Season 8: Empedocles (8X17)

Written by: Greg Walker
Directed by: Barry K. Thomas

Mild-mannered Jeb Dukes gets fired from his job in New Orleans, while his boss, Gary Garber, apologizes profusely. Jeb calmly strolls out of the office and out on to the street where, coincidentally, he witnesses a police chase that ends in a fatal auto accident. Jeb stays back, but is approached by a man awash in flames from the burning wreckage. The man seemingly walks into Jeb's body and then disappears. Suddenly, Jeb's eyes turn flaming red. That night, Jeb enters his office building and goes right up to his boss. He lifts a gun and fires at Garber.

Detective Franklin Potter is examining the crime scene when Agent Monica Reyes arrives. He shows her some artwork from Jeb Dukes' desk, but Reyes tells him that it is merely the insert from a popular rock CD. She dismisses the case as being satanic-based. Yet when she sees the victim's body, it appears to be charred from a fire. A second glance proves that it was only in her imagination. She is still unsettled by what she saw. Meanwhile, Mulder visits Scully and brings her a present. Before opening it, she doubles over in pain and Mulder rushes her to the hospital. Reyes calls Mulder on his cell phone, saying it is important she see him.

Jeb Dukes sits alone in a motel room, staring in fear at his gun. He raises it to his own head, but it gets hot and burns his hand. His face suddenly crackles. He rips at his skin, revealing flames underneath.

Mulder meets Reyes in an FBI file room. Showing him the file, Reyes asks if he is familiar with Doggett's son's case, which was the most emotional case she has ever worked on. When they found the boy, she had a vision of the body as ashes. Doggett also admitted to seeing the ashen body, but convinced himself that it meant nothing. Reyes once again saw the vision on a new case and senses that there is a reason for it happening a second time.

At the hospital, Doggett checks in on a sleeping Scully. He envisions himself in a crime scene in a field, but a nurse enters the hospital room and shakes him out of it. Later, Mulder is in the FBI hallway when Doggett attacks him. "Stay out of my life!" he yells. Mulder tries to cool him down, saying that he was asked to investigate. Reyes approaches the men and explains about the recent case where she had a recurring vision similar to what they both saw in Luke Doggett's case. A suspect in Luke's case was killed in a car accident in New Orleans right outside of where the Jeb Dukes shooting took place. Doggett again warns her to leave it alone.

Reyes goes to the home of Jeb's sister, Katha Dukes, to plead for her help. Jeb calls Katha from South Carolina, claiming that someone else killed those people. A woman knocks on his phone booth door because she needs help with her flat tire. The next morning, Jeb wanders in a daze to a car pulled over with tire trouble. He is unaware of any events that may have taken place. He sees flames in the reflection of the car window, gets in and throws out the woman's purse. When he pulls off, the tire iron falls to the side of the road.

Scully awakes and sees Doggett in her hospital room. He asks her what changed her mind about not believing any of the paranormal on the X-files. She admits to being afraid to believe. Suddenly Doggett sees a vision of Reyes in a field at the familiar crime scene. She is surrounded by sheriffs and looking at a body on the ground. Meanwhile, Reyes comes to Mulder in the X-files office. He has found no connection to other cases with the same kind of visions. Reyes tells him he is wrong because she believes there are patterns.

Doggett arrives at a crime scene in Spartanburg, SC where Mulder is waiting for him. Reyes' case has another murder victim. Doggett's reoccurring hallucination turns into reality when he sees her standing over a body, surrounded by sheriffs. He looks at the woman lying on the ground and tells Reyes that he does not see the ashen remains. Reyes is insistent that there are connections and that it may be a thread of evil. Mulder asks her to leave Doggett alone if the man really doesn't see anything.

Later, Mulder stops by the hospital to see Scully. She had a partial abruption in the uterus wall but she will be fine. He places his hand on her belly and they smile. Scully tells him that she likes Agent Reyes. Mulder is surprised. "You're nothing at all alike." "Neither are you and I," Scully responds. He says that he can't help Doggett if he doesn't want to be helped. She is convinced that Doggett is worth the effort.

Jeb Dukes is at his sister's house. Although he claims he hasn't committed any murders, Katha sees blood on his face and doesn't believe him. Jeb asks her for help, but Katha's fears deepen over the safety of her daughter. Doggett, meanwhile, submits to investigating the Jeb Dukes case when Monica enters the office. She wants him to be honest with himself about what he saw at the Spartanburg crime scene, but he says that feelings don't solve crimes. "What are you scared of?" she asks. Reyes assures Doggett that he did everything he could to save his son. She receives a call from Katha who says that Jeb is at her house. Doggett wants to know what link Jeb may have to his son, and the agents race off to the Dukes home. When they arrive, Katha tells her brother that Reyes only wants to talk to him, but Jeb is scared and takes Katha's daughter as hostage. Doggett holds him at the stairs, but puts down his gun when Jeb threatens to kill the little girl. Reyes shoots Jeb from the other side and Doggett calls for help.

Jeb is transported to Washington Memorial Hospital and the agents follow. Reyes surmises that perhaps saving the little girl was the connection to Doggett's son. She tells Doggett that there is nothing more for him to do, and he goes down to Scully's room. Watching her sleep, he again sees the vision in the field where Reyes is surrounded by the sheriffs. The men back away to reveal that Luke Doggett is the unseen body lying at their feet. The body turns to ash. Mulder interrupts him and asks if he thought there really was a connection to his son's death. Mulder wonders whether evil is like a random disease: while most people have immunity, others may catch it at a weak moment. In the ICU, Katha witnesses her brother's body seizing. The doctors try to revive him but his heart stops, and Jeb Dukes is declared dead. Katha stands crying over him, accusing Reyes of killing him. An invisible spirit floats from Jeb to Katha, causing her body to convulse and her eyes turn to flame red. She strikes Reyes and grabs the agent's gun. Doggett arrives in time to capture Katha. "It's over," he tells Reyes. "It's never over," she says.

Mulder comes once again to Scully's house and reminds her to open his gift. It is an heirloom doll from his family. She thanks him for the other gift he gave her - the courage to believe. "I hope it's a gift I can pass on," she says, tearfully. Back at the hospital, Katha Dukes is alive and strapped to her bed. Doggett stares intensely at the woman, wanting to believe that this will prevent the evil from spreading again.

Notes:

"Empedocles" is the name of a Greek scientist-philosopher-poet circa 450 BC. He was known for his belief in the "four-element" theory - that all things are composed of four basic elements: earth, air, fire, and water. He believed that opposing forces (love and hate) acted upon these elements to combine and separate them into their varied forms (hate separates them, love combines them). He also formulated a primitive theory of evolution in which he claimed that humans and animals evolved from antecedent forms.

Quotes:
Scully: Mulder?
Mulder: What?
Scully: I was just about to jump in the shower, but I was waiting for the pizza man.
Mulder: You got something going on with the pizza man I should know about?
Scully: The pizza man?
Mulder: Well, correct me if I'm wrong but you just said you were waiting for the pizza man to jump in the shower.
Scully: No, what I mean was the pizza man's usually late, and so... You want to come in?
Mulder: Thank you.
Scully: I feel like I'm stuck in an episode of 'Mad About You'.
Mulder: Well, yeah, but small technicality. 'Mad About You' was about a married couple and we just work together.
Scully: Yeah, well, you know what I'm talking about.
Mulder: I do, I do. What I'm trying to say is that, uh... we have no good reliable information on this man. I mean, what I am saying is the pizza man... (He indicates her swollen belly) ...is not above suspicion.
Scully: Ah, I see. Is that for me?
Mulder: Yeah.
Scully: Nice package.
Mulder: Thank you.
Scully: What's the occasion?
Mulder: Oh, I was going through some stuff after my mother died and, um, it's just an old family keepsake and I wanted you to have it.
Scully: Well, I'm touched.
Mulder: Little Caesar, I presume?

Agent Reyes: You're taller than I thought.

Mulder: You keep on alluding to a time that we've met and I don't remember.
Agent Reyes: I was there when they found you in the woods. You were... Yeah. I'm not surprised you don't remember.
Mulder: Yeah. I have somewhere I have to be... if we could cut to the chase.
Agent Reyes: As I said before, it involves Agent Doggett... the death his son. I don't know if you're familiar at all with that case.
Mulder: No, I'm not at all familiar with Agent Doggett.
(Agent Reyes hands Mulder a file:

Luke John Doggett
Age at Disappearance: 7
Date of Birth: 7/9/90
Date of Last Contact: 8/12/97
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 48"
Weight: 52
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
AKA: Unknown
Missing From: Long Island, NY
Child is suspected to have been...)

Mulder: I wasn't aware of this. You were the lead investigator?
Agent Reyes: Once it fell to the FBI. Agent Doggett was with the NYPD at the time. We worked it together. We never caught the killer. It was the hardest case I've ever had. As in stealing-

into-the-bathroom-to-cry-my-eyes-out kind of hard. I can't begin to imagine what it was like for John. I couldn't bear to put him through this again, but if it means we could catch his son's killer... I just can't go to him until I know if what I saw means anything.
Mulder: You said this case involves some kind of phenomenon?
Agent Reyes: I don't know if it was a psychic experience or what, but when we found his son, I had a vision. It was as if for just a moment... The body was changed.
Mulder: Changed? Into what?
Agent Reyes: Ashes. It looked like ashes. The thing of it is Agent Doggett told me he saw it, too... although he spent the last few years convincing himself he didn't, that even if he did, it didn't mean anything.
Mulder: What do you think it means?
Agent Reyes: I can't shake the feeling that it's a clue, that it could somehow point to who's responsible, if only I let it. And now I've seen it again. A thousand miles from here, a seemingly unrelated case and I've had the same vision. There has to be a reason for it, a reason it's happening now.

Mulder: Hey! Hey!

Doggett: You stay out of my life!
Mulder: Take it easy!
Doggett: You stay out of my business!
Mulder: Take it easy, Agent Doggett.
Doggett: You want to get something on me, you ask for it! I don't want to get calls about you going behind my back! You got that straight?
Mulder: I don't want anything on you. I was asked to look into this file.
Doggett: Who asked you?
Agent Reyes: Agent Doggett. What are you doing?
Doggett: Is this you? Is this you looking into this?
Agent Reyes: Yes. I asked Agent Mulder.
Doggett: You asked him what? There's nothing in there for him to bother with.
Mulder: Why don't you just calm down, Agent Doggett and let her explain the connection to you.
Doggett: The connection? To what?
Agent Reyes: I was going to tell you, John. I was in New Orleans on a case — a shooting. Something that I saw connected back to Luke. A vision.
Doggett: Not this again. You're not going to make something out of nothing.
Mulder: Bob Harvey. Does that name mean something or nothing to you?
Doggett: Bob Harvey was a suspect in the death of my son. We questioned him but then we realised he wasn't our man.
Agent Reyes: Agent Mulder pointed it out. Bob Harvey was killed last night in a car crash fleeing the police near a shooting in New Orleans. He died in front of the building where the shooting occurred.
Doggett: What's the connection?
Mulder: That's it.
Doggett: That's it?
Agent Reyes: And then there was the vision.
Doggett: No, there's no connection. I don't care what you saw, you leave it alone... and you leave it the hell alone. (He takes his son's file and leaves)
Agent Reyes: I know there is something here.
Mulder: Good.

Mulder: You awake?

Scully: Yeah.
Mulder: What did the doctor say?
Scully: That I had a partial abruption. Which means that my placenta started to tear away from the uterine wall. They're going to need to monitor me for a while.
Mulder: But you're going to be fine?
Scully: Yeah. Where have you been?
Mulder: I've actually been out in the field with Agent Doggett and this female Agent from New Orleans.
Scully: Agent Reyes.
Mulder: Yeah.
Scully: I like her.
Mulder: You're nothing at all alike.
Scully: Well, then neither are you and I. So this is a case you're working on?
Mulder: Yeah. Actually, one that involves Agent Doggett's son, the son who died.
Scully: Yeah, he's never talked to me about him, but I know something. Are you able to help him at all?
Mulder: You can't help a man who can't help himself.
Scully: He's worth the effort, Mulder.

Mulder: Agent Doggett... She just fell back to sleep.

Doggett: I just wanted to check to see how she's doing. Anyways, I'm here with this other thing. We... we caught this killer, Jeb Dukes. He's in the ICU. He may not make it.
Mulder: And now you're wondering if there really was a connection. You know, when I... I first came to work at the FBI, I worked at Violent Crimes, and I saw, I saw the worst of humanity. I saw monsters, and I wondered, how they became that way, how these men became so evil. I know there were... psychological explanations — victims of their environment, victims of their parents — but the scientific explanations were never truly satisfying. And I began to think about evil like, like a disease. You know, that it goes from man to man, or age to age. Most of us walk around thinking we're incapable of any acts of evil and we are. You know, we can stifle that momentary urge to kill or to hurt. We have some kind of immunity to it. But I think it's possible that there's... an occurrence in somebody's life, a tragedy or a loss that leaves them vulnerable, hurts their immunity to evil, and all of a sudden at that point in their lives when they're weakened, they're open to evil and they can become evil.
Doggett: If that were true, then what you're saying is... is that this man we wheeled in here tonight is infected with evil, the same evil that killed my son. You really believe that, Agent Mulder?
Mulder: Uh, I'm not really a good test for questions like that. I'll believe almost anything, you know, but the... the pisser is you may never know. It may be like Agent Reyes says. It could be random and meaningless — who it affects, who it goes to.
Doggett: What if it isn't?
Mulder: Well, then you'd be seeing something that I don't, Agent Doggett.

Episode Number: 178

Season Number: 8
First Aired: Sunday, April 15, 2001
Production Code: 8X17

Season 8: Three Words (8X18)

Written by: Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Tony Wharmby

Federal census worker Howard Salt hops over the fence at the White House, and a squadron of Secret Service agents ambushes him. "The aliens are taking over the United States!" he exclaims. Suddenly a gunshot goes off, and the agents realize Salt has accidentally shot himself. Before succumbing to death, he hands one agent a CD-ROM with the words "Fight the Future" written on it.

In his hospital room, Mulder puts his hand on his face and chest scars, seeing flashbacks of the alien torture he endured. Scully interrupts these visions when she tells him that he is completely healthy and miraculously healed of whatever brain disorder he may have suffered. She takes him back to his apartment, which is still intact. "I don't know if you'll ever understand what it was like," a visibly moved Scully acknowledges. Mulder, however, is still unsettled, not knowing how he fits in his newly restored life.

Skinner and Doggett are summoned to Kersh's office to be briefed about Mulder's reinstatement to the X-files. Because of Doggett's success rate of arrests, Kersh is prepared to deny Mulder's application. He orders the two to tell Mulder that he is off the X-files. Doggett resists and Kersh threatens to shut down the X-files altogether. Skinner and Scully come to Mulder's apartment to bring him the bad news. Mulder first learns of Agent Doggett's assignment to the X-files and realizes that they have all become pawns in some larger conspiracy. He gets up to get dressed, telling Scully and Skinner, "For the first time, I feel like getting back to work."

At a Federal Correction Facility in West Virginia, a trusty brings Absalom a book entitled "The Coming Apocalypse." Inside is a newspaper clipping about Howard Salt being killed when he jumped the White House gate. Later, as the prisoners work on a roadside gang, Absalom breaks away and escapes into the woods. That night, Doggett returns home to find Absalom waiting for him. Absalom checks the back of the agent's neck for traces of reptilian-looking alien vertebrae. "You're going to spread the word," he tells Doggett before kidnapping him. From the FBI, Scully tries unsuccessfully to reach Doggett while Skinner briefs his task force on the hunt for Absalom. Skinner tells the agents that the man's claims of alien invasion are to be taken seriously. He shows them a photo of the words "Fight the Future" scrawled on Absalom's cell wall.

Scully and Skinner find Mulder in the X-files office. He has picked out Howard Salt's face in an Absalom cult photo and informs them that Salt was a multiple abductee. Mulder is convinced that the man was killed for what he knew. Mulder and Scully sneak into the FBI Evidence Room to discover Howard Salt's laptop computer has its entire memory filled with an encrypted program. Mulder removes the hard drive.

With a gun taped to the small of his back, Doggett enters the Federal Statistics Center. Absalom's hand is on the trigger. When passing the security guard, Doggett notices the x-ray scanner and warns Absalom that they will be stopped. Absalom pushes Doggett on, saying that he is looking for proof that aliens are "already here, among us." Security guards quickly surround them, and Doggett is shocked when they shoot Absalom, nearly missing Doggett's head. Later, when Doggett briefs Skinner on the previous events, Mulder bursts into the office. Doggett is about to introduce himself when Mulder attacks him. He blames Doggett for getting Absalom killed, suspecting that he is part of the conspiracy to hide the truth.

At Scully's apartment, the Lone Gunmen tap into Salt's hard drive and unearth file directories from the Statistics Center. Fifteen minutes after Salt's death, computer firewalls had gone up around the facility. Mulder is convinced that he is onto something in those files. However, even if they were to uncover a password, the firewalls would block them from opening the files. The pass code can only be used in the secured facility itself. Much to the consternation of Mulder, the Gunmen agree with Scully that they have hit a dead end. Meanwhile, Doggett secretly meets with his informant Knowle Rohrer (last seen in Season 8 ''Per Manum'') to ask why Absalom was shot in cold blood. Doggett suspects that he was merely used to get the man killed. Rohrer tells him that there are three words he should know.

Doggett meets Scully outside Mulder's apartment, asking her to give Mulder information he has recently learned. Salt was carrying a diskette that he wanted to give to the President. The password on it contains three words: Fight the Future. Scully goes back into Mulder's apartment but is hesitant to tell him what Doggett told her. She fears that he will get in over his head. Skinner rushes to Doggett's house that night with urgent news about Mulder having some kind of password to access names tracked by the government. When Doggett admits to giving Scully the password, Skinner begins to question whose side Doggett is on. He is even more concerned because he can't contact either Scully or Mulder. "You're gonna have to trust me on this," Doggett tells the Assistant Director and sets out after them alone.

Doggett finds Scully outside the Statistics Center and orders her to leave. "I may have set you up," he pleads. He runs inside to get Mulder out. The Gunmen, meanwhile, have bypassed the security system to allow Mulder access to the building undetected. They lead him into the databank and Mulder types the words "Fight the Future" in the computer. Doggett bangs on the glass door, but Mulder ignores him. "Your life's in danger!" Doggett yells and blows out the window with his gun. Doubting Doggett's intentions, Mulder says that he believes the government is using the census to protect aliens in hiding. Armed military troops storm the building, and Mulder accuses Doggett of setting him up. Doggett tries to convince him that really they have both been set up and are in danger. The Gunmen direct Mulder and Doggett toward an air duct in the ceiling, and they escape.

Doggett again covertly meets with Rohrer and accuses the informant of manipulating him. "You need me worse than you know," Rohrer says emphatically. He tells Doggett that the truth lies in the X-files. An angry Doggett walks away. When Rohrer leans over to the water fountain, enlarged alien vertebrae pop up under the skin on his neck.

Notes:
The title of this episode refers to the three words "Fight the Future".

When Doggett and Absalom are about to pass through the X-Ray scanner, and Doggett show's his badge to the guard, it's upside-down.

''Remember boys, this is America. Just because you get more votes, doesn't mean you win.''

Reference to the fact that George W. Bush became president of the United States of America despite Al Gore getting more votes than him.

Quotes:
Scully: Whatever neurological disorder you were suffering from, it's no longer detectable. After a course of transfusions and antivirals it has rid your body of the virus that was invading it. The scars on your face on your hands, on your feet, on your chest, they seem to be repairing themselves. Mulder, you are in perfect health.
Mulder: Wow.
Dr Lim: How do you feel, Agent Mulder?
Mulder: Like Austin Powers.

Scully: Must feel good to be home.

Mulder: Mmm. Something looks different.
Scully: It's clean.
Mulder: Ah... that's it. Missing a molly.
Scully: Yeah. She wasn't as lucky as you. Mulder... I don't know if you'll ever understand what it was like. First learning of your abduction... and then searching for you and finding you dead. And now to have you back again.
Mulder: Well, you act like you're surprised.
Scully: I prayed a lot. And my prayers have been answered.
Mulder: In more ways than one. (He indicates her stomach)
Scully: Yeah.
Mulder: I'm happy for you. I think I know... how much that means to you.
Scully: Mulder...
Mulder: I'm sorry. I don't mean to be cold or ungrateful. I just... I have no idea where I fit in. Right now. I just... I'm having a little trouble... processing... everything.

Skinner: Reinstatement?

Deputy Director Kersh: To the X-Files.
Doggett: I thought Mulder just went home.
Deputy Director Kersh: Well, somebody's very anxious for him to get back to work. I wanted you both to see this before I deny the application.
Skinner: What is it?
Deputy Director Kersh: It's a review of the success rate of your X-Files since Agent Doggett joined the team. Damn impressive, John.
Doggett: Impressive, sir? The only thing impressive about my work on the X-Files is that I even know what's going on half the time.
Deputy Director Kersh: From this report, you and Agent Scully have had more arrests on percentage than she and Mulder over seven years. Take a look.
Skinner: Well, that's not very fair to Agent Mulder. So many of his cases involve —
Deputy Director Kersh: Aliens? There lies the problem. The FBI isn't a place for personal crusades. I'm asking you both to make that understood... on my behalf.
Doggett: Well, you can't ask me to tell Mulder he's off the X-Files. It's his unit. He created it.
Deputy Director Kersh: I'm not asking you, John.
Doggett: You sent me to find Mulder. I found him. Don't charge me with driving a stake through his heart.
Deputy Director Kersh: Maybe you'd rather I close the X-Files. Then we'd both be getting what we want.
Skinner: Let's go, Agent Doggett. Now.

Scully: Mulder, I know you know this, but if anything leaves this room you could be in violation of the law.

Mulder: Really? When I was dead I was hoping maybe they changed the rules.
Scully: Mulder, just being here could be used by Kersh as cause for dismissal.
Mulder: Then why don't you shut the door so he doesn't find out.
Scully: I just don't know what you're hoping to find in Howard Salt's personal effects.
Mulder: Neither do I, really. But maybe it's like Howard Salt's picture. I'll know it when I see it.
Scully: So you'll risk the consequences even though there may be nothing here?
Mulder: You don't get it, do you, Scully? The man shot at the White House, the prison escapee, there's something bubbling to the surface here. I want to know what it is.
Scully: Mulder, you've been through an ordeal that defies all logical explanation. How can you think that these two men have the answers when they defy all standard of credibility?
Mulder: Since when has an X-File not defied a certain standard of credibility? At least that's the way it used to work. Look, Scully, I need to make sense of what happened to me. So that I can stop it. Because if I can't stop it, it could happen to anyone. It could happen to you. And who's to say it's going to stop there?
Scully: Mulder, if you go down, the X-Files will go down, too. I mean, theoretically, they could put you in prison for what you're doing here.
Mulder: Yeah, well, compared to where I just was, prison would be a Princess cruise. Ho. Hey. What the hell is this? The entire hard drive is taken up with this. Ten gigabytes of memory.
Scully: It's been encrypted.
Mulder: Mm. (He closes the laptop and removes the hard drive)
Scully: What are you doing?
Mulder: I'm going to book myself on that Princess cruise.
Scully: I'll book it for you.

Mulder: Is this John Doggett? You Agent Doggett? (Doggett stands up and offers Mulder his hand, Mulder pushes him back down) I hope you're not commending him as a hero for what he did...

Skinner: Agent Mulder, back off.
Mulder: ...in this thing, 'cause he's not.
Skinner: Back off! I'm not about to referee a boxing match.
Doggett: Just what's the problem here?
Mulder: The problem? You occupy an office that used to be devoted to finding the truth and now you're busy burying it. That's the problem.
Doggett: Whoa, you must've got your wires crossed somewhere, Agent Mulder.
Mulder: You got that man killed.
Doggett: I got him killed?
Mulder: Because of what he knew. What he was going to expose.
Doggett: You see this, Agent Mulder?
Mulder: I see you sitting there, Agent Doggett. That's good enough for me.
Skinner: You've got to understand what he's been through. I mean, now he's back and you're... (He leaves)

Knowle Rohrer: Your name came up today, John. Folks are all worked up. They say you dodged a bullet.

Doggett: You can't dodge what you don't see coming, Knowle, that's for sure.
Knowle Rohrer: That should tell you something about who you're dealing with.
Doggett: Who am I dealing with? NSA? Secret Service? Military? Who?
Knowle Rohrer: You know better than that, John.
Doggett: They shot the man in cold blood. Didn't even stop to ask him his name.
Knowle Rohrer: The way I hear it he made it too easy. Taking a federal agent hostage in a government facility.
Doggett: They'd have shot him anyway.
Knowle Rohrer: Without a doubt.
Doggett: Why?
Knowle Rohrer: You and I have been friends a long time, John. I tell you things. But this is a whole other level.
Doggett: Don't give me that doublespeak crap, Knowle. I'm being accused.
Knowle Rohrer: Accused? Of what?
Doggett: Of being used to get that man killed.
Knowle Rohrer: Well, that's insane.
Doggett: Oh, is it? Maybe I am being used, and I just don't know it. That's what I want to know from you.
Knowle Rohrer: I can't tell you that, John. But I can tell you something. One thing you already know. These men are very good shots.
Doggett: What don't I know?
Knowle Rohrer: Three words.

Doggett: Agent Scully, I'm sorry to surprise you. I don't mean to.

Scully: What are you doing here at is hour? You're freezing cold.
Doggett: I got something for Agent Mulder, only I can't go up there. I don't know him, and I know he doesn't trust me, so I'm going to ask you to get it to him.
Scully: What do you have to give him?
Doggett: Information, about this escaped convict who took me hostage. One of his disciples was the man shot on the White House lawn.
Scully: Oh, yeah, Agent Mulder knows that already.
Doggett: What he doesn't know is that man had a computer diskette that he was trying to get to the President.
Scully: Who gave you this information?
Doggett: I can't tell you that, but what I can tell you is... is this diskette was labelled with a pass code.
Scully: You have this, this password?
Doggett: It's three words: 'Fight the Future'.

Episode Number: 177
Season Number: 8
First Aired: Sunday, April 8, 2001
Production Code: 8X18

Seasnon 8: Deadalive (8X15)

Written by: Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Directed by: Tony Wharmby

White snow covers the cemetery ground in Raleigh, NC as mourners gather for the funeral of Fox Mulder. Scully stares straight ahead, seemingly lost in her thoughts, surrounded by Skinner, Doggett, Kersh and the Lone Gunmen. She is unaware of the many stolen glances her way.

Three months later, Doggett is called into Kersh's office where Skinner is waiting. Doggett has been recommended for advancement and transfer off the X-files, but Doggett asks for more time to consider such a move. He goes back down to the X-files office where a noticeably pregnant Scully is poring over case files. She tells him to accept the transfer, noting that if he doesn't get out now he may never get out at all. Although he has found Mulder, Doggett feels he still has more questions about the case and is reluctant to leave. Meanwhile, a fishing boat in Wilmington, NC catches sight of a body in the water. The body has scarring that is reminiscent of the alien tests. When a coroner goes to examine the body, he is astonished to see the dead man's lips move. Skinner awakes Doggett to tell him that the body found in the water is Billy Miles, who was presumed dead for months and is now alive. Doggett advises Skinner not to relay this information to Scully. They go to the graveyard in Raleigh to unearth Mulder's body.

Scully runs into the US Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD distraught and full of wide-eyed emotion, demanding to see Mulder. "Tell me it's true," she pleads with Skinner. Although he has thin life signs and is clinically alive, Mulder's body is in a full state of decomposition. Scully is teary as she approaches Mulder, and she rests her head on his chest as it rises and falls with each breath. She then goes into the hospital room of Billy Miles, whose body begins to convulse. The heart monitor briefly shows two heartbeats, and Scully notifies the nurse that the equipment may be malfunctioning.

Kersh summons Doggett to his office and orders him to drop the Mulder investigation. Doggett is wary of his superior's intentions. Walking down the FBI hallway, Skinner almost loses consciousness when the familiar black veins suddenly appear on his face and neck. He opens the elevator doors to find Krycek with the handheld device that controls the nanotechnology. "What do you want from me?" Skinner asks. Krycek says that he has the vaccine developed by Bill Mulder that will save Mulder's life. "You found him and you don't even know what you've got," Krycek says elusively before leaving Skinner empty-handed. Meanwhile, Billy Miles wakes up in his hospital bed. He pulls out the life support tubing and, still bloated, walks into the shower. As the water covers him, his hardened skin peels off leaving a perfectly fine human body underneath. Down the hall, Scully sits with Mulder while Doggett conveys his concern about reopening this case. She wants to know the truth about what caused this to Mulder. Suddenly, a nurse interrupts them. A healthy Billy Miles is walking naked in the corridor, looking like a recently hatched chick.

Doggett goes to see Absalom. "You ask for my help but you refuse to believe in me," the alien healer says to the skeptical agent. Back at the hospital, Skinner looks in on Mulder but finds Krycek lurking in the corner. When Skinner asks for the vaccine, Krycek tells him he only has to make sure that Scully doesn't come to term. Skinner refuses to sacrifice Scully's baby, but considers the deal. Doggett passes Krycek in the hospital hallway, but doesn't know who the man is. He stops to talk to Scully, who believes that Mulder was infected with a virus that transforms the body into an alien. Doggett notes that Absalom had said the same thing. They now believe that Billy Miles is somehow alien, and she asks Skinner to do whatever it takes to retrieve a vaccine. When Doggett returns to Mulder's room, the door is locked. He finds Skinner has pulled out all the life support tubes, intending to kill Mulder.

An enraged Doggett attacks Skinner, who admits that he couldn't trust Krycek's claims of a virus if it meant jeopardizing Scully. With gun drawn, Doggett takes off after Krycek in the parking garage. He latches on to Krycek's moving car, grabbing for Krycek at the wheel, but lets go before the car narrowly escapes. Krycek puts the car in reverse and comes back. He holds up a vial and asks Doggett if he is looking for the vaccine to save Mulder. Doggett takes one step forward and Krycek drops the vial, splattering the brown-colored liquid on the ground.

Doggett goes back upstairs and finds that Mulder was taken into the operating room. Dressed in scrubs and watching the procedure, Scully comes out to tell Doggett that they had been incubating the virus by keeping Mulder on life support. Skinner actually saved him when he pulled off the machines. She has faith that a course of anti-virals will work. Doggett is once again called to Kersh's office where he gets sent back to work on the X-files.

In the recovery room, Scully takes Mulder's hand and he flinches. His eyes flutter open. "Who are you?" he jokes. Scully laughs for the first time in a while and leans across his body, holding him. "Anybody miss me?" he says. Doggett sees this reunion through the window, and Scully looks up at him, not knowing what to say. Doggett relieves her of the trouble and walks away, alone.

Quotes:
Scully: He was the last. His father and mother... his sister... all gone. I think the real tragedy... is that for all of his pain and searching... the truth that he worked so hard to find was never truly revealed to him. I can't truly believe that I'm really standing here.
Skinner: I know. And I don't truly believe that... Mulder's the last.

Scully: AD Skinner just called. He told me about your meeting with Kersh.

Doggett: Well, whatever he told you I'm still going to be here to drive you crazy with questions and nagging doubt.
Scully: You'd be crazy to stay, Agent Doggett. This is a huge career opportunity for you.
Doggett: It's not my career he's got in mind.
Scully: What do you mean?
Doggett: In six weeks, you go on maternity leave. Kersh transfers me out, guess what? He gets to lock that door over there for good.
Scully: You don't owe me anything, Agent Doggett.
Doggett: They put me down here to find Mulder. I found him. So what? We still got an open file on this case and I got big questions. What?
Scully: I heard the same speech come out of my mouth seven years ago. Get out while you can, Agent Doggett... or you may never get out at all.

Doggett: I'll say it again. We're opening up more than a grave here.

Skinner: I respect that, Agent Doggett, but under the circumstances I think not digging it up would be far more regrettable, don't you?
Doggett: No. I think this is insanity.
Skinner: Yeah, well, personally, I couldn't live with the doubt.
Doggett: That what? That we buried a man alive? We found Mulder, you and me together. We saw the same body. Mulder wasn't just dead, he'd been dead for days. Had to have a closed casket. For crying out loud, the body was too far gone and that was three months ago.
Skinner: The kid they pulled from the ocean, Billy Miles, from the extensive tissue necrosis, they think he could've been in the water for months. Heart beat, rate of metabolism &8212; it slowed to imperceptibility. I mean, the body had rigoured. For all intents and purposes, he was dead. It's a fluke that the doctor even noticed.
Doggett: I don't believe it. I don't believe I'm even standing here.

Nurse: Who are you, and what are you doing?

Scully: Nothing. I was just looking in on the patient and he started to go into grand mal seizure. I think he's all right now. It's okay. I'm sorry... I'm a doctor. My name is Scully, and I'm with the FBI.
Nurse: You're here to treat him?
Scully: No. No, I... the man down the hall was my... is my partner and we knew Billy and I guess I was just hoping that there might be some indication that he was getting better... somehow. Anyway... you might want to tell the doctor about this. And... and check those monitors carefully. I think I might have seen some kind of equipment malfunction.

Doggett: You can't do this to yourself.

Scully: You asked me not to come in here, Agent Doggett. I hope you're not asking me to leave.
Doggett: Concern's for your well being, Agent Scully. That's all it's ever for. I felt this was a bad idea from the start. I told the Assistant Director so. Worrying about the effect it might have on you.
Scully: You mean finding Mulder alive?
Doggett: I know you came in here with the doctors. I'm sure you must have asked them what his chances are.
Scully: Agent Doggett... However I felt about you when we first met, you changed my opinion, with the quality of your character and of your work. Now, I am thankful to know you and I am thankful for your concern... But no matter what Mulder's chances are, the choice not to open up that grave was wrong. And not because of me personally, but as my partner on the X-Files. Now, the truth may hurt but it's all that matters.
Doggett: What truth?
Scully: About what caused this.

Krycek: It's hard to believe, isn't it... that Mulder could ever possibly get out of that bed?

Skinner: I need the vaccine, Alex.
Krycek: Yeah? Time is wasting.
Skinner: What do I have to do?
Krycek: Oh, it's simple, really. Make sure Scully doesn't come to term.
Skinner: You're out of your mind.
Krycek: She can't have that baby.
Skinner: No. The answer is no.
Krycek: We all have a life in our hands. I have yours... you have Mulder's... and Scully has her unborn child. It's who's willing to sacrifice.

Scully: Mulder... Hi.

Mulder: Who are you?
Scully: Oh, my god. Don't do that to me. Do you know...? Do you have any idea what you've been through?
Mulder: Only what I see in your face. Anybody miss me?

Episode Number: 176
Season Number: 8
First Aired: Sunday, April 1, 2001
Production Code: 8X15