Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the many reviews and the feedback.

Chapter Four

After Rhett helped Scarlett out of the car, he gathered up their purchases. As they were walking into the house, Jasmine said, "Let me show you to the room you will be using while you are here."

Jasmine flipped the light switch in the hallway.

Rhett said, "How did you do that?"

"Oh boy. This is going to be difficult to explain. Do you know what electricity is?"

"No."

"We will skip that part of the explanation. This explanation is not really correct but for now it will have to do. Do you have gas lamps in your home?"

"I don't have a home yet, but I know what gas lamps are."

"Instead of gas we have electricity which provides fuel for the light bulb," Jasmine pointed at the bulb. She continued, "That thing I flipped is a switch. When it is open electricity gets to the light bulb and the bulb provides us with light. Every room has a switch."

"I don't really understand but I get the jest of what you are saying. Scarlett?"

"Yes, I understand. If I want light in the room, I flip that switch."

"Exactly."

As she led them to the guest bedroom, Jasmine pointed out where the living room and kitchen were.

Scarlett said, "How can your house be so cool with all the windows closed up?"

"We have air conditioning. Everyone in New Orleans has air conditioning," Jasmine smiled at Rhett and said, "I really don't understand how that works. I just know I never want to live without it. This will be your room."

The room was a nice room with little to no decoration in it. Rhett put their purchases on the bed.

Scarlett said, "Jasmine, I need to use the privy."

"Scarlett, I am going to show you something wonderful. Come with me."

Jasmine led them to the bathroom. She demonstrated how the toilet worked and said to Rhett, "When you are peeing you lift the seat up. When you are finished you lower the seat. This is especially important. Don't ever forget."

Rhett nodded his head. He said, "What happens if I forget?"

"I will get very mad."

Rhett smiled.

Jasmine then showed them how the shower worked. She said, "You can take a shower or a bath every day without it being a labor-intensive task. Y'all will have to clean-up after yourselves. I have no servants and I am not going to clean-up after you."

Scarlett said, "Thank you for opening your home to us," She looked at Rhett and continued, "But why are you? We are strangers to you."

"In a way yes. In another way no. I am a stranger to y'all though. Let's go sit in the living room."

"After I use your privy."

"Toilet."

When Scarlett joined them in the living room, she joined Rhett on the couch. Jasmine had noticed how neither one like to be far away from the other one. She hoped they fixed whatever went wrong with their relationship.

Jasmine said, "As I told you I am a historian, and my specialty is the Civil War and Reconstruction. I am working on my PhD," As she saw Scarlett's puzzled look, she added, "Doctor of Philosophy degree."

"Oh"

"I am working on my dissertation," She saw Scarlett's puzzled face again and added, "A long essay on a particular subject, which is a requirement for me to get my degree. I learned all about you Rhett for you were quite famous. You and George Trenholm. I know a lot about him also. I have read everything written about you and Scarlett. Scarlett, you are equally fascinating."

The couple looked at each other and Rhett said, "Thank you."

Scarlett said, "What happened to us?"

"Scarlett I won't say."

"It must be bad if you won't tell us."

"I would rather not say. What if I tell you and you get back to eighteen sixty-eight? What if you change your actions and that makes it come true? What if your traveling to the future is what has altered your future? What if you change something in your lives and that changes the world as we know it? No, there are just too many variables."

"You are making my head hurt?"

"Do you want Tylenol?

"What is that?"

"A pain killer. It is not nearly as strong as laudanum or as addictive. I'll go get you a couple."

Jasmine got up and left the room.

After she left Scarlett said, "Rhett, make her tell us."

"No, she won't tell us just yet. We will have to find the information out somewhere else."

"Like where?"

"Like wherever she found out all that information about us and George."

"Do you know Mr. Trenholm?"

"Yes, we both ran the blockade."

Jasmine walked back into the room with two pills and a glass of water. She offered them to Scarlett. Scarlett took them and swallowed them down. She laid her head on Rhett's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. She closed her eyes and just laid against him.

As they sat there Rhett said, "Where did you find all that information on us?"

"At the library. Most I found at Tulane's library but some I found at the public library. Tulane is…"

"I know what Tulane is."

They sat there for a few minutes lost in thought. Scarlett had fallen asleep.

Rhett said, "Tell us more about the twentieth century."

"Let me see. Women got the vote in nineteen twenty. It was right after World War one. There was a depression through most of the thirties. That time is now called the Great Depression. There was another World War from September of thirty-nine to August of forty-five."

"You say it was a world war then was it fought all over the world. The first one was mainly fought in Europe. The second one was fought all over the world."

There is something called television which sends pictures and words across the airwaves. It is received in one of these boxes," Jasmine pointed to the TV. She continued, "There is something called telephone which allows one to speak to another person across town or even across the country. I can't explain the science behind it. There are so many changes that we will have to discuss them as we come upon them."

"Alright. If I want to know more about these subjects, I will research it at the public library."

"Just for your information, my husband Marshall is a homicide detective. He always carries a gun don't be alarmed."

"Why would I be alarmed? Most men carry a gun. I know what a detective is. So, I am assuming a homicide detective is a detective that investigates murders."

Jasmine nodded.

Rhett said, "Does he work for the police?"

"Yes, they are much more important now than they were in your day."

"That's interesting."

As they sat there quietly Rhett could hear Scarlett snoring softly. He smiled down at her.

Jasmine marveled at the love showing on his face. Jasmine wondered if that was what went wrong. He loved her but she didn't love him. She knew what had happened, but she didn't know why. She just had the bare facts. But she was too afraid to tell them.

Jasmine and Rhett just sat in the living room lost in their own thoughts while Scarlett slept. Soon they heard someone coming in the back door. They heard a man shout out, "Jas? Are you home?"

Jasmine got up and walked out of the living room. She found her husband getting a beer out of the refrigerator. She thought he drank too much but besides that he was a good man. She said, "You are not going to believe what happened to me?"

"Your great-aunt Bertha died and left you a million dollars."

"More incredible than that," Marshall took a swig of beer and did a hand motion to indicate he wanted her to continue. She said, "I met Rhett and Scarlett Butler and they are sitting in our living room."

"You mean you met some actors pretending to be Rhett and Scarlett Butler." Marshall was fascinated by the civil war also. So, he knew who Rhett and Scarlett Butler were. He and Jasmine even participated in reenactments from time to time when his schedule allowed. That is how they met at a reenactment.

"No, the real Rhett and Scarlett. I don't know how but they have traveled through time."

"You know that is impossible. They are probably con artists. I will get rid of them. Jas, you are so gullible sometimes."

"Marshall, no. Just talk to them. Interview them. I know you will agree afterwards"

Marshall smiled at his wife and said, "I will interrogate them."

"Alright. Let's go. Or do you want to get your bright light and rubber hose out of the car first?"

Marshall laughed and said, "I'll forgo them for now."

The couple walked into their living room and Marshall stopped suddenly. The couple sitting on his couch certainly looked like Scarlett and Rhett Butler. When Rhett saw Marshall, he jostled his wife. He said, "Scarlett, your host is here."

She opened her eyes and looked straight at Marshall, for a moment he got lost in those green eyes. He was brought back to awareness by his wife's elbow in his ribs. Scarlett sat up. She stared at the man in front of her. He was a handsome, well-built man in his early thirties with blond hair and cobalt blue eyes. She thought, 'In another time in another place, I could have a fun time with him.'

Rhett hissed, "Scarlett, what is with you and blondes?"

Scarlett looked at Rhett he was smiling at her, and she laughed. He had been teasing her. It was the first time Rhett had ever teased her about Ashley. In a soft Georgian drawl she said, "Excuse me, I seemed to have dozed off for a minute."

Marshall said without thinking, "Your pictures don't do you justice."

Marshall couldn't stop himself from staring at the woman. He loved Jasmine very much and had never thought about cheating on her but just looking at this woman made him consider the possibility. He shook those thoughts out of his head.

The man stood up and smiled like he knew the effect his wife had on men. He extended his hand and in a slow Charlestonian drawl he said, "Rhett Butler."

"Marshall Wilson"

Marshall wasn't believing these two people were the real Rhett and Scarlett, but they certainly looked the part and sounded the part. If this was a hoax, they were covering all the details.

Marshall said, "Sit down, sit down," As Marshall and Jasmine sat in the easy chairs. He said, "So, you claim to be Rhett Butler."

"I don't claim I am Rhett Butler. I am Rhett Butler. Your wife said we looked just like the couple in their wedding picture."

"Why did you get kick-out of West Point?"

"Those records are sealed or destroyed so you have no idea why I got court marshalled. You are just searching for information."

Scarlett had sat up and slipped her hand into Rhett's. She said, "Your wife approached us not the other way around."

"We certainly appreciated her help but if you think, I am a confidence man then we will be happy to leave."

"No, Rhett, we don't think that. I know you are who you say you are, but Marshall is just a more suspicious person than I am."

"I would not be a particularly good detective if I wasn't a suspicious man. Let me ask you some questions and assuage my doubts."

"Alright."

"Where and when were you born?"

"On November sixteenth eighteen twenty-eight on my family plantation, Middleton Acres"

"How did you make your fortune?"

"I worked the gold miners"

"You mean the gold mines."

"No, I mean I sat in a saloon and played poker with young, gullible miners that had no problem with me buying them whiskey after whiskey. It didn't take much to get them drunk then they were betting too much gold on lousy hands. They were never really upset because they thought they could just get more gold the next day. Some did some didn't. If they did, I had no problem taking that gold also."

"Show me the scar on your stomach."

"Step into the hall."

A few minutes later, Marshall was almost convinced. He asked, "What is your ward's name?"

"Nathan Anderson."

"Is he your son?"

Rhett smiled his roguish smile and looked at Scarlett. He said, "No, his mother died from bleeding out from an abortion. I accepted responsibility for him, so he didn't become an orphan."

Rhett could see the relieve pass over Scarlett's face. He knew she had thought his ward was his bastard.

Marshall continued, "Okay. I don't know if you are the real Rhett Butler, but you have your act down. Scarlett, what are your sister's real names."

"Susan Elinor and Caroline Irene"

"What are your uncles names that live in Savannah?"

"James and Andrew"

"Where is your brother-in-law from?"

"Will?" Marshall nodded. Scarlett said, "I don't know exactly. South Georgia, I think. I never asked."

"Why did Tony Fontaine kill Jonas Wilkerson?"

"Because Mr. Wilkerson encourage Freedmen to do inappropriate things."

"Okay. I am willing to let you stay with us on a trial basis, but I am still suspicious."

"Thank you, Marshall. We won't be here any longer than we have to be."

"Great. Let me start dinner. Scarlett, will you come help me?"

"I don't know anything about cooking."

"Just keep me company."

Scarlett got up and reluctantly followed Jasmine into the kitchen. She didn't want to leave the safety of Rhett. Scarlett would have been pleased to know that Rhett didn't want her to leave him either for he too felt safer when she was beside him.