Title: The Things We Share
Author: Michael Sim
Email: simgolfer@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The characters and settings of Roswell in this story are the property of Regency Television, Jason Katims Productions and the Warner Brothers Corporation. The characters of X-Files are the property of 20th Century Fox Television and 10-13 Productions. All use is for the sole purpose of fictional storytelling.
Summary: Immediately after the Hybrid Chronicles and the 02/18/01 episode of the X-Files (Per Manum), unwanted attention is placed on our Roswellians by a duo of FBI agents named Scully and Doggett. (This story relates the many similarities/parallels between the mythologies of Roswell and the X-Files)
Category: Other and Crossover (X-Files)
PROLOGUE
February 23, 2001, 9:02AM. FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC.
We are in a large, dark conference room. A panel of FBI assistant directors and directors are seated on one side of the table while Agent Suzanne Duff sits across from them. There is a palpable tension in the air.
Director: Agent Duff, you have been summoned here to Washington, DC due to your recent actions in Roswell, New Mexico.
Duff: Yes, Director Schilling.
Director: Your report states that there was inconclusive proof as to the occurrences surrounding a Laurie Dupree's abduction and subsequent retrieval. Your report also seems to be lacking information during certain time periods. Further, your initial correspondences have the town sheriff, James Valenti, as a possible accomplice.
Duff: Sir, with further investigation, I discovered that the sheriff, in fact, did not play a role in the kidnapping.
Director: (almost ignoring her) And more so, you used federal influence to have him reinstated in his county appointed position. That is an abuse of your position, Agent Duff.
Duff: I understand and I accept the consequences of my actions.
Director: Your actions may lead to your eventual discharge from the FBI.
Duff: Yes.
Director: Agent Duff, your superiors in New Mexico describe you as a very talented, up and coming agent on the fast track to an assistant directorship. Do you want to throw it all away on a small town kidnapping?
Duff: I stand by my report and my actions, Sir.
Director: You leave me no choice, but to relieve you of all duties pending further investigation.
Assistant Director Skinner speaks up.
Skinner: Director Schilling, if I may? I would like to take over this investigation.
The whole panel looks at Skinner and begins whispering to each other, astonished that he would speak up.
Director: (looking first to the side) I find no objections in you taking over, AD Skinner.
Skinner looks at Duff. The panel disbands with a discouraged Duff, who does not move from her chair. Skinner comes up to her.
Skinner: Agent Duff, I personally assure you that your case will fall in the proper hands.
Duff: Thank you, Sir.
Skinner leaves. As Duff gets up to leave, she notices for the first time a grey haired man in his late fifties standing in the shadows of the room smoking a cigarette.
Later than morning, we switch to the basement office of Agents Dana Scully and John Doggett. They operate a small branch of the FBI called the X-Files. They are seated at their desks going through files.
Scully: Roswell seems too obvious a place for us to investigate.
Doggett: Yeah, even I saw the TV special about the whole 1947 UFO crash. I hear that the place is just a big tourist trap. Yet somehow, Skinner stuck his neck out to give us this case.
Scully: Seems there have been questions raised as to extraterrestrial involvement in assorted crimes in the area. I would have thought it all a big hoax myself, until I went through some of Mulder's old files.
Doggett: What did you find?
Scully: Unbeknownst to me, it seems Mulder was a big fan of Roswell. He has detailed files on certain inhabitants, establishments, and some events of the past year and a half. Looks like he even visited the area several times.
Scully shows Doggett old airline ticket stubs.
Doggett: I guess it's our turn for a trip to the desert.
ACT I
February 24, 2001. 2:34PM. County Morgue, Tucson, Arizona.
Scully, Doggett, and a technician from the morgue are walking down a hallway.
Tech: It's been a zoo here recently. We've been holding the body for a few days now, but it's been inspected already.
Scully: We just want to have a look ourselves.
Tech: Be my guest. It's in door 12-C.
Scully: Thanks.
Scully and Doggett enter a prototypical storage room of a morgue: sterile walls with rows of square metal doors containing their expected holdings.
Doggett: Here it is.
Doggett is at a door labeled "12-C" with a temporary tag listing the body to be "Grant Sorensen." Doggett pulls open the door and is welcomed with the horrific stench of decaying flesh that has not been properly refrigerated or preserved.
Doggett: Oh my God!
Scully pulls out the tray holding the body.
Scully: Why has this body not been properly refrigerated?
Doggett: I don't like this. Something is going on.
Doggett opens other doors to find those bodies properly refrigerated.
Doggett: Looks like someone didn't want us to see this body in a recognizable state.
Scully inspects the body despite its decay.
Scully: According to the coroner's report, this man died from a gunshot wound, but I see extensive trauma to the thorax and abdomen.
Doggett: Seems like someone took a sledgehammer to this guy's chest and belly.
Scully: No. Look at the pattern of damage to his skeletal system and internal organs. Whatever did this came from within.
Doggett: You mean like a Sigourney Weaver-Alien kind of thing.
Scully replies with an acerbic look. Upon further inspection, Scully detects something in the corpse's open cavity. She pulls out a pair of latex gloves, an evidence bag and a tongue depressor. She scrapes some gelatinous bluish material from the abdominal cavity with the tongue depressor and places it en bloc into her evidence bag.
Doggett: What the heck is that stuff?
Scully: I don't know, but I intend to find out.
Scully again goes to her pockets and pulls out a q-tip. She again samples the gelatinous blue material. She heads to a microscope in another part of the room, smears the blue material on a slide, places a glass coverslip onto it and looks at the slide under the microscope.
Scully: This is odd.
Doggett: What is?
Scully: Take a look.
Scully turns the microscope to Doggett. We see the blue parasite from the Hybrid Chronicles, but this time, they are not shimmering, but disfigured, dull, and immobile.
Scully: They look like a variant of a water-born parasite, but I've never seen anything like this before. They're all dead. I don't understand how they can be in a corpse of a person who has been in the desert for the past four months.
Doggett: Something tells me that we'll find answers in Roswell.
February 25, 2001. 11:18AM. Roswell, New Mexico.
Inside the Crashdown, Liz and Maria are waiting tables.
Maria: I was so happy my mom didn't kill me when I got home. But that full body search sure sucked!
Liz: What?! She did not!
Maria: Just kidding. She actually wants to invite Michael to dinner. Says something about knowing whom I'm being a free spirit with..
Liz: That's a good thing.
Maria: Yeah, as soon as I teach Michael some table manners.
Outside, Doggett and Scully are in a car pulling into a parking space. As they exit their vehicles into the bright sunlight, they look around.
Doggett: Tourist trap might have been an understatement.
Scully: Let's start with the restaurant.
The agents enter the Crashdown and take seats at the counter. Liz approaches them.
Liz: Can I help you?
Doggett: I'll have a coffee, black.
Scully: I'll have the same.
Liz: I'll be right back.
Liz turns and grabs two coffee cups from a cupboard behind her. She places a cup in front of Scully and Doggett and pours the coffee.
Scully: I was wondering if you could give us a hand.
Liz: Sure.
Scully pulls out a B&W headshot of Mulder from her pocket and shows it to Liz.
Scully: Do you recognize this man?
Liz: I think so. Maria, come over here.
Maria comes up next to Liz.
Maria: What's up?
Liz: Didn't you serve this guy the last time he came here?
Scully: The last time?
Maria: Yeah, this guy used to come in every few weeks, but last time was at least six months ago.
Doggett: How do you remember him?
Maria: Well, he had this really cool name, Fox, and he was sort of cute. Ow!
Liz gives Maria a poke in the side.
Maria: Sorry. Anyway, he asked lots of questions for a traveling vacuum salesman.
Scully and Doggett exchange looks.
Doggett: What kind of questions?
Maria: You know, stuff about aliens and the Roswell Incident, but he seemed to know more about it than any tourist I ever met.
Liz: Why are you interested in this man?
Scully and Doggett show Liz and Maria their FBI badges.
Scully: My name is Agent Dana Scully and this is Agent John Doggett. We are members of the FBI who work on cases called X-Files, cases that involve unexplainable phenomenon.
Maria: (tentatively) Like aliens?
Scully: Yes.
Liz and Maria look freaked out.
We switch to Doggett and Scully exiting the Crashdown. They are headed for their car.
Doggett: Notice how they clammed up after we showed our IDs. They're hiding something.
Scully: They're just high school students, they were probably just intimidated.
Doggett: I just have a feeling about this.
Doggett turns and notices the Jetta parked next to their car. It strikes his attention as he sees a notebook in it with Maria's name. The trunk of the vehicle also gets his attention as he notices areas where holes have been poorly repaired.
Scully: What is it?
Doggett: Nothing. We should go and check out the site where the girl was found.
We switch to Frazier Woods. Scully and Doggett are inspecting the ground.
Scully: Nothing here.
Doggett: I agree.
Doggett and Scully head further into the woods. As Doggett steps about, he takes a step and feels his foot sinking into the dirt. He sweeps away some loose brush and notices the area has some freshly dug molehills.
Doggett: Agent Scully, take a look at this.
Scully comes up from behind.
Scully: Looks like they were trying to hide something underground.
Doggett: I'll be back.
Doggett returns to his car and gets a shovel from the trunk. Upon returning to the molehills he begins to dig until he uncovers an opening. He takes off his coat and tie.
Doggett: Guess I'm the one to go in there.
Doggett shimmies his way in through the opening and turns on a flashlight.
Scully: What do you see Agent Doggett?
Doggett: It's pretty damp down here. Wait a minute.
Doggett comes over to a wall of the cavern and shines his flashlight on the same gelatinous substance they found in Grant's corpse.
ACT II
Within the interrogation room of the sheriff's office, Max is seated as Agent Scully and Doggett stand.
Doggett: Mr. Evans, do you realize that you have been placed at the scene of several events with unexplained occurrences?
Max: I have?
Doggett throws down a file in front of Max. We see newspaper clips of the Crashdown shooting, the death of Hubble and more. Max sees them flash before his eyes.
Doggett: A colleague, Fox Mulder, kept a very detailed file on you, Mr. Evans. You were placed at the Crashdown Café when a gun was fired, yet no bullet hole was ever discovered.
Max: Sheriff Valenti knows all about that already.
Doggett: Sheriff Valenti. You were with him the night he shot Everett Hubble, yet your involvement seems to be unknown and unfiled.
Doggett has another file open and points to it as he talks about Hubble. Max says nothing.
Doggett: And more recently, you and your sister, Isabel, were somehow involved in the discovery of Laurie Dupree buried in the middle of Frazier Woods.
Max: What do you want from me?
Doggett: How about some cooperation? What is your connection to all these events, Mr. Evans?
Max: I was just at the wrong places at the wrong time.
Scully, realizing that this line of questioning was going nowhere, sits down across from Max.
Scully: Mr. Evans, Max. We just want to know the truth.
Max: I've told you everything I know.
Scully: It might be of some interest to you that within those files, Agent Mulder made some outrageous suppositions about you, your sister, Isabel, and your friend, Michael Guerin.
Max is visibly perturbed by this statement, but does not respond.
Max: (shakily) Can I go now? I'm going to be late for my next class.
Scully: You can go, Max, but remember, we're here to help.
Max gives Scully a double take before leaving.
Doggett: He's definitely hiding something.
Scully: I know.
At Roswell High, Liz is putting her things away in her locker when Max comes up behind her.
Liz: Max! I didn't expect you.
Max: I didn't know who else to turn to Liz, but those two FBI agents know, about me, Isabel, and Michael.
Liz: Oh my God! Did they actually say so?
Max: No. But the female one, Scully... I'm scared.
Liz instinctively hugs Max.
Liz: I don't want anything bad to happen to you.
Later that day, Liz is in the Crashdown, working. Scully enters and upon seeing Liz, makes a beeline to her. Liz is clearly uneasy.
Scully: Ms. Parker, can we talk for a moment?
Liz: I guess.
Scully leads Liz to an empty booth in the back of the Crashdown.
Scully: Ms. Parker, may I call you Liz.
Liz: Sure.
Scully: Liz, I don't want you to get the wrong impression of Agent Doggett or me. I understand it must be threatening to sit across from an FBI agent, but I promise that my partner and I are only here to help.
Liz nods.
Scully: From what I know about you, you are a promising scientist.
Liz: How did you know that?
Scully: I have files from an agent named Topolsky, who seems to have gotten to know several students at Roswell High, including you.
Liz: Oh.
Scully: I bring this up because I think you and I have a lot in common. Although I am a FBI agent, I am also a medical doctor. I've always believed that events, no matter how extraordinary, must have some scientific basis.
Liz looks visibly comforted by these words. Here is a woman who believes in science the way she does.
Liz: Yes.
Scully: Yet over time, I have also found myself more open to the idea that there are some things that are beyond the realm of human science.
Scully gives Liz a moment to take this in.
Scully: I want you to trust me. I mean no harm to you or any of your friends.
Liz: What is it you want?
Scully: Even though I barely know you Liz, I think I can trust you. But I don't know who else I can trust. I need your help.
Liz: How can I help?
Scully: I'm going to read to you some names, and all I want you to do is nod if you think these are people I should also trust. Okay?
Liz nods.
Scully: Max Evans, Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin, Maria DeLuca, Tess Harding, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Valenti, Brody Davis.
Liz nods to each name as Scully reads them except for Brody.
Meanwhile in the sheriff's office, Doggett is seated in the interrogation room, this time with the Sheriff.
Doggett: Sheriff Valenti, why is it that in the past year and a half, there have been so many events in your jurisdiction that have gone unexplained?
Valenti: Agent Doggett, I went over this with Agent Duff just last week.
Doggett: Agent Duff may have lost her career because of what has transpired here.
Valenti: I didn't know. That's a shame.
Doggett: It would be a shame if history were to repeat itself.
Valenti: Is that a threat?
Doggett: Explain to me how on September 18, 1999, a gunshot was fired at the Crashdown Café, yet no bullet or bullet hole was ever found.
Valenti: My report is filed in this office and in city hall.
Doggett: How about Laurie Dupree? How did you know how to find that girl out in the middle of the woods?
Valenti: As I have already said, I cannot reveal my sources.
Doggett: Then tell me something Sheriff.
Valenti: Agent Doggett, we are men of the law. My life had always been black and white. If someone breaks the law, I arrest the assailant. But recently, I have found that there are events that transcend the law, even nature.
We switch to Max. As he returns home, he finds his adoptive father, Mr. Evans, just beyond the front door.
Max: Hey Dad.
Mr. Evans: Come with me.
Mr. Evans grabs Max's arm, pulls him into Max's room and closes the door.
Max: What's going on?
Before he receives a reply, Max watches his father shape-shift into a slender, silver haired man in his fifties. Max gasps in horror then raises a force field to protect himself.
Max: What did you do to my father?
Shape shifter: Relax your highness, your father is out in his Clovis office today. My methods are more subtle than Nasedo's.
Max: How do you know that name?
Shape shifter: He is... he was my colleague. Now please drop the force field. If I wanted to harm you, I could have done that as you came through the door.
Max realizing that the shape shifter was telling the truth puts down his force field, but not his defenses.
Max: Who are you?
Shape shifter: On this planet, I have taken the name Jeremiah Smith. I, along with the one you knew as Nasedo, was the other survivor of that infamous 1947 crash.
Max: Are you another protector?
Jeremiah: No. That was always Nasedo's job. I had no desire to murder humans despite my loyalty to the Royal Four. My job was to infiltrate the extra-governmental conspiracy that has sprung up since our arrival.
Max: What conspiracy?
Jeremiah: I do not have much time, so I will give you the shortened version. A few years after the government cover-up of 1947, Antarians loyal to Kivar arrived here on Earth. Most evaded detection, but others were discovered. Instead of being destroyed, those who were found revealed Kivar's plan in exchange for the humans' help.
Max: And what was Kivar's plan?
Jeremiah: In addition to the death of the Royal Four, the enslavement of the Earth's population.
If Max were not sitting, he would have fallen down.
Jeremiah: (continuing) The humans also made a deal: the invasion forces of Kivar would be delayed until the humans had devised an alien-human hybrid that could withstand the atmospheres of both Antar and Earth.
Max: But I, we are already hybrids.
Jeremiah: Yes, but up until recently, the only way to merge human and alien DNA was with the Gandarium that of which you have seen the consequences of its release into the Earth ecosystem.
Max: So why come to me now with this information?
Jeremiah: The danger to the Royal Four and the Earth is fast approaching. You must trust Dana Scully. She holds knowledge critical to your survival and you hold powers critical to her unborn child.
With that, Jeremiah stops and seems to sense something. He shape shifts again, this time into a non-descript mailman.
Jeremiah: It is unsafe for me to be with you. I must leave now.
Jeremiah climbs out through Max's window and disappears from sight leaving a stunned Max sitting on his bed.
ACT III
We see Agent Scully crossing the street heading to the UFO Center. She enters and looks around the exhibits prior to entering Brody's office.
Scully: Mr. Davis?
Brody: Yes, can I help you?
Scully shows him her FBI badge.
Scully: My name is Agent Dana Scully of the FBI.
Brody: You come as advertised.
Scully: Excuse me?
Brody: Please, have a seat. When I heard that new FBI agents with "certain" connections were in town, I called some old friends.
Scully: Who are these friends?
Brody: Three gentlemen by the names of Byers, Langley, and Frohike...
Scully: The Lone Gunmen.
Brody: Yes. Frohike seems to have a very high regard for you, Agent Scully.
Scully: How is it you know those three?
Brody: My investigations into the extraterrestrial led me to many collaborations with them.
Scully: Can we get down to business?
Brody: Certainly.
Scully: According to records in city hall, you moved to Roswell recently. What brought you here?
Brody pulls up his communications map of the United States on his monitor.
Brody: On May 14, 2000, a distinctive radio wave pattern was detected here at Roswell. I believe it was some sort of communication from aliens.
Scully: And what is your interest in aliens?
Brody: For lack of a better term, I am an abductee. It was more than 7 years ago now. I was driving my car on the Massachusetts Turnpike and poof! Two days of my life disappeared and somehow I ended up in West Virginia. I can hardly recall the tests they did on me anymore, but the amazing part of all this is that I had terminal cancer and it was gone.
Scully: When you say gone, you mean in remission.
Brody: No. I mean gone.
Scully studies Brody for a moment, sizing him up.
Scully: Mr. Davis, may I ask you something, something not routine?
Brody: Go ahead.
Scully: May I look at the back of your neck.
Brody: (puzzled) Okay.
Scully comes up behind Brody and as she had suspected, he has a small, barely perceptible scar on the back of his neck.
Scully: Mr. Davis, you have a scar on the back of your neck.
Brody: I do?
Scully: I would conjecture that you did not have that 7 years ago. I believe that an implant was placed there during your abduction.
Brody: What do I do with it?
Scully: Trust me, Mr. Davis, for the sake of your health, do not do anything to it.
Brody: How do you know so much?
Scully turns her head and raises her hair to reveal the scar on her neck.
Scully: I have also been abducted. However, when I had the implant removed, I was almost immediately inflicted with a terminal cancer that was only cured with a replacement implant.
We switch to Doggett driving his car and parking, once again, next to the Jetta. We are at Michael's apartment complex. Doggett comes up to Michael's front door and knocks. Michael opens the door.
Doggett: Michael Guerin?
Michael: Yeah? Who are you?
Doggett flashes his ID.
Doggett: My name is Agent John Doggett. May I come in?
Michael reluctantly stands aside and lets Doggett in. We see Maria, who is at first sitting on the couch, stand when she sees Doggett. Her hair is a bit tousled.
Doggett: Ms. DeLuca. Your mother told me I would find you here.
Maria: Me? You're looking for me?
Doggett: I have some questions for both of you. (to Michael) How are you connected to Laurie Dupree?
Michael: She's a long lost relative.
Doggett is walking around, looking about while talking.
Doggett: Is it okay for me to look around?
Michael: Yeah.
Doggett: What is your connection to the death of Grant Sorensen?
Maria: We were just witnesses. Agent Duff was the one who shot him.
Doggett: Yes. And on the topic of guns, Ms. DeLuca, can you explain to me why your car has evidence of damage from gunfire?
Maria: Uh... I didn't know that.
Behind Doggett, Michael gives Maria a look of "why couldn't you say something better." Maria responds with an exasperated shrug.
Doggett: According to records from the Launch Pad Auto Body shop, your car has been repaired upwards of 5 times in the past 15 months. Bodywork to every conceivable part of the car, a new rear window, an engine fire, and several interior trim pieces. That doesn't sound like regular wear and tear to me.
Michael: Where are you headed with this?
Doggett: Why don't you tell me, Mr. Guerin? (to Maria) And Ms. DeLuca, who is Sean DeLuca?
Maria: Oh, you can take him away if you want.
Michael gives her a "be serious" look.
Maria: Just kidding. He's my cousin who just got out of jail.
Doggett continues to walk around and notices a bag sticking out from under the couch.
Doggett: What is this?
Michael: Uh, nothing.
Doggett pulls out a bag containing the $50,000 from the Duprees.
Doggett: (pulling out the money) I hardly think this amount of money is nothing.
Maria and Michael have no response.
We switch to Doggett back in his car, talking on his cell phone. Scully is in an empty Sheriff's station.
Doggett: I'm not sure what they're trying to hide Agent Scully, but I think it has to do with Max Evans.
Scully: This whole thing seems to center on him.
Doggett: Michael Guerin and Maria DeLuca gave me some story that the money I found was from the Dupree family in Tucson.
Scully: But you think it could be some sort of blood money.
Doggett: I don't know what to believe right now. I just hope we aren't looking at a serial murderer.
Scully: I don't think that of Max Evans. I think there are factors here beyond our comprehension right now.
Doggett: I'm on my way back to your location.
Scully: I'll talk to you then.
They hang up from the phone. Scully turns around to see Max.
Scully: Max, how long have you been standing there?
Max: Long enough Agent Scully.
Scully: What are you doing here?
Max: You told me you wanted to help? I think I need your help now.
Scully: Let's go somewhere else to talk.
Max nods and he follows Scully into the interrogation room.
Max: Can I trust that what I say now is done in confidence?
Scully: Certainly.
Max: What do you know about Jeremiah Smith?
Scully: (surprised to hear the name) It's been a few years since I last heard that name. In May of 1996, Jeremiah Smith was implicated in an incident at a fast food restaurant. A man holding several customers hostage was shot by a police marksman only to be found unharmed minutes later. This man claimed that Jeremiah Smith placed his palm on his chest and healed his wound.
Max: And what about a government conspiracy?
Scully: From years of investigation, my part... former partner, Fox Mulder, and I have uncovered information about a group of men led by a cigarette-smoking man who have had contact with extraterrestrials. Their goals, we believe, are to prepare the world for an impending invasion by a warring faction of aliens.
Max is both stunned and relieved. He trusted Scully and so far she has come clean with him.
Max: Agent Scully, what I am about to tell you put my friends and me in great danger.
Scully: I understand.
Max: I, along with my sister, Isabel, Michael Guerin, and Tess Harding, are alien-human hybrids. We were placed on Earth to protect us from our enemies. Jeremiah Smith came to me earlier today. He told me that you were important to our survival, but he also told me that I was important to the well being of your unborn baby.
Scully suddenly stands up.
Scully: (upset) How do you know I'm pregnant?
Max: Jeremiah Smith told me and I can somehow sense it in you.
They stare at each other for a moment.
Max: We know each other's deepest secrets. We need to trust each other now.
ACT IV
Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess are in Michael's apartment.
Isabel: You told the FBI woman! Oh my God! It's happening all over again!
Tess: What did you tell her?
Max: I told her everything.
Michael: What the hell is wrong with you Maxwell? Don't you remember the White Room?!
Max: Of course I do. She mentioned that the conspiracy is led by a cigarette-smoking man. I remember the stench of cigarettes while I was there.
Michael: That doesn't prove anything.
Max: What was I supposed to do? Jeremiah Smith told me to trust her.
Michael: How can we be sure who this Jeremiah Smith guy is? What if he's one of our enemies?
Isabel: I agree with Michael.
Tess: Look, Max knows what he's doing. We have to trust him.
Michael: Not when he makes unilateral decisions that involve all of us.
Isabel: What if she's Pierce's replacement?
Michael: And what about that Doggett guy? He did a good job scaring Maria and me.
Max: We would all have been carted away by now if she's an alien hunter. And she promised we could trust her partner too.
Tess: So what now Max?
Max: We meet tonight at the UFO Center. All of us.
Meanwhile, Scully is on the phone, talking to a laboratory technician in Washington, DC.
Tech: (on the phone) We have no records of anything coming from that part of the country.
Scully: What do you mean?! I sent it via secured courier two days ago.
Tech: I don't know what to tell you Agent Scully, if you sent it, it never made it here. Sorry.
Scully: Not as sorry as I am.
She hangs up the phone and in comes Doggett.
Scully: The samples we sent to Washington are missing.
Doggett: How could that be?
Scully: (discouraged) I don't know.
Doggett: I checked out Michael Guerin's story and it turns out he's telling the truth. Bank records show that a Robert Dupree withdrew $50,000 in cash from an account the day Guerin says he got the money.
Scully: But you're still not convinced.
Doggett: I think we need to question Max Evans again. He's the ringleader in all this.
Scully: He is the leader, but not of what you think.
Doggett: Come again.
Scully: Agent Doggett, we haven't been partners for very long and I know I have asked a lot of you already. But with what happens tonight, I need to have your trust.
Doggett: You've always had that.
Scully: No. I need your absolute trust.
Scully and Doggett share the moment, absorbing its importance.
Meanwhile, Liz is on the deck outside her window contemplating. She hears a voice from the street below.
Max: Liz.
Liz leans over and sees Max.
Liz: Max.
Max: Can I come up?
Liz nods and Max climbs the fire escape.
Max: I needed to talk to you.
Liz: About what?
Max: I want you to know that no matter what has come between us, I... I still care you.
Liz: Max.
Liz becomes tearful.
Max: But if something happens tonight to me or one of us...
Liz: Don't talk like that.
We switch to later than night. Michael and Maria are walking towards the UFO Center.
Michael: I still think this is a bad idea. I don't trust either of those two agents.
Maria: We have no choice. All we can do is be there to back Max.
Michael: Just when I thought my life was getting some semblance of normalcy, Maxwell has to ruin it.
Maria: You'll always have me.
Michael and Maria hug before entering the UFO Center. Inside they find everyone else is already assembled: Max, Liz, Isabel, Tess, Alex, Kyle, and Sheriff Valenti.
Max: We were starting to get worried about you.
Michael: Don't worry about me. You should be worried if Scully isn't what she's says she is.
Tess: We're all here together, that's what's important.
Liz: Tess is right.
Tess and Liz share a rare moment of collaboration.
Michael: But if things don't go right, I'm ready to defend...
Scully's voice: That won't be necessary, Mr. Guerin.
Everyone looks to the stairs and see Scully and Doggett entering the UFO Center.
Scully: We mean you no harm. You have my word and Agent Doggett's word on that.
Max: What is it that you wanted to show us?
Scully pulls out a small, silver, cylindrical instrument not much larger than a pen. She displays it to the Roswellians. She then presses a small button at the base and with a smooth metallic whoosh, a sharp pick-like extension comes out of one end.
Michael: Watch out!
Michael immediately goes into attack position, his right arm extended, while Sheriff Valenti and Agent Doggett go for their guns. Doggett immediately stands closer to Scully, partially blocking her from Michael. They face off, Michael ready to use his powers on Scully, Doggett pointing his gun at Michael while Valenti aims at Doggett. The situation is excruciatingly tense.
Scully: Stand down, Agent Doggett!
Doggett: What?! At least two of them are ready to attack us.
Scully: John!
This gets Doggett's attention.
Scully: Trust me.
Doggett looks at Scully and relaxes his stance. He points his gun towards the ceiling, slowly releases his grip on the trigger and very slowly puts it on the ground. He steps back with his hands up.
Doggett: We're no longer armed.
Michael: Then what the hell is that in her hand?!
Michael's right hand begins to glow white, ready to attack Scully.
Scully: This IS a weapon, but not one intended to hurt any of you.
Max puts his hand on Michael's arm.
Max: Relax, Michael. I believe her.
Michael looks at Max and accepting Max's leadership, backs off and puts down his arm. Max looks at Sheriff Valenti who also backs off and reholsters his pistol. Maria runs up and grabs Michael. They hold each other. We can see the rest of the group is at the brink of panic and breakdown. After a few more moments of tense silence, Scully begins.
Scully: On previous occasions, Agent Mulder and I have faced what I can only describe as a shape-shifting alien bounty hunter. This is the only method that we know can kill them: a direct stab into the base of the back of the neck.
Scully presses the button again and the sharp extension retracts into the handle. Scully rotates the weapon in her hand so that the opening for the spike points towards her and slowly advances towards Max.
Scully: I assume that their ultimate goal is the four of you.
Scully looks at the Royal Four. Scully hands the weapon to Max, who inspects it and gives it to Michael. He then turns his attention back to Scully. They share an unspoken communication. Scully walks over to a chair off to the side. Doggett follows behind her, acting as her protector. Max approaches her with the other Roswellians converging behind him.
Scully then pulls up her blouse to reveal her abdomen, slightly bulging from her pregnancy. She looks up at Doggett, who gives her a look of silent understanding.
Max: (to Scully) I'm going to need you to look at me and concentrate on your baby.
Scully, somewhat apprehensive, nods. She raises her hand towards Doggett who takes it and holds it. Max places his hands on her belly and begins to concentrate. Suddenly images flash in his mind: Scully as a child on a military base, at her father's funeral, during boot camp, during her abduction, with Mulder, with Doggett, and finally an image of the unborn fetus within her.
Max strains with the effort and finally finishes. Max almost falls from his efforts but Liz is there to catch him. He looks up to Scully, who is crying.
Scully: You saved my baby.
Scully and Max hug.
We switch to Doggett driving the car with Scully convalescing in the passenger seat. She looks exhausted, but she and Doggett share a smile as they drive off into the night.
Back in Roswell, Max and Liz are outside the Crashdown.
Max: Her baby had a... "genetic" defect.
Liz: That was such a brave thing you did Max.
Max: Not as brave as we have to be when we face our enemies.
Max pulls out the weapon and releases its spike.
The End.
Author: Michael Sim
Email: simgolfer@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The characters and settings of Roswell in this story are the property of Regency Television, Jason Katims Productions and the Warner Brothers Corporation. The characters of X-Files are the property of 20th Century Fox Television and 10-13 Productions. All use is for the sole purpose of fictional storytelling.
Summary: Immediately after the Hybrid Chronicles and the 02/18/01 episode of the X-Files (Per Manum), unwanted attention is placed on our Roswellians by a duo of FBI agents named Scully and Doggett. (This story relates the many similarities/parallels between the mythologies of Roswell and the X-Files)
Category: Other and Crossover (X-Files)
PROLOGUE
February 23, 2001, 9:02AM. FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC.
We are in a large, dark conference room. A panel of FBI assistant directors and directors are seated on one side of the table while Agent Suzanne Duff sits across from them. There is a palpable tension in the air.
Director: Agent Duff, you have been summoned here to Washington, DC due to your recent actions in Roswell, New Mexico.
Duff: Yes, Director Schilling.
Director: Your report states that there was inconclusive proof as to the occurrences surrounding a Laurie Dupree's abduction and subsequent retrieval. Your report also seems to be lacking information during certain time periods. Further, your initial correspondences have the town sheriff, James Valenti, as a possible accomplice.
Duff: Sir, with further investigation, I discovered that the sheriff, in fact, did not play a role in the kidnapping.
Director: (almost ignoring her) And more so, you used federal influence to have him reinstated in his county appointed position. That is an abuse of your position, Agent Duff.
Duff: I understand and I accept the consequences of my actions.
Director: Your actions may lead to your eventual discharge from the FBI.
Duff: Yes.
Director: Agent Duff, your superiors in New Mexico describe you as a very talented, up and coming agent on the fast track to an assistant directorship. Do you want to throw it all away on a small town kidnapping?
Duff: I stand by my report and my actions, Sir.
Director: You leave me no choice, but to relieve you of all duties pending further investigation.
Assistant Director Skinner speaks up.
Skinner: Director Schilling, if I may? I would like to take over this investigation.
The whole panel looks at Skinner and begins whispering to each other, astonished that he would speak up.
Director: (looking first to the side) I find no objections in you taking over, AD Skinner.
Skinner looks at Duff. The panel disbands with a discouraged Duff, who does not move from her chair. Skinner comes up to her.
Skinner: Agent Duff, I personally assure you that your case will fall in the proper hands.
Duff: Thank you, Sir.
Skinner leaves. As Duff gets up to leave, she notices for the first time a grey haired man in his late fifties standing in the shadows of the room smoking a cigarette.
Later than morning, we switch to the basement office of Agents Dana Scully and John Doggett. They operate a small branch of the FBI called the X-Files. They are seated at their desks going through files.
Scully: Roswell seems too obvious a place for us to investigate.
Doggett: Yeah, even I saw the TV special about the whole 1947 UFO crash. I hear that the place is just a big tourist trap. Yet somehow, Skinner stuck his neck out to give us this case.
Scully: Seems there have been questions raised as to extraterrestrial involvement in assorted crimes in the area. I would have thought it all a big hoax myself, until I went through some of Mulder's old files.
Doggett: What did you find?
Scully: Unbeknownst to me, it seems Mulder was a big fan of Roswell. He has detailed files on certain inhabitants, establishments, and some events of the past year and a half. Looks like he even visited the area several times.
Scully shows Doggett old airline ticket stubs.
Doggett: I guess it's our turn for a trip to the desert.
ACT I
February 24, 2001. 2:34PM. County Morgue, Tucson, Arizona.
Scully, Doggett, and a technician from the morgue are walking down a hallway.
Tech: It's been a zoo here recently. We've been holding the body for a few days now, but it's been inspected already.
Scully: We just want to have a look ourselves.
Tech: Be my guest. It's in door 12-C.
Scully: Thanks.
Scully and Doggett enter a prototypical storage room of a morgue: sterile walls with rows of square metal doors containing their expected holdings.
Doggett: Here it is.
Doggett is at a door labeled "12-C" with a temporary tag listing the body to be "Grant Sorensen." Doggett pulls open the door and is welcomed with the horrific stench of decaying flesh that has not been properly refrigerated or preserved.
Doggett: Oh my God!
Scully pulls out the tray holding the body.
Scully: Why has this body not been properly refrigerated?
Doggett: I don't like this. Something is going on.
Doggett opens other doors to find those bodies properly refrigerated.
Doggett: Looks like someone didn't want us to see this body in a recognizable state.
Scully inspects the body despite its decay.
Scully: According to the coroner's report, this man died from a gunshot wound, but I see extensive trauma to the thorax and abdomen.
Doggett: Seems like someone took a sledgehammer to this guy's chest and belly.
Scully: No. Look at the pattern of damage to his skeletal system and internal organs. Whatever did this came from within.
Doggett: You mean like a Sigourney Weaver-Alien kind of thing.
Scully replies with an acerbic look. Upon further inspection, Scully detects something in the corpse's open cavity. She pulls out a pair of latex gloves, an evidence bag and a tongue depressor. She scrapes some gelatinous bluish material from the abdominal cavity with the tongue depressor and places it en bloc into her evidence bag.
Doggett: What the heck is that stuff?
Scully: I don't know, but I intend to find out.
Scully again goes to her pockets and pulls out a q-tip. She again samples the gelatinous blue material. She heads to a microscope in another part of the room, smears the blue material on a slide, places a glass coverslip onto it and looks at the slide under the microscope.
Scully: This is odd.
Doggett: What is?
Scully: Take a look.
Scully turns the microscope to Doggett. We see the blue parasite from the Hybrid Chronicles, but this time, they are not shimmering, but disfigured, dull, and immobile.
Scully: They look like a variant of a water-born parasite, but I've never seen anything like this before. They're all dead. I don't understand how they can be in a corpse of a person who has been in the desert for the past four months.
Doggett: Something tells me that we'll find answers in Roswell.
February 25, 2001. 11:18AM. Roswell, New Mexico.
Inside the Crashdown, Liz and Maria are waiting tables.
Maria: I was so happy my mom didn't kill me when I got home. But that full body search sure sucked!
Liz: What?! She did not!
Maria: Just kidding. She actually wants to invite Michael to dinner. Says something about knowing whom I'm being a free spirit with..
Liz: That's a good thing.
Maria: Yeah, as soon as I teach Michael some table manners.
Outside, Doggett and Scully are in a car pulling into a parking space. As they exit their vehicles into the bright sunlight, they look around.
Doggett: Tourist trap might have been an understatement.
Scully: Let's start with the restaurant.
The agents enter the Crashdown and take seats at the counter. Liz approaches them.
Liz: Can I help you?
Doggett: I'll have a coffee, black.
Scully: I'll have the same.
Liz: I'll be right back.
Liz turns and grabs two coffee cups from a cupboard behind her. She places a cup in front of Scully and Doggett and pours the coffee.
Scully: I was wondering if you could give us a hand.
Liz: Sure.
Scully pulls out a B&W headshot of Mulder from her pocket and shows it to Liz.
Scully: Do you recognize this man?
Liz: I think so. Maria, come over here.
Maria comes up next to Liz.
Maria: What's up?
Liz: Didn't you serve this guy the last time he came here?
Scully: The last time?
Maria: Yeah, this guy used to come in every few weeks, but last time was at least six months ago.
Doggett: How do you remember him?
Maria: Well, he had this really cool name, Fox, and he was sort of cute. Ow!
Liz gives Maria a poke in the side.
Maria: Sorry. Anyway, he asked lots of questions for a traveling vacuum salesman.
Scully and Doggett exchange looks.
Doggett: What kind of questions?
Maria: You know, stuff about aliens and the Roswell Incident, but he seemed to know more about it than any tourist I ever met.
Liz: Why are you interested in this man?
Scully and Doggett show Liz and Maria their FBI badges.
Scully: My name is Agent Dana Scully and this is Agent John Doggett. We are members of the FBI who work on cases called X-Files, cases that involve unexplainable phenomenon.
Maria: (tentatively) Like aliens?
Scully: Yes.
Liz and Maria look freaked out.
We switch to Doggett and Scully exiting the Crashdown. They are headed for their car.
Doggett: Notice how they clammed up after we showed our IDs. They're hiding something.
Scully: They're just high school students, they were probably just intimidated.
Doggett: I just have a feeling about this.
Doggett turns and notices the Jetta parked next to their car. It strikes his attention as he sees a notebook in it with Maria's name. The trunk of the vehicle also gets his attention as he notices areas where holes have been poorly repaired.
Scully: What is it?
Doggett: Nothing. We should go and check out the site where the girl was found.
We switch to Frazier Woods. Scully and Doggett are inspecting the ground.
Scully: Nothing here.
Doggett: I agree.
Doggett and Scully head further into the woods. As Doggett steps about, he takes a step and feels his foot sinking into the dirt. He sweeps away some loose brush and notices the area has some freshly dug molehills.
Doggett: Agent Scully, take a look at this.
Scully comes up from behind.
Scully: Looks like they were trying to hide something underground.
Doggett: I'll be back.
Doggett returns to his car and gets a shovel from the trunk. Upon returning to the molehills he begins to dig until he uncovers an opening. He takes off his coat and tie.
Doggett: Guess I'm the one to go in there.
Doggett shimmies his way in through the opening and turns on a flashlight.
Scully: What do you see Agent Doggett?
Doggett: It's pretty damp down here. Wait a minute.
Doggett comes over to a wall of the cavern and shines his flashlight on the same gelatinous substance they found in Grant's corpse.
ACT II
Within the interrogation room of the sheriff's office, Max is seated as Agent Scully and Doggett stand.
Doggett: Mr. Evans, do you realize that you have been placed at the scene of several events with unexplained occurrences?
Max: I have?
Doggett throws down a file in front of Max. We see newspaper clips of the Crashdown shooting, the death of Hubble and more. Max sees them flash before his eyes.
Doggett: A colleague, Fox Mulder, kept a very detailed file on you, Mr. Evans. You were placed at the Crashdown Café when a gun was fired, yet no bullet hole was ever discovered.
Max: Sheriff Valenti knows all about that already.
Doggett: Sheriff Valenti. You were with him the night he shot Everett Hubble, yet your involvement seems to be unknown and unfiled.
Doggett has another file open and points to it as he talks about Hubble. Max says nothing.
Doggett: And more recently, you and your sister, Isabel, were somehow involved in the discovery of Laurie Dupree buried in the middle of Frazier Woods.
Max: What do you want from me?
Doggett: How about some cooperation? What is your connection to all these events, Mr. Evans?
Max: I was just at the wrong places at the wrong time.
Scully, realizing that this line of questioning was going nowhere, sits down across from Max.
Scully: Mr. Evans, Max. We just want to know the truth.
Max: I've told you everything I know.
Scully: It might be of some interest to you that within those files, Agent Mulder made some outrageous suppositions about you, your sister, Isabel, and your friend, Michael Guerin.
Max is visibly perturbed by this statement, but does not respond.
Max: (shakily) Can I go now? I'm going to be late for my next class.
Scully: You can go, Max, but remember, we're here to help.
Max gives Scully a double take before leaving.
Doggett: He's definitely hiding something.
Scully: I know.
At Roswell High, Liz is putting her things away in her locker when Max comes up behind her.
Liz: Max! I didn't expect you.
Max: I didn't know who else to turn to Liz, but those two FBI agents know, about me, Isabel, and Michael.
Liz: Oh my God! Did they actually say so?
Max: No. But the female one, Scully... I'm scared.
Liz instinctively hugs Max.
Liz: I don't want anything bad to happen to you.
Later that day, Liz is in the Crashdown, working. Scully enters and upon seeing Liz, makes a beeline to her. Liz is clearly uneasy.
Scully: Ms. Parker, can we talk for a moment?
Liz: I guess.
Scully leads Liz to an empty booth in the back of the Crashdown.
Scully: Ms. Parker, may I call you Liz.
Liz: Sure.
Scully: Liz, I don't want you to get the wrong impression of Agent Doggett or me. I understand it must be threatening to sit across from an FBI agent, but I promise that my partner and I are only here to help.
Liz nods.
Scully: From what I know about you, you are a promising scientist.
Liz: How did you know that?
Scully: I have files from an agent named Topolsky, who seems to have gotten to know several students at Roswell High, including you.
Liz: Oh.
Scully: I bring this up because I think you and I have a lot in common. Although I am a FBI agent, I am also a medical doctor. I've always believed that events, no matter how extraordinary, must have some scientific basis.
Liz looks visibly comforted by these words. Here is a woman who believes in science the way she does.
Liz: Yes.
Scully: Yet over time, I have also found myself more open to the idea that there are some things that are beyond the realm of human science.
Scully gives Liz a moment to take this in.
Scully: I want you to trust me. I mean no harm to you or any of your friends.
Liz: What is it you want?
Scully: Even though I barely know you Liz, I think I can trust you. But I don't know who else I can trust. I need your help.
Liz: How can I help?
Scully: I'm going to read to you some names, and all I want you to do is nod if you think these are people I should also trust. Okay?
Liz nods.
Scully: Max Evans, Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin, Maria DeLuca, Tess Harding, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Valenti, Brody Davis.
Liz nods to each name as Scully reads them except for Brody.
Meanwhile in the sheriff's office, Doggett is seated in the interrogation room, this time with the Sheriff.
Doggett: Sheriff Valenti, why is it that in the past year and a half, there have been so many events in your jurisdiction that have gone unexplained?
Valenti: Agent Doggett, I went over this with Agent Duff just last week.
Doggett: Agent Duff may have lost her career because of what has transpired here.
Valenti: I didn't know. That's a shame.
Doggett: It would be a shame if history were to repeat itself.
Valenti: Is that a threat?
Doggett: Explain to me how on September 18, 1999, a gunshot was fired at the Crashdown Café, yet no bullet or bullet hole was ever found.
Valenti: My report is filed in this office and in city hall.
Doggett: How about Laurie Dupree? How did you know how to find that girl out in the middle of the woods?
Valenti: As I have already said, I cannot reveal my sources.
Doggett: Then tell me something Sheriff.
Valenti: Agent Doggett, we are men of the law. My life had always been black and white. If someone breaks the law, I arrest the assailant. But recently, I have found that there are events that transcend the law, even nature.
We switch to Max. As he returns home, he finds his adoptive father, Mr. Evans, just beyond the front door.
Max: Hey Dad.
Mr. Evans: Come with me.
Mr. Evans grabs Max's arm, pulls him into Max's room and closes the door.
Max: What's going on?
Before he receives a reply, Max watches his father shape-shift into a slender, silver haired man in his fifties. Max gasps in horror then raises a force field to protect himself.
Max: What did you do to my father?
Shape shifter: Relax your highness, your father is out in his Clovis office today. My methods are more subtle than Nasedo's.
Max: How do you know that name?
Shape shifter: He is... he was my colleague. Now please drop the force field. If I wanted to harm you, I could have done that as you came through the door.
Max realizing that the shape shifter was telling the truth puts down his force field, but not his defenses.
Max: Who are you?
Shape shifter: On this planet, I have taken the name Jeremiah Smith. I, along with the one you knew as Nasedo, was the other survivor of that infamous 1947 crash.
Max: Are you another protector?
Jeremiah: No. That was always Nasedo's job. I had no desire to murder humans despite my loyalty to the Royal Four. My job was to infiltrate the extra-governmental conspiracy that has sprung up since our arrival.
Max: What conspiracy?
Jeremiah: I do not have much time, so I will give you the shortened version. A few years after the government cover-up of 1947, Antarians loyal to Kivar arrived here on Earth. Most evaded detection, but others were discovered. Instead of being destroyed, those who were found revealed Kivar's plan in exchange for the humans' help.
Max: And what was Kivar's plan?
Jeremiah: In addition to the death of the Royal Four, the enslavement of the Earth's population.
If Max were not sitting, he would have fallen down.
Jeremiah: (continuing) The humans also made a deal: the invasion forces of Kivar would be delayed until the humans had devised an alien-human hybrid that could withstand the atmospheres of both Antar and Earth.
Max: But I, we are already hybrids.
Jeremiah: Yes, but up until recently, the only way to merge human and alien DNA was with the Gandarium that of which you have seen the consequences of its release into the Earth ecosystem.
Max: So why come to me now with this information?
Jeremiah: The danger to the Royal Four and the Earth is fast approaching. You must trust Dana Scully. She holds knowledge critical to your survival and you hold powers critical to her unborn child.
With that, Jeremiah stops and seems to sense something. He shape shifts again, this time into a non-descript mailman.
Jeremiah: It is unsafe for me to be with you. I must leave now.
Jeremiah climbs out through Max's window and disappears from sight leaving a stunned Max sitting on his bed.
ACT III
We see Agent Scully crossing the street heading to the UFO Center. She enters and looks around the exhibits prior to entering Brody's office.
Scully: Mr. Davis?
Brody: Yes, can I help you?
Scully shows him her FBI badge.
Scully: My name is Agent Dana Scully of the FBI.
Brody: You come as advertised.
Scully: Excuse me?
Brody: Please, have a seat. When I heard that new FBI agents with "certain" connections were in town, I called some old friends.
Scully: Who are these friends?
Brody: Three gentlemen by the names of Byers, Langley, and Frohike...
Scully: The Lone Gunmen.
Brody: Yes. Frohike seems to have a very high regard for you, Agent Scully.
Scully: How is it you know those three?
Brody: My investigations into the extraterrestrial led me to many collaborations with them.
Scully: Can we get down to business?
Brody: Certainly.
Scully: According to records in city hall, you moved to Roswell recently. What brought you here?
Brody pulls up his communications map of the United States on his monitor.
Brody: On May 14, 2000, a distinctive radio wave pattern was detected here at Roswell. I believe it was some sort of communication from aliens.
Scully: And what is your interest in aliens?
Brody: For lack of a better term, I am an abductee. It was more than 7 years ago now. I was driving my car on the Massachusetts Turnpike and poof! Two days of my life disappeared and somehow I ended up in West Virginia. I can hardly recall the tests they did on me anymore, but the amazing part of all this is that I had terminal cancer and it was gone.
Scully: When you say gone, you mean in remission.
Brody: No. I mean gone.
Scully studies Brody for a moment, sizing him up.
Scully: Mr. Davis, may I ask you something, something not routine?
Brody: Go ahead.
Scully: May I look at the back of your neck.
Brody: (puzzled) Okay.
Scully comes up behind Brody and as she had suspected, he has a small, barely perceptible scar on the back of his neck.
Scully: Mr. Davis, you have a scar on the back of your neck.
Brody: I do?
Scully: I would conjecture that you did not have that 7 years ago. I believe that an implant was placed there during your abduction.
Brody: What do I do with it?
Scully: Trust me, Mr. Davis, for the sake of your health, do not do anything to it.
Brody: How do you know so much?
Scully turns her head and raises her hair to reveal the scar on her neck.
Scully: I have also been abducted. However, when I had the implant removed, I was almost immediately inflicted with a terminal cancer that was only cured with a replacement implant.
We switch to Doggett driving his car and parking, once again, next to the Jetta. We are at Michael's apartment complex. Doggett comes up to Michael's front door and knocks. Michael opens the door.
Doggett: Michael Guerin?
Michael: Yeah? Who are you?
Doggett flashes his ID.
Doggett: My name is Agent John Doggett. May I come in?
Michael reluctantly stands aside and lets Doggett in. We see Maria, who is at first sitting on the couch, stand when she sees Doggett. Her hair is a bit tousled.
Doggett: Ms. DeLuca. Your mother told me I would find you here.
Maria: Me? You're looking for me?
Doggett: I have some questions for both of you. (to Michael) How are you connected to Laurie Dupree?
Michael: She's a long lost relative.
Doggett is walking around, looking about while talking.
Doggett: Is it okay for me to look around?
Michael: Yeah.
Doggett: What is your connection to the death of Grant Sorensen?
Maria: We were just witnesses. Agent Duff was the one who shot him.
Doggett: Yes. And on the topic of guns, Ms. DeLuca, can you explain to me why your car has evidence of damage from gunfire?
Maria: Uh... I didn't know that.
Behind Doggett, Michael gives Maria a look of "why couldn't you say something better." Maria responds with an exasperated shrug.
Doggett: According to records from the Launch Pad Auto Body shop, your car has been repaired upwards of 5 times in the past 15 months. Bodywork to every conceivable part of the car, a new rear window, an engine fire, and several interior trim pieces. That doesn't sound like regular wear and tear to me.
Michael: Where are you headed with this?
Doggett: Why don't you tell me, Mr. Guerin? (to Maria) And Ms. DeLuca, who is Sean DeLuca?
Maria: Oh, you can take him away if you want.
Michael gives her a "be serious" look.
Maria: Just kidding. He's my cousin who just got out of jail.
Doggett continues to walk around and notices a bag sticking out from under the couch.
Doggett: What is this?
Michael: Uh, nothing.
Doggett pulls out a bag containing the $50,000 from the Duprees.
Doggett: (pulling out the money) I hardly think this amount of money is nothing.
Maria and Michael have no response.
We switch to Doggett back in his car, talking on his cell phone. Scully is in an empty Sheriff's station.
Doggett: I'm not sure what they're trying to hide Agent Scully, but I think it has to do with Max Evans.
Scully: This whole thing seems to center on him.
Doggett: Michael Guerin and Maria DeLuca gave me some story that the money I found was from the Dupree family in Tucson.
Scully: But you think it could be some sort of blood money.
Doggett: I don't know what to believe right now. I just hope we aren't looking at a serial murderer.
Scully: I don't think that of Max Evans. I think there are factors here beyond our comprehension right now.
Doggett: I'm on my way back to your location.
Scully: I'll talk to you then.
They hang up from the phone. Scully turns around to see Max.
Scully: Max, how long have you been standing there?
Max: Long enough Agent Scully.
Scully: What are you doing here?
Max: You told me you wanted to help? I think I need your help now.
Scully: Let's go somewhere else to talk.
Max nods and he follows Scully into the interrogation room.
Max: Can I trust that what I say now is done in confidence?
Scully: Certainly.
Max: What do you know about Jeremiah Smith?
Scully: (surprised to hear the name) It's been a few years since I last heard that name. In May of 1996, Jeremiah Smith was implicated in an incident at a fast food restaurant. A man holding several customers hostage was shot by a police marksman only to be found unharmed minutes later. This man claimed that Jeremiah Smith placed his palm on his chest and healed his wound.
Max: And what about a government conspiracy?
Scully: From years of investigation, my part... former partner, Fox Mulder, and I have uncovered information about a group of men led by a cigarette-smoking man who have had contact with extraterrestrials. Their goals, we believe, are to prepare the world for an impending invasion by a warring faction of aliens.
Max is both stunned and relieved. He trusted Scully and so far she has come clean with him.
Max: Agent Scully, what I am about to tell you put my friends and me in great danger.
Scully: I understand.
Max: I, along with my sister, Isabel, Michael Guerin, and Tess Harding, are alien-human hybrids. We were placed on Earth to protect us from our enemies. Jeremiah Smith came to me earlier today. He told me that you were important to our survival, but he also told me that I was important to the well being of your unborn baby.
Scully suddenly stands up.
Scully: (upset) How do you know I'm pregnant?
Max: Jeremiah Smith told me and I can somehow sense it in you.
They stare at each other for a moment.
Max: We know each other's deepest secrets. We need to trust each other now.
ACT IV
Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess are in Michael's apartment.
Isabel: You told the FBI woman! Oh my God! It's happening all over again!
Tess: What did you tell her?
Max: I told her everything.
Michael: What the hell is wrong with you Maxwell? Don't you remember the White Room?!
Max: Of course I do. She mentioned that the conspiracy is led by a cigarette-smoking man. I remember the stench of cigarettes while I was there.
Michael: That doesn't prove anything.
Max: What was I supposed to do? Jeremiah Smith told me to trust her.
Michael: How can we be sure who this Jeremiah Smith guy is? What if he's one of our enemies?
Isabel: I agree with Michael.
Tess: Look, Max knows what he's doing. We have to trust him.
Michael: Not when he makes unilateral decisions that involve all of us.
Isabel: What if she's Pierce's replacement?
Michael: And what about that Doggett guy? He did a good job scaring Maria and me.
Max: We would all have been carted away by now if she's an alien hunter. And she promised we could trust her partner too.
Tess: So what now Max?
Max: We meet tonight at the UFO Center. All of us.
Meanwhile, Scully is on the phone, talking to a laboratory technician in Washington, DC.
Tech: (on the phone) We have no records of anything coming from that part of the country.
Scully: What do you mean?! I sent it via secured courier two days ago.
Tech: I don't know what to tell you Agent Scully, if you sent it, it never made it here. Sorry.
Scully: Not as sorry as I am.
She hangs up the phone and in comes Doggett.
Scully: The samples we sent to Washington are missing.
Doggett: How could that be?
Scully: (discouraged) I don't know.
Doggett: I checked out Michael Guerin's story and it turns out he's telling the truth. Bank records show that a Robert Dupree withdrew $50,000 in cash from an account the day Guerin says he got the money.
Scully: But you're still not convinced.
Doggett: I think we need to question Max Evans again. He's the ringleader in all this.
Scully: He is the leader, but not of what you think.
Doggett: Come again.
Scully: Agent Doggett, we haven't been partners for very long and I know I have asked a lot of you already. But with what happens tonight, I need to have your trust.
Doggett: You've always had that.
Scully: No. I need your absolute trust.
Scully and Doggett share the moment, absorbing its importance.
Meanwhile, Liz is on the deck outside her window contemplating. She hears a voice from the street below.
Max: Liz.
Liz leans over and sees Max.
Liz: Max.
Max: Can I come up?
Liz nods and Max climbs the fire escape.
Max: I needed to talk to you.
Liz: About what?
Max: I want you to know that no matter what has come between us, I... I still care you.
Liz: Max.
Liz becomes tearful.
Max: But if something happens tonight to me or one of us...
Liz: Don't talk like that.
We switch to later than night. Michael and Maria are walking towards the UFO Center.
Michael: I still think this is a bad idea. I don't trust either of those two agents.
Maria: We have no choice. All we can do is be there to back Max.
Michael: Just when I thought my life was getting some semblance of normalcy, Maxwell has to ruin it.
Maria: You'll always have me.
Michael and Maria hug before entering the UFO Center. Inside they find everyone else is already assembled: Max, Liz, Isabel, Tess, Alex, Kyle, and Sheriff Valenti.
Max: We were starting to get worried about you.
Michael: Don't worry about me. You should be worried if Scully isn't what she's says she is.
Tess: We're all here together, that's what's important.
Liz: Tess is right.
Tess and Liz share a rare moment of collaboration.
Michael: But if things don't go right, I'm ready to defend...
Scully's voice: That won't be necessary, Mr. Guerin.
Everyone looks to the stairs and see Scully and Doggett entering the UFO Center.
Scully: We mean you no harm. You have my word and Agent Doggett's word on that.
Max: What is it that you wanted to show us?
Scully pulls out a small, silver, cylindrical instrument not much larger than a pen. She displays it to the Roswellians. She then presses a small button at the base and with a smooth metallic whoosh, a sharp pick-like extension comes out of one end.
Michael: Watch out!
Michael immediately goes into attack position, his right arm extended, while Sheriff Valenti and Agent Doggett go for their guns. Doggett immediately stands closer to Scully, partially blocking her from Michael. They face off, Michael ready to use his powers on Scully, Doggett pointing his gun at Michael while Valenti aims at Doggett. The situation is excruciatingly tense.
Scully: Stand down, Agent Doggett!
Doggett: What?! At least two of them are ready to attack us.
Scully: John!
This gets Doggett's attention.
Scully: Trust me.
Doggett looks at Scully and relaxes his stance. He points his gun towards the ceiling, slowly releases his grip on the trigger and very slowly puts it on the ground. He steps back with his hands up.
Doggett: We're no longer armed.
Michael: Then what the hell is that in her hand?!
Michael's right hand begins to glow white, ready to attack Scully.
Scully: This IS a weapon, but not one intended to hurt any of you.
Max puts his hand on Michael's arm.
Max: Relax, Michael. I believe her.
Michael looks at Max and accepting Max's leadership, backs off and puts down his arm. Max looks at Sheriff Valenti who also backs off and reholsters his pistol. Maria runs up and grabs Michael. They hold each other. We can see the rest of the group is at the brink of panic and breakdown. After a few more moments of tense silence, Scully begins.
Scully: On previous occasions, Agent Mulder and I have faced what I can only describe as a shape-shifting alien bounty hunter. This is the only method that we know can kill them: a direct stab into the base of the back of the neck.
Scully presses the button again and the sharp extension retracts into the handle. Scully rotates the weapon in her hand so that the opening for the spike points towards her and slowly advances towards Max.
Scully: I assume that their ultimate goal is the four of you.
Scully looks at the Royal Four. Scully hands the weapon to Max, who inspects it and gives it to Michael. He then turns his attention back to Scully. They share an unspoken communication. Scully walks over to a chair off to the side. Doggett follows behind her, acting as her protector. Max approaches her with the other Roswellians converging behind him.
Scully then pulls up her blouse to reveal her abdomen, slightly bulging from her pregnancy. She looks up at Doggett, who gives her a look of silent understanding.
Max: (to Scully) I'm going to need you to look at me and concentrate on your baby.
Scully, somewhat apprehensive, nods. She raises her hand towards Doggett who takes it and holds it. Max places his hands on her belly and begins to concentrate. Suddenly images flash in his mind: Scully as a child on a military base, at her father's funeral, during boot camp, during her abduction, with Mulder, with Doggett, and finally an image of the unborn fetus within her.
Max strains with the effort and finally finishes. Max almost falls from his efforts but Liz is there to catch him. He looks up to Scully, who is crying.
Scully: You saved my baby.
Scully and Max hug.
We switch to Doggett driving the car with Scully convalescing in the passenger seat. She looks exhausted, but she and Doggett share a smile as they drive off into the night.
Back in Roswell, Max and Liz are outside the Crashdown.
Max: Her baby had a... "genetic" defect.
Liz: That was such a brave thing you did Max.
Max: Not as brave as we have to be when we face our enemies.
Max pulls out the weapon and releases its spike.
The End.