Title: Perchance To Dream

Author: Margaret Brown, aka Andromeda Valentine

Fandom: Mutant X

Pairing: Emma and ? (it's a surprise...)

Rating: R-ish?

Status: New (9/5/02); Complete

Archive: Yes to list archives, anyone else please ask first.

Feedback: Yes, please!!

E-mail address for feedback: andromeda_valentine@hotmail.com

Series/Sequel: None

Disclaimers: Not mine - Mutant X belongs to Tribune and Marvel, and 'Everywhere' belongs to the extremely talented Michelle Branch...

Summary: Emma's been having interesting dreams...

Notes: Just a little something that popped into my head while listening to 'Everywhere' by Michelle Branch, which can be found on her excellent cd 'The Spirit Room.'

~ indicates song lyrics

Also, this is for Julia, in lieu of the Andromeda Tyr/Dylan slash I'd write her if I could... Hope this cheers you up a little, hon...

Warnings: One slight one that I'm skipping for the sake of surprise - it'd be too much of a spoiler... If you absolutely *have* to see it, it's been posted *after* the fic proper...

Perchance To Dream

By Margaret Brown, aka Andromeda Valentine

"...'Tis a consummation
devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come..."

Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, ~Lines 62-65
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~Turn it inside out so I can see
the part of you that's drifting over me...~

It's the feel of someone's hands on me that wakes me - if you can actually waken to a dream. It's *damned* real, just like always, but I know on some instinctual level that I'm asleep and none of this is really happening outside my imagination.

~And when I wake, you're... you're never there...
And when I sleep, you're... you're everywhere -
you're everywhere...~

It's a damned shame, too - whoever it is is *really* good with their hands, better than anyone *I've* been with. There's a gentleness there, and a confidence, both of which indicate a long, loving familiarity with a woman's body. And, I think as I gasp out loud, a definite familiarity with *my* body.

~Just tell me how I got this far...
Just tell me why you're here and who you are...~

I keep my eyes closed, simply laying back and enjoying the feel of my companion's caress on stomach and thigh, and other places far more intimate. This dream lover of mine has been visiting almost nightly for the last several weeks, and actually seems to be learning as time passes - not that I'm complaining, mind you...

~'Cause every time I look, you're never there,
and every time I sleep, you're always there...~

It's just a little disconcerting that I don't even know who it is I'm dreaming about this way. I'm pretty sure I know them somehow, and I suspect I may even be tapping into someone *else's* dreams. That would narrow it down to one of four people, but any attempt to actually identify my dream lover just snaps me out of the dream and back to consciousness.

~'Cause you're everywhere to me,
and when I close my eyes, it's you I see.
You're everything I know that makes me believe
I'm not alone...
I'm not alone...~

I've tried everything I can think of to figure it all out, but no amount of altering my sleep patterns has made a difference. The dreams aren't predictable, being dreams, and I'd be lying if I said I even cared anymore. Granted, working my way to a full-blown orgasm while napping on the couch in the common room is more than a little embarrassing, but well worth it. And maybe whoever it is - if it *is* somebody, and not just my imagination - will realize how much I enjoy their attention, even just in my dreams, and reveal themselves.

~I recognize the way you make me feel -
it's hard to think that you might not be real.
I sense it now, the water's getting deep...
I try to wash the pain away from me...
Away from me...~

The thought triggers a sudden surge of familiarity, as if my invitation to reveal themselves had been heard and accepted, but the presence pulls back just as soon as I realize for sure that it *is* definitely there. So, not *just* my imagination, after all...

~'Cause you're everywhere to me,
and when I close my eyes, it's you I see.
You're everything I know that makes me believe
I'm not alone...
I'm not alone...~

I force myself back into calmness, and I sense my lover hovering nearby anxiously. Then I feel a gentle, almost chaste, kiss on my lips - something that's never happened before in any of the dreams.

~I am not alone...
Whoa, oh, oooh, oh...~


That short, hesitant contact holds many things - orgasm, a sense of unity, and, finally, in that unity, the identity of my mysterious lover.

~And when I touch your hand,
it's then I understand -
the beauty that's within,
it's now that we begin.~

I open my dream eyes to stare into brown eyes that flash golden as Shalimar smiles at me. Then I reach up to stroke her hair before settling my hand on top of hers as it gently brushes my cheek, smiling back at her all the while.

~You always light my way,
I hope there never comes a day...
No matter where I go,
I always feel you so...~

In this instant of revelation, I *know* suddenly that I had hoped it would be her. My own feelings about her had always been confused at best, for all our closeness, and, for all my ability to read and manipulate emotion, I'd never succeeded in reading her feelings about me clearly, or in influencing them one way or another. Or so I thought, anyway...

~'Cause you're everywhere to me,
and when I close my eyes, it's you I see.
You're everything I know that makes me believe
I'm not alone...~

Shalimar's mouth meets mine again, hot and demanding this time, both an admonition not to think so much and, simultaneously, something new to think about. I lose myself in that kiss, and in the feel of Shal's hands on me.

~'Cause you're everywhere to me,
and when I catch my breath it's you I breathe.
You're everything I know that makes me believe
I'm not alone...~

The last thing I'm aware of between the last faint waves of another orgasm and slipping out of the dream into non-REM sleep is Shalimar's mental laughter at my drowsy promise that I won't be so passive with her in the waking world...

~You're in everyone I see...
So tell me -
do you see me? ~

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Warning: (Moved from above to avoid spoilers) This fic contains femmeslash, i.e., two or more women engaged in a sexual and/or romantic relationship...