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
Other Websites: Crimson Redd - https://www.angelfire.com/goth/crimsonredd
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.’

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...

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Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, ~Lines 62-65

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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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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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...