“Per Manum” is episode thirteen of season eight of The X-Files.
A woman is in labour and what seems to be her husband is with her when a nurse comes in. The baby’s heart monitor shows irregularities and the doctor arrives, saying they will do an emergency c-section. The man is convinced to leave, and the door is locked after him. Which looks ominous. After giving birth, the woman wants to see her baby. And she’s shocked when she does. The doctor orders her be put under as the baby is taken care of. It looks part-Grey.
Scully look at her ultrasound, then herself, before heading into the office. She arrives and sees Doggett and the man from earlier, Duffy Haskell. Haskell told Doggett that Scully knows him, he contacted them about his wife about 8 years ago because she was an alien abductee. Scully says that’s before her time. According to Haskell, his wife is dead; they killed her. Doggett has checked the files and read the letters. Haskell says his wife gave birth to an alien; that’s why they murdered her.
According to Haskell, Kath McCready was a multiple abductee. They did procedures on her, she had cancer which went into remission and this year implanted an alien embryo. He has an ultrasound; proof to anyone with a trained eye that the pregnancy is bizarre. Especially for someone who was not supposed to be able to conceive. The doctors killed Haskell’s wife and stole the baby. Scully says they will be in touch.
After Haskell leaves, Scully is dismissive. Doggett thought she already knew the story. Because it’s her story, down to a tee, except for the pregnancy thing. It’s all there in the X-files. Scully isn’t happy that Doggett has been looking into her personal file.
After leaving, she has a memory of speaking to Mulder, telling him she’s unable to conceive, thanks to the tests done on her. She’s sorry she didn’t tell him. Mulder admitted that he didn’t tell her something either. The reason she can’t conceive is her ova were taken and stored in a government lab. She was deathly ill and Mulder didn’t want to give her any more bad news. The ova were not viable. Scully wants a second opinion. Doggett finds Scully remembering in the lift.
At Zeus Genetics, Scully hears a woman shouting and goes looking. She peeks into the room, where a pregnant woman is arguing with doctors and nurses, then goes and hides as a doctor starts to leave. The room she goes into is full of jars containing deformed foetuses. The doctor finds her and asks what she’s doing there. Scully claims she’s with a friend – Ms Hendershot, the pregnant woman – and the doctor tells her to wait out front.
At home, Scully calls her own doctor, Parenti. She wants him to take a look at an ultrasound and compare it with hers. Parenti isn’t at the office and tells Scully to send it there. He’s actually in the room that Scully hid in, unwrapping a dead part-Grey baby.
In the past, Scully had consulted another doctor, who consulted with his colleagues. They think the ova might be successful. They can start right away. Scully will need a father of course. She has someone in mind. If she can figure out how to ask. In the present, Dr Parenti tells her that there’s nothing wrong with either ultrasound.
Back at the office, Doggett has received a call from Dr Parenti’s office; Scully left the ultrasound there. Scully says Parenti is her doctor. Doggett doesn’t believe her, even though it’s true, and thinks she’s investigating the Haskell case. Parenti was one of the doctors Haskell consulted. And Haskell is a piece of work. Haskell is brought in; he sent threatening letters to Mulder.
The episode chops between Scully’s attempt to get pregnant in the past – something that’s already known to be unsuccessful, due to a lack of a baby – and the Haskell case. Which is not what it seems.