One Breath

Margaret Scully (Sheila Larken): Once, when she was a girl—a very little girl—Dana was in the woods. It was Autumn. She’d always been a tomboy, unlike her sister Melissa. For her birthday Dana’s brothers had given her a bee bee gun and were showing her how to use it. Their father had told them only to shoot at cans. But in a patch of grass, Bill Junior found a garter snake. And the boys began shooting. In order to fit in with her brothers, Dana also shot at the snake. It squirmed wildly, desperately fighting for life. But as the boys continued to shoot, the snake began to bleed. When she realized what she had done, Dana began to cry with irrevocable guilt. Through her tears she was saying that something was missing from the snake. She had taken something that was not hers to take. And although deathly afraid of snakes, Dana held the animal as if sheer will could keep it alive. The snake, its blood on her hands, died. There was nothing she could do to bring it back.

Mulder: It’s too soon, Mrs. Scully. We can’t give up.
Margaret Scully: That day in the woods, I felt for my daughter. But at this moment, I know how my daughter felt.

Dr. Daly: Presently we have Dana listed in critical condition. Comatose. There is complete unawareness of self or environment. There is no evidence of language comprehension, no evidence of voluntary response to external stimuli. My apologies, but no one here can determine how Dana arrived at the hospital, administered, or how she was attended to in such a critical condition. Because of the absence of Dana’s recent medical history, I am at a loss for a prognosis.

Margaret Scully: You haven’t told us why she’s like this.
Dr. Daly: We just don’t know, Mrs. Scully.

Dr. Daly: The FBI has notified us of the terms of Dana’s living will.
Margaret Scully: What is it, what did she say?
Dr. Daly: Well Dana is a doctor. Her criteria for terminating life support is pretty specific. She states that if her Glasgow Outcome Scale lists her as—
Mulder: She doesn’t want to live in this condition.
Dr. Daly: You signed the will as her witness.

Melissa Scully (Melinda McGraw): I’ve been told not to call you Fox.
Mulder: By who?
Melissa Scully: Dana. Just now.
Mulder: Dana talked to you just now? If she’d talked the EEG would have moved.
Melissa: Her soul is there.

Melissa: Dana is choosing whether to remain or move on.

Byers (Bruce Harwood): Good theories, gentlemen. But all for naught. This branch DNA is inactive. It’s waste product. Whoever was experimenting on Scully is finished. And now it’s nothing more than a biological poison.
Mulder: Will she live?
Byers: Her immune system has been decimated. And I doubt even a healthy human body has the ability to fight this. Mulder, there’s nothing you can do.

X (Steven Williams): You got him killed! You got her killed! That’s not going to happen to me. You are my tool, do you understand? I come to you when I need you. Right now you’re heading in a direction that can lead them right here.
Mulder: What the hell are you talking about?
X: You’re not supposed to know. That’s the point.
Mulder: I owe her more than just sitting around doing nothing.
X: She was a good soldier, Mulder, but there’s nothing you can do to bring her back.

X: I used to be you. I was where you are now. But you’re not me, Mulder. I don’t think you have the heart. Walk away. Grieve for Scully. And then never look back. You will be able to live with yourself, Mulder. On the day you die.

Margaret Scully: Fox, this is a moment for the family. But you can join us if you want.

Skinner: I called you up here because of rumors about an incident at the hospital last night.
Mulder: Was this about the tooth that was found in the cafeteria jello?

Mulder: You can have it all. You can have my badge, you can have the X-Files. Just tell me where he is.
Skinner: And then what? “He sleeps with the fishes”? We’re not the mafia, Mulder.

William Scully (Don S. Davis): We’ll be together again, Starbuck. Not now, soon.

Nurse Owens: Dana, I know that death is at arm’s reach tonight. But Dana, your time is not over.

CSM (William B. Davis): Don’t try and threaten me, Mulder. I’ve watched presidents die.

Skinner: Agent Mulder, every life every day is in danger. It’s just life.

Mulder: I brought you a present. Super Stars of the Super Bowls.
Scully: I knew there was a reason to live.

Scully: Can I see Nurse Owens? I’ve got something I’d like her to have.
Nurse Wilkins: Nurse who?
Scully: Owens. Short with straight, light brown hair. She watched over me in intensive care and I’d like to thank her.
Nurse Wilkins: Dana, I’ve worked her for ten years. And there’s no Nurse Owens in this hospital.