It was hot. Sweat glistened bodies filled the market. The heat was making most irritable, but it was like all summer days in the city. There was laughter, and yelling from the children running around playing games and making mischief. Teenagers stealing looks of lust, with drama following them everywhere they turned. Cart owners trying to make a profit of some form. And the new form adults, trying to find the things they needed for their tribe. After the virus so many years ago, people were still trying to make a better life for themselves, for the future. But things had been some what peaceful for years. Of course there were still the crazies out there. The ones that were sure Zoot was still alive, or the ones that wanted to rule the city themselves. It was a never ending battle, but it seemed like it started to become something that wasn't as important as it once was. The tribes had come together, and were working together to keep the peace.

Everything was just like any other day in the market, everything but the two people standing looking at each other. Spilled fruit on the ground and silence standing between them, eyes locked and no one noticing anything.

"Wow." She whispered wiping the sweat off the nap of her neck. It had been four years since she had seen him, four years since she had even thought of him.

"I didn't know you were living in the city again." He replied, confused by the sight of her. When he first bumped into her he was sure he was seeing things because of the heat, it had to have been messing with his mind. But he hadn't thought of her in years, and that made him know that it wasn't the heat.

"I'm not, we're not." She pointed behind her. "We come in once every two weeks for supplies. We live out in the houses, with our tribe."

"You still belong to a tribe, that's, that's really good." He was having a hard time getting his words out. His mind couldn't process this fast.

"And you're still with the mallrats?" She was pulling herself together. It would take a lot more than a ghost from her past to break her.

"Yeah, we're still in the mall." He nodded.

"That's good." She smiled.

The two stood there looking at each other making small talk, it was almost like they were never lovers once. Almost as though they only knew each other from the market. But inside they could feel it. The yarning that would never die, that desires to reach out and pull each other close. Feelings that neither of them could show.

"How are the rest of the mallrats?" she asked. She could have been rude, but she wasn't the same person she was four years ago, the day she walked out of the mall.

"They are all well, we have new members, lost old ones, but everyone is still well." He said still amazed that she was standing in front of him. He watched the sweat roll down her neck and remembered hot summer nights he had spent with her.

As she was about to say something when a boy went running behind her, bumping her into his arms. She fell forward using him as her balance. Even in the heat just touching him sent chills over her body.

Her chest was pressed against his body while she tried to get both her feet steady under her. The feeling she had when she touch him had made her heart speed up, more than she wanted it to.

"Are you okay?" he asked, the look on his face was anxious. His hands were on her waist and he knew that he was holding her to him, tighter and longer than he needed to. But feeling her again sent a reaction through is body, one that he hadn't felt since the last time they were together.

"Fine," she muttered pushing away from him quickly. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and wondered if he felt hers. "Children in the market." She half smiled and looked around, embarrassed.

"Yes." He said taking a few deep breaths; the hot air didn't seem to help him though.

Her eyes quickly trailed down his body, her thoughts were intruded with naked images of him, images that she had only dreamed about since they parted. She bit the inside of her lip trying not to allow her thoughts to show on her face, trying to control her body's reaction to him.

But he saw it flash in her eyes before she could control herself. He smiled down at her, and wondered if she knew that his thoughts were the same as hers. Imagining their naked bodies tangled together, her throaty moans of pleasure.

Control yourself! She needed to say that over and over again, but it was hard to remember. She could swear that she could taste him, the saltiness of his kisses. Every part of her was screaming for him, every part but her mind. "I heard about Ellie." Change the subject, she had after all promised herself to send her regards if she ever saw any Mallrats.

"Right." He could tell she was trying to recover, to bring it back around, but he didn't want her to. He wanted to reach out, pull her in close, kiss her perfect lips, squeeze her bottom just enough to make her smile into his mouth. "It was hard on everyone."

"I'm sure." She could read his eyes, and she knew it was like reading a dirty story. She could see him undressing her with his eyes, each piece of clothing slowly falling to the ground until she was standing before him stark naked. Even though it was her imagination, she could feel his hands as they roamed over her body, tugging at her nipples, pushing into her hips.

Without thought the two seemed to step closer to each other, leaving little distance between them. His hands reaching to rest on her hips, while hers travelled upward to find the nap of his neck.

The feeling grew in the pit of her stomach, the one she got when she knew what was going to happen. It quickly travelled a little farther down her body, resting between her legs. With a simple glace downward she knew that he was feeling it too.

He could picture it now, every kiss, every thrust of his hips, the way she would feel around him, the look of pure happiness in her eyes, reflecting back his own. It had always been easy to picture with her.

But just like every time with them, this moment too came to an end. A gentle breeze found its way down the large city buildings, blowing through the market, and bringing the two to their sense. Each person taking two steps back, their hands falling instantly to their sides, their thoughts blowing away in the breeze.

"Sorry." He whispered with a slight chuckle. "It's easy to get caught up."

"The heat." She smiled back pointing towards the sky.

"It was really good to see you again." He smiled gently, wanting to reach back out for her, but knowing better.

"You too." She returned the look, and with a small nod of her head, she turned back around, disappearing among the people in the market.