Over the next month, Amanda paid a visit to the Legion camp twice more. Both times, Jake went with her. Both times she mediated a slight flirting between Jake and the two Legion girls, and relished the redness that sprang to his face. But even though it got his goat regularly, he found he had a lot of fun, and all three were so much different in the comfort of their realm than in the deadly game of the trials.

But so far, they were all just good friends, and Amanda wasn't actively trying to force the issue, it had become more for fun than anything. Now that two months had passed in the realm since that ultimate battle between Amanda and Frank, and Jake found himself thinking that the two might be due for a two week holiday.

"You wanna try the new ability?" Amanda looked up at him from a book. It was the first time she'd had "The Stand" in her possession in months. "Going back...To the FUTURE!" Jake gave her his best Christopher Lloyd impression, which was to put it mildly, lacking. It was a damn good thing he was cute.

"Where would we go? What would we do?" Amanda's eyes lit up eagerly.

"I'm thinking small steps," Jake answered her. We initially went to the cabin for a nice little vacation, why not enjoy it?" Amanda burst out laughing. "What? It'll be romantic."

"Uh huh...You're taking me from a cabin...To another cabin."

He paused. "It's bigger?" He shrugged. "It's our first time back, might be good to get our sea legs again, and don't forget, we have a lot of stuff we need to take care of when we get back. Your tetanus vaccine...We'll be coming back probably right around the time Dr. Sullivan will have discovered you're missing, so I'll have to deal with some fall-out there, I'm not saying we have to spend the whole two weeks there..."

"We could...But...If we do, once we get back from the hospital, we're going to bed...and we're staying there." Her eyes danced.
What was he thinking? Of course Amanda's idea of a dream vacation would be constantly fucking for two weeks.

Amanda reached out to the Entity and told it about their potential plans. It massed itself in their cabin. "I will handle things."

In their heads, they heard the Entity call everyone to the fire. Amanda and Jake, considering themselves summoned, also went out to join the fray. The entity spoke to all the collected survivors in their heads. "Amanda and Jake will be temporarily leaving the realm. However, they will return in two weeks time, or sooner."

Ace, who was still not even to third base and dying for just a Playboy, spoke aloud," What makes them so special?"

"They are not," The Entity lied. You are aware what brought Amanda and Jake back to this realm. However, are you aware of what it cost?"

The survivors looked among themselves uneasily. "I granted them the opportunity to return, which was a large sacrifice to me, and so, I am making them sacrifice in return. The rest of you, when I have deemed the time appropriate, will all eventually be returned to your normal lives, almost immediately at the point from which you were taken. Minutes or hours will have passed, but not the years you spend here. You will be able to pick up things right where you left off."

Ash looked wary. "Well, what about them?" He didn't like the way this was sounding for the two of them.

"They will never return. They will be present in this realm forever. The presence of their two life forms are essential to my existence. There may come a time when I am unable to find suitable replacements for yourselves and the killers I have selected. As long as they remain, even if it is only the pair of them, I will exist forever. However, it will require them to exist here forever as well."

The looks on the other survivors' faces were mostly horror. Even Ace looked taken aback. Amanda and Jake put expressions of horror on their own faces, as if they were party to the worst news in the world.

Stuck here, forever. Never having normal lives, never having a family, cut off from everyone, possibly left here, alone...Forever was a terrifying word to all of them, except for Ash and Jane. Both of their faces were thoughtful and they shared a glance between themselves. Now that they'd found each other, Forever, in their current states, didn't seem quite so bad. Ash snuck a look at Amanda, because he suspected that maybe she wasn't as horrified at the news as she appeared, but Amanda was a fantastic actress, so it was really difficult to tell.

"I came to the decision recently, after much thought of the realm's future. I cannot risk losing the realm, and the only way I can guarantee its survival forever is by keeping two of you present. Since Jake requested to return and save Amanda's life, he was given a gift from me. So this is his repayment."

"However, I understand the human mind, and now that the pair have the knowledge this is what their existence will be for eternity, it is understandable that they both may eventually reach the precipice of complete mental collapse. The human Amanda already suffers from a variety of psychological issues from her past, and this could easily create in her a psychotic break, which would then make her useless to me."

"Jeez," Amanda thought, "You don't have to sell it QUITE so hard ya know."

The Entity spoke only to her, "I learned the finer points of selling a lie from you. And your mental state is the perfect addition to something already quite convincing. An extra bit of spice, as you would say."

"The human mind is fragile. She was also put into a state of catatonia by a killer here. With that understanding, I have decided an appropriate counterbalance is to allow them brief returns to the real world to break up the daily existence that they will engage in here for the rest of eternity. How many times per earth year in this realm they are allowed to return will be at my complete discretion of course. At the end of the two weeks, they will be automatically reclaimed."

There remained a silence at the fire. "I am sure that with a complete understanding of the situation, there will be no hostility towards the brief travels of the two survivors who will never be able to join you in exiting the realm. Ordinarily, I would have Amanda speak to the situation rather than communicate with you myself, but as the situation directly impacted her, I decided to speak of the situation to you myself."

Claudette couldn't contain herself. "You're a MONSTER!"

There was a pause. "I will forgive you the loss of temper due to the situation impacting your friend. However, you are incorrect. I am a God, and I am cruel. Amanda and Jake, you leave in five minutes."

So the noticeably more understanding survivors gave each of them hugs. Several of them noticed Amanda seemed a bit shell-shocked, while Jake maintained a brave face. The pair disappeared into their cabin, and Claudette stared after them with a sorrowful expression. Forever. That's so long.

Inside the cabin, Jake said, "It was so convincing. Even I believed it and I'm in on it. We'll think of our return in...Three minutes, to make it look right."

"Enjoy your stay. I look forward to your return. I do not think there will be any trouble from the survivors over your...Vacations now."

They both thanked the Entity. At two minutes to go, Amanda said, "Oh, fuck!" Jake looked at her sharply. Amanda darted to the closet and started throwing things around, and after about 30 seconds, from the very back, she pulled out the crumpled hospital gown. "This was the last thing I was wearing when we left."

She quickly stripped naked, and for the first time, she did not think to preen for Jake, instead throwing the gown quickly over her naked body. After the final 30 seconds passed, they closed their eyes, and thought of the real world.

******************************************************************************************

The first thought Amanda had as she opened her eyes was that being naked in a hospital gown was really not ideal for November in Ohio. Her teeth felt like they were chattering almost immediately. Jake had also forgotten the chill and there was little excitement shared at their return at that moment, as they both ran for Jake's off the grid cabin as fast as they could.

The jog helped warm them, and Amanda savored the fact that the leftover power of the realm protected her bare feet from the broken sticks and rocks on the path. When the cabin was in sight, Jake hustled Amanda into the passenger seat of the rental Jeep and ran inside. The first thing he grabbed were the keys to the Jeep, which he gave to Amanda to get the car warming up.

Dashing back inside, he grabbed a heavy coat for himself and one for Amanda. She slipped it awkwardly on as Jake put the Jeep in drive and as the engine warmed up enough to fill the interior with warm air, Amanda snuggled up to Jake's arm.

"The trees are beautiful...But you know what?" Jake looked at her. "You know how it's kind of disorienting a little when you got to a hotel room? I mean, it's nice, it's clean, when you get one, it's fancy..." They both giggled. "But it doesn't feel like home. And it's bizarre, but being on this road makes me feel a bit like being in a hotel room. It's nice, and I enjoy it...But it doesn't quite feel like home. Does it to you?"

Jake paused for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't believe I'm doing that. I lived here for 28 years, you lived here for 36...And I 100 percent agree. I'll enjoy being able to come back here and have these two weeks to maintain all the special abilities of the realm and know that nothing can harm us and we won't age during that time...But yeah...I'm going to be happy to be back at our home when we return."

The happy immortal couple talked of trivial things to pass the time, and it didn't seem like that long before the Jeep arrived back at Akron general hospital. Jake parked the Jeep and took a deep breath. "She's going to rip me a new asshole."

Amanda was quiet a moment. "Can't be any worse than the one I ripped in Frank."

He looked at her, and then had a fit of hysterical laughter before he got out of the Jeep. Amanda steeled herself to the cold and her feet felt frozen instantly as they touched the cold concrete. She followed Jake back in through the main doors.

They walked right by the reception desk to the confusion of the staff. Neither one of them knew what to make of the tall man being followed by a short barefoot woman with a hospital gown and winter coat on.

Even though it had been almost a year, Jake still remembered the route. They were halfway to it when Dr. Sullivan came out of one of the rooms, saw Jake, and stormed over to him. "Where is your WIFE?"

Jake started to speak, but she cut him off. "Your wife is in desperate need of a ventilator. It's the only option left to keep her alive. WHERE did you TAKE her? Do you realize that your actions have likely kill..."

Amanda, who had been blocked from view by Jake's tall body, stepped from behind him and waved bashfully. Sullivan stared at her. Then she stared at Jake. She realized as she struggled to an empty chair next to the doorway of an empty patient room that it was the first time in 20 years of practicing medicine that she felt like she was going to faint.

After a few moments, she recovered enough to lead Jake and Amanda back to her hospital room. Amanda took off the coat and got into bed.

"She was close to dying, Mr. Park. I saw her charts, I saw her oxygen counts, and I honestly was giving you false hope when we spoke last night. I had no real doubts that I would be making the order to put her on a ventilator this morning. Now you both return, and not only is she walking, but she's over the lockjaw and able to speak. You can understand how as a licensed medical practitioner, I'm more than a little confused."

"I can't answer your question, Doctor. I really can't. I made a terrible decision overnight. We...We had a special thing we did. We loved to watch the sunrise every morning. When you basically told me that she was going to be on the ventilator, and that there was a good chance she'd never recover...I took her. I took her and I watched the sunrise with her one more time."

Amanda actually had tears in her eyes. His lie was so perfect, so beautiful, that she could almost believe it herself. "And then...I opened my eyes. And I could talk. I don't know what happened. I absolutely have no idea, I mean, we're Catholics, but I never expected I'd actually experience one."

Sullivan was silent. It was ludicrous, but at the moment, she had no other explanations. She ordered blood draws and tests, and left the room. Techs came in and drew what seemed like a gallon of blood from Amanda. She was glad the gauze pad was taped over the needle site quickly, as she knew the small puncture wound would heal almost immediately thanks to the leftover realm abilities.

****************************************************************************************

Sullivan looked at the results of Amanda's tests as she sat at her desk, and was completely and totally astonished.

Gone.

The tetanus infection that they had struggled to bring under control for almost a week was completely gone. Every test was negative. If she hadn't diagnosed it herself when Amanda Park had first come in, she'd never have believed it. Sullivan was a practical person and she didn't believe in miracles, but she didn't know what else to think. Amanda Park had been close to death last night, and now, she was completely cured.

Maybe love could conquer all.

She walked back to Amanda's room and Jake was in a chair beside her. "I don't really believe your story, but...Somehow, some way, you are totally cured. I've had your blood tested three times. You have no Tetanus in your system. You left for four hours and whatever you did, it left you entirely cured. While I struggle to believe you, it's not my place to argue. I'll sign your discharge papers and you're free to check out."

"Dr. Sullivan?"

She turned and looked at Amanda. "Before I go, perhaps it might be a good idea if I go ahead and get a Tetanus shot?"

Sullivan paused, nodded, and left the room.

*****************************************************************************************

An hour later, Amanda, dressed in the clothes she'd arrived in the hospital in and now fully inoculated from Tetanus, followed Jake from the hospital and back to the rental Jeep. "I feel kind of bad for lying to her. I know she's probably losing her mind over my being at death's door and now experiencing a complete recovery."

"We were stuck either way," said Jake as he started the engine. "Do you think she would have believed that we've been in a realm run by a God where we're hunted by killers, are resurrected from death, and never eat, drink, age, or gain or lose weight?"

When he put it like that, Amanda had to agree, honesty being the best policy would not have been any better than the lie. In fact, the truth would have been even more unbelievable to Sullivan in retrospect. Amanda found herself struggling a bit to comprehend a return to 2006. They'd been in the realm for close to a year, and it was bizarre to be back here now in the real world where they'd only been gone in minutes. Then she realized something else.

"Shit." Jake looked at her. "Since we return at the same point in time every time...That means that every time we come back here, Sullivan will be looking for us."

"Yeah. Well, with you getting the Tetanus vaccine now, we don't have to go back to the hospital next time, unless you really want to. I'm not sure what happened the last time after we disappeared, but I'm assuming we were just considered missing, so that will just happen again if we don't actually reveal to Sullivan that we're back. Maybe if we talk to the Entity we can come back to the same time, but at a different, you know, collection point. I'm sure there are plenty across the continental U.S."

Amanda suddenly burst out laughing. "Do you realize how weird the conversation is that we're having? I still can't quite wrap my head around it. Returning to the same point in time, every time, with everything we've done the time before reset. I mean, from an evil standpoint, we could spend the next two weeks like Bonnie and Clyde, robbing banks, collecting loot, then return to the realm, and when we come back, there won't be a single trace of the crime spree. I mean, no, that's NOT a suggestion...But it's weird that we COULD."

Jake grinned. "I understand, Bonnie." As she tickled his side he hollered, "Hey! Not while I'm driving!"

Having no other particular destination in mind on their first vacation, Jake and Amanda of the Realm returned to Jake's cabin. Not under the effects of the disquieting spasms of the Tetanus from the original trip here, she took the opportunity to really look at the cabin from the outside, and really took in how massive it was. It was intended for Jake to go off the grid, but even then, it retained a large trace of the opulence of Jackson Park. Surely he'd been involved in its building or purchase.

"I barely saw any of this place when we first arrived, you know that? I got into the big kitchen and was pleased with how big and modern it looked, then I had that spasm and broke my arm. How big it is, really? It looks huge for two people."

"It's about 6,300 square feet. Six bedrooms, five baths." Amanda looked at him with her mouth open. "You know dad. Even if I wanted to go off the grid, he wasn't going to let me live in a shanty. I think that was his intent. He wanted to make sure that even if I wanted to be free of the wealth of the family, I'd be reminded of it in this huge place. If we put it on the market tomorrow, we could list it for $600,000 easy."

The figure was massive to Amanda. When John had died and left her her $100,000 legacy, the wad of bills had been a fortune to Amanda, who had grown up barely making ends meet and had spent some of her adult years with even less than that. The handful of years before John, she'd had virtually nothing and what she had was spent on her drugs.

"We've got three acres of land here. I think it was built about seven years ago. Not by my father, he just bought it. When I told him I wanted a cabin, obviously I was thinking of a cabin for one person. When he passed me the keys and told me where it was, I naturally reacted about the same way you did. What the Hell am I going to do with this much space alone? Like I said, he wanted me to remember what I was giving up by going off the grid, I have no doubts about it."

Jake rattled off the rest of the information like he was a realtor and Amanda was a prospective buyer. Front porch, open floor plan, wood floors, beamed ceilings, and a full log structure. The kitchen, as she'd seen, was large enough for her to cook for a party of 20 at least, with a ton of counter space, every appliance in stainless steel, and a large island. He rattled off info about the bedrooms, and said it was geothermal heated, and included two water heaters, which was well more than two people needed.

Amanda walked inside and allowed herself to look around a bit as Jake collected the wood he'd been chopping when they'd arrived here, officially, one year ago. It was all in a pile where he left it, and he tossed some of it in the massive fireplace in the great room, and lit it. Amanda, after looking in multiple places, finally tracked down a broom and a dustpan and returned to the spot in the kitchen where she'd had her muscle spasm from the Tetanus and made her drop the glass she'd filled with water to take...What had she been taking, Advil? She couldn't remember.

The water had long since dried but the glass remained, and she swept it up thoroughly as she was planning on letting her feet roam free as soon as possible. With the two weeks of residual healing ability from the realm, she probably could have danced on the shards, but habits were habits.

Jake looked at her with a sarcastic smile after she'd dumped the broken glass in the trash can (Which had also taken a hot minute for her to find,) and once again was staring wide-eyed at the massive space of the place. "So...Cabin to cabin, huh?"

Amanda sighed. "Fine, yes, this is far from a straight cabin-to-cabin vacation. It feels like we're in a log mansion. I'm going to do my best to memorize every detail about this place." Jake said nothing, but his expression indicated he wondered why. "The cabin in the realm is comfy, but a little bit cramped...Maybe in a year or two I can beg the Entity for an upgrade...To this." She grinned at him like a cat which had caught a canary.

"Do I need to clean anything?" Amanda wasn't sure how long the place had been unoccupied. "He had a thorough cleaning done by a service, top to bottom, about a month before our vacation. It might be a little dusty again, but not terribly. All the linens are washed, so unless you're really really anxious to play maid, we should be okay. If you do want to play maid, I really have to insist we get you a slutty outfit to wear while you clean." Jake's smile was lustfully wicked.

"Who needs a uniform? I'll dust naked. Much easier access." She winked at him. "But before I get the duster, what's the plan?"

Jake's cell phone was on the kitchen counter where he'd left it the last time. There was no cell service in the realm. Since he knew he wasn't coming back for a while when he'd carried her unconscious body into the woods to beg the Entity to save her, he'd simply left it behind. He stuck it in his pocket and said, "When I talked to dad last time, I made him think we were going for some off-the-grid treatment. Based on how rough of shape you were in...I'm thinking we stay here for a few days, and enjoy being off the grid, then we can go back to New York for the rest of the time. We'll take a couple of days for ourselves, then I'll call him and tell him you made a full recovery, then we can meet up with them in person. Sound okay?"

Amanda nodded. She dragged the trash can over to the fridge and left it there. Jake's look indicated confusion. "Realm powers, remember? I don't feel hungry at all, and I doubt you do either, so the no eating or drinking ability must also be in effect for the next two weeks. I hope your parents don't invite us to lunch." She giggled. "We can throw everything out later so it doesn't spoil when we leave. I kind of wonder though, what would happen if we did eat for the next two weeks then went to the realm. Would we be stuck feeling like we had to piss and shit until we came back to the real world again? So many questions."

Jake was looking at the roaring fire in the fireplace, and the large, comfortable rug in front of it. "That would also mean the Realm's birth control is in effect too..."

Amanda looked at him with wide eyes. "You beat me to the punch? YOU are indicating that you want to fuck ME? But usually I'M the one that hints about fucking...I don't know if I like this real world at all. It's like our libidos have swapped. l must inform the Entity of this for next time..."

Then she giggled again, ran over to him, and hopped into his arms and he carried her over to the rug and set her down on it. Their clothes were soon in a pile and Jake was on top of her between her spread thighs, feeding her addiction and giving her the fix she loved and needed with his deep, slow thrusts of his cock in her warm wetness. There was one hang-up leftover from Frank. She hadn't told Jake of it, but after the last time she had sex with Frank, she'd found herself with a slight aversion to doggy style, since the last time it had involved quasi anal rape. She loved her husband, she trusted her husband, and she could think of no better place to get over that hang-up than right here, warmed by this romantic fire.

"Wait." She rolled over onto her belly and raised her ass in the air, and Jake moved behind her and thrust himself in her again until his balls pressed against her. Amanda tugged at his hand and turned her head to the side on the rug, and she let Jake put his hand on the upturned side of her face. He gently held her, and controlled her, as his deep thrusts continued, and as she moved faster against him and as her G-spot was gently stroked by the mere fact that his erect eight inches only slightly stretched her as he filled her. With the minor increase in speed, her G-spot and clit were both stroked at the same time, and in moments her orgasm had built to bursting. "I love you Jake I love you Jake I fucking LOVE YOU JAKE!" her words were followed by repeatedly loud screams as her orgasm overtook her. She writhed and spasmed under him as her toes flexed and dug into the soft carpet.

"Do it. Do it...Fill me baby please." Amanda moved against him quickly and squeezed him inside her and milked him and savored him and as he finally came in her himself he grunted and cried in her ear "I fucking love you MORE Amanda."

Then cuddles. Soft gentle cuddles as their sweaty bodies were dried by the warmth of the fire. "Six bedrooms and five bathrooms, huh?" She felt him nod. "And all the linens were clean as of a month ago." He nodded again. "And we have a week." Jake nodded a third time. "So if we work overtime, we can fuck in every one of them before we leave..."

Jake laughed. "Yeah, I knew that was coming."

Amanda rolled onto her belly and rested her head on his chest. "Then you also know that isn't the only thing that will be cumming."

"Fuck I love you. And who said we need to stop there? I say we fuck in every room of this place." He pulled her face to his and kissed her as she smiled. "There's a nice pool table upstairs too. Do you play?"

"I will be happy to play with your balls on the pool table." Again she fixed him with a naughty face, and Jake couldn't help but feel a little flush of excitement at the thought of fucking her on a pool table. They hadn't done that yet, now they could.

Amanda straddled him and rubbed her slit on his cock, which brought him back to fully hard quickly. "You know there's plenty of woods on these three acres...We could take a walk in the woods..."

Amanda put her hand over his mouth. "Right now, this is the only wood I'm interested in."

She impaled himself on her and Jake just held on, but made a decision. While they could fuck whenever they wanted in the realm, there were still people around. It didn't make them hesitant much, but still, it was different from here, where there was no one around for miles even beyond the three acres of land.

Jake decided to make his own test for her. After all, a walk in the woods was far less exciting than Amanda naked. She seemed insatiable sometimes, and Jake decided that since they had no obligations, no commitments, and no interruptions...He was going to try and fuck her until she was totally spent. However many times as it took. He wasn't entirely sure it was possible, but it would be damn fun trying.

After they had both cum for a second time, and enjoyed more snuggles, Amanda said, "Ok. I'll take a look at the other wood now, and then...I think I might be ready to see that pool table." She winked.

Jake winked back. Game on.