The intimidating thing about Catholicism is there is a price to pay, if you don’t believe—you might be wrong, and Scully doesn’t like to be wrong. Admitting that there are truths that may be unknowable is her way of dealing with those proofs Mulder seeks but she believes he will never find.

By the time Scully’s hiding the pain and wiping away the blood, she’s beginning to wonder whether she’s made a grave error in equating correct answers with what is right.