"We're here," Scully said, nudging Mulder in the side to wake him up.

"Oh......good," Mulder mumbled, rubbing his eyes, "Maybe things will get back to normal now." Mulder glanced out of his car window, mulling over the strange events of the past few days. Or rather, what he had *thought* were the past few days. Apparently, all this nonsense about Krycek being his partner and Scully his mortal enemy had been nothing more than a confusing dream. A very real dream, but a dream nonetheless. Besides, the thought of Scully ever betraying him was simply unimaginable.

Mulder snapped out of his reverie just in time to see that he and Scully had passed through a large gate after a guard had waved them through. Mulder noticed a sign on the chain link fence which enclosed the large military base they were now entering. It read "Restricted Area; No Trespassing Beyond This Point; Photography is Prohibited." Realizing the significance of that sign, he turned to Scully, alarmed.

"Welcome to Area 51," she said, pulling to a stop in front of a large airplane hangar. She stepped out of the car, and on cue, scores of armed military commandos raced out of the hangar and surrounded the vehicle. Every one of their rifles was pointed at Mulder.

Not wanting to take any chances, Mulder slowly opened the passenger door of the car, and stepped out onto the tarmac, his hands raised high about his head. The commandos instantly moved in. As he was roughly escorted into the hangar by two of the bigger commandos, Mulder noticed a large, triangular object sitting in the hangar out of the corner of his eye. Before he could get a clearer view of the object, his guides abruptly dragged him down a hallway and shoved him into a small, white, interrogation room.

After they had dumped him on the floor, Mulder was able to get a closer look at his new surroundings. Just in front of him was a one-way mirror that almost completely filled the wall it had been placed on. The wall to the left of Mulder contained a smaller glass window, and the wall to his right was the location of the door he had just been forced through.

At that moment, the door was occupied, as two high-ranking military generals charged into the room, displeasure written across their heavy lined faces. The smaller one shut the door behind them just as the other began his to grill Mulder.

"What were you doing sneaking around in here? This is a top-secret military establishment. Only people with Level 6 clearance are allowed anywhere near its premises."

"What? Sneaking around? But I was-"

"You had no authorization to be here." The other general promptly cut him off.

"Listen, I'm just as confused as you are. . .," Mulder trailed off as he noticed two barely visible figures behind the one-way mirror. It might have been his imagination, but just then he could have sworn a glint of red hair had come from the smaller of the two figures.

"What are you trying to pull here?" Mulder demanded, "All this BS about me sneaking around. We both know the truth - I was unwittingly brought here, and forced into this room at gunpoint, just so I would keep my mouth shut about what I knew about the DAT tape. How close am I? Huh?"

Ignoring Mulder's accusations, the two generals silently left the room. The faint aroma of cigarette smoke drifted under the door. Mulder turned to look at the one-way mirror again, and the two figures were gone.

Defeated, Mulder slouched against the wall, his head cupped in his hands. It had begun to ache at his attempts to figure out the strange events taking place around him. What was happening? Who could he trust anymore?

The sound of someone outside his door quickly brought him back to the real world. The doorknob jiggled at the mystery person's attempt to jimmy open the lock. A few seconds later it appeared as if that person had succeeded in their attempt, for the doorknob ceased its jiggling and slowly began to turn.

"Krycek?" Mulder exclaimed in a loud whisper as his old partner quietly slipped into the room, "What are you doing here?"

"Not so loud," Krycek whispered back, "They might here us. I'm here to get you out of this place. Come on, let's go!" Krycek opened the door and motioned for Mulder to make his exit. Before he could even make it to his feet, a throng of military personnel had surrounded the room, and dragged the astonished Krycek off. In a desperate attempt at self-preservation, Mulder kicked the gun out of the hand of the nearest commando, then turned to flee. His endeavour was unsuccessful, for the next thing Mulder saw was the end of a rifle coming straight toward his head.

Dazed and confused, Mulder slowly woke from his imposed slumber. A trickle of blood ran from his temple, and his forehead beat with pain. As the fog that gripped his brian sluggishly dissipated, Mulder tried once again to rationalize his experiences. It had all started a few days ago, when he awoke to catch a flight to Hong Kong with Scully, only to find Krycek in her place. In Hong Kong he and Krycek had searched for the missing DAT tape outlining the government's knowledge of extraterrestrials. It was reportedly in Scully's possession. Inadvertently, he and Krycek got trapped by Scully while looking for her in Hong Kong. Just as she was about to kill him, Mulder had woken up in his office, the starting point of his strange ordeal. So it could have all been a bad dream. But if that was true, then why was he being held hostage in Area 51?

The pain in Mulder's head had eased somewhat, so he decided to explore his albeit limited surroundings. He had speculated that the small window to his left might lead to another room like his own. If that were the case, Krycek could be in there, and Mulder wanted to see how he was doing.

He approached the window and gazed through. What he saw there made his heart stop. Where Krycek should have been instead lay a small, red-headed woman, obviously unconscious.

"Scully?!?" Mulder's headache returned in full force. He rubbed his head to ease the pain. As it dispersed, Mulder finally started to grasp the full implications of what he was seeing. He reasoned that whenever he went unconscious, he was transported to a parallel universe. In that universe, Scully was his foe, and Krycek his friend. Mulder knew Scully would probably dismiss it all as a dream, but he couldn't except that. What was taking place around him just seemed to real to be the by-product of his overactive imagination. Mulder knew that he was in the real universe now, and that he had better make sure he stayed in it. He had better make *damn* sure he stayed in it. He needed not only to free himself and Scully, but also to get the DAT tape back from Scully...er...Krycek.

Eyeing a bobby pin lying on the floor near the door of his room, Mulder's thoughts next turned to escape. Remembering his days as a Junior Detective, Mulder quickly jimmied the lock on his door, and tip-toed into the hallway. He took the first left in the maze of halls that greeted him outside of his room. Finding a door there, he carefully picked his way into what he assumed must be Scully's room.

His assumption was correct, and Mulder hurriedly set out to revive his unconscious partner. Groaning, Scully's eyes groggily flickered open.

"Mulder? What happened?" Scully's words slurred together as she tried to sit up. "I guess my liberation efforts were for naught," she concluded, focusing in on her new surroundings.

"Shhh. It's okay, I'm here to get us out of this place. I used this bobby pin that Krycek, er, you left in my room before the commandos dragged you off and used it to pick my way into your room. We've got to get out of here before they discover us again."

Mulder helped Scully to her feet and they quietly slipped out of the room and down the hallway. There they were confronted with another locked door, which thankfully did not prove too difficult to unlock. They stole out of the building and into the cool desert night. Spying a fence about a hundred yards in front of them, Mulder and Scully carefully crept towards their freedom.

"Stop where you are!" Mulder swung around to find Krycek running towards him from the military complex with a group of armed soldiers in tow. Taking Scully's hand, he turned to flee, only to find more commandos waiting for him in the other direction. Once more he turned to face Krycek, his face contorted with anger.

"I'm so sick of this Krycek. I want my life back. Why can't you just give that to me?" Mulder's words rang out in the stillness of the night.

"Because you know too much. The DAT tape, Area 51...we can't let these things be exposed. We have no choice but to kill you." Krycek edged closer to Mulder. Mulder's fists tensed in anticipation

"Mulder no! He'll kill you!" Scully shouted. It was too late. Just as Krycek was about to grab him, Mulder's fist collided with Krycek's face. Krycek reeled back, holding his nose in pain. Instantly Mulder was surrounded by soldiers. One twisted his arm around his back and held a handgun to Mulder's head. Krycek held up his hand.

"I'll take care of his," he said, waving to the soldier to put his gun down. Blood dripping out of his nose, Krycek spit on Mulder, then proceeded to use his face as a punching bag. On the fifth blow, Mulder crumpled to the ground. He groaned in agony, struggling to remain conscious. The urge to black out was very strong, but he fought through the mist with great determination. He knew that dreams were his enemy, like Krycek, and not the friend they may appear to be.

Fighting to stay awake, Mulder turned to look up at his adversary. Krycek stood there grinning. He closed his eyes, trying his hardest not to give in to the pain. He looked up again. FLASH Now Scully loomed over him. FLASH Once again Krycek stood there.

Mulder could no longer resist the waves of unconsciousness, and gave into his nemesis. He fainted.

Special Agent Fox Mulder's eyes jerked open. Dazed, and slightly confused, he looked around groggily to find the familiar sights of his office staring back at him. He looked at the green, digital numbers on his watch and found they read 10:13 am.

A knock on the door jolted him into the land of the living for good. He looked up to find Scully there, carrying two cups of coffee. She smiled when he looked up.

"So you're finally awake, huh?" she teased him, placing the cups on his desk. "I thought you were going to sleep all morning. Maybe this coffee will help you wake up."

"Thanks. After last night, I'll need it." Mulder took a sip of his coffee, waiting for the caffeine to work its magic.

"Having problems sleeping?" Scully asked him worriedly.

"No more than usual." Mulder smiled. "Let's just say sleep isn't exactly a friend of mine. So, any new leads as to Krycek's whereabouts?"

"No, just that he's still in Hong Kong. Which is where we should be now." Scully gave him an accusatory look, "I waited for you on the plane this morning, but when you didn't show up, I decided to check here. And sure enough, there you were, asleep on your desk, face down in a puddle of drool." A grin creased Scully's face.

"What? I don't drool! Well...not usually anyway." Mulder smiled too. "Let's get down to work. Have you heard anything about that string of unusual murders taking place in New Jersey?"

"Actually, the chief of police there just faxed me this brief. Why don't you take a look at it." Mulder hunched over his desk, skimming the report.

"You know-" Mulder stopped short as he looked up. Scully wasn't sitting in front of him anymore. In her place sat Krycek. He closed his eyes, the well-known headache returning. When he opened them again, the chair in front of him was once again occupied by Scully.