SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

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He runs into Scully’s room and she’s not there. Her bed is unmade and empty. He finds the diary; it’s open on the last page. He reads the page and puts it back down exactly in the same spot it was. The music swells and I get really worried that 1013 are going to start screwing with my emotions again. Mulder asks a nurse where Scully is, his voice getting louder and louder as his emotions start to get the best of him, too. See? It’s not just me. Byers calls out to him and says he got to Scully in time and she’s in Penny’s room. Mulder bursts into the room, calming down only when he sees Scully sitting at Penny’s bedside. He smiles sweetly with those puppy dog eyes he does so well. I like the way he plays it cool like, hey! I wasn’t freaking out a second ago. Nothing to worry about here! Scully looks at him, reassured, before turning back to Penny who’s asking about Dr. Scanlon, Scully tells her she doesn’t think the Creepy-possibly-Murdering Doctor is coming back. Mulder is still standing there, watching, as Scully strokes Penny’s face gently. Penny manages to spare a serene smile in Mulder’s direction and then tells Dana not to give up hope, and that she’s got to be the one to survive the cancer. Both women are lit now in their shots. Dana says that she hasn’t, and that she won’t, give up. Mulder backs out of the room, looking a little more at ease from hearing that. Scully turns to watch him go before turning back to Penny. Brave face on as the enormity of what Penny’s death, and Dr. Scanlon’s disappearance, means for her sinks in. She loses her composure, tears welling up in her eyes.

5.05 am. Mulder’s sitting outside the room with one hand on his forehead. A nurse runs past him and he gets up, anxiously looking at the door. Scully walks out without seeing him, headed away from him. He seems to hesitate a little then he follows her slowly, softly asking if Penny is gone. Scully turns around trying to bite back the tears and nods. Hold on folks, get your Kleenex ready for the blasted allergies that crop up at the most inopportune times. Mulder says he’s sorry, he knows what she meant to her. Now we hear something similar a few years down the road and I have to say, I hate it when he says that. He moves closer then stops. Scully has this look on her face that I can’t describe as she walks towards him. Mulder gestures to Penny’s door and confesses that when he didn’t find her in her room he got scared. She stops a short distance from him and crosses her arms as she looks up into his face. Mulder also admits he read some of what she wrote in her diary. Now, Mulder is a much better human being than me, because I would totally have gone back and read the rest of her diary. But then again, maybe that’s why I don’t have a tall, dark, handsome, and brilliant partner that loves me more than anything or anyone else in the world. Scully closes her eyes. The tears threaten again as she tells him she didn’t want him to read that and she was going to throw it out. She decided tonight that she came into the hospital able to work and that is how she’s going to leave. Mulder nods with approval. They share a look and smile at each other in understanding. I love their secret language! Mulder asks her if Byers told her about Scanlon, Scully says he did. Mulder says he may have very well killed those women to which Scully gives her Scully answer, “that will have to be proven… if we find him.” Mulder, warming up to the prospect of the return of Moose and Squirrel, corrects her and says, “When we find him.” Aww. I’m smiling too here. He brings on the usual Mulder intensity about how they are going to find out what was done to her and they are going to explain it. And that no matter what she thinks as a scientist, or as a doctor, there is a way and she “will find it to save herself”. She takes a deep breath and tells him that she can’t kid herself any longer and that people live with cancer. They carry on, and so will she. She draws a shaky breath and tells him she’s got things to finish and to prove to herself and to her family (and to him – she doesn’t say that but she so wanted to), but for her own reasons (whatever those are)! Mulder smiles at her in agreement and encouragement. Duchovny looks so pretty in this shot. He says something I can’t hear, I am going to say he says “come on then”. She smiles up at him with what can only be described as love and walks into his open arms. He’s still smiling as he hugs her and rests his chin on the top of her head. They hold each other tight and the camera pans out to show us both their faces, as well as the contrast in their heights, which makes the hug even sweeter. Mulder is smiling and Scully is seriously scared, I think. Mulder says the truth will save her and he thinks it will save both of them. She chokes up, he kisses the top of her head, and she closes her eyes, trying desperately to get a grip. She takes a steadying breath and turns her head as he clasps it in his big beautiful hands. What? Duchovny has big and beautiful hands! I have a thing about hands. He kisses her forehead and she looks up at him. If you freeze frame this moment it looks like they are going to actually kiss. But why would you do that? They do some more silent communication as Mulder strokes the sides of her head and then Scully closes her eyes. She starts to walk away from him. Mulder turns to watch her go, pulling the vial of her ova (eww) out of his pocket he fingers it thoughtfully, still watching her go as he pockets the vial again. Now, I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but unless Mulder went back to the facility with the right storage equipment there is no way they are going to try and convince us that this is the very same vial that Mulder refers to in Per Manum, is there? I mean, I’m no scientist or anything, but isn’t the point of storing them in whatever it is they use to freeze ova is to preserve them? And what happens to the ova in the remaining vials?

ANYWAY, he makes a resolve face and continues to watch her go. In retrospect, it’s a resolve face to keep the truth about her infertility and the Hybrids from her. So much for the truth saving them both then, huh!? I know, I know, he’s only doing it to protect her, blah blah blah.

Next shot is of a phone going off in Skinman’s office. Mulder’s voice says he was just about to leave a message. Skinman’s a bit brusque and asks Mulder what he wants. Mulder tells Skinman that Scully’s doing okay, she’s coming back to work, and that they should find out what CSM knows. However, Skinman was right they should find another way. Skinman says there’s always another way, and as he’s hanging up, we see cigarette smoke. CSM agrees and says there is… if Skinman’s willing to pay the price. He gets up and leaves Skinman staring at the door after him. CSM is such a drama queen! But I have to say I absolutely love how all the people in Scully’s life started falling apart with the advent of her cancer. And no one’s life crashed as much as Mulder’s because he loves her and she loves him and she is the one with which he cannot live without! Or can he?

Next week back to basics with kick-ass Moose and Squirrel action as aliens steal time and magnificent Max returns to our screens… well, sort of!