I need a miracle. C: Well, you think a lot more of me than you let on, Mr. Skinner. S: What will it take? C: For Agent Scully's life? What would you offer? S: What'll it take!? C: Well, I'll have to get back to you on that. With Frohike and Langly cutting power to the Lombard Facility's security grid from the outside, Byers and Mulder manage to get inside undetected. As they wait for Frohike and Langly to bypass the next internal security panel, Mulder happens to see a plaque with doctors' names on the wall. Dr. Scanlon is among them. Mulder sends a frightened Byers to warn Scully to stop treatment for her cancer while he proceeds on alone. As we hear the third and final journal entry of Scully's, we see Mulder going deeper into the facility. He finds a room where someone is working and, pounding on the door, is greeted by several Kurt Crawford hybrid clones. Inside the laboratory are rows of tanks like the ones Mulder first saw in "Erlenmeyer Flask". The Crawfords tell Mulder that they are trying to subvert the project that created them. He looks in one of the tanks and sees the boy he saw with the Samantha drones in "Herrenvolk". They are young Kurt Crawfords. One of the clones leads Mulder into a vault holding drawers full of human ova. As he looks he sees a drawer labeled with Betsy Hagopian's name. Crawford has stopped and is pointing at one drawer. Mulder finds himself looking at Dana Scully's name printed on the tag. Crawford tells Mulder that the frozen ova were harvested using a superovulaton techniques during her abduction. Crawford says that the women are barren now from the same procedure that caused their cancer. He says they've been left to die, their conditions hastened by the men who run the project (like Dr. Scanlon). Mulder asks if they are trying to save them. Crawford replies, "They're our mothers." Mulder leaves the lab, pocketing a vial of Scully's ova. As Mulder begins to exit the building, he's having trouble with his headset connection to Langly and Frohike. Langly tells him there's a security breach; someone else is entering the building. We see Byers on his way out of the building halted by the arrival of a security vehicle, lights flashing. If he looked worried before, he's terrified now. He hides in a doorway as two uniformed guards enter and pass then is almost caught when he's surprised by the entrance of an additional man. The Gray-Haired Man. Byers takes the opportunity to split the scene after the GHM and his pals pass down the hall. Mulder wants out and is lost, though Langly is trying to steer him out of the building. He makes it through the locks on a glass door but is stopped by the next metal door. Unfortunately, the GHM is right behind him. GHM pops a clip in his gun as he walks down the hall and begins firing at Mulder. Luckily, the bullet proof glass is holding but Mulder's begging the Gunmen to work faster as the GHM approaches, still firing. Enough shots at the glass and the door will be breached and GHM seems to have plenty of ammo, as he pops in another clip and continues his merciless barrage. With holes appearing in the glass door, Mulder's time is running out just as Langly gives him a go and he's through the door and sprinting out of the building. Mulder's still running when he arrives at the hospital and finds Scully's room empty. Her journal lies on the night stand and he is drawn to pick it up. He probably sees his name in it since the passages are written with him as the reader in mind. He runs to find a nurse and Byers calls to him, letting him know that Scully is alright. She is sitting at Penny's bedside. Mulder seems content to just confirm that Scully is alive and well. Penny Northern asks, "Dr. Scanlon isn't coming back?" Scully shakes her head, "No. I don't think so Penny." Penny says, "Dana, I want you to get well. You've been such a comfort. You've got to be the one. You can't give up hope. Scully tells her, "I haven't. I won't," as she begins to cry for her friend and maybe a little for herself. Early that morning, as Mulder sits waiting in a chair in the hallway, a nurse runs by and enters Penny's room. Scully emerges and begins to walk down the hall, unaware of Mulder's vigil. Mulder calls to her and asks if Penny's gone and Scully' tears are his answer. He tells her that when he first got to the hospital and found her room empty, he was scared something had happened and he read some of what she had written. Scully sighs heavily. S: I didn't want you to read that. I had decided to throw it out. I decided tonight that, uh...that I'm not going to let this thing beat me. I came into this hospital able to work and that's how I'm leaving. Mulder nods and they both share a slight smile. M: Byers tell you about Dr. Scanlon? S: Yes. M: He may very well have killed those women. S: That will have to be proven, if we find him. M: WHEN we find him. He tells Scully that something was done to her. She may be just remembering but he feels it can and will be explained. M: No matter what you think as a scientist or a doctor, there is a way. And you will find it...to save yourself. S: Mulder, I can't kid myself. People live with cancer. They carry on, and so will I. You know, I've got things to finish, to prove to myself, to my family. But for my own reasons. They share a smile and Mulder welcomes her back with a hug. M: The truth will save you, Scully. I think it will save both of us. Mulder holds her head in his hands and gently kisses her forehead in a gesture of caring and support. As she walks down the hall in the direction of her room, Mulder stands alone holding the vial of her (thawing!) ova. In a final scene, we see Skinner in his office answering a phonecall from Mulder. Mulder is surprised to find Skinner working so early (or late?) and was only going to leave a voicemail to bring Skinner up to speed on Scully's condition. Mulder says Skinner was right about CSM. They have to find out what he knows but they have to find another way. Skinner replies, "There's always another way." We pan through his office as he hangs up the phone and see CSM, sitting across from Skinner's desk puffing on a cigarette. "Yes, I believe there is. If you're willing to pay the price," CSM says.