Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) gets some solo time in this episode written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz. Mulder (David Duchovny) makes a small appearance (he was promoting Playing God at the time, and needed some time off)in this episode that first aired on 7 December, 1997.

Dana and her mother, Margaret (Sheila Larken), head to her brother Bill’s (Pat Skipper) for the holidays, and moments after arriving she receives a phone call from what sounds like her dead sister, Melissa (Melinda McGraw) which leads her to a crime scene, and a little girl named Emily (Lauren Diewold) who may be Melissa’s daughter (!).

We are treated to flashbacks of Scully as a little girl, and some events that shaped her life, as well as some troubling dreams where memory and meaning mix.

Scully gets drawn further into the mystery surrounding the crime scene, where a suicide may in fact have been murder, and Emily’s adopted father may have been responsible. Or is there more going on here? The evidence suggests that Emily is indeed Melissa’s daughter, though Margaret doesn’t necessarily believe it, and of course Bill and his wife Tara (Karri Turner) are pretty annoying in their opinions of Scully, her work, and their impending addition to their own family.

As Scully continues to investigate, she learns that Emily is a sick little girl, but that doesn’t stop her from putting in paperwork to adopt her…

But the DNA test comes back, Emily isn’t Melissa’s daughter… she’s Scully’s, and that leads right into a To Be Continued.

Emily brings Fox Mulder into the story, as he joins Scully in San Diego in this second part of the Emily arc. This episode was also written by Gilligan, Spotnitz and Shiban, and debuted on 14 December, 1997.

Mulder believes that Emily may be a result of Scully’s abduction. This is an emotional story for Scully, who having lost the ability to have children because of her abduction now has someone to care for. But Emily is so very ill.

Of course things don’t go well between Mulder and Scully’s immediate family, and he also isn’t sure that Scully should be able to look after Emily, because of her abduction. It’s a rough moment between the two characters, though Mulder is doing what he can to protect her. But he does believe in her biological rights to see over Emily, even if it the little girl is not long for this world.

He recognises that Scully is going to put herself through a lot of pain for this little girl, but that doesn’t stop her from loving little Emily. It also touches on the abduction phenomena of the removal of ovaries and the creation of offspring. A medical test reveals a very familiar exposure and Mulder goes after the doctor ho was treating her, seeing a connection to the bigger conspiracy. Something that is confirmed when some shape changing happens and a very familiar and deadly weapon reappears.

The investigations continue next week, because the truth is out there… And I’m gonna keep looking for it.