Her heart racing, she woke with a start as she bolted upright. Beside her in the small bedroom, she felt Randy's hands on her shoulders.

"Sharona?"

In the darkness, she blinked trying to make sense of what had happened… if it had really happened at all. But before she could even open her mouth to speak, Randy reached for the switch on his bedside lamp, brightening the room. Sharona could feel her heart beating even faster than before. Either she was still shaken by what had happened, or it was the sight of his handsome face.

"Hon, are you okay?"

She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "Yeah, I think so but I-I don't really know."

"What happened?"

"I-I don't know." She repeated. "It just seemed so real..."

He grinned. "Bad dream?"

"No, I… well, yeah, I guess so. It was just so… weird."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Well, I… Oh, no. It's ridiculous. Let's just go back to sleep." She moved to return her head to her pillow but his hand was on her arm.

"Sharona, I'm the Summit, New Jersey Police Chief. Believe me, nothing that you could possibly say-."

She laughed. Why was he always so wonderful at making her feel better? And why hadn't she noticed long before now? "You're right. Well, I… I was a…"

"What?"

"A baseball player."

His eyebrows rose and he chuckled. "Excuse me?"

Her heart sank. "I knew you wouldn't understand! I don't know why I even told you!" Annoyed, she threw back the comforter and swung her feet around, but he caught her arm, preventing her from climbing out of bed.

"Hey, come on… I'm sorry. Tell me more. So you were a baseball player."

"Yes."

"For who? The Giants? Because I've seen you throw, actually. You have a pretty good pitching arm."

His comment made her laugh. If only it were that simple.

"No, not exactly. I was playing baseball for the Rockford Peaches. Ever heard of them?"

"No, I can't say that I have."

"Me either and it's completely weird. But anyway, we had to wear these ridiculous costumes with really short skirts that barely covered our-."

Randy was in full attention mode now, his arms crossed in front of him, his mouth curved into a grin. "Sounds interesting. Tell me more."

"Randy, this is serious!" She said, playfully shoving him. "I've never had a dream like this before. I-It was a dream, wasn't it?"

"Well, unless you ran off to Rockford to sign up to play baseball. Where is Rockford, anyway?"

"I have no idea."

"Then it was definitely a dream. Probably not even a real place."

"I guess you're right. But it was so real! It was like I was living in another decade. There was a crowd all around us and we were in a baseball stadium playing a game.

The coach called me over and asked me what team I played for. I told him "For us" and he went crazy! He started screaming at me, Randy!"

Her voice rose dramatically and she had no idea why she was getting so worked up. She'd seen people murdered right before her eyes and she even encountered an elephant! She could certainly handle this. She was suddenly aware of how tightly he was holding her in his arms. His hand was moving gently across her back.

"It's okay…" He said softly. "It was just a bad dream. But why was the coach yelling at you?"

"He said that I lost the lead for the team. I burst into tears and that's when he got really angry. He started screaming 'There's no crying in baseball!' over and over! It was horrible, Randy! I felt like such an idiot!"

His expression was unreadable and she started to worry. "What is it?"

"Well, actually there is crying in baseball."

"Really?"

"Sure. Baseball players cry all the time. Most of them are pretty good at hiding it though. And if you want to know the truth that coach of yours was a jerk!"

Again she laughed, and pushed him against the pillows. "Randy, it was just a dream! One I'd like to forget! Especially the part where I had an obnoxious kid!"

"What, you mean Benjy was in it too?"

"No, thank God. It would have been a lot nicer dream. I hope I never have a dream like that again!"

"Well, I know a way to assure that you don't."

"Now how could you possibly-."

He pulled her toward him, and it only took two seconds to give into his passionate kisses. It was a wonderful moment; one that she would never forget, as they fell against the pillows. And when at last she fell asleep in his arms, she knew that her dreams would be sweeter than anything she could ever imagine.

THE END