Veiled Vesta

Congrats on the getting the DVDs Ju! I know how exciting it is to finally get them, they're two amazing seasons!

Got one recap tonight, hopefully I'll get the last two up tomorrow. (P.S: Still waiting on an answer for the naked Krycek/naked Fowley query. Please don't make me find out the hard way! )

Memento Mori

(**Special Side Note: The holy grail of early MSR comfort! From Scully's personal goodbye journal addressing her partner to Mulder's unerring search for answers to Scully's cancer to the famous Hospital Hallway scene: the sweet looks, the tender hug, and the forehead kiss! Plus some freaky revelations and action scenes for those of you who aren't shippers... Punks. )

A white room. Maybe Scully's Metaphorical Room of White Light from One Breath or just a really well-lit hospital. Scully is wearing a hospital gown as she's looking at an X-Ray. She narrates something long and metaphorical and poetic in it's own long, metaphorical way. Her narration is directed to one specific person, a very important person judging by the near intimacy of her words. I guess if I were to sum it up it would something like: "Time is of the essence now more than ever. I feel like a weight is being lifted with every word I say and I know you'll understand what I'm going through when you read my words. I also draw comfort and strength in you knowing what's in my heart, even in these darkest of times. As I take my final journey into the unknown, I hope you'll forgive me for not being able to continue on, by your side."

Opening Credits! Whoever wrote Scully's speeches throughout the episode is a poet. And they wanted to give me a mini-headaches as I tried to dilute them for these recaps. But I still love 'em and this is all a labor of that love. Even when they depress me with the angst. Time to kick-off the Scully cancer arc!

In the Holy Cross Washington Memorial Hospital, Mulder is walking down the hallway, a far cry from his stomping around in One Breath, he's got flowers and he's asking a nurse for directions to Scully's room. In Oncology, we see Scully standing in front of an X-Ray. A bit different from the opening scene; she's not wearing her loose light hospital gown, rather she looks like her normal Agent Scully self in dark suit. Mulder gives her the flowers, joking that he stole them from a guy with a broken leg so he wouldn't get chased down. Mulder's humor is like nice little breezes in this down and heavy dramatic episode. His flowers beat 'Superstars of the Super Bowl', at least. That's growth. Mulder asks her how she feels and she answers that feels fine, despite the small growth (see: tumor) in the upper part of her nose. Mulder wants to know if it's operable. Scully says no. Mulder wants to know if it's treatable. Once again, Scully says no. Mulder wonders if she would mind him stealing her "I refuse to believe that" line. Scully is cool with it because she's stealing his believer POV, saying she believes her low chances of survival. Pessimistic or realistic? Well, Mulder won't accept it either way and thinks there must be some people who had this kind of cancerous mass, received treatment, and survived. Scully says that actually there are.

First though, Scully's gotta break the news to her boss. Skinner is understanding about the news. Scully hopes he'll keep it confidential and when he asks if she'll be taking a leave of absence, she replies in the negative. She and Mulder need to investigate the Pennsylvanian women Scully met in the episode Nisei (last season). Mulder recaps for those who may not remember: the women were abducted just like Scully and all developed cancer a while after removing their neck implants. One woman in particular, Betsy Hagopian, was getting treated for cancer but they haven't contacted her yet. If I recall correctly, Betsy's body in Nisei was full of tumors and she was dying. Unless she got visited by a Healing Man Smith clone I'm pretty sure she's dead. Skinner gives his support.

Mulder and Scully are at Pennsylvania, a woman peeling off a MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) sticker from a sticker. Am I a major geek if I said I'd be more willing to buy a house that had a MUFON sticker on the window? Turns out the woman who's de-geeking the house is a realtor and the house belongs (or rather belonged) to the recently deceased Betsy Hagopian. Mulder flashes his badge to get a look inside the house. Scully has a little flashback of the meeting with all the abducted women then touches her neck self-consciously. Mulder picks up a phone and the buzzing of someone using a dial-up connection. *hugs high speed wireless internet* Mulder and Scully go downstairs and see a computer that is currently downloading files. Someone from somewhere else is getting those files through some kind of hacking or remote or something. I'm not computer geeky, just X-Files geeky. They run a trace on the dial-up telephone signal. The trace must have taken a long time (well longer than usual in TV land) because it's night time by the time Mulder and Scully identify a Kurt Crawford and find his apartment. Mulder walks around back while Scully heads inside to get the manager. A young guy steps out and tries to run from Mulder but he gets stopped by a gun wielding Scully who demands he stop. Mulder makes sure he stops by tackling him. Good one, Mulder. They identify the guy as Kurt Crawford, then Mulder looks up and notices she has a nosebleed. He makes a little finger on nose motion and she realizes what he's referring to. Semi-angsty awkwardness. Scully says she's fine, then snaps at Mulder to stop staring at her. She's really drawing up her emotional walls here.

Despite being tackled, Kurt is a good sport and lets Scully use his bathroom to clean her nose. Mulder asks if she's okay and she assures him she is, making sure to slip on her pro facade before facing Mulder who uncuffed Kurt. Mulder explains that Kurt was a member of the same MUFON group that Betsy was in and he was downloading her files for safekeeping as per her wishes. He ran earlier because he thinks his life is being threatened by a government conspiracy who's after the files. Ah, now I know why Mulder let him go. Very familiar territory. Scully wants to interview the other MUFON members to make sure Kurt's telling the truth but she can't because it turns out they're all dead from cancer, except for one woman, Penny Northern.
Scully questions Kurt of his conspiracy claims and he says the whole abduction, shared memories, and development of identical cancers seems to leave that one option. Mulder grabs Scully for an aside. He realizes that Scully is in some kind of "I'm fine" denial and she won't acknowledge where her suspiciously unnatural cancer came from. Scully is upset, insisting she doesn't remember what happened when she was taken even refusing to believe it was an alien abduction. Where Mulder's voice is soft and worried, Scully's is sharp and defensive. Mulder thinks she should go talk to the last survivor, Penny and Scully is immediately on the attack, bluntly asking if they might discuss what it's like being the only two abductees dying of cancer and feeling helpless. Oh Scully. Mulder takes it well, suggesting she go as an investigator. He seems to know how important it is for Scully to maintain control and professionalism so he wants her to interview their last witness. And here I thought Mulder didn't listen. Awww.

Scully enters Penny's hospital room and is surprised Penny calls her by her first name. Penny reminds her that they knew each other from before. From the abduction. She recalls comforting Scully after they preformed tests on her in wherever it was they were being held. Scully doesn't remember and she'd like to keep it that way. She wants to ask a few questions and Penny immediately thinks it'd regarding Dr. Scanlon, the doctor who treated Betsy's cancer before she died and is currently treating Penny's cancer. After that bit of hopeful news Scully forgot what she was supposed to ask. Pessimism levels diminishing. She calls Mulder and tells him where she is before asking where he is. Mulder reveals the information he found in some of Betsy's files. Apparently the abducted women who died were treated at an infertility clinic about 30 miles from his location, even though some of them never had children. Mulder's made some calls but he's getting no answers so far. Scully interrupts, asking him for her overnight bag and telling him to call her mother. Mulder is concerned. Scully tells him that the truth is in her (metaphorically, I think. She isn't referring to her chip or a future miracle pregnancy...) That's all Mulder needs to know to get right over. Awww! Mulder drives off in a hurry and since his mind is on his beloved Scully, he doesn't notice the car that was behind him pull up. Inside, Kurt is looking over files when he hears something. He thinks it's Mulder but no luck. It's some mysterious guy with a familiar ice pick tool. He kills Kurt and either Kurt was a giant, slimy frog in a human suit or he was an alien hybrid!

Scully is currently dozing in her hospital room when she sees the blurry figure of Dr. Scanlon. He asks her how she feels and she says she doesn't feel sick at all. She does know that she's going to feel like hell later on after she gets the chemotherapy and the doctor is quick to add the radiation she'll be getting will make her feel like she wants to die. Thank you, Dr. Scanlon. I know you don't want to sugarcoat the truth and all, but maybe you should follow the wise words of Mary Poppins involving spoonfuls of sugar making the medicine go down. Um, just make sure your receiving patients aren't diabetic. Scully's mom walks in. It sees we only see her when her daughter is in horrible danger. *sigh* Scully introduces Dr. Scanlon to her mom and he quickly leaves to give them some time moment. Scully assures her mother that she feels fine but her Mama Scully gets angry. She doesn't know why Scully didn't tell her (not finding comfort in the fact that she had to hear it from Mulder, her prospective son-in-law). Scully says she needed to find all the answers before telling her and her mom just doesn't want to be kept in the dark regarding her daughter's health. The two Scully woman embrace tearfully, with Mama Scully whispering that even though Scully is strong, she's her only daughter so she worries. Scully knows that.

As Scully is being treated in a large, possibly radiation emitting machine, we get another Scully metaphorical, poetic narration. She's definitely talking to Mulder in this one (she mentions his name). Here we go, what she says in a nutshell: "Med school taught me that cancer is an invader that turns it's new home against itself. It is an evil that forces the body to destroy itself; not unlike a demonic possession. Mulder, I hope you can understand what's happening to me in these terms I use and if I don't make it, please don't blame yourself. We've shared alot and traveled far but this is the one journey I must travel alone."

At the moment, Mulder is looking for some answers by breaking and entering. Nothing's off-limits when it comes to Scully. I wonder what he would do for a Klondike Bar? And by Klondike Bar, I mean Scully, as they're both cool and delicious. He walks past a bunch of files and gets to a computer where he tries to get info but it's password protected. Mulder is soon joined by Kurt (it's a hybrid clone like in Colony and End Game or more recently Talitha Cumi and Herrenvolk!) and Mulder gets his gun out suspicious that he left with the downloaded files and didn't return his calls. Sounds like a blind date gone wrong. Kurt tells him they're both looking for the same thing and he's been trying to hack into the system but couldn't make it past the password. Lucky for him he's got Mulder there to use his intuitive leaps of logic, and we learn the password is something written on a snow globe that happens to be lying around. Mulder is excited to aid in this major hacking scheme.

A flashback with Scully in a white room of light. She looks scared as a drill comes towards her and I'm assuming it's a vision from her abduction. Believe Scully, beliieeeve! She wakes up to find Penny by her bedside, once again offering comfort. Scully feels nauseous because of the chemo and she tells Penny about her dream: someone was doing something bad to her but then she heard Penny's voice. Penny explains she was allowed to comfort Scully when they were in the abductee examination area. Scully really doesn't want to hear anymore but Penny says she must try and remember because only then can Scully understand why this is happening.

Over at Skinner's office, he's getting ready to have an all too familiar conversation with Mulder. Skinner wants to know where Scully is and Mulder says she at a hospital in Pennsylvania before revealing a file he got from a fertility clinic under federal control, Scully's name is on the file and Mulder is sure she's never undergone treatment for infertility. I like how he knows so much about her sex life. The file he has is actually just the list of names plus a directory for a mainframe located in the Lumbard Research Facility. Mulder wants a meeting arranged with Cigarette Smoking Man, knowing he's behind all this. Skinner reminds him of his failed revenge in One Breath (not in so many words) and Mulder is willing to deal for Scully's life but Skinner refuses to let Mulder do that lest he becomes CSM's personal slave. I shudder to think the favor he'll owe him for the cure to Scully's cancer. Sponge bather? Thong detailer? Basically anything involving CSM undressed in anyway. Mulder is insistent but Skinner won't back down: Mulder must find another way. You'll thank him for that later, Mulder!

The Lone Gunmen! No truly excellent mytharc is complete without a cameo from these guys and in this episode they not only get their cameo, they get their moment to shine! They're currently looking at Scully's DNA info on the computer, and they tell Mulder that they hacked into the hard-to-hack Lumbard system through sheer power of Gunmen awesomeness. The info they got from the hacking just shows them Scully's branched DNA which probably made her sick. Mulder wonders why this information is being kept secret and Byers suggests that scientists safeguarded their research against being poached. They might be using the information to find a cause or a cure but there's only one way to find out. As Mulder suggests, the three should start picking out something black and sexy to do some funky poaching at the Lumbard Research Facility. Gotta love the Mulder humor.

Skinner enters Mulder and Scully's office, meeting with CSM. He's smoking up that poorly ventilated office! Isn't that a health code violation? CSM wonders why Skinner, for all the respect he has for Mulder, keeps the guy in the basement. Skinner says at least Mulder doesn't take the elevator to get to work. Because CSM is the devil and they have elevators in hell, you see. Nice one, Skinner. CSM asks Skinner about Scully's cancer with the fakest air of innocence I've ever seen. Skinner wants a miracle for Scully and is willing to do what it takes. CSM will have to get back to him on that, and smugly asks for directions to the elevator before leaving. Burn!

Frohike and Langly are getting into a decent sized storm drain, laptop and other computer gear in hand, while Mulder and Byers stakeout the Lumbard Research Facility. Byers has a walkie talkie and asks how the other two Lone gunmen are doing with their hacking into the security system. Mulder and Byers get inside the building with offline help from Langly and Frohike. They pass by security cameras and find another locked door which is more difficult to unlock for the two techie gunmen. Mulder grabs Byers' headpiece and asks what's going on with the doors. He sees Dr. Scanlon's name listed among doctors names in a room. Mulder, realizing that Dr. Scanlon is in on the abduction/infertility conspiracy, tells Byers to go to Scully and get her treatment stopped. Meanwhile, a weak and tired looking Scully is writing in her journal. It's now apparent that all her poetic narrations were entries in her journal. How meta. This time she basically writes: "My body and spirit feel weak from all the treatment. Mulder, I'm afraid and I now have a new-found respect for Penny, who's faring much worse than I am. I can't help but think I'll end up like her in a month or maybe a year, either way I pray for her courage to help me through this. I feel you close, though you're pursuing the truth in your own way and I want to say how truly grateful I am. I hope you're out there. I need you."

Mulder is navigating the halls of the research facility with help from Langly but the two Lone Gunmen in the storm drain are losing the video feed. Mulder also gets static and he gets annoyed, pounding on a door and demanding Langly open it. Kurt opens the door, then we see his other hybrid clones working on tanks with bodies (more alien hybrids) inside. Mulder is surprised and thinks he's being used by them. The Kurt hybrid tells him otherwise, and in fact they've been plotting the downfall of the Secret Covert Project that created them. Mulder sees the boys in the tanks and recognizes them (are they the blonde boys from Herrenvolk? Because the Kurt clones have reddish hair. Hmm... alien hybrid hair dye?) The Kurt hybrid says he doesn't want to destroy the clones, though he doesn't say what he does want to do with them. He leads Mulder to a vault of sorts that store human ova. Of course they do. Mulder notices one of them contain Scully's ova, and takes out a vial. Kurt tells him about the procedure the women go through when they get abducted: they get high doses of radiation that causes super ovulation which is used for fertilization or genetic hybridization. The abducted women are the Kurt clones' birth mothers. That must make Mother's Day quite awkward or at the very least expensive. The Kurt clone tells Mulder that the procedure they were exposed to left them barren and gave them cancer. He and his clone sons want to save their mothers. That's actually rather touching. Mulder leaves with his vial (I think he should've taken more than one but I guess his mind was running at about a thousand thoughts per minute). The static still hasn't dissipated even after the big Kurt clone reveal but Mulder manages to catch that security is on him and Mulder needs to get the hell out of there. Langly talks him through the hallway past a glass door and facing a still locked metal door. A man finds Mulder but he quickly shuts the glass door to give him some time. God thing the lab sprung for bulletproof glass. The man starts shooting at Mulder, the bullets not penetrating the glass at first. Mulder yells at Langly to hurry up and get the metal door unlocked. His desperation and alarm grows as each gunshot weakens and cracks the glass door. Mulder keeps yelling and pounding and just as a hole is cracked in the glass, the metal door opens and Mulder just barely dodges a bullet that bounced off the metal. His luck never ceases to amaze me.

Mulder rushes all the way to Scully's hospital and checks her room only to see she's not there. You can hear his heart leap into his throat as he walks inside and checks her journal. He reads one of her most recent entries then quickly gets out to ask a nurse where Scully is. The nurse doesn't know and Mulder starts getting One Breath kind of upset when the nurse is no help. If he has a heart attack at least he'll be saved quickly unless he managed to piss of the nurse that much. Not to worry Mulder, Byers got to Scully in time and she's currently by Penny's bedside. Mulder peeks inside and his eyes meet with Scully's for a moment before she turns back to poor, dying Penny. It doesn't look like Dr. Scanlon is coming and Penny says that Scully has been a great comfort to her, and Scully has to be the one who gets well. She has to keep the hope alive. Scully promises not to give up hope and Mulder leaves the two women alone. Oh Penny and Scully...

Later on, after Penny passed away Scully leaves the room looking very sad. Mulder has en waiting outside the whole time and he says he's sorry, knowing how close the two became recently. Worst way to make new friends. Mulder tells her that he got scared when he couldn't find Scully in her room and he also read her journal which Scully is a bit embarrassed about. She decided she isn't going to let the cancer beat her and she's going bacl to work. Scully knows about Dr. Scanlon and the possibility that he helped kill those women rather than treat them. Mulder believes they *will* find him. Such an optimist. He tells her that something was done to her that she is just beginning to remember and no matter what she thinks she will find a way to save herself. Scully is a bit more realistic, knowing it's going to be an uphill battle but she must carry on for reasons only she knows. No regrets, Scully. He smiles sweetly at her. I think I see love in those eyes. She smiles back at him. Oh goodness, here it comes. He wraps his arms around her and she wraps her arms around him, his chin resting softly on top of her head while she rests her head on his chest. Mulder welcomes her back, and says the truth will save them. It will save both of them. He strokes her hair and kisses her forehead. When he pulls back, his hands are on her face and I know there's a cut scene where the two actually share a kiss but even though it got cut, you can see that the two were pretty close to sharing their first kiss there in the hospital hallway. It won't be until three more seasons until we get their first kiss. Funnily enough it will be in a hospital. These two just can't stay away from hospitals. Oh well. Scully finally pulls away and walks slowly back to her room. When she's gone Mulder pulls out the vial of her ova which he's kept in his pocket for the whole time. Um, what's the freshness date on human ova? And I know I asked this in another thread but seriously, does Mulder plan on sticking the vial in his freezer for safe keeping? One more thing to add to his Scully shrine, I suppose.

Skinner gets a phone call in his office. It's Mulder who informs him that Scully is okay and she'll be returning to work. Skinner is glad to hear it. He's not so glad, however, when Mulder thanks him for his advice regarding selling his soul to CSM for a cure. The reason being because he made the deal himself and CSM is currently sitting across from Skinner, cackling about the price Skinner will have to pay. Skinner must really care about Scully if he's willing to do unspeakable acts as mandated by CSM. Hope the Vietnam vet is up for it. BYOL! (Bring Your Own Loofah)