Title: Continuity 2: Per Manum Fractorum Author: Alelou Feedback: Yes, please -- Alelou123@aol.com (please remember to add the 123) Rating: G Spoilers: Per Manum and maybe a tiny dig on This is Not Happening which you may not get if you're not a spoiler slut. Category: Humor, I hope, or at least Commentary Distribution: It's all yours (including Gossamer) Disclaimer: CC and 1013 and Fox own the X-Files. Sigh. Summary: Missing dialogue that would have explained much that is puzzling in Per Manum. Author's Notes: Thanks to my fellow disgruntled Philes and to a wonderful review from Autumn T. for inspiration. Purists may note that I have not researched Scully's address or the order of these scenes and I'm using best-guess pseudo Latin up there. And here's my excuse: why should I work hard if 1013 doesn't? Dr. Parenti's Office, Just After Scully Calls Nurse 1: It's that patient Scully again. Nurse 2: Hard to believe she's a big tough FBI agent. Nurse 1: Yeah. I figure I'll beep him, even if he is at the monthly government meeting of all ob-gyns whose last names begin with the letters P-Z. Nurse 2: I wonder what sort of dumb-ass projects the government is assigning them this time. Nurse 1: When I went into medicine, I had no idea it involved automatic enrollment in all these nationwide conspiracies. Nurse 2: Tell me about it. You'd think they'd give us better rates on Medicaid reimbursements after all the trouble they put us to. xxx Scully at Zeus Genetics: Doctor: So I guess you might be wondering what kind of strange creatures you accidentally happened upon in that unguarded room while you were worrying about your friend Miss Hendershot. Scully: Strange creatures? I was too busy worrying about my friend Miss Hendershot to even notice. Doctor: You see, those were actually monkey fetuses from a research project we're running. You'd be surprised how certain species of monkeys' fetuses look like baby aliens when they haven't grown any fur yet. Scully: Well, that certainly allays any suspicions I might have had if I hadn't been entirely focused upon my friend Miss Hendershot. xxx In Doctor Parenti's office. Dr. Parenti: Forgive me for asking, Dana, but I kind of assumed you'd know how to read an ultrasound, being a medical doctor and all. Scully: Must be these hormones. I keep forgetting things. Heck, for the last two months I even forgot to look for my partner! xxx Miss Hendershot and Scully in Scully's apartment. Scully: Um, Miss Hendershot? How did you know I was pregnant? Hendershot: When I was in the clinic, I heard a doctor on the phone saying, "Look, you tell me what to do with this one. I can cut her loose and instead focus all my efforts on that pregnant FBI agent Dana K. Scully who resides at 33 Connecticut Ave., Apt. 5A, Georgetown, D.C., if you want." Scully: Oh good. I was afraid I was already showing. xxx Cell phone conversation between Scully and Mulder after he tells her the answer is yes. Mulder: What's up, Scully? Scully: So you're all okay on this sperm donor thing? We don't need to discuss any of the ramifications to our jobs or our relationship? Mulder: Nah, seems pretty straightforward to me. Scully: Okay. I was just checking. What's got you at the office so late? Mulder: Oh nothing. There's this creature in North Carolina that's supposed to be able to eat people and regurgitate them back out minus their diseases. Scully: Ooh yuck, count me out on that one. xxx Scully and Skinner in the diner before Doggett arrives. Skinner: Gee, Scully, do you really think you should go to an ARMY hospital with Miss Hendershot? Scully: I don't know of any MARINE hospitals around here, Walter. Skinner: No, I mean -- it's just, you guys don't have the best track record with the military, you know? Why would you trust them? Scully: (shocked) Not trust the army? That would be like running a background check on my own doctor! Skinner: Oh, right. Look, what do you want me to tell Doggett? I'm sure he'll eventually notice that you're not there anymore. Scully: Tell him I took a leave of absence. Skinner: He'll want to know why. Scully: I can't tell him that. Skinner: Okay, but at least let me wake him up in the middle of the night and drag him out here so you can tell him that to his face. Scully: All right, no problem. xxx After the final flashback -- Mulder and Scully are tenderly embracing. Scully: Mulder? Mulder: Mmm? Scully: Did you really just tell me not to give up on a miracle? Mulder: Yeah. Scully: So you believe in miracles now? Mulder: Not exactly. I just figured I'd couch my moral support in traditional Catholic language for you. Scully: Oh. Well, thank you, it was sweet. Mulder: Why, do you think I've been saying a lot of things that are wildly out of character lately? Scully: Um, well, not a LOT... Mulder: Good. (coughs) I wouldn't want to be losing it mentally or anything. Scully: Perish the thought. Mulder: So, Scully, we could try this the old- fashioned way, you know. Scully: Oh yeah? But I don't have any ova left. What would be the point? Mulder: I don't know ... perhaps the intimate expression of a deep and abiding bond between two souls? Scully: Oh, that. Well, okay, what the hell. xxx In the hospital, the army doctor comes in to talk to Scully, who has just been rubbing her tummy. Doctor: Feeling better? Scully: Yes, surprisingly good for a woman who's had amniocentesis and then tried to help a woman in labor escape a secure facility before being manhandled brutally and shot full of sedatives. Doctor: Not worried that you're carrying an alien baby anymore, then? Scully: Oh well, you know. Que sera sera. Doctor: Because you can do an ultrasound yourself if it would make you feel better. You're a doctor, it's not a big deal. I can get the equipment ready for you. Scully: No, that's okay. I guess I'll just wait to see what happens in another five to eleven months. Doctor: You should definitely start showing soon. Scully: Yeah, that's what they keep saying. Doctor: (worried) I don't know, Dana. You still look like death warmed over. Scully: Oh, don't worry about me. I was just thinking about my partner. THE END