Season 7 · Episode 11

Closure

Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.

Production code7ABX11Original airdate · February 13, 2000

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246 dialogue entries

Scene 01

Fox Mulder

They said the birds refused to sing... And the thermometer fell suddenly, as if god himself had his breath stolen away. No one there dared speak aloud, as much in shame as in sorrow. They uncovered the bodies one by one. The eyes of the dead were closed, as if waiting for permission to open them. Were they still dreaming of ice cream and monkey bars, of birthday cake and no future but the afternoon? Or had their innocence been taken along with their lives, buried in the cold earth so long ago? These fates seemed too cruel, even for god to allow. Or are the tragic young born again when the world's not looking? I wanna believe so badly in a truth beyond our own, hidden and obscured from all but the most sensitive eyes.

♪♪ [ soft, ethereal ]

Fox Mulder

In the endless procession of souls, in what cannot and will not be destroyed, I want to believe we are unaware of god's eternal recompense and sadness-- that we cannot see his truth. That that which is born still lives and cannot be buried in the cold earth,

♪♪ [ continues ]

Fox Mulder

But only waits to be born again at god's behest... Where in ancient starlight we lay... In repose.

[ children chattering, laughing on TV ]

[ door opens ]

Scene 02

TECHNICAL SERVICE ROOM

Dana Scully

Ed truelove was 19 when he committed his first murder. He was working as a janitor at an elementary school... And they needed someone to play santa claus. He never got over the feelings it aroused. He's admitted to all of it, Mulder-- 24 separate murders. But he refuses to take blame for amber lynn lapierre. I was just handed the preliminary forensics report. Her body was not one of those found in the graves. Mulder, I know you wanted to find her out there.

Fox Mulder

He's got hours of video of her.

Dana Scully

I'm talking about your sister. I know that's who you're looking for.

Fox Mulder

Yeah. You don't know how badly I wanted her to be in one of those graves. Hard as it is to admit, I wanted to find her here riding her bike like all these other kids. I guess I just want it to be over.

Deputy

Agent Mulder, Scully. There's a mr. Harold Piller here to see you.

Fox Mulder

Mr. Piller?

Harold Piller

Agent Mulder. Agent Scully.

Dana Scully

Do we know each other?

Harold Piller

Not personally, no. But I'm happy to meet you. Hi. Harold Piller.

Dana Scully

Mr. Piller, are you part of this investigation?

Harold Piller

Yes, I hope to be.

Fox Mulder

How can we help you?

Harold Piller

I was hoping to help you.

Dana Scully

You're a police psychic.

Harold Piller

My references are on the back. I've gotten some strong hits off this case. You're looking for a little girl, but she's not among the dead. Your suspect is going to say he didn't kill her.

Fox Mulder

Did he?

Harold Piller

No. I think I can help find her.

Dana Scully

Mr. Piller, you have some interesting references here. You've worked with law enforcements in kashmir, india, myanmar, afghanistan, pakistan, khyber pass.

Harold Piller

That was a train wreck-- a horrible tragedy. They called me in to locate the bodies of seven children who were unrecovered.

Dana Scully

And did you recover them?

Harold Piller

I didn't recover them, no. But I explained what happened.

Fox Mulder

What happened?

Harold Piller

The children's bodies were transported from the accident site... By a spiritual intervention, what are known as walk-ins.

Dana Scully

Thank you, mr. Piller, but we have real work to be done.

Harold Piller

I've studied this phenomenon the world over-- at mud slides in peru, earthquakes in uzbekistan. Kids' bodies never found, never accounted for in any other way.

Fox Mulder

What happened to them?

Harold Piller

The bodies were transported from the various sites... In starlight.

Dana Scully

Please excuse us. Mulder? Mulder, please.

Fox Mulder

What is it?

Dana Scully

Mulder, you have been through so much in such a short time-- the death of your mother and the feelings it's brought up for your sister. You're vulnerable right now.

Fox Mulder

We still have a missing body-- amber lynn lapierre. She may be alive. We don't know.

Dana Scully

But this man isn't gonna help us find her, by his own admission.

Fox Mulder

It's not the first time I've heard what he's saying-- about the intervention of these walking spirits. Kathy lee tencate mentioned it to me in the prison. She said that's who took her son.

Dana Scully

Because it's foolproof, Mulder. Nobody is gonna disprove it if there's no body. And that's exactly what this man does. He gives a comforting explanation at a train wreck... Or an earthquake that everyone can live with. But the fact is the bodies are still buried.

Fox Mulder

Or maybe they are somewhere else.

Dana Scully

Like your sister? Mulder, you told me that all you wanted was for this to be over.

Fox Mulder

I do. I do.

Dana Scully

Well, then I'm going back to Washington. There's nothing more to be done here.

Scene 03

Fox Mulder

How long have you been doing this?

Harold Piller

A few years. I have a son who disappeared under strange circumstances. He's never been found. And then one day, I just... Started to see them.

Fox Mulder

These walk-ins, you say they-- they come and take the children. Why?

Harold Piller

In almost every case, the parents had a precognitive image... Of their child dead. Horrible visions. I believe what this is is the work of good spirits... Foretelling their fates. A fate the child was about to meet, a particularly violent fate that wasn't meant to be. Which is why the spirits intervened, transforming matter into pure energy. Starlight. But it's not what happened here.

Fox Mulder

How do you know that?

Harold Piller

Because these children all died suffering, pleading innocently for their lives. These beautiful children, so... Trusting and pure. I see them. My god, why? Why must some suffer and not others?

Fox Mulder

You see them? Do you see amber lynn lapierre?

Harold Piller

She wasn't here. She never was. But I'm-- I'm sensing a connection with her... To this place. No, it's a connection to-- it's a connection to you.

Fox Mulder

How's that?

Harold Piller

You lost someone close to you. A young girl. It happened a-- a long time ago. Your sister. There's a connection between these girls, isn't there? Between her and amber lynn?

Fox Mulder

What is the connection?

Harold Piller

I don't know. But we're going to find them. I'm sure of it.

Scene 04

Dr. Werber

I'm going to count backwards now, Fox. And you'll fall into a deep relaxed state... So that you'll remember all about your sister and what happened.

Unidentified speaker

One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven, ninety-six--

Dr. Werber (recorded)

Where are you now, Fox?

Fox Mulder

I'm at home-- my mom and dad's. We're in the den playing a game.

Dr. Werber (recorded)

Who are you there with?

Fox Mulder

Samantha.

Dr. Werber (recorded)

Do you feel in any danger?

Fox Mulder

No. We're arguing, you know, but not really. Just playing the game. You know, fooling around.

Agent Schoniger

By what I can tell from the tape, he seems to be in a legitimate hypnotic state.

Fox Mulder

Pieces on the board are fallin' off--

Agent Schoniger

Here I became suspicious.

Fox Mulder

Samantha?

Dana Scully

Suspicious of what?

Agent Schoniger

In 30 years with the FBI, you think you've seen it all. I sometimes think I have. But this is just a garden variety compensatory abduction fantasy.

Dana Scully

Compensatory for what?

Agent Schoniger

His guilt. His fear. Everything that's preventing agent Mulder... From remembering the truth about what really happened that night.

Dana Scully

You mean his sister wasn't abducted?

Agent Schoniger

No, his sister definitely went missing in 1973. That's not in dispute. Agent Mulder, however, wasn't regressed until 1989. See, his delusion is playing into his unconscious hope... That his sister is still alive. And if you think about it, his delusion has the effect... Of giving him reason to pursue her.

Dana Scully

But why alien abduction?

Agent Schoniger

Close encounters, e.t., who knows? But there was probably a lot of imagery collecting in his head... In those 16 years. And then he comes down here, and he finds the X-Files.

Dana Scully

So what do you think happened to his sister?

Agent Schoniger

Well, in 1973... We were pretty damned unsophisticated about violent predatory crime. My guess is she was kidnapped in the house, her body was disposed of, never found.

Dana Scully

You think that his sister's dead?

Agent Schoniger

Have you seen this file? There was an extraordinary amount of effort put into finding his sister. Even the treasury department got involved. His father worked at a high level in the government. They found nothing. Why, agent Scully? Why do you wanna bring all this back up now?

Dana Scully

Someone owes it to Mulder.

Agent Schoniger

Word of advice, me to you. Let it be. You know, there are some wounds that are just too painful ever to be reopened.

Dana Scully

Well, this particular wound has never healed. And Mulder deserves closure, just like anyone.

Scene 05

RED CARRIAGE MOTEL

Taylor (on television)

Apes evolved from men? There's gotta be an answer.

Dr. Zaius (on television)

Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find.

[ knocking ]

Dr. Zaius (on television)

Untie me!

[ knocking continues ]

Fox Mulder

What? What are you doing?

Harold Piller

I'm picking up something.

Fox Mulder

It's 3:00 in the morning.

Harold Piller

There's someone here.

Fox Mulder

Yeah, the TV is on--

Harold Piller

No. A visitor. They-- they wanna speak. They wanna tell us something.

Fox Mulder

What?

Harold Piller

Get a piece of paper. And a pen. No, you.

Fox Mulder

Shoot.

Harold Piller

It's your mother. She's here in the room with us. She's trying to speak to you.

Fox Mulder

What does she say?

Harold Piller

She wants to tell you about your sister-- where she is.

Fox Mulder

What is she saying? Harold?

Harold Piller

I don't know. I-- [ sighs ] she's gone.

Fox Mulder

Come on, Harold.

Harold Piller

I lost her.

Fox Mulder

That's crap. You're full of crap.

Harold Piller

No.

Fox Mulder

Get out of here.

Harold Piller

I'm telling you--

Fox Mulder

I'm telling you, I never should have listened to you.

Harold Piller

She was here! She had a message.

Fox Mulder

Please go.

Harold Piller

Look!

Fox Mulder

Who wrote that?

Harold Piller

You did.

[ cell phone ringing ]

Scene 06

Fox Mulder

Mulder.

Dana Scully

Mulder, it's me. I found something, and I'm standing here not quite believing what it is.

Fox Mulder

What is it?

Dana Scully

I don't know if you know this, but there was a special treasury department investigation into Samantha's disappearance.

Fox Mulder

In 1973. I know all about that.

Dana Scully

Well, I'm in your mother's house and I found a piece of a document that she burned. A document that matches one that I found in the treasury investigation file. But she had the original, Mulder.

Fox Mulder

I don't see where you're goin' with this, Scully.

Dana Scully

This is the document that effectively calls off the search for your sister, Mulder. And it's signed with the initials "c.g.b.s." c.g.b. Spender-- the smoking man. He was involved with this back in '73.

Fox Mulder

That's not exactly a revelation, Scully. He was a friend of my father's.

Dana Scully

Mulder, you told me you believed that he's the man that killed your father, that he's the man who's done nothing but confound your work, who's come close to killing you. And here he's ordering people to stop looking for your sister.

Fox Mulder

I don't see what you think this proves, or how you think it's gonna help me find her now.

Dana Scully

You don't wanna press him?

Fox Mulder

It's a dead end. He's never been of any help, and he's not gonna be of any help now. Look, I'm pursuing this my own way, all right. I gotta go. It's not exactly the end of the rainbow, is it, Harold?

Harold Piller

There's something here. I'm getting a strong sense of it. I think we should have a look.

Fox Mulder

I've had a look.

Harold Piller

What are you afraid of? That you'll really find her? That you'd have to deal with it?

Fox Mulder

There's nothing here. It's a decommissioned base.

Harold Piller

You wrote the name down yourself.

Fox Mulder

Why do you care so much about what I feel? Why is this so important to you?

[ car approaching ]

Guard

You gentlemen need to move along. I have to ask you to turn around and get back in your car. There's nothing to see here.

Harold Piller

There is something here to see, agent Mulder. I'm sure of it.

[ ringing ]

Dana Scully

Hello? [ dial tone humming ]

[ groans ]

Scene 07

Man’s Voice

Should have grabbed it for you.

Cigarette-Smoking Man

I like to make myself useful.

Dana Scully

You can start by putting out that cigarette.

Cigarette-Smoking Man

You've got it all figured out, don't you, agent Scully?

Dana Scully

All but why you can't just come to the door and knock.

Cigarette-Smoking Man

I did that. No one answered.

Dana Scully

You're sick.

Cigarette-Smoking Man

I had an operation.

Dana Scully

What do you want?

Cigarette-Smoking Man

I want you to stop looking.

Dana Scully

You've wanted that since 1973... When you ordered an end to the search for agent Mulder's sister. Your initials are on that document.

Cigarette-Smoking Man

Yes, I signed that order, because I knew then what I know now-- no one's gonna find her.

Dana Scully

Why not?

Cigarette-Smoking Man

Because I believe she's dead. No reason to believe otherwise.

Dana Scully

You're a liar. If you knew that she was dead, why didn't you say something earlier? Why now?

Cigarette-Smoking Man

There was so much to protect before. It's all gone now.

Dana Scully

So you just let Mulder believe that she was alive for all these years?

Cigarette-Smoking Man

Out of kindness, agent Scully. Allow him his ignorance. It's what gives him hope.

Scene 08

Fox Mulder

My sister was here?

Harold Piller

Yes.

Fox Mulder

One of these houses? Where?

Harold Piller

I've lost it, whatever it was.

Fox Mulder

Which house, Harold? Come on. Which house?

Harold Piller

I don't know.

Fox Mulder

Harold, we don't have all night. Which house was it? Let's go, Harold. You were right. This was the house.

Harold Piller

How do you know?

Fox Mulder

Look.

Harold Piller

I told you! What did I tell you?

Fox Mulder

You told me she was here. You didn't say with who.

Scene 09

Dana Scully

When did you come up with this story, Mulder? Because yesterday when I spoke to you, you said that the smoking man wasn't involved.

Fox Mulder

Turns out you were right. He had every reason to call off the hunt for my sister. After her abduction, she was returned to him... And he raised her at the military base, along with his son jeffrey spender.

Dana Scully

Mulder--

Fox Mulder

Scully, I saw her name in the cement. Her handprints right next to his.

Dana Scully

Mulder, I spoke to him-- the smoking man, c.g.b. Spender, whatever his name is.

Fox Mulder

You went to him?

Dana Scully

He told me that she was dead.

Fox Mulder

Well, he's a liar.

Dana Scully

Mulder, why would he lie now? I mean, think about it. It hurts me to tell you this.

Fox Mulder

The handprints prove he's a liar! I saw her handprints in the cement. Her name "Samantha" right underneath them. How more obvious can it be? Harold Piller led me there. He led me right to 'em.

Dana Scully

Oh, he led you, Mulder. He led you from the moment that he met you.

Scene 10

Harold Piller

Something wrong?

Fox Mulder

Sit down, Harold.

Harold Piller

Hi. You're back.

Fox Mulder

Scully has informed me that you failed to mention something to me when we first met.

Harold Piller

What?

Fox Mulder

That you're currently the subject... Of a criminal investigation into the murder of your son.

Harold Piller

My son was taken from me. The police need someone to blame.

Dana Scully

That's not all, Harold. Your history of mental illness. You were institutionalized, diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Harold Piller

I've got that under control. You wouldn't have believed me if I had told you any of that. Look what I've shown you.

Fox Mulder

You only tell me what you see.

Harold Piller

I came to you because I wanna help. You think I'm a fraud? What do I have to gain from this? How am I any different from you? All I want is to find my son. I-- I just-- I just want my little boy back. I see these things. I don't know how, but... There has got to be a reason. And if it's not to help, what is it? I know your sister is out there. Maybe I can prove it to you.

Scene 11

Dana Scully

Whoever's lived here hasn't lived here in a long time.

Harold Piller

We're gonna need to hold hands.

Dana Scully

What do you mean?

Harold Piller

I'm going to try and summon their presence into the house.

Dana Scully

Oh, yea. A seance. I haven't done that since high school.

Fox Mulder

Maybe afterwards we can play "postman" and "spin the bottle."

Harold Piller

[ sighs ] I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to be very quiet and still. That's how it seems to work best. Um, you might experience a sudden chill... Or feel a pressure in your ears. That means they're here. And if they need to, they'll let themselves be seen. Close your eyes... And let them come to you. They will come to you if you're ready to see.

Dana Scully

How will we know?

Harold Piller

Shh. Stay quiet. You'll know.

Dana Scully

Mulder? What are you doing?

Fox Mulder

It's here.

Dana Scully

What is?

Fox Mulder

There was a boy. He led me into this room.

Dana Scully

Mulder?

Harold Piller

It's a diary. It's your sister's.

Scene 12

Fox Mulder

"they did more tests today, but not the horrible kind. "I was awake and they made me lay still... "while they shine lights in my eyes. "they asked me questions, but I always lie now... "and tell them what they wanna hear just to make 'em stop. "I hate them and I hate the way they treat me, "like I'm an old suitcase they can just drag around and open up whenever they want to. They know I hate them, but they... Don't even care." this is 1979. She's 14 years old here. Fourteen years old.

[ turning pages ]

Fox Mulder

"sometimes I think my memories were taken by the doctors, but not all of them. "I remember faces. I think I had a brother... "with brown hair who used to tease me. "I hope... Someday he reads this and knows I wish I could see his face for real." and then, uh, she's, uh, talking about running away. She wants to run away... So that they stop doing the tests. And then it just stops.

[ closes diary ]

Dana Scully

Let's get out of here.

Fox Mulder

You know, I never stop to think... That the light is billions of years old by the time we see it. From the beginning of time... Right past us into the future. Nothing is ancient in the universe. Maybe they are souls, Scully-- travel through time and starlight... Looking for homes. I wonder what my mother saw. I wonder what she was trying to tell me.

Dana Scully

Get some sleep.

Fox Mulder

All right.

[ no audible dialogue ]

Scene 13

Dana Scully

I got it, Mulder. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. It was like it was looking for me. Sergeant's blotter, 1979.

Fox Mulder

What are you talking about?

Dana Scully

The description matches your sister.

Fox Mulder

When did you find this?

Dana Scully

Mulder, it's almost noon.

Scene 14

DOMINIC SAVIO MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Dana Scully

Maybe she went by another name. She could have given them a name other than her own.

Fox Mulder

She didn't give a name at all. Read this. It's a medical report. Admittance notes say the e.r. Nurses couldn't get her name out of her. Neither could the cops.

Dana Scully

Her medical examination is normal. Her mental state-- it says here she was exhibiting signs of paranoia.

Fox Mulder

Evidence of probable self-inflicted abuse, including small crescent-shaped scars on her knees, wrists and chest. Those are from the tests, Scully. That's her. She was here. Fourteen years old in this hospital.

Dana Scully

"diagnosis of condition incomplete. Tests unavailable."

Fox Mulder

And he knew. He lied. He knew she was alive. And the only reason he's lying now is because she's still alive.

Dana Scully

Mulder, wait.

Fox Mulder

I know. You don't want me to get my hopes up. I understand that.

Dana Scully

That was 1979. It was 21 years ago. I don't know where to begin, and we don't have a record here of a doctor signing her out.

Fox Mulder

We have an e.r. Nurse who signed her in.

Scene 15

VICTORVILLE, CALIFORNIA

Dana Scully

What's wrong?

Fox Mulder

I have this powerful feeling, and I can't explain it, but that... This is the end of the road. That I've been brought here to learn the truth.

Dana Scully

Are you ready for it? Do you want me to go talk to her myself? Okay.

Arbutus Ray

Oh. I thought that was the door.

Dana Scully

Arbutus Ray?

Arbutus Ray

Yes.

Dana Scully

Are you the same Arbutus Ray that worked as a nurse... At the dominic savio memorial hospital in 1979?

Arbutus Ray

Yes, I'm she.

Dana Scully

I'd like to ask you about a patient you treated-- a 14-year-old girl.

Arbutus Ray

I remember. Yes. She was such a pretty young girl. You couldn't forget someone like her, or how frightened she was. Scared for her sweet life. The deputy brought her in. She was shaking like a leaf. Wouldn't let anyone touch her but me. Then the strangest thing happened.

Harold Piller

You had a vision of her... Dead. Like the parents of amber lynn lapierre.

Arbutus Ray

No one believed me. Honestly, you're the first person who--

Dana Scully

So you saw her dead?

Arbutus Ray

That night in her bed. I blinked and it was gone. She was sleeping as sound as could be. I don't know why, but... It made some kind of strange sense.

Dana Scully

What do you mean?

Arbutus Ray

There were men. They came to pick her up late that night. I assumed the one was her father, but he-- he gave me such a chill when he looked at me... When I asked him would he please put out his cigarette.

Dana Scully

So, they took her?

Arbutus Ray

They meant to. But when I took them to her room, she was gone. Disappeared out of a locked room. Just vanished.

♪♪ [ soft, ethereal ]

♪♪ [ continues ]

Fox Mulder

Samantha.

Dana Scully

Mulder, where'd you go?

Fox Mulder

End of the road. He's okay. It's okay.

Harold Piller

My son? You saw my son?

Fox Mulder

He's dead. They're all dead, Harold-- your son, amber lynn, my sister.

Harold Piller

No.

Fox Mulder

Harold. You see so much, but you refuse to see him. You refuse to let him go. But you have to let him go now, Harold. He's protected. He's in a better place. They're all in a better place. We both have to let go, Harold.

Harold Piller

You're wrong. I'm going to find him. [ panting ] I don't believe you!

Dana Scully

Mulder, what happened? Are you sure you're all right?

Fox Mulder

I'm fine. I'm free.

About this transcript

The dialogue comes from the official DVD subtitle track supplied by Boggsfiles. Speaker and scene attribution was cross-checked against character-labelled reference material. Subtitle wording is preserved while capitalization and spacing are standardized for easier reading.