From: "Jennifer Fausett" Date sent: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:45:30 PDT Title: Dreams Author: XScout Rating: G Classification: VA Spoilers: None Keywords: None Summary: Ever wonder how Scully discovers Mulder's sleeping problems? Set a few months after becoming partners. Comments: They're not mine but they're not his either. They belong to themselves, they deserve that much. Send all comments to XScout@hotmail.com I love feedback!! ********* DREAMS Bayside, Colorado January 7, 1993 7:00 p.m. The two federal agents walked into the motel's reception office to be greeted by a young woman, more of a girl really, whose huge doe-like eyes and easy smile made her seem as if she were there only to please her customers. "Hello and welcome to the Bayside Bed and Breakfast. My name is Brandy, how can I help you?" She asked brightly and eagerly flipped open the registration book. The tall man with the handsome face stepped forward. "I'm Agent Mulder and this is Agent Scully. We made reservations for two rooms yesterday." The girl's eyes widened in awe at the official titles and frantically began to search the book in front of her. "Um, are the reservations under the name Mulder, or Scully?" The red haired woman leaned over the desk and peered down at the neat penmanship filling the book's large pages. "Should be under Scully, Dana Scully. Why, is there a problem?" "Well," Brandy hesitated, "it only shows one room under that name." Brandy looked fearfully up at her customers. "No problem, we'll just get another one." Scully smiled, trying to ease the girl's anxiety. she thought sympathetically. "But, I'm afraid there aren't any other rooms available. The Annual Bayside Rodeo Championships are this week and all the rooms are full." Brandy's voice was growing more shrill with each passing moment. Mulder joined in the conversation. "Are there any other hotels around here?" "Yes, there are two others but they have no vacancy," the girl answered. She quickly explained, "I know because I called earlier today trying to find rooms for a group of eight. I had to send them to Del Camino, the next town over. Takes an hour to get there but there's more hotels there and probably plenty of rooms." She raised her eyebrows in a silent query to see if the two government employees would like her to call around. Mulder turned to his partner, "Scully, that's too far. We need to be close enough to the police station and the crime scenes to get there in fifteen minutes or less in case they need us on short notice." Brandy's brows knitted together and tears started to form in her eyes when she realized that she had failed her customers. Scully looked at the girl, alarmed at her fragile emotional state, and hastily tried to rectify the situation. "That's okay, we'll take the room." Mulder glanced sharply at her. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea," he whispered. "Nonsense. We are both professionals and will both act accordingly. *Won't we?*" She didn't wait for an answer, "You don't plan on keeping me awake all night do you?" Her question was rhetorical and was only a joke but something about the look on Mulder's face was disconcerting. The young receptionist sniffed deeply and nodded. "Oh thank you for choosing to stay with us, you won't regret it. It's room thirteen, down the hall just outside to your left." She handed Scully the key and made the appropriate notation in the book. As soon as the two agents stepped outside Mulder looked down at Scully with a bewildered look on his face, overlying the remaining tension that had appeared a few minutes before. "She was about to have a breakdown Mulder, I just couldn't let her cry over such an insignificant mistake. Besides, it's the only logical decision." His face became relaxed once again, but his eyes still held a hint of anxiety. "I guess the doctor in you was working over-time. I'll take the floor, I sleep on my couch often enough to be able to wake up without a sore back." Scully gave him a `thank you' smile and unlocked the door. He brought their luggage inside and set hers on the bed, throwing his own belongings into the closet. Scully shot him a disgusted glare. he just flashed her a grin and began to rummage around in his briefcase. He let out a small grunt when he found what he was searching for and pulled out an inch thick stack of papers. "Here it is. Okay Scully, let's get to work." He settled into one of the chairs surrounding the tiny table and she took her place opposite him. "There have been three murders in the past two weeks, all committed within the surrounding five miles. Each victim was gutted and then strung upside down to drip dry like in a butcher's shop." "Where is it?" "Where's what?" His confused tone matched the expression on his face. "The unexplained phenomena. What makes this an X-file?" She waited expectantly for his usual unbelievable response. "It's not." "Excuse me?" She said aloud. "It's not an X-file. We were called in on this one as a favor for Bill Patterson. I'm supposed to write a profile and you get the enviable job of performing the autopsies." "Bill Patterson. He's the head of the Violent Crimes Section isn't he?" "Yep. We meet with the agent in charge, a Darryl Avon, tomorrow morning." "No UFOs?" The disbelief was still in her voice. "Nope, just your average boring serial killer." "Well Mulder, I'm surprised. I didn't think you would be willing to work on anything unrelated to the X-files." "I used to work in the VCS you know. Besides, Patterson has a way of getting what he wants and he wanted me to get inside this guy's head." A shadow passed across his face as he thought about his history in Violent Crimes. Scully noticed the dark cloud descend on his shoulders and decided not to push. "So what do you think the killer wants?" ************* 11:00 p.m. They had discussed the case for several hours, Scully constantly amazed at her partner's skill. He was able to describe the killer's emotions and motives, his upbringing and social life. At first she was skeptical but as the night went on she was able to see the logic involved in each intuitive leap. She was glad this was going to be an open and shut case. She had only been working with Mulder for a few months but in that time she had been challenged more often in that time than in her previous two years with the Bureau. They continued working well into the night until Scully could hardly keep her eyes open. "Scully go to bed, you're going to be in no shape to work tomorrow if you don't get any sleep." "Huh, what?" She asked groggily. "Go to bed, I can finish the rest of the profile by myself, get some rest." He reached over and took the pile of papers in front of her and set them next to his own. "What about you? you need sleep too." "On the contrary Dr. Scully, I am an insomniac. I only need a maximum of three to four hours of sleep, so off to bed with you and I'll try to keep the noise to a minimum." He gave her a wolfish grin and turned back to his laptop. She sighed in aquisience and went to the bathroom to change. She emerged wearing a T-shirt and sweat pants, her hair pulled back into a small pony tail. She pulled the covers off the bed and set them aside for Mulder. Then she yanked back the sheets and snuggled gratefully into the bed. "Night Mulder." "G'Night Scully." He said absently. She was lulled to sleep by the soft tapping of his fingers against the keyboard. ************** January 8 2:24 a.m. "Samantha!" Scully shot up in the bed, grabbing blindly for her gun on the nightstand. She searched the darkened room to reveal Mulder, sitting on the floor a few feet to her left. The blanket he had been using was twisted up in his legs and his shirt was soaked in sweat. She crawled out of bed and knelt by his side. His eyes were unfocused and wild with fear, his face drawn up into such a grimace of anguish that for a moment she thought he was in pain. She reached out and lightly touched his shoulder. "Mulder?" He jerked back from her touch and his labored breathing became more pronounced. Then all of sudden, as if someone had flipped a switch, he turned to look at her, his damp hair dangling in his face. His eyes cleared and his breaths started coming more evenly. "Scully?" He asked softly. "Yeah, it's me. You all right?" "Oh god, I'm sorry." He buried his face in his hands and took a few deep shuddering breaths. "It's okay, I..." "No it's not," he interrupted. "I should have warned you." She stared at him for a moment, puzzled by his last statement. Then realization hit her. "You knew this would happen didn't you?" "I never told you why I was an insomniac did I?" He gazed ahead into the darkness, continuing when she didn't reply. "If I don't sleep, I don't dream. If you can even call it that." He laughed humorlessly. "How long has this been going on?" He watched his limp hands and whispered, "Since Samantha." "That was over twenty years ago Mulder!" She was shocked at how anyone could live and function like that. "How often do you have these... dreams?" "Every time I enter REM sleep. I can't remember the last time I had a real dream. It's always the same, Samantha's abduction, crazed killers from the VCS, my fath- my parent's divorce." "Mulder, I..." she was speechless. "I'm fine Scully, nothing to worry about. Go back to bed." She could almost hear the gates slamming shut and the walls being erected. She just nodded and climbed back under the covers. She was about to say something when he spoke up, finishing the discussion. "Good nightScully." She shook her head, disappointed at this turn of events. "Night." ************** 4:37 a.m. This time she awoke to the sound of someone thrashing about. She glanced over to see Mulder still asleep, tossing and turning. He was mumbling incomprehensibly so she moved a bit closer. She felt as thought she were eavesdropping, but her morbid fascination overpowered her moral sense. She wanted to know what haunted his dreams. "I'm sorry." For a moment she thought he had woken up and was apologizing for disturbing her again. But his eyes were closed and she could she rapid movement beneath his eyelids. "I tried to save her...I can't remember...please, don't!" His last words were terrified and he began shift again, as though trying to get away from something. He raised his arms halfway and flinched, attempting to ward off some unseen attacker. Scully moved a bit closer, ready to shake him out of it but she fell back in surprise when he cried out. "No, stop! I'm sorry, please...Dad don't." Her mouth dropped open in shock and she froze. He was dreaming of being beaten by his father who blamed him for his sister's disappearance. Suddenly a lot of Mulder's strange behavior was explained - his inability to trust anyone, his wise cracking emotional barriers, his aloof demeanor, and his overdeveloped sense of guilt. "NO!" This time he jerked violently and sprang up, instantly awake. He fought off the dream haze and looked guiltily around him. His tear stained face and heavy breathing the only signs of the nightmare. He was surprised to see Scully kneeling on the floor beside him. "Jesus, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He scrubbed his face with his trembling hands and leapt to his feet. "I...I have to go." He grabbed his jacket and his shoes before rushing out into the frigid air, leaving Scully to stare after him. She was about to follow when she stopped in her tracks. She laughed at herself and returned to her bed. she thought firmly. But there was something about Mulder that made her want to take care of him. she shook her head, When he came back she would once again be the consummate professional, ready to work. She would make no mention of the past few hours and she would not ask any time in the future about his sleeping habits. Satisfied with her decision, she slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep. Her last thought was