from planting a kiss on his lips.
"She came and spoke to me, after you passed out."
Isabelle darted up in bed. "What? You saw my
mother? You see ghosts?"
"No." Kal took a deep breath. "She said I could see
her because you can see the dead and I was so connected to
you. So I guess you can do more than just read minds and
create time bubbles. You probably have a slew of powers
we have yet to discover."
"I saw a ghost once. It was the old woman from
next door and she came and visited me in the middle of the
night. My parents thought I was crazy because she had died
during the night. They thought I must have dreamed the
whole thing." Isabelle's eyes filled with tears, a little one
slipping from her right eye. Kal reached out to brush it
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away with his fingertip. "What did my mother say?"
"She said that she loved you deeply, as much as
your brother. She felt it was an honor to have raised you.
She asked me to care for you and she said to tell you that it
wasn't the backyard where you were found but that you
materialized right in front of her on the kitchen table."
"The kitchen table? She must have freaked out."
Isabelle couldn't hide the laughter in her voice. She could
visualize the scene taking place in front of her. "I'm glad
you got to speak to her. I think I would have always
regretted that you didn't know my family, that you never
had a chance to speak to any of them."
"Isabelle, I can't tell you what it means to have
found you."
"I feel it too, Kal." They stared at each other for a
moment, neither one of them saying a word, not feeling like
they needed to.
His voice gentle, he stroked her hair. "Isabelle."
"Yes?"
"You were right. I really am exhausted and for the
first time in a long time, I think I could actually sleep a
little bit."
"Then let's get some sleep. Tomorrow you can show
me around and then make love to me again." She giggled.
"In that order?" He laughed too. "Babe, I think I'm
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going to have to make love to you a few times before I
show you around."
"That would be fine too."
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Chapter Twelve
Isabelle opened her eyes into the same dream
landscape that she had been visiting since she was a child.
She stood on top of a hill covered in green grass. The wind
blew in her hair. She wasn't cold from the touch of it but
found it instead to be refreshing. The sun beat down on the
hilltop and she felt that it must be close to mid-afternoon.
Strangely enough, the time changed frequently in her
dreams while the landscape never did. She looked down to
see what she was wearing and was surprised to note she
was actually in her normal clothes, the one Kal had ripped
from her body earlier that night. Usually she was dressed in
old-fashioned attire or long flowing hippy-like skirts. She
turned around quickly and found what she was looking
for—Kal sitting on the grass behind her, a smirk on his
face. He was also wearing the clothes that he had been
wearing earlier that night.
"What are you laughing at?" she questioned.
"I'm just admiring the view of your rear end and
lamenting that I'm going to have to get those clothes off of
you again."
"So, you admit that you're here and that we're
actually sharing this dream?"
"Just because I admit it now does not mean that I
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will remember it when I wake up."
"I can already see us arguing about this for the rest
of our lives." Isabelle sighed, blowing a stray piece of hair
out of her eyes. "This already feels different to me."
"How so?" Kal questioned, standing up.
"We're dressed like ourselves. Usually I look
something out of a fantasy movie and you are all suited up
for battle. I usually have to work really hard to get you
undressed."
"That's hysterical." Kal laughed. "Trust me,
Isabelle, I'm a sure thing."
Isabelle couldn't help but laugh at Kal. "You know
what's fantastic about this?"
"I can think of several things. Which one
specifically are you thinking about?"
Isabelle paused, feeling a blush starting in her
cheeks. "No. Now I'm curious. What were the things that
you were thinking about?"
"This is a dream that we're actually conscious of so
we can make things happen the way we want them to
happen, right?"
"I guess. We've never tried it that way."
"I've never been actually aware that I was asleep
and conversing with you before." Kal smiled a grin that
could only be called sensual, and slightly wicked.
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"What did you have in mind?"
"I think I'd like you to be naked, right now." Before
her eyes, and much to her immediate embarrassment,
Isabelle's clothes disappeared right off of her body. With
nothing to cover herself, she looked up at Kal who was
smiling that same wicked smile again.
"Kal!"
"Now I feel much better," he insisted. "This is, after
all, a dream and I've decided that tonight's dream is going
to be an erotic one." He crossed the slight distance between
them and pulled her up against him, kissing her hard. "It's
different, isn't it? I can feel you but not really feel you.
Somehow it still works."
"Better to have me naked when we're actually
awake?"
"I'll take you naked any way I can get you. Awake,
asleep, whatever you prefer."
"You know turnabout is fair play in these
circumstances. I think I'd like you to be naked too." As
quickly as her clothes had vanished Kal's did. Reaching up
she began to feel his sculpted chest beneath her fingertips.
He was so perfectly made, like somebody had wanted to
design the perfect man and so they had created Kal's
physique. Even with everything else that had taken place,
she couldn't believe that she was going to get to touch him
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like this for the rest of her life. She had a feeling Kal was
going to age very, very well. Well, she amended, if any of
them got to actually age considering the enemy they were
all facing.
"Hey." He pushed her chin up with his index finger
so that she was looking him in the eyes. "No frowning
thoughts. We have enough of those when we're awake." He
bent down to kiss her again, harder this time. It was a kiss
of possession, of ownership, and Isabelle had to admit that
she was feeling just fine with the idea of being ow
ned by
him because she was quite certain that she had ownership
rights on him too.
"Let's make the most out of this being naked,
outside, and not cold." Kal pushed her down onto the
ground. Isabelle wasn't yet finished with his mouth, making
her demands equally known as her tongue swirled in and
out, pushing and demanding his response. He was happy to
give her what she was demanding. In this dream state
everything felt different, a somehow fuzzy feeling, but still
intoxicating to her senses. She was sure that, if she was
asked to, she wouldn't be able to form coherent sentences.
All that mattered was kissing and feeling Kal kiss her in
return. She scraped her nails up and down his back
knowing that if they were awake her nails would make a
mark on him and every time he felt the slight pain he would
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be reminded of their intimate times together. She wasn't
sure how long they would remain on his back in this world.
"I don't think I could ever get bored kissing you."
Kal's voice took on a guttural intonation that betrayed the
immense amount of emotion that he felt. "Can we do this
every night?"
"We have been doing it every night." Isabelle
pinched him and he yelped before laughing. "You just don't
remember it when you're awake. But that's okay, I'll forgive
you." She smoothed his hair back from his face.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything. Always."
"Do you think you might marry me?"
"You're asking me this now? While we are naked
and technically asleep?"
Kal paused. "I guess my timing is kind of off, huh?"
"No, it's perfect." She knocked him gently on the
head with his left hand. "But if you forget that you asked
me this by the light of day I'm going to get really mad at
you."
"I promise to ask again if I forget that I've already
asked. Does that make sense?"
"Does any of this make sense?" She kissed both his
cheeks.
"So you actually haven't answered me. Will you
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marry me?"
"I haven't answered?"
"Isabelle—"
"I'm joking. Yes. Yes. I will marry you, Kal, my
love." She went back to the great pleasure of kissing his
mouth and then paused. "Kal, do Outsiders get married or
are we just assumed to be married once we've found our
soul mates?"
"I don't know. But this Outsider," he pointed at her,
"and this Outsider are getting married."
"Sounds like a plan."
There was no more talking for either of them after
that. In this venue, they were more comfortable with each
other, they'd been doing this a long time in dreamland and
Kal's hands moved over her body with the understanding
only a lover who knew their partner's body inside and out
could. Their lovemaking was short but intense and left
them both breathless and clinging to each other.
"So," Isabelle laughed when she could speak. "Want
to know what I was originally talking about?"
"What you were originally talking about?" Kal was
breathing hard and Isabelle loved the sound of it. Loved
that she had made him that out of control, that lost in their
shared sensations.
"I had started having a conversation with you prior
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to your suddenly removing my clothes."
"Yeah?"
"Yep." Isabelle was grinning into Kal's chest. This
was the first time she had ever really seen him flustered.
"And you've managed to retain your memory of
what we were talking about prior to that earth shattering
experience that we just shared while I am laying here
completely spent and brainless?"
"Yep."
"Okay. I'll bite. What were you originally going to
talk about?"
"We can do anything we want to in here, we can run
a race, debate world politics, or even do what we just did
and, as you put it, move the earth and we are really resting
and getting a good night's sleep."
"So I'm not going to wake up and be exhausted
from this?"
"Not if it works like it usually works. But, then
again, you may not remember this."
He shook his head. "Oh, I'm going to remember
this."
"I think we're about to find out."
"Are we waking up?"
"Look up, see how the sky is kind of melting
away?"
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them. Isabelle followed his gaze till she was sure they
looked at the same part of the sky. The blue stretch filled
with white clouds that had given the whole place the feel of
a perfect spring day seemed to be melting away above
them.
"What does that mean?"
"One of us is waking up."
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Chapter Thirteen
When Isabelle awoke she knew instantly that it was
still very early. She had always known exactly what time it
was when she woke up, as if her body clock never really
shut down. It was somewhere around 5:15 AM and she
knew Kal needed to sleep a little bit more. She wondered
where his mind had taken him since they had left each
other's subconscious. Briefly, she gazed into his mind and
saw he was dreaming, dirty dreams by the flashes she got
and that they were all about her. Evidently their earlier
encounter hadn't satisfied his need for her. She wasn't
ashamed to admit that she really, really liked that.
Blushing, she carefully pulled her mind away from
his. She didn't want him waking up before he had enough
rest to rejuvenate. She knew what the brief time glimpse of
her family's murder had done to her, and could only
imagine what the battle had to have done to Kal. He hadn't
blacked out for hours as she had and had driven them all
the way to Maine. All of this had happened prior to the
mind-blowing sex they had shared afterwards. The poor
guy deserved a little undisturbed REM. She was going to
put it on her list of things that she was going to make sure
he got from this point forward.
She needed to build up the kind of strength she had
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watched Kal exhibit. Quietly, she got out of bed. Kal had
destroyed her clothes from the night before. She glanced
around the room and quickly noticed his closet. She silently
walked towards it, hoping the floor didn't creak beneath
her. This was an old house—she had grown up in an old
house and knew that floors and foundations tended to make
a ton of noise. She suspected Kal was a light sleeper and
didn't want to spoil her w
hole plan of letting him rest by
allowing the wood floor to creak beneath her. As silently as
possible she tried to locate what looked in the dark to be a
plain white tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants. She pulled
them on over herself. She was sore in places she hadn't
known she could be sore in and she had to admit that she
loved the feeling. She practically swam in Kal's clothes and
she had a feeling that she looked pretty ridiculous but she
really didn't care. They would have to do.
She crossed the room to his bathroom and quietly
closed the door behind her. The woman Kal kept calling
Dot obviously kept this room immaculately clean.
Everything was put away just where it should have been
and somehow Isabelle suspected that Kal was not the
organized type. The bathroom was modernized with all of
the usual conveniences, including, she noticed, a whirlpool
tub and a shower that could double as a steam shower. Kal
obviously liked his creature comforts. She could imagine a
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few things that they could do together in those places. She
smiled to herself—one night of lovemaking followed by
one dirty dream and she was already a sex addict.
She borrowed his toothbrush, knowing that it was
really gross to do so, and hoped he wouldn't mind. She
really didn't have a choice, maybe Dot kept the spare
toiletries somewhere in the house but she had no idea
where that would be and she couldn't walk around
completely unclean. As intimate as they had been the night
before, she still hoped Kal wouldn't mind.
She turned on the shower and while she waited for
the water to heat up, which it did rather quickly, she took
off the clothes that she had just put on and folded them
neatly on the counter. Did everything work so well because