Additional dialogue by Emilia of Torino, Italia

Adaptation for the Screen and opening scene by Steve Dinges of Houston, Texas, United States of America

Original dialogue from "The X-Files" episode "Sein und Zeit" by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz (answering machine voice-over) included for purposes of continuity.

Originally posted to the "Scriptorum" section of the "X-Files" fan-fiction web site "The Apocrypha".

Portions have appeared, with modifications, on the message board of The William B. Davis homepage (http://www.williambdavis.co.uk); property of Mary Roswell-Downes.

Rating: PG (adult situation; no overt sexual content)
Classification: V
Spoilers: "Herrenvolk", "The End", "The Beginning", "Amor Fati" (aka "The Sixth Extinction II"), "Sein und Zeit"
Keywords: CSM, Teena Mulder
Context/Summary: "Missing" scene between "The Sixth Extinction" and "Amor Fati"; leads to the final scene of Teena Mulder in "Sein und Zeit".

"Decades of lies and manipulation --- to what end?" Author's take on Mulder's part in CSM's plans, and how CSM got Fox out of the psychiatric ward.

Disclaimers: The characters, plots, props* and scenery all belong to Executive Producer Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, Inc., and Fox Television, Inc. No infringement intended, only sincere admiration.

"This Boy Can't Swim" copyright by the Welsh musical group Catatonia. All rights reserved.

*Nuclear Submarines Copyright for The World by the United States Navy and The Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut, USA. :-)

Author's Notes (Mary Roswell-Downes): A first to mark my last birthday of this century. My gratitude to Kal for lighting a bonfire under me to write this, and to Bill Davis 'just because'. :-) Screenplay dedicated to William B. Davis, Rebecca Toolan, Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, Emilia, and most of all to Mary Roswell-Downes.

The CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN is standing in the bay window of the breakfast nook of the Mulder house, on Martha's Vineyard, staring thoughtfully out to sea.

He watches as a brown-haired teenage BOY and a red-haired teenage GIRL are sailing a small CATAMARAN in a stiff breeze on this perfect, sunny, cloudless morning.

In an effort to balance the craft on its north-eastward tack, the brown- haired BOY climbs far out over the railing onto the out-rigged cargo netting. This "shifting of ballast" seems to work, and the BOY is laughing joyously at the success and dangerousness of his manouvre. The red-haired teenage GIRL, occupying the "low side" of the catamaran however, is more circumspect, noting the unexpected approach of a "George Washington"-class ballistic missile SUBMARINE, running fast on the surface, on a shake-down cruise up the coast from the Groton, Connecticut headquarters of The Electric Boat Company . . .

[Cue MUSIC, faded in: "This Boy Can't Swim" by Catatonia]

"I hope he sinks
Then he'll forget everything
Dreamt up the lies that would hold it together
Then realised those he lied to were cleverer . . ."

The SUBMARINE, closing at near flank-speed, is throwing up a large bow-wave. The CATAMARAN, though at a relatively safe distance, is capsized, leaving the brown-haired BOY and the red-haired GIRL spluttering in the water, unharmed, but with the GIRL offering dire but unheard imprecations to the BOY, who is laughing, nonetheless. CSM half-smiles, chuckles soundlessly, and then, hearing TEENA MULDER'S entry into the living room, turns and steps out of the corner of the breakfast nook to address her . . .

CSM : "Going somewhere?"

TEENA is startled by CSM's presence, but casts her eyes downward and continues with packing a final keepsake in the cardboard box she helds, accustomed as she is to CSM's long habit of showing up and letting himself in, unannounced.

TEENA: "You shouldn't have bothered coming all the way up here."

CSM: "I thought your phone call to be sufficient reason, although I don't think you grasp the seriousness of the situation."

TEENA [Glares at CSM]: "Oh, I grasp it well enough. [Dripping with sarcasm] My son is losing his mind, and you're here because you care SO very much. . . say what you came to say."

CSM reaches into his inside breast-pocket for a pack of Morleys, withdraws one and lights it, as TEENA retrieves an ashtray from the sideboard and slides it across the breakfast table, placing it in front of him.

CSM [Smiles]: "As you wish. I want you to sign him out of the hospital and release him to me."

There is a pause, as TEENA considers, then grows angry. . .

TEENA: "I'd rather leave him where he is than let you anywhere near him! At least in there he has a chance, which is a hell of a lot more than he has with you and the others!"

TEENA suddenly grabs the ashtray in a flash of rage and resentment and attempts to strike CSM. CSM catches her wrist on the downstroke. Their eyes lock [Insert: Intercut of shots of the eyes, a la Kurosawa and Leone]; CSM's grasp is almost painful, not enough to damage TEENA, but enough to get the point across.

CSM [heatedly]:"Teena, he's DYING! [beat] Orthodox medical science CAN'T save him![beat] WE can! [beat] We MUST!"

TEENA realizes the truth of this; she relaxes, and CSM releases his grip, deftly retrieving the ashtray from her hand and placing it gently back on the table-top. Flicks the ash off the end of the Morley into the ashtray.

TEENA steps back from him, then turns away.

TEENA [bitterly]: "This is all part of your 'grand design', then?"

CSM: "You think I enjoy watching him suffer?"

TEENA half-turns back toward CSM. She nods her head, then shakes it sadly.

TEENA[sighs]: "I think you'll have what you want, regardless."

CSM [takes a drag off the Morley, then brightens, smiling]:"What is necessary. The culmination of our sacrifice."

TEENA turns to fully face CSM, raising her eyes to meet his.

TEENA [Scornfully]: "You don't begin to the meaning of the word!"

TEENA sweeps past him, into the kitchen, where she begins packing the last of the dishes. CSM puts out the Morley in the ashtray, and brings the box she was packing and sets it on the counter; TEENA doesn't look up.

TEENA:"All these years you've been protecting him, watching over him . . . I used to think I understood the reason for that."

CSM:"He has a purpose to fulfill."

TEENA [accusingly]:"*Your* purpose."

CSM [smiles]:"The world's purpose. He has a destiny. . . I can help him, Teena."

TEENA: "You mean help *yourself*!"

TEENA turns to the opposite counter, still not looking directly at CSM, and continues retrieving the glasses from the overhead cabinet and packing them away. Then, she stops, and turns to fix him with an icy stare.

TEENA: "You haunt our lives, like death incarnate. But I'm as much to blame as anyone. I wanted to 'believe the lies' . . . *your* lies."

CSM [takes out a fresh Morley and lights it]: "I'm not here to engage in shadow-boxing with you. This argument is almost as old as we are."

TEENA: "You got old. I grew up."

CSM [smiles, in a most unkindly way, seeing this the other way around, and chuckles quietly]: "My own humble efforts pale to your capacity for self-deception."

TEENA: "Get out!" [She walks to the back door, which opens onto the deck overlooking the ocean, and steps out. CSM follows her.]

CSM: "What about Fox? What about our son?" [Takes out a Morley, and lights it]

TEENA turns to face him [bitterly, but with pride]:"He is *my* son, but he will never be *yours*. He's too fine a man to do anything but detest you and your 'sacrifices', your 'great purpose'."

CSM: "He certainly has a finer understanding of love and sacrifice than either you or I have." [beat; grins mischievously] "Perhaps he gets that from Bill."

TEENA [stung to the core]: "You *bastard*!" (She opens the door back into the kitchen) "I want you out of here!"

CSM doesn't move. Thoughtfully studies the glowing coal on the end of the Morley, then looks up.

CSM: "It is fortunate that he inherited your obstinacy, but he deserves more than your selfishness and fear."

[takes a drag off the Morley and exhales slowly, then continues]

"He was the devoted son, when you lay dying in the hospital, ill and unable to speak. He would have saved you himself if he'd had the means. I wonder what he would say if he learned it was me you saw when you looked at him? That the word you scratched out on that piece of paper, 'palm', was nothing more than a desperate plea to be healed?"

"You never supported him in his quest, Teena. As surely as he runs *toward* the truth, *you* run *away* from it."

TEENA [eyes narrowed in unconcealed hatred]: " His 'quest', your 'legacy', has destroyed his family, and very nearly himself. I'm sick of it, and I'm tired of being alone! Fox is all that I have left!"

CSM: "The course he's on is too important to be subjugated to petty personal desires, yours, mine, or his. I risked everything to save your life -- for his sake. Will you abandon him now, in his hour of greatest need?"

TEENA [defiantly, her chin upraised]: "You saved me to protect your interests. Don't flatter yourself where *your* life is concerned. I saved *you* for just one reason, because you're the only one who can save Fox from himself, by telling him the truth he so desperately craves. . .[smiles bitterly] how's *that* for 'selfless devotion'?"

CSM does not reply, but continues to gaze at her, thoughtfully.

TEENA re-enters the house. CSM drops the Morley to the deck, grinds it out, and follows. TEENA picks up the box of glasses from the kitchen, but in her agitated state, has forgotten the box CSM had placed on the counter. TEENA carries the box with her out the front door, puts it in the back seat of her sedan. She gets in and starts the engine.

CSM: "I'll follow you."

TEENA does not reply, only nods, and drives off into the early afternoon sun.

CSM watches as she drives away, and then re-enters the house to retrieve the "forgotten" box. As he wanders slowly through the house, which holds as many memories for him as it does for her, we hear him speak ---

CSM [voice-over]:

"She had hoped to be gone before I got here. The lace curtains, the bed, the bureau are all that remain in this room. Memories tenderly gathered up. The rest is replaceable.

[picks up the "forgotten" box] I know how easily flustered she is. I know the charms and hazards of her fire.

She still had heart enough for this contest of wills, insisting on dragging it out, though she knew who the victor would be. It's unavoidable, this antagonism, and I can't explain the reasons to her now, any more than I could when we began.

I almost feel sorry for her. But only a fool falls for the same ploy twice. A timeless prettiness, but a coldness I will never understand, though I've surely come to deserve it.

[Takes out a Morley and lights it, and continues back through the house to the front door, carrying the box, walking farther down the street to his own car, which he had parked away from the house to conceal his presence, initially]

I have known the excruciating pain of an assassin's bullet exploding in my chest. It is as nothing, compared to the feel of her ripping what's left of my heart out through my ribcage and squeezing one final drop of blood from it. It isn't the first time she has done this to me. And it probably won't be the last.

[He reaches his car, and places the box in the back seat]

Years of duty-bound detachment, and countless tragedies, have brought us to this particular moment in history. Teetering on the very brink of The Apocalypse, we still cling, each in our own way, to the hope of salvation.

[Gets into the car and starts it.]

If the truth could be untangled from my lies, I would gladly do so. But what is before me, now, is not a matter of 'choice' --- it is my destiny."

CSM puts the car in gear and drives away.[FADE OUT]

[24 hours later, CSM and TEENA fly separately to DC, and she signs Mulder out of the hospital and into the custody of CSM.]

EPILOGUE (SIX MONTHS LATER):

[Now in the episode "Sein und Zeit"]

CSM has surreptitiously delivered the missing box to TEENA'S new home in Greenwich, Connecticut, to which she had presumably moved for purposes of not needing a house the size of the original one, and perhaps to try to escape the unpleasant associations of that dwelling with CSM.

TEENA unpacks the box, which is now revealed to contain the framed photographs of FOX and SAMANTHA. It also now contains one more thing: The Original of the order calling off the search for SAMANTHA, placed there by CSM, and signed by him under his alias "CGBS". As she unpacks the box, and begins burning the photographs and the order, we hear her speak . . .

TEENA [voice-over, on FOX'S answering machine]:

"Fox, it's your mother. I'd hoped you'd call upon your return, but I haven't heard from you. I'm sure you're busy. There are so many emotions in me, I wouldn't know where to start. So much that I've left unsaid, for reasons I hope one day you'll understand."

TEENA hangs up, and continues burning the photographs . . .

TEENA [voice-over, now addressing CSM]: "Where I am going, this time, my dark love, you cannot follow, save by joining me yourself, in the cold embrace of the grave. I am free."

[Having consigned all of the photographs, and the order, to the flames, she goes to the window and draws aside the gauzy curtain. There's light enough to distinguish a young couple coming, leaving a nearby house; the girl slows down, lifting an arm to indicate something into the star-bright sky; the young man puts his arm around her shoulders, gives her a quick kiss and directs her to a car, impatient.]

"Once I was innocent, like them. I could look at the night sky and wonder at its beauty. Now, I can see only the infinite blackness of Space, indifferent to the horror which has haunted my life, and the lives of those I loved. It stares me back from the depths of Eternity..."

[Teena keeps looking up for awhile, mesmerized by the stars gleaming in the velvety darkness of the night sky.]

"Twinkle, twinkle, betraying stars..."

[As she turns away from the window, the curtain catches on the diamond of her wedding ring, the one she still wears in memory of Bill, and pulls the curtain-rod from inside the window casement. She replaces the rod, and smoothes the curtain back into place. Suddenly, her hand clutches the curtain, then partially releases its grip. Overcome by the fumes from the oven, and the diazepam she has taken, she slides slowly to the floor, out of sight, and into oblivion. At last, she is at peace.]

Author's Comment (Mary Roswell-Downes): The idea for this scene crystallized on November 11, 1999 out of my long-standing belief that Mulder is much more to CSM than a handy foil. Originally it was a simple emotional debate between the two characters over Fox's 'illness', but after the airing of "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" on November 14, I edited in CSM's obvious reason for turning up on Mom Mulder's doorstep.

Editor's Notes (Steve Dinges): The original story is in first-person, told by CSM through his own eyes. This was somewhat awkward when it came to putting it into the form of a screenplay, since the dialogue is "intercut" with CSM's thoughts, in a style highly reminiscent of Anne Rice's "The Vampire Lestat" (Very nice!).

It was, of course, unthinkable that CSM's thoughts and feelings toward Teena should be left out of the scene (they are the whole point!), so CSM's voice-over is re-constructed from the original "internal" monologue, as a way of bringing them back in, to preserve the "flavour" of the original.

The story and dialogue are, of course, wholly Mrs. Downes', with the following exceptions:

The opening scene with the submarine and the catamaran is my own, and was suggested by her explicit desire that Catatonia's "This Boy Can't Swim" be included as the soundtrack. (I had a "bigger budget", so I could "afford" the sub! :-))

The additional voice-over dialogue for "Sein und Zeit", by Emilia, is included to provide a clearer picture of Teena Mulder's thoughts and emotions than was presented in the actual episode, and to provide a parallel and contrast to CSM's own thoughts and emotions in his voice-over.

The other alteration was that I reversed the original order of Teena and CSM's departure from the house --- I had to do that, so as to emphasize CSM's connection with the box, and to facilitate the insertion of CSM's voice-over.