Subject: Strangers.... A. Martin 1/? From: amartin10@juno.com (Ann M Martin) Date sent: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 11:26:20 EDT Title: Strangers In the Night By Ann Martin Archive and post to ATXC Rating: G to PG (fine for anyone who can watch the show) Classifications: X Summary: Scully finds herself psychologically linked to a young college student. Spoilers: Scully cancer arc-- post Momento Mori. (US season 4) CSM/M father/son situation. None of this is mine. Just the idea. If I owned this, I would not spend all of my time writing fanfic. I would be telling Vince and John to collaborate on "M and S special something..." AUTHOR'S NOTE: You may recognize this-- but it's NOT plagiarism. It's a revamped version of one of my own whacky stories. This was REALLY bad the first time around. Just bear with me, and I hope you like it. I also hope I'm not breaking any list rules-- but I just really wanted to fix this. Also, accept my apologies for not having watched the X-Files during, for example, the abduction arc-- so I'm missing a lot. Scully's Apartment 1:21 a.m. Lying in her bed in the deep of the night, Scully tosses and turns in her bed, groaning in apparent pain. She rolls over in her bed to reveal a drop of blood on her pillow. Her dreams are fitful and full of torturous images that Scully had begun slowly remembering over the past months: her view of bodies standing above her threatening, the image of Cigarette Smoking Man. She had just recently begun to escape this; now it came back to haunt her. Mulder's Apartment Same Time Mulder sits on his couch, in front of the television. He is sleeping lightly, the TV blaring out Ren & Stimpy's strange noises. His feet crossed in front of him, he is wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Suddenly, Mulder begins jerking, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. His breath starts coming in huge gasps of air. He flops over, muttering under his breath. MULDER: Scully.... ? Apt. 24C, Crayton Place Washington, DC 1:34 A woman asleep at her desk, hunched over a textbook and binder, is jerking from side to side. She finally wakes up with a sudden jerk. Sweating and frightened, she gets up and stumbles into her bathroom. We hear water running. Moments later, she walks out and flops into bed. Moving slowly toward the bathroom, we see her room: crowded with furniture, clothes, garbage, and beer bottles & cans strewn across the floor. Atop the kitchen sink, we see a bottle of prescription medication. Mulder's Office 9:30 a.m. Scully walks in to see Mulder hunched over his desk, working on some papers. SCULLY: What's that? MULDER: Oh, uh, the report on our last investigation... Scully walks over to the file cabinet and, stashing something away, begins speaking to her friend. S: Look, Mulder, you've been really great to me recently, a real friend. But this thing is beating me down. It's like it's... sucking me into this situation I promised myself I would avoid. And I've been thinking about it a lot lately, last night, and I think I need to find something to do with it. Something constructive. M: He was there. Cigarette Smoking Man. And you heard him speaking over you, speaking to somebody else, someone you couldn't see. And he asked about the children. Your--?-- your children? Am I right? S: Mulder, what are you talking-- I mean, last night, I-- M: Had a dream. About your abduction. And I had the same dream. S: Mulder, this isn't funn-- M: I was in your head-- Mulder is cut off by the ringing phone. M: Hello, this is the Psychic Connection... FBI, Mulder, ma'am-- sorry. We see the same young woman on the other end of the line. Rosetta Morwenna is young, with short brown hair. She's pretty, although average looking, and is dressed quite conservatively. She seems to be embarrassed about her call. ROSETTA: Hello... I, um, appear to be looking for a Miss Dana Scully. M: She's right here. I'll hand you on over-- R: Wait-- I'm not sure I want to talk to her.. I just needed to know she was real. M: Real? R: I think I saw her last night. M: In a dream? R: How did you-- M: Never mind. Just tell me someplace where me and Dana can meet you. R: Dana and *I*. Mulder scribbles down an address. S: Who was that? M: Scully, you are about to make your-- what? Your third? Third personal appearance in the files. END PART ONE Rental Car Ford Explorer 11:05 a.m. Jiminez, Virginia S: So what you're saying is, she had the same dream as I did? M: Yeah. What? That's not that crazy. S: Not by comparison. The Explorer pulls into the parking lot of an apartment complex. Mulder reads a sign. M: Student housing. S: She's a college student. M: Mmm-hmm. What's the difference? S: Well, if she's anything like you, she was hammered last night. Mulder grins. M: Ouch. We cut to Scully and Mulder knocking on the door of an apartment. The same young woman, Rosetta, opens the door. R: Hello. Come on in-- Agents Mulder and Scully, I presume? M: Oooh, presumptuous. I like that. Scully reaches out her hand and shakes that of the other woman. R: I'm so sorry. S: What? R: About your-- never you mind. Come on in, sit down, make yourselves comfortable. Mulder takes a look around, taking time to peer into an immaculate bedroom. M: Nice place. R: Thanks. My parents are, uh, helping me out until I can get out on my feet, on my own. S: You're a student here? R: Tomkins Community College. M: I hear they have a great entertainment school here in Jiminez. Interested in puppetteering, Miss Morwenna? R: Rosetta, please. I'm actually majoring in journalism. S: Do you like it here? Are you comfortable with your surroundings? Mulder seems to be only interested in insulting us. You, I mean. R: Oh, yes. I've made a lot of friends, especially in my German class. But last night's experience caused a lot of unruhe. Scully looks shocked, and Mulder jumps in to save her. M: I think Scully took a little German, too. And a little dentistry, maybe? R : I thought you were a doctor, forensics? M: I was just making a- S: How do you know so much about me? Where did you learn these things? R: I told you, I told you, I had a dream last night. I told you all I know! I saw you in my dream! S: How dare you! How dare you take my life and intrude. How dare you take my personal belongings, my memories, and invade them? M: Ladies, I-- R: Maybe Mulder would feel the same way. Maybe he would like to feel your feelings like I did, you red-headed vixen. S: Maybe I understand *my* true feelings, after making it on my own for a few years. After all, I did try to do it without Mommy and Daddy. M: Okay, Scully, this is NOT like you-- R: Perhaps you would care to find your own conversation? Or is this a case of typical male domination? S: Don't bother-- it was practically murder trying to get a desk from him. R : Don't you hate that? Oh, men-- can't live with `em.... But he tries, right? They try. S: Oh, yes, he tries. He tried really hard once. Bambi, I think her name was? R: I guess we just have to unite, pull through together-- M: Rosetta, if you don't mind my interruption, I think we should act on this now. If you wouldn't mind, of course, describing your dream. R: No, no, of course not. The first part I can remember is rather fuzzy, like faces from your past you can't quite remember. It was almost as if I were seeing it from Scully's point of view. Scully shudders. R: I remember pain, horrible pain, almost as if I'd seen it myself. But it was nothing like the fear, like the sick feeling in my stomach, that I was-- disposable. A thing. Not a person, not a caring soul. And I tried to bring it back, my love... my mother, Mulder, a young man, who I had lost already, and- S: Melissa. R: My sister, Melissa, who I love. I remember when we were children, when we used to go swimming together on Cheshire Lake. One day, I remember, my father was barbecuing, and the dog nicked his tail on a lick of flame. He came running toward our little rowboat so fast, and when he jumped in, he nearly capsized the boat. S: And he swam along next to us, after he had calmed down. Later, remember, Daddy called to us, that dinner was ready? When we got there, we all had steaks, but the dog wouldn't touch his. I remember that summer like it was yesterday. R: Who would have known I'd be feeling this pain, thinking about her? But that disappeared, when I heard them talking above me. A man, rather foggily remembered, was talking to someone just out of my sight. M: He told him about how the treatments were finished, for the fertility. And how the job was done, the "self destruction of Dana Scully." R: He must have meant the cancer-- they must have given the cancer to all us women, Penny and the others, along with the implant-- S: How do you know about Penny Northern? R: I know more than you think. I know your deepest heart, Scully. Ford Explorer 1:19 p.m. M: You almost lost it in there. Male-bashing, screaming, yelling...You're not that kind of person. You're rational. She wasn't upsetting you, was she?-- talking about painful things? S: No, actually, no. She described things I remember, in great detail. But there was something wrong, I remember noticing... M: Wrong? She seemed to describe things in the greatest detail. Stuff I don't quite remember from last night. Especially that part, about your sister, swimming. You remembered that too, didn't you? Scully remains quiet. M: Scully? S: That... never happened, Mulder. M: What do you mean? You finished off the story for her. S: I was... lying. We never had a dog. M: You lied? To your self? S: It never happened. Imagine, my father barbecuing... I always wondered what it would be like, to have a family like that.. M: Then how could she have worked it in? S: Into a clever hoax? No problem. The problem is, how did she get me to believe it? END PART TWO FBI Headquarters Late Afternoon Mulder walks up behind Scully. M: I did a background check on Rosetta, like you asked. Turns out she did pretty much have that dream life you were talking about-- little sister, dog, barbecuing dad-- *rich* barbecuing dad. S: Like she described. M: Right. So what she told you was probably a memory, a painful one. S: Painful? M: Yeah. When she was about 10, her father was in a bad car crash. He's been in bad condition ever since, conscious and moving, but he had amnesia for a while. S: Like in Regarding Henry? M: Yup. Only this time, the beautiful mommy and rich, powerful daddy just can't work things out. So, they separate for a while, see their own people. Rough on the kids, of course-- weird things like he would be dating their school's principal. And they'd have to hear about it until one day, he came home. They worked things out and got back together. S: Happy ending. She must be the only person in these files who got their happy ending.. M: Not really. You know, the kids were in therapy trying to sort everything out in their heads while their parents were busy sorting out everything in their lives. But Rosetta never got better. Her parents got back together and she became depressed. She tried to hurt him, once. S: So she became totally messed up and would do this sort of thing to an innocent like me. She's sick, Mulder. She needs help. M: Scully, I had the same dream! S : You need help, too, Mulder. M: I'm just.. Eccentric. I'm not nuts. S: Look, Mulder, she's going to hurt me. Inside. Because she affected me, did you notice that? When she got angry, I got angry. She began with her ultra-feminist ideas, and I joined right in. I can't let her have that power over me, Mulder. She can't hurt me. M: That's it! S : What's it, Mulder? M: She's in your head, she has your dream, she affects your feelings, she's given you her memories. S: Let me guess-- you read about this somewhere. M: I'm just going to look into this possibility, Scully. No problem. Mulder's Office Next Morning Scully walks in, sets down a file she was carrying. M: Scully, I looked into this and-- S: We have another assignment to get working on, Fox. You're just going to have to let this slide for the time being. M: Oh, please, Scully. You see all this and still want to believe it's a weather balloon? Listen, I read up on this, like you said, and it makes a lot of sense, that this would be happening. Will you just listen to me? Scully sighs and picks the file up again. S: Fine... in the car. Rental Car 10:04 a.m. M: They call it Trauma Escapist Syndrome, or the Fantasy Syndrome. It happens to somebody when they have some sort of childhood trauma or some kind of unfulfilled dreams. They start to believe that things happen to them, or happened. S: Mulder... I'm sure that you believe this. But you should realize that this could just be some sort of extremely clever hoax. Maybe a club initiation of some sort. M: What kind of club would that plain jane be joining? Besides, I had the same dream, Scully, and I know I really had it. Scully sighs. M: We've come to trust each other. And I wouldn't pull this one over on you. Do you think I would do that? S: Turn here. M: Because something obviously happened here. When she was angry, you were angry. When she got all `girlfriend'ly, you got the same way. S: You missed our exit. Mulder's Apartment 12:36 a.m. We see Mulder sitting on his couch. His eyes are red and puffy, and he's hugging his knees. The phone rings, and he reaches to pick it up. M: Hello? We see Scully on the other end of the line. S: Hi, Mulder. How are you? M: I've been better. Look, Scully, this isn't exactly the best time for a chat, so why don't we just- S: Was your mother ever unfaithful to her husband? With-- M: Cigarette Smoking Man. I know. I just woke up. S: Okay, Mulder, I'm going to come on over, and we can talk about this. M: Now do you believe me? S: I've been doing a lot more of that lately. In the morning, we're going to pay Rosetta Morwenna a visit. Apartment Building We see a hand knock on the door of an apartment Rosetta opens it up. R: Agents Mulder, Scully, hi. Oooh, strange aura. Scully gives her a strange look. She has gone through a complete metamorphosis from yesterday: her pleated khakis and sweater replaced by robes and necklaces. Her apartment is messy again, like the night she had the dream, but this time is filled with posters, clay pots, and other stuff. The Beatles are playing on a turntable. M: May we come in? R: Sure-- I was just about to start some meditation, but it would be great to be joined by you. I'll light the incense and-- S: I'll light the candles. R: Matches in the bathroom. Scully turns and walks into the bathroom, pushing through the bead wall. M: Scully--??? We see Scully rummaging through a drawer. Just as she finds the matches, she notices the bottle of prescription medicine on the counter. She picks it up and looks at it, then pockets one pill. She steps back out into the main room. S: I couldn't find them--how often do you usually hold a cleansing ceremony? R: About once, twice a week. It really makes me feel fresh. The life I've seen, the streets, the bad life, where everybody knows everybody and tries to help one another out-- good for experience, bad for karma. You interrupted me the other day, when I was doing my mushrooms. M: Your what? R: Dinner. I picked it out back. In the garden. M: You weren't-- S: Nice garden you have out there. Mulder, come take a look at this. Mulder walks over to the window. S: Nothing. I don't know what's going on, but her peace and love effect is wearing off. They turn. S: Miss Morwenna, if you don't mind, we'd like to bring you back to headquarters for questioning. R: Rodfield didn't desert. It was wrong of you to ask him. The government's been after him for years now-- M: Scully, listen to her. Maybe she means-- R: --ever since he uncovered their Russian spy sex ring with the cocaine treated dogs. S: Oh, great, another Mulder... Scully takes hold of her arm and leads her out the door. R: Hey, man, I can go with the groove... *** FBI Headquarters Interrogation Room Mulder and Scully watch behind a pane of glass as Rosetta sits at a table, waiting. S: I never had any of that, that hippie part. M: I think it was me, Scully, me today. I remember, before she was... taken from me, I overheard my mother on the phone, talking to someone. She said she would go to him someday, that the children needed them both. Sam was gone within the week. I think.. Somebody took her, Bill or Cancerman, like he took you. Only something must have gone wrong, because she didn't come back. I went through a phase, like if I had good karma or dogma or something, that she would come back. S: Faith in yourself. Mulder turns away, his back to both of the women. M: I've discovered a lot over the past few days. I never knew that I had known firsthand that he was my father. Somewhere, I forgot. Someplace in my past, I gave up on everything but Sam. And now you. I've almost found it, Scully, the real truth. And I don't like the fact that she's in on it, that she knows about it. S: I don't think she'll remember it in the morning, Mulder. M: Yeah, tomorrow she'll be an Olympic skater... Rapid changes, Scully. She was so... conservative the last time I saw her. S: She's a bigger part of the truth than you know, Mulder. I found this pill at the apartment. Scully pulls it out of her pocket. S: I was going to have it analyzed, but I did my own reading, Mulder. This is medicine for Schizophrenic Related Hallucinations. M: You want to throw this all away on a couple extra personalities? S: I believe you, Mulder, for once. But she does have `a couple of extra personalities. Because they're not fully formed... they're just memories, and backgrounds. Of people related to this truth that we're finding-- you and me, Cigarette Smoking Man-- M: Rodfield? Maybe, was that what she meant? Rosetta spoke up, talking to herself in the room. R: Rodfield's dead. They killed him when he uncovered their secret fungoid garden. They were all doing rain dances and he never came home and... M: Oh. Another one of those. Another piece of the wrong puzzle-- S: And Dr. Scanlon prescribed it for her. Mulder looks up at her, his eyes wide. S: She's involved, Mulder, somehow, and I don't know where it's coming from. Either someone wants us to find the truth, or this is something we should have never found. Mulder shakes his head. M : I can't believe I got you involved with this... S: Mulder, she had some of my memories, mixed in with hers. And she can make me feel the way she does. I'm already involved, perhaps more deeply than you could have ever known. M: I can't stand being so close, knowing I may never find it. It's always on the horizon. Rosetta gets up and walks to the window, knocking on it. R: I need to take my medication-- I have to! I need to go home! S: Why don't you bring this in to her. I want to see what sort of an effect it will have. *** Rosetta sits in the investigation room, dozing upright in her chair. Mulder, watching outside, turned to Scully. M: Well? S: I'm drowsy... I think she's having another dream, Mulder. Suddenly, Director Walter Skinner rushes up behind them. SKINNER: I got here as fast as I could-- this'd better be a good story, Mulder. You're supposed to be on another case. S: I actually believe Agent Mulder this time, Sir. I think he's right. We ran into a woman the other day, who was having similar dreams to ours... She knows things and feels things that we aren't sure she should know about us. M: She knows about my mother. My father... SK: Mulder... then, you know? M: Doesn't everybody? How could you know? How could some stranger know and my boss know and my partner know? I had no idea...! S: You did. Mulder, you told me you remembered her abduction, your mother's conversations... SK: I'll go check up on her file over at the bureau for you, if you haven't done a deep background check? S: Sure, sir, be certain to get her medical records. Rosetta Morwenna. SK: Can do-- wait. What did you say? S: Her medical records. SK: No, no. Her name. Rosetta Morwenna? M: Yes, sir. Do you know her? Skinner remains silent for a moment. SK: I think we need to go somewhere we can talk. ***** Interrogation Room SK: So what do we know so far? We know that Agent Scully was, ahhh, abducted. We know Samantha Mulder was abducted, the Cigarette Smoking Man is Mulder's father, and you guys are all having the same dreams. M: So far, they've only been memories that me and Scully have. But I think eventually, I'll be dreaming about Rosetta. S: Ever take a look at her? I'm surprised you aren't already... You forgot something-- Rosetta's on medication for multiple personalities. M: And Agent Scully seems to think that her so-called "delusions" are from something that happened to her as a child. But I'm having the same dreams. S: I can't always explain it, Mulder. M: Oh, but you *always* try. SK: So you've been having the same dreams. So have I. M: Sir? S: Excuse me? Why didn't you come to us sooner? SK: Because I didn't see it in my head. I saw it <> on videotape, or <> through a story-- told by our pal-- M: CSM. SK: Righto. Scully looks shocked, surprised that her boss would have been anywhere near that slimeball. S: Why would he have been confiding in you about-- oh. OH! SK: When I found out you had cancer. . . I couldn't just let that happen. So I talked to him and he said that if I worked with him on the inside, you'd be taken care of. But something went wrong, something always goes wrong. So what I think is happening here is Scully's remembering something. Mulder's remembering something. Only this girl and you, each other, can see that memory. S: The implant? SK: It all depends where Morwenna fits into all of this. I mean, if she had been abducted, wouldn't she have said something? M: It could be her, um, condition, sir. But I guess I'm a bit weird too, and I never had any problems like that. S: Maybe there's more to this than meets the eye... She said her parents were helping her out with school. Maybe she meant they were around a lot because something was wrong. SK: Why don't you talk to them about this-- M: And see if her mental difficulties when her parents were working out their problems coincided with any disappearances! S: Mulder-- you're crazy. You-- M: She could have been written off as just a runaway-- Come on, Scully, we're leaving. *** 12 Noon Harlenton, Virginia Mulder knocks on the door of a modest Cape Cod house. An older woman, conservatively dressed, answers the door. M: Mrs Morwenna? We're Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI. We're here to talk to you about your daughter Rosetta. Mrs. Morwenna: Oh, dear... *** Mulder, Scully, and Mr. and Mrs Morwenna sit in the living room. She has hastily and nervously passed out tea and cake. MR: Is Rosetta in any . . . trouble? MRS: Oh, she's a good girl, you can be sure. She's just been... through a lot. It's been awful rough on the kids, you know. Everything. Just when everything had calmed down in reality-- her mind was creating her hell. MR: Things were, of course, from the very beginning, a bit-- MRS: Strange. Stressed. . . Her little sister was okay, but I think she might have been too young to understand. MR: But is she-- MRS: In any trouble? S: Well. Mr and Mrs Morwenna, she's... I think, first and foremost, we should discuss the medication she's on. MR: For her disorder... S: Yes. Multiple personalities-- is that what it is? MRS: Um... yes. I think they took her off the depression medication, didn't they? MR: Yeah, I think so. It wasn't helping, what with her... MRS: Moods. MR: Right. M: Do you think it helps her any? The medication? MRS: We run into her sometimes, when she's having... spells. The doctor says it's important for her to be independent. So we let her spend a lot of time, um, commuting and so forth, from us to her to school. S: Right-- you're going to a Dr. Scanlon? MRS: In D.C-- he didn't seem to be the most obvious choice, but when we learned he had been doing some of the most innovative research, we had to try it. It's been working wonders for her. MR: She stopped talking about the-- Mrs. Morwenna elbows her husband in the gut. M: One final question: have either of you or your daughters ever been... abducted? <> Mrs Morwenna blinks slowly. MRS: Is this some kind of... joke?? *** FBI Headquarters Washington, DC Skinner's Office M: Nothing. SK: Nothing? S: All her parents could tell us was what we already knew-- she's in a poor mental state. SK: Speaking of which-- I've decided to let her go home. M: WHAT?? Mulder stood up from his chair. SK: Listen, we're not gaining anything by keeping her here. And in that "poor mental state" Agent Scully just described, it's probably not prudent to keep her here. She'll be okay at home, and you two kids can check on her again tomorrow. Agreed? M: Just let me have five more minutes with her. *** Interrogation Room M: Rosetta, do you believe in aliens? She shrunk away from him. R: If there... are... "aliens"... and I'm not going to rule out the possibility that there ARE, God hasn't revealed that to us in his Good Book. If you or any members of your family have fears about this, you should purchase our boxed set of.... M: Have you ever been *abducted* by aliens? R: And the Lord said unto them be not afraid for I will not let the demons of the night take you to their spaceship. Hail Mary... M: ROSETTA! He reached across and shook her <> SK: Get him out of there... << M: Do you believe that you or your sister or your parents were ever-- The security guards drag Mulder from the room, kicking and yelling M: Did they take your father? Have you SEEN THEM, Rosetta! No, get your hands off me! Did they abduct someone you knew? I CAN HELP YOU! You just have to tell me! Have you been with them... NO! Just as the door is slamming shut-- R <>: The smoking one took us. The security guards let go of Mulder as Scully and Skinner rush in. ****** *** Skinner's Office SK: Just a hunch, Agent Mulder? M: Listen, if CSM's in her head, it's all for a reason. Now you already sent her home without our approval of that decision. I think you should let us continue with our investigation. Listen: she already admitted a belief that somebody she knew was abducted by CSM. So let me talk to her. SK: Agent Scully? S: I think that in her . . . condition, it could barely hurt to ask her. But Mulder, you have to stay within reason. Ask her slowly, by degrees. SK: Right. Getting her upset is just going to get her parents upset which will get me upset which will get the boss upset which will eventually reveal the entire story to the Consortium. Look before you leap. *** Rosetta's Apartment R: Oh, hi. Um, come on in. I'll just have to clean up a bit. Henry! Amber! Come say hello to Mommy's friends, Agents Mulder and Scully. Oh, they're really good kids, you know, but with all the excitement lately, well, they've just been a little rowdy. Aren't they *adorable*, though? Okay, outside. I'll call you in for lunch. Come on in, Agents. M: Hello, Rosetta. How are you feeling today? Mulder pretends not to notice the obvious lack of children. R: Oh, FINE, don't you know. My husband's off on that business trip, though, and trust me, every mother's a working woman. Oh, Agent Scully, it may feel a curse that you can't have children, but trust me you, it just may be a blessing... Come into the kitchen. I just made coffee. Oh, my aching back. One of the problems having kids, you know. But I guess if yours are just 101 Hybrid clones, you don't have as much responsibility, do you? S: Excuse me, I don't think it's any of your-- R: Your Kurts are so lovely, you know. And that HAIR, oh, it flames so bright. I thought at first that maybe your Pendrell was involved some way, he had that beautiful coloring too, but it turns out, NOPE, they just killed him before he could get too close. It wasn't exactly what they'd wanted; they'd hoped to kill whatshisname first, but when there's a drunk lab rat around, you don't wait to take him down. Turns out he was given his proper burial and all, didn't even take any of his goods to make more of their worker drones. So why have you come to see me this LOVELY morning? It is a beautiful day, isn't it? Oh, if he were only home to take the kids to the park-- maybe you could sit for me sometime, Dana dear, get a taste of what you can't have. So sad, so sad. Mulder looks at Scully, surprised she's not getting more upset about these sensitive issues. Mulder: <<> S: Actually, Rosetta dear, we came to ask you about your old friend Rodfield. You kept talking about him at that dinner party last week. When Mary Taite was serving that guacamole dip? Yum! I got the recipe from her you know. And just as she finished writing it down I walked in to only catch the end of one of your glorious Rodfield stories. R: Oh, Dale Rodfield. What a sweetheart. We used to be friends, and then when my Pa broke his leg and was in the hospital for a while... Mulder: <<>> R: . . . Me and Dale used to play every day. He and my little sister, Ring Around the Rosy for hours. Have you ever heard what that song is really about? Sickening disgrace. And mother says Dale and I used to disappear for a while. It's a shame, how he died... I guess they finally found HIM, perfectly healthy with a wife and 6 children, every single one of them a hybrid, and the poor girl didn't even KNOW what they were! I read about it in the papers, they said he was drowned while out jet skiing. But, Mr Mulder, I suppose we know who he was jet skiing *with* up there in his beautiful summer house, hmmm? I heard his wife was off with another in just two weeks. Tsk. What a shame. But he's in a hole in the ground with a hole in his chest, so I suppose he doesn't mind-- unless they took off with him again, to use him. Sad, sad. M: So-- you knew Dale Rodfield, Dale, right?-- you knew him as a child, and you would "disappear"-- and then whoever took you killed him?? R: Oh, they used to take us to this place, that man with the awful smoking habit. He says he figures he'd rather die of lung cancer than of pissing his partners off. Big men, they are, with a lot of power. <> Enough power to get Dale. Enough power so that I keep my mouth shut-- usually. But with the kids-- sometimes I just worry about these kids so MUCH. I'd hate to find out they were hybrids, too. And the dreams we've been having lately? Stirring up a lot of memories. Mostly *yours* though, none of my memories of being in the chrome room with these funny looking little men. I used to pretend they were aliens! But they were just the hybrids. M: Hybrids of...???? R: The aliens that landed and some of the people. Me, your father, my father too, I think, and your sister and Dana here. I always wondered why some people, and not others. Didn't your family live on that same shore with us? We used to have a summer cottage there, go every year. I had a mighty fine crush on you, the Big Crazy Mulder boy. But I suppose you weren't so crazy, were you? M: The aliens-- *where did they land*??? R: Oh, different places. You know those crazy Roswell people. But I actually read this little story once, and they brought up the good point that if aliens ever landed, chances would be they'd land in water. Silly that we never though of it, huh? M: Scully, are you listening to this? She looks up at him. She's flipping through a magazine filled with cooking, cleaning and house decorating. He sees something in her eyes that says she knows Rosetta's affecting her, that she's so scared she can't break out of it. S: Yeah-- I'm taking most of it in. I'll talk to you about it *after* we *leave. M: Rosetta-- one final question: how many times were you with them? R: Hmmm... um, the one that smokes used to take me from my house a lot, take me to where they were holding some of the people. They only poked and prodded me once or twice, but they had my father for a LONG TIME and when he came home, he didn't remember any of it. And, let's see. Well, I think the last time was right after you got involved. He was mad at me, over your business. Oh, well. I can remember, though, that when I was little I saw some of the people several times... one girl with braids, long dark hair, and-- M: Samantha? Did you know my sister????? R: She was hardly ever conscious when I was there, though. I guess she was a good one, because they did more experimentation than anybody else and they cloned her like crazy, and he used to just stand and watch her. Stand and watch her. Stand and watch her. Stand and... M: Scully, let's get out of here. I think we picked up a lot today. Well have to get the family of that Dale Rodfield on the phone, find out about his kids. And check to see if the father has any memories from when they took him. S: Yes, sir, Mulder, sir. Scully smiles at him and they go to the car. ****** Skinner's Office SK: So she's affirmed that her and a few other people were taken by the CSM? S: Yes- and, with what information we've scraped together-- both Rosetta and her father were abducted, Dale Rodfield, his kids are hybrids, my eggs were used to make those Kurts, Pendrell got killed because of me, a lot of the abductees recognized Samantha, Carol Henderson was abducted, and there's a common trait among all the abductees. SK: So what does all this lead up to? M: It leads up to, we have to contact Rodfield's wife, and try to figure out why kids in our area were abducted. S: We considered that CSM took the kids because they found him out-- M: But that didn't seem very realistic. Besides, Mr. Morwenna didn't know about him. S: Then we talked about why some people remember, and others don't. Our thoughts on that were, Rosetta was too mentally distressed to be a threat. Carol Henderson wasn't considered any type of threat. And Dale Rodfield had to be a *very* multiple abductee, since his kids were made hybrid. M: And Rosetta told us that there WERE aliens involved-- and she implied that they had landed near our summer home. S: That way, any kid who had seen it would have thought something was up. But those who weren't subsequently abducted would have forgotten by now and not cared. M: So we need to find out why he was killed. S: And we called the Morwennas and told them to keep Rosetta away from Dr. Scanlon. SK: So, basically, we have all the pieces of the puzzle except one. WHY. M: Right. And finding that piece isn't going to be so easy. SK: Well, all you can do now is talk to those people and find out what you can about the loose ends. S: Can do. *** Moris Cotter, Minnesota Sandy Rodfield: It was just a couple years ago. He went up to this town where he used to live and didn't come home. M: Do you know why he went? SR: Some disturbing thing that happened to him when he was a kid. He always said it was a dangerous neighborhood.... He had disappeared for a few days at a time before then, and at first I thought the obvious-- but then, when he'd come home, tired and depressed, I just knew that couldn't be it. This time he said he was going to make sure that he wasn't going to have to go away again. But he was shot... M: The official report says it was a jet-skiing accident. SR: Jet skiing accidents don't leave bullet holes... but the coroner told me to just shut up, just listen to him and not press the issue. So... I didn't. I have SIX kids. I don't have time for this... messing around with what happened to Dale. S: Did you ever go with Dale during his disappearances? SR: Each of the kids went, once. And Dale would go away, sometimes for up to a week, and then he would come home and I'd make him promise never to leave again and I'd turn up pregnant a month later. It was weird, but I figured-- fine. Count the days between his disappearances. He was happy to see me. M: And he never would tell you what was going on? SR: No... we had the perfect life except for this. One time a bunch of suits came over and he ordered me and the kids out of the house. M: Did one of the men smoke heavily? SR: ONE of the men? When I got back, the house was so smoked up, it couldn't have been one. It took years to get that smell to go away. M: Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Rodfield. I just have one last question. Do you have a family photo of all the kids and your husband together? Sandy walks out of the room and returns with a framed photo and a loose copy of it. Mulder and Scully look at it. Blonde Dale and brunette Sandy have 6 beautiful red headed children. Scully's eyes fill up with tears. S: You have a beautiful family, Mrs. Rodfield. I wish you the best. *** Ford Explorer S: Everybody else is running around with MY kids, Mulder. M: I know-- but there are also about a thousand carbon copied Samanthas. S: So our next order of business would be--??? M: Looking up what we can about Dr. Scanlon. *** Basement Office FBI Headquarters Washington D.C. Mulder and Scully are sitting at cluttered desks, weeding through pile after pile of files and articles. M: Look at this-- somebody with his university questioned his methods of dealing only with people who believe they are alien abductees. He said, in a statement, "These people need our help. Whatever I can do to help them, I will. I have been doing some of the most cutting edge research in this field-- and I have managed to help a lot of people." Ha! S: Well, I'm no worse off because of him-- I hope. With any luck, Rosetta will start to feel a lot better over the next few days. M: Well, now we can be almost certain that he is, in some way, involved with the Cigarette Smoking Man. So CSM would be working with him behind the scenes-- S: To keep abductees like us from talking to people like you. M: But why would a doctor agree to something like that? S: Because-- unlike ME-- most doctors are *people*, too, outside their workplace. They have lives. And in Scanlon's case, it involves CSM... But I have no idea why Dr Scanlon was chosen and why he would agree... Suddenly, Skinner rushes into the room. SK: I just got a phone call. Both Carol Henderson and Rosetta Morwenna just turned up dead. Mulder and Scully jump up from their chairs. SK: They're both in the same place. And were obviously murdered. S: How? SK: Their entire bodies are big cancerous... blobs. M: But why would they kill Rosetta? She was never a threat to them. S: Until she stopped taking her medicine and started talking to her old neighborhood friends. M: So, basically, we killed her? S: Maybe she's better off. *** Killinton, Rhode Island Mulder and Scully are standing over two bodies. In the background, Mr. and Mrs. Morwenna sob. M: It's horrible... S: Maybe the autopsy will turn up something. M: Empty ovaries would be my guess. A police officer approaches the two agents. PO: Agents Mulder and Scully? M: Yes? PO: The family of Rosetta Morwenna just turned this over. It appears to be a letter she gave to them just before she died. Mulder opens up the envelope. M: Dearest mother and deluded father, I have been feeling so much better these past few days. I know that I may be hurt for this, I know that this could be dangerous. But in that case, I will live my last few days in understanding of what happened, and I will be able to live these days as myself. You have no idea how tired I've become. Oh, father, if only you hadn't been so deluded, if only you had been able to dream these dreams. The truth is, we were all taken to a horrible place, a place where we were poked and prodded and our minds were twisted with needles. We are now only instruments of the evil which lurks in this world. Our first contact with the aliens was not a good thing, expanding the universe beyond our Earthan understanding, but instead, they were mistreated. Their technology was stolen, their lives taken-- and innocent people like you and I have paid for it. I know you think I'm crazy, I know you believe I'm just whistling in the dark-- but I am truly singing in the light. I know what happened, and I can now retreat to heaven knowing that all was not-- It ends here, Scully. S: Well, why don't we pay our respects to her parents and get going. The agents walk slowly over to where Mr. and Mrs. Morwenna are comforting each other. S: Mr. and Mrs. Morwenna, we are so sorry for your loss. I only hope you are comforted by the fact that she found her peace. MRS: Thank you. Thank you so much. You two became everything to her. She was finally happy, and then.... M: Just believe she's happy where she is. MR <>: I could have stopped it... if only I had remembered sooner... I could have told her. I could have. I remember now. My baby. Her hell. Our hell. Mulder and Scully nod at each other. S: There are people who can help. *** Rosetta's Apartment S: Looks like they ransacked this place pretty good. M: Not that great. He pulls a tape out of a tape player. S: So...??? M: So the "record" button was pressed down. These are Rosetta Morwenna's final, final thoughts on the subject. S: Should we play it? M: It could answer a lot of questions. S: It could destroy our lives. M: Enough lives have already been ended because of this. This is the only way we can really find out what happened here. He slips the tape back in and presses play. Rosetta's Voice: When I was a little girl, I was so happy. Winters were spent a normal child. Summers were spent playing with the children who are now all dead or destroyed. Until it happened. Very few of us can actually remember it, but there was a flash of light followed by a bad thunderstorm. That night, we were all out there. All us children, walking through the dark night with gentle beings who could talk to us. I have never felt so loved. And then in the morning-- in the morning the hell began. The men started flying in their helicopters. The aliens had been there before, and this time the government was ready for them. And some of the children were taken. Certain ones were never returned. Fox Mulder never had to go-- but his sweet partner now lives with the hell. I guess she doesn't remember the night her family stayed with some friends in Rhode Island on their way to her father's new post. I guess she forgot very quickly the very first time she ever met Max Fenig-- my cousin. Even in my final hours, I don't understand everything. I can't imagine why my father was taken, or why the children were hurt, or why Samantha Mulder was never returned. I can't understand how this would snowball to the point where my own doctor was killing Rhode Islanders left and right. I hear them on the stairs now, coming to my door. If only I had known before this that there was such a simple way to escape this hell... The tape ends. M: We'll never know it all, will we, Scully? S: No-- but as long as we keep adding pieces of the puzzle, we'll be okay. Besides, we learned a lot on this case. And I hope we helped some people. M: <<>> Home? S: Yeah. I'm bushed. They quietly leave. **** ******* THE END EPILOGUE **** *** Scully completes the autopsies and records her final thoughts on a tape. S: Carol Henderson and Rosetta Morwenna were both infertile subjects. Carol had the beginnings of a tumor similar to my own, which had not yet begun to grow or change between the time of her first abduction in 1978 and last night, at which point it overtook her entire body and killed her. I believe that this was given to her by the Consortium at the time of her abduction as a safety precaution in case she ever started to talk about the abduction. Rosetta Morwenna was pregnant with a child who was not her own according to recent DNA tests. Paternity and maternity tests are being run to determine if I, Dale Rodfield, Samantha Mulder, CSM, Fox Mulder, Carol Henderson, or Max Fenig were the child's parents. If these all turn up to be negative matches, the child will be issued into the X-Files and considered in further cases tying in to these abduction cases. She sets down the recorder and walks slowly from the room. *** Skinner's office CSM: It was a necessary precaution, Mr. Skinner. If you value the life of your Miss Scully, you will understand that they are treading on ice that was born thin-- and I could make it thinner. SK: He's your *son*, you iron lung. How could you-- CSM: What happened to these people was beyond our control. Extra terrestrial vistitors in the past, present, or future could greatly alter the entire world, Mr. Skinner. I am sure you are aware of the fact that-- SK: I am aware that you victimized the children of a specific area and spared your child! I don't know what you have in store for my agents, but I will be sure you hurt neither of them. CSM: I thought you were in the market for a cure for Miss Scully, Mr. Skinner??? SK: I am. But what do I owe you before I can-- CSM: It's out of your hands now, Walter. You got involved where the FBI shouldn't have. Listen-- two young women are dead now because of your department's incessant meddling with their lives. SK: Rosetta Morwenna was on the brink of a *breakdown*, you son of a bitch! You could have done anything in your power to prevent that. I won't be doing any more business with you until you right your wrongs. *** Scully's apartment Scully is sitting up in bed, crying. Her nose is bleeding slightly, a slow trickle down her face. Her phone rings. S: Hello? M: Scully. S: Hi, Mulder. M: Scully-- how are you doing? REALLY. S: I'll be okay... I WILL be. But at the moment, I'm not fine. M: I know it was hard, learning that you were-- S: No. It was hard learning that I didn't really *learn* anything. They just have red hair, Fox. That doesn't mean the hell's going to go on forever. M: We're going to get you a cure, Scully. S: I know you'll try, Mulder. I know you will. But for now, just go to sleep. We have another case to work on in the morning. M: And just forget about this one? S: Until we start dreaming again, Mulder. Until another night when strangers meet and the truth unwinds. **** ****** So there it is. All done. Walla. How did you like it?? I did my best; I know it got weak at the ending, but the show always trails off.... Now that it's done I hope I'll get some feedback. I'd really like to know what you think (and if you're reading! ; ) Ann Martin QUESTIE, X-Phile, Cary Elwes Fan (atic?) "If I were creating a show based on my life, it would be very different. It would be a lot more like seaQuest. I have a tremendous amount of underwater adventures involving alien beings." -Dave Barry My name is Scully. You ate my dog. Prepare to die. . . My name is Skinner. You took my hair. Prepare to die.