(Written in late 1999 but never sent to Gossamer with my other stories)

Rating:    PG
Archive:   CounterMeasures, OK.  Others, please ask first.
Spoilers:  through Sixth Extinction - Amor Fati (US7)
Summary:   Sally said that she could *so* see the Gunmen in the
           first two episodes this season.  I concurred.  Giz 
           made some suggestions for the domestic dream 
           sequence.  Missing scenes from the episode.


Welcome to My Nightmare 
by Martha 
marthalgm@yahoo.com

A nocturnal vacation, a necessary sedation
You want to feel at home cuz you belong
- Welcome to My Nightmare, Alice Cooper


Lone Gunmen Headquarters
1:22am

Frohike picked up the ringing phone.  "Lone Gunmen."

"I need for you to find someone," the voice said quietly.

"And a `Good Evening' to you, too," he spat back into the 
receiver.  "Where the hell are you calling from?"

Skinner nearly wondered out loud as to just when these guys 
would stop asking him that question.  It wasn't as if he had 
not gotten into the habit of choosing inconspicuous locales 
when he would call. He looked back over his shoulder towards 
the street, just to be reassured that no one had followed him.  
"A quiet little phone booth on the edge of suburbia," and then 
a bit more urgently added, "I need to have someone tracked 
down."

"All those eager little feds at your fingertips and you have to 
come to us to find someone?"

Skinner was growing impatient with the constant second-guessing 
during these phone calls, and his frustration from the day's 
earlier events seeped into the conversation.  "Cut the crap, 
Frohike.  It's for Mulder."

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?"  Frohike 
leaned over and hit the speaker button so that Byers could hear 
what was going on.  "This person better be able to help him."

"He should.  Mulder asked for him personally."

Frohike nearly fell forward out of his chair.  "Mulder asked?  
He's lucid?  Can we get to him?"

"It seems that he has a moment or two when his brain activity 
is functioning on this plane, but the instruments are still 
measuring off the scale."  Skinner again examined his 
surroundings.  "Now, about this guy.  I can't find a phone 
listing, and his last forwarding address was a post office box.  
Can you help or not?"

Byers joined in, "Give us the name."

"Kritschgau."  Skinner glanced back down at his palm.  "Michael 
Kritschgau.  K R I . . ."

Frohike harshly interrupted him.  "We're familiar with that 
name."

Byers glanced over at his colleague and attempted to interject 
some diplomacy into the conversation.  "Why don't you go home 
and get a few hours rest?  We'll call you when we're sure where 
he is."

~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~            

Georgetown Memorial Hospital
Neuro-Psych Ward
7:12 am

Langly adjusted the strap of the backpack over his shoulder as 
he paused to look down an adjoining hallway.  "We should get 
parking passes for as many times as we're here visiting 
Mulder."

Byers motioned for the other two to continue forward.  "But you 
have to be on staff . . ."   

"Who said anything about getting them the hard way?" Langly 
whispered as he continued down the corridor.   

Frohike brought up the rear.  "He calls me Toto again, I'm out 
of here."

Skinner was waiting for their arrival outside the door to 
Mulder's room.  "Do you guys want to tone it down a bit?  Did 
you get the stuff that Kritschgau needed?"

"Right here," Langly replied.  "We can have it set up in under 
three minutes."

"No.  I can't let you in there."

"And why not?"  Frohike's bad attitude had not abated since the 
early morning phone call to locate Kritschgau and then the 
subsequent one to gather some specialized equipment.

"Because Mulder's already got the thoughts of half of the 
hospital's inhabitants streaking through his mind;  he doesn't 
need any more.  Really, it's for the best."  Skinner held out 
his hand for the bag and gestured toward Byers.  "Can you keep 
a lookout for anyone from the Bureau or *another* organization 
that would be out of place?  Diana Fowley has been here.  
Mulder says that she knows what's going on."

"Well, okay."  Byers hesitated to commit to doing surveillance 
work, but he understood the need to give them time to work with 
Mulder uninterrupted.  "We'll keep an eye out in the main 
hallways then."  He tugged on the jackets of the other two and 
motioned for them to follow him.

"I'm not sure that I'd want Mulder knowing what I'm thinking," 
Langly gently offered while making their retreat.

Frohike was not so mannerly.  "I've got a few thoughts that I'd 
like to share with him."

~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~            

Home Sweet Home Dream Sequence

Mulder bent down to pick up the newspaper on the walkway.  As 
he stood back up, he noticed a figure advancing towards him 
that looked vaguely familiar but out of place in a white 
uniform shirt with the logo of the local phone company.  
"Langly?"

"Expecting someone else to service your telecommunications 
needs, Mulder?"

"No, it's just . . ."  Mulder looked down the street and smiled 
and shook his head.  "You don't live in this neighborhood, too, 
do you?"

"On the salary I make?  Yeah, right."

"So why are you here?"

"Check your wiring.  Need any new outlets?"

Langly followed Mulder into the house and was shown towards the 
den.  No sooner had this been done when the doorbell rang.

Mulder was somewhat surprised when he opened the door.  
"Frohike?"

"Reporting for duty."  The small man dressed 
uncharacteristically in a khaki workshirt and pants picked up 
his box of tools and pushed his way through the front door.  
"Where do you have your TVs set up?" 

"I don't really know," Mulder replied and led him to the same 
area where Langly was working.  He watched for a moment while 
Frohike pulled out a switch box and some cable. "So, what would 
it take for you to add on one of those *special* programming 
channels?"

"Hey, I don't think that you're going to have a need for that, 
nor the time."  Frohike gestured towards the kitchen.  "You're 
with the lovely Diana now, remember?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You're sad, you know it?  You made your choice, but you just 
can't be satisfied with it."     

"I haven't decided to stay yet."

"Too late.  After last night, there's no going back."

"How . . ."  Mulder had wanted to ask how he would know about 
the events of the previous evening but was interrupted by the 
doorbell.  "Excuse me."  He somewhat suspected that the third 
Gunman would now be dropping by but was taken aback by the 
appearance on his front porch.  

Byers was dressed in the uniform of the US Postal Service.  
"Good morning, Mulder," he said as he handed over a small 
armload of bundled-up mail.  "Just wanted you to know that your 
mail is now being forwarded to your new address."

Mulder beckoned for him to join the others inside.  "How did 
you find me?  I mean, how did *all* of you find me?"

"Perhaps this is just a coincidence, Mulder.  Neighborhood 
Watch Program.  Someone new moves in, we hear about it."  Byers 
pointed at the bundle still in Mulder's hands.  "You know, I 
could conveniently misplace any further mailings if you'd 
rather not be reminded."

"Reminded of what?"

"The past.  Old obligations.  Old friends."

"Yeah, like Scully," Langly chimed in.

"Not that she'd ever write to you," Frohike added.  "Now that 
you're no longer with the X Files."

Mulder shot him a puzzled look.  "Well, I may not be able to 
see her for a while, but listen, can you keep an eye on her for 
me?"

"Why would we want to do that?" Byers asked.

"You know, let me know how she's doing, what she's working on."

Frohike noisily closed his metal tool box.  "Mulder, you don't 
understand.  After today, we won't have any contact with you."

"Yeah, you're all set up."  Langly had also gathered his 
supplies.  "You won't need our services anymore."

Mulder looked at the three and smiled.  "Oh, I get it."  He 
lowered his voice and continued, "A little phone wiring, a new 
cable box.  You guys are going to keep an eye on me."

Byers shook his head and motioned for the other two to follow 
him towards the front door.  "No, Mulder, that's not it.  You 
have a different life now.  You don't need us anymore."

"No more calls in the middle of the night looking for satellite 
feeds . . ." Langly mused.  "No more last-minute cracks into 
semi-secured databases."

Frohike followed Langly out the door.  "I am *not* going to 
miss those hospital visits."

Byers turned to wave good-bye to Mulder who had stayed in the 
doorway.  "Be good to her, okay?  Have a good life, Mulder."

~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~            

Lone Gunmen Headquarters

Byers was in mid-yawn when he hit the speaker button on the 
phone system.  "Lone Gunmen."

"Heavens, Byers, you sound half asleep."

"Late night, Agent Scully.  What can we do for you?"

Scully snuggled the cellphone between her left ear and shoulder 
and reached onto the passenger seat for the envelope that had 
been shoved underneath her apartment door.  "I need to know the 
layout of Fort Marlene.  More specifically, where I can find a 
particular building and access it."

"Gee, I don't know.  Word is that most of that facility was 
closed and sanitized a while back."  Byers typed some keywords 
into his databank for a search.  "I can't even say for sure 
that some of those buildings are still standing.  Do you have 
anything that I can work with?"

She gave equal attention to the paper in her hand and the 
interstate traffic in front of her.  "I have a map with no 
legend or street names, but it's labeled as Fort Marlene with a 
specific building circled."  Scully discarded the paper and 
picked up the envelope.  "I just want to know what I'm getting 
into.  Oh, and I have an access card with the designation `MSF 
1225 L-1', if that narrows it down any."

"Oh, the Mutant Surgical Facilities," said a voice from across 
the room.

"What?"

"Sorry, Scully," Byers began to apologize.  "Frohike's attempt 
at humor." 

The other Gunman approached the speaker.  "It really is a 
hospital of some kind, though it's more experimentation than 
surgery going on there.  Or used to be - we'd gotten reports of 
frequent activity in the past but lately, nada."

Byers suddenly became aware of the traffic noises in the 
background.  "Scully, you aren't on your way there right now, 
are you?"

There was no answer from the other end of the line.  The two 
Gunmen looked at each other and then back at the phone.  
Frohike spoke first.  "Agent Scully?"

"Yes, I am."  She checked her rearview mirror before changing 
lanes.  "I'm not sure why I was given this information, but I 
have a feeling that Mulder may be there."

"You're looking for Building 1225, Level 1.  Sub-basement 
area."  Frohike hated the fact that at times his voice carried 
a certain paternalistic tone when it came to Dana Scully and 
tried to mask it.  "The keycard might get you in all the way, 
but how are you going to get on the base?"

"I flash the card and my ID.  Why should they question me?"

Byers muttered under his breath, "She has a point." 

Frohike was not finished.  "Scully, is anyone else with you?  
Does Skinner know . . ."

She hesitated, not wanting to go into the details of his 
insistence of not being involved.  "He's . . . not available at 
the moment."

"We can be there in an hour," Byers volunteered.

Frohike quickly added, "If Mulder is still whacked out, you 
might need an extra hand."

Scully was amused at their concern.  "And how are you guys 
going to get on the base?"

"We'll worry about that."  Frohike was already looking for the 
keys to the van.  "Just leave some breadcrumbs for us to follow 
once you get inside."  He motioned to Byers to disconnect the 
call before Scully had a chance to object.

Byers stood and reached for the jacket on the chair next to 
him.  "Should we wake up Langly?"

Frohike had started to undo the locks to the main door.  "Nah, 
let Sleeping Beauty get his rest.  We can always page him if we 
need him." 


end