Thank you guys so much for the reviews! Makes me so friggin happy! This chapter is fairly short and not a whole lot happens, but here it is anyway...

Ch 3

In her dream they were back in Arizona, driving in the desert. The sun was high as they bounced in slow motion along the empty highway in his Range Rover. He was driving and she stared at his keys, they swayed silently hanging from the ignition. Her eyes moved up to his sure, capable hands resting on the wheel. She noticed a platinum band on his left ring finger. Had he always had that? She couldn't remember. She glanced down at her own hand and saw a smaller matching ring. She held her hand out in front of her and examined it closely. When had that happened? She was distracted by the sun's rays glancing off the ring, throwing light shadows all across the interior of the car. He took one hand off the wheel and reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips. As they passed dry brush and hazy suggestions of mountains in the distance, he turned to look at her and he smiled a slow and easy smile. She drew her hand back lazily and returned his smile. He turned his eyes back to the road and absently put his free hand at her neck, massaging up into her hair. She closed her eyes and slumped down in her seat.

But then he rapidly drew his hand away from her. She dragged her relaxed eyes open and turned to him but all she could see was that his hand was covered in blood. Color quickly leaked out of the rest of the world until all she could see was the bright red liquid as it dripped heavily from his hand onto the center console, pooling beneath the parking brake. Jack's grey face was horrified and he stared from his hand to her and back to his hand. Was that her blood? She tentatively reached to the back of her head and felt a sticky mess of wet matted hair. She looked at her fingertips, they were stained a shiny dark crimson. She turned to look at Jack, sure he could help her, but he was no longer in the car. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came.

She shuddered awake, her breathing erratic and frightened. It was early morning, the sun just up. She was thankful for the gold light that filled the room, she didn't think she could handle waking up from a dream like that in pitch black. He was the first thing she saw. Flat on his back, mouth slightly agape, sheet thrown off in the heat. She was on her side, facing him and he had one hand draped over her hip. Somehow in the night they had switched places and her way out of bed was blocked by him. Silently she angled her body away from him as she lifted his hand and placed it gingerly on the bed. He inhaled and turned his face away from her and she grew still, not wanting to wake him. But his breathing fell back into a regular rhythm and he showed no signs of coming to. She wondered if it would be easier to jump over the wrought iron railing at the foot of the bed or to somehow climb over him. She chose the latter and reached over him to pull the mosquito netting apart. Getting over his seemingly lifeless body proved to be a bit of an ordeal but she managed to do it successfully without disturbing him.

She closed the netting and then padded around the room silently, tending to her morning routine. Most mornings she got up before him, but only just. She glanced over at him as she pulled on her jeans, he was dead to the world. She was glad for it, she wasn't sure that she was ready to talk to him after last night's big disclosure. Her heart pounded hard just thinking about it.

Every time they argued, every time they slept together, every seemingly minor conversation they had, she exposed tiny bits of herself to him. And last night had been big, maybe a little too big.

Of course, he did the same. It was just what normal people do. Dole out personal information and habits and other mundane tidbits piecemeal. Get to know each other better and better. Fall further and further in love.

But she wasn't normal people, and she wasn't used to this. Part of her liked it, the other part of her was afraid of how much she liked it. And still another part of her, the part of her that seemed to be shrinking daily, wanted desperately to just shut down completely and stop giving everything away. Mostly though, she was surprised he hadn't taken to the hills yet. She would have.

Of course the major stuff, the really, really big stuff, she still kept close to the chest. She knew that he knew most of it already. Snatches of information from her medical records and whatever information her lawyer had gleaned from her criminal record. Jack wasn't a moron, he could put two and two together. Still, he never brought it up.

She ran a hand through her hair as she searched for a brush. The tangled curls reminded her of her dream and she shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind. She gave up looking for the brush and just twisted her hair into a knot.

As she washed her face and brushed her teeth she couldn't stop thinking about the dream. How she had been so comfortable with him, how everything had felt so perfect and simple and right. How even after the blood she had only really been scared when she realized he was inexplicably gone.

She pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth and looked at herself in the tiny mirror. "It was only a dream." She said out loud trying to rid herself of half formulated thoughts about dependency and need.

"What was only a dream?" She heard directly behind her.

She turned and saw him standing there, all pajama bottoms and bare feet. His eyes sleepy and far too adorable for her liking. "Nothing." She said quickly and stuck the toothbrush back in her mouth turning back to the mirror.

He came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, moving his thumbs in delicate circles. He tried to meet her eyes in the mirror but he was far too tall and it was far too small. "Kate?" he said, his voice low and serious, "We, um…We're okay, right?"

He sounded so unsure that she could feel her heart break a little. And as much as she wanted to be hard and strong and pretend that she had never said those big, big words, she couldn't help it. She turned and wrapped her arms firmly around his waist, nodding into his chest. "Yeah." She said, "We're good."

He hugged her tight and seemed to exhale his nervous energy, his body sinking solidly into hers. "Good." He breathed directly into her hair. "And, uh, that's my toothbrush."

She pulled her face back to look at him. "What?" She loosed her arms from him and looked at the toothbrush in her hand. It was definitely hers. "The orange one's mine." She said.

"Nope." He answered just as sure as she had been. "I'm orange, you're blue."

She looked at it again. "Are you telling me that we've been using the same toothbrush?"

They both glanced at the blue one resting in a cup near the "sink" which was really just a pitcher of water and a large bowl. The toothbrush looked suspiciously underused.

"That's disgusting." She said. She reached to put the orange one down on the counter quickly. His arms were still around her and she had to strain against his grip.

He snorted a little "It's not that big a deal, Kate."

She just looked at him horrified.

"Really," he said a smile playing at his lips. "It doesn't bother me if you use my toothbrush."

"Your toothbrush?" She said astonished. "You don't seem very concerned about this, Jack. I can only assume that you were this unconcerned when you began using my toothbrush in the first place."

He grinned at her. "You can have the blue one." He said as he pulled one hand from around her waist to wipe a bit of toothpaste from the corner of her mouth. He brought his thumb halfway to his lips then stopped and looked at her. "Will it gross you out if I lick my finger? I mean, this probably has some of your spit in it."

She rolled her eyes and her mouth curled up at the corners despite her silent protest. "You're such an ass."

"I just need clarification on the spit to spit rules. It seems to me that there have been plenty of times where you haven't minded a little spit contact. Oddly enough, sometimes you even seem to enjoy it." He raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

She shook her head and smiled down at her feet, but he just continued. "For example, if I do this," He bent his head to her neck and lightly kissed the hollow where her jaw met her ear. Then he took her earlobe in his mouth and gently sucked. He drew back. "Is that acceptable saliva contact?"

She cocked her head to the right and pretended to think. "I think that'd be alright."

"And this?" He asked and he unbuttoned the first two buttons of her shirt, pushing it open to reveal her collar bone. He traced his lips lightly along the ridge as he undid the remainder of the buttons.

She shrugged. "That seems acceptable. I defiantly think further tests should be done though."

"Just so we're sure?" His fingers were already at her zipper.

"Of course," She said, pulling his face to hers. "We need to be sure."