"So I was walking down this alley when I heard a loud sound, like
bells and glass breaking. I drew my gun and ran at it. I know, I
know, stupid, but this is a dream, remember? I reached the end
and saw a huge pile of gemstones, with more falling from the sky
by the minute. They glowed and gleamed in more colors than I
would have guessed existed. All beautiful and some as large as my
fist.
"Don't look at me like that. If you'd been there, you would have
wanted to steal them all too. Trust me. Well, don't then. I don't
care. It doesn't matter.
"Some little old man was sitting at the foot of the pile, holding
them up for examination and muttering to himself. 'This is still
pretty.' 'If I cut this down to smaller ones, no one will see the
flaws.' That's when I realized that all the gems were damaged:
cracked, smashed, or gouged.
"He looked up at me, and I recognized him as a little pawnshop
owner I'd terminated a year ago. He'd been harmless, afraid of his
own shadow, but he'd seen something he shouldn't, and I had my
orders. Actually, I'm not sure if the man in the dream really looked
like him; it was just one of those dream things where you see
someone and say, 'This is whoever,' and maybe later realize the
dream figure didn't look anything like that person. Sure, you know
what that's like.
"He picked up a large, cracked sapphire and told me it was mine.
It felt warm and alive in my hands but still damaged somehow.
Hey, it's a dream, right? I could feel its imperfections just with my
hands. When I looked inside it, I saw— Nah, I'm not telling you.
No, I won't. The puppy dog eyes won't work, but don't stop,
they're fun to look at.
"Do you know I like you better gagged? Okay, maybe that was
obvious. You can keep on making those cute little noises too. I'm
not taking it off until I'm ready.
"I looked into all the other gems and saw scenes of love and
ambition, a few mine, most not. Families, power, respect,
adoration. I saw a gem that had to be one of yours, because it had
an image of your sister inside. That one looked like it had been
smashed and put back together multiple times.
"You know, you're much easier to deal with fresh out of a sound
sleep. So much more agreeable. I should surprise you like this
more often.
"The pawnbroker handed me another gem and said, 'This one isn't
broken, just a little neglected.' When I wiped the dirt away, it
looked like an emerald, but it was shot through with gleaming
swirls of blue and gold. It felt even warmer than the other one. I
looked inside and then I woke up."
Mulder made a sound through his gag. Alex smiled, got up from
the couch, and untied the handkerchief. "Well, what do you think,
Mulder?"
Mulder licked his lips a little, yawned almost convulsively, then
said, "You were looking at a pile of broken dreams." Half asleep,
he did sound much more reasonable. He looked like he wasn't so
certain he was actually awake.
Awake, he'd probably be trying to rip himself loose of the ropes
and chair.
Alex crouched by the side of the chair. "So you did earn that
degree at Oxford. But I wouldn't call them dreams."
"What would you call them?"
"Goals. Ambitions."
"You say 'tomato.' All right. So you didn't come over here at 4
a.m. for my professional opinion. It was one of your lost goals to
tie me to a chair and gag me? Oh, of course. Never mind."
"That's part of it."
Mulder sat there in his rumpled sweatpants and flyaway bed head
looking rueful, offhandedly gorgeous, and so familiar that it could
have been years ago, when all the secrets had still been safely
hidden. A streetlight shining through the window catching one of
his eyes made it look like clear, colored glass.
Alex settled onto his lap. "This is the rest." Then kissed him.
He struggled only a little, enough to be more exciting, before
kissing back. Some people might have had trouble dealing with
the ropes, but he was just kinky enough to get into it.
When they surfaced for air, Mulder asked, "You came here
because a dream suggested you should?"
"Yeah."
"Kind of impulsive."
"Uh-huh."
"Alex, are you really here?"
"Sure, but how else would I answer?"
"Right."
"You are awake, Mulder."
"Yeah, it looks like it." Mulder let himself melt into another kiss.
"Can you untie me?"
"Maybe later." Alex licked the salt of sleep sweat from Mulder's
neck. Tied to a chair or not, he certainly didn't seem to mind.
He still had to talk, though. "You're crazy."
"You're just sitting here for it."
"I'm tied down."
"Tell me no, then."
Mulder sighed. "I'm going to regret this."
He'd talk himself into it. He always had. Most of him was already
going along.
It looked like this one really wasn't broken after all.
THE END "Dreaming is free
NOTE: Thinking about it, the dream gems may have been slightly
inspired by a book I hadn't read in years, A Bait of Dreams by
Jo Clayton. The Ranga Eyes aren't the same thing, but they're
close. Sponge!Viridian strikes again.
It's hard to believe Jo Clayton is gone...
Dreaming is Free
by Viridian5
"Imagine something of your very own,
Something you could have and hold..."
I don't want to live on charity
Pleasure's real or is it fantasy?
Real to real is living rarity
People stop and stare at me
We just walk on by
We just keep on dreaming..."
