Title: Here I am.

Author: Tracy

Category: MSR

Rating: PG

Here I am, sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. My slumber is the uneasy rest of someone surrounded by unfamiliar noises, in an unfamiliar room. I dream, and in my dream I can almost place where I am. The answer skates tantalisingly on the edge of my subconscious, and I think that if I concentrate hard enough it will trickle down into my conscious mind. But do I really want to know? Even as my mind struggles to remember it shies away from the possibilities of reality. Maybe the sanctuary of a dream that has yet to become a nightmare is a blessing best accepted rather than challenged.

Here I am, in this unfamiliar place, envisaging the merits of dreams and nightmares and reality. Do I ignore my misgivings and let this dream run its peculiar course? So many times an innocuous dream has taken the dark path and turned into a nightmare. So many times I've woken in a cold sweat, heart thudding painfully against my ribcage, screams caught in my throat. And sometimes to my shame those screams have escaped, have bounced off the walls and mocked me with their wretchedness. But even with the worst scenes playing out in my mind, in the end I always wake. So the question remains. Do I want to acknowledge a reality that may be just as bad as any nightmare? If I remember, will I regret not holding onto this dream for a few more moments of respite?

I have never been afraid of the truth. So.

Here I am, legs entwined in unfamiliar sheets, dimly aware of an unfamiliar body stirring beside me. I am not fully awake, have not fully passed from the realm of dreams, but my senses are returning. I am aware of a faint scent that hovers on my skin, a scent not my own but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. Strange, but I feel no alarm that I am not alone. I do not know this bed, this place, or even this person, but I feel that I have come home. Home. . . I struggle frantically to wake, as comprehension dawns. For Home means only one thing, and if I am home then surely…

I come awake in a jerk, but the room is dark and I cannot see. Afraid that my mind has once again betrayed me, and reality is about to come crashing down brutally, I call out her name.

"Scully? Scul-lleeee?"

"Shhh, Mulder. It's okay."

I feel the warmth of a soon to be familiar body curling into mine, skin to skin, and my uneasiness subsides.

"Here I am."

End.